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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

Massive fire breaks out in Sawaber Complex

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South Korea decorates Psy for ‘Gangnam Style’ success

From Sudan to cyber, secret war with Iran hots up

Late Ozil strike earns vital point for Madrid

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THUL HIJJAH 22, 1433 AH

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Choice clear between law and chaos: Amir Defiant oppn reaffirms poll boycott • Barrak faces legal action

Max 34º Min 18º High Tide 03:43 & 18:24 Low Tide 10:59 & 23:06

By B Izzak and A Saleh

KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlSabah is seen after he met commanders of the army, police and the National Guard at Bayan Palace yesterday. — KUNA

KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlSabah yesterday warned there will be no leniency in confronting actions that may undermine the security and stability of the state and vowed to apply the law to all without any hesitation. He also called on people to choose between a state of law or chaos after Kuwait witnessed unprecedented unrest over a disputed electoral legislation. “I would like to emphasize that there will be no leniency towards events that would prejudice the security of the homeland and the safety of citizens,” Sheikh Sabah said as he met commanders of the army, police and national guard. “We are required today to choose between the state of law and constitution... or the path to chaos and undermining constitutional authority,” he added, praising the commanders for efficiently handling “violence and irresponsible practices carried out by some individuals by organising illegal gatherings and processions”.

But a day after the Amir said he will not scrap the amendment to the electoral law, the opposition reaffirmed its decision to boycott the parliamentary polls denying reports that some members of the opposition has backed down. Former opposition MP Faisal AlMislem and member of the scrapped 2012 assembly Osama Al-Munawer confirmed that there is no change to the opposition’s boycott of the election. Mislem also announced that the opposition will stage a major rally on Sunday to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Kuwaiti constitution without saying where it will be staged.

A further confirmation came as the opposition launched a so-called popular committee for boycotting Continued on Page 13

UK supports giving ‘safe exit’ to Assad

KUWAIT: Salafist activist Mubarak Al-Bathali argues with former MP Adnan Abdulsamad (unseen) after they registered for the upcoming parliamentary elections in Shuwaikh yesterday. (Inset) Candidate Saud bu Hamad holds a t-shirt that reads ‘I pledge allegiance to His Highness the Amir’ as he registers for the polls. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

US votes in cliffhanger

Britain secures defence deal

JEDDAH: British Prime Minister David Cameron receives the King Abdul Aziz medal from Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz during a meeting yesterday. — AFP

JEDDAH: Bombings, clashes and air strikes shook Syria yesterday as British Prime Minister David Cameron said he would back giving safe passage to President Bashar Al-Assad if it meant ending the bloodshed. Cameron told Al-Arabiya television that he wanted Assad to be held to account for his crimes but that his departure could be arranged. Asked what he would say if Assad asked for a safe exit, Cameron told the UAE-based channel: “Done.

Anything, anything to get that man out of the country and to have a safe transition in Syria.” “Of course, I would favour him facing the full force of international law and justice for what he’s done,” said Cameron, who is on a tour of the Continued on Page 13

CHICAGO: Three Obama supporters walk around the south side yesterday wearing Obama and Romney masks holding placards asking people to vote. — AFP (See Pages 3 &10)

WASHINGTON: Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney made lastminute appeals for votes yesterday as Americans trooped to the polls to decide a cliffhanger race for the White House.

The time for obsessing over key state opinion polls was over as the greatest political show entered its thrilling finale after an 18-month roller-coaster ride that exposed the nation’s bitter polarization.

Obama, 51, led his Republican opponent by a whisker heading into polling day as he sought to defy the historical precedent that suggests American presidents fail to win second four-year terms at times of high unemployment. Romney, 65, a former Massachusetts governor blasted by critics as a rich plutocrat indifferent to middle class pain, would make history as the first Mormon president and promises to ignite economic growth and job creation.

Continued on Page 13

Saudi raps with ‘fear and respect’

BEIT LAHIA, Gaza Strip: Sakher, a crocodile captured by police after it lived in a sewage pond since fleeing a zoo two years ago, is seen through cage bars yesterday. — AP

Gaza croc caught after 2 yrs on lam BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip: It took an Internet search, shark nets and two weeks of floating in a sewage pond, but Gaza policemen said yesterday that they have finally captured a crocodile that was terrifying residents. The 1.75-m crocodile fled his zoo enclosure two years ago and crawled about a kilometer to a large sewage pit near the northern Gaza Strip town of Umm al-Naser, said Lt Col Samih Al-Sultan, who led the hunt. “He had a lot of spirit in him. He wanted to be

free,” Sultan said, watching the crocodile in its new home in a pond with four other crocodiles in a zoo under construction in nearby Beit Lahiya. “We hope he lives a good life here with his wives,” he said.

Residents said they didn’t leave their houses in the evenings, fearing the scary reptile they say ate their ducks and goats. “We were afraid he would eat us,” said farmer Hassan Mohammed of Umm al-Nasser.

Continued on Page 13

PARIS: Making hip hop in Saudi Arabia is a bit of a tightrope act, says Qusai Kheder, self-styled ambassador for the genre who has built a niche following for his sex-and-violence free brand of rap music. “Saudi Arabia is a very conservative country - that’s where we are from,” the 35-year-old told AFP before performing to a crowd of mostly Arab, largely female, young fans at the Arab World Institute in Paris this month. “This is our culture, our heritage, and we have reasons to respect it,” said the Riyadh-born young man in leather jacket, grey snood and clipped goatee, whose stage name is simply “Qusai”.

“But at the same time, we Qusai Kheder don’t have freedom of expression, freedom of speech, so we set up limitations in whatever we do - some people for the fear and some people for the respect. “I do a little bit of both,” he said with a laugh. Qusai cut his teeth as a member of Saudi Arabia’s tiny hip hop underground, becoming the first Saudi to make a rap recording in 1994, earning him the status of “outcast, a black sheep, till one day I felt like, they are out to get me”.

So in 1996 he left to study in the United States, making a name as a DJ and radio personality.

Continued on Page 13

JIDHAFS, Bahrain: Bahraini Shiite protesters clash with riot police following the funeral of 43-year-old Asia Al-Madeh in this western Manama suburb yesterday.

According to the opposition, Asia was killed after tear gas was fired by riot police inside her house. — AFP

Bahrain arrests bomb suspects, blames Hezb DUBAI: Bahrain said it had arrested four suspects yesterday in the bombings that killed two people in the capital Manama and accused the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah of being behind the attacks. Public Security Chief MajorGeneral Tariq Al-Hassan said in a statement published by the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) the suspects were detained after prosecutors issued arrest warrants and police were hunting for other killers. The five home-made bombs

on Monday bore the hallmarks of Hezbollah, the Shiite group allied with Iran, authorities said. “Their terrorist practices prove that they have been trained outside the kingdom,” BNA said. “The hallmarks of Hezbollah are crystal clear.”

The report came hours after King Hamad ordered “the swift arrest of the terrorists who carried out the recent terrorist acts in Bahrain”. The king appealed to the public for help to “bring them to Continued on Page 13

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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

LOCAL

Opposition gears up for ‘Constitution Day’ gathering

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah receiving yesterday at Bayan Palace the chairman of the Kuwait Journalists’ Association’s Ahmad Yousef Behbehani, the visiting chairman of the Iraqi Journalists Moaed Al-Lami and an accompanying delegation. The meeting was attended by Deputy Minister of the Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah and Minister of Information and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah.

KUWAIT: The opposition will be seeking participation of “all parties rejecting the single-vote decree” in a mass rally scheduled for next Sunday to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the constitution, according to a source privy to the oppositionist groups’ thinking.

“Efforts are being made to ensure participation of parties hesitant to take part in marches, such as the National Democratic Forum and the Islamic Salafist Movement,” Al-Qabas reported yesterday quoting the source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Former MP Dr. Waleed AlTabtabaei had, in a post on his Twitter account, called upon the citizens to take part in “the largest gathering in Kuwait’s history” to be held next Sunday which would be the third of its kind since an emergency decree was released to reduce the number of candidates a citizen can vote for in the upcoming elections from four to one.

The first two demonstrations saw police use teargas to disperse what

officials say were unauthorized gatherings and marches staged in violation of state laws which allow citizens to demonstrate at a square in front of the parliament building known locally as the ‘Iradah (Determination) Square’.

Meanwhile, Al-Qabas also reported that the government is taking “serious measures” to “dry out the resources” of religious groups in Kuwait according to governmental sources. “The movement focuses primarily on controlling the process by which donations are collected by charity organizations that engage with political issues,” the sources said, adding that the efforts also include “targeting state departments using charity funds to support certain bodies.”

In other news, General Director of the Kuwait Human Rights Society, Mohammad Al-Humaidi, announced in a press conference on Monday his plans to file an official complaint against a top Ministry of Interior official, accusing him of physical assault

during last Sunday’s demonstration.

Al-Humaidi explained that while he was monitoring the march, he spoke with Special Task Forces’ Commander Brigadier General Ali Mahdi to talk about letting protesters proceed towards their cars after the gathering concluded. Al-Humaidi claims that during period, Colonel Shukri AlNajjar pushed him hard from behind after confirming his identity. He said that he is going to ask for Brig Gen Mahdi to testify in the case “since the incident happened in front of him.”

Ten people arrested during Sunday’s gathering remain in custody and face multiple charges while eight others have since been released, according to a security source quoted

by Al-Qabas yesterday. The detainees face accusations of taking part in unlicensed marches, creating chaos and public disorder, and being part of an illegal gathering. They are likely to be sent to the Criminal Investigations General Department for further investigations.

Shiite candidates make constituency adjustments Lari runs in second, Al-Abdulsamad in first

Ahmad Lari

By A. Saleh KUWAIT: In an unexpected move, former MP Ahmad Lari shifted his constituency from the first, from where he traditionally contested elections, and registered as a candidate in the second constituency yesterday. Asked by reporters about his decision, Lari said he made “the move after assessment of the situation following the adoption of the single-vote system.”

Lari urged Kuwaitis to “exercise their electoral right” by participating in the elections set for Dec 1, labeling “national accordance as the only way out of the current ordeal.”

Meanwhile, fellow Shiite candidate and former MP Adnan Abdulsamad said

Mubarak Al-Bethali that the dissolution of the parliament elected last February thwarted attempts to “abduct the country,” and said the constitution must be considered as “the main reference in times of conflict.”

Al-Abdulsamad, addressing reporters after registering as a candidate in the second constituency, called upon the Kuwaiti people to avoid “becoming victims of intellectual terrorism.”

“The same people who protested against the emergency decree (which reduces the number of votes per voter from four to one) did not say anything when the constituencies were redistributed from 25 to five via an emergency decree (released in 2006),” he said.

In other news, the Court of First Instance rejected a plea made for the

Abeer Al-Fawaz release of a man accused of running over have submitted their registration papers police officers during the unauthorized reached 115, including four women. Five demonstrations staged in Al-Andalus have opted to withdraw from the elecand Sabah Al-Nasser last week. toral process.

The man faces attempted first degree Yesterday’s nominees were as followmurder charges after he deliberately hit ing, per district: First constituency: Amin officers dispersing a gathering held to Yousof, Huzam Al-Khaldi, Khaled Aldemand the release of former MP Shatti, Saud Bou-Hamad and Adnan Musallam Al-Barrak. His counsels had Zahed. requested for his release on bail, which Second: Ahmad Lari, Hussein Karim, the court rejected yesterday.

Falah Al-Hajeri and Mubarak Al-Bethali.

Up to 21 candidates for the upcoming Third: Anwar Bou-Gurais, Khalil National Assembly elections submitted Abdullah and Abeer Al-Fawaz. their nomination papers at the electoral Fourth: Saad Al-Rashidi, Sultan Alaffairs department of the Ministry of Shemmari, Mubarak Al-Eref, Mohammed Interior yesterday, the seventh day of Al-Rashidi, Matar Al-Shemmari and registration for the polls due on Dec 1, Nasser Al-Duwailah.

KUNA reported.

Fifth: Jalawi Al-Ajmi, Ali Al-Azmi and Total number of the nominees who Hani Shams.

Arab countries need to maximize SMEs role: Dashti KUWAIT: Minister of State for Planning Affairs and Minister of State for National Assembly Affairs Dr Rola Dashti said yesterday the Arab governments consider it a top priority to create employment opportunities for the youth.

“The latest statistics of the Arab Labor Organization (ALO) show that the unemployment rate in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region hit 25 percent in 2012; it’s expected to rise further to 27 percent by 2017,” Dr Dashti said.

She made the comments in an address to the opening session of the Regional Expert Group Meeting on the Role of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Sustainable Development in the Arab Region.

Dr Dashti, who represents His Highness the Kuwaiti Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah at the meeting, said that youths, of the age category 15 - 24 years, represent the largest segment of the population in the Arab region.

“However, the Arab countries failed so far to tap into the potentials of this

demographic resources in a sufficient way,” she regretted.

She highlighted the need to work out clear-cut programs and adopt aggressive decisions to turn these huge resources into productive elements that could drive economic growth in the region.

“The attempts made by the Arab governments in this direction are still below the expectations and failed to produce the desired results,” Dr Dashti noted.

“The Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) can play a pivotal role in socio-economic development due to the fact that these projects are closely related to the innovation and technological advancement.

“The SMEs can play a pivotal role in bringing the gap in the incomes of the various segments of the society and empower the middle class which represents the mainstay of social stability,” she stressed.

The SMEs account for no more than 20 percent of the average GDP of the Arab countries, this percentage is far

below that of the advanced and emerging economies, Dr Dashti went on.

“These enterprises face numerous challenges including; the government tendency to implement mega projects in such areas as energy, petrochemicals, industry, mining and agriculture - that usually go to public sector institutions or giant companies; the financing, legal, bureaucratic and institutional problems; the weak infrastructure; the high cost of production; and the shortage of skilled labor force, she added. “Realizing the need to encourage the SMEs and create the conditions conducive to their growth, HH the Amir announced in his speech to the First Arab Economic, Social and Development Summit in Kuwait in January 2009, the launching of the Arab fund for supporting these enterprises. “The fund has a $2 billion capital including a Kuwaiti contribution amounting to $500 million,” she added.

The two-day meeting is organized here by the Arab Planning Institute - Kuwait, in collaboration with United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA). — KUNA

KUWAIT: A massive fire broke out in an Sawaber residential Complex yesterday.

Four fire centers rushed firefighters to the site. The fire department announced through Kuwait TV that the fire, which had started in one of the apartments, has been brought under control. On his part, ex-MP Osama Al-Shaheen said

that the Sawaber Complex has largely become a residential area for labourers and almost every workman keeps a gas cylinder under his bed that he uses for cooking. He said the issue was raised in the 2012 council, but government did not take the problem seriously. Seven ambulances were sent to Sawaber as a precautionary measure while 13 cases were treated at the site and four peo-

Chance for Al-Shahab account holders to win latest BMW KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) continues its campaign to reward new and existing AlShabab customers who transfer their student allowances to Al-Shabab account with a chance to win a brand new 2012 BMW X3.

All new and existing Al-Shabab customers who transfer their student allowance to Al-Shabab account until the 31st of December 2012 will enter the draw for a chance to win the 2012 BMW X3.

Al-Shabab account is a great way for students to save money and organize their finances. NBK encourages all college and university students to take the opportunity and transfer their allowances to NBK during this period.

Al-Shabab is a youth account that caters to the various financial, social and lifestyle needs of college and university students between the ages of 17-23 years. Students can open an Al-Shabab account by visiting any NBK branch in Kuwait.

ATC sponsors 2013 Horeca Kuwait

KUWAIT: The opening session of the Regional Expert Group Meeting.

Fire breaks out in Sawaber Complex

By Hanan Al-Saadoun

Nasser Al-Duwailah

ple were sent to the Amiri Hospital.

Confused driver A traffic department personnel while on duty along route 208 towards Qurain markets above the Subhan Bridge noticed a vehicle being driven in a hazardous way, raising the patrolling men’s suspicion. They intercepted the car and asked for the driver’s identification

papers but noticing the driver and his companion somewhat nervous, the driver was asked to step out of the car.

Just as they did so, a bag fell on the ground which contained substance suspected to be drugs. It was also found to be containing injections and spoons which were all confiscated and sent to concerned authorities. The car was sent to detention garage.

KUWAIT: The Advanced Technology Company will be the diamond sponsor for Horeca Kuwait, an exhibition on hotel, hospitality and catering equipment being organized in Kuwait from January 28 to 30, 2013. The event is organized by the Leaders Group for Counseling and Development in cooperation with Lebanon’s Hospitality Services Company, and will take place at the Raya Hotel.

“The exhibition’s status as an annual celebration for this industry combined Ghassan Mamlouk with the great success the ATC saw in 2012’s installment, inspired us to take part again as a diamond sponsor for an event that has become an internationally recognized platform for importing and exporting hospitality equipment,” ATC CEO Ghassan Mamlouk said in a recent statement.

Ghassan also unveiled his company’s latest projects which include “Kuwait’s first specialized urology center, the Sheikh Abdullah Al-Kaber Al-Sabah Dialysis Center, as well as the Jumeirah Hotel.”

— Photos by Fouad Al-Shakih

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

LOCAL

Reactions mixed in Kuwait as US votes ‘Mideast needs a strong US and - US needs a strong leader’

By Chidi Emmanuel KUWAIT: From North to the South Pole, all eyes were glued to the television sets yesterday as Americans voted in a nail-biting presidential election marked by the spartanly different visions of the Democratic incumbent Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. For most American voters, this electioneering campaign was all about the economy and jobs, but for Kuwaitis and expatriates, it is about American foreign policies.

“The USA of today represents a lot. It has extended its tentacles to almost all the continents - that is why when America sneezes; the whole world catches cold. A meltdown in US - either politically or economically will always send ripple effects across the globe. We hope that the American people will go for the best this time because their vote can make or mar the world,” Emmanuel Grant, a political scientist said.

Opinions, expectations and hopes varied as millions of Americans cast their ballots yesterday. “It doesn’t make much difference whether Obama or Romney get elected because American polices will remain the same. When Obama was elected four years ago, all hopes were on him as the first black president of the US, but he turned out to follow the line of his predecessors.

He promised to reach out to the Arab world and resolve the Palestinian issue but all turned out to be a hoax,” Nada Khalil, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin said in disappointment. “When he said assalamualaikum in Egypt, we thought we now have a brother in the White House but only for him to turn his back on us (the Palestinians),” her friend Noor added as they drank coffee at a coffee shop in Salmiya.

Iraqis citizens follow the US elections on television yesterday.

Americans headed to the polls after a burst of last-minute campaigning by President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in a nailbiting contest unlikely to heal a deeply polarized nation. — AFP “I love Obama, but I prefer a Republican to a Democrat. US needs a strong leadership.

Republicans talk tough - they saved us from Saddam’s invasion in 1990. Sometimes it takes only an iron to sharpen an iron. The Middle East countries need a strong America and - America needs a strong leader,” Abdul Aziz

Naqi, a 34-year Kuwaiti argued.

In his view, Ali Al-Saqer sees Obama as the best man for top post. “Obama has achieved a lot in his short time in office - the Iraq war has ended with US troops pulled out; Osama bin Laden and other terror kingpins have been killed; the Afghan war is winding down and the battered US econo-

my is gradually picking up among others. Although he didn’t make much progress in Arab-Israeli crisis, but it is still not off his table,” Saqer said on an optimistic note.

For some Pakistanis, Obama’s tenure was a nightmare as Pakistan suffered the worst drone attacks in history. “Pakistan witnessed the worst form of humiliation and deaths during Obama’s four years in office.

His drone policy has taken a human and political toll. We thought he will be better than the former US president George W Bush but he turned out to be worse,” an angry Pakistani expatriate who preferred to remain anonymous lamented. “ They (Obama and Romney) are all the same. Same coin with different faces, I despise their anti-Islam policies,” Afzaal Ali, another Pakistani, added.

When Obama defeated Senator John McCain in the 2008 election, Africa exploded in joy and celebration with much hope and expectations. “With the first black man in the White House, Africa heaved a sigh of relief but as he rounded up his first term in office, Obama who once championed for US presence in Africa now sits behind and watches China’s ‘invasion’ in Africa.

For four years as the president of US, Obama never visited his native home country Kenya,” Elo Emma, a Nigerian expatriate said in dismay.

“We pray that he remembers his roots when he wins a second term,” he added.

“Although I am very much disappointed with him (Obama), I still pray that he gets re-elected. The Kenyan people still love him even though we have not felt his influence in Kenya and Africa.

He has made Kenya more popular - at least I can say that my brother is the president of the world,” Winne, a Kenyan expatriate said proudly.

KUWAIT: Aziza Ibrahim was declared as winner of the KD100,000 grand prize presented by the Commercial Bank of Kuwait during a live radio show broadcast recently by Marina FM (88.8). She was selected in a raffle draw for Najma Account holders, along with Sajidah Al-Khulaifi, Khalid Al-Failakawi and Zainab Ashkenani who each won KD7,000 daily draw prize.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

LOCAL

Group photo with the Iraqi media delegation.

KUWAIT: Minister of Information Sheikh Mohammed Al-Abdullah yesterday held a lunch banquet in honor of the Iraqi Journalists Association (IJA) delegation currently visiting Kuwait. The lunch was also attended by media figures, KJA officials and editors-in-chief of local papers.

Kuwait Times Editor-in-Chief Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan with KUNA Chairman Sheikh Mubarak Al-Duaij.

Information Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al-Abdullah presenting a trophy to IJA Chairman Moayyad Al-Lami.

Minister Al-Abdullah during the banquet

Undersecretary of the Ministry of Information Sheikh Salam Al-Humoud with KJA’s top officials, Ahmed AlBehbehani, Faisal Al-Qenai and Adnan Al-Rashid.— Photos by Yasser Alzayyat

In my view

Stop abuse of religions

By Abdulrahman Al-Zuhayyan

U

niversally, religion remains the nucleus of any society as it has significant impact on the daily lives of the people. It is a system that generates multiple systems, including political, economic, social and cultural and hence it cannot be excluded from any society, even the most secular political ones. Religion is a complete code of life and impacts the cultural and social realities of any society.

In that perspective religion determines how life is managed and lived. There are approximately 4,200 religions in the world and the followers of each religion inhabit different geographical areas and belong to different ethnic groups.

Each group believes it holds the correct view and follows the right path. As a result, its followers tend to think they are more righteous than others who they sometimes describe as superstitious.

This very view that favors a particular religious or ethnic group over others and considers them as outsiders gives rise to antagonism. This is a thinking that might instigate some to violence against other religious groups.

History testifies that such extremist ideas produce people with radical thinking who try to impose their dogma on others by force. They don’t even hesitate to sacrifice themselves believing they are dying for a right cause.

This is true today as there are reports almost everyday from all around the world about groups that are deemed religious but commit heinous crimes against people of other faiths under the pretext of religious justification. The world will become a chaotic place if intolerance increases and every so-called religious group attacks and kills the members of the other faith.

The world has suffered due to religious intolerance and is still suffering because of some extremist groups that have played havoc with religion and disrupted the social harmony within a particular society and among nations.

Realizing the gravity of the situation at the world level, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, being the leader of the Muslim Ummah, called for interfaith and cultural dialogue. This initiative aims to take the world to a state of religious and cultural understanding and harmony that is so essential to end conflicts and ensure peace.

Religion influences the cultural and social milieu of any ethnic group or country and it cannot be changed. The Soviet Union is a glowing example of this. Its political regime tried to enforce with iron fist its communist dogma on the people while at the same time banned religious practices and their symbolic public appearance in any shape or form.

When the Soviet Union collapsed and the Islamic countries within the USSR seceded,

Muslims in those republics started practicing their religion publicly.

Religion and culture can be causes of misunderstanding and consequently a source of confrontation among peoples and nations. Interfaith and cultural dialogue reduces religious misunderstanding and cultural differences by focusing on religious commonalities and universal values that bring followers of different faiths and the people of the world together.

The world would be a better place when people stop perceiving religious and cultural differences as threats to their views and lifestyles, but rather acknowledge them as a source of enrichment to their lives, which would result in appreciation of others as their fellow human beings.

Insulting religions and their sacred symbols only spark animosity between followers of various faiths. The role of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue is to “act as a hub among religions and cultures, empowering others already working in the field of dialogue and promoting harmony and cooperation.”

As the center moves on to achieve its peaceful objectives, the center ought to extend its hands to similar civil and international organizations to bring to reality the call of King Abdullah for the world to condemn insults of religion and prophets by issuing a UN resolution to this effect.

There are several United Nations organizations whose primary responsibility is to safeguard the laws and principles that respect religions and cultures. In addition to that the UN sponsors a World Interfaith Harmony Week that also aims to promote religious harmony. Thus, the political platform to achieve this objective is already in place.

Also, coordination with other interfaith organizations would help pressure the UN to adopt a resolution condemning blasphemy and abuse of religions and religious icons.

Among the similar organizations are the Parliament of the World’s Religions that works toward affirming universal values and recognition of the diversity among different cultures; A Common Word (ACW ), an organization that focuses on bringing Muslim and Christian leaders together; the C1 World Dialogue, an initiative whose mission is to support and promote, propagate and preserve, peace, harmony and friendship between the Western and Islamic world; and the Common Ground, a body that promotes understanding between Islam and Buddhism.

The world has shrunk to a great extent in terms of interconnectivity. Hence, what happens in a seemingly far away place has its effects on other nations of the world. So, the people of the world need social harmony to live in peace and prosperity that can be achieved through religious and cultural understanding.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

LOCAL

Govt bodies to sign MoUs to boost work in industry ‘Education for Service of Industries’

KUWAIT: Minister of Finance and Acting Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Nayef Al-Hajraf attending the conference.

KUWAIT: Minister of Finance and Acting Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Nayef Al-Hajraf said yesterday the ministry would sign three memos of understanding involving local authorities for luring nationals work in the industrial sector. The MoUs will be signed among Manpower and Government Restructuring Program (MGRP), the State Executive Apparatus and the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET).

Minister Al-Hajraf was addressing the Third Industrial Conference, organized by Kuwait Industries Unionthemed “Education for Ser vice of Industries.”

The event is patronized by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah.

Elaborating, the minister said the 2005-2025 state teaching strategy aims at upgrading the sector, particularly with regard of altering predominant values and concepts regarding work and consumption, with emphasis on productivity and work in the private sector-contrary to the current prevalent trend of seeking work in the public sector.

This strategy is designed to attain ideal utilization of the national wealth, preser ving the environment, with emphasis on the human factor which

is the source of Kuwait wealth, in the material and moralistic sense, in addition to securing simultaneous teaching and training for the cadres.

As to the government action program for the ministry of education, for the 2009-2013 years, it includes a project to develop secondary-level teaching.

He alluded to statements and guidelines by His Highness the Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah, affirming that “real investment is in the human resources and not the economy, and that, undoubtedly, our real wealth is our youths ..”

The one-day convention addresses specialties of graduates with the needs in the industrial sector, in shadow of current domestic economic conditions.

Meanwhile, chairman of Kuwait Industries Union Hussein Al-Khorafi praised memos of understanding that had been signed by the federation with national educational authorities for encouraging youth seek employment and businesses in the industrial sector.

Al-Khorafi, speaking at the Third Industrial Conference, called for reviving “the old Kuwaiti culture that encouraged for work in all crafts,” noting that such culture “had resulted in a producing rather than a consuming society.” The national educational system must be developed to attain such goal, Al-Khorafi added.

A partial view of the audience.

Minister of Finance and Acting Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Nayef Al-Hajraf attending the conference.

He urged the youth to be prepared to serve in the industrial sector, citing His Highness the Amir’s remarks stressing that the national manpower constitutes the basic national wealth. This conference is held in line with the great concern of the leadership for backing the industrial sector, with an approach for twining between graduates’ majors and market requirements.

The MoUs signed by the Kuwaiti Industrial Union, the Ministr y of Education, the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET), Manpower and Government Restructuring Program and the State Executive Apparatus constitute preliminary outcome of the successful cooperation among all relevant authorities

Curricula at GCC military training institutes ‘synchronized’ DOHA: The consistency of curriculums at GCC military training institutes enables military staff to stay at any Gulf country, said Brig Amer Khalifa Al-Shimmeri, commander of training at Ali Al-Sabah Military Academy, here yesterday.

Al-Shimmeri said on the sideline of his visit to the Ahmad bin Mohammad military academy in

Doha that such “synchronization” allowed GCC military personnel to further increase their knowledge at any of the military institutes in the region. He affirmed that his visit to the Ahmad bin Mohammad academy had reflected the strong strides that Qatar took within the military domain, noting that such prestige had attracted 21 Kuwaiti cadets to

study at the facility.

In return, the Kuwaiti military personnel revealed that there were 15 Qatari cadets studying at the Ali AlSabah military Academy. Al-Shimmeri stressed that exchanging experiences and training amongst GCC military staff would further develop the military and defensive capabilities of the GCC countries. —KUNA

GCC chief condemns Bahrain explosions RIYADH: GCC Secretary General Abdullatif AlZayani condemned a series of blasts that rocked Bahrain early Monday killing two Asian expatriates and injuring a third.

Al-Zayani described the incident as “an act of terror that is criminalized by the international community and that runs contrary to the teachings of Islam,” and expressed his heartfelt sorrow to the families of the deceased victims and wished those injured a safe recovery.

“Planting locally-made bombs in peaceful residential areas is an ugly crime that is unusual in the peaceful Bahraini society and is a dangerous development that aims to affect the security and stability of the Kingdom of Bahrain.”

The details of these explosions highlight the dangerous lengths these terrorists are using to kill innocent citizen and expatriate civilians and to spread fear and chaos in the country, he added.

The GCC chief called on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the international community to condemn the act and to work to protect the rights of citizens and expatriates in Bahrain.

He also expressed confidence Bahraini authorities were able to expose the perpetrators and bring them to justice. — KUNA

for sake of educating the youth about labor values and enlightening them about necessity of the industries for shoring up the economy, he elaborated.

The memos stipulate field training at factories “to break the psychological barrier between the youth and work realities,” he explained. They also aim to encourage the youth launch businesses in the sector.

The 2012-2013 annual development plan stipulated continuing the restructuring of the private sector, supporting the industrial sector and facilitating paper work for entrepreneurs. Al-Khorafi called for speedy establishment of the industrial town. — KUNA

Kuwait denies rumors on compensations settlement KUWAIT: Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah AlKhalid Al-Sabah has denied hints dropped by a top UN official about Kuwait having agreed to a settlement as per which the remaining compensation due for the 1990/91 I raqi Invasion is to be converted into investments in Iraq.

Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), Martin Kobler, was quoted by news agencies on Monday as saying that Kuwait agreed to have the remaining compensation invested instead of being paid in cash as a bid to help Iraq fulfill its obligations and ultimately be freed from Chapter VII sanctions. “This case has been settled by the Security Council, and Mr. Kobler might as well be asked about what exactly he meant,” Sheikh Al-Sabah said in a statement published by local newspapers yesterday.

The foreign minister further indicated that Iraq “has shown commitment in paying all dues as per the agreed upon schedule...The source [quoting Kobler] might say what he wants, but the issue remains subject to the Security Council’s resolutions,” Sheikh AlSabah said.

Meanwhile, Director General of the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Rabah Al-Rabah said that the state was keen on developing trade relations with Iraq and stressed the need to improve land border exits to ease logistic travel.

Sea por ts also play an integral par t in increasing trade in the region, he said during a meeting with a group of visiting Iraqi journ a l i s t s, h i g h l i g h t i n g t h e n o r t h e a s te r n Mubarak Al-Kabir port as an example, which he said would aid increasing this between the two neighbouring countries.

Appropriate information on investment opportunities across Iraq’s provinces should be provided to Kuwaiti investors, he said. He also commended economic, trade and investment relations between both countries.

Ku w a i t ’s C h a m b e r o f Co m m e rce o f Industry will in turn be providing Iraqi companies with all the necessary information re g a rd i n g t r a d e a n d i nve s t m e n t l aws i n Kuwait, said its Deputy Direc tor General Hamad Al-Omar.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

LOCAL

Dead infant found in Reggae manhole Woman falls in own trap KUWAIT: Workers cleaning a manhole in Reggae found the body of an infant on Monday morning. The police, who were called to the scene by the workers, are now investigating to ascertain the identity of her parents and the circumstances that led to the child’s death. The preliminary medical checks put the age of the infant at around four months. Detectives are waiting for the autopsy report that will bring out whether the infant was a stillborn child or was killed before her body was thrown into the manhole.

Drug overdose A man was found dead inside his Far waniya apar tment on Monday as a result of a drug overdose. Paramedics pronounced the 25-year-old Kuwaiti dead on the scene before his body was taken for a forensic examination which confirmed that he died of an overdose of drugs. Drug paraphernalia was also found at the scene. A case was filed at the Farwaniya police station. Meanwhile, the body of an unidentified man found recently at a public bathroom in Al-Nugra was sent to the forensic department. It was suspected that he died of a drug overdose

as suggested by drug paraphernalia found at the scene.

Investigations are on as per a case filed at the area’s police station.

Accident exposes theft An accident involving a tanker exposed a diesel smuggling racket as the driver confessed about it to the police. The driver, who had met with an accident at the seventh ring road, seemed very ner vous and tried to escape when the police arrived at the scene. Later, during interrogation, he admitted being in cahoots with two Asian men who stole diesel and planned to smuggle it to neighboring countries. Investigations are on to track down his accomplices.

Woman arrested A woman was arrested after police found that she indulged in blackmailing by leveling false allegations of sexual harassment.

The woman, a GCC national in her twenties, had approached police officers in Salmiya to file a sexual harassment case against a young man whose number she provided, claiming that he had forcibly given it to her. The man was summoned for investigations, where he confirmed giving

her the phone number but categorically denied the harassment charge. A little while later, police were approached by the man’s father to report that the complainant had called him offering to drop charges in lieu of some money. This prompted the officials to check her record which showed that she had lodged similar complaints thrice during the past year-and-a-half, and all of these had been dropped later after a financial settlement was reached. The woman was then charged with blackmail and put behind bars pending fur ther investigations.

Drug dealers Two brothers were arrested for drug trafficking after police ambushed their house in the tenth area, south of the country.

Investigations had led officers to confirm the suspects’ role in selling drugs in the area located near the border with Saudi Arabia. A warrant was obtained to raid the suspects’ house where police met with strong resistance that left an officer with minor injuries before the duo was arrested. Police found one kilogram of hashish and an amount of drug pills inside the house. The two were taken to the Criminal

Investigations General Department for further action.

Documents missing Police is looking for a culprit who stole “important banking documents” belonging to a senior bank official that he had kept in his car. The Kuwaiti man filed the case at the Al-Subahiya police station after discovering that someone had broken into his car and stolen the documents. The man urged the police to take prompt action to trace and arrest the suspect “given the sensitive nature of the documents that contained clients’ information which could put his and the bank’s reputation at risk,” according to a security source.

Fugitive arrested A man who repeatedly visited his incarcerated friend prompted the police to run a check on him and then arrest him as he was found wanted in several cases.

Officers at the Khaitan police station grew suspicious about the man who was visiting a prisoner there on a daily basis. After finding that his name figured in several subpoenas issued by multiple parties, the man was arrested and put in the same cell as his friend.

Nine members of Kuwaiti sports team injured in Greek crash return home KUWAIT: Nine members of the Kuwaiti national water polo team returned to Kuwait from Greece yesterday after receiving treatment for injuries as a result of a road accident that occured while on their team bus.

The team members were injured, some critically, in the accident which occurred in the city of Thessaloniki in northern Greece, some five days ago.

The returning players have fully recovered and are currently in good health, Salem AlOmran, administrator in the team delegation, said.

They include Talal Al-Otaibi, Marzouq AlAjmi, Rashed Abdulateef, Ali Ismael, Abdulaziz Ali, Yacoub Al-Tamimi and Mohammad Mandani, in addition to the team supervisor and a physiotherapist.

A remaining two have had successful surgeries, including Adnan Khan, who had undergone spine surgery and Rashed Majeed, who had undergone a cruciate ligament operation.

Another, Mohammad Ashour is set to be taken to Germany, where he will undergo complex spine surgery, as coordination is currently underway with the Kuwaiti embassy in Germany and German hospitals to faciltate the move.

Meanwhile, the team’s Czech manager Ladislav Vidumaniski has had surgery for the rib cage, and is still being treated at the hospital, Al-Omran noted, wishing the safe recovery for all the injured team members.

Head of the Kuwaiti Swimming Federation Sheikh Khalid Al-Bader Al-Sabah has been

closely monitoring the situation since the accident happened.

Al-Omran expressed his appreciation of the huge efforts carried out by the Kuwaiti Embassy in Athens, represented by Ambassador Raed Abdullah Al-Rifai and members of the diplomatic mission, for their continuous efforts in administering the team’s needs and state of affairs.

In the meantime, Ambassador Al-Rifai said that several embassy staff will be escorting the team members, expressing his contentment for their recovery and return to Kuwait. Also, he expressed his gratitude to Greek authorities and their embassy in Kuwait for the facilities they have been providing to the Kuwaiti Embassy during the debacle. — KUNA

KUNA chief hosts Iraqi journalists KUWAIT: Board Chairman and Director General of Kuwait News Agency Sheikh Mubarak Al-Duaij Al-Sabah stressed the importance of media interaction between Kuwait and Iraq to serve the interests of both states.

The KUNA chairman made the remark at a ceremony Monday night while hosting a visiting delegation of Iraqi journalists headed by the chief of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate (IJS) Muayyad Al-Lami. He stressed the two countries and people are bound by more than just politics, and have social, economic, and religious relations as well than span many decades.

The chairman welcomed the visit of the Iraqi pressmen saying media plays a big role in furthering communication and interaction and in serving causes that would bring the two people concerned more development and prosperity.

Head of the visiting delegation Al-Lami for his part said the group was met with great hospitality in all its official meetings with state leaders and during its visits to both public and private sector institutions, and noted the journalists met with several media figures and officials during

their tours. He further urged the Kuwaiti side to ignore statements that are both unofficial and irresponsible by some parties in Iraq, noting that the Iraqi government is keen on smooth and improving relations. “There is a great deal of good intentions which must now be put into action if we are to reach the situation we desire.” The figure noted the need for more exchange of visits by media and cultural representatives.

The KUNA chairman hosted

the Iraqi pressmen in presence of Head of Kuwait Journalists Association Ahmad Yusuf Behbehani, association member Jasem Kamal, Information Ministr y Arab World External Media Affairs Director Abdullah Al-Khaldi. Greeting the agency’s guests from KUNA was also Acting Public Relations and Marketing Director Essam AlRuwayeh.

The Iraqi delegation includes dean of Iraqi University’s informa-

tion faculty Dr. Nahidh Zeidan, AlRashid Channel Director General Dr. Taleb Fayyadh, Al-Mustaqbal paper Editor in Chief Fuad Thijeel, Al-Ghad paper Editor in Chief Faisal Masha’a, and AlSabah paper Editor in Chief Ahmad Hashem. Also in the delegation are Legal Affairs Director of the IJS Nema Dheidan, Iraqi Women Journalists Association Editor in Chief and Chairman Zahra Ali, and IJS member Ban Shehab.—KUNA

Kuwait Energy, Ukrgasproduction restore joint activity KUWAIT: Kuwait Energy, one of the fastest growing independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in the Middle East, yesterday announced that its joint activity agreement (JAA 429) with “Ukrgasproduction”, a subsidiary of the state-owned Naftogaz, has been restored, enabling continued development of the Bilske and Kulychykhynske gas-condensate fields located in the Poltava region in Ukraine.

The Ukraine Supreme Commercial Court made a final ruling to resume operations under the JAA 429 agreement, following over a year of court proceedings that put Kuwait Energy’s interest from the gas fields on hold during that period.

Kuwait Energy owns a 25%

working interest in the fields,Ukragasprodution owns a 50% interest, and the remaining 25% is owned by the operator Favorit System LLC. Resuming operations as per JAA 429 is estimated to add 460 barrels of oil equivalent per day to Kuwait Energy’s working interest production, which represents the Company’s share from the restored total production from the gas fields.

Kuwait Energy ’s Chief Executive Officer, Sara Akbar, said, “The Supreme Commercial Court of Ukraine’s ruling was just and fair. We now look forward to continue investing in the workovers of these fields to increase their hydrocarbons production to enhance Ukraine’s energy supply.

“Kuwait Energy has owned working interest in the Bilske and Kulychykhynske gas-condensate fields since 2007. The Company is the operator and holds full working interests in two other fields, Bilousivska Chornukhynska (BC) which is currently producing, and North Yablunivska (NY) which is awaiting development and has exploration potential.

Kuwait Energy operates in eight countries, namely Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Oman, Ukraine, Latvia, Russia and Pakistan. Its working interest proven and probable reserves at year end 2011 stood at 235.3 million barrels of oil equivalent and its current production has reached approximately 17,750 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Sara Akbar

KUWAIT: The Vice Bohra Sultan and son, Prince Mufadhal Saifuddin arrived in Kuwait from KSA after performing the Haj ritual. A special celebration was held to receive the Vice Sultan at the Mishref International Fair Grounds where a number of Bohra followers in Kuwait were present. Speaking at the ceremony, the Vice Sultan expressed gratitude for the facilities extended by the Amiri Diwan on his arrival in Kuwait and expressed his gratefulness to HH the Amir, HH the CP and HH the PM. The Vice Sultan also advised the Bohra followers to strictly follow Islamic regulations and respect Kuwaiti laws.

Bisceglie Municipality welcomes Kuwaiti delegation BISCEGLIE, Italy: The Mayor of Bisceglie welcomed Sheikh Ali Jaber Al-Ahmad AlSabah, Governor of Kuwait City (AlAssimah), to the town that named one of its roads after “Kuwait” as a symbolic gesture to boost ties between the two cities.

Mayor Francesco Carlo Spina held a special dinner Monday night in honor of Sheikh Ali, who was accompanied by Kuwaiti Ambassador to Italy Sheikh Jaber Al-Duaij Al-Ibrahim, Board Chairman of the Environment Public Authority Jassem Al-Bader, and Director-General of Kuwait Municipality Ahmad Abdullah Al-Sabeeh in St. Nicholas ancient castle.

The mayor welcomed the Governor and the Kuwaiti delegation yesterday evening at a formal meeting of the Municipal Council at the city’s Palace where he presented the latter with a commemorative gift in the presence of a number of officials and businessmen.

Sheikh Ali is to inaugurate “Kuwait Road” this morning, the first road in Europe to bear the name of the State of Kuwait, during an official ceremony followed by a number of meetings and field visits, ending with a “Concerto,” special

music performed by the Orchestra to celebrate this event.

Opening “Kuwait Road” in the presence of Kuwait city governor is an initiative of great significance for Bisceglie, “which embodies our policy to open up to countries and peoples of the southern Mediterranean and the Arabian Gulf,” the town’s mayor said.

“Kuwait has a special place in our hearts, as it is an oasis of democracy, stability, and prosperity,” Spina stressed, confirming that Bisceglie honed determination and sincere desire of many distinctive companies in the town to cooperate with Kuwaiti counterparts “in order to promote growth and prosperity for our communities.”

The Kuwaiti delegation included Amiri Diwan first advisor Abdullah Al-Yahya, Director of the Governor ’s Office Dr Nasser Behbehani, Director of Public Relations in Kuwait City Mohammed AlFailakawi, PR Director Ali Matar Issa, in addition to Kuwait’s Permanent Representative to FAO Faisal Al-Hassawi and second secretary of the Embassy of Kuwait, Mohammad Al-Ajmi. — KUNA

Gulf Bank sponsors Education UK Exhibition KUWAIT: Gulf Bank announced yesterday it is to sponsor the annual British Council Education UK Exhibition in Kuwait. The event will be held today and tomorrow at the Sheraton Hotel in Kuwait City.

This major event will feature representatives and exhibitions from a number of important United Kingdom (UK) based universities, colleges of further education and English language schools, to offer students, parents, teachers, and others in the education sector, a chance to find out more about tuition and courses in the UK. Gulf Bank’s participation in this event reflects its commitment to helping young people and their parents find out about the wide range of opportunities available for high quality education through internationally accredited institutions.

Fawzy Al-Thunayan, General Manager, Board Affairs at Gulf Bank said: “Education is part of the bedrock of any healthy community, so it’s a natural step for Gulf Bank to support major initiatives such as the British Council’s annual Education UK Exhibition in Kuwait.

This important yearly event brings UK representatives from some of the UK’s most prestigious education centres to Kuwait to present their courses, entry requirements, and application procedures to students who could be interested in studying in the UK. It’s a unique opportunity to find out more about what it might be like to enrol on a UK-based course and the facilities and services on offer.

Fawzy Al-Thunayan “Gulf Bank is committed to supporting the development of young peoples’ education in Kuwait and ensuring that they have every opportunity to learn and gain the qualifications they need to reach their full potential.”

The Education UK Exhibition attracted 42 UK institutions and 2800 interested visitors in 2011, and this year it is expected to attract more institutions and visitors than ever before. Interested students and their families are strongly encouraged to visit the exhibition in person, which is open from 5 pm to 9 pm today and 9am to 12:30pm/5pm to 9pm tomorrow, to find out more about the various vocational and professional courses on offer.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

In dark and cold, Americans vote

32 killed as car bomb targets army recruits

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BANDAR-E LENGEH: Speedboats of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are seen in Sunday inaugurated naval base in the Arabian Gulf near the Iranian mainland’s southern port of Bandar-e Lengeh some 1,100 kilometers south of Tehran. Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards inaugurated a new naval base, the Guards’ fifth in the Arabian Gulf, on Sunday to reinforce Tehran’s authority over three gulf islands also claimed by the neighboring United Arab Emirates. —AP

Proxy confrontations rage across Mideast From Sudan to cyber, secret war with Iran hots up News

in brief

9/11 terror suspect wants case dropped WASHINGTON: One of the five men accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks filed an appeal Monday asking that the charges against him be dropped, after a court threw out the conviction of Osama bin Laden’s ex-driver. Saudi national Mustapha Al-Hawsawi claimed he should benefit from the US appeals court ruling for Salim Hamdan, which said a law that listed material support for terrorism as a war crime could not apply to him retroactively. Hawsawi’s attorneys are requesting that charges be dropped if prosecutors cannot demonstrate that the alleged offenses were “recognized law of war violations” before Congress passed the 2006 Military Commissions Act. The law defined as enemy combatants those who engaged in hostilities against the United States and authorized them to be tried in special military commissions held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in southern Cuba. “The government must demonstrate that each offense for which the accused are charged in this case was a recognized law of war offense at the time of the alleged conduct, and that the charges were properly brought as such,” Hawsawi’s lawyer Walter Ruiz said in a statement.

Hawsawi faces charges for actions taken between May and September 2001.

Yemen Qaeda-linked tribal chief besieged ADEN: Yemeni militiamen backing the government in the south have besieged the residence of a tribal chief suspected of links to Al-Qaeda upon his return to the region, a local chief said yesterday. Gunmen from the local Popular Resistance Committees have been surrounding since late Monday the house of warlord Tarek Al-Fadhli, who has fought in Afghanistan, upon his return to the southern city of Zinjibar, said Hussein AlWaheshi. The militiamen have given Fadhli 24 hours to turn himself in to police to avert having his residence stormed by gunmen, he said. The local security committee met on Tuesday and “agreed that Fadhli should surrender to the public prosecutor who had issued an arrest warrant last month over threats to kill leaders of the (southern) Socialist Party,” he said. “The ultimatum ends this evening. If he does not surrender, we will be obliged to storm his house and bring him to justice,” he added.

Israel plans 1,213 new West Bank settlements JERUSALEM: Israel has announced plans to press ahead with construction of 1,213 homes on annexed West Bank land, defying international opposition to its settlement policies. The Israel Land Administration on Monday published notices inviting bids from contractors to build on plots in Ramot and Pisgat Zeev, urban settlements that Israel has declared part of Jerusalem.

The plans call for the building of 607 new homes in Pisgat Zeev and 606 in Ramot. Tens of thousands of Israelis already live in the two areas. The Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now said yesterday that an additional tender for the construction of 72 homes in the West Bank settlement of Ariel was reissued on Monday after a previous notice failed to attract winning bidders. Palestinians want to create a state in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital but they say Israeli settlement building will cripple the viability of any future country. Israel cites historical and Biblical links to the West Bank, which it captured in a 1967 war. Some 500,000 settlers and about 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

WASHINGTON: From a suspected Israeli airstrike in Sudan to cyber warfare in the Gulf and a drone shot down over Israel, the largely hidden war between Iran and its foes seems heating up and spreading.

Despite months of speculation, most experts and governments believe the risk of a direct Israeli strike on Tehran’s nuclear program stirring regional conflict has eased, at least for now. But all sides, it seems, are finding other ways to fight.

For the US and European powers, the main focus remains on oil export sanctions that are inflicting ever more damage on Iran’s economy. But the Obama administration and Israel have also ploughed resources into covert operations - a campaign that now appears to have prompted an increasingly sophisticated Iranian reaction. With Iranian hackers suspected of severely damaging Saudi oil facility computers and a suspected Hezbollah drone shot down over Israel, tactics and tools once seen as the sole purview of the United States are now clearly being used on both sides.

The mounting body count in Syria, some believe, is also in part a consequence of the proxy war being waged there. “In many ways, it’s reminiscent of the Cold War, particularly the proxy conflicts,” says Hayat Alvi, lecturer in Middle Eastern politics at the US Naval War College. “But unlike in the Cold War, there are now a much larger number of asymmetrical warfare techniques. Most of this is happening behind the scenes, but in the modern world we are finding it difficult to keep them secret for that long.”

Covert confrontation itself is, of course, nothing new. Foreign intelligence agencies have battled for decades to stop Iran and other states obtaining nuclear material, while Tehran and Israel have long needled each other and proxy battlegrounds, particularly in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. The US and Israel are widely suspected of using the Stuxnet computer worm to target Iranian nuclear centrifuges.

Meanwhile, most experts believe Israel’s Mossad was involved in assassinations of several nuclear scientists - attacks suspected to have prompted similar bomb attacks on Israeli diplomats in India, Georgia and Thailand and tourists in Bulgaria. But it does seem to be escalating. What Tehran is trying to do now, most analysts believe, is in part further retaliation. But its rulers may also be indicating that the Islamic Republic now has a range of new and potentially damaging options in reserve should its nuclear facilities be bombed.

SIGNALLING THROUGH COVERT ACTION? The penetration of Israeli airspace by an unmanned drone apparently operated by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah - a long-term Iranian ally - was, perhaps, one of the clearest examples so far. The drone was shot down by Israel’s military in the vicinity of its main nuclear facility at Dimona. Iran has long been believed to be putting resources into a drone program and may have gathered useful tips after a classified US Sentinal stealth drone came down in the country last year.

While the Hezbollah drone was unarmed, a attack with multiple drones laden with explosives might prove harder to stop. The dramatic spike in suspected Iranian cyber attacks this year also has some in the US distinctly worried. While direct denial of service attacks on US banks - widely seen as retaliation for US sanctions and attempts to freeze Iran from the international financial system - were seen relatively simplistic, attacks on US allies in the Gulf were more complex.

The most worrying, experts say, were those on Saudi oil firm Aramco and Qatari gas export facilities. Last month, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta described the Saudi attack as the most sophisticated yet launched on a private company, effectively destroying tens of thousands of computers - although he stopped short of blaming Tehran directly. Iranian officials have tended to deny involvement. But they say they have continued to come under cyber attack themselves with systems at Iran’s own oil facilities, communications and infrastructure firms suffering problems last month.

“The problem is that these are secret forms of warfare that are rarely, if ever, discussed publicly,” a veteran former CIA official and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute told an event last month. “And yet the implications could be colossal. What do we do, for example, if it turns out the Iranians can shut down the entire Saudi oil production.” In the absence of direct face-to-face negotiations, such actions can also be a diplomatic tool in their own right. “The cyber attacks and Hezbollah drone both represent an escalation from the Iranian camp,” says Ariel Ratner, a former Obama administration political appointees at the State Department and now fellow for the Truman National Security Foundation. “But a lot of what is going on here is a matter of signaling to each other.”

That might also in part explain a suspected Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of the Sudanese capital Khartoum on October 23 that caused a major fire at Sudan’s Yarmouk arms factory. “Israel is flexing its muscles militarily and also sending a message to Tehran and Washington that it will not hesitate to use force to defend itself,” says Bilal Saab, director of the Institute for near East and Gulf Military Analysis based in the United Arab Emirates and Washington DC. “It was a show of force meant to send political messages and achieve precise and immediate military objectives, those being the prevention of Iranian shipment of sensitive hardware to its proxies.”

PROXY BATTLES Israel refused to comment after Sudanese officials said four of its aircraft conducted the attack. US officials would not comment on what they believed happened, but spy agencies have long suspected Iran of smuggling weaponry into Eritrea and Sudan and across Egypt to Hamas militants in Gaza. Last week’s fourday visit to Sudan by two Iranian warships coming mere days after the arms factory attack - appeared an unusually public show

of solidarity between two nations.

Some suspect Israel is also raising its support for South Sudan, which gained its independence last year and has since teetered on the brink of conflict with Khartoum. The much more significant proxy confrontations, however, remain in the region itself. Israel is taking something of a back foot in the conflict in Syria - its officials saying any support they might give for antiAssad rebels would be counter-productive but Iran’s Arab rivals are not.

For Washington, rolling back Tehran’s influence in Syria is seen as a distinctly secondary goal to stopping - or at least limiting - the bloodshed. For Saudi Arabia and Qatar, however, arming the rebels, the prospect of replacing the Shiite Alawite rule of Bashar Al-Assad with a Sunni majority government with no Iranian links is seen as a key motivation. The war there is already seen destabilizing neighboring Lebanon, while the body count in Iraq has also been creeping back up as violence between Sunni groups and sometimes Tehran-backed Shiites simmers.

The Sunni leadership of almost all of the Gulf states have long suspected Iran of stir-

ring up dissent amongst their Shiite populations, although Western diplomats suspect such claims are overstated. Some worry Washington is already being dragged onto one side in a growing regional blood feud.

Tehran may step up its attempts to destabilize neighbors, particularly if it believes its enemies are trying to do the same.

Washington recently removed Iranian militant opposition group MEK from its list of terrorist groups, potentially opening the door to covert co-operation.

To work with it on attacks within the country, however, might produce a violent response. Last year, US officials said they had foiled an Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington by bombing a restaurant in Washington DC. That, some security experts said, suggested Iran was increasingly willing to take serious risks although others said the entire tale sounded too far-fetched. “It’s very easy to look at these events and tie them together in some kind of straightforward narrative,” says Henry Smith, Middle East analyst for London-based consultancy Control Risks.

“But in reality, things are likely to be far more complex.” —Reuters

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Brother of Syrian parliament speaker assassinated BEIRUT: Gunmen shot and killed the brother of Syria’s parliament speaker as he drove to work in the capital Damascus yesterday, the state-run news agency reported yesterday. Mohammed Osama Laham, brother of Parliament Speaker Jihad Laham, was killed in the Damascus neighborhood of Midan, the SANA news agency said. It was the latest in a wave of assassinations targeting Syrian officials, army officers and other prominent supporters of President Bashar Assad’s regime. Four of the president’s top security aides were killed in a rebel bombing of state security headquarters in Damascus on July 18. The killing came a day after some of the most intense fighting in Damascus in months as rebels wage a civil war to unseat Assad.

In another blow to the regime, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported that seven Syrian generals defected to Turkey. The Anadolu Agency said they arrived in the Turkish border province of Hatay seeking refuge. Their identities and ranks were not disclosed. The

agency said they were taken to a refugee camp in Hatay that shelters defected soldiers under tight security.

They join dozens of other generals who have abandoned the regime. More than 110,000 Syrians have sought refuge in Turkey since the uprising began in March last year.

In Jordan, which also borders Syria, visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Riad Hijab, the former Syrian prime minister who defected to Jordan in August. It was a rare, high-level contact between the Moscow government and a Syrian opposition figure.

Russia is one of the strongest international supporters of Assad’s regime.

Lavrov said his talks with Hijab in Amman were meant to get firsthand information from the Syrian opposition on how they view a solution to the civil war. “The idea of the meeting was to get an agreement or a roadmap on how to deal with opposition forces and save the Syrian people,” Lavrov told reporters.

He voiced continued support for Assad’s regime, warning that the alterna-

tive would dip Syria into further chaos.

Activists and state media reported clashes, shelling and air raids in different parts of Syria. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said air raids on Houla, a group of villages in central province of Homs, killed seven people. The group also reported air raids on the Damascus suburbs of Douma and Maadamiyeh saying there are casualties without giving numbers. SANA said six regime supporters were killed when 11 mortars rounds fell near a pro-government demonstration Monday night in the northern city of Aleppo.

The Observatory said Syrian troops shelled two villages on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights adding that government forces have been trying to take over the area for days. On Monday, the Israeli military said a bullet from Syria struck one of its vehicles traveling on the Israeli side of the cease-fire line in the Golan Heights. No one was wounded in the incident. The Israel-Syria border has been quiet since a 1974

ALEPPO: A rebel sniper aims through a hole in the wall that overlooks a position held by Syrian troops loyal to President Bashar Assad hidden in a nearby building as they attempt to gain ground on the rebel lines during heavy clashes in the Jedida district of Aleppo, Syria. —AP armistice agreement. Such incidents have been rare. Israel is concerned that violence from Syria’s civil war could spill into the country. Earlier this week, three

Syrian tanks entered a demilitarized zone between the countries. Several Syrian shells, apparently misfired, have exploded inside Israel. — AP

Turkey tries Israeli soldiers over Mavi Marmara killings Israel dismisses trial as ‘political theatre’

ANKARA: Prince Albert II of Monaco and Turkish President Abdullah Gul (left) inspect a military guard of honor, at the Cankaya Palace during a ceremony in Ankara yesterday. — AP

Turkey to allow Kurdish, other languages in court Hunger strike enters 56th day ISTANBUL: The Turkish government has said it will soon submit to parliament a reform allowing defendants to use languages other than Turkish in court, a key demand of jailed Kurdish militants whose hunger strike entered its 56th day yesterday. The refusal of courts to allow defendants who speak Turkish to use Kurdish in their defense has been a source of controversy in ongoing court cases against hundreds of defendants accused of links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group. Some 700 Kurdish inmates in dozens of prisons are refusing solid food to try to exert pressure on Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government to grant greater Kurdish minority rights and better conditions for a jailed militant leader.

The inmates are consuming sugared water and vitamins that will prolong their lives and the protest by weeks, but Turkey’s main medical association has warned that fatalities are possible from around 60 days into the hunger strike. “A person will be able to defend themselves in court in the language in which they can best express themselves,” Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told reporters late on Monday after a cabinet meeting where the issue was discussed.

“The prime minister has given the order to our justice minister to develop this and send it rapidly to parliament to become law,” he said, saying that the legal revision would be made in the coming days. Arinc stressed that the ruling AK Party had already promised to enact the reform in a booklet distributed at its congress in September, seeking to dispel the idea that it was acting in response to the hunger strike. Erdogan’s government has boosted Kurdish cultural and language rights since taking power a decade ago, but Kurdish politicians are seeking greater political reform, including steps towards autonomy for mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkey.

DON’T UPSET US Arinc called for the inmates to end their protest. “Don’t upset us and our nation,” he said. “Please end these strikes in the knowledge that there is a democratic atmosphere in Turkey where your demands can be discussed.” Erdogan has taken a hard line on the protest, describing it as blackmail and a “show”. The head of the Turkish Medical Association has warned that such comments risked hardening the inmates’ resolve. The protesters’ main demand is improved jail conditions for PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is imprisoned on an island in the Marmara Sea south of Istanbul. Most of the inmates have been convicted of PKK membership.

The protests follow a surge in violence between Turkey and the PKK, which took up arms in 1984 with the aim of carving out an independent Kurdish state. Turkish Kurds now number around 15 million, or around one fifth of the population. The PKK has staged some of its bloodiest attacks in more than a decade this year as tensions grow between Turkey and its neighbor Syria. Turkey has accused Syria of arming the PKK to punish Erdogan for criticizing President Bashar al-Assad’s bloody crackdown of a popular uprising.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict between the Turkish state and the PKK, which is designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States and the European Union. Erdogan has said the inmates are being manipulated by “merchants of death”, a reference to the PKK and Kurdish politicians, and has accused Kurdish politicians of ordering the militants to go on strike while they themselves feast on kebabs. More than 100 leftist inmates died in a hunger strike more than a decade ago, 30 of whom were killed when security forces stormed jails to end the protest against isolation in cells.—Reuters

32 killed as car bomb targets army recruits BAGHDAD: A car bomb at the entrance to an Iraqi army base where new recruits were massed killed at least 32 people yesterday, in the country’s deadliest single attack in more than three months. The blast, which also left at least 30 people wounded, is likely to raise fresh concerns over the capabilities of Iraq’s security forces 11 months after the departure of American troops.

Yesterday’s bombing struck at around midday (0900 GMT) in the town of Taji, 25 kilometers north of Baghdad. An interior ministry official put the toll at 26 dead and 30 wounded, while a medic said 32 people had died and 40 were hurt. It was not immediately clear how many of the victims were soldiers or new recruits. Differing tolls and breakdowns of casualty figures are common in the chaotic aftermath of violence in Iraq. Heavy security was placed around Kadhimiyah hospital where many of the victims were being sent, an AFP journalist said, with relatives of recruits rushing to the facility for news. “I was home when the bomb went off,” said a man who identi-

fied himself only as Jawad, whose son was wounded in the blast. “But when it exploded, I went straight to the hospital, because I knew my son was at the base, and I expected he would be hurt.” The explosion struck as the base was holding a recruitment day to welcome potential new soldiers, events that have previously been targets of militants intent on carrying out mass-casualty attacks in Iraq. On January 18, 2011, a suicide bombing in the middle of a crowd of police recruits in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, killed 50 people and wounded 150. On August 17, 2010, another suicide attacker killed 59 army recruits and wounded 125 others. Officials insist Iraq’s security forces are capable of largely maintaining internal stability, despite regular deadly attacks nationwide, but they are widely acknowledged to be unable to protect the country’s borders, airspace or maritime territory. The car bomb was the second blast in as many days in Taji. An explosion in the confessionally mixed town on Monday wounded seven people. —Agencies

ANKARA: Turkey puts four former Israeli military commanders, including the head of the army, on trial in absentia this week for the 2010 killing of nine Turks on a Gaza-bound aid ship. The trial, which began in Istanbul yesterday, will further test relations between the one-time strategic allies and has been dismissed by Israel as a “show trial” and “political theatre”.

Relations between the Jewish state and what was once its only Muslim ally, crumbled after Israeli marines stormed the Mavi Marmara aid ship in May 2010 to enforce a naval blockade of the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip and killed nine Turks in clashes with activists on board. The rift has continued despite US efforts to encourage a rapprochement between the two regional powers whose cooperation it needs to address changes sweeping the Middle East. Israel and NATO member Turkey, which both border Syria, once shared intelligence information and conducted joint military exercises, cooperation which has since been cancelled.

A Turkish state prosecutor is seek multiple life sentences for the now retired Israeli officers over their involvement in the nine killings and the wounding of more than 50 others. The indictment names Israel’s former Chief of General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, former Navy Commander Eliezer Marom, former Air Force Commander Amos Yadlin and former head of Air Force intelligence Avishay Levi, seeking prison sentences of more than 18,000 years for each of them. Among the charges listed in the 144-page indictment are “inciting murder through cruelty or tor ture” and “inciting injury with firearms”.

A total of 490 people aboard the ship during the raid, including activists and journalists, are

ISTANBUL: People wave Turkish and Palestinian flags as a Turkish court opened a trial in absentia for four former Israeli military commanders in the killing of nine people aboard a Turkish aid ship that tried to break a Gaza blockade yesterday. — AP expected to give evidence.

Normally barred from cour trooms, the trial will be officially recorded by television cameras, although proceedings are not expected to be broadcast.

“The ‘Blue Marmara Trial’ due to commence on November 6th in Istanbul, clearly falls under the category of a Show Trial; an act which has nothing to do with either law or justice,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement. “ This “ Trial” does not qualify under any facet or foundation of a lawful judicial system, and is merely a propaganda display. It would be in Turkey’s interest to deal with this issue through bilateral dialogue,” it said. A Turkish foreign ministry official declined comment, saying the incident was now a matter for the judiciary. Ties between the two states

began to unravel even before the Mavi Marmara raid after Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stormed off a stage he was sharing with Shimon Peres at a World Economic Forum in 2009, saying the Israeli President knew “how to kill”, a reference to the December 2008-January 2009 Gaza offensive. But relations hit a new low when Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador and froze military cooperation after a UN report into the Mavi Marmara incident released in September last year largely exonerated the Jewish state.

That repor t was meant to encourage a rapprochement between the two countries but ultimately deepened the rift when it concluded Israel had used unreasonable force but that the blockade on Gaza was legal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in July Israel and Turkey needed to repair their relationship, but attempts to rekindle the strategic relationship have failed. Turkey has demanded a formal apology, compensation for victims and the families of the dead and for the Gaza blockade to be lifted.

Israel has voiced “regret”, short of the full apology demanded, and has offered to pay into what it called a “humanitarian fund” through which casualties and relatives could be compensated.

IHH, the Turkish Islamic humanitarian agency which owns the Mavi Marmara, has said it expects the Turkish court to issue arrest warrants for the retired officers who would be obliged to be extradited to Turkey, a claim dismissed by Israel.— Reuters

Iran not cooperating on nuclear probe: UN UNITED NATIONS: The UN nuclear chief said Monday that Iran is not cooperating with an investigation into suspected secret work on nuclear weapons. Yukio Amano told the UN General Assembly that talks between the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran have intensified this year after an IAEA report in November 2011 said it had “credible information that Iran had carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device,” he said. “However, no concrete results have been achieved so far,” Amano said.

While the IAEA continues to verify that Iran’s declared nuclear material is not being diverted from peaceful purposes, “Iran is not providing the necessary cooperation to enable us to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities,” Amano said. “Therefore, we cannot conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities,” he said. But the IAEA director general said “the agency is firmly committed to intensifying dialogue with Iran.” “We will continue negotiations with Iran on a structured approach,” he said. “I hope we can reach agreement without further delay.”

Iran has repeatedly denied any interest in possessing nuclear arms, but the international community fears that Tehran may turn its peaceful uranium enrichment program toward weapons making - a concern that is growing as the government expands the number of machines it uses to enrich its stockpile of enriched uranium. As those fears grow, so does concern that Israel could carry out its threats to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities before that nation reaches the bomb-making threshold.

Iran’s UN Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee reiterated his country’s position, that it has a

right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and rejected the claims in the IAEA report saying they are “not credible” and based on “forged reports” provided by Israel and the United States. In his annual report to the world body, Amano said he also remains “seriously concerned” about North Korea’s nuclear program, calling its statements about uranium enrichment activities and the construction of a light water reactor “deeply troubling.”

In late 2010, Pyongyang unveiled a uranium enrichment facility that could give North Korea a second route to manufacture nuclear weapons in addition to its plutonium-based program. Earlier this year, satellite images showed that North Korea has made progress in building a light-water reactor to expand its nuclear program. North Korea is under tough UN sanctions, and Amano called on Pyongyang to comply with its obligations under Security Council resolutions and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and “to cooperate promptly and fully” with the IAEA. North Korea’s deputy UN ambassador Ri Tong Il rejected Amano’s report, saying the country is not a party to the treaty, known as the NPT, or a member of the IAEA because the agency is not impartial and has “blindly” sided with the United States. “Now, if you look at the current situation and developments on the Korean peninsula, the United States did not hesitate to escalate, aggravate, increase its threats and blackmails with increased hostilities toward the DPRK,” he said, using the initials of the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “And the situation on the peninsula is on the brink of explosion, and nobody knows when the war will break out,” Ri warned.

Under this situation, he said, six-party talks

on the North’s nuclear disarmament, which Pyongyang walked away from in 2009, have come “to the point of becoming almost a dead body at the moment.” The talks include the US, China, Japan, Russia, North and South Korea. Ri said Nor th Korea is a full-fledged nuclear weapon state and should be treated the same way as other nuclear weapon states like the United States whose activities are not investigated by the IAEA. IAEA inspectors were most recently expelled three years ago after the North quit the six-party talks. North Korea restarted its nuclear facilities and less than a month later, in May 2009, it conducted its second nuclear weapons test.

Amano also urged the Syrian government to respond to questions about a building destroyed by Israeli warplanes at the Deir Elzour site in the Syrian desert in 2007. The IAEA has said the building was “very likely” the covert site of a nuclear reactor. The United States asserted more than four years ago that the bombed target was a nuclear reactor, but Syria has repeatedly denied allegations of any covert nuclear activity or interest in developing nuclear arms, saying the building was a nonnuclear military site. Amano also reported on prospects for convening a conference in 2012 on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons, which the 189 nations that are parties to the NPT called for in May 2010.

The IAEA held a forum on the possible relevance of creating such a zone in November 2011, he said, but “there remain fundamental differences of views among countries of the region on this important issue and it has not been possible to make further progress.” Israel is not a party to the NPT and has long said a full Arab-Israeli peace must precede such weapons bans. —AP

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Putin fires defense minister amid scandal New defense chief a diehard Putin loyalist

MOSCOW: In this file photo, governor of Moscow Region Sergei Shoigu passes by Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov before a session of the State Council’s Presidium at the Kremlin in Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin fired the country’s defense minister yesterday, two weeks after a criminal probe was opened into alleged fraud in the sell-off of military assets. — AP

News

in brief

Montreal mayor resigns MONTREAL: Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay resigned Monday after witnesses linked him to illegal party financing skimmed from city construction contracts as part of an alleged mafia scheme. Tremblay, 70, lead Canada’s second-largest city since 2001 and would not have faced reelection until the end of his latest mandate in 2013. “After 25 years of public service, I am leaving public life,” he said in a televised address. A commission headed by Superior Court Justice France Charbonneau had heard in recent weeks that the mayor’s political party received kickbacks from construction bids. Witnesses also told the commission investigating alleged graft, bid-rigging and kickbacks in the awarding of government construction contracts that the mayor was aware of illegal party financing and campaign spending.

Tremblay flatly rejected the accusations. “Long ago, my father told me never to go into politics, because it’s dirty and I would be destroyed,” he said.

Blasts hit Nigeria town KANO: Explosions and gunfire rocked a town in Nigeria’s restive northeast yesterday and prompted a military deployment, but there were no immediate reports of casualties, residents and the army said. The military said troops had deployed to the town of Gashua, located in Yobe state, where the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram has previously carried out waves of deadly attacks. “There have been explosions and gunfire throughout the town. It all began around 3 am and lasted up to six in the morning,” one resident said. He said the unrest and heavy presence of soldiers had forced residents to remain in their homes. Another resident said military patrols could be heard in the streets after the shooting and blasts stopped. “The explosions and shootings started around three and continued for almost three hours,” he said.

Tutu tackles child marriage JOHANNESBURG: Coercing girls under age 18 into marriage is as repugnant as apartheid and should be battled with the same vigor, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and antiapartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu said yesterday. “This is an issue I liken to apartheid in South Africa, that I would want to bring to it the same passion, the same commitment that I had in our struggle against apartheid,” he said. “Apartheid sought to quite deliberately hamstring a whole community, and this practice does the same thing. It is in fact hamstringing whole communities, preventing them from developing as they could have developed if girl children were given the opportunity of staying longer in school.” An estimated 10 million children are married off each year worldwide.

Niger, in West Africa, has the highest prevalence with three-quarters of girls forced into marriage before 18 years of age, according to statistics by global health agencies. “I look at my grandchildren and I say, had they been born elsewhere, these children would have been brides, and that really shook me,” Tutu earlier told a meeting of activists battling child marriage. Tutu said that if the practice was not brought to an end soon, the world can forget about achieving the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aimed at slashing poverty and hunger, and boosting access to health care and education for all, by 2015.

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly dismissed his defense minister yesterday after a multi-million dollar corruption scandal and appointed a longtime ally to oversee military reforms. Putin announced on television that he had fired Anatoly Serdyukov, who had become a liability due to an investigation into the sale of ministry assets at suspiciously low prices.

Serdyukov’s replacement in a job which had been long eyed by rivals, former emergencies minister Sergei Shoigu, is untainted by corruption and popular among Russians. Shoigu has also proved immensely loyal and shown few signs of political ambitions in nearly two decades in senior posts. Putin’s announcement made at a meeting with Shoigu appeared designed to show he will crack down on high-level corruption in his new, six-year presidential term. “ Taking into consideration the situation around the Defense Ministry, in order to create conditions for an objective investigation into all matters, I have decided to free Defense Minister Serdyukov of his post,” Putin said, sitting across the table from Shoigu at a state residence outside Moscow. The defense minister wields immense power in Russia, channeling billions of dollars every year through the country’s powerful defense industry, the second largest arms exporter in the world. Putin has promised to

spend 23 trillion roubles ($726.30 billion) on the military by the end of the decade. Putin said at the televised meeting that the new minister must continue “grandiose plans for the reform of the army”.

Russian investigators raided the offices of Defense Ministry firm Oboronservis last month and opened an investigation into the company on suspicion that it had sold assets to commercial firms at a loss of nearly $100 million. The investigation also raised questions about Serdyukov’s relationship with a former top female military bureaucrat, whose apartment was found to contain dozens of expensive paintings, rare antiques and more than 100 valuable rings. A Russian tabloid newspaper with connections with the country’s security personnel reported that Serdyukov was in the apartment as well when the raid began.

ENEMIES IN HIGH PLACES A one-time furniture salesman, Serdyukov owed much of his career to the influence of his father-in-law Viktor Zubkov, a former prime minister and trusted associate of Putin. Serdyukov’s control over Russia’s arms budget had earned him enemies among ambitious Kremlin figures, including Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin who oversees t h e country’s defense industry, government sources say. His military reforms,

which reorganized troops, cut the number of officers by more than 100,000 and exposed high level corruption, also made him disliked in the ranks.

However, his alleged role in helping to dismantle the assets of j ailed former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky while he still worked in the tax office had led many analysts to believe Serdyukov was untouchable and would weather the scandal. Shoigu, 57, an army general, was emergencies minister from 1994 until this year, when he became governor of the Moscow region. Although the Russian authorities were criticized in 2010 over forest fires that caused Moscow to suffer for weeks under smoke and toxic fumes, his loyalty to Putin and a background untainted by corruption have stood him in good stead.

“Shoigu is unknown in our country as a great strategist or as a powerful military officer, but that is not needed in the post of the minister of defense,” said Alexei Arbatov, a military analyst at the Russian Academy of Sciences. “If the defense minister is largely an administrative post, then Shoigu has very great merits ... As an administrator he is already regarded very highly and moreover, he is popular in Russia and in social opinion,” he said. When he was serving as emergencies minister he was the most highly regarded minister by Moscow-based pollster VTsIOM. — Reuters

Fight over gay rights divides US Maryland Opponents see attack on traditional family BALTIMORE: Ezekiel Jackson is black and his wife is white.

As Jackson campaigns to legalize gay marriage in Maryland, he likens the plight of same-sex couples to that of interracial couples, who were banned from marrying in the state until 1967. Maryland was one of the last US states to allow blacks and whites to marry, but it could become one of the first states to legalize same-sex marriage by a popular vote.

Voters in Maine and Washington are also heading to the polls to decide whether to let gays and lesbians wed.

Six US states and the District of Columbia already allow gay marriage, but the decisions were made by court rulings and legislative action. Interracial couples used to travel from Maryland to nearby Washington DC to wed before the state ban was lifted. It is the same trip same-sex couples now make to marry. “I couldn’t help but make that comparison,” said Jackson, an organizer with the Service Employees International Union and the head of Marylanders for Marriage Equality.

Black voters have traditionally been reliable foes of same-sex marriage. In Maryland, Emmett Burns, a prominent black pastor, has been a leading opponent of the referendum and says it is insulting to African Americans to describe marriage as a civil rights issue. “When did sodomy get to be a civil right?” Burns said in an interview. “Two consenting adults can do what they want in private but you want to change the definition and make it marriage? No.” A quarter of the Maryland electorate is black and public opinion polls suggest the outcome of the referendum will be close.

“It was against the law for black people to be married to one another at one time,” Ralph Moore, a community activist, said at a recent debate in Baltimore. “The definition of marriage has constantly been changed in this country.”

“Black people should not be a part of denying rights,” he said. “That’s not how we got here.” Gay marriage campaigners say they are beginning to win over more black voters, boosted by President Barack Obama, who was the first US president to support same-sex marriage and has endorsed the efforts in Maryland, Washington and Maine. Black celebrities like hip hop moguls Jay-Z and Russell Simmons have also spoken out in support of same-sex marriage.

‘MOTHERLESS OR FATHERLESS’ But in Maryland, some voters - black and white - will never be convinced. Last month, several dozen people gathered at a Christian center in Davidsonville for an event held by the Maryland Marriage Alliance - the main group opposing the referendum. “When you say that a homosexual family is equal to mine, that’s offensive to me,” said David Austin Nimicks, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund.

“We’re talking about the intentional creation of motherless or fatherless families.” Three panelists made a case that expanding the right to marriage beyond heterosexual couples would weaken the institution and thus weaken the family. “There’s a reason the left is going after marriage,”

said Doug Mainwaring of the Capital Tea Party Patriots, who is gay. Family and the church are “a bulwark against government taking over our lives.”

Mainwaring said allowing same-sex marriage will open the door to legalizing other kinds of unions, like “threesome relationships.” “They’re trying to make this look so normal, so conservative, so appealing - they’re just like you and me,” he said of the campaign to legalize gay marriage.

Demographics are on the side of those pushing for expanded marriage rights. National polls consistently show more people support same-sex marriage than oppose it and that young people back same-sex marriage by a large margin.

Even Jackson, who is helping to lead the effort, said that until a few years ago, he was “very much against homosexu-

ality.” Then, he learned that a close childhood friend was gay.

He said the news forced him to reexamine his views. “It wasn’t someone throwing talking points at me that changed my mind. It was that I could relate it to something real,” he said. “I think that’s happened every time a group has changed their mind.” Carlton Smith, a founder of Baltimore Black Pride, said he does not personally plan to marry if the referendum passes. Smith, who is 49, says he has survived a lifetime of bullying from family members and fellow blacks and from the white gay community, and he hopes life will become easier for gay, black men in Baltimore. “It will seem close to equality,” he said. “We’re not all there yet but it will be one more milestone I’ll live to see.” — Reuters

Congo, Rwanda control tempers after shootout KABUANGA: Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo sought on Monday to prevent the killing of a Congolese soldier in a border clash from causing an escalation of already tense relations, officials said. “Relations are the same with Rwanda. We’re in contact with them. It was just an isolated incident,” Congolese army spokesman Colonel Olivier Hamuli said during a visit to the scene of the shooting in eastern Congo, at a spot where the border runs through a potato patch. “You can see there’s no natural frontier, so it’s easy for someone to make a mistake and find himself in another territory,” he said, waving towards a group of potato farmers watching from just meters (yards) away in Rwanda. The Congolese army at the weekend said one of its members had been killed on Saturday during an incident involving a Congolese soldier and a Rwandan soldier. Rwanda said soldiers from Congo’s armed forces had crossed the border on a reconnaissance mission and one was killed in a clash with Rwandan troops while one escaped. On Monday, apart from a handful of military men watching silently from a nearby hilltop, there was little to indicate that the tense border runs through the waterlogged field where the Congolese soldier was killed.

Relations between the two Great Lakes neighbours, never warm, have chilled considerably since United Nations investigators accused Rwanda earlier this year of backing eastern Congo’s M23 rebels, a charge Kigali strongly denies. Yet for all the cross words exchanged after their armies engaged in the rare firefight on Saturday, both sides were quick to head off a possible escalation - a subtle nod to just how much worse things could get. In a state-

ment over the weekend Rwanda said it would not respond militarily and would instead seek to resolve the issue through diplomatic channels.

A HISTORY OF WAR Violence between Congo and Rwandan has been a nearly constant worry in the region for almost two decades, and open conflict in the past has led to catastrophic fallout. In 1996, Kigali invaded its much larger neighbor in pursuit of Rwandan Hutu extremists responsible for a 1994 genocide that killed some 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis and moderate Hutus. A second invasion a year later, sucked in a half dozen other African armies and sparked a conflict and lingering humanitarian crisis that continues today and has killed an estimated 5.4 million people.

Nearly a decade after the end to that war, more than a million and a half villagers have again fled violence in the two Congolese provinces bordering Rwanda, many since the start of the Tutsi-dominated M23 rebellion.

However, analysts say Rwanda’s involvement in eastern Congo is largely driven by economic interests - from smuggled minerals to fertile grazing lands for Rwandan cattle and it has little interest in an open war with Congo. For Congo’s badly equipped and poorly disciplined army, a conflict with the Rwandan military - one of Africa’s best - is something to be avoided at all costs. “This shouldn’t be dramatized and politicized by Kigali,” Congolese human rights lawyer Jean-Paul Lumbulumbu said of the border shoot-out. “But incidents like this could be a catalyst to serious violence. —Reuters

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

I N T E R N AT I O N A L

US Election

BOSTON: Voters line up to cast their vote at the Boston Public Library yesterday in Boston, Massachusetts. (Inset)President Barack Obama speaks, as a tear streams down his face, at his final campaign stop on the evening before the 2012 presidential election in Des Moines, Iowa. — AP

Tearful Obama calls for change In echo of 2008, talks about changing the world DES MOINES: An emotional President Barack Obama ended his final campaign on Monday in Iowa, the place that launched his first White House bid and that could hold the key to his political future.

After two days of nearly round-theclock travel to the battleground states of Ohio, Florida, Colorado, New Hampshire and Wisconsin, Obama ended his tour in Des Moines with a speech that harkened back to his 2008 campaign. “I’ve come back to Iowa one

more time to ask for your vote. I came back to ask you to help us finish what we’ve started, because this is where our movement for change began,” he told a crowd of some 20,000 people. Obama’s voice broke and he wiped away tears from his eyes as he reflected on those who had helped his campaign. The night rally was the last one of Obama’s 2012 re-election effort. Unlike Republican rival Mitt Romney, who has stops planned in Pennsylvania and Ohio on Election

Day, Obama is scheduled to spend all of Tuesday in his hometown of Chicago. In 2008 Iowa propelled Obama to the Democratic presidential nomination when it backed him during its caucuses, the country’s first presidential nominating contest. Obama beat then rival Hillary Clinton for their party’s nomination and went on to best Republican Senator John McCain for the White House. This year Iowa is another swing state with six electoral votes that could give him the edge in the

race against Romney, the former Massachusetts governor. Obama has talked wistfully about this being his final campaign in recent months, but his show of emotion was rare.

Obama grew teary at the end of his 2008 campaign as well when his grandmother died shortly before Election Day. Obama reminisced about that campaign and repeated a promise that he has not dwelled on this year: the inspirational pledge to change the world.

Obama told the stor y of the woman who coined the chant “Fired up, ready to go,” a phrase that came to symbolize his 2008 campaign. “That shows you what one voice can do. One voice can change a room. And if it can change a room, it can change a city. And if it can change a city, it can change a state.

And if it can change a state, it can change a nation. And if it can change a nation, it can change the world,” he said. “Iowa, in 2008 your voice changed the world.” First lady

In dark and cold, Americans vote FALLS CHURCH: From a symbolic hamlet to a critical swing state neighboring the halls of power in Washington to the stormscarred streets of metropolitan New York, Americans rose early to cast ballots for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney. Up and down the East Coast voters braved very cold weather in the pre-dawn darkness as they queued up to bring an end to one of the hardest-fought and most expensive election campaigns ever. Facing them was a choice between two men with very different visions of how to get economically struggling America back firmly on its feet.

More than 100 people were already patiently waiting in line at the Falls Church community center for more than half an hour when the basement gymnasium turned polling station threw open its doors at precisely 6 am (1100 GMT). “ The polls are open! Go on in!” the polling station manager declared. That equivalent of a referee firing a starting gun echoed up and down the East Coast, with polling stations further west-in battleground states like Ohio that could determine the winner-due to follow suit later. In this Washington suburb, blue tape on the sidewalk marked the line that Democratic and Republican campaign workers could not cross to solicit votes. Two dogs sat patiently for their owners to return from doing their civic duty. Virginia, which helped put Obama into the White House in 2008 after favoring Republicans for years, is one of the so-called battleground states where the contest is so tight that it could

Michelle Obama, who has crisscrossed the United States headlining political events for her husband, joined the president for the rally.

“Truly, this is where it all beganright here,” she said to cheers from the crowd. Obama has traveled to Iowa 12 times this year, according to his campaign.— Reuters

Absentee balloting grows Early voting shrinks in Florida

CRAWFORDVILLE: Poll workers solicit votes just after dawn as people arrive to place their votes at the County Polling House yesterday in Crawfordville, Florida.— AFP swing the final national outcome. Within 20 minutes of polls opening, dozens of voters were seen by AFP reporters waiting outside voting stations in northern Virginia, an early sign of enthusiasm in the

KOGELO: Sarah Obama, step-grandmother to USA’s incumbent President Barack Obama gives a press conference at her homestead yesterday in the village of Kogelo in western Kenya, where Obama’s father was born. “I pray for him, for God to help him. —AFP

race between Obama and Romney. “It’s going to be a higher than normal turnout for sure,” said Romney campaigner Chris Redder as he distributed sample ballots to arriving voters in Falls Church indicating which Republican boxes they should tick.

“I consider this an important election,” he said. “It’s two visions of America-more personal responsibility versus more intrusive government, and pro-life versus what I’d say pro-abortion.” If Obama is re-elected, Redder said, his policies would “damage the country” in ways that would take years to recover from. “I know it’s going to be a tight race,” added an older voter who, like many, preferred not to give his nameperhaps not surprising in a part of greater Washington that is thick with national security contractors. “They enlarged the (voting) facility, so they must have known the same thing.”

A middle-aged municipal worker, who immigrated to the United States 14 years ago from the Philippines, favored Obama to win re-election, saying: “If Romney loses, it would be his own fault.” “What happened in 2008 is happening now,” he said.

“There are more supporters for Obamaand Romney doesn’t have his kind of organization.” A naturalized immigrant from Japan, a three-time Republican cam-

paign worker employed in the software industry who declined to give her name for what she called “a good reason,” favored Romney. “I’m a very conservative person and I like his policies,” she said. “I tend not to like big government and big spending.”

Yesterday’s very first ballots were cast just after midnight in the New Hampshire mountain hamlet of Dixville Notch, where they were immediately counted. For the first time ever, it was a tie: five for Obama, five for Romney. In New Jersey, one of the states hardest hit by last week’s superstorm Sandy, people waited in line impatiently amid rubble and rotting rubbish left by the horrendous storm. In Hoboken, one makeshift polling station was 40 minutes late in opening, drawing complaints from the 60 people in line. When the doors finally did open, a volunteer came out and told the grumbling crowd: “Please excuse the appearance of this place, two days ago it was under two feet of water.”—AFP

ORLANDO: Florida voters cast fewer early ballots in the 2012 presidential election than in 2008, but they submitted more absentee ballots than they did four years ago, according to statewide elections figures. Overall, almost 40 percent of Florida’s 11.9 million registered voters have already cast their ballots, and registered Democrats had cast 88,314 more votes than registered Republicans through Sunday. Opinion polls for the Nov 6 election showed Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney running neck and neck in Florida, where a mere 537 votes decided the 2000 presidential election in George W Bush’s favor.

The early voting period in Florida ended on Saturday, though voters were still submitting absentee ballots at elec tion super visors’ offices on Sunday and Monday. The state’s Republican-led legislature cut the number of early voting days nearly in half this year, leading to long lines where voters had to wait up to 8 hours and complaints that the change in voting rules was part of a Republican effort to suppress Democratic votes.

Republican Governor Rick Scott rejected a call last week to extend early voting by a day.

The data suggests the changes curbed in-person voting at the early polling sites. Florida voters cast 249,974 fewer ballots at those sites in the 2012 presidential election than in 2008. Democrats, who typically make up a large proportion of early voters, managed only a 167,653 edge over Republicans in the voting at early balloting sites. That was well below the margin in 2008, when Democrats led in early voting by almost half a million ballots.

Republicans have the edge in absentee voting - 79,339 more Republican ballots were turned in than Democratic ballots by Sunday.

Absentee voting had exceeded the 2008 totals by 207,308 ballots. All told, the battleground state entered the final day of voting before the election with 4.46 million votes cast compared with 4.51 million in 2008 - a drop of 42,666. The total number of registered voters in Florida has risen by 6.1 percent since the last presidential election to 11.9 million.— Reuters

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Details emerge in Afghan village massacre WASHINGTON: Staff Sgt Robert Bales spent the evening on his remote outpost in southern Afghanistan with fellow soldiers, watching a movie about revenge killings, sharing whiskey from a plastic bottle and discussing an attack that cost one of their friends his leg.

Within hours, a prosecutor said Monday, a cape-wearing Bales embarked on a killing spree of his own, slaughtering 16 Afghan civilians before returning to the base in predawn darkness, bloody and incredulous that his comrades ordered him to surrender his weapons. “I thought I was doing the right thing,” a fellow soldier recalled him saying.

The details emerged at the opening of a preliminary hearing in Bales’ case at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, offering the clearest picture yet of one of the worst atrocities of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The prosecutor, Lt Col Jay Morse, said that after Bales attacked one village near his post at Camp Belambay, he returned, woke a colleague to report what he had done, and said that he was headed out to attack another

village. “I never got out of bed, sir,” the colleague, Sgt Jason McLaughlin, testified. “I thought it was ridiculously out of the realm of normal possibility, sir.”

The March 11 attack on the villages of Balandi and Alkozai prompted the US to halt combat operations for days in the face of protests. It was a month before military investigators could reach the crime scenes.

Bales, 39, faces 16 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of attempted murder.

The hearing could last up to two weeks and will help determine whether the case goes to a court-martial. Bales has not entered a plea. His attorneys have not discussed the evidence, but say Bales has posttraumatic stress disorder and suffered a concussive head injury during a prior deployment to Iraq. The father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., wore green fatigues and sat beside one of his civilian lawyers as an investigating officer read the charges against him and informed him of his rights.

When asked if he understood them, Bales said, “Sir, yes, sir.”

The defense did not give an

opening statement. Bales was not expected to testify.

McLaughlin recalled that before Bales left his room, he said, “ Take care of my kids.”

McLaughlin’s response: “No, Bob. Take care of your own kids.”

McLaughlin said he went back to sleep until his 3 a.m. guard shift, and forgot about the conversation until two Afghan soldiers approached him to say shots had been fired. “It felt like a thousand pounds of bricks hit me in the chest,” he said. “I ran to see if Sgt Bales was in his room.” He wasn’t, McLaughlin said. A surveillance blimp captured video of a caped man identified as Bales - returning to the base. He was greeted by McLaughlin and other soldiers with “weapons at the ready,” said Morse. McLaughlin said Bales’ first words were: “Are you (expletive) kidding me?”

McLaughlin testified that he then turned to McLaughlin and asked: “Mac, did you rat me out?” McLaughlin replied, “No.” The night before the raids, Bales and two other soldiers watched “Man On Fire,” a fictional 2004 Denzel Washington movie about a former CIA operative on

a revenge spree, the prosecutor said. Cpl. David Godwin testified that Bales seemed normal as they shared whiskey, discussed Bales’ anxiety over whether he’d get a promotion and talked about another soldier who lost his leg a week in an attack a week earlier. Shor tly before leaving the base, Bales told a Special Forces soldier, Sgt 1st Class Clayton Blackshear, that he was unhappy with his family life and that the troops should have been quicker to retaliate for the March 5 bomb attack, Morse said. “At all times, he had a clear understanding of what he was doing and what he had done,” said Morse, who described Bales as lucid and responsive. Prosecutors played for the first time the video captured by the surveillance blimp that showed the caped figure running toward the base, then stopping and dropping his weapons as he was confronted.

There was no audio. It wasn’t immediately clear from where Bales got the cape. Part of the hearing will be held overnight to allow video testimony from witnesses in Afghanistan. Bales’ attorney, John Henry Browne,

Staff Sgt Robert Bales said the hearing will give the defense a chance to see what the military can prove. He said they are expecting a court-martial. Bales’ wife, Karilyn, told a Seattle T V station that she hoped for a fair proceeding if her husband goes to trial. “It all seems incomprehensible to me,” she told KING-TV. “This is not something he would do, not the Bob I know.” Bales, an Ohio native, joined the Army in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks as

his career as a stock broker imploded, including an arbitrator’s $1.5 million fraud judgment against him and his former company. Bales was serving his four th combat tour after three stints in Iraq. His arrest prompted a national discussion about the stresses that soldiers face from multiple deployments. His lawyers have said Bales remembers little or nothing from around the time of the attacks.— AP

Haqqani squeezed, hit with sanctions US names Zakir ‘specially designated terrorist’

KHOI RATTA: Arrested Pakistani couple Mohammad Zafar and wife Zaheen Akhtar sit in their respective cells at a police station in Khoi Ratta, 140 kilometers north of Pakistani Kashmir’s main city Muzaffarabad yesterday. — AFP

Pakistan parents in ‘honor killing’ regret acid attack KHOI RATTA: A Pakistani couple who killed their daughter by dousing her in acid for looking at boys spoke yesterday of their regret at the attack which has highlighted the “honor killings” that cost hundreds of women their lives each year.

The parents threw acid over 15-year-old Anusha at their home in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Monday last week after seeing her looking at boys. The girl died in agony two days later after suffering 70 percent burns, according to doctors. So-called “honor” attacks are common in deeply conservative Pakistan.

Rights activists say more than 900 women were murdered last year after being accused of bringing shame on the family in some way.

Many killings are passed off as suicide and fail to make headlines, but Anusha’s death came less than a month after Taleban extremists tried to murder schoolgirl activist Malala Yousafzai, prompting worldwide condemnation.

Both parents were arrested on murder charges last week. Anusha’s mother Zaheen Akhtar, speaking from her police cell in Khoi Ratta, 140 kilometers north of Pakistani Kashmir ’s main city Muzaffarabad, said she feared for the future of the rest of her children.

“I deeply regret my action. I am repenting as I should not have done this.

She was very innocent,” the 42-year-old mother of eight said. “My remaining children, including four girls and two boys, all under 10 years of age, have been left

alone and they have nobody out there except Allah the almighty to look after them,” she said. Akhtar said she and husband Mohammad Zafar had feared Anusha would follow in the footsteps of her elder sister. They married the elder sister off at 16 “because people had been talking about her bad character” and she had cut off contact after moving to Karachi with her husband.

Anusha, a promising and popular student, had committed the “crime” of looking at two boys riding a motorbike outside her home in Saidpur Phelan. The small village is home to around 1,000 people, most of whom farm the surrounding lush valley. House painter Zafar, 53, said he became enraged and beat Anusha before his wife threw acid over her, but now he was haunted by memories of the attack. “We were upset by (the) character of our elder daughter and feared that Anusha might follow (in) her footprints,” he said. “Anusha’s mother should not have done this. I cannot sleep and whenever I shut my eyes, I see Anusha’s burnt face.”

The parents waited two days to take Anusha to hospital, but Zafar insisted this was simply because they could not afford to take her until a local doctor gave him some money. Local police official Tahir Ayub said there was no truth in the parents’ suggestion that Anusha’s character had been questioned. “She was very innocent. They did this because of sheer backwardness,” he said. —AFP

Sri Lanka’s speaker accepts motion to oust chief justice COLOMBO: The speaker of Sri Lanka’s parliament accepted yesterday a ruling party motion to impeach the chief justice for improper conduct, setting the stage for a potentially destabilizing clash between the government and judiciary. Relations between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake have been deteriorating over recent months with the judiciary complaining of interference and the government complaining she had over-stepped her authority.

Bandaranayake, Sri Lanka’s first woman chief of the Supreme Court, faces fourteen charges ranging from undeclared assets to violating constitutional provisions, according to the impeachment motion lodged in parliament.

“Yes, he has accepted it,” parliament Secretary General Dhammika Dassanayake said, confirming that the motion had been officially received by the speaker, Chamal Rajapaksa, the president’s brother. The president appointed Bandaranayake in May

last year but their relationship has soured swiftly this year. Rajapaksa’s party moved the impeachment motion in parliament last Thursday. The next day, the United States raised its concern. “We urge the government of Sri Lanka to avoid any action that would impede the efficacy and independence of Sri Lanka’s judiciary,” US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.

The International Commission of Jurists, grouping 60 prominent judges and lawyers from around the world, said last week the judiciary in Sri Lanka was under increasing attack and its independence was threatened. The speaker will appoint a select committee made up of at least seven members to look into the charges against Bandaranayake. She could be removed with a simple majority of 113 votes in the 225-member parliament. Rajapaksa and his allies control more than two-thirds of seats.

The motion has been signed by 117 ruling party legislators.— Reuters

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council’s Taleban sanctions committee on Monday added the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, accused of high-profile attacks in Afghanistan, to a UN blacklist, the United States said. The Security Council committee’s move also singled out Qari Zakir, an operational commander involved in many of the network’s highest-profile suicide attacks, US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said in a statement.

“These sanctions oblige all UN member states to implement an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo against Zakir and the Haqqani Network,” Rice said. New additions to the Taleban sanctions list are relatively rare, since such moves are usually agreed upon unanimously. Council diplomats said it was especially significant that Pakistan, a member of the 15nation council until the end of 2013, did not stand in the way of the moved. The UN blacklist now contains 131 individuals, including Zakir, and three entities, one of which is the Haqqani network.

The United States designated the Haqqani network as a terrorist organization in September, a move the group’s commanders said proved Washington was not sincere about peace efforts in Afghanistan.

US officials have long accused Pakistan of supporting the network, an allegation Islamabad denies. The Haqqanis, who are allied with the Afghan Taleban, are some of the most experienced fighters in Afghanistan and have carried out several high-profile attacks on Western targets. “Today’s action by the Security Council

PESHAWAR: Qazi Hussain Ahmed, leader of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, leads a rally in Peshawar, against the US drone attacks and US pressure against the Haqqani network. The UN Security Council has ordered global sanctions against the Haqqani militant group in Afghanistan and its suicide attack mastermind.— AFP expands upon these (UN) sanctions and confirms the international community’s resolve to end the Haqqani Network’s ability to execute violent attacks in Afghanistan,” Rice said. “It also reflects the Security Council’s commitment to use and enforce sanctions against those who threaten peace in Afghanistan, in conjunction with a strong commitment to support Afghan-led peace and reconciliation,” her statement added. Rice said that as well as organizing suicide

attacks, Zakir had trained militants to use small and heavy weapons and improvised explosive devices.

The US State Department said separately on Monday that it added Zakir to the US list of specially designated terrorists, a move aimed at freezing any property he might have under US jurisdiction and prohibiting any US transactions with him. “He has been involved in many of the Haqqani Network’s high-profile suicide attacks and is partially responsible for making some of the

final determinations on whether or not to proceed with large-scale attacks planned by local district-level commanders,” the State Department said in a statement. It said attacks using personnel selected and trained by Zakir included the 2010 attacks on coalition force bases in Afghanistan, the June 2011 attack on the Intercontinental Hotel, and the September 2011 attack on the US Embassy in Kabul, which killed 16 Afghans, including at least six children.— Reuters

Australia wants Pakistan to probe sheep slaughter Brutal killing of 21,000 Australian sheep in Karachi SYDNEY: Prime Minister Julia Gillard demanded yesterday that Pakistan investigate and explain the brutal killing of 21,000 Australian sheep in Karachi, a slaughter officials have described as appalling. The shipment of Australian sheep was sent to the port city after being turned away by Bahrain, with Pakistan livestock officials ordering them to be culled over disease concerns. Graphic footage of their slaughter was aired by ABC’s Four Corners program on Monday, including images of a man sawing at a sheep’s neck before throwing it into a bloody trench.

Other sheep were bulldozed into the pit after being killed last month, but some were seen the next morning still breathing, sparking angry condemnation of their treatment.

Gillard said that she had spoken to her Pakistani counterpart Raja Pervez Ashraf at a summit of European and Asian leaders in Laos to express her concern. “I did raise with the prime minister of Pakistan my concern about the graphic and very cruel images we’ve seen of the treatment of Australian sheep,” she told reporters in Vientiane. “I explained to him that Australians are distressed to see these acts of cruelty and that I

wanted the matter investigated.

“He undertook to investigate the matter ... I was very clear about Australia’s concerns, very strong in raising those concerns and very clear that this is something that has distressed the Australian people.” Australia Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig earlier called the slaughter “appalling” and his department disputed that the sheep were unhealthy. “We do not know the reasoning behind the Pakistan authority’s decision to cull the sheep in Pakistan or their choice of the method used,” the agriculture ministry said. “We continue to hold that both the decision and the method used were unnecessary.”

Livestock officials ordered the sheep to be culled after they tested positive for salmonella and actinomyces bacteria. Although samples from the sheep were sent to a British laboratory and came back clean, clearing the meat for human consumption, municipal officials in Karachi rejected the tests. Pakistani officials insisted the animals were slaughtered in keeping with Islamic practice, but said enquiries would be made. “As far as we know the culling was done in accordance with the rules. The animals were slaughtered in Islamic

manner,” a senior official with Sindh provincial livestock ministry said.

“However, we will investigate the reports alleging the Australian sheep were brutalized during the slaughter.” Australian farmers urged against a ban on the live export trade, saying significant improvements had been made in regulating Australia’s live export market since a controversy in Indonesia last year.

Canberra suspended live cattle exports to Indonesia for a month last year after a television documentary revealed mistreatment inside its abattoirs, only reinstating the trade under a strict new licensing system.

Australia’s National Farmers Federation said “decisive action” had been taken to temporarily suspend exports of sheep to Pakistan and Bahrain while investigations were carried out.

The farming lobby group stressed that Australia was a world leader in animal treatment in exports and warned that banning the trade would see welfare standards fall. “If Australia was to stop exporting livestock, global animal welfare standards would unquestionably decline,” it said. Australia’s live export trade is worth about US$1 billion a year and employs thousands of people.— AFP

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Hu leaves behind a mighty yet anxious China BEIJING: Hu Jintao presided over a momentous decade in which China cemented its re-emergence as a global power, became the world’s secondlargest economy, and dazzled the world with a glittering Olympic Games. But the outgoing Communist chief leaves his successor Xi Jinpingset to be appointed party leader at a congress starting this week-facing an array of problems stemming from China’s economic and social shifts, and hidebound politics.

When Hu, 69, came to power a decade ago, he was a largely blank slate, leading some to hope that he could be a reformer who might help inch China toward some form of modest liberalization. But today the Communist Party’s stranglehold is tighter than ever. Corruption festers at all levels of business and politics, and while the economic miracle that has

lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty continues, growth is slowing and inequality and pollution are worsening.

Hu made more sustainable and inclusive development his mantra.

“The past 10 years I would say were two-sided: on the one hand there were great achievements, but on the other hand there were many problems,” said Pu Xingzu, a politics professor at Fudan University in Shanghai.

“Solutions for these problems must be found... or they will get more complicated, more difficult and more serious,” he said, adding that China needed “bold, risk-taking” leaders to confront them. A product of the conservative Communist Youth League, Hu has been anything but an agent of change-a wooden figure with the look of a bank manager and a cautious approach.

Trained as an engineer, he spent much of his career in poor interior regions that largely missed out on the growth enjoyed by vibrant coastal manufacturing areas after late leader Deng Xiaoping launched economic reforms 30 years ago. But an endorsement by Deng sent Hu on a path to the top of the Communist Party leadership and the national presidency. He came to power at a time when the side effects of years of growth-at-all-costs policies were becoming acute, with economic reforms having tossed tens of millions of workers from jobs in state-owned firms.

Rampant growth had made China one of the world’s most polluted countries and those dispossessed by rapid change were mounting tens of thousands of protests each year. To address such ills, Hu called for smarter, more balanced growth-he called it “scientific

development”-to provide support for the rural poor, reform some social services, and stage pollution crackdowns. But despite his best efforts rural inequality is near “danger” levels, according to a report in August by a state-linked think-tank, and some voices within the party have warned the underlying problems are worsening.

Hu’s successors come to power at a time of growing pressure for reform of a growth model that relies heavily on exports and investment.

Economists say this puts China increasingly at the mercy of foreign economies-overseas financial troubles have slowed growth this year-and advise a more balanced economy with domestic consumption playing a greater role. But observers say the party leadership’s cautious, consensusdriven approach has militated against bold action. “They (the leadership

under Hu) weren’t cosmopolitan, market-oriented reformers with a vision of how things needed to change radically. They were administrators from the interior,” said William Overholt, a research fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Another blot on Hu’s record is the perceived failure of his calls for a “harmonious society”-a unified China pulling together-a slogan tarnished by the persistent social turmoil and violent unrest among various ethnic minorities in recent years. Steve Tsang, director of the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham, said the government deserves credit for maintaining steady growth amid external shocks, adding “a clear majority of Chinese have got better off”. But he added: “They didn’t achieve very much in terms of what they said they would set out to do. — AFP

Enigmatic ‘princeling’ takes China top spot Xi - a Communist aristocrat with a pop star wife

OHI: This aerial photo shows four round-shaped reactors at the Ohi nuclear power plant in Ohi, Fukui prefecture. — AP

South Korea extends nuclear investigation SEOUL: South Korea’s main nuclear power supervisor extended an investigation into forged safety certificates for reactor components to three more facilities yesterday, a day after shutting down two reactors. South Korea generates 30 percent of its electricity from 23 nuclear reactors at state-owned plants, and the government warned of the potential for unprecedented power shortages due to the shutdowns as demand peaks in winter.

Authorities were at pains to stress that the parts involved related to noncrucial aspects of the plants’ operation and posed no risk to safety. Yet in the aftermath of the Fukishima nuclear accident in Japan, there were concerns the discovery could tarnish the image of the country’s nuclear program.

“The commission will verify all the components at the reactors by setting up a private and public team...We will make regulations to supervise them,” said one of the nine members of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, who could not be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media. A spokesman at the commission added that members of the private and public joint team would be announced today at the earliest, along with their investigation schedules. The three additional reactors under investigation are still running.

The two reactors already shut down will remain closed until the parts are replaced.

With another five reactors already closed for regular maintenance and glitches, a total of 6,500 megawatts of power capacity has been removed from the grid, from a total capacity of 81,740 MW. The two shut reactors, each able to supply 1,000 MW, were found to have components with certificates purportedly from US and Canadian regulators that had been forged by the suppliers of the parts.

The latest incident comes after a series of problems in South Korea’s nuclear power sector this year. Several reactors have been shut down for varying periods for malfunctioning, and officials at state-owned Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) have been investigated for receiving bribes, according to local media.

“There were a lot of glitches earlier this year in reactors management. Those in charge of the matter often said they

didn’t know, but not knowing is also a problem,” said Kim Jin-woo, president and chief executive of Korea Energy Economics Institute, a government thinktank for energy policy. KHNP, fully owned by state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO), reported that eight firms that supplied parts had forged 60 certificates to cover 7,682 items between 2003 and 2012, the ministry and the company officials said. KHNP declined to identify the eight firms.

SOUTH KOREA TO CUT CONSUMPTION Government officials said that South Korea would take measures to cut power consumption rather than hiking imports of alternative fuels to feed additional electricity generation. “We will not increase our purchases of LNG and coal compared with what we have usually bought for the peak winter demand,” said an official at the Ministry of the Knowledge Economy, adding that most power plants were operating at full capacity anyway. “We will control demand. We are holding meetings to detail the control measures.”

South Korea generates 40 percent of its 81,740 megawatts of power with coal, 30 percent with nuclear and the remainder with liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to government data. The government aims to maintain 4,500 megawatts of reserve power generation capacity over projected demand, officials said. Peak power demand will likely eat into the target safety margin this winter and strain the grid. Excess capacity is expected to be 2,750-5,400 megawatts in November and December, and could fall to 2,300 megawatts in January and February, according to the government forecast on Monday.

South Korea, which experienced nationwide power cuts in September of last year, has been campaigning to encourage consumers to save energy in the peak seasons of summer and winter.

Authorities imposed fines on public buildings that kept doors open while running air conditioning this summer and stipulated that thermostats in big department stores and hotels be set at 26 degreees Celsius, several degrees higher than usual. It has also built up fuel supplies that could be deployed during an emergency through such measures as filling up LNG storage. — Reuters

BEIJING: China’s next leader Xi Jinping is a Communist aristocrat with a pop star wife, but his beliefs on the issues that will shape the country’s next decade remain hidden behind an enigmatic demeanor. Barring an unprecedented upset, Xi is to assume China’s paramount political post as general secretary of the all-powerful Party at its five-yearly congress beginning this week.

He replaces outgoing leader Hu Jintao and the promotion ensures he will also take over the national presidency early next year. Xi, 59, inherits the mantle with his party’s key claim to ruling legitimacy economic growth-threatened by a rare slowdown, and its unity shaken by an embarrassing scandal involving one of his former Politburo colleagues. But owing to the party’s intensely secretive nature and the factional divides he must negotiate, observers have found it hard to pin down Xi’s beliefs and allegiances-or how he will address the challenges.

Xi has an impeccable political pedigree as the son of a respected figure in the revolution that brought the Communists to power in 1949, and previously headed some of China’s most economically dynamic and reform-minded areas. Married to a famous Chinese singer, Xi-a portly figure typically seen on state television with a deadpan expression-has shown a bit more color than his predecessor Hu, a Communist bureaucrat with a wooden image.

Xi created a stir during a 2009 speech in Mexico by scoffing at “foreigners with full bellies and nothing to do but criticize our affairs”, an apparent reference to the West.

But he has longstanding links with the US, going on an agricultural research trip to the country in 1985 and staying with a family in Muscatine, Iowa, deep in the farming heartland of the Midwest. Almost three decades later he paid his hosts a return visit while on a muchpublicized official trip to the US in February, where he indulged in his purported love of basketball at an NBA game in Washington. His wife Peng Liyuan is a showbusiness personality who holds the rank of army general and starred for 25 years in a televised Lunar New Year gala watched by hundreds of millions of people. Xi has tasted both the hard life of the impoverished countryside and the energy of

China’s economic miracle. His father Xi Zhongxun fought alongside Mao Zedong and served as vice-premier until he fell in one of Mao’s political purges, then was rehabilitated under pragmatic former top leader Deng Xiaoping. Xi grew up among the privileged

Standing Committee, China’s top decisionmaking body. When he was named vice-president in 2008 it put him in pole position for the top job. But there are few clues on what sort of leader he will be in the now-standard 10-year term, and no hint at all that he will be able to

BEIJING: In this file photo, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (center) walks behind President Hu Jintao ( right) and Premier Wen Jiabao as they clap together during a conference to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Youth League at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. — AP elite but, like many young educated Chinese impose his will in the consensus-driven upper during Mao’s 1966-76 “Cultural Revolution”, echelons of the Communist Party even if he was “sent down” to the countryside to live and wanted to. The Party tightly restricts any inforwork humbly alongside peasants. mation on top leaders that would reveal them While laboring in the poor northern as individuals, a lesson learned from the perprovince of Shaanxi, he joined the Communist sonality cult developed around Communist party and moved to Beijing in 1975 to study at founder Mao Zedong-often to disastrous the prestigious Tsinghua University-also Hu’s effect. There has been speculation that Xi alma mater. From there Xi rose up the party could have a reformist bent, but analysts say ranks mainly on China’s fast-growing eastern he has risen up mainly because his pedigree seaboard, where he earned a reputation as an made him a compromise, status quo choice effective manager and supporter of economic acceptable to Hu, former president Jiang reforms. He oversaw the key manufacturing Zemin and other powerbrokers. Xi has avoided provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang before briefly revealing any leanings that might threaten his taking the top post in the commercial hub of status as a consensus candidate, backing nonShanghai in 2007. Later that year he secured a controversial policies and positions during his spot on the party’s nine-member Politburo rise up the party ranks, said China political ana-

News

in brief

4 Mekong smugglers sentenced to death BEIJING: A Chinese court sentenced four members of a Myanmar drug gang to death yesterday for kidnapping and killing 13 Chinese sailors last year on the Mekong River, state media said. China, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand began joint Mekong River patrols in December after the sailors were killed along a section of the river flowing through the Golden Triangle region, which is notorious for drug traffickers and extortion gangs. Gang leader Naw Kham was extradited from Laos by Chinese authorities in May. Murdered businessman was informant: Report BEIJING: A British businessman murdered by the wife of top Chinese politician Bo Xilai had informed on the couple for over a year to his country’s spy agency, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Neil Heywood shared details based on his unusually close access to the powerful couple, the paper said, citing his friends and current and former British officials. The revelation that Heywood was murdered brought down Bo and revealed rifts among top leaders as they negotiated a once-a-decade power handover set to take place this month.

Parents turn to crime to enroll their children SEOUL: South Korean prosecutors yesterday charged 47 parents with forging documents to enroll their children in foreign-run schools to give them an edge in the country’s hyper-competitive education system.

Among those indicted was a 37-year-old housewife, identified by her surname Kwon, who hired a broker in 2009 to create false British and Bulgarian passports, the prosecutors’ office in the western city of Incheon said. Foreigner-only schools in South Korea require at least one of their students’ parents to be a foreign citizen, and Kwon used the passports to gain admission for her daughter.

Li Keqiang: China next PM has mixed record BEIJING: Li Keqiang, a bureaucrat with an easy smile but a mixed record, will step up China’s Communist hierarchy at this week’s congress on his way to becoming prime minister of the world’s second-largest economy. Vice Premier Li is expected to take over the reins of dayto-day government from his boss Wen Jiabao in March. For the past decade, Wen has cultivated an image as the friendly face of the Communist Party, voicing qualified support for political reform, condemning corruption and comforting disaster victims. Wen has also railed against the rampant official corruption that infuriates many ordinary Chinese-though a New York Times report last month said his relatives had amassed $2.7 billion in “hidden riches” since 1992.

Li, 57, is a politician with a similarly affable manner, fluent English and a more youthful bearing than his stiff party peers, and who has voiced support for the kind of economic reforms many experts say China sorely needs. But his efficacy has already been questioned after an endless stream of health scandals-the vice premier heads a national commission set up to prevent such abuses. As party boss in Henan province, Li took flak for the handling of an HIV/AIDS epidemic stemming from a tainted government-backed blood donation program. Entire villages were infected, but his provincial government responded with a clampdown on activists.

A native of eastern China’s poor Anhui province, Li rose up the ranks of the conservative Communist Youth League, gaining a valuable patron in current

President Hu Jintao, who ran the organization in the 1980s. With a law degree from the prestigious Peking University and a doctorate in rural economics, Li has nurtured an image of a careful administrator focused on developing a Chinese middle class. He became the party leader in Henan, in central China, and Liaoning province in the northeast, both of which prospered under him, before being promoted to Wen’s deputy.

As premier, a top priority for Li will be to boost China’s economic growth, which is currently export-led and sagging because of weak demand for manufactured goods in Europe and the United States. Analysts say Li has been at the forefront of efforts to wean China towards more balanced development, with domestic consumption playing a greater role. — AFP

HAINAN: In a file picture, China’s Vice Premier Li Keqiang waves as he arrives for the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia on the southern Chinese island of Hainan. — AFP

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

NEWS US votes in cliffhanger Continued from Page 1 The most expensive campaign in US history saw an estimated $6 billion unleashed by the rival camps in a fight to win over that thin sliver of the electorate that could swing either way. After a frantic burst of last-minute campaigning, voters were deciding whether to re-elect Obama despite the plodding economy or to hand the reins to Romney, who has vowed a return to prosperity through smaller government. They will also cast judgment on a third of the Democratic-led Senate and the entire Republican-run House of Representatives.

But with neither chamber expected to change hands, the current political gridlock will likely linger.

During a polling day trip to his campaign head-

Choice clear between law...

quarters in Chicago, Obama, who like an estimated one third of Americans voted before election day, expressed confidence and congratulated Romney on “a spirited campaign”. “I know that his supporters are just as engaged and just as enthusiastic and working just as hard today. We feel confident we’ve got the votes to win, that it’s going to depend ultimately on whether those votes turn out,” he said. In a radio interview, Obama acknowledged some anxiety. “I think anybody who’s running for office would be lying if they say that there’s not some butterflies before the polls come in because anything can happen,” he said. “That’s the magic of democracy, it’s up to the people to decide.”

Early voting was brisk as many sought to beat fast-developing queues in key battleground states like Florida and Virginia, where waits of up to three

hours were reported at some polling stations.

Casting his vote with wife Ann in Belmont, Massachusetts Romney said he felt “very, very good” about his election prospects, but some saw signs of nerves in his decision to make unusual election day trips to Ohio and Pennsylvania. Both men made heartfelt pleas to voters in late night rallies on Monday attended by fervent supporters.

“Tomorrow, from the granite of New Hampshire to the Rockies of Colorado, from the coastlines of Florida, to Virginia’s rolling hills, from the valleys of Ohio to these Iowa fields, we will keep America moving forward,” Obama said. Speaking in Iowa, the state that first nurtured his White House dreams in 2008, a single tear rolled down the president’s face as he wrapped up what was - win or lose - his last-ever campaign event. — AFP

UK supports giving ‘safe exit’ to Assad Continued from Page 1 Middle East. “I am certainly not offering him an exit plan to Britain but if wants to leave, he could leave. That could be arranged.”

Cameron met King Abdullah and top Saudi officials in Jeddah yesterday after a two-day visit to the UAE, where he secured a defence partnership with the Gulf state. The two leaders “discussed regional and international developments, mainly the Palestinian issue and the situation in Syria,” where the 20-month conflict has left more than 36,000 people dead, state news agency SPA reported. He also discussed with King Abdullah “means of strengthening cooperation between the two friendly states to serve the interests of both countries and their people.” Cameron later met with female students at the Dar Al-Hekma College in the port city,

where he arrived earlier in the day.

The visit to the UAE and Saudi Arabia is aimed at strengthening economic and defence ties with them and “signals the PM’s commitment to cementing long-term partnerships with two of Britain’s most important strategic allies,” Cameron’s office said before the trip. Yesterday, Britain and the United Arab Emirates announced they had agreed on a defence partnership and to boost the British military presence there. The two countries will “work together to deepen our defence ties” for the “security of the UAE and wider Gulf region”, a joint statement said.

They agreed to “establish an industrial defence partnership that involves close collaboration around Typhoon (fighter jets) and a number of new technologies”. The two sides also agreed to increase joint military and training exercises and invest “in the British military presence in the UAE,” without giving

any details. The announcement came after Cameron held talks with UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahayan.

Cameron’s office said the premier accompanied senior Emirati officials on an inspection of RAF Typhoons stationed at a UAE airbase as part of a training exercise. The United Arab Emirates had shown an interest in ordering up to 60 Typhoon Eurofighters to replace ageing French Mirages, the statement said. His meetings in Saudi Arabia will also likely focus on defence cooperation. Britain is trying to boost its arms sales to oil-rich Gulf Arab states, key allies in a region facing instability from the violence in Syria and the crisis over Iran’s nuclear program. Saudi Arabia is interested in a second “substantial” order on top of 72 Typhoons it already has, and Oman is negotiating for 12 of the jets, Cameron’s office said. — AFP

Saudi raps with ‘fear and respect’ Continued from Page 1 Ten years on he returned to a changed Saudi Arabia, he says, where he now runs his own studio in Jeddah - though with music still viewed as a sin by the country’s Islamic leaders, it is a “miracle” to be able to perform in public. And when it comes to content, Qusai must tread a fine line. “In Arabic the majority if not all the songs are talking about love - habibi this, habibi that,” he said smiling. Whether in Jeddah or Chicago, hip hop’s subject matter is everyday life, he adds. “You want to party with your friends, talk about it. You see some bad news on TV, you’re going to express how you feel. “Our number one subject, for all Arabic rappers is Salaam. Peace.

Because it’s a never-ending battle, and we are going to continue singing about peace until we at least smell it.”

Peace is the theme of his new album, whose title “The Inevitable Change” is an explicit nod to the Arab Spring and its aftermath across the

region. One track called “Arab World Unite” warns that “most of our wounds are from friendly fire”. But this is no political manifesto: any allusions to demands for greater democracy are veiled, or generic, such as: “My Arabic people are waking up/Trying to see a better day so we can live it up.” “I am not a politician,” Qusai told AFP. “I don’t attack social issues, that’s not my place. I drop subliminal messages for the smart people, whoever reads between the lines.”

Signed in 2008 to Platinum records, part of the Saudi-owned, Dubaibased broadcaster MBC, Qusai shot to televised fame as co-host of the network’s “Arabs Got Talent”, the hugely successful Middle East spin-off of the global franchise. He has no qualms about having joined the musical mainstream - and relishes the freedom it has given him. “It’s not an everyday thing in Saudi Arabia to find a hip hop artist becoming a public figure. The people that used to reject me, despise me, and hate me, I guess they love me right now!” he joked. — AFP

Gaza croc caught after 2 yrs on lam Continued from Page 1 Wastewater workers discovered the crocodile in the pit about two months ago, Sultan said. Lacking experience in crocodile hunting, he said he went to the Internet to see how to catch the reluctant reptile. Fishing nets were recommended.

So a team of six policemen and fishermen sat in a boat in the sewage pit for eight hours a day for two weeks, trying to catch the crocodile with the nets. After several failed attempts, they drained the pond, leaving the croc with nowhere to hide. Then they used tougher shark nets to snare him. Sultan said he grew to like and respect the reptile. He

named him “sakher”, Arabic for “rock”, in praise of his stubborn attempt to remain free. The crocodile was brought drugged into blockaded Gaza through a smuggling tunnel under the Egypt-Gaza border four years ago, said zoo worker Emad Al-Qanoua. It wasn’t clear how it managed to escape from the zoo in the first place. — AP

Continued from Page 1 the election and created an account on Twitter. It said it will shortly outline its program of action to convince people to shun the Dec 1 elections, both as candidates and voters. The committee issued its foundation statement in which it explained the reasons why Kuwaitis should boycott the upcoming election, highlighting the change to the electoral constituency law which they considered a coup against the constitution.

Sheikh Sabah also expressed full confidence in the loyalty of security officials and personnel. “I have great confidence in the loyalty of my brothers and sons to their country and their eagerness to protect its interests and raise its flag high,” the Amir said. He also lauded the security personnel’s firm stance towards those who try to jeopardize the state’s stability.

“All my respect and appreciation are for the preparedness you have showed in enforcing law, keeping order and protecting the state and people,” he said.

The Amir called on all Kuwaitis to abide by the inherited national noble constants and Islamic values. “We are also in a desperate need to unite to use all our potential for the development of our dear country and make up for what we have missed of chances to push the development and building process ahead to achieve more welfare and prosperity,” added HH the Amir.

Kuwait ’s Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Khalid Al-Jarrah expressed the Army leadership and ranks and files’ full allegiance to the Amir. Interior Ministry Undersecretary Ghazi Al-Omar also confirmed the security personnel’s allegiance to the Amir.

He assured the Amir and the Kuwaiti

people that the interior ministry will not allow any person or entity to tamper with state security. National Guard Undersecretar y Lieutenant General Nasser Abdullah Al-Daee also expressed his personnel’s readiness to sacrifice their lives for Kuwait under the leadership of the Amir.

Meanwhile, 21 new candidates registered yesterday with just three days to go for registration, raising the total number to 115 compared to more than twice the number in the previous election.

Former Islamist MP Khaled Al-Sultan meanwhile claimed that forces of corruption were paying money to some people to convince them to register for the election as candidates which explains why the number of candidates has increased rapidly in the past few days. Sultan did not provide any evidence for his claims.

Hamad Al-Olayan, one of the youth leaders in the opposition, also claimed on his Twitter account that influential people contacted two youth leaders and offered them money in exchange for registering in the election. He did not provide details nor the names of the influential people or the youth leaders.

Among those who registered yesterday were five candidates of the Shiite National Islamic Alliance, one in every constituency, who include former MPs Adnan Abdulsamad and Ahmad Lari, in addition to former MP Nasser AlDuwailah. Independent Shiite lawyer and activist Khaled Al-Shatti also registered.

The new candidates also included radical Salafi activist Mubarak Al-Bathali who was jailed on more than one occasion for insulting the Shiite faith. During the registration, he clashed with Abdulsamad, accusing his group of being pro-Iran.

Bahrain arrests bomb suspects...

Continued from Page 1 justice so they receive their punishment over this appalling act”. Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman AlKhalifa said: “The terrorists and vandals plotting against Bahrain will receive their punishment and the inciters will be held responsible for what happened. The government will not allow a stray group to destroy the nation, threaten and terrorise safe citizens.”

The Sunni Muslim-dominated, USaligned Bahrain government has been struggling since early last year to suppress pro-democracy unrest led mainly by the Gulf Arab kingdom’s majority Shiites. BNA quoted Information Minister Samira Ibrahim bin Rajab as saying the bombings

were staged by terrorist groups trained outside Bahrain and based in countries including Lebanon. She said the groups were operating under principles set by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and that 19 pro-Iran satellite media channels were inciting their supporters in Bahrain to subvert the government.

The United Nations yesterday condemned the bombings. “These violent acts cannot be justified by any cause. We call on all concerned to exercise maximum restraint and to refrain from any provocations,” said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky. “We urge all Bahrainis to come together in a spirit of national unity and to resolve differences peacefully through dialogue and reconciliation.” — Agencies

14

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

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Issues

Beset by rebels, regime digs in to key areas owled over by an increasingly daring rebellion, President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime is reducing its territorial ambitions to focus on Damascus, central Syria and Alawite bastions, as it digs in for a long war, analysts said. As rebel fighters make significant gains, especially in Syria’s northwest, the regime’s goal is to entrench in key positions, fight off further advances and hold out for an opportune time to negotiate, experts said. “(The regime) is aware that it will never regain control of all the territory, it even knows that it will have to abandon Aleppo,” the northern commercial hub where fighting has raged since mid-July, said Thomas Pierret, a Syria expert at the University of Edinburgh’s Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies department. “I think the goal of the Assad clan is to hole up in Damascus and Homs,” Pierret said.

Nearly 20 months after the launch of the uprising against Assad and amid increasing violence, the regime has seen the territory it controls shrink away.

The north and parts of the east have largely fallen under rebel control, with only isolated military positions still in place. “It has already given up on part of the country to concentrate on ‘useful Syria’,” said Joseph Bahout, a Syria expert at Sciences-Po in Paris.

“It must at all costs hold on to the axis running from Damascus to Homs to Alawite territory.”

Experts said these three areas are key for the regime’s future. Holding on to Damascus is essential to the authorities maintaining any legitimacy, both at home and with the international community. The central province of Homs is Syria’s industrial heartland, vital to the economy. And holding on to Alawite territory, which runs from the northwestern mountains to the coastal city of Latakia, is crucial for Assad and other key figures coming from this religious minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Damascus, where rebels have for months failed to move in to the capital from strongholds in the suburbs, is of utmost importance, analysts said. “The regime still sees Damascus as supremely important, which is why elite units continue to focus much of their firepower in the centre and suburbs,” said Shashank Joshi, a research fellow at the Londonbased Royal United Services Institute. But even outside rebel-held areas in the northwest, the rest of the country is already breaking apart, experts said.

Northeastern Kurdish regions “are already completely autonomous,” regime control is “unraveling” in the eastern areas of Deir Ezzor and Albu Kamal near the Iraqi border and Daraa province in the south “is almost a no-man’s land with Jordan,” Bahout said. The ease with which rebels on Sunday took the important but lightly guarded Al-Ward oilfield in Deir Ezzor, near the Iraqi border, shows how little the regime can defend key areas, analysts said.

The best the regime can hope for now, they said, is to keep control of vital strongholds and pray the international situation turns in its favour.

A war between Israel and Iran, political upheaval in other parts of the region, or an attack by Islamic extremists on the West - as Damascus insists it is facing a jihadist uprising - could all give the regime the leverage it needs to survive. “The regime will fall back to a strong territorial position to negotiate a Yugoslavia-type exit from the crisis, by arguing that the fronts have stabilised and that continuing the war would lead to slaughter,” Bahout said. “It will propose international action that will create sustainable demarcation lines, and from there negotiate a way out of the crisis.”

Analysts said Assad has learned a cardinal lesson from his father, Hafez, who died in 2000 after holding on to power for three decades through a combination of ruthlessness, calculation and patience.

“The regime’s goal is to survive for the longest time possible in the hope of favourable regional developments. The quality and size of its forces in Damascus will allow it to hold on to the capital for a long time,” Pierret said. “It is no longer a matter of a putting in place a strategy, but of salvaging what can be salvaged for as long as possible,” Pierret said. —AFP

B

All articles appearing on these pages are the personal opinion of the writers. Kuwait Times takes no responsibility for views expressed therein. Kuwait Times invites readers to voice their opinions. Please send submissions via email to: opinion@kuwaittimes.net or via snail mail to PO Box 1301 Safat, Kuwait.

The editor reserves the right to edit any submission as necessary.

Washington, Wall St misreading each other

By Edward Krudy and David Lawder xit US presidential elections. Enter looming budget crisis. And once again, a disconnect between how Washington and Wall Street see the world could cause pain for investors if the two get their signals crossed. At the beginning of next year, $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts - known as the fiscal cliff - will automatically become law unless Congress acts. Such dramatic moves could hammer consumer and business spending, push the US economy back into recession and send markets reeling. However, there is a sense that neither the financiers and investors in New York nor the lawmakers in Congress are taking each other seriously enough.

Many in Washington believe Congress could do nothing, and the market reaction would be relatively sanguine. Plenty on Wall Street say the fiscal cliff, one way or another, will be dealt with. It raises the possibility that Congress will sail over the cliff, and markets will freak.

“The markets have been way too sanguine on the fiscal cliff,” said Greg Valliere, chief political strategist for Potomac Research Group, which tracks Washington for institutional investors. The fiscal cliff’s automatic triggers were built into law as a way to force lawmakers to tackle huge US budget deficits. Wall Street banks, investors, and financial industry lobbyists have coalesced around the view that after the elections Congress will reach a shortterm deal to avert the worst of the cliff. In short, they believe Congress will kick the can down the road for several more months. “They’ll have to do some sort of short-term extension to buy some time to develop the larger component of addressing the fiscal cliff, which is a large-scale fiscal plan,” said Ken Bentsen, head of the Washington office for financial industry group SIFMA, who sees that happening.

As SIFMA’s chief lobbyist, Bentsen is essentially Wall Street’s eyes and ears in the nation’s capital. He was a congressman himself - a Texas Democrat who served in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. But Wall Street and Washington have misread each other in the past, and it has not been pretty for markets. One of the ugliest examples of that was in September 2008, not two

E

weeks after Lehman Brothers collapsed, when the House rejected a $700 billion financial bailout plan. Markets plunged; that shock was enough to galvanize lawmakers to pass a revised plan a few days later.

There is some concern that poor assumptions are being made about each side. In Washington, there are Tea Partybacked Republicans who anticipate a market shock but believe the pain is worth it if it changes what they see as a culture of spending in Washington. While none of them are saying this publicly in the pre-election environment, lobbyists in close contact with Capitol Hill say there are enough members with such an outlook to create headaches for leaders like House Speaker John Boehner just as they did during debt ceiling negotiations in 2011.

In addition, there is a growing group of Democrats and center-lef t polic y wonks who say that going over the cliff may be a viable tactical option to force revenue increases on Republicans, who have resisted them. The theory is simple: no one has to cast a potentially careerending vote to raise tax rates, and lawmakers can easily blame the other party for the impasse. The tax rates snap back to pre-2001 levels, to the levels prevailing before the tax cuts brought in by President George W Bush, and $109 billion in automatic spending cuts start to bite - half military and half domestic programs.

Senator Patty Murray, the secondranking Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee and a top player in last year’s debt limit and deficit reduction negotiations, was among the first lawmakers to voice willingness to pursue a previously unthinkable tactic. “If we can’t get a good deal - a balanced deal that calls on the wealthy to pay their fair share - then I will absolutely continue this debate into 2013 rather than lock in a long-term deal this year that throws middle-class families under the bus,” Murray said in a speech at the Brook ings I nstitution in July. A spokesman for Murray said her views on the topic have not changed since then.

Other Democrats also say that going over the cliff, while painful, would be better than simply extending all tax rates and delaying the spending cuts for six

months or a year. They argue this will incur another debt downgrade from ratings agencies. “We have the leverage, we should use it,” said Vermont Democratic Representative Peter Welch. “In the past, when we had leverage, we’ve blinked.”

Welch said Democrats did not use their leverage in 2010 when Obama agreed to a two-year extension of Bush-era tax cuts, and did not push hard enough for revenue increases in the debt limit deal in Aug 2011. Welch also voiced a belief among many Democrats and liberal-leaning policy analysts that there will be some wiggle room to go over the cliff in Januar y but still reach a deal early enough in the new year to spare the economy serious damage.

According to this line of thinking, not all of the $600 billion in gross fiscal tightening happens immediately - the drag on the economy builds up over time, prompting comparisons to a steep slope, rather than a deadly drop. “It’s not a Wile E Coyote moment for the economy,” said Chad Stone, chief economist for the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, referring to the devastating plunges suffered by the hapless cartoon canine.

But if lawmakers think they will get an easy ride from markets should they choose the cliff, they are in for a surprise.

“If that’s the sense in Washington I think they’re sorely mistaken,” said David Joy, chief investment strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Boston, where he helps oversee $655 billion in assets. Joy is optimistic. He expects a short-term deal by the end of the year. He said he has increased his contact with the firm’s Washington’s representatives and is now talking to them at least once a week and sometimes several times. “The sense that I’m getting from some of the readings that we get on the ground from Washington is that they’re starting to wake up to the idea that it is serious and that it would unnecessarily harm the economy starting in January,” said Joy. Indeed, Boehner on Sunday told CNN that he expected a temporary deal that would push resolution to 2013. “Lameduck Congresses aren’t known for doing big things and probably shouldn’t do big things, so I think the best you can hope for is a bridge,” he said. There are influen-

tial voices on each side of the political divide that abhor the idea of going over the cliff. Bentsen said he has been speaking to many lawmakers during the recess, including Democratic S enator M ark Warner and Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss, both part of the bipartisan socalled Gang of Six senators dedicated to budget issues. They told SIFMA’s annual conference in New York in October that Congress would get this done, Bentsen said.

For now, investors are buying it.

Billionaire investor Ken Fisher is so convinced a deal will be done he says any market trepidation - or short-term selloffs later in the year - should be used as a buying oppor tunit y. Fisher was in Washington in June and has talked to three legislative aides since then. He believes the fiscal cliff will be punted far into the future, perhaps after the next midterm elections in 2014. In his read, it is a non-issue. “I don’t think the fiscal cliff is anymore of a reality than the concern once was about swine flu and Y2K,” said Fisher. “My view is that this issue is a cause for bullishness, because fear of a false factor is always a bullish factor,” he said.

Still, as well as the 2008 debacle, many investors are all too familiar with the lengthy, drawn-out negotiations involved in raising the debt ceiling in August 2011.

That resulted in a selloff on Wall Street and the battle over what for years had been a procedural move was par tly responsible for the downgrade of the pristine US credit rating by Standard & Poor’s. Until there is more clarity, Joy recommends paring back risk ier investments such as stocks and says low-quality, high-yielding bonds, popular with investors seeking higher returns, could get badly hurt if the fiscal cliff is triggered.

Valliere notes that this Congress is the same one that stumbled its way through the debt limit mess, triggering a credit downgrade, and could barely agree on a short-term extension of payroll tax cuts before Christmas last year. Investors should be cautious in believing that things are different this time around. “I think the markets are not focusing on the possibility that talks could totally break down in December,” Valliere said. —Reuters

It’s goodbye for Obama the candidate

By Silvia Ayuso hatever was to happen in yesterday’s polls, Barack Obama the Democratic presidential candidate has already bid farewell: even if he were to win a second and final four-year mandate, his latest election campaign was in many ways a closer.

Obama could technically run again at a later stage if he were to lose - he is after all still only 51 years old - but there are no recent precedents. Obama the man has not publicly said what he would like to do with his life if he does not achieve re-election, but Obama the candidate has been bidding farewell for a few weeks now.

“I’m flying with Bruce Springsteen on the last day that I’ll ever campaign; that’s not a bad way to bring it home, with ‘The Boss’,” he said Monday at a rally in Ohio. In his very last campaign event, in Iowa, his wife Michelle introduced him with a clearly sentimental, goodbye-like tone. “This is the final event of my husband’s final campaign,” the First Lady said. “So this is the last time that he and I will be on stage together at a campaign rally.

We’ve got a chance to finish what we started here in Iowa,” she said, referring to the fact

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US President Barack Obama calls a volunteer from a campaign office in Chicago on election day yesterday. —AFP

that Obama’s 2008 adventure in the Democratic primary started in that state.

Indeed, Obama has been going through quite a few “last times” in recent weeks. “This is my last debate prep practice,” the New York Times quoted him as saying at Camp David ahead of the third and final debate against Republican Mitt Romney in late October.

“This is my last walk-through,” he later said while touring the debate stage with his challenger. “This is my last debate,” he again said after the face-off with Romney in Florida, according to the New York Times.

Among his close aides, the feeling of a farewell was apparent too. David Axelrod admitted as much Monday in Wisconsin, with the Washington Post noting that some of Obama’s closest aides had started wearing old T-shirts and caps from his first presidential campaign four years ago. Experts, however, note that even if Obama were to vacate the White House, he can always campaign on behalf of others in the future. They point to former president Bill Clinton, who looked about as exhausted and hoarse as Obama on Monday after touring a similar number of states to secure re-election for the Democrats’ presidential candidate. —dpa

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

sp orts Man United to honor Ferguson with statue

Futsal World Cup in chaos

LONDON: Manchester United will commemorate manager Alex Ferguson’s 26th year in charge of the team by unveiling a statue of the Scot this month, the Premier League leaders said in a statement.

The statue will be uncovered at Old Trafford on Nov. 23, the day before United play Queens Park Rangers, the same opponents as in the 70-year-old’s first home match in charge on Nov. 22, 1986.

Ferguson is Britain’s most successful club manager having led United to 12 Premier League titles, two European Cups, five FA Cups and four League Cups.

He was previously in charge of Scotland’s Aberdeen, taking them to the European Cup Winners Cup title in 1983 by beating Real Madrid in the final. The statue will be positioned near the entrance to the stand named in Ferguson’s honor last year. — Reuters

ZURICH: The Futsal World Cup in Thailand descended into chaos yesterday as FIFA said the tournament’s showpiece arena, due to host the final among other games, would not be ready in time to stage any matches.

The announcement came with the indoor tournament’s group stage already under way and only eight days before the Bangkok Futsal Arena, which has been dogged by delays during construction, was due to host its first games - two quarter-final ties.

The ties will be played at alternative venues in Bangkok, FIFA said as soccer’s world governing body was left to deal with another crisis in the game.

“Although further significant progress has been made, including the

installation of a pitch, the key criteria laid out on October 31...have not been sufficiently met,” FIFA said in a statement. “The safety of spectators, teams and all other visitors to the stadium are of paramount importance. “FIFA and the Local Organising Committee therefore concluded that such a fundamental issue, as well as the functionality of core services and facilities, cannot be compromised.”

FIFA said the quarter-final matches scheduled to be played on Nov. 14 would now be played at Bangkok’s Nimibutr Stadium, while the semi-finals and final would be hosted at Bangkok’s Indoor Stadium Huamark. Both stadiums have already successfully hosted group stage matches. —Reuters

Probe into race fix GENEVA: Olympic road race champion Alexandre Vinokourov is under investigation for allegedly bribing a rival to fix a race, as ongoing fallout from the Lance Armstrong doping affair threatens to claim another of cycling’s biggest names. The International Cycling Union pledged Monday to open its own probe into revived allegations that the London Games gold medalist from Kazakhstan paid off his opponent in a two-man breakaway to ensure he won the 2010 Liege-BastogneLiege classic.

The UCI acted after receiving a file on the case from an Italian prosecutor who is leading a wider investigation of corruption in cycling linked to Dr. Michele Ferrari, a former adviser to Armstrong. “The UCI takes these issues extremely seriously,” the governing body said in a statement provided to The Associated Press. “We will ask Alexandre Vinokourov and Alexandr Kolobnev to attend a meeting at our headquarters in Aigle as soon as possible to provide the UCI with their response to the contents of the Padua inquiry dossier.”—AP

Saints shoot down Eagles

NEW ORLEANS: Saints defensive end Will Smith (91) sacks Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick (7) during the fourth quarter of their NFL football game. —AP

NEW ORLEANS: The New Orleans Saints pounded Michael Vick in a 28-13 victory over Philadelphia on Monday likely to trigger further questions about the future of the Eagles quarterback and his coach.

There was media speculation before the game that a struggling Vick could be benched while head coach Andy Reid was fighting for his job.

Sensing blood, the Saints went for the jugular, attacking Vick with seven sacks and several other big hits to inflict a fourth successive defeat on the visiting Eagles.

“We’re out there fighting, giving it everything we’ve got,” Vick told reporters. “It’s very frustrating but we have to keep pushing forward. I don’t know what else to say.”

Vick passed for 272 yards but had a firstquarter pass intercepted by Patrick Robinson, who ran 99 yards for a game-opening score that set the tone for the Saints (3-5).

Drew Brees threw one of his two touchdowns in the second quarter to give New Orleans a 21-3 halftime lead and they held off a brief challenge in the second half.

Philadelphia (3-5) recovered two Saints fumbles, turning them into a 77-yard touchdown pass to Desean Jackson and a field goal that made it 21-13 midway through the third.

However, the home team responded, Brees capping a 70-yard drive with a six-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham to prolong Philadelphia’s woes.

The Eagles compiled 447 yards total offense but were unable to get touchdowns out of their many trips into New Orleans’ territory.

Brees had 239 yards passing, but it was his team’s running game for 140 yards that provided him with surprise support given the absence of versatile running back Darren Sproles, who broke his hand last week. “We have a stable of (running) backs that can do so many things,” said Brees. “We believe. The book on the 2012 Saints has yet to be written.” — Reuters

Seats getting hot for coaches and GMs FLORHAM PARK: Titans owner Bud Adams laid down the challenge to his entire organization after Tennessee’s brutal loss to Chicago, creating the latest NFL hot seat for coaches and general managers.

Things aren’t any more comfortable in Kansas City, San Diego, Cleveland, Buffalo, Jacksonville and Dallas halfway through the season. And, of course, in Philadelphia, where there always seems to be a campaign to get rid of Andy Reid, and the shouting has become louder this year.

Although Adams may have gone overboard by saying in his 50 years as a team owner he couldn’t remember a worse home loss, his message rang loud and clear from the Grand Ole Opry to the Smoky Mountains: everyone is on the clock.

Nowhere is the clock ticking louder than in the AFC West, particularly in KC. Romeo Crennel inherited the head coaching spot on an interim basis in 2011 when Todd Haley was fired after 13 games and the Chiefs won two of their last three, handing Green Bay it’s only loss of the season, falling in overtime to Oakland, then beating playoff-bound Denver on the road.

General manager Scott Pioli, reasoning the team was ravaged by injuries to key starters throughout the season, gave Crennel the full-time job. Now, with most of those important players back, the Chiefs are 1-7, ranking at the bottom of the AP Pro32 for good reason. They are last in the league in turnover margin at a ludicrous minus-20, with 29 giveaways, including 15 lost fumbles.

And get this: Kansas City has not led in regulation all season. Not for one tick of the clock. Crennel, who fired himself as defensive coordinator Monday, has little chance of keeping his coaching position. The same, perhaps, for GM Pioli.

“Well, hey, I grade my performance by the record, and the record’s not very good, so you’d have to say I haven’t been very good,” Crennel said.

San Diego is 4-4 and only one game behind Denver in the division. But does anyone give the Chargers a reasonable shot at beating out the Broncos?

More likely is yet another mediocre record, just bad enough to miss the postseason. With that could be the end for Norv Turner as coach, despite a 56-38 record with the Chargers, and A.J. Smith as GM. One major problem with the Chargers is their talent base has been eroded in recent years. Once considered on a level with New England, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Indianapolis, the Chargers no longer keep company with the most skilled rosters of the AFC. Offseason moves seemed to upgrade the talent level in Buffalo, but that hasn’t materialized. The defense, even with Mario Williams, is a sieve under new coordinator Dave Wannstedt - only the Titans’ historically bad numbers are worse, and they’ve played one more game. The offense is sporadic despite a solid running game. That falls on coach Chan Gailey, considered an offensive wizard.

GM Buddy Nix, who gave Gailey a vote of confidence last week, signed Williams to the richest contract in NFL history for a defensive player. Few of his other moves have panned out, either, and the Bills

have that embarrassing string of non-playoff years, 12 and counting, longest in the league.

“I hope I can put that to rest,” Nix said of supporting his coach. “It’s the age-old thing, and they’ve done it around here for years. They start over about every three years. What that does is make sure that you don’t make it.” Nix might not be around to protect Gailey or Wannstedt if the losing continues. Some progress has occurred in Cleveland, but the Browns have a new owner, new president and, in 2013 likely a new coach. It might be unfair to Pat Shurmur, who in his third season in charge has a roster filled with youngsters, some of them very promising: Trent Richardson, Joe Haden, Brandon Weeden, Josh Gordon. Barring a second-half surge into contention two matchups with Pittsburgh and one with Denver say it won’t happen - a whole new management team will be hired.

The same thing could happen in Tennessee and Jacksonville, even though Mike Munchak is in only his second season as coach of the Titans, and they went 97 in 2011. Mike Mularkey is in his first season at the Jaguars’ helm, but they could be headed for their worst record since entering the NFL in 1995.

Adams has quickly forgotten the work Munchak, one of the franchise’s greatest players and a Hall of Famer, did last year. He’s the same owner who pretty much forced out Jeff Fisher, the most successful coach the team has had since the AFL days.

Mularkey benefited from new ownership in Jacksonville when Shad Khan hired him. Now, with a 1-7 mark and an abysmal offense (117 points, by far the league’s lowest) he was supposed to fix, Mularkey could have a very short tenure. And Khan might sweep GM Gene Smith out the door, too.

Perhaps the best situation is in Dallas, where prevailing opinion is the Cowboys have tons of ability on the field, very little of it away from the field. Owner Jerry Jones comes under fire every year for also acting as general manager, whether it concerns his draft picks or his coaching choices.

The draft selections in recent years don’t look so bad: DeMarco Murray, Sean Lee, Bruce Carter, Dez Bryant (if he ever matures). The coaching decisions are getting the most attention and pretty much have since Jimmy Johnson feuded with Jones and left - with the exception of Bill Parcells’ four-year reign. Now, as Dallas does all the little things - and plenty of big ones - to lose close games, there’s extra attention on Jason Garrett’s sideline decisions, especially clock management and play calling. The owner won’t be going anywhere, which leaves Garrett on shaky ground.

Maybe not as shaky as Reid’s status. Of all the management folks mentioned here, no one has a track record close to Reid during his 13-plus years in Philadelphia. But this season’s struggles have a different feel to them, almost as if Reid himself is befuddled by such a talented group being muddled in mediocrity. Maybe, like Fisher two years ago in Nashville, he senses it’s time to move on. And don’t think some of the clubs looking for head coaches in January won’t pursue him. — AP

NEW ORLEANS: Saints tight end Jimmy Graham (80) celebrates with running back Chris Ivory (29) after Ivory’s touchdown during the first half of an NFL football game at Mercedes-Benz Superdome. — AP

NFL standings American Football Conference AFC East W L T OTL PF PA New England 5 3 0 0 262 170 Miami 4 4 0 2 170 149 NY Jets 3 5 0 1 168 200 Buffalo 3 5 0 0 180 248 AFC North Baltimore 6 2 0 0 199 176 Pittsburgh 5 3 0 0 191 164 Cincinnati 3 5 0 0 189 218 Cleveland 2 7 0 0 169 211 AFC South Houston 7 1 0 0 237 137 Indianapolis 5 3 0 0 159 191 Tennessee 3 6 0 1 182 308 Jacksonville 1 7 0 2 117 219 AFC West Denver 5 3 0 0 235 175 San Diego 4 4 0 0 185 157 Oakland 3 5 0 0 171 229 Kansas City 1 7 0 0 133 240

PCT .625 .500 .375 .375 .750 .625 .375 .222 .875 .625 .333 .125 .625 .500 .375 .125

National Football Conference NFC East NY Giants 6 3 0 0 254 185 3 5 0 1 133 183 Philadelphia Dallas 3 5 0 0 150 181 Washington 3 6 0 0 226 248 NFC North Chicago 7 1 0 0 236 120 6 3 0 0 239 187 Green Bay Minnesota 5 4 0 0 204 197 Detroit 4 4 0 1 192 188 NFC South Atlanta 8 0 0 0 220 143 4 4 0 0 226 185 Tampa Bay New Orleans 3 5 0 1 218 229 Carolina 2 6 0 0 149 180 NFC West San Francisco 6 2 0 0 189 103 5 4 0 0 170 154 Seattle Arizona 4 5 0 1 144 173 St. Louis 3 5 0 0 137 186

.667 .375 .375 .333 .875 .667 .556 .500 1.000 .500 .375 .250 .750 .556 .444 .375

PARIS: (From left) France’s rugby union national team prop Yanncik Forestier, hooker Dimitri Szarzewski, flanker Fulgence Ouedraogo, No. 8 Louis Picamoles, full back Brice Dulin, scrum half Maxime Machenaud and scrum half Frederic Michalak, attend a training session as part of the preparation for the upcoming test match against Australia on Nov 10. — AFP

NHL, union to return to bargaining table NEW YORK: The NHL and the players’ association stuck to their word and made quick plans to get back to the bargaining table. After all-day negotiations Saturday, the sides agreed Monday to resume talks on Tuesday in New York. Both sides said the discussions over the weekend were good, creating some optimism that perhaps a deal could soon be reached to save the already truncated hockey season.

The NHL and union hadn’t met since Oct. 18 when each side turned down offers. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and players’ association special counsel Steve Fehr got together by themselves Saturday in an undisclosed location and held productive talks.

“We had a series of meetings over the course of the day and had a good, frank discussion on the most important issues separating us,” Daly said Sunday.

He and Fehr talked on the phone several times during the week and reached enough common ground to make faceto-face meetings possible.

Fehr echoed Daly’s encouraging remarks after Saturday’s get-together that lasted well into the night. “Hopefully we can continue the dialogue, expand the group, and make steady progress,” Fehr

said. It wasn’t immediately determined Monday whether Tuesday’s bargaining session would be conducted by just Daly and Fehr or if a larger group - perhaps including NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr - would also take part.

The lockout entered its 51st day Monday. So far, 327 games - including the outdoor Winter Classic - have been called off, and the NHL says a full season won’t be played.

No new formal proposals were made Saturday, but it is believed the issue of payments of existing player contracts was a big part of the discussions. “I’m not in a position to talk substance about agenda or expectations,” Daly wrote Tuesday in an email to The Associated Press.

A major point of contention between the NHL and the players’ association has been the “make whole” provision, which will ensure that all current player contracts will be paid out regardless of any changes made to the split of hockey-related revenues or contract language.

The NHL appears ready to cover more of the costs of those deals as opposed to making them part of the players’ share of revenue in future years. In its most recent

offer last month, the NHL said it would honor the current contracts in deferred payments, but those would be included in the players’ share of revenues. The union balked at that offer.

The labor dispute, which began Sept.

16, has forced all games from Oct. 11 through Nov. 30 to be called off. It isn’t known if any of those games will be rescheduled if the sides come to an agreement soon, but an NHL deadline has already passed that would have allowed for each team to play all 82 games. The season needed to start by Friday for that to happen, but the only hockey activity that day was the cancellation of the outdoor game at Michigan Stadium between the host Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs.

There is a sense of urgency now because nearly two months of the season have already been called off. If a deal isn’t reached soon, the NHL could be looking at its second lost campaign since 2004.

In its most recent proposal, the NHL offered the union a 50-50 split of hockeyrelated revenue, which exceeded $3 billion last season, but that offer was rejected. The players responded with three offers that went nowhere. —AP

16

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

S P ORT S

England expect chilly reception in Dharamshala DHARAMSHALA: England’s “Barmy Army” of cricket fans pride themselves on enduring any hardship to follow their team, but snow in the stands is one problem they do not normally face on a tour of India.

Set in the foothills of the Himalayas, Dharamshala will host its first international match when India play England on January 27 in a 50-over match that a diehard band of travelling supporters are expected to attend. With a backdrop of soaring mountains and a culture based around Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, the fixture will be a unique experience for the most seasoned supporter or player-as long as they pack enough jerseys.

England have their first practice game of the India tour on Tuesday in Mumbai before four Test matches and two Twenty20 games, followed by a break at home for Christmas and then back for five one-day internationals.

The game in Dharamshala was originally scheduled as a day-night fixture, but has been changed to start at 9:00am

to avoid a bone-chilling evening under floodlights.

“I am slightly worried about the snow,” admitted retired colonel HS Manhas, the ground’s general manager, who reports that temperatures can plunge to two degrees Celsius (35.6 Fahrenheit) at night in late January.

“But I think everyone will have a good time. We have excellent facilities for players, and also for all fans from local young people to corporate clients who can hire boxes and eat fine food.”

The venue, properly known as the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, has already earned a solid reputation after hosting Kings XI Punjab in sell-out Indian Premier League (IPL) games for the past three seasons.

Located 1,162 metres (3,800 feet) above sea level, the pitch is lower than several South African international grounds, but it was covered in snow well into January this year and groundsmen are praying for a mild winter.

“It will be cold for the Indians, but OK for the England team,” Anurag

Thakur, the 37-year-old member of parliament and a driving force behind the $10-million ground, told AFP. “I think we will have blue skies and sunny weather,” he said confidently.

“We have been waiting for this moment since we started building the ground in 2002, and we can promise a warm welcome for our visitors.”

Interest in the Dalai Lama and Buddhist teachings have attracted foreigners to Dharamshala for decades, and its budget backpacker hostels and guesthouses are expected to be booked out by England fans.

In the tiny town, they will be able to see saffron-robed monks visiting temples to chant, meditate and spin prayer wheels in ancient rituals that beguile many tourists and pilgrims.

The Dalai Lama, a globally revered figure whose devotees believe he is a living god, has attended two IPL games but will not be at the England match as he is travelling in the south of India.

“He doesn’t claim to understand the rules of cricket at all,” his spokesman

Tenzin Taklha told AFP. “He did say after watching for an hour or so that he enjoyed seeing so many people in the crowd having a good time.”

The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who fled China in 1959, heads a community of about 10,000 exiles in Dharamshala, where they campaign against authoritarian Chinese rule over the Tibet region.

Yoga lessons, alternative therapy and holistic medicine are all on offer, but if England fans do find a sense of inner peace, they might discover they are less in harmony with the weather conditions. Instead of the usual heat and dust of India, the playing conditions are likely to be closer to a county game in Yorkshire in April.

“The wicket here tends to have more grass than normal in India, and it offers good, even bounce for fast bowlers,” said Thakur. “It is a fair battle between bat and ball.”

Explaining the ground’s stunning setting, he added: “I wanted to build something different-somewhere that

people would want to come and experience for themselves.

“I was told it was impossible to do, but now we have our first international match, and against England too.” Ticket sales have not yet been finalised, but prices are expected to start at about 1,000 rupees ($19).

England fans who make the 12-hour drive-or a short, unreliable flight- from New Delhi, will not regret the effort, says one British member of parliament who played there earlier this year.

“It is an extraordinary ground and probably one of the most beautiful locations of any cricket pitch in the world,” said Matthew Hancock, who captained the touring side of parliamentarians. “We lost our game, but I hope that England can secure a better result.” For Thakur, the England fixture is just the start of his ambitions. “What I really want is to host a five-day international Test match,” he said. “That is the ultimate game for cricketers, and to see it here in such surroundings is my dream.” —AFP

Federer sinks Tipsarevic to set Tour Finals record LONDON: Roger Federer started his bid for a seventh ATP Tour Finals title in record-breaking fashion as the Swiss great crushed Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-1 at London’s O2 Arena yesterday.

Federer’s victory took him to 40

ing event after winning the tournament for the last two years and he looks in the mood to complete a hat-trick on the evidence of this emphatic Group B victory over the Serbian eighth seed in just one hour and eight minutes.

ty good and I hope something similar is going to happen this week.”

Since winning Wimbledon for a 17th Grand Slam crown and returning to the top of the world rankings in July, Federer has

LONDON: In this multiple exposure image Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic serves against Switzerland’s Roger Federer during their Group B singles match in the round robin stage on the second day of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament. —AFP match wins in his 11 appearances at the prestigious season-ending event, breaking the previous record of 39 held by Ivan Lendl.

The 31-year-old already has a record six titles in this season-end-

“I’m very happy I played so well because Janko’s a great player,” Federer said. “I’ve had a great year but I hope it’s not over yet.

“It’s my third trip to London this year. The other two were pret-

endured something of a rough ride by his own sky-high standards.

He squandered a chance to win a gold medal in the Olympic singles after being thrashed by

Andy Murray in the final and then suffered a shock loss in the US Open quarter-finals against Tomas Berdych. Federer was also beaten

by Juan Martin del Potro in the final of his hometown event in Basel last month and surrendered his number one ranking to Novak Djokovic as a result.

But whatever his struggles elsewhere, Federer has always thrived at this season finale and the world number two was quickly into his stride against Tipsarevic.

Tipsarevic had been suffering from a virus for several days leading up to the tournament and was forced to withdraw from his Paris Masters quarter-final last week due to exhaustion.

It was hardly ideal circumstances to face a fired-up Federer and the Swiss showed no mercy, breaking in the second game and racing into a 3-0 lead.

Federer had won all five of his previous meetings with Tipsarevic and, with the Serb having no impact on his opponent’s serve, the first set was over in 30 minutes.

Tipsarevic staved off two break points in the third game of the second set, but Federer kept dictating play from the baseline and he finally induced a miscued forehand from the Serb to break for a 2-1 lead. Scenting blood, Federer delivered the killer blow with a blazing forehand for another break that ended any hopes of a Tipsarevic revival.

Argentina’s Del Potro will play newly crowned Paris Masters champion David Ferrer in the other Group B tie later yesterday. —AFP

LONDON: India’s Rohan Bopanna (right) and his partner India’s Mahesh Bhupathi (left) touch hands between points against Britain’s Jonathan Marray and Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen during their group B doubles match in the round robin stage on the second day of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament. —AFP

Indian duo beaten in Tour Finals opener LONDON: Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna suffered a disappointing start to their ATP Tour Finals doubles campaign as the Indian duo were beaten 6-4, 6-7 (1/7) 12/10 by Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielsen yesterday.

Bhupathi and Bopanna arrived at London’s O2 Arena in a rich vein of form after winning the Paris Masters double crown last week, but they were unable to maintain that good run against the reigning Wimbledon doubles champions.

The Indian pair, seeded fifth, were making their first appearance together at

the season-ending event, although Bhupathi had qualified on 11 previous occasions with three different partners, and they will have to win their last two matches to keep alive their hopes of reaching the semi-finals.

After Marray and Nielsen took the first set, Bhupathi and Bopanna hit back in the second to set up a super tie-break to decide the match.

Bhupathi and Bopanna should have won it, but their opponents managed to save two match points and then converted their first match point to steal the Group B victory. —AFP

Djokovic relishes Murray rivalry

KQMC organizes 2nd round of Desert Challenge race KUWAIT: The Kuwait Quarter Mile Club (KQMC) recently held the second round of the Kuwait Desert Challenge Championship 2012 with the participation of over 45 contestants racing in four categories. The races saw a large audience of aficionados who enjoyed watching the competition soaring to mark the development of the cars that were in accordance to latest international specifications. The races were held along a slalom track with many bends and turns in addition to side sand and water barriers in the

Benaider area south of Kuwait, which added more competition and challenge.

The race’s referees’ committee headed by KQMC’s 4x4 committee chairman, Sheikh Mohammed Al-Khalifa, committee members Fahad Al-Allaj and KQMC manager Saif AlMutairi allowed contestants to try the track before the actual 4-hour race started. Driver Faisal Al-Sabt came first, Bader Baqer second and Abdul Aziz bin Shokr came third in the Extreme category race.

In the Modified category, Majed Soud came first, Mohammed Taher came second, Salem AlSarraf came third and Abdul Rahman Ahmed came fourth.

Notably, the first round of the race was the first of its kind to be organized in Kuwait in midOctober. The third round will be held by the end of this month with expectations of more racers taking part, especially since participation is open for everybody without exceptions as long as contestants observe safety rules and regulations.

LONDON: Novak Djokovic admits he is relishing the chance to renew his friendly rivalry with Andy Murray at the ATP Tour Finals today.

World number one Djokovic has already spent years competing with Murray after the pair emerged onto the Tour at the same time but, with Roger Federer approaching the end of his career and Rafael Nadal hampered by knee problems, this could emerge as the sport’s new great rivalry.

In 2012 alone they have clashed six times, with Djokovic starting the year with a thrilling victory over the Scot in the Australian Open semi-finals and Murray getting his revenge with an Olympic last four win and then, even more significantly, a five-set triumph over the Serb to win his first Grand Slam title at the US Open.

Djokovic won their most recent meeting in Shanghai final when he had to save five match points before clinching the victor y, yet, despite the crucial nature of so many of their 16 meetings, there is no ill-feeling between the pair.

They practice together on a regular basis and did so on Saturday at the O2 Arena before learning a few hours later that they had been drawn in the same group in the season-ending Tour Finals.

“We practice with each other very often, whenever we can,” Djokovic said.

“We are big rivals as well, but also very fair to each other. It is a very friendly relationship. “I’m very glad to keep that relationship with Andy, somebody that

I’ve known for a very long time.”

After winning their opening group matches on Monday, Djokovic against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Murray against Tomas Berdych, they will meet on Wednesday with the victor almost certain to progress to the semi-finals.

With plenty at stake, there is every chance the clash will be the latest in a long line of gruelling encounters between two of the fittest and most dynamic players on the Tour.

“Playing Andy is always a big challenge. He has had lots of success in London, playing in front of his crowd with big support,” Djokovic said. “When I’m playing Andy I need to be ready for long rallies and a physically demanding match. “We know a lot about each other.

I’m sure we are going to come up with some really good tennis.”

Following his shock exit from the Paris Masters against Sam Querrey last week, Djokovic admitted he needed the boost of regaining the world number one ranking on Monday and he looked a more vibrant figure in his 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 win over Tsonga.

“It’s a huge satisfaction,” he said. “Of course I want to win every match that I play. That’s why I’m here. It’s the season finale.

“But knowing in the back of my mind that I will end as number one is a huge relief for me and my team. “Knowing how long the year was and how difficult and competitive it was with all my rivals just makes it even bigger.” —AFP

MANSOORI

17

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

SPORTS

Knicks thrash 76ers

MELBOURNE: Green Moon ridden by Brett Prebble wins the Melbourne Cup at Flemmington Race Course in Melbourne. The locally trained English import, ridden by the Hong Kong-based Australian jockey, won Australia’s richest and most prestigious horse race. —AP

Green Moon wins Melbourne Cup MELBOURNE: Green Moon thundered down the straight to win the Melbourne Cup yesterday, upsetting a host of highly fancied foreign horses to bring Australia’s most coveted racing prize back home. The Robert Hickmott-trained stallion charged to the front 300 metres from the line and held off fast-finishing Fiorente to win the punishing A$6.2 million ($6.43 million) two-mile handicap by a length.

The Irish-bred six-year-old defied 22-1 odds and several quality European stayers to hand local jockey Brett Prebble his first Cup and owner Lloyd Williams his fourth.

Third-placed Jakkalberry finished a further length-and-a-quarter back. Clad in blue and white silks, the Hong Kong-based Prebble punched the air in celebration as a packed crowd at Flemington Racecourse roared under leaden skies.

Prebble shook hands with Britain’s Prince Charles in the crowd and said he knew the race won at the 1,200 metre mark. “It’s a lifelong dream,” Prebble told reporters.

“I thought the only thing that could get him beaten was his stamina if he didn’t stay the trip. “But the feeling he was giving me at the 1,200 was the sort of feeling you only get from very good horses.

“I’ve been very fortunate to ride some champions and he’s up there in the top 10.”

Last year’s winner Dunaden and fellow French stayer Americain, who won the 2010 race, were favourites in the lead-up but failed to mount a serious challenge.

The Mikel Delzangles-trained Dunaden started favourite despite carrying the top weight of 59 kilogrammes but finished 14th in the 24-entrant field, while Americain ran in 11th.

Americain’s non-placing spared the blushes of Australian racing administrators, criti-

cised for allowing local jockey and former Cup winner Damien Oliver to ride despite being under investigation for illegal betting.

Local media reported earlier on Tuesday that Oliver had admitted to stewards he had bet on a rival horse at a local race meeting two years ago.

Oliver, who won the 2002 race on Media Puzzle, had been scheduled to ride Green Moon at the Cup and the prestigious Cox Plate last month but the 40-year-old was dumped by Williams after the corruption allegations emerged.

Williams previously won the Melbourne Cup with Just a Dash (1981), What a Nuisance (1985) and Efficient (2007). The property magnate imported Green Moon in 2010 after the stallion failed to make a major impression in Britain.

Green Moon’s fortunes improved dramatically Down Under, although few had backed him for the Cup fter a disappointing seventh at last month’s prestigious 2,040-metre Cox Plate.

“We put a lot of money in and a heck of a lot of effort so to get this result today is terrific,” said Williams’s son and racing manager Nick. “God bless everyone who wrote him off.”

Fiorente’s second place brought further disappointment to trainer Gai Waterhouse, who had prepared two previous runners-up with Te Akau Nick in 1993 and Nothin Leica Dane in 1995.

Italian trainer Marco Botti’s Jakkalberry was the best of the international entrants, with the Luca Cumani-trained Mount Athos finishing fifth. Last year’s runner-up Red Cadeaux, trained by Briton Ed Dunlop, came eighth, while the powerful Goldolphin stable’s entrant Cavalryman was 12th. —Reuters

PALLEKELE: Sri Lankan batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan (facing camera) celebrates scoring a century as non striker Angelo Mathews hugs him during the third one-day international cricket match against New Zealand. —AP

Sri Lanka defeat NZ PALLEKELE: Sri Lanka defeated New Zealand by seven wickets in the third oneday international in Pallekele yesterday to gain a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Opener Tillakaratne Dilshan scored an unbeaten 102 as Sri Lanka achieved a rainrevised target of 197 with 11 balls to spare in a day-night match reduced to 33-oversa-side due to rain.

Dilshan added 127 for the unfinished

fourth-wicket stand with Angelo Mathews, who remained unbeaten with 54.

Opener Bradley-John Watling earlier top-scored for New Zealand with an unbeaten 96. James Franklin (26) and Nathan McCullum (22 not out) were the other main scorers. The opening onedayer was called off without a ball being bowled due to rain at the same venue. —AFP

Scoreboard PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka: Complete scoreboard of the third one-day international between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Pallekele yesterday: New Zealand: R. Nicol c Jayawardene b Malinga 7 BJ Watling not out 96 B. McCullum lbw b Mathews 13 R. Taylor run out 7 J. Oram lbw b Mendis 2 J. Franklin b Kulasekara 26 K. Williamson c Mathews b Mendis 5 N. McCullum not out 22 Extras (b1, lb2, w7) 10 Total (for six wickets; 33 overs) 188 Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Nicol), 2-31 (B. McCullum), 3-43 (Taylor), 4-49 (Oram), 5-105 (Franklin), 6-117 (Williamson).

Bowling: Malinga 7-0-40-1, Kulasekara 7-145-1 (w1), Mathews 5-0-15-1 (w1), Perera 4-0-22-0 (w1), Mendis 5-0-34-2 (w4), Dilshan 2-0-9-0, Herath 3-0-20-0.

Sri Lanka (target 197 in 33 overs): U. Tharanga c Oram b Southee 10 T. Dilshan not out 102 K. Sangakkara c Taylor b Mills 15 M. Jayawardene c Oram b N. McCullum 5 A. Mathews not out 54 Extras (lb7, nb1, w6) 14 Total (for three wickets; 31.1 overs) 200 Fall of wickets: 1-30 (Tharanga), 2-65 (Sangakkara), 3-73 (Jayawardene).

Bowling: Mills 6.1-0-35-1, Boult 5-0-29-0 (nb1), Southee 7-0-50-1 (w2), Oram 7-1-43-0 (w2), N. McCullum 5-0-28-1 (w2), Franklin 1-0-8-0.

Result: Sri Lanka win by seven wickets (D/L method)

PHILADELPHIA: Carmelo Anthony scored 21 points and JR Smith had 17 to lead the New York Knicks to a 11088 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.

Raymond Felton scored 16 points and Tyson Chandler had 14 to lead the Knicks to their first 3-0 start since the 1999-2000 season. The Knicks beat the Sixers 100-84 on Sunday in the opener of the home-and-home series.

The Knicks busted the game open in the third quarter, stretching the lead to 21 points. They got a surprising third from 38-year-old Rasheed Wallace, who scored eight points and hit a couple of 3-pointers, including a 26-footer at the buzzer to end the quarter.

After a solid first, the Sixers fell apart, and got nothing going with their set offense. Jrue Holiday led them with 17 points.

dunk with 1:18 left. He scored 30 in the home opener two nights earlier. Chris Kaman had 16 points, and Darren Collison had 14 points and 13 assists for the Mavericks.

LaMarcus Aldridge and Wesley Matthews had 20 points each for Portland. The Trail Blazers are coached by Terry Stotts, a Mavericks assistant the past four seasons under Rick Carlisle.

Spurs 101, Pacers 79 In San Antonio, Gary Neal scored

The Spurs never trailed by less than 10 points in the second half. The Pacers shot just 35 percent from the field in the game.

Cavaliers 108, Clippers 101 In Los Angeles, rookie Dion Waiters hit seven 3-pointers and scored 28 points, helping Cleveland stave off a fourth-quarter rally by Los Angeles.

Kyrie Irving added 24 points, Tyler Zeller had 15 points and Anderson Varejao had 15 points and 15

scored 23 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as Sacramento held off Golden State to avoid an 0-4 start.

Cousins outworked slow-footed Andrew Bogut and every other Warriors big man to help Sacramento score 16 straight points during the third quarter and bust open a tie game.

Bogut hardly looked to be at full strength. He had 12 points and three rebounds while playing almost 19 minutes as Golden State’s new franchise center - and his surgically

Heat 124, Suns 99 In Miami, LeBron James had 23 points and 11 rebounds, Dwyane Wade scored 22 points and Miami beat Phoenix.

Chris Bosh finished with 18 points and Ray Allen had 15 for the Heat, who are averaging 111.8 points in their first four games. Allen became the 24th player in NBA history to eclipse the 23,000-point mark when he made a free throw with 1:01 left in the third quarter.

Shannon Brown led Phoenix with 18 points off the bench, making five 3-pointers. Luis Scola had 15 points, Goran Dragic finished with 13 points and nine assists, and Marcin Gortat scored 12 for the Suns.

The Heat put the game away with a 23-6 run in the third, a spurt fueled by 10 points from James and five 3pointers in a span of less than 5 minutes.

Timberwolves 107, Nets 96 In New York, rookie guard Alexey Shved and Chase Budinger led a furious rally from 22 points down, and Minnesota stunned Brooklyn.

Shved made the go-ahead basket with 2:35 remaining and had a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter after going scoreless for the first three. The Timberwolves scored the final 11 points in an impressive rally on the second night of back-to-back games.

Seemingly out of the game early in the second half, they overwhelmed the Nets in the fourth quarter with a brilliant effort from their bench.

Shved, a point guard from Russia, hit from in the lane, then Nikola Pekovic scored inside and Budinger made a 3-pointer with 38 seconds to go, making it 103-96 in front of a stunned crowd in the second game at the new Barclays Center.

Grizzlies 103, Jazz 94 In Memphis, Zach Randolph had 16 points and 18 rebounds, Marc Gasol added 22 points and Memphis capped a day of celebration by beating Utah.

Before the game, the Grizzlies introduced their new owners with NBA commissioner David Stern on hand. Mike Conley added 16 points, Rudy Gay had 15 and Quincy Pondexter 14 for Memphis, which won its second straight this season after opening up with two games in California.

The Grizzlies also picked up where they left off last season by winning their 12th straight regular season game and extending their franchise record.

Gordon Hayward led Utah with 19 points, 13 in the first half. Mo Williams added 17 points, Paul Millsap and Derrick Favors each had 14.

Mavericks 114, Trail Blazers 91 In Dallas, OJ Mayo scored 32 points, his second consecutive 30point game at home, and Dallas used a fourth-quarter surge to beat Portland.

Mayo, one of a trio of Mavericks newcomers who scored in double figures, made six 3-pointers and capped his night with a running

SACRAMENTO: Kings guard Aaron Brooks (right) and Golden State Warriors guard Jarrett Jack scramble for the ball during the second half of an NBA basketball game. —AP 17 points and San Antonio set a franchise record for best start to a season with its fourth straight win. Tim Duncan added 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs (4-0). DeJuan Blair added 14 points, Stephen Jackson 12 and Danny Green 10.

Former Spurs guard George Hill led Indiana with 15 points. Paul George added 14 points and David West had 10. San Antonio’s reserves outscored Indiana’s bench players 57-35.

rebounds as the Cavaliers snapped a two-game skid. Waiters set career highs in points and 3-pointers in his fourth NBA game.

Blake Griffin scored 20 points, Jamal Crawford added 19 and Chris Paul had 17 for the Clippers, who lost their second straight after opening the season with two wins in a row.

Kings 94, Warriors 92 In Sacramento, DeMarcus Cousins

repaired left ankle - eases back into shape. Klay Thompson had 22 points and David Lee added 20 points to bring the Warriors within a point in the final minute. But Thompson missed a potential tying jumper and Stephen Curry missed a 3-pointer as time expired to seal Golden State’s first road loss this season. Marcus Thornton scored 16 points and Aaron Brooks had 12 for Sacramento in its home opener.—AP

NBA results/standings NY Knicks 110, Philadelphia 88; Minnesota 107, Brooklyn 96; Miami 124, Phoenix 99; Memphis 103, Utah 94; Dallas 114, Portland 91; San Antonio 101, Indiana 79; Sacramento 94, Golden State 92; Cleveland 108, LA Clippers 101.

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L PCT NY Knicks 3 0 1.000 Brooklyn 1 1 .500 Toronto 1 2 .333 Philadelphia 1 2 .333 Boston 1 2 .333

Milwaukee Chicago Cleveland Indiana Detroit

Orlando Miami Charlotte Atlanta Washington

Central Division 2 0 1.000 2 1 .667 2 2 .500 2 2 .500 0 3 0 Southeast Division 2 0 1.000 3 1 .750 1 1 .500 1 1 .500 0 2 0

GB 1.5 2 2 2

0.5 1 1 2.5

1 1 2

Western Conference Northwest Division Minnesota 2 1 .667 Portland 2 2 .500 Oklahoma City 1 2 .333 Utah 1 3 .250 Denver 0 3 0

Golden State LA Clippers Sacramento Phoenix LA Lakers

Pacific Division 2 2 .500 2 2 .500 1 3 .250 1 3 .250 1 3 .250

San Antonio Dallas New Orleans Memphis Houston

Southwest Division 4 0 1.000 3 1 .750 2 1 .667 2 1 .667 2 1 .667

0.5 1 1.5 2

1 1 1

1 1.5 1.5 1.5

FIA chairman hails Kuwait’s role in supporting the sport KUWAIT: President of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), Jean Todt highly commended the role Kuwait plays in supporting automobile races noting that it possesses highly qualified manpower that enables it to take initiatives in regional automobile sports.

Speaking at a press conference, Todt lauded the efforts KUWAIT: President of the International Automobile Federation exerted by Kuwait International (FIA), Jean Todt (left)addressing a press conference.

Automobile Club (KT) and Kuwait

Quarter Mile Club (KQMC) is supporting the sport in Kuwait. He also expressed hopes that such efforts would keep the same pace in order to help develop the game.

Further, Todt stressed that the reason behind his visit was to organize automobile sports in Kuwait and GCC states to make sure all safety precautionary measures are taken during specialized cars and kart races.

18

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

sp orts

Man United seek win for next-round berth

LONDON: Chelsea’s John Terry (centre) warms up during a training session at the Stamford Bridge stadium. Chelsea will face Shakhtar Donetsk in a Champions League Group E soccer match. —AP

Terry returns to plug Chelsea’s leaky defence LONDON: Captain John Terry will be back to plug Chelsea’s porous rearguard today when the holders bid to avenge last month’s defeat by Shakhtar Donetsk and wrest back control of Champions League Group E. The Londoners shipped 10 goals in the four games that centre half Terry missed after he was suspended for racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand.

“John is an important player for us for sure and a fantastic defender and when he plays he always does very well,” coach Roberto Di Matteo told reporters last week.

“The other players have done fantastic jobs when they have come in but certainly JT is a player that we miss.” Terry and his fellow defenders will need to be at their best against a classy Shakhtar side who gave Chelsea the run-around for long spells to win 2-1 in Ukraine two weeks ago.

Di Matteo’s team started the season in sparkling fashion, winning seven of their opening eight games in the Premier League, but confidence has taken a knock since the defeat in Shakhtar.

Chelsea went down 3-2 at home to Manchester United five days later before they turned the tables on their Old Trafford rivals by beating the former European champions 5-4 in a League Cup thriller at Stamford Bridge on Oct. 31. Di Matteo was then without Terry, Frank Lampard, David Luiz and Juan Mata for last Saturday’s disappointing 1-1 draw at Swansea City that meant Chelsea were knocked off the top of the Premier League table by United.

Spanish playmaker Mata has been in good form this season alongside mid-

field newcomers Oscar and Eden Hazard and he is the club’s leading scorer with seven goals.

Mata missed the game at Swansea with a hamstring strain but should be fit to return against Shakhtar at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea are three points behind the Ukrainians at the top of the group and, with a tricky visit to third-placed Juventus to come later this month, they need a victory on Wednesday.

“This is like a final for us if we want to finish first in our group,” Mata said on his blog. “In Ukraine, Shakhtar proved to be a top team able to beat anyone.

“Even so we always have great support at the Bridge and I’m confident we will get a victory to face the last two games in a good position.”

Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu rested several players as runaway leaders Shakhtar made it 14 wins from 14 games this season in the Ukrainian league by beating Metalurg Zaporizhya 2-0 on Saturday. Influential Brazilians Luiz Adriano, Willian and Alex Teixeira started on the bench but all came on with 30 minutes to go.

“It was very important for those three to have some game time,” said Lucescu after his side chalked up a 30th victory in a row in their domestic league.

Goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov and attacking midfielder Tomas Hubschman were unused substitutes while in-form midfield player Henrik Mkhitaryan was left out completely.

“It is hard for players to show their best when the next game is the one that awaits us in London. I am thinking of that game all the time,” added Lucescu. —Reuters

BRAGA: After exiting the Champions League in the group stage last season, Manchester United can secure a berth in the knockout stages with two games to spare when it takes on Braga today.

Alex Ferguson’s team has three wins from three and is top of Group H. A win or even a draw in northern Portugal could be enough to put the Red Devils into the knockout stage.

“With nine points from the first three games we really should be kicking on and make sure we confirm the No. 1 spot. That’s the important thing,” said Ferguson, who on Tuesday marked 26 years at the team’s helm.

“It’s always good to win your group.”

He believed United’s improved run in Europe this season was down to wiser selections. “After the experience of last season, we’re showing that we’re paying more attention to team selection in the sense that we’ve used a big proportion of experienced players,” he said. Braga has only one win and three points so far but will be no pushover. The Portuguese team took a 2-0 lead at Old Trafford before losing 3-2 in the last round.

Braga also has a strong home record against English clubs, having in the past five years beaten Arsenal and Liverpool.

Recent wins over close rivals Chelsea and Arsenal have sent United to the top of the English Premier League, with summer signing Robin van Persie in sharp form in a partnership with Wayne Rooney that has brought him 10 goals in 13 games.

“He’s been doing well for us, he’s a naturalborn goal-scorer and long may it continue that he keeps scoring the goals,” Rio Ferdinand said of the former Arsenal striker.

United’s defense, though, is weakened by injuries to Nemanja Vidic, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, leaving Ferdinand, who turns 34 on match day, to anchor the back line.

That could be a tough task as Brazilian striker Alan, who netted both of Braga’s goals at Old Trafford, is set to lead the home team’s attack.

Leandro Salino, Ruben Micael, Eder and Ruben Amorim are also likely to return after being rested in Braga’s 3-1 Portuguese win

over Gil Vicente last weekend. Amorim is expected to be deployed on the left side of midfield to stop United right back Rafael pushing forward. United is a three-time European champion, while Braga is appearing in the competition for only the second time.

Cluj, which lies second in the group with four points, hosts bottom club Galatasaray in the other game. The Turkish club, which has one point, hasn’t won away in the competition for 10 years. —AP

LONDON: Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney (centre left) trains with teammates at Carrington training ground. Manchester United will play Braga in a Champion’s League Group H soccer match today. —AP

Juve desperate for win against Nordsjaelland MILAN: Serie A champions Juventus said they are ready to bounce back from their biggest setback of the season so far when they host Danish champions Nordsjaelland in a crucial fixture for their Champions League hopes today. Juve’s impressive unbeaten streak was ended by a classy Inter Milan side in Turin last weekend, the result a stark reminder that defending their 2012 title will not be so easy this season.

For Juve, however, it may have come at the right time. After three games in Group E, the Old Lady of Turin is in desperate need of a first win having salvaged a 1-1 draw in Denmark two weeks ago.

“We had an incredible run, 49 matches unbeaten is an extraordinary sequence,” Juve president

Beppe Marotta told juventus.com.

“We’re already back working in preparation for Wednesday’s game against Nordsjaelland and before getting back to league action.

We’re looking forward.”

Two weeks ago Juve travelled to Nordsjaelland as favorites, however a 50th minute opener from Mikkel Beckmann gave the Danes the lead and forced Juve to rely on a Mirko Vucinic equaliser from the penalty spot nine minutes from time.

Montenegrin international striker Vucinic, one of the first names on Juve’s teamsheet this season, is a doubt for Wednesday having suffered a knock to his calf which forced him off at half-time against Inter.

If absent, his place could be taken by either Fabio Quagliarella,

Nicklas Bendtner or Alessandro Matri. Quagliarella came off the bench to score a late equaliser in the 2-2 draw against Chelsea while Bendtner has yet to score having enjoyed few playing opportunities.

Whoever assistant Juve coach Angelo Alessio, standing in for the suspended Antonio Conte, chooses to replace Vucinic, the directive will be the same: the need for goals.

Juventus’s third draw two weeks ago means they approach Wednesday’s fixture only third in the group, one point behind Chelsea (four points) and four behind Shakhtar Donetsk.

Another draw or a defeat on Wednesday would be disastrous: Chelsea visit Turin in a fortnight and Juventus end their group campaign with a tricky trip away to

Shakhtar on December 5. It only remains to be seen whether the disappointment of Sunday’s 3-1 humbling, when a Diego Milito brace and late third goal from Rodrigo Palacio trumped Arturo Vidal’s first-minute opener, has been fully digested by Juve’s players. Claudio Marchisio, who spurned two chances early in the game to extend Juve’s lead, says it’s time to forget the setback and refocus for the task at hand.

“We’re disappointed not to have kept our unbeaten streak going, but it shouldn’t take anything away from what this team is and what we can achieve,” said Marchisio.

“Now we have to refocus for the Champions League today and what is now a decisive challenge.

We want to make amends.” —AFP

Barcelona take on Celtic LONDON: Barcelona’s early season form has been on a par with their habitually high standards but as they prepare to visit Celtic in the Champions League there remains a question mark hanging over their makeshift defence.

One more win in Group G today would see the Catalans into the knockout stages but fans worry whether a back four that has an increasingly stand-in look about it can win a fifth European Cup. Javier Mascherano, a midfielder by trade, was drafted in as a centre back after signing from Liverpool but has now become a regular fixture at the back.

The opportunity to buy an established centre back in the close-season was passed up and injuries to Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol have meant August signing Alex Song - another midfielder - has been forced to provide cover at the back. Given the celestial talents and impeccable fitness records of Barca’s current generation of midfield players, the signing of Song from Arsenal for 19 million euros ($24.41 million) raised some eyebrows when a new defender seemed more necessary. To date, however, the decision not to

GLASGOW: Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, controls the ball during their training session at Celtic Park, Glasgow. Barcelona will play Celtic in a Champions League Group G soccer match. —AP

reinforce at centre back has come at little cost.

Barca set a new club record start to a league season with their 3-1 victory at home to Celta Vigo on Saturday making it nine wins out of 10, coach Tito Vilanova overhauling the previous mark set by Louis van Gaal in 1997-98.

“We haven’t spoken about the record in the dressing room,” Spain midfielder Andres Iniesta told reporters. “We are on a roll and we just want it to continue. We have made a great start, but what is more important is how you finish the season.

The key is the team’s ambition and we want to keep on bettering ourselves.”

They also sit top of their Champions League qualifying group with three wins from three but a hint to their paucity at the back bubbled to the surface in their last European outing against Celtic at the Nou Camp.

What should have been a relatively straightforward home win culminated a nail-biting finale as Barca won 2-1 but were forced to come back from an early Celtic goal that was symptomatic of a team that lacks a towering presence at the back.

With 21-year-old Marc Bartra, a product of the Barca youth system, playing alongside Mascherano, Greece striker Giorgios Samaras rose relatively unchallenged to head home with the help of a big deflection.

They will undoubtedly be aided on Wednesday by the return from injury of Pique, who has been on the sidelines with a foot injury for seven weeks.

However, Sergio Busquets, another holding midfielder who sometimes deputises in defence, is serving the second game of a two-match suspension in Europe.

If Vilanova has been short of options at the back, he is spoilt for choice up front now with David Villa proving he is back to full fitness after breaking his left leg a year ago.

The Spain striker notched his sixth goal of the season against Celta on Saturday and is pressuring Pedro and Alexis Sanchez for a starting place alongside new dad Lionel Messi.

Scottish champions Celtic, who are second behind Barca with four points from their three matches, are sweating on the fitness of five players for the clash at Celtic Park in Glasgow.

Samaras, Gary Hooper and James Forrest all missed the club’s 2-2 draw with Dundee United on Sunday while Thomas Rogne and Emilio Izaguirre both went off injured during the game.

“Forrest is also a doubt but we are hoping Hooper and Samaras will make it,” manager Neil Lennon told the BBC. “Thomas went off with a calf strain very early in the game and he is a doubt,” he added. “He has been looking very good in training and I am pretty sure if he had been playing at the end of the game those things wouldn’t have happened. “Emilio is feeling his hamstring and again, he is a doubt.” —Reuters

GERMANY: Lille’s players warm up during a practice session in Munich. Lille will play Bayern Munich in the Champions League Group F soccer match today. —AP

Bayern in sparkling form as Lille await BERLIN: Bayern Munich are brimming with confidence ahead of today’s Champions League Group F clash at home to France’s Lille with president Uli Hoeness labelling their current form as “football art”.

Bayern, eager to take a decisive step towards the round of 16, eased past hosts Hamburg SV 3-0 in the Bundesliga on Saturday to notch their ninth league win in 10 games, bouncing back from their first defeat a week earlier. They also saw the return of Franck Ribery after a 10-day absence with the France international looking superb and ripping Hamburg’s defence to shreds. With fellow winger Arjen Robben fully fit after coming back from a month out injured in their German Cup second round game last week and left back David Alaba back to his best after his own three-month injury break, the Bavarians are in good shape.

“That is almost art, football art,” beamed Hoeness after their win at Hamburg sent them seven points clear at the top of the German table.

“It is so much fun just watching them play.” Having beaten Lille last month in France to join Valencia and BATE Borisov on six points from three games in the Champions League, Bayern are well-placed to power on

and snatch a top-two finish. Last season’s Champions League finalists, who were also runners-up in 2010, have unusually gone two seasons without any silverware.

“We are a few percent hungrier for a title and absolute success,” Thomas Mueller, who scored his seventh league goal on Saturday, told reporters. But it is not just the German team that are having a good run.

Since they lost 1-0 to Bayern, Lille have won their last three domestic games, scoring five goals and conceding one in two Ligue 1 matches and a League Cup tie. “Our offensive players take more risks. We also defend better. But we cannot relax as we’ve got a very big game at Bayern,” Lille coach Rudi Garcia told reporters after their 2-0 league win at Evian Thonon Gaillard on Saturday.

Garcia has a defensive headache with Mathieu Debuchy, Franck Beria and Marko Basa doubtful. Debuchy took a knock against Evian and was replaced 15 minutes from time but could still play.

Centre backs Beria and Basa, however, have muscle injuries. Beria did not play against Evian because of a groin problem while Basa was replaced at halftime with thigh trouble. — Reuters

Matches on TV (Local Timings) UEFA Champions League Bayern v Lille Aljazeera Sport +7

22:45

Juventus v Nordsjaelland Aljazeera Sport +8

22:45

Braga v Man United Aljazeera Sport +1

22:45

Benfica v Spartak Aljazeera Sport +6

22:45

Chelsea v Shakhtar Aljazeera Sport +5

22:45

Celtic v Barcelona Aljazeera Sport 1 HD Aljazeera Sport +4

22:45

Cluj v Galatasaray Aljazeera Sport +9

22:45

Valencia v BATE Aljazeera Sport +2

22:45

19

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

SPORTS

Malaga in knockout phase

GERMANY: Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere (right) is challenged by Schalke’s Jermaine Jones (left) during the soccer Champions League Group B match.—AP

Schalke strike back to draw with Arsenal GELSENKIRCHEN: Hosts Schalke 04 came back from two goals down to earn a 2-2 draw with Arsenal here in the Champions League yesterday to leave the Royal Blues top of Group B. Having lost 2-0 to Schalke at North London’s Emirates Stadium a fortnight ago, Arsenal shot into an early lead as England’s Theo Walcott and France’s Olivier Giroud netted to leave the Royal Blues stunned at the sold-out Veltins Arena.

But Holland striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar pulled one back for Schalke on the stroke of half-time, then Peru forward Jefferson Farfan netted the equaliser miday through the second half to claim a point.

Schalke had their chances to win the game with 20 shots on goal, compared to Arsenal’s eight, and the lion’s share of possession. The draw leaves Schalke top of the table with eight points while Arsenal are just a point behind in second, with Olympiakos third on six points after their 3-1 win over bottom Montpellier, leaving all still to play for in the group. Schalke had two clear early chances with Dutch wing Ibrahim Affelay forcing Arsenal goalkeeper Vito Mannone into an early save, then Austria defender Christian Fuchs wasted a good chance with a poor shot. But Arsenal brushed off their Premier League defeat at Manchester United on Saturday to take the game by the scruff of the neck with two goals inside the first half an hour. First, Giroud broke free of the defence,

but when Schalke captain Benedikt Hoewedes managed to stop him with a good tackle, Walcott was on hand to follow up and tap home for a simple goal on 18 minutes.

The Gunners then kept piling on the pressure and when Giroud’s pass found Lukas Podolski on the left wing, the Germany star fired in a great cross which the Frenchman gratefully headed home on 26 minutes.

Schalke picked the perfect time to pull a goal back with their last chance of the half in the second minute of added time.

After Giroud lost the ball in midfield, Jermaine Jones threaded a pass to Holland star Huntelaar to fire across Mannone and into the bottom far corner.

Huntelaar then wasted a great chance to claim a second five minutes into the secondhalf when he escaped the defence, but could only fire straight at Mannone.

Schalke finally drew level when Holtby’s pass found Farfan in space down the right wing and Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen could only watch as the ball richoted off him and into the Gunners’ net on 67 minutes.

The Gunners had two great chances to win it when Walcott first beat Unnerstall but hit the post with 15 minutes left, then fired straight at the goalkeeper with virtually the last shot of the game. In the next round of matches, Schalke host Olympiakos on November 21, while Arsenal are home to Montpellier the same night.—AFP

Champions League tables PARIS: European Champions League tables after yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Group A FC Porto Paris SG Dynamo Kiev Dinamo

4 4 4 4

3 3 1 0

1 0 1 0

0 6 2 10 1 10 2 9 2 5 7 4 4 0 10 0

Group C Malaga AC Milan Anderlecht Zenit

4 4 4 4

3 1 1 1

1 2 1 0

0 1 2 3

Group B Schalke 04 Arsenal Olympiakos Montpellier

4 4 4 4

2 2 2 0

2 1 0 1

0 1 2 3

Group D Dortmund Real Madrid Ajax Man City

4 4 4 4

2 2 1 0

2 1 1 2

0 6 1 10 2 6 2 6

8 7 7 5

5 6 7 9

8 7 6 1

8 4 1 3

1 10 4 5 4 4 7 3

4 7 8 9

8 7 4 2

Anderlecht beat Zenit BRUSSELS: Masked striker Dieumerci Mbokani returned from a broken nose injury to score for Anderlecht and give the Belgian champion a 1-0 victory over Zenit St. Petersburg yesterday in the Champions League.

The victory kept Anderlecht in contention to advance from Group C as it jumped over Zenit from last into third place. Anderlecht got the breakthrough in the 17th minute when lone forward

Mbokani set up a one-two with US midfielder Sacha Kljestan in the penalty area and deftly lifted the ball over outstretched goalie Viatsjeslav Malafeev.

Zenit, who beat Anderlecht at home in their last Champions League match, never looked like a challenger and sorely missed Brazilian striker Hulk, who is out injured. It was the first Champions League victory in almost seven years for Belgium’s most famous club.—AP

MILAN: Competition debutants Malaga held seven-time champions AC Milan to a 1-1 draw at the San Siro to secure qualification for the knockout phase of the Champions League here yesterday.

Milan, ousted in the quarterfinals by Barcelona last season, dominated the first half but spurned several opportunities before Eliseu put the visitors ahead against the run of play in the 40th minute.

Brazilian Alexandre Pato then gave Milan hope of a second win in the group phase when he levelled in the 73rd, but despite the hosts’ push for a late winner the Rossoneri were to be denied.

As well as enduring arguably their worst ever start to a season, Milan’s record against Spanish clubs in Europe read: won one, drawn five and lost six in their last 12 games.

But, buoyed by a 5-1 win over Chievo in Serie A Saturday, Massimiliano Allegri’s side displayed attacking verve in the opening half thanks largely to the energetic runs of Bojan.

On 19 minutes the Spanish forward danced around the Malaga defence to unleash a shot which forced Malaga keeper Willy to quickly turn on his heels and parry after the ball had taken a deflection. Moments later Bojan got to the Malaga byline and cut the ball back for Stephan El Shaarawy, who saw his solid first-time effort blocked.

When Pato won a freekick on the edge of the area, Dutch winger Emanuelson stepped up to send a curling effort around the defensive wall towards goal but Willy produced a spectacular dive to palm the ball round the

ITALY: AC Milan midfielder Nigel de Jong of the Netherlands (right) challenges for the ball with Malaga midfielder Isco, during a Champions League, Group C soccer match.—AP upright. Milan were dominating, but Malaga exposed the hosts’ defence all too easily, Eliseu whipping over a dangerous cross in the fifth minute that was eventually swept out for a corner.

Joaquin, who scored the winner in Spain two weeks ago, then dribbled through the defence to feed Javier Saviola on the edge of the box in the 10th minute until Milan bundled the ball to safety.

Against the run of play, Malaga broke the deadlock through Eliseu who latched onto Isco’s through ball to beat Abbiati low to the keeper’s right

after the Spaniard’s mazy run caught Milan chasing back towards their own goal. Milan continued their pressing early in the second half, but without any real true conviction.

Guinean defender Kevin Constant did well to set up El Shaarawy inside the area but the Italian’s swivel and turn effort went well wide of the post.

Soon after, Allegri replaced El Shaarawy with Kevin Prince Boateng whose first touch was a volley from all of 35 metres as Willy strayed off his line.

When Emanuelson’s freekick from just outside the area went

straight to the keeper, it summed up Milan’s mediocre start to the second period.

They were soon lifted however by a 73rd minute equaliser, Pato rising high at the back post to head Constant’s cross past Willy. Both sides went on to create chances in the remaining 17 minutes, with Roque Santa Cruz, who came on earlier for Saviola, dribbling past the Milan defence with consumate ease.

Allegri sent on Robinho for Emanuelson late on and despite showing glimpses of promise the hosts failed to penetrate the Malaga backline.—AFP

Olympiakos keep knockout hopes alive ATHENS: Greek side Olympiakos kept alive their chances of reaching the Champions League knockout stage here yesterday with a deserved 3-1 win over French champions Montpellier.

Goals from Paulo Machado - only his second for the club - Leandro Greco and Kostas Mitroglu eased them to victory even if Younes Belhanda had briefly got the visitors back into the game as he levelled with a penalty.

Victory takes Olympiakos onto six points, two behind leaders Schalke and one adrift of second-placed Arsenal, while Montpellier are out of contention on one point with two games remaining.

The visitors had been dealt an early blow as Olympiakos broke the deadlock with a finely worked goal in the fourth minute.

Greco outfoxed his Montpellier opponent, got into the box and set up Mitroglu, who should have done better than see his shot come off the post with goalkeeper Geoffrey Jourdren beaten.

However, to his relief Machado was lurking and he knocked in the rebound. Jourdren did well seven minutes later to keep his side in the game as he got down to block a fierce effort from the lively Mitroglu. His save appeared to spark his team-mates into life and they dominated for the next 20 minutes but only troubled Roy Carroll once, a Souleymane Camara header going just over the bar.

However, they drew level in the 66th minute after Dimitris Siovas felled Camara the box and although Carroll dived the right way Belhanda’s penalty crept under him.

Olympiakos, though, struck back and scored twice in three minutes to seal the points.

The impressive Greco swept the ball home in the 80th minute after a Montpellier defender had inadvertently headed the ball out to him at the edge of the box, and then the equally impressive Mitroglu netted his third goal in four matches of this season’s tournament with a neatly taken volley.—AFP

PIRAEUS: Olympiakos’ Vassilis Torosidis (left) and Montpellier’s Younes Belhanada fight for the ball during a Group B Champions League soccer match.—AP

Dominant PSG thrash Dinamo

BRUSSELS: Anderlecht’s Sacha Kljestan (right) challenges FC Zenit St Petersburg’s Roman Shirokov during the Group C Champions League soccer match.—AP

PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain moved to the cusp of qualification for the last 16 in the Champions League as they defeated Dinamo Zagreb 4-0 at the Parc des Princes yesterday.

Goals from Alex, Blaise Matuidi, Jeremy Menez and Guillaume Hoarau guided the Parisians to a third win from four matches in Group A, lifting them onto nine points, one behind leaders Porto, who were held to a goalless draw at Dynamo Kiev.

The Ukrainian outfit lie third on four points, while defeat for Zagreb extended their barren group phase run to 10 matches, eliminating them from this year’s competition and leaving them as the only team yet to score. Carlo Ancelotti made five changes from the side that succumbed at home to SaintEtienne on Saturday-a result that snapped the Parisians’

unbeaten league start-with Ezequiel Lavezzi a surprise inclusion following his return to fitness. 17-year-old Adrien Rabiot was also handed a European debut with the Italian’s midfield options decimated by injuries, while Alex was preferred to Mamadou Sakho in the heart of defence with Christophe Jallet slotting in for Gregory Van der Wiel on the right.

PSG were fortunate not to fall a goal behind, surviving an early scare as Josip Pivaric’s angled shot flashed narrowly wide of the far post. Menez then should have forced a save from goalkeeper Ivan Kelava after Lavezzi’s clever pass put him clean through, but the Frenchman, with one eye on the linesman’s flag, miscontrolled allowing the keeper to claim.

But PSG soon found a breakthrough after 16 minutes as Alex

swept home Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s cross after the Swede exchanged passes with Lavezzi from a short corner.

Thiago Silva was denied a second as Kelava somehow corraled his close-range header after the Brazlian had latched on to Mohamed Sissoko’s initial effort.

The Dinamo keeper then used his legs to intercept a pass destined for Ibrahimovic, who was unmarked at the far post.

Marco Verratti was introduced after the restart as PSG sought to turn their superior possession into something more meaningful. Zagreb’s best chance fell to Ante Rukavina as he climbed well to meet Sime Vrsaljko’s ball in from the right, but his powerful header zipped over the crossbar. The club from the French capital started to turn the screw and doubled their

lead on 61 minutes as a delightful pass from Ibrahimovic picked out Matuidi, who calmly slotted beyond Kelava. Menez, who scored in the corresponding fixture a fortnight ago, repeated the feat as he added a third four minutes later.

The France international collected the ball on the edge of the box before cutting inside, leaving Ante Puljic seated on the turf, and showed great composure as he slipped the ball under Kelava.Menez then squandered a glorious opportunity to net a fourth, as he failed to get a shot off after trying to round the keeper.

But PSG weren’t finished as Ibrahimovic broke into the Dinamo box, and despite losing his balance under pressure from Kelava, managed to flick the ball to Hoarau who steered the ball into the unguarded net.—AFP

Green Moon wins Melbourne Cup

Federer sinks Tipsarevic to set Tour Finals record

17

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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

Man United seek win for next-round berth

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MADRID: Real Madrid’s Mesut Ozil from Germany (right) duels for the ball with Borussia Dortmund’s Sebastian Kehl from Germany during a Group D Champions League soccer match. —AP

Late Ozil strike rescues Real

MADRID: Mesut Ozil saved Madrid with a brilliant late free-kick to earn a Champions League point in an entertaining 2-2 draw with Borussia Dortmund in the Santiago Bernabeu yesterday.

Borussia were ahead until the 89th minutes thanks to a Marco Reus strike and an Alvaro Arbeloa own goal in the first period. Pepe had earlier levelled for the home side.

The result means, with two games remaining, the Germans still lead Group D with 8 points, 1 more than Madrid, with Ajax 3 points behind after a 2-2 draw away at Manchester City.

It could have been worse for Madrid as it seemed for long periods the Germans would repeat the 2-1 result from the first game between the sides a fortnight ago in Dortmund.

For Madrid, Luka Modric was chosen to partner Xabi Alonso in the centre of midfield with Raphael Varane again called upon into the centre of defence to allow Sergio Ramos to cover at rightback.

Borussia captain Sebastian Kehl was able to play with a protective mask, despite picking up a facial injury on Saturday against Stuttgart.

The German keeper Roman Weidenfaller had to be quick of his line on 2 minutes to deny Higuain after Angel Di Maria had played a long through pass. However, backed by around 10000 noisy fans the Germans settled quickly into the game. First Lewandowski burst down the left on four minutes and fired over a dangerous cross that had to be expertly dealt with by Madrid’s defence

On ten minutes Iker Casillas was quick to stop a Marcel Schmelzer effort with his feet and Lewandowski fired over the rebound.

Next it was Kevin Grosskreutz’s turn to test Casillas after a quick counter-attack and mazy run down the left from Gotze.

Cristiano Ronaldo should have done better when heading wide a Higuain cross from a good position on 22 minutes, but it was a sign of life from the home team and it lifted their support.

Both sides were now jostling for control of midfield and the opening goal, that eventually fell to the Germans on 28 minutes.

Right-back Lukasz Piszczek was deep in his own half when he played a searching ball that Lewandowski headed into the path of Reus, who

powerfully volleyed home first-time.

The Germans seemed momentarily on top and comfortable until Pepe powered home a Mesut Ozil cross with his head on 34 minutes. Borussia regained the lead right at the death of an exciting half. Lewandowski’s was again prominent, heading a long kick from Weidenfeller into the path of Grosskreutz who burst into the area and laid on a pass for Gotze to bundle the ball past Casillas.

A desperate lunge from Madrid defender Arbeloa provided the decisive touch, but it was a well-worked goal from the Germans.

Jose Mourinho looked for a reaction from his side making two changes at the interval by bringing on Jose Callejon and Michael Essien to replace Modric and Gonzalo Higuain.

City on brink of exit after draw with Ajax MANCHESTER: Manchester City stand on the verge of a second successive group-phase exit from the Champions League after a 2-2 draw at home to Ajax yesterday left their hopes hanging by a thread.

Sloppy defending saw City fall 2-0 down to a pair of early goals from Siem de Jong, and although the English champions rallied and drew level through Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero, the last 16 remains an unlikely objective.

The result left Roberto Mancini’s men with two points from four games and even victories in their remaining Group D games against Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund may not be enough to keep them in the competition.

Having out-played City in their 3-1 victory in Amsterdam two weeks ago, Ajax once again showed their class at the Etihad Stadium, and they trail second-place Madrid by three points with two games to play. City began the game with intent, Toure making a vain penalty claim and Pablo Zabaleta shooting over from Carlos Tevez’s incisive pass, but two moments of inattention at corners saw the hosts ship two goals in quick succession.

For the opening goal, on 10 minutes, Niklas Moisander was allowed to meet Christian Eriksen’s corner and prod the ball goalwards, with de Jong sliding in to squeeze the ball home from close range as it bounced across goal. Seven minutes later, Eriksen’s delivery came from the left, but City’s defending was just as static. Toure watched as de Jong ambled away from him at the near post and with Gareth Barry slow to react, the Ajax skipper was able to beat Joe Hart with a well-placed header.

Ajax fans sparked up a chorus of ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,’ but the hosts hit back quickly through Toure, who skilfully chest-

ed down Samir Nasri’s deflected cross and hooked a fierce volley past Kenneth Vermeer.

Zabaleta led City’s attempts to find an equaliser, seeing a deflected cross headed off the line by Ricardo van Rhijn and then forcing Vermeer to save with a downward header.

Ajax remained a threat on the break, however, and there were angry complaints from the home fans when both de Jong and Derk Boerrigter were given the time to flash efforts from range narrowly off target.

Mancini introduced Mario Balotelli in place of Javi Garcia at half-time, and the visitors soon found themselves defending on the edge of their own penalty area.

Matija Nastasic volleyed over from a Barry free-kick and Aguero had a goal ruled out for offside, before slipping at the crucial moment after taking the ball past Vermeer.

De Jong served a reminder of Ajax’s threat with a pair of 25-yard strikes the second a freekick-that both obliged Hart to scramble across his line to save, but City survived and in the 74th minute they drew level.

Hart’s kick was flicked on by Balotelli and Aguero held his nerve to drill the ball into the bottom-left corner from the edge of the box.

Belatedly, the home fans found their voices, and it required a brilliant reflex save from Vermeer to palm away Balotelli’s goalbound header with 11 minutes remaining.

Aguero thought he had claimed a dramatic winner in the 88th minute, but substitute Aleksandar Kolarov was controversially ajudged to have strayed offside in the build-up.

There were angry scenes at the final whistle, meanwhile, with City’s players surrounding referee Peter Rasmussen after he failed to award a penalty when Balotelli went down in the Ajax area.—AFP

Immediately, Callejon had the ball in the net, but was ruled to be marginally offside before the same player shot just wide on the turn.

Callejon again was denied with a block by Weidenfeller on 60 minutes but as the half went on the Germans became increasingly comfortable as Madrid’s goal opportunities became rare.

Mourinho’s last throw of the dice was to introduce Kaka with 13 minutes remaining and he quickly instigated a move that Ronaldo should have finished.

Callejon had a weak shot cleared of the line by Grosskreutz before Ozil’s late escape act curling a free-kick over the wall and just inside a post to make it impossible for Weidenfeller and save Madrid at the last.—AFP

Porto advances despite being held by Kiev

LONDON: Manchester City’s Vincent Kompany (left) and Ajax’s Christian Eriksen (right) battle for the ball during their Champions League Group D soccer match.—AP

KIEV: Twice former winners Porto qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League after drawing 0-0 with Dynamo Kiev at the Olympic Stadium yesterday.

Group A leaders Porto have 10 points from four games, one in front of Paris St Germain and six ahead of Kiev. Dinamo Zagreb are bottom without a point. Zlatan Ibrahimovic laid on all four goals as PSG beat Zagreb 4-0 in Paris yesterday.

Having survived some early pressure, Porto started to take control of the midfield.

Jackson Martinez went close for the 1987 and 2004 champions when he forced keeper Maxym Koval into a stunning save from a header that seemed destined for the bottom corner of the net.

Goal chances were few and far between in the first half but James Rodriguez set up Porto team mate Silvestre Varela early in the second half only for the midfielder to hit the outside of the post.

Kiev carved out two good opportunities midway through the second period. Andriy Yarmolenko broke down the right and shot weakly straight at Helton and the same player was denied again by the keeper from a header moments later.

The Ukrainians built a promising attack in the closing stages but the move had to be halted when a fan suddenly invaded the pitch and had to be taken off the field by security guards.

Kiev coach Oleg Blokhin, who turned 60 on Monday, is still recovering after undergoing surgery a month ago and watched the game from the stands.—Reuters

Credit Suisse enters asset management JV with Qatar Page 22

Jazeera Airways reports Q3 group net profit of KD7.6m Page 23

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

France acts to bolster ailing industrial sector

Air Arabia marks 9th anniversary Page 26

Page 25

THESSALONIKI: Protesters chant slogans during the first day of the 48-hour nationwide general strike, in the northern port city of Thessaloniki yesterday.—AP

Europe’s economies risk more shrinking Surveys show scant hope of turnaround soon LONDON: The fourth quarter has so far brought no improvement in the fortunes of most of Europe’s economies, which now risk shrinking more than previously expected, sur veys showed yesterday.

Purchasing managers indexes (PMIs), which gauge the activity of thousands of companies worldwide, showed euro-zone businesses endured their worst month in October since June 2009, with little hope of a turnaround coming soon.

The euro-zone relies heavily on Germany, its largest economy, to generate growth. Business activity there shrank at faster pace last month. Survey compiler Markit said the latest PMI was consistent with the euro-zone economy shrinking at a quarterly rate of around 0.5 percent.

If the PMIs fail to improve for November and December, the euro zone economy could easily face a hefty contraction in the

fourth quarter rather than the stagnation projected by economists polled by Reuters two weeks ago.

“Given the stabilization in financial markets, and in consumer sentiment indicators in some countries, we thought perhaps you would see some stabilization in the PMIs as well,” said Janet Henr y, chief European economist at HSBC. “What’s disappointing about the Q4 data is the weakness reflected in the core euro zone indicators-the French and German PMIs.” There were two bright spots in yesterday ‘s data. The Irish sur vey rebounded strongly in October and the Italian services PMI, while still showing businesses are struggling, shot above the highest forecast from economists.

“It’s not all really bad news, but it’s all consistent with a contraction in the real economy. And that’s not what you want

when you’ve got really high debt levels,” said Henry. That applies particularly to Spain, the euro zone’s No.4 economy, as its services sector shrank for a 16th straight month. Most say it’s only a matter of time, likely before the end of the year, that Spain asks for a full sovereign bailout. The European Commission has set dire economic forecasts for Spain until 2014, a newspaper reported yesterday, shooting down the targets set out by Madrid and potentially pushing it closer to seeking euro-zone aid.

Markit ’s Eurozone Composite PMI fell in October to 45.7 from 46.1 in September, down slightly from a preliminary reading of 45.8 two weeks ago and marking its ninth consecutive month below the 50 mark dividing growth from contraction. The survey will do little to alter the view of a majority of economists that the European Central Bank will trim

interest rates to a new record low of 0.5 percent, although probably early next year rather than this tomorrow.

“Sentiment is still being hit hard as companies worry about the dual impact of weak domestic demand and a slowing global economy,” said Rob Dobson, senior economist at PMI compiler Markit.

Surveys from Asia and the United States released on Monday suggested the euro zone will remain the global economy’s principal laggard going into 2013. Britain’s services PMIs were released on Monday, and suggested its economy slowed much more than expected in October.

That compounded a PMI last week that showed UK manufacturing slumped badly in October, ending a run of more hopeful data on the economy. British industrial output also fell more sharply than expected in September.—Reuters

Greek workers stage mass anti-austerity walkout ATHENS: Greek workers began a twoday mass walkout yesterday, bringing public transport in Athens to a halt, as public anger mounts over a new government austerity bill aimed at securing international aid needed to prevent the debt-crippled nation from defaulting.

Public bus workers in the capital joined taxi drivers as well as metro, tram and train workers in the strike, paralysing traffic in the capital. Many flights were to be cancelled or rescheduled as traffic controllers staged a three-hour work stoppage. Ferry services were also crippled, as ships linking to Greece’s islands remained docked. Judges and lawyers also joined the strike while publicly-run museums, archaeological sites and post offices were shut.

Police and anti-riot troops were out in force around parliament and government offices in Athens city centre, with water cannon at the ready to disperse the crowds in case of trouble arising from a demonstration called by the country’s two main labor unions, the GSEE and ADEDY. Thousands of people were streaming in to the capital join the rally. “The people came here today to protest against the measures that bring us back centuries. They are abolishing our rights, and

depriving our children’s future,” said teacher Thanassis Pargas.

Aleka Papariga, who leads the Communist Party, called for “systematic and well-organized disobedience not only to the government’s decisions but to the overall system”. In parliament, lawmakers were debating the austerity bill, which proposes 18.5 billion euros ($23.6 billion) in new spending cuts and other reforms by 2016, adding to previous rounds of painful measures as the country heads for its sixth year in recession.

The package, which was put to parliament on Monday and will be voted on Wednesday, includes measures such as a rise in the retirement age to 67 from the current 65, and cuts of five to 10 percent in pensions of more than 1,000 euros a month.

Civil servants’ 13th and 14th month pay would be scrapped, and further salary cuts imposed on academics, hospital doctors, judges, diplomats and members of the armed forces.

“These measures essentially bring us many years back. All the labor rights the Greek people won post-World War II and post-dictatorship are taken back,” said union activist Marie Lavrentiadou.

“The measures will be voted in tomorrow, but the measures are not voted in

the conscience of the Greek people and they can be ousted,” she charged.

Implementing the austerity plan is a condition for Greece to qualify for a 31.5billion-euro tranche of bailout funds from its troika of international creditorsthe European Union, International Monetar y Fund and the European Central Bank.

Without it, Greece risks bankruptcy in mid-November. “We must save the country from catastrophe,” conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said at the weekend, warning again that Greece could risk exiting the euro as he battles to win backing for the austerity measures from reluctant coalition partners. Eurozone creditors were due to make a decision on the bailout funds-part of a massive rescue package-at a November 12 meeting of finance ministers.

“It is indeed important because there is... the need to fill in the financing needs of Greece in mid-November,” EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said on Monday after a Group of 20 meeting in Mexico City. “Both the eurozone and the IMF and the Greek government and parliament are now on track in order to be able to take the decision next Monday.”

Investors were banking on the austeri-

ty bill to pass, allowing Greece yesterday to raise 1.3 billion euros in a six-month bond issue at a slightly lower rate of 4.4 percent.

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras last week unveiled the 2013 budget, which predicts that the economy will shrink by a worse than expected 4.5 percent next year and the country’s debt mountain will swell to 346 billion euros or 189 percent of economic output.

While deeply resentful of the new cuts, some Greeks acknowledged that there may not be a better solution.

“We are in a state of compromise and we must bear the austerity measures as there is no turning back from the memorandum,” said Mary Stirgepoulou, an 18year-old university student.

“The main opposition criticizes everything that is happening, it is just that I don’t believe there is another solution. It would require a great effort for the measures to be overthrown.”

Yannis Levas, 34, who works at a recruitment company aimed at finding jobs for Greeks abroad, called the measures “a double-edged sword”. “On the one side they must not go through, on the other they must. There is always that dilemma if we will return or not to the drachma,” he said.— AFP

Kuwait bourse slips; other markets firm MIDEAST STOCK MARKET DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s bourse made its largest one-day gain in 10 weeks yesterday, rallying to a seven-week high as petrochemicals stocks rose on bargain hunting and most other Gulf bourses also gained.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC), the world’s largest chemicals producer, climbed 2.3 percent, National Industrialization rose 2.6 percent and Saudi Arabian Fertilizers added 1.9 percent.

Saudi petrochemical and banking shares suffered heavy losses after broadly disappointing third-quarter earnings, dragging the benchmark back to July levels, but analysts said this selling was overdone and had forecast share prices would recover after the Eid Al-Adha holidays ended on Nov. 2. “Petrochemical stocks were hammered with the results and keeping in mind global markets just opened yesterday and oil is up, this is opportunity buying,” said Tariq Alalaiwat, equity research analyst at NCB Capital. Brent crude rose more than $1 a barrel yesterday. Saudi’s bank index rose 1.2 percent. Banque Saudi Fransi and Samba Financial Group were the main gainers, rising 3.3 and 2 percent respectively. The kingdom’s main benchmark climbed 1.1 percent to close at its highest level since Sept. 25. In Kuwait, the bourse slipped 0.5 percent, declining for a fourth session in five, although selling pressure appeared to be easing along with investor fears that political protests could become more violent. The index finished about 60 points above Sunday’s eight-year low. Small-caps were hardest hit.

Ithmaar Bank fell 5.1 percent, Inovest slipped 2 percent and Gulf Finance House lost 2.9 percent.

The five largest stocks on the index closed flat.

Analysts said stake-linked funds have been buying bluechip stocks to help ease broader selling pressure.

In the United Arab Emirates, Dana Gas finished 2.5 percent higher, having risen as much as 5 percent intraday as it rebounded from Monday’s seven-week low. The company said yesterday it is still negotiating a standstill agreement with a creditors’ committee.

Banks also gained, with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) and National Bank of Abu Dhabi climbing 0.9 and 0.4 percent respectively. Abu Dhabi’s benchmark rose for a first session in three, finishing 0.5 percent higher.

Dubai’s index climbed 0.2 percent, easing away from Monday’s one-month closing low. Telecom operator Du advanced 3 percent, while Emaar Properties slipped 0.3 percent. “The results (in the UAE) were mostly neutral to disappointing so far - the star companies of last four quarters like Emaar, ADCB, du have came below expectations, while new players surprised on the upside,” said Mohammed Yasin, managing director of Abu Dhabi Financial Services. —Reuters

22

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

BUSINESS

Credit Suisse enters asset management JV with Qatar Doha looks to beef up financial centre DUBAI: Credit Suisse and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund have set up an asset management joint venture as the gas-rich Gulf state looks to beef up its financial centre and the Swiss bank seeks to tap strong growth in the region.

The venture, called Aventicum Capital Management, builds on the close ties between the two businesses. Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is Credit Suisse’s secondlargest shareholder with a 6.2 percent stake, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The venture will focus on investments in the fast-growing emerging and frontier markets of the Middle East and Turkey as well as operate an international business, Credit Suisse said yesterday.

The business will be run out of Doha and an undisclosed international location. The Doha-based division will launch in early 2013, while the international business will be started later next year, the bank said. No financial

details of the venture were provided in the statement.

The venture is between Credit Suisse and Qatar Holding, part of the Qatar Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund. Cash-rich Qatar is aiming to create an asset management hub in the region. It is setting up a platform for financial services and asset management firms through Qatar Financial Centre, its answer to glitzier Dubai’s financial centre.

In April, Qatar signed a deal to co-invest $250 million with Barclays’ natural resources private equity investment unit. For Credit Suisse, the venture builds on its ties with Qatar, which participated in the bank’s capital raising plans this year by buying into a convertible bonds issue.

The bank has also landed hefty investment banking mandates from the sovereign wealth fund previously and had loaned one of its top bankers, Anthony Armstrong, to run Qatar Holding’s mergers and acquisitions team until

Egypt’s EGAS pushes back bidding deadline to Feb 29 from Jan. 30 to allow more companies to take part.

Some 25 bids have been received from international oil firms for the 15 concessions on offer, an EGPC official had told Reuters.

“The EGAS postponement was also a request from interested firms as they want more time for evaluation of the areas on offer before they submit their financial and technical bids,” the official said, declining to comment on the number of companies interested in the bid so far.

Minister Kamal also said that a previous concession that had been abandoned by Royal Dutch Shell in 2011 was on offer in this latest EGAS bidding.

The NEMED concession, which lies off the Nile delta, was relinquished after Shell spent 10 years trying to prove the presence of gas that could be exploited.

Shell said at the time it was not commercially viable for it to continue with the project.

Kamal said the NEMED concession was broken up into several blocks in the new bid round.

“The price for selling gas that was offered to our partners at the time was not feasible for them,” Kamal said on television. “We will take into consideration the difference in price in this new tender,” he said. The EGAS official said that the NEMED concession area was too vast and that is why a decision to break it up into smaller blocks in this latest tender was taken.

“Shell had a difficult time as this was an ultra deep water concession and the area was too vast to be able to pick and choose which part the company would be able to focus on,” he said. — Reuters

ABU DHABI: Egypt’s state -owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) has postponed by three months the closing date for international companies to present bids for 15 oil and gas concessions due to weak interest in the tender. EGAS has pushed back the deadline for bidding to Feb. 13 from Nov. 14, an EGAS official told Reuters after a posting on the company’s website showed the change of dates. EGAS announced the bidding in June for the exploration blocks in the Mediterranean and Nile Delta basins, all but two of which are offshore.

Oil Minister Osama Kamal said Monday on a late night talk show that the extension of the deadline was due to poor interest from international companies.

“The interest wasn’t at the level that we wanted,” Kamal said on the program “The Last Word,” broadcast by privately owned Egyptian channel ONTV. An EGAS official told Reuters the delay was also to give an opportunity for another state -owned firm, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), to announce its own tender results. “ The EGPC hasn’t announced its results yet too and we want to give a chance for companies who have tendered in that bid and didn’t get a block to tender in the EGAS bid,” said the official, who did not want to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the press.

EGPC is due to announce the results of its latest bid round sometime this week, around seven months after the closing date. The closing bid for that tender had also been delayed to March

last year. It advised Qatar Holding on several deals including high-profile purchases of stakes in German auto maker Porsche and the acquisition of London’s famed Harrods department store.

The Swiss bank is also planning to relocate some of its junior analysts from Dubai to Doha as part of its efforts to focus on key markets.

The new asset management business will be run by Aladdin Hangari, the bank’s Qatar chief executive, with Martin Keller, Credit Suisse’s head of asset management for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) chairing the board of directors.

Hashem Monatasser, previously the asset management head of EFG Hermes, will be the chief executive and chief investment officer of the Doha-based business.

Qatar’s QInvest is in talks with EFG to create a jointly-owned investment bank with QInvest holding a 60-percent stake and pumping in $250 million in cash. — Reuters

Dana Gas talks withcreditors at standstill DUBAI: Dana Gas, which last week missed a $920 million Islamic bond redemption, said yesterdayTuesday it was still negotiating a standstill agreement with a creditors’ committee.

Dana, headquar tered in the emirate of Sharjah, did not repay a five-year convertible sukuk on maturity last Wednesday, becoming the first UAE company to miss a bond redemption.

“The company and the committee are currently negotiating the necessary standstill and lock up agreement which the parties are working together to conclude soon,” Dana said in a statement.

On Monday, the special purpose vehicle administering the bond declared a “dissolution event” had occurred - formally acknowledging Dana had failed to redeem the sukuk - and asked bond holders to decide their course of action.

This is a legal step that leaves the holders with a choice between liquidating the bond and claiming the assets backing it, or agreeing to restructure the sukuk in the hope of obtaining better returns.

A source close to the creditors told Reuters last week that bond holders were considering claiming the Egyptian assets of Dana Gas, which were used as security against the issue, after the company missed the redemption date.

Holders of Dana sukuk include big international investment firms like BlackRock Inc and Ashmore Group. They are yet to make a public statement on their stand.

Dana’s problems started after the company was hit by payment delays on the gas it supplies to Egypt and Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

Its shares have slumped on the Abu Dhabi bourse since Reuters reported last week that the company was set to miss the repayment deadline. — Reuters

GHAZNI: An Afghan currency exchange dealer counts notes at a market in Ghazni yesterday. With NATO combat troops due to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, there are fears of a consequent meltdown in the graftplagued economy. — AFP

Dubai’s Arabtec Q3 profit drops DUBAI: Arabtec Holding, Dubai’s largest listed contractor, beat analysts’ expectations despite posting a 10.5 percent fall in third-quarter profit yesterday and said it was looking at equity-linked fundraising options.

The builder made a profit of 35 million dirhams ($9.5 million) in the three months to September 30, compared with 39.1 million dirhams in the same period in 2011, according to its financial statement posted on the Dubai bourse. The earnings beat forecasts by six analysts polled by Reuters, who predicted an average net profit of 20.6 million dirhams for the quarter.

Revenue for the quarter was 1.4 billion dirhams, up 27.3 percent on the same period last year.

However, Arabtec was forced to book a 19 million dirhams deficit as it transferred onto its income statement the shift in value after the sale of a portion of its sukuk holding in state developer Nakheel.

The Islamic bond was part of the Dubai developer’s restructuring agreement, with creditors taking 60 percent of their owed cash in the form of sukuk.

As part of its expansion plans, the

board was considering funding options available to the firm, which could include a capital increase or a convertible bond issue, a separate statement to the bourse said. Arabtec has previously said it was looking at such equity-linked fundraising but cancelled the plan in March 2011 because of political unrest in the region related to the Arab Spring.

The builder has gradually shifted its focus to Saudi Arabia and Qatar over the last few years as its home market Dubai continued to be impacted by the property market collapse. However, a gradual recovery has prompted some developers to restart stalled projects.

A consortium comprising Arabtec, Turkey’s TAV Insaat and Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Co. won a $2.9 billion contract to build a terminal at Abu Dhabi’s international airport. The group also secured financing for the project.

This contract swelled Arabtec’s backlog to 17 billion dirhams.

Arabtec shares - buoyed earlier this year as Abu Dhabi investment firm Aabar built a 21.6 percent stake - had risen 67.7 percent year-to-date by Monday’s close, outperforming Dubai’s bourse, which has gained 19.2 percent. — Reuters

Shareholders of Mojil Group reject liquidation KHOBAR: Shareholders in Mohammed Al-Mojil Group (MMG) have rejected the idea of liquidating the construction company, which is burdened by heavy losses and debt. The company’s recovery plan include asset sales, cutting bank debt and absorbing accumulated losses, it said in a statement to the Saudi bourse yesterday, after shareholders agreed on Monday to keep the firm running.

Restructuring efforts at the MMG, which is involved in oil and gas projects mainly for state oil giant Saudi Aramco, caused its quarterly loss to narrow from the previous quarter to 33.8 million riyals ($9 million) in the three months through September, the company said on

Saturday. In September it said its liabilities exceeded its assets and shareholders were left with a deficit of 279.8 million riyals after it ran into problems on some large contracts that included part of Aramco’s Manifa oilfield development.

Accumulated losses in September exceeded 75 percent of its capital, forcing the company to call an emergency meeting to discuss whether it should be dissolved. Trading in its shares was suspended earlier this year.

MMG is involved in building part Aramco’s Wasit gas program, as well as the Aramco-Sinopec refinery in Yanbu, among others. It also has branches in the United Arab Emirates. — Reuters

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Egyptian pounds

.2740000 .4480000 .3580000 .2970000 .2810000 .2890000 .0040000 .0020000 .0766250 .7436110 .3870000 .0720000 .7289780 .0430000

.2845000 .4600000 .3680000 .3080000 .2910000 .2980000 .0067500 .0035000 .0770920 .7510840 .4060000 .0770000 .7363040 .0510000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2811500 .2832500 GB Pound/KD .4506830 .4540500 Euro .3606030 .3632960 Swiss francs .2988100 .3010420 Canadian dollars .2826340 .2847450 Danish Kroner .0483430 .0487040 Swedish Kroner .0419180 .0422310 Australian dlr .2913980 .2935740 Hong Kong dlr .0362760 .0365470 Singapore dlr .2296790 .2313940 Japanese yen .0034960 .0035220 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 .0052650 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 .0021810 Pakistan rupee .0000000 .0029650 Bangladesh taka .0000000 .0034930 UAE dirhams .0765760 .0771480 Bahraini dinars .7460530 .7516250 Jordanian dinar .0000000 .4006360 Saudi Riyal/KD .0749930 .0755530 Omani riyals .7305440 .7360010 Philippine Peso .0000000 .0069170

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. ASIAN COUNTRIES

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - transfer Irani Riyal - cash

3.513 5.200 2.939 2.163 3.268 231.370 36.459 3.448 6.847 9.176 0.271 273

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

GCC COUNTRIES 75.377 77.666 734.180 750.760 76.968

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 48.200 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 46.213 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.319 Tunisian Dinar 179.060 Jordanian Dinar 398.720 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.896 Syrian Lier 3.865 Morocco Dirham 33.320 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 282.550 Euro 362.790 Sterling Pound 453.490 Canadian dollar 284.830 Turkish lire 157.500 Swiss Franc 301.230 Australian dollar 293.710 US Dollar Buying 281.350 GOLD 332.000 167.000 86.500

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria

SELL CASH

295.900 751.010 3.710 287.500 554.600 46.000 49.500 167.800 48.520 366.700 37.130 5.500 0.032 0.161 0.248 3.610 400.190 0.191 95.300 45.400 4.340 236.600 1.829

50.400 733.540 3.080 7.060 78.110 75.400 232.240 36.460 2.690 457.100 43.100 304.000 4.200 9.560 198.263 77.000 282.800 1.360

10 Tola

GOLD 1,799.480

Sterling Pound US Dollar

733.360 2.958 6.853 77.680 75.400 232.240 36.460 2.165 455.100 302.500 4.200 9.380 76.900 282.400

COUNTRY

SELL DRAFT

294.400 751.010 3.455 286.000

232.200 46.244 365.200 36.980 5.220 0.031

Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro US Dollar Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 455.100 282.400

SELL DRAFT

SELL CASH

296.60 287.73 304.24 364.63 281.95 454.92 3.59 3.470 5.189 2.167 3.272 2.949 76.83 750.74 46.21 401.68 733.80 77.86 75.40

297.000 285.000 306.000 370.000 282.350 458.000 3.690 3.600 5.550 2.320 3.750 3.150 77.350 749.600 48.200 399.000 740.000 77.850 75.750

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd 400.180 0.190 95.300 3.280 235.100

Rate for Transfer

Selling Rate

US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro

282.300 284.645 453.370 363.115

Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

300.535 747.385 76.835 77.490 75.245 397.945 46.239 2.163 5.221 2.940 3.454 6.839 692.485 4.505 9.255 4.380 3.360 92.045

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co.

UAE Exchange Centre WLL

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY

Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

Currency

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Yemeni Riyal Euro Canadian Dollars Nepali rupee

282.300 2.947 5.225 2.175 3.470 6.880 76.880 75.440 750.500 46.245 458.000 2.990 1.550 367.800 289.700 3.345

Al Mulla Exchange Currency

Transfer Rate (Per 1000)

US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

281.850 365.050 455.050 285.600 3.535 5.258 46.220 2.162 3.450 6.832 2.938 751.000 76.800 75.300

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

BUSINESS

Jazeera Airways reports Q3 group net profit of KD7.6m Best earnings in history for Q3 2012 and 9 months 2012

RIVERVIEW: A “sold” sign sits out in front of a home in Riverview, Florida. A measure of US home prices jumped 5 percent in September compared with a year ago, the largest year-over-year increase since July 2006. — AP

Measure of US home prices up in 6 years WASHINGTON: A measure of US home prices jumped 5 percent in September compared with a year ago, the largest yearover-year increase since July 2006. The gain reported by CoreLogic offered more evidence of a sustainable housing recovery.

The real estate data provider also said yesterday that prices declined 0.3 percent in September from August, the first drop after six straight increases. The monthly figures are not seasonally adjusted. CoreLogic says the monthly decline reflects the end of the summer home-buying season and not a softening in the housing recovery. Steady price increases should give the housing market more momentum when home sales pick up in the spring. Rising prices encourage more homeowners to sell their homes and entice would be buyers to purchase homes before prices rise further.

Other measures have also shown healthy gains in home prices over the past year. The Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller 20city index rose 2 percent in August compared with a year ago, a faster pace than the previous month.

The price gains in the past year reported by CoreLogic were widespread. Prices have risen in all but seven states. And they declined in only 18 out of 100 large cities that are tracked by the index. Some of the biggest increases were in states that suffered the worst from the housing bust.

Home prices in Arizona jumped 18.7 percent in the past year, the most of any state.

Home prices in Idaho rose 13.1 percent, the second largest. Nevada’s home values rose 11 percent.

Home prices jumped 22.1 percent in Phoenix, the metro area with the biggest gain. Prices in Houston rose 6.6 percent, the second-highest increase. The states with the biggest drops were Rhode Island (3.5 percent) and Illinois (2.3 percent).

CoreLogic’s price index is based on repeat sales of the same homes and tracks their price changes over time.

Several reports last month showed that the housing market is improving, though from depressed levels. Home builders started construction on new homes and apartments at the fastest pace in more than four years in September. They also requested the most building permits in four years, a sign that many are confident that home sales gains will continue.

New home sales jumped last month to the highest annual pace in the past two and a half years. Sales of previously occupied homes dipped in September but have risen steadily in the past year.

Sales of both new and previously occupied homes are still below levels that are consistent with a healthy housing market.

That’s partly because the supply of available homes for sale remains low. And many prospective home buyers are struggling to qualify for a mortgage or scrape together the bigger down payments that many banks are requiring. — AP

Markets focus on US as Americans vote LONDON: Europe’s stock markets made some modest gains yesterday as Americans headed out to vote for their next President, with the latest opinion polls pointing to a narrow victory for incumbent Barack Obama. After months of campaigning and billions of dollars spent, election day has arrived.

Many investors are hoping that the result will be clear enough to avoid a re-run of 2000 when the result was only known weeks later after a Supreme Court decision.

“That is a situation global markets fear most,” said Cameron Peacock, market analyst at IG. “The best possible outcome would be for a clear and unqualified victor to emerge.”

A decisive outcome, it is hoped, will pave the way for a swift budget agreement between the different arms of the US government, thereby averting an automatic increase in taxes and spending cuts that could be imposed at the start of 2013.

Results will not start emerging until after Wall Street’s close but investors already appear to be pricing in the prospect of a victory for Obama, who has moved slightly ahead in a raft of national polls over the past few days and maintained his lead in swing states such as Ohio and Wisconsin.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX was up 0.5 percent at 7,365 while the CAC-40 in France rose 0.6 percent to 3,470. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.5 percent at 5,866. Wall Street was poised for a solid opening too, with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures up 0.2 percent. Whoever wins the race for the White House, the honeymoon and relief is likely to be short given the rising debt problems the world’s largest economy facesBudget discussions will likely remain one of the main drivers in markets for the next few weeks. If no agreement on the US budget can be found, the country faces a “fiscal cliff” of higher taxes and deep automatic cuts in military and domestic spending by the start of next year - an event that would put the brakes on any recovery in the world’s largest economy.

Past negotiations, thanks to the

polarized political atmosphere in Washington, have usually gone to the wire and a deal is invariably not done until the final minute. If Romney does win, he won’t enter the White House until January. However, he will still have great influence in the discussions as President-elect.

“Though we are inclined to assume that any tightening will be engineered so as to minimize the damage to the recovery, there can be no denying that Congress’ proclivity towards eleventh hour deals may yet rattle a few nerves,” said Neil Mellor, an analyst at the Bank of New York Mellon.

While the focus in the markets remains on the US, investors will continue to monitor developments in Greece amid concerns that a political crisis in the country may end up derailing an austerity package that is required for the country to receive its next batch of bailout funds. Without the money, Greece faces the prospect of going bankrupt this month and possibly leaving the euro.

Worries over Greece have stalked the euro over the past few trading sessions, but the currency was holding steady at $1.28 through morning trading in London.

In Asia investors are also monitoring developments in China ahead of tomorrow’s opening of the Communist Party congress - the once-in-a-decade forum used to name China’s top leadership. Although current Vice President Xi Jinping is almost certain to be named China’s next leader, markets will be closely watching the congress for hints on how the new leadership plans to tackle a stubborn economic slowdown.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.4 percent to close at 8,975.15. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.3 percent to 21,944.43. Mainland Chinese shares also closed lower. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.4 percent to 2,106 and the Shenzhen Composite Index shed 0.6 percent to 853.33. In the oil markets, benchmark crude for December delivery was up 16 cents at $85.81 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. — AP

KUWAIT: In a webcast attended by local and international analysts, Jazeera Airways Group yesterday announced a record net profit of KD7.6 million for Q3 2012, making the quarter the company’s best quarter in history and its ninth straight quarter of profitability since Q3 2010.

Jazeera Airways Group Chairman Marwan Boodai said, “We just closed our best quarter ever on the heels of eight straight quarters of profitability driven by a dynamic management and an agile business model. Two years ago we were a turn-around story, last year we were a sustainable profit story, and today Jazeera Airways is clearly a profit-growth story”.

The results reflect the ongoing success of the Group’s Strategic Master Plan (STAMP).

STAMP is a business plan for the years 2012 to 2014 and follows the success of the Group’s Turn-Around Plan (TAP) that brought the company back to profitability and was in effect from Q2 2010 to end of 2011.

The Group’s forecasts for the rest of the year remain unchanged, and expects to close the year with a “mild” fourth quarter.

Operationally, Jazeera Airways’ on-time performance (OTP) for the third quarter was 96%, as measured by the US-based global OTP tracker FlightStats, which also placed the airline among the top ten on-time performers worldwide for the same period. Previously, FlightStats had also ranked Jazeera Airways as the leading airline in OTP in the Middle East in Q1 and Q2 of 2012, all of 2011 as well.

Established in 2005, Jazeera Airways Group is a Kuwait Stock Exchange-listed company with a fleet of 12 fully-owned Airbus A320s, distributed between its airline business, Jazeera Airways, and its fully-owned leasing-

arm Sahaab Aircraft Leasing. Sahaab has assets placed with Virgin America, SriLankan Airlines, and Jazeera Airways.

The airline operates a two-class cabin comprising of a Business Class and an Economy Class. Jazeera Airways’ Business Class offering includes a separate cabin for passengers, exclusive check-in counters, business lounge access at airports, in-flight ala carte menu, and 60 kilograms in free baggage allowance. The airline’s Economy Class offers travelers free baggage allowance of 40 kilograms, free on-

German factory orders slump as crisis bites FRANKFURT: Fears that German industry is facing a difficult year-end and even a possible recession in some key sectors were fuelled yesterday by data showing a bigger-than-expected slump in factory orders. The economy ministry said in a statement that industrial orders declined by 3.3 percent in September from August after already falling by 0.8 percent the previous month.

That is much steeper than expected. Analysts polled by Dow Jones had been pencilling in a much more modest decrease of 0.5 percent. The decline was largely due to falling export orders, particularly from the euro-zone, where they plummeted 9.6 percent, the ministry explained. But domestic orders were also weak, contracting by 1.8 percent. The slump in demand was seen across all sectors, with orders for semifinished goods down 5.0 percent, orders for consumer goods down 1.7 percent and capital goods orders declining by 2.4 percent, the data showed.

Taking the third quarter as a whole, industrial orders fell by 2.3 percent, the ministry calculated. Newedge Strategy analyst Annalisa Piazza said the data painted a “dire picture for the German factory sector which-in the second half of the year is unlikely to be spared from a technical recession.”

UniCredit economist Andreas Rees similarly believed the numbers “herald a weak year-end for German companies.

Both foreign and domestic demand shifted into reverse gear.”

But he insisted that “despite all the (likely) disappointments in September, the overall German economy did surprisingly well” in the third quarter.” Nevertheless, a better-than-expected third quarter “will be followed by a setback at year-end” and so Rees was sticking to his forecast for the economy to stagnate in the second half of this year before picking up some momentum in 2013.

Markit economist Chris Williamson said that “while official data may point to only a mild downturn for Germany and the euro area as a whole in the third quarter, prospects for the fourth quarter are looking much bleaker.”

Natixis economist Christian Ott said that the German economy has been able to resist the downward trend in global demand so far. “In our view, however, the resilience has come to an end and we will see the effects in a weak fourth quarter,” he said. —AFP

board meals with a changing menu every month, and year-round value fares.

Jazeera Airways is based in Kuwait and operates a network comprising high-demand business, leisure, family, and weekend destinations such as Dubai, Bahrain, Beirut, Alexandria, Amman, Damascus, Istanbul, Sharm El Sheikh, Assuit, Luxor, Mashhad, Sohag, Jeddah, Riyadh, Cairo and Al Najaf.

Jazeera Airways is an IATA-member airline and operates one of the youngest Airbus A320 fleets across the Middle East.

Spanish leader all but rules out bailout in 2012 MADRID: Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy yesterday all but ruled out seeking a bailout in 2012 but vowed to do so if faced with persistent, high borrowing costs. Rajoy has kept world markets on edge as he ponders whether the euro-zone’s fourth biggest economy will seek a rescue, in which the European Central Bank would buy Spanish bonds to drive down Madrid’s financing costs. But the conservative prime minister gave the clearest sign yet that he sees no reason to trigger a bailout this year. Spain has nearly completed the bond issues required to finance the government’s operations throughout 2012, he said.

“For now we have covered practically the entirety of our issues through this year,” Rajoy said. By October 23, Spain had raised a gross 85.9 billion euros ($110 billion) in medium- and long-term bond sales-equal to 95.1 percent of its 2012 target. Spain’s total gross financing needs for this year amount to 186 billion euros, a goal that rises to 207 billion euros next year.

Spain may yet be forced to seek external assistance, however, Rajoy conceded. “If we see that during a long period Spain is financing itself at very high prices then we would have to ask for it,” he said. But the crucial question, the Spanish leader said, would be whether any European Central Bank intervention significantly curbs the country’s borrowing costs.

Spanish borrowing costs have already tumbled since the ECB outlined plans in September to buy an unlimited amount of stricken states’ bonds if they submit to strict euro-zone conditions first. Spanish 10-year bond yields, which spiked at a dangerous level of more than 7.0 percent in the midsummer, were hovering early afternoon at an elevated but much lower level of nearly 5.7 percent.

Investors were demanding an extra return-also known as a risk premium-of 424 basis points (4.24 percentage points) on Spanish bonds when compared to equivalent, safe-haven German debt.

Rajoy said key question for Spain before it seeks assistance is whether ECB action would bring down the risk premium to 200 basis points or leave it at about 400 basis points. The Spanish leader said his bailout decision would depend entirely on whether it was in the general interest of his country.

“It is a path that is open. I don’t renounce using it if it is in the interests of Spain. For the moment we have not decided to adopt it but it is a possibility that we have open.”

Rajoy, who performed a U-turn on his pre-election promises by pushing up sales taxes to curb the public deficit, said he hopes to cut taxes in 2014 when the government anticipates a return to economic growth. The prime minister attacked a proindependence drive in Catalonia, whose president Artur Mas has called snap elections for November 25 to win a mandate for a referendum on “self determination”.

“The approach that is being taken here goes against history, goes against the sign of the times, and goes against simple common sense,” the prime minister said.

Rajoy’s Popular Party government has vowed to stop any such vote, insisting that it would breach the constitution, and decrying Mas’s manoeuvre as a divisive step in a time of economic crisis.

Catalonia, fiercely proud of its distinctive language and culture, feels it gets a raw deal from Madrid, which levies far more taxes from the region than it returns through spending. At the same time, the region has been forced to slash spending on education and health so as to help curb the public deficit. — AFP

EU offers dire forecast for Spain’s growth MADRID: The European Commission has set dire economic forecasts for Spain until 2014, a newspaper reported yesterday, shooting down the targets set out by Madrid and potentially pushing it closer to seeking euro-zone aid. Neither the Commission nor Spain’s economy ministry would confirm the report in El Pais but Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said in a radio interview that 2012 would be his country’s worst year, to be followed by improvement. He said Spain would return to growth in 2014, the same year forecast by the Commission according to El Pais, which cited a draft document.

The newspaper reported that the Commission forecasts showed 2013 would be at least as bad as 2012. It saw a 1.5 percent decline in Spanish gross domestic product in 2013 in line with consensus but significantly worse than the 0.5 percent contraction expected by the Spanish government.

The Commission is due to officially announce its autumn economic forecasts today, covering growth, inflation, debt and deficit projections. “In 2014, there’ll be growth in Spain. The worst year will have been 2012 and next year will be better,” Rajoy said during his radio interview.

The Commission also expects the Spanish economy to grow 2014 but its 0.5 percent growth forecast for that year is far below the 1.2 percent growth forecast by the government, El Pais said.

In 2012, the Commission forecasts the Spanish economy to fall by 1.6 percent this year, slightly worse than the 1.5 percent fall in GDP forecast by Spain. Economy Minister Luis de Guindos has said he believes the Spanish economy will shrink less this year than the government has forecast after better-than-expected contraction in the third quarter. Rajoy has so far hinted that he can hold off on applying for a financial rescue that would kick-start an ECB bond-buying program and ease financing costs. But the worsening economy may force his

hand. Rajoy reiterated yesterday the government was still studying the conditions which would be applied to Spain if it were to request aid, but said the biggest question was whether a bond-buying program would reduce financing costs. Any request for economic aid would clear the European Central to activate a plan to buy Spanish debt in the secondary market in an effort to lower the premium the Treasury has to pay to issue debt.

“The problem is not just the conditions, but how much would it reduce the premium? If we end up staying around 400 and doesn’t drop to 200 ... well the operation doesn’t really make any sense,”

Rajoy said. The premium investors demand to hold Spanish over German debt stood at around 435 basis points on Tuesday, a long way below highs of over 650 bps before the ECB announced the plan.

After a year of recession, Spain’s unemployment rate hit a record high of 25 percent in the third quarter and its manufacturing sector shrank last month for the 18th consecutive month and at its fastest pace since July. The Commission also has more negative forecasts for the Spanish budget deficit, predicting a deficit of 8 percent of GDP in 2012, 6 percent in 2013 and 5.8 percent in 2014, including bank recapitalization costs.—Reuters

MADRID: A man walks next to Guernica style placards reading slogans against government’s cuts in public hospitals at Princesa hospital in Madrid yesterday. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said yesterday Spain will seek a sovereign rescue if it faces “very high” rates for a long time but its finances are covered until the end of 2012. — AFP

24

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

business

India wants more people to buy shares Battling emus and gold MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: A year ago, S Kashinath, an illiterate laborer from India’s southern Tamil Nadu state, lost 300,000 rupees ($5,600) in savings he invested in a pyramid scheme promising high returns from emu farming.

Now, Kashinath, and around 23 million other low- to middle-income Indians are being courted by a government scheme to boost investment in local stock markets. The recently introduced Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS) named after a popular prime minister who was assassinated in 1991 offers Indian investors earning less than 1 million rupees ($18,600) a year a 50 percent tax break on stock investments of up to 50,000 rupees.

Kashinath, though, thinks the plan has as much chance of flying as the Australian birds he bought into.

“I can’t even read or write. How do you expect me to buy stocks that I don’t understand? My money is stuck, but once I get it back, I’ll open a bank account to keep it safe,” he told Reuters by telephone.

The ambitious scheme, which aims to broaden share ownership, re-energise an unprofitable mutual fund industry and bring some struc-

ture to a patchy investment landscape, faces formidable barriers not least India’s love affair with gold.

India has one of the world’s highest savings rates, at over 30 percent - more than double the United States - and the bulk of the nation’s $800 billion in savings is parked in gold. India is the world’s biggest gold buyer and holds $1 trillion worth of the precious metal, World Gold Council data shows - more than the combined military spending by the United States, China, Russia and Great Britain.

“Gold holds an emotional charm for most Indians. Those are some big shoes to fill for any sort of investment,” said V Ramesh, Deputy CEO of the Association of Mutual Funds in India. Indians also save cash, in bank savings or certificates of deposit, and increasingly invest in property.

Buying shares just doesn’t figure for most. Fewer than 5 in every 100 Indians buy equities either directly or through mutual funds, regulatory data show, compared with Gallup’s estimate of more than half of Americans - many through their 401k pension plans. In China, an estimated 86 percent of average

VASNA RATHOD, INDIA : An Indian caretaker prepares to open a gate at an emu breeding facility at Vasna-Rathod village near Dehgam, some 40kms from Ahmedabad. — AFP trading on domestic markets is car- they all invest the maximum, there ried out by retail investors. could be a potential inflow of 116 trillion rupees ($2.16 trillion) - more TABLE TALK than double the country ’s gold The investment scheme is the assets. “We need to go forward with brainchild of Thomas Mathew, a for- a lot of investor education and mer finance ministry official, who financial literacy to drive home the reckons more than 23 million point that equity is not a dangerous Indians - out of a population of 1.2 animal,” he told Reuters. “We have to billion - could be eligible targets. If tap the psyche of people. The dinner table conversations, the tea shop talk. That’s how the education takes place.”

Fund managers, however, say it will be costly and difficult to tap into these millions of small, and often sceptical, investors, many of whom live in small towns and rural areas and don’t trust big city stock markets.

“One thing’s very clear: the government’s intention is to make mutual funds more acceptable as an investment option on a pan-India basis, said Kailash Kulkarni, CEO of L&T Mutual Fund, which this year bought Fidelity’s fund business in India.

“But there’s obviously a cost that will go into this, especially when it comes to getting the manpower in these small towns, and the time that has to be invested.”

While the scheme could help reduce gold imports, and the damage that has on India’s current account deficit, the government also hopes to reduce market dependence on volatile foreign flows. India first allowed foreign

VASNA RATHOD, India: Chetanbhai Sharma, one of the three Indian partners of an emu breeding facility, treats a sick bird Ahmedabad. —AFP investors to buy local shares in they will consider the new scheme, 1992, and they now hold nearly a despite the additional costs. fifth of the total, according to “It’s a collective failure on our Morgan Stanley data. part that in a country of 1.2 billion Critics say the scheme could people our combined assets are draw ordinary citizens into reckless what? Some 220 billion rupees investing as they have little or no ($4.19 billion),” said Nandkumar expertise in stock buying. The gov- Surti, CEO at JPMorgan Asset ernment is trying to reduce the risks Management India, referring to the by allowing investments only in the industry’s assets under managetop-100 stocks and encouraging ment? people to buy shares through mutuLonger-term, the new scheme al funds or exchange traded funds. may herald a shift in India from India’s stock markets are notori- what one fund manager executive ously volatile. The benchmark BSE calls an opportunistic model of index has risen or fallen by a double attracting investors, to a structural digit percentage rate in 18 of the one, emulating the 401k pension last 20 years - it is up by more than a model in the United States. The US fifth so far this year. That instability system, introduced more than three has already driven out many retail decades ago, allows workers to pay investors. Outflows from equity part of their salary into funds. mutual funds in India rose to a 2“India has lacked that structural year high in September, as investors market, but clearly there’s an intent cashed out of a stock rally. from the government and from the “The Indian stock market is a bot- regulator to change that,” said tomless pit. Why would I risk my Saurabh Nanavati, CEO of Religare money on shares when I can get 8-9 Mutual Fund. percent on fixed deposits?” said For now, India doesn’t allow Harshala Apte, a primary school- mutual funds to develop pension teacher in Mumbai whose father plans, instead using a state-manlost more than half his net worth in aged provident fund that invests a bear run on the stock markets in mainly in government bonds. Until 2009. such a plan is brought in, the govJitu Dhabaria, an investment ernment is likely to struggle to win adviser in Kolkata, also remains to around people like Kashinath, who be convinced. “I’ve become is still smarting from his emu bet. resigned to getting panic calls from “Can you help me get my money my investors every time the market back? There’s a new bank that’s loses a penny,” he said. promising good returns, I’ll probaThat said, fund managers say bly put it there,” he said. — Reuters

Gold hovers near 9-week low LONDON: Gold steadied near a nine-week low yesterday as investors assessed potential policy impact from the neck-and-neck US presidential election.

Spot gold rose 0.48 percent to $1,692.05 by 1349 GMT, but stayed close to Monday’s nine-week low of $1,672.24. US gold futures for December rose $9.00 to $1,692.20.

Prices slid more than 2 percent on Friday after stronger-than-expected US jobs data lifted the dollar.

Investors were also alert to the start of a 48-hour strike yesterday by tens of thousands of Greek workers to protest a new round of austerity cuts.

President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney face the verdict of US voters yesterday after a long and bitter White House campaign, with polls showing them deadlocked in a race that will be decided in a handful of states where it is extraordinarily close.

Some analysts say a win by Obama could boost bullion, keeping Ben Bernanke at the helm of the Federal Reserve and maintaining ultra-easy monetary policy, while a win by Romney would be a positive for stocks on business-friendly policies and tax cuts. Cash printing by central banks boosts gold’s appeal as it keeps interest rates at a low level, reducing the opportunity cost of holding the metal that has no yield outside its actual value.

Gold had jumped to nearly $1,800 an ounce last month on central bank stimulus measures, but has since eased. “If Obama wins we would be certain Ben Bernanke would remain in office as Federal Reserve chairman at least until his normal term expires,” Peter Fertig, a consultant with Quantitative Commodity Research, said, adding that an Obama victory would signal a continuing relaxed monetary policy.

“The overriding sentiment in the gold market after the election will be the outcome in dealing with the looming fiscal cliff,” Fertig said.

With the Republicans seen retaining control of the US House of Representatives, a victory for Obama would be seen as raising the risk of policy paralysis. If Congress cannot agree new arrangements, about $600 billion in government spending cuts and higher taxes will kick in early next year, with the so-called fiscal cliff seen hurting US economic growth while underpinning safe-haven assets. “An Obama win is potentially supportive to gold because of the possibility of a much more difficult (policy) negotiation,” said David Wilson, analyst with Citigroup.

“With a Republican-dominated Congress, negotiations would be somewhat easier for a Romney government.” HSBC said in a note that the outcome of the US election is likely to determine the direction of gold short term. “A Romney victory in the presidential race could push interest rates up and that an Obama re-election could lower them,” it said.

“Lower interest rates historically have helped gold prices and higher rates have been gold-negative.” Gold importers in India stayed on the sidelines awaiting price directions ahead of potential policy spin-offs from the US presidential elections. — Reuters

Oil steadies around $108 as US votes LONDON: Brent crude held around $108 per barrel yesterday, as uncertainty ahead of the US elections and renewed worries about Greece and the euro-zone crisis headed traders’ concerns.

President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney were essentially in deadlock on the election eve, polls showed, raising concerns of a cliffhanger delaying the outcome. News that a deal to keep near-bankrupt Greece afloat may not be reached at a eurozone finance ministers’ meeting next week kept concerns about the sluggish global economic recovery hurting oil demand in focus.

Front month Brent futures were up 35 cents at $108.08 per barrel by 1100 GMT. Brent rallied nearly 2 percent on Monday, driven higher by rising tensions in the Middle East. US crude rose 35 cent to $86.00 per barrel.

“I definitely think it’s a “wait and see” day,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodity analyst at SEB in Oslo. “The outcome of the election (and) the composition of Congress will be very important in the US in terms of its ability to take decisions and action on the fiscal cliff issues,” Schieldrop said.

The absence of a decisive win and a clear Congress majority raises the chances of messy negotiations over the “fiscal cliff”, nearly $600 billion worth of spending cuts and tax increases that risk pushing the US economy into deep recession, analysts say.

Investors were also monitoring the aftermath of superstorm Sandy on the US East Coast and the Greek situation. Euro-zone debt concerns resurfaced once more after a senior EU official said a deal to keep Greece afloat by providing more bailout money is unlikely to be struck next week when finance ministers from the currency bloc meet in Brussels.

Tens of thousands of Greek workers began a 48-hour walkout, the third major strike in two months against a package of spending cuts and reforms that Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s government is trying to push through parliament to unlock aid.

“Markets might again be tempted to price in higher odds of a “Grexit”,” analysts from JBC Energy led by David Wech said in a note. Investors are also eyeing data from the American Petroleum Institute, due later yesterday, for clues to the impact of superstorm Sandy on oil inventories in the world’s top consumer.

US crude inventories are forecast to have risen by 0.9 million barrels in the week to Nov. 2, while product stocks fell after disruptions to pipelines, imports and refineries, a preliminary Reuters poll of analysts showed. — Reuters

25

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

business

China factory data point to growth recovery BEIJING: China’s factory output and investment may have gained steam in October as government pro-growth policy steps gain traction, a Reuters poll showed, limiting the chances of aggressive stimulus even as inflation stays benign.

The median forecast by 26 economists showed China’s factory output in October probably grew 9.4 percent from a year earlier, accelerating from the annual pace of 9.2 percent in September and a three-year low of 8.9 percent in August. A pair of manufacturing sector surveys on Nov 1 showed signs the economy began to perk up in October.

Annual growth in fixed-asset investment may have also quickened slightly

to 20.6 percent in the first 10 months from 20.5 percent in the JanuarySeptember period.

The government only publishes cumulative data on investment. Annual growth in retail sales was expected to have eased a tad to 14 percent in October from September’s 14.2 percent, according to the poll.

Consumption has been holding up steady in recent months thanks to rising household incomes.

China’s annual economic growth slowed to 7.4 percent in the third quarter from 7.6 percent in the second-the seventh straight quarter of slower expansion, but signs of a modest rebound have emerged since September. China annual GDP growth

is expected to accelerate to 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter, according to a Reuters poll of analysts who expected the central bank to hold interest rates steady until 2013 but may still cut RRR once.

“Following a pick-up of growth momentum in September, October data will confirm that GDP growth may be on track to a modest recovery in Q4,” said Tao Wang, China economist at UBS in Hong Kong. “With economic recovery gradually taking shape, the need for more policy stimulus has diminished.

We expect no major policy moves around the upcoming transition of senior leadership, with continued implementation of existing growth-supportive measures,” she said in a note to

clients. Beijing has been following a program of pro-growth fine-tuning of economic policies for a year and analysts broadly expect that to remain in place when a new leadership line-up of the ruling Communist Party is unveiled at a Congress this month. The central bank has been fine tuning policy, including cutting benchmark interest rates twice in June and July and lowered bank reserve ratios three times since late 2011.

But it has been relying on large-scale cash injections into the banking system via its open market operations to support economic growth while retaining sufficient policy flexibility.

China’s inflation looks tame, with consumer prices in October seen rising

1.9 percent from a year go-the same as in September and slightly higher than a 30-month low in July.

Analysts expected China’s factorygate prices in October to fall 2.7 percent from a year earlier, easing from September’s 3.6 percent annual drop and boding well for the corporate sector struggling to cope with falling profits. Chinese officials have recently flagged inflationary risks from the US Federal Reserve’s quantitative policy easing- dubbed QE3 — which has been fanning a fresh tide of hot money flows into emerging-market economies, including China. A flare-up in China’s property prices in recent months may have added to the central bank’s policy caution, analysts say. — Reuters

France acts to bolster ailing industrial sector Package offers tax credits, spending cuts, VAT hike

A BMW employee cleans the hood of a BMW in the BMW plant in Regensburg, southern Germany. Strong sales of its luxury cars in China helped Germany’s BMW AG overcome weak markets in crisis-ridden Europe. — AP

BMW confirms targets after record Q3 FRANKFURT: German top-of-the-range carmaker BMW said yesterday it was sticking to its forecast for record sales and earnings this year after a strong third quarter. “We are on course to achieve new record figures for sales volume and pre-tax earnings in 2012,” said chief executive Norbert Reithofer.

“Conditions on international car markets do, however, pose a whole range of challenges to the BMW Group. Like the rest of the sector, we are now beginning to feel some headwind,” Reithofer said.

In the three months from July to September, net profit grew by 16 percent to 1.289 billion euros ($1.6 billion).

Underlying profit, as measured by earnings before interest and tax, climbed 13.8 percent to 2.004 billion euros.

Revenues jumped by by 13.7 percent to 18.817 billion euros and unit sales were up 9.0 percent at 434,963 vehicles.

“We have had a good third quarter, setting new sales volume, revenues and earnings records in the face of a challenging market environment. We expect further sales volume growth for the fourth quarter, even though it is clear that weand indeed the sector as a whole-are likely to be confronted with adverse business conditions,” Reithofer said. Taking the nine months to September, net profit slipped by 2.8 percent to 3.915 billion

euros while underlying profit edged up 0.8 percent to 6.406 billion euros.

Deliveries to customers were up 8.3 percent at 1.336 million vehicles which drove nine-month revenues up by 9.3 percent to 50.7 billion euros.

By region, sales were higher across the board, “despite highly unfavorable business conditions in some parts of Europe, in particular the region’s southern countries,” BMW said. European sales edged up by 0.8 percent. In North America, the number of cars sold rose by 7.4 percent and BMW said it “also remained on a growth course in Asia,” where unit sales were up 27.1 percent.

Sales in China notably surged by 33.3 percent. “We strive to achieve an appropriate balance in sales volume between Europe, North America and Asia, so as not to become overduly dependent on any one market,” it said. BMW said it aimed to achieve a sustainable operating margin of between 8.0-10.0 percent “in 2012 and beyond. However, depending on political and economic developments, actual margins could end up being above or below the targeted range,” it said.

On the Frankfurt stock exchange, BNW shares were underperforming the market slightly, gaining only 0.16 percent while the overall DAX 30 stock index was up 0.5 percent. — AFP

M&S says costly expansion pays off, profit falls modestly LONDON: British retailer Marks & Spencer Plc believes its costly expansion plan is paying off and winning support from investors even after suffering its second straight drop in first-half earnings.

Shares in Britain’s biggest clothing retailer, which also sells homewares and upmarket food, edged higher as its 3 percent profit fall was not as bad as most had forecast, reflecting a recovery in non-food sales in the second quarter after a dismal first three months.

Chief Executive Marc Bolland is 18 months into a three-year plan to make M&S an international, multi-channel retailer - connecting with customers through stores, the Internet, tablets and mobile phones. The group, a mainstay of many British town centres and best known for reasonably priced but high quality staples such as socks and underwear, is spending 2.4 billion pounds ($3.8 billion) over three years on store re-vamps, logistics, IT and systems, with selective investment overseas.

Some have questioned the pace of change and the amount of money needed to achieve it, but Alan Stewart, chief finance officer, told reporters: “Our investors are very very supportive of us.

“The very clear message they give us is that they view their investment as an investment which they value for the long term, (they say) don’t be distracted by short-term market issues, don’t be distracted from your strategy and don’t be diverted.” Some analysts say the strategy needs to start paying off. “Bolland will have to get profits moving up at M&S if he wants to keep his job,” said independent retail analyst Nick Bubb, while Bethany Hocking at brokerage Investec said: “We continue to have concerns on M&S and view a successful bid as unlikely,” referring to the takeover speculation that has buoyed the stock in recent months. The 128-year-old M&S,

which attracts 21 million Britons a week to its 730 UK stores and has 390 stores in 44 countries overseas, has had a tough 2012.

In May Bolland slashed its three-year sales growth target, blaming the recession, and in July he shook up his general merchandise management team after the group reported its biggest quarterly sales drop for 3-1/2 years.

He blamed wet summer weather and stock management issues that left stores short of bestselling womenswear lines.

But despite difficult trading, shares in the firm have risen 14 percent over the last three months, buoyed by persistent speculation regarding a possible bid from private equity or a sovereign wealth fund. Sales from M&S’s British stores open more than a year were flat in the second quarter to Sept. 29, with a 1.8 percent fall in general merchandise sales - spanning clothing, footwear and homewares - offset by a 1.6 percent rise in food.

Analysts had forecast a 2.5 percent fall in like-for-like general merchandise sales and a 1.5 percent rise in food. The general merchandise outcome represented a significant improvement on the 6.8 percent drop in the first quarter. “We took steps to address the short-term ... issues in general merchandise and as a result, we delivered an improved performance,” said Bolland.

He said stock levels were back to normal and the firm had supported its advertising with bigger buys of on-trend products.

Though the UK is out of recession, many retailers are still struggling as consumers hold back spending in the face of inflation, meagre wage increases and government austerity measures. Last week electricals retailer Comet collapsed into administration, threatening 6,600 jobs. An industry survey published yesterday said British retail sales slowed sharply in October, dampening hopes that consumers will drive the economic recovery. — Reuters

PARIS: France’s Socialist government unveiled measures to bolster the struggling industrial sector and make exporters more competitive but yesterday’s package fell short of the shock therapy industry leaders are urging.

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault proposed new incentives for investment in innovation, small businesses and training and tax credits for companies keeping jobs in France, as a way of easing their costs in the current downturn.

Measures included 20 billion euros in tax credits over three years, an extra 10 billion euros in public spending cuts and a 10 billion euros increase in consumer taxes, two-thirds of which would be in VAT sales tax from Jan. 1, 2014. Yet the package is not expected to attack the high payroll taxes that business leaders say keep them at a competitive disadvantage against foreign rivals and are a factor in their waning share of global export markets.

In a government-commissioned report submitted on Monday, Industrialist Louis Gallois called for payroll taxes to be slashed by 30 billion euros ($38.35 billion) within two years, with the difference made up by higher consumer taxes, to deliver the shock” the business sector needs.

President Francois Hollande, criticized in opinion polls for being too timid in tackling the economic crisis, has said he prefers a steady path to better competitiveness to shock therapy.

“What the French economy needs is not a shock but therapy, a deep therapy, a drawnout therapy,” Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici told BFM television late on Monday.

Moscovici said the government would apply many of the 22 proposals in the Gallois report and spread them out over its five-year term to avoid a sudden jolt in consumption taxes that might hit households and stifle spending. Gallois, the former head of aerospace company EADS, maintained that a shake-up is needed, telling RTL radio yesterday it was urgent to stem a decline that caused France’s trade deficit to balloon to a record 70 billion euros last year.

His report set industry heads against a government reluctant to shift more of the tax burden from employers to households struggling with rampant unemployment and an austerity budget. Business leaders, who have

lobbied hard for a cut in labor costs and complain Hollande does not have their interests at heart since he hiked company taxes in his 2013 budget, may react angrily if they feel the measures do not go far enough.

“France has lost its competitiveness due to being weighed down by taxes,” Thierry Breton, chief executive of IT services group Atos and a former finance minister and head of various telecoms and technology firms, told BFM TV.

That would be compensated with consumer taxes including a rise in the VAT sales tax rate to 20 percent from 19.6 percent.

Given the extra VAT would land before the tax credits take effect, that could give strained public finances a temporary boost as Hollande battles to cut the public deficit below a euro-zone ceiling of 3 percent of economic output next year.

Hollande is under scrutiny from outside,

PARIS: French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault gives a press conference yesterday at the Hotel Matignon (the Prime Minister’s official residence) in Paris, after a government seminar on the competitiveness of the French economy. — AFP With his approval ratings as low as 36 percent, Hollande needs to fix the problems that have left exporters floundering as Germany, helped by low labor costs and a culture of innovation, racked up a 158 billion euro trade surplus in 2011. Car makers Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroen were both in talks with unions on Tuesday, the former seeking a deal on pay and conditions to cut costs and the latter readying to close a plant near Paris and axe 8,000 jobs.

Weekly magazine Le Point reported that the government’s competitiveness package would offer temporary tax credits worth 20 billion euros to companies in exchange for guarantees they would keep jobs in France.

S&P downgrades Slovenian outlook PARIS: The international ratings agency Standard & Poor’s placed Slovenia’s sovereign ratings on negative watch yesterday following a demand by opposition lawmakers for a referendum on whether to enact a “bad bank” bill. “In our view, recent referendum demands by Slovenia’s parliamentary opposition raise questions about the government’s ability to implement overdue economic and financial sector structural reforms,” an S&P statement said.

The agency maintained its investment-grade ratings of “A” for long-term Slovenian debt and “A-1” for short term issues, but placed the ratings “on CreditWatch with negative implications.

“We expect to resolve the CreditWatch following the decision by Slovenia’s Constitutional Court whether the pending referendum should proceed,” the statement said. The move came a week after the country’s main opposition party Positive Slovenia (PS) tried to call a referendum to prevent the implementation of a “bad bank” bill, seen by the government as crucial step for the recovery of the country’s banking system.

The opposition also proposed a referendum on a bill passed by parliament in October concerning the management of state-owned companies. The government said it would ask the constitutional court to rule on that motion. Slovenia’s centre-right government is currently negotiating with social partners a reform of the pension and the labor systems to ensure the sustainability of the country’s public finances.

Slovenian lawmakers had passed a bill to set up a so-called bad bank, essentially in this case a financial institution that assumes risky debt held by state-owned commercial banks, at a substantial discount, to restore trust in the commercial banks’ balance sheets. Under the plan, the bad bank would provide commercial banks with state-guaranteed bonds in exchange for the risky debt, on which the bad bank could in theory earn a profit if it is paid back at term. — AFP

with Moody’s rating agency due to update its position on France this month, yet he is leery of angering an already gloomy public with tax rises. He has already scrapped a VAT hike that predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy proposed as a step towards lowering labor charges.

The International Monetary Fund warned on Monday that France must undertake bold reforms to boost competitiveness like its trading partners Italy and Spain - or risk falling behind them.

Laurence Parisot, head of the Medef employers’ group, said companies needed lower labor costs and a freer rein. “We need to give them enough room to manoeuvre and trust them.” — Reuters

Asia-Europe leaders reject trade protectionism VIENTIANE: Asian and European leaders yesterday renounced protectionism and vowed to promote free trade at a major summit in communist Laos, officials said.

Dozens of leaders converged on the small landlocked nation for the AsiaEurope Meeting, seeking to strengthen trade links between two regions that together account for about half of global economic output. “The worst thing... as we learned in the 2009 crisis is to adopt protectionist measures. That’s exactly the opposite of what we need,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo told reporters, in remarks echoed by Asian leaders.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said: “There’s a commitment to enlarge

trade and green technology and fight protectionism.”

Asian nations also pledged support for European efforts to bring its debt crisis under control with austerity measures. “ There is the recognition that growth is important and all the European leaders seem to agree... but you can’t get growth when you are saddled with too much sovereign debt,” Najib said.

“That needs to be worked out so that there will be growth but there might be some pain first.” Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said Asia was optimistic Europe would overcome its debt troubles. “We have confidence in the European economy’s capacity to recover,” he said. — AFP

JAKARTA: A display board at the Jakarta Stock Exchange shows the closing of stocks, up at 0.26 percent or 11.33 points, at 4,314.27 in Jakarta yesterday. — AFP

26

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

BUSINESS

Air Arabia marks 9th anniversary with delivery of two A320 aircraft Airline’s Group CEO highlights expansion plans KUWAIT: Air Arabia, which celebrates its ninth anniversary of its first flight, announced yesterday that it has taken delivery of two new A320 aircraft from Airbus, bringing the total fleet to 31.

Air Arabia has now taken delivery of 13 out of 44 A320 aircraft ordered back in 2007 and the low-

cost pioneer expects another aircraft to be delivered before year end 2012. The delivery of the 44 new aircraft will be completed by 2016, which will take the carrier’s fleet up to over 50 aircraft. The carrier took delivery of its latest A320 at the Airbus facility in Toulouse,

France, and the new aircraft has gone straight into service across Air Arabia’s global network of 80 destinations, which it serves from three hubs in UAE, Morocco and Egypt.

“The delivery of two new aircraft is a great way to celebrate our anniversary this year,” said Adel Ali, Group Chief Executive

Office at Air Arabia. “Our modern and reliable aircraft enable us to combine superb value for money fares for our customers. As we continue to unlock opportunities for the low-cost model in the wider Arab region, we look forward to the delivery of more new

aircraft in the near future.”

After nine years of successful operations, the region’s first lowcost carrier is widely regarded as one of the Middle East’s true corporate success stories. From the earliest days of serving five regional destinations with just two aircraft, Air Arabia has grown to become a

leading regional airline with a strong network of destinations.

Today, it serves 80 destinations spread across Europe, the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, Central Asia and North Africa. Since the beginning of this year, Air Arabia introduced ten new routes

to its award-winning network, including Kazan and Uffa in Russia; Erbil and Basra in Iraq; Odessa in Ukraine; Salalah in Oman; Taif in Saudi Arabia; Astana in Kazakhstan; and Prishtina in Republic of Kosovo. In addition, the airline also expanded operations from its Moroccan hub and recently introduced non-stop services to London from Casablanca and Tangier in Morocco.

“We witness strong customer demand for our services and we are pleased to see that more and more customers take full advantage of our value-for-money fares.

Moving ahead, we look forward to providing our customers with even more value-for-money options, as well as an even wider range of services and destinations.”

Air Arabia continues to report sustained profitability and achieve solid growth margins across its network. The airline attributes the success to the strong business model and its robust management team.

As it enters its tenth year of operations, Air Arabia continues to add to its impressive list of industry accolades, including recently being ranked as the world’s second best performing airline in a study by Aviation Week, the leading global aviation magazine. The TopPerforming Airlines (TPA) Study ranked the top 10 performing airlines worldwide. Air Arabia was the only Middle East airline to claim a spot in the study.

Bayan Investment launches its new Website

American Mattress Kids, first specialized kids mattress showroom in Kuwait KUWAIT: American Mattress Company announced the opening of a brand new concept showroom specialized in Kids and children mattress, for the first time in Kuwait. The new showroom provides the customers in Kuwait a superior shopping experience where they will find the best selection of brand name mattresses, available in different sizes and models that provide a better night’s sleep for Kids at unbeatable price.

“American Mattress Kids” showroom is a true statement of American Mattress Company commitment to provide the customer with innovative healthy better sleep solutions with world-class quality certified for superior comfort and support; as it is proven that using less quality materials in manufacturing the mattress will result in lumps and irregularities on the surface especially on heavy pressure points, which will result in poor support for the back and will reflect negatively on the spine. “American Mattress Kids” mattresses are manufactured from natural material resistant to microbes and bed bugs, therefore protect the respiratory

system for the child and provide balanced support to spine and back, ideally attune to his body needs during growth years.

In addition to healthy mattresses for kids, “American Mattress Kids” showroom offers a unique collection of pillows, premium luxury bedding sets, toppers and comforters in a variety of models for a healthy tranquil sleep.

If you are getting ready for the big day! “American Mattress Kids” showroom features a special section for newly born babies. Now you can select from our all natural bedding and mattress collection which gently surrounds the baby with balanced support and comfort from 100% natural clean material, free from harmful chemicals so your newly born baby can enjoy a safe healthy sleep.

“American Mattress Kids” is a branch of American Mattress Company- the leading retailer in Kuwait for mattress and bedding solutions from world-class international brands since 1996. The new showroom unique shopping experience is supported by customer service, after sales service and exchange warranty.

KUWAIT: Bayan Investment Company announced launching its enhanced website: www.bayaninvest.com with a new look and modern design in both Arabic and English, to keep pace with modern developments and meet the needs and expectations of customers.

The website has been developed within the concept of inclusive contents to make it easier on the visitor to browse and navigate the products and services offered, latest company news, and take full advantage of the reports issued by the company to stay on top of the economic news, in addition to information related to the company’s subsidiaries. This development comes in line with Bayan’s efforts to improve customer service and enhance the investor confidence through providing easy and convenient access to data and information. Moreover, some social networking pages were created, where the company finds it feasible to communicate through with its potential segments of customers, in light of its strategy to expand communication and facilitate the process of delivering and obtaining all of its services including the issued reports and studies, to circulate the benefits and public awareness.

Samsung Galaxy S III achieves 30 million sales in five months KUWAIT: Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, announced yesterday the GALAXY S III has surpassed 30 million global sales in approximately five months since its debut in May. “The GALAXY S III continues to be a runaway favorite with customers around the world. Meeting this sales milestone in five months sets another record for Samsung, and we are extremely proud and yet motivated to continue to provide our customers with products that they love,” said JK Shin, President and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. “On behalf of Samsung Mobile, I appreciate millions of customers around the world that have chosen the Samsung GALAXY S III.” Putting this number into perspective, during a similar selling period (150 days), the acclaimed GALAXY S II, launched in 2011, globally sold10 million devices.

Now upgradable to Android(tm) 4.1 (Jelly Bean), the nature-inspired GALAXY S III is a revolutionary smartphone packed with intelligent features that make everyday life easier. Its expansive 4.8-inch HD SuperAMOLED display lets users view multimedia and web content in brilliant color and clarity; and its camera understands human gestures to make using the phone incredibly natural and intuitive. A power ful hardware

ensures blazing-fast performance and seamless multi-tasking.

Committed to providing the best mobile experience for its customers, Samsung continues to work to enrich the GALAXY S III experience. It now allows users to explore their personal style through an expanded collection of new colors that take their inspiration from nature: Amber Brown, Garnet Red, Sapphire Black and Titanium Grey.

Samsung also offers continuous software upgrades for the device, enhancing user experiences and allowing a life extraordinary.

Availability and timing of the Jelly Bean upgrade will vary depending on the country and mobile carrier.

All functionality, features, specifications and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, pricing, components, performance, availability, and capabilities of the product are subject to change without notice or obligation.

Android, Google, Android Beam, Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, Google Latitude, Google Play Store, Google Play Books, Google Play Movies, Google Plus, YouTube, Google Talk, Google Places, Google Navigation, Google Downloads are trademarks of Google Inc.

NBK offers expats in Kuwait complete banking solutions KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) offers a wide range of banking solution and services for expatriates in Kuwait. NBK offers expatriates customized packages catering to their financial needs, including quick approval for financing in Kuwait up to KD 50,000, free online money transfers, free credit cards for the first year as well as mortgages services in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, London, New York, Paris and United Arab Emirates, NBK customers will also enjoy free online money transfer to all NBK accounts across all countries. Al-Jawhara account holders also earn chances to win KD 5,000 weekly, KD 125,000 monthly and KD 250,000 quarterly with Al-Jawhara draws. Customers who transfer their salaries to NBK can also can get the chance to enter a monthly draw to win a year’s salary. NBK’s expatriate banking solutions ultimately reflects the individual needs of the customer, providing them with the freedom and control to manage their finances efficiently from the comfort of home or office, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via the website www.nbk.com , mobile banking service or the call center Hala Watani on 1801801.

Special Auto Finance offer from ABK As part of its ongoing initiatives to provide the very best of services to its customers, Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait continues its special Auto financing..

Stewart Lockie, General Manager, Retail Banking explained that, “In ABK we care about the needs of our customers and are continually striving to provide quality services to them. We are pleased to announce that clients financing their car of choice from most of the major showrooms in Kuwait has been extended. ABK customers can avail auto finance for any one of the wide range of well known brands: GMC, SEAT, Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge, Nissan, Infiniti, Citroen, Renault, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Saab, Ford, Volkswagen,

Subaro, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Lexus, Hummer, Opel, Peugeot, Mazda, Jaguar, Daihatsu, Kia, Lincoln, Audi and Skoda.”

Lockie continued, “Auto financing is available to all ABK customers without having to transfer their salaries to the Bank. The benefits are excellent; discounts are up to KD 250 and auto finance up to maximum KD 15,000.”

Visit any of the top brand showrooms to own the car of your dreams and don’t forget to ask for exclusive offers for ABK customers.

For more information you can contact us directly through the Ahli chat service on our website www.eahli.com or call Ahlan Ahli at 1899899 to speak with a customer service representative.

KIA Motors makes to ‘Top 100 Best Global Brands’ list KUWAIT: KIA Motors Corporation is proud to announce that KIA Motors has made to the exclusive list of the ‘Top 100 Best Global Brands according to the 2012 study released by Interbrand, the world’s largest brand consultancy agency.

KIA’s remarkable increase in brand value is now estimated at $4.1 billion (KD 1.15 billion), which firmly sets the automaker at 87th place on the ‘Top 100 Best Global Brands’ list. In the list there are 12 automotive brands chosen. While the average automotive brand value growth rate is 11%, KIA made an astounding 50% increase since last year’s estimated brand value.

“KIA’s new brand ranking reflects the realization of the bold vision behind the KIA trademark, which is to redefine expectations through excellence and innovation. It is extremely satisfying to see KIA gain recognition on this level,” commentedMedhat Khalil, KIA Kuwait Brand Manager.

With heavy focus on design, KIA has undergone a dramatic transformation that has seen a total of 14 all-new models enter the market since 2008. The rapid introduction of new models underlines the firm commitment KIA has towards competing head-on with established automakers.

Reception to the new generation of KIA cars has been remarkable, with global sales running in parallel to the sharp rise in the company’s brand value. KIA has posted three consecutive doubledigit year-on-year gains to cement its position as the world’s fastest growing major automotive brand. From 2008 till 2011, KIA’s annual global sales have grown by 81% to nearly 2.5 million units.

“Owning a KIA has never been a more attractive choice than it is today. Our customers are recognizing the added values associated with the brand and we are delighted to deliver it to them,” explained Nadia Gobran, Marketing Manager for KIA Kuwait Interbrand’s annual ‘Best Global Brands’ study was executed through a comprehensive brand performance analysis using best practice research methodology by expert analysts. The study measures a corporation’s financial performance in terms of the raw financial return to investors; role that brand plays in the actual purchase decision; and brand strength, which is the ability of a brand to secure the delivery of expected future earnings.

The sole distributor of KIA cars in Kuwait since 1997 is National Agencies Group, which is part of the Abdulaziz AlAli Al-Mutawa Group of Companies.

Merkel, Cameron to thrash out EU budget row LONDON: German Chancellor Angela Merkel will try to narrow divisions that threaten to wreck a European Union budget deal and further isolate Britain from its biggest trading partner when she meets British Prime Minister David Cameron in London today.

Cameron, under pressure after suf-

fering a humiliating defeat in parliament at the hands of anti-European rebels in his Conservative Party, will have a working dinner with Merkel after threatening to veto the EU’s seven-year 2014-20 spending plan. There is growing anger among German officials over what they see as Britain’s

semi-detached stance towards the EU that could lead to London sliding out of a 27-nation union distrusted by public opinion and a skeptical media.

“This constant litany that we must do everything to keep Britain in the EU leads to a permanent state of blackmail by our British friends,” former

German EU ambassador Dietrich von Kyaw told a seminar of the Institute for European Politics in Berlin yesterday, venting a mood of exasperation among policymakers.

Cameron has called for a real-terms freeze in EU spending to reflect national austerity policies and has

threatened to block a deal otherwise, potentially holding up an increase in funding for the poorest new east European member states. He has also ruffled feathers in Europe by talking of using closer euro zone integration as an opportunity to repatriate some powers from Brussels. —Reuters

27

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

TECHNOLOGY

EMC to acquire web fraud detection, security systems DUBAI: EMC Corporation yesterday announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Silver Tail Systems, a leader in real-time web session intelligence and behavioral analysis. Upon closing, Silver Tail will operate within the RSA security division and is expected to extend the capabilities of RSA’s Identity Protection and Verification (IPV) solutions, as well as other areas across RSA’s enterprise security portfolio. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2012, subject to certain closing conditions. The acquisition is not expected to have a material impact to EMC GAAP or non-GAAP EPS for the full 2012 fiscal year.

The rapid evolution of malware and advanced online threats has left growing numbers of online banking, ecom-

merce and government web sites and their customers vulnerable to attack, account takeover and fraud. In response to this evolution organizations historically have focused on building fraud detection and security strategies that try to identify what a bad transaction looks like, creating solutions that must always play catchup to the latest threats.

Silver Tail Systems’ web session intelligence is the response to this evolution in threats and fraud, using a Big Data-driven approach to gather and analyze mass quantities of information in real time and at scale to deepen visibility into web sessions and mobile traffic. The information is fed into Silver Tail Systems’ behavior analysis engine to review at both user and population levels to detect anomalies, IT security threats, fraud, insider threats, business

logic abuse and other malicious activity.

Silver Tail Systems has been recognized as a leader by prominent industry analysts for its innovative approach and disruptive technology. Silver Tail’s solutions are deployed globally in large customer environments, helping to secure online banking traffic and ecommerce and government web sites and portals. Their team has extensive experience in building high-performance solutions that provide monitoring for upwards of 330,000 clicks per second for some of the largest ecommerce and banking providers on the market today.

Within RSA, Silver Tail is expected to contribute to multiple areas across RSA’s enterprise security portfolio.

Silver Tail’s products will add a disruptive fraud-fighting technology

designed to install and begin providing value in a matter of days, lowering complexity and cost of ownership. In addition, it is expected Silver Tail’s core transaction and behavioral analysis technology will help further extend the security analytics capabilities across RSA’s enterprise security solutions portfolio. Art Coviello, RSA Executive Chairman and Executive Vice President, EMC Corporation “The industry is well beyond the point of providing effective security using static, perimeter point tools that fail to keep up with dynamic cyber attackers. Customers need better intelligence, analytics, and the ability to respond in real time which is a capability that Silver Tail’s products do extraordinarily well to help foil web-based attacks. Silver Tail offers proven antifraud solutions that complement RSA’s portfolio of risk-based and adaptive

products and services.

Tim Eades, Chief Executive Officer, Silver Tail Systems “Stopping cybercrime has never been harder than it is today. The recent attacks on the North American banking infrastructure are stark reminders of the pace of innovation in the cybercriminal ecosystem, the convergence of the fraud and infosecurity attack techniques and the profound responsibility of the CISO to help defend against these attacks.

“Silver Tail pioneered an approach that uses web session intelligence to provide unmatched visibility and the behavioral analysis that detects these threats and protects web-based platforms around the world. Together with RSA, we have an incredible opportunity to extend these capabilities beyond what we do today to protect webbased platforms.”

Microsoft, Apple tablets have most profit margins US judge tosses Apple suit against Motorola

Canon Middle East celebrates festive season in Kuwait KUWAIT: Canon Middle East has come up with yet another reason to celebrate the arrival of the festive season in Kuwait.

Canon consumers can take advantage of the winter season when purchasing select Canon products and win an amazing Toyota Fortuner car in addition to up to 150 prizes including the latest DSLR, DSC and DVC cameras and printers through a raffle draw.

“The upcoming holiday season is traditionally a strong period for sales, which makes it the perfect time to reward existing and new Canon buyers for their patronage and support. As a leader in imaging solutions, Canon products are a natural holiday companion and we are delighted to be able to enhance our customers’ holiday experiences by providing them with added value to their purchas-

es.” said, Hariharan Venkatasubramanian, Sales Director, Canon Middle East “There has never been a better time to own a Canon product, with exciting new models across a range of photo video and office personal products. This initiative is testament to Canon’s commitment to delivering products designed for outstanding quality, as well as making sure that it rewards its customers’ investment,” said Nabil Iskandrani, General Manager, Naser Mohammad Al Sayer - Canon’s distributor in Kuwait.

The offer is valid till 31st of December through all leading hypermarkets, power retailers, consumer electronics and IT dealers in the country, ensuring all customers to have a rewarding shopping experience with Canon.

Google says open to mediation in France media revenue row PARIS: Google said yesterday it was open to the idea of appointing a mediator to help end its bitter row with French news media sites that want to make the US Internet giant pay to display links to their content. The battle has reached the highest levels of state here, with President Francois Hollande last month warning that his government would if necessary introduce a bill to force Internet search engines to pay for media content.

Alexandra Laferriere, an executive in the firm’s French branch, said at a conference that the government had proposed nominating a mediator and that Google was “open to anybody who can help dia-

logue between us and editors”.

Hollande’s remarks in October came following a meeting with Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt.The firm has said it would exclude French media sites from its search results if France were to adopt the bill requiring search engines to pay to link to news websites.

Italian and German firms have also joined the demand for Google to share some of the advertising revenue from user searches for news on websites.

Google, which receives four billion hits worldwide every month, has said such a law would “threaten (Google’s) very existence”. — AFP

Instagram gets Facebook feel SAN FRANCISCO: Picture sharing website Instagram began rolling out online profiles that let people showcase themselves and photos they’ve taken with the Facebook-owned smartphone application.

The creation of an online home for Instagram images put a Facebook spin on the startup that the world’s leading social network bought this year.

“Instagram web profiles are a beautiful new way to view and share Instagram on the web,” said a message at the company’s website.

“Your web profile features your photos along with your profile photo and bio, giving others a look at the content you share on Instagram.”

People can share their profiles with whomever they wish as well as “follow”

other Instagram users, commenting on or expressing “likes” for pictures.

Instagram was in the limelight last week as a key source for pictures showing the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.

Photos of the storm were popping up on many social networks including Twitter and Google+, but Instagram data showed at least 521,000 photos with the hashtag #Sandy. Another 306,000 were tagged #hurricaneSandy.

Facebook completed its acquisition of Instagram in September. The original price was pegged at $1 billion but the final value was less because of the decline in Facebook’s share price.

The main point of Instagram is to share smartphone snaps, which can be enhanced with image filters to mimic historic types of film. — AFP

LOS ANGELES: Microsoft and Apple are garnering the highest profit margins for their tablets, followed by Google and then Amazon, according to research firm IHS. Microsoft Corp’s first self-made tablet, the Surface, went on sale Oct 26 priced resonably, for a profit margin of around 46 percent.

Surface comes with a 10.6-inch screen measured diagonally, and can access the Internet only through Wi-Fi. The price for its base model with 32 gigabytes of memory is more.

With a similar configuration, the Surface bakes in slightly more profit for Microsoft than Apple Inc. did when it released its thirdgeneration iPad in March.

Apple’s third-generation Wi-Fi-only iPad with 32GB of memory and a 9.7-inch screen cost more. A preliminary analysis of the fourth-generation iPad, which comes with a faster processor and went on sale Friday, costs more in parts and labor for the 32GB Wi-Fionly model, for a 49 percent margin, estimates IHS analyst Andrew Rassweiler.

IHS’ analysis excludes costs for marketing, sales or operating system-software, which Microsoft has been touting with its device.

The research firm obtains the devices independently and breaks them apart to estimate the cost of the components.

The analysis suggests Microsoft is imputing a cost for its latest operating system, the slimmed-down Windows RT, which debuted last month. It also needs to price its flagship tablet high enough so that manufacturing partners like Dell and Lenovo can compete even after paying Microsoft for the operating system. Apple is maintaining premium pricing as the market leader. Among smaller-sized tablets, the iPad Mini that went on sale on Friday boasts a 7.9-inch screen measured diagonally and costs $198 for parts and labor.

This 16GB model has a retail price tag, for a profit margin of 40 percent.

The 7-inch offering from Google Inc., the Nexus 7, for its 8GB model and sells for much cheaper, according to IHS. That’s a profit margin of 20 percent. Google makes a little more on its 16GB model.

Amazon.com Inc. spends about less make its 7-inch Kindle Fire HD with 16GB of memory and sells it around the same as Nexus, for a profit margin of 13 percent. That’s better than the original Kindle Fire, a money-loser that, on launch, cost Amazon around the same price in

its range.

Google is aiming to both make a profit and broaden the reach of its Android operating system, while Amazon is looking to make up the profit gap when customers buy movies, books and magazines from its store.

“Amazon and Google want to put tablets in consumers’ hands - even if it means doing so at a minimal hardware profit,” Rassweiler said in a statement.

Meanwhile, a federal judge on Monday tossed out an Apple lawsuit accusing Googleowned Motorola Mobility of trying to charge the iPhone maker too much for licenses to essential technology for mobile devices.

US District Court Judge Barbara Crabb dismissed the case after a week of pre-trial legal wrangling that evidently convinced her that the matter was headed for prolonged litigation instead of earnest resolution.

Apple filed suit against Motorola Mobility early last year after Motorola claimed it was due 2.25 percent royalty on sales of devices powered by iOS software, using patented WiFi and video technology.

Apple argued that the price was too high because the technology was in a category considered industry-essential and therefore had to be licensed under terms that are “fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory” (FRAND).

Crabb sided with Apple regarding the FRAND status of the Motorola technology but dismissed the case on Monday, when the trial was to begin, after Apple placed conditions on whether it would accept license terms set by the judge.

“The case cannot proceed to trial on the remaining issue; case dismissed,” Crabb wrote in her ruling.

Apple can appeal the judge’s decision.

Motorola Mobility said in a statement, “”We’re pleased that the court has dismissed Apple’s lawsuit with prejudice.

Motorola has long offered licensing to our extensive standards-essential patent portfolio at a reasonable and non-discriminatory rate in line with industry standards. We remain interested in reaching an agreement with Apple.”

Apple did not respond to an AFP request for comment. — Agencies

MEXICO CITY: A software developer of the Mexican Telecommunications company iFone works in his station at the headquarters of the firm in Mexico City, yesterday. The telecommunications firm named iFone has declared victory in a trademark battle with Apple’s iPhone, exposing the US company to a potential compensation payment, according to a statement released by the Mexican company this weekend. — AFP

Final trek for space shuttle Atlantis CAPE CANAVERAL: Accompanied by a fleet of astronauts spanning NASA’s entire existence, Atlantis made a slow, solemn journey to retirement Friday, the last space shuttle to orbit the world and the last to leave NASA’s nest.

Atlantis reached its new home at the Kennedy Space Center’s main tourist stop close to sundown, after a one-way road trip that spanned nearly 12 hours.

A couple dozen astronauts spanning NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs - moonwalkers included - welcomed Atlantis to its new $100 million exhibit, still under construction. The hardier ones walked alongside the spaceship for the home stretch.

Among the big astronaut names: Mercury’s Scott Carpenter, Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin and Eileen Collins, the first female shuttle commander.

It was a day full of fanfare and farewells. Atlantis began the 10-mile (16-kilometer) trek just before dawn, emerging from the massive Vehicle Assembly Building and riding atop a 76-wheeled platform.

About 200 workers gathered in the early morning chill to see the spaceship out in the open for the final time. They were joined by the four astronauts who closed out the shuttle program aboard Atlantis more than a year ago.

“My opinion is it looks better vertically,” said Christopher Ferguson, the commander of Atlantis’ final flight. “It’s a short trip. It’s taking a day,” he added. “It traveled a lot faster

in its former life. But that’s OK. ... it’s got a new role.” Portions of Atlantis’ final launch countdown boomed over loudspeakers before the shuttle hit the road. Employees gathered in front of a long white banner that read, “We Made History,” and below that the single word “Atlantis.” They followed the spaceship for a block or two, then scattered as the shuttle transporter revved up to its maximum 2 mph. The convoy included a dozen trucks and vans, their lights blinking.

The fact that several hundred shuttle workers are about to lose their jobs, now that Atlantis is being turned over to the visitor complex, dampened the mood. Thousands already have been laid off. “The untold story of the last couple years, the last missions that we flew, is the work force. I mean, the contractors knew that their numbers were going to go down ... and yet they kept doing their jobs,” said NASA’s Angie Brewer, who was once in charge of getting Atlantis ready for flight.

Some were too upset to even show up. Friday’s event marked the true end to the 30-year shuttle program. Seeing so many members of the shuttle team “helps soften the hard edge of seeing Atlantis go off to a museum,” said astronaut Rex Walheim, part of the ship’s final crew.

Atlantis made its way down broad industrial avenues, most of them offlimits to the public. So the trek did not replicate the narrow, stop-andgo turns Endeavour encountered last month while navigating down-

town Los Angeles. The mastermind behind Atlantis’ slow march through Kennedy was sweating bullets nonetheless.

“It’s only a priceless artifact driving 9.8 miles (15.8 kilometers) and it weighs 164,000 pounds (74,390 kilograms),” said Tim Macy, director of project development and construction for Kennedy’s visitor complex operator, the company Delaware North. “Other than that, no pressure at all,” Macy said, laughing.

“Only the eyes of the country and the world and everybody at NASA is watching us.” The relocation of Atlantis was plotted out for months, he noted last week, and experienced shuttle workers took part. The roundabout loop took Atlantis past Kennedy’s headquarters building for a midmorning ceremony that drew several thousand past and present employees, and their guests, as well as a few dozen astronauts. A high school color guard and band led the way.

The mood was more upbeat than when the trip began four hours earlier and resembled a funeral procession. NASA officials went out of their way to emphasize the space agency’s future.

“It’s an incredibly historic day,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr., a former skipper of Atlantis. “But I don’t preside over an agency that’s in the history business. ... We’re in the business of creating the future.”

Bolden proudly cited NASA’s new target destinations for astronauts -

an asteroid and Mars - and he hailed the successful start to commercial supply missions to the International Space Station. The next stop for Atlantis, meanwhile, was a stillunder-design industrial park that offered a few hours of public viewing in the afternoon. Tourist tickets ran as high as $90 apiece for a chance to see the spaceship up close. Crews removed 120 light poles, 23 traffic signals and 56 traffic signs in order for Atlantis to squeeze by. One highvoltage power line also had to come down.

Staff trimmed back some scrub pines, but there was none of the widespread tree-axing that occurred in Los Angeles. Atlantis had to traverse just one noticeable incline, a highway ramp. The rest of the course is sea-level flat.

Tourists jammed the public portion of Atlantis’ route. Patricia LeBlanc, visiting from Orlando with her daughter, said she misses the shuttle launches. Thirteen-year-old Ashley Gest, waiting in line for astronaut autographs with her Ormond Beach family, was excited to see Atlantis but expressed sadness, too.

The grand entrance into Atlantis’ new home went just as smoothly Friday evening and attracted a huge crowd. One complete wall of the exhibit hall was kept off, carportstyle, so the shuttle could roll right in.

Construction will begin on the missing wall early next week.

Once safely inside, Atlantis will be plastic-wrapped for protection until the building is completed. — AP

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

Multivitamins don’t cut heart disease risk in men About half of US adults take daily dietary supplements

Taking the first step towards a healthy future for your child THE LUNCHBOX REVOLUTION

By Sarah Dimashkieh KUWAIT: During the Diet Care “Get Healthy Kuwait” campaign, it was discovered that 48.3 percent of students under the age of 18 tested were overweight or obese. In fact, over the last three decades, obesity rates have tripled globally among children between the ages of six and 19. The general solution to combating obesity is simple - healthy eating and exercise.

But if probed further, it is also evident that schools today have not taken the right steps in promoting healthy eating.

Diet Care expert dietitian Sarah Dimashkieh gives us through three simple steps that will help us in providing a better and healthier future for our children.

Sarah Dimashkieh Pack your own lunchbox from home instead of having food at schools.

Schools in Kuwait today serve food items such as croissants, mayonnaise and sausage sandwiches, cupcakes, full-fat milk and full-fat pastry such as fatayers on a daily basis. This means school children are exposed to such fatty and sugary food items so early in the day.

“Back in the day, most kids brought a lunchbox from home to schools. This habit has been steadily decreasing over the years. Not just that, the few that still bring lunchboxes from home have unhealthy items in it,” Dimashkieh explains.

Another great idea to have your kids involved in the process is to include them during your grocery shopping trips and getting them to pick out their own choice of fruits and vegetables. “Children are more likely to eat food items that they have helped their parents prepare,” Dimashkieh says.

Ditch the juice box, switch to the milk box.

One of the most common misconceptions among parents is thinking that juice boxes are healthy for the children. Most parents even include it in their child’s lunchbox.

The truth is quite the opposite. “Juice boxes contain so much sugar and preservatives, that the goodness of the natural fruit is barely evident. Most times, juice boxes only have the flavoring of the fruit so what you end up giving your child is a sugary drink with a fruit flavor,” Dimashkieh says.

Milk, on the other hand is important to children up to the age of 16. Most kids wean off milk once they hit middle school because they

find it childish and “uncool”. “What will be uncool is when these kids grow up and have severe bone deteriorations such as osteoporosis and dental issues,” Dimashkieh states.

She adds that children up to the age of 16 should have three glasses of milk daily as it contains high quality proteins and is rich in minerals that are important for healthy bones and teeth. Also, alternating between fresh milk, chocolate, strawberry or even banana milk is a great step in ensuring your child won’t get bored with the flavor.

Breakfast at home, lunchbox at school.

The lunchbox is not a substitute for breakfast. Breakfast is still the most important meal of the day. Most children avoid having breakfast early in the morning because they don’t feel hungry. “The solution to this is to start with a light meal, such as a glass of milk. Once your child’s stomach gets used to the idea of having

food in the morning, he or she will wake up feeling hungry. Then you can gradually increase it to a small bowl of cereal or even a light sandwich,” Dimashkieh explains.

Breakfast is extremely important as it ensures that your child’s brain is fueled up in the morning to absorb the information and knowledge taught at school. Dimashkieh also suggests getting your child to help prepare their own breakfast in the mornings so that their mind is alert and active.

“Kids are usually sleepy and lethargic before they go to school. Being active and having breakfast in the morning are two important tools that will help them in being ready and prepared for their school activities,” Dimashkieh concludes.

LOS ANGELES: Taking a daily multivitamin does not reduce the risk of heart disease for older men, according to data from a large study presented yesterday.

About half of US adults take at least one daily dietary supplement, the most popular being a multivitamin, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The US Physicians Health Study II monitored nearly 15,000 male doctors aged 50 and older for more than 10 years. Participants were randomly assigned to take a multivitamin or a placebo.

“We found that after more than a decade, there is neither benefit nor risk,” in terms of cardiovascular disease, said Dr. Howard Sesso, study author and associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Researchers reported last month that the same trial showed that a daily multivitamin reduced the men’s overall risk of cancer by 8 percent. “We still feel very comfortable with the conclusions for the cancer findings,” Dr. Sesso said. “The lack of effect for cardiovascular disease versus cancer benefit isn’t necessarily inconsistent. There could be a difference in mechanism of effect.”

The findings were presented in Los Angeles at the American Heart Association scientific meeting and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “It is hard for us to recommend, at this point in time, taking a multivitamin to avoid cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Sesso said, noting that patients need to discuss all over-thecounter medicines with their doctors.

He said patients often view multivitamins as a “quick fix,” which can lead them to let up on other efforts to improve their health. “The danger of taking multivitamins is that it will lead you to think you can forgo other lifestyle changes,” such as not smoking and maintaining a healthy diet, said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, associate professor in the department of epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and with a grant from BASF Corp. The multivitamins and packaging were pro-

This Oct 11, 2012 file photo provided by the Brigham and Women’s Hospital shows a monthly calendar vitamin pack used in a long-term study on multivitamins. Multivitamins might help lower the risk for cancer in healthy older men but do not affect their chances of developing heart disease, new research suggests. — AP vided by BASF, Pfizer Inc and DSM Nutrition Products.

“Many patients think that because they are getting an OTC (over-the-counter) medication it is safe and the risk of complications is low,” said Dr. Elliott Antman, chairman of the AHA Scientific Sessions Committee and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “That appears to be right, but we still need to remind them of the need for lifestyle changes.”

Two other studies involving Omega-3 fatty acids derived from fish oil that were presented at the meeting on Monday also failed to help specif-

Options exist for colon cancer checks NEW YORK: For people who have had a negative colonoscopy, less-invasive screening options may work just fine for follow-up cancer tests, according to a US study.

The findings, which appeared in the Annals of Internal Medicine and are based on a mathematical model, showed that life expectancy varied by only a few days between people who continued getting colonoscopies every ten years and those who chose annual fecal blood tests and other less-invasive alternatives.

“No one screening test is right for everyone,” said lead researcher Amy Knudsen, from the Institute for Technology Assessment at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, in an email to Reuters Health. “The best test for you depends on your risk, your preferences, and which screening approach you are willing and able to adhere to, since no screening is effective unless it is done.” Knudsen’s team fed colon cancer screening and survival data into a National Cancer Institute (NCI) model, starting with hypothetical study participants who had a negative colonoscopy at age 50.

The researchers found that with no further screening, 31 out of every 1,000 people would be diagnosed with colon cancer during their lives and 12 would die from it. For people who had colonoscopies every ten years, that would fall to eight colon cancer diagnoses and two deaths per 11,000 people. With annual fecal tests starting at age 60, Knudsen and her colleagues calculated that 11 to 13 out of every 1,000 people would get colon cancer, and three or four would die. With the last screening

method, known as computed tomographic colonography, or CTC, nine people would be diagnosed with cancer and three would die if the tests were done every five years. Like colonoscopies, CTC requires bowel preparation, but otherwise is not as invasive.

The less-invasive screening methods would each cause about half as many complications as colonoscopy, affecting one percent of patients versus two percents. Those complications include bleeding and colon perforations.

“All of these methods will work if your ultimate goal is to reduce deaths from colon cancer,” wrote gastroenterologist David Weinberg from Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, in an editorial accompanying the study.

He said that one of the advantages of a colonoscopy is that it finds pre-cancerous polyps that can be removed before they turn into cancer. Fecal blood tests typically catch very early cancers, so more patients screened that way will have cancer and need treatment, although they’ll have a good prognosis.

Colonoscopy is also more expensive, sometimes 50 times more expensive than a fecal test and twice that of a CTC. “If everybody gets a colonoscopy, you will have many fewer people who ever develop colon cancer, but you’re going to pay a lot more money to get that,” Weinberg told Reuters Health. The United States Preventive Services Task Force, a government-backed panel, recommends screening for colon cancer using colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy or fecal occult blood testing between ages 50 and 75. — Reuters

Stem cells from strangers can repair hearts: Study LOS ANGELES: Researchers are reporting a key advance in using stem cells to repair hearts damaged by heart attacks.

In a study, stem cells donated by strangers proved as safe and effective as patients’ own cells for helping restore heart tissue.

The work involved just 30 patients in Miami and Balitmore, but proves the concept that anyone’s cells can be used to treat such cases. Doctors are excited because this suggests that stem cells could be banked for off-the-shelf use after heart attacks, just as blood is kept on hand now.

Results were discussed Monday at an American Heart Association conference in California and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study used a specific type of stem cells from bone marrow that researchers believed would not be rejected by recipients. Unlike other cells, these lack a key feature on their surface that makes the immune system see them as foreign tissue and attacks them, explained the study’s leader, Dr Joshua Hare of the University of Miami.

The patients in the study had suffered heart attacks years earlier, some as long as 30 years ago. All had developed heart failure because the scar tissue from the

heart attack had weakened their hearts so much that they grew large and flabby, unable to pump blood effectively.

Researchers advertised for people to supply marrow. The cells were removed from the marrow using a needle into the hip and then amplified for about a month in a lab at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University, then returned to Miami to be used for treatment, which did not involve surgery.

The cells were delivered through a tube pushed through a groin artery into the heart near the scarred area. Fifteen patients were given cells from their own marrow and 15 others, cells from strangers. About a year later, scar tissue had been reduced by about one-third.

Both groups had improvements in how far they could walk and in quality of life.

There was no significant difference in one measure of how well their hearts were able to pump blood, but doctors hope these patients will continue to improve over time, or that refinements in treatment will lead to better results. The big attraction is being able to use cells supplied by others, with no blood or tissue matching needed. “You could have the cells ready to go in the blood bank so when the patient comes in for a therapy there’s no delay,” Hare said.—AP

ic heart conditions. In one, taking fish oil for a year failed to limit recurrent symptomatic atrial fibrillation, a type of irregular heartbeat that significantly raises the risk of stroke.

In the other trial, short term use of fish oil failed to decrease incidence of atrial fibrillation that commonly occurs after patients undergo heart surgery. Dr. Peter Wilson, from the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta who was not involved in the studies, was disappointed by the results. Every time we’ve looked at Omega-3, he said, “we’ve come up short. It’s very discouraging.” — Reuters

New Zealand beaching proves rarest of whales exists WELLINGTON: The spade-toothed beaked whale is so rare that nobody has seen one alive, but scientists have proof the species still exists. Two skeletons were identified as belonging to the species after a 17-foot whale and her calf beached themselves in New Zealand in 2010. Scientists hope the discovery will provide insights into the species and into ocean ecosystems. It was almost a missed opportunity, however, since conservation workers misidentified the carcasses as a much more common type of whale and buried them.

In a paper published yesterday in the journal “Current Biology,” researchers from New Zealand and the United States say of their discovery: “For the first time we have a description of the world’s rarest and perhaps most enigmatic marine mammal.”

Previously only three skull fragments of the species had been found: in New Zealand in 1872 and in the 1950s and the last one 26 years ago on an island off Chile. The males have broad blade-like tusk teeth that give the species its name. Both males and females have beaks which make them resemble dolphins. “This is pretty fantastic,” said Ewan Fordyce, a geology professor at the University of Otago who specializes in the evolution of whales and who was not involved in the research. “There would be few, if any, mammalian species in the world that would be rarer. And we know much more about panda bears and other iconic, rare animals.”

The beached whales, an adult and her 11-foot male calf, were discovered on Opape Beach on the North Island on New Year’s Eve in 2010.

Conservation workers thought they were Gray’s beaked whales and took tissue samples before burying them about nine feet under the sand.

Those samples ended up at the University of Auckland where scientists did routine tests about six months later. Rochelle Constantine, a co-author of the paper, said she and her colleague Kirsten Thompson couldn’t believe it when the results showed the pair to be the rarest of whales.

“Kirsten and I went quiet. We were pretty stunned,” she said. Further tests confirmed the discovery. Constantine said they then retested about 160 samples taken from other stranded Gray’s whales but didn’t find any more that had been misidentified. This year, researchers returned to the beach to exhume the skeletons. Anton van Helden, who manages the marine mammals collection for New Zealand’s national museum Te Papa, said it wasn’t a straightforward task to find the remains after so long and that the mother’s skull, which was buried shallower than the rest of the remains, washed out to sea. But they were able to recover the rest of the skeletons. “It’s a hugely significant find,” said van Helden, a co-author of the paper. He said it’s impossible to know why the whales came ashore although whales often beach themselves when they become ill. He said almost nothing is known about the species except they live in the South Pacific Ocean and eat primarily squid.

Fordyce said it may be possible to use the skeletons of the rare whales to reconstruct their muscles and tissues and to find out more about how they live and die and why they are so reclusive. The scientists say the discovery could also provide broader insights into the ocean’s complex ecosystems. “This is good reminder,” said Constantine, “of how large the oceans are, and of how little we know about them.” — AP

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

Alzheimer’s may be detectable earlier than thought PARIS: Researchers said yesterday they had seen the earliest-ever warning signs of Alzheimer’s Diseaseamong a high-risk group of 20-somethings-in the ongoing quest for early detection and prevention.

A major problem in the search for a cure for this debilitating form of dementia is that symptoms appear years after irreversible brain decay has already set in. For the study, a team of scientists from the United States and Colombia tested 18- to 26year-old members of an extended Colombian family that share a common ancestor and a genetic predisposition to develop an inherited form of Alzheimer’s.

One in three members of the clan carry a gene mutation that will lead to a rare form of the disease which hits people in their 40s, unlike the common variant which presents much later.

A brain scan comparison found that individuals who carry the errant gene have less grey matter in certain areas of the brain than those who don’t, scientists wrote in The Lancet medical journal.

They also found that those with the mutation had higher levels in their cerebrospinal fluid of a protein called amyloid beta, implicated in the plaque buildups found on the brains of Alzheimer’s sufferers.

The findings “suggest that neurodegenerative changes occur more than 20 years before symptom onset and somewhat earlier than was suggested by findings from previous MRI studies,” Nick Fox of the University College London’s Dementia Research Centre said in a comment on the study. Alzheimer’s disease causes two-thirds of dementia cases-attacking one in 200 people-the rate is increasing as the world’s population ages. Trial participants, 20 with the fateful gene mutation and 24 without, were not told whether they had it or not. All had normal cognitive abilities at the time of the study. “The findings... could ultimately lead to improved early detection and better clinical trials of preventative treatments,” The Lancet said in a statement.

But the outcome also raises questions about scientists’ understanding of how Alzheimer’s progresses. “These findings... raise new questions about the earliest brain changes involved in the predisposition to Alzheimer’s and the extent to which they could be targeted by future prevention therapies,” research leader Eric Reiman from the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Arizona said.

Scientists still do not know quite what to make of the plaques and tangles that German doctor Alois Alzheimer first spotted in the brain of a dementia patient who died in 1906. They disagree on the respective roles of beta amyloid plaque build-ups and of a protein called tau which forms tangles inside the brain cells.

Most test therapies have targeted beta amyloids, but some now suggest it is actually tau killing the brain cells. According to Fox, the new study questioned existing models of Alzheimer’s Disease “on several fronts”. Among other things, “neurodegeneration would seem to be occurring in advance of evidence of plaque deposition”, widely thought to cause the brain damage.

Fox said the results should be treated with caution as the trial sample was small and the outcome may not apply to the much more common sporadic, late-onset form of Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) projects the number of people with dementia will rise from 35.6 million in 2010 to 65.7 million by 2030 and 115.4 million by 2050. — AFP

Most women exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke HONG KONG: Nearly two-thirds of women of reproductive age in China are exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke at home and over half are exposed in the workplace, which raises the risk of complications in pregnancy, including stillbirths and infant death. The findings, released by the World Health Organisation yesterday, are from a tobacco survey conducted in China in 2010 by the centres for disease control and prevention in China, the United States and the WHO. Around 100,000 people die from exposure to secondhand smoke in China each year, in addition to an estimated 1 million people who die from direct tobacco consumption. Women in rural areas of China were more affected, with almost 3 in every 4 exposed to second-hand smoke at home, compared to just over half in urban areas. “There is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke. Creating 100 percent smoke-free environments is the only way to protect people from the harmful effects of second-hand tobacco smoke,” said Michael O’Leary, WHO representative in China.

“Tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure in reproductive-aged women can cause adverse reproductive health outcomes, such as pregnancy complications, fetal growth restriction, preterm delivery, stillbirths, and infant death.”—Reuters

According to a US study, one in five still smokes during their hospital stay.

One in five smokers lights up in hospital: Study NEW YORK: The number of smokers lighting up on hospital grounds has fallen about seven percentage points since 1995, but roughly one in five still smoked during their hospital stay, according to a US study.

The findings, which appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine, reflect the experience of Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital, where past research found that 25 percent of hospitalized smokers reported smoking on the grounds in 1995.

The study surveyed patients who smoked and were referred to the hospital’s tobacco treatment program between 2007 to 2010, finding that the number of smokers lighting up during their entire stay fell to 18.4 percent.

One explanation for the decline, according to the researchers, may be the increased use of nicotine replacement therapy patches, lozenges, gum and inhalers. At this hospital, the use of nicotine replacement therapy increased more than twelve-fold from

1995 to 2010. “It is encouraging that there has been improvement, but it’s discouraging that the nicotine replacement therapy has not been able to put more of a dent into this,” said lead author Susan Regan, an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Regan and her colleagues said they cannot say for sure that the nicotine replacement therapy is the reason for the decline.

For one thing, the study only included patients in the hospital’s tobacco treatment program while the previous study included all patients who smoked. The researchers wrote that those who refused to take part in the program may have been more likely to sneak a smoke.

As for smokers who still smoke while hospitalized, Regan told Reuters Health that some may just not be ready to quit. “Many smokers are interested in quitting. Some are interested but not ready, and some are just

not interested, “ she said.

The study, which followed about 400 smokers, found that certain characteristics were linked to a person being more likely to abstain from smoking, including being over 50 and having heart problems.

The Joint Commission, a nonprofit group that accredits more than 19,000 hospitals and other healthcare facilities, already prohibits US hospitals from allowing smoking in their buildings. But patients and staff may smoke outside the buildings, unless the hospital bans that too. In Massachusetts General’s case, the hospital allows smoking at two smoking shelters on its property.

Regan noted that the results are based on only one hospital, and the conditions it faces may not be the same as others. “If you did it (the study) in a warm weather state, you might find more patients who are more likely to go out and smoke. But we don’t know,” Regan said. — Reuters

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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

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Greetings

Bhavanites excel in the UNSC contest or the third consecutive year the brilliant students of the Indian Education School, Kuwait dominated the United Nation Simulation Conference an inter school competition organized by the Our Own Indian School, Dubai for the Indian Schools in the Middle East. This year 14 schools took

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part in the prestigious competition held at the Our Own School Dubai on November 3, 2012.

IES team was represented by debutants Rohini Pratyusha of grade 9 and Revanth of grade 11. Having represented the school for the three consecutive years, the third member Siddarth Sriram

with his sterling performance this year has uniquely recorded his name in the redolent achievers of IES. IES team bagged four prizes and won the hearts of all the delegates. While Pratyusha won two awards, Revanth and Siddarth won one each and entire IES family is proud of their achievements.

Participation in these events gives IES students an edge over their counterparts in other schools as they become more confident, competent and develop a global perspective in handling international issues.

‘Mushaera and Sham-e-Ghazal’ enthrall audience ndo-Kuwait Friendship Society, Kuwait has enthralled the audience of “Mushaera and Sham-e-Ghazal” evening on Saturday, October 27, 2012 at the auditorium of Salmiya Indian Model School.

Shahjahan Jaffri, a well known Mushaera organizer was the Master of Ceremony. Program started with the recitation of Holy Quran by Zainab Ghalib (11th class student of Indian Public school) at 7 pm Shahjahan Jaffri ignited the Mushaera with the presence of Satish Mehta, the Ambassador of India to Kuwait. More than 10 well known Mushaaera artists participated in the event and enjoyed the shaeers (poems) in India’s national languages of both Hindi and Urdu.

This is the first time IKFS is hosting Mushaera program in Kuwait. IKFS has earlier organized several contests in calligraphy competitions in Hindi, Urdu, Arabic in addition to “patriotic songs” and “essay writings” for school going students on Inter-school basis.

Shahjan Jaffri and Mattin Sadiqi (Executive Committee Members of IKFS) supervised the Mushaera and Ghazal event. Dr Ghalib Al-Mashoor, President, IKFS presided the meeting and said that he is very much delighted to see Satish Mehta presence in the program. Satish Mehta has supported the idea of launching a “Mashaera” program in the beginning, when IKFS Patron Sami Bubere visited Kuwait and noted that he is already a great fan of

I ishing you all the best Katrina, today and throughout the coming year.

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Suhail Baddor exhibition ooking at Baddor’s paintings, the first impression is the striking contrast between Suhail’s smooth and calm gradation of colors and shades on one side, and on the other, are his sharp and tense tines that are unwavering in showing firmness and roughness of what he sees and feels. His blend of colors appears to be fairly well crafted and reflects the hands of a skilled artist; but his lines tend to reveal the shyness and purity of the originality of his own vision, setting the tone for such impeccable divergence of the richness and fusion of colors.

Opening Reception: November 11, 2012 at 6:00 pm.

Following Days: 10:00 am - 2:00 pm, 6:00pm 9:00pm.

Saturdays: By appointment.

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KTAA invites all to the KTAA he Kuwait Textile Arts Association under the auspices of the Sadu House Invites everyone to the KTAA fall bazaar of handcrafted items, on Saturday November 17, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. The exhibition features quilts, bags, table linens, designer jewelry, shawls, greeting cards, crochet, hand embroidery, and lots more.

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Youth Chorus song competition

“Mushaera”.

Satish Mehta, Ambassador of India was the Chief Guest of the event who delivered the Inaugural speech. He praised IKFS committee for hosting various events which are beneficial to the community in Kuwait who have come from various parts of India covering all the linguistic solutions. IKFS prizes

and certificates to the winning children and the representatives of the participating schools.

Muzammil Malik (industrialist and philanthropist ), Abdul Mohsin Al-Sadi (CEO, Al-Sadi Intl GT Co and IKFS Patron), Talib Bawazir (CEO Arabian Family Translation Centre, Mirgab office), Sanjay Yadav (principle Salmiya Indian Model school) also were present and graced the event. IKFS executive committee thanked Satish Mehta, Ambassador of India, for attending and delivering inaugural speech and handing over the prizes to the winning school students in the patriotic songs , essay, solo singing and instru-

mental music competitions held in the same premises earlier (during the after-noon hours).

Later, Dr Al-Mashoor introduced V K Mohammed Kunhi Master, aged 75 years to the audience as the “Guest of Honor” in the event.

Mohammed Kunhi Master was the contemporary of justice V Khalid (former Supreme Court

Indian Union Muslim League (Kerala chapter) and also maintaining the status of President of C H Centre (a Humanitarian charity centre established in the name of former Chief Minister of Kerala, Late C H Mohamed Koya Saheb) delivered a brief speech about C H Centre’s activities in Kerala especially in Kannur district, where most of

troupe’s talented attempts in keeping the crowd very enthusiastic and happy. Iftakhar Ahamed (Treasurer), Mattin Sadiqui also coordinated with the Ghazal and Mushaera programs. The program ended by Abdul Hameed and parties’ (a well known senior artist and Ghazal singer in Kuwait). Abdul Hameed performed more than

judge), and Ahamed Saheb, (the present State Minister of External and Human Resources, government of India). V K is known to several thousands of Keralites in India and other GCC countries who decorated earlier the title of Vice President of

their activities are on the humanitarian fields and providing medicine and free consultations to the public without distinguishing religion or caste or color. Human aids such as helping patients who have endangered with various diseases including Kidney failure and assisting them to get regular dialysis treatments etc.

Muzammil Malik decorated K V with a “Shal” as a token of appreciation by “IKFS” executive committee.

A very attractive Kuwaiti folklore (Men) dance were also performed during the event by Fayyaz and Ghaffoor team in Kuwait. Big applauses were heard during the folklore

2 hours Ghazal singing. He enthralled the audience with old Ghazal songs of Late Mannede, Mehdi Hasan, and Ajit. Songs of Pankaj Das and Ghulam Ali and other well known singers ‘ master piece’ were also carried out, in addition to his own edited Ghazal songs and as per the audience’s requirements. Free refreshments and dinner were served for an approximate crowd of 200 during the one half day event. Abdul Nazar (General Secretary) welcomed the guests while Natrajan (Secretary) Eng Sayid Fadal nizar, Laxmi Ramalingham coordinated the programs and children’s contests.

outh Chorus is organizing the Seventh Christian Group Song Competition on Friday, November 16, 2012 at 6:00 pm at the United Indian School Auditorium, Abbasiya. The team has to present one Christian song (Malayalam or Tamil) within seven minutes. The minimum number of members in the team should be 7 and the maximum 20, including the orchestra personnel. The first, second and third prize winners will be awarded with trophies and certificates. In addition, the first and second prize winning teams will be given the prestigious rolling trophies - Youth Chorus ever rolling trophy for the first and Omana Jose Memorial ever rolling for the second, and Youth Chorus ever rolling trophy for the Third. All the other participating teams will be awarded with Youth Chorus memento.

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ndian Overseas Congress (IOC-Kuwait) paid tributes to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her death anniversary in a special meeting called on the occasion at United Indian School, Abbassiya on Wednesday, 31st October 2012.

The Meeting was presided over by Gheevarghese Abraham, and attended by the members and well wishers of Indian Overseas Congress. A two minutes silence was observed on the occasion to pay homage to the great leader. Adv. John Thomas made the commemoration speech. Raju Zacharias, MP Sen and Tom Chirayil also spoke on the occasion.

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KDMCA family get together uravilangad Deva Matha College Alumni Association Kuwait chapter, popularly known as KDMCA, conducted family get together on October 27, 2012 at Indian mughlai auditorium, Fahaheel . All KDMCA family

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Took part in the event. It was a very much awaited occasion for all members.

Advisory Board Member KJ Johan provided the introduction, Association President Maxi Mani chaired the function and KDMCA and General Secretary

Shibu John welcomed the meeting.

Members and their kids performed variety of cultural programs enthralled the audience with its mixture and quality. Mathew Pappadi, Jaison Joseph, Bobby Pattani, Rashmi Pappadi led the

Pavendar Kazhagam Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

avendar Kazhagam held its 2nd Kalam on November 2, Friday at 5 pm at Pavendar Arangam in Mangaf. The meeting was presided by Natarajan.

Talai vanangu Selvi Nalina, Thalai virunthu Ravikumar, Kuraloodu Uravaadu Makesh, Kalappaadal Babu, Ninainthu Ninainthu, Secretary Rajasekaran, Urippinarkal Arimukam, Treasurer B Sekar Kathaikeelu Kaniyaaku Jaykumar, Vizha vimarsanam Rameshkumar, Murugesan, Sivasankaran, Viruthai Pari, Kavithai Siragu was presided President Ravanan. Solvom Velvom was won by Velavan.

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programs and distributed prices for the winners of competition. Dyju Kuncheriya proposed vote of thanks to all.

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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

WHAT’S ON

Embassy Information

Representatives from Operation Hope

AUK students’ visit to K’S PATH Open Day at Al-Wafra shelter.

EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Australian Embassy Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department.

All processing of visas and immigration matters in conducted by The Australian Consulate-General in Dubai. Email: info.ausdxb@vfshelpline.com (VFS) immigration.dubai@dfat.gov.au (Visa Office); Tel: +971 4 355 1958 (VFS) - +971 4 508 7200 (Visa Office); Fax: +971 4 355 0708 (Visa Office).

In Kuwait applications can be lodged at the Australian Visa Application Centre 4B 1st Floor, Al-Banwan Building Al-Qibla Area, Ali Al-Salem Street, opposite the Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City, Kuwait. Working hours and days: 09:30 - 17:30; Sunday - Thursday. Or visit their website www.vfs-au-gcc-com for more information. Kuwait citizens can apply for tourist visas on-line at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm.

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EMBASSY OF CANADA The Canadian Embassy in Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department. All processing of visa and immigration matters including enquiries is conducted by the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, UAE Individuals who are interested in working, studying, visiting or immigrating to Canada should contact the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, website: www.UAE.gc.ca or www.goingtocanada.gc.ca, E-mail: abdbi-im-enquiry@international.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakei St, Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 7:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed for lunch from 12:30 to 13:00. Consular services for Canadian citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00, Sunday through Wednesday.

KACCH representatives at the Volunteer Fair.

Sout Al-Kuwait representatives

K’S PATH representatives at the Volunteer Fair.

AUK Wolf mascot with one of K’s PATH staff members and visiting children.

Ahmad Al-Gharabally (Sout Al-Kuwait) and En V Elisa Franceschinis

AUK hosts annual awareness week he Office of Student Life at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) organized its 7th Annual Awareness Week. Each day of Awareness Week concentrated on a specific topic, including self-awareness, community outreach awareness and political awareness.

The first day included an interactive self-awareness workshop, coordinated by the Office of Student Life, Center for Career Services and Wellness and the Psychology Department at AUK. The workshop aimed at getting students together from different backgrounds, as well as helping them define ‘who they are’. “It’s entertaining and beneficial at the same time. It makes me want to attend more workshops in the future,” said Dana Maan, an AUK freshman. AUK students also had the chance to sign the ‘I AM’ banner placed in the central hallway in an effort to help students gain self-awareness.

The second day saw the AUK Volunteers Program, organize ‘Refuse to be Ordinary.’ The program is an attempt

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to provide students with the information and the opportunity they need to be significant contributors to the Kuwaiti community through service.

Participating organizations included KACCH, K’s Path, EQUAIT, Kuwait Society for the Handicapped, Operation Hope, Sout Al-Kuwait, En v and the Voice for Success Program.

The second day also featured community outreach presentations by En V and Sout Al-Kuwait. Elisa Franceschinis, Program Coordinator at En V, introduced the students to the Voice for Success program was initiated by En V to give greater visibility to social activists who are trying to make a positive impact on their society and community. The program seeks to strengthen civil society in Kuwait through the promotion of innovative initiatives by Kuwaiti youth in the fields of social responsibility, empowerment, and development amongst others. She introduced the students to the various initiatives that the program had covered over the year.

This was followed by a presentation on Sout Al-Kuwait. Ahmad Al-Gharabally from Sout Al-Kuwait, spoke to students about the work they do and the importance of being engaged in civic and political life. He also stressed the importance of political participation, and shared the 2012 Awareness campaign for parliament elections, “Tafreq”.

The Awareness Week extended to include two main events: K’S PATH volunteer trip and KAACH orientation and training; both took place on Saturday, October 20. Over 80 students visited the K’S PATH shelter, located in Al-Wafra, during an open day organized by the shelter. Students had the chance to see the premises and interact with K’S PATH staff, volunteers and animals. Students learnt about the different animals housed at the shelter, how they were rescued, how they are being taken care of, as well as adoption and sponsoring procedures. Many students also took the opportunity to take many of the dogs for a walk around the premises. A lot of students also made donations in

kind to the shelter, promoted by the ‘Refuse to Be Ordinary’ volunteering event held earlier the week.

In addition, there were more than 60 students who attended the KAACH orientation and training following the 34 students who have filled an application form to volunteer at KACCH at the volunteer fair, held earlier on Monday. The orientation provided volunteers with information about KACCH’s activities, expectations of volunteers and volunteer duties.

The mission of the Office of Student Life is to create a campus environment that engages students with lifelong learning opportunities outside the classroom which provide personal, professional, ethical, and intellectual growth.

This goes along with AUK’s mission of providing students with knowledge, self-awareness and personal growth experiences that can enhance critical thinking, effective communication and respective for diversity.

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EMBASSY OF CYPRUS In its capacity as EU Local Presidency in the State of Kuwait, the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus, on behalf of the Member States of the EU and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, would like to announce that as from 2nd October 2012 all Schengen States’ Consulates in Kuwait will use the Visa Information System (VIS). The VIS is a central database for the exchange of data on short-stay (up to three months) visas between Schengen States. The main objectives of the VIS are to facilitate visa application procedures and checks at external border as well as to enhance security. The VIS will contain all the Schengen visa applications lodged by an applicant over five years and the decisions taken by any Schengen State’s consulate. This will allow applicants to establish more easily the lawful use of previous visas and their bona fide status. For the purpose of the VIS, applicants will be required to provide their biometric data (fingerprints and digital photos) when applying for a Schengen visa. It is a simple and discreet procedure that only takes a few minutes. Biometric data, along with the data provided in the Schengen visa application form, will be recorded in the VIS central database. Therefore, as from 2nd October 2012, first-time applicants will have to appear in person when lodging the application, in order to provide their fingerprints. For subsequent applications within 5 years the fingerprints can be copied from the previous application file in the VIS. The Cypriot Presidency would like to assure the people of Kuwait and all its permanent citizens that the Member States and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, have taken all necessary technical measures to facilitate the rapid examination and the efficient processing of visa applications and to ensure a quick and discreet procedure for the implementation of the new VIS. ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF INDIA The Embassy of India will remain closed on the following days during the month of November 2012: Nov 13, 2012 - Tuesday - Deepawali Nov 25, 2012 - Sunday - Muharram ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF PERU The Embassy of Peru is located in Sharq, Ahmed Al Jaber Street, Al Arabiya Tower, 6th Floor. Working days / hours: SundayThursday /9 am - 4 pm. Residents in Kuwait interested in getting a visa to travel to Peru and companies attracted to invest in Peru are invited to visit the permanent exposition room located in the Embassy. For more information, please contact: (+965) 22267250/1.

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EMBASSY OF UKRAINE

FFA launches Football Skills club it Football Academy announced the launching of football skills teaching club and the opening for registration of children and youth of different age groups for the coming season.

Club activity commenced on October 14, 2012, and will continue to the end of December.

In a press release, the Academy stated that a broad response by children is expected for participa-

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tion in the activities of the club, which operates to the best practices in international football teaching school programs and plans.

The release indicated that Fit Football Academy is characterized by indoor playgrounds to protect children from climate changes. In addition, the Academy boasts training programs and coaches from Brazil, Romania, and Egypt, to teach children the latest football

skills and techniques.

The releases added that Nawaf Al-Khaldi and Bader Al-Mutawa, national team scorer, are supervising the training of children and youth in the club, and will be present in the training centres for registration during days to be announced soon.

The release mentioned that Kuwait Finance House (KFH), the first Islamic bank in Kuwait and the

Gulf that operates in compliance with the Islamic Shari’a, is the official sponsor of the new training season, in cooperation with Fawziya Al-Sultan Health Rehabilitation Center, who will cover the training sessions to provide safety for players, in addition to Go Sports, who will provide the latest training and physical fitness equipment for the children.

It is worth mentioning that Fit

Football Academy is a company of Ghazl General Trading and Contracting Group of Companies, which aims at disseminating health awareness among football fans, and upgrading football thought by mixing new football skills teaching with health exercises for upgrading the physical and mental levels of participants.

The Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait would like to remind that the external polling station No 90046 was created in the Embassy’s premises at the following address: Hawalli, Jabriya, bl.10, str. 6, build. 5. The working hours of the polling station: Sunday from 13.00 to 17.00 pm; Monday from 13.00 to 17.00 pm; Tuesday from 13.00 to 17.00 pm; Wednesday from 13.00 to 17.00 pm; Thursday from 13.00 to 17.00 pm; Friday from 10.00 to 13.00 pm; Saturday from 10.00 to 13.00 pm On October 28, 2012 the working hours of the polling station from 8.00 am to 20.00 pm. Please be advised to refer to the Embassy to check your data in the Electoral Register as well as to pick up your personal invitation from the polling station if you did not receive this document by post.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

TV PROGRAMS

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

Safari Vet School Animal Cops Phoenix Tigers Attack I’m Alive Gator Boys Safari Vet School Safari Vet School Wildest Africa Wild Britain With Ray Mears Orangutan Island Clinically Wild: Alaska Clinically Wild: Alaska Wildlife SOS Monkey Life Natural Born Hunters Natural Born Hunters Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 Bad Dog Wildest Africa World Wild Vet Vet On The Loose Vet On The Loose Wildlife SOS Shamwari: A Wild Life Animal Cops Phoenix Wildest Africa Orangutan Island The Really Wild Show America’s Cutest...

The Jeff Corwin Experience Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 Monkey Life Shamwari: A Wild Life Wild Britain With Ray Mears Orangutan Island Wildest Africa The Magic Of The Big Blue Mutant Planet

23:50 Animal Cops Houston 00:00 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 00:45 Come Dine With Me 01:35 Antiques Roadshow 02:30 Holmes On Homes 03:20 Holmes On Homes 04:10 Living In The Sun 05:05 House Swap 05:50 Saturday Kitchen 2008/09 06:20 Living In The Sun 07:15 House Swap 08:00 MasterChef Australia 08:50 MasterChef Australia 10:05 Holmes On Homes 10:55 Holmes On Homes 11:45 Bargain Hunt 12:30 Antiques Roadshow 13:20 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 14:05 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 14:30 Baby Borrowers USA 15:10 Baby Borrowers USA 15:55 Bargain Hunt 16:40 Antiques Roadshow 17:30 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 18:10 Come Dine With Me 19:00 Raymond Blanc’s Kitchen Secrets 19:30 Raymond Blanc’s Kitchen Secrets 19:55 Out Of The Frying Pan 20:45 Come Dine With Me 21:35 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 22:20 Antiques Roadshow 23:15 Bargain Hunt EditionEdition 00:15 01:10 02:05 03:00 03:55 04:20 04:50 05:15 05:40 06:05 07:00 07:50 08:45 09:40 10:05 10:30 10:55 11:25 12:20 13:15 14:10 14:35 15:05 15:30 16:25 17:20 18:15 19:10 19:40 20:05 20:35 21:00 21:30 22:25 23:20

You Have Been Warned Body Invaders Ultimate Survival Mythbusters Border Security Dirty Money Auction Kings How Do They Do It? How It’s Made Extreme Fishing Street Customs Mythbusters Ultimate Survival Border Security Dirty Money How Do They Do It? How It’s Made You Have Been Warned Body Invaders Ultimate Survival Border Security Dirty Money Auction Kings Ultimate Survival Street Customs Extreme Fishing Mythbusters How Do They Do It? How It’s Made Border Security Dirty Money Auction Kings Dynamo: Magician Impossible Mythbusters Mythbusters

23:20 Surviving Disaster 00:40 Gadget Show - World Tour 01:05 How Tech Works 01:35 The Colony 02:25 Build It Bigger: Rebuilding Greensburg 03:15 Nyc: Inside Out 04:05 Weird Connections 04:35 The Colony 05:25 Da Vinci’s Machines 06:15 Gadget Show - World Tour 06:40 How Tech Works 07:05 Meteorite Men 08:00 Build It Bigger: Rebuilding Greensburg 08:50 How Do They Do It? 09:15 How Do They Do It? 09:40 Head Rush 09:43 Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger 10:10 How Stuff’s Made 10:40 Meteorite Men 11:30 Gadget Show - World Tour 11:55 How Tech Works 12:20 Nyc: Inside Out 13:10 Da Vinci’s Machines 14:00 Build It Bigger: Rebuilding Greensburg 14:50 Sport Science 15:45 How Do They Do It? 16:10 How Do They Do It? 16:35 Weird Connections 17:00 Head Rush 17:03 Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger 17:30 How Stuff’s Made

18:00 Gadget Show - World Tour 18:25 How Tech Works 18:50 Nyc: Inside Out 19:40 Meteorite Men 20:30 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 21:20 Da Vinci’s Machines 22:10 Gadget Show - World Tour 22:35 How Tech Works 23:00 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 23:50 Meteorite Men 20:20 Bang Goes The Theory 00:20 Little Einsteins 00:50 Special Agent Oso 01:15 Lazytown 01:40 Jungle Junction 01:55 Jungle Junction 02:10 Handy Manny 02:30 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 02:55 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 03:00 Lazytown 03:25 Special Agent Oso 03:50 Imagination Movers 04:20 Handy Manny 04:40 Special Agent Oso 05:00 Timmy Time 05:10 Lazytown 05:35 Little Einsteins 06:00 Jungle Junction 06:15 Jungle Junction 06:30 Little Einsteins 06:50 Special Agent Oso 07:00 Special Agent Oso 07:15 Jungle Junction 07:30 Jungle Junction 07:45 Handy Manny 08:00 Special Agent Oso 08:15 Little Einsteins 08:45 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 09:10 The Hive 09:20 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 09:35 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 09:50 Handy Manny 10:05 The Hive 10:15 Animated Stories 10:20 Mouk 10:30 Mouk 10:45 The Hive 10:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 11:20 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 11:45 Art Attack 12:10 Imagination Movers 12:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 13:00 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 13:10 Handy Manny 13:25 Jungle Junction 13:40 Imagination Movers 14:05 The Hive 14:15 Special Agent Oso 14:30 Lazytown 14:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 15:20 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 15:45 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 16:00 Mouk 16:15 The Hive 16:25 Art Attack 16:50 Doc McStuffins 17:05 Art Attack 17:30 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 17:45 Art Attack 18:10 Mouk 18:25 Mouk 18:40 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 18:55 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 19:10 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 19:35 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 20:00 Animated Stories 20:05 Timmy Time 20:20 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 20:25 Doc McStuffins 20:40 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 20:55 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 21:10 The Hive 21:20 Timmy Time 21:30 Mouk 21:45 Handy Manny 22:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 22:25 The Hive 22:35 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 23:00 Timmy Time 23:10 Animated Stories 23:15 A Poem Is...

23:20 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 23:30 Jungle Junction 23:45 Handy Manny 23:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ecial Agent Oso 23:50 Lazytown 00:30 01:25 01:50 02:20 03:15 04:10 05:05 05:30 06:00 06:55 08:00 08:25 08:55 09:20 09:50 10:15 10:45 11:40 12:05 12:35 13:30 14:25 15:20 16:15 16:40 17:10 17:35 18:05 18:30 19:00 19:55 20:50 21:45 22:40 23:05 23:35

00:15 00:40 01:05 01:30 01:55 02:20 02:45 03:10

M1 Challenge Gotta Grudge Gotta Grudge Pro Bull Riders 2011 World Combat League Enfusion Dragrace High Dragrace High M1 Challenge Pro Bull Riders 2011 Ride Guide Snow 2009 Ride Guide Snow 2009 Tread BMX Tread BMX The Alli Show The Alli Show Winter Dew Tour 10/11 Fantasy Factory Fantasy Factory Pro Bull Riders 2011 Mantracker I’ll Do Anything World Combat League Fantasy Factory Fantasy Factory Tread BMX Tread BMX The Alli Show The Alli Show Mantracker Pro Bull Riders 2011 I’ll Do Anything World Combat League Dragrace High Dragrace High Enfusion

Grill It! With Bobby Flay Guy’s Big Bite Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Heat Seekers Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Guy’s Big Bite Guy’s Big Bite

03:35 Grill It! With Bobby Flay 04:00 Grill It! With Bobby Flay 04:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 04:50 Heat Seekers 05:15 Guy’s Big Bite 05:40 Grill It! With Bobby Flay 06:05 Unwrapped 06:30 The Next Iron Chef 07:10 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 07:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 08:00 Food Network Challenge 08:50 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 09:15 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 09:40 Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger 10:05 Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger 10:30 Kelsey’s Essentials 10:55 Cooking For Real 11:20 Cooking For Real 11:45 Food Crafters 12:10 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 12:35 Heat Seekers 13:00 The Next Iron Chef 13:50 Guy’s Big Bite 14:15 Cooking For Real 14:40 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 15:05 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 15:30 Food Crafters 15:55 Charly’s Cake Angels 16:20 Unique Eats 16:45 Chopped 17:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 18:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 18:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 18:50 Heat Seekers 19:15 Guy’s Big Bite 19:40 Unique Eats 20:05 Unique Eats 20:30 Chopped 21:20 The Next Iron Chef 22:10 Charly’s Cake Angels 22:35 Charly’s Cake Angels 23:00 Unique Sweets 23:25 Unique Sweets 23:50 Have Cake, Will Travel

00:15 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 00:45 By Any Means 01:40 Ultimate Traveller 02:35 Which Way To 03:30 Treks In A Wild World 04:25 Long Way Down 05:20 Bondi Rescue 05:45 Bondi Rescue 06:15 David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway 06:40 David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway 07:10 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 07:35 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 08:05 By Any Means 09:00 Ultimate Traveller 09:55 Which Way To 10:50 Treks In A Wild World 11:45 Long Way Down 12:40 Bondi Rescue 13:05 Bondi Rescue 13:35 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 1 14:00 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 1 14:30 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 14:55 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 15:25 By Any Means 16:20 Ultimate Traveller 17:15 Cruise Ship Diaries 18:10 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 19:05 Long Way Down 20:00 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 20:30 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 21:00 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 1 21:30 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 1 22:00 Bondi Rescue 22:25 Bondi Rescue 22:55 David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway 23:20 David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway 23:50 Pressure Cook 23:00 Naked Science

04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Seinfeld 06:00 Seinfeld 06:30 Friends 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Two And A Half Men 08:30 How I Met Your Mother 09:00 Seinfeld 09:30 Seinfeld 10:00 Modern Family 10:30 Community 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Friends 12:30 Two And A Half Men 13:00 Seinfeld 13:30 Seinfeld 14:00 Last Man Standing 14:30 Community 15:00 Modern Family 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Friends 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 How I Met Your Mother 18:30 Last Man Standing 19:00 Modern Family 19:30 New Girl 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 American Dad 22:30 Entourage 23:00 Louie 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Fall on 00:20 Parenthood 01:10 Breaking Bad 02:00 Homeland 03:00 Justified 04:00 Private Practice 05:00 Grey’s Anatomy 06:00 Parenthood 07:00 Emmerdale 07:30 Coronation Street 08:00 Royal Pains 09:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 10:00 Grey’s Anatomy 11:00 Private Practice 12:00 Emmerdale 12:30 Coronation Street 13:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 14:00 Royal Pains 15:00 Parenthood 16:00 Emmerdale 16:30 Coronation Street 17:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 18:00 Royal Pains 19:00 Bunheads 20:00 Warehouse 13 21:00 Combat Hospital 22:00 Smash 23:00 Downton Abbey Grimm23:00Grimm 01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 PG15 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Fade To Black-18 Wrong Side Of Town-18 The Recruit-PG15 Snake In The Eagle’s ShadowBehind Enemy Lines-PG15 The Recruit-PG15 Enter The Phoenix-PG15 Behind Enemy Lines-PG15 Judge Dredd-18 Bats-18 The Daisy Chain-PG15 Medium Raw-PG15

00:00 Big Fat Important Movie-PG15 02:00 The Breakfast Club-PG15 04:00 Just Go With It-PG15 06:00 Say Anything-PG15 08:00 The American President-PG15 10:00 The Marc Pease ExperiencePG15 12:00 Baby Geniuses-PG 14:00 Austin Powers In GoldmemberPG15 16:00 The Marc Pease ExperiencePG15 18:00 The Trip-PG15 20:00 Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate-PG 22:00 The Men Who Stare At Goats18 22:00 Frenemy-18

00:00 Rescue Ink 01:00 Monster Fish 01:55 Untamed Americas 02:50 World’s Deadliest 03:45 Ultimate Vipers 04:40 Triumph of Life 05:35 Africa’s Deadliest 06:30 Untamed Americas 07:25 World’s Deadliest 08:20 Ultimate Vipers 09:15 Striker!

10:10 Warrior Bees 11:05 Hunter Hunted 12:00 American Eagle 13:00 Nordic Wild 14:00 World’s Deadliest 15:00 Planet Carnivore 16:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 17:00 Monster Crocs 18:00 Hunter Hunted 19:00 Untamed Americas 20:00 World’s Deadliest 21:00 Ultimate Vipers 22:00 Striker!

23:00 Warrior Bees Zoo Confidential 23:00 Dangerous Encounters 00:00 Exorcismus-18 02:00 Rage Of The Yeti-PG15 04:00 Wrong Side Of Town-18 06:00 The Reunion-PG15 08:00 Restitution-PG15 10:00 The Craigslist Killer-PG15 12:00 Barricade-PG15 14:00 Restitution-PG15 16:00 Arachnophobia-PG15 18:00 Barricade-PG15 20:00 Constantine-PG15 22:00 Ronin-18 The Rite-18hting-PG15 22:00 Homecoming-18 00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 American Dad 02:00 The Ricky Gervais Show 02:30 Louie 03:00 How I Met Your Mother 03:30 Last Man Standing 04:00 Two And A Half Men

00:00 02:00 04:00 07:00 PG15 08:45 10:45 12:15 PG15 13:45 15:15 16:45 18:30 21:00 22:45

Gigli-18 The Color Of Money-PG15 Nixon-18 Moonlight And ValentinoThe Color Of Money-PG15 Ice Dreams-PG15 Ike: Countdown To D-DayBound By A Secret-PG15 Ice Dreams-PG15 Skirt Day-PG15 The Great Gatsby-PG Frozen-PG15 Vanity Fair-PG15 Square Grouper-18

00:15 03:30 PG15 05:15 06:45 09:00 11:00 13:00 PG 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Nixon-18 My Best Friend’s WeddingSpooky Buddies-PG Courageous-PG15 Senna-PG15 Water For Elephants-PG15 Marley & Me: The Puppy YearsThe Tender Hook-PG15 Senna-PG15 Unstoppable-PG15 A Little Bit Of Heaven-18 Priest-18

01:15 Turandot-PG 03:15 Tom Tom & Nana-FAM 04:30 The Ugly Duckling Goes On Holiday-FAM 06:00 The Smurfs-PG 08:15 Micropolis-FAM 10:00 The Search For Santa Paws-PG 11:45 Cats Don’t Dance-FAM 13:00 The Adventures Of Don Quixote-FAM 14:30 Turandot-PG 16:00 Queen Of The Swallows-FAM 18:00 Princess Lillifee-FAM 20:00 The Search For Santa Paws-PG 22:00 The Adventures Of Don

KUWAI

KNCC PROGRAM FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (1/11/2012 TO 7/11/2012) SHARQIA-1 HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) CHASING MAVERICKS (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:05 AM

SHARQIA-2 WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:15 PM 12:15 AM

SHARQIA-3 MISS MOMMY (DIG) TAKEN2 :2D MISS MOMMY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) TAKEN2 :2D THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

MUHALAB-1 HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) TAKEN2 :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

MUHALAB-2 MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) LOOPER (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

MUHALAB-3 WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

FANAR-1 LOOPER (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) LOOPER (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED FANAR-2 WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) SAMMY 2 (DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) CHASING MAVERICKS (DIG) CHASING MAVERICKS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED FANAR-3 PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) THE RAID: REDEMPTION(DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) AJAB GAZABB LOVE(DIG) (Hindi) THE RAID: REDEMPTION(DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED FANAR-4 MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) TAKEN2 :2D MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED FANAR-5 HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA HERE COMES THE BOOM HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA HERE COMES THE BOOM HERE COMES THE BOOM HERE COMES THE BOOM NO SUN+TUE+WED MARINA-1 HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) TAKEN2 :2D HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) TAKEN2 :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED MARINA-2 WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 11:45 PM

AVENUES-4 HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:15 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

12:45 PM 2:45 PM 4:45 PM 6:45 PM 8:45 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

AVENUES-1 TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

AVENUES-2 LOOPER (DIG) TWILIGHT (Re-Release) LOOPER (DIG) TWILIGHT (Re-Release) LOOPER (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:15 PM 4:45 PM 7:15 PM 9:45 PM 12:15 AM

12:45 PM

360 º- 9(VIP-1) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:30 PM 10:45 PM 1:00 AM

360 º-10(VIP-2) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 11:45 PM

360 º- 11 MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 11:45 PM

360 º- 12 MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

AVENUES-7 CHASING MAVERICKS (DIG) CHASING MAVERICKS (DIG) CHASING MAVERICKS (DIG) CHASING MAVERICKS (DIG) CHASING MAVERICKS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:30 PM 5:00 PM 7:30 PM 10:00 PM 12:30 AM

360 º- 13 THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN THE DARK KNIGHT RISES RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:15 PM 4:00 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:30 AM

AVENUES-8 PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:30 PM 10:45 PM 1:00 AM

AVENUES-9 WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:15 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

1:15 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

1:00 AM

1:00 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

AVENUES-11 MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

AVENUES-6 HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) SAMMY 2 (DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) THE RAID: REDEMPTION(DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

AVENUES-10 THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG)

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM 12:05 AM

3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

AVENUES-5 MISS MOMMY (DIG) 1:45 PM NO SAT (03.11.2012) MISS MOMMY (DIG) 4:00 PM NO SAT (03.11.2012) Live Broadcast of Football Match “ Arsinal & Manchester United” 3:30 PM SAT (03.11.2012) MISS MOMMY (DIG) 6:15 PM MISS MOMMY (DIG) 8:30 PM MISS MOMMY (DIG) 10:45 PM MISS MOMMY (DIG) 1:00 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:00 PM 3:15 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:15 AM

MARINA-3 MISS MOMMY (DIG) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

AVENUES-3 HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG)

HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 11:00 PM 1:15 AM

1:15 PM 3:45 PM 6:15 PM 8:45 PM 11:15 PM 12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 11:45 PM

360 º- 14 CHASING MAVERICKS (DIG) CHASING MAVERICKS (DIG) CHASING MAVERICKS (DIG) CHASING MAVERICKS (DIG) CHASING MAVERICKS (DIG)

1:00 PM 3:30 PM 6:00 PM 8:30 PM 11:00 PM

360 º- 15 LOOPER (DIG) LOOPER (DIG) LOOPER (DIG) LOOPER (DIG) LOOPER (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:30 PM 7:00 PM 9:30 PM 12:05 AM

AL-KOUT.1 WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM 12:05 AM

AL-KOUT.2 CHASING MAVERICKS (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) CHASING MAVERICKS (DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:00 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:15 PM 12:15 AM

AL-KOUT.3 THE SWEENEY (DIG) LOOPER (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) LOOPER (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 11:45 PM

360 º- 1 THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:15 PM 4:45 PM 7:15 PM 9:45 PM 12:15 AM

360 º- 2 PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

AL-KOUT.4 HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) TAKEN2 :2D HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) TAKEN2 :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

360 º- 3 HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) THE RAID: REDEMPTION(DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 11:00 PM 1:15 AM

BAIRAQ-1 WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) TAKEN2 :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 12:05 AM

360 º- 4 SAMMY 2 (DIG-3D) SAMMY 2 (DIG-3D) SAMMY 2 (DIG-3D) TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

BAIRAQ-2 MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

360 º- 5 THE RAID: REDEMPTION(DIG) 1:15 PM FRI+SAT TWILIGHT: NEW MOON (Re-Release) 3:45 PM THE RAID: REDEMPTION(DIG) 6:15 PM TWILIGHT: NEW MOON (Re-Release) 8:45 PM TWILIGHT: NEW MOON (Re-Release) 11:15 PM NO SUN+TUE+WED

BAIRAQ-3 HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:15 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

360 º- 6 WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

PLAZA MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG)

4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM

LAILA MISS MOMMY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG)

4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM

AJIAL.1 THE SWEENEY (DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 THE SWEENEY (DIG) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4

4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM

AJIAL.2 CHAKRAVYUH (DIG)(Hindi) RUSH (DIG)(Hindi) AJAB GAZABB LOVE(DIG) (Hindi)

4:00 PM 7:00 PM 9:45 PM

1:00 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

360 º- 7 TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D TAKEN2 :2D

2:30 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 9:15 PM 11:30 PM

360 º- 8 HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG)

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:30 PM 10:45 PM

Classifieds WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines JAI THY JZR JZR QTR ETH GFA UAE ETD OMA FDB MSR QTR DHX THY JZR JZR BAW KAC KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC ETD UAE KAC KAC GFA ABY QTR FDB ETD GFA BAB IRA FDB JZR MEA KNE IRM UAE MSR CLX GFA FDB IRC KAC SVA QTR JZR KAC QTR KAC JZR UAE ETD RJA GFA SVA KNE QTR ABY UAL IYE KAC JZR RBG KAC BAB FDB JZR KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC OMA FDB KAC JAI AXB MSR ABY QTR ALK MEA QTR GFA ETD UAE JZR FDB DHX KLM AIC JZR GFA JZR UAL DLH

Arrival Flights on Wednesday 7/11/2012 Flt Route 574 MUMBAI 772 ISTANBUL 267 BEIRUT 539 CAIRO 148 DOHA 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 643 MUSCAT 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 138 DOHA 170 BAHRAIN 770 ISTANBUL 555 ALEXANDRIA 529 ASSIUT 157 LONDON 412 MANILA/BANGKOK 206 ISLAMABAD 382 DELHI 53 DUBAI 302 MUMBAI 352 COCHIN 933 ABU DHABI 855 DUBAI 344 CHENNAI 284 DHAKA 223 BAHRAIN 121 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 436 BAHRAIN 603 SHIRAZ 69 DUBAI 165 DUBAI 404 BEIRUT 470 JEDDAH 1190 MASHAD 871 DUBAI 610 CAIRO 792 LUXEMBOURG 219 BAHRAIN 57 DUBAI 6692 MASHAD 672 DUBAI 500 JEDDAH 140 DOHA 561 SOHAG 788 JEDDAH 134 DOHA 538 SHARM EL SHEIKH/SOHAG 535 CAIRO 857 DUBAI 303 ABU DHABI 640 AMMAN 215 BAHRAIN 510 RIYADH 462 MEDINAH 144 DOHA 127 SHARJAH 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 824 SANAA/DOHA 542 CAIRO 177 DUBAI 3553 ALEXANDRIA 786 JEDDAH 438 BAHRAIN 63 DUBAI 787 RIYADH 166 PARIS/ROME 618 DOHA 102 NEW YORK/LONDON 674 DUBAI 774 RIYADH 647 MUSCAT 61 DUBAI 614 BAHRAIN 572 MUMBAI 389 MANGALORE 606 LUXOR 129 SHARJAH 146 DOHA 229 COLOMBO 402 BEIRUT 136 DOHA 221 BAHRAIN 307 ABU DHABI 859 DUBAI 135 BAHRAIN 59 DUBAI 372 BAHRAIN 417 AMSTERDAM 975 CHENNAI/GOA 239 AMMAN 217 BAHRAIN 185 DUBAI 981 BAHRAIN 636 FRANKFURT

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

Airlines AIC PIA BBC UAL DLH JAI ETH THY FDB UAE OMA ETD MSR QTR QTR JZR GFA THY KAC JZR FDB BAW JZR KAC GFA KAC ABY UAE FDB KAC ETD QTR ETD GFA KAC BAB FDB KAC IRA KAC MEA KAC KNE JZR MSR IRM UAE GFA FDB CLX KAC IRC SVA KAC JZR QTR KAC KAC JZR ETD JZR QTR UAE RJA GFA JZR SVA KNE ABY JZR QTR RBG IYE JZR UAL FDB BAB KAC FDB KAC KAC OMA JAI ABY MSR DHX ALK MEA ETD QTR GFA KAC KAC FDB JZR UAE KAC DHX KLM QTR JZR JZR GFA KAC

Depature Flights on Wednesday 7/11/2012 Flt Route 982 AHMEDABAD/HYDERABAD/CHENNAI 206 LAHORE/KARACHI 44 DOHA/DHAKA 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 637 FRANKFURT 573 MUMBAI 621 ADDIS ABABA 773 ISTANBUL 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 644 MUSCAT 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 537 SHARM EL SHEIKH/SOHAG 560 SOHAG 54 DUBAI 156 LONDON 534 CAIRO 787 JEDDAH 224 BAHRAIN 671 DUBAI 122 SHARJAH 856 DUBAI 56 DUBAI 117 NEW YORK 302 ABU DHABI 133 DOHA 934 ABU DHABI 214 BAHRAIN 175 FRANKFURT/GENEVA 437 BAHRAIN 70 DUBAI 541 CAIRO 602 SHIRAZ 103 LONDON 405 BEIRUT 785 JEDDAH 461 MEDINAH 176 DUBAI 611 CAIRO 1191 MASHAD 872 DUBAI 220 BAHRAIN 58 DUBAI 792 VIETNAM 673 DUBAI 6693 MASHAD 503 JEDDAH 617 DOHA 786 RIYADH 141 DOHA 773 RIYADH 613 BAHRAIN 238 AMMAN 304 ABU DHABI 538 CAIRO 135 DOHA 858 DUBAI 641 AMMAN 216 BAHRAIN 184 DUBAI 511 RIYADH 471 JEDDAH 128 SHARJAH 266 BEIRUT 145 DOHA 3554 ALEXANDRIA 824 SANAA 134 BAHRAIN 982 BAHRAIN 64 DUBAI 439 BAHRAIN 283 DHAKA 62 DUBAI 353 COCHIN 331 TRIVANDRUM 648 MUSCAT 571 MUMBAI 120 SHARJAH 619 ALEXANDRIA 171 BAHRAIN 230 COLOMBO 403 BEIRUT 308 ABU DHABI 137 DOHA 222 BAHRAIN 301 MUMBAI 381 DELHI 60 DUBAI 554 ALEXANDRIA 860 DUBAI 205 ISLAMABAD 373 BAHRAIN 417 DAMMAM/AMSTERDAM 147 DOHA 502 LUXOR 528 ASSIUT 218 BAHRAIN 415 KUALA LUMPUR/JAKARTA

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

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

99824597. (C 4201) 6-11-2012

FOR SALE Daihatsu Sirion 2012, 20 km, automatic, 5 door, KD 2100. Contact: 60976100.

(C 4202) 6-11-2012 Lancer 2009 outlander 2009. Ph: 99481300. Lancer Ex GLS 2011 model, silver color, km 21,000 only, original paint, under warranty, KD 3,900. Ph: 66052331.

(C 4197) Toyota Corolla 2008, dark grey color (CC 1600). KD 2300. Tel: 66729295.

(C 4200) Offer for photo studios, Fuji Frontier 340 Machine for sale in a very reasonable price. For inquiries please call 55127477. (C 4198) 5-11-2012

House driver, 20-30 years old, 3-5 years experience driving in Kuwait, speak and read English, transferable residency.

Call 99747679. (C 4194)

Degrees (Civil/Elec.), 4-Master Degrees (Project Mgmt/ Engineering/ Education & Training/ MBA), plus 17-years experience in Middle East/ Australia, seeking Executive Position. Contact: 65695468 email: rav@engineer.com (C 4195) 4-11-2012

LOST Mohammed Aslam, Indian Passport No 2021183, issued in Kuwait on May, 30, 2010 is lost. If anyone finds please contact: 97427077, 97915756 6-11-2012

SITUATION WANTED Australian now in Kuwait looking for a traveling partner to Canada and USA male or female, share cost. Email: gulfinportexport@hotmail.com (C 4203) 6-11-2012 Western educated “Project Manager” with 2 Engineering-

No:

Prayer timings Fajr:

04:45

Duhr:

11:32

Asr:

14:36

Maghrib:

16:58

Isha:

18:16

15620

Toyota Land Cruiser, white color, 2009 model, V8, full option, excellent condition, 86,000 km only. Call 66026259, 66158602.

(C4199) 4-11-2012

SITUATION VACANT Required Indian or Sri Lankan driver for a Kuwaiti family, light work and good salary. Contact: 99709076.

(C 4204) Required camp keeper, Indian or Sri Lankan, with good salary. Contact: 99709076. (C 4205) Required English speaking nanny/ maid. Please call

GOVERNMENT WEB SITES Kuwait Parliament www.majlesalommah.net

The Public Institution for Social Security www.pifss.gov.kw

Ministry of Interior www.moi.gov.kw

Public Authority of Industry www.pai.gov.kw

Public Authority for Civil Information www.paci.gov.kw

Prisoners of War Committee www.pows.org.kw

Kuwait News Agency www.kuna.net.kw

Ministry of Foreign Affairs www.mofa.gov.kw

Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affair www.islam.gov.kw

Kuwait Municipality www.municipality.gov.kw

Ministry of Energy (Oil) www.moo.gov.kw

Kuwait Electronic Government www.e.gov.kw

Ministry of Energy (Electricity and Water) www.energy.govt.kw

Ministry of Finance www.mof.gov.kw

Public Authority for Housing Welfare www.housing.gov.kw

Ministry of Commerce and Industry www.moci.gov.kw

Ministry of Justice www.moj.gov.kw

Ministry of Education www.moe.edu.kw

Ministry of Communications www.moc.kw

Ministry of Information www.moinfo.gov.kw

Supreme Council for Planning and Development www.scpd.gov.kw

Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation www.awqaf.org

34

stars CROSSWORD 1

ACROSS ACROSS 1. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

4. A dissolute character in Shakespeare's plays.

12. The sense organ for hearing and equilibrium.

15. A close friend who accompanies his buddies in their activities.

16. One who agitates.

17. The 21st letter of the Greek alphabet.

18. Take in, also metaphorically.

19. An item inserted in a written record.

20. Thigh of a hog (usually smoked).

21. (Babylonian) The sky god.

22. A person who is authorized to act as an agent for the sale of land.

25. A river in southeastern Australia that flows generally northwest to join the Darling River.

27. A motley assortment of things.

29. (computer science) A coding system that incorporates extra parity bits in order to detect errors.

30. Emotionally hardened.

34. Influential German idealist philosopher (1724-1804).

38. A republic on the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula on the Indian Ocean.

39. A bivalent and trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group.

40. The 7th letter of the Greek alphabet.

44. A monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles.

47. Small rounded bread either plain or sweet.

48. The compass point midway between south and southeast.

49. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

50. In or relating to or obtained from urine.

52. A genus of Nymphalidae.

54. (informal) Exceptionally good.

56. A pilgrimage to Mecca.

58. A state in New England.

59. An associate degree in applied science.

61. A metal-bearing mineral valuable enough to be mined.

62. Injured by bites or stings.

64. Any unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbon.

67. Avatar of Vishnu.

69. A source of danger.

72. A Russian prison camp for political prisoners.

74. A percussion instrument consisting of a pair of hollow pieces of wood or bone (usually held between the thumb and fingers) that are made to click together (as by Spanish dancers) in rhythm with the dance.

76. The compass point that is midway between north and northeast.

77. White Southerner supporting Reconstruction policies after the Civil War usually for self-interest.

80. The most common computer memory which can be used by programs to perform necessary tasks while the computer is on.

81. One of the five major classes of immunoglobulins.

82. Medium tall celery pine of New Zealand.

83. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

DOWN 1. Relating to or having the characteristics of

bees.

2. A genus of Lamnidae.

3. A simple water-soluble protein found in many animal tissues and liquids.

4. Artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers.

5. American novelist (1909-1955).

6. Being one more than fifty.

7. An ancient upright stone slab bearing markings.

8. Of or relating to Tantrism.

9. Acknowledge a new land owner as one's landlord, of tenants.

10. At or to or toward the front.

11. English painter and art critic (1866-1934).

12. An ancient Hebrew unit of dry measure equal to about a bushel.

13. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

14. Tall New Zealand timber tree.

23. A rounded thickly curled hairdo.

24. A constitutional monarchy in northern Europe on the western side of the Scandinavian Peninsula.

26. The cardinal number that is the sum of seven and one.

28. A republic in northeastern South America.

31. An American follower of the Mennonite Bishop Amman.

32. An Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland.

33. Entangle or catch in in or as if in a mesh.

35. 100 aurar equal 1 krona.

36. Of or relating to or characteristic of Zaire or its people.

37. Being nine more than ninety.

41. The 19th letter of the Greek alphabet.

42. In the same place (used when citing a reference).

43. Tough Asiatic grass whose culms are used for ropes and baskets.

45. A self-funded retirement plan that allows you to contribute a limited yearly sum toward your retirement.

46. A hard malleable ductile silvery metallic element that is resistant to corrosion.

51. A stately Protestant (especially Lutheran) hymn tune.

53. Make a vibrant noise, of grasshoppers or cicadas.

55. (Greek mythology) Goddess of the earth and mother of Cronus and the Titans in ancient mythology.

57. A member of a widespread group of Amerindians living in northeastern South America.

60. An acute but unspecific feeling of anxiety.

63. A crown-like jewelled headdress worn by women on formal occasions.

65. Either of two saclike respiratory organs in the chest of vertebrates.

66. Swiss painter influenced by Kandinsky (1879-1940).

68. A woman hired to suckle a child of someone else.

70. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

71. God of love and erotic desire.

73. Airtight sealed metal container for food or drink or paint etc..

75. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

Yesterday’s Solution

Word Search

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

Yesterday’s Solution

STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19)

You are happy to work under someone who makes decisions well. You may find yourself using this person as a mentor for your own future professional goals and achievements. You work well with those in authority who are independent. Clear decisions affecting others could be made now. If you are in the law enforcement profession, you may find yourself teaching young people in a school or neighborhood meeting. After the meeting, you may be asked for your advice and council regarding professional and perhaps emotional issues. This is a time when you can expect a little boost, some sort of extra support or recognition from those around you. This evening you and a friend may find some time to relax and enjoy a shared hobby.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

Emotional considerations may block or oppose how you proceed with a project or plan today. Someone may get pushy or obscure the real choices and the right path. Give yourself time to think things through situations just now. Rash decisions can be an open door to big mistakes. Being practical and conscientious will take on a special importance this day. Taking care of the necessary chores that include health and work becomes an important condition since the way the body runs helps the mind remain sharp. Sorting things out and getting them organized to the utmost efficiency keeps you busy. Job requirements may slow you down for a while, but this is only short term. Some new movie or book grabs your attention this evening.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) It may be a bit difficult to keep things to your usual time schedule today.

This may not mean that you are late to work but it could mean that important factors do not get to you in time to perform your work. Frustration, especially in getting things accomplished, may set today’s mood. This is not the best point to start any great projects. You could fly off the handle with very little provocation, so exercise control and be willing to work through an emotional overload. You may have to do some extra work—perhaps someone else’s part is in order to create a balance. A slow walk during the noon break may help to balance the emotional side of you for now. This afternoon, things may change to a faster pace—work becomes a positive force.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

Listening to lectures and a convention type atmosphere makes up most of this day. You could lecture—you are a very good speaker and can communicate well. There are opportunities to speak to small and large groups today.

This could be because of a lecture, work meeting, teaching, etc. Words just flow out and are followed by an impact that makes the participant sit up and listen. If you are speaking, you have no trouble putting your ideas into words; everything you communicate seems to bring others to attention.

Romance, the arts and others of life’s pleasures seem to take center stage this evening. A social event tonight will find you at your most elegant. Selfcontrol and setting limits is important in love and other games of chance.

Leo (July 23-August 22)

This is a good time to buckle down and concentrate on your work. Your organizational abilities and sense of responsibility will be what guides you and proves successful. Your career becomes much more focused now.

Throughout the day, you will find this a time of being charged and enthusiastic—perfect for starting something or taking care of any sort of project that you come across just now. Your taste in art and appreciation in general are heightened this afternoon. At this time, you may decide to invest in a particular piece of furniture, an art piece or some other addition to your living area. You will enjoy attending an art show or being entertained with friends this evening. Conversations between friends tonight may be quite lively and agreeable.

Virgo (August 23-September 22)

Who owes what and who owns what may be big questions in the workplace. You may find yourself on the phone much of the time. Trying to collect from customers may take special techniques and it may be a good idea to learn some new verbiage here. Learning what motivates some people is of interest to you—you will be upfront and honest with everyone. Real insight into your own inner workings could surface in a manageable form.

You may be in the mood for deep and penetrating conversations or thoughts. Someone understands how you feel and may express an opinion, but only if you ask. There is emotional security that is instinctive now. You want to build your relationships so they will last a lifetime—you are willing to compromise.

Libra (September 23-October 22) You concentrate on the essential things today. There are times that the confusion around you seems to pull you in, perhaps a disagreement or even a distraction from your work may occur. You bring everything back to base and reality becomes clear to everyone and on-the-job progress can, once again be realized. Whatever the case, it takes a great deal of effort to hold back from giving other people advice. You are in a good position to communicate concerning groups and society in general. Law, politics, education, travel and religion are some of the areas where you will become educated and deeply enmeshed. You may even be attending classes or giving lessons to others. Making phone calls and writing letters holds your interest tonight.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)

Someone older, in the workplace, perhaps a co-worker, expects more from you than you are willing to give. This could be anything from helping him or her with work to setting up someone for you to date. This is a good time to tell him or her about a class at the nearby junior college or a group he or she could join for evening fun. Be careful not to complain that you do not have a date. If you keep work and play separate, you may eliminate these situations. A fast pace this afternoon calls for close attention to your work. Slow your pace a bit and you will find that you will have accomplished much more than you thought possible by day’s end. Yours is a passionate life. Intense feelings and strong attachments make for hot times—this evening is nothing unusual.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You are feeling good this morning—you and your loved one may take the extra time to take an early morning walk and check out the neighborhood. A keen interest in what makes things tick and who or what pulls the strings is the hallmark of the mental cycle that begins now. Figuring out ways to make your nest egg grow can be a preoccupation. There is a need for new information, fresh opinions and alternative options; now is the time to cultivate any input that is received. You are open to the ideas and feelings of others all day long. A family member has been under stress lately and you think of ways to help out when the workday is over. Your treat for dinner tonight is an offer that is not often refused.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) Business problems just fly right by you today. You find yourself in a problem-solving mood and may even go looking for difficult situations. You want to show off your abilities. These analytical abilities are at a high point.

You can really get your thoughts and ideas across—good communication is obtainable. You may be looking for a little romance this evening. This is a great time to ask someone for a special date. If this is a first date, or if it has been a long time since you have been out on a date, keep it simple. A friend from long ago may contact you today. Much conversation over old times and old friends may find you looking through an old album this evening.

Family matters find you in a nurturing mood later tonight.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18)

There is quite a lot of dealing with the public Today. Ideas, thoughts and communication of all kinds will assume increased importance. Your mind is quite clear. Ideas are flowing and come with ease. You have a knack for putting the feelings of a group into words and may serve as a teacher or spokesperson. There could be an occasion today where you will find yourself as a negotiator between management and employees. If you have ever considered a vocation in teaching, now may be the time to do something about it. You might even consider volunteering to teach an adult reading class. You may be able to encourage a friend to join you in this venture. Humanitarian efforts can affect your work and life-path.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) Having to go back and redo a job today is exasperating . . . so, before the day begins, pay attention to things that are supposed to match up, like numbers and colors. Good practical job-related thoughts and ideas are available to you now. Figuring things out, spotting the fly in the ointment and separating the sheep from the goats are some of the things that take on special significance. You have a strong urge to organize things today— there is mental work. The ability to communicate with superiors or describe what you see is excellent. Your timing should be perfect for just about any project you want to attempt. Push too hard and you could be too dominating, even oppressive. Allow someone you love to take care of you this evening.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

i n f o r m at i o n For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 GOVERNORATE Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Kaizen center

25716707

Roudha

22517733

Adhaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Keifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Khadissiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Hawally

ST TAT TE OF K KUW WA AIT

Tel.: e 161

DIRECTORA ATE T GENE GENERAL OF CIVIL AVIA V AT TION METEOROLOGICAL DEP PARTMENT A DA AY: Y Tuesday

Ext.: 2627 262 - 2630

06/11/2012

Issue Time

Sunny with light to moderate north westerly wind, with speed of 08 - 28 km/h and some scattered clouds will appear

BY Y NIGHT:

Fair with variable wind changing to light to moderate north westerly wind, with speed of 08 - 28 km/h and some scattered clouds will appear No Current Warnings arnin a

WA ARNING

35 °C

24 °C

22451082

KUW WAIT A AIRPOR RT

35 °C

18 °C

Al-Mirqab

22456536

NUW WAISEEB A

35 °C

20 °C

Sharq

22465401

WAFRA A

36 °C

20 °C

Salmiya

25746401

SALMI

34 °C

19 °C

ABDAL LY

35 °C

19 °C

Jabriya

25316254

JAL ALIY YAH A

35 °C

20 °C

Maidan Hawally

25623444

FA AILAKA

35 °C

21 °C

Bayan

25388462

AHMADI POR RT

31 °C

24 °C

Mishref

25381200

UMM AL-MARADEM

30 °C

26 °C

W.Hawally

22630786

WARBA A A - BUBY YAN A

33 °C

18 °C

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

ST TAT TION

SFC. CHART

06/11/2012 0000 UTC

4 DA AYS Y FORECAST Temperatures DA AY

DA AT TE

WEA ATHER T

Wednesday e

07/11

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

Thursday

South Jahra

24775066

Friday

North Jahra

24775992

Saturday

North Jleeb

24311795

Al-Ardhiya

24884079

MAX.

MIN.

Wind Direction

Wind Speed

sunny

34 °C

18 °C

NW

08 - 30 km/h

08/11

sunny

33 °C

17 °C

NW-VRB

08 - 30 km/h

09/11

sunny

33 °C

18 °C

SE

10 - 30 km/h

10/11

sunny

32 °C

17 °C

SE

12 - 35 km/h

PRA RA AYER Y TIMES

RECORDED YESTERDA AY AT KUW WAIT A AIRPORT

Fajr

04:44

MAX. Temp.

36 °C

Sunrise

06:05

MIN. Temp.

17 °C 69 %

Firdous

24892674

Zuhr

11:32

MAX. RH

Al-Omariya

24719048

Asr

14:36

MIN. RH

10 %

Sunset

16:59

MAX. Wind

S 21 km/h

Isha

18:18

TOT TA AL L RAIINF FA ALL L IN 24 HR.

23900322

00 mm

06/11/12 02:40 UTC

All times are local time unless otherwise stated.

V1.00

T1.06

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist

25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535

Dentists

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

22618787

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

LIFESTYLE G o s s i p

Bell expecting her first child ctress Kristen Bell is expecting her first child with actor Dax Shepard, her spokeswoman said on Monday.

“Veronica Mars” actress Bell, 32, is expecting the child in late spring with her fiance, “Parenthood” actor Shepard, 37, the actress’ representative Marcel Pariseau told Reuters. The couple announced their engagement in January 2010 and this is the first child for both. Bell has forged a successful career in TV shows including “Heroes” and “House of Lies,” and movies such as “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” She starred alongside comedian Shepard in the 2010 romantic comedy “When in Rome” and more recently in this year’s independent film “Hit and Run.”

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Dylan predicts Obama ‘in a landslide’ ob Dylan says he thinks President Barack Obama is going to win in a landslide. Dylan made the prediction Monday night midway through the song “Blowin’ in the Wind” during a concert in the battleground state of Wisconsin. Dylan spoke to the Madison audience as he was wrapping up his concert that came just hours after Obama appeared at a morning rally in the same city with rocker Bruce Springsteen. Dylan made his comments during his encore when he said, “We tried to play good tonight since the president was here today.” He added that he thinks Obama will prevail. Dylan says, “Don’t believe the media. I think it’s going to be a landslide.” After his comments, Dylan completed the song to the roar of the crowd.

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Scherzinger was riddled with self-loathing icole Scherzinger was riddled with self-loathing at the height of her career. The ‘Poison’ singer battled with bulimia when she was in girl group the Pussycat Dolls and says she felt like two different people because she had to constantly appear confident even though she was “unbelievably insecure” underneath it all.

Nicole told Britain’s Grazia magazine: “I spent 10 years - the whole time I was in the Pussycat Dolls - as two people, one on stage and then behind closed doors. I was this girl who was lost and lonely, hating myself. “Just because you wear a corset and dance doesn’t mean you think you are beautiful. I was unbelievably insecure and I couldn’t control it. My metabolism was all messed up. I was losing the one thing I only ever wanted to do: sing. I saw therapists, psychiatrists, life coaches and dealt with it head on.” The 34-year-old pop star - who is currently in the UK for her role as a judge on ‘The X Factor’ - has now overcome many of her issues and feels more secure in herself than ever. But she resents misconceptions she doesn’t like to drink or have a good time and says her dream drinking buddies would be Prince William and Catherine Middleton.

N Pitt designs furniture collection ctor Brad Pitt has turned his talents to creating furniture for a luxury design house with a high-end collection inspired by both Art Nouveau and Art Deco, according to Architectural Digest. Pitt, who collaborated on the collection with US furniture designer Frank Pollaro, discussed his inspirations for the capsule collection in the December issue of the magazine. “I’m drawn to furniture design as complete architecture on a minor scale,” Pitt said. “I am obsessively bent on quality, to an unhealthy degree.” Pitt said it was his obsession that introduced him to Pollaro, whom he said embodies the “same mad spirit of the craftsmen of yore, with their obsessive attention to detail.” The dozen-piece collection, which will be unveiled by the Pollaro furniture house in New York between Nov 13 and 15, will include tables, chairs, an elaborate bed and a bathtub made of marble. The 48-year-old “Fight Club” actor said he was influenced by Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Glasgow Rose, drawn with a continuous line. He designed his collection with the fluidity of a single line, be it geometric or circular. “There is something more grand at play, as if you could tell the story of one’s life with a single line - from birth to death, with all the bloody triumphs and perceived humiliating losses, even boredoms, along the way,” the actor said. Pitt has previously worked with well-known architects for his Make It Right foundation to create affordable quality housing for the victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. He also designed a diamond ring for his partner, Angelina Jolie, when the couple got engaged earlier this year. The actor also became the latest and first male face of Chanel’s iconic women’s fragrance Chanel No 5 last month, mystifying critics and fashionistas with an enigmatic video commercial.

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Barlow hailed

Jay-Z is being

for UK charity

hailed as a hero by his neighbors

ary Barlow says he’s “flattered” to receive the 21st Music Industry Trusts Award in recognition of his work with British music and charities. The singer, songwriter and producer - who also serves as a judge on the UK version of “The X Factor” was honored Monday in London at a dinner held to benefit charities Nordoff Robbins and the BRIT Trust.

Barlow, perhaps best known as a member of the band Take That, said receiving the award is “amazing” but added, “I’ve visited the schools that are benefiting from tonight, and they’re incredible places and they need help and they need funding, so that’s the real reason we’re here.” Past recipients of the award include Sir Elton John and Kylie Minogue.

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ay-Z is being hailed as a hero by his neighbors whose lives have been devastated by Hurricane Sandy. The 44year-old rapper came to the rescue of his fellow residents by buying a giant generator to power the whole of 195 Hudson St in New York’s TriBeCa area, where he and his wife Beyonce Knowles own a $7 million loft apartment, following the super-storm. The hip-hop star was later spotted uptown with Beyonce and 10-month-old daughter Blue Ivy Carter at the Mandarin Oriental hotel as they took refuge from the storm, the New York Post newspaper is reporting.

Jay-Z performed at a rally for President Barack Obama alongside Bruce Springsteen in Columbus, Ohio, on Monday to garner support for today’s election. He replaced the lyrics in his hit song ‘99 Problems’, chanting: “I Got 99 Problems, But Mitt Ain’t One”, much to the delight of the 15,000 strong crowd. The current American leader and the music mogul are firm friends and Jay-Z has been a longtime fundraiser and campaigner for Obama. The president recently admitted he had given Jay-Z parenting advice after Blue Ivy was born in January, joking: “I made sure that Jay-Z was helping Beyonce out. And not leaving it all with mom and the mother-in-law.”

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Palmer-Tomkinson checks into rehab ara Palmer-Tomkinson has reportedly checked into rehab. The 40-year-old socialite was admitted to the private Manor clinic in Hampshire, South East England, last week for a month of treatment. A friend said: “Tara has a well-documented history of battling various demons and unfortunately it seems some have returned to haunt her. “She knows when things get bad, the only answer is rehab. All those who love her support her and are so pleased she has decided to take this course of action as she has been having a particularly difficult time lately. “She’s in for a month and we’re looking forward to seeing a healthier, happier Tara on the other side.” It is unclear why Tara has entered the clinic - which states on its website it offers treatment for alcoholism, anxiety, drug addiction and depression - but friends say she has not reached rock bottom in the way she did in 1999, when she sought help for cocaine addiction. The insider added to Britain’s Grazia magazine: “Tara admits she’s slipped up a few times recently, which is why she’s sought help. But she’s in no way as bad as she was in the past. “This is not about cocaine, this is just getting her back to full healthy.” Tara - who was pictured last month looking disheveled and confused at a party - recently admitted she sought help in 1999 because she was “ashamed” of her problems. She said: “You’ve got to hit rock bottom and you’ve got to really want to get well. I got well because I felt so ashamed because I love my family.”

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Contostavlos’ ex isn’t happy about her new romance ulisa Contostavlos’ ex-boyfriend isn’t happy about her new romance. The ‘X Factor’ judge’s former flame Adam Bailey thinks her new man Jody Latham is a womanizer and that Tulisa is setting herself up for heartbreak. A source told the Daily Star newspaper: “Adam believes Jody is no good for her. Jody has a history of dating and dumping women. Adam has told Tulisa what he thinks, and hopes she’ll listen.” Tulisa, 24, was reportedly secretly dating strip club owner Adam once again before she got together with British actor Jody - who shot to fame starring in TV drama ‘Shameless’ - after meeting on the set of her new music video ‘Sight Of You’. An insider recently commented: “Tulisa has not had much luck with boyfriends of late but she has really fallen for Jody. “She didn’t really know him before he was booked for her music video but because they had to get intimate in a number of scenes, they realized they quite like each other. “Things have moved quite fast and Tulisa is already calling Jody her man.” Tulisa - who has previously dated her N-Dubz band-mate Fazer and ‘Skins’ actor Jack O’Connell has hinted she is enjoying cozy nights in watching DVDs with a new flame.

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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

lifestyle F e a t u r e s

Light decorations are pictured at a shop ahead of Diwali in Amritsar yesterday. Electric lights and traditional lamps are in heavy demand for the forthcoming Hindu festival of lights, Diwali, which falls on November 13 this year marking the victory over evil and commemorating the time when the Hindu god Lord Rama achieved victory over Ravana and returned to his kingdom Ayodhya. — AFP

ohn Lennon held out the promise he could bring out more musical greatness in legendary guitarist Eric Clapton in a letter that could fetch as much as $30,000 when it is sold at auction next month, the organizers of the sale said on Monday. The signed, handwritten letter by the Beatle, who died in 1980 at the age of 40, is one of a selection from some of the world’s great musicians that will go under the hammer in Los Angeles at the Profiles in History auction on Dec. 18. In a draft letter dated Sept. 29, 1971, Lennon expressed his respect and admiration for British guitarist Clapton and suggested that they form a band together.

“Eric, I know I can bring out something great, in fact greater in you that had been so far evident in your music. I hope to bring out the same kind of greatness in all of us, which I know will happen if/when we get together,” Lennon wrote in the letter. The letter will hold special significance for Beatles fans as auctioneer Joe Maddalena said it was widely known that there were problems in the Fab Four’s relationships with each other, and that Clapton had almost become a Beatle.

Clapton played in the Plastic Ono Band, formed by Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969 before the breakup of the Beatles in 1970. He also played on the George Harrison song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, which was on the Beatles’ White Album. “There was a point in time when George Harrison thought about leaving

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the band and his replacement was Clapton, so this letter is a link of what could have been,” Maddalena said.

The letter is one of 300 manuscripts and letters from literary, musical and political greats, that will be auctioned from the holdings of an American collector. “What we know of history is from the written word, without these letters, it would all be verbal. It’s a really unique area of collecting as you’re getting a glimpse into people’s minds,” Maddalena said.

Other highlights include a handwritten letter from George Washington, with a pre-sale estimate of up to $300,000, and a Charles Dickens manuscript with an obituary of novelist William Thackeray, expected to fetch between $40,000 and $60,000. Also on the auction block is a signed, handwritten letter from German composer Ludwig van Beethoven to Tobias Haslinger, a friend of his publisher, in which the musician discussed the second performance of his Ninth Symphony and the Missa Solemnis, two of his most revered works.

The letter, written in German, is undated, but both the Ninth Symphony and Missa Solemnis debuted in performances in 1824. Because of the rarity of the letter, it is estimated it will sell for between $40,000 and $60,000. —Reuters

An Indian potter carries earthen lamps at a workshop ahead of the Hindu festival Diwali on the outskirts of Jammu, India yesterday. — AP

r Hema Malini, the renowned celebrity and brand ambassador of Malabar Gold & Diamonds unveiled the fabulous festive collection of Malabar Gold & Diamonds on 4th November 2012 at their outlet in Deira City Centre, Dubai.

The jewellery chain unveiled an exclusive collection of diamond necklace set and three stunning diamond pendant sets under its brand, Mine- Diamonds unlimited. They have also launched a marvelous necklace set and a wonderful pendant set, under the brand EraUncut Diamond collection.Malabar Gold & Diamonds announced exciting offers and promotions to add more glitter to this Diwali.

Customers who purchase any of these sets can avail a 1 gram gold coin absolutely free till 14th November 2012. They also present a Precia pendant set beautifully crafted in 22 K gold and precious stones. Using only the finest precious and semi precious stones, designed and handcrafted by skilled artisans, the jewellery group ensures that each piece provided offers the rarest of artful creation without compromising quality.

Adding extra shine to this season, they are also offering their customers’ special pearl diamond sets absolutely free with every purchase of diamond jewellery. This offer is valid till November 14th at all their outlets in GCC. To top it all they are offering free gold coin with every purchase of gold ornaments worth AED: 3,000 / RO:300 / BD:300 / SR:3000 / QR: 3000 / KD:250 from 7th to 14th November 2012.

“Diwali is than just a traditional festival for me. It is a great time that brings back fond memories. I am glad to celebrate this Diwali with Malabar Gold & Diamonds, by unveiling

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their festive collection”, Dr Hema Malini said.

Malabar Gold and Diamonds also offers a diverse and unique collection of branded jewellery that reflects quality and elegance with a distinctive, artful accent. These include Era uncut diamond jewellery, Ethnix - handcrafted designer jewellery, Mine - diamonds unlimited, Starlet - kids jewellery, Divine - heritage jewellery, Diva- Teenage collection and Precia- Precious stone jewellery. This is in

addition to the vivid collection of contemporary and traditional designs that suits the taste of a variety of customers.

alenciaga’s star designer Nicolas Ghesquiere, whose surprise departure was announced on Monday, could be poised to launch his own brand for the luxury giant LVMH, the International Herald Tribune reported. Quoting an unnamed industry source, the IHT said yesterday that Ghesquiere has been courted by Bernard Arnault, chief executive of LVMH, the archrival of the PPR luxury group which owns the Balenciaga fashion house.

The paper reported that Ghesquiere had been offered a house under his own name, to be overseen either by Arnault’s daughter Delphine, who works for the company, or his son Antoine, who recently relaunched the shoe brand Berluti. Fashion brands in the LVMH empire include Christian Dior, Celine, Kenzo and Givenchy and Louis Vuitton. One the most acclaimed designers of his generation, Ghesquiere will leave Balenciaga on November 30 after 15 years during which which he put the historic house of Spanish designer Cristobal Balenciaga back on the fashion map.

News of his departure went down like a bombshell in planet fashion, unleashing a swirl of speculation on social networks over the 41-year-old’s next step and his succession at Balenciaga. PPR, which has owned Balenciaga since 2001, has yet to name a successor. — AFP

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ifestyle the market leader in home fragrance, recently opened its first stand alone store in Kuwait at Star Mall. The outlet above Max, next to Lulu Hypermarket covers more than 300 sq meters and will provide customers with faster and more convenient access to a wide range of products.

“The opening of this store is a part of Landmark Group’s expansion plans of not only introducing new retail brands into the

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region but also increasing the number of existing brands. As a group we try to reach out to our customers in every possible manner and are committed to serve them with the highest standards as we believe our customers deserve the best.”

“Expanding our services is in line with our strategy of broadening the range of our products available and deepening existing customer relationships at the same time,

and the new outlet will serve to expand our overall presence in Kuwait.” commented Saibal Basu, Chief Operating Officer, Landmark Group Kuwait.

Every season, Lifestyle produces a collection that is unique and fits with its overall philosophy. The new outlet offers a wide range of products from home fragrances like reed diffusers and electric aroma diffusers, to fragrance oils and exclusive fashion acces-

sories, fashion bags, teen gifts & home dÈcor products.

Do visit our Lifestyle stores in Centrepoint - Salmiya, Hawally, Al Rai, Fahaheel, Kuwait City, Fintas, Sulaibikhat and Jahra.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

lifestyle M u s i c

lassical composer Elliott Carter, whose challenging, rhythmically complex works earned him widespread admiration and two Pulitzer Prizes, died Monday at age 103. Music publishing company Boosey and Hawkes didn’t give a cause

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This file photo taken on May 20, 2005 shows US composer Elliott Carter receiving the ‘Juilliard Medal,’ as one of 17 Centennial Honorees, from Bruce Kovner , chairman of the board of the Juilliard School, just before the 100th commencement ceremony at the Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in New York. — AFP of death. In a 1992 Associated Press interview, Carter described his works as “music that asks to be listened to in a concentrated way and listened to with a great deal of attention. It’s not music that

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M o v i e s

makes an overt theatrical effect, but it assumes the listener is listening to sounds and making some sense out of them.” The complex way the different instruments interact in his compositions created drama for listeners who made the effort to understand them, but it made them difficult for orchestras to learn. He said he tried to give each of the musicians individuality within the context of a comprehensible whole.

“This seems to me a very dramatic thing in a democratic society,” he said. While little known to the general public, he was long respected by an inner circle of critics and musicians. In 2002, The New York Times said Carter’s string quartets were among “the most difficult music ever conceived,” and hailed their “volatile emotions, delicacy and even, in places, plucky humor. He remained astonishingly active, taking new commissions even as he celebrated his 100th birthday in December 2008 with a gala at Carnegie Hall. “I’m always proud of the ones I’ve just written,” he told The Associated Press at the time. In 2005, his “Dialogues,” which had premiered the previous year, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in music. And in 2006, his “Boston Concerto” was nominated for a Grammy as best classical contemporary composition.

He won his first Pulitzer Prize in 1960 for his Second String Quartet; his second award was in 1973 for his Third String Quartet. The Juilliard String Quartet chose to mark its 45th anniversary in 1991 with a concert of all four Carter string quartets. A fifth quartet came out in 1995. When the first National Medal of Arts awards were given in 1985, Carter was one of 10 people honored, along with such legends as Martha Graham, Ralph Ellison and Georgia O’Keeffe. The awards were established

by Congress in 1984.

The New Grove Dictionary of American Music

said that at its best, Carter’s music “sustains an energy of invention that is unrivaled in contemporary composition.” Carter said he found Europeans more receptive to his works than his fellow Americans, because music in Europe is not purely entertainment but part of the culture, “something that people make an effort to understand.” The lack of widespread attention didn’t seem to bother him. “I don’t think it means anything to be popular,” he said. “When we see the popular tastes and the popular opinion constantly being manipulated by all sorts of different ways, it seems to me popularity is a meaningless matter.”

In 1992, Carter said his favorite piece of music was his Concerto for Orchestra, written in 1969. It was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for its 125th anniversary season. “It particularly expresses a picture of the United States as an evolving world of not only people, but of nature,” he said. Among his early works were two ballets, “The Minotaur” and “Pocahontas,” and his First Symphony. His First String Quartet in 1951 started him on the road to greater critical attention.

Besides composing, Carter wrote extensively about 20th-century music. A collection of articles, “The Writings of Elliott Carter: An American Composer Looks at Modern Music,” was published in 1977.

Carter as born in New York in 1908. As a young man he became acquainted with composer Charles Ives, who encouraged his ambitions.

Carter studied literature at Harvard and then studied music in Paris under Nadia Boulanger, the famed teacher who also guided Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland and Virgil Thompson.

As he turned 100, he recalled a visit to the hall in 1924 to see the New York premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s revolutionary work “The Rite of Spring.” “I thought it was the greatest thing I ever

In this May 2, 1960 file photo, Pulitzer Prize winning composer Elliott Carter poses at the piano in his New York City apartment after the announcement of the award was made. — AP heard, and I wanted to do like that, too,” Carter recalled. “Of course, half the audience walked out, which was even more pleasant to me. It seemed much more exciting than Beethoven and Brahms and the rest of them.” In 1939, he married sculptor Helen H. Frost Jones. They had one son. He is survived by his son and a grandson. — AP

Argentine film director

Leandro Favio dies at 74 ovie director, actor and singer Leandro Favio, one of Argentina’s most important cultural figures, has died. He was 74. Argentine national film institute spokeswoman Susan Casais says Favio died Monday after suffering from chronic illnesses. Favio was known for his romantic ballads, helping to establish a genre later filled by many Latin American crooners. He was a film star in the 1950s and 60s, and then fled into exile when Argentina’s military dictatorship took over in 1976.

Favio returned after democracy was restored and made films celebrating his hero, Gen. Juan Domingo Peron. Favio’s last film, titled “The Good People,” celebrates Argentina’s bicentennial as well as the current government, which he supported. A viewing was being held Monday night in Argentina’s Senate in his honor. — AP

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South Korean rapper Psy performs ‘Gangnam Style’ flanked by cameramen and photographers as he arrives to perform. — AFP

outh Korea has awarded one of its highest cultural honors to the rapper Psy for taking the world by storm with his “Gangnam Style” hit. The culture ministry announced yesterday that the 34-year-old singer, whose real name is Park Jae-Sang, would receive the Okgwan Order of Cultural Merit, awarded for “outstanding meritorious services” to the arts.

“Psy has been chosen to be decorated for not only being a long-term artist, but also for advertising Gangnam widely and increasing the world’s interest in Korea,” a culture ministry official told AFP. Psy has rocketed to international fame since his “Gangnam Style” video-in which he performs his now

S J Abrams, co-creator of the hit television series “Lost” and one of Hollywood’s top producer-directors of supernatural films and TV shows, will receive the Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television, the Producers Guild of America said on Monday. Abrams, whose current credits include TV shows “Fringe,” “Revolution” and “Person of Interest,” and the 2009 film “Star Trek,” will receive the award at a Beverly Hills ceremony in January.

“JJ Abrams has produced some of the most iconic and highest-rated television shows of the past decade and longer, series that have changed the landscape of television,” Producers Guild Awards Chairman Michael DeLuca said in a statement. Abrams, 46, was one of the driving forces behind the 2004-2010 international cult TV series “Lost” - a part-science-fiction, part-supernatural story of a group of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island.

Abrams not only co-created the show with Jeffrey Lieber and Damon Lindelof but also composed the theme music, served as an executive producer and director, and won an Emmy Award for best director in 2005. Abrams created his first television series, “Felicity,” in 1998 with Matt Reeves and went on to write “Alias.” Abrams directed the Tom Cruise action thriller “Mission: Impossible 3” in 2006 and was a co-producer of its 2011 follow-up “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol.” He also wrote and directed the 2011 science-fiction film “Super 8.” — Reuters

South Korean rapper Psy performs ‘Gangnam Style’ in front of a crowd during a flashmob in Paris.— AP

famous horse-riding dance-went viral after being posted on YouTube in July. “Gangnam Style”, which is a tribute to an upmarket neighborhood in Seoul, has since racked up more than 654 million views, making it the second most-watched YouTube video of all time, behind Canadian teenage heartthrob Justin Bieber’s “Baby”, on 796 million.

The song has topped charts from Britain to Australia, and has occupied the number two slot on the US Billboard Hot 100 for six straight weeks. South Korea sees popular culture as a potent export force providing international exposure for a country that still feels overlooked in comparison to neighbors

China and Japan. The government has spent substantial time and money supporting the so-called Hallyu (Korean Wave) of TV shows and pop music that has swept across Asia in the past decade. Film director Kim Ki-Duk, who won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival this year with his movie Pieta, will receive the Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit-which ranks higher than Psy’s medal.—AFP

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tar Wars” was the force behind Walt Disney’s $4 billion purchase of producer George Lucas’s Lucasfilm entertainment holdings. Not so far, far away is Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic, his award-winning special effects shop that will likely save Disney millions of dollars in costs for its big-budget movies. ILM, started by Lucas in 1975 when he couldn’t find a special effects house he liked for “Star Wars,” has provided computer-generated dinosaurs, space ships and action characters for a roster of films that includes “Avatar,” “Mission Impossible” and the “Harry Potter” series.

As much as one-third of the cost of films with budgets of $200 million and more are for special effects, according to Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Tony Wible, who estimates ILM last year generated at least $100 million in revenue. Disney uses ILM’s computer animators for its “Pirates

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bout 2.7 million viewers watched Sunday’s television premiere of the first movie about the US commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden, the National Geographic Channel said Monday.

“SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden” caused a stir when it was announced in October that it would screen on the American cable channel just two days before the US presidential election.

Fueling the buzz was the fact that Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, a prominent fundraiser for President Barack Obama, was among the backers of the 90minute action thriller. The National Geographic Channel, part of conservative media tycoon Rupert Mudoch’s global empire, said “SEAL Team Six” was its toprated show of this year, and the sixth most

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The Who’s Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend perform during the The Who ‘Quadrophenia And More’ World Tour In Duluth, Georgia at the Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia. — AFP

of the Caribbean” series of films and Marvel-inspired characters for films like “The Avengers.” ILM is among the companies producing special effects for the Disney film “The Lone Ranger,” a 2013 release estimated to cost more than $200 million to produce.

By bringing ILM in-house, Disney can shave as much as $20 million a year from its films’ special effects budgets, a welcome savings at a time when all major studios are trying to rein in production spending, Wible said. “It’s one of the underappreciated aspects of this deal,” he said, along with Skywalker Sound, a Lucas sound production company that will also become part of the Disney empire.

Disney executives, in a conference call with Wall Street analysts, scarcely mentioned ILM in explaining the company’s valuation of Lucasfilm, instead describing its estimate of the company’s rights to its consumer products and the

declining value of DVD sales. Chief Executive Bob Iger praised ILM’s work for Disney and other studios. “Our current thinking is that we would let it remain as-is. They do great work,” Iger said.

A Disney spokesman said the company could not comment further about ILM or the rest of the acquisition until it is cleared by regulators. The effects house is headquartered in San Francisco at the Letterman Digital Arts Center, a Lucasfilm campus where a statue of Yoda perches atop an outdoor fountain. The effects company employs about 1,000 people between that location and sites in Singapore and Vancouver.

The studio provides effects for as many as 18 projects per year, working with all the major Hollywood studios that compete with Disney. That outside work beyond “Star Wars” will give Disney another revenue source from ILM.

watched in its history. “If this film had been in theaters this weekend, it very likely could have been the number-one movie in America,” the channel’s president Howard Owens said in a statement. Obama appears often via archive footage in the documentary-style film, but director John Stockwell dismissed talk that it might sway voters. “It was never written or shot to do that,” he said in an interview last week.

Netflix added “SEAL Team Six” to its streaming video lineup ahead of the movie’s theatrical release in non-US markets. The film will also get an encore presentation on the National Geographic Channel on Friday. —AFP

“We can handle quite a slate of films,” Lucasfilm spokesman Miles Perkins said of ILM. “We look forward to continuing that.”

ILM also generates money by supplying effects for commercials by big-name brands Coca-Cola, Budweiser and others. For Disney’s Iger, who prides his company as being among Hollywood’s most forward thinking on new technology, the Lucasfilm buy might also provide another front for the media giant. Its computer-wielding artists could work with Disney’s Imagineering unit, which creates many of the technologies the company uses at its theme parks.—Reuters

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

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US rock band Aerosmith’s lead singer Steven Tyler and guitarist and Joe Perry.

housands of music fans clogged a Boston street on Monday to hear Grammy award-winning rock band Aerosmith perform a free concert in front of the apartment building where the musicians began their career four decades ago. The band blared out hits including “Walk This Way” and “Sweet Emotion” from the back of a specially converted tractor-trailer while area residents hung out windows, sat on balconies and stood on rooftops to hear the noontime concert. “It feels like the world stood still for this. It feels like it was yesterday,” lead singer Steven Tyler told Reuters in an interview after the concert.

The band played to mark the release of its 15th studio album, “Music from Another Dimension,” due out yesterday. Aerosmith’s five members signed a plaque that Boston plans to mount outside the apartment building in the Allston neighborhood where they lived in the early days of a career that has brought them four Grammy

rom a giant, bug-eyed Gollum sculpture looming over passengers at Wellington Airport to promotional banners covering the facades of office blocks, the upcoming “The Hobbit” movie is impossible to ignore in New Zealand. Tourism chiefs, hoping to recreate the surge in visitors inspired by the original “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, have launched a massive marketing campaign around director Peter Jackson’s latest Middle Earth three-parter. Like the first trilogy, “The Hobbit” movies use New Zealand’s mountainous scenery as a backdrop, amounting to what some tourism insiders gleefully describe as a nine-hour-long advertisement for the country’s rugged charms. Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler does not go that far, but says the films offer the country invaluable global exposure that can be converted into increased visitor arrivals.

“We aim to show potential travellers that the fantasy of Middle Earth is in fact the reality of New Zealand,” he said. But behind the hype, official figures show the first of the new movies “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” cannot come soon enough for an industry struggling for momentum almost a decade on from the original Middle Earth saga. New Zealand’s international visitor arrivals jumped from 1.5 million to 2.4 million between 2000 and 2006 on the back of “The Lord of the Rings” films, but have remained flat at about 2.5 million for the past four years. A recent Tourism Industry Association report expressed concerns that New Zealand had “lost its edge” and was no longer regarded as a must-see destination.

“New Zealand is perceived to have fallen off the global radar as a desirable destination to some extent,” the report found. “In part, as a result of increasing competition from other destinations, and in part because of economic conditions in (tourist) generating countries.” The earthquakes that devastated Christchurch in 2011, resulting in 185 deaths, and a local currency pushing record highs have also not helped matters.

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New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft gives a game ball to US rock band Aerosmith’s lead singer Steven Tyler.

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US rock band Aerosmith’s lead singer Steven Tyler.

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‘Rings’ demand surprised tour operators Tourism operator David Gatward-Ferguson said that when the first “Rings” film was released in 2001, the industry was surprised by the influx of visitors wanting to travel to places featured in the movie. “We were initially caught out, yes, and geared up over the next year or two to meet demand,” he said, recalling a time when the currency was at a 25-year low and international travel was buoyed by a booming global economy. Gatward-Ferguson’s Nomad Expeditions soon revamped its eco-adventure tours along a Middle Earth theme, taking tourists speaking elvish and wearing Tolkien costumes to set locations in the South Island.

With the entire tourism industry abuzz over potential spin-off benefits from Jackson’s latest project, there is little chance operators will be wrong-footed when the first Hobbit film premieres on November 28. Tourism New Zealand has changed its “100% Pure” global branding to “100% Middle Earth” and Wellington has dubbed itself “The Middle of Middle Earth” for the premiere, contributing NZ$1.1 million ($905,000) to the event.

Middle Earth coins have been minted, Hobbit stamps issued and Air New Zealand is running an in-flight safety video full of orc, elves and wizards.

The national government is so convinced of the benefits to the tourism and movie industries that when a union dispute threatened to send filming offshore in 2010, it amended the country’s industrial laws to ensure it stayed.

US rock band Aerosmith arrives by Duck Boat to play a free concert on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston in front of the band’s apartment where they got their start over 40 years ago. — AFP photos

awards and more than 20 Top 40 hits. “That used to be my bedroom,” lead guitarist Joe Perry yelled to a woman looking out a second-story window.

The crowd of thousands included teenagers holding signs declaring that they had skipped school to see the show, celebrities such as New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and fans whose history with the band went back to its 1970 founding. “I always loved Aerosmith.

They were one of the first rock bands I got into growing up in Brazil,” said Michelle Fernandes, 43, waiting for the concert to start.

When she moved to the United States in 2003, Fernandes was surprised to learn that she was working in an office down the street from where her favorite band got its start, Fernandes said. “How cool is that?” she said. The band has always kept up its ties to a city that is hometo hundreds of thousands of college students. “When there’s

groups of young people like there are in colleges towns like this, there’s a lot of passion,” Tyler said. “We love that.”

While the band relished the chance to see its old neighborhood, Perry declined to go into the apartment, where the band wrote songs including “Movin’ Out.” “I didn’t want to go into it to see what it looked like today because I like the memory of what it was when we were there,” Perry told Reuters. “I didn’t want to see it all polished and spiffed up.” On Thursday Aerosmith resumes its tour with a show in Oklahoma City. — Reuters

about ‘Lord of the Rings’, people still remembers the films. You choose to watch a film, which you don’t do with an advertisement, and that makes people more receptive.”

He said the incidental benefits from filming in New Zealand-such as Orlando Bloom raving about Kiwi ski-fields or Stephen Fry waxing lyrical on Twitter about Wellington’s coffee-also drew people in. Tourism New Zealand is not specifying how much of a lift it expects from “The Hobbit” but Gatward-Ferguson said the high local dollar and tough economic times meant it was unlikely to match “The Lord of the Rings”.

“It’ll be positive but it’ll be muted,” he said.

“There’s a lot of naysayers out there and we’re not going to get another wall of visitors, but New Zealand is small enough that we only need to win over a small proportion of the world market to make a big difference.” The Kiwi dollar has almost doubled against the greenback since the first movie, currently around 83 US cents and tipped to threaten a record high of 88.43 US cents set in August 2011, compared to 43 US cents in late 2001. The doubters have not prevented Gatward-Ferguson from expanding his fleet of off-road expedition vehicles by five and buying Hobbit-themed licence plates to adorn them, including “Bilbo”, Smaug” and “Thorin”, all characters in the movies. “We’ve come to our own conclusions, made our investment and now we’ve just got to wait and see if we were right,” he said. — AFP

Tolkien geeks not core market Glen Croy, a specialist in film-driven tourism at Australia’s Monash University, said research showed any jump in visitor numbers would not be driven by hard-core Tolkien fans sporting prosthetic Hobbit feet and pointy Gandalf hats.

He said the film’s value lies in putting New Zealand on the agenda as a destination for ordinary travelers considering a long-haul holiday, adding that the country had become synonymous with Middle Earth and each movie release reinforced the association. “People still talk

Photo shows Air New Zealand’s latest in-flight safety video, with characters such as hobbits, orcs and elves from the upcoming ‘Hobbit’ movie are enlisted to urge passengers to fasten their seatbelts.

A giant Gollum creature from the ‘Hobbit’ movie catches a fish on the ceiling of Wellington Airport.

Aerosmith puts on Boston street concert on Memory Lane

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012

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A woman walks past a wall decorated with a giant painting on November 5, 2012 in Moscow. —AFP

Experts: Holiday travel with pets is worth hassle

ravel for humans during holidays is tough enough: Long lines, crowds everywhere, extra bags full of presents. Throw a pet in the mix, and it’s a recipe for disaster. But Sheron Long, a frequent traveler and author of “Dog Trots Globe - To Paris and Provence,” say it’s worth the trouble. “Every trip was better when Chula could be with us,” she said of her Shetland sheepdog. “She was so excited; I could imagine her dog’s eye view of the world. It causes you to explore and go see different things and meet people.”

The US Department of Transportation estimates more than 2 million pets and other animals are transported by air each year. Pets aren’t allowed on Amtrak trains, Greyhound buses or cruise lines, but they can go on many regional train, bus and boat lines.

The majority of four-legged carry-on passengers are dogs, but some airlines allow rabbits, birds and other small animals. Experts say before including a pet in travel plans, consider whether it would enjoy the experience.

“Some dogs don’t like to travel, some love it,” said Kelly E Carter, the pet travel expert for AOL’s Paw Nation and a Chihuahua owner. “You have to know your pet.” Caroline Golon’s two Persian cats “are not big fans of car travel” - the only way that they can travel since their breed is banned by many airlines - so they don’t go on trips. Golon said when they travel, the family stops at pet-friendly hotels rather than drive nonstop.

“Stopping overnight gives them a

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In this May 2011 photo provided by Sheron Long, Chula, a 30-pound Shetland sheepdog and veteran Chula, a 30-pound Shetland sheepdog and veteran traveler, noses a fake cow outside a butcher shop in traveler, rests on a bed in the Sheraton Hotel at the the hilltop village of Sault.

Charles de Gaulle Airport, after a long flight from San Francisco to Paris, France. chance to use the litter box at their leisure and eat and drink comfortably,” said Golon, the founder of High Paw Media.

Gwen Cooper, the author of “Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I Learned About Love and Life with a Blind

A 30-pound Shetland sheepdog and veteran traveler, walks on a leash in the lobby of the TGV station at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. —AP photos

Wonder Cat,” said animals pick up on their owners’ moods, “which means if you’re nervous, your cat or dog is going to be nervous too. The best way to avoid being nervous is to prepare you and your pet ahead of time and think through as many

contingencies as possible.”

For eligible cats, as well as dogs, airlines have size requirements for pets in the cabin, so a small pet must fit in a carrier that can be stowed under a seat and larger ones must be checked in. Long’s dog

A Shetland sheepdog explores Provence with her owner, Sheron Long.

weighs 30 pounds, so 9-year-old Chula has to fly in cargo.

During the holidays, though, when planes are fuller and lines are longer, some airlines ban pets in cargo, as well as times when the heat or cold is intense. Certain breeds can never fly on some airlines, including those considered to have bullying characteristics, like pit bulls, and snubnosed animals like shih tzus or Persian cats because of potential breathing problems.

Animals that travel on Amtrak, Greyhound or cruises get a ticket to ride through their roles as service animals.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, trained helper animals such as guide dogs or signal dogs must be allowed.

Pet accommodations at airports differ, though every airport has animal-relief areas. Some are easy to find - San Francisco’s has paw prints on the floor leading to them - and most or all areas are located outside of security checkpoints.

Federal transportation guidelines require animals to be removed from carriers, so pets should be collared and leashed especially cats. Pet carriers are not X-rayed, but owners’ hands may be wiped for chemical testing.

The hassle of traveling is only half over once the plane lands. Carter, who once canceled a trip in which she and her dog were hoping to try a new hotel in Northern California, recounted how the hotel worded its pet policy online: “We are smoke-free and pet-free.” “My God, are pets being considered killers, like smoke?

That’s a sign people don’t want to be

around pets,” she said.

Lisa Porter, CEO of a website that lists pet-friendly places to stay and activities around the country, said more businesses are catering to customers with a pet in tow than ever before. For example, vineyards and wineries have opened their tours to pets, and as many as 90 percent of hotels in some cities are pet-friendly, she said.

Most five-star hotels have accommodations and perks for well-behaved pets, and even most discount hotels, including Red Roof Inns, Motel 6 and Extended Stay America, are pet-friendly. Other hotels have weight limits on animals. Some charge a nightly fee for animals, some have cleaning deposits and some will charge only if there is damage.

In France, where Long and Chula spend four months every year, so many people take their dogs to restaurants that there is an “under-table culture going on,” she said. The French hospitality for dogs stops at museums, though: “The French prize their dogs, but they prize their art work even more,” she said.

Chula has been such a good travel buddy that she inspired Long’s book, which is a travelogue written from a dog’s point of view. Long said having Chula around means never being lonely - partly because of all the people who stop to admire the dog. “If you want to be a hermit, go (traveling) alone,” Long said. —AP

Kelly E Carter, founder of The Jet Set Pets, posing with her longhair Chihuahua, Lucy, at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel in Dana Point, Calif.