IPT IO N SC R SU B
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
MOHARRAM 24, 1433 AH
No: 15651
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‘unique experience’ Hakim sees Iraq-Kuwait ties strengthening
BAGHDAD: Kuwait Times Editor-in-Chief Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan (left) meets head of the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq Ammar Al-Hakim yesterday. — Photo by Majed Al-Sabeji ( See Page 2)
BAGHDAD: Kuwait’s democracy is unique and one of the most successful implementation of self-governing systems, said head of the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq Ammar Al-Hakim yesterday. This came during Hakim’s meeting with a delegation of Kuwaiti journalists. The Iraqi politician lauded the recent exchange of visits by the leaderships of the two nations, affirming that HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s participation in Baghdad’s Arab Summit was a great indication that relations were heading on an upward trend. On the recent political situation in Kuwait, Hakim lauded the Amir’s wise decisions in finding a solution to the political tension in Kuwait, noting that the results of the Kuwaiti elections help to reflect the advanced status of democracy in the country. On the situation in his country, Hakim said that Iraq is witnessing stability day by day and hopefully results
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will come in favor of the Iraqi people. Hakim also discussed the current dispute between Baghdad and the Iraqi regional Kurdish government in Irbil, saying any dispute should be settled by referring back to the constitution. The Iraqi politician also touched on regional issues during the meeting, saying that Iraq was very worried about the situation in Syria and hoped that the crisis would be resolved without further bloodshed. The Kuwaiti delegation at the meeting included chief editors of Kuwaiti newspapers and other print media, including Kuwait News Agency chief Rashid AlRowaishid, Al-Anbaa’s Yousif Al-Marzouq, Annahar’s Imad Bukhamseen, Al-Rai’s Majid Al-All, Kuwait Times’ Editor-in-Chief Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan, Deputy Editorin-Chief of Al-Yaqaza magazine Dalia Behbehani and Kuwait Journalists Association President Ahmad Behbehani and its Director and chief organiser of the trip Adnan Al-Rashed. — KUNA
Hamas chief ends exile, visits Gaza Meshaal hopes to die a ‘martyr’ GAZA: Hamas leader in exile Khaled Meshaal made his first visit to Gaza yesterday, kissing the ground and saying he hoped he would one day die a “martyr” in the Palestinian territory. After his seven-vehicle convoy swept across the border from Egypt, Meshaal got out and kissed Palestinian soil before embracing Gaza’s Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya. Green Hamas flags and the red, white, green and black of the Palestinian flag were everywhere to mark the unprecedented visit which was timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Islamist movement. Meshaal was accompanied by his deputy Mussa Abu Marzuk and other top officials on a trip which came just two weeks after the end of a deadly confrontation with Israel, which began on Nov 14 with an Israeli air strike that killed Hamas military commander Ahmed Jaabari. Shortly after his arrival, Meshaal was taken to see the charred remains of Jaabari’s car, which had been transported to Rafah especially for the visit. “I hope God will make me a martyr on the land of Palestine in Gaza,” he said. Security was tight across the territory with masked militants from Hamas military wing the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades out in force, wearing fatigues and carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles, as
they patrolled the roads along which Meshaal’s convoy was to travel. “This is the first time that I am coming to Palestine in 37 years,” said Meshaal who is originally from a village in the West Bank but went into exile with his family after the 1967 Middle East war, only returning for a brief visit in 1975. It was his first-ever visit to Gaza. “This is my third birth,” he told reporters at a brief press conference, saying his second was after he escaped an Israeli attempt to kill him in Jordan in 1997. Izzat Al-Rishq, another senior member of the Islamist movement’s exiled politbureau, said it was a moving experience to finally be in the Hamasruled Gaza Strip. “This is the greatest feeling I’ve ever had. It is an unforgettable historic moment,” he told AFP. “Our wish to kiss the soil of Palestine has come true.” Mahmoud Al-Zahar, a senior Hamas official in Gaza, said the visit was replete with symbolism. “No matter how long a Palestinian is away from his homeland, he will always return after a victory,” Zahar told AFP. Shortly afterwards, the convoy set off for Gaza City, travelling along streets decked with Hamas flags and the red flags of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) which on Dec 11 marks its 45th anniversary.
GAZA CITY: Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniya (center right) points something out to Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal (center left) as they parade the streets from the rooftop of a vehicle following Meshaal’s arrival in Gaza yesterday. — AFP Islamic Jihad’s leader Ramadan Shallah had also visit proved there was no blockade on Gaza. “This been expected to attend the celebrations, but was visit by Meshaal, which follows that of the Qatari expected to cancel the visit after Israel objected. emir and the Egyptian prime minister and other “The Egyptians told Ramadan Shallah that they officials proves there is no Israeli blockade on (Israel) would end the ceasefire if he came to Gaza,” Gaza,” said foreign ministry spokesman Yigal a Jihad source told AFP on Thursday, saying Shallah Palmor, referring to a measure put in place by Israel would “most likely cancel the visit”. Israel said the in 2006, but eased in recent years. — AFP
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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
BAGHDAD: Head of the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq Ammar Al-Hakim is pictured with members of a delegation of Kuwaiti journalists yesterday. — Photos by Majed Al-Sabeji
BAGHDAD: Kuwait Times Editor-in-Chief Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan shakes hands with Al-Hakim yesterday.
NUKS holds convention in Dubai DUBAI: The National Union of Kuwait Students (NUKS), UAE chapter, concluded its first convention here late on Thursday. The congress, patronized by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, was attended by Tareq Al-Hamad, Kuwait’s general consul in Dubai and the northern emirates, Chairman of the Culture Office Dr Saleh Yassin, Cultural Attache Dr Usama Al-Yusuf, dignitaries and eminent fig-
ures, including former Kuwaiti MPs, Abdullah Al-Nibari and Shuaib Al-Muwaizri, and the prominent lawyer, Faisal Al-Yahya. In a statement at start of the conference, Al-Hamad made a statement, expressing good wishes for the union and the Kuwaiti students and affirmed continuous readiness of the consulate and the Cultural Office to offer all possible aid for the students. Abdullah Al-Ghais, the head of the union constituent committee, praised
unity among the students and expressed hope that a female citizen would be elected to head the NUKS. The former MPs and the attorney spoke about Kuwait’s political history, affirming that despite some differences among the citizens, they maintain special cordial sentiments and appreciation for the political leaders. They also called for tackling roots of political problems. — KUNA
LOCAL SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Realty expo showcases top south Indian names South India Property Show 2012 eyes booming real estate sector By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: A real estate exhibition organized by Eyeball Media was inaugurated yesterday at Ramada Hotel in Riggae. About 30 real estate developers from four states of south India participated in the exhibition which is set to close today. Prasanth Bashyam, Business Head-Eyeball Media said the exhibition is targeting the growing number of south Indian population in Kuwait, estimated at around 600,000. “This is the first venture by our group. I know many real estate companies had exhibited their properties here, but our teams are from the south. The previous property exhibitions were from all across India; but this time, developers are from mainly the south. So, NRIs planning to buy or invest in properties in the south can come and get the best offer ever,” he said. South India, according to Bashyam, is booming tremendously in all aspects as India has improved its infrastructure. “We have a much better infrastructure now compared to what it was earlier. Chennai, for example, is growing rapidly with the best automakers setting up their factories there. Development continues as we speak. People there are active; they are investing in real estate properties,” Bashyam added. Exhibition participants include (Chennai) Vasavi Housing, Amar Prakash Developer, BSCPL Infrastructure, Unitech Limited, Green Homes, Arun Excello, MYVGP Housing, S & S Foundation, Phoenix Hodu Developer, Real Value Promoters Private Limited, Hi Tech Constructions and Engineering, True Value Homes, Arihant Foundation & Housing Limited, ABI Estates, (Coimbatore) Ananya Shelters, (Madurai) City Builders, (Bangalore) Shanders, Expat Properties, (Tirupathi) NRI Hub Usha Sanjeeva Reddy Techlink, (Cochin) Olive Builders & Developers, (Mangalore) Land Trades Builders & Developers, Mohtisham Complexes, Mahabaleshwara Promoters and Builders (Kuwait) HDFC. South India Property Show 2012, the largest exhibition of south Indian property, was inaugurated at 10:30 am yesterday, by Country Manager of Gulf Mart Dr Ramesh T A , along with prominent members of the Indian community such as Ashok Kalra, Siddiqui Valikath, Vijay Kapoor, S A Khan, Andrew Thomas, E D Titus, Carmos Santos, S A Labba and Reaven D’Souza at the Ramada Hotel in Al-Riggae, Kuwait. More than 30 builders showcasing some of the best properties from south India, particularly from
the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala are on display, with properties ranging from as little as three lakh to 10 crore rupees. The two-day property extravaganza showcases leading real estate developers from India who are presenting properties in different segments, including apartments, row houses, lifestyle residential properties and villas. Residential plots from main south Indian cities like Chennai, Bengaluru, Kochi, Mangalore, Coimbatore, Tirupati and others are also on display at the show. Real estate in south India is on an upswing and perhaps the right time to consider making a home purchase or as an investment option. According to a recent report published jointly by international property consultant, Jones Lang LaSalle and the Confederation of the Indian Industry, the geographic expanse of each of the capital cities in south India, increasing industrialization and job opportunities, rising migrant population and implementation of large-scale infrastructure projects to cater to the needs of these fast developing cities, have helped the attractiveness of the region as a favorable residential investment market. Taking into consideration the lucrative potential of investment in this rapidly growing market, South India Property Show 2012 brings together premium real estate builders, developers and banks on the same platform, to cater to rising demand for homes and investment opportunities from all segments of NRIs. The South India Property Show 2012 is being organized by Eyeball Media Private Ltd, a leading organizer of lifestyle events in south India, in association with Response Events & Exhibitions - Kuwait. Speaking about the event, G Shakthi, the Managing Director of Eyeball Media said, “The response to Day 1 of the show is a clear indication that the South India Property 2012 exhibition, which provides under one roof various property categories across south India and in different price segments, ranging from affordable to luxury, is a winning proposition for home-buyers, investors and exhibitors. This event was specifically conceptualized to cater to the NRIs living in Kuwait to showcase the wide availability and choice of properties as well as point to the enormous investment potential that these market have in terms of growth.” Response Events & Exhibitions has conducted and coordinated over 30 exhibitions showcasing property from all over India. Approximately over Rs 300 crore worth of property has been transacted through these exhibitions, giving NRIs an opportunity to deal with credible and reliable builders.
LOCAL SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
KFAED envoy inspects fund projects in southern Lebanon BEIRUT: The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development inspected several projects it is funding in southern Beirut, including a number of schools. Noting the importance of schools in educating future generations, he said this will provide access to knowledge and scientific research, all major components for human development, said head of the disbursement department, Osama Al-Attal in press statement. Sana Hammadi Director of Haret Hreik School, stressed on the importance of the developmental role
by Kuwait at various levels and areas of development in all Lebanese regions, and she praised the support of the fund for these projects. Representative of (KFAED) in Lebanon Nawaf AlDabbous said, that the Fund is working very hard to get to the outstanding success and makes the school a model for success. The tour included Bird Park and indoor sports hall in Ghobeiry area, Haret Hreik and Ghobeiry schools, in addition to emergency center and social center in the
Bourj Al-Barajneh. The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development gave to the Lebanon 19 loans since 1966, with total of $568,000,000 included the implementation of projects in the sectors of health, agriculture, transport and communications, as well as a $300,000,000 donation after the Israeli aggression on Lebanon in 2006, to fund infrastructure projects and compensation affected by the war, and the reconstruction of what was destroyed by the Israeli war. — KUNA
Kuwaiti youth held after girlfriend’s pregnancy Man arrested with unlicensed weapon KUWAIT: Police arrested a 30-year-old man who disappeared after learning about his 19-year-old girlfriend’s pregnancy. The two Kuwaitis had been in a relationship for several months during which the man was able to win his girlfriend’s trust through marriage promises. After feeling sick and later being told in the hospital that she was six months pregnant, she called her boyfriend and told him about the case. However, he hung up the phone immediately and never called her despite her repeated calls. With no other options left, the girl told her mother about everything including the relationship she had kept a secret from her family, as well as her pregnancy. The mother helped her daughter to the police station to file a case, as officers were able to identify and locate the man through his phone number. The man was ambushed outside his home in Qurain and taken in police’s custody. He admitted during investigations of having sex with the girl five times during their relationship. He remains in custody pending legal procedures. Weapon possession A driver was arrested in Fahaheel after he was caught with possession of a loaded unlicensed weapon. Patrol officers searched the Kuwaiti man’s cars for potential contrabands after he was forced to stop when he initially ignored orders to pull over. The man was arrested after the unlicensed handgun was found, and was taken to the Criminal Investigations General Department to face charges. Hit-and-run Investigations are ongoing to determine the circumstances behind the death of a pedestrian believed to have been hit by a car. The incident was reported recently in Surra where police headed following an emergency call reporting a hitand-run. The victim, who was in his forties, was pronounced dead on the scene before the body was taken to the forensic department. A case was filed at the area’s police station for investigations in which police are looking to identify and arrest the runaway driver. Road accident A senior citizen was hospitalized after an accident which resulted in coma caused by low blood sugar. The incident took place recently at the Fahaheel Highway where the 67-year-old Kuwaiti man hit a vehicle in front of him after passing out behind the steering wheel, sustaining a mild head injury in the process. He was taken in an ambulance to the Adan Hospital where doctors expect his condition to stabilize.
KUWAIT: Minister of Health Dr Ali Al-Obaidi and other officials at the Mubarak Al-Kabeer hospital.
Expansion at Mubarak Al-Kabeer hospital KUWAIT: In its endeavor to streamline healthcare services, the Ministry of Health celebrated yesterday the start of a project to update and expand all operation rooms at the Mubarak Al-Kabeer hospital. On hand at the hospital to mark the occasion was the minister of Health Dr Ali Al-Obaidi, who in a speech he delivered there, said that all care was taken to equip the newly-renovated operation rooms with the latest medical facilities, so much so that medical students at the college of medicine could follow surgeons’operations at the hospital in real time through video links. Surgeons conducting operations in the new operation rooms would be able to speak directly with the students and instruct them as to the course of specific operations they were doing. The minister said that updating the operation rooms has been a major undertaking which was ably handled by the private sector, and that the entire project of renovating the rooms was a vivid instance of success embodying the close relationship between both public and private sectors. He emphasized that this project was only one of many the ministry was planning within the present parameters of the nation’s development plan. The updating and expansion at the Mubarak Al-Kabeer hospital involved increasing the number of operation rooms to ten, to the cost of KD 3.1 million, said Dr Khalid Al-Abdulghani, director of the Hawalli area health care sector. — KUNA
Kuwaiti charity donates $500,000 to Gaza GAZA: A delegation from Al-Rahma Charity for Relief and Development — a Kuwaiti non-government fund-raising agency affiliated to the Social Reform Society, arrived here Thursday through Rafah border crossing, to donate $500,000 to the victims of the recent Israeli aggression. The nine-member delegation, led by head of the charity’s office in Palestine Dr Walid AlAnjari, is scheduled to distribute assistances to the families which were rendered homeless as a result of the destruction of their homes in the
Israeli air campaign on Gaza in mid-November. They will meet senior officials of the Hamas-led Palestinian government in Gaza and visit AlShifaa Hospital, downtown Gaza City, where hundreds of Palestinians, injured in the aggression, are being treated. The delegation will also inaugurate Aisha Orphanage in the city, sponsor the award-giving ceremony of a Holy Quran learning competition and inspect relief projects carried out by the charity in the Strip. They will conclude the two-day visit today morning. — KUNA
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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Premier resumes talks on Cabinet formation Opposition gears up for procession KUWAIT: Two MPs could have a last chance tomorrow (Sunday) to have a court order that voided their membership Thursday to be overruled when the Cassation Court makes a ruling this morning in requests they made to suspend the Court of First Instance’s verdict. MPs Khalaf AlDumaitheer and Khalid Al-Shulaimi were disqualified among seven candidates prior to the Dec 1 elections; who later won a court order approving a writ to suspend an Appeals Court ruling which overruled a verdict that reinstated them after they were originally scrapped. The reinstatement came when the Administrative Court overruled cancelation of 31 among 37 candidates as per orders of the Higher Elections Committee. On Thursday, the department of emergency rules in the Court of First Instance ruled against the writ which granted the 7 candidates suspension of their cancelation order. Two of these candidates had won the elections: Khalaf Al-Dumaitheer and Khalid Al-Shulaimi, and they quickly made motions to suspend the order with the Cassation Court which set tomorrow’s hearing to make its ruling. In his first statements following the court order, MP Al-Shulaimi told Al-Rai that he is confident his membership will not be scrapped after consulting constitutional experts who explained to him that his membership can only be canceled by the Constitutional Court.
Khalaf Al-Dumaitheer On that regard, constitutional law expert and Kuwait University professor Dr Mohammad Al-Feeli explained that canceling AlDumaitheer and Al-Shulaimi’s memberships can normally go in effect by a Constitutional Court ruling that annuls their membership for failing to meet conditions that MPs should obtain. “After Al-Dumatheer and AlShulaimi’s election, they became members of the parliament, and therefore the body entitled to look into the correction of their membership becomes the Constitutional Court”, Al-Feeli explained in statements to Al-Jarida. However, the parliament’s regulations indicate that a new challenge cannot be made with the Constitutional Court two weeks after the election results are officially announced. This means that if the Cassation Court approves AlDumatheer and Al-Shulaimi’s cancelation tomorrow, its ruling becomes final according to Al-Feeli. “In that
Top Kuwaiti officer asserts importance of security dialogue MANAMA: Chief of Staff of Kuwait armed forces General Sheikh Khaled Jarrah Al-Sabah yesterday underlined the importance of supporting dialogues and conferences dealing with military and security matters in the Arabian Gulf region, in order to reach solutions to defuse crises in the world in general and the Gulf in particular. Sheikh Khaled was speaking to KUNA shortly after arrival to participate in the 8th Manama Dialogue. Kuwait is also represented by deputy head of the national security apparatus Sheikh Thamer Ali Al-Sabah. “Our participation in the Manama Dialogue, which is considered as one of the important conferences contributing to narrowing points of view over regional security and stability, is to listen to what is being discussed in the conference regarding regional security,” said Sheikh Khaled. Sheikh Khaled said the conference was important considering the ongoing developments. The two-day Manama Dialogue, organized by the British International Institute for Strategic Studies, opened later yesterday. Participants will discuss the fight against terrorism, security in the Strait of Hormuz, impact of sectarian policies on regional security, stability in the Middle East and relations with the US. — KUNA
Khalid Al-Shulaimi case, by-elections would be required to elect replacements”, Al-Feeli further explained in statements to AlRai. In order for the Constitutional Court to look into the case, a candidate or voter in both lawmakers’ respective constituencies must appeal their membership with the court. The parliament holds its inaugural session on Dec 16. In addition to Al-Dumaitheer and Al-Shulaimi, ten other MPs face cancelation when the Appeals Court look into the government’s appeal to their reinstatement on Feb 12, 2013. These MPs are Yousuf AlZalzalah, Abdulhameed Dashty, Saleh Ashour, Saadoun Hammad, Nabeel Al-Fadhl, Askar Al-Enizy, Mubarak Al-Khurainej, Essam AlDabous, Khalid Al-Adwa and Hani Shams. In the meantime, Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak Al-Sabah resumed talks to form his new cabinet ahead of the parliament’s inaugural session, with
government sources telling Al-Rai that the premier has intentions to reshuffle nearly six portfolios “while appointing between two and four new ministers”. The same sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity nominated MP Ahmad Al-Mulaifi to become “the first elected First Deputy Prime Minister in Kuwait’s history” should he decide to step away from the race to the parliament’s speaker post, based on what they believe is “the premier’s consultations regarding the possibility to hand a major cabinet post to a lawmaker”. Under Kuwait’s law, at least one cabinet member must be an elected MP. If this prediction becomes a reality, the sources indicate that AlMulaifi would likely be handed the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs portfolio. Meanwhile, Shiite lawmakers met at MP Al-Zalzalah’s dewaniya on Thursday in order to discuss topics including predictions for the cabinet’s formation, Al-Qabas reported yesterday. Quoting sources with knowledge of the meeting, the daily indicated that the lawmakers are against public works minister Fadhel Safar returning to the cabinet while MP Adnan Al-Abdulsamad is elected for the Deputy Speaker’s post at the same time, given the fact that both are members of the National Islamic Alliance. The sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity also noted that “at least five Shiite MPs are
against the idea of forming a sectarian-oriented bloc” in the parliament. Separately, MP Nawaf Al-Fuzai’ held a press conference Thursday in which he announced plans to support efforts to “revive” a parliamentary investigations committee into the multimillion-dinar deposits scandal in which some returning lawmakers are involved. This comes while demonstrations against the election results continued for the fourth night in a row Wednesday, featuring reported “violence” in Sabah Al-Nasser and AlSubahiya where demonstrators reportedly burned tires and garbage containers while a demonstration in Jahra went peacefully. Several security officers were mildly injured in confrontations during which protestors “hurled stones and fired fireworks at their direction” according to security sources who spoke to Al-Rai on the condition of anonymity. The Interior Ministry had licensed a procession in Kuwait City today, the fourth major demonstration organized by the opposition in recent weeks against an emergency decree that altered the voting mechanism prior to the parliament’s election boycotted by tribal, Islamist and liberal groups joined by large parts of citizens in protest. Organizers of the demonstration reportedly met at dewaniya of former MP Dr. Waleed Al-Tabtabaei Wednesday night and decided to stage daily afternoon gatherings at the Iradah Square.
LOCAL SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
KUWAIT: Some of the participants in the activities. — Photos by Joseph Shagra
Ford debuts ‘Five’ to support breast cancer awareness KUWAIT: Wednesday night witnessed the premiere screening of ‘FIVE’ in Kuwait, which is part of a series of screenings of the movie across the region in aid of breast cancer awareness. The film, made up of five short films explores the impact of breast cancer on five very different women. Through an interconnected story, the movie uses humor and drama to focus on these women and their lives throughout different stages of their diagnoses. The stories explore the effect that the disease has on relationships and the ways in which each woman copes with her emotions whilst searching for strength, comfort, medical breakthroughs and ultimately a cure. This event is one of the many activities that Ford Middle East has brought to the region this season as part of the global breast cancer awareness campaign through Warriors in Pink, powered by Ford. The movie which was directed by A-list celebrity directors including Jennifer Aniston, Alicia Keys and Demi Moore, pulled a strong crowd who were all keen to view their work at Cinescape cinema, raising interest and awareness of the cause in the region. Dr Labiba, Executive Director and Medical Affairs for Hayatt - Rouqaya Abdulwahab Alqatami breast Cancer Foundation, commented: “We are delighted to have partnered with Ford
Middle East for this awareness activity. We appeal to all women and men to take early detection seriously and face their diseases and fight them courageously as the characters in the movie ‘FIVE’ did.” Warriors in Pink, powered by Ford is dedicated to promoting breast cancer awareness across the globe and Ford is proud of its 18-year support of breast cancer awareness through many global initiatives. Launched in 2006, the campaign recognizes the strength and courage it takes to deal with the everyday challenges of fighting breast cancer. It embodies hope, strength and courage and is about women and men finding strength within themselves their inner warrior - at a time they need
it most. “We know that awareness leads to early detection and early detection saves lives,” said Sue Nigoghossian, Ford Middle East’s Brand Communications & Public Affairs manager. Warriors in Pink, powered by Ford has always been outspoken about the importance of early detection, as the risk of dying from breast cancer increases greatly when it is diagnosed in later stages. “Ford is dedicated to making a difference 365 days a year by encouraging women to become informed and visit their doctors, educating them that early detection saves lives,” she added. ‘The movie FIVE has captured the strength and courage it takes to deal with the everyday challenges of bat-
tling breast cancer day in day out and we hope that this screening encourages both women and men to schedule regular checkups and we are grateful to the Hayatt Breast Cancer Foundation, Cinescape cinemas and Arabian Motors Group for partnering with us on this activity.” Mohammed Salah Khuzam, General Sales and Marketing manager of Arabian Motors Group, the Ford and Lincoln importer-dealer in Kuwait, explained: “Prevention can save lives, and it can only be accomplished by spreading awareness. Ford’s Warriors in Pink campaign has touched the lives of many, and we support this cause. This year, we aim to reach an even higher number of people to try and ensure
that the message gets heard whether it’s through a movie or a campaign.” Nader Salim, Marketing Department Supervisor from Cinescape cinemas added, “We were very happy to support this worthwhile cause as part of our community commitments and hope our contribution aids the increased awareness of breast cancer in the region”. In addition to experiencing the movie, guests at the event also enjoyed the photographer which captured all attendees at the event and Henna artists providing tattoos of the Warriors in Pink, signs which symbolize a variety of emotions including strength, courage, and unity which are all required in the fight against the disease.
200 National Guard troops return to US from Kuwait Families urged to be patient NEW YORK: Another 200 members of the New York Army National Guard’s 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team have arrived in the US after deployment in Kuwait . The soldiers are the first of 1,300 from the 27th Infantry Brigade who will return this month. The entire New York deployment of more than 1,800 Army National Guard soldiers assigned to the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team spent nine months in either Afghanistan, Kuwait or Bahrain, on a variety of missions. They left Camp Shelby, Miss. last spring in staggered deployments, and are returning in staggered groups. Some have already returned. Some will be returning home individually. Overseas the soldiers performed logistics, administrative and security missions. No soldiers were killed. At least five were wounded and received Purple Hearts, said Col. Richard Goldenberg, a
spokesman for the New York Division of Military and Naval Affairs. Returning soldiers include members of the 27th Special Troops Battalion and Company A, 2nd Battalion 108th Infantry, and are based at armories in Buffalo, Syracuse and Geneseo. They could begin returning home to New York late next week. The brigade’s commander, Col. Geoffrey Slack, is urging his soldiers and their families to be patient as soldiers go through the demobilization process. “Though everyone wants to go home, each and every family (needs) to slow down and take full advantage of the demobilization process” Slack said. “Attend to every detail, ask every question, research every resource and save everything.” Despite the timing of the return around the
Christmas and New Year’s holidays, the demobilization process will not be shortened to get soldiers home more quickly, said Slack. Soldiers who are expected to be at Camp Shelby over the Christmas holiday will be given four-day passes during that period and can travel home at their own expense, said Amanda Glenn, a spokesperson for First Army Division East. Out-processing will continue every day through the holiday period, except on Christmas day. Staff assisting the demobilization will address soldiers’ medical, behavioral health, administrative and financial issues before they head home. Soldiers will also receive information on TRICARE (the military health care program), the Veteran’s Health Administration, and employment information and resources. — The PostStandard
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Syria chemical arms use to be outrageous crime: UN
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Muslim groups file case against French paper
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Poll: Obama approval rises post-election
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CAIRO: Egyptian army tanks secure the perimeter of the presidential palace while protesters gather chanting anti-president Mohammed Morsi slogans in Cairo yesterday. (Inset) Supporters of Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohammed Morsi (pictured at right) chant slogans during the funeral of three victims who were killed during Wednesday’s clashes outside Al-Azhar mosque. — AP
Morsi foes spurn dialogue offer Protests in Tahrir square • Islamists hold funeral of ‘martyrs’ of clashes CAIRO: Egyptian opposition leaders rejected a national dialogue yesterday that the Islamist president had proposed as a way out of a crisis that has polarized the nation and provoked deadly clashes on the streets. Opponents of Mohammed Morsi, the first elected head of state in Egypt’s history, staged more protests in Cairo and other cities, while his supporters in the Muslim Brotherhood held emotional funerals for six of the movement’s members killed in fighting around the presidential palace earlier in the week. Morsi had offered few concessions in a speech late on Thursday, refusing to retract a Nov 22 decree in which he assumed sweeping powers or cancel a referendum next week on a constitution newly drafted by an Islamist-dominated assembly. Instead, he called for a dialogue at his office today to chart a way forward for Egypt after the referendum, an idea that liberal, leftist and other opposition leaders rebuffed. They have demanded that Morsi rescind the decree in which he temporarily shielded his decisions from judicial review and that he postpone the Dec 15 referendum before any talks begin. A leader of the main opposition coalition said it would not join Morsi’s dialogue: “The National
Salvation Front is not taking part in the dialogue,” said Ahmed Said, a leader of the coalition, who also heads the liberal Free Egyptians Party. The Front’s coordinator, Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel peace laureate, urged “national forces” to shun what he called an offer based on “arm-twisting and imposition of a fait accompli”. Murad Ali, spokesman of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), said opposition reactions were sad: “What exit to this crisis do they have other than dialogue?” he asked. Morsi’s decree giving himself extra powers sparked the worst political crisis since he took office in June and set off renewed unrest that is dimming Egypt’s hopes of stability and economic recovery after nearly two years of turmoil following the overthrow of veteran military strongman Hosni Mubarak. It has exposed deeply contrasting visions for Egypt, one held by Islamists, who were suppressed for decades by the army, and another by their rivals, who fear religious conservatives want to squeeze out other voices and restrict social freedoms. Caught in the middle are many of Egypt’s 83 million people who are desperate for an end to political turbulence threatening their precarious livelihoods in an economy under severe strain.
“We are so tired, by God,” said Mohamed Ali, a laborer. “I did not vote for Morsi nor anyone else. I only care about bringing food to my family, but I haven’t had work for a week.” A long political standoff will make it harder for Morsi’s government to tackle the crushing budget deficit and stave off a balance of payments crisis. Austerity measures, especially cuts in costly fuel subsidies, seem inevitable to meet the terms of a $4.8billion IMF loan that Egypt hopes to clinch this month. Thousands of anti-Morsi protesters marched from Tahrir Square and other Cairo locations. More turned out in Alexandria and in some Nile Delta towns. Most demonstrations were peaceful but in Kafr Al-Sheikh, north of the capital, rivals clashed near a Muslim Brotherhood office and there was a report of gunshots. Islamists gathered in their thousands at Cairo’s Al-Azhar mosque for the funeral of the “martyrs” killed in the clashes. “With our blood and souls, we sacrifice to Islam,” they chanted. US President Barack Obama told Morsi on Thursday of his “deep concern” about casualties in this week’s clashes, in which seven people were killed and 350 wounded. Obama said “dialogue should occur without preconditions”, the White
House said. The upheaval in the most populous Arab nation worries the United States, which has given billions of dollars in military and other aid since Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979. Ayman Mohamed, 29, among a few protesters near the presidential palace, ringed with tanks and armored vehicles after violence that peaked there on Wednesday night, said Morsi should scrap the draft constitution and heed popular demands. “He is the president of the republic. He can’t just work for the Muslim Brotherhood,” Mohamed said of the eight-decade-old Islamist movement that propelled Morsi from obscurity to power. Said, the leader of the Free Egyptians Party, accused Morsi of ignoring all the opposition’s demands in his “shocking” speech on Thursday and of fixing the dialogue agenda in advance. But the Muslim Brotherhood’s spokesman, Mahmoud Ghozlan, told Reuters: “If opposition refuses to come, then it shows that their intention is to remove Morsi from the presidency and not to cancel the decree or the constitution as they claim.” The conflict between Islamists and opponents who each believe the other is twisting the democratic rules to thwart them has poisoned the political atmosphere in Egypt. — Reuters
INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Syria chemical arms use to be outrageous crime: UN Damascus airport legitimate target: Rebels
MAFRAQ, Jordan: Syrian refugee students wave to welcome United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (unseen) to Zaatari Syrian refugee camp, in Mafraq, Jordan, near the Syrian border yesterday. — AP
Lebanon’s Tripoli begins to look like Syria TRIPOLI: The red, green and black flags adopted by Syrian rebels flutter in the December wind and rain as the sound of a mortar bomb explosion echoes off bullet-marked apartment blocks. But this is not Syria. It’s the coastal city of Tripoli in the civil-war-ravaged country’s little neighbor: Lebanon. Two men were killed in the early hours of yesterday morning and dozens more wounded in what residents and security sources say were the heaviest clashes this year between Lebanese gunmen loyal to opposing sides in Syria’s war. Tripoli is a majority Sunni Muslim city and mostly supports the Sunni-led uprising in Syria. But it also has an Alawite minority - the same sect as President Bashar al-Assad - and street fights between Sunnis and Alawites are common every time Lebanon gets dragged further into the crisis next door. The spark this time was the killing last week of at least 14 Sunni Muslim Lebanese and Palestinian gunmen from north Lebanon by Syrian government forces in a Syrian border town. The gunmen appeared to have joined insurgents waging a 20-month-old revolt against Assad, and residents in Tripoli say several came from Tripoli’s Sunni neighborhood of Bab Al-Tabbaneh. Syrian state television has shown graphic footage of the dead Lebanese men, riddled with gunshot wounds. “Someone had to pay for the blood,” said a Tripoli security source on condition of anonymity. “The Sunni gunmen attacked some Alawites in the market and then snipers positioned themselves,” he added. That was on Tuesday. By Friday, 12 people had died in Tripoli and more than 100 had been wounded by rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and mortar bombs. “There is fighting on more streets than ever before,” said a resident who asked not to be named. The entire area was blocked off by the army and fighters from both sides who have previously spoken to Reuters were not answering their phones yesterday. The army has been instructed to return fire in an attempt to halt the spiralling violence. — Reuters
TULKAREM: Palestinians carry the body of Hatem Shadid during his funeral in the West Bank village of Illar near Tulkarem, yesterday. Shadid, 37, a Palestinian motorist rammed an Israeli army jeep carrying intelligence officers in West Bank and then attacked them with an axe before he was shot dead on Dec 3, Israeli officials said. — AP
ISLAHIYE, Turkey: UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon said yesterday he was not aware of any confirmed reports that Syrian President Bashar alAssad was preparing to use chemical weapons but that if he did so it would be an “outrageous crime”. Several Western countries have issued warnings this week to Assad’s government not to use chemical arms, many citing intelligence that Washington has said showed it might be preparing to use poison gas. “Recently we have been receiving alarming news that the Syrian government may be preparing to use chemical weapons. We have no confirmed reports on this matter,” UN chief Ban said after visiting a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey. “However, if it is the case, then it will be an outrageous crime in the name of humanity,” he said. “I know that many world leaders have added their voices urging him not to use it and warning him that it will create huge consequences.” Ban said he had spoken on Thursday with the head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons about ways to investigate the reports but no concrete plan had yet emerged. He called on world powers and the U.N. Security Council to unite and take action to end the Syrian conflict, saying only a political solution could stop the bloodshed. But he said the international community had not yet started to discuss the possibility of arranging safe passage for Assad and his family out of Syria should he be persuaded to leave. Syrian rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad declared Damascus International Airport a “legitimate target” Friday in a bid to cut off regime supplies, as clashes between government troops and rebels forced the closure of the airport road for the second time this week. Fighting around the Syrian capital
and the airport has intensified in recent days as rebels press a battle they hope will lead to the collapse of Assad’s regime after 20 months of conflict. They have set their sights on the city of 1.7 million, and fighting on the outskirts is raising fears that it soon
the past week, although airport officials said yesterday the facility was still functioning. Rebels said they were trying to cut military supplies to the regime. Iran and Russia are widely believed to be supplying the regime with weapons
ISLAHIYE, Turkey: UN general secretary Ban Ki-moon (second right) meets Syrian refugees at a camp in the southeastern Turkish town of Islahiye, Gaziantep province yesterday. Ban’s visit comes amid international warnings to President Bashar AlAssad’s regime not to use chemical weapons to suppress the rebellion. — AFP could be facing the most brutal battle of the Syrian civil war. The rebels issued a stern warning to the regime and travelers planning to use the country’s main airport, just a few kilometers (miles) south of the capital. Loss of control of the airport would be a major blow to the regime. A fighter who is part of the push against the airport declared it a legitimate target, claiming that the regime has stationed troops and elite forces in it as well as military planes that transport ammunition. The clashes already have forced the suspension of commercial flights in
through the airport. Over the past months, Turkey and Iraq stopped several planes coming from those two countries that were headed to Damascus and searched them. “This would send a very strong political message to the regime, it will be a moral victory, to say the least,” said the fighter, who gave only his first name, Nour, for security reasons. “The battle to cut off the regime supplies from the airport has started.” Another rebel, speaking on condition of anonymity for the same reason, said the airport is now considered a “military zone.” —Agencies
Iran commander claims sanctions are helpful TEHRAN: A senior commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard claimed yesterday that Western sanctions are helpful because they promote Iranian selfsufficiency and insisted the country’s leaders should welcome the measures. Oil and trade embargos have helped Iran reduce its reliance on the outside world, Gen Mohammad Reza Naqdi told worshippers at Tehran University in a pre-sermon speech. The remarks echoed the defiant mantra of Iranian conservatives who say the economy is strengthening and that Iran is developing more modern technologies - including building missiles, drones, satellites and advancing its uranium enrichment program - precisely because of the West’s punitive measures. Iran is under four sets of UN sanctions and steppedup Western oil, banking and trade restrictions over its refusal to halt the enrichment - a program that can be a pathway to nuclear arms. The US and its allies accuse Iran of seeking to develop atomic weapons. Tehran denies the charge, insisting the
country’s nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. The sanctions have cut sharply into Iran’s oil sales, which account for 80 percent of the country’s foreign currency revenue. At the same time, Iran has been barred from the major international banking systems, which has helped push the national currency to record lows and forced merchants to resort to hand-carrying gold and cash from the nearby commercial hubs of Istanbul or Dubai. In his speech, Naqdi said a man who runs 100 meters in 20 seconds can finish it in 7 seconds if a wolf is chasing him, and that was the case for Iran. In response to the Western sanctions, the government has embraced what it calls “resistance economy” - promoting domestic products and stemming the outflow of dollars and other foreign currency. And after the European Union enforced a total ban on oil imports from Iran in July, authorities countered by saying they would build new oil storage facilities so that Iran would be able to store its oil while it negotiates with foreign partners. — AP
INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Ukraine leader pledges to name premier soon KIEV: Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich has promised to name his choice of new prime minister by tomorrow and to nominate someone whose first big task will be to try to broker a new loan deal with the International Monetary Fund. A new program is required to help the former Soviet republic repay foreign creditors $9.1 billion in 2013, up from $6.5 billion this year. This includes $6.4 billion already owed to the IMF which Ukraine says it hopes to refinance. However, doubts about its ability to repay its debts linger and Credit agency Standard and Poor’s cut the country’s sovereign rating by one notch to ‘B’ with a negative outlook yesterday citing concerns about
the issue. Yanukovich accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov’s government on Monday, a move that was widely expected after a parliamentary election on Oct 28. He has not indicated who he wants as his next prime minister but has not ruled out re-appointing Azarov, a long-time ally and government veteran who is now acting prime minister. However, Serhiy Arbuzov, the central bank head, has also been mooted as a strong favorite for the top government post if Yanukovich decides to ring the changes. Yanukovich was quoted on his website on Thursday night as saying he would nominate his candidate for prime minister before he
left on an official visit to India on Sunday. “I will announce the candidate for prime minister by tomorrow,” he was quoted as telling a group of diplomats. The new parliament, which must vote on Yanukovich’s nominated candidate, will convene on Dec 12. Azarov, 64, served as Yanukovich’s prime minister after the latter won the presidency in February 2010, and is regarded as a safe pair of hands and a political neutral who is not linked to any specific group of billionaire power-brokers in the country. But his resistance to pressure from the IMF to raise household gas prices - a move that would be unpopular but which the Fund sees as essential to control the budget deficit
- prompted it to suspend payments under a stand-by program in early 2011. The principal lender to the cash-strapped country, the IMF on Thursday raised eyebrows after it put back to late January a visit to Ukraine for talks over a possible new loan arrangement. The mission had originally been due to arrive yesterday. The Fund’s local representative, Max Alier, said it had made the decision at the request of the Ukrainian authorities in view of possible government changes. Some analysts have speculated that Yanukovich might replace Azarov with someone more flexible ahead of the new loan talks with the Fund. — Reuters
Muslim groups file case against French paper Blasphemous cartoons to incite racial hatred
ACCRA: A man casts his ballot at a polling station yesterday during national elections. Ghana voted in a highstakes presidential election today which is expected to be close, with the emerging country seeking to live up to its promise as a beacon of democracy in turbulent West Africa. — AFP
Ghana election, test of democratic reputation ACCRA, Ghana: Voters in Ghana were selecting their next president and a 275-seat parliament in elections yesterday, solidifying the West African nation’s reputation as a beacon of democracy in a region with often tumultuous politics. With the race for the presidency expected to be close, the turnout at the polls was high. Some voters began lining up five hours before they opened. Many polls opened late because material had not arrived from the electoral commission. President John Dramani Mahama, in office for only five months, is running against seven contenders. His main challenger is Nana Akufo-Addo, a former foreign minister and the son of one of Ghana’s previous presidents. A former vice president, Mahama became president in July after the unexpected death of former President John Atta Mills. The 54-year-old is also a former minister and parliamentarian and has written an acclaimed biography, “My First Coup d’Etat.” Akufo-Addo lost the 2008 election to Mills by less than 1 percent. Both leading candidates are trying to make the case that they will use the nation’s newfound oil wealth to help the poor. Ghana, a nation of 25 million, is one of the few established democracies in the region as well as the fastest-growing economy. But a deep divide still exists between those benefiting from the country’s oil, cocoa and mineral wealth and those left behind financially. In an interview on the eve of the vote, Akufo-Addo told The Associated Press that the first thing he will do if elected is begin working on providing free high school education for all. “It’s a matter of great concern to me,” he said, adding that he plans to use the nation’s oil wealth to educate the population, industrialize the economy and create better jobs for Ghanaians. Policy-oriented and intellectual, Akufo-Addo is favored by the young and urbanized voters. He was educated in England and comes from a privileged family. The ruling party has depicted him as elitist, which Akufo-Addo calls “a little PR construct.” “The idea that merely because you are born into privilege that automatically means you are against the welfare of the ordinary people, that’s nonsense,” he said. —AP
PARIS: Two French Muslim groups have filed a lawsuit for inciting racial hatred and slander against a French satirical weekly that published cartoons of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in blasphemous fashion, the paper’s lawyer said yesterday. Charlie Hebdo published the cartoons in September as often violent-and sometimes deadly-protests were taking place in several countries over a lowbudget film made in the United States that insults the Prophet. The Algerian Democratic Rally for Peace and Progress (RDAP) and its offshoot the United Arab Organization (OAU), which both state
that their goal is “the defense and support of Muslim and/or Arab people”, are seeking damages of 780,000 euros ($1 million). Their suit targets the publication, its director and two cartoonists. Two other groups have already filed suits against Charlie Hebdo over the same series of cartoons. The most recent suits say they besmirched the honor of the Prophet and of Muslims. “Yet again, they are trying to scare us to prevent us continuing this French humoristic tradition regarding religion,” said the weekly’s lawyer Richard Malka. In 2008, the then-director of Charlie
Russian police search filmmaker’s home in anti-Putin rally probe MOSCOW: Russian investigators yesterday searched the home of a filmmaker who is working on a documentary about the protest movement lined up against President Vladimir Putin. Acclaimed cinematographer Pavel Kostomarov is directing The Term (Srok), which chronicles Russia’s political life after Putin was sworn in for his third term as president in May. His home was searched in the early hours yesterday, his colleague Alexei Pivovarov wrote on his Twitter. “(Investigators) told him that he is a witness in the Bolotnaya square case and had him sign a non-disclosure document,” Pivovarov, one of the documentary’s writers. Russia’s investigative committee confirmed to Russian news agencies that Kostomarov is a witness in a case opened on the May 6 protest on Moscow’s Bolotnaya square, held on the eve of Putin’s inauguration. Kostomarov is best known for his award-winning camerawork in the Arctic-set drama How I Ended This Summer. In May, he launched The Pavel Kostomarov Term as co-director, together with Pivovarov, a news anchor on NTV channel, and documentary-maker Alexander Rastorguev. The first segment they published on their video blog showed the arrest of opposition leaders at the May 6 protest, with riot police grabbing Alexei Navalny and twisting his arm as he cries out in pain. Since then they have posted small clips of rallies and trials on a near-daily basis. They have also featured in-depth, personal interviews with opposition leaders. The probe into the May 6 disturbances, when protesters clashed with riot police after being forced into a bottleneck which caused a crush, has already seen 17 people charged and one man convicted and jailed for four and a half years. — AFP
Hebdo, Philippe Val, was cleared after French Muslim groups took him to court accusing him of having insulted Islam by publishing cartoons of the Prophet. An appeals court in Paris ruled that he had not insulted Muslims because the cartoons were aimed clearly at Islamist extremists and not the Muslim community as a whole. In November 2011 Charlie Hebdo caused further offence when it published an edition “guest-edited” by the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) that it called Sharia (Islamic law) Hebdo. The magazine’s offices in Paris were subsequently fire-bombed. — AFP
4 IRA suspects arrested over N Ireland bomb DUBLIN: Northern Ireland police rammed a car and seized an Irish Republican Army bomb hours ahead of yesterday’s visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a one-day trip being overshadowed by an upsurge in sectarian passions. Detectives were interrogating four suspected IRA members, all aged in their 40s, on suspicion of transporting the bomb in the Northern Ireland city of Londonderry, 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Belfast. Police arrested three men in the disabled car and a fourth suspect nearby Thursday night. They declined to specify the size of the bomb or speculate on the potential target. IRA die-hards often try to mount at least one token attack during moments when Northern Ireland is in the world headlines, such as during US political visits, in hopes of attracting attention to their cause. Most IRA members renounced violence and disarmed in 2005, but several splinter groups continue to mount occasional gun and bomb attacks in pursuit of the IRA’s traditional goal of forcing Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom and into the Republic of Ireland. — AP
INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Poll: Obama approval rises post-election WASHINGTON: A month after the bitterly fought election, US President Barack Obama has his highest approval ratings since the killing of Osama bin Laden, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll, and more Americans say the nation is heading in the right direction now than at any time since the start of his first term. Obama’s approval rating stands at 57 percent, the highest since May 2011, when US Navy SEALs killed the terror leader, and up 5 percentage points from before the election. And 42 percent say the country is on the right track, up from 35 percent in January 2009. A majority think it’s likely that the president will be able to improve the economy in his second term. “Compared to the alternative, I’m more optimistic about government and the economy with him in office,” said Jack Reinholt, an independent
from Bristol, Rhode Island, who backed Obama in 2008 and again in 2012. “I feel he has the better path laid out.” Still, four years of partisan
President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign event at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. A month after the bitterly fought election, Obama has his highest approval ratings since the killing of Osama bin Laden, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll. —AP
conflict in Washington have taken a toll on the president’s image. “I’m less enthusiastic about him than the first time he was elected,” Reinholt added. Americans are divided on what kind of president Obama has been, with 37 percent saying he’s been above average or outstanding and 36 percent describing his tenure as below average or poor. Another quarter say he’s been just average. Obama held much stronger numbers on this measure at the start of his first term, with two-thirds expecting an above-average presidency. And the public’s take on Obama’s relative performance has bounced back and forth over his four years in office, moving higher following the death of bin Laden, after declining in the summer of 2010, a few months before the Republican Party took back control of the House. Looking ahead to Obama’s final four years, most
Americans doubt he can reduce the federal budget deficit. But almost 7 in 10 say he will be able to implement the health care law passed in March 2010 and remove most troops from Afghanistan. And most think he’ll be able to improve the economy and boost race relations in his final term, though both those figures are down significantly from January 2009.About a quarter say the economy is in good shape in the new poll, similar to pre-election poll results, but optimism about the economy has dipped since before the election. In October, 52 percent of Americans said they expected the economy to get better in the next year; now, that stands at 40 percent. Among Republicans, the share saying the economy will improve in the coming year has dropped sharply since before the election, from 42 percent in October to 16 percent now. — AP
Clinton says US, Russia back Syria mediation Top level US visit after riots in Belfast BELFAST: US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the United States and Russia have agreed to support mediation efforts with all parties in Syria to bring about a political transition. But she says Syrian President Bashar Assad must leave power to secure a democratic future for the Arab country. Washington and Moscow have clashed repeatedly throughout Syria’s 21-month civil war over how to stem the violence. In a new effort, Clinton met with Russia’s foreign minister and the UN peace envoy for Syria to try to chart a new path forward. Clinton travelled to Northern Ireland to lend her support to the British province’s fragile peace, the frailty of which was underlined by overnight rioting on the eve of her visit and the seizure of a bomb. Making one of her last foreign trips as US Secretary of State, she visits a province transformed by the 1998 peace agreement that her husband helped bring about in what was regarded as one of the greatest successes of his presidency. But Northern Ireland remains riven by sectarian tensions and she arrives in a week that has seen three riots, the seizure of a bomb over 100 kilometres (62 miles) outside Belfast, and the arrest of four militant nationalists. The latest riot erupted on Thursday night when a policeman was injured after protesters hurled missiles to vent their anger against nationalist councilors who voted to remove the British flag atop Belfast City Hall. Two people were arrested and four vehicles damaged. Militant nationalists also shot dead a prison officer last month. However, Clinton’s visit, during which politicians from both sides of the political divide will brief her on the
peace process, will be a reminder of the huge popularity of her family in Ireland, a potential asset in attracting the Irish-American vote if Hillary decided to run for the US presidency in 2016. The province has suffered one of the world’s worst property market crashes and its leaders are hoping for the kind of US foreign investment that has transformed the rest of Ireland. “Our need is more economic now than political,” said Reg Empey, Chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party, who was a senior figure in the peace process. “But we also have to be aware that there is still a degree of volatility... and in those circumstances I think we should make sure we keep the relationship going.” Hillary Clinton travelled to
Northern Ireland several times in the mid-1990s while her husband helped broker the 1998 Good Friday peace accord, his hands-on approach widely recognized as crucial at moments when the agreement looked like crumbling. Bill Clinton’s work helped win over the Irish vote during his re-election campaign in 1996 and his popularity among Irish Americans could rub off on Hillary if she needed it. “I’m not making the assumption that Hillary’s career as a front-line politician has ended,” Empey said. “If you have someone in the White House with good working knowledge of the North and the peace process, that can only be good for us.” —Agencies
WASHINGTON: file photo shows Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier meeting with reporters in Washington. Washington’s murder rate was approaching nearly 500 slayings a year in the early 1990s; the annual rate has gradually declined to the point that the city is now on the verge of a once-unthinkable milestone. — AP
LILLE, France: A picture shows the traffic on a highway yesterday after snowfall during the night. — AFP
Russia to respond tit-for-tat to US bill MOSCOW: Russia has strongly criticized US legislation that calls for sanctions against Russian officials accused of human rights abuses and warned that it will respond in kind. A leading anti-corruption crusader, however, hailed the bill as “pro-Russian.” The bill is primarily intended to end Cold War-era trade restrictions and was hailed by US businesses worried about falling behind in the race to win shares of Russia’s more open market, but its human rights part has outraged the Kremlin. The measure, dubbed the Magnitsky act, is named for Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who was arrested by officials he accused of a $230-million tax fraud. He was severely beaten, repeatedly denied medical treatment and died after almost a year in jail in 2009. Russian rights groups accused the Kremlin of failing to prosecute those responsible, while independent media claimed that such tax frauds are widespread. Russia’s Foreign Ministry responded to the US Senate vote late Thursday by calling it a “show in the theater of the absurd.” It warned that Russia will respond to the new legislation in kind, adding that the US will have to take the blame for the worsening of US-Russian ties. “Probably people in Washington forgot what year it is and are thinking that the Cold War isn’t over yet,” the ministry said in a statement adding that “it’s weird and strange to hear human rights-related complaints against us from the politicians of a country where torture and abductions of people all over the world were legitimized in the 21st century.” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Russian media that “we will ban entry (to Russia) to Americans that are in fact guilty of violating human rights” in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and other nations. — AP
INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
US conducts limited nuke test in Nevada Test to study behavior of N-materials WASHINGTON: The United States said Thursday it has conducted a “subcritical” nuclear test at an underground site to study the behavior of nuclear materials without triggering an atomic explosion. The test, conducted Wednesday in Nevada, aims to gather scientific data that will “provide crucial information to maintain the safety and effectiveness of the nation’s nuclear weapons,” the Energy Department said in a statement. Such tests “ensure that we can support a safe, secure and effective stockpile without having to conduct underground testing,” said
National Nuclear Security Administration head Thomas D’Agostino. Staff from the Nevada National Security Site, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories conducted the experiment, known as Pollux. It was the 27th subcritical experiment to date. The last one, known as Barolo B, took place in February 2011. Subcritical nuclear tests, which do not trigger a selfsustaining chain reaction that would create a nuclear explosion, examine how plutonium behaves when it is shocked by forces produced by chemical high explo-
sives. The United States halted underground nuclear tests in 1992. By then, it had conducted 1,032 tests since 1945, according to UN figures. Wednesday’s test passed with little notice in the United States but drew sharp criticism from Hiroshima, the Japanese city destroyed by the first-ever nuclear weapon used in an armed conflict. Hiroshima was struck by the first of two US nuclear bombs dropped on the country near the end of World War II. “I wonder why President (Barack) Obama, who said he would seek a nuclearfree world, carried out the test,” Hiroshima
mayor Kazumi Matsui told reporters. “I wish he would take into account the feelings of the people of Hiroshima when making policy decisions,” he said. Hirotami Yamada, 81, secretary general of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors Council, said: “It is depressing that the United States cannot understand how atomic bomb survivors feel, despite our repeated protests.” The test “is proof that the United States could use nuclear weapons anytime. Such a country is not qualified to be a world leader,” he said. — AFP
Chavez back from Cuba after medical treatment
US Navy file photo. A small boat rescues a USS West Virginia crew member from the water after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec 7, 1941 during World War II. — AP
Pearl Harbor dead remembered on 71st anniversary PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii: More than 2,000 people are gathering at Pearl Harbor yesterday to mark the 71st anniversary of the Japanese attack that killed thousands of people and launched the United States into World War II. Ceremonies get under way with a moment of silence at 7:55 am, the exact time the bombing began in 1941. The crew of a Navy guided-missile destroyer will stand on deck while the ship passes the USS Arizona, a battleship that still lies in the harbor where it sank decades ago. Hawaii Air National Guard aircraft will fly overhead in missing man formation. The Navy and National Park Service are hosting the ceremonies, which are being held in remembrance of the 2,390 service members and 49 civilians killed in the attack. Yesterday’s events will also give special recognition to members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, who flew noncombat HONOLULU: Ray Emory dis- missions during World War II, and cusses his work pushing to to ray Emory, a 91-year-old Pearl change grave markers for Harbor survivor who has pushed unknown Pearl Harbor dead to identify the remains of and identifying the remains unknown servicemen. Admiral of unknowns at his home Cecil Haney, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, is scheduled to yesterday. — AP give the keynote address at the ceremony. The ceremony will also include a Hawaiian blessing, songs played by the US Pacific Fleet band and a rifle salute from the US Marine Corps. President Barack Obama marked the day on Thursday by issuing a presidential proclamation, calling for flags to fly at halfstaff yesterday and asking all Americans to observe the day of remembrance and honor military service members and veterans. “Today, we pay solemn tribute to America’s sons and daughters who made the ultimate sacrifice at Oahu,” Obama said in a statement. “As we do, let us also reaffirm that their legacy will always burn bright whether in the memory of those who knew them, the spirit of service that guides our men and women in uniform today, or the heart of the country they kept strong and free.” —AP
CARACAS: Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez made a theatrical return from Cuba yesterday after medical treatment, walking and joking in a first public appearance for three weeks that quashed rumors he may have been at death’s door. “I’m happy and enthused to be back again,” Chavez said after flying in overnight to the delight of supporters. “So, where’s the party?” Chavez joked, in festive mood as he chatted with ministers after walking unaided down the steps from his plane at the international airport outside Caracas. The 58-year-old socialist leader has had three cancer operations in Cuba since mid-2011 and returned to Havana ten days ago to receive “hyperbaric oxygenation” - a treatment normally used to alleviate bone decay from radiation therapy. But speculation was rife he may have suffered a recurrence of the disease. One local journalist said he was confined to a wheelchair. Earlier this year, Chavez declared himself “completely cured” and went on to comfortably win re-election in October. Amid a barrage of rumors, officials had maintained his latest trip to Cuba was just a scheduled follow-up to the radiation therapy he underwent in the first half of 2012. Supporters celebrated the return of the man who has dominated the South American OPEC nation since he first won election in 1998. He wore a multi-colored track suit and arrived with relatives
CARACAS: This handout photo provided by the Presidencia shows Venezuala’s President Hugo Chavez (center) speaking with ministers at the Simon Bolivar international airport, after returning from Cuba, yesterday. — AFP and aides including vice president Nicolas Maduro. “YEEESSSS!!!!,” tweeted Eva Golinger, an American-Venezuelan lawyer close to the Chavez government. “Chavez is back and has shown up all the rumor-mongers, necrophiliacs, gossips and ill-thinkers. Welcome commander.” Yesterday, Cuba’s Communist Party newspaper showed President Raul Castro bidding farewell to Chavez at Havana airport. Chavez’s return gives him a week to campaign for Venezuela’s Dec 16 state elections, where the ruling Socialist Party is hoping to use the
momentum of the presidential victory to win back some opposition-held governorships. The opposition, however, is hoping that discontent with grassroots issues like crime, power-cuts and cronyism will enable it to at least hold the seven states it controls out of Venezuela’s 23. Speculation is unlikely to end over Chavez’s health, given the scant details given by the government. Doctors say hyperbaric oxygenation is a treatment normally given in different sessions over several months, meaning he could return again to Cuba soon. —Reuters
Families, community reeling from discovered bodies EVANSDALE, Iowa: The families of two young cousins missing for five months still were hoping the girls would come home, maybe even for Christmas, until the sad news arrived that two bodies had been found. Autopsies by the state medical examiner’s office are still under way, but the remains are believed to be those of Lyric Cook and Elizabeth Collins, who were 10 and 8 when they vanished July 13 while riding their bicycles, Black Hawk County sheriff’s Capt. Rick Abben said. “This 100 percent blindsided us and it absolutely did them as well,” said Sara Curl, a friend of the girls’ families and organizer of several community events to support
them. She said the families were spending time with each other Thursday trying to cope with the news. The Collins family put up a tree and decorated it for Elizabeth, she said. Curl helped put together a vigil for the girls Thursday night, one of many community activities that will be needed to help people heal in the days ahead, she said. “I think everybody just needed to be together,” she said. “Everybody was just wandering around going about their day not knowing how to handle things.” The vigil was held around a Christmas tree set up to honor the girls - with the hoping they would be home for Christmas to see
it - said Tammy Marvets, whose husband, Randy, came up with the idea. She said her 7year-old son went to school with Elizabeth and rode the same bus. “He’s pretty upset. He says, ‘Mom, I just want to cry.’ I said, ‘It’s OK to cry, honey,’” Marvets said. Hunters found the bodies Wednesday in a rural wildlife area in northeastern Iowa, about 25 miles from Evansdale, the city of 4,700 where the girls were last seen. Authorities found their bikes and a purse near a recreational lake in the city, and their disappearance sparked a massive search and kidnapping investigation involving the FBI, state and local police. —AP
INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Tsunami hits Japan after 7.3-magnitude quake Thousands flee to safety in Ishinomaki
NEW BATAAN: Two bodies in cadaver bags are shown as rescuers work to retrieve another flash flood victim from the debris of Tuesday’s Typhoon Bopha at New Bataan township, Compostela Valley in southern Philippines yesterday. —AP
Philippine typhoon toll climbs past 500 NEW BATAAN, Philippines: Rescuers were digging through mud and debris yesterday to retrieve more bodies strewn across a farming valley in the southern Philippines by a powerful typhoon. The death toll from the storm has surpassed 500, with more than 400 people missing. More than 310,000 people have lost their homes since Typhoon Bopha struck Tuesday and are crowded inside evacuation centers or staying with their relatives, relying on food and emergency supplies being rushed in by government agencies and aid groups. “I want to know how this tragedy happened and how to prevent a repeat,” President Benigno Aquino III said during a visit to New Bataan town, the ground zero of the disaster, where ferocious winds and rains lashed the area. Officials have confirmed 252 dead in Compostela Valley, including New Bataan, and 216 in nearby Davao Oriental province. Nearly 40 others died elsewhere and more than 400 are still missing, about two-thirds in New Bataan alone. Aquino told New Bataan residents gathered in the middle of toppled coconut trees and roofless houses that he was bent on seeking answers in order to improve their conditions and minimize casualties when natural disasters occur. Fatal storms and typhoons blowing from the Pacific are common in the Philippines, but most of them hit northern and central areas, and southern Mindanao Island is usually spared. “We are going to look at what really happened. There are allegations of illegal mining, there are allegations of the force of nature,” said Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who traveled with Aquino. “We will find out why there are homes in these geohazard locations.” Roxas said rescue dogs will be brought to help search for survivors, although only bodies were found yesterday. Government geological hazard maps show that the farming town of New Bataan, population 45,000, was built in 1968 in an area classified as “highly susceptible to flooding and landslides.” Most of the casualties were killed in the valley surrounded by steep hills and crisscrossed by rivers. Flooding was so widespread here that places people thought were safe, including two emergency shelters, became among the deadliest. Poverty is widespread in the Philippines, and the disaster highlights the risks that some take in living in dangerous areas in the hope of feeding their families. “It’s not only an environmental issue, it’s also a poverty issue,” Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said. “The people would say, ‘We are better off here. At least we have food to eat or money to buy food, even if it is risky.’” At a government information center in the devastated town, dozens of people waiting for word of missing relatives. Authorities planned to display about 80 newly washed bodies in coffins at a Roman Catholic church, hoping relatives will identify them. On another part of Mindanao last December, 1,200 people died when a powerful storm overflowed rivers. Then and now, raging flash floods, logs and large rocks carried people to their deaths. — AP
TOKYO: A one-meter-high tsunami hit northeast Japan yesterday after a powerful undersea quake struck off the coast, sending thousands fleeing to safety in a region that was devastated in last year’s quake-tsunami disaster. Broadcasters urged residents along the shoreline to remember the 2011 catastrophe and move to higher ground when the initial tremors rocked the region. Telephone systems jammed up with the sheer volume of calls, complicating officials’ efforts to evacuate exposed areas until the tsunami warning was lifted two hours later. Meteorologists said the wave swept ashore just after 6 pm (0900 GMT) in Ishinomaki, a city badly hit by the 2011 quake-generated tsunami that wrecked a large swathe of coast, killing thousands. There were no immediate reports of any fatalities following the quake, which had a magnitude of 7.3, according to the United States Geological Survey. Several smaller tsunamis were also recorded, including a 40-centimetre wave at Soma, a city that lies just outside the evacuation zone declared around the Fukushima nuclear plant after meltdowns there last year. Operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) told AFP there were no reports of any problems at the crippled plant. Broadcaster NHK reported 5,000 people had fled in Miyagi prefecture, a region devastated in last year’s disaster. Officials in Minamisanriku, Miyagi prefecture, said they were doing their best to get people to safety, but were
TOKYO: A station attendant (left) uses a loudspeaker to explain the train service situations for the Tohoku Shinkansen (bullet train) which connects Tokyo and northern Japan at Tokyo Station yesterday. —AFP running into technical difficulties. “We are now calling on people to evacuate to higher ground,” town official Ryuichi Omori told AFP shortly after the quake struck. “It’s already pitch dark here. Phones-both landlines and mobilesare not going through now, which makes it difficult to see people’s movement. “The quake was not so big, although it felt very long. It was not big at all compared with last year’s earthquake. The town office is now setting up a disaster taskforce.” A presenter on state broadcaster NHK repeatedly urged viewers to get to
safety after the initial tremors, which set Tokyo buildings swaying violently. “Remember last year’s quake and tsunami,” he said. “Call on your neighbors and flee to higher ground now!” The 7.3 quake struck 36 kilometres (23 miles) under the Pacific, the US Geological Survey said, with an epicentre 284 kilometres (176 miles) east of Sendai. It was followed by a 6.2 aftershock and another tremor measuring 5.5. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning, one notch lower than a tsunami alert, for the Pacific coast of Iwate, Fukushima, Aomori and Ibaraki prefectures. — AFP
Snow may have slowed N Korea launch plans SEOUL: New satellite images indicate that snow may have slowed North Korea’s rocket launch preparations, but that Pyongyang could still be ready for liftoff starting Monday. South Korean media reports this week quoted unnamed officials in Seoul as saying North Korea had mounted all three stages of the Unha rocket on the launch pad by Wednesday. But snow may have prevented Pyongyang from finishing its work by then, according to GeoEye satellite images from Tuesday that were scrutinized by analysts for the websites 38 North and North Korea Tech and shared yesterday with The Associated Press. The analysis and images provide an unusually detailed public look at North Korea’s cloaked preparations for a launch that the United Nations, Washington, Seoul and others say is a cover for a test of technology for a missile that could be used to target the United States. The launch preparations have been magnified as an issue because of their timing: Both Japan and South Korea hold elections this month, and President Barack Obama will be inaugurated for his second term in office in January. North Korea, for its part, says it has a right to pursue a peaceful space program and will launch a satellite into orbit sometime between Monday and Dec 22. That launch window comes as North Korea marks the Dec 17 death of leader Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong Il. North Korea is also celebrating the centennial of the birth of Kim Jong Un’s grandfather, national founder Kim Il Sung. Images from Dec 1 showed no rocket at the launch pad, but by Tuesday North Koreans were seen working under a dark canvas, according to the analysis by 38 North, the website for the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School
of Advanced International Studies, and the North Korea Tech website, which collaborated with 38 North on the report. — AP
Satellite image taken by GeoEye and annotated and distributed by North Korea Tech and 38 North shows snow covering the Sohae launching station in Tongchang-ri, North Korea, including the path where trailers would be used to move the rocket stages from the assembly building to the launch pad in preparation for a Dec 10-22 launch. — AP
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Afghan spy chief hurt by underpants bomber Bomber posed as Taleban peace envoy
DHAKA: A Bangladeshi policeman stands inside the damaged Tazreen garment factory yesterday. —AP
Bangladesh blaze factory had no license: Official DHAKA: A Bangladesh garment factory where 110 workers were killed by a fire as they made clothing for firms such as Walmart did not have a valid safety license at the time of the blaze, an official said yesterday. The Tazreen Fashion’s fire safety license expired in June this year and the owners had not subsequently applied for a new one, the fire department’s administrative director Abdus Salam told AFP. “Its license for 2011-12 year expired on June 30 this year and they did not come to us for renewing the fire safety certificate for 2012-13. We approve licenses after inspecting factory conditions,” he said. The 110 staff at the Tazreen factory were killed when a fire ripped through the nine-storey building on November 24 on the outskirts of Dhaka. The victims, who were mostly women paid as little as $37 a month, found themselves overcome by smoke or jumped from elevated windows. Firefighters have told AFP that all three of the fire exits led to the ground floor. The factory was supplying clothes to a variety of international groups including US giant Walmart, Dutch retailer C&A, Hong Kong supplier Li & Fung as well as to the brand owned by US rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs. Salam said none of the factory’s fire equipment was used during the blaze and that initial investigations found that the inferno did not originate from an electric short circuit as was feared initially. Salam said the official government inquiry team would submit its report in the third week of the month. Its initial investigations pointed to “arson or sabotage” as the main cause of the incident. Authorities have previously said that the nine-storey factory only had permission for three floors. There have also been accusations that managers instructed employees to stay at their work stations when the fire broke out and told them that the activation of a fire alarm was only a routine drill. — AFP
KABUL: The suicide bomber who tried to assassinate Afghanistan’s spy chief detonated a bomb hidden in his underwear, the intelligence agency said yesterday. Asadullah Khalid, who heads the National Directorate of Security (NDS), was targeted by a bomber posing as a Taleban peace envoy in a spy agency guesthouse in the upscale Kabul district of Taimani on Thursday. Khalid was wounded in the attack and is now being treated at a US-run military hospital outside Kabul where he is in a stable condition, security sources have said. Yesterday, the NDS said that he was “recovering” and in a “satisfactory” condition. Investigators found that “the organizers of this suicide attack... skillfully placed the explosives in the underpants and around the genitals of the suicide attacker,” the spy agency said in a statement. This “runs against all Islamic and Afghani principles”, it added. It is believed to be the first time in Afghanistan that a suicide bomber has carried the explosives in his underpants. The tactic was made notorious on Christmas Day 2009 by an Al-Qaeda agent who tried to blow up an American airliner. Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was caught while trying to detonate the plastic explosives aboard a flight from Amsterdam to the US, is serving life imprisonment. His capture led to even stricter searches in some airports, including scanners which show victims in the nude. The fact that an assassin was able to get so close to one of Afghanistan’s most prominent officials had raised questions about whether the visitor was an insider known to Khalid. But the revelation that the explo-
sives were hidden in his underpants could also suggest that he might not have been thoroughly searched on that part of his body-an omission in many security searches in Afghanistan. Khalid is being treated for his wounds in a US-run military hospital at Bagram airbase near Kabul after emergency surgery and blood transfusions at an NDS medical facility. “We can confirm that he has been moved to the hospital at Bagram,” a spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said. Bagram, around 60 kilometres (35 miles) north of Kabul, is a huge airbase run by US troops based in Afghanistan as part of the NATO mission. Khalid has been visited by President Hamid Karzai, signalling his
importance in the fight against the Taleban as NATO forces prepare to withdraw in 2014. Some officials said Khalid was seriously wounded in the stomach and the head, but surgeons told the president that Khalid’s injuries were not life-threatening. The Taleban named the attacker in a statement as “hero mujahid Hafiz Mohammad”. Last year, the head of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, Burhanuddin Rabbani, was assassinated by a bomber posing as a Taleban peace envoy with explosives in his turban. Khalid, known for being a fierce anti-Taleban figure and close to Karzai, had only been in the job for a couple of months before Thursday’s attack. — AFP
MANDVI, Gujarat: India’s ruling Congress party President Sonia Gandhi reaches through a fence to greet well-wishers during an election campaign rally for the upcoming Gujarat State Assembly elections, at Godsamba near Mandvi, Gujarat, yesterday. — AP
US diplomat hopes song can win over Pakistan
PESHAWAR: Shayla Cram, a US public diplomacy officer assigned to Peshawar gestures during an interview. — AFP
ISLAMABAD: A US official is taking a novel approach to diplomacy in Pakistan-singing in a local language to build bridges in one of the world’s most dangerous countries, where anti-Americanism runs rampant. Shayla Cram, a public diplomacy officer assigned to Peshawar, the gateway to Al-Qaeda and Taleban strongholds in the northwestern tribal belt, has not only learnt Pashto but has penned her own Pashtostyle song. “Jenaiy”, which means “girl”, is a tribute to Malala Yousafzai, the teenager who was shot in the head by the Taleban for promoting education for girls. It features Cram on guitar and vocals and a Pakistani musician on the rabab a traditional stringed instrument-and urges girls to have hope for the future and pursue their dreams. “There’s definitely need in Pakistan to encourage
young girls and females in their education and leadership, to make them young leaders, and that’s the basic message of my song,” Cram told AFP. Women in Pakistan, particularly in northwestern rural areas, are frequently treated as second-class citizens, subjected to horrific violence in the name of family “honor”, and denied education. Nationwide, fewer than half of women can read and write and militants are violently opposed to girls going to school-as showed by the October attack on Malala, now recovering in Britain. Despite the anti-American feeling, Cram says the song has had a good response so far. She now plans to work with local musicians to record a whole album in other Pakistani languages. “I would say 97 percent has been overwhelmingly positive and the other few people who have said
that (given negative reactions), for example on our embassy Facebook page, are always our harshest critics no matter what we do,” she said. Pakistan-US relations are on the rebound from a series of crises in 2011 that saw a CIA operative held for double murder, Osama bin Laden killed by US troops and botched air strikes kill 24 Pakistani soldiers. Peshawar is regularly hit by militant bombings, including a deadly suicide attack on a US government convoy in September-and American diplomats’ movements are tightly controlled due to security worries. Reaching out across the airwaves is a cheap and easy way to get around the frustrations of restrictions to make contact with people, Cram says. “How can you do that for example in Peshawar when you can’t leave the (consulate) gates? How do
I reach someone’s heart and let them know who I am and what I’m about as an American when I can’t physically go out?” she said. “One of the most effective ways I think is through music, because it’s something people can connect to and understand in a simple way.” The 29-year-old is no stranger to the musical limelight-she taught herself the guitar while working in west Africa, writing songs about HIV/AIDS and child trafficking that were still played on Togolese radio after she left the country. While the embassy has been supportive, Cram received no financial assistance. “Jenaiy” was recorded in a studio with the help of Pakistani friends in the music industry, and a slick video was shot in someone’s garden on the edge of Islamabad. The track has been sent to radio stations across the northwest. — AFP
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Putin launches construction of South Stream pipeline
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US job growth quickens, jobless rate falls to 7.7%
Business
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Maldives retakes airport from Indian developer
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Chinese insurer PICC soars on HK debut
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JAMMU, India: An Indian shopkeeper displays grains for sale at a retail grocery store yesterday. — AP
India govt wins final retail vote Boost for Congress-led govt’s reform agenda NEW DELHI: India’s minority government narrowly won a final vote in parliament yesterday for its controversial move to allow in foreign supermarkets, giving a boost to its reform agenda. After heated debate, lawmakers in the nominated upper house gave their support to the government and rejected an opposition motion against the decision to open up the retail sector to foreign firms such as US giant Walmart. “The vote sends a very good signal to investors that underneath all the debate - which is all part of the democratic process - things (in India) do move forward,” said Montek Singh Ahluwalia, one of the country’s most powerful bureaucrats. “This vote is very positive,” Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of India’s Planning Commission told NDTV network. “Parliament got it done.” Walmart aims to be one of the first in India to set up foreign-owned megastores that opposition parties say could drive the country’s millions of small, family-owned stores out of business. One regional party opposing the retail reform decided to exit the house before the vote for ideological reasons rather than side with the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party - helping assure the government’s victory. The victory marked the Congress-led minority government’s second parliamentary test of strength in three days. Earlier the lower elected house also rejected the motion. A loss would not have reversed the government’s policy to allow global firms to buy up to a 51-percent holding in multibrand retailers in India as it did not require parliamentary approval to become law. But defeat would have dealt Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s left-leaning coalition an
embarrassing blow and stymied efforts to push through other reform measures. The Bharatiya Janata Party proposed the motion to oppose the entry of large retail chains, saying the measure would deprive millions of Indian traders of their livelihood. But Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said the move was “essential” for the country’s growth and rejected the opposition claims that it would hurt the small retailers and farmers or harm the
manufacturing sector. Sharma said letting in foreign stores was vital to help improve India’s antiquated food supply chain in which around 35 percent of fruits and vegetables rot before they reach market. After dithering for years over policy, Singh’s government unveiled a string of changes in September, throwing open key sectors such as retail and aviation while proposing greater foreign investment in insurance and pensions. The market-opening push, which includes
efforts to cut subsidies, comes as India faces a sharply slowing economy, a gaping fiscal deficit and high inflation, which has stoked pressure on an administration already under fire for corruption. But even with the liberalisation steps, foreign supermarkets seeking to enter India will have to abide by a number of rules such as investing a minimum of $100 million and opening stores only in towns with populations of over one million. — AFP
Italian fund wins battle for Aston Martin stake LONDON/MILAN: Aston Martin plans to invest $1 billion in new products and technology after Italian private equity fund Investindustrial agreed to buy a minority stake in the British luxury carmaker. Investindustrial is buying 37.5 percent for $241 million via a capital increase agreed with majority Kuwaiti owner Investment Dar, Aston Martin said yesterday. The Italian group beat Indian tractor maker Mahindra and Mahindra in a two-way battle to invest in the company, whose sports cars were made famous by their appearance in James Bond spy films. The cash injection will help Aston Martin better compete with Volkswagen’s Bentley and rival UK luxury car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover, which was bought by India’s Tata Motors in 2008 and has since seen huge sales growth, especially in China. The 99-year-old maker of the DB9 and Vanquish sports cars
has struggled in recent years. Last week, it said it sold 2,340 cars in the nine months to Sept 30, 19 percent down on 2011. Investindustrial’s senior principal Andrea Bonomi said the group hoped to transform Aston Martin in a similar way to its revamp of luxury Italian motorcycle maker Ducati by expanding Aston’s model range and strengthening its global dealership network. Owned by Italy’s Bonomi family, Investindustrial bought Ducati in 2006 and sold it for about 860 million euros last April to Volkswagen’s Audi division. Aston Martin said the deal would enable it to invest in new products and a technology program up to 2018. Bernstein analyst Max Warburton said it looked like Aston’s owners were settling for a temporary fix because they were unable to attract another car manufacturer to invest at the price they wanted. “It doesn’t look like a
long-term solution,” he said. “This deal doesn’t sort scale, access to technology, emissions or entry to new segments.” The British carmaker is owned by a consortium of Aston Martin chairman David Richards, Kuwait’s Investment Dar and another Kuwait fund, Adeem Investment Co US-based Ford, which sold Aston Martin to them for $770 million in 2007, still holds a small stake. Aston Martin said its shareholders’ stakes “had been reduced accordingly” by the capital increase. Aston Martin, perhaps best known for its classic DB5 sports car that featured in early Bond movies, makes its cars in Gaydon, Warwickshire, once part of England’s motor manufacturing heartland. The deal comes days after ratings agency Moody’s put Aston Martin’s non-investment grade B3 rating under review following a 16 percent fall in the carmaker’s third-quarter revenue. —Reuters
BUSINESS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Debit cards come to aid of Syrian refugees ONCUPINAR, Turkey: Syrian refugees wait in line for food at a Turkish refugee camp - not crowding around an aid truck but queueing at an ordinary supermarket to pay for goods using electronic debit cards. Under the experimental project launched by the UN World Food Programme and the Turkish Red Crescent, thousands of refugees who have fled the conflict raging in their homeland now receive cards charged with aid credits rather than boxes of basic supplies. “We started to use this smart card system because it respects human dignity and offers Syrian people aid, in a less blatant way,” said Ahmet Lutfi Akar, head of the Turkish Red Crescent. “It is much better than delivering aid to people in boxes when they have no chance to choose. In stores they can buy whatever they want based on their taste and preferences,” he told AFP. Nearly 22,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey were benefiting from the “Food e-card” project at the end of November, according to the WFP. The scheme has been rolled out at Oncupinar camp in the southern border province of Kilis, one of the largest with more than 13,000 refugees, as well as in several other camps in the neighbouring Hatay province. “Further expansion into other areas (in Turkey) is planned with the objective of reaching 100,000 beneficiaries by mid-2013,” said WFP regional director Daly Belgasmi. The cards handed out to Syrian refugees in camps are
GIC brings TMK as GIPI partner KUWAIT: Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC), one of the cofounders of Gulf International Pipe Industry LLC (GIPI) located in Oman, announced that along with other shareholders, it has completed a strategic sale of 55 percent stake in GIPI to Capitoline Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of TMK, one of the world’s leading producers of tubular steel products for the oil and gas industry. Other major GIPI’s shareholders include: Oman Investment Corporation (OIC) which is also owned 50 percent by GIC and Posco P&S (A subsidiary of POSCO, World’s leading steel manufacturer). GIC co-founded GIPI in 2007 to reduce the GCC’s dependence on import of finished products needed to service its strategic oil and gas sector. GIPI is the first ever high pressure ERW carbon steel pipe mill in the entire MiddleEast to produce a range of 8” to 24” pipes. It also received the reputable international American Petroleum Institute certification in a record time of less than 6 months; this allowed it to produce both Line Pipes and Casing Pipes meeting the most stringent International Standards. GIPI’s production capacity exceeds 200,000 tonnes annually and is currently supplying pipes to major oil and gas companies in the GCC countries. A strategic partner like TMK will also increase the reach of GIPI in the international market and add to its future growth. Mohamed Al-Melhem, Head of Diversified Projects Division in GIC stated that: “GIC played an important role in securing project financing for the GIPI from a consortium of regional banks as well as successfully implementing the project within scheduled completion time and project budget.” Melhem added: “ Key industrial projects like GIPI are in line with GIC’s mandate to develop regional GCC economies through technology intensive and profitable ventures and simultaneously create employment opportunities in the GCC region”. Established in 1983 with shareholders capital of $2.1 billion, GIC is a regional financial institution owned entirely and equally by the six GCC states. GIC strives to provide a comprehensive range of financial services that support the development of private enterprise and economic growth in the Gulf region. GIC managed to achieve a number of major projects throughout GCC Countries all with diversified activities covering different sectors via, financial, petrochemical, steel, power, communications and others. GIC successfully maintained its distinguished presence as a financially powerful establishment with rewarding returns and enhanced capital base.
loaded with 80 Turkish lira ($45) a month which officials say is adequate to support a balanced diet. “We have everything in the camp,” Imed Muhib, a 48-year-old religious teacher who said he lost his three children in violence in Syria, told AFP outside a shop at Oncupinar, a vast container city on the border. “We are able to meet our needs with the cards which help us to choose whatever we want, instead of getting whatever is given to us.” The Visa Electron cards, supplied by Turkey’s Halkbank, are accepted only in certain stores operated by a private Turkish retail chain. The supermarkets are stocked with fresh vegetables, meat and a wide variety of staple food products and basic necessities. But there are some restrictions. Purchases of chocolate and cigarettes are not allowed with the cards, and alcohol is not sold in the shops. “The cards keep us busy,” said Hasna Sufan, a mother of four whose husband Muhammed is a fighter with the rebel Free Syrian Army. “I like shopping together with my kids when my husband is away.” At the register, the products are scanned and so is the user’s finger, which is checked against the fingerprint stored on the card’s electronic chip. “This is a very safe system. It is easy to block the cards immediately in case of any abuse,” Akar said. Oncupinar is often used as a showpiece by the Turkish authorities for visits by foreign dignitaries as it boasts shops, schools, day care centres and mosques and every
container has its own kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. Turkey is currently home to more than 120,000 refugees but officials say the actual number could run as high as 200,000 if it includes exiled military and political figures as well as civilians living outside the camps. Amid concerns about whether it could cope with the relentless flow of refugees, Turkey has pushed in vain for a safe zone for the protection of civilians inside Syria, but has kept its doors open nevertheless even after saying it could not take in more than 100,000. The WFP and Red Crescent said that while one potential consequence of humanitarian programs is that an influx of aid can distort economies, they hope the combination of technology and using local suppliers used in the “Food e card” scheme could strengthen the local economy and serve as a role model in the region. Officials hope it can be transferred to Jordan and Lebanon, which are also struggling to cope with an influx of Syrian refugees. “This is a model project in the region,” said Jean-Yves Lequime, emergency coordinator at WFP. “We’d like to use this model in other countries like Lebanon.” But Matthew Nims of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said the system was successful because of the advanced Turkish economy and banking system. “In other places in the world maybe the local market economy would not be able to support such an influx of people.” — AFP
Putin launches construction of South Stream pipeline Pipeline to bypass Ukraine ANAPA, Russia: President Vladimir Putin yesterday launched construction of the long-awaited South Stream pipeline that the Kremlin hopes will pump Russia’s gas to Europe while avoiding its unpredictable neighbour Ukraine. The pipeline will flow underneath the Black Sea and through the Balkans to supply energy giant Gazprom’s big European clients with Russian gas and ensure the security of its energy exports. At the ceremony held at gas giant Gazprom’s compressor station outside the Black Sea city of Anapa Putin promised unconditional deliveries to energy consumers before a crew symbolically welded two pieces of the pipeline together. “South Stream creates conditions for stable, unconditional deliveries of Russian gas to our main consumers in Southern Europe,” the Russian president said. “This event is important not only for Russia’s energy market, but for the entire European energy market,” he told an audience that included ENI chief executive Paolo Scaroni and EDF head Henri Proglio, Gazprom’s main partners. South Stream was lobbied as an alternative to the conventional gas route to Europe through Ukraine, and EU clients are keen to avoid a repeat of the winter of 2009 when a bitter spat between Moscow and Kiev over gas prices caused cutoffs. The project is of huge personal importance for Putin and in a sign of his serious intent he ordered Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller to bring the launch date forward to 2012 from 2013. Putin promised that the project would not harm the Black Sea, one of Russia’s prime resort destinations. “I have no doubt that there will be no damage to the Black Sea, while research will help safeguard the environment,” he said. Environmental groups have criticised the placement of Gazprom’s station near Anapa, whose sand beaches are a tradition-
al retreat destination for children. South Stream has also faced criticism for taking the ambitious option of building an entirely new pipeline rather than upgrading existing infrastructure in Ukraine. Kiev’s political relations with Moscow have fluctuated wildly in recent years while analysts say the Ukrainian gas transit network is in urgent need of modernisation. South Stream is estimated to cost Ä16.5 billion ($21.5 billion). Its planned capacity is 63 billion cubic meters per year, with the underwater part of the pipeline spanning 900 km. Gazprom said Russia would be paying around Ä7.5 billion of the pipeline’s construction given that state-controlled Gazprom has a 50 percent share in the project. Gazprom’s Miller said that the first gas deliveries via the pipeline were planned for Dec 2015, calling the launch a “historic event”.
The EU is also backing a rival project called Nabucco, a planned pipeline project to bring Caspian gas to Europe and regarded with the greatest of suspicion by Russia. Gazprom’s project was originally conceived jointly with the Italian energy firm ENI and they were later joined in the consortium by Germany’s Wintershall and the French power producer EDF. Russia also won crucial approval from Ankara to construct the South Stream pipeline through its waters. After exiting the Black Sea, the pipeline is due to cross Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia and then Austria to connect with the main European pipeline network. South Stream is being built by a consortium owned 50 percent by Gazprom, 20 percent by ENI, 15 percent by EDF and 15 percent by Wintershall. Russian gas deliveries currently represent a quarter of the European Union’s total gas needs. —AFP
ANAPA, Russia: Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller speak during a ceremony to launch the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline outside this Black Sea resort town. — AP
business SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Weak exports to weigh on Asia next year MANILA: Economic growth throughout much of Asia next year will continue to be weighed down by weak export demand from major industrial economies and China, the Asian Development Bank said yesterday. The Manila-based lending institution said Asia’s economies excluding Japan will grow 6 percent this year and 6.6 percent in 2013. Both figures are 0.1 percentage point lower than anticipated in October. “Enduring debt problems and economic weakness in Europe and the looming fiscal cliff in the United States remain very real threats to developing Asia next year,” said ADB Chief Economist Changyong Rhee. Slower than expected growth in India, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan and the two largest Central Asian economies - Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan - slightly outweigh the more rapid expansion in some other economies in the region, such as the Philippines and Malaysia. The ADB
said China’s rebound in industrial production means its economy should expand as anticipated - 7.7 percent in 2012 and 8.1 percent in 2013. Weak external demand from major industrial nations and China continues to weigh down East Asia. The ADB revised growth prospects for the region from 6.5 percent to 6.4 percent in 2012, and from 7.1 percent to 7 percent in 2013. Hong Kong’s economy grew 1.3 percent in the third quarter from a year ago. South Korea grew 1.6 percent, its slowest growth since the third quarter of 2009. Mongolia grew a lower-thanexpected 5.6 percent. Overall growth in Southeast Asia to expected to reach 5.3 percent in 2012 and 5.5 percent in 2013. The top five regional economies - Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines - will continue to grow at 5.9 percent this year and 5.8 percent in 2013. Domestic demand driven by private consumption and private and
LAHORE: Pakistani labourers carry baskets of bananas at a fruit market yesterday. Pakistan’s growth remains too weak, underlying inflation is high and the trade balance is heading in the wrong direction, the IMF said. — AFP public investment is boosting Malaysia’s economy. In the Philippines, the GDP growth beat expectations after accelerating to 7.1 percent in the third quarter,
compared with 3.2 percent in the same period last year. The bank said Thailand is expecting a strong rebound in the fourth quarter after last year’s floods. — AP
US job growth quickens, jobless rate falls to 7.7% Sandy had no substantive impact on employment
NEW YORK: People gather at a low wage workers rally in Times Square on Thursday. The demonstrators called for better wages for low income workers and a fair deal in the looming ‘fiscal cliff’ negotiations. — AFP
‘fiscal cliff’ down to Obama, Boehner WASHINGTON: With about three weeks left before the “fiscal cliff” deadline, the task of avoiding the steep tax hikes and spending cuts was down to talks between Republican House Speaker John A Boehner and President Barack Obama, according to Capitol Hill aides. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi are “being kept in the loop”, said an aide close to Democratic leaders, ready to work out any details. “The White House and Boehner have the most to work out, so they do the most talking,” he said yesterday. Fundamental differences remain. The president is demanding that tax cuts set to expire on Dec 31 be extended for the middle-class taxpayers but not for the more affluent. If and when agreement is reached on that question, the two sides will try figure out a way to deal with the spending cuts, perhaps postponing or trimming them, and work toward a longer-term deficit reduction package to be taken up after the newly elected Congress is sworn in next month. “It’s going to require both leaders,” said Obama senior adviser David Axelrod told MSNBC yesterday. “Each is going to have to make sacrifices in order to get this done. I think everybody recognizes the consequences of not getting it done. In order to solve the problem and achieve the $4 trillion in savings, you’re going to have to do a balanced package, including all of these things,” he said, in answer to a question about the balance between tax hikes and entitlement reforms. — Reuters
WASHINGTON: US employment grew faster than expected in November as the hit from superstorm Sandy on payrolls was less forceful than many feared. At the same time, the jobless rate fell to a near four-year low, but that was largely because so many Americans gave up the hunt for work. Nonfarm employment increased by 146,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said yesterday, defying expectations of a sharp pull back related to superstorm Sandy. The government said the storm which slammed the densely populated East Coast had not had a substantive impact on last month’s employment and unemployment estimates. US financial markets appeared to put more faith in the payroll growth figures, with stock index futures turning positive and prices for US government debt falling. “The labor market is not getting worse, but is also not getting much better as it is unchanged relative to the recent trend,” said Jacob Oubina, a senior US economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York. The 0.2 percentage point drop in the unemployment rate to 7.7 percent the lowest since December 2008 - represented a drop in both the labor force and employment as measured by a survey of households. Economists generally rely more heavily on the payrolls reading from the separate and much larger survey of employers. While job gains for both September and October were revised to show 49,000 fewer jobs created than earlier reported, the revision was concentrated in the government sector. Job gains have averaged 151,000
per month this year, just enough to push the jobless rate lower, but only slowly. Economists say roughly 200,000-250,000 jobs per month are needed to really make headway. Employment continues to be held back by fears the government may fail to prevent the $600 billion in automatic tax hikes and government spending cuts set to take hold at the start of next year. The debt crisis in Europe has also weighed. With the pace of job growth still too slow, November’s report is not expected to have much impact on Federal Reserve policymakers, who meet next Tuesday and Wednesday. Economists said an anticipated tightening of fiscal policy next year, even if a deal is reached to avoid completely going over the “fiscal cliff”, provides ample reason for the US central bank
to maintain its ultra-easy monetary policy stance. “It doesn’t change the outlook for the Fed ... I still would be expecting them to announce next week that they’ll be extending their purchases to next year,” said Jeremy Lawson, a senior US economist at BNP Paribas in New York. Relentless labor market weakness led the Fed in September to launch a program to buy $40 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities every month to drive down borrowing costs. That is on top of a program dubbed “Operation Twist” in which it was reweighting securities it holds toward longer maturities. Twist expires at the end of this month and economists expect the Fed to replace it with a program that buys government bonds with newly created money. — Reuters
DANIA BEACH, Florida: In this Nov 30, 2012 photo, a person fills out an application at the Fort Lauderdale Career Fair. — AP
BUSINESS
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Protests shake former EU poster boy Slovenia LJUBLJANA: Slovenia joined the EU in 2004 as a model newcomer and three years later adopted the euro. But things have since turned sour, public anger is growing and politicians are rattled. Suffering austerity cuts aimed at reversing one of the deepest recessions in the eurozone and teetering on the brink of needing a bailout, voters blame what they see as a corrupt and out-of-touch political elite. On Thursday the mayor of the city of Maribor, Franc Kangler, long accused of graft and nepotism, resigned after weeks of protests that at times turned violent. On Monday some 40 people were injured in Maribor, most of them police, and 120 protestors were detained. Although the issues that cost Kangler his job were local, rising discontent nationwide about the state of the eurozone member’s economy means that his scalp may not be the last. The scan-
dal surrounding Kangler “was the straw that broke the camel’s back”, Jernej Demsar, a journalist for the city’s daily paper Vecer, told AFP. “The situation has been cooking for a while, fuelled by high unemployment, companies going bust and politicians sitting pretty.” Other demonstrations have taken place in recent weeks in the capital Ljubljana, Celje, Koper and other cities. Police have responded with tear gas and water cannon. According to the government, these left 89 police officers injured and 20 vehicle damaged. Some 250 people were detained, most aged between 17 and 25. As in Maribor, these protests were organised on social networking website Facebook, and called for the resignation not just of local officials but also of Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who is currently facing a corruption trial. Public sector unions and civil society groups plan a general
strike against new government austerity measures on Jan 23. Some 30,000 demonstrated in Ljubljana at a rally last month, according to unions. The protests “reflect a general discontent with political elites”, analyst Matevz Tomsic from the Nova Gorica School of Advanced Social Studies faculty told AFP. “But I would not idealise it, we shouldn’t be misled, this is not a people’s uprising. After all, those that protested barely represent one percent of eligible voters.” Jansa’a centre-right government is clearly unsettled, however, not just by the dire state of the economy, but also by the signs of voter discontent. In Sunday’s second-round presidential election, which offered voters a choice between the incumbent and Jansa’s predecessor as premier, Borut Pahor who won - turnout was just 42 percent, the lowest in Slovenia’s 21-year history
Greek banks seek buyback approval as deadline nears Boards asked to agree participation by up to 100% ATHENS: Greece’s biggest banks asked their boards to approve selling back as much as their entire holdings of national debt, banking sources said yesterday, putting Athens on track to meet a target set by its international lenders. The buyback scheme, in which investors had to declare their interest by yesterday, is central to efforts by Greece’s euro zone and International Monetary Fund lenders to cut its debt to manageable levels by 2020. Athens has pressured its banks, which hold an estimated euro17 billion ($22 billion) of bonds out of the euro63 billion eligible for the buyback, to sell and promised to shield them from any lawsuits by shareholders over losses from the scheme. The government has no plans to extend the deadline for bids beyond Friday, finance ministry officials said, dismissing a Greek newspaper report suggesting the deadline could be extended to early next week. The country’s four biggest banks have each asked their boards to approve up to 100 percent participation in the deal ahead of the 1700 GMT deadline, two banking sources said. “The proposals by banks to their boards were positive on the buyback offer, asking for approval to participate by up to 100 percent,” said one banker, who declined to be named. Board approval does not necessarily mean the banks will offer all of the Greek bonds they hold. “All proposals (to bank boards) were positive, saying the offer is beneficial,” the second banker said. The buyback is part of a broader debt relief package worth euro40 billion ($52 billion) agreed by Greece’s euro zone and International Monetary Fund lenders last month. Under the scheme, Athens aims to spend euro10 billion of borrowed money to buy back bonds far below their nominal value, in a bid to cut debt by a net euro20 billion. Athens made the offer on Monday on more attractive terms than expected for investors, boosting expectations that enough bondholders
ATHENS: Employees of the Greek Social Security Foundation (IKA) shout slogans against austerity measures during a protest held outside the Labour Ministry yesterday. — AFP will take part to ensure the deal is a suc- cent of the principal amount, depending cess. Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras, on the maturities of the 20 series of outwho has told banks it was their “patriotic standing bonds. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has duty” to ensure the scheme is a success, told local radio Athens would include a already said Greek pension funds holding provision that protects bank boards from more than euro8 billion of the bonds lawsuits from shareholders in case of would not take part, increasing the preslosses. “There will be the same provision sure on the remaining domestic bondthat was included in the PSI (earlier debt holders to do so. The buyback is the latrestructuring),” he told Real news radio, est in three years of euro zone efforts to referring to the March debt swap where resolve Greece’s problems. The economy has shrunk by 20 perAthens passed a law shielding bank cent in the last five years and unemployboards from investor lawsuits. Greek banks - already battered by the ment has surpassed Spain’s to climb to a country’s debt crisis - have been hit fur- record 26.2 percent. Two in three Greeks ther by fears that they would be forced to have a negative opinion of the probook losses from the buyback. But they bailout government, a survey by Metron are expected to participate because most Analysis published in the Efimerida of the more than euro30 billion that Syntakton newspaper showed yesterday. Athens stands to receive in bailout funds If elections were held now, the main once the buyback is completed would be opposition party SYRIZA would win with used to recapitalise them. The price 22 percent of the vote over the co-ruling range set for the buyback by Athens var- New Democracy party, which would only ied from a minimum of 30.2 to 38.1 per- muster 19.8 percent of the vote, the poll cent and a maximum of 32.2 to 40.1 per- showed. — Reuters
as an independent state. Two days later Jansa’s party proposed 11 changes to Slovenia’s political system aimed at restoring trust in politicians, including slashing officials’ privileges and simplifying procedures for sacking a mayor or calling early elections. Jansa even went as far as to offer the opposition early elections in mid-2013 if they supported the reforms, even though Jansa’s government has only been in power since February. In the years after the former Yugoslav republic joined the EU in 2004, the economy grew at around five percent a year and in 2007 the country was welcomed as the first former communist member of the eurozone. But the global financial crisis in 2009 found the highly export-dependent nation badly exposed, with economic output slumping eight percent that year. — AFP
Bundesbank warns of economic slowdown FRANKFURT: The German economy, Europe’s biggest, will not be able to escape the crisis and may even flirt briefly with recession early next year, but is well placed to rebound strongly, the Bundesbank said yesterday. The German central bank, in its latest updated twice-yearly forecasts, said there were “indications that economic activity may actually fall in the final quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013”. Recession is technically defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth and many of Germany’s eurozone neighbours have been pushed into recession, in some cases deep, by the region’s long-running debt crisis. Although Germany has managed to hold up to the crisis fairly well, growth has slowed here as well since the beginning of the year. After expanding by 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2012, gross domestic product (GDP) grew by just 0.3 percent in the second quarter and a mere 0.2 percent in the third quarter. “The cyclical outlook for the German economy has dimmed,” the Bundesbank wrote in its December monthly report. “However, there are sound reasons to believe that Germany will soon return to a growth path. The sound underlying health of the German economy suggests that it will overcome the temporary lull without major damage to the labour market, in particular,” it said. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert, quizzed about the Bundesbank forecasts at a regular news briefing in Berlin, said “it is no secret that we’re in a phase of economic cooling. “But we have no doubt that the economy is still in growth mode,” he added. “There are a whole range of indicators which in no way point to recession. The government remains cautiously optimistic.” Taking this year and next year as a whole, GDP would expand by 0.7 percent in 2012 and then by just 0.4 percent in 2013, the Bundesbank predicted. That represents a marked downward revision from the central bank’s previous forecasts in June, when it had been pencilling in growth of 1.0 percent for 2012 and 1.6 percent for 2013. It also gave its first estimation for growth in 2014, when the economy is forecast to expand by 1.9 percent. The Bundesbank cautioned that its projections were “characterised by a high degree of uncertainty. “It is quite conceivable that the euro area will recover sooner and the world economy will accelerate faster than assumed in this projection,” it said. “Downside risks nonetheless predominate,” it added. “Should global economic growth remain below expectations or the sovereign debt crisis escalate further in some countries, it is probable that the German economy may follow a weaker course than the one assumed in the baseline scenario,” it said. The day before, the European Central Bank unveiled its own set of - rather gloomy - economic forecasts for all 17 countries that share the euro. In its regular quarterly staff economic projections, the ECB forecast that the eurozone economy will contract both this year and next year and only return to growth in 2014. ECB chief Mario Draghi argued that the central bank’s policy of low interest rates - it held them at their historical low of 0.75 percent on Thursday -would help fuel recovery. — AFP
BUSINESS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
‘Venal’ India business climate under fire NEW DELHI: Indian tycoon Ratan Tata lashed out at a “venal” business climate and a top foreign investor condemned “nightmare” red tape as the government won a vote yesterday on allowing in more foreign investment. The problems of operating in famously corrupt and bureaucratic India were raised as the minority government survived a final parliamentary vote to let in foreign supermarkets - a key plank of its renewed economic reform agenda. Tata, outgoing head of the Tata $100billion tea-to-steel empire and known as patriarch of India’s business community, said his successor, Cyrus Mistry, would face a major struggle not to compromise the group’s well-known ethical standards and surrender to a “venal system”. Separately, the head of British shoemaker Pavers, one of the first retailers to be allowed to operate in India under new 100-percent foreign ownership rules, said navigating the nation’s overwhelming red tape was a “nightmare”. “Regulations are a nightmare for every retailer whether from outside India or
the domestic retailer,” Stuart Pavers, president of the family-owned firm, told India’s Mint newspaper in an interview. Congress Premier Manmohan Singh’s government is seeking to steer a string of reforms through parliament that aim to open up sectors such as retail, insurance and aviation to foreign investors and make it easier to do business. But the business chiefs said the government will have to work hard to improve the corporate environment for investors - even with the lure of a growing middle class increasingly adopting Western trends and tastes. India has long been criticised as one Asia’s most inefficient bureaucracies, with its byzantine regulations, widespread corruption and political dysfunction seen as major deterrents to foreign investment. Several months ago, one of India’s top businessmen, N R Narayana Murthy, chairman emeritus of software giant Infosys, voiced similar strong complaints, saying India had “cut (its) own legs off” with suffocating regulation. Tata, who retires Dec 28 when he
Arbitrators rule against injured Foxconn worker HONG KONG: Chinese labour arbitrators have ruled against the father of a Foxconn worker brain-damaged in a factory accident in southern China, in a case that puts more attention on the labour practices of Apple Inc’s largest contract manufacturer. The case involves Zhang Tingzhen, a 26-year-old engineer who had nearly half his brain surgically removed after surviving an electric shock in Oct 2011. His plight came to light after Reuters reported that Taiwan firm Foxconn had sent telephone text messages to his family telling them it would cut off funds for his treatment and other expenses if they did not remove him from hospital in Shenzhen city and submit him for a disability assessment 70 km away in Huizhou, where the company says he was hired. His father, Zhang Guangde, took Foxconn to the arbitration office in October this year insisting that his son was hired in Shenzhen and not Huizhou, where wages and compensation levels are substantially lower. In official documents seen yesterday by Reuters, the Shenzhen labour dispute arbitration committee ruled against the father. It said the company had produced a contract dated Aug 4, 2011, showing that the young engineer was hired by its Huizhou facility. It added that at the time of the injury, the young Zhang was an employee of the Huizhou facility who had been sent to its Shenzhen facility for training. The elder Zhang is preparing to appeal the decision, according to the family’s lawyer Zhang Xiaotan. Asked for its comment, Foxconn Technology Group said: “As we have reassured the family in the past, the place of Mr Zhang’s employment has no impact on the level of support that our company will be providing Mr Zhang and his family during his current rehabilitation or as part of any long-term care.” Since the case came to light, the company has said that Zhang can have his disability assessment conducted in Shenzhen. Labour activists say Zhang’s case highlights a common practice among large companies in China, which sign work contracts with employees in inner Chinese cities, where wages and compensations levels are relatively low, and then deploy them to work in more expensive cities.Doctors removed half Zhang’s brain to keep him alive and he remains in hospital under close observation, unable to speak or walk properly. His case has raised fresh questions over the labour practices of Foxconn, one of the biggest and most high-profile private employers in China, after a series of suicides among its workforce of about 1.5 million and recent labour unrest. — Reuters
turns 75, noted it still took the best part of a decade to gain clearance for major projects and this was deterring foreign investors. “Different agencies in the government have almost contradictory interpretations of the law, or interpretations of what should be done,” Tata told the London-based Financial Times. Tata accused Singh of forcing the
Ratan Tata
group to look abroad by failing to address complaints about bureaucracy and told the Financial Times the conglomerate planned to turn to other emerging markets for expansion. “These are things which by and large would drive investors away in most other countries,” he added. Tata contrasted the government’s attitude towards its industrial sector with that of neighbouring emerging market giant China where the group recently opened a Jaguar Land Rover factory. “There’s a great, marked difference (in) government support,” he said. “If we had the same kind of encouragement to industry... I think India could compete definitely with China.” Sweden’s IKEA group is still struggling to jump through bureaucratic hoops to set up shop in the world’s second-most populous nation and one of the furniture retailer’s last untapped large markets. Last month, Indian media reported that the government had imposed sweeping curbs on what IKEA can sell at its planned new stores, including a ban on its famed meatballs. — AFP
Chinese insurer PICC soars on HK debut ‘Milestone development’ for 63-yr-old firm HONG KONG: Chinese insurer PICC surged yesterday on its Hong Kong trading debut, as the city’s biggest share sale this year provided an upbeat end to a weak year in the global IPO market. The state-owned firm’s stock climbed 6.9 percent to close at HK$3.72 - at one point jumping almost eight percent - on its first trading day after raising $3.1 billion in its initial public offering. “I think the stock price today reflects the investors’ expectation and confidence,” PICC chairman Wu Yan told reporters after hitting the gong during a ceremony at the Hong Kong exchange. Wu called the listing a “milestone development” for the 63-year-old firm, a pioneer in China’s insurance industry, which he said has transformed into one of the world’s fastestgrowing insurance companies. “The successful listing... also injects new energy into Hong Kong’s equity market,” he added at the ceremony, which was also attended by Hong Kong’s finance minister John Tsang. The People’s Insurance Company of China (PICC) offering, which is also the world’s fifth largest this year, tops off a slow year for IPOs owing to concerns about a slowdown in China and globally. But analysts said there was nothing to cheer despite the positive start. While PICC’s offering was one of the biggest this year it was still below what it had been hoping for. Shares were set at the low end of the HK$3.42-HK$4.03 price range. Selling at the top end would have seen China’s fourth largest insurer raise about $3.6 billion. “I don’t think it’s a surprise,” investment bank Core Pacific-Yamaichi research manager Olive Xia told AFP, adding that because the IPO was set at the low end of its range “there are already upside potentials ... to rise after its debut.” The Shanghai-based analyst said the latest sale is also unlikely to see the return of the once red-hot IPO market in Hong Kong,
which has been the world’s biggest destination for new listings in the past three years. “Major fundraising will be relatively low compared to previous years. Figures show Hong Kong has only raised about $10.16 billion from new listings so far this year, a plunge of 66 percent from the same period last year and its worst since 2008, according to data provider Dealogic, which tracks IPOs in major markets. This placed the Hong Kong bourse as the fourth-largest IPO market this year, after New York, Nasdaq and the Tokyo stock exchanges, Dealogic data showed. Hong Kong raised a total of $33 billion from new listings in 2011. The choppy global markets have forced firms to postpone or downsize their offerings, including Hong Kong’s richest tycoon Li Ka-shing’s flagship
Cheung Kong Holdings which postponed an IPO bid for its unit Horizon Hospitality last month. The IPO was expected to raise up to $800 million. But Xia said: “But there are opportunities for companies in China still because the economy is still undergoing micro-restructuring, so companies in booming industry (would want) to raise fund in the Hong Kong market.” PICC secured 17 so-called cornerstone investors ahead of its listing, including US-based insurance giant American International Group and China Life Insurance, China’s biggest life insurer by premiums. Cornerstone investors are given the option to buy vast portions of stock in an IPO if they agree to hold the shares for a certain amount of time.—AFP
HONG KONG: Chairman of People’s Insurance Company (Group) of China Ltd (PICC) Wu Yan poses for photographers during the company’s listing ceremony at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday. — AP
BUSINESS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Gloom and jokes as FTD laid to rest BERLIN: German business daily Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) bade farewell to its readers yesterday in a final edition packed with gallows humour cartoons and melancholy musings on the revolution in the media industry that sealed its fate. “Finally black”, was the laconic headline on a darkened front page of the paper, which like its British namesake is published in a salmon pink colour. Several letters of the paper’s name were omitted to make it read ‘Final Times’. Publisher Gruner Jahr decided to shut the FTD after accumulating what German media said were 250 million ($325 million) in losses since its launch in 2000. Around 330 employees are expected to lose their jobs. The FTD was seen as a breath of fresh air in Germany with its modern design, international perspective and audacious style of journalism, but it always faced tough competition from a plethora of established newspapers. The real challenge, however, came from the proliferation of online news
services. “FTD will probably go down in history as the last newly-founded, paid-for daily newspaper to be established in the industrial world,” said Andrew Gowers, the paper’s first editor-in-chief, in a valedictory column written in English. If the FTD were launched today, it would probably not appear in print at all but in the form of an app, like the younger and highly successful Huffington Post, he said. Gowers noted the irony that a paper so quick to welcome the rise of new technologies linked to the digital economy should founder due mainly to a failure to develop strong, real-time news services online. In one typically mordant cartoon inside the paper, a newspaper seller says: “A good daily paper? I’d recommend the FTD.” The customer, Death in his black robe and holding a scythe, replies: “OK, I’ll take it.” Other cartoons also mostly featured graveyards and tombstones. The paper showcased scoops, headlines and photographs from the past 12 years and also messages from advertisers thanking its journalists for all their
BERLIN: A journalist holds up a copy of the last edition of the German business daily Financial Times Deutschland yesterday. Writing on the front page reads: ‘Finally in the black’. — AFP hard work. Gowers said the FTD had ments beyond Germany’s borders, stood for high quality, independent memorably advising the voters of journalism and lauded its free-wheel- Greece - in Greek - not to heed the ing, investigative style that set it siren voices of Syriza,” he said, referapart from what he called the ring to the Greek opposition leftist “group-think” prevalent in much of party that has campaigned against the German press. the country’s tough austerity meas“If necessary it took its argu- ures. —Reuters
Maldives retakes airport from Indian developer Male, GMR agree on 3-week transition period
GWERU, Zimbabwe: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe clenches his fists as he delivers his speech at his partyís 13th annual conference yesterday. — AP
Mugabe backs 100% black ownership GWERU, Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe yesterday vowed to overhaul business laws to require 100 percent black ownership of firms, up from 51 percent. In a pre-election address to the ZANU-PF party faithful, Mugabe said the government would press ahead with controversial indigenisation policies, despite protestations from foreign investors. “The notion that capital is more important than any other factors is nonsense,” Mugabe told 5,000 delegates in the central city of Gweru. “That philosophy is dirty, filthy and is criminal.” Mugabe’s government passed a controversial indigenisation law two years ago, forcing all foreign-owned firms to cede a 51-percent share to locals, arguing it would reverse imbalances created during colonial rule. “I think now we have done enough of 51 percent. Let it be 100 percent,” he told the last party conference before 2013 polls, which could well see the 88-year-old’s name on the ballot for the last time. In typically bombastic style, Mugabe’s comments plotted a clear populist platform for his re-election campaign. “If you don’t want to abide by the rules go away.” Mugabe and ZANU-PF face an uphill struggle to win over voters, many of whom are angered at the poor state of the economy. — AFP
MALE: The Maldives government repossessed the country’s main airport from an Indian firm yesterday and agreed on a three-week transition period after a dispute that sparked a diplomatic crisis with its neighbour. The administration of President Mohamed Waheed last week decided to revoke a 25-year lease of the airport in the capital Male, asking infrastructure company GMR to quit by midnight yesterday (1900 GMT), two years after it took over. “The GMR group has cooperated with us and agreed to a three-week transition from today,” Waheed’s spokesman Imad Masood told AFP. “We are in possession of the airport now and Mr G M Rao (owner of GMR group) called on the President today and had a cordial meeting,” Masood said. The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party of former president Mohamed Nasheed, who initiated the privatisation with GMR in 2010, staged a peaceful protest against the move, witnesses said. Nasheed had warned that abrogating the deal would jeopardise foreign investment prospects in the popular honeymoon destination and also hurt ties with neighbouring India. However, Masood said there was “no animosity, only regret” and that the termination was not a move against India. He said the new managers of the airport, the state-run Maldivian Airport Company Limited, agreed to retain all staff on the same terms as before and promised to employ Indian nationals
hired by GMR. Officials have also sought to reassure travellers and international airlines that they will be unaffected. There was little comment from GMR which Thursday lost a legal battle in Singapore, where the Supreme Court ruled the Maldivian government had the right to take back the airport. “At the moment things are calm,” GMR spokesman Arun Bhagat told AFP. The privatisation of the airport in 2010 has been targeted by Waheed over alleged corruption and for patriotic reasons, with his government objecting to such a prominent national asset being run by foreigners. There has been fury behind closed doors in India at the abrupt nationalisation move which also raised concerns for foreign investors. However, Indian
Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid played down the controversy. “If they (the Maldives) have to take a decision in the interest of their society and country and if that decision is taken properly as per laws there, what objections can anyone have there?” he told reporters. The Male airport deal was expected to see GMR and its partner, Malaysia Airports Holdings, pour more than $500 million into the Indian Ocean archipelago, in what would have been the biggest ever foreign investment. New Delhi warned its tiny south-western neighbour this week that it may freeze aid and was ready to “take all necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of its interests and its nationals”. — AFP
MALE: In this file picture taken on Oct 18, 2003, an aeroplane lands at Male International Airport while a sailboat makes its way through a blue lagoon. — AFP
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012 www.kuwaittimes.net
Jessica Simpson’s pregnancy annoys Weight Watchers PAGE 22
Nurse in Kate royal hoax call found dead PAGE 27
Guitar player Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal of US hard rock band Guns N’ Roses performs during a concert in Bangalore yesterday. Guns N’ Roses, who have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, are touring India for the first time. — AFP
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
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essica Simpson’s deal with Weight Watchers is reportedly on shaky ground. The ‘Fashion Star’ mentor - who shed 70 pounds on the weight loss program after the birth of her first child Maxwell seven months ago with her fiance Eric Johnson - has reportedly angered executives for already getting pregnant again after they gave her $4 million to be the face of the company. A source told US Weekly magazine: “They’re furious at Jessica. She was already on thin ice with them since she didn’t lose enough for the first ad, when they had to shoot from the waist up.” According to the insider, the company don’t think they can continue to run campaigns featuring Jessica because she is pregnant. The source said:
“They don’t think it can run. No one wants to hear about a pregnant woman dieting.” Jessica is yet to officially confirm she is pregnant but is said to be thrilled to be expecting her second child so soon after the arrival of her daughter in May. The source said: “It definitely wasn’t planned. But yes, Jessica is pregnant again.” Jessica has previously said of her daughter: “Motherhood is a dream, it really is absolutely amazing.” The former singer has been engaged to NFL player Eric, 33, for two years, and it was rumoured they had been planning to tie the knot in Italy next year.
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he ‘Fashion Police’ star took to her Twitter page to share some healthy living advice with her followers and insists nibbling on the spice or low fat items which contain it can beat sugar cravings. She tweeted: “#KellysHealthTips If you suffer from a sweet tooth try to eat more cinnamon it curbs your sweet tooth! (sic)” The 27-year-old reality star the daughter of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne - has lost an impressive 63 pounds since taking part on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ in 2009. Kelly credits the ballroom dancing show with kick-starting her weight loss and lifestyle overhaul. She previously said: “I’m the thinnest I’ve ever been and the healthiest I’ve ever been. The totally insane thing is that I’m a UK size four to six and people still say I’m fat.” Kelly insists there is no quick fix to losing weight, you just have to eat healthily and exercise. She stated: “I’ve done all the faddy diets and none of them work ... I wish I could tell you there’s another way to lose weight, but the boring truth is you have to eat sensibly and exercise. If you want to eat cake, fine. Just don’t eat the whole cake.”
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he 30-year-old actress was forced to chop off her long brunette locks to take on the role of the tragic Fantine in new movie ‘Les Miserables’ and she admits it was a hard thing to do because she loves her hair how it was. Speaking at the world premiere of ‘Les Miserables’ at London’s Odeon Leicester Square cinema, Anne said: “It was very difficult (to cut off all my hair). I found it very challenging to my vanity. But then as soon as it was done, I was fine with it. I had a good reason to do it. It was for my job, I didn’t lose it to an illness. I didn’t have to sell it for money.” In the movie, Fantine is forced to sell her hair so she can get some money for her young daughter Cosette. Meanwhile, Anne’s co-star Amanda Seyfried - who plays the grown-up Cosette - spoke of her nerves about seeing herself sing on the big screen because they
had to do it live. Amanda - who starred in 2008 musical ‘Mamma Mia!’ - said: “‘Mamma Mia!’ and ‘Les Miserables’ are so different, you can’t compare. In ‘Mamma Mia!’ we got to record all of our vocals beforehand and then lip-sync and it was great and so much fun. But this was incredibly hard. I had a problem listening back to myself as I was singing so that was my biggest challenge.” Other stars to walk the red carpet at the premiere included Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Eddie Redmayne, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen. ‘Les Miserables’ is released in the US on Christmas Day (25.12.12) and around the world on January 11 2013.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
he 22-year-old singer - who is currently dating One Direction hunk Harry Styles and has previously romanced Conor Kennedy, Taylor Lautner, Jake Gyllenhaal and John Mayer - laments the fact none of her romances have worked out but she is hoping her love luck changes in the future. She said: “I don’t understand how to make relationships last. I’ve never had a really long relationship, so I have no idea what that’s like. Wish me luck for the future.” The ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ hitmaker also admitted she doesn’t have a particular physical type when it comes to her boyfriends as she finds “strength of character” the most attractive quality. She added in an interview
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with Britain’s Cosmopolitan magazine: “I really don’t have any rules about dating when it comes to height, age, career choice, anything like that. “It doesn’t matter. It’s really more about strength of character. “When it comes to age, I’ve been all over the map!” And the blonde beauty says the best relationship advice she ever received came from talk show host Jay Leno, who told her to find someone who made her want to be better. She explained: “Jay Leno told me, ‘It’s easy. Just marry your conscience. Marry the one who makes you want to be a better person.’ “
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what I did wrong that I was in a relationship where I was accepting situations that weren’t good for me. If you’re allowing yourself to be in a bad relationship, you need to understand why. “I had to turn [the break-up] into something better. I thought, ‘I don’t want to just survive it, I want to come out better.’ “ And the ‘On The Floor’ hitmaker says her relationship with Casper has strengthened her belief in love. She said: “It’s nice when someone comes along, and it works. It’s great. I’m lucky to have someone in my life now who understands my family and accepts them. “I now believe in the fairytale more than ever. I believe in happily ever after with love.”
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he 67-year-old actor and estranged spouse Rhea Perlman, 64, announced in October they were separating after 30 years of marriage, but now the ‘Twins’ star has admitted he is still “really close” to the actress and they are hoping to get back together. Asked about life as a single man, he told US TV show ‘Extra’: ‘It’s not something you adjust to. Rhea and I are really close. Actually, still together, just separate, but together.” Asked if they are getting back together, he added: “We’re working on it.” The couple - who met in 1970 and tied the knot in 1982 - have not filed divorce papers and first sparked rumours of a reconciliation when they were seen together at Los Angeles International Airport last month. Danny and Rhea met when she went to see off-Broadway play, ‘The Shrinking Bride’, which the actor was appearing in. The couple who have three children Lucy, Grace and Jacob, together - founded production company Jersey Films, which is behind 1994 crime movie ‘Pulp Fiction’ as well as ‘Garden State’ and ‘Freedom Writers’.
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he No Doubt singer - who has sons Kingston, six, and fouryear-old Zuma with her husband Gavin Rossdale - struggled to juggle the demands of recording the band’s first album in ten years, ‘Push and Shove’, with her home life and being a devoted mother and said she found it “really hard” to cope. She told Marie Claire magazine: “I would be up all night because my second baby didn’t sleep, and he had a lot of ear infections. Then I’d wake up in the morning and do my workout, which I always felt I had to do, and then meetings for my three clothing lines, and then hang out with my kids, take them to preschool - da, da, da. “At four o’clock, I’d be like, ‘All right, I’m out of here. I’m going to go to the studio and try to write a record.’ I’d sit on the couch [with my band mates] and be like, ‘Let’s do this now, because I’m missing time with the kids. I could be having dinner with them and putting them to bed.’ It was really hard.” The 43-year-old star is known for her
he 43-year-old singer-and-actress was devastated when her seven-year marriage to Marc Anthony - with whom she has four-year-old twins Max and Emme - ended six months ago because family means everything to her but she vowed to get over the heartbreak as quickly as she could. She said: “I was going through a divorce and the break-up of a family, which was devastating to me because family means everything to me. “I didn’t want to be the woman who stayed in bed for months. I did do that a little but I knew I had to get through it.” Jennifer - who is now in a relationship with 25year-old dancer Casper Smart - was determined to become a better person and learn from the demise of her marriage. She added in an interview with HollywoodLife: “I had to figure out
toned abs and trim figure, but Gwen confessed she has since sacrificed going to the gym for the sake of maintaining a balanced lifestyle. The blonde bombshell was addicted to working out five times a week until she realised cutting down on exercise was something she “had to do”. She admitted: “This past year, I kind of stopped working out. I think my body just needed a break. And so I did that and focused more on feeling good as opposed to beating myself up.” However, Gwen revealed her “miracle” ten-year marriage to rocker Gavin is stronger than ever as a result of everything, describing it as her “biggest accomplishment” to date. — Bangshowbiz
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
‘Playing for Keeps’:
You’ve heard this one before
Gerard Butler (left) and Noah Lomax in”Playing for Keeps,” directed by Gabriele Muccino. — MCT
“P (From left to right) Camila Cabello, Dinah Jane Hansen, Normani Hamilton, Ally Brooke, and singerLauren Jauregui of the girl group “Fifth Harmony” attend “The X-Factor” viewing party at Mixology in Los Angeles. — AP
Ellie Goulding revels in new-found honesty T
ucking her pale-pink hair behind her ears, Ellie Goulding explained recently that her new record reflects a blur of experiences over the last two years - a period in which she became such a star in England that Prince William and Kate Middleton asked her to sing at their wedding reception.
English pop singer Ellie Goulding performs at Amoeba Music in Los Angeles, California. — MCT
“It’s definitely opened me up,” she said of the whirlwind stretch since she released her debut album, “Lights,” in 2010. The singer was curled up on a sofa in her dressing room at the site of Conan O’Brien’s show, preparing to perform her current single, “Anything Could Happen.” “It’s given me more intensity and a keenness to be very, very honest.” That intensity resounds throughout Goulding’s strong sophomore set, “Halcyon,” which entered the US.charts inside the top 10 after it was released. It’s a more daring, personal effort than “Lights,” with a greater emphasis on her singing than on the blippy synthesizer tones that drove the debut’s title track to No 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 this summer. “Only you can see the emptiness I feel when you’re with me,” she sings in the soulful “Only You,” one of several new tunes Goulding performed last Tuesday during a sold-out concert at the Troubadour. Yet early signs suggest the fresh approach is paying off. “Ellie’s sound is really unique,” said Michelle Boros, music director at LA pop radio station KAMP-FM. “And it’s not just the music it’s the quality of her voice. That’s what cuts through and makes you say, ‘What is this?’” As befits the album’s intimate vibe, Goulding, 25, recorded much of “Halcyon” not in some state-of-the-art London studio, but at the family home of her co-producer, Jim Eliot, in Hay-on-Wye, Wales. “It’s quite a rural place,” the singer said of the bookish burg not far from where she grew up in Herefordshire. To demonstrate the atmosphere she picked up her phone and played a video of Eliot’s young daughters jumping around their living room to the album’s title track. —MCT
laying for Keeps” is a perfectly pleasant romantic comedy completely lacking in novelty. This will leave many viewers unengaged, but may not be a disadvantage for its core audience. Genre fans, like children, love to hear their favorite stories again and again. They will find a comforting familiarity in this well-worn tale of a sensitive, immature hunk tamed by the love of - but I dare not reveal the ending. Gerard Butler stars as a former soccer star, now broke, divorced, and trying to learn how to co-parent his young son. When we meet him, he is shooting an audition tape for a job as a TV sportscaster. In a nice visual joke, the next shot shows us that while he’s scrubbed and presentable from the waist up, he’s not ready for prime time underneath. This pretty much sums up his personality, too. Jessica Biel is his ex, a levelheaded, capable type. Judy Greer, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Uma Thurman are soccer moms who fling themselves at the hunky Butler when he signs on to coach his son’s team. Call them Flighty, Flinty and Flirty. Greer is winningly ditsy, alternately melting into tears and throwing her arms around the befuddled Scotsman. Zeta-Jones, a former ESPN broadcaster herself, offers to get his tape to the right people in exchange for such services as an unattached woman of healthy appetites might deem appropriate. Thurman plays the neglected wife of obnoxious local moneybags Dennis Quaid, a hale fellow who befriends Butler with so many attaboy slugs on the shoulder their relationship suggests a one-sided boxing match. Quaid passes Butler fat envelopes of cash “to fund the team and buy uniforms, y’know.” Of course, if Coach can see putting Quaid’s son at goalie and give his daughter the microphone to sing “The Star Spangled Banner,”
Martin Freeman (left), Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, director Peter Jackson, Ian McKellen and Richard Armitage attend the premiere of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York. — AP
he wouldn’t mind. Quaid’s generosity has its limits. He informs Butler that he’s violently jealous and has hired detectives to follow his wife. This is known as foreshadowing. The film is a bit better than standard, and not bereft of laughs. Quaid plays a guy who lives on maximum overdrive without overacting beyond what the character calls for. Greer pivots between coquette and weepy waterworks so fast it’s like watching a magic trick. Zeta-Jones’ nickel-plated vamp is well within her comfort zone. Thurman brings a vaguely alcoholic unsteadiness to her bored housewife, flinging herself at Butler as if launched from a catapult. The cartoonish flattening of the female characters didn’t seem to bother anyone in the predominantly female audience I saw the film with, any more than Quaid’s brash jerk offended the men. They exist only as foils for the leading actors, hurdles to be dealt with before the uplifting conclusion the formula requires. Though Butler, who also produced the film, is onscreen in almost every scene, Biel fares better, delivering the truest performance of her career. Butler’s character is a flat, well-meaning sort who can’t help it that women are attracted to him by electromagnetic force. Rather than feeling reinvigorated by their interest, he deals with their advances sheepishly, bedding them as if trysts were as accidental and commonplace as parking lot fender benders. By contrast, there’s a touching vulnerability in Biel’s work as she struggles to reconcile her emotional ties to the man she once loved with her need to move on. She may be helped here by director Gabriele Muccino, who made the moving Will Smith drama “The Pursuit of Happyness.” Muccino directs comedy with a distinct lack of zing, but with his leading actress’ help he nails the affecting dramatic undertones. — MCT
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
An artist paints on the wall of a building as he participates in the Wynwood Walls art project in Miami, Florida. — AFP
Paintings of children are seen on the wall of a building in the Wynwood Walls art project. The art project along with many other satellite shows around the city coincide with the International art show, “Art Basel”, which runs till tomorrow. — AFP
Nobel laureate Mo Yan walks political tightrope Is the Nobel Peace Prize losing its prestige?
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ften described as the most prestigious award in the world, the Nobel Peace Prize risks losing some of its lustre because of the prize committee’s unexpected and controversial choices of late, some observers warn. The European Union, which will pick up the 2012 prize at a formal ceremony in Oslo on Monday, is the latest in a string of such laureates. “Farce”, “scandal”, “joke”, “ridiculous” and “absurd”: those are a few of the terms detractors have used to brand the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s picks in recent years, mixed in with the usual praise heaped on Oslo. “Some of the recent choices have tarnished the reputation of the award and cast doubt on the legitimacy of the Norwegian Nobel Committee,” a US journalist and expert on the prize, Scott London, told AFP. “The peace prize is no stranger to controversy ... but I think the blunders and bad choices have become more common in recent years,” he added. After the bombshell announcement that US President Barack Obama was to win the 2009 prize in his first year in office, the prize committee this year raised eyebrows again by giving the nod to a crisis-ridden European Union plagued by divisions. The choice prompted some unexpected swipes, including from previous laureates. In between those two jaw-dropping laureates came the 2010 winner, jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who was generally hailed with the exception of Beijing which called the committee “clowns”. But the 2011 edition, which honoured three women, also courted controversy, with laureate Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee accusing her co-laureate, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, of corruption and nepotism. For Norwegian lawyer Fredrik Heffermehl, author of the book “The Nobel Peace Prize: What Nobel Really Wanted” and a relentless critic of the committee, the damage has been done. “The prize doesn’t go to those who work for a global peace order made up of demilitarised nations, and it has lost its credibility, both legally and morally, by obstructing and sabotaging for years that which Nobel stood for,” he told AFP. —AFP
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hinese Nobel literature laureate Mo Yan was expected to walk a thin line at yesterday’s traditional Nobel lecture, with some pundits supporting claims he is “independent” while others cast him a Beijing stooge. At a press conference on Thursday, while the writer stood by his call for the release of jailed compatriot and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, he refused to elaborate on the issue. “I have already issued my opinion about this matter,” he said, in response to questions from journalists. Mo Yan is the vice-chairman of the government-backed China Writers’ Association, and the country’s state-run media have hailed him as a national hero. In contrast, the Chinese staged a black-out on coverage of human rights champion Liu’s 2010 Nobel win. He is still serving an 11year prison sentence handed down on Christmas Day 2009 after leading a manifesto for democratic change called Charter 08. Yesterday’s Nobel Lecture in Literature came after more than 130 previous Nobel laureates published an open letter Tuesday, urging the Chinese Communist Party’s new chief Xi Jinping to release Liu. Among Mo’s harshest critics has been previous Nobel literature laureate Herta Mueller. Last month, she said she wanted to cry when she heard he had been given the prestigious award. This year, she said, he had been among several Chinese writers to have hand-copied a speech by the late Communist ruler Mao Zedong as part of a commemorative book in his honour. In that particular speech, Mao insisted that art and culture should support the Communist Party. After his Thursday press conference, the media largely focused on Mo’s ambiguous comments about censorship. While opposing it, he did add that it was sometimes necessary, comparing it with airport security. “Whether China has freedom of speech is a very difficult question,” he added. Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet said yesterday that the writer’s comments that the Nobel Prize was “personal” and not “for a country” could nevertheless be seen as a snub to the Chinese establishment. “He made it clear to Chinese journalists that the prize has not been given to China, where it is being used on patriotic grounds,” it wrote. The paper compared this year’s choice by the Swedish Academy with 1974 winner Harry Martinson, a Swede who was also criticised for not being political enough. “Today (Martinson’s) work appears foresighted. Perhaps
it’s only in hindsight that we can judge when the Academy has made the right call?” it said. It also quoted Shelley W Chan, the US-based author of a book on Mo Yan, who called his writing “brave”. Chan accused his critics of not having read his work. She argued that some of his criticism of the Chinese regime is quite explicit while some was more indirect. Parts of it could be seen as referencing the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, still a taboo subject in Chinese society, she added. — AFP
2012 Literature Nobel Prize laureate, Chinese writer Mo Yan, shows Chinese caligraphy to Swedish student Malin Hjelm (center) during his visit at the Hersby high school in Lidingo outside Stockholm yesterday. — AFP
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
(Left) Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu speaks during a press conference ahead of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s “Temptation Reloaded” concert, in Jakarta, Indonesia, yesterday. (Center) Khan speaks at the conference and Bollywood actress Rani Mukerji (right) is pictured. — AP
No Grammy love for
Justin Bieber, One Direction
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rate fans of Justin Bieber and boy band One Direction took to social media on Thursday to voice their outrage after being snubbed by the Grammys for a chance to win the biggest honors in the music industry. Indie-pop band fun and rapper Frank Ocean led the 2013 nominations, tying with The Black Keys, Mumford & Sons, Jay-Z and Kanye West for six nods. But The Recording Academy overlooked some of the year’s biggest and most commercially successful artists in Wednesday’s nominations. While Bieber, 18, who won three American Music Awards in November, stayed quiet on his omission, his manager Scooter Braun took to Twitter. “Grammy board u blew it on this one. the hardest thing to do is transition, keep the train moving. The kid delivered. Huge successful album, sold out tour, and won people over. ... This time he deserved to be recognized,”
New Whitney Houston book recalls
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new book on Whitney Houston by her early producer seeks to tell the story of the rise to stardom of the pop diva who died nine months ago. Emmy and Grammywinning producer Narada Michael Walden, who produced many of Houston’s early hits, like “How Will I Know” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” appeared at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles on Wednesday to discuss the book and perform some of the songs he collaborated on. “Her death was so shocking and sudden that I wanted to create something to keep alive the beautiful aspects of her life. The media was lashing out on the addiction and ignoring her musical genius,” Walden told Reuters. Since she drowned in a bathtub on Feb. 11 after taking cocaine, Houston’s music and life have generated a TV tribute with Jennifer Hudson, Usher and others, a greatest hits CD, a coffee table book of photos and a TV reality show starring family members. Walden’s book “Whitney Houston: The Voice, the Music, the Inspiration,” co-written with Richard Buskin, describes how Walden first met the singer when she was 13 and accompanied her mother to the studio. Walden was working on a record with her mom, soul and gospel singer Cissy Houston. Walden said he all but forgot the young pretty girl until he got a call from Arista records in 1984, while working on an Aretha Franklin record, and was told to “make the time” to work on Houston’s debut album. Walden said Janet Jackson’s management turned down the chance to record “How Will I Know” and that he rewrote it to make it catchier for Houston, who with her five-octave vocal range, recorded the 1985 No.1 song in only one take. “The first take was the keeper. Instead of laboring on it for the better part of a day or even longer, we were done in a matter of minutes,” he said, noting Houston always worked fast.—Reuters
Braun posted in a series of tweets. Many of Bieber’s 31 million Twitter fans quickly followed suit, with hashtags such as #BieberForGrammys trending on the micro-blogging service. The Canadian singer, who has never won a Grammy, in June released album “Believe,” showcasing a more grown-up image. The album, which produced top 10 hits “Boyfriend” and “As Long As You Love Me,” has sold more than 1.1 million copies. British boy band One Direction was also left empty-handed despite their debut album “Up All Night” having topped the Billboard 200 album chart. The quintet has performed sold-out shows across the world and won three MTV video music awards earlier this year. The Grammy Awards are voted on by members of The Recording Academy and recognize achievement in 81 categories.
Lady Gaga, rapper Nicki Minaj and Korea’s Psy also failed to snag any nominations. While Gaga hasn’t released new music this year, focusing on her global tour, Minaj released “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded,” which topped the Billboard 200 chart and spawned singles such as “Starships.” Psy may have YouTube’s most watched video ever with “Gangnam Style,” over 897 million views - but he missed out on becoming the first Korean artist to receive a Grammy nod. The Grammy Awards will be handed out at a live performance show and ceremony on Feb 10 in Los Angeles. - Reuters
Golden Boy? returns with golden touch-
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our months after Mike Tyson muscled his way onto a Broadway stage, the bell has rung for another show featuring a boxer. Guess which is better? It’s not even close. A dazzling revival of Clifford Odets’ “Golden Boy” opened Thursday, still packing a punch after 75 years. Tyson could do well to watch how to successfully put together a show about the rise and fall of a boxer. This Lincoln Center Theater production, directed with verve and spark by Bartlett Sher, is appropriately housed at the Belasco Theater, the same place where it premiered in 1937. Back then, audiences saw Luther Adler play the doomed boxer Joe Bonaparte and Frances Farmer portray his love interest, Lorna Moon. This season, Seth Numrich dons the gloves admirably and Yvonne Strahovski makes a remarkable Broadway debut as Moon. The three-act play about a young man torn between his natural talent as a violinist and the fast money and fame of being a boxer sounds like it could be a clunky allegory, but Odets layered in some stunning lines and reduced the sappiness by keeping some of the pivotal scenes off the stage. Tony Shalhoub is a standout as Bonaparte’s father, a role whose lines are written in broken Italian-accented English which could be a disaster in the wrong hands (“feela good” and “I giva-a you.”) But Shalhoub is so skilled that only a deeply felt character emerges. Numrich, who starred as the young farm boy Albert Narracott in “War Horse,” is a nimble former “shrimp with glasses” here, maintaining his air of insecurity despite a toned physique and a solid left hook. The actor nicely does impetuousness and brashness, but also you can feel his inner tumult at betraying his father. There are also nice turns by Anthony Crivello as a slithery hood, Danny Burstein as Bonaparte’s trainer, and Brad Fleischer as a loopy rival boxer - but Strahovski is a revelation. An Australian more known for TV roles, Strahovski makes as headturning a Broadway debut as another notable blonde, Nina Arianda in the 2011 revival of Garson Kanin’s screwball “Born Yesterday.” Strahovski nails the accent, the physicality, the vulnerability and the put down: “What exhaust pipe did he crawl out of?” she asks about the slithery hood.
Great sets by Michael Yeargan that include boxing rings populated by sparring, muscular men and realistic tenement buildings and threadbare offices, costumes by Catherine Zuber that are boxy and masculine while always flattering Strahovski, and dim, moody lighting by Donald Holder all contribute to a gloomy gorgeousness. Sher has embraced the realism of this dark world - the sweat, gore and rushes of blood to the head. There are passionate kisses but always a lingering threat of violence. The place reeks of leather and failure. Or, as Odets beautifully summed it up: “This boxing racket is a ghost - it’s the city dumps with a buncha scrawny pelicans scratching around for bits of food.” — AP
This theater image shows (from left) Seth Numrich, Danny Burstein and Danny Mastrogiorgio in “Golden Boy.” — AP
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Nurse in Kate royal hoax call found dead
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nurse at the hospital which treated Prince William’s pregnant wife Catherine was found dead yesterday, days after being duped by a hoax call from an Australian radio station, the hospital said. The private King Edward VII hospital named the nurse as Jacintha Saldanha, who had worked there for four years, and said it had learned of her “tragic death” with “very deep sadness.” The hospital did not comment on media reports that she had committed suicide, while police said they were treating the death, which happened at a property near the hospital, as unexplained. “We can confirm that Jacintha was recently the victim of a hoax call to the hospital. The hospital had been supporting her throughout this difficult time,” the hospital said in a statement. “Jacintha has worked at the King Edward VII’s Hospital for more than four years. She was an excellent nurse and wellrespected and popular with all of her colleagues. In what it billed as the “biggest royal prank ever”, two presenters from Sydney’s 2Day FM station called the hospital on Monday pretending to be Queen Elizabeth II and William’s father Prince Charles.
They asked to speak to the former Kate Middleton and a hospital receptionist then put them through to a nurse who gave the presenters private details of the Duchess of Cambridge’s severe morning sickness. Hospital chief executive John Lofthouse added, referring to the nurse who died: “Our thoughts and deepest sympathies at this time are with her family and friends. Everyone is shocked by the loss of a much loved and valued colleague.” A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “Police were called at 9:25 am (0925 GMT) this morning to reports of a woman unconscious at an address in Weymouth Street, W1. “London Ambulance Service attended and a woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Inquiries continue to establish the circumstances of the incident. The death is being treated as unexplained.” A source in the emergency services told AFP that while the death was being treated as unexplained it was not thought to be suspicious. There was no immediate comment from St James’s Palace, the official residence of William and Kate. Radio presenters Mel Greig and Michael Christian apologised earlier this week for the call, even as the station was milking the publicity for it.
British actress Gemma Arterton stands during the 12th Marrakesh International Film Festival on December 6, 2012 in Marrakesh. — AFP photos
French journalist Laurent Weil (center), singer Fayrouz (left) and Marrakesh Film festival director Melita Toscan Du Plantier (right) pose at the 12th Marrakesh International Film Festival.
Hyde Park on Hudson? review: Nothing to praise
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emember how last year’s “My Week with Marilyn” spent way too much time on its dullard protagonist and not nearly enough on Marilyn Monroe, the film’s one interesting character? Change the title of “Hyde Park on Hudson” to “My Affair with Franklin,” and you get the same result. Our uninteresting tour guide this time around is Daisy Stuckley (Laura Linney), a fifth cousin of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Bill Murray). By the late 1930s, when the film begins, Daisy had gone from being a wealthy woman to one of the president’s poor relations, eking out a living as a caretaker to an elderly aunt (the wonderful Eleanor Bron, sorely underused). One day, Daisy gets a call to come to FDR’s massive estate to help take his mind off of affairs of state. She looks at his stamp albums and tends to his sinus headaches and goes on long drives with him. During one of these jaunts to the countryside, he puts his hand on hers, then moves their hands to his leg, giving way to the most hilarious cinematic hand-job since “Animal House.” Except that the hilarity here is unintentional. Director Roger Michell (“Morning Glory,” “Notting Hill”) clearly wanted to communicate the physical nature of Daisy and Franklin’s relationship without turning off the little-old-lady audience, but the result is a sequence that’s simultaneously coy and crude and ridiculous. By the time we get a long shot of the car, with
Murray bouncing up and down in the seat, “Hyde Park on Hudson” goes to a loony place from which it never quite recovers. And while almost no one was clamoring for a sequel to “The King’s Speech,” the best parts of “Hyde Park” revolve around the visit of British royals Albert (Samuel West) and Elizabeth (Olivia Colman), who are trooping up to the Roosevelt estate crown-in-hand to seek support from the US in the impending war with Hitler. It’s in the scenes with these two - West is perhaps best known in this country as the doomed Leonard Bast in “Howards End,” and Colman’s work spans the tragic “Tyrannosaur” to the hilarious BBC science-show parody “Look Around You” - that the movie comes alive and seems to be about something. But there’s not enough Bertie and Liz and way too much Daisy, particularly since her clunky narration, courtesy of screenwriter Richard Nelson (who also did the 1993 adaptation of “Ethan Frome”), does little more than belabor the obvious and underscore what a minor role Daisy plays in the goings-on. We get a few tantalizingly brief scenes with Eleanor (Olivia Williams), and some broad hints regarding her “close friendships” with women, but it’s mostly about this distant relative and her disappointment upon discovering that she’s not the only fling that FDR has on the side.—Reuters
“We were very surprised that our call was put through. We thought we’d be hung up on as soon as they heard our terrible accents,” the presenters said in a statement. “We’re very sorry if we’ve caused any issues and we’re glad to hear that Kate is doing well.” The presenters insisted it was light-hearted and even Prince Charles joked about the incident on Thursday, saying to reporters who were asking him about Kate’s condition: “How do you know I’m not a radio station?” Kate was admitted to hospital on Monday with acute morning sickness and left on Thursday, saying she was feeling much better. Her admission to hospital was the first the world knew of her pregnancy. It will be the couple’s first child and will be third in line to the British throne after Charles and William. — AFP
Intimate Phil Coulter in
Songs I Love?
A
dapper man, an elegantly elongated Steinway piano, lovely music and songs - and then, a Jimmy Durante impression. Such is the eclectic mix presented by Irish musician Phil Coulter, in his warm-hearted holiday show “The Songs I Love So Well,” part of the 25th-year celebration of the Irish Repertory Theatre. For Coulter fans, the intimate, genially nostalgic production is a rare chance to see him up close in an intimate setting. Long known as an internationally successful songwriter, pianist, and music producer, here he alternates his own work with classic Irish folk music, interspersed with polished anecdotes and sly references to how many records he’s sold over the years (“gazillions,” in case you weren’t aware.) A practiced showman, Coulter is completely at ease on the small stage. In addition to celebrating his career, (the show opens with filmed tributes from celebrity friends), he pays homage to the resilient spirit of people in Northern Ireland, primarily Derry, where he’s from. Accompanying himself under his own musical direction, Coulter performs personal favorites, including “Coultergeist” and the moving, “Scorn Not His Simplicity,” written about his son with Down syndrome. Classic Irish
folk numbers include “Gold and Silver Days,” “Spinning Wheel,” and the rousing anthem, “Ireland’s Call.” Taking aim at the easy-listening/Muzak criticism that’s been aimed at his work, he jokes that his “Tranquility” series of recordings made its way “to elevators around the world.” His projections include Irish landscapes or aerial shots of his own hands playing the piano. Late in the second act he brings on his wife, Geraldine Branagan. An accomplished singer, she beautifully performs a couple of songs, including ‘Silent Night’ in both English and Irish Gaelic (“Oiche Chiuin.”)—AP
Phil Coulter
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
By Jenny B Davis
D
uring the Summer Olympics, the equestrian athletes were our pick for best-dressed competitors. Now dressage meets downtown with a new crop of clothes, bags and baubles inspired by the riding life. Even neigh-sayers will embrace this season’s fashionable twist on traditional equestrian style. Classically cut jackets go brighter, feed bag-style hobos get graphic, and fashion jewelry incorporates the sport’s mane motifs, even if just a little bit. A great gait: Riding jacket: Smythe, $665. Cotton blouse: Banana Republic, $69.50. Leather-trimmed jeans: DL 1961, $225. Riding boots: Cole Haan “Daelin,” $498. Oversize bag: Rebecca Ray “The Maryann,” $210. Earrings: Ann Taylor LOFT, $24.50. Silvertone bit bracelet: Lauren Ralph Lauren, $48. There’s nothing conventional about Cole Haan’s “Carolyn” platform ankle boot, which turns traditional riding-boot styling upside down. $398. With its equestrian-themed ends in russets and gold, this generously sized scarf has a surprise inside: a pattern of stars that pop in colors like teal and hot pink. Codello, $150. Take the reins: Leave it to Ralph Lauren. — MCT
T
he trial of fashion house duo Dolce & Gabbana for allegedly failing to declare 840 million euros ($1.1 billion) in revenues to tax authorities in Italy opened, according to local media reports. The trial was immediately postponed until next week, after the defence team for Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana called for the case to be thrown out on the grounds that some legal documents had been omitted, the reports said. Judge Antonella Brambilla said she would rule on the plea on December 14. The designers’ lawyer, Massimo Dinoia, was not available for comment. The pair are accused of having transferred control of their Dolce & Gabbana and D&G brands to a shell company in Luxembourg in 2004 and 2005, thereby avoiding paying Italian taxes of around 420 million euros ($550 million). Prosecutors in the case have argued that setting up the Luxembourg company Gado — an acronym of the surnames of the two designers — while the company was still operating out of Italy, was an attempt to defraud the state. Dolce and Gabbana, whose celebrity clients include Beyonce and Madonna, have repeatedly denied the accusations. Investigators completed an probe into the designers, as well as five other people, in 2010 and the case was dismissed in April 2011 but reopened in November last year when Italy’s highest court ruled the pair must face trial. — AFP
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Models present a creations by students of Iqra University during a fashion show in Peshawar. — AFP photos
TECHNOLOGY SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Softer side of Apple emerges under Cook Plans to bring jobs back to the US
HONG KONG: A customer tests the new iPhone 5 at the Apple store in Hong Kong. T-Mobile will likely start carrying the iPhone next year after its parent company, Deutsche Telekom, said it has reached a new deal with Apple. — AP
T-Mobile to get Apple devices NEW YORK: T-Mobile will likely start carrying the iPhone next year after its parent company, Deutsche Telekom, said it has reached a new deal with Apple. T-Mobile USA had been the lone iPhone-less carrier among the four national wireless companies in the US. Although it has been possible to use iPhones on T-Mobile networks, customers had to provide the phones themselves. The phones also work at much slower speeds, though T-Mobile has been reshuffling its network to match or exceed AT&T’s data speeds. The three larger carriers, AT&T Inc, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp, already sell the iPhone, as do many smaller ones. Deutsche Telekom AG said Thursday that T-Mobile will add Apple products to its portfolio in the coming year. Though it didn’t mention the iPhone by name in its press release, that’s the product it is most likely referring to. It’s possible T-Mobile will also sell a cellular version of the iPad, as the three national carriers do. Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison confirmed the agreement but would not comment further. In an email, TMobile also wouldn’t mention the iPhone by name, saying only that more details will come “at a later date.” Having the iPhone would likely win T-Mobile more customers and help it keep up with rivals. But the upfront costs of carrying the device are high for phone companies. That’s because carriers subsidize the iPhone when they sell it to customers, counting on making up the money in service fees over the life of a two-year contract. Last year, US Cellular Corp, the country’s sixth-largest cellphone company, said it turned down an opportunity to carry the iPhone, saying it’s too expensive. T-Mobile has agreed to combine its cellphone business with MetroPCS Communications Inc. in a deal they signed earlier this fall. The combined company will stay No 4 among US wireless carriers, though the combination is aimed at letting the two better compete with larger rivals. Deutsche Telekom will hold a 74 percent stake in the combined company. MetroPCS shareholders will own the rest. The deal awaits government clearance. — AP
NEW YORK: “Those jobs aren’t coming back.” That’s what Steve Jobs reportedly told President Obama when asked at a dinner in early 2011 whether Apple would consider moving some of its manufacturing from China to the United States. Jobs’ successor, CEO Tim Cook, might have another response for Obama: Yes, we can. Though the metal edges of its PCs and mobile devices are as sharp and severe as ever, Apple is emerging under Cook’s leadership as a kinder corporate citizen. Cook’s announcement this week that the company is moving the production of one of its Mac computer lines to the US is just the latest step in a softening of the company’s image following the October 2011 death of CEO and cofounder Jobs. “Cook is a gentler being in terms of how he projects himself,” says Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi. That’s partly of necessity, she says - people wouldn’t tolerate Jobs’ arrogance in a new CEO — but it’s also a reflection of Cook’s personality. Cook didn’t say which computers would be made in the US, or where the company might locate facilities. But bringing assembly-line jobs back to the US lights a symbolic beacon of hope for working-class Americans who worry that the global economy has no use for them. Cook’s reforms have been both internal and outward-facing. Earlier this year, he visited the Chinese factories where Apple products are assembled, amid an Apple-financed audit of working conditions. Shortly after, Foxconn promised to limit working hours and raise wages. U.S. workers are getting a better deal too. The Wall Street Journal reported in early November that the company will let some employees take up to two weeks of paid leave to work on pet projects that might benefit the company. The program is similar to a famous perk available to Google employees, who get to devote 20 percent of their time to entrepreneurial “hobbies.” In addition, the company now match-
SAN FRANSCISCO: In this file photo, Apple CEO Tim Cook (left), talks with musician Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters as they look at an iPhone 5 during an Apple event in San Francisco. Apple is emerging as a gentler, cuddlier corporate citizen in the year after the death of CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs. —- AP es employee donations up to $10,000 a year. Tim Cook himself made $100 million in charitable donations early in the year, another contrast to Jobs, who had little interest in philanthropy. Under Cook, Apple has also become more investor-friendly. Jobs, perhaps scarred by Apple’s lean years in the 1990s, was opposed to Apple parting with its cash reserves. That lead to the company accumulating a rainy-day fund of nearly $100 billion in cash by the end of his tenure - a hoard that investors would have liked for themselves. This year, Apple has begun sharing its wealth with investors for the first time in two decades, by paying dividends of nearly $10 billion a year. Cook’s diplomacy has extended into enemy territory. Jobs was furious that phones running Google Inc’s Android software mimicked Apple’s iPhone so closely and vowed to wage “thermonuclear war” against the company through patent infringement lawsuits. The world-
wide onslaught of litigation is still ongoing, but in early November, Apple agreed to a ceasefire on one front: It settled all its patent suits against Google partner HTC Corp, a struggling Taiwanese maker of smartphones. The terms were not disclosed, but company watchers believe HTC will be paying Apple royalties on the phones it makes, and some saw it as a sign that Apple was taking a more rational stance and starting to put Jobs’ take-noprisoners fury behind it. Carl Howe, an analyst with Yankee Group, says the image of a “softer” Apple that’s emerged this year doesn’t mean Cook is a softie. “Make no mistake: he’s not necessarily a kind, gentle guy if he needs to get something done. He’s a very hardnosed, demanding boss,” Howe says. “And he’s very much of the Steve Jobs model, where if you’re the janitor you get to make excuses. If you’re the vice president, you don’t.”
Tablet technology takes teaching into new century PARIS: Emma McCluskey’s classroom looks much like any other. A verb chart, posters and pupils’ work adorn the walls. The children lean over their desks, seven and eight-year-old brows furrowed in concentration. In its essence, it is a scene that could have been recorded at any time since Shakespeare was at school. Except it isn’t. Instead of textbooks, the pupils are pouring over tablet computers linked in to a wireless broadband network. There are still pencils in their hands but for how much longer? In an age when toddlers learn to use touchscreens before they can speak, tablet technology is about to take teaching into a brave new word, and McCluskey’s students have been invited to the preview. In September, the British School of Paris (BSP), where McCluskey
teaches, became one of a handful of schools across Europe to take the plunge and decide to restructure their teaching around the technology that is already integral to its students’ lives. Every pupil at the international school on the outskirts of Paris, from four-yearolds to university-bound 18-year-olds and every member of staff, was issued with an iPad at the start of the autumn term. Not everyone was convinced. Parents fretted that their children would be on Facebook as soon as their teachers’ backs were turned, or that an iPad in the bag would make then a target for mugging. Three months on, everyone involved is still adapting and the experiment has not been without hiccups. Surfing on the move during break times, for example, had to be banned after a
few children took a tumble. But overall, the verdict is positive from both pupils and staff like McCluskey, who lights up when she talks about an upcoming project on maps. “Normally it’s quite a drabby kind of topic but it’s brilliant now,” she says. “We’re going to be taking birds eye view photographs with the iPad and then were doing a (virtual) tour of the school.” Like most European schools, the BSP was already linked into a virtual learning environment, with resources increasingly drawn from the Internet and classrooms equipped with interactive whiteboards. But a traditional computer room arrangement meant even a wellresourced school like BSP could only get its pupils online for as little as two hours per week. In that context, giving each
pupil the means to access the available resources at their own pace, was a nobrainer for Steffen Sommer, the headmaster of the school. “Unlike us adults, today’s children are natives of this technology,” he says. “They have an urge to communicate, they have an urge to research. “It is very different from what education used to be like, It’s wrong to ask the children to learn in a 20th-century style when they’re clearly living in a different world.” The tablets did not come cheap. Wear-and-tear and the pace of technological innovation mean they will last only two or three years. The school has also had to shell out 200,000 euros ($256,000) to upgrade their wireless network, which uses a “smooth wall,” to keep students off inappropriate websites. —AFP
TECHNOLOGY SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
The law of online sharing CHICAGO: The idea of limitless growth gives sleepless nights to environmentalists, but not to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. He espouses a law of social sharing, which predicts that every year, for the foreseeable future, the amount of information you share on the Web will double. That rule of thumb can be visualized mathematically as a rapidly growing exponential curve. More simply, our online social lives are set to get significantly busier. As for Facebook, more personal data means better ad targeting. If things work out, Zuckerberg’s net worth will follow a similar trajectory to that described in his law of social sharing. That law is said to be mathematically derived from data inside Facebook. In ambition, it is closely modeled on Moore’s Law, which was conceived by the computer-processor pioneer Gordon Moore in 1965 and has been at work in every advance in computing since. Also an exponential curve, it states that every two years twice as many transistors can be fitted onto a chip of any given area for the same price, allowing processing power to get cheaper and more capable. There’s a hint of vanity in Zuckerberg’s attempt to ape Moore. But it makes sense to try to describe the mechanisms that have raised Facebook and other social-Web companies to power. The Web defines our time and is being rapidly reshaped by social content-from dumb viral videos to earnest pleas on serious issues. Facebook’s success has left older companies like Google scrambling to add social features to their own products. Zuckerberg’s Law can help us understand such a sudden change of tack from a seemingly dominant company, just as Moore’s Law has long been used to plan and explain new strategies and technologies. Inasmuch as Facebook is the company most invested in Zuckerberg’s Law, its every move can be understood as an effort to sustain the graceful upward curve of its founder’s formula. The short-term prospects look good for Zuckerberg. The original Moore’s Law is on his side; faster, cheaper computers and mobile devices have made sharing easier and allowed us to do it wherever we go. Just as important, we are willing to play along, embracing new features from Facebook and others that lead us to share things today that we wouldn’t or couldn’t have yesterday. Facebook’s most recent major product launch, last September, is clearly aimed at validating Zuckerberg’s prophecy and may provide its first real test. An upgrade to the Open Graph platform that unleashed the now ubiquitous Like button onto the Web, it added a feature that allows apps and Web sites to automatically share your activity via Facebook as you go about your business. Users must first give a service permission to share automatically on their behalf. After that, frictionless sharing, as it has become known, makes sharing happen without your needing to click a Like button, or to even think about sharing. The most prominent early implementation was the music-streaming service Spotify, which can now automatically post on Facebook the details of every song you listen to. In the first two months of frictionless sharing, more than 1.5 billion “listens” were shared through Spotify and other music apps. News organizations like the Washington Post use the feature, making it possible for them to share every article a person reads on their sites or in a dedicated app. Frictionless sharing is also helping Facebook drag formerly offline activities onto the Web. An app for runners can now automatically post the time, distance, and path of a person’s morning run. Frictionless sharing sustains Zuckerberg’s Law by automating what used to be a manual task, thus removing a brake on the rate at which we can share. It also shows that we are willing to compromise our previous positions on how much sharing is too much. Facebook introduced a form of automatic sharing four years ago with a feature called Beacon, but it retreated after a strong backlash from users. Beacon automatically shared purchases that Facebook members made through affiliated online retailers, such as eBay. Frictionless sharing reintroduces the same basic model with the difference that it is opt-in rather than optout. Carl Sjogreen, a computer scientist who is a product director overseeing Open Graph, says it hasn’t elicited anything like the rage that met Beacon’s debut. “Everyone has a different idea of what they want to share, and what they want to see,” says Sjogreen. Moreover, judging by the number of Spotify updates from my Facebook friends, frictionless sharing is pretty popular. Privacy concerns will surely arise again as Facebook and others become able to ingest and process more of our personal data. Yet our urge to share always seems to win out. The potential for GPS-equipped cell phones to become location trackers, should the government demand access to our data, has long concerned some people. A South Park episode last year even portrayed an evil caricature of Apple boss Steve Jobs standing before a wall-sized map labeled “Where Everybody in the World Is Right Now.” —MCT
American firm hopes to sell trips to the Moon Ticket priced at $1.5 billion WASHINGTON: Attention wealthy nations and billionaires: A team of former NASA executives will fly you to the moon in an out-of-this-world commercial venture combining the wizardry of Apollo and the marketing of Apple. For a mere $1.5 billion, the business is offering countries the chance to send two people to the moon and back, either for research or national prestige. And if you are an individual with that kind of money to spare, you too can go the moon for a couple days. Some space experts, though, are skeptical of the firm’s financial ability to get to the moon. The venture called Golden Spike Co was announced Thursday. Dozens of private space companies have started up recently, but few if any will make it - just like in other fields - said Harvard astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who tracks launches worldwide. “This is unlikely to be the one that will pan out,” McDowell said. NASA’s last trip to the moon launched 40 years ago Friday. The United States is the only country that has landed people there, beating the Soviet Union in a space race to the moon that transfixed the world. But once the race ended, there has been only sporadic interest in the moon. President Barack Obama cancelled NASA’s planned return to the moon, saying America had already been there. On Wednesday, a National Academy of Sciences said the nation’s space agency has no clear goal or direction for future human exploration. But the ex-NASA officials behind Golden Spike do. It’s that old moon again. The firm has talked to other countries, which are showing interest, said former NASA associate administrator Alan Stern, Golden Spike’s president. Stern said he’s looking at countries like South Africa, South Korea, and Japan. One very rich individual - he won’t give a name - has also been talking with them, but the company’s
WASHINGTON: This undated image made available by NASA and photographed by the Expedition 28 crew aboard the International Space Station, shows the moon, at center with the limb of Earth near the bottom transitioning into the orange-colored troposphere, the lowest and most dense portion of the Earth’s atmosphere. A team of former NASA executives are launching a private venture to send people to the moon for $1.5 billion. — AP main market is foreign nations, he said. “It’s not about being first. It’s about joining the club,” Stern said. “We’re kind of cleaning up what NASA did in the 1960s. We’re going to make a commodity of it in the 2020s.” The selling point: “the sex appeal of flying your own astronauts,” Stern said. Many countries did pony up millions of dollars to fly their astronauts on the Russian space station Mir and American space shuttles in the 1990s, but a billion dollar price tag seems a bit steep, Harvard’s McDowell said. NASA chief spokesman David Weaver said the new company “is further evidence of the timeliness and wisdom of the Obama administration’s overall space policy” which tries to foster commercial space companies. Getting to the moon would
involve several steps: Two astronauts would launch to Earth orbit, connect with another engine that would send them to lunar orbit. Around the moon, the crew would link up with a lunar orbiter and take a moon landing ship down to the surface. The company will buy existing rockets and capsules for the launches, Stern said, only needing to develop new spacesuits and a lunar lander. Stern said he’s aiming for a first launch before the end of the decade and then up 15 or 20 launches total. Just getting to the first launch will cost the company between $7 billion and $8 billion, he said. Besides the ticket price, Stern said there are other revenue sources, such as NASCAR-like advertising, football stadium-like naming rights, and Olympic style video rights. —AP
Facebook collecting, analyzing consumer data
WASHINGTON: This image provided by NASA shows long, narrow gullies along the walls of a crater on the giant asteroid Vesta taken by the NASA Dawn spacecraft. Scientists are unclear how these gullies formed and work is underway to determine their origin. —- AP
NEW YORK: Facebook recently introduced its Timeline interface to its 850 million monthly active users. The interface is designed to make it easy to navigate much of the immense amount of information that the social network has gathered about each of its users-and to prompt them to add and share even more in a way that’s easy to analyze. Facebook’s motivation is to better target the advertisements that are responsible for 85 percent of its revenue. In part, successful targeting is a numbers game. If reported trends have held steady, Facebook’s data warehouse was adding 625,000 terabytes of compressed data daily by last January. Timeline’s new features are bound to boost that number dramatically, potentially providing Facebook with more personal data than any other ad seller online can access. In the past, much of the data that users contributed to Facebook was in the form of unstructured status updates. The addition of a “Like” button, and the ability to link that button to third-party websites, provided somewhat more fine-grained information that could be used for targeting ads. Timeline goes well beyond that, prompting users to add an extensive array of metadata to their updates, which makes mining value much easier. And by design, it encourages users to revisit and add more information to old updates, or retroactively add completely new biographical information. One way Timeline gets users to add marketable meaning is by asking them to categorize their updates under a broad collection of “Life Events,” which includes tags for actions like buying a home or vehicle. —MCT
CINEMA SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
IKTUWA
KNCC PROGRAM FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (06/12/2012 TO 12/12/2012) SHARQIA-1 ANNA KARENINA (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED
12:45 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:45 AM
SHARQIA-2 RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) 12:30 PM THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) 2:30 PM RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) 4:45 PM THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) 6:45 PM STORAGE 24 (DIG) 9:00 PM STORAGE 24 (DIG) 11:00 PM STORAGE 24 (DIG) 1:00 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED SHARQIA-3 UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)12:45 PM TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE (DIG) 3:00 PM CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE (DIG) 5:15 PM KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI) 7:00 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)10:00 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)12:15 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED MUHALAB-1 ANNA KARENINA (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED
2:00 PM 4:45 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 12:05 AM
MUHALAB-2 UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)12:30 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)2:45 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)5:00 PM KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI) 7:15 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)10:00 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)12:30 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED MUHALAB-3 RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) 12:30 PM STORAGE 24 (DIG) 2:30 PM RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) 4:30 PM STORAGE 24 (DIG) 6:30 PM THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) 8:30 PM STORAGE 24 (DIG) 10:45 PM STORAGE 24 (DIG) 12:45 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED FANAR-1 STORAGE 24 (DIG) TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED
1:45 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:05 AM
FANAR-2 ANNA KARENINA (DIG) CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED
12:30 PM 3:15 PM 5:00 PM 7:30 PM 10:00 PM 12:30 AM
FANAR-3 KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI) TALAASH (DIG)(HINDI) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI) KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI) NO SUN+TUE+WED
12:45 PM 3:30 PM 6:15 PM 9:30 PM 12:15 AM
FANAR-4 UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)1:30 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)3:45 PM THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) 6:00 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)8:15 PM THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) 10:30 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)12:45 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED
FANAR-5 RISE OF THE GUARDIANS RISE OF THE GUARDIANS RISE OF THE GUARDIANS THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS FLIGHT FLIGHT NO SUN+TUE+WED
1:00 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:15 PM 9:15 PM 11:45 PM
MARINA-1 MISS MOMMY (DIG) TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED
12:45 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:30 PM 9:30 PM 12:05 AM
MARINA-2 STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED
12:30 PM 2:15 PM 4:15 PM 6:15 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM
MARINA-3 RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) 1:30 PM RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) 3:30 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)5:30 PM THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) 7:45 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)10:15 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)12:30 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED AVENUES-1 KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI) TALAASH (DIG)(HINDI) KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI) KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI) NO SUN+TUE+WED
2:30 PM 5:30 PM 8:30 PM 11:30 PM
AVENUES-2 ANNA KARENINA (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED
12:45 PM 3:30 PM 6:15 PM 9:00 PM 11:45 PM
AVENUES-3 UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)1:15 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)3:30 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)5:45 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)8:00 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)10:15 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)12:30 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED AVENUES-4 JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) NO SUN+TUE+WED
1:30 PM 5:00 PM 8:30 PM 12:05 AM
AVENUES-5 UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)2:15 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)4:30 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)6:45 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)9:00 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)11:15 PM AVENUES-6 RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) 12:30 PM RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) 2:45 PM RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) 5:00 PM THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) 7:30 PM THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) 10:00 PM THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) 12:30 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED AVENUES-7 FLIGHT (DIG) SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (DIG) SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (DIG) CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE (DIG)
12:45 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM
10:00 PM 12:15 AM
KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI) KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI) KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI) NO SUN+TUE+WED
AVENUES-8 TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED
1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 1:00 AM
AVENUES-9 STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED
2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 11:00 PM 1:15 AM
360 º- 8 ANNA KARENINA (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) NO THU “Redbull -DVD” THU ANNA KARENINA (DIG) NO THU ANNA KARENINA (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED
SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (DIG) CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED
AVENUES-10 JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) NO SUN+TUE+WED MISS MOMMY (DIG) SUN+TUE+WED
12:30 PM 4:00 PM 7:30 PM 11:00 PM 11:00 PM
AVENUES-11 RED DAWN (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED
1:45 PM 4:15 PM 6:45 PM 9:15 PM 11:45 PM
360 º- 1 RED DAWN (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED
12:45 PM 3:15 PM 5:45 PM 8:15 PM 10:45 PM 1:00 AM
360 º- 2 JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) NO SUN+TUE+WED
1:30 PM 5:00 PM 8:30 PM 12:05 AM
360º- 3 SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (DIG) TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE (DIG) SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (DIG) SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (DIG) TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE (DIG) SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED 360 º- 4 STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED 360 º- 5 THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS (DIG) FRI+SAT CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE (DIG) NO MON THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS (DIG) CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE (DIG) CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE (DIG) 360 º- 6 RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED 360 º- 7 KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI) KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI)
360 º- 9 (VIP-1) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED
6:30 PM 9:30 PM 12:30 AM
1:45 PM 4:30 PM 3:00 7:15 PM 10:00 PM 12:45 AM
1:45 PM 4:30 PM 7:15 PM 10:00 PM 12:45 AM
360 º-10 (VIP-2) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)1:15 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)3:30 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)5:45 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)8:00 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)10:15 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)12:30 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED 360 º- 11 UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)2:30 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)4:45 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)7:00 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)9:15 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)11:30 PM NO SUN+TUE+WED 360 º- 12 THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) 1:00 PM THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) 3:30 PM THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) 6:00 PM THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) 8:30 PM THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) 11:00 PM
2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 11:00 PM 1:15 AM
360 º- 13 RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (IMAX-3D) 12:30 PM RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (IMAX-3D) 2:45 PM RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (IMAX-3D) 5:00 PM RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (IMAX-3D) 7:15 PM THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (IMAX) 9:30 PM THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (IMAX) 12:05 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED
1:00 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM
360 º- 14 MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG)
2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:45 PM 9:00 PM 11:00 PM
360 º- 15 FLIGHT (DIG) TALAASH (DIG)(HINDI) TALAASH (DIG)(HINDI) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI)
1:30 PM 4:00 PM 7:00 PM 10:00 PM
2:30 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 9:15 PM 11:30 PM 1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:15 PM 12:45 AM
12:30 PM 3:30 PM
AL-KOUT.1 RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) 1:30 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)3:45 PM RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) 6:00 PM THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) 8:00 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)10:15 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG)12:30 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED AL-KOUT.2 ANNA KARENINA (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE (DIG)
12:30 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 7:30 PM
TV listings SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
03:25 04:15 05:05 05:55 06:20 06:45 07:35 08:00 08:25 09:15 10:10 11:05 11:30 12:00 12:25 12:55 13:50 14:45 19:20 20:15 21:10 22:05 23:00 23:55
Air Jaws Apocalypse Monster Bug Wars Wild France Gibbons: Back In The Swing Going Ape Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Wildlife SOS Talk To The Animals Dogs 101 Crocodile Hunter Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Breed All About It Jeff Corwin Unleashed The Really Wild Show Wild France Great Ocean Adventures The Jeff Corwin Experience Queens Of The Savannah Queens Of The Savannah Running With Wolves Wild France My Cat From Hell Baboons With Bill Bailey
03:00 03:10 03:30 05:30 06:00 06:10 07:00 07:30 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30 10:00 10:10 10:30 11:10 11:30 12:00 12:10 13:00 13:10 13:30 14:00 14:10 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:15 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 18:10 18:30 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:30 22:00 22:15 22:30 23:00 23:10
BBC World News Weekend World BBC World News Horizons BBC World News Masters Of Money BBC World News Fast Track BBC World News Middle East Business Report BBC World News Click BBC World News Weekend World BBC World News Football Focus Horizons BBC World News Why Poverty? BBC World News World Features Newsnight BBC World News Weekend World Mishal Husain Meets BBC World News The Firing Line BBC World News Sport Today Fast Track BBC World News Dateline London BBC World News World Features BBC World News Mishal Husain Meets BBC World News Final Score BBC World News Fast Track BBC World News Sport Today Click BBC World News Why Poverty?
04:00 06:00 08:00 PG15 10:00 12:00 14:00 PG15 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00
The Untouchables-PG15 The Green Hornet-PG15 True Justice: Deadly Crossing-
03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00
9-PG According To Greta-PG15 Chasing 3000-PG15 13-PG15 Arrietty-FAM My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend-PG15 Uncorked-PG15 Teen Spirit-PG15 The Company Men-PG15 Last Night-PG15 Paranormal Activity 3-18
04:00 Samantha Who? 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 06:30 Friends 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Samantha Who? 08:30 Raising Hope 10:00 Two And A Half Men 10:30 Community 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Friends 12:30 Samantha Who? 14:00 30 Rock 14:30 Community 15:00 Two And A Half Men 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 Raising Hope 18:30 30 Rock 19:00 Two And A Half Men 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Saturday Night Live 23:00 Family Guy 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00
Perception Greek Good Morning America The Practice Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Bunheads The Practice The X Factor U.S. Glee Bunheads
15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00
03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00
Perception Live Good Morning America The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street Bones C.S.I. C.S.I. Miami Breakout Kings Greek
The Tudors The X Factor U.S. Perception Body Of Proof Emmerdale Coronation Street White Collar Glee The X Factor U.S. Survivor: Philippines Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show White Collar Body Of Proof Emmerdale Coronation Street White Collar Bones C.S.I. C.S.I. Miami Breakout Kings The Tudors
03:00 Beneath The Darkness-PG15 05:00 Aeon Flux-PG15 07:00 True Justice: Vengeance Is Mine-PG15 09:00 Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within-PG 11:00 Aeon Flux-PG15
13:00 Rocky-PG15 15:00 Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within-PG 17:00 Inside Out-PG15 19:00 Thick As Thieves-18 21:00 Striking Distance-PG15 23:00 They Wait-18
03:15 05:00 06:45 09:30 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 PG15 19:00 21:00 23:00
Winter’s Bone-18 Coyote Ugly-PG15 The Insider-PG15 Boy-PG15 Dear John-PG15 Relative Stranger-PG15 Boy-PG15 Justice For Natalee Holloway-
Glee: The Concert Movie-PG15 127 Hours-PG15 Marley-PG15 The Hangover 2-18
04:15 06:00 08:00 10:00 11:30 13:00 14:30 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00 23:30
Blue Elephant 2-FAM Queen Of The Swallows-FAM Freddy Frogface-PG Rebound-PG The Nimbols: Part II-FAM Jetsons: The Movie-FAM The Apple & The Worm-FAM Shark Tale-PG Rebound-PG Scooter The Penguin-FAM Jetsons: The Movie-FAM Freddy Frogface-PG
Burlesque-PG15 The Fighter-PG15 The Weather Man-18
04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00
Dinner For Schmucks-PG15 Prom-PG15 Say Anything-PG15 Open Season 3-FAM Morning Glory-PG15 Scooby-Doo-PG Open Season 3-FAM Easy A-PG15 Nothing To Lose-PG15 American Virgin-18
04:00 05:45 07:15 09:00 10:30 12:30 14:45
Rising Stars-PG15 Winnie The Pooh-FAM Call Of The Wild-PG15 Glee: The Concert Movie-PG15 Blackthorn-PG15 The Tree Of Life-PG15 Game Change-PG15
03:00 Live NBC Nightly News 03:30 ABC World News With Diane Sawyer 04:00 MSNBC The Ed Show 05:00 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 06:00 MSNBC Politicsnation 07:00 Live NBC Nightly News 07:35 ABC Nightline 08:00 ABC World News With Diane Sawyer 08:30 Live NBC Nightly News 09:00 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 10:00 MSNBC The Ed Show 11:00 MSNBC Morning Joe 14:00 MSNBC Caught On Camera 15:00 Live NBC Saturday Today Show 17:00 MSNBC Up With Chris Hayes Saturday 18:57 Live MSNBC Hardball With Chris Matthews 19:38 Live MSNBC The Ed Show 20:19 Live MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 21:00 ABC 20/20 22:00 MSNBC News 23:00 MSNBC News
03:30 Michael Jackson: The Life Of An Icon-PG15 06:00 Alabama Moon-PG15 08:00 A Cinderella Story: Once Upon A Song-PG 10:00 A Guy Thing-PG15 11:45 Take Shelter-PG15 14:00 Kung Fu Magoo-FAM 16:00 A Cinderella Story: Once Upon A Song-PG 18:00 Jack And Jill-PG15 20:00 Marley-PG15 22:30 Wuthering Heights-18
The Green Hornet-PG15 Little Big Soldier-PG15 True Justice: Deadly CrossingReturner-PG15 Little Big Soldier-PG15 Blood Out-18 Striking Distance-PG15
03:00 Raising Hope 03:30 30 Rock
16:45 18:15 20:00 22:30
THE GREEN HORNET ON OSN ACTION HD
04:00 05:30 13:30 14:30 16:30 17:00 17:30 19:30
Ryder Cup Official Film Live Cricket Test Match Trans World Sport Top 14 ICC Cricket 360 Futbol Mundial Live Rugby Union International Cricket Test Match
03:30 04:30 05:00 07:00 08:15 11:15 11:45 15:00 15:30 19:00 20:00 22:00
PGA European Tour Highlights Futbol Mundial Top 14 Trans World Sport Live HSBC Sevens World Series Futbol Mundial Live HSBC Sevens World Series ICC Cricket 360 Live HSBC Sevens World Series UFC The Ultimate Fighter Rugby Union International Top 14
03:00 03:00 03:30 03:30 04:30 04:30 05:30 05:30 06:00 06:00 07:00 12:30 14:00
Total Rugby Total Rugby Mass Participation Mass Participation Mass Participation Mass Participation Mass Participation Mass Participation Golfing World Golfing World NedBank Golf Challenge Top 14 Live Snooker UK Championship
17:00 Live Snooker UK Championship 21:30 Total Rugby 22:00 Live Snooker UK Championship
03:00 WWE Bottom Line 04:00 UFC Unleashed 05:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 06:00 UFC Unleashed 07:00 Live V8 Supercars 09:00 WWE SmackDown 11:00 WWE Bottom Line 12:00 Futbol Mundial 12:30 Live The Nedbank Golf Challenge 18:00 Live Top 14 20:00 V8 Supercars 22:00 Total Rugby 22:45 Live Pro 12
03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 17:00 19:00 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:30 22:00 23:00 23:30
Mankind The Story Of All Of Us Mankind The Story Of All Of Us UFO Hunters Patton 360 Ancient Aliens UFO Files Soviet Storm: WWII In The East WWII: Lost Films UFO Files Storage Wars Storage Wars Pawn Stars Cajun Pawn Stars American Pickers Storage Wars Storage Wars
03:00 Rides 04:00 04:30 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 10:30 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 World 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 VH1 08:00 11:00 13:00 14:00 22:00
World’s Greatest Motorcycle Essential Vegas Stripped Globe Trekker Departures Off Limits Globe Trekker Flavours Of Colombia Flavours Of Spain Glutton For Punishment Planet Food Globe Trekker Departures Off Limits Bert The Conqueror Essential Globe Trekker Around The Planet Food Travel 360 Cruising The Icelandic Fjords The Ethical Hedonist Around Iceland On Inspiration Planet Food Rise And Shine With VH1 VH1 Shuffle Guess The Year VH1 Icons Weekend! Saturday Night 80s Disco
03:05 Celebrity Fantasy Homes 03:50 The Restaurant UK 04:45 Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 05:30 Saturday Kitchen 2008/09 06:00 Rachel’s Favourite Food For Living 06:25 Rachel’s Favourite Food For Living 06:50 Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 07:35 Saturday Kitchen 2008/09 08:00 Antiques Roadshow 12:25 Baking Made Easy 12:50 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 13:15 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 13:40 The Hairy Bakers 14:05 Come Dine With Me 14:55 Bargain Hunt 15:40 Bargain Hunt 16:25 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 17:40 Baking Made Easy 18:05 The Hairy Bakers 18:30 Antiques Roadshow 22:00 Cash In The Attic 22:45 Cash In The Attic 23:35 Bargain Hunt
WHAT’S ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Embassy Information
Children’s Day celebrated at India International School
T
o commemorate the significance of Children’s Day, to honour and celebrate the birthday of Jawaharlal Nehru the first Prime Minster independent India, a special assembly was organized by the talented and dedicated teachers of India International School. The day was made remarkable with the efforts of the teachers, charged with the spirit of enthusiasm and displayed their hidden potentials with utmost fun and frolic. The joyous occasion began by invoking the blessings of the almighty with the recitation of the Holy Quran by Khalid and its translation by Muneer. Following this, teacher’s choir presented Kuwait National Anthem and its salutation by Sameer. The teachers of the junior section performed a cultural programme for the children of classes III to V. The first part of the programme was an up-beat Arabic song sung by Ahmed, Muneer, Mohamed, Nazar and Suhail. Mrs Noor assisted by Mrs Lakshmi performed an enthralling magic show which was much appreciated by the children. Following this a group of teachers presented a melodious integration of songs in various Indian languages. This special day was graced by the presence of the Director Malayil Moosa Koya and Principal F.M. Basheer Ahmed. The director presented scrolls inscribed with wishes to the children. They were handed over to the Head Boy Osama and Head Girl Ria Mathews of the junior section. He shared some interesting facts about Jawaharlal Nehru with the children and chocolates were distributed to all the children. The most exciting part of the programme for the senior section was the launching of India International School Channel that is CN channel (Chacha Nehru) by Basheer Ahmed which symbolis-
es ‘childhood nurturing’. For the first time in the history of India International School, teachers have come up with a novel idea to entertain students to enjoy with fun and frolic. In the guise of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the P.M. Manmohan Singh, Children’s Day message was given by Haseena and C.K Mohammed respectively. Following this children were amused to hear the morning news read by Geetavani with full humor and entertainment. The highlight of the programme was a medley dance performed by Feroza and team. It was indeed a spectacular performance to watch the teachers dancing to the tunes of medley with calculated steps. Students were amazed to know the flexibility of the teachers who are not only professional teachers but also experts in exhibiting their talents and creativity in multiple skills. To create an aura of laughter, fun and amusement we had a series of hilarious IT jokes by Nookambha. Children laughed and enjoyed to the fullest. Following this an inspirational Hindi song for the students was presented by Sayeda Zehra and team. This song inculcated in the minds of the young students a sense of responsibility that should be shouldered by them in the future for a better tomorrow. A twist in the programme was the publishing of the IIS newspaper which focused the local IIS news by the principal F.M.Basheer Ahmed. The programme was graced and concluded by the principal. In his speech he extended his warm wishes of Diwali and children’s Day. He congratulated all the teachers for their overwhelming performance and enlightened the students to respond positively to the love and concern showered on them by their dear teachers.
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 ConsulateGeneral 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. nnnnnnn
EMBASSY OF ARGENTINA
The Embassy of Argentina requests all Argentinean citizens in Kuwait to proceed to our official email ekuwa@mrecic.gov.ar in order to register or update contact information. The embassy encourages all citizens to do so, including the ones who have already registered in person at the embassy. The registration process helps the Argentinean Government to contact and assist Argentineans living abroad in case of any emergency. nnnnnnn
EMBASSY OF BRITAIN Consular section at the British Embassy will be starting an online appointment booking system for our consular customers from Sunday, 01 July 2012. All information including how to make an appointment is now available on the embassy website. In addition, there is also a “Consular Appointment System” option under Quick links on the right hand side on the homepage, which should take you to the “Consular online booking appointment system” main page. Please be aware that from 01 July 2012, we will no longer accept walk-in customers for legalisation, notarial services and certificates (birth, death and marriages). If you have problems accessing the system or need to make an appointment for nonnotarial consular issues or have a consular emergency, please call 2259 4355/7/8 or email us on consularenquirieskuwait@fco.gov.uk. If you require consular assistance out of office hours (working hours: 0730-l430 hrs), please contact the Embassy on 2259 4320. nnnnnnn
EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakel St, Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed from 12:30 to 01:00 pm for lunch break. Consular Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00 on Sunday through Wednesday. The Canadian Embassy will be closed on Sunday and Monday 19 and 20 August 2012 on the occasion of Aid Al Fitr. The Embassy will resume its duties on Tuesday 21 August 2012. The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides visa and immigration services to residents of Kuwait. Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at www.UAE.gc.ca.
WHAT’S ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
‘We Are What We Eat’
“T
ESF donates to breast cancer
A
s part of its commitment to work with the community, the English School Fahaheel recently held a very successful “Think Pink” campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness. Last week Mrs Laila Al Qatami from the Ruqaiyah Abdulwahab Al Qatami Breast Cancer Foundation visited ESF to collect a
cheque OF KD 1500 students raised in their extensive campaign spanning over many weeks. Mrs Al Qatami was given a power point demonstration explaining details of the campaign at the Lloyd Webber Theatre. Students later displayed the merchandise hand made by the students to raise money for the campaign.
he AWARE Center cordially invites Western expatriates to its diwaniva presentation entitled, “We Are What We Eat,” by Karin Andersson on Tuesday December 11 at 7 pm. Your brain causes you to eat wrong and too much! It’s never too late to change your lifestyle. In every new situation, every second you have a choice. We are all unique, we live different lives, and we have different habits and tastes. So to he able to make a change or improvement in your lifestyle you need to have the right tools. All of this is extremely important to remember when searching for the right choices to suit you, especially in terms of nutrition. Karin will inspire you to a new healthier lifestyle and show you the simple steps to feel stronger and more satisfied with your life where diet plays an important role. And instead of having last kicks from carbohydrates she will tell you how to get healthier by eating smarter from proper food. • Get rid of sweet cravings. • Never go hungry. • Get more power. Karin Andersson is a certified Nutrition Adviser and nurse. She has worked with nutrition and health issues in many different ways over a long period of time in Sweden and in Kuwait. For her it is extremely important to inspire and help people to a better health ~~here diet plays a vital role. She is convinced that food certainly fulfills a very important function in our well being especially in a social context with other people. And with the knowledge of how to prepare the food in a tasty and healthy way combined with physical exercises, we will find a balance which is so important for our quality of life. Food must taste good and be healthy at the same time. This passion for food and health she has expressed in her hook “Food to enjoy & remember”.
ABS staff visit Farwaniya fire station
O
n November 25th the ABS KG staff visited Farwaniya Fire Station for emergency training. ABS is the first school in Kuwait to be given the opportunity to attend this type of emergency training. Colonel Tareq Al-Sabti talked to the staff about his fire station and crew, informing us that Farwaniya station is the busiest fire station in Kuwait. They save many lives every year, from car accidents, to burning buildings. They also get many calls to save animals in danger, they truly are wonderful people. Colonel Al-Sabti then handed over the training to Lieutenant Mohammad Fairuz AlHindi. First the staff was shown where the calls come in to the station, and how the alarm sounds when there is an emergency. The staff was shown how to extinguish fires; they were told there are 4 types of fire extinguishers, powder which is used for liquid and electrical fires. Foam is used for liquid fires; water is used for wood, paper, textile and solid material fires. The final fire extinguisher is CO2 (Carbon Dioxide), this is the most commonly used extinguisher; it can be
used on anything except oil fires. You should have this type of extinguisher in your kitchen and car. They also discussed the importance of fire alarms and smoke detectors in the home which are available from any good hardware store. Many of the teachers were taken up on the hydraulic ladder which can meet the dizzy height of 25 meters! Firemen mainly use this piece of equipment when rescuing people trapped in burning buildings. We even got chance to ride in the fire engines, something we would normally only dream of! Ms. Esra’a also dressed up in a fireman’s rescue uniform from the boots to the breathing apparatus!! Early next year the firemen will come to ABS to talk to the students about dangers in the home and they will also bring their fire engines and hopefully the local police as well. All the staff in KG was very grateful to Farwaniya Fire Station for allowing them to attend the training, we know they are extremely busy and we are thankful they took time out of their busy day to meet with us.
HEALTH
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Vitamin D, calcium disappoint in dementia study CHICAGO: Vitamin D and calcium supplements taken together in low doses offered no protection against dementia in a large US study of older women, but scientists are still holding out hope for vitamin D alone. Past research has suggested that vitamin D might protect against memory loss and overall functional decline in the aging brain, but more than 2,000 women in the study who took 400 international units of vitamin D and 1,000 mg of calcium daily for an average of eight years developed cognitive impairments at the same rates as a comparison group on placebo pills. But the study’s authors, whose report appeared in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, said that during the many years of the study researchers gained a better understanding of how calcium and vitamin D might have conflicting effects, so the combination of the two might explain the disappointing results. “I think the definitive study will just look at the effects of vitamin D,” said lead author Rebecca Rossom, from HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research, a nonprofit arm of a health maintenance organization based in Minnesota.
But she added that the current study is still important because it “gets closer to how women take vitamin D now” to build bone density. Rossom and her colleagues analyzed data on 4,100 women who were simultaneously enrolled in two trials, including the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Calcium and Vitamin D trial that ended in 2005, and a WHI memory study. All of the women, who averaged 71 years old at the outset of the studies, were also free of cognitive problems to start. Half of the women were assigned to take the supplements, and the rest were given identicallooking dummy pills. Ultimately, about 100 women, or five percent, in each group developed mild cognitive impairment a term that can include everything from memory trouble to the serious dementia found in Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers noted that since the study ended, guidelines on vitamin and mineral intakes have changed, Currently the U.S. Institute of Medicine suggests getting 600 IUs per day of vitamin D for men and women up to age 70, and 800 IUs for older people. Suggested calcium
ranges from 700 mg to 1,300 mg per day, based on age, with an upper limit of 3,000 mg. In both cases, intake recommendations cover both food and supplement sources. So, the authors say, their findings are specific only to the assigned amounts of vitamin D and calcium taken by women in the study - which are relatively low by today’s standards. “The sum of information does show conflicting evidence,” said Katherine Tucker of Northeastern University, who was not involved in the study. “Some recent studies suggest that too much calcium could have negative effects. The preponderance of evidence shows that vitamin D is protective, but some studies have shown no effect,” she told Reuters Health. Rossom’s team acknowledges their study’s limitations. In addition to the doses of supplements, the results are strictly limited to women, who were mostly white. Also, the study participants were relatively young. “The next step is to test a higher level of vitamin D,” said study coauthor JoAnn Manson of Harvard Medical School. — Reuters
Cutting down on fat will keep people slim LONDON: Forget fad diets pushing cabbage soup, weight-loss shakes or maple syrup. Swapping fatty foods for low-fat alternatives will keep you slim - and now there’s World Health Organisationbacked research to prove it. A review of 33 trials involving 73,589 men, women and children in America, Europe and New Zealand found that choosing low fat foods helped people lose around 3.5 pounds, slim their waist-lines and cut bad cholesterol - all without dieting. Researchers who led the study said its results prove for the first time that people can lose weight without trying to. “The weight reduction..when people ate less fat was remarkably consistent - we saw it in almost every trial. Those who cut down more on fat lost more weight,” said Lee Hooper from the University of East Anglia medical school, who led the work. “The effect isn’t dramatic, like going on a diet,” she said, adding that the research specifically looked at people who were cutting down on fat, but didn’t aim to lose weight - so were continuing to consume a normal amount of food. “What surprised us was that they did lose weight, their BMI (body mass index) decreased and their waists became slimmer,” Hooper said. The lower fat eaters also kept their weight down over at least seven years. The review - commissioned by the WHO’s Nutrition Guidance Expert Advisory Group (NUGAG) after a request to update their guidelines on fat intake - will now form a crucial part of global recommendations, the researchers said. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of many illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and stroke. Together, strokes, heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases are
the biggest killers worldwide and claim more than 17 million lives a year, according to the WHO. More than half of Europeans are obese or overweight, and in America more than 35 percent of adults and almost 17 percent of children qualify as obese. People are defined as overweight if their body mass index or BMI - a ratio of weight to height - is more than 25 kg per metre squared (kg/m2) and obese if it is more than 30 kg/m2. Among the 73,500 people taking part in the studies analysed by Hooper’s team, there were varying ages and states of health. The researchers compared those eating less fat than usual and those eating their usual amount of fat, and measured the effect on weight and waistline after at least six months. The results, published in the British Medical Journal, showed that eating less fat reduces body weight by 1.6 kg, cuts BMI by 0.56 kg/m≤ and reduces waist circumference by 0.5 cm. Hooper’s team found that reductions in total fat intake were also linked with small but statistically significant reductions in cholesterol and blood pressure, suggesting a lower fat diet could have a beneficial effect on this heart risk factors. Carolyn Summerbell of Durham University, who coled the research, said the trick to slimming down and staying that way was to find a way to eat what you can stick to for life. “Cutting down on fat will help,” she said, adding that this meant opting for low-fat yoghurts, skimmed milk and reducing intake of butter, cheese and fatty snacks like crisps and cakes. — Reuters
Ostrich arteries bring bypass hope TOKYO: Scientists in Japan have used ostrich blood vessels to create a viable bypass in pigs, raising hopes of easier and more effective artery transplants for heart patients. The team found they could harvest blood vessels from the bird’s long neck and use them to construct artificial pathways that are up to 30 centimetres (12 inches) long and as little as two millimetres (0.08 inches) in diametre. Conventional substitutes-taken from dead human donors, animals or made of synthetic fibres or resins-need to be at least double that in order to prevent problems with clotting. Chief researcher Tetsuji Yamaoka said the arteries, which carry blood to the ostrich’s head, are processed and lined with clotpreventing molecules on a nano scale. “Ostriches are good as they provide a stable supply of narrow and long vessels,” said Yamaoka, who heads the Biomedical Engineering Department of the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Centre in Suita, western Japan. Researchers at Yamaoka’s laboratory used the new vessel in femoral artery bypass operations in five miniature pigs, bridging large arteries in their right and left thighs.—AFP
Men more likely to die of cancer NEW YORK: Not only are men more likely than women to be diagnosed with cancer, men who get it have a higher chance of dying from the disease, according to a US study. In an analysis of cases of all but sex-specific cancers such as prostate and ovarian cancer, for example, men were more likely than women to die in each of the past ten years, said researchers, whose findings appeared in The Journal of Urology. That translates to an extra 24,130 men dying of cancer in 2012 because of their gender. “This gap needs to be closed,” said Shahrokh Shariat from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, who worked on the study. “It’s not about showing that men are only doing worse and, ‘poor men.’ It’s about closing gender differences and improving health care.” Using US cancer registry data from 2003 through 2012, Shariat and his colleagues found the ratio of deaths to cancer diagnoses decreased 10 percent over the past decade but was consistently higher among men than women. Overall, men with any type of cancer were six percent more likely to die of their disease than women with cancer. When men and women with the same type of cancer were compared, that rose to more than 12 percent. In 2012, Shariat’s team calculated that about 575,130 men and 457,240 women would be diagnosed with a nonsex specific cancer. Also this year, an estimated 243,620 men will die of cancer - one death for every 2.36 new diagnoses, compared to 182,670 women dying, or one for each 2.5 new diagnoses. “We found that from the 10 most common cancers in males and females... men present at a higher stage than females, and adjusted for the incidence, are more likely to die from the cancer,” Shariat told Reuters Health. “If you take an average of the 10 most common cancers, men are more likely to die in seven out of the ten,” he added. In contrast, women are more likely to die only from bladder cancer. The new study can’t show what’s behind the differences in cancer deaths, but possible theories include men’s higher rates of smoking and drinking combined with less frequent doctor’s visits - which cause men’s cancers to be diagnosed in later, more advanced stages. Sex hormones may also contribute to differences in men’s and women’s immune systems, metabolism and general susceptibility to cancer, according to Yang Yang, a sociologist and cancer researcher from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who studies health disparities but wasn’t part of the study. She said the new findings are consistent with work suggesting a higher risk of death for men from many causes, not just cancer.—Reuters
SCIENCE
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
World’s biggest, oldest trees are dying SYDNEY: Scientists yesterday warned of an alarming increase in the death rates of the largest living organisms on the planet, the giant, old trees that harbour and sustain countless birds and wildlife. Research by universities in Australia and the United States, published in Science, said ecosystems worldwide were in danger of losing forever their largest and oldest trees unless there were policy changes to better protect them. “It’s a worldwide problem and appears to be happening in most types of forest,” said David Lindenmayer from the Australian National University, the lead author of a study into the problem. “Just as large-bodied animals such as elephants, tigers, and cetaceans have declined drastically in many parts of the world, a growing body of evidence suggests that large old trees could be equally imperilled.” Lindenmayer, along with colleagues from the James Cook University in Australia and Washington University in America, undertook their study after examining Swedish forestry records going back to the 1860s. They found alarming losses of big trees, ranging from 100 to 300 years old, at all lati-
tudes in Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, South America, Latin America and Australia. The trees at risk included mountain ash in Australia, pine trees in America, California redwoods, and baobabs in Tanzania. The study showed that trees were not only dying en masse in forest fires, but were also per-
ishing at 10 times the normal rate in non-fire years. The study said it appeared to be down to a combination of rapid climate change causing drought and high temperatures, as well as rampant logging and agricultural land clearing. “It is a very, very disturbing trend,” said Bill Laurance of James Cook University.
“We are talking about the loss of the biggest living organisms on the planet, of the largest flowering plants on the planet, of organisms that play a key role in regulating and enriching our world.” Large old trees play critical ecological roles, providing nesting or sheltering cavities for up to 30 percent of all birds and animals in some ecosystems. They also store huge amounts of carbon, recycle soil nutrients, create rich patches for other life to thrive in, and influence the flow of water within landscapes. “Big trees supply abundant food for numerous animals in the form of fruits, flowers, foliage and nectar,” said Laurance. “Their hollows offer nests and shelter for birds and animals... and their loss could mean extinction for such creatures.” The scientists said policies and management practices must be put in place that intentionally grow such trees and reduce their mortality rates. “Targeted research is urgently needed to better understand the key threats to their existence and to devise strategies to counter them,” they added. “Without such initiatives, these iconic organisms and the many species dependent on them could be greatly diminished or lost altogether.” — AFP
CLASSIFIEDS SATURDAY, DECMBER 8, 2012
Al-Madena
22418714
Al-Shohada’a
22545171
Al-Shuwaikh
24810598
Al-Nuzha
22545171
Sabhan
24742838
Al-Helaly
22434853
Al-Fayhaa
22545051
Al-Farwaniya
24711433
Al-Sulaibikhat
24316983
Al-Fahaheel
23927002
Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh
24316983
Ahmadi
23980088
Al-Mangaf
23711183
Al-Shuaiba
23262845
Al-Jahra
25610011
Al-Salmiya
25616368
Hospitals 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
ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation with Muslim family available in Abbassiya since Jan 2013, for family or working women. Mob: 97612248. (C 4238) 6-12-2012
G1871523 converted to Islam do hereby change my name to Ayesha Begum. (C 4243) 8-12-2012
I, Salim holder of Indian Passport No: J4441787 hereby change my name to Muslim Tankiwala S/O Rajbali Tankiwala. (C 4237) 4-12-2012
FOR SALE Furniture of 3 bedrooms, drawing, dining, lounge, cooking range, 60 in. LED. Camry 2004 (Touring) in excellent condition. Contact: 66780119 / 25742068 (after 3 PM). (C 4240) 6-12-2012
Prayer timings Fajr:
05:06
Shorook
06:30
Duhr:
11:40
Asr:
14:31
Maghrib:
16:50
Isha:
18:12
GOVERNMENT WEB SITES Kuwait Parliament www.majlesalommah.net
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MATRIMONIAL
Clinics Rabiya
24732263
Rawdha
22517733
Adailiya
22517144
Khaldiya
24848075
Khaifan
24849807
Shamiya
24848913
Shuwaikh
24814507
Abdullah Salim
22549134
Al-Nuzha
22526804
Industrial Shuwaikh
24814764
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22515088
Dasmah
22532265
Bneid Al-Ghar
22531908
Al-Shaab
22518752
Al-Kibla
22459381
Ayoun Al-Kibla
22451082
Mirqab
22456536
Sharq
22465401
Salmiya
25746401
Jabriya
25316254
Maidan Hawally
25623444
Bayan
25388462
29 years Marthomite boy (5’9”) working as a nurse in MOH invites proposals from God fearing and well educated girls. Email: kannothuroney@gmail.com (C 4242) 8-12-2012 A suitable alliance is solicited for a north Indian male, 28 years/ 5’X6”/ MBA, well settled in Kuwait in family business from an educated and beautiful girl from any part of India. No bar. Email: enya_rathore@yahoo.co.in (C 4241) 6-12-2012
SITUATION VACANT Required English speaking nanny/maid. 99824597. 5-12-2012
CHANGE OF NAME I, Megala Devi, holder of Indian Passport No:
information SATURDAY, DECMBER 8, 2012
DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines JAI KLM THY JZR QTR SAI ETH GFA PIA UAE ETD OMA QTR FDB MSR DHX THY JZR KAC JZR BAW KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC UAE KAC ABY QTR FDB ETD GFA BAB JZR MSC MSR UAE IRM KAC FDB SVA KNE KAC SVA QTR SVA KAC JZR KAC IZG KAC QTR IRC JZR KAC UAE SYR JZR ETD RJA GFA SVA JZR QTR ABY UAL KAC KAC KNE JZR RBG BAB
Arrival Flights on Saturday 8/12/2012 Flt Route 574 MUMBAI 413 AMSTERDAM 772 ISTANBUL 539 CAIRO 148 DOHA 441 LAHORE 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 239 ISLAMABAD 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 643 MUSCAT 138 DOHA 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 170 BAHRAIN 770 ISTANBUL 503 LUXOR 416 JAKARTA 529 ASSIUT 157 LONDON 412 MANILA 206 ISLAMABAD 53 DUBAI 302 MUMBAI 352 COCHIN 855 DUBAI 344 CHENNAI 121 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 436 BAHRAIN 165 DUBAI 401 ALEXANDRIA 610 CAIRO 871 DUBAI 1190 MASHAD 382 DELHI 57 DUBAI 2058 JEDDAH 472 JEDDAH 672 DUBAI 500 JEDDAH 140 DOHA 2045 JEDDAH 788 JEDDAH 257 BEIRUT 284 DHAKA 4161 MASHAD 1784 JEDDAH 134 DOHA 6692 MASHAD 535 CAIRO 118 NEW YORK 857 DUBAI 341 DAMASCUS 357 MASHAD 303 ABU DHABI 640 AMMAN 215 BAHRAIN 510 RIYADH 777 JEDDAH 144 DOHA 127 SHARJAH 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 538 SOHAG 542 CAIRO 470 JEDDAH 177 DUBAI 3553 ALEXANDRIA 438 BAHRAIN
Time 0:30 0:30 0:35 0:50 1:00 1:30 1:45 1:50 2:20 2:35 2:45 2:50 3:01 3:05 3:10 5:15 5:30 5:55 6:25 6:35 6:40 6:45 7:40 7:45 7:55 8:05 8:40 8:40 9:05 9:10 9:15 9:20 9:55 10:05 11:20 12:00 12:45 12:50 12:50 12:55 13:50 13:55 14:10 14:15 14:30 14:45 14:50 14:55 15:05 15:10 15:20 15:25 15:30 15:50 16:25 16:35 16:40 16:40 16:45 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:20 17:45 17:50 17:55 17:55 18:00 18:05 18:10 18:15 18:20 18:40
FDB MSC KAC KAC KAC KAC IRA KAC OMA KAC FDB JAI AXB MSR JZR ABY KNE QTR ALK KNE MEA QTR GFA ETD UAE JZR JAI FDB KLM KAC AIC JZR GFA KAC JZR KAC UAL DHX BBC DLH Airlines AIC UAL DLH JAI KLM KAC ETH THY SAI KAC PIA FDB UAE OMA ETD MSR QTR QTR JZR GFA THY FDB BAW JZR JZR KAC KAC KAC ABY KAC UAE FDB ETD
63 DUBAI 405 SOHAG 176 GENEVA 618 DOHA 674 DUBAI 104 LONDON 607 MASHAD 774 RIYADH 647 MUSCAT 562 AMMAN 61 DUBAI 572 MUMBAI 389 MANGALORE 618 ALEXANDRIA 189 DUBAI 129 SHARJAH 462 MEDINAH 146 DOHA 229 COLOMBO 474 JEDDAH 402 BEIRUT 136 DOHA 221 BAHRAIN 307 ABU DHABI 859 DUBAI 135 BAHRAIN 576 COCHIN 59 DUBAI 415 AMSTERDAM 786 JEDDAH 975 CHENNAI 239 AMMAN 217 BAHRAIN 502 BEIRUT 185 DUBAI 614 BAHRAIN 981 BAHRAIN 370 BAHRAIN 43 DHAKA 636 FRANKFURT Departure Flights on Saturday 8/12/2012 Flt Route 976 GOA 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 637 FRANKFURT 573 MUMBAI 413 AMSTERDAM 283 DHAKA 621 ADDIS ABABA 773 ISTANBUL 442 LAHORE 381 DELHI 240 SIALKOT 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 644 MUSCAT 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 54 DUBAI 156 LONDON 256 BEIRUT 534 CAIRO 101 LONDON 787 JEDDAH 671 DUBAI 122 SHARJAH 537 SOHAG 856 DUBAI 56 DUBAI 302 ABU DHABI
18:45 19:00 19:15 19:20 19:35 19:35 19:50 19:50 19:55 19:55 20:00 20:10 20:15 20:25 20:30 20:35 20:35 20:45 20:55 21:00 21:20 21:25 21:30 21:35 21:40 21:50 21:55 22:00 22:05 22:25 22:30 22:45 22:50 23:00 23:05 23:15 23:25 23:40 23:45 23:55 Time 0:05 1:10 1:20 1:30 1:45 2:25 2:45 2:55 3:00 3:15 3:35 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:00 4:10 4:50 6:05 6:55 7:00 7:35 8:25 8:45 9:05 9:15 9:20 9:25 9:40 9:45 9:50 9:55 10:00 10:05
KAC QTR GFA JZR BAB KAC KAC JZR MSC MSR JZR UAE IRM FDB KAC SVA KAC KNE KAC SVA SVA JZR QTR IZG KAC IRC KAC KAC JZR ETD SYR JZR QTR UAE RJA GFA JZR SVA ABY JZR QTR RBG JZR UAL KNE FDB BAB MSC KAC FDB IRA OMA KAC JAI ABY KNE MSR KAC KAC KNE DHX ALK ETD MEA QTR GFA KAC FDB JZR UAE JAI KAC KLM QTR GFA KAC
1783 133 214 356 437 541 165 776 406 611 176 872 1191 58 561 9357 673 473 617 9353 505 188 141 4162 773 6693 785 501 238 304 342 538 135 858 641 216 184 511 128 266 145 3554 134 982 461 64 439 402 613 62 604 648 331 571 120 471 607 351 543 475 171 230 308 403 137 222 301 60 554 860 575 205 415 147 218 411
JEDDAH DOHA BAHRAIN MASHHAD BAHRAIN CAIRO ROME JEDDAH SOHAG CAIRO DUBAI DUBAI MASHHAD DUBAI AMMAN JEDDAH DUBAI JEDDAH DOHA JEDDAH JEDDAH DUBAI DOHA MASHHAD RIYADH MASHHAD JEDDAH BEIRUT AMMAN ABU DHABI DAMASCUS CAIRO DOHA DUBAI AMMAN BAHRAIN DUBAI RIYADH SHARJAH BEIRUT DOHA ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN BAHRAIN MADINAH DUBAI BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN DUBAI ISFAHAN MUSCAT TRIVANDRUM MUMBAI SHARJAH JEDDAH LUXOR KOCHI CAIRO JEDDAH BAHRAIN COLOMBO ABU DHABI BEIRUT DOHA BAHRAIN MUMBAI DUBAI ALEXANDRIA DUBAI KOCHI ISLAMABAD DAMMAM DOHA BAHRAIN BANGKOK
Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)
10:10 10:30 10:40 10:45 10:50 11:30 11:50 12:15 13:00 13:45 13:50 14:15 14:15 14:30 14:30 14:55 15:05 15:10 15:45 15:50 16:00 16:05 16:15 16:20 16:25 16:50 16:55 17:05 17:15 17:35 17:40 17:40 17:45 17:50 17:55 18:15 18:30 18:35 18:40 18:45 18:50 19:00 19:05 19:10 19:10 19:25 19:30 20:00 20:15 20:40 20:50 20:55 20:55 21:10 21:15 21:25 21:25 21:30 21:40 21:50 21:50 21:55 22:20 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:45 22:50 22:55 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:50 23:55
SPORTS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
World’s top horse pulls out of Hong Kong Cup HONG KONG: The world’s top racehorse Cirrus Des Aigles has withdrawn injured from tomorrow’s Hong Kong International Races in a major blow to the competition, one of the richest meetings on the global calendar. The French gelding was set to headline a stellar line-up for the 2,000-metre Hong Kong Cup and was seeking to make it fourth time lucky at the meet, where he has failed to scoop a prize in his last three appearances. But it seems that he was unable to shake off his Hong Kong curse after sustaining what Jockey Club vets described as a “soft tissue injury” in his left front tendon, according to the South China Morning Post. He has now been scratched from tomorrow’s race card so that his injury can be treated. “It is a relatively mild injury but it would be very unwise to run him in a race,” said Dr Chris Riggs, the head of veterinary clinical services at the club, according to the newspaper. However, executive director of racing Bill Nader remained optimistic that Sunday would still be a great race day. “Obviously, it’s dis-
appointing to lose the world’s top-rated horse,” he said in the SCMP. “I think the depth of talent remaining right across our four international races gives us some top-quality compensation,” he added. Cirrus des Aigles became the top-ranked racehorse in training after British champ Frankel retired in October to go to stud. His withdrawal leaves last year’s surprise victor Hong Kong-based California Memory the front-runner for the title, having raced to a late win at the Jockey Club Cup in November on the same Sha Tin course as Sunday’s meet. Other favourites include two more French raiders Giofra, who won the Falmouth Stakes against the odds in July, and Saonois who had a surprise win at the Prix du Jockey Club French Derby in June. This year for the first time one of Queen Elizabeth II’s horses will also join the field - Carlton House came in second to So You Think at the Prince of Wales Stakes at Ascot in June and competes for the Cup in the British monarch’s Jubilee year. The Hong Kong Cup has a prize purse of $2.8
million and is the world’s richest turf race over 2,000m. It is one of four Group One contests that will take place at Sunday’s Longines Hong Kong International Races and offers the largest pot of money. Total prize money at the meeting is $9.2 million. The 2,400-metre Hong Kong Vase will see last year’s winner Dunaden defending his title after failing to do so at the Melbourne Cup in November. Britain’s Sea Moon looks set to be the French horse’s biggest challenger in the $1.9 million race, having beaten him into second at the Hardwicke Stakes at Ascot. Also featuring at the meet are the 1,200-metre Hong Kong Sprint and the 1,600-metre Hong Kong Mile, both usually dominated by the home team but with strong international challengers this year. As well as providing top-flight racing, organisers hope to up the glamour stakes with Oscar-winning British actress Kate Winslet making an appearance in her role as ambassador for Longines, the Swiss watch brand, which is sponsoring the race for the first time. — AFP
N Zealand target Sevens record Kiwis lead series without any title
JAKARTA: Indonesian Sports and Youth Minister Andi Alfian Mallarangeng, center, is accompanied by his aides as he speaks during a press conference announcing his resignation in Jakarta, Indonesia, yesterday. Mallarangeng resigned after becoming the country’s first active cabinet member to be named as a suspect in a multimillion dollar corruption case. —AP
Indonesia’s sports minister resigns JAKARTA: Indonesia’s sports minister stepped down yesterday after being named a suspect in a multi-million-dollar corruption case, in the latest scandal to hit the president’s ruling party ahead of 2014 elections. Andi Mallarangeng is the first minister to resign on graft allegations since the country’s powerful Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) began operating in 2003 with a mandate to crack down on rampant graft. The case is an embarrassment for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who won a landslide victory for a second term in 2009 on a corruption-fighting platform. While the country has shown an improvement in tackling corruption over the past decade, that battle has dwindled in recent years. This week it slid to 118th of 176 countries ranked by Transparency International’s annual index, which rates the least to the most corrupt states. The Corruption Eradication Commission announced late Thursday that Mallarangeng was a suspect in connection with the construction of a sports centre worth 2.5 trillion rupiah ($261 million). “In relation to the KPK’s announcement... I met with the president and handed him my resignation letter as sports minister, effective today,” Mallarangeng told reporters, while maintaining his innocence. Yudhoyono had accepted his resignation, he added. Mallarangeng also stepped down as secretary of the Democratic Party, the party’s third-highest position. “I don’t want to become a burden for the president and the cabinet. The wheels of the government must keep turning, and my personal legal matters are my responsibility,” he said. The KPK asked authorities to ban Mallarangeng from travelling pending an investigation. The Hambalang sports centre was built on the outskirts of the capital, Jakarta, in a tender process that has been publicly questioned. —AFP
JOHANNESBURG: New Zealand can become the first team to win the same leg of the International Rugby Board Sevens World Series for a fourth consecutive time when the South African round takes place in Port Elizabeth. No other team has achieved this feat since the tournament started in 1999. England won the Hong Kong leg from 2002 to 2004 and New Zealand retained the title at home from 2003 to 2005, but in South Africa they’ll gun for their fourth. The Kiwis will also want to recover from their 26-15 defeat agains Samoa in last week’s Dubai final. “You’ve got 16 pretty tough teams now; there’s no easy games,” said coach Gordon Tietjens ahead of today’s start. He was less than pleased with the draw that put them in a pool featuring first leg winners Fiji — who triumphed in Australia-England and Scotland, which he called “ridiculous”. Each side plays its three opponents once with pool winners and runnersup advancing to the Cup quarter-finals Saturday when there will also be Plate, Bowl and Shield silverware up for grabs. New Zealand lead the series without any title, having bowed to Samoa in Dubai and Fiji in October. The two victors are so far placed jointsecond with Kenya in the standings with 32 points. Hosts South Africa want to save face after crashing out against Portugal last weekend. Last year’s runners-up at the 45,000-seat Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium have included former IRS Sevens Player of the Year Cecil Afrika in their squad after a knee injury kept him from traveling to Dubai. Ironically their hopes rested on Afrika last year as well after a rib injury prevented him from traveling to Emirates then. “We know the fans expect us to do well and we will do our best not to disappoint them. It’s nice to have Cecil back because he is such an important player for us,” said coach Paul Treu. Blitzbokke captain Kyle Brown is out of action with a broken ankle and will be replaced by Frankie Horne, who’ll play his 44th World Series tournament. His team are in Pool A with Samoa, France, and Australia. Kenya, Wales, Argentina and Spain square off in Pool C. Pool D will see Portugal, Canada, the United States and Zimbabwe compete for finalist positions. — AFP
BRISBANE: In this July 2, 2011 file photo, Quade Cooper, right, of the Queensland Reds of Australia charges through the defense of the Auckland Blues of New Zealand during their Super Rugby semifinal match in Brisbane, Australia. Wallabies flyhalf Cooper has ended a six-month standoff with the Australian Rugby Union by signing a two-year deal reportedly worth $800,000 a season. — AP
SPORTS
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
NBA results/standings NY Knicks 112, Miami 92; Dallas 97, Phoenix 94. Eastern Conference Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L PCT W L PCT 14 4 .778 11 6 .647 10 8 .556 10 8 .556 4 15 .211
GB GB 2.5 4 4 10.5
Chicago Indiana Milwaukee Detroit Cleveland
Central Division 9 8 .529 10 9 .526 8 9 .471 6 14 .300 4 15 .211
1 4.5 6
Miami Atlanta Charlotte Orlando Washington
Southeast Division 12 5 .706 10 5 .667 7 10 .412 7 11 .389 2 13 .133
1 5 5.5 9
Western Conference Northwest Division Oklahoma City 15 4 .789 Utah 10 10 .500 Denver 9 10 .474 Minnesota 8 9 .471 Portland 8 11 .421
5.5 6 6 7
LA Clippers Golden State LA Lakers Phoenix Sacramento
Pacific Division 12 6 .667 11 7 .611 9 10 .474 7 13 .350 5 12 .294
1 3/5 6 6.5
Memphis San Antonio Houston Dallas New Orleans
Southwest Division 13 3 .813 15 4 .789 9 8 .529 9 10 .474 5 12 .294
.5 5 6 9
NY Knicks Brooklyn Philadelphia Boston Toronto
Knicks dominate struggling Heat Mavericks edge Suns 97-94 MIAMI: A sharpshooting New York Knicks team connected on 18 3-pointers to dominate the suddenly struggling Miami Heat for the second time this season, winning 112-92. Raymond Felton scored a seasonhigh 27 points as the Knicks easily beat the reigning NBA champions despite the absence of the injured Carmelo Anthony. In Thursday’s other game the Dallas Mavericks hung on to edge the Phoenix Suns 97-94. New York’s Steve Novak scored 18 points as the Knicks won their fifth straight and moved 11/2 games clear of Miami for the best record in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks made eight 3-pointers in the third quarter alone, the most by any NBA team in a quarter this season. Anthony sat out with a stitched middle finger on his left hand which he cut the previous night. “You’ve got a key guy that goes down and the other guys get an opportunity to play and step up and make plays,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. “It was a total team effort from everybody across the board. Our defense was solid and then we kind of broke it open at the end.” Miami’s LeBron James nearly picked up his second straight triple-double - 31 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists - but even that was not enough for the Heat who put in another disappointing performance after losing to lowly Washington in its previous game. Miami had won all eight of its home games coming in, and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said the team can only going to get back on the winning path by quickly addressing its shortcomings. “We’re going to own this,” Spoelstra said. “We’re not going to brush this off. And we’re going to fix it.” James took that to heart and worked out for more
PHOENIX: Darren Collison 4 of the Dallas Mavericks attempts a shot after being fouled by Goran Dragic 1 of the Phoenix Suns during the NBA game at US Airways Center 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona. — AFP than an hour after the game. “I’ve got to be better. I’ve got to be better,” James said. “It’s that simple. So I’m here, and I’m the last one to leave.” After the score was tied at halftime, the third quarter changed everything for the Knicks. An eight-3-pointers-in-eightminutes barrage decided this one, with five different players getting in on the act for the Knicks. In Phoenix, O.J. Mayo scored 23 points, including the go-ahead jumper with 35 seconds to go as Dallas inflicted a fifth straight defeat on the Suns.
Brandan Wright and Darren Collison scored 16 apiece for Dallas. Wright’s total was a season high. Markieff Morris had 15 points and a career-best 17 rebounds for the Suns, who rallied from 15 down in the third quarter to tie it in the final minute. But a closely-marked Mayo knocked down a 21-footer to put the Mavericks back ahead for good. Phoenix’s Goran Dragic, who scored 15 points but shot only 5 of 14, missed an open driving layup, then Dallas sealed it with eight free throws in the final 19.3 seconds. — AP
Goal-line technology is quiet revolution YOKOHAMA: FIFA called it a “revolution” but without a Geoff Hurst moment, goal-line technology’s grand introduction to football passed almost unnoticed—and with few clues of success or failure. After years of clamour for modern technology, there were no obligingly close calls to be made in Thursday’s Club World Cup opener in Japan, when one of two rival systems was tested for the first time in a competitive match. Indeed, when Sanfrecce Hiroshima’s Toshihiro Aoyama walloped the ball past Auckland City ‘keeper Tamati Williams in the game’s only goal, no scientific help was needed to tell it had crossed the line. World body FIFA gave away little about the first test, but as officials are expected only to give details if something goes wrong, it was a case of no news is good news for the GoalRef system’s providers. “FIFA can confirm the pre-match referee test, conducted
in both goals 100 mins before kickoff, were successfully passed,” a spokesman told AFP in a brief statement. “This enabled goal-line technology to be used for the first time by match officials, providing an additional aid, in the event of a contentious ‘ghost goal’.” GoalRef’s magnetic field system, using a special ball fitted with a chip, is on trial at games at Yokohama International Stadium, which hosted the 2002 World Cup final and is being used for four of the Club World Cup’s eight games. Hawkeye, which is familiar from tennis and cricket and uses cameras to track a ball’s position and trajectory, will be tested at the competition’s other matches in Toyota. Results from the trials at the Club World Cup, featuring European champions Chelsea amongst others, will not be announced until next year, when one of the systems will be picked for the Confederations Cup in
Brazil. The trials, hailed as a “kind of revolution” by FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke, represent a
huge step forward for football whose fans have long clamoured for technology to come in to line
YOKOHAMA: This photo taken on December 5, 2012 shows a FIFA official displaying new goal-line technology developed by GoalRef for the media in Yokohama ahead the start of the Club World Cup football tournament taking place in Japan from December 6 to 16. — AFP
with other sports. England forward Hurst provided a memorably contentious moment when his strike bounced off the crossbar and on or near the line-and was given as a goal-in the 1966 World Cup final against Germany. But it was Frank Lampard’s similar, but disallowed, long-range effort against the same opponents at the 2010 World Cup which finally galvanised FIFA into action. Unconvinced by regional body UEFA’s test of goal-line referees at Euro 2012, FIFA, after a testing process of about two years, gave licences to Germany’s GoalRef and Britain-based, Sony-owned HawkEye. Both systems transmit their findings to devices that are worn on officials’ wrists within a second of the goal being scored. The referee has the final decision and there are no replays on big screens showing the decision or replays, as in tennis, cricket and rugby. — AFP
SPORTS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
India federation handed double suspension NEW DELHI: India’s government suspended the national boxing federation yesterday, dealing it a fresh blow after it was frozen out by the sport’s world governing body for “possible manipulation” in internal polls. Only days after the Indian Olympic Association was suspended by the IOC over its election of a tainted official, the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) found itself on the receiving end of similar punishment. “This provisional suspension is... due to the fact that the AIBA had learned about possible manipulation of the recent IABF,” the International Boxing Association (AIBA) said in a statement. The AIBA “will now investigate this election”, added the statement, which also singled out its concern over the election of Abhey Singh Chautala as IABF chairman after vacating the post of president. His brother-in-law Abhishek Matoria was elected president in his place. Chautala was on Tuesday also elected unopposed as the president of the Indian Olympic Association even though the International Olympic Committee had made it clear that the vote would not be recognised. Matoria said he was surprised the IABF had been suspended since the world body had been told of the election process in his federation. “The AIBA had specific queries about the election process and we had explained to them that there was no manipulation,” Matoria was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India. But the federal sports ministry backed the world body and suspended the Indian boxing federation on Friday, saying the election process in September was flawed and ordered it to hold fresh elections within 15 days. “The government has to suspend the recognition of the IABF pending fresh elections,” the ministry said in a statement. “A notice will be sent to the IABF to confirm that they will hold fresh elections under independent supervision within a period of 15 days, failing which the de-recognition will be made absolute.” The suspension will bar Indian boxers from international competitions, with the junior world championships in Ukraine next August being the first major event. Vijender Singh, who won a bronze medal in boxing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, said he was hopeful the matter would be resolved soon. “It is a sad day for Indian boxing,” he said. “Luckily for us, the next world meet is not any time soon and hopefully things will be settled by then.” Many Indian sports federations are run by politicians as personal fiefdoms. Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Vijay Kumar Malhotra, 81, is now in his 40th year as president of the archery association, which was also derecognised by the sports ministry on Friday. Sharad Pawar, a federal minister, served as president of the Indian cricket board and later headed the sport’s world governing body before his term ended in June this year. Lalit Bhanot, elected IOA secretary-general on Wednesday, and former IOA chief Suresh Kalmadi have been charged with corruption while organising the Commonwealth Games. The event was hit by venue delays, shoddy construction and budget overruns that saw the cost of the event triple to $6 billion.—AFP
DUBAI: Shangshan Feng of China plays a shot during the 3rd round of the 2012 Dubai Ladies Masters Golf yesterday in the Gulf emirate of Dubai. — AFP
China’s Feng stays ahead in Dubai Flawless Schwartzel in command DUBAI: Even a new tournament record round of nine-under par 63 by Dutch woman Dewi Claire Schreefel could not reel in runaway leader Feng Shanshan after yesterday’s third day’s play at the 500,000 euros Dubai Ladies Masters. At the par-72 Majlis course of Emirates Golf Club, the world No.6 and the highest ranked player in the field, Feng made three birdies in her last three holes for a third-round 67, and that helped increase her lead at the top by five shots. Schreefel, a 27-year-old from Alkmaar who has been a regular on the LPGA Tour the last two years, made four birdies in her last four holes, apart from five others in a bogey-free round. The 63 bettered the previous tournament record of 64 by Sweden’s Louise Stahle in the first round of the 2007 tournament. France’s Gwladys Nocera, who finished second to Laura Davies in the Money List in 2006, shot her third consecutive round of 68 to take sole possession of third place at 12-under 204. Germany’s Caroline Masson, who needs to finish at least solo third to have a chance to win the Money List this year, was tied fourth one shot behind at 205 after a 69 alongside American Cindy Lacrosse (69). Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, who leads the Money List right now, faltered with a one-over par 73 round to fall back to tied 20th place at 211. Ciganda has a lead of 31,959 euros over the secondplaced Masson, and they are the only two players in the field who can win the honour of being called the No.1 ladies golfer in Europe. Defending champion Alexis Thompson shot herself out of contention with an even par 72 round that placed her 11 shots behind leader Feng. American Michelle Wie felt much better on the course, but a round of 70 could only elevate her to tied 31st place at 213. Feng’s 18-under par score has already matched the record low winning score (by Annika Sorenstam in 2006 and In Kyung-Kim in 2009), and she still has a round to go. But the only player from China to win a Major title (this year’s LPGA Championship) said: “I haven’t thought about it and I am happy with that achievement, but we have been lucky this year not to get much wind out there. It could get windy tomorrow and I could still end up higher than that score. “I don’t really look at the leaderboard during the round, so I did not know that Dewi had come as close as two shots to me. But I am very happy with the way I played the last three holes. To finish with three birdies is always good. Meanwhile, South African Charl Schwartzel seized control of the
Thailand Golf Championship with a flawless second round 65 giving him an imposing four-shot lead over the chasing pack. The 2011 Masters champion, who has battled injury for much of a disappointing season, returned to the clubhouse at seven under for the day to declare “half the job is done” after a highclass display at the Amata Spring course. Racing against fading light after 90 minutes were lost to a downpour earlier on, the rangy South African hit birdies at 14, 15 and 16 to catapult him above impressive early second round leader Daniel Chopra. “The other guys still got to catch me,” a beaming Schwartzel said before firing an ominous warning to his rivals ahead of Saturday’s crunch third round. “The way I’m feeling, the way I’m playing... there’s no reason to slow down. It’s been two good days. We’ll see where it finishes.” Schwartzel came second at last year’s event to current world number six Lee Westwood, who posted a solid-if unremarkable — 69 to go in well off the pace at five under overall. Twenty-five players will complete their second rounds early Saturday, among them home crowd favourite Thitiphun Chuayprakong who will resume stalking the leaders at nine under overall with three holes to play. Earlier Sweden’s Chopra surged to the top of the leaderboard, as big names including Westwood and Hunter Mahan failed to make an impact. Chopra, who has not won on the Asian Tour for over a decade, sparkled for a second day at the Amata Spring course making six birdies in a five under 67, ending with an impressive 10 under overall. “I guess coming back to Asia always brings out the best in my putter,” said the Swede, who grew up in India. As the shadows spilled across the fairways, Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa-bidding to secure his first overseas win-showed why he is so highly-rated despite a disappointing season. A slew of birdies on the back nine were only partly spoiled by a bogey on the last as the exciting 21-year-old returned a six under 66 to move into fifth place, one behind compatriot Masanori Kobayashi who is poised for a strong finish to his rookie Asian Tour year. Ryder Cup hero Sergio Garcia was among a clutch of players on six under for the tournament, including Masters champion Bubba Watson whose two under 70 for the day threatened to be much better were it not for some loose putting. “I let a couple of them slide with the putter,” the plain-speaking American said, adding he’ll need two rounds of at least 65 over the weekend to get near the title. —Agencies
SPORTS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Ligety, Hirscher face off with eye on worlds VAL D’ISERE: On-fire American Ted Ligety comes head to head with Austria’s reigning overall World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher when the European leg of the international ski season restarts this weekend. After a pre-season start in Soelden before sampling Finland’s Levi, the circuit moved Stateside, with races in Lake Louise, Canada, and Beaver Creek, in the United States. The Val d’Isere leg of the International Ski Federation (FIS) calendar is dubbed the “Criterium de la Premiere Neige”, and snowfall they have had aplenty in the upmarket French Alpine resort. So much snow has fallen in the last week, with more heavy dumps expected yesterday and today, that organisers have flicked the slalom today and giant slalom to tomorrow, in the hope of running the former in snow if needs be. One racer who arrives in Val d’Isere on top form is American Ligety, who has won the opening two giant slaloms this season with a staggering average win-
ning time of 2.25 seconds, an enormous amount last seen back in the 1970s and a fine showing before the February 5-17 world championships in Schladming, Austria. The giant slalom is widely considered the discipline requiring the most technical skill as skiers race down the mountain through a faster and more open course than in slalom, which requires the execution of many short, quick turns. Ligety’s mastery of the event so far this season has come despite his outspoken pre-season criticism of the changes in regulations to ski sizes. Flying the US flag in the absence of convalescing and equally outspoken compatriot Bode Miller, Ligety has emerged as a potential candidate for the overall title after also impressing in the super-G. His previous best overall finish was fifth place back in 2008, but Ligety, reigning world giant slalom champion, said: “Winning the overall has been a big goal of mine since I started ski racing. “I think it’s attainable, but with Aksel
(Lund Svindal) skiing as well as he is, if he keeps that going, he’s going to be tough to beat. It will be difficult, but I have a better chance this year than I have had in the past.” Norwegian Svindal is a real overall performer and the Olympic giant slalom bronze medallist who also claimed superG gold and downhill silver on Whistler’s slopes in 2010, has some form in Val d’Isere. Second in the giant slalom in 2010, he also has five other top-10 finishes to his credit and will remain a real threat to podium wannabes on the weekend. Hirscher will likely be eyeing his chances in the slalom rather than the giant given Ligety’s masterful form in the former. The 23-year-old Austrian won the 2011 slalom and the giant slalom title in 2009 here, while Ligety claimed the 2010 giant slalom and also won world bronze the year before. “As you know, I love the slopes in France,” said Hirscher, who said his victory in the NorAm giant slalom in Aspen and second place in Beaver Creek proved
to be an exacting run-out of his equipment. “We brought 600 kilos of equipment to the USA and used the time to test the best material for the coming races,” he said. Hirscher added: “The season somehow starts over again on European snow: the grounds require courses that are more turning. I’m ready for this. I am into harder and more abrasive slopes and tighter radii. I’m happy that my schedule is full.” Andre Myhrer, the Olympic slalom bronze medallist from Sweden won the first slalom of the season in Levi, so should also be in the running here. But one big-name absentee will be home favourite Jean-Baptiste Grange, the reigning world slalom champion expected to make his comeback from a long-term knee injury but who has instead deferred that, complaining he did not feel 100 percent fit. Grange has now set his sights on returning either at Madonna di Campiglia in Italy on Decembert 18 or more probably on January 6 in Zagreb. — AFP
Versatile Maze wins super combined ST MORITZ: Tina Maze showed off her vastly improved all-round skills to win a super-combined event for her third victory of the Alpine ski World Cup season yesterday. The Slovenian giant slalom world champion was fastest in both legs of the event with a combined time of two minutes 1.76 seconds. Maze, who leads the overall standings, kissed her skis after the morning super-G leg, the only discipline in which she has yet to win a World Cup race. If she repeats the feat today’s super-G on the same course, Maze would become only the sixth woman to have won in all five World Cup specialities. “I came to St Moritz to win all three races and I don’t care if the others think I’m arrogant,” said Maze, who will also race a giant slalom in the Swiss resort tomorrow. “It’s true that I have not yet won a super-G but I work so hard that I have my chances. To have won both the super-G leg and the slalom today makes it feel like a double victory,” added Maze, who won the only downhill of her career in St Moritz. After also winning the two giant slaloms held so far, Maze leads Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch, who was fourth today, by 128 points in the overall standings. The big disappointment of the day was Lindsey Vonn, who failed to complete the afternoon’s slalom leg and scored no points. The American, fresh from her Lake Louise treble victory, lies fourth overall, 187 points behind Maze. Vonn had little slalom preparation in the off-season and it showed on the hill, where she made an early mistake and was eliminated. Behind Maze, the other podium places went to Austrians Nicole Hosp and Kathrin Zettel, both specialists in super-combined. Hosp, who trailed Maze by 0.88 seconds, had taken her last podium places in two St Moritz supercombined events last season, while Zettel, 1.08 adrift, was the discipline’s world champion in 2009. It was Zettel’s fourth podium of the season and a sign that she could join the overall World Cup battle after years of struggling with hip and back problems. Much will be at stake in today’s super-G and while Vonn will be out for revenge, Maze said she was ready for a fight. “I can’t wait for tomorrow’s race. I want to show what I can do in a super-G. I’m going to fight all the way through a long and exhausting weekend”, she said. — Reuters
SAO PAULO: Fans wait for an autograph from Roger Federer of Switzerland after his exhibition match against Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil at the Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo on Thursday. Federer is playing the exhibition tour in Brazil with home player Thomaz Bellucci, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Germany’s Tommy Haas and Spain’s Tommy Robredo. —AFP
Federer hopes to play 2016 Games ‘I can still stay on tour for many more years’ SAO PAULO: Roger Federer says he won’t play as often in the next few years but wants to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The 31-year-old Swiss star intends to be more mindful about the tournaments he plays to make sure he can keep playing at a high level. “I have to make sure that I take care of my schedule, of my body, of my mind,” he said Thursday. “Hopefully, I can still stay on tour for many more years and hopefully play the Olympics here in three and a half years or so, so I have to look far ahead and not just the next six months.” The winner of 17 Grand Slams is in Sao Paulo for exhibition matches involving Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka, Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tommy Robredo, Tommy Haas and Thomaz Bellucci. The Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, are also partici-
pating. Federer plays Bellucci, Brazil’s top-ranked player, on Thursday. Federer has competed in four Olympics, winning a doubles gold in 2008 and a singles silver this year. He would love to make it to the Rio Games. “There is a lot of passion for sports here,” he said. “It’s a hot place to play tennis right now.” Federer, who ended the season ranked No. 2, said this year was difficult because of additional commitments that kept him from practice and his family. “I’ve played a lot of tennis. It’s been a big challenge, especially with the Olympics and the Davis Cup this year,” he said. “I found my way back to world No. 1 and it took a lot of sacrifices. I’d like to be home a little bit more often and in a relaxed fashion.” Still, he said it was a rewarding season. “I’m very happy that I’m still playing at a very high level,” said Federer, who won six titles
this year, including Wimbledon. “I had one of my best years on tour this year, and one of the most emotional ones, of course. Next year tournament victories will probably be more important than the rankings, that’s why I need to make sure I practice a lot next year.” Federer played 19 tournaments in 2012, two more than top-ranked Novak Djokovic. No. 3 Andy Murray also played 19 and Rafael Nadal, nursing a knee injury, played only 11. “I’m not going to play 25 tournaments, but every tournament that I will be playing I’ll be emotionally attached to it because I either won there before or because I’ve been there many times or because I love the city or the country and the fans,” he said. “Today I’ve reached a point in my life that I can pick and choose where I want to play and how much I want to play.” —AP
SPORTS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
PCB happy with security for upcoming tour of India NEW DELHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board India is happy with the security arrangements being made for a tour of India that will revive cricketing ties between the two neighboring countries. Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman Nadeem Sarwar was part of a four-man team that visited India to inspect preparations. “We’ve visited all five venues and are satisfied with the arrangements including security and facilities for spectators from Pakistan,” Sarwar told The Associated Press yesterday. “This advance team has been looking into all logistics and not just security.” Pakistan will stay in India from Dec 22 to Jan 6 to play three one-day internationals and two Twenty20 games in
the first series between the countries in five years. The last series between the two neighbors was when Pakistan visited India in November 2007. Cricket ties were broken after a 2008 terror attack in Mumbai in which 166 people were killed, with India blaming Pakistan for the tragedy. India and Pakistan have since played each other in International Cricket Council tournaments, including in the 2011 World Cup semifinals at the northern Indian city of Mohali. Cricket officials from both countries held a series of meetings in Dubai, Chennai and Malaysia to work out the resumption of cricketing ties, while Ashraf met several government and BCCI officials when he came to watch this year’s Indian Premier League final
in May. “This is a very important series because when Zaka Ashraf took over as chairman of the PCB he had identified two things as crucial for us - one was the revival of international cricket series in Pakistan and the other the resumption of ties with India,” Sarwar said. Pakistan’s tour will start with Twenty20 games at Bangalore on Dec 25 and Ahmedabad on Dec 27, while the one-day games are scheduled to be played in Chennai on Dec 30, Kolkata on Jan 3 and New Delhi on Jan. 6. “This is a small tour but a good beginning,” Sarwar said. “We expect that things will move forward from here and that we’ll host India in the near future. We’re open to playing our
home series against India at a neutral venue, too. But we hope that a new beginning will be made with some international team visiting us soon.” Pakistan has been playing its home series at neutral venues, usually the United Arab Emirates, as all test teams have avoided Pakistan since gunmen attacked the Sri Lanka team convoy at Lahore in 2009. Sarwar said about 500 spectators will come from Pakistan for each game, with 1,000 expected for the New Delhi match. “This is the first time spectators from Pakistan will tour so many cities, because in the past it has been mostly Delhi and Mohali,” Sarwar said. “We’ve requested local authorities to set up special facilitation booths for visitors from Pakistan.” — AP
Sammy helps Windies to square series Final showdown today
COLOMBO: This file photo taken on November 25, 2012, shows New Zealand captain Ross Taylor playing a shot during the first day of the second and final Test match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand at the P. Sara Oval Cricket Stadium in Colombo. — AFP
New Zealand’s Taylor to skip S Africa tour WELLINGTON: New Zealand head to South Africa to take on the world’s top-ranked test nation in tumult, with Ross Taylor sitting out of the two-match series after giving up the captaincy and Daniel Vettori ruled out with injury. Taylor rejected an offer to keep the reins of the test team but step down as skipper of the Twenty20 and one-day sides, leaving opener Brendon McCullum to take on all three roles. The announcement yesterday by New Zealand Cricket boss David White capped days of speculation about Taylor’s future, with local media reporting a rift between head coach Mike Hesson and the 28-year-old batsman. White confirmed Hesson was behind the move to depose Taylor from skippering the team in the shorter formats, part of a review following the tour of Sri Lanka where they drew a two-test series 1-1. He added, however, that the coach’s recommendation had the board’s blessing. “We regret that Ross Taylor has declined the opportunity, therefore McCullum has been appointed as Blackcaps captain for all three forms of the game,” White told a news conference in Auckland. “He thought about it long and hard and he said that he would like a break to spend time with his family and we’ve agreed to that and we respect it.” Taylor’s decision to sit out the series robs New Zealand of their top test batsman and underlines the extent of the friction between the former captain and team management. —Reuters
DHAKA: Darren Sammy hit a fighting half-century and then grabbed three early wickets to help the West Indies beat Bangladesh by 75 runs in the fourth one-day international in Dhaka yesterday. The 28-year-old scored an unbeaten 60 to take the tourists to 211-9, after they were put into bat, and his impressive bowling was central to an attack that saw the home team out for 136 in 34.1 overs at Shere Bangla stadium. The victory means the five-match series is now level at 2-2, setting up a high-stakes final showdown today. Sammy rocked the home team by dismissing Anamul Haque (one) with the fourth delivery of the second over and then had Naeem Islam (nought) caught out on the next ball to leave the home team reeling at 3-2. Pace partner Kemar Roach (2-29) then struck further blows on the home team by bowling Tamim Iqbal (one) and Nasir Hossain (two) in the third over. Sammy then piled on the pain, taking the wicket of Mominul Haque (one) in the sixth over to leave the hosts at 13-5. Mohammad Mahmudullah, who remained unbeaten on 56, added an invaluable 74 runs for the sixth wicket with skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (27) but once the partnership was broken by Sunil Narine all was lost for the home team. Mahmudullah hit seven boundaries in his fighting 78-ball stay at the crease. Veerasammy Permaul and Dwayne Smith also chipped in with two wickets apiece. Sammy said he was due for a good knock after a poor series. “I was due for a performance like this and I am happy that I contributed to my team’s success,” said Sammy, declared man-of-the-match. “We now hope to win the last game and end the series on a high.” Rahim rued the early loss of wickets. “Our bowlers did a good job although we dropped too many catches and that is where we lost out, the wicket was not
too difficult to chase but we collapsed at the start and could not recover,” said Rahim. Earlier, Bangladeshi spinners Mahmudullah (3-46), Elias Sunny (2-21) and Abdur Razzak (2-47) derailed the West Indian innings in the middle overs after the tourists were cruising along well at 71-1. Dashing West Indian opener Chris Gayle once again failed, dismissed for 16 after he looked set for a big score when he hit paceman Mashrafe Mortaza for a six and four in the sixth over. He fell in the same over, caught by Sohag Gazi. Kieran Powell (26) and Marlon Samuels (27) took the score to 71 when the Bangladeshi spinners struck thrice in as many overs, with Sunny taking wickets of both the batsmen in his successive overs. — AFP
DHAKA: West Indies cricket captain Darren Sammy (L) plays a shot as Bangladesh cricket captain Mushfiqur Rahim reacts. —AFP
SCOREBOARD DHAKA: Scoreboard in the fourth one-day international between Bangladesh and West Indies at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka yesterday. Bangladesh won the toss and opted to field West Indies innings C. Gayle c Gazi b Mortaza 16 K. Powell lbw b Sunny 26 M. Samuels c Anamul b Sunny 27 D. Smith b Razzak 0 D. Bravo c & b Gazi 34 K. Rahim b Mahmudullah 2 D. Thomas b Mahmudullah 10 D. Sammy not out 60 V. Nasir b Mahmudullah 1 S. c Mominul b Abdur Razzak 13 K. Roach not out 3 Extras (lb-5 w-14) 19 Total (nine wickets; 50 overs) 211 Fall of wickets: 1-29 2-71 3-75 4-75 5-79 6-102 7-145 8-155 9-175 Bowling: Sohag Gazi 10-1-38-1, Mashrafee Mortaza 10-1-54-1(w-3), Abdur Razzak 10-1-47-2 (w-1), Elias Sunny 10-2-21-2, Mahmudullah 10-146-3 (w-8)
Bangladesh innings Tamim Iqbal b Roach 1 Anamul Haque c&b Sammy 1 Naeem Islam c Bravo b Sammy 0 M Rahim st Thomas b Narine 27 Nasir Hossain c Thomas b Roach 2 M Haque c Pollard b Sammy 1 Mahmudullah not out 56 Sohag Gazi c Thomas b Permaul 13 Elias Sunny b Permaul 0 Mashrafee Mortaza lbw b Smith 6 Abdur Razzak lbw b Smith 3 Extras (lb-5 w-21) 26 Total (all out; 34.1 overs) 136 Fall of wickets: 1-3 2-3 3-4 4-7 5-13 6-87 7-113 8-113 9-132 10-136 Bowling: Kemar Roach 8-0-29-2 (w-7), Darren Sammy 8-1-28-3 (w-3), Sunil Narine 8-1-32-1 (w-2), Veerasammy Permaul 8-0-35-2 (w-1), Dwayne Smith 2.1-0-7-2 West Indies won by 75 runs to level the five-match series at 2-2.
SPORTS
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Arsenal need feel good factor: Arteta LONDON: Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta admits his side desperately need to restore the feelgood factor at the Emirates Stadium with a victory over West Bromwich Albion today. Arsene Wenger’s team are on a miserable run of two wins from their last nine matches in all competitions and, after seven years without a trophy, the club’s fans are growing increasingly frustrated. Before last weekend’s dismal 2-0 home defeat against Swansea, supporters protested against Arsenal’s board for their failure to back Wenger in the transfer market and then unleashed a torrent of abuse at the Gunners boss and his players at the final whistle. Arsenal are currently languishing in 10th place after their worst start to a Premier League season in Wenger’s 16-year reign. And the sense of crisis enveloping the north London outfit was hardly eased in midweek when Wenger sent out a weakened team in the Champions League clash at Olympiakos and saw the Greeks come from behind to claim a 2-1 win that ended Arsenal’s hopes of finishing top of their group. Add in some ill-timed comments from the Gunners’ chief commercial officer Tom Fox, who claimed on Thursday that Arsenal are not only about winning but also commercial success, and Saturday’s fixture is a potentially volatile one. In the circumstances, a win over West Brom is vital to lift the gloom and Spanish midfielder Arteta has vowed to do all he can to make the fans happier. “It’s massive now. Winning two or three games in a row will change the atmosphere,” he said. “We want the fans to stay behind us but the fans need us to be on top of our form to get that excitement. We have to give them something now and they will respond, because they love Arsenal as much as we do. “They go to the ground to support us, they are not coming to criticise us because they want something bad for us. It is the opposite. “They get upset because they are not watching what they want to watch. We have to respect that. We are all angry with ourselves and hopefully we can show that on Saturday. “We have a really busy period now over Christmas and it can make the difference - you win two or three games in a row and suddenly you are near the top again. That’s what we have to try.” The January transfer window is not far away and most managers in Wenger’s position would be desperately trying to set up deals. The Frenchman is not a man who believes in throwing money at a problem however. “We will see where we stand on January 1,” Wenger said. “If everybody is fit we have a strong squad, but in certain areas we are a bit short because we cannot rotate.” — AFP
LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur’s English striker Jermain Defoe Center scores past Panathinaikos’s Greek goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis during the UEFA Europa League group J football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Panathinaikos at White Hart Lane in London. — AFP
Man City still in United’s shadow going into derby ‘You can’t change this in two or three years’ LONDON: Despite winning the Premier League title last season, Manchester City still has a sense of inferiority heading into tomorrow’s derby with United. City has emerged as a force over the last two years, with more than a $1 billion of investment leading to its first English league title in 44 years. But United remains the clear global power after winning a dozen Premier League titles since 1993. And, heading into the first Manchester derby of the season on Sunday, United holds a three-point lead over second-place City. “They are better than us at this moment,” City manager Roberto Mancini said Friday. “We have only been here for two
years. They are used to playing these games in the title race for 20 years. They have won everything for 15 years. “You can’t change this in two or three years. You need more time.” City, though, beat United twice in the league last season and claimed the title on goal difference, helped by a huge victory at Old Trafford. “The derbies had a big impact (last season), particularly that 6-1 defeat, on goal difference,” United manager Alex Ferguson said. “That’s what cost us.” Neither United nor City has really impressed this season, and they have established themselves as front-runners in part due to Chelsea’s slump. City is unbeaten after 15 games but
has drawn six of those. United has been relying on its powers of recovery to sit at the top with seven of its 12 wins recovered after falling behind first. “I am sure City will be working on set pieces because I think we’ve lost something like 10 goals from set plays this year, which is a lot,” Ferguson said. “We’re hoping to find a solution and we’re hoping a solution makes a difference.” The Manchester derby has established itself as the biggest fixture in the English football calendar, displacing United’s matches with Liverpool. “Liverpool and United games over the last 25 years have been unbelievable,” Ferguson said. — AP
Bayern aim to turn screw before winter break BERLIN: Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich are hoping to take their Champions League form into the weekend’s Bundesliga action where they will defend an eight-point lead at the top of the table. The Bayern management, boosted by the convincing 4-1 win over BATE Borisov, regard today’s trip to Augsburg as the first of three must-win matches before the twoweek winter break. “We are still under pressure,” said Munich’s director of sport Matthias Sammer. “We don’t want to give up anything else until Christmas. We don’t want to give away any of the bonus that we have given ourselves.” “We want to keep the lead in the Bundesliga and if possible increase it,” said Bayern captain Philipp Lahm. Bayern’s final Bundesliga match of 2012 is against Borussia Moenchengladbach, and then Jupp Heynckes’ team face Augsburg again in the German Cup Round of 16 on
December 18. “We also want to be in the German Cup next year as well,” said Lahm about Bayern’s third and final self-determined must-win game of the calendar year. Sammer said he doesn’t want to talk about being satisfied or anything until after those three contests, adding: “Then all will be good.” Behind Bayern in the league come Bayer Leverkusen with in third, 11 points behind, two-time reigning champions Borussia Dortmund, rated by most observers as the one team that can overtake Munich for the title. Dortmund want to put aside their impressive Champions League performance - winning a difficult group against Real Madrid, Manchester City and Ajax - and concentrate on the Bundesliga, where they host VfL Wolfsburg today. “It’s absolutely extraordinary what the team has done internationally, but now it’s time to forget about the Champions
League. We cannot worry about it again until the draw on December 20,” said Dortmund director Hans-Joachim Watzke. “Starting immediately our focus must be on the two German competitions.” Watzke wants to see his team beat Wolfsburg at home and Hoffenheim on the road in the league to if possible reclaim second spot and then advance in the German Cup against Hanover 96 as well. Leverkusen will enter their match tomorrow at Hanover knowing what Bayern and Dortmund do today. But Leverkusen coach Sami Hyypia is not thinking about the title in his first season at the helm. “We are happy about second place right now, but we haven’t achieved anything yet. The road ahead of us is very long. And we still have to develop in many areas - also mentally,” said Hyppia. “But we have already won games which Bayer Leverkusen would usually
lose.”Schalke 04 sit fourth in the table, two points behind Dortmund and just one point ahead of Eintracht Frankfurt. But Huub Stevens’ Schalke team heads to VfB Stuttgart having gone winless in their last four Bundesliga matches. One sign of a possible trend in the other direction was Schalke drawing at Montpellier to take first place in their Champions League group. “That will give us some momentum,” said Schalke captain Benedikt Hoewedes. Yesterday Frank Kramer makes his debut as interim head coach for Hoffenheim after Markus Babbel was sacked. Hoffenheim are 16th in the league and could definitely use the points at Hamburg. The other today’s fixtures see Nuremberg hosting Fortuna Dusseldorf, Freiburg welcoming Greuther Fuerth and Werder Bremen playing at Frankfurt. The other tomorrow match has Borussia Munchengladbach playing at home against Mainz 05. — AFP
SPORTS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Platini pledges to help fans in Euro 2020 plans Democracy is behind the Euro 2020 plan NYON: UEFA President Michel Platini promises to make fans a priority when deciding how to stage the 2020 European Championship in several countries across the continent. Platini acknowledged yesterday that the project needs an “intelligent solution” to create a 51-match schedule that avoids “chasing fans all over Europe” to watch their teams. “We can’t have England fans going to Lisbon and Kazakhstan and then somewhere else,” Platini said at a media briefing the day after his executive committee opted for the radical multinational plan. Platini said UEFA recognized there was a problem when only “50 French and 70 Spaniards” came to some Euro 2012 matches. “It was difficult to go to Poland and Ukraine,” the France great said. “Now the Euro is going toward the fans.” Platini revealed that UEFA’s official fan liaison partner, Football Supporters Europe, had been skeptical about the costs and time burden potentially being heaped on fans. “They were against it originally but we told them we would help them as much as we can,” he said. While Platini has committed UEFA to revolution in its signature national team competition, he sought stability for its club events - and rejected recent reports that he wanted to kill off the Europa League in favor of an expanded Champions League. “I said nothing of the sort,” he said, insisting his comments that a consultation was ongoing had been twisted. “I’m a very democratic president. I don’t decide everything.” Platini stressed that democracy is behind the Euro 2020 plan, saying 52 of 53 member nations backed it. The opposition came from Turkey, which had been favored to host the 24-team tournament alone and even had Platini’s support earlier this year. Turkey’s bid was complicated by Istanbul’s acceptance as a candidate to host the 2020 Olympics. UEFA aims to choose host cities in the spring of 2014, and about 40 countries appear to be realistic bid candidates. Some smaller Eastern European countries are expected to bid with plans for new national stadiums of near 40,000 capacity. “We have a blank sheet in front of us,” Platini said. “We never went into the details, we never discussed a number of cities” during recent meetings with UEFA members. One detail Platini offered was support for his own idea to stage the semifinals and final in one city: “I think this could be a great party.” Platini acknowledged UEFA had a “huge” workload, having avoided the easier option of choosing a wealthy football nation - “the usual suspects,” he said - to take on the hosting costs during an economic crisis across Europe. France will host the expanded 24team event in 2016. “It was a great Euro (in Poland and Ukraine) but it was very expensive, almost as expensive as the Olympic Games,” he said. Still, consideration for fans was “the first fundamental idea” behind his original vision of the 12 or 13 nation hosting concept. “The fans won’t have to travel but we’re taking the matches to the supporters in quite a number of countries,” Platini said. Football fans have been asked to make increasing sacrifices to follow their teams at major tournaments. Brazilian organizers of the 2014 World Cup have been criticized for a match schedule that sends team on long journeys around the massive country, after rejecting FIFA’s original plan of placing the eight groups in four regional clusters to minimize travel. Platini also revealed that FIFA President Sepp Blatter congratulated him on a “marvelous idea” - although the praise came with an apparent sting in the tail. “He said somebody wanted to do it in Africa a few years ago and it was Gaddafi,” Platini said of the late Libyan strongman who was deposed from power last year. “It was also an idea Mr. Gaddafi had some time ago: opening the African Cup of Nations to all of Africa.” Platini also noted that FIFA allowed the 10-nation South American championship to be supplemented with two guest teams, such as Japan and Mexico. “This is more against the spirit of the game,” he said. “I love and I defend what is in the interests of football competition. Football interests maybe later lead to financial interests.” Platini defended the maligned Europa League as a competition that clubs from many UEFA member nations could hope to win - “whereas the Champions League is a little bit more restricted.” Declaring himself as open to debate and new ideas, Platini
acknowledged “complications” in some members’ enthusiasm for proposals to merge national leagues. While joining the Czech Republic and Slovakian leagues has long been discussed, recent consultation meetings generated support for bringing clubs from the former Yugoslavia and Soviet Union republics together again. Platini said that would require “political and fiscal regulations,” though he lamented declining interest with matches in Skopje, Macedonia, drawing crowds of 1,000 compared to 50,000 when it was still part of Yugoslavia. — AP
Matches on TV (Local Timings) English Premier League Arsenal v West Bromwich Abu Dhabi Sports HD
18:00
Aston Villa v Stoke City Abu Dhabi Sports HD
18:00
Southampton v Reading Abu Dhabi Sports HD
18:00
Sunderland v Chelsea Abu Dhabi Sports HD
18:00
Swansea City v Norwich Abu Dhabi Sports HD
18:00
Wigan Athletic v QPR Abu Dhabi Sports HD
18:00
Spanish League Real Sociedad v Getafe Aljazeera Sport +9
18:00
Malaga v Granada Aljazeera Sport +2
20:00
Real Valladolid v Real Madrid Aljazeera Sport +2
22:00
LUSANNE: UEFA president France’s Michel Platini looks on during the year’s last meeting of football’s European governing body on Thursday in Lausanne. — AFP
Chelsea will make up for Euro woe SUNDERLAND: Chelsea defender David Luiz insists his team-mates will make amends for their embarrassing Champions League exit when they return to domestic action at Sunderland today. The Blues routed Nordsjaelland 6-1 on Wednesday to secure a first victory under interim manager Rafael Benitez, but it wasn’t enough to book a place in the last 16 as Chelsea became the first European champions to bow out at the group stage. It was another dispiriting blow to Chelsea’s morale after a torrid few weeks, which featured Benitez being repeatedly jeered by fans unhappy with his links to rivals Liverpool as the team failed to win any of his first three matches. But, although they are out of the Champions League, Brazil star Luiz hopes the dominant performance against Nordsjaelland, and in particular the two goals scored by Fernando Torres, will provide a welcome lift ahead of the Premier League trip to the Stadium of Light this weekend. “There was embarrassment in the dressing room and also sadness. We won the Champions League last season and to get knocked out after the group stage is a great disappointment,” Luiz said. “Now we have to look to the future and try to win the Europa League. The manager has just told us to keep working hard because the team deserves to win games. “It was a great game from all the players with intensity and quality and we scored more goals, so this is good for the future. “We have a new coach and philosophy and the quicker we get used to it the better for the team.” Depite Luiz’s confidence, the premature Champions League exit puts even more pressure on Chelsea’s domestic form and Benitez knows he has little margin for error. Last weekend’s second half capitulation at West Ham prompted reports - later denied by the club - that owner Roman Abramovich was already planning to draft in former manager Avram Grant as an advisor to Benitez.—AFP
Italian League Atalanta v Parma Aljazeera Sport +1
20:00
AS Roma v Fiorentina Aljazeera Sport +1
22:45
German League Dortmund v Wolfsburg Dubai Sports 2
17:30
Nuremberg v Dusseldorf Dubai Sports 5
17:30
Stuttgart v Schalke Dubai Sports 4
17:30
Augsburg v Bayern Munich Dubai Sports 1
17:30
Eintracht v Werder Bermen Dubai Sports 2
20:30
French League Saint-Germain v Gaillard Aljazeera Sport +4
19:00
FC Sochaux v Lille OSC Aljazeera Sport +10
22:00
Lorraine v Valenciennes Aljazeera Sport +6
22:00
Montpellier v AC Ajaccio Aljazeera Sport +4
22:00
Stade Rennais v Brest Aljazeera Sport +9
22:00
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012
Sports
Sammy helps Windies to square series
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UDINE: Udinese’s Mathias Eric Ranegie (L) fights for the ball with Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel during the UEFA Europa League football match between Udinese and Liverpool at Friuli Stadium in Udine. — AFP
Liverpool, Steaua, Stuttgart advance Liverpool, Anzhi and Young Boys finish on 10 points LONDON: Five-times European champions Liverpool survived a late scare to move into the last 32 of the Europa League with a 1-0 win over Italian side Udinese late Thursday. The Premier League club were joined by compatriots Tottenham Hotspur, former European champions Steaua Bucharest, VfB Stuttgart and Basel as the last five clubs through to the knockout stages. Inter Milan, already qualified, were astonishingly held to a 2-2 draw at home by Azerbaijan’s Nefti Baku. Nineteen-year-old Marko Livaja twice put the Serie A side ahead but Rashad Sadygov cancelled out the first goal and Chilean Nicolas Canales snatched a point with an 88thminute header. Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson’s first strike of the season after 23 minutes helped Liverpool to leapfrog Group A leaders Anzhi
Makhachkala, though Antonio Di Natale blazed a good chance over the bar with the last kick of the game. Udinese played the last 11 minutes with 10 men after Giovanni Pasquale’s dismissal and Di Natale could have eliminated Liverpool altogether but he wasted a great late chance as Anzhi lost 3-1 at Young Boys in Berne. Liverpool, Anzhi and Young Boys all finished on 10 points but the Russians’ better record over the Swiss club in a three-way head-to-head took them into the knockout stages along with the English group winners. “We were in a difficult group with good teams,” said Liverpool manager Brendan Rogers. “But the mentality of the team was very strong and our desire and belief was very strong. We won and that is good for our future.” Steaua’s 10 men held Copenhagen 1-1 to
progress as Group E winners on 11 points with Stuttgart in second on eight and level with the Danes but the Germans progressed owing to a better head-to-head record. Steaua were reduced to 10 men in the 49th minute when Cristian Tanase was sent off but took the lead through Raul Rusescu after 72 minutes, with Copenhagen exploiting their advantage only late on but to no avail. Tottenham beat Panathinaikos 3-1 to take the final Group J slot behind winners Lazio who breezed to a 4-1 win at Maribor. Emmanuel Adebayor put Spurs ahead and Clint Dempsey and Jermain Defoe grabbed late goals to seal a convincing victory. Basel’s 0-0 draw at Group G’s top club Racing Genk ensured that Hungary’s Fehervar, whose match at Sporting was postponed to today due to a waterlogged pitch, went out. Holders
Atletico Madrid, already assured of last-32 action, lost 1-0 to Viktoria Plzen to finish second by a point in Group B behind the Czechs. Girondins Bordeaux won the battle for top spot over Newcastle United in Group D, the French club running out 2-0 victors to reach 13 points with the Premier League side on nine. In Group C, Fenerbahce had already made sure of top place ahead of Borussia Moenchengladbach while in Group F Ukraine’s Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, 4-0 winners over AIK Solna, had secured first place ahead of Napoli, who lost 3-1 at home to PSV Eindhoven but still advanced. European champions Chelsea, knocked out of the Champions League on Wednesday, head the eight teams who failed to qualify from Europe’s top-tier competition this week and will make up the 32 in the draw on Dec 20. — Reuters