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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

Egypt’s Morsi gives army powers of arrest

MOHARRAM 27, 1434 AH

Gaza’s M75 perfume captures victory scent

Motor mutts pass doggie driving test with flying collars

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39 19 7Islamic7countries most Unbelievers suffer persecution, discrimination

JAHRA: Protesters clash with police as stateless Arabs, known as bedoons, demonstrate to demand citizenship and other basic rights in Jahra yesterday.

Encouraged by Arab Spring protests, stateless people estimated at more than 105,000 have been regularly demonstrating since February 2011 to press Kuwaiti authorities to resolve their decades-old problem, especially their claim to citizenship. — Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh /Yasser Al-Zayyat

EU receives Nobel prize OSLO: The European Union received the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday, an award which some past winners called unjustified but European leaders defended for recognizing the stability and democracy brought to the continent after two world wars. Appropriately for a set of institutions with no single leader, the EU sent three of its presidents to collect the award at a ceremony in Oslo’s City Hall attended by 20 EU heads of state and government.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who won the prize in 1984 for his campaign against South African apartheid, said it was wrong to recognize the EU as it was an organization based on “military force”, and others have Continued on Page 13

‘Stylish’ Monkey TORONTO: Shoppers at an Ikea store in Toronto weren’t monkeying around when they reported a primate on the loose.

Customers spotted a monkey clad in a pint-sized shearling coat - wandering around the store’s parking lot Sunday afternoon. The animal made its way through rows of parked cars and ended up outside a set of store doors. Ikea staff lured the primate into a corner before calling police, who contacted the city ’s Animal Services department, said Staff Sgt Ed Dzingala. “It was just outside the store, just in a corner area where the monkey had nowhere to go, but it was pretty scared,” Dzingala said. He said the monkey had escaped its crate in a parked car. The monkey, which reportedly wore a diaper as well, never made it inside the store and was picked up by Animal Services officers within half an hour. The animal’s owner later contacted police and was reunited with the pet, Dzingala said. Word of the incident sparked a flurry of comments and photos on Twitter, as well as two parody Twitter accounts which took on the persona of the wandering monkey. — AP

TORONTO: A small monkey wearing a winter coat and a diaper wanders around at an IKEA shop in Toronto. — AP

Max 26º Min 16º High Tide 10:10 & 21:17 Low Tide 03:39 & 14:43

GENEVA: Atheists and other religious skeptics suffer persecution or discrimination in many parts of the world and in at least seven nations can be executed if their beliefs become known, according to a report issued yesterday. The study, from the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), showed that “unbelievers” in Islamic countries face the most severe sometimes brutal - treatment at the hands of the state and adherents of the official religion.

But it also points to policies in some European countries and the United States which favor the religious and their organizations and treat atheists and humanists as outsiders. The report, “Freedom of Thought 2012”, said “there are laws that deny atheists’ right to exist, curtail their freedom of belief and expression, revoke their right to citizenship, restrict their right to marry.” Other laws “obstruct their access to public education, prohibit them from holding public office, prevent them from working for the state, criminalize their criticism of religion, and execute them for leaving the religion of their parents.”

Continued on Page 13

12/12/12 sparks wedding boom

OSLO: (From left) European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Parliament President Martin Schulz with the Nobel diploma on the podium at the City Hall, Oslo, during the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony yesterday. — AP

HONG KONG: Couples from Hong Kong and Singapore are flocking to tie the knot on 12/12/12, sparking a wedding boom on the century’s last repeating date seen as auspicious by some to guarantee a happy marriage. Dates like 10/10/10 or 11/11/11 have traditionally seen couples from the two places rush to get married, with registrations set to surge on December 12 this year, which is viewed as signifying “love”.

Hong Kong’s marriage registry said it has received 696 notifications from couples planning to get married on Wednesday, nearly four times the daily average of 177 registrations in October, according to a spokesman. In Singapore, which is three-fourths ethnic Chinese, 540 couples have applied to be married Wednesday, statistics from the Registry of Marriages website showed-an eight-fold increase in the daily

average for non-Muslim weddings compared to a year earlier.

Muslim weddings are recorded separately. A wedding planner in Singapore said the date will be one of the busiest of the year for marriage-linked businesses.

“It is a hot date,” said Renee Leung, founder and chief executive officer of marriage planning firm The Wedding Butler, adding that her company was handling 20 weddings on the day itself, up from the usual one or two per day.

“It’s just an auspicious calendar number... a lot of people say its an easy number to remember,” she said.

The 12/12/12 registrations however have shrunk in both places compared to previous sequential dates.

Hong Kong saw 1,002 weddings on November 11 last year, which signified “eternal love”, and 859 weddings Continued on Page 13

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

LOCAL

Kuwait goes all out for foreign investors

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah receiving at Seif Palace yesterday former Speaker of the National Assembly, Jassem Mohammad Al-Khorafi.

Death sparks debate on plastic surgeries People still seeking cheap services

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: Although innumerable warnings by specialists and doctors were published in different media regarding safety concerns involved in plastic surgeries and other plastic procedures carried out for cosmetic reasons, yet some people were still seeking cheap services and materials from unknown sources.

Thousands of cases of face and body deformation were registered all over the world, including Kuwait. Most such cases were because of usage of poor quality materials not approved by international health and medical organizations. Patients often seek cheaper places or materials to undertake certain plastic procedures which are inherently expensive, even though such an option could prove dangerous for their health.

About ten years ago, permanent fillers became popular but not much research had been carried out on these materials. Those who were injected with such substances later suffered complications and deformations in face and other parts of the body, even though they had availed the treatment in a medical clinic. This product also reached Kuwait and many had to suffer the fallout of a procedure which employed materials without much

research. The product was later withdrawn from the market all over the world.

Perhaps some of these patients felt safe because they underwent this procedure in a medical clinic. There were some careless patients who agreed to risk their health by having Botox or filler injected into their face or body by a person who was not even a doctor. Many unlicensed beauticians undertake such procedures for patients in their houses.

Last week, a Kuwaiti woman who had a Filipina woman inject her body with a filler substance, died. The patient experienced complications after the injection and felt pain.

When she went to the hospital, doctors had to remove the injected filler. A friend of the victim described the disgusting procedure of cutting parts of her body to remove the filler.

After three days, the patient died, most probably because of poisoning.

Other cases of face and body deformation were also registered in some hospitals, and the patient described above was not the first such. According to the victims of such this wrong procedures, an Egyptian woman was also claiming to provide same services as the Filipina. These risky service providers in plastic procedures could be responsible for threatening the patients’ health.

According to a police officer from the PR of the Ministry of Interior, these two women providing plastic procedures at the door step were still to be arrested. “Investigations are on to verify the exact crimes and offences, as also about the damage they caused including the number of victims. The Criminal Investigation Department is responsible for such cases and they are doing their job to protect the community from such criminals. On their part, people should be more careful when dealing with unlicensed and illegal activities as the result may be fatal,” he told the Kuwait Times.

A doctor working at one of the most popular private hospitals stated that, in fact, the number of patients suffering from wrong plastic procedures, especially fillers, visiting the hospital searching for a treatment to rectify the deformation caused on their faces and bodies due to wrong plastic procedures has increased recently.

She also noted that there were different ways to remove the bad filler, which could be carried out through a surgery or through injecting certain materials to melt the bad filler. “Each case is different as the materials were different and the possibility of the body accepting these materials varies. The treatment depends on that,” she explained.

KUWAIT: Kuwait has introduced new corporate legislation as it tries to compete for foreign investment with its more successful regional peers, primarily the United Arab Emirates.

Notorious in the region for its recent economic underperformance, Kuwait is trying to move ahead with more coherent regulations in an effort to kick-start its non-oil economy and boost confidence in markets.

Kuwait’s new regulations are the latest of several measures oil-rich Gulf governments have taken to improve business practice as they compete not just for investment but to attract foreign companies that will hire their youth and help develop their embryonic private sectors.

“It is a full reform that will help to attract more foreign direct investment, more transparency and make it quicker to deal with the establishment of companies,” says Abdul Aziz Al-Yaqout, regional managing partner at DLA Piper Middle East and co-author of the law.

Oil-rich Gulf countries may not need cash to fund their projects, but they are seeking ways to prepare for the future by building a stable private sector before hydrocarbon revenues decline.

Kuwait’s new regulations, with 337 articles, include tried and tested measures from the Gulf including the creation of a ‘one stop shop’ for incorporation and licensing of new businesses. It also demands more from companies in terms of corporate governance, such as the separation of the board from the executive management.

In order to ease operating in Kuwait, it will also permit single shareholders to establish businesses for the first time and allow for the transferability of shares in companies.

However, Kuwait faces a Herculean task to attract stakeholders as political infighting has stalled economic development and spending plans in the most democratic country in the Gulf.

As Kuwait has struggled with its plans, the rulers of the UAE - which unlike Kuwait do not need approval from an elected parliament - have pushed ahead with large-scale developments, sending skyscrapers soaring into the skyline and creating a modern financial hub.

While some of the biggest international companies have flocked to the UAE, few international firms have set up in Kuwait in recent years. In events likely to concern potential investors further, recent political tensions have sparked street protests as a diverse opposition of

liberals, tribal leaders and Islamists pit themselves against the government.

Kuwaiti businessmen are sceptical of the country’s efforts to attract foreign investors. One businessman said: “I haven’t seen any company invest in Kuwait for a long time.”

But, even as Kuwait finally replaces its decades-old company law, it runs the risk that the UAE may attract even more investment as it tries to stay ahead of its Gulf neighbours.

In a move that could boost the UAE’s private sector, the country is planning to increase foreign ownership under its long-awaited companies law - but only in some sectors.

Dubai has for decades sidestepped these federal restrictions on foreign ownership by setting up free-trade zones, spanning sectors such as logistics, media and finance, providing they serve the domestic economy.

The UAE’s economy minister says he expects progress on the companies law soon, with a committee at the national assembly expected to open discussion with the ministry on the draft by January.

The minister, Sultan bin Saeed alMansouri says the law will allow the cabinet to approve investments with 100 per cent foreign ownership on an ad hoc basis.

“We want businesses that our economy will benefit from, investors who come here with sizeable investment,” he said in an interview.

He added pharmaceuticals and heavy industries, such as metals and aluminium, would be most likely to receive approval. Creating downstream industries to process steel and aluminium raw materials is another option, as is working with global auto manufacturing companies, he said.

While Kuwait is in some ways chasing its Gulf neighbour to attract foreign direct investment, it is pitching itself as a more long-term partner.

When the financial crisis hit the UAE, huge amounts were withdrawn from the country, whereas Kuwait suffered more from the mistakes of its own, domestic investors.

“We need to energise the private sector,” says Abdulhameed Ali Hussain, a member of a new body set up to oversee the privatisation of Kuwaiti government businesses without needing the consent of parliament. “If you’re a single entity, making decisions is easier,” he adds, citing the political structure in Kuwait. “But taking a slower approach can be more sustainable.”

Second vintage vehicles festival held

KUWAIT: The Vintage Vehicles Museum held its second festival on Saturday, December 8 at the Shuwaikh Beach parking lots, said the Chairman of the Museum’s Committee, Mustafa Makhseed.

Expressing his joy over the

diversity of participating vehicles as well as about the festival’s location that used to be a hangout spot of the youth in the 1960s and 1970s, he expressed gratitude for the immense support received from HH Sheikh Nasser

Al-Mohammed. On his part, Engineer Zakariya Dashti attributed the festival’s success to the Museum’s well-planned strategies and activities. He also thanked local sport automobile agencies for their contributions,

adding that a jury panel was formed comprising the best vintage vehicles’ experts in Kuwait who selected the winning vehicles according to the standards set by the International Vintage Automobiles Federation (FIVA).

PAAET’s 24th joint art exhibition inaugurated KUWAIT: Acting Director General of the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) Dr. Mahmoud Fakhra inaugurated yesterday the 24th joint art exhibition, which included 24 creative works by a number of students in educational institutions.

Fakhra said in his speech at the show that this exhibition is a place where creations and talents of student converge to display their underlying spirit of creativity. He added that what is being displayed today reflects the creativity of the participants and the evolution of the

spirit of their artwork, expressing gratitude to all those who contributed to the success of the show and to whose who stood supportive of the students to display their creations.

For his part, Dean of activities and student care Dr. Khalifa Behbehani said that the participating artworks in the exhibition reflect a distinct and positive spirit and translates the creativity of students and develop their technical talents, valuing the role of PAAET in encouraging students and supporting their creative activities. — KUNA

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

LOCAL

Kafil system, Article 20 visa must be removed Chaillot Prize for Social Works Society

KAC seeking to buy new aircraft: Al-Nisf

KUWAIT: Ambassador Adam Kulach, head of European Union delegation to Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE presents the Chaillot Award to SWSK Chairperson Sheikha Bibi Al-Sabah. — Photos by Joseph Shagraa

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: The European Union awarded a prestigious Chaillot Prize for a non-governmental organization in Kuwait for its persistent promotion of human rights in the Gulf. The Social Works Society of Kuwait (SWSK) received the award yesterday at its headquarters in Misref in the presence of some EU ambassadors and invited guests. Sheikha Bibi Nasser Al-Sabah, who is the chairperson of the SWSK , thanked the European Union for the first such award bestowed on any organization in the Gulf.

She hoped that such recognition will inspire them towards even

more rewarding achievements and actions in the future. “It is an honor for us to be recognized by the European Union. We have many advocacies which are overseen by the EU. In fact one of them is the promotion of human rights,” she said.

Sheikha Bibi noted that one of the organisation’s agenda was to lobby for the parliament to tack le the issue of domestic labor in the country and treat it as an urgent issue. “ We have been very vocal activist for an immediate passage of domestic labor law in Kuwait. I t is the right of every human being to get proper protection of the law.

We believe that until such a law

was to be passed by the parliament, the problems being faced by many domestic helpers will continue to persist,” she noted.

“Our idea is to remove the domestic visa requirement for the domestic helper once and for all. If they can turn visa 20 (article) into 18 (article), it will be great,” Sheik ha Bibi mentioned.

Additionally, Sheikha Bibi also mentioned the tireless campaign to end the ‘kafil system in the countr y. “ We are for the complete abolition of the sponsorship system. We hope that the next parliament will tackle the issue so as to help our country propel into the next century.

The issue of migrant workers should be in the forefront,” she said. Vice Chairman of the SWSK Faisal Al-Mas’ud also thanked the EU for the award.

“It is a medal presented by the EU which motivates us to continue moving for ward to achieve more social work that our society looks for at all levels.

One of the most important projects that SWSK is working on today is the draft law for the domestic workers who make up a large part of the Kuwaiti society. We hope through this project to recognize domestic workers’ rights and duties, and also to legislate regulations that protect their rights and dignity,” he said.

KUWAIT: The newly-elected board of Kuwait Airways is seeking offers to buy and rent new aircrafts, a top company official told a local newspaper on Sunday. He also indicated in his statement that “all options remain open.”

In an exclusive statement to AlQabas, Chairman of the Board Sami Al-Nisf noted that a decision in this regard was not easy given the “technical and financial” aspects as the decision has to be made “as per the financial resources available.”

However, Al-Nisf assured that it was unlikely that the KAC would be required to wait for a long time to receive the new planes after submitting purchase orders, particularly since several aviation companies have canceled orders placed with manufacturers in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, Al-Nisf indicated that preparations were underway to finalize procedures for KAC employees who filed for retirement after the com-

pany was privatized. As per the KAC privatization law, staff members were given the option of staying, or opt for relocation to other state departments, or file for retirement if they reached an age to qualify for it. However, Al-Nisf noted that the KAC currently would not be able to pay salaries and allocations for employees who chose to relocate.

He called for “urgent cooperation” in this regard from state departments to which they plan to move, in order to finalize the procedures as soon as possible.

The Minister of Communications, Salem Al-Othainah, had in a recent statement referred to “practical steps to restructure the KAC” and had hoped that new aircrafts would be operational by next summer. The minister described renewing the company ’s fleet as well as “organizing retirees’ allocations” as the company’s top priorities right now.

Arab efforts could revive peace talks KUWAIT: The Undersecretary of Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry led the country’s delegation in meetings of the Arab Peace Initiative committee which concluded recently in Doha, Qatar. The meetings were headed by Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani.

A local newspaper reported quoting sources familiar with the meeting that discussions focused on main two topics: the Palestinian cause in the aftermath of the United Nations’ recognition of Palestine as a non-member observer state, as well as Arab and international efforts regarding the Syrian issue.

On Palestine, the sources who spoke to Al-Qabas on the condition of anonymity indicated that discussions focused on new mechanisms to “reacti-

vate” the ministerial committee of the Arab Peace Initiative. “A detailed and comprehensive study was carried out regarding the peace process in light of the recent developments,” said the sources, adding at the same time that the Arab movement was likely to lead to “reviving” the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks “especially after Palestine’s new position in the UN” which they say “requires a new way to deal with the Palestinian Authority.” Meanwhile, the sources indicated that discussions during the second session addressed the issue of “opening new channels with the Syrian opposition”, but argued that its lack of united vision “still forms a main obstacle in the way of efforts to support opposition forces effectively.”

Ten injured in accidents

By Hanan Al Saadoun KUWAIT: A car accident between Al Rihab and Al left a 30-year-old Kuwaiti man with a fractured left leg. He was taken to the Farwaniya Hospital.

A car accident on the Arabian Gulf Road opposite Al Marine Bridge left a 51year-old Kuwaiti woman with a spine injury while an 18-year-old Syrian expat suffered a fractured pelvis. Both were taken to the Mubarak Hospital.

A car accident on Cooperative Street opposite Salwa resulted in multiple injuries for a 21-year-old Kuwaiti man.

Al-Obeidi inaugurates new project at Maternity Hospital KUWAIT: Minister of Health, Dr Ali Al-Obeidi inaugurated yesterday the project for the rehabilitation of the seventh ward and doctors training center for laparoscopic surgery operations in the maternity hospital of Al-Sabah Medical area.

The minister praised in a speech on this occasion the loyal people of Kuwait who always compete to contribute to the support of health services in the country “a matter which embodies the authentic values of our society”.

He added that the opening of this project coincides with the establishment of a new center for laparoscopic surgical operations, noting that such edifice would become an educational and training center for doctors and staff to help them on modern methods in surgical operations.

He explained that the projects inaugurated today is an update of the achievements made by Kuwait in the field of maternal health, noting

that health care coverage for maternity stretch starting from maternity clinics in primary health care centers through departments of gynecology and obstetrics and maternity care in public hospitals and maternity hospital.

The minister stressed Kuwait’s obligation to provide health care according to the latest international standards and recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the state’s development plan. — KUNA

Another 18-year-old Kuwaiti man suffered facial injuries in the same accident.

Both were taken to the Mubarak Hospital.

A car accident at King Fahad road near Sabhan Bridge resulted in multiple injuries for a 32-year-old Pakistani expat, pain in the back for two Egyptian expats aged 40 and 38 and a head injury for a 31-year-old Egyptian woman. All were taken to the Adan Hospital.

A 27-year-old Kuwaiti man fractured his foot in a car accident in Sabhan opposite Airport Bridge. He was rushed to the Farwaniya Hospital.

Water consumption high KUWAIT: Water was consumed on an average level that exceeded production throughout most of November, but a senior Ministry of Electricity and Water insider reassured that Kuwait’s strategic reserve was ‘stable.’ “ Water consumption peaked on November 5th when it reached 388,936 million imperial gallons while the strategic reserve stood at 2,866,853 by the end of that day,” said the source in a statement made available to the press on Sunday.

Speaking on the condition of

anonymity, the source indicated in the meantime that electricity consumption load ‘dropped significantly’ last month, with the maximum level registered on December 2nd at 7680 megawatts. He attributed the reduction to ‘dropping temperatures’ and good weather conditions in general.

Meanwhile, the source revealed that periodic maintenance operations were underway to prepare the electricity and water distribution networks for the upcoming summer in order to reduce chances of cuts as a result of overload.

Climate talks boost Gulf awareness

Kuwait, US discuss military topics KUWAIT: Chief of the General Army Staff Lt Gen Khalid Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah met yesterday with US Third Army Commanding General Lt. Gen. Vincent and his accompanying delegation on the occasion

of the their visit to the country.

The two sides exchanged cordial talks and discussed several important issues relative to military field, as well as ways of boosting them between the two friendly countries, and discussed several

subjects of joint interests. The meeting was attended by Deputy Chief of Army Staff LieutenantGeneral Abdulrahman Al-Othman and Head of the Directorate of Militar y Cooperation Brigadier Abdulrazzaq Al-Awadhi. —KUNA

DOHA: Holding a high-profile UN climate change conference in Qatar, smack in the middle of the region that produces so much of the fossil fuel blamed for global warming, was a gamble. In the end, it displayed the hosts’ drive for a leading place on the world stage and evoked a surprising new regional awareness of the environmental crisis.

The two-week conference that ended Saturday challenged the tight control Qatar and other Gulf nations keep over their societies, and protesters took the brunt of that. It tested the ability of Qatar’s ambitious effort to pilot an unwieldy gathering with divergent ideas to a successful conclusion as an example of its capabilities for future efforts, and the hosts got mixed grades.

In an unexpected bonus, the very presence of the UN climate talks in energy-rich Qatar introduced the bigspending Gulf public to the issue of climate change close up for the first time. Dozens of young Arab activists from across the region - most of whom never attended climate talks before - headed home inspired to pressure their governments to do more for the environment.

In a classic culture clash, the con-

ference highlighted some of Qatar’s growing pains as it seeks to expand its global profile.

Gulf countries want to reach out for events that offer prestige, but international conferences also feature messy debates and protests that conflict with the region’s strict controls, which effectively outlaw public criticism of local rulers or their policies.

“I’m glad it was in Qatar for many reasons,” said Wael Hmaidan, a Lebanese activist and director of the Climate Action Network who challenged the host country for much of the week to show greater leadership. “ The main reason was how it impacted the region, how initiatives started in region, how it change of mindset on all levels,” he said.

Qatar, which until recently showed little interest in climate negotiations, saw the conference as a chance to boost its image. Tiny Qatar already has an outsized presence on the world stage, including winning the bidding to host the football’s 2022 World Cup and taking a leading role in aiding Syrian rebels.

Its lack of environmental expertise emerged early in the climate talks. It struggled to build consensus among the nearly 200 nations over a deal to

extend the legally binding Kyoto Protocol, which aims to reduce emissions until 2020 and develop a work plan ahead a decision to adopt a new global climate pact by 2015.

Draft agreements were not ready until the last second, and Qatar did little in the first 10 days to bring together key ministers to craft a grand deal, as past hosts have. The conference had to be extended a day because agreements were not in place.

“They were pretty rubbish,” said Iain Keith, senior campaigner with activist group Avaaz. “They lacked the capacity to sort out the choreography and ensure the right trade-offs were happening at the right time. That is the reason we went into overtime.”

Then conference was due to end Friday.

Civil society groups had an even less charitable opinion of Qatar, which keeps a tight lid on political dissent and rarely allows protests of any kind.

Activists were accustomed to sitins, noisy demonstrations and clashes with police at previous talks. But in Qatar, they were only allowed one march outside the conference center.

Their protests were otherwise limited to some chanting and holding of signs.—AP

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

LOCAL

kuwait digest

Local Spotlight

Watermelon Revolutions

The concept of volunteering

By Adel Al-Toraifi

By Muna Al-Fuzai

A

muna@kuwaittimes.net

t is really amazing how easily people become inspired about the idea of joining a voluntary organisation in Kuwait and many other Arab countries but fail to understand its moral component. In many cases, they hog the positions in voluntary organisations not because they are best suited to advance the cause but because they see such positions as adding to their own prestige. It is a subject I believe is worth discussing.

The very idea of voluntary work should mean that it concerns something serious and rewarding not to an individual but for all of society. After all, voluntary work means being involved with a project that benefits other people. You learn new skills and have a practical experience, all aimed at making a difference.

The very satisfaction that one did something not for one’s own self but for others and was able to put a smile on the faces of the deserving is the best reward any one can hope for. It is priceless and there is not money enough in the world that can give you the same sense.

In Kuwait, we have several local NGOs which are being led by Kuwaitis for many years without any change in the board of directors. In many cases, the office bearers have managed to keep their hold on these NGOs without being of value to anyone. Also, they do not allow new people to come to the front.

Although Kuwait is a small and developed country, still it is confronting many challenges on the social level. Many of these issues remain away from limelight.

For example, the high rate of divorce is a problem that I think should be taken into consideration but I have not seen much effort on the part of these NGOs or other forums in this regard.

Similarly, the impact of technology on teenagers is another issue that is worrying the parents no end and should have been taken up by these NGOs. I wonder how many NGOs are considering these issues and have dedicated seminars and debates about these.

I believe that in Kuwait, people are taking to voluntary organisations merely as a matter of social courtesy unlike in the western world in which it is a concept that motivates people to help others and know the marginalized and the needy. Obviously, voluntary work does not mean the same thing for everyone.

I

kuwait digest

Opposition and pro-govt

By Dr Yaqoub Al-Sharrah ccording to the democratic concept of a state, it is impossible to find societies free from groups which may be supporting or opposing the ruling systems or government. It is human nature for people to have different opinions regarding matters that pertain to their daily lives, but in the end the majority opinion is accepted by all parties while the opinions of those in the opposition are also respected.

Highly advanced democracies adopt a system that helps overcome the differences between those who oppose and others who support a government’s policies. Each party is given a fair chance to express their vision and points of view, leaving little room for differences that are handled in methods agreed upon through a majority. Therefore, we notice that the opposition in similar democracies usually does not resort to an escalation of tensions because its members feel that their point of view is also respected.

In the meantime, both the opposition and progovernment parties are usually on the same page when it comes to core issues like security, safeguarding the state from threats and tackling corruption.

That is why in advanced democracies, the political system pushes the legitimate political parties towards constructive tasks as per their reformist orientations.

However, when it comes to Kuwait, the reality is different. Kuwait does not have a political party system with laws regulating parties’ activity. This is why political life is practiced without controls, leading to the creation of blocs that practice politics in a chaotic matter. In many cases, members break away to form new groups. This is why we insist that the opposition in Kuwait’s political system represents itself only. And while it is against the government in most cases, their attitude is mostly motivated by their personal interests, and not necessarily by national issues.

The opposition lacks a consistent political and social stance, and rather keeps changing it depending on the circumstances, including the government’s attitude towards it. Depending on this attitude, the opposition comes up with its action plan as a reaction to the government’s decision making, rather than presenting an alternative agenda informed by a principled stance on core issues. Neither can the opposition claim that it is always in the right, nor can the pro-government politicians make that claim.

In general, the experience of societies lacking maturity in democratic functioning proves that the opposition often objects without any regard to the national reality and fails to back its stand with solid arguments. It also fails to take into account the negative social impact of opposing issues which serve the common good.

In the end, I hope the opposition focuses its goal as contributing to the state’s development, and avoiding conflicts motivated by politics or personal interests. Reform cannot be achieved unless the opposition and pro-government entities are on the same page regarding core issues that need reforms, an end to corruption and maintaining the state’s safety and security. — Al-Rai

A

n old joke popular among economists says when you have two cows, the state takes one of them and gives it to someone else. This is the socialist system. In a communist system, the state takes both cows from you and gives you milk.

Finally, in the capitalist system, you keep one cow and sell the other to buy a bull.

But what would we say about a system governed by an Islamic fundamentalist group? In this system the regime seizes both cows from you, the first because it’s not compatible with their understanding of sharia law-and the other to sell, either because you do not have the money to feed it, or you can’t find anyone to buy it.

There is no doubt that the “revolutionary” Islamist governments that came to power in both of Tunisia and Egypt are not responsible for the financial losses resulting from the transitional phase, or for the volume of spending inherited from former regimes, or for the costly transitional government’s bill, but in the end they are responsible for leading their states out of economic crisis. Unfortunately, however, any neutral observer can see that they are more concerned with seizing all the organs of the state, or changing the rules of the political game in their favor, even if this means circumventing the electoral processes that brought them to power.

What has happened in Egypt over the past two weeks, especially President Mohammed Morsi’s constitutional decrees, gives the impression that the Muslim Brotherhood intend to undermine their partners in the “revolution” one by one, until they are able to monopolize power in Egypt for decades to come.

Perhaps it is necessary here to consider the economic situation in the “Arab Spring” countries.

According to a recent IMF report, the countries which witnessed popular uprisings leading to changes in their political systems are suffering from deadly economic crises that could disrupt their growth for decades and even lead to permanent damage.

Before 2011, the GDP growth of six of those countries exceeded 4.7 percent, while that percentage fell below zero last year. This year it will not exceed one or two percent, and the IMF is not expecting growth to exceed 3 percent next year even in the best case scenario. Faced with this major economic challenge, no government has announced a program to confront the crisis, but instead have been full of unrealistic promises such as increasing salaries, increasing foreign investment and introducing additional subsidies even though they cannot afford the existing ones.

The Egyptian budget deficit has exceeded $11 billion, whilst its foreign debt is approaching $34 billion, and the domestic debt of local banks is $197 billion, according to figures released by the Egyptian Ministry of Finance last month. In Tunisia, the budget deficit is $6 billion, and so for it has only been able to negotiate a $ 500 million loan from the IMF, while the Tunisian Central Bank says that it desperately needs $ 4 billion.

As Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the US Federal Reserve wrote: “Big deficits have an insidious effect. When the government overspends, it must borrow to balance its books. It borrows by selling treasury securities, which siphons away capital that could otherwise be invested in the private economy”. This is exactly what both Egypt and Tunisia have resorted to, yet it is not enough to solve the problem. For example, the Islamist government in Tunisia announced that for the first time the general state budget for the year 2013 will be financed by Islamic sukuk bonds. However, the state will still be forced to borrow from the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

Meanwhile, an IMF report attributed Egypt’s economic crisis to high spending on government support programs for food and fuel, a sharp rise in inflation rates, a sharp drop in tourism revenues and declining production, an aversion to foreign investment, and finally an unemployment rate that doubled during the year of the revolution.

But what have the Islamists done to meet these challenges? So far nothing except make promises.

They are counting on foreign donors, especially from the Gulf States, and an increase in foreign investment, assuming that the investment climate will improve. These are mere promises, and even out of the grants and loans that have been promised only a few have materialized because they are linked to political conditions and guarantees that these governments have so far been unable to give.

The new rulers of Egypt and Tunisia are unable to speak the truth to their citizens about the difficult road ahead. They will inevitably have to adopt austerity measures in the near future. The Islamists talk about economic solutions that are permissible within Islamic Sharia law, but those in power realize that theorizing over these issues won’t feed the hungry. Perhaps they should look to similar experiences in Latin America, where certain countries at the beginning of the 1980s faced political unrest in the wake of the infamous credit crisis. Some countries successfully lifted some subsidy programs, and restored the economy at the cost of social discontent and great suffering, but after a decade these countries emerged from the chasm of poverty and transformed into major productive economies.

The slogan “social justice” that the Islamists have borrowed from the left-wing lexicon is a deceptive and misleading one. The Islamists must realize that ideology alone is not enough. On the eve of the revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini argued that the Iranian popular revolution was launched for the sake of Islam, not to “limit the price of watermelons”, but after a decade of Islamist rule in Iran, the average per capita GNP had decreased from $2,049 shortly before the revolution to $1,640 when Khomeini died [in 1989]. In other words Iran became poorer than it was before the revolution.

Revolutions are not undertaken for the sake of watermelons, or cows. Countries cannot survive on ideological slogans alone.

kuwait digest

Please, prove us wrong

By Ahmad Al-Sarraf speak on behalf of many Kuwaitis who had voluntarily chosen not to vote in the recent elections with the hope of sending a ‘silent’ protest message to underline that things have reached a dangerous level in Kuwait and comprehensive reforms have become due. The message also meant that if nothing was done about the deteriorating situation, it will amount to a betrayal. The Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2012, in which Kuwait’s rank dropped to 66th, is proof enough that our position is correct. However, I would like to assert that our opposition is based on arguments that are completely different from those presented by the majority of oppositionist political forces in Kuwait.

Our opposition is limited to administrative mismanagement and financial corruption. We oppose such aberrations because these are shameful. We think it is a shame that a country so beautiful, so small and one that can be so easily managed, is sliding to such depths when it comes to chaos and lack of transparency.

We might find an excuse for India, a reason for Egypt or a way out for Iraq, but what is our excuse for the level of destruction surrounding us? How can we justify remaining silent about all those bank accounts of some legislators fattening? What is the logical explanation for the fact that a country which owns more than $300 billion in foreign assets has not been able to build a new hospital for more than a quarter century?

We are not calling for the ruling system to be changed, of course, because such demands could only be made by some stupid or corrupt individual. We call for a change in the system’s mechanisms because times have changed, and as a result, the system’s way of working must accordingly change. Governments need to be in tune with their people’s ambitions for freedom, dignity and humanity. What is happening today is a result of three decades of ideological darkness and abuse, for which only the government has to take the blame.

This is so because it was the government that was the sole decision making authority since 1986 until the 1990 Iraqi Invasion. Yet, it never came up with benefits despite the lack of legisla-

I

tive monitoring. Actually, the exact opposite happened: oil tankers’ theft, Spain investments’ thefts, embezzlement at London’s investment office and more scandals that were then topped by a military assault that tried to wipe the country off the map. Even the lone development plan

Our opposition is limited to administrative mismanagement and financial corruption. We oppose such aberrations because these are shameful. We think it is a shame that a country so beautiful, so small and one that can be so easily managed, is sliding to such depths when it comes to chaos and lack of transparency. that ministers touted as part of their big promises eventually turned out to be basically a series of unfulfilled promises. How can we believe that such strategies could help Kuwait leapfrog to become an international fiscal hub when they failed to take a so many simpler decisions? How can we make sure that the government delivers on its promises when in the past it formed economic committees only to later ignore their recommendations?

We refused to take part in the elections because we are sick and tired of waiting. We grew sick of corruption and were fed up of thefts and bribes happening in broad daylight. We have lost hope about ever achieving reforms as we see our hopes are now in the hands of a weak government and a fragile parliament. We fervently wish that we are proven wrong and that this weak government and fragile parliament fulfils our wishes. — Al-Qabas

In my view

Limitations of constitution

By Dr. Hassan Abbas he times that Kuwait is going through these days are not normal. It is true that we have been living in a ‘spring’ season, currently an aspirational concept in the Arab world, since the sixties. Our ruling system is no longer bothered by harsh criticism. But recently, we went through some serious developments and came close to pushing the limits imposed by the constitution.

We have to admit first that we enjoy a fairly high degree of freedom in Kuwait. We can criticize and attack the government and politicians and say whatever we to, and then go home and sleep safely without fear of persecution.

This is a blessing that many around us have often felt. If we take the Arab Spring countries, for example, we find that they are condemned to live a life stuck between a rock and a hard place as they neither enjoyed freedom under tyrannical rulers, nor are able to enjoy a modicum of stability as a result of the ongoing infightings.

Thank God that we can still enjoy stability despite the political turmoil. In fact, this turmoil made us appreciate the stability we have even more.

However, we must always keep a distance between ourselves and the shelter under which we stay protected.

The more we go through hardships, the more we become convinced that our constitution was truly put together in a beautiful and balanced manner. It achieves balance among social strata in the country, and among the state’s authorities. It sets a framework for the ruling family’s rule, and specifies the liabilities for each of the state’s three authorities in a good way.

I am not going to say it is perfect because each one of us has a different perception of what perfec-

T

tion is. It is true that our constitution has certain flaws, and it is also true that our democracy is technically incomplete. However, our constitution and democracy are largely balanced and capable of providing a stable life to Kuwaitis despite the tumultuous events that we have gone through.

This makes me concerned on two subjects. First of all, I find the demands for constitutional amendments to be carried out under the current circumstances as worrying. I know I have written more than once about the issue of amendment, but honestly I am no longer ready to accept any change in the constitution. I believe it would open the door to all sorts of evil. I believe that we are still far from a perfect situation and time when the constitution could be tweaked.

The second thing I find worrying is the fact that the level of political debate has become so intense and shrill that it almost borders on threatening constitutional limits. As long as we live in a constitutional state, we have to respect this contract no matter what the circumstances might be. It would be very dangerous to adopt an approach of double-standards regarding the Constitutional Court’s verdicts. The idea of applauding a ruling if it meets expectations, and rejecting it if it does not, is a dangerous one.

In conclusion, our political and regional status cannot handle any manipulations or cheap-shots. We are surrounded by political and religious situations that are virtually volcanoes ready to erupt, and such eruptions will be beyond our capacity to contain. It is only by seeking shelter under the shield of the constitution that we can avoid such catastrophes.

I call upon the government, to the opposition, to all the lawmakers - Do not mess with the constitution.

— Al-Qabas

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

LOCAL

Bedoons hold protest demo in Jahra

KUWAIT: Stateless Arabs, known as bedoons, march during a protest to demand citizenship and other basic rights in Jahra, 50 km northwest of Kuwait City, yesterday. Encouraged by Arab Spring protests, stateless people estimated at more than 105,000 have been regularly demonstrating since February 2011 to press Kuwaiti authorities to resolve their decades-old problem,especially their claim to citizenship. —Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat and Fouad Al-Shaikh

Internships useful to employers, interns KUWAIT: According to a recent ‘Internships in the MENA Region’ poll conducted by Bayt.com, the region’s number one job site, 75.6% of academic institutions require their students to complete an internship. That is very positive, as a majority of respondents believe that internships are useful to both employers and interns (74.8%) with 30% stating they are equally valued by both parties.

A large portion of respondents (31.1%) think that companies hire interns in order to spot top talents for future employment. Meanwhile, 36.5% of respondents believe that companies hire interns in order to cut back on costs. Interestingly, 55.2% of internships in the region are paid in one way or another.

Of those who have held intern positions, the respondents considered their experience to primarily be important for developing and learning new skills and knowledge (48.3%), followed by gaining experience to add to their CV (28.9%). The majority (34.8%) state that their experience as an intern was ‘good’, while 19.1% believe that they were over-supervised, while the work they handled was very relevant to their background and future endeavours (39.8%), as well as being extremely challenging (36.9%).

Almost three quarters (73.4%) say they were appointed a mentor during their tenure, however, of these, 18% state that their mentor didn’t offer them great help. While seven out of 10 (71%) claim to have received an appraisal (either in a one-on-one session with a supervisor, in a formal document, or both), 28.9% state that they received no feedback at all.

On the other hand, 15.4% state to have never done an internship, although 24.3% would either like to, or are planning to. Three quarters (75.6%) state that their academic institution required them to become an intern, which correlates with the perception that such positions are aimed primarily at college students (21.5%) or fresh graduates (40.3%).

“Interns represent a significant and valuable pool of talent, and should be harnessed for their abilities to bring fresh insights and perspectives into industry.

Employers can identify future talents by taking on students and graduates, providing them with a realistic perspective and expectations of their desired industries and allowing them to gain valuable skills and experience,” said Suhail Masri, VP Sales, Bayt.com.

“Bayt.com works very closely with industry to tap into top talent at all career levels including fresh college graduates and students seeking internships and we have seen an increased appetite for interns from employers across industry sectors. Bayt.com specializes in gathering data that is relevant to the recruitment industry in the MENA region. We bring together statistics that make a difference to employers and job seekers alike, to provide invaluable insight into the region’s trends.” Data for the Bayt.com “Internships in the MENA region” poll was collected from Oct 29 - Dec 4, with 9,050 respondents covering more than 12 countries in the MENA region.

Top ‘Interior’ officials not well versed with GCC agreement Kuwait: A senior Ministry of Interior official denied knowledge of the articles of a security agreement that Kuwait signed recently with Gulf Cooperation Council countries, but insisted that there existed no provision for exchange of political prisoners among GCC countries.

Undersecretary for Correctional Institutions Affairs, Major General Khalil Al-Shamali, made these observations on Sunday during the inauguration of the GCC Inmates’ Week. His comments might add to the controversy surrounding the agreement signed last month, which many in Kuwait fear could contain articles restricting freedoms or human rights.

While the details of the treaty have not been released to the public, the government had assured that it was not in conflict with any articles in Kuwait’s constitution which guarantees more freedoms compared to citizens of other GCC countries.

Separately, Maj Gen Al-Shamali announced that the list of names for prisoners to be nominated for an Amiri amnesty next February has been finalized, but did not provide details about the number of inmates included.

Parliamentary intervention in Cabinet’s formation Courageous govt needed KUWAIT: The Cabinet is set to be formed tomorrow and will hold its first session on Thursday to prepare its statement, a local newspaper reported yesterday quoting sources with knowledge of the developments. Speaking to Al-Qabas on the condition of anonymity, the insiders criticized the “ongoing parliamentary intervention in the cabinet’s formation,” something they compared to “errors of the 2012 parliament’s majority.”

They also said that putting a ‘veto’ on appointing certain names puts the government between a rock and a hard place. “Eliminating ministers as per lawmakers’ objections can be interpreted as submission, while doing the opposite might lead to the prime minister being termed uncooperative,” the sources explained.

Meanwhile, discussions are simultaneously going on about the parliamentary speaker’s post, which according to analysts is almost settled between Ali Al-Omair and Ali Al-Rashid. Quoting the spectators, Al-Qabas indicated that Al-Omair could have a slight advantage as it would “restore balance” by “align-

ing half of the Salafists” who decided against boycotting the elections.

Separately, former MP Mubarak AlDuwailah said during a seminar on Sunday that the “single-vote parliament poses a risk to Kuwait,” adding that it failed to curb vote buying. He said vote buying happened in the fifth constituency during the recent elections.

This comes while former MP Dr. Waleed Al-Tabtabaei told Al-Rai newspaper about “a number of ideas” studied by the opposition, including the possibility of a “popular” or “shadow” parliament elected by citizens who boycotted the recent elec tions.

However, sources close to the oppositionist coalition believe that such step was unlikely due to “difficulties in execution and fear of lack of interaction.”

Asked about nightly demonstrations taking place in the residential areas, AlTabtabaei said they were not directed by certain blocs or groups, but were rather “a spontaneous reaction of citizens who were expressing their objection to the emergency decree in their own way.”

In a related development, Al-Rai reported quoting security sources that ten servicemen were arrested from a group of nearly one hundred protestors who were detained following clashes with riot police in Al-Sabahiya and Sabah Al-Nasser.

They included four members from the Interior Ministry, three from the Defense Ministry and three from the National Guard, said sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The sources fur ther added that investigations were still on in an instance in which an officer was accused of firing shots from a mechanical weapon against a police helicopter during a demonstration. The officer “still rejected the accusations for the second day in a row” since his arrest last Saturday. Police are reportedly waiting for test results to detect gunpowder that could potentially be present in his car or on his clothes. Criminal investigators also arrested a person who was reportedly accompanying the suspect when the incident happened.

Meanwhile, MP Dr. Maasouma AlMubarka has said the new government

must include statesmen who believe in and are ready to implement the instructions of His Highness the Amir.

She told reporters that at this stage Kuwait needs an efficient and courageous government which does not throw a spanner in the wheels and is equipped to carr y out its historical responsibility along with the National Assembly Council in a constructive spirit, capable of production and innovation and not just routine work.

“Therefore, I see no logic in rewarding with a ministerial post anyone who stood up against the Amir’s wish of one voter-one vote,” she said.

She explained that so far she has not been offered any post. “Nothing has been offered to me, nor have I accepted or declined anything,” she emphasized.

She said, “We will not defend the government and will not give up supervision. Instead, we will achieve a balance between supervision and legislation and will extend our hand of cooperation. We look forward to a careful selection of ministers, be they from the council or outside.”

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

LOCAL

Man dupes New Zealand investor of $2 million ‘Rowdy’ suspect controlled KUWAIT: An investor from New Zealand who paid his Kuwaiti business partner $2 million to invest in upcoming big projects in Afghanistan found he has been duped when the Kuwaiti man failed to answer calls and operations of his real estate company were found to have been frozen, according to a case filed recently at the Sharq police station.

The New Zealand-based investor’s lawyer told the police that her client came to believe that his Kuwaiti business partner owned a major real estate company with interests in Afghanistan and was well positioned to benefit from the huge projects likely to take off after years of war. Such was the level of trust that the Kuwaiti man had managed to build that the investor paid $2 million without even signing the necessary contracts as the suspect asked that these could be signed later. When the Kuwaiti man failed to answer his repeated calls, the investor found that operations of the suspect’s company have been frozen. Investigations are on.

Labor forgery A man was arrested at the labor department recently where he tried to obtain work permits registered in the name of a non-existent company fraudulently. According to a

security source with knowledge of the case, the expatriate man forwarded a forged payroll document which was detected by an employee who called the police. The man admitted during interrogation that he collected money from laborers in exchange of residency permits registered in the name of companies which were no more active. The modus operandi effectively allowed the laborers to stay in Kuwait, leaving them free to seek other jobs. The man remains in custody pending further investigations.

Battery Assault The Ahmadi police are investigating a battery assault case filed by a resident in AlRiqqa who claimed he was attacked by two unknown men carrying a firearm. In his statement to the local police, the Kuwaiti man explained that the two beat him up outside his house after he answered the door. He said they left before he could note down their vehicle’s license plate number. Investigations are on.

Violent man A man who was accused of confining his family inside his house against their will reacted violently when police officers visited

in response to a distress call, resisted arrest and even damaged a patrol vehicle before he could be overpowered. When police officers surrounded the house in Al-Rabiya in this recent incident, the suspect came out armed with a gun and a knife. Officers managed to bring the man under control but faced strong resistance before they could take him into their custody. The suspect reportedly damaged a patrol vehicle using a hammer.

Currently in the custody of the police, the man faces charges that include illegal confinement, possessing firearms, attacking police officers on duty and resisting arrest.

Salmiya death Police and paramedics found a man dead inside a car after they rushed to a location outside a mosque in Salmiya in response to an emergency call about a man spotted unconscious inside a car. Following medical examination, the Asian man was declared dead on the scene and his body was taken to the coroner for an autopsy. Criminal investigators ruled out the possibility of foul play.

The case was being treated as one of natural death, according to preliminary investigations and inquest proceedings await the autopsy report.

Kuwaiti aid reaches Syrian refugees in south Lebanon SIDON, South Lebanon: A local philanthropic society serving in this southern Lebanese port city has distributed aid supplies to Syrian refugees drawing deep appreciation from the refugees who thanked Kuwait and the leadership of the Gulf state.

The society, “Al-Istijabah Al-Khairiah,” which received relief supplies from Kuwait, distributed the items to the Syrian refugees and offered aid and treatment at its clinics to the patients and pregnant woman.

Sheikh Nadim Hijazi, the top official of the association, which largely depends on financial and material aid from Kuwait, expressed gratitude to the Kuwaiti people, state and His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. He also thanked Revival of

Islamic Heritage Society and the Kuwaiti diplomatic mission for the humanitarian aid for people in need, orphans from among both Lebanese and Palestinians.

He added that his association, acting on behalf of the Kuwaiti society, delivered food, mattresses, stoves and financial aid to the sick among the refugees.

Meanwhile, a number of Syrians who came to headquarters of the society, expressed identical sentiments of gratitude. Rola AlAskari, who fled her hometown of Deir Al-Zor, two months ago, said she fled because of escalation of fighting. Her fellow citizen, Mohammad Al-Dehouri, also currently homeless, affirmed that the Kuwaiti assistance helped him and other Syrians cope with diffi-

cult conditions. Other Syrians whose plight at home forced them escape to neighboring Lebanon uttered similar words, thanking the Kuwaiti people, government and HH the Amir.

The Lebanese society, founded in 1992, helps the poor, the orphans and the sick of limited financial resources.

The Kuwaiti Cabinet, upon instructions of HH the Amir, has earmarked USD 20 million for Syrian refugees who flee the terror and violence in their homeland.

More than 150,000 Syrians have fled to neighboring Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.

Their hardships have been aggravated with arrival of the winter season, which would warrant additional aid, such as clothing and heating. —KUNA

Young Arab women leaders — The voice of the future DUBAI: The Arab International Women’s Forum (AIWF) held a conference, yesterday, as part of its initiative in partnership with PwC entitled “Young Arab Women Leaders The Voice of the Future”in Dubai, in cooperation with and hosted by the Dubai Business Women’s Council. As the third of a series of events planned for the year and beyond, the conference, held at the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industr y, aimed to assist a wide spectrum of young women leaders in and across the region to further optimise and strengthen their personal business skills and overall contribution to the business world and community at large.

Designed to assist young women leaders in understanding the role of gender equality in shaping political, economic and social opportunities available to women in the Arab world, the conference’s main objectives provided the ideal opportunity for participants to gain key insights into best practice methods that transform challenges and barriers into success stories and various opportunities for development and enhancement. It also served as a platform for the young aspiring Emirati women to support, engage and network with other women in pioneering political, economic and social leadership roles in the Arab world while learning more about the qualities of leadership for women in the 21st century. In opening the forum, Haifa AlKaylani, Founder Chairman of AIWF said “At AIWF, we are always looking for new approaches to the youth unemployment challenge and we believe that these include incentivising young people to develop marketable skills and educators to emphasise skills development whilst encouraging private sector firms to recruit and develop Arab graduates so we have an employed, educated youth. AIWF clearly sees job creation as the crisis of our time, and for this reason we are heavily invested in the success of the Young Arab Women Leaders initiative, and are very focused on empowering youth in emerging economies to become entrepreneurs and job creators which, we believe, is key to building a strong, viable and educated Arab middle class.”

Al-Kaylani added:”AIWF wholeheartedly shares and support the UAE government’s strategic vision for women and youth because it is based on providing them with the necessary tools to achieve academic and professional excellence. This strategy has energised women’s role in public service as well as the private sector, and the commitment and enthusiasm from Emirati women themselves to benefit from these unprecedented opportunities has moved gender empowerment forward not only within the UAE but throughout the GCC” Commenting on the Forum, Warwick Hunt PwC’s Middle East Managing Partner said “We at PwC view women as a critical talent group to enable the firm to continue its growth in the marketplace and to deliv-

er the best in client solutions. Firm networks provide a strong collaborative group for women at pivotal points in their careers, giving them the resources, role models, mentors and contacts which contribute to their career success and the ongoing success of PwC. Our partnership with AIWF comes from our genuine belief of the mission AIWF stands for. Therefore, our series of engagements will continue to make a show case for a proper and appropriate partnership that has one goal and aspiration, that is a better future for our society and more opportunities for our women, youth and children.”

Hunt added “New developments in the way business is growing, is going to be beneficial to the career advancement of women. In this new economy, it is becoming increasingly clear that businesses based on consensus, collaboration and team work are more successful. This is a leadership style that women tend to be very good at.

It is also the case that technology has provided a whole new world of opportunity for working women in terms of enabling them to work remotely during the years when their children are young rather than putting their careers temporarily on hold.”

Raja Al-Gurg, Managing Director, Easa Saleh Al-Gurg group.andPresident, Dubai Business Women’s Council speaking in the Beyond the Glass Ceiling session gave the following advice, “The lack of women in leadership positions is primarily a problem of internal talent management. Challenges such as these exist in any industry. Those aspiring to be the leaders of tomorrow must persevere. At the same time, they should not be afraid to speak their minds.

Those who excel in their professional lives did not get there without sacrifice. Here in the UAE we have learnt that the higher you aim the greater the risks. But the tactic is never to compromise on your goal.

Upgrade your ambitions instead.”

Sara Akbar, CEO & Founder, Kuwait Energy, Kuwait spoke of her belief that women ‘s empowerment and economic development go hand in hand in our world today and if you care about economic growth then women have to part of the solution.

MsIman Al-Midfa, Director General, Shurjah Business Women Council identified the biggest challenge for every woman as being her own perception of what she can and can’t do and said “If she can break the glass roof that she has placed on top of her own head she can reach her targets” Relating the benefits women bring to the labour market, MrBadrJafar , President Crescent Petroleum & Co Founder The Pearl Initiative, UAE, stated “Companies that learn to adapt to all its employees needs will be better able to respond to the challenge of an ageing workforce and the demands of the next generation of knowledge workers. That is, the optimisation of women’s talents boosts the bottom line.”

KUWAIT: The Environmental Voluntary Foundation held a ceremony to honor parties which took part in the Kuwaiti Forum for Volunteering, which was held recently at the International Fairground in Mishref marking the World Volunteer’s Day. EVF President Waleed Al-Fadhel opened the ceremony with a speech in which he expressed gratitude to HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlSabah and President of the Kuwait Red Crescent Society, Barjas Al-Barjas for their support to the two-day event.

Kuwaiti official blasts Arab inaction over Palestine DOHA: A senior Kuwaiti official regretted here yesterday Arab political mechanisms for the Palestinian issue have failed to make any tangible progress.

Speaking following a meeting of the Arab Peace Initiative and Arab Ministerial Committee on Syria, held here earlier yesterday, Undersecretary of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs Khaled Al-Jarallah said the Arab ministers attending the meeting have called for reconsidering such failed mechanisms.

He said Palestine’s UN non-member observer state win on Nov 29 was a major development that should reflect on the Palestinian issue and regional peace efforts. He called on Arab countries to support the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and its budget, given that the Palestinian people have deteriorating material and living conditions.

On the meeting on Syria, the Kuwaiti official said the conferees stressed the necessity of continuing efforts to halt bloodshed in Syria.

They discussed preparations for the next meeting of the Friends of Syria due in Marrakech, Morocco, he said.

Al-Jarallah added that Syrian opposition groups will have a great opportunity at the Marrakech meeting to find solutions to the Syrian situation.

He pointed to ongoing regional and international efforts to stop uncontrollable violence and bloodshed in Syria. He added that once a Syrian transitional head of government is appointed in a few days, he will be attending the coming Friends of Syria Meeting in Marrakech. In this context, the Kuwaiti official spoke highly of Qatar’s efforts to put an end to the volatile situation in Syria. — KUNA

Project to make Kuwait ‘world oil capital’ KUWAIT: The oil expert, leader of the initiative project of “Kuwait as the world’s oil capital for 2022,” Ahmad Al-Arbeed said that the project team has reached an advanced stage in the order of its thoughts and has made a considerable progress in the execution. On the sidelines of Kuwait International Petroleum Conference and Exhibition (KIPCE), which is co organised by the S ociet y of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and Kuwait University, Al-Arbeed said that a special document will soon be made to be displayed to the decision-makers in order to take the appropriate decision.

The document will contain most of the ideas, which the conditions of launching the project depend on, Al-Arbeed noted.

The document will also include developmental aspects of the local and foreign oil industries as well as

the development of new oil industries related to maximising the countr y ’s interests by exploring new resources away from crude oil, he added.

He said that the project team is setting the outlines to assess Kuwait as an oil country over the past 25 years, adding that the document includes a periodic review of Kuwait’s needs of human and societal development as a necessity to build a promising development base that is consistent with the new global reality. The project leader called on Kuwait’s legislation to be in line with the international ones, especially that Kuwait deals with major countries and companies in the oil sector. On the development of global oil and gas conferences in the recent period, Al-Arbeed hoped that Kuwait would host such international conferences; especially that it has all the qualifications to. —KUNA

KUWAIT: A room provided with required equipment was opened at the Capital Traffic Department for the protection of motorcycles that need to be protected from sun and rain in summer and also from extreme winter in order to ensure regular work in the traffic department. The opening ceremony was attended by head of the Department of Traffic organization at Capital Traffic Department, Capt Mishaal Al Hajref, Engineer Saud Al Otaibi from Maintenance and Instructions Administration and Lt Abdul Lateef Al Falah at Capital Traffic.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

Over 100 same-sex couples wed in Seattle

Syria rebels hope arms will flow to new fighter command Page 8

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CAIRO: An Egyptian army tank is deployed near the presidential palace in Cairo as opposition supporters and people walk by yesterday. President Mohamed Morsi has ordered Egypt’s army to “cooperate” with police and given it powers of arrest until the results of a referendum to be held this weekend. — AFP

Morsi gives army powers of arrest Opposition rejects referendum on ‘biased’ constitution CAIRO: Egypt’s Islamist president has asked the army to help secure a constitutional referendum he is determined to push through despite the risk of more deadly violence between his supporters and opponents accusing him of a power grab. Seven people were killed and hundreds wounded last week in clashes between the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and their critics besieging Mohamed Morsi’s graffiti-daubed presidential palace. Both sides plan mass rallies today. The elite Republican Guard has yet to use force to keep protesters away from the palace, which it ringed with tanks, barbed wire and concrete barricades after last week’s violence.

Mursi, bruised by calls for his downfall, has rescinded a Nov. 22 decree giving him wide powers but is going ahead with a referendum on Saturday on a constitution seen by his supporters as a triumph for democracy and by many liberals as a betrayal.

A decree issued by Morsi late on Sunday gives the armed forces the power to arrest civilians and refer them to prosecutors until the announcement of

the results of the referendum, which the protesters want cancelled.

Despite its limited nature, the edict will revive memories of Hosni Mubarak’s emergency law, also introduced as a temporary expedient, under which military or state security courts tried thousands of political dissidents and Islamist militants. But a military source stressed that the measure introduced by a civilian government would have a short shelf-life. “The latest law giving the armed forces the right to arrest anyone involved in illegal actions such as burning buildings or damaging public sites is to ensure security during the referendum only,” the military source said.

Presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said the committee overseeing the vote had requested the army’s assistance.

“The armed forces will work within a legal framework to secure the referendum and will return (to barracks) as soon as the referendum is over,” Ali said.

Protests and violence have racked Egypt since Mursi decreed himself extraordinary powers he said were needed to speed up a troubled transi-

tion since Mubarak’s fall 22 months ago.

The Muslim Brotherhood has voiced anger at the Interior Ministry’s failure to prevent protesters setting fire to its headquarters in Cairo and 28 of its offices elsewhere.

Critics say the draft law puts Egypt in a religious straitjacket and whatever the outcome of the referendum, the crisis has polarised the country and presages more instability at a time when Mursi is trying to steady a fragile economy.

Yesterday, he suspended planned tax increases only hours after the measures had been formally decreed, casting doubts on the government’s ability to push through tough economic reforms that form part of a proposed $4.8 billion IMF loan agreement.

Rejecting the referendum plan, opposition groups have called for mass protests today, saying Morsi’s eagerness to push the constitution through could lead to “violent confrontation”. Islamists have urged their followers to turn out “in millions” the same day in a show of support for the president and for a referendum they feel sure of winning with

Gaza’s ‘M75’ perfume captures victory scent GAZA: “Victory” has never smelled so sweet-or at least that’s what they would have you believe at the shop selling Gaza’s newest fragrance named M75 after a long-range Hamas rocket. It’s a bold move by the “Stay Stylish” shop in Gaza City’s upscale Rimal neighborhood, but one that store owner Abu Ahmed expects to pay dividends.

“We came up with the name M75 for a new perfume in the shop as a symbol of the rocket of the resistance, and the victory of Gaza,” he said. The M75 rocket was among several longrange missiles Gaza militant groups fired into Israel during an eight-day conflict last month, which ended with a ceasefire between Hamas and the Jewish state.

The conflict killed at least 174

Palestinians, including more than 100 civilians, and six Israelis, four civilians and two soldiers, but many in Gaza felt Hamas emerged from the violence victorious. The goal of the perfume is “to promote and market our products, and its only natural to use something like a victory to market our goods,” added Abu Ahmed, who declined to give his full name. “We want to send a fast message to people about this perfume to market it as quickly and easily as possible,” he said.

“People are proud that we were able to hit Tel Aviv and Jerusalem with this M75 rocket and this name is much talked about and liked by people here.” The fragrance, available both for men and women, has been successful so far, despite the fairly hefty price tag of 50 Israeli shekels ($13),

which the manufacturers justify on the basis of the perfume’s “luxurious” components. The success, according to Abu Ahmed, has already inspired his fellow Gaza entrepreneurs, whom he expects to slap the M75 label on a whole range of new products.

The M75 rocket, among hundreds that Hamas and other groups fired into Israel during the eight-day conflict, appears to have captured the public’s imagination in Gaza, where it played a commanding role during Hamas’s 25th anniversary celebrations this weekend. An enormous mock-up of the rocket had pride of place on a stage where the festivities took place, and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal-in Gaza for the first time ever-emerged from a door in the fake missile to give an address.—AFP

their loyal base and perhaps with the votes of Egyptians weary of turmoil. The opposition National Salvation Front, led by liberals such as Mohamed ElBaradei and Amr Moussa, as well as leftist firebrand Hamdeen Sabahy, has yet to call directly for a boycott of the referendum or to urge their supporters to vote “no”.

Instead it is contesting the legitimacy of the vote and of the whole process by which the constitution was drafted in an Islamist-led assembly from which their representatives withdrew. The opposition says the document fails to embrace the diversity of 83 million Egyptians, a tenth of whom are Christians, and invites Muslim clerics to influence lawmaking. But debate over the details has largely given way to noisy street protests and megaphone politics, keeping Egypt off balance and ill-equipped to deal with a looming economic crisis.

“Inevitability of referendum deepens divisions,” was the headline in AlGomhuriya newspaper on Monday. Al Ahram daily wrote: “Political forces split over referendum and new decree.”

Morsi issued another decree on

Saturday to supersede his Nov. 22 measure putting his own decisions beyond legal challenge until a new constitution and parliament are in place. While he gave up extra powers as a sop to his opponents, the decisions already taken under them, such as the dismissal of a prosecutor-general appointed by Mubarak, remain intact.

Lamia Kamel, a spokeswoman for former Arab League chief Moussa, said the opposition factions were still discussing whether to boycott the referendum or call for a “no” vote. “Both paths are unwelcome because they really don’t want the referendum at all,” she said, but predicted a clearer opposition line if the plebiscite went ahead as planned. A spokeswoman for ElBaradei, former head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said: “We do not acknowledge the referendum. The aim is to change the decision and postpone it.” Mahmoud Ghozlan, the Muslim Brotherhood’s spokesman, said the opposition could stage protests, but should keep the peace. “They are free to boycott, participate or say no, they can do what they

want. The important thing is that it remains in a peaceful context to preserve the country’s safety and security.”

The army stepped into the conflict on Saturday, telling all sides to resolve their disputes via dialogue and warning that it would not allow Egypt to enter a “dark tunnel”. A military source said the declaration read on state media did not herald a move by the army to retake control of Egypt, which it relinquished in June after managing the transition from Mubarak’s 30 years of military-backed one-man rule.

The draft constitution sets up a national defence council, in which generals will form a majority, and gives civilians some scrutiny over the army although not enough for critics. In August Mursi stripped the generals of sweeping powers they had grabbed when he was elected two months earlier, but has since repeatedly paid tribute to the military in public. So far the army and police have taken a relatively passive role in the protests roiling the most populous Arab nation. — Reuters

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

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

Friends of Syria head to Morocco to bolster opposition MARRAKESH: The Friends of Syria nations that support regime change meet in Morocco tomorrow for the first time since the creation of a new opposition coalition seeking wider international recognition.

Arab and Western states will consider two key issues concerning the 21-month conflict-the political transition in the event of President Bashar al-Assad’s fall, and mobilising vital humanitarian aid as winter sets in.

Since the last meeting, in Paris in July, the number of people killed has risen from 16,000 to more than 42,000, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says. Tomorrow’s meeting will address ways of supporting the National Coalition, which “brings together a very broad range of opposition factions and individuals” and is a “very credible interlocutor,” according to Rabat.

Under international pressure to unite, Syrian opponents of the Assad regime agreed in Doha on November 11 to establish the coalition and group the various rebel forces under a supreme military council.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, France, Britain and Turkey have all formally recognised the coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. But it has failed to win universal backing amid doubts over whether it genuinely represents all sectors of Syrian society. Many are looking to see if it wins Washington’s formal endorsement.

Comments by US officials have raised this prospect. “Now that there is a new opposition formed, we are going to be doing what we can to support that opposition,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Brussels last week.

“This is a pretty nascent group, but

they clearly seem to be moving in the right direction,” said State Department spokesman Mark Toner. In the latest move to bolster its credentials, the coalition plans to announce the creation of a military council before Wednesday’s meeting, bringing most of the rebel groups under a single command structure.

Radical Islamist groups such as AlNusra Front will notably be excluded, amid US concerns that weapons supplied to the rebels have been reaching jihadist groups.

Other countries are pushing for international acceptance of the coalition as the Syrian people’s legitimate representative. “We hope that the maximum number of countries join our ranks, but I don’t know if this recognition will take place individually or in groups,” said a French foreign ministry spokesman.

“We hope that (the meeting) lays the foundations for the constitution of a provisional government in Syria,” he added.

National Coalition chief Ahmed Moaz alKhatib has expressed optimism about a positive outcome from Marrakesh, with more than 100 delegations due to attend.

“There are many countries, in Europe, the United States and the Gulf, that have shown great understanding,” he told AFP. He urged participants to ensure that the conference “remains true to its name,” urging them to show “that they are real friends of Syria, by offering their support with all the resources possible.”

Khatib also said humanitarian aid was a “priority.” Clinton touched on the same question last week during a NATO meeting, calling Assad’s fall “inevitable” and saying it was “just a question of how many people will die

until that date occurs.”

Washington has provided around $200 million in humanitarian assistance, as well as non-lethal aid to the rebels, officially declining to send arms. But it has warned of “consequences” should Damascus unleash chemical weapons on its own people, amid concerns over the possible use of deadly sarin gas.

“We are extremely concerned,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters on Saturday.

He said London had joined Washington in delivering a strong message to Assad’s government that if it uses chemical weapons the global community had “contingency plans,” without specifying what they were.

Syria has insisted it would never countenance such a policy, suggesting instead that the rebels themselves may use chemical weapons. — AFP

Syria rebels hope arms will flow to new fighter command Germany expels four Syrian embassy staff

SYDNEY: This handout photo received from Channel Nine Network news discussion show “A Current Affair” yesterday shows Sydney radio station 2Day FM presenters Michael Christian (L) and Mel Greig being interviewed by Tracy Grimshaw. The two presenters who made a prank call to a London hospital treating prince William’s wife Kate are set to break their silence in a “raw and emotional” interview with Australian television. — AFP

Tearful radio hosts sorry to nurse’s family in UK SYDNEY: The Australian radio hosts who made a prank call to a London hospital treating Prince William’s wife Kate yesterday said they were heartbroken as they recalled hearing the news that a nurse had been found dead.

Mel Greig and Michael Christian from Sydney station 2Day FM have been in hiding and undergoing counselling since their hoax sparked global outrage following the apparent suicide of Jacintha Saldanha.

In interviews on Australian television, the pair broke their silence following Saldanha’s death last week in London, as 2Day FM’s owner said it was cancelling their show and stopping all prank calls by its broadcasters.

An emotional Greig said she was devastated at being told the Indian-born nurse had died.

“Unfortunately I remember that moment very well because I haven’t stopped thinking about it since it happened,” she told Australia’s Seven Network in a teaser segment ahead of the broadcast of the full interview later yesterday.

“And I remember my first question was, was she a mother?” In a separate interview with the Nine Network, Greig added: “It came into my head that I just wanted to reach out to them (the family), give them a big hug and say sorry. I hope they’re OK, I really do.”

The call, with Greig and Christian posing as Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles, was taken by mother-of-two Saldanha, 46, at London’s King Edward VII Hospital. With no receptionist on duty in the early morning, she put them through to a colleague who divulged details of the pregnant Kate’s recovery from severe morning sickness.

Saldanha was subsequently found d e a d, a l t h o u g h B r i t i s h p o l i ce h ave refused to confirm whether it was suicide pending an inquest. Christian said he too was devastated. “Shattered, gutted, hear tbroken and obviously you know... our deepest sympathies are with

the family and the friends,” he told Nine.

The death sparked an outpouring of fury against the radio station and the presenters, although the broadcaster Monday said no-one could have foreseen the tragic consequences of what the hospital says was an “appalling” stunt.

Rhys Holleran, chief executive of Southern Cross Austereo, which owns 2Day FM, said the station called the hospital five times to discuss what it had recorded before going to air.

He said he was satisfied that the appropriate checks were conducted before the pre-recorded segment was broadcast. “It is absolutely true to say that we actually did attempt to contact those people on multiple occasions,” Holleran told Fairfax radio.

“We attempted to contact them on no less than five occasions,” he added. “We wanted to speak to them about it.” Holleran did not say whether the broadcaster received any response. The stunt was vetted by lawyers before being aired in Sydney last week, according to the station. In a statement to the stock exchange, Southern Cross, which has media interests throughout Australia, said that it had decided to suspend all prank calls by its broadcasters.

It also axed the show Greig and Christian presented, Hot 30, and suspended all 2Day FM advertising until further notice.

The case has triggered demands for tougher regulation of the electronic media although Australia’s press regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, has not commented on whether the station broke any rules.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the ACMA was considering whether to initiate an inquiry beyond its usual process of giving broadcasters 60 days to respond to complaints.

Sections of the British press have savagely condemned the hoax and some people online say the presenters have blood on their hands. But Australian media have hit back at “hysterical finger-pointing”. — AFP

Israel right strong, opposition divided JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightwing bloc remains far ahead of its rivals ahead of January 22 snap elections, with the opposition increasingly divided, a poll said yesterday. The joint list of Netanyahu’s Likud party and the ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu faction of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is expected to win 39 seats, according to the poll published by the left-leaning Haaretz daily.

Last week, a poll published in Maariv gave the list 38 mandates in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament.

Rightwing parties allied with Netanyahu are also expected to do well, with the Haaretz poll finding the ultra-Orthodox Shas likely to win 12 seats, Jewish Home taking 11 and United Torah Judaism securing six seats.

Overall, the rightwing bloc was seen winning a large majority of around 68 seats.

By comparison, the centre and leftist bloc appears fragmented and weak, with its strongest representative, the Labour party led by Shelly Yachimovich, likely to win 17 seats, the Haaretz poll found.

HaTnuah, a new party led by former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, is expected to win nine seats, while Yesh Atid, headed by former journalist Yair Lapid, is projected to win six. And the centre-right Kadima party, which is currently the largest faction in parliament with 28 mandates, is expected to be practically wiped out, taking just two seats. The leftwing Meretz party would likely win three seats.

Analysts said Livni’s decision to return to politics had hobbled the opposition, with her new centrist party taking seats exclusively from the centre-left, rather than the rightwing bloc.

The poll also showed Israelis have no doubt about who their next premier will be, with 81 percent saying they expected Netanyahu to form the next government. A separate poll conducted on behalf of Haifa University showed around half of Israel’s 1.4 million Arab citizens do not plan to vote in next month’s elections. The poll found that 82 percent of Arab Israelis have little or no faith in the government, and more than half also lack confidence in the Arab parties in the Knesset.— AFP

BEIRUT: Syrian rebels expect greater military help from Gulf Arab states after they announced a new command structure which aims finally to unite President Bashar al-Assad’s armed opponents, rebel commanders said yesterday.

Rebel fighters have made gains across the country in the last month, seizing military bases and taking on Assad’s betterarmed forces on the fringes of his powerbase in Damascus.

Activists said fighting raged on Monday in southern Damascus near the international airport and repor ted clashes in the northern Damascus districts of Rukneddine and Salhiyeh - the heaviest there since the uprising began 20 months ago.

Despite using more effective battlefield tactics and acquiring more arms, the mainly Sunni Muslim fighters have so far lacked the firepower to deliver a decisive blow to Assad, from the Alawite minority linked to Shi’ite Islam.

Abu Moaz al-Agha, a leader and spokesman of the powerful Gathering of Ansar al Islam which includes many Islamist rebel brigades, said the new, Islamistdominated military command elected in Turkey over the weekend could change that. “ What we need now is the heavy weapons and we expect to get them after the formation of this. The anti-armour and anti-aircraft weapons are what we are expecting,” he told Reuters by Skype from Turkey before heading to the Gulf. “The Qataris and the Saudis gave us positive promises. We will see what will happen,” he said, adding that officials from Western countries, who also attended the meeting in Turkey, had not mentioned arming the rebels but talked about “sending aid”.

At least 40,000 people have been killed in Syria’s uprising, which star ted with street protests which were met with gunfire by Assad’s security forces, and spiralled into the most enduring and destructive of the Arab uprisings.

Stalemate between major powers, particularly the United States and Russia, has paralysed the wider international response to the violence, leaving regional Sunni Muslim states such as Turkey and the Gulf Arab countries helping the rebels and Shi’ite Iran providing support to Assad.

Washington and Moscow sent their deputy foreign ministers to

DAMASCUS: Syrian mourners attend the funeral of Greek Orthodox patriarch of Syria, Ignatius IV Hazim, at the Meriamiah Church in the Syrian capital Damascus yesterday. The patriarch died of a stroke in the Lebanese capital Beirut on December 5. — AFP “They have their own leaders when we heard gunshots in our talks with international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Sunday, but and their own structure, they own street” earlier today.

In another sign of the sectaria statement after the meeting fight side by side with the Free showed little sign of break- Syrian Army. We have only seen an and violent nature of the conthrough, although they agreed a good things from them and they flict, a video which activists said political solution was possible in are good fighters,” said Abdul was filmed in the central city of Jabbar al-Oqaidi, a senior com- Homs showed what appeared to Syria. be a youth with a long knife German Foreign Minister mander in the new group.

Activists said rebels strength- decapitating a man, identified as Guido Westerwelle announced on Monday that four Syrian ened their hold on Monday over an Alawite officer. It was not posembassy staff were expelled from a militar y base in the Sheikh sible to verify the video.

A global finance association Berlin, to send a “clear message Suleiman region of Aleppo, that (Germany is) reducing rela- Syria’s biggest city, which they said on Monday that the combined impact of civil war and tions with the Assad regime to an overran a day earlier.

The Syrian Observatory for international sanctions will absolute minimum”.

The new rebel command Human Rights, which monitors shrink Syria’s economy by a fifth brings together most existing violence across the country, said in this year. Syria’s entire foreign rebel entities including brigades rebel fighters had been trying to reserves could also be spent by which formed an Islamist front seize the site for two weeks, after the end of 2013, the Institute for two months ago and “provincial they captured a special forces International Finance said.

Since the revolt star ted in military councils” which operated base in the region last month.

The group also reported clash- March 2011, inflation has risen to under the umbrella of the Free es in northern Damascus, where 40 percent and the Syrian Syrian Army.

A commander in an Islamist residents said parents rushed to pound’s official exchange rate brigade in the northern province pick up children early from against the dollar has fallen by 51 of Aleppo, which also had a school. One elementary school percent, the IIF said.

As well as financing the war, strong presence in the new body, bus had only three students in it said it would ensure proper one of them told the bus supervi- Assad’s government has spent supervision of weapons supplies. sor that all the others were col- billions of dollars of hard currency reserves on wages, fuel subsi“This time people have real lected early by their parents.

At a nearby girls’ high school, dies and propping up the pound, hopes. We believe that weapons will be delivered,” he said. “One of the headmistress was trying to bankers in Damascus say.

International measures to the main reasons for the forma- dissuade a mother from pulling tion of this body is so that thefts out her 16-year-old daughter pressure Assad to step down (of weapons) are controlled, and before the day’s end. “If we keep have also affected the economy. each one will get their rights and letting parents pick up their kids “ The sanc tions by the Arab put the control in the hands of anytime something happens, League introduced in late 2011 those inside and not outside they’ll be in a constant state of and the September 2011 US and EU sanctions have meant more panic,” she said.

Syria.”

The mother tried to explain economic hardships,” said Rebels of the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, one of the most effi- that even though she was trying Garbis Iradian, IIF deputy direccient fighters in Syria, are not to keep a calm household, her tor of the Africa and M iddle husband was “really freaking out East. — Reuters part of the new body.

Palestinians weigh new peace talks bid RAMALLAH: The Palestinians are looking to reactivate peace talks with Israel with the aim of resolving all final status issues within six months, a senior official said yesterday.

Speaking to the official Voice of Palestine radio, negotiator Saeb Erakat said “a new stage” had been reached after the Palestinians successfully won non-member status at the United Nations.

“After the UN resolution... a new stage has certainly started,” he said, speaking a day after Arab League ministers met in Doha, Qatar. The historic UN vote on November 29 had convinced the Arab world that “the peace process, and its references and involved parties including the (Middle East) Quartet, should be reconsidered,” he said.

By the end of December, a Palestinian committee would work up action plans

after which it would travel to the five permanent UN Security Council membersBritain, France, Russia, China and the US-to see “whether there is a chance for the peace process and on which principles it should held”.

Direct peace talks which began in September 2010 fell apart several weeks later over a dispute over settlements, with the Palestinians calling for a construction freeze and Israel arguing for a return to talks without such preconditions. Erakat outlined three principles for a return to the negotiating table with the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The first principle is that the goal of the peace process-according to all previously signed agreements and international law-is the withdrawal of Israel to the June 4, 1967 borderline, including Jerusalem,” he said.

“ The second principle is related to the necessity of re-launching negotiations from the point they were halted, which means they should not start from scratch like Netanyahu wants them to be.

“The third principle is to set a six-month time-table for the negotiations to reach an agreement over all final status issues,” he said. “Settlement activity should be halted during this period of time and Palestinian prisoners should be released in accordance with previously signed agreements and not as preconditions.”

Before the start of talks in 2010, Israel observed a 10-month freeze on new West Bank construction, but has refused repeated requests to renew it, dismissing it as an unacceptable “precondition” for talks, although the Palestinians say it is an “obligation” under international law. — AFP

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

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

More than 100 same-sex couples wed in Seattle Opponents try to block legalization in state

WASHINGTPN: The US first family, from left, first lady Michelle Obama, Sasha Obama, President Barack Obama and Malia Obama, pose with children dressed like elves at the National Building Museum in Washington, yesterday. The first family is attending the taping of the 2012 Christmas in Washington. — AP

Obamas attend annual holiday concert WASHINGTON: A holiday concert attended Sunday by President Barack Obama and his family included some non-traditional entertainment this year: a performance by South Korean rapper and Internet sensation PSY. PSY- wearing an all-red outfit including a sparkling, sequined top- was backed by dancers wearing reindeer antlers as he performed his popular “Gangnam Style” dance, which mimics riding a horse.

The rapper, born Park Jae-sang, had apologized Friday for using what he called “inflammatory and inappropriate language” during anti-U.S. protests at concerts in 2002 and 2004. The flak from his remarks didn’t dampen the festive holiday mood Sunday.

Other performers at the charity concert included Diana Ross, Demi Lovato, “American Idol” winner Scotty McCreery and Megan Hilty, star of the NBC musical drama “Smash.”

In brief remarks, Obama said the cele-

bration was “a chance to get in the Christmas spirit, spread some joy and sing along with artists who have much better voices than we do.”

He also said the holiday season was a time to remember that ever yone is “incredibly blessed in so many ways,” and to share with the less fortunate, such as those in hospitals, shelters and battlefields far from home.

“Those blessings aren’t just meant to be enjoyed, they’re meant to be used and shared with those who have less,” he said. The “Christmas in Washington” concert benefits Children’s National Medical Center. Before the show, Obama was accompanied by his wife, Michelle, and daughters, Sasha and Malia, as he presented a basket of books to four former patients of the center, who were dressed as elves.

The 31st annual concert was held Sunday at the National Building Museum and was hosted for a second year by comedian Conan O’Brien. — AP

Chavez leaves for Cuba for more cancer surgery CARACAS: Hugo Chavez left for Cuba early yesterday to undergo new cancer surgery that the Venezuelan leftist president admitted was urgently needed to fight the deadly disease. His middle-of-the-night departure was announced through Twitter by communications minister Ernesto Villegas, who said the plane carrying the Venezuelan leader had taken off from Maiquetia Airport and headed for Havana.

“I have just given a good hug to commander Chavez at Maiquetia and told him ‘Go and come back,’ and he responded, ‘Of course, I will be back,’” tweeted for his part former vice president Elias Jaua.

It will be the fourth time the firebrand anti-American populist, re-elected only last October, has undergone surgery since being diagnosed last year. But this time there was a more ominous tone as Chavez, whose country sits atop the world’s largest proven oil reserves, spoke for the first time of the idea of succession, naming foreign minister and vice president Nicolas Maduro as his favoured political heir.

Chavez disclosed his upcoming surgery Saturday night, shortly after returning from 10 days of treatment in Cuba. The announcement shocked people who have come to know him as an indefatigable and garrulous man who was a fixture of their everyday life.

“He will live! He will live! The commander will live,” an assembled crowd chanted Sunday in Bolivar Square in downtown Caracas. Vladimir Hernandez, 52, said it hurt him to hear Chavez was due for more surgery. “Now I am here to ask God to help us in these hard times,” he said after joining the throng.

Chavez, 58, had said he was cancer-free after being diagnosed last year and treated.

But he dramatically announced Saturday that malignant cells had returned and that he needs more surgery.

Treatment is “absolutely necessary,” the leftist leader said in a bombshell statement on state television in which he admitted he may have to give up the presidency and that Maduro was his chosen successor-a move analysts saw as the first step of a political transition.

The designation of an heir apparent in the event that “something happened” to him underlined the seriousness of Chavez’s

condition, which he said was causing him strong pain and required him to take tranquilizers. In power since 1999, Chavez has made repeated trips to communist Cuba for cancer treatment since his original diagnosis.

Over the past year and a half, Chavez has missed practically every regional meeting he was to have attended, including the Summit of the Americas in Colombia, the Mercosur summit in Brazil and last month’s Ibero-American summit.

He returned Friday after his latest stay in Cuba, during which his medical team stressed a sense of urgency about the looming operation, his fourth since mid2011. “The doctor recommended that I undergo surgery yesterday (Friday) at the latest, or this weekend,” he noted. “But I did not agree and came back home.”

In what appeared like a presentation of his final will, the once-omnipresent leader, who had not been seen in public for three weeks, urged Venezuelans to vote for Maduro in the next presidential poll should he become incapacitated.

“Choose Maduro as president of the republic,” Chavez said. “I am asking you this from all my heart.” Maduro, who has been serving as Venezuela’s foreign minister for the past six years, was appointed vice president in the wake of October’s presidential poll. He has since held both portfolios.

The 49-year-old former bus driver who began his political career in the labor movement belongs to the more moderate wing of the Chavez entourage. Paving the way for his departure, the National Assembly on Sunday granted Chavez permission to travel to Cuba and, in another possible indication of the seriousness of the matter, leave the country for an indefinite amount of time.

Under the Venezuelan constitution, if a new president is incapacitated before inauguration-scheduled for January 10 — fresh elections must be called in 30 days. The parliamentary speaker must then take charge until a new president is elected.

If incapacitation or death occurs after the inauguration but in the first four years of a term, the vice president takes over and governs until an early election determines a new leader. Exactly what type of cancer Chavez has remains a mystery since the longtime leader has handled his illness as a state secret. Prior to Saturday’s announcement, he had repeatedly claimed to have beaten the unspecified cancer and shrugged off his illness to see off a unified opposition and win power again. Chavez appeared weak and subdued during the presidential campaign, but still managed to win another term that extends to 2019. — AFP

SEATTLE: Hundreds of well-wishers braved cold and rain to celebrate 133 weddings at Seattle City Hall yesterday, marking the first day that same-sex couples could marry in Washington state.

Washington, Maine and Maryland last month became the first US states to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples by a popular vote, in a leap forward for gay rights.

“It means that I can use the word husband without question or explaining,” said Corianton Hale, a 34-year-old graphic designer, who was one of the first to tie the knot at City Hall. He married freelance copywriter Keith Bacon, 44.

“We originally registered to come down here to get married at City Hall because we thought we’d just get in and get out,” said Bacon. “It ended up being this incredible experience.” About 300 people waited outside City Hall in frigid drizzle to cheer couples as they descended the steps to street level, some throwing rice, blowing bubbles and handing flowers to the newlyweds.

“I ‘ ve always said Seattle is a wonder ful place to be gay, because it’s got so many wonderful straight people in it, and you can see that here today on display,” said Dan Savage, local author, gay rights activist and syndicated sex advice columnist who married Terry Miller.

“This is a party for same-sex couples in Seattle that is being thrown by the entire city,” he told Reuters.The ceremonies - which lasted all day - were watched by Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, a longtime same-sex marriage supporter.

“What a wonderful thing to be able to support the commitment of these couples to each other and to herald the beginning of a new civil right,” McGinn told Reuters inside City Hall. McGinn’s administration helped set up an efficient and elegant operation to handle the multiple nuptials.

Couples and their guests lined up outside City Hall, then were ushered inside to a relaxed reception room with white table-cloths, small cupcakes in the colors of the rainbow and a pianist.

After a short ceremony at one of five wedding spots, couples were greeted with cheers as they exited City Hall accompanied by accordion music. “It’s really weird to have a whole bunch of strangers cheering you coming out of City Hall for something that so many people historically have been against. That’s amazing,” said Carrie Carson, a 40-yearold management consultant who married Lori Robb, 42, who works

SEATTLE: Newlyweds Cathi Korth and Kathryn Antonetti raise a glass during a ceremonial toast at “A Wedding Reception for All,” which was attended by hundreds and held at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington. They have been together for 25 years, 11 months, and 13 days. Yesterday was the first day that same-sex couples could legally wed in Washington state. — AFP for technology giant Microsoft Corp.

In Capitol Hill, a gay-friendly neighborhood one mile northeast of downtown Seattle, a retired art gallery owner and an artist who met 35 years ago in a Chicago bar during a heavy snowstorm tied the knot and celebrated the first day of Hanukkah in a traditional Jewish civil ceremony.

Former gallery owner Stuart Wilber, 74, and long-time partner John Breitweiser, 64, wore tuxedos, white shirts and red bow ties.

The wedding was “a step toward federal equality,” said Wilber, sporting a silver earring and snakeskin-patterned tennis shoes. “The younger generation doesn’t understand what a big deal this is.”

The couple, who met in Chicago’s Broadway Limited bar, were also celebrating the first day of their 36th year together.

“We’ve worked together for this for a long time,” Breitweiser said.

“We expect this from our country.

We should be treated equally. In many respects, our fight still goes on.”

Hours earlier as midnight chimed, the first same-sex couples were married at a state court ceremony, starting with public elementary school teachers Sarah and Emily Cofer.

“We’re so proud to live in this state that recognizes love and commitment,” said Sarah Cofer, 31, after she and Emily Cofer, 32, uttered the words “I will” before judge Mary Yu at Seattle’s King

County Courthouse.

Washington’s law went into effect on Thursday, when hundreds of eager couples lined up to apply for marriage licenses.

The first legal same-sex weddings began on Sunday after a threeday waiting period required of all marriages expired.

King County - which includes Seattle and its suburbs - said it issued 623 marriage licenses in the three days after Thursday.

Weddings took place across the state on Sunday.

The Cofers’ union was the state’s first same-sex wedding.

Cameras clicked, obser vers clapped and their 9-month-old daughter Carter - born to one of the pair and adopted by the other - cried.

They were followed by 11 other couples who took their vows at 30-minute intervals through the night in Yu’s 9th-floor courtroom decorated with poinsettia. Boxes of tissues were on hand for tearful guests.

Thirty-one US states have passed constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage, while Washington, D.C. and nine states have legalized it, including the three that did so on Election Day last month.

A Pew Research Center survey from October found 49 percent of Americans favored allowing gay marriage and 40 percent opposed. In May, President Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to say same-sex couples should be able to wed.

As gays and lesbians prepared

for their nuptials in Washington state, the U.S. Supreme Court stepped into the fray over gay marriage on Friday by agreeing to review two challenges to federal and state laws that define marriage as between a man and a woman.

One onlooker in Seattle hoped that review would lead to the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, passed by the US Congress in 1996, which recognizes only marriages between a man and a woman and disqualifies same-sex couples from a host of federal benefits.

“We’re so happy our friends are getting married, but we have decided to wait until it is legal in every state,” said Anthony Fox, a 43-year-old healthcare worker, who was cheering married couples outside City Hall with partner Robert Darden, 41.

“We’ve decided to wait until DOMA’s overturned,” Fox said. “I actually think it might happen this spring.” For same-sex couples swapping vows in Washington state, the path to legalization has been rocky. The state’s Democratic-controlled legislature passed a bill to legalize gay marriage in February, and Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire signed it into law.

But opponents gathered enough signatures to temporarily block the measure from taking effect and force the issue onto the state ballot. Voters, by 54 percent to 46 percent, ultimately approved gay marriage at the polls in November. — Reuters

New Republican generation clears throat WASHINGTON: A new Republican generation is trying out its voice at the pinnacle of US politics, nurturing a party rebranding effort that is smoothing the hard edged conservatism advanced by defeated Mitt Romney.

Emerging figures like Florida Senator Marco Rubio and defeated vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan are already working through the lessons of Democratic President Barack Obama’s election win with an eye on 2016.

“Losing is part of politics, and can often prepare the way for the greatest victories,” Ryan said last week, as he and Rubio began to figure out how to stay faithful to authentic conservatism while engaging a wider audience.

Both men appear determined to shake off the image projected by Romney, the multi-millionaire Republican candidate caught condemning 47 percent of Americans as victims dependent on state handouts.

Rubio, a favorite of the ultra-conservative Tea Party faction, and congressman Ryan who framed Republican budgets that would curtail the role of government, have authentic claims for the affections of pure conservatives.

Now, they are positioning themselves as more sympathetic figures than Romney and the ideologues who dominate their party nominating process, in an echo of the “compassionate” conservatism pushed by George W. Bush in 2000.

Each is seen as a serious prospect as Republicans size up 2016 hopefuls, and if older candidates, like Jeb Bush, give the race a pass, would be the first of the post-baby boomer

generation to carry their party in a White House race.

Ryan and Rubio both appear to have concluded that the tough antigovernment rhetoric employed by Romney jarred with the times, when many people in post-recession America rely on some help from the state. Paul Kengor, a scholar of former Republican president Ronald Reagan, argued that America did not reject conservatism as a philosophy in November, but that Republicans lacked a charismatic spokesman to vast numbers of Americans.

“Reagan did this with a sunny optimism and an ability to connect with Americans at a personal and human level (with) the touch of the common man. “I think that Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan are both fully capable of that,” said Kengor, professor of political science at Grove City College, a Christian liberal arts institution in Pennsylvania.

No one knows who filmed Romney’s explosive remarks on the 47 percent at a private fundraiser, but a member of the catering staff is suspected.

So it was ironic that Rubio highlighted the toil of kitchen workers last week as he tried to

strike a new note for conservatismreaching out to aspirational Americans not yet considered middle class.

“All they want is a chance to earn a better life for themselves and a better future for their children.

Whether they get that chance or not, will determine whether America remains exceptional or declines,” he said. “It all starts with our people. In the kitchens of our hotels. In the landscaping crews that work in our neighborhoods. In the late night janitorial shifts that clean our offices.”

Rubio, 41, the son of Cuban immigrants, also seems to recognize

that the party’s tough rhetoric on illegal immigrants in 2012 was incompatible with winning over Hispanic voters who went overwhelmingly for Obama.

“When you are talking about illegal immigration, you are not talking about a plague of locusts, you are talking about people,” Rubio said at a forum organized by the Politico news organization last week.

While the wealthy Romney was easy for Obama to demonize as a “vulture” capitalist, Rubio stresses humbler origins, noting he has only just paid off the student loans which sent him to university and law school.—AFP

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

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

UK police unable to identify man who fell from sky LONDON: Police believe he was from Africa, probably from Angola, but they don’t know his identity.The mystery began in September when residents of a suburban street in the Mortlake neighborhood of West London woke up on a quiet Sunday morning to find the crumpled body of a black man on the sidewalk of Portman Avenue, near a convenience store, an upscale lingerie shop and a storefront offering Chinese medical cures.

Detectives believed at first the man was a murder victim and cordoned off the area. Within a day, however, police concluded the man probably already dead - had fallen to the ground when a jet passing overhead lowered its landing gear as it neared the runway at nearby Heathrow Airport. The apparent stowaway had no identification papers - just some currency from Angola, leading police to surmise that he was from that African nation, especially as inquiries showed that a plane from Angola was beginning its descent into Heathrow at about that time.

The macabre explanation made perfect sense to residents, who are familiar not only with the roar of the jets descending, but are also able to

see the planes lower their landing gears as they pass verhead, said Catherine Lambert, who lives a few doors down from the spot where the man landed. “You could see him, his body was contorted,” she said. “It was a beautiful blue day, really sunny, but we had to keep the children inside. I didn’t want the children to see, and to have to explain to them and put fear into them every time a plane goes over.”

A post mortem conducted two days after the body landed listed the cause of death as “multiple injuries.” In the days afterward, some neighbors put flowers on the spot where the stowaway was found, and a small group of Angolans who live in the London area came to place more flowers and to pray. Lambert, 41, said there is lingering sadness, since the man has not been identified and there has been no way to tell his family he is gone.

“I felt, what was he running away from? What made him think he could he could? And how will his family ever know? He’s a lost soul now; his father and mother are probably waiting for him to make contact,” she said.

A London police spokesman, who wasn’t

authorized to speak on the record because of force policy, said Sunday that police are appealing to the public for help identifying the man based on a composite image of his face and a photo of a tattoo on his left arm. The tattoo showed the letters “Z” and “G” inked on his upper arm, with a horizontal line through the “Z”.

Police also said attempts to identify the man with the help of Angolan authorities had been unsuccessful. They stressed there is only “circumstantial” evidence linking the stowaway to that country. In a statement, police said the man is believed to be an African of slight build between the ages of 20 and 30. He was wearing jeans, white sneakers and a gray sweatshirt when he was found on Sept. 9, police said.

Although firm figures are not available, in recent years there has been a rise in the number of stowaways trying to get to Western Europe by hiding in the undercarriages of passenger planes. Aviation safety specialist Chris Yates of Yates Consulting said Sunday that poor airport perimeter security at a number of airports in Africa - including the main Angola airport at Luanda - and in other parts of the world has

made it easier for people to stow away on planes, but that most attempts fail.

“They so often end in fatality because more often than not stowaways climb into the wheel base or cargo hold, and those areas are not necessarily pressurized,” he said. “When you start moving beyond 10,000 feet, oxygen starvation becomes a reality. As you climb up to altitude, the issue becomes cold as well, the temperature drops to minus 40 or minus 50 degrees centigrade, so survival rates drop.”

He said the man who crashed to the pavement in Mortlake had probably lost consciousness and died within the first hour of his flight.

Police said the body is being held for possible repatriation in case the man’s identity is established. Mortlake residents and business people speak of a similar death in recent years, but disagree about the timing and the details. “People say the same thing happened a few years ago a few blocks away” said Jay Sivapalan, 29, who works at the Variety Box convenience store half a block from where the body landed. “We are near Heathrow and when they lower the landing gear, the body falls out.” — AP

Romanian president weighs options for PM after vote Uncertainty would raise doubts over new IMF deal

SOWETO: A Soweto’s resident walks past portraits of former South Africa’s president Nelson Mandela painted on a wall, yesterday in Soweto. Mandela is set to undergo more undefined medical tests yesterday, the South African government announced. — AFP

Mandela in ‘no immediate danger’ JOHANNESBURG: Ailing anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela will remain in hospital for a third day yesterday and receive further undisclosed tests, but was comfortable and in “no immediate danger,” the South African government said.

There is “no immediate danger to him at this stage,” said Sonwabo Mbananga, a spokesman for the ministry of defence, which is responsible for the 94-year-old’s health care. Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula visited Mandela earlier Monday at the country’s leading military hospital in Pretoria and found the 94-yearold former president “in good spirits.”

“He is comfortable, he continues to receive treatment which... (is) routine and that should be expected of a person of his senior age,” Mbananga told AFP. Mandela was airlifted to the One Military Hospital in Pretoria from his home village of Qunu in southeast of the country on Saturday. The presidency said Mandela would take additional tests on Monday, but officials have kept their silence on the procedures involved and have not given specifics about his medical condition.

It was unclear if the ailing former president would spend a third night in hospital.

“That (decision) is still in the hands of the doctors.... They are saying they are doing further tests,” presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj told AFP, adding he did not know what kind of tests were being conducted.

Mandela was said to be very comfortable following a visit to the hospital by

President Jacob Zuma on Sunday.

But it is not the first health scare for the nonagenarian, who in February spent a night in hospital for a minor exploratory procedure to probe persistent abdominal pain. In January 2011, Mandela had the country on edge when he was admitted for two nights for an acute respiratory infection.

He was discharged in a stable condition for home-based care and intense medical monitoring. Madiba, as he is affectionately known by South Africans, retains a prominent place in the national psyche, despite leaving office more than a decade ago-a lifetime ago in the quick-moving politics of this born-again nation.

But South Africans united to offer prayers for the ailing national icon, who was the country’s first black president.

“Nation prays for Madiba” was the frontpage headline in the Sowetan daily attempting to capture the zeitgeist of a nation. “We love Madiba, we feel every inch of anxiety, stress and pain with the rest of his close and distant family. And like concerned loved ones, we want to know how he is doing.” The Star had a front-page picture of a sand sculpture with a “get well soon” message inscribed next to a sand portrait of Mandela built on a beach in India. Despite the mudslinging by the opposition aimed at the ruling ANC in the build-up to the party’s key conference, political parties are joining in the chorus of prayers to wish Mandela well. — AFP

Post-interview ‘hot mic’ embarrasses Medvedev MOSCOW: Stark divisions within Russia’s elite were exposed yesterday when a hot mic mishap showed Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev slamming security forces as “jerks” for launching an early morning raid against a filmmaker.

Medvedev on Friday gave an extensive end-of-year interview to five Russian channels in a clear bid to keep up his profile after ceding the Kremlin to his mentor Vladimir Putin earlier this year.

But attention has focused less on the interview than on a six minute video posted on the Internet of Medvedev’s supposedly off-the-record conversation with journalists that came afterwards.

In a relaxed exchange, Medvedev is shown bantering on topics ranging from wristwatches to whether Santa Claus exists. But most notably he also launches a blistering attack on the habits of the Russian security forces.

Medvedev slammed Friday’s predawn raid by investigators on filmmaker Pavel Kostomarov who has been working on an Internet documentary about the Russian opposition called “Srok” (Term).

“Everything is going to be fine, do not worry,” Medvedev tells one of the interviewers, NTV television newscaster Alexei Pivovarov who is one of the co-

producers of the documentary.

“They (the investigators) are jerks for showing up at eight in the morning,” he said, using a colloquial insult “kozly” that literally means “goats”. “It’s basically just habit. I have many people who work in the security forces and they think that if they come at 7:00 am they will get everything.”

The spokesman of the Investigative Committee that carried out the raid then hit back, defending the raid as completely legal and condemning Medvedev’s comments. “It’s very strange to hear comments that do not just insult Russian investigators but also undermine all the security forces of the country,” said spokesman Vladimir Markin.

That comment was later removed from the Investigative Committee’s website with a source telling RIA Novosti this was due to a formulation “allowing an ambiguous interpretation.”

But Markin told the Kommersant daily Monday that he was not withdrawing his comments. “That would mean the investigators acted illegally, which is not the case.” Medvedev, a lawyer by training, has no professional background in the security services-unlike Putin and some of his closest allies who emerged from the Soviet KGB. — AFP

BUCHAREST: Romania’s President Traian Basescu was left little choice yesterday but to re-appoint rival Victor Ponta as prime minister after the leftist’s party won a clear election victory. Ponta’s Social Liberal Union (USL) won up to 60 percent of votes in Sunday’s parliamentary election, preliminary results showed. The electoral system could give it an even bigger share of seats in the Balkan country’s parliament, putting Ponta in a strong position in a power struggle with the right wing Basescu.

Although Basescu had said he would not ask Ponta to be prime minister again after the USL failed to impeach him in July, he has recently softened his language.

The president could still name someone else from the USL, seeking to split the broad alliance of leftists and liberals, analysts and local media have said.

Any uncertainty over a new government would delay talks over a new deal with the International Monetary Fund to replace a 5 billion euro ($6.5 billion) agreement expiring in early 2013. The leu currency and Bucharest stocks were a touch higher after the results.

“Perhaps he will delay things a little, but ultimately I believe the president will nominate Ponta,” said Sergiu Miscoiu, an analyst with the CESPRI political think tank.

Basescu has not yet commented on the election result. Ponta has said he hopes the vote will end the political “civil war”. Ponta’s par-

CORBU: An electoral worker counts ballots in Corbu, eastern Romania, yesterday. Romania’s center-left government won a clear victory in Sunday’s parliamentary elections according to exit polls, but the result could inflame the personal rivalry between the nation’s top two officials and bring yet more political upheaval. — AP ty has promised to roll back the previous centre-right administration’s austerity policies by cutting taxes and raising salaries, though it has limited room to do so given expectations of growth this year of just 0.4 percent.

For its attempt to impeach the president, the USL came in for harsh criticism from the European Union and United States, which accused it of undermining the rule of law. Political analysts say that could discourage it from more radical steps.

On many indicators, Romania trails other ex-communist neighbours like Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. Corruption is

rife, its roads and rail are outdated and it cannot provide reliable basic services such as running water and electricity to all its 19 million people nearly a quarter of a century after the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989.

Results from four-fifths of polling stations showed Basescu’s Right Romania Alliance (ARD) allies in second place on 17 percent and populist Dan Diaconescu on 14 percent, the election bureau said. The ethnic Hungarian UDMR, which Ponta said he would seek to work with, had just over 5 percent.

An electoral system which tends to favour larger parties could give the USL an even bigger

proportion of seats in parliament.

With two-thirds of seats it could change the constitution, as Viktor Orban has done in neighbouring Hungary.

But political analysts said it may prefer not to be too confrontational given the harsh criticism it faced from the EU over the attempt to impeach Basescu, when it was forced to back down on some proposed changes to laws.

“I think they got really beaten up by the EU and they’re a little scared,” said Barclays Capital analyst Daniel Hewitt. “There’s a lot of people watching and this would be a bad move.”

Though the outspoken former sea captain Basescu has softened his language on Ponta in the last two weeks, he has stopped short of saying he would reappoint the premier - saying only that he would seek someone to act in the best interest of the country. Given Sunday’s emphatic USL win, it would be difficult for the president to nominate anyone other than Ponta without appearing to undermine the constitution and rule of law himself.

It could also prompt the USL to try and impeach the president again, which would mean another bout of uncertainty. “Our wish is to consider that this day puts an end to a civil war...which has destroyed a large part of Romania, destinies, lives and hopes,” Ponta said late on Sunday. — Reuters

Congo army debacle at Goma raises spectre of betrayal GOMA: When Congo’s government army retreated in panic from the eastern city of Goma last month, many observers blamed the poor morale and leadership, ill discipline and corruption that have sapped its fighting capacity for years.

In the hours before Goma fell to M23 rebels on Nov. 20, drunk and terrified Congolese soldiers roamed the streets or huddled in doorways before melting away, witnesses said.

M23’s 11-day occupation of the city was one of the worst battlefield defeats for Democratic Republic of Congo’s armed forces (FARDC), which at 150,000-strong are among the largest in Africa. They are also backed by 17,000 UN peacekeepers. As recriminations swirl over the Goma defeat, which forced President Joseph Kabila to accept talks with a group he says is a creation of Rwanda, allegations have emerged that betrayal in the army’s ranks may have precipitated the rout.

The government has launched an investigation but says it has reached no conclusions; little evidence has come to light beyond anonymous allegations against officers from subordinates who accuse their commanders of selling them out. The general blamed by some denies any such deals with rebels he once commanded. But the scandal alone shows how deep suspicion runs within an army that has absorbed successive waves of former enemies as a series of civil wars has ended.

One senior FARDC officer who fought the M23 uprising said he believed Goma was lost because of what he called sabotage of the army’s fighting capability.

“All of our intelligence was given to M23,” the officer alleged, saying that throughout the fighting “there was intense communications with them” from within the government ranks.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because army regulations forbid him from commenting publicly, he said he was convinced former land forces commander, Major General Gabriel Amisi had been in contact with the rebel side. He said he had served alongside the general in the field. A member of Amisi’s mili-

tary entourage said the general “rejects categorically” allegations of betrayal: “He could never do that, he wants nothing from the rebels,” the aide said. “He only just escaped with his life, five of his own men died.”

Amisi himself, dressed in colourful robes and sandals, greeted a Reuters reporter at his guarded residence in Kinshasa on Friday. He declined to discuss the allegations. The aide said the general had been ordered by President Kabila not to talk to media about the subject.

An army spokesman, Colonel Olivier Hamuli, said “many factors” led to the debacle, which is being investigated: “As to whether there was treason by General Amisi, I can’t say yes or no to that.”

Amisi, widely known as “Tango Four” from his old radio call sign, was suspended just days after the rebel capture of the city following a report by UN experts alleging he sold weapons to armed groups accused of killing civilians.

Amisi’s ties to a previous, Rwandan-backed eastern rebellion during Congo’s 1998-2003 war highlight the confused integration process over the last decade that has seen the FARDC absorb tens of thousand of former rebels and militia fighters.

M23 itself is formed largely of men who were rebels, then were brought into the army and then mutinied again, accusing the Kabila government of breaking a deal signed on March 23, 2009. Congo’s army is widely seen as a symptom of the vast central African nation’s dysfunctional state, weakened by years of mismanagement, graft and conflict.

This has produced a security vacuum, particularly in the volatile eastern borderlands, a tinderbox of ethnic conflicts where regional powers and local elites compete for political influence and also for resources of gold, tin and coltan, the latter used in the making of mobile phones. FARDC spokesman Hamuli said the defeat at Goma was “understandable” because “we were fighting the Rwandan army”.

Experts tasked by the UN Security Council have issued reports alleging Rwanda, Congo’s small but militarily powerful eastern neighbour,

created, trained and equipped M23 and directly supported its capture of Goma.

Rwanda has repeatedly dismissed this as “fiction”. M23 fighters withdrew from Goma on Dec. 1 under a deal mediated by regional states. But there is little confidence inside or outside Congo that the city can resist a fresh M23 assault.

Reuters journalists who covered the fighting around Goma in November noted the contrast between M23’s well-armed fighters, with crisp uniforms and practical rubber gumboots, and the often rag-tag government soldiers, some shod only in flip flops.

M23 rebels showed reporters the abandoned FARDC barracks in Goma - ramshackle buildings littered with fly-infested garbage, where tall marijuana plants grew among military maize plots. “You see how the Congolese army lived. What kind of army is this?” Amani Kabasha, M23’s deputy spokesman, said.

Nevertheless, observers on the ground still struggle to fully explain the abruptness of the army’s collapse at Goma.

The FARDC’s flight led to MONUSCO peacekeepers choosing not to go on resisting M23’s advance. UN chiefs rebuffed intense criticism, saying their men could not back an army that was no longer present on the ground.

“They put up a formidable fight the first day, then for reasons we don’t understand, they just stopped fighting, turned their backs and left,” said Hiroute Guebre Sellassie, who heads the local office of Congo’s U.N. peacekeeping force, MONUSCO. Congo government spokesman Lambert Mende said the inquiry would probe allegations of racketeering and betrayal among the commanders: “Questions of loyalty have regularly been asked, not just about Amisi,” he said. “But there has to be proof.”

The FARDC officer who denounced Amisi’s role highlighted one incident early in the battle for Goma when he says the general ordered his men to stop fighting after inflicting heavy losses on M23 at Kibumba, 30 km (20 miles) north of the city. “Suddenly we received the order to stop,” the officer said. — Reuters

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

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

US intelligence sees Asia’s global power rising by 2030 WASHINGTON: China’s economy is likely to surpass the United States in less than two decades while Asia will overtake North America and Europe combined in global power by 2030, a U.S. intelligence report said yesterday.

“Meanwhile, the economies of Europe, Japan, and Russia are likely to continue their slow relative declines,” it said. The report, “Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds,” was issued by the National Intelligence Council, an analytical arm of the US government’s Office of the Director of National Intelligence. In addition to US intelligence analysts, the report includes the views of foreign and private experts.

It is the fifth report of a series - the previous one was released in 2008 - that aims to stimulate “strategic thinking” among decision makers and not to predict the future. The health of the global economy increasingly will be linked to progress in the developing world rather than the traditional West, the report said.

“As the world’s largest economic power, China is expected to remain ahead of India, but the gap could begin to close by 2030,” it said. “India’s rate of economic growth is likely to rise while China’s slows. In 2030 India could be the rising economic powerhouse that China is seen to be today. China’s current economic growth rate - 8 to 10 percent - will probably be a distant memory by 2030.”

Economic growth in emerging markets was expected to drive technological innovation and flows of companies, ideas, entrepreneurs and capital to developing countries will increase, the report said.

“During the next 15-20 years, more technological activity is likely to move to the developing world as multinationals focus on the fastest-growing emerging markets and as Chinese, Indian, Brazilian, and other emerging-economy corporations rapidly become internationally competitive.” Technology will help shift power away from any one country and

toward “multifaceted and amorphous networks” to influence global policies, it said. “Technology will continue to be the great leveler. The future Internet ‘moguls’ - as with today’s Google or Facebook -sit on mountains of data and have more real-time information at their fingertips than most governments.”

That data will enable private companies to influence behavior on as large a scale as government entities. The widespread use of new communications technologies will mean social networking will enable citizens to join together and challenge governments, as seen in Middle East, but will also provide governments “an unprecedented ability to monitor their citizens,” the report said.

In the Middle East, the youth who drove the Arab Spring will give way to a gradually aging population and with new technologies starting to provide the world with other sources of oil and gas, the Middle East economy will need to increasingly diversify, the report said.

“But the Middle East’s trajectory will depend on its political landscape. “On the one hand, if the Islamic Republic maintains power in Iran and is able to develop nuclear weapons, the Middle East will face a highly unstable future.

On the other hand, the emergence of moderate, democratic governments or a breakthrough agreement to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could have enormously positive consequences.”

Islamist terrorism might end by 2030, but terrorism is unlikely to disappear completely because states may use such groups due to a “strong sense of insecurity,” the report said. “With more widespread access to lethal and disruptive technologies, individuals who are experts in such niche areas as cyber systems might sell their services to the highest bidder, including terrorists, who would focus less on causing mass casualties and more on creating widespread economic and financial disruptions.”

The next two decades will see a

spread of lethal technologies and a “wider spectrum of more accessible instruments of war” especially precisionstrike, cyber and bioterror weapons, the report said.

“A cyber arms race is likely to occur” as states seek to defend infrastructure against cyber attacks and to incorporate cyber weapons in their arsenals.

“The degree to which cyber instruments will shape the future of warfare is unclear, however,” it said.

War historians believe cyber power may end up similar to early 20th century projections of air power, which played a significant role but did not turn out to be the war-winning capability that some enthusiasts had predicted, the report said. “The potential opened up by information technology is for future ‘do-ityourself’ revolutions conducted by networked social movements that employ information technologies which communicate and collaborate with like-minded individuals,” it said. — Reuters

Attacks kill Afghan police chief, official US commando killed in Afghanistan rescue

PARIS: From left, Pakistan’s President Ali Zardari, Secretary-General, Irina Bokova, and France’s Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, attend a ceremony at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, yesterday, to honor 15-year-old schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by a Taleban gunman, in the northwest Swat Valley in Pakistan on Oct. 9, 2012. — AP

Malala’s father named UN advisor on education LONDON: The father of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl shot by the Taleban for campaigning for girls’ education, has been named a UN special advisor on global education, UN envoy Gordon Brown said yesterday.

Brown added that the 15-year-old schoolgirl, who is recovering in a British hospital after being brutally attacked on her school bus on October 9, will herself join the campaign when she is better.

Ziauddin Yousafzai, Malala’s father, is a former teacher and headmaster and has been appointed to help in what Brown has dubbed a new ‘Malala Plan’ to get all girls into school around the world by the end of 2015.

Brown is also pushing for Malala’s birthday, July 12th, to be designated a day of action each year when children around the world are invited to march, demonstrate, petition and pray for education to be delivered worldwide.

“Before she was shot, Malala was advocating the cause of girls’ education faced by a Taleban that had closed down and destroyed 600 schools,” said the for-

mer British prime minister, now UN special envoy for global education.

“If the Taleban sought to vanquish her voice once and for all, they failed. “For today her voice and her insistent dream that children should go to school echoes all around the world, as girl after girl, each wanting all girls to have the right to go to school, identifies with Malala.”

Brown added: “In time Malala herself is determined to join the campaign for every girl’s right to education and when she has recovered she will do so, becoming one of the leaders of that campaign.”

In an attack that shocked the world, Malala was shot in the head as punishment for the “crime” of campaigning for girls’ rights to go to school.

She survived the murder attempt but requires reconstructive surgery after the bullet grazed her brain, coming within centimetres of killing her.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday visited Malala at the specialist Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, central England, and met with members of her family. — AP

Taleban to attend Paris meeting on Afghanistan KABUL: The Taleban will attend a meeting in France to talk about Afghanistan’s future but will not discuss peace and reconciliation, the militant group’s spokesman said Monday.

The meeting, organized by a French think tank on the outskirts of Paris, is not expected to produce results, but it will produce a rare face-to-face gathering of Afghanistan’s major players. Only one such meeting, far less inclusive, has been held this year with Taleban participation.

It was organized by a Japanese university in Kyoto six months ago.

Zabiullah Mujahid said two of the Taleban’s representatives will attend next week’s meeting to outline their policies.

Representatives from Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, political parties opposed to the Taleban, and the militant Islamist group Hezb-e-Islami also are expected to attend. French Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Vincent Floreani said the intra-Afghan conference would take place this month under the auspices of the Foundation for Strategic Research. It will be closed to the media and will involve “all components of Afghan society,” he said. He declined to specify the date or indicate the location, citing security concerns.

Peace talks with the Taleban remained stalled, but there are signs of increasing efforts to get them back on track. USbacked talks broke down last March in a dispute over the release of five Taleban detainees held in US custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai wants

the peace talks to be led by his government and the peace council, a body he set up to negotiate with the insurgency.It was unclear who would represent the Afghan government, but an official who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to reporters said that Education Minister Farooq Wardak may attend along with one other official.

Pakistan is also a key player in the peace process, and its release of a number of Taleban prisoners earlier in the month was seen as a key step in its participation. The cooperation of Pakistan, which has long-standing ties to the Taleban, is seen as pivotal in restarting the talks. The United States and its allies are trying to get movement ahead of the Afghan presidential election in 2014, the year that most foreign combat troops are set to leave the country. “ Two people are going from the Taleban side. We are not giving the names now,” Mujahid said. “We are not going to talk about the peace process.

We will express our ideas and policy. We are not going to discuss peace. This gathering is not about peace.”

Ghairat Baheer, who will attend and represent his father-in-law Hekmatyar, said Hezb-e-Islami was supporting the initiative by the French because it focused on a discussion among Afghans.

“It is a good forum for exchanging views and expressing oneself and understanding each other’s point of view,” Baheer said. “The intra-Afghan dialogue is the only solution. The Taleban have shown a willingness to participate.”—AP

KANDAHAR: An Afghan provincial police chief and an official in charge of women’s affairs were killed in separate attacks yesterday - the latest victims of a campaign of targeted killings against government officials.

The police chief for Nimroz province was travelling home from neighboring Herat province when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the morning hours, said the chief’s secretary Obaidullah, who only goes by one name.

The police chief, Gen. Mohammad Musa Rasouli, was seriously wounded and was rushed to the hospital, where he died of his wounds, said the secretary. Rasouli was returning to his job in Nimroz after a short break in Herat province, Obaidullah said.

Taleban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the insurgency had been tracking Rasouli and had specifically targeted him. “We are continuing to target government officials,” Ahmadi said. Also yesterday morning, gunmen shot and killed the head of the women’s affairs department for the eastern Laghman province, said Sarhadi Zewak, a spokesman for the provincial government.

Nadia Sediqi was on her way to the office from her home on the outskirts of the provincial capital when she was attacked, Zewak said. She had taken the job after her predecessor, Anifa Safi, died in a bomb attack in July. No one immediately claimed responsibility for Sediqi’s killing.

Police are investigating the incident, Zewak said. A statement from Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the killing of Sediqi as a “terrorist attack.” The latest attacks come after

KABUL: Afghans look at a damaged police vehicle after it was hit by a roadside bomb in Herat, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, yesterday. The police chief for Nimroz province was traveling home from neighboring Herat province when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the morning hours, said the chief’s secretary Obaidullah, who only goes by one name. — AP the attempted assassination of the country’s spy chief, Asadullah Khalid, on Thursday. He was seriously injured when a suicide bomber posing as a Taliban peace envoy detonated a hidden bomb.

In the Afghan capital, Kabul, about 200 women marched yesterday, carrying pictures of victims of war crimes for which they said the perpetrators have never been brought to justice. They called on the Afghan government to prosecute

S Lanka protest ruling against chief justice COLOMBO: Hundreds of Sri Lankans hit the streets yesterday to protest against a parliamentary committee that ruled the country’s chief justice is unfit to hold office because of unexplained wealth and misuse of power.

Opposition lawmakers, lawyers and rights activists joined the protest in the capital Colombo, demanding that the government halt an impeachment process against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.

The committee announced Saturday that after investigating five of the 14 charges against Bandaranayake, it found she was guilty of three of them. Bandaranayake has denied all the allegations.

The ruling came after Bandaranayake and four opposition party members, who were part of the committee, walked out of the hearing, saying they had no faith in the fairness of the process. The other seven members of the committee come from the ruling party of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The protesters shouted slogans and displayed placards that read “Restore sovereignty of judiciary “and “Let’s rise against this era of anarchy.”

Trade unionist Saman Rathnapriya said the government had to withdraw the impeachment motion to “restore independence of judiciary and country’s democracy.”

Opposition lawmaker Tissa Attanayake said the impeachment motion was part of “the government’s efforts to control the judiciary.” The committee said Bandaranayke had failed to declare 20 bank accounts, and had purchased a house on behalf of another person and then taken judicial control of several cases filed against the company that sold the property.

She was also found to have a conflict of interest because she has supervisory power over judges who are hearing a corruption case against her husband, a former state bank chairman. Anura Yapa, a government lawmaker, who headed the impeachment committee, told reporters Saturday that Bandaranayke was found guilty of offenses “that warrant her removal from office.”

The committee’s report will be put to a vote when parliament reconvenes early next year. The result then goes to the president, who has the power to dismiss or retain the chief justice. Besides criticism from Sri Lanka’s legal community, the impeachment process has also drawn international concern, including from the United States. Opposition lawmakers said the committee was not fair because the seven ruling-party members did not allow what they said were reasonable requests for establishing a procedure for the hearing or allow Bandaranayake access to a list of witnesses and a chance to cross examine them.—AP

those accused of war crimes during more than 30 years of conflict in the country.

Meanwhile, a Pentagon official says a US Navy commando was killed during the rescue mission in Afghanistan that freed an American doctor abducted by the Taleban.

Killed in the weekend raid was a member of SEAL Team Six, the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden last year. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was

not allowed to release the information on the record. NAVY commandos are known as SEALs. Officials in Afghanistan say Dr. Dilip Joseph was rescued early Sunday in eastern Afghanistan. The military says the adviser for Morning Star Development was abducted last week and rescued after intelligence showed he was in imminent danger of injury or possible death. The Pentagon has not identified the SEAL Team Six member who was killed. — Agencies

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

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

As Tibetan self-immolations rise, Beijing tightens grip BEIJING: As the number of self-immolations in restive Tibetan regions rises sharply, Beijing appears to be tightening rules against the anti-China protests despite hopes the new leadership may take a softer line against Tibet.

Some experts have said Communist Party chief Xi Jinping- whose former vice premier father had a close bond with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama-might adopt a more reformist approach to the troubled mountainous region when he takes over as president in March.

But so far, the anti-China protests, including 81 burning cases this year, have only been met with an intensified crackdown by Chinese security forces.

Beijing has defended its iron-fisted rule in Tibet, saying the remote region suffered from dire poverty, brutal exploitation of serfs and economic stagnation until 1950 when Communist troops “peacefully liberated” it.

The country’s top court and public security authorities have now issued a directive that allows for criminal charges, including intentional homicide, to be filed against self-immolators and anyone who “organises, plots,

incites, coerces, entices, abets, or assists others” in such protest.

An official southwestern Gansu province newspaper explained the order on its website last week, saying authorities should prevent people from gathering to mourn a self-immolator or collect money for family members.

State media reported on Sunday that police in Sichuan province detained a Tibetan monk and his nephew for “inciting” eight people to set themselves on fire since 2009. There has been a steep increase in cases of self immolation this year, and in November alone-when Xi was named the new head of the Party — 29 people set themselves on fire.

In all, there have been 94 burnings to protest Chinese rule since 2009, according to the Tibet-government-inexile. At least 77 people have died from their injuries.

Few people know what Xi thinks of Tibet or the Dalai Lama, but his liberalminded father’s thinking is certain to be influential. The Dalai Lama has never met Xi but his fondness for his father is, for some, a sign that China’s next leader may take a different line on Tibet. Some expect him to be more tolerant of

Muslim Uighurs in the western region of Xinjiang, and also of Taiwan, the independently ruled island that China has vowed to take back, by force if necessary.

While the steep rise in cases of people setting themselves on fire appears to be strengthening solidarity among Tibetans, the grisly protests have drawn only a muted response from the international community and-until very recently-dwindling media coverage.

“The international community should be doing a lot more,” Tibet’s Prime Minister in-exile Lobsang Sangay told Reuters in Dharamsala, India, adding that the Tibetans are “definitely” dying in vain. Last week, Washington did step up the pressure when Maria Otero, U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, said tensions in Tibetan areas, including self-immolations, had been exacerbated by tough Chinese policies and controls.

China’s Foreign Ministry lashed back, calling the comments “disgusting” and saying it had prompted a formal diplomatic complaint with Washington. The United States and several other countries have made calls for China to negotiate with the Dalai Lama and end

repressive policies. But Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the international community has failed in its response by not uniting to put multilateral pressure on Beijing. “Nobody is going to cut trade relations with China. But decades of inactivity have been detrimental,” he said. Advocacy groups say the new wave of self-immolations mark an intensifying phase of the Tibet protests, with people increasingly setting themselves on fire in small groups or within short spans of time. All but one of the protests since 2009 have come after the March 2011 self-immolation of a 20year-old monk, Phuntsog, at the Kirti monastery in a Tibetan part of Sichuan province. Months of sporadic selfimmolations by sympathetic monks and nuns followed, all in the name of opposing Chinese rule and calling for the return of the Dalai Lama, who fled to India after a failed 1959 uprising.

As sentiment spread, lay people in scattered villages in eastern parts of the Tibetan plateau in Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu provinces began to selfimmolate as well. Internationally, a single self-immolation appears to have

lost the impact it once had.

“Appalling as it is to recognise, it now seems that these kinds of deaths become a politically effective tool only when they are done in clusters,” said Robbie Barnett, a Tibetologist at Columbia University in New York.

Self-immolations have historically only been effective in achieving political concessions when carried out under weak governments, but they have increased solidarity within parts of the Tibetan community, Barnett said.

“It hasn’t been effective in getting any change in policy, but it has been effective in mobilising sentiment within the Tibetan community inside Tibet,” he said. The long lines of people going to pay respects and donate money to the families of people who have immolated are evidence of this, Barnett said.

China’s new regulations aim to suppress this practice.

But Barnett said Tibetans, including the exiled government in India, are playing the “politics of sympathy”, a tactic that makes powerful symbolic statements, but does little to articulate coherent and urgent policy demands. —Reuters

Philippines needs $65m aid as typhoon toll tops 600 Typhoon destroyed 81,000 houses

PYONGYANG: North Koreans walk after paying a visit to the bronze statues of national founder Kim Il Sung, left, and late leader Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang, North Korea yesterday. North Korea yesterday extended the launch period for a controversial long-range rocket by another week until Dec. 29, citing technical problems. — AP

N Korea extends rocket launch due to ‘technical problems’ SEOUL: North Korea has extended the window for a widely condemned longrange rocket launch by a week after discovering a “technical deficiency”, the isolated state’s news agency said yesterday.

The launch, viewed by the United States, Japan and South Korea as a test for developing a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, had been scheduled for Dec. 10-22 to coincide with the first anniversary of the death of former North Korean ruler Kim Jong-il. “(Engineers) found a technical deficiency in the first-stage control engine module of the rocket carrying the satellite and decided to extend the satellite launch period up to Dec. 29,” the KCNA news agency quoted a space agency spokesman as saying.

North Korea is banned from carrying out any missile or nuclear-related tests by U.N. resolutions imposed in 2006 and 2009 after it conducted nuclear tests. A third rocket launch, in April, ended in failure. The North insists this launch is aimed merely at putting a weather satellite into orbit. But it is believed to be developing an intercontinental missile with a range of more than 6,700 km which would have the capacity to hit the continental United States. A South Korean news report said

on Monday that the North was moving a new rocket component to its missile test site. A trailer carrying the component, believed to be a third-stage rocket, was seen by satellite on Saturday being moved from a missile plant in Pyongyang to the Tongchang-ri missile launch site, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted a government source as saying.

Officials at South Korea’s intelligence service and the military declined to confirm the report, citing their policy of not commenting on intelligence matters.

It is impossible to verify events inside North Korea, which is one of the world’s most closed states that tightly controls news and information about its military and its leadership. This launch was timed to mark the first anniversary of the death of Kim Jong-il, although it also coincides with elections in North Korea’s historically bitter foes, South Korea and Japan.

Japan has installed a missile interceptor at its Defence Ministry headquarters in case the rocket goes astray, a procedure that has become routine ahead of North Korean rocket launches. The planned flight path does not go near Japan. The April launch failed minutes after blast off, something the North owned up to in a rare admission of failure. — Reuters

DAVAO: The United Nations launched a $65 million global appeal yesterday to help desperate survivors of a typhoon that killed more than 600 people and affected millions in the southern Philippines.

Luiza Carvalho, country officer for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the funds would initially help provide food, water and emergency shelter to 480,000 people in the worst-hit areas.

Carvalho spent the past few days visiting Mindanao island, where landslides and floods from Typhoon Bopha flattened entire communities last week, laying low the banana and mining industries.

“I was shocked by the destruction I saw,” she told a news conference in Davao city on the edge of the disaster zone. “Areas which have been completely devastated, with only a few damaged buildings still standing. Debris from houses, buildings, landslides and logs.

Entire plantations wiped out.”

She said the typhoon, the strongest to hit the region for more than 80 years, had left its many poor residents without the means to feed their families. “This devastation cannot be erased overnight,” she added.

Over the longer term, the UN aid programme will help survivors to recover emotionally and rebuild the devastated farm sector, Carvalho said. A third of the country’s banana harvest was wiped out, leaving tens of thousands of plantation workers without an immediate source of income, according to industry officials.

The civil defence office in Manila said 647 corpses had so far been recovered. A total of 780 people are still missing, including about 150 fishermen from General Santos, the country’s tuna capital, who had put to sea before Bopha hit.

Civil defence chief Benito Ramos has said some of those listed as missing could be among more than 200 unidentified bodies, many of them bloated beyond recognition, that have not been claimed by relatives.

More than 400 corpses have been turned over to relatives, and the government is considering interring the rest in mass graves if nobody claims them within 48 hours. At least 5.4 million people were affected by the

NEW BATAAN: In this handout photo released by the Philippine National Police shows police search around toppled tree trunks caused by powerful typhoon Bopha in New Bataan, Compostela Valley, southern Philippines yesterday. The number of people missing after the typhoon devastated the Philippines jumped to nearly 900 after families and fishing companies reported losing contact with more than 300 fishermen at sea, officials said. — AP really need tents,” she said, near tears. typhoon, the civil defence office said.

While the local government provided some In Manila, President Benigno Aquino’s spokesman Edwin Lacierda appealed to the rice, canned fish and instant noodles, it was private sector to provide helicopters to fly not enough, Ybanez said. Now, she and her relief goods to areas cut off by ruined roads 73-year-old sick mother could only huddle in the ruins of their home, waiting for donations. and fallen trees.

The typhoon destroyed 81,000 houses, and He said that aside from food, temporary housing and dry clothes were needed. “The more than 300,000 survivors face months shelimportant thing is shelter because they don’t tering in crowded government gyms and have a roof over their heads,” Lacierda told schools as officials look for safe places to build reporters. In the storm-ravaged town of new homes.

Relief workers have reported looting of Cateel, small coconut farmer Marites Ybanez, 46, said she needed shelter, food and any help shops in at least one hard-hit town on she could get after her home and livelihood Mindanao’s east coast. Homeless people without a space in government shelters have been were destroyed.

Bopha ripped off the second floor of her reduced to begging on roadsides, AFP house, exposing her family of 10 to the ele- reporters saw. A 5.8-magnitude earthquake ments even as it flattened their small coconut that struck the typhoon-devastated region at farm. “We are short of everything, food, medi- dawn Monday showed the precarious situacine, temporary shelter, our houses are tion survivors face, although the quake was destroyed. When it rains, we get soaked. we too deep to cause any damage. — AFP

Frustration foments in Yangon’s slums YANGON: Myanmar’s trumpeted reforms are yet to trickle down to Yangon’s poor, rubbish-strewn slums where experts say residents’ frustrations could turn ugly if the benefits of change are not felt soon. Each month the bamboo shacks of Shwe Paukan are inundated when high tides overflow from the river running parallel to the slum. The clean up after the knee-deep waters recede leaves little time for optimism over a reform process that has brought greater political and economic openness to Myanmar, but few signs that the lives of the poorest are about to improve.

“We have not felt the change that everyone is talking about,” said Ni Ni Win, 27, a mother of two.”I think it has happened among the upper level of the society.” It is an increasingly common concern and one US President Barack Obama touched on during his milestone November 19 trip to the former junta-ruled country, where he hailed the “remarkable” pace of change but warned reforms must not bypass the poor.

Ni Ni Win, who earns around three dollars a day at a plastic recycling plant, is to a degree fortunate to live in her slum in Yangon, where an estimated two million people live in poverty. A few kilo-

metres away, near the city centre, 400 to 500 people live in Aung Mingalar, an illegal settlement shoehorned between a river and a storage area for teak logs, which also serves as an open toilet. The slum is desperately poor-the earth is studded with rubbish and clothes are hung out to dry on barbed wire. Amid the squalor residents eke out a few dollars by putrefying fish guts in barrels and selling the leftover oil to chicken farmers.

Ko Ko, 46, said he lives in constant fear his family will be expelled from their home. “We are not living here because we want to but because we have no choice... we can’t pay for a place to live,” he said as a young girl passed by with buckets of water hooked over either end of a stick across her shoulders. Ko Ko provides for six people from the income from his small grocery stall. “The biggest challenge for us here is food. Every morning people have to struggle for food,” he said.

The United Nations agency for human settlements (UN-HABITAT) estimates that at least 40 percent of Yangon’s five million people are “poor or extremely poor,” surviving “day to day”, often in substandard housing or illegal dwellings.

“Nothing has been done in 20 years”, according to Michael

Slingsby, the body’s urban development and poverty adviser. With the city’s population expected to double to around 10 million over the next 20-25 years, Myanmar’s government will come under increasing pressure to tackle poverty or face mounting discontent among the urban poor. They are a section of society often-neglected by foreign donors, Slingsby said, in a nation

where a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line-the majority in rural areas. After more than a year of dramatic political change that has helped the country out of international isolation, President Thein Sein has promised a second wave of reform focused on the economy, with the aim of slashing the poverty rate to sixteen percent by 2015. — AP

PHNOM PENH: Cambodian human rights activists march to mark the International Human Rights Day in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, yesterday. About one thousand participants consist of non-governmental organization activists, garment workers, and international diplomats on Monday marched on the street in Phnom Penh, calling for the protection of human rights. — AP

Philippines sees Japan as balance to China ambitions MANILA: A stronger Japan would act as a counterbalance to the military rise of China, something that is worrying smaller Asian nations as tensions grow over conflicting territorial claims in the region, the Philippines said yesterday.

Rivals claims to the South China Sea, and its likely oil and gas wealth, have made it Asia’s biggest potential flashpoint. China claims the largest area, putting it at loggerheads in particular in recent months with Vietnam and the Philippines.

Other claimants are Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia. “(We are looking for Japan) to support the peaceful process of resolving the issues here and to be one of the partners as far as security alliances and partnership is concerned,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Raul Hernandez said in a statement.

He said no one country has the capacity to address the security requirements of the region, and it is in the Philippines’ interest to have stronger alliances. The comments echo those of Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario in an interview with the Financial Times newspaper published on Monday, when he said that Japan “could be a significant balancing factor.”

The dispute is testing the unity of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and also dragged the United States into the

debate just as it is pushing to raise an already strong military profile in the region. Today, the Philippines will hold strategic talks with the United States, its closest security ally, on ways to strengthen their alliance, including increasing rotational presence of US forces in its former colony.

Carlos Sorreta, foreign ministry assistant secretary for American affairs, said the increased US presence in Asia and Pacific region “sends the right signal that states must behave in a reasonable and lawful way”. Last week, Vietnam claimed that Chinese fishing boats sabotaged one of its oil and gas research vessels, while the Philippines and China were involved in a two-month-long standoff earlier this year at Scarborough Shoal near the Philippine coast.

Adding to tension, authorities in China’s Hainan island have passed laws allowing police to search vessels deemed to be operating illegally in what it considers its Hainan’s waters, drawing protests from its neighbours and concern from the United States.

Asked about the Philippine comments on Japan as a balancing force, China’s foreign ministry said the idea of “containment” was out of date. “Now it’s no longer the era of the Cold War. The issue of one country containing another one does not exist,” spokesman Hong Lei told a regular briefing. — Reuters

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

NEWS EU receives Nobel prize Continued from Page 1 criticized the decision because the bloc is mired in economic and financial crisis. But the Norwegian Nobel committee that bestows the award focused on what the EU had achieved over the past six decades to bring peace and security to once-warring nations, and to stitch back together the torn fabric of the “old continent”.

Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council that represents EU leaders, invoked his own family history to highlight how raw the memories of World War Two remain. “As a child born in Belgium just after the war, I heard the stories first hand,” he said in his acceptance speech. “In 1940, my father, then 17, had to dig his own grave. He got away; otherwise I would not be here today. “So what a bold bet it was for Europe’s founders to say, yes, we can break this endless cycle of violence, we can stop the logic of vengeance, we can build a brighter future.”

During the ceremony, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande sat next to each other in the front row, occasionally smiling and chatting, as if to underline how enmities of old can be transformed into alliances. But British Prime Minister David Cameron, whose relationship with the EU is increasingly troubled, did not attend the ceremony. Instead he went to a lunch with journalists in the British parliament and joked about not being in Norway. “Thank you for giving me an excuse not to be there for the great jamboree in Oslo,” he told the reporters, while adding that he did not want Britain to leave the European Union.

CONTINENT IN CRISIS Many people still find it difficult to understand why the EU and its 27 member states should receive the award. Europe is suffering feeble economic growth or recession, soaring unemployment and a number of countries that share the single currency are unable to pay their debts. It has been called the worst economic crisis since World War Two. The financial pain has provoked social unrest in a number of member states, notably near-bankrupt Greece, and in many countries the European Union has become a byword for disorder and mismanagement, not democracy and human rights.

However, in its citation, the Nobel committee focused on the EU’s role in reconciling old hatreds, with the emphasis on how Germany and France had overcome their past to stand together. From just six countries which agreed to pool their coal and steel production in the 1950s, the EU now stretches from Portugal to Romania, Finland to Malta and sets rules and regulations that have a bearing on more than 500 million people.

“The stabilizing part played by the EU has helped to transform most of Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace,” the Nobel committee said on Oct 12 when it announced the EU had won, an unexpected decision. “The division between East and West has to a large

extent been brought to an end; democracy has been strengthened; many ethnically based national conflicts have been settled.” European Commission President Barroso, a former prime minister of Portugal who was part of the struggle to turn his country into a democracy in 1974, echoed those sentiments.

“It’s a recognition of what has been achieved over the 60 years and at the same time, it’s also an encouragement for the future,” he said. “I think the message they give to us is that what you have built is something very precious, something that we should treasure, that we should keep.” The EU drew heavy criticism along with other Western powers in the 1990s for failing to intervene rapidly in a series of wars on its doorstep as Yugoslavia collapsed. However, it has since played a leading role in peacekeeping there and one former Yugoslav republic, Slovenia, is now an EU member while another, Croatia, is scheduled to join next year.

0.2 EURO CENTS EACH The Nobel prize money of 930,000 euros ($1.25 million) will be given to projects that help children struggling in war zones, with the recipients to be announced next week. The EU has said it will match the prize money, so that a total of 2 million euros will be given to the selected aid projects. That decision went some way to silence critics on Twitter and other social media sites who initially joked that if the award was for all Europeans then they should all share the prize money - which would equal about 0.2 euro cents each. Commentators on social media haven’t been the only critics of the award going to the EU. Tutu was joined in his opposition by two other recipients, and on Sunday around 1,000 members of left-wing and human-rights groups marched through Oslo in protest, saying the EU was not a rightful beneficiary under the terms Alfred Nobel laid down in his 1895 will. “Alfred Nobel said that the prize should be given to those who worked for disarmament,” said ElsaBritt Enger, 70, a representative of Grandmothers for Peace. “The EU doesn’t do that. It is one of the biggest weapons producers in the world.” The biggest challenge for the EU, beyond maintaining the peace and security it has helped foster, is to keep itself relevant and meaningful in a rapidly changing world.

Next year the union will expand to 28 members as Croatia joins and there are others in the Western Balkans which are keen to become members. But Britain, which joined in 1973, is increasingly doubtful about its own role in Europe, and the risk remains that a euro zone countr y could leave the currency bloc.

Speaking before he accepted the prize, Van Rompuy said it was not just about recognizing the past but about giving European leaders a reason to pursue ever-closer union. “It is not only rewarding past achievements, it is also an encouragement to go further and to work further on deepening the European Union,” Van Rompuy said. “The answer is more Europe and more integration.” — Reuters

OSLO: A police officer looks at a banner held by protesters who oppose the Nobel award being given to the EU, in Oslo, Norway yesterday. — AP

Islamic countries most dangerous for atheists Continued from Page 1 The report was welcomed by Heiner Bielefeldt, United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, who said in a brief introduction there was little awareness that atheists were covered by global human rights agreements. The IHEU - which links over 120 humanist, atheist and secular organizations in more than 40 countries - said it was issuing the report to mark the UN’s Human Rights Day yesterday.

According to its survey of some 60 countries, the seven where expression of atheist views or defection from the official religion can bring capital punishment are Afghanistan, Iran, Maldives, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. The 70page report lists no recent cases of actual execution for “atheism”-but researchers

say the offence is often subsumed into other charges. In a range of other countries - such as Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Kuwait and Jordan - publication of atheist or humanist views on religion are totally banned or strictly limited under laws prohibiting “blasphemy”.

In many of these countries, and others like Malaysia, citizens have to register as adherents of a small number officiallyrecognized religions-which normally include no more than Christianity and Judaism as well as Islam. Atheists and humanists are thereby forced to lie to obtain their official documents without which it is impossible to go to university, receive medical treatment, travel abroad or drive.

In Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin and North America, countries which identify themselves secular give privi-

leges to or favor Christian churches in providing education and other public services, the IHEU said. In Greece and Russia, the Orthodox Church is fiercely protected from criticism and is given pride of place on state occasions, while in Britain bishops of the Church of England have automatic seats in the upper house of parliament.

While freedom of religion and speech is protected in the United States, the report said, a social and political climate prevails “in which atheists and the nonreligious are made to feel like lesser Americans, or non-Americans.” In at least seven US states, constitutional provisions are in place that bar atheists from public office and one state, Arkansas, has a law that bars an atheist from testifying as a witness at a trial, the report said. —Reuters

12/12/12 sparks wedding boom Continued from Page 1 on October 10, 2010 which represented “perfection”. Singapore had 553 and 724 marriages on the same dates, but the all-time high for a single day was recorded on February 14, 1995, when 1,082 couples were married because the western and Chinese Valentine’s Day coincided.

The falling number this year may be partly due to the feng shui factor, as feng shui master Sammy Au told Hong Kong’s

The Standard newspaper that the triple 12 date is not perfect for marriage and rated it as just a “comparatively lucky day”. Au picked December 18 and 31 as better dates. Feng shui is an ancient Chinese belief that seeks to channel good and bad psychic energy through the arrangement of furniture and ornaments. It also determines auspicious dates.

There were no reports of similar increases in mainland China and Taiwan.

Couples who nevertheless plumped for 12/12 said their main reason was to tie the knot before December 21, which some doomsayers believe could be the date the world ends. “I want to be with her before the end of the world,” a groom-to-be who was only identified as Leung told Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper. Other Internet doomsayers have picked 12/12/12 as the date for the world’s end-further complicating marriage plans for the superstitious. — AFP

14

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

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Issues

N Korea a looming problem for South Korea vote winner

By Jack Kim hoever wins South Korea’s Dec 19 presidential election will likely find that spiky and unpredictable North Korea is as ready to strike as it is to negotiate. The main contenders in the South’s election have said they would hold talks with Kim Jong-un, the youthful ruler of one of the world’s most heavily armed states, in a bid to end the chill that has descended on relations under South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak, whose mandatory single term ends in February.

But the “military first” policy of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has outlived him and analysts say the South’s next president could find his son, the third member of his family to rule, just as wily and hard to deal with. Conservative candidate Park Geun-hye, the daughter of former dictator Park Chung-hee, says she wants to build a new “trustpolitik” between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war after an armistice ended their 1950-53 conflict. Her main challenger, left winger Moon Jae-in, has pledged unconditional talks with the North and aid.

During his 17-year rule, Kim Jong-il took $450 million worth of government and private-sector aid from South Korea under the South’s Sunshine Policy, aimed at buying peace on the peninsula. But while taking the aid, the North pushed ahead with developing nuclear weapons and missile programs.

“However things work out, it tends to be the North that sets the agenda,” said Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in the South Korean capital, 30 km from the frontier separating the prosperous South from the North, whose economy is just a fortieth the size of the South’s.

Even so, thanks to Kim’s “military first” policies aimed at building a strong state that the United States would have to reckon with, its armed forces are more than a million strong and could soon be brandishing deployable nuclear weapons. The North’s armed forces shelled a South Korean island in 2010 after Lee, a conservative, cut off aid, and they were also blamed for sinking a South Korean warship in the same year with the loss of 46 lives, something the North denied. “The Sunshine Policy was supposed to allow us to take charge of the Korean peninsula’s future when the Cold War ended,” said Paik Hak-soon of the Sejong Institute, a Seoul-based think-tank. “Then Lee came in and the threat of war became very real.”

W

SON OF KIM, DAUGHTER OF PARK Kim Jong-un initially appeared to be a very different proposition from his austere father. He speaks in public, something Kim Jong-il rarely if ever did, he is often pictured smiling, joking and accompanied by his young wife. His policies, however, mirror his father’s. The official ideology of economic, military and political self-reliance remains in place, backed up by the armed forces and what Kim Jong-il termed the “philosophy of the barrel of a gun”. In April, North Korea tore up a food-aid deal with the United States when it launched a long-range rocket which critics say is designed to test technology that could be used to design a missile to carry a nuclear warhead.

Already heavily sanctioned as a result of 2006 and 2009 nuclear weapons tests, the North is barred from developing missile and nuclear technology by UN resolutions. This month, it said it would launch another rocket some time in December carrying a weather satellite, which is timed for the anniversary of Kim Jong-il’s death, and coincides with elections in South Korea and Japan. The North said on Saturday the launch could be postponed, but gave no new timeframe or reason for the delay.

The planned launch has drawn condemnation from the United States, South Korea and Japan and “deep concern” from China, the North’s one major backer.

At the same time, satellite images appear to show the North is building a light water reactor and working on uranium enrichment, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which could allow it to expand its nuclear arsenal. Such actions will test South Korea’s next president and the North will look to exploit inconsistencies in policy. Lee threatened strikes commensurate with “provocations” after the island shelling, which is believed to have discouraged further attacks. Park has not stated what the response would be in the event of hostile policies and weapons development. “There need to be measures to spell out consequences ... but I don’t see them,” Yang said of Park’s policies.

If Park does come to power, she will have to negotiate with the grandson of Kim Il Sung, the first ruler of North Korea who ordered several assassination attempts on her father, one of which resulted in her mother’s death. Moon was a top aide to former President Roh Moo-hyun who believed in engagement with the North. The prospect of unconditional aid under Moon means he is likely to appeal to the North more than Park. She has angered the North with demands that it drop its nuclear program and missile tests and the North’s media has labeled her a “fascist”. Unlike previous presidential campaigns, North Korea has not featured as a big issue, with Park and Moon focusing their attention on the economy. —Reuters

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

The rise of Modi, a double-edged sword for India’s BJP

By Matthias Williams s the prosperous, coastal Indian state of Gujarat goes to the polls this week, few doubt Narendra Modi will win a fourth successive term as its chief minister. What is not clear is whether the popular, but divisive 62-year-old will win a big enough mandate to secure the backing of his party to lead the charge against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s coalition in a general election due by 2014.

Many believe that only Modi can reinvigorate the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has failed to capitalize on the troubles of a government hit by a sharp economic downturn to a string of corruption scandals. Surely, they argue, voters across the country will elect a leader who has ably brought Gujarat its uninterrupted power supplies, smooth roads and flood of investment. Ironically, however, if Modi is catapulted by this week’s state election into poll position as the BJP’s leader for 2014, it could ultimately scupper his party’s chances of winning back power for the first time since 2004.

Critics speak of him as an authoritarian and vindictive leader.

Worse, the toxic memory of religious riots that tore through his state a decade ago leaves suspicions that Modi remains a Hindu hardliner who will alienate more voters than his leadership and oratory skills could hope to gain. “He’s capable of wrecking the BJP’s hopes at the national level,” said James Manor, professor of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London. “He doesn’t excite large numbers of voters outside Gujarat. He frightens many more than he excites.” Such an outcome may create more political risk in a country that has fallen out of favor with investors over the past two years thanks to policy drift and incompetence in New Delhi. A weakened BJP incapable of taking on Singh’s Congress party will probably lead to a highly fractured vote in the 2014 general election. That, in turn, will yield a coalition government packed with powerful regional parties that could thwart the reforms that businesses are clamoring for to revive economic growth, on track for its worst year in a decade.

A

POWERING UP Gujarat will vote in a staggered election on Dec 13 and Dec 17. A narrow victory for Modi, or a shock defeat, would probably scupper his chances of leading the BJP into 2014. But he is unlikely to lose. A poll published by India Today magazine in November showed the BJP was set to increase its share of the state legislature’s 182 seats to 128 from the 117 it won five years ago. The poll also ranked Modi as a more popular leader than Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has ruled India for most of its post-independence era and the Congress

party’s presumed candidate to succeed Manmohan Singh.

Modi’s rise could also revive the BJP. The party is adrift, its leadership plagued by internal squabbles and its Hindu-revivalist ideology lacking the appeal it had in the 1990s.

Modi’s record in Gujarat - strong governance, job creation and promises of more affordable housing and healthcare - strike a chord with middle-class voters who form the BJP’s traditional

Narendra Modi support base. “I think he’s a great asset,” said Swapan Dasgupta, a political analyst with links to the BJP. “The projection of him will energize the BJP to a very, very large extent.” Dasgupta said other party leaders’ wariness of Modi would wither away if he won convincingly in Gujarat, and he would likely emerge as the “de facto leader” of the BJP for 2014.

LIABILITY Still, Modi’s ascent could prove a double-edged sword for the BJP. Many Indians have not forgiven Modi for the violence that killed between 1,000-2,000 people, mainly Muslims, in

2002. Critics accuse him of not doing enough to stem the riots, or even of quietly encouraging them - allegations he has strenuously denied and which have never been proved in inquiries - and he is still viewed with suspicion outside India.

Britain renewed diplomatic ties with Modi in October but other nations, including the United States, have still not.

Washington denied him a travel visa in 2005 for religious intolerance. In November, a group of US lawmakers urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to continue this policy, citing the possibility of Modi running for higher office. Since the riots, Modi has benefited from an image makeover, toning down his speeches and holding fasts to promote religious harmony. He has more than a million Twitter followers, has held a web cam chat with voters and regularly hosts Bollywood stars.

It may not be enough. Critics say that it is the same Modi underneath, too mistrusted to muster the nationwide support that the BJP’s last prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was able to command. “The 2002 massacre will haunt him for as long as he lives,” said political analyst Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.

Still vilified by many non-Hindus, having Modi as its prime ministerial candidate could throttle the BJP’s efforts to recapture lost ground in northern states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which have substantial Muslim populations. Worse, the BJP could lose key allies it needs to form a national government. Nitish Kumar, the powerful leader of Bihar, would probably shun a BJP-led coalition with Modi at the helm.

The most likely outcome for the 2014 election would be a three-way split between Congress, the BJP, and regional parties, according to Anjalika Bardalai, an analyst at the Eurasia Group. “In such a scenario, the BJP’s ability to form alliances with other parties would be a crucial determinant of its ability to govern,” said Bardalai. “And this is an important area where Modi might well end up being a liability for the party, because his divisiveness might rule out or - at the very least - compromise the possibility of alliances with some of the major regional parties whose support the BJP would seek.”

The Congress party, which now runs a minority government, relies on such regional parties to push policies in the teeth of fierce opposition, as it did last week when seeking parliament’s approval for controversial retail sector reform.

With the BJP in a “horrendous mess” and Congress also likely to lose seats, the 2014 elections could see the rise of a “third force clinging on to power tenuously”, according to James Manor of the University of London. “That government will probably not last more than a couple of years and then we’ll have another parliamentary election.” —Reuters

As China’s clout grows, sea policy proves unfathomable

By John Ruwitch magine if the US state of Hawaii passed a law allowing harbour police to board and seize foreign boats operating up to 1,000 km from Honolulu. That, in effect, is what happened in China about a week ago. The tropical province of Hainan, home to beachfront resorts and one of China’s largest naval bases, authorized a unit of the police to interdict foreign vessels operating “illegally” in the island’s waters, which, according to China, include much of the heavily disputed South China Sea. At a time when the global community is looking to the world’s second-biggest economy and a burgeoning superpower for increasing maturity and leadership on the international stage, China’s opaque and disjointed foreign policy process is causing confusion and escalating tensions throughout its backyard. Vietnam and the Philippines, which claim sovereignty over swathes of the South China Sea along with Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan, have issued verbal protests against the Hainan rules.

India, which jointly conducts some oil exploration with Vietnam in the South China Sea, said last week it was prepared to send navy ships to the region to safeguard its interests. And the United States has publicly asked Beijing for clarification as to what, if anything, the new rules meanthus far to no avail. “It is really unclear, I think, to most nations (what the regulations mean),” US Ambassador to Beijing Gary Locke told Reuters last week. “Until we really understand what these things are, there is no way to comment. First we need clarification of the extent, the purpose and the reach of these regulations.”

The fact that a provincial government can uni-

I

laterally worsen one of China’s most sensitive diplomatic problems highlights the dysfunctionality, and potential danger, of policymaking in this arena, analysts say. “It shows what a mess Chinese foreign policy is when it comes to the South China Sea,” said a Western diplomat in China, speaking on condition of anonymity. According to a report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) earlier this year, no fewer than 11 government entities- from the tourism administration to the navy-play a role in the South China Sea. All, the ICG said, have the potential to take action that could cause diplomatic fallout.

SOVEREIGN CLAIM That’s precisely what happened in the case of the Hainan regulations. In an interview with Reuters, Wu Shicun, the senior official in the province’s foreign affairs office, said he thought the rules passed by the local People’s Congress would have been passed up the chain to Beijing for comment. But when pressed, he said because he’s not a part of the People’s Congress he couldn’t say for sure if Beijing had, in fact, even seen the new rules before they became official. Attempts to coordinate between the myriad agencies have so far failed, and while there is a growing recognition in official circles that a problem exists, change will not likely be swift, despite a recent leadership transition, most analysts believe.

Meanwhile, disputes in the volatile Sea continue to arise. Last week, Vietnam claimed that Chinese fishing boats sabotaged one of its oil and gas research vessels. The ICG report says Chinese fishing boats have been encouraged in some cases to press outward by provincial governments.

Another source of recent, regional irritation was a map printed in new Chinese passports depicting

sections of disputed territory, including the South China Sea, as belonging to China.

Zhu Feng, at Peking University’s Center for International and Strategic Studies, said the passports, which were for ordinary citizens, were issued by China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

“I think the MPS saw that they needed to do something to show their support for China’s sovereign claim, but I don’t think they won any support from the Foreign Ministry,” he said. The Foreign Ministry issues passports for government officials, and Zheng noted that their passports were unchanged and carried no such map. That points towards a big part of the problem: the Foreign Ministry has a mandate to coordinate among the various players, but it doesn’t have the bureaucratic clout to do so effectively.

“The Foreign Ministry is low down on the pecking order and there are competing departments making different decisions. It’s not joined up at all,” said the diplomat. In recent news conferences, ministry spokesman Hong Lei has appeared poorly briefed on the Hainan maritime rules, giving the impression the ministry itself may be playing catch-up. A Reuters correspondent asked specifically on Friday which agency was in charge of South China Sea policy coordination.

Hong gave a one-sentence response: “What I want to point out is that China manages the sea in accordance with the law.”

JOINING THE DOTS Another complicating factor in the competing territorial claims in the South China Sea is that Beijing itself has left ambiguous exactly what the “nine-dash line” on Chinese maps of the region implies. The line, which loops south along Vietnam and back up by the Philippines, appears

to delineate China’s territorial claims. But it’s not so simple. Carlyle Thayer, a South China Sea specialist at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said in 26 academic conferences he has attended in the past two years, repeated questions to multiple Chinese scholars about just what the line means yielded no clear answer.

“No one in China can tell you what that means,” he said. “You have competing actors all backing Chinese sovereignty in an area where no one knows where it is, so it’s inherently ambiguous.” Chinese government agencies had different opinions, said a senior diplomat, who has been assigned to a Southeast Asian embassy in Beijing.

“China does not even have the exact coordinates of its expansive claim in the area, making it quite difficult to determine where its claims begin and end,” he said. “We have been asking them for their exact coordinates and they cannot present them to us.” Ambiguity may, some analysts argue, leave Beijing a little wiggle room to make some compromises should the disputes escalate, as diplomats in the region now fear they may. But “on the other hand,” said Thayer, “they are under extraordinary pressure” now to communicate clearly and specifically what China’s position is.

The government has recognized the need for better coordination, but progress is likely to be halting at best. For the foreseeable future, the new leadership under Communist Party boss Xi Jinping would focus mostly on domestic issues, with foreign policy taking a back seat, said Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt, author of the International Crisis Group’s report on China’s South China Sea policy. “In that context, we are going to pretty much expect to see no substantial changes in China’s foreign policy.” —Reuters

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

sp orts Brent released on bail

Call for life bans for fans

Pinturault ready to shine

DALLAS: Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Josh Brent was released on $500,000 bail on Sunday after being charged with intoxication manslaughter in a fatal car crash near Dallas, Texas that killed teammate Jerry Brown Jr., a jail spokesman said.

Brent, 24, appeared at a hearing where he was ordered to post the $500,000 bail bond or remain in jail in the Dallas suburb of Irving. His lawyer did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Brent is accused of being drunk when the car he was driving at a high speed flipped on a state highway early on Saturday morning and then caught fire, police said.

Brown, 25, who had been in the passenger seat, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital a short time later. Brown was a linebacker on the Cowboys’ practice squad but had not played any games with the team. He had played in one NFL game for the Indianapolis Colts this season before joining the Cowboys. Brent, who suffered minor scrapes in the crash, has started in five games for the Cowboys and played 12 this season since regular starting defensive lineman Jay Ratliff was sidelined with injuries.

“I am devastated and filled with grief,” Brent said in a statement. “Filled with grief for the loss of my close friend and team mate, Jerry Brown. I am also grief-stricken for his family, friends and all who were blessed enough to have known him. I will live with this horrific and tragic loss every day for the rest of my life. My prayers are with his family, our teammates and his friends at this time.” Intoxication manslaughter, a second degree felony, is punishable in Texas by two to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.—

LONDON: Fans who “hijack” matches with bad behaviour should be handed life bans, English FA chairman David Bernstein said yesterday. The FA chief spoke in the aftermath of Sunday’s heated Manchester derby which saw United defender Rio Ferdinand struck by a coin thrown from the crowd and nine others charged by police in connection with the match.

Images of Ferdinand’s bloodied face cut-open just above the eyebrow and City keeper Joe Hart holding back a fan who had invaded the pitch following Robin van Persie’s stoppage-time winner to confront Ferdinand have been published around the globe tarnishing what was a thrilling encounter. “I think it’s disturbing that we are seeing a recurrence of these sorts of incidents. We’ve had some racial abuse issues... we’ve had things being thrown at players. They are unacceptable and they have to be dealt with severely,” Bernstein told Sky Sports.

“In my mind it’s for the FA, it’s for the whole game of football and for the authorities to work together to deal with this in the most severe manner. “I believe that if necessary life bans for these people who need to be caught, go to the courts and be banned for life if and when they are found out.”

Bernstein said “copy-cat” behaviour had a role to play in crowd trouble. “It’s a difficult social problem. You have something happen and other people tend to copy it,” Bernstein said. “Therefore it’s really important that matters are bought to a head and people understand there is no room for this in football at all and we will do everything we can within the FA. I know the rest of football feel the same way to deal with these matters it’s a blot on the game.

“It’s very disappointing when you think of the millions watching football every week, or being involved in football, to see it being hijacked by these incidences is awful so we have to deal with it in the strongest way we can.”—Reuters

VAL D’ISERE: Alexis Pinturault has emerged as the next big French ski hope after impressing in front of a home crowd over the weekend despite a mistake that cost him double glory. The 21year-old is not unknown to dedicated followers of alpine skiing, having twice won the world junior giant slalom crown. But his steely approach to the men’s World Cup slalom and giant slalom at Val d’Isere showed he has the aptitude to be a serious medal contender at the February 5-17 world championships in Schladming, Austria. The Bellevarde piste used for the two races is widely considered the toughest on the circuit: incredibly steep, often extremely icy and with tightly set runs. Pinturault, in the absence of convalescing teammate and world slalom champion Jean-Baptiste Grange, produced a near-perfect second leg down the unforgiving slope to claim a memorable victory in the slalom on Saturday.

The Courchevel-based skier, who was sixth after the first leg, scorched the second course in 47.33 seconds to time a combined total of 1min 36.55sec. It was Pinturault’s second World Cup win after victory in last year’s parallel slalom event in Moscow and came soon after his return from torn left ankle ligaments. Home hopes were further lit up when Pinturault led the giant slalom on Sunday but missed a gate just metres from the finish line with a podium place abegging.

“I don’t know if it’s a key moment, but this win will definitely boost my confidence,” Pinturault said of the slalom victory. “I felt great on my skis in both legs, but to come back so strong in the slalom so soon after my operation, well I wasn’t expecting to win so quickly.” He dubbed his mistake in the giant a “classic”, adding: “In the heat of the action, not everything goes as you want it to.” —AFP

Thunder power past Pacers OKLAHOMA CITY: Kevin Durant scored 27 points, Kevin Martin added 24 and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers 104-93 on Sunday night for their eighth straight win.

A meeting of the NBA’s highest-scoring offense and the league’s stingiest defense went the Thunder’s way as they eclipsed 100 points for the 12th straight game. Of course, Oklahoma City boasts the NBA’s second-best defense to go with all that offensive firepower.

Russell Westbrook added 21 points and came up with a big block against 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert - 11 inches taller than him - during a late 8-0 burst by the Thunder that put it away after the Pacers had pulled within three.

David West had 21 points for Indiana, which had all five starters score in double figures.

Royals acquire Shields and Davis from Rays for Myers KANSAS CITY: The Kansas City Royals have slowly and methodically allowed their top prospects to climb through their farm system in recent years, piecing together a team they believe can compete in the wide-open American League Central. All that’s been missing has been the pitching.

They dipped into the farm system to solve that problem, too.

The Royals sent top prospects Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi along with two other minor leaguers to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday night for former All-Star James Shields and fellow right-hander Wade Davis, making an aggressive move to bolster a rotation that was one of the worst in the major leagues last season.

“We have to start winning games at the major league level, and the way you develop a winning culture is by winning major league games,” Royals general manager Dayton Moore said. “It’s time for us to start winning at the major league level.”

Kansas City, which hasn’t had a winning season since 2003, has long had one of the best farm systems in baseball, and slowly the cream has risen to the big league level first baseman Eric Hosmer, shortstop Alcides Escobar, third baseman Mike Moustakas and catcher Salvador Perez form a fine nucleus. But there’s been a dearth of starting pitching for years, and that’s what Moore and the rest of the front office have been trying to fix this offseason. He’s already re-signed Jeremy Guthrie to a $25 million, three-year deal, and took on former All-Star Ervin Santana and $12 million of his contract from the Angels. But the trade for Shields and Davis is Moore’s most aggressive move yet, giving Kansas City the ace it has been lacking since trading away Zack Greinke, along with another piece that could fit in the rotation or the bullpen.

“When you can acquire a pitcher like James Shields and Wade Davis, we have to do it, because that’s what we’ve committed to our team - we’ve committed to our organization,” Moore said. “It’s important that we start winning games.”

Along with giving up Myers, an outfielder widely voted the minor leagues’ top player last season, the Royals also traded away Odorizzi, a talented right-hander who should soon compete for a spot in the Rays’ rotation. Left-hander Mike Montgomery and third baseman Patrick Leonard also are headed to the Rays, while the Royals will receive a player to be named or cash.

“We’re constantly working to balance the present and the future, and always trying to thread the needle,” Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “As an organization we rely more on the contributions of our young players basically than anyone else in baseball, and with this trade we’re hoping to replenish our system and add a lot of players we feel can help us sustain this run of success that we’ve had for the last five years.”

Shields, who turns 31 this month, has been a stalwart in the Tampa Bay rotation the past seven seasons. He was an All-Star

two years ago, when he went 16-12 with a 2.82 ERA and finished third in the American League Cy Young Award voting, and was 15-10 with a 3.52 ERA in 33 starts last season, when he pitched 227 2-3 innings - his sixth consecutive year of at least 200 innings pitched.

The only other pitchers to log at least 200 innings in six straight seasons are the Jays’ Mark Buehrle, San Francisco’s Matt Cain, Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia and the Tigers ace Justin Verlander.

“If you’re going to win consistently in the major leagues, you’re going to need a rotation that gives you innings, competes, helps you win,” Moore said. “That’s what our goal is, to put together a very good rotation. We feel we’ve done that.” Shields is due to receive $10.5 million this season. He has a club option for $12 million in 2014 with a $1 million buyout.

The Royals suddenly have a glut of starting pitchers with Shields, Santana and Guthrie joined by Bruce Chen and Luis Mendoza, who are expected back from last year. Luke Hochevar is eligible for arbitration, while Danny Duffy and Felipe Paulino will return at some point during the middle of the season after having Tommy John surgery. Davis also could be thrown into the mix.

The right-hander started 64 games for Tampa Bay from 2009-11, but he was shuttled to the bullpen last season when the Rays had an abundance of starters. He flourished as a reliever, going 3-0 with a 2.43 ERA, creating some flexibility for him in Kansas City.

Davis is due to make $2.8 million this season and $4.8 million in 2014, with the Royals holding options on the next three years. The jewel of the deal for Tampa Bay is undoubtedly Myers, who turned 22 yesterday.

The power-hitting outfielder batted .314 with 37 homers and 109 RBIs in 134 games at Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha, and eventually could help provide some protection in the batting order for Rays star Evan Longoria. Myers showed what he could do during the All-Star Futures Game hosted by Kansas City, when he had a pair of hits and drove in three runs at Kauffman Stadium. He’ll finally get a chance to prove it at the major league level at Tropicana Field.

Odorizzi was 15-5 with a 3.03 ERA for Northwest Arkansas and Omaha, and made two late-season starts for Kansas City, going 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA in 7 1-3 innings.

Montgomery was once considered one of the Royals’ top prospects, but his stock slid last season, when he went 5-13 with a 6.07 ERA last season while getting demoted from Omaha to Northwest Arkansas.

Leonard hit .251 with 14 homers and 46 RBIs in 62 games for short-season Burlington. “We’re excited to add these guys, anxious to get to know them beyond the information we have on them,” Friedman said. “I think it’s very possible that Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi will help us win games in 2013, and Mike Montgomery as well.” —AP

Knicks 112, Nuggets 106 In New York, Carmelo Anthony returned from a two-game absence with 34 points against his former team, and New York the NBA’s only team unbeaten at home.

Back in the starting lineup after missing two games with a cut on the middle finger of his left hand that required stitches, Anthony twice made baskets in the final 2:08 after Denver had pulled within four points.

Jason Kidd scored 17 points for the Knicks, who bounced back from their worst offensive performance of the season a night earlier in Chicago and improved to 8-0 at Madison Square Garden. Tyson Chandler and J.R. Smith each had 15 points.

Ty Lawson had 23 points and Danilo Gallinari had 21 points and nine rebounds against the team that drafted him and later dealt him in the package for Anthony in February 2011.

Jazz 117, Lakers 110 In Los Angeles, Paul Millsap scored 24 points, Mo Williams added 22 and Utah won its third straight. Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 34 points, making 12 of 14 free throws, as they fell to 4-7 in their last 11 games.

Al Jefferson and reserves Gordon Hayward and Enes Kanter added 14 points each for the Jazz, which improved to 4-9 on the road in ending a two-game skid away from home.

The Lakers never led in the second half while losing their second in a row. They trailed by three to start the fourth quarter only to get outscored 20-8 and fall behind by 15. Hayward had seven points and Kanter six in Utah’s spurt.

Magic 98, Suns 90 In Phoenix, rookie Andrew Nicholson scored nine of his career-high 19 points in the fourth quarter and Orlando handed Phoenix its seventh straight loss. Nicholson made 9 of 11 shots and grabbed nine rebounds, also the best of his young career.

JJ Redick scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half for the Magic in the final stop of their five-game road trip. Shannon Brown scored 17 and Jared Dudley 15 for the Suns, who were without starting point guard Goran Dragic due to illness. Phoenix’s losing streak is its longest since 2004.

Bucks 97, Nets 88 In New York, Brandon Jennings scored 26 points, Monta Ellis had 24 points and Milwaukee withstood Brooklyn’s fourth-quarter

rally. The Bucks led by 29 points with 6:59 left in the third quarter but the Nets got within six after Deron Williams found Kris Humphries open for an uncontested dunk.

Ellis’ layup then made it 87-79 before the Nets called a timeout with 2:24 left in regulation. On the ensuing play, Gerald Wallace lost his balance and the ball and Milwaukee’s Larry Sanders made a reverse layup to extend the Bucks’ lead to 10 points. MarShon Brooks, who scored 14 points, then hit a 3-pointer to bring

the Clippers won their sixth in a row and handed Toronto its 10th consecutive road loss.

The backups gave the Clippers their first double-digit lead of the game after Toronto kept it close through the first three periods before dropping its fourth straight and 10th in its last 11. The Raptors have just four wins this season.

Eric Bledsoe added 14 points to help the Clippers’ reserves outscore their counterparts 47-24. Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 19

LOS ANGELES: Utah Jazz forward Paul Millsap (right) puts up a shot as Los Angeles Lakers center Jordan Hill defends during the first half of their NBA basketball game. —AP the Nets within seven but Marquis Daniels’ hit a 3-pointer to put the game out of reach.

Williams had 18 points and eight assists and Wallace added 16 points and 16 rebounds for the Nets.

Clippers 102, Raptors 83 In Los Angeles, Jamal Crawford led a fourthquarter rally by the reserves with 16 points and

points. Chris Paul added 16 points and DeAndre Jordan had 10 rebounds. Caron Butler was the only starter to play in the fourth, coming in only after Matt Barnes was ejected with 1:36 to play.

Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan scored 24 points in his hometown. Linas Kleiza, who started in place of injured Mickael Pietrus, added 17 points, including five 3-pointers. Amir Johnson had 11 points and 12 rebounds for Toronto. —AP

NBA results/standings LA Clippers 102, Toronto 83; Milwaukee 97, Brooklyn 88; Oklahoma City 104, Indiana 93; NY Knicks 112, Denver 106; Orlando 98, Phoenix 90; Utah 117, LA Lakers 110.

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L PCT NY Knicks 15 5 .750 Brooklyn 11 8 .579 Philadelphia 11 9 .550 Boston 11 9 .550 Toronto 4 17 .190

Chicago Milwaukee Indiana Detroit Cleveland

Central Division 11 8 .579 10 9 .526 10 11 .476 7 15 .318 4 17 .190

Southeast Division Miami 13 5 .722 Atlanta 12 5 .706 Orlando 8 12 .400 Charlotte 7 12 .368 Washington 2 15 .118

GB 3.5 4 4 11.5

1 2 5.5 8

0.5 6 6.5 10.5

Western Conference Northwest Division Oklahoma City 17 4 .810 Utah 12 10 .545 Minnesota 9 9 .500 Denver 10 11 .476 Portland 8 12 .400

5.5 6.5 7 8.5

Pacific Division 14 6 .700 13 7 .650 9 12 .429 7 12 .368 7 15 .318

1 5.5 6.5 8

Southwest Division 17 4 .810 14 4 .778 10 10 .500 9 10 .474 5 14 .263

1.5 6.5 7 11

LA Clippers Golden State LA Lakers Sacramento Phoenix

San Antonio Memphis Dallas Houston New Orleans

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16

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

S P ORT S

After stunning loss to Marquez Pacquiao faces tough choices

SOCHI: Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov, of Russia, perform during the exhibition show at the ISU figure skating Grand Prix Final event. —AP

Kim posts season’s best to seal return DORTMUND: Olympic champion Kim Yuna completed her triumphant return to figure skating competition on Sunday by winning the NRW Trophy with the season’s best total score.

Kim overcame one fall in an otherwise assured free skate routine to end her 19month sabbatical with 201.61 points, including the 72.27 she was awarded for the season’s best short program on Saturday.

The 22-year-old Kim was competing in the second-tier competition to secure a place at next year’s world championships.

“I’m happy that I could reach my goal today,” said Kim, who needed just 28 points from the short program and 48 from the free skate to ensure her participation in London, Ontario, Canada.

“At the beginning of the program my spins were going well but I made one mistake. Afterward I felt shaky but I persevered to the end. I was actually surprised at the score I received. That was unexpected. I think I did my best, the best I could, even though I don’t feel I’ve shown all I can do. But overall I’m satisfied with the result today.”

Xenia Makarova of Russia was second with 159.01 points, while Sweden’s Viktoria Helgesson finished third at 158.93. Mao Asada of Japan reached the season’s previous best of 196.80 when she won the Grand Prix Final on Saturday in Sochi, Russia.

“If we do end up in the same competition, I think we will each just focus on our own choreography and skating,” Kim said when asked about her biggest rival.

Kim, known as “Queen Yu-na” in her South Korean homeland where she enjoys rock star status, hadn’t competed since the world championships in Moscow in April 2011, creating unprecedented demand for tickets to see her return at the International Skating Unionsanctioned competition. The modest 200capacity venue sold out in two hours, security was drafted in for the first time in six years of the event, and one woman even brought along her poodle.

With indelible poise and sublime grace, Kim started her routine to music from “Les Miserables,” launching herself fearlessly into jumps and landing with implausible softness.

She landed six triple jumps, a triple Lutz-triple toe combination and four more triple jumps. But she fell on a double toe loop after a lapse in concentration and acknowledged that the rest of her routine was affected despite earning 129.34 points, 22 in front of Japan’s Satsuki Muramoto and 29.88 more than Makarova, who placed sixth in the free skate.

“I was caught off-guard because I assumed it was an easy jump,” said Kim, who holds world records in the short program (78.50) free skate (150.06) and combined total (228.56) from the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

“I will focus on just this jump next time.

Since this is only a mistake in the first competition (since returning) I think if I focus on it I can improve and not make any mistakes.” Kim sat out the 2011-12 season to mull over her future and announced in July she would return this year and retire after the 2014 Sochi Games.

“After this I’m going to return to Korea and focus on the Korean national championship, preparing for that. Since entry to the Olympics depends on it, I’m going to prepare very hard for it, not just for me but so all the other young skaters in Korea can also gain entry to the Olympics,” Kim said.

“About Sochi, it’s not too far away, but this season only just started so I’m going to focus on the season first and think about that later.” Kim reunited with two of her childhood coaches, Shin Hye-sook and Ryu Jong-hyun in October, after parting ways with Peter Oppegard, her American coach of two years Peter Oppegard. She still works with Canadian choreographer David Wilson.

Those who stayed for the men’s competition saw Germany’s Peter Liebers edge out Chafik Besseghier of France to win by one point with 211.75. Alexander Majorov of Sweden was third at 193.74. —AP

Locked-out players hope to resume talks with NHL WINDSOR: Thanks to a charity game, three NHL players - Kevin Westgarth, Shawn Horcoff and Jamal Mayers - got a chance to get more comfortable on the ice than they were earlier in the week.

They were playing hockey in a Canadian rink Saturday night, two days after being part of the union negotiating team in a New York hotel where labor talks with the league fell apart. “I’m happy to be in a situation to do it, but I’d rather be on the ice,” said Westgarth, a Los Angeles Kings forward. “That’s where I want to be.”

Westgarth was one of 36 locked-out players in an event at the WFCU Centre less than 10 miles from Joe Louis Arena, home of the Detroit Red Wings - that raised money for charity and gave the idle pros an opportunity to do what they do best.

The game was sloppy and choppy early, understandably so because the lockout has lasted nearly three months, before some sharp passes and one-timers put their talent on display for about 4,500 fans. “ We all want to be playing real games,” said Detroit Red Wings forward Dan Clear y, one of the players who organized the event. “If we’re not playing, we might as well do something good with our time, try to give back to

the fans, to charities.” Cleary said a similar event is planned for Dec. 19 in Toronto. With NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman insisting the two sides are still very far apart, there’s a good chance more games will be cancelled soon.

The lockout has already wiped out all games through Dec. 14 along with the Winter Classic on New Year ’s Day at Michigan Stadium and the All-Star game on Jan. 27 in Ohio.

Bettman has said the league won’t consider a season that would last fewer than 48 games - the same length it had after the 1994-95 lockout - and that seems to leave about a month to get a deal done. “ We are running out of time,” said Horcoff, an Edmonton Oilers forward. “I hope after a couple days of relaxing, cooler heads prevail and we get back it.” Mayers said the owners are the ones in control of when talks resume.

“It was the NHL that got up and left and pulled everything from the table,” the Chicago Blackhawks forward said.

“Certainly there will come a time in the next few days or the next week, they’ll start to talk again. My hope is that the owners realize that we really are that close.” —AP

MANILA: Manny Pacquiao has already achieved what most of his countrymen can only dream of: lifting himself out of wrenching poverty, securing a future for his children and becoming a hero to Filipinos the world over. Not content with just winning in the ring, Pacquiao also set about making his mark in politics.

But after his stunning loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas on Saturday, the 34-year-old is facing some of the toughest questions of his remarkable 17-year career: does his future lay in boxing, politics, show business, religion, or perhaps there’s even a new challenge on the horizon?

“Being the king of boxing, being the highest paid athlete in boxing ... it goes with the territory,” boxing analyst Ed Tolentino said. “For Pacquiao, the fame was too much to handle. There was just too many things on his plate other than boxing.” The distraction was costly for Pacquiao, who trained for two months, compared to 41/2 for Marquez. During that time the Mexican bulked up and became more muscular to withstand the blows from Pacquiao that proved so damaging in their three previous encounters.

Pacquiao grew up a survivor and fighter, overcoming poverty and cut-throat competition in a country where half of the population lives on $2 a day and 3,000 leave for jobs overseas every day.

He left high school to work as a baker and a construction worker to earn money for his mother and siblings after his father left them. As a scrawny teenager, he was a stowaway on a ship that took him from his southern hometown of General Santos City to the capital, Manila, where he took up boxing while working as a laborer.

After finding success in local bouts, Pacquiao began his international career in the late 1990s. In the next decade, he became a household name by clinching eight world titles in eight weight categories. At home, he was declared a hero, “the people’s champ” - an inspiration to the legions of the poor, and the man the rich and powerful wanted to rub shoulders with.

As the titles, honors and money started pouring in, so did distractions. Politicians, minor actors and an assortment of hangers-on formed his huge entourage. “You only need a Ferris wheel and his training camp would have been a circus,” Tolentino said. In a nation where celebrities, money and politics equal a winning formula, Pacquiao played his card by running for Congress in 2007, but lost.

The most popular face in town, he turned to crooning his own songs. His picture endorsed countless products. He’s a regular on TV, and hosts his own show. He’s made a movie. Another passion is cock fighting, a traditional past time in the Philippines. He was Pacquiao

Inc. Showbiz “takes a lot of time, a lot of energy. You have to prepare for these shows,” said boxing commentator Ronnie Nathanielsz. “(Pacquiao) loses focus because he has so many things to worry about and attend to.”

Pacquiao was elected to Congress from his southern Sarangani province in 2010, and

promised to clean up his act: no more gambling, drinking and womanizing, and took up preaching the Bible. Some called it a public relations stunt for a budding politician, but Pacquiao insisted it was for real.

“To those who think that way, let us leave them be. I will pray for them. Even Jesus Christ, even after he performed miracles, no one

ring, and whether the distractions catching up with him.

Saturday’s loss to Marquez, whom he had beaten twice and drawn once, only made the question more urgent, although Pacquiao made no mention of a possible retirement.

“Among boxers, they don’t have the word retirement in their dic-

LAS VEGAS: Manny Pacquiao, from the Philippines, lifts himself from the canvas in this Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012 file photo. —AP

MANILA: Filipinos react after seeing Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao knocked out by Mexican Juan Manual Marquez in this file photo during a live TV broadcast at a multi-purpose hall in suburban Paranaque. —AP has announced he will run for reelection next year. Taking a cue from his political allies, he appears to be building a political organization, with his wife, Jinkee, running for vice governor, and younger brother, Rogelio, for congress in neighboring South Cotabato province. In the meantime, he

believed him, what more for a sinner like me,” he said, adding he did not want to be a pastor but share how “the Lord changed my life.”

Then came the first blow: a controversial decision awarding his June fight to Timothy Bradley.

Questions arose if Pacquiao was showing the wear of 17 years in the

tionary. It’s so hard to admit that all of sudden it’s over, especially for Pacquiao,” Tolentino said.

“His demotion was from the penthouse to the doghouse,” he added. “I think really there has to be a lot of soul searching. ... He has to consult his family, his real entourage.” —AP

Jamieson wins maiden European Tour title DURBAN: Scotland’s Scott Jamieson won his first European Tour title on Sunday, beating England’s Steve Webster and Spain’s Eduardo de la Riva in a playoff after the season-opening Nelson Mandela Championship was reduced to a 36-hole shootout because of rain.

Jamieson won with a par on the second playoff hole after Webster made a bogey. De la Riva was eliminated on the first extra hole as the three returned to play the par-4 No. 18 until the first tournament on the 2013 Race to Dubai was decided.

Jamieson had carded an 8 under 57 in his second round at the shortened Royal Durban Golf Club course, which was adjusted to a par-65 and reduced by about 1,600 yards after being deluged on Thursday and Friday because of thunderstorms.

Jamieson’s score - the second 57 of the day after South Africa’s Jaco van Zyl - gave him a 7 under total of 123 to tie with Webster and De la Riva. Germany’s Maximilian Kieffer, England’s Matthew Nixon, Denmark’s Morten Orum Madsen and South Africa’s Tim Clark tied for fourth behind the playoff trio on 6 under 124.

The 29-year-old Jamieson birdied his last regular hole to snatch a place alongside Webster and De la Riva in the playoff.

The 57s carded by him and Van Zyl were the first ever recorded on the European Tour but won’t count as records after the par score for the course was reduced by five shots because of the troublesome weather over the past week in Durban.

“At the start of the day I probably didn’t think I would be standing here holding the trophy but I knew I needed a fast start and I was lucky enough to get that,” Jamieson said.

He birdied five of his opening nine and had eight birdies and no dropped shots in all, making use of the many more short holes on the layout after the readjustment to avoid some of the waterlogged fairways.

Webster, who was the only one of the three playoff contenders to have won a Tour title, posted five birdies for a 5 under 60. De la Riva had six birdies and two bogeys to finish with a 61.

Late finisher Clark was on course for a place in the playoff, and maybe even outright victory, until the former Players champion double-bogeyed No. 17. Even a birdie on the last saw him finish one stroke off the three leaders.

Van Zyl was tied for eighth after he earlier became the first man to return a 57 on the European Tour - but he knew it wouldn’t count as the low-round record. “This week was very different to any other,” he said. “I think if the tournament went to more rounds the record wouldn’t have stood too long because the guys are getting the hang of the course now.” —AP

DURBAN: Scotland’s Scott Jamieson holds the trophy after winning the inaugural Nelson Mandela Championship Golf tournament. —AP

17

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

S P ORT S

Windies win over Bangladesh

Ramy Ashour in action in this file photo.

Ramy highlights his career rescue DOHA: Ramy Ashour ’s spectacular movement in the victory which took him to the last 16 of the world championships highlighted a transforming process which has rescued his career.

“I could have given up at any second, and instead it’s saved it all for me,” the former world champion from Egypt said after a brilliantly taken 11-6, 11-2, 11-9 win over Adrian Grant, a top 20 player from England.

There were moments when the Grant appeared to have made tight winners at the front, only for Ashour to hurtle to retrieve the ball in a way which would have been impossible in the last two world championships.

Both of those ended with injuries and tears. Now though the sport’s most gifted player looks better than ever and grateful to the experts who have helped him repair his body.

“It’s been one of the biggest changes of my career,” Ashour said of his decision to make regular journeys from his home in Cairo to the Aspire centre in Qatar, which has some of the world’s most upto-date sports science knowledge.

“I thought I was dedicated and I was nowhere. They told me I had to stop for three months and do nothing - which I found one of the hardest things to do and then I started learning.

“Before I was doing things randomly.

Now I have more awareness, and a regimen which helps me to sleep right, eat right, and live right. I enjoy it and it’s had a big effect.

“I could have given up at any moment.

Even if I don’t win the world title this

week I shall be happy because I now have a way of doing things which has changed my life.”

Ashour took an early lead, dominate the second game, and then made an accelerating burst of fine winners, mostly with volleys and drops, which pulled him back from a two-point deficit to win the third. He next plays his compatriot Omar Mosaad, the tenth seed, whom he described as “dangerous.”

If he wins again he may play Greg Gaultier, the former world number one from France whose strokes looked nicely tuned during a 11-9, 11-7, 11-9 over Miguel Angel Rodriguez, the speedy Colombian.

However Gaultier now meets a surprise survivor, Chris Simpson, the world number 34 from England, who produced a career-best win over the ninth-seeded Laurens Jan Anjema 11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 911, 11-9.

The Dutchman has been recovering from ‘flu but seemed to have done that well as he pushed on to a 5-0 lead in the decider. But Simpson’s short game was significantly superior, and the bigger obstacle was his mind.

“When you want to win so much you start thinking, and when you start thinking, the match goes away from you,” Simpson said. “So I just tried to stop thinking.

“At 0-5 down in the decider, I started to feel it’s hard and maybe it’s not my day — and because of that I switched off.

Because I switched off I just stopped trying to win and just tried to play. Then I was able to fight for it and win.” —AFP

DHAKA: Explosive batting from Marlon Samuels lifted the World Twenty20 champions West Indies to an 18-run win over Bangladesh in a high-scoring match at Shere Bangla stadium yesterday.

Samuels hit a 43-ball 85 not out to steer the champions to 197-4 in their 20 overs. While there was some blistering hitting from the home team’s openers, they only managed to reach 179-1 in reply.

Samuels’s strong performance peaked at the end of the West Indies innings when he hit 29 runs in their final over, which included three sixes and a four. He narrowly escaped being caught twice, with the catch missed both times by wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim off paceman Ziaur Rahman.

Rubel Hossain was threatening at the outset as he dismissed Chris Gayle in the third over for six and then had Dwayne Smith (24) in his next. Darren Bravo also batted impressively for the West Indies, hitting two sixes and five boundaries during his rapid 28-ball 41 before he was stumped by Rahim off Sohag Gazi. Kieron Pollard (15) and Lendl Simmons (18 not out) added to Samuels’s big score, as the tourists added 75 runs in the final five overs.

Bangladesh’s openers were strong, with Tamim Iqbal hitting a 61-ball 88 and Mohammad Mahmudullah making 64.

But the West Indies’ quality spin bowling proved too much for them, with Chris Gayle conceding just 18 runs in his four overs and Samuels conceding 32. Bangladesh notched up 17 runs in each of the first and third overs. But following Anamul Haque’s dismissal for a 12-ball 22, the West Indies’ spinners managed to limit their score.

Iqbal hit 10 boundaries and two sixes during his knock while Mahmudullah notched up four sixes and three fours. The defeat came

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal plays a shot during the Twenty20 cricket match against West Indies. —AP after Bangladesh clinched the preceding five-match one-day series 32 on Saturday.

West Indian captain Darren Sammy was happy with the result. “I am pleased with the outcome, we wanted to finish the year on a good note. Samuels’ innings reminded me of the World Twenty20 final,” said Sammy of Samuels, who was man of the match at the final in Sri Lanka in October. Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim conceded the last over was the turning point.

“The last over probably mattered but cannot blame Rubel because when Samuels hits he can do that to anyone. It was nice to see people scoring runs, especially in the toporder, hope they continue in the same vein,” said Rahim. —AFP

PARIS: Frenchman Francois Gabart set a new 24-hour record across Indian Ocean waters between Sunday and yesterday, as he moved within 4.2 nautical miles (4.8 miles, 7.78 kilometres) of Vendee Globe leader Armel Le Cleac’h.

Gabart bettered the previous mark set of 502.5 miles on December 1 by rival and compatriot Jean-Pierre Dick as he raced across the ocean at a rate of 22 knots to cover 532.7 miles and put the pressure on Le Cleac’h. His new mark needs to be ratified by the World Sailing Speed Record Council.

“I can’t really explain why I’m going a little faster than the others in the same weather conditions”. Gabart told the Vendee Globe website vendeeglobe.org.

“Maybe my sails settings are different. I’m sailing at 22-26 knots and it should be like that for several hours. I’m not sure I’ll even try to go even faster, it will depend on the conditions. We’ll see.

“The autopilot is doing fine, the boat is perfectly balanced, so I’m not even worrying about that. That’s what makes it possible for us to sail fast and effortlessly.

“Maybe I’ll see Armel soon, it will depend on the visibility. I can see him on my AIS,

though. I can even tell you his speed and heading.”

The fleet that has been reduced to 13 boats from an original 20 that set off from western France on November 10 are heading towards the west coast of Australia with the race lead very much up for grabs given Gabart’s recent progress.

Dick is in third spot at 86 miles behind Le Cleac’h while Swiss helmsman Bernard Stamm is fourth at 115 miles and British sailor Alex Thomson, who was once in second spot, now back in fifth and losing time at 138 miles.

“Now we are plugging along quite OK but conditions are a big fragile,” explained Thomson. “The winds are up and down and shifting a lot. Last night I had the boat nicely set up with the A3 (sail), reaching along when suddenly there was a shift and I had full lock out on the pilot,” he added.

“Since then I have been a bit overcautious, sailing a bit deeper. It seems like the nights have been when the changes have happened, like every time I get my head down,” he continued. “It is frustrating to be losing miles so quickly again but that is just the way it is going to be.” —AFP

West Indies D. Smith b Hossain 24 C. Gayle b Hossain 6 M. Samuels not out 85 D. Bravo st Rahim b Gazi 41 K. Pollard b Rahman 15 L. Simmons not out 18 Extras (lb1, w7) 8 Total (4 wickets; 20 overs) 197 Fall of wickets 1-25 (Gayle), 2-30 (Smith), 3-96 (Bravo), 4-121 (Pollard).

Bowling: Gazi 4-0-44-1 (6w), Islam 4-026-0, Hossain 4-0-63-2, Razzak 3-0-320 (1w), Mahmudullah 1-0-15-0, Rahman 4-0-16-1.

Bangladesh Tamim Iqbal not out

88

Anamul Haque c Sammy b Roach 22 Mohammad Mahmudullah not out 64 Extras: (b1, lb2, nb1, w1) Total: (one wicket: 20 overs)

5 179

Fall of wickets: 1-47 (Anamul).

Bowling: Sammy 2-0-30-0, Roach 4-036-1 (1nb), Russell 1-0-17-0, Samuels 4-0-32-0, Narine 3-0-27-0 (1w), Gayle 4-0-18-0, Smith 2-0-16-0.

Result: West Indies won by 18 runs

KARACHI: Pakistan dropped experienced all-rounder Abdul Razzaq yesterday for the forthcoming one-dayers in India, the first bilateral series between the neighbors since 2007. Fellow all-rounder Shahid Afridi, 32, was also omitted for the one-dayers but retained his place in the Twenty20 squad. “We have tried to infuse new blood into both teams as we feel the way forward in these formats is to try out new faces,” said chief selector Iqbal Qasim. “We want to give exposure to more young players.”

Left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar was picked for the onedayers and Twenty20 internationals while fellow rookie, paceman Asad Ali, was selected for the shorter format only.

Razzaq, 33, has played 265 one-dayers and 30 Twenty20 internationals. India and Pakistan will play three one-dayers and two Twenty20 games in the series. The first is a T20 match in Bangalore on Dec. 25. Bilateral cricket between the nuclear-armed neighbors was suspended after the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed.

India blamed Pakistan-based militants for the incident.

FIA puts road safety at the top of its agenda

Gabart slashes Vendee lead

DHAKA: Complete scoreboard in the Twenty20 international between Bangladesh and the West Indies at Shere Bangla stadium yesterday:

Afridi loses one-day spot

Squads: One-day internationals: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Younus Khan, Haris Sohail, Kamran Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Umar Gul, Zulfiqar Babar, Imran Farhat, Umar Akmal, Anwar Ali. T20: Mohammad Hafeez (captain), Nasir Jamshed, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Umar Amin, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Asad Ali, Zulfiqar Babar and Ahmad Shahzad. —Reuters

Francois Gabart seen in this file photo.

Scoreboard

DOHA: World motorsport’s governing body yesterday put its quest for improved road safety on a par with the fight against some of the world’s deadliest diseases, warning of a high price to pay if nothing was done.

The president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), Jean Todt, said reducing deaths and serious injuries on roads around the world was “one of the central priorities” of the body. The FIA is not only the ruling body for the hugely popular sport of Formula One but also the umbrella group for the world’s leading motoring organisations. Speaking at the Doha Goals sporting forum in the Qatari capital, Todt described road accidents as a “plague which causes 1.3 million deaths and 50 million injuries annually” and cost society more than $500 billion a year.

“If vigorous action isn’t taken at all levels, there will be nearly two million deaths and 80 million injuries in 2020,” he warned. The FIA said it intended to act on the everyday level, particularly in developing countries, where the cost of injury and death can be higher for those affected, in particular the affordability and provision of healthcare.

“Road insecurity is a plague at the same level as tuberculosis, AIDS or malaria, if only because all these diseases are tending to regress while the number of road accidents are increasing,” he added. “In developed countries, given the education, the application of laws with road inspections, the technical nature of the cars, it’s true that it (accident levels) are down. “But in developing nations, which corresponds to about 90 percent of cases, accidents are on the rise.”

The FIA has launched an awareness campaign in conjunction with one overseen by the United Nations, which is currently running its “Decade of Action for Road Safety” initiative. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that 2.3 million people could die in road accidents by 2030, making it the fifth leading cause of death in the world, if nothing is done. In 2004, road traffic accidents were the ninth leading cause of death around the world, according to the Global Status Report on Road Safety, published in 2009. Overall, the FIA and the UN aim to cut road deaths and injuries by five million and 50 million by 2020 through “golden rules” such as wearing a seatbelt or regular tyre inspections. —AFP

Kuwait Desert Challenge race kick off Saturday KUWAIT: With the participation of over 40 contesters, Kuwait Quarter Mile Club (KQMC) is scheduled to hold the third round of Kuwait Desert Challenge Championship 2012 next Saturday in the southern desert of Benaider. The competition will continue till 4 pm.

KQMC’s 4X4 committee chairman Sheikh, Mohammed Al-Khalifa said that the goal of such activities is to positively and controllably invest youth free time and energy by specialized people. He said thanks to the challenging competition in the first

and second rounds of the race, participants numbers have remarkably increased to include over 40 from various age categories. “This is a sign of success that motivates us to organize more similar activities focusing on this age category”, he underlined.

Further, Al-Khalifa stressed that any 4x4 vehicle owner with a valid Kuwaiti driving license is eligible to take part in the races that he described as ‘races against the clock’ since drivers would have to cover the distance of 800 meters over sandy and rough desert terrain in the least possible time.

18

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

S P ORT S

Van Persie makes millions seem cheap MANCHESTER: Actor Tom Cruise was in the crowd, but Robin van Persie was the top gun. He supplied the Hollywood ending on a day of thunder for English soccer because it suggested the Premier League title will move across Manchester again at the end of the season, but this time from City back to United.

Alex Ferguson owes Arsene Wenger a thank-you card because his Manchester United team would not be at the top of the league if the Arsenal manager hadn’t sold him Van Persie.

What a bargain Ferguson struck in getting the Netherlands striker for a reported $38 million. For United fans, Van Persie’s match-winning goal on Sunday alone was priceless because of the dagger it plunged into the heart of rival Manchester City.

In four months since he walked out on Arsenal to move to the city in England’s northwest that is becoming the epicenter of English soccer, this was already the fifth time that Van Persie has scored the winning goal in a league game for United. Even Ferguson cannot have imagined that Van Persie would have such an immediate and decisive impact when he signed him in August.

Van Persie got the hat trick at

Southampton in September when the Reds were just four minutes from defeat in Ferguson’s 1,000th league match as United manager. He scored a late penalty kick three weeks later that made it 2-1 for United at Liverpool and a goal after just 32 seconds at Old Trafford that defeated West Ham in November.

Van Persie also scored the winner in United’s 4-3 defeat of Reading and now, the following weekend, the left-footed free kick in injury time that made it United 3, City 2. That’s now 11 league goals for Van Persie in United red.

Even more important for his team is that his goals are earning vital points from matches that seemed likely to deliver just one point or none to the Reds.

Sunday’s game was heading for a draw before Van Persie secured all three points for United in the 91st minute.

Van Persie could now argue that his outright winners and other goals that contributed to defeats of Fulham, Chelsea and Arsenal - games United won by a margin of just one goal - have together given the Reds as many as 17 points that they might otherwise have left by the wayside.

In short, United might in a worst-case scenario without Van Persie have

amassed as few as 22 points from 16 games, instead of the 39 it has now.

Conceivably, United might have been marooned in the middle of the standings with the likes of Liverpool, West Ham and Norwich, all on 22 points, instead of sitting pretty at the top on a six-point cushion over second-placed City.

Of course, had he not signed Van Persie, Ferguson still would have had other players scoring goals, so it’s impossible to be 100 percent sure how United would have fared without him.

But Van Persie has been digging United out of holes since he joined the club. The Reds have been shaky repeatedly this season, especially in defense, shipping 23 goals - just six fewer than Queens Park Rangers, in 20th and last place. So it is fact, not merely statistical theory, that United wouldn’t be doing quite so well without Van Persie.

It’s astounding to think that what United paid Arsenal for Van Persie is also roughly the fee City reportedly paid to Inter Milan for Mario Balotelli in 2010.

Already, United can crow that it got by far the better deal and the better striker.

City was much better on Sunday without Balotelli than it was when he played. Only after City manager

Roberto Mancini replaced the Italy forward in the 51st minute with Carlos Tevez, did the defending league champions look like a team with 11 players, not 10 plus a hanger-on who didn’t seem to care. Tevez looked determined to prove his worth against United, his former team that opted not to keep him. The Argentina striker’s energy, industry and understanding in attack with Sergio Aguero were such that one had to wonder why Mancini hadn’t started with Tevez, instead of Balotelli. If all the Abu Dhabi wealth pumped into City does not yield a repeat league title this season, it will be partly because of perplexing decisions like these from Mancini.

One also wonders whether the Italian’s patience will now run out with Balotelli, who was so impressive 13 months ago when City thrashed United 6-1 but so lackadaisical Sunday.

Cruise, who said this was his first soccer match in England, must have noticed it and only with eyes wide shut could Mancini now fail to see it, too: Balotelli is no longer earning his considerable crust at City.

“When you have a player that has Mario’s quality, you cannot understand

why he continues to throw it out of the window. It is incredible,” Mancini said. “I have seen players in my life with fantastic quality. But in the end, they did nothing. I don’t want Mario to finish like these players.”

Leading the league approaching midpoint in the season is no guarantee United will win it come May. Still, being the team that ended City’s run of 37 league games unbeaten at home at the Etihad Stadium is a big boost for United.

That it was United that snapped that streak will particularly sting for City and its fans. The red-blue divide cuts through Manchester - families and friendships - so defeats to the crosstown rival hit particularly close to home.

It is too early to be sure that the pendulum that swung from United, the 2011 champion, to City in 2012 is now swinging back to Old Trafford. Still, it was United that ended Arsenal’s 49-match unbeaten streak in 2004 and Chelsea’s 40-game unbeaten league run in 2005.

Both those teams challenged United’s dominance for a while before Ferguson beat them back down - as he now intends to do to City. With Van Persie, Ferguson has the tool to quiet his noisy neighbor down. —AP

Barcelona next takes on Cordoba in Copa del Rey

SPAIN: Barcelona’s Lionel Messi from Argentina reacts after scoring against Betis during their La Liga soccer match in this file photo. —AP

Huachipato win Chile title CHILE: Huachipato won their second Chilean league title when they beat Union Espanola 3-2 on penalties at the end of a nail-biting Clausura championship final second leg on Sunday.

The surprise winners from the south of the country, whose only previous title was in 1974, took the final to a shootout with an 89th-minute goal from striker Manuel Villalobos. That goal made the score 3-1 at Huachipato’s CAP stadium in Talcahuano after they had lost the first leg in Santiago by the same score in midweek.

“There are times when things don t work out but others when they do and today we’re champions, we’re the best,” said Huachipato coach Jorge Pellicer.

Huachipato succeeded Apertura championship winners Universidad de Chile, who had dominated Chilean football for a year and a half.

Huachipato, known as the Steelers, fell 2-1 behind in the shootout after both their regular-time scorers, including two-goal Daniel Gonzalez, missed their penalties. However, six-times champions Union Espanola missed the last three of their six penalties and Huachipato’s Argentine left back Omar Merlo slotted home the winning kick.

In neighboring Peru, Sporting Cristal won their 16th Peruvian first division title beating promoted Real Garcilaso 10 in each leg of the final with both goals from striker Junior Ross. —Reuters

MADRID: Lionel Messi has until tomorrow to bask in the glory of a major goal-scoring record before Barcelona takes on second-tier club Cordoba in the Copa del Rey. Messi broke German great Gerd Mueller’s 40-year-old record for most goals in a calendar year by slotting in his 85th and 86th goals during a 2-1 win at Real Betis on Sunday in the Spanish league.

Real Madrid, which won 3-2 win at promoted Valladolid, faces a tough match at Celta Vigo, while Atletico Madrid hosts cross-town rival Getafe. Radamel Falcao was unstoppable Sunday with five goals as Atletico routed Deportivo La Coruna 6-0.

He earned and converted a penalty, used his head to devastating effect and showed great accuracy by slotting in goals close to the post. “I had never scored as many goals before,” Falcao said. “I have a great team that is supporting me and helping me develop as a player.”

Falcao has scored 16 goals in the league and trails only Messi, who has 23. Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo is third with 13.

Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova will likely keep a close eye on how Falcao performs against Getafe because his team hosts Atletico at the Camp Nou on Sunday without midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

Fabregas had to be substituted in the ninth minute against Betis after tearing a muscle in his left thigh, the club said. Barcelona captain Carles Puyol also had to be substituted for Javier Mascherano at halftime after struggling with pain in his right leg and may not be recovered in time to play Cordoba. Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has been airing long-standing complaints that referees treat his team harshly, after an apparently legal goal by Sergio Ramos against Valladolid was judged to be offside.

But Ramos was more concerned about the team’s weakness at the back, conceding two set-piece goals from corner kicks. “No question we have to improve our defense on set-pieces,” Ramos said.

With 11 points to catch up in the league, Madrid is placing greater emphasis on Champions League and Copa del Rey, matches where its chances are more even.

—AP

Manuel Lanzini

River, Boca looking ahead to second half of season BUENOS AIRES: River Plate has a new coach going into the second half of the season, while Argentina’s other famous club in Boca Juniors may also be on the verge of making a coaching change.

Boca coach Julio Falcioni was booed off the pitch in his team’s 2-1 victory over Godoy Cruz in the final round of the first half of the Argentine split season, called the Inicial tournament. The deafening disapproval at Boca’s La Bombonera stadium came just a few days after Falcioni met with club president Daniel Angelici and had reportedly agreed to stay on for another year.

In Sunday’s two matches, River Plate defeated San Martin 2-0 to mark a winning coaching debut for Ramon Diaz, and Independiente drew 2-2 with Colon. Manuel Lanzini and Carlos Sanchez scored for River. It was a good start for Diaz, who won seven trophies in two coaching stints at River Plate more than a decade ago - five league titles, the Copa Libertadores and the South American Supercup. Osmar Ferreyra and Ernesto Farias found the net for Independiente, and Emanuel Gigliotti scored twice for Colon. Most of the drama in the first division ended last weekend when Velez Sarsfield wrapped up the title - its third in eight seasons. That put the focus on Boca and Falcioni.

Falcioni, who has won a league title with

Boca and took the team to the final of last season’s Copa Libertadores, was the least popular person on the field on Saturday. Former Boca star Martin Palermo, now the coach of Godoy Cruz, received warm applause. So did Juan Roman Riquelme, the moody midfielder who left Boca after last season following a falling out with Falcioni.

It also marked the final match at Boca for defender Rolando Schiavi, who is expected to move next season to become an assistant coach to Palermo. Schiavi is also reported to be interested in a move to China.

Schiavi broke down crying on the pitch, reading signs like: “For leaving everything on the field, thank you.” “Eternally Grateful,” read another. Falcioni was greeted with several signs that read “Good Bye Falcioni, Come Back Roman.”

A headline in Sunday’s La Nacion summed up Falcioni’s position: “On the Ropes.” Carlos Bianchi, who has coached Boca in two previous stints, is reportedly in line to replace Falcioni. Velez finished with 41 points in 19 games, five ahead of Newell’s and Belgrano, and seven in front of Lanus.

Also Saturday, it was: Argentinos Juniors 1, Newell’s Old Boys 3; Atletico Rafaela 0, Velez Sarsfield 3; Belgrano 1, Estudiantes 0; and Lanus 0, San Lorenzo 0. On Friday, it was: All Boys 0, Arsenal 1; and Union 1, Racing Club 1. —AP

Wenger to respect minnows Bradford BRADFORD: Arsene Wenger insists he won’t make widespread changes for Arsenal’s League Cup quarter-final at Bradford City today as the competition represents a golden opportunity to end the Gunners’ trophy drought.

Wenger’s club have gone over seven years without silverware and, having been drawn against League Two opponents in the last eight, they are strong favourites to progress to the last four.

In the circumstances, the Arsenal boss, already under-fire following a poor run of results in the Premier League, has no intention of risking more criticism and a potential upset by making a host of changes to the side that beat West Bromwich Albion 2-0 on Saturday.

French right-back Bacary Sagna will miss out with an ankle injury, but Wenger claims he will field a strong team at Valley Parade. “Sagna has played today with a very bad ankle,” Wenger said. “He is such a tough boy that he said he could play.

“He will be rested today, maybe one or two more. But we will go with a strong squad, we are in the quarter-final and we have an opportunity to go through. We want to take it.” Carl Jenkinson is expected to step in for Sagna while Jack Wilshere may be rested as Wenger manages the midfielder’s rehabilitation following a 17month absence with injury.

“He is getting closer to the player we

know he is and against West Brom I think he made a big step,” Wenger said. “You could see it already this week in training, that he has gained a little burst again, a little zip in the first three or four yards. “ That’s what you have to accept in football, you have sometimes to be patient. He can only gain it by playing but of course in the first games you cannot be at that level.”

The victory over West Brom ended a run of four games without a win and silenced some of the growing criticism of Wenger and his failure to strengthen the squad more, despite having transfer funds available.

A shock defeat to Bradford, who lie fourth in League Two and come into the game on the back of a 1-0 victory over Torquay, would trigger more frustration among Arsenal supporters, some of whom have become increasingly vocal in their demands for change in recent weeks.

Bradford will not lack motivation for the tie and striker Alan Connell, a boyhood Arsenal fan said: “It’s a massive game for the club and reward for the supporters who have stuck by us for last few years when we have struggled compared to 10 years ago when Bradford were in the Premier League. “I’m really looking forward to game. All my family are still Arsenal supporters and I still go to games when I can.”

—AFP

KUWAIT: Jordan’s Abdallah Salim (left) jumps to head the ball with Iraq’s Ahmed Gheni during their West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) championship football match in Kuwait City. —AFP

Lyon cement top spot PARIS: Ten-man Olympique Lyon cemented their place at the top of Ligue 1 when Michel Bastos came off the bench in the second half to give them a deserved 1-0 win at arch-rivals St Etienne on Sunday.

Ten minutes after the visitors had Mouhamadou Dabo sent off for head-butting Gradel, second-half substitute Bastos found the back of the net with a powerful 20-metre free kick to put Lyon on 34 points from 16 games.

They lead second-placed Paris St Germain, who thrashed Evian Thonon Gaillard 4-0 on Saturday, by five points. Olympique Marseille, who slumped to a 3-0 home defeat by Lorient on Sunday, are third, also five points off the pace. St Etienne, who were too shy until Bastosís 65th-minute goal, remain fourth on

26 points, still looking for their first home win in all competitions against Lyon since 1994.

But Les Verts had victory in sight after Dabo was shown a straight red card for head-butting Gradel in the chest 10 minutes into the second half. With the creative Yoann Gourcuff and Steed Malbranque, Lyon had the upper hand in midfield and dominated the early stages although the St Etienne defence, well marshalled by Moustapha Bayal, held firm.

Lyon had to cope without offensive midfielder Clement Grenier, who limped off the pitch with a thigh injury and was replaced by Gueida Fofana after 11 minutes. The visitors had the first clear chance when Anthony Reveillere, set up by Bafetimbi Gomis, flicked the ball past Stephane Ruffier but his effort went just wide. —Reuters

19

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

SPORTS

Redskins pound Ravens

INDIANAPOLIS: Tennessee Titans’ Chris Johnson (28) is tackled by Indianapolis Colts’ Vontae Davis (23) during the second half of an NFL football game. — AP

GREEN BAY: Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford fumbles the ball during the first half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers.

Green Bay Packers’ Mike Daniels recovered the fumble and ran it back 43 yards for a touchdown. — AP

Preview

Transformed Pastore a boost for tricky PSG trip PARIS: A new role for Javier Pastore and the Argentine’s transformed attitude will be crucial for Paris St Germain as they bid to make it three wins out of three with a tricky Ligue 1 trip to Valenciennes today.

Pastore has been shifted from a central midfield position to the right flank and delivered two sterling performances in a 2-1 Champions League win against Porto last Tuesday and a 4-0 thrashing of Evian Thonon Gaillard in Ligue 1 on Saturday.

“He is transformed,” coach Carlo Ancelotti told reporters after Pastore, who had been hugely disappointing this season after joining for a then French record 42-million euros ($54.30 million) fee from Palermo last year, created the first two goals against Evian.

“His attitude on the pitch has changed.

He has worked for the team, he has defended well and his skills made the rest.” PSG are second in the standings with 29 points from 16 games and trail leaders Olympique Lyon, who travel to basement side Nancy tomorrow, by five points.

“This position in the midfield has forced me to defend more but this is what I have been training for,” Pastore, whose delicate

touches and inspired passes have wreaked havoc in the last two games, told reporters.

“I feel much better, more comfortable, because the team has been playing well. I feel good when the team enjoy possession and attack. “The team’s mentality has changed massively. Now, when we lose the ball, everybody makes efforts to get it back, not just one or two players.”

While PSG visit one of the two teams who are unbeaten at home, Lyon face a seemingly easier task against Nancy, who have not won away all season. Bottom club Nancy have drawn their last four games having wasted an early lead on three occasions.

Olympique Marseille, third on 29 points, should welcome the chance to play an away game at Bastia after losing their last two home matches and conceding seven goals in the process. Wednesday’s game, however, will be played behind closed doors after Bastia were sanctioned following crowd incidents in the league match against neighbours AC Ajaccio earlier in the season. A few thousand supporters are expected to gather in the stadium’s car park to watch the match on a giant screen.— Reuters

JAPAN: Corinthians’ Juan Martinez (right) controls a ball near Wallace during the Brazilian team’s training session for the Club World Cup soccer tournament.— AP

Benitez brushes off Chelsea pressure in Club World Cup YOKOHAMA: Chelsea interim coach Rafael Benitez feels no pressure to win the Club World Cup in Japan despite his team crashing out of the Champions League in midweek, the Spaniard said yesterday.

Benitez, runner-up as Liverpool manager at the 2005 Club World Cup in Japan, brushed off fears that a slip-up this time might cost him his job. “With the economic crisis around the world everybody is under pressure,” he told reporters after Chelsea’s arrival in the Far East.

“I don’t have a problem with pressure.

The future is the next game and the one after that.” Chelsea face Mexico’s Monterrey in Yokohama on Thursday, and will hope to meet either South American champions Corinthians or Egypt’s Al-Ahly in the final on Dec. 16.

“It’s a massive competition,” Benitez said. “Everybody here has the same idea as me — to win every trophy. “It doesn’t matter if we are in the Champions League or not,” added Benitez, who won the Club

World Cup with Inter Milan in 2010 in Abu Dhabi. “It’s a great opporunity and we’re here to win. We won our last two games and we’re playing well.”

With striker Fernando Torres rediscovering his scoring touch with four goals in two games, including two in Saturday’s 3-1 win at Sunderland, Benitez backed his players to continue their recent improvement.

“Fernando is in a good position now because the team is creating more chances and because the team is doing well,” said Benitez, who replaced the sacked Roberto Di Matteo last month. “I can communicate with him in a different way and work with him but the main thing is his team mates playing well.”

Goalkeeper Petr Cech said the dethroned European champions could live with the pressure of being labelled favourites to win the Club World Cup at the first attempt. “We came to win the competition and will try to prove it on the pitch,” he said. — Reuters

LANDOVER: With Robert Griffin III sidelined with a sprained right knee, the Washington Redskins rallied behind backup Kirk Cousins to tie the game in the final minute of regulation, then Kai Forbath kicked a 34-yard field goal in overtime Sunday for a 31-28 victory over the Baltimore Ravens.

Griffin was hurt at the end of a 13-yard scramble while attempting to lead the gametying drive with the Redskins trailing 28-20.

He left for one play, returned for four, then was no longer able to continue.

Cousins stepped in and hit Pierre Garcon for an 11-yard touchdown pass, then ran in the 2-point conversion with 29 seconds to play. The Redskins have won four straight to improve to 7-6. The Ravens lost back-to-back games for the first time since 2009 and fell to 9-4.

Cowboys 20, Bengals 19 In Cincinnati, the grieving Cowboys rallied for a significant win on Dan Bailey’s 40-yard field goal as time ran out. Dallas overcame a nine-point deficit in the closing minutes behind Tony Romo, who held his hand over his heart during a moment of silence to honor teammate Jerry Brown before the kickoff.

Brown died in an auto accident early Saturday. Defensive lineman Josh Brent, who was driving, remained in jail in Irving, Texas, charged with intoxication manslaughter.

The Cowboys (7-6) learned about Brown’s death on their flight to Cincinnati on Saturday. Coach Jason Garrett told his team that the best way to honor him was to play well in a game with playoff implications for both teams. A late comeback was just enough to beat the Bengals (7-6). Romo threw a 27yard touchdown pass to Dez Bryant, then led the drive to Bailey’s kick.

Giants 52, Saints 27 In East Rutherford, rookie David Wilson returned a kickoff 97 yards for one touchdown, ran for two more scores and piled up 327 all-purpose yards and Eli Manning threw four touchdown passes to lead the Giants.

The win allowed New York (8-5) to maintain its one-game lead in the NFC East over Washington and Dallas. The loss all but ended the playoff hopes of Drew Brees and the Saints (5-8), who turned the ball over four times in losing their third straight.

Manning had TD passes of 6 yards to Martellus Bennett, 5 yards to Domenik Hixon, 25 yards to Hakeem Nicks and 10 yards to Victor Cruz. Wilson scored on runs of 6 and 52 yards and finished with 100 yards on 13 carries on the biggest day of his career.

Seahawks 58, Cardinals 0 In Seattle, Marshawn Lynch had three touchdown runs and Seattle set a franchise record for points. The Seahawks forced eight turnovers. Richard Sherman and Bobby Wagner each had two interceptions.

Seattle (8-5) kept firm grasp on the final NFC wild-card spot and kept alive slim chances of catching San Francisco in the NFC West race. The Seahawks also picked up their first division victory and assured coach Pete Carroll of his first eight-win season in three years with them.

The 58-0 victory was the biggest shutout in Seattle’s history. Leon Washington’s 3-yard TD run with 2:32 left set a franchise record for points. Arizona (4-9) was shut out for the first time since 2003 against Seattle. The effortless performance will only raise questions about Ken Whisenhunt’s future as coach. Arizona lost its ninth straight overall.

Packers 27, Lions 20 In Green Bay, Green Bay is a victory away from clinching the NFC North title after beating Detroit. DaJuan Harris rushed for a score in his first appearance for the Packers, Aaron Rodgers added the longest TD run of his career, and Mike Daniels returned a fumble 43 yards as the Packers (9-4) opened a one-game

lead over Chicago.

Beat the Bears next weekend at Soldier Field, and Green Bay will win the NFC North for a second straight year. The loss was the fifth straight for Detroit (4-9). This wasn’t quite as excruciating as the previous three, though, when the Lions gave up fourth-quarter leads and fell by a total of nine points. The Packers have won 22 straight at home against the Lions, the longest streak in the NFL. 49ers 27, Dolphins 13 In san Francisco, Frank Gore ran for a 1yard touchdown and reached 1,000 yards rushing for the sixth time in his career. Gore finished with 63 yards, Anthony Dixon also had a 1-yard scoring run and Colin Kaepernick ran for a late 50-yard touchdown and threw for 185 yards in his fourth straight start since being promoted over Alex Smith.

NFL sacks leader Aldon Smith added two to his total for 19 1/2, passing Fred Dean’s franchise-best single-season mark of 17 1/2 set in 1983. Smith also moved within three sacks of Michael Strahan’s seasonal NFL record set in 2001 with the New York Giants.

Michael Crabtree had nine catches for 93 yards and rookie LaMichael James ran for 30 yards in a solid NFL debut for the 49ers (9-31).

Panthers 30, Falcons 20 In Charlotte, Cam Newton threw for 287 yards and two touchdowns and scored on a 72-yard run. Newton piled up a career-high 116 yards on the ground as the Panthers racked up 475 total yards to avenge an earlyseason loss with a dominating performance against the NFC South champion Falcons.

Carolina (4-9) came in with little to play for except to gain a measure of revenge on Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, whom they felt disrespected them after Atlanta’s 30-28 come-from-behind win earlier this season at the Georgia Dome.

Ryan threw for 342 yards and two scores and had a costly fourth-quarter interception.

The Panthers opened a 23-0 lead en route to snapping a five-game losing streak against the Falcons.

Vikings 21, Bears 14 In Minneapolis, Adrian Peterson rushed for 154 yards and two touchdowns and Harrison Smith returned an interception for a score.

Peterson topped 100 yards before the first quarter was over, helping the Vikings (7-6) overcome another lackluster day from quarterback Christian Ponder to get a win that will keep their faint playoff hopes alive.

Jay Cutler threw for 260 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions and couldn’t finish the game for the Bears (8-5), who have lost four of their last five. He took a wicked hit to the head from Everson Griffen in the fourth quarter, remained in the game for the rest of that drive, but was replaced by Jason Campbell with 3 minutes to play.

Browns 30, Chiefs 7 In Cleveland, rookie Travis Benjamin’s electrifying 93-yard punt return touchdown gave Cleveland momentum and the Browns won their third straight game.

Benjamin’s game-changing runback helped the Browns (5-8) continue their resurgence under second-year coach Pat Shurmur, whose future in Cleveland remains uncertain.

The Browns have one more win than last season, and their longest winning streak since 2009.

Trent Richardson had a pair of 1-yard TD runs for Cleveland. Jamaal Charles ran for 165 yards, breaking off an 80-yard TD run on the game’s first play for Kansas City.

It was the first road game for the Chiefs (211) following linebacker Jovan Belcher’s suicide. The 25-year-old killed his girlfriend at their home before driving to the team’s practice facility on Dec. 1 and shooting himself.

Chargers 34, Steelers 24 In Pittsburgh, Philip Rivers threw three touchdown passes, two to Danario Alexander, and San Diego won for the first time in 15 regular-season visits to Pittsburgh. The Chargers (5-8), who snapped a four-game losing streak, dominated from the outset. They never let Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger get comfortable in his first game in nearly a month.

Roethlisberger completed 22 of 42 passes for 285 yards and three second-half touchdowns. But he also threw an interception and had a botched screen pass turn into an easy San Diego score as Pittsburgh (7-6) hardly played like a team readying for a postseason run.

Colts 27, Titans 23 In Indianapolis, Andrew Luck led Indianapolis back from a 13-point second-half deficit and Adam Vinatieri made two fourthquarter field goals. Luck has now engineered six fourth-quarter comebacks for Indy (9-4). It wasn’t all Luck.

Delone Carter cut the deficit to 20-14 with a 1-yard TD run on Indy’s opening possession of the second half. And after Pat McAfee’s 52yard punt went out of bounds at the Titans 1yard line, Cassius Vaughn jumped in front of Nate Washington, picked off Jake Locker’s pass and scored on a 3-yard interception return to make it 21-20. Rob Bironas gave the Titans (4-9) a 23-21 lead with a 25-yard field goal, but Vinatieri hit from 53 yards to retake the lead and from 40 to seal it.

Jets 17, Jaguars 10 In Jacksonville, Shonn Greene and Bilal Powell ran for short touchdowns and the New York Jets kept their postseason hopes alive.

The Jets (6-7) were shut out at halftime for the second consecutive week, but they didn’t need to change quarterbacks to spark the offense this time.

Instead, they just pounded the Jaguars (211) up the middle. Mark Sanchez, benched last week in a 7-6 win against Arizona, was hardly a factor. Neither was backup Tim Tebow, who spent his homecoming on the sideline.

Greene scored on a 1-yard plunge in the third quarter, and Powell added a 4-yarder early in the fourth. Greene finished with 77 yards rushing. Powell added 78 yards on the ground.

Eagles 23, Buccaneers 21 In Tampa, Nick Foles threw a pair of touchdown passes in the final four minutes, including a 1-yarder to Jeremy Maclin with no time remaining. The rally allowed the Eagles to end an eight-game losing streak - their longest in 42 years.

Foles completed 32 of 51 passes for 381 yards in his fourth start in place of the injured Michael Vick. The rookie threw an 11-yard TD pass to Clay Harbor with 3:55 remaining, then led the Eagles on a 64-yard game-winning drive after the Philadelphia defense forced a Tampa Bay punt.

Doug Martin rushed for 128 yards and Josh Freeman shrugged off a slow start to throw for two second-half touchdowns to help Tampa Bay overcome a 10-0 halftime deficit and take a 21-10 lead on Martin’s 4-yard TD run midway through the fourth quarter.

Rams 15, Bills 12 In Orchard Park, Sam Bradford threw a 13yard touchdown pass to Brandon Gibson with 48 seconds left. Bradford was 5 of 8 for 68 yards to cap a 14-play, 84-yard drive. St. Louis (6-6-1) continued its late-season resurgence by winning its third straight for the first time since closing the 2006 season with three victories.

The Bills (5-8) blew a lead in the final minute of the fourth quarter for the second time this season. They squandered a sixpoint lead in a 35-34 loss to Tennessee on Oct. 21. — AP

Thunder power past Pacers

15

Windies win over Bangladesh

17

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

Van Persie makes millions seem cheap

Page 18

HAWAII: In this photo provided by the Association of Surfing Professionals, Travis Logie of South Africa competes in the Billabong Pipe Masters surfing competition near Haleiwa, Hawaii. — AP

Pipe the only focus for Slater OAHU: The dangers of surfing Banzai Pipeline are forcing Kelly Slater to put thoughts of snatching a 12th world title from the clutches of Joel Parkinson to the back of his mind this week.

One of the most dominant athletes in any sport in a career spanning 22 years, Slater is likely to announce his retirement from full-time competition at the end of the event.

Parkinson has emerged as the major obstacle to a dream farewell for American Slater in enormous waves at the Billabong Pipe Masters.

Neck-and-neck in the rankings, Parkinson reached the quarter-finals on Sunday while

Slater had yet to surf in round four when the event was called off for the day. “It’s turning into a bit of a foot race between Joel and I but we’re not going to come up against each other until the final, if we get there,” said Slater. “We’re both just trying to put it out of our heads as much as possible.

“If you’re thinking about it out in the water, you’re taking your eye off the ball at Pipe. There’s a lot to think about because it’s such a challenging wave. “You have to be clear minded and be making good decisions and that means concentrating on what’s in front of you.”

Slater and Parkinson were left as the only world title contenders following the shock elimination of Australia’s Mick Fanning in round three by veteran American Shane Dorian.

Fanning was thrown onto the reef by a mountainous wave and required seven stitches to his left foot. “Shane has been a hero of mine ever since I started surfing,” Fanning said. “It was an honor to be in the water with him.”

Parkinson and Fanning have been close friends for two decades, growing up together on the Gold Coast of Australia. Battered, bruised and bloodied after a brutal heat in surfing’s glad-

crazy, it was so big of him. It shows what kind of a bloke Joel is. “Now I’m out of it, there’s nothing I’d rather see than Joel being world champion.

He deserves it. He’s just an insane surfer.

“I’ve got stitches in my foot and I’m limping round like an old man but if Joel gets it done, I’ll be right there for him because he did the same for me.” Hawaii’s Sebastian Zietz was a standout performer on Sunday, defeating Pipeline specialist John John Florence to claim the VANS Triple Crown, which tallies points from the prestigious events at Haleiwa, Sunset Beach and Pipeline through the winter. — Reuters

Police hunt for Ferdinand coin throw culprit at derby

test for Mancini LONDON: Banished from Europe, under attack from Manchester United and struggling to keep Mario Balotelli on the leash, no wonder Roberto Mancini’s coiffured hair is turning grey.

Having masterminded Manchester City’s first English title for more than 40 years last season, after ending their long trophy drought by winning the FA Cup 12 months earlier, the Italian might have anticipated some smooth waters this season.

They are turning increasingly choppy, however, following United’s last-gasp 3-2 victory in the derby, after which Mancini could not resist pointing the finger at some of his players.

He did not hold back when discussing his reasons for hauling Balotelli off just after halftime and mocked Samir Nasri when suggesting that there were only “two and a half players” in the wall when Robin van Persie fired a stoppagetime winner.

City’s first league defeat of the season, an unlucky one at that, hardly represents a crisis and Mancini was quick to predict that his side will win the league and FA Cup double this season, but the coming months will be a test for Mancini.

Out of the League Cup and the Champions League before Christmas after finishing bottom of their group, maintaining harmony in a squad bulging with internationals, many of whom kick their heels on the bench, will not be easy.

League games will come thick and fast over the holiday period and City need a calming hand on the tiller if Mancini’s bold claim does not return to haunt him. Three of City’s next four matches are away from home, and while trips to Newcastle United, Sunderland and Norwich City, should hold no fears for Mancini’s team they know they can ill-afford any slip-ups.

Midfielder Yaya Toure, whose goal sparked City’s comeback from 2-0 down against United on Sunday, said the team had to buckle down and work hard to repair the damage done by two draws and a defeat in their last four league games.

“We have to forget what we have done in the past. This year will be tough, but we have a fantastic squad and we have the confidence to keep going until the final day,” he told City’s website (www.mcfc.co.uk) yesterday.

“Last year was fantastic, but we have to realise that

iator’s pit, Fanning said he would stay in Hawaii to support his countryman.

Fanning had left Parkinson devastated by beating him to the world crown in 2009 but his countryman was the first person to greet him at the water’s edge. Parkinson lifted Fanning onto his shoulders and helped carry him through the 10,000-strong crowd in a selfless act at the most sorrowful moment of his 12 years as a professional.

“I remember that so well - if Joel wins it, I tell you, I’ll be doing the same for him,” Fanning said.

“I’m the first one there. For him to do that was

Manchester City’s manager Roberto Mancini sometimes you go through tough periods - we can turn this around. When the chips are down, that’s when the tough really get going and we will show why we are champions.

“Disappointing though this defeat is, it only makes us more determined to win the title. We have to be strong mentally and strong in every other way as well, but our championship challenge is not finished.” Those comments will be music to the ears of Mancini.

While his vast spending power is the envy of virtually every manager in the world, Mancini’s demeanour during matches often resembles that of a scientist struggling to keep the cork on a test tube full of highly volatile chemicals.

With so many egos colliding in the soap opera world of the Premier League, it only takes a couple of setbacks to start tongues wagging and Mancini’s man management skills will be tested to the full over the coming months.

“Nothing has changed for us - we need to work hard but there is a long way to go. We have proved before we can win the title from situations like this,” Mancini said. “We have the players and the spirit to recover and I believe we will still win the Premier League and FA Cup double.” — Reuters

LONDON: Police said yesterday that they were working to track down the person responsible for throwing a coin at Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand during Sunday’s Manchester derby.

Ferdinand was left with blood streaming down his face from a cut above his eye after being struck by a coin as he celebrated Robin van Persie’s injury-time winner in United’s 3-2 victory at Manchester City. Greater Manchester Police said that they had made 13 arrests and charged nine people over offences that occurred before, during and after the match.

“To have just 13 arrests for a crowd of this size and a match of this proportion is a testament to the policing operation we put in place,” said Chief Inspector Steve Howard. “Despite fierce rivalry and high tension, there was no major disorder. However, we will continue to investigate the coin-throwing incident and are determined to work with the club to bring the perpetrator to justice.”

The Football Association (FA) are also investigating the incident. Among the people charged were two men accused of entering the field of play during the game.

City goalkeeper Joe Hart had to restrain one fan from getting at Ferdinand after the coin-throwing incident, prompting the United defender to thank his one-time England colleague on Twitter.

The supporter, 21-year-old landscape gardener Matthew Stott, expressed regret for his behavior yesterday. “I would like to apologise to all those affected by my actions on Sunday, particularly Mr Ferdinand and the other players,” he said in a statement released by his lawyers.

“I am extremely ashamed of my actions. I have let myself down, my family down, my fellow fans down and Manchester City Football Club.” Despite his apology, City cancelled Stott’s season ticket for the rest of the season and said he would be given a lifetime ban from the club if found guilty of pitch encroachment.

“His season card has been immediately removed for the rest of the season and he has been charged to appear at court. If he is found guilty, he faces a lifetime ban,” said a City spokesman.

A 30-year-old man has also been charged with what police said was a “racially aggravated public order” offence. All the people charged are due to appear before magistrates in Manchester on January 4 next year.

FA chairman David Bernstein said the crowd trouble that marred the game was “deplorable” and called for strict punishments to be meted out to those responsible.

“It is deplorable to see those incidents and to see Rio Ferdinand with blood on his face is absolutely terrible,” he told Sky Sports News. “I think it’s disturbing that we’re seeing a recurrence of these types of incidents. We’ve had racial abuse issues, the odd pitch incursion, things being thrown at players-it’s very unacceptable and has to be dealt with severely.” He added: “I believe that if necessary these people need to go to the court and be banned for life, if they’re found out.”

Meanwhile, Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) chief executive Gordon Taylor said there was a case to be made for erecting nets to protect players from missiles thrown by supporters.

“I think you’ve got to give consideration to possibly, as has been suggested, some netting in vulnerable areas, be it behind the goals and round the corner flags,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

United’s victory took them six points clear of defending champions City at the top of the Premier League table. — AFP

LONDON: Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand leaves the field in this file photo after taking a knock to the head during their English Premier League soccer match. — AP

Business

Japan’s economic data sparks recession fears Page 23 US Federal Reserve likely to expand QE

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

Page 25 Distrust complicates US ‘fiscal cliff’ talks

Egypt suspends tax rises, putting IMF loan at risk Page 23

Page 25

ATHENS: A police officer stands in a mock gallows outside the Finance Ministry in this photo during a protest against budget cuts in Athens. —AFP

Crisis crushes Europeans into new poverty Arc of misery spread pitilessly across Europe MADRID: Crushed by an austerity squeeze and towering unemployment, millions of Europeans joined the ranks of the newly poor in 2012 in a crisis that showed no mercy for the old, women or children. An arc of misery spread pitilessly across southern Europe’s middle classes, engulfing bailedout nations Greece and Portugal and tottering heavyweights such as the euro-zone’s number four economy, Spain, and number three, Italy.

“The black hole is getting bigger and bigger,” fretted Mercedes Gonzalez, a 52-year-old Spaniard who has less than 800 euros ($1,000) a month to raise her unemployed family in the Madrid suburb of Fuenlabrada. In July, she was still pocketing the monthly state aid of 426 euros for the long-term unemployed. But the benefit was slashed to 360 euros last month, she said, and in the meantime a September 1 rise in sales tax lifted the price of food and other regular bills.

“Things are really getting worse, we can’t breathe already,” said the energetic unemployed saleswoman whose voice betrayed weariness as she contemplated caring for herself, her carpenter husband and two of her three adult sons, all out of work. Spain is displaying all the signs of a major social crisis, with one in four workers unemployed, an unprecedented austerity squeeze by the state, cuts to education and healthcare, and thousands of indebted families thrown out of their homes and into the streets.

In this country, where two home owners threatened with eviction recently committed suicide, as in other southern European nations such as Greece and Italy, the economic crisis is sowing implacable despair. In Italy, the fate of an unemployed bricklayer who was being chased for unpaid taxes moved the entire country. Giuseppe Campaniello set himself ablaze outside a tax office at the end of March and died after nine days of agony. “You can’t expect a selfemployed bricklayer to pay taxes even for the months when he is not working. The state beats you up and Giuseppe paid the consequences,” his 48-year-old widow said Tiziana Marrone from Bologna in central Italy said.

“Giuseppe was not helped out. He felt he had his back to the wall. That morning he had to go to a criminal hearing for his taxes. It should have never got to that. We all make mistakes but he never stole from anybody!” she said. “His was also a protest. Our laws drove him to it. It wasn’t a suicide linked to the crisis, it was state-sanctioned murder,” she said.

Marrone herself is now in a desperate situation as she has inherited her husband’s massive debts and lives on an allowance of 450 euros a month. She is forced to rely on handouts from her pensioner mother to survive.

GREEKS TRY TO LEAVE In Greece, the crisis delivered another fatal blow. In April, a 77-year-old chemist shot himself in the head leaving a

note that accused the government of stripping him of the resources to live. In Greece, where the unemployment rate is the highest among industrialized nations at 25.4 percent in August, the crisis has hit people harder than any other nation in southern Europe: 31 percent of its inhabitants were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2011 compared to a European Union average of 24.2 percent.

George Tsouvalakis, a 31-year-old jobless carpenter, and his 30-year-old wife, Lia, are among a “lost generation” of thirty-somethings sacrificed by the crisis. With their twoyear-old daughter, Angelina, they are trying to leave the country but cannot afford the plane ticket. Their income fell from 2,500 euros a month before the crisis to between zero and 400 euros. “We should not remain in the country anymore, that is what I see. But we don’t have the financial capability to leave this country. That is our problem or else we would have already left,” Lia said.

In Portugal, too, where 24.4 percent of the population is estimated to be at risk of poverty or exclusion, the crisis has mortgaged the futures of many young people. After completing a master’s degree in dramatic arts at the prestigious Coimbra University, 29-year-old Nilce Carvalho could not pick up her diploma because of the debts she had built up since the hard-up government slashed her grant from 400 euros to 98 euros. To escape her debts, the young woman launched a public appeal on Facebook,

News

Islamic banks to expand

in brief

Banking assets to reach $1.8 trillion in 2013 MANAMA: Islamic banks are set to expand as they compete increasingly with conventional lenders in attracting mainstream customers, according to a report by consultancy Ernst & Young released on Monday. The total of all commercial banks’ Islamic assets is estimated to reach $1.55 trillion this year, $1.8 trillion in 2013 and over $2 trillion mark, the report said. Gulf-based Islamic banks now have $450 billion in assets, about 30 percent of the total.

Islamic banks will grow as they focus on customers who expect more than just sharia-compliance in terms of products and service and have traditionally relied on conventional banks. “Success will be defined in the core markets through the transformation of Islamic banks so they are able to compete with the much bigger, conventional boys for mainstream customers,” Ashar Nazim, Islamic financial services leader at Ernst & Young, said.

Islamic finance follows religious guidelines such as a ban on interest and on pure monetary speculation, with its core markets in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

The role of pure Islamic banks will also become important by comparison with banks that deliver products just through Islamic windows at their existing branch networks. “There is no truly fully fledged Islamic bank (that stretches) across international markets or even regional,” Nazim said. He identified a group of 20 Islamic banks as likely candidates to become significant regional institutions.

They now account for 55 percent of total Islamic banking assets after having grown over the past three years at an average rate of 16.2 percent a year, Nazim said.

“It is a lopsided industry at this point ... only 13 Islamic banks have $1 billion or more in equity,” Nazim said, adding that the differ-

ence between small and large Islamic banks will widen. Between 100 to 150 new financial institutions could be launched in the next five to seven years to cater to markets that are new to Islamic finance or have low rates of penetration including Egypt, Libya, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh, he predicted. Ten of the 25 fastest growing emerging markets have large Muslim populations.

PROFITABILITY LAGGING Even while growing, Islamic banks have experienced a decline in profitability, and their average return on equity lags behind that of conventional banks by 20 percent, Nazim estimated. Return on equity for both Islamic and conventional banks has deteriorated since 2008 in the wake of the financial crisis, dropping to 12 percent in 2011 for Islamic banks, compared with 15 percent for conventional banks, the report showed. This 3 percent gap is much wider than the 1 percent difference observed in 2008-2010.

The return on assets for Islamic banks dropped to 1.3 percent in 2011 from 1.7 percent in 2008, while rising for conventional banks to 1.7 percent in 2011 from 1.5 percent in 2008. Operating expenses are 50 percent higher for Islamic banks, while their cost of funds still remain more competitive than for conventional banks, the report said. Some banks have started to focus on improving efficiency and reducing costs, which could boost their profit margins by about 25 percent within two to three years, Nazim said. “The severity of this performance challenge has put many Islamic banks in a difficult place.

They have taken the decision to transform the way their businesses work,” Nazim said.— Reuters

overcoming “a kind of shame”. “There are lots of young qualified people in our country but there is just no work for us,” Carvalho said.

Across southern Europe, humanitarian groups are confronting rampant poverty in all its guises. “These are families in which every member of working age is out of work, people who lost their home because they were evicted, who are not used to turning to social protection networks,” said Fernando Cuevas, spokesman for the Spanish Red Cross. “Where is the middle class today in Spain?” asked David Polo, who looks after the homeless for Caritas in Burgos, a northern Spanish town. “It’s breaking up. We are starting to see a polarization of this class.” Humanitarian groups are especially worried about women and children.

The UN children’s fund UNICEF estimated there were 2.2 million children living below the poverty line in Spain. In Portugal, the education ministry has sounded the alarm because in the space of just 20 days the number of pupils lacking food leapt from 10,000 to 13,000. Even pensioners, some of them looking after entire families, are no longer safe: the right-leaning government in Spain has announced that the rise in retirement pensions will be less than had been expected in 2013, breaking an oft-repeated electoral promise. And on Sunday, thousands of doctors and other health workers took to the streets of Madrid to decry government plans to privatize some health services.— AFP

AUHUI: A homeless elderly man sleeps on the concrete floor in Hefei, central China’s Anhui province. — AFP

China’s wealth gap hits alarming level SHANGHAI: China’s wealth gap has widened to a level where it is among the world’s most unequal nations, a Chinese academic institute said in a survey, as huge numbers of poor are left behind by the economic boom. China’s Gini coefficient-a commonly used measure of inequality-was 0.61 in 2010, the Survey and Research Center for China Household Finance said, well above what some academics view as the warning line of 0.40.

A figure of 0 would represent perfect equality, and 1 total inequality. “Currently, China’s household income gap is huge,” said the institute, founded by the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics and the Institute of Financial Research, which operates under China’s central bank. “The Gini coefficient is as high as 0.61, rare in the world.” China’s growing wealth gap is a major concern for Communist authorities, who are keen to avoid public discontent that could lead to social unrest in the country of 1.3 billion people.

In a sign of the sensitivity surrounding the issue the government has not released an official Gini coefficient for the country as a whole for more than a decade, since it put the statistic at 0.412 in 2000. A figure of 0.61 would put China at the top of a list of 16 countries by 2010 Gini coefficient on the World Bank website. The largest set of figures available on the site is for 2008, covering 47 countries and headed by Honduras on 0.613. The Global Times newspaper, which reported the latest survey results on Monday, said China’s wealth gap had reached an “alarming” level.

But the research centre played down its own findings, saying such a phenomenon was common in rapidly developing economies. It called on the government to use its vast financial resources to support low-income earners in the short term, while improving education to help address the imbalance in the long term. “The Gini coefficient certainly points to the serious issue of income inequality,” the director of the Chengdu city-based centre Gan Li said. —AFP

Opel to slim down BERLIN: General Motors Co’s Opel unit said yesterday that it plans to end car production at one plant in Germany in 2016, but a slimmed-down factory may continue to make components. Employees at the Bochum plant in northwestern Germany, one of four in the country, were told that vehicle production will end when the company stops making the current Zafira model. That was widely expected after the company announced a turnaround plan in June, and “despite intensive efforts this situation could not be changed,” Opel said. Opel, like several other massmarket car manufacturers on the continent, has been struggling amid economic gloom in Europe and overcapacity in the auto industry. The turnaround plan envisions cost cuts, new models and efforts to win new export sales. The Adam Opel GmbH unit is based in Germany, where the automaker has more than 20,000 employees - a bit over half of GM’s total European workforce. About 3,000 people work at the Bochum plant, and it wasn’t clear how many jobs might remain after car production ends.

German airports paralyzed BERLIN: Airport security personnel in Germany staged warning strikes yesterday in a dispute over pay, bringing disruption to several German airports. Around 1,000 security staff went on strike at airports including Berlin and Frankfurt, Europe’s third-busiest, the giant services union Verdi said, although some resumed work shortly afterwards. It was not immediately clear what impact the strike was having in terms of delays and cancellations as some flights were already affected by heavy snowfall in several parts of Germany.

Verdi said it called the warning strike over what it said were stuttering negotiations on a collective wage bargaining agreement for its 15,000 members employed as security staff at airports in Germany. “We want employers to work with us towards a constructive agreement,” a Verdi spokesman said. “Then there will be no need to strike,” added the spokesman.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

BUSINESS

Gold firms on expectations of US monetary stimulus LONDON: Gold prices firmed for a third session yesterday on expectations the Federal Reserve will further stimulate monetary policy when it meets later this week, and as the dollar edged lower versus the euro.

Investors are awaiting the outcome of a Fed meeting today and tomorrow, after which the US central bank is expected to announce fresh bond purchases of $45 billion a month to replace its Operation Twist program, which is due to expire at the end of the year. Peter Fertig, consultant with Quantitative Commodity Research, said that despite a drop in the US unemployment rate, investors anticipated a climate of further monetary stimulus, which benefits gold by keeping up pressure on longer-term inter-

est rates and stoking inflation expectations.

“As long as the fiscal cliff is looming, the Fed is not going to spurn monetary stimulus,” he said, referring to the looming $600 billion combination of expiring tax cuts and automatic spending reductions. Spot gold rose 0.5 percent to $1,712.11 an ounce by 1119 GMT, while US gold was up 0.5 percent to $1,713.60. Prices rose on Friday in the wake of better than expected US payrolls data, which initially took to the metal to one-month lows. While the data first stoked speculation that the Fed could hold off significantly more monetary easing, those expectations eased back as markets digested the report.

“Despite the upbeat tone of the

Japan’s struggling Renesas to raise up to $2.43 billion TOKYO: Struggling Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics said yesterday it would raise up to $2.43 billion from a share sale and a separate capital injection to rescue its troubled balance sheet. The deal would see Renesas sell about 150 billion yen ($1.82 billion) worth of shares to the state-linked Innovation Network Corp. of Japan (INCJ) and top corporate names including Toyota and Panasonic.

INCJ is also ready to kick in another 50 billion yen worth of investments or loans as part of a government-backed bailout for the financially-troubled firm. “The global financial crisis, natural disasters such as last year’s earthquake and flooding in Thailand... have been threatening Japan’s major industries, manufacturers in particular,” Renesas said in a statement announcing the deal. “We face a situation where our financial condition could rapidly worsen.” Renesas is one of the world’s top suppliers of microcontrollers, which function as the brain of automobiles and many electronics products. But Japan’s microchip sector has struggled with a strong yen and fierce competition, especially from South Korean and Taiwanese rivals, with Renesas’s tattered balance sheet in desperate need of a cash injection. “We needed to quickly secure a large sum of money to ensure our future growth,” Renesas President Yasushi Akao told a press briefing in Tokyo. “We are trying to improve our earnings as soon as possible,” Akao added.

The firm-created through the mergers of Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric and NEC Corp’s chip units-posted a whopping 94.3 billion yen loss in the three months to September owing to huge restructuring costs, and has forecast a full-year net loss of 150 billion yen. The deal announced yesterday was reportedly put together to counter an investment bid from US-based Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, over fears about a key supplier to Japanese industry falling into foreign hands. The INCJ, which is funded by the government and private sector, will buy about 138 billion yen of the new shares, giving it a two-thirds stake in Renesas, while the group of eight firms will

most recent data, our economists do not expect a less dovish stance at the FOMC’s December meeting due to the downside risk posed by the fiscal cliff,” Barclays Capital said in a note.

“Continuity is the theme for US monetary policy.” In the short term, gold prices were also supported by gains in the euro versus the dollar, as the single currency firmed 0.2 percent.

European shares fell, however, on worries over Italy’s economy after Prime Minister Mario Monti said he would resign. An election in February looks likely, raising questions over who will navigate the euro zone’s third-biggest economy out of the debt crisis.

FUND HOLDINGS Hedge fund and money managers

cut their bullish bets on US gold last week to the lowest level since late August, and also reduced silver longs, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed. “The cracks in investor confidence we saw in the week preceding last, widened considerably this past week,” Standard Bank said in a note yesterday. “Net speculative length dropped by a formidable 148.2 tons.”

Holdings of gold ETFs fell more than 11,800 ounces on a net basis on Friday after hitting a record high earlier last week. ETF Securities reported an outflow of more than 16,500 ounces from its non-US funds that day. Indian gold prices extended gains for a fourth session to revisit its highest level in nearly a week, prompting

buyers to hold off fresh purchases.

Many are eyeing the Fed meeting starting today for direction.

From a technical perspective, gold prices are likely to encounter support at their 100-day moving average around $1,702 an ounce, a level it dipped below last week for the first time since mid-August.

Among other precious metals, silver was up 1 percent at $33.32 an ounce. Spot platinum was up 1.1 percent at $1,612.70, while palladium was up 0.2 percent at $694.30, having earlier hit a near three-month peak at $699.50. Improving vehicle market in China is likely to provide some help for platinum group metals, used in producing exhaust-reducing autocatalysts. — Reuters

Shares crawl higher

pick up about 12 billion yen in shares combined, Renesas said.

“The company needs a leaner structure to increase its competitiveness,” INCJ Chief Executive Kimikazu Noumi told the media briefing. “It has to achieve a level of efficiency that is on par with its rivals in the global marketplace.” The company’s stock closed 3.01 percent higher at 308 yen in Tokyo trade yesterday, with the deal announced after markets closed. Renesas announced earlier this year it would cut thousands of jobs and reorganize domestic production to concentrate on its mainstay businesses. Media reports said it planned to step up restructuring by boosting the number of job cuts to 14,000 — or roughly 30 percent of its workforce-and shutting or selling nine domestic plants within three years. Renesas has said it would boost outsourcing of its chip production to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, including a bigger share of its output of microcontrollers-key components in vehicles and home appliances. — AFP

TOKYO: Struggling Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics president Yasushi Akao (right) bows his head, while Koichi Nomi, CEO of the statelinked Innovation Network Corp of Japan (INCJ) looks on at a press conference in Tokyo yesterday. — AFP

Monti resignation plans knock markets SINGAPORE: Asian shares touched a 16month high yesterday as investors took heart from rising factory output growth in China and a falling unemployment rate in the United States that raised hopes about the outlook for the world’s top two economies. The positive mood was tempered by Chinese trade data that saw both exports and imports come in below forecasts, but equities and commodities such as copper and oil remained in the black.

European shares were seen opening flatto-higher. “At this point, bad data is not as much of a surprise for the market as good data is,” said Christian Keilland, head of trading at BTIG in Hong Kong. The euro was under pressure, having been knocked by the prospect of a recession in Germany and political uncertainty in Italy after Prime Minister Mario Monti, an investors’ favorite, said at the weekend he intended to resign early.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.2 percent and Tokyo’s Nikkei share average firmed 0.1 percent. Financial spreadbetters called London’s FTSE 100, Paris’s CAC-40 and Frankfurt’s DAX to open up about 0.1 percent. The MSCI index rose more than 1 percent last week, its third successive weekly gain, taking it to levels not seen since early August 2011. There was a further boost for regional markets on Sunday when China reported a November pick-up in factory output and retail-sales growth to eight-month highs.

However, data released by China yesterday showed exports rose in November at a much weaker pace than expected, while imports were flat. “The export slowdown shows external demand faces uncertainty due to concerns over the fiscal cliff in the US,” said Zhang Zhiwei, chief China economist at Nomura in Hong Kong. “Nonetheless it does not change our view that growth is on track for a strong recovery in Q4, as (growth) is mostly domestically driven.” On Wall Street, the Dow and S&P 500 had risen modestly on Friday after an unexpected fall in the US jobless rate. S&P 500 futures were flat yesterday.

BANGKOK: A foreign tourist sits next to a large art display of a shark displayed at a shopping mall in Bangkok. — AFP Tokyo. Italian bond yields will be closely MARKETS WATCH ITALY In Europe, investors hoped the weakness in watched yesterday. The 10-year yield, the external demand evident in the Chinese main barometer of investor confidence, stood export number is not a pointer for German at 4.5 percent at the end of last week, 323 trade data due later. The euro slid in early basis points higher than the yield on the lowtrading towards a two-week low of $1.2876 er risk German equivalent but well below the plumbed on Friday, before popping back 7.3 percent peak hit last year, when the above $1.29. Investors had sold the euro after spread over German Bunds hit 550 points. The Germany’s central bank on Friday warned that US dollar rose about 0.3 percent against a basthe euro-zone’s biggest economy could soon ket of major currencies. Commodity markets were also generally firmer, with copper, which enter recession.

Italian Prime Minister Monti’s surprise draws strength from expectations of Chinese announcement at the weekend came a few industrial demand, rising 0.9 percent to days after former Prime Minister Silvio around $8,105 a ton and oil rising around 0.5 Berlusconi abruptly withdrew support for percent. Brent crude traded around $107.60 a Monti’s technocrat government, formed over barrel and US crude fetched about $86.40. a year ago in an effort to restore Italy’s credi- “Investors are slightly more optimistic about bility with investors. “If Monti’s pro-euro China’s economic recovery than before and stance is to back off, that should raise con- that is supportive for oil,” said Ken Hasegawa, cerns about the euro,” said Junya Tanase, chief a commodity sales manager at Newedge currency strategist at JPMorgan Chase in Japan. — Reuters

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Egyptian pounds

.2740000 .4490000 .3610000 .2990000 .2820000 .2930000 .0040000 .0020000 .0763520 .7438750 .3880000 .0720000 .7292370 .0430000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2812500 GB Pound/KD .4510830 Euro .3635860 Swiss francs .3010110 Canadian dollars .2844500 Danish Kroner .0487300 Swedish Kroner .0421060 Australian dlr .2949470 Hong Kong dlr .0362900 Singapore dlr .2303440 Japanese yen .0034100 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 Pakistan rupee .0000000 Bangladesh taka .0000000 UAE dirhams .0766040 Bahraini dinars .7463180 Jordanian dinar .0000000 Saudi Riyal/KD .0750200 Omani riyals .7308040 Philippine Peso .0000000

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. ASIAN COUNTRIES

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - transfer Irani Riyal - cash

3.421 5.193 2.912 2.185 3.241 233.090 36.409 3.441 6.886 9.211 0.271 0.273

.2840000 .4600000 .3710000 .3110000 .2920000 .3020000 .0067500 .0035000 .0771190 .7513510 .4060000 .0770000 .7365660 .0510000 .2833500 .4544510 .3663010 .3032590 .2865740 .0490940 .0424210 .2971490 .0365610 .2320640 .0034350 .0052420 .0022120 .0029390 .0035110 .0771760 .7518910 .4007780 .0758800 .7362610 .0069770

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

GCC COUNTRIES 75.270 77.556 733.140 749.700 76.859

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 47.700 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 45.948 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.317 Tunisian Dinar 179.600 Jordanian Dinar 398.150 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.894 Syrian Lier 3.859 Morocco Dirham 33.391 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 282.150 Euro 367.640 Sterling Pound 455.390 Canadian dollar 288.940 Turkish lire 157.930 Swiss Franc 305.360 Australian dollar 298.800 US Dollar Buying 280.950 GOLD 320.000 161.000 83.000

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria

51.100 734.190 3.080 7.200 78.180 75.470 232.730 35.110 2.692 457.300 43.200 305.500 3.400 9.570 198.263 77.060 283.000 1.360

10 Tola

GOLD 1,822.200

Sterling Pound US Dollar

734.010 2.937 6.917 77.750 75.470 232.730 34.110 2.195 455.300 304.000 3.400 9.420 76.960 282.600

COUNTRY

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 455.300 282.600

SELL CASH

SELL DRAFT

299.400 751.680 3.700 289.600 555.100 46.000 49.800 167.800 48.000 369.200 37.160 5.500 0.032 0.161 0.243 3.520 400.540 0.191 95.690 45.500 4.340 238.900 1.831

297.900 751.680 3.457 288.100

232.700 46.077 367.700 37.010 5.200 0.031

SELL DRAFT

Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro US Dollar Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

300.39 290.28 306.97 367.94 282.50 455.75 3.51 3.478 5.183 2.197 3.256 2.926 76.90 751.40 46.08 402.04 734.45 77.93 75.46

SELL CASH

300.000 289.000 307.000 366.750 283.150 455.600 3.690 3.565 5.450 2.300 3.600 3.115 77.500 749.500 47.700 399.600 734.000 77.850 75.850

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd 400.510 0.190 95.690 3.270 237.400

Rate for Transfer

Selling Rate

US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro

282.550 286.480 453.910 365.130

Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

302.305 748.045 76.905 77.555 75.310 398.295 46.053 2.188 5.197 2.915 3.453 6.897 693.099 4.426 9.295 4.385 3.340 92.425

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co.

UAE Exchange Centre WLL

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY

Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

Currency

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah Yemeni Riyal Euro Canadian Dollars Nepali rupee

282.400 2.917 5.212 2.199 3.455 6.940 76.990 75.465 750.700 46.049 458.400 2.990 1.550 370.800 291.600 3.265

Al Mulla Exchange Currency

Transfer Rate (Per 1000)

US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

282.000 368.000 454.950 287.200 3.475 5.200 45.900 2.185 3.465 6.895 2.925 751.050 76.800 75.300

23

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

BUSINESS

In giant ‘garage sale’, TV giants hawk $3 billion of assets TOKYO: Panasonic Corp, Japan’s struggling maker of Viera brand TVs, owns more than 10 million square meters of office and factory space, dormitories for its workers and sports facilities for its rugby, baseball and women’s athletics teams. As it battles for Christmas shoppers’ wallets in the year-end holiday season, the sprawling electronics conglomerate is also seeking buyers for some of those properties to trim its fixed costs and improve cashflow at a time of intense competition, particularly from South Korean rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co. Japan’s other troubled TV makers, Sony Corp and Sharp Corp, are also selling buildings and businesses in a giant ‘garage sale’ that could raise a combined $3 billion. Panasonic plans to raise $1.34 billion from offloading property and shares in other Japanese companies by end-March, the group’s chief financial officer Hideaki Kawai said. “We have a lot of land and buildings in Japan and overseas,” he said in an interview at the company’s head office in Osaka, in western Japan. He declined to list which properties would go on the block, but said most are in Japan.

Included is a 24-storey central Tokyo block - built in 2003 with more than 47,300 square meters and housing 2,000 Panasonic workers - a source familiar with the plan said. Kawai

added that Panasonic would raise about a quarter of the sell-off funds by getting rid of shares it owns in other companies - a common practice of cross-shareholdings in Japan. The proceeds would help bolster free cashflow to 200 billion yen ($2.43 billion) for the business year to March, Kawai said, and allow Panasonic to reduce its debt and maintain its crucial research and development effort as it revamps its business portfolio.

It will sell more assets in the year starting in April if cashflow dips below 200 billion yen, Kawai added.

Panasonic President Kazuhiro Tsuga has promised to shut or sell businesses operating at below a 5 percent margin.

Those sales could start as soon as April.

Panasonic’s fixed assets of $21 billion are around 30 percent more than those of Apple Inc, and are almost double the company’s market value.

The company, founded almost a century ago as a small electrical extension socket maker, trades at around half its book value - which includes intangible assets such as patents. Sony trades at 39 percent of book, Sharp at 30 percent. The fixed assets - buildings, land and machinery - of the three companies that were not so long ago a byword for innovation in household gadgetry total around $42 billion, while their combined market value is $24 billion.

CASHFLOW IS KING The three firms have been downgraded by credit ratings agencies, making it tougher to raise funding on capital markets, and making asset sales more urgent. Selling assets “is good in terms of their credit ratings because, for all three, it will lower fixed costs and they can reduce their capex requirements. Eventually, this could improve operating margins and, more importantly, cashflow,” said Alvin Lim, an analyst at Fitch Ratings in Seoul.

Fitch, which makes its ratings without input from company management, last month cut Panasonic to BB and Sony to BB minus, the first time one of the major agencies has relegated either company to junk status. Sharp is ranked B minus, adding to its borrowing costs. “We rate Panasonic as investment grade, and it should have various funding options. Selling assets it can do without, to avoid raising additional borrowing, can be an option,” said Osamu Kobayashi, an analyst at Standard & Poor’s.

While Korean rivals have also benefited from a weaker local currency, data from the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association shows that Japanese production of consumer electronic equipment fell to just above $15 billion last year from more than $19 billion a decade ago. Output in September was

just $980 million, half last year’s level.

“The gap with Korean makers seems to be widening. It’s going to be very difficult for them to regain their top-tier position,” said Fitch’s Lim. As the three Japanese firms, all under new leadership, have sketched out restructuring plans, the cost of insuring their debt against defaulting in 5 years has dropped from spikes just a month ago. Credit default swaps for Sharp and Sony are down to levels last seen 3 months ago, while Panasonic’s have dropped 40 percent in the past month.

THREE PATHS While Panasonic is looking to revamp its business around batteries, auto parts and household appliances, Sony is doubling down on smartphones, gaming and cameras. Sharp, meanwhile, is focusing on display screens and is forging alliances with the likes of Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry and US chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. Sony may also take the real estate sale route to raise much-needed cash, with a possible sale of its 37-storey New York headquarters, dubbed by New Yorkers as the ‘Chippendale’ because of its design that is reminiscent of the period English furniture.

Selling that jewel could raise $1 billion, media have reported.

The maker of Vaio laptops, PlayStation

gaming consoles and Bravia TVs may also sell its battery business, which makes lithium ion power packs for tablets, PCs and mobile phones. The company has been approached by investment banks offering to sell the unit, which employs 2,700 people and has three factories in Japan and two overseas assembly plants. Sony values the business’s fixed assets at $636 million. Potential buyers could include BYD Co Ltd, a Chinese carmaker backed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, and Taiwan’s Hon Hai - which part owns Sharp’s advanced LCD panel plant in Sakai, western Japan, and is in talks to buy TV assembly plants in China, Malaysia and Mexico for $667 million, Japan’s Sankei newspaper has reported.

Sharp has mortgaged nearly all its properties to secure a $4.6 billion bailout from Japanese banks and so has few assets to offer in a grand garage sale. Instead, it’s selling part of the garage.

Qualcomm has agreed to buy a 5 percent stake in Sharp, making it the largest shareholder. Hon Hai, which earlier this year agreed to invest in Sharp before its stock slumped in the wake of record losses - has said it remains interested in taking a stake. “Whatever they can get to get through this fiscal period by scaling down their operation is a critical step for them to remain afloat,” said Fitch’s Lim.—Reuters

Japan’s economic data sparks recession fears Consumer confidence worsens; BOJ under pressure

CAIRO: A street vendor carries bread on her head to be sold in Tahrir Square in Cairo yesterday. —AP

Egypt suspends tax rises, putting IMF loan at risk CAIRO: President Mohamed Morsi suspended planned tax increases yesterday, shortly after they were formally announced, in a policy shift that could imperil Egypt’s ability to secure a $4.8 billion loan from the IMF. Opposition groups, locked in a battle with the government over a constitutional referendum scheduled for Saturday, began attacking the tax increases on social media immediately after they were published in the official gazette at the weekend.

They include increases on the sales tax on goods and services that range from alcoholic beverages, cigarettes and mobile phone calls to automobile licences and quarrying permits. The taxes are thought to form part of an austerity package included in a program the government has presented to the International Monetary Fund to win approval for the loan it is seeking to shore up finances battered by political turmoil. “The next days are going to be decisive, not only about the political situation, but also whether the IMF loan can be secured,” said a Western diplomat who follows the loan talks.

The IMF wants assurances that Egypt is acting to cut a budget deficit running at 11 percent of gross domestic product. It is also worried about a decline in foreign currency reserves, which have plunged by $21 billion since the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. Egypt has been spending reserves and borrowing from foreign governments to help support its currency. In November, reserves fell by $448 million to $15 billion, equivalent to barely three months’ imports. Morsi “has decided to halt these decisions from taking effect,” his official website said. “He has commissioned the government to hold an open social discussion led by specialized experts to find out how much popular support they have.”

IMF CRUNCH TIME The IMF board is due to meet on Dec 19 to decide on the loan, which was agreed at the technical level on Nov 20. “Consideration of the agreement by the IMF Executive Board

will require that there is no major change in the economic outlook and implementation plans,” an IMF spokeswoman said last month, a week after many thousands of people took to the streets to protest at a decree by Morsi giving himself wide powers. These plans include the passage of a revised 2012/13 budget that reflects planned tax and spending measures, she said.

“What we have seen today, with the postponement of these reform measures, in principle this would violate what the IMF has stated as a kind of precondition for moving ahead,” the Western diplomat said. If the government is successful in pushing through the constitutional referendum it would only have a four-day window to reconfirm the tax measures before the IMF board meets. “Even in this positive scenario, it would remain doubtful whether the government has the reform capacity, because the measures we are seeing now are the low-hanging fruit,” the diplomat said. “The more intense measures the rationalisation of energy subsidies - are supposed to go ahead in April. In principle, we thought this would be a real test, whether the government can push through reform.

What we’ve seen is very swift resistance to the first generation of measures.” The IMF has stressed in the past that it wanted broad political support for any reform program. This seems to have been broken amid the bitterness in recent weeks between the Islamist-led government and Egypt’s liberal opposition.

Simon Kitchen, strategist at EFG-Hermes, said he thought the IMF would be understanding, given Egypt’s circumstances. “Egypt has already made some small reforms on electricity and fuel pricing in the past few months, so they are moving in the right direction, and the agreement is for 22 months,” he said. “But the IMF will be looking for these tax reforms to be reinstated once the political temperature has cooled.” Egypt has said it plans to rein in its budget deficit to 8.5 percent in the financial year that ends in June 2014 by better targeting subsidies and expanding the tax base. —Reuters

Abu Dhabi-owned Falcon eyes more acquisitions DUBAI: Falcon Private Bank, the Abu Dhabiowned entity which bought the London unit of Clariden Leu, is eyeing more acquisitions in the boutique wealth management sector as the industry consolidates to cut costs, a top executive said yesterday. Zurichbased Falcon agreed to buy the Clariden Leu business from Credit Suisse in October, including some 2 billion Swiss francs ($2.1 billion) in assets.

Falcon, which has around $12 billion in assets, is evaluating more such opportunities, Chief Investment Officer David

Pinkerton said on a conference call, while adding there was no time frame to do a deal. “We have a process underway to evaluate opportunities but we are also cognizant of the fact that you need to integrate these acquisitions efficiently to succeed. There is no pressure on us to do a deal next year,” Pinkerton said. Consolidation in the wealth management industry has been a major theme in the banking sector since the 2008 financial crisis, as an increase in costs and regulation puts intense pressure on profit margins. —Reuters

TOKYO: Japan’s economy contracted for a second straight quarter in JulySeptember, revised government data showed yesterday, indicating that weak global demand nudged the export-reliant economy into a mild recession. Analysts expect another quarter of contraction in the final three months of this year due to sluggish exports to China, keeping the Bank of Japan under pressure to loosen monetary policy as early as this month.

“There have been some positive indicators out in October but there is still a good chance that Japan’s economy will suffer another contraction in the October-December quarter,” said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute in Tokyo. “The Bank of Japan may ease policy this month, as suggested in remarks by Deputy Governor Kiyohiko Nishimura last week. The bias is for further easing, so even if the central bank stands pat this month it will likely act in January.”

Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 0.9 percent in JulySeptember from the previous quarter, revised government figures showed, unchanged from preliminary data reported last month. That compared with economists’ median forecast for a 0.8 percent contraction. The figure translates into an annualized contraction of 3.5 percent in real, priceadjusted terms, also unchanged from the preliminary data issued last month. The government revised GDP figures for April-June to show a small contraction of 0.03 percent, indicating that the economy contracted for two straight quarters and meeting the technical definition of a recession.

The prior figure had shown growth of 0.1 percent.

CAPEX FALLS MORE THAN EXPECTED Capital expenditure fell a revised

3.0 percent in the third quarter, compared with a 2.8 percent decline expected by economists and a preliminary reading of a 3.2 percent decline. Separate data showed Japan’s current account surplus fell 29.4 percent in October

which includes views on incomes and jobs, fell for the third month in a row, prompting the government to cut its assessment on consumer confidence, saying there were signs of weakness. Meanwhile, Japan’s service sector sentiment index, a

lower house election on Dec 16, according to media polls, and return to power for the first time since 2009.

A weak economic outlook and threats from politicians to limit the BOJ’s independence are likely to keep up pressure on the central

TOKYO: An international freighter (right) approaches a container terminal at the Tokyo port yesterday. Japan confirmed that the world’s third-largest economy shrank in the three months to September, stoking fears the country is slipping into a recession. —AFP from a year earlier, compared with the median estimate for a 59.2 percent annual decline, largely due to shrinking exports and increasing costs of fuel oil imports.

The nation’s consumer confidence and service sector business sentiment showed mixed results in November. The survey’s sentiment index for general households,

survey of workers such as taxi drivers, hotel workers and restaurant staff, slightly improved for the first time in four but the government kept its view on the index that the economy remained weak.

Japan’s main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, a champion of big spending on public works, is on course to win a solid majority in a

bank to ease monetary policy further. BOJ Deputy Governor Kiyohiko Nishimura said last week the central bank will debate whether further stimulus is needed to support the economy, offering the strongest signal to date that it may loosen policy again at its next rate review on Dec. 19-20 in the face of growing political pressure. —Reuters

Greece extends buyback offer ATHENS: Greece has extended its offer to buy back debt until today, seeking more bids from bondholders after falling just short of a target to retire bonds worth 30 billion euros at a cost of just 10 billion euros. The buyback is designed to provide for about half of a 40-billion euro debt relief package for Athens agreed last month by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Its success is crucial to ensuring Greece’s debt is put back on sustainable footing and-more immediately-to unlocking badly-needed aid for the country. The offer had been due to end on Friday. The debt agency extended the offer to 1200 GMT today. “The aim is to reach the 30 billion euro target on the face value of debt to be bought back,” said a government official, who declined to be named. Greece was given 10 billion euros to conduct the buyback.

They source said the aim was to use all of it. A senior Greek banker who spoke on condition of anonymity said Athens aimed to use the delay to get another 3 to 4 billion euros worth of bonds offered for exchange. “This will be easily covered by Greek banks, if foreign bondholders do not offer more,” the banker said. Greek banks and insur-

ers had tendered about 10 billion euros of bonds out of their total holdings of about 17 billion euros, the banker said.

Nearly 63 billion euros of Greek debt held by private investors was eligible for the buyback.

Shortly before the previous Friday deadline expired, Greek banks got board approvals to offer as much as

100 percent of their bondholdings to make the buyback work. Athens had offered better-than-expected terms for the buyback to entice investors, with price ranges at a premium over market prices. But Greek lenders had been reluctant to sell back to the government all of their bondholdings, trying to limit the future profits and interest

PALIA KOKKINIA: Unemployed carpenter, George Tsouvalakis (31) holds his daughter, Angelina at the family’s tiny flat’s yard in the suburb of Palia Kokkinia, near the port of Piraeus.

George and Lia Tsouvalakis face a daily struggle to put food on the table of their tiny, damp flat. —AFP

income on their bonds they will forego.

However, they are expected to assist to ensure a successful buyback since they depend on the bailout funds that Athens stands to receive once it is completed. A big chunk of the 34.4 billion euros of aid due will be used to recapitalize them. Athens badly needs the aid to revive its ailing economy, which is on track for a sixth year of recession due to austerity measures including spending cuts and tax hikes. The EU and the IMF have been withholding rescue payments to Greece for six months because it had failed on pledges to shore up its finances, privatize and make its economy more competitive.

Greece and its international lenders had shied away from setting a binding target for the buyback, apart from saying that Athens would spend a maximum of 10 billion euros on it. Under the scheme, Greece was expected to spend that amount to repurchase 30 billion euros of debt, shaving it by a net 20 billion euros. That would help slash Greece’s debt to 124 percent of GDP by 2020, ensuring that the IMF stays on board in the country’s rescue. Greece set Dec 18 as the settlement date for offers on the 20 series of outstanding bonds it is buying back. —Reuters

24

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

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Oil climbs to $108 China oil demand growth fastest in 2 years LONDON: Brent crude oil rose to $108 a barrel yesterday, snapping five straight days of losses after Chinese data showed the world’s biggest energy consumer was rebounding after a slowdown. China’s implied oil demand in November surpassed 10 million barrels per day (bpd) for the first time while its crude imports rose to the second-highest daily rate on record, providing more evidence of recovery after data over the weekend showed refinery runs rose to a new high. Brent futures jumped $1.13 to a high of $108.15 before easing back to trade around $108.00 by 1140 GMT. The rally ended Brent’s longest losing streak since early November. The North Sea contract shed almost 4 percent last week.

US light crude oil futures rose 50 cents to $86.43, reversing four straight days of declines. “Chinese data is particularly strong,” said Carsten Fritsch, senior oil analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. “The figures are another confirmation that Chinese oil demand is accelerating again, and there are good reasons to expect that it will carry on growing strongly next year.” Apparent oil demand in China, the largest user of energy and second-biggest consumer of oil after the United States, grew at its fastest pace in two years and was 610,000 bpd above the previous record. China imported 5.69 million bpd of crude last month, just below an all time high of 5.98 million bpd in February this year.

REBOUNDING ECONOMIC GROWTH Data on Sunday showed China’s refinery runs rose 9.1 percent to 10.125 million bpd from a year earlier as companies started new refining units. China’s factory output

and retail sales jumped in November as consumer inflation bounced off 33-month lows, indicating the country is enjoying an enviable mix of benign inflation and rebounding economic growth. “The indus-

LAGOS: A petrol attendant fills a car at a Total petrol station in Lagos, Nigeria.

French oil company Total SA has sold its stake in an offshore oil field near Nigeria for $2.5 billion to the Chinese state-run firm Sinopec Corp, a sign of the China’s growing stakes in the West African nation’s oil production. — AP

trial production and retail sales data China released over the weekend build on the picture painted by recent data, which suggests that China’s economy has turned the corner and is growing at over 7.5 percent annually,” said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

The data followed numbers out of the United States that showed the unemployment rate fell to a near four-year low of 7.7 percent. Asian stock markets took heart from the positive data, rising to a 16-month high.

Investors await the outcome of a meeting of the US Federal Reserve, which is expected to signal it will continue to pump money into the economy in 2013. The market will also watch for comments on the supply outlook at a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Dec 12.

The group is expected to stick with an output target of 30 million bpd agreed a year ago despite high stockpiles and slowing demand growth because turmoil in the Middle East has kept prices above $100 for most of this year. “The most likely outcome at OPEC this week is a roll-over, with no change in output targets,” said Tamas Varga, oil analyst at London brokers PVM Oil Associates.

Commerzbank’s Fritsch agreed: “That means OPEC will continue to over-produce.

The only way OPEC can reduce output is for Saudi Arabia to produce less, but it is very unlikely Saudi Arabia will cut because it does not want to risk a rise in oil prices.” — Reuters

Virgin, Delta in joint venture LONDON: Virgin Atlantic will form a joint venture on transatlantic flights with Delta Air Lines if the US carrier buys Singapore Airlines’ 49 percent stake in the UK airline, a source close to Virgin said. The source said Virgin founder Richard Branson was not immediately looking to sell any of his 51 percent stake in the UK airline and was “concentrating on working with Delta” which is closing in on agreeing a deal to buy Singapore’s stake.

Delta and Virgin plan to set up a revenue-sharing deal on flights between Britain and the US, which would involve a code-share agreement, allowing both to sell flights on the other airline and share revenues from ticket sales, the source said.

The joint venture could eventually lead to the pair sharing costs and bringing their prices and schedules into line, the source added.

The partnership would be similar to that operated by IAG’s British Airways (BA) and American Airlines since 2010 on all transatlantic flights

on routes between the US, Canada and Mexico and many European routes.

Airlines like Delta have long hoped to break into London’s capacity-constrained Heathrow airport, a lucrative hub for corporate passengers where landing slots are generally hard to acquire. Virgin Atlantic is the second-largest carrier at Heathrow after BA. A combination with Delta, the second-largest US airline by revenue after United Continental, would be a shot in the arm for Virgin. The British carrier has been battered by rising fuel prices and the euro zone crisis, and posted a loss of around 80 million pounds ($128.16 million) in its last full year.

Singapore and Delta are still in talks over the sale of the stake, which the Asian carrier bought for 600 million pounds in 1999, but now wants to sell to refocus on its key markets. Weekend reports in the British press said Air France-KLM , which also has a partnership with

Qatar’s spot LNG sales share shrinking again DUBAI: Qatar may reduce the share of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales made on a spot basis over coming years but will still have more available for the spot market than it did before last year, according to a report by Qatar National Bank. Until 2010, nearly all Qatar’s LNG was sold under long-term deals. A large increase in production capacity in 2010, just as intended market the United States lost its appetite for imported gas, left Qatar with millions of tons to find buyers for. As its new production lines ramped up towards their total capacity of 77 million tons in early 2011, sales to the highest bidder swelled to around 28 percent of Qatari output last year, up from 9 percent in 2010 and even less in previous years, QNB said.

But Qatari concerns over finding enough longterm buyers have largely vanished since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in early 2011 turned some countries off nuclear power and towards gas, with several deals signed since then and more under negotiation set to shrink the spot share of total exports. “In the period from 2014-21, around 16 percent of production is not covered by existing sales and production agreements (SPAs) and is potentially available to be sold on spot markets,” QNB said in a research note published on Sunday.

QNB said that if talks with potential new buyers including India, Pakistan and Turkey were to result in long-term sales deals, it should keep the proportion of Qatari production sold on spot markets below 16 percent. Twin Qatari LNG exporters Qatargas and Rasgas rarely comment on long term deals until sealed, but have announced mid to long-terms sales agreements with buyers stretching from South America to east Asia over the past year which have mopped up LNG that might otherwise have been sold in Europe on a spot basis.

QNB said the 2011 spike in spot sales was positive for Qatar as a surge in demand from Japan after its nuclear power plants were shut kept prices high.

Qatar, however, prefers long term deals linked to oil prices to protect its multi-billion dollar investments from spot gas price slumps as seen 2009-2010, and will likely sign more long term deals to further reduce spot sales if it can. With the prospect of former major customer the US becoming a competing supplier of LNG to Europe from 2015, thanks to the shale gas boom that decimated Qatari exports to US shores a few years ago, Qatar is trying to lock most of its gas into deals with big buyers South Korea and Japan and emerging markets like China, India and Latin America where demand is rising fast. — Reuters

Delta on some transatlantic routes, was in talks to buy part of Branson’s stake - a deal which would effectively give Delta and Air France-KLM control over Virgin Atlantic.

However, Branson is unlikely to sell down his stake in the near future, the source added.

Branson, who set up Virgin Atlantic in 1984, has been weighing the airline’s future for years and two years ago appointed Deutsche Bank to examine offers. Earlier this month sources told Reuters that Delta was keen to see Air France-KLM - a member of its SkyTeam alliance - buy a stake in Virgin to give the pair control of the British airline’s operations.

The European Union requires that EU carriers be under European control, meaning Delta would need an EU airline as a partner if it wanted majority control of Virgin Atlantic. If Air France-KLM were to buy a small percentage of Branson’s stake, then Virgin Atlantic could continue to be European controlled. — Reuters

Vitol ‘apologizes’ for Kurdish oil purchase VIENNA: Top oil trader Vitol has apologized to the Iraqi government for buying Kurdish oil that was exported via Turkey without Baghdad’s permission, Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul-Kareem Luaibi said on Sunday. Baghdad is in dispute with Kurdistan over oil exports from the northern Iraqi province, insisting the central government has the sole right to export oil, reimbursing payments to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

It considers any other business illegal and tantamount to smuggling by the Kurds. The KRG says exports on its own behalf are legitimate. Luaibi, in Vienna for an OPEC meeting, was asked by reporters how Iraq was dealing with three companies-Vitol, Trafigura and LUKOIL-who have purchased condensate, a light crude oil, sourced from Kurdistan and sold via an intermediary to world markets. “In terms of Vitol, they have cancelled the Kurdish amount and they apologised officially,” said Luaibi. “As for LUKOIL, there will be a meeting about this concern - maybe tomorrow or the day after.” He made no mention of Trafigura.

Kurdistan began selling oil into international markets in independent export deals in October, further challenging Baghdad’s claim to full control over Iraqi oil after signing independent exploration deals with foreign oil majors last year. Luaibi said Kurdistan is now supplying less than 100,000 barrels a day to the central government via a Baghdad-controlled pipeline to Turkey, compared to the 200,000 bpd it has agreed to deliver. Output from Kurdistan is rising but is still only a fraction of total Iraqi exports of 2.6 million bpd.

Luaibi said Baghdad had been informed about oil smuggling by neighboring countries. “We have received messages from the adjacent neighbor countries concerning the smuggling of Iraqi crude oil,” he said. “Iraq will work against any company that buys these smuggled shipments.” Luaibi declined to put a number on how much oil was being smuggled from Kurdistan to Iran and Turkey and then into world markets, but said the volume amounted to the difference between what was being produced by the Kurds and supplied to the central government.

Kurdish deliveries to Baghdad were more than 180,000 bpd last month, he said, and are now below 100,000 bpd. In April, Kurdistan halted shipments of its oil in protest over what it said were overdue payments from the central government to companies in the Kurdish region. Baghdad made an initial payment to the KRG in October, but a subsequent payment is now overdue and Iraq’s deputy prime minister for energy, Hussein Al-Shahristani, recently said it would not be made. Regional sources have said Kurdistan is not getting enough refined oil products to run its power stations under supplies controlled by the central government. — Reuters

25

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

business

Controversial skyscraper alters Chile capital skyline SANTIAGO: The skyline of Chile’s capital has been altered over the past year by a skyscraper-the tallest in South America and one so towering it casts a shadow nearly two kilometers (more than a mile) long. The 70-story Gran Torre Costanera Center, a giant that dwarfs the city’s other skyscrapers, overwhelms the view of a city founded in 1541 by Spanish conquistadors and that remains proud of its colonial-era buildings.

Workers completed the top floor of the nearly $1 billion structure in February, and in March 2013 tenants are expected to start moving in. The 300meter tall Gran Torre is not as tall as New York’s iconic Empire State Building (381 meters) and is less than half the size of the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa (828 meters). But it is significantly taller than the other regional giant, the Trump Ocean Club in Panama City (293 meters).

A six-floor shopping mall has also risen next to the Gran Torre, and three other skyscrapers-two high-end hotels and an office building-are going up nearby. The Gran Torre was built to withstand earthquakes-Chile, located on the

Pacific Ring of Fire, is especially prone to powerful quakes. The building came through with flying colors in February 2010, surviving the 8.8 magnitude quake that devastated much of southcentral Chile with no structural damage.

Residents and city planners complain that people going to and from the complex will generate massive traffic jams and gridlock in an already tightlypacked city.Once the edifice is completed, there will be nearly 700,000 square meters of building space available built on 47,000 square meters of land.

Planners estimate there will be some 240,000 people going to and from the site each day.

“We’re talking about five percent of the city circulating within a few square kilometers,” complained architect and urban planner Julio Hurtado.”The longterm consequences of this chaos it will be a topic for experts to study,” he said.

Capitalist excess or icon of progress? The Gran Torre is located in the heart of Santiago’s financial district, and known locally as ‘Sanhattan.’ It was designed by Cesar Pelli, the Argentine architect who also designed the 452-meter tall

Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Taller than even some of the Andean hills surrounding Santiago, the Torre is now a universal point of reference in this city of six million people.

Its owner, German-born supermarket magnate Horst Paulmann, once gushed that the site will be for Santiago what the Eiffel Tower is for Paris-a comparison that raised eyebrows, if not snickers.”The Eiffel Tower is a monument, not a building. There is no comparison,” said Luis Eduardo Bresacini, head of Chile’s Architects’ Association.

The building may lack the graceful curves of Gustave Eiffel’s iconic structure, but the torpedo-like structure is not without some grace.

“It’s a fairly neutral building,” said Bresacini. Hurtado was kinder. “From an architectural point of view, it is interesting and unique.

A pretty object,” he said. In many ways the Gran Torre is emblematic of 21st century Chile, a country with strong economic growth but with enormous income disparity, where ten percent of the country’s wealthiest have income 35 times higher than the poor-

SANTIAGO: Photo shows the general view of the Gran Torre Costanera Center building (right) under construction - the tallest in South America. —AFP est 10 percent. The Gran Torre, which tectural landmark in Santiago” and will have 41 elevators and 5,500 parking “emblematic of Chile’s commercial spots when it opens, “is a symbol of the development.” Work on the giant strucevolution of wealth, which in Chile is ture halted for ten months in 2009, during the height of the global financial crishown but not shared,” said Hurtado.

It also symbolizes “a country at the sis. The shell at the time seemed to symthreshold of being developed but still bolize the country’s shattered dreams of with brutal contradictions,” he said. The economic grandeur. But when work rebuilders praise their structure as “the started, it became a symbol of Chile’s most imposing commercial and archi- economic recovery. — AFP

Distrust complicates US ‘fiscal cliff’ talks Congressmen see hidden agendas, concealed motives WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama and his Republican opponents in Congress enter a crucial week in the “fiscal cliff” impasse with more than just differences over taxes to bridge: Also in the way is pervasive mistrust among members of Congress that discourages big concessions for fear the other side won’t reciprocate. That distrust is fueling doubts among Republicans and Democrats about relying on the other side to live up to any bargains struck now on deficit reduction in the future, Capitol Hill aides say.

Because resolution of the immediate cliff issues depends in part on commitments by both sides to a framework for overhauling the tax code and entitlement programs over the next year, an atmosphere of disbelief could impede any agreement on the cliff.

Nearly everyone - from Obama to most of the 535 members of the House of Representatives and Senate - say they want to avoid the cliff’s $600 billion in harmful tax hikes and spending cuts set to kick in automatically in the new year, and replace them with more reasoned savings.

Obama wants the tax cuts that originated during the administration of President George W Bush extended for middle class taxpayers only, while Republicans want them extended for all, including the wealthiest. But widespread credibility issues could cause problems for Democrat Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner if and when they have to sell any agreement they forge to their parties in Congress. The task for Boehner, who met Sunday with Obama, may be greater because

NEW YORK: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange yesterday in New York City. Stocks were little changed yesterday morning as investors remained concerned over developments in Europe and ongoing fiscal cliff negotiations in Washington. — AFP many Republicans distrust each other as well as the Democrats.

The distrust between the parties is nothing new, having been built up over years of partisan recrimination. But it’s now become a regular feature of debate on the cliff, on and off the floors of the House and Senate. Some Democrats have spoken darkly of a hidden Republican agenda to gut, not just cut, social safety net programs. Republicans, said Oregon’s Peter DeFazio in a Dec 5 House floor speech, are acting under the “guise of deficit reduction,” to “somehow kill Social Security, which they’ve never supported.”

GOING OVER THE CLIFF? Republicans, for their part, say they don’t believe Democrats will follow through on promises to make spending cuts. “The reason

we haven’t heard Democrat ideas for entitlement reform may be because they have no plans to cut or to reform entitlement spending at all,” Republican Representative John Fleming of Louisiana declared on the House floor last week. “This is just another game from their play book - raise taxes and increase spending, as always,” said Fleming.

And some see behind the firm Democratic stance a desire to go over the cliff in order to discredit Republicans, who several recent polls have indicated will bear the lion’s share of the blame. “I think their whole game plan is take the economy off the fiscal cliff and then blame Republicans,” Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson said on CNN Dec 2. And neither side trusts the other’s math. While Obama maintains his

plan will shrink deficits by $4.4 trillion over four years, the Republican staff on the Senate Budget Committee says it’s more like $400 billion. Doubts about the worth of promises are fueling a renewed argument over the federal debt ceiling which could greatly complicate resolution of the impasse over the cliff.

The nation’s borrowing limit which controls the government’s capacity to borrow money to pay past debts - will need to be increased by the end of February.

Under current law, an act of Congress is required to do that.

Obama is demanding, as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations, enhanced presidential authority over the debt limit, in order to stop Republicans from using it as leverage against the White House.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other Republicans are resisting, saying that without debt ceiling leverage, the White House won’t make the cuts it’s promising.

“Look,” McConnell said in the Senate last week, “the only way we ever cut spending around here is by using the debate over the debt limit to do it.” More broadly, members well aware that Congress gets mired in gridlock on much lesser pieces of legislation, find it hard to conceive of Congress succeeding at the far more complex tasks of overhauling the tax code and entitlement programs. The truth is that many members of Congress share the same low regard for Congress that the public expresses in surveys. Indeed, a regular theme in floor speeches by members of both the House and Senate is dysfunction - their own. — Reuters

Car sales plunge, highlighting France’s shrinking economy PARIS: France’s central bank said yesterday it expected the euro-zone’s second-largest economy to contract in the fourth quarter of 2012, a state underlined by data showing tumbling car sales. The Bank of France repeated a prediction that gross domestic product will drop 0.1 percent in the three month to the end of the year, compared with the third quarter. A statistics office report separately showed that the troubles of France’s car industry continue to take a heavy toll on overall activity, falling for a 12th straight month in October.

“These are quite dire numbers to be honest,” said Joost Beaumont, an economist at ABN AMRO bank who, like the central bank and many other private-sector economists, expects GDP to drop in the fourth quarter. Industrial output, which forecasters had expected to pick up marginally following a 2.7 percent plunge in October, dipped 0.7 percent in October versus September levels-and a large part of that was due to a further fall of 4.7 percent in auto sector output. There is little prospect of an rapid turnaround due to weak demand and overcapacity in the car sector both in France and internationally.

PSA Peugeot-Citroen, which plans to shed 10,000 jobs, is idling its Sochaux plant in eastern France for 19 days over the Christmas holiday period. “In addition to the slowdown in growth resulting from the euro-zone crisis, the weakness in the car industry should continue to be a drag in Q4 (the fourth quarter),” said HSBC bank econo-

mist Pierre-Emmanuel Ferraton. The Bank of France stuck to its prediction of a small drop in fourth-quarter GDP despite news since it first made such a prediction that the French economy had fared better than many predicted in the third, July-September, quarter.

French GDP grew 0.2 percent in the third quarter, defying the Bank of France’s prediction of a 0.1 percent drop, and also bucking the trend in the euro-zone as a whole, which fell into recession with a second quarter of shrinkage in the third quarter. Germany also secured 0.2 percent GDP growth in the third quarter but showed signs of weakness too in data yesterday. The trade surplus in Europe’s largest economy narrowed in October to its lowest level in over half a year as exports posted meager growth in the face of weakening demand from the country’s recession-hit European partners.

The Bank of France also noted that its industrial climate indicator dipped a further 1 point to 91 in a November survey, although a similar measure of sentiment in the services sector held steady at 91. ABN AMRO’s Beaumont said the October drop in industry output was all the more gloomy because economists had on average been expected a 0.3 percent rise, largely on the assumption that it had to improve after such a sharp drop in September. But he and other economists said there were signs that the economy may have hit bottom. “We expect France to resume modest positive growth in 1Q13 (the first quarter of 2013,” said UniCredit economist Tullia Bucco. — Reuters

NICE: The new Maserati Quattroporte is driven on ‘la Promenade des Anglais’ in Nice, southern France, during a presentation to the media yesterday. The new sixthgeneration Maserati Quattroporte is a luxury four-door saloon made by Maserati in Italy and will be shown at the Detroit motor show next month. — AP

US, UK bank seizure plans focus on absorbing losses WASHINGTON: Both the United States and United Kingdom have developed viable approaches to seizing and unwinding failing global financial institutions, but more work is needed on the UK side to ensure that losses can be adequately absorbed, American and UK regulators said on Sunday. The Bank of England and the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said in a joint paper that each country’s plans for dealing with the types of cataclysmic financial failures that marked the 2007-2009 financial crisis would reduce risks to financial stability.

“The FDIC and the Bank of England have developed resolution strategies that take control of the failed company at the top of the group, impose losses on shareholders and unsecured creditors - not on taxpayers - and remove top management and hold them accountable for their action,” they said in the paper.

The new authorities to seize and resolve so-called global systemically important financial institutions came in the United States from the 2010 DoddFrank financial reform law, and in Britain from the anticipated approval by early 2013 of the European Union Recovery and Resolution Directive. Both the US and UK approaches ensure continuity of all critical services of the failing firms and minimize cross-border contagion, the regulators said.

In both approaches, equity holders would likely be wiped out, and unsecured debt holders would face writedowns and conversion of at least part of their holdings to new equity to recapitalize the institutions as part of the restructuring. In the United States, this is a relatively

straightforward process, because in most large financial institutions, the capital structure is largely made up of equity and unsecured debt issued at the holding company level. There is often limited debt issued directly by operating subsidiaries that may be the source of the financial distress that brings down the company.

In the UK, however, financial holding companies at the top of the group do not typically issue much debt - more tends to be issued at the subsidiary level. “For a top-down approach to work, there must be sufficient loss-absorbing capacity available at the top of the group to absorb losses sustained within operational subsidiaries,” the regulators said. UK companies could restructure to issue more debt at the holding company level, they said. UK authorities also need to find better ways of assigning subsidiary losses to unsecured creditors throughout the group.

A statutory tool to “bail in” such losses proposed under the EU directive would need to prevent counterparties from terminating dealings with the failing firm as it is seized. In the 2008 crisis, the sudden pullout by Wall Street counterparties from some large firms helped accelerate their failure and magnified losses later borne by taxpayers.

Valuing a failed financial firm’s assets is also critical to writing down losses and determining which classes of creditors will face conversion to new equity. Both the United States and United Kingdom are working on ways to develop a credible valuation process that can be applied quickly and flexibly. — Reuters

US Federal Reserve likely to expand QE WASHINGTON: Stubborn high unemployment and the looming fiscal cliff challenge give the Federal Reserve all the reason it needs to expand its stimulus efforts when it meets next week, analysts say. Gathering just before its “Twist” asset-swap operation expires at year-end, signs are that the Federal Open Market Committee will replace it with more outright bond purchases, more “quantitative easing” (QE) aimed at lowering interest rates to encourage businesses to invest and hire. The twoday meeting that opens Tuesday comes after Friday’s November data confirmed that the jobs market, the key focus of the Fed, is growing only very slowly. The unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, a still unhealthy level that reflected as much a continuing rise in job market dropouts as it did fresh job creation.

Moreover, FOMC members led by Chairman Ben Bernanke have a worried eye on the Washington battle over the fiscal cliff, the automatic tax hikes and sharp spending cuts that could send the country back into recession if politicians cannot compromise. With a deadline at the end of the year, the White House and congressional Republicans appeared still far apart on an alternative deficit reduction plan that could avert the cliff. The Fed’s Beige Book survey of regional economies, compiled to help FOMC members decide their direction, last week showed widespread worry among businesses over the standoff.

And in late November Bernanke warned that the cliff ’s $500 billion crunch on the economy starting from January 1 “would pose a substantial threat to the recovery.” Asked what the central bank could do, he replied: “I don’t think the Fed has the tools to offset that.” With its benchmark interest rate already at a bare-bottom 0-0.25 percent since December 2008, the Fed’s main policy tool is its bond and mortgagebacked security purchases, through

which it has been holding down longterm interest rates.

The cutoff of the Twist, which involves swapping about $45 billion a month in short-term assets with longterm ones, will leave the Fed with only its open-ended QE3 bond purchases in place, worth $40 billion a month. Signals from a number of individual Fed officials and from the minutes of the last FOMC meeting show support for expanding those purchases to ensure liquidity remains easy. “We expect the Fed to decide next week that it is not prepared to allow ‘Operation Twist’ to expire without being replaced,” said Nigel Gault at IHS Global Insight.

The replacement purchases-not swaps-would likely be around $45 billion a month, taking total Fed action to $85 billion a month, he said. The record of the last FOMC gathering on October 23-24 showed clear support for added stimulus after the Twist ends. “A number of participants indicated that additional asset purchases would likely be appropriate next year after the conclusion of the maturity extension program in order to achieve a substantial improvement in the labor market,” the minutes said.

Still, support at the Fed for more QE is not unanimous. Charles Plosser, the head of the Fed’s Philadelphia branch and a regular critic of easy money policies, argues that QE and other efforts have not had the impact intended on growth and jobs, and are raising the risk of a return to high inflation. Arguing alongside him has been FOMC member Jeffrey Lacker, head of the Richmond Fed. Speaking in November, Lacker argued that there is “ample room for skepticism” about the impact of the Fed’s asset purchases, which he said had only an “ambiguous” effect on the economy. Yet another policy issue facing the Fed is whether to be more explicit in its inflation and unemployment targets for deciding when to tighten monetary policy. — AFP

26

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

business

KIA Road Show rocks Marina Crescent KUWAIT: KIA’s second Road Show of 2012 was a day to remember at the Marina Crescent on Friday, November 30, where visitors test drove new KIA models, won exciting prizes and enjoyed music, entertainment& games with the family. “The KIA Road Show is one of the most important automotive events of the year. It is a chance for KIA to interact directly with car fans and let them discover our new models in their own environment,” said Nadia Gobran, KIA Kuwait Business Development & Marketing Manager.

Friday’s event saw long queues for test drives of these models, as members of the public signed up to experience them for themselves. Models that were available to test drive included the New Facelift 2013 “Sorento” midsize SUV (Top Safety Pick 2012 - IIHS), The powerful “Mohave” large SUV (Consumers’ Top Rated SUV $25K to $35K - Edmunds.com), “Cadenza”, the luxury midsize sedan, “Optima” (2012 Car of the Year Award - Motoring), the all-new Rio compact (2012 red dot Design Award), Soul the youthful crossover (2009 red dot Design Award), Carnival Kuwait’s most beloved minivan , Sportage KIA’s smallest SUV (iF Product Design Award) and Carens multipurpose utility vehicle.

Visitors to the event received KIA branded giveaways, and were entitled to enter a draw to win valuable prizes such as iPad Mini, Galaxy SIII and Galaxy Note 2 for each test drive taken. The draw took place at the KIA Showroom the following Sunday December 2nd&The lucky winners were: Khaled Mousa (Galaxy Note 2), Tharwat Khalaf Abdel Moneim (Galaxy SIII), Salama Okasha (iPad Mini), Tarek Emad Abdelfatah (iPad Mini) and Ruba Qassem Ismail (iPad Mini).

Taking the excitement even further, a live DJ and entertainers provided a special atmosphere characteristic of KIA’s roadshows. The success of the roadshow demonstrates KIA’spowerful trademark and its ability to spark the interest of people from all backgrounds. Gobran also added: “The success of KIA in the Kuwait market is a reflection of the global success of our design-led transformation that began in 2009.

This year for the first time, KIA was listed in the prestigious top 100 Global Brands list by Interbrand and has achieved 81% sales growth between 2008-2011.

This is the result of KIA’s global vision to introduce a new perspective of automobiles characterized by amazing design, sophisticated technology and impressive features.”

The KIA Road Show occurs 2-3 times per year and is considered one of the most unique automotive events in Kuwait. In addition to the 9 models available for test drives, this year’s road show featured the display of the stunning new KIA Quoris luxury sedan, which premiered in Kuwait on the 25th of November 2012. The KIA Quorisis KIA’s first modern rear-wheel

drive sedan and introduces a new standard of luxury for not just the KIA brand, but for automotive luxury as a whole. The authorized dealer for KIA Motors in Kuwait is National Agencies Group (NAG), a subsidiary of Abdulaziz Al-Ali Al-Mutawa Group of Companies.

NAG has been growing the KIA brand in Kuwait since 1997.

French unions and employers at odds Time running short for agreement to loosen labor laws

Al Ahli Bank announces winners of First Diamond embedded Card KUWAIT: Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait held the first draw to pick 50 lucky winners who will own the one-of-a-kind special edition Diamond embedded World MasterCard. The draw was held on 9 December at the main branch, under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The diamond embedded ABK Emirates World MasterCard has the distinction of being the first of its type in Kuwait.

With a genuine certified diamond on the card and only 100 cards to be issued, the card has positioned itself as the most luxurious credit card in Kuwait.

Stewart Lockie, GM, Retail Banking stated, “The Diamond card is definitely a status symbol, offering the cardholder an exclusive opportunity to not only be one of

the hundred unique cardholders, but to also benefit from luxury features and services associated with the ABK Emirates World MasterCard. On this occasion, I would also like to congratulate Dr Mohammed Al Abdullah who was the first name out of the fifty to be drawn, and has won the bonus 50,000 Skywards Miles in addition to his Diamond Card”. Lockie added. The campaign has produced 50 lucky winners so far, and another draw will be held in January to give out 50 more Diamond cards, and the remaining 50,000 bonus Skywards Miles. For more details on our ABK Emirates World MasterCard, please visit www.eahli.com where you can even chat live with an ABK representative, or call Ahlan Ahli 1899 899.

Emirates boosts First Class with 46 E-Class DUBAI: A Mercedes-Benz fleet deal with Emirates Airline (EK) to provide 46 estate variants of the segment leading E-Class executive saloon and 20 luxurious Viano large-capacity vehicles has been delivered to the airline’s dedicated Terminal 3 hub at Dubai International Airport, providing comfort, value and peace of mind for EK’s First Class customer chauffer service. Finalized in January 2012 by Gargash Enterprises - the authorized Mercedes-Benz distributor for Dubai and Northern Emirates in conjunction with Daimler Middle East and Levant (DMEL) Corporate Sales - the contract for the shining black fleet took effect in Q3 this year.

With the new model widely regarded as “the best business saloon in the world”, the E-Class is seen as being the definitive Mercedes-Benz. An understated statement of success for ‘high flyers’ the world over, the brand hallmarks of style, economy, safety, efficiency, luggage space, and reliability have all been ingrained into the core of the latest E-Class model series, as well as the Viano , making Mercedes-Benz a logical choice for the Emirates Airline First Class customer chauffer service.

Perfect for large groups of trav-

elers and families, the MercedesBenz Viano leads its class, defining the new benchmark for largecapacity vehicles. New engine and new transmissions reduce emissions and fuel consumption while enhancing performance. The new chassis offers the ultimate in ride comfort and driving safety, whilst the cockpit and passenger compartment are more user-friendly and attractively appointed than ever. The Viano is instantly recognizable by its “face” which features the glistening Mercedes-Benz star in the style of the current passenger cars, and a newly designed rear section.

Frank Bernthaler, Director, Sales and Marketing, Mercedes-Benz Cars, Middle East & Levant said: “First Class customers expect the Best or Nothing when they travel.

The Mercedes-Benz brand is synonymous with luxury and quality and so perfectly meets every expectation held by a first class traveler, whilst reliability and luggage space ensures their itinerary will not waver. Mercedes-Benz comprehensive after sales servicing ensures that the vehicles continue to perform at their peak, providing a safe investment and peace of mind to our partner Emirates Airline.”

Ahmed Al-Bukhari

Warba launches free SMS service KUWAIT: Warba Bank, the most recently opened Islamic bank in Kuwait, announced yesterday the launch of its new Short Message Service (SMS). The free service aims at solidifying mutual communications in line with Warba’s constant development of its banking facilities. Warba Bank is the first to introduce this service free of charge for its customers. With the launch of the new SMS service, it is now even easier for customers to receive information on their bank accounts effortlessly. Clients can receive instant SMS’ on their banking transactions such as salary deposits, money transfers, cash withdrawal, and recent purchases.

They can also get instant detailed information on the transactions made through their credit cards: Visa and MasterCard, including cash withdrawals through ATM machines and merchandises purchased from points of sale. In addition, the service includes delivering information on the issuance and renewal of banking cards, cancellation of cards, total monthly outstanding balance, and the minimum pay for credit cards.

Commenting on the new service, Call Center and Branches Manager Ahmed AlBukhari said, “The new SMS service reflects our keenness to develop the quality and operations of our facilities to ensure our customers’ complete satisfaction. A client can track the rate of their personal spending through instant notifications that also include their current balance, all free of charge.” The new service adds to the electronic package offered by the bank which facilitates the process of receiving information both locally and internationally, thus guaranteeing entire security for the client.

Customers can learn more about Warba Bank’s new services and products by visiting its branches, or by calling 182-5555 anytime 24/7.

PARIS: Trade unions and employers are making slow progress on a pact to overhaul France’s rigid labor rules, raising the chances that President Francois Hollande will have to take the potentially explosive issue into his own hands. Rather than directly legislating reforms, the Socialist Hollande told the two sides to come up by year-end with new rules to offer companies more flexibility to hire and fire while ensuring more job security at the low end of the labour market.

The tactic was designed to yield a reform ambitious enough to show France can regain lost competitiveness in the global economy while sparing Hollande the risk of a backlash by unions and blue-collar workers, a core part of his electorate. But with a Dec 31 deadline looming, agreement is nowhere in sight. Both sides have named “red line” conditions for signing any accord and one major union has flatly ruled out any deal that imposes greater flexibility on workers.

“As the deal stands, we can’t sign,” Stephane Lardy, negotiator for the hardline Force Ouvriere (FO) union, told Reuters last week as the latest round of talks went ahead. As long as three out of France’s five main trade unions back any deal, it would be possible for the government to use that accord as the basis for subsequent legislation in early 2013. But if neither the FO nor the larger, militant CGT sign, Hollande could face street protests and union criticism that would hurt his Socialists’ showing in 2014 municipal elections.

So sensitive is the reform that a government-drafted roadmap for the talks avoids use of the term “flexibility” so reviled by unions. It also leaves intact the 35-hour work week brought in by a Socialist government 15 years ago and which is still revered on the left as a sacred cow. Moreover the negotiations will not address French labor charges, which alongside those in Belgium and Sweden are the highest in Europe and are seen by many economists as one of the main reasons that France is losing share in export markets.

Last month’s announcement by Hollande of some 20 billion euros of tax credits to companies - which the government says equates to a six percent cut in labor charges - was broadly welcomed by business as necessary but not sufficient. “This is the Achilles heel of France’s economy,” said ABN Amro economist Joost Beaumont of its labor rules. He noted that a Socialist government had more chance than a conservative one of clinching reform but fearing that any final deal would still be too weak to bring about genuine structural change.

PARTIAL DEAL? Minor advances were made in talks last week as employers made concessions including offers of more health care coverage, and workers won an option of claiming jobless benefits to the end of their entitlement even if they find a job beforehand. Unions have also agreed that company managers should have the scope to negotiate specific wage and worktime adjustments at a given worksite to help it through a downturn. Auto giant Renault already started doing just that

last month. But with just two negotiating sessions left in 2012, neither camp is offering concessions on the major bones of contention.

Unions maintain a firm objection to employer calls for a more flexible long-term work contract and reject any simplification of the legal process for laying off workers, as well as calls for capping compensation for lay-offs. “If you facilitate firing in this country, we’ll end up with a situation just like in Spain with sky-high unemployment,” Lardy said. “We’re going round in circles on this.” Employers, in turn, are opposed to union demands to penalize companies that make excessive use of short-term contracts by making them pay higher labor charges.

With three out of four new job contracts now only on a short-term basis, even the moderate CFDT union - which is otherwise keen to get a deal being by Dec 31 - says securing such penalties is non-negotiable. “We’re going to force our way through on this. It’s unavoidable for the CFDT,” said negotiator Patrick Pierron. While CGPME, the federation of France’s small- and medium-sized companies, says it could consider higher labour charges being attached to very short and frequently renewed contracts, main employers group Medef says any such reform is beyond the mandate of the negotiations.

Hollande’s hopes of what he famously called a “historic” deal by year-end are already been played down. Bruno Leroux, leader of the Socialist group in the National Assembly, told Reuters that talks were likely to stretch until January and even then might only result in a partial deal. “We will not have totally wrapped it up by December, so we’ll have to spill over into January a bit,” he said. “Toward Jan 15 we will see if there is a deal, proposals, a full accord or a partial one.”

Labor Minister Michel Sapin has said the government will introduce legislation in early 2013 even if the talks fail. But in parliament, the Socialist party’s left wing could seek to water down the reform’s substance, while debates can open the government to attack from a rebellious far left. The political climate for the final legislation could, in the meantime, get tougher. Blue-collar workers already have the lowest opinion of Hollande’s policies of any professional category, according to an October IFOP poll, and unions have ramped up sporadic protest action at several threatened industrial sites.

In an example of lost love, metalworker unions accused the government of lying last week after ministers backed down from a threat to nationalize a plant run by steel giant ArcelorMittal in a stand-off over threatened jobs. Unless Hollande can fast turn around an economy currently bleeding more than 40,000 jobs per month, labor discord is guaranteed to grow more frequent. That will give yet more fodder for farleft firebrands such as Jean-Luc Melenchon, who placed fourth in France’s May presidential election. He has been escalating his attacks on Hollande, accusing him of “betraying” French workers.— Reuters

SFS Homes team to visit Kuwait ‘Kerala’s Most Trusted Builder’ KUWAIT: It’s the perfect time to think of buying a home in Kerala. This year, as in the past SFS Homes has a host of projects ready for delivery. Across Trivandrum, Cochin and Guruvayoor 366 homes are being delivered in 2012.

Now a call is all that it will take for you move in to your new home in Kerala before the New Year. The 27 years that SFS Homes has spent in the pursuit of building Kerala’s finest homes and introducing new lifestyles has helped the company emerge as one of the strongest players in the sector.

Some of the company’s most notable achievements during the year include: SFS Grande at Vellayambalam has earned the rare distinction of being the first GOLD rated residential Green Building by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). SFS Aqua Greens, Alwaye was adjudged the best residential property in South India for 2012 by ‘Realty Plus’, India’s leading real estate magazine.

The company’s CRISIL rating of DA 3+ is testimony of the strong financial and legal standing of the company. And the ISO 9001:2008 rating speaks volumes about the quality of its processes. The SFS Team today draws great strength from its depth in human resource capital backed by experienced construction and piling divisions.

On this visit to Kuwait, SFS Homes is offering a very exciting new launch in Trivandrum - SFS Stanford, near the St Thomas Schools at Mukkola. The project offers 2 and 3 BHK apartments with a host of lifestyle amenities. It also offers easy access to both the city centre and Technopark. SFS Homes has over 20 other projects located at IT/growth, city centre and waterfront locations in Kerala in different stages of completion. SFS Iris is right on the NH bypass and very near to the Infosys campus and SFS Eden at Cyber Gateway is located right in between the Technopark and upcoming Technopolis at Kazhakoottam in Trivandrum.

SFS Silicon Meadows & Hills at Kakkanad and SFS Beverly Park in Jawahar Nagar, Kadavanthara, Cochin are the other projects launched in 2012. SFS Cyber Palms, near Technopark, Trivandrum is the company’s flagship project and the state’s premier lifestyle housing development. It boasts of some of the finest amenities offered for

the first time in a real estate project in Kerala like a 22,000 sq. ft. Club House and Indoor Games Arena. All the amenities offered here have already been built. Cyber Cherry, the third block of this project offers ready-to-occupy homes. CRISIL, the premier credit and quality rating agency in India has awarded the highest 7 star project rating for SFS Cyber Palms. Apartments are also offered in the ongoing Cyber Silver and Cyber Ivory blocks.

Ready-to-occupy homes in Cochin & Trivandrum on offer are: - SFS Aqua Greens, on the Periyar waterfront at Alwaye, voted the best residential property in South India in 2012. -SFS Kingdom - offering premium apartments at Tripunithura, just 200 meters from the airport-seaport road near the Choice School. -SFS Temple Terrace, at Guruvayoor, close to the world famous Sri Krishna Temple. - SFS Grande at Vellayambalam in Trivandrum, the first Gold rated residential Green Building to be constructed in the capital city.- SFS Cyber Gold, offers 1 & 2 BHK apartments near the Infosys campus & Technopark.

SFS Airport Royale at Nedumbasserry, near the Cochin International Airport offers apartments in a wide variety of sizes like Studio, 1, 2 & 3 BHK. - SFS Waterscapes, luxury apartments on the Akkulam Waterfront and close to Technopark in Trivandrum offers 2 & 3 BHK homes. - SFS Silicon Park, apartments at the heart of the IT city at Kakkanad is another attractive ready to occupy project ideal for those wishing to invest in a home at Cochin’s IT corridor.

The other ongoing projects include - SFS Cityscapes offering 2, 3 and 4 BHK apartments at PTP Nagar, one of Trivandrum’s poshest residential locations and SFS Branton Park at Vazhakkala in Cochin City, one of the best 2 and 3 bedroom options for a city home today. Another exciting ongoing project is SFS Gardenia - the first ultra luxury pool villas in Cochin at Vazhakala. It offers 3 and 4 bedroom villas. The SFS Team led by K Srikant, Chairman, SFS and accompanied by Hormise and Jothish is touring Kuwait up to the 15th of December, 2012 and can be contacted on the following mobile numbers 99470343, 90916977.

27

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

TECHNOLOGY

China party chief stresses censors relax grasp on internet BEIJING: China must deepen reforms to perfect its market economy and strengthen rule of law, Communist Party chief Xi Jinping said in southern Guangdong, echoing groundbreaking comments by reformist senior leader Deng Xiaoping in the same province 20 years ago.

Xi’s call for reform was reported yesterday, coinciding with an apparent easing of Internet search restrictions that the party has energetically used to suppress information that could threaten one-party rule.

China’s largest microblog service unblocked searches for the names of

many top political leaders in a possible sign of looser controls a month after new senior officials were named to head the ruling party.

Searches on the popular Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblog for party chief Xi Jinping, Vice Premier Li Keqiang and other leaders - terms that have long been barred under strict censorship rules revealed detailed lists of news reports and user comments.

Xi’s comments on the economy came on Sunday during a trip to Guangdong where he paid tribute to Deng, whose visit in 1992 ushered in an era of breakneck

economic reform and growth.

“The government earnestly wants to study the issues that are being brought up, and wants to perfect the market economy system ... by deepening reform, and resolve the issues by strengthening rule of law,” Xi was quoted by Xinhua state news agency as saying.

Experts say that unless the stabilityobsessed party leadership pushes through stalled reforms, the nation risks economic malaise and social woes that could deepen unrest and threaten its grip on power.

It was too early to detect a change of

heart on censorship, but Zhan Jiang, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said the signs were good.

“Things are changing quietly, and it matches what Xi Jinping said before - to achieve progress and change in a steady way,” Zhan said.

Various search terms for Premier Wen Jiabao, who was at the centre of recent New York Times reports that said his family had accumulated massive fortunes during his tenure, were still blocked on Monday.

Chinese social media sites have posed a unique challenge for party leaders

whose overarching goal is to maintain political control, while at the same time allowing people to blow off steam.

Analysts have been searching for signs that China’s new leaders might steer a path of political reform. Many expected at least a temporary loosening of censorship rules after the 18th Party Congress.

“Excessively strict control of the Internet will only make things worse,” said Hu Xingdou, a professor at Beijing Institute of Technology. “So we need to allow people to speak and allow them to voice their grievances.” —Reuters

Apple Maps glitch could be deadly Drivers were sent ‘off the beaten track’

SAN FRANCISCO: In this Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012, 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. CEO Tim Cook’s announcement that the company is moving a Mac production line to the US is just the latest step in a charm offensive designed to soften Apple’s image. —AP

Apple to produce line of Macs next year NEW YORK: Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company will move production of one of its existing lines of Mac computers from China to the United States next year.

Industry watchers said the announcement is both a cunning public-relations move and a harbinger of more manufacturing jobs moving back to the US as wages rise in China.

Cook made the comments in part of an interview taped for NBC’s “Rock Center,” but aired Thursday morning on “Today” and posted on the network’s website.

In a separate interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, he said that the company will spend $100 million in 2013 to move production of the line to the US from China. “This doesn’t mean that Apple will do it ourselves, but we’ll be working with people and we’ll be investing our money,” Cook told Bloomberg. That suggests the company could be helping one of its Taiwanese manufacturing partners, which run factories in China, to set up production lines in the US devoted to Apple products.

Research firm IHS iSuppli noted that both Foxconn Technology Group, which assembles iPhones, and Quanta Computer Inc., which does the same for MacBooks, already have small operations in the US Apple representatives had no comment Thursday beyond Cook’s remarks.

Like most consumer electronics companies, Apple forges agreements with contract manufacturers to assemble its products overseas. However, the assembly accounts for a fraction of the cost of making a PC or smartphone. Most of the cost lies in buying chips, and many of those are made in the US, Cook noted in his interview with NBC. The company and Foxconn have faced significant criticism this year over working conditions at the Chinese facilities where Apple products are assembled. The attention prompted Foxconn to raise salaries.

Cook didn’t say which line of computers would be produced in the US or where in the country they would be made. But he told Bloomberg that the production would include more than just final assembly. That suggests that machining of cases and printing of circuit boards could take place in the US. The simplest Macs to assemble are the Mac Pro and Mac Mini desktop computers. Since they lack the built-in screens of the MacBooks and iMacs, they would likely be easier to separate from the Asian display supply chain.

Analyst Jeffrey Wu at IHS iSuppli said it’s not uncommon for PC makers to build their bulkier products close to their customers to cut down on delivery times and shipping costs. Regardless, the US manufacturing line is expected to represent just a tiny piece of Apple’s overall production, with sales of iPhones and iPads now dwarfing those of its computers.

Apple is latching on to a trend that

could see many jobs move back to the US, said Hal Sirkin, a partner with The Boston Consulting Group. He noted that Lenovo Group, the Chinese company that’s neckand-neck with Hewlett-Packard Co. for the title of world’s largest PC maker, announced in October that it will start making PCs and tablets in the US. Chinese wages are raising 15 to 20 percent per year, Sirkin said. US wages are rising much more slowly, and the country is a cheap place to hire compared to other developed countries like Germany, France and Japan, he said.

“Across a lot of industries, companies are rethinking their strategy of where the manufacturing takes place,” Sirkin said.

Carl Howe, an analyst with Yankee Group, likened Apple’s move to Henry Ford’s famous 1914 decision to double his workers’ pay, helping to build a middle class that could afford to buy cars. But Cook’s goal is probably more limited: to buy goodwill from U.S. consumers, Howe said.

“Say it’s State of the Union 2014.

President Obama wants to talk about manufacturing. Who is he going to point to in the audience?

Tim Cook, the guy who brought manufacturing back from China. And that scene is going replay over and over,” Howe said.

“And yeah, it may be only (public relations), but it’s a lot of high-value PR.” Cook said in his interview with NBC that companies like Apple chose to produce their products in places like China, not because of the lower costs associated with it, but because the manufacturing skills required just aren’t present in the US anymore.

He added that the consumer electronics world has never really had a big production presence in the US As a result, it’s really more about starting production in the US than bringing it back, he said.

But for nearly three decades Apple made its computers in the US. It started outsourcing production in the mid-90s, first by selling some plants to contract manufacturers, then by hiring manufacturers overseas. It assembled iMacs in Elk Grove, Calif., until 2004.

Some Macs already say they’re “Assembled in USA.” That’s because Apple has for years performed final assembly of some units in the US. Those machines are usually the product of special orders placed at its online store. The last step of production may consist of mounting hard drives, memory chips and graphics cards into computer cases that are manufactured elsewhere. With Cook’s announcement Thursday, the company is set to go much further in the amount of work done in the US. The news comes a day after Apple posted its worst stock drop in four years, erasing $35 billion in market capitalization. Apple’s stock rose $8.45, or 1.6 percent, to close at $547.24 Thursday. —AP

SYDNEY: Australian police yesterday warned motorists about using Apple Maps on the iPhone’s latest operating system after rescuing several people left stranded in the wilderness, saying the errors could prove deadly.

Victoria state police said drivers were sent “off the beaten track” in recent weeks while attempting to get to the inland town of Mildura, being directed instead to the middle of a national park.

“Police are extremely concerned as there is no water supply within the park and temperatures can reach as high as 46 degrees Celsius (114 F), making this a potentially life threatening issue,” police said in a statement.

Authorities said tests on the mapping system had confirmed that it lists Mildura, around 500 kilometres (310 miles) northwest of Melbourne, as being in the heart of the Murray Sunset National Park.

This is about 70 kilometres (43 miles) from its actual location. “If it was a 45-degree day, someone could actually die,” Mildura’s Local Area Commander Inspector Simon Clemence told state broadcaster ABC. “It’s quite a dangerous situation, so we

would be calling for people not to use the new Apple iPhone mapping system if they’re travelling from South Australia to Mildura.”

Police said at least five vehicles had become stranded in the park after drivers followed directions on their Apple iPhones, some of them after being stranded for up to 24 hours without food or water.

“One guy got far enough in to lose phone coverage and he was stuck there and he got bogged and he had to walk out and it took him 24 hours to get to a point where he had phone coverage and then we came and rescued him,” Clemence said.

“This is a direct result of this map application,” he said, the Melbourne Herald-Sun newspaper reported. Mobile telephone reception is often patchy in country areas of the vast Australian continent and Clemence warned with the heat of full summer yet to hit, travellers should be wary of relying too heavily on their mobile phones.

Apple would not comment on the Mildura problem, but referred to an earlier statement that it was doing everything it could to fix problems with the maps application in the

new operating system used by the iPhone 5.

In a statement in September, Apple chief executive Tim Cook said the company was striving to make “world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers”.

“With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment,” he said. “We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.”

The US firm developed its own mapping programme included in its new mobile iOS 6 operating system, and in doing so booted off Google Maps, which had been the default programme for Apple devices.

But the new system immediately drew scorn for omitting key landmarks and cities, failing to identify correct locations and distorting views from its images.

Victoria police said they had contacted Apple about the problem and they hoped it could be rectified promptly. In the meantime, they asked motorists in the state to rely on other forms of mapping. —AFP

Japan pedal power aims for human flight record TOKYO: A team in Japan are hoping pedal-power will beat the world record for a human-propelled plane-in a flying machine made from polystyrene, they said yesterday.

Team Aeroscepsy say a professional mountain biker will pilot their “Gokurakutombo”, which has a wingspan half that of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet, in a voyage they hope will clock up 120 kilometres (75 miles).

“We developed a new plane from scratch to break the world record,” said Shinsuke Yano, who heads a collection of 10 engineers and enthusiasts. The Gokurakutombo-a phrase that means “Happy-Go-Lucky” and is also a pun on “happy dragonfly”-has wings that measure 35.6 metres (117 feet) tip to tip, but weighs just 37 kilogrammes (81 pounds) thanks to its polystyrene foam and carbon fibre construction.

Yano said the world record for human-powered flight was set by a US university in 1988 with its pedal-driven Daedalus, a contraption named after the father of Icarus in Greek mythology. The Daedalus plopped into the Mediterranean just a few metres short of the Greek island of Santorini after flying 115 kilometres from Crete.

Team Aeroscepsy, who all work at Japanese motorcycle-maker Yamaha, hope to launch their flight from a field at the foot of Mount Fuji, and head for the Pacific Ocean next spring. Their contraption can take advantage of thermal air currents but does not need them to launch and fly.

“Because it’s a long flight over four hours and you need to keep pedalling with power that is required for climbing uphill constantly, you need a professional cyclist,” Yano said. “We are pretty confident about reaching a new record. We know from past tests that our aircraft has that capacity. The most difficult part is reading weather conditions. Light wind can upset the fragile plane.” —AFP

Cisco grabs for ‘No 1 IT company’ crown NEW YORK: Cisco Systems Inc. isn’t content to be the world’s largest maker of computer networking gear. It says it wants to become the “No. 1” supplier of information technology to big businesses by broadening its offerings of services and software.

But when Cisco says “No. 1 IT company,” it doesn’t mean that it’s going to be the biggest-selling company. That goal is out of reach, as IBM Corp.’s revenue is twice that of Cisco.

Rather, Cisco CEO John Chambers says he wants the company to loom largest in the minds of its customers and to be the one setting the pace in the industry. Being No. 1, he says, means having the best customer satisfaction and the best profit margins for products.

The strategy statement, articulated Friday at a presentation for Wall Street analysts, follows some lean years that have seen Cisco retrench from even broader goals, which included trying to establish itself as a consumer brand and buying a maker of camcorders. The new direction will be supported by a global advertising campaign with the slogan “Tomorrow starts here.”

The ad campaign started yesterday.

“The play sounds a lot like the IBM story,” Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold said. After the maker of mainframe computers struggled in the 1980s with the rise of cheap microprocessors and rapid changes in the industry, IBM successfully transformed itself into a company that combined consulting services, software and hardware. For Cisco, the new playbook comes as Chambers, who is 63 and one of the longest-serving CEOs in Silicon Valley, is nearing retirement and looking to hand over to a successor in two to four years. There are two chief candidates, who appeared with Chambers on Friday: Rob Lloyd, the head of sales and product development, and Gary Moore, the chief operating officer. —AP

TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a press conference for the launch of “Campus TLV” a technology hub for Israeli start-ups, entrepreneurs and developers at Google’s new offices yesterday, in the Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv. —AFP

Huawei to open R&D centre on Nokia’s home turf PARIS: Chinese telecom firm Huawei announced yesterday plans to invest 70 million euros ($90 million) to open up a research and development centre for smartphone and tablet software in Finland, home to rival Nokia.

“The Finnish R&D center will be a key driver in Huawei’s research and development of new technologies for mobile devices,” the company said in a statement.

It said the centre, which is to start with 30 employees and grow to 100 within five years, will focus on software development for smartphones, tablets and rich-media devices using Andriod and Windows Phone operating systems.

“The open and innovative environment in Finland is an ideal place for Huawei to strengthen our global R&D capabilities for devices, creating opportunities for both Huawei and the Finnish telecommunications industry,” said Kenneth Fredriksen, Vice-President, Huawei Central, Eastern and Nordic Europe.

Finland is the headquarters of Nokia, until recently the world’s top mobile phone manufacturer.

The company is shedding thousands of jobs as it restructures towards using Windows Phone 8 for its smartphones. Nokia previously had programmers developing its own smartphone operating system.

“I think this is another example on how other companies like Huawei can take advantage of the fact that Nokia is firing 10,000 people,” said Magnus Rehle from the strategy firm Greenwich Consulting.

“There are a lot of highly skilled people who can help Huawei to make cheap Androidbased smartphones for the growing markets outside Europe and the United States,” he added.

Huawei has ambitions to expand globally, although concerns about its possible ties to the Chinese state have raised concerns in several Western countries.

Huawei announced in September it would invest $2.0 billion in Britain and roughly double its workforce in the country within five years. The company currently has 7,000 employees in Europe and 70,000 involved in R&D worldwide. —AFP

This video game image released by Square Enix shows a scene from “Hitman: Absolution.” —AP

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

health & science

Should breast cancer patients skip pre-operative MRI? NEW YORK: Using magnetic resonance imaging to “stage” a woman’s breast cancer before surgery might do more harm than good, according to an Australian and US study.

MRIs produce a much clearer image than X-rays and ultrasound, and are recommended for detecting early tumors in women at increase risk for breast cancer, but routinely using the technology once any woman is diagnosed may lead to more radical surgery without any benefits, the researchers said in the Annals of Surgery.

They found that about 26 percent of women who had a pre-operative MRI to help determine the extent and severity of their tumor ended up hav-

ing their entire breast removed, compared to about 18 percent of those whose surgeons only used traditional methods of characterizing the cancer.

“I wasn’t surprised by the results at all. What I am surprised by is the strength of the data,” said Monica Morrow, the study’s senior author and the chief of breast service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Because MRIs are more sensitive than mammograms, some doctors think they are a good tool for identifying the precise outlines of cancerous tissue. Others, however, have begun to question whether the imaging led surgeons to remove more breast tissue than necessary.

Moreover, women who have MRIs before breast surgery seem to be no less likely to need a second surgery to remove additional cancerous tissue. A study published in September, for instance, found that among more than 300 women who underwent breast cancer surgery, just as many of those who had an MRI before the first surgery ended up having a repeat operation. For the study, she and her colleagues pulled together data from nine previous studies to see if MRIs influence the number of women who had their breast removed or who had a second surgery to remove additional cancer. From the nine studies, they had information on 3,112 women who had breast cancer surgery.

Overall, the team found that about 16 percent of the women who had an MRI ended up having the entire cancerous breast removed during their first surgery. That’s compared to about 8 percent of women who did not have an MRI. They also found that having an MRI before surgery did not influence whether women would need additional surgery to remove more tissue. In each group, between 11 percent and 12 percent had to have more surgery.

After taking into account the initial surgery and second operations, the researchers calculated that about 26 percent of those who had an MRI ended up having their entire breast removed, compared to 18 percent in

the no-MRI group. “It causes more mastectomies to start with, but it doesn’t decrease the number of women who started out wanting a lumpectomy and needing a mastectomy,” said Morrow of the preoperative MRIs. The study did not look at longterm outcomes, nor did it examine the use of MRI to screen the opposite breast for signs that cancer had spread, while the results do not apply to certain subgroups of patients, including women with genetic mutations that predispose them to cancer.

“There may be select circumstances where we’d use it to solve a problem, but for most women with breast cancer they don’t need an MRI for their evaluation,” Morrow said. — Reuters

OSN to launch well-being initiative to encourage a healthier lifestyle

Replacement of knee linked to weight gain NEW YORK: Being overweight is known to increase the risk of needing a knee replacement, but a new study finds that knee replacement surgery may also raise a person’s risk of gaining weight, according to a US study. Researchers, whose findings appeared in the journal Arthritis Care & Research, analyzed the medical records of nearly 1,000 knee-replacement surgery patients, and found that 30 percent of them gained five percent or more of their body weight in the five years following surgery.

One possible explanation for the counter-intuitive results, experts said, is that if people have spent years adapting to knee pain by taking it easy, they don’t automatically change their habits when the pain is reduced.

“Patients who undergo knee arthroplasty are at increased risk of clinically important weight gain following surgery,” wrote study leader Daniel Riddle, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. “Future research should develop weight loss/maintenance interventions particularly for younger patients who have lost a substantial amount of weight prior to surgery, as they are most at risk for substantial post surgical weight gain.”

Riddle’s group used a patient registry from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, which collected information on 917 knee replacement patients before and after their procedures.

The researchers found that five years after surgery, 30 percent of patients had gained at least five percent of their weight at the time of the surgery - at least 5 kg or more on a 100-kg person, for example. In contrast, fewer than 20 percent of those in a comparison group

of similar people who had not had surgery gained equivalent amounts of weight in the same period.

“After knee replacement we get them stronger and moving better, but they don’t seem to take advantage of the functional gains,” said Joseph Zeni, a physical therapy professor at the University of Delaware, who was not part of the study.

“I think that has to do with the fact that we don’t address the behavioral modifications that have happened during the course of arthritis before the surgery.” Riddle’s team explained that this degree of weight gain can lead to “meaningful effects on cardiovascular and diabetes related risk as well as pain and function.” Part of the explanation for the weight gain could be the age at which patients get surgery. People in their 50s and 60s tend to gain weight anyway. Still, in light of the lower rates of weight gain in the comparison group, which was also middle aged and older, Riddle said something else may also be at work.

Indeed, the team found that patients who had lost weight before their surgery were slightly more likely to gain weight afterwards - perhaps because when people lose weight in anticipation of an event, such as surgery, they are more likely to put it back on after they’re achieved the goal.

Zeni said that to help people stave off weight gain after surgey, health care providers need to address the sedentary lifestyle people often adopt to accommodate their arthritis.

“We need to encourage patients to take advantage of their ability to function better and get them to take on a more active lifestyle,” he said. —Reuters

DENPASAR: Balinese volunteer Made Waga, cleans a baby sea turtle at the breeding area of Turtle Park in Serangan, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, yesterday.

Sea turtles in Indonesia have long suffered from poaching for their meat, fat, shells and eggs. —AP

Police confiscate 33 endangered turtles DENPASAR, Indonesia: Indonesian police have confiscated 33 endangered sea turtles believed to be headed for local restaurants on the resort island of Bali.

Bali police spokesman Col. Hariadi said yesterday the turtles were seized from a boat off the coast. He said crewmen who were believed to be waiting to

unload them escaped as police arrived.

Hariadi, who uses one name, said they included green turtles and hawksbill turtles weighing between 30 and 60 kg.

Turtle meat remains a delicacy among Balinese despite threats by animal welfare groups of a tourist boycott of the island.

Indonesia has banned trade and consumption of endangered turtles. — AP

KUWAIT: New research has found that 9 in 10 people in Kuwait would like to adopt a more well balanced lifestyle owing to growing health concerns however need more encouragement and education to start making a change.

According to research conducted by OSN, the leading pay-TV network in the Middle East and North Africa, when it came to health matters 24 percent of respondents are concerned about cancer and nine percent about diabetes.

Despite these concerns, only three percent are engaging in exercise, a worrying figure given that 87 percent of adult women and 77 percent of men are overweight or obese in Kuwait placing it among the world’s 10 fattest countries. Reports also suggest that lack of adequate physically activity and cultural habits lead to serious health issues such as obesity, a major factor in developing diabetes.

“Based on our research findings, OSN has vowed to help address consumers health needs by launching a new long-term wellbeing initiative that encourages people to adopt a well-balanced lifestyle, contributing positively to their lives,” said Hamad Malik, Chief Marketing Officer at OSN. “OSN has a brilliant brand platform that captivates the imagination, while also delivering an effective message. Our channel network gives us direct access to thousands of families across the region and with 74 percent of Kuwaiti respondents believing TV is a primary provider of information, it’s only fitting that OSN helps in supporting its viewers. 93 percent of Kuwaiti’s surveyed believe wellbeing starts with increased physical activity,

Hamad Malik however the research found only three per cent are exercising and only 27 percent participated in sports, so our aim is to provide encouragement and awareness about how to increase and sustain an active and healthy lifestyle by making simple day to day changes,” he added.

OSN’s long-term well-being initiative will be launched and rolled out across the region in the next few weeks and will help encourage viewers to lead a less sedentary lifestyle, reduce the levels of stress and in turn help combat the onset of serious health issues.

OSN is the ultimate destination for the widest choice of brand new premium Western, Arabic and Filipino entertainment in the Middle East and Africa. OSN is the home of 100 channels filled with great value entertainment, offering viewers in the MENA region exclusive

access to the latest blockbuster movies, top rated series, sports, documentaries, news, kid’s entertainment, and live talk shows. The movie offering includes over a 100 uncut and uninterrupted movie premieres a month so viewers can watch them the way they were meant to be watched.

OSN boasts the most comprehensive portfolio of exclusive rights from all the major studios including Warner Brothers, Paramount, Fox, Disney, Sony, MGM, Universal and DreamWorks and offers access to the worlds leading television brands including Disney channel, Sky News, Discovery Network and Nat Geo. As the leader in innovation, OSN has changed the TV viewing experience by bringing quality entertainment through 30 High Definition channels and is currently the only network offering a full HD bouquet of channels as well as 3D entertainment in the region.

OSN was the first to launch the DVR, the OSN Showbox HD; the regions first online TV platform, OSN Play; the regions first 3D, HD, internet enabled satellite receiver and recorder, OSN Plus HD; and the region’s first VOD service, OSN on Demand offering viewers the opportunity to watch over 1000 movies and 52 latest seasons of the top series, all available in full HD quality and Dolby Digital sound.

September 2012 saw the launch of OSN’s first rewards programme, OSN Privileges, offering subscribers money can’t buy experiences, special offers and premium prizes all year round. The OSN platform is owned and operated by Panther Media Group Limited; a company registered in DIFC and is owned by Mawarid Group Limited and KIPCO.

Frustration foments in Yangon’s slums despite reforms YANGON: Myanmar’s trumpeted reforms are yet to trickle down to Yangon’s poor, rubbish-strewn slums where experts say residents’ frustrations could turn ugly if the benefits of change are not felt soon. Each month the bamboo shacks of Shwe Paukan are inundated when high tides overflow from the river running parallel to the slum.

The clean up after the knee-deep waters recede leaves little time for optimism over a reform process that has brought greater political and economic openness to Myanmar, but few signs that the lives of the poorest are about to improve.

“We have not felt the change that everyone is talking about,” said Ni Ni Win, 27, a mother of two.

“I think it has happened among the upper level of the society.” It is an increasingly common concern and one US President Barack Obama touched on during his milestone November 19 trip to the former junta-ruled country, where he hailed the “remarkable” pace of change but warned reforms must not bypass the poor. Ni Ni Win, who earns around three dollars a day at a plastic recycling plant, is to a degree fortunate to live in her slum in Yangon, where an estimated two million people live in poverty.

A few kilometres away, near the city centre, 400 to 500 people live in Aung Mingalar, an illegal settlement shoehorned between a river and a storage area for teak logs, which also serves as an open toilet.The slum is desperately poor-the earth is studded with rubbish and clothes are hung out to dry on barbed wire. Amid the squalor residents eke out a few dollars by putrefying fish guts in barrels and selling the leftover oil to chicken farmers. Ko Ko, 46, said he lives in constant fear his family will be expelled from their home. “We are not living here because we want to but because we have no choice... we can’t pay for a place to live,” he said as a young girl passed by with buckets of water hooked over either end of a stick across her shoulders.

Ko Ko provides for six people from the income from his small grocery stall. “The biggest challenge for us here is food. Every morning people have to struggle for food,” he said. The United Nations agency for human settlements (UN-HABITAT) estimates that at least 40 percent of Yangon’s five million people are “poor or extremely poor,” surviving “day to day”, often in substandard housing or illegal dwellings. “Nothing has been done in 20 years”, according to Michael Slingsby, the body’s urban development and poverty adviser. With the city’s population expected to double to around 10 million over the next 20-25 years, Myanmar’s government will come under increasing pressure to tackle poverty or face mounting discontent among the urban poor.

They are a section of society often-neglected by foreign donors, Slingsby said, in a nation where a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line-the majority in rural areas. After more than a year of dramatic political change that has helped the country out of international isolation, President Thein Sein has promised a second wave of reform focused on the economy, with the aim of slashing the poverty rate to sixteen percent by 2015. — AFP

YAMANOUCHI: Japanese macaque, commonly referred to as “snow monkeys”, react next to an open-air hot spring bath, or “onsen” at the Jigokudani (Hell’s Valley) Monkey Park in the town of Yamanouchi, Nagano prefecture yesterday.

Some 160 of the monkeys inhabit the area and are a popular tourist draw. — AFP

An unusual partnership with doctor CALIFORNIA: Back in 2000, when Larry Smarr left his job as head of a celebrated supercomputer center in Illinois to start a new institute at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of California, Irvine, he rarely paid attention to his bathroom scale. He regularly drank Coke, added sugar to his coffee, and enjoyed Big Mac Combo Meals with his kids at McDonald’s.

Exercise consisted of an occasional hike or a ride on a stationary bike. “In Illinois they said, ‘We know what’s going to happen when you go out to California. You’re going to start eating organic food and get a blonde trainer and get a hot tub,’?” recalls Smarr, who laughed off the predictions. “Of course, I did all three.”

Smarr, who directs the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology in La Jolla, dropped from 205 to 184 pounds and is now a fit 63-year-old. But his transformation transcends his regular exercise program and carefully managed diet: he has become a poster man for the medical strategy of the future. Over the past decade, he has gathered as much data as he can about his body and then used that information to improve his health.

And he has accomplished something that few people at the forefront of the “quantified self” movement have had the opportunity to do: he helped diagnose the emergence of a chronic disease in his body.

Like many “self-quanters,” Smarr wears a Fitbit to count his every step, a Zeo to track his sleep patterns, and a Polar WearLink

that lets him regulate his maximum heart rate during exercise.

He paid 23andMe to analyze his DNA for disease susceptibility. He regularly uses a service provided by Your Future Health to have blood and stool samples analyzed for biochemicals that most interest him. But a critical skill separates Smarr from the growing pack of digitized patients who show up at the doctor’s office with megabytes of their own biofluctuations: he has an extraordinary ability to fish signal from noise in complex data sets.

On top of his pioneering computer science work-he advocated for the adoption of ARPAnet, an early version of the Internet, and students at his University of Illinois center developed Mosaic, the first widely used browser-Smarr spent 25 years as an astrophysicist focused on relativity theory.

That gave him the expertise to chart several of his biomarkers over time and then overlay the longitudinal graphs to monitor everything from the immune status of his gut and blood to the function of his heart and the thickness of his arteries. His meticulously collected and organized data helped doctors discover that he has Crohn’s, an inflammatory bowel disease.

I have ulcerative colitis, a cousin of Crohn’s, and I am intrigued by what Smarr calls his “detective story.” His investigation of his body has evolved into a novel collaboration with a leading gastroenterologist to better understand and treat his disease, and maybe even to help others like me. But I am also a disease-weary skeptic.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

health & science

Higgs Boson makes it a landmark year for physics The invisible particle PARIS: The year 2012 will go down in history as a landmark year, when physicists discovered a fundamental particle that may answer one of the greatest riddles of all. Investigators believe their discovery to be the long-coveted Higgs Boson, an invisible particle that explains the mystery of mass.

Without the Higgs, say theorists, we and all the other joined-up atoms in the Universe would not exist. “The discovery is a wonderful example of the ability of the human imagination to understand the Universe to the greatest depths,” said Sir Paul Nurse, a Nobel laureate who is president of Britain’s Royal Society.

“As an achievement, it ranks alongside the confirmation that the Earth is round or Man’s first steps on the Moon,” said Pauline Gagnon at CERN, where the particle was detected in sets of rival experiments. Theorised back in 1964, the boson carries the name of a Briton, Peter Higgs.

He was the first to suggest that a field of these particles could explain a nagging anomaly: Why do some particles have mass and why do others, such as light, have none?

That question was a gaping hole in the Standard Model, the conceptual framework for understanding the nuts-and-bolts particles and forces that constitute the cosmos.

CERN’s announcement on July 4 stressed the need to confirm that the newcomer is the Higgs, a margin of uncertainty that probably prevented the discovery from gaining a Nobel this year.

And further work is needed to see exactly how the Higgs-or Higgses, if the boson exists in different flavours-interacts with other particles.

One notion is that the Higgs was born when the new Universe cooled after the Big Bang some 14 billion years ago.

It exists in an invisible field that, to use a simple image, is like a comb whose teeth are coated with syrup. Most types of particles interact with the treacly stuff, acquiring some of its mass to varying degrees, but a few slip through and do not acquire any. With mass comes gravity-and through gravitational pull, particles meet.

A Higgs-less Universe would thus be a terrifying thing. It would be dark and utterly dead, its listless particles unable to join up to form atoms and thus matter. “Without the Higgs, there would be no stars and ultimately no life,” said Themis Bowcock of Britain’s University of Liverpool. “The Higgs offers humanity, for the

first time, a unique glimpse into WHY nature is the way it is.” The discovery has unfathomable potential in practical terms, said Sir Peter Knight, head of Britain’s Institute of Physics.

He pointed to the discovery of hydrogen in 1766 by Henry Cavendish, who called the curious gas “inflammable air.”

“Now, hydrogen is our rocket fuel,” said Knight. “Who knows what purpose the Higgs will serve, but I don’t think anyone in the 18th century would have predicted a line of causation from Cavendish’s work to the first man on the Moon.”

The hunt for the Higgs was an extraordinary tale, exemplifying some of the best things in science. It combined open debate based on evidence; fierce but friendly rivalries; and big-bucks experiments where teams threw themselves into the quest unhampered by borders and nationalities, united by the common language of physics.

It began with a dazzling series of conceptual insights by six men, including Higgs, each building on the work of others, who published a flurry of papers within four months of each other back in 1964.

After years of cut-and-thrust debate in the community of particle physics, momentum developed for building machines that smash sub-atomic particles together and trawl through the debris for clues.

Ultimately the crown went to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), whose labs are enclosed in a giant circular tunnel straddling the French and Swiss borders. The massive project was completed four years ago at a cost of 6.03 billion Swiss francs (five billion euros, $6.27 billion dollars), yet is still not even close to running at full capacity. Many challenges lie ahead in fundamental physics, said Gagnon.

“We have enough questions to keep us happy for many decades to come,” she quipped.

There is the search for the graviton, a theoretical particle that explains gravity.

Then there is dark matter, a bizarre substance which can only be perceived indirectly, though its gravitational pull, yet accounts for around 25 percent of the contents of Universe. One explanation lies in supersymmetry, the notion that there are novel particles that are counterparts to the known actors in the Standard Model.

Supersymmetry is deemed by some to be mar-

Egg stem cells increase older women’s chances of having babies HARVARD: Jonathan Tilly may have discovered a way to slow the ticking of women’s biological clocks. In a paper published in March, the Harvard University reproductive biologist and his colleagues reported that women carry egg stem cells in their ovaries into adulthood-a possible key to extending the age at which a woman might have a baby.

Today, a woman’s fertility is limited by her total supply of eggs and by the diminished quality of those eggs as she reaches her 40s. Tilly’s work with the stem cells-cells that can differentiate, or develop into other kinds of cells-could address both issues. For one thing, it’s possible that these newly discovered cells could be coaxed to develop into new eggs. And even if not, he says, they could be used to rejuvenate an older woman’s existing eggs. Tilly first found egg stem cells in mice in 2004. Once he identified egg stem cells in ovarian tissue from adult women, he isolated the cells and injected them into human ovary tissue that was then transplanted into mice. There the cells differentiated into human oocytes, the immature egg cells that mature, one at a time, at ovulation. Tilly didn’t take these oocytes any further, but he says he has gotten egg stem cells from mice to generate functional mouse eggs that were fertilized and exhibited early embryonic development.

The research is still a long way from creating a crying human newborn.

Nevertheless, the paper “changes what we understand” about fertility, says Tilly, who also directs a center for reproductive biology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Though some of Tilly’s peers remain dubious that the cells he’s found in women’s ovarian tissue are actually stem cells or could become functional egg cells, many find the research provocative. “I think this is a very intrigu-

ing leap,” says Elizabeth McGee, an associate professor and head of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Virginia Commonwealth University. “However, I think there’s still a long way to go before this becomes a useful product for women.”

Boston-based OvaScience, which is commercializing Tilly’s work, hopes it won’t be too long. The company’s cofounders include venture capitalist Christoph Westphal and Harvard antiaging researcher David Sinclair, who founded Sirtris Pharmaceuticals and sold it to GlaxoSmithKline for $720 million in 2008.

OvaScience has raised $43 million to pursue fertility treatments and other applications for the stem cells.

One of the more tantalizing implications is that this technology could be used to reclaim the youth of an older woman’s eggs. Tilly says he can do this by transferring mitochondria-the cell’s power source-from the stem-cell-derived cells into the existing eggs. Researchers who tried something similar in the 1990s, with the help of young donors, found that mitochondria from the donors’ egg cells could improve the viability of older eggs.

But the nearly 30 children who resulted from this work ended up with DNA from two women as well as their father. (It’s not clear whether the children suffered any health consequences.) By being her own source for the younger mitochondria, a woman could avoid that potentially dangerous mix of DNA, Tilly says.

David Albertini, director of the Center for Reproductive Sciences at the University of Kansas Medical Center and a member of OvaScience’s advisory board, says he “can’t wait to get [his] hands on” Tilly’s cells for his own egg research. But he says it’s too soon to consider implanting them in women before much more testing is done in mice. —MCT

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

WHAT’S ON

SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS hat’s more fun than clicking a beautiful picture? Sharing it with others! Let other people see the way you see Kuwait - through your lens. Friday Times will feature snapshots of Kuwait through Instagram feeds. If you want to share your Instagram photos, email us at instagram@kuwaittimes.net

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Announcements Goan Culinary Club he Goan Culinary Club - Goa encourages you to log on to their website where you can find a video of Odette and Joe Mascarenhas sharing their thoughts on Goan cuisine. These videos were recorded at the launch of the Goan Culinary Club in Goa on March 3, 2012. Thanks to support from all at the Goan Culinary Club, we have made great progress in six months.

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Basketball Academy he new Premier Basketball Academy offers coaching and games every Friday and Saturday from 10 am onwards for 6 to 18 year olds, boys and girls. Located in Bayan Block 7, Masjed Al-Aqsa Street by Abdullah Al-Rujaib High School. Free Basketball and Tee Shirts for all participants, with certificates and special awards on completion of each 6 week course. Qualified and experienced British and American Coaches, Everyone Welcome.

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KNES hosts successful Show and Tell n keeping with one of the primary department’s goals of improving speaking and listening skills amongst pupils at Kuwait National English School, Year 3 and Year 4 Pupils participated in a Show and Tell Competition and Year 5 and Year 6 pupils participated in a Speech Contest last week. The main aim of exposing pupils to these contests is to improve public speaking skills and to boost confidence levels amongst pupils. The excited winners received gold, silver and bronze medals for their efforts.

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Arabic courses WARE will begin Winter 1 Arabic language courses with new textbooks and curricula on from December 2, 2012 until January 24, 2013. AWARE Arabic language courses are designed with the expat in mind. The environment is relaxed & courses are designed for those wanting to learn Arabic for travel, cultural understanding, and conducting business or simply to become more involved in the community. For more information or registration, please log-on to our website.

Rotana app enables browsing and booking on the go

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Indian Embassy Announcements Indian Embassy passport and visa Passports and visa applications can be deposited at the two outsourced centers of M/S BLS Ltd at Sharq and Fahaheel. Details are available at www.bls-international.com and www.indembkwt.org.

Consular Open House Consular Wing is providing daily service of Open House to Indian citizens on all workings days from 1000 hrs to 1100 hrs and from 1430 hrs to 1530 hrs by the Consular Officer in the Meeting Room of the Consular Hall at the Embassy. For any unaddressed issues, Second Secretary (Consular) can be contacted.

Furthermore, the head of the Consular Wing is also available to redress grievances.

Indian workers helpline/helpdesk Indian workers helpline is accessible by toll free telephone number 25674163 from all over Kuwait. It provides information and advice to Indian workers as regards their grievances, immigration and other matters. The help desk at the Embassy (Open from 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 4:30PM, Sunday to Thursday) provides guidance to Indian nationals on routine immigration, employment, legal and other issues. It also provides workers assistance in filling up labour complaint forms. For any unaddressed issues, the concerned attachÈ in the Labour section and the head of the Labour Wing can be contacted.

otana, the leading hospitality management company in the Middle East and Africa, has launched a brand new mobile app that enables browsing and booking on the go, catering to the rapidly expanding number of guests using smartphones to explore available hospitality options.

The Rotana Mobile App allows potential guests instant access to 44 operating Rotana hotels across 26 cities in the Middle East and Africa. Guests can browse through information on available accommodation, dining, entertainment and recreation options as well as meetings and events, in addition to being able to make real time bookings.

The new app also allows potential guests the ability to “click to call” a live customer service agent via voice or video, over WiFi or 3G, making Rotana the first hotel management in the Middle East to pilot video-enabled customer service through a mobile app. Guests can also access a range of other convenience-boosting services such as prearrival arrangements, concierge services, express check-out and the ability to view bills on the go.

Easing the booking process for the end user, the Rotana App features an online booking capability that interfaces with Rotana’s Central Reservation System, allowing guests the ability to easily obtain the best available rates across the 44 Mobile App-enabled Rotana hotels and resorts.

“With the new Rotana App, we’ve

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used technology to push our business boundaries, to ensure innovation and efficiency across each of our hotels and destinations, and meet the evolving needs of our guests,” said Samir AbiFrem, Corporate Vice President Information Technology. “Smartphone users are attached to their devices and across all sectors we are noticing a huge appetite for apps that help save time,

offer instant access to information and the ability to take action. From 2010 to 2011, the number of mobile retail apps increased by 350 percent. Moreover, 9 out of 10 mobile searches lead to action, over half of which lead to purchase.

He added: “Offering guests the ability to make choices and instantly book available rooms at great prices is expected to not just ease the booking process for

guests but also boost reservations across our network of properties. In addition, the ‘click to call’ option offers guests a chance to immediately discuss their needs with a knowledgeable customer service agent, allowing them to book a room or service that best meets their unique requirements.”

The new app also offers guests useful destination information to enable them to better plan their trips. Guests will additionally be able to view and redeem the latest Rotana offers and promotions through Rotana’s social channel rotanatimes.com.

Rotana Rewards members can also use the Rotana Mobile App to access their private account and view their profile and full details of the program, enabling them to enjoy their rewards and book a room or a restaurant quickly and easily. In addition to the new app’s informative content, the design and interface have been developed to provide an excellent user experience, with topics well defined and categorized while effectively showcasing each hotel brand’s distinctive look and feel. The app is currently available in English and French and is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd, 4th and 5th generation) and iPad. The app is optimized for iPhone 5 and requires iOS 5.1 software or later. An Android version of the app is due to be launched by the end of the year.

Legal Advice Clinic Free legal advice is provided on matters pertaining to labour disputes, terms of contracts with employers, death/accident compensation, withholding of dues by employers, etc. by lawyers on our panel, to Indian nationals on all working days between 1500hrs to 1600hrs.

Ambassador’s Open House The Open House for Indian citizens by the Ambassador is being held on all Wednesdays at the Embassy for redressal of grievances. In case Wednesday is an Embassy holiday, the meeting will be held on the next working day.

NPIS organizes excursion very year New Pakistan International School sends students on excursions so that they can enjoy their leisure time away from the educational atmosphere. This year the students from LKG to 8th standard were sent to Hawally Park on excursion trip under the supervision of their teachers. They stayed there throughout the day and enjoyed different rides. They were served with sumptuous meal. The well managed trip was the hall mark of the month.

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ESF crowned ISACK Volleyball Champions Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

he English School Fahaheel (ESF) Under 15 Girls volleyball team completed a perfect season by beating The British School Kuwait 2 - 0 in the final game to clench the ISACK title. The team coached by Miah Baccay went undefeated for the whole season to claim the first ISACK championship for The English School Fahaheel since they joined the conference two years ago. Miah said: “We have a very special bunch of girls at

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this age group. We got to the final last year, but lost and we vowed to come back stronger and take the top spot. I am extremely pleased with this season and the girls are delighted!” The winning team comprised: Eman El Sify, Rita Bechara, Ghadeer Al-Abdullah, Sara Al-Meletie, Maria Dalibalta, Maram Al-Kandari, Tierra Anderson, Bibi Shaik, Dana Majed, Nadeen Abu Halima, and Dana Fadalla.

The Head of Physical Education at

the school, Horrocks commented “Ms Miah has worked relentlessly with the team and it has paid off. I commend both the coach and the players for an excellent achievement. We set our targets of winning ISACK championships within three years of joining ISACK and we are now ahead of our goal. We will now look to build on this and use it as a platform for The English School Fahaheel to become a top tier school within the ISACK organisation.”

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WHAT’S ON

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

Embassy Information

GUST faculty gives university a musical break ulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) faculty, organized a small showcase of musical performances for the university students, staff and other faculty to take a break from the day and enjoy a little classical music. The performances included, Instructor Christopher Freeman from the English Foundation Unit (EFU) playing Gavotte by Johann Sebastian Bach in i. Allegro Moderato and ii. Trio, Dr Marta Tryzna Assistant Professor in the English Department singing “True Colors” by Steinberg & Kelly, Dr Thorsten Botz Associate Professor of Philosophy playing Impromptu 90, 2 E-flat Major by Franz Schubert and Etude Op. 10, 12 (“The Revolutionary”) by Frederic Chopin, Dr Deniz Erguvan Assistant Professor in the English Department singing “Over the Rainbow” by H Arlen & Yip Harburg, Dr John Taiowa Young-Taft Assistant

EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Australian Embassy Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department.

All processing of visas and immigration matters in conducted by The Australian Consulate-General in Dubai. Email: info.ausdxb@vfshelpline.com (VFS) immigration.dubai@dfat.gov.au (Visa Office); Tel: +971 4 355 1958 (VFS) - +971 4 508 7200 (Visa Office); Fax: +971 4 355 0708 (Visa Office).

In Kuwait applications can be lodged at the Australian Visa Application Centre 4B 1st Floor, Al-Banwan Building Al-Qibla Area, Ali Al-Salem Street, opposite the Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City, Kuwait. Working hours and days: 09:30 - 17:30; Sunday - Thursday. Or visit their website www.vfs-au-gcc-com for more information. Kuwait citizens can apply for tourist visas on-line at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm.

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Professor of Economic playing Blues Improvisation in C on piano, “Vientos del Pueblo” by Victor Jara, and finally Dr David Miller Instructor of Music and Head of Humanities & Social Sciences Department playing “The Banjo” by Louis Gottschalk in Piano Prelude No 1

by George Gershwin.

Dr Thorzten Botz, one of the organizers of the event and one of the musicians emphasized the importance of music in our day to day lives: “It forces us to take a minute and enjoy ourselves and our surroundings and unwind from the day’s stresses.” The audience thoroughly enjoyed their small break filled

with musical talent. GUST encourages its students as well as its instructors to do what they enjoy in their free time, and provides a music room for the students to use the instruments and get the guidance and training they need whenever they can.

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Canadian Embassy in Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department. All processing of visa and immigration matters including enquiries is conducted by the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, UAE Individuals who are interested in working, studying, visiting or immigrating to Canada should contact the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, website: www.UAE.gc.ca or www.goingtocanada.gc.ca, E-mail: abdbi-im-enquiry@international.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakei St, Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 7:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed for lunch from 12:30 to 13:00. Consular services for Canadian citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00, Sunday through Wednesday.

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Kim Kardashian in Crowne Plaza Kuwait im Kardashian recently stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Kuwait during her visit to the country. Fans were eagerly waiting to receive her at the lobby as soon as she reached the hotel. She was ushered to the room by the hotel staff. She stayed for 3 days at the hotel and went to the award winning Spa Aquatonic during her stay which she thoroughly enjoyed. She even tweeted through her personal twitter account mentioning the Spa as “the best”. She later even visited the Fauchon restaurant situated within the hotel where she was gifted with chocolates much to her delight. There was a photo shoot in the hotel with the hotel management and also with her die-hard fans waiting for days in the lobby. She expressed again how much she loved her stay in the hotel. Complimenting the staff on her way to the airport she said that they made her whole experience an enjoyable one and that she would like to stay again in Crowne Plaza Kuwait whenever she comes back to the country.

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EMBASSY OF CYPRUS In its capacity as EU Local Presidency in the State of Kuwait, the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus, on behalf of the Member States of the EU and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, would like to announce that as from 2nd October 2012 all Schengen States’ Consulates in Kuwait will use the Visa Information System (VIS). The VIS is a central database for the exchange of data on short-stay (up to three months) visas between Schengen States. The main objectives of the VIS are to facilitate visa application procedures and checks at external border as well as to enhance security. The VIS will contain all the Schengen visa applications lodged by an applicant over five years and the decisions taken by any Schengen State’s consulate. This will allow applicants to establish more easily the lawful use of previous visas and their bona fide status. For the purpose of the VIS, applicants will be required to provide their biometric data (fingerprints and digital photos) when applying for a Schengen visa. It is a simple and discreet procedure that only takes a few minutes. Biometric data, along with the data provided in the Schengen visa application form, will be recorded in the VIS central database. Therefore, as from 2nd October 2012, first-time applicants will have to appear in person when lodging the application, in order to provide their fingerprints. For subsequent applications within 5 years the fingerprints can be copied from the previous application file in the VIS. The Cypriot Presidency would like to assure the people of Kuwait and all its permanent citizens that the Member States and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, have taken all necessary technical measures to facilitate the rapid examination and the efficient processing of visa applications and to ensure a quick and discreet procedure for the implementation of the new VIS. ■■■■■■■

Four Points by Sheraton Kuwait celebrates 10th anniversary our Points by Sheraton Kuwait inaugurated back in 2003, celebrates its annual anniversary in the month of December and looks forward to welcoming another successful year. Four Points has verified within a short period of time to pioneer and achieve refined and subtle quality service for business and leisure travelers through the provision of taste, comfort and state of the art technology. The hotel has proven that perfection is possible and has clearly become a role model for the Four Points brand on a global scale, being named the “Hotel of the Year” for five consecutive years in the Europe, Africa and Middle East Division.

Situated in the middle of Kuwait City’s bustling business district, Four Points by Sheraton Kuwait, a Four Stars Hotel is just 15 minutes away from the Kuwait International Airport and a stone’s throw away from the elegant Sheraton Kuwait, a Luxury Collection Hotel which has been specifically designed to cater to the needs of business and leisure travelers as it offers great comfort as well as excellent services and extensive range of facilities.

In order to enhance our services and serve you better, we are in the process of expanding our facilities by adding a new building of 42-storey extension which will add another 218 rooms to the existing 160-room hotel. Scheduled for completion in last quarter of 2013, the hotel will offer panoramic views of the capital city and dazzling Arabian Gulf in addition to an all-day dining and one specialty restaurant will add to the hotel’s extensive facilities. The rooftop will be home to an indoor swimming pool and a state of the art health club.

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On this special occasion, Fahed Abushaar Area Director/General Manager of the Sheraton Kuwait and Mounir Amer Four Points by Sheraton Kuwait’s General Manager, extended their sincere appreciation to the owners of the hotel, Oriental Hotels Company and all those who have contributed to the success of the hotel since its inauguration. They also took this opportunity to appreciate the hard work of all the associates who play a major role in the success of the hotel by providing quality services to the guests.

IKFS invites CD presentations ndo-Kuwait Friendship Society, invite Indians and school students’ participation in presenting ideas and suggestions related to the subject “Eradicating Poverty in India and role of NRIs”. This is the first time in Kuwait a NRI association is hosting this type of program. A general convention is arranged on Tuesday, 29th January 2013 at “Athenee Plaza Hotel, Beneid Alghar (Downtown.) to deliver the winners of the Presentation in the form of Excellence Awards as “ the Best Economist of 2012”.

The event is arranged also, in commemorating India’s 64th Republic day when the people are in patriotic fervor and to witness the evening Event starting at 5 pm.

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EMBASSY OF KENYA The Embassy of the Republic of Kenya wishes to inform the Kenyan community residents throughout Kuwait and the general public that the Embassy has acquired new office telephone numbers as follows: 25353982, 25353985 - Consular’s enquiries 25353987 - Fax Our Email address: info@kenyaembkuwait.com.

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EMBASSY OF MYANMAR Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar would like to inform the general public that the Embassy has moved its office to new location at Villa 35, Road 203, Block 2, Al-Salaam Area in South Surra. The Embassy wishes to advice Myanmar citizens and travellers to Myanmar to contact Myanmar Embassy at its new location. Tel. 25240736, 25240290, Fax: 25240749, email:myankuwait11@gmai1.com.

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EMBASSY OF UKRAINE The Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait would like to remind that the external polling station No 90046 was created in the Embassy’s premises at the following address: Hawalli, Jabriya, bl.10, str. 6, build. 5. The working hours of the polling station: Sunday from 13.00 to 17.00 pm; Monday from 13.00 to 17.00 pm; Tuesday from 13.00 to 17.00 pm; Wednesday from 13.00 to 17.00 pm; Thursday from 13.00 to 17.00 pm; Friday from 10.00 to 13.00 pm; Saturday from 10.00 to 13.00 pm On October 28, 2012 the working hours of the polling station from 8.00 am to 20.00 pm. Please be advised to refer to the Embassy to check your data in the Electoral Register as well as to pick up your personal invitation from the polling station if you did not receive the document by post.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

TV PROGRAMS 23:25 Junk Men 23:50 Bad Universe

23:50 Jerusalem On A Plate Square Grouper-18

KUWAIT

23:00 Naked Science 00:50 Animal Cops Philadelphia 01:45 Human Prey 02:35 Untamed & Uncut 03:25 Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer 03:50 Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer 04:15 My Cat From Hell 05:05 Wild France 05:55 Call Of The Wildman 06:20 Going Ape 06:45 Wild Africa Rescue 07:10 Wild Africa Rescue 07:35 Wildlife SOS International 08:00 The Really Wild Show 08:25 Animal Planet’s Most Outrageous 09:15 Dogs 101 10:10 Must Love Cats 11:05 Wild France 12:00 Animal ER 12:55 Shamwari: A Wild Life 13:20 Shamwari: A Wild Life 13:50 Wildlife SOS International 14:15 Bondi Vet 14:45 Animal Cops Philadelphia 15:40 Wild France 16:35 Going Ape 17:00 The Really Wild Show 17:30 My Cat From Hell 18:25 Natural Born Hunters 18:50 Natural Born Hunters 19:20 Dogs 101 20:15 Monkey Life 20:40 Bondi Vet 21:10 Call Of The Wildman 21:35 Cheetah Kingdom 22:05 Africa’s Outsiders 23:00 Gator Boys 23:55 New Breed Vets With Steve Irwin 23:50 Animal Cops Houston 00:00 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 00:45 Come Dine With Me 01:35 Antiques Roadshow 02:30 Gok’s Fashion Fix 03:20 Gok’s Fashion Fix 04:10 Eating With The Enemy 04:55 Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 05:40 Celebrity MasterChef 06:05 Celebrity MasterChef 06:30 Eating With The Enemy 07:15 Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 08:00 MasterChef Australia 09:10 MasterChef Australia 09:35 Gok’s Fashion Fix 10:25 Gok’s Fashion Fix 11:15 Bargain Hunt 12:00 Antiques Roadshow 12:50 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 13:30 Come Dine With Me 14:20 Ty Pennington’s Homes For The Brave 15:05 Ty Pennington’s Homes For The Brave 15:50 Bargain Hunt 16:35 Antiques Roadshow 17:30 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 18:10 Come Dine With Me 19:00 The Hairy Bakers’ Christmas Special 19:50 Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey 20:45 Come Dine With Me 21:35 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 22:20 Antiques Roadshow 23:15 Bargain Hunt EditionEdition 00:15 01:10 02:05 03:00 03:55 04:20 04:50 05:15 05:40 06:05 07:00 07:50 08:45 09:40 10:05 10:30 10:55 11:25 12:20 13:15 14:10 14:35 15:05 15:30 16:25 17:20 18:15 19:10 19:40 20:05 20:35 21:00 21:30 22:25 23:20

Outback Truckers Deadliest Catch Gold Divers Mythbusters Border Security Dirty Money Auction Kings How Stuff’s Made How It’s Made Hillbilly Handfishin’ Wheeler Dealers Mythbusters Ultimate Survival Border Security Dirty Money How Stuff’s Made How It’s Made Outback Truckers Deadliest Catch Gold Divers Border Security Dirty Money Auction Kings Ultimate Survival Wheeler Dealers Hillbilly Handfishin’ Mythbusters How Stuff’s Made How It’s Made Border Security Dirty Money Auction Kings Flying Wild Alaska Masters Of Survival Ultimate Survival

23:20 Surviving Disaster 00:40 01:05 01:35 02:25 03:15 04:05 04:35 05:25 05:50 06:15 06:40 07:05 08:00 08:50 09:40 09:43 10:10 10:40 11:05 11:30 12:20 13:10 13:35 14:00 14:50 15:45 16:10 16:35 17:00 17:03 17:30 18:00 18:50 19:40 20:30 20:55 21:20 22:10 22:35 23:00

The Gadget Show The Tech Show Race To Mars Mega World Thunder Races Weird Connections Brave New World How Do They Do It? How Do They Do It? The Gadget Show The Tech Show Race To Mars Mega World Brave New World Head Rush Things That Move How Stuff’s Made How Do They Do It? How Do They Do It? Engineered Thunder Races The Gadget Show The Tech Show Mega World Brave New World Mean Green Machines How Do They Do It? How Do They Do It? Head Rush Things That Move How Stuff’s Made Engineered Race To Mars Thunder Races Junk Men Junk Men Bad Universe The Gadget Show The Tech Show Junk Men

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

Fish Hooks Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Doc McStuffins Suite Life On Deck Suite Life On Deck A.N.T Farm Jessie Shake It Up Good Luck Charlie Austin And Ally Shake It Up Phineas And Ferb Doc McStuffins Fish Hooks Jessie Jessie A.N.T Farm A.N.T Farm Wizards Of Waverly Place Shake It Up Austin And Ally Good Luck Charlie Twitches Too Austin And Ally Phineas And Ferb A.N.T Farm Good Luck Charlie Jessie That’s So Raven Cory In The House Kim Possible Hannah Montana Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Fish Hooks

ecial Agent Oso 23:50 Lazytown 00:55 Style Star 01:25 THS 02:20 THS 03:15 Behind The Scenes 03:40 Extreme Close-Up 04:10 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 Scouted 09:15 Scouted 10:15 THS 12:05 Married To Jonas 13:05 Ice Loves Coco 14:05 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 14:30 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 15:00 Style Star 15:30 THS 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 17:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 18:55 THS 19:55 Khloe And Lamar 20:25 Married To Jonas 21:25 Opening Act 22:25 Fashion Police 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Dirty Soap

00:40 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 01:30 Guy’s Big Bite 01:55 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 02:20 Barefoot Contessa 02:45 Unwrapped 03:35 Giada’s Family Christmas 04:25 Kid In A Candy Store 04:50 Unique Sweets 05:15 Charly’s Cake Angels 05:40 Chopped 06:30 Iron Chef America Special 07:10 Unwrapped 08:00 Paula’s Best Dishes 08:25 Paula’s Best Dishes 08:50 Food Network Challenge 09:40 United Tastes Of America 10:05 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 10:55 Cooking For Real 11:45 Charly’s Cake Angels 12:10 Unique Sweets 12:35 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 13:00 Iron Chef America 13:50 Guy Fieri’s Top Of The Class 14:15 Cooking For Real 14:40 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 15:05 Mexican Made Easy 15:30 Paula’s Best Dishes 16:20 United Tastes Of America 16:45 Chopped 17:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 18:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 19:15 Kid In A Candy Store 19:40 Unique Sweets 20:05 Charly’s Cake Angels 20:30 Chopped 21:20 Iron Chef America 22:10 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Special 23:00 Guy’s Big Bite 23:50 Iron Chef America Special

00:15 Market Values 00:45 Roam 01:10 Travel Madness 01:40 Perilous Journeys 02:35 One Man & His Campervan 03:30 Banged Up Abroad 04:25 Don’t Tell My Mother 05:20 The Green Way Up 06:15 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 4 07:10 Street Food Around The World 07:35 Market Values 08:05 Roam 08:30 Travel Madness 09:00 Perilous Journeys 09:55 One Man & His Campervan 10:50 Banged Up Abroad 11:45 Don’t Tell My Mother 12:40 Earth Tripping 13:05 Market Values 13:35 One Man & His Campervan 14:00 Exploring The Vine 14:30 Street Food Around The World 14:55 Market Values 15:25 Somewhere In China 16:20 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 17:15 One Man & His Campervan 18:10 Banged Up Abroad 19:05 Don’t Tell My Mother 20:00 Street Food Around The World 20:30 Market Values 21:00 One Man & His Campervan 21:30 Exploring The Vine 22:00 The Green Way Up 22:55 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 4 23:20 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 4

00:00 Untamed Americas 01:00 Strike Force 01:55 Nordic Wild 02:50 Fish Tank Kings 03:45 Monkey Thieves 04:40 World’s Deadliest 05:35 Kingdom of The Oceans 06:30 Nordic Wild 07:25 Fish Tank Kings 08:20 Monkey Thieves 08:45 Monkey Thieves 09:15 Shark Men 10:10 Python Hunters 11:05 Animal Intervention 12:00 Mystery Gorilla 13:00 Alaskan Killer Shark 14:00 Fish Tank Kings 15:00 Monkey Thieves 16:00 Shark Men 17:00 Python Hunters 18:00 Animal Intervention 19:00 Nordic Wild 20:00 Fish Tank Kings 21:00 Monkey Thieves 21:30 Monkey Thieves 22:00 Shark Men 23:00 Python Hunters Zoo Confidential 23:00 Dangerous Encounters 00:00 Fading Of The Cries-18 02:00 Get Rich Or Die Tryin’-18 04:00 A Dangerous Man-18 06:00 Green Lantern: Emerald Knights-PG15 08:00 Bending The Rules-PG15 10:00 Barricade-PG15 12:00 Faster-PG15 14:00 Bending The Rules-PG15 16:00 Twins Mission-PG15 18:00 Faster-PG15 20:00 Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown-18 22:00 House Of The Rising Sun-18 22:00 13 Assassins-1822:00 Homecoming-18 00:00 Wilfred 00:30 The Daily Show Global Edition 01:00 The Colbert Report Global Edition 01:30 American Dad 02:00 Eastbound & Down 02:30 The League 03:00 Breaking In 03:30 Hot In Cleveland 04:00 Samantha Who? 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Samantha Who? 08:30 Breaking In 10:00 Modern Family 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:30 Samantha Who? 14:00 Hot In Cleveland 15:00 Modern Family 15:30 The Daily Show Global Edition 16:00 The Colbert Report Global Edition 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 How I Met Your Mother 19:00 Modern Family 19:30 Community 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 American Dad 22:30 Allen Gregory 23:00 The League 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on 00:00 01:00 02:00 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 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

00:30 02:00 03:45 07:15 09:00 PG15 11:00 13:00 15:00 PG15 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

The Glades Justified Sons Of Anarchy The Tudors Burn Notice Revenge The Glades Emmerdale Coronation Street White Collar The Ellen DeGeneres Show Revenge Burn Notice Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show White Collar The Glades Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show White Collar Grey’s Anatomy Private Practice Hawthorne Pillars Of The Earth The Tudors

Open Graves-18 Mad Max-18 The Godfather II-18 Ticking Clock-PG15 True Justice: Deadly CrossingJackie Chan’s Who Am I?-PG15 Men In Black II-PG True Justice: Deadly CrossingLast Breath-PG15 Kick-Ass-18 House Of The Rising Sun-18 Puffball: The Devil’s Eyeball-R

00:00 Reach The Rock-18 02:00 Super-18 04:00 The Ladykillers-PG15 06:00 Prom-PG15 08:00 Elf-PG 10:00 Good Boy!-PG 12:00 The Ladykillers-PG15 14:00 Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate-PG 16:00 Good Boy!-PG 18:00 It’s Kind Of A Funny Story-PG15 20:00 High Fidelity-PG15 22:00 The Switch-18 22:00 Frenemy-18 00:00 01:45 03:15 07:00 09:15 11:15 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:15

Dragonfly-PG15 Please Give-18 Woodstock-18 Walk The Line-PG15 Certified Copy-PG15 Uncorked-PG15 Waiting For Superman-PG15 Certified Copy-PG15 Lies In Plain Sight-PG15 Top Gun-PG15 World Trade Center-PG15 Country Strong-PG15

03:00 Alabama Moon-PG15 05:00 According To Greta-PG15 06:45 Bobby Jones: Stroke Of GeniusPG 09:00 Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides-PG15 11:30 Winnie The Pooh-FAM 13:00 Soldier Love Story-PG15 15:00 The Dragon Chronicles: Fire & Ice-PG15 16:45 Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides-PG15 19:00 Arthur-PG15 21:00 Cowboys & Aliens-PG15 23:00 Black Swan-18

01:00 Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. EvilPG 02:45 Arrietty-FAM 04:30 The Ugly Duckling Goes On Holiday-FAM 06:00 Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. EvilPG 08:00 Tommy & Oscar-FAM 10:00 Robots-PG 11:30 Princess Lillifee-FAM 12:45 Turtle Hero: Part I-FAM 14:15 Arrietty-FAM 16:00 A Venetian Rascal Goes To America-FAM 18:00 Robots-PG 20:00 Freddy Frogface-PG 22:00 A Venetian Rascal Goes To America-FAM 23:30 Turtle Hero: Part I-FAM

02:00 Futbol Mundial 02:30 Twenty20 Big Bash League 05:30 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights Official Film 07:00 Pool Mosconi Cup 11:00 Twenty20 Big Bash League 14:00 Twenty20 Big Bash League 17:00 Rugby Union Varsity 19:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 20:00 European Challenge Cup 22:00 Live Pool Mosconi Cup

00:30 02:30 06:30 07:00 08:00 09:00 11:30 13:00 17:00 17:30 18:30 19:00 20:00 23:00

European Challenge Cup Pool Mosconi Cup Futbol Mundial PGA European Tour Highlights Trans World Sport Extreme Sailing Series Volvo Ocean Race Highlights Pool Mosconi Cup ICC Cricket 360 Trans World Sport Futbol Mundial UFC The Ultimate Fighter HSBC Sevens World Series WWE SmackDown

21:00 NHL 23:00 Trans World Sport 01:00 02:00 02:30 03:30 07:00 08:00 11:00 11:30 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 20:00 23:00

00:00 02:00 04:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 12:00 13:00 16:00 18:00 19:00 22:00

AFL Premiership Highlights Spirit of a Champion Golfing World Snooker UK Championship Golfing World Fukuoka Marathon FEI Equestrian World Snooker UK Championship Golfing World MENA Golf Tour Highlights AFL Premiership Highlights European Challenge Cup Fukuoka Marathon Golfing World

European Le Mans Series UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC Unleashed WWE NXT WWE Bottom Line V8 Supercars WWE Bottom Line Prizefighter European Le Mans Series WWE Experience V8 Supercars UFC

23:00 Trans World Sport 00:00 Business Edition With Tanya Beckett 00:30 Hardtalk 01:00 BBC World News America 02:00 Newsday 02:30 Asia Business Report 02:45 Sport Today 03:00 Newsday 03:30 Asia Business Report 03:45 Sport Today 04:00 Newsday 04:30 Asia Business Report 04:45 Sport Today 05:00 BBC World News 05:30 Asia Business Report 05:45 Sport Today 06:00 BBC World News 06:30 Asia Business Report 06:45 Sport Today 07:00 BBC World News 07:30 Hardtalk 08:00 BBC World News 08:30 World Business Report 08:45 BBC World News 09:00 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 BBC World News 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 World Business Report 10:45 BBC World News 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 World Business Report 11:45 BBC World News 12:00 BBC World News 12:30 Hardtalk 13:00 BBC World News 13:30 World Business Report 13:45 BBC World News 14:00 BBC World News 14:30 BBC World News 15:00 GMT With George Alagiah 15:30 GMT With George Alagiah 16:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 BBC World News 18:30 Hardtalk 19:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 19:30 The Hub With Nik Gowing 20:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 20:30 BBC Focus On Africa 21:00 BBC World News 21:30 World Business Report 21:45 Sport Today 22:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 22:30 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 23:00 BBC World News

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 MUHALAB-2 UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:45 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 12:05 AM

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 10:00 PM 12:30 AM

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) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) 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 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 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 MARINA-3 RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) 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

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

1:00 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:15 PM 9:15 PM 11:45 PM

12:45 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:30 PM 9:30 PM 12:05 AM

12:30 PM 2:15 PM 4:15 PM 6:15 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

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 AVENUES-3 UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) 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 AVENUES-5 UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) AVENUES-6 RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:30 PM 6:15 PM 9:00 PM 11:45 PM

1:15 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

1:30 PM 5:00 PM 8:30 PM 12:05 AM

2:15 PM 4:30 PM 6:45 PM 9:00 PM 11:15 PM 12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:30 PM 10:00 PM 12:30 AM

AVENUES-7 FLIGHT (DIG) SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (DIG) SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (DIG) CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE (DIG) SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (DIG) CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

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

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 AVENUES-11 RED DAWN (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 4:00 PM 7:30 PM 11:00 PM 11:00 PM

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

KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI) KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI) KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI) KHILADI 786 (DIG) (HINDI) NO SUN+TUE+WED 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 360 º- 9 (VIP-1) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED 360 º-10 (VIP-2) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED 360 º- 11 UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED 360 º- 12 THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG)

3:30 PM 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

1:15 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

2:30 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 9:15 PM 11:30 PM

1:00 PM 3:30 PM 6:00 PM 8:30 PM 11:00 PM

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 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

AL-KOUT.1 RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

1:30 PM 5:00 PM 8:30 PM 12:05 AM

AL-KOUT.2 ANNA KARENINA (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) ANNA KARENINA (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 7:30 PM 9:15 PM 11:45 PM

360 º- 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

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 11:00 PM 1:15 AM

AL-KOUT.3 RED DAWN (DIG) SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) RED DAWN (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:00 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

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

1:00 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

AL-KOUT.4 STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

BAIRAQ-1 RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (DIG-3D) STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) STORAGE 24 (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:15 PM 11:30 PM

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)

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

BAIRAQ-2 UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) 1:30 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) 3:45 PM RED DAWN (DIG) 6:00 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) 8:15 PM UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING (DIG) 10:30 PM RED DAWN (DIG) 12:45 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED

Classifieds TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation in Salmiya behind Mercedes showroom only single Pilipina lady in a master bedroom. Tel: 97751739.

11-12-2012

FOR SALE Toyota Camry model 2011 GLX full option with sunroof km done 27,000, white metallic color, registration till 11-6-2014 (installment possible) cash price KD 4750. Tel: 66507741.

(C 4244) 11-12-2012

MATRIMONIAL 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 driver for a Kuwaiti family, 3 years experience, Kuwaiti driving license. Salary KD 100. Call 99304076. (C 4245) Required maid for a Kuwaiti family, experience in Kuwait for three months.

Call 99304076. (C 4246) 10-12-2012 CHANGE OF NAME I, JUDE D’COSTA holder of Indian Passport No: F1450021 hereby change my name to JUDE DA COS-

TA. (C 4247) I, VENKAPA REDDY Indian Passport No: F8461897, embraced Islam, so I change my name MUSTAFA REDDY. (C 4248) 11-12-2012

GOVERNMENT WEB SITES Kuwait Parliament www.majlesalommah.net

The Public Institution for Social Security www.pifss.gov.kw

Ministry of Interior www.moi.gov.kw

Public Authority of Industry www.pai.gov.kw

Public Authority for Civil Information www.paci.gov.kw

Prisoners of War Committee www.pows.org.kw

Kuwait News Agency www.kuna.net.kw

Ministry of Foreign Affairs www.mofa.gov.kw

Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affair www.islam.gov.kw

Kuwait Municipality www.municipality.gov.kw

Ministry of Energy (Oil) www.moo.gov.kw

Kuwait Electronic Government www.e.gov.kw

Ministry of Energy (Electricity and Water) www.energy.govt.kw

Ministry of Finance www.mof.gov.kw

Public Authority for Housing Welfare www.housing.gov.kw

Ministry of Commerce and Industry www.moci.gov.kw

Ministry of Justice www.moj.gov.kw

Ministry of Education www.moe.edu.kw

Ministry of Communications www.moc.kw Supreme Council for Planning and Development www.scpd.gov.kw

Ministry of Interior website: www.moi.gov.kw

THE PUBLICAUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is 1889988

112 Prayer timings

Fajr:

05:08

Shorook

06:32

Duhr:

11:41

Ministry of Information www.moinfo.gov.kw

Asr:

14:32

Maghrib:

16:51

Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation www.awqaf.org

Isha:

18:13

No: 15654

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines

Arrival Flights on Tuesday 11/12/2012 Flt Route

Time

KLM JAI THY JZR QTR GFA PIA UAE ETD OMA QTR FDB MSR RJA DHX THY JZR KAC BAW KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC UAE GFA ABY QTR FDB ETD IRA GFA JZR MEA MSR UAE GFA KAC FDB KNE KAC KAC SVA QTR JZR KAC KAC QTR

411 574 772 539 148 211 239 853 305 643 138 67 612 642 170 770 503 416 157 412 206 53 302 352 332 855 223 121 132 55 301 605 213 165 404 610 871 219 514 57 472 362 546 500 140 561 562 284 134

0:30 0:30 0:35 0:50 1:00 1:50 1:55 2:35 2:45 2:50 3:01 3:05 3:10 3:15 5:15 5:30 5:55 6:25 6:40 6:45 7:40 7:45 7:55 8:05 8:15 8:40 8:45 9:05 9:10 9:15 9:20 9:45 9:55 11:20 11:55 12:45 12:50 13:35 13:45 13:50 14:10 14:20 14:30 14:30 14:45 14:50 14:55 15:10 15:30

AMSTERDAM MUMBAI ISTANBUL CAIRO DOHA BAHRAIN SIALKOT DUBAI ABU DHABI MUSCAT DOHA DUBAI CAIRO AMMAN BAHRAIN ISTANBUL LUXOR JAKARTA LONDON MANILA ISLAMABAD DUBAI MUMBAI COCHIN TRIVANDRUM DUBAI BAHRAIN SHARJAH DOHA DUBAI ABU DHABI ISFAHAN BAHRAIN DUBAI BEIRUT CAIRO DUBAI BAHRAIN TEHRAN DUBAI JEDDAH COLOMBO ALEXANDRIA JEDDAH DOHA SOHAG AMMAN DHAKA DOHA

JZR UAE ETD RJA GFA SVA QTR MSC ABY UAL SYR KAC JZR KAC BAB FDB JZR KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC OMA FDB JAI AXB MSR KAC IRA ABY QTR ALK MEA QTR GFA ETD UAE QTR FDB DHX KLM AIC JZR GFA PIA JZR UAL BBC DLH

325 857 303 640 215 510 144 2405 127 982 341 542 177 786 438 63 787 166 618 742 104 674 1790 774 647 61 572 393 618 678 619 129 146 229 402 136 221 307 859 6130 59 372 415 981 239 217 205 185 981 43 636

NAJAF DUBAI ABU DHABI AMMAN BAHRAIN RIYADH DOHA SOHAG SHARJAH WASHINGTON DC DULLES DAMASCUS CAIRO DUBAI JEDDAH BAHRAIN DUBAI RIYADH PARIS DOHA DAMMAM LONDON DUBAI MEDINAH RIYADH MUSCAT DUBAI MUMBAI KOZHIKODE ALEXANDRIA ABU DHABI LAR SHARJAH DOHA COLOMBO BEIRUT DOHA BAHRAIN ABU DHABI DUBAI DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN AMSTERDAM CHENNAI AMMAN BAHRAIN LAHORE DUBAI BAHRAIN DHAKA FRANKFURT

16:25 16:40 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:20 17:50 17:55 17:55 17:55 18:00 18:05 18:15 18:30 18:40 18:45 19:05 19:10 19:20 19:30 19:35 19:35 19:45 19:50 19:55 20:00 20:10 20:15 20:25 20:30 20:35 20:35 20:45 20:55 21:20 21:25 21:30 21:35 21:40 21:55 22:00 22:00 22:05 22:30 22:45 22:50 23:00 23:05 23:25 23:45 23:55

Airlines AIC AXB BBC UAL DLH JAI KLM KAC THY PIA FDB UAE OMA ETD MSR QTR QTR JZR GFA RJA THY KAC FDB BAW KAC KAC KAC GFA ABY UAE FDB ETD QTR GFA IRA KAC KAC MEA JZR KAC MSR JZR UAE GFA FDB KAC KAC KNE SVA

Departure Flights on Tuesday 11/12/2012 Flt Route 976 GOA/CHENNAI 390 MANGALORE 44 DHAKA 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 637 FRANKFURT 573 MUMBAI 411 AMSTERDAM 283 DHAKA 773 ISTANBUL 240 SIALKOT 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 644 MUSCAT 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 643 AMMAN 771 ISTANBUL 545 ALEXANDRIA 54 DUBAI 156 LONDON 101 LONDON 513 IMAM KHOMEINI 561 AMMAN 224 BAHRAIN 122 SHARJAH 856 DUBAI 56 DUBAI 302 ABU DHABI 133 DOHA 214 BAHRAIN 604 ISFAHAN 541 CAIRO 165 ROME 405 BEIRUT 324 AL NAJAF 785 JEDDAH 611 CAIRO 176 DUBAI 872 DUBAI 220 BAHRAIN 58 DUBAI 1789 MADINAH 673 DUBAI 473 JEDDAH 501 JEDDAH

Time 0:05 0:15 1:00 1:10 1:20 1:30 1:45 2:25 2:55 3:10 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:00 4:10 4:50 6:05 6:55 7:00 7:05 7:35 7:45 8:25 8:45 9:20 9:25 9:30 9:30 9:45 9:55 10:00 10:05 10:30 10:40 10:45 11:30 11:50 12:55 13:00 13:00 13:45 13:50 14:15 14:20 14:30 15:00 15:05 15:10 15:45

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

KAC JZR KAC QTR KAC KAC JZR ETD JZR QTR UAE RJA GFA JZR SVA ABY JZR QTR MSC SYR UAL FDB BAB FDB OMA JAI KAC KAC AXB ABY MSR IRA DHX ALK MEA ETD QTR GFA KAC FDB JZR UAE DHX KAC KLM QTR QTR GFA JZR KAC

617 786 677 141 773 741 238 304 538 135 858 641 216 184 511 128 266 145 2404 342 982 64 439 62 648 571 351 343 394 120 607 618 171 230 403 308 137 222 301 60 554 860 373 205 415 147 6131 218 528 411

DOHA RIYADH ABU DHABI DOHA RIYADH DAMMAM AMMAN ABU DHABI CAIRO DOHA DUBAI AMMAN BAHRAIN DUBAI RIYADH SHARJAH BEIRUT DOHA ASSIUT DAMASCUS BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI MUSCAT MUMBAI KOCHI CHENNAI KOZHIKODE SHARJAH LUXOR LAR BAHRAIN COLOMBO BEIRUT ABU DHABI DOHA BAHRAIN MUMBAI DUBAI ALEXANDRIA DUBAI BAHRAIN ISLAMABAD DAMMAM DOHA DOHA BAHRAIN ASSIUT BANGKOK

15:45 15:50 16:00 16:15 16:25 16:30 17:15 17:35 17:40 17:45 17:50 17:55 18:15 18:30 18:35 18:40 18:45 18:50 18:55 19:00 19:10 19:25 19:30 20:40 20:55 21:10 21:10 21:15 21:15 21:15 21:25 21:30 21:50 21:55 22:20 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:45 22:50 23:00 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:25 23:50 23:50 23:55

34

stars CROSSWORD 35

STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19) Gurus and ideologies of one kind or another—religious, political, philosophical and such—may seem to have all the answers today. However, you may be surprised at just how accurate you can be. Trust in your own ideas and sense of what is appropriate. If you are in the medical, food or sales force now, you will find some great ideas that will heal, sell or convince most any one of anything. Think back to some of your own experiences and what exactly persuaded you to buy things and adjust your own techniques accordingly. You will enjoy a good support system for your projects, like never before. Stay alert to financial prospects . . . the door of opportunity is open. Stretch and do some fun things with a loved one this evening.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You may want to increase the security for a newly acquired piece of merchandise now. Get an appraisal and photograph and engrave your new possession— then just enjoy. In the workplace, something that should have been completed a few days ago may demand your attention. Patience will help you to succeed. Co-workers and friends talk about political issues during the noon break. Important issues concerning public credibility, corporate ethics, product safety and secret or sensitive information intrigue you and your friends. Meetings and conferences prove successful this afternoon.

You may have increased dealings with corporate matters related to joint finances. There is enough energy for whatever you want to enjoy this evening.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

ACROSS 1. A former French coin of low denomination.

4. A member of an Indian people formerly living along the Gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas.

11. A primeval personification of air and breath.

15. Thickening of tissue in the motor tracts of the lateral columns and anterior horns of the spinal cord.

16. Of or relating to or characteristic of Ghana or its people or language.

17. Plant with an elongated head of broad stalked leaves resembling celery.

18. God of the earth.

19. Planetarium consisting of an apparatus that illustrates the relative positions and motions of bodies in the solar system by rotation and revolution of balls moved by wheelwork.

21. The United Nations agency concerned with atomic energy.

23. The branch of engineering science that studies the uses of electricity and the equipment for power generation and distribution and the control of machines and communication.

25. A Russian prison camp for political prisoners.

28. A small measure (usually of food).

30. A light strong gray lustrous corrosionresistant metallic element used in strong lightweight alloys (as for airplane parts).

32. A member of a pastoral people living in the Nilgiri hills of southern India.

33. Get undressed.

36. Choose and follow.

39. Greek author of fables (circa 620-560 BC).

40. A Nilotic language.

41. Lower in esteem.

44. Black tropical American cuckoo.

45. In or relating to or obtained from urine.

48. Any of various spiny trees or shrubs of the genus Acacia.

51. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

52. (Babylonian) Goddess of healing and consort of Ninurta.

53. Profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger.

55. Type genus of the family Lycosidae.

57. The capital and largest city of Burundi.

60. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

61. Essential oil or perfume obtained from flowers.

62. The capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the Congo river opposite Brazzaville.

66. Belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler.

70. A member of the Siouan people formerly living in the Missouri river valley in NE Nebraska.

71. The twelfth month of the civil year.

74. An officer who acts as military assistant to a more senior officer.

75. Feline mammal usually having thick soft fur and being unable to roar.

76. A cut of pork ribs with much of the meat trimmed off.

80. A local computer network for communication between computers.

81. Group insurance that entitles members to services of participating hospitals and clinics and physicians.

82. Woody climbers of tropical Asia to Australia.

83. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.

DOWN 1. British writer of short stories (1870-1916).

2. Evergreen trees and shrubs having oily oneseeded fruits.

3. A member of a Turkic people of Uzbekistan and neighboring areas.

4. Gone by.

5. Informal terms for clothing.

6. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

7. Hinge joint in the human leg connecting the tibia and fibula with the femur and protected in front by the patella.

8. Open to or abounding in fresh air.

9. Something that remunerates.

10. An associate degree in nursing.

11. At the present or from now on.

12. Any of several plants of the genus Calochortus having tulip-shaped flowers with 3 sepals and 3 petals.

13. A musical work that has been created.

14. The back side of the neck.

20. Spicy sauce of tomatoes and onions and chili peppers to accompany Mexican foods.

22. 4-wheeled motor vehicle.

24. A user interface in which you type commands instead of choosing them from a menu or selecting an icon.

26. Set lower.

27. (Greek mythology) Goddess of the earth and mother of Cronus and the Titans in ancient mythology.

29. A port city of south central Ukraine on an arm of the Black Sea. 31. Mako sharks.

34. Ruffed grouse.

35. Constituting or having to do with or suggestive of a literary epic.

37. Thick stew made of rice and chicken and small game.

38. German organist and contrapuntist (16851750).

42. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

43. Enthusiastic approval.

46. Any of several plants of the genus Camassia.

47. Sorghums of dry regions of Asia and North Africa.

49. The eighth month of the civil year.

50. Absence of the pupil in an eye.

54. (Greek mythology) Greek god of war.

56. A state in northwestern United States on the Pacific.

58. The dialect of Malay used as the national language of the Republic of Indonesia or of Malaysia.

59. Any animal or plant material used to fertilize land especially animal excreta usually with litter material.

63. (Islam) The man who leads prayers in a mosque.

64. An international organization created in 1949 by the North Atlantic Treaty for purposes of collective security.

65. Characterized by lightness and insubstantiality.

67. A river that rises in western New Mexico and flows westward through southern Arizona to become a tributary of the Colorado River.

68. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

69. Of a quality, as in.

72. (Irish) The sea personified.

73. Being two more than fifty.

77. A soft yellowish-white trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group.

78. A soft white precious univalent metallic element having the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal.

79. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

Business partners or customers will be much less of a problem now. If the weather is bad, you, or they, could even stay at home and handle a full day’s work from home. Computer, fax, picture phone, you name it. The advantage of your present professional situation is the joy of the future financial picture. This is a magical time when anything is possible. People at a distance or en masse—play a bigger part in your life now. Education, advertising and travel could all play a part in this. There are demands on your time this afternoon and it may have to do with research. Emotional security, a sense of belonging and nurturing are felt instinctively now. Make time for a few jokes or ask for updates on the activities of the young people in your family.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) Because you seem to be organized emotionally and with a professional attitude, others may ask for your advice regarding personal or professional issues.

You are able to cut through the red tape and get at what is behind most issues. This is a great time, when good fortune and plain old luck surrounds you. It is easy for you to make correct decisions, find the right path and move forward where career and success are concerned.

Life’s problems seem manageable and easy to solve. You are beginning to put some real value on yourself and you are learning to set limits. Learning to say no in a firm but kind way is an important process toward good mental health. Relax . . . there is time to enjoy the entertainment of this holiday season.

Leo (July 23-August 22) You could be feeling more inward and feeling that sharing some time with your lover or with close friends is a much better prospect than working this morning. You are feeling reflective rather than expressive just now.

Perhaps your dreams have been scratching at the back of your memory. Write down a few words to help you remember the dreams. Later you will have time to look through a dream book, perhaps at a bookstore during the noon break. At work, you put forth the effort it takes to be successful. The day will prove to be a successful one and you are happy. There are good practical job-related thoughts and ideas as well as the ability to communicate with superiors or describe what you see.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Taking care of business is important now. You crave organization, practicality and you find new ways to attack difficult projects. Your ambition is strong and much can be accomplished. Health and work goals are shaping up nicely—in many ways. Time out for a brisk walk or a bit of exercise during the noon hour can refresh your energies this busy day. Respect, status and achievement are central goals for you as a new phase begins in your life. Creating a structure to empower and maintain your ideals and principles become a high priority, an article of faith. This evening you may enjoy a good movie or book or feel like escaping from day-to-day realities for a while. Activities at home this evening bring a good feeling of security.

Word Search

Libra (September 23-October 22) Most of this day is spent in negotiation—whether you are at work or home. You are at your most practical when it comes to working with others. You know just what to do and can act without too much emotion. You are called on to make use of your common sense in financial matters. Your financial savvy takes on a greater importance. You know just how to put people, ideas and things together profitably—others want your advice. At home this evening, the demand on your time continues. An elderly relative or needy brother or sister may need your help. Clearly state the times you can help and do not change these times for convenience sake, as this will be less confusing for them. Tell or listen to a couple of jokes this evening. Enjoy a bit of laughter!

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You may be faced with having to pull out some techniques for solving problems in the workplace. A difference of opinion could turn into a heated conversation—you will know how to suggest a different way or a different view. You do a magnificent job at negotiation. At home this afternoon you enjoy caring for plants. This activity also helps to give you a bit of transition and relaxation. Do not overload your activities. Perhaps this is a good time to think and study—you have a real appreciation for ideas and thoughts. Someone has a great idea for future events and you may have some thoughts of your own. You may find yourself enjoying a long conversation, writing a letter, or making a special phone call. A book or movie is fun tonight.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) If you have strange eating habits, you might want to examine those habits. You may want to change one of your meals to a lighter affair or perhaps you will decide to move the time you eat dinner to an earlier time. You should have lots of luck today in health, nutrition, diet and preventative medicine attitudes and activities. A vitamin supplement may be something for you to consider during the winter months. A book or hobby may keep you busy after work this afternoon. Problems and obstacles that have been disturbing in the past should be easily understood now. A cycle of nostalgia and domesticity begins now and it emphasizes a need for security and a sense of roots. Family, home, relatives and real estate will become important.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) This is a day of emotional directness marked by powerful feelings that promote action—growth. This time is a time of new beginnings. You are always moving onward and upward. You may work today on the wording or phrasing with regard to information on some change in the workplace. Everyone working in the building needs the information before the time for a change happens and you look for just the right thing to say. After noon, you work on your own projects and probably make some time to answer a few questions regarding the memo you have sent. This is a creative period for you, a time to take a chance, a time to be admired. If you are not being creative and productive at work you are happily involved with some creative project at home.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You may look at today as a new beginning. There are new insights into some work project at this time. You are ready to expand your mind, your system of working and you whole idea of direction. After work, a friend that may work at a museum or concert hall will help with some future arrangement for a business meeting or celebration. All will go well and dates will be set, although you may have to negotiate quite a bit to achieve some competitive date or time for the meeting. A young person is influenced by your actions as well as your words this afternoon. There is a chance to understand those around you and to have a special time with someone you love. Family may want your attention this evening and someone has cooked for you.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) You are now setting out on a trek into a land of dreams—not passive daydreams, but vibrant visions of what may become part of your own reality. The time has come to reassess your working conditions or your place in the work world. If you are not working with the company or department of your choice, there is a chance now to present a proposal and help your progress up the corporate ladder. You will make a positive impression! Congratulate yourself for having the willingness to grow. Real insight into your own goals and how you want to progress could surface. You are in a fun mood this afternoon. You express your love and appreciation for all around you. There is time to relax and enjoy your loved ones this evening.

Yesterday’s Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

Daily SuDoku

Yesterday’s Solution

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

i n f o r m at i o n For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 GOVERNORATE Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Kaizen center

25716707

Rawda

22517733

Adaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Kaifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salem

22549134

Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Qadsiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Gar

22531908

Shaab

22518752

Qibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Qibla

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Sabhan

24742838

24575518 24566622

Al-Helaly

22434853

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Al-Faiha

22545051

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

Al-Jahra

25610011

Al-Salmiya

25616368

Hawally

ST TAT TE OF KUW K WAIT A

Te el.: 161

DIRECTORA AT TE GENERAL GENE OF CIVIL AV VIA ATION T METEOROLOGICAL DEP PARTMENT A DA AY Y: Monday

Ext.: 2627 262 - 2630

Fax: 24348714 WWW.MET.GOV V.KW .

10/12/2012

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

07:00

Issue Time

Expected Weeather for the Next 24 Hours BY Y DA AY:

Viisibility isibil will improve gradually with light variable wind changing to light to moderate south easterly wind, with speed of 08 - 28 km/h and some scattered clouds will appear

BY Y NIGHT:

Partly cloudy with light to moderate freshening gradually south easterly wind, with speed of 15 - 40 km/h

No Current Warnings arnin a

WARNING A

23 °C

15 °C

Mirqab

22456536

NUW WAISEEB A

25 °C

18 °C

Sharq

22465401

WAFRA A

26 °C

17 °C

Salmiya

25746401

SALMI

20 °C

12 °C

ABDAL LY

22 °C

13 °C

Jabriya

25316254

JAL ALIY YAH A

21 °C

13 °C

Maidan Hawally

25623444

FAILAKA A

23 °C

16 °C

Bayan

25388462

AHMADI POR RT

22 °C

19 °C

Mishref

25381200

UMM AL-MARADEM

23 °C

22 °C

W Hawally

22630786

WARBA A A - BUBY YA AN

22 °C

14 °C

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

ST TATION T

SFC. CHART

10/12/2012 0000 UTC

4 DA AYS Y FORECAST Temperatures DA AY

DA ATE T

WEA AT THER

Tuesday

11/12

clouds to decrease + raising dust

MAX.

MIN.

Wind Direction

Wind Speed

26 °C

16 °C

SE-NW

20 - 45 km/h

11 °C

NW

20 - 45 km/h

10 °C

NW

20 - 40 km/h

NW

15 - 35 km/h

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

Wednesday e

12/12

cool + raising dust

20 °C

South Jahra

24775066

Thursday

13/12

cool

19 °C

North Jahra

24775992

Friday

14/12

cool

18 °C

09 °C

North Jleeb

24311795

PRA RA AY YER TIMES

RECORDED YESTERDA AY AT KUW WAIT A AIRPORT

Fajr

05:07

MAX. Temp.

23 °C

Sunrise

06:32

MIN. Temp.

15 °C 92 %

24884079 24892674

Zuhr

11:41

MAX. RH

24719048

Asr

14:31

MIN. RH

55 %

Sunset

16:50

MAX. Wind

N 21 km/h

Isha

18:12

TOT TAL AL RAIINF FA ALL L IN 24 HR.

All times are local time unless otherwise stated.

00 mm

10/12/12 02:07 UTC

V1.00

T1.06

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist

25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535

Dentists

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

22618787

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

lifest yle G o s s i p

he Hollywood couple have sparked rumours they are to tie the knot very soon after an assistant working for Angelina collected the marriage bands for them from top Los Angeles jewellers Neil Lane at the end of last month. In Touch Weekly magazine reports: “On November 27, a stylist for the actress picked up wedding rings from Neil Lane jewellers for the couple.”

Neil Lane has previously created jewellery pieces for Angelina and is renowned for his engagement and wedding rings which he has made for a host of stars including, Jessica Simpson and Ellen DeGeneres. In June, Liam Hemsworth proposed to Miley Cyrus with an engagement ring made by Lane. Last month, Brad, 48, claimed he is in no rush to marry his fiancÈe and is happy to wait until the time is right for both him and Angelina, 37, even though he popped the question back in April and has been with her for seven years. He said: “We don’t have a date yet. I don’t know what’s going to happen in two weeks never mind the New Year.

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he heavily-pregnant pop star - who has a 12-month-old daughter, Ethel, with husband Sam Cooper - is spending time relaxing and has vowed to stay in bed yesterday and indulge in her favourite snacks. She tweeted: “I’m doing sweet FA today ‘cept staying in bed, watching DVD’s drinking tea and eating copious amounts of Frubes and caramel digestives (sic)” However, it seems the 27-year-old singer may not be entirely satisfied with her choice of viewing material, admitting she was struggling to enjoy the Jude Law and Keira Knightley film ‘Anna Karenina’. In another post on her Twitter account, she wrote: “I’m watching Anna Karenina, it’s a bit sloooooooooow (sic)” On Thursday (06.12.12), the ‘Smile’ hitmaker enjoyed

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he ‘Les Miserables’ actress - who wed actor Adam Shulman in September - has always wanted children but wanted to have a successful career before she embarked on motherhood and she now feels like the time is right to start a family. She said: “I’ve wanted to be a mom since I was 16. “But I also wanted to have a career, so I have been chomping at the bit to be a mother for a really long time. I also had to find a baby daddy first - which I now have.” Adam popped the question to Anne earlier this year, but couldn’t keep the proposal a surprise because the 30-year-old screen beauty had told him she was going to cut all her hair off for her role as tragic Fantine in ‘Les Miserables’. She told The Sun newspaper: “My now husband looked at me with pride, joy and slight panic. “I said, ‘What’s the matter?’ and he said, ‘OK, without giving anything away about what is coming in the next few months, how do you feel about being a short-haired bride?’ and I went, ‘Nooooooooo!’”

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We’re such migratory workers that it’ll be a matter of convenience location wise.” However, the couple’s six kids - Maddox, 11, Pax, eight, Zahara, seven, Shiloh, six, and four-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne - are keen to see their parents tie the knot and keep asking him when the wedding is going to happen. The ‘Killing Them Softly’ star said: “I am getting more pressure from my kids, and it is something I want to do ... The time is nigh. It’s soon. I got a good feeling about it.” This would be Angelina’s third marriage after previously being wed to British actor Jonny Lee Miller between 1996 and 1999 followed by musician Billy Bob Thornton from 2000 to 2003. Brad was married to ‘Friends’ star Jennifer Aniston but he separated from her in 2005.

some pampering with a festive manicure.

She tweeted: “#NEWNAILSALERT “@nailsbyMH: Snowflake nails for the lovely @lilyrosecooper (sic)” And she is likely to have enjoyed the beauty treatment having previously bemoaned her physical appearance. Lily claimed to be growing hair in odd places as a result of her pregnancy hormones.

Earlier this week, she wrote: “I have a hormonal beard.”

he 49-year-old actor - who has been dating the blonde beauty on and off since he announced his split from long-term partner Vanessa Paradis in June 2012 - has purchased a property in Nashville, Tennessee, after “falling in love” with the home when the pair viewed it. A source said: “Buying this house is the surest sign yet of how serious Johnny is about Amber. “She’s always dreamt of having a ranch. They were going to buy one in Texas, where she’s from, but they fell in love with the Nashville property as soon as they set eyes on it.” Despite already owning four houses in Los Angeles, Johnny wants to write and play music in the Nashville countryside and he is keen to please equine enthusiast Amber, 26, who will love to ride horses in the rural spaces close to their new abode. The source added to The Sun newspaper: “Johnny isn’t bothered about living it up in Hollywood, he’d rather have the good life. While Amber loves to ride horses, Johnny’s serious about writing and playing music.” As well as being a big Hollywood actor, Johnny is also a keen musician and will find there is plenty of space in the 19-room property to invite stars around to work with , as he did last month when he asked the ‘Little Things’ hitmakers over to his Los Angeles home studio to impress 13-year-old daughter, Lily Rose.

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he 44-year-old star - who is celebrating her 25th year in showbiz - struggled to get to grips with even the basic aspects of her performances when she first moved from acting to singing. She told Britain’s ELLE magazine: “It was actually a pretty scary time. No one can tell you what’s going to happen, you don’t have a mentor and all you do is work and travel, work and travel.

Even just how to stand on a stage to sing was something you have to work out as you go along.”

The ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’ hitmaker also struggled with negative comments about her in the press, which resulted in her having a “kind of breakdown”. She added: “I had hits but I had a lot

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of critics. A lot of it was really vicious and I was just a kid and I did get completely trampled by it. “I had a kind of breakdown where I just wanted to go away and hide. My family knew what I was going through and the thing was that I agreed with a lot of the criticism about me, I just didn’t know quite how to deal with it. “In the end I dealt with it by carrying on, getting through the next day, the next project, hoping things got clearer, hoping that I’d get better and better.

— Bangshowbiz

he Brazilian supermodel - who has a two-year-old son Benjamin with husband Tom Brady - gave birth to daughter Vivian Lake at home and says the little girl is doing well. She wrote on her Facebook page alongside a picture of Vivian holding her hand: “We feel so lucky to have been able to experience the miracle of birth once again and are forever grateful for the opportunity to be the parents of another little angel. “Vivian Lake was born at home on December 5.

She is healthy and full of life.” The 32-year-old beauty went on to thank her fans on behalf of her and her family for all their congratulatory messages. She added: “Thank you all for your support and well wishes. We wish you and your families many blessings.” Tom - who plays football for the New England Patriots, who are based in the Greater Boston area - also has a five-year-old son, John, with ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynahan.

Gisele never officially confirmed her pregnancy, but showed off her changing shape last month, donning a leopard print bikini on the beach in Miami.

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

lifestyle

reed that overreaches and causes its own undoing is the primary target of Ben Jonson’s 1606 satire, “Volpone.” Considering the ongoing global financial crisis, it’s clear that classic theater can remain eerily relevant even after 400 years. Jonson was an English Renaissance poet and playwright considered an equal to his contemporary, William Shakespeare.

His acerbic social satire is being performed in a robust, mirthful production

by Red Bull Theater titled “Volpone, or The Fox” that opened Sunday night off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in the West Village.

Under Jesse Berger’s direction, the production is farcically paced yet not frenzied. Berger provides time to savor the antics, along with the genius of Jonson’s jests and plot twists, as handled by a wonderfully spirited ensemble in appropriately broad mode.

Stephen Spinella is an ingratiating if youthful-looking Volpone (the Fox), a manipulative con artist in Venice, Italy.

Spinella conveys endless delight in his character’s inventive machinations, appealing guilelessly to the audience for applause and sympathy.

Miserly Volpone, who begins each day by worshiping his piles of ill-gotten gold and baubles, has merrily connived for three years with his duplicitous servant Mosca, aka the Parasite or the Fly, (portrayed with scamp-like relish by Cameron Folmar), to increase his fortune by stringing along a series of greedy, would-be heirs. Eventually, some of their tricks will backfire alarmingly.

Four greedy and deluded fools ply Volpone with lavish gifts to ingratiate themselves, while he pretends to be near death to keep them on the hook.

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In this photo, the choir performs on stage during a dress rehearsal for Richard Wagner’s opera “Der fliegende Hollaender” (The Flying Dutchman) at the opera in Zurich. — AP here’s scarcely a ship or a sailor to be seen in the wildly revisionist, weirdly anti-colonialist new production of Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman” at the Zurich Opera. But, fortunately, there is Bryn Terfel.

The Welsh bass-baritone was in splendid voice and commanded the stage with mesmerizing, hulking presence as the Dutch mariner condemned to sail the seas until he finds a woman faithful unto death. It may be a slight exaggeration to say Terfel single-handedly redeemed the spectacle that premiered Sunday night - but only slight.

One night earlier the company presented Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera” in a musically vibrant but similarly befuddling production, this one a revival of a staging by David Pountney first seen two seasons ago.

But “Dutchman” was the big news, because it’s the first production directed by Andreas Homoki since he became general manager of the opera house earlier this year.

With the license that comes from the European fashion of radically reinterpreting standard works, Homoki apparently decided to turn Wagner’s romantic ghost story into a cautionary tale about the evils of bourgeois greed and imperialism.

Daland the sea captain becomes head of a shipping company, and his sailors are deskbound clerks, keeping in touch by telephone on the progress of a returning ship. A map of Africa on the wall marks its ports of call, and Daland keeps a fez-wearing African manservant. Daland’s daughter, Senta, and the other women are no longer seamstresses but office workers who sit at typewriters instead of spinning-wheels. And the only time we see a ship among Wolfgang Gussmann’s sets is when a painting of a turbulent ocean churns to life

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and the Dutchman’s ship with red sails emerges from the waves.

None of this sheds any particular new light on Wagner’s opera, but at least it sticks to the broad outlines of the plot. Things turn really perverse in the final scene, when Daland’s crew tries to rouse the ghostly sailors aboard the Dutchman’s ship. Suddenly, the African servant morphs into a spear-carrying savage, and the map of Africa goes up in flames. Senta proves her loyalty not by jumping into the sea to join the Dutchman but by shooting herself with a hunting rifle.

Terfel, wearing a fur coat with long brown hair hanging over the collar and streaks of dark makeup that accentuate his piercing eyes, manages to keep his dignity amid all this and creates a searing portrayal of a man possessed. Reprising a role that sounds almost easy for him after his recent exertions as Wotan, Terfel musters stentorian power for the climaxes but sings many passages with a quiet, yearning tenderness.

Anja Kampe as Senta matches him well, singing with warm, penetrating tone, except for some strident high notes. Veteran bass Matti Salminen revels in the role of Daland, even if his voice has lost some of its richness.

Conductor Alain Altinoglu whips up considerable excitement in the pit, though there were a few opening night coordination problems with the excellent chorus.

It should be noted that although Zurich opera audiences have come to expect that liberties will be taken, there were more than a few boos when Homoki and his team came out for curtain calls. For “Ballo,” Pountney takes off from the fact that the real King Gustavo III of Sweden was a playwright and theater buff. So Verdi’s opera becomes a play

staged by the tenor, abetted by his page, Oscar, and a woman who starts off dressed as his nurse but then acts the part of the fortune teller Ulrica.

Anyone who saw the recent David Alden production at the Metropolitan Opera will recognize some similarities: Oscar wears wings; Ulrica takes frequent swigs of liquor, and the opening scene ends with a jaunty chorus line.

In the finale, Pountney gives us not one but three Gustavos - the king who is assassinated during the masked ball, the king who has directed the show, and the life-size puppet king he carries in and lays atop the prompter’s box. It’s all a bit bewildering.

Tenor Ramon Vargas brings an urgent lyricism to the role of Gustavo, while soprano Tatjana Serjan displays a striking range of colors as his beloved Amelia. Baritone Alexey Markov is impressive as her husband, Renato, though his sound is more Slavic than Italianate. Mezzo-soprano Yvonne Naef is a vivid Ulrica, and soprano Sen Guo a spirited Oscar.

Perhaps the best thing about the performance is the presence in the pit of octogenarian Nello Santi, who leads a rich, finely detailed performance. Santi provides a rare link to a bygone golden era: He made his Met debut 50 years ago conducting “Ballo” with a cast that starred Carlo Bergonzi, Robert Merrill and Leonie Rysanek. — AP

This photo released by David Gersten and Associates shows (from left) Stephen Spinella and Tovah Feldshuh, in a scene from Red Bull Theater’s production of Ben Jonson’s classic “Volpone,” currently performing off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York. —

mong the characteristics the network TV drama “Nashville” gets right about its namesake city is the music. Guided by musical director T Bone Burnett, the new series presents a passable and often entertaining facsimile of country radio hits as well as samples of the less commercial side of the city’s music scene. The hourlong evening soap features vocals by several of its main characters. The most convincing work comes from an upstart acoustic duo played by Clare Bowen and Sam Palladio, best represented on the album by “If I Didn’t Know Better,” and a rising starlet portrayed with convincing fierceness by Hayden Panettiere, who has received radio airplay for her popcountry dance tune, “Telescope.” Actors Connie Britton and Charles Esten, as a veteran country star and her longtime guitarist, don’t have the vocal chops of the top singers in Music City. But they perform well enough onstage (especially on the ballad “No One Will Ever Love You”) while displaying their dramatic talents when the microphones are off.

The biggest musical disappointment is the shaggy rocker Jonathan Jackson, who lacks the charisma of the others. On the soundtrack, he fails to sharpen the edge of “Twist of Barbwire,” an Elvis Costello composition. Still, most of the recordings on the “Nashville” soundtrack rate with what Music City regularly produces - thereby achieving the show’s goal. CHECK OUT THIS TRACK: The quietly conveyed “When the Right One Comes Along,” performed

by Bowen and Palladio, features the kind of subtly emotional songwriting heard nightly by patrons of Nashville’s fabled Bluebird Cafe (recreated in exacting detail in the TV drama). — AP

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This undated publicity photo released by Jeffrey Richards Associates shows Bobby Cannavale (left) and Jeremy Shamos in a scene from “Glengarry Glen Ross” at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York. — AP

avid Mamet’s return to Broadway has been upstaged - by David Mamet. A crackling revival of his excellent “Glengarry Glen Ross” opened Saturday at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, a few steps from his latest play, “The Anarchist.” Within a block, you can see Mamet’s past and present. And that may be unnerving for a man this brilliant. “The Anarchist” was roasted by critics and will limp off the stage after just 40 performances. It will be survived by a 30year-old ghost, a play as lively as “The Anarchist” was arid. “Glengarry Glen Ross,” a foul-mouthed brilliantly created and insightful look at men in the modern work place, is drenched in testosterone and verbal trickery, whereas “The Anarchist,” a long-winded conversation between an inmate and a warden, was unexciting and lifeless.

But lifeless is not the first word that comes to mind while watching director Daniel Sullivan’s fresh look at two days in the lives of four desperate Chicago real estate salesmen. Sullivan and his first rate cast plumb the play for its humor, so often lost amid the darkness and paranoia others have chosen to tease out. This “Glengarry Glen Ross” is a hoot. The timing is pretty good too: Florida real estate and horrible desperation in offices is now in vogue. The big star,

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of course, is Al Pacino, who plays Shelly “The Machine” Levene, the once-winning-butnow-struggling salesman. Pacino and Sullivan last teamed up with “The Merchant of Venice” on Broadway and they risk the same result: Pacino is Pacino and, by definition, unbalances any production.

Here he works hard to be meek and chummy and desperate and mostly succeeds, though it’s hard not to think you’re watching Al Pacino working hard to be meek and chummy and desperate. His eyes bulge, he plays with his hair, he takes long pauses while staring to get his point across - he bobs up and down in the Mamet dialogue, sometimes relishing the theatricality of the role and other times losing himself in it. That matches the Levene character, who is down and then up, then down again. Pacino’s eyes blaze triumphantly when he’s the cat, but later he is piteous as the mouse, begging “listen. Just one moment.”

The rest of the cast is first-rate: Richard Schiff, who played fidgety Toby Ziegler on “The West Wing,” is hysterical as the manipulative George Aaronow; David Harbour, of “The Coast of Utopia,” is lovely as the crumbling office manager; John C. McGinley, the abrasive senior doctor on “Scrubs,” is wonderfully clueless as Dave Moss; and Jeremy

Shamos, who got a Tony Award nomination for “Clybourne Park,” is heartbreaking as a weak-willed customer.

It falls to Bobby Cannavale from “The Mother——- With the Hat” to become the gravitational force holding the scenes together and he steps up with a first-rate Richard Roma, a role played by Pacino in a film version. Cannavale is perfectly cast - a snarling good-looking, swaggering actor who can also be a goodfella, a nice listener if you’ve got a problem.

He reels in Shamos’ character in the first act with such slick bravado that it’s no wonder checkbooks open around town. In Act 2, Cannavale’s slick-backed cool - “let’s talk about you” - is dropped as his Roma rails against the office manager and the police officer investigating a break-in at the office.

Mamet is back - but maybe not the way he wanted. “Glengarry Glen Ross” is a reminder of his potential. His present languid, overly intellectual work, will, to steal a phrase from this old show, “always be closing.” — AP

He ironically refers to them as his “birds of prey,” when in fact he preys upon these would-be scavengers. Rocco Sisto masterfully portrays Voltore, a glowering lawyer, his pale, stooped, beaklike appearance matching his Vulture’s costume. Alvin Epstein is delightfully doddering as elderly, nearly-deaf Corbaccio (the Raven). Michael Mastro is swaggering and odious as Corvino (the Crow), an abusive merchant who jealously hides and abuses his beautiful young wife, Celia (Christina Pumariega.) Such is the level of greed here that Corvino pimps out his young wife to Volpone, despite her chaste, horrified protests, and then publicly denounces her to save his own hide. Tovah Feldshuh is a scene-stealing, chirping harpy as Fine Madam Would-Be, swooping grandly around the stage but as easily beguiled by greed as the other three. Pumariega gives Celia a sweetly mimed air of outraged innocence; Celia’s unwarranted belief that Heaven “never fails the innocent” reflects Jonson’s lampooning subversion of religion. Gregory Wooddell is nobly foolish as her valiant protector, Bonario.

Adding to the light-hearted feel of this production are a trio of singing, comically-costumed, accomplished actors who play Volpone’s private entertainment squad: a dwarf (Teale Sperling), a eunich (Sean Patrick Doyle) and a hermaphrodite (Alexander Sovronsky). We’d need a time machine to blame Jonson for darkening the mood in the final scene, because he didn’t forgive human foibles as generously as did Shakespeare. —AP

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

lifestyle

evoured by a giant squash, engulfed by flood or flames, frozen in a nuclear winter or new ice age, mankind has looked to The End with fear and fascination since the dawn of civilisation. Nature’s cycles-day succeeding night, the four seasons-long fed fears of being plunged into eternal darkness, or an endless winter.

“Before the great monotheistic religions, most ancient civilisations lived in fear that these cycles would one day stop,” explained the historian Bernard Sergent, author of a recent book exploring 13 apocalyptic myths.

The Aztecs believed there was a chance that-once every 52 years-the sun would no longer rise, so they ordered copious human sacrifices to ensure it did. But rather than The End of all things, throughout history a good old apocalypse has often been viewed as a way to reset the clock, divide good from evil and start anew. Derived from ancient Greek, the word means “revelation”. Chosen to figure in the Bible, the Apocalypse of John is just one of the many world’s end scenarios that were in circulation in early

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Christian times. The Book of Revelation, the last in the New Testament, describes a string of cataclysmic events that annihilate part of life on Earth, culminating with the announcement of the Second Coming of Christ. Islam also offers a repertoire of tales of mass destruction-by sandstorm, invasion or fire. Plague, famine and brutal wars made Europe in the Middle Ages, to many, seem ripe for extermination-leading to a flourishing of prophecies the world would end in 1,000 AD, just as doomsayers would foretell The End a millennium later. At the start of the Renaissance, the Anabaptists were convinced the end of the world was nigh, and that it was vital to “rebaptise” adults before it came.

“It’s part of the human make-up” “What is most often at stake is being called to account by the gods, or by nature, it’s about being punished for defying some higher order,” said Jean-Noel Lafargue, author of a study of world’s end myths through history.

“Man-made disasters make us tremble. That’s what changed in the 20th century.” For thousands of years water was the apocalyptic weapon of choice.

For Judeo-Christians, the flood evokes the biblical story of Noah’s Ark, but the motif of a deluge sent upon man by an angry divinity stretches back deep in time. In Mesopotamia all-engulfing flood myths date from Sumerian times, between the fourth and second millennium BC, as told in the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the earliest surviving works of literature.

Ancient Greece and Rome had their share of floods, too: from the Greek deluge of Ogyges-named after a mythical ruler-to Atlantis, the legendary island swallowed up by the sea, as recounted by the philosopher Plato. At the dawn of our era, a deluge myth told by a small people from the Near East, the Hebrews, went on to become the most famous of all. According to the Book of Genesis, God decided to rid Earth of men and animals, instructing a single, “righteous” man, Noah, to build an ark to save himself

or decades, Beverly Pond searched for her friend Marianne Rikimaru, the Japanese American girl she had walked to Fruitridge Elementary School with most every day in the years before World War II. Beverly wanted to return a set of ancient Japanese figurines belonging to Marianne’s family, who left suddenly in April 1942. For 70 years, Beverly had no idea what became of her friend after the Rikimarus were sent to a remote detention camp for Americans of

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heir skin is smooth, their hair is salon-fresh, and between them they’ve sold millions of records. Now, they are making it acceptable for young Asian men to buy beauty products.

South Korea’s male K-pop icons have been enlisted by the country’s cosmetics firms as they try to expand beyond its borders to take on global giants like L’Oreal and Unilever across the continent.

“The male K-pop stars are very good looking and I think the makeup helps them look good. So why not me as well?” said Lenard Heng, a 26-year old graphic designer, out clubbing in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. South Korean men spend $900 million a year on beauty products, more than a fifth of the global total, research firm Euromonitor says. But even the vanity of a nation is no longer much of a growth opportunity.

By contrast, in the emerging markets of Asia the middle class is rapidly expanding, and with it opportunities to sell goods like foundation, lip balm, skincare lotions and eyeliner. Demand for personal care products will rise by over 40 percent in China and Indonesia alone in the next five years, Euromonitor estimates.

In these flourishing economies, South Korean companies like Amorepacific Corp and LG Household & Healthcare Ltd want to establish themselves as premium products with a distinctly Asian sensibility. “Using male K-pop stars charms the ladies. It may also prompt younger men to want to look more like these idols,” said Kim Jungcheon, Chief Executive Officer of South Korean cosmetics firm Tonymoly.

For the region’s young men who were raised on K-pop, the metrosexual appeal of South Korean boy bands like 2PM, Big Bang and Super Junior, their faces glowing with youth, is a quality Western or Japanese competitors cannot deliver. “In Korea male stars use foundation so a few of my guy friends in Bangkok have started wearing foundation too,” said 28-year-old Thai man Pitak Iamsamang.

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Working the look By pushing out into Asia, South Korean cosmetics firms are treading a path established by compatriot manufacturing giants Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Hyundai Motor Co, which simply outgrew their rich but small home of 50 million people.

Cosmetics firms also hope to use the appeal of Kpop’s divas to market their wares to women, still the core market for beauty products.

Slick acts like Girls’ Generation, a group of nine women whose street-styled dance routines, long legs and infectious pop hooks have taken Asia by storm, all add to the aspirational pull of “Brand Korea”. “Cosmetics sales tend to mirror the popularity of Korean cultural exports, so K-pop stars are the best way to market our products,” said Kim Hee-jeong, marketing manager of LG Household’s The Face Shop, which has over 1,000 overseas stores.

Overall, South Korea’s cosmetics market was worth $4.4 billion in 2011, according to the Korean Cosmetics Association, and is nearing saturation. Its exports, however, totalled just $775 million in 2011, dwarfed by L’Oreal, which sold $4.71 billion worth of goods in the Asia Pacific region.

Still, the total value of South Korean cosmetics exports has doubled since 2007, three-quarters of which went to China and Southeast Asia, data from the association showed.

Mass brands such as Amorepacific’s Etude House and Tonymoly play up their origins by blaring out K-pop hits while sales agents chirp “annyeonghasaeyo” (hello) in stores from Ulan Bator to Manila, backed by posters of heart-throbs like boy band JYJ. Women like Nattakarn Nattudee, a 35 year-old shopping for cosmetics in Bangkok, have bought into the K-pop sales pitch. “Posters of Korean pop stars with their bright, clear faces make me want to buy the products so I can have clear skin like them,” she said. — Reuters

These are the Japanese dolls that Beverly Thornton’s mom was en trusted by Marianne Rikimaru Breakfield’s mom before they were sent the Tule Lake Internment camp during World War II. — MCT

Japanese ancestry along with thousands of others.

The family never returned to Sacramento, but the heirloom figurines they left behind haunted Beverly, who eventually married and became Beverly Thornton. As she got older, her sense of urgency to find their rightful owner grew. In a magical moment Saturday afternoon at Beverly’s home in the Pocket, her long-lost friend reappeared. A smiling figure in a red sweater carrying a blue orchid - Beverly’s favorite color - blew in out of the rain and appeared at the door.

“Come in, please!” said Beverly. “You look so good,”

exclaimed Marianne, her married name now Breakfield. “You do, too, you’re a sight for sore eyes,” Beverly declared as the two friends, now 80 and widows with great-grandchildren, fell into each other’s arms. “It’s a miracle,” said Beverly’s daughter, Patt Ladd, who had helped her mother solve the mystery with the help of the Florin Japanese American Citizen’s League.

The story of the dolls begins just before the Rikimarus left for the Elk Grove train station headed for the Tule Lake detention camp in the high desert near Oregon. Marianne’s mother brought over the figurines and left them with Beverly’s mom for safekeeping. They were intricate dioramas - one of an oxdrawn cart, another of a traditional Japanese farmer and his wife, and the third of an aristocratic couple.

“She was crying, and said, ‘I’m so ashamed of my people,’” because of Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Beverly said.

The Rikimarus left the dolls with the Pond family because they were allowed just one suitcase on the train. “It was a very sad day,” Beverly said. “I didn’t think it was right, I knew they hadn’t done anything.”

In the pre-war years in Sacramento’s Fruitridge area, the girls were surrounded by Japanese strawberry growers, and were free to pick all the luscious fruit they could as long as they didn’t step on the plants.

Every day, they’d walk to Fruitridge Elementary in south Sacramento. “We talked about boys on the way to school,” Beverly recalled wistfully. “One day Marianne said something about marrying one of the boys in our class, and I thought she couldn’t marry him because he was white, and that made her cry; it hurt her feelings really bad.” Beverly said that helped her understand the pain of prejudice. She realized that she and Marianne were just two school girls with similar crushes and feelings.

Marianne’s Japanese grandparents had owned a vineyard next to a drive-in movie theater. Her dad used to take produce and flowers to the San Francisco farmer’s market. Her mom, “Daisy” Emiki Yumikara, and dad, Toshiro “Ricky” Rikimaru, were born in California. Marianne’s mom inherited the figurines, and would display them for a week at New Year’s or on Japanese Girls’ Day, celebrated March 3. “We

This undated file film image shows Jean-Louis Trintignant in a scene from the Austrian film, “Amour.” — AP photos

he French-language drama “Amour” was chosen Sunday as the year’s best film by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, whose prizes are among a flurry of year-end honors that help sort out the Academy Awards race. Among the group’s other honors, the 1950s cult drama “The Master” earned four awards: best director for Paul Thomas Anderson, best actor for Joaquin Phoenix, supporting actress for Amy Adams and production design for David Crank and Jack Fisk.

“The Master” also was chosen as best-picture runner-up. The film stars Phoenix as a volatile World War II veteran who comes under the sway of a charismatic cult leader.

Adams co-stars as the cult leader’s toughminded wife. “Amour” star Emmanuelle Riva, who plays an elderly, ailing woman being cared for by her husband, shared the bestactress honor in a tie with Jennifer Lawrence of the lost-soul romance “Silver Linings Playbook.”

Newcomer Dwight Henry was chosen as supporting actor for the low-budget critical darling “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” The film’s writer-director, Benh Zeitlin, received the group’s New Generation Award and shared the prize for best music score with composing partner Dan Romer. Directed by Michael Haneke, “Amour” is Austria’s entry for the foreign-language Oscar and won the top honor at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The choice by the Los Angeles critics marked a move away from bigger Hollywood

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and a remnant of life.

Fire usually comes just before, or after a flood. Greece, Scandinavia, India and native American cultures all spoke of the annihilation of early mankind by flames. Africa and ancient Egypt had no flood myths, but West African folk tales do speak of a “devouring gourd”, or calabash, that swallows up entire settlements, homes, livestock, even the whole of mankind.

“I think it’s part of the human make-up, part of the human psyche somewhere, to have a fascination with the end of the world,” Jocelyn Bell Burnell, visiting professor of astrophysics at Oxford, told AFP. In the globalised 21st century, the apocalypse-on the silver screen-most often comes as a pandemic or climate cataclysm, but the most enthusiastic doomsayers will doubtless be stockpiling supplies as December 21 supposedly marked by the Mayan calendar as a world’s end moment, draws near. — AFP

productions that the group favored the last two years when it named George Clooney’s “The Descendants” as the best film of 2011 and David Fincher’s “The Social Network” as tops for 2010. The critics’ picks came days after both the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Board of Review chose Kathryn Bigelow’s Osama bin Laden manhunt docudrama “Zero Dark Thirty” as the year’s best film.

Bigelow, who dominated the 2009 LA critics awards with best-picture and director wins for “The Hurt Locker,” was chosen this time as directing runner-up for “Zero Dark Thirty.”“The Hurt Locker” went on to a bestpicture win at the Oscars and made Bigelow the first woman ever to earn the best-director Oscar. Bigelow is considered a potential Oscar favorite again this time around with “Zero Dark Thirty.” Shut out at the Los Angeles critics honors was Steven Spielberg’s Civil War epic “Lincoln.”

Runners-up for the acting honors: Denis Levant of “Holy Motors,” best actor; Christoph Waltz of “Django Unchained,” supporting actor; and Anne Hathaway of “Les Miserables” and “The Dark Knight Rises,” supporting actress. The French film “Holy Motors” also was named best foreign-language film, with “Footnote” named runner-up.

Next up on Hollywood’s awards calendar are the Screen Actors Guild nominations tomorrow and the Golden Globe nominations Thursday. Oscar nominations follow on Jan 10.

The Los Angeles group named Tim Burton’s

weren’t allowed to play with them,” Marianne said.

Then, one day her parents told her and her younger sister Kikuyo (Shirley) and brother Hisao (Carroll), they were going away. “I was really excited because we’d never been on a trip before and we were going on a train,” she said. “We went to Tule Lake. It was just a desolate area, but I went to school, just like at home.”

“Our parents tried to hide things from us so we wouldn’t be traumatized,” she said. “I didn’t realize how traumatized they were until we got out of the camp.” After the war, the family resettled with other Japanese Americans in eastern Oregon. “Then I got married, raised a family, lived in Seattle, got divorced, got remarried.” She often wondered what became of Beverly and her other friends from the old neighborhood.

And Beverly, after inheriting the dolls, became obsessed with returning them to her childhood friend.

She said she would stop Asian Americans and ask “if they were Japanese, and had heard anything about the Rikimarus.” “I’d pretty much roll my eyes and say, ‘Not that story again,’” her daughter said.

Then a few weeks ago, Ladd said, their mail was stolen. “These two neighbor ladies came by to tell us our mail was at the Catholic church on Florin Road.”

The women were Japanese American, and when they heard about the figurines, they referred Ladd and her mom to the Florin JACL. Andy Noguchi, the Florin JACL’s civil rights chair, combed through Tule Lake records until he found a family that matched Beverly’s description of the Rikimarus. He tracked down Marianne’s brother in Oregon, who confirmed they were indeed the Rikimarus of Fruitridge and that Marianne was living in Manteca.

Beverly and her daughter burst into tears when they heard the news. “It’s such a huge weight off me,” Beverly said. Noguchi’s wife, historian Twila Tomita, said wealthy Japanese would have entire sets of such figurines, often made from porcelain and dressed in silk, depicting the emperor, empress and their court including musicians and ladies in waiting.—MCT

In this file photo, director Paul Thomas Anderson (left) poses with actress Amy Adams (center) and producer JoAnne Seller at a photo call before a press conference for their new movie “The Master” at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto.

dead-dog tale “Frankenweenie” best animated film. Don Hertzfeldt’s “It’s Such a Beautiful Day” was runner-up.

The documentary prize went to “The Gatekeepers,” director Dror Moreh’s exploration of intelligence operations by Shin Bet security agency. The runner-up was “Searching for Sugar Man,” Malik Bendjelloul’s portrait of obscure 1970s singersongwriter Rodriguez. Chris Terrio earned the

screenplay honor for Ben Affleck’s Iran hostage-crisis thriller “Argo.” David O Russell was the screenplay runner-up for “Silver Linings Playbook.” The critics group gave its first-ever prize for film editing to Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg for “Zero Dark Thirty.” Goldenberg also was the editing runner-up for “Argo.” — AP

Miss Guatemala 2012, Laura Godoy; Miss Bolivia 2012, Yessica Mouton; Miss Belgium 2012, Laura Beyne; Miss France 2012, Marie Payet; and Miss Colombia 2012, Daniella lvarez Vasquez; are seen during rehearsals at Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. — AP

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

lifestyle

This photo from Auckland-based advertising agency DraftFCB shows “Ginny” in the driver’s seat behind the wheel while training.

pair of highly trained canines guided a modified car along a New Zealand race track yesterday, passing their doggie driving tests with flying collars on live television, despite the odd off-road detour. In a heartwarming project aimed at increasing pet adoptions from animal shelters, a group of cross-breed rescue dogs from Auckland were taught to drive a car-steering, pedals and all-to show the potential of unwanted canines.

Footage of the motorised mutts learning their skills has proved an Internet sensation but their ultimate test came yesterday, when the two best performers, Monty and Porter, were put through their paces on national television. Monty the giant schnauzer cross was first up, driving the modified Mini down the straight by himself, in what is claimed to be a world first. “It’s all the dog doing it,” trainer Mark Vette said as Monty cruised along the track looking relaxed with one paw resting on the steering wheel before coming safely to a halt.

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This photo “Monty” in the driver’s seat behind the wheel while training. — AFP photos

“He’s started the key, put the paw on the brake to allow it to go into gear, put it into drive, paw on the steering wheel, accelerator on, and off he goes down the track.” Vette, who has worked with animals on numerous film sets, admitted he had his doubts when the project was first mooted. “I must say, this has been the toughest assignment we’ve had,” he said after two months of intensive training.

“We’ve done ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘(The Last) Samurai’, many of the big movies but to actually get a dog in a car with no trainer and it does the whole gig itself, I tell you what, it’s been a real challenge. “No one’s in the car, no tricks, it’s all Monty driving-he loves it.” He said the car, which has handles fitted on the steering wheel and dashboardheight brake and accelerator pedals, also came with a speed limiter to restrict it to walking pace, although there was a mishap yesterday morning.

“The knob came off this morning and he was off down the road at about 30 kilometres an hour

Kit Cheung leads members of the Dynamic Line Dance group, which meets in a parking garage at the Monterey Park library. — MCT

he dancers favor cloth slippers over cowboy boots at Barnes Park in Monterey Park, California, but there’s no mistaking the genre.

Country-western line dancing - minus the country and the western - has caught on with Asian Americans in recent years, particularly with women of Chinese descent looking for an early morning alternative to tai chi. Parks, community centers and senior citizens homes offer lessons throughout the San Gabriel Valley, and the California Line Dance Association of America, a Chinese American group based in Northern California, has more than 3,000 members. The Monterey Park group meets at 7:30 am every day in the parking lot of a library adjacent to Barnes Park, where people doing tai chi occupy most of the grassy public spaces.

“Tai chi, that’s for old people,” instructor and founder Kit Cheung said.

“I didn’t like that. Line dancing with friends - it helps you feel younger. You make friends and go dancing together.”

Cheung’s dancers use the traditional scoots, shuffles and Montana kicks, but their playlists don’t favor any particular genre of music. There are routines for Lady Gaga pop anthems, swaggering tangos, hip-hop tunes and the whipcrack beat of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

“If it has a beat, we’ll dance to it,” Cheung said. Cheung, her husband, William, and 10 friends began dancing together about four years ago, copying steps from grainy YouTube videos and eventually creating their own. Now her group has 70 members and some compete in informal competitions under the name Dynamic Line Dance. Cheung said there are several other groups in the area.

The group usually begins practice with a more traditional Chinese song - a wailing erhu framing a singsong vocal melody. But when Michael Buble starts

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to croon, their pace quickens. Dancers turn, kick and clap, and, after each routine, engage in a little self-conscious laughter. Tai chi groups still dominate much of the public space around Barnes Park, but Cheung’s line-dancing group has more members than any of them. Cheung said it attracts people who are seeking qing kuai, which means a light happiness, she said.

For many in the group, it began with a love of dancing and lack of partners.

Many of the women in the group were ballroom dancing enthusiasts who found the dance floor bare of male partners. Kico Lin, who helped found the California Line Dance Association of America, agrees. Most of the women in Lin’s association are in their 40s and 50s, Lin said. Their sons and daughters have left home and their husbands work long hours. Line dancing offers a chance to hit the dance floor even if there are no available partners. Cheung and Lin said their groups sometimes organize dance parties and dinners for members to socialize.

“It’s not just about line dancing,” Lin said. “It’s about being in a group.”

Dynamic Line Dance’s practice usually ends about 9:30 a.m. with a round of applause. Several women clustered and chatted about dance moves and weight loss, daubing sweat with towels. A few burst into song.

They sang half-learned lyrics from the chorus of Buddy Holly and the Crickets’ “It’s So Easy,” carelessly dropping a few words. “It’s so ... it’s so ... fall in love.” The rest of the song dissolved in giggles as the women stepped lightly to their cars. — MCT

(19mph) and we had to chase after him.” Porter, a bearded collie-cross, then tried the trickier manoeuvre of steering the car around one of the racetrack’s bends while a television reporter sat in the passenger seat. He was largely successful, but ran off the track onto a grass verge at one point as the reporter nervously asked Vette “can we stop now?”

Clips of the motorised mutts undergoing training have attracted more than 700,000 hits on video-sharing website YouTube and featured on news bulletins worldwide. US talk show host David Letterman introduced a segment on the dogs last week saying “I love this more than life itself”, going on to list 10 signs your dog is a bad driver, including “insists on driving with head out the window”.

Hollywood actress Denise Richards, who has a brood of rescue dogs in her Los Angeles home, tweeted “this is hysterical!!!” Auckland Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) chief executive Christine Kalin said she was stunned at

ames Bond is in a box-office photo finish with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny over what looks to be the last slow weekend of the holidays. According to studio estimates Sunday, Sony’s Bond tale “Skyfall” took in $11 million to move back to No 1 in its fifth weekend. That put it narrowly ahead of Paramount’s “Rise of the Guardians,” the animated adventure of Santa, the Easter Bunny and other mythological heroes that pulled in $10.5 million. The two movies inched ahead of Summit Entertainment’s “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2,” which had been tops for three-straight weekends. The “Twilight” finale earned $9.2 million, slipping into a tight race for No. 3 with Disney’s “Lincoln,” which was close behind with $9.1 million.

The top movies were bunched up so closely that rankings could change once final weekend revenues were to be released yesterday.

The weekend’s only new wide release, Gerard Butler’s romantic comedy “Playing for Keeps,” flopped with $6 million, coming in at No 6.

“Skyfall” raised its domestic total to $261.6 million and added $20.3 million overseas to bring its international income to $656.6 million. At $918 million worldwide, “Skyfall” has the best cash haul ever for the Bond franchise and surpassed “Spider-Man 3” at $890 million to become Sony’s top-grossing hit.

The “Twilight” finale also is a franchise record-breaker, surpassing the $710 million worldwide haul of last year’s “Breaking Dawn Part 1.” The finale’s domestic total now stands at $268.7 million. “Rise of the Guardians” led the international box office with $26 million, followed by 20th Century Fox’s “Life of Pi” at $23.8 million. It was another traditionally quiet post-Thanksgiving holiday weekend, with big November releases continuing to dominate in the lull before a pre-Christmas onslaught of movies.

The box office is expected to soar next weekend with the arrival of part one of “The Hobbit,” Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” prelude. After that comes a steady rush of action, comedy and drama through year’s end, including Tom Cruise’s “Jack Reacher,”

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This photograph shows an SPCA canine driving a Mini Countryman in Auckland.

the global response and thrilled the shelter’s message had reached such a wide audience. “Some people think that by getting a shelter dog they’re somehow getting a second class citizen, we’re with these dogs every day, we know how wonderful they are,” she said.

“This was an opportunity to show New Zealand, and as it’s turned out the world, how amazing these animals are.” The driving dogs were the brainchild of Auckland advertising agency DraftFCB, which was commissioned by Mini, which has worked with the SPCA previously, to come up with a campaign that would challenge preconceptions about shelter dogs. — AFP

Quentin Tarantino and Jamie Foxx’s “Django Unchained,” Seth Rogen’s “The Guilt Trip” and Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe’s “Les Miserables.”

Roosevelt drama “Hyde Park on Hudson” opened solidly with $83,280 in four theaters, averaging a healthy $20,820 a cinema. By comparison, “Playing for Keeps” averaged

In this image, Chris Hemsworth portrays Thor (left) and and Chris Evans portrays Captain America in a scene from “The Avengers.”

“The last couple of weeks of the year are some of the strongest every year,” said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. “We are on the cusp of some really huge box office. There’s a lot of money still left in the year despite this slow period right now.” Hollywood’s domestic revenues have topped $10 billion so far this year, with the industry expected to finish 2012 ahead of the all-time high of $10.6 billion set in 2009.

Trashed savagely by critics, FilmDistrict’s “Playing for Keeps” stars Butler as a washed-up soccer star trying to reconnect with his ex-wife (Jessica Biel) and young son. The all-star cast includes Uma Thurman and Catherine ZetaJones as soccer moms with the hots for Butler.

In limited release, Bill Murray’s Franklin

In this image, a scene from the film “Rise of the Guardians,” is seen.

$2,115 in 2,837 theaters. Released by Focus Features, “Hyde Park on Hudson” stars Murray as Roosevelt, whose intimate relations with a distant cousin (Laura Linney) become both a source of strength and distraction as the president plays host to the king and queen of England on the eve of World War II. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. — AP

This file photo released by Columbia Pictures shows Daniel Craig as James Bond in the action adventure film, “Skyfall.” — AP photos

Motor mutts pass doggie driving test with flying collars

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012

exico’s music world mourned Jenni Rivera, the US-born singer presumed killed in a plane crash whose soulful voice and openness about her personal troubles had made her a Mexican-American superstar. Authorities have not confirmed her death, but Rivera’s relatives in the US say they have few doubts that she was on the Learjet 25 that disintegrated on impact Sunday in rugged territory in Nuevo Leon state in northern Mexico.

“My son Lupillo told me that effectively it was Jenni’s plane that crashed and that everyone on board died,” her father, Pedro Rivera told dozens of reporters gathered in front of his Los Angeles-area home. “I believe my daughter’s body is unrecognizable.” He said that his son would fly to Monterrey early Monday to identify her presumed remains Messages of condolence poured in from fellow musicians and celebrities. Mexican songstress and actress Lucero wrote on her Twitter account: “What terrible news! Rest in peace ... My deepest condolences for her family and friends.” Rivera’s colleague on the Mexican show “The Voice of Mexico,” pop star Paulina Rubio, said on her Twitter account: “My friend! Why? There is no consolation. God, please help me!”

Born in Long Beach, California, Rivera was at the peak of her career as perhaps the most successful female singer in grupero, a male-dominated regional style influenced by the norteno, cumbia and ranchero styles. A 43-year-old mother of five children and grandmother of two, the woman known as the “Diva de la Banda” was known for her frank talk about her struggles to give a good life to her children despite a series of setbacks.

She was recently divorced from her third husband, was once detained at a Mexico City airport with tens of thousands of dollars in cash, and she publicly apologized after her brother assaulted a drunken fan who verbally attacked her in 2011. Her openness about her personal troubles endeared her to millions in the US and Mexico. “I am the same as the public, as my fans,” she told The Associated Press in an interview last March. Rivera sold 15 million records, and recently won two Billboard Mexican Music Awards: Female Artist of the Year and Banda Album of the Year for “Joyas prestadas: Banda.” She was nominated for Latin Grammys in 2002, 2008 and 2011.

Transportation and Communications Minister Gerardo Ruiz Esparza said “everything points toward” the wreckage belonging to the plane carrying Rivera and six other people to Toluca, outside Mexico City, from Monterrey, where the singer had just given a concert. “There is nothing recognizable, neither material nor human” in the wreckage found in the state of Nuevo Leon, Ruiz Esparza said. The impact was so powerful that the remains of the plane “are scattered over an area of 250 to 300 meters. It is almost unrecognizable.”

A mangled California driver’s license with Rivera’s name and picture was found in the crash site debris. No cause was given for the plane’s crash, but its wreckage was found near the town of Iturbide in Mexico’s Sierra Madre Oriental, where the terrain is very rough. The Learjet 25, number N345MC, took off from Monterrey at 3:30 a.m. local time and was reported missing about 10 minutes later. It was registered to Starwood Management of Las Vegas, Nevada, according to FAA records. It was built in 1969 and had a current registration through 2015.

Also believed aboard the plane were her publicist, Arturo Rivera, her lawyer, makeup artist and the flight crew. Though drug trafficking was the theme of some of her songs, she was not considered a singer of “narco corridos,” or ballads glorifying drug lords like other groups, such as Los Tigres del Norte. She was better known for singing about her troubles in love and disdain for men. Her parents were Mexicans who had migrated to the United States. Two of her five brothers, Lupillo and Juan Rivera, are also well-known singers of grupero music.

She studied business administration and formally debuted on the music scene in 1995 with the release of her album “Chacalosa”. Due to its success, she recorded two more independent albums, “We Are Rivera” and “Farewell to Selena,” a tribute album to slain singer Selena that helped expand her following. At the end of the 1990s, Rivera was signed by Sony Music and released two more albums. But widespread success came for her when she joined Fonovisa and released her 2005 album titled “Partier, Rebellious and Daring.”

Besides being a singer, she is also a businesswoman and actress, appearing in the indie film Filly Brown, which was shown at the

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R iv e r a p e July 10, 2 r fo r m s in Ir v in e , C a li fo r 012. — M n ia o n CT

A woman adjusts a flower in front of candles and pictures displayed in tribute to singer Jenni Rivera at the Plaza Mexico shopping center in Lynwood, California early yesterday. — AP Sundance Film Festival, as the incarcerated mother of Filly Brown.

She was filming the third season of “I love Jenni,” which followed her as she shared special moments with her children and as she toured through Mexico and the United States. She also has the reality shows: “Jenni Rivera Presents: Chiquis and Raq-C” and her daughter’s “Chiquis ‘n Control.” In 2009, she was detained at the Mexico City airport when she declared $20,000 in cash but was really carrying $52,167. She was taken into custody. She said it was an innocent mistake and authorities gave her the benefit of the doubt and released her. In 2011, her brother Juan assaulted a drunken fan at a popular fair in Guanajuato. In the face of heavy criticism among her fans and on social networks, Rivera publicly apologized for the incident during a concert in Mexico City, telling her fans: “Thank you for accepting me as I am, with my virtues and defects.”

On Saturday night, Rivera had given a concert before thousands of fans in Monterrey. After the concert she gave a press conference during which she spoke of her emotional state following her recent divorce from former Major League Baseball pitcher Esteban Loaiza, who played for teams including the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. “I can’t get caught up in the negative because that destroys you. Perhaps trying to move away from my problems and focus on the positive is the best I can do. I am a woman like any other and ugly things happen to me like any other woman,” she said Saturday night. “The number of times I have fallen down is the number of times I have gotten up.”

Rivera had announced in October that she was divorcing Loaiza after two years of marriage. There have been several high-profile crashes involving Learjets, known as swift, longer-distance passenger aircraft popular with corporate executives, entertainers and government officials. A Learjet carrying pro-golfer Payne Stewart and five others crashed in northeastern South Dakota in 1999. Investigators

Jenni Rivera (right) poses with a replica of a star for the Las Vegas Walk of Stars as her husband, former Major League Baseball pitcher Esteban Loaiza, reacts during an official presentation ceremony in Las Vegas. — AP

said the plane lost cabin pressure and all on board died after losing consciousness for lack of oxygen. The aircraft flew for several hours on autopilot before running out of fuel and crashing in a corn field.

Former Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker was severely injured in a 2008 Learjet crash in South Carolina that killed four people. That same year, a Learjet slammed into rush-hour traffic in a posh Mexico City neighborhood, killing Mexico’s No 2 government official, Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino, and eight others on the plane, plus five people on the ground. — AP

This photo shows Latin singer Jenni Rivera rehearsing for the 2012 Billboard Latin Music Awards. — AP