11 Nov 2011

The bisht: A tradition lost

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Iran warns of ‘full force’ response to threats

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John Daly storms out of Australian Open

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Emotional welcome to pilgrims SEE PAGE 9

KUWAIT: Pilgrims arrive at the Kuwait International Airport after performing the Hajj in Saudi Arabia yesterday. (Inset) A daughter kisses her father on his arrival after the pilgrimage. — Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

in my view

Off the record

Patience is beautiful

Are you technologically challenged?

By Abdellatif Sharaa

By Sajeev K Peter

sajeev@kuwaittimes.net

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had a notion that technology is something that will support us in our multifarious activities of life. It is something that must help us make our lives simpler and easier. I’m wrong. It’s not. Now you will say that I am a poor workman blaming my tools. You may even say my knowledge of machines, techniques and crafts is miserably inadequate in this fast-paced world.

In today’s world, technology is the leader. It will tell you exactly what you have to do. You will follow it like a blind man. You become an outcast if you don’t follow suit.

I’m not talking about whether you are following someone on Twitter or someone else is subscribing to you on Facebook. It’s not about how tech-savvy you are, as you chat or video-conference simultaneously with many people on your latest Galaxy S II, BlackBerry Torch or iPhone 4GS. I know you can jump between live open apps and real-time updates while swiping preloaded ‘must-have apps’ such as Skype, Facebook, Twitter and Angry Birds Magic etc.

Whether it is carrying on a ‘smart’ conversation with Siri or endless messaging with BBM, technology can be befuddling.

But my case is that of an ordinary guy who is just literate technologically. For instance, I was perplexed when my money was sucked up the moment I recharged my prepaid connection on my mobile phone. I recharge again and the result is the same.

My money is gone. I go to my nearest service center of the telecom operator, take a number and keep waiting for my turn. Eventually, my lucky number flashes on the monitor after waiting for 45 minutes and I go to the counter. Mr W....d hears my case patiently and tells me the mobile is suffering from an ailment called ‘bundling.’ He also informs me that I had subscribed to this service either knowingly or unknowingly. I scratch my head as my mind races back, “when did I subscribe to a service that will eat up the money in my mobile?’ I tell him I want to unsubscribe from this service. He tells me he is very sorry about it and that he can’t help much. Things are beyond his control. But the gentleman doesn’t leave me at a complete loss. He gives me a threedigit number so that I can try my luck.

I leave the counter half-hearted and start my rigmarole with the three-digit number. The electronic answering machine leads me to several steps before finally asking me to enter a password, a password that is unknown to me. I don’t know whether I’m ‘bundled or bungled,’ but I decide to give up my mission because this technology is beyond my reach. I hear similar stories from people like me who lose money on several products such as cryptic text messages and MMS, not to mention online spammers and fraudsters.

Now you may say that I’m technologically challenged. Maybe. Technology has become the tool of a few who can use it to their advantage. Mere literacy is not enough to survive in this technologically-charged world. The other day, when I called up my wife over my mobile phone, I heard that typical answer again.

“The customer you are calling is connected to another line.” I wonder how the system guessed it right that my wife is my ‘customer’!

a.sharaa@kuwaittimes.net

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he human being never ceases to amaze me. Many are always in a hurry, want to come first, always argue, trying to prove their points! I just want to highlight one interesting behavior people display at the airport, in the plane, and on the street.

I was traveling to Amman, Jordan to join my family for the Eid Al-Adha holidays, and as expected, there was a large crowd at the check-in counter. I noticed people running, rushing and shoving to make it to the counter before others. As I began to feel the pressure, I told the elderly man standing in front of me to take it easy. I reasoned that everyone would be on board and there was no need to create commotion. He gave me a piece of advice, “if we act like this, the employees will work faster and may excuse us a few kilos of extra baggage!” I argued that it would not be possible because everything is documented and employees do not have the authority to excuse anything. He said, “wait and see!” Well, the poor man was later seen asking passengers if they’d be willing to take his bag so that he would not have to pay excess baggage charges.

When the announcement was made asking passengers to board the flight, many rushed as if they were trying to get the best seat, totally forgetting the fact that seats are

pre-assigned. I was almost the last passenger to get on board, and found my seat occupied! When I informed the lady that she had occupied the wrong seat, she told me frostily that it was none of my business! It was my business because I had paid extra money to get it. To make things worse, flight attendants persuaded me into letting her remain there. Why did they charge me for it?

Once in downtown Amman, I hired a taxi and unfortunately, another car stopped and blocked the traffic. The taxi driver was angry and screamed at the driver. He started honking, got out of the car and almost started a fight!

Once back in the car, the traffic began moving and I noticed that only four minutes had elapsed. The person who blocked the street was trying to get a wheelchair user out of the car!

In all the above-mentioned cases, patience would have helped ease the situation. Things can be done easily and more accurately, and better yet, one can avoid any lifestyle related diseases like hypertension, anger. This is true regardless of where the person is and what situation he faces. Patience is beautiful!

in my view

‘I’ am a phone, ‘I’ am its slave

By Mohammed Noor local@kuwaittimes.net

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he advent of the ‘smart-tech’ age is supposed to facilitate the advancement of humankind, thereby making them more humane by optimizing his/her natural instinct faster. The world of smart phones was an uncharted territory for me. Silently and rapidly, my universe was transformed.

I can’t recall the sensation of walking barefoot on a wet beach or the sunset with its reddish skyline on the horizon. It has now been substituted with a 25kbp wallpaper and screensavers. My vision has been walled within ‘no-wall’ papers.

Now, I meet people ‘online’ and share updates about ‘offline’ life from my near and dear friends.

Meeting with them personally and going out to different places and enjoying varieties of food and cuisine is history.

I get more ‘invitations’ from my friends to join a lifeless book called ‘Facebook’ as they want to create a strong social networking relationship without becoming sociable.

Hilarious! I am taken for a ride that is not equal, generous, kind or humorous.

This Eid, I received more wishes than ever from friends, colleagues,

relatives in-two line long text messages wishing me ‘Happy Eid.’ It is much easier for me to ‘broadcast SMS’ quickly to all in my contact list in one click including the pizza delivery boy.

I am more social without meeting in-person and ‘chat’ extensively without uttering a single word. As Aristotle said “Man is a social animal by nature and necessity.”

I don’t endure physical injuries and body pains, as I play ‘FIFA’ on my ‘smart’ phone in my living room.

I own a pair of love birds and take care of them. I simply loved to see them cuddling, touch the soft, smooth and colorful feathers. But now I am overcome by ‘Angry Birds.’

It is scary to know that birds can get really angry.

My work-outs in evening at the gym have been replaced by my cumbersome body lying on the bed for hours and hours like a patient in ‘COMA’ with the only exception that my eyes and fingertips move dexterously between ‘Whats...Thats..Apps.’

I’m wondering about the evolutionary scientists theory primitive humans were monkeys who had tails. Since thn it fell into disuse, the tail gradually disappeared. What if

we lose our abilities to touch, feel and see? Due to this new tech age, I am scared to imagine how many things will disappear from our bodies.

I got this gadget which has a resolution of ‘4.5 x 2.3’ called ‘iPhone. ‘ I never imagined that it would assume a literal meaning ‘I am a Phone.’ I realize now that it is my master controlling my life and ‘I’ am its slave.

Some say that the advancements in technology will make you successful in your career. I have a different opinion about this. I seek excellence in whatever I do because I firmly believe success follows it. If I am a writer I will try to excel in my writing.

If I am a singer I will try to excel in my singing abilities. If I am a businessperson, I will excel in my management skills. To sharpen my skills further, I will use available technology for better results, and remain human at the same time. The smart technology of today is transforming us into mechanical robots, completely disconnecting us from the inner self.

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

In my view

Dance floor drama

By Sahar Moussa

Satire Wire

It only comes around once in a millennium

sahar@kuwaittimes.net

“H

e was disrespectful and inconsiderate when he danced with another girl he didn’t even know.

Didn’t he know that I would be hurt? What hurt me the most was that he didn’t even admit his mistake,” said Sarah a woman who just broke up with her fiancé.

Taking a woman to a party is a double-edged sword, it could be fun or could end up being a disaster. Many men and women simply don’t know the rules and etiquettes while at a public place or a party, and specifically at the dance floor. Here are some tips that may help avoid future errors .

Let’s start with the dress code: Women shouldn’t be overdressed. They can be simple, elegant and classy and never forget to wear comfortable shoes. Don’t overdo the perfume and definitely don’t wear too much makeup. Men should be well-dressed, neat without overdoing the gel. ‘Do not’ put on too many accessories or leave your shirt unbuttoned like an Italian macho man. Women are known to be late. So when picking up your date it is better to allow her ten to fifteen minutes’ space. Don’t start your evening with a “why are you so late.” Instead, try to compliment her.

Women should not keep their men waiting on them for a long time. You don’t want to irritate him at the beginning of the night. In the car, a nice and light conversation is helpful to begin your night. Some old-fashioned chivalry is still not outdated! It would be nice for men to open the car for his date . He could hold her hand softly while entering the party, but not her wrist or forearm, as if to declare that she is his property or pet. Women like men to be protective but not overprotective. It would also be nice if the man pulls the chair out for his date and introduce her to all his friends.

By Sawsan Kazak

Women should try to be as polite as possible.

Women love attention, so it’s nice to give your date some and ask her if she wants to drink or eat or if she feels comfortable. If you see her swaying to the music, it means it’s your turn to ask her if she wants to dance. Try not to be passive and lead the way to the dance floor. It won’t hurt anyone if you compliment her once or twice.

If you are a very good dancer and better than your partner, try not to show off. Be natural and try not to embarrass her for not following your moves. Instead teach her some quick and fun moves and have fun while you are dancing.

After all “it’s not a dance competition.” The whole idea is to spend a good time and have fun. Women, try not to be tense and enjoy.

Golden rule for men regarding dancing etiquettes: Don’t ditch your date on the dance floor and dance with another even if she is Jennifer Lopez . You will lose your date for sure and that can be considered as being disrespectful . And if you were put in an unwarranted situation, try not to extend the time and apologize for what was not your fault. Women should try to understand and don’t act like a drama queen.

Never argue about any subject and express jealousy visibly. This is because that would definitely ruin the mood.

Try to focus on her as if she is the only woman in the room.

She will feel special and confident and it will prove that you respect her. Ladies, if your date misbehaves in any way, dump him. Good luck finding your perfect date.

KUWAIT: (File photo) A view of Al-Hamra Tower which is to open officially today in Kuwait City. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

sawsank@kuwaittimes.net

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oday is a special day as the date is November 11,2011 as in 11/11/11. This has a nice ring to it and won’t ever happen again in our lifetimes. How great would it be to have a wedding on this day? It would be the easiest date to remember. God help the husband that forgets this anniversary; he really has no excuse. Actually, God help any husband who forgets an anniversary!

But now that this day has come, this only leaves one more day in our calendar where all the numbers are the same; that is December 12, 2012 (12/12/12). Yes, it’s not as nice as all ‘ones’ but it too, is quite special as it will be the last time this happens in our lifetime. The year after that it will be 2013, and the last time I checked there was no 13th month in the year. For decades after that, the numbers on our calendar will not line up.

This leaves us one year to decide what special event will take place on such a momentous occasion. We celebrate things like New Year’s and Valentine’s Day, and those days come every single year. However 12/12/12 will never happen again, and it is for this reason we should mark the occasion.

For instance a wedding on this day would be a good way to remember this date. If you’re already married, how about a baby delivered on this day; that would be a good birthday. Maybe you can try to schedule a different type of life changing event on this day, like a job promotion or demotion or firing. If those are not options, how about a simple 12th of December party? A nice get-together with close friends and family and pictures to mark the special day. Well, we still have a year to decide what to make of that day, until then try to make today a memorable one.

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Pushing people to bipolarity Covert friendships and aliases protect reputations

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or every rule, there is a loophole, for every restriction, there is an alternative, and for every fear, there is a remedy. Society in Kuwait, like many worldwide, is laden with rules, restrictions and various fears that its inhabitants spend their time working with or, oftentimes, around.

One of the most interesting adaptations that some have taken to is providing false names in fear that the lives they try so desperately to keep separated may collide.

Using a fake name is an extreme attempt to preserve anonymity in such a close-knit society, but it isn’t all that uncommon. “I don’t always give my actual name when I socialize with expats. They’re fun to hang out with but I wouldn’t necessarily want it becoming public knowledge that I attend such gatherings,” said 24-yearold Yara (pointing out that an assumed name has been used would be pretty redundant here). “It’s not good for my reputation,” she added.

The question, however, is which behaviors are seen as the most harmful to reputation and why. Yara elaborated further, “I love the European lifestyle, being able to sit for hours

with friends discussing anything without worrying that someone is judging you or taking a mental note of your family name.” She added, “But we’re still in Kuwait, and I don’t need the risk that someone I socialized with will meet a common friend and share information about me with them. It’s a risk for my reputation and for my family’s reputation. I want to take a break from the pressures of meeting expectations sometimes, to just be myself and forget about following norms. So I do, but I use a different name.”

Under pressure Both men and women have utilized the technique, 23 year old ‘Mo’ reveals, “There’s pressure on guys to keep a good reputation. I stick to being called Mo. Mohammad’s a common name here, so it creates a huge pool of anonymity. But my name isn’t even Mohammad. No one questions your name obviously.” He further added, “It’s a bit of a risk, I think people would be pretty offended if they realized you’d withheld your name.

But reputation means a lot, and people talk so much that it’s just easier sometimes to do what you want, but under another name.” How exactly, however, does one meet people completely disconnected from their social circle? “Facebook,” said Mo. “It’s pretty easy to meet different people, and the beauty of it is that Facebook will tell you directly whether or not you have any friends in common. So you can check if you have friends in common from your real account, and then message them from your fake one.”

Going to such lengths certainly takes considerable effort and ensures that newly found ‘friends’ will only ever be temporary, so is it really worth all of the effort? “Yes,” said Yara. “It’s worth it because it’s a bit like your university friends. During the time you’re together, you’re sure the friendship will last but it rarely does.

It’s fun for the time being, but they aren’t life-long friends.” She added, however, “I am friends with expats who I know through mutual friends, but that’s something different.

They’re within my social circle. I’m more comfortable with the ones I met because there’s no link to my life or my family so I can forget about gossip and just be myself.” Mo added, “It’s

also a great way to just relax and vent.

It’s tiring to be politically correct all the time and follow the norms and express the opinions that everyone else seems to be following.” He continued, “It’s a two-way thing, though.

Expats don’t tend to stay here for too long, and if they get a better offer elsewhere they’ll disappear instantly.

It’s temporary from both sides.”

Transient Despite Mo insisting that the friendships are transient on both sides, the discovery of a ‘friend’ having used a fake name isn’t something taken lightly, “I met a girl on Facebook and we became friends.

The friendship was totally innocent; I

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fused and I’d realize again that she was lying.” He added, “We stopped hanging out, and I noticed later that of the hundreds of photos taken from the Dubai trip, she wasn’t in a single one. She had avoided every single photo on New Year’s Eve! It was incredible, really.”

Covert friendships Those who do embark on covert, temporary friendships using an alias are often very difficult to catch out given the extent of effort put into ensuring complete anonymity.

Despite many hailing the practice as the ideal method for remedying the pressure of mounting social norms, it still appears to be quite rare, “I don’t

I don’t always give my actual name when I socialize with expats. They’re fun to hang out with but I wouldn’t necessarily want it becoming public knowledge that I attend such gatherings.

even invited her to Dubai for New Year’s Eve to celebrate with my friends and stay at my family’s place,” said a 27 year-old Lebanese expatriate, Tarek. “She knew all of my friends, but I knew none of hers. We were having coffee one day with some friends, and it was loud so I was calling out to her trying to get her attention. I noticed she didn’t notice or respond at all to her name. It was so weird; who doesn’t react when they hear their name?” Tarek and his mystery friend, whose name he still isn’t completely sure of, went through three fake names after he discovered she was using an alias. “I kept on catching her out; she’d forget which name she’d used and become con-

‘

By Lisa Conrad

know anyone else who uses a different name, really. But then again, admitting it to others kind of defeats the point, doesn’t it?” said Mo. Yara added, “It’s very risky, especially for women. If I was caught out, say it turns out we do have a mutual friend and we all end up at the same place, it would look really, really bad. Saying I just want some time out from the pressure wouldn’t be believed at all, and my reputation would be trashed.”

Whatever the motive, using an alias provides a bit of escapism for those craving it. According to Mo, there will come a time when he puts his alias to rest, “When I get married I will of course. I think I’ll be too busy to maintain it by then!”

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A tradition lost

By Sawsan Kazak

“B

ack in the day, no man would go out without his bisht, even if it was old and torn and he was not going to wear it, he would fold it neatly and put it under his arm and go out. No one would leave the house without a bisht, it was just not thought of. They were worn every day, all the time, winter and summer,” says Mahdi Taher Al-Qattan owner of a small shop in Mubarakia.

The bisht is a loose fitting cloak that men wear on top of their dishdashas. It is lighter than the dishdasha and is detailed with distinctive gold or silver trim on the collar and the sleeves. There are different bishts for the seasons; the summer ones being lighter and a little see-through whereas the winter ones are usually lined in heavier materials to help keep warm. Bishts are worn throughout the Gulf region as well as parts of Africa. These days, the cloaks are worn on special occasions such as weddings or Eid or by high ranking officials in the government.

Mahdi Taher Al-Qattan, owner of a small shop in Mubarakia, shows a bisht at his store.

Changing times Al-Qattan believes that the bisht is a part of the culture that Kuwaitis are slowly losing.

He believes that the society has drastically changed, and what used to be a necessity in a man’s wardrobe has now become obsolete.

“During my father’s time, every man owned a bisht and had it on him at all times. My father would wear the bisht to work, to the market and even if he was just stepping out for a few minutes,” says Al-Qattan. But he understands that the Kuwaiti culture has changed so much that a man can no longer step out of the house in a bisht. “People would look at a

‘

During my father’s time, every man owned a bisht and had it on him at all times. My father would wear the bisht to work, to the market and even if he was just stepping out for a few minutes.

‘ The small bisht shop has been open since the mid 1930s.

Collars on bishts are adorned with intricate gold or silver trim.

man very strangely if he were to wear a bisht and simply go shopping. He would be mocked and people would ask him ‘where do you think you are going dressed like that?’” says Al-Qattan jokingly.

Al-Qattan’s small shop in Mubarakia was opened by his father in the mid 1930’s and has specialized in bishts ever since. “When my father opened this shop, Kuwait still used rupees,” Al-Qattan recalls. A lot has changed when it comes to selling bishts since those early days.

Due to the lack of the daily use of bishts, sales have definitely dropped. Al-Qattan has noticed a trend in the past few years that worries him. “Most men would rather rent a bisht than actually own one. No one really owns a bisht anymore. Most of the grooms come in and ask if they can rent one from us for a couple of days. They claim that it will only be worn for a few hours and then never again.” Al-Qattan adds, “I tell the grooms that they buy the wedding dress for their brides for thousands of dinars, and she only wears that once too, but they don’t see the need to own a bisht anymore.” Al-Qattan has also noticed that for the past few years people have been choosing to wear jackets over their dishdashas in winter rather than a bisht which has also affected sales. “The young men who still wear the dishdashas are actually wearing smaller winter coats in winter. I guess they find it more convenient,” says AlQattan.

Knowledge lost Al-Qattan has noticed that people don’t have any knowledge about bisht quality anymore. “Very few people come in here and ask about where the fabric has come from or was it handmade. All they care about usually is the price,” Al-Qattan explains. He recalled a

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

we also import fabrics from places like Japan and Germany,” explains Al-Qattan. As for the trim, made from gold or silver plated strings, it used to be brought in from Saudi, now imported from France or other European countries.

Al-Qattan sees a transition in the bisht’s colors.

“Before there were only three colors, black, golden brown and dark brown, you can now find a bisht in almost any color ranging from light blue to any color of the rainbow.” “The natural color of gold is usually lighter, but now the trend is for a richer, darker gold color, but of course these fade as they are not as natural,” he explains.

Even though Al-Qattan has seen a disappointing drop in the bisht culture in Kuwait, he does have hope in the future generations. “I think the bisht trend might make a comeback. The young kids might find it trendy again to wear bishts all the time. Al-Qattan believes it would be a true loss for Kuwaiti culture if the bisht tradition completely fades away. sawsank@kuwaittimes.net

Gold string used in the collar and sleeves of the bisht.

time when people used to walk into his store and ask him for specific materials from specific locations such as fabrics from Iran and gold strings from Saudi, and the price was the last thing on their minds. “Nowadays, if I tell them a bisht is worth 200 KD, they will automatically assume that it is high quality, as if the price dictates how good it is,” he adds. Al-Qattan says that only the older generation know the real bishts and appreciate them. He blames the fact that men these days wear pants and suits instead of dishdashas, and the fact that the culture teaches them that the more you pay, the better the item is.

He recalls an incident that took place not too long ago, when a man came to his store to sell him a bisht he had received as a gift. “ The box the bisht came in was quite deceptive as it was really expensive but the bisht itself wasn’t worth much, the stitching was done by a machine, not by hand and the fabric was really low quality. I told him the bisht was worth 20KD and the box it was in was worth 25 KD,” Al-Qattan says jokingly.

Much of the knowledge of bisht-making and repair is also slowly slipping away. “Before the specialist in the bisht field, the ones that would handsew the bishts, were mostly from Saudi, but that slowly changed. Then it was Iraqis that were mostly working in the industry; they would hand stitch everything and pass down their knowledge from generation to generation. Now it is mostly Asians who do work, the problem with that is that they don’t know how to sew by hand, they usually only know how to work with a machine and they don’t really have the background in the culture of the bisht,” Al-Qattan says.

The making The items used to make a bisht have also evolved due to globalization. Items used to only be imported from nearby areas are now being brought in from all over the world. “The fabrics were brought in only from Saudi, Iraq and Iran, but now

Al-Qattan displays a black bisht traditionally worn by the groom at his wedding.

Al-Qattan displays gold string before it is sewn into the bisht.

Bishts now come in an array of different colors and fabrics.

Tailor hand-sews the gold decorative trim on a bisht.

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A story told with beads DIY concept shows the intricacies of jewelry making

LBO J’zazz is the perfect place to design a model or accessory for a dress.

By Nawara Fattahova

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he overcrowded market of jewelry has created a new niche - the self-made jewelry choice. Decorating or designing your plates, tissues box, telephone, or even the electricity plug is great fun and gives the feeling of being able to create something nice. A new shop has tapped on that demand offering a workshop for self-made jewelry.

LB o J’zazz - Beads and Things is not merely a shop selling beads. It is a complete Do It Yourself concept shop, complete with all the necessary tools that help you make your own accessories. It also includes Decopatch papers and tools for decorating anything.

Lubna Seif Abbas, co-owner of LB o J’zazz Beads and Things say that the shop is the perfect place to design a model or accessory for a dress that’s lacking it. “Sometimes you have an occasion or you just bought new outfits and you don’t have the suitable accessories for it. You’re looking for something to fit with it. So this is exactly the time to design and cre-

At LB o J’zazz supplies designers, ateliers and jewelry designers arts & crafts meterials.

ate your own accessory,” she said adding, “In fact, this will not cost much and it will give the creator great fun while creating his own unique piece.”

At LB o J’zazz in Shaab, people learn everything about beads from A-Z. Abbas and her partner Bettina Al-Bakhit hold workshops to teach people how to do handcrafts. “The majority of attendees are Kuwaitis, both male and female. Now, we also have some expats,” Abbas said explaining that each class is a project, where participants learn to create their own accessories.

After the participant pays the fees for a class, he chooses the color of the kit he will be using at the workshop. LB o J’zazz provides between 40 to 60 classes during the year.

There are classes for beginners and a more intermediate level. Abbas says that they teach and design the classes and the kit for each client. And if the client wants, he can also bring his material with him. “Every first Friday of the month, we offer an open free-ofcharge workshop that provides help and advice in their projects,” said Lubna.

The available material at the shop is sourced from different countries. “We bring the materials directly from the factory or the artist, to let him benefit. We also provide all the necessary tools to make own accessories,” Abbas explained. She said they import the best materials from Japan, Czech Republic, USA, Italy, India, France and other countries.

In her words, the shop takes pride in providing the best materials especially those that are worn on the body. “We prefer to get something that is healthy rather than seeking big profits,” she said. “We are satisfied with fair profits. Some shops for sewing materials in Blockat area sell materials at poor quality and expensive prices,” she added.

She explained that their shop supplies designers, ateliers and jewelry designers. “We also support other artists to create their business from their home. They can then market their products online and make profits right from their home,” Lubna said.

The shop aims to support its customers.

“We exhibit the work of our clients who made it in the workshop at the shop or at the exhibitions we participated in. In this way, we promote work and not just that they are our clients, but because we like to promote the

handmade products,” she explained.

In the words of Abbas, many of those who took classes at LB o J’zazz launched their own business and are now successful. “For instance, there is Hanan Al-Shaya who launched Little Beads, Reem Al-Hajiri who launched ARAM Jewelry, Mathawi Bin Yagout who launched Karkusha Bint Yagout, an American lady Nerissa Alford and many others,” Abbas said.

LB o J’zazz supplies the materials for the workshop and teach the participants the know-how. “Each class is project-based. I think that everybody has creativity, it is just they need somebody to show them the basic, they need good tools, and time, and we have lots of time here in Kuwait. If anybody is bored, just let them come here. We will fill time with something useful and joyful to do at the same time. There is so much that we can do. People now seek to perform arts and crafts, and they look for something deeper while enjoy doing it,” she pointed out.

LB o J’zazz also provides classes for kids and adults on Decorpatch. “Designers and children can use the Decopatch. All those who tried it liked it. It’s really fun,” she concluded.

I personally enjoyed coloring a small duck with the Decopatch paper. I believe that kids will enjoy practicing such activities. People can also buy materials from the shop and ask for advice and assistance. For more information you can contact LBojzazz.blogspot.com, or Facebook group: LB o Jzazz, or Twitter: @lbbeadz.

At LB o J’zazz, people learn everything about beads from A-Z.

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Tainted officer convicted in physical assault case KUWAIT: The Interior Ministry’s investigation committee has convicted Assistant Director General for Operations Affairs Colonel Shukri Al-Najjar in a case filed by a female citizen alleging that he had physically assaulted her.

The committee referred its report to Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah, included charges related to embarking on a cruise trip with women despite being entrusted with a position of authority. He was also charged with violating an official’s code of conduct in public in addition to misbehaving with a citizen in public. The insider said that the final decision rests in the hands of Al-Humoud to take the necessary action against Al-Najjar. Also, a medical report states that Al-Najjar was not under the influence of liquor or drugs. Meanwhile, several MPs have expressed interest in the incident of the woman involved. MP Dr Jamaan Al-Harbash posed 16 questions to Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah Deputy Premier and Interior Minister on whether the incident is concerned with a crime that took place aboard the yacht. MP Musallam Al-Barrak spoke about the published account, while MP Falah Al-Sawwagh opposed the move to send Al-Najjar into retirement, and asked Minister Al-Humoud to shoulder his political responsibility.

The Supervision and Inspection Department questioned the witness and heard his account of the incident.

It will be sent along with the report to the Interior Minister.

Officials said that policemen who were in Bayan police station would be questioned. —Al-Qabas and Alrai

Mahboula gambling den busted, six held Illicit liquor breweries in Farwaniya raided KUWAIT: Six expatriates arrested in connection with gambling in Mahboula have been referred to the Criminal Detective Department under instructions issued by Brigadier Abdellatif Al-Wuhaib, Director of Ahmadi Governorate Security. Several Asians and a Kuwaiti were also remanded in custody. A sum of KD 640 was confiscated. Brigadier AlWuhaib was tipped about the activities of an Asian man who used his apartment in Mahboula to run a gambling den. During Eid, he allegedly received a large number of customers who worked on a commission basis.

The source said that an Asian agent posing as a gambler was sent to the place. Security personnel raided the apartment once they received confirmation of illegal activities.

Illicit liquor breweries caught Farwaniya police raided one of the largest illicit liquor breweries located in Kheitan. They seized 310 bottles

and 480 bags of liquor. Four large barrels of illicit liquor were also found. Four Asians who performed illegal activities were arrested. The raid began after police patrol arrested an Asian bootlegger who had 30 liquor bottles in his possession and Major General Abdelfattah Al-Ali Director of Farwaniya Security was informed. When questioned about the source, he provided security personnel with the address, adding that he bought each bottle for KD 2 and sold it for KD 5. The suspects told police that up to 1,000 bottles and bags of spurious liquor were sold every day.

Drugs found Farwaniya police referred a citizen and a bedoon in their thirties to the General Department for Drug Control(GDDC). They were arrested in Riqaa while driving their vehicle in an erratic manner.

After thoroughly searching the car, a piece of hashish and drug-

related paraphernalia were found.

Rape attempt A Filipina employed in a perfumery in Farwaniya accused an Arab expat of attempting to rape her inside a shop.

The man reportedly approached her when she was about to close the shop. Once inside the shop, he closed the door and attempted to attack her. However, he was deterred by her loud screams, forcing him to escape.

Domestic abuse A female Arab expat refused to accept her husband’s apologies and insisted on filing a court case against him in connection with domestic abuse. Police said that the woman produced a medical report attesting that she suffered a nasal injury, reportedly inflicted by her husband.

The husband admitted to have lost his cool after she ridiculed him for failing to buy a sacrificial sheep. — Al-Anba

‘Boost confidence of care homes inmates’

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: It is important to lift the spirits of inmates from care homes during festive occasions like Eids to boost their self confidence, remarked Dr Musaed Al-Enezi Director of Volunteers Department at Kuwait Red Cresent Society (KRCS).

Al-Enezi said the social committee of KRCS and a team of volunteers paid a visit to care homes recently. “It is a duty we all must carry out to make them feel as normal any other citizen.”

He added, “among the most important acts undertaken during Eid is the keenness of volunteers to visit the

care homes to deliver a message that everyone is thinking about them.”

Al-Enezi lauded volunteers’ efforts to organize the visit in cooperation with social activities department at Social Affairs and Labor ministry. The elderly should be given gifts to celebrate Eid. He also lauded the efforts made by workers at care homes.

Kuwaiti killed, many hurt in car accidents

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A 41-year-old Bangladeshi fractured his collar bone, and a 24-year-old citizen sustained a head injury in a car acci-

dent that took place on Wednesday. He was admitted to Farwaniya Hospital.

In another incident involving an ATV near Mishrif telephone exchange, a 15-year-old citizen

died, a 17-year-old fractured her left leg, an 18-year old suffered multiple injuries, and a 14-year-old Saudi national suffered a fracture.

The deceased’s body was removed by the coroner for an autopsy. The

injured were admitted to Mubarak hospital.

A 37-year-old Indian suffered a scalp laceration and a 45-year-old Egyptian suffered bruises in a car accident that took place along the

Sixth Ring Road near Ishbiliya. Both were admitted to Farwaniya Hospital. Also, two citizens who met with an accident in Failaka Island were airlifted and taken to Adan Hospital for treatment.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Greek government born of five days of torment

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India, Pakistan PMs vow to start ‘new chapter’

South Africa’s ANC suspends youth leader

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VAN: Rescue workers pull out a man from the rubble of a collapsed hotel in Van, eastern Turkey, early yesterday.—AP

Turkish quake kills at least 10 Earthquake topples hotels VAN: A Japanese aid worker was among 10 people killed by a second earthquake in eastern Turkey, and angry residents protested yesterday that authorities should have closed down two collapsed hotels that were damaged by the first temblor. Riot police used pepper spray to halt the protests. The demonstration erupted as rescue workers with pickaxes and earth-movers searched for survivors of Wednesday night’s quake, which hit the same region slammed by an Oct. 23 temblor that left 600 people dead in the eastern province of Van. Some 28 people were pulled out of the rubble in the provincial capital, also called Van, as frantic rescue efforts began Wednesday evening and lasted through the night under high-powered lights. All 10 fatalities occurred in the two collapsed hotels.

Some of those buried were Turkish journalists covering the aftermath of the first earthquake, which left thousands homeless as cold weather began to close in on the mountainous region. Van’s most prominent hotel, the

five-story Bayram Hotel, survived the Oct. 23 magnitude-7.2 quake with some cracks and a damaged elevator. But it toppled in the new, magnitude-5.7 quake, trapping an undetermined number of people under tons of concrete and twisted metal.

The Aslan Hotel, a budget operation in Van, also collapsed. “How is it that these two buildings were not sealed off and were allowed to continue operating?” asked Osman Baydemir, a mayor for the southeastern city of Diyarbakir and a member of a proKurdish opposition party. “The government must bring those responsible to account.”

Residents accused local authorities of not properly inspecting damaged buildings and called for the resignation of Gov. Munir Karaloglu, who arrived to tour the damage.

Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay tried to talk to the protesters, but he angrily walked away as they booed the officials.

Riot police then charged the crowd with batons, and some people fell in the melee.

Police used pepper spray to disperse the protesters, but the gas also affected nearby rescue and health workers, the Hurriyet newspaper said on its website. Atalay said no one knows yet if officials had made a mistake by allowing the hotel to operate after the first quake, and urged patience until a full assessment is done. He said the latest quake knocked down 25 buildings in Van, but only two of those buildings, both hotels, were occupied. Tough safety codes were approved a decade ago after earthquakes in western Turkey killed 18,000 people and prompted an outcry over the poor quality of construction, but enforcement has remained lax. After last month’s quake, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the negligence of municipalities, builders and supervisors over building codes amounted to murder.

Turkey’s Anatolia agency said Atsushi Miyazaki, of Japan’s Association for Aid and Relief, Japan, died in a hospital after being dug out yesterday from the rubble of the

Bayram Hotel. Rescue workers performed CPR on him before taking him to the hospital. His 32-year-old female colleague, Miyuki Konnai, was rescued alive from the wreckage of the same hotel late Wednesday, and the aid group said she was in stable condition.

“We spoke with her briefly, she is in a hospital,” manager Ikuko Natori told The Associated Press by telephone from Tokyo.

“She had a slight injury, but it is not lifethreatening.” Two reporters from Turkey’s Dogan news agency were still believed to be trapped in the hotel debris. Recep Salci, a member of the search and rescue group Akut, said sniffer dogs had indicated that more survivors might be under the hotel rubble.

Some trapped journalists had sent text messages to colleagues asking to be rescued, said Ozgur Gunes, a cameraman for Turkey’s Cihan news agency. He had left the hotel before the quake, but rushed back to collect his camera after it struck, only to find that the building had collapsed. — AP

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Iran warns of ‘full force’ response to threats TEHRAN: Iran will hit back against any attack or even threat of military action, the country’s supreme leader said yesterday after Israel warned the world must act to prevent Tehran getting nuclear weapons. Iran “will respond with full force to any aggression or even threats in a way that will demolish the aggressors from within,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told students at a Tehran military college, according to his official website.

Khamenei said the message was directed at Iran’s enemies, “especially America and its stooges and the Zionist regime (Israel).” The supreme leader’s forceful language followed threats last week from Israel that air strikes could be in the offing against Iran’s nuclear facilities. President Shimon Peres said on Saturday that such action was becoming “more and more likely.”

Rhetoric between Iran and its two principal foes, Israel and the United States, has risen since the release on Tuesday of a UN report saying there was “credible” evidence suggesting Iran’s atomic program was being used to

research putting nuclear warheads in ballistic missiles. Iran, which has long denied any military thrust to its nuclear program, responded to the report by saying it would not budge “an iota” from its atomic course and asserted it could confront any attack.

Defence Minister Ahmad Vahid was quoted by state media as saying “the armed forces of the Islamic republic will powerfully respond to any aggression and threat... Any (action) by the usurper regime (of Israel) will spell its demise.” A day earlier, armed forces deputy chief Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri also predicted Israel’s “destruction” if it attacks and warned: “Our response would not be limited to the Middle East.”

“Iran is not a nation to sit still and just observe threats from fragile materialist powers which are being eaten by worms from inside,” Khamenei was quoted as telling the military cadets yesterday. “Anyone who harbors any thought of invading the Islamic Republic of Iran or even if the thought crosses their mind-should be prepared

to receive strong blows and the steel fists of the military, the (Revolutionary) Guards, and the Basij (militia), or in other words the Iranian nation,” he said.

Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani reinforced the message, warning Western governments they “risk breaking their neck if they play certain games,” the state television website reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday “the international community must bring about the cessation of Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons which endanger the peace of the world and of the Middle East.”

Although he did not say what action Israel was looking at taking, media reports last week said he and Defence Minister Ehud Barak were seeking cabinet support for a pre-emptive Israeli attack on Iran. Israel last week carried out what national media called a “ballistic missile” test, as well as a large-scale civil defence drill simulating the response to conventional and non-conventional missile attacks. Following the

UN report, the European Union was preparing a new round of sanctions against Iran ahead of a meeting of its foreign ministers on Monday, diplomats in Brussels said on condition of anonymity.

Russia, which built Iran’s first nuclear plant at Bushehr, has already ruled out support for any more sanctions against the Islamic republic before the UN Security Council, where it holds the power of veto. And its nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko said yesterday that Moscow was ready to build more nuclear reactors in Iran. “We are looking into it, we have the orders, so we are working this proposal through, since building specifically nuclear reactors is not an issue of doubt in the international community,” Kiriyenko told a government meeting.

The United States has said it is consulting with allies on ways to put “additional pressure” on Iran. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said “a range of options” were being considered. “I don’t want to rule anything out or anything in,” he said.— AFP

21 killed across Syria: Activists 8-year-old girl, six soldiers among dead

SANAA: A wounded Yemeni anti-regime protester is rushed to hospital in Sanaa yesterday, as security forces killed one man and wounded others during protests calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s prosecution. —AFP

Gunmen fire on Yemen protests, kill youth SANAA: Gunmen in civilians clothes opened fire on anti-government protesters in Yemen’s capital, and tanks shelled residential neighborhoods in another major city, killing a 13-year old boy and leaving at least a dozen people wounded yesterday, witnesses and a medical official said.

The attacks came as thousands of activists marched in the capital Sanaa and in the central city of Taiz, calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to face trial for his government’s crackdown on protesters. For nearly 10 months, protesters have filled streets and public squares across Yemen, calling for the ouster of Saleh, who has been in power for three decades. While Saleh’s security forces have used deadly force to suppress the protests, international diplomacy has failed to resolve the crisis. Al-Qaeda-linked militants have taken advantage of the internal turmoil to take over towns and villages in Yemen’s south. The US considers Al-Qaeda’s Yemen branch to be especially dangerous.

The UN Secretary General’s special envoy to Yemen, Jamal bin Omar, arrived in the country yesterday to seek progress on a US -backed proposal to end the crisis. The plan was put forward

by Yemen’s powerful Gulf Arab neighbors.

Under the plan, Saleh would step down and pass power to his vice president in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Saleh has agreed to the proposal three times, only to refuse to sign at the last minute.

Many Yemeni activists criticize the proposal for granting Saleh immunity and allowing him to stay on as head of the ruling party. They complain that it falls short of the democratic reforms and new government they want their uprising to achieve. Thousands took to the streets in Sanaa and Taiz yesterday to call for Saleh to stand trial for his government’s deadly crackdown. In Sanaa, gunmen in civilian clothes fired on demonstrators, witnesses said. Three protesters were wounded, a medical official said.

In Yemen’s second largest city, Taiz, tanks shelled residential neighborhoods, destroying several buildings, and security forces opened fire on a protest in the city’s center, killing a 13year-old boy and wounding nine others, a medical official said. The medical official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.—AP

BEIRUT: Syrian security forces raided homes and clashes erupted between soldiers and army defectors yesterday, killing at least 21 people across the country, including an 8-year-old girl and six soldiers, activists said. In some of the attacks, security forces opened fire as they conducted raids in search of dissidents in areas including the suburbs of the capital, Damascus, Deir el-Zour, Hama and Homs, which has emerged as the epicenter of the uprising.

An 8-year-old girl was among the victims in Homs, said Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. There also were reports of fighting between army defectors and soldiers near the eastern city of Deir el-Zour and near Maaret al-Numan, a town on the highway linking Damascus and the major city of Aleppo.

The death toll yesterday was reported by the observatory and the Local Coordinating Committees, an activist coalition. The UN estimates some 3,500 people have been killed in the Syrian crackdown since the uprising against the authoritarian rule of President Bashar Assad began eight months ago, inspired by the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. On Wednesday, Navi Pillay, the UN human rights chief, said an increasing number of Syrian soldiers are defecting, raising the risk of a Libya-style civil war.

“Where basic human rights are trampled and peaceful demands for change met by brutal violence, people are eventually compelled to have recourse to rebellion against tyranny and oppression,” Pillay told the UN Security Council. It is difficult to gauge how many people have defected from the army

and what kind of threat they pose to the regime. Although the crackdown has led to broad international isolation fo Assad, he appears to have a firm grip on power, retaining the loyalty of most of the armed forces.

Assad, and his father who ruled Syria before him, stacked key security and military posts with members of their minority Alawite sect over the past 40 years, ensuring loyalty by melding the fate of the army and the regime. As a result, the army leadership will likely protect the regime at all costs, for fear it will be persecuted if the country’s Sunni majority gains the upper hand. Most of the army defectors so far appear to be lower-level Sunni conscripts.

Syria blames the bloodshed on “armed gangs” and extremists acting out a foreign agenda to destabilize the regime.

Syria agreed to a peace plan last week brokered by the Arab League, but the violence has continued unabated. The 22nation body called an emergency meeting Saturday to discuss Damascus’ failure to abide by its commitments. It was not clear what action the league would take if the bloodshed continues, although it could isolate Syria by suspending or freezing its membership. That would be a major symbolic blow to a nation that prides itself on being a powerhouse of Arab nationalism. The government has largely sealed off the country from foreign journalists and prevented independent reporting, making it difficult to confirm events on the ground. Key sources of information are amateur videos posted online and details gathered by witnesses and activist groups who then contact the media, often at great personal risk.— AP

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Perry says campaign won’t end BLOOMFIELD HILLS: Rick Perry says he “stepped in it” when he couldn’t remember the third federal department he would cut if elected, but insisted the debate blunder wouldn’t force him out of the Republican presidential field. “Oh, shoot, no,” Perry told The Associated Press yesterday morning, the day after making the error during a GOP debate.

Asked whether his campaign, which is struggling to regain traction, could survive, Perry replied: “This ain’t a day for quitting nothing.”

Perry says others have made similar mistakes and that the screw-up will humanize him. “The president of the United States said there were 57 states one time. Everybody makes mistakes,” Perry said. During a May 2008 campaign stop in Beaverton, Ore., then-candidate Barack Obama said he had spent the past 15 months visiting every corner of the US “I’ve now been in fifty - seven states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go, even though I really wanted to visit but my staff would not justify it.” News accounts at the time chalked it up to fatigue during an exhausting stretch of campaign travel.

Perry hoped to stem any fallout from his own gaffe through a blitz of early morning interviews and TV appearances.

His glaring mistake was by far the worst in a series he’s made over the course of six presidential debates. The pattern plays into stereotypes that the Texas governor isn’t smart enough or qualified enough to be president - particularly as Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate to beat, has stood on the same stages and performed almost flawlessly.

It also raised questions about whether Perry can take on not just his Republican rivals but also Obama. In the early morning after the debate, Perry tried to cast

the mistake as a humanizing one that shows voters he isn’t the “slickest” politician but someone who makes mistakes like everyone else. In the AP interview, he insisted that he is more qualified than Romney to be president.

“More so,” he said when asked if was as qualified as the former Massachusetts governor. “Almost 11 years of chief executive experience of an entity a lot bigger than anything that he ever ran, and created more jobs, taking our four years and overlapping them as governors. The success that Texas was going through between 2002 and 2006 far overshadowed Massachusetts. So absolutely.” “If Americans are looking for the slickest politician, the smoothest debater, I readily admit, I’m probably not their guy,” Perry said. But while Perry’s earlier flubs

brought him down from the top of the polls and forced a shift in campaign strategy, this one has prompted questions about whether he can even continue in the race. Donors were privately nervous or even panicking, though Perry’s advisers said yesterday that they already have the cash they need to run through to South Carolina.

And Perry himself is defiant. “The chattering class and the political pundits will try to guide this campaign,” Perry said. “I’m going to be out talking to the people in South Carolina and Florida and New Hampshire and Iowa, those early primary states, about our vision for the country.” Still, the extended debate exchange is destined for endless television replay and will provide easy fodder for attack ads. In the debate, Perry said

MICHIGAN: Republican presidential candidate Texas Governor Rick Perry (L) makes a point as US Representative Ron Paul (R-TX), listens at a debate hosted by CNBC and the Michigan Republican Party at Oakland University on November 9, 2011 in Rochester, Michigan. —AFP

Canada’s same-sex penguin pair will be split apart TORONTO: Toronto’s zoo is splitting up a pair of male penguins whose affection has drawn headlines and jokes about “Brokeback Iceberg.” The African penguins have shared the nest they built since coming to the zoo about a year ago. But since the penguins are an endangered species, zoo officials plan to separate Pedro and Buddy so they can mate with females. The pair has what’s known as a “social bond,” but it’s not necessarily sexual, Tom Mason, the zoo’s curator of birds and invertebrates, said Wednesday.

The zoo has received hundreds of calls about the pair.

Mason said he even got a call from someone claiming to represent a group called the Canadian Society for Gay Animals.

Such a group could not immediately be located. The story of the same-sex pair has gone viral online, leading to cheeky YouTube videos. Late-night TV comics have jumped into the icy waters of penguin passion. Jimmy Kimmel riffed on the story during a recent monologue, calling it “Brokeback Iceberg” and claiming the lovebirds were spotted at a Lady Gaga concert.

But it’s really not the way it looks, Mason said. “Penguins are so social they need that ... company. And the group they came from was a bachelor group waiting for a chance to be paired up with females,” said Mason, who received the penguins from a US zoo earlier this year. “They had paired up there, they came to us already paired, and it’s our job to be matchmakers to get them to go with some females.” Buddy, who is 21, had a female partner for 10 years and produced some offspring but his partner died, Mason said. Pedro, 10, has yet to produce offspring.— AP

he would eliminate three federal agencies but struggled to name them.

“Commerce, Education and the what’s the third one there? Let’s see,” he said. Perry’s rivals tried to bail him out, suggesting the Environmental Protection Agency. “EPA, there you go,” Perry said, seemingly taking their word for it. But that wasn’t it. And when pressed, he drew another blank.

“Seriously?” asked moderator John Harwood, one of the CNBC debate hosts.

“You can’t name the third one?” “The third agency of government I would do away with - the Education, the Commerce. And let’s see. I can’t. The third one, I can’t,” Perry said. “Oops.”

Later in the debate, Perry revisited the question and said he meant to call for the elimination of the Energy Department. Yesterday, Perry said he just couldn’t think of it. “There were so many federal agencies that come to mind, that I want to get rid of, that the Energy Department would not come out,” he said in an interview taped for ABC’s “Good Morning America.” He’s trying to turn it to his advantage. On NBC’s “Today” show, Perry sought to make the best of the gaffe, saying that forgetting the name of one of the agencies illustrated the “core point” of his campaign - that there are too many agencies. He’s already blasted an email to supporters asking them, “What part of the Federal Government would you like to forget about the most?” His website now asks them to vote for one.

The immediate fallout has been brutal. “We all felt very bad for him,” Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman also running for the nomination, said after the debate. “Rick Perry just lost the debate. And the entire election. You only had to name three,” Tim Albrecht, the top spokesman for Iowa Gov. —AP

In new testimony, James Murdoch blames underlings LONDON: James Murdoch insisted yesterday he’d been kept in the dark about the culture of criminality at the now-defunct News of the World tabloid, telling a committee of often-skeptical British lawmakers that he’d been blind-sided by his subordinates. In more than two and half hours of testimony, Murdoch accused two former lieutenants of misleading both him and parliamentarians over the scope of a phone hacking scandal that has shaken his father Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.

“Any suspicion of wider-spread wrongdoing, none of these things were mentioned to me,” the junior Murdoch said, taking largely the same stance he took before Parliament during testimony in July. Murdoch’s repeated denials that he’d seen critical evidence of widespread criminality at his company prompted derisive comments from the lawmakers investigating the scandal.

“You must be the first mafia boss in history who didn’t think he was running a criminal enterprise,” said Labour lawmaker Tom Watson, a strident Murdoch critic. Murdoch, stonyfaced, called the comment inappropriate. He laid the blame squarely at the door of the News of the World’s former editor, Colin Myler, and News International’s former legal adviser, Tom Crone, both of whom insist that they briefed Murdoch as long ago as early 2008 about damning evidence that proved that phone hacking went much further than had previously been acknowledged.

“I believe their testimony was misleading, and I dispute it,” Murdoch said. The finger-pointing follows months of drip-drip revelations that undermined Murdoch’s credibility. Crone and Myler’s account of events has called Murdoch’s credibility into

question. Documents published in the months since James Murdoch’s earlier appearance in Parliament - in which he insisted he was not informed of the scale of the scandal - have been particularly damning. One, written by a senior lawyer, warned Murdoch’s News International that there was “overwhelming evidence” that some of its most senior journalists had been involved in illegal practices. “No documents were shown to me,” Murdoch said. —AP

LONDON: A protester wearing a mask of News International chairman James Murdoch, the son of News Corp. boss Rupert Murdoch, poses with a mock-up of a newspaper “the Son” outside the houses of parliament where Murdoch was to give evidence in the on-going media phone hacking scandal in London yesterday. —AFP

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International

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Mexican man apparently killed for web comments MEXICO CITY: The decapitated body of a man was left Wednesday at the same monument in the border city of Nuevo Laredo where the corpse of a woman purportedly killed in retaliation for her postings on an anti-crime website had been left previously, authorities said. A photo of the scene indicates the man was killed for reporting criminals on social media sites, raising fears drug cartels are increasingly targeting bloggers.

Police found the body at a monument on one of the city’s main thoroughfares, said a Tamaulipas state investigator who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to discuss the case. The officer wouldn’t discuss the content of the message but a photograph of the scene posted on a blog shows a handcuffed man lying on his belly on top of a bloodstained message and a chopped head nearby. The message reads “this happened to me for not understanding that I shouldn’t report things on the social networks.”

The message claimed the man, identified by his nickname “Rascatripas” or “Belly Scratcher,” was a moderator of “Nuevo Laredo en Vivo,” a website used by the city’s residents to denounce crime and warn each other about drug cartel gunfights and roadblocks. The gruesome killing may be the fourth since September in which people in Nuevo Laredo were killed by a drug cartel for what they said on the internet. The decapitated body of Maria Elizabeth Macias, “La Nena de Laredo,” or “Laredo Girl,” was found at the site in September with a message that said she was killed for her reports on the website. That message was signed with the letter “Z,” which refers to the violent Zetas drug cartel.

Earlier that month, the bodies of a man and a woman were found hanging from an overpass in Nuevo Laredo with a message threatening, “this is what will happen” to trouble-making Internet users and also signed with a “Z.” The Zetas have dominated Nuevo Laredo, located across the border from Laredo, Texas,

for years. “Nuevo Laredo en Vivo” has a message acknowledging Macias was a contributor and lauding her courage. Chat messages on the website show a user with the nickname of “Rascatripas” commented Monday afternoon about the dangers of traveling on a riverside highway that connects Nuevo Laredo to Ciudad Mier.

Whether the unidentified man found Wednesday at a monument to Christopher Columbus contributed to the website it’s unclear. “We have no way of confirming whether He is the person who was killed because we’re all anonymous,” said a Tweet by “Nuevo Laredo en Vivo” in response to a request for comment by The Associated Press. With local newspapers forced to avoid crime reporting by threats in many border cities Mexicans have increasingly turned to local online chat sites like “Nuevo Laredo en Vivo” to report and read about cartel activity. The site includes numbers to phone in tips to police and the military.—AP

Chavez: unknown sub enters Venezuelan seas CARACAS: President Chavez said on Wednesday an unidentified nuclearpowered submarine violated Venezuelan territorial waters this week and was chased away by the South American nation’s navy. “It escaped because it is much faster than our vessels,” Chavez said in a late-evening call to state television.

“We’re investigating, fortunately our marines resisted provocation.” Chavez is wont to raise the specter of possible foreign threats to his socialist government, especially from the United States. He gave scant details of the incident that he said took place on Tuesday.

“We can’t accuse anyone because we don’t have details,” he said. “You know how the empires used to go around the Caribbean poking their

noses everywhere using satellite spying.” Drug-traffickers in the region are known to have begun using submarines to transport cocaine from Colombia to the United States and further afield. “Obviously, from its speed and size, it’s a nuclear-powered submarine. Anyway, we’re checking,” Chavez added. In brief comments, he also lambasted US drug and crime official William Brownfield for remarks this week about an “explosion” of drug trafficking through Venezuela.

A former ambassador to Venezuela, Brownfield is currently the top official for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs at the US Department of State. Chavez said Brownfield was “ridiculous” and his government would give a formal response shortly.— Reuters

Pope planning 2012 visit to Cuba, Mexico: Vatican VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI is planning to visit Cuba and Mexico in spring 2012, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said yesterday, adding that communist Cuba “wanted to see the pope very much.” “The nuncios of Mexico and Cuba have been charged in recent days with informing the highest religious and political leaders in the two countries that the pope is examining a concrete project to visit,” he said in a statement.

Cuba “is a country that wanted to see the pope very much. It has never forgotten John Paul II’s historic visit” in 1998, he said. “The pope’s visit will be a great encouragement, particularly on the 400year anniversary of the Virgin of Charity,” the patroness of Cuba.”The Church and the whole population are living through an important moment in their history,” he added.

Lombardi said the 84-year-old pope had been advised not to travel to parts of Mexico because of the altitude but said he would probably visit the capital.

Benedict will be 85 years old by the time he makes the journeys.

Lombardi also said that the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America “have wanted to have a (papal) visit for them” and that Mexico had been singled out because “it is the most populous country among them”. The pope had visited Portuguese-speaking Brazil in May 2007 for a conference of Latin American and Caribbean bishops. The projected trips to Latin America are the first announced travel plans for the pope next year. Lombardi added that no plans were currently under discussion to visit Lebanon, which had been mentioned as a possible destination for a papal trip. — AFP

RIO DE JANEIRO: Antonio Bonfim Lopes, alias “Nem,” second from right, is escorted handcuffed by police at the federal police headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil yesterday.—AP

Rio’s most-wanted trafficker caught RIO DE JANEIRO: The most-wanted drug gang leader in this Olympic city was arrested yesterday, police said. The capture is a blow to the gang that controls one of Latin America’s biggest slums and the main drug distribution point in Rio. Antonio Bonfim Lopes, known as “Nem,” tried to flee the Rocinha slum in the trunk of a car, which was stopped at a police checkpoint just outside the shantytown, said Victor Poubel, a federal police inspector. He said the occupants of the car tried to bribe police twice, but eventually opened the trunk. Lopes did not resist arrest and calmly stared at TV cameras when taken into a police station. Police say Lopes is wanted on charges of drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping and money laundering, and his arrest is a blow to the “Friends of Friends” drug gang that controls Rocinha. It comes as police say they are preparing for an invasion of the slum as part of a campaign to make the city safer by the time it hosts the 2014 World Cup final matches and the 2016 Olympics.

Police are pressing ahead with plans to take back the shantytown, and hope for help from the residents, said Alberto Pinheiro Neto, head of operations for Rio state police, at a press conference yesterday. About 100,000 people are estimated to live in Rocinha. Pinheiro Neto would not give a specific timeline for the incursion into the slum, saying the operation is ongoing, but guaranteed police would try to minimize harm to residents.

Police would distribute pre-paid cell phones to residents to encourage collaboration with officers, he said.

“The gang is being dismantled, and this is a good moment for law-abiding citizens who want to see their children living in peace to pass information on where criminals, guns and drugs are hidden,” he said. Under the pacification program, elite police units head into violent slums and push out the heavily armed drug gangs that have held sway for decades.

Once security is established, officers trained in community policing move in and set up permanent “police pacification units.” City officials also bring in basic services that many of the shantytowns had never received, such as sewage, legal electricity and cable hookups, and trash collection. Police have created 18 such outposts in slums, mostly in areas seen as geographically key to World Cup and Olympic venues or along a highway leading to the international airport.

Rocinha sprawls across on a mountainside that hugs a road connecting what will be the main Olympic venues to wealthier parts of Rio, including the neighborhoods of Copacabana and Ipanema. Jose Mariano Beltrame, the head of the Rio state security department, said the arrest of Lopes demonstrates the fragility of the gangs in Rio and said the coming takeover of Rocinha will be another big step in taking territory away from gangs.—AP

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Fact-finder to unveil UK files on lawyer’s killing DUBLIN: A fact-finder investigating British state involvement in the killing of a high-profile Belfast lawyer vowed yesterday to publish secret UK intelligence documents as part of his work. Human rights lawyer Desmond de Silva made his promise one month after Britain appointed him to review its largely secret documentation on the 1989 assassination of Patrick Finucane, one of the most bitterly disputed killings of the entire Northern Ireland conflict.

Finucane specialized in defending Irish Republican Army suspects and had three brothers in the outlawed group. Two gunmen from an enemy paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association, shot him 14 times in front of his wife and children as they ate a meal in their Belfast home. A series of secrecy-shrouded probes led by former London police commissioner John Stevens has already concluded that Belfast police and British Army intelligence units both operated UDA agents involved in the attack. Stevens says his probes produced 9,256 written statements, 10,391 documents exceeding 1 million pages, and 16,194 exhibits of potential evidence - almost none of it made public, all of it open for de Silva to examine.

Britain has pledged to publish de Silva’s report and supporting documents - but only after vetting it for security issues - in late 2012. “It is already clear to me that an enormous quantity of relevant material regarding this murder has been kept secret for many years,” de Silva said. He pledged “to declassify and publish original intelligence documents alongside my report. ... I am determined to expose the truth about this appalling murder.”

De Silva, who has previously overseen UN war crimes investigations in Sierra Leone and Liberia, said he was seeking an early meeting with the Finucane family to persuade them to support his work. Finucane’s widow Geraldine, who was wounded in the 1989 attack, has rejected the exercise as too restricted.

De Silva is expected to shed new light on the role that Northern Ireland’s legal forces of law and order played in influencing the UDA, a working-class Protestant gang committed to terrorizing the Catholic minority. His work is not expected to spur new prosecutions, in part, because key UDA players are already convicted or dead.

One police informer, senior UDA gunman Ken Barrett, pleaded guilty to killing Finucane and received a life sentence in 2004. He was paroled two years later under terms of Northern Ireland’s peace accord, which offered early freedom for all convicted members of paramilitary groups observing cease-fires.

Another UDA man on the police payroll, William Stobie, was killed by colleagues in 2001 after testifying he may have supplied the guns used for the Finucane hit and tried to tip off police handlers about it. — AP

Extremist groups to mark Poland’s independence WARSAW: Polish police will bring reinforcements to Warsaw from across the country for Independence Day marches today because of fears of clashes between extremist groups. With officers coming in from eight large cities, it will be a major test of police capabilities before the Euro 2012 football championship, which Poland will co-host with Ukraine in June. Police want to make sure the thousands of people expected to march in central Warsaw will feel safe “regardless of their views,” Warsaw police spokesman Maciej Karczynski told The Associated Press.

Karczynski said police reinforcements were being brought in, but refused to say how many. Marches by groups of various political orientation are planned in Warsaw and other cities to mark 93 years since Poland regained independence in 1918 after more than a century of foreign rule. A state parade is also planned in the capital. The leader of a far-right group that is organizing a march of more than 10,000 followers said they intend to react peacefully to any provocation, after leftist organizations vowed to block their passage.

Robert Winnicki, the head of the far-right All-Polish Youth, said he can vouch for the “dignified and peaceful” behavior of his members, and that group leaders have tasked some with ensuring the peace. Winnicki said he was worried neo-Nazi or leftist groups could stir up trouble and appealed to police to prevent any “provocation.” He appealed to state security forces to prevent the expected arrival of radical groups from Germany and other countries. — AP

Greek government born of five days of torment ATHENS: For five tormented days, Greece’s search for a prime minister swung between comedy and tragedy, back-office deals struck then abandoned, names floated then denied, screaming in corridors; all while the country drifted towards economic disaster.

“If I were a foreigner watching it, I would say let them all go to hell,” one socialist deputy was overheard telling a colleague at the parliament coffee shop.

“It’s the theatre of the absurd.” Former central banker Lucas Papademos emerged from the pandemonium on Wednesday as prime minister, entrusted with salvaging the country’s place in the euro zone and tackling its spiraling debts. Papademos’s name had been mooted at the start of the hunt for the head of a coalition government. Prime Minister George Papandreou pressed talks over the telephone with Papademos who was in Boston. On Monday night he flew back to Athens, a source with knowledge of his movements said.

“On Tuesday morning he thought he had a deal,” the source said. “But by Tuesday afternoon it appeared it fell through and he didn’t know why.

Communication with the prime minister’s office stopped.” Over at the headquarters of the opposition New Democracy Party, passions had been inflamed by news their leader Antonis Samaras had given in to pressure from the EU to make a pact with Papandreou’s socialists. They demanded assurances he would not back the conditions Papademos was setting.

Reporters who called New Democracy officials at the modern headquarters on Sygrou avenue could hear screaming in the background-angry members decrying any deal. Acrimony and emotion may only have been deeper for the fact that many key players had known each other for so long.

Papandreou and Samaras, for instance, were college roommates.

“Papademos...wanted to be in control, not a figurehead,” the source said.

He said Papademos wanted Samaras to commit himself explicitly by signing a series of policies agreed with the European Union in return for its bailout.

Samaras was livid and issued a statement saying: “It’s a matter of national dignity... I don’t allow anyone to doubt my statements.” The world watched and waited. With Samaras refusing to put his signatures on anything but what he agreed in the initial deal-a short-lived, caretaker government to pass specific bills and take the country to elections as soon as possible-Papandreou dropped

Papademos and scrambled to find an alternative.

The trawling began. Names floated in the media ranged from judges to former politicians and even the European ombudsman, who told Reuters he had an exploratory call on Sunday and nothing since. Financial markets slumped on Greece’s chaotic and opaque political manoeuvring. Italy edged into crisis in its train. In the official information vacuum, MPs appeared anxious and frantic, buying drinks for journalists at the parliament coffee shop for a titbit of news.

The halls of parliament are relatively

tant detail-the name of the new prime minister-he failed to mention. The opposition discerned a hint it would be Petsalnikos, a name acceptable to them.

The broadcast over, Papandreou walked across the street to the presidential mansion to meet the president and political leaders and hand in his resignation.

Things began to unravel again. The far-right LAOS leader George Karatzaferis stormed out of the mansion, angry that he had been left waiting in an ante-chamber and furious with the news Papademos was out. The news that

ATHENS: Newly appointed Prime Minister Lucas Papademos leaves the Greek Presidential palace in Athens yesterday. —AP empty even on days of big votes. This week they were heaving with activity, full of lawmakers pacing the corridors instead of hiding in their lounges.

When new names were leaked, such as that of former house speaker Apostolos Kaklamanis and incumbent Philippos Petsalnikos, one socialist deputy made the sign of the cross across her chest in shock. “You need a psychic to figure out who will be the prime minister,” New Democracy deputy Gerasimos Giakoumatos exclaimed.

Some socialist deputies seethed at reports that Petsalnikos, a close Papandreou ally with no obvious qualification to master the crisis, was the most probable option. They had given Papandreou their support in exchange for his stepping down and not for getting his crony instead.

Then came Wednesday night. With the nation expecting a final declaration on who was to lead it, Papandreou appeared on television to announce a deal had been done with the opposition and he was resigning. The one impor-

emerged in the coming hours confounded almost everyone. Petsalnikos was out and Papademos was Papandreou’s leading candidate once again.

Asked what happened after Papandreou’s farewell address to the nation, in the short time it took him to cross the street to the presidential mansion, sources said it was still uncertain.

One government official suggested that when he settled on the house speaker, he may have been unaware of the rebellion brewing in his own party, PASOK. As he was arguing ministerial posts with Samaras, about 50 socialist deputies threatened to walk out, bringing the government down and prompting immediate elections unless a “strong personality” was chosen as premier.

In a hand written letter circulated among MPs, they warned: “If this does not happen, by the morning of November 10, we will submit our resignations,” said the letter published by Greek media. “It is a matter of personal and political dignity.” — Reuters

Police seize 270 tons of mini Eiffel towers PARIS: Paris police said yesterday they had seized 270 tons of miniature Eiffel towers and arrested four people in an operation against illicit street vendors. Police this year have stepped up efforts to rid the streets of Paris, the world’s most visited city, of thousands of illegal vendors hawking souvenirs. The Paris police department said it had arrested four people, all Chinese nationals, operating out of a store in the centre of the capital and providing merchandise to about 100 illicit street vendors.

Police also raided a suburban warehouse where they found 300 tons of merchandise including the 270 tonnes of

mini-Eiffel towers, with a volume of 900 cubic metres, or more than a third the size of an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The objects had been imported from China, it said.

“The goal of the operation is not only to fight against illicit street vendors but also to tackle the supply networks,” a police source told AFP. Four suspects were charged and released on bail. Illegal street vending is punishable in France by up to six months in prison and a 3,750 euro ($5,110) fine. Paris police detained some 4,000 illegal street vendors between March and September, of which 1,200 were taken into custody, police said. —AFP

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Somali lawmaker killed in Mogadishu MOGADISHU: Several armed and masked men on Wednesday shot to death a Somali deputy in front of his house in the capital Mogadishu, witnesses and colleagues said. Adan Bule Mohamed was killed after being shot several times in the head and shoulder in front of his house in the Dharkinley neighborhood in the south of the capital, they said.

”Masked men killed the parliamentarian and disappeared before the police arrived,” Abdi Ismail, a witness, told AFP. There was no immediate information on the possible motive for the attack. Somalia has been wracked by violence since 1991, when it first spiralled into civil war. Since then, several foreign armies-including US forces, UN

peacekeepers and a 2006 Ethiopian invasion-have failed to create stability in the anarchic nation. The 550 Somali deputies were named for the most part in 2004 and their mandate is due to expire on August 20, 2012.

The weak Western-backed government of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed survives in Mogadishu under the protection of more than 9,000 African

Union troops, who have spent four years battling the Al-Shebab Islamist rebels aiming to topple his administration.

Last month, Kenya deployed troops into the Shebab-controlled southern Somalia to battle the Al-Qaeda-inspired rebels it blames for kidnapping foreigners on its soil and conducting cross-border raids. —AFP

S Sudan accuses Khartoum of deadly air strike on camp No immediate casualty toll yet JUBA: Sudan carried out a deadly air strike on a refugee camp in neighboring South Sudan yesterday, just hours after the south’s president accused Khartoum of seeking a pretext for war, officials said. “Twelve people were killed and more than 20 wounded”, said Miabek Lang, commissioner of Pariang County in Upper Nile state where the attack took place.

“Around 2:45 pm, the Sudan Armed Forces targeted Yida town, where the Nuba refugees [from South Kordofan] are and IDPs (internally displaced persons) from Jau [on the border], as well as civilians,” Lang said. There was no immediate confirmation of the casualty toll from UN or other sources and Sudan Armed Forces spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad categorically denied that the military had carried out air strikes across its southern border.

“This information is completely false. We didn’t bomb any camps or any areas inside the borders of South Sudan.” Saad told AFP. “What is going on in South Sudan belongs to the southerners. We don’t have any links to this.”UN humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, Lise Grande, confirmed reports of a bombing raid on Yida. “There are reports that we are receiving on the ground in Yida that bombs have been dropped,” Grande said. “We are extremely concerned about the more than 20,000 refugees who have sought safety in Yida, fleeing the fighting in South Kordofan.

“We are trying to ascertain the facts and based on these, we will move as quickly as possible to provide all necessary humanitarian assistance.” The governor of neighboring Unity state Taban Deng said: “The refugees and civilians have been bombed in Yida.

They dropped about five to six bombs and it is an Antonov bomber.”

The reported raid came just hours after a speech by South Sudan President Salva Kiir in which he condemned an earlier air strike in Upper Nile that killed seven civilians on Tuesday and accused Sudan of trying to drag the new country back to war. Fighting broke out in Sudan’s new border state South Kordofan just weeks before South Sudan gained inde-

pendence in July after decades of civil war. “They have been bombing a lot of places in Nuba [mountains in South Kordofan] and Upper Nile,” Deng said. The UN Security Council was to meet later yesterday to discuss Sudan, which lodged a complaint against South Sudan last week, accusing it of funding rebels in the border states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

Kiir denied the accusations yesterday, telling reporters that they were “a prelude from Khartoum to justify their pending actions against South Sudan.”

The southern leader said Khartoum’s accusations were “utterly baseless and they are just maliciously planned” by Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir to deflect from internal problems and mask his wish to reclaim the South. “Tomorrow, when Bashir invades South Sudan, then he will say yes, he took the action to revenge what was being done to him... They want to engage South Sudan in wars, meaningless wars,” he said.

Kiir dismissed Bashir’s accusations that the South has been sending tanks and heavy artillery to rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement - North (SPLM-N) who fought alongside his former southern rebels during their 1983-2005 civil war with Khartoum. John Prendergast, the head of the Enough Project human rights group supported by Hollywood star George Clooney, said: “The regime in Khartoum is attempting to provoke South Sudan into restarting a war. “The regime’s endgame is to either capture South Sudan’s oilfields along their common border, or achieve a stronger negotiating position on shared oil revenues and border demarcation,” he said.

“This provocation must be countered by the full force of the international community, or else a massive war could unfold.”Washington on Wednesday condemned what it called “provocative” bombing by the Sudanese armed forces near the border with South Sudan, and demanded a halt to such strikes.

Such “indiscriminate aerial bombardment of civilian targets always is unacceptable and unjustified,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. —AFP

JOHANNESBURG: Member of the African National Congress (ANC) Derek Hanekom speaks during a press conference in Johannesburg, yesterday. South Africa’s ruling ANC suspended firebrand youth leader Julius Malema for five years for provoking divisions in the party, a move that boosts President Jacob Zuma’s re-election bid. —AFP

South Africa’s ANC suspends youth leader JOHANNESBURG: In a strong slap at a young but powerful politician, South Africa’s governing party fired its controversial youth leader yesterday and suspended him from the African National Congress for five years for sowing intolerance and disunity. The action, announced live on national television, against Julius Malema was unexpectedly severe. The party in previous months had seemed unwilling to crack down on a man who spewed insults and divisive rhetoric, one whom old guard ANC leaders apparently did not want to alienate.

The 30-year-old has been seen as the king maker who helped President Jacob Zuma defeat a predecessor in an internal party power struggle but brought on the sanctions by criticizing the president and his policies concerning neighboring Botswana. “The acts of misconduct for which the respondent has been found guilty are very serious, and have damaged the integrity of the ANC and South Africa’s international reputation,” said Derek Hanekom, chairman of the party’s national disciplinary committee.

Malema has 14 days to appeal the rulings made by an internal ANC disciplinary panel. Malema said he would appeal. “We are not intimidated by any outcome,” he said in the northern town of Polokwane, where South Africa’s eTV station showed him addressing a small crowd of supporters.

“The ANC is our home.” The sanctions deprive Malema, who has been active in the ANC since he was a primary school student and it was a banned group battling apartheid, of a formal power base.

The ANC said Malema’s membership was frozen because he questioned whether Zuma was providing the kind of pan-African leadership that former President Thabo Mbeki had provided.

Ironically, Malema helped bring Zuma to power by rallying enough votes to make him the head of the ANC, replacing Mbeki. The ANC president generally is the party’s candidate to lead the country, and Zuma went on to become president in 2009.

Malema’s suspension also stemmed from his calling the government of neighboring Botswana imperialist, which the ANC sees as an ally. Few Malema supporters were outside ANC headquarters yesterday. They showed little reaction to the ruling, contrasting with crowds who rioted when the disciplinary hearings against Malema began in August. Demonstrators had burned ANC flags and T-shirts bearing Zuma’s image.

Malema portrayed himself as the political heir of former Youth League leaders like Nelson Mandela. Mandela helped found the league in 1944 and was known then as being more radical than older ANC leaders. The ANC’s disciplinary committee appeared to take issue with comparisons to

Mandela in its ruling yesterday against Malema and five other Youth League leaders, saying some had shown an “arrogance and defiance” that was “a far cry from the manner in which different leaders of the Youth League, over the decades, conducted their affairs.”

Malema still has influential allies within the ANC, including Mandela’s ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Malema’s elders had said they believed he had potential and wanted to groom him for larger roles, but he has repeatedly clashed with the ANC old guard, criticizing them for everything from their accents to their politics. After an earlier round of disciplinary hearings, the party fined Malema in May, ordering him to apologize for sowing discord and undermining Zuma’s authority. Malema also was handed a twoyear suspension that was not immediately imposed. Yesterday, the ANC said that earlier suspension would now take effect, and run concurrently with the new fiveyear suspension.

Malema had called for nationalization of South Africa’s mines, though that debate was not related to Malema’s disciplinary process.

ANC leaders have repeatedly said nationalization is not government policy. On Wednesday, Moody’s rating agency changed its credit rating outlook from stable to negative for South Africa, citing among the reasons the nationalization debate. — AP

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Three dead, US troops hurt in Afghan attack Attack targeted meeting between governor, elders

ADDU: Afghan President Hamid Karzai (L), Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (C) and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (R) attend the 17th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meeting in Addu yesterday. —AFP

India, Pakistan PMs vow to start ‘new chapter’ ADDU: The prime ministers of India and Pakistan said yesterday they expected to open a “new chapter” at future talks between the rival nations after they met at a regional summit in the Maldives. India’s Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani said their often strained ties were improving, but they declined to give a date for their next meeting. “The time has come to write a new chapter in the history of our countries,” Singh told reporters. “The next round of talks should be far more productive and far more practical-orientated in bringing the two countries closer.”

Gilani said that “all issues” had been discussed during their one-hour meeting including the contentious subject of Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region divided between the two nuclear rivals and claimed in its entirety by both. “I am ready to discuss each and every issue,” Gilani said. “I think that the next round of the talks would be more constructive, more positive, and will open a new chapter in the history of both the countries.”

The leaders did not give further details of their discussions on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) gathering in the Maldives.

However Singh added that the two sides should push to make real progress as they had “wasted lot of time in the past in acrimonious debates”. The two men emphasized their warm friendship and shook hands twice to oblige photographers at the start of closed-door talks at the luxury Shangri-La Villingili island resort.

After the meeting, the two men headed for the opening of the SAARC summit, where their host, Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed, hailed their dialogue.

“These developments are extremely welcome,” he said. “I hope this summit will be enthused with optimism.” The two prime ministers last met in March when Gilani accepted Singh’s invitation to watch the India-Pakistan cricket World Cup semi-final. Their previous talks were at the April 2010 SAARC summit in Bhutan.

Both countries, who have fought three wars since independence in 1947, struck an upbeat note ahead of the Maldives summit, with officials describing the cross-border atmosphere as “considerably improved”. However the vexed subject of Kashmir and the threat of Pakistan-based extremism remain major obstacles to their ongoing peace process.

A full peace dialogue-suspended by India after the 2008 Mumbai attacks blamed on Pakistan-based militants-was resumed in February this year. The process remains tentative with only incremental progress on issues such as trade. Last week, Pakistan’s cabinet announced it had approved a proposal giving India the status of “most favored nation” but there has been confusion about when it will be implemented.

Efforts to reduce tensions have been complicated by concern over Afghanistan’s prospects as international troops begin departing after ten years of fighting the Taliban. Indian involvement in Afghanistan is sensitive, with Pakistan vehemently opposed to its arch foe meddling in what it considers its backyard. Islamabad’s suspicions were fuelled when Afghanistan and India signed a strategic partnership pact last month. — AFP

KHOST: Three Afghan policemen were killed and three US troops were injured when a team of Taleban suicide attackers stormed a government office in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, officials said. It is thought the attack targeted a meeting between the governor of Chamkani district in Paktia province and local elders who were due to attend a government-organized loya jirga or traditional meeting in Kabul next week.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it had destroyed a mosque where gunmen had hidden, launching a Hellfire missile and rockets from an Apache helicopter to repel the attackers’ machine-gun fire. Provincial government spokesman Rohullah Samoon said there were four attackers, one of whom detonated a car bomb at the gates of the district centre, allowing three others to enter.

“They have all been killed,” he told AFP. “Three of our policemen have also been killed and the district police chief has been injured but is in stable condition. The fighting is over now.” Master Sergeant Nick Conner, a spokesman for ISAF in eastern Afghanistan, said three US troops were injured in the car

bombing but could not give details of their condition. He said ISAF received permission from the deputy provincial governor of Paktia before levelling the mosque where the attackers were firing from.

“We did have an air weapons team, an Apache,” Conner said. “We were taking heavy machine gun fire from a mosque... they did fire a Hellfire along with rockets.” It was not immediately clear where the mosque was located in relation to the district centre, which usually acts as the headquarters for local government and police. The attack, which lasted around two hours, highlights the security challenges facing Afghanistan’s loya jirga, which has been called by President Hamid Karzai and is due to take place in Kabul from November 16. The rare meeting will bring together elders from around the warring country to discuss a strategy for trying to broker peace with the Taleban in the wake of the assassination of peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani in September. Afghanistan’s long-term relationship with the US is also on the meeting agenda. The Taleban claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message sent to jour-

nalists. “A large number of suicide attackers attacked and conquered Chamkani district of Paktia province,” wrote Taleban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, claiming heavy casualties.

The Taleban are known regularly to exaggerate their claims in relation to attacks. Meanwhile, in southern Afghanistan, two civilians were killed when a car bomb targeting an ISAF military convoy detonated in Lashkar Gah, capital of troubled Helmand province. Mohammad Ismail, coordinator of Afghan security forces in Helmand, said no foreign troops were wounded in the explosion.

There are around 140,000 international troops in Afghanistan helping pro-government forces fight a drawnout 10-year Taleban-led insurgency that has cost thousands of lives, billions of dollars and wearied Western voters.

The Taleban were ousted from power in 2001 by a US-led invasion in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the United States. All foreign combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, but a sizeable troop mission to train and mentor national forces is set to remain beyond that date. —-AFP

LAHORE: Pakistani and Indian Sikh devotees gather around a bus carrying the Sikh holy book “Palky Sahib” during a procession in Nankana Sahib, some 75 kms west of Lahore yesterday. Sikh pilgrims from different parts of the world attended the religious rituals at the shrine at Nankana Sahib, where the founder of the Sikh faith was born in 1469. —AFP

Clash kills six in northwest Pakistan PESHAWAR: At least six people were killed in a clash between Islamist militants and members of a local progovernment militia in Pakistan’s Khyber tribal district yesterday, officials said. The area close to the border with Afghanistan has been plagued by fighting between armed forces and militants tied to the Pakistani Taleban , and fresh fears of unrest caused more than 18,000 people to flee the district last month.

Four members of a local peace committee, or progovernment militia, and two militants were killed during an exchange of fire, senior local administration official Rehan Gul Khattak told AFP. “Militants with Lashkar-eIslam (Army of Islam) attacked a patrol of the local peace committee, which triggered a gunfight in Akakhel area,”

he said, adding that the more than 30 militants escaped following the attack.

Local intelligence officials confirmed the incident and casualties. Pakistan’s army has previously launched a series of offensives targeting the Lashkar-e-Islam, a Taleban-allied militant group waging a local insurgency.

Pakistan’s seven tribal districts on the Afghan border are rife with homegrown insurgency, and are strongholds of Taleban and Al-Qaeda operatives.

Pakistan has launched crackdown operations along parts of the lawless belt, but has withstood US pressure to wage battle with the Haqqani network, which has bases in North Waziristan and is blamed for some of the worst attacks in Afghanistan. —AFP

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New Zealand ruling party on verge of huge win WELLINGTON: Polls indicate New Zealand could see its most lopsided election in 60 years this month, giving Prime Minister John Key freer rein to sell some government assets to balance the budget. Key’s centerright National Party appears to be on target to become the first New Zealand party to win a majority of the vote since 1951. Since 1996, when the country stopped using a US-style winner-take-all electoral system, parties have had to form coalitions or secure key votes from other parties to gather enough power to rule.

Key, a former currency trader who became prime minister at the last election in 2008, is promising to turn government deficits into surpluses within three years, in part by selling minority stakes in four publicly

owned energy companies and in the government’s national carrier, Air New Zealand. Key estimates the sales will raise up to 7 billion New Zealand dollars ($5.5 billion).

Although New Zealanders don’t directly vote for their Prime Minister, polls indicate Key is favored in the top job over his leading opponent by a ratio of nearly four to one - even as many New Zealanders are wary of selling the government assets. Key is featured on hundreds of billboards ahead of the Nov. 26 election, and Raymond Miller, an associate professor of political studies at the University of Auckland, said the premier’s popularity appears to be driving his party’s success.

“Its very personal,” Miller said.

“Clearly National sees him as their trump card, and they want to pro-

mote him to the hilt.” Miller said New Zealanders may feel reassured by Key during a time of international economic upheaval, and as the country regroups from a February earthquake in the city of Christchurch that killed 182 people and destroyed much of its downtown.

A poll of 1,000 people published this week by Fairfax Media indicated that 52.5 percent of people plan to vote for National. Support for the center-left Labour Party was down from previous polls at 25.9 percent, while support for the environmentally focused Green Party was up, at 12.6 percent.

Several smaller parties, including those that helped National form its current government, make up the rest. The Fairfax poll was in line with other recent polls by New Zealand

media outlets. Like National, the Labor Party is also promising to tackle the nation’s debt, but not by selling assets. Labor promises to raise revenue by introducing a capital gains tax and by raising the retirement age from 65 to 67.

Labor leader Phil Goff, who struggled against Key in a recent head-tohead debate, won just 13.5 percent support as preferred prime minister in the Fairfax poll, compared to 52.2 percent for the incumbent. Voters in the upcoming election also will decide whether to keep New Zealand’s electoral system, known as mixed member proportional. Some want the nation of 4.4 million to return a winner- takes-all format, although polling indicates most New Zealanders favor sticking with their current system. —AP

China mine blast kills 20, traps 23 Rescue efforts hampered by gas leak BEIJING: At least 20 workers were killed and another 23 were trapped underground after a blast at a mine in China yesterday, state media said, in the latest disaster to hit the country’s vast mining industry. Hundreds of emergency workers and medics have been sent to the mine in southwest China to try to rescue the surviving workers, but their efforts are being hampered by a gas leak, the official China News Service (CNS) said.

The mine was hit by a “coal and gas outburst”-a sudden and violent ejection of coal, gas and rock from a coal face in a mine, which can cause serious injuries and damage machinery, a local mine safety official told AFP. CNS said 20 people had been confirmed dead at the privately run Sizhuang Coal Mine in Shizong county, in the southwestern province of Yunnan.

“Eighteen rescue workers are down in the coal mine, but the high levels of gas could cause an explosion, making it hard to progress with the rescue,” Tan Xiaopeng, the head of the local

firefighting department, told CNS. The state Xinhua news agency said more than 30 ambulances had been dispatched to the mine, and that two senior government officials were travelling to the site of the accident to oversea rescue efforts. The accident comes days after a rock blast in a coal mine in the central province of Henan trapped dozens of workers underground. Most were eventually pulled out after a 40-hour rescue operation, though 10 were killed. Coal mine accidents are common in China, where work safety is often neglected by bosses seeking a quick profit.

Last year, 2,433 people died in coal mining accidents in the country, according to official statistics-a rate of more than six workers per day. Labor rights groups, however, say the actual death toll is likely to be much higher, partly due to under-reporting of accidents as mine bosses seek to limit their economic losses and avoid punishment. China’s rapid economic growth has caused demand for ener-

gy, including coal, to surge.

The Asian nation is the world’s leading consumer of coal, relying on it for 70 percent of its growing energy needs. Over the past eight years it has on average built one coal-fired power station a week. And with the arrival of winter, mines are operating at full capacity. Fatalities at Chinese coal mines peaked in 2002 when 6,995 deaths were recorded, sparking efforts by the government to boost safety standards.

In its latest campaign, the government last year issued a policy that required six kinds of safety systemsincluding rescue facilities-to be installed in all coal mines within three years. But accidents still occur on a regular basis. Last month, a gas explosion at a state-owned coal mine in the central province of Hunan left 29 miners dead. Earlier in October, blasts at mines in the southwestern city of Chongqing and the northern province of Shaanxi killed 13 and 11 miners respectively. —AFP

North Korea says new reactor to start soon SEOUL: North Korea will soon start operating a new home-built nuclear reactor, its official news agency said yesterday in a commentary one year after Pyongyang publicly disclosed the plant. “The day is near at hand when a light-water reactor entirely based on domestic resources and technology will come into operation in the DPRK (North Korea),” the agency said. It made the remark in an article deriding US and South Korean suggestions that the North’s economy is near breakdown, but gave no details or date. Pyongyang disclosed

the light-water reactor and an apparently functioning uranium enrichment plant to US scientists who visited its Yongbyon nuclear complex on November 12, 2010. One of them, Siegfried Hecker, said he and colleagues were shown a 25-30 megawatt experimental light-water reactor (LWR) in the early stages of construction.

Hecker said in a report the target date for operation was said to be 2012, “which appears much too optimistic”.

He was also shown a uranium enrichment plant (UEP) with 2,000 cen-

trifuges whose purpose was said to be to produce low-enriched fuel for the new reactor. Hecker said both facilities appeared designed mainly for civilian nuclear power, but the UEP could readily be converted to produce highly-enriched uranium for bombs and the LWR could be run to produce plutonium. The United States and its allies are demanding that Pyongyang shut down the uranium enrichment plant before six-nation talks on the North’s nuclear disarmament can resume. The North insists that the talks restart without preconditions. — AFP

BANGKOK: A Thai woman, displaced by floods, pulls a makeshift raft carrying her pet dogs as she walks past line of concrete blocks, housing flood victims, that were to be used as construction part of elevated trains at a flooded neighborhood on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand yesterday. —AP

Thailand tries to help companies as floods spread BANGKOK: Thailand offered more help yesterday to businesses affected by widespread flooding, as water spread deeper into Bangkok and threatened to cut off a major highway. The flooding since late July has killed 533 people, caused billions of dollars in damage, and inundated hundreds of factories north of the capital. Water draining from central and northern provinces to the sea has surrounded Bangkok, threatening chaos in the crowded city of more than 9 million people. The floodwaters are also trickling onto the main route south from the city, Rama II Road. If the water gets deeper, it will cut off the last dry highway to Thailand’s south.

An irrigation department official said floodwaters in Bangkok’s outskirts are likely to fall but must still pass through as-yet unaffected parts of the capital to reach the sea. While some water will drain out through rivers, some will have to flow through city streets because there is such an enormous amount, said Boonsanong Suchatpong, spokesman for the Royal Irrigation Department.

The industrial closures have had effects well beyond Thailand, since the factories supply key components for several industries, particularly automobiles and computers.

Thailand’s Board of Investment already has taken some steps to help flooded companies, such as allowing tax write-offs for damaged raw materials and easing rules on bringing in foreign nationals to help with recovery.

New measures announced yesterday include allowing companies to temporarily outsource production to maintain customer deliveries and extending import tax exemptions on replacements for damaged machinery. Japanese companies including Honda and Toyota have been especially hard hit. Some have complained they were not given timely and accurate information that would have allowed them to prepare for the floods. — AP

Business FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Dubai readies for take-off of prestigious air show

Hong Kong investors hammer HSBC following earnings slump

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MILAN: Men look at a screen displaying index and share prices outside a bank in Milan yesterday. Italy came under fierce pressure from the markets and the international community yesterday to reform its economy and outline plans for after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s imminent resignation. — AFP

Heat on Italy to outline post-Berlusconi future Italy a ‘clear and present danger’: Cameron ROME: Italy came under fierce pressure from the markets and the international community yesterday to reform its economy and outline plans for after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s imminent resignation. The International Monetary Fund called for “political clarity” while the European Commission said Italy’s economic forecasts were wrong and warned that the country’s high borrowing costs would hit the economy within months. British Prime Minister David Cameron said Italy, the third biggest economy in the 17-nation euro area after France and Germany, was now a “clear and present danger” to the eurozone, adding: “The moment of truth is approaching.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that a clarification of the political course in Rome was “extremely important for Italy’s credibility.” Meanwhile former EU commissioner Mario Monti emerged as the frontrunner to replace Berlusconi after a parliamentary revolt forced the 75-year-old tycoon to announce he would resign after adoption of a package of economic reforms. Berlusconi has stayed out of the public eye since his announcement on Tuesday but he has been holding frantic talks with political leaders

and gave Monti his implicit endorsement on the grounds of national interests. “Act quickly,” read a headline on business daily Il Sole 24 Ore. Monti also received backing from Italy’s main employers federation Confindustria but his appointment is still far from a done deal as parts of Berlusconi’s centre-right coalition are insisting on early elections.

Berlusconi has promised to step down as soon as parliament approves a series of measures including a reform of labor laws to facilitate hirings. The Senate, or upper house, is set to vote on the package on today and the Chamber of Deputies, or lower house, will vote tomorrow or on Sunday.

The 68-year-old Monti earned a fearless reputation as the European Union’s competition commissioner taking on US corporate giants Microsoft and General Electric and is seen as a possible head of a national unity government. “Italy is facing a difficult time and particularly arduous choices to overcome the crisis,” said President Giorgio Napolitano, who will be forced to call early elections if there is no consensus on a new government. “Europe is urgently awaiting important signals of a taking on of responsi-

bility by one of its founders. We will be up to the task,” he said. The European Commission has warned Italy may need to adopt “extra measures” in order to meet its target of balancing the budget by 2013. The Commission forecast yesterday that Italy’s growth rate will slow to just 0.1 percent in 2012 — far below the government’s forecast of 0.7 percent. It also warned that Italy would fail to reduce its deficit to 1.6 percent of output next year as planned and the level would instead be 2.3 percent.

The EU’s Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn also said the spike in bond yields for Italy from next year “would have a significant impact on the financing conditions and thus also growth of the real economy.” Italy paid a record rate of 6.087 percent to sell 5.0 billion euros in 12-month Treasury bills-the highest rate since the introduction of the euro. The yield on 10-year bonds has risen to above 7.0 percent-a level seen as unsustainable for Italy to avoid a blow-up on its 1.9trillion euro ($2.6-trillion) debt particularly as economic growth remains anemic. But market pressure eased slightly later yesterday with the rate falling below 7.0 percent and the stock market rallying. Even shares in

Berlusconi’s business empire Mediaset, which dropped almost 12 percent on Wednesday, were up more than 3.0 percent.

European Union and European Central Bank auditors arrived in Rome this week as part of special EU-IMF surveillance that Berlusconi reluctantly agreed to at the G20 summit of world leaders last week. The rise in rates has fanned fears around the world that Italy could be the next eurozone economy to be forced to seek a bailout in a debt crisis that has already put Greece, Ireland and Portugal on their knees. The ECB has stepped in to prop up Italy’s bond market but there are multiple warnings that the Italian economy is simply “too big to bail” if rates reach a level that effectively cuts off access to debt markets.

There was also more bad news on the economy after new data showed industrial production fell 4.8 percent in September-its worst monthly drop since the start of the global financial crisis in 2008. Berlusconi had promised his fellow eurozone leaders that he would overhaul Italy’s pensions system and accelerate sales of state assets, but the reforms have stalled to the intense frustration of Germany and others. — AFP

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Dubai readies for take-off of prestigious air show

Gold returning to record highs

This year’s show set to be biggest yet

Euro crisis could launch safe-haven gold to $2,000/oz

DUBAI: Dubai gears up for its biennial air show which opens on Sunday with hopes of landing fleets of new aircraft orders after the fair’s last edition was hit by the global financial crisis. Organizers of the Dubai Airshow said this year’s edition will be the biggest in the history of the 25year-old show, with a 10 percent increase in size, and that some regional carriers are expected to come up with new orders.

“The overall growth of the show will be about 10 percent,” said Alison Weller, managing director of the show organizers, F&E Aerospace. Up to 1,000 exhibitors from 50 countries and more than 55,000 trade visitors are expected, according to organizers. The chairman of Emirates, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed AlMaktoum, had hinted that the Dubaiowned carrier would be looking to buy new aircraft. The airline which is one of the world’s fastest growing carriers has a fleet of 160 planes and an order book of nearly 200 aircraft.

The latest announcement it made was at Britain’s Farnborough show last year, when it said it ordered 30 Boeing longrange 777 units worth $9.1 billion, boosting its reputation as the world’s most bullish carrier, a month after ordering 32 Airbus A380 superjumbos worth $11.5 billion. It remains by far the largest single customer of the European manufacturer’s giant airliner with 90 units, of which 15 have already entered service. Qatar Airways chief executive officer Akbar Al Baker had also reportedly spoken of a “multi-billion-dollar aircraft order” at the Dubai Airshow. The national flag carrier of the energy-rich Gulf state had been expected to place a massive order for 50 Airbus A320 neo-medium-haul jets and five A380 units at the Paris air show last June, but the deal did not materialise.

The fast growing carrier has a fleet of 98 planes, and some 200 aircraft on order, worth over $40 billion, including 60

DUBAI: In this file photo, the Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows display team perform a flying display during the 5th and final day at the 10th Dubai Air show.

All eyes will be on the Gulf’s booming airlines to once again pull out their wallets when the Middle East’s main airshow gets underway in Dubai next week, though few are expecting a flood of blockbuster deals. — AP Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 80 Airbus 350s. The long-awaited 787 Dreamliner, which made its first commercial flight last month, will be on display at the Dubai Airshow, along with many other commercial and private planes.

Fighter jets, including Rafale, the pride of Dassault Aviation that France is hoping to sell to the United Arab Emirates, will also be on display, as well as the US-made F-16 and F-18 warplanes. The last edition of Dubai Airshow in 2009 was subdued as the global civil aviation industry was suffering a setback triggered by the global financial crisis. Although the five-day event then ended with deals worth more than $14 billion, it remained poor compared with the 2007 edition during which manufacturers chalked up orders valued

at $155.5 billion, mostly from Gulf operators. The Middle East aviation industry had weathered the global crisis better than the sector in other regions, as it continued to register growth. A number of Gulf cities are pouring billions of dollars into vast airport projects as they vie to become regional hubs for transit travel between the West and Asia and Australia.

But Dubai is by far topping the league with its Middle East’s busiest airport that ranked world’s 13th last year after handling over 47 million passengers in 2010.

In terms of international passenger traffic, Dubai claimed in May the fourth rank after London’s Heathrow which handled 61.08 million international passengers, Charles de Gaulle in Paris, with 53.28 million and Hong Kong, with 50.23 million. —AFP

Gasoline prices ease as supply increases GENEVA/DUBAI: Gasoline premiums eased as refinery restarts in Asia boosted supply, while naptha remained weak in Gulf Middle East markets where trade was thin due to the Eid holidays, traders said yesterday. “The market is dropping at a fast pace because of extra supply from the East,” said one trader. “I expect it to continue over the coming few weeks.” Gasoline supplies have increased with Shell having partially restarted its 500,000-barrel per day (bpd) plant and India’s Essar having completed a 35-day maintenance on Oct. 23 to raise capacity by 25 percent. The easing of the gasoline supply crunch weighed on premiums. “It has been a very quite week in the Middle East because of the Eid holidays,” a second gasoline trader said.

“But once thing are up and running again I expect that we’ll start seeing lower premiums for gasoline.”

He said he expected premiums around $90 a ton over benchmark naphtha spot quotes while a third gasoline trader

pegged gasoline premiums at around $120 a ton. Traders were still awaiting the results of a products tender by Iraq’s SOMO, which is seeking to buy 2.43 million tons of gasoline, gasoil and kerosene in the first half of next year. One trader said he expected the tender to either be cancelled or reissued as the sales prices offered were not found favorable by SOMO. “As for naphtha, things are still looking bad since its all linked to how well the petrochemical industry in Asia picks up,” the trader said.

The weak market has prompted ADNOC to cut its 2012 naphtha offers by up to 12.5 percent to $17.00-$18.50 a ton to its own price formula on a free-on-board (FOB) basis for three of its naphtha grades.

In Asia, traders also said that as long as China shuns petrochemical imports, Asian demand for naphtha-the main building feedstock for petrochemicals including plastics and aromatics-would remain sluggish. Asia’s top naphtha buyer Formosa Petrochemical is running its 2.93 million

tons per year (tpy) at a reduced rate of around 80 percent of capacity to combat poor margins. The gasoil market was tight, with low sulphur gasoil, also known as 500 ppm, at around $3 a barrel. Kenya is seeking 50,000 tons of diesel and gasoline for December, after securing over a total of 250,000 tons of the two products for November and December, trading sources said. One trader said Kenyan demand was not unusually high but meant to stock up ahead of a busy December, when demand is usually higher.

For higher sulphur gasoil, premiums were around $1.40 to $1.50 a barrel.

“Markets are still tight,” another middle distillates trader said. The fuel oil market in Fujairah was stable but could soon tighten, traders said. “It is its fairly balanced with a positive bias meaning leaning towards tight at the moment,” a fuel oil trader said. Bahrain’s Bapco sold two cargoes for December loading, another trader said. — Reuters

LONDON: Gold has confounded market watchers by refusing to behave like a safe-haven and instead has tracked equities over the past few weeks, but the escalating European debt crisis could see bullion ditch its riskasset mantle and return to record highs. The debt problems of some of the smaller euro zone states have mortally wounded the premierships of Greece’s George Papandreou and of Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi and hounded the euro to one-month lows against the dollar and eightmonth lows against the pound as confidence evaporates over the ability of Europe’s leaders to stem the spread of the crisis.

Gold has risen 4 percent this month, having touched its highest in 7 weeks above $1,800 an ounce this week, still back from the $1,920.30 record reached early in September, but pointing towards $2,000 judging by current options positions. Unlike previous phases of market turmoil, such as the aftermath of the 2008 collapse of US bank Lehman Brothers, when gold lost as much as 7 percent in a single day, or during this May’s commodities “flash crash” that stripped 3 percent off the price in two days, investors and analysts say gold looks unlikely to be sucked into a vortex of mass selling.

“Whenever you get total panic, even gold goes down, because people take profit on their gold positions. When people start losing money very rapidly, they close down all positions including the ones that are sitting on a profit,” said Jesper Dannesboe, senior commodity strategist at Societe Generale. “That’s why you had that gold sell-off in September, when everything was in panic mode. You don’t have quite the same panic mode right now. It’s (an environment of) moderately bad news and that tends to be bullish for gold,” he said, although no-one is yet placing bets on what happens if the euro melts down.

CASH FOR GOLD In periods of extreme risk aversion and volatility, gold can hitch itself to more growth-dependent assets and succumb to broad selloffs, especially if investor panic is such that the desire for the safety of cash is the driving force. In September, the gold price shed more than 20 percent in two weeks as investors scrambled to cover losses in other markets. Mark O’Byrne, director of bullion dealer and wealth manager Gold Corp, said in an interview last week given the degree of macroeconomic risk, his company was considering increasing its allocation to gold within its passive funds to 10 percent from 5 percent currently. He added he would not be surprised to see gold trading above $1,900 because of this heightened risk.

Pau Morilla-Giner, who runs the London & Capital commodities fund, which currently allocates about 37 percent of the 200 million pounds it has under management to gold, said the 14-percent rise in the gold price since September’s lows had been fuelled by a much slower, steadier rise in investment than back in the summer, when so-called “hot money” came flowing into the market. “I don’t necessarily subscribe to the theory that on specific days of doom, gold is going to go up. It will only go up if the expectation that the reaction to that doom is monetary expansion,” he said. “The worse things are for Europe, the more pressure the European Central Bank will have to provide the ultimate stimulus and that inevitably will mean yet again debasement of the currency of choice in this case the euro.”

Gold has risen by nearly a third in value over the last year, driven by a rising tide of liquidity from the developed world’s central banks including the US Federal Reserve, the ECB, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank, which have sought to anchor interest rates by lowering them, via purchases of government debt or by intervening in the currency markets. So the likelihood of any of the major central banks raising interest rates has dwindled considerably and price pressures remain high, meaning real interest rates, which factor in inflation, are negative throughout the G7, thereby offering hefty support to gold, which is not subject to interest. —Reuters

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UAE deposit growth slows as Arab Spring effect fades Bank deposit growth slows to 10-month low in September DUBAI: A sharp slowdown of bank deposit growth in the United Arab Emirates suggests inflows of money into the country are slowing or even reversing, as low interest rates deter depositors and the impact of the Arab Spring fades. Annual growth of deposits at UAE banks, which remained below 7.5 percent throughout last year, hit double-digit rates in February this year and a peak of 16.0 percent in April. Growth stayed extremely strong through July, when it was 11.5 percent. Bankers and analysts said two main factors seemed to be behind the growth. One was capital flight into the UAE, which has remained politically stable this year, from countries in the Gulf and North Africa which experienced political turmoil; growth in non-residents’ deposits, which account for roughly a tenth of total deposits, hit 40 percent in February.

The other main factor was relative interest rates, which persuaded companies and individuals, from the UAE and other countries, to put money into UAE bank deposits. The indicative three-month UAE interbank lending rate was above 2.0 percent in the first quarter of this year, far above nearzero interest rates for the US dollar, to which the UAE’s dirham is pegged; as the global and US economic outlook worsened earlier this year, it became increasingly clear that US rates were likely to stay ultra-low for years. But UAE deposit growth began slowing

considerably in August, when it fell back to 7.3 percent, and it hit a tenmonth low of 5.3 percent in September, according to the latest data from the central bank. On a month-on-month basis, deposits have actually declined slightly every month since July.

TRADES Analysts said both major factors behind deposit growth had weakened.

Fresh fund inflows due to the Arab Spring have decreased and may even have reversed on a net basis, possibly because the initial, heavy wave of capital flight has run its course, and perhaps because of a partial return of stability to countries affected by the turmoil. “We’ve had inflows of hot money because of unrest in the region-basically people just took their money back. It is probably going to be volatile for a couple of months, probably a bit longer,” said a banking analyst at a major UAE bank, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. At the same time, investors seem to be abandoning the UAE interest rate trade. In response to the build-up of deposits at banks, the indicative threemonth UAE interbank lending rate slid as low as 1.47 percent in August, making UAE deposits much less attractive.

“When we look at what banks in the UAE were paying for deposits at the beginning of the year and what they are paying now, those rates have come down. The spread between Eibor and

Libor rates has narrowed over the summer, making UAE deposits less rewarding,” said Khatija Haque, senior economist at Emirates NBD bank.

Outstanding certificates of deposit dropped from 119.2 billion dirhams in May to 86.7 billion dirhams at the end of September, according to central bank data. Giyas Gokkent, chief economist at National Bank of Abu Dhabi, said this was a strong sign that shortterm money was exiting the UAE interest rate trade. Some of this money left the country, but trading in the foreign exchange market does not suggest extremely heavy fund outflows from the UAE. Six-month onshore dollar/dirham forwards, which fall as pressure for dirham appreciation against its peg increases, dropped from around plus 20 points at the start of this year to as low as around minus 20 in August, but have now rebounded only partially, to around minus 5. A treasury source at a UAE bank said a lot of money taken out of deposits over the past three months did not leave the country, but was shifted to other instruments with higher returns, such as structured products.

PRESSURE Slower deposit growth is putting modest upward pressure on interbank money market rates; the three-month rate has edged up since August to 1.50 percent. But the conditions for a sharp rebound of rates are not in place.

Annual growth in loans and advances

by banks in the UAE, net of provisions, rose to 3.5 percent in September from 2.2 percent in August, but lending activity still appears well below levels at which it could strain liquidity. In a report last week, Moody’s Investors Service predicted bank lending growth in the UAE would remain subdued over the rest of 2011 at around 3-5 per cent, compared with 25 per cent in pre-crisis times, and lending would stay cautious into 2012.

The real estate market remains weak, with analysts seeing room for more price declines, and turnover in the UAE’s stock markets is running at half or less of its levels two years ago.

Meanwhile, the euro zone debt crisis and turmoil in global financial markets is clouding the outlook for asset prices across the world.

So for now, a big outflow of UAE deposits into asset markets looks unlikely. And if the euro zone crisis worsens further, to the point that investors start pulling money out of major banks in the West, UAE bank deposits could once again act as a safe haven, given the high capital levels of UAE banks and the potential backing of cash-rich Abu Dhabi in an emergency. Moody’s noted that UAE banks had been increasing their capital over the past two years and that their average Tier 1 capital at end-2010 was 14.3 percent of assets-very high by global standards and well above the 6 percent specified by the Basel III banking standards. — Reuters

Airbus A350 facing up to 6 months of delays PARIS: Airbus parent company EADS NV said yesterday that it took a euro200 million ($273 million) charge in its third quarter accounts because of a new delay in the launch of its strategic long-range jet the A350XWB. The European aircraft manufacturer says the A350 lightweight composite jet will enter service during the first half of 2014, up to six months after it was previously expected to begin carrying passengers.

The company gave no explanation for the delay in a statement. The announcement came as EADS announced higher third quarter profit and raised its earnings guidance for the full year. The A350XWB is a new longrange jet designed to go head-to-head with rival Boeing’s much-hyped jet, the 787.

Airbus says the use of lightweight carbon composite materials and advances in the aircraft’s aerodynamics will make it 25 percent more fuel efficient than current jets. But the program has given Airbus engineers headaches throughout its long development. Airbus said final assembly of the A350 will start in the first quarter of next year, with entry into service in the first half of 2014.

EADS’ net profit in the third quarter rose to euro312 million, up from euro13 million a year earlier. Airbus, the largest part of the company that also includes helicopter mak-

er Eurocopter, satellite builder Astrium and defense electronics firm Cassidian, delivered 376 aircraft during the first nine months of 2011. The company expects to deliver between 520 and 530 aircraft in total this year. Shares in EADS jumped at the open of the Paris stock exchange as investors wel-

comed the company’s new full-year earnings forecast. At 0930 GMT the shares were up 5.9 percent at euro21.15. EADS’ chief financial officer said the decision to delay the A350’s launch and take the euro200 million charge was done “to ensure that the aircraft is mature and trouble-free when deliv-

PARIS: This file photo shows an Airbus A340 of the French carrier Air France in Roissy airport. — AFP

ered.” “It’s not about simply meeting deadlines,” CFO Hans Peter Ring said in a conference call with reporters. “We won’t move to the next phase without finishing the previous one,” he said, saying that was one of the lessons Airbus had learned from the tortured and over budget development of its A380 super jumbo jet.

Ring blamed the A350s delay on a shortage of some parts as well as delays in delivery of some of the aircraft’s composite parts. Ring said he was confident Airbus would continue to help EADS grow its revenue and profits “despite the macroeconomic difficulties, especially in European economies.” The company expects its revenue to increase by more than 4 percent this year compared to the euro45.8 billion it made last. It also forecast around 1,500 gross orders for Airbus this year, after registering 1,038 net orders by the end of September. Last year Airbus delivered a record 510 aircraft and took in 574 net new aircraft orders. The plane maker trounced Chicago-based rival Boeing in the race to be the world’s biggest planemaker, claiming over $72 billion dollars worth of orders and commitments at the Paris Air Show in June, including a $18.5 billion order for 200 of Airbus’ new A320neo aircraft - called the largest order in aviation history. — AP

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iPhone 4S fever hits Hong Kong HONG KONG: Hong Kong was gripped by iPhone 4S fever yesterday as more than 1,500 fans and resellers queued outside the Apple store ahead of the release of the smartphone in the southern Chinese city. The crowd-including the elderly and parents with children in towbegan to converge on a footbridge opposite Apple’s plush new harborside store on Monday, setting up tents with mats, chairs and blankets. The iPhone 4S will be launched in Hong Kong today, in the latest phase of its rollout which will also see it debut in South Korea and 13 other countries.

Would-be customers braved chilly weather and overnight rain, as well as gangs of resellers who were trying to muscle in on the queue to snap up

1,500 fans queuing outside Apple store phones for the grey market.

“A scuffle nearly broke out several times. It was such a mess, there was no proper arrangement,” said Man Chow, 33, a local bank worker who took leave to join the queue on Wednesday evening with a friend. “We had to stand and queue last night even though it was raining and it was very cold. We don’t know whether there’s a quota for each customer but I want to get as many iPhone 4Ss as I can,” he said.

A man from mainland China who refused to give his name said he had been waiting all week. “I’ll be very proud to own this latest phone. And I’ll be very embarrassed if I can’t get anything,” he

said, adding he would buy as many as he could and sell those he didn’t want for himself. Stunned tourist Dustin Moore said: “I’ll just wait for a few weeks or even a few months to get the phone. This is just crazy, I don’t know what to say.”

More than four million of the smartphones have been sold since its world debut in markets including Germany, Britain, France, Japan and Australia on October 14, according to the company.

The buyer frenzy comes despite software bugs that have caused some iPhone 4S owners to report lower than expected battery life, and reports that its Siri voice-recognition software may not cope well with foreign accents.

Consumer Reports, the influential magazine for product reviews, gave the new model a thumbs up on Tuesday after declining to recommend the previous iPhone version because of reception problems.

The iPhone 4S is already a hit on Hong Kong’s grey market, where they sell for up to six times the official price. Those margins will shrink dramatically once the product is freely available in the city, but there will still be a market for people who are prepared to pay a premium to avoid the queues at the Apple store.

Other iPhone4Ss will end up on the grey market in nearby cities such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou in mainland China, where they have yet to be officially released. — AFP

Olympus corp delays results amid probe, facing delisting Company offers apology for trouble caused

HONG KONG: A woman looks at an HSBC logo in Hong Kong yesterday. Global bank HSBC said its third-quarter net profit soared on a large accounting gain but underlying earnings sank as the group warned of “significant headwinds” for the sector. — AFP

Hong Kong investors hammer HSBC following earnings slump HONG KONG: HSBC’s stock price slumped more than 9.0 percent yesterday in Hong Kong after the global banking giant reported a third-quarter earnings plunge and warned of “significant headwinds” ahead. Europe’s biggest bank reported Wednesday that underlying pretax profits sank 35 percent in the three months to September to about $3.0 billion, as bad loans rose in the United States, Hong Kong, Brazil and the Middle East. The stock finished down 9.1 percent at HK$61.70, as the Hang Seng index ended 5.25 percent lower at 18,963.89. “As a global bank, HSBC is unlikely to be insulated from the European-debt crisis. Its thirdquarter operating data suggest a weak outlook for the bank’s earnings outlook ahead,” Wing Fung Financial research chief Mark To told Dow Jones Newswires.

HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver said in the earnings release that economic and political uncertainty, particularly in Europe, had hit the banking sector’s performance in the quarter. “Against this backdrop, HSBC remains resilient, with a strong balance sheet and robust liquidity,” he said.

Asia-focused HSBC added that its exposure to the debt of weak eurozone states Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain stood at $5.5 billion at the end of the third quarter, down from $8.2 billion on June 30. The bank’s share price slumped 5.04 percent on Wednesday to 510.40 pence on London’s FTSE 100 index, which finished down 1.92 percent-although equities were down across the board on eurozone debt crisis worries. — AFP

TOKYO: Olympus Corp. said yesterday it is postponing an earnings announcement set for next week amid an accounting scandal that has wiped out about four-fifths of its stock price and tarnished Japan’s corporate image. The Japanese camera and medical equipment maker said in a statement yesterday that it cannot submit its earnings report for the April-September period on Nov. 14 as planned due to an ongoing review by a company-appointed investigation panel. In response, the Tokyo Stock Exchange placed Olympus stock on supervisory status, warning that it could be removed from the stock exchange if it fails to release its earnings within a month, or by Dec. 14.

Olympus has been battered by a scandal over a $687 million payment for financial advice and expensive acquisitions of companies unrelated to its mainstay businesses. On Tuesday, the company said top executives used the payment and acquisitions to hide massive losses, reversing denials of any wrongdoing. Its British CEO Michael Woodford first raised the concerns last month, calling for Olympus executives to resign - and was then promptly fired by the board. Olympus said it will do its “utmost” to submit the earnings report

by Dec. 14, and said it was cooperating with the “strict and thorough investigation” being conducted by the independent committee. Results of the probe are expected in early December. “We deeply apologize for causing trouble to our shareholders, investors, customers and anyone else who are affected by the

matter,” Olympus said.

The company’s shares have plunged to 484 yen yesterday from 2,482 yen on

data had been handed over to the independent panel. The Tokyo-based company had denied wrongdoing over the

TOKYO: The stock price of Olympus, 484 yen, is displayed on a stock board in front of a securities firm in Tokyo yesterday. — AP Oct. 13, the day before Woodford’s dismissal. Olympus dismissed Executive Vice President Hisashi Mori on Tuesday, saying he was involved in the cover-up along with Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, who abruptly resigned as chairman last month in an attempt to placate angry shareholders. Shuichi Takayama, who took over as president in late October, has said he can not disclose the size of the losses or any other detail because all

$687 million payment to the Wall Street financial adviser as part of a $2 billion purchase of U.K.-based Gyrus Group Plc. The payment represented more than a third of the acquisition price. Fees for advisers are normally 1 to 2 percent of the deal value. Business groups and analysts have said the scandal reflects weaknesses in Japan’s corporate governance including too few independent directors on company boards. — AP

IMF chief calls for ‘political clarity’ in Greece and Italy BEIJING: The head of the International Monetary Fund called yesterday for greater “political clarity” in Greece and Italy, after talks with Chinese leaders dominated by Europe’s worsening debt crisis. Greece and Italy are grappling with domestic political upheaval brought on by the sovereign debt crisis that has engulfed the eurozone, and Christine Lagarde said both countries urgently needed to sort out their leadership difficulties.

“Political clarity is conducive to more stability ... it is much needed in Greece, it is much needed in Italy,” the IMF chief told journalists in Beijing.

Confusion over the future leadership of both countries was “conducive to volatility,” added Lagarde, who is on a two-day

visit to China. Her comments came as Greece prepared to unveil a new transitional government to ratify a crucial EU bailout deal and hold early elections after days of bickering between political leaders. Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said he will step down once credible economic reforms are in place, after which talks on a new government will start. Lagarde also said emerging economies had a role to play in resolving the debt woes threatening the global economy, calling on them to allow their currencies to appreciate. “Emerging markets, and large emerging markets in particular, have a role to play either by reengineering their growth model or by letting their currencies appreciate appropriately,” she said. — AFP

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Shattered dreams haunting life in Spanish ghost towns LA MUELA: “A town to live in!” boasts the faded sign in the Spanish town of La Muela, overlooking a new road.

The irony is bitter. Only one building lines the road, an isolated survivor of Spain’s calamitous 2008 property bubble collapse. “We are victims of the property slump because if it was not for that, all this would be built,” said 29-year-old computer specialist Samuel Caravallo from his tidy living room in one of the apartments of the brick- and yellowcolored building. He pointed out of the glazed balcony’s windows to the bare, weed-strewn hills outside. Those hills were the site for 5,000 luxury homes, detached houses, buildings with swimming pools, play areas and shopping centers that should have made up “Ciudad Zaragoza Golf”.

A residential zone by the northeastern Spanish city of

Zaragoza, it should have turned Muela, population 5,100, into the third largest town in the entire region of Aragon.

Sold on the architect’s plans in 2007, the apartments were subsidized by the regional government and went for 127,000 euros for 90 square meters ($174,000 for 970 square feet). The 19 inhabitants of the only building to be completed before construction ground to a halt had been counting on infrastructure to be developed for their neighbors, owners of future private homes. “We don’t have the telephone, or Internet and we don’t get our mail,” said Samuel’s girlfriend, Aurora Maestra, 30. It’s no place for pedestrians, either. The few buses that run in the area pick up at the nearest stop two kilometers away.

“Their excuse for everything is that there are not

enough of us. But no-one helps us to grow,” she charged.

The sudden halt to work on “Ciudad Zaragoza Golf” is a symptom of the collapse of the construction industry in Spain: the number of building permits crashed from 734,000 in 2006 to just 91,509 in 2010. The stalled housing project is just one among many: the property boom left a stock of 1.5 million unsold homes, notably in the small towns that sprouted up just before the bubble collapsed. Many are now owned by the banks, which have become the country’s biggest real estate agents after having seized homes and building land to settle developers’ debts. The banks are desperate to rid themselves of this stock of buildings classed as toxic assets, even at knock-down prices. —AFP

Papademos joins coalition talks ATHENS: Lucas Papademos, a top former European Central Bank official, joined Greek political leaders at power-sharing talks yesterday, becoming the front-runner to lead an interim coalition government. The interim government is being formed to make sure debt-strapped Greece gets its latest bailout payment and to approve a new euro130 billion ($177 billion) international rescue package from eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund. Greece is under growing international pressure to hammer out a coalition deal that would likely run the country until early elections in late February, after ratifying and negotiating details of the new debt deal. That deal is the country’s second massive bailout, after a first euro110 billion ($150 billion) rescue package was deemed not enough to keep Greece from bankruptcy.

Papademos, a former ECB vice president who is not a member of any party, joined the talks two hours after the meeting started between Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou and conservative opposition leader Antonis Samaras.

Papandreou has promised to quit when the coalition deal is reached, but the talks have repeatedly stalled since Papandreou and Samaras made the historic commitment Sunday to forge a unity government. Papademos has been operating lately as an adviser to the prime minister. Shares on the Athens Stock Exchange were up 2.1 percent at 783.28 on the prospect of a power deal. That came despite more bad news for Greece’s recession-hit economy: unemployment surged to 18.4 percent in August, up from 12.2 for that month in 2010. Other eurozone nations have refused to give Greece its latest installment of bailout cash - euro8 billion ($11 billion) until the country approves the second bailout deal, which took European leaders months to hash out.

The markets want clarity soon so the new government can secure bailout cash to avoid an imminent bankruptcy that could push Europe into a new recession and world financial markets into turmoil. Greece’s deliberations over the past few days have taken a backseat to developments in much-bigger Italy, where Premier Silvio Berlusconi has announced his intention to resign soon after a new package of economic reforms are passed. But concerns over a prolonged political gridlock in the eurozone’s third-largest economy - Italy is considered too big for Europe to bail out - have roiled the markets. Italy’s borrowing costs shot through the roof Wednesday, tempered only a bit by a hasty promise from Italy’s president that Berlusconi would be out of office by Monday.—AFP

ATHENS: Presidential palace guards march outside the presidential palace, during a meeting led by Greek President Karolos Papoulias with the Greek political parties in Athens yesterday. — AP

PARIS: A homeless man sits on the stairs in front of the BNP Paribas Bank at la Defense business district yesterday. The European Union warned that the 17-country eurozone could slip back into recession next year as the debt crisis spins out of control. — AP

EU warns of possible recession in eurozone Forecast “last wake-up call” says Rehn of EU’s Monetary Affairs BRUSSELS: The European Union warned yesterday that the 17-country eurozone could slip into “a deep and prolonged recession” next year as the debt crisis shows alarming signs of spinning out of control. The EU’s economic watchdog, the European Commission, said its central forecast is that the eurozone will grow by only a paltry 0.5 percent in 2012. That’s way down on the 1.8 percent prediction it made in the spring. “This forecast is in fact the last wake-up call,” the EU’s Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn warned. “Growth has stalled in Europe, and there is a risk of a new recession.” The warning is the first acknowledgment of the possibility of a double-dip recession in Europe, a development that could hit the global economy hard. The Commission even warned that “a deep and prolonged recession complemented by continued market turmoil cannot be excluded,” given the uncertainty over whether countries will implement spending cuts and reforms.

The sharp cut in the forecast comes as the eurozone’s debt crisis has spread alarmingly to Italy, the single currency bloc’s third-largest economy. The interest rate on Italy’s 10-year bonds has reached the same 7 percent level that eventually forced Greece, Portugal and Ireland to request multibillion euro bailouts. Speculation

Premier Silvio Berlusconi will be replaced by leading economist and former Commissioner Mario Monti once he officially resigns has helped calm the market mood somewhat yesterday, but interest rates remain much higher than just a week ago. Greece, meanwhile, was stuck in political chaos as party leaders have failed for several days to appoint an interim government, putting the country in serious danger of defaulting on its massive debts before the end of the year.

Elsewhere in its half-yearly predictions, the Commission said unemployment in the eurozone would be stuck at 9.5 percent for the foreseeable future. That’s even higher than the 9 percent rate in the US “While jobs are increasing in some member states, no real improvement is forecast in the unemployment situation in the EU as a whole,” Rehn warned. The report also contained some worrying figures for some individual member states. Italy is unlikely to fulfill its promise of balancing its budget by 2013 if recently promised austerity and reform measures aren’t implemented.

According to the forecast, which does not take into account the most recent promises, Italy will still run a deficit of 1.2 percent, with debt close to 119 percent of economic output. And growth is set to slow to 0.1 percent next year, down from 1.3 percent

forecast this spring.

Berlusconi has come under so much pressure that he promised to resign as soon as the new budget has been passed. The Commission this weeks started a verification mission in Rome to check on Italy’s efforts. The International Monetary Fund is due to follow soon. Rehn said Italy’s most important task in Italy was to restore political credibility and effective decision making. He added that because of the relatively long average maturities of Italy’s debt, the country could sustain the recent jump in borrowing costs for a short time. Several other states that have so far not been caught up in the debt storm will soon risk sanctions under new EU spending rules if they don’t implement additional measures to get their budgets control, Rehn warned.

“What we need now is unwavering implementation,” Rehn said. “On my part, I will start using the new rules of economic governance from day one.” The countries that may face sanctions first are the eurozone nations of Belgium, Cyprus, and Malta, as well as Hungary and Poland, which do not use the euro. Under the new rules, set to come into force in mid-December, sanctions for countries that break the caps on budget deficits and debt levels become more automatic, in an effort to prevent a worsening of the debt crisis. — AP

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Progress amid the US deficit-cut noise Democrats offer to maintain lower tax rate for rich

ALABAMA: In this file photo, lightning illuminates storm clouds north of downtown Birmingham, Ala. — AP

Alabama county makes history, files for largest ever municipal bankruptcy MONTGOMERY: Alabama’s most populous county chose bankruptcy as a path to wrest control of its beleaguered sewer system from a court-appointed receiver, bolster its pleas for legislative action to prop up a massive revenue shortfall and wipe away as much of its whopping $4.15 billion in debt as possible. Jefferson County’s Chapter 9 filing on Wednesday - the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history - gives it protection from its creditors while it develops and negotiates a plan for adjusting its debts. It could accomplish that by extending debt maturities, reducing the amount of principal or interest, or refinancing the debt by obtaining a new loan.

But there are risks. Perhaps the biggest is the potential impact on the county’s 658,000 residents, who could be asked to endure even higher sewer rates than were contemplated under the out-of-court deal with creditors that fell through. That’s because the sewer debt, which represents the bulk of what the county owes, is secured against net revenues from the sewer system, and the court will determine how much of that debt remains on the books and how the county will repay it. Unrestricted revenue in the county’s general fund totaled only $152.5 million in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. “The county did not file this case rashly, improperly, or with any improper intent,” its lawyers said in court papers. “Rather, it did so deliberately and grudgingly, yet with the desire to effect a prompt, efficient adjustment of its debts.”

The problems were years in the making. Its debt ballooned after a federally mandated sewer project was beset with corruption, court rulings that didn’t go its way and rising interest rates when global markets struggled. Since 2008, Jefferson County tried to save itself the cost and embarrassment of filing for bankruptcy. But after three years of trying to find another way, commissioners, by a vote of 4-1, decided it was time to bring the issue to an end and remove the cloud hanging over the county, home to state’s largest city of Birmingham.

“Jefferson County has, in effect, been in bankruptcy for three years,” said Commissioner Jimmie Stephens, who made the motion to file for protection in federal bankruptcy court in northern Alabama. Just two months ago, the county seemed to strike a deal with creditors that would let it avoid making history.

Talks broke down and the sides couldn’t come together on how to pay about $140 million of the total, Stephens said. Also weighing heavily in the decision, according to the filing, were the actions of a receiver appointed for the sewer system as part of the settlement efforts. The county’s lawyers say the receiver wanted to raise sewer rates 25 percent and demanded the county immediately pay him $75 million in cash from its general funds. So, instead of continuing to negotiate, the commissioners decided to take the matter to court. Ben Brooks, a professor of finance at the University of Alabama, said not all is lost. “Bankruptcy is a good thing. The sooner Jefferson County can get this behind them the better,” he said. The financial questions and fallout from the fraud and corruption in the sewer program has been hanging over Jefferson County for years and it had to stop. — AP

WASHINGTON: Angry words and rejected proposals have been the hallmark lately of deficit-reduction talks in the US Congress, masking signs that the two sides are starting to move toward a possible compromise. With time evaporating for a congressional “super committee” to find at least $1.2 trillion in budget savings over 10 years, there are still no guarantees that Republicans and Democrats can agree on a deal by a Nov. 23 deadline.

Both sides made counter offers this week after swiftly rejecting each’s other initial plan last week. An analysis of all the proposals shows negotiators are inching away from entrenched positions as they search for compromise.

After about two months of closeddoor meetings that produced few outward signs of progress, Republicans and Democrats in recent days have been floating ideas, mainly on the hot-button issue of taxes, that demonstrate a new willingness to reach out to their opponents.

The ideas, ranging from ending some special-interest tax breaks for corporations to letting the rich maintain their current income tax rate, marked significant shifts. “The fact that Republicans have mentioned the word ‘revenue’ is a breakthrough,” Richard Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, told the Reuters Washington Summit on Wednesday.

The liberal lawmaker was referring to

a proposal offered by a Republican super committee member, Senator Patrick Toomey, earlier this week. It called for limiting tax deductions, in part to help bring more money into federal coffers to reduce deficits.

Democrats rejected the proposal, complaining it was coupled with huge new tax cuts for the wealthy while potentially adding to the tax bill for middle-income earners, who could lose some deductions.

Despite that, both parties took note that tax revenues for the first time were put into the deficit-reduction mix by Republicans. Republican Senator John Cornyn, Durbin’s ideological opposite, said of his party’s offer to limit tax deductions, “We recognize this is a good-faith way to allow Democrats to say they got additional revenue by doing tax reform, cutting out a lot of loopholes.”

WALKING OR TALKING? There is also evidence of conciliation on the Democratic side.

Democrats floated a new plan on Monday that included a major concession to Republicans-no tax rate hikes on the rich, despite earlier demands

by President Barack Obama and many of his fellow Democrats. Under the Democratic proposal, obtained by Reuters, individual tax rates for the highest earners would be capped at 35 percent. The current top tax rate of 35 percent is set to jump to 39.5 per-

cent in January 2013 unless Congress acts. Prominent Republicans have been calling for lowering the top rate to as low as 25 percent. Their latest proposal called for a 28 percent top rate. “We thought we were close to a deal” on Monday, a Republican congressional aide told Reuters. The aide said Republicans also showed a willingness to go along with a major Obama demand: ending some special-interest loopholes, such as corporate jet tax breaks.

Scrapping the tax breaks would bring in about $60 billion in revenues from corporations, the aide said.

Other developments in recent days further heartened deficit hawks. A bipartisan group of about 45 senators has been urging the super committee to “go big” and find far more than its mandated target of $1.2 trillion in savings. About 40 Republican congressmen joined last week with about 60 Democrats in a letter saying revenues had to be part of any super committee deal.

But for all the focus on the process toward a deal, it is the final product that matters for credit rating agencies watching closely to see whether Washington can demonstrate the political will to deal with its huge deficits. “We tend to look at not all of the noise and everything that goes into the process, but what are the results,” Moody’s chief US analyst Stephen Hess told Reuters. — Reuters

Occupy protesters start march from NYC to DC NEW YORK: Flanked by police scooters, about two dozen Occupy Wall Street protesters started a two-week walk from New York to Washington on Wednesday. The activists left Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park, marched past the World Trade Center site and boarded a ferry to New Jersey. The group planned to stay overnight at a private home in Elizabeth, N.J., and then resume their walk. “Everything is going well so far, everyone is in good spirits” Kelley Brannon, the walk’s main organizer, said during a phone interview Wednesday night, shortly before they arrived in Elizabeth.

“We’re doing well and looking forward to our travel.”

They plan to walk through Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland and arrive in Washington by Nov. 23 the deadline for a congressional committee to decide whether to keep President Barack Obama’s extension of Bush-era tax cuts.

Protesters say the cuts benefit only rich Americans. Michael Glazer, a 26year-old actor from Chicago, smiled as he boarded the ferry across the

Hudson River, cheered by supporters shouting, “Thank you!” Walking in well-worn boots, he said: “I’ve had these for years and years, and they’ve served me well for many miles of marches.” They hope to pick up other

participants along their 240-mile march and have likened the effort to long-distance walks during the civil rights era. They say they’ll overnight by camping or at volunteered accommodations. — AP

MANHATTAN: Michael Glazer, of Chicago, leads other demonstrators affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement at the start of a march from the encampment at Zuccotti Park to Washington DC. — AP

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(Left) Children at Wicklow Elementary in Sanford, Florida, get lunch at the cafeteria. Every weekday more than 200,000 hungry students in Central Florida public schools line up to get lunch for free or a few cents because their families cannot afford to feed them. (Right) Edwin Vazques, 3, fills his cup with mint water at an event staged by Hunger Action Los Angeles, in Los Angeles. The community group put on an exchange sodas for fresh vegetables event. — MCT

US poverty figures rise alarmingly Housing, medical costs add to woes

ore than 49 million Americans live in poverty, an increase from previous counts that reflects heavy medical expenses for older people and high housing costs in Western states, especially California, according to new estimates announced by the US Census Bureau.

The estimates, produced by a first-ever experimental recalibration of the federal model of hardship, adds 2.5 million people to the 46.6 million included in the official poverty count for 2010 released in September.

Under the new formula, more than 2.8 million Americans joined the ranks of the poor in the Western states, bringing the regional poverty rate up from 15.4 percent to 19.4 percent. The national poverty rate in the new report is 16 percent.

Census officials Monday did not break out results by state. But experimental research for 2009 showed California’s poverty rate surging from 15.5 percent under the old template to 22.4 percent. Researchers say housing costs were the main cause.

“It’s all about housing prices really,” said Dowell Myers, professor of policy, planning and development at the University of Southern California. “We’ve been complaining about this for a long time. Our housing prices are much higher than Mississippi’s.”

Few economists defend the official poverty measure, which was developed 50 years ago, when food prices represented a third of household budgets. Food costs have dropped to one-seventh of household payouts, while other expenses-taxes, medical out-of-pocket payments, commuting costs

M

and child care now eat up a much larger share of expenses.

The new model, called the supplementary poverty measure, is designed to take into account these costs and also capture how government safety-net programs such as food stamps and housing and energy subsidies, may serve to offset them.

The result is what experts say is a more thorough measure of poverty, and it turns

their mortgages.

The high cost of California housing is one reason that Teshe McGordon found herself forced to move back in with her mother after she lost her administrative assistant job with a real estate brokerage in 2009. “In areas that used to be affordable, the prices are just crazy, $800 for a decent one-bedroom around here,” the North Hollywood resident said. “Even if you’re getting unem-

The estimates, produced by a first-ever experimental recalibration of the federal model of hardship, adds 2.5 million people to the 46.6 million included in the official poverty count for 2010 released in September. Under the new formula, more than 2.8 million Americans joined the ranks of the poor in the Western states, bringing the regional poverty rate up from 15.4 percent to 19.4 percent. The national poverty rate in the new report is 16 percent. some common assumptions on their head.

African-Americans, renters and those living outside of metropolitan areas have lower poverty rates under the new definition, while Asians have higher rates.

And the West leads the nation in poverty in the new model, surpassing even the South, which remains the neediest region by the official poverty measure. Not only are housing costs lower in the South, but people there are more likely to have paid off

ployment, you couldn’t pay the rent and eat.”

Researchers say they are also surprised to see children faring better than the elderly in the new model. They had long believed the reverse-childhood poverty was growing while the elderly were doing better than in the past.

But the new calculation reduces the percentage of children below the poverty line from 23 percent to 18 percent while

raising the share of Americans 65 years and older who are poor from 9 percent to 16 percent.

The reason is that children receive government benefits, while medical costs are pushing low-income seniors living on fixed incomes over the brink, said Kathleen S. Short, a US Census Bureau economist.

Medical costs helped draw Ernest Lee to a Monterey Park, Calif., food bank over the weekend. Lee, 78, a retired real estate broker, and his wife own their home. They augment his Social Security benefits and her wages as a factory assembler by borrowing against the home’s value, he said.

But their estimated $400 to $500 monthly bill for his diabetes and high-blood pressure medications, as well as co-payments for doctor visits and treatment, have pushed the couple’s finances into the red, Lee said. He said he also struggles to pay taxes and insurance on his home. “We watch every penny; we don’t go to movies, dances, restaurants,” Lee said. “We live in the most basic way.”

Lee said he has put three children through college, and he does not consider himself poor. “We have a phone, a car, a television; I think we will be OK,” Lee said.

“At least we aren’t living in a tent.”

The new formula will not supplant the official figure that is used to allocate government aid and other programs. Experts were already debating its nuances. Officials described it as “a work in progress” that will be modified through future research.

“This still needs improvement, but it’s a lot better,” Myers of USC said. — MCT

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Europe, the int’l system and a generational shift

By George Friedman

C

hange in the international system comes in large and small doses, but fundamental patterns generally stay consistent. From 1500 to 1991, for example, European global hegemony constituted the world’s operating principle. Within this overarching framework, however, the international system regularly reshuffles the deck in demoting and promoting powers, fragmenting some and empowering others, and so on. Sometimes this happens because of war, and sometimes because of economic and political forces. While the basic structure of the world stays intact, the precise way it works changes.

The fundamental patterns of European domination held for 500 years. That epoch of history ended in 1991, when the Soviet Union - the last of the great European empires - collapsed with global consequences. In China, Tiananmen Square defined China for a generation. China would continue its process of economic development, but the Chinese Communist Party would remain the dominant force. Japan experienced an economic crisis that ended its period of rapid growth and made the world’s second-largest economy far less dynamic than before. And in 1993, the Maastricht Treaty came into force, creating the contemporary European Union and holding open the possibility of a so-called United States of Europe that could counterbalance the United States of America.

The Post-European Age All these developments happened in the unstable period after the European Age and before ... well, something else. What specifically, we’re not quite sure. For the past 20 years, the world has been reshaping itself. Since 1991, then, the countries of the world have been feeling out the edges of the new system. The past two decades have been an interregnum of sorts, a period of evolution from the rule of the old to the rule of the new.

Four things had to happen before the new era could truly begin. First, the Americans had to learn the difference between extreme power (which they had and still have) and omnipotence (which they do not have). The wars in the Islamic world have more than amply driven this distinction home. Second, Russian power needed to rebound from its post-Soviet low to something more representative of Russia’s strength. That occurred in August 2008 with the Russo-Georgian war, which re-established Moscow as the core of the broader region. Third, China - which has linked its economic, political and military future to a global system it does not control - had to face a readjustment. This has yet to

happen, but likely will be triggered by the fourth event: Europe’s institutions - which were created to function under the rules of the previous epoch - must be rationalized with a world in which the Americans no longer are suppressing European nationalism.

With the benefit of hindsight, we know that the 2008 financial crisis initiated the last two events. The first result of the financial crisis was the deep penetration of the state into those financial markets not already under state influence or control. The bailouts, particularly in the United

United States. In the foreign policy arena, the Europeans prided themselves on a different approach to international affairs than the Americans used. This was based on a concept known as “soft power” which relied on political and economic, as opposed to military, tools - an analog to the manner in which it saw itself managing the European Union.

And Europe was a major consumer of goods, particularly Chinese goods. (It imported more of the latter than the United States did.) Taken together, Europe’s strengths and successes

interdependency in which war in Europe was impossible. Given European history, this was an extraordinarily ambitious project, as war and Europe have gone hand in hand. The idea was that with Germany intimately linked to France, the possibility of significant European conflict could be managed. Underpinning this idea was the concept that the problem of Europe was the problem of nationalism. Unless Europe’s nationalisms were tamed, war would break out.

The Yugoslav wars after the collapse of Communism comprised the sum of

States, created a situation in which decisions by political leaders and central banks had markedly more significance to the financial status of the country than the operation of the market. This was not unprecedented in the United States; the municipal bond crisis of the 1970s, the Third World debt crisis and the savings and loan crisis had similar consequences.

The financial crisis, and the resultant economic crisis, hurt the United States, but its regime remained intact even while uneasiness about the elite grew.

But the financial crisis had its greatest impact in Europe, where it is triggering a generational shift. Since 1991, the idea of an integrated Europe has been a driving force of the global economy. As mentioned, it also has been presented as an implicit alternative to the United States as the global center of gravity.

Collectively, Europe’s economy was slightly larger than the U.S. economy. If mobilized, that inherent power made Europe a match for the

would allow it to redefine the international system - and the assumption for the past generation was that it was successful.

In the context of the ongoing European financial crisis, the issue is not simply whether the euro survives or whether Brussels regulators oversee aspects of the Italian economy.

The fundamental issue is whether the core concepts of the European Union remain intact. It is obvious that the European Union that existed in 2007 is not the one that exists today. Its formal structure appears the same, but it does not function the same. The issues confronting it are radically different. Moreover, relations among the EU nations have a completely different dynamic. The question of what the European Union might become has been replaced by the question of whether it can survive. Some think of this as a temporary aberration. We see it as a permanent change in Europe, one with global consequences.

The European Union emerged with the goal of creating a system of

Europe’s fears. But there could be no question of simply abolishing nationalism in Europe.

National identity was as deeply embedded in Europe as elsewhere, and historical differences were compounded by historical resentments, particularly those aimed toward Germany. The real solution to European wars was the creation of a European nation, but that was simply impossible. The European Union tried to solve the problem by retaining both national identity and national regimes. Simultaneously, a broader European identity was conceived based on a set of principles, and above all, on the idea of a single European economy binding together disparate nations. The reasoning was that if the European Union provided the foundation for European prosperity, then the continued existence of nations in Europe would not challenge the European Union. Perhaps, over time, this would see a decline of particular nationalisms in favor of a European identity. This assumed that

prosperity would cause national identity and tensions to subside. If that were true, then it would work.

But there is more to Europe politically speaking than an enhanced trading area, and the economics of Europe are hardly homogeneous.

Germany and the Periphery The German economy was designed to be export-based. Its industrial plant outstrips domestic consumption; it must therefore export to prosper. A free trade zone built around the world’s secondlargest exporter by definition will create tremendous pressures on emerging economies seeking to grow through their own exports. The European free trade zone thus systematically undermined the ability of the European periphery to develop because of the presence of an exportdependent economy that both penetrated linked economies and prevented their development.

Between 1991 and 2008, all of this was buried under extraordinary prosperity. The first crisis revealed the underlying fault line, however. The US subprime crisis happened to trigger it, but any financial crisis would have revealed the fault line. It was not a crisis about the euro, nor was it even a crisis about economics. It was actually a crisis about nationalism.

Europe’s elites had crafted and committed themselves to the idea of a European Union. The elite of Europe, deeply tied to a European financial system as a principle, were Europeanists in their soul. When the crisis came, their core belief was that the crisis was a technical matter that the elite could handle within the EU framework. Deals were made, structures were imagined and tranches were measured. Yet the crisis did not go away.

The German-Greek interplay was not the essence of the problem but the poster child. For the Germans, the Greeks were irresponsible profligates.

For the Greeks, the Germans had used the EU free trade and monetary system to tilt the European economy in their favor, garnering huge gains in the previous generation and doing everything possible to hold on to them in a time of trouble. For the Germans, the Greeks created a sovereign debt crisis. For the Greeks, the sovereign debt crisis was the result of German-dictated trade and monetary rules. The Germans were bitter that they would have to bail out the Greeks. The Greeks were bitter that they would have to suffer austerity.

From the German point of view, the Greeks lied when they borrowed money. From the Greek point of view, if they lied it was with the conscious collaboration of German and other bankers who made money from making loans regardless of whether they were repaid. — Stratfor

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Years

www.kuwaittimes.net

Shakira performs at the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year tribute in her honor on Wednesday Nov. 9, 2011 in Las Vegas. — AP

Te c h n o l o g y FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Click it, watch it

One mouse click puts Internet video at your fingertips It doesn’t matter if you’re looking for Lady Gaga’s Pokerface or Monty Python’s Vikings. You can be looking for a film classic, a TV series, shaky homemade movies or professional documentation.

You can find it all online. But there are some rules.

First, you need to have a speedy Internet connection and some way to download and format them if you want to keep the videos. But, with the right tools, this can all be done simply and legally.

Firefox’s DownloadHelper is the most favored and versatile tool for downloading video, partially because it’s so easy to use. The company reported in September that the tool had been installed more than 100 million times. Once it’s set up, a button appears in the browser’s menu bar and “when DownloadHelper detects it can do something for you, the icon gets animated and a menu allows you to download files by simply clicking an item,” the company’s website explains.

A menu then allows users to pick which images and videos to download. Whereas some browser add-ons only support YouTube, DownloadHelper supports dozens, including DailyMotion, Vimeo and Clipfish, multiple TV channels and the site for the National Basketball Association. Right-clicking gives you an option to see a list of supported websites.

The tool is especially useful with broadcasters who choose to - or are required to - remove video content

from their websites after a certain period of time.

Downloading them on to your computer gives you access to them for longer. Mediathek View offers a similar service for Mac users. “These tools list the entire programming guide,” explains Volker Zota of German computer magazine c’t. With a single click, you get “something that works like a podcast manager,” he says. Your computer can master just about any format as soon as it is installed. To take the video files with you you’ll have to convert them into the proper format for viewing. For example, your iPad won’t play flash files. “For watching videos when you’re on the move, you should just download the files directly as MP4s,” advises Zota. “That works on practically every device.”

If that doesn’t work, there are dozens of free converter programs online. You can pick your favorite for preparing files, whether you use a PC or Mac, or the XBox or Playstation 3 consoles. Video DownloadHelper also has conversion functions. For more complicated jobs, Zota recommends XMedia Recode. It provides a menu where users pick which device they have. The tool then converts files into the appropriate format. “You don’t have to think about the settings,” says Zota. There are 150 profiles from which to choose, including those for the Blackberry and Android smartphones.

The FreeMake program allows users to set resolu-

tion and video codecs and save them. Commercial programs like Nero 11 have similar functions. But is it all legal? Exchanges like Pirate Bay are seen as a destination for contraband, and negative headlines have put fear into just about everyone. But downloading items from YouTube and similar programs is perfectly legal. Just follow a few rules and you’ll be safe.

“I’m allowed to download anything from the Internet, as long as the source isn’t obviously illegal and distribution isn’t clearly against the law,” says Christian Solmecke, a lawyer in Germany. “Videos are sometimes deleted from YouTube, that’s a good sign that the other videos there aren’t obviously illegal.”

Solmecke recommends software that directly accesses YouTube, like DownloadHelper. There are websites that download online data, convert it immediately and spit out an MP3 file. But that can quickly put a person in a legal grey zone.

“Since the people offering this earn money, sometimes through advertising, you’ve moved out of the realm of a private copy,” he says. Solmecke advises being generally cautious. And, obviously, it’s illegal to sneak around copyright protections for videos, just as it is for music CDs. — dpa

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Pe t s FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

‘Nawty dawg with the big heart’

Meet the dog who’s an advocate for animal rights

Ecco D’Oro, a Spinone Italiano, is popular with his family and owner Amy Hines and he has more than 4,700 fans on Facebook. —MCT e has more than 4,700 Facebook fans and it’s easy to understand why. His messages of compassion, encouragement and thoughtfulness inspire all ages. Often, he writes about the need to help someone in distress physically or emotionally. Other times, he’s funny, wearing a silly-looking birthday hat as he celebrates yet another milestone. He is Ecco D’Oro, a rare breed spinone Italiano, also known as the “nawty dawg with the big heart.”

Born in Pennsylvania July 14, 2009, and now a member of the Hines family in Smithfield, Va., Ecco is a champion dog show winner, as well as a canine philanthropist. In fact, philanthropy is first on the list of his many pastimes “chasing birds, winning dog shows, casual speed dating, modeling, standup comedy, sand and surf, social networking, fetching, gardening, destruction, car rides and family,” according to his bow-wow biography. For sure, there’s nothing boring about this dog’s life.

At home, he’s got it made, thanks to the adoration of his family, Amy, her husband, Tommy, and kids Ryan, 8, and Trey, 13. When he’s not at dog shows or fund-raising events, he’s lounging in his favorite spot - on top of the oversized cocktail table in the Hines’ living room. With his chin resting on the table and his big amber eyes looking up at you, Ecco relaxes with a deep sigh. At 94 pounds, he dominates the space.

There’s no room whatsoever for Roso, the year-old Spinone Italiano that casu-

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ally walks by while visitors laugh at the two having a stare down. Realizing Ecco is there to stay, Roso turns and leaves the room.

“That’s Ecco’s favorite place,” says Amy. “He’s spoiled and defiant. There are Ecco rules and there are other rules for other dogs.” Ecco’s real name is CH Sweetbriar’s Ecco D’Oro JH, which means “The Golden One” in Italian, according to Hines. Whether Ecco’s persona is really his or a submerged, private personality in Hines remains to be seen. The answer isn’t really important because the two seem inseparable. Hines loves to share Ecco’s stories and adventures, whether they are naughty or nice. “Ecco grew into an incredible show dog, as well as an accomplished hunter,” she says. “He excelled at everything that was asked of him. As he matured, his ‘over-achiever’ persona carried on to the naughtier aspects of his personality.”

This highly intelligent, arbitrary “doggie anarchist” does just as he likes, she contends. He cocks his leg on the veterinarian’s desk or another show dog’s head. Or, he pees on a sign that reads “no pets on the athletic fields.”

“He is an advocate for animal rights,” says Hines, laughing. “His persona stems from his thought process and actions. Honestly, if he could talk, I really think my words would be fairly accurate. I have said many times, if you aren’t prepared to hear or see what Ecco’s ‘answers’ are, please don’t ask him a question.

“I once watched his vet ask him if he was ready to go back to get a cyst removed. He looked her dead in her eyes and cocked his leg on the reception desk.” Although all this makes you think Ecco is “bad to the bone,” he’s got a heart larger than life, she says. “He is very philanthropic, making multiple donations a month through his Naughty Dawg Big Heart charitable fund. If cash is tight, Ecco helps his friends by facilitating a “bark out” to other donors in his pack who might be able to lend a paw.

“His trusted network can be called into action in a split second. The Big Pack Attack is an impressive display of how a few amazing animals on a social network site can literally touch thousands with a click of a button.” His Facebook page is popular because he leaves inspiring messages, partly in Italian, that brighten people’s lives writings like: “We all have days that are consumed and wasted by spending our time being bitter about someone or something. It’s very hard to let this feeling go when you feel that you’ve been wronged. The only one who is hurt when you harbor hatred and bitterness is yourself. One of the hardest things to do is to forgive. Tonight’s Italian lesson is about forgiveness. “A perdonare e quello di impostare un prigioniero libero e scoprire che il prigioniero si era.

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”

“Be free and sleep peacefully

friends! Smoochers, Ecco?” Along with 38 people liking this, Facebook comments, 15 in all, include words like: “Ecco, this is so true. I need to share this.” Tuesdays are reserved for “What Would Ecco Do?” therapy sessions where animals write in to discuss their “issues” and Ecco solves their problems from a dog’s point of view. Sunday mornings begin with an original prayer.

His second Facebook page, The Power of the Paw, focuses on the many prayer and positive energy requests he gets.

Amy says she realized Ecco was special at an early age. “He was a born comedian and excelled at everything he did, good and bad,” she says. “Ecco would return home from his puppy obedience class with stellar reviews and promptly eat a dining room chair to celebrate his success. “Admittedly, I sometimes let a behavior go a little longer than I should just to see just how far he will go and how his thought process evolves. For example, when a 6-foot branch ends up in the house, I am interested to see how it gets through the 2-foot-wide dog door or when my husband’s dress shoe is found floating at the top of the fish pond like a boat, was it intentionally dropped just for a little fun or did he stop to take a drink?”

On the serious side, Ecco is a proficient bird hunter, going through field training and trials with the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association. When the Hines family adopted Ecco, their agreement with

the breeder requires they maintain this skill. Between hunting tests, Ecco performs at shows around the country, hoping to eventually garner enough points to be in the famed Westminster Dog Show in New York.

He takes a break from the competition ring in November to enjoy more field training. In December, he competes in the Eukanuba Tournament of Champions in Orlando, an event that will be televised on the Animal Planet channel. Now through Nov 15, he’s having his Underwear Everywhere drive to collect new, unopened packages of socks, underwear and bras to be donated to shelters prior to the holidays. The address to send items or donate is on the nawtydawgbigheart.com website.

Soon, he launches a product line that also helps benefit his causes. “Since April, we have donated to more than 25 organizations and two animals that needed medical bills paid,” says Hines.

“Donations are only part of what happens on his wall. A ‘911 Bark Out’ is called when there is an animal in a shelter in imminent danger of being euthanized due to overcrowding; hundreds of animals have been saved through this networking process. “We made a post last week about two animals who needed a transport from New York to Vancouver, and in literally less than a minute, we had a willing participant.

“When I sit back and watch the process work, it physically gives me chills. It is nothing less than miraculous.” —MCT

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Food FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Everyday cooking

Pistachios are one healthy nut

Pistachio cake I 3/4 cup unsalted shelled pistachios 1 cup all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon ground cardamom 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup whole milk 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup sugar 3 large eggs 2 tablespoons finely grated orange zest

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rrange oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350∞F. Butter 9-inch-diameter round metal pan and line bottom with waxed paper.

Butter paper, then dust pan with flour, knocking out excess. Using food processor, pulse pistachios until finely ground, about 40 seconds. (Do not overprocess, or mixture will become paste.) Add flour,

baking powder, cardamom, and salt and pulse briefly to combine. In small bowl, combine milk and vanilla. In large bowl using electric mixer at moderate speed, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Reduce speed to low and add pistachio and milk mixtures alternately in batches, beginning and ending with pistachio mixture and beating after each addition just until combined. Add orange zest and beat just until combined. Spread batter evenly in pan and bake until wooden skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 10 minutes, then run knife around cake to loosen and invert onto rack.

Remove paper and serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

n addition to being a hearthealthy snack, a one-ounce serving of pistachios provides a delicious 170 calories, 8 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of dietary fiber, 6 grams of protein, and 13 grams of fat. The good news is that 11 of the 13 fat grams are “good for you” fats (7 grams of monounsaturated fat and 4 grams of polyunsaturated fat).

And, according to the Western Pistachio Association, new groundbreaking research in nutrition suggests that eating pistachios may help moderate your body’s biological response to the stresses of everyday life. (Just don’t eat too many!)

Here are few other fast nutrition facts on pistachios, courtesy of the Western Pistachio Association: • One-ounce of pistachios equals 49 hearthealthy nuts (that is more nuts per serving than any other snack nut).

• Pistachios are naturally free of cholesterol

and trans fat.

• One serving of pistachios has as much potassium as half a large banana (about 300 milligrams).

• Pistachios can be served as a protein alternative to meat, poultry or beans.

• There is more fiber in a serving of pistachios than in a nectarine or cup of prune juice.

• A serving of pistachios contains more than 10 percent of the recommended daily intake of dietary fiber and essential vitamins and minerals such as vitamin B-6, thiamin, copper and phosphorous.

• Pistachios also contain calcium, iron, folate, selenium, zinc and magnesium.

• In July 2003, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the health claim “Scientific evidence suggests but does not prove that eating 1.5 ounces per day of most nuts, such as pistachios, as part of diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease.”

—(www.sheknows.com)

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Food FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Pistachio muffins

Chocolate chip pistachio cookies 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup butter 1 cup white sugar 2 eggs 2 tablespoons milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 cup chopped walnuts 1 (3 ounce) package instant pistachio pudding mix 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips 1/2 cup white chocolate chips 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar for decoration Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Lightly grease cookie sheets.

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ift together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter

and sugar. Add the eggs, milk and vanilla, stirring after each addition. Add the dry ingredients and mix until a stiff dough forms.

Separate 1/4 of the dough form the rest and set aside in a small bowl. Add the nuts to the dough in the small bowl. Add the pudding mix and 3/4 cup of chocolate chips to the large portion of dough; mix until blended. Roll the pudding flavored dough into walnut sized balls, and place them 1 1/2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Flatten the balls using your hand or the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Roll the dough from the small bowl into marble sized balls, place 1 ball on top of each of the flattened cookies. Then, on top of each cookie, place 1 of the white chocolate chips.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cookies are set. Remove from the baking sheet to cool on wire racks. When cool, dust with confectioners’ sugar if desired.

• 2 cups whole-wheat flour • 3/4 cup light brown sugar (packed) • 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats • 1/4 cup natural pistachio nuts, chopped • 1 Tbsp baking powder • 1/2 tsp salt • 3/4 cup low-fat (2 percent) milk • 1/2 cup apple sauce • 1/2 cup canola oil • 1 egg • Topping: • 1/4 cup chopped pistachios • 2 Tbsp packed brown sugar

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ix flour, sugar, oats, pistachios, baking powder, and salt in bowl, stirring with spoon until well blended.

Add milk, applesauce, oil, and egg all at once. Stir lightly just to mix. Don’t overmix or texture will suffer. Spoon into 12 greased, paper-lined muffin cups. Spoon topping over batter. Bake at 400 F. for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown, turning pan around after 15 minutes for even browning. Cool 5 minutes; then remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Topping: Mix pistachios with brown sugar.

Sprinkle on top of muffin batter before baking.

Pistachio Pesto Pasta

Pistachio crusted chicken 1 cup packed, fresh basil leaves 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1/4 cup shelled, roasted/salted pistachios, coarsely chopped 1/4 cup olive oil 1 clove garlic, peeled 1/8 teaspoon cracked pepper 8 ounces package pasta

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lace basil, cheese, pistachios, oil, garlic and pepper in food processor or blender and process until well blended. Boil pasta as directed on package and drain. In a large bowl combine the pesto and pasta. Serve warm.

1 cup chopped pistachios 1/2 cup bread crumbs 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons honey salt and pepper to taste 2 large skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

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reheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Mix together pistachios and bread crumbs in a shallow bowl. In a separate bowl, stir together Dijon mustard, olive oil, honey, salt and pepper until smooth. Dip chicken into Dijon mixture to coat, then coat with bread crumbs.

Place onto prepared baking sheet. Place into preheated oven and turn the oven down to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Bake until the chicken is no longer pink and the pistachio coating is golden brown, about 20 minutes.

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Food FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

By Sawsan Kazak

Everyday cooking

C

hestnuts roasting on an open fire is not only a cooking method but a very touching song lyric. Just imagining chestnuts crackly in a frying pan conjures up images of childhoods, holidays and a tasty treats. But after having a few well toasted chestnuts, the taste can get a little bland. Why not incorporate this undeniably winter treat into a few favorite dishes. Try the following recipes and capture the taste of winter.

Send suggestions to: sawsank@kuwaittimes.net

Cooking chestnuts Before cooking Before cooking, the most important step is to cut the shell to prevent the nut from exploding while cooking! Some people cut a slit across the face of the nut, others cut a cross into the pale end (hilum). We have found the best way to prepare chestnuts is to lie the chestnut on its flatter side and cut or score halfway around the outer shell. The cut should go full thickness through the shell, and perhaps the pellicle, but not into the flesh of the nut.

Peeling chestnuts It is easier to peel chestnuts while they are still warm and damp. Wrap the cooked chestnuts in a tea towel to keep them warm while you are peeling the others.

Remove the outer shell and also the inner brown skin or pellicle, as this can sometimes taste quite bitter.

Boiled chestnuts are probably the easiest ones from which to peel the pellicle, though if you dry roast or grill them, it is not so important to remove all the pellicle prior to eating. Different varieties vary in their ease of peeling.

Cooking - the four basic cooking methods To bake Preheat oven to 200º C. Place chestnuts onto baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes, turning after about 5 minutes, or until the shells split and the flesh is easily pierced with a pointed knife.

To pan roast or grill or barbeque Cook (turning occasionally) in a pan over a medium

heat, or under the grill, or on the BBQ for 10-12 minutes or until the shells split as above. It doesn’t matter if the outer shell turns black in parts as this will be removed prior to eating.

To microwave Place chestnuts in a single layer to cover a microwave-safe plate. Cook uncovered on 850watts / high / 100% for 2-3 minutes. It is very easy to over-

cook when microwaving, so beware, and start with less time to be on the safe side.

To boil Place chestnuts into a pan of cold water, bring to the the boil, cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until flesh is tender. (www.chestnutbrook.com)

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Food FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Chestnut cake 1/2 Cup mild olive oil 1 Cup chestnut flour + add’l for dusting 1/4 Cup hazelnuts 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 3 large eggs, separated 1/2 Cup mild honey 1/4 Cup sugar

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lace an oven rack in the middle position and preheat to 350º F. Spray a 9 - 9 1/2” springform pan with nonstick spray and dust with chestnut flour. Roast the hazelnuts in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Rub the nuts in a kitchen towel to remove the loose skins. Some skin will

probably remain. Chop until medium fine in a food processor. Mix together the chestnut flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then stir in the nuts. In another bowl, beat together the egg yolks, oil, honey and 2 tbsp sugar until thick and pale-about 5 minutes. Add the flour mixture and mix at low speed until well mixed. Beat the egg whites and a pinch of salt in another bowl with clean beaters until they form soft peaks. Add the remaining 2 tbsp sugar a little at a time until the whites hole a soft peak. Fold into the cake mix 1/3 at a time until well mixed. Pour into cake pan.

Bake 30 minutes. Then loosely cover with aluminum foil and bake another 10-15 minutes. Place on rack to cool.

Remove pan’s side. Sprinkle with powdered sugar as shown or top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of chopped hazelnuts.

Chicken with chestnuts 1-3lb. chicken, cut into pieces 3 quarts water 3-4 scallions, cut into 1” lengths 1/2 cup smoked ham, cut into 1” lengths 2-3 quarter-size slices of fresh ginger 1 cup roasted and shelled chestnuts (buy already shelled in a jar or see below for instructions) 2 cups chicken broth

2 Tbsp sherry Cook the Chicken Place the chicken pieces in a large Dutch over with the water and bring to a boil. Boil for one minute and drain.

Assemble the Casserole Place the chicken pieces in a casserole dish, preferably clay if you have one.

Add the scallions, ham, ginger, and chestnuts. Heat the chicken broth and sherry and pour over the chicken and other ingredients.

Bake the Casserole Cover the dish and place the casserole in the oven. Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees or until chicken is tender.

Chestnut cream 1-1/2 pounds chestnuts 1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup water 1 cup heavy cream whipped 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Milk

Pasta with chestnuts and mushrooms 15 chestnuts 1 ounce dried mushrooms, preferably an assortment Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 3 tablespoons butter or extra virgin olive oil 1/2 cup peeled and sliced shallots 1 pound cut pasta, like ziti

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sing a paring knife, make a horizontal cut on the flat side of each chestnut. Place them in boiling water to cover, and cook for 3 minutes. Remove them from the water a few at a time and peel while still hot. Soak the mushrooms in about 1 1/2 cups of very hot water. For the pasta, bring a large pot of water to a boil, and salt it. Place half the butter in a skillet, turn the heat to medium-high, and a minute later, add the shallots. Sprinkle lightly with salt, and cook, stirring, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Chop the chestnuts into 1/2- to 1/4-inch chunks, then measure about a cup.

Add them to the skillet, along with a little more salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chestnuts deepen in color, about 5 minutes. Remove the mushrooms from the water; strain and reserve the liquid. Chop the mushrooms, and add them to the skillet; cook, stirring, for a minute or two, then add the strained liquid. Turn the heat to low, and season to taste with salt and lots of black pepper. Cook the pasta until tender but not mushy. If the chestnut sauce is too thick, add a little of the pasta water to it when the pasta is nearly done.

Stir in the remaining butter. Drain the pasta, and dress with the sauce. Serve immediately.

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emove the outer and the inner skins of the chestnuts and boil until soft with just enough milk to cover. Run through a sieve. Combine the sugar and water and cook for about 10 minutes. Mix the chestnut pure and the sugar syrup and, when cool, add the vanilla and the whipped cream. Pile on a dish and chill before serving. If you wish, the cream may be garnished with chocolate curls.

Tr a v e l FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Top 10 Ski resorts S

ure, lounging on a white-sand beach is relaxing for many, but for others it’s the snowy adventures found on the slopes that spells paradise. From Aspen to Zermatt, cities from around the globe boast a number of world-class ski resorts to choose from when planning your next downhill expedition.

So, bundle up and make some cocoa because we’re about to embark on some crazy vertical drops in these cities with the best ski resorts.

Number 10 Aspen, Colorado Want to ski with the rich and famous? If yes, then Aspen is the place to be. Aspen is known for its steeps and its four mountains that are not linked. This Colorado ski resort accommodates all by featuring excellent terrain for all skier levels.

Filled with steeps and bumps, Aspen Mountain has fantastic groomed intermediate runs as well. The mountain is also a great choice for experts, who can access hundreds of acres of terrain off the backside. As the city with great ski resorts of choice for those who are “better off,” Aspen has a tendency to get slightly expensive.

Number 9 Cortina, Italy Perhaps this is where Alberto “La Bomba” Tomba got his start. Cortina’s ski resorts match any others in the Alps and the city served as the host of the Olympic Games in 1956.

Similar to Zermatt, Switzerland, life in Cortina revolves around a traffic-less street. One of the world’s first ski resort cities, Cortina is also Italy’s most stylish place to be.

Number 8 Mont-Tremblant, Quebec French Canadian joie de vivre meets luxury at MontTremblant. A skier’s paradise since 1939, Tremblant is Eastern Canada’s best-known ski resort. It was the first resort to open in Canada and the second in North America.

What makes Tremblant even more special is that it is only an hour away from Montreal.

Number 7 Stowe, Vermont One of the most renowned and picturesque ski resorts on the map, Stowe offers traditional New England charm and the biggest vertical drop in the area. Stowe’s two ski areas are Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak. The latter actually backs onto Smugglers’ Notch’s terrain. As a result, Stowe is amongst a handful of American resorts that have a lift-link to another resort. Stowe offers over 90 shops and 60 restaurants to make sure that visitors do not trek too far away during their stay.

Number 6 Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France Host of the world’s first Winter Olympic Games in 1924, Chamonix ranks among the elite of contenders for the title of “World’s Most Famous Ski Resort.” Located at the foot of Mont-Blanc, it’s the highest peak in the Alps and the second highest in Europe (top elevation 15,771 feet).

Number 5 Banff/Lake Louise, Alberta Located in the heart of Canada’s Banff National Park, Lake Louise ranks as one of the most scenic mountain resorts in North America, if not the entire world. Banff/Lake Louise has three different ski areas (Mount Norquay/Mystic Ridge, Sunshine Village and Lake Louise) that are roughly 31 miles apart.

Number 4 Vail, Colorado Legendary Vail markets itself as “America’s favorite resort” and deserves to be ranked amongst the world’s top five all-around ski resorts. As the largest single ski area in the United States, Vail offers roughly 5,300 acres of skiable terrain. And let’s not forget the fastest high-speed detachable quads on one mountain. Vail offers much more with several art galleries, museums, ballooning, dog sledding, ice skating, hockey, snowmobiling, and much more.

Number 3 Zermatt, Switzerland While neighboring Gstaad is one of the world’s top resorts with its three five-star hotels and St. Moritz is more popular, most rank Zermatt as Switzerland’s top resort. A remarkably peaceful getaway, the village is peaceful thanks to its car-free environment. Amazingly picturesque, Zermatt holds the world’s second biggest lift-served vertical drop and receives huge snowfalls thanks to its altitude (and some help from snowmakers on the lower slopes).

Number 2 Kitzbuhel, Austria While St. Anton holds the crown of “Europe’s liveliest ski resort,” and Innsbruck is home to one of Europe’s liveliest and most beautiful cities (the International Olympic Committee must have thought so as well, as the city hosted the Winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976), Kitzbuhel is considered the “Pearl of the Alps” and is the most famous holiday resort in the Austrian Tyrol. This 700-year-old village offers visitors the charm of an alpine village. Skiing began here in the winter of 1892.

Number 1 Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia These towering mountains provide the best skiing in North America, with the biggest vertical drop. It’s funny what a difference 30 years and $600 million can make.

Whistler’s charming village offers everything snowboarders and skiers crave: cafes, international stores and over 100 restaurants that cater to all tastes including Chinese, French, Greek, Italian, Mediterranean, Mexican, and Thai.

Food is key after partaking in the activities that really make Whistler legendary. Whistler quickly rose through the ranks to become one of the strongest contenders for the much disputed title of “World’s Greatest Ski Resort.” Over the past decade, Whistler was consistently voted “Best North American Ski Resort” by North Americans. The Japanese repeatedly rank it as their favorite international destination. (www.askmen.com)

Tr a v e l FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

A budget Orient Express T

he border guards were impassive men wearing black jackets, guns and surly expressions. It was the middle of the night and a cold, rain-laden wind was whipping the train, halted at a former outpost of the iron curtain.

It was classic crime thriller stuff - high wire fences, lights glowing dimly in a railway yard, the Bulgarian flag flying from a forbidding, communist-era building bristling with antennas.

It was an Orient Express moment, but we weren’t aboard the opulent icon that glides once a year between Paris and Istanbul, at a cost of £5,700pp. We were on the Bosfor Express from Bucharest, one of a series of trains that retrace the legendary journey at a fraction of the cost.

It was my wife’s idea. Enthused by Agatha Christie’s 1934 murder mystery, she had long dreamed of hurtling eastward across Europe on night trains. Which is how we found ourselves at Paris’s Gare de l’Est, gazing at the departure board for the Deutsche Bahn City Night Line to Munich.

The silver coaches gleamed in the lamplight, and our compartment was welcoming.

We were travelling first class, which meant we had sleeping cars to ourselves - no risk of sharing them with a grumpy Paul Theroux.

It was an early evening departure and there was a restaurant car, with Hercule Poirot sitting at an adjacent table. A middle-

aged man with a remarkable resemblance to Albert Finney, he was thinly disguised with gold-rimmed glasses and a green silk scarf knotted artistically above a dark jacket. We passed an agreeable hour speculating on who among our fellow diners might be plotting to do away with whom. Later, a few glasses of wine were enough to rock us to sleep as our iron horse rattled through the night, bound for Bavaria.

We scheduled the journey to allow full days between trains in Munich and Budapest, and in Munich we headed for the M¸llersches Volksbad, an art nouveau temple of relaxation, with saunas, steam baths and hot rooms. It was winter, and we looked out at ducks waddling in snow before we boarded the midnight train to Budapest.

This was a Hungarian train, and the spacious sleeping cars were spotlessly clean, with burgundy decor. This time the beds were bigger, and the usual clanking and clunking of the night barely register in a cocoon of comfort.

Morning brought our first view of Hungary, which was disappointing - a large sign pointing to a McDonald’s, and a sewage plant. But the scenery improved, with fields and forests under a blanket of snow, and farming communities of solid little houses with red roofs, clustered like friendly and inviting toy towns.

The problem with travelling by train is that

one keeps wanting to get off it, to explore unfamiliar landscapes.

In Budapest, there was time for a sightseeing bus trip, a stroll around the Buda Castle area, and immersion in the thermal springs of the Gellert Baths, before boarding the Ister Express to Bucharest. This was our most luxurious train yet. Our compartment was roomy, with en suite toilet and shower, and snuggly duvets. Hot food was being served in the wood-panelled dining saloon, but we were the only customers: the cook, the guard and the ticket collector sat at a corner table playing backgammon.

A few fellow passengers appeared at breakfast, mostly men drinking beer, as we rolled through a winter wonderland in the Transylvanian highlands. This was one of my favourite places, a higgledy-piggledy landscape of rustic villages, haystacks, old wooden fences and inviting footpaths. Railway workers, huddled around fires in the snow, waved as we trundle by.

Another hour, another world. Having seen what the Stalinist madman Nicolae Ceausescu did to eradicate any semblance of beauty in Bucharest, we didn’t stop for long.

Forty minutes between trains is deemed enough. The grimy apartment blocks came and went, and we were on the Bosfor Express on the last leg of our journey.

There were no catering facilities on this train, but we’d stocked up on Hungarian

bread, ham, cheese and wine, and our friendly Turkish guard Nazmir brewed tea and coffee on a camping stove in his compartment.

So we settled down for lunch in our travelling bedroom and surveyed Bulgaria. It wan’t a cheery sight. We’d left Romania’s woods behind and crossed a broad, brown river on an iron bridge into an industrial morass of docks, cranes and chimney stacks rising gloomily into low clouds.

It was 3am when we were brought to a halt on the Bulgarian-Turkish border. In contrast with the hard-faced Bulgarian officials, we were welcomed to Turkey by singing football fans celebrating their team’s victory.

They emerge noisily from a duty free outlet on a station platform as a policeman issues our visas and sends us on our way. Above us, a bright crescent moon hung in the night sky like an image of the Turkish flag bidding us welcome.

The next day, a freight train broke down on the line and we were bundled into buses for the last few miles to Istanbul. My wife was disappointed, but the amiable chaos of the Golden Horn and the rocket spires of the Blue Mosque soon wove their magic in the city of a thousand sensations. And Poirot is at the railway station to greet us, beaming from a film poster beneath the vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows of the Orient Express restaurant.—Guardian

Books FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Top 5 diet books The 17 Day Diet: A Doctor’s Plan Designed for Rapid Results

By Mike Moreno

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he instant New York Times bestseller, now in paperback-a revolutionary plan that adjusts your body metabolically for fast and safe weight loss.The 17 Day Diet is a phenomenal new diet program that adjusts your body metabolically so you burn fat day in and day out. It is structured around four, 17day cycles:∑ Accelerate-the rapid weight loss portion that helps flush sugar and fat storage from your system∑ Activate-the metabolic restart portion with alternating low and high calorie days to help shed body fat∑ Achievethis phase is about learning to control portions and introducing new fitness routines∑

Arrive-a combination of the first three cycles to keep good habits up for goodThe variation that Dr. Mike calls “body confusion” is designed to keep your metabolism guessing; each cycle changes your calorie count and the food that you’re eating to keep your body from hitting the plateau that so often occurs on even the strictest diet regime. This is not a diet that relies on a tiny list of approved foods, grueling exercise routines, or unrealistic calorie counts that leave you hungry and unfulfilled. Dr. Mike recognizes that a diet can only work if it’s compatible with the real world, and his program features usability as a top priority.The 17 Day Diet is a simple plan that gets big, long-lasting results.

Super Immunity

By Joel Fuhrman

The DASH Diet Action Plan

By Marla Heller

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he complete guide to lowering blood pressure and cholesterol-without medication-through a proven diet, exercise, and weight loss program Finally, the #1 ranked DASH diet is popularized and user-friendly.

Unlike any diet before it, DASH, which stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, came out of groundbreaking NIH-funded research. Now, Marla Heller, MS, RD, who was trained by one of the primary architects of the DASH diet and is herself the leading dietician putting DASH into action for over ten years, shares the secret to making the diet easy and accessible, in THE DASH DIET ACTION PLAN. Rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lowfat and nonfat dairy, lean meats, fish, beans, and nuts, DASH is grounded in healthy eating principles that lower blood pressure; reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancer; and support reaching and maintaining a healthy weight. No diet has a medical pedigree like DASH, and this book is a simple, actionable plan that can fit seamlessly into everyone’s life and lifestyle.

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hy do some of us get sick with greater frequency than others? What makes us more susceptible to illness? Are we doomed to get sick when our coworkers and family members do? Is there a secret to staying healthy? Joel Fuhrman, MD, a leading expert and board-certified medical specialist in prevention and reversing disease, offers a comprehensive guide to superior health. Based on the latest scientific research, Super Immunity shows us how we can become almost totally resistant to colds, influenza, and other infections. The evidence is overwhelming: we can supercharge our immune system to protect our bodies against diseaseeverything from the com-

mon cold to cancer.

Nutritional science has made phenomenal strides and discoveries in recent years, and when this new research is applied it enables us to seize control of our health like never before. Dr. Fuhrman explains this new science, providing everything you need to know to put this knowledge into action in your kitchen and in your life.

Wheat Belly

By William Davis

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renowned cardiologist explains how eliminating wheat from our diets can prevent fat storage, shrink unsightly bulges, and reverse myriad health problems.Every day, over 200 million Americans consume food products made of wheat. As a result, over 100 million of them experience some form of adverse health effect, rang-

ing from minor rashes and high blood sugar to the unattractive stomach bulges that preventive cardiologist William Davis calls “wheat bellies.” According to Davis, that excess fat has nothing to do with gluttony, sloth, or too much butter: It’s due to the whole grain wraps we eat for lunch.

Eat to Live

By Joel Fuhrman

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ailed a “medical breakthrough” by Dr Mehmet Oz, Eat to Live offers a highly effective, scientifically proven way to lose weight quickly. The key to Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s revolutionary six-week plan is simple: health = nutrients / calories.

When the ratio of nutrients to calories in the food you eat is high, you lose weight. The more nutrientdense food you eat, the less you crave fat, sweets, and high-caloric foods. Eat to Live has been revised to include inspiring success stories from people who have used the program to lose shockingly large amounts of weight and recover from life-threatening illnesses; Dr. Fuhrman’s nutrient density index; upto-date scientific research supporting the principles behind Dr. Fuhrman’s plan; new recipes and meal ideas; and much more. This easy-to-follow, nutritionally sound diet can help anyone shed pounds quickly-and keep them off.

Books FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Top 5 exercise books BRING IT! The 4-Hour Body

By Tony Horton , Maggie Greenwood-Robinson

By Timothy Ferriss

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hinner, bigger, faster, stronger, which 150 pages will you read? Is it possible to: Reach your genetic potential in 6 months? Sleep 2 hours per day and perform better than on 8 hours? Lose more fat than a marathoner by bingeing? Indeed, and much more. This is not just another diet and fitness book.The 4-Hour Body is the result of an obsessive quest, spanning more than a decade, to hack the human body. It contains the collective wisdom of hundreds of elite athletes, dozens of MDs, and thousands of hours of jaw-dropping personal experimentation. From Olympic training centers to black-market laboratories, from Silicon Valley to South Africa, Tim Ferriss, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek, fixated on one life-changing question: For all things physical, what are the tiniest changes that produce the biggest results? Thousands of tests later, this book contains the answers for both men and women.

O

ver the past 25 years, Tony Horton has helped millions of people-from stay-at home moms to military personnel to A-list celebrities-transform their bodies and their lives with innovative workouts and cutting-edge advice. Now in his first book he shares the fundamentals of his fitness philosophy with millions more, revealing his secrets for getting fit and healthy and melting away pounds. One-size-fits-all diets and exercise regimens just don’t work-that’s why Tony creates unique programs for

each of his clients. In Bring It! he shows you how to build your own diet and fitness plan tailored to your individual lifestyle, preferences, and goals. With a Fitness Quotient (FQ) quiz designed to assess your likes, dislikes, and current fitness level, you can choose the program that’s right for you. In photographs and easy-to-follow instructions, Tony demonstrates his unique moves and exercise combinations that include cardio fat burners, lower body blitzers, core strengthening, plyometrics, yoga, and more. You’ll also discover Tony’s fat-blasting eating plan and detox tips, delicious recipes, and mental motivators.

Run Your Butt Off!

By Leslie Bonci , Sarah Butler, Budd Coates

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The Women’s Health Big Book of 15-Minute Workouts

By Selene Yeager

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ime is every woman’s most precious commodityand a lack of it is the number one reason, in survey after survey, that women give for why they don’t exercise. But research now shows that as little as 15 minutes of resistance training is just as effective in spiking one’s metabolism as a workout lasting more than twice as long. All it takes is 15 minutes to achieve lifelong results-and women are more likely to stick to an exercise plan if it’s chopped down to those 15 minutes.

This Is Why You’re Fat (and How to Get Thin Forever)

By Jackie Warner

“B

eing fat isn’t your fault; staying fat is.” That’s what Jackie Warner, America’s favorite no-nonsense celebrity fitness trainer tells her own clients, and that’s why no one delivers better results than Jackie does. Now for the first time, Jackie shares her revolutionary program, showing readers the best ways to drop pounds and

inches fast, without grueling workouts or deprivation, and keep them off for good! Her two-tiered approach provides a complete nutritional makeover and a failure-proof condensed workout routine PLUS all the emotional support and encouragement you need to get to the finish line and beyond.

hed unwanted pounds and keep them off ONCE AND FOR ALL with Run YourButt Off!, a back-to-basics, test panel-approved weight-loss plan and beginners’ running program that yields sustainable, healthy results. The Run Your Butt Off! program is founded on the simple concept that in order to lose weight, calories burned must exceed calories consumed. No gimmicks, no shortcuts, no silver bullets can circumvent that reality. With this program, you’ll learn to burn fat from both sides of the weight-loss equation-the calories in and the calories out-at the same time. Run Your Butt Off! will make you fitter, stronger and leaner.

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Beauty

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

What you need to know about Blush

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ou can do a variety of things using blush - make your skin more beautiful, make yourself look younger, “reshape” your face. Without even a slightest amount of blush, your makeup will not be expressive enough.

How to reshape your face You can make your face look shorter or longer, rounder or more delicate. You should only know where to apply blush. Sit in front of the mirror, be careful to have right light. Decide what your face shape is and what you want to achieve, and then...practise. You will see how quickly you’ll master it.

Round In order to prolong the face, you have to apply blush on both sides from the temple (beginning from the outer edge of your eye) to the corner of your mouth. You should finish two centimeters above mouth.

Square If you want your face to look rounder, you should use blush to draw an irregular triangle on both cheeks. Its longest leg should be placed along an ear, and the remaining legs should join in the most raised point of your cheek.

Triangular In order to make the face look soft rather than sharp, you should use blush to draw two horizontal rectangles placed from the

Smokey eye makeup tutorial

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moldering dark eyes is a classic sexy look that’s perfect for date night or a formal evening event. To get the look, you can use black eyeliner and eyeshadow or experiment with rich jewel tones like sapphire blue, amethyst purple, and emerald green. For the most alluring effect, use metallic eyeshadow that have a light-reflecting effect. Here’s how to create a smokey eye effect: 1.Start by lining your upper and lower lash lines with an eyeliner that matches the eyeshadow you are going to use. Run the pencil from inner corners to outer corners, working it into the base of your lashes to create a bold look. You don’t want to see any gaps in your liner so use a smudger to blend the eyeliner.

2.Sweep a pale shimmery bone or white shadow all over your lid area from lash lines up to brows. This will act as a base to the darker shadow and also enhance your brow bone structure.

3.Apply your dark eyeshadow. Sweep it across your lids and blend well up into creases. Extend the eyeshadow slightly past your outer corners to create the illusion of long, almond eyes. If you make any mistakes, just use a cotton swap dipped in makeup remover to erase the flub.

4.Pile on the mascara. Apply two to three coats black volumizing and lengthening mascara. Use a lash comb if needed to break up mascara clumps and get perfectly fanned out lashes.

Smokey eye makeup is hot and it seems it’s going to be hot for longer period of time. (www.beauty-tips.net)

side of face up to the middle. They have to be applied with a brush in a very precise way next to the jaw line.

Oblong If you want your face to seem shorter, you have to emphasize the parts from ears towards the nose. You have to draw wide lines of colour - beginning at the middle of ear, finishing in the centre of cheek.

Oval In order to emphasise this classic shape, draw two small triangles on both cheeks their shorter legs should lie along ear just under temple, the remaining should join toward the corner of mouth.

Match blush with skin color Blush should go with your skin and hair color. * Women of blond and ginger hair with olive complexion should use blush of orange tones. * Dark-and auburn-haired women with fair complexion will look perfect in pastel blush, called powdered. * When your skin is pale or grey, use salmon, coral and pink blush. * Women with wheat blond hair or bright ginger hair and radiant complexion will look nice in peach and golden brown blush. * Dark, almost brown skin matches well with plum, fuchsia or chocolate blush. (www.beauty-tips.net)

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Style

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Color trends for fall/winter 2011

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real fashionista always plans her wardrobe beforehand.

And while it is still three months ahead before the next fashion season designers have already supplied us with their ideas for Fall/ Winter 2011/ 2012. So, why not start working on creation of impressive looks which your girlfriends will later look at enviously? My suggestion is to begin with colors. And here are all color trends for the coming season: 1: Soft colors. It is essential to remember that in autumn and winter colors shouldn’t be as bright as they are in spring and summer. But it in no way means you have to go black, grey and brown. You can choose any color you like but make sure it is more subdued rather than flashy. Or you can opt for soft hues including lavender, cantaloupe.

2: Mood-improving bright details. If you think soft hues are dull there is another great color trend for you to choose - bright details. Add bright accessories to you look, like scarves, bags or hats,

find a great-looking pair of boots, or go for one vibrant item that will become the focus of your attire. Be smart to keep the balance. Too many vivid colors in one look in summer is playful and interesting, but in winter it looks vulgar.

3: Burgundy. If you want color but believe orange, lemon and magenta are too much for you try burgundy. It looks good on almost anyone and adds glamour to the appearance. This color is luxurious and there is hardly a way to spoil your look with it.

4: Shiny colors. For special event you might want something shining.

Go for it! Special events need special dressing. But keep a few rules of wearing sparkling clothing in mind to stay in style.

5: Midnight blue. Midnight blue is always safe no matter where you go: office, party, shopping, etc. Play with it, experiment and surprise your friends!

6: Neutral colors. These colors are always fashionable and designers seem to never get tired of creat-

ing pieces in neutral hues. It’s simple: neutrals can stay with you forever, they are versatile and can be easily combined with other pieces, both neutral or bright.

7: Prints. In Fall/ Winter 2011/ 2012 season prints play a significant role. They dilute the monotone scheme and leave a great field for

experiment. The safest option is to combine printed items with monotone ones. However, if you are confident about your styling skills you might want to try to coordinate various patterns in one look. Betsey Johnson offers us to combine leopard and plaid. And she even mixes leopard and python.

The variety of trendy colors is large but there are always some you like more than others. So, just build you Fall/ Winter 2011/ 2012 wardrobe around these and feel the most stylish. Good luck! (www.millionlooks.com)

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Years

Health

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Just what can Pilates exercises do for you?

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unner or golfer, tennis player or new mom, chances are you’ve heard someone talking about the benefits of Pilates. Many types of people, at many levels of fitness, who have begun doing Pilates exercises say they’ve seen improvements in range of motion, flexibility, circulation, posture, and abdominal strength-and decreases in back, neck and joint pain.

Forty years after his death, the system of exercises developed by Joseph Pilates has never been in such demand. But can the benefits of Pilates (puh-LAH-teez), the system of strengthening and stretching exercises designed to develop the body’s core, mobilize the spine and build flexibility, really be that far-reaching?

Pilates benefit No. 1: Body awareness Celebrity Pilates teacher Siri Dharma Galliano says Pilates-when performed correctly and with the proper supervision-can do all that and more.

“It is an education in body awareness,” says Galliano, who owns Live Art Pilates studio in Los Angeles. “It changes your shape by educating you in daily life. When you’re cooking, brushing your teeth-the lessons are coming home to pull your stomach in and pull your shoulders down. There is an attention required (in doing the exercises) that changes your awareness” even after class.

“It teaches you how to train your mind and build symmetry and coordination in the body,” adds Galliano. “And when you can get control of the little things, that’s practicing willpower.”

Aliesa George, a Pilates teacher in Wichita, Kan., agrees.

“The biggest benefit in my eyes would be personal awareness-awareness of how you sit or how you stand or how you move and being able to relate those habits to the aches and pains and injuries you have or have had in the past,” she says.

For example, she says, it can help make you aware of that chronic tweak in the neck you get from sitting at the computer all day with rounded shoulders and a phone cradled between ear and shoulder.

As a Pilates-trained physical therapist, Dan Westerhold says he sees a lot of clients with injuries or weakness of the postural muscles, as a result of work, lifestyle, or not exercising the right way.

“People sit slouched at computers all day, then go to the gym and work their extremities,” says Westerhold, of Pilates Seattle. “They don’t use their core.”

Think of a tree, Pilates experts say. Does it have all its strength in its limbs? No. The tree is only as

strong as its trunk and roots. Without a strong trunk, the tree would topple over.

It’s the same for human bodies, say Pilates experts. If we don’t concentrate on building a good foundation and a strong trunk or core, we’ll end up tight in some places and weak in others, injury-prone and susceptible to the pitfalls of our occupation or chosen form of exercise.

Further Reading:Fitness for a Lifetime Pumping Iron Good for the Ol’ Pump How to Avoid Fitness Gadgets That Don’t Work Your Personal Fitness Schedule Exercise & Fitness Resources Upper Body Exercises Health & Fitness: Ask a Question See All Gym Workouts Topics Top PicksBlaring Headphones: Not a Blast for Your Ears Which Drinks Are Healthy Hydrators? Easy Home Exercises for Fibromyalgia Exercising With Diabetes: Top Tips Can Exercise Improve Your Skin? Is Exercise Part of Your Depression Treatment?

Pilates benefit No. 2: A stronger core But how about flattening the abs? Can Pilates exercises really give you a washboard stomach?

Experts warn that it’s important not to equate a stronger core with a flatter stomach.

“When people want ‘flat abs,’ they are usually looking for weight loss, not abdominal strength and core support,” says George. “More than touting the benefits of Pilates for flat abs, we should be touting the benefits of Pilates for a stronger, healthy back and body. If along the way, you do the other components of fitness and trim the body down, yes, you’re going to have a flatter midsection.”

As you develop body awareness, stand straighter, and gain flexibility, “Pilates will shift your shape,” says Galliano. “But just attending a group mat class may or may not change your body.”

Kevin Bowen, co-founder of the Pilates Method Alliance and director of special projects, says it is important that abdominals are flexible, not just hard.

“A flexible muscle is a strong muscle,” says Bowen. “A hard muscle may feel good and give an interesting look, but if you don’t have the flexibility and the balance and the functionality that you need to allow your body to function properly, sooner or later, it’s going to show up someplace else.”

Pilates benefit No. 3: Body control Galliano, who has sculpted the bodies of Madonna, Cameron Diaz, Sting, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Uma Thurman, says Pilates works because it

teaches you how to move.

“Unless you are taught how to move and discover with your teacher what is blocking you (for example, keeping your shoulders up too high), you will never achieve body symmetry,” Galliano says.

“When you start getting control of your body, it gives you a great degree of satisfaction.”

There’s an intrinsic relevance to it, says Little Rock, Ark., internist Hoyte Pyle, MD, who has been practicing Pilates for five years. Instead of working major muscle groups in isolation, he says, “Pilates works the whole body in synergy,” which is how we should be moving on a daily basis.

The Roots of Pilates Exercises The discipline was created by German-born Joseph H. Pilates a century ago. A sickly child plagued with asthma and rickets, he grew up to be obsessed about the perfect body. He sought a discipline to combine the physique of the ancient Greeks with the meditative strength of the East.

The result was a system of exercises he called “contrology,” requiring intense concentration and centered on a strong abdomen, deep stretching, and focused breathing. It worked for him. Joseph Pilates became a boxer, diver, skier, gymnast, yoga devotee-and an incredible physical testament to his method.

Pilates taught his method to wounded English soldiers during World War I, using springs he removed from their hospital beds to assist them as he developed techniques to increase their range of motion. It was from these crude devices that he developed the equipment still used today, including the reformer, Cadillac, Wunda chair, ladder barrel, and spine corrector.

Pilates emigrated to the U.S. in 1926, teaching his method first to boxers and later ballet dancers, until the rest of the world caught on.

Apparatus or Mat? Pilates himself rarely worked with groups. Most of his work was done one on one, so each person’s exercises were tailored to meet his or her needs.

But he used both mat exercises and equipment with his clients.

“Pilates was developed as a system,” says George. “People will get the best benefits if they utilize it as a system, doing exercises on the mat and the equipment.”

“The equipment can offer more variety of movement,” adds Bowen, “but it’s important to have experience in the mat work as well. It’s portable, for one thing.”

For someone who has limitations, equipment is a great place to begin, says Galliano.

“The equipment was really designed to help people do the mat work. It supports them while they do the action,” she says, which is something they can’t get in a mat class.

Bottom line? If you can afford it, teachers recommend doing both mat classes and work on the equipment.

Fusions of Pilates It seems like everywhere you look, familiar exercise disciplines are taking on a new life with a Pilates twist. There are fusions of Pilates with everything from yoga and swimming to ballroom dancing and boxing.

“Right now, Pilates is sort of a nice, hot word,” says George. “Everybody wants to fuse Pilates with everything because it’s going to help sell it.”

Pilates is not for everyone Some 50% of adults experience back pain at some time in their lives. At any given time, 25% of adults have acute or chronic back pain, says Jupiter, Fla., physical therapist Michael L. Reed, DPT. Pilates and other exercises that focus on the stability of the muscles that support the spine might seem like a perfect fit. But not all pain is the same, cautions Reed. Without a diagnosis for your back pain from a physician or health care professional, Pilates could do more harm than good, he says.

“You can’t go to a non-medical practitioner that teaches Pilates and think that will resolve your back pain,” says Reed. “That’s the mistake people make.”

That’s not necessarily to say that Pilates won’t help, says Reed, who uses Pilates in his rehabilitation studio. Movement training is a sensible way to manage pain, and non-weight-bearing exercises like Pilates can be done even by those struggling with pain, he says.

However, he warns, “it’s advantageous to have a better idea what may be generating their symptoms first.”

As any well-trained Pilates teacher will attest, without a proper diagnosis for the pain, even the best instructor cannot design a safe and effective exercise program (www.webmd.com)

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Health

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

It?s never too late start exercise Y

ou know the benefits of exercise programs. And if you’ve been inactive, you may have also felt them-with sore muscles and bruised motivation to continue. But a new study in women shows that the old adage is true-it’s never too late to start when it comes to exercise programs. So now what can you do to jump on the exercise bandwagon?

“There certainly seems to be something here to suggest that women can start exercising later in life and still reap the rewards,” lead researcher and CDC epidemiologist Edward W. Gregg, PhD, tells WebMD. His findings are published in the May 14 issue of TheJournal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers tracked 9,500 women for 12 years, starting when they were at least age 66. In that time, they found that those who went from doing little or nothing to walking just a mile a day slashed their risk of death from all causes and from cancer by nearly half. Their risk of heart disease also fell by more than a third. In fact, they enjoyed nearly as much protection as women who were physically active before the study began and remained so.

During the study, he and his colleagues surveyed the women on their exercise levels at the start of the trial and again up to six years later.

Years later, the researchers tracked their rates of death and disease.

The new information we found is that older women who went from being sedentary or

walking about two miles a week to walking eight miles a week between the two visits had significant life improvements, says another study researcher, Jane A. Cauley, DrPH, of the University of Pittsburgh.

“We’re talking about women with an average age of 77 at the second visit,” she tells WebMD. “And we’re talking about their engaging in very mild exercise-and not running marathons.”

But if the only workout you’ve been getting lately involves the TV remote, here’s how to avoid those walks around the block from making your body feel as if it just tackled Boston Marathon’s infamous “Heartbreak Hill” Get a checkup before a workout. A visit to your doctor is wise for anyone beginning an exercise program, but it’s crucial for the elderly or others who have been inactive because of health problems. In addition to the obviouschecking your heart and lungs-your doctor can help determine if your regimen needs to consider other medical conditions, and the drugs you take for them.

“People can sometimes control conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure with weight loss and exercise so they don’t need to continue their medications,” says William A. Banks, MD, professor of geriatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. It’s important to let your doctor know about your new exercise program in case your medication doses need to be changed.

Start slow Once you get the green light, the key to avoiding fatigue and muscle pain is to pull out of the gate very slowly. “You hear so much about the importance of getting 30 minutes of exercise a day, but those recommendations should not be viewed as goals if you’ve been sedentary-even if you’re healthy,” Banks says.

“Initially, you should actually shoot below your comfort level.

“Too often, people-especially those who are older-overdo it in the beginning and they hurt themselves to the point where they need two weeks to recover. It’s better to walk for a few minutes a day, every day, then do 10 minutes your first day and then not be able to walk for the rest of the week.”

Don’t go solo Although there is no evidence that people are fitter when they exercise with others, they are more likely to stick to an exercise program, or anything else, with the buddy system. “We’re always better in the company of others,” says Banks.

Another benefit to group activities: Organized exercise programs, like those available for low or no cost at the YMCA or local hospitals, often include professional guidanceespecially useful for those with conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and arthritis. “There are exercise therapists or physiologists who can expertly guide you to the proper way to increase your endurance and intensity without risking injury or fatigue,” says Gregg.

Go more often Of course, those few minutes of your exercise program can be done several times a day.

First, try to do some activity for a few minutes several times a day. Then slowly increase the time spent in each session. But don’t worry about going faster until you’ve exercised regularly for at least one month. A key to intensity: Ideally, you want to be aerobic enough so you can utter a few words or syllables in each sentence, but not so little that you’re speaking in complete sentences or too much so you can barely talk, advises Banks.

Do what you enjoy While Gregg’s study and others have focused on walking because it’s among the easiest and most popular forms of exercise, you should pick an activity you like, so you continue it. It could be gardening, swimming, tennis, or the old favorite, walking. “If you absolutely hate exercise, like me, I recommend exercise machines,” says Banks. “Since I hate to exercise, I run on a treadmill while watching TV. I’m especially fond of working out while watching the cartoon Pinky and the Brain.” (www.webmd.com)

Researchers Find Great Rewards When Mild Exercise Programs Are Started Late In Life

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Education

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Connect the dots

Spot the Difference

Maze

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Education

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

ALPHA-CROSS

MYSTERY- WORD an you enter the words correctly into the grid? The letters in the shaded boxes will spell out the name of the mystery word

C

5 letters INDIA ITALY 6 letters FRANCE NORWAY POLAND SWEDEN TURKEY 7 letters AUSTRIA BELGIUM ENGLAND FINLAND GERMANY 8 letters PAKISTAN 11 letters NETHERLANDS

he first letter of each answer appears next to its clue in alphabetical order.

All the first letters have been entered into the grid. Can you complete the puzzle?

T

A. Small insect (3) A. Fruit (5) B. Somewhere to sleep (3) B. Flying insects (4) B. Large (3) B. Building block (5) C. Type of fuel (4) D. US coin (4)

E. Used for listening (4) E. Snakelike fish (3) G. Worn on the hand (5) I. Frozen water (3) I. Cake topping (5) I. Ice hut (5) K. Young goat (3) L. Lawful (5) L. Top or cover (3) P. Part of something (5) R. Something to listen to (5) T. Part of the foot (3)

TOPIC - Fish

Solution

Sudoku Can you find the hidden words? They may be horizontal or vertical.

BARRACUDA, BASS, BREAM, FLOUNDER, GOLDFISH, GROUPER, GUPPY, HAKE, HALIBUT, HERRING, MARLIN, MULLETT,

PERCH, PIRANHA, SALMON, SARDINE, SHARK, TROUT, TUNA.

Comics

C R O S S W O R D

4 9 4

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

To Yester

Word Sleuth Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

ACROSS

1. Acute delirium caused by alcohol poisoning.

4. Eurasian perennial bulbous herbs.

10. God of the earth.

13. The second larges of the four main islands of Japan.

14. The act of detecting something.

15. The former capital and 2nd largest city of Brazil.

16. A state in midwestern United States.

18. Remove offensive capability from.

20. Understanding of the nature or meaning or quality or magnitude of something.

22. Having undesirable or negative qualities.

24. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

25. A city in western Kenya.

27. All the animal life in a particular region.

29. A theocratic republic in the Middle East in western Asia.

30. A constitutional monarchy on the western part of the islands of Samoa in the South Pacific.

33. (informal terms) "gave me a cockamamie reason for not going".

35. A Russian vehicle (carriage or sled) pulled by three horses abreast.

38. After noon.

39. A soft gray ductile metallic element used in alloys.

40. An independent agency of the United States government responsible for collecting and coordinating intelligence and counterintelligence activities abroad in the national interest.

41. A ductile malleable reddish-brown corrosion-resistant diamagnetic metallic element.

45. A person who announces and plays popular recorded music.

46. The jurisdiction or office of an abbot.

48. One thousandth of a second.

50. A port in western Israel on the Mediterranean.

52. Not out.

53. (nautical) Of an anchor.

58. The logical fallacy of assuming the conclusion in the premises.

62. A zodiacal constellation in northern hemisphere between Cancer and Virgo.

63. Of or relating to a directionless magnitude.

65. A workplace for the conduct of scientific research.

66. Bulky grayish-brown eagle with a short wedge-shaped white tail.

67. Mar or spoil the appearance of.

68. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

DOWN 1. Do something that one considers to be below one's dignity.

2. French poet (born in Romania) who was one of the cofounders of the Dada movement (1896-1963).

3. Conforming to truth.

4. An analgesic for mild pain.

5. North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

6. A long-playing phonograph record.

7. Being one more than one.

8. A genus of Ploceidae.

9. American prizefighter who won the world heavyweight championship three times (born in 1942).

10. United States evangelical preacher famous as a mass evangelist (born in 1918).

11. A genus of Mustelidae.

12. An explosive device fused to denote under specific conditions.

17. An exorbitant or unlawful rate of interest.

19. The capital and largest city of Yemen.

21. Similar or related in quality or character.

23. A rounded thickly curled hairdo.

26. Not neat and tidy.

28. Capital of modern Macedonia.

31. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

32. Any of the forms of Chinese spoken in Fukien province.

34. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

36. A Hindu prince or king in India.

37. The United Nations agency concerned with civil aviation.

42. Hard fiber used in making coarse twine.

43. United States religious and writer (1915-1968).

44. Being two more than ninety.

47. The basic unit of money in Ethiopia.

49. An indication of potential opportunity.

51. A heavy ductile magnetic metallic element.

54. An anxiety disorder associated with serious traumatic events and characterized by such symptoms as guilt about surviving or reliving the trauma in dreams or numbness and lack of involvement with reality or recurrent thoughts and images.

55. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

56. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

57. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

59. Water frozen in the solid state.

60. An awkward stupid person.

61. (British) A waterproof raincoat made of rubberized fabric.

64. A white soft metallic element that tarnishes readily.

Yesterday’s Solution

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Lifestyle

Books for the traveler

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Holiday gift suggestions I

s there an avid traveler on your gift list? Or even someone who doesn’t go too far from home, but simply loves reading about faraway places and other cultures? Maybe you have a friend or loved one who might enjoy spending a winter’s day gazing at pictures of places they love or long to see. Books with a travel theme - whether practical, beautiful, inspirational or just a good read - make a good holiday gift. Here are a few ideas and recommendations.

Pauline Frommer, the travel book writer and founding editor of Frommers.com, lists “MapHead,” by Ken Jennings (Scribner, $25) as one of her recent favorites. Jennings, the legendary “Jeopardy!” winner, is “a very witty, insightful writer and has written an entertaining and educational book about maps and the geeks who obsess over them,” Frommer said.

City Secrets, a new series of small hardcovers for discriminating travelers, has new guides out this year for London ($20), Rome ($20) and Florence/Venice ($15), with City Secrets Manhattan ($20) due in late November.

“Remarkable contributors - writers, artists, curators, and others - reveal their favorite strolls, hidden gardens, buildings, shops, and restaurants,” is how Pat Carrier, owner of the Globe Corner Book Store in Brookline Village, Massachusetts, describes the series.

Other suggestions from Globe Corner http://www.globecorner.com - include “City: A User’s Guide to the Past, Present, and Future of Urban Life” by PD Smith (Bloomsbury, $40), which Carrier describes as a collection of essays about urban life on everything from skyscrapers and shantytowns to street food and skateboarding, as well as two cookbooks with a strong sense of place, “Mourad: New Moroccan,” by Mourad Lahlou (Artisan, $40) and “Saraban: A Chef’s Journey Through Persia” by Greg and Lucy Malouf (Hardie Grant Books, $60).

Lonely Planet has published its first series for children, Not For Parents books on Paris, London, Rome and New York. The $15 paperbacks offer curious kids cartoons, photos and drawings packed with tidbits on local history, geography, the arts and pop culture. “Not For Parents: Paris, Everything You Ever Wanted To Know,” for example, mentions everything from crepes and the origins of plaster of Paris to a look at Deyrolle, a bizarre showcase for taxidermied animals. Lonely Planet is also offering a version of “The Travel Book” for kids ($20) subtitled “Cool Stuff to Know About Every Country in the World.”Lonely Planet’s new books for grown-ups include “Great Journeys” ($40), a cof-

fee-table book about “the world’s most spectacular routes,” from the trail to Peru’s Machu Picchu to America’s classic Route 66, and a collection of stories by celebrities called “Lights, Camera ... Travel!” ($15) including Brooke Shield’s tale of her wintertime visit to the Arctic.

The staff of Distant Lands, a travel bookstore in Pasadena, California http://www.distantlands.com/ - is recommending Lonely Planet’s “1000 Ultimate Sights” ($23) as the “quirkiest” of LP’s new travel must-see books. “If you like golden things, for example, there’s a section on ‘Golden Greats,’ encompassing such attractions as the Golden Buddha in Bangkok, the Golden Mummies in Egypt’s Western Desert, and Dawson City’s Bonanza Creek,” said Distant Land’s Susan Hickman.

“Other favorite topics include ‘Most EyeOpening Workplaces’ and ‘Most Astounding Ego

Trips,’” from Versailles in France to a 65-foot-tall monument to North Korea’s Kim Il Sung. If you’re feeling generous toward your favorite Francophile, Distant Lands recommends “Monumental Paris” by Herve Champollion and Aude de Tocqueville (Vendome, $150). Hickman says the “panoramic photos bring you to many of Paris’ hidden corners ... gardens, canals, parks, and secret waterways that make Paris one of Europe’s most endlessly fascinating and enchanting cities.” Also on Distant Lands’ list: Braun & Hogenberg’s “Cities of the World: Complete Edition of the Color Plates of 15721617” (Taschen, $70), which offers snapshots of how people lived in cities in Europe, Africa, Asia

and Central America in drawings and text.

Patricia Schultz is out with a new edition of the ultimate bucket-list, “1,000 Places to See Before You Die” (Workman, $20). This version adds 200 new entries, including countries not in the original 2003 edition, like Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Nicaragua, Qatar and Mozambique, plus budget-conscious suggestions for lodging and food. An interactive companion iPad app for

“1,000 Places” is scheduled for release Nov. 22, offering photos, maps and a way to log your past and future travels. The full app is free with a code included on the first stickered printing of the book; without the book, you can download the app for free with a preview of 99 places or pay $10 for full content.

“America’s Great Railroad Stations” (Viking Studio, $40) is the perfect gift for train buffs, a coffee-table book with 250 photographs by Roger Straus III (plus vintage black-and-white pictures) and text by Ed Breslin and Hugh Van Dusen. Organized by region, the book tells the story of the role these buildings played in the lives of the people and cities they served, from Beaux Arts monuments in New York and Washington to adobe structures in the Southwest, from the Union Pacific to Michigan Central. Another coffee-table beauty is “The World’s Must-See Places: A Look Inside More Than 100 Magnificent Buildings and Monuments” (DK Eyewitness Travel Guides, $25) with photos and 3-D cutaways and diagrams of places like Beijing’s Forbidden City, Mexico’s

Chichen Itza and Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock.

“The Scattered Tribe: Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India to Tahiti & Beyond” (Globe Pequot Press, $18) is Ben G. Frank’s account of Jewish communities in a handful of places, from a relatively new synagogue in Tahiti that serves expats and tourists to the nearly gone remnants of North Africa’s once-thriving Jewish communities. The book is by no means an exhaustive survey of Jews around the world - Vietnam, India and Burma are there, but not China, for example - but the snapshots offered will be of interest to readers with a passion for Jewish history.

Manhattan’s High Line, the unique linear park built 30 feet off the ground on an old rail line, has quickly become one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions. A new book is out for devoted fans: “High Line: The Inside Story of New York City’s Park in the Sky” (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, $30) by Joshua David and Robert Hammond, cofounders of Friends of the High Line. The first half is a written conversation alternating between the two authors about their discovery of the old rail line and how they managed to shepherd it against all odds through city bureaucracy from a decaying dinosaur to a vibrant public space. The second half is a collection of photos, both historic and recent, showing the High Line’s history and transformation.

Finally, Travel + Leisure is out with lovely photos and engaging text in “Europe: The Places We Love,” $30, from the “Sweet Life in Capri,” to “Secret Villages” like Norcia, Italy, and Marvao, Portugal. —AP

What will American pets find under Christmas tree?

J

ust over half of American pet owners will buy gifts for their pets this holiday season, and they’ll spend an average of $46 on their animals, with toys and treats topping the list, according to a new AP-Petside.com poll. Sixty-eight percent of pets getting gifts can look forward to a toy, 45 percent to food or another treat, 8 percent new bedding, 6 percent clothing, 3 percent a leash, collar or harness and 3 percent new grooming products, the poll showed. (Some pets will get more than one gift.)

“Christmas is about the pets,” said Gayla McCarthy, 58, of Kekaha, Hawaii, whose Australian shepherd, Echo, will find a toy under the tree. McCarthy even got a shirt for her husband as a gift to him from the dog, and she’ll be giving collapsible bowls that she ordered online to all their friends’ dogs.

Although the average budget for pet gifts among those surveyed was $46, 72 percent of those polled said they’d spend $30 or less. Those who bought gifts for their pets last year said they spent $41 on average.

Sky has his toe nails painted by 13-year-old Kourtney Gottula Monday, Nov 7, 2011, at her home in Spring, Texas. —AP

Overall, 51 percent of those polled this year said they would buy holiday gifts for their pets, a figure that’s been relatively stable in the last few AP-Petside.com polls. It was 53 percent last year, 52 percent in 2009 and 43 percent in 2008. Income does matter. Those making $50,000 or more say they plan to spend an average $57 on their pets. Those making under $50,000 say it will be $29. Major pet retailers have been taking part in the Black Friday and Cyber Monday frenzy for a few years. Petco Animal Supplies Inc. plans a 72-hour “Black Friday Weekend Blowout,” said Greg Seremetis, vice president of marketing.

Products for both pets and pet owners will be available, he said. “Including pets in holiday gift-giving has been a growing trend in the last few years. More and more pets are being treated as family members and being included in holiday traditions, including having a gift waiting for them under the tree,” he said.

PetSmart Inc. plans to open stores at 7 am on Black Friday, followed by a “Countdown to Christmas” sale beginning on Dec 16, said spokeswoman Stephanie Foster. —AP

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Taylor Swift performs

T

aylor Swift won her second entertainer of the year award and rising sibling act The Band Perry was the night’s top winner as The Country Music Association Awards celebrated the young women of country music on Wednesday night. Swift was rewarded for an amazing year during which she brought country music to the Far East, scored hits all around the world and continued a run that’s made her country’s hottest young star for several years. She’s just the second woman to win the award twice, joining Barbara Mandrell.

“This is thanks to all the fans who filled the stadiums and arenas all over the world this year,” said Swift, who leaped from her seat with her hands in the air and jumped for joy. “I am so happy we had so many to play for this year. You have made my year.” It was a melancholy song about dying young that ran hard against the tried-and-true country radio formula that had everyone’s attention most of the night, though. “If I Die Young,” written by Kimberly Perry, won song and single of the year and the band picked up new artist of the year as well.

Taylor Swift accepts the award for entertainer of the year during the 45th Annual CMA Awards. —AP photos

(From left) Neil, Kimberly, and Reid Perry of The Band Perry pose backstage with the awards for single of the year, song of the year, and new artist of the year.

Technically the band, which includes Perry’s brothers Neil and Reid, won two awards since song of the year goes to the writer, who was Kimberly Perry alone. But the message was the same nonetheless. “If I Die Young” is one of the few country songs that managed to crossover into the pop world.

“We sort of feel like we are part of the country evangelism scene and we love to hear country songs on pop radio,” Kimberly Perry said.

“It proved to be a song with really long legs.”

Crossover appeal proved to be the theme of the night. Jason Aldean, who won his first major CMA award when his platinum-selling “My Kinda Party” won album of the year, also won musical event of the year for his duet “Don’t You Wanna Stay” with Kelly Clarkson.

And Kenny Chesney won music video of the year for his duet “You and Tequila” with Grace Potter.

That theme also carried over to the stage where stars from different genres came together for some of the CMA’s strongest performances. The show also featured plenty of sexy dancing, belching smoke special effects and, at one point, acrobats spinning down from the ceiling on lengths of unspooling fabric. Lionel Richie had every star buzzing on the red carpet before performing duets from his new country album with Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker and Little Big Town. He posed for a picture with Miranda Lambert and gave advice to Lady Antebellum on the red carpet.

Gregg Allman joined fellow Peach State natives Zac Brown Band on “Georgia on my Mind,” Natasha Bedingfield, in a dress that featured a fluffy red skirt, joined Rascal Flatts on stage to perform their duet “Easy,” and that was just the start of genre shuffling. Blake Shelton and Kenny Loggins opened the show with a high-energy version of Loggins’ hit “Footloose.” Later, Glen Campbell, one of country’s biggest crossover pioneers who is now battling Alzheimer’s disease, was given a musical tribute when Vince Gill, Keith Urban and Brad Paisley sang three of his songs.

Richie, who will soon issue a country duets album, hadn’t performed on the CMAs since 1986 when he appeared with Alabama. He

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

(From left) Reid, Neil, and Kimberly Perry of The Band Perry perform All Your Life. noted the show has changed dramatically over the decades, as has country music.

“It’s Cirque de Soleil ... it’s full-on production,” Richie said. “This is off-the-chain, this is the Oscars of the music business, the CMAs.” Lady Antebellum won vocal group of the year for the third straight time and Sugarland took its fifth straight vocal duo of the year award.

And Shelton and his wife Lambert repeated as male and female vocalists of the year.

“Congrats to my hubby, too,” Lambert shouted from the stage to Shelton. “It’s going to be a good night tonight, baby!” The camera cut to Shelton, who rubbed his hands together and smiled devilishly.

Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush from the band Sugarland accept the award for vocal duo of the year.

Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton pose backstage with the awards for female vocalist of the year and male vocalist of the year.

It wasn’t the night’s only funny moment.

Hank Williams Jr. appeared during the opening skit with hosts Paisley and Carrie Underwood, who lampooned his recent troubles with ESPN and his “Monday Night Football” theme song. Paisley brought out an acoustic guitar and began his own version of “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over

Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood perform Remind Me. Tonight.” “Are you ready for an awards show?” Paisley sang before Underwood warned him he might draw Williams’ ire.

Williams got into trouble for using an analogy to Adolf Hitler in discussing President Barack Obama.

As they spoke, Williams quietly walked up behind the hosts to the roar from the Country Music Association Awards winners

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR-Taylor Swift SINGLE OF THE YEAR-The Band Perry, “If I Die Young” ALBUM OF THE YEAR-Jason Aldean, “My Kinda Party” SONG OF THE YEAR-Kimberly Perry (The Band Perry), “If I Die Young” FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR-Miranda Lambert MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR-Blake Shelton VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR-Lady Antebellum VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR-Sugarland MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR-Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson, “Don’t You Wanna Stay” MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR-Mac McAnally MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR-Kenny Chesney featuring Grace Potter, “You and Tequila” NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR-The Band Perry —Reuters

Lionel Richie, center, performs “Deep River Woman” with the band Little Big Town, from left, Phillip Sweet, Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, and Jimi Westbrook.

Kenny Chesney, Grace Potter, and director Shaun Silva pose backstage with the award for music video of the year for You and Tequila.

crowd. Asked if he wanted to say something, Williams said, “No,” to the delight of the audience. It was just one of several laugh-out-loud moments for the hosts, who trotted out Barbies of McGraw and Hill after Williams left the stage. “I can’t wait until after the show,” Paisley said to Underwood. “Can we play with them now?” The two made the dolls kiss and before checking to see if the McGraw doll was anatomically correct. “There’s nothing there,” Paisley said in amazement. The camera cut to McGraw and Hill, who raised her arms and mouthed the words, “I know,” receiving the night’s biggest laugh.—AP

Dave Haywood, Hillary Scott, and Charles Kelley from the band Lady Antebellum pose backstage with their awards for vocal group of the year.

Jason Aldean poses backstage with the awards for musical event of the year and album of the year.

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban.

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Eddie Murphy quits as Oscars host

V

eteran Hollywood star Eddie Murphy quit as host of this year’s Oscars Wednesday, one day after the show’s producer resigned for making an anti-gay comment, organizers said.

Within hours of Murray’s departure the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a replacement for Brett Ratner, who stepped down Tuesday as producer of Hollywood’s annual awards. There was no immediate announcement of who will take Murray’s place at the February 26 Oscars show.

“I appreciate how Eddie feels about losing his creative partner, Brett Ratner, and we all wish him well,” said Academy President Tom Sherak, scrambling to deal with the double change of personnel barely three months before the awards season climax. Murphy said: “First and foremost, I want to say that I completely understand and support each party’s decision with regard to a change of producers for this year’s Academy Awards ceremony.

“I was truly looking forward to being a part of the show that our production team and writers were just starting to develop, but I’m sure that the new production team

and host will do an equally great job,” he added in the Oscars statement. Murphy, named in September to Tinsel Town’s top hosting job, was seen as a safe pair of hands after last year’s Oscars co-hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco. The latter was notably criticized for a wooden performance.

At the time he was chosen, Murphy, who gained fame on TV show Saturday Night Live in the early 1980s before breaking onto the big screen, said he was looking forward to the gig. “I am enormously honored to join the great list of past Academy Award hosts, from (Bob) Hope and (Johnny) Carson to (Billy) Crystal, (Steve) Martin and (Whoopi) Goldberg, among others,” he said.

But his withdrawal was not unexpected following that of Ratner-director of current box office hit “Tower Heist,” in which Murphy stars-who has made a series of close-to-the-bone comments in recent days. Ratner, a prolific director and producer whose work also includes 2006’s “XMen: The Last Stand,” made the offending anti-gay comment at a discussion about “Tower Heist” last week, in response to a

question about how he works.

“Rehearsal is for fags,” he replied. Then on Monday, he went on shock jock Howard Stern’s show and made a series of remarks about his sex life and relationships with Hollywood actresses, including Lindsay Lohan and Olivia Munn. “Being asked to help put on the Oscar show was the proudest moment of my career,” Ratner said in his resignation letter Tuesday. “But as painful as this may be for me, it would be worse if my association with the show were to be a distraction from the Academy and the high ideals it represents.”

On Wednesday the Academy, in its third Oscars personnel change in 24 hours, named his replacement as Brian Grazercoincidentally producer on “Tower Heist”to join veteran producer Don Mischer in putting on the 84th Academy Awards.

“Brian Grazer is a renowned filmmaker who over the past 25 years has produced a diverse and extraordinary body of work,” said Sherak. “He will certainly bring his tremendous talent, creativity and relationships to the Oscars.”—AFP

File image released by NBC shows actor Eddie Murphy appears on the ‘Today’ show to promote his new movie ‘Tower Heist’ in New York. — AP

Pedro Almodovar discusses plastic surgery thriller

D Brad Pitt talks with Japanese actress Kazue Fukiishi at a press conference of his latest film “Moneyball” in Tokyo yesterday. — AP

A

ctor Brad Pitt praised the “tenacity” of Japan in its postquake recovery efforts yesterday, as the star brought his partner Angelina Jolie and family to a nation still confronting a nuclear crisis. “You are bringing everything forward to rebuilding and reclaiming the lives for yourselves and for others.

It’s valued and inspiring to us,” Pitt told a news conference ahead of the Japan release of his new movie “Moneyball.” “Your tenacity and perseverance and survival has a great effect on us, to the world community, and I applaud you all for that,” he said.

Pitt’s visit to Japan, together with Jolie and their six children comes nearly eight months after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake triggered a devastating tsunami that left 20,000 dead or missing, while sparking the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl 25 years ago. The global community is “greatly and painfully aware of the cataclysmic catastrophe,” Pitt said. “Our hearts and thoughts are still with you who have been touched by this event.”

In the film directed by Bennett Miller, Pitt plays the Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane who turns to a statistician with a radical new system to evaluate players and put together a competitive team at a quarter of the cost. Baseball is hugely popular in Japan both as a professional sport and among children, and the nation has exported stars to US Major League Baseball such as Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners and Hideki Matsui of the Oakland A’s. At the film’s preview Wednesday, Pitt gave autographed balls to 10 teenage baseball players from the quake-hit northeast. — AFP

irector Pedro Almodvar wasn’t just thinking Alfred Hitchcock and “Frankenstein” when he made his new plastic-surgery-gone-amuck thriller “The Skin I Live In,” in which a doctor turns a man into a woman while thinking about another woman. His initial plan was to shoot a silent film in black and white, the director revealed at a Q&A following a showing of the film Tuesday night at the Landmark Theater, part of TheWrap’s ongoing Awards Screening Series.

In 2002’s “Talk to Her,” “I shot a nine-minute [silent] short called ‘The Shrinking Lover,”“ the director told TheWrap’s Steve Pond, who hosted the discussion. “I enjoyed so much to do that and also to discover that there is not the necessity of using so many words. I was thinking for two or three months to make this a silent movie in black and white... “But my brother, who is also my producer, didn’t allow me to do that. He said, ‘Pedro, this is risky enough.’ And he is the intelligent one in the family, so I said, ‘You’re right.’

“Now I’m glad that I made it this way, because for a silent movie, someone like Fritz Lang or Murnau had really established the rules of the game, and in this case, it was better to feel more free from any influences.” “The Skin I Live In,” which stars Antonio

Banderas as a sociopathic plastic surgeon who experiments on an unwilling subject, feels less like Almodvar’s earlier films and more akin to classic horror films like Georges Franju’s “Eyes Without a Face.” “Of course, there’s a lot of resonance in this movie,” admitted Almodvar, who was also in town to serve as guest director for this week’s AFI Film Festival. “This is an eternal subject, to create someone new. But I was not conscious [of earlier films] when I was shooting. Directors, in general, feel we are unique, and that we are creating something complete new, and we are, at least in my case. This is the first time I’ve made this material, so I wasn’t conscious about other influences.

But he did admit that “Alfred Hitchcock is present. And Hitchcock for me really is the master. It’s like he invented the cinema. It’s impossible to avoid the influence of Hitchcock. But of course, ‘Frankenstein’ is always there, too. And many movies with people with masks. But I didn’t think of them when I was shooting. “But I remember that when we were filming on the staircase, I saw that the ghosts of ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Vertigo’ were coming like guests, part of the family of the subject. I said hello, and they were very welcoming.”—Reuters

Madonna ‘very upset’ at new song leak

M

adonna’s manager Guy Oseary has said the US singer was “very upset” that a demo of her new song “Give Me All Your Love” had leaked onto the Internet.

The song, which hit the web on Wednesday and has been listened to by fans around the world, is expected to be the debut track from Madonna’s upcoming album, her first studio release since leaving Warner Bros to join Live Nation.

“Madonna told me this morning ‘my true fans wouldn’t do this’... whoever is responsible for this leak, we ask that you please stop!”

Oseary wrote via Twitter. “I’m very happy with the positive reaction to the demo, but we are very upset with whoever leaked the song!!!!!!!!” he added. Addressing questions tweeted by fans, Oseary said the new album should be finished “in the next month or so,” and that it did not yet have a title.

He added that the 53 year-old star, whose hits include “Like a Virgin,” “Vogue” and “Hung Up,” had penned a “beautiful ballad” for her

movie “WE.” The picture, Madonna’s second feature film as director, follows the life of Wallis Simpson, the American divorcee whose relationship with King Edward VIII sparked a constitutional crisis in Britain and led to his abdication. The film, which had its world premiere at the Venice film festival, hits US theatres in December and British cinemas in January.

Madonna’s new record will be her first studio album since 2008’s “Hard Candy,” which debuted at No 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. In 2007, Madonna dropped her long-time music label Warner Bros and signed a deal with concert promoter Live Nation reported to be for 10 years and worth $120 million. The deal, part of a recent trend in the struggling music industry, involved not only record sales, but also touring and merchandising.—Reuters

Madonna

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Lifestyle

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Shakira accepts the person of the year award, presented by, from left, President of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Neil Portnow, Marc Anthony and Chairman of the Latin Recording Academy Luis Cobos onstage. — AP photos

Colombian musician Shakira embraces her father William Mebarak.

Shakira H

er hips don’t lie and neither do her massive album sales. International pop star Shakira was honored as the 2011 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year in Las Vegas last night during a star-studded tribute dinner that saw the Colombian singer share an intimate moment with her father and close the night in a burst of song dedicated to her hometown of Barranquilla.

Colombian musician Shakira’s father William Mebarak performs.

A parade of Latin music’s biggest stars paid homage to the 34-year-old “Hips Don’t Lie” singer during the concert at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip. They performed hits such as “La Tortura” and “Estoy Aqui” in a two-hour salute to a career that has spanned decades and continents.

Shakira gleefully took in the performances, occasionally bouncing in her chair to show her appreciation, or standing up to dance amid a maze of banquet tables. After each song, Shakira climbed on stage and embraced the performers that included Venezuelan singer Franco De Vita, Mexican rocker Alejandra Guzmn and salsa legend Gilberto Santa Rosa.

But it was a performance from her father, William Mebarak, that marked the emotional crescendo of the night. Mebarak, who sat next to Shakira for most of the show, took to the stage mid-way through the celebration and sang “Mi Nina Bonita” to his daughter. The song, which translates to “My Pretty Girl,” is a staple father-daughter tribute often heard at Hispanic weddings and birthday parties. As Mebarak sang, pictures of the father and daughter flooded a screen hanging along the back of the stage. Shakira, visibly moved, buried her face in a tissue.

“Thank you, daddy, for that song,” she told him later in Spanish. Puerto Rican crooner Marc Anthony presented Shakira with a crystal plaque to mark the honor. He called her a close friend and a humanitarian. Shakira’s Pies Descalzos Foundation has raised millions of dollars to fight poverty and educate the poor. “We are in the presence of one of the most special human beings, one of the most talented human beings you will ever meet,” Anthony said.

Shakira, who has sold more than 60 million albums in Spanish and English, is the youngest person to receive the Latin Recording Academy’s most prestigious award. Previous honorees include Carlos Santana, Gloria Estefan and Ricky Martin.

“I’ll carry this night with me always,” she said in Spanish after receiving the award. “It’s an honor that I am not sure I deserve, but you’ve made me very happy.” She ended the night with a performance of “En Barranquilla me Quedo,” an opus celebrating her hometown that was originally performed by the late Colombian salsa star Joe Arroyo. During the performance, Shakira lifted up the skirt of her sea foamcolored ball gown, revealing her twisting feet as she salsa danced across the stage. It was the only time the singer famous for her rotating hips busted a move on stage. The celebration came amid a red-letter week for Shakira, who was honored with her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles Tuesday. She is also up for three awards, including album of the year, at the 12th Annual Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas.

Shakira, who recently ended an international tour for her “Sale el Sol” album, said it has been a “year of passion.” “I’ve been able to harvest the efforts of the past,” she told The Associated Press. Shakira, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, was only 14 when she released her first album, “Magia.” She

rose to fame in Latin America and Spain in 1995 with the release “Pies Descalzos” and the 1998 release of her Spanish rock album “Donde Estan los Ladrones?”

She made her name in the English-language world with the hit single “Whenever, Whereever” in 2001, selling more than 13 million copies worldwide of the album “Laundry Service.”— AP

Colombian musician Shakira is seen on a big screen as she cries while her father, singer William Mebarak Chadid performs.

Lifestyle FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Vogue labels Olsens twins best dressed sisters Izabel Goulart wears lingerie.

Victoria’s Secret show

is mix of music and models

Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen

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A model presents lingerie.

B Models wear lingerie during the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

Jay-Z and Kanye West perform during the Victoria’s Secret fashion.

elieve it or not, the Victoria’s Secret fashion show belonged to the boys on Wednesday night. It was Kanye West, Jay-Z and Maroon 5 who got the audience clapping and cheering at the annual lingerie extravaganza at the Lexington Avenue Armory, quite a feat considering they were sharing the stage with the some of the world’s top models - in barely-there get-ups, no less. The show, which also featured a song by Nicki Minaj, who was decked out in a bright orange bustier, cosmic-print skirt and leggings, and a frothy pink wig, will be televised on CBS on Nov 29.

The worlds of fashion and music always come together on this runway, which is more for entertainment, excitement and brand-building than a serious preview of styles. It really clicked this time, though, when Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine escorted his girlfriend Anne Vyalitsyna down the catwalk and then planted a kiss on her cheek. She was wearing a push-up bra covered with a crystal-encrusted body overlay.

Model Constance Jablonski strutted to “Moves Like Jagger” in an illusion beaded gown with a feather mermaid hemline, and Karlie Kloss wore a corset-style bodysuit covered in tropical colored beads.

A lot of the backstage buzz before the show was about West, who was originally scheduled for the 2007 show but pulled out after his mother’s death. Doutzen Kroes and Chanel Iman were among the top Victoria’s Secret models, dubbed VS Angels, who posed with him in their micro-mini pink satin robes and told him they expected his set to be a highlight of the night. “I lost my super hero,” he said when he eventually landed on the runway, “and now she’s my super angel.”

He started singing and that cued Alessandra Ambrosio to come out in a leather harness,

push-up bra, thigh-high leather boots and a long, flowing cape splashed with the word “incredible” in cartoon-style letters trailing behind her. Lindsay Ellingson was on her heels in a leather bodysuit paired with silver wings and soon after came Erin Heatherton in a latex bodice and silver-dagger, weaponlike wings.

West then called out his “big bro” Jay-Z to come from backstage for the next song.

Both rappers are known fans of sometimes flamboyant fashion, but West wore a brand

A model wears lingerie during the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. new Versace for H&M jacket and black leather pants with a low-slung gold belt, and Jay-Z went the black hoodie with black jeans route. The glitz instead came from Miranda Kerr’s Fantasy Bra, studded with $2.5 million worth of diamonds. It was featured in a section of the show called “Angels Aquatic” that was a parade of mermaid goddesses in undergarments embellished with pearls and their wings crafted like shells. —AP

hey have always been in vogue, but twin actresses and clothing designers Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen are now truly in Vogue, gracing the cover of the fashion magazine’s newest best dressed issue. The widely-read edition, which was unveiled yesterday and hits newsstands on Nov 15, puts its spotlight on nine global sister acts from British royalty, the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton and her sister Pippa, to celebrity singers Beyonce and Solange Knowles.

Also getting special mention inside the pages are the French Courtin-Clarin foursome, granddaughters of Clarins cosmetics company founder, Jacques Courtin-Clarin. “It’s been a year of sisters, most famously with Catherine and Pippa Middleton,” Mark Holgate, Vogue Fashion News Director and Editor of the best dressed issue, told Reuters.

Holgate credits the Middletons with popularizing their own mid-thigh length of dress: “short enough to be impossible for an older-generation royal to wear, long enough to be decent when sitting or bending down to talk to a child.”

But it was the Olsen twins, who rose to fame as child stars on US TV and as adults founded two successful high-end clothing labels, who were picked for the prestigious cover.

Holgate called the choice: “kind of a no-brainer.” “Are there any more chic, stylish, cool, and original sisters than Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen? They are incredibly stylish,” he said of the twins. The fact they have appeared on worst dressed lists in the past, including an annual one from late fashion critic Mr Blackwell, is actually a positive thing, said Holgate.

Free-thinking fashion “They (the Olsens) get it right a lot of the time and then sometimes they don’t get it right. That’s actually great because it shows that it’s their hands reaching into their wardrobes,” explained Holgate. “They don’t have someone telling them, ‘This is cool, this is hot, this is what you should be wearing.’ It comes from within them. It’s instinctual. “Look at what they’ve done with (their fashion labels) The Row and Elizabeth and James,” said Holgate. “They are legitimate fashion forces.” The issue also highlights sisters with contrasting styles, such as the Maras-actresses Rooney of the upcoming “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and Kate, currently seen on TV’s thriller series “American Horror Story.”

The magazine notes that Rooney Mara looked like “a goth Pippi Longstockings” at a recent Rodarte fashion show while Kate Mara “exudes the glamour of bygone screen sirens.”

“There was just something interesting about seeing how siblings’ style can be so different and unique,” said Holgate.

“We started thinking about all of the great sister acts who are around right now who look really good together but also look good apart.”

The colorful Solange Knowles, younger sister of pop superstar Beyonce, is known for taking style risks including shaving her head, donning afro wigs and mixing prints and colors. But she told Vogue in an interview that both their tastes are evolving and bridging the gap between their styles. “I never borrowed clothes from Beyonce when we were growing up,” said Solange. “But now my style is a little more tame and hers is a little more adventurous.” —Reuters

Stars

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Aries (March 21-April 19) You have an inner urge for order and organization and a great sense of responsibility. You are competent, ambitious and cool. This marks the coming of a good time as far as career and social life are concerned. If you have not discovered this already, it seems your time of paying dues is over; real accomplishment and focus are possible now. You are a very hard worker and are driven to accomplish whatever is set out for you.

You like to manipulate a situation for its own benefit and would make a natural supervisor. You can demonstrate great understanding and sensitivity to the needs of others just now and may find yourself as a representative or possibly a politician when it comes to your community. A hobby keeps you busy and laughing tonight.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You will be pleased at your ability to respond to the unexpected today. This is a great time to be with others and to work together. You may be sought after as just the person for a particular job. Who owes what, who owns what and who decides these things are some of the major issues for you this afternoon. The only thing we really own is our consciousness; the only master who is never overthrown is oneself. Master them and you master everything. Dodge these issues and the great strength that could be yours will remain just out of reach. Understanding inner motivations, seeing through to the core is your real path of power and enlightenment now. You may find yourself looking for a little romance this evening.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Big changes affecting your career, status and reputation are likely at this time. Daring to be different gets you noticed and could get you ahead in ways you never expected. Today is a time of reaping the rewards for your hard work. Regardless of how differently you may have attempted to accomplish some project, the end results of your work have successful vibrations. A high tech or idealistic approach sets you apart. You are at your mental best with sharp ideas and clear thoughts. You seem to have developed a knack for being in the right place at the right time—and that can win you the admiration of others. A drive to probe and penetrate may find you examining and working through many changes. Look through a telescope tonight; cool.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) Your ambition is strong. Things seem to fall in place and progress is good. Outer circumstances and the flow of events make it easy for you to formulate clear decisions. You are wise to save a bit of time to follow up on facts and confirm costs. You will prosper through new insights, inventions and an independent point of view. Ridding yourself of excess and what is nonessential may also be a key move to better working opportunities.

Although financial rewards will come through your hard work, you can also find yourself spending money faster than you make it—careful. With the winter coming, you may find the finances a bit tight, particularly if there are repairs or upkeep jobs to do on the home front. How about a budget?

Leo (July 23-August 22) The power of organization on a social scale, such as business or political affairs, seems to take on a larger than life feeling now. It’s as if ambition and authority are answers in themselves, rather than means to an objective. This can lead to ambitious schemes that tend to become lost along the way. Real power is always hidden; finding it means delving into a few secret places, and that’s where you are bound to look now.

Look around and check out the people you admire that have reached the success you are looking for and ask yourself how they made it to their success. Perhaps you can use one of those people as a mentor. You can demonstrate great understanding to family members this evening. You also may find yourself dealing with community affairs.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Concentrated effort is important with your work just now— staying away from emotional issues is a very wise plan.

Practice diplomacy when dealing with the public. Do not let feelings get in the way of clear judgment. Later today there will be time to do a little research, perhaps at the local library. This research will either help you in making a decision or in completing some project. You are learning that education wasn’t as dull as you thought and the fun of discovery may point you in the direction of more education... or at the least, a few classes. Look beyond surface meanings for the insights you seek. Loved ones may give you support and, in some way, help you gain a focus this afternoon. Involve yourself with a relaxing activity this evening.

Libra (September 23-October 22) This is a beneficial time that will accommodate your efforts to achieve a balance between the physical and the emotional parts of your life. If you find it too difficult to initiate the changes that are needed for this balance, find some counseling or a business advisor for yourself. Compromise is the order of the day in the workplace. Instead of deciding you are not going to do something, think it through and try to find a beneficial end result. You may find that both your personal growth and your career may depend upon how you can handle the challenges that may be coming up now. The power of organization on a social scale—business, politics and such—seems to take on an importance to you in making your day run smoothly. Obstacles are short-lived today.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Work, achievement and ambition are your idea of having fun—you feel productive. You may take on a leadership role at this time. You look for new opportunities to grow and to help others grow.

The spirit of cooperation and sharp mental activity makes it easy for you to move forward in your career. You may find yourself serving to guide someone younger than you in matters of importance this afternoon—perhaps through tutoring school subjects or in junior achievement type of activity.

This evening you give yourself time to think through some future plans. You may reason and analyze and think about the next project. Take some time out and exercise your body through some form of dancing or movement.

Perhaps a friend, partner or loved one will join you.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You may find yourself working closely with someone that you always thought you would like to mirror. Your work growth seems to take on the same route that this person has set out for his or her own progress—you are happy to follow. Concentrating on pleasing this person is not your goal but learning and asking questions is bringing you forward. You may wonder if you will ever learn enough to set the example for someone else and you most certainly will. Getting down to the essential work process is most important now. Much can be accomplished today. Your thoughts are brought to a sharp focus. This evening you and a friend may decide to work on the making of a movie. Progress around this project or some similar project is good.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) This is a good day—one where much progress is gained. You do a professional job for the customer and the customer recommends you to another customer. This is a perfect time to move forward in whatever you want to accomplish. Respect is earned for your way of handling new ideas or practical solutions. Your career could assume a much more determined and solid form. Wonderful results are possible from your positive choices. The sound of children fills the air this afternoon. You may be responsible for their evening meal or that they have learned their assignment from school. You may even decide to teach them a recipe they could cook for their snack or dessert in trade for study time. This evening you appreciate the beauty in your life.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You may have to abandon your own ideas today but it is a commendable move that you take. Do not worry—your actions have not gone unnoticed. Your self-confidence gets a boost today.

Use this cycle to get ahead professionally. Have no fear of the future challenges you see ahead. Your appreciation for hard work and discipline is natural and lifelong. Your professional standing improves. You actually love responsibility and tend to pile on the work. A positive change in financial status is possible soon. A part-time job or second job may be what you and many other people do at this time of year in order to enjoy the upcoming holidays. A cultural event involving friends and associates is quite helpful this evening. There is new information to absorb.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) Your attitude about your work is commendable. If there is a job, you can do it. As a strong worker, you pour yourself into any task with absolute determination. You may find that your co-workers seek you out to ask for your psychological insight and understanding. Sometimes they complain and sometimes they make comments about others or their work. Your insight is helpful in turning the negative conversations into a positive. This afternoon you may take a notion to paint a wall or create your own decorative art display for this time of the year. It may be that the leaves or nature’s other ornaments are ripe for the picking . . . a few pine cones here or there and a few colorful pieces of fruit or a colorful plant would work nicely. This is a great time to decorate.

COUNTRY CODES Afghanistan 0093 Albania 00355 Algeria 00213 Andorra 00376 Angola 00244 Anguilla 001264 Antiga 001268 Argentina 0054 Armenia 00374 Australia 0061 Austria 0043 Bahamas 001242 Bahrain 00973 Bangladesh 00880 Barbados 001246 Belarus 00375 Belgium 0032 Belize 00501 Benin 00229 Bermuda 001441 Bhutan 00975 Bolivia 00591 Bosnia 00387 Botswana 00267 Brazil 0055 Brunei 00673 Bulgaria 00359 Burkina 00226 Burundi 00257 Cambodia 00855 Cameroon 00237 Canada 001 Cape Verde 00238 Cayman Islands 001345 Central African Republic 00236 Chad 00235 Chile 0056 China 0086 Colombia 0057 Comoros 00269 Congo 00242 Cook Islands 00682 Costa Rica 00506 Croatia 00385 Cuba 0053 Cyprus 00357 Cyprus (Northern) 0090392 Czech Republic 00420 Denmark 0045 Diego Garcia 00246 Djibouti 00253 Dominica 001767 Dominican Republic 001809 Ecuador 00593 Egypt 0020 El Salvador 00503 England (UK) 0044 Equatorial Guinea 00240 Eritrea 00291 Estonia 00372 Ethiopia 00251 Falkland Islands 00500 Faroe Islands 00298 Fiji 00679 Finland 00358 France 0033 French Guiana 00594 French Polynesia 00689 Gabon 00241 Gambia 00220 Georgia 00995 Germany 0049 Ghana 00233 Gibraltar 00350 Greece 0030 Greenland 00299 Grenada 001473 Guadeloupe 00590 Guam 001671 Guatemala 00502 Guinea 00224 Guyana 00592 Haiti 00509 Holland (Netherlands)0031 Honduras 00504 Hong Kong 00852 Hungary 0036 Ibiza (Spain) 0034 Iceland 00354 India 0091 Indian Ocean 00873 Indonesia 0062 Iran 0098 Iraq 00964 Ireland 00353 Italy 0039 Ivory Coast 00225 Jamaica 001876 Japan 0081 Jordan 00962 Kazakhstan 007 Kenya 00254 Kiribati 00686

Kuwait 00965 Kyrgyzstan 00996 Laos 00856 Latvia 00371 Lebanon 00961 Liberia 00231 Libya 00218 Lithuania 00370 Luxembourg 00352 Macau 00853 Macedonia 00389 Madagascar 00261 Majorca 0034 Malawi 00265 Malaysia 0060 Maldives 00960 Mali 00223 Malta 00356 Marshall Islands 00692 Martinique 00596 Mauritania 00222 Mauritius 00230 Mayotte 00269 Mexico 0052 Micronesia 00691 Moldova 00373 Monaco 00377 Mongolia 00976 Montserrat 001664 Morocco 00212 Mozambique 00258 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Namibia 00264 Nepal 00977 Netherlands (Holland)0031 Netherlands Antilles 00599 New Caledonia 00687 New Zealand 0064 Nicaragua 00505 Nigar 00227 Nigeria 00234 Niue 00683 Norfolk Island 00672 Northern Ireland (UK)0044 North Korea 00850 Norway 0047 Oman 00968 Pakistan 0092 Palau 00680 Panama 00507 Papua New Guinea 00675 Paraguay 00595 Peru 0051 Philippines 0063 Poland 0048 Portugal 00351 Puerto Rico 001787 Qatar 00974 Romania 0040 Russian Federation 007 Rwanda 00250 Saint Helena 00290 Saint Kitts 001869 Saint Lucia 001758 Saint Pierre 00508 Saint Vincent 001784 Samoa US 00684 Samoa West 00685 San Marino 00378 Sao Tone 00239 Saudi Arabia 00966 Scotland (UK) 0044 Senegal 00221 Seychelles 00284 Sierra Leone 00232 Singapore 0065 Slovakia 00421 Slovenia 00386 Solomon Islands 00677 Somalia 00252 South Africa 0027 South Korea 0082 Spain 0034 Sri Lanka 0094 Sudan 00249 Suriname 00597 Swaziland 00268 Sweden 0046 Switzerland 0041 Syria 00963 Taiwan 00886 Tanzania 00255 Thailand 0066 Toga 00228 Tonga 00676 Tokelau 00690 Trinidad 001868 Tunisia 00216 Turkey 0090 Tuvalu 00688 Uganda 00256 Ukraine 00380 United Arab Emirates00976

W h a t ’s O n FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Paritala Yuvasena supports Chadra Babu ‘Poru Bata’

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aritala Yuvasena, Kuwait, Telugu Desam Party supporters announced their unity to N Chadra Babu Naidu, Former Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, who is performing ‘Pada Yatra’ last six days against government for the welfare of farmers. Meanwhile Paritala Yuvasena, Kuwait organized a meeting in Hawally yesterday.

Paritala Yuvasena President Ratakonda Laxmipati Naidu, Gulf wide Nadamuri fans President Polineni Santha Ram Naidu, Pravasandra TDP Kuwait leaders Venkat Koduri, Chundu Reddeiah Naidu along with others criticized that the farmers were facing untold hardships due to the inefficiency of the State Government. They also faulted the Congress-led UPA Government for rise

in diesel and petrol prices, which compounded the problems of the farmers. He called upon them to wage a struggle till they relented and took steps to ameliorate their conditions. Vegi Venkatesh Naidu, Nallapaneni Narasimhulu, Maratu Nagendra, Endluri Rajendra Naidu, Chandra Babu Naidu Nagineni, Manohar Naidu, Paladugu Srinivas, Vegi Ravindra Chodari, Karunakar Reddy, Mallikarjuna, Harichandra Prasad, Naresh Tallapaneni, Ravi Nagineni, Siddavatam Ravi, Koti Payyavula, Chandra Sekhar, Dora Babu, Ranga Prasad Naidu, Eeswaraiah, Naresh Kanchara, Laxmi Narayana Shetty, Mahesh Naidu Golla, Thota Sriramulu, Satya played a lead role in this occasion.

Annual Holiday bazaar

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ring the family and enjoy a festive day of shopping on Friday November 18, 2011, 10:30 am - 9 pm at The Salwa Sabah Al-Ahmed Theater and Hall, Gulf Road entrance just after the Hard Rock Cafe before Marina Santa from 11 am-2 pm and 5-7 pm.

Aware center tour

New Kimono Fashion Show ‘Tenkuu’

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he Embassy of Japan in cooperation with the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters will host New “Kimono” show “Tenkuu”. The fashion group “Be Japon” will present a number of new style Kimonos which are known for their fantastic colors, design, texture, and sewing accompanied with Japanese music and dance. The whole collection is inspired by the fantastic and the old Kimono during Meiji and

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he Aware centre has organized a 1 1/2 tour of one of Kuwait’s most famous landmarks: The Grand Mosque. The tour will commence at 9.30am tomorrow but those interested in taking part should meet at the Grand Mosque at 9.15. The dress code is conservative, and cameras are allowed. Please note, women are kindly requested to wear long and loose fitting clothing and may take a scarf for covering their hair. The Mosque will be able to provide scarves for those without.

Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

Taisho periods. The group tries to promote the art of recycling through their re-make Kimonos works. “Be Japon” is non-profit organization. It was established in 1989 to be concerned with fashion. The group tries to interact with other countries’ cultures and people taking into consideration the entity of each culture through such fashion show. This show is a good opportunity to get in touch with Japanese culture, heart and

Meeting

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nternational Women’s Group Kuwait will hold its meeting on Sunday November 13, at the Radisson Blu Boubiyan Room. Doors open at 9:30 am with the program commencing at 10:00 am prompt. We hope you will join us in welcoming Mohammed Jasim AlBhubaib, General Manager & Partner of Melenzane Restaurant and Catering.

Dhubaib is also a professional chef who trained in France. He will be speaking to us about Italian cuisine and the sourcing of produce in Kuwait. We look forward to seeing all of you at this very special meeting.

soul. It comes among other cultural activities to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relation between Japan and Kuwait. The new “Kimono” show “Tenkuu” is on Nov 14, 2011 at 7:30 pm (invitees only) and Nov 15, 2011 at 7:30 pm (public) at Abdul Aziz Hussein Cultural Center Theater (Mishref). All the events are admission free.

For inquiries, please contact Japanese Embassy 25309400.

Art expo

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hyma’s Ashkanani will present a figurative abstract and translucent acrylic colors exhibition. The opening reception is on November 14, 2011 at 7 pm and will go on till November 24. Exhibition Hours: 15 24 November 2011. The timings are from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm and 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm.

St Andrews Ball 2011

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he Kuwait Calendonians are pleased to invite you to the St Andrews Ball 2011 to be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Thursday, December 1 from 7:30 pm. Invites will be available after Eid.

W h a t ’s O n FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Art exhibition

Announcements

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ar Al Funoon has the pleasure to invite you to an art exhibition of works from Hamad Al-Saab & Ali Sultan titled: Connect To Disconnect To Connect. It will open on November 14 and will continue until November 21 at Dar AlFunoon (Behbehani Compound, House 28, Kuwait City).

SOS’s annual function Friends of SOS children’s villages Pakistan, Kuwait Chapter are in action once again. The much awaited ‘Annual-Function’ has been planned. It will be an evening of entertainment for a noble cause. ‘Friends’ are engaged with SOS children’s villages for the past many years. We have Alhadulillah done a lot to support the villages in Pakistan. Our regular ‘Friends’ are well aware of the hospitality and joyful environment at the function. We are also looking forward to welcoming new friends from all communities. The venue is at GUST Auditorium, Mishref on Thursday, November 24 at 7:30 pm. For details contact: Aziz Mamuji: 99837040 Ghazala Bano: 66385203.

Talent hunt

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esal Media Team is organizing a new concept competition for little talents in Kuwait. This competition is for children ages 6-12 years who have excellent talents in singing, dancing, drawing, etc. All interested little talents are welcome to participate. To sign-up, just visit their website and register your child. The final announcements will be published in a short event at Discovery Mall with famous singers and actors in Kuwait. For more information: 9754-7705.

Birthday greetings

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appy birthday to dearest Ishan! May Allah the Almighty give u lots of joy and happy moments. May you live long and may worries, thoughts, anger and bad luck stay away from you. Best wishes from Imran, Irfan, grandmother, grandfather, Asma, Azania ,and all your near and dear ones.

AWARE Centre hosts a movie day

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oin the AWARE Center once a month as they explore the culture of the Arabs and Muslims through film. This Friday’s film is titled Cairo Time; a 2009 drama Canadian Film.

Cairo Time is a 2009 film by Canadian director Ruba Nadda. It is a romantic drama about a brief, unexpected love affair

that catches two people completely offguard. This movie won the “Best Canadian Feature Film” at the Toronto International Film Festival 2009. Duration: 90 minutes.

Plot Synopsis Juliette (Patricia Clarkson) is a Canadian magazine editor who arrives in Cairo for a

vacation with her long-time husband (Tom McCamus), a UN official working in Gaza. Delayed, her husband asks his friend-a handsome Egyptian named Tareq (Alexander Siddig)-to watch over Juliette.

Juliette finds herself falling in love not only with the city but with Tareq.

For more info: 2533-5260/80

Fitness program Tara Na, Mag-Excersice Na TayoTuwing Biernes!! The Filipino Cultural Club (FCC), cordially invites you to attend /participate in” FCC’s beach Clean-up and Physical Fitness” program dubbed as “A Dance with the Sun by the Sea... Season -2” on November 28, 7 am, McDonald’s Corniche, Gulf Road. Fitness program will run for four months evry Friday 7:00 am McDonald seaside. Come, join us and tag along your family and friends in this very exciting and stimulating activity.

For details contact Bong -99530665, Maria-99079341, Cynthia & Danny-99169310.

Indian Lawyers’ Forum Onam Indian Lawyers’ Forum will celebrate Onam, the unique, secular, harvest festival of Kerala on 18th November, 2011 Friday 10.30 am at Hi-Dine Restaurant Auditorium, Abbassia. Celebrations will include traditional variety entertainments, with the grand ‘ONASADHYA’. All Indian Lawyers & Law graduates working here in Kuwait are invited with their families. For details contact Panicker 97203939, Pulikkal 97260159. Email: advpanicker@gmail.com Tulukoota talent hunt Tulukoota Kuwait will hold a “Talent Hunt 2011” a chance to prove an inborn trait in you that confirms your individuality, uniqueness. For more information and registration form kindly log on to our Website: www.tulukootakuwait.org or visit our facebook page Tulukoota Kuwait Talent Hunt 2011. You could also email your form request to: secretary@tulukootakuwait.org or contact our area coordinators mentioned below. Mangaf, Fahaheel, Abuhalifa : Ronald Dsouza- 60035824, Shalini Alva23726164, Suma Bhatt- 97834578 Salmiya & Hawally: Swarna Shetty- 99006934, Kripa Gatty- 66044194 Kuwait City, Jahra, Sharq: Rekha Sachu65044521,97862115 Farwaniya, Abbassiya, Shuwaikh & Khaitan: Sathyanarayana- 66585077 Sanath Shetty67712409.

Youth Chorus competition Youth Chorus is organizing the sixth Christian Malayalam Group Song Competition on Friday, 18th November 2011 at 6:00 p.m. at the United Indian School Auditorium, Abbasiya. The team has to present one Christian Malayalam song within seven minutes.

The minimum number of members in the team should be 7 and the maximum 20, including the orchestra persons.

The first, second and third prize winners will be awarded with rolling trophies and certificates. The following prestigious trophies will be awarded to the winners.

First Prize - Youth Chorus Ever Rolling Trophy Second Prize- Omana Jose memorial Ever Rolling Trophy Third Prize- Youth Chorus Ever Rolling Trophy All the other participating teams will be awarded a Youth Chorus memento. Please register the name of your team with the conveners on or before 10th November 2011. Tel: 66853100, 6651093 or to our email address youthchorus@gmail.com

TV Listings FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

22:00 22:25 22:50 Mandy 23:00 23:25 23:50

00:50 I Was Bitten 01:45 Animal Cops Houston 02:40 Galapagos 03:35 Venom Hunter With Donald Schultz 04:30 I Was Bitten 05:25 Dogs 101 06:20 Animal Cops Houston 07:10 SSPCA: On The Wildside 08:00 Monkey Life 08:25 The Really Wild Show 08:50 Baby Planet 09:40 Breed All About It 10:10 World’s Ugliest Dog Competition 11:05 Dogs 101 12:00 Animal Cops Houston 12:55 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip 13:50 World Wild Vet 14:45 Animal Cops Houston 15:40 Galapagos 16:30 Monkey Life 17:00 The Really Wild Show 17:30 Panda Adventures With Nigel Marven 18:25 Dogs 101 19:20 America’s Cutest Pet 20:15 Monkey Life 20:40 Breed All About It 21:10 Dogs 101

00:35 Afterlife 01:25 2 Point 4 Children 02:30 The Weakest Link: S11: Set 02 03:15 Incredible Journeys With Steve Leonard 04:05 2 Point 4 Children 04:40 3rd & Bird: set 01 04:50 Bobinogs 05:00 Boogie Beebies: Set 4 05:15 Spot’s Musical Adventures 05:20 Me Too: Set 1 05:40 Fimbles: Set 2 06:00 3rd & Bird: set 01 06:10 Bobinogs 06:20 Boogie Beebies: Set 4 06:40 Me Too: Set 1 07:00 Charlie & Lola: Set 2 07:10 Fimbles: Set 2 07:30 3rd & Bird: set 01 07:40 Bobinogs 07:50 Boogie Beebies: Set 4 08:05 Spot’s Musical Adventures 08:10 Me Too: Set 1 08:30 Charlie & Lola: Set 2 08:40 Fimbles: Set 2 09:00 3rd & Bird: set 01 09:10 Bobinogs 09:20 Boogie Beebies: Set 4 09:35 Spot’s Musical Adventures 09:50 Me Too: Set 1 10:10 Charlie & Lola: Set 2 10:20 Fimbles: Set 2 10:40 2 Point 4 Children 11:35 The Weakest Link: S11: Set 02 12:25 Coast 13:25 Doctors: Set 2 13:55 Eastenders: set 253 14:25 Incredible Journeys With Steve Leonard 15:20 2 Point 4 Children 16:20 Coast 17:20 The Weakest Link: S11: Set 02 18:10 Doctors: Set 2 18:40 Eastenders: set 253 19:10 Incredible Journeys With Steve Leonard 20:00 Coast 21:00 The Weakest Link: S10: Set 2 21:45 Doctors: Set 2 22:20 Doctor Who 23:05 Afterlife

00:00 00:50 01:15 02:05 02:55 03:45 04:10 05:00 05:50 06:40 07:05 08:00 08:20 08:45 10:40 11:35 12:20 13:05 14:00

Holmes On Homes The Naked Chef Come Dine With Me What Not To Wear Holmes On Homes The Naked Chef Come Dine With Me What Not To Wear Holmes On Homes The Naked Chef Come Dine With Me Glamour Puds Raymond Blanc’s Kitchen Secrets Daily Cooks Challenge Antiques Roadshow Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds Bargain Hunt Come Dine With Me Daily Cooks Challenge

Total Drama Action Adventure Time The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Ben 10 Bakugan Battle Brawlers The Secret Saturdays

00:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson 01:00 Backstory 01:30 World Sport 02:00 The Situation Room 03:00 World Report 04:00 Anderson Cooper 360 05:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 06:00 Quest Means Business 07:00 World Sport 07:30 The Gateway 07:45 Future Cities 08:00 World Report 08:30 Backstory 09:00 World Report 11:00 World Sport 11:30 The Best Of Backstory 12:00 World Business Today 12:45 CNN Marketplace Middle East 13:00 American Morning: Wake-Up Call 13:30 The Best Of Backstory 14:00 World One 15:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 16:00 News Stream 17:00 World Business Today 18:00 International Desk 19:00 The Brief 19:30 World Sport 20:00 World Report 20:45 CNN Marketplace Middle East 21:00 International Desk 21:30 The CNN Freedom Project 22:00 Quest Means Business 22:45 CNN Marketplace Africa 23:00 Piers Morgan Tonight

GREEN ZONE ON OSN CINEMA 15:55 16:45 17:30 18:15 19:05 19:30 20:00 20:45 21:35 22:25 23:10 23:55

Antiques Roadshow Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds Bargain Hunt Come Dine With Me Raymond Blanc’s Kitchen Secrets The Hairy Bikers Ride Again Rhodes Across Italy Come Dine With Me Antiques Roadshow Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds Bargain Hunt Holmes On Homes

00:00 00:30 01:00 01:30 01:45 02:00 02:30 02:45 03:00 03:30 03:45 04:00 04:30 04:45 05:00 05:30 05:45 06:00 06:30 06:45 07:00 07:30 08:30 08:45 09:30 09:45 10:30 10:45 11:00

BBC World News America Hardtalk BBC World News World Business Report Sport Today BBC World News America Asia Business Report Sport Today Newsday Asia Business Report Sport Today Newsday Asia Business Report Sport Today Newsday Asia Business Report Sport Today Newsday Asia Business Report Sport Today Newsday BBC World News World Business Report BBC World News World Business Report BBC World News World Business Report Sport Today BBC World News

11:30 World Business Report 11:45 Sport Today 12:00 BBC World News 13:30 World Business Report 13:45 Sport Today 14:00 BBC World News 14:30 World Business Report 14:45 Sport Today 15:00 GMT With George Alagiah 16:00 Impact 16:30 Our World 17:00 Impact 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 World Have Your Say 19:00 BBC World News 19:40 Weekend World 20:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 21:30 Middle East Business Report 22:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 22:30 World Have Your Say Extra 22:40 Weekend World 23:00 BBC World News 23:30 Our World

00:15 Samurai Jack 00:40 Megas XLR 01:05 Robotboy 01:30 Squirrel Boy 01:55 George Of The Jungle 02:20 Cramp Twins 02:45 Chop Socky Chooks 03:10 Best Ed 03:35 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 04:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 04:25 Generator Rex 04:50 Adventure Time 05:15 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 05:40 Chowder

05:55 Powerpuff Girls 06:30 Ed, Edd n Eddy 06:55 I Am Weasel 07:20 Squirrel Boy 07:45 Cow & Chicken 08:00 Casper’s Scare School 08:04 Cow & Chicken 08:25 Angelo Rules 08:50 Best Ed 09:15 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 09:40 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 10:05 The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy 10:30 Courage The Cowardly Dog 10:55 Cow & Chicken 11:20 I Am Weasel 11:35 Adventure Time 12:00 Ben 10 12:25 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 12:50 The Secret Saturdays 13:15 Samurai Jack 13:40 Ben 10: Alien Force 14:05 Codename: Kids Next Door 14:30 Skunk Fu! 14:50 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 15:15 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 15:40 Ed, Edd n Eddy 16:05 Camp Lazlo 16:30 Chowder 16:55 The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy 17:25 Cow & Chicken 17:50 Courage The Cowardly Dog 18:15 I Am Weasel 18:40 George Of The Jungle 19:05 Codename: Kids Next Door 19:30 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 19:55 Ben 10: Ultimate Challenge 20:20 Generator Rex 20:45 Bakugan: Gundalian Invaders 21:10 Hero 108 21:35 Star Wars: The Clone Wars

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

Swamp Brothers Man vs Fish With Matt Watson Overhaulin’ Dirty Jobs Ultimate Survival Mythbusters How It’s Made How Do They Do It? Dirty Jobs Wheeler Dealers Fifth Gear Overhaulin’ How It’s Made Mythbusters Cake Boss Border Security Scrappers Ultimate Biker Challenge South Beach Classics American Chopper: Senior vs Ultimate Survival Man vs Fish With Matt Watson Swamp Brothers Cash Cab Us Wheeler Dealers Fifth Gear Overhaulin’ Mythbusters Cake Boss Border Security Scrappers How Do They Do It? How It’s Made Cash Cab Us American Chopper: Senior vs Carfellas South Beach Classics Desert Car Kings

00:40 The Gadget Show 01:05 The Tech Show 01:35 Mighty Ships 02:25 Green Wheels 02:50 Bang Goes The Theory 03:40 Brainiac 04:35 The Gadget Show 05:00 The Gadget Show 05:25 How Stuff’s Made 05:50 Mighty Ships 06:40 Stuntdawgs 07:10 Ecopolis 08:00 Punkin Chunkin 2010 08:50 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 09:40 The Tech Show 10:10 Weird Connections 10:35 The Gadget Show 11:25 Ecopolis 12:20 Sci-Fi Science

12:45 How Stuff’s Made 13:15 Bang Goes The Theory 14:05 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 14:55 Stuntdawgs 15:20 Green Wheels 15:50 Mighty Ships 16:40 Weird Connections 17:05 Thunder Races 18:00 Brainiac 18:50 Sci-Fi Science 19:15 The Tech Show 19:40 Build It Bigger: Rebuilding Greensburg 20:30 Space Pioneer 21:20 The Future Of...

22:10 The Gadget Show 23:00 Build It Bigger: Rebuilding Greensburg 23:50 Space Pioneer

00:00 00:25 01:15 02:00 02:50 03:35 04:25 05:15 06:00 06:20 06:45 07:05 07:30 07:55 08:20 08:35 09:00 09:15 09:25 09:35 09:50 10:15 10:30 10:50 11:15 11:35 12:00 12:25 12:45 13:10 13:30 13:55 14:55 15:20 15:45 16:00 16:10 16:35 17:00 18:15 20:00 20:25 20:50 21:15 21:28 21:35 22:00 22:25 22:50 23:15

Kim Possible Fairly Odd Parents Stitch Replacements Emperor’s New School Stitch Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Emperor’s New School The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody Phineas And Ferb Wizards Of Waverly Place Suite Life On Deck Good Luck Charlie Fish Hooks Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates Jungle Junction The Hive Handy Manny Imagination Movers Phineas And Ferb Emperor’s New School Good Luck Charlie Phineas And Ferb Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Sonny With A Chance Good Luck Charlie Hannah Montana Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Good Luck Charlie Phineas And Ferb Friends For Change Games Phineas And Ferb Shake It Up The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody Phineas And Ferb Lemonade Mouth Emperor’s New School Fish Hooks Hannah Montana Friends For Change Games Phineas And Ferb Good Luck Charlie Shake It Up Suite Life On Deck Sonny With A Chance Wizards Of Waverly Place

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

Kendra Style Star E!es 25 Most Stylish Sexiest Extreme Hollywood THS Behind The Scenes E! News Dirty Soap 25 Hottest Hollywood Cougar

00:40 01:30 02:15 02:40

Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghost Lab Crime Scene Psychics Crime Scene Psychics

E! News Bridalplasty Keeping Up With The Kardashians Giuliana & Bill THS Behind The Scenes Keeping Up With The Kardashians E! News THS Style Star Chelsea Lately Giuliana & Bill E! News Chelsea Lately Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami

TV Listings FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

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

Cuff Me If You Can Forensic Justice Dr G: Medical Examiner Crime Scene Psychics Ghost Lab Mystery ER Murder Shift Forensic Detectives Mystery ER Real Emergency Calls Street Patrol Fugitive Strike Force FBI Files Murder Shift On The Case With Paula Zahn Extreme Forensics Mystery ER Street Patrol Real Emergency Calls Fugitive Strike Force FBI Files Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Real Emergency Calls Mystery ER Street Patrol On The Case With Paula Zahn Extreme Forensics Stalked: Someone’s Watching I Was Murdered Who On Earth Did I Marry?

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

Warrior Road Trip Bondi Rescue: Bali Bondi Rescue Travel Madness Deadliest Journeys Cruise Ship Diaries Ultimate Traveller Warrior Road Trip Bondi Rescue: Bali Bondi Rescue Travel Madness Deadliest Journeys Cruise Ship Diaries Ultimate Traveller Warrior Road Trip On The Camino De Santiago Treks In A Wild World Bluelist Australia Amazing Adventures of A Nobody Around The World For Free A World Apart Departures On The Camino De Santiago Treks In A Wild World Bluelist Australia Amazing Adventures of A Nobody Around The World For Free A World Apart

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

Camp Hope-PG15 Jennifer’s Body-18 The Alphabet Killer-PG15 Patriot Games-PG15 Arctic Predator-PG15 Shinjuku Incident-PG15 From Paris With Love-PG15 Arctic Predator-PG15 The Thirteenth Floor-18 From Paris With Love-PG15 Gothika-18 Midnight Meat Train-18

01:15 03:15 05:15 07:00 09:00 10:45 13:00 14:30 17:30 19:30 21:45

2:22-18 Girl, Positive-PG15 Shrek Forever After-FAM On Broadway-PG15 The Nutty Professor-FAM Ramona And Beezus-PG MacHEADS-PG15 My Name Is Khan-PG15 Emotional Arithmetic-PG15 The Boys Are Back-PG Green Zone-PG15

00:30 01:00 01:30 02:00 02:30 03:00 03:30 04:00 04:30 05:30 06:00 06:30 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:30

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart The Colbert Report South Park Funny Or Die Presents Entourage Friends Friends According To Jim The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Dharma And Greg Weird Science Just Shoot Me Late Night With Jimmy Fallon According To Jim Friends Dharma And Greg Wilfred

10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 21:00 21:30 22:00 22:30 23:00 23:30

Community Just Shoot Me The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Weird Science According To Jim Friends Dharma And Greg Just Shoot Me Wilfred Community The Daily Show With Jon Stewart The Colbert Report Weird Science Late Night With Jimmy Fallon The Office Community Hot In Cleveland The Tonight Show With Jay Leno The Daily Show With Jon Stewart The Colbert Report Family Guy Entourage South Park Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 14:00 15:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

The X Factor (US) Treme Eureka The Invisible Man Good Morning America Detroit 1-8-7 Emmerdale Turn Back Your Body Clock The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Martha Stewart Show The View The X Factor (US) The Invisible Man Live Good Morning America The Ellen DeGeneres Show Tower Prep Glee The X Factor (US) Survivor: South Pacific Friday Night Lights Detroit 1-8-7

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

The Closer Treme No Ordinary Family The X Factor (US) Eureka The Closer The Simpsons Bones Eureka The X Factor (US) The Simpsons The Ellen DeGeneres Show Bones The Closer The Simpsons White Collar Glee The X Factor (US) Survivor: South Pacific Friday Night Lights No Ordinary Family

01:00 From Hell-18 03:15 Outpost-18 05:00 Carrie-18 07:00 The Lost Future-PG15 09:00 Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant-PG15 11:15 Top Gun-PG15 13:30 Wyatt Earp-PG15 16:45 Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant-PG15 19:00 Legion-18 21:00 4.3.2.1.-18 23:00 Dorothy Mills-PG15

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00

All About Steve-PG15 The Allnighter-PG15 Born Yesterday-PG15 The Country Bears-PG Julie And Julia-PG15 One Hot Summer-PG15 Frank Mcklusky, C.I.-PG15

14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

Post Grad-PG15 All About Steve-PG15 The Ramen Girl-PG15 Road Trip: Beer Pong-18 Alfie-18

01:00 Jungle Fever-18 03:15 The Italian Job (1969)-PG 05:30 Alice In Wonderland-PG 07:30 Khao Niao Moo Ping-PG15 09:15 The Cake Eaters-PG15 10:45 The Italian Job (1969)-PG 13:00 Up In The Air-PG15 15:00 Secret Origin: The Story Of DC Comics-PG 16:45 The Remains Of The Day-PG15 19:00 Leaving Normal-PG15 21:00 The Thomas Crown Affair-PG15 23:00 Antwone Fisher-PG15

01:00 Film Socialisme-PG15 03:00 Good Hair-PG15 05:00 Phoebe In Wonderland-PG 07:00 Charlie St. Cloud-PG15 09:00 Did You Hear About The Morgans?-PG15 11:00 Nativity!-PG 13:00 The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie-PG 15:00 The Last Airbender-PG 17:00 Did You Hear About The Morgans?-PG15 19:00 The Girl In The Park-PG15 21:00 Legend Of The Guardians-PG 23:00 A Nightmare On Elm Street-18

00:00 A Simple Wish-FAM 02:15 Pocahontas III: The Journey In Time-PG 04:15 Pollyworld-FAM 06:15 Lego: The Adventures Of Clutch Powers-FAM 08:15 Tom Tom & Nana-FAM 10:00 Stuart Little 2-FAM

12:00 102 Dalmatians-PG 14:00 Flicka 2-PG15 16:00 The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie-PG 18:00 Stuart Little 2-FAM 20:00 102 Dalmatians-PG 22:00 Flicka 2-PG15

01:00 Fly Me To The Moon-PG 02:30 Howl-18 04:00 A Fork In The Road-PG15 06:00 You Again-PG15 08:00 Family Gathering-PG15 10:00 Marmaduke-PG 12:00 Whip It-PG15 14:00 Adventures Of A Teenage Dragonslayer-PG 16:00 Family Gathering-PG15 18:00 The Spirit-PG15 20:00 Legend Of The Guardians-PG 22:00 Don’t Look Up-18

02:00 07:00 08:00 13:00 14:00 17:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 22:00 23:00

European PGA Tour WWE NXT LIVE PGA European Tour WWE NXT Premier League Snooker Aquabikes WWE NXT WWE Tough Enough WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line UFC The Ultimate Fighter

02:00 04:00 04:30 05:00 06:00 07:00 09:00 09:30 13:00 13:30 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 18:00 21:30 22:00

European Challenge Cup Total Rugby European Tour Weekly Volvo Ocean Race Trans World Sport European Challenge Cup ICC Cricket World Premier League Snooker ICC Cricket World Golfing World Equestrian World Spirit of Yachting World Hockey European Challenge Cup Premier League Snooker Total Rugby Live European Challenge Cup

00:45 Trans World Sport 01:45 Futbol Mundial 02:15 Premier League Snooker 05:30 Total Rugby 06:00 European Challenge Highlights 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 Live European PGA Tour 13:00 European Challenge Cup 15:00 Asian Tour Golf 15:30 European Tour Weekly 16:00 European PGA Tour 21:30 Golfing World 22:30 ICC Cricket World 23:00 Futbol Mundial 23:30 SPL Highlights

LEGION ON OSN MOVIES ACTION

Tour

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 15:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 22:00 23:00

WWE NXT UFC Total Ultimate Fighter Season UFC Unleashed WWE NXT Powerboats UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC Unleashed WWE NXT WWE Vintage Collection Powerboats Speedway WWE NXT Super League Formula V8 Supercars UFC The Ultimate Fighter WWE Tough Enough WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line UFC The Ultimate Fighter

00:05 00:30 00:55 01:20 01:45 02:10 02:35 03:00 03:25

The Garfield Show Scooby Doo Where Are You! The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop Droopy: Master Detective The Flintstones Johnny Bravo Duck Dodgers King Arthur’s Disasters The Scooby Doo Show

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

Popeye Classics Tom & Jerry Popeye The Jetsons The Flintstones Looney Tunes Pink Panther & Pals Tex Avery Duck Dodgers The Garfield Show New Yogi Bear Show Bananas In Pyjamas Baby Looney Tunes Gerald McBoing Boing Jelly Jamm Pink Panther And Pals Puppy In My Pocket The Garfield Show Dastardly And Muttley The Flintstones Tom & Jerry Pink Panther And Pals Top Cat New Yogi Bear Show Puppy In My Pocket Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Bananas In Pyjamas The Jetsons Duck Dodgers Looney Tunes Scooby Doo Where Are You! Tom & Jerry The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop Droopy: Master Detective Wacky Races Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo Dastardly And Muttley Tom & Jerry Dexters Laboratory Gerald McBoing Boing Bananas In Pyjamas Top Cat Wacky Races Tom & Jerry The Scooby Doo Show Dastardly And Muttley Tom & Jerry Johnny Bravo Dexters Laboratory

00:00 Globe Trekker 01:00 Glutton For Punishment 01:30 Glutton For Punishment 02:00 People Of The Sea 03:00 Wild Camping 04:00 Planet Sports 05:00 Globe Trekker 06:00 Glutton For Punishment 06:30 Glutton For Punishment 07:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 08:00 Globe Trekker 09:00 Intrepid Journeys 10:00 Exotic Lives 11:00 Glutton For Punishment 11:30 Glutton For Punishment 12:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 13:00 Globe Trekker 14:00 Sophie Grigson In The Home Counties 14:30 Journey Into Wine-South Africa 15:00 People Of The Sea 16:00 Planet Sports 17:00 Globe Trekker 18:00 Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma 19:00 Sophie Grigson In The Orient 19:30 Journey Into Wine-South Africa 20:00 Globe Trekker 21:00 Intrepid Journeys 22:00 Warner Bros Movie WorldAustralia 23:00 Food Tripper

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

Deep Sea Detectives IRT: Deadliest Roads Engineering An Empire Ax Men Ax Men Swamp People Deep Sea Detectives IRT: Deadliest Roads Engineering An Empire Ax Men Ax Men Swamp People Deep Sea Detectives IRT: Deadliest Roads Engineering An Empire Ax Men Ax Men Swamp People Deep Sea Detectives IRT: Deadliest Roads Engineering An Empire Chasing Mummies Ancients Behaving Badly Clash Of The Gods

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Years

Information

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines LMU IRA KAC JZR PIA SVA KAC JZR JZR KAC SVA ETH SVA KAC THY SVA UAE QTR DHX MSR FDB ETD RJA GFA KAC MEA THY JZR JZR JZR KAC BAW KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR FDB KAC ETD IRA GFA RBG TAR KAC JZR MEA IYE MSR MSR JZR KAC GFA KAC FDB UAL OMA QTR RJA KAC JZR KAC KAC QTR JZR JZR KAC JZR ETD GFA

Flt 1109 3409 2960 185 205 5448 2704 267 539 2702 5418 620 5464 2970 772 5412 853 138 370 612 67 305 642 211 2964 406 770 269 555 529 416 157 206 53 352 302 332 676 284 344 855 125 132 55 2958 301 619 213 3555 327 2968 165 404 825 623 610 201 672 219 618 57 982 645 140 640 788 257 2966 546 134 561 535 2920 213 303 215

Arrival Flights on Friday 11/11/2011 Route ALEXANDRIA MASHAD JEDDAH DUBAI LAHORE JEDDAH MEDINAH BEIRUT CAIRO MEDINAH JEDDAH ADDIS ABABA JEDDAH JEDDAH ISTANBUL JEDDAH DUBAI DOHA BAHRAIN CAIRO DUBAI ABU DHABI AMMAN BAHRAIN JEDDAH BEIRUT ISTANBUL BEIRUT ALEXANDRIA ASSIUT JAKARTA/KUALA LUMPUR LONDON ISLAMABAD DUBAI COCHIN MUMBAI TRIVANDRUM DUBAI DHAKA CHENNAI DUBAI SHARJAH DOHA DUBAI JEDDAH ABU DHABI LAR BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA TUNIS/DUBAI JEDDAH DUBAI BEIRUT SANAA SOHAG CAIRO DAMASCUS DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA DUBAI WASHINGTON DC DULLES MUSCAT DOHA AMMAN JEDDAH BEIRUT JEDDAH ALEXANDRIA DOHA SOHAG CAIRO JEDDAH DEIREZZOR ABU DHABI BAHRAIN

Time 0:01 0:05 0:15 0:20 0:25 0:30 0:40 0:45 0:50 1:10 1:30 1:45 1:55 2:10 2:15 2:30 2:35 2:40 2:55 3:00 3:05 3:10 3:10 3:15 3:35 3:40 4:50 5:10 6:00 6:20 6:25 6:40 7:40 7:45 7:50 7:55 8:05 8:10 8:15 8:25 8:30 9:00 9:05 9:20 9:30 9:35 9:50 9:55 11:05 11:15 11:20 11:20 11:55 12:05 12:30 12:55 13:00 13:20 13:25 13:40 13:50 14:05 14:15 14:20 14:40 14:50 15:00 15:20 15:20 15:25 16:10 16:25 16:35 16:45 16:50 17:15

SVA RBG ABY JZR MLR ALK FDB KAC KAC JZR KAC KAC AIC KAC KAC KAC KAC FDB FDB JAI RJA KAC SVA MSR DHX RJA VOS FCX MEA GFA QTR JZR UAE MEA KAC SAI JZR UAL PIA DLH

510 3557 127 777 403 227 63 502 542 787 674 744 975 166 102 774 562 61 8067 572 5536 786 506 618 372 5510 81 304 402 217 136 135 859 400 2972 441 239 981 215 636

Airlines UAL LMU AXB SVA BBC AIC IRA DLH PIA SVA SVA ETH SVA THY VOS SVA FDB UAE DHX MSR ETD MEA KAC QTR THY KAC JZR GFA RJA JZR FDB KAC BAW JZR KAC

Flt 981 1110 390 4442 44 982 3409 637 206 4448 4418 621 4464 773 94 4412 68 854 371 613 306 407 2957 139 771 2967 164 212 643 200 54 545 156 256 671

RIYADH SOHAG SHARJAH JEDDAH COLOMBO/DUBAI COLOMBO/DUBAI DUBAI BEIRUT CAIRO RIYADH DUBAI DAMMAM CHENNAI/GOA PARIS/ROME NEW YORK/LONDON RIYADH AMMAN DUBAI DUBAI MUMBAI AMMAN JEDDAH JEDDAH ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN AMMAN BAGHDAD RIYADH BEIRUT BAHRAIN DOHA BAHRAIN DUBAI BEIRUT JEDDAH LAHORE AMMAN BAHRAIN KARACHI FRANKFURT Departure Flights on Friday 11/11/2011 Route WASHINGTON DC DULLES ALEXANDRIA MANGALORE/KOZHIKODE MEDINAH DHAKA “AHMEDABAD/HYDERABAD/CHENNAI, INDIA” TEHRAN FRANKFURT LAHORE JEDDAH JEDDAH ADDIS ABABA JEDDAH ISTANBUL DUBAI/KANDAHAR JEDDAH DUBAI DUBAI BAHRAIN CAIRO ABU DHABI BEIRUT JEDDAH DOHA ISTANBUL JEDDAH DUBAI BAHRAIN AMMAN DAMASCUS DUBAI ALEXANDRIA LONDON BEIRUT DUBAI

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KAC JZR KAC JZR UAE ABY KAC FDB QTR ETD KAC KAC GFA IRA JZR KAC RBG KAC TAR JZR KAC MEA KAC IYE MSR MSR GFA FDB KAC KAC KAC OMA UAL RJA JZR KAC QTR KAC KAC JZR JZR ETD JZR QTR GFA RBG ABY SVA MLR JZR ALK JZR FDB JZR KAC KAC FDB KAC RJA FDB KAC JAI MSR RJA SVA DHX MEA GFA KAC QTR KAC JZR KAC FCX UAE MEA JZR SAI KAC

2965 534 787 560 856 126 117 56 133 302 617 177 214 618 212 2919 3558 541 328 776 103 405 501 825 624 611 220 58 561 673 785 646 982 641 786 773 141 2971 743 480 238 304 538 135 216 3556 128 511 404 134 228 552 64 184 283 361 62 343 5537 8068 351 571 619 5511 507 373 403 218 381 137 301 554 205 102 860 401 502 442 411

JEDDAH CAIRO JEDDAH SOHAG DUBAI SHARJAH NEW YORK DUBAI DOHA ABU DHABI DOHA FRANKFURT/GENEVA BAHRAIN LAR DEIREZZOR JEDDAH SOHAG CAIRO TUNIS JEDDAH LONDON BEIRUT BEIRUT DOHA/SANAA SOHAG CAIRO BAHRAIN DUBAI AMMAN DUBAI JEDDAH MUSCAT BAHRAIN AMMAN RIYADH RIYADH DOHA JEDDAH DAMMAM SABIHA AMMAN ABU DHABI CAIRO DOHA BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA SHARJAH RIYADH COLOMBO BAHRAIN DUBAI/COLOMBO ALEXANDRIA DUBAI DUBAI DHAKA COLOMBO DUBAI CHENNAI AMMAN DUBAI COCHIN MUMBAI ALEXANDRIA AMMAN JEDDAH BAHRAIN BEIRUT BAHRAIN DELHI DOHA MUMBAI ALEXANDRIA ISLAMABAD DUBAI DUBAI BEIRUT LUXOR LAHORE BANGKOK/MANILA

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation available for a single family with a family in two bedroom, hall, two toilet in Abbassiya, opp United Indian School.

Call: 99170268. (C 3730) 10-11-2011

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

NHL results/standings National Hockey League results and standings after Wednesday’s games. NY Rangers 3, Ottawa 2; Tampa Bay 2, Philadelphia 1 (OT); Nashville 4, Anaheim 2.

Pittsburgh NY Rangers Philadelphia New Jersey NY Islanders Toronto Buffalo Ottawa Boston Montreal

OTTAWA: Marian Gaborik #10 of the New York Rangers scores a third period goal against Craig Anderson #41 of the Ottawa Senators as Derek Stepan #21 of the New York Rangers looks on during an NHL game at Scotiabank Place. — AFP

Rangers top Senators for 5th straight win OTTAWA: Marian Gaborik scored twice, and Derek Stepan had a goal and two assists as the New York Rangers extended their winning streak to five games with a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 29 shots for New York (8-3-3), which hit the road for the first time since a 4-1-1 homestand. The Rangers haven’t lost since Oct 29 when Ottawa rallied from three goals down in the third period and won 5-4 in a shootout. Gaborik, who extended his point streak to four games, and Stepan scored 2:17 apart to put the Rangers up 2-1 midway through the second period. Stepan assisted on both of Gaborik’s goals. Nick Foligno drew Ottawa within one 1:18 later, but the Senators’ comeback attempt fell short. Milan Michalek scored his 10th goal and Craig Anderson made 16 saves for Ottawa, which lost its fourth in a row. Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson missed his fifth straight game because of a concussion.

Lightning 2, Flyers 1, OT At Tampa, Florida, Brett Connolly scored 2:30 into overtime to give Tampa Bay a victory over Philadelphia. Connolly won it after Dominic Moore skated into the Flyers’ zone and got the puck past a Philadelphia defender into the low slot, from where Connolly beat goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. Marc-Andre Bergeron net-

ted the tying goal in the third period for the Lightning, who have won seven of nine. Scott Hartnell had the lone goal for the Flyers.

Philadelphia routed Columbus 9-2 on Saturday but was shut down by Tampa Bay, which outshot the Flyers 24-15.

Philadelphia defenseman Chris Pronger returned after missing six games because of a right eye injury. He had been out since being struck just outside the eye by a stick blade during a game against Toronto on Oct. 24.

Predators 4, Ducks 2 At Anaheim, California, rookie Craig Smith had two goals and an assist, and Martin Erat scored from a second-period penalty shot as Nashville wrapped up a five-game trip with a victory over struggling Anaheim. Colin Wilson had a goal and an assist, and Pekka Rinne made 31 saves in the Predators’ fifth win in seven games. Nashville has beaten Anaheim twice this season in rematches of the clubs’ first-round playoff series last spring, won in six games by the Predators. Devante Smith-Pelly got his first NHL goal and Francois Beauchemin scored for the road-weary Ducks who have lost six straight games and nine of 10. Jonas Hiller stopped 28 shots but lost his fifth straight decision in Anaheim’s return from a seven-game trip. — AP

Posada’s days as Yankee ‘over’ NEW YORK: Catcher Jorge Posada said Wednesday he won’t return to the New York Yankees next season, and he’ll either join another team or retire after 17 years in Major League Baseball. “I don’t think there’s not even a percentage of chance that I can come back,” Posada, 40, said prior to his charitable foundation’s annual dinner. Posada about half a dozen teams had expressed interest in him through his agents, but he doesn’t expect to make a decision on his future until early 2012, sometime before spring training begins in February. “I feel I’m undecided. I don’t know if I want to play. I don’t know if I want to stay home,” he said. “I’m having fun with the kids and with the family, but I don’t know what I want to do. “I don’t want to make the mistake of telling you that I’m not going to play or telling you that I’m going to play when I don’t know what I want to do.” Posada has spent all of his major league career with the Yankees, and said he didn’t know if he wanted to start over with a new team at this point. “The New York Yankees for me is my second family. It will be tough to put on another uniform for real and learn another set of rules and all that stuff.” — AFP

NEW YORK: In this file photo, New York Yankees designated hitter Jorge Posada is seen. — AP

Washington Tampa Bay Florida Winnipeg Carolina

Chicago Nashville Detroit St Louis Columbus Northwest Division Edmonton Minnesota Colorado Vancouver Calgary Dallas San Jose Los Angeles Phoenix Anaheim

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OT 9 3 3 8 3 3 8 4 3 7 5 1 4 6 2 Northeast Division 9 5 1 9 5 0 7 8 1 6 7 0 5 7 2 Southeast Division 9 4 0 8 5 2 7 4 3 5 7 3 5 7 3 Western Conference Central Division 8 4 3 8 5 2 7 5 1 7 7 0 2 11 1 9 3 2 8 3 3 7 7 1 7 7 1 6 7 1 Pacific Division 11 3 0 8 4 1 7 5 3 7 4 2 5 7 3

GF 45 38 57 33 25

GA 34 31 46 36 35

PTS 21 19 19 15 10

46 42 47 40 35

51 33 58 30 39

19 18 15 12 12

50 46 39 40 37

38 47 37 51 50

18 18 17 13 13

46 42 34 35 31

45 40 31 35 53

19 18 15 14 5

33 33 42 45 30

23 26 47 44 35

20 19 15 15 13

45 41 34 38 29

33 35 35 36 44

22 17 17 16 13

Note - Overtime losses (OT) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L)

Ramos kidnapped in Venezuela CARACAS: Washington Nationals baseball catcher Wilson Ramos was kidnapped on Wednesday from a family home in Venezuela, police and colleagues said. “We only know four armed men in a van took him away from his house,” Kathe Vilera, a spokeswoman for the local Aragua Tigres team where Ramos was playing during the Major League Baseball off-season, said on her Twitter site. The Tigres (Tigers) are based in the city of Maracay, and Ramos was taken in the nearby city of Valencia.

Kidnappings are rife in the South American nation, where crime and violence rival some of the world’s worst trouble spots. Police confirmed the kidnapping and said they were deploying to try to rescue him, although the 24-year-old Venezuelan player’s location was unknown. “Two men burst in when he was spending time with family and friends, about 7 pm,” Jose Humberto Ramirez, national director of Venezuela’s investigative police force, told local radio.

Baseball is Venezuela’s No. 1 sport, with local fans immensely proud of their players who have made it into the U.S. major leagues. Most kidnappings in Venezuela are for financial motives, with gangs demanding large ransoms and mainly preying on local businessmen and landowners. “There is still no news, we are still waiting and praying,” Vilera added.

Ramos had a .267 batting average with 15 home runs and 52 runs batted in for Washington in the 2011 season. — Reuters

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Modern rugby is ‘war of muscles’ LONDON: Rugby is in danger of muscling out the flair and skills that have made it such a great game, according to Argentina’s leading points scorer and former captain Hugo Porta. “I think those that forget the past don’t have a future,” the 60-year-old told Reuters next to a boxing ring at a charity event in a dilapidated former school in south London.

“We can’t stop the evolution of the game, but we should at least try to preserve the essence of rugby. “Nowadays it’s a war of muscles. What is this?,” he said ruefully, an imaginary ball tucked under his arm as he imitated the barging tactics of the modern game.

“I saw more blood and injured players during the World Cup than ever before.” New Zealand won the seventh edition of rugby’s biggest tournament last month, defeating France 8-7 in a dramatic and tense final to clinch the Webb Ellis Cup for the second time. Porta played only in the inaugural World Cup in 1987 and was at his peak during a very different era for the game. He led his nation to a famous victory over Australia in 1979 and a 21-21 draw against New Zealand in 1985 in which he kicked all his team’s points.

In more recent times Argentina have also displayed enough skill to compete with the game’s best nations, finishing third at the 2007 World Cup and regularly being ranked in the top eight.

On Tuesday officials unveiled the calendar for next year’s inaugural Rugby Championship —successor to the Tri-Nations tournament between South Africa, New Zealand and Australia —- with

the Pumas set to make their long-awaited debut in a major annual competition.

“I think people are tired of seeing the same three teams. Argentina will bring some fresh air to the competition,” said Porta. “Let’s wait and see what consequences the competition has for Argentina,” he grinned, all too aware of the chal-

LONDON: Australia’s Jonathan Thurston is tackled by England’s James Roby during their four nations rugby league match at Wembley Stadium, Saturday Nov 5, 2011. — AP

Malinga holds key in one-day series DUBAI: Rival captains Misbah-ul Haq and Tillakaratne Dilshan agreed sling-action paceman Lasith Malinga could make the difference when Pakistan and Sri Lanka play their first one-day international here today. The 28year-old fast bowler, who bowls with a round-arm action is fresh from his exploits in last month’s Champions League where he finished as the player of the tournament in Mumbai’s title triumph with ten wickets. Pakistan captain Misbah conceded Malinga could be vital. “Malinga is a very good bowler, he makes a difference and everyone knows he is a good bowler,” said Misbah yesterday. “We have played very well against him but they have an edge with him in the side.”

Pakistan won the preceding three-Test series 1-0 when Sri Lanka were without Malinga who retired from Test cricket earlier this year because of persistent injury problems. Dilshan said Malinga, who has 149 wickets in 94 one-day internationals, is an asset for his team. “Lasith is one of the assets for Sri Lanka,” said Dilshan. “He is one of the great bowlers in the world and he can guide other bowlers as well and his comeback in the series is a good sign for the team.” Malinga was also sidelined with injury when Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in the group match in Colombo in

this year’s World Cup. But once Malinga returned, Sri Lanka finished runners-up to India. Pakistan lost to India in the semi-final of the World Cup. Pakistan were boosted by the return of allrounders Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq who both had turbulent periods since the World Cup. After the West Indies series in May, Afridi fell out with then coach Waqar Younis before being sacked as one-day captain. In protest he retired from international cricket and only took back his decision last month. — AFP

DUBAI: Sri Lankan cricketer Lasith Malinga delivers a ball during a practice session at the Dubai cricket stadium yesterday. — AFP

lenges that will face his countrymen when they take on traditionally the sport’s three strongest nations.

Physical stature Porta’s passion for the game is such that he laments the hulking physical stature of the modern player. “Rugby’s turning into a sport where the physical aspect prevails over talent,” he said.

“These days there’s no room for talent. I lived another kind of rugby. “In Argentina we have always had an affinity with the French, they produce players with flair like we have done.

“Nowadays, take (France centre) Aurelien Rougerie for example, put a black top on him then put him on the pitch and he would think he’s an All Black.”

Far from appearing frustrated at the direction the game is heading in, however, Porta believes now is the ideal time to address the rules as rugby seeks to move forward and increase the number of countries that play to a high level. “A bit like in golf where they have people working on the rules and their preservation, it would be good if the IRB (International Rugby Board) considers a project where they use well-known players to help develop and preserve rugby,” said Porta, a Laureus ambassador. “It could be me, Sean Fitzpatrick from New Zealand, anyone. There are a lot of people who love rugby and would be ready to collaborate on this,” he added. “I’m not a specialist, so I think a discussion would be necessary. A debate between former players and connoisseurs of the game.” — Reuters

Marquez faces moment of truth against Pacquiao LAS VEGAS: Juan Manuel Marquez faces what could be the defining moment of a legendary boxing career tomorrow when he fights Manny Pacquiao in quest of a world title in his fourth different weight class. The 38-year-old Mexican has enjoyed a legendary career, but settled for a controversial 2004 draw with Pacquiao and lost a 2008 rematch by one point on one judge’s scorecard, leaving their third slugfest to settle the score. “Without a doubt it’s personal for me,” Marquez said. “I didn’t get the decisions in the first two. I thought I won them both.

The third fight will show who is the best.”

Marquez, 53-5 with one drawn and 39 knockouts, has won world titles at featherweight, super featherweight and lightweight and hopes to take Pacquiao’s World Boxing Organization title tomorrow. “He needs this fight badly,” Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach said of Marquez. “You will see a high level of boxing in that ring tomorrow.”

His willingness to exchange flurries of punches made his bouts with the Filipino icon exciting for fight fans, but he is confident he can take a decision if he is unable to land a knockout blow.”I’m just going in with the mentality I have to win the rounds and if the opportunity comes to knock him out, I’m not

going to hesitate,” Marquez said.

Growing up the poor son of a fighter in a tough Mexico City neighborhood, Marquez was disqualified in his 1993 pro debut but won his next 29 fights until losing to Fred Norwood in 1999 in his first world title bout. Marquez’s only other

ble next fight or retirement, which is not on his mind, by saying his only focus has been beating Pacquiao.

“I’m not thinking of anything but tomorrow’s fight,” Marquez said.

Marquez is six years older than Pacquiao but neither fighter

LAS VEGAS: Manny Pacquiao (left) poses for photos with Juan Manuel Marquez during a news conference. — AP losses came to unbeaten Indonesian Chris John in 2006, to Pacquiao in 2008 and, in his only prior welterweight fight, to unbeaten US star Floyd Mayweather in 2009. For years, Marquez has sought a third fight with Pacquiao, giving it so much emphasis that he dismissed questions about a possi-

thinks that has cost him any skill and might have made him a smarter, more dangerous fighter.

“I don’t believe age has anything to do with it,” Marquez said.

“I’ve prepared very well. With the good training camp I had I’ll be ready.”I know Pacquiao comes to fight. — AFP

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Modern rugby is ‘war of muscles’ LONDON: Rugby is in danger of muscling out the flair and skills that have made it such a great game, according to Argentina’s leading points scorer and former captain Hugo Porta. “I think those that forget the past don’t have a future,” the 60-year-old told Reuters next to a boxing ring at a charity event in a dilapidated former school in south London.

“We can’t stop the evolution of the game, but we should at least try to preserve the essence of rugby. “Nowadays it’s a war of muscles. What is this?,” he said ruefully, an imaginary ball tucked under his arm as he imitated the barging tactics of the modern game.

“I saw more blood and injured players during the World Cup than ever before.” New Zealand won the seventh edition of rugby’s biggest tournament last month, defeating France 8-7 in a dramatic and tense final to clinch the Webb Ellis Cup for the second time. Porta played only in the inaugural World Cup in 1987 and was at his peak during a very different era for the game. He led his nation to a famous victory over Australia in 1979 and a 21-21 draw against New Zealand in 1985 in which he kicked all his team’s points.

In more recent times Argentina have also displayed enough skill to compete with the game’s best nations, finishing third at the 2007 World Cup and regularly being ranked in the top eight.

On Tuesday officials unveiled the calendar for next year’s inaugural Rugby Championship —successor to the Tri-Nations tournament between South Africa, New Zealand and Australia —- with

the Pumas set to make their long-awaited debut in a major annual competition.

“I think people are tired of seeing the same three teams. Argentina will bring some fresh air to the competition,” said Porta. “Let’s wait and see what consequences the competition has for Argentina,” he grinned, all too aware of the chal-

LONDON: Australia’s Jonathan Thurston is tackled by England’s James Roby during their four nations rugby league match at Wembley Stadium, Saturday Nov 5, 2011. — AP

Malinga holds key in one-day series DUBAI: Rival captains Misbah-ul Haq and Tillakaratne Dilshan agreed sling-action paceman Lasith Malinga could make the difference when Pakistan and Sri Lanka play their first one-day international here today. The 28year-old fast bowler, who bowls with a round-arm action is fresh from his exploits in last month’s Champions League where he finished as the player of the tournament in Mumbai’s title triumph with ten wickets. Pakistan captain Misbah conceded Malinga could be vital. “Malinga is a very good bowler, he makes a difference and everyone knows he is a good bowler,” said Misbah yesterday. “We have played very well against him but they have an edge with him in the side.”

Pakistan won the preceding three-Test series 1-0 when Sri Lanka were without Malinga who retired from Test cricket earlier this year because of persistent injury problems. Dilshan said Malinga, who has 149 wickets in 94 one-day internationals, is an asset for his team. “Lasith is one of the assets for Sri Lanka,” said Dilshan. “He is one of the great bowlers in the world and he can guide other bowlers as well and his comeback in the series is a good sign for the team.” Malinga was also sidelined with injury when Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in the group match in Colombo in

this year’s World Cup. But once Malinga returned, Sri Lanka finished runners-up to India. Pakistan lost to India in the semi-final of the World Cup. Pakistan were boosted by the return of allrounders Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq who both had turbulent periods since the World Cup. After the West Indies series in May, Afridi fell out with then coach Waqar Younis before being sacked as one-day captain. In protest he retired from international cricket and only took back his decision last month. — AFP

DUBAI: Sri Lankan cricketer Lasith Malinga delivers a ball during a practice session at the Dubai cricket stadium yesterday. — AFP

lenges that will face his countrymen when they take on traditionally the sport’s three strongest nations.

Physical stature Porta’s passion for the game is such that he laments the hulking physical stature of the modern player. “Rugby’s turning into a sport where the physical aspect prevails over talent,” he said.

“These days there’s no room for talent. I lived another kind of rugby. “In Argentina we have always had an affinity with the French, they produce players with flair like we have done.

“Nowadays, take (France centre) Aurelien Rougerie for example, put a black top on him then put him on the pitch and he would think he’s an All Black.”

Far from appearing frustrated at the direction the game is heading in, however, Porta believes now is the ideal time to address the rules as rugby seeks to move forward and increase the number of countries that play to a high level. “A bit like in golf where they have people working on the rules and their preservation, it would be good if the IRB (International Rugby Board) considers a project where they use well-known players to help develop and preserve rugby,” said Porta, a Laureus ambassador. “It could be me, Sean Fitzpatrick from New Zealand, anyone. There are a lot of people who love rugby and would be ready to collaborate on this,” he added. “I’m not a specialist, so I think a discussion would be necessary. A debate between former players and connoisseurs of the game.” — Reuters

Marquez faces moment of truth against Pacquiao LAS VEGAS: Juan Manuel Marquez faces what could be the defining moment of a legendary boxing career tomorrow when he fights Manny Pacquiao in quest of a world title in his fourth different weight class. The 38-year-old Mexican has enjoyed a legendary career, but settled for a controversial 2004 draw with Pacquiao and lost a 2008 rematch by one point on one judge’s scorecard, leaving their third slugfest to settle the score. “Without a doubt it’s personal for me,” Marquez said. “I didn’t get the decisions in the first two. I thought I won them both.

The third fight will show who is the best.”

Marquez, 53-5 with one drawn and 39 knockouts, has won world titles at featherweight, super featherweight and lightweight and hopes to take Pacquiao’s World Boxing Organization title tomorrow. “He needs this fight badly,” Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach said of Marquez. “You will see a high level of boxing in that ring tomorrow.”

His willingness to exchange flurries of punches made his bouts with the Filipino icon exciting for fight fans, but he is confident he can take a decision if he is unable to land a knockout blow.”I’m just going in with the mentality I have to win the rounds and if the opportunity comes to knock him out, I’m not

going to hesitate,” Marquez said.

Growing up the poor son of a fighter in a tough Mexico City neighborhood, Marquez was disqualified in his 1993 pro debut but won his next 29 fights until losing to Fred Norwood in 1999 in his first world title bout. Marquez’s only other

ble next fight or retirement, which is not on his mind, by saying his only focus has been beating Pacquiao.

“I’m not thinking of anything but tomorrow’s fight,” Marquez said.

Marquez is six years older than Pacquiao but neither fighter

LAS VEGAS: Manny Pacquiao (left) poses for photos with Juan Manuel Marquez during a news conference. — AP losses came to unbeaten Indonesian Chris John in 2006, to Pacquiao in 2008 and, in his only prior welterweight fight, to unbeaten US star Floyd Mayweather in 2009. For years, Marquez has sought a third fight with Pacquiao, giving it so much emphasis that he dismissed questions about a possi-

thinks that has cost him any skill and might have made him a smarter, more dangerous fighter.

“I don’t believe age has anything to do with it,” Marquez said.

“I’ve prepared very well. With the good training camp I had I’ll be ready.”I know Pacquiao comes to fight. — AFP

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Indian GP success boosts IPL-style league MUMBAI: Organizers of India’s new motorsport league hope a dash of celebrity glitz and glamour will help attract a core following and deliver the same kind of success as the lucrative Indian Premier League cricket tournament. Riding the momentum of India’s inaugural Formula One race last month, the i1 Super Series will roll out in January and feature nine teams competing in 12 races to be held in India, UAE, Malaysia, Bahrain and Qatar.

Styled on the IPL’s popular citybased model, franchises have to pay $20 million for a period of 15 years for owning a team. The league’s promoters, Machdar Motorsports, said most of the teams had already been paid for.

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan has become a co-owner of the Mumbai franchise, and promoters have also pulled off a coup by roping in Sachin Tendulkar as its brand ambassador.

Cricket great Tendulkar’s love for fast cars is well known and his association will only help the league to become more popular, Chief Executive Darshan M told Reuters. “Sachin is a very large and popular icon who believes in popularising motorsport,” Darshan said in an email interview.

“We believe he will take the sport to the masses and cut across all barriers of region, language, age, gender etc.”

Celebrity owners The IPL dazzled fans with the exciting Twenty20 format, player auctions, post-game parties and heavy advertising. Celebrity owners are part of the show and include Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, as well as spirits and airline magnate Vijay Mallya. “We have chosen the IPL model because we learnt a lot from the city-based

loyalty and spirit that IPL showcased,” Darshan said, adding that the winning team would take home $2 million in prize money.

“After all India is a large country with so many cultures and nothing showcased the diversity and passion better than sport. “IPL also demonstrated that world class sport when combined with entertainment was an unbeatable combination and we have tried to learn from the same.”

Darshan also said the inaugural Indian Formula One Grand Prix in October at the Buddh International Circuit could not have come at a better time.

“Formula One was very useful in popularizing and educating a large section of India with the nuances of motorsport,” he added. “We are keen to build a world class sports entertainment property and we believe motorsport is at the right stage to develop (in

India). “We believe there is huge scope to improve infrastructure and talent.”

About 95,000 spectators attended the glamorous F1 race on the outskirts of the Indian capital, which also attracted unprecedented viewership and earned rich praise from the country’s media. While agreeing that there was a dearth of talented drivers in the country, Darshan said at least one of each team’s two drivers must be Indian.

“We acknowledge there is a shortage of talent in India. It is one of the reasons we have created this concept as it will help develop more motorsport talent in the country,” he said. “i1 will be the pinnacle of motor sports in India and offers talented drivers in the country a huge opportunity and career path.” The teams will race the Radical Sportscars’ SR3 roadster in the sports car racing series. — Reuters

Alonso seeks memory erasing Abu Dhabi win

ABU DHABI: Mercedes Grand Prix driver Nico Rosberg of Germany makes a sand painting during a TV interview at the Yas Marina racetrack yesterday. — AP

Rosberg signs new deal with Mercedes F1 team ABU DHABI: Germany’s Nico Rosberg has signed a new deal keeping him at Mercedes beyond the 2013 season, the Formula One team said yesterday. In a statement issued ahead of Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Mercedes added that seventimes champion Michael Schumacher, the most successful driver in the sport, would again be Rosberg’s team mate next year. The team said Rosberg, who joined from Williams in 2010, had agreed “a multi-year contract extension to include the 2013 season and beyond”.

Rosberg, the 26-year-old son of Finland’s former champion Keke, has yet to win a race since his debut in 2006 but is highly regarded. He has had three podium finishes and scored 217 points since he joined Mercedes. This season he has scored five more points than Schumacher and is seventh overall with two races remaining. “To win in a Silver Arrow (Mercedes) will be one of the highlights of my life so far,” he said.

“I have every confidence that the team will provide me with a winning car and that we will be able to contribute to the fantastic racing heritage of the Silver Arrows.” Team boss Ross Brawn hailed the German as a driver who can win races and championships and said he had already achieved “results at the very limit of the technical capabilities of our current car.” “He has an excellent work ethic and, together with Michael, this gives us a driver pairing who consistently push the team to improve and progress,” he added. “We look forward to providing Nico with a car which will enable him to compete right at the front of the field and achieve his deserved first win in Formula One.” Before his long-term commitment to Mercedes, Rosberg had been one of the candidates tipped by the media as a possible replacement for Brazilian Felipe Massa at Ferrari after next season. — Reuters

ABU DHABI: Fernando Alonso and his Ferrari team will be seeking to erase memories of a nightmare weekend in 2010 when they challenge for glory in the penultimate race of the Formula One season, Sunday’s ‘twilight’ Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The two-time champion endured a race to forget last year when he arrived in Abu Dhabi as one of four contenders for the drivers’ title, but departed hugely disappointed after failing to find any passing power on his way to seventh. Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull lifted the title, aged just 23, to become the sport’s youngest champion and then went on to defend that crown with a series of near-flawless performances this year.

His supremacy and Red Bull’s consistency has enabled them to wrap up both 2011 titles long before arriving at the state-of-the-art Yas Marina circuit for the only F1 race in the Middle East this year. As a result, the spotlight will be on Alonso’s bid to snatch second place in the title race from Jenson Button of McLaren and Mark Webber of Red Bull.

Alonso will also hope he and Ferrari team-mate Brazilian Felipe Massa can help the tifosi forget last year’s embarrassing flop. Ferrari chief Stefano Domenicali reflected the team’s mood when he said: “In the remaining two races, we want to try and get on the podium and try all we can to get Fernando to second place in the drivers’ classification. “We will fight hard, as much as we can, for that goal.” Alonso may be helped this year by the encouragement of race rirector Charlie Whiting who has suggested that, after the problems in overtaking last year, the drivers will enjoy themselves this time thanks to the introduction of two Drag Reduction System (DRS) zones on the circuit. “The race came in for a bit of criticism last year because the cars

found it very difficult to overtake,” said Whiting.

“But there are two DRS zones this year, with two activation points, and they should make a significant difference in that respect.” Alonso, in particular, will be hoping to avoid finding himself stuck behind a Renault, or more precisely the Renault of Russian Vitaly Petrov who held him up last year for most of the race after questionable strategy had apparently spoiled his race.

But if Alonso feels any pressure he is unlikely to show it as much as Massa who has been warned that the next year will be decisive for his future with the team. “I am counting heavily on Felipe’s will to fight back as he knows next year will be a key one in which, and I’m convinced of it, he will be able to show his true worth,” said Domenicali. “And as for the rumours regarding all the drivers who are due to arrive in Maranello to

replace him, I can only repeat my words and indeed those only recently uttered by our president, in every possible way, Felipe will also be with us in 2012 and that should make you understand how much faith we have in him.”

Domenicali said he believed Alonso would also gain extra motivation from his return to Abu Dhabi, scene of his failure a year ago. “I am sure that, in the next few days, going back to Abu Dhabi will have an effect on Fernando, given what happened there last year, but this negative emotion will be a further incentive for him to turn things around in 2012.” Alonso has some work to do to stop Button taking the runners-up spot.

Button has 240 points with two races remaining - in Abu Dhabi and then in Brazil - while Alonso has 227 and Webber 221. Button’s McLaren teammate and compatriot Lewis Hamilton has 202. — AFP

ABU DHABI: Ferrari driver Felipe Massa of Brazil and his teammate Fernando Alonso of Spain sign autographs at the Yas Marina racetrack yesterday. — AP

Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Lyle defies American posse to lead Open SYDNEY: Cancer survivor Jarrod Lyle held off a powerful American contingent, including former world number one Tiger Woods, yesterday to be the first-round leader of the $1.54 million Australian Open at The Lakes. The Australian, ranked 477th and who fought off leukemia as a teenager in 1999, carded a seven-under 65 in an unblemished round that included an eagle three at the 14th and five birdies. Lyle, who must go through qualifying school next month to avoid playing in the secondary Nationwide Tour next season after losing his tour card with a 161st finish on the money list, was pursued by Americans, Dustin Johnson and Nick Watney, a shot back on 66.

Woods, who has not won a tour-

nament for two years precipitating a slump in his world ranking to 58, wrestled with gusty afternoon winds to keep in touch, three shots off the lead. His 68, which included four birdies, was his first bogey-free round in nine months. “I hit it really good today, that was exactly how I have been hitting it at home, so that’s good and I’ve taken it to the golf course in these conditions and hit all the shots,” Woods said. “I just grinded, I was very patient all day and just took advantage when I could.

“With these conditions it’s easy to make a couple of bogeys in a row and get it going the wrong way and I just had to be patient, there wasn’t going to be a lot of guys in the afternoon hitting 60s.” World num-

ber five Johnson, here for next week’s Presidents Cup as the topranked American player, fired eight birdies in his six-under round.”I made a lot of good putts, some tapins and some three-four footers, and I played really solid all day and made some great iron shots,” said Johnson, who reeled off five consecutive birdies from the 12th hole.

“I was a little rusty at the start, it was the first time I’ve been in competition for five-six weeks now, but then got it going pretty well.”Watney collected five birdies in his closing six holes in the afternoon to finish with an impressive six-under. Lyle, 30, who finished only once in the top 10 on this year’s US PGA Tour, carded an unblemished round that included

an eagle three at the 14th and five birdies. “That’s the lowest score I’ve shot all year, I’ve played solid all year, but just haven’t achieved anything,” Lyle said. “On the course it’s been a really rough year and off the course it’s been awesome (engaged and expecting his first child).”

Former US Masters champion Fred Couples, who will be the non-playing captain of the US team at next week’s Presidents Cup teams event against the Internationals at Royal Melbourne, was among a quartet on five-under 67, two shots off the lead. Couples, 52, who has 53 tournament victories in his 30 years as a professional, carded six birdies and a bogey playing with his US team assistant John Cook, who had a 69.—AFP

Molinari and Morrison share spot in Singapore Open lead

SYDNEY: US golfer John Daly reacts after missing a fairway shot on the 1st hole during the first round of the Australian Open golf tournament Yesterday. — AP

John Daly storms out of Australian Open SYDNEY: John Daly hit seven balls into the water on the 11th hole yesterday and stormed off the golf course at the Australian Open. Already with a tarnished reputation Down Under, Daly might have gone too far with Australia’s golf hierarchy. He was banned from playing in the Australian PGA in two weeks, and he might not be welcome back. “It’s very disappointing for the tournament ... that he has treated the championship this way,” said Trevor Herden, Golf Australia’s director of tournaments. “It is a bit of a habit.” Daly was 7 over after 10 holes in the first round after becoming upset on the 10th hole when he hit a practice ball out of a bunker, believing it was his tee shot. The two-shot penalty and a three-putt that followed gave him a triple-bogey.

On the 11th, he hit ball after ball into the water, some landing in the center of the pond. Moments later, Daly shook hands with playing partners Craig Parry and Hunter Mahan and walked off the course. He would have been hitting his 16th shot if he had more golf balls. “Once I saw two go in, I think the effort went down pretty fast,” Mahan said. “It doesn’t do anyone any good for John to do what he did. It’s unfortunate, J.D. is a pleasant guy.”

Parry was mostly sympathetic toward Daly, saying he had the right club to reach the green, but the wind was stronger than Daly realized.

“I like John, he’s a great guy,” Parry said. Daly wrote on Twitter to explain himself, saying “when u run out of balls u run out of balls. yes, I shook my player’s partners hands & signed my card w/rules official.” In a text message to The Associated Press, Daly said he hasn’t had confidence in his game since he was injured five years ago, and that he never thought he would run out of balls during a round.”I love the fans here in Australia. —AP

SINGAPORE: Italy’s Edoardo Molinari and Briton James Morrison made the most of ideal scoring conditions to fire matching nine-under par 62s for a share of the lead after the opening round of the Singapore Open yesterday. On a still day at the Sentosa Golf Club, Molinari and Morrison brushed off the sweltering conditions to register 10 birdies apiece on the easier Tanjong Course at the $6 million co-sanctioned event split over two layouts. The Italian’s lone bogey on the ninth ended a run of four birdies over his opening eight holes but an inward six-under 29 took him a stroke clear of South Korea’s Y.E. Yang, who had completed a bogey-free 63 minutes earlier.

Morrison took to the course later in the afternoon and was set to take sole possession of the lead until a bogey at the par-three 16th stalled his charge following a run of five birdies in six holes.

“It was a very good round. I may have missed a few shots but my putting was excellent today,” Molinari, a member of Europe’s victorious 2010 Ryder Cup team, told reporters. “I holed pretty much everything inside 10 feet, which is what you have to do on this course. It’s not a long course and you use a lot of wedges, so your short game needs to be good.”

Molinari admitted the heat and humidity had bothered him early on but after he settled into his round, he was able to forget about the conditions. “As you can see I am soaking wet,” the 30year-old added. “Sometimes it’s difficult as it’s warm and humid, ... difficult to breathe, but after a while you get used to it and it’s the same for everyone, so no point in complaining.”

Morrison, who suffers from the debilitating Crohn’s disease, was delighted to make the most of opening the tournament on the easier course.

“I’ve been playing well and everything has been coming together,” the 26-year-old said. “I’ve not been playing amazing golf but getting better every week. I was sticking to my routine and hoping something was coming, so I am very, very pleased.” Yang’s round was

SINGAPORE: Spectators watch South Africa’s Ernie Els play a shot in the first round of the Singapore Open golf tournament at the Tanjong Course yesterday. — AP also on the Tanjong Course and the disappointing day playing in the same 2009 US PGA champion sits alone in group as Yang, the American rallying third, one shot clear of late-finishing with two late birdies to salvage an even Daisuke Maruyama of Japan, who par 71 on Tanjong that will leave him birdied the 18th in near darkness to struggling to make the cut. “I birdied 15 record a seven-under 64. A group of and 16 to get it back to even par on the four players are a stroke further back in day. I like the Serapong Course and a tie for fifth, including South Africa’s hopefully I’ll get a good round going Jbe Kruger, who shot a day’s best six- tomorrow to get in it for the weekend,” under 65 on the more difficult Serapong a disheveled-looking Mickelson said, Course. “When I teed off four under was sweating profusely after signing his leading so I thought Tanjong is relative- card at the scorer’s cabin.

“The scoring average on this course ly the easier one of the two courses so I probably needed a good start ahead of is going to be three or four under par, tomorrow,” Yang said. “Because it was so anything at par is not going to be four under leading, I wanted to hit four considered a very good round. “You can or five under. Fortunately for me, I shoot low on the other course as well exceeded my expectations so tomor- but it’s a lot longer, so more difficult,” the popular American added before row, I will be a lot more comfortable.” being swamped by an excited throng of autograph hunters. World number 14 Sweating profusely The 204-man field will play both lay- Graeme McDowell is the highest-ranked outs before the final two rounds take European player in the tournament and place on the Serapong Course over the the Northern Irishman completed a solweekend. One of the tournament’s id three-under par 68 on the Serapong major drawcards, Phil Mickelson, had a Course to sit in a tie for 32nd. — Reuters

Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Djokovic labors through, London line-up complete

NEWCASTLE: Newcastle United’s Ryan Taylor celebrates his goal during their English Premier League soccer match against Everton at St James’ Park in this photo. — AP

Newcastle fans outraged as St James’ Park name dropped NEWCASTLE: Just when Newcastle fans and owner Mike Ashley seemed to have reached a truce, the Premier League club prompted fury among supporters yesterday by announcing it had renamed its 119-year-old stadium with immediate effect.

Ashley’s uneasy relationship with the Magpies fans settled over the past three months as manager Alan Pardew guided Newcastle to third place in the Premier League as one of just two unbeaten sides. But the renaming of St James’ Park to the Sports Direct Arena - after owner Mike Ashley’s sports retail company has provoked the sort of indignation and anger fans already exhibited several times in Ashley’s four-year tenure. “Just as Alan Pardew and his players are doing so well, with a new spirit emerging between the club and the supporters, Ashley takes aim with a shotgun and shoots Newcastle United in the foot - again,” said an editorial in Newcastle fan magazine True Faith. “This will be a tragedy if the inevitable outpouring of anger goes anywhere to detracting from the impressive work of the manager and the players. “But if it does, the responsibility will rest entirely with Mike Ashley who once again appears not to have had his appetite for destruction sated.”

The efforts of Pardew and his squad had appeased fans angry at the sale of top performers Andy Carroll, Joey Barton, Kevin Nolan and Jose Enrique since January. “It’s no coincidence that they have performed a typical politician’s trick and waited until things are going well to slip in something like this,” said Mark Jensen, editor of The Mag, another fan magazine. “It’s quite cynical.” Ashley was initially popular with fans after buying the club in 2007, donning the team’s famous black-and-white striped jersey to watch matches alongside supporters in the stands. But misgivings had already emerged by the time popular manager Kevin Keegan resigned in September 2008 after just nine months in charge, upset that decisions were being taken either without his knowledge or against his wishes. Ashley put the club up for sale but changed his mind when he was unable to make a profit on what he had paid for it. He tried again without success after Newcastle was relegated in May 2009, a demotion that again provoked protests from fans. Ashley then tried to rename St James’ Park the “Sportsdirect.com (at) St James’ Park Stadium” two years ago in an effort to attract bidders for the name. “We invited sponsors to attach their brand to that of St. James’ Park,” managing director Derek Llambias said. “However, it has become clear that in order to make the proposition as commercially attractive as possible, a potential sponsor must be given the opportunity to fully rebrand the stadium.”— Agencies

PARIS: Novak Djokovic ran into a spot of bother before seeing off Davis Cup team mate Viktor Troicki 4-6 6-3 6-1 to secure his place in the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters yesterday. Czech Tomas Berdych booked his place for the ATP World Tour Finals with a 7-5 6-4 win over Serb Janko Tipsarevic. Berdych’s win meant Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Mardy Fish also qualified for the eightman field in the Nov. 20-27 event at the O2 in London. The line-up for the season-ending tournament is now complete as Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, Andy Murray, Roger Federer and David Ferrer had already secured their berths.

While Murray breezed past a clueless Andy Roddick 6-2 6-2, Djokovic made heavy weather of Troicki, with whom he won the Davis Cup last year. Djokovic’s phenomenal performance in winning three grand slam and five Masters titles this season seemed to be a distant memory as he found himself trailing following an unusual string of unforced errors. Troicki, however, failed to seize his chance in the second set as Djokovic saved seven break points, converting his only two opportunities to level the tie.

Djokovic, who pocketed a $1.6 million bonus for just turning up at Bercy by virtue of an ATP rule designed to entice top players to show up at top events, stepped up a gear in the final set while a demoralised Troicki collapsed and dropped serve three times.

Djokovic, who will next take on either Italian Andreas Seppi or the sixth seeded Tsonga of France, ended the one hour 55 minute contest with a scorching service return. Murray produced a dazzling display as he demolished former world number one Roddick in just 61 minutes.

Briton Murray, who has never made it past the last eight in the Parisian indoor tournament, will next face the fifth seed-

PARIS: France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga returns the ball to Italy’s Andreas Seppi, during their match, in the Paris Tennis Masters tournament, yesterday. — AP ed Berdych, a Paris Masters champion in 2005. “I started the match well, which against him is always important, because he plays his best when he’s ahead. He’s able to put pressure on you and can kind of dominate the match with his serve,” Murray told a press conference.

“But because I broke him earlier, I was able to dictate a lot of what happened out there. Played very well. Very few hiccups. I played very smart.”

Roddick, the 13th seed, looked helpless throughout as world number three Murray sent him scurrying left and right with his sharp forehand. Roddick crushed his racket in frustration when he conceded his fourth break against a focused Murray, who gave up only 10 points on serve. The Scot, who is on a 17-match winning streak after a hattrick of titles during the Asian swing, ended his opponent’s ordeal with an ace. — Reuters

Preview

China 2014 World Cup hinges on Iraq match SEOUL: China faces a must-win match against Iraq in Asian World Cup qualifying at Qatar today or risk blowing its chances of appearing at Brazil in 2014.

China has lost two of three games so far in Group A - one of five groups of four from which the top-two teams progress to the final stage - and already sits six points behind leader Jordan and three behind Iraq. Iraq, coached by Brazilian great Zico, won 1-0 at Shenzhen last month, and despite being forced by FIFA to play in Doha due to security concerns at home, will move six points clear of China with a win with just two games remaining.

Since its first-ever appearance at the World Cup in 2002, China has been eliminated at the penultimate stage of qualification for both the 2006 and 2010 tournaments. Spanish coach Jose Camacho was hired in August to end that dismal run, but already the pressure is on the former Real Madrid man. After the defeat at home to Iraq last month, more than a thousand fans protested outside the stadium and shouted abuse at the players and coach as they boarded the

team bus. Camacho has been defended by veteran player Li Weifeng. “I’ve said it before. It’s not the head coach that goes out and kicks the ball,” Li said on China’s official website. “It’s the job of each and every player. It’s our job. So we need the media and the fans to give our new head coach enough time and to be patient with him. He has to be given enough time to rebuild the team.” Another veteran of the disappointed 2006 and 2010 qualification campaigns is Zheng Zhi. The midfielder, who has played in the English and Scottish Premier Leagues, has not given up hope.

“We were so eager to win that we last the last game. We must trust each other.” Zhi said. “But it is too premature to write us off as there are still three games remaining. Iraq won at our home so why can’t we avenge the defeat by beating them at Doha.” If China draws against Iraq, then Jordan will book its place in the final round of qualification for the first time in its history, provided it defeats or draws with bottom team Singapore in Amman. After Jordan, Australia is the only other team with

maximum points and will book its place in the next stage with a win at Oman.

Oman is currently bottom of Group D with no points and could be eliminated with a defeat.

Former Leeds United and Liverpool star Harry Kewell returns to the Australian lineup for the first time since March and the first time since joining ALeague team Melbourne Victory. “I’m delighted to be back for my country,” Kewell said.

“It’s always been a massive thing for me during my career and nothing has changed. I have belief in myself and while I’m really happy to have got another call, if I’m honest I know I can still perform at the top level, whether it’s for my club or for Australia.” One of the most compelling matches in Group D promises to be third-placed Saudi Arabia vs. second-placed Thailand at Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia, under former Netherlands and Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard, has yet to win any of its three games but will leap above Thailand with a victory. The two teams played out a scoreless draw last month in Bangkok. — AP

Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Iniesta gives Barcelona cup win

Preview

France seek reassurance against USA PARIS: After squeezing into Euro 2012 with a nervy 1-1 draw against Bosnia-Herzegovina in their last game, Laurent Blanc expects a more assured performance from France in today’s friendly with the United States. France were heading for the play-offs until a 78th-minute penalty by Samir Nasri against the Bosnians last month secured top spot in Group D and with it a berth at next year’s tournament in Poland and Ukraine. Les Bleus tackle the US at Stade de France today before meeting neighbors Belgium at the same venue on Tuesday and Blanc says he wants to see his side playing without the fear that shackled them against Bosnia. “You can get nice surprises in matches with nothing at stake,” he said.

“I’m not expecting to see the fragility we showed against Bosnia when we play the United States and Belgium. We have to put everything into these matches. “For those who start and who have no experience or no caps, they have to put their foot on the gas and not ask themselves questions.

“It’s not the last chance, but it’s a good chance. When you’re given a chance to express yourself, it’s best to take it.”Blanc has confirmed that he will experiment against Jurgen Klinsmann’s side, with Montpellier striker Olivier Giroud hoping to win his first cap. “We’re leaning towards two different team selections,” said the France coach. “If we have to give game time to new players, it’ll be against the United States, and if they play well, they’ll continue against Belgium.” France must do without Nasri this time, after the Manchester City midfielder was ruled out on Tuesday evening with an inflamed tendon in his

BARCELONA: Andres Iniesta’s first-half goal gave Barcelona a 1-0 victory at thirdtier Hospitalet on Wednesday in the first leg of their Copa del Rey series. Iniesta scored with a long-range shot that dipped out of the reach of goalkeeper Jose Moragon in the 42nd minute on the artificial turf at the Feixa Llarga stadium. Despite a lower-tier opponent, Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola sent out a near full-strength lineup that included Cesc Fabregas, Xavi Hernandez, David Villa and Carles Puyol, although Lionel Messi is away on international duty.

But the third-division hosts did well to repel and limit the Spanish champion’s potent attack, which goes into the Dec. 21 return leg with an unexpectedly thin lead.

Moragon starred for Hospitalet as Villa, Seydou Keita and Fabregas all tested the Spanish keeper before Iniesta gathered a pass from Fabregas outside the area and stepped up to fire a right-footed shot into the top left corner. Barcelona extended its unbeaten start to the season to 19 games, including Spanish and European Super Cup triumphs. A crowd of 6,294 watched a match that was moved forward to accommodate the European champion’s Club World Cup appearance in December. The first leg of the other 15 fourth-round games are scheduled for Dec. 13, with Real Madrid at third-division Ponferradina. — AP

BARCELONA: FC Barcelona’s Jonathan dos Santos (left) duels for the ball against Hospitalet’s Haro during a Copa del Rey soccer match at the Municipal stadium in L’Hospitalet Llobregat. — AP

Preview

Final showdown for ‘inseparables’ Matches on TV (Local Timings)

WC2014 Qualifying - Asia UAE v South Korea Abu Dhabi Sports 1 Dubai Sports 1 Aljazeera Sport Global Uzbekistan v North Korea Aljazeera Sport1 Oman v Australia Aljazeera Sport +2 Oman Space Ch2 Iraq v China Iraqi Sports Channel Aljazeera Sport +1 Kuwait v Lebanon Kuwait Sport Bahrain v Iran Bahrain Sport +1 Aljazeera Sport +4 Jordan v Singapore Jordan Qatar v Indonesia Aljazeera Sport 1 Al-Kass and Al-Dawri Saudi Arabia v Thailand Aljazeera Sport +5

15:45

16:00 17:00

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17:30 18:30

19:00 19:00

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European Championship Qualifiers (2010 to 2012) Bosnia and Herzegovina v Portugal Aljazeera Sport +2 Turkey v Croatia Aljazeera Sport +4 Czech Republic v Montenegro Aljazeera Sport +10 Estonia v Ireland Aljazeera Sport +9

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JOHANNESBURG: African Champions League ‘inseparables’ Esperance of Tunisia and Wydad Casablanca of Morocco meet again tomorrow and this time there has to be a winner. A win for Wydad or a score draw in the second leg of the final and the Moroccans raise the trophy, pocket 1.5 million dollars and secure a place the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan during December. Victory for the Tunisians and they take the spoils while a repeat of the goalless first leg in Casablanca last Sunday and the biggest club fixture on the continent goes down to a penalty shootout. Each club won the competition once in the 1990s when it was called the African Champions Cup and Esperance have lost three finals since, including a humiliating 6-1 thrashing last year from Democratic Republic of Congo outfit TP Mazembe. Neither team has a proud record in Confederation of African Football (CAF) finals with Esperance winning four of eight for a 50 percent success rate and Wyad only two of five for a 40 percent rate.

But all those failures will be forgotten by the side that emerges triumphant from the fourth Champions League clash between them in as many months following 2-2 and 0-0 stalemates in Morocco and a 0-0 deadlock in Tunisia.The first leg followed a predictable pat-

tern until the closing stages with a Wydad team encouraged by a 70,000 crowd at the Mohammed V Stadium controlling possession and creating a few scoring chances.

Defender Yassine Rami and Congo Brazzaville-born sharpshooter Fabrice Ondama went closest for the ‘Red and whites’ while goalkeeper Moez Ben Cherifia produced several spectacular saves for the ‘Blood and Gold’.

Esperance coach Nabil Maaloul has proved a master tactician during the campaign and his secondhalf introduction of offensive midfielder Oussama Darragi had a significant impact.Club captain Darragi created space and fellow midfielders Mejdi Traoui and Khaled Mouelhi were not far off target as the visitors sought the away victory that would have virtually guaranteed them becoming African champions a second time.

“My players are determind to win the Champions League this year and engrave their names in Tunisian football history. This is a very special match for a club that has been chasing this trophy for a long time,” stressed 49-year-old Maaloul. After winning the domestic league and cup double, success over Wydad would complete a memorable year for Esperance just 12 months after suffering a record-equalling overall loss in the Champions League

final.Wydad handler Michel Decastel is Swiss, six years older than Maaloul, greyer around the temples, and spent a season with Esperance during a coaching career that has taken him to several African countries.

He remains optimistic that Wydad can emulate neighbours Raja Casablanca, who were held 0-0

by Esperance in the 1999 final only to force a similar result on the road and win 4-3 on penalties. “An injury to our brilliant striker Mouhssine Iajour during the first leg left us with only one outright attacker for much of the game.

The return match will be different and we have every chance of success,” he insisted. Experienced Iajour and younger Ondama have snatched five goals each in the Champions League and appear the biggest threats to an Esperance defence featuring Cameroonian giant Yaya Banana.Esperance midfielder Youssef Msakni has also struck five Champions League goals during the 10-month campaign and Darragi and another Cameroonian import, Yannick Ndjeng, four apiece. Despite what Raja achieved 12 years ago, tradition favours Esperance with eight of 10 clubs who forced a goalless away draw in the first leg of the final going on to lift a trophy that symbolizes continental supremacy. — AFP

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Newcastle fans outraged as St James’ Park name dropped Page 62

www.kuwaittimes.net

Djokovic secures Q-Finals spot Page 62