13 Jan 2012

Interior bans Mislem from running in elections

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Defiling the dead SEE PAGE 17

This image made from undated video posted on the Internet shows US Marines standing in a semi-circle and urinating over three bodies of Afghan men. — AP

Local FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Satire Wire

Conspiracy Theories

Nostalgic for old tech

Madonna was right

By Sawsan Kazak

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

A

nd we are living in a material world and I am a material girl (like good old Madonna sings). I love her voice but not her behavior. Actually guys, I wish I was a material person.

Madonna is 100 percent right. We really are living in a material world. The simplest thing is to look at how marriages happen in Kuwait. Most Kuwaiti guys nowadays are shunning away from getting married because of the burden they are afraid will fall on their head. Imagine that! Usually people are afraid for the after marriage period but young men today say they can’t afford the wedding expenses.

Most people are being unreasonable nowadays. One young man was telling me that a family will not ask for dowry but it is expected from the groom to give a minimum of KD 7,000 or KD 8,000 to the family of the bride. You have to buy her jewellery and of course you can’t give her a ring cheaper than KD 1,000 etc. This amount is for the ring alone. On top of this the other expenses the party for the bride and a separate one for the groom. Don’t forget the designer clothes.

Finish with the party and then you will have to furnish a flat. Most of the girls here are telling me that they will not settle for an average furniture style. The first thing a bride wants is furniture from high-end furniture shops. Then finish with the expensive furniture and you have to start looking for a five-star hotel for the party and catering. Honeymoon is the next big expense. Of course, after paying all this money, I don’t think the guy will be in the mood for honeymooning. It is a material world indeed.

I was told about a woman who was checking after a guy whom she thought was suitable for her daughter. She was checking his bank account.

Of course it is not difficult to check the bank account of anybody in Kuwait because here unfortunately there is no privacy for customers and you can easily find anybody to give out information. In the same way MPs’ banks accounts were exposed in diwaniyas.

How amazing to check the groom’s account!

My friends laugh! What’s wrong with you?

Everybody does that. It is known that the woman wants to know what inheritance is the guy expecting. Instead of asking about his merits, education, culture, family upbringing, good behavior and the nature of the guy, they want to know how many zeros are there in his bank account. How nice! Do the zeros give the daughter a nice life? No wonder the divorce statistics between our young men and women is skyrocketing. The whole thing was built on how big a party was or from which country the chocolate was flown in or from where the flowers and decorations were imported etc, etc.

Madonna knew that fact two decades ago. I just realized it.

sawsank@kuwaittimes.net

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assette tapes, floppy disks, Walkmans, pagers and Polaroid cameras are items that were once at the top of the technology list.

They were cool, they were expensive and they were the most advanced gadgets we could get our hands on.

But nowadays, we don’t use any of them anymore.

The changes in the world of technology have been appearing exponentially faster with newer products and advancements every month.

I recently purchased a cover for my iPhone that makes it look like it is an old-school cassette tape from the back. You know, the kind that you

would have to sometimes wind up by hand if the ribbon got caught in the tape deck. You would stick a pencil in one of the holes and turn it around until it was back inside and then it was good to go. But with CDs, iPods and MP3 players, very few people still use this kind of technology. It seems even silly now to call it technology.

How ironic that covers are made to take an advance technology like a touch screen smart phone and disguise it as a retro cassette. Retro tech has become cool again. Having a Walkman, a pager or other technology that is no longer in production is fun again; it’s like having an antique.

Maybe this is due to the nostalgia we feel for the products that we grew up with. Unlike today, back then technologies lasted for more than one season. They were with us for years and were passed down from one generation to another. That could be the reason we are now disguising our new gadgets to look like old ones; there is a safety that comes with their appearance. We remember the ‘good-olddays’ when technology was less fickle and easier to understand.

Maybe one day we will disguise new gadgets to look like smart phones as a way to remember these ‘goodold-days’.

Local Spotlight

The Year of Change

By Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net

I

f we have to give names to years, I will call this year the year of change because if change does not come in salaries or family affairs then you need to consider how to bring positive change into your life. This is in order to feel out front and ahead in this life, otherwise you could easily be left behind and forgotten.

In our life today, everything moves easily and faster than you think or imagine. Think about the time you had your first child, probably 10 or 20 years ago. Now you look at your teenaged children and see a grownup person who acts like an adult. They think like mature people with lots of ideas and thoughts about life. Sometimes you are amazed at their wisdom and how our offspring today see the world. They understand life better than many other adults who are their age!

I believe that children today can be young in age but old in thinking. If you are lucky enough to be one of those parents who has such a jewel then he/she can help you to bring positive change into your life. For example, when you come back from work tired and depressed from your stingy and demanding boss, you can talk to your children about him.

You will be surprised with the sympathy, passion and wisdom. They tell you what a great employee you are, and that the foolish boss cannot see how wonderful you are. You feel good about yourself and end the day by taking them to dinner, instead of going to bed angry and frustrated.

Another way to change this year is never feel sorry for yourself. Never think how great you are and that life was not fair to you. That is really the worst thing you can do to yourself. The more you feel sad about what is going on in your life, you will stop seeing and appreciating the good things and the blessings you have, like good health and bread on your table. Many do not or cannot afford to have these things.

Think of the matters that really make you feel good about life, and remember life is a race. You cannot afford to stop for a long break. So keep trying. Sometimes you will be surprised at the inner person inside yourself. Turn all negativity to positivity. That will help you to do well in your day and year.

KUWAIT: Hailstones are seen in a compound in Kabd this week during a cold spell. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Local FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Mong mong

Felines on the cat walk

By Ben Garcia

KUWAIT: Around 50 breeds of felines will participate in the first ever cat show in Kuwait to be held at 10:30 am on Jan 21 in the Pearl Hall at Safir International Hotel. A large variety of cats have been registered and many catlovers will attend the show, where they can exchange stories about their favorite pets. “We welcome anyone and please all of you come and witness the show. This is a wonderful opportunity for people to see different breeds and ask questions, get advice on cat care and meet reputable cat owners,” says Sandra Al-Sumait, breeder and owner of Himalayan cattery.

To fulfill one of her dreams and wishes, Sandra has put together this first ever cat show, organized under the newly established Kuwait Cats Club [K-Cats].

According to Sandra, the cat show is the most expensive show ever and the first in Kuwait by the 13-month-old club. The show is supported by the international CFA, TICA and WCF organizations. “They are international organizations for some of the finest cat breeds in the world,” explains Sandra, adding that judges from America and Europe are invited to judge the competition. Sandra stressed that strict judging will be implemented.

“Our judges will be examining every cat and explaining to the audience about the different breeds, their characteristics and how to determine the breed of a cat,” she said. Sandra owns about 35 Himalayan cats, a cat breed of Himalayan descent. They are all housed, nurtured and cared for in an air-conditioned, fully carpeted

Rosie

villa in Shamiya. Sandra is entering about 14 of her Himalayan cats, also called Arabian tail cats. She explains that judges will not know which cats are hers, as the cats only carry a number and not the name of the owner. “A number will be pasted on the cage and the owner will not be revealed until after the competition,” she said.

Paws for thought According to Sandra, the objective of the show is to raise awareness for better treatment of animals in Kuwait. “We want to show the world that we can also care for animals, and much more for cats. We hope to educate the public on the value of animals,” she said.

Sandra, from Britain, is married to a Kuwaiti and is a selfprofessed pet lover. When she was young, she owned horses, dogs and many birds.

Sandra arrived in Kuwait in 1981. At that time, Kuwait was fairly empty and many places were virtually deserted. There were only a few small buildings in Kuwait City, but business was booming. “I remember my husband gave me a cat, which I loved so much. When it died I was pretty affected, me and my children. My husband told me to choose a cat which I like and he would pay for it. I did what he said and ended up talking to a breeder from America. The rest is history,” she narrated. “I am a cat person. I like cats; they love you unconditionally.”

Sandra breeds only Himalayans, preferring to specialize in this one breed and keep her cat numbers to a manageable level. “Our cats have excellent bloodlines with lineage from Devanchire, Grovewood, Karabel, Keystone, Kittystone Persian House, Playwhickey,

Sweet-girl

Purrpals, Laureden, Sandypaws, Sultans, Whisperwood and many other prestigious catteries in Europe and the USA,” she said.

The females freely share their home, and all kittens are raised as family members with lots of love and attention. “The boys have their own bachelor pads. Our aim is to produce beautiful, healthy kittens that will make loving companions, as well as striving to attain the most desired features of the breed standard. We choose our breeding cats carefully,” she says. Sandra talks to her cats and lovingly caresses them daily.

“All of them are combed every day. They have expensive food. Sometimes my children say; ‘you love them more than us’ and I reply in jest ‘yes, because they do not fight back’,” she beamed. Sandra has three children, the youngest of whom is 12. “Nothing is more important to us than the health of our cats. For this reason we are a closed cattery and do not offer stud services,” she added. “Cats will not do tricks like dogs. They cannot do that. They only love their masters, play with their masters and provide happiness. You cannot train them like dogs.” When asked her opinion on the cats abandoned in Kuwait she says: “It is indeed heartbreaking; but slowly people in Kuwait are learning. The best way to reach out to those who do not know is by holding this cat exhibition in order to give them best advice.”

Sandra said there are people who believe that cats are a jinx. “We want to tell people in Kuwait that cats are not demons. They are not evil, as many here believe. As a matter of fact, they are a creation of God who deserve respect and a place to live just like us,” she said.

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Local

Years

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

By Sawsan Kazak

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n Kuwait there seems to be a lot of articles, statistics and conversations dedicated to driving. This is most probably due to the fact that we physically spend a lot of time on the roads of Kuwait. Going to work, school, shopping or restaurant is mostly accomplished in the driver’s seat, passenger seat or backseat of a car. Even if our desired location is but a few feet away, we opt to take the car rather than walk, bike or skateboard.

This will not be another article complaining how rude drivers are when you are trying to merge into their lane or how crazy fast drivers are ruining society’s morality. I won’t even mention how there are 150 new speed bumps installed everyday in Kuwait and that it just might be a conspiracy with the mechanics and government workers to break down our cars and force us to get them fixed. No, this will focus on how driving can teach us important life lessons. The other day it dawned on me that driving can be a great metaphor for life.

Map it out When getting into a car, it is always good to have an idea where you are heading. Either checking your GPS or map or even asking a friend for directions will aid the drive to being a more determined and productive one. When you don’t have directions to your destination, you will end up getting lost, driving in circles, emptying your gas tank and having to call your friend to come and pick you up.

LIFE LESSON: The life lesson here is that it is a good idea to know what direction you want your life to head in. You don’t need to know exact locations but having an area in mind will avoid you going in circles and running out of energy.

Block it out Sometimes when driving down the road to your destination you will find roadblocks preventing you from using the main road to get to your desired location. These blocks are annoying and inconvenient and force us to take roads less traveled (literally). But with a little persistence and sense of adventure, you can always find a detour that will eventually lead you to your destination.

LIFE LESSON: In your life the roadblocks are usually other people, circumstances and sometimes yourself. And like in driving, these blocks can be overcome with detours. It is important to realize that the road to your desired objective may not be a straight line and the detours might take a little longer but, there is always a way to get there.

Eyes up, hands on When driving, you need to always be aware of what is going on and pay attention to your surroundings, otherwise you will have an accident. Texting, talking or just not being aware can cause major damage to you and others. Focusing on your drive will get you to your destination safely.

LIFE LESSON: In life, if you are not paying attention to your work, social, financial and health situation you will end up in an ‘accident’. Being aware of

your state of affairs will help you live a smoother more productive life.

Out of your hands While driving, you cannot always control the circumstances, and accidents will happen no matter how prudent you are. Either due to other drivers’ negligence or your own, or even uncontrollable circumstances such as weather, accidents can always happen. The best way to deal in these circumstances is being prepared (ie wearing your seatbelt) and have an insurance plan in place. In the aftermath it is important to stay calm and assess the damage.

LIFE LESSON: In life you will not always control what is going to happen to you. You might be placed in situations that you did not anticipate or do not want to be in (life accidents). The import thing is to deal with the problem and not run away; hit-andruns will get you nowhere and are illegal. Your insurance plan is a ‘Plan B’, but once you have acquired a plan, it’s not important to think about it all the time, just to renew it when it’s up.

Speed limits While driving there are some areas where you need to go slow such as residential areas or near schools. And there are some places where you need to go fast such as highways or yellow lights. It is important to follow speed limits to avoid tickets or accidents.

LIFE LESSON: In your life there are some areas where you can go fast and just rush through it, but there are areas where taking your time makes more sense. You can rush through grief and sorrow and not linger there for a long time. As for the important parts in your life such as your education, friends and family are aspects in your life where you need to take your time with.

Changing people While driving to your desired location you will most definitely encounter annoying drivers. The kind that drive below the speed limit, merge into your lane without signaling and take up two spots when parking at the mall. The important thing to remember is that you are never going to change their driving style no matter how much you honk or stick to their bumpers.

LIFE LESSON: In life you are going to encounter people with different opinions and morals than yours, and no matter how much you get your blood pressure up or you scream, you will not change their mind or their ignorance.

It is best to avoid these people and always ‘live and let live’.

Raging When it gets too much to handle, sometimes you will exhibit signs of road rage. Getting angry at other people’s driving, unnecessary traffic or just car problems usually never end well.

LIFE LESSON: Getting angry in your own life never results in you getting what you want. The better policy is to focus that energy into finding a solu-

tion to the problem you are facing and not just screaming uncontrollably.

Like in life, it’s good to have an aim, a goal or destination, but the journey getting there should be just as fun. This can apply to driving in that getting to your desired destination is important but enjoy the ‘getting there’. When driving just relax and maybe put on a good song or take the time to decompress. This way you can have some happy driving and living.

Local FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: Many people would like to be fashion designers, artists or handcrafters, but they cannot find the right school or institution to train in. Now they can make their dreams come true, with the Jalusion Fashion Designing School. This school provides different classes and levels for both children and adults. Launched in April 2011, Jalusion already trained many children and designers, who can proudly display their handmade products. The idea first came when Lynn Whyte and her partner Janette Herrmann were giving art classes for Kuwaitis at Hawally College. “Many expatriates love fashion designing and art and wondered where they could find such a school. So I decided, along with my partner Janette, to launch this school,” Whyte told Kuwait Times.

The classes have only a limited number of students.

“It’s not only about business, it’s more about passion.

We teach them to touch and feel. When they make something themselves they will appreciate it and not just throw it away. There are a maximum of about eight students in each of our classes, to give the attention each student needs. We received some offers from big companies to buy our school, but we refused as it’s not only about making money. We want our students to get experience and have fun. We are not looking for a class with 100 students,” she added.

“We have students from 5 to 57 years old. The classes are mixed, of both genders, but we also have some classes for young girls separately. The fees for the class also covers the tools and materials, so the student won’t have to go to different places to look for the materials.

In some cases, students require a kind of textile that we don’t have. In this case I go with them to make sure they

buy the right item,” explained Whyte. “The issues we teach in our classes are different from what is available in Kuwait, even if the subject is similar. We provide it in details and by professional teachers. My partner and me have more than 30 years of experience in this field,” she noted.

Jalusion offers a host of workshops and classes linked to history, heritage, culture and hand skills. “Fashion and design, handcrafts, life skills and etiquette are the focus of these classes. However, we are able to offer a wide range of interesting subjects related to the arts. The workshop is equipped with professional machines and tools, and the fee includes a package to complete the

Local FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

project. The vocational course books and learning materials will be supplied,” she said.

All fabrics, yarns and materials are natural and only available from Jalusion & Ja-Lynn. “All the products here are handmade and dyed from Thailand. Also the students can dye their products. We like to see children, especially, being creative. When they chose a design we don’t tell them not to do a certain thing, we leave them to work freely,” stresses Whyte.

The students who pass the course at Jalusion receive certificates after completing a given project.

“We provide professional classes, college level professional design courses, in three subjects: Fashion Design/Illustration, Pattern Construction and Design, and Tailoring Techniques. Courses can be taken parallel to each other or following on. For better understanding we recommend starting with this range.

Each subject takes six blocks of six weeks, in twohourly sessions. Each needs practice, hence homework and research is given. The entire subject together forms a professional fashion design course,” she pointed out.

“There are also many other courses such as fashion illustration and drawing, including drawing techniques with graphite pencils, study perspective and view, poses, faces, hands and feet, global information, markets, target groups, costumer analyses and style guide, and also how to prepare professional work to form an order related to a practical situation,” stated Whyte.

There are courses on fashion pattern construction and design also consisting of six levels, including international size guides, how to measure, copy a pattern from pattern books, seam allowances, small corrections and making personal sizes into a pattern.

Constructing basic skirts, blouses, bodices, and trouser pattern blocks, rendering them in several techniques and designs, folds gatherings and drapes, she added.

Additionally there are Introduction to Sewing classes including, Sewing Machine, Fibers and Fabrics, Basic Dressmaking Processes, Decorative Features and Introduction to Tailoring including advanced dressmaking techniques, Line and Design in Fashion including miscellaneous garments, Advanced Tailoring Techniques including construction of a fully tailored garment, Pattern Alteration and finally wedding and evening dresses,” concluded Whyte.

— Photos by Joseph Shagra

Local FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

KUWAIT: The Education Ministry plans to demolish and rebuild Ali Bin Abi Taleb elementary boys school in Shaab area at a cost of KD 2 million. The project will last 15 months.

Experts seek to improve quality of education KUWAIT: A neutral Arab authority to control the quality of education needs to be established, the Ministry of Education assistant undersecretary for Research and Education stated here yesterday.

Mariam Al-Wutaid announced the recommendations after the second educational conference on Comprehensive Quality in Education. Participating countries discussed several papers on improving the standards of quality in school curricula. She also called for focusing on developing school curricula according to modern directions, characterized with flexibility, while integrating school subjects horizontally and vertically in all stages.

Dr Ali Kachroud from Algeria discussed the standards of quality in textbooks and how to develop an electronic book without marginalizing the role of the paper book. He said it is necessary so that students do not reject the change to the electronic version.

Mariam Malak from Kuwait presented a paper on the principle of curricula quality, mentioning the comparison between traditional and modern curricula with regards to quality and achieving sought after goals.

The morning session concluded with a paper by Dr Fathi Oshaiba and Dr Kholoud Al-Dayeen on the role of a teacher to achieve the quality of curricula in public education and presented a future vision.

Dayeen emphasized the role of the educational environment in achieving modern curricula. Wafaa Abdallah, from Jordan, spoke about the mechanisms of achieving quality school curricula based on the experience of the Hashimite Kingdom of Jordan.

Iman Al-Faresi and Muna Awad from Kuwait presented a joint paper on how modern technology can achieve quality curricula through suitable policies and procedures to construct new programs in educational institutions. On the second day Abdelaziz AlRayes from Saudi Arabia, Dr Hisham Al-Husseini from Egypt, and Khalid Al-Khaja from Bahrain submitted their papers on the experience of their countries in improving and developing curricula according to the quality standards and evaluating learning based on curricula maps. Lecturers and participants continued discussing their papers, which focused on achieving quality in school curricula.

KUWAIT: Education experts are seen at the conference.

Municipality keeps up surprise raids

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Kuwait Municipality is continuing its surprise inspection campaigns, especially in relation to foodstuff, to make sure they are fit for human consumption. Ahmadi municipality branch director Engineer Fahad Al-Otaibi said the goal behind such campaigns is to safeguard the health and safety of consumers, which requires an active

role by the municipality towards supermarkets and food stores. He said several violations were found in some coop stores in Sabahiya in which good products were stored next to spoiled ones, while products were kept in unsanitary conditions, which required legal action by the inspection team.

Al-Otaibi said the campaign resulted in issuing 66 citations for dealing in food that does not meet standards, not

KUWAIT: Municipality inspectors show foodstuff unfit for human consumption.

complying with health conditions, working before obtaining health certificates, employing workers without health certificates and failure to provide workers with uniforms.

Al-Otaibi pointed to the cooperation between the engineering inspection and follow up and public cleanliness in Ahmadi municipality to remove encroachments on state property in Al-Khairan area as a chalet was removed, while other violations are being removed too.

Local FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

MoI bans Mislem from running Opposition decries decision as political

KUWAIT: Former opposition MPs and supporters gather at ex-MP Faisal Al-Mislem’s (centre) house late Wednesday in a show of support. — Photos by Joseph Shagra

By B Izzak KUWAIT: The Interior Ministry yesterday officially disqualified prominent opposition leader and former Islamist MP Faisal AlMislem from running in the forthcoming February elections, citing a court ruling. The decision came just one day after the appeals court upheld a conviction and a KD 200 fine against Mislem for revealing bank classified information during the grilling of the former prime minister in Dec 2009. The decision was harshly criticized by opposition candidates, former MPs and activists who described it as “politically motivated” and a serious threat to the country’s democratic system and the constitution.

The ministry said in a statement that it has been decided to remove Mislem’s name from the list of candidates because he “failed to fulfil legal conditions for candidates”. It said that Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah has signed the decision, adding that it fully respects court rulings and the right of citizens to seek the help of justice. A few days ago, the ministry disqualified 14 candidates for almost identical reasons including controversial figure Mohammad Al-Juwaihel and

Shiite lawyer Abdulhameed Dashti, frequent critics of the opposition. Many of them said they will challenge the ministry decision in the administrative court.

Mislem’s troubles began in Dec 2009 when

grilling debate, held behind closed doors on Dec 8, 2009, Mislem showed a copy of the cheque with the name of the bank to prove his arguments. The bank later sued Mislem on charges that he exposed banking secrets

he became the first Kuwaiti MP to question a prime minister when he grilled the former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad AlAhmad Al-Sabah on charges of issuing a KD 200,000 cheque to a former MP. During the

detrimental to its reputation and business.

The lower court convicted him on the charge and fined him KD 200. On Wednesday, the appeals court upheld the ruling, opening the way for the interior ministry’s decision.

MoI warns bedoons not to take to street KUWAIT: The Ministry of Interior cautioned the bedoons and their supporters yesterday against holding any demonstrations or protests otherwise they would be brought to book. The warning by the ministry came following a spate of demonstrations and rallies by stateless people attempting to exert more pressure on the Kuwaiti government to fulfill their demands. The Ministry’s security information department said in a release that bedoons should be more patient as Kuwaiti agencies concerned are trying earnestly to resolve their problems. Deputy Prime Minister, Interior Minister and Defense Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah attaches much attention to the issue of the “illegal residents”, it said.

Anyone found breaking Law No 6/1979, which bars demonstrations and rallies at public places and squares for non-Kuwaitis would be punished by getting jailed for a maximum period of two years or fined KD 1,000 or both penalties, it warned. The ministry also warned election candidates not to capitalize on campaigns to cast doubts about serious governmental efforts to put an end to the thorny dossier of bedoons to gain more votes in the electoral race.Earlier on Wednesday, the ministry had also released a statement warning of potential demonstrations by illegal residents, reminding that Kuwaiti authorities have taken it upon themselves to resolve this problem.

Under Kuwaiti election law, people who are convicted of crimes of honesty and integrity are barred from contesting the elections. Dozens of supporters and former MPs flocked to Mislem’s residence late Wednesday night in a sign of support after rumours that the ministry has already decided to bar him spread like wildfire. About 22 former MPs, candidates and activists signed a brief statement in which they warned that the court ruling is suspected to being not in line with the constitution which provides full immunity to MPs to express their views in the Assembly. The statement warned the interior ministry against the consequences of barring Mislem because he was not convicted in any way in a crime related to a lack of integrity of honesty. A large number of candidates strongly criticized the decision and warned of the serious consequences it may have on the Kuwaiti democratic system. Jaber Al-Dubaie, Muslim’s lawyer, said he will file a lawsuit to the administrative court to repeal the decision. It is expected that the decision will trigger a new wave of protests by youth activists and opposition candidates who believe that the action against Mislem is unjustified and illegal.

Kuwait, Cuba sign MoU on healthcare KUWAIT: Kuwait Minister of Health and Minister of Finance Dr Mustafa Al-Shamali signed yesterday a memorandum of understanding with Cuban Health Minister Roberto Morales Ojeda on bolstering bilateral cooperation in heath sector. “This agreement strengthens friendship bonds and enhances joint action between the governments of Kuwait and Cuba,” Al-Shamali said during the signing ceremony at the Ministry of Health. He added that the two governments are eager to increase future cooperation in healthcare services.

For his part, Undersecretary of Ministry of Health for Public Health Dr Qais Al-Douiri said the five-year MoU includes setting up mechanisms for healthcare cooperation and exchanging medical experience. He noted that the MoU was signed after sending a delegation from the Ministry to the Republic of Cuba to evaluate quality of health services provided there. The visiting Cuban delegation toured yesterday the Dasman Diabetes Hospital and Amiri Hospital to evaluate healthcare services in Kuwait. —KUNA

KUWAIT: Minister of Health and Minister of Finance Dr Mustafa Al-Shamali signs a memorandum of understanding with Cuban Health Minister Roberto Morales Ojeda yesterday. — KUNA

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Ahmadinejad denounces capitalism while in Cuba

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Turkey: Not bound by US sanctions against Iran

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India marks milestone in fight against polio

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ALEPPO: Activist of the group called “Freedom Convoy” wave a Syrian flag and chant slogans against president Bashar Al-Assad during a gathering yesterday near the Turkish-Syrian border city of Kilis, about 70 kilometres (43 miles) south of Gaziantep, on the road to Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city. —AFP

Syria regime ‘liquidating’ journalists: SNC France demands investigation into reporter’s death DAMASCUS: The opposition Syrian National Council accused the regime yesterday of “liquidating” journalists in order to hush up what is happening in the country, a day after a French reporter was killed. The SNC’s accusation came as France demanded an investigation into the death the previous day of Gilles Jacquier, 43, who worked for France 2 television, during a government-organized trip to the flashpoint city of Homs.

The SNC denounced the “murder” of Jacquier, saying it was a “dangerous sign that the authorities have decided to physically liquidate journalists in an attempt to silence neutral and independent media.” The award-winning Jacquier, who had covered conflicts in Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan, was the first Western reporter to die in Syria since anti-regime protests erupted in mid-March last year.

An AFP photographer said he was killed when a shell exploded among some 15 journalists covering demonstrations in Homs on a visit organ-

ised by the authorities. Six Syrians were also reported killed, and several other people wounded. Anti-regime activists in Homs also said the authorities had orchestrated the attack, while state television blamed “a terrorist group” that had opened fire on the journalists and a gathering of regime supporters. Wissam Tarif, an Arab campaigner with international activist non-governmental organisation Avaaz, undermined the government’s claims.

“The journalists were attacked in a heavily militarised regime stronghold. It would be hugely difficult for any armed opposition to penetrate the area and launch such a deadly attack,” he said. Tarif also said the incident was an “unacceptable breach of the Arab League protocol,” to which Syria has committed itself and which requires journalists to have freedom to report across Syria.

“The regime has denied journalists free access to the country, forcing them to join press tours organised by the ministry of information and

chaperoned closely by regime minders,” he said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement that “France expects the Syrian authorities to shed light on the death of a man who was simply doing his job: reporting.” British Foreign Secretary William Hague condemned the attack, saying the “deaths highlight once again the terrible price being paid by the people of Homs, as well as the courage of journalists who take great personal risks to bring to light what is happening to the people of Syria.”

And EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton joined global press watchdog Reporters Without Borders in demanding a rapid inquiry. The SNC urged international organisations to deal with the “crimes perpetrated by the regime against Syrian and foreign journalists.” Wednesday’s attack came hours after President Bashar alAssad took to the streets of Damascus to address cheering crowds of supporters. “Without a doubt we will defeat the conspiracy, which is nearing its end and will also be the end for (the conspira-

tors) and their plans,” Assad said during the rare public appearance in the capital’s Omayyad Square.

In a speech on Tuesday, he had vowed to crush “terrorism” with an iron fist, saying “regional and international parties” were trying to destabilise Syria. That prompted opposition movements to accuse him of pushing Syria towards civil war and world powers to accuse him of trying to shift the blame for the 10 months of bloodletting. As the two sides remained polarised, demonstrations and killing continued.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces killed 13 people around the country yesterday. In December, the United Nations estimated that more than 5,000 people had been killed in the crackdown since March.

Earlier, the Observatory said 2,000 students were demonstrating in the Damascus province town of Irbin to demand an end to the regime and the “bringing to justice of the murderers of the Syrian people.” — AFP

International FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Amid crisis, Pakistan prez travels to Dubai Zardari attends wedding in Dubai

GAZA CITY: Palestinian delegates listen to Ismail Haniya, prime minister of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, (rear-R) during a press conference in Gaza City yesterday during which he talked about his recent tour to Sudan, Turkey and Tunisia. —AFP

Militants bomb oil equipment yard in Iraq MOSUL: Gunmen wearing military uniforms bombed an equipment storage yard belonging to Angola’s national oil company near an oilfield in northern Iraq, police sources said yesterday.

No one was hurt in the attack, which occurred on Wednesday night near the Najmah field, about 330 km (205 miles) north of Baghdad, in restive Nineveh province, the sources said.

Angola’s Sonangol won deals to develop the Najmah and Qayara oilfields in late 2009 as Iraq contracted with international firms to develop its reserves. The fields are near the city of Mosul, an area known as an al Qaeda stronghold. The gunmen ordered the guards to leave the equipment yard and planted bombs that damaged nine machines, the police sources said.

Police detained ten guards for questioning. “We think the guards are involved in this,” a seniormilitary source said.

Violence in Iraq has ebbed since the sectarian strife of 2006-07 but bombings and other attacks still occur daily. Tensions have been running high in recent weeks after the Shi’ite-led government moved to arrest a Sunni vice president, leading to concerns of renewed sectarian conflict.—Reuters

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s president left the country yesterday for what was described as a one-day private visit to Dubai, amid a deepening crisis between the government and the powerful military, officials said. Early last month, President Asif Ali Zardari traveled to Dubai for medical treatment, triggering rumors that he was either being pushed out by the army or was fleeing a potential coup. He returned after a few weeks, but tensions have continued to soar in the country, with critics gleefully predicting the government’s imminent downfall. The officials said that the president would attend a wedding in Dubai and would be back in Pakistan today morning, in a trip unconnected to the current crisis. They didn’t give their names because they were not authorized to release the information. As Zardari left, military chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani met with top commanders, media reports and a military officer said, fueling speculation about the army’s next move in the political crisis.

Most analysts say Kayani doesn’t want a coup because the army is fighting Islamist militants, the country is facing economic ruin and seizing power would trigger domestic and international criticism. But they

say the generals may be happy to allow a Supreme Court hostile to the government to dismiss Zardari if it can find a “constitutional” way to do so.

On Wednesday, the prime minister fired the defense secretary in a rare public display of assertiveness by the civilian government against the army, as the fallout from a scandal centered on a memo written to Washington asking for its help in reining in the generals widened. The court, regarded as an ally of the army, is investigating that affair and a second one linked to past corruption cases against the president.

Both could potentially be used as a pretext to oust the current civilian leadership, which is showing no signs of bending.

The army has ruled Pakistan for much of its six-decade existence, and still sees itself as the rightful custodian of the country’s interests. No civilian government has ever completed its term in office. The Zardari government, which was democratically elected in 2008, is determined to see out its term. General elections are scheduled for next year, but could well take place sooner.

Zardari’s opponents may be eager to bring the crisis to a head and dis-

solve parliament before March senate elections. The body’s lower house, currently dominated by the president’s party, directly elects senators who serve a six-year term. If the elections are held with the current parliament in place, Zardari’s allies will have a strong foothold in government through 2018.

The leader of the country’s main opposition party, Nawaz Sharif, is no friend of the army and would have little to gain if the military pushed Zardari out. But he brought the memo scandal to the attention of the Supreme Court, and is trying to exploit the chaos and push for early polls. “There is no justification for this government to stay in power any more,” he told party members at a meeting to discuss the crisis, according to his spokesman.

The president’s administration has been widely criticized for ineptness, poor or ineffectual governance, and alleged corruption. Still, domestic and international proponents of democracy say his government should be able to complete its term, and elections should decide the country’s next leaders. They note successive military coups in Pakistan are a main cause of the country’s current malaise.—AP

Triumphant Brotherhood eyes political credibility CAIRO: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is seeking to emerge as a credible and moderate force after marathon elections propelled it to the forefront of the political scene, analysts said yesterday. But the once-banned Brotherhood, which for decades pushed the slogan “Islam is the solution”, is being challenged by ultra-conservative Islamists and must adopt a a clear political program and band with liberal parties, they said.

The Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party claims to have won a crushing victory in Egypt’s three-phased parliamentary elections which wrapped on Wednesday, based on initial estimations. According to media reports, the FJP could clinch some 45 percent of seats in the parliament, which comprises 498 elected deputies and 10 appointed by the military council ruling Egypt since the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak. “The FJP is trying to appear moderate and is adopting an appeasing tone as it strives to set up a coalition with other parties,” Cairo University political sciences professor Mustafa Kamel Sayyed told AFP. “To become lawmakers they will certainly need to cooperate with non-Islamist parties,” he said. On Wednesday the FJP won a much needed boost when its leaders held unprecedented talks with US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns at their Cairo headquarters. The meeting was the latest in a series of moves by the administration of President Barack Obama to reach out to the Brotherhood in a nod to Egypt’s new political reality.

But Washington has indicated concerns linger about the group’s attitude toward Egypt’s Christian minority, women and the peace treaty

with Israel. The Brotherhood has been striving to ease these concerns. Last week, when Coptic Christians celebrated Christmas, an Islamist leader was there for the first time. FPJ chief Mohammed Mursi presented his greetings to Pope Shenuda III at the Abbassiya Cathedral although he did not attend Christmas mass. The party has also made it clear it will not insist “immediately” on an “integral application of sharia” law nor would it demand strategic postsforeign affairs and the interior ministry-in a future cabinet.

“The Brotherhood prefers to run ministries that provide direct services to the people,” such as the health or social affairs, said Sayyed. The Islamists built their strength through a wide network of social aid targeting the poor across Egypt, where around 40 percent of the 82-million strong population live on less than two dollars per day. For Hisham Murad, a commentator at the Al-Ahram Hebdo weekly magazine, the Brotherhood “has shown proof of pragmatism and moderation, and a reassuring message on the future intentions of Egypt in the region.”

Initially the Brotherhood campaigned for a strong parliamentary system but it backtracked amid rising tensions with liberal parties and the military rulers who insist on a powerful executive branch. “The party believes that a mixed parliamentary presidential system is the best for Egypt at this current transitional period,” FJP chief Mursi told Burns at their meeting on Wednesday.

“The party believes that all political powers in Egypt should be in accord with each other to help achieve the goals of the revolution” that

CAIRO: Mohammed Badie, head of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, (R) speaks with former US president Jimmy Carter during a meeting in Cairo yesterday.—AFP least, is the fate of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty toppled Mubarak, Mursi added.

As it aims for majority rule in parliament the which turned Egypt into the lynchpin of US poliBrotherhood must, however, contend with the cy in the Middle East since it was signed in 1979. rising star of Al-Nur, the largest party to repre- “The position of the Brotherhood is still ambigusent the ultra-conservative Salafi brand of Islam, ous,” said Murad. In a statement issued in which came second in the polls. “The Muslim September the Brotherhood demanded a “reviBrotherhood is constantly changing. Today it sion” of ties with Israel but stopped short from says it is keeping moderates to distinguish itself calling for the scrapping of the peace treaty from the Salafists. But will it keep it up? It isn’t the first between an Arab country and the sure,” says Cairo University political sciences Jewish state. “Some members say it will be revised, others stress that it is up to the Egyptian professor Nevine Mosaad.

Another cause for concern, for Washington at people to decide its fate, said Murad.—AFP

International FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Iranian paper calls for retaliation against Israel TEHRAN: A hard-line Iranian newspaper called yesterday for retaliation against Israel, a day after the mysterious killing of a nuclear scientist in Tehran with a magnetic bomb attached to his car.

Provocative hints from Israel reinforced the perception that the killing was part of an organized and clandestine campaign to set back Iran’s nuclear ambitions, which the US and its allies suspect are aimed at producing weapons. Iran says the program is for peaceful purposes only.

Iran’s nuclear confrontation with the West had already been escalating in the weeks before the killing, with the US tightening sanctions against Tehran, and Iranian officials warning that they would shut a waterway vital to global oil shipping in response. The Wednesday assassination of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan - at least the fourth targeted hit against a member of Iran’s nuclear brain trust in two years - has heightened tensions even further.

A column in the Kayhan newspaper by chief editor Hossein Shariatmadari asked why Iran did not avenge Roshan, a chemistry expert and a director of the

Natanz uranium enrichment facility, by striking Israel. “Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz in his recent remarks spoke about damaging Iran’s nuclear program,” he wrote. “Assassinations of Israeli military and officials are easily possible.”

The day before the attack, Gantz was quoted as telling a parliamentary panel that 2012 would be a “critical year” for Iran - in part because of “things that happen to it unnaturally.” Tehran quickly blamed Israeli-linked agents backed by the US and Britain. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton denied any US role in the slaying, and the Obama administration condemned the attack. “I want to categorically deny any United States involvement in any kind of act of violence inside Iran,” she said. Israeli officials, in contrast, have hinted at covert campaigns against Iran without directly admitting involvement. A covert war between Iran and Israel would come on top of an overt confrontation pitting Tehran against the West, involving both legal and political maneuvering and military sabre-rattling.

Washington is currently involved in

an international lobbying effort to win support for new sanctions, targeting Iran’s oil industry, which would bar financial institutions from the US market if they do business with Iran’s central bank. Iran has threatened to respond to sanctions by shutting the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway for about one-sixth of the world’s oil. Earlier this month Tehran concluded 10 days of naval exercises in the waters off of the strait, and says it plans to hold another set of sea drills in February.

In domestic politics, Ahmadinejad ousted an ally of one of his main moderate rivals, former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, from the chancellorship of the country’s largest university, a state-owned newspaper reported yesterday. Iran daily said Ahmadinejad associate Farhad Daneshjoo received five of nine votes cast by the board of trustees of the Islamic Azad University, which enrolls more than 1.7 million students in 400 branches nationwide.

Ahmadinejad is currently under attack from both moderates backed by Rafsanjani and by clerical hardliners, and the battle often plays out in determining

who controls key governmental institutions. Supporters of Ahmadinejad had at least for two years pushed to replace current chancellor Abdollah Jasbi because of his affiliation with Rafsanjani, a former pillar of the clerical establishment, whose power base came under attacks after he lent his support to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in 2009 presidential elections. Earlier this month a court sentenced Rafsanjani’s daughter Faezeh Hashemi to six months in prison on charges of propagandizing against the ruling system.

In 2011 Rafsanjani lost his position as head of the Assembly of Experts, a clerical body which has the power to appoint the Supreme Leader of the country. He remains as the head of the Expediency Council, which is an advisory body to the country’s current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but his term will end in late February. Contests such as the Islamic Azad university vote are seen as bellwethers of whether or not the moderates’ clerical allies like Rafsanjani will remain in influential positions, or will be slowly squeezed out.—AP

Furious Iran wants action over scientist’s killing TEHRAN: The assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist sparked deep fury in Tehran yesterday against prime suspect Israel and against the United States, which said it had nothing to do with the murder. Some hardline newspapers even called for retaliatory action, with one, Keyhan, saying in an editorial that “assassinations of Israeli officials and military are achievable.” The government’s reaction was just as angry, though more measured.

In a letter demanding strong UN Security Council condemnation, it said it had evidence unnamed “foreign quarters” were behind Wednesday’s killing of scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan.

The 32-year-old deputy director of Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility died when two riders on a motorbike drove by his car trapped in Tehran’s rush-hour traffic and slapped onto it a magnetic bomb that directed a deadly blast inside the vehicle. The explosion also killed Ahmadi Roshan’s driver/bodyguard and wounded a third occupant of the Peugeot 405. The attack was similar to four others in Tehran over the past two years.

Three scientists died, at least two of whom also worked on Iran’s controversial nuclear program. Another, who now heads the country’s atomic energy organisation, escaped just in time.

Ahmadi Roshan was to be buried today, after traditional weekly Muslim prayers.

The latest attack dominated Iran’s media yesterday, with many outlets criticising what they said was the silence of the West over the killings. More conservative titles urged tit-for-tat covert action against Israel. “The only way to finish with the enemy’s futile actions is retaliation for the assassination of Iran’s scientist,” said the newspaper Resalat. “It is legal under international law to retaliate for the killing of the nuclear scientist,” the daily Keyhan said. “The Islamic republic has gathered much experience in 32 years, thus assassinations of Israeli officials and military members are achievable.” Protests called for yesterday outside the French, German and British embassies were cancelled for lack of authorisation, Fars news agency reported, adding they would be now be held after today’s funeral.

The British embassy has been closed since protesters angry at Western sanctions ransacked it in November. The United States and Israel do not have diplomatic ties with Iran. The French mission is operating on reduced staff. On Wednesday, Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, the foreign ministry, lawmakers and other officials said Israel and the United States were behind the car-bomb attack. Israel has largely remained silent, although military spokesman Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai said on his official Facebook page that, while he was unaware who carried out the killing, “I am definitely not shedding a tear.”— AFP

SANAA: Yemeni protestors march during a demonstration demanding the prosecution of Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen yesterday. The poster, second right, in Arabic reads, “Saleh must be trailed.” —AP

Twenty killed in Sunni, Shiite clashes in Yemen SANAA: Twenty gunmen were killed yesterday in clashes between Zaidi Shiite rebels and Sunni Salafist gunmen in northern Yemen, a security official said. Clashes erupted in the morning in the northwestern Hajjah province between rebel gunmen, known as Huthis, and Sunni extremists, the local official told AFP. The official said the gunfight took place in the city of Mustaba, close to the Red Sea port city of Midi, at the border with Saudi Arabia.

Other clashes erupted between the Sunni Waela tribe and Shiite rebels in the province of Saada, the stronghold of the rebels.

Fighting between the Sunni fundamentalists and the Huthi rebels had raged over the past months in the northern town of Dammaj, south of Saada, where a Salafist Islamic teaching school was besieged by Huthi rebels. At least 71 people were killed in clashes that erupted in mid-October, a

spokesman for the Dar alHadith school claimed in late December.

The school trains Sunni preachers and believes in the strictest and most draconian interpretations of Islam. In 2004, Zaidi Shiites, who regularly complain of inequality and marginalization by the central government, rebelled against President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime. Thousands of Yemenis were killed before a ceasefire was declared in February 2010.— AFP

International FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Uruguay will question Haitian about abuse MONTEVIDEO: A Supreme Court official promised Wednesday that Uruguay’s justice system will reach out to a young Haitian man who has accused six UN peacekeepers from Uruguay of sexually abusing him. Justice officials said earlier that they had been unable to obtain the man’s testimony and that charges might have to be dropped as a result. But The Associated Press called the 19-year-old’s cellphone and found him in Haiti’s capital.

He said Monday night that no one had ever asked him to testify. “They know where to find me ... if they take me, I will go,” he said. Supreme Court minister Jorge Chediak noted the man’s comments in an interview with Channel 10

television and said the courts would act once their January vacation ends. “Now that we know he is apparently interested in testifying, he will surely be found, and surely after the recess ends the competent authorities will take the steps needed to have a videoconference,” he said.

The Haitian man told AP on Wednesday night that he hadn’t been contacted by his attorney or other authorities since the AP’s report two days earlier. Uruguay’s vice minister of defense, Jorge Menendez, said officials had tried repeatedly to obtain the man’s testimony, either by bringing him to Uruguay or having him answer questions remotely. But, he said, they had not heard from the alleged victim since his

Van der Sloot pleads guilty LIMA: After Joran van der Sloot pleaded guilty Wednesday to the 2010 murder of a Peruvian woman he met at a Lima casino, his lawyer argued that the killing was tragically triggered by fallout from the very event that originally brought his client notoriety. The “persecution” suffered by Van der Sloot after the unsolved disappearance of US teenager Natalee Holloway five years earlier scarred him psychologically with a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder, defense attorney Jose Jimenez told the three female judges who are to sentence his client Friday.

The young Dutchman has been the prime suspect in the Holloway case since she disappeared on Aruba five years to the day before the killing of the 21-year-old Peruvian woman, business student Stephany Flores. With the evidence against him in the Peru killing strong, Van der Sloot entered a guilty plea Wednesday at his lawyer’s urging, hoping for a reduced sentence. “I truly am sorry for this act. I feel very bad,” the 24year-old defendant said, showing no emotion in a brief admission of guilt in fractured Spanish. He did not use the Dutch translator provided for the proceeding.

Prosecutors are asking for a 30-year prison sentence under charges that carry a 15-year minimum. Van der Sloot, physically imposing at well over six feet tall, bowed his head minutes later as his lawyer argued that he killed Flores in a “severe emotional reaction to extreme psychological trauma” related to the Holloway disappearance, “something he says he never did and for which no evidence at all exists.” Van der Sloot did not exhibit signs of remorse, and he briefly smiled while conferring with Jimenez before leaving the courtroom.

The judges have 48 hours to render a sentence and the presiding magistrate, Victoria Montoya, said the panel would reconvene today to do so. Van der Sloot’s trial opened last week but was adjourned until Wednesday after he asked for more time to decide how to plead. He said then that he did not accept the aggravated murder charges the prosecution sought. Van der Sloot, who wore faded jeans and an untucked light-blue button-down shirt, had confessed to the May 30, 2010, killing long ago.

He told police shortly after the murder that he killed Flores in a fit of rage after she discovered his connection to the disappearance of Holloway on his laptop while they played poker online. The defense says it was manslaughter, for which the minimum sentence is 5 years. Police forensic experts disputed that claim and a lawyer for the victim’s prominent family contends Van der Sloot killed Flores in order to rob her.

Prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder and theft.

The prosecution maintained Van der Sloot killed Flores with “ferocity” and “cruelty,” concealing the crime and fleeing to Chile, where he was caught two days after Flores’ rotting body was found. He took more than $200 in cash plus credit cards from the victim and made his initial getaway in her car, leaving it in a different part of Lima, prosecutors say. “Van der Sloot is far too cold and calculating,” Peru’s chief homicide detective at the time, Miguel Canlla, told The Associated Press shortly after the killing. The coroner’s report said the killer elbowed Flores in the face, thrusting her against a wall and drawing blood.— AP

lawyer demanded a $5 million settlement.

The AP is not identifying the man by name because of the sexual nature of the charges. On Wednesday, Chediak said justice officials still didn’t have the man’s address in Haiti, but since the AP had managed to locate him and he expressed a willingness to testify, Uruguayan authorities would take the necessary steps to find him. He insisted that “the last time we couldn’t take his declaration because he couldn’t be found.” The former peacekeepers were freed last week pending a military trial on charges of violating rules against fraternizing with civilians inside military bases.

A separate civilian investigation into the abuse charges could go to trial only with the man’s cooperation, prosecutor Eduardo Fernandez Dovat said early this week. Dovat said a video of the incident by itself could not prove that the Haitian man was sexually penetrated, and the case would have to be dropped if he didn’t testify. One of the peacekeepers recorded the rowdy scene on a cellphone, showing the accuser being pinned down on a mattress as a partially clothed soldier simulated rape. The soldiers initially called it a prank that got out of hand, but it angered many Haitians and gave ammunition to those who have been demanding a departure by the UN mission.—AP

2 bodies left at Mexico mall; drug toll at 47,500 Drug violence infiltrating privileged realms MEXICO CITY : Two decapitated bodies were found inside a burning SUV early Wednesday at the entrance to one of Mexico’s most luxurious malls, feeding fears drug violence is infiltrating privileged realms previously thought safe. Police recovered the mutilated bodies before dawn off a toll highway at a shopping mall entrance in the heart of the Santa Fe district that’s a haven for international corporations, diplomats and the wealthy. The heads and a threatening message were dumped a few yards away, Mexico City prosecutors said in a statement.

Hours later, the government released a drug war body count recording more than 47,500 victims in five years, echoing independent death tolls tabulated by Mexican media. Local media published images of the charred car and reported that a note written on hot pink paper was signed by the drug gang Mano con Ojos, or Hand with Eyes. Mexican police had said the gang was weakened by the arrest of its leader, Oscar Osvaldo Garcia, in August.

The victims, a man and a woman in their 30s, had not been identified, prosecutors said. They said the SUV with license plates from neighboring Mexico state had been stolen. The Centro Santa Fe mall where the charred car was found is one of the country’s largest and most glamorous, housing high-end retailers like Coach, Prada, Hugo Boss, Saks Fifth Avenue and Mexican department store Palacio de Hierro. The dump scene was cleaned up so quickly that shoppers weren’t even aware anything had happened.

The car was left only hours before Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard guided a tour of a bridge construction site 300 yards (meters) away. Ebrard spokesman Diego Gutierrez said there was nothing to indicate the bodies were a message to the mayor. Mexico’s sprawling capital has been something of a haven from the brutal cartel violence that has claimed thousands of lives along the US border and in outlying states. But gangs have been fighting over an increasingly lucrative local drug market for more than a year, mainly in the capital’s working class outer neighborhoods and suburbs.

The Santa Fe district has been spared

VERACRUZ: Police stand next to the bodies of four men that were left next to a wall in the town of Medellin, near Veracruz, Mexico, Wednesday.—AP much of that violence and managed to maintain its reputation as a manicured bubble built atop a former landfill on the western edge of Mexico City. The financial district houses the Mexican headquarters of major corporations, Hewlett Packard and IBM among them, and Iberoamerican University, one of Mexico’s top private schools. Modern, heavily guarded highrises where wealthy Mexicans and foreigners live dot the hilly landscape.

But as the fight among splintering drug cartels intensifies, brazen attackers have reached even into the country’s most guarded districts. “If they don’t put an end to this, it could become more frightening here,” said Christian Falbi, a 24-year-old college student who lives in an apartment building within walking distance of the mall. Erubiel Tirado, a security expert who teaches at Iberoamerican University, said the attack shows the government’s law enforcement strategy has not dissuaded increasingly brutal drug traffickers.

“We are talking about an area that is under 24-hour surveillance by police and private security and supposedly one of the safest in the capital and in the country, and yet they can act with impunity,”

Tirado said. It was a regular day at the mall with dozens of cars parked in the lots and hundreds of shoppers visiting the jewelry shops, shoe and department stores.

Roberto Herrera, a 52-year-old salesman for a bottling company headquartered in a building across the street from the mall, wasn’t surprised by the news.

“We have lived with this situation for a while and we are no longer shocked because this is what’s been happening in Veracruz, Acapulco and Monterrey,” said Herrera, who was having lunch with a coworker at the TGI Friday’s restaurant inside the mall.

In October, the Mano con Ojos gang claimed responsibility for leaving two severed heads on a street across from the nation’s top military base in Mexico City.

The gang was once part of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel, and authorities say it has killed dozens while trying to forcefully recruit local drug dealers to its ranks.

Nationwide, 47,515 drug-related killings occurred from December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon deployed thousands of troops to drug hot spots, through September 2011, the Attorney General’s Office said Wednesday. —AP

International FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Romney blitzing South Carolina as front-runner Primary victory would make him unstoppable

HAVANA: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro (L) attend a welcoming ceremony at State Council in Havana on Wednesday.—AFP

Ahmadinejad denounces capitalism while in Cuba HAVANA: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denounced capitalism Wednesday during a speech at the University of Havana on the third leg of a trip to highlight friendships with his Latin American allies, most of them thorns in Washington’s side.

Ahmadinejad held a private meeting later with President Raul Castro and was expected to meet with Fidel Castro. In all, he planned to spend less than 24 hours on the island before flying to Ecuador. At the university, the Iranian leader railed against the United States and its allies and said heartless capitalism is the root cause of war.

“Thankfully we are already witnessing that the capitalist system is in decay,” Ahmadinejad said. “On various stages it has come to a dead end - politically, economically and culturally.” “You see that when it lacks logic, they turn to weapons to kill and destroy,” he added. Ahmadinejad, who received an honorary doctorate from the university, did not take questions or talk about a bombing earlier Wednesday in Tehran that killed a nuclear scientist working at Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility. Iran’s government blamed the killing on Israel, the US and Britain.

The US denied involvement. The Iranian leader spoke warmly of his Cuban hosts, describing the relationship of the two countries as “solidarity between two revolutionary peoples,” although the two revolutions couldn’t have been more different. Iran’s ushered in a religious Islamic government, while Communist Cuba under Fidel Castro was officially atheist for decades. Nevertheless, Iran and Cuba have found common cause in standing up to Washington. Fidel Castro, who is retired, has repeatedly warned that a confrontation pitting the US and Israel against Iran could result in a nuclear exchange.

Ahmadinejad began his Latin America tour shortly after Washington imposed tougher sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program. He previously visited Venezuela and Nicaragua.— AP

COLUMBIA: Republican front-runner Mitt Romney has opened a 10-day blitz in conservative South Carolina, where a primary victory would make him nearly unstoppable in his battle for the nomination as the party’s challenger to President Barack Obama in November. Romney is trying to woo South Carolinians who cast ballots on Jan 21 after the narrowest of victories in Iowa and a solid win in New Hampshire, the first two states where voters chose a favorite candidate. The 2012 campaign will likely mark one of the most highly charged and deeply partisan elections in recent history.

Romney is the favorite of the Republican political establishment as the candidate most likely to defeat Obama. The former Massachusetts governor is flush with cash - reporting that he raised $24 million during the last three months of 2011. “I don’t want to be overconfident,” Romney said Wednesday. But increasingly, he was talking about his plans for challenging Obama in November, not his primary foes of the moment.

Obama is vulnerable as he turns up his campaigning for a second term. The wobbly US economy, a ravaged housing market and stubbornly high unemployment have proven a major drag on his support.

The president is weighed down by an extremely slow recovery from the 2007-2009 Great Recession. Voters blame that downturn on former President George W. Bush but are judging Obama according to his mixed record in turning things around.

Despite those difficulties, Obama raked in more than $68 million combined for his re-election campaign and the Democratic Party during the final three months of 2011. While that easily outstrips Romney’s haul, the former Massachusetts governor is still battling five other Republicans for the nomination. That dilutes support among the large field. Should he win the nomination the difference in fundraising will narrow dramatically.

Still Romney faces strong opposition among Republicans who see him as too moderate as the representative of a party that has become more conservative over recent years.

SOUTH CAROLINA: Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, signs campaign posters during a campaign stop at Cherokee Trikes & More yesterday in Greer, South Carolina. —AFP

Nevertheless, Romney’s opponents have been unable to coalesce behind a single rival in the six-man race.

Republicans are uncertain about whether Romney, the former governor of the northern, liberal state of Massachusetts, is sufficiently conservative. It’s not clear if South Carolina’s core evangelicals will rally behind Romney, who is a Mormon.

South Carolina is also known for tough political fights and this year isn’t likely to be an exception. The candidates with presumably the best prospects in the conservative southern state - Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry - all fared poorly in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary. Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who finished second in New Hampshire with his flinty libertarian prescriptions for fixing America’s economic troubles, will face a stiff challenge in South Carolina. He calls for the virtual withdrawal of US military forces from overseas and significant cuts in defense spending. South Carolina is heavily populated by military families and dependent on government defense dollars. The state still has a 9.9 percent unemployment rate, more than a percentage point higher than the national average.

Wednesday’s events in South Carolina marked the unofficial start of a campaign that includes a pair of televised debates, millions of dollars in television ads and the first competition of the year in a southern state.

As Republicans stormed into the state, Obama made a quick visit to his Chicago headquarters Wednesday, preparing for his re-election fight and stocking up on campaign cash as he thanked hometown staffers.

Obama told campaign donors that America was still dealing with a “difficult economy and that’s why this is going to be a close race. I’ve got to tell you, if we weren’t coming out of this extraordinary recession, I think the American people would make their decision very quickly.” “But we’ve gone through three tough years. The other side has been able to sit on the sidelines and say ‘no’ to everything, not cooperate and then simply try to point the finger and say, somehow this should have been fixed,” the president said. “You can’t back down - not now. We won’t give up - not now,” Obama said. “We’ve got to send a message we are going to keep pushing and fighting for the change that we believe in.”—AP

Obama, Democrats raise $68 million for US elections WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama and his Democratic Party raised over $68 million in the last quarter of 2011 for this year’s White House and congressional elections, his campaign said yesterday. “The good news is, thanks to thousands of people across this

country, we had a pretty good quarter,” campaign manager Jim Messina said in a video posted on Obama’s campaign website, calling it “a pretty good start.”

Of that total, more than $42 million was for Obama’s reelection campaign and more than $24 mil-

lion was for the Democratic National Committee, which helps to elect candidates for the Senate and House of Representatives.

Messina said the campaign now counts 1.3 million donors, including 200,000 who gave for the first time ever during the last three

months of 2011. He said 98 percent of donations were $250 or less, with an average donation of $55. Obama faces a tough road to reelection in November 2012, with Republican candidates battering him over his handling of the economy.— AFP

International FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Dutch queen dismisses mosque visit criticism AMSTERDAM: Dutch Queen Beatrix took on the fiery leader of her country’s antiMuslim party yesterday by dismissing as “nonsense” his criticism of her decision to wear a head scarf during a recent visit to a mosque. The queen made her unusually forthright comment to Dutch reporters covering her state visit this week to the United Arab Emirates and Oman, National broadcaster NOS reported.

Her comments were not recorded, but Beatrix told reporters she wore the head scarf in the UAE on Sunday, and again on a visit to an Oman mosque yesterday, to show religious respect. The popular

monarch was responding to questions from reporters about parliamentary questions filed by anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, who called the monarch’s decision to cover her head on a visit to a mosque in Abu Dhabi on Sunday “a sad exhibition” that “legitimizes the oppression of women.” It is rare for the queen to respond so directly - and dismissively - to criticism from a political party in this nation where the unelected head of state’s role is largely ceremonial. Wilders is a staunch opponent of Islamic head scarves and head-to-toe burqa robes for women. He is not alone in the Netherlands, where the government

has announced plans to ban burqas.

Muslims, mostly immigrants from Turkey and Morocco, represent about 1 million of the 16.7 million Dutch population.

Wilders also has begun voicing criticism of Beatrix, who was crowned in 1980. After the queen spoke about the environment and living sustainably in her televised Christmas speech, Wilders tweeted: “Heavens, has her majesty secretly joined (political party) Green Left?” Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Thursday sprang to the queen’s defense. “When Her Majesty visits a house of worship, the dress requirements are respected,” Rutte said in written answers

to Wilders’ parliamentary questions. Wilders rose to prominence amid a wave of antiIslam sentiment that swept over the Netherlands in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States and the murder by a Muslim radical of Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam in 2004. His Freedom Party is now one of the country’s largest political groups and he is a vital supporter of Rutte’s minority ruling coalition. While Wilders is not a member of the government, his party has agreed to support Rutte’s administration on key votes in exchange for pledges on policies such as a crack down on immigration.—AP

UK spies won’t face criminal charges New evidence could force investigations

ANKARA: Turkish President Abdullah Gul (L) and his Kyrgyz counterpart Almazbek Atambayev inspect a guard of honour during a ceremony at the presdential palace in Ankara yesterday. —AFP

Turkey: Not bound by US sanctions against Iran ANKARA: Turkey, a US ally that relies on Iranian oil and gas imports, signaled yesterday it will not comply with American sanctions against Iran regarding its nuclear program. Turkey indicated that it will only enforce sanctions that have been approved by the United Nations, and its announcement is a setback to US sanctions aimed at halting what Western governments say is Iran’s effort to develop nuclear weapons. Those penalties, targeting Iran’s oil industry, would bar financial institutions from the US market if they do business with Iran’s central bank.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner yesterday secured the support of Japan which pledged to buy less Iranian oil, a day after China reacted coolly to the US effort. Japan imports about 10 percent of its oil from Iran, while Turkey imports about 30 percent from Iran. “Turkey does not feel it is bound by any sanctions taken unilaterally or as a group, other than those imposed by the United Nations,” Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal told a news conference, which followed a meeting between Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani.

US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, who visited Turkey earlier this week, said the United States and Turkey share a broad strategic concern about the possibility of Iran developing a nuclear weapon. “I think both of our countries agree strongly that this would be a very dangerous and destabilizing development for the entire region,” Burns told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency. “While it is true we sometimes differ over tactics, I think we share that strategic concern, which is very important.”

Ankara has agreed to host NATO’s early warning radar as part of NATO’s missile defense system, which is capable of countering ballistic missile threats from Iran. Turkey insists the shield doesn’t target a specific country, but Tehran says the radar is meant to protect Israel from Iranian missile attacks if a war breaks out with the United States and or Israel. The Jewish state, which views Tehran as a threat, has warned of a possible strike on Iran’s nuclear program. Iran, which insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, has threatened to respond to sanctions by shutting the Strait of Hormuz, a transit route for a fifth of the world’s oil. China has criticized US sanctions against Iran, approved by President Barack Obama on New Year’s Eve, as improper and ineffective. —AP

LONDON: British spies escaped immediate criminal charges over torture complicity yesterday, but the country’s top prosecutor ordered a new investigation into claims that intelligence shared with Muammar Gaddafi’s regime led to the torture or rendition of Libyans. Prosecutors have been investigating claims of mistreatment by detainees who were eventually sent to the United States prison in Guantanamo, Cuba. Most of the torture allegations come from terror suspects who were either initially held in Pakistan and Afghanistan, or sent to other countries such as Morocco for interrogation.

Although the investigation into specific claims of collusion has ended, authorities said new evidence could force criminal investigations to be reopened. Civil actions may also emerge. The agents have been accused of passing on information about detainees to their foreign captors but not of direct abuse. The criminal investigation began in 2008 after former Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohammed alleged that Britain was aware of his torture.

Mohamed, an Ethiopian who moved to Britain as a teenager and initially held in Pakistan, says he was also sent by the US to Morocco where he was interrogated and brutally tortured. He alleges that he told an MI5 officer of his mistreatment in 2002. Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service said that while they found that British intelligence agents provided information to US officials about Mohammed and supplied questions for interrogators, there was insufficient evidence to suggest individuals knew there was a real risk or ill treatment or torture.

Prosecutors investigating a separate allegation of complicity also say they failed to find sufficient evidence - mostly because they lacked access to a witnesses and the detainee who had been held by US authorities at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Some 3,000 terror suspects are being held at the secretive detention facility where detainees lack access to lawyers. Human rights organizations have criticized US authorities for a lack of transparency and legal protection for the detainees.

Eliza Manningham-Buller, a former

head of MI5, has said she believes the US deliberately misled its allies over its handling of detainees during the so-called war on terror. Britain has already made payouts to 16 former detainees at Guantanamo.

Among those alleged to have been part of the settlements were Mohamed, Bishar Al Rawi, Jamil El Banna, Richard Belmar, Omar Deghayes, Moazzam Begg and Martin Mubanga British prosecutors and police said that while there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges now, cases could be reopened if new evidence emerges.

While the brunt of the investigation looks into claims of torture complicity brought by former Guantanamo detainees, it also looked at claims by two Libyans. The two men allege that Britain shared intelligence information with the Gadhafi regime - and because of that information - they were sent back to Libya

and tortured. One of those men is Tripoli’s military council commander Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, a former fighter in the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group which had opposed Gadhafi.

He claims both British and US intelligence may have played a role in his 2004 detention in the Thai capital Bangkok and transfer to Tripoli. Documents uncovered during the fall of Tripoli disclosed the close working ties between Gadhafi’s spies and Western intelligence officials.

“The Metropolitan Police Service has decided that the allegations raised in the two specific cases concerning the alleged rendition of named individuals to Libya and the alleged mistreatment of them in Libya are so serious that it is in the public interest for them to be investigated now,” police and prosecutors said in their statement. A separate government inquiry into intelligence sharing, complicity and rendition is expected to begin this year.—AP

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel (C) poses for a picture with German President Christian Wulff (R) and his wife Bettina Wulff during a new year’s reception yesterday at Bellevue Palace in Berlin.

The President and his wife received representatives of the public life as well as citizens from all federal states. —AFP

International FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

6 Kenyans shot dead near Somali border NAIROBI: Gunmen killed six Kenyans including four policemen and abducted three others, in the latest of a string of attacks in the northeastern region that borders Somalia, police said yesterday. Two other policemen were wounded in the attack some 10 kilometres (six miles) from Somalia-an area hit by a series of blasts in the three months since Nairobi sent troops into Somalia to fight Islamist Shebab insurgents.

“Six people have been killed, and three others were abducted,” said regional police chief Leo Nyongesa, adding that the attack took place late Wednesday in Gerille in Kenya’s Wajir district. Those killed included four police officers, a local government official and a civilian, he said, adding the attackers had used firearms and thrown an explosive device. “There are others who have not been accounted for,” a senior police officer in the region told AFP on condition of anonymity. “A major security operation is currently underway and a helicopter has been sent to search for 13 police officers missing after the attack.”

The three people reported abducted are believed to be local government officials, he added. No group claimed responsibility, but Kenyan officials have blamed Somalia’s AlQaeda linked Shebab rebels and their sympathizers for previous bombings and shootings, although armed bandits also operate in border areas. Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned yesterday that Kenyan security forces were abusing civilians and Somali refugees in northeastern regions following the spate of attacks since Nairobi sent troops into Somali in October. Hand grenades have been thrown into bars and a church, while homemade explosive devices have been set off apparently targeting security forces. “In response, members of the security forces have been responsible for rape, beatings, looting, and arbitrary arrests of civilians,” the New York-based rights group said in a statement yesterday. “The crackdown has largely targeted Somali refugees and Kenyan ethnic Somalis, but residents of other ethnic backgrounds in North Eastern province have also been victimized.” The most recent incident, HRW said, was the rounding up and beating on January 11 of residents of Garissa, the capital of North Eastern Province, in a local military camp.

“When military officers can beat civilians in broad daylight without fearing repercussions, it’s clear that impunity has become the norm,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at HRW. “Repeated promises by both the police and the military to stop these abuses and investigate have amounted to nothing.”

Kenyan army spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir told HRW that he did not have knowledge of any abuses, but said that that the military would investigate the claims.—AFP

Putin too ‘busy’ for election debates MOSCOW: Vladimir Putin, who is seeking to win back his old Kremlin job in March elections, will not participate in televised debates because he has too much on his plate, his spokesman said yesterday. “Participating in television debates calls for certain actions-taking a formal vacation-but a vacation would every time interfere with his duties and you know how busy his program is,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies.

Peskov added that Putin’s representatives may engage in debates instead of him. “But the final decision will be taken by the candidate himself,” Peskov was quoted as saying. Putin, who served two terms as president between 2000 and 2008, has never before participated in televised debates, claiming he had more important things to do. A reporter last month asked him whether he planned to engage in debates, adding: “I think you need to.” Putin shot back by saying: “If you think so then you participate.” He conceded however the debates were “in principle useful,” promising that all the presidential hopefuls will have a chance to hold election debates with his representatives he called his “younger brothers.”

His main challenger in the election race, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, had repeatedly invited Putin to lock horns in public. “After proclaiming honest elections and proposing to hold honest elections, you have to participate in the debates,” Zyuganov said. Earlier yesterday, the strongman prime minister unveiled his election programme on his new campaign website where some bloggers urged him to face off against his opponents on television, while others urged him to quit the race altogether.

Putin’s announcement to seek a third Kremlin term was followed by a fraud-tainted parliament election which triggered the worst legitimacy crisis of his 12-year rule with tens of thousands taking to the streets last month. — AFP

Nigeria strike unites classes in populist anger Protesters want permanent change in Nigeria

LAGOS: Protesters carry a mock coffin of President Goodluck Jonathan reading “Rest In Pains” during a demonstration on the fourth day protest against the scrapping of oil subsidy at Gani Fawehinmi Park in Lagos yesterday.—AFP LAGOS: The protest first drew Nigerians who live hand-to-trash, scavenging through mountains of garbage to make a living. Now, long lines of cars and expensive motorcycles are parking near a demonstration that is drawing more than 10,000 people angry about life in Africa’s most populous nation. The nationwide strike first began over gasoline prices more than doubling, but now it encompasses criticism of all Nigeria’s failings. People shout to anyone that will listen about the country’s cratered roads, dilapidated schools and the government corruption that leaves politicians wealthy and the people largely poor in the oil-rich nation.

Protesters say they want a permanent change in Nigeria, a move away from leaders who send their families abroad for schooling and medical checkups while the rest subsist on less than $2 a day. “They want to cut us off,” said Anthony Abang, a 32-year-old unemployed man who helped close down a Lagos highway. “They want to kill our future.” President Goodluck Jonathan removed subsidies on Jan. 1 that had kept gasoline prices low for more than two decades. Overnight, prices at the pump more than doubled, from $1.70 per gallon (45 cents per liter) to at least $3.50 per gallon (94 cents per liter). The costs of food and transportation also doubled.

Jonathan insists the move was necessary to save the country an estimated $8 billion a year, which he promises will go toward badly needed road and public projects. But Nigerians marching through the streets in all parts of the country have seen government promises go unfulfilled before while politicians got richer by stealing funds from planned public work projects. Many Nigerians don’t even have electricity and clean drinking water.

That anger has seen some protesters confront police, set burning roadblocks

and attack government offices. At least 10 people have been killed. On Wednesday in Minna, the capital of the central Niger state, youths attacked the governor’s house, forcing him to flee by helicopter. A mob also killed a police officer. Attorney General Mohammed Bello Adoke has warned that the government “will not hesitate to bring to bear the full weight of the law” against violent protesters. He also said the strike by major labor unions violates a court injuction.

“Continuing disregard of that order is (dangerous) to the public interest as it constitutes an open invitation to anarchy,” Adoke said in a statement Tuesday. Adoke also told public workers the government will implement a “no work, no pay” policy for those who join the strike. However, public workers already go weeks without pay in Nigeria at times because of corruption and mismanagement.

In Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital of

15 million, several hundred protesters on Wednesday took over a major highway leading to the islands where the wealthy live. One protester carried a signed that read: “We are ready for the civil war.” Fears about violence were heightened as the leader of a radical Islamist sect challenged the authority of Nigeria’s president in an online video. The video by Imam Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the sect known as Boko Haram, will aggravate religious and ethnic tensions in this nation of more than 160 million.

Unrest could affect oil production in Nigeria, which pumps about 2.4 million barrels of oil a day and is a top crude supplier to the US. Babatunde Ogun, president of one major union representing oil workers, said Wednesday his group plans to escalate the strike. “It means in the short term, there will be no export of (natural) gas. There will be no power,” Ogun said.

“Everything will be at a standstill.”—AP

N African Al-Qaeda warns against hostage rescue bid RABAT: Al-Qaeda’s north African branch warned Western states including France yesterday against a military bid to rescue hostages kidnapped in Mali, citing “information” of plans for such an operation. “We send a warning to France, Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden: if they authorize this operation it will mean the death of their nationals and amount to an attempt on their lives,” it said in a statement in Arabic. “According to information we have received, the alliance of crusaders led by France which supports certain regimes like those of Algeria and Mauritania, is preparing an imminent military operation to free their hostages.” The statement was emailed to AFP in Rabat and carried by the ANI news agency in Mauritania which has published several AQIM statements in the past. These have never been disclaimed. “We would like to state that we are searching a peaceful solution to this issue of the hostages,” it added. A-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has claimed the kidnapping last November of two Frenchmen in the northern Malian town of Hombori, and another three Westerners a day later in Timbuktu, also in the north of the West African nation.—AFP

International FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Taleban say Marine abuse tape won’t hurt Afghanistan talks US Defense Secretary orders investigation of video

AMRITSAR: This January 23, 2011 file photograph shows an Indian boy as he receives anti-polio vaccination drops by an Indian health worker as part of a Polio vaccination campaign in Amritsar.— AFP

India marks milestone in fight against polio NEW DELHI: India will celebrate a full year since its last reported case of polio today, a major victory in a global eradication effort that appeared to be stalled just a few years ago. If no previously undisclosed cases of the crippling disease are discovered across the country, India will no longer be considered to be polio endemic, leaving only Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria on that list. “This is a game changer in a huge way,” said Bruce Aylward, head of the World Health Organization’s global polio campaign.

The achievement gives a major morale boost to health advocates and donors who had begun to lose hope of ever defeating the stubborn disease that the world had promised to eradicate by 2000. It also helps India, which bills itself as one of the world’s emerging powers, shed the embarrassing link to a disease associated with poverty and chaos, one that had been conquered long ago by most of the globe. The government cautiously welcomed the milestone as a confirmation of its commitment to fighting the disease and the 120 billion rupees ($2.4 billion) it has spent on the program. “We are excited and hopeful. At the same time, vigilant and alert,” Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said in a statement. Azad warned that India needed to push forward with its vaccination campaign to ensure the elimination of any residual virus and to prevent the import and spread of virus from abroad.

The polio virus, which usually infects children in unsanitary conditions, attacks the central nervous system, sometimes causing paralysis, muscular atrophy, deformation and, in some cases, death. With its dense population, poor sanitation, high levels of migration and weak public health system, India had been seen as “the perfect storm of polio,” Aylward said. In addition, even some vaccinated children fell ill with the virus because malnutrition and chronic diarrhea made their bodies too weak to properly process the oral vaccine.

In 2009, there were 741 cases in the country. That plunged to 42 in 2010. Last year, there was a single case, an 18-month-old girl named Ruksana Khatun who fell ill in the Indian state of West Bengal on Jan. 13. She was the country’s last reported polio victim. Part of the sudden success is credited to a tighter monitoring program that allowed health officials to quickly hit areas of outbreaks with emergency vaccinations. Part is also attributed to the rollout of a new vaccine in 2010 that more powerfully targeted the two remaining strains of the disease.

Under the $300 million-a-year campaign the government runs with help from the WHO and UNICEF, 2.5 million workers fan out across the country twice a year to give the vaccine to 175 million children. They hike to remote villages, wander through trains to reach migrating families and stop along roadsides to vaccinate the homeless. Philanthropist Bill Gates, whose foundation has made polio eradication a priority, hailed India’s achievement as an example of the progress that can be made on difficult development problems. “Polio can be stopped when countries combine the right elements: political will, quality immunization campaigns and an entire nation’s determination. We must build on this historic moment and ensure that India’s polio program continues to move full-steam ahead until eradication is achieved,” he said in a statement. Health officials are working to make polio the second disease ever eradicated from the globe after smallpox.

But while smallpox carriers were easy to find because everyone infected developed symptoms, only a tiny fraction of those infected with the polio virus ever contract the disease. So while no one in India is reported to have suffered from polio in a year, the virus - which travels through human waste - could still be lingering.—AP

KABUL: A video showing what appear to be American forces urinating on dead Taleban fighters prompted anger in Afghanistan and promises of a US investigation yesterday, but the insurgent group said it would not harm nascent efforts to broker peace talks. The video, posted on YouTube and other websites, shows four men in camouflage Marine combat uniforms urinating on three corpses. One of them jokes: “Have a nice day, buddy.”

Another makes a lewd joke.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the video, describing the men’s actions as “inhuman” and calling for an investigation, in a statement yesterday evening. It is likely to stir up already strong anti-US sentiment in Afghanistan after a decade of a war that has seen other cases of abuse, and that could complicate efforts to promote reconciliation as foreign troops gradually withdraw. “Such action will leave a very, very bad impact on peace efforts,” Arsala Rahmani, a senior member of the Afghan government’s High Peace Council, told Reuters.

The US embassy in Kabul also condemned the actions of the men, and the US military has promised an investigation.

The administration of US President Barack Obama, seeing a glimmer of hope after months of efforts to broker talks, is launching a fresh round of shuttle diplomacy this weekend. Marc Grossman, Obama’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, will fly into the region for talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and top officials in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

His immediate goal is to seal agreement

for the Taleban to open a political office in the Gulf state of Qatar. Despite concerns when the video first emerged that it would not help his efforts build confidence among the warring parties, a Taleban spokesman said although the images were shocking, the tape would not affect talks or a mooted prisoner release. “We know that our country is occupied...This is not a political process, so the video will not harm our talks and prisoner exchange because they are at the preliminary stage.”

In Washington, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta denounced the actions show in the film as “utterly deplorable. “Those found to have engaged in such conduct will be held accountable to the fullest extent,” he said in a statement. Panetta said he had ordered the Marine Corps and the commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan to investigate. ISAF described the acts depicted in the video as “disrespectful” and “inexplicable”. Two military officials in the United States, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the video appeared to be authentic, but Reuters could not verify it or its source independently. News of the footage had yet to spread in Afghanistan-a country where a minority have access to electricity and the Internet is limited to an tiny urban elite-but Afghans who were told about what the tape appears to show were horrified. “It may start with just video footage, but it will end with demonstrations around the country and maybe the world,” said 44-year-old Qaisullah, who has a shop near the Kabul’s Shah-e-dushamshera mosque.

Anti-American feeling has boiled over,

or been whipped up, into violence several times in Afghanistan in recent years.

Protests over reports of the desecration of the Muslim holy book have twice sparked deadly riots. The tape also sparked anger across the Middle East and in internet chatrooms, prompting reference to earlier scandals involving US soldiers’ treatment of prisoners in Iraq and the killing of unarmed civilians in Afghanistan.

“This is the embodiment of the strong assaulting the weak. It’s nothing new for the American, it only adds to what they have done in Abu Ghraib prison. This a breach of the sacredness of Islam and Muslims,” said Othman al-Busaifi, 45, in Tripoli. The US military has been prosecuting soldiers from the Army’s 5th Stryker Brigade on charges of murdering unarmed Afghan civilians while deployed in Kandahar province in 2010, and cutting off body parts as war trophies. “They cut off ears and fingers and keep them as medals, and urinate on bodies, then they talk about civilisation,” wrote user Abu Abdullah alJanubi on one forum.

The video was released at a critical time for what US officials hope might become authentic talks on Afghanistan’s political future. In Kabul, Grossman will seek approval from Karzai-whose support for a US effort he fears will sideline his government has wavered-to move ahead with a series of good-faith measures seen as an essential precursor to negotiations that could give the Taleban a shared role in governing Afghanistan. The diplomatic initiative includes a possible transfer of Taleban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison.— Reuters

Myanmar signs crucial cease-fire with rebels PA-AN: Myanmar’s government signed a cease-fire agreement yesterday with ethnic Karen rebels in a major step toward ending one of the world’s longest-running insurgencies and meeting a key condition for better ties with the West. The talks between officials and Karen National Union leaders were part of efforts by Myanmar’s new, nominally civilian government to seek international legitimacy through democratic reforms after years of military repression.

The Karen group has been fighting for greater autonomy for more than 60 years in a guerrilla campaign in eastern jungles that dates back to before Myanmar’s independence from Britain. It has been the only one of Myanmar’s major ethnic groups never to have reached a peace agreement with the government. Bringing a lasting halt to all of the country’s longrunning ethnic conflicts has been a crucial demand of Western governments as well as the Myanmar’s pro-democracy icon and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Aung Min, head of the government’s peace committee, announced the truce to reporters after talks in the Karen capital, Pa-an, but he did not immediately give any further details. “A cease-fire agreement has been signed,” Aung Min said. For decades, Myanmar has been at odds with the ethnic groups who seek greater autonomy, but a military junta that took power in 1988 signed cease-fire agreements with many of them. Some of those pacts were

strained as the central government sought to consolidate power, and combat resumed. However, the new government that took office after November 2010 elections has embarked on reforms to try to end its international isolation and lift the political and economic sanctions imposed

by Western governments because of repression under the junta. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton emphasized during her recent visit to Myanmar that bringing an end to the country’s eth-

nic fighting was a key to improved relations with the West. Suu Kyi underlined the demand in an interview with The Associated Press last week.”Unless there is ethnic harmony it will be very difficult for us to build up a strong democracy,” Suu Kyi said. In recent months, the government has held talks with rebel groups to strike new peace deals or rebuild shattered cease-fires. The other groups reportedly involved in talks include the Shan, Karenni, Chin and Kachin.—AP

PA-AN: Members of Myanmar’s peace committee, left, and representatives of Karen National Union, right, shake hands after signing a peace agreement in Pa-an, Myanmar yesterday.—AP

International FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Muslim rebels say early pact with Manila unlikely Both sides agree to hold another round of talks

PYONGYANG: In this undated photo released Wednesday by the Korean Central News Agency and distributed yesterday in Tokyo by the Korea News Service, North Korea’s new leader Kim Jong Un, right, inspects the Pyongyang Folk Park under construction in Pyongyang, North Korea. —AP

‘Eternal leader’ Kim’s body to be enshrined SEOUL: North Korea said yesterday it will enshrine Kim Jong Il’s body in the palace housing his father, the national founder, deepening its veneration of the Kim dynasty as the country transfers power to a third generation of the family. The country also said it will erect a new Kim Jong Il statue and build “towers to his immortality,” while the ruling party called him “eternal leader” and gave his birthday a new title that underlines his military-first policy and links him more closely to his father, Kim Il Sung, who is still revered as the “eternal president.”

The North’s state media have sought since Kim Jong Il’s death on Dec. 17 to show his son, Kim Jong Un, as a strong, confident military leader, but outside observers are watching to see if he can impose his will over the military and government as strongly as his father did during 17 years of absolute rule. North Korea has quickly handed Kim Jong Un a slew of his father’s prominent titles and repeatedly connected him with his father and grandfather in an effort to add legitimacy to the young leader. North Korea also has stepped up propaganda praising Kim Jong Il’s works and vowed to uphold his policies in what is seen as an attempt to justify the hereditary power transfer.

Yesterday, the North’s state media called Kim Jong Il the “eternal leader” - reminiscent of his father’s title - and said his body will be displayed at Pyongyang’s Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where the embalmed body of Kim Il Sung has been lying since 1995, a year after he died. It was unclear whether their bodies would be in the same room.

The new name for Kim Jong Il’s birthday, “Day of the Shining Star,” is another link to Kim Il Sung, whose birthday is called the “Day of the Sun.” “Shining Star” also was the name given by North Korea to what it says was a satellite it launched into space in April 2009, but that the United States says was a long-range rocket test. The launch stoked regional tensions and earned North Korea international sanctions and condemnation. The new measures reflect North Korea’s “unanimous desire ... to hold the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il in high esteem as the eternal leader of the party and the revolution,” the Political Bureau of the Workers’ Party’s Central Committee said, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea is boosting “the cult of personality surrounding Kim Jong Il” as it links him with Kim Il Sung, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. Yesterday, North Korea’s state television showed photos of a smiling Kim Jong Un gesturing in a manner similar to his father and wearing a similar parka as he spoke to military officers and inspected construction sites.—AP

MANILA: The largest Muslim rebel group in the Philippines said an early peace pact with the government is unlikely, citing remaining key differences. Government negotiators on Wednesday ended three days of talks with the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Malaysia, which has been brokering the yearslong negotiations. Both sides agreed to hold another round of talks next month. Government negotiator Marvic Leonen said in a statement yesterday that the talks “have inched forward but not fast enough.” He has hoped a peace pact could be concluded within the next three months to allow it to be enforced and adjusted if necessary

before President Benigno Aquino III’s term ends in 2016.

Rebel negotiator Mohagher Iqbal was not as optimistic. “I don’t think it can be done,” he said and described the just-concluded talks in Kuala Lumpur as “very intense.” Iqbal said without elaborating that contentious issues remain, including the question of amending the Philippine constitution to allow certain provisions of a future accord. The Moro has waged a bloody insurgency for self-rule in southern Mindanao region, homeland of minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic country. The rebels have dropped their demand for independence but are

seeking the establishment of a “Bangsamoro state” under the central government in Manila.

The Supreme Court rejected in 2008 a preliminary peace pact that sought to expand an existing Muslim autonomous region on grounds that it was unconstitutional. The rejection prompted three rebel commanders to launch deadly attacks on Christian communities in the south, sparking a major military offensive and displacing large numbers of people. The conflict has killed more than 120,000 people in the last four decades and stunted development in one of the country’s resource-rich but poorest regions.—AP

Taiwan incumbent in tough re-election fight TAIPEI: Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou has delighted Beijing and Washington with his efforts to pivot from confrontation to peacemaking with the authoritarian government in China, a rival in an unresolved Chinese civil war. That may not be enough for the voters of Taiwan. Ma faces an unexpectedly tough bid for re-election tomorrow. His main challenger, Tsai Ingwen, has run a smart and effective campaign, exploiting complaints by middle and working class Taiwanese that the economic benefits of Ma’s China embrace have largely passed them by.

Opinion surveys published a week ago - the last permitted under Taiwanese law showed Ma clinging to a 3-4 point lead, despite Tsai’s never having won an election for public office in Taiwan. That’s far from the 17-point victory Ma achieved in 2008, when Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party was reeling from corruption scandals involving Taiwan’s outgoing president. For decades one of Asia’s economic miracles and now a key center for high-tech development, Taiwan has turned in a mixed performance under Ma. Unemployment has dipped in the past two years after reaching a high of 6.16 percent in 2009 stratospheric by local standards - and 2011 growth came in, preliminarily, at a respectable 4.5 percent. But housing prices in urban areas have skyrocketed and the income gap has widened.

Many question whether Ma has gone too far in linking the island’s fate with the China colossus to the west, in exchange for economic benefits. “The economy has benefited the big corporations while holding back the working and middle classes,” said Taipei merchant Tsai Kun-yin, 66. “The ruling party has colluded with the big corporations to make money in real estate but it’s forced lots of people, especially young people, out of the market.”

Tsai has hammered away at these pocketbook issues and depicted Ma as beholden to Taiwan’s China-friendly big business community, which almost universally backs him. Taiwan split from China amid civil war in 1949, but Beijing continues to regard it as part of its territory. It seeks to bring Taiwan back to the fold mostly by threats and bullying, but more

recently by trying to show the island’s 23 million people the benefits of closer ties with its juggernaut economy. Like Ma, Tsai too has promised to continue to engage China economically, but at a slower pace than the president. But she has also criticized him for eroding Taiwanese sovereignty in his pursuit of closer ties with Beijing - a theme that plays well with her party’s base.

“This election is about a vote on Ma’s

Tsai’s. Legislative elections at the same time are also likely to shrink Ma’s majority in the legislature, while letting him retain control.

Ma has made moving Taiwan’s hightech economy ever closer to China’s lucrative markets the centerpiece of his administration. He has sanctioned big upsurges in direct flights, given the green light to accelerated Chinese tourist visits to Taiwan and opened the door to Chinese

TAIPEI: Supporters of the ruling Kuomintang party march during president Ma Ying-jeou’s stamping tour in Xizhi district of New Taipei City yesterday ahead of the January 14 presidential election. —AFP four years of governance, about whether people have benefited from Ma government policies,” said political scientist Francis Kan of Taipei’s National Chengchi University. “The China engagement policy has provided a key to open a door for peace ... and people will declare whether or not they have benefited.” Complicating Ma’s task is a third-party candidate, James Soong, a former heavyweight in Ma’s Nationalist Party. While he has no chance of winning, political analysts believe that he could spoil things for Ma, drawing more from his voting base than from

investment. A landmark trade deal last year resulted in an 8 percent increase in Taiwan’s exports to the mainland, ratcheting them up to $124 billion or 40 percent of the Taiwanese total.

The new, more placid atmosphere has pleased the United States, which remains Taiwan’s most important security partner.

The last thing Washington wants is additional strains with Beijing as it tries to repair the economy, wind down costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and reengage with economically vibrant East Asia. —AP

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Tesco in profit warning after poor Christmas PAGE 20

China says December inflation slows to 4.1% PAGE 23

LONDON: In a file picture taken on October 7, 2011 people walk past a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in central London. State-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland said yesterday it would cut about 3,500 more jobs over the next three years as the group shrinks its investment banking activities as part of a major overhaul. — AFP

RBS axes 3,500 jobs at investment arm ‘Enough is enough’ says union on job cuts LONDON: Royal Bank of Scotland abandoned ambitions to be a top global investment bank and said it would cut another 4,450 jobs as it bows to pressure from the UK government to shut down risky operations and prepare for tougher international regulations.

Britain owns 83 percent of Britain’s fifth biggest bank after pumping in 46 billion pounds to keep it from going under during the financial crisis and the country’s taxpayers are currently sitting on a 24 billion pound loss.

The government has demanded that RBS shrink its investment bank further, despite the bank already halving that part of its business over the last three years.

RBS will now stop trading shares and advising companies on takeovers, both loss-making businesses, in arguably the starkest retreat by a big investment bank as the financial crisis and tough new rules hit profits across the industry.

RBS said it is cutting 3,500 jobs in its investment bank and will exit cash equities, corporate broking, equity capital markets and mergers and acquisitions businesses. The cuts come on top of 2,000 at the investment bank in the sec-

ond half of 2011 and account for more than a quarter of the unit’s staff.

In total the bank has cut 34,000 jobs since Chief Executive Stephen Hester was brought in to turn the bank around when it was bailed out in 2008. The Unite trade union said that 22,000 of those jobs were in the UK alone.

RBS aims to cut the balance sheet of its former global banking and markets business by 120 billion pounds ($184 billion) to 300 billion in the next three years.

Its plan equates to shedding 75 billion pounds in risk-weighted assets and is being mirrored by other banks attempting to become leaner and more focused. But RBS now faces strong criticism that the cost of the latest overhaul is being borne by the lower ranks of its staff, while Hester and the head of the investment banking operations John Hourican could be in line for multi-million bonus payouts.

“Enough is enough. It is a disgrace that while on a daily basis stories are emerging about the massive bonuses at the top of the bank, increasing numbers of jobs are being cut from amongst the hard-working staff,” said David

Fleming, Unite union national officer. CEO Hester said in a memo to staff seen by Reuters: “This is a part of business I hate; making decisions that adversely affect people. But I truly believe that the best result for the most people can only lie in us making RBS a business success, sustainable for the long-term.”

He said without changes, profitability in the bank’s wholesale business would be “at unacceptable levels”. RBS rose to become one of the world’s biggest banks thanks to a string of takeovers and aggressive expansion. But it overstretched and was brought to its knees by the purchase of ABN Amro’s investment bank in 2007. Its new plan will leave its investment bank focused on its areas of strength: fixed incomenotably bond trading, debt capital raising, securitisation, risk management and rates-and foreign exchange.

RBS shares were up 8.6 percent at a twomonth high of 23.7 pence by 1220 GMT, leading a 3.7 percent rise by the European bank sector.

“The closure of equities has been well flagged, what’s more encouraging is the downsizing of the balance sheet. It’s taking more risk

out of the business, taking more capital dependency and wholesale funding requirements out,” said Mike Trippitt, analyst at Oriel Securities. RBS said it was adapting to “significant new pressures” in its wholesale banking business, and the changes would make it more conservatively funded, more focused on customers and better able to deliver stable returns.

Analysts at Mediobanca said the bank had been only a second-tier firm in equities and its retreat showed it was “the wrong size in an industry that increasingly appears to favour scale or niche players.”

RBS separately said it was cutting 950 jobs at its troubled Irish business Ulster Bank to save costs. The losses represent a fifth of its Irish staff and mark a second round of cuts after 1,000 jobs went in 2009. RBS bought Ulster in 2000 and expanded its Irish operations three years later through the acquisition of building society First Active. It lent aggressively during Ireland’s ill-fated property boom and has been saddled with big losses on the loans, including impairments of 1.1 billion pounds in the first nine months of last year. —Reuters

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Oil up on Iran, Nigeria supply worries LONDON: Brent crude rose more than $1 to over $113 yesterday on worries a showdown between Iran and the West in the Middle East Gulf and a strike in Nigeria could disrupt oil supplies. Tension between the West and Iran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme has increased after an Iranian nuclear scientist was blown up in his car by a motorbike hitman on Wednesday, prompting Tehran to blame Israeli and US agents.

Brent crude futures for February rose $1.41 to a high of $113.65 a barrel and traded close to that level by 1050 GMT. US crude oil was up more than $1 above $102. Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping chokepoint for oil, if the United States and its allies impose an embargo on its oil exports.

Washington imposed additional sanctions on Iran last month and the European Union will have a meeting on Jan. 23 to decide on whether to embargo Iran’s oil.

Tensions elsewhere in the Middle East have also risen, as a Frenchman became the first foreign journalist to be killed in 10 months of unrest in Syria.

“You’ve got the same potentially bullish factors - Iran, Syria, Nigeria - in the background,” said Christopher Bellew, a broker at Jefferies Bache in London. “If it

Global market worries spur Gulf sukuk rush DUBAI: A flurry of sukuk issues from the Gulf this week shows borrowers are worried about limited global liquidity and future access to debt markets, and are turning to Islamic finance as a source of money that is relatively untouched by the global turmoil. Gulf bond issuance was lower than expected last year as many companies held off on coming to market, unwilling to pay high prices due to poor market conditions; total debt issuance from the Gulf region last year was $25.8 billion, short of analysts’ estimates that volumes would be well above $30 billion.

This month’s sukuk activity suggests companies may no longer be prepared to wait to issue debt, which could make 2012 more active. And as Western investors struggle with the euro zone debt crisis, dampening the conventional bond market, many Gulf firms may seek Middle Eastern and Asian money through sukuk.

Emirates Islamic Bank (EIB), a unit of Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest bank, priced a $500 million sukuk at 350 bps over midswaps on Tuesday, to pay a profit rate of 4.72 percent.

Abu Dhabi’s First Gulf Bank (FGB) sold a $500 million, five-year sukuk, its second under a $3.5 billion programme set up in July 2011, while Islamic mortgage lender Tamweel is eyeing a $300 million sukuk, guaranteed by majority shareholder Dubai Islamic Bank.

Outside the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Civil Aviation launched its debut sukuk offer this week, backed by the Saudi Ministry of Finance. “Borrowers are aware of the general liquidity crunch in the market, and through using a sukuk format, want to cast as wide a net as possible to take advantage of whatever liquidity there is at present,” said Chavan Bhogaita, head of the markets strategy unit at National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

“There are concerns over the persisting uncertainties regarding the euro zone, so many issuers may think it is best to print a deal early in the year.” The prospect of more new sukuk supply has already weakened the secondary market slightly. The yield on FGB’s $650 million 3.797 percent sukuk maturing 2016 rose to 3.056 percent on Tuesday before falling back to 3.04 percent on Wednesday. FGB priced its new sukuk in line with its final guidance of 287.5 bps over midswaps.

The yield on Sharjah Islamic Bank’s $400 milllion 4.715 percent sukuk maturing 2016 rose to 3.949 percent on Tuesday from 3.883 percent on the previous day. A Dubai-based fixed income trader calculated that FGB paid a new issue premium of about 20 bps for its new sukuk, which may have disappointed some investors as it was smaller than many had expected. EIB’s sukuk attracted orders of $1.5 billion; nearly 60 percent was allocated to Middle East investors, followed by Asian investors with 23 percent. Banks were allocated nearly 70 percent of the paper, according to lead arrangers. “Most companies are issuing sukuk because they believe there is still interest from Asia in particular to buy into that paper, as Europe’s available liquidity is much less than what it was a year ago,” said Mohammed Ali Yasin, chief investment officer at CAPM Investment. — Reuters

weren’t for Iran, probably prices would be lower.” As Washington steps up efforts to punish Tehran over its nuclear programme, Japan and South Korea are looking to reduce oil imports from Iran and seek alternative sources instead.

Japan, one of the biggest buyers of Iranian oil, pledged on Thursday to take action to cut its Iran crude imports after U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner visited Tokyo to hold talks with Japanese leaders.

Another worry for oil markets is a strike and protests in Nigeria against the scrapping of a fuel subsidy.

Nigeria’s biggest oil union said it was ready to halt oil output if the government did not reinstate the subsidy.

Output has so far been unaffected but the threats were enough to unnerve the market as Africa’s biggest oil exporter ships around 2 million barrels of crude oil per day and is a key supplier to the United States and Europe.

Worries about supply allowed investors to discount reports of sharply higher US crude stocks. Inventories surged by almost 5 million barrels to 334.65 million barrels in the week to Jan. 6, data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed. This was well above estimates for an 800,000-barrel build in a Reuters

poll of analysts. Japan’s commercial crude oil stocks were also up, rising almost 3 million barrels, or 3.1 percent, from the week before to 15.9 million kilolitres (99.7 million barrels), the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ) said.

Investors were encouraged by a successful Spanish bond auction on Thursday, the first test in the new year of investor appetite for the debt of peripheral euro zone countries. Spain sold 10 billion euros ($12.7 billion) of bonds, double its previously announced target, with falling average yields. European shares extended gains yesterday after the auction, with the FTSEurofirst 300 index up 0.7 percent by 1050 GMT. The euro rose to a day’s high of $1.2756 after the Spanish bond sale.

But Bellew said the good news out of Madrid was not enough to assuage investor concerns about the euro zone’s weak growth. The currency bloc’s debt crisis has put enormous pressure on the euro, helping boost the dollar, which often moves inversely to commodities prices. “On the downside (we have) the strong dollar against the euro, weak economies in the euro zone, the relatively warm weather we’re having in the northern hemisphere,” Bellew said. — Reuters

Tesco in profit warning after poor Christmas Delhaize cuts 5,000 jobs after Q4 sales miss forecast LONDON: Tesco issued its first profit warning in living memory yesterday, sending shares in British grocers tumbling on fears the world’s third-biggest retailer would launch a price war to fight back from its worst Christmas in decades.

Chief executive Phil Clarke said trading profit in 2012/13 would be flat, compared with forecasts for a 10 percent rise, as Tesco invested hundreds of millions of pounds lowering prices, expanding its online business and improving customer service.

“This is the first time that Tesco is deliberately taking profit margins lower that we can remember ... with the likely outcome a reduction in industry profitability,” Espirito Santo analyst Caroline Gulliver said. Shares in Tesco, previously one of Britain’s most consistent companies in growing earnings, plunged as much as 16 percent to a 33month low of 324.25 pence, wiping 4.8 billion pounds ($7.4 billion) off its stock market value. Rivals J Sainsbury and Wm Morrison also fell over 5 percent.

Tesco’s warning was accompanied by a raft of weak trading updates from British store groups including Home Retail-owned Argos, bicycles-to-car parts group Halfords and Mothercare, underscoring how cashstrapped Britons have been cutting back spending on non-essentials.

A surprise slump in November industrial output also raised fears the British economy shrank last quarter. Disposable incomes across much of Europe are being squeezed by rising prices, muted wages growth and government austerity measures, with consumers also worried about the fallout from the euro zone sovereign debt crisis.

Belgian grocer Delhaize said yesterday it was axing 5,000 jobs after fourth-quarter sales fell just short of forecasts in its key US and Belgian markets. Tesco, which accounts for about one in ten pounds spent in British shops and makes over 70 percent of trading profit in its home market, said sales at British shops open over a year dropped 2.3 percent, excluding fuel and VAT sales tax, in the six weeks to Jan. 7. A 0.9 percent fall had

been forecast.

“It is not what I wanted for Christmas,” said chief executive Phil Clarke, adding sales were hit by weak consumer spending, a muted response to price cuts the group made in September and deep promotions by rivals. Panmure analyst Philip Dorgan said weakness in Britain could undermine Tesco’s expansion in fast-growing markets like China and slashed his pretax profit forecasts by 15 percent for the years ending February 2013 and February 2014.

“This is the nightmare scenario,” he said.

“If the UK’s profits keep falling, then it will not be able to invest so much overseas, so long-term growth will slow and returns will significantly undershoot targets.”

Clarke said Tesco’s problems were partly due to the pressure on British shoppers. The group sells a higher proportion of discretionary non-food goods like clothing and electricals than rivals such as Morrison and Sainsbury, both of which reported small ris-

es in underlying Christmas sales this week.

He saw little respite for consumers in the year ahead. “It is going to be broadly the same (as in 2011). I cannot see it being any better,” he told reporters on a conference call, adding Tesco would open fewer hypermarkets because shoppers were cutting back on big shopping trips.

Some of Tesco’s weak performance was due to its “Big Price Drop” campaign in September, Clarke said. While this attracted extra customers, it had not yet tempted enough to offset the drop in takings.

The group will cut more prices in the months ahead, he said. Tesco had also suffered from promotions and couponing by rivals as well, Clarke said, questioning whether some of them would see much benefit to profit from rising sales. The British Retail Consortium had said on Tuesday retail sales rose a better-than-expected 2.2 percent in December, but that this was partly due to heavy discounting. —Reuters

LONDON: In a file picture taken on January 13, 2009 a woman stands outside a Tesco supermarket in south London. Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco said yesterday that sales sank during the crucial Christmas trading period and warned on the outlook for profits growth, sparking a dramatic share price plunge. — AFP

Business FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Deutsche Bank opens asset management books FRANKFURT: Deutsche Bank AG has picked around 12 bidders to conduct due diligence on its asset management division, which the German bank expects could fetch more than 2 billion euros ($2.5 billion), two sources familiar with the process said yesterday.

In November, Deutsche Bank said it was considering the sale of several global asset management businesses in light of new regulation, rising costs and growing competition expected to weigh on future earnings.

Binding offers are expected by mid to late February, the sources said.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

Under review is a sale of Deutsche’s

institutional investor business, DB Advisers; its alternative asset business RREEF; an insurance asset management business; and its DWS Investments mutual fund business in the Americas.

Not included in the review are private wealth management or Deutsche’s DWS franchises in Germany, Europe and Asia, which are seen as part of the bank’s retail palette. Bidders who expressed an interest in buying all of the units as a package were allowed to conduct due diligence. Bidders who formed a consortium to buy the asset as a whole, only to carve it up later, were exclud-

GM, German union in talks to restructure Opel DETROIT: General Motors Co could shift more vehicle production to its European factories in a cost-cutting deal with its German union that could avert a damaging standoff and keep Opel out of bankruptcy, people familiar with the discussions said.

A potential agreement under discussion would include GM transferring some Chevrolet production from South Korea to Opel in Europe, people close to the leadership of German union IG Metall said. In exchange, GM would get a free hand to push ahead with the cost-cutting it says it needs to save the brand. Restoring Opel to profitability would remove a major drag on the U.S. automaker’s operations and address one of the biggest uncertainties left untouched by the Obama administration’s taxpayer-funded bailout in 2009. GM wants to outline a clear strategy for Opel by the end of March, said one source familiar with the thinking of GM Chief Executive Dan Akerson.

The former private-equity executive and Navy veteran has pushed GM’s management for faster results in Europe even as GM boasts strong profits in the world’s two largest auto markets: China and the United States.

“They really need to get it turned around and profitable and they haven’t really been able to do that yet,” IHS Automotive analyst Rebecca Lindland said. The outline of a deal to save Opel has been taking shape over the past two months, but details of what concessions the union might offer remain unclear. One possibility would be reopening the labor contract with IG Metall, now set to expire at the end of 2014, in exchange for the new production commitments. GM also could be freer to cut Opel labor costs outside Germany, at factories in Poland, Spain and England.

In December, Akerson floated the idea that more cost-cutting at Opel could be accompanied by shifting production from Asia to make European plants more efficient. “We’re looking at how can we enhance revenue, how can we manage our costs better, what does our manufacturing footprint look like, can we shift more production into Europe, possibly from Asia. There are a lot of variables in the mix,” Akerson said in a Dec. 1 interview with Reuters. GM declined to comment on the details of its talks with the German union. “We are not going to comment on speculation, but management, the works council and the supervisory board of Adam Opel AG are all in agreement that Opel has to become profitable, even in times of tough economic headwinds,” GM spokesman Jay Cooney said.

“We are jointly discussing our strategy and will keep our employees and the public informed .” In a statement, GM Korea said: “Our operations are flexible and are running at a healthy capacity at the moment. There is nothing to say beyond that.” Moves to shift production could ignite protests from a militant labour union at GM Korea, which launched its first strike in three years last year. Choi Jong-hak, a spokesman for GM Korea’s labor union, warned the union would “wage a war” if GM shifts output to Europe. He said GM had already been shifting some production from South Korea to emerging markets with cheaper labour, causing “serious job insecurity.” —Reuters

ed, a banker familiar with the process said. DB Advisers has 162 billion euros of assets under management; the insurance asset management unit, 150 billion, and RREEF, 46 billion. DWS Investments Americas had about 42 billion euros under management.

Deutsche’s asset management operations, led by Kevin Parker, earned pretax profit of 117 million euros in the third quarter, mainly driven by DWS. A London-based equities analyst specialising in investment management companies who spoke on condition of anonymity said valuations on a fund manager could range from 1.5 percent of assets for a low

quality private wealth manager, to up to 10 percent of managed funds for a top end alternative investment or hedge fund manager.

Large independent listed fund managers are trading at between 1-2 percent of assets, according to calculations based on Thomson Reuters data.

Schroders trades at just under 2 pct of Assets, Aberdeen at 1.5 percent, and Henderson 1.8 percent. Asset management, unlike investment banking, is not an intensive user of regulatory capital and Deutsche’s business has already seen years of restructuring and job cuts, without yielding the desired results. — Reuters

Italy, Spain easily raise € 28 billion Italian stocks up after successful bond sale MADRID: Spain and Italy gave financial markets a boost yesterday as they successfully raised nearly euro 22 billion ($27.98 billion) in two keenly watched debt auctions that showed renewed investor confidence in their attempts to get a grip on their debt problems.

Spain sold nearly euro 10 billion ($12.7 billion) in auctions of bonds maturing in 2015 and 2016, with demand strong and the amount sold double the maximum sought. Italy saw its borrowing costs drop sharply as it sold euro 12 billion ($15 billion) in what was also its first test of market sentiment of the new year.

Both debt-laden countries have been the focus of worries they might be dragged further into the crisis threatening the 17 countries that use the euro as their currency that has already forced Greece, Ireland and Italy to seek billions in bailout money.

Buyers took euro 8.5 billion in 12month Italian bonds at a yield of 2.735 percent, sharply down from last month’s rate of 5.95 percent. They also bought euro 3.5 billion ($4.45 billion) in bonds expiring at the end of May at just 1.644 percent interest, down from 3.251 percent in the last comparable auction.

Market reaction in both countries was good. In the secondary market, where issued bonds are then traded openly, the yield for Italy’s benchmark 10-year bond dropped to 6.6 percent from around 7 percent, a perilous level that forced other euro zone nations to seek bailouts. The rate for the Spanish 10-year bond also dropped back to 5.15 percent after opening at 5.32 percent.

The country’s Ibex stock market index rallied 1.7 percent after the bond sale.

Meanwhile, the two leading euro pean central banks decided to hold their interest rates yesterday, with the euro pean Central Bank keeping its rate at 1 percent and the Bank of England maintaining its lending rate at a record low of 0.5 percent. The Italian auction showed that euro pean Central Bank efforts to pump liquidity into the financial sector

ROME: Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti addresses the parliament yesterday in Rome. Europe must make a greater effort to ensure growth, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said yesterday, hinting that the ECB should do more to help in the future once new budget rules are in place. — AFP are working, wrote Nicholas Spiro of Spiro Strategy, a London-based consultancy specializing in sovereign risk.

“Few would have predicted as recently as last month that Italy would be paying as little as 2.7 percent for 1year paper,” he wrote. “This is on a par with Italy’s borrowing costs before it got sucked into the euro zone crisis in July.” He noted that Spain’s auction also went well but said Italy’s funding challenges are of a “different order of magnitude.” “This is not just about the amount the Treasury needs to get out the door this quarter, but about perceptions of Italian risk. As long as Italy remains the focal point for investor anxiety about the euro zone, it will remain under pressure at its auctions,” Spiro wrote.

Chiara Cremonesi of UniCredit Research called the auction “extremely positive” and a good omen for a sale of longer-term debt on Friday.

“While it is true that over the last month the shorter maturities have remained well-bid, so strong demand at

this tenor does not come as a surprise, today’s auction was even better than our expectations.” she wrote.

Italy’s euro 1.9 trillion ($2.42 trillion) in government debt and heavy borrowing needs this year have made it a focal point of the euro pean debt crisis. Fitch Ratings Agency, which has said it will consider whether to downgrade Italy’s credit rating by the end of the month, estimates Italy needs to borrow euro 360 billion ($458 billion) this year.

Italy has passed austerity measures and is on a structural reform course that Premier Mario Monti claims should bring down Italy’s high bond yields, which he says are no longer warranted.

Monti took over in November after Premier Silvio Berlusconi stepped down under market and political pressure.

The former EU commissioner said Thursday that euro pe needs to focus not only on fiscal discipline, which is to be enshrined in a fiscal compact still being negotiated, but also coordinate measures to promote growth. —AP

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Greek bond swap talks enter crucial phase ATHENS: The Greek government was holding crucial talks with its private investors yesterday to finally reach a deal on a bond swap that would reduce the country’s debt load and is an integral part of its second bailout package.

Charles Dallara, the head of the Institute of International Finance, which represents Greece’s private bondholders, was meeting with Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and finance chief Evangelos Venizelos. Greece hopes to finalize the deal soon for the private creditors to take a voluntary 50 percent reduction in the value of their Greek bond holdings. It needs to clinch the deal before it can access any more rescue loans, which it will need to help repay euro14.5 billion in bonds on March 20.

People close to the talks said yesterday’s meeting could be decisive. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the negotiations. The bond swap, known as the Private Sector Involvement, is a critical part of Greece’s euro130 billion ($165 billion) international rescue which was agreed in October but whose details remain to be worked out. The deal is essential to containing the country’s massive national debt, with the aim of reducing it from more than 160 percent of gross domestic product to 120 percent by 2020.

On Wednesday, Venizelos said the negotiations “have advanced and are now at a very good point.” Athens has been pushing to finalize the deal ahead of the arrival in

US bank reforms ‘could force out Japanese banks’ TOKYO: Tokyo has told Washington that proposed US bank reforms could force some Japanese financial institutions to pull out of Wall Street, in an unusually blunt letter to US regulators released yesterday. Japan said the socalled “Volcker Rule”, which is due to be implemented in July, also threatens to have adverse consequences on government bond markets worldwide at what it called a “critical juncture”.

The US reforms, named after the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, will limit trading by banks in financial instruments on their own account, deals which are widely held to have contributed to the global financial crisis.

But the Bank of Japan and the government’s financial regulator wrote to authorities in Washington urging them not to apply the rules to non-US firms, and calling for trading in Japanese government bonds (JGBs) to be exempt.

As they stand, the rules “would raise the operational and transactional costs of trading in JGBs and could lead to the exit from Tokyo of Japanese subsidiaries of US banks”, the letter said. “Some of the Japanese banks might be forced to cease or dramatically reduce their US operations,” it added. The document warned that the regulations threatened the “liquidity and pricing” of Japanese and other non-US government bonds at a crucial time for global debt markets. It did not specifically refer to the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, but went on: “We are concerned that such developments could occur on a global scale.

“This might exert extremely negative pressures on sovereign bond markets worldwide through reduced liquidity and a rise in volatility.” Japan has the highest debt burden of any advanced economy at around 200 percent of gross domestic product. The letter was sent on December 28 but only released on the BoJ’s website on Thursday, as US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner visited Tokyo.

No explanation was immediately available for the delay, but an official said Finance Minister Jun Azumi raised the issue in his discussions. The document was unusually strongly worded for a diplomatic communication, and urged Washington to consult more widely and internationally on the issue. The strong tone was “a bit of a surprise,” Mizuho Securities chief market economist Yasunari Ueno told Dow Jones Newswires, adding Tokyo appeared concerned that a decline in liquidity could make the JGB market more volatile. — AFP

Athens of a team of debt inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission, expected early next week.

Deputy Finance Minister Philipos Sachinidis told local media yesterday that if there was a lower participation rate among private creditors in the bond swap, Greece might need the difference in funds to be covered by its European partners. “If the percentage of participation is not, for example, 100 percent, then it is possible that further support might be needed from the part of our partners, to cover the funding gap,” he was quoted as telling Skai radio.

Near-bankrupt Greece has been surviving since May 2010 on rescue loans from other eurozone countries and the IMF. In return for the initial euro110 billion bailout, the Socialist government at the time imposed a series of deep austerity measures, including salary and pension cuts and repeated rounds of tax hikes.

But Athens found itself consistently slipping on several of the reform targets laid out in the bailout agreement, and it became clear last year that a second rescue was needed to prevent the country from a messy default that could drag down other European countries that use the euro, and threaten the single currency itself.

The country’s interim coalition government, appointed in November to handle the new bailout negotiations following a political crisis, is now rushing to pass a new batch

of reforms and cutbacks to secure the second rescue package. With recession in its fourth year, Greece is struggling to meet deficit-reduction targets and is calling on unions and employers to hammer out a voluntary wage-reduction deal for the private sector to try and make its battered economy more competitive.

Greece’s budget deficit is expected to hit 9.6 percent of economic output in 2011, about half a percentage point above target, the country’s development minister acknowledged Wednesday. Finance Ministry figures released Thursday showed that the deficit, on a fiscal basis, remained narrowly within targets in JanuaryDecember 2011, at euro21.64 billion ($27.52 billion).

The twelve-month target was euro21.7 billion ($27.6 billion), while the corresponding figure for 2010 was euro21.46 billion ($27.29 billion). These figures are distinct from the general government deficit, on which Greece’s progress in implementing its austerity program is measured. A ministry statement said state revenues continued to undershoot targets in 2011, which it attributed to a two-day tax collectors’ strike last month and a three-week extension for the settlement of tax obligations.

But that was offset by higher-than-anticipated spending cuts. Even then, state expenditure was euro1.89 billion ($2.4 billion) higher than in January-December 2010, which the ministry attributed to a spike in the cost of servicing the country’s suffocating debt load. — AP

ECB rings in 2012 with rates on hold BoE keeps interest rates at record low FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank held its key interest rates steady as expected yesterday, leaving eurozone borrowing costs at historical lows as it assessed the impact of two straight months of rate cuts.

The ECB’s policy-setting governing council voted to leave the rate for its main refinancing operations unchanged at 1.0 percent at its regular monthly meeting here, the first of 2012.

The guardian of the euro, which cut interest rates in both November and December, had been widely expected to hold its fire this month as it continues to assess how effective the previous moves have been. ECB chief Mario Draghi was scheduled to explain the reasoning behind the decision at a news conference later.

Earlier, the Bank of England also kept its key interest rate at a record low 0.50 percent and opted not to change its stimulus plans despite the fragile state of the British economy.Last month-on the same day that EU leaders met in Brussels in what was seen as a make-or-break crisis summit-the ECB brought eurozone borrowing costs back down to 1.0 percent, effectively reversing two rate hikes last year.

On top of that, it offered banks in the region an unlimited amount of liquidity by loosening collateral rules, cutting the minimum reserve ratio and launching new three-year loans at super-cheap rates.

With all that now feeding through into the system, the ECB would now want to wait and see how those moves pan out, analysts said. “That the ECB decided not to cut its repo rate for a third consecutive month is no surprise given the slightly firmer tone of some recent data and the fact that the rate is already back at its recession low of 1.0 percent,” said Capital Economics’ European economist Jonathan Loynes. On Wednesday, figures showed

that the German motor driving eurozone growth grew by 3.0 percent over the whole of 2011, even if growth petered to a halt in the final quarter. “It is possible that it will cut again over the coming months, although we think that 1.0 percent could well be the bottom again,” Loynes said.

The bigger question, the economist argued, was whether Draghi would be any more open than he has been in the past to the idea of more decisive action to resolve the eurozone debt crisis-in particular much bigger purchases of weaker members’ sovereign debt.

A controversial bond-buying programme launched under the ECB’s previous head, Frenchman Jean-Claude Trichet, is only temporary, Draghi has repeatedly insisted. He did so again last month and “we think it is unlikely that he will change his tune today,” Loynes aid.

“The ECB may engage in some form of Quantitative Easing in time in order to

meet its monetary policy objectives. But for now at least-rightly or wrongly-it remains very firmly opposed to suggestions that it should tackle governments’ fiscal problems for them.” The effects of the unprecedented liquidity measures also remain unclear at the start of the new year.

Even though banks borrowed nearly half a trillion euros from the ECB last month via the three-year lending facility, so far they have been largely stashing it back at the ECB and not lending it out to business. There was some speculation Thursday that the money may be being used to buy up Italian and Spanish debt after their borrowing costs plunged in their first bond auctions of the year. The rates paid on Italian 12-month bonds tumbled to 2.735 percent compared to 5.952 percent in the last similar operation in December, while rates for Spanish bonds due in three, four and five years all fell below 4.0 percent. —AFP

FRANKFURT: Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), addresses the media during the press conference following a meeting of the ECB Governing Council in Frankfurt/Main, western Germany, yesterday. Some of the debt-wracked eurozone countries are making “very substantial, very significant” progress on getting their finances in order, Draghi said. — AFP

Business FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

AirAsia X to withdraw flights to Europe, India KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s long-haul budget carrier AirAsia X said yesterday it would eliminate flights to Europe and India as soaring fuel prices, exorbitant taxes and weakening demand took a toll on its operations. “These changes will improve operating cost efficiencies and consolidate its network to focus on markets where it can build a leadership position in 2012,” the airline said. AirAsia X will suspend four weekly flights to Mumbai starting Feb. 1; daily flights to New Delhi from March 23; four weekly services to Paris from March 31 and six weekly services to London from April 1.

Chief Executive Azran Osman-Rani said

continued high jet fuel prices and weakening demand for air travel due to a depressed economy were a double-whammy for the carrier and made it “economically impossible” for the airline to sustain low fares to Europe.

Oil prices have tripled since AirAsia X launched flights to London in early 2009, and are likely to remain high due to unrest in the Middle East and an Iranian oil embargo, the airline said. Flights to Europe are also burdened by the implementation of an emissions trading scheme this month and escalating air passenger duty taxes in Britain, Azran said in a statement. Attempts

China auto sales slow SHANGHAI: Vehicle sales in China rose a scant 2.5 percent in 2011, the slowest growth in over a decade, as higher prices and traffic controls kept buyers out of showrooms. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported yesterday that total vehicle sales rose to 18.5 million last year, up from 18 million in 2010, when sales rose 32 percent.

Passenger car sales, which exclude buses and heavy trucks, rose 5.2 percent last year to 14.5 million vehicles, the industry group said. In contrast, US auto sales jumped 10 percent to 12.8 million vehicles in 2011. China overtook the US as the biggest market by number of new vehicles sold in 2009. The expiration of tax incentives and subsidies, along with new restrictions on car purchases in Beijing, slowed sales, which had grown at a double-digit pace every year since 1999 - apart from in 2008. Sales that year, at the height of the global crisis, rose 6.7 percent.

Car sales in China soared in 2010 after the government cut sales taxes and offered subsidies to spur demand, but growth slowed once the incentives ended. “This data was what we expected,” said Jia Xinguang, managing director of the China Automobile Dealers Association, attributing the slowdown mainly to the end of preferential policies for car purchases.

China’s market is bound to continue to expand, given the relatively low level of vehicle ownership among increasingly affluent families. But while some analysts are forecasting slightly better prospects for 2012, most do not expect a return to the torrid growth of the past. The development of China’s auto industry will be limited not by market demand or economic growth, “but by severe traffic congestion, air pollution and energy shortages,” said Jia. The cooling of the housing market, a key driver of growth for car sales to families that often end up moving to distant suburbs, also is stunting growth, says Zhang Xin, an analyst at Guotai Jun’an Securities, based in Beijing. CAAM said sales of SUVs climbed 20 percent, to 1.6 million, while sales of sedans rose 6.6 percent to 10.1 million units. Sales of vans and minivans, which boomed while the subsidies and tax breaks were in effect, have since slumped. Commercial vehicle sales fell 6.3 percent last year from a year earlier, to 4.03 million units.

Domestic automakers have been hit hardest as their profit margins have been shrinking due to rising costs and intense competition on prices. Though they have been counting on faster growth in China and other emerging economies to help make up for slack growth in their traditional markets, Japanese, U.S. and European car makers have fared better.

Foreign brand vehicles enjoy a reputation for higher quality and brand value compared with most local competitors.

Automakers are also beginning to sell China-made vehicles elsewhere, taking advantage of lower costs and proximity to other developing markets. SAIC-GM-Wuling, a General Motors Co. joint venture, recently announced plans to assemble autos in Egypt from kits made in China, competing in the same markets targeted by Chinese domestic car exporters.

GM and Ford Motor Co. earlier reported strong December sales in China though full-year growth fell. Sales of GMbranded vehicles by the company and its Chinese partners rose 8.3 percent in 2011 to a new record of 2.5 million vehicles. Ford’s sales for the year climbed 7 percent to 519,390 vehicles. —AP

to increase fares have led to demand falling adversely.

In India, Azran said visa restrictions for travel between India and Malaysia, and a sharp spike in airport and handling charges made it tough for the airline to operate.

Airport and handling costs in India are already more expensive than even Australia and are expected to rise by 280 percent from April, the statement said. “We intend to concentrate capacity in our core markets of Australasia, China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea where we have built up stable, profitable routes ... we intend to open up new routes within these markets,

as well as add frequencies on existing routes,” Azran said.

Under European regulations that took effect this month, airlines flying in and out of Europe must get certificates to pay for the carbon dioxide emissions produced by their flights. They will get free credits to cover most flights this year but must buy or trade for credits to cover the rest - making flying more expensive. Azran said AirAsia X is hopeful of reinstating services to India once structural issues are resolved.

The carrier said it would offer full refunds or reroute to other destinations for all affected guests. — AP

China says December inflation slows to 4.1% Beijing to cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio BEIJING: Chinese inflation rose at its slowest pace in more than a year in December, official data showed yesterday, giving Beijing leeway to further ease credit restrictions to spur economic growth. The country’s consumer price index, a key gauge of inflation, rose 4.1 percent year on year in December, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement, compared with 4.2 percent in November.

For all of 2011, inflation stood at 5.4 percent, well above the government’s full-year target of four percent and higher than the 2010 rate of 3.3 percent, the data showed. The December figure marked the fifth straight month that China’s inflation rate has slowed since peaking at a more than threeyear high of 6.5 percent in July, as measures introduced to curb surging consumer prices took effect. It was the lowest monthly level since September 2010 when inflation rose 3.6 percent, but slightly higher than the 4.0 percent rise analysts had expected, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey.

Food prices-a key driver of inflationrose 9.1 percent on year in December, compared with 8.8 percent in November, which analysts said was likely due to the unusually early Lunar New Year, which falls in January this year. The holiday, also known as the Spring Festival, is the most important celebration on the Chinese calendar.

Retail sales typically soar ahead of the week-long break as people splash out on food, alcohol and other gifts for their families and friends. Analysts said they expect Beijing to cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio effectively increasing the amount of money they can lend-in the coming months as authorities shift their focus to spurring economic growth amid turmoil in Europe and the United States.

“In theory, (the inflation data) should open up some more space for monetary loosening to combat slowing growth and a tumbling property market,” said Ren Xianfang and Alistair Thornton, analysts at IHS Global Insight. Growth in the producer price

index (PPI), which measures the cost of goods at the farm and factory gate, also slowed to 1.7 percent in December from 2.7 percent in November and 5.0 percent in October, the data showed.

The slowdown in PPI was a “harbinger of continued CPI disinflation” which was a “good sign”, said Andrew Polk, a Beijing-based economist for research association The Conference Board. Chinese shares closed flat, slipping 1.04 points to 2,275.01.

China has raised interest rates and the amount of money banks must

week showed China’s exports rose 20.3 percent in 2011, compared with an increase of 31.3 percent in the previous year. The growth rate is expected to halve this year as overseas consumers cut back on spending. But policymakers appear to have ruled out any major stimulus packages like the one unveiled in late 2008 to counter the global crisis, preferring instead to lower taxes and ramp up investment in projects such as low-cost housing. Senior Chinese leaders have repeatedly vowed to maintain a “prudent monetary policy and proactive fiscal policy”

HEFEI: A customer walks past price tags at a market in Hefei, in central China’s Anhui province yesterday. China’s chronically high inflation eased slightly in December, giving Beijing more room to stimulate a slowing economy, but politically sensitive food prices rose sharply. — AP keep in reserve numerous times in the past two years, amid official concerns that rising household costs and property prices could trigger social unrest.

In late November policymakers began to relax credit restrictions as the downturn in Europe and the United States hurt demand for Chinese exports, the major driver of the world’s secondlargest economy. Data earlier this

in 2012, suggesting they will move cautiously to open credit valves to avoid reigniting inflation.

“Having worked hard to get inflation under control, Beijing will be reluctant to ease policy too quickly or too aggressively and risk a reversal in the recent downward trend,” said Brian Jackson, Hong Kong-based analyst at Royal Bank of Canada. —AFP

Business FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Japan vows concrete steps to cut Iran oil reliance TOKYO: Japan pledged yesterday to take concrete action to cut Iranian oil imports in response to an appeal for support from visiting US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, as Washington steps up efforts to sanction Tehran over its disputed nuclear programme.

Geithner welcomed Tokyo’s cooperation, an encouraging sign for US foreign policy after China rebuffed US sanctions aimed at starving Iran of the oil revenues that provide the country of 74 million people with a vital economic support.

Iran faces the prospects of cutbacks in oil sales from its top buyers including China and Japan. The European Union, a major buyer, has committed to banning imports of Iranian oil. Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi said Iranian crude makes up 10 percent of Japan’s overall oil imports.

“We would like to take action concretely

to further reduce (that) in a planned manner,” he said after meeting Geithner. “On the other hand, we need some time in noncrude oil related areas, so I asked the Secretary to take Japan’s situation into consideration.”

Cutting Iranian crude imports would not be without risks for Japan. It relies on imports for its energy needs and has to import more fuel to make up for waning use of nuclear power following last year’s nuclear power plant disaster in Fukushima.

“It would cause immense damage if they were cut to zero,” Azumi said in a news conference, referring to Japan’s Iranian imports. Anxiety over Iran’s nuclear programme, which it says is not for military use, could also push up oil prices and harm the global economy.

Indeed, Japan Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda voiced concern to Geithner about the

Low bids stall India’s DLF hotel chain sale MUMBAI: The sale of Indian developer DLF’s luxury hotel chain, Amanresorts International, has stalled due to lower-than-expected bids by shortlisted companies that include China’s HNA Group, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

India’s Sahara Group and Qatar Investment Authority, the tiny Gulf Arab state’s sovereign wealth fund, also put in bids for the chain late last year, said the sources, who declined to be named as the details are not public yet.

The shortlisted bidders have put in bids of between $300 million and $315 million for Amanresorts, while DLF is expecting to sell the asset for at least $400 million, the sources said. A DLF spokesman in New Delhi denied the deal was on hold.

“We do not comment on market speculation during the course of negotiations with prospective bidders,” the spokesman said. A spokesman for the diversified Sahara Group, which bought London’s Grosvenor House hotel from the Royal Bank of Scotland for 470 million pounds in 2010, said the group was in discussions for the luxury hotel chain a few months earlier.

“Probably from then no discussion is there and Sahara is not much interested in this proposal,” the spokesman said. HNA Group did not respond to Reuters request for a comment.

Qatar Investment, which is among the most aggressive sovereign investors globally with stakes in companies including Germany’s Volkswagen and UK bank Barclays, was also not available for comment.

The Amanresorts assets for sale include 22 hotels in 12 countries, but not the property in New Delhi.

Sources said the world’s biggest luxury goods group LVMH , which was earlier seen as a frontrunner for the property, did not put in a final bid. LVMH owns luxury fashion label Louis Vuitton and Moet & Chandon champagne. DLF had a net debt of 225.19 billion rupees ($4.4 billion) at the end of September, and the company has been looking to raise as much as $650 million by selling non-core assets to pare its debt pile.

Last month, DLF said the company and its joint venture partner sold their entire holding in a firm that owns a special economic zone in Indian city of Pune for 8.1 billion rupees to a fund managed by the Blackstone Group.. Indian developers are struggling with a lack of financing options as property sales in major cities are flat with higher interest rates deterring potential homebuyers, cutting off cash to developers, many of whom have racked up high debt levels. — Reuters

potential impact of the US sanctions on Japan and the world economy. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura, the government’s top spokesman, later tried to soften Azumi’s pledge to reduce Iranian oil imports, saying it was one of many options under consideration.

President Barack Obama authorised a law on December 31 imposing sanctions on financial institutions that deal with Iran’s central bank, the country’s main clearing house for oil payments. Japan’s government hopes to secure a waiver from the sanctions for Japanese banks by reducing Iranian crude imports, something it has started discussing with the domestic oil industry, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.

However, sources at two major Japanese oil refiners using Iranian crude said they had not been approached by the government. Azumi didn’t elaborate on

what he meant by “non-crude oil related areas,” but one potential issue is its repeated intervention to weaken the yen to boost exports. Azumi said he had meaningful discussions on currencies with Geithner but declined to reveal the details. Geithner also declined to comment on Japan’s intervention. Geithner travelled to China and Japan this week to discuss the global economy and seek cooperation on stricter sanctions on Iran, an OPEC member and the world’s fifth-largest crude exporter.

US Deputy Secretary of Treasury Neal Wolin has visited Thailand and the Philippines to explain the new US sanctions, emphasising that countries can avoid them if they significantly reduce their Iran oil imports. Iran denies Western suspicions that its nuclear programme has military goals, saying it is for purely peaceful purposes. — Reuters

Indian factory output returns to growth Industrial output up 5.9 % in November MUMBAI: India’s industrial production rebounded in November, government data showed yesterday, providing some relief to Asia’s third-largest economy, which has been struggling with slowing growth and investment coupled with high inflation.

Industrial production grew 5.9 percent in November, more than expected, thanks to revived consumer demand, the data showed. Output shrank 4.7 percent in October, less than estimated earlier. The data gives the Reserve Bank of India, whose streak of aggressive rate hikes has begun to dampen growth, some room to hold interest rates steady as it waits for inflation, which has been above 9 percent for most of the last two years, to ease.

Economists caution that industrial production numbers are choppy and say the Reserve Bank is unlikely to reverse months of rate hikes when it meets Jan. 24 unless it gets strong evidence that inflation is cooling. “Strong action on the part of the Reserve Bank of reversing the policy will be called for only if inflation shows very strong signs of decline,” C. Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, told CNBC-TV18 yesterdayday.

November’s rebound was powered by a 13.1 percent upswing in consumer goods production, which Atul Joshi, chief executive of Fitch Ratings in India, attributed to increased demand during India’s holiday season.

“The near term industrial growth outlook does not seem very bright,” he said.

Output of intermediate goods - things like car engines and plywood, which are used to make other items and serve as a leading indictor of industrial production grew just 0.2 percent in November.

Production of capital goods like factories, machines and tools - which are an indictor of investment - contracted 4.6 percent, which Joshi called a “not so encouraging” sign. Mining output was down 4.4 percent in November, in the wake of corruption scandals that have led to massive mine closures. Manufacturing grew 6.6 percent and electricity output

JAMMU: A worker prepares metal fencing wire at a factory in Jammu, India, yesterday. India’s industrial production rebounded in November, government data showed yesterday, providing some relief to Asia’s third-largest economy, which has been struggling with slowing growth and investment coupled with high inflation. — AP was up 14.6 percent, the government said. The government has struggled to kick-start stalled investment and neutralize toxic investor sentiment without damaging its populist credentials before important state elections. That is a tough balancing act for a country that relies on foreign capital to finance its current account deficit - which has doubled to $55 billion over the last few years, according to Citigroup - but where the government says three in five children are stunted from malnutrition.

Analysts say investment in new projects has slowed, particularly in infrastructure. Non-performing loans, many them to infrastructure and real estate companies, are on the rise, central bank data shows. Rangarajan said the decline in new projects was a “worry” for overall growth going forward. He said the government’s efforts to boost spending by public sector companies - which still dominate large areas of the Indian economy - could help lift overall growth. “We have set targets

for capacity creation in the areas of power, roads and ports. If we fulfill these targets for capacity creation in these sectors that can act for a stimulus,” he said. But infrastructure projects like that have been hard hit by bureaucratic delays and interest rate hikes, analysts say.

Most are financed with floating rate loans from banks, which means that interest rate hikes directly impact their cost of capital, said S. Nandakumar, a senior director in Fitch Ratings’ infrastructure and project finance group.

“If you’ve done your modeling at 8 percent and provided for 150 basis points of stress suddenly you’re faced with a situation where interest rates are up 500 basis points. You have enormous pressure on your cash flows to meet that debt service,” he said. India’s prime minister, Manmohan Singh, said this week that India’s economy is likely to grow 7 percent for the year ending March, significantly below last fiscal year’s 8.5 percent growth. — AP

Business FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

US sees economic pitfalls in 2012 Can America step back from global crisis?

Cashier Jasmine Stalworth (left) helps customer Kim Mrozinski at a Toys R Us in Northville, Michigan. Stalworth is a temporary seasonal worker for the holiday rush of shoppers, but hopes she can end up with a full-time job from the work. -—MCT

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very few years, the world grabs the United States by the lapels and shouts, “Pay attention!” Then, millions of Americans look around and wonder, “How did this happen?” A few years later, attention wavers again, people get distracted, tired of worrying about what goes on in faraway places. And the cycle begins again.

It shouldn’t take a 9/11 or a Pearl Harbor to remind us that we all need to keep a close eye on what goes on in this very turbulent planet. It’s always true, but it’s even more important in 2012, as we watch global events transforming the world faster than ever.

To be fair, while many do grow distracted, millions of other Americans know we live in a small world that won’t leave us alone. Isolationism is simply not an option for a country like the United States.

And yet, we can always count on a few politicians singing that alluring siren song, urging voters to turn inward and let the foreigners sort out their own problems, saying it’s none of America’s business what goes on beyond its borders. The mantras are always attractive. “Why do we have to be the world’s police?” asks Ron Paul, the current high priest in the church of “It’s their business,” and voters nod their agreement.

Why indeed?

America tried to ignore great cataclysms before, to no avail. Washington, for example, tried to keep the country out of World Wars I and II. The efforts only made the tragedies worse. Some politicians had exploited the public’s wishes to “worry about our own problems.” Then the wars

became America’s unavoidable problem.

The tendency to let our attention drift is understandable. The United States is an enormous, fascinating country. There’s plenty to keep us occupied here. It’s easier to remember the world matters when you live in a tiny country surrounded by large neighbors — some of which have a history of invading you. You don’t need to remind the people of, say, the Netherlands or Belgium to keep up with world news. But even the planet’s most powerful nation can feel the impact of what people do in distant lands.

There’s no shortage of reminders. The recent threat from Iran to block the Strait of Hormuz is an early sign of the world trying to reach out and grab America’s lapels. If Iran blocks that narrow passage in the Persian Gulf, where much of the region’s oil sails to world markets, there’s no politician who will keep oil prices from skyrocketing unless he takes action to reopen the Strait.

Anything else would cause a global economic meltdown.

We rightly want to keep our focus on urgent domestic problems. Too many people have lost their homes; many more have lost their jobs. If Iran — more than 7,000 miles away from Iowa — carried out this threat, far more Americans would face hardship.

And that’s just one of the many “ifs” we face this year. Countless challenges and risks will loom throughout the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere. In the months to come, the temptation to turn away from world events will be great. A political year

inevitably brings out the isolationist voices.

And in a time of economic weakness, the temptation is even greater to believe them.

Just as important, an election year means news organizations will devote an outsized portion of their budgets to covering the campaigns. That means fewer

resources for history-making expensive-tocover events that seem remote, but have the power to reshape our lives. We will hear every detail of the candidates’ lives, including many that are completely trivial and irrelevant, but we will get caught up in the melodrama. — MCT

US debt is now as big as its economy WASHINGTON: The soaring national debt has reached a symbolic tipping point: It’s now as big as the entire US economy. The amount of money the federal government owes to its creditors, combined with IOUs to government retirement and other programs, now tops $15.23 trillion.

That’s roughly equal to the value of all goods and services the US economy produces in one year: $15.17 trillion as of September, the latest estimate. Private projections show the economy likely grew to about $15.3 trillion by December — a level the debt is likely to surpass this month. “The 100 percent mark means that your entire debt is as big as everything you’re producing in your country,” says Steve Bell of the Bipartisan Policy Center, which has proposed cutting nearly $6 trillion in red ink over 10 years.

“Clearly, that can’t continue.”

Long-term projections suggest the debt will continue to grow faster than the economy, which would have to expand by at least 6 percent a year to keep pace. President Barack Obama’s 2012 budget shows the debt soaring past $26 trillion a decade from now. Last summer’s deficit reduction deal could reduce that to $24 trillion. Many economists, such as the Brookings Institution’s William Gale, say a better measure of the nation’s debt is how much the government owes creditors, not counting $4.7 trillion owed to future Social Security recipients and other government beneficiaries. By that measure, the debt is roughly a third less: $10.5 trillion, or nearly 70 percent the size of the economy.

That is still high by historical standards. The total national debt topped the size of the economy for three years during and after World War II. — MCT

Opinion FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Big hack attack on Israel inevitable Cyber warriors are gaining the knowledge to do more than virtual vandalism

By David Rosenberg

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he hacker attack that exposed the credit card numbers and other personal information of thousands of Israelis last week shows every sign of being an unsophisticated break-in that exploited the weaknesses of a poorly secured website. But experts warn that for Israel, like other highly networked economies, the worst is yet to come. Lone-wolf hackers have gradually gained the knowledge and experience once the preserve of intelligence agencies and armies. Instead of defacing websites or shutting them down by flooding them with e-mails, growing numbers of hackers have the ability to disrupt electricity, water, medical and other critical services, they say.

“To shut down a major network, even for a government, is considered to be difficult, and demands excellent experience and knowledge, but there are a few tens of thousands of people around the world who could do it,” Ron Porat, who co-founded Hacktics, an Israeli maker of anti-hacking technology, said. “Some of them have the motivation also.”

A group of Saudi hackers dubbed Group-XP led by someone who goes by the web name OxOmar claimed last week to have obtained the personal information some 400,000 Israelis through credit card data. The Bank of Israel said the numbers were in fact much smaller, probably about 15,000 names, and that the credit card issuers had blocked the exposed accounts.

Nevertheless, the attack drew a sharp response from Israel as well as its arch-nemesis,

the Palestinian militant movement Hamas.

Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon termed the cyber-attack “a breach of sovereignty comparable to a terrorist operation” and hinted at unspecified “retaliatory action”. Hamas, which is not believed to have had anything to do with this attack, termed it “a new form of resistance.” Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri was quoted by Reuters urging others to ignore Ayalon’s threat and “use all means available in the virtual space to confront Israeli crimes.”

Much attention has been focused on governments engaging in cyber-warfare, such as the Stuxnet worm that allegedly wreaked havoc on Iran’s nuclear program or when a Chinese statecontrolled telecommunications company hijacked a big chunk of the world’s Internet traffic, including data from the US military, for 18 minutes in April 2010.

But hackers like OxOmar are a growing threat as well. Israel and Palestinian hackers have been engaged in a cyber cold war for more than a decade. Israeli teenagers blocked websites belonging to the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, provoking Palestinians and other Arabs to declare an e-jihad. Those attacks consisted mainly of denial of service attacks and defacing website, although embarrassingly for Israel these included over the years high-profile sits like those of the Knesset and Foreign Ministry. During Operation Cast lead in 2009, Hamas was probably responsible for an attack on Israel’s Amos 3 spy satellite. More recently, Israeli hackers took over an official Hamas website and uploaded Israel’s national anthem onto

it.

Other cyber wars have erupted across the Middle East. Anonymous, a loose collection of so-called “hacktivists,” launched denial of service attacks against government websites in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere during the Arab Spring uprisings. In November, Anonymous turned its sites on the Muslim Brotherhood. “The Muslim Brotherhood has become a threat to the revolution Egyptians had fought for, some with their lives,” it declared in a video.

While Israeli credit card companies were handling the Saudi break-in, Turkish hackers were threatening to unleash a wave of attacks against French websites after lawmakers in Paris approved legislation that would ban the denial of the Armenian genocide. They have already assaulted French websites, including that of Valerie Boyer, the French politician who introduced the law that could punish genocide deniers with jail time.

But that is small change compared to what hacker are potential capable of doing, say experts. Indeed, hackers now take the trouble to exploit human weaknesses to enter networks, for instance, applying for a job and using the interview to gain access to a company’s headquarters and physical access to a computer.

“These kind of things were once done by the CIA, but now they are being done by hackers. It’s becoming very, very hard to defend any organization including the army and intelligence units,” said Porat. “In the past most hackers used a single vector or two to hack into system. They use multi-vector attacks now.”

Danny Dolev, a leading computer scientist and engineer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said that Israel was as well protected as any heavily networked economy even if it remains vulnerable. Policy makers and defense officials have over the past year come to recognize the extent of the theat. In August, he noted, the government created a National Cyber Directorate to coordinate activities of the agencies that deal with the issue and to secure infrastructure against cyber attacks.

The exposure of credit card details will awaken the public’s attention, which is as critical as technology defenses. “I’m glad in a certain way it happened because it will awaken awareness,” Dolev said. “Awareness means being careful when you plug in a disk on key, being careful when you change a password and being careful when you put your information on a social network.” Dolev expressed doubt that a lone hacker is capable of bringing down an entire economy, but he said they are capable of doing serious damage. “Let’s assume a single hacker enters the blood database and changes few of the blood types of the database,” he said. “This would be horrendous. It would not bring down a country but it could do a lot of harm. There is damage that would be significant.”— Media Line

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Blast from the near past T

here’s usually a lull in the release of computer games after the Christmas rush, and 2012 is turning out to be no exception. However, a look back at 2011 reveals a few gems that might have gotten overlooked in the end-of-the-year rush. Those who look will find some unexpected combinations: playing the stock market with Mario or engaging in swordplay with Kirby.

Those who are more patient can wait until February, which will bring the next installments of Final Fantasy, Soul Calibur and Metal Gear.

Start with the jump-n-run game Kirby’s Adventure from Nintendo, released exclusively for the Wii. Here, Kirby is faced with a spaceship that has crashed on his homeworld, Popstar, and the mission of finding all the parts of the ship. The well-rounded hero relies on his ability to take on the attributes of his opponents. Which ability he currently possesses is signaled by his headwear.

Medieval headgear means he can use a sword, while a cowboy hat means he has a lasso.

There are five colourful levels and up to four players can play together. It’s even possible for all to play Kirby simultaneously. A series of mini-games give it the feel of a party game. It sells for about 45 euros (58 dollars).

Fortune Street is also exclusively for the Wii. Best described as an economics simulator in board game format, it lets players trade, open businesses and trade them on the market — all with the help of Nintendo perennials like Mario and Donkey King.

Gameplay is controlled by dice. There are 18 different gaming environments from which to choose. Just like in

real life, Fortune Street requires players to strike a balance between security and risk. But a lot of the tension is alleviated thanks to mini games. It sells for about 50 euros.

Each episode of the Final Fantasy series has been distinct from the others, with brand new characters in a whole new world. This trend is broken with Final Fantasy XIII-2, picking up where its predecessor left off. After the last fight with the enemy, warrior and main character Lightning, from Final Fantasy XIII, has disappeared. The new goal is to find her while defeating the new chaos that has risen up.

Developers have put a lot of effort into making sure that players’ decisions have an impact on the gameplay.

And some tasks can only be completed if characters are in the right place at the right time. Final Fantasy XIII-2 is set to appear on February 3 with versions for the Playstation 3 and XBox 360. It will cost about 60 euros.

The battle game Soul Calibur V, from Namco Bandai, is also set for a February 3 release. It also reunites players with a whole host of well-known characters, as well as introducing them to a few new ones. Most notable is an appearance by Exio Auditore, the hero of the Assassin’s Creed series. Players are expected to fight with their hands and feet, as well as with swords and other closequarters weapons.

There are major changes in the online mode and character creation. The story and gameplay have been designed so that new players can enter into the fifth version of the game without being disoriented. With versions for the XBox 360 and Playstation 3, Soul Calibur V is expected to cost about 70 euros.

Konami is also giving players the chance to reacquaint themselves in high-definition with an old friend. Metal Gear and its successors have long been the champion of stealth games. When players take on the role of Metal Gear’s super soldier Solid Snake, they have no chance of winning by wielding their guns. Instead, they have to find ways to creep through opposition sentinel points and avoid patrols and surveillance cameras. The action is set in a complex story.

Some of these classics have now been reworked into Metal Gear Solid - HD Collection. It includes the PS2 title Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty; Metal Gear Solid 3; Snake Eater; and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, which has only been available up until now on the PSP. Also along for the fun are the ancient Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. The PS1 game Metal Gear Solid and the 2008 Metal Gear Solid 4, released for the PS3 in 2008, have been left out of the 40-euro package, set for a February 3 release for the XBox 360 and PS3. — dpa

Relationships

New life for

29 wolf dogs

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

C

hained to posts on a half-acre lot, the 29 wolf dogs languished for years behind stockade fencing at a roadside attraction near Anchorage. The wolf hybrids were unable to touch one another except when they were bred through chain-link fences. Several had sore backs and legs because they had never been able to move more than a few yards at a time.

The animals were seized by Alaskan authorities as evidence in an ongoing criminal investigation and scheduled for destruction before the Lockwood Valley Animal Rescue Center intervened. The center had the wolf dogs spayed and neutered, then transported by plane and truck to its sanctuary in the Los Padres National Forest, about 90 miles north of Los Angeles.

They arrived at the 20-acre sanctuary

Matthew Simmons get a nip on his goatee from one of his wolf hybrids.

Dec. 12 and will live the rest of their lives unchained, in sprawling enclosures and networks of wire holding pens. triding toward a pen shaded by scrub oaks and pine trees, Lori Lindner, co-founder and president of the nonprofit sanctuary, introduced visitors last week to members of her new “packs”: a black female with dark honey-colored eyes featured in Sean Penn’s 2007 film, “Into the Wild,” and a large male that fathered seven of the rescued wolf dogs.

Lindner, 46, recalled with a sigh arriving at the Wolf Country USA attraction in Anchorage earlier in the month to begin preparing the animals for the long trip to California. It was heartbreaking to see so many of these animals on chains,” she said. “Wolf dogs are products of human vanity and machismo.”

The trouble is that crossing wolves,

which have been bred by nature for millions of years to be wild, with dogs, which have been genetically manipulated for thousands of years to serve humans, creates a conflict of innate behaviors. As a result, they are often chained up or given away, turned loose or killed, or they escape and are shot or poisoned. 2-acre enclosure dubbed “wolf mansion,” Lindner’s husband, Matthew Simmons, called out to six juvenile wolf dogs that were adjusting to a measure of freedom.

“No more pain,” said Simmons, 38.

“They’re getting along amazingly well, although there have been a few tussles in which one girl pushed another girl around. But overall, they honestly seem to understand that this is a better environment than where they came from.” he Humane Society of the United States has taken a hard stand against wolf dogs as unpredictable, destructive and rarely trainable. At least 16 states ban them, and California and 20 other states have restrictions on ownership. Alaska prohibits ownership of wolves or wolf dogs unless they are spayed or neutered, fitted with microchips and registered with state authorities.

Lindner and Simmons were alerted by sanctuary accreditation officials that Wolf Country USA was under investigation, accused of illegal possession of wolf dogs.

The zoo-like attraction boasted “the largest wolf pack in Alaska” and charged $5 to walk along a path close enough to the animals to take snapshots and, in certain cases, pet one.

“We flew to Alaska and met with the assistant attorney general,” Simmons said.

“He told us that the state had no place to keep them, and if we didn’t take them he was going to dispatch state troopers to shoot them and toss them into a freezer until the court battle with Wolf Country USA was resolved.”

In a telephone interview, Werner Shuster, owner of Wolf Country USA,

denied that the wolf dogs had been mistreated or that he had broken the law. We raised them since they were pups, each one had 12 to 15 feet of space and they were the healthiest animals on the planet,” said Shuster, 82. “They do better on chains. That way they don’t fight, and people can pet them.”

Money to take the wolf dogs to the sanctuary came from a $5,000 donation from the Humane Society and a “very, very large donation” from Bob Barker, who hosted the TV game show “The Price is Right” for 35 years, Simmons said.

Because of their histories, size, strength and often unstable temperaments, the wolf dogs need lots of care. The nonprofit International Fund for Animal Welfare donated $43,000 to construct nine new enclosures with 10-foot-high fencing.

The sanctuary needs $3,000 a month for maintenance and about $350 a day for raw meat, day-old products bought from local grocery stores at a discount. It is also negotiating the purchase of a nearby 180acre property that would be devoted to dozens more rescued wolf dogs and wolves. “We need $250,000 for a down payment on the property,” Simmons said.

To help reduce the costs of the operation, which already housed 20 rescued wolf dogs, the sanctuary launched Warriors and Wolves, a program designed to pair wolf dogs with combat veterans volunteering there to try to overcome physical injuries and lingering anxieties.

Stanley McDonald, 48, who was diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder after he returned from the Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm, is among veterans who have become full-time volunteer ranch hands at the sanctuary.

Stepping through the gate of an enclosure where three wolf dogs paced warily, McDonald said, “I see a lot of myself in these animals. Like them, I was lost and troubled until I came here. Now, there’s a lot of healing going on.” — MCT

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Years

Food

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Everyday cooking

International

By Sawsan Kazak

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e are all aware of the soothing properties of food and how some dishes just make us feel happy, safe and make some of our worries go away. Well different countries have different takes on what would be considered comfort foods. Back home in Montreal, it would be our famous Poutine, which consists of French fries, cheese and brown sauce. A big plate of that and you will forget all that troubles you. In parts of the US, the comfort food would be fried chicken, macaroni and cheese and apple pie. The following recipes feature dishes that are considered comfort food in different counties.

Send your suggestions to: sawsank@kuwaittimes.net

1 quart vegetable oil for frying 1 (10.25 ounce) can beef gravy 5 medium potatoes, cut into fries 2 cups cheese curds

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eat oil in a deep fryer or deep heavy skillet to 365 degrees F (185 degrees C). While the oil is heating, you can begin to warm your gravy. Place the fries into the hot oil, and cook until light brown, about 5 minutes. Make the fries in batches if necessary to allow them room to move a little in the oil.

Remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Place the fries on a serving platter, and sprinkle the cheese over them. Ladle gravy over the fries and cheese, and serve immediately.

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Years

Food

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

2 cups red lentils 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 yellow onion, finely chopped 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped 2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger 4 cups vegetable broth 1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes, with their juice 1/3 cup chopped cilantro 1 teaspoon ground turmeric Salt to taste 1 jalapeno pepper, stemmed, seeded and finely chopped

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pread lentils out on a sheet tray and pick through to remove any stones or debris. Rinse lentils and drain well. Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add cumin, cardamom, garlic and ginger and cook, stir-

Broth 2 pounds chicken 2 stalks of celery, diced 1 large carrot, peeled & diced 1 onion, diced 3 chicken bouillon cubes Salt and pepper 1 pound fresh endive or spinach, chopped

ring often, until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Add lentils, broth, tomatoes, cilantro, turmeric, salt and jalapeno and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer, stirring often, until lentils are soft, about 15 minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve.

Egg mixture 2 eggs 3 tablespoons Pecorino Romano Meatballs 1/3 cup chopped parsley 1 large egg 1 clove garlic, minced 1 teaspoon salt 1 slice fresh bread, torn into small pieces 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano 12 ounces ground beef 6 ounces ground veal Salt and pepper to taste 1 (1-pound) package tiny Italian pasta

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lace all broth ingredients, except fresh spinach, in a stockpot. Add enough cold water to cover ingredients, by 2 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low.

Simmer, half-covered for about 1 hour.

Remove chicken and let it cool. Remove skin, and pull the meat from the bones. Return only the chicken meat to the soup and continue to simmer for another hour.

In the meantime, beat eggs and Pecorino Romano to make egg mixture. Add fresh spinach and egg mixture to the soup. Simmer for another 20 minutes.

While soup finishes, cook pasta separately. Drain and set aside.

Meatballs Preheat oven to 350ยบF. Stir parsley, egg, garlic, salt and fresh bread together in a large bowl. Mix with meats and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Using approximately 1 teaspoon of the meat mixture for each, spoon and roll into balls. Place on a baking sheet and bake until cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Vegetable oil, for deep frying 4 large russet potatoes 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning

1 large egg, lightly beaten 1 (12-ounce) can soda water 1/2 cup rice flour, for dredging 2 (8-ounce) cod or haddock fillets, cut in 1/2 on an angle Malt vinegar, for serving Tartar Sauce

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batter, letting the excess drip off.

Put the chips in the bottom of the fryer basket and carefully submerge in the hot oil. Carefully wave the battered fish into the bubbling oil before dropping them in on top of the chips. Fry the fish and chips for 4 to 5 minutes until crispy and brown. Remove the basket and drain the fish and chips on paper towels; season lightly with salt. Serve wrapped in a newspaper cone with malt vinegar and/or tartar sauce.

eat 3-inches of the oil in a deep fryer to 325 degrees F. Alternately, heat 3-inches of oil in a deep pot. Peel the potatoes and cut them into chips, about the size of your index finger. Put the potatoes in the oil. Fry the chips for 2 to 3 minutes; they should not be crisp or fully cooked at this point. Remove the chips with a spider strainer or slotted spoon, to a paper towel-lined platter to drain.

Crank the oil temperature up to 375 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and egg. Pour in the soda water and whisk to a smooth batter. Spread the rice flour on a plate. Dredge the fish pieces in the rice flour and then dip them into the

Tr a v e l FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

File photo shows skiers and snowboarders ride the triple chair lift at Mount Mansfield at the Stowe Mountain Resort in Stowe, Vt. — AP photos

Skiing and snowboarding:

Many people do both now T

File photo shows Abigail Slingsby, right, teaching snowboarding at Steamboat Ski and Snowboard School in Steamboat, Colo.

he relationship between skiers and snowboarders might still be a bit icy at times, but a versatile group has discovered there’s more than one way to get down the mountain. “Before, you were either a skier or a boarder. Now people do both,” said Greg Ditrinco, editor of SKI Magazine. “It’s a new phenomenon.” The crossover is being led primarily by snowboarders who are finding they can do more with two boards on their feet than one. Skis allow for more tricks in the pipes, and for more accessibility in the backcountry, where flat terrain is a boarder’s nemesis.

“There are a lot of people going back to skiing because skiing has become fun again,” said Abigail Slingsby, who teaches both boarding and skiing for the Steamboat Ski & Snowboard School in Colorado. That fun factor comes from the technological advances in today’s skis, many of which, ironically, were borrowed from the snowboard. Boarding started gaining popularity about three decades ago, but many thought it didn’t belong on the ski hill. Boarders were considered rebellious. Skiers were accused of being elitist.

As time passed, snowboarding earned legitimacy and acceptance. It became an Olympic sport in 1998, and today, only three of the 325 most popular resorts nationwide ban snowboarding: Deer Valley and Alta in Utah and Mad River Glen in Vermont. “Those in the industry really view the turf wars as over,” said Ditrinco.

“If you talk to the kids, they say: ‘Ya, we ski,

we board, we hang out together.’” While the younger generation tends to be more welcoming, some older skiers still have a hard time with boarders.

“It’s not as bad as 10 years ago, but there are still awful stereotypes,” said Slingsby, 39, who previously taught at the Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort in British Columbia. Graham Potter, 25, agreed. He spent more than 100 days each of the past two winters on the snow at California’s Mammoth Mountain before moving to Steamboat. He said his behavior is the same regardless of how he’s getting down the hill, but it seems to attract more attention when he’s on a snowboard.

“I ski obnoxiously fast, weave in and out of people, and hit as many obstacles as I can,” he said. “But there is definitely still a stigma when you’re on a board.” Despite the bias, Slingsby said she is increasingly finding that her students crossover in their winter sports. “There’s always a group that does both,” she said. The statistics support her. Industry groups estimate there were 7.4 million to 11.5 million skiers in 2010, with a quarter of them also snowboarding at least once that year. Similarly, about a third of the 6.1 million to 8.1 million snowboarders also skied at least once.

There are regional differences in winter sports, said Ditrinco, with boarding more popular in California and skiing more popular in the East. Slingsby said a lot of her younger students who started off snowboarding try skiing because they want to vary their equipment to suit the terrain.

Older skiers, meanwhile, want to learn to

board because, “After you learn to do it properly it’s gentler on your body,” she said.

Potter, who grew up skiing in North Carolina before switching to boarding as a teenager, found once he became an expert snowboarder, it wasn’t challenging enough. “Skiing is more technical. It is something you can work on your whole life and never feel like you’ve mastered,” he said. “Once you’re good on a snowboard you’re good. There’s a whole park element that’s fun. But as I get older, I find myself less and less in the park. “ Like many people, Potter is increasingly drawn to the backcountry, a trend that Ditrinco said has been “exploding” over the past few years as resorts have loosened restrictions on going out of bounds.

Because Potter still boards about threequarters of the time, he just purchased a splitboard, which can be separated into two boards for hiking uphill, then combined into one for boarding down off piste. Despite a dozen years of experience and dual instructor certifications, Slingsby said switching between skiing and boarding isn’t an easy thing. “I think crossing over is a humbling experience. You’re good at a sport and then you go to the other one and the bunny hill is really scary again,” she said. “It’s humbling and it’s fun.” —AP

Tr a v e l FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Celebrating Year of the

Dragon

in San Francisco

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he Year of the Dragon is approaching, ruled by the fabulous beast that is the most powerful sign in the Chinese zodiac. And the San Francisco Bay area, with its rich tradition of Chinese culture, has a host of events planned. Whether you’re up for running a 10K through Chinatown (prize for “Best Dressed Dragon”) or inclined to slip into something a little more elegant for an Asian-themed concert at the San Francisco Symphony, here are five ways to welcome the dragon.

Watch the parade go by: Stepping off at Second and Market streets at 5:15 pm on Feb 11, the Southwest Airlines Chinese New Year Parade features floats, dance teams, bands and other performances. The route follows Geary and Post streets before ending at Kearny at Columbus; organizers recommend Post Street as a good place to watch. The event is free, but bleacher seat tickets can be purchased for $30 each. This year, groups from all over the state are participating, says parade spokeswoman Karen Eng, and the opening act will be a group of performers from China.

The event traces its roots to the 19th century, when Chinese immigrants showcased their culture using the all-American tradition of a parade. Details including maps and where to order tickets can be found at http://www.chineseparade.com. If you are taking the BART public transit system, exit at the Montgomery or Powell stations. It’s recommended you buy round-trip tickets at the start of your journey to avoid long lines on the way back.

Get some real flower power: Flowers, fruit and candy are a big part of Chinese New Year, and this event will help you get ready.

Held in Chinatown, the Flower Market Fair runs from 10 am to 8 pm Jan 14 and from 9

File photo shows Neil Wu carries a dragon head as he marches with the San Francisco Police Lion Dance Team during the Chinese New Year Parade for the Year of the Rooster in San Francisco.

— AP photos

a.m. to 6 pm on Jan 15. It will be set up on Grant Avenue from Clay to Broadway streets, Pacific Ave. from Kearny to Stockton streets and on Jackson and Washington streets from Kearny to Stockton. The festival officially opens with a ribbon-cutting at the main stage on Washington Street below Grant at about 10:45 am Jan 14. Traditional

File photo shows a performer waving to the crowd during the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco. — AP photos

entertainment such as lion dances and Chinese opera will be performed on stage both days.

Celebrate in concert: The San Francisco Symphony Chinese New Year Community concert and Celebration 2012 features a mix of music and instruments from East and West. The concert begins 4 pm Feb 11 and early arrivers will be greeted with a familyfriendly festival reception at 3 pm with arts and crafts, food, Asian instruments, lion dancers, Chinese calligraphers and more.

Carolyn Kuan will conduct and the program includes the Yellow River piano concerto.

Tickets are $15 to $68 and can be purchased at http://www.sfsymphony.org . The symphony plays at Davies Symphony Hall, the box office is on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street. To get there by BART, use the Civic Center station.

Start the year off on the right foot: The Chinatown YMCA holds its 34th annual Chinese New Year Run at 8 am Feb 19. The route starts at Sacramento Street and Grant Avenue and winds through Chinatown. One route is a 10K and the other is a 5K. About 2,000 people are expected to take part in the event, which benefits the Chinatown YMCA Community Center. Register at http://www.ymcasf.org/Chinatown/ .

Registration is $30 by check and $33 by credit card, increasing to $36 and $39 after Feb. 1. The event can be accessed by Muni bus lines 1, 30 or 45.

Find the zodiac at the zoo: The San

Francisco Zoo is commemorating the Lunar New Year from 10 am to 3 pm on Jan 29 with Chinese acrobatic performances, traditional lion and folk dancing, Chinese yo-yo tricks and more. Visitors can take a self-guided zodiac tour leading them to animals found on the Chinese calendar. Yes, they do have a dragon, says zoo spokesman Danny Latham. It’s a bearded dragon, so it doesn’t actually fly or breathe fire, but it is a cool lizard nonetheless. Admission is $15 for ages 15-64, $12 for those over 65, $9 for ages 4-14 and free for 3 and under. In honor of the day, admission is free for all those born in Dragon years (1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000 and 2012). The zoo entrance is Sloat Boulevard and the Great Highway. Parking is $10 on weekends.

Within San Francisco, take the Muni L Taraval line outbound to the zoo. Bus lines 23 and 18 also stop at the zoo. Show your Muni receipt for $1 off the price of admission. Visit http://www.sfzoo.org/announcements/lunarnewyearcelebration for more information or call 415-753- 7080. —AP

C h i l d re n FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

alfa-search

figure it

Look at the clues below and fill all the numbers you can into the grid. Then start again and use your answers to help solve the other clues.

Across 2. Days in a year 4. Half a century 5. 2 down plus 4 down 7. Six times seven 8. 6284 rearranged 10. Hours in two days 12. Half of 15 across 13. Five times 1225 15. Six times fifteen 16. Number of days in four weeks 17. 4 across plus 14 down 18. Half of 1240 Down 1. Six times six 2. A third of 15 across 3. 2921 doubled 4. Number of weeks in a year 6. 17 across minus 1 down 7. 243 doubled 9. Half of 1680 11. 2143 doubled 14. A dozen 15. A third of 276 17. Seconds in a minute 19. Hours in a day

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

BUZZARD, CANARY, CONDOR, CROW, EAGLE, FALCON, FLAMINGO, GANNET, GOOSE, HAWK, HERON, IBIS,KESTREL, KOOKABURRA,

LARK, OSTRICH, PARROT, PARTRIDGE, PENGUIN, PHEASANT, PIGEON, PUFFIN, ROBIN, STARLING, VULTURE, WREN.

mystery word Can you enter the words correctly into the grid? The letters in the shaded boxes will spell out the name of the mystery word.

4 letters BEAN LEEK

sudoku

5 letters ONION 6 letters CARROT CELERY 7 letters CABBAGE LETTUCE PUMPKIN RHUBARB SPINACH 8 letters BEETROOT CUCUMBER MUSHROOM

solution

9 letters ASPARAGUS 11 letters CAULIFLOWER

C h i l d re n FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

The Seven Ravens T

here was once a man who had seven sons, and still he had no daughter, however much he wished for one. At length his wife again gave him hope of a child, and when it came into the world it was a girl. The joy was great, but the child was sickly and small, and had to be privately baptized on account of its weakness. The father sent one of the boys in haste to the spring to fetch water for the baptism. The other six went with him, and as each of them wanted to be first to fill it, the jug fell into the well. There they stood and did not know what to do, and none of them dared to go home. As they still did not return, the father grew impatient, and said, they have certainly forgotten it while playing some game, the wicked boys. He became afraid that the girl would have to die without being baptized, and in his anger cried, I wish the boys were all turned into ravens. Hardly was the word spoken before he heard a whirring of wings over his head, looked up and saw seven coal-black ravens flying away.

The parents could not withdraw the curse, and however sad they were at the loss of their seven sons, they still to some extent comforted themselves with their dear little daughter, who soon grew strong and every day became more beautiful. For a long time she did not know that she had had brothers, for her parents were careful not to mention them before her, but one day she accidentally heard some people saying of herself, that the girl was certainly beautiful, but that in reality she was to blame for the misfortune which had befallen her seven brothers. Then she was much troubled, and went to her father and mother and asked if it was true that she had had brothers, and what had become of them. The parents now dared keep the secret no longer, but said that what had befallen her brothers was the will of heaven, and that her birth had only been the innocent cause. But the maiden took it to heart daily, and thought she must save her brothers. She had no rest or peace until she set out secretly, and went forth into the wide world to search for her brothers and set them free, let it cost what it might. She took nothing with her but a little ring belonging to her parents as a keepsake, a loaf of bread against hunger, a little pitcher of water against thirst, and a little chair as a provision against weariness.

And now she went continually onwards, far, far to the very end of the world. Then she came to the sun, but it was too hot and terrible, and devoured little children.

Hastily she ran away, and ran to the moon, but it was far too cold, and also awful and malicious, and when it saw the child, it said, I smell, I smell the flesh of men. At this she ran swiftly away, and came to the stars, which were kind and good to her, and each of them sat on its own particular little chair. But the morning star arose, and gave her the drumstick of a chicken, and said, if you have not that drumstick you can not open the glass mountain, and in the glass mountain are your brothers.

The maiden took the drumstick, wrapped it carefully in a cloth, and went onwards again until she came to the glass mountain. The door was shut, and she thought she would take out the drumstick. But when she undid the cloth, it was empty, and she had lost the good star’s present. What was she now to do. She wished to rescue her brothers, and had no key to the glass mountain. The good sister took a knife, cut off one of her little fingers, put it in the door, and succeeded in opening it. When she had gone inside, a little dwarf came to meet her, who said, my child, what are you looking for. I am looking for my brothers, the seven ravens, she replied. The dwarf said, the lord ravens are not at home, but if you will wait here until they come, step in. Thereupon the little dwarf carried the ravens’ dinner in, on seven little plates, and in seven little glasses, and the little sister ate a morsel from each plate, and from each little glass she took a sip, but in the last little glass she dropped the ring which she had brought away with her.

Suddenly she heard a whirring of wings and a rushing through the air, and then the little dwarf said, now the lord ravens are flying home. Then they came, and wanted

to eat and drink, and looked for their little plates and glasses. Then said one after the other, who has eaten something from my plate. Who has drunk out of my little glass. It was a human mouth. And when the seventh came to the bottom of the glass, the ring rolled against his mouth. Then he looked at it, and saw that it was a ring belonging to his father and mother, and said, God grant that our sister may be here, and then we shall be free.

When the maiden, who was standing behind the door watching, heard that wish, she came forth, and on this all the ravens were restored to their human form again. And they embraced and kissed each other, and went joyfully home. (Grimm’s Fairy Tales)

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Books

Years

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

wilderness drawing the birds he loved. He was insistent that The Birds of America was made up of life-size illustrations, and that it showed all the known species of north America, making the finished volume “the greatest of all bird books, [and] arguably the highest achievement of ornithological art”, said Christie’s.

Whatever Birds of America is, said rare book dealer and author Rick Gekoski, “it isn’t a book, not in any normal sense of the term”. In fact, the volumes consist of “a

Edition of John James Audubon’s masterpiece of ornithological art, one of only 120, expected to break auction records

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copy of the world’s most expensive book, John James Audubon’s 19th-century masterpiece Birds of America, is set for auction later this month and is expected to sell for up to $10m (£6.5m).

Only 120 complete sets of Audubon’s 435 handcoloured, life-sized engravings of America’s birds are believed to exist today, with the majority (107) owned by institutions. The last full edition of The Birds of America, which went up for auction in 2010, sold for £7.3m at Sotheby’s, breaking the world record for a single book. The new set was bought by the fourth Duke of Portland at some point after 1838 and is in “excellent” condition, said Christie’s, through whom it is being sold.

The auction house has given the edition a guide price of $7m-$10m, leaving experts to wonder if it will break 2010’s record when it opens to bids on 20 January in New York.

T

he new issue of The Thing Quarterly, an American periodical that comes in the form of an object, is by Eggers. For a snip at just $65, fans of the author of the acclaimed A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Zeitoun and What is the What can buy his imagining of a monologue told to him by his shower curtain, published on an actual shower curtain “with the idea that one would read it while showering”.

The option also exists to display the curtain outwards, rather than inwards, usefully expanding its reading potential to teeth-brushing, facecleaning and toilet-using. Each year The Thing asks four writers, artists, musicians or filmmakers to “create a useful object that somehow incorporates text”, with Eggers to be joined later this year by objects from artists

“Birds of America is most significant for its sheer beauty. It’s a masterpiece of illustration,” said Richard Davies of rare and used book specialist AbeBooks.

“Aside from being famous in the rare book world, Birds of America has also immense historical and ornithological importance. Some of the birds John James Audubon painted are extinct and he also discovered new species.”

Davies said that while the estimated value of the Duke of Portland set is “sky high ... [it] is in excellent condition [and] if the record does fall, then no one should be overly surprised because a rare book like this is recession-proof”.

Measuring over three feet in height and running to four volumes, The Birds of America was created by Audubon between 1827 and 1838. The illegitimate son of a French sea captain and his creole mistress, Audubon was an itinerant artist who travelled America’s

large number of works of art - original hand-coloured engravings - bound together for ease of storage and reference,” he said. “The format was chosen not out of any grandiosity but because it was Audubon’s remarkable desire - and ability - to produce life-sized engravings of each bird. Thus the finches and cardinals have plenty of space in which to flit about, while the flamingo and trumpeter swan tilt their necks graciously inward and arrange themselves with some care. The effect of this is just terrific.”

Picking up a copy of the “book” is a two-person job, said the dealer, who examined an edition at Sotheby’s once prior to an auction. “The (very nervous) resident expert and I (gingerly) turned the pages together, him at the top and me at the bottom, and peeled them back (respectfully) into just the right conjunction with the rest of the plates,” said Gekoski. “You have to be careful how you handle a gargantuan book worth more than 10 million dollars.”—Guardian

David Shrigley and Shannon Ebner, and filmmaker Mike Mills. His shower curtain follows a pair of glasses with text on the arms published to go alongside Jonathan Lethem’s Chronic City, US radio producer Starlee Kine’s short story on a cutting board (“This onion made me cry and so naturally it reminded me of you”) and filmmaker Miranda July’s window shade (“if this shade is pulled down I’m begging your forgiveness on bended knee with tears streaming down my face”), all of which sold out.

A monologue written from the point of view of the bathroom accessory, and on it, is the author’s latest work of staggering genius

Dave Eggers Pulitzer finalist, McSweeney’s founder, tireless literacy campaigner - and now perhaps the first author ever to be published on a shower curtain.

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

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novel by an anonymous Chinese author living in America, which started life as a blog, has become a worldwide publishing sensation. It has been snapped up by publishers in 15 countries who have been impressed by the fact that it has sold more than a million copies in China and inspired a film by an Oscar-winning Chinese director.

Some publishers even bought it before reading a translation. Yet none of the publishers, translators or editors knows the author’s identity.

Under the Hawthorn Tree, a tragic love story set during the Cultural Revolution, is written under the pen name of Ai Mi. All that is known about the author is that she leads a reclusive life in Florida, having gone there to study. She is thought to be in her fifties or sixties, if only because her insight into the Cultural Revolution suggests someone who experienced first hand the political and social persecution of Mao Zedong’s last decade. She tells her readers that it was inspired by a true story. Her central character - a young woman from a “politically questionable family” who falls in love with the son of a general - is based on a real person with names and places disguised.

Under The Hawthorn Tree has already sold more than a million copies in China alone In a publishing world where an author’s identity is often more important than their talent, it is striking that publishers as far afield as Italy, Norway, Brazil and Israel have responded to the writing alone. Lennie Goodings of Virago bought it without knowing a word of Chinese - and was relieved to discover that it lived up to her expectations when she commissioned an English translation. She said: “It’s a beautiful love story, almost like a Romeo and Juliet. It has that real simplicity about people trying to love each other across class. [Set] against the Cultural Revolution, it shows the startlingly intimate reach of politics in that period [which] even affects - and infects - their love.”

Goodings asked someone from Shanghai who works in Virago’s accounts department to read it: “Her face fell and she said, ‘I’m not interested in the Cultural Revolution. It’s my parents’ generation.’ The next day she was at my shoulder, eyes brimming, saying ‘it’s so wonderful and I cried’. On the basis of that, I bought it blind.” Although the original blog was serialised on a website that was blocked by the Chinese authorities, an admirer had passed it to one of China’s state-affiliated publishers, which has been overwhelmed by its sales.

Anna Holmwood, the English translator, said: “It doesn’t present a problem for the Chinese government. If you were to take a particular political line about the Cultural Revolution, that might be problematic. But nowadays people are very open about talking about what a terrible time it was.”

In the opening chapter of the book, which will be published by Virago this month, the central character is befriended by a Russian who teaches her a Russian song, The Hawthorn Tree. Ai Mi writes: “Of course, this had to be done in secret. Not only had everything associated with the Soviet Union become dangerous but, just as importantly, anything contaminated by the idea of ‘love’

was considered the bad influence and the putrid remains of the capitalist class. The Hawthorn Tree was deemed ‘obscene’, ‘rotten and decayed’, and of ‘improper style’ because the lyrics spoke of two young men ... in love

with the same young maiden.” The film version, directed by Zhang Yimou, the director of House of Flying Daggers, will be released in Britain at a later date. — Guardian

Mystery Chinese blogger scores a hit with Cultural Revolution novel

Beauty FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

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How to do the basic at-home facial

here’s nothing better than getting a professional facial, but they can be expensive. To maintain your healthy skin between professional treatments or to do them yourself, try this basic at-home facial once a week. This basic facial works on oily, dry and combination skin.

And don’t worry, I’m not going to make you whip up a batch of egg-whites and oatmeal, but you will save money if you do your own mask. I list a bunch of organic, natural Homemade Face Mask Recipes for every skin type. But if you don’t want to whip up your own, you can buy a great mask at health food stores or even your local drugstore.

Time required: 25-30 minutes 1.Cleanse the skin You’ll want to wash the face, neck and ears with a good facial cleanser to remove any grime or dirt. I recommend some great options in my list of the best cleansers.

Don’t forget to remove makeup with a akeup remover. My hands-down favorite is Clinique, but Neutrogena’s eye makeup remover is a great drugstore option.

2-3 times or you can take it further by boiling water over the stove, then turning off the stove and putting your head over the water with a towel over your head, letting the steam seep into pores for a good 5 minutes.

My favorite steam trick is to actually use my clothing steamer. I turn it on, put a towel over my head and put my face a good foot above the steamer. Works like a charm. But be careful: Do not burn yourself.

4.The mask For oily skin, use a clay-based face mask.

For dry skin, go for a hydrating gel or cream mask.

Apply the mask, avoiding the areas around the eyes. Keep it on for 10-20 minutes (or, according to the directions on the product).

Rinse completely. You can even make your own face mask.

5.Moisturize Smooth on a soothing, basic moisturizer over your face and neck.

Tip: Stay away from strong moisturizers containing retinols or acids. These will overexfoliate your skin.

2.Exfoliate Using your fingers, rub a gentle exfoliating facial scrub in a circular motion on your face.

Concentrate on the areas around your nose and forehead or if you have combo skin, work harder on the areas that tend to be “greasy.”

Rinse your face well since exfoliating scrubs tend to be drying.

Make your own using white sugar mixed in with extra virgin coconut oil.

3.Steam There are several ways to steam your face.

You can fill your sink with warm water, dip a washcloth in and press to your face repeating

Peach Lotion (for dry or normal skin) 1 Peach 4 drops tincture of Benzoin (known to be STRONG sensitizer) 2 oz. coconut or sweet almond oil 1 1/2 oz. orange flower water and 1 or 2 drops orange oil Wash, drain, mash, and then strain the juice from 1 peach through muslin or cheesecloth. Add to it 4 drops of tincture of benzoin, 2 oz. coconut or sweet almond oil, 1 1/2 oz. orange flower water and 1 or 2 drops orange oil. Beat together until it is fluffy and pour into a clean 4 oz container. It will keep for a longer period if you store it in the refrigerator. Use the lotion to moisturize your skin whenever it feels dry.

Beauty FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

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What is the shelf life of makeup?

very woman we know has a pile of makeup in her drawer that she “sometimes” uses.

Translation: Never uses, but keeps just in case she finally learns how to properly apply blue eyeshadow.

Beauty products do have a shelf life, however, and chances are that blue eyeshadow with the glimmery bits that you bought a couple years ago (for Halloween?) has long expired. Here’s a quick guide on the shelf lives of typical beauty products. We’ve listed them in alphabetical order. Oh, and just one quick little “PS”: Please keep in mind that these are estimates, no matter what anyone tells you, it’s unlikely you’ll go blind from using 2-year-old mascara.

• Concealer Up to 12 months. See my list of the best eyeshadows.

• Powder 2 years.

• Cream & gel cleansers 1 year.

See my list of the best cleansers • Pencil eye liner Should be sharpened regularly. Will last up to 3 years. See how to apply eyeliner • Eyeshadow Will also last up to 3 years. Extra tip: A dark eyeshadow can double as eyeliner, in fact, most

makeup artists swear by eyeshadow used as eyeliner. You’ll need a super-flat eyeliner brush for this (MAC, Sephora and Aveda have great brushes). Get the brush a little damp and dab in dark eyeshadow

(black, brown or deep jewel-tones work great). Wiggle the brush into your lash line focusing on the space between your lashes, then sweep the color just above your lash line.

See how to apply eyeshadow • Brushes Wash every 2-3 months in a mild detergent. See my list of the best makeup brushes • Sponges Wash weekly and discard monthly.

• Foundation Check the ingredients: A water-based foundation will last up to 12 months, oil-based will last up to 18 months. You may find you need two different shades of foundation each year: One for summer when your skin is naturally darker and one for winter when you’re lighter. Extra tip: If your water-based foundation dries out before it’s expiration date, simply add a few drops of alcohol-free toner and shake to mix it in. No need to do this to oil-based foundations.

Because they contain oil, they will tend to separate. You have to shake anyway. See my list of the best foundations.

• Lip liner Up to 3 years. Extra tip: Skip the push-up lip liners. They’re expensive, tend to break and you never really know how much you have left until you run out. No need to spend money on lip liners, there’s no secret to greatness for this product. Save your money for powders and foundation.

• Lipstick Some experts say 1-2 years. Others say up to 4 years. What everyone agrees on is that if it smells rancid, throw it out, it’s spoiled. Extra tip: If you store lipstick in the refrigerator, it will last longer.

Bonus tip: Want your lipstick to last longer during the day? Shade in lips with lip liner before applying lipstick. See my 15 best lipstick tricks.

• Mascara This product expires the fastest: Throw out after 4 months. Extra tip: If you don’t want your mascara to expire faster than its fresh date, don’t pump the wand in and out-you’re only exposing the product to drying air. Check out my 15 best mascara tricks.

• Nail Polish Up to 12 months, depending on the quality and how many times you take it on a plane (the cap always unscrews on me during flights, leaving my purse afume-y-mess!).—About

How long can you keep lipstick, eyeshadow and foundation?

Health FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Healthy teeth, healthy heart Get the facts about flossing, gum disease and heart disease

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ost everyone knows that a daily flossing helps promote healthy teeth and gums, but that may be just the tip of the iceberg. Research suggests that there’s a link between flossing and heart disease, meaning that your daily flossing ritual may do a lot more than protect your pearly whites.

Let’s start with your smile Without regular flossing, your whole mouth can really suffer. A soft, sticky bacterial film (plaque) begins to accumulate on neglected teeth, especially below the gum line. Eventually, the acids in this plaque begin to destroy the outer enamel of teeth.

Gums may become irritated and bleed.

Breath may start to smell bad. And after a while, the plaque hardens into crusty yellow or brown deposits—called tartar—that make it even easier for more plaque to build up. Eventually, lack of flossing can lead to gingivitis, periodontal disease, and tooth loss.

As if that weren’t reason enough to floss, now research suggests that regular flossing may affect more than the health of your mouth. Flossing may protect your heart.

Research has shown a link between periodontitis and cardiovascular disease. And although they’re not sure what is behind the connection between flossing and heart disease, it makes the simple task of flossing a no-brainer for optimal health. (Discover

more ways to side-step heart disease and help prevent a heart attack down the road.)

Flossing may protect your arteries.

Flossing and clogged arteries also may be related. Inflammation is a crucial link in the causal chain that leads to arterial plaque and obstruction. Researchers also speculate that bacteria from the mouth may enter the bloodstream and contribute to inflammation and artery clogging.

Flossing may reduce your risk of diabetes and its complications. If you already have certain health concerns, flossing may help protect you from any further health complications. For example, periodontal disease appears to make insulin resistance worse. When cells require more insulin to take up blood sugar from the bloodstream, blood insulin and, eventually, blood sugar levels will rise. Increases in blood insulin and blood sugar levels both have undesirable effects, such as the development of type 2 diabetes.

To the extent that good oral hygiene reduces plaque, gingivitis, periodontal disease, and the accompanying inflammatory processes, proper oral hygiene may in turn improve insulin sensitivity of liver and muscle cells and reduce blood sugar levels and the need for insulin.

Let the string lead the way More and more research is pointing to ties between oral health and overall health.

Even when taking into consideration other bad health habits, such as smoking or excessive drinking, studies have still shown a strong link between periodontal disease and other diseases. Short of a visit to the dentist, no other oral healthcare habit alone has the same ability to remove plaque between teeth and below your gum line. Being aware of the connection between flossing and heart disease, as well as diabetes, gives you one more opportunity to achieve premium wellness.

To help fight gum disease and heart disease in one fell swoop, use these tips to get

the most out of that little white string: Be sure to slide the floss under your gum line and to gently curl it around each tooth as you floss. Floss gently, but donít quit because your gums bleed. Eventually, they will become stronger and bleed less with regular flossing.

Use fresh floss for each tooth juncture.

If you find it difficult to manipulate floss with your fingers, purchase dental-floss picks or holders that anchor sections of floss for you in a small, U-shaped plastic device. (www.realage.com)

Health FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Raising food-smart kids 10 ways to help your child develop a positive relationship with healthy food

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reating an environment where your kids can make healthy nutritional choices is one of the most important steps you can take to ensure the health of your child.

By fostering a supportive environment, you and your family can develop a positive relationship with healthy food. You can lead them by your example.

Here are 10 tips for getting children to eat healthy food and form wise nutritional habits, offered by Melinda Sothern, PhD, co-author of Trim Kids and director of the childhood obesity prevention laboratory at Louisiana State University.

1. Avoid placing restrictions on food.

Restricting food increases the risk your child may develop eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia later in life. It can also have a negative effect on growth and development. Instead of banning foods, talk about all the healthy, nutritional options there areóencouraging your family to chose fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, and low-fat dairy, while avoiding heavily processed, low-quality junk foods.

2. Keep healthy food at hand.

Children will eat whatís available. Keep fruit in a bowl on the counter, not buried in the crisper section of your fridge.

Remember, your child can only choose foods that you stock in the house. And have an apple for your own snack. “Your actions scream louder than anything you will ever tell them,” says Sothern.

3. Don’t label foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad.’

Instead, tie foods to the things your child cares about, such as sports or doing well in school. Let your child know that lean protein such as turkey and calcium in dairy products give them strength for sports. The antioxidants in fruits and vegetables add luster to skin and hair. And eating a healthy breakfast can help them keep focus in class.

4. Praise healthy choices.

Give your children a proud smile and praise when they choose healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, or low-fat dairy.

5.Don’t nag about unhealthy choices.

When children choose fatty, fried, unhealthy foods, redirect them by suggesting a healthier option.

Instead of regular potato chips and dip, offer baked tortilla chips and salsa.

If your child wants candy, try dipping fresh strawberries in a little chocolate sauce. Too busy? Keep naturally sweet dried fruit at home for quick snacks.

Instead of buying French fries, try roasting cut up potatoes in the oven (tossed in just a bit of oil).

6. Never use food as a reward.

This could create weight problems in later life. Instead, reward your children with something physical and fun—perhaps a trip to the park or a quick game of catch.

7. Sit down to family dinners at night.

If this isn’t a tradition in your home, make it one. Research shows that children who eat dinners at the table with their parents have better nutrition and are less likely to get in serious trouble as teenagers. Start with one night a week, and then work up to

three or four, to gradually build the habit.

8. Prepare plates in the kitchen.

You can put the right portion of each item on everyone’s dinner plate, instead of offering up a food buffet or serve-yourself style. This way your children will learn to recognize healthy portion sizes. If adjusting to healthier portion sizes means smaller portions for your family, help make the switch seem less shocking by using smaller plates.

9. Give the kids some control.

Ask your children to take three bites of all the foods on their plate and give each one a grade, such as A, B, C, D, or F. When healthy foods—especially certain vegetables—get high marks, serve them more often. Offer the items your children don’t like less frequently. This lets your children participate in decision-making. After all, dining is a family affair.

10. Consult your pediatrician.

Always talk with your child’s doctor before putting your child on a weight loss diet, trying to help your child gain weight, or making any significant changes in the type of foods your child eats. Never diagnose your child as too heavy or too thin by yourself. (www.webmd.com)

Arts FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Renaissance art: A matter of perspective “A

nd perspective it is best painter’s art”, wrote Shakespeare in his 24th sonnet (OUP text), “For through the painter must you see his skill / To find where your true image pictured lies ...”

The word “perspective” is being used here in an unfamiliar way. We associate perspective with logic and sense, as well as with the art of the Renaissance. To get things in perspective is to get a balanced and accurate view. But Shakespeare uses perspective to mean something more mysterious. The perspective painter, he suggests, uses skill to create a mystery picture that must be looked “through” to find your “true image”.

This is a fascinating reference to art in Shakespeare. It is not hard to find Tudor paintings that match his image of “perspective” as optical trickery, the hiding of the truth in a difficult image. In the National Portrait Gallery you can see a painting of Edward VI that is deliberately distorted. In 1546 the artist William Scrots portrayed Edward as a stretched face suspended over a landscape: you have to stand to the side, close to the wall, to get a more realistic view of the young Tudor.

This is a “special effect” whose most famous example is next door, in the National Gallery, in Hans Holbein the Younger’s painting The Ambassadors. Holbein shows two gentlemen and their attributes of science and learning in mesmerising detail, but across the surface of the painting erupts a black and white smear or stain. Once again, only when

you stand at the side will it resolve itself into the stark image of a skull.

Was it Holbein who brought this technique to Britain? This German painter who worked at the court of Henry VIII was far in advance of homegrown artists as a master of Renaissance techniques. Distorted perspective is a tricksy variation on the skills and science that evolved in 15th- and 16th-century Europe to depict the real world: it is therefore a show-off stunt by masters of technique. It’s because Holbein can paint faces so realistically that he can also distort an object while including within that distortion the “true” appearance of the thing.

Renaissance courts loved trick art. In the gallery of Prague Castle hangs a portrait cut into strips, which shows you alternating faces of three Habsburgs according to where you stand. Another famous portrait of Rudolf II, the eccentric Prague dynast, by Arcimboldo shows him as a collection of fruit and vegetables.

Were such tricks more popular the further you got from the centre of art and learning in Italy?

There’s something raw and naive about the Tudor culture that was amazed by trick paintings. But out of this northern outpost of the Renaissance comes Shakespeare, effortlessly including an image of painterly curiosity in his intricate labyrinth of words. —Guardian

The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger (1533), complete with macabre hidden message. —Guardian

Crossing the bottom line: When love of art gets physical W

Clyfford Still’s 1957-J No 2, which was allegedly damaged by Carmen Tisch on 29 December 2011. —AP

hat is it about great art that makes people behave bizarrely? It has been reported that a woman who police say was drunk “rubbed her butt” against a painting by Clyfford Still as well as scratching and punching the abstract expressionist canvas and trying to urinate on it - but missing.

This is reminiscent of the time a gallerygoer in France kissed a Cy Twombly painting, leaving lipstick traces. And of course there have been many more assaults on great works of art, from Michelangelo’s Pieta to Rembrandt’s Danae. Few are in the least bit funny.

But it’s a new year, and I haven’t got my angry juices going yet for 2012, so I’ll try to see the more amusing side of people who feel driven to make physical contact - often of a deeply destructive nature - with works of art. I don’t know what Twombly thought about the kissing of one of his works, but he did talk to the New York Times about another carnal incident involving his art. Speaking in front of his vast sensuous painting Say Goodbye, Catullus, to the Shores of Asia Minor, he bragged that a young woman was once found in front of it completely nude. He was delighted by her reaction: “Wouldn’t you be?

That’s pretty good. No one can top that one.

Come on. How many people?”

Twombly’s pleasure gives away a secret. Of course artists want people to engage with their work. Engagement that takes a physical,

active form, that breaks the rules of gallery behaviour, might be worth more than the cowed silence of visitors who are secretly bored.

Obviously you can take that too far, and there’s no use romanticising gross vandalism.

The bum-rubbing incident in Denver does not sound in the least engaged or involved, just horrible and crass. If you were going to interpret it you might even say it reflects the decline of American civilisation. The paintings of Still belong to a great moment in US culture that has passed. This incident almost sounds like a description of a barbarian trashing a great classical monument in the last days of the Roman Empire.

Yet at the height of classical Greek and Roman civilisation, the urge to touch art could be celebrated. Just as Twombly appreciated a nudist reaction, so ancient authors told approvingly of a statue of Venus so beautiful men attempted to make love to it.

There’s a fine line between civilisation and barbarism, and great art often elicits a bit of both. Bums should be kept away from paintings. On the other hand, feel free to give them your - inner - love. —Guardian

Arts FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Up close and personal with: Margarita Gl Moscow-born visual artist who uses hidden cameras and luxurious painting to chart the mysterious pull of materialism

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ou can’t help but get lost in Margarita Gluzberg’s art.

Take her vast, poster-sized drawings where pin-up girls, sports stars and haute couture creations overlap and dissolve into each other. Or the dark paintings, as glossy as high-end magazines or polished boutique windows, with carefully arranged plates of food disappearing as light reflects off their shiny surfaces. Covetable items come in and out of focus, creating a light-headed haze of consumer cravings.

Gluzberg was born in Moscow in 1968, and her early years were dominated by a longing for all things western, from jeans to bubble gum. When she moved to London aged 11, the new cityscape full of bright billboards and shops bore a stark contrast to the ad-free, bare concrete landscape of the declining USSR. It was an impression that stuck. From one of her earliest projects (photographing window-shoppers on Bond Street back in 1992) Gluzberg’s work has channelled capitalism’s mysterious pull on the public.

While her drawings might recall Surrealist photography or the collisions of early montage, her latest exhibition (spookily titled Avenue des Gobelins after Atget’s famous shop-windows series) marks the first serious showing of her photography. Her black and white images, created with an old Pentax camera, turn the calculated allure of department store displays into a world of irrational wants.

In these double- and triple-exposed platinum prints, the faces of fashion models from makeup counter advertising become spectral sirens, emerging from escalators or jumbled piles of stripy clothing - traditionally the devil’s cloth - to lure shoppers to their inevitable fate. Meanwhile, glimpses of lingerie, jewellery and designer handbags sparkle elusively in slide projections on graphite-dusted screens.

What emerges is the sense that it’s not the diamond necklaces or snakeskin clutches that matter. (As that Barbara Kruger Selfridges campaign pronounced: “You want it, you buy it, you forget it.”) Instead, Gluzberg’s work depicts what we’re always left with: the endless fug of desire itself.

Why we like her: For Hairstyles for the Great Depression from 2009. Gluzberg has been making hair drawings since the 1990s, exploring this luscious surface beyond which lies the unknowable brain. Here we get textured depictions of round, crimped and curled bobs suspended in a soft, pencilled halo.

Camera obscura: True to their subject’s voyeuristic nature, Gluzberg’s photos of shops and shopping are taken clandestinely, with a hidden lens.

Where can I see her? At Paradise Row, London W1, until 21 January 2012. —Guardian

Comics

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

To Yester

Word Sleuth Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

ACROSS

1. (computer science) A computer that is running software that allows users to leave messages and access information of general interest.

4. Wear away.

10. A byproduct of inflammation.

13. Resinlike substance secreted by certain lac insects.

14. Mature male goose.

15. A widely distributed system consisting of all the cells able to ingest bacteria or colloidal particles etc, except for certain white blood cells.

16. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

17. Small terrestrial lizard of warm regions of the Old World.

19. Used as a Hindi courtesy title.

21. 1 species.

23. Belonging to or on behalf of a specified person (especially yourself).

25. Any of various perennials of the genus Geum having usually pinnate basal leaves and variously colored flowers.

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

29. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

31. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

35. One who works hard at boring tasks.

38. The branch of computer science that deal with writing computer programs that can solve problems creatively.

40. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

41. Thickening of tissue in the motor tracts of the lateral columns and anterior horns of the spinal cord.

42. Lacking or deprive of the sense of hearing wholly or in part.

44. Open-heart surgery in which the rib cage is opened and a section of a blood vessel is grafted from the aorta to the coronary artery to bypass the blocked section of the coronary artery and improve the blood supply to the heart.

47. Marked by extreme anger.

48. (computer science) A secondary menu that appears while you are holding the cursor over an item on the primary menu.

51. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

54. Evergreen trees and shrubs having oily one-seeded fruits.

55. (Greek mythology) One of the mountain nymphs.

58. A workplace for the conduct of scientific research.

59. Emblem usually consisting of a rectangular piece of cloth of distinctive design.

60. A Dravidian language spoken in south central India.

61. A strong emotion.

62. Consistent with fact or reality.

63. Yellow-fever mosquitos.

64. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.

DOWN 1. Divulge information or secrets.

2. A small cake leavened with yeast.

3. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

4. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

5. Capital and largest city of Iraq.

6. A nucleic acid that transmits genetic information from DNA to the cytoplasm.

7. Someone whose business is advertising.

8. No longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life.

9. A trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group.

10. A Ukrainian peninsula between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

11. A proteolytic enzyme secreted by the kidneys.

12. Either of two muscles of the abdomen and pelvis that flex the trunk and rotate the thigh.

18. A Dravidian language spoken in southeast India.

20. A member of a Turkic people of Uzbekistan and neighboring areas.

22. (folklore) A corpse that rises at night to drink the blood of the living.

24. A state in midwestern United States.

27. Heal or recover.

28. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

30. A silvery ductile metallic element found primarily in bauxite.

32. South American armadillo with three bands of bony plates.

33. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits.

34. A graphical recording of the cardiac cycle produced by an electrocardiograph.

36. A benign epithelial tumor of glandular origin.

37. Lyrebirds and scrubbirds.

38. Someone whose business is advertising.

39. Made agreeably cold (especially by ice).

43. The face or front of a building.

45. A port city in southwestern Turkey on the Gulf of Antalya.

46. An iconic mental representation.

49. (Norse mythology) One of the Aesir known for his beauty and skill with bow and skis.

50. A man who is the lover of a girl or young woman.

52. A lyric poet.

53. In bed.

56. Either extremity of something that has length.

57. Any of several small ungulate mammals of Africa and Asia with rodentlike incisors and feet with hooflike toes.

Yesterday’s Solution

Lifestyle FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Damien Hirst

connects the dots in global exhibit

B

ritish artist and self-marketing genius Damien Hirst looks to connect the dots in a big way with the opening yesterday of a global show for his body of colored spot paintings. The Gagosian Gallery network, with 11 locations in New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Athens, Geneva and Hong Kong, has been turned over entirely to Hirst’s geometric blizzard of round spots. At a media preview Wednesday in one of the New York galleries, Damien Hirst posed for photographs and spent a few minutes chatting with staff.

Dressed in a bright orange ski hat, white jacket and jeans, the controversy-seeking enfant terrible of contemporary art lived up to his superstar image by declining to speak even briefly to the press.

About 100 of the 300 works on display around the world are for sale, Gagosian Gallery said. Gagosian refused to reveal prices but the flood of paintings-which Hirst admits have been almost entirely executed by assistants-offer him a chance to regain his perch at the top of the contemporary art heap. At auction, the spot paintings, varying hugely in scale, fetch up to $1.8 million apiece. In 2008, Hirst made headlines for vast sums paid for works hailed by fans as challenging or revolutionary and dismissed by critics as shock jock commercialism. Bucking panic in the stock markets and ranks of the world’s super-rich, his “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever” sale at Sotheby’s fetched an astonishing 111 million pounds ($198 million, 140 million euros).

A year earlier, he sold a diamond-encrusted skull for 50 million pounds (63 million euros, $100 million). Hirst’s star has dimmed somewhat, but the Gagosian show and an upcoming major retrospective at the Tate

A man walks past a painting titled ‘Urea-13C’ by artist Artist Damien Hirst during a media preview at the Gagosian Gallery in New York January 11, 2012 as they present ‘The Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011’ by Hirst. — AFP Modern in London this April will be a opportunity to redress that. Like Hirst’s pickled shark or the infamous “Golden Calf,” the “Pharmaceutical Paintings,” as the spot works are formally titled, prompt everything from scoffing to philosophical treatises on the nature of art. Drawn from a total of some 1,500 spot paintings, two thirds of the works on show are loaned by collectors and museums.

Although at first glance the paintings might look a great deal alike-apart from the

Gagosian kept this controversial aspect of Hirst’s output quiet, saying in its media kit only that “having made the first five spot paintings himself, Hirst then handed over the actual making of the works to assistants-the act of art-making lay in their concept.” Fellow British painter David Hockney this month made a barbed critique of the practice, saying it was “a little insulting to craftsmen, skillful craftsmen.” Hockney quoted a traditional Chinese saying, that to paint “you need the eye, the hand and the heart. Two won’t do.”

However the practice of an Andy Warholstyle “factory” is not unusual through art history and Hirst himself has joked in interviews that he himself found the technique required boring. In the Gagosian publicity brochure, Hirst also acknowledged that not everybody gets his oeuvre.”I often get asked about the spot paintings-’I love your work, but why do you do those stupid spots?’” he said.

According to the artist, or perhaps more accurately the foreman of the artistic team, the criticism is “not my problem.” “Art is like medicine-it can heal. Yet I’ve always been amazed at how many people believe in medicine but don’t believe in art.”—AFP

size of the dots-they are distinguished by never having the same color repeated on any one canvas. In some works the dots are the size of a full stop and in others the size of a large wheel. Millicent Wilner, director of Gagosian London, said at Wednesday’s New York preview said the paintings “really fit in with nature, they are endless, timeless.” Hirst himself readily admits that he has painted very few of the works bearing his name. Assistants execute nearly every one of the neat, meticulously arranged circles.

After cancer hit, women lobbied for a bald Barbie

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arbie has been an astronaut, an architect, a race car driver and a news anchor. Now, there is an online movement to get her to attempt what could be her biggest feat yet: going bald to fight cancer. A Facebook page titled “Beautiful and Bald Barbie! Let’s see if we can get it made” was started in late December a few days before Christmas. By Wednesday afternoon, the page had more than 15,000 fans. The goal is to get toy maker Mattel Inc to create a bald Barbie in support of children with cancer.

Friends Rebecca Sypin and Jane Bingham, who live on opposite coasts but have both been affected by the disease, hatched the idea for the social media movement because Barbie is an influential children’s toy. Bingham has lost her hair due to chemotherapy treatments to treat lymphoma. Sypin’s 12-year-old daughter, Kin Inich, also lost her hair this year in her own battle to treat leukemia. Mattel did not return calls on Wednesday seeking comment, but the women said they have contacted the company through some general form letters. In return, they said, they have received form letters that say Mattel does not accept ideas from outside sources.

The women say a bald Barbie would pro-

vide a huge platform to raise awareness for children with cancer. Barbie, all 11.5 inches of her, is one of the best-known toys of all time.

She can sell for $10 at Walmart or $7,000 on eBay. She has taken on all sorts of incarnations throughout her nearly 53 years of existence, crushing stereotypes and showing little girls that they can be whatever they want to be.

There has been an elegant Grace Kelly Barbie; a Barbie in thigh-high pink boots; a tattooed Barbie; a pregnant Barbie friend, and another Barbie friend in a wheelchair.

Barbie also has been criticized for not being as socially responsible as she could have been. She is best known for her curves, which long have sparked complaints by women’s groups who say she imposes an unachievable physical standard on young girls. She also was lambasted when a talking version uttered an exclamation about math class being hard. The friends who started the “Beautiful and Bald Barbie” movement are not natural activists.

Sypin, 32, is a special-education teacher’s aide in Lancaster, California. Bingham, 41, is a photographer in Sewell, New Jersey.”We’re not demanding that the company do anything,” Sypin said Wednesday. “We’re just

hoping somebody sees this and can help us make it happen.” Overall, Sypin said she has been pleased with the response to the Facebook page. One fan of the Facebook page wrote about Mattel: “If they are making dolls that are inspiring young girls with careers then why not make a doll that would inspire young girls who are dealing with Cancer.”

Some commenters suggested the friends take the movement further and extend it to boys. So, over the weekend, they started an accompanying Facebook page, “Bald G.I. Joe Movement.” Hasbro Inc, the maker of G.I. Joe, did not immediately return a call for comment.

The movement has its critics, too. Some people have told the women to just take a normal Barbie and shave her hair off to make the same point. Bingham posted photos where she did just that - resulting in patchy, unattractive clumps on Barbie’s head. She also posted digitally doctored pictures of a bald Barbie to show how beautiful the doll could be. And to people who say that it makes more sense just to donate to cancer research rather than to buy a bald Barbie? “A lot of these people wouldn’t have even thought about doing that without this movement,” Bingham said. —AP

Lifestyle FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Perry, ‘Potter’ win big at People’s Choice Awards

(From left) Neil Patrick Harris, Cobie Smulders, Josh Radner, Alyson Hannigan, and Jason Segel pose backstage with the award for favorite network TV comedy for “How I Met Your Mother”.

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Ellen Degeneres accepts the award for favorite daytime TV host for ‘The Ellen Degeneres Show’. —AP photos

Beth Behrs, Kat Dennings and the cast of “2 Broke Girls” accept the award for favorite new TV comedy.

aty Perry is in the popular clique now. The singer-actress won the most People’s Choice Awards at Wednesday’s 38th annual fan- favorite extravaganza, but viewers wouldn’t have known it from watching the ceremony. An absentee Perry was honored in five categories, including favorite female artist, tour headliner, song of the year for “E.T.” with Kanye West, music video for “Last Friday Night” and TV guest star for “How I Met Your Mother.”

Despite originally being touted by the show’s organizers as among the nominees expected to attend, Perry told fans on Twitter earlier this week that she wouldn’t make it to the show but that “I want to thank u all for voting for me, fingers crossed!” It would have marked Perry’s first public appearance since British actor-comedian Russell Brand filed for divorce from Perry last month after 14 months of marriage.

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” the final installment of the magical film series starring Daniel Radcliffe, followed behind Perry with four wins for favorite movie, action movie, book adaptation and ensemble movie cast, but the film’s stars also weren’t present at the ceremony, leaving more screen time on the CBS broadcast for other winners in the show’s 43 categories honoring TV, film and music.

Ellen DeGeneres, Nina Dobrev, Chloe Grace Moretz, Adam Levine, Lea Michele and Demi Lovato, who performed “Give Your Heart a Break,” were among the winners on hand to accept their awards selected by Internet votes.”For all the Rachel Berrys out there, this one’s for you guys,” said Michele, who won as favorite comedy TV actress for her “Glee” role.

Emma Stone and Johnny Depp - another no-show - won two trophies at the ceremony, which was hosted by “The Big Bang Theory” star Kaley Cuoco. Depp and Stone, respectively, won the favorite movie actor and actress awards, while Depp was also honored as favorite animated movie voice for “Rango,” and Stone was selected as favorite comedic movie actress.

“I moved to LA eight years ago this week with my mom, who’s right there,” Stone said while accepting her pair of crystal trophies. “It is so insane to be standing up here right now. It is hard to describe to you.”Among the TV winners were “How I Met Your Mother” for TV comedy, “Two Broke Girls” for new TV comedy, “Hot in Cleveland” for cable TV comedy, Neil Patrick Harris for TV comedy actor, “Supernatural” for TV drama and sci-fi/fantasy show, “Person of Interest” for new TV drama, “Pretty Little Liars” for cable TV drama and Nathan Fillion for TV drama actor.

Winners in the movie categories included Hugh Jackman for action star, “Bridesmaids” for comedy movie, “Water for

Elephants” for drama movie, Adam Sandler for comedic movie actor and Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern for favorite superhero. Morgan Freeman was bestowed with the first ever favorite movie icon award. “When I found out that I’d been nominated for the first-ever People’s Choice movie icon award, I decided to look up ‘icon,’” Freeman said. “Here’s what I found: The first definition said an icon is a tiny picture on a computer screen that represents a file.” — AP

Demi Lovato accepts the award for favorite pop artist as Josh Hutcherson, left, and Vanessa Hudgens, right, look on.

Lifestyle FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

The cast of the movie ‘Bridesmaids,’ from left, Ellie Kemper, Paul Feig, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Maya Rudolph, and Judd Apato pose backstage with the award for favorite comedy movie.

Emma Stone poses with her award for Favorite Movie Actress.

(From left) Wendie Malick, Jane Leeves, Valerie Bertinelli, and Betty White accept the award for favorite cable TV comedy for ‘Hot in Cleveland’.

Morgan Freeman poses backstage with the award for favorite movie icon.

Chloe Moretz poses backstage with the award for favorite movie star under 25.

Alyson Hannigan, and Jason Biggs, back right, present the award for favorite comic movie actor to Adam Sandler.

Stana Katic poses backstage with the award for favorite TV crime drama for “Castle”.

Adam Levine, left, and James Valentine of the band Maroon 5 accept the award for favorite band.

Nathan Fillion accepts the award for favorite TV drama actor from Ginnifer Goodwin.

Rob Schneider, right, and Cheech Marin, left, present the award for favorite TV comedy actor to Neil Patrick Harris.

Lifestyle FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Knitwear label Coven lights up

Rio fashion show

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littering caballeras in Lurex pantsuits dominated the catwalks Wednesday on day two of Rio de Janeiro’s winter 2012 fashion week. While many of the other displays have felt indistinguishable from the kinds of urban looks that dominate catwalks worldwide, a stellar south-of-the-border equestrian collection from Coven boldly forged a style of its own. The brand, based in the interior state of Minas Gerais, is known for its knits. And designer Liliane Rebehy delivered with Wednesday’s collection: Her flirty crocheted skirts, mariachistyle pant suits in copper colored Lurex and Tshirts covered in fancy geometric embroidery managed to be at once totally unique and utterly appealing.

The day’s other highlight was the catwalk appearance of the three Brazilian soap opera stars, who walked at TNG. The audience shrieked and snapped cellphone pictures as the actors took to the runway in rustic chic denim separates. At 2nd Floor, designer Thiago Marcon focused his attention on a most improbable Brazilian fabric, covering his flirty chemisier dresses in printed chiffon in a patchwork of what looked to be faux fur. Beyond being hard to wear in a tropical climate, the material was bulky, and the fur-fronted skirts made even the rail-thin models look more than a little hippy. Still, the lighter pieces were appealing, especially the ivory chiffon blouses and dresses printed with an oversized growling lion. Graphic, boyish touches gave the clothes a slightly modish feel.—AP

Models present creations by designer 2nd Floor during the second day of the Rio Fashion Week.

Models wear creations from the Coven fall-winter fashion collection at Fashion Rio in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday. —AP

Lifestyle FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Brazilian actress Carolina Dieckmann models a creation from the TNG fall-winter.

Models wear creations from the Melk Z-Da fall-winter fashion collection.

Models parade creations from 2nd Floor fall-winter fashion collection.

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es, “Contraband” follows the tried-and-true One Last Job formula. Yes, Mark Wahlberg is nestled deep within his comfort zone as a former master criminal who’s lived a dangerous life and gone straight. Still, this is a solid genre picture that knows exactly what it is, has no delusions of grandeur and carries out its task in entertaining and occasionally even suspenseful fashion. That probably sounds like an elaborate way of saying, “Hooray for mediocrity!” But it’s January, and we’ll take our thrills where we can get them.

Based on the 2008 Icelandic film “ReykjavikRotterdam” and directed by that film’s star, Baltasar Kormakur, “Contraband” features Wahlberg as Chris Farraday, a one-time expert smuggler who’s now living a quiet life as a security consultant in the New Orleans suburbs with his hairstylist wife, Kate (Kate Beckinsale), and their two young sons. When Kate’s younger brother (Caleb Landry Jones) botches a job for volatile local drug dealer Tim Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi, tatted, high-pitched and squirrelly) while pulling into the Port of New Orleans, Chris must come out of retirement to make up the loss to this madman. His plan involves shipping down to Panama City to bring back millions in counterfeit bills; not only does this not go according to plan, it spins wildly out of control. Among the strong supporting cast, J.K. Simmons is the ship’s uptight captain; Lukas Haas plays Chris’ right-hand man.

Meanwhile, back in the bayou, Kate and the kids become targets of the drug dealer’s increasing threats, even though they’re supposed to be under the protection of Chris’ best friend and former partner in crime, Sebastian (Ben Foster). Beckinsale is stuck in a bit of a thankless role as the victimized wife, but she does try to infuse a harder edge to the character. Besides, another “Underworld” movie is coming out next week, so you’ll see her in full buttkicking mode soon enough. Ribisi, by contrast, massively overdoes the crazy but at least it’s a hoot to watch.

Kormakur relies too heavily on shaky-cam tricks and quick, needless zooms to pump up the tension, but some of his set pieces do play out in visceral fashion. An armored-car heist that Chris and his cohorts get roped into helping with at the last minute is one example; this sequence also has the daring to suggest that Wahlberg’s character hasn’t completely transformed himself into a nice - or even decent - guy after all. The “Contraband” script, written by Aaron Guzikowski, seems more interested in exploring the complexities of its characters’ interior lives than a lot of action movies, which is commendable.

There’s also an amusing subplot involving a stolen Jackson Pollock painting that’s smartly played for some subtle laughs, one that just goes to show that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

“Contraband,” a Universal Pictures release, is rated R for violence, pervasive language and brief drug use. Running time: 109 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four. — AP

In this film image released by Universal Pictures, Mark Wahlberg, left, and Ben Foster are shown in a scene from ‘Contraband.’ — AP

Catherine Deneuve

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singer and director Madonna on Wednesday attended the London premiere of her royal romance movie ‘W.E.’, which is finally to be released in Britain on January 20 following a tortuous editing process. The global style icon, who directed, co-wrote and co-produced the film, swept down the red carpet at the Odeon theatre in Kensington, southwest London, wearing a floor-length black Jean Paul Gaultier dress and Dolce & Gabbana cape.

The film, which charts the scandalous love affair between Britain’s king Edward VIII and US divorcee Wallis Simpson, was re-edited after it received poor reviews when it was aired at last year’s Venice and Toronto film festivals. One writer complained it looked like a commercial for “high-end cosmetics” while another called it “the turkey that dreamed it was a peacock”. The 53-year-old director explained the film’s message before Wednesday’s screening.

“This movie shows that there is no such thing as perfect love, that all love requires compromise or sacrifice,” she said on the red carpet, where she was joined by the film’s stars Andrea Riseborough and James d’Arcy. “The other thing is that nothing is as it seems. You can look from the outside and think it’s one thing but once you start investigating, it’s something completely different.” The love affair led to the abdication of Britain’s then king. — AFP

US singer-songwriter, film actress and director Madonna arrives for the UK premiere of the film W.E. in London on January 11, 2012.

— AFP

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he Film Society of Lincoln Center will honor Catherine Deneuve with its 39th annual Chaplin Award. The French actress will be feted in an April 2 gala at Alice Tully Hall. The award has been named for Charlie Chaplin since it was given to him 1972. Previous recipients include Martin Scorsese, Tom Hanks, Robert Altman, Elizabeth Taylor, Billy Wilder and Alfred Hitchcock. Sidney Poitier was honored last year. The 68-year-old Deneuve has long been a legend of European cinema, including the films of Jacques Demy, Roman Polanski, Luis Bunuel and Francois Truffaut. Her most recent movies include the 2010 comedy “Potiche” and the 2011 musical “Les Bien-Aimes.” — AP

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President Barack Obama took a break from the affairs of state to rub shoulders with Hollywood royalty Wednesday, meeting Angelina Jolie and her beau Brad Pitt at the White House. Jolie was in Washington for the launch of her new movie “In the Land of Blood and Honey” and the couple were seen through the paneled windows of the Oval Office by reporters and photographers. “President Obama spoke with Ms Jolie about her work to raise the profile of preventing mass atrocities and combating sexual violence against women,” said Jamie Smith, a White House spokeswoman.

Jolie, in a dark dress, and Pitt, wearing black framed glasses, spent several minutes speaking to Obama before he left aboard his Marine One helicopter for a campaign fundraising trip in Chicago. The Oscar-winning actress premiered the film, her directorial debut, at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington on Tuesday night. The movie relates the story of a couple who had a fling before Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war and met up again when the woman was taken prisoner by a unit of the

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are seen in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington during a meeting with President Barack Obama. — AP Bosnian Serb army commanded by her former lover.

He shields her at first but is transferred and she suffers abuse and rape at the hands of the soldiers. At the premiere, Jolie, who as well as her film work pursues a wide range of humanitarian causes as a UN goodwill ambassador, offered a mixed review of Obama’s presidency. “I think there are many, many things I think have

gone in a wonderful direction and there a few things I am in disappointed in,” she told the Daily Caller website. “But there are many wonderful things that have moved forward and of course some other things that are very frustrating.”—AFP

Stars

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Aries (March 21-April 19) Plan today—execute tomorrow. Your energy is high and your creative juices are flowing, ready to be applied to whatever is needed. If you give your best effort now, considerable success will certainly follow and you may unconsciously help a close friend through your efforts.

Also, this is a good time to lead the way on a new project, for your ingenuity is unusually strong. Your desire to succeed is strengthened by the accomplishments of the day. At this time, you may actively be concerned about the welfare of others in your business or people who work under you. This evening you may still be inclined to lend a hand to help or to give suggestions. If you can, begin work on, or at least, organize your tax returns so that the last minute crunch will not be so tough.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Your energies could be slowed a bit, making you realistic about your abilities and expectations for success. Your nature will most likely be very stoical—you take on a serious attitude to just about all aspects of your life. This is an excellent time to sit down alone and get many things accomplished. Your warm-heartedness makes you very attractive. You are likely to reach out to a loved one, or someone you would like to love, and may attract a new love interest. Avoid being extravagant or indulgent. This afternoon you may find yourself working with and discussing new ideas with friends. You truly appreciate your friends and family and you always express your gratefulness. You should experience all the benefits of your platonic relationships.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) This is a good day to help others. The romantic dreamier side of you is in full blossom. You are apt to spend a great deal of time communicating with co-workers and people apart from work. It’s also a good time to think seriously about your career or work up to now and take stock of it. Additionally, you may find it necessary to voice new ideas to others in hopes of attracting some positive attention. You may be of great help to someone without even being aware of it. This is a time of sudden personal growth that may correspond to changes in your romantic life. Try not to be too demanding when encouraging others—they will come around. Old material concerns seem less important now than both broad moral issues and the love of others.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) You may have strained relations with a woman—regardless of your sex. If you find that there are disputes at this time, you will pull on your knowledge of past lessons and solve problems in magical ways. Help others and yourself to focus on values and truths—shrug off guilt and pessimism; they are unhealthy. You may experience a sudden and unexpected change of scenery in the workplace; a new office would be a step up the corporate ladder. This change may entail getting a new boss, new coworkers, or embarking on a totally different project or taking an interest in a new field. Parental instincts become obvious as you make every effort to appease any minor problems at home. Also, there is a strong wish to make your surroundings pleasant.

Leo (July 23-August 22) If you have been considering a new business venture, this is an excellent day to begin. It is also a good day for travel. Your communication skills are at their peak and ideas that need expression or paperwork that needs finishing can be handled efficiently now. There is great success and attention through your profession. Being in the spotlight is common during this time and you should realize that it is a good time to be humble and see where work can best help others. You are apt to enjoy considerable success at work. This is a good time to work on a project of a large or complicated matter. You should be cautious of trying to take control of large enterprises that require the aid of others. You deserve a change of scenery this evening.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Engage your curiosity—your imagination and creativity are at their best. New ideas are easily understood and bring interesting and exciting rewards. Make the most of this exciting day. You fall under the heavy burden of responsibility at this time and will probably have to work hard to find some sort of balance for your energy level unless you insert a bit of creativity. This is a time when you will be very pleased with your progress.

There is much contemplative thinking about your work. There should also be a great deal of communication, which could prove helpful with people of the opposite sex. It is important at this time not to let personal relationships interfere with your work. Leisure activities with friends should be fun tonight.

COUNTRY CODES Libra (September 23-October 22) A disciplined approach to work, health and life’s other essential routines is especially important now. Self-discipline and a sense of self-worth become important issues in your life as a new phase begins. There is an interest in carrying out relatively easy and light duties at the workplace. This is not the best time to engage in strenuous activity or serious thinking about your business or career. You may spend a great deal of time, effort and worry balancing commitments. Also, this is a time when you seek intellectual stimulation in love life, social and leisure activities. You may be teaching some new high-tech equipment to a member of your family this evening: a fun experience. An eccentric relative attracts some notice. You may be called upon to give advice.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Your energy is high! You feel good and in harmony with yourself, the entire world and everybody in it. Others can feel this, so they in turn are drawn to you, making this a successful day for any kind of group endeavor. You could feel great support from those around you. Best of all, relations with the opposite sex are at a peak. This is a super day to go on a date, be married or be in love! This time also signifies that intellectually based friendships may be plentiful. You are able to reflect and understand your own situation: just how you feel about yourself. Emotions or feelings of those around you may be very clear—a nice time. Love is in full bloom during this time and now is a good time to demonstrate your love to loved ones.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You are recognized by co-workers for your hard work. There is a possibility that during this time, work as a whole will come under scrutiny.

You feel secure in the professional realm of your life. If it is time for an employee review, you will do well. It may be a good move to write a paragraph or two about how you might be particularly helpful to your company—a raise in pay is possible. It is an excellent time to solicit the help of others, though it’s important that you truly know the needs of your company or business before asking. Enthusiasm is your best friend—the maker of confidence. The time is ripe for some sudden and unexpected change in the normal routine of family life. This could mean a vacation.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) You may find yourself involved in some sort of debate during a business meeting today. Others value you for your ability to make practical decisions concerning group issues. You could find that you are appreciated or valued for your feelings or your ability to act and get things done. Clear decisions affecting others could be made now. Your mind is sharp and on target with current events. You could encourage others to make important contributions to the workplace now. Your quick wit may, at times, get you in trouble; however, you could make a rattlesnake happy. This evening, you may wish to take a back seat to the local action. You may have a yen to just read or study the stars. Why not? You are merely recharging your batteries.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You may find yourself feeling a certain contrariness today—an urge to disapprove of or disagree with everything and everybody around you. Any kind of restriction will produce that feeling of rebelliousness—you may have a wild yen to jump the fence, so to speak. There is tremendous mental energy for you now—take care to avoid being temperamental and touchy. Some form of exercise will help you to become better focused. If you channel this energy, you can be very influential. This evening you are in a more festive mood and desirous of a good time with friends and family. Communicating with long-distance associates and engaging in social functions with close friends is enhanced during this time. You will communicate to loved ones on new levels.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) You may show an interest in cultural or literary affairs. This could mean that you will volunteer to help the less fortunate become more educated. A group of people could begin to learn to read under your tutelage. You will be extremely busy today. There may be instances when you will have to supply a solution to a particular problem. Your mind is quick and may induce flashes of intuitive brilliance. Your emotions should be sailing on relatively calm seas, giving you an unhurried chance to sit down and take stock of things. If there are any difficulties on the horizon, you have a breather—at least for today. Your understanding of the needs of others is in perfect balance with your own needs. People are your best friends—surround yourself with people.

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

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Farewell assembly for Class XII A special assembly was conducted by the students of classes 9 & 10 of ICSK Amman to bid farewell to the students of class 12 who are on their final step to take off into the dynamic world of higher education.

Ria Bijoy of class 9, conducted the assembly with some inspiring thoughts and messages for the students. The assembly commenced with the recital from the Holy Quran by Fatima followed by the school prayer. In order to pay homage to the land where we reside and our mother land, all stood in attention for the Kuwait National Anthem which was followed by the Indian National Anthem. Rashmi gave an encouraging thought for the day. Vocabulary in English was said by Rashmi, Hindi by Janet and French by Rebeca. In order to re-collect the unforgettable memories of the childhood of the students of class 12, Ashwin of class 10 B gave an excellent speech. This was followed by a PowerPoint presentation by the students of class 11. Justin and his group sang songs which were heart filling. There was a fabulous skit performed by the students of class 9 which made the students recollect their memories from the day they had stepped into the school.

Finally, Mrs. Sridevi Pradeep, Principal, selected a few chits which had the names of the students of class 12 and they shared their thoughts about the school and their life in school. An encouraging message was given by the Principal, describing her thoughts of the most beautiful period in a person’s life - the school days. Students of class 12, enjoyed as it was a very special day for them in their school life. Following the special assembly by class IX, the outgoing class was given a grand party at the auditorium organized and executed by the class XI students in an exemplary manner. The students of class XII accompanied by their class teachers entered the auditorium which was lit only by the candles held by the students of class XI who stood on either side creating “an aisle of illumination” a true reflection of the

school’s motto “From darkness to light”. Everyone present was moved by the solemnity of the occasion and the intensity of overflowing emotions. The songs, games, the skits and the fashion show that were presented as part of the entertainment thrilled the audience and were received with tremendous applause. The gesture of thanks giving was done by Apoorv of XII who thanked the Principal, the Vice Principal and all the teachers through his speech. He recounted a few special moments at school and took a nostalgic trip down memory lane. The Principal Mrs. Sridevi Pradeep in her eloquent speech wished the students a great future and told them to face the challenges of life with zest and vigor. The show ended with a sumptuous buffet that included an extensive variety of mouthwatering dishes which was enjoyed by all. The occasion surely, will remain etched forever in the memory of everyone present.

Upcoming Events Blood donation You can donate blood 3 times a year, which comes to roughly every 16 weeks. You only lose about 470 ml, which is just under a pint, and not, as some have thought, quite an armful. Bodies are amazing things, and yours will replace that lost fluid in a very short period of time. Anyone between the age of 18 and 60, who is in good health may donate blood. All blood groups are needed, whether common or rare.

Donating blood not only saves lives, but may also benefit you as well. Excess iron in the blood stream has been known to cause heart attacks. The only way to remove excess iron is by loss of blood, so donating blood will lower the risk of pending heart attacks. A number of donors have a higher number of red blood cells than normal, which increases the viscosity of blood and causes headaches. Donating blood can relieve these types of headaches. - Donating blood is also thought to help reduce high blood pressure. - Giving blood is normally painless and quick. Complete restoration of blood volume only takes 72 hours. Donated blood can be separated into multiple individual components that could help save multiple lives. From one unit of blood, red blood cells can be extracted for use in trauma or surgical patients.

Plasma, the liquid part of blood, is administered to patients with clotting problems. The third component of blood, i.e.,

platelets, clots the blood when cuts or other open wounds occur, and are often used in cancer and transplant patients.

When: Friday, January 13th, 2012. Time: 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Location: Kuwait Central Blood Bank, Jabriya.

Kuwait boat show Kuwait, in the cradle of one of the most ancient and mostcontested corners of the world, is best described as a city state. The burgeoning capital, Kuwait City, is like a magnet: indeed it has been attracting Bedouin people from the Arabian interior, in search of a sea breeze and an escape from recurring drought, for centuries. Today the metropolis is still an oasis in a land of desert plains, but rather more of the cultural and epicurean kind. Excellent museums; a corniche ornamented with combed beaches and extravagant restaurants; modern shopping complexes and marinas, and long and lazy retreats at new beach resorts mark the Kuwait City experience. The organizers of the Kuwait International Boat Show expect more than 100 marine companies to display their latest products, boats, yachts, super yachts, electronics, engines and thousands of boating accessories from major marine manufacturers. The Boat Show encompasses more than 120.000 m2 of space, both on land and in water.

Where: Souk Sharq Marina & Water Front. Kuwait

International Boat Show Timings: 5:30 pm - 10:00 pm Sadu Weaving Workshop This workshop will be held from January 22nd to February 18th. This workshop is of four weeks duration, and it will be held twice a week. The morning group sessions are on Monday and Wednesday from 9am to 12pm. The evening group are on Sunday and Tuesday from 4:30pm to 7:30pm. A total of 8 sessions of three hours each. Workshop Fees are 65KD for non-members. For more Information kindly contact Sadu House at: info@alsadu.org.kw SaduWeaving@gmail.com or call 2243-2395 or 9959-7983.

Sesame Street Musical Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Big Bird and all their furry Sesame Street friends are taking to the stage to share their love of music in Sesame Street Live “Elmo Makes Music” at Ice Skating Rink from Thursday, January 26th, 2012 through Saturday, January 28th, 2012! Make sure to purchase your tickets today as these shows will surely sell out! View our previous post HERE, or the ad banner to the right of our blog for full event details! This fantastic furry show is brought to you by the great folks over at EVENTmania!

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Announcements AWARE Arabic courses highlight Introductory to Level 4 Arabic language basics Better prepare you for speaking, reading and writing Arabic • Combine language learning with cultural insights • Taught in multi-nationality group settings • Provide opportunities to interact with Western expatriates and native Kuwaitis/Arabs.

For more information or registration, call 25335260/80 ext 105/104/0 or log onto: www.aware.com.kw.

• •

YMCA website launched

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MCA Kuwait, launched the website www.ymcakuwait.com in a meeting held at Salmiya. The website was inaugurated by T A Remesh (Country Head, Gulfmart, Kuwait) by launching the website through the

browser. The website was developed and designed by Jinu V. Jom. The details of YMCA Kuwait are available in the site. T A Remesh acknowledged and appreciated YMCA’s effort for helping the needy people in Kuwait.

Cinemagic schedule

THE GREAT DICTATOR In Chaplin’s satire on Nazi Germany, dictator Adenoid Hynkel has a double... a poor Jewish barber... who one day is mistaken for Hynkel. Thursday, January 19th at 7:30pm THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED Should Tom (Duris) make like his thuggish father or pursue his dream of becoming a pianist?

Saturday, January 21st at 7:30pm THRONE OF BLOOD A ruthlessly ambitious lord, egged on by his wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become Emperor. Thursday, January 26th at 7:30pm GREASE Good girl Sandy and greaser Danny fell in love over the summer. But when they unexpectedly discover they’re now in the same high school, will they be able to rekindle their romance? Saturday, January 28th at 7:30pm AKIRA A secret military project endangers NeoTokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psionic psychopath that only two kids and a group of psionics can stop. Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in - and appreciation for the art of film-making. Cinemagic movies are screened in the old Salmiya, on the roof on top of Alghanim Electronics and LG. Entrance is free of charge and includes refreshments, popcorn and much more.

Kozhikode District Xmas, New Year celebration

K

ozhikode District NRI Association, popularly known as KDNA, organized Christmas-New Year celebration at Indian Community School Khaitan auditorium.

Association President Zubair MM Presided over the function and Malabar Gold Country head Afzal Khan inaugurated the celebration. Advisory board member Basheer Batha, Master Vision Kuwait Director Regi Bhaskar, E-galakam Portal editor Sathar Kunnil, Calicut Land Mark Builders Middle East Area Manager Pramod Damodaran, Association Vice President Azeez Thikkodi & Kalathil Abdurahiman, Organizing Secretary Rasheed Payanthong, Web & IT Secretary Nasir Thikkodi made felicitation speeches. Association General Secretary Suresh Mathur welcomed the audience and Treasurer Santosh Punathil proposed vote of thanks.

Variety of cultural program includes semi classical, filmy dance, folk dance, skit, mimics, quiz etc. were performed by association members and their children which controlled by Arts & Culture Secretary Rafi Kallai, Joint Secretary Abdurahiman Naduvannur and Sameer Kozhikode.

Gifts for the blood donated members, sports meet winners of Malabar Mahotsavam and instant gifts for the audience were distributed during the celebration.

Association executive members, area/unit office bearers controlled and coordinated the celebration and dinner were served which controlled by Shamsuddin AM and K Karunakaran.

Sandhya Shijith, Rasha Zubair & Azeez Thikkodi anchored the entire program which enthralled the audience until early morning.

Leisure activities Kuwait Zoo The Kuwait Zoo is located in Omariya on the Airport Road. It is open everyday except on Saturdays. The timings during winter are 8am to 8pm.

For more information contact: 24733389.

Amusements Parks Aqua Park Aqua Park is open from 10am-10pm everyday. For information contact: 22431960/1/3 or visit: www.aquaparkkuwait.com.

Entertainment City Entertainment City is open from Sunday to Wednesday from 3pm to 11pm during winter. It is also open on Thursdays and Fridays from 10am to 10pm. For more information contact: 24879455.

Get ready get set - RunQ8 Registrations are now open for RunQ8, the annual 10km charity race to be held on January 21, 2012. Organized by the Fawzia Sultan Rehabilitation Institute (FSRI) and Agility, the race route will run from Marina Crescent in Salmiya along the Gulf Road up to the Third Ring Road and back. The race is aimed at supporting health issues affecting our community and raising awareness around them. In its second year, RunQ8 is promoting road traffic safety. 2011-2021 has been named the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety with a goal to stabilize and then reduce global road traffic fatalities by 2021. In Kuwait, traffic accidents are the third leading cause of mortality and a large number of people and their families are affected by the debilitating effects of injuries caused by road accidents. Last year, the race raised over KWD 50,000 for the Kuwait University’s Community Eye Health Care Initiative that supports Vision 2020, a joint initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO), and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB). RunQ8 invites all members of the community to join in this initiative and help support road traffic safety in Kuwait. To register contact the FSRI office 25720338 or visit the race websitewww.Runq8.org for more details.

There are also pre-race articles and videos produced by FSRI’s specialized sports trainers, physiotherapists, nutritionists and psychologists to help get you ready for the race. Please see our website www.runQ8.org and our Facebook page for updates on our running and walking clinic, race events, and other initiatives.

Vichar Bharati seminar on Swami Vivekananda On the occasion of Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary, Vichar Bharati, an affiliate of Seva Darshan Kuwait, will hold a seminar on Swami Vivekananda on Friday, January 20, 2012 at the Indian Central School, Abbasiya. Vivekananda is regarded as the patriot saint of modern India and an inspirer of her dormant national consciousness. His Philosophy and vision became the eye-opener for millions across the world. Vivekananda’s unique message still remains as “an unopened gift” to mankind and Vichar Bharati aims to enlighten its members and well wishers with the message of this great visionary. Eminent speakers from the Indian community in Kuwait will deliver thoughts on various aspects of Vivekananda’s life. Suresh V Balakrishnan, HOD, English Department at Bharatheeya Vidhya Bhavan will deliver a speech on Swami Vivekananda and Man-making. Sajeev K Peter, Business Editor, Kuwait Times will speak on the role of Swami Vivekananda in propagating Indian culture and heritage. Dr Srikumar T S, Scientific Consultant, Kuwait Foundation For The Advancement of Science, will deliver a speech on ‘Swami Vivekananda, the Patriot and the Voice of India.’ Krishno Sarkar (Planning Engineer, KNPC) will talk on ‘Swami Vivekananda - The Role model of the Youth’ while Satyanarayanan S, Electrical Supervisor, Al Julaih Petroleum Company, will speak on Spiritual Perceptiveness of Swami Vivekananda. For more details and information please contact vbkuwait@gmail.com KERA Winter Fest today Kuwait Ernakulam Residents Association (KERA) is conducting a Winter Fest today (January 13) at Mangaf Auditorium from 5pm onwards. KERA family members will present cultural programs. For more details call Jomy Augustine (General Convener) 66874364, 66900455

TV Listings FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

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

I’m Alive Animal Cops Houston Wildest Africa Animal Kingdom Animal Kingdom I’m Alive Dogs 101 Animal Cops Houston Monkey Life Wildlife SOS Gorilla School Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Talk To The Animals The Really Wild Show Breed All About It Extraordinary Dogs Extraordinary Dogs Dogs 101 Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Snake Crusader With Bruce George Wildlife SOS New Breed Vets With Steve Irwin Animal Cops Houston Wildest Africa Monkey Life Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Talk To The Animals The Really Wild Show Dogs 101 Dogs vs. Cats Snake Crusader With Bruce George Breed All About It Dogs 101 Wildest Africa Whale Wars Untamed & Uncut

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

Eastenders Doctors Small Island Big Top Keeping Up Appearances The Green Green Grass Balamory Tellytales Penelope K, By The Way The Roly Mo Show Buzz & Tell Tweenies 3rd & Bird Nina And The Neurons Balamory Tellytales Penelope K, By The Way The Roly Mo Show Buzz & Tell Tweenies 3rd & Bird Nina And The Neurons Big Top Keeping Up Appearances The Weakest Link Eastenders Doctors Elephant Diaries The World’s Toughest Driving Tests The Green Green Grass Big Top The Weakest Link Eastenders Doctors Elephant Diaries The World’s Toughest Driving Tests The Weakest Link Big Top Doctors Keeping Up Appearances The Green Green Grass Doctor Who Survivors Lead Balloon Ideal Live At The Apollo Little Britain The Weakest Link Elephant Diaries

00:30 01:20 01:50 02:15 02:40 03:10 04:00 04:50 05:40 06:10 06:35 07:05 07:35 08:05 08:25

Antiques Roadshow Indian Food Made Easy Indian Food Made Easy What To Eat Now - Autumn What To Eat Now - Autumn Come Dine With Me 10 Years Younger Fantasy Homes By The Sea Indian Food Made Easy Indian Food Made Easy What To Eat Now - Autumn What To Eat Now - Autumn Indian Food Made Easy Cash In The Attic USA Come Dine With Me

22:25 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 22:50 Cow & Chicken 23:00 Ben 10 23:25 Ben 10 23:50 Courage The Cowardly Dog

THE GREAT DEBATERS ON OSN CINEMA 09:15 10:00 10:25 11:10 12:00 12:50 13:40 15:55 16:40 17:30 18:15 19:05 19:35 20:00 20:25 20:50 23:55

Masterchef Australia Masterchef Australia Bargain Hunt Antiques Roadshow Come Dine With Me 10 Years Younger Celebrity Fantasy Homes Fantasy Homes By The Sea House Swap Bargain Hunt Antiques Roadshow What To Eat Now - Autumn What To Eat Now - Autumn James Martin’s Champagne James Martin’s Champagne Celebrity Fantasy Homes Bargain Hunt

00:05 00:30 00:55 01:20 01:45 02:10 02:35 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:00 04:25 04:50 05:15 05:35 06:00 06:10 06:35 07:00 07:15 07:30 07:55 08:20 08:45 09:00

Johnny Bravo 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 Popeye Classics Tom & Jerry Popeye The Jetsons The Flintstones Looney Tunes Pink Panther & Pals Tex Avery Duck Dodgers The Garfield Show Pink Panther And Pals Bananas In Pyjamas Baby Looney Tunes Gerald McBoing Boing Jelly Jamm New Yogi Bear Show

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 17:45 18:20 18:45 19:10 19:35 20:00 20:15 20:40 21:05 21:30 21:45 22:10 22:35 23:00 23:25 23:55

Puppy In My Pocket The Garfield Show Pink Panther And Pals The Scooby Doo Show Tom & Jerry Dastardly And Muttley Top Cat New Yogi Bear Show Puppy In My Pocket Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Bananas In Pyjamas The Jetsons Duck Dodgers Scooby Doo Where Are You! The Garfield Show Pink Panther And Pals The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop Puppy In My Pocket Looney Tunes Tom & Jerry The Scooby Doo Show Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo Scooby Doo Where Are You! A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Gerald McBoing Boing Bananas In Pyjamas New Yogi Bear Show Pink Panther And Pals The Garfield Show Dastardly And Muttley Tom & Jerry The Garfield Show Dexters Laboratory

00:40 Samurai Jack 01:05 Samurai Jack 01:30 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 02:20 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 02:45 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 03:10 Best Ed

04:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 04:25 Adventure Time 04:50 Generator Rex 05:15 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 05:40 Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy 05:55 I Am Weasel 06:55 Powerpuff Girls 07:45 Angelo Rules 08:00 Casper’s Scare School 08:30 The Amazing World Of Gumball 08:45 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 09:15 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 09:40 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 10:05 Angelo Rules 10:30 Chowder 10:55 Adventure Time 11:20 Eliot Kid 11:35 The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack 12:00 Ben 10 12:25 Sym-Bionic Titan 12:50 Courage The Cowardly Dog 13:15 I Am Weasel 13:40 Best Ed 14:05 Cow & Chicken 14:30 My Gym Partner’s A Monkey 14:50 Eliot Kid 15:15 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 15:40 Ben 10: Alien Force 16:05 Courage The Cowardly Dog 16:30 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 16:55 The Amazing World Of Gumball 17:10 Adventure Time 17:35 Regular Show 18:00 Cow & Chicken 18:25 Generator Rex 18:50 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 19:15 Angelo Rules 19:30 Total Drama World Tour 19:55 Ben 10: Ultimate Challenge 20:25 Sym-Bionic Titan 20:50 Adventure Time 21:25 The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy 21:50 Courage The Cowardly Dog

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

Connect The World Backstory World Sport The Situation Room World Report Anderson Cooper 360 Piers Morgan Tonight Quest Means Business CNN Marketplace Europe Erin Burnett Outfront World Sport World View World Report World Report World Sport African Voices World Business Today CNN Marketplace Middle East Backstory Talk Asia World One Piers Morgan Tonight News Stream World Business Today International Desk World Report News Special World Sport Inside Africa International Desk Quest Means Business CNN Marketplace Africa Piers Morgan Tonight

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

The Gadget Show The Gadget Show The Colony The Tech Show Bang Goes The Theory Bang Goes The Theory Science Of The Movies How Does That Work?

How Stuff’s Made Engineered Da Vinci’s Machines The Future Of...

Space Pioneer How Does That Work?

How Stuff’s Made Bang Goes The Theory Bang Goes The Theory Science Of The Movies Engineered Da Vinci’s Machines The Gadget Show The Gadget Show The Future Of...

How Does That Work?

How Stuff’s Made Space Pioneer The Tech Show Da Vinci’s Machines The Gadget Show The Gadget Show Engineered Tech Toys 360 Tech Toys 360 Ecopolis Da Vinci’s Machines Space Pioneer Tech Toys 360 Tech Toys 360 Ecopolis

00:00 00:25 00:50 01:15 02:00 02:50 03:35 04:25 05:15 05:35 06:00 06:20 06:45 CODY 07:05 07:55 08:10 09:00 10:30 10:45 12:00 12:45 13:10

KIM POSSIBLE Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents STITCH REPLACEMENTS EMPEROR’S NEW SCHOOL STITCH REPLACEMENTS Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents HANNAH MONTANA RECESS THE SUITE LIFE OF ZACK AND WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE PHINEAS AND FERB SHAKE IT UP DEN BROTHER HAVE A LAUGH A.N.T. FARM SHAKE IT UP Good Luck Charlie Good Luck Charlie

13:30 14:20 14:45 15:00 16:30 16:35 17:00 17:25 17:50 18:35 18:41 20:00 20:25 21:15 22:00 22:25 23:15

SUITE LIFE ON DECK WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE FISH HOOKS DADNAPPED HAVE A LAUGH SUITE LIFE ON DECK Fairly Odd Parents Good Luck Charlie SHAKE IT UP HAVE A LAUGH GOOD LUCK CHARLIE Good Luck Charlie HANNAH MONTANA SUITE LIFE ON DECK SONNY WITH A CHANCE SHAKE IT UP WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE

00:20 00:50 01:15 01:40 02:10 02:30 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:20 04:40 05:10 05:35 06:00 06:30 06:50 07:15 07:45 08:00 08:15 08:45 09:10 09:20 09:35 10:05 10:15 POOH 10:30 10:45 10:55 11:20 11:50 12:20 12:45 13:10 13:25 13:40 14:05 14:15 14:25 14:50 15:15 15:40 16:05 16:30 16:40 16:55 17:20 17:30 18:00 18:45 18:55 19:25 19:35 20:00 POOH 20:05 20:30 20:35 20:50 21:20 21:30 POOH 21:33 21:40 21:55 22:20 22:35 22:50 23:15 23:25 23:40 23:55

SPECIAL AGENT OSO JUNGLE JUNCTION LITTLE EINSTEINS HIGGLYTOWN HEROES JO JO’S CIRCUS SPECIAL AGENT OSO JUNGLE JUNCTION LITTLE EINSTEINS HIGGLYTOWN HEROES JO JO’S CIRCUS SPECIAL AGENT OSO JUNGLE JUNCTION LITTLE EINSTEINS HIGGLYTOWN HEROES JO JO’S CIRCUS JUNGLE JUNCTION HIGGLYTOWN HEROES HANDY MANNY SPECIAL AGENT OSO JUNGLE JUNCTION MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE THE HIVE HANDY MANNY JAKE & THE NEVERLAND PIRATES THE HIVE MINI ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE JUNGLE JUNCTION THE HIVE MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE HANDY MANNY JUNGLE JUNCTION IMAGINATION MOVERS LazyTown HANDY MANNY JUNGLE JUNCTION IMAGINATION MOVERS THE HIVE SPECIAL AGENT OSO LITTLE EINSTEINS LazyTown MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE JAKE & THE NEVERLAND PIRATES HANDY MANNY THE HIVE JAKE & THE NEVERLAND PIRATES IMAGINATION MOVERS SPECIAL AGENT OSO HANDY MANNY JUNGLE JUNCTION HANDY MANNY JAKE & THE NEVERLAND PIRATES THE HIVE LITTLE EINSTEINS MINI ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE ANIMATED STORIES HANDY MANNY JAKE & THE NEVERLAND PIRATES THE HIVE MINI ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE A POEM IS...

JUNGLE JUNCTION MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE JAKE & THE NEVERLAND PIRATES SPECIAL AGENT OSO LITTLE EINSTEINS TIMMY TIME HANDY MANNY JUNGLE JUNCTION MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE

06:00 The Allergy 06:10 Undercover Carl/Hip Hip Parade 06:35 Thaddeus And Thor/De Plane! De Plane!

07:00 Just Passing Through/Candace’s Big Day 07:20 Double Dribble 07:25 Chucky’s Revenge 07:50 I’m Out Of The Band - Part One 08:15 ZEKE & LUTHER 09:55 Traffic Cam Caper / Bowl-R-Ama Drama 10:20 Cape Fear 10:45 Burning Down The House

TV Listings FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

11:10 PAIR OF KINGS 11:35 Christmas Part1 / Part 2 12:00 Hatching Pete 13:35 Super Shredder 14:00 Drop Kick /Box Office Blitz 14:25 REKKIT RABBIT 14:50 Prank Week 15:10 On Ice 15:15 PAIR OF KINGS 15:40 Summer School 16:05 Luther Leads 16:30 Phineas And Ferb-Busters/Not Phineas And Ferb 16:50 Thru The Mirror 16:55 Lizard Whisperer/ Robot Rodeo 17:20 KICKIN IT 17:45 ESCAPE FROM SCORPION ISLAND 18:15 FORT BOYARD - ULTIMATE CHALLENGE 18:40 Runaway Recital /Trike X-5 19:00 Rescue Dog 19:05 PAIR OF KINGS 19:30 Bubble Boys/Isabella And The Temple Of Sap 19:55 Zeke Jumps The Shark 20:20 The Kitty Vanishes / Suddenly Last Slammer 20:45 Pool Daze/Live-In Wade 21:10 Let’s Take A Quiz/At The Car Wash 21:35 Feeding Frenzy 22:00 Pilot 22:25 Dial ‘b’ For Babysitter / Grass Is Always Meaner

00:25 Kendra 00:55 Style Star 01:25 25 Most Memorable Swimsuit Moments 03:15 25 Most Stylish 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Extreme Hollywood 06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Dirty Soap 10:15 THS 12:05 E! News 13:05 Bridalplasty 14:05 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 14:35 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 15:00 Style Star 15:30 THS 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Scouted 17:55 E! News 18:55 THS 19:55 Dirty Soap 20:55 Chelsea Lately 21:25 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 22:25 E! News 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami

00:00 00:30 Barr 01:00 01:30 01:30 02:00 02:30 02:30 03:00 03:30 Barr 03:30 04:00 04:30 04:30 05:00 05:30 05:30 06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 07:30 Barr 08:00 08:30 08:30 09:00 09:30 09:30 10:00 10:30 10:30 11:00 11:30 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 13:30 14:00 14:30

14:30 Travel Madness 15:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 15:30 Superfish 16:00 One Man & His Campervan 16:30 Super Factories 17:00 City Chase Marrakech 17:30 World’s Toughest Fixes 18:00 Somewhere In China 18:30 World’s Deadliest Animals 19:00 Going Bush 19:30 Geo Sessions 19:30 Inside 20:00 Earth Tripping 20:30 Situation Critical 20:30 Travel Madness 21:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 21:30 Naked Science 22:00 One Man & His Campervan 22:30 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 23:00 City Chase Marrakech 23:30 Ancient Secrets: Mystery of The Silver Pharaoh

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

Fading Of The Cries-18 Paranormal Activity-PG15 Blood And Bone-18 Ong Bak 2-PG15 Last Breath-PG15 What Lies Beneath-PG15 Winning Time-PG15 Last Breath-PG15 The Stepfather-PG15 Winning Time-PG15 Deadline-18 Wrong Turn 3: Left For Dead-18

01:45 Broken Embraces-18 04:15 Takers-PG15 06:30 Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides-PG15 09:00 The Great Debaters-PG15 11:15 The Last Airbender-PG 13:00 Mammoth-PG15 15:15 Gasland-PG15 17:15 The Last Airbender-PG 19:15 Swansong: Story Of Occi Byrne-

PG15 21:00 Agora-18 23:15 Green Zone-PG15

12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 16:30 18:00 18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 21:00 21:30 22:00 22:30 23:00

00:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 18:00 19:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Two And A Half Men Will And Grace Melissa And Joey Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne The Office Raising Hope Happy Endings 30 Rock Perfect Couples The Tonight Show With Jay Leno The Daily Show With Jon Stewart The Colbert Report The Big C The Ricky Gervais Show Family Guy

Love Bites Rescue Me Psych White Collar Good Morning America Law & Order: Los Angeles Emmerdale The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Martha Stewart Show The View Psych Law & Order: Los Angeles Live Good Morning America The Bachelor Glee Drop Dead Diva Damages White Collar

00:00 C.S.I. 01:00 Rescue Me 02:00 Supernatural

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 21:00 22:00 23:00

Love Bites Love Bites Psych C.S.I. Tower Prep House Psych Supernatural Inside The Actor’s Studio Tower Prep The Ellen DeGeneres Show House C.S.I. The Cape The Ellen DeGeneres Show Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior Glee Drop Dead Diva Damages Supernatural

01:00 Windtalkers-PG15 03:15 Restitution-PG15 05:15 Game Of Death-PG15 07:00 Patriot Games-PG15 09:00 Hurricane Season-PG15 11:00 Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time-PG15 13:00 The Sorcerer’s Apprentice-PG15 15:00 Hurricane Season-PG15 17:00 The Thirteenth Floor-18 19:00 Icarus-18 21:00 Jason X-18 23:00 Malibu Shark Attack-PG15

00:00 Captain Ron-PG15 02:00 Away We Go-PG15 04:00 Not The Messiah: He’s A Very Naughty Boy-PG15 06:00 Easy Virtue-PG15 08:00 Knucklehead-PG15 10:00 Babe-FAM 12:00 50 First Dates-PG15 14:00 The Big Green-PG 16:00 Captain Ron-PG15

01:00 03:15 05:30 07:00 09:00 11:15 13:30 15:45 17:45 19:30 21:00 23:00

Wild At Heart-18 Sideways-18 Raising Cain-PG15 Coco Before Chanel-PG15 Dance With Me-PG Glorious 39-PG15 The Blind Side-PG15 Leaving Normal-PG15 Catch That Kid-PG Shout-PG15 The Two Escobars-PG15 Arlington Road-PG15

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

Oranges And Sunshine-PG15 Malibu’s Most Wanted-PG15 The Client List-PG15 Jane Eyre-PG15 Megamind-FAM Diary Of A Wimpy Kid-PG 9-PG The Social Network-PG15 Megamind-FAM Jonah Hex-PG15 Just Go With It-PG15 Drag Me To Hell-18

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

Turandot-PG The Archies In Jugman-FAM The Prince Of Dinosaurs-PG Mars Needs Moms-PG Slappy And The Stinkers-PG Christopher Columbus-PG The Archies In Jugman-FAM Ed-PG Slappy And The Stinkers-PG Fly Me To The Moon-PG Christopher Columbus-PG

00:00 Don’t Look Up-18 02:00 Calvin Marshall-PG15 04:00 Citizen Jane-PG 06:00 A Trace Of Danger-PG15 08:00 Cats & Dogs: The Revenge Of Kitty Galore-PG 09:45 How To Go Out On A Date In Queens-PG15 11:30 Lottery Ticket-PG15 13:30 Wall Street: Money Never SleepsPG15 16:00 Cats & Dogs: The Revenge Of Kitty Galore-PG 17:45 District 9-PG15 20:00 Just Go With It-PG15 22:00 The Men Who Stare At Goats-18

Departures Dangerous Encounters With Brady Bondi Rescue: Bali Bondi Rescue Super Factories Bondi Rescue Naked Lentil Super Factories First Ascent Dangerous Encounters With Brady The Best Job In The World David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 2 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 2 World’s Toughest Fixes David Rocco’s Dolce Vita David Rocco’s Dolce Vita World’s Deadliest Animals Departures Naked Science 2.5 Bondi Rescue: Bali Bondi Rescue Dangerous Encounters With Brady Bondi Rescue Naked Lentil Super Factories First Ascent The Best Job In The World World’s Toughest Fixes David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 2 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 2 Mega Factories David Rocco’s Dolce Vita David Rocco’s Dolce Vita World’s Worst Venom Departures World’s Toughest Fixes Going Bush Geo Sessions World’s Deadliest Animals Earth Tripping Megastructures

18:00 Like Mike-PG 20:00 Alfie-18 22:00 How To Be A Player-18

RESTITUTION ON OSN MOVIES ACTION

01:00 02:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 09:00 10:00 12:45 14:30 16:30 17:00 20:00 22:00 23:00

UFC Countdown Cricket Twenty20 Trans World Sport Volvo Ocean Race Highlights European Challenge Cup WWE NXT Cricket Twenty20 Live Volvo Ocean Race European Challenge Cup Powerboats Cricket Twenty20 WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line UFC Countdown

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Dubai World Cup European Tour Weekly Futbol Mundial Trans World Sport European Challenge Cup FIVB Beach Volley Ball FIVB Beach Volley Ball World Cup of Pool World Pool Masters ICC Cricket World Live Volvo Ocean Race Horse Racing European Challenge Cup Cricket Twenty20 Dubai World Cup

02:30 04:30 05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00

European Challenge Cup Futbol Mundial US Bass Fishing FIVB Beach Volley Ball FIVB Beach Volley Ball European PGA Tour

12:30 13:00 17:00 20:00

European Tour Weekly Live European PGA Tour Cricket International Twenty20 European PGA Tour

00:00 01:00 02:00 02:30 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 17:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 22:00 23:00

WWE Vintage Collection V8 Supercars Championship Powerboats Powerboats Speedway Intercontinental Le Mans Cup UFC Unleashed UFC Unleashed WWE NXT WWE Vintage Collection Speedway Le Mans Series Highlights V8 Supercars Championship WWE NXT WWE Experience Le Mans Series Highlights Speedway Powerboats Powerboats UFC 142 Countdown UFC The Ultimate Fighter WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line UFC 142 Countdown

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

Extreme Forensics Ghost Lab Psychic Witness Kidnap And Rescue Fugitive Strike Force Extreme Forensics Ghost Lab Psychic Witness Killer Outbreaks FBI Files Forensic Detectives FBI Case Files Killer Outbreaks Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared FBI Case Files Killer Outbreaks Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared FBI Files Forensic Detectives Murder Shift Real Emergency Calls Killer Outbreaks Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared True CSI Autopsy: Most Shocking Cases

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Going South Life’s A Trip Globe Trekker Globe Trekker The Ethical Hedonist Culinary Asia Cruise 1st Cruise 1st Cruise 1st Cruise 1st Cruise 1st Cruise 1st Cruise 1st Cruise 1st Planet Food Globe Trekker Rose Parade Cruise 1st Cruise 1st Floyd Around the Med Floyd On Spain Globe Trekker Sophie Grigson In The Souk Cruise 1st Cruise 1st Third Class Traveller Going South Going South Globe Trekker Cruise 1st Cruise 1st Floyd On Spain Floyd Uncorked Sophie Grigson In The Souk Cruise 1st Cruise 1st Inside Luxury Travel-Varun Sharma

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Information

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines LMU JZR PIA JZR JZR THY UAE QTR DHX MSR FDB ETD RJA GFA KAC THY JZR JZR KAC BAW KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR ETD FDB IRA GFA RBG JZR RKM MEA IYE MSR MSR JZR GFA KAC FDB UAL OMA QTR RJA KAC JZR KAC KAC QTR JZR JZR ETD UAE GFA SVA RBG

Flt 320 185 205 267 539 772 853 138 370 612 67 305 642 211 544 770 555 529 416 157 206 53 352 302 332 676 344 855 125 132 301 55 619 213 3555 165 310 404 825 623 610 201 219 618 57 982 645 140 640 788 257 284 546 134 561 213 303 857 215 510 3557

Arrival Flights on Friday 13/1/2012 Route ALEXANDRIA DUBAI LAHORE BEIRUT CAIRO ISTANBUL DUBAI DOHA BAHRAIN CAIRO DUBAI ABU DHABI AMMAN BAHRAIN CAIRO ISTANBUL ALEXANDRIA ASSIUT JAKARTA/KUALA LUMPUR LONDON ISLAMABAD DUBAI COCHIN MUMBAI TRIVANDRUM DUBAI CHENNAI DUBAI SHARJAH DOHA ABU DHABI DUBAI LAR BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA DUBAI RAS ALKHAIMAH BEIRUT SANAA SOHAG CAIRO DAMASCUS BAHRAIN DOHA DUBAI WASHINGTON DC DULLES MUSCAT DOHA AMMAN JEDDAH BEIRUT DHAKA ALEXANDRIA DOHA SOHAG DEIREZZOR ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN RIYADH SOHAG

Time 0:01 0:20 0:25 0:45 0:50 2:15 2:35 2:40 2:55 3:00 3:05 3:10 3:10 3:15 4:40 4:50 6:00 6:20 6:25 6:40 7:40 7:45 7:50 7:55 8:05 8:10 8:25 8:30 9:00 9:05 9:15 9:20 9:50 9:55 10:45 11:20 11:45 11:55 12:05 12:30 12:55 13:00 13:25 13:40 13:50 14:05 14:15 14:20 14:40 14:50 15:00 15:00 15:20 15:25 16:10 16:45 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:20 17:35

ABY JZR MLR ALK JZR FDB KAC KAC JZR KAC AIC KAC AIC KAC KAC KAC FDB JAI KAC SVA DHX GRF FCX MEA GFA QTR JZR UAE KAC SAI JZR UAL PIA DLH

127 125 403 227 177 63 542 744 787 674 975 166 975 102 774 562 61 572 786 506 372 81 304 402 217 136 135 859 502 441 239 981 215 636

Airlines UAL LMU AXB BBC AIC DLH PIA KAC THY GRF FDB DHX MSR ETD QTR THY JZR GFA RJA JZR FDB KAC BAW JZR KAC JZR UAE

Flt 981 1110 390 44 982 637 206 283 773 94 68 371 613 306 139 771 164 212 643 200 54 545 156 256 787 560 856

SHARJAH BAHRAIN COLOMBO/DUBAI COLOMBO/DUBAI DUBAI DUBAI CAIRO DAMMAM RIYADH DUBAI CHENNAI/GOA PARIS/ROME CHENNAI/GOA NEW YORK/LONDON RIYADH AMMAN DUBAI MUMBAI JEDDAH JEDDAH BAHRAIN BAGHDAD RIYADH BEIRUT BAHRAIN DOHA BAHRAIN DUBAI BEIRUT LAHORE AMMAN BAHRAIN KARACHI FRANKFURT Departure Flights on Friday 13/1/2012 Route WASHINGTON DC DULLES ALEXANDRIA MANGALORE/KOZHIKODE DHAKA AHMEDABAD/HYDERABAD/CHENNAI FRANKFURT LAHORE DHAKA ISTANBUL DUBAI/KANDAHAR DUBAI BAHRAIN CAIRO ABU DHABI DOHA ISTANBUL DUBAI BAHRAIN AMMAN DAMASCUS DUBAI ALEXANDRIA LONDON BEIRUT JEDDAH SOHAG DUBAI

17:40 17:45 17:55 18:00 18:15 18:40 18:50 18:55 19:05 19:25 19:30 19:30 19:30 19:35 19:40 19:50 20:00 20:10 20:20 20:35 21:00 21:15 21:20 21:20 21:25 21:35 21:55 22:00 22:00 22:40 22:45 23:00 23:30 23:50 Time 0:45 0:45 0:50 1:00 1:05 1:20 1:25 2:40 3:15 3:30 3:45 3:55 4:00 4:00 4:55 5:50 6:55 7:00 7:10 7:30 8:25 8:30 8:40 9:00 9:25 9:30 9:40

ABY KAC ETD FDB QTR KAC KAC GFA IRA JZR RBG KAC KAC RKM MEA IYE MSR JZR MSR GFA JZR FDB KAC KAC KAC OMA UAL RJA JZR KAC KAC QTR JZR ETD JZR QTR UAE GFA RBG ABY SVA MLR JZR ALK FDB JZR KAC FDB KAC KAC JAI SVA DHX MEA GFA QTR JZR FCX KAC UAE JZR SAI KAC

126 117 302 56 133 617 177 214 618 212 3558 541 103 311 405 825 624 176 611 220 124 58 561 673 785 646 982 641 786 743 773 141 238 304 538 135 858 216 3556 128 511 404 134 228 64 184 361 62 343 351 571 507 373 403 218 137 554 102 205 860 502 442 411

SHARJAH NEW YORK ABU DHABI DUBAI DOHA DOHA FRANKFURT/GENEVA BAHRAIN LAR DEIREZZOR SOHAG CAIRO LONDON RAS ALKHAIMAH BEIRUT DOHA/SANAA SOHAG DUBAI CAIRO BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DUBAI AMMAN DUBAI JEDDAH MUSCAT BAHRAIN AMMAN RIYADH DAMMAM RIYADH DOHA AMMAN ABU DHABI CAIRO DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA SHARJAH RIYADH DUBAI/COLOMBO BAHRAIN DUBAI/COLOMBO DUBAI DUBAI COLOMBO DUBAI CHENNAI COCHIN MUMBAI JEDDAH BAHRAIN BEIRUT BAHRAIN DOHA ALEXANDRIA DUBAI ISLAMABAD DUBAI LUXOR LAHORE BANGKOK/MANILA

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

9:45 10:00 10:00 10:05 10:10 10:25 10:35 10:40 10:50 10:50 11:25 12:00 12:30 12:50 12:55 13:05 13:30 13:50 13:55 14:20 14:30 14:35 14:45 15:05 15:10 15:15 15:20 15:35 15:50 16:15 16:25 16:30 17:15 17:35 17:40 17:45 18:10 18:15 18:20 18:25 18:35 18:55 19:05 19:10 19:20 19:55 20:20 20:40 20:55 21:05 21:10 21:55 22:00 22:20 22:25 22:35 22:45 23:00 23:00 23:10 23:35 23:50 23:55

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ACCOMMODATION Full furnished single room with separate bathroom available with small Muslim family in 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms C-A/C flat in Hawally, Tunis Street, near Sadique roundabout behind Commercial Bank. Contact: 97794619.

(C 3826) A two bed room central A/C flat with two bathrooms and large hall for rent. Most of the household furniture for sale including bedroom set with two cupboards, IKEA dressing table, Fridge, Two coffee tables, Dining table with 4 chairs, Two seater sofa, Kitchen cabinets etc. Call 65053439 12-1-2012

SITUATION VACANT A gift wrapping and gift basket designer with basic knowledge on flower arrangement required for a high end gifts shop.

Applicants must send CV to giftwrapq@gmail.com 12-1-2012 A Kuwaiti family looks to hire a driver (full time). Contact: 99774658.

(C 3823) Required house cook, Indian nationality - male, attractive salary. Contact: 99062666. (C 3822) 11-1-2012 Required two drivers for a Kuwaiti family at monthly salary KD 100 and must be having at least five years experience. Call 97554010.

(C 3815) 7-1-2012

FOR SALE Toyota Corolla 2012 model, gray color, alloys wheel, sensor, mileage 5000km, under warranty 3 years, price KD 4,950/-. Contact: 55522942.

(C 3818) Mitsubishi Lancer 2004 GLX, Price KD 850/-, Mitsubishi Box 2006, Price KD 2,000/-.

Contact: 66052331. (C 3820) Jeep GMC Envoy 2004, black color, very good condition, Price KD 2,200/-. Contact: 50699345.

(C 3821) 10-1-2012

BABY SITTING Baby sitting available in Khaitan area, Kuwait. Contact: 66436924.

(C 3819) 10-1-2012

CHANGE OF NAME I, MARTHA ANGELINA LAWRENCE, holder of Indian Passport No: H5962906 hereby change my name to MARTA ANGELINA RAMOS. (C 3816) 8-1-2012 CATARINA JOSEFINA DE SOUZA Passport No: E0787712 would like to state that I am known as CATARINA JOSEFINA DE SOUZA and in all my dealings and documents I am known by name CATARINA JOSEFINA DE SOUZA only. (C 3814) 7-1-2012

MATRIMONIAL Proposal invited for Sunni Muslim Pakistani daughter age 25, tall, smart, Dr. Pharmacy, on job in Kuwait, from suitable matching data boy through parents. Contact email: ahmeedk555@gmail.com (C 3824)

FOR RENT A park in Wafra animal pens, very clean, over an area of 2500m, very large fenced yard in front (5) rooms, saloons, separate diwaniyas and swimming pool, fountain, children games tent. 94426116 For rent in Farwaniya, basement 700m, car parking.

66920123 Flat in Maidan Hawally, one room, living room, bathroom, super deluxe finished kitchen, outstanding location. Rent KD 195. Foreigners and expatriates only. Central satellite, C-A/C and boiler. 66980123 A floor in Dasman, 300m, outstanding location, on main street can be sued by lawyer, consultations, clinics, health club, saloon, workshop, training center. 66980123 For rent in Salmiya, an apartment 3 rooms + 2 baths + saloon + swimming pool + DSL

+ Gym + Security + children games + other features. Rent start from KD 475. Foreigners and expats only. 66297171 For rent in Salmiya, an apartment 3 rooms + 3 baths + Saloon + Kitchen + Satellite.

Outstanding location.

Foreigners and expatriates only, no brokers. 66060299 For rent, basements in Jabriya and Hawally, good location, plastic floors, C-A/C, serious only call: 66980123

No: 15327

parking. 66233230 For rent or investment, complete floors with a basement in Salmiya, good location, licensed for clinics, no brokers.

66060299 For rent, flat in Bneid Al-Qar (2 rooms, maid rooms, 3 baths, kitchen) deluxe finishing good location. 55117226 For rent in Fahaheel. Complete building for companies (2 rooms, 2 baths, living room, kitchen) good location, car

For rent, one floor in a villa in Salmiya, (3 rooms, 4 baths, large living room, maid room, driver’s room, diwaniya) parking. Centeral satellite. Rent KD 750. 67750024 A park for rent to families. 4 bed rooms + 4 bathrooms + living room + Diwaniya + rides in the garden + Isolated diwaniya.

Fully furnished, A/C units, domestic help rooms.

99825160

Sports FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Pens lose 6th in row Penguins blanked for first time this season WASHINGTON: A first period goal from Jason Chimera and some brilliant goaltending by Tomas Vokoun helped the Washington Capitals blank injury-riddled Pittsburgh 1-0 on Wednesday, sending the Penguins to their sixth consecutive loss.

Pittsburgh outshot the Capitals 30-21 but could not solve Vokoun, who recorded his second shutout of the season with some acrobatic saves to improve his record to 1710. “Vokoun certainly made a couple of huge stops,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said.

“Came up big in the third period. In a 1-0 game, obviously he’s the guy that shined pretty bright for them.” Chimera scored with just over four minutes left in the first period, beating Marc-Andre Fleury on a breakaway high to the stick side following a turnover.

Penguins forward Pascal Dupuis said Vokoun, who faced 10 shots in the final period, was the “big difference.” “We kept peppering him with shots at the end of the game,” he said. “We missed a couple of chances and he made some big saves. We were pretty confident we were going to win that one but we played (against) a good goalie.” Washington and Pittsburgh, two of the NHL’s most dominant teams over the last decade but struggling this year, are tied with 46 points but the Capitals own the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference courtesy of having one more win. “Everybody watches the standings and every point is huge,” said Capitals coach Dale Hunter, whose club is 7-1 in its last eight home games. “We’re all pretty bunched up there and you’ve got to win the one-goal games.”

The Penguins, playing without Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal and Kris Letang due to injury, had not lost six in a row since a 10game slide January 2006. “It’s a game where we were a shot away from tying it up,” said Pittsburgh forward James Neal. “It was there.

We did a lot of good things but still not enough to get the win.

DEVILS 2, OILERS 1, OT At Edmonton, Alberta, Zach Parise scored a power-play goal 1:06 into overtime as New Jersey beat Edmonton for its third win in four games. Parise took a feed from Patrik Elias and snapped a shot into a wide-open net behind goalie Nikolai Khabibulin. Ilya Kovalchuk scored a short-handed goal in the second period and added an assist on Parise’s winner for the Devils (24-17-2), who jumped over Toronto into sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Ales Hemsky scored for the Oilers (16-22-4), who are falling deeper out of contention in the West. Edmonton has lost four straight and 11 of 13. — Agencies

ALBERTA: Edmonton Oilers’ Colten Teubert (right) checks New Jersey Devils’ Eric Boulton, during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Edmonton on Wednesday, Jan 11, 2012. — AP

NHL results/standings NHL results and standings on Wednesday.

Washington 1, Pittsburgh 0; New Jersey 2, Edmonton 1 (OT). (OT Denotes Overtime Win).

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF NY Rangers 27 9 4 118 Philadelphia 25 12 4 139 New Jersey 23 17 2 117 Pittsburgh 21 16 4 124 NY Islanders 15 19 6 96 Northeast Division Boston 27 11 1 146 Ottawa 23 15 6 140 Toronto 22 15 5 135 Buffalo 18 19 5 107 Montreal 16 19 7 109 Southeast Division Florida 21 13 8 109 Winnipeg 20 17 5 112 Washington 21 17 2 118 Tampa Bay 17 20 4 113 Carolina 14 23 7 113

A PTS 83 58 122 54 123 48 111 46 126 36 76 144 131 123 117

55 52 49 41 39

116 124 120 141 148

50 45 44 38 35

Western Conference Central Division St Louis 25 12 5 110 89 55 Chicago 25 13 5 139 125 55 Detroit 26 15 1 135 99 53 Nashville 23 15 4 115 115 50 Columbus 11 26 5 101 142 27 Northwest Division Vancouver 27 14 3 144 108 57 Minnesota 22 15 6 101 105 50 Colorado 23 20 1 115 124 47 Calgary 20 19 5 109 127 45 Edmonton 16 22 3 111 119 35 Pacific Division San Jose 23 11 5 116 94 51 Los Angeles 21 15 7 93 95 49 Dallas 23 17 1 114 119 47 Phoenix 20 17 6 109 111 46 Anaheim 13 22 6 104 135 32 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L).

Harbaugh turns 49ers into instant winners NEW YORK: There is a tendency to over-emphasize statistics in the National Football League (NFL), but when it comes to first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh’s record with the San Francisco 49ers, the numbers really do tell the story. Last year, under coach Mike Singletary, the 49ers finished third in the NFC West with a miserable 6-10 record, behind the Seattle Seahawks (7-9) and St Louis Rams (7-9) in the weakest division in the league.

But just one year later and Harbaugh has guided the team to second seed in the NFC, clear winners of their division with a 13-3 record and looking forward to a home playoff game against the New Orleans Saints tomorrow. No wonder then that Harbaugh, whose brother John is also looking forward to the divisional round of the playoffs as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, is considered the front runner for NFL coach of the year honors.

In fact, for New Orleans head coach Sean Payton, who won the award in his first season by turning a 3-13 Saints squad into a 10-6 team in 2006 that made the playoffs for the first time in six years, there is no debate who about who should win. “When you look at where they were as a team and the turnaround in one season has been unbelievable ... clearly he is the coach of the year this season,” Payton, who won a Super Bowl in his fourth year with the Saints, told reporters this week. “There’s not a close second when you look at what he started with and what they’ve done as a staff - the enthusiasm they’re playing with, the success they’re having and the development of a quarterback that many questioned coming into the year.”

Harbaugh has overseen the transformation of signal caller Alex Smith, who has finally, in his seventh year, put up the numbers needed to deliver post-season football. A career best 3,144 yards in 2011 has been Smith’s repayment for the faith shown him by Harbaugh, who at the start of the season described him as “calm, cool and collected” and has not stopped praising him since. Those are not words that could be used for Harbaugh, who has continued in the pro game with the upbeat, enthusiastic and occasionally abrasive style he showed in college football.

There are clearly many areas in which Harbaugh has instilled change in San Francisco - getting the team back to basics with an “old school” approach that relies on the running game and a tight defense. But away from the playbook, Harbaugh’s psychological approach can be seen in the way he has molded a tight-knit and confident team spirit from a one that had struggled for an identity. His frequent praise of Smith came after he noted that the quarterback had been “thrown under the bus by his own team more than once” and it is clear he believed the team’s shattered confidence needed rebuilding.

Local reporters say that the 48-year-old Harbaugh has simply refused to criticize his players in public all season. “He has yet to criticize a player, even subtly, through the media,” wrote Eric Branch in the San Francisco Chronicle, adding that the approach has “fostered team unity and made the (players) more willing to crash through concrete for a coach who takes the pressure off them.” The playoffs bring their own pressure of course and up against the potent Saints offense, the 49ers will need all of the confidence and determination Harbaugh has filled them with. — Reuters

NFL-Packers persevere after tragic death of coach’s son EAST RUTHERFORD: Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said on Wednesday this week’s death of offensive coordinator Joe Philbin’s son had a deep effect on him, but that he hoped the tragedy could help bring the National Football League (NFL) team closer together. The team was hit hard on Monday by news that 21-year-old Michael Philbin had been found dead by drowning just as the top-seeded Super Bowl champions began preparations for the start of their playoff push against fourth-seeded New York Giants.

“With the passing of Joe’s son, it’s been difficult, but I think it brings us together and makes us realize how important family is,” Rodgers told reporters at the Giants practice facility on a conference call. “Not just our immediate family but also our football family.” The supremely confident Rodgers, who set a new NFL standard for passing proficiency with a record

quarterback rating this season, said he was at a loss for words to comfort Philbin. “Joe and I have a real tight relationship and to be honest, it’s been real hard on me to not be able to have the words to comfort him and his wife and the family. It’s been difficult. We love Joe, we’re praying for him. We’re behind him,” he said.

Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy, who calls the offensive plays during the game, said he was not worried about team morale heading into their playoff opener on Sunday. “There’s a clear focus and understanding that professionally we’re very blessed and fortunate enough to be in this position and it’s important for us to take full advantage of this opportunity,” said McCarthy. “Joe, more than anybody, would want us to pour all of our heart and energy into our preparation and that’s what the football team has done.”

The Packers, coming off a bye, enter this postseason in stark contrast to last year when they overcame a flood of injuries to claim the Vince Lombardi Trophy as a wild card team. This season, Green Bay flirted with perfection, getting their closest call against the Giants last month in a 38-35 win to go 12-0 before finally taking their only loss of the season two weeks later, falling 19-14 to the Kansas City Chiefs. “Last year was different challenges,” said Rodgers. “We had more injuries, 15 guys on the (injured reserve list), different guys filling spots,” he said. “This year we’re not sneaking up on anybody.

Being Super Bowl champs you often have a target on your backs. It’s a different set of circumstances, a different adversity this year.” McCarthy said everybody on the team practiced Wednesday as the Packers took advantage of their week off to heal injuries. —Reuters

Sports FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Clippers handle Heat to prevail in overtime Knicks beat 76ers in Atlantic showdown LOS ANGELES: Chris Paul had 27 points and 11 assists as the Los Angeles Clippers rallied to beat Miami 95-89 in overtime Wednesday, dealing the Heat a second straight extra-time loss. Blake Griffin had 20 points and 12 rebounds, Caron Butler added 20 points, and Chauncey Billups had 12 for the Clippers, 9-2 against Miami at home since 2001-02. DeAndre Jordan had 11 rebounds. The Clippers outscored the Heat 9-3 in the extra session. Miami coach Erik Spoelstra got ejected after a technical foul with 5 seconds left. The Clippers led by two with 27 seconds left in regulation before LeBron James tied it 86-86 on a free throw. The Clippers called their final timeout and Paul dribbled around with James hounding him before putting up a shot that missed as time expired, forcing the Heat to the third overtime of their trip. James had 23 points and 13 rebounds for the 200th double-double of his career, Mario Chalmers added 18 points, Dwyane Wade 17 and Chris Bosh had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Heat, who lost at Golden State in OT a night earlier.

points and 10 rebounds in Oklahoma City’s win over New Orleans. Durant hit 11 of his last 14 shots after missing his first three. He took over in the third quarter, scoring 11 points in the first 8 minutes to help the Thunder extend a two-point halftime lead to 12 points.

The Hornets pulled within four early in the fourth, but never threatened after that. Russell Westbrook had 22 points and seven assists, and James Harden added 14 points for Oklahoma City.

KNICKS 85, 76ERS 79 At New York, Carmelo Anthony had 27 points and nine rebounds as New York won its fourth straight game and snapped Philadelphia’s six-game winning streak. Amare Stoudemire added 20 points and 10 rebounds, and rookie Josh Harrellson had 13 desperately needed points from the bench to help the Knicks improve to 6-4 - the first time they’ve been two games over .500 this season.

Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner each scored 16 points for the 76ers.

SPURS 101, ROCKETS 95, OT At San Antonio, Tony Parker hit four free throws late in overtime to lift San Antonio past Houston. Parker scored 28 points on 12-of-22 shooting to lead the Spurs. Tim Duncan had 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Kawhi Leonard added 11 points. Kyle Lowry scored 22 points for Houston, and Luis Scola had 20. Kevin Martin added 18, and Patrick Patterson had 10 points and seven rebounds.

LAKERS 90, JAZZ 87, OT At Salt Lake City, Kobe Bryant scored 40 points and Andrew Bynum blocked Al Jefferson’s shot with 1.9 seconds left in overtime to lift Los Angeles past Utah.

Paul Millsap’s tip-in tied it at 78-78 with 21 seconds left in regulation then Bryant missed a shot at the buzzer that would have won it in regulation for Los Angeles. Millsap led Utah with 29 points.

MAVERICKS 90, CELTICS 85 At Boston, Dirk Nowitzki scored 16 points, driving past Kevin Garnett for the go-ahead layup with 5.1 seconds left in Dallas’ victory over Boston. Dallas led most of the game, but Paul Pierce hit a 3-pointer - just his second basket of the night - to tie it at 85 with 25 seconds to play. Former Celtic Delonte West dribbled the clock down to about 10 seconds before giving it to Nowitzki. The NBA finals MVP cut to the basket past Garnett and picked up a foul from Brandon Bass while floating the ball into the basket. Rajon Rondo scored 24 points for Boston and Garnett had 16 points with 10 rebounds.

BULLS 78, WIZARDS 64 At Chicago, John Lucas III scored a career-high 25 points filling in for injured Derrick Rose as Chicago beat Washington for its third victory in three nights. Lucas, starting for the first time in his 70-game NBA career, was at the point in place of MVP Rose, who was out with a sprained big left toe. Kyle Korver added 14 points, and Luol Deng had 12 points and 15 rebounds. The Bulls are tied for NBA lead with Oklahoma City at 10-2. Jordan Crawford had 14 points for Washington.

THUNDER 95, HORNETS 85 At New Orleans, Kevin Durant had 29

LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles Clippers guard Mo Williams (left) and Miami Heat guard Norris Cole collide as the reach for a loose ball during the second half of their NBA basketball game on Wednesday, Jan 11, 2012. —AP

NBA results/standings NBA results and standings on Wednesday.

Indiana 96, Atlanta 84; Sacramento 98, Toronto 91; NY Knicks 85, Philadelphia 79; Chicago 78, Washington 64; Oklahoma City 95, New Orle Ans 85; Dallas 90, Boston 85; San Antonio 101, Houston 95 (OT); Denver 123, New Jersey 115; LA Lakers 90, Utah 87 (OT); Orlando 107, Portland 104; LA Clippers 95, Miami 89 (OT). (OT denotes overtime) Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L PCT Philadelphia 7 3 .700 NY Knicks 6 4 .600 Boston 4 5 .444 Toronto 4 7 .364 New Jersey 2 9 .182 Central Division Chicago 10 2 .833 Indiana 7 3 .700 Cleveland 4 5 .444 Milwaukee 3 6 .333 Detroit 2 8 .200 Southeast Division Miami 8 3 .727 Orlando 7 3 .700 Atlanta 7 4 .636 Charlotte 2 8 .200 Washington 1 9 .100

GB 1 2.5 3.5 5.5 2 4.5 5.5 7 .5 1 5.5 6.5

Western Conference Northwest Division Oklahoma City10 2 .833 Portland 7 3 .700 Denver 7 4 .636 Utah 6 4 .600 Minnesota 3 7 .300 Pacific Division LA Lakers 8 4 .667 LA Clippers 5 3 .625 Phoenix 4 5 .444 Sacramento 4 7 .364 Golden State 3 6 .333 Southwest Division San Antonio 7 4 .636 Dallas 6 5 .545 Memphis 3 6 .333 New Orleans 3 7 .300 Houston 3 7 .300

2 2.5 3 6 1 2.5 3.5 3.5 1 3 3.5 3.5

PACERS 96, HAWKS 84 At Indianapolis, Danny Granger scored 24 points to break out of a shooting slump, and Roy Hibbert added 12 points and 11 rebounds to lead Indiana past Atlanta. The Pacers improved to 73, matching their best start since 200506. Indiana also is 4-0 at home for the first time since winning its first seven home games in 2002-03. Josh Smith led Atlanta with 16 points, and Joe Johnson had 15.

KINGS 98, RAPTORS 91 At Toronto, Tyreke Evans scored a season-high 29 points, and DeMarcus Cousins had 21 points and a career-high 19 rebounds to help Sacramento beat Toronto for its first road victory of the season. Isaiah Thomas scored 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter and Jimmer Fredette had 10 for the Kings.

Leandro Barbosa scored a season-high 24 points for Toronto.

NUGGETS 123, NETS 115 At Denver, Danilo Gallinari scored 22 points, and Arron Afflalo and Corey Brewer each had 19 as Denver beat New Jersey. Jordan Farmar had a game-high 26 points, Anthony Morrow scored 23 points and Deron Williams had 16 points and 13 assists for New Jersey. The Nets set a season high for 3-pointers with 20.

Farmar was 6 for 8 from behind the arc and Morrow hit 5 of 9.—AP

Sports FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Teenage transfers trigger Bundesliga row BERLIN: The transfers of two 13-yearolds to Bundesliga clubs Hoffenheim and VfL Wolfsburg have triggered a row over top clubs’ efforts to attract younger players with critics calling for an end of “child snatching”. The two players, from Berlin and Hamburg, will now move to Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg respectively, hundreds of miles from their homes, with the full support of their parents.

“We have to accept the transfer but in my view he will not be able to deliver 100 percent in Wolfsburg,” said St Pauli youth director Joachim Philipkowski over the departure of

their player. “He will be taken out of his familiar environment. I do not think this is the right way.” Several other teams as well as the German football league (DFL), which runs the top divisions, and the country’s football association (DFB) have expressed concern.

“There used to be a gentlemen’s agreement in the past that one should not take away talent,” said DFL managing director Holger Hieronymus.

“Therefore there is the wish to have such an agreement again.”

VfB Stuttgart and Hanover 96 have opposed such transfers. “I am not a friend of ripping people, who are too

Brazilian midfielder could transform Chelsea season LONDON: Chelsea have almost unwittingly stumbled on a winning formation centered on Brazilian midfielder Ramires that could galvanize their fortunes in the second half of the season. Daniel Sturridge, 22, is the club’s top Premier League scorer this season with nine goals, winning rave reviews and earning his England debut as a second-half substitute in the 1-0 victory over Sweden in a friendly at Wembley in November. However, the injured striker has been unable to fill his customary position on the right side of Chelsea’s 4-3-3 system for the last two games and manager Andre Villas-Boas has pushed Ramires forward to plug the gap to stunning effect. The boyish-looking Ramires, who wears braces on his teeth, played 90 minutes in his new role at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Jan 2 and scored the opening goal as the Londoners triumphed 2-1 in the league. Then, with Chelsea toiling in the second half of Sunday’s FA Cup third-round tie against second tier Portsmouth, Ramires was again pushed forward from midfield late in the game and suddenly the floodgates opened as he netted twice in a 4-0 victory.

Sturridge is probably the better finisher of the two but the energetic Ramires makes up for that with his lung-bursting, box-to-box surges.

Chelsea have also had a weakness at right back this season but the Brazilian’s willingness to retreat when his team lose possession in order to provide defensive cover for Portuguese Jose Bosingwa is another eye-catching feature of his game. “I have been working hard on my finishing in training but I have also been working on the defensive side of my game as well,” Ramires told the club’s website (www.chelseafc.com) ahead of tomorrow’s league clash at home to Sunderland. “I have eight goals in all competitions already this season which is a good return but I would like to go on and score 15 or maybe even more, that will be important not just for me but for the team as a whole.”

Chelsea, who won the Premier League and FA Cup double in 2009-10, have struggled for consistency this season. They are rank outsiders for the league, occupying fourth place and trailing leaders Manchester City by 11 points, but Ramires’s growing influence and the imminent return of the fit-again Michael Essien could be just what Villas-Boas needs. “All we are playing football for is to win trophies,” said Ramires.

“There are high points and there are low points in any season but the overall aim is to always be improving. “The minimum aim would probably be to win one trophy but we are still in three competitions and we will be trying to win them all.”

Ramires, signed from Benfica in August 2010 for 19.8 million pounds ($30.66 million) by Villas-Boas’s predecessor Carlo Ancelotti, took a while to find his feet at Stamford Bridge. “The first season was important in terms of adaptation and getting used to things,” said the 24-year-old. “I understand the language more now and the way the team play so it has certainly got easier for me. “Previously the emphasis was more on defending whereas under Villas-Boas it’s more about attacking.” Ramires looks as though he will get plenty of opportunities to show his dynamism up front as Chelsea try to climb the Premier League table and restore confidence ahead of next month’s Champions League first knockout round tie with Napoli. —Reuters

young, from their social environment,” said Hanover sports director Joerg Schmadtke.

Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg have defended their actions, saying such transfers were common practice in every other major European league. “I don’t know what this hypocrisy is all about,” said Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath from his team’s winter training camp in Dubai.

“You have to get the players early if you want to develop them.”

“We all took the decision together to set up youth academies and focus on youth work. That is the consequence,” said Magath in reference to

the country’s obligatory youth academies for clubs in the top two divisions.

Following disappointing results forh the national team in 1998 and 2000, Germany decide to set up the academies to develop a new generation of top players. The results of the investment, which has exceeded 500 million euros since 2002, has been evident in recent years with Germany finishing third in the 2010 World Cup, fielding their youngest national team in 76 years. Borussia Dortmund won the Bundesliga title last season with a number of young players in their starting team.— Reuters

Marseille face Lille without the Ayews PARIS: Life without brothers Andre and Jordan Ayew began well for Olympique Marseille this week and the side must keep up the momentum when they play Ligue 1 champions Lille on Sunday (2000 GMT). Marseille, who have narrowed the gap with the leaders after a mediocre start to the season, swept past Caen 3-0 in a League Cup quarter-final this week with Mathieu Valbuena and Loic Remy more than compensating for the Ayews’ departure for the African Nations Cup. The Ghana forwards are travelling to Equatorial Guinea and Gabon for the Jan. 21-Feb. 12 Cup and Brazilian striker Brandao has rejoined Marseille to help out after spending time on loan at two Brazilian clubs.

Coach Didier Deschamps said Brandao could be included in the squad to face Lille, but warned that they would be much tougher opponents than Caen.

“On Sunday, the competition will be much stronger,” Deschamps told the club’s website (www.om.net). Marseille, who have qualified for the Champions League knockout phase and are on course to win both the League and French Cups, are sixth in the standings with 31 points from 19 games, nine points behind leaders Paris St Germain.

Lille who are third, four points off the pace, conceded their first domestic defeat in five months in a 2-1 loss at

SAINT-DENIS: Marseille’s forward Jordan Ayew (right) is congratulated by his teammate and brother Andre Ayew after scoring a goal during the French Cup football match Red Star vs Marseille at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, northern Paris. — AFP Olympique Lyon in a League Cup quarter-final on Wednesday. PSG, who are signing fullback Maxwell from Barcelona to make up for Siaka Tiene’s departure to the African Nations Cup with Ivory Coast, take on Toulouse tomorrow (2000) hoping to give coach Carlo Ancelotti a winning debut at the Parc des Princes. PSG could still be without midfielder Jeremy Menez and striker Kevin Gameiro, who

have not fully recovered from injuries.

Both missed their team’s 2-1 win at fifthdivision Locmine in the French Cup last 64 last weekend. Second-placed Montpellier, who are three points behind PSG, entertain fourth-placed Lyon (Saturday 2000), who have defensive troubles. Centre backs Cris and Dejan Lovren are both injured and are likely to miss the match. —Reuters

Mancini, Gerrard clash over Johnson’s tackle MANCHESTER: Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini and Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard were embroiled in a war of words following the clubs’ League Cup semi-final clash here at Eastlands.

Gerrard’s early penalty gave the visitors a 1-0 first leg lead to take back to Anfield but Wednesday’s game was overshadowed by a late, two-footed challenge by Liverpool defender Glen Johnson on City’s Joleon Lescott. An angry Mancini claimed that the tackle, which went unpunished by referee Lee Mason, was worse than the offence committed by City’s Vincent

Kompany early in Sunday’s FA Cup defeat

by Manchester United, an incident which brought the defender a straight red card and a four-match suspension.

Mancini’s claims were not appreciated

by Gerrard, however, and the Italian and the England midfielder had a heated discussion about the incident in the tunnel after the game. “No, I don’t think so,” said Gerrard when asked whether he felt Johnson should have been red-carded. “It was a clear winner of the tackle. “I’m surprised at that (Mancini’s comments). He had a go at Wayne Rooney last Sunday for

trying to get one of his players sent off.

Now he’s trying to get one of our players in trouble. I don’t think that works.”

Mancini, though, had a different interpretation of the incident, one which television replays seemed to support.

“Johnson’s tackle against Lescott, it was worse than the one Vinny did against United,” said the City manager. “Everyone could see that. “The world is going down because there are people in every job who make a mistake and do not apologize. I make a mistake and apologize. “This tackle was worse.— AFP

Sports FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

‘Cunning fox’ Ranieri tries to end Allegri’s run MILAN: Wily Claudio Ranieri will need an extra dose of cunning as he becomes the fourth different Inter coach to try and beat Massimiliano Allegri in a Milan derby on Sunday (1945 GMT). The chase for Carlos Tevez, with both clubs trying to capture the outcast Manchester City forward, will add extra spice to the clash at San Siro where AC Milan coach Allegri defends a 100 percent record against his neighbors.

Inter, eight points behind Serie A joint leaders Milan and Juventus, have leapt up the table to fifth after winning five matches in a row since the start of December and conceding only one goal in the process.

Their form is a remarkable turnaround for former Chelsea, Juventus and Roma coach Ranieri, after Inter managed only

one win in their opening nine Serie A games of the season. “We don’t need this match to know how much he is worth as a coach,” said Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso. “He’s a coach with great experience and understands everything. “He’s a cunning old fox and we need to be very attentive to him and Inter.” However, Milan’s form has been even more impressive with 10 wins and two draws since their only Serie A defeat of the season to Juventus on Oct 2.

TEVEZ CHASE Milan have been involved in a long chase for Tevez, who has not played for City since refusing to warm up in a Champions League match at Bayern

Munich in September. But their pursuit appears to have hit a brick wall as City have ruled out a loan deal which is favored

by Milan, while Inter president Massimo Moratti confirmed his club’s interest in the Argentine on Monday. Meanwhile, Milan forward Alexandre Pato is the subject of speculation over a possible move to bigspending Paris St Germain.

Italian media are suggesting he could be left out of Sunday’s match with fellow Brazilian Robinho - who has captured the attention with some glaring misses this season - partnering Zlatan Ibrahimovic in attack. Allegri, who won the Serie A title in his first season with Milan last term, has a 100 percent record in three outings against Inter, who in contrast have been

through a turbulent last 18 months. His debut produced a 1-0 win which hastened the end of Rafael Benitez’s unhappy six months in charge of Inter.

Benitez was replaced by Brazilian Leonardo who sparked an Inter revival but their title challenge was effectively ended by a 3-0 defeat in the second derby of last season. Leonardo quit in the summer and was replaced by Gian Pieri Gasperini whose disastrous five-match reign kicked off with a 2-1 defeat to Milan in the pre-season Supercup match, played in Beijing. The weekend will also see former Italy coach Roberto Donadoni, sacked by Cagliari just before the start of the season, make his debut in the hot seat at Parma. —Reuters

Libyan bravehearts defy bullets, bombs JOHANNESBURG: A constantly changing Libyan team defied the bombs and bullets of a civil war to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in a tale that must be tempting Hollywood scriptwriters. Forcing a 0-0 finalround draw in Zambia, the north Africans scraped through as the best group runners-up and have been drawn in Group A with the same country, co-hosts Equatorial Guinea and Senegal.

Most pundits fancy the Zambians and Senegalese to fill the top-two places and advance to the quarter-finals, but dare Libya be written off after a remarkable passage born of courage and determination? They began a six-match qualifying campaign under Brazilian coach Manuel Paqueta in Mozambique as representatives of the Muammar Gaddafi regime and wearing green because their leader loved that colour. But by the time they faced the Mozambicans again at ‘home’ in Cairo, the shirts included the red, black and green of the new rulers, the ‘Greens’ nickname had given way to the ‘Mediterranean Knights’ and they sang a different national anthem.

To Rafie El Lafi from Tunisian side Club Africain went the honor of scoring the first goal for the ‘new’ Libya as the 42-year Gaddafi stranglehold on the oil-rich country collapsed. It gave Libya a 1-0 victory amid the eerie atmosphere of a stadium kept empty for security reasons and thrilled Paqueta as he had to rely on Benghazi players because those from Tripoli were trapped inside the capital. In the dying days of Gaddafi rule, footballers from ‘rebel’ capital Benghazi were shunned-now Libyans danced in the streets of Tripoli celebrating a win that kept the qualification dream on track. And as the dictator fled Tripoli, the door also slammed shut on some stars like then captain Tarek El Tayab, who did not disguise his loyalties, calling dead rebels “rats and dogs”.

Paqueta, who worked extensively in the Middle East before succeeding Faouzi Benzarti after the Tunisian failed to make the 2010 Cup of Nations cut, swells with pride when discussing his squad. “I never considered abandoning them, even during the darkest days of the civil war. I believe in them as footballers and I cherish the friendship that has grown between us. “What they achieved is remarkable given that domestic football ground to a halt last March, leaving us with short training camps in Tunisia before matches. To hold Zambia under such circumstances was truly awesome.”

Although the lowest Group A seeds, Libya will fancy their chances in the tournament opener against Equatorial Guinea while accepting that a Senegal side packed with star strikers may prove too strong. So the January 25 middle fixture with Zambia looms large if ambitions of making the knockout stage are to be realized by a team 39-yearold goalkeeper Samir Aboud captains. Most of the squad will be much younger and most will be experiencing Cup of Nations football for the first time as Libya strive to improve on a poor 2006 showing when they headed home early after gathering a solitary point.— AFP

LONDON: Tottenham’s Benoit Assou-Ekotto (third right) celebrates with his team after scoring against Everton during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Everton at White Hart Lane Stadium on Wednesday, Jan 11, 2012.— AP

Spurs poised to join Manchester party MANCHESTER: Tottenham Hotspur have quietly crept up on the two Manchester clubs but will blast out a loud message that they are serious Premier League title contenders if they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers to pull level at the top this weekend. Harry Redknapp’s side beat Everton 2-0 on Wednesday to join secondplaced Manchester United on 45 points.

Both will go level with City on Saturday (1500 GMT) if Spurs beat Wolves and United overcome Bolton Wanderers, as the leaders do not play until Monday.

Showcasing an attractive brand of soccer that has had even United manager Alex Ferguson drooling, Spurs have racked up the points, losing just one league game since August, but have kept a low profile while Manchester grabbed the headlines.

“They play the best football in the country and their current form is the best in the country,” Ferguson said of Redknapp’s side last month. “Tottenham can definitely win it (the title).” The top three all face struggling opponents this weekend but United could have the most to worry about as they host a Bolton side who have just strung together back-to-back league matches

without defeat for the first time this season.

Victory over Everton and a draw against Wolves has lifted Bolton to 18th in the 20team league and boosted spirits at a club that pushed United all the way in this fixture last term before a late Dimitar Berbatov goal sunk them 1-0. By contrast, United go into Saturday’s game after successive league defeats and still troubled by injuries. While Sunday’s 3-2 victory over neighbors City in the FA Cup third round and the surprise decision by midfielder Paul Scholes to come out of retirement has lifted some of the gloom, Ferguson is more interested in stamping out sloppiness. “We had a clear scoreline (3-0 up at halftime at City) but we were too careless and that’s the area where, if we keep doing that, we will make mistakes,” he told MUTV. BIG SPLASH Scholes is not the only old hand to make a return in recent days with fifthplaced Arsenal hoping their leading goalscorer Thierry Henry can make as big as splash in the Premier League as he did in Monday’s 1-0 FA Cup win over Leeds United. The Frenchman, back at the club

he played for from 1999 to 2007 on a short-term loan from New York Red Bulls, came off the bench to score the winner and is looking for more goals to help Arsenal, who travel to Swansea City on Sunday (1600).

“I do think this team has what it takes to be in it (the top four), if you think about the way the team has come back from the beginning of the season,” Henry said on the club website (www.arsenal.com).

Manchester City make the short journey to 19th-placed Wigan Athletic on Monday (2000) with Roberto Mancini’s men hoping to halt a wobbly patch after losing three out of four matches in all competitions this month. Mancini’s predecessor Mark Hughes will take charge of his first game since being appointed Queens Park Rangers manager when the 17th-placed west London side travel to Newcastle United on Sunday (1330). Fourth-placed Chelsea host an improving Sunderland, sixth-placed Liverpool entertain Stoke City, Everton travel to Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers are at home to Fulham and West Bromwich play Norwich City (all today 1500). — Reuters

Sports FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

Levante reach first Cup quarter-final since 1941 Valencia lose in Sevilla but advance on away goals MADRID: Levante’s extraordinary season continued when they thrashed second-division Alcorcon 4-0 on Wednesday to secure a 5-2 aggregate victory and advance to the King’s Cup quarter-finals for the first time in more than 70 years. One of the poorest teams in the Spanish top flight and relying on one of the oldest squads, Levante are a surprising fourth in La Liga and briefly topped the standings for the first time in their history in October. Wednesday’s resounding Cup win set up a last-eight clash with their more illustrious city neighbors Valencia.

The 2008 winners lost 2-1 at Sevilla, the 2010 champions, in their last-16 second leg at the Sanchez Pizjuan but went through on the away goals rule after Valencia won last week’s first leg at the Mestalla 1-0. “Our priority is the

league but we are going to try to compete in the Cup too,” Levante coach Juan Ignacio Martinez in his first topflight coaching job, told a news conference. “If we get through the next round we’ll be very pleased and hopefully we can go far, although it’s going to be very tough.” Jose Barkero set Levante on their way in the 23rd minute at their Ciutat de Valencia stadium, before Roger Marti and Vicente Iborra made it 3-0 with goals either side of the break.

Ruben Suarez saved the best until last when he whipped a stunning free-kick into the top corner from 30 metres for the home side’s fourth 24 minutes from time.

On the other side of the draw, Espanyol, the team who eliminated Levante in the last eight in 1941, were flirting with elimination in their second

Keane joins Villa on loan LONDON: Irish striker Robbie Keane, who joined Los Angeles Galaxy from Tottenham last summer, is to spend two months on loan at Aston Villa, the club announced yesterday. The midlands side completed the final paperwork early Thursday and he could be in the lineup for the Premier league match with Everton tomorrow. That would mean the 31year-old would play alongside Galaxy team-mate Landon Donovan who has linked up with the Toffees for a second loan spell. It was a case of second time lucky for Villa boss Alex McLeish regarding the capture of Keane. The Scot was hopeful of signing Keane 12 months ago when in charge of Birmingham who announced they had agreed a fee with Tottenham. But the player instead went on loan to West Ham before leaving White Hart Lane for the United States last summer.

“We have been pursuing Robbie to bring him in with his extra experience in terms of the attack,” McLeish said. “I believe we could be doing with that when you see one or two of our players getting injured over the last couple of weeks. “It does leave us a little bit short. “We’ve got young kids trying to prove themselves in the Premier League but it’s very scatter-gun the experience they are getting with 10 minutes here, 15 minutes there. “I really believe we could be doing with that wee bit of experience that someone like Robbie provides.”

McLeish is confident Keane can still make his mark at Premier League level and who will be keen to show maintain his sharpness ahead of the Euro 2012 finals with Ireland. Keane said he was delighted to be back in the Premier League even if just for a short spell. “I’m excited about it and I know I’ll really enjoy my time here. It’s only for two months but I will do my absolute best in these two months.

“Villa is a great club, a club with a massive tradition and standing in the game and Villa Park is one of the finest stadiums I’ve ever played in. “I’ve been training with the players here for the past few days and it’s been great but I’m not naive enough to think I’ll just walk straight into the team. “If I can help and contribute to the overall effort of the team then hopefully I will be of benefit to Aston Villa. That’s my aim.”— AFP

leg at home to second-division Cordoba before Alvaro Vazquez completed his hat-trick in the 88th minute to send the Barcelona-based club through 5-4 on aggregate.

Vazquez netted a late equalizer in a 1-1 draw against Barcelona in La Liga on Sunday and put Espanyol 2-0 up by the 20th minute before Didac Vila added a third in the 35th. Cordoba battled back to 3-2 with goals from Alberto Aguilar and Pepe Diaz but Vazquez ended the Andalusian club’s hopes when he lifted the ball over the Cordoba keeper and into the net to send the 2006 winners through.

Espanyol will play third-tier Mirandes in the last eight after the Burgos-based club pulled off an upset at Racing Santander on Tuesday when they drew 1-1 at the Sardinero after winning last

week’s first leg 2-0. In-form France striker Karim Benzema came off the bench to score the only goal as holders Real Madrid won 1-0 in their second leg at Malaga on Tuesday for a 4-2 aggregate success. Jose Mourinho’s side will play their great rivals Barcelona, the team they beat 1-0 in last year’s final, in the quarters as long as Barca can defend a 4-0 lead at Osasuna. Real Mallorca overturned a 2-0 first-leg deficit by thrashing visiting Real Sociedad 6-1 on Tuesday and will play the winners of the tie between Athletic Bilbao and third-tier Albacete in the last eight.

Bilbao have home advantage for Thursday’s return game after last week’s first leg ended 0-0. The quarter-final first legs are next week and the return legs are the following week.— Reuters

Ronaldo in spotlight for Mallorca clash MADRID: Even more attention than usual will be focused on Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo when the La Liga leaders play at Real Mallorca tomorrow after his petulant reaction to whistling from disgruntled fans last weekend. The Portuguese refused to celebrate his goal at the Bernabeu, Real’s fifth in a 5-1 thrashing of Granada and his 21st of the campaign, after a section of the home support again expressed their frustration with his performance.

There appears to be a perception among some of the Real faithful that the world’s most expensive player can be too selfish and that he is more concerned with personal success than collective triumph. Coach Jose Mourinho and his team mates have rallied behind Ronaldo and he was given a resounding vote of confidence by honorary Real president Alfredo Di Stefano in the 85year-old’s latest newspaper column published yesterday. “We should support him because he could not put in any more effort, he gives everything to the team,” Di Stefano wrote in sports daily Marca.

“The Portuguese is an example to follow and his success is the result of a great deal of work,” added the former Real player and coach. Real can stretch their lead over second-placed Barcelona to eight points with a win in Mallorca, with the champions, who drew 1-1 at local rivals Espanyol last weekend, not playing at home against Real Betis until Sunday. Barca’s form at their Nou Camp arena has been almost impeccable, winning eight and drawing one of their nine games and scoring 39 goals without reply, but they have taken only 13 points from a possible 24 away from home.

Coach Pep Guardiola, whose side are chasing a fourth consecutive La Liga title, said on Wednesday the team’s patchy performances on their travels could cost them the league. “Away from home we don’t have the numbers to be

MALAGA: Real Madrid’s Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo (right) vies for the ball with Malaga’s French midfielder Jeremy Toulalan during the Spanish Cup football match Malaga CF vs Real Madrid on January 10, 2012. — AFP champions and we must be more ambitious,” he told a news conference ahead of Barca’s King’s Cup last-16, second leg at Osasuna later yesterday. “The reliability we have at home is harder to achieve away but we’re ready to fight for the

remaining 63 points.” Valencia, four points behind Barca in third, host struggling Real Sociedad tomorrow, while fourth-placed Levante, the season’s surprise package, play at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.— Reuters

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LOS ANGELES: Miami Heat forward LeBron James (upper left) puts up a shot as Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin (right) falls and forward Caron Butler defends during the second half of their NBA basketball game on Wednesday, Jan 11, 2012. — AP

Clippers overcome Heat to prevail in overtime Page 60