16th May 2012

CR IP TI ON BS SU

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

Ex-Murdoch editor Brooks charged in UK hacking case

JAMADI ALTHANI 25, 1433 AH

Bush touts Arab Spring, says US can’t fear freedom

Facebook boosts IPO share price to meet demand

www.kuwaittimes.net

Delhi Daredevils earn IPL playoff berth

NO: 15450

summons for former PM

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27 fresh 7 Probe13panel issues 18 Waalan inquires about Kuwaiti companies helping Iran

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By B Izzak KUWAIT: The National Assembly committee investigating graft allegations yesterday sent new summons to former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah who has refused to be questioned by the panel, the head of the committee said yesterday. MP Faisal Al-Mislem said the committee sent a letter to Sheikh Nasser asking him to attend a meeting on June 9 after the former premier declined an invitation to appear before the committee on Monday, saying the committee has no powers to question him.

The committee, formed in mid-March, is investigating allegations that Sheikh Nasser ordered the transfer of KD 87 million of public funds into his personal bank accounts abroad, an accusation he has categorically denied, saying the money was used in the service of Kuwait’s interests. Sheikh Nasser based his rejection on two main reasons - that the special judicial tribunal has closed its investigation in the case for lack of evidence and that the parliamentary probe panel has no powers to summon a former prime minister as the panel can only question ministers and employees.

But in the fresh invitation, the committee reminds the former prime minister that the latest amendment of the National Assembly’s internal charter gives parliamentary probe panels the power to summon officials as well as private citizens. If Sheikh Nasser continues to ignore the panel’s summons, the Assembly may resort to legal action under the law. Opposition MP Musallam AlBarrak, who was the first to expose the transfers issue, yesterday warned the former premier that no one can confront the constitution and the people. He reminded him that Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak AlSabah attended the committee’s meeting and took the oath, while former prime minister and Amir, the late Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, had also attended probe meetings.

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Real promise exciting football

By A Saleh

KUWAIT: (From left) Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas, Kuwait’s football media officer Talal Al-Mehteb, Kuwait’s national football team coach Guran Tufegdzic, Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho and Kuwaiti football player Jarrah Al-Ateqi pose for a photo during a press conference yesterday. Real Madrid will play a friendly match against Kuwait’s national football team today at Al-Kuwait SC stadium. (Inset) Real Madrid players Cristiano Ronaldo (left), Marcelo (center) and Pepe arrive at Kuwait Airport yesterday. —Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat and AP (See Page 20)

KUWAIT: Spanish champions Real Madrid arrived in Kuwait yesterday to a rousing welcome from supporters and fans. The team will play a friendly match against Kuwait’s national football side today at Al-Kuwait SC stadium in Kaifan. Real’s Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho was in an unusually jovial mood at a press conference at Kuwait’s Regency Hotel ahead of today’s friendly.

“This is the first time I am visiting this country, but we’re not here as tourists; we’re here to play and try to win the match. We know it’s a friendly, but Real Madrid always have to elevate their prestige as much as possible. That’s why we’ve travelled with the entire team. Everyone will play tomorrow to honour their names and the prestige of Real Madrid. They are a little tired because of the tough season we had, but everyone’s in good form,” Mourinho said. “We have respect for Kuwait’s national team, but people should realise we just celebrated winning the league title, we had a seven-hour flight and we’ve hardly trained for this. It’s important no one sustains any injuries tomorrow because many of my men are already thinking about the Euro. We intend to play a good game and we’ll try to win.”

Mourinho only had praise for his gifted players, especially striker Cristiano Ronaldo. “We won the championship thanks to all the players on the squad, but Ronaldo is special because he scores goals in all sorts of ways and in every position. He and Messi are above the rest and, if there is any justice in football, Cristiano will win the Ballon d’Or this year,” he said.

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Kuwait’s oil savings may be exhausted by 2017: IMF KUWAIT: Kuwait will have exhausted all its oil savings by 2017 if it keeps on spending money at the current rate, the International Monetary Fund said in a report published yesterday. The IMF, which held a regular consultation with the OPEC member state in the last two weeks of April, said Kuwait would not be able to save oil receipts into its future generations fund. It needed to diversify its economy and improve its infrastructure and climate for investment if it was to remain in good financial health.

It said the state would have to cut the fiscal deficit excluding oil and debt servicing by at least 7 billion dinars ($25 billion) by 2017 to ensure long-term fiscal sustainability. That compared with projected state spending of around KD 25 billion in 2017. “The need of fiscal consolidation is larger and more urgent in a scenario of lower oil prices,” it said.

Kuwait had a sound fiscal buffer thanks to thirteen consecutive years of fiscal sur-

pluses, the IMF said, estimating its budget break-even oil price at $44 per barrel for the fiscal year that ended in March.

That compares with current market prices above $112 per barrel.

But rising public sector wages, an “onerous” pension system and rapid population growth would put pressure on public finances. Kuwait’s early statutory retirement age of 55 is one of lowest in the world and about 60 percent of the population is under 24 years old. Kuwait’s economic recovery was expected to strengthen, led by high government expenditure, the fund said in the report, part of which the country’s central bank governor commented on Sunday. But the government and parliament needed to push through an agenda which improved the investment climate and promoted sustainable and inclusive growth, it said. Failure to do this would put the timetable for Kuwait’s KD 30 billion development plan at risk. —Reuters

‘Mossad agent’ hanged for Iran scientist killing DUBAI: Iran has hanged a man it said was an agent for Israeli intelligence agency Mossad whom it convicted of killing one of its nuclear scientists in 2010, Iranian state media reported yesterday. Tehran has accused Israel and the United States of assassinating four Iranian scientists since 2010 in order to sabotage its nuclear program which the West suspects is hiding Iran’s attempt to develop a nuclear weapons capability.

Majid Jamali Fashi Continued on Page 13

Palestinians mark Nakba Day BEITUNIA CHECKPOINT: Israeli forces faced off with Palestinian stone-throwers in the West Bank yesterday during the annual Nakba Day protests over the “catastrophe” that befell the Palestinians in 1948. At Beitunia checkpoint near Ramallah, youths hurled stones at troops, who fired tear gas, metal pellets and rubber bullets in a bid to break up the demonstration, an AFP correspondent said. Many protesters could be seen with blood on their faces as they waved black flags and roared angry slogans.

Clashes also broke out at Qalandiya checkpoint south of Ramallah, where youths threw stones at Israeli troops, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse them, AFP correspondents said. A source at Ramallah’s government hospital told AFP that 17 people had been injured by rubber bullets, 15 at Beitunia and another two at Qalandia. There were also reports of clashes in Hebron and at Rachel’s Tomb on the edge of Bethlehem, where the Israeli military said 200 protesters confronted troops. Two soldiers were lightly injured, a spokesman said. The protesters were commemorating the “Nakba”, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes in the war that accompanied Israel’s declaration of independence.

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RAMALLAH: A Palestinian demonstrator throws stones using a slingshot at Israeli soldiers during a protest outside Ofer Prison near this West Bank city yesterday on Nakba Day. —AFP

PARIS: Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla BruniSarkozy leave the Elysee presidential palace as France’s new President Francois Hollande (top left) looks on after the formal investiture ceremony between Hollande and his predecessor Sarkozy yesterday. —AFP

Hollande sworn in as new French president Socialist vows new strategy PARIS: Francois Hollande was sworn in as president of France yesterday with a solemn vow to find a new growth-led strategy to end the crippling debt crisis threatening to unravel the eurozone. After brief ceremonies and a rain-lashed walkabout, the 57-year-old Socialist headed to Berlin to confront Chancellor Angela Merkel over their very different visions as to how to save the single currency bloc.

Hollande’s plane was hit by lightning shortly after takeoff and returned to Paris, but the president left again shortly afterwards in a different jet.

“Europe needs plans. It needs solidarity. It needs growth,” Hollande told dignitaries at his new home, the Elysee Palace, renewing his vow to turn the page on austerity and implicitly underlining his differences with Merkel. “To our partners I will propose a new pact that links a necessary reduction in public debt with indispensable economic stimulus,” he told the assembled Socialists, trade unionists, military officers, churchmen and officials.

“And I will tell them of our continent’s need in such an unstable world to protect not only its values but its interests.”

Hollande also named his new prime

minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, a 62-year-old longtime Hollande ally and the head of the Socialists’ parliamentary bloc, who was tipped as favourite. Ayrault’s new cabinet will likely hold its first session on Thursday after which the Socialists turn to their campaign to win a parliamentary majority in June’s legislative elections - a key test for the party after Hollande’s win.

The new president was welcomed to the Elysee Palace by his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, who led him to the presidential office for a private head-to-head and to hand over the codes to France’s nuclear arsenal.

Hollande ushered Sarkozy to his car for a final farewell, outgoing first lady Carla Bruni exchanging kisses with Hollande’s partner Valerie Trierweiler, elegant in a dark dress and vertiginous heels.

Hollande then signed the notice of formal handover of power - becoming the seventh president of the Fifth Republic and only the second Socialist. No foreign heads of state were invited to what was a low-key ceremony for a post of such importance, leader of the world’s fifth great power.

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

LOCAL

MoH holds ‘extermination’ session, environment safe Rat poison forces beach-goers away

KUWAIT: Bags of the rat poison are seen distributed on Messila beach. Photos courtesy Expats Express Kuwait (EEK) newsletter

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: Rat poison distributed at a strip along Messila beach has forced expatriates to look for other places to walk, barbecue or meet with friends. Some were worried about having their children play around poison.

Others, have also raised concern about the environmental impact of having rat poison distributed in such close proximity to the waterfront.

Pictures published at the end of last week

by EEK (Expats Express Kuwait), an expatriate e-magazine, showed bags of pink rat poison placed under rocks and in burrows along a stretch along the beach at Messila. The pictures were taken by a group of expatriates who organized a beach cleaning-up session,

accompanied by their children.

A Kuwait Times investigation revealed that the operation for the distribution of poison was conducted by official workers from the Medical Insect and Rodent Fighting Department (MIRFD) of the Ministry of Health.

The workers distributed the poison along the seaside from Shuwaikh beach to Messila beach last Thursday.

The MIRFD has a two-tier operation system.

“If we have receive a complaint from people about an infestation of insects or rats we send a team to go to the place and exterminate these insects or rats,” explains Ibraheem Othman, Head of the MIRFD Complaints Department.

Speaking to the Kuwait Times yesterday, he said that the team of workers also goes on reg-

ular inspections across Kuwait throughout the year. “We distribute poison during these inspection sessions according to our work plan, even if there are no rodents or rats. This is done as a prevention,” Othman said.

Asked about the hazard that such a poison distributed in public places could cause to beach-goers, Othman ensured that it only affects rats.

“First of all we choose the places that are somehow hidden and far from visitors, especially children,” he said, elaborating that the poison powder only has an effect on rats.

Concerned expatriates queried whether such amounts of poison could have an environmental impact. Their concern was refuted

by Othman and a representative of the Environment Public Authority. According to

Othman, the poison cannot pollute the sea or affect the marine environment, as it loses its toxic features immediately after coming into contact with water.

Dr. Salah Al-Mudhi, General Director of the Environment Public Authority (EPA), said the Ministry of Health is responsible through the MIRFD for exterminating rodents. He explained that the department follows certain regulations and is aware of their work.

“They know the right and safe way to distribute poison in public areas. If people see some suspicious distribution of poison or other materials they should report it either to the MIRFD or the Ministry of Interior to make sure that these people represent the official department. Otherwise, if such an act is done by individuals, it may be harmful for both the

environment or to people and they will be responsible for any damage caused,” he pointed out.

Othman explained that the next extermination inspection by the department will be a visit to Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh this month to exterminate rodents.

A western expatriate, who has been visiting that spot at Messila for more than 12 years, told the Kuwait Times that he had never seen something like this before. “Sadly (or lucky for me) we moved away from that area about two years ago but still pop in now and again. From Wednesday evening onward, if you are not there early, there is no chance that you will get a spot to picnic and the benches on the walkway are stuffed with people. It really is a great place,” he said.

Govt mulls employing educated bedoons KUWAIT: The Secretary General of the Central Apparatus for Illegal Residents Sheikh Khalid Mubarak Al-Sabah yesterday briefed the visiting delegation of Amnesty International about efforts of the Apparatus in resolving the illegal residents’ (bedoons) issues. In his remarks, following the meeting with the visiting delegation, Sheikh Khalid said he informed the Amnesty International envoys about government efforts in tackling the issue.

This question is being followed-

up continuously by the Apparatus, he said, noting that the Cabinet had approved granting citizenship to two batches of these residents of which their names had been listed and forwarded by the authority.

Currently, the Apparatus is preparing the lists of names eligible for naturalization, pending submission to the government for approval, he said.

The Central Apparatus has recently worked out a mechanism for employing illegal residents with diplomas and higher certificates

News

in brief

MOH selection process criticized KUWAIT: Health sources expressed shock at the selection process in forming a health delegation due to accompany Minister of Health, Dr Ali Al-Obaidi, at the 65th WHO Meeting in Geneva at the end of the month. The sources added that the specialties of the delegation members are not consistent, especially given that the visit agenda includes discussing various technical issues such as international health charts, AIDS and Hepatitis strategies, Health Researche, Healthy Lifestyle approaches, Health care during contingencies, nutrition, development plans, Cholera and blindness prevention.

‘CSC manipulated our rights’ KUWAIT: Hamad Al-Wardan, Chairman of the legal staff syndicate, said the recently approved increment by the Civil Services Commission (CSC) is manipulating the rights of legal staff. He said that the increment, he described as ‘shy’, was not enough in view of the job tasks they are performing. Al-Wardan said the CSC violated the law by treating citizens unequally. He said the CSC excludes graduates of the Islamic Law faculty from being recruited into legal positions in various government establishments.

Tackle cafe immoralities KUWAIT: MP Osama Al-Munawar, Secretary of the committee entrusted to study negative phenomenon, warned of any short fall by the ministries in fighting violations by cafes and restaurants. “We are serious in dealing with negative phenomena, and will stand up against any minister whose ministry fails to do its job,” he said. He pointed to a shortfall from personnel in the Minister of Interior and inspectors in the Ministry of Commerce. “He said there are 18,000 unemployed persons in the state, and if there is a shortfall among current employees why not employ the unemployed? This subject deserves a study. We shall cooperate with the concerned authorities to fill in this deficit,” he said. Al-Munawar said they extended an invitation to Kuwait Municipality, but they did not attend the meeting for the second time. He said he hopes that the Municipality attends the meeting next time to discuss the subject of restaurants and cafes. “We should always face the dangers that threaten our society, and solve them amicably by putting all efforts together,” he said.

Ministry fire not accidental?

KUWAIT: MP Dr. Khaled Shkhair said he doubted that the fire in one of the offices in Foreign Ministry was accidental. He questioned Foreign Minister, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled, about the fire to hinting that the fire could have been started on purpose to cover up some information and specific documents.MP Osama Al-Shaheen said there is a plan to spread confusion and to make the public lose trust in Government organizations, starting from Parliament itself. He said it will be followed up with a series of fires, and a boycott by investigation committees up to and including the fire in the Foreign Ministry. Undersecretary Khalid Al-Jarallah declared that a limited fire broke out in a small office at the Foreign Ministry. He said losses were limited to some furniture, and did not include any official files. Investigations about the cause of fire are going on.

whose names are included in the 1965 national census statistics in the public sector, in coordination with the Civil Services Commission, Sheikh Khalid Al-Mubarak added.

He affirmed abidance by the cabinet resolution, number 409/2011, stipulating facilities for the illegal residents, whereas basic ser vices, such as teaching and health, are being granted to them free of charge. More so, it offers privileges for those who seek to legalize their status, such as fiveyear residency without sponsor for

the father or the children, along with free education and health care.

On his part, Drewery Dyke of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Program said in a statement following the meeting that the delegation’s visit was aimed at examining developments concerning the issue. The delegation has held meetings with several ranking and eminent figures, namely Speaker of the National Assembly Ahmad AlSaadoun. — KUNA

Minister cornered by ‘social security’ violations KUWAIT: While Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali faces a tough task in fending off all allegations addressed by his two grilling motions, the alleged violations by the Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS) could be the turning point upon which the debate results will be assessed.

Several Opposition lawmakers spoke about this topic being ‘a bleeding wound’, especially following reports hinting that the Swiss bank accounts of Fahad AlRajaan, PIFSS General Director, have been frozen.

“We have some observations on the PIFSS performance, and their mechanisms for investing the pensions of retired citizens,” MP Dr. Faisal Al-Mislem said on behalf of the Majority Bloc. “We cannot pass judgment until the grillings’ debate”.

The PIFSS violations are one of eight main topics addressed by a grilling motion filed by MPs Musallam Al-Barrak, Khalid AlTahous and Abdurrahman Al-Anjari. It remains unclear whether it will be mentioned during the debate of the interpellation filed by MP Dr. Obaid Al-Wasmi, and consists of three articles.

“Reports about PIFSS investing pensions in companies suffering from financial troubles live up to be considered a crime of (squandering) public funds,” said MP Adel Al-Damkhi.

He said he holds Al-Rajaan “fully responsible for this waste”, and the Finance Minister bears the “responsibility for failing to launch a probe into the case.”

Al-Damkhi mentioned the reports about the freezing of Al-Rajaan’s foreign bank accounts, demanding that Minister AlShamali release a public statement “in

order to deny or confirm the reports”.

MP Riyadh Al-Adsani said the general assembly meetings held in the PIFSS since 2008 “never featured discussions of unsafe investments” carried out by the institution, adding at the same time that the institution “failed to exit from loss-making companies since the beginning of the global economic crisis.”

MP Saifi Al-Saifi said that including the PIFSS file in Al-Shamali’s grilling is essential for two reasons.

“The debate should feature discussion of errors in implementing the retirement law, as well as suspicions of financial violations in the institution’s investments”, he said.

MP Dr. Mohammad Al-Hatlani agreed that the discussion “is an opportunity to reveal the mystery behind the investments in question”.

MP Ahmad Lari, who is associated with the Parliament monitoring group, said “any observations about the PIFSS performance needs to be supported by proof”, urging public facilities to work openly “for the common good”.

Al-Shamali is widely expected to be voted out of office following the debate of his two grilling motions next week, as only 25 MPs are required to vote ‘no confidence’ to pass a vote of no confidence. Both interpellations are supported by the 35-member Majority Bloc.

Reports published yesterday quoted “senior Cabinet officials,” who said that AlShamali plans to face the debate “in order to respond to allegations and reveal the truth to citizens” before he resigns voluntarily.

KUWAIT: Some of the participants of the joint exercise.

Coast Guards, US marines hold exercise KUWAIT: A joint exercise between Kuwaiti Coast Guards and the general administration for special security forces, conducted with the American Marine Forces (special units), came to a close on Sunday.

Col Tensly, commander of American special forces in the Gulf, and Lt Gen Abdullah Ben Naji, General Director of Coast Guards,

attended the exercise. The joint activity was held under the patronage of the Assistant Undersecretary for Border Affairs, Lt Gen Sheikh Mohammad Al-Yousef. The training included marine interception, boat battles and navigation in hot places. It also addressed how to deal with detained persons and special aid.

MP Hayef refuses co-ed celebrations

By A. Saleh K UWAIT: MP M ohamma d Hayef has refused the holding of a co-ed celebration at Gulf University, saying “We reject the celebrations that some universities are tr ying to impose on societ y.” He added that the universities must stop such celebrations because they clash with the society and its customs.

Meanwhile, Hayef also commented on the decision of HH Sheikh Nasser not to attend the meetings of the transfers committee: “Any person who is asked to

appear in front of the investigations committees must show up to defend himself and explain the facts. His refusal brings up many questions, the least of which regards a lack of cooperation with the assembly as well as a sign of disrespect towards the wishes of the people.”

Regarding another issue, Hayef called for the allocation of a suitable place for the car sales market in both the Jahra and the Ahmadi governorates, adding that additional facilities such as a mosque and rest areas should be included.

MPs call for end on nepotism

KUWAIT: First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Sheikh Ahmad AlHumoud, received the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Kuwait, Dr AbdulAziz Bin Ibrahim Al-Fayez yesterday. A number of security subjects, which concern both countries, were discussed during the meeting.

KUWAIT: MP Osama Al-Shaheen emphasized the necessity of opening the door to leading positions which was done in the previous government. He further pointed out that some posts in the State were distributed as ‘gifts’ and added that ‘opening the door’ to the posts is vital to ensure that they go to deserving candidates instead of being handed out as gifts between MPs. MP Obaid Al-Wasmi sent a clear message to the Prime Minister demanding the eradication of leading posts being distributed strategically in the interest of a

select few. Al-Wasmi added that the Prime Minister should be aware of the dangers of political post distributions, which, he noted, do not represent public interests.

He noted the example of Assistant Undersecretaries being nominated externally as opposed to within the ministry, despite there being qualified individuals well suited to the post already working in the Ministry.

He further added that the creation of equal opportunities is a key part of the development progress the Prime Minister called for when he first came into power.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

local

Parents ‘bullied’ by private school Transfer Certificate ‘the last step’ ISPs required to stop unauthorized calls KUWAIT: Local Internet service providers (ISPs) are required to ensure that clients do not use their services to carry out international calls through means unauthorized by the Ministry of Communications, as per new regulations released by Minister Salem Al-Othaina recently.

The decision Al-Othaina made on Monday cancels all licenses the ministry provides to local ISPs, and requires the ministry to provide one-year licenses under new

KUWAIT: Children leave a private school in Kuwait. These pictures are used for illustration only.

—Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

By Sawsan Kazak

KUWAIT: In Kuwait, where all expatriate children can attend only private schools, with a few exceptions some parents have been facing trouble within the private school system. Zafar is one of the parents who has had to deal with what he called “forced transfer” and harassment by the school his children attended.

Zafar has two children attending one of the four branches of a known international school in Kuwait. He recently had to transfer both of his children due to what he claims was “a setup” to get his children out of the school. The parents were previously called in on suspicions that their child was suffering from ADHD, and the school asked the parents to remove the child.

When speaking to the Principal of the school, he reassured them at the time that the school would take care of the problem. But Zafar claims that this incident led to others over the years. “Last year we constantly got complaints that the child needs to be removed.” The parents wrote a letter to the board informing them of the situation and asking for help. In response, the board advised them to move the child to another branch.

“We moved the child to the other branch. The child used to get As and Bs, but at the new branch he began getting Cs and Ds. When his grades began deteriorating, we began pushing him and questioning him. At the beginning we always thought the problem was with the child. We did our research and all the problems, like ADHD, came up negative,” explained the father of two.

Two semesters into the new school, the administration informed the parents that the child was writing bad words on the bathroom wall; which the child eventually denied.

The teachers then sent a letter telling the parents that a transfer certificate (TC) would be issued in March if the child’s behavior did not improve. “This made me suspicious. I didn’t know why the teacher was talking about TC when it was a small behavioral problem,” said Zafar.

“Everything was good for a while, then all of a sudden we started getting complaints about our younger child too. My wife went back to the school and was told the younger child was beating other children. She witnessed an interaction between the teacher and the child that she did not agree with, but decided not to speak up. Like most parents, we did not want to make problems with them because our children are studying there, so we kept quiet,” explained Zafar. On the 21 March the parents received a call to inform them that the eldest child had preformed badly, and he would be issued a TC. “This was the 21st of March. The school started on April 1st. Where were we going to take him?” asked Zafar. The teacher insisted that they had already agreed that they would issue a TC, but the parents understood that the TC would only apply if there was another problem with the child’s behavior.

“When we went down to the school the next week to get the grades of the children, we saw that both of my son’s grades were withheld. They would only give us the grades if we took the forced TC. I think the whole thing was framed. If you go to the school you will see that the teachers and the students are from the same community, basically all connected, or else the parents pay more money to get their child in. It’s all planned,” said Zafar.

The parents have filed a complaint at the Ministry of Education and are going through the proper channels to contest the TC. “As a parent, I didn’t have the luxury of waiting for months until the Ministry of Education made the decision on the fate of my children. I had to literally beg the ministry to get my children into any school. The children had to change school and reexamine where they were not able to perform well enough, and are forced to repeat the grade. “The whole syllabus changed on the children, the school’s mechanisms are different than the one they are used to, so they failed the examination. Our younger child never had problems with his grades, but now he has to repeat,” explained Zafar. “Many parents face this kind of harassment, but they stay quiet because they don’t want to cause harm to their children and they will have a hard time being accepted in a new school. The parents don’t have any protection against this process.

More of the same Paul, another parent of a child that was attending a branch of the same school, tells of a similar situation he had to endure. “The principal called us into the school and told us we have to remove our daughter because she was not performing well. The principal at the time was not helpful at all, and was “a bit arrogant”. I don’t think bad grades is a reason to kick a student out. The school should be working harder to help the child get better grades,” explains Paul.

Paul thinks that this took place because his daughter would be entering the 12th grade and the final grades of that year would be published and the school only wanted to keep the students that had really good grades. “It wasn’t fair that they were taking our child out instead of doing their job, but we wanted to avoid the headache and simply took the transfer certificate and found a new school for her. Like Zafar’s sons, Paul’s daughter had a hard time adjusting to the new school and new environment.

“My daughter had to make new friends and get used to a new system of teaching. It was a hard year for her,” the father recalls.

The school’s side However, according to an official from the school, the transfer requirement is related to discipline. “As per the Ministry of Education, we are not allowed to terminate children’s school enrolment without giving two or three notices. After taking two disciplinary action notices, we

ask the parents to take the TC (transfer certificate),” explains Vijay who is from the board of trustees at this international school. “Before the TC, we contact the parents and explain to them what is happening. By the third time we tell them to take the TC, and we inform the Ministry of Education that we have asked the parents to take the TC. If the parents have any complaints or dispute the decision, we send our representative to the MoE,” says Vijay of the process used to issue TCs. “For example, if the child is not obeying the teachers we call the parents. If its normal or small things we do not call the parents. We have children and we are parents and we know kids are sometimes naughty. But things like smoking is not acceptable. We recently had a TC case in the school. We got letters from the parents saying they will make changes, letters from the Principal and other teachers. After all these steps we still couldn’t adjust, then we asked to them to take the TC and go; it’s the last step,” insists Vijay.

He, however, did not give a clear response if whether grades are one of the reasons children can be asked to leave. His response was: “in normal cases we will not disturb the parents, but if behavior is not at all acceptable, if other children are disturbed and other parents and teachers are disturbed, then we ask them to do it.” “There are some transfers that take place every year. Some are because the parents have lost their jobs or are leaving the country. But when it comes to a TC due to disciplinary problems, only about two or three a year out of about 7,000 students,” explains Vijay.

Legal matter “Schools are educational institutions that teach students. There is an unwritten contract between the parents and the schools that this institution will provide education until the final year; even if they are private schools,” explains legal advisor, Osama Ameen. Applying this logic, he says that the school should not be allowed to kick the child out “unless there are real reasons to do so. These reasons include harm to another student, but the school should take prior steps before taking this decision because removing a student from a school is a very serious punishment.”

“There are some parents that registered their kids in private schools who eventually asked for a transfer. The parents filed a case against the school and won,” says Ameen. The verdict for the cases against the schools stated that the institutions did not have the right to remove them, even if the student was performing badly.

Ameen explains that private schools do not function like private companies. “Even though they are private schools, they are not free to completely make all their decisions. So, for example, when we decided to increase school fees the Department of Private Education at the MoE did not allow us to do so. This department is responsible for the private schools and sets the rules,” Ameen says.

“If a school decides to remove a child without proper evidence of harm, this would be illegal. It would be an even more critical situation if the school decided to remove them during a period where other schools were not accepting new students. This would make them lose a whole year. So the parents have the right to complain, file a case and seek retribution,” says Ameen.

terms and conditions. “The decree contains 17 articles that detail the basic regulations that organize the process of work for licensed ISPs in Kuwait”, reads a statement released by the ministry on Monday. As per the new conditions, local ISPs are not allowed to execute or facilitate an international call made through any means of telecommunication without prior written approval from the ministry.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

LOCAL In my VIEW

In my VIEW

Fractious policies of Al Maliki

Managers... Stop managing, start leading

By Ismail Ismail

By Mohammad Akef Jamal

f you pay peanuts, you get monkeys” goes a popular idiom. Would you like to get lions, instead of monkeys, while still paying peanuts? Then lead and don’t manage.

Do we have leaders in Kuwait? The answer, largely, is NO! Management is different than leadership. The biggest difference between managers and leaders is the way they motivate people who work for or follow them, and this sets the tone in most other aspects of what they do.

Leadership has been described as the process of social influence in which one person can organize a group of people to achieve a common goal, whilst management comprises of planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal.

This is more commonly seen in Kuwaiti society, and mainly in governmental sectors.

I worked in the Government sector for three years, and never once did I feel a sense of belonging (other than my loyalty towards my beloved country). I didn’t feel part of the organization, mainly due to the way supervisors treated their subordinates, including me.

On the other hand, when I joined the private sector and was introduced to a new culture of leadership, I noticed that I started following a role model rather than obeying orders and complying with rules without having a buy-in. Have you felt the same way?

Probably so, and my suggestion is to start leading people rather than managing them.

Leadership uses the power of influence and positive reinforcement to drive the business outcome.

Positive reinforcement occurs when a positive stimulus is presented in response to a behavior, increasing the likelihood of that behavior in the future. The use of positive reinforcement is a successful and growing technique used by leaders to motivate and attain desired behaviors from subordinates/followers.

Organizations such as Frito-Lay, 3M, Goodrich, Michigan Bell, and Emery Air Freight have all used reinforcement to increase productivity. Empirical research during the last 20 years suggests that reinforcement theory gets a 17 percent increase in performance. Additionally, many reinforcement techniques, such as the use of praise, are inexpensive and provide a higher performance at a lower cost. Some managers will defend their case by explaining that company objectives need to be accomplished, whether the employees like it or not, and that’s why the employees are getting paid. It could be a fair statement, yet this will only drive compliant behavior, whereas what’s needed instead is a committed workforce.

On the other hand, leadership inspires commitment that increases ownership and the feeling of belonging to the organization, which motivates employees to do more than is expected of them just because they feel happy and are rewarded for it. My message to all of those who have subordinates or staff reporting to them: Don’t manage your team, they are humans, not machines. Lead your team and apply your interpersonal skills to drive work and commitment, not compliance. Then you will get lions.

(Ismail A. Ismail is an Organizational Effectiveness coach and a Human Resources Business Partner at EQUATE Petrochemicals, and an MBA student at Gulf University for Science and Technology.)

n April 21, the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) held an emergency meeting in an attempt to solve the issues that are threatening to break its unity as a result of Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s controversial policies.

Former prime minister Ebrahim Al Jaafari, who is also the INA’s chairman, did not attend the meeting, neither did the representative of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.

“I

O

The irresponsible statements made by the State of Law members have also poisoned Iraq’s relations on the regional front with some of its neighbours.

kuwait digest

People’s safety is your responsibility

By Waleed Al-Ghanim

“A

catastrophe which would have killed 220 passengers was miraculously avoided when the radar at the Kuwait International Airport malfunctioned, just as the captain of a Kuwait Airways flight requested permission to make an emergency landing minutes after takeoff” - Al-Qabas, May 11, 2012.

Such news usually prompts instant action from state officials: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation for example would rush to reassure people that the situation is under control, or the Minister of Communications would make an official statement to explain what actually happened.

This incident should have been the main topic of discussion for an emergency Cabinet meeting, or prompt lawmakers to demand a detailed report from airport officials.

However, none of those things happened because we are in Kuwait, where everyone is too distracted by minor things than to address crucial matters that affect the entire nation.

In Kuwait, the Communications Minister is protected by MPs in his same tribe, while labor unions are too busy staging strikes for more financial privileges. MPs have so many ‘important’ priorities that they can’t put anything on hold for such an incident. But even a case in which the lives of hundreds of people were on the line couldn’t change that?

The Government, as usual, doesn’t have a clear work program by which state departments can plan to deal with cases of emergency. It needs a massive fire to take place before the Government decides to relocate the scrap yard away from inhabited areas.

Blackouts need to happen before a decision is made to boost the production capacity of power plants. Staff members of state depar tments

learned that the Government only remembers to pass their allowances when they stage strikes.

It appears that the Government is very fond of Isaac Newton’s law of motion ‘for every action there is a reaction,’ and takes that as the main standard on which to base their decisions!

The airport radar system is operated by hardworking people. Their job leaves absolutely no room for error and requires a level of 100 percent attention, but this is often overlooked by the majority of the public.

Despite how vital the system is to work at airports, it is weird that the main airport in a wealthy country like Kuwait has only one radar. Operators are left to deal with an outdated, manually-operated military radar, should the radar system go out of order as it did during the recent incident.

I appeal to the Minister of Communications, Salem Al-Othaina, to hold an urgent meeting with airport officials to address the radar system woes and provide all the requirements necessary to maintain the safety of passengers. This responsibility lies on your shoulders, Mr. Minister. —Al-Qabas

It appears that the Government is very fond of Isaac Newton’s law of motion ‘for every action there is a reaction,’ and takes that as the main standard on which to base their decisions!

kuwait digest kuwait digest

Reality of education

A lesson in politics!

By Dr Yaqoub Al-Sharrah

C

ountless of educational conferences are held in the Arab World, resulting in countless recommendations combined with wide media coverage. However, they have failed for years to achieve the slightest bit of improvement in the Arab educational system, or bring it into line with improved international standards.

All recommendations by Arab educational conferences share the same fate: they are shelved without even a small effort to realize them. They are only remembered when educational officials decide to meet again, and over and over again they make the exact same recommendations they made before.

Maybe media and political showoffs are the main reason why this fruitless cycle continues to happen. In other words, officials believe that as long as they continue giving the public the impression that they have the intentions to achieve educational reform, people will always be optimistic that this goal will eventually be realized.

The main reason why recommendations by Arab educational conferences fail is because they lack visions by which they can realistically be implemented. They often fail to take into account the differences between educational systems in Arab countries when it comes to capabilities, as well as the lack of coordination between different systems. One thing educational systems in Arab countries have in common is the fact that they are heavily influenced by politics more than they are effective in achieving the true changes that people demand. It is not a surprise, despite forty years of continuous recommendations and studies, that Arab educational systems remain at the bottom of the UNDP list for outcomes of education as well as educational roles in economic development.

Achieving educational reform requires more than holding conferences and redundant recommendations. It needs efforts to address internal aspects that stand in the way of pushing educational development forward in each Arab country.

Deteriorating education in the Arab world reflects a general deterioration in Arab societies, as Arab universities are far behind international colleges in educational and scientific standards.—Al-Rai

By Dr Hassan Abdullah Jouhar

I

don’t blame the distinguished colleagues at the Social Sciences College for their rage over and resentment for the cheap false accusations pointed at them by an MP. They visited North Korea to participate in the celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the state founder, Kim El Song. This was followed by another visit a year earlier by an academic delegation from the same college, both of which were portrayed as Iranian Intelligencedesigned!

Any citizen is entitled to get angry at being accused of betrayal and disloyalty, accusations that have become so common amidst the ongoing sectarian tumult that they are even being accelerated by some MPs with the aim of making electoral gains, regardless of their possible perilous consequences to national unity.

Unfortunately, this has become our destiny in view of the impossibility of holding MPs accountable, or suing them because of their parliamentary immunity.

Through my modest parliamentary experience, I realized how some MPs can be used as tools, be that voluntarily or forcibly, in political conflicts. This is evident in so many statements and in the constitutional tools that they utilize merely to settle personal scores. They make use of the media to spread political propaganda, tailor-made for the lawmakers and their possible impact on public opinion.

Therefore, I am calling to take the recent accusations calmly. The

whole thing is nothing but the personal jealousy of a fellow professor because he was not sent to visit North Korea. He has access to

Any citizen is entitled to get angry at being accused of betrayal and disloyalty, accusations that have become so common amidst the ongoing sectarian tumult that they are even being accelerated by some MPs with the aim of making electoral gains, regardless of their possible perilous consequences to national unity.

Unfortunately, this has become our destiny in view of the impossibility of holding MPs accountable, or suing them because of their parliamentary immunity.

an MP who has become specialized in Iranian affairs, and this enquiry would be a big hit earning him, as a beginner, some parliamentary stardom.

I am confident that the poor MP’s leg was so pulled into this situation that he did not bother to enquire about the academic members of the delegation, who included many prestigious, distinguished university professors. The delegation included Abdul Rudha Aseeri, Abdul Wahab Al-Dhafiri, Bader Al-Essa, Hamad AlAbdullah, Mohammed Al-Sayyed Saleem, Malak Al-Rasheed and Abdullah Sahar. I even had the honor of escorting the second delegation, some weeks ago, and wrote about the visit on April 27.

So, on behalf of my fellow professors, I can confidently declare that both visits were approved by both the former Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah, and the current one, Sheikh Sabah AlKhaled. I would also like to highlight how the Nor th Korean President praised the state of Kuwait, His Highness the Amir, and the late martyr Sheikh Fahad Al-Ahmed.

During the visit, the delegation visited the only desalination project in Pyong Yang which supplies fresh water to all of the capital population. It was a contribution from the State of Kuwait through the Development Fund.

If this is espionage and intelligence work, then I do welcome such a ‘betrayal’ and wish that some MPs learn a political lesson from this experience! —Al-Jarida

These absences that may seem innocent are usually due to political reasons. The policies of the State of Law Coalition headed by Al Maliki pushed Iraq into a maze, domestically and regionally. They also created a ripe atmosphere for a mutiny against the current set-up by the blocs that make up the INA. And although the ‘news’ that is planted from time to time about the conflicts inside the alliance is either exaggerated or played down, one cannot deny the existence of a serious crisis facing the Shiite alliance for the first time.

Iraq will be facing grave consequences as a result of the dangerous stagnation in the political process, which is threatening to erupt. The INA has announced its solidarity with Al Maliki’s government; however, the statement that was released after the meeting did not hide its disappointment with Al Maliki’s policies and that of the Al Dawa party, which he heads. The announced decisions also restricted Al Maliki’s freedom. The decisions came in four sections; three of them blamed the prime minister and showed displeasure with his policies.

The alliance stressed the need for respecting bodies such as the Independent High Electoral Commission, the Iraqi Central Bank, Office of Financial Supervision, the integrity commission, and the National Communications and Media Commission of Iraq, and to refrain from intervening in their business.

The decisions also stressed the importance of national partnership and sharing power, which is the exact opposite of what Al Maliki has been doing since he became premier. The INA also refused any form of foreign intervention in Iraq’s internal affairs.

As a pre-emptive measure, Al Maliki had sent a letter to the parliament via Khudair Al Khuzaie, Iraqi Vice-President, wherein he pointed out his commitment to the Arbil agreement.

Domestically, the idea of holding power exclusively, annulling the concept of the national partnership, and the attempts to dominate independent bodies have created tensions in the political process that threaten to derail it. As a result of this, the relationship between the central government and the Kurdish region has deteriorated, reaching the brink of direct armed confrontation.

The irresponsible statements made by the State of Law members have also poisoned Iraq’s relations on the regional front with some of its neighbours.

If matters had been left to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the relationship with Arab countries and Turkey would not have deteriorated as it did after the Arab summit ended in Baghdad.

In all reality, the INA would not have called for the emergency meeting if it were not fearful of the repercussions, which could also lead to the downfall of Al Maliki’s government.

The Sadrist movement, which is the biggest in the INA bloc in parliament, expressed its keenness to re-evaluate its alliances.

The Sadrists did not hide their eagerness to break free from the structures of this process by joining hands with Al Iraqiya and the Kurdish alliance for a no-confidence motion against Al Maliki’s government, and to back another government headed by one of its bloc members.

In all truth, the Sadrists will not be the only ones to tread this road, as the State of Law Coalition has distanced itself from its closest allies because of its policy of holding power exclusively.

The decisions taken by the INA in the meeting will have a great impact on the future events in the country, as they will be a test of the ability of this alliance to control the prime minister and his party and to maintain its unity.

These decisions simply mean that the policies agreed upon while dealing with other forces in the political process are no more decided by the State of Law Coalition alone. These measures - despite the questions they raise about the extent of their compatibility with the Constitution - lessen the tensions in the Iraqi political process.

The Kurdish alliance for one has announced that it welcomes these decisions, despite its falling out with the State of Law coalition lately. It is too early to imagine that the INA has succeeded in solving all the problems.

Political blocs struck many deals in the past; however, they were never put into force and remained ink on paper, exactly as what happened with the Arbil agreements.

The execution of these deals is the responsibility of the prime minister and is not guaranteed due to his penchant for holding on to power.

The INA meeting decisions are also aimed at downsizing the role of Al Dawa party, while preventing the Sadrists from leading the political process. Most probably, Al Maliki will continue his tenure as prime minister until March 2014.

Removing him is not an easy feat and sectarian forces are still in control of big political-decision making. The prime minister succeeded in thwarting and aborting steps that were taken against him recently, and he has redirected the crisis away from himself for the time being.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

local Kuwait voices desire to boost ties with China KUALA LUMPUR: Bader Al-Tunaib, the Kuwaiti Consul General in Hong Kong, met yesterday with the Commissioner-General of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Sung-Joo, and expressed his desire to further elevate the close ties between Kuwait and China.

Al-Tunaib hailed the distinguished bilateral relations between Kuwait and China, noting his desire to enhance and bolster the ties, especially given that Kuwait is currently working on diversifying its income sources and becoming an international financial centre.

During the meeting with the new CommissionerGeneral, the diplomat congratulated him on assuming his duties. Kuwait signed a number of important agreements with China recently, regarding the encouragement and protection of investments, double taxation avoidance and economic cooperation.

These agreements, he noted, are indications of the strengthening of the cooperation between the two nations. Sung-Joo expressed thanks for the Kuwaiti diplomat’s congratulations and praised the deep-rooted ties between the nations. — KUNA

Al-Bader meets UNDP representative SARAJEVO: Kuwaiti Ambassador to Albania, Najib AlBader, met yesterday with the United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Program Resident Representative in Albania, Zineb TouimiBenjelloun. Al-Bader said that the discussions touched on issues including Albania’s EU aspirations and Millennium Goals efforts.

The ambassador added that there were also discussions on efforts to bolster democracy, economic growth, and human development within the framework of the UN’s timetable for cooperation with the country for 2012-16. He praised the UN office’s efforts in capacity building, poverty reduction, and disaster response and prevention.

Benjelloun said that Albania is one of eight countries included in a UN program for technical support, which is in harmony with the state’s national objectives to enhance the efficiency of the countries as development partners. The UNDP opened its office in Albania in 1991 and cooperates with a wide scope of partners in government, civil society, and international organizations to facilitate the achievement of the Millennium Goals as a step towards integration into the European Union. — KUNA

NEW DELHI: The Kuwaiti journalists delegation pictured during the seminar at New Delhi-based Jamia Milia Islamia University’s ‘India-Arab Cultural Centre’.

Kuwaiti journalists share experiences with Indians KJA delegation in New Delhi NEW DELHI: A visiting delegation of ten senior Kuwaiti journalists shared their experiences with Indian scholars, academicians and journalists about their society, role of women, and media back home. They delved into how Kuwaiti media has grown over the years, and is still developing at a fast pace. The journalists were speaking at a seminar titled “Society, Gender and Media: Experiences from Kuwait” at New Delhi-based Jamia Milia Islamia University’s “India-Arab Cultural Centre”.

Initiating the discussion, coordinator of the Kuwaiti delegation Adnan Khalifa Al-Rashed emphasized that India has a great influence over the Kuwaiti society and media, as it is a “great ancient civilization not only in Asia but internationally”. “It has a rich mix of traditions, customs, dreams and aspirations,” said Rashed and added that his country attaches great significance to India. According to him, this is the first Kuwaiti media delegation (of this level) to India.

On journalism, he said that it began in 1928 when three journals started getting published, and “daily

Zain sponsors KU media forum KUWAIT: Zain, the leading mobile telecommunications service provider in Kuwait, recently announced that it will sponsor the Media Forum organized by the National Union of Kuwait University Students. “Such a sponsorship stems from Zain’s belief in supporting youth activities and efforts,” said the PR and Communications manager at Zain.

Waleed Al-Khashti said Kuwait University (KU) student forums present creative ideas in various fields and activities. He also stressed Zain’s strong belief in the potential, skills and creativity of youth. “We are confident that if given the right chances and opportunities, the current generation will be more creative and ready to take over in the future”, said AlKhashti. As one of the largest economic

icons in Kuwait, he said Zain is dedicated to supporting science, culture and encouraging the creativity of ambitious youths. Zain will help them to contribute to development and progress in all fields in Kuwait.

Al-Khashti added that Zain is dedicated to its social commitments, which have been manifested in the form of strong bonds with both individuals and entities through signing partnership contracts with them.

“Zain is an integral part of Kuwaiti society, and will always work to boost this state of relations by launching new programs,” he added. Abdullah AlKandari, Chairman of the Media Club, thanked Zain for their constant support and sponsorship of the media forum.

ABK supports Blind Association KUWAIT: As part of its corporate responsibility to the citizens of Kuwait and in accordance with Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait’s pledge to ‘Our Society....Our Responsibility,’ it gives the Bank great pleasure to donate further financial resources towards helping the visually challenged and supporting their needs.

“Being visually impaired does not mean that you can’t lead a full and beautiful life,” commented Ali Al-Baghli, Assistant Manager of the Public Relations Department at ABK. “However, it does mean that you may need extra support now and then and at ABK we are proud to be there to help by offering financial support to make some conveniences

possible when needed.” ABK is well known for its generous and on-going support to social causes, more so when it involves special needs individuals.

Kuwait Association for the Blind falls under the ABK umbrella of care and Fayez Al-Azmi, President of the association expressed sincere appreciation for on-going timely help from ABK. “ With this generous donation received from ABK, we can now offer better care and services to the blind that come to us for help and assistance in their everyday lives. We are extremely grateful to ABK for their support and we hope that it continues long into the future.”

journalism” began in 1960s. “Indians played a significant role in technical aspects in the development of Kuwait journalism. Today, there are more than 15 Arabic dailies in Kuwait, three mainstream English dailies, tens of weekly magazines and tens of specialized magazines being published in Kuwait,” said Adnan.

On the role of Kuwaiti women, Haila Al-Metaimi, a professor of political science at Kuwait’s College of Social Sciences, said that her country’s female gender has come a long way of struggle to achieve political power. “Kuwaiti women struggled for nearly 30 years, before finally getting voting rights in 2006, but then took just three years to enter Kuwaiti parliament after successfully winning four parliamentary seats in 2009.

But, the last elections were again a setback for the Kuwaiti women when not even a single woman candidate could win,” she said.

Haila further stated that Kuwaiti women played even a greater role in liberation of Kuwait (from Iraq), and thereafter began asserting their role in active politics, “though they started taking interest in Kuwait poli-

tics from 1970s.” “Kuwaiti Constitution provides equal rights to women in fields of politics and employment,” she added. According to her, “Women Diwaniyas” also played an important role in the development of women-politics in Kuwait, “as they are the best way of communicating and interacting about day-to-day issues faced by the country”.

Among other Kuwaiti journalists present on the occasion were KUNA’s Editor-in-Chief Rashed Mohamad Al-Ruwaished, Chairman of Kuwait Journalists Association and head of delegation Ahmed Yousuf Behbehani, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of AlJazeera Saoud Rashed Al-Anezi, Editor-in-Chief of Kuwait Times Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan, Editor-in-Chief of Al-Anbaa Yousef Khaled Al-Marzook and Editor-inChief of Al-Nahar Emad Jawad Bukhamseen.

The Kuwait Journalists Association (KJA) delegation arrived in New Delhi early Monday. They were received by officials of the Kuwait embassy and the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. Later, Kuwait embassy hosted a lunch in their honor. — KUNA

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

local

Opportunity to cement Kuwait-Spain relations

Ambassador Angel Losada

KUWAIT: Spanish Ambassador, Angel Losada, thanked Kuwait in a message yesterday for hosting a football match between Spanish giants Real Madrid and Kuwait’s national team at Kaifan sports club stadium today.

“I am very glad to announce that Real Madrid is coming to Kuwait to play against the national team, and I am extremely honored that His Highness the Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, patronized the event. It will be an excellent opportunity to bring the great relations between the people of Spain and the people of Kuwait even closer,” the message said.

Kuwaiti ambassador’s wife visits Fukushima Prefecture TOKYO: Kuwaiti ambassador’s wife Jamilah Al-Otaibi visited, yesterday Fukushima Prefecture which was struck by a major earthquake and a tsunami in March 2011.

The ambassador’s wife, along with a delegation of the Society of Wives of Arab Ambassadors in Japan (SWAAJ), visited five schools in the district to give help in the form of textbooks and school supplies.

Al-Otaibi expressed her admiration to the tremendous efforts exerted by all sectors of the Japanese society to overcome a crisis of such magnitude.

Officials at Fukushima Prefecture expressed, on their parts, deep appreciation to the visit done by SWAAJ which showed the deep relations that tie Japan with the Arab countries. Kuwait has given Fukushima Prefecture an oil grant of 516 billion yen, in addition, to a USD three million given to rebuild Fukushima’s Marine Science Museum by His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah during his last visit to Japan. — KUNA

TOKYO: Kuwaiti ambassador’s wife Jamilah Al-Otaibi distributing sweets to the Japanese children.

Woman drugged, raped by friend in Salhiya Conman escapes with KD 41,000 TEC takes part in Travel Expo KUWAIT: Touristic Enterprises Company (TEC) is taking part, along with 26 other companies, in the Travel Exhibition that recently started at the Mishref International Fair Grounds. Abdul Rahman Al-Mutairi, Assistant Undersecretary for legal affairs at the Ministry of Communications, inaugurated the event. Meshari Abdullah AlSanoussi, TEC Deputy Managing Director for Entertainment City Affairs, received AlMutairi and other visitors at the TEC booth where they were briefed about TEC services, various facilities throughout Kuwait and offers presented at the fair.

“The main offers are 30 per cent discount on Entertainment City (E.C.) tickets, that is KD 2.5 instead of KD 3.5, and 10 free open E.C. tickets per each 100 tickets,” said

Al-Sanoussi. E.C. is currently preparing for the summer season, from June 28 until July 18. It will be suspended during the Holy Month of Ramadan, but will resume again on Aug 21, expected to be Eid, until Sept 14. Al-Sanoussi said E.C. summer working hours are back in effect and it will receive visitors from 5 pm until 1 am from Sunday through Thursday while working hours will be extended by one hour on Friday and Saturday.

He stressed that Monday is allocated for women only. “The City will be working all week long this year,” he remarked. Some amazing games will resume operation such as the Roller Coaster, Round Carts, the Bowling and Billiard complex and the Family Village.

KUWAIT: An underage girl went to Mubarak AlKabeer police station recently to report being drugged and sexually assaulted by her female friend. She reported that she fell asleep after drinking juice offered to her by the suspect, and woke up to find that she had been assaulted.

The girl was sent for a forensic check, while police are working to summon the suspect for further investigation.

Friend cheat The dreams of a Kuwaiti man to start a profitable business project were shattered, after he discovered that his business partner disappeared with the capital he had invested. In his statement to officers at Abu Halaifa police station, the man explained that he paid KD 41,000 to a Syrian friend who invited him to join a project to open a market in the area. After his friend failed to respond to his phone calls, the man grew suspicious and later found out that the suspect had fled to his home country. A case was filed for further investigation.

Gang arrested Criminal investigators arrested four people involved in a forgery case in which expatriate workers were assisted to bypass medical tests required for work permits. Investigations began after police received information about an Egyptian expatriate forging medical documents, which falsely showed that the holder passed medical tests. Following a week of monitoring, detectives confirmed the illegal activity by the suspect. They discovered that he had been using

a skillfully forged stamp. Following his arrest, the man led police to his accomplice, another Egyptian expatriate. The second suspect who was detained and provided further information about a third accomplice, an Indian expatriate.

The latter led officers to the head of the gang, a Bangladeshi expatriate, who was arrested.

Investigations revealed that the suspects forged around 50 documents for KD 400 each. They provided information about workers who obtained the forged documents to work in restaurants.

Bootleggers caught Two men were arrested in Salwa in possession of alcohol intended for sale. The suspects, two Asian expatriates, aroused suspicion when they became nervous after being pulled over on a street near the area police station. They were arrested after 175 bottles of homebrewed liquor was found in the trunk of their car. They were taken to the proper authorities to face charges.

Woman raped Police officers in Salhiya launched an investigation after a woman reported that her male friend drugged and raped her. The Filipina victim explained to the officers that her friend, an Irish expatriate of African descent, invited her to his apartment to discuss a job offer at his office. The victim reportedly fell asleep after drinking a glass of orange juice which, she believes, contained a sleep-inducing drug. Upon waking up, she found that she had been sexually assaulted and reported the crime to the police. A warrant

was issued to summon the suspect for further investigations.

Indebted man A journalist was arrested following a fight, after which it was found that he is wanted for large debts. The Kuwaiti man was reportedly involved in a fight in which he and his mother fought with an expatriate couple. It was revealed that the man rushed to aid his mother when she called him, following an altercation with the couple. In addition to being charged with battery, police found that he also faces older charges in which he has failed to pay KD 270,000 in debts.

Street scuffle A man was critically injured during a fight sparked by a traffic dispute. The search for the attacker is ongoing. The incident took place in Farwaniya, where the man was left bleeding from a stab wound in his abdomen. A Kuwaiti driver stabbed him with a knife, following a verbal exchange. The injured victim was rushed to Farwaniya Hospital. Police failed to find the suspect while searching the area. Investigations are ongoing.

Road accident A pedestrian was killed on King Fahad Highway recently by an unknown driver, who fled the scene following the accident. The unidentified victim was pronounced dead at the scene. Criminal investigators left the body for an autopsy. A search for the runaway driver is ongoing. —Al-Rai, Al-Anba, Al-Qabas

Kuwait launches five-year medical training campaign KUWAIT: Minister of Health Dr Ali AObaidi, in cooperation with the American Heart Association, inaugurated yesterday a five-year training campaign to save lives.

The minister said that the campaign aims at engaging all the community individuals, citizens and residents, to take on the responsibility of saving lives properly and quickly. Many government and private bodies are joining this campaign, he added.

Al-Obaidi pointed out that the Ministry would not hesitate to offer good health services and awareness campaign to the community. “It’s an honor to be here,” said the General-Director of the American Heart Association Michael Haley who thought being in Kuwait in an opportunity to con-

firm the already existing cooperation between Kuwait’s Heath Ministry and his association.

He lauded the efforts achieved by Kuwait in improving the health services in the country and providing the proper medical training for the public.

He also pointed out, by introducing this campaign, the state of Kuwait aims at training 10 percent of its society in first aid and Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR); a move that has not been done by any other Arab country than Kuwait, he clarified.

American Heart Association is the biggest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

There are more than 22 million volunteers working under its umbrella. — KUNA

Gulf Bank sponsors GUST spring job fair KUWAIT: Gulf Bank recently concluded its sponsorship of GUST’s 2012 Spring Job Fair, as a Platinum sponsor. The bank’s participation highlighted its commitment to providing employment opportunities to students and potential job applicants. The Job Fair was held at GUST’s Main Hall, Mishref campus, on May 9 and 10.

“As one of the leading Kuwaiti banks, we are

responsible for contributing to the national manpower development. We feel it is part of our responsibility to help provide bright and enthusiastic young Kuwaitis who are looking for jobs with suitable career development opportunities.” said Lulwa Bukhadhour, Executive Manager, Human Resources Department at Gulf Bank.

Gulf Bank has always been committed to providing the best employment opportunities, as well as the best working environment, reinforcing its ongoing support for young Kuwaitis.

Gulf Bank has been awarded the GCC Localization Award for the 7th consecutive year in recognition of its training, development and employment of nationals.

Moves to save water, electricity KUWAIT: The Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) announced coordination with the six governorates to activate rationalization within those areas, especially in public outlets that are within each governorate.

Sources said the MEW has urged each governorate in Kuwait to take physical steps towards rationalizing water and electricity. The MEW will ration power and

water for one month in each governorate.

Sources said the MEW hopes that such a thing will create a state of competition among governorates, to know which governorate can save more electricity and water.

The governor has authority to communicate with government organizations in his governorate and urge them to reduce consumption.

Heads of GCC Zakat authorities hold meeting RIYADH: Heads of agencies responsible for Zakat (alms) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states held their 9th meeting here yesterday.

The GCC General Secretariat said in a statement the two-day meeting will discuss a number of issues including the follow-up report of the General Secretariat. It would tackle a study presented by GCC Auditing and Accounting Authority of conducting a specialized course on Zakat that would offer diplomas to graduates, besides talking over the understanding memorandum signed between the GCC General Secretariat and

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB). The meeting also discusses third joint training plan of GCC Zakat bodies, besides choosing the subjects included in the GCC competition for research and creative works in the field of Zakat. It would also address activation of the role of media in presenting the tasks of Zakat bodies, especially the experience of Department of Zakat and Income Tax in this field. The meeting would also tackle the paperwork prepared by Kuwait Zakat House concerning the 9th International Zakat Conference that would be held, next November, at Zakat House. — KUNA

Al-Yaal removes three tons of marine waste KUWAIT: Alghanim Industries is a proud sponsor of Al-Yaal, Kuwait’s first nationwide marine conservation initiative. With the company’s support, Al-Yaal has been able to protect, conserve and restore Kuwait’s rich marine environment through weekly beach clean-ups, community engagement, volunteerism, education, advocacy and outreach.

Al-Yaal has been extremely active during the first three months of 2012, conducting a total of 12 weekly beach

clean-ups at the ecologically-rich beaches of Doha, KISR, Sulaibikhat and Green Island. These are areas that have been negatively affected by high concentrations of direct and indirect man-made waste.

Some of the key highlights of Al Yaal’s achievements in the first quarter of 2012 include: • 13,500 sqm of beach was cleaned • 3683.5 kg of waste was manually collected • 241 volunteers were engaged,

ranging in age from 6 - 70 years, originating from diverse backgrounds and nationalities, including Kuwaiti, Indian, Egyptian, Syrian, Sri Lankan, American, British, Canadian, Australian and South African.

• The group’s recent clean-up activities included participation from The American University of Kuwait, The American International School, The Canadian Bilingual School, The Kuwait National English School, corporate employees, and the Kuwait

Red Crescent Society’s medic trainee team amongst others.

Alghanim Industries commends Al Yaal for its exceptional achievements in the first quarter of 2012, and is proud to offer its continued support for this important environmental initiative. The Al Yaal marine conservation program is developed by en.v, an organization that promotes social responsibility in the Arab world, and is implemented by K’s PATH.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

Anti-Qaeda sweep kills 53 across south Yemen Page 8

Nepal plane crash raises fears over lax safety Page 12

Burning man breaks into Breivik trial Man suffers serious burns; Motive unclear OSLO: A man set himself on fire and tried to force his way into the Norwegian courthouse where far-right mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is on trial for massacring 77 people last July, police said yesterday. The man, who appeared to be a white Norwegian in his 50s, doused himself with liquid and set himself on fire before shouting at police officers and rushing toward a gate in the security perimeter, witnesses and police said. There was no indication of a motive. Breivik has been on trial in Oslo since last month for killing eight people with a car bomb, then shooting dead 69 more, most of them teenagers, at a Labour Party island summer camp in protest against immigration and multiculturalism.

Although reaction to the trial has been mostly calm, days of harrowing testimony from survivors of Norway’s worst peacetime massacre have raised the tension, and last week the brother of a man gunned down by Breivik hurled a shoe at him in court. Witnesses quoted by the news agency NRK said the burning man had shouted “Shoot me!

Shoot me!” before he was tackled by police, who poured water over him. However, a journalist at the scene said he may have shouted “Put me out!”, which sounds similar in Norwegian. Police spokesman Kjell Kverme said the man, who appeared to be a Caucasian Norwegian, had been taken to hospital with serious injuries to his torso. A video of the incident posted by the daily newspaper VG on its website shows the man, with flames coming from his hat and sweatshirt, walking toward the barrier and shouting at officers. He then turns and rushes toward the security checkpoint, where heavily armed officers wrestle him to the ground and rip his burning clothes off. Moshen Nouni, who works at a kebab shop across from the courthouse, said water had been poured on the man before he was rushed to hospital. Inside the courtroom, witnesses continued to describe how Breivik hunted down his victims on Utoeya Island, often taking them down with the first shot then finishing them off with a shot to the head.—Reuters

LONDON: Former News of the World Editor Rebekah Brooks, center, arrives at Lewisham police station, London where she was charged over alleged attempts to conceal evidence of Britain’s tabloid phone hacking scandal yesterday. The 43-year-old Brooks, who quit as News International chief executive in July, faces three separate allegations of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice — on offense which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. — AP

Ex-Murdoch editor Brooks charged in UK hacking case LONDON: British prosecutors accused former Rupert Murdoch aide Rebekah Brooks and five others of obstructing justice yesterday in the first criminal charges from the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

The ex-News International (NI) chief executive, her husband Charlie Brooks and four people who worked for her were charged with trying to hide evidence from police investigating wrongdoing at the now-closed tabloid.

Brooks, 43, and her husband, 49, who is a former racehorse trainer and schoolfriend of Prime Minister David Cameron, said the decision was “weak and unjust”. Senior prosecutor Alison Levitt said in a television statement that there was “sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction” in six cases of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The charges are a stunning fall from grace for the woman who started on the bottom rung of Murdoch’s empire more than two decades ago but eventually became so close to him that she was dubbed his “fifth daughter.” Instantly recognisable with her shock of flame-red hair, Brooks also moved in the highest circles of British politics, and testified to a press ethics inquiry just last week about her close relationship with Cameron. The others to be charged are Cheryl Carter, Rebekah Brooks’s personal assistant; Mark Hanna, head of security at NI; Brooks’s chauffeur Paul Edwards, who was employed by NI, and Daryl Jorsling, who provided security for Brooks that was supplied by NI. All six are due to appear in court in London at a later date, Levitt said. The maximum sentence for perverting the course of justice is life imprisonment, but jail terms are normally far shorter. Rebekah and Charlie Brooks condemned the charges-and effectively broke the news of them by releasing a statement several minutes before prosecutors officially announced them. “We deplore this weak and unjust decision.

After the further unprecedented posturing of the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) we will respond later today after our return from the police station,” the couple said.

Brooks was charged with conspiring to conceal material from Scotland Yard officers between July 6 and July 19, 2011, at the height of the hacking scandal, prosecutor Levitt said.

Brooks and Carter were charged with conspiring to remove seven boxes of material from the archives of News International, the British newspaper wing of Murdoch’s USbased News Corp. empire, between the same dates.

All five except Carter were also charged with conspiring to “conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from officers of the Metropolitan Police Service” between July 15 and 19, 2011. A seventh person arrested has been released without charge. Brooks and her husband were arrested in March over the allegations. She was initially arrested in July over separate allegations of phone hacking and bribing public officials, and she remains on police bail for those accusations. Brooks resigned as head of News International in July in the wake of her arrest and of the closure of the News of the World, amid public revulsion that it had hacked the phone of a murdered schoolgirl.

The charges announced yesterday are the first since Scotland Yard opened a huge new investigation into hacking and bribery in which more than 40 people have been arrested.

A News of the World journalist and a private detective were jailed for hacking in 2007 but the paper insisted they were rogue operators. The arrests continued yesterday, with police detaining a British customs official and a woman in a dawn raid on a house in northwest London as part of the bribery probe.

Brooks started work at the News of the World in 1989 at the age of 20 and became editor of Britain’s biggest-selling newspaper in 2000 aged 31, running a series of controversial campaigns including one to “name and shame” paedophiles. In 2003, she became the first female editor of The Sun, the News of the World’s sister paper, and in 2009, she became chief executive of NI. But it was her access to British politicians that has raised question about the influence of Murdoch’s empire. Cameron and Charlie Brooks were schoolfriends at the elite Eton college and he attended the Brooks’s wedding in 2009. —AFP

Police find large cache of arms in east Bosnia SARAJEVO: Bosnian police found in the eastern town of Bratunac a large cache of arms, including automatic rifles, hand grenades, rocket launchers, explosives and ammunition, the interior ministry said yesterday. In the loft of a building, the police discovered 13 automatic rifles, a machine gun, 80 hand grenades, five rocket launchers, 3.8 kilogrammes (8.3 pounds) of plastic explosive, five guns, eight mortars and more than 5,000 pieces of various ammunition and military equipment, the ministry said in a statement.

The arms were hidden by a Bosnian Serb at whose home police also found

more weapons and ammunition, the ministry said. The suspect was released after being questioned by a prosecutor, a police spokeswoman Mirna Soja was quoted by the Fena news agency as saying.

“The information that police have does not indicate that the suspect had the intention to use these arms for a terrorist activity,” Soja said. The arms were believed to be intended for illegal trafficking, Fena reported, citing police sources.

However, the discovery of the arms worried Muslims who had returned to the Serb-dominated town after Bosnia’s interethnic 1992-1995 war. — AFP

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

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

Algeria state Islamism closes tap on bars ALGIERS: Algeria’s traditional bars are closing one after the other but illegal outlets are mushrooming, in a prohibition-style game of cat-and-mouse played out with an increasingly Islamic state. Islamist parties may have suffered a stinging electoral setback last week but Algeria’s Islamisation has been driven chiefly by the old ruling party, which took the lion’s share in the polls.

“This used to be a night club,” 33year-old Slimane said as he sipped his whisky at the bar of a restaurant near the Martyrs monument towering above Algiers and its stunning bay.

“Soon, it’ll be just a restaurant with no bar, then a restaurant where you can’t drink with your food, and it will have one thing left to do: close down,” the young entrepreneur said.

Dozens of bars and off-licences have definitively closed in recent months, including taverns that had existed since the French colonial era, in a country that is almost entirely Muslim but where many remain fierce-

ly secular. “At this rate only a handful of hotels will still serve alcohol legally,” said Liamine, an engineering student, as he ordered another round for his table of friends, all gussied up for a night of boozing.

“Beer is so expensive there, only those who ban it will be able to afford it. That’s the problem with prohibition Algerian-style, Al Capone and the cops are one and the same,” he said, erupting into roaring laughter. The state is by far the country’s largest wine producer, with a turnover topping $150 million.

The pressure on Algeria’s watering holes started increasing markedly in 2006 when an Islamist trade minister decided to impose tougher checks on licences. But for every legal bar closed down by the authorities, several other illegal ones open. Consumption even grew 10 percent last year, according to Ali Hamadi, head of the Algerian Association of Algerian Beverage Producers (APAB).

In Kabylie, a Berber region east of

Algiers with a strong secular tradition, most bars no longer have licences but so-called “clandestine bars” operate openly and face little pressure. “I asked for permits and didn’t get them. Now I don’t want them. In Algeria, paperwork brings problems,” said Arezki Lagha, a burly Kabyle sporting a grey tip-curling moustache and an ear ring.

His bar in the Tizi Ouzou region has a car park, a terrace with fancy lighting and grotto-like masonry. It became popular for its mascot, a domesticated boar that could drink dozens of beer bottles in an evening.

It was shot by a hunter last year but patrons still flock to eat local delicacies such as porcupine meat-or wild boarand knock back a few bottles of local beer.

“Algeria was never Islamist. Muslim, sure-Tizi Ouzou has the highest concentration of mosques in the countrybut not Islamist,” said Ammar Lagha, an architect with combed back hair, suit and tie and a stentorian voice.

“In a place like this, sharing a few

drinks is like a way of combatting Islamism,” he said. Creeping Sharia compliance however is not immediately reflected in the political landscape, as last week’s legislative polls results might suggest.

The largest legal Islamist group failed to surf the post-Arab Spring “Green wave” and even lost ground but it was already part of the governing coalition and may yet be asked to stay in. Analysts say the regime’s attitude to alcohol is just an illustration of a broader strategy which involves being both the arsonist and the fireman.

“It’s a complex relationship... but there is a consensus between the state and the Islamists to use religion for political purposes,” Hocine Belalloufi, author of a just-released book on Algerian politics, explained. “There is a regime that is constantly feeding both sides of the crisis,” he said, alternately defending religious conservatism and posing as the last defence against Islamism.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s administration introduced prayer calls interrupting programmes on state television and launched the construction of the world’s third largest mosque.

Lila Hadjarab, an opposition MP, argued these were only some of the concessions made by Bouteflika to the religious camp and that his ruling National Liberation Front was now “Algeria’s main Islamist party”.

“The regime can raise the spectre of Islamism seizing power but it’s already in power,” she said.

Back in the 1970s, former President Houari Boumediene uprooted most of the vineyards planted by the French, a move meant to please nationalists as much as Islamists. But alcohol consumption skyrocketed during the darkest years of the civil war in the nineties, after hardline Islamists declared a zero-tolerance policy.

Bouteflika came to power in 1999 and, as he tried to reconcile the country after the war, fresh curbs on alcohol were introduced. — AFP

Syria opposition keeps chief, violence grinds on Damascus reports 51% turnout in parliament election

BAGHDAD: In this Friday, Dec. 23, 2011 file photo, Iraq’s Sunni Vice President Tariq Al-Hashemi speaks during an interview with the Associated Press near Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles (260 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq. A bodyguard for Iraq’s fugitive vice president testified yesterday that he was paid $3,000 to assassinate a government security official in one of hundreds of death squad killings that authorities link to one of the nation’s highest-ranking Sunni leaders. — AP

Iraq VP masterminded killings: Trial witnesses BAGHDAD: Victims’ families and witnesses yesterday accused Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi of masterminding killings at the opening of his trial in absentia on charges he says are politically-motivated.

Hashemi, one of the country’s top Sunni Arab officials, was accused in December of running a death squad and, along with his staff and bodyguards, faces around 150 charges. The vice president, last known to be in Turkey, is the subject of an Interpol red notice calling for his arrest but says he fears for his life in Baghdad.

The Central Criminal Court of Iraq opened the case yesterday morning after a two-week delay over a venue dispute, and heard testimony from families of three victims whose deaths Hashemi is accused of orchestrating, according to an AFP journalist in the courtroom.

Three other witnesses gave testimony, accusing Hashemi of masterminding the assassinations, before reporters were led out of the room. Neither Hashemi nor any of his staff were present in court.

Yesterday’s hearing was tackling the

murders of two security officials and a lawyer. The charges against Hashemi were first levelled in December after US troops completed their withdrawal, sparking a political crisis that saw the vice president’s bloc boycott cabinet and parliament over accusations Shiite Prime Minister Nuri alMaliki was monopolising power.

Hashemi and his political allies have slammed the charges as targeting their Sunni Arab-backed Iraqiya bloc, which won the most seats in March 2010 parliamentary elections but was outmanoeuvred for the premiership by Maliki’s alliance.

After the initial charges were filed, the vice president fled to the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, whose authorities declined to hand him over to the central government.

They then allowed him to leave on a tour of the region that has taken him to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and now Turkey. Ankara has said it will not extradite him to Iraq.

Hashemi underwent what his office described as “routine” medical checks in Ankara on May 11. — AFP

Anti-Qaeda sweep kills 53 across south Yemen ADEN: Yemen’s military yesterday ramped up its offensive against Al-Qaeda in the country’s restive south, launching ground and air assaults that reportedly killed at least 53 people, including 12 civilians.

The town of Jaar in Abyan province was pounded by air strikes which killed 13 extremists and the 12 civilians, while battles raged in Loder, another Abyan town the jihadists have been wrestling to control, leaving another 12 Al-Qaeda fighters dead, according to witnesses and tribal leaders.

Eight militiamen fighting against AlQaeda as well as eight soldiers also died in Loder, militia and military officials said.

Troops on Saturday launched a multipronged assault aimed at recapturing Qaeda-held towns and cities across Abyan, including the regional capital Zinjibar.

Yesterday’s, the military called in air strikes against targets in Jaar, five days after dropping leaflets warning civilians to stay clear of Al-Qaeda hideouts.

A first strike killed two Al-Qaeda suspects while the 12 civilians, part of a group who had gathered around the residence right after the attack, died in a second raid soon after, witnesses said.

“Eight bodies were pulled out of the rubble,” one witness said. Another four among 25 civilians hurt in the second attack died later, said residents. A later attack by the air force killed another 11 jihadists, a local source and residents said.

“The army has advanced in the area surrounding Jaar and arrested around 25 members of Ansar al-Sharia (Islamic law) on their motorbikes,” said a military official.

Members of Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen have renamed themselves Partisans of

Sharia. Meanwhile, 12 other militants were killed in battles that raged northeast in Loder, tribes said. Loder is the only Abyan town besides Mudia still not under the control of the extremists, who overran Zinjibar in May last year.

A military official said two soldiers were killed in fighting around Loder while “an AlQaeda sniper” shot dead an officer from the 111th Brigade, Colonel Qasim Dabwan.

Another military official said five other soldiers had been killed there.

Ali Ahmed, spokesman of the Popular Resistance Committees, formed by residents of Loder and nearby Mudia to battle jihadists alongside the army, said five of its members were killed while nearly a dozen were wounded.

Three of them died later, another member of the committees said. “We have managed to push the extremists further away from the southern and western entrances of the city,” Ahmed told AFP as both sides exchanged artillery fire in what he described as “fierce” battles raging around Loder. Fighting between the army and residents on one side and the extremists on the other for the control of both towns left more than 200 people dead early in April.

Yesterday’s deaths bring to around 90 the number of people killed since the military launched its offensive.

Tribal sources said Monday the battles had seen 37 militants killed in two days, but AFP could not independently verify the toll.

A military official said on condition of anonymity that 12 soldiers have been killed since the operation was launched Saturday.

But the defence ministry news website 26sep.net put the toll at six dead.—AFP

BEIRUT: A splintered Syrian opposition voted yesterday to keep a secular academic exile seen as a consensus builder as its top figure to further a quest for recognition from wary big powers in its struggle to unseat President Bashar alAssad.

In a counter-move to rebuild credibility, Damascus said that over half of eligible voters turned out for a parliamentary election last week, part of reforms it says show Assad’s intent to resolve an uprising against his autocratic rule peacefully.

But violence went on heedless of an April 12 ceasefire accord brokered by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, with dissidents saying government forces k illed two insurgents and kept up a campaign of detentions in a key oilproducing region.

A political path out of Syria’s bloodshed is the goal of Anna’s blueprint to end a violent crackdown by Assad’s forces and the insurgency - drawn largely from the country’s Sunni Muslim majority - that emerged alongside mass street protests.

Persistent bloodshed has led Sunni Saudi Arabia - for which an Assad demise would deal a welcome blow to his backers in Shi’ite Muslim Iran, Riyadh’s rival for influence in the Gulf - to warn that Annan’s plan is losing credibility.

The Syrian National Council (SNC), an umbrella group of factions, has struggled to gain full international recognition as the sole legitimate face of opposition to Assad because of infighting and political incoherence in its ranks.

Two people present at a ballot in Rome said Burhan Ghalioun, a sociologist long resident in France, won two-thirds of the vote, reflecting his acceptability to the several Islamist factions whose influence is dominant in the SNC. Ghalioun, 67, who will serve another three-month term, has been criticised by some opposition figures for failing to unify the SNC and forge close ties to dissi-

dents inside Syria. He has also been accused of providing a liberal veneer to what is a widely Islamist, albeit factionalised, opposition.

His backers in the SNC counter that Ghalioun is also acceptable to minorities within Syria’s array of sects and ethnicities, and enjoys suppor t from Qatar, the other resource-rich Gulf power to speak of arming Assad’s foes against him.

by tanks have been carrying out house-to-house raids that have resulted in hundreds of arrests in the last four days.

There was no independent verification of the report. Syria has limited journalist access to the country during the 14-month-old revolt against over 40 years of Assad family rule. The plan UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan presented a month ago for leading

HOMS: A Syrian rebel rides a bicycle in the Khaldiyeh neighborhood in Homs province on Monday. — AP George Sabra, another liberal who is an ally of Syria’s top dissident Riad al-Turk, came second in the vote, the sources said. Turk, an 81-year-old former leftist who spent 25 years as a political prisoner, operates underground inside Syria. The opposition looks to him for moral guidance.

On Syria’s battleground, opposition sources said Assad’s forces killed two rebels in Deir al-Zor, an oil town near the border with Iraq, where activists say troops backed

Syria out of bloodshed calls for the release of detainees, among other things, as a step toward a negotiated political solution.

Damascus has read that element as validation of the package of reforms it has floated during the uprising, including a revision of the constitution to allow more political parties and the parliamentar y vote whose results it announced yesterday.

Khalaf al-Azzawi, head of the judiciary body that oversaw the

election, said 51 percent of eligible voters had turned out, down slightly from an election in 2007 when the rule of Assad’s Baath party was unchallenged.

At least one independent figure made it into the assembly, according to results Azzawi read out in a televised news conference in Damascus. No figures were given for turnout in cities and towns under siege by government forces.

“The election gave the people the broadest possible representation,” he told a televised news conference in Damascus. “The election took place with full transparency, democracy, integrity, supervised and monitored by independent judicial councils which were not pressured by any side.”

Opposition leaders dismissed the election in advance as a ruse to buy more time for crushing dissent and said not credible voting was feasible in areas under continued siege and shelling from Assad’s security forces.

The head of UN monitors now to Syria to vet adherence to the ceasefire deal - one of whose vehicles was hit by gunfire in the central Syrian town of Rastan on Monday - told repor ters in Damascus the military observers were easing the situation. “ We are seeing that the observers, even when we have dramatic incidents like the one in Rastan yesterday, they’re having a calming influence,” Major General Rober t Mood said. The United Nations has rebuffed a demand by Damascus that it manage the delivery of all humanitarian aid to a million people in areas stricken by the conflict but the United Nations insists on having some control, envoys said on Monday.

“That position is a non-starter..., as it should be,” said one UN diplomat. “OCHA (UN O ffice for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) can’t allow the Syrian government to use it as a way to get people (they want to arrest) or to deliver aid only to government supporters.” —Reuters

N Lebanon calm after Syria spillover clashes TRIPOLI: Lebanese troops have deployed in tense areas of the northern city of Tripoli after three days of sectarian clashes in a spillover of the 14-month-long conflict in neighboring Syria. Lebanese army and police forces are patrolling the city as residents start to reopen their shops and check their property for damages.

An Associated Press reporter in Tripoli says no gunmen were seen

in the streets yesterday. Tripoli is Lebanon’s second-largest city and its Sunni and Alawite residents are bitterly split over loyalties linked to the Syrian uprising. The three days of clashes pitted neighbor against neighbor. At least five people have been killed and 100 wounded in Lebanon’s second-largest city since the gunbattles erupted late Saturday, security officials said.

Residents say differences over Syria

TRIPOLI: Lebanese citizens talk to each other in front of Lebanese army soldiers from the special forces unit, after they deployed on Syria Street which divides the Sunni and Alawite areas, in the northern port city of Tripoli, Lebanon, yeterday. — AP

are at the root of the fighting, which pits neighbor against neighbor and raises fears of broader unrest that could draw in neighboring countries.

Lebanon and Syria share a complex web of political and sectarian ties and rivalries, which are easily enflamed. Tripoli has seen bouts of sectarian violence in the past, but the fighting has become more frequent as the conflict in Syria worsens. The fighting camps break down along sectarian and political lines. On one side are Sunni Muslims who support the rebels trying to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad. On the other are members of the tiny Alawite sect, followers of an offshoot of Shiite Islam who are Assad’s most loyal supporters.

The recent clashes were sparked by the arrest of Lebanese national Shadi Mawlawi, an outspoken critic of Assad. The Sunni fighters say the root of the latest conflict in Tripoli is across the border.

“Syria. It wants it this way. It wants to start a battle here so it can say, look, even in Lebanon the Sunnis are killing the Alawites,” said Mustafa Nashar, 35, whose family lives in an apartment overlooking Syria Street, which cuts through the over whelmingly Sunni Bab alTabbani neighborhood.

Posters supporting the Syrian opposition hang on walls, and pictures of a local activist shot by a sniper in similar clashes in February read “Greetings to the free martyrs of Syria” and bear the Syrian revolutionary flag. Groups of men, many carrying assault rifles and wearing military-style vests, ducked through trash-strewn alleys. The residents who remained in the neighborhood took cues from fighters about when to sprint across alleys to evade the snipers up the hill.

A car with children crouching in the back sped past one alley, a bullet pinging the pavement behind it.

The Lebanese army set up a small position a few hundred meters (yards) away from the fighting, but no soldiers or police could be seen in the immediate area.

Mohammed Jaber, a 49-year-old fighter and Tripoli resident, said local fighting has been going on for decades in Tripoli, but the Syria unrest has set it off again. “The old has become new,” he said. “Once the Syrian revolution started, we supported all efforts to get rid of the regime.” Sunnis comprise the majority in Syria, but Assad and his fellow Alawites play an outsized role in the country’s government and security forces, prompting seething resentments.—AP

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

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

Protests and lockdown to greet NATO summit CHICAGO: Mass protests and an intense security lockdown will greet leaders of 50 countries gathering in Chicago this weekend for the NATO summit, with organizers ever mindful of violence at recent global events.

Fears that demonstrations could turn violent have put the city on edge, with some downtown businesses even telling office workers to ditch their suits and ties and dress down to avoid being hassled or targeted on the streets. Proof of such concerns came on Monday when eight protesters were arrested after refusing to leave the office tower that houses President Barack Obama’s election campaign headquarters.

But police and protest organizers have vowed that there will be no repeat of the trouble that erupted at events such as G20 summits in London and Toronto or the riots which scarred Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Officers will be stationed at sensitive sites such as the Federal Reserve, banks and businesses such as Starbucks that have previously been targeted, with parade routes and smaller protests also being monitored for troublemakers. “ You’re going to see a very large uniformed police presence. That’s really the key to success,” said Chicago Police Superintendent Garr y McCar thy.

“We’ve trained for this is what it boils down to.

“What you’ll see is identification, isolation and extraction from the crowd so we can arrest criminals while at the same time allowing everyone else to peacefully express their freedom of speech.” The decision to move the G8 summit on the same weekend from Chicago to Camp David is expected to lessen the intensity of demonstrations-and the disruptions-in Obama’s adoptive home town. But protest organizers say there are plenty of good reasons to take to the street and send a message to world leaders and reporters attending the summit.

“Bailouts and bonuses for the banks, austerity for the rest of us, that’s been the prescription of the one percent and far too many among the G8,” said Karen Higgins, co-president of National Nurses United,

which is sponsoring a major march on Friday. “No wonder they have run off to seclusion at Camp David,” she said. “They won’t be able to avoid the 99 percent for long if they don’t take meaningful action to heal the US and global economies.” The nurses and more than 100 other organizationsincluding groups from Britain, France, Germany, I taly, Spain, Denmark, Canada, Korea and Guatemala-will be pressing for a “Robin Hood” tax on financial transactions.

Another coalition will lead a major rally on Sunday, when the two-day summit gets under way, and scores of smaller events are planned. But they are unlikely to get within shouting distance as a tight security cordon will be drawn around the lakefront McCormick Place Convention Center where the NATO event will be held.

Fences and barricades will be in place and the two freeways leading up to the convention center will close, beginning Saturday.

A no-fly zone has been imposed and the Coast Guard will keep boats at a distance, while commuter trains which pass under the convention center will also be disrupted. But dignitaries and an estimated 2,000 journalists will avoid traffic snarls by traveling on an underground corridor typically used by taxis, shuttles and delivery trucks. George Ogilvie, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said a balance had to be struck between security and minimizing disruption for local citizens. “It is a complex event, but it’s nothing we’re not familiar with handling. Every year in New York city we provide protection for the UN general assembly,” he said.

The saving grace for Chicago commuters is that the summit will endand the roads will reopen-before rush hour on Monday. But a number of businesses-including some of the city’s most treasured cultural institutions-have opted to close their doors, with the dozens of motorcades, road closures and parking restrictions being blamed. “We thought it might be difficult to staff the museum and complex for visitors to get here,” said Erin Hogan, a spokeswoman for the Art Institute of Chicago, but concerns about protesters were “not part of the discussion.” — AFP

Jobless Sarkozy leaves Elysee Palace for uncertain future PARIS: Nicolas Sarkozy drove out of the Elysee Palace yesterday, unemployed and facing an uncertain future after five years as the hyperactive president of one of the most powerful countries in the world. Having handed over the launch codes for France’s nuclear arsenal and responsibility for the country’s economic crisis, Sarkozy has a month left of judicial immunity before possibly facing criminal investigation. But first he wants to spend time with his family, third wife and former supermodel Carla Bruni and their daughter Giulia, born last year ahead of the fraught presidential race eventually won by his nemesis Francois Hollande.

Friend and aide Franck Louvrier said last week that Sarkozy will “relax with his family,” most likely at his heiress wife’s mansion at Cap Negre on the sunny Cote d’Azur, soon after vacating the Elysee Palace. At 57, Sarkozy is young enough to have years of professional life ahead of him and his aides have said he wants to return to his job of business lawyer that he had before becoming minister. He still owns a share of Arnaud Claude’s legal practice but Sarkozy’s longterm future remains uncertain after he backpedaled on statements he was categorically retiring from frontline politics.

In any case he will not be able to make the millions reaped by British former Prime Minister Tony Blair through after-dinner and motivational speeches around the world, as his English is not good enough. As a former president, he also has the right to sit on France’s highest constitutional authority, the Constitutional Council, although Hollande said during campaigning he might overhaul that “tradition”. Or Sarkozy could be summoned to testify, once his presidential immunity lapses a month from now on June 15, in a swathe of probes into corruption and campaign financing violations. A series of overlapping enquiries into alleged illegal financing of Sarkozy’s 2007

presidential campaign by France’s richest woman, L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, may yet engulf him. Judges are also investigating Sarkozy’s alleged role in the so-called “Karachi Affair” involving alleged kickbacks on arms deals. More seriously, magistrates are probing whether a 2002 Karachi bombing that killed 11 French engineers was revenge for the cancellation of bribes secretly promised to Pakistani officials. Claims that former Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi’s regime financed Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign to the tune of 50 million euros also resurfaced during the

“If you love politics it is such an addiction that it’s very rare to not think of one day coming back,” said Philippe Braud, a political analyst at the Paris-based Centre for Political Studies.

“But if he is prosecuted and convicted that would practically eliminate any chance of him returning to political life.” Sarkozy said several times in recent months that he would retire from politics if defeated in the presidential, vowing as early as January: “You will no longer hear from me.” But Sarkozy’s promise “never” to return to politics was reportedly dropped from his concession speech on the advice of Patrick

PARIS: Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy jogs in Paris, following the handover ceremony with French president Francois Hollande. — AFP campaign, but no investigation is known to have been opened. Sarkozy has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in any of the cases, but a conviction would make a return to politics extremely difficult.

Buisson, who had advised his campaign to veer to the right, and then-foreign minister Alain Juppe. Given the unpredictability of political life, Buisson and Juppe reportedly told Sarkozy “not to hurt the future”. — AFP

EU hits pirate targets on Somali coast by air NAIROBI: The European Union’s anti-piracy force attacked Somali pirate installations on Somalia’s coastline by air yesterday for the first time since its mandate was expanded earlier this year. The strike on what the EU force said was “on known pirate supplies” came four days after Somali pirates hijacked a Greek-owned oil tanker carrying close to a million barrels of crude oil in the Arabian

Sea. “We believe this action by the EU Naval Force will further increase the pressure on, and disrupt pirates’ efforts to get out to sea to attack merchant shipping and dhows,” Operation Commander of the EU Naval Force, Rear Admiral Duncan Potts, said in a statement.

“The focused, precise and proportionate action was conducted from the air and all forces returned

safely to EU warships on completion,” the statement said, adding that initial surveillance had indicated that no Somalis had been wounded as a result of the attack.

The EU extended its counterpiracy operation off the coast of Somalia by two years in March, until December 2014, and expanded the area it covers to include the coastline itself. Until yesterday’s attack, it had only operated in

Somalia’s territorial and internal waters.

But its decision to extend its area of operations to include Somali coastal territory - land along the country’s coastline meant it was able to target pirates’ weaponry and other equipment on land. The EU hopes such strikes will destroy pirates’ boats and fuel dumps, making it harder for them to operate. — Reuters

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

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

A 20-year illegal immigrant worker at NJ airport NEWARK: For 20 years, co-workers on the security team at one of the nation’s busiest airports knew him as Jerry Thomas. His real name, authorities say, was Bimbo Olumuyiwa Oyewole, a Nigerian who used the name of a murder victim to hide his status as an illegal immigrant. Though there’s no indication of any other intent or transgressions, the revelation comes the same day a federal report says security breaches at the Newark airport were mishandled.

Authorities say Oyewole worked undetected for years as a security guard and later a security supervisor.

His arrest came on the day a federal repor t found the Transpor tation Security Administration’s handling of security breaches at Newark Liberty International deficient. Oyewole, 54, worked at the airport, starting in 1992, using the name of Jerr y Thomas, who was killed that year in

New York City. He was arrested, after an anonymous tip, at his home in Elizabeth on Monday and faced charges including identity theft, authorities said. It wasn’t immediately known how Thomas’ personal information was acquired.

Police in New York didn’t say whether Oyewole was a suspect in the July 20, 1992, killing of Thomas in Queens. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the area’s main airports and other transit hubs, said Oyewole entered the United States illegally in 1989 and had worked under several contractors at the airpor t, most recently FJC Security Services, and supervised about 30 guards. The agency said its investigation found no indication that he used the fake identity for any reason other than to live in the United States.

Port Authority leaders had spoken

with FJC officials “and will meet with them in the coming days to take ever y legally permissible step to recheck their security personnel on a regular basis and to protect our customers, employees and facilities,” agency spokesman Steve Coleman said. A message left Monday on Oyewole’s home phone was not immediately returned, and no one answered the door at the apartment.

The Port Authority said it wasn’t sure if he had retained an attorney.

FJC Security, which received an airport contract in 2003, said it conducted a background check on the guard as had New Jersey state police and US Customs and Border Protection. “In all cases, he passed the background checks,” FJC spokesman Michael McKeon said. “During his time with FJC, he had nothing in his record or his performance to indicate a cause for concern or a reason to question

the state police and federal government’s background checks.” McKeon said Oyewole, in his position as tour super visor, didn’t have access to employees’ personal information.

In a statement, the TSA said it was reviewing the Port Authority’s procedures for validating employee and contractor documents. “This investigation indicates that the individual’s identification documents were presented to the Port Authority for verification about a decade before TSA existed,” the statement said. State police spokesman Lt Stephen Jones said New Jersey requires security guards to undergo training under the Security Officer Registration Act and be fingerprinted.

The fingerprints are run through the state police criminal history database before a guard is certified. A candidate is disqualified if he or she has a conviction for a fourth-degree

offense or higher or a drug offense of any level, Jones said. Oyewole, as Thomas, was certified under SORA, he said.

A spokesman for Customs and Border Protection didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment Monday. An airport employee who was familiar with Oyewole as Thomas said the private security guards he supervised are responsible for manning TSA security checkpoints after passenger gates close for the evening and before they reopen in the morning. The guards also inspect delivery vehicles for possible unauthorized cargo, he said, speak ing to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the matter.

A search of public records found evidence of a Bimbo Oyewole and a Jerry Thomas living at the address where Oyewole was arrested. — AP

Obama targets Romney firm as job-killing ‘vampire’ Romney camp fires back, alleges stimulus waste

GREENSBORO: Former presidential candidate and US Sen. John Edwards follows his daughter, Cate, and father, Wallace Edwards, out of a federal courthouse during his trial in Greensboro, N.C., Monday. Edwards has pleaded not guilty to six criminal counts related to campaign finance violations. — AP

Mexico massacre highlights unknown drug war victims MONTERREY: Even if someone had not chopped the heads, hands and feet off the victims first, the chances of investigators identifying the 49 bodies dumped on a road in northern Mexico this weekend would have been far from certain. Catching the killers may prove an even harder task. More than 8,000 corpses left across Mexico since 2006 have not been identified, according to the National Human Rights Commission, a government-run body. At the same time, more than 5,000 people who have disappeared during the drug violence sweeping the country have never been tracked down, according to the commission. The failure to find and identify victims of massacres and murders has spurred criticism of the war on drug gangs waged by President Felipe Calderon since he took office in late 2006.

The thousands of grieving families searching for lost loved-ones are also likely to haunt Calderon’s successor, who will be chosen in presidential elections on July 1. “When you can’t find your family member it completely destroys you,” said Irma Hidalgo, whose 18-year old son was dragged from her home in Monterrey in 2011. “We just want to know if he is alive - or if not, then lay him to rest.” Hidalgo immediately called the Monterrey morgue following the discovery of the pile of dead outside the city on Sunday, but police told her not to come in because they said the bodies were so badly mutilated they were only identifiable with DNA. She has already given her DNA samples to state and federal police and is assured they will be compared with the victims.

The sheer scale of the carnage makes it difficult for authorities to handle the murder cases. The latest violence has pushed the total number of drug-related deaths to around 55,000 since Calderon assumed power in December 2006.

Emergency teams have had to confront mass graves with more than 200 corpses, dozens of bodies thrown into mine shafts and massacres such as the 49 headless corpses left on a road about 18 miles east of this industrial city. Stateemployed forensic scientists complain it is an almost insurmountable task. “I used to just deal with traffic deaths and the odd crime of passion. I never thought I would see this kind of devastation in my country,” said a forensic scientist in

Monterrey, who asked his name not be used. “I had a day recently when I had to look at five bodies that had been shot in one street, then three in another and then five corpses that had been cut up.”

“At first you feel sick when you have to take evidence from bodies that have been decapitated and mutilated. But then you get used it and you don’t feel anything,” he said. It has also been a challenge to store so many corpses.

Following the killings on Sunday, forensics vehicles needed to make several trips to take all of the 49 cadavers back to a morgue located in a public hospital in Monterrey. Hospital officials said they just managed to fit the corpses in their fridges. In other cases, such as when mass graves were found by the nearby town of San Fernando in 2011, the government had to send refrigerated trucks to store all the victims.

Calderon defends his offensive by saying his government has made record seizures of marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine, and arrested or shot dead dozens of major traffickers. “There are people who criticize my government for fighting criminals, but what do they want? To invite (criminals) for a cup of coffee?” Calderon asked as he inaugurated a hospital in Mexico State recently. “If someone doesn’t want to fight criminals, they shouldn’t be in government.” But critics point out that even as soldiers and police round up drug smugglers, they fail to solve most murders.

Fewer than 20 percent of homicides in the last two years have led to arrests and convictions, according to police and court statistics. With such a backlog, cases of disappearances are given even less priority, family members complain.

Jorge Varestegui has been searching for almost two years for his brother and nephew, who were taken by armed men at a road block near his town of Parras in northeast Mexico. “Police don’t take the cases of disappearances seriously. They say the person probably ran away or something, even when you bring evidence to show they were kidnapped,” he said. With so many crimes unsolved, police cannot identify if many of the victims were actually criminals killed over the fight to smuggle drugs or simply civilians caught up in the bloodshed.

The government gives a simplistic explanation that this is just criminals killing criminals. —Reuters

ALBANY: This photo combo made from file photos provided Aug. 10, 2011 by the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office shows, from left, Ryan Edward Dougherty, 21, Dylan Stanley-Dougherty, 26, and Lee Grace Dougherty, 29. The three Florida siblings accused of shooting at a police officer and staging a bank robbery in a multistate crime spree are set for a court hearing in Albany today. — AP

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama’s campaign released a video calling Mitt Romney’s private equity firm a job-killing “vampire” that ran a steel mill into the ground, signaling a new effort to carve into Romney’s image as a corporate success.

The Obama campaign’s six-minute video a shorter version of which will air on TV stations in the key states of Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Colorado - came on a day in which the president’s team sought to draw dramatic contrasts between Obama and Romney, the presumed Republican nominee for president.

Two days after Romney tried to woo conservative evangelical Christians in a commencement speech at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, Obama spoke at a women’s college in New York City and urged the graduates to fight for a more equitable and tolerant nation.

“Fight not just for a seat at the table,” Obama said, noting that women now make up nearly half the work force and have moved into leadership positions in many companies.

“Fight for a seat at the head of the table.”

Later, the Democratic president attended two fundraisers in New York, including one with supporters from the gay community, cohosted by openly gay singer Ricky Martin.

The fundraiser was held less than a week after Obama announced that he supported same-sex marriages, a move that thrilled the gay and lesbian community but may not play as well with independent voters whose support will be crucial for Obama in the Nov. 6 election.

“We have never gone wrong when we expanded rights and responsibilities to everybody. That doesn’t weaken families, that strengthens families,” Obama said to applause.

Drawing further plaudits, Obama also mentioned a repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act-the 1996 law barring federal recognition of same sex marriage. Obama’s administration has declined to defend the measure in court and the president declined to say in an interview on ABC’s “The View” on Monday that he would fight to repeal it, according to ABC. Republican leaders have vowed to use Obama’s support for gay marriage - which led Newsweek magazine to dub him “the first gay president” - against him as they try to attract support from independents and churchgoers who oppose gay marriage.

During his speech at Liberty on Saturday, Romney emphasized his view that marriage “is a relationship between one man and one woman.”

The tone for Monday was set by the Obama campaign’s ad, which showed that he will seek to undermine Romney’s candidacy by attacking the Republican’s justification for

running: his experience as a turn-around specialist in the corporate world.

The video released focuses on the demise of the GS Technologies mill in Kansas City, Missouri, which Romney’s company Bain Capital bought in 1993. Bain’s involvement with the mill was detailed in a Reuters special report in January.

broader effort by Obama’s advisers to define the former Massachusetts governor as an outof-touch leader whose policies would hurt the middle class.

Obama’s campaign made a point of saying it was not attacking the private equity industry, from which the campaign continues to solicit contributions. The president has taken

NEW YORK: President Barack Obama boards Air Force One during his departure from John F. Kennedy International airport in New York. — AP The video argues that the brand of capital- flak from business executives for using harsh ism Romney practiced at Bain, a firm that rhetoric against corporations that create jobs bought and restructured companies, helped and keep the economy humming.

“This isn’t about private equity,” Cutter said. wealthy investors at the expense of workers.

Less than a decade after Bain’s purchase, “Put simply: If Romney believes he can grow the econothe mill was padlocked and 750 people lost their jobs. Bain profited on the deal, receiving my for the long term, then he learned the $12 million on its $8 million initial investment wrong economic lessons and values from his and at least $4.5 million in consulting fees, private-sector experience.”

Romney’s campaign, which has tried to according to the Reuters special report.

“Most Americans know that even in the focus the narrative of the race on Obama’s real world, when you bankrupt a company handling of the sluggish economy, accused you don’t walk away with millions of dollars Obama of trying to distract voters from his for yourself and your partners while workers own economic record with its attacks on are left holding the bag,” Obama deputy cam- Romney’s business background. “ We welcome the Obama campaign’s paign manager Stephanie Cutter said in a attempt to pivot back to jobs and a discussion conference call with reporters.

“That’s simply wrong, especially if they’re of their failed record,” Romney campaign using those lessons and values learned from spokeswoman Andrea Saul said. “Mitt Romney that experience as the central premise of your helped create more jobs in his private-sector experience and more jobs as governor of campaign for president,” Cutter said.

The Obama video was featured on a web- Massachusetts than President Obama has for site it created, RomneyEconomics.com. It the entire nation.”

Saul said Obama had many questions to includes testimonials from workers affected answer about why his administration used by the plant’s closure.

“Like a vampire, (Bain) came in and sucked money from a $787 billion stimulus package the life out of us,” former steel worker Jack passed early in his tenure “to reward wealthy campaign donors with taxpayer money for Cobb says in the video.

Cutter said the campaign would highlight bad ideas” such as Solyndra, a solar panel more companies with workers who were company that went bankrupt despite receivaffected by Romney’s business experience in ing $535 million in loan guarantees from the the coming weeks. The move is part of a stimulus. — Reuters

Newlywed stabbed to death in wedding dress CHICAGO: A newlywed bride was found stabbed to death in her wedding dress in the bathtub of her suburban Chicago apartment, police said Monday.

Police said they believe she was a victim of domestic violence. Estrella Carrera, 25, got married on Friday to the father of her youngest child, her family said. Two cousins said Carrera didn’t tell many people about the wedding, and simply called that day to invite them to the party. “This just happened out of nowhere,” Jaime Lopez said of the wedding. “It was so fast I couldn’t even make to the celebration.”

Carrera sounded happy on the phone, but for some reason “she didn’t want to tell me she had gotten married,” said Sandy Lopez, another cousin.

Sandy Lopez said she didn’t approve of the man her cousin had an on-again, off-again relationship with for about three years, but said she wasn’t speaking for the whole family. “He’s just a person who had problems,” Lopez said without elaborating.

“She was a beautiful mother, person, sister.” Carrera was last seen about 2 am Saturday as the festivities wound down. She was supposed to pick up her children-aged 8 and 2 - from her father on Saturday afternoon but never came, or called. When her family checked on the Burbank apartment, there was no answer to their knocks and her car was gone. Police discovered her body on Sunday afternoon. — AFP

‘Stand Your Ground’ defense fails in Florida shooting case JACKSONVILLE: Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law is coming under more scrutiny, this time in a case involving a woman sentenced to 20 years in prison after firing a gun in the direction of her abusive husband. Marissa Alexander was sentenced last week after a Florida judge rejected her defense citing the “Stand Your Ground” law, which allows people to use deadly force in a case where a person is attacked or believes his life or safety is in danger.

The controversial law, first enacted in Florida and now in effect in more than 20 other states, has come under growing criticism after the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in February. Alexander, a 31-year-old mother of three, claimed in court that she fired a warning shot into the ceiling of a house after her husband threatened her and moved in her direction. The husband was not hit. In issuing the ruling, the judge said Alexander could have escaped the situation instead of firing her gun. Florida’s minimum-sentence guidelines require Alexander to serve 20 years in prison because a gun was fired in the incident.

A member of the US House of

Representatives, the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and an advocacy group opposed to minimum prison sentencing guidelines have all rallied behind Alexander, calling her sentence harsh. Greg Newburn, Florida project director for Families Against Mandatory Minimums, said under the sentencing guidelines Alexander would not be granted early release or opportunities for parole. “I operate under the assumption, for argument’s sake, that even if everything the state attorney alleges is true, the 20-year sentence is still obscene,” Newburn said. “I don’t argue that the sentence is unjust because she is innocent, I argue that the sentence is unjust because it does not fit the circumstances.”

Representative Corrine Brown of Florida, who attended the sentencing, issued a statement criticizing the prison term. “If women who are victims of domestic violence try to protect themselves, the ‘Stand Your Ground’ law will not apply to them,” she said. “Just minutes before the incident, Marissa’s husband told her ‘If I can’t have you, nobody is going to have you.’ —Reuters

11

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

international

Seeking logic in North Korea’s mass spectacles PYONGYANG: From across the city, they are summoned to pay reverence. So on a chilly April evening, tens of thousands of people come to honor their new ruler, as towering statues of his father and grandfather are unveiled on a Pyongyang hilltop.

The crowds bow before the statues in practiced unison and shake bright, fake flowers in choreographed praise. Some weep with joy to be in the presence of the baby-faced Kim Jong Un, who is now their Illustrious General, their Leader, their Supreme Commander.

For years, this is how the world has seen the people of this secretive nation: as Stalinist automatons in meticulously staged mass spectacles that glorify one-family rule. And there’s plenty of truth in that.

But look closer.

Go downtown on that April evening and mingle among the thousands of people walking to their trolley stops after the ceremony, when the streets are closed to traffic and crowds fill the night with laughter. Most have spent the entire day squatting in a hilltop plaza the size of a small cornfield, waiting to stand on cue and wave their flowers for a few minutes in well-practiced devotion.

They should be exhausted.

Instead, young women walk arm in arm, young men eyeing them from nearby. Older women laugh as they swish along in the traditional Korean dresses modernized here into polyester hoop skirts. Across the street from Department Store No. 1, hundreds of people crowd sidewalk stalls to buy 1-cent servings of spring water (“Good for your health!” a saleswoman promises), served in metal cups that are rinsed in buckets and quickly used again.

In many ways, it’s a vision of 1950s small-town America. Most men wear hats and ties, few women show even

a hint of cleavage. There are no teenagers with mysterious piercings, no fights, no obvious drunks.

This is the complex reality of the spectacles, which exist at a particularly North Korean intersection of dogma, tedium and entertainment.

They are blatant propaganda in support of the ruling family, but also a chance to look around for girlfriends.

They are a source of widespread pride in a country best known for its isolation, but require dull practice sessions that can stretch on for days.

And in a place with little to offer in the way of nightlife, they even count as fun. Movie theaters close early here, along with the bars. North Korean television broadcasts little but odes to the ruling family. Few people can afford the city’s restaurants. Private parties are discouraged by the authorities, who frown on gatherings they do not control.

That leaves the rallies. “On days when rallies are held, people who participate can get together and talk over drinks after the event is over,” says Kim Seong-min, 26, a university student now living in South Korea.

“Rallies are chances to get together and feel the warmth of the community.”

The ceremonies, like nearly all life in North Korea, revolve around the three men who have ruled the country since its birth in 1948: The founder Kim Il Sung, his son Kim Jong Il and now his grandson Kim Jong Un. Toddlers learn songs proclaiming their love of Kim Il Sung. Official accounts say Kim Jong Il’s could control the weather, and that broken machinery would spontaneously function at his touch. The state media proclaims Kim Jong Un, who came to power late last year after his father’s death and is believed to be in his late 20s, a living reflection of

his two predecessors.

In the official tales, the Kims are kind and they are brilliant, they are strong and they are all-knowing. The government, of course, is also deeply feared, with vast interlocking webs of intelligence agencies, informer networks and prison camps. Plenty of North Koreans proclaim their

Respected General,” says Paek Kum Hui, a schoolteacher who was part of an immense April 15 military parade where Kim Jong Un gave his first public address.

“The tears we shed were more than those of joy,” says Paek, her voice starting to break. She says they also reflect her pride in the new

PYONGYANG: In this Monday, April 16, 2012 photo, students wave the national flags at an evening dancing party and performance at Kim Il Sung square to commemorate late president Kim Il Sung’s 100th birthday in Pyongyang, North Korea. The spectacles exist at a North Korean intersection of dogma, tedium and entertainment. —AP belief out of that fear, according to people who have managed to flee the country. Others pay fealty out of professional ambition.

But many people genuinely believe the propaganda; it is so allencompassing that in many ways it would be hard not to. That makes the rallies as close to religious services as most North Koreans have ever seen.

“We, all the people, cried together while listening to the speech of the

leader, and in North Korea as “really in the center of the world.” Even people who have fled North Korea say the spectacles can be transcendent experiences. Many say they believed the propaganda when they lived there, and that others did too.

Cho Bong-il, 60, who left for South Korea in 1998 and detests the regime he left behind, says he would sometimes feel emotional during the rallies: “I even had goose bumps.” For centuries, rulers have used choreo-

graphed spectacles to help them maintain control, mixing the appearance of absolute public unity with an underlying threat of what happens to anyone who goes against the grain.

Mass rallies were a part of life in ancient Rome, in 1930s Berlin and in the former Soviet Union, which helped install Kim Il Sung in power after World War II. But in Pyongyang, spectacles have become science.

Two decades after the Soviet Union’s fall, rallies that Stalin would recognize occur regularly in the North Korean capital, home to the country ’s political, military and bureaucratic elite. Members of that elite know that attendance at the rallies, and the practice sessions ahead of time, are a part of living here.

So they learn the rules early from how to dress (conservatively) to where to stand (look for the numbers painted on many large plazas).

They participate in mass political rallies, mass military parades and mass outdoor dances, with thousands of synchronized couples swinging their partners in honor of the 100th anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth.

“When we as outsiders we look at these productions we only look at the final product: these machinelike events that look very eerie,” says Suk-young Kim, a professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara who has studied the spectacles. “But imagine you’re coordinating every breath you take with 100,000 people: it brings people together, it eliminates individual will. It has tremendous efficacy in running society.”

Not that it can’t get tiresome.

“Most people I knew in Pyongyang complained all the time about how there are rallies all the time and they

are sick of them,” says Kim, the student in Seoul. “We did it because we had to. If they told us to shout ‘Hurrah!’ we did ... If they told us to shout anti-American slogans, we did it no matter how many times they told us to.”

Watching the rallies can be bewildering for outsiders. They are dazzling displays of unity, as thousands of people move in such synchronization that it doesn’t seem possible. They can be breathtaking, and at times even beautiful.

Then there is the astonishing patience of those involved. No one goes to the bathroom during these gatherings, or fidgets or visibly yawns. When a young woman had to sit down at a recent Friday afternoon political rally, apparently overcome with illness, she knew to do it discreetly. The people around her closed in so she could not be easily spotted by the security men prowling the edges of the crowd.

By the standards of Pyongyang, that rally was fairly mundane, basically a series of speeches to denounce the South Korean government with tens of thousands of people brought in to listen. The crowds knew from years of practice to stand at attention as officials spoke. They knew when to applaud, when to thrust their fists into the air, when to call out insults against South Korea. It was over in less than an hour.

All during the rally, though, no matter the moment, the facial expressions remained unchanged.

That was no surprise to Kim Seongmin, the former Pyongyang resident. He taught himself early how to participate in rallies while barely paying attention. “My mind just went blank,” he said. Because in North Korea, sometimes it is easier to be a robot. —AP

Myanmar halting arms purchases from N Korea S Korea to help Myanmar develop human resources

MINXIAN: Family members grieve during a funeral for the victims of the violent hailstorm and torrential rain that swept through Minxian in northwestern China’s Gansu province. Fourty people were killed when a brief but violent hailstorm and torrential rain swept through a mountainous region of northwestern China, while 29,300 people were evacuated after rain and hail battered the county on Monday. —AFP

US attack submarine docks in Philippines MANILA: A US navy attack submarine has docked in a Philippine port close to the disputed shoal where Philippine and Chinese ships are locked in a standoff, a spokesman for Manila’s navy said yesterday.

The USS North Carolina arrived at Subic Freeport on Sunday for “routine ship replenishment,” said Philippine Navy spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Omar Tonsay. “This has nothing to do with that matter,” he said, referring to the Scarborough Shoal, claimed by both Manila and Beijing, which have each posted non-military ships in the area for more than a month to assert their claims. Scarborough is about 234 kilometres (145 miles) west of Subic Bay, a huge former US naval base that the Philippines has converted into a freeport, resort and light industrial zone since US forces left.

The standoff at the shoal began when China

blocked an attempt by the Philippines on April 8 to arrest Chinese fishermen who were allegedly taking government-protected marine species from the area. China claims almost all of the South China Sea, nearly up to the coasts of its Asian neighbours. This includes Scarborough Shoal, which sits about 1,200 kilometres southeast of the nearest major Chinese land mass, according to Filipino navy maps. The Philippines insists it has sovereignty over the shoal because it falls within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam and Malaysia also claim parts of the South China Sea, which is believed to sit atop vast oil and gas resources, making the area one of Asia’s potential military flashpoints. The conflict has grown increasingly tense with Chinese state media once warning that the country was prepared to go to war. —AFP

YANGON: Myanmar’s president has assured his South Korean counterpart that his country will no longer buy weapons from North Korea, while conceding it had done so to some extent over the past 20 years.

In a meeting with visiting South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Myanmar President Thein Sein said his country never had nuclear cooperation with North Korea but did have deals for conventional weapons, Lee’s presidential Blue House said in an announcement yesterday. Thein Sein told Lee that Myanmar will no longer buy weapons from North Korea, honoring a UN ban, South Korean presidential official Kim Tae-hyo told reporters traveling with Lee, according to Blue House officials in Seoul.

Lee is on an official visit to Myanmar, the first by a South Korean president since North Korean commandos staged a bloody 1983 attack on visiting South Korean dignitaries.

Myanmar cut off diplomatic relations with North Korea after the attack, but restored them in 2007 as it sought allies in the face of international sanctions over its human rights record and failure to install a democratic government. Myanmar also began buying weapons from North Korea, and was suspected of obtaining nuclear weapons technology as well. Myanmar is taking steps to emerge from international isolation after decades of military rule ended last year.

Those changes were highlighted yesterday when Lee met opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was held for years under house arrest but is now a member of Parliament.

Suu Kyi said after the 45-minute meeting that South Korea and Myanmar have much in common in having had to “take the hard road to democratic leadership.” Lee, speaking through an interpreter, said he and Suu Kyi had agreed that “democracy, human rights and freedom must never be sacrificed

because of development.” He said he had praised Thein Sein’s contribution to democratization when he met the Myanmar president on Monday.

He also said he told Thein Sein that he

monument to Suu Kyi’s father, Myanmar independence hero Gen. Aung San. The attack left 21 dead, 17 of them South Korean, but failed to kill its target, then-President Chun Doo-hwan, who arrived late and was

YANGON: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (L) shakes hands with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak (R) during a joint press conference at a hotel in Yangon yesterday. —AFP hoped his government “will refrain from any activities” with North Korea that could be considered in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. He described this as a formal request. A UN resolution bars countries from obtaining all but small arms and light weapons from North Korea.

Lee yesterday made a brief visit to the site of the 1983 bombing, Martyr’s Mausoleum, a

not harmed.

A statement from Lee’s office said he also agreed to expand South Korean financial assistance to Myanmar. It said South Korea agreed to help Myanmar develop human resources, build a think tank and invite Myanmar students to South Korea in an effort to share its successful experience in economic development. —AP

N Korea stops jamming South’s GPS Beijing to crack down on foreigners BEIJING: Police in Beijing yesterday launched a 100-day campaign urging citizens to report on foreigners illegally living or working in the capital, after a British man allegedly tried to rape a woman. It is unclear whether the crackdown is directly linked to the alleged sexual assault last week, which was purportedly caught on video and posted online, drawing millions of views and angry comments.

“The Beijing police department will... increase efforts to punish foreigners illegally entering, illegally living and illegally working in Beijing,” it said on its official microblog page. “At the same time, Beijing police will collect information from the city’s many citizens,” it added, posting a phone number for residents to call and report any suspicious activity. A poster publicising the crackdown and illustrated

with a giant fist was attached to the statement. The Chinese capital is attracting an ever-increasing number of foreigners interested in work opportunities brought about by the nation’s rapid economic growth, as compared to stagnant job markets back home.

According to the state-run Beijing Morning Post, which quoted police authorities, there are on average almost 200,000 foreigners in the capital on any given day-including longterm residents and short-term visitors.

Foreigners living in the capital need an official residence permit, and those working in Beijing must have a visa that allows them to do so. But some do odd jobs on tourist visas, which is considered illegal in China.

In its report, the Beijing Morning Post quoted police as saying that foreigners caught in the crackdown

would be fined or detained, and may also be ordered to leave China. “In serious circumstances that constitute a crime, they will be held criminally responsible in accordance with the law,” they said.

It is unclear what has become of the British man accused of trying to rape a Chinese woman, after he was detained last week. The British embassy in Beijing was not immediately available for comment, nor was the police. Web-users broadly welcomed the crackdown yesterday.

“Leaving aside whether they act violently without any consideration, those (foreigners) who should leave must leave. Not only in Beijing but in the whole country. “If it was Chinese people abroad, they would have been deported a long time ago,” said one on Sina’s popular microblog. —AFP

SEOUL: Nor th Korea has stopped transmitting signals which jammed the GPS systems of hundreds of civilian aircraft and ships in South Korea for two weeks, officials said yesterday.

The state Korea Communications Commission said the signals designed to jam global positioning systems halted as of 8:34pm on Sunday.

The transport ministry confirmed civilian flights had not been affected since Sunday night. South Korean officials said the signals originated from the Nor th’s border cit y of Kaesong and began on April 28, forcing sea and air traffic to use other navigational equipment to avoid compromising safety.

The reason for the jamming, which the Nor th has not admitted, was unclear but it came at a time of high cross-border tensions. The North has threatened “sacred war” against the South in retaliation for perceived insults during Pyongyang’s commem-

oration in April of the centenary of the birth of founding leader Kim IlSung.

The North has twice before been accused by Seoul of jamming GPS systems but there was no previous widespread effect on civilian flights.

The latest exercise may have been intended to “test electronic warfare devices by the North Korean military or block mobile phone signals inside the North”, said a South Korean military official quoted by Yonhap news agency. The reason why the jamming was apparently stopped was also unclear. South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak discussed the issue Monday in talks in Beijing with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Lee’s office said. “China seemed to be surprised when our side gave a full explanation of North Korea’s attack,” presidential security aide Kim TaeHyo told Yonhap.

China is the North’s sole major ally and provides vital economic support.

“North Korea probably stopped its attack because it was not so effective and failed to cause any substantial damage to our systems,” a Korea Communications Commission official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

South Korea complained about the jamming to Pyongyang and to the International Telecommunication Union and International Civil Aviation Organisation. Baek Seung-Joo, of the Korea Institute for Defence Analyses, said: “I think the regime might have taken international criticism into consideration in its decision-making.

Such an attack on civilian aircraft is outrageous and dangerous.”

The signals affected the GPS systems of aircraft using Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports and those flying over the central part of the Korean peninsula. O fficial data showed about 670 flights, mostly operated by South Korean carriers, had reported disruption to GPS signals up until May 10.—AFP

12

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

international

Pentagon defends Afghan local police program WASHINGTON: The Pentagon defended a program Monday that recruits local police forces in Afghan villages despite a US-funded report that raises questions about the militia’s performance and alleged abuses.

Top officers, including the former commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, have portrayed the Afghan Local Police initiative as a crucial tool in rolling back the Taliban in rural areas.

But the unpublished study commissioned by the Defense Department and prepared by the RAND Corporation think tank offers a less optimistic analysis, according to the Los Angeles Times, which obtained a copy of the report.

The study found that one in five US special operations teams advising the local police units said the Afghan militia had committed violence or abused civil-

ians, and there were recent allegations of bribe taking, rape and drug trafficking, the newspaper said.

The RAND Corporation, which prepared the study, acknowledged quoted details from its report as accurate, but took issue with how the newspaper interpreted its assessment of security in villages where the local police operated.

The report said violence usually increased after US special forces entered an area to clear civilians, and then once the Americans withdrew with local police in place, the violence usually dropped back to the level seen before US forces arrived.

James Dobbins, director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at RAND, called that trend an encouraging sign, because he said it meant villages in the restive east and south were approaching a lower level of

violence in line with the country as a whole.

“For violence in the east and south of the country to drop to the national norm would in fact represent progress.

“It is therefore not a sign of failure that this seems to have been achieved over time in those areas where Afghan Local Police elements have been established but, quite the contrary, a sign of some success,” Dobbins said in a statement.

Previous coalition programs to establish local police were scrapped before this latest attempt. Designed to extend the reach of the Afghan army to rural areas, the local police are supposed to guard checkpoints, turn over suspected insurgents to regular troops and provide some intelligence on the Taliban.

The effectiveness of Afghan security forces, including the local police, holds

the key to NATO’s planned withdrawal of combat troops by the end of 2014.

US officials argue the Afghan forces are steadily improving, but it remains unclear how the army and police will perform once the bulk of the NATO force departs.

Afghan officials quoted by the Los Angeles Times said the local police were often under the grip of political power brokers and were tainted by criminal activity. US defense officials said NATO-led forces were aware of cases of corruption or abuse, which they said were not unique to the local police, and that actions had been taken to remedy the problem in particular units.

But the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the overall effect of the local police was positive.

Pentagon spokesman George Little insisted the Afghan Local Police (ALP)

program has proven effective and that Afghan security forces overall have made “tremendous progress” that he said has often been overlooked.

“We remain very committed to the ALP program,” he told reporters. “We realize they will continue to face challenges. They’re on track, their capabilities are growing and we will continue to support them,” he said.

Petraeus, the former chief of NATOled forces who now leads the Central Intelligence Agency, has described the ALP as a “night watch with AK-47s”. As commander, he often cited the program as a success.

“In some cases, they have ‘flipped’ communities who once even actively supported the Taliban,” Petraeus said in a 2010 article published by the Defense Department’s official press service. —AFP

Nepal plane crash raises fears over lax safety Fifth fatal plane crash in less than two years KATHMANDU: Inexperienced pilots, poor management and ineffective rules are endangering air travellers’ lives in mountainous Nepal, aviation experts warned af ter the latest in a series of fatal accidents.

Kul Bahadur Limbu, a retired

said. His comments came following Monday ’s crash Monday near the high-altitude Jomsom airpor t, a gateway to the Annapurna mountain range, shortly after the pilot reported a fault.

It was the fifth fatal plane

airports to reach remote areas.

In 2008 the Initiative for Aviation Safety in Nepal (IASN), a lobby group promoting air safety, released a study which blamed the rising number of plane crashes in the countr y on 16 main factors.

POKHARA: An unidentified Indian national, a survivor of Agni Air crash in Jomsom, recuperates at the Manipal Hospital in Pokhara yesterday. —AFP pilot and former head of the national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines, said: “Like the country’s other sectors, aviation suffers from lack of professionalism and leadership. “There’s also a cultural tendency not to strictly follow the rules. But in aviation, you can’t deviate from the rules.

Either you follow the rules or you don’t-there’s no middle way.

“If you don’t follow them, at some point, you will be caught, which could claim your life,” he

crash in less than two years in Nepal, which have claimed a total of 76 lives. The frequency of accidents underscores the gap between the safety practices common in wealthy countries and those in Nepal, which only replaced radio guidance systems with radar in 1998. The nation has a poor road network and large numbers of tourists, pilgrims and professional climbers often rely on the country’s 16 domestic airlines and 49

Chief among them was a failure by government, the Civil Aviation Authority and airlines to implement recommendations proposed by accident investigation commissions. “After every air crash the government forms a probe team. The team comes up with a report, which is never made public,” said Limbu.

“Also, its recommendations for the concerned authorities are hardly ever implemented.

Even if they do, they do it half-

heartedly.” In its 2008 report the IASN concluded that a rapid increase in competition since the liberalisation of the industry in the 1990s-opening up the skies to private airlines-had not been accompanied by a rise in safety standards.

The group also warned that many aircraft were poorly maintained while runways across the country were dilapidated and flights often operated in bad weather and carr ying excess weight. “The government and air ser vices operators have not been able to ensure flight safety.

Both par ties seem apathetic towards this issue,” Toya Dahal, the author of the IASN report, said at the time.

“The trend of flying in hazardous weather and weak technical conditions must come to an end.

“There must be monitoring to ensure that aircraft are not flying under pressure in the name of business competition, and strict action must be taken against those found responsible for such actions.”

Hemant Arjyal, an engineer and aviation analyst who is a member of the non-profit Nepal National Aviation Council, told AFP the industry was often dishonest in apportioning blame for fatal accidents. “There is a tendenc y to blame the dead pilot,” he said.

He conceded, however, that human error was a large factor in many of Nepal’s plane crashes, with pilots-often with little experience-tending to be overconfident and even “adventurous” in the air.

“The mechanical systems will have enough back up,” he told AFP. “But it’s human beings who are responsible for the decisions that lead to crashes. “Humans are the weakest link in the aircraft.” — Agencies

Pakistan to resume NATO supply lines ISLAMABAD: Pakistan yesterday looked poised to end a nearly six-month blockade of NATO ground supply routes into Afghanistan, succumbing to a key demand of the West ahead of a summit in Chicago next week. Islamabad shut its Afghan border crossings to NATO supplies after US air strikes killed 24 soldiers last November, provoking a new crisis in ties on top of the outcry from the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May that year.

Yesterday, civilian and military leaders are to discuss reopening the supply route at a meeting of the defence committee of cabinet, which will be followed by a meeting of army chiefs and the regular cabinet today.

Sources familiar with the discussions told AFP the government had already effectively taken the decision to reopen the lines, probably by the beginning of next week, and hoped to be invited to the May 20-21 NATO summit in Chicago.

Pakistani and US officials had reached a “broad agreement” on fees and logistics for the fuel and other non-military supplies that would go overland through Pakistan to Afghanistan, one source said. “The meetings will indicate that the decision has the backing of all the stakeholders,” the source told AFP. “ This should minimise the prospect for Islamist groups to exploit the situation in the hope that they’ll get the backing of the military establishment.”

Pakistan has called in vain for an end to US drone strikes targeting Taleban and AlQaeda militants on its soil, and a formal apology for the November air strikes.

Analysts say Pakistan has no choice but to reopen the border.

Its relationship with the United States is key to maintaining ties with multilateral lending agencies needed to help boost its state coffers, at a time when major NATO discussions are under way affecting its own strategic future.

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said on Monday that it was time to “move on”, in the strongest public sign yet that Pakistan will end the blockade. “It was important to make a point, Pakistan has made a point and we now need to move on and go into a positive zone and try to conduct our relations,” Khar told a news conference.

“We are trying to put this relationship, you know, in a positive zone and I am quite sure that we will be successful in doing so.”

The Pakistani cabinet’s defence committee, which includes the prime minister, army chief of staff and intelligence chief, will convene from 1430 GMT. Pakistan’s involvement in the Chicago summit could minimise its international isolation and boost the country’s leverage over the future of Afghanistan, as NATO countries pull out their combat forces by 2014. The US State Department said both countries had made “considerable progress”

on ending the blockade, which has held up lengthy convoys of fuel and supply trucks all the way to the port city of Karachi in the south. “ They are not yet finished with the Pak istanis,” State Depar tment spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters. “But we’re having a full review with the government of Pakistan on how this transit system works and all of the issues are on the table in that context.”

The Pakistan supply routes constitute as little as 25 percent of what NATO needs to sustain itself in Afghanistan as the United States has made increasing use of more expensive routes into nor thern Afghanistan.

Mir Mohammad Yousuf Shahwani, chairman of the All Pakistan Oil Tanker Owners Association told AFP he had been informed by a senior official in the petroleum ministry that Pakistan would reopen the supply line within days.

“The petroleum official told me that they are finalising the details,” he told AFP from Karachi. Islamabad reiterated Monday that it would still like an apology for the November air strikes, with the foreign minister saying it was “on the table”.

The United States has expressed regret for the deaths, which an American and NATO investigation said stemmed from mistakes made on both sides during fighting on the Afghan border with Pakistan. —AFP

NEW DELHI: India’s former telecom minister A. Raja, escorted by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials, exits the CBI headquarters for a Delhi court in New Delhi. Raja, on remand at the Tihar Jail for the past 15 months for his alleged role in the 2G Spectrum allocation scam that cost the nation up to $40 billion in lost revenues, was released on bail yesterday. —AFP

India ex-telecom minister granted bail in graft case NEW DELHI: India’s former telecoms minister A. Raja, who faces trial over a massive corruption case involving mobile telephone licences, was granted bail yesterday after 15 months in prison.

Raja was arrested in February 2011 for allegedly conspiring with officials and businessmen to sell second-generation (2G) telecom licences at throwaway prices in 2008 to favour some firms, costing the treasury up to $39 billion.

The allegations are among a series of graft scandals that have damaged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has been widely criticised for ineffective leadership as India struggles with worsening economic data. A New Delhi court granted Raja bail despite opposition from prosecutors who argued that he could try to influence witnesses who may be called in his trial.

Raja is a member of the regional Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party, part of Singh’s Congress-led national

coalition, and court officials said his bail conditions banned him from the southern state of Tamil Nadu, the DMK’s base.

More than a dozen people are on trial on corruption charges at a special court in New Delhi. Another key accused, Kanimozhi, who uses one name and also belongs to the DMK, was freed on bail last November, six months after she was arrested over the scandal.

Both Raja and Kanimozhi have denied any wrongdoing. Corruption has become a hot political issue in India due to a string of high-profile scandals including contracts awarded for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

Among the firms affected by the cancellation of 122 mobile phone licences in the so-called “2G scam” was Norwegian telecom giant Telenor which spent billions of dollars to enter the world’s second-largest market by subscribers.

Other companies included Gulf-based Etisalat and Russia’s Sistema JSFC.—AFP

US mulling sending Afghanistan general to head Europe troops WASHINGTON: The Obama administration is considering sending its top general in Afghanistan, who commands US and NATO troops there during a crucial withdrawal period, to head US forces in Europe this winter.

A US official speaking on condition of anonymity said that Marine General John Allen, who took over command of NATO and US forces in Afghanistan in July 2011, was under initial consideration to become head of US European command this winter, noting such plans were preliminary and could change. “Allen is one of the most widely respected leaders in the military. No one would bat an eye if he were nominated,” an administration official said on condition of anonymity. “He has earned the respect of US policymakers and our allies for his strong leadership and acumen.”

Pentagon spokesman George Little said that “no decisions have been reached on this nomination.” Allen has directed the campaign in Afghanistan as Western nations seek to balance the demands of fighting a still-potent insurgency with a mounting desire in home capitals to end

the long, costly conflict.

Under a plan endorsed by the White House, Allen will oversee the removal of the 33,000 extra U.S. troops President Barack Obama sent to Afghanistan, leaving about 68,000 by this fall. Most U.S. troops are due to be gone by the end of 2014.

Allen has been expected to make recommendations about fur ther troop reductions once this summer’s fighting season - which may show the degree to which the Taliban has been weakened, or remains resilient - is over.

Speculation about Allen’s future comes only days before NATO leaders gather in Chicago for a summit that will focus on the Western path out of Afghanistan, and steps NATO can take to ensure the country does not slip backwards into greater violence when that happens.

The preliminary consideration of Allen for the move was first reported by the Washington Post. Western troops in Afghanistan have been headed by a succession of commanders since the war began in 2001 in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. —Reuters

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

NEWS

TEHRAN: Iranians burn the Israeli flag during a rally in Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) Square yesterday marking Nakba Day, which commemorates the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians after the establishment of Israel state in 1948. —AFP

Bush touts Arab Spring

Real promise exciting football Continued from Page 1 “Real Madrid wanted to play in Kuwait and it would have been difficult to do so in the preseason due to short holidays and the weather. My men would have liked to be on holiday now, but they responded well to this venture for the prestige of Real Madrid. We’re here to do a good job.”

Captain Iker Casillas was equally upbeat. “We intend to play a friendly that will have a party atmosphere. We want to give a great performance so that people enjoy watching Real Madrid play. We want to win. Ronaldo is one of the two most influential players in the world. He is an important pillar at Real Madrid and he is symbolising an era.”

KUWAIT: Portuguese manager of Real Madrid Jose Mourinho (right) and captain Iker Casillas attend a press conference yesterday.

—Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Ex-prez says US can’t fear freedom WASHINGTON: Former US President George W Bush yesterday praised the Arab Spring movement and said the US shouldn’t fear the spread of freedom, even if it doesn’t know what policies newly liberated countries will pursue.

“America does not get to choose if a freedom revolution should begin or end in the Middle East or elsewhere,” Bush said. “It only gets to choose what side it is on.” And the US, Bush said, should always be on the side of freedom. The former president remarks came at event marking the launch of his presidential institute’s “Freedom Collection”.

The event also featured brief remarks by his wife, former first lady Laura Bush, and a question-and-answer session by video with Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Bush said uprisings last year in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and elsewhere marked the broadest challenge to authoritarian rule since the fall of the Soviet Union, but said some feared what that would mean for US foreign policy.

“America, they argue, should be content with supporting the flawed leaders they know, in the name of stability,” he said. “But in the long run this foreign policy approach is not realistic. It is not realistic to presume that so-called stability enhances our national security.” Bush said the US also doesn’t have the power to “preserve the old order, which is inherently unstable”.

The former Texas governor, who moved to Dallas, after leaving office, seemed relaxed during his appearance. He mostly has avoided the public spotlight, including commenting on his successor, President Barack Obama, and this year’s GOP presidential race. Bush joked that he had found his own freedom “by leaving Washington”. As the event wrapped up, he hopped back onstage to say thanks and playfully wave goodbye to the 100 or so people in the audience. —AP

Probe panel issues fresh summons...

Continued from Page 1 In a related development, opposition MP Obaid Al-Wasmi yesterday submitted a proposal calling to abolish a law that established a special court to try only ministers or former ministers. Wasmi said on his Twitter account that since it was established about two decades ago, the court’s special tribunal that investigates lawsuits against ministers has not referred a single minister for trial before the court and all its investigations were shelved. The lawmaker ’s move comes a few days after the special tribunal decided to end its investi-

gation into allegations of graft against the former prime minister over transfers of public funds abroad.

MP Mubarak Al-Waalan meanwhile asked the foreign and commerce ministers several questions about reports that influential people in Kuwait, including a member of parliament, are dealing with Iranian companies in breach of the UN sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program. Waalan said that he has learned that the foreign ministry has received a request from the United States to take action against Kuwaiti individuals and companies who are breaking

UN sanctions by having trade links with banned Iranian companies.

The lawmaker asked the foreign minister if the ministry has received such a request and for what reason and what measures has the ministry taken in this regard. He also asked if the ministr y has taken measures inside and outside of the country to make sure that no companies or individuals are dealing with banned Iranian companies.

Waalan also asked the minister of commerce and industry if any companies were established in Kuwait with the participation of companies linked to Iran and barred by the United Nations.

‘Mossad agent’ hanged for...

Continued from Page 1 While Israel has declined to comment on the killings, it regards Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat and has threatened military action against Tehran. Washington has denied any US role.

Twenty-four year old Majid Jamali Fashi was hanged at Tehran’s Evin Prison after being sentenced to death in August last year for the murder of Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, Iran’s state news agency quoted the central prosecutor’s office as saying. It said he had confessed to the crime. Ali-Mohammadi was killed in Jan 2010 when a remote-controlled bomb attached to a motorcycle outside his home in Tehran went off. Yesterday’s report said Fashi had confessed to travelling to Tel Aviv to receive training from Mossad before returning to Iran to plot the assassination.

A spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation said at the time that Ali-Mohammadi, a 50-year-old Tehran University professor, was not involved in its activities. The most recent attack on an Iranian scientist occurred in January. Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan - a deputy director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility - was killed when a magnetic bomb planted on his vehicle detonated. Israel has a policy of not commenting on the allegations but an unnamed Israeli source previously said the daylight killings provoked

panic in surviving colleagues and generate a phenomenon Mossad veterans dub “virtual defection” which hinders Iran’s nuclear progress.

Last month, Iranian intelligence officials said they had arrested 15 people they called a “major terror and sabotage network with links to the Zionist regime”.

The group had plotted to assassinate an Iranian scientist in February, the authorities said. Iranian officials have also accused Israel of infiltrating neighbouring Azerbaijan to organise attacks against the Islamic Republic. Unsubstantiated reports in the Iranian media earlier this month said Israel has pushed for the transfer Of 1,200 members of the exiled Iranian rebel group Mujahideen Khalq Organisation (MKO) from their base in Iraq to Azerbaijan.

Late last year Israel distanced itself from the MKO’s efforts to be removed from the US terrorism blacklist, saying it did not consider the group to be “an asset”.

Iran denies Western accusations it is seeking to develop a nuclear weapons capability, but major powers are pushing Tehran to become more transparent and cooperative ahead of talks later this month. Israel says it could attack Iran if it thinks that is the only way to stop it from getting nuclear arms. British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Monday warned the European Union would impose tougher sanctions on Iran if it failed to take concrete steps to allay international concerns over its nuclear program. —AFP

WASHINGTON: Former US President George W Bush (left), with former first lady Laura Bush, is presented with a collection of writings by former Czech President Vaclav Havel by Martin Palous, head of the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation during a gathering to celebrate the successes of dissidents and activists in their fight to be free yesterday at the George W Bush Presidential Center. —AP

Palestinians mark Nakba Day Continued from Page 1 But this year’s confrontations were largely low-level, in stark contrast with last year, when thousands tried to breach Israel’s northern frontiers, prompting troops to open fire, killing 10 people and injuring hundreds. In the West bank city of Ramallah, where president Mahmud Abbas has his headquarters, sirens wailed and hundreds of people at a rally in the central Clock Square stood in silence for 64 seconds - one for each year of Israeli statehood.

Cars flew black flags carrying a picture of a house key and the word “return” in English and Arabic to remember homes they left or were forced from which are now inside Israel, an AFP correspondent said. Further north, several thousand people gathered in Nablus city centre waving flags and calling for the right of return, with a similar number showing up in the southern city of Hebron. They also hailed the successful end of a mass hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, which was resolved late on Monday.

This year’s Nakba anniversary was to have been a protest over the ongoing mass hunger strike by 1,550 prisoners, most of whom refused food for between four and 11 weeks. But in a last-minute development, the dis-

pute was resolved late on Monday when prisoner leaders signed a deal with Israel, agreeing to end their fast in exchange for an easing of their conditions. In Israeliannexed east Jerusalem, clashes broke out in Issawiya between police and stone-throwers, with four people arrested, police and an AFP correspondent said.

And in downtown Gaza City, thousands joined a march organised by the ruling Hamas movement. On a lighter note, Gaza’s Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya joined dozens of other men, several sporting middle-age spread, in a 500-m Nakba Day jog from the central Al-Jalaa Street to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Haniya and his companions wore track-suit bottoms and t-shirts with numbers, with others carrying Palestinian flags for the brief run, which was organised by the ministry of youth and sport.

Arab Israelis also held a march near the northern town of Umm al-Fahm with around thousand people joining in, some carrying Palestinian flags, participants said. More than 760,000 Palestinians - estimated today to number 4.8 million with their descendants - fled or were driven out of their homes. Around 160,000 Palestinians stayed behind and are now known as Arab Israelis. They now number about 1.3 million people, or some 20 percent of the population. —AFP

Hollande sworn in as new...

Continued from Page 1 After the swearing in, Hollande rode up the rainswept Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe in a modest opentopped Citroen DS5 hybrid, a symbolic break with the flashy style of his predecessor. Soaked to the skin, Hollande laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and shook hands with veterans before greeting the sparse crowd of wellwishers who braved the bad weather. He then visited Paris City Hall, a swearing-in day tradition for the French president, for a ceremony presided over by Socialist Mayor Bertrand Delanoe and attended by the capital’s elected and religious officals.

But the real work was to begin after Hollande’s second plane arrived for

tense talks with Merkel, the leader of Europe’s biggest economy and France’s key ally. Merkel was a Sarkozy ally and the architect of the European Union’s fiscal austerity drive. Hollande opposed the speed and depth of the cutbacks demanded by Berlin, and wants to renegotiate the eurozone fiscal pact. Germany is committed to budgetary discipline, and Merkel has repeatedly insisted since Hollande’s election that the pact, signed by 25 of the 27 EU countries and already ratified in some, is not open to renegotiation.

But observers say there is room for compromise, with Hollande likely to agree to additional stimulus measures without a rewrite of the pact.

Symbolising the rising pressure on the heads of Europe’s two largest

economies, Greece was yesterday facing new elections after talks failed on forming a government in the debtwracked country. The leaders will have to reassure worried markets they can work together after new figures showed France’s economy stagnant, with statistics agency INSEE saying it recorded no growth in the first quarter of 2012.

The agency also revised downward the growth figure for the fourth quarter of 2011, to 0.1 percent from 0.2 percent, while maintaining that the economy grew by 1.7 percent overall in 2011. After the talks with Merkel, Hollande heads to the United States where he is to meet President Barack Obama at the White House on Friday ahead of back-to-back G8 and then NATO summits. —AFP

14

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

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Issues

LRA commander capture a boost in hunt for Kony

By Max Delany he capture of one of the Lord Resistance Army’s top commanders is a major blow for the rebel group and will provide a boost for those hunting its leader Joseph Kony, analysts say. Caesar Acellam, the most senior LRA leader ever captured, surrendered after a brief clash with Ugandan soldiers in the Central African Republic who had spent around three weeks waiting to ambush him.

“This is a major asset to have on your side,” Angelo Izama, a political analyst with the Kampala-based security thinktank Fanaka Kwawote, told AFP. “It will be like walking into a house with the lights on rather than the lights off. Now with Acellam they can see much better where they are going.”

The Ugandan army called Acellam, who was previously the LRA’s intelligence chief, a “big fish” and said that his capture could help end the rebel group’s 25-year insurgency. Analysts said that Acellam had fallen out with Kony several years ago over failed peace negotiations, and had been close to defecting on a number of occasions.

However, Acellam had remained in the bush and - given reassurances over his future and a possible amnesty deal could provide a treasure trove of information, including Kony’s possible location and strategy.

“On the face of it, it is a huge opportunity and I think this could be the final blow,” said Sunday Okello, from the Institute for Peace and Security Studies in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. “We didn’t know so much about the LRA structure, how they operate, what they really do, so this is really very good,” he added. Recruited into the LRA as a student in 1988, Acellam said he had left his group of 30 - including 14 fighters - in Democratic Republic of Congo days earlier and claimed he was trying to defect.

Acellam tried to downplay his role within the rebel ranks, saying that his importance had dwindled since he was injured in 2002, but admitted that his detention would be a big psychological blow to the rebels. “My coming out will have a big impact for the people still in the bush to come out and end this war soon,” he said, addressing journalists dressed in camouflage fatigues and a claret beret.

Tim Allen, a professor at the London School of Economics and author of a book on the LRA, supported the suggestion it could encourage others to surrender.

“Maybe there will be others that will follow Acellam if there is publicity about him being given amnesty,” Allen said. “If they are sure they will not be killed by the Ugandan forces, they may do that at some point.”

However, Allen said the situation is “different” for the top three commanders - Kony, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen - wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, including mutilation and murder. If he cooperates with intelligence officers, Acellam could also shed light on his liaison role with the Sudanese government, which supported the LRA in the early 2000s and allegations Khartoum has continued backing the rebels. Acellam is “an important catch particularly since he can describe the present relationship with the Sudanese”, said Ledio Cakaj, an independent researcher who was previously based in LRA-affected regions for the Enough Project group.

Around 100 US special forces were deployed to the area late last year to bolster the regional forces hunting the LRA - above all with intelligence and logistics support.

Ugandan and US officials refused to comment directly on the role played by special forces in Acellam’s capture, but Acellam’s group was being monitored in DR Congo, where the Ugandan army is not currently deployed. Regardless, Acellam’s apprehension was a sign that increased efforts to end the LRA threat are paying off, analyst Izama said.

“The pressure on the LRA is acute and that pressure contributed to these circumstances,” Izama said.

Kony started his rebellion in northern Uganda more than two decades ago, but has since been chased to the jungles of neighbouring central African states. Kony’s global notoriety soared over the past year through the Internet video campaign “Kony 2012” which has been watched tens of millions of times since it was posted online by the US advocacy group Invisible Children. The video was criticised by some who said it oversimplified the root causes of the LRA’s devastating insurgency. The African Union is currently setting up a 5,000-strong force made up of soldiers from affected countries to help better coordinate the cross-border hunt for the LRA. But analysts also warned that increased pressure on the group could spark an angry reaction. “I think one of the biggest threats the LRA are still able to pose is they know they’re cornered so they will kill and they will rape,” Okello said. — AFP

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Over-complex Europe keeps making same mistakes

By Paul Taylor mericans call it a Rube Goldberg machine, Britons a Heath Robinson contraption and the Danes a Storm P machine. The European Union’s policy-making system often resembles one of those cartoon designs of an implausibly convoluted system for achieving a simple task - held together by sticking plaster, string, frequent tinkering and plenty of wishful thinking. What is striking when you compare Europe’s policies on agriculture, monetary union and climate change is the similarity of the way the EU keeps bolting on patches and extra wiring to try to fix problems created by its own solutions. Over the last five decades, the EU has set out to achieve a set of worthy goals by regulating markets - self-sufficiency in food, currency stability, fighting climate change.

Each of these policies created perverse incentives or what economists call “moral hazard”, causing unintended consequences such as grain mountains and wine lakes, real estate bubbles and debt overhangs, and the collapse of the carbon price. When things go off the rails, the EU reflex is never to question or scrap the policy, since political dogma, vested interests and institutional inertia rule out going back on what in Eurospeak is called the “acquis” - European achievements.

The default response is always “more Europe”, although not necessarily the most straightforward solution, which is often fenced around with political vetoes. “In political science, it’s called ‘past dependence’,” says Helen Wallace of the London School of Economics, an authority on European governance. “You are so locked in by what you have done before that you end up doing a version of it again and again.”

While similar behaviour exists in national governments and private businesses, the EU is special due to the number of veto holders who can obstruct change, but also because

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supporters of the European integration project are reluctant to be critical when policies go wrong, she said. Furthermore, EU policies are enshrined in law and treaties, making them harder to amend, an adviser to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso noted.

Take the Common Agricultural Policy.

Conceived in the 1950s and early 1960s to feed postwar Europe at stable prices for producers and consumers, the system subsidised farmers to over-produce cereals, wine, meat and dairy products. By the early 1980s, it was swallowing 70 percent of the community budget. Surpluses grew so large they had to be taken off the market and stored for long periods in giant warehouses and tanks at taxpayers’ expense. Some were sold off at subsidised prices to the former Soviet Union and developing countries.

Then farmers were paid to dig up their vines, reduce their herds and take land out of cultivation and leave it fallow. Eventually, the link between subsidies and production was cut, but farmers still receive EU payments for maintaining the countryside and producing high-quality food. Today the Common Agricultural Policy still guzzles 40 percent of the EU budget. Don’t count on that level of spending falling significantly before 2020 in negotiations on the next seven-year budget framework due to climax later this year.

The same pattern can be observed with the single European currency, launched in 1999 initially with 11 members, to provide currency stability for business and consumers and give Europe greater power on global foreign exchanges. The euro zone’s one-size-fitsall interest rate provided an irresistible temptation in countries such as Spain and Ireland to build and buy homes that people had never been able to afford before. Wages rose faster than productivity in poorer peripheral euro countries, fuelling a consumer boom but sapping their economic competitiveness.

Governments were lulled into excessive borrowing by the fact that for nearly a decade, bondholders accepted almost the same return when lending to Greece and Portugal as they did from economic powerhouse Germany. When the Spanish and Irish real estate bubbles burst and Greece revealed in 2009 that its public debt and deficit were far higher than previously declared, there was panic on bond markets and the euro system threatened to melt down. But there was no going back to first principles. The euro was the EU’s highest achievement of economic integration and the only way out considered by policymakers was fast forward.

A political veto by Germany blocked the boldest solutions proposed by many economists, such as mutualising Europe’s debts, issuing common euro zone bonds or creating a joint bank resolution and guarantee system.

With countries locked into the single currency and unable to devalue, the only option instead was for stronger member states to bail out weaklings while imposing eye-watering austerity conditions to make them cut public spending, wages and pensions. The European Financial Stability Facility, the temporary bailout fund created by euro zone countries, is the ultimate Rube Goldberg machine. Each member state has a veto on all its actions, and loan guarantees are national, not joint.

So Finland could hold up the rescue of Greece to demand collateral on its share of the loans, while a junior party in Slovakia’s governing coalition was able to obstruct an expansion of the fund’s scope for weeks. The dysfunctional decision-making system is a major reason why the euro zone has been behind the curve in responding to the sovereign debt crisis since it began in late 2009.

Another part of the crisis response has been gradually to give the European Commission greater power to tell member states how to manage national budgets within agreed EU

rules, raising questions of democratic legitimacy since the EU executive is increasingly unpopular in many countries.

Now some of the same solutions are being proposed for the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme, introduced in 2005 to curb greenhouse gas emissions by capping the amount of carbon that industries are allowed to emit and making allowances tradeable. It was always a second best alternative to imposing a carbon tax, which the treaty requirement for unanimous decision-making on taxation made impossible. The ETS got off on the wrong foot by handing windfall profits to utilities which initially received free allowances.

They now have to pay but the system has now been brought low by a glut of permits at a time when recession and energy saving measures have reduced the amount of carbon being produced.

As a result, the carbon price has slumped to below Ä7 a tonne, roughly a third of the level seen by experts as the minimum needed to make the system viable. At that price, it is now cheaper to build and run a coal-fired power station than one using less polluting natural gas. So the European Commission is now proposing to take carbon permits off the market and tweak the auction timetable to create scarcity, while some experts are calling for an independent European central bank for carbon to regulate the supply of allowances to keep the price within an agreed range.

A management consultant who worked previously in national government and the EU presidency said Europe defaults to “Rube Goldberg” solutions partly because decisions are always a trade-off between multiple, divergent national and sectoral interest.

“There are so many differences of ideology, financial interest and institutional interest. It is a fallacy to assume that there is a ‘correct solution’,” said the consultant, who declined to be identified because he is not authorised to speak for his company. — Reuters

Obscure jihadists enter Syrian conflict

By Rana Moussaoui he Syrian conflict has bred the emergence of obscure jihadists carrying out bloody attacks, either acting independently or manipulated by the regime seeking to tarnish the image of its opposition, analysts say. “Al-Qaeda does not exist in Syria. But there are at present several splinter groups of jihadists who employ the same strategies,” said Mathieu Guidere, a France-based analyst who specialises in the Arab and Muslim world. “We know that these are Syrians, not foreigners, and that they are ver y few. For now, nobody knows them - neither Al-Qaeda nor the rebels,” he added.

On May 10, twin suicide bombings in Damascus killed at least 55 people and wounded 372 - the deadliest attacks since the uprising against President Bashar AlAssad’s regime erupted in March 2011. AlNusra Front, an Islamist group unknown before the Syrian revolt, claimed responsibility for the bombings as well as previous attacks in the capital and in the northern city of Aleppo. “Law and order are also breaking down in Syria, which means that we should expect the spread of radical groups,” Middle East analyst Joshua Landis writes in his blog.

Whatever their identity, the perpetrators of these attacks are “using signature Al-Qaeda tactics,” said Guidere, adding that “simultaneous attacks are the trademark” of the network founded by Osama bin Laden. The escalation of violent attacks, reminiscent of those carried out in neighbouring Iraq and claimed by extremist groups linked to Al-Qaeda, have raised fears of an “Iraqisation” of Syria.

Washington, which has long accused Damascus of turning a blind eye to extremists crossing through the Syrian

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border into Iraq, has refused to supply arms to the rebels, lest they fall into the hands of Al-Qaeda.

In the absence of any evidence about the sponsors of the attacks, Guidere, author of several books on Al-Qaeda, proposes two hypotheses: “It could be splinter groups who, like Somalia’s Al-Shabab (Islamist insurgents), want to be recognised as Al-Qaeda.” “The second and more credible hypothesis is that these groups carry out - or are made to carry out the

attacks - so that the general public confuses them with Al-Qaeda,” he added. The latest bombings primarily benefit the Syrian regime, analysts say, which, from the start of the 14-month revolt, has described the uprising as a Western-backed Al-Qaeda plot and its opponents as “terrorists” to justify its crackdown. “Bashar Al-Assad has said: ‘If anybody dares to challenge my rule, there will be chaos.’ What he said is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy,” said Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings

Syrian rebels aim their machineguns in the Khaldiyeh neighborhood in Homs in central Syria on Monday. — AFP

Doha Center. Shaikh noted there was no clear link between the regime and the bomb attacks, as the opposition has charged, “but at the end of the day, the responsibility lies with the regime because it has pursued only a security approach.” “It is the regime who created this environment and the international community has allowed the situation to drift,” he added.

Shaikh added that a small group like AlNusra Front would not be able to pull off such “sophisticated” attacks without the help of “much more professional forces”.

Would the rebels, frustrated by the impasse of the conflict, have resorted to terrorism? Al-Qaeda leader Ayman alZawahiri has openly expressed support for the Syrian revolt, something which the rebel groups have rejected as “interference”. This type of attack could not benefit the rebels, who have no interest in being linked to Al-Qaeda,” Guidere said.

International Crises Group said the regime appeared to stand to gain the most from the mayhem.

“Some observers suspect a regime hand in events that served its interests: damaging its foes’ image; mobilising and radicalising its own popular base; frightening the many Syrian fence-sitters; and heightening Western reluctance to become involved in a muddled and messy conflict. The blasts almost cer tainly produced all those effects,” it said. Despite the Islamist rhetoric adopted by many rebels and opposition figures, analysts point out that the agenda of Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood bears no relation to the jihadist militancy of AlQaeda. “We know the traditions of Islamists of Al-Qaeda. These guys are doing it out of ideology ... The Muslim Brotherhood or even Salafists are very different,” said Shaikh. “It is like oil and water, the two don’t mix.” — AFP

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

sp orts San Lorenzo coach in televised street spat

Manchester-bound Hazard named Ligue 1 top player

Man United’s Scholes to play for another season

BUENOS AIRES: San Lorenzo’s famously volatile coach Ricardo Caruso Lombardi has been involved in a furious televised street spat, raising his fists and insulting another man outside a television studio. Several Argentine networks showed footage of the incident in which Lombardi was seen to follow the man out of a car park and down the street to challenge him to a fight. Lombardi, who had a cut near his left eye, squared up to the man like a boxer sparring with an opponent and lashed out, but a policeman prevented any of his punches from making contact.

The exchange, which went on for at least five minutes before other policemen arrived, took place in a busy street in central Buenos Aires and onlookers could be heard in the background egging on the pair. — Reuters

PARIS: Lille midfielder Eden Hazard was named Ligue 1’s best player for the second year in a row on Monday before a probable move to Manchester. The Belgian playmaker, also named the French League’s top prospect in 2009 and 2010, beat Montpellier midfielder Younes Belhanda, Montpellier striker Olivier Giroud and Paris St Germain forward Nene in a vote by Ligue 1 players and coaches.

Hazard, who led 2011 French champions Lille to third place this season, is set to leave the club this year with the Premier League his likely destination. “It will be Manchester,” he said at the ceremony without disclosing his preference for English champions City, or runners-up United. “The decision is about to be made.

You will soon know.” Morocco midfielder Belhanda was voted the top prospect with Montpellier’s Rene Girard named the best coach for taking his team to the brink of the title. Montpellier lead PSG by three points before the final round of matches on Sunday.

With fullback Henri Bedimo, centre back Vitorino Hilton, Belhanda and Giroud, Montpellier have four players in the team of the season. — Reuters

LONDON: Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes will play on for another season, the Premier League club’s manager Alex Ferguson said on Monday. The 37-year-old former England international quit at the end of the 2010-11 campaign but came out of retirement in January and played a key role in helping United finish second in the Premier League behind Manchester City.

“I am delighted, he knew he had made a mistake,” Ferguson told MUTV at United’s player of the year dinner. “He now realizes if he plays 25 or 30 games next season, they will be of real quality. “I think this will be Paul’s last season. We know him very well. We have had him since he was a kid. We know how to use him.” With several United midfielders injured, Scholes made a shock return to the side as a substitute in the FA Cup thirdround win at Manchester City in January and played 21 matches before the end of the season, scoring four goals. — Reuters

MLB results/standings Washington 8, San Diego 5; Philadelphia 5, Houston 1; Chicago Cubs 6, St. Louis 4; NY Yankees 8, Baltimore 5; Tampa Bay 7, Toronto 1; Boston 6, Seattle 1; Cincinnati 3, Atlanta 1; Pittsburgh 3, Miami 2; NY Mets 3, Milwaukee 1; Kansas City 3, Texas 1; Chicago White Sox 7, Detroit 5; Cleveland 5, Minnesota 4; Oakland 5, LA Angels 0; LA Dodgers 3, Arizona 1; San Francisco 3, Colorado 2.

American League Eastern Division W L PCT 22 14 .611 Tampa Bay Baltimore 22 14 .611 NY Yankees 20 15 .571 Toronto 19 17 .528 Boston 16 19 .457 Central Division Cleveland 19 16 .543 17 18 .486 Detroit C’ White Sox 17 19 .472 Kansas City 14 20 .412 Minnesota 10 25 .286 Western Division Texas 23 13 .639 19 17 .528 Oakland Seattle 16 21 .432 LA Angels 15 21 .417

GB 1.5 3 5.5 2 2.5 4.5 9 4 7.5 8

National League Eastern Division Washington 22 13 .629 22 14 .611 .5 Atlanta NY Mets 20 15 .571 2 Miami 18 17 .514 4 Philadelphia 17 19 .472 5.5 Central Division St. Louis 20 15 .571 18 16 .529 1.5 Cincinnati Pittsburgh 17 18 .486 3 Milwaukee 15 20 .429 5 Chicago Cubs 15 20 .429 5 Houston 15 20 .429 5 Western Division LA Dodgers 24 11 .686 .514 6 San Francisco 18 17 Arizona 15 21 .417 9.5 Colorado 13 21 .382 10.5 San Diego 12 24 .333 12.5

Red Sox crush Mariners BOSTON: Jon Lester pitched his second complete game of the season and Daniel Nava and Kelly Shoppach each homered to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 6-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Monday. David Or tiz and Adrian Gonzalez added consecutive RBI doubles for the Red Sox, who won their fourth straight - all at home. Boston is on its longest home winning streak since capturing nine straight last July. Lester (2-3) didn’t allow a runner past second base until there was one out in the ninth. Kyle Seager’s grounder scored the Mariners’ run. Lester allowed eight hits and didn’t walk a batter in his eighth career complete game. He struck out six.

He threw 119 pitches.

Yankees 8, Orioles 5 At Baltimore, Mark Teixeira hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the seventh inning and Curtis Granderson also connected as New York got three hits from Alex Rodriguez in a victory over Baltimore. Teixeira had five hits in his previous 33 at-bats and was hitting .220 when he drove a 1-2 pitch from former Yankee Luis Ayala (1-1) into the rightfield seats. Yankees starter Ivan Nova allowed five runs and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings before leaving with a bruised and sprained right foot. David Phelps (11) entered in the sixth and got three outs. Rafael Soriano, the sixth New York pitcher, worked the ninth for his second save.

Rays 7, Blue Jays 1 At Toronto, Cesar Ramos got his first career win after replacing the injured Jeff Niemann, and Ben Zobrist homered in Tampa Bay’s win over Toronto. Luke Scott and Sean Rodriguez each had two RBIs for the Rays, who have won two straight after losing six of their previous seven. The Rays had to go to their bullpen early, with Niemann knocked out after he was struck on the right foot

by Adam Lind’s grounder in the first.

Ramos (1-0) allowed one run and two hits in three innings, walked three and struck out three, to win for the first time in 80 career appearances.

Royals 3, Rangers 1 At Arlington, Texas, Bruce Chen pitched into the seventh inning for his second straight win as Kansas City took advantage of Adrian Beltre’s throwing error for a win at Texas. Chen (2-4) has won his last two starts since a four-game losing streak. The left-hander struck out seven and walked two over 6 2-3 innings, giving up only a massive homer to Nelson Cruz. Scott Feldman (0-1) allowed two unearned runs over 4 2-3 innings in his second spot start this season. Feldman gave up three hits, the last a two-run single by No 9 hitter Alicides Escobar right after third baseman Beltre’s two-out throwing error.

Indians 5, Twins 4 At Minneapolis, Choo Shin-soo hit the go-ahead RBI single in the ninth inning to back Jeanmar Gomez’s seven superb innings and lift Cleveland over Minnesota. Choo’s base hit off Twins closer Matt Capps (0-2) scored pinchrunner Lou Marson from second base, bailing out an Indians bullpen that squandered a 4-1 lead in the eighth inning. Gomez allowed one unearned run on three hits with three strikeouts and two walks. Casey Kotchman had two hits, including a two-run homer, and Joe Smith (3-1) picked up the win for the Indians.

White Sox 7, Tigers 5 At Chicago, Dayan Viciedo homered and hit a go-ahead two-run single to finish with four RBIs and help Chicago rally for a victory over Detroit. Adam Dunn hit his 12th home run of the season in the first inning for Chicago, surpassing his total from all of last year. John Danks got off to a rough start for the White Sox, giving up three runs in the first. Danks surrendered five runs on nine hits in three innings of work - his shortest outing of the season. Zach Stewart (1-1) earned the win, allowing only one hit over three scoreless innings. — AP

BOSTON: Red Sox’s Jon Lester delivers a pitch against the Seattle Mariners in the sixth inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park. —AP

Nationals trounce Padres WASHINGTON: Bryce Harper hit his first big league home run, and Chad Tracy and Xavier Nady each connected in the eighth inning to lead the Washington Nationals to an 8-5 victory over the San Diego Padres on Monday. Harper became the youngest major leaguer to homer since 1998, going deep on a solo shot to straightaway center field in the third inning off right-hander Tim Stauffer. The home run came in the outfielder’s 15th game and 54th at-bat with the Nationals. Washington also lost another player to injury in a season that has been filled with them. Catcher Sandy Leon - making his major league debut - left the game in the fourth inning after spraining his right ankle in a collision at home plate.

Pirates 3, Marlins 2 At Miami, Brad Lincoln pitched six innings to earn a victory in his first start of the season as Pittsburgh ended a streak of eight consecutive losses against Florida. Lincoln (3-0), who had come out of the bullpen in his seven previous appearances this season, departed for a pinchhitter with a 3-2 lead and an ERA of 1.33. He allowed four hits and walked one. The Pirates,

Ian Kennedy to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers over Arizona without injured star Matt Kemp.

The Dodgers center fielder was placed on the 15-day disabled list following the game because of a strained left hamstring. Kemp had played 399 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the majors. Andre Ethier homered in Kemp’s absence as the Dodgers won their fifth straight. Kemp missed his first game since Aug.

Phillies 5, Astros 1 At Philadelphia, Joe Blanton pitched sevenplus strong innings and Placido Polanco homered for his 2,000th career hit to lead Philadelphia over Houston. Blanton (4-3) allowed six hits and one run, struck out seven and walked one while pitching in a steady light rain throughout. The right-hander continued his solid recent stretch, improving to 3-0 with a 2.10 ERA in his last four starts. Freddy Galvis had three hits and drove in a pair of runs and Carlos Ruiz went 2 for 4 with an RBI for the Phillies. Marwin Gonzalez, pinch hitting to lead off the eighth, hit his first major league homer for the Astros’ lone run. Lucas Harrell (2-3) took the loss.

Reds 3, Braves 1 At Atlanta, Brandon Phillips drove in the goahead run with a double off the centerfield wall as Cincinnati scored two runs off Jonny Venters in the eighth inning to beat Atlanta. The game was tied 1-1 when Drew Stubbs led off the eighth with an infield hit between the pitcher’s mound and third base. Stubbs moved to second base on a wild pitch by Venters (2-2). With one out, Phillips drove in Stubbs with the double.

Chris Heisey added another double, his third hit of the game, to drive in Phillips. Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman left the game after the seventh inning with blurred vision in his right eye. His status was to be updated after the game.

Mets 3, Brewers 1 At New York, Miguel Batista pitched seven shutout innings of four-hit ball and Daniel Murphy supplied the offense, sending the surprising New York Mets past Milwaukee. Given a vote of confidence by manager Terry Collins before the game, struggling closer Frank Francisco bounced back from a pair of rough outings to earn his ninth save. Murphy extended his recent tear at the plate by hitting an RBI single and scoring on a suicide squeeze - a play the Brewers failed to execute earlier.

WASHINGTON: Nationals’ Bryce Harper (34, ( left) San Diego Padres catcher Nick Hundley (9, center) and home plate umpire Larry Vanover watch Harper’s his first major-league home run during the third inning of baseball game. —AP who rank last in the majors in runs, won with only six hits. Rod Barajas, who came into the game batting .162, hit his second homer, and Pedro Alvarez put Pittsburgh ahead to stay with an RBI double in the sixth. The Pirates hadn’t beaten the Marlins since 2010 and went 0-6 against them last year. Miami’s Anibal Sanchez (2-1) took the loss.

Cubs 6, Cardinals 4 At St. Louis, Alfonso Soriano singled in the goahead run in the eighth inning as Chicago sent St. Louis to its fourth straight loss at home. Bryan LaHair had three hits for the Cubs, including a two-run homer to break a 1-for-14 slump.

Chicago’s late rally wasn’t enough to make a winner of starter Ryan Dempster, whose winless streak reached 15 starts dating to last August.

Shawn Camp (2-1) allowed one hit in two innings of work and Rafael Dolis worked the ninth for his fourth save. Mitchell Boggs (0-1) took the loss.

Dodgers 3, D’backs 1 At Los Angeles, Clayton Kershaw outpitched

18, 2009. Third baseman Juan Uribe, who was in manager Don Mattingly’s original lineup, also was placed on the 15-day disabled list because of an injury to his left wrist.

Giants 3, Rockies 2 At San Francisco, Buster Posey hit a goahead RBI single in the eighth inning as San Francisco beat Colorado to match its best winning streak of the season at three games.

Gregor Blanco hit a tying home run leading off the sixth for San Francisco and also added a pair of singles, including one to start the rally in the eighth against loser Rex Brothers (1-2).

Joaquin Arias then beat out an infield single when Rockies catcher Wilin Rosario tried to let the bunt up the first base line roll foul and it stayed fair. He rushed his throw to first and the ball got past Todd Helton for an error that moved Blanco to third. Sergio Romo (2-0) struck out Michael Cuddyer with runners on second and third to end the eighth for the win. Santiago Casilla finished for his eighth save. — AP

Russia preserve perfect record STOCKHOLM: Russia beat Italy 4-0 on Monday to make it a clean sweep at the preliminary stages of the ice hockey world championships, winning all their group games. In Helsinki, Finland finished their preliminary passage with a flourish, Valtteri Filppula notching two goals and two assists as they beat Kazakhstan 4-1. It was top against bottom as the Russians took on Italy in a bid to make it seven wins out of seven and once Pavel Datsyuk opened the scoring in the 11th minute the writing was on the wall.

Russia added two more before the half-hour mark to kill the game with Alexander Popov scoring the fourth late in the third period.

Latvia suffered a 2-0 defeat to Denmark, snuffing out any slim hopes they may have had of making the quarter-finals. The win left Russia at the top of the group with a perfect 21 points.

Behind them are Sweden, the Czech Republic and Norway, who all play their final group games on Tuesday. In Helsinki, it took until the fifth minute of the second period for the Finns to break the deadlock through Jussi Jokinen.

Mikko Maenpaa made it 2-0 seven minutes later before Filppula netted his first late in the period and repeated the feat early in the third to put the game beyond reach. The Kazakhs scraped a consolation goal in the middle of the third period through Konstantin Pushkaryov one of only 11 goals they managed in their seven group games. France still have a chance to qualify for the quarter-finals, having beaten Belarus 2-1 in their penultimate group game.

Canada, who face Belarus on Tuesday, top the group on 16 points, one ahead of the Finns.

The third-placed US team (13 points) can jump to second if they beat Switzerland in their final game in Helsinki. — Reuters

NEW YORK: New Jersey Devils’ Zach Parise (right) goes into the net after his shot was deflected by New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist (rear) of Sweden, and Ryan McDonagh (27) during the first period of Game 1 of their NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference final playoff series. —AP

Lundqvist, Kreider lift NYR NEW YORK: Rangers rookie Chris Kreider and defenseman Dan Girardi both had a goal and an assist in the third period, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 21 shots as the New York Rangers opened the Eastern Conference finals with a 3-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Monday.

Playing just two days after eliminating Washington in a stirring 2-1 Game 7 victory, the top-seeded Rangers hit their home ice again and won their third straight Game 1 of these playoffs. The Devils had been off for five days since they knocked out the Philadelphia Flyers in five games.

No team forced to play seven-game series in each of the first two rounds has gone on to

win the Stanley Cup, but the Rangers are determined to be the first. Shaking off suggestions they are tired, the Rangers slogged through two scoreless periods and pulled out a win with a dominating third period.

The Rangers are in the conference finals for the first time since 1997, and they haven’t reached the Stanley Cup finals since 1994 when they beat 22-year-old goalie Martin Brodeur and the Devils in a classic sevengame series that backed up captain Mark Messier’s guarantee. New Jersey is making its first conference finals appearance since 2003, the year the Devils won the Cup for the third time. Game 2 is today in New York. —AP

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

S P ORT S

NEW YORK: In this Jan. 3, 1993, file photo, Buffalo Bills wide receiver Andre Reed (83) and Keith McKeller celebrate Reed’s third touchdown during the fourth quarter of an NFL football wild-card playoff game against the Houston Oilers. The Bills came back from a 35-3 deficit to win 41-38 in overtime. Buffalo’s comeback is considered one of the all-time greatest in sports history. — AP

CAMBRIDGE: In this Nov. 23, 1968, file photo, Harvard’s Pat Conway (34) attempts to intercept a pass from Yale quarterback Brian Dowling intended for Cal Hill (not shown) as the ball sails over Harvard’s Tom Wynne (45) in the second period of their annual college rivalry football game at Harvard Stadium. — AP

PARIS: In this June 5, 1989, file photo, Michael Chang, of the United States, returns the ball to Ivan Lendl, of former Czechoslovakia in the French Open.

Chang was the first American man to win the Roland Garros title since Tony Trabert in 1955 after rallying from two sets down to defeat Lendl 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.— AP

City’s win among top comebacks LONDON: Try to capture it any way you like — exciting, thrilling, stunning, heart-stopping.

Sometimes there’s just no word or phrase that quite encapsulates the sheer joy and, for the loser, agony, of a comeback win at a major sporting event. The struggle makes victory that much sweeter. Manchester City added its name to the list of teams that have pulled off memorable comebacks with everything on the line Sunday by beating Queens Park Rangers 3-2 on injury-time goals from Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero. The win gave Man City its first English league title in 44 years, and set off some unhinged celebrating by fans of a team that has long stood in Manchester United’s shadow. Here are some moments, from soccer and other sports, that Manchester City’s victory will be compared with as the years go by.

MANCHESTER UNITED’S MOMENT Might as well start with the club across town. In the 1999 Champions League final, Manchester United trailed Bayern Munich 1-0 in second-half injury time before Teddy Sheringham scored in 91st minute and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer in 93rd for a 2-1 win. It was a signature moment in Alex Ferguson’s long tenure at Man U. BUCKNER’S BOO-BOO The New York Mets trailed the Boston Red Sox 5-3 in the 10th inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series and were twice one strike from elimination, but rallied on Ray Knight’s RBI single, Bob Stanley’s wild pitch and first baseman Bill Buckner’s error on Mookie Wilson’s grounder to win 6-5 and force Game 7. Less remembered: The Mets also trailed 3-0 in the sixth inning of that final game before winning 8-5.

NICKLAUS RALLIES One newspaper said Jack Nicklaus, at age 46, was washed up. That looked to be the case when Nicklaus was five shots behind going into the final round of the 1986 Masters. Then, he pulled off perhaps the most famous comeback in Augusta National history by shooting 30 on the back nine for a 65 and a one-shot

win. He became the oldest player to win the Masters, and it was his 18th and final professional major.

AND SO DOES ARNIE One golf story always leads to another.

Arnold Palmer was seven shots behind going into the final round of the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills. Angered when Pittsburgh golf writer Bob Drum told Palmer that a score of 280 “won’t do you a damn bit of good,” Palmer drove the par-4 first hole and started with four straight birdies. He shot 65 for a four-round score of 280 and won the U.S. Open over Ben Hogan and 20-year-old amateur Jack Nicklaus.

field goal, but Warren Moon was intercepted

by Nate Odomes early in overtime and Steve Christie’s 32-yard field goal won it. Strangely, the Bills failed to sell out against the Oilers, the first time in 23 home games that the stadium wasn’t full. So for local fans to see the greatest rally in team — make that league — playoff history, you had to be there and stay throughout.

RED BIRDS RULE Some thought the St Louis Cardinals didn’t even belong in the playoffs last season — after all, they sneaked in as a wild card on the last day of the regular season. But the Cardinals won the National League pennant and trailed Texas 7-5 in Game 6 of the World Series. Just one strike from elimination in the ninth inning, David Freese’s two-run triple put

MUNICH: In this Sept. 3, 1972, file photo, Lasse Viren, of Finland, celebrates his worldrecord, gold-medal winning run in the 10,000-meter event at the Summer Olympics in Munich. Viren fell during the race’s 12th lap, but popped back to his feet and eventually won a sprint to the finish. Viren’s comeback is considered one of the all-time greatest in sports history. — AP LASSE VIREN PICKS HIMSELF UP Finnish runner Lasse Viren set a world record in the 10,000 meters at the 1972 Olympics. He fell during the race’s 12th lap.

That’s right — Viren spent part of his worldrecord, gold-medal winning run flat on his back. Not too long, though. He popped back to his feet, reeled in the pack ahead of him and, after several lead changes, he won a sprint to the finish. As a capper, he won gold in the 5,000 meters 10 days later. He did the same double in Montreal four years later.

the game into extra innings. St. Louis then trailed 9-7 and was one strike from elimination in 10th inning before Ryan Theriot’s RBI grounder and Lance Berkman’s run-scoring single. Freese homered in the 11th for a 10-9 win. St. Louis went on to win Game 7, 6-2, for the title.

PLUCK OF THE IRISH The 2001 women’s NCAA basketball tournament featured a UConn team with Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird. But in the national semifi-

it is the first time he has worn the leader’s jersey and he is a full 17sec ahead of Hesjedal, with Italian Paolo Tiralongo third at 32sec.

An early five-man breakaway built up a five-minute lead on the main peloton, but Hesjedal and his team reeled them back in 6.5km from the finish.

Italy’s Filippo Pozzato, who fractured his right wrist while causing a crash at the end of the ninth stage, did not start yesterday.

Pozzato collided with Australian ace Matt Goss on Monday, bringing both men down and forcing British sprint specialist Mark Cavendish to take evasive action but without apparently injuring himself.

Pozzato, the leader of the Farnese Vini team, later apologised for causing the crash.

Today’s 11th stage sees riders tackle a 255km run from Assisi to Montecatini Terme, in Tuscany, on largely flat terrain with two climbs, the second coming 11km from the finish line. — AFP

HARVARD’S GREATEST TIE With less than a minute left in the 1968 edition of Harvard’s annual football rivalry game with Yale, the Crimson were down 29-13. But two quick touchdowns left Harvard with a final chance to avoid a loss as it went for a second 2-point conversion. Announcer Don Gillis had the call on a pass from Frank Champi to Pete Varney with no time left: “Hang onto your hats, boys and girls. Let’s just watch. ... Champi ...

He’s got it! He’s got it to Varney! And it ends 2929! What a finish!” Harvard’s student newspaper captured the moment in its headline: “Harvard Beats Yale 29-29.” — AP

Sagan wins second stage in California

Rodriguez in pink after winning Giro’s 10th stage ASSISI: Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez of the Katusha team took ownership of the leader’s pink jersey after winning the 10th stage of the Giro d’Italia yesterday.

The Catalan, a noted climber, finished two seconds ahead of Poland’s Bartsz Huzarski and Italian champion Giovanni Visconti at the end of the 186km ride from Civitavecchia to Assisi, which featured two short climbs in the closing 3,500 metres.

“To win in this manner is spectacular,” said Rodriguez. “I have to thank my team who worked from the first kilometre for me.”I have also to thank the team sporting director for his advice on where to attack as if I had attacked earlier I would have been mistaken.

“I am overcome also to have got the pink jersey.” Winner of the Fleche-Wallonne in April, Rodriguez showed all his explosive climbing abilities, leaving it until late on around the narrow streets of Assisi to reel in Dutchman Tom-Jelle Slagter to ensure his first Giro stage victory.

For the 33-year-old Rodriguez,

CHANG FIGHTS ON At the 1989 French Open, 17-year-old Michael Chang lost the first two sets of his fourth-round match against No 1-ranked Ivan Lendl, then came all the way back to win 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, on his way to becoming the youngest male champion at a Grand Slam tournament (a record that still stands) and the first American man to win the Roland Garros title since Tony Trabert in 1955. Chang considered quitting because of debilitating leg cramps that began in the fourth set of the 4½hour match. He stood through changeovers, instead of sitting, because he worried his legs would lock up. He guzzled water and munched on bananas. Famously, he served underhand in the fifth set. Another unusual tactic: When Lendl, who retired with eight Grand Slam titles, served on match point, Chang flustered him by hobbling all the way up to the service line, something rarely seen at top-level tennis. Lendl double-faulted, ending the match.

THE CELTICS FIGHT BACK In the 2008 NBA finals, the Boston Celtics were behind by 20 points with 6:04 left in the third quarter before storming back to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 97-91, giving Boston command of the series with a 3-1 lead. The Celtics outscored the Lakers 31-15 in the third quarter, then put it away with a 21-3 run over the final five minutes of the game, fueled by two 3-pointers from Eddie House. Boston became the first team to overcome more than a 15point deficit after the first quarter of a finals game and wrapped up the series in Game 6 back home.

GO GO BUFF-A-LO Coming off two Super Bowl losses, the Buffalo Bills didn’t win the AFC East in 1992 and had to host a wild-card game with the Oilers, who routed them 27-3 a week earlier in Houston. By halftime of the playoff matchup, Buffalo was down 28-3 and it soon became 353. Rich Stadium began emptying. Soon, many of those fans turned around their cars and headed back as the Bills staged an incredible comeback. Houston went into a prevent defense in the third quarter. Buffalo backup Frank Reich, in for injured quarterback Jim Kelly, led the Bills to four straight TDs, including a fourth-down gamble for an 18-yard score, making it 35-31. After Houston botched a field goal attempt, Reich’s 17-yard throw to Andre Reed put the Bills in front. The Oilers showed some fortitude by marching to a tying

nals, the Huskies faced a Notre Dame squad with player of the year Ruth Riley. Weeks earlier, the Huskies had beaten the Irish in the Big East title game when Bird hit a buzzer shot over Riley, and in their Final Four matchup, UConn went ahead by 16. But the Irish weren’t done. Led by Niele Ivey’s 21 points and Alicia Ratay’s 20, Notre Dame shut down UConn in the second half and captured a 90-75 victory.

Notre Dame then hung on against Purdue in the final to win its first (and only) women’s title.

SANTA CRUZ: Peter Sagan of Slovakia celebrates as he nears the finish line to win Stage 2 of the Tour of California cycling race. — AP

APTOS: Slovakia’s Peter Sagan recovered from an early crash to complete back-to-back stage wins in the Tour of California when he won Monday’s second stage in a sprint finish. Sagan surged to the front of the pack coming around the final corner and burst clear to win the 189 kilometer stage from San Francisco to Aptos unchallenged in a time of five hours and two minutes.

Sagan now leads the eight-day event, the most prestigious professional cycling race in North America, by eight seconds over Heinrich Haussler of Australia, who crossed the line second for the second day in a row. Australian Leigh Howard was third, trailing his compatriot by one bike’s length. He moved to third place overall, 13 seconds behind the leader, in the field of 128 riders, including 16 teams. “I knew the last corner was close to the finish so I decided to take the turn from the first position. “And I won,” said Sagan, who lifted his tally of career stage wins in the Golden State to five.

Sagan, who recovered from a flat tyre to win Sunday’s opening stage, was among 10 riders who crashed about two thirds of the way through the second stage. None of the riders were hurt and all quickly got back in the saddle and rejoined the main pack. “With two climbs in the end of the stage today I am really happy to win,” said Sagan. “I was thinking when I was still in the front group on the last climb I would try and win another stage.” Last year’s winner, American Chris Horner, finished safely in the main field for the second straight day. The race, now its seventh year, resumes on Tuesday with the 186 kilometer third stage from San Jose to Livermore. — Reuters

18

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

S P ORT S

76ers even series with 82-81 win over Celtics BOSTON: Evan Turner made a layup with 40.4 seconds left as the Philadelphia 76ers held off the Boston Celtics the rest of the way with six straight free throws

to level the second-round Eastern Conference series with an 82-81 victory Monday.

Turner finished with 10 points, including his layup that put the

Sixers up 76-75. He added two free throws with 12 seconds to go. Jrue Holiday scored 18 points and Andre Iguodala added 13 points, seven assists and six

OKLAHOMA CITY: Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) drives around Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (left) in the third quarter of Game 1 in the second round of the NBA basketball playoffs. —AP

Delhi earns playoff berth NEW DELHI: Mahela Jayawardene struck an unbeaten half-century yesterday as Delhi Daredevils beat Kings XI Punjab by five wickets to become the first team to reach the Indian Premier League playoffs.

The Sri Lankan batsman hit eight fours to score 56 in 49 balls as Delhi totaled 140-5 in 19 overs after pace bowlers Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron combined to take five wickets to help restrict Punjab to 136-8 at Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium. Jayawardene added 48 with Naman Ojha (34), helping Delhi recover from 37-4 in the sixth over.

Ojha struck three fours and two sixes in a 29-ball knock, both his sixes coming off successive deliveries from legspinner Piyush Chawla. He was dropped on 22 by Chawla at long-on off Azhar Mahmood when Punjab was fighting to get back in the game. Jayawardene guided the team to victory along with Irfan Pathan, who chipped in with 19 not out.

“There was some movement for fast bowlers and Varun and Umesh bowled beautifully,” Sehwag said. “ We were expecting that Mahela would play till the end and finish the game. It is difficult to go in and play your shots, but he took his time and ensured the win.”

Earlier, Punjab captain David Hussey struck an unbeaten 40 but found little support from teammates. Hussey, leading the side in place of compatriot Adam Gilchrist who has been out for most of the tournament due to a hamstring injury, struck one six and five fours in 35 balls.

In-form opener Mandeep Singh was the next highest scorer with 21 and one of Aaron’s two victims, the other being Shaun Marsh in a haul of 2-19.

But Yadav was the most successful bowler in claiming the wickets of Nitin Saini, Azhar Mahmood and Piyush Chawla to finish with 3-21.

Delhi has won 10 games and lost four.

Kings XI Punjab has seven wins and seven losses and needs to win both remaining games, against Delhi and Chennai Super Kings, to have a chance of qualifying for the playoffs.

Scores: Delhi Daredevils 140-5 in 19 overs (Mahela Jayawardene 56 not out, Naman Ojha 34, Parvinder Awana 3-22) def.

Kings XI Punjab 136-8(David Hussey 40 not out, Umesh Yadav 3-21, Varun Aaron 2-19). —AP

NEW DELHI: Delhi Daredevils’ Mahela Jayawardene (right) hugs Irfan Pathan after winning against Kings XI Punjab as Kings XI Punjab player Azhhar Mahmood (left) looks on during an Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match. —AP

India suspends 5 cricketers after spot-fixing sting operation NEW DELHI: Five cricketers were suspended by Indian officials yesterday following a sting operation that showed them either agreeing to spot-fixing in domestic games or to negotiate Indian Premier League contracts, which was disallowed.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced provisional suspensions on TP Sudhindra, Shalabh Srivastava, Mohnish Mishra, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali after watching the sting performed by the news channel India TV. The BCCI also named the former head of the ICC anti-corruption unit, Ravi Sawani to hold an inquiry that will look into “the involvement of players in illegal activities or activities against the interests of the BCCI and the game.”

The TV sting involved reporters posing as agents of a sports management firm offering players money to perform

in a certain way at specific times in the match.

The channel showed Sudhindra, who plays for Deccan Chargers in the IPL, allegedly bowling a no-ball in a local Twenty20 game in the central Indian city of Indore for $1,000.

Pictures captured by a hidden camera appeared to show Sudhindra agreeing to bowl a no-ball with his second delivery of the game. Broadcaster India TV then showed video of the game in which Sudhindra bowls a no-ball by well over a foot at the predetermined time.

Though the video does not show Sudhindra agreeing to fix an IPL game, the channel did play out a purported telephone conversation with Srivastava of the Kings XI Punjab agreeing to bowl a no-ball in the IPL. Srivastava, who did not get to play in the IPL this season, denied the allegations.—AP

rebounds for the Sixers.

Kevin Garnett had 15 points and 12 rebounds and Ray Allen scored 17 points for the Celtics.

Game 3 is today in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia won its first playoff game in Boston since 1982 despite committing a playoffhigh 19 turnovers and getting outrebounded 47-36.

Thunder 119, Lakers 90 At Oklahoma City, Russell Westbrook had 27 points and nine assists, and Kevin Durant added 25 points as Oklahoma City blasted weary Los Angeles in the opening game of the Western Conference semifinals.

The Thunder took a 15-point halftime lead, then opened the third quarter with a 15-2 blitz.

Oklahoma City led by as many as 35 points, getting a measure of vengeance for the elbow Metta World Peace delivered to the head of the Thunder ’s James Harden three weeks earlier.

Thunder starting center Kendrick Perkins limped off after aggravating a hip injury from the first round. Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum scored 20 points each for the Lakers and Bynum had 14 rebounds. The Thunder committed a franchise -record four turnovers. Game 2 is today in Oklahoma City.—AP

England wary of Windies LONDON: Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s limpet-like batting and the express pace of Kemar Roach and Fidel Edwards will make West Indies dangerous opponents for strong favorites England in the three-test series starting tomorrow. England top the world rankings, six places above their opponents, and have not lost a home test series since 2008, while West Indies have won only one of their last 18 tests on English soil and just one of their last 10 series.

With conditions also likely to favor England’s potent bowling attack, Darren Sammy’s touring side face a daunting task going into the first test at Lord’s. “ They’ve got Ottis Gibson as a coach who worked within the England set-up for three years, they’ve got two bowlers who can bowl very quick, they’ve got Chanderpaul who’s a world-class batsman who’s toured England on numerous occasions, so they’re certainly a team we have to be very careful of,” England fast bowler Stuart Broad told Sky Sports. “We have to perform the way we can perform and should perform,” he added. “We won’t look too far ahead in the series. We’ll look to that first hour in the first test match like we always do, try and set the tone and try and hit them hard.”

England lost 3-0 to Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates this year, a series in which their top-order batsmen struggled badly for runs, and although they fought back to draw 1-1 in Sri Lanka there are still grounds for concern. Captain Andrew Strauss scored the last of his 19 test centuries 18 months ago and the 35-year-old opener will be fully tested by the hostility of Roach and Edwards. Roach suffered a twisted foot and as a precaution did not bowl on the last day of their warm-up match on Sunday but is set to play tomorrow.

Kevin Pietersen did return to form with a fine century in the second test win over Sri Lanka and the highly promising Jonny Bairstow is likely to make his test debut batting at number six. If the batsmen can provide a solid platform, England certainly have the bowling attack to expose the inexperienced Windies top order. Broad is likely to open with James Anderson, supported by Steve Finn, Graham Onions or Tim Bresnan, and Graeme Swann will be the lone spinner. “We’d love to make early inroads,” Anderson said. “That’s my job and Stuart’s job. But from watching West Indies against Australia recently, they showed glimpses of a talented side. “We can’t just expect them to roll over. They’re going to put up a fight. It’s going to be a challenge for us.”

Leading the West Indies resistance will be the obdurate Chanderpaul, the world’s top-ranked test batsman who has toured England six times with an average of 64.66. The gritty left-hander has the technique and concentration to bat for long periods but he will need support from his team mates to repel the street-wise England bowlers. West Indies showed signs of improvement in their recent home series loss to Australia, nearly upsetting the touring side in Barbados, and Sammy believes his young team are heading in the right direction after years in the doldrums.

“The only thing that has not been happening is the victories,” Sammy said. “We’ve been playing good, competitive cricket against strong sides like India and Australia and all our tests have been going five days and down to the wire. “Not many teams go to India and give India a run for their money, but we did that. “Coming from where we are right now, we are not going to start winning straight away. We are taking baby steps to the ultimate goal. Sammy said the biggest problem was losing key moments in big matches.

“One bad session keeps costing us,” he said.

“Champion teams seize the moment but we keep having a bad session where we might lose five wickets in an hour. We just need to cut that out.

Once we eliminate those bad sessions then we’ll make progress.” —Reuters

OHIO: Cleveland Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving (right) is presented the NBA Rookie of the Year award by Kia Motors America regional director Mike Helgesen at the basketball team’s headquarters. —AP

Kyrie Irving named NBA’s ‘top rookie’ INDEPENDENCE: Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving is the NBA’s rookie of the year, winning the award with the same ease as he dribbled past defenders this season. Irving received 117 of 120 possible first-place votes from 120 US media. Irving finished with 592 points, way ahead of Minnesota’s Ricky Rubio (170) and Denver’s Kenneth Faried (129), who was third. The 20-year-old Irivng is the second Cleveland player to win the award, joining LeBron James in 2004.

Irving’s award was expected. The No 1 overall pick in last year’s draft, he was clearly the league’s top first-year player, leading all rookies - and the Cavaliers - in scoring with 18.5 points per game. He also led all rookies in field-goal percentage (46.8), was second in assists (5.4) and became one of just six rookies in league history to average at least 18 points and five assists.

However, it was the other elements of his game - a nasty crossover dribble, a fearless desire to get to the basket, and a clutch, cold-blooded instinct in the fourth quarter that separated him from the others. Irving, who played only 11 games at Duke University before turning pro, regularly took over games for the Cavaliers. He kept them competitive and in the playoff race until mid-March when the team’s front office decided to build for the future by trading his backup, guard Ramon Sessions, to the Los Angeles Lakers for a first-round draft pick.

Once Minnesota’s Rubio went down with a season-ending knee injury, Irving became the runaway favorite to win rookie of the year honors. And beyond his impressive statistics, Irving brought hope to the Cavaliers and their fans, who have spent the past two seasons trying to move past James leaving as a free agent before he could bring them their first league title. Irving arrived with none of the superstar trappings. There was no entourage or multimillion dollar shoe contract, no cameras chronicling his every move. He was a team player in the truest sense, often tossing the praise on others and minimizing his role in victories.

Irving chose to blend in. He stepped away from the spotlight. At the Rising Stars game during All-Star weekend in Orlando, Irving made all eight 3-pointers to win MVP honors. Posing for a photograph afterward, Irving lowered the crystal he was presented and told the photographer, “Make sure you get the Cleveland” on the front of his jersey. “That wasn’t a publicity stunt at all,” Irving said when the season ended. “I just wanted to make sure they got the Cleveland uniform in it. We’re not as publicized as everybody else.”

Irving’s modesty rubbed off on everyone around him. “He is just a fantastic kid,” Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert said. “He’s got a great heart. He is genuine. He loves basketball. He loves people. People love being around him. He’s humble. He’s a great guy.” —AP

Felipe Massa

Ferrari piling more pressure on Massa BARCELONA: Ferrari added to the pressure on Felipe Massa on Monday by highlighting how poorly the Brazilian has performed this season and making clear that they expected him to shift up a gear in Monaco next week.

Massa has not been on the Formula One podium since 2010 and has scored just two points from five races this season. The 2008 season overall runner-up collected a drivethrough penalty in Spain on Sunday and ended up 15th.

Spanish team mate Fernando Alonso won in Malaysia, finished second at his home race in Barcelona and is level with Red Bull’s double world champion Sebastian Vettel at the top of the standings with 61 points. Ferrari’s official website (www.ferrari.com) compared their relative performances at the same stage in 2011 and 2010.

“Fernando has always maintained a very high level (67 points and second place in 2010, 51 and fifth place last year) while Felipe’s drop off has made itself felt,” it said.

“The Brazilian had picked up 49 points two years ago and 24 the following year, while so far this season he has just two.

“In Montmelo (Barcelona), Felipe was very unlucky, both in the race and in qualifying, but everyone, he more than anyone, is expecting a change of gear starting right

away with the Monaco Grand Prix,” added the website. Massa lives in Monaco, which hosts the sixth round of the season. He has never won in the principality, with third place in 2007 and 2008 his best results there. Alonso won with Renault and McLaren in 2006 and 2007 respectively. “We expect Felipe to react and fight back after this unlucky weekend, starting in Monaco,” team boss Stefano Domenicali said after Sunday’s race. “We absolutely need his points to also fight for the constructors’ title.”

Ferrari are fourth overall, 21 points behind third-placed Lotus and 46 adrift of champions Red Bull, after starting the season with a car whose performance was some way off their rivals’ pace. Domenicali spoke also of the inspirational example of Manchester City’s Italian manager Roberto Mancini, whose club won the Premier League title with two stoppage-time goals on Sunday. “You always have to believe you can do it, even when the evidence has you believe the contrary,” he said.

“Last night I watched the replay of the football matches involving the two Manchester sides and saw the determination with which Roberto Mancini continued to exhort his guys even when the situation seemed lost. “It was an example for everyone involved in sport.” —Reuters

19

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

SPORTS

Soccer edges closer to goal technology SOUTHAMPTON: Decades after the invention of spy satellites capable of detecting a golf ball from outer space, referees may soon be equipped with technology that will enable them to tell if a football has crossed the goalline.

After years of debate which has moved at a glacial pace, world football chiefs are close to sanctioning goal-line technology after a string of high-profile refereeing controversies. FIFA’s rules body-the International Football Association Board (IFAB) - is expected to give the thumbs up to goal-line technology at a meeting in Kiev in July following the European Championships.

IFAB is currently assessing two

different systems bidding to be approved as authorized suppliers of goal-line technology, one from British company Hawk-Eye and the other from German-Danish firm GoalRef. Both company’s systems are undergoing rigorous testing ahead of the IFAB meeting, and Hawk-Eye will be used in a live match situation today when Eastleigh and AFC Totton face each other in the Hampshire Senior Cup final. Former English referee Neale Barry, a member of the IFAB sub-committee assessing the relative merits of the systems, believes the use of goalline technology is inevitable.

Barry attended testing at Southampton’s St Mary’s stadi-

Michel rides her way to Olympics Her mare, Riwera de Hus, could command a price of more than a million euros after the Olympics. In comparison, Moorlands Totilas, regarded as the top dressage horse ever, was sold for over 10 million. It may be back to square one for Michel after the Olympics. “We will probably have to sell her (Riwera) after the Games. Or maybe she will become a brood mare,” she said. Michel, however, will not be frustrated, as she is not seeking glory.

“In horse riding it is the encounters that matter,” she said. “It’s about becoming a horse person.”

The last French rider to claim a medal at the Olympic dressage competition was the German-born Margit Otto-Crepin, who took silver in Seoul in 1988 riding Corlandus. Since then, France have become a second-tier dressage nation and do not have automatic Olympic spots, meaning that Michel had to go through a tough selection process to book her place for London.

She improved from 65 percent to 71 percent at the last CDI of Saumur, still a far cry from Briton Charlotte Dujardin’s world record of 88.022 percent, but she can hope for a good showing at Greenwich Park. “We are on an upwards slope,” said Michel, who started climbing the world rankings ladder last September in an attempt to qualify for London. She now is 45th and definitely on her way up. In London, she hopes she will ride three times. Michel will start with the Grand Prix.

The best seven teams and the best 11 individuals who are not already qualified as team members will advance to the next phase, the Grand Prix Special. From there, the best 18 individuals go through to the Grand Prix Freestyle, an event Michel could be taking part in. “My goal would be to reach the final, if we continue to improve. But I can’t think about a medal,” she said.— Reuters

MANCHESTER: Carlos Tevez landed himself in fresh controversy on Monday when he was pictured waving a mocked-up tombstone for Sir Alex Ferguson during Manchester City’s Premier League title celebrations. The 28-year-old Argentina striker held up a banner designed to look like a gravestone and bearing the words ‘RIP Fergie’ as City celebrated their title triumph over Manchester United during an open-top bus parade.

Manchester City later released a statement apologising to Ferguson and criticised Tevez while the player - who it is believed took the banner from a fan - also said he “didn’t mean any disrespect”.

“The creation of the tasteless material is in itself reprehensible and in accepting and brandishing it, Carlos has made a significant error of judgement,” said a City spokeswoman.

“The club wishes to express its

With each system, the referee will be alerted by a signal transmitted to a wristwatch within one second of any goalmouth incident whether the ball has crossed the line. Both systems could be available later this year if they meet with IFAB approval in July. Steve Carter, the managing director of Hawk-Eye, is adamant that his company’s technology will make refereeing controversies such as Geoff Hurst’s 1966 World Cup final goal a thing of the past.

“The testing process has been exceptionally rigorous and whichever system is approved, every football fan can sleep easy at night knowing they are accurate,” said Carter.

“At the moment all of our concentration and energy is on doing as well as we can, making the technology as good as possible and making sure that we get excellent results from phase two.”

Meanwhile, Barry is skeptical of the argument that any introduction of goal-line technology will be the thin end of the wedge, leading to video replays being used to rule on issues of offside or foul play. “I’ve been on IFAB for seven years and it is a very, very conservative organization,” Barry said. “I’d be astonished if we go to other forms of technology. In my personal opinion, I don’t think we will ever get to that point.”— AFP

“It’s too early to say what’s going to happen, I like to go step by step and right now my goal is these Games. I couldn’t say how many (Games) but the amount doesn’t matter, rather to do well and get a good result at each,” the 25-year-old added.

A diving tradition that has given Mexico several medals since a bronze won by Joaquin Capilla in London in 1948 dates back to 1934 at “La Quebrada”, a 35-metre Cliff at Acapulco where locals risked their lives taking dives into the Pacific Ocean. “I think Mexico has talent for this sport, physically we’re strong and fast and what we’ve tried to change is the mentality of Mexican divers,” said Espinosa, who starts competition in the 10-metre platform on July 31, her 26th birthday. “We used to go hoping for the best, now we believe we can do things and achieve success.”

Espinosa, 2011 Pan-American champion in the 10-metre platform, synchronized platform and synchro springboard, said her path to the top was tough and that she opened doors for Mexican divers to shine internationally. “No-one opened doors for me, I had to open them and I’m satisfied because I didn’t get anything from anyone. I always loved this sport and I think if I’d had to take up another I don’t think I’d have liked it as much,” she said. — Reuters

sincerest apologies to Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United Football Club for any offence or distress caused.” Tevez for his part said he had just got carried away.

“I got carried away in the excitement of the moment and I certainly didn’t mean any disrespect to Sir Alex Ferguson, who I admire as a man and a manager,” he said.

There was speculation it could have been a reference to a comment made by Ferguson in 2009 when he was asked whether United would ever be underdogs to their city rivals.

“Not in my lifetime,” the United manager said. Tevez left United in 2009 and joined City. He spent several months in exile earlier this season after refusing to come off the bench during a Champions League game at Bayern Munich in September but returned to play a key role in the title run-in after making peace with coach Roberto

Carlos Tevez

Mancini.

City were crowned champions for the first time in 44 years on Sunday when two injury time goals

saw them to a 3-2 win over QPR that consigned United-1-0 winners at Sunderland-to second place on goal difference.—AFP

Pacquiao’s success foils Filipino hopes SINGAPORE: The success of Manny Pacquiao is delivering a knockout blow to Filipino dreams of a first Olympic gold medal, with young boxers fast-tracking to the professional ranks in a desperate bid to escape poverty and emulate the success of their hero. Manny Pinol, a former governor of North Cotabato and current manager of boxers through his Braveheart Boxing stable, says the success of the eight-weight world champion is hindering the amateur Olympic program at home.

Despite boasting a population of over 100 million and a love of boxing, the Philippines will send just one fighter to the London Olympics later this year - the same number as the tiny Seychelles - leaving little hope of adding to the three bronze and two silvers won by their boxers in previous Games. All this while Pacquiao (welterweight), Nonito Donaire (super-bantamweight), Sonny Boy Jaro (flyweight), and Donnie Nietes (light flyweight) hold world titles in the pro ranks. “Manny Pacquiao’s success is hurting our amateur boxing program because every young boy now would like to become Manny Pacquiao,” Pinol told Reuters in a recent interview in Singapore.

“They don’t want to be amateur because there is simply no money in it, it is just a dream of a (Olympic) gold and it is actually more difficult to win than a world boxing title.” In the Philippines, the rags to riches story of Pacquiao, who came from a poverty stricken broken home to become the first man to win world titles in eight divisions, and then be elected a congressman, inspires a nation.

His fights in America have earned him mil-

lions and regularly bring the Philippines to a standstill as his compatriots stop work and flock to big screens across the country to support him. His guaranteed purse for his June 9 bout against undefeated American Timothy Bradley is $25 million, according to media reports, with more expected to come from television money which is counted after the fight. In 2009, the government statistics agency said 27 percent of Filipinos lived below the poverty line, leading many young fighters and pushy parents to sidetrack the unpaid amateur game, where skills are honed and lessons learnt, to chase the wealth that Pacquiao commands in Las Vegas.

“The latest edition of our team, he has just turned pro, (he) would have made a very good amateur fighter because he is tall and has a long reach,” Pinol said. “But he wanted to turn pro and his parents wanted him to turn pro.”

But the path to greatness is a long hard road with no shortcuts. While promising talents may possess the power punching of the 33-year-old “PacMan” not all can boast his boxing skills.

Pinol was in Singapore with one of his fighters, Lorenzo Villanueva, who was attempting to win the vacant IBO featherweight title in a bout with Indonesian Daud Yordan. Villanueva, a silent, timid but immensely powerful puncher, knocked down his opponent within 20 seconds of the first round of his fight. However, his inexperience showed and he was knocked out in the second after swinging aimlessly for a final punch.

For the slight 26-year-old Villanueva, whose father was murdered when he was a boy and his mother left shortly after leaving him to raise his

brothers and sisters, the dream of accumulating enough money to send his siblings to college has been delayed by defeat in Singapore.

“Lorenzo is a product of a grass roots boxing program which I started in 1998 when I became governor,” Pinol said. “I formed a team, built a ring, acquired some gloves, went from one village to another and asked young boys interested in boxing to go up to the ring for the measly price of 100 pesos for the winner and 50 pesos for the loser.

“This story of Lorenzo, the story of how he was attracted to boxing like many other boys in the Philippines born in poverty. This is a story of poor boys who hope to get out of poverty as quickly as they can and the quickest way is through boxing. “It is not the only way but when you have the talent, have the power and are inspired by Manny Pacquiao you immediately turn to the sport because of the fabled story of Manny Pacquiao - (but) not everybody can be Manny Pacquiao.”

Pinol acknowledged Villanueva’s lack of technical skill, and that his impoverished background forced him into the professional ranks early, but he hopes to send two fighters from his camp to the Rio Games in 2016. He wants his school, where three of his 40 fighters have challenged for world titles, to be developed around the country in a bid to hone the talents of the next generation in order to win that elusive gold medal. “It is the only way to do it, Cuba did it and won a lot of (boxing) gold, Ukraine are doing it and winning a lot of gold, we have to look at these models if we want to win gold for the Philippines.”—Reuters

Golden girl Liukin savors grind of late London bid

Mexico divers hope to put one over Chinese MEXICO CITY: Mexico is counting on the youthful energy and ambition of teenager Carolina Mendoza to complement the experience of 2009 world champion Paola Espinosa as they bid to upstage China’s divers at the 2012 Olympic Games. Mendoza was just 14 when she booked her ticket in February for the July 27-Aug. 12 Games in London. “Really, I still can’t believe it,” Mendoza said in an interview. “There’s my coach telling me I’ve done something no-one had achieved before and I’m just acting normal, happy and excited, I just keep training to reach the Olympic Games in good shape. “I know I’m the youngest but I’m still a competitor, I’m going for the same thing, (a medal), I’ll give my best to realize my dreams and at my age I think I’ll enjoy it a lot. “I get up every day saying to myself I’m the best and I train for that,” said Mendoza, now 15.

With great energy and a permanent smile on her face, Mendoza moves around the sports complex where she trains imagining a future with many Olympics. “Anyway, after going to five Olympic Games I think I’ll have a family,” said Mendoza, still unsure what to study at university - medicine or communications. Espinosa, Mexico’s flag bearer at the 2008 Beijing Games where she won bronze in the 10-metre synchronized platform with Tatiana Ortiz, has a more cautious approach.

eree that vital information’, because in reality the most important decision in a game is whether a goal has been scored or not. “We’re trying to give the referee as much as help as we can, assuming the technology works and we can get it licensed, but we’re very, very positive.”

Hawk-Eye, which reportedly will cost around 250,000 pounds ($403,000) per stadium, deploys six cameras at each end of the stadium to calculate a threedimensional position of the ball.GoalRef, the other technology under consideration, uses a chip placed in the centre of a football which will be picked up by sensors installed in the goalmouth.

Tevez sparks row with ‘RIP Fergie’ banner

Jessica Michel

PARIS: Being an excellent rider is not enough for Jessica Michel. For what is likely to be just a brief appearance at the London Olympics dressage competition, she has also had to prove herself as a horse trader and shrewd businesswoman for the past six years. The only French representative in the discipline has, by her own admission, no chance of a podium finish. Realistically, a top 18 finish is her highest possible hope in August, when the 29-year-old rides Riwera de Hus, an 11-year-old Oldenburg mare.

To simply make it to London, she has had to pull in 350,000 euros a year for the owner of the Haras de Hus, a stud farm she joined in 2006 to benefit from the best possible preparation. “Xavier Marie (the owner) is a breeding fanatic. He needed to increase the standing of his foals to sell them at a good price and in order to do that you need them to compete,” Michel told Reuters in an interview. “But he did not know a lot about that, so he asked the Cadre Noir (in Saumur, western France) if they knew someone who would be up for the job. “And my name came up with some others.”

The 29-year-old Michel, who went through four years training at the prestigious Saumur Ecole Nationale d’Equitation, had, however, started her own dressage horse riding business in southern France. “I did not want to risk everything as I did not know him, so I said he could ship me some horses and I would develop them,” she explained. “It worked out pretty well, so after a few months he told me I had to move up to Nantes to work at the Haras de Hus, which I did. “I now have 25 dressage horses to develop and I employ six people.

It costs 350,000 euros a year in expenses and I have to make up for it by selling the horses. “It can go pretty fast as a horse is easily sold for some 15,000 euros ... and many of them may be sold for around 80,000 euros.”

um, which will host today’s match, and is keen for referees to be given the support of technology. “The international board first started looking at the technology in 2005,” Barry told reporters.

“The technology has moved on greatly since then when you look at Hawk-Eye and the quality of their cameras. “I think really there has been the attitude that we should really try to help the referees for this very, very factual decision. “The ball is either over the line or it isn’t. It is not a matter of opinion — it is a matter of fact.

“I think what we’re trying to say is ‘let’s find a technology that works, that actually gives the ref-

Nastia Liukin

DALLAS: Olympic all-around gymnastics champion Nastia Liukin is relishing the exhaustion of intense training in her rushed bid to represent the United States at the London Games. The 22-year-old will compete for the first time in three years at the US Classic in Chicago in less than two weeks, but is battling to hose down expectations even as her anticipation grows. “I’m trying not to have too many expectations because it has been quite a few years since I’ve competed, but my excitement is building,” Liukin told a throng of reporters at the US Olympic Media Summit on Monday.

“Walking home and walking up my stairs and being so exhausted you can hardly walk, that’s the best feeling now. It’s a sense of accomplishment of the day.” Two weeks after the Classic, Liukin heads to the national championships where she will have to produce good enough results to qualify for the Olympic trials at the end of June in San Jose, California. Wearing mini black shorts under a red team jersey, and perched on black, platform shoes with five-inch heels, Liukin projected a touch of glamour among other gymnastic hopefuls decked out in sweatsuits and warm-up jackets early in the morning.

The daughter of double Olympic gold medalist Valeri Liukin and rhythmic gymnast Anna Kotchnova, who emigrated to the United States from the then-Soviet Union,

Liukin won five Olympic medals at Beijing.

Apart from the coveted all-around title, Liukin clinched women’s team silver, individual silvers on the beam and the bars, and a bronze in the floor exercise. Despite her star quality and undeniable pedigree, Liukin knows reputation alone will not carry her onto the US team and will have to battle the younger gymnasts who teamed up to win world championship honors last October in Tokyo.

Teams are now comprised of five members rather than six, and selectors must find the right combination to thrive in the team event, in which three scores must be counted in each discipline.

Liukin will focus on her two best events, the uneven bars and balance beam, in her bid to impress the selectors. “It’s always a puzzle piece,” she said about the selection process.

“You have to really strategize. For team finals, it’s three up, three count in each event. You have to make sure you have three great bar scores, three great beam scores. “My beam is definitely ready. Bars has been one of the things slower to come back even though it’s my best and strongest event. You have to have more endurance and strength.”

Liukin spent her years away from competition representing a variety of sponsors, creating a fashion line and serving as the athlete representative for US gymnastics and the international federation (FIG). —Reuters

Ferrari piling more pressure on Massa

18

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

Tevez sparks row with ‘RIP Fergie’ banner

19

India suspends 5 cricketers after spot-fixing sting operation Page 18

Real mouth-watering clash

KUWAIT: Real Madrid team arrived in Kuwait yesterday to a rousing reception by fans for the much-awaited friendly match between the Kuwait national team and the Spanish giants at Kuwait Sports Club stadium in Kaifan today. Real Madrid was founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club and has traditionally worn a white home kit since. The word Real is Spanish for royal and was bestowed to the club

by King Alfonso XIII in 1920 together with the royal crown in the emblem.

The club established itself as a major force in both Spanish and European football during the 1950s. The team won the Spanish La Liga (League) 32 times, the Copa De Rey (Cup) 18, and the European Champions League nine times. Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho won his first Spanish League to become the first coach to win major titles in four different European countries.

The Portuguese maestro was able to instill a siege mentality in his squad throughout the season that made the difference over an incredibly competitive Barcelona side. Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo - with 46 goals in the League and 59 in total - finally added a Spanish title to his honors in his third season at Real. On many occasions it was his vital goals that won crucial games, a back-heel at Rayo Vallecano and two spectacular strikes at Atletico Madrid, to name only a few, and gave his team victory in tight Real matches. His winning mentality shone throughout the season and he seems to have become more of a team player since the arrival of his compatriot Mourinho.

—Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat/AP

VIVA supports the Kuwaiti National Football Team KUWAIT: VIVA, Kuwait’s newest and most advanced mobile telecommunications service provider, announced its support of the Kuwaiti National Football Team in its match against Real Madrid today.

As part of its continuous efforts to support Kuwaiti national sport teams, which debuted with

the FIFA World Cup Asian qualifier match between the country’s national football team and its South Korean counterpart, VIVA will sponsor the Kuwaiti National Football Team during the friendly match against the Real Madrid team, wishing both teams the best of luck. VIVA welcomes the ‘Best Club of the 20th Century’ in Kuwait and is looking forward

to this friendly match that will appeal to the public and all football fans.

Since the launch of the company’s operations in Kuwait, VIVA has supported sports in many forms, including its sponsorship of the Kuwaiti National Football Club. VIVA will continue to bring all that is new and significant to its customers.

UAE’s Dana Gas seeks consensual sukuk deal Page 22

Italian economy slumps deeper into recession Page 25

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

Dimon faces growing calls to split top roles Page 24

US April retail sales hint at slower spending pace Page 23

Euro-zone narrowly dodges recession Bloc faces breakup as seven countries reel from debt crisis LONDON: Europe dodged a bullet yesterday after the economy of the 17 countries that use the euro narrowly avoided a recession in the first quarter of the year despite a raging debt crisis that’s raising the specter of the breakup of the currency union.

There was one reason why the euro-zone avoided an overall recession - officially defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, was behind the better-than-expected performance as strong export figures helped it grow by 0.5 percent - equal to the US’s economic performance. “The euro area might have dodged recession, but it is firing on only one cylinder,” said James Ashley, senior European economist at RBC Capital Markets.

Huge economic disparities exist across the single currency bloc. Of the euro’s 17 members, seven are in recession: Ireland, Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Portugal and

AMRITSAR: Indian laborers unload sacks of wheat from a truck at a storage facility on the outskirts of Amritsar yesterday. Thousands of sacks full of wheat are piled up in open in Punjab which run the risk of being rotting due to vagaries of nature. India’s wheat production, one of the world’s largest, is expected to cross some 86 million tons to set a new record for the 2011-12 crop year. — AFP

India will cut Iran oil by 11% NEW DELHI: India said yesterday it would cut purchases of Iranian oil by 11 percent—far less than many other countries—following US pressure to isolate the Islamic republic over its disputed nuclear program. Indian refiners will import 15.5 million tons of crude from its neighbor this fiscal year, a minister told parliament, down from 17.44 million tons last year.

The announcement came after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week pressed India to lower its Iranian oil imports ahead of a US law taking effect next month to slap sanctions on nations buying oil from Tehran. A spokesman for the US embassy in New Delhi said he could not comment on whether the cut would be sufficient for India to obtain a waiver from sanctions, already granted to Japan and the European Union.

“That decision will be made in Washington,” Peter Vrooman told AFP. The usually friendly ties between the United States and India have been tested by their differences over Iran, with which New Delhi has been openly looking to expand its trade links. Junior oil minister RPN Singh did not mention the increasing Western pressure in his speech to parliament, but said the move to reduce oil imports from Iran was part of a drive to diversify energy sources. The Indian government is wary of being seen as bowing too easily to US demands. There remains a strong anti-Washington strain in Indian politics, a legacy of the countries’ mistrust during the Cold War. “India has been consciously trying to diversify its sources of crude oil imports to strengthen the country’s energy security,” Singh explained.

Washington has said the reduction in oil imports must be “substantial” to win a sanctions waiver, but it has not specified exactly how much each nation must cut. The EU is poised to fully implement an embargo on Iranian oil from July 1, while Japan imported 36 percent less oil from Iran in March from a year earlier. South Korea also is promising big cuts. China and India are Iran’s biggest oil buyers and official Chinese figures showed its imports of Iranian oil fell by over half in March, even though Beijing, like New Delhi, has publicly resisted joining the Western sanctions drive.

Energy-scarce India, which imports four-fifths of its crude, says it shares the US anti-nuclear proliferation goals but it views Iran as an important source of oil to feed its economy’s fast-growing needs. India, which competes for influence with Pakistan in South Asia, regards Iran as an ally and vital partner in helping to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan following the US planned troop exit. —AFP

UAE to join world’s 12 largest gas suppliers DUBAI: The UAE announced yesterday it will join leaders of the world’s biggest gas suppliers in the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, state news agency WAM reported. “The cabinet gave approval today (Tuesday) for the UAE’s decision to join the Gas Exporting Countries Forum,” WAM said.

The GECF, whose members hold just under 70 percent of the world’s natural gas reserves, was founded in 2008 and is based in Qatar. It currently comprises Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Oman, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.

Kazakhstan, Norway and the Netherlands are observers.

The UAE which has proven reserves of 97.8 billion barrels of oil also has over six trillion cubic meters (212 trillion cubic feet) of gas, ranking it fourth in the world. Russia is the world’s largest gas producer and sits on 30 percent of global reserves, while Qatar is the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter with a production capacity of 77 million tons a year. —AFP

Slovenia. Though Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, revealed that the euro-zone posted flat output in the first quarter - against expectations that it might actually slip into recession with a 0.2 percent decline - there are growing concerns that the months ahead will be as difficult as any the currency union has faced since its creation in 1999. The political turmoil in Greece has ratcheted up fears of a disorderly debt default that could lead to the country’s exit from the single currency and set off a chain reaction of contagion across the euro-zone economy. For many, including the left-wing Syriza party in Greece which stormed to a shock second in last week’s general election, the answer rests on abandoning austerity - government programs that cut government spending, wages, welfare payments and jobs. These cuts and reforms were introduced by countries including Spain and Italy when their borrowing costs on bond markets started to rise to unmanageable levels - a

sign that investors are nervous about the size of their debts relative to their economic output.

Austerity is intended to address this nervousness by reducing a government’s borrowing needs. However, the concern among many in Europe is that these cuts have choked off any hope of economic growth. That matters because without growth, debt burdens can get worse even at a time of huge cuts. French President Francois Hollande heads to Berlin later and is expected to press the case for a more growthfriendly approach to the debt crisis when he meets German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Kickstarting economic growth was a central plank of Hollande’s electoral platform, not just in France but across Europe as a whole. Growthfriendly measures include reducing red tape for small businesses, making it easier for workers to find jobs across the euro-zone and breaking down barriers that countries have created to protect their own industries. Some economists

go a step further and say governments should actually increase spending while economies are so weak - and make reining in deficits a longerterm goal. “It seems unlikely that anything tangible will come out of the meeting though it seems likely that the subject of growth and fiscal discipline will be on the agenda given the French President’s comments on the subject in his election campaign,” said Michael Hewson, markets analyst at CMC Markets. Merkel, who has led Europe’s response to its mushrooming crisis over the past couple of years, has preached a cocktail of austerity and economic reforms as the only viable and long-lasting route out of the debt morass. Greece, which is currently without a government and appears on course for another general election in June following last week’s inconclusive poll, saw its economy contract by an annual rate of 6.2 percent, slightly better than the 7.5 percent decline recorded in the previous three month period. — AP

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

BUSINESS

UAE’s Dana Gas seeks consensual sukuk deal Bonds, shares rise after Q1 profit DUBAI: Dana Gas Co said it wanted to find a consensual deal to repay the remainder of a $1 billion Islamic bond maturing in October, and confirmed it had hired advisers to weigh up various options for the repayment. The Abu-Dhabilisted natural gas producer’s share price has been battered by concerns over how it will find the cash to repay the outstanding $920 million of the sukuk, issued in 2007, on time and in full.

Its stock has dropped 40 percent in the past year.

Dana said yesterday it had hired Deutsche Bank, Blackstone Group and law firm Latham & Watkins to advise on options for discussions with sukukholders and their advisers. The bondholders have hired law firm Linklaters, one source familiar with the matter said.

Its shares rose 2.56 percent on the Dubai bourse. The sukuk rose to 70.938 cents on the dollar according to Thomson Reuters data, up from 70.917 levels earlier in the session. The sukuk is trading below par as investor confidence in Dana’s ability to repay sags and clarity

on refinancing or restructuring options remains elusive. A default or sukuk restructuring would be a significant development in the United Arab Emirates where only bank loans have been restructured or rescheduled, not publicly-listed bonds, in the last four years.

Dana Gas, which has operations in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Iraq’s Kurdistan region, said yesterday that cash flow had been affected by global economic conditions and regional events, including Egyptian unrest last year which delayed payments.

It added political disputes in Iraq had affected payments from the central government to firms operating in Kurdistan. The group’s cash balance stood at 524 million dirhams at March 31. “Although the economic realities outlined above affected Dana’s ability to raise new funding, the company is committed to finding a consensual solution that is equitable to all stakeholders,” it said. The 7.5 percent convertible bond matures Oct. 31. The next quarterly pay date is

HSBC eyes 20% SME loan growth in UAE ABU DHABI: UK lender HSBC Holdings, launched a 1 billion dirhams ($272.4 million) small and medium enterprises (SME) fund yesterday and said it sees loans to the sector in the United Arab Emirates growing by 20 percent this year. The lender is bullish on the SME sector despite slowing of the overall loan book. The bank’s exposure to the SME sector in the UAE ending December 2011 was over $600 million.

“We saw a double-digit loan growth in 2011 to SMEs and we have a similar target in 2012,” Nicholas Levitt, head of commercial banking UAE, corporate & business told reporters. “The level of loan growth (overall)

is very limited at the moment, it won’t go into double-digit growth,” he said, adding the big five local banks in the UAE posted only a 0.7 percent growth in loans in the first quarter of this year.

HSBC’s new International Trade SME Fund, its third such fund in the UAE, is open to new and existing customers with cross-border trading requirements. At least 30 percent of the fund will be allocated to Emirati-owned businesses. The first two funds, each $100 million, were launched in 2010 and 2011.

Trade in the UAE is projected to grow at 7 percent over the next five years and 5.5 per cent between 2016 and 2021. —Reuters

DUBAI: Banque Saudi Fransi, the lender partowned by Credit Agricole, launched a $750 million five-year Islamic bond yesterday at the tighter end of price guidance, which indicated strong investor demand for the issue. Saudi Fransi, the kingdom’s fifth largest bank by market capitalization, launched the sukuk at a spread of 185 basis points over midswaps, arranging banks said, at the lower end of the range indicated earlier in the day. It attracted orders worth $4 billion.

Initial price guidance released on Monday was 200 basis points over midswaps. The issue would be the Saudi bank’s first sukuk sale under a recentlyestablished $2 billion program.

Dollar-denominated bonds from Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, come to market relatively infrequently, and attract substantial demand when they do. Saudi Electricity’s $1.75 billion sukuk earlier this year received orders in excess of $15 billion.

Despite a higher level of uncertainty in the euro-zone this week, Banque Saudi Fransi would have benefited from a strong regional bid supporting the deal, allowing the borrower to set a deal size bigger than the standard benchmark of $500 million.

“We have seen regional buyers support deal momentum and pricing increasingly over the last six months,” said a Gulf-based debt capital market official. “Despite the troubles in the rest of the world, the region has its own micro-climate.”

Banque Saudi Fransi’s existing $650 million 4.5 percent conventional bond, maturing 2015 was bid at just over 103.97 yesterday, to yield about 2.8 percent, Thomson Reuters data showed, coming under some selling pressure ahead of the new issue.

It was trading at a zero-volatility spread (zspread) of about 211 basis points. The z-spread is a pricing tool which calculates the number of basis points that need to be added to a zero-coupon yield curve to make the bond’s discounted cash flows equal the bond’s present value.

Citi, Deutsche Bank and Credit Agricole are bookrunners on the deal. Allocations and pricing are expected early afternoon, London time. —Reuters

Shares in Global, one of the largest investment houses in the Gulf state, have not traded on the Kuwait Stock Exchange since December after the bourse suspended the stock for having accumulated losses which exceeded 75 percent of its capital. Earlier this month it reported a third straight yearly loss of 57.5 million dinars ($207.1 million) Global, which counts the governments of Kuwait and Dubai as major shareholders, said in September it would ask creditors to delay repayments on its debt so it could undertake a second restructuring of its obligations. Like other Kuwaiti investment houses, the global financial crisis in 2008 hit Global’s portfolio hard. —Reuters

Saudi eyes new metro project RIYADH: Saudi Arabia yesterday launched a tender process to build a new metro system in the capital of Riyadh in an effort to ease congestion on the city’s gridlocked roads. The Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA) invited international consortia to prequalify for the project, which it wants to be finished in four years. “ADA invites global consortia specialized in the production and supply of rolling stock, control and telecommunications systems as

NET PROFIT UP The company’s quarterly profit more than doubled, it said yesterday, helped by high oil prices and increased production in Kurdistan.

First-quarter net profit was 206 million dirhams ($56.08 million), compared with 92 million dirhams for the year-ago period. Net revenue rose 19.2 percent to 572 million dirhams in the quarter. Dana, which owns a 3-percent stake in Hungarian group MOL , said it collected 192 million dirhams against receivables in the first-quarter. At the end of the quarter, trade receivables from Egypt stood at 825 million dirhams, it said.

Investments in the Kurdistan region of Iraq stood at 1.3 billion dirhams at March 31. Last year, Dana proposed listing some of its assets on the London Stock Exchange and sources close to the matter said the company was still looking to do so this year, although it would not proceed if market conditions were unfavorable. — Reuters

Banque Saudi Fransi launches $750m sukuk

Kuwait Global seeks further delay on debt repayment KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Global Investment House said yesterday that it would ask creditors to further extend a deadline for repaying debt to November from June as part of a restructuring proposal it plans to submit soon. The company, which is undergoing its second debt restructuring in three years, did not specify an amount. “The main point is that Global is progressing in its negotiations with lenders,” a statement filed on the Dubai bourse said. It has asked for the repayment deadline to be pushed to Nov. 10 instead of June 10, it said.

Creditors had agreed to delay repayment of the principal of their debt to June, Global said in December.

July 31, according to Thomson Reuters data.

well as metro tunneling, civil, mechanical and electrical works to prequalify for Riyadh metro project,” it said in a statement. Metro projects typically cost billions of dollars to build. The prequalification notice came with a June 20 deadline.

In April, the Saudi Cabinet approved plans to develop a new public transport network in the city within four years that would include both a metro and a new fleet of buses. — Reuters

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy (center) posing for a photograph alongside Moroccan King Mohammed VI (second right), Moroccan Prince Moulay Rachid (second left), and the Saudi Princes Megrin Ben Abdulaziz Al-Saoud (left) and Abdulaziz Ben Abdullah Al-Saoud (right), during an inaugural event marking the kick off for work on a new high-speed train line. — AFP

Batelco mulls options on regulator price cuts DUBAI: Bahrain Telecommunications (Batelco) has yet to decide whether to appeal against a regulator ruling ordering it to slash various interconnection fees it charges rival domestic operators, a top executive told Reuters yesterday.

As the former monopoly, Batelco has control over most of Bahrain’s fixed telecoms infrastructure and other operators lease this to sell services such as landline phone connections and home broadband to their customers, with “wholesale” income providing 11.2 percent of Batelco’s group first-quarter revenue.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has now cut these wholesale fees to boost competition, having found that some of Batelco’s tariffs “are not fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory”, it said in a statement on its website.

“Once we have had the opportunity to analyse the full content, we will decide the best way forward,” Rashid Abdulla, Batelco Bahrain chief executive, said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

The new discounted rates will be effec-

tive from June 1 unless Batelco appeals against the ruling, which instructs the government-controlled firm to cut its fixed broadband and fixed line infrastructure leasing fees by up to 26 and 46 percent respectively. Batelco must also slash its international phone line lease prices - by 28-68 percent to other Gulf Arab countries and by 41-45 percent to Europe, United States and parts of Asia. The order represents another setback for Batelco, which has reported declining profits in seven of the past eight quarters and is pursuing foreign acquisitions to offset falling home revenue. Bahrain’s telecoms sector is arguably the most liberalized in the Gulf, with three mobile operators - Batelco, Kuwait’s Zain and Viva Bahrain, an affiliate of Saudi Telecom Co - as well as about 10 Internet providers serving a population of about 1.3 million. Batelco has a 45 percent share of Bahrain’s mobile subscribers, according to Global Investment House, with Zain and Viva each claiming about 28 percent. Zain and Viva were not immediately available for comment. — Reuters

Dubai Islamic eyes benchmark bond DUBAI: Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the largest sharia-compliant lender in the Gulf Arab emirate, is planning to issue a benchmark-sized, dollar-denominated Islamic bond, or sukuk, lead arranging banks said. Roadshows for the bond sale will begin in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow and end in London on Monday, a document issued by the lead banks yesterday showed. In addition to DIB, an advisor to Dubai government’s recent $1.25 billion bond sale, the lead banks for the bond issue are HSBC, National Bank of Abu

Dhabi, Emirates NBD, Deutsche Bank.

Regional banks have scrambled to tap liquidity in Islamic bond markets this year with Banque Saudi Fransi expected to issue a benchmark-sized Islamic dollar bond this week. Abu Dhabi’s First Gulf Bank and Dubai’s Emirates Islamic Bank have also issued sukuk this year. Benchmark bond issues are typically at least $500 million. DIB last tapped debt markets in 2007 with a $750 million sukuk arranged by Barclays, Citi and Standard Chartered. The bond was repaid earlier this year. — Reuters

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Philippine peso Egyptian pounds

.2730000 .4450000 .3550000 .2950000 .2760000 .2760000 .0040000 .0020000 .0755390 .7359570 .3830000 .0710000 .7214730 .0040000 .0430000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2782500 GB Pound/KD .4477740 Euro .3570230 Swiss francs .2972760 Canadian dollars .2775980 Danish Kroner .0480310 Swedish Kroner .0394880 Australian dlr .2778050 Hong Kong dlr .0358300 Singapore dlr .2214130 Japanese yen .0034830 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 Pakistan rupee .0000000 Bangladesh taka .0000000 UAE dirhams .0757860 Bahraini dinars .7383570 Jordanian dinar .0000000 Saudi Riyal/KD .0742200 Omani riyals .7230090 Philippine Peso .0000000

.2815000 .4540000 .3630000 .3070000 .2814670 .2840000 .0070000 .0035000 .0762980 .7433530 .4000000 .0770000 .7287240 .0072000 .0500000 .2803500 .4511530 .3597170 .2995190 .2796930 .0483930 .0397860 .2799010 .0361000 .2230840 .0035090 .0052330 .0021850 .0030970 .0034460 .0763580 .7439300 .3965350 .0747800 .7284660 .0066040

Kuwait Bahrain Intl Exchange Co. Currency

Rate per 1000 (Tran)

US Dollar Pak Rupees Indian Rupees Sri Lankan Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso UAE Dirhams Saudi Riyals Bahraini Dinars Egyptian Pounds Pound Sterling Indonesian Rupiah

279.400 3.075 5.195 2.175 3.415 6.570 76.175 74.660 742.800 46.290 455.100 3.090

Yemeni Riyal Euro Canadian Dollars Nepali rupee

1.550 364.100 284.500 3.350

UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

Al Mulla Exchange Currency

Transfer Rate (Per 1000)

US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal

279.000 362.700 450.500 281.000 3.515 5.193 46.225 2.167 3.410 6.550 3.075 742.800 75.950 74.450

SELL DRAFT SELL CASH

Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro US Dollar Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

284.10 283.88 304.02 362.71 279.05 452.73 3.57 3.414 5.188 2.170 3.255 3.077 76.04 743.32 46.24 397.56 726.27 76.06 74.62

292.50 283.00 311.00 364.00 280.50 453.50 3.65 3.550 5.525 2.550 4.000 3.250 76.35 741.50 47.65 394.50 726.00 77.50 74.90

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd Rate for Transfer

Selling Rate

US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar

279.150 280.710 451.520 363.245 301.400 739.225

COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound

SELL CASH 282.500 743.320 3.660 282.300 549.000 45.600 49.300 167.800 47.890 362.700 36.700 5.450 0.032 0.160 0.229 3.600 396.100 0.189 93.160 45.000 4.300 220.800 1.811 48.300 726.010 3.160 6.840 77.320 74.630 223.770 38.310 2.663 453.700 40.600 302.300 4.400

9.310 198.263 76.210 279.900 1.340

9.130 76.110 279.500

GOLD 1,634.720

10 Tola Sterling Pound US Dollar

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 451.700 279.500

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co.

Bahrain Exchange Company

UAE Exchange Centre WLL COUNTRY

Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

75.980 76.625 74.400 392.945 46.269 2.175 5.203 3.078 3.414 6.582 684.745 4.500 9.075 5.880 3.340 92.370

SELL DRAFT 281.000 743.320 3.411 280.800

Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Malaysian Ringgit

3.542 5.204 3.073 2.179 3.301 225.500 35.996 3.411 6.574 8.963 91.158 GCC COUNTRIES 74.536 76.800 726.000 742.390 76.110

223.800 46.319 361.200 36.550 5.190 0.032

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

396.050 0.188 93.160

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 48.000 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 46.231 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.304 Tunisian Dinar 179.33 Jordanian Dinar 394.720 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.875 Syrian Lier 4.876 Morocco Dirham 33.183

3.270 219.300 725.830 3.082 6.570 76.890 74.630 223.770 38.310 2.171 451.700 300.800 4.400

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 279.400 Euro 363.78 Sterling Pound 452.930 Canadian dollar 282.79 Turkish lire 156.700 Swiss Franc 305.16 US Dollar Buying 278.200 20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

GOLD 285.000 143.000 71.000

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

BUSINESS

US April retail sales hint at slower spending pace Consumer prices muted on weak gasoline

BRUSSELS: British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (left) talks with Spanish Finance Minister Luis de Guindos Jurado, during the EU Finance ministerial meeting at the European Council building in Brussels yesterday. — AP

Recession hits EU states in east, outlook grim PRAGUE: The Czech Republic’s economy shrank for the third consecutive quarter and Romania fell back into recession in the first three months of the year, as the euro crisis and government austerity hammered domestic demand and squeezed the crucial export sector. Flash gross domestic product estimates for the European Union’s emerging eastern states also showed Hungary had contracted for the first time since the height of the global economic crisis in 2009. The data in all three countries was worse than forecast by economists in Reuters polls, prompting many to say it could intensify debates in those countries’ central banks over whether to cut interest rates despite a need to keep investors interested with high risk premiums.

They also warned that the figures had come before the early indications of a decline in manufacturing across the region at the start of the second quarter. “It’s pretty grim. The worst part is that it shows output in large swathes of the region was contracting even before the most recent escalation of the euro crisis,” said Neil Shearing,

an emerging markets economist at London-based Capital Economics. “So I expect the second quarter is going to be worse.” Romania, the European Union’s second poorest economy, slipped back into recession, shrinking 0.1 percent versus the previous quarter due to a devastating cold snap and snow storms that shut down production in January and waning demand for its exports in the euro zone.

In the Czech Republic, data showed a much worse-than-expected drop of 1 percent versus the previous three months. It was the third straight contraction in what the central bank has forecast could be a five-quarter recession. Hungary’s economy also contracted for the first time since the last quarter of 2009. It shrank 1.3 percent versus the previous quarter, following stagnation at the end of 2011. The only country to buck the trend so far was Slovakia. The euro zone member state grew by a fasterthan-expected 0.8 percent versus the previous quarter following the opening of a new production line at the country’s Volkswagen plant that is gradually boosting production. — Reuters

Norway lifts surplus, but cuts GDP outlook OSLO: The Norwegian government pointed to the strength of the national economy yesterday in presenting a revised 2012 budget with a larger surplus, but it revised down growth prospects for the year.

“Economic activity in Norway has held up well in 2012, despite the global economic slowdown,” Finance Minister Sigbjoern Johnsen said in a statement.

In its revised budget, Norway’s left-leaning government therefore adjusted upwards its anticipated surplus for the year, including oil and gas revenues, by nearly 36 billion kroner (4.7 billion euros, $6.1 billion) to a total of 381.3 billion kroner. Not counting its oil and gas sector, the Scandinavian country’s budget deficit for 2012 was now seen slipping to 112 billion kroner, from a previously anticipated 122.2 billion. The finance ministry explained the adjustments by soaring oil prices, as well as higher-than-

expected tax revenues and lower-thanexpected expenditures. To avoid an overheating of its economy, which in turn could push up the value of the krone to the detriment of Norwegian industries, the ministry prescribed drawing less than the approved amount from Norway’s so-called oil fund.

The fund-one of the biggest sovereign wealth funds in the world-contains all state revenues from the country’s oil and gas sector and was at the end of 2011 valued at 3,971 billion kroner.

Norway has set a 4.0-percent limit on the amount that can be tapped from the fund each year to balance its budget. The finance ministry said Tuesday that due to rising oil prices it in 2012 would need to draw just 116 billion kroner from the fund, which is 16 billion below the 4.0-percent path and 6.0 billion less than the approved amount last year.—AFP

EDMUND: Home Depot reported its earnings yesterday. Home Depot said that its fiscal first-quarter profit climbed 27.5 percent as warmer weather brought consumers out for spring gardening and lawn products. — AP

Kenya signs $600m loan, eyes sovereign bond NAIROBI: Kenya plans to start negotiations on a sovereign bond after agreeing to borrow $600 million in a debut two-year syndicate loan from foreign creditors at an interest rate of 4.75 percent above Libor, the finance minister said yesterday.

The loan, which replaced a planned Eurobond and is meant to substitute nearly half of a 119 billion shillings local borrowing target for the 2011/12 (July-June) fiscal year, would go towards ongoing infrastructure projects, officials said. Treasury said in April it had postponed the Eurobond to the 2013/14 fiscal year, and analyst said the success of the syndicate loan was a good pointer at the ability of the biggest economy in east Africa to access the global financial markets.

Kenya is rated B+ by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch. “Now we can start negotiating on the sovereign bond for the next fiscal year ... because the intention was to retire the expensive domestic debt,” Finance Minister Robinson Githae said at the loan signing.

“The syndicate loan is competitively priced at an interest rate of 4.75 percent per annum over Libor, and is also competitively priced when compared with other similar

African debt financing.” Kenya decided to borrow internationally late last year after yields on government securities soared to highs of 20 percent in December from as low as 2 percent in January.

This made it costly to borrow domestically, especially to fund the government’s infrastructure development plans which are core to its economic growth aims. Yields have since edged down in oversubscribed auctions this year as inflation dropped for five straight month to 13.1 percent in April.

“The market had evidently nosed out the imminence of the loan and this is evidenced in the sharp fall in government yields,” said Aly Khan Satchu, an independent analyst.

The arrangement of the loan was done by a consortium of foreign banks including Citibank London, Standard Chartered Bank and South Africa’s Standard Bank, who also fully underwrote the loan facility.

“We are particularly proud to have effectively delivered this financing solution for the sovereign during what has been a challenging period in the markets,” David McCaig, Global Head of Debt Products at Standard Bank, said. — Reuters

WASHINGTON: Sales at US retailers barely rose in April as the boost from an unseasonably warm winter faded, pointing to some loss of momentum in consumer spending early in the second quarter.

But retreating gasoline prices, which put a lid on inflation pressures last month, should put more money in American’s pockets and boost spending in the months ahead. Retail sales edged up 0.1 percent, held back by a decline in receipts from building materials and clothing stores, the Commerce Department said yesterday. That was the smallest gain since December when sales were flat.

Other data showed manufacturing remained resilient, with a gauge of factory activity in New York state bouncing higher this month as new orders and shipments rose.

The New York Federal Reserve said its Empire State general business conditions index jumped to 17.09 in May from 6.56 in April, outpacing economists’ expectations of 8.50.

“Growth is there, but it’s not that convincing,” saidDavid Sloan, senior economist at 4CAST in New York. In a separate report, the Labor Department said its Consumer Price Index was unchanged last month after rising 0.3 percent in March. Excluding food and energy, core CPI gained 0.2 percent, matching the increase posted in March.

US stock index futures added to gains on the data, while bond prices extended losses. The dollar gained against the yen. March’s sales were revised slightly down to show a 0.7 percent rise rather than the previously reported 0.8 percent increase. Economists polled by Reuters had expected retail sales to gain 0.2 percent last month.

Unusually warm weather pulled forward sales in the prior months, resulting in first-quarter consumer spending rising at its fastest clip in more than a year. Consumer spending increased at a 2.9 percent annual rate in the first three months of this year.

Sales last month were mixed, with building materials and gardening equipment falling 1.8 percent - the largest drop since January last year

- after surging 2.7 percent in March.

Home Depot Inc also fell victim to the weather in April. The world’s largest home improvement chain reported weaker-than-expected quarterly sales on Tuesday after demand slowed last month after earlier strength. Auto sales increased 0.5 percent after rising 0.2 percent in March. Excluding automobiles, sales ticked up 0.1 percent after advancing 0.8 percent the prior month. The payback from the warm weather was also evident in clothing stores sales, which dropped 0.7 percent after dipping 0.1 percent in March.

Clothing sales were also probably affected by an early Easter holiday, which brought forward spring purchases. Sales at gasoline stations fell 0.3 percent as prices at the gasoline pump retreated from recent highs around $4 a gallon.

Sales had increased 1.0 percent the prior month.

While the drop in gasoline prices contributed

to holding back retail sales last month, this should boost spending in the months ahead by easing the burden on cash-strapped households.

So-called core retail sales, which exclude autos, gasoline and building materials, rose 0.3 percent after increasing 0.6 percent in March.

Core sales correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of the government’s gross domestic product report and March’s rise pointed to strength in underlying demand even though the pace slowed from the first quarter’s brisk pace.

The economy grew at a 2.2 percent rate in the first quarter. Sales at restaurants and bars rose 0.4 percent, while receipts at sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores increased 0.7 percent. Receipts at electronics and appliances retailers climbed 0.2 percent, while sales at furniture stores rose 0.7 percent. — Reuters

NEW YORK: The main entrance of a JC Penney store in the Manhattan Mall in New York. Sales at US retailers barely rose last month as the boost from an unseasonably warm winter faded, pointing to some loss of momentum in consumer spending early in the second quarter. — AP

Russian growth worries linger despite strong Q1 MOSCOW: Russia’s economy grew by a robust 4 .9 percent in the first quarter, significantly outperforming forecasts, but economists remained cautious about lifting their growth outlooks for 2012 against the backdrop of a cooling global economy.

The Federal Statistics Service did not provide any breakdown with the GDP figures but Dmitry Polevoy, economist at ING bank, in a research note, suggested the impressive year-on-year expansion was the result of strong government consumption and a slowdown in import growth, as well as higher inventories. The figure, which defied a recent slowdown in industrial output, was a “a total surprise to the market,” he said.

The first official estimate for first-quarter GDP slightly outpaced the 4.8 percent year-on-year reading for the final quarter of last year. Russia has seen robust 7-8 percent growth in consumption during the first months of this year, driven by higher real wages and government spending in advance of the presidential election in March won by Vladimir Putin. However, analysts anticipate consumption growth to slow down later in the year as the government tightens spending and raises household utility prices. The preliminary GDP headline reading, which is often subject to revision, was higher than an initial estimate of 4 percent made by Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina last month.

Most economists had also expected first-

quarter growth of around 4 percent, consistent with a slowdown in industrial output seen over recent months. Polevoy noted that the Statistics Service is revising its measurement of GDP to include imputed rental income, which may have provided a nominal boost to GDP. “This is certainly positive news that may provide some relief to the market,” Ivan Tchakarov, chief Russia economist at Renaissance Capital, said in a research note. He cautioned, however, that the initial growth estimate may subsequently be revised downwards, and that similarly strong growth is unlikely to be sustained over the coming months.

Economists also cautioned that since the first quarter, global sentiment has deteriorated, as political uncertainty in the euro zone raises new fears about global financial stability. The worsening global environment has indirectly impacted Russia, contributing to falling oil prices and a 20 percent slump in Russia’s stock market since March that has erased all gains for the current year to date.

“This (GDP) statistic tells us that there were positive sentiments in the first quarter, which unfortunately could have changed for the worse in the second,” said Natalia Orlova, economist at Alfa Bank. Economists polled by Reuters last month anticipated 3.6 percent growth in Russia’s GDP for 2012 as a whole, compared with 4.3 percent growth in 2011. — Reuters

Japanese banks report surging full-year profits TOKYO: Japan’s biggest lenders yesterday reported across-the-board surges in annual profits, with megabank M itsubishi UFJ Financial Group posting a 68 percent spike on trading and one-time gains. Mitsubishi UFJ, the nation’s largest bank, said its net profit came in at a hefty 981.33 billion yen ($12.28 billion) in the fiscal year through March, compared with a 583.08 billion profit in the yearearlier period. The firm, which also said revenue rose 9.2 percent to 4.95 trillion yen, reported that its earnings spike was due to lower credit costs, bond-trading gains and a one-time boost related to its holding in USbased Morgan Stanley.

In June, the Tokyo lender switched its 22 percent ownership stake to common shares from preferred shares, pulling in 290 billion yen from the conversion. Mitsubishi UFJ owns the chunk of Morgan Stanley after throwing a $9.0 lifeline to the troubled Wall Street giant in 2008 during the financial crisis. Yesterday, Mitsubishi said its exposure to debt-hit Europe was minimal, with “limited” activity related to the continent’s banks and no holdings of Greek or Irish government bonds. “(Our) exposures to Spain and Italy were mainly towards the infrastructure sector, such as electricity, gas and telecommunications,” it said. “(There were) limited exposures to financial institutions.” Rival Mizuho Financial Group yesterday said it posted a 17.2 percent rise in full-

year net profit to 484.52 billion yen for the fiscal year through March, largely due to improved credit-related costs. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, meanwhile, said its full-year earnings rose 9.0 percent-helped by an increase in loansrelated commissions and lower credit-card costs-to 518.54 billion yen. The trio’s combined net profits totaled nearly 2.0 trillion yen, the largest since the global financial crisis.

But the figures weren’t rooted in their core banking business of lending, but rather factors including gains from sales of Japanese government bonds, which lenders have relied on for returns amid sluggish loan demand. Analysts said a decline in net profit is likely for the current fiscal year, which Mitsubishi UFJ confirmed for its own part, saying it expects net profit to fall to 670 billion in the current fiscal year through March 2013.

Sumitomo also forecasted a 7.4 percent fall in net profit this fiscal year, although Mizuho said it expects net profit in the same period to rise to 500 billion yen. Japanese banks have been ramping up their overseas operations at a time when European financial institutions have been forced to scale back their businesses as markets fret about the euro-zone’s fiscal woes.

Among that expansion, Mitsubishi UFJ, which has a presence in the United States through its retail banking unit California-based Union Bank, agreed to acquire Pacific Capital Bancorp for about $1.5 billion in March. — AFP

UK Plc faces 100bn pound pension bill LONDON: UK plc could face a 100 billion pound ($161 billion) bill over the next three years to plug rising deficits in its pension schemes, new research shows, limiting cash available for dividends, stock buybacks and capital investment. British companies could be forced to use 13 percent of their cash piles to plug spiraling deficits that could yet worsen, according to the Pension Corporation (PIC), a specialist pension manager.

“Excessive costs caused by too much misguided legislation, poor matching of investments and liabilities and the overall economic environment have combined to create a perfect storm,” said David Collinson, co-head of business origination at PIC. Companies are required to fund any dramatic shortfalls that crystallize during triennial valuations, which can be an immediate hit on cash flow. The aggregate deficit of the UK’s 6,432 defined benefit schemes increased to 216.8 billion pounds at the end of April, compared with a surplus of 2.3 billion pounds a year ago, data from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) shows.

Although companies have paid more than 80 billion pounds into their pension schemes over the previous three years, dwindling asset returns and lower bond yields, a staple investment of pension funds, have put pension funds 110 billion behind target, estimates PIC. The cost to Britain’s pension industry of the Bank of England’s 325 billion pounds of QE to date could total 270 billion pounds, as yields on gilts, used to calculate liabilities, have plummeted, making it more expensive to pay for future liabilities, the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) estimates.

The Pensions Regulator, which approves all funding commitments, rejected calls to make allowances for the change in its first annual statement on funding conditions published in April, but said struggling employers, of which there could be about 300, may be given greater breathing space to plug funding holes. “What many in the pension system fail to realize - or, worse, are afraid to say - is that those members who hope to start drawing their pension in the next few years or decades will not necessarily be getting what they were promised today,” said Collinson. PIC has around 5.5 billion pounds in assets and has insured almost 60,000 pension fund members from FTSE 100 companies, multinationals and the public sector. — Reuters

24

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

business

How will JPMorgan’s $2bn loss affect banking rules?

WASHINGTON: The $2 billion trading loss at JPMorgan Chase has renewed calls for stricter oversight of Wall Street banks. Two years after Congress passed an overhaul of financial rules, many of those changes have yet to be finalized.

JPMorgan’s misstep gives advocates of stronger regulation an opening to argue that regulators should toughen their approach. The Obama administration has argued that it went as hard on banks as possible without further upsetting global finance. Now Democratic lawmakers and administration officials say JPMorgan case proves that more change is needed. Still, many in the industry warn against reading too much into one trading loss. They say losing money is an inevitable part of taking risk, as banks must. Some fear that after JPMorgan’s announcement, regulators will greet industry concerns with more skepticism as they flesh out key parts of the overhaul law. Here’s a look at four key parts of the financial overhaul and how they might be affected by JPMorgan’s losses: THE VOLCKER RULE This provision restricts banks’ ability to trade for their own profit, a practice known as proprietary trading. It is named for former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

Battle lines: Banks say it disrupts two of their core functions: Creating markets for customers who want to buy financial products and managing their own risk to prevent major losses.

They say proprietary trading was not a cause of the 2008 financial crisis and the rule is a means of political revenge on an unpopular indus-

try. Advocates of stronger regulation argue that the rule would have prevented JPMorgan’s loss. They say the trades were made to boost bank profits, not to protect against market-wide risk.

State of play: A draft of the rule satisfied neither side. It includes exceptions for hedging against risk and for market-making, but banks say they the exceptions are too narrow and difficult to enforce. It’s nearly impossible to tell whether a bank bought or sold something for itself or for customers.

JPMorgan effect: Attitudes about the Volcker rule are likely to shift as a result of JPMorgan’s disclosure, experts say. Even if JPMorgan’s trades truly were a failed attempt to protect against risk, the resulting loss strengthens the argument that regulators should err on the side of scrutinizing trades.

ENDING ‘TOO BIG TO FAIL’ During the 2008 financial crisis and the bailouts that followed, the government was unwilling to let the biggest banks fail, for fear of upending the financial system. As part of the overhaul, Congress created a process to shut down financial companies whose failure could threaten the system.

Battle lines: Most players agree that this is a good idea, despite some differences on the details.

State of play: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the agency responsible for closing smaller banks that falter, has taken the lead on writing rules to shut down big firms. Most observers believe that the FDIC, under acting chairman Martin Gruenberg, is on track toward creating a system that markets would

trust to close a big bank. Banks have been working with regulators to create “living wills” detailing how they would wind themselves down without disrupting markets. This exercise has forced them to look more

deeply at their operations - a defense against the accusation that banks have grown “too big to manage.”

However, US regulators can’t do it alone. A big problem after the fail-

The headquarters for J P Morgan Chase & Co is shown in New York. — AP

ure of Lehman Brothers investment bank in 2008 was what to do with its overseas operations. It wasn’t clear which regulators were in charge, or whose bankruptcy court would control the disposal of Lehman’s assets.

Regulators are negotiating with their European counterparts, but it could take years before they agree on rules that would allow a global company to dismantle itself without spreading confusion through the financial markets.

JPMorgan effect: Like other banks, JPMorgan supports giving the government the power to dismantle a failing bank. CEO Jamie Dimon said so clearly in an appearance on “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

JPMorgan’s loss probably doesn’t affect the likelihood that regulators will break up a bank in the future.

The loss wasn’t nearly big enough to threaten JPMorgan with failure.

REGULATING DERIVATIVES JPMorgan’s bets involved complex investments known as derivatives whose value is based on the value of another investment. Before 2008, many derivatives were traded as individual contracts between banks and hedge funds, without any transparency for regulators. The financial overhaul sought to bring more derivatives onto regulated exchanges and force derivatives traders to put up more cash in case their bets turned against them.

Battle lines: Overhauling the rules governing this market, estimated at $650 trillion, has proved as complex as the investments themselves. Banks support many parts of the overhaul but generally argue that forcing too much transparency would make it harder and more

expensive for companies to use derivatives as a hedge against risk.

They say it is an unnecessary cost that would be spread across all types of companies.

The agency most responsible for implementing these rules, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, faces the threat of a much smaller budget than it says it needs to write the rules and increase its oversight of the derivatives market.

Advocates for stronger regulation argue that the new rules apply to the sorts of derivatives believed to have magnified the financial crisis - and JPMorgan’s losses - but do not threaten investments like energy futures, for example, which airlines use to control fuel costs. They say banks are just trying to protect a lucrative business that other companies can’t compete in today.

State of play: About half the rules are done, but many crucial questions have yet to be decided.

The rules will be phased in this fall through next spring. Banks are lobbying hard to protect their hold on this profitable business. Banks support pending legislation that would limit US regulators’ control over derivatives trades by their overseas affiliates.

JPMorgan effect: Fairly or not, JPMorgan’s big loss on derivatives trades is likely to revive scrutiny of that market. That could give advocates of tighter rules some juice in ongoing negotiations with regulators. It also could empower those who believe the budgets of the CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission should be increased to reflect the need for broader oversight.— AP

Dimon faces growing calls to split top roles Shareholders meeting in Tampa crucial

DUISBERG: A lorry transporting cars passes a bridge in Duisburg yesterday. Germany’s economy grew 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2012. — AP

Oil rises as euro-zone wards off recession LONDON: Brent crude oil futures gained yesterday, as the euro-zone narrowly avoided recession and as better-than-forecast German first quarter GDP data raised hopes that Germany will steer the way through the European debt crisis. The eurozone economy stagnated, with zero growth, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat said yesterday.

The results were more positive than forecast, boosting riskier assets, but the region’s debt crisis has sapped the life out of the French and Italian economies and widened a split with paymaster Germany.

Brent crude rebounded from earlier losses, rising by 30 cents to $111.87 a barrel by 0934 GMT after sliding to $110.04 on Monday, its lowest intraday price since Jan. 25. US crude dropped 22 cents to $94.56 a barrel, after Monday’s fall to $93.65, the weakest intraday price since Dec. 19.

German gross domestic product grew by 0.5 percent in the first quarter, far exceeding forecasts due largely to robust exports, helping to lift the euro from a fourmonth low.

“Brent is showing a positive move owing to the news of Germany’s betterthan-expected GDP,” said Thorbjoern Bak Jensen, oil analyst at Global Risk Management. “But the rise has been tempered by Italy’s disappointing GDP and Moody’s downgrade.” Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the long-term debt and deposit ratings for 26 Italian banks on Monday, citing the country’s recession and rising bad debt levels.

Greek party leaders were expected to convene at 1100 GMT yesterday but there is little hope President Karolos Papoulias’s proposal to form a technocrat government would end the country’s political stalemate, making a new election the most like-

ly outcome. Many market players think a fresh election will make it more likely for Athens to ditch its bailout pledges and hence the euro, even though euro-zone finance ministers dismissed talk of Greece’s exit as “propaganda and nonsense”. “The Greek situation has reached a breaking point,” said Guy Wolf, macro strategist at Marex Spectron, “The EU has prevaricated for two years but they can delay no longer on whether Greece is in or out. I do no see how they can default and stay in the euro, I do not see the point.”

Oil prices remained dampened by further signs the world’s second largest economy, China, was struggling to maintain its high growth levels.

China’s Commerce Ministry said yesterday the country’s foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows dropped 2.4 percent in the first four months of this year from last year, the longest period of declining inflows since the depths of the global financial crisis. FDI is an important gauge of the health of the external economy, to which China’s vast factory sector is oriented.

The oil demand outlook continued to weigh on prices, US crude inventories were expected to have risen for an eighth straight time last week, a Reuters survey of analysts on Monday showed.

Investors will also look towards yesterday’s meeting by US regulators crafting the final language of the Volcker rule and are expected to discuss how JPMorgan’s $2 billion trading loss may impact their work.

The rule bans banks from making certain kinds of speculative investments.

Meanwhile the physical market remains well supplied with Saudi producers pumping enough oil to deal with the impact of the sanctions on the oil market, analysts said.— Reuters

Kuwait stocks edge higher KUWAIT: Kuwait Stock Exchange ended trading ended yesterday with majority of indices in green. The indices recorded a gain of 11.64 points in the KSX 15 index to 1,002.4 points, an up of 2.8 points to 418.99 points in the weighted index, and a gain of 9.07 points to 6,441.35 points in the price index.

The 14 sector indices were a mix with seven in green, four in red, and the remaining three unchanged upon closing. Top share for the day was that of Investors Holding Group Company, worst hit was share of Al-Dar National Real Estate, and most traded stock of the day was that of Gulf Finance House.—KUNA

FLORIDA: Jamie Dimon faces growing calls to give up the chairmanship of JPMorgan Chase & Co when shareholders of the bank convene days after it revealed losses of billions of dollars in trades that were supposed to protect it from risk. The meeting, at the bank’s back-office complex in Tampa, Florida, will give investors their first crack at Dimon, also JPMorgan’s chief executive, since he revealed a soured hedging strategy had cost at least $2 billion and possibly much more. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest pension fund in the United States, will lead calls to strip Dimon of the chairmanship in a move it said would likely lead to better risk controls. “CalPERS believes if the chairman was independent the board may be able to exercise stronger oversight of management,” the organization said in a note setting out its voting intentions ahead of the meeting. The group, which owns around $565 million of JPMorgan stock, said it would support executive compensation proposals but warned it would “closely review” the effects of the trading losses when analyzing the 2013 Say-on-Pay vote.

Other major pension funds in New York, California and Florida, as well as the two leading proxy advisory firms ISS and Glass, Lewis - are already backing the nonbinding proposal calling for a split of the jobs of chairman and CEO. The California State Teachers Retirement System, the Florida State Board of Administration and the New York State Comptroller’s office, which each oversee around $150 billion in

assets, have said they will also vote for the split. “Generally we support these kinds of proposals,” said Ricardo Duran, information officer for CalSTRS. “We always look kindly on the separation of those two positions.” The shake-up from those trades started Monday, as the company’s chief investment officer retired. Beyond electing directors, the day’s agenda includes several shareholder proposals, including one for separating the roles of chairman and chief executive, both of which titles are held by Dimon. JPMorgan likely will face a bar-

rage of questions about what Dimon knew, when he knew it and how a bank that has boasted of its “fortress” balance sheet could make such a major mistake. “It was going to be a noisy shareholder meeting anyway, but it’s likely to be more boisterous than if it had been held before last Thursday,” said Paul Hodgson, senior research associate of GMI Ratings. The firm slapped its lowest rating - “F” - on JPMorgan’s corporate governance policies before disclosure of the loss.

Fewer than 5 percent of the companies rated by GMI get the bottom

WASHINGTON: JPMorgan Chase & Co Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon (center), flanked by Goldman Sachs & Co Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Lloyd C Blankfein (left) and Bank of New York Mellon Chairman Chief Executive Officer Robert Kelly, are seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. —AP file photo

ranking, Hodgson said. Many large shareholders wait until the last few days to vote, so the trading loss may influence some to withhold votes supporting management proposals or to actively support some shareholder resolutions.

Tim Piechowski, associate portfolio manager at ACR Alpine Capital Research, said the firm voted clients’ shares in favor of the measure to split the chairman and CEO roles. But the decision was based on the firm’s policy and was not related to the trading loss, Piechowski emailed. JPMorgan argues in its proxy filing that the split is not necessary for Dimon. All other directors are independent under the rules of the New York Stock Exchange and one is designated as a “presiding director.” William Frels, chief executive of investment advisory group Mairs & Power, said via email his firm is supporting management on all issues on the proxy. “The shares seem more like a ‘buy’ than a ‘sell’ from what we know about the loss so far,” Frels said.

Though declines in JPMorgan shares following the announcement of the loss have wiped nearly $19 billion off the company’s market value, many analysts and investors expect a rebound, rather than a prolonged slump. Even if the losses double to $4 billion, that would only represent about 20 percent of the bank’s 2011 profit. “We’re not looking at losses in a portfolio that could continue deteriorating because of systemic issues.

We’re dealing with a hedging strategy that didn’t work,” said Marty Mosby, an analyst at Guggenheim Securities who covers the company.—Reuters

In Europe, carmakers talk plant closures GENEVA/BRUSSELS: Under the lights of the Geneva motor show in March, Europe’s top auto executives boasted about the new features of their latest models and tried to out-hype their rivals.

The next morning, in a hotel conference room just across the way from Geneva’s convention centre, the same executives all sat down to work out how to fix their huge overcapacity problem.

At a board meeting of the European automaker’s lobby group ACEA, the bosses of Volkswagen, Daimler, BMW, Peugeot, Renault, Fiat and Opel decided it was time to discuss the elephant in the room: plant closures. “Their fear was of an all-out price war,” said a source who was briefed about the meeting but declined to be named. “The negative fallout from that would be terrible.”

The hard truth is that after more than four years of falling demand and profits, Europe’s carmakers have yet to restructure or consolidate. Many factories are running at partial capacity - analysts estimate automakers have cut some 3 million cars, or 20 percent, from their production lines - and still producers struggle to sell their wares.

At the Geneva meeting, ACEA President Sergio Marchionne pressed members to call on Brussels for political cover to start shutting down factories.

“Closures should be coordinated at EU level,” the Fiat and Chrysler boss told them, according to the person briefed on the meeting, to get around “a game of chicken” played by the producers where the first company to close plants would take the brunt of the cost and leave the rest to benefit.

Europe’s carmakers survived the initial economic downturn in 2009 by turning to national governments for help. Germany, France, Britain and other countries offered some 30 billion euros in financing and incentives to companies and car buyers to support an industry upon which 12 million families depend for their livelihoods. But there was a conspicuous lack of pressure for companies to restructure or merge - governments battling the financial crisis did not want to have to deal with yet more job losses. In France the government explicitly awarded the money on the proviso that its automakers did not shut any plants.

In contrast, US carmakers were forced to overhaul their businesses in return for their massive $81 billion bailout, when Chrysler and General Motors were supported through bankruptcy.

But where the American industry has rebounded strongly, Europe’s carmakers muddle on. Some, such as German firms BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, have enjoyed big profits on the back of demand for premium models. Others - Peugeot, Fiat and GM’s Opel - have struggled. Many rely heavily on discounting, continuing to fund price cuts set up initially as government cash incentives for new buyers. Rebates in Germany and Italy reached an all-time high in March of 30 percent off the sticker price.

Automakers contacted by Reuters declined to give details about current capacity levels at their plants. In a May 1 report entitled “Can the EU ignore industry calls for help?”, UBS published some estimates based on data from market

research firm IHS and concluded that BMW and VW are running their plants at over 90 percent of capacity, while Renault is at an estimated 76 percent, followed by GM and Peugeot at 75 percent.

Ford is at 70 percent and Fiat at 65 percent. Those rates are “barely at break even level at the top end of that range, and squarely in loss for a number of them,” the report says.

So it is no surprise that many in the industry have concluded that the solution is to close some of the 187 vehicle factories in the EU, Russia and Turkey.

The problem is, not everyone agrees. At the ACEA meeting Marchionne’s argument was fiercely opposed by the three German manufacturers, whose brands continue to sell well.

Martin Winterkorn - boss of VW, which is the second biggest carmaker in the world and runs its plants at almost full capacity - argued that manufacturers should instead invest outside Europe and improve their technology and fuel efficiency.

That may be true, in the long run. But what everyone in that meeting also knew is that VW is forced to offer some of its cars at huge, companysubsidized discounts. The Seat Ibiza, for instance, was the deepest discounted model in Europe in March, according to the Center for Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Buyers in Germany could snap up the Ibiza with zero deposit and zero interest financing for five years, at a monthly payment of just 99 euros - a 27 percent discount from the 10,990 euro sticker price.— Reuters

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

business

Premium Asian carriers hit by severe crosswinds SINGAPORE: Premium airlines in Asia are rethinking their strategies and slashing costs as high fuel prices, global economic uncertainty and pressure from Middle East and budget carriers squeeze profits.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) reported that its net profit for the financial year ended in March tumbled 69 percent to Sg$336 million ($268 million), weighed down by a rare loss in the fourth quarter.

It was only SIA’s third quarterly loss in its 40-year history of uninterrupted full-year profit. The first took place during the SARS health scare in 2003 and the second during the global financial crisis in 2009. SIA’s Asian rival Cathay Pacific of Hong Kong has warned shareholders that its first-half results, due out in August, are “expected to be disappointing” on the heels of a 61percent net profit fall in 2011.

Both carriers are looking for more opportunities in Asia, the world’s fastgrowing aviation market, as long-haul operations take a hit from the European debt crisis and the patchy US recovery. Australian flag carrier Qantas is also attempting to refocus on Asia as part of its strategy to revitalize its loss-

making international business. “This is not just a Cathay Pacific problem,” chief executive John Slosar said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

“It is clearly an industry-wide issue, and continued high fuel prices in particular are hitting airlines hard across the globe,” he said, calling for “concerted action” to address the volatile environment. SIA’s performance is regarded as an indicator of industry trends and its reliance on business and firstclass passengers to generate high margins is now being called into question.

Premium carriers such as SIA and Cathay are among the most affected by the economic headwinds because of their heavy reliance on top-paying passengers who can account for more than 50 percent of revenues, analysts said. Some analysts say SIA has not been not been quick enough to seize opportunities at the lower end of the market.

“While SIA’s current slump is more a result of tough economic conditions and external factors, they are also now paying the price for standing still,” the Sydney-based Centre for Aviation consultancy said in a report. Air travellers

are more price-conscious and have a wider range of choices from budget carriers to premium airlines, Shukor Yusof, an aviation analyst in Singapore with Standard & Poor’s Equities Research, told AFP. Last year, one in four of the 46.5 million passengers who passed through Singapore’s Changi Airport travelled on a low-cost airline, compared to one in five in 2010, the airport operator said.

SIA is also being challenged by Middle Eastern carriers such as Etihad, Qatar Airways and Emirates, which have expanded their fleets and improved cabin services to compete with the famous “Singapore Girl” flight attendants.

“They have closed the gap,” said Shukor. “They now offer services that are at par or better than SIA and at lower ticket prices,” he said, noting that SIA fares are around 20 percent higher.

ABut Middle East carriers are equally under pressure, with Dubai’s Emirates airline group announcing a 61-percent slump in profit in the year to March to 2.3 billion dirhams ($629 million).

Cathay said its cost-cutting measures include reducing flight frequencies on some routes to Europe and the

United States while expanding its profitable Asian network through sister firm Dragonair.

It will deploy more fuel-efficient aircraft, speed up the retirement of older Boeing 747-400 planes, freeze hiring of ground staff and offer voluntary unpaid leave for cabin crew from June.

SIA said in March it had asked its pilots to volunteer for unpaid leave for up to two years during which they can work for other airlines. It has retired the Boeing 747-400 and is pushing through with orders for new more fuelefficient Airbus and Boeing planes.

Global airline industry group IATA in March cut back its 2012 profit forecast for the industry to $3.0 billion from $3.5 billion due to persistently high fuel prices, with Brent crude staying above $100 a barrel.

The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) said the aggregate net profit of members based in the region tumbled 47 percent last year to $4.8 billion due to high oil prices and soft cargo demand. Fuel accounted for 34 percent of total costs, up from 30 percent the year before, AAPA said. Its director general Andrew Herdman said that with revenues totalling $162 bil-

lion, the aggregate net profit represented “only a 3.0 percent profit margin and a poor return on invested capital.”

But he said the region’s carriers were adapting. “Asia Pacific carriers are at the forefront of business model innovation, with changing dynamics rapidly reshaping the region’s industry,” he told AFP. A number of airlines are already combining the elements of both fullservice and budget models, while others are forming alliances, he noted.

“New strategies involving partnerships of full service airlines and low cost carriers are breaking new ground in Asia,” he said. And SIA is not ignoring the budget market: its wholly-owned lowcost carrier Scoot is set to start flying next month to Australia.

In addition, SIA owns nearly 33 percent of Tiger Airways, another low-cost carrier which holds more than a third of Indonesia’s Mandala Airlines. Shukor said SIA remains fundamentally strong, with up to Sg$6.0 billion in cash. “No airline in the world has that kind of money. That war chest will put them in a position that will allow them to manoeuvre and overcome any nearterm turbulence,” he said. — AFP

Italian economy slumps deeper into recession Banking association slams Moody’s downgrades

PUDONG: Workers labor on the Shanghai Center Tower under construction in Pudong, Shanghai yesterday. China’s economic growth has abruptly decelerated from overheated to slower than Beijing wanted in just half a year as export demand and consumer spending at home weaken, raising the threat of job losses and possible unrest. — AP

China faces pressure to reverse economic slump BEIJING: Gao Runping, who makes mechanical components for the oil industry, founded his business in the central city of Taiyuan with equipment bought from failing companies after the 2008 global crisis. Now, with China’s economy cooling abruptly again, Gao sees another wave of bankruptcies about to hit his industry. “I can see about onefifth to one-third of the factories are about to close, and owners are preparing to sell off their equipment,” said Gao, general manager of Taiyuan Fanhe Engineering Co. China’s economic growth has decelerated from overheated to slower than Beijing wanted in just half a year as export demand and consumer spending at home weaken, raising the threat of job losses and possible unrest.

Chinese leaders are gradually reversing course after spending the past two years trying to cool growth and inflation.

They are easing lending curbs and are expected to take other steps to shore up growth that fell to a nearly three-year low of 8.1 percent in the first quarter and is slowing further. But they are moving cautiously after the stimulus that helped China avoid the 2008 crisis fueled inflation and a wasteful building boom.

“Everybody realized the stimulus was excessive,” said UBS economist Tao Wang.

“This time, I think the government will be more cautious and more prudent.”

The slowdown adds to challenges for the Communist Party ahead of a once-adecade handover of power to younger leaders this year. It follows a scandal over disgraced politician Bo Xilai and the embarrassment of a US-Chinese highlevel dialogue overshadowed by a standoff over a blind legal activist, Chen Guangcheng. On Saturday, regulators reduced minimum reserves banks are required to hold in a move that frees up money for lending. Analysts said, though, that was in line with earlier plans and was unlikely to dramatically expand borrowing due to weak demand for credit. That came after factory output in April plunged to its lowest level since the 2008 crisis and consumer spending, home sales and bank lending were unexpectedly weak, jarring hopes for a “soft landing” with growth rebounding as early as midyear. Power consumption, an indicator of overall economic activity, rose just 3.7 percent in April over a year ago, compared with 7 percent in March, the National Energy Administration reported yesterday. The first quarter “was pretty anemic, and I think that is likely to get worse,” said Eric Fishwick, head of economic research for Hong Kong-based investment bank CLSA. The figures have prompted some analysts to trim their growth outlook for this year, though to still-robust levels of 8 to 9 percent. The World Bank and

International Monetary Fund are forecasting growth this year at 8.2 percent.

Adding to the gloom, sales of home appliances during the weeklong May Day holiday were down 30 to 40 percent from a year earlier, according to the newspaper China Business Journal.

Planners face a conflict between immediate growth needs and Beijing’s long-term effort to reduce heavy reliance on exports and investment and create a more self-sustaining, consumer-based Chinese economy.

A quick way to pump money into the economy is through more spending on building highways and other public works. But authorities are reluctant to do that again after the 2008 stimulus left local governments that splurged on new roads, buildings and other projects with heavy debts to state banks that some may be unable to repay. The flood of money also set off stock market and real estate speculation, forcing up politically sensitive housing costs. Inflation spiked to a 37-month high of 6.5 percent last July, with food prices surging 14.8 percent, before subsiding to 3.4 percent in April, below the government’s 4 percent target for the year.

Instead, authorities are likely to take carefully controlled steps to spend a small amount more on infrastructure, encourage more building of low-cost housing and nudge up bank lending, said Wang of UBS. The government began easing controls late last year after global demand for Chinese goods weakened. Beijing promised more lending to small and private companies and eased a moratorium on loans to developers of lower-priced housing. “So far, either these measures have not come out as quickly or have not had as much effect” as Beijing wanted, Wang said. “So I think the government, along the lines of modest easing, will do a little bit more.”

Real estate poses another dilemma.

The industry traditionally has been China’s biggest growth driver, fueling spending on construction and home furnishings. But high housing costs divert money away from consumer spending that Chinese leaders are trying to encourage and are politically dangerous for the ruling Communist Party by eroding economic gains that underpin its claim to power. Premier Wen Jiabao affirmed Beijing’s resolve to keep most controls on real estate in place, saying in March that while prices had eased slightly from their mid-2011 highs, they were still far above “reasonable levels.” “The authorities have just not found a new industry is big enough to replace the vigor that the real estate industry had for boosting the economy,” said Song Huiyong, director of research for Shanghai Centaline Property, a real estate broker. — AP

ROME: The Italian economy, the euro-zone’s third biggest, fell deeper into recession in the first quarter of this year, when economic activity contracted by 0.8 percent, official data showed yesterday.

Hit by heavy debt and austerity measures drawn up to straighten out its finances, the Italian economy had shrunk by 0.7 percent in the last three months of 2011, and by 0.2 percent in the third quarter of that year, figures released by the ISTAT statistics office showed.

A recession is defined by two consecutive quarters of contracting economic activity. The latest slump was heavier than expected, with analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires pencilling in a drop of 0.6 percent for the threemonth period.

It was also the sharpest quarterly decline since the Italian economy shrank by 3.5 percent in the first quarter of 2009, when the world was in the midst of its most severe economic crisis since the 1930s Great Depression.

On a 12-month basis, Italian gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 1.3 percent in the first quarter, the ISTAT data showed. It did not provide details but according to the latest figures, industrial production fell by 2.1 percent in the first quarter, and business sentiment has slumped to its lowest level since late 2009.

The Italian banking association ABI slammed yesterday a decision by the international rating’s agency Moody’s to cut its assessment of 26 banks, calling the move “an attack on Italy.” “For ABI, the Moody’s decision is an attack on Italy, its companies, its families and its citizens,” a statement said.

Late on Monday, Moody’s downgraded its credit ratings on the 26 Italian banks, including the two biggest, UniCredit and Intesa

Sanpaolo. Moody’s underscored the deteriorating financial situation in Italy, which entered recession in the second half of 2011.

ABI called the cut “irresponsible, incompre-

economy which have been gravely impacted by the ratings agencies’ decisions.”

When it announced the ratings downgrade on Monday, Moody’s said: “Banks are vulnera-

MILAN: People coming out of a branch of the Italian Intesa Sanpaolo bank in Milan. Moody’s slashed its credit ratings by up to four notches for 26 Italian banks on Monday. — AFP hensible, and unjustifiable” and charged that “the ratings agencies have confirmed again that they are a destabilizing element in markets with partial and contradictory judgements.”

The association pressed European authorities to adopt a “severe regulatory control” of ratings agencies and said it might itself act “to protect the legitimate interests of the Italian

Greek euro exit loses taboo status in Germany BERLIN: “Akropolis Adieu!” screams the cover of the latest issue of the usually understated Der Spiegel news weekly, a sign that the topic of Greece leaving the euro-zone is gradually becoming less taboo.

“Why Greece must now leave the euro,” the front page was subtitled, with a picture of a euro coin broken in two having fallen off a crumbled Acropolis pillar.

For EU paymaster Germany, as well as top European officials-even at the European Central Bank, the most ardent defender of keeping the bloc together-the prospects of a break-up appear less catastrophic than before. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble last week said that while Germany wants to keep Greece in the euro, it “can’t force anyone” and stressed that “Europe won’t sink that easily” if the euro-zone were to split.

In another interview with Sunday’s edition of Die Welt, he said that it would be a “funny sort of government” if Berlin did not at least “prepare for all possible eventualities.”

Rather than sticking rigidly to keeping Greece in the euro, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday it would be “better” for it to remain in the group, adding she did not think Athens would stop living up to its commitments. And even members of the ECB-the guardian of the euro-appear to be more relaxed about Greece leaving, with Belgian central bank chief Luc Coene talking of an “amicable divorce” in the Financial Times.

Irish central bank governor Patrick Honohan has already said that a Greek departure from the eurozone “isn’t necessarily fatal” and could “technically” be managed. Nevertheless Luxembourg premier Jean-Claude Juncker, presiding at a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers in Brussels Monday, lashed out at “propaganda” suggesting that Greece would now exit the troubled currency.

“I don’t envisage, not even for one second, Greece leaving,” the head of the Eurogroup said after the Monday night talks. — AFP

ble to the renewed recession in Italy, given their already elevated levels of problem loans and weakened profitability.

“These risks are exacerbated by investor concerns over the sustainability of the Italian government’s debt burden, which has contributed to the difficult wholesale funding conditions faced by Italian banks,” it added. — AFP

India’s RBI ‘intervenes’ as rupee continues to slide MUMBAI: India’s central bank likely intervened in foreign exchange markets yesterday after the rupee breached the key 54 level against the dollar, nearly hitting its lifetime low, dealers said.

India’s Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is suspected to have started selling dollars after the rupee hit an intraday low of 54.13 against the dollar in early trade, the lowest level since December 15, when it hit a record low of 54.3. “We suspect that the RBI intervened in early trade today to aid the currency,” an analyst with a staterun bank said, declining to be named.

After the intervention, the rupee strengthened to 53.67 levels. The currency has been hurt by escalating fears over euro-zone debt crisis, flagging domestic indicators, slowing overseas funds inflows and pressure from oil importers, who must exchange rupees for dollars when they buy crude. Energy-poor India

imports four-fifths of its crude oil needs.

The unit was also weakened on Monday by data showing annual inflation unexpectedly accelerated in April to over seven percent, reducing chances of swift interest rate cuts to boost slowing economic growth.

Traders say the central bank appears to have intervened to sell dollars more than a dozen times this year in a bid to curb the Indian currency’s fall.

The bank has a policy of not commenting on its actions in the forex market. The rupee was Asia’s worst performing currency in 2011, losing more than 20 percent of its value in the calendar year.

But after it hit a record low in midDecember, it rebounded to 48.67 rupees in February, led by strong foreign fund buying of Indian assets, before falling again. — AFP

TOKYO: A man looks at an electronic stock indicator in Tokyo yesterday. Asian stock markets were mostly lower yesterday rattled by a political impasse in Greece that could lead the debt-stricken country to a destabilizing exit from the euro currency union. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 73.10 points, or 0.81 percent, to close at 8,900.74, a new three-month low. —AP

26

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

BUSINESS

Yusuf A Alghanim & Sons Automotive launches all-new 2013 Chevrolet Malibu in Kuwait KUWAIT: Yusuf A Alghanim & Sons Automitve, the exclusive distributor of Chevrolet in Kuwait, launched the All-New 2013 Chevrolet Malibu in a spectacular ceremony held in Safat Alghanim’s showroom in AlRai. The event was attended by officials from Yusuf A Alghanim & Sons, representatives from General Motors, leading media, and distinguished customers who experienced the grand unveiling event of the awe-inspiring all-New 2013 Chevrolet Malibu that will redefine the midsize sedan categor y in Kuwait with its expressive styling, refined interior, outstanding driving experience and five-star safety features that makes it the best equipped vehicle in the midsize segment.

Expressive and efficient exterior The exterior design of the allnew Chevrolet Malibu carries DNA from its sister vehicle, the Camaro, to bring a sporty sensibility to the family sedan segment. A wider stance, broad shoulders and an integrated rear spoiler bring a new

athleticism to the All-New 2013 Malibu and give it a more aggressive appearance. Other exterior design cues include Chevrolet’s dual-port grill, projector HID headlamps, and new Camaro-inspired LED dual-element taillights. The look is complemented by a range of large 16, 17 and 18-inch wheels.

The new Malibu exterior is anticipated to be SAE-certified as one of the most aerodynamically efficient cars in the segment. The All-New 2013 Chevrolet Malibu also has electronically controlled and integrated active aero shutters to improve aerodynamics and enhance fuel economy without sacrificing the exterior design.

Roomier, more refined interior The All-New 2013 Malibu interior was designed to bring an element of sophistication to everyday driving, featuring an all-new dual cockpit design that creates an inviting, roomy and comfortable environment that prevents tire, wind and road noise from disturbing the quiet cabin and smooth drive. The

increased width of the new Chevrolet Malibu means a more spacious cabin. Compared to the previous model, it has nearly 4 cubic feet (113 L) of additional interior volume along with more shoul-

der and hip room. The Chevrolet Malibu interior features metallic, chrome or wood accents located around the shifter, surrounding the center stack, around the instrument

cluster and on doors and the steering wheel. Soft, ice blue ambient lighting complements the chrome accents and ensures an even and consistent illumination along the instrument panel. French contrast

stitching, soft-touch and textured surfaces, and strategic applications of noise-deadening materials add to Malibu’s interior refinement. The All-New 2013 Malibu comes with

advanced technological features which include a 7-inch color touchscreen display with rearview camera, Bluetooth connectivity, a USB port and iPod connectivity and remote vehicle start.

New 2.4L inline 4 cylinder and 3.0L V6 powertrains The All-New 2013 Malibu features a global lineup of fuel-efficient and powerful four-cylinder engines. An all-new 2.4L dual overhead cam, four-cylinder engine with direct injection generates 170 hp and uses continuously variable valve timing to optimize performance, efficiency, and emissions. The 3.0L engine uses spark ignition direct injection and continuously variable valve timing to optimize performance, efficiency and emissions generating 260 hp. Both engines are mated to a Hydra-Matic 6T40 six-speed automatic with features designed to enhance powertrain efficiency.

World-class safety When it comes to safety features,

the All New 2013 Malibu is one of the best-equipped vehicles in the midsize segment. The new Malibu has received a 5-star safety rating and comes equipped with an array of standard active and passive safety features which include six air bags - dual-stage driver and front passenger air bags, driver and front side-impact air bags, and roof rail air bags, and dual pretensioners with Rear parking assist and a rearview camera also available.

Chassis control technologies include four-corner electronic stability control that incorporates fullfunction traction control, electronic brake force distribution, brake assist, and corner brake control.

Visit any of Yusuf A Alghanim & Sons’ showrooms to experience the All-New 2013 Chevrolet Malibu first-hand. Yusuf A Alghanim & Sons adds the finishing touch to the ownership experience with highquality after-sales services. With the world’s biggest and most advanced automotive service center, customers need not worry about their service and maintenance needs.

NBK’s IAB member Lubna Olayan awarded Swedish Royal Order

BMW continues to offer customers sheer driving pleasure Exclusive offer on pre-owned vehicles KUWAIT: Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive is continuing to provide its BMW customers with the best offers and services in the market, with its latest promotional offer on selected models from its BMW Premium Selection pre owned vehicle program.

Customers who buy a pre owned BMW 7 Series, 5 Series or 3 Series will benefit from a free twoyear warranty, 24 hour roadside assistance and a guaranteed tradein offer in with ever y purchase within the promotional period.

BMW Premium Selection is a sub brand of BMW that follows high international standards to offer customers the opportunity to purchase a certified pre-owned BMW vehicle with complete peace of

mind. To qualify for the BMW Premium Selection program, vehicles need to be less than five years old, have a mileage of less than 120,000 km, and a tracked BMW importer recorded service history and original BMW par ts.

Consequently, the vehicles go through a comprehensive 75- point technical inspection conducted by trained BMW technicians to ensure high levels of quality, reliability and value to customers.

The BMW Group impor ter in Kuwait has also combined this offer with a monthly premium financing program. Designed to suit the individual needs of its customers’ budgets, financing starts from KD 143 for a BMW 7 Series, KD 83 for a BMW 5 Series, and KD 72 for a BMW

3 Series.

Yousef Al-Qatami, General Manager of Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive, said, “At Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive, we always look for new ways in which to further strengthen our commitment to clients. With this promotion, we are offering BMW enthusiasts a perfect way to start the summer with an attractive opportunity that combines sheer driving pleasure and advanced peace of mind ownership.

“A BMW Premium Selection vehicle offers an entry into the world of BMW, with every vehicle offering guaranteed quality and premium services expected from the world’s leading automotive manufacturer.”

KUWAIT: Lubna Olayan, the Chief Executive Officer of the Olayan Financing Company in Saudi Arabia and National Bank of Kuwait (NBK)’s International Advisory Board (IAB) member, was awarded the insignia of Member First Class of the Royal Order of the Polar Star from the King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustav, for her substantial contributions to the furthering of good relations between Sweden and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Olayan Group has longstanding relations with Swedish companies with her father the late Sheikh Suliman Olayan receiving this award in 1988. Olayan is the first woman in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to be awarded the insignia. The award recognizes her for her sound judgment and integrity which have made her one of the most respected business persons in the world.

Olayan has succeeded not only in managing successful business

enterprises, but also in dedicating her time and effort in charity and volunteer work. Al-Olayan has

Lubna Olayan served on the Board of Directors of Saudi Hollandi Bank since December 2004, making her the first woman to join the board of a Saudi publicly-listed company. She

is also a member of both its executive committee and its nomination and remuneration committee.

Olayan also serves as a non-executive director and member of various corporate and advisory boards, including Akbank, Chelsfield Partners LLP, Rolls Royce Group plc and “WPP plc” one of the largest communication services businesses in the world. Previously she worked for Morgan Guaranty in New York as a financial analyst from 1979 to 1981. Olayan is a member of NBK International Advisory Board. The 20 member board includes world recognized political leaders, businessmen, bankers and economists including former British Prime Minister John Major, Prince Turki AlFaisal Al-Saud, World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab, Pimco CEO and co-CIO Mohamed El Erian and Reliance Industries Limited Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani.

FASTtelco solutions to power KMEFIC network FASTtelco, a telecommunication Internet service provider and technology solution provider, has been selected by Kuwait and Middle East Financial Investment Company (KMEFIC) to extend its services to the next generation network solution which will provide KMEFIC clients with more advance and reliable solutions.

Since the establishment of AlAwsat Trading system (Al-Awsat Pro) in 2002, FASTtelco was selected to be the primary data and communication provider for its unique and competitive solutions, along with its extensive reliability to its clients.

Abdulaziz Y Al-Babtain, Vice

President of PMO at FASTtelco stated, “What makes us unique is the level of business understanding, implementing online trading system can be simple, but reaching the highest optimized service level will need the best when it gets to the telecommunication services.

We do classify FASTtelco to be the leader in utilizing the latest telecommunication channels and elements toward the brokerage and investment sector. We work hand in hand with our client base in order to implement the best suitable solution.” He also states, “Our strength in understanding the client needs has lead FASTtelco

to investing heavily in its next generation Network to offer the most reliable solutions across all ISPs in Kuwait and we are proud to have this relationship with KMEFIC and take to the next level.”

“FASTtelco was there from the beginning and without any doubt, we will rely on their service for the future,” stated Abdullah AlMudhaf, The head of the online trading unit in KMEFIC. He added, “We do believe that we share the success in providing the best existing Online Trading application in Kuwait with FASTtelco as being our primary provider for the data communication and internet service across the region.”

Strauss-Kahn seeks at least $1m from maid NEW YORK: Disgraced ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is seeking more than $1 million in a countersuit against the New York hotel maid whose accusation of sexual assault last year brought down his glittering political career.

The countersuit, signed Monday and made public yesterday, seeks a minimum of $1 million, plus legal costs and undetermined punitive damages from the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, who is accused of “falsely and maliciously asserting” she was attacked. The 18-page document accuses Diallo of malicious

prosecution, abuse of process, false imprisonment, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

“Ms Diallo participated in the commencement and maintenance of a baseless criminal prosecution,” the suit said, “and in doing so intended to injure Mr Strauss-Kahn.”

The suit was the French politician’s latest attempt to turn the tables on Diallo and recover from a scandal that started a year ago Monday when Diallo accused him of forcing her into oral sex when she went to clean his luxury hotel room. An

initial criminal case against Strauss-Kahn collapsed because Diallo lied to Manhattan prosecutors on certain aspects of the story. However, StraussKahn was forced to resign from the International Monetary Fund and abandon his hopes of winning the French presidency. Subsequently, Diallo opened a civil suit seeking unspecified damages in New York, while in France prosecutors opened a separate criminal case against Strauss-Kahn, alleging involvement in a prostitution ring serving orgies in several countries. —AFP

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

TECHNOLOGY

Take in Yosemite views - by computer FRESNO: Just in time for spring snowmelt: a webcam pointed at one of Yosemite National Park’s main attractions, the soaring 2,425-foot Yosemite Falls. The HD camera went live on North America’s tallest fall Monday, allowing anyone with computer access to watch in stunning detail as shadows race across the towering granite monolith over which Yosemite Creek crashes in a series of plunges and cascades. It’s updated every 30 seconds through a high-speed DSL connection.

To those for whom the park’s breathtaking scenery revives the soul, getting a fix of spiritual uplift just got a little easier. For people who’ve never been to Yosemite, perhaps seeing one of the park’s main attractions in real time will prove too enticing to resist. “In a lot of ways I equate it to all of the beautiful picture books that we’ve had on our coffee tables, or the art from the 1870s that made Yosemite exciting to people around the world when they saw it for the first time,” said Michael Tollefson,

president of the nonprofit Yosemite Conservancy, which placed the camera there. “This is a great way to communicate in today’s media what the park is and to get people excited immediately, for better or worse.” It’s the fourth webcam the nonprofit has set up - the other three are pointed toward the park icons Half Dome, Yosemite’s most recognizable granite feature, and El Capitan, the 3,000-foot sheer-faced monolith popular with climbers. It joins a smattering of others across the nation, including one at Yellowstone’s renowned geyser Old Faithful, as technology, in var ying degrees of clarity, increasingly connects America’s natural wonders with fans around the world.

Unlike the new 24/7 camera at Yosemite Falls, most of the webcams that exist in national parks are there for purposes other than entertaining and enticing. Some pull double duty monitoring air quality, others are there for weather updates or road conditions.

Most are low resolution and so remotely

located that they are updated infrequently through dial-up connections.

Often they are attached to research projects. When they break down, it can take days or weeks to get them fixed.

At Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, a webcam shows traffic on the boat launch ramp at Bullfrog, Utah (http://1.usa.gov/J4P8L5). One webcam at Sequoia Kings Canyon national park provides a view of a single oak tree so students can monitor its life cycle (http://1.usa.gov/KmOPLH). At Little Big Horn National Monument, a camera offers a distant, grainy view of the militar y cemeter y (http://1.usa.gov/JBGXnd). One of the most popular webcams in a national park, said NPS spokeswoman Kathy Kupper, has been one showing sled dog puppies at Denali National Park and Preser ve in Alaska (http://1.usa.gov/nVhmKQ). While the NPS doesn’t have an exhaustive list of cameras in parks, the ones it knows about are on the park website at

nps.gov http://1.usa.gov/KmVFQb).

The Conser vancy ’s cameras in Yosemite National Park are positioned for dramatic impact: the movement of the sun on the falls and formation of ice in the winter, the gathering of summer rain clouds atop Half Dome, rock climbers scaling El Capitan.

The new camera and one in the Ahwahnee Meadow pointed at Half Dome are HD optimized for computer viewing at 1280x720 pixels resolution, or 720p.

The falls camera is capable of 1280x1024 pixels. Eventually the conservancy would like to place webcams in the old growth redwood forest at Mariposa Grove, and in the sub-alpine Tuloumne Meadows at 8,600 feet. The Yosemite Falls camera will show its ebb and flow as snowmelt slows to a trickle by late summer. The Conservancy, which funds many projects in the parks, has someone to keep the cameras up and running, even in the dead of winter.

“Part of our mission is to excite peo-

ple about the park and educate them so they can become committed to protecting and preserving it,” Tollefson said.

“One way is to offer the opportunity to keep the parks live for them on their computers.” While the parks service and the conservancy make every effort to conceal the cameras and place them on structures that already exist, it’s a game for some visitors to find them. One Sacramento T V weather forecaster broadcast from the sightline of a Yosemite webcam and waved at viewers watching simultaneously by computer.

At another camera, someone built a snowman in the foreground. “People figure it out and have fun with it,” Tollefson said. Recent upgrades in DSL Internet connectivity at the Yosemite Lodge, where the new camera is affixed, made the quick streaming of a high definition camera possible. The eventual goal, said Tollefson, is to upgrade to live video streaming at all of the Yosemite cameras that already attract 400,000 viewers a year. — AP

Facebook IPO ready to bring cash and change Analysts predict jump in Facebook’s stock price

BAIKONUR: Russian Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft rests on its launch pad in the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome yesterday. — AFP

Russia launches3 astronauts for ISS BAIKONUR: Two Russians and an American yesterday blasted off for the International Space Station (ISS) on a Soyuz rocket in Russia’s first manned space launch for almost five months. Russians Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin and American Joseph Acaba started their journey on top of the Russian Soyuz FG rocket under crystal-clear skies from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, an AFP correspondent said. Their Soyuz TMA-04M capsule was successfully delivered into orbit, with the rocket stages detatching as planned, and all the crew were feeling good, mission control said.

They are due to arrive at the space station after a two-day journey tomorrow morning. Russia is now the sole nation capable of transporting humans to the ISS after the withdrawal of the US shuttle but this blast-off was the first manned flight from Baikonur since December 21. The launch had been delayed by one-and-ahalf months after the spacecraft the three spacemen were initially to use in the mission was shown in testing not to be hermetically sealed and could not be used for safety reasons.

As a result, their mission has been cut down to 126 days but according to Padalka it will be extremely intense with 40 experiments planned on the Russian segment of the station alone.

Russia’s space programme has been beset by a litany of technical problems which have led to the loss of a half dozen satellites and vehicles over the last year,

including a Progress cargo vessel bound for the ISS. The Soyuz rockets-the workhorse of the Russian space programme and the direct descendant of the rocket that took Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961 — were grounded after the Progress crashed into Siberia after launch. However all manned launches since Russia resumed using the Soyuz have been textbook and hitch-free.

On board the ISS, the three newcomers will join Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers who have already been on the station almost five months since their December launch.

Together, the crew is set to have the historic task of receiving the first ever cargo consignment for the ISS delivered by a private company. Private firm SpaceX is seeking to launch its Dragon spacecraft on May 19 from Cape Canaveral, Florida in what the company hopes will be the first step towards an eventual private manned mission to the station.

Padalka, who is making his fourth space flight, is one of Russia’s most experienced and decorated active cosmonauts who has already spent 585 days in space and made eight spacewalks.

He made his first space flight back in 1998, serving on the now defunct Russian space station Mir. He flew to the ISS again in 2004 followed by another long duration mission in 2009. Acaba had previously made one shuttle flight while Revin is making his first trip into space. —AFP

Half of Americans call Facebook a ‘fad’: Poll

H

alf of Americans think Facebook is a passing fad, according to the results of a new Associated Press-CNBC poll.

And, in the run-up to the social network’s initial public offering of stock, half of Americans also say the social network’s expected asking price is too high. The company Mark Zuckerberg created as a Harvard student eight years ago is preparing for what looks to be the biggest Internet IPO ever. Expected later this week, Facebook’s Wall Street debut could value the company at $100 billion, making it worth more than Disney, Ford and Kraft Foods.That’s testament to the impressive numbers Facebook has posted in its relatively brief history. More than 40 percent of American adults log in to the site -to share news, personal observations, photos and more- at least once a week. In all, some 900 million people around the world are users.

Facebook’s revenue grew from $777 million in 2009 to $3.7 billion last year. And in the

first quarter of this year it was more than $1 billion.

Just a third of those surveyed think the company’s expected value is appropriate, 50 percent say it is too high. Those who invest in the stock market are more likely to see Facebook as overvalued, 58 percent said so.

About 3 in 10 investors say the expected value of shares is fair. But price worries won’t necessarily stop would-be investors. Half the people surveyed say they think Facebook is a good bet, while 31 percent do not. The rest aren’t sure. Americans who invest in stocks roughly agree, although investors who are more “active” - those who have changed their holdings in the past month -are more negative. Nearly 40 percent say Facebook would not be a good investment.

Young adults, a majority of whom log on to Facebook daily, are more willing to dance to their hoodie-wearing piper, 28-year-old CEO Mark Zuckerberg. —AP

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook makes its hotly anticipated stock market debut this week in a history-making move promising wealth for insiders and change for users of the online social network. Hot interest in Facebook stock reportedly prompted the company to bump the opening price range to $34 to $38 for its shares, which would value the firm at between $93 billion and $104 billion. The Menlo Park, California-company will nail down the initial public offering (IPO) share price before it begins trading as a public company.

The IPO is expected to happen Friday although the timetable has not been confirmed. Facebook watchers said users of the social network should expect changesthough not overnight. “The only reason a company goes public is to raise cash to expand,” said Creative Strategies principal analyst Tim Bajarin. “So, the general public at least knows the IPO means Facebook will be able to do more things.

“Facebook is not extremely specific on what they will do with the money; they say they want to be creative, expand, and do new things.” Facebook will keep the lion’s share of the potentially $14.7 billion raised by selling stock. The rest of the cash is to stuff pockets of company founders and investors including rock star Bono.

Mark Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook eight years ago from his Harvard dorm room, will retain 57.3 percent of the voting power of the shares and the IPO was structured to allow him to retain a firm grip on the company. “He really wants to create an open social network,” Bajarin said of Zuckerberg, who turned 28 on Monday. “One that allows Facebook to get more aggressive in the way they connect and provide services to people.”

Some analysts predicted Facebook’s stock price will jump quickly to $44 a share and climb much higher in the long term.

At the heart of the debate about

MENLO PARK: In this file photo, two workers chat with each other at Facebook headquarters. — AP Facebook has “lurched” from optimism regarding the wisdom of owning a piece of that Facebook is how much revenue it Facebook’s prospects was warrant- one advertising model to another takes in. Revenue vaulted to $1.06 ed and considered its popularity on during the past five years, accordbillion in the quarter which ended mobile devices “impressive.” ing to the analysts. A report over March 31 — an improvement year- “Although the company has not the weekend indicated that over-year, but down about six per- actively developed its mobile Facebook was dabbling with a cent from the previous quarter. advertising capabilities, we expect scheme where advertisers would Eighty-five percent of the total a substantial bulk of mobile adver- pay to promote posts at the service came from ad sales. As one analyst tising dollars to flow to Facebook in a manner similar to a Twitter noted, however, Facebook only bills within the next couple of years,” model of charging to give “tweets” a scant half-percent of the $600 bil- Morningstar said. Recent Facebook high profiles. “We wish we could lion spent each year on all kinds of moves have included letting peo- predict this IPO would serve as a advertising-even though at least ple store digital files in the Internet new beginning for Facebook ’s one of every seven minutes spent “cloud” and allowing Microsoft to marketing offering, and that a new online around the world is at weave social network feedback focus on becoming a grown-up into results of Bing-powered business would inspire the compaFacebook.

There is wide margin for searches. “We’ve rarely seen a com- ny to put even half the energy into improvement, seeing as Facebook pany borrow from its competition serving advertisers that it does has more than 900 million users as quickly or as well as Facebook,” into ser ving users,” Elliott and and membership is expanding. The Forrester analysts Nate Elliott and Parrish said. “But we doubt leading social network is Melissa Parrish said in a blog post Zuckerberg’s going to wake up any unabashedly working to follow on Monday. “And that focus on bet- day soon having acquired a taste members onto smartphones and ter ser ving end users has seen for advertising, or even a proper tablet computers, and the IPO Facebook grow quickly over the understanding of it.” Still, there will windfall would provide plenty of years, even in the face of consistent be no shortage of people snapcash to partner with a hardware privacy concerns. “But as good as ping up Facebook shares. Even maker on a long-rumoured Facebook has been at evolving to Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak serve consumers, that’s how bad has gone public saying he plans to “Facebook phone.” invest. — AFP Morningstar analysts concluded it’s been at serving marketers.”

Yahoo soap opera has new cast of leaders SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo’s dysfunctional turnaround efforts have morphed into a Silicon Valley soap opera, one that has taken another strange twist with the Internet company’s ousting of CEO Scott Thompson just four months after his arrival.

Thompson’s hasty departure, amid a furor over an inaccurate resume, ushers in a new cast of characters led by interim CEO Ross Levinsohn and New York hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb. It was Loeb’s sleuthing skill that uncovered Thompson’s misleading biography. With a 5.8 percent stake in the company, Loeb now gets even more leverage with three seats on Yahoo’s 11-member board of directors. He and the rest of Yahoo’s board will appoint one more “mutually agreeable” director, according to a Monday regulatory filing.

If Yahoo’s saga is to end happily, the company’s new leadership will have to develop a strategy to lure back Web surfers and advertisers who have been defecting to Internet rivals Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. At the same time, they will likely need to complete the complicated negotiations to sell part of the company’s prized stake in China Alibaba Group.

Those objectives ranked high on Thompson’s priority list, too, but a ficitious college degree that appeared on his official biography ended his brief tenure.

Another factor may have contributed to Thompson’s short stay.

Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal

This combo image of file photos shows the four former and current Yahoo CEOs. (From left) Former CEO Terry Semel; former CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang; fired CEO Carol Bartz; former CEO Scott Thompson; and interim CEO Ross Levinsohn in San Francisco. —AP reported that Thompson, 54, had gave up at his former job at PayPal, an ous seven years immersed in processinformed Yahoo’s board last week that online payment service owned by ing digital payments at PayPal. he has been diagnosed with thyroid eBay Inc. Yahoo had been paying “Levinsohn is an extremely qualified cancer. Even so, Thompson was still Thompson a $1 million annual salary, executive, in our view, and will serve scrambling to save his job last week as which could have been supplemented as a calming force amid the turmoil,” Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan he deflected responsibility for a bio by a bonus of up to $2 million.

Analysts are divided on whether wrote in a Monday email. “He has a that included a college degree in computer science that he never received. Yahoo is now in a better position to lift visceral understanding of what it takes Thompson, in fact, graduated from its long-slumping stock price and to succeed in the media business. We Stonehill College, near Boston, in 1979 revive its revenue growth. Macquarie believe that under new leadership, with a degree in accounting -not com- Securities analyst Ben Schachter Yahoo is more likely to re-emerge as a puter science. Incensed at initially thought Yahoo was making its great- premier, highly profitable online being denied a seat on Yahoo’s board, est progress in years under media.”

It’s a sentiment shared by some Loeb exposed the phantom degree Thompson’s aggressive leadership.

Now, there’s a risk that Thompson’s investors. Yahoo’s stock added 31 earlier this month.

In a sign that he was forced out, exit will waste four months of turn- cents, or 2 percent, to close Monday at Thompson left Yahoo without a sever- around work - a setback that $15.50. Levinsohn’s name had been ance package, according to docu- Schachter says Yahoo Inc. can’t afford bandied about as a CEO candidate ments filed Monday with the at this critical juncture. “What is really before the company hired Silicon Securities and Exchange Commission. scary about all this is the Internet is Valley veteran Carol Bartz to fill that He is also surrendering unvested stock the fastest moving industry in the role in January 2009. Bartz subseawards valued at $16 million. world, so the time they are losing is quently hired Levinsohn as one of her top lieutenants in late 2010 and then Thompson will get to keep a $1.5 mil- very dangerous,” Macquarie said.

Other analysts believe Levinsohn is his name came up as a potential suclion cash bonus and restricted stock valued at $5.5 million that Yahoo paid a better fit as Yahoo’s CEO than cessor to Bartz after Yahoo fired her him to compensate for benefits he Thompson, who had spent the previ- eight months ago.—AP

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

H E A LT H & S C I E NC E

US Alzheimer’s plan after research push New training, website, TV campaign planned

Balding disease killing Australia’s wombats SYDNEY: A mystery liver disease thought to be caused by introduced weeds is causing hairy-nosed wombats in southern Australia to go bald and die, researchers said yesterday. The illness, which causes the wombat to lose some or all of its fur and then starve to death, is tearing through South Australia’s native southern hairy-nosed wombats, threatening entire populations.

Peter Clements from the state’s Natural History Society said wildlife rescue workers had discovered “several hundred” sickened animals in the Murraylands region near Adelaide, where up to 85 percent of the population was unwell. “They tend to lose their fur in patches and sometimes in whole,” Clements said. “You can see the bones showing through and they’re generally immobile, they just sit there in the sun all day and try to keep warm.”

Clements said it was unusual to see the wombat, a nocturnal creature, out during the day and when they were in daylight “we know that they’re in trouble.” Initially the animals were thought to have mange, but it became so widespread and severewith shiny, healthy skin revealed beneaththat autopsies were carried out to determine what was causing the illness.

University of Adelaide researcher Wayne Boardman said the non-native toxic potato weed appeared to be affecting the wom-

bats’ livers, triggering a reaction with ultraviolet light that caused them to lose their fur. Boardman said it was unclear why the herbivorous wombat had suddenly taken to eating the noxious weed but a shortage of their usual grasses and alternative foods due to prolonged local drought could be to blame. “We have a feeling it might well be a struggle to find enough vegetation, leading them to eat other plants like weeds, and particularly potato weed, which is then having a deleterious effect on the liver,” Boardman told ABC Radio. The creatures were also roaming in areas where they were not usually seen, supporting the theory that there were food shortages and they “have to move out to find vegetation”, he added.

Squat and thickly furred, wombats are small burrow-dwelling marsupials that walk on all fours and are bear-like in appearance with a wide muzzle and a flattened head. They are not a threatened species but Boardman said the population in parts of South Australia state could die out completely if their habitat was not restored to a healthy balance of native plants. Brigitte Stevens, from the Wombat Awareness Organization, said it was a “huge and overwhelming” problem. “Some of them are just lying down... on their side and just eating dirt. You know, they can’t even lift their heads,” she told ABC.— AFP

BEIJING: A photo shows the polluted Houhai, a lake surrounding district in central Beijing. Authorities in Beijing said they plan to get rid of 1,200 high-polluting enterprises by 2015 to improve air quality in the Chinese capital, one of the world’s most polluted cities. — AFP

US consulate launches air pollution data in Shanghai SHANGHAI: The United States consulate in Shanghai has begun issuing its own pollution statistics, giving a much more pessimistic assessment of the city’s air quality than official Chinese data. The US consulate began releasing hourly air quality data from a monitoring device in its city centre compound Monday, posting results online and on Twitter, a spokeswoman said yesterday. Throughout yesterday morning, the US consulate classified the air quality as “unhealthy”, while the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau called conditions “good”.

The discrepancy raised concern among Chinese residents of the city. “I firmly believe that the US data should be trusted,” one blogger posted under the name Xiao She 1125. “It’s beyond imagination that the air quality could be so bad. What is even more beyond imagination is that our monitoring centre said air quality is good when it looks full of dust.” China’s air quality is among the worst in the world, international organizations say, citing massive coal consumption and car-choked city streets in the world’s biggest auto market.

According to the latest Environmental Performance Index compiled by Yale University, China ranked 128th out of 132 countries for air quality. Most Chinese cities currently base their

air-quality information on particles of 10 micrometers or larger, known as PM 10, and do not take into account finer particulates that experts say are most harmful to human health.

But the Shanghai consulate figures, like those already being issued by the US embassy in Beijing, do monitor the smaller particles known as PM 2.5. Shanghai officials said different measurement standards had caused the discrepancy in the statistics. “The core question is the two sides’ air quality standards are different. But there is not much difference in the testing methods, equipment and calculation methods,” an official at the Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Centre told the Oriental Morning Post newspaper. “The data from the consulate will be able to indicate the air quality of the limited area around the consulate,” Wang Qian, also an official at the centre, told the Shanghai Daily newspaper. Shanghai will begin releasing its own readings including PM 2.5 particulates from next month, state media has reported, after China in February ordered some major cities to begin monitoring for them. The consulate said it had communicated its plans to the Shanghai government in advance and its readings were an “unofficial resource” for the American community in the city. — AFP

Lawmakers urge action on medicine shortages LONDON: Britain faces worsening shortages of medicines because vital supplies are being sucked out of the countr y by exporters who can sell them for higher prices elsewhere, lawmakers said. The AllParty Pharmacy Group (APPG) said yesterday the government needed to consider ways to curb this so-called parallel trade, allowed under European Union rules and which can distort the distribution of prescription drugs.

Action by drug manufacturers to try to solve the problem by introducing quotas for drugs in a bid to stop exports has made the situation worse. Parallel trade is also a headache for countries such as Greece where the government has slashed prices for certain medicines by up to a quarter as par t of its austerity drive, leading to increased exports. In the case of Britain, exports have been encouraged by a weak pound, making the country a cheap place for middlemen to source supplies - in contrast to a few years ago when prices were relatively high and drugs were imported.

APPG chairman Kevin Barron said there was scope within European legislation for the government to exempt certain goods from free movement if there was a threat to public health, and his group called for government consideration of this. “The problem of medicines shortages is an extremely serious one, and our report shows clearly that patients are suffering harm as a result of not being able to get crucial medicines. “We have had this problem now for over four

CHICAGO: The US government launched an ambitious push to develop new treatments for Alzheimer’s yesterday with a first prevention study of high-risk patients and tests on an insulin nasal spray that has shown promise in earlier studies.

The trials, funded by grants of $16 million and $7.9 million respectively, are part of a national Alzheimer’s plan, a sweeping effort to find an effective way to prevent or treat Alzheimer’s by 2025 and improve the care of those already afflicted with the brain-wasting disease.

Experts predict that without more effective drugs, the number of Americans with Alzheimer’s will double by 2050 and annual related healthcare costs could soar to more than $1 trillion. The fatal form of dementia affects about 5.1 million Americans today and current treatments address symptoms, but cannot prevent the disease or stop its progression.

Details of the two clinical trials are due to be announced by the National Institutes of Health at a national meeting on Alzheimer’s research in Bethesda, Maryland, later. One of the studies will involve the use of a drug that attacks amyloid-a protein thought to be a cause of Alzheimer’s-in an international study of people who are genetically predisposed to develop the disease early. The second will test the use of an insulin nasal spray to restore memory in patients with Alzheimer’s. An earlier small study of the latter approach by the University of Washington published last year showed memory improvements in people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s or a pre-Alzheimer’s condition called amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

FUNDING Funding for the new initiatives will come from $50 million the Obama administration has set aside for the national Alzheimer’s plan for fiscal 2012. Another $100 million has been earmarked for fiscal 2013, including $80 million for research, $4.2 million for public awareness, $4 million for provider education, $10.5 million in caregiver support, and $1.3 million to improve data collection.

The national plan, called for in the National Alzheimer’s Project Act signed by President Barack Obama last year, and drafted by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), reflects the input of 3,600 people or organizations. It includes development of new training for doctors, a public education campaign, including TV advertisements and a website-www.alzheimers.gov-to help families and carers find services and support. “These actions are the cornerstones of an historic effort to fight Alzheimer’s disease,” HHS Secretary Kathleen

Sebelius said in a statement. “This is a national plan - not a federal one, because reducing the burden of Alzheimer’s will require the active engagement of both the public and private sectors.” The 2025 goal has been the subject of lengthy debate in the advisory council tasked with helping to write the national plan. “We had people saying it was overly ambitious and we had people who said it wasn’t ambitious enough,” said Don Moulds, principal deputy assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at HHS, in a telephone interview. Moulds

said there was concern that an earlier goal might skew research funding into treatments that might be easy hits, but not game-changing treatments. In the end, the 2025 target was the earliest date a significant treatment could be found. Although work was already going on to find a treatment for Alzheimer’s, Moulds said the national plan and its specific targets and timelines would help focus the government’s efforts. “It’s a huge initiative and a very ambitious step in the right direction,” he said.— Reuters

WASHINGTON: Image shows the Health and Human Services new website alzheimers.gov home page. — AP

Amazon suffers as gold rush sweeps Latin America SANTIAGO: A new gold rush is sweeping through Latin America with devastating consequences, ravaging tropical forests and dumping toxic chemicals as illegal miners fight against big international projects. With international market prices for metals high, informal “wildcat” mining has been on the rise in recent years in countries like Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, itself one of the largest producers of silver, copper and gold.

Mining investments in those countries are expected to reach some $300 billion in 2020, according to the Inter-American Mining Society.

But over 160 mining conflicts have erupted across the region amid growing opposition from locals against projects they consider a threat to the environment, the Observatory of Mining Conflicts in Latin America says. During the past decade, the price of gold went from $270 to between $1,600-1,800 per ounce, as people rushed to convert their cash into the precious metal seen as a safe investment during the global economic crisis. And the price of copper is at an all-time high thanks to China’s insatiable appetite for it. Unlicensed mining, especially for gold, has already killed hundreds of people and devastated thousands of hectares in the Amazon forest, where miners have set up camps that destroy everything in their path.

To extract each ounce of gold, it takes two or three ounces of mercury, which fouls waterways after being poured into rivers from the mining sites. In their search for water, the miners raze tropical forests using bulldozers. The phenomenon has also sown disaster among the local pop-

ulation, with thousands of men, women and children exploited and living in squalid camps with no schools or health centers. In Peru, an estimated 110,000 to 150,000 people work in illegal mines, while a thousand children are sexually exploited in brothels known locally as “prostibars” in the southeastern province of Madre de Dios, according to Save The Children.

The practice is particularly widespread in the improvised mining camps, where fortunehunter try to make a living from the illegal exploitation of precious metals. “ There are dozens of prostibars, filled with hundreds of girls who were told they would make a lot of money,” said Teresa Carpio, director of Save the Children in Peru. “It’s total exploitation of a human being.

Living conditions are appalling and all human values are perverted.” Indigenous and black communities have long used child workers for gold mining. And an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 children currently work in small-scale mining in Colombia, according to Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) data.

In Madre de Dios, one of the poorest regions of Peru, about 18 tons of gold are produced per year, while some 20,000 hectares of tropical forest are destroyed. Thousands of people in Colombia have started exploiting abandoned mines in the northwestern department of Antioquia and Choco. In Bolivia, about 10,000 people make a living off the illegal mining of gold in extreme conditions, ARM says. The growing thirst for mineral resources makes Latin America one of the most attractive regions for

investment, set to dominate world production of precious metals by 2020. Today, Latin America accounts for 45 percent of global copper production, 50 percent of silver and 20 percent of gold.

But several commercial mining projects have been put on hold in Chile, Peru and Argentina, as local communities have fought for their rights to prior consultation under the International Labor Organization’s Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention. The Peruvian government is finalizing a deal with US mining giant Newmont about a proposed $4.8 billion gold mine that has sparked violent protests. The Conga project was suspended last year after a worker strike over adverse environmental impacts that many in the region fear will result from the planned mining project in the Cajamarca area of northern Peru.

In the northern Argentine town of Famatina, Canada’s Osisko Mining Corp had to put its open pit gold mining project on hold after protests due to concerns over water consumption and pollution. Canadian mining group Goldcorp had to stop work at Chile’s northern El Morro mine, which holds promising gold and copper reserves, for not having consulted indigenous populations. “It is necessary that the economic model and productive activities comply with current legislation, that development is sustainable and consistent with the rights of the people who inhabit the areas they want to exploit,” said Consuelo Labra of the Citizen Observatory in Chile.— AFP

years, and the government has intervened to mitigate shortages on a number of occasions, with no effect. In fact, the problem is getting worse, not better,” Barron said.

PATIENTS HOSPITALISED After taking evidence for six months, the APPG said it had heard from patients with serious conditions such as epilepsy, schizophrenia and diabetes who had not been able to get drugs when they needed them.

In some cases, people had been hospitalized as a result of medicine shortages. Other countries, including France, are now investigating the possibility of prohibiting the export of medicines. Barron said “this government needs to urgently look at what they can learn from this”.

The APPG also said Britain’s healthcare regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, should do more to address supply problems and consider limiting the growth in drug wholesaler licenses. While the vast majority of medicines dispensed in Britain come from a few big players like Celesio and Alliance Boots, there are some 1,800 licensed wholesalers engaged in small-scale supply and parallel trade. The widespread practice of parallel trading in medicines has long been a bone of contention for big drug companies like AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer.

Industry critics also say the presence of thousands of small wholesalers across Europe makes it more difficult to stamp out trade in counterfeit drugs. — Reuters

SANTIAGO: (Left) Photo shows Greenpeace activists displaying a banner reading “Castilla is illegal” on the building of Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista’s MPXin Santiago. (Right) Chilean Economy Minister Pablo Longeira speaks during a forum about the importance of mining in the development of the countries in the region, during the opening day of the Tenth International Gold Symposium held in Lima. —AFP photos

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

H E A LT H

Scientists pinpoint schizophrenia genes PARIS: Scientists claimed yesterday to have pinpointed the genes most responsible for schizophrenia in a breakthrough they say will allow better diagnosis and treatment of the debilitating mental illness. In a study involving genetic information from thousands of schizophrenia patients as well as healthy controls, the researchers said they identified hundreds of genes that can show who is most at risk. “We broke the genetic code for schizophrenia, identifying many of the genes involved and how they work together to pro-

duce the illness,” study author Alexander Niculescu of the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis said.

“By better understanding the genetic and biological basis of the illness, we can develop better tests for it as well as better treatments.” Such tests could be used to determine whether children in families with schizophrenia were at risk of developing the illness, said Niculescu. “If they are determined to be at higher risk, then they would be followed more closely by doctors, told the

avoid stress, alcohol and drugs, treated with counseling, nutritional supplements (like Omega-3 fish oil capsules) and even anti-psychotic medications early on to prevent the development of full-blown illness.”

The findings are published in the Nature journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Schizophrenia patients typically hear voices that are not real, tend toward paranoia and suffer from disorganized speech and thinking. The condition is thought to affect about one in every hundred people. Niculescu said that

after pinpointing the genes involved in schizophrenia, the research team tested their findings in other patients outside the study group “to show that the results were reproducible and have predictive ability”. Genetic studies in psychiatry often tended to produce initial excitement, he said, “but are then not reproduced in independent populations, which is the most impor tant proof that a finding is solid and real.”

The team also used brain data from mice put on drugs to mimic schizophrenia. “Some of the genes and biological

mechanisms we identified can be used for new drug development,” said Niculescu. It could also be used to redirect drugs currently used to treat other disorders. Niculescu stressed that “genes are not destiny”. “The environment plays a role as well. The genes we identified play a role in brain connectivity, so can lead to more creativity in certain individuals or clinical illness in others, depending if you have too many of these genetic mutations, in the wrong combination and in a stressful environment.”— AFP

‘Button’ batteries carry extra risks, experts warn Children at risk as ‘button’ battery use grows

PARIS: A picture taken shows a box of antiretroviral drug Truvada. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee approved Gilead Sciences’ Truvada as a preventative treatment for people who are at high risk of contracting HIV through sexual intercourse. Already approved to treat people infected with HIV, Truvada would be a milestone in the worldwide AIDS epidemic by offering a tablet capable of preventing infection in high-risk individuals. — AFP

HIV patients at higher risk of cardiac death WASHINGTON: People suffering from HIV/AIDS are at much higher risk than the general population of sudden cardiac death, researchers in California have found. I n a paper published Monday in the “Journal of the American College of Cardiology,” two professors at the University of California-San Francisco show incidents of “sudden cardiac death” to be four times higher for HIV/AIDS patients, a result the researchers found surprising, according to a university press release. “The fact that the vast majority of cardiac deaths were sudden is surprising and implies that we as clinicians need to be aware of this potential health issue among patients with HIV,” said Priscilla Hsue, an associate professor at UCSF who was one of the study’s lead researchers.

Hsue and her fellow researcher, Zian Tseng, an electrophysiologist, began their study in 2010 after Tseng noticed an alarming trend in separate research analyzing sudden deaths in San Francisco. “I noticed that many of these cases involved individuals with HIV infection who were dying suddenly,”

Tseng said in the press release. “I wondered if there was some sort of connection there.” Hsue and Tseng’s research focused on 2,860 HIV patients, whose deaths over 10 years were meticulously recorded by San Francisco General Hospital’s Ward 86.

Ward 86 was the first clinic specializing in HIV/AIDS to comprehensively characterize all deaths, according to the press release. The study showed that from 2000 to 2009, 15 percent of patients died of cardiac-related illnesses. Of that group, 86 percent died of sudden cardiac death, four times the rate of San Francisco’s general population. The study controlled for age, race and other demographic factors. The study’s findings may be particularly important at a time when improved drug treatments have allowed more HIV/AIDS infected people to live longer.

“Now that HIV-infected individuals are living longer with the benefit of antiretroviral therapy, non-AIDS conditions are becoming increasingly important and at the top of this list is cardiovascular disease,” Hsue said.— AFP

NEW YORK: Children face a growing risk from “button” batteries, according to a US study showing a near doubling of emergency room visits in the past two decades as the objects can cause electrical or chemical burns if swallowed. Most of those emergency room trips are due to coinshaped batteries that have become ubiquitous in toys, remote controls and hearing aids and represent a shiny temptation to curious toddlers, according to a study in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“Button” batteries carry extra risks, experts said, because they can send an electrical current through esophageal tissue, eventually even burning a hole in the trachea or the esophagus - without children showing any signs of immediate injury. “If a child swallows a button battery, the parent might not see it happen and the child might not have symptoms initially - and the clock is ticking,” said Gar y Smith, head of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, one of the authors of the study.

“We’ve seen children in less than two hours have severe, severe injuries from button batteries getting caught in the esophagus.”

Using a nationally-representative sample of about 100 US hos-

pitals with 24-hour emergency rooms, Smith and his colleagues calculated that more than 65,000 children under age 18 had a battery-related emergency visit between 1990 and 2009. The rate of those injuries almost doubled during the study period, from about four children for every 100,000, to between seven and eight per 100,000. That’s probably due to more and more household electronics, hearing aids and toys using button batteries, rather than the previous cylindrical batteries, with more than 80 percent of all emergency room visits involving button batteries.

“They’re shiny, they’re small and children explore things developmentally with their mouth - if they don’t know what something is, they put it in their mouth,” said Nicholas Slamon, a pediatrician who has treated battery-related injuries at Nemours/Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington. There are a few ways button batteries can cause injury, he added. They can lodge or wedge in the esophagus and push on its walls, or they can leak acid if the casing around the battery is eroded. But the most common fear is that they can create an electrical current flowing through tissue, even if they don’t have enough juice to power a remote control anymore.

Slamon and colleagues see sev-

eral children a year who need emergency surgery to retrieve a battery from the throat, nose or ear. But only a small number of visits, about eight percent, require such serious intervention. Experts agreed that parents should make sure all compartments on battery cases are screwed in or taped shut and dead batteries should be

thrown into the bottom of the trash where children are unlikely to find them, Slamon added. “The real way to prevent these (emergencies) is to prevent the event from happening in the first place,” Smith said. “If (parents) suspect something, they need to get to the hospital and get an X-ray done immediately.”—Reuters

AMRITSAR: A laborer stands next to sacks of rotting wheat grain at an open storage area in Khamanon village in this file photo. Millions of tons of wheat were rotting in the open after India ran out of warehouse space to store its growing grain stockpiles. Food Minister K V Thomas said the government is taking “all necessary steps” to increase its storage capacities and that the government was looking at private partnerships to attract investment in building warehouses. — AP

Poaching puts pressure on Malayan tiger KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian government plan to double its population of endangered Malayan tigers to 1,000 through tighter protection is under threat due to persistent poaching, a conservation group warned yesterday. Illegal hunting, fuelled by continued demand for tiger parts remains a serious threat to the animal and other endangered wildlife, MYCAT Tracks, an alliance

of conservation groups, said in a report. The Malayan tiger is a subspecies of the great cat and is found in central and southern parts of the Malayan peninsula. In 2009, the government announced a plan to double the wild Malayan tiger populationnow estimated at just 500 - by the year 2020. Conservationists say factors behind the fall in numbers include poaching, declines in

prey such as deer and wild boars, and habitat loss due to agricultural development.

But protective measures, among them a ban on deer hunting aimed at preserving tiger food sources, are being cancelled out by continued poaching, MYCAT Tracks said. “This is evidenced by the discovery of many poaching signs and close to a thousand snares in (key tiger

habitat areas) between 2010 and 2011 as well as the arrest of several poachers,” it said. WWFMalaysia has previously said demand for wildlife parts to be used in traditional Chinese medicine posed a grave threat to tigers and a range of other species. There were an estimated 3,000 tigers in Malaysia as recently as the 1950s but numbers have steadily declined since.— AFP

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

WHAT’S ON Greetings

ongratulations to Mourice Mechail Nasta for the first communion on Friday, May 11 at 10:30 am in the church. May God bless the family, friends and well-wishers.

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Announcements ‘Leniency of Islam’ An unprecedented initiative of KTV2 (English channel) is the new program by the name ‘Leniency of Islam’ presented by Shaikh Musaad Alsane and directed by Hamid Al Turkait. The program is mainly meant to address the expatriates living in Kuwait.

Religious questions are received through the program email qislam@tv.gov.kw and sms can be sent to- 97822021 and answered by the lecturer and Imam in Awqaf Ministry Shaikh Musaad Alsane - a Master Degree holder in Sharia and fiqih from Kuwait University. So don’t forget to watch the program every Friday at 1:00 pm.

‘Boisakhi Fair’ held in Kuwait ohela Boisakh the first day of Bengali new year 1419 Bangabda, was celebrated in Kuwait in a day-long Boisakhi Fair organized by Mararni Baul Sankskritik Goshti, Boisaklii Sankskritik Goshti and Bangladesh Udjapan committee jointly. The focal point of the fair was to entertain the Bengali Diaspora in Kuwait with the presentation of dance, jokes, plays, poetry and country music in accordance with the cultural heritage of home.

Drawing competition among kids, sports

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and dress as you like also segments of entertainment in the celebration. Since the celebration conceded with the weekly holiday Friday - a vast number of expatriate communities along with their family, from every walk of life enjoyed the free for all programs. Displays of homemade food stuff, readymade garments, and book stalls in the fair had earned heartfelt gratitude and thanks from the audience.

IWA conducts girls’ meet

Mother’s Day The American Women’s League will be celebrating Mother’s Day Breakfast at the Regency Hotel. On Saturday, May 19th. From 9:00 am to 11:00 am. For more information email: awlkuwait@yahoo.com Come join us and become a member!

Free Arabic course IPC is opening an Intensive Basic Arabic Course for ladies commencing from June 3 to July 8, 2012. The class will be from 5-7 pm for three days a week. Registration is on! For information, call 22512257.

Zara Sa Jhoom Loon Main After hosting memorable recent event for noble cause “Ambassadors of Comedy” with International artist Aron, Dean & Nitin, ICS now geared up with full package of cultural entertainment in “Zara Sa Jhoom Loon Main”. ICS now hosts renowned playback singer from Bollywood Abhijeet & world fame theater cum comedy king Umar Sharif from Pakistan on 18th May Friday, at 7 pm sharp. The Chief Guest for the event will be Ambassador of India, Kuwait. So join @ Dr Kamil Al Rayes Auditorium, AIS opposite Police Station Maidan Hawally Kuwait. For details call: 69632692

he girls’ meet conducted by Islamic Women’s Association drew applause from various corners and was appreciated by the participants. The event held at Pravasi Auditorium consisted of infotainment programs and classes.

Kerala Islamic Group General Secretary Anwar Sayeed delivered the keynote

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address. Knowledge leads us to God and reading and learning helps us to gain knowledge, he said in his interactive session. Teenage is a time which can be used to study nature and the universe and we need to make the most of it, he added.

IWA President Warda Anwar presided over the meeting. Former IWA President

Yoga with the Golden Era Club The Golden Era Club presents ‘The Eight Fold Path to Yoga’ on 25th May; 5 to 7 pm. Yoga here! Yoga there! Yoga everywhere! Yet, few comprehend Yoga’s true nature! Join Yoga Guru - Aacharya Shashikala Pushkarna - on this unique journey to the true ‘union’ between the mind, body and spirit. All seniors (60+) are cordially invited. Venue- House #34, next to AbuTammam Intermediate School for Boys, Sate Alhusari St., Block 2, Rumaithiya.

Open House for Indian Citizens The Ambassador of India will be holding an Open House for Indian citizens to address their problems/grievances on Wednesdays of the second and the fourth week of every month between 1500 hrs and 1600 hrs at the embassy. In case Wednesday is an Embassy holiday, the meeting will be held on the next working day. To ensure timely action/followup by the Embassy, it is requested that, wherever possible, Indian citizens should exhaust the existing channels of interaction/grievance redressal and bring their problems/issues in writing with supporting documents. It may be mentioned that Embassy of India’s Consular Wing is providing daily service of Open House to Indian citizen on all workings days from 1000 hrs to 1100 hrs and from 1430 hrs to 1530 hrs by the consular officer in the Meeting Room of the Consular Hall. For any unaddressed issues, Second Secretary (Consular) could be contacted. Furthermore, the head of the Consular Wing is also available to redress grievances. Similarly, a labor wing Help Desk functions from 0830 hrs to 1300 hrs and 1400 hrs to 1630 hrs in the Labor Hall to address the labor related issue. There is also a 24X7 Help Line (Tel No. 25674163) to assist labors in distress. For any unaddressed issues, the concerned Attaches in the labor section and the head of the labor wing could be contacted.

Naseera conducted a class based on the Holy Quran. She stressed on the need for religious teaching along with the formal schooling. Farwaniya Zone claimed the winners prize in the quiz program on ‘Islam and General Knowledge’ conducted by Asha Doulath and Abbasiya came second. The girls from the various zones

conducted programs that stood out in quality and variety. Secretary Raseena Ummer welcomed the audience and the girls’ wing convenor Jasmine Shukoor concluded the event with prayers.

His Grace Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma, Metropolitan of the Mar Thoma Syrian church receives his caricature presented to him by artist Johnarts in a function held in Abbassiya last week.

Melodious Christian music

Indian ambassador inaugurates courier service he Ambassador of India in Kuwait Satish C. Mehta inaugurated the courier service facility for delivering the processed passports to the applicants at BLS Centre, Sharq yesterday. The service is optional in nature and meant to save applicants the inconvenience of coming back to the BLS outsource centres at Sharq/Fahaheel to collect processed passports. The facility is expected to be of use to the Indian community as well as to other nationals seeking visa to India. An Indian national, Ahammed Basha was the first applicant to avail of this service.

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et another opportunity to hear melodious Christian music in English, Malayalam and Hindi.

Singer: Bro. Renjith Varghese, Dallas will be performing in Kuwait on the following dates and time: Today NECK (KTMCC worship) - 7:30 pm 17.05.2012 (Thursday) NECK diwaniya - 7:30 pm.

18.05.2012 - (Friday) NECK diwaniya 7:30 pm. All are cordially invited.

Organized by The Brethren Assembly Kuwait.

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Al Tijari sponsors Radisson Blu 17th Annual Art Competition he Commercial Bank of Kuwait sponsored Radisson Blu’s 17th Annual Art Competition which was held on May 5, 2012 at the Hashemi Ballroom. Children from numerous private schools in Kuwait from the ages of 12 to 18 were allowed to participate and the theme for this year was ‘We Are the World’.

For the third year in a row, Al-Tijari customers of My First Account were also allowed to participate and compete with the private schools and centres for children with special needs. This unique competition has been going on successfully for the past seventeen years since it encourages students from different schools in Kuwait to develop their artistic talent and creativity.

The topic chosen this year celebrates the different cultures and nationalities and how the world is all united and connected.

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A selection committee chose 15 of the best paintings, including three from the special needs schools plus five from the participants who have the My First Account out of more than 250 paintings. The five winners from Al-Tijari received a cash price that was deposited in their existing My First Account while the rest received new My First Account or @Tijari accounts with a cash deposit. All of the paintings are available to be bought and all the proceeds go to the World Childhood Foundation founded by Queen Silvia of Sweden.

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

WHAT’S ON

Fahaheel to have a second branch of Gulfmart ulfmart’s 13th branch, and its second outlet in Fahaheel, was inaugurated yesterday by the Indian Ambassador Satish C. Mehta.

Gulfmart, the fastest growing supermarket chain with the largest number of branches in Kuwait, will open their latest branch in Fahaheel at the Jassem and Nader Al-Dabous Building, opposite Centrepoint.

Providing shoppers with easy access, convenientcar parking facilities and a comfortable shopping ambience, the new11, 000 square feet facility offers a wide selection of products from across the world. The spacious supermarket presents customers enormous value through convenient access, extensive selection, competitive prices and excellent service.

Speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration, Arif Sheikh, Managing Director of Gulfmart Group, said, “The opening of our 13th branch in Kuwait is a clear attestationof the popularity of Gulfmart brand and the wide support we enjoy among customers in the country. We are very grateful for this trust in our brand and wewill continue to meet and exceed the aspirations of

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shoppers looking for quality products at affordable prices.”

Gulfmart’s business model of opening new stores in different formats in suburbs underserved by full-service retail supermarkets is proving to be immensely successful and quickly appreciated by residents in those areas.

The supermarket, wellknown for carrying a wide variety of products that cater to the shopping needs of the diverse population in Kuwait, is especially popular for offering products that meet the specific requirements of customers in the locality. Nikil Ajagaonkar Gulfmart’s Operations Manager, and top officials of the Centralized Merchandizing Department of the Group, including Nicolas Panse, Raju Sawlani, Fakhruddin Kabir, Imran Sheikh, Zujer Saifee and Sameer Sheikh, affirmed that great offers and superb promotions await shoppers at the new

Movenpick Hotel Kuwait appoints executive chef ovenpick Hotel Kuwait Free Trade Zone announces the appointment of its new Executive Chef Gyula Harangi, who hails from Hungary. Gyula Harangi brings with him a wealth of experience of more than 22 years in the catering industry, having occupied senior management roles at the Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal in Budapest, Hungary, and its sister property in the same city, the Corinthia Aquicum Hotel, both five-star properties. He also held top positions at the Hotel Sheraton Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, the Budapest Hilton Hotel and Crystal Cruises, among others. During his extensive career, Gyula continued to enrich his skills by attending a number of courses related to the culinary arts, cooking and the hospitality industry. Gyula has expressed his pleasure to join the Movenpick Hotel Kuwait Free Trade Zone family. He looks forward to create special menus and dining experience to delight guests visiting the hotel.

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branch in Fahaheel. Elaborating on the synergies of openinga second branch in Fahaheel, T. A. Remesh, Gulfmart Country Manager in Kuwait, said, “By opening a second branch in Fahaheel, we make it even more convenient for shoppers to access Gulfmart. We are all about convenience and providing quality products at best prices.

From Fahaheel in the south to Jahra in the north, we are now in the unique position of being able to offer shopping outlets within easily commutable distance of shoppers anywhere in the country.”

“While the opening of a second branch was the result of consistent demand from customers in the area, it also dovetails with our overall expansion strategy.The opening of our thirteenth branch in the country and our second store in Fahaheel is part of the second phase of our aggressive expansion strategy in Kuwait. With the launch last month of a branch in

Farwaniya, this month in Fahaheel, and ourscheduled openings in Salwa and Abu Halifa, we are well on our way to realizing our ambitious goal of having 25 stores in Kuwait by the end of 2013.”

Gulfmart has always endeavored to achieve total customer satisfaction by offering customers incredible promotions, best services and convenient shopping locations that deliver quality products at affordable prices, added the Country Manager.

The result of Gulfmart’s commitment to customer satisfaction is evident in the consistent successes of the ever-increasing number of Gulfmart branches across the country. In addition to a mini-mart in Salmiya and two branches each in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, Hawally, Farwaniya and now in Fahaheel, the Gulfmart brand also operates from Shuwaikh, Salmiya, Khaitan and Jahra.

Top travel agents experience Beirut l-Shamel International Holding Company, the fastest growing travel management companies in the Middle East region, will be participating in a familiarisation (FAM) trip to Beirut, Lebanon this weekend, organised jointly by Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, and Rotana Hotels, a popular hotel chain in the region. The three organisations will jointly manage the air, accommodation and land arrangements, and plan to send several key travel agents from Kuwait to experience and familiarise themselves with Gulf Air’s products and services both on the ground and in the air as well as Beirut, as a destination for travellers.

Al-Shamel International Director of Procurement - Leisure, Majed AlQasem stated, “I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to Gulf Air and the Rotana Hotels group, who gave us the chance to participate in making this Familiarization Trip come

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true by handling the land arrangements. This trip allows us to promote our leisure proposition, particularly during this summer season

and the upcoming Eid Al-Fitr. Beirut is a prime travel destination for Kuwaiti families with its meld (mix) of Eastern and Western cultures and a wide range of activities to suit every taste. From a multitude of dining options to beaches, cycling, camping, skiing to shop-

ping, look no further than Beirut. It offers the most amazing shopping experiences, from Solidere’s Beirut Souks to Rue Hamra and Achrafieh, to name a few. Gulf Air ensures ease and comfort in our journey to this beautiful city, while Rotana Hotels take care of the quality of our sojourn there.”

Gulf Air Kuwait Country Manager, Ahmed Al-Matrook commented, “Gulf Air always works closely with travel agents and travel management companies, who are an important part of our business. We have been flying to Beirut since the 1970s and the city is a very popular, all-time destination for its appeal for both business and tourism travellers. This FAM trip will help travel agents to gain first-hand experience of our several award winning products, services, and facilities such as Sky Chef, Sky Nanny, SkyHub and other most recent developments and initiatives.” he concluded.

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF BRAZIL The Embassy of Brazil requests all Brazilian citizens in Kuwait to proceed to the website www.brazil.org.kw (Contact Us Form / Fale Conosco) in order to register or update contact information. The Embassy encourages all citizens to do so, including the ones who have already registered in person at the Embassy. The registration process helps the Brazilian Government to contact and assist Brazilians living abroad in case of any emergency.

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EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakel St., Block 4 in Da’aiyah.

Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed from 12:30 to 01:00 pm for lunch break. Consular Services for Canadian Citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00 on Sunday through Wednesday. The Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi provides visa and immigration services to residents of Kuwait. Individuals who are interested in visiting, working or immigrating to Canada are invited to visit the website of the Canadian Embassy to the UAE at www.uae.gc.ca.

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EMBASSY OF CYPRUS The Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus requests Cypriot citizens living in Kuwait to register with the Embassy has moved. This registration service is provided so that the Embassy can update its contact list and assist Cypriot citizens in cases of emergencies.

Registration information can be emailed to cyprusembassykwt@gmail.com or faxed to 22253227 or given by phone to 65906048 (Mrs Christine).

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EMBASSY OF KOREA The Embassy of the Republic of Korea wishes to inform that it has moved to Mishref. New Address: Embassy of the Republic of Korea Mishref, Block 7A, Diplomatic Area 2, Plot 6 The Embassy also wishes to inform that it will be opened to the public on the following office hours: Saturday to Thursday Morning: 8:00 am to 12:30 pm Lunch Break: 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm Afternoon: 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF MEXICO The Embassy of Mexico is pleased to inform that it is located in CLIFFS Complex, Villa 6, Salmiya, block 9, Baghdad street, Jadda Lane 7. The working hours for consular issues are from 9:00 to 12:00 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is closed from 14:00 to 15:00 hours for lunch break. The Embassy of Mexico kindly requests all Mexicans citizens in Kuwait to proceed to the e-mail: embkuwait@sre.gob.mx in order to register or update contact information. Other consultations or/and appointments could be done by telephone or fax: (+965) 2573 1952 ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF MYANMAR Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar would like to inform the general public that the Embassy has moved its office to new location at Villa 35, Road 203, Block 2, AlSalaam Area in South Surra. The Embassy wishes to advice Myanmar citizens and travellers to Myanmar to contact Myanmar Embassy at its new location.

Tel. 25240736, 25240290, Fax: 25240749, email:myankuwait11@gmai1.com ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF NEPAL The Embassy of Nepal will be moving from its current location to a new place in Jabriya, Block 8, St. 13, House No. 514, effective from 15th April, 2012. Till the new telephone connections are installed, the Embassy may be contacted by email: info@nepembku.org

Indian PM’s advisor inaugurates hi-tech lab at ICSK ay 12, 2012 was one of the most memorable days in the annals of the Indian Community School Senior, Salmiya, Kuwait when it went hitech with the inauguration of its new high-tech laboratories by T. K. A. Nair, advisor to Prime Minister of India in the presence of Satish C. Mehta, Ambassador of India to Kuwait, Ashok Kalra, Chairman ICSK Board of trustees, Rajan Daniel, Vice Chairman ICSK Board of trustees, Vijay Karayil, Secretary ICSK board of trustees, Dinesh Kamath Treasurer, Kamlesh Kumari, Rajpal Tyagi, Tony Jashanmal, Kuldeep Lamba, Dr. Narayanan Nampoori, other VIP dignitaries, principals and vice principals of

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ICSK fraternity. The guest of honor was given a grand ceremonial welcome by the refulgent school band.

The lighting of the lamp was done by chief guest T. K. A. Nair, Satish C Mehta, members of the board of trustees and other VIPs. In his inaugural speech, Nair mentioned how the people are doing community service and actively pursuing the objective of motivating others to come and work together for the betterment and service to the society.

‘Manav Seva’ i.e. service to human being is very important. He was very delighted and commented that the invocation song sung by the students shows a sense of discipline instilled in the

school with high spirit and very well guided by Board members in the Board of Trustees. Nair lauded the embassy of India in Kuwait as they help the schools to scale greater heights, facilitating the better infrastructure and education to the students. He concluded his speech with a Sanskrit phrase ‘Vasudaiva Kutumbakam’ that means that the whole world is one single family.

The Ambassador in his introductory speech said that the youth are the present and the school is the future of the country. The ICSK has an amazing capacity and the students are well guarded in good hands under the dedicated leadership of board members, the principal and

the teaching fraternity. Rajan Daniel welcomed the gathering. Ashok Kalra delivered presidential address. Earlier, the chief guest and other VIP dignitaries were welcomed with flower bouquets.

The chief guest T. K. A. Nair was honoured with a ponnada by Vijay Karayil and the Ambassador by Dinesh Kamath.

A memento was presented to the chief guest by Ashok Kalra. The program concluded with a vote of thanks by the principal of Indian Community Senior Salmiya Dr. V. Binumon.

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EMBASSY OF NIGERIA The Nigerian embassy has its new office in Mishref. Block 3, Street 7, House 4. For enquires please call 25379541. Fax25387719. Email- nigeriakuwait@yahoo.com or nigeriankuwait@yahoo.co.uk ■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF THAILAND The Royal Thai Embassy in Kuwait, wishes to invite the Kuwaiti companies that deal business with Thai companies or those agencies of Thai commercial companies to visit the Embassy’s Commercial Office to register their relevant information to be part of the embassy’s business and trade database. The Royal Thai Embassy is located in Jabriya, Block 6, Street 8, Villa No. 1, Telephone No. 25317530 -25317531, Ext: 14.

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EMBASSY OF UKRAINE We’d like to inform you that in response to the increasing number of our citizens who work in the state and the need for 24-hour operational telephone in case of emergency the Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Kuwait has opened “hotline telephone number” - (+ 965) 972-79-206.

Write to us Send to What’s On

The Kuwaiti Society of Engineers hosted a course last week on successful planning to achieve success, presented by educational advisor Khalid Al-Shamrookh and featured veteran meteorologist Dr. Saleh Al-Ajairi who talked about his own experience in realizing his goals.

upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

TV PROGRAMS

00:45 Untamed & Uncut 01:40 I’m Alive 02:35 Safari Vet School 03:00 Safari Vet School 03:30 Wildlife SOS 04:25 Queens Of The Savannah 05:20 Wildlife SOS 05:45 Escape To Chimp Eden 06:10 Safari Vet School 06:35 Safari Vet School 07:00 Echo And The Elephants Of Amboseli 07:25 Wild Animal Orphans 07:50 Natural Born Hunters 08:15 Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild 08:40 Extraordinary Dogs 09:10 Dogs vs. Cats 10:05 Queens Of The Savannah 11:00 Animal Precinct 11:55 Animal Cops South Africa 12:50 Cell Dogs 13:45 Wild Africa Rescue 14:10 Wildlife SOS 14:40 Queens Of The Savannah 15:30 Echo And The Elephants Of Amboseli 16:00 Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild 16:30 Breed All About It 17:00 Breed All About It 17:25 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 18:20 Project Puppy 18:45 Project Puppy 19:15 Wildlife SOS 19:40 Escape To Chimp Eden 20:10 Great Ocean Adventures 21:05 Safari Vet School 21:30 Safari Vet School 22:00 Wildest Arctic 22:55 Wildest India 23:50 Animal Cops Phoenix

00:00 Newsday 00:30 Asia Business Report 00:45 Sport Today 01:00 Newsday 01:30 Asia Business Report 01:45 Sport Today 02:00 Newsday 02:30 Asia Business Report 02:45 Sport Today 03:00 Newsday 03:30 Hardtalk 04:00 BBC World News 04:30 World Business Report 04:45 BBC World News 05:00 BBC World News 05:30 World Business Report 05:45 BBC World News 06:00 BBC World News 06:30 World Business Report 06:45 Sport Today 07:00 BBC World News 07:30 World Business Report 07:45 Sport Today 08:00 BBC World News 08:30 Hardtalk 09:00 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 Sport Today 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 BBC World News 11:00 GMT With George Alagiah 11:30 GMT With George Alagiah 12:00 BBC World News 12:30 World Business Report 12:45 Sport Today 13:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 13:30 Impact With Mishal Husain 14:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 14:30 World Business Report 14:45 Sport Today 15:00 BBC World News 15:30 Hardtalk 16:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 16:30 The Hub With Nik Gowing 17:00 The Hub With Nik Gowing 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 18:30 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 19:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 19:30 World Business Report

19:45 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:30 21:45 22:00 22:30 22:45 23:00 23:30 23:45

Sport Today BBC World News America Hardtalk BBC World News World Business Report Sport Today BBC World News America Asia Business Report Sport Today BBC World News Asia Business Report Sport Today

00:10 00:35 01:00 01:25 01:50 02:15 02:40 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:15 04:40 05:00 05:25 05:50 06:00 06:30 06:55 07:20 07:45 08:00 08:25 08:50 09:15 09:40 10:05 10:25 10:50 11:15 11:40 12:00 12:15 12:40 12:55 13:45 14:10 14:35 15:25 15:50 16:15 16:40 17:05 17:30 18:10 19:00 19:15 19:40 19:55 20:20 20:35 20:55 21:20 21:45 22:10 22:35 23:00 23:20 23:45

Duck Dodgers The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop Tom & Jerry Kids A Pup Named Scooby-Doo The Jetsons Puppy In My Pocket Popeye Tom & Jerry Looney Tunes Scooby Doo Where Are You! Droopy: Master Detective Wacky Races The Flintstones A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Popeye Classics Dexters Laboratory Bananas In Pyjamas Baby Looney Tunes Gerald McBoing Boing Ha Ha Hairies Pink Panther And Pals The Garfield Show Dastardly And Muttley A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Scooby Doo Where Are You! The Flintstones Duck Dodgers Tom & Jerry Kids Droopy: Master Detective Wacky Races Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Ha Ha Hairies The Garfield Show Scooby Doo Where Are You! Dastardly And Muttley Looney Tunes Puppy In My Pocket Pink Panther And Pals Pink Panther And Pals Tom & Jerry Moomins The Garfield Show Dexter’s Laboratory Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Ha Ha Hairies Gerald McBoing Boing Bananas In Pyjamas Pink Panther And Pals Tom & Jerry Looney Tunes Scooby Doo Where Are You! Droopy: Master Detective The Flintstones Wacky Races Dastardly And Muttley New Yogi Bear Show

00:30 Bakugan: New Vestroia 00:55 Bakugan: New Vestroia 01:20 Powerpuff Girls 02:10 Courage The Cowardly Dog 03:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 03:25 Ben 10 03:50 Adventure Time 04:15 Powerpuff Girls 04:40 Generator Rex 05:05 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 05:30 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 05:55 Angelo Rules 06:00 Casper’s Scare School 06:25 Eliot Kid 06:50 The Amazing World Of Gumball 07:15 Adventure Time 07:40 Regular Show 08:05 Grim Adventures Of...

08:55 Courage The Cowardly Dog 09:45 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 10:10 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien

10:35 Powerpuff Girls 11:25 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 11:50 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 12:15 Ed, Edd n Eddy 13:05 Ben 10: Alien Force 13:30 Bakugan: Gundalian Invaders 13:55 Redakai: Conquer The Kairu 14:20 Camp Lazlo 14:45 Powerpuff Girls 15:35 Angelo Rules 16:25 Grim Adventures Of...

17:00 Total Drama: Revenge Of The Island 17:25 The Amazing World Of Gumball 17:40 Adventure Time 18:05 Regular Show 18:30 Ben 10 18:55 Bakugan: Mechtanium Surge 19:20 Hero 108 19:45 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 20:10 Courage The Cowardly Dog 21:00 Ben 10: Alien Force 21:25 The Powerpuff Girls 21:50 Cow And Chicken 22:00 Codename: Kids Next Door 22:50 Ben 10 23:15 Ben 10 23:40 Chowder

00:15 One Man Army 01:10 Destroyed In Seconds 01:35 Deception With Keith Barry 02:30 One Man Army 03:25 An Idiot Abroad 04:20 One Man Army 05:15 How It’s Made 05:40 Factory Line 06:05 Flying Wild Alaska 07:00 Twist The Throttle 07:50 Mythbusters 08:45 Ultimate Survival 09:40 Border Security 10:05 Auction Hunters 10:30 How It’s Made 10:55 Factory Line 11:25 Unchained Reaction 12:20 James May’s Man Lab 13:15 Inventions That Shook The World 14:10 Border Security 14:35 Auction Hunters 15:05 Flying Wild Alaska 16:00 Twist The Throttle 16:55 Wheeler Dealers 17:20 Ultimate Survival 18:15 Mythbusters 19:10 How It’s Made 19:40 Factory Line 20:05 Border Security 20:35 Auction Hunters 21:00 Carfellas 21:30 Unchained Reaction 22:25 James May’s Man Lab 23:20 Inventions That Shook The World

00:35 Meteorite Men 01:25 The Tech Show 01:50 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 02:40 Space Pioneer 03:35 Weird Connections 04:00 Weird Connections 04:25 Stunt Junkies 05:20 Mighty Ships 06:10 Smash Lab 07:00 Meteorite Men 07:50 Weird Connections 08:15 Weird Connections 08:40 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 09:35 Space Pioneer 10:25 The Gadget Show 10:50 The Gadget Show 11:20 Smash Lab 12:15 Mighty Ships 13:05 Meteorite Men 13:55 Weird Connections 14:20 Weird Connections 14:50 Stunt Junkies 15:40 The Tech Show 16:05 Smash Lab 17:00 The Gadget Show

BEHIND ENEMY LINES ON OSN ACTION HD

17:25 17:50 18:40 19:30 20:20 20:45 21:10 22:00 22:50 23:40

The Gadget Show Meteorite Men Weird Or What?

Invisible Worlds The Gadget Show The Gadget Show Smash Lab Weird Or What?

Invisible Worlds Mighty Ships

00:10 00:35 01:00 01:25 01:50 02:15 02:40 03:05 03:30 03:55 04:20 04:45 05:10 05:35 06:00 06:15 06:40 07:05 07:30 07:55 08:20 08:45 09:10 09:25 09:35 09:45 10:00 10:11 10:25 10:50 11:15 11:40 12:05 12:30 12:55 13:20 13:45 14:10 14:35 15:00 15:25 15:50 16:15 16:40 17:00 17:30 17:55 18:20 18:31 18:45 19:10 19:35 20:00 20:25 20:50 21:15 21:40 22:05 22:30 22:55 23:20 23:45

Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Emperor’s New School Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Fairly Odd Parents Fairly Odd Parents Fish Hooks Recess So Random Wizards Of Waverly Place Good Luck Charlie Shake It Up Phineas And Ferb Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates Handy Manny The Hive Mouk Recess Phineas And Ferb So Random Hannah Montana Fish Hooks Jake & Blake Sonny With A Chance Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas And Ferb Recess Jessie A.N.T. Farm Good Luck Charlie Suite Life On Deck Suite Life On Deck Jessie Jessie A.N.T. Farm Recess Wizards Of Waverly Place So Random Fish Hooks Fish Hooks Shake It Up Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana Phineas And Ferb Shake It Up Jonas So Random Good Luck Charlie Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place Kim Possible

06:00 Kid vs Kat 06:21 American Dragon 06:45 Rekkit Rabbit 07:10 Pokemon: Black And White 07:35 Timon And Pumbaa 08:00 Phineas And Ferb 08:10 Phineas And Ferb 08:25 Pair Of Kings 08:50 Kick Buttowski 09:15 Zeke & Luther 09:40 I’m In The Band 10:05 Phineas And Ferb 10:30 Kid vs Kat 10:55 The Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes 11:20 Aaron Stone 11:45 Rekkit Rabbit 12:10 American Dragon 12:35 Kick Buttowski 13:00 Phineas And Ferb 13:25 I’m In The Band 13:45 Kid vs Kat 14:10 Pair Of Kings 14:35 Zeke & Luther 15:00 Rekkit Rabbit 15:25 Pokemon: Black And White 15:50 Timon And Pumbaa 16:15 Kickin It 16:40 Pair Of Kings 17:05 Zeke & Luther 17:30 Scaredy Squirrel 17:55 Phineas And Ferb 18:10 Phineas And Ferb 18:25 Phineas And Ferb 18:40 Phineas And Ferb 19:10 Rated A For Awesome 19:35 Kick Buttowski 20:00 Pair Of Kings 20:25 Zeke & Luther 20:50 Escape From Scorpion Island 21:20 Aaron Stone 21:45 The Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes 22:10 Phineas And Ferb 22:35 Kid vs Kat 23:00 Programmes Start At 6:00am KSA

00:55 Style Star 01:25 20 Hottest Women Of The Web 03:15 Behind The Scenes 03:40 Extreme Close-Up 04:10 Sexiest 05:05 Extreme Hollywood 06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Giuliana & Bill 10:15 15 Remarkable Celebrity Body Bouncebacks 12:05 E! News 13:05 Kendra 13:35 Kendra 14:05 Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami 14:35 Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami 15:00 Style Star 15:30 THS 16:25 Behind The Scenes 16:55 Dirty Soap 17:55 E! News 18:55 E!es 19:55 Ice Loves Coco 20:25 Ice Loves Coco 20:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 21:25 Kourtney & Kim Take New

York 22:25 E! News 23:25 Chelsea Lately 23:55 Keeping Up With The Kardashians

00:30 01:20 02:05 02:55 03:45 04:30 05:20 06:10 07:00 07:50 08:40 09:30 09:55 10:20 11:10 12:00 12:25 12:50 13:40 14:30 14:55 15:20 16:10 17:00 17:50 18:40 19:05 19:55 20:20 21:10 22:00 22:50 23:40

The Haunted Psychic Witness Killer Kids Deadly Women Dr G: Medical Examiner The Haunted Psychic Witness Disappeared Forensic Detectives Undercover Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Mall Cops – Mall Of America On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Street Patrol Street Patrol FBI Case Files Mystery Diagnosis Real Emergency Calls Mall Cops – Mall Of America On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Forensic Detectives FBI Case Files Real Emergency Calls Mystery Diagnosis Mall Cops – Mall Of America On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared LA: City Of Demons Cops And Coyotes Dr G: Medical Examiner

01:40 01:55 03:35 05:00 06:30 08:05 10:35 12:10 13:40 15:10 16:40 18:20 18:35 20:25 18 22:00 23:30

Mgm’s Big Screen-FAM Welcome To L.A.-18 On The Other Hand, Death A Girl To Kill For-18 In The Arms Of A Killer-PG The Group-PG Carry Me Home Give Me Your Life-18 Murder Live!-PG Valdez Is Coming-PG Sketches Mgm’s Big Screen-FAM Smile-PG Sometimes They Come BackSki School The January Man-PG

00:00 Bluelist Australia 00:30 Bluelist Australia 01:00 Word Travels 01:30 Word Travels 02:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 02:30 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 03:00 Food School 03:30 Food School 04:00 Long Way Down 05:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 06:00 Bluelist Australia 06:30 Bluelist Australia 07:00 Word Travels 07:30 Word Travels 08:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 08:30 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 09:00 Food School 09:30 Food School 10:00 Long Way Down 11:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 12:00 Bluelist Australia 12:30 Bluelist Australia 13:00 Word Travels 13:30 Word Travels 14:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 14:30 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 15:00 Food School 15:30 Food School 16:00 Long Way Down 17:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 18:00 Adventure Wanted 19:00 By Any Means 20:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 20:30 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 21:00 Pressure Cook 21:30 Pressure Cook 22:00 Extreme Tourist Afghanistan 23:00 Bondi Rescue: Bali 23:30 Bondi Rescue: Bali

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Megastructures Fight Science Naked Science 2.5 Megastructures World’s Deadliest Animals Shark Men Lockdown Inside Megastructures Fight Science Naked Science 2.5 Megastructures World’s Deadliest Animals Shark Men Lockdown Inside Megastructures Fight Science Naked Science 2.5 Megastructures Britain’s Greatest Machines Animal Autopsy The Border Inside

00:00 01:00 01:55 02:50 03:45 04:40 05:35 06:30 07:25 08:20 09:15 10:10 11:05 12:00

My Life Is A Zoo Mother Warthog Monster Fish World’s Weirdest When Crocs Ate Dinosaurs Swamp Men The Living Edens Monster Fish World’s Weirdest When Crocs Ate Dinosaurs Shark Men Built For The Kill Wildlife Rescue Africa World’s Deadliest Animals

THE CONSPIRATOR ON OSN CINEMA 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Monster Fish World’s Weirdest Mother Croc Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy Built For The Kill Wildlife Rescue Africa Monster Fish World’s Weirdest When Crocs Ate Dinosaurs Shark Men Built For The Kill

18:00 Perfect Couples 18:30 Wilfred 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia 22:30 Hung 23:00 Curb Your Enthusiasm 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 01:00 01:55 02:50 03:45 04:40 05:35 06:30 07:25 08:20 09:15 10:10 11:05 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

My Life Is A Zoo Mother Warthog Monster Fish World’s Weirdest When Crocs Ate Dinosaurs Swamp Men The Living Edens Monster Fish World’s Weirdest When Crocs Ate Dinosaurs Shark Men Built For The Kill Wildlife Rescue Africa World’s Deadliest Animals Monster Fish World’s Weirdest Mother Croc Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy Built For The Kill Wildlife Rescue Africa Monster Fish World’s Weirdest When Crocs Ate Dinosaurs Shark Men Built For The Kill

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Private Practice House The River Grey’s Anatomy Strike Back Good Morning America The Invisible Man Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Martha Stewart Show The View Private Practice Grey’s Anatomy Good Morning America The Invisible Man The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street Once Upon A Time Grimm The Glades Law & Order: Criminal Intent Damages

00:00 PG15 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

The Haunting In Connecticut-

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Falling Skies The River House Grey’s Anatomy Private Practice Friday Night Lights Falling Skies Emmerdale Coronation Street Surface The Ellen DeGeneres Show Grey’s Anatomy House Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Surface Falling Skies Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Surface Once Upon A Time Grimm The Glades Law & Order: Criminal Intent True Blood

A Perfect Getaway-18 Behind Enemy Lines-PG15 Taxi-PG15 True Justice: Dark Vengeance-18 Wild Bill-PG15 The Warrior’s Way-PG15 True Justice: Dark Vengeance-18 Largo Winch 2-PG15 The Warrior’s Way-PG15 Child’s Play 3-18 Tupac: Resurrection-18

00:45 The Way Back-PG15 03:00 Make It Happen-PG15 05:00 Tomorrow, When The War Began-PG15 07:00 My Dog Tulip-PG15 09:00 Prom-PG15 11:00 Dear John-PG15 13:00 The Tender Hook-PG15 15:00 Waiting For Superman-PG15 17:00 The Cry Of The Owl-PG15 18:45 Tron: Legacy-PG15 21:00 The Conspirator-PG15 23:00 Mr. Nice-18

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 02:00 Hung 02:30 Curb Your Enthusiasm 03:00 Perfect Couples 03:30 Wilfred 04:00 Weird Science 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Seinfeld 06:00 Mr. Sunshine 06:30 Melissa And Joey 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Weird Science 08:30 Perfect Couples 09:00 Seinfeld 09:30 The League 10:30 Melissa And Joey 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Mr. Sunshine 12:30 Weird Science 13:00 Seinfeld 13:30 Melissa And Joey 14:00 Wilfred 15:00 The League 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Mr. Sunshine 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:15 11:15 13:30 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Kalifornia-18 Behind Enemy Lines-PG15 Assassination Tango-18 In The Line Of Fire-PG15 Flight Of The Phoenix-PG15 The A-Team-PG15 Triassic Attack-PG15 Flight Of The Phoenix-PG15 Inside Out-PG 2:22-18 Full Metal Jacket-18 Jake’s Closet-PG15

00:00 Indian Summer-PG15 02:00 Out Cold-PG15 04:00 Babe-FAM 06:00 Indian Summer-PG15 08:00 Our Family Wedding-PG15 10:00 Babe: Pig In The City-FAM 12:00 I’ll Be Home For Christmas-PG 14:00 How To Go Out On A Date In Queens-PG15 16:00 Babe: Pig In The City-FAM 18:00 Death At A Funeral-PG15 20:00 Cool Runnings-PG15 22:00 The Trip-PG15

01:00 Double Cross-18 03:00 The Weather Man-18 05:00 Cape Fear-PG15

07:00 PG15 09:00 10:45 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:15

Mademoiselle ChambonReturn To Rajapur-PG15 Mary, Queen Of Scots-PG15 Freestyle (2010)-PG15 Return To Rajapur-PG15 The Fantastic Water Babes-PG Black Lightning-PG15 Legends Of The Fall-18 Sea Of Love-18

01:00 The Weather Man-18 03:00 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid-PG 05:00 Elle: A Modern Cinderella Tale-PG15 07:00 Post Grad-PG15 09:00 Stone Of Destiny-PG15 11:00 A Lot Like Love-PG15 13:00 Get Low-PG15 15:00 Shrek Forever After-FAM 17:00 Stone Of Destiny-PG15 19:00 Game Change-PG15 21:00 The Conspirator-PG15 23:00 Grown Ups-PG15

01:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 02:00 Live UFC Prelims 03:00 Live UFC 06:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 07:00 Super Rugby 09:00 Super Rugby Highlights 10:00 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 11:00 Premier League Darts 14:30 Super Rugby 16:30 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 17:30 European PGA Tour Highlights 18:30 Futbol Mundial 19:00 UFC Prelims 20:00 UFC 23:00 WWE SmackDown

00:00 01:00 01:30 02:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 10:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 19:30 20:30 23:30

AFL Highlights Futbol Mundial Mobil 1 The Grid NRL Premiership Trans World Sport Futbol Mundial SPL Highlights Scottish Premier League IronMan Super Rugby Highlights NRL Premiership AFL Highlights Super Rugby Highlights Trans World Sport Top 14 Highlights Volvo Ocean Race Highlights HSBC Sevens World Series European PGA Tour Highlights

02:30 Premier League Darts 06:00 World Cup Of Pool 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 Sevens World Series 11:00 Golfing World 12:00 Super Rugby 14:00 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 15:00 Scottish Premier League Highlights 15:30 Golfing World 16:30 Pro 12 18:30 AFL Highlights 19:30 Trans World Sport 20:30 Golfing World 21:30 European Tour Weekly 22:00 Top 14 Highlights 22:30 Scottish Premier League Highlights 23:00 Trans World Sport

00:00 01:00 04:00 06:00 07:00 09:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 15:30 17:30 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00

V8 Supercars Highlights PrizeFighter UFC Unleashed UFC The Ultimate Fighter WWE SmackDown PrizeFighter WWE Experience WWE Vintage Collection WWE Bottomline Mobil 1 The Grid V8 Supercars Highlights UAE National Race Day Mobil 1 The Grid WWE NXT UFC The Ultimate Fighter UFC

34

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

stars CROSSWORD 676

STAR TRACK

CALVIN & HOBBES

Aries (March 21-April 19) By knowing ahead of time that this could be a stressful day in the workplace, you may be able to determine your limitations. Take plenty of breaks and get away from your work during the noon hour. Begin to care for yourself more by realizing that your body needs good nutrition and rest to operate well. Keep your face out of the faces of people that are ill. You have a natural insight and understanding as to what a customer wants. You are usually pleasantly pleased when someone asks for your help. Your career gets all kinds of support from other people; now would be a good time to think about a focus for your profession to take.

You look to your professional friends for strength, advice and encouragement when it comes to new business opportunities.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Your mind is quick and sharp and your words are the only tools you need today. You have insight into work issues that will help many people. An extra effort should go into an attitude of goodwill and compromise for the rest of this week. There could be several out of the ordinary situations occurring now. There is a more outgoing quality to your life style now and more of a possibility to forget the essentials, like turning on your headlights or putting your keys in their proper place. It is a good idea to work on all aspects of a project or plan to see where your energies can be best applied before moving on to anything new. On the home front today, maternal instincts may come into play—encouraging you to appease any discord in the home.

POOCH CAFE ACROSS 1. An onerous or difficult concern.

5. Affect with wonder.

10. A white linen liturgical vestment with sleeves.

13. Affected manners intended to impress others.

14. (Mesopotamia) God of agriculture and earth.

15. An ancient Hebrew unit of capacity equal to 10 baths or 10 ephahs.

16. At any time.

17. Large west African tree having large palmately lobed leaves and axillary cymose panicles of small white flowers and onewinged seeds.

18. Large brownish-green New Zealand parrot.

19. Type genus of the Cariamidae comprising only the crested cariama.

22. A soft white precious univalent metallic element having the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal.

23. A heavy odorless colorless gas formed during respiration and by the decomposition of organic substances.

26. A poplar that is widely cultivated in the United States.

29. A woman hired to suckle a child of someone else.

34. Sandwich filled with slices of bacon and tomato with lettuce.

35. The trait of lacking restraint or control.

37. Long and thin and often limp.

41. Earn on some commercial or business transaction.

42. Not only so, but.

43. Perennial herb of East India to Polynesia and Australia cultivated for its large edible root yielding Otaheite arrowroot starch.

45. In bed.

47. A person forced to flee from home or country.

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

51. A light touch or stroke.

57. The seventh month of the Moslem calendar.

58. The type of environment in which an organism or group normally lives or occurs.

60. An independent agency of the United States government responsible for collecting and coordinating intelligence and counterintelligence activities abroad in the national interest.

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

64. Amino acid that is formed in the liver and converted into dopamine in the brain.

65. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

66. Jordan's port.

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

DOWN 1. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

2. A star that ejects some of its material in the form of a cloud and become more luminous in the process.

3. A person who makes use of a thing.

4. In regular succession without gaps.

5. (Old Testament) In Judeo-Christian mythology.

6. A percussion instrument consisting of a pair of hollow pieces of wood or bone (usually held between the thumb and fingers) that are made to click together (as by Spanish dancers) in rhythm with the dance.

7. How long something has existed.

8. (Middle East) An ornamental metal cup-shaped holder for a hot coffee cup.

9. The compass point midway between northeast and east.

10. A town and port in northwestern Israel in the eastern Mediterranean.

11. United States physiologist (born in Germany) who did research on parthenogenesis (1859-1924).

12. (informal) Exceptionally good.

20. Advanced in years.

21. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

24. A member of the Siouan people formerly living in the Missouri river valley in NE Nebraska.

25. The federal agency that insures residential mortgages.

27. (Scottish) Bluish-black or gray-blue.

28. An inactive volcano in Sicily.

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

31. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

32. The Judeo-Christian God. 33. A former copper coin of Pakistan.

36. A less than average tide occurring at the first and third quarters of the moon.

38. Botswanan statesman who was the first president of Botswana (1921-1980).

39. Any of various primates with short tails or no tail at all.

40. Scottish sea captain who was hired to protect British shipping in the Indian Ocean and then was accused of piracy and hanged (1645-1701).

44. A sliver-white metallic element of the platinum group that resembles platinum.

46. A coffee cake flavored with orange rind and raisins and almonds.

47. Before noon.

49. (Greek mythology) Goddess of the earth and mother of Cronus and the Titans in ancient mythology.

50. Slightly open.

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

53. A small cake leavened with yeast.

54. On, to, or at the top.

55. Plant with an elongated head of broad stalked leaves resembling celery.

56. Essential oil or perfume obtained from flowers.

59. An agency of the United Nations affiliated with the World Bank.

62. The atomic weight of an element that has the same combining capacity as a given weight of another element.

63. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) There is some powerful energy available for you at this time so that you can take your time and work with accuracy. You may surprise yourself at how quickly you finish your project once you settle down and let go of the tension that time limits present. Your burning zeal for the ideal world and to be a part of a group of like-minded souls is the topic of conversation during the noon meal today. You grow through your efforts to help others and to make your inner vision a reality—volunteer work is possible and if you seek, you will find the right place for your talents. You learn and you teach right-minded seeing, which takes right-minded thinking. A past acquaintance will contact you soon and you will find the need to pull out some old picture albums.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) Take a little trip, or get outside today—beyond the workplace.

You may want to break that routine and try something new or different. A walk around the area at lunch would be, at least, a change of atmosphere.

Communicating and getting your message across to others is at a high this afternoon and a breaking away from the workplace will rejuvenate your energies. Your timing should be perfect and those around you should find you most spontaneous. Any depression or anxiety about the work you do or the state of your financial affairs could be eliminated. Take full stock of your accounts so you will know just where you stand financially. This is a perfect time to clear away any unfinished business and look to the future with clear-sighted consideration.

NON SEQUITUR

Leo (July 23-August 22) You could be inclined to become misdirected in projects or people today. There is a tendency to drain your energy, making you tired. You could fall under the heavy burden of responsibility and may have to work hard to make a good presentation now. However, this time also indicates great strides toward success and improvement in all areas of your life. Caution should be applied before entering any type of relationship or transaction impulsively. Family, home, relatives and real estate play an important part in your life. You want to belong on a private, intimate and personal level—to be needed and to feel it is okay to have needs.

Friends are among of your greatest blessings and today a friend will give you encouragement. Your inner resources are accented.

ZITS

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Keep pushing ahead professionally—this is a good time to show off your talents. You may be a bit more philosophical and compassionate about the less fortunate today. Ventures of a generous nature will be successful. You are apt to spend a considerable amount of time and effort finding ways in which to improve your finances. This is a time when the desire for material success and considerable monetary gain is great, though you could be reckless through gambling or speculation. Changes you make in your life now could work toward the achievement of a long time desired goal of further education or even perhaps travel.

Relationships are rewarding at this time. Take advantage of an opportunity this evening to communicate and share.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) This is a time where you should enjoy great success and attention to your profession. It is good to be humble and see where work can best help others. Knowing when to stop is the main theme of the day. You are willing to help your co-workers at work and your friends apart from work today. Everyone seems to be asking for your physical and mental help. Deciding when to halt the contributions of your time and energies makes you a wise person. You are apt to spend a great deal of time communicating with co-workers and people away from work today.

When it comes time to celebrate some special occasion of yours, you will be feeling very much in control. A loved one is especially receptive today and the relationship deepens as a result.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Today is the day you may decide to change or begin a new habit. Go about your day with a list in hand and have a purpose in mind so that you do not sway from your goal. This could encompass a new job at work, a new diet, the process of ending the smoking habit, etc., etc. You could be the sleuth in your place of work and discover the truth behind a mystery that has been puzzling many of you for some time. You are able to cut through the red tape and get at what is behind and beneath some very troubling questions. This could involve some success in getting people to pay their bills, in getting a refund or in speeding up production. An evening bicycle ride or some exercise by walking could become a regular fun activity for you and a loved one.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

To

Yesterday’s Solution

Your business partners are trustworthy and the business deals you create together will be positive for some time to come. The determination to encourage and promote someone today may add to your already very full schedule at this time. The effort you put forth will be successful—balance your energies. Know that this time will pass and make a point of taking your allocated breaks. This evening is a good time to enjoy friends and family. If you are serious about losing weight, counting calories may make you very nervous—since you like good hearty meals. Eat your meat without gravy, bread without butter and try one helping with a small salad. A friend will give you support for your efforts to create a healthier body. This friend may join you!

Business as well as family matters is easy to navigate today. This would be an excellent time to weigh the possibilities of advancement or change in your career. You may find that someone close to you understands and is supportive of your ideas and concerns. You continuously come up with new solutions or inventions to help work faster and efficiently. You have a clear vision into your own inner sense of values, how you appreciate and love. You have an inborn ability to see the positive side of life, especially when you help or step back so that someone else can be in the limelight. A short trip may be in order this evening—perhaps to a restaurant or some fun entertainment. This is a good time to become lost under the spell of a good salesperson—careful.

Yesterday’s Solution Yester

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Your communication skills are at a high now. You will enjoy some form of debate and will not mind speaking your thoughts on a particular matter. You could be most persuasive with others, particularly with the art of communication. The situation is a natural for self-expression and lends itself to your particular ideas and thoughts. If your emotions and attitudes are sincere, no sacrifice will be too great to achieve successful results. Your imagination is strong and you have a strong psychic potential. All of this may lend itself to writing or some form of unusual art. You are a natural healer and do not like to waste time with any one thing.

Academic or educational pursuits and travel may figure into your schedule in the near future.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Word Sleuth Solution

You may find yourself at odds with those around you or with your life situation regarding issues of great sensitivity—very personal. Difficulties, blocks and all manner of hot spots may be discovered and have to be worked through. It is possible that you could be spending too much time on your own or with friends. Job and family may be suffering from a lack of attention. Today you may want to reassess the way you spend your time and insert reminder notes, perhaps some to make a concentrated effort to bring about a balance in scheduling.

The way you live and perhaps your career and basic life direction, may be changing— for the good. If you are entertaining this evening, invite some of your family members, as well as your friends.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

lifestyle F e a t u r e s

Bojana Coklyat guides the hand of a student in art class at the Concordia Learning Center.

Children paint their hands in art class.

Bojana Coklyat in art class at the Concordia Learning Center at St Joseph’s School for the Blind in Jersey City, New Jersey April 23, 2012. — AFP photos

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he sees little more than shadows and shapes.

However, American artist Bojana Coklyat not only pursues her passion for painting, but transmits it to children with impaired sight so that they can see the world in a new way. Coklyat, 33, lost most of her sight four years ago as a result of diabetes. She had to give up her job at an art gallery and, despairingly, put down her paint brushes. Today, Coklyat is full of energy, greeting visitors with a big smile at Saint Joseph’s School for the Blind in Jersey City.

An accomplished painter, she started as a volunteer, having decided to reexamine her life. At the school, which teaches children through all grades, she found “they did have an art class (room), a beautiful one, but no art teacher. I said, ‘can I volunteer?’” At first, her initiative was something of a surprise at the school. But over the last two years she has become indispensable and money has been found in the budget to pay her. During a recent session, she taught two blind adolescents and nine nursery school aged children. Some of the younger children had limited ability to see colors. The older ones did not, but had mental concepts of different colors.

The older classmates arrived with their telescopic white canes, which they folded and attached to their jeans on arrival. Coklyat moved from group to group, telling Kevin, 17, to keep on with a painting started the previous week. “What color do you want?” she asked, taking his hand and guiding it from a part already painted to an unpainted area, then bringing him paint and a brush. Omar, 15, had started illustrating the words “hope, fear, kindness,” she said. Again, she guided his hand, tracing the edges of the paper, before giving him a brush. Omar asked for white to illustrate “hope.”

“Hope is like clarity, hope is clear, that’s why I chose white,” he said. At the other end of the classroom, the young children were getting impatient. “Can I start? I want pink,” a little girl said. Coklyat suggested spring and flowers as a subject. Immediately she was off again to check on Omar. “That is pretty much a perfect circle,” she said, congratulating him. The art works were highly clumsy, but what matters, Coklyat said, “is the process of creating.”“They are so into it. It is so important for them.

It’s another way of expressing themselves. It gives them a sense of accomplishment.” With the younger children, she got them to touch the wet paint.”How does that feel? It’s wet paint,” she said. “You like the feeling of the brush?”

Nathaniel Stephens in class.

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est they take over Dick Clark’s old title as the “world’s oldest teenagers,” some of the “Glee” kids are finally graduating (from high school, if not the series). Lea Michele and cohorts will exit William McKinley High in May 22’s tassel-tossing season finale, but first comes this week’s release of “Glee: The Graduation Album,” a complete set of celebratory and/or valedictory songs. Well, nearly complete.

Unfortunately, these aging young ‘uns never get around to “My Way.” But the grads do cover sentimental life-lesson anthems ranging from Jason Mraz’s “I Won’t Give Up” to Madonna’s “I’ll Remember,” with a puckish time out for Puck to revive a token rocker, Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out.” The song selection is, by and large, not bad, for a po(m)p-and-circumstance collection. If you’re planning a graduation party yourself, this particular “Glee” album is useful... as a tracklist guide for going to iTunes and downloading the versions by the original artists. The intention sometimes seems to be to fool you into believing you are hearing the original, so “Edge of Glory” starts off with one of the New Directions lasses doing a pitch-perfect Lady Gaga imitation. The glorious

Bojana Coklyat and Omar Tzic at the Concordia Learning Center at St. Josephís School.

“Yes, that tickles,” a child replied. Omar asked for red to paint the word “fear.”“My favorite color is red. Red reminds me of the passion that I have for painting, it gets me strength,” he said. He said he loves the class.

“When I think about something I like to visualize it before I put in it on paper.”When she’s not teaching, Coklyat paints at home, her face close to the canvas.

She favors big pieces in vivid colors and her style has changed since she went through her huge health problems.”I am less focused on details, and more focused on feelings. I use more contrasts, more bright colors, and black lines to guide me,” she said. “That is amazing how people find connections with my art and my feelings.”In November she underwent a kidney and pancreas transplant and no longer needs dialysis and insulin injections. With her improving health, new projects are taking shape. Coklyat is preparing several exhibitions and says now she’s keen to expand her experiences and become an art therapist. — AFP Children paint their hands in art class.

Walking canes hang next to the coat rack.

slavishness continues with Springsteen’s “Glory Days,” as the McKinley High backing band somehow manages to perfectly capture Bruce’s calliope-synth and snare drum sounds, circa 1984... and on a public-school budget!

Even a cover of the irresistible “You Get What You Give” - by the 1998 one-hit wonder New Radicals - takes pains to find a chorus boy who sounds exactly like now-obscure original singer Gregg Alexander. The famous last verse has been altered, though.“Glee” may push the teen-sexuality envelope on TV, but an expletive had to be changed to “we’ll kick you down, yeah”... go figure.

The show’s covers are more fun when they depart in some dramatic way from the original hits, either via an arrangement choice or unusual pick of vocalist, but “Glee” has never been particularly interested in musical adventurousness. So “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” has both Finn and Blaine doing their best Billie Joe over an acoustic-guitar-and-strings setup that’s indistinguishable from Green Day’s instrumental track.

But father figure Matthew Morrison, for his part, sounds like neither Bob Dylan nor Rod Stewart when

he covers everyone’s favorite wistful-daddy song, “Forever Young,” even if his capable show-tune take won’t make you forget anyone’s more gravelly version.

And at least Michele won’t be mistaken for Mraz when she contributes a chick-rock rendition of “I Won’t Give Up,” which picks up some welcome choral steam in the bridge. Along the same lines, Lea/Rachel also does Beyonce’s “I Was Here” before departing for New York, in a sideways plot that may or may develop into “Smash II” next season. Who knows? If the series somehow holds on for a few decades, maybe Rachel can graduate from Beyonce’s “I Was Here” to its inevitable sequel, Sondheim’s “I’m Still Here.”—Reuters

Robyn Browne works with paints during art class.

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

lifest yle G o s s i p

hanning Tatum is in talks to star in Roland Emmerich’s latest action flick, “White House Down,” an individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap. Sony acquired James Vanderbilt’s spec script earlier this year for $3 million and then signed up director Emmerich, known for disaster films like “Independence Day” and “2012.” This film is advertised as “Die Hard” in the White House, so

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explosive catastrophe can’t be too far away. A Sony spokesman declined to comment on the casting. Tatum has been mixing up genres of late, starring in the Sony comedy “21 Jump Street” and its romantic drama “The Vow.” Both “21 Jump Street” and “The Vow” did well at the box office, further boosting Tatum’s status as a male lead. The former male stripper will hit the big screen twice this summer, in Steven

‘Harry Potter’ director exits ‘Your Voice in My Head’

Canadian actress accused of stalking Alec Baldwin was upbeat Monday about the case as her lawyer said she had a legitimate reason for contacting the star. “I’m confident that my lawyers are going to solve this,” Genevieve Sabourin said after a brief, procedural appearance in a Manhattan court. Baldwin, 54, and Sabourin, 40, met on the set of the 2002 sci-fi comedy “The Adventures of Pluto Nash,” in which he had a cameo and she was a publicist. Baldwin told authorities they had dinner together in the fall of 2010.

Sabourin was arrested last month after authorities said she sent the “30 Rock” star a series of emails imploring him to see and to marry her - emails allegedly sent days after Baldwin became engaged to yoga instructor Hilaria Thomas.

One of Sabourin’s messages envisioned the actor as her future “husband,” while another described “creating Genevieve Baldwin,” the complaint said. Authorities said she also showed up at a screening he was hosting and at Baldwin’s apartment building, where she was arrested April 8 on misdemeanor stalking and harassment charges. “I just came over to see Alec because I need to speak with him,” she told police, according to a court document filed late last month. She also is believed to have turned up unannounced at his home in the Hamptons in March. But defense lawyer Maurice Sercarz said Sabourin had a relationship with the actor, but he wouldn’t describe the ties between the two. A prior Sabourin lawyer said they had a two-year “mutual relationship.” “There was no effort at harassment, and there was no stalking here,” Sercarz said after the court hearing. “My client had a legitimate purpose for her efforts to contact Mr. Baldwin.” Baldwin’s publicist declined to comment Monday. Baldwin and Thomas, 28, began dating last year. Baldwin previously was married to actress Kim Basinger; they have a daughter, Ireland. Sabourin’s family is from Candiac, a suburb of Montreal. She has appeared in some Canadian films and TV series.

Speaking in French and English after court Monday, she said she’d recently been working on various projects, including a screenplay, but was focusing on her defense. “I guess this will be my job for now,” she said

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ienna Miller once turned her hair green when she tried to dye it brown.

The ‘G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra’ star who is expecting her first baby with boyfriend Tom Sturridge - tried to change her blonde locks to brunette using henna for an audition but suffered a hair disaster.

She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “I’ve had some real hair disasters. I once used henna to dye my hair brown for an audition thinking I was being clever as it’s natural. “Little did I know it was the worst thing I could have done as it coats the follicles so that nothing else can penetrate.

“I had to put ketchup in it for about a year to get rid of the green tinge.” Sienna, 30, and Tom, 26, recently went on a “babymoon” to Portofino, Italy and Sienna - who has recently gone brunette again - has ditched her usually glamorous look for more comfortable attire. A source told

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Closer magazine: “ The babymoon has been planned for months. Sienna wanted to completely wind down before the birth, eat good food and go somewhere so chilled she didn’t have to feel like she needed to dress up and make an effort.

“They’re so happy and it shows in Sienna’s appearance. She’s so comfortable with Tom and feels she can really be herself with him. “Tom tells her she looks beautiful whatever she’s wearing.”

harlize Theron still gets nervous on the red carpet. The 36-year-old screen beauty - who adopted a son, Jackson, in March - admits she is moved when fans come out to greet her at premieres but still gets anxious at the glitzy events, despite her lengthy career as a Hollywood star. Speaking on a special green carpet at the UK premiere of ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ in Leicester

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arry Potter” director David Yates will not direct “Your Voice in My Head” for Warner Bros, his representatives confirmed. This would have been Yates’ first project since helming the final four “Potter” flicks and would have reunited him with Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the “Potter” series. No reason has been given for Yates’ decision, though Deadline, which first reported the news, cited health concerns. The film, written by Emma Forrest and based on her memoir, chronicles a young woman who

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lizabeth Hurley has been warned to “stop playing mum” to her fiance’s children. The model-and-actress has been branded “disrespectful” by Simone Callahan, the ex-wife of her partner, cricketer Shane Warne. Simone, 42, was responding to rumors her three children with Shane - Brooke, 14, summer, nine, and 13-year-old son Jackson - have started calling her “mummy two”. She told Australia’s Woman’s Day magazine: “I can’t control what people say, but it’s just disrespectful as far as I’m concerned. “She is not their mum. And the kids know exactly what the situation is.” Ex-model Simone also said she was shocked when she saw the children had taken part in a photo shoot with their father and his new love. She added: “It’s always been important for me to protect the children. “They’re young and impressionable and I’ve always tried to keep them grounded and ensure life for them is as normal as possible.” She also told of an “awkward” situation when Liz and Shane turned up at her daughter’s school, saying: “Shane and Liz turned up - along with swag of photographers - but we didn’t speak at the assembly.” The two women met for the first time around a week ago as they watched Jackson play Australian Rules Football in Melbourne, and all sat together. In one picture Simone appeared to make an angry face at her ex-husband, while Liz looked on into the distance.

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he ‘American Idol’ judge already has fouryear-old twins Max and Emme with estranged husband Marc Anthony but after working with siblings who had been adopted from Ethiopia after their mother died on new movie ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting’, Jennifer is considering the “selfless act”. She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “It’s funny because before the movie I never really thought about adoption, I just always wanted to have my own baby and I was so focused on that and it took me a while to have my own. “But after the film and during the making of the film when I held those two little Ethiopian twins I fell in love instantly and I can see how somebody can do this, how it is so easy to embrace a child who has nothing.

“It’s a beautiful, selfless act of love and it’s something that you go, ‘OK, I understand these feelings, I get this. I almost took those babies home. I

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faces serious psychological problems upon moving to New York City. Watson signed on to play that part. The woman’s eventual turnaround is due in large part to a dying psychologist, a part Stanley Tucci has been linked to. Warner Bros., which just signed Yates to a first-look deal in April, did not immediately return a request for comment.

ret Michaels and organizers of the Tony Awards have settled a lawsuit filed by the rocker after a 2009 incident in which he was hit in the head with a set piece and suffered injuries that he claimed contributed to a brain hemorrhage that nearly killed him. The confidential settlement also covers Michaels’ claims against CBS Broadcasting, which aired the show and the mishap. The Poison frontman blamed the network for airing the moment, which became which a viral video watched by tens of millions of people online, and claimed Tony Awards Producers never warned him there would be a set change after he and his band performed “Nothin’ But a Good Time.” The whack initially left Michaels with a busted lip and broken nose but also caused brain bleeding, the lawsuit claimed. He was hospitalized in April 2010, and doctors found he had a brain hemorrhage and he later suffered a warning stroke, which the musician says nearly killed him.

Michaels’ attorney Alex Weingarten said details of the settlement would not be released. “Mr Michaels would like to thank his fans for their contin-

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Square, London, last night , she told BANG Showbiz: “Red carpets are still the same so far as anxiety and nerves. I don’t think that ever goes away because it’s a lot of attention! But it’s so moving that everyone comes out to support us. That always, always amazes me. It’s flattering. It’s sweet and I try not to think about it. Of course it’s intimidating” Discussing her role as the evil Queen Ravenna in the Rupert Sandersadaptation of the classic fairytale; Charlize reveals she did not want the character to be entirely two-dimensional as no person is ever defined by just one trait. She added: “We wanted her to be a human being. She had to be someone who was really struggling with her conflict. I think of them as just evil and struggling. I think any of us are just one thing.” Charlize was joined on the green carpet by stars of the film including Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Ray Winstone.

— Agencies

Soderbergh’s “Magic Mike” and “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” the sequel to the 2009 hit.

Emmerich is producing “White House Down” with Vanderbilt, Bradley Fisher, Laeta Kaloridies and Bradley Fischer.

ued support,” he wrote in a statement.

Michaels sued in March 2011 in Los Angeles, but a judge later moved the case to New York City. The agreement came after a mediation session was held on Friday. Representatives for CBS and the Tonys released a joint statement saying that “an amicable resolution” had been reached but no further details would be released. The musician and reality television star did not state how much compensation he was seeking when he sued but said the injury hurt his ability to perform at later shows.

fell in love with those babies.” However, right now Jennifer - who is dating backing dancer Casper Smart - says she is kept busy raising Max and Emme. She explained: [Adoption] would be a blessing but I’m focused on doing it right with those two and I’ve really got my hands full.”

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

LIFESTYLE M u s i c

&

M o v i e s Review

Expect few laughs from

Actress Melissa Joan Hart, who is pregnant, poses at the Los Angeles premiere of the film “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” Monday. —AP photos f only “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” had focused on the dads’ group, and didn’t just drop in on them a handful of times, we might have been onto something here. Chris Rock, Thomas Lennon and Rob Huebel are among the dudes who meet regularly to push their kids in tricked-out strollers, tote them in high-end carriers and talk guy stuff in a confidential setting away from the wives. Their no-nonsense banter, and their unabashed worship of the buff, shirtless jogger who frequents their Atlanta park, liven up what is a rather predictable and cliched depiction of pregnancy. (And yes, we are clearly in Atlanta, as evidenced by the shameless proliferation of product placement for Delta Airlines, which is based there.)

A good-looking cast of popular actors can only do so much with material that’s superficial and sitcommy. Director Kirk Jones’ film is “inspired by” the Heidi Murkoff advice book of the same name, one that every single pregnant woman on the planet surely has read since its initial publication in 1985. But similar to 2009’s “He’s Just Not That into You,” the script from Shauna Cross and Heather Hach merely uses a familiar non-fiction title as a leaping-off point to explore various intertwined relationships, ostensibly for hilarious comic effect.

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‘What to Expect’

she finds her militant stances hard to maintain once she becomes pregnant herself. As she’s about to give a big speech, she realizes all the platitudes written on her note cards are glossy and false; instead, she opens her mouth and dares to share her third-trimester misery with a huge, gawking crowd. Then again, this is one of those embarrassing moments of vulnerability that always seem to take place in front of a huge, gawking crowd in romantic comedies.

More often, we get the kind of contrived, shrieky wackiness that breaks out when all the pregnant women whose stories we’ve been following just happen to give birth at the same hospital on the same night. Being crowd-pleasing was obviously more important that being truthful. We begin with Cameron Diaz as Jules, a fitness expert and the host of a “Biggest Loser”style reality show. She didn’t expect to be expecting with Evan (Matthew Morrison), her partner on a “Dancing With the Stars”style reality show, but now these two must find a way to juggle a baby along with their new relationship and high-profile careers.

Jennifer Lopez plays Holly, a photographer who’s been trying for years to conceive with her husband, Alex (Rodrigo Santoro), with no luck. They’re hoping to

Cast member Cameron Diaz

Crawford), competing food-truck entrepreneurs and former high school classmates who weren’t all that careful when they finally gave into their flirtations one night.

Kendrick is, as always, adorable and accessible and she and Crawford have a nice chemistry with each other. Jones bops around between all these stories at a steady pace and only finds real energy when he comes back to the dads’ group, which Alex joins in preparation for fatherhood. Within seconds of watching Rock riff on what it’s really like to be a parent, you get a glimpse of how good this movie might have been.

Instead, you should probably keep your expectations in check. “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” a Lionsgate release, is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, thematic elements and language.

Running time: 110 minutes. Two stars out of four. —AP

Cast member Rodrigo Santoro

Cast member Jennifer Lopez poses at the Los Angeles premiere of the film.

There are some laughs here and there and a few recognizable moments of honesty. Elizabeth Banks’ character begins to touch on something relatable; an author and owner of a breastfeeding boutique,

adopt an orphan from Ethiopia, an emotionally intense, life-changing moment for which Lopez’s character apparently felt the need to wear fake eyelashes. Banks’ Wendy also has been trying to have a baby for a while with her husband, Gary (Ben Falcone).

Once the test finally comes up positive and they go to tell Gary’s father (Dennis Quaid), an arrogant former NASCAR legend, they find that dad and his new trophy wife (Brooklyn Decker) also have gotten pregnant - with no trouble at all. This competi-

Cast member Brooklyn Decker tive daddy-issue subplot, which culminates with a zany golf-cart showdown, is one of the more flimsy and clichÈd elements of the film. Then there’s the twentysomething Rosie (Anna Kendrick) and Marco (Chace

Indonesian police veto Lady Gaga show ndonesian police yesterday refused to allow pop phenomenon Lady Gaga to perform in Jakarta after Islamic hardliners vowed to mobilize thousands of supporters against the “devil’s messenger”. The concert planned for June 3 in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country “will have to be cancelled”, national police spokesman Saud Usman Nasution told AFP. “We will not issue a permit for the Lady Gaga concert in Jakarta,” he said. Indonesia’s hardline Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) had mounted protests in the capital, vowing to intercept the “Poker Face” singer at the airport and ensure she does not enter the country. “We’re very glad the police stopped this moral destroyer from coming to this country, where we believe in God. Of course we stand against her-she only wears panties and a bra,” FPI Jakarta chairman Habib Salim Alatas told AFP. “She is very dangerous for our young generation. She has even said herself that she’s the devil’s messenger,” he said, apparently taking past remarks out of context, after the FPI had threatened to bring thousands onto the streets. There was no immediate reaction from Lady Gaga, who has the world’s biggest following on Twitter.

But her fans, known as “little monsters”, took to social media in their thousands. Theithooker tweeted: “The only one that needs to be banned is FPI itself. They’re embarrassing this country on a daily basis.” Fans set up a new Twitter hashtag called “#IndonesiaSavesGaga” to try to get the police decision overturned. But another little monster said: “It’s not a matter of #IndonesiaSavesGaga, it’s more like whether Gaga can save Indonesia.”

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(From left) “The X Factor” judges, LA Reid, Demi Lovato, Simon Cowell and Britney Spears attend the FOX network upfront presentation party at Wollman Rink, Monday. —AP

Spears joins ‘The X Factor’ ritney Spears and Demi Lovato are joining the judging panel on “The X Factor” this fall, part of Fox’s effort to boost its underperforming music competition shows. The network’s executives, in presenting next season’s schedule to advertisers on Monday, also promised changes for “American Idol.” While “Idol” remains Fox’s centerpiece, as it has been for the past decade, it has lost a quarter of its audience this year. Fox is adding two new comedies and a drama in the fall, pumping new life into “Glee” by moving it to a new night with guest stars Kate Hudson and Sarah Jessica Parker and touting a midseason drama starring Kevin Bacon as “the new ‘24.’”

The Spears announcement overshadowed the others. Despite weeks of rumors, it wasn’t official until she strode onto New York’s Beacon Theater stage wearing a white minidress, accompanied by show creator Simon Cowell and fellow judges Lovato and LA Reid. “I’m so excited about the whole experience,” Spears said. “It’s going to be so much fun and different from anything I’ve ever done.

I’m ready to find the true star.” Lovato said she was “totally stoked” to join the cast. They replace judges Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger, who was dispatched along with host Steve Jones after last fall’s debut season of

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the competition didn’t meet the creator’s inflated expectations.

“Not to be negative about the people leaving, but we just felt the mix could be more effective and more entertaining,” said Peter Rice, entertainment chairman for the Fox Networks Group. Fox’s entertainment president, Kevin Reilly, also promised work on “American Idol” next season but didn’t specify anything. “This year was a bigger drop-off than we anticipated,” Reilly said. He said “Idol” made no changes from the previous year and there was little “urgency to view” at the beginning of the season. He said there was still a lot of life left in the franchise. “Glee,” once a sensation, saw its viewership drop by 21 percent this season. It will move to Thursday nights and a comfortable 9 p.m.

Eastern time slot following “The X Factor” in the fall. Reilly said the show is “poised for a creative renaissance” and has Hudson and Parker lined up for multi-episode guest slots.

Part of the reason Fox moved “Glee” is made yesterday a four-sitcom night, with two new shows joining “New Girl” and “Raising Hope.” Mindy Kaling, actress, producer and writer for “The Office,” creates and stars in “The Mindy Project,” a romantic comedy about a doctor looking for love.

The other new comedy, “Ben and Kate,” is about a pair of odd couple

siblings. “We’ve been building comedy momentum yesterday, and we finally have the shows that have exactly the tone that we are looking for,” Reilly said. The fall’s only new drama is “The Mob Doctor,” on Monday night, about a young doctor who has to pay off her family’s lifelong debt to the Chicago mob.

Reilly said Bacon’s hiring for the midseason drama “The Following” was the casting coup of the year. Bacon plays a former FBI agent asked to come back to work to chase a serial killer he had caught once before. The killer escaped from prison and has resumed a series of grisly murders. Another comedy focused on a family, “The Goodwin Games,” is due at midseason and stars actor Scott Foley, of “Felicity” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”Fox’s long-running drama “House” is ending its run this spring, and the network is cancelling high-profile dramas “Terra Nova” and “Alcatraz.” Fox also has made changes to its long-running Saturday night lineup, where “COPS” won’t return until midseason. In the fall, Fox will present live sports events such as college football, Major League baseball and NASCAR races that night. —AP

Big Daddy Productions, the promoters, have already sold more than 50,000 tickets and declined to confirm whether the show, part of Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way Ball” world tour, had been officially cancelled. Another national police spokesman said the force had “no problem with Lady Gaga” but could not issue a permit without a letter of recommendation from the Jakarta police, who “have decided not to do that”. The Jakarta city police said they had received objections to the show by the National Ulema Council, Indonesia’s top Islamic body. “The first thing we’ve heard from various public leaders is that Lady Gaga doesn’t deserve the attention of so many people,” said Jakarta police spokesman Rikwanto, who goes by one name.

“They said her outfits are too sexy, indulgent and erotic.” Ninety percent of Indonesia’s 240 million people identify themselves as Muslim, but the vast majority practises a moderate form of Islam. Lady Gaga has faced opposition elsewhere on the Asia leg of her tour. The Korean Association of Church Communication vowed in March to take “concerted action to stop young people from being infected with homosexuality and pornography” during the US star’s concert in Seoul. But Lady Gaga has not toned down her performances so far. At shows in Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo, she has ridden on to the stage on a mechanical horse, wearing a black bodysuit and an enormous black metal headpiece.

Lady Gaga will perform in Taipei on Thursday and Friday, and will then head to Manila, Bangkok and Singapore. She was due to play in Jakarta after that, before flying south to New Zealand and Australia. In the past, performers such as Beyonce and the Pussycat Dolls have been allowed to perform in Indonesia provided they dressed more conservatively. Concerts by Western artists in Indonesia’s fellow Islamic neighbor Malaysia have also stirred controversy.

Beyonce was forced to cancel a 2007 event there after conservative Muslim groups threatened protests. —AFP

Motorists ride past a promotional banner for US singer Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Ball Asia Tour in Jakarta, Indonesia, yesterday. —AP

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

lifestyle T r a v e l

Cuban casas particulares turn home into business

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orma Arias Puente has been learning the hospitality business for more than a decade from a perch overlooking this city’s Parque Cespedes and the Cathedral of Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion with its statue of a trumpeting archangel. That would be her apartment in a wedding cake of a building where she operates a casa particular-Cuba’s version of a bed and breakfast-and rents out two spacious rooms. One thing she has learned since opening for business in 1997, when the government first allowed Cubans to rent out rooms in their homes-although they had been doing it under the table for years before that-is give the customers what they want.

At her bed-and-breakfast, you can get breakfast, of course. But for an extra charge, guests can order lunch or dinner, use her kitchen to cook their own meals or have their laundry done. She’s also available to help with lost cell phones and other dilemmas. Casa Havana, an Old Havana homerun by retired dentist Emilio Nodarse, even has a rooftop terrace bar completed with a full-time barman. Other casas provide guests with cold Bucanero from the fridge or cigars-for an extra fee.

Most of the casas charge $20 to $35 a night, payable in convertible pesos (CUCs) — the currency used by foreigners. Some provide breakfast for free; others charge around $3. In the 1990s, Cubans who wanted to earn some extra money would offer clean but generally Spartan rooms. But when the law changed in 1997, allowing casas particulares to register as businesses, it really unleashed the entrepreneurial spirit for people like Arias. “When the law came out, I said, ‘Wow, this is for me,”‘ said Arias, a retired educator who has lived in her colonial-style apartment for the past 41 years. “I have learned this business by doing it ever since.”

In the past year, there have been other changes that allow the casas to rent out more than two rooms, hire employees that aren’t family members to help with cooking and housekeeping, and that lower the monthly perroom taxes from 200 pesos per room to 150 pesos. During slow periods, proprietors also can close down for the month and aren’t responsible for taxes. Now guests can travel from one end of the island to the other, renting rooms from Cubans all the way. Some of the casas are featured in guide books such as Lonely Planet; others show up on online booking services.

But for advance bookings, most still rely on the telephone or email exchanges, often relayed by third parties.

Matthew Sellar, a London-based research assistant, decided to take the concept one step further. At his Cubacasa site (www.cubacasa.co.uk), you can click on the desired casa and check a calendar to see which dates are available and book the accommodation on the spot.

The sign indicating a Casa Particular outside Norma Arias Puente’s Casa Catedral.

The Edinburgh-based website was an outgrowth of Sellar’s own travels in Cuba. “I didn’t want to stay at a resort. If you really want to see what Cuba is like, you should stay in a casa,” he said. “But I found it was relatively difficult to book a casa from abroad.”

Cubacasa charges a 10 percent booking fee and then guests pay the proprietor of the casa directly when they arrive in Cuba. Sellar uses Moneybookers, a British-based online payments company rather than PayPal, to make sure neither the company nor any potential guests run afoul of the US embargo against Cuba or any Cuban or UK laws.

Since the website went live last July, it has handled more than 150 bookings and works with about 90 casas.

Sellar said it’s been challenging to try to professionalize

A tourist heads up the steps at Norma Arias Puente’s Casa Catedral.

the casa business. Often casa owners jump on the largest booking they can get, even if it means cancelling a previous registration. They want to ensure they’ll be able to pay their monthly tax to the government. But Sellar said such bookings have “traditionally been very flimsy and do not materialize.” Now, he said, casa owners know the customers he books will actually show up and he’s started to concentrate on marketing and building ties with travel agents and guide books.

Among other booking sites are MyCasaParticular.com, which recently had 254 accommodations listed across the island, and cubaparticular.com, which offers a “Welcome Service” to greet visitors at the airport.

But some casas’ marketing efforts are more rudimentary. In Trinidad, a picturesque colonial city, people with signs advertising their casas are in the parking area when the tour buses pull in about 5 p.m. But some visitors find their way to a casa simply by walking down the street and looking for small signs with a blue symbol representing a roof line that indicates the casa is registered with the government.

Rebecca Mohr and Jan Kuhn, a German couple, began a recent three-week trip to Cuba on the western end of the island in Pinar del Rio and ended it in Baracoa on the eastern tip of the island, staying at casas particulares all the way.

“It really put you in touch with the Cuban people. It’s a great experience,” said Mohr, a lawyer. The casas also appeal to some travelers concerned that their tourism spending goes into government coffers.

MyCasaParticular.com, which is run by Basel, Switzerlandbased ABUC Media Network, says it “is convinced of the social and economic importance that each visit of a tourist to a casa particular has for a Cuban family.”

Mohr and Kuhn liked the variety they found. The couple stayed at casas ranging from a home dating to 1850 in Trinidad to a very modest place in Vinales, with roosters pecking in the yard, dogs barking in the night, and a cupboard that served as part of the bedroom divider.

“We really were living with this woman for two days,” said Mohr. “She was a simple country woman but she knew her casa was in Lonely Planet.”

At Arias’ Casa Catedral, they found more stately quarters-a spacious air-conditioned bedroom, a sitting room with a refrigerator, a balcony with views of the cathedral and a huge azure-tiled private bathroom with the original porcelain tub. “These tiles are from France — 1929, the year this house was built,” said Arias, who runs the business with her husband, Manuel Rondon.

Some of the casas have unexpected treasures-period architectural flourishes amid makeshift repairs, wooden rocking chairs on a sunny terrace or, in the case of Casa Colonial, a second-floor bedroom where the doors to the balcony can be flung open at night to catch the breeze and allow the aroma of freshly-brewed coffee to waft in at dawn. Because they are family homes, the casas all have their own characteristics. Some offer guests more privacy and are more commercial; but others come complete with children playfully crawling under the dinner table and meals shared with the family.

“We are your family now” is the way Nivia Melendez greets guests at Casa Colonial, her Santiago home that has two rooms for rent. She lives there with her husband Roberto, her daughter and son-in-law and two grandchildren. Although both her daughter and son-in-law are scientists and have full-time jobs, everyone pitches in with running the casa-keeping records, cleaning up after dinner or slicing fruit for breakfast.

The family has been renting rooms for about a decade.

It was Melendez’s daughter Beatriz’s idea. “She said, ‘Let’s

exploit the house,’” explained Melendez. The rambling colonial-style dwelling has been in the family since 1919, and it is expensive to keep up. A 1950s-era Westinghouse refrigerator still keeps beer cold for guests, but a termiteridden staircase leading up to the second-floor rental had to be replaced with sturdy metal stairs.

Operating a casa particular “really helps out” in making ends meet, said Melendez. She charges 30 CUCs a night.

Breakfast is 4 CUCs and the family offers dinner for 10 CUCs. (The official exchange rate is 1 CUC to $1 US, but Cuban exchange houses impose a 20 percent fee on dollar exchanges.)

Folks walk past Norma Arias Puente’s Casa Catedral on the square in Santiago de Cuba.

On a recent night the evening meal at Casa Colonial included vegetable soup, rice, French fries, chicken fricassee; a cucumber, tomato and cabbage salad dressed with homemade banana-peel vinegar, a fruit salad and coffee.

Arias said running a casa can be a lot of work but it suits her. She’s had visitors from Macedonia, Japan, China, England, Scotland, and the United States. “Really the entire world,” she said. “It’s very interesting work; there’s always something going on,” she said as she sat in a rocking chair in the apartment’s front room, “and I like to talk, to converse with the guests.”— MCT

German tourists Jan Kuhn, left, and Rebecca Mohrtalk laugh about some of the privacy issues in Casa Particulars.

Norma Arias Puente in her Casa Catedral.

German tourist Rebecca Mohr points out a window that might let folks see in the nice bathroom at Norma Arias Puente’s Casa Catedral on the square in Santiago de Cuba. — MCT photos

Nivia Melendez and her cook put dinner out for guests at her and her husband Roberto’s Casa Colonial on Trinidad.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

lifestyle T r a v e l

Saudi tourists visit the Qasr Al-Bint tombs complex in the desert archaeological site of Madain Saleh.

Tourists visit the Diwan in the desert archaeological site of Madain Saleh, in Al Ula city, 1043 km (648 miles) northwest of the capital Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

— AP photos

Foreign and Saudi tourists visit the Diwan.

A foreign tourist visits the Abu Lawha, the largest Nabataean tomb at the desert archaeological site of Madain Saleh.

Foreign tourists visit a Nabataean tombs complex in the desert archaeological site of Madain Saleh.

A part of the Qasr al-Bint tombs complex.

By John Bordsen

C

harleston may have a reputation for expensive (and often starched) elegance, but there are options for vacationers who want to kick back at a low-pressure Lowcountry beach. Welcome to Folly Beach.

In a nutshell Downtown Charleston is flanked by barrier islands. Up the coast is Sullivans Island and white-shoes golf/tennis development of Isle of Palms. Down the coast is Folly Island, 12 square miles of eclectic relaxation. Originally known as Coffin Island because ships bound for Charleston would dump their plague victims there, it became a summer getaway for Charlestonians.

These days, huge modern vacation homes mix easily with weatherbeaten bungalows. The long, wide beach faces south for great sunrises and sunsets. Center Street-S.C. 171 (aka Folly Road), which connects it to James Island and the mainland over a salty gumbo-is a micro-Myrtle with a sprinkling of Asheville funkiness and Lowcountry manners.

How to stay there Weekenders can stay in the one hotel - the beachfront Tides high-rise (a former Holiday Inn) — or one of several scruffy motels off Center.

The best way to go is renting a house Saturday-to-Saturday, the rhythm of local lodgings. Rates vary by size and condition as well as season. Overall, cost rises the closer you are to the beach, with streets west of Center a bit pricier overall.

Fred P. Holland Realty (www.fredhollandrealty.com) is the big player in full-service Folly vacation rentals, and there’s a lot of variety in the 200some properties they handle. They may handle a few too many: The week’s worth of sheets and towels were missing when we checked into a Holland-handled beachfront place on an off-season mid-afternoon; the housekeeper, eventually located in Mount Pleasant, made her delivery several hours later.

Holland is probably the way to book if you have no ties to the area, but if you have friends there, ask them to scout around.

Before you go Don’t pack too much. A couple day’s worth of clothes will do - rental houses have laundry facilities, and this isn’t a dress-up destination. Don’t bother with food: Stop at the Food Lion on S.C. 171 just before you hit the marshes.

If you want to fish on the pier (more on this later), borrow and pack your rod and tackle before you leave town.

Bring books you want to read. You can buy newspapers here, and that’s about it.

Getting around Get ahold of “Matty B,” the character who rents well-used but wellworking fat-tire bikes from his yard, a block north of Center on Huron. It’s $40 for a week, lock included - heck of a deal (843-406-5721).

His stripped-down Beaver Cleaver models are OK for the streets and great for riding on the beach. The trick to beach biking: Ride in the surfdarkened strip closest to land. That ribbon is widest when the tide is going out.

At land’s end County-owned Folly Beach Park, at the southern tip of the island, was smacked hard last year by Hurricane Irene. The storm didn’t make landfall, but damage at park compounded an ongoing erosion problem. It’s likely to remain closed this year.

Bike, walk or drive to the other end of Folly and you’ll pass the Washout, a stretch of beach where Hurricane Hugo is responsible for larger waves that surfers love.

At Folly’s northern tip, beach-facing Ashley Avenue ends. Walk the quarter-mile trail, and the sand hills will part to show you Morris Island lighthouse _ a once-working beacon where channel shifts gradually ate away the island until the beacon, out of business 50 years now, is all that remains. The tower is about 300 yards out, with a nice view of Charleston Harbor behind it.

costs $8 to fish, $3 for kids. (No S.C. fishing license is required.) Dream big: a 100-pound tarpon was hauled in from here.

And then there’s Bert’s Market, two blocks north of Center on East Ashley Avenue. What looks like a dingy convenience store holds an amazing array of goods-imported and domestic beer and fresh sushi; laundry detergent as well as motor oil. As such it’s an eclectic place where tourists and locals cross paths and linger for directions and tall tales. There’s also a dress mannequin (not for sale) wearing an apron, and a long-hair or two behind the counter. Their motto is “We may doze but we never close,” and indeed it is open 24/7.

When you’re hungry ...

If you’re renting a home, figure out how often you want to dine out vs. using the kitchen. It seems like a no-brainer-why cook? — Until you figure out the cost difference... and until you go to Crosby’s Fish & Shrimp Company (843-795-4049).

That’s the fresh seafood market on S.C. 171, a small place perched above Folly Creek. Their boats work the area. The prices are reasonable enough, but the freshness and variety is what does the trick - plus, you can get items you won’t find elsewhere, like triggerfish.

The best breakfast is at Lost Dog Cafe on Huron Street (off Center) where the walls are plastered with several hundred dog photos. From 6:30 a.m. until closing (3 p.m.), you can get coffee, fresh bakery biscuits and gravy and the like.

A couple of eateries along Center push seafood; try the Folly Beach Crab Shack (www.crabshacks.com) where you can sit indoor or outside.

Buy a mixed bucket of snow crab legs, oysters and shrimp for $26.99 and $41.95.

This time of year, they serve Gulf select oysters from Alabama. The oysters straight out of the Folly River are cluster oysters, and in seasonfall through spring-they’re available here and elsewhere.

If you’re a fan of Locklear’s seafood in Mount Pleasant, S.C., head to their operation here: it overlooks the fishing pier and has indoor/outdoor seating.

Don’t miss Bowens Island Restaurant, which is surprisingly easy to do.

On the S.C. 171 causeway, watch for the Bowens Island Road sign on the southbound side. Turn there and wind over about five5 miles of swamp hills to the restaurant. Owned by the grandson of the Bowens who started it in the 1940s. It looks like something out of a Robert Mitchum movie-a group of weather-beaten structures, one of which is the eatery famous for seafood. It’s open Tuesday-Saturday nights; just walk up the stairs to the rambling dining room. The whole operation faces the Folly Creek flats, and the view at sunset is fabulous. Take note of the floor, too: Paintings on it are from a 2010 James Brolin flick called “Angel Camouflaged.”

With oyster season ending, shrimping season is about to begin. The fried shrimp here is widely acclaimed, local whenever possible.

Also noteworthy: Taco Boy (www.tacoboy.net), whose machine-shed exterior on Center Street hides a bright and somewhat bizarre art-students-must’ve-done-it look. The 16 or so tacos on the menu include the Korean-style kimchi beef as well as portobello mushroom. All are fantastic. But at $3.25 and up, you’ll eat a hole in your vacation cash if you go there too hungry.

Side trips It’s an easy drive to downtown Charleston. Going the other way, you can kill a couple hours visiting the Charleston Tea Plantation on Wadmalaw Island (tours are free; www.charlestonteaplantation.com) and, en route, taking a look and photo at the enormous Angel Oak on Johns Island (www.angeloaktree.com). It’s thought to be about 1,500 years old.

People, places Check the shops, bars and cafes on Center Street; it dead-ends at Arctic Avenue, where you’ll find the sea-facing Holiday Inn and the fishing pier. The back of the hotel has an outdoor bar and terrace seating that faces the beach. The Edwin S. Taylor Fishing Pier is long and huge _ 23 feet above the water and extending more than 1,000 feet into the sea.

It’s a great place to stroll; keep an eye peeled for dolphins frolicking. It

Culture Art? Well, the Bolus law firm has the front half of an enormous fiberglass shark mounted above its door on Center Street. It was already there when the attorneys moved into the upstairs office. “We were privileged to hang our sign underneath the shark head,” Keith Bolus deadpans.

Music? Clubs and restaurants offer everything from lounge to hard rock, especially toward weekends. This is the beach, remember. You’re here to relax. That’s what brought George Gershwin here in 1934. He vacationed long enough at 708 W. Arctic to judge a local beauty contest and write “Porgy and Bess.” — MCT

In this August 27, 1999 file photograph, surfers stand on Folly Beach at the Washout waiting to head into the water to enjoy the waves. — MCT

Britney Spears joining Fox’s ‘The X Factor’

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 2012

37 New Graff boutique opens at Burj Al-Arab

D

Inmates dance in front of other prisoners to music being performed on a nearby stage during a small concert at the Tihar jail in New Delhi on April 26, 2012.—-AFP photos

amas, the Middle East’s leading international jewellery and watch retailer, has announced that it has recently inaugurated a new Graff boutique at the Burj Al - Arab Hotel, Dubai. To celebrate the opening of the new store, an exclusive runway show for VIPs was organized to offer private viewing of the world’s finest jewellery.

More than 190 jewels were flown into Dubai direct from London for the event, with a combined retail price exceeding USD 80 million. Many of the jewels on display have never left the United Kingdom before.

The new Graff boutique in the Burj Al Arab is Graff’s second salon in Dubai. The new 121-square metre store, which is located on the 1st floor of the 7-star hotel, carries a variety of Graff jewellery and watch collections from London, including the ‘Diamonds on Diamonds’, and ‘Butterfly’ collections, among others.

Graff is the luxury British jewellery house, synonymous with the most fabu-

lous jewels in the world; renowned for crafting jewellery comprising diamonds and gems of unmatched rarity, worn by royalty and celebrity for generations. Graff Diamonds uses only the most exquisite diamonds and coloured stones in the world, each one selected for its unsurpassed quality, rarity and sheer perfection, handset by master craftsmen in Graff’s workshops in London. There are currently more than 27 Graff boutiques globally, plus Graff is available in selected Saks Fifth Avenue stores.

Damas is the Middle East’s leading international jewellery and watch retailer, with a network of around 300 stores distributed in 12 countries. Damas recently announced that it has been appointed as the sole agent for Graff within Dubai, following a deal to take full control of a joint-venture company.

Delhi jailhouse rocks to live music therapy S

trutting across the stage wearing red stilettos, red lipstick and a flower in her hat, Samara Chopra was always going to be a hit with the inmates of Tihar high-security jail in New Delhi. The audience of about 1,000 male prisoners whooped with delight as Chopra, lead singer of the Ska Vengers, ran through a highenergy one-hour set at an afternoon concert inside the prison grounds. Clapping her hands high in the air, and belting out ska, reggae and soul classics, she soon had the prison guards as well as the captive audience moving to the music. The event was an unusual break from the daily routine at Tihar jail, a vast complex in the west of the Indian capital where 12,000 inmates ranging from trial suspects to convicted murderers are incarcerated.

“Music is a force for good,” Chopra, 28, told AFP during a warm-up act by prison band The Flying Souls. “It has the power to change people and is fundamental to all lives, including those inside prisons,” she said. “The interaction we have had with the people here has been great and I want to come back and teach here.” The Ska Vengers, a popular Delhi band, have developed links with “Jail 4” at Tihar, and they held the gig to celebrate arranging for 300,000 rupees ($5,700) of music equipment to be donated to the prison by a music store. “Jail 4”, one of 10 separate facilities within the prison, houses 1,615 inmates including 160 foreigners and 230 convicts, four of whom are on death row, according to an official register at the entrance gate.

One of the convicted murders, Ashish Nandwana, 26, from Jaipur, was among the raucous concert crowd gathered in the prison gardens. He is serving a life sentence for stabbing a trainee flight attendant to death in a Delhi guesthouse in April 2008 after she refused to marry him. “It is good to have music here. The prison is ok but we want to have events like this,” he told AFP before the concert. Such grim personal stories seem at odds with the cheerful atmosphere at the concert, which was attended by guest of honour Neeraj Kumar, the director

general of Delhi prisons and a keen advocate of music for inmates. “We have been introducing music rooms and we are very happy to say that the response has been tremendous,” he said. “It is therapeutic.

An inmate dances in front of other prisoners .

The idea of providing Tihar with better music facilities came from Stefan Kaye, the Londonborn keyboard player of the Ska Vengers who found very little equipment on offer when he held music workshops in the jail late last year.

“Working with inmates is no different to working with anyone else,” he said. “They do usually want to tell me what crimes or charges they are in jail for, but I have never felt at all threatened.” “In fact, they are just very keen to learn, desperate for anything to distract them from the monotony and negative thoughts of jail life. They take music very seriously and often display extraordinary abilities.” Among the kit donated to Tihar were drum sets, tabla Indian drums, keyboards, amplifiers and crucial smaller items such as scores of guitar strings. “It helps so much, and perhaps the skills will be useful when they leave the prison,” said Kaye. “When I spoke to (Delhi music shop) Furtados, they gave us everything we asked for free.”

Tihar jail has a record of innovative rehabilitation schemes for prisoners including yoga, meditation, art classes and a shop selling products made by inmates. Guards even allowed a handful of the jail’s best dancers to squeeze out of the crowd to show off their wildest moves in front of the stage, triggering the biggest cheers of the day from their delighted comrades.

Support act The Flying Souls, a band formed in Tihar last year by three convicts and seven remand prisoners, struck a more poignant chord with their songs about loss, longing and the pain of separation.—AFP

“Prisoners vent and give release to creative energies, and we are trying to reform them through music,” he said, adding that one female inmate had been suicidal until she had access to music instruments. “We have done this for one year now, including for Bengali music, Hindi classical and Western classical, but (Bollywood) film music is the most popular.” Kumar said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the depth of talent among prisoners and that he had recently started a “Tihar Idol” competition to select inmates who will make a commercially produced album.

L

eading Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan paid tribute yesterday to a child actress and one-time co-star who was among 15 people killed in a plane crash in Nepal. Taruni Sachdev, 14, was travelling with her sister and mother on an Agni Air flight on Monday which plunged into a hillside after aborting a landing at the high-altitude airport of Jomsom. All three of them were killed, along with 12 others. Six people made a miraculous escape, including two Danish travellers. “Shocked and very saddened to hear about the Nepal plane crash. Lost one of my cutest co-stars. Little Taruni Sachdev from Paa. Speechless,” Bachchan wrote on Twitter, referring to the 2009 hit film “Paa”.

The Hindustan Times newspaper reported yesterday that Sachdev, from Bollywood capital Mumbai, was a prominent child artist who had featured in nearly 50 advertisements and films.

Among the survivors of Monday’s crash were two Indian girls aged six and nine as well as their father, but their mother was reported to have died. “We are in a state of shock and distraught that these two lit-

tle girls will have a life without their mother,” K. Srinivasan, uncle of the two girls, told the Hindustan Times.

Taruni Sachdev The family was part of a group of Indian pilgrims who were on their way to the holy shrine of Muktinath in the Himalayas. Rajendra Singh Bhandari, a regional police spokesman, told AFP that the two Danes had been sent to the capital Kathmandu by ambulance for further treatment. —AFP

This undated image made available by the Royal Collection shows the South Africa Necklace and Bracelet.

This undated image made available by the Royal Collection shows The Girls of Great Britain Tiara part of a exhibition of royal gems being staged to mark the Queen’s 60-year reign at the Queen’s gallery, Buckingham, Palace, London, yesterday. The major display will reunite for the first time seven of the nine principal stones cut from the Cullinan Diamond. The Diamonds: A Jubilee Celebration exhibition will be held from June 30 toJuly 8 and from July 31 to October 7. — AP photos

Exhibition curator Caroline de Guitaut holds Queen Victoria’s small Diamond crown which she wore on her Diamond Jubilee.

This undated image made available by the Royal Collection shows the Coronation Necklace and Earrings.

Caroline de Guitaut holds the Cullinan Brooch and Cullinan V necklace pendant.