17th Nov

IPT IO N SC R SU B

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

7

150 Fils

Jordan protesters call for ‘downfall of the regime’

MOHARRAM 3, 1433 AH

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Petraeus testifies before lawmakers on Benghazi

No: 15630

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Qatar Airways lands on Barcelona shirts

Gaza rockets target Jerusalem and Tel Aviv

Egypt PM visits Gaza as Israel mobilizes troops

Max 27º Min 12º

(Left) Gaza’s Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya (right) and Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil hold the body of a Palestinian baby boy who was killed in an Israeli air strike yesterday during a visit to the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. (Center) Explosion and smoke rise following an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip, seen from the Israel- Gaza border in southern Israel yesterday. (Right) The mother of 10-month-old Palestinian girl Hanen Tafesh, killed the day before in an Israeli air strike, is comforted by her husband and relatives as she mourns before her funeral in Gaza City yesterday. — AP/AFP (See Pages 8, 9 and 14) JERUSALEM: Gaza militants fired rockets at both off Jaffa, just south of Tel Aviv, on Thursday. As the preparing all the military options, including the posEgypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Morsi hamJerusalem and Tel Aviv yesterday, aiming for Israel’s rockets hit, the first of 16,000 reservists already called sibility that forces will be ready to enter Gaza in the mered home the message of support soon after his political and commercial hearts, prompting Israel to up by the Israeli army were joining their units but in event that the firing doesn’t stop,” he said. prime minister ended the lightning visit. “Egypt will call up thousands more reservists in readiness for a their wake Defence Minister Ehud Barak ordered As ground troops massed, there was no let up in not leave Gaza on its own... What is happening is a potential ground war. The military wing of the thousands more to turn up for duty. “The defence the Israeli air offensive on Gaza. A child was among blatant aggression against humanity,” Morsi said.

Islamist Hamas movement which rules Gaza said it minister has this evening ordered the mobilisation of the two latest victims reported by the territory’s The overthrow early last year of veteran strongman fired the rocket at Jerusalem, the first to strike the new reserve forces,” his spokesman Josh Hantman emergency services, who were both brought in to Hosni Mubarak, a staunch supporter of Egypt’s outskirts of the Holy City in the history of the Israeli- told AFP as warnings intensified of a looming Gaza City’s Shifa hospital as Egyptian Prime Minister three-decade-old peace treaty with Israel, has cast a Palestinian conflict. ground offensive to root out the rocket launchers Hisham Qandil toured the wards on an unprece- chill over the already lukewarm relationship It marked a major escalation by the territory’s that now have most of Israel’s population in their dented solidarity visit to the Hamas-ruled territory. between the two neighbours. Morsi, who like Hamas Hamas rulers in the face of a deadly pounding since sights.

Israel denied its aircraft had killed the pair but Qandil has his roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, has moved Wednesday by Israeli aircraft that has killed 23 An AFP correspondent on the Israeli side of the leant forward and kissed the dead body of four-year- to establish closer relations with the Gaza authorities.

Gazans and sparked outrage across the Arab and Gaza border reported seeing tanks massed along the old Mohammed Yasser voicing outrage at his loss. Tunisia’s foreign minister was due to visit Gaza today Islamic world. Neither rocket caused any casualties or frontier, and a steady stream of reservists arriving for “What I saw today in Gaza, at the hospital, with the “to provide all political support for Gaza” the damage, police said, but they sowed panic in both duty. Speaking before the latest rocket fire, senior martyrs, cannot be met with silence,” the Egyptian spokesman for the Tunisian president, Moncef the state’s main population centres setting off warn- cabinet minister Moshe Yaalon warned that Israel premier said. “This tragedy cannot be tolerated, and Marzouki, said in a statement. ing sirens and sending people scurrying to shelters. was already poised for a major ground offensive like the whole world bears the responsibility to stop the World governments concerned about the One hit a Jewish settlement bloc in the occupied that which it launched in Dec 2008-Jan 2009. “We are aggression.” upsurge of violence had appealed to Egyptian leadWest Bank just south of Jerusalem ers to use their influence with which is home to many commuters.

Hamas to prevent any fresh down“A rocket fired from Gaza hit an ward spiral. US deputy State open area outside of Jerusalem, Department spokesman Mark causing no injuries or damage,” an Toner said he hoped the Egyptian army spokesman told AFP. Police prime minister would deliver a messaid it hit in the Gush Etzion bloc of sage to halt the rocket fire. President settlements that stretches south of Vladimir Putin told Morsi in a teleJerusalem past Bethlehem from just phone call that Russia supported five kilometres beyond the city limEgypt’s efforts to halt the upsurge in its. A second rocket crashed into sea violence since Israel killed Hamas off Tel Aviv “some 200 metres” from military chief Ahmed Jaabari in an air the beachfront US embassy, sending strike on Gaza City on Wednesday. beachgoers fleeing, an eyewitness But as Qandil arrived, Hamas told AFP. announced it had fired a new salvo The two rockets were the farthest of rockets at the Jewish state despite Gaza militants have ever fired into Israel, exceeding even the 60 km KUWAIT: Kuwaiti protesters including former Islamist MP Jamaan Al-Harbash (right) carrying Palestinian flags and scarves Israel’s offer of a temporary truce for the brief visit. — Agencies achieved by a rocket that hit the sea take part in a gathering in solidarity with Gaza in front of the US Embassy in Bayan yesterday. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

GCC Neurology Congress begins KUWAIT: Neurology experts from across the Gulf descended on Kuwait this weekend as part of the biannual GCC Neurology Congress, where speakers and participants are set to tackle challenges in the field of neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS), stroke, epilepsy etc. As many as 150 local and regional doctors and healthcare practitioners were expected to attend the Neurology Congress, according to President of the Kuwait Neurology Society (KNS) Dr Abdulaziz Ashkanani.

“Every two years, the GCC countries come together to exchange knowledge and best practices that help them remain at the forefront of diagnosis and treatment for neurological disorders in the Gulf. It is imperative that we share information and keep pace with new data to ensure the best possible outcomes for our patients,” said Dr Ashkanani.

Neurologists within the Gulf are a scarce human resource, with only a handful of them in each of the GCC countries, according to Dr Khalid Al Hassan, Specialist Neurologist at Al Amiri Hospital and Vice President of the KNS. Therefore, a cross-institution-

al, regional approach is important. MS will be a key focus area at the event as the number of MS patients in Kuwait is

Dr Khalid Al-Hassan estimated anywhere between 1,000 and 1,400 as per unofficial sources since no up-to-date epidemiological studies are available.

“We established a registry in 2010 and

we are trying to accurately measure the actual prevalence and incidence in the country. Preliminary data suggests that since the last data for Kuwait was published in 2005, incidence has almost tripled from around 30 cases per 100,000 people to approximately 80 people per 100,000, a number consistent with the global figures,” said Dr Raed AlRoughani, Neurology Consultant in Al Amiri Hospital and a leading specialist in the treatment of MS in the country. “By the end of next year we should have the full registry data available to determine the real number of sufferers of MS in the country, which is likely to be even higher than our current estimates,” added Dr Roughani.

Over the last few years there has been a lot of education and awareness raised about MS, added Dr Al Hassan, mainly due to the immediate access to information, especially given that MS tends to hit at an early age of around 20 years. “While MS is not a curable disease, it is treatable, and the problem is not availability of medication but compliance with the prescribed treatment regimen. We need to focus on improving the adherence rate so that we can hold off the disease’s progression,”

Roughani said.

Published research figures show MS affects around 25 to 50 people in 100,000 in Arab populations and about 100 per 100,000 among Northern Europeans who display the highest risk of MS across the world, with prevalence seeming to increase with further distance from the equator. MS is a nervous system disease with no known cause that affects the brain and spinal cord. It damages the myelin sheath that surrounds and protects the nerve cells, a process that slows down or blocks messages between the brain and the body, leading to the symptoms of MS. These include visual disturbances, muscle weakness, trouble with coordination and balance, sensations such as numbness, prickling, or “pins and needles” and thinking and memory problems.

Globally, MS affects women more than men and often begins between the ages of 20 and 40. The disease can be mild but some people lose the ability to write, speak or walk. There is no cure for MS but medicines can slow the disease’s progression and help control symptoms. The Congress is taking place in the Al-Hashemi Ballroom at the Radisson Blu Hotel on Nov 16-17, 2012.

Kuwait renews call to reform, expand UNSC Kuwait wants Security Council restructured UNITED NATIONS: Kuwait expressed hope current session of the United Nations General Assembly would witness tangible progress in efforts for reforming and expanding and boosting performance of the UN Security Council.

Although there is great need for boosting process of reforming the UNSC and unanimous support among the council member states for principle of such a process, there have been no tangible

steps in this respect, said the deputy permanent delegate of Kuwait to the UN, Abdul-Aziz Al-Jarallah.

Jarallah was addressing the 76th session of the UN General Assembly during a debate on just representation at the council, prospects of increasing its members and relevant issues. The Kuwaiti diplomat affirmed necessity of reaching an agreement regarding expansion and reforming the council.

NEW YORK: Deputy permanent delegate of Kuwait to the UN Abdul-Aziz AlJarallah addresses the 76th session of the UN General Assembly. —KUNA

Even though 20 years have passed since start of discussions aimed at increasing membership of the council and improving its methods of action, and despite a series of initiatives and proposals in this respect, “this issue continues to stumble, thus its tackling would require political will to harmonize views to reach the aspired goal”. He also indicated that greater effort and collective action were needed at this level.

Rapid developments facing the international community warrant greater determination for sake of activating the UNSC so it may become more capable of facing challenges, and to broaden states’ representation in it, noted Jarallah in his appeal to the member states to exert more effort for concrete steps in this regard. Kuwait believes that the council should be restructured in a manner that would develop its coordination with the other UN agencies and bodies without meddling in jurisdictions of these bodies, he added.

On veto power enjoyed by the five permanent members of the council, Jarallah called for trimming such prerogatives and make them restricted to issues that fall under Chapter VII. Jarallah also indicated that the expansion of the council should result in giving a chance to small, Arab and Muslim nations to have a chance for representation. He congratulated the new non-permanent members of the council - Australia, Luxembourg, South Korea, Rwanda and Argentina on their election last month for the 2013-2014 term.—KUNA

BUENOS AIRES: Kuwaiti Ambassador in Argentina Saud Abdulaziz Shamlan Al-Roumi meets Argentinean Tourism Minister Carlos Enrique Meyer on Thursday. —KUNA

Kuwait envoy to Argentina meets tourism minister BUENOS AIRES: Dean of the Arab Diplomatic Corps and Kuwaiti Ambassador in Argentina Saud Abdulaziz Shamlan AlRoumi met on Thursday with Argentinean Tourism Minister Carlos Enrique Meyer on the outcomes of the minister’s visit to Kuwait last May. A statement by the Kuwaiti Embassy said that the Argentinean minister expressed during the meeting pleasure for the warm welcome he received during his visit, stressing the importance of bilateral relations, in particular cooperation between his ministry and Kuwaiti ministry of information.

The statement noted Kuwaiti Minister of Information Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah’s interest in holding joint meetings of both countries’ tourist companies, which left a good impression to all Argentinean visitors to the country. They also discussed ways to ease visa restrictions for Kuwaiti development, tourism, and Kuwaiti tourists planning to visit Argentina. They further tackled issues concerning bilateral relations and a proposal to open up an Argentinean tourist attraction center in Kuwait in collaboration with the Argentinean Embassy here. —KUNA

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Kuwait warns citizens to avoid Jordan demos KUWAIT: Amid efforts to follow up on developments in Jordan - where riots over fuel price hikes have left one person dead and 71 wounded - particularly of Kuwaiti students and citizens there, Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry said late Thursday that it has set up two emergency operation rooms, one in Kuwait’s Embassy in Amman, and the second here in the ministry. The ministry said in a statement that the two rooms will be working around the clock to help families and Kuwaiti citi-

zens in the Jordanian capital.Unrest in Jordan erupted on Tuesday night in response to a 53 percent increase in the price of household gas and a 12 percent rise in petrol.

The ministry also called on Kuwaiti students in Jordan to continue their contact with the Kuwaiti embassy through the following numbers: 00962777997997, 00962776006003 and 00962796726600. The statement also noted that the ministry’s setup room numbers are: 97650892,

97650684 and 97650867. Kuwaiti Ambassador to Jordan Dr Hamad AlDuaij urged Kuwaitis in Jordan to limit their daily outings and avoid locations of demonstrations. He also advised them to keep in contact with the embassy and keep a close watch on the local situation.

Saudi Arabia also urged its citizens to stay away from public gatherings and universities in Jordan, state news agency SPA reported. The kingdom’s embassy in Amman “warned Saudi

employees and students in Jordan from going to public squares or approaching sites of gatherings and demonstrations,” SPA said late on Thursday. It also warned them from going to schools “to preserve their security after earlier clashes between security forces and students at universities”. Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur has said the increases are necessary to help reduce a projected budget deficit this year of 3.5 billion dinars ($5 billion). —Agencies

Constitution in tune with human rights conventions Kuwait promotes human rights globally

VADUZ, Liechtenstein: Kuwait’s Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein Suhail Shuhaiber presents his credentials to the Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein and Count of Rietberg Alois Philipp Maria. —KUNA

Shuhaiber named Kuwait ambassador to Liechtenstein VADUZ, Liechtenstein: Kuwait’s appointed its first ambassador to the tiny landlocked nation of Liechtenstein, with Suhail Shuhaiber presenting his credentials for the post, to follow his status as Ambassador to Switzerland. Shuhaiber reported the greetings of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to the Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein and Count of Rietberg Alois Philipp Maria. In a meeting with the prince, he also pointed out to the Amir’s keenness on expanding bilateral ties between both nations and his best wishes of growth and development for the European country.

Kuwait and Liechtenstein share similar characteristics as they are both constitutional states with a democratically-elected parliament, with draft laws raised by parliament only passed after full approval by the two countries’ leaders, Shuhaiber told KUNA. Shuhaiber noted that Liechtenstein is one that is known for its adept banking and international investment management sectors. It is also the least indebted nation in the world and has the second least unemployment rate of 1.5pct, after Monaco. For his part, Prince Alois expressed to the Amir like sentiment, hailing Kuwait’s “exceptional” democratic experiment, and ruling families around the world as “symbols that the people can turn to”. The two nations signed an agreement to establish diplomatic ties in 2008. —KUNA

UNITED NATIONS: Kuwaiti constitution, which was adopted 50 years ago, is in keeping with the principles of human rights, a Kuwaiti diplomat said Thursday. Kuwait pays great attention to the issues of human rights and spares no effort in defending human rights at all international forums, said Abdullah Al-Asfour Al-Hajeri, member of Kuwait delegation to the 67th session of the UN General Assembly. He was delivering Kuwait’s speech to a plenary meeting during the session on the Report of the Human Rights Council.

Kuwait backs the sincere efforts being made by UN agencies, and the international government and nongovernment organizations to promote human rights across the world, he underscored. The Kuwaiti constitution, adopted in 1962, is in tune with the principles of human rights enshrined in international conventions and regulations; it guarantees the right to decent life, the freedom of belief and expression, equality and solidarity among all citizens, and social justice, Hajeri said, citing articles 7 and 29 of the constitution.

Article 31 provides for protecting man from torture and maltreatment, thus contributing to the popular participation in the political decision-making, democratization, prosperity and stability. Article 35 provides for absolute freedom of belief and encourages the activities to promote the culture of tolerance and understanding through dialogue, he said, reminding of the initiative of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to

launch the global moderation center “Wasatia”. Kuwait, out of belief in the role of the civil society institutions, adopted a range of regulations for the freedoms of the press and expression

security worldwide, combat violence and respect human rights; the country enhanced its annual financial contributions to the multi-national organizations such as the UN Commission

NEW YORK: Abdullah Al-Asfour Al-Hajeri, member of Kuwait delegation to the 67th session of the UN General Assembly, speaks at a plenary meeting during the session on the Report of the Human Rights Council. —KUNA including Act No 3 for 2006 and 61 for 2007. The two laws regulate the activities of the audio-visual mass media in an open and democratic atmosphere which address all social, economic and political issues, Hajeri added.

Kuwait contributes to the international efforts to promote peace and

on Human Rights (UNCHR). The Kuwaiti diplomat thanked the UN member states for electing Kuwait as a member of the UN Human Rights Council for 2011-2013, renewing Kuwait’s commitment to the global effort to combat racism, intolerance and discrimination. —KUNA

Foreign Minister attends OIC meet in Djibouti JEDDAH: Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al-Sabah addressed the 39th meeting of the foreign ministers of countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), being held in Djibouti till today. Among principal issues he talked about was the deteriorating crisis in Syria, lamenting the lack of cooperation from the Syrian government in implementing the UNSC resolutions nos.2042 and 2043 and in responding favorably to the efforts of the Arab League and UN envoy to Syria Lakdhar Brahimi.

Sheikh Sabah, however, welcomed the decision

by GCC states and the Arab League to support the

Syrian National Coalition bloc as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. He also dealt in his speech to the OIC foreign ministers with the Palestinian aspirations for a permanent homeland, urging in that regard complete support to the notion of accepting Palestine’s request to be recognized as a state with no membership privileges in the General Assembly of the United Nations.

He stressed the imperative to have a lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, based on the creation of an independent Palestinian state with June 4, 1967 borders and East Jerusalem (or Al-Quds) as the recognized capital. The Kuwaiti foreign minister furthermore agreed with Palestinian

wishes that the current OIC meeting issue a condemnation of the Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Turning to the plight of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, Sheikh Sabah alluded to Kuwait’s efforts to have humanitarian relief reach these afflicted people, reminding OIC members of the commitment they made in the summit meeting they held recently in Makkah to assist the Rohingya people expeditiously. The Kuwaiti official stressed his country’s conviction of the importance of development and growth in improving the quality of life for all peoples, noting among other things that Kuwait, for instance, allocated $300 million during the recent Asian cooperation and dia-

logue summit held in Kuwait - to support development and economic growth projects in Asian countries. And its contribution of $150 million to boost research in energy efficiency, climate change, and the environment, he said.

Sheikh Sabah concluded his address to his colleagues by emphasizing the absolute need to promote justice, equality, and human dignity and to reject vehemently religious extremism and harming others. The meeting of the OIC foreign ministers is being held this year under the banner “Together for sustained development.” Sheikh Sabah arrived in Djibouti yesterday at the head of a delegation to the meeting. —KUNA

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Kuwaiti woman beats up Egyptian husband KUWAIT: An Egyptian expat accused his Kuwaiti wife of beating him, and she justified that by saying “he does not listen to her”. The expat told Salmiya police that he was beaten by his wife, a citizen, and asked them for protection. Police asked him for a medical report which he brought and filed a case. The wife said her act was because her husband does not listen to her. When policemen asked him if he wanted to divorce her, he refused, but he still wants to get his rights for being beaten. Police are investigating.

Iraqi drops dead The body of an Iraqi expat was recovered by the coroner to determine the reasons of death, after collapsing in a camp while in the company of a citizen. A security source said the Iraqi 42, who worked as a company manager, was with a Kuwaiti in a Salmi camp. After eating meat at around 3:00 am, the Iraqi felt pain in his stomach and fell unconscious. The citizen rushed his friend to Jahra hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Investigations are underway.

vided him with an alibi, should anyone complain about a bounced check, that he was not in the country on the said date and time when the cheque was issued. He also signed most documents when no one was watching him.

Actually, he would get someone else to sign for him and later refute that he ever signed any of them. A number of victims have filed cases about the fraudster’s activities and further investigations were still on.

Diplomat threatened A diplomat at a foreign embassy in Kuwait recently filed a complaint at Faiha police station accusing an unidentified person of sending him an email threatening to kill him, said security sources. The complaint was referred to the cyber-crimes detectives to identify the sender and find out whether the email was sent from within Kuwait or abroad.

nap her at a shopping mall’s parking lot in down town Kuwait City. The suspect was arrested after searching through the mall but he denied the kidnap attempt. He said he was merely trying to flirt with the girl and backed off when she rejected his advances. “Had I tried to kidnap her, I would have left the mall immediately,” the suspect argued. A case was filed and further investigations are on.

Man assaults ex-wife A citizen assaulted his divorced wife inside the Ali Sabah Al-Salem’s police station, security sources said. Case papers indicated that the man, who shared the same house as his divorced wife and lives on the ground floor, filed a complaint accusing his former spouse of deliberately damaging the air conditioning system. She, however, denied the accusation and said the system was out of order at her floor

Pharmacist sworn at work A pharmacist filed a complaint against a patient for insulting her while at work as he objected to the medicine she dispensed to him. The patient who brought the prescription did not like the medicine she gave him and started swearing at her, without paying attention to what she said that she cannot change what the doctor wrote.

KUWAIT: A collision between a car and a jeep resulted in several causalities in Wafra. The jeep contained two families consisting of 11 persons including women and children who were injured. Their ages varied between 1 and 50 years and they were all taken to hospital in five ambulances. — By Hanan Al-Saadoun

Bridge contract labeled ‘theft of the century’ KUWAIT: Two days after the Jaber bridge bridge which will cost KD 730 million was signed, the deal is facing a court case over a previous rejection of the project by concerned authorities and the lack of feasibility after the development project of the current Jahra Road. Municipal council member Eng Ashwaq Al-Mudhaf said she will file a complaint against awarding the Jaber Bridge project and described it as the “theft of the century”.

She said she will submit documents to the public prosecution showing the project was rejected twice by the Audit Bureau as well as the Environment Public Authority (EPA) for its harmful effects on Kuwait Bay. Mudhaf said she is against the project as it is no longer needed after the start of development of the Jahra Road, adding that Jaber Bridge will only save 28 minutes to Subbiya, and “this is a time not worth KD 730 million”.

“I believe that it is more beneficial to spend KD 800 million on housing than on a bridge that saves 28 minutes,” she said, adding is not related to the project nor those in the tender, rather she is seeking public interest and is ready to confront any similar project. She said the project remained rejected until recently, “but they regretfully awarded it two days ago”.

Mudhaf said “ministers confirmed to me two weeks ago the project was rejected”.

Graves desecrated Jahra police arrested 32 persons who dug up 20 graves in Al-Khuwaisat area and claimed they were filming a drama. The suspects include 15 citizens, 11 bedoons, 4 Iraqis and 2 Eritreans. A security source said the arrested are aged between 8 and 38 including women and children who claimed to be filming a drama with cameras found with them. Investigations are underway.

Man held in transit An Egyptian transit passenger arriving by a KAC flight from Bangkok en route to Cairo was detained at Kuwait International Airport for six days without any charges being pressed against him, security sources said. The man’s troubles started when the one of his bags was sent by mistake to the arrival lounge baggage carousel where it was not claimed by any arriving passenger. Customs staff put the suspect bag through x-ray and found it full of gold. A check revealed the owner as being a transit passenger waiting to resume his journey to Cairo. The customs inspectors wanted to arrest him but the passport section staff refused to allow him into Kuwait since he did not have any visa. The customs inspectors then insisted on detaining him at the airport itself and refused to let him fly.

Hunt on for conman Detectives are currently trying to track down a professional fraudster holding dual citizenship of Kuwait and another GCC state for committing a KD 10 million scam, security sources said. The sources said that the suspect used to write cheques to pay for goods and collect down payment and rent from people after letting out other people’s property posing as the real owner. Sources also revealed that the suspect used his two passports alternately to get in and out of Kuwait. This strategy pro-

KUWAIT: Three Arabs are seen after being arrested with the possession of drugs and other psychotropic substances they traded in, said security sources.

After close surveillance, one of the suspects was arrested with the possession of 14 hashish bars and a large quantity of tramadol tablets. The first suspect led the police to his supplier - the second suspect who was also arrested with the possession of the same drugs, who in turn led to the third suspect.

—By Hanan Al-Saadoun Killer camp thieves at large Unidentified thieves who killed an Egyptian camp keeper recently also stole goods from several other camps, security sources said. A citizen reported that his camp in Kabd was burgled while the keeper was asleep. The citizen said that his camp keeper called him to tell him about the theft. When he went to the spot, he found that the robbers had stolen electric gadgets and other camp equipment worth KD 900. “I was asleep,” the keeper said when the owner blamed him. A case was filed.

Abduction claim A citizen was arrested for attempting to abduct a girl with whom he had earlier tried to flirt, security sources said. Case papers indicated that a girl reported that someone tried to kid-

too. However, when the police officer in charge left the couple in his office so that they could discuss their problem, he heard the woman screaming for help and the man charging at her, messing up the officer’s desk and office furniture. A case was filed and the woman requested the men on duty to testify in her favour.

Unstable arsonist A mentally disturbed citizen was arrested for starting a fire outside two houses in Shamiya, then holding a hammer and threatening to hurt himself if anyone approached him, said security sources. Case papers indicated that the owners of the two houses outside which he lit the fire called the police to report the matter.

A case was filed and the suspect was referred to the relevant authorities.

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Investment environment to remain challenging KUWAIT: According to the independent rating agency, Capital Standards, “There are a total of 100 investment companies operating in Kuwait, with 54 operating within the confines of the Islamic sharia provisions and the rest operating as conventional investment companies.” We have a very positive outlook about the future. A lot of good things will happen. There is a very high interest in coming to Kuwait, as the previous three years have shown. There have been a lot of enquiries and visits.”

A random walk down Kuwait City reveals indeed a wide range of companies who have money to spend on foreign projects, on foreign companies or sometimes on talent at home. “The Capital Market Authority (CMA) was created by a parliamentary bill approved in February 2010. Today, it is on the right track, but it will take time to implement the laws and look at the legal position of the commissioners,” said Majdi Gharzeddeene, Head of Investment Research at KAMCO Research. “During this year there should be full implementation of the laws, and they will issue new regulations, and clean up the market. The government didn’t intervene in the market; rather, they intervened in Oct 2008 once they guaranteed all deposits with the banks for unlimited time because of the Gulf Bank crisis, in which they lost around $3.6 billion,” he added.

But for an investor from outside, an engagement in the oil-rich sheikhdom is more difficult than it looks at a first glance. The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) saw its golden times after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. In recent years, however, the KSE Market Index decreased in the wake of the financial crisis. “One of the repercussions of the financial crisis on Kuwait was that the investment sector - consisting of listed companies - lost approximately KD 864 million in 2009, which followed losses of KD 927 million in 2008, and record profits of KD 903 million in 2007,” a report by Capital Standards said.

Commenting on the situation in the investment sector, Faisal Ali AlMutawa, Chairman and Managing Director of Bayan Investments adds: “Just to give you an idea, from the beginning of the international financial crisis that happened in 2008 until now, the Kuwaiti stock market lost something in the vicinity of 34 billion KD, which if you multiply by about 3.6 to get to the dollar rate: more than $120 billion worth of losses in the Kuwaiti stock market alone.

Since the financial crisis, many

countries in the world have taken several steps to decrease its ramifications, with the exception of Kuwait. Kuwait is among the very few countries that have huge surpluses but has done nothing so far.

It also has a major daily income of $300 million from 3 million barrels of oil produced every day at a value of around $100 approximately.

This is in a country of about 1.1 million citizens and 2.2 million expats in a geographical area of not more than 16,000 square kilometers. Since the financial crisis, Kuwait’s income has increased while the Kuwait investment sector has deteriorated; as we can see, so many countries have issued bonds or borrowed money to tackle the

firms are not traded on a daily basis. Only a dozen of shares dictate the index movements, among which are the largest lender, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), telecom operator Zain, and Islamic financial institution Kuwait Finance House.

Commenting on local lenders, KAMCO Head of Investment Research Gharzeddeene said that “During 2011, the sector did well, with a significant growth in profitability. Provisions were less than in 2010. Banks were cutting costs and cleaning up their balance sheets.” Another challenge when investing in Kuwait is the power and influence of family businesses.

According to Garry Walsh, CEO of

visa, simply by putting money into a property. Secondly, the chances of generating increasing value over time remain uncertain. According to Capital Standards, “The real estate sector in Kuwait experienced unparalleled growth during 20002007. Post 2007, however, performance in the sector has remained lackluster.” NBK declared as late as Sept 2011 that although parts of the sector remain sluggish there are reasons to be optimistic. “The Government of Kuwait through its investment arm Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), announced that it will invest $3.6 billion (KD 1 billion) in the local commercial property sector. Though there has been an increase in the total sales of Kuwaiti

Kuwaiti stocks and properties: Long-term prospect or Russian roulette?

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti trader follows the market’s movement at the stock exchange in this Feb 19, 2012 file photo. —Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat financial crisis in their domestic economies, while Kuwait has totally neglected the internal situation and done nothing.”

Kamco Research Meanwhile, the financial crisis and the effects of the Arab Spring seem to be issues of the past. In the first quarter of 2012, Kuwait’s equity gauge jumped 3.73 percent.

From January to May this year, the KSE Market Index advanced 6.53 percent supported by rallying oil prices. However, the sharp fall of the “black gold in May due to the escalation of the euro zone, dampens the outlook for the second half of 2012. The majority of KSE-listed

diversified food company Mezzan Holding, “the strategic challenge at hand is the transfer from generation to generation. Because if you look at most of the family-owned businesses in Kuwait - the large ones - they’re in the second generation and are coming to the end of it. Really, that transition from the second generation to the third across the world, is when businesses fall apart.”

Real Estate Sector in Kuwait Regarding the real estate sector in Kuwait, Kuwait does not have a freehold concept like Dubai, where foreigner can buy properties in dedicated, and even obtain a residence

commercial and investment properties by 114.5 percent from 2009 to 2010, the sector is still under pressure and requires further support.” NBK added that “at the beginning of 2011, total sales per month were KD 269 million, compared to KD171 million for the same period n 2010, indicating a flourishing year for the real estate sector.”

Eng Rawaf I Bourisli, General Manager of Action Real Estate Company and Chairman of Kuwait Dynamics, follows a different strategy, which includes looking abroad.

“The office is basically because of the oversupply and decreasing demand because of the financial meltdown,” he told Marcopolis,

adding that “The strategy we adopted from the beginning is a mid-market strategy whether it is our hospitality industry or our real estate industry. That sector has not been affected so we didn’t really have to revise fiercely but we did actually relook at our development plan outside of the region and decided to concentrate only in the region and in Australia.”

Bourisli is convinced that Action Real Estate is positioned well. “As for Kuwait Dynamics, our ambition is to continue developing our logistics department, and we are building up a joint venture with international companies for construction as well. Since we are classified as a grade A contractor in Kuwait, we are beefing up about the construction division to activate it and be a major player within the construction market in Kuwait with the support of international companies that we are in discussion and building up relations with.”

In relation to ongoing challenges, Bourisli explains that “right now we have three risks: construction, marketing and operational because your tenets are actually not sustainable.

That does entertain at 3 risks right now involved in any real estate operation, just not only the construction or the leasing part but the operation itself.” KAMCO’s Head of Investment Research Gharzeddeene also warns of complacency in the sector, saying that “Certain segments of real estate are still suffering. The commercial segment is really suffering, because there is huge over-supply and minimal demand. Prices are at rock bottom.”

Economic Outlook and FDI Regarding the economic outlook for the entire economy, Gharzeddeene said that “The IMF estimates that the real GDP will grow at 4.5 percent in 2012. Hopefully, the new government will cooperate to implement the development plan.” For Sheikh Dr Meshaal Jaber Al-Ahmad Al Sabah the slogan for investors shall be ‘now or never’: “We have a very positive investment outlook. A lot of good things will happen. There is a very high interest in coming to Kuwait, as the previous three years have shown. There have been a lot of enquiries and visits.”

Sheikh Meshaal concluded: “Many people think of Kuwait as a hope for their projects, as an emerging market much like Iraq and Iran. There is a project under way of a railway that connects the country with the northern part of Asia; there is also a harbour project that is aiming to reduce costs for investors to put their products in manufacture in Kuwait.” — Marcopolis

LOCAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

News

in brief

NBK celebrates Children’s Day at Bayt Abdullah

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ational Bank of Kuwait (NBK) organized a carnival celebrating Universal Children’s Day at children’s hospice project Bayt Abdullah.

Shaikha Al-Bahar, NBK- Kuwait Chief Executive Officer, Dr Hilal Al-Sayer, former Minister of Health and President of Kuwait Association for the Care of Children in Hospital (KACCH), Margaret Al-Sayer, the Founder and Director of KACCH, and the NBK family shared happy moments with children suffering from permanent and incurable ailments.

“We take great pride today in celebrating Universal Children’s Day with our children at Bayt Abdullah,” said Bahar. “NBK has always considered sup-

porting the children an essential part of its social and philanthropic outreach.”

Bahar added: “Since its establishment 60 years ago, NBK has been at the forefront of supporting Kuwait’s community through a range of education, health, sports and social initiatives. The establishment of the NBK Children Hospital at Al-Sabah medical area stands as one of many NBK initiatives for children.

Earlier this year, NBK donated KD 4 million to build an independent cancer center in order to expand the hospital’s capability to treat children with cancer and blood diseases.”

NBK has undertaken several initiatives to support the healthcare sector in Kuwait, including the establishment of

NBK’s Children’s Hospital at Al Sabah Medical Area, which provides medical care to underprivileged children. The hospital houses a number of clinics specialized in leukemia treatments, neurology, psychiatry and pediatrics as well as surgeries and operating theatres.

Bayt Abdullah Children’s Hospice was designed to accommodate the needs of children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions and their families, in Kuwait. The hospice is part of a continuum of care that offers children and their families the maximum freedom of choice without compromising the quality of that care, whether at home, in hospital or within the hospice itself.

X-ray solution eyed KUWAIT: Informed health sources said health ministry is formulating a plan to solve the problem of long appointment dates in x-ray departments in various ministry hospitals and reduce them to the shortest possible time.

Sources said there are many plans including working extra time in the evening form 12-6 pm and 6-10 pm. The sources said the plan was tried in one of the hospitals and proved successful, and added the ministry intends to solve the x-ray dates problem and will open x-ray departments during holidays and Saturdays. The same sources said a specialized and integrated diagnosing radiology building will be built which a government department has donated.

Meat self-sufficiency sought KUWAIT: A source at the Public Authority for Agriculture and Fish Resources (PAAFR) said the authority has allocated a plot of one million meters squared to public livestock and poultry farms paid for by cooperatives in order to implement the food security policy and provide meat and poultry products in co-ops to combat artificial crises by some businesses. Cooperative sources welcomed the decision, adding that the project will bring stability to prices and break the monopoly of some traders and reduce imports until a point of self sufficiency is reached.

Sources said the project will take cooperative societies from being consumers to producers of many consumer products since the private sector is unable to provide all the necessary quantities demanded by the local market.

The sources said the farms will include amusement parks for children and adults and shareholders who do not have their own farms.

Kuwait skyline turns blue to mark World Diabetes Day KUWAIT: Kuwait’s tallest tower, Al-Hamra tower, and the famous Kuwait Towers were among six of the country’s most iconic buildings that turned blue as part of World Diabetes Day celebrations on Wednesday, Nov 14. As part of the International Diabetes Federation’s global ‘Stop the Clock on Type 2 Diabetes’ campaign, the Kuwait Diabetes Society (KDS) urged locals to act on reducing the incidence of diabetes in the country.

KDS has also announced the involvement of their diabetes youth group, Blue Circle, for the first time - a volunteer group consisting of youth and young adults working with the support of KDS to raise awareness on all matters relating to diabetes, and to reach and

support the population of youth living with diabetes. “I am proud to see Blue Circle progress from just an idea to an active group of volunteers who want to make a change, and who want to prove to the world that young people with diabetes can be empowered to make a difference,” said Dr Thaier AlMuaili, General Secretary of KDS. Other KDS activities taking place from mid to end November to mark World Diabetes Day in Kuwait include lectures at universities and schools, a walkathon, a dhow cruise and screenings. Type 2 diabetes affects more than 21 percent of Kuwait’s population aged 20 to 79 years and is commonly caused by obesity; another major

health problem in Kuwait where around 23 percent of males and females are classed as overweight or obese, according to World Health Organization data from 2000 and 2006.

Symptoms of hypoglycaemia include nervousness, sweating, intense hunger, trembling, weakness, palpitations, and sufferers often have trouble speaking. In severe cases people require hospitalisation and it can even lead to coma and death. The cost implications of severe hypoglycaemia are also important for healthcare organisations to note, with each hospital admission for a severe case estimated to cost in the region of £1,000 (KD 430).

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Protesters across Mideast denounce assault on Gaza

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Obama to showcase US clout in Southeast Asia

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Protest at Irish embassy in India over abortion row

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AMMAN: Thousands of Jordanian protesters march in Amman during a demonstration against hikes in fuel prices yesterday. Thousands of angry Jordanians made unprecedented calls for Jordan’s King Abdullah II to go, as police blocked them from heading to the royal palace to vent their anger over sharp hikes in fuel prices. — AFP

Angry Jordanians call for king to go Muslim Brotherhood urges monarch to cancel price hikes AMMAN: Thousands of protesters chanted the Arab Spring slogan “the people want the downfall of the regime” in Jordan’s capital yesterday, as demonstrations against rising prices gather force in a country so far spared the brunt of Middle East unrest.

The mainly urban Muslim Brotherhood joined hitherto largely rural protests that have erupted in the last few days, raising the spectre of lasting instability in the kingdom, a staunch US ally with the longest border with Israel.

Yesterday’s demonstration near the main Husseini Mosque in downtown Amman was peaceful, with unarmed police separating the demonstrators denouncing King Abdullah from a smaller crowd chanting in support of the monarch.

“Go down Abdullah, go down,” the main crowd of about 4,000 protesters chanted as police, some in riot gear, largely stayed away from crowd. Protests have turned violent in impoverished towns across the kingdom since Wednesday when the government imposed a hike in the price of fuel.

Unemployed youths and demonstrators have attacked police stations, closed roads with burnt cars and torched government buildings.

One protester was killed on Thursday as a crowed tried to storm a police station in the northern city of Irbid. The provinces appeared to be quieter yesterday. The Brotherhood’s decision to back yesterday’s demonstration adds the voice of the country’s best-organised opposition movement to the protests, although top Brotherhood figures did not appear in person. “King Abdullah should take note of the situation by going back on the decision to raise prices. The Jordanian people are unable to shoulder more burdens,” Brotherhood leader Sheikh Hamam Said said in a statement ahead of the protests.

Instability in Jordan would come at a dangerous time for the region, when Syria’s war risks leaping borders and Israel is bombing Islamist-run Gaza.

The slogan “the people want the downfall of the regime” has emerged as the main chant of Arab Spring demonstrations that toppled autocrats from Tunisia to Yemen, in many cases bringing to power elected Islamists allied to the Brotherhood.

In Jordan, an opposition of liberals and Islamists has generally sought reforms, rather than the overthrow of the 50-year-old king, in power since 1999.

A friend of the West, the monarch is seen by many

Jordanians as a bulwark of stability, balancing the interests of tribes native to the east of the Jordan river with the increasingly assertive majority of Jordanians of Palestinian origin.

Abdullah accepted constitutional changes in August that devolved some of his powers to parliament and paved the way for a prime minister emerging from a parliamentary majority rather than one handpicked by him.

However, urban politicians say he has been too slow to adopt reforms, constrained by a tribal power base which sees change as a threat to political and economic benefits such as state jobs. The Brotherhood is planning to boycott a parliamentary election set for January, arguing that rules were designed to safeguard tribal power by giving too many seats to rural areas.

Like many Arab states, Jordan has used government subsidies to appease the masses with cheap food and fuel, only to court unrest when the cash runs out. Lifting the subsidies “deprives Jordanians of the minimum requirements of a decent living,” Said said. “The King should speed reforms that restore power to the people to allow it put the corrupt on trial and restore embezzled money to the people.” — Reuters

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Gaza strikes expose new global divide on Mideast PARIS: Israel was condemned by much of the Arab world while securing Western backing and pressing its biggest air assault on Gaza for years amid a wave of Palestinian short-range rocket fire. Iran and Egypt-its new Islamist leaders under pressure to build closer ties with the Palestinians at the cost of a 30-year peace deal with the Jewish state-led the angry protests against strikes that left 19 dead. “The Israelis must understand that we do not accept this aggression, which can only lead to instability in the region,” Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi said in televised remarks. Iran-accused by Israel of being the Gaza militants’ main supplier of rocket power-branded the Israeli strikes as “organised terrorism” conducted by “criminal... Zionist (Israeli) military forces”.

Tehran called on the United Nations and the European Union to halt the “barbaric” offensive against the Gaza Strip. “Immediate and serious action by international (organisations) is needed to end the military campaign against the people of Gaza,” Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news

agency. The call was made in separate letters to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, IRNA reported.

And the increasingly influential Arabian Peninsula state of Qatar warned starkly that the “vicious attack (on Gaza) must not pass unpunished” and demanded urgent action at the United Nations. An emergency UN meeting concluded Wednesday without a decision and clear signals of concern over the first escalation of Middle East violence since the 2011 Arab Spring altered the political map of the historically volatile region. The United States called Thursday on Egypt, Turkey and European powers to press Hamas to end bloodshed in Gaza, putting the onus on the Islamist movement to end rocket attacks on Israel.

The White House said it was in close contact with Israel about its military campaign into the Hamas-controlled territory, in a conflict that officials said has killed 16 Palestinians and three Israelis. British Prime Minister David Cameron told Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu he

was “extremely concerned” by violence in Gaza and urged him to do all he could to avoid civilian casualties.

French President Francois Hollande meanwhile held talks with Morsi on the phone, expressing France’s “deep concern” and calling for “restraint”, the president’s office said. He “stressed the role Egypt could play to cut the tensions,” adding: “All efforts by the international community must converge to avoid any unilateral initiative and any provocation that could worsen the situation.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin urged both Netanyahu and the Palestinians to avoid escalating the violence as Moscow worried about the fighting spreading to other regions of the volatile Arab world. “The president of Russia called on the parties to exercise restraint and avoid the path of escalating violence, whose victims include civilians, and to do everything to return the situation to its normal course,” the Kremlin said following a telephone conversation between Putin and Netanyahu.

But Moscow also criticised the “disproportionate strikes on Gaza” while calling for cooler heads.—AFP

Netanyahu facing acid test in Gaza JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s major offensive on the Gaza Strip-his first as premier-could boost his political standing, but it could also backfire with January elections looming.

Netanyahu, who first served as premier between 1996-1999 and won a second term in 2009, has carefully nourished his image as a bellicose leader, in the belief that tough talk and a projection of “strength” prevents wars.

That has been particularly evident in his approach to Iran, which Israel accuses of seeking to develop a nuclear weapon-a charge Tehran denies. The US-educated Netanyahu, who during his military career served in the Sayeret Matkal special operations unit, is a loner with few close friends in the political establishment.

His defence minister, Ehud Barak, was a commander in the same unit. The Gaza offensive began on Wednesday when an Israeli air strike killed top Hamas commander Ahmed Jaabari, sparking a rolling series of air raids Netanyahu called “a clear message to Hamas and other terrorist organisations.” And 24 hours later, with no end in sight, he warned that Israel was ready to “significantly expand” its campaign against Palestinian militants in Gaza.

“Jaabari is Netanyahu’s Osama Bin Laden,” wrote Amir Oren in the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper. “It is living-that is, deadproof of his success in hunting down a senior terror organisation leader.” Netanyahu boasted in a speech to parliament last month: “During my term in office we did not engage in any unnecessary wars. “In the seven years that I served there was no war and the level of terror went down. There was no war because we broadcast strength.”

These remarks were aimed at his predecessor Ehud Olmert, who in 2006 launched a 34-day war against the Shiite Hezbollah militia which left more than 1,200 dead in Lebanon and 160 in Israel. And in late December 2008, just six weeks shy of general elections, Olmert launched a 22-day operation in Gaza to stamp out persistent rocket fire, which claimed the lives of 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

Olmert, who retired in a corruption scandal which has largely been cleared up, has been mulling a return to political life in a move which could weaken Netanyahu. But with the start of “Operation Pillar of Defence,” Olmert said he was postponing his decision.

For Gaza analyst Mukhaimer Abu Saada, the latest Gaza operation is a sure-fire way for Netanyahu to clinch electoral success. “Netanyahu is basically trying to win the next elections in Israel and now he has a big ticket in his hand,” he told AFP. Polls published last Friday showed that an electoral pact between the parties of Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, designed to strengthen both in January’s election, could have the opposite effect. A survey by Smith Research for the Jerusalem Post indicated that if the election were held now, Netanyahu’s Likud and Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu would win a combined 37 seats in the 120-member parliament, compared with a current 42.—AFP

RAMALLAH: Palestinian Hamas supporters carry obituary posters of Hamas mastermind Ahmed Jabari and Hamas flags as they march in support of the people of the Gaza Strip and against Israel’s military operations, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, yesterday. — AP

Protesters across Mideast denounce assault on Gaza ‘Blatant aggression against humanity’ CAIRO: Thousands of people across the Middle East protested yesterday against Israel’s aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip, with some chanting “death to Israel” and others calling for the bombing of Tel Aviv. In Cairo, several thousand protesters gathered outside Al-Azhar mosque after weekly Muslim prayers and chanted “We will go to Gaza in our millions,” swearing to “sacrifice ourselves for you, Palestine.” “It’s the least we can do,” protester Ahmed Selim told AFP. “We need to show Israel our anger.”

President Mohamed Morsi himself branded the Israeli assault in which 23 Palestinians have been killed as a “blatant aggression against humanity and promised that “Egypt will not leave Gaza on its own,” MENA news agency said. He sent Prime Minister Hisham Qandil to Gaza yesterday, where the premier vowed to intensify Cairo’s efforts to secure a truce and end Israel’s “aggression.” “Egypt will not hesitate to intensify its efforts and make sacrifices to stop this aggression and achieve a lasting truce,” he said.

Before the Cairo demonstration, influential Egyptian-born theologian Yusuf al-Qaradawi said in a sermon at Al-Azhar that the “Muslim nation should join ranks.” “Our umma (the worldwide Muslim community) is the strongest of ummas,” he said. “Israel the arrogant cannot humiliate it, despite its missiles and its arms.”

One demonstrator, Mohammed al-Masri, said “what we want is to break relations with Israel.” Egypt became in 1979 the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish state. In the central West Bank city of Ramallah, more than 1,000 protesters shouted slogans of support for Gaza’s Hamas rulers and waved the Islamist movement’s green flag, AFP correspondents said.

“Hamas, bomb Tel Aviv!” they chanted a day after a rocket from

Gaza struck the sea just by sprawling coastal city, with a second landing on Friday in an attack claimed by militants from the ruling Islamist movement. In Lebanon, thousands turned out for demonstrations in Palestinian refugee camps in the north and south of the country in outrage at the assault, echoing the calls from Ramallah.

“O Qassam, O beloved, bomb and destroy Tel Aviv,” they shouted in reference to the rocket and the armed wing of Hamas of the same name. Demonstrations in Tehran and 700 other Iranian cities after Friday prayers, called for by the authorities, saw crowds chanting “death to Israel” and “death to America,” according to news agency ISNA. “One must salute the Palestinians’ popular resistance and the response they have given to the Zionist regime (by firing rockets into Israel),” Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said at the weekly prayers in Tehran, IRNA news agency said. “Your method is good and you can bring the Zionist regime to its knees,” he added. In Tunis, 3,000 to 4,000 people demonstrated after Friday prayers in the centre of the capital in protests called by the ruling Islamist party Ennahda, according to an AFP photographer. “Gaza, symbol of freedom” and “struggle for independence,” they chanted on a march from the Fatah mosque to Human Rights square. Meanwhile Tunisia’s President Moncef Marzouki expressed “solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people” and denounced “a barbaric aggression by Israeli aviation,” ahead of today’s visit to Gaza by Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem. Israel continued its bombardment yesterday and said it was considering launching a ground offensive into the Hamas-controlled territory. A total of 23 Palestinians and three Israelis have died in the tit-for-tat violence. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Sobering solidarity trip for Egypt PM in Gaza GAZA CITY: Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil’s solidarity visit to Gaza yesterday quickly brought him face-toface with the reality of Israel’s assault on the Palestinian territory. Hisham Qandil, travelling with a delegation of ministers and presidential aides, crossed the border from Egypt into the southern Gaza town of Rafah after a night of incessant Israeli bombardment.

He was greeted by a delegation from the ruling Islamist Hamas government that escorted him on the drive north to Gaza City where he emerged from his car to cheers, surrounded by Egyptian bodyguards in olive green flak jackets.

Assembled at government headquarters and waiting to greet him were rows of Hamas members, led by prime minister Ismail Haniya.

It was the first time many of them had been seen in public in Gaza since Israel’s Wednesday afternoon targeted

killing of a senior Hamas commander drove much of the group’s leadership underground.

Ahead of the visit, Israel said it would cease fire for the duration of the trip-if Gaza militant groups stopped firing rockets into the Jewish state. But Hamas and other organisations issued no reciprocal ceasefire statement, and as Qandil arrived in Gaza, Hamas’s armed wing said it had fired into Israel.

Palestinian security and medical sources said Israel responded with an air strike on northern Gaza, killing two people, including a child.

The Israeli military denied carrying out a raid. Then Haniya and Qandil went to Gaza City’s Shifa hospital, where hundreds of Palestinians crushed around him, held back by armed Hamas security personnel wearing blue camouflage uniforms.

Well-wishers tried to offer the prime minister bunches of flowers as he toured the facility, greeting patients

and listening to hospital staff. And then suddenly the throng of cameras accompanying the visit swung around towards a man bearing the body of four-year-old Mohammed Yasser, his orange cardigan open over a green shirt. The boy had been killed in the strike on northern Gaza.

The man pressed forward towards Haniya and Qandil, pushing the body towards them. Qandil leant forward and kissed the child’s head.

“The Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil and I held the body of the martyred child Mohammed Yasser in our hands,” Haniya said in brief remarks to reporters afterwards.

“What I saw today in Gaza, at the hospital, with the martyrs, cannot be met with silence,” Qandil added. “This tragedy cannot be tolerated, and the whole world bears the responsibility to stop the aggression.” The crowd around responded with chants, led by Haniya. “Long live Egypt, free and

Arab!” they shouted. Elsewhere across the impoverished Palestinian territory, some residents hailed Qandil’s visit as a strong show of solidarity.

“We as a people consider this to be a historic visit, a show of solidarity that lifts our spirits in the shadow of the attacks we are facing from Israeli warplanes,” said 31-year-old Ahmed Khatib, who owns a shop selling mobile phones.

“We hope that all the Arabs will make visits like this during wartime.”

But others called for more from Cairo, which is reportedly working behind the scenes to negotiate a ceasefire that could bring an end to the violence that began with Wednesday’s killing of Hamas commander Ahmed Jaabari.

“All the visit does is offer moral support to Hamas and Gaza,” said Mohammed Abu Taha, in southern Khan Yunis. “We want real pressure from the Arabs and Egypt on Israel to stop the aggression.” — AFP

Massing troops, tanks near Gaza Israel says wants no war GAZA STRIP: Israeli anti-riot policemen detain a Palestinian man during a protest in Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City yesterday against Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip. Thousands of angry Palestinians rallied across the West Bank, urging Hamas militants to “bomb Tel Aviv” as Israel pursued a relentless air campaign on the Gaza Strip. — AFP

Iran arrests bomb plotters DUBAI: Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has arrested people planning bomb attacks with the support of Western and Israeli spy agencies in the oil-producing province of Khuzestan, state television reported yesterday. Khuzestan, in Iran’s southwest, is home to a large population of ethnic Arab Iranians, also known as Ahwazis, who have long complained of economic deprivation and systematic discrimination by the authorities.

The region has occasionally suffered violent action by militants. Iran has in the past accused Western intelligence agencies and the Israeli Mossad of carrying out attacks against its nuclear scientists. “In the last few days a number of terrorist elements connected to foreign intelligence services ... were identified and arrested along with a significant amount of explosives materials and items sent from a country in the Persian Gulf area,” the Intelligence Ministry statement said, according to Iranian state television’s website.

“These elements, led by Western-Zionist intelligence services, sought to commit other acts of sabotage, which were foiled.” The statement said the individuals, who it did not otherwise identify or give details on, had planned to blow up parts of Khuzestan’s energy infrastructure. Five Iranian scientists and academics have been killed or attacked since 2010, in incidents believed to have targeted Iran’s disputed nuclear programme, which the West says is aimed at producing a bomb, a charge Iran denies. The United States has denied involvement in the attacks, while Israel has remained silent. Ten Iranian Arabs were sentenced to death in July 2006 in Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan, for a series of bombings. — Reuters

JERUSALEM: Israeli tanks and troops massed outside Gaza and the military said yesterday it was calling up 16,000 reservists, signs of a possible imminent invasion of the Palestinian enclave after 48 hours of air strikes.

Israel’s warplanes, drones and helicopters appeared to shift focus from suspected Palestinian rocket sites to the northern Gaza frontier, where their bombs created incursion corridors by clearing landmines or guerrilla gun nests. The mobilisation was anything but secret and details put on social media by the Israeli military appeared to be a clear warning to the Hamas Islamists that govern Gaza to push for a truce. “It is not our intention to go to war, and we are hopeful that this operation will not take a minute more than required,” Israeli President Shimon Peres said. Since being fought to a standstill in its 2006 war against Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, Israel has been honing the training of its regular troops and could mount a land invasion of Gaza at short notice. Public statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggest such an escalation has preliminary cabinet approval.

Among units already garrisoned outside Gaza is Israel’s paratrooper brigade whose commander, Colonel Amir Baram, said last month that in planning tactics he had studied World War One skirmishes in Gaza between British forces and the Ottoman Turks.

Should his troops be ordered in, Defence Minister Ehud Barak told Channel 2 television, “they will need to go house-to-house, and then we will need the lessons of the past”.

Among those lessons learnt has been that Gaza’s impoverished population of 1.7 million is vulnerable to humanitarian crises, which could spell international

controversy for Israel. Since the last Gaza war, of 2008-2009, the army says it has assigned some of its regiments with Arabic-fluent “relief officers” to direct Palestinian civilians away from danger.

To judge from the pace of the previous offensives in Lebanon and Gaza, it could take several more days for Israel to train and equip reservists for action. The military declined to give details on where the reservists would serve, but Israeli media said they included personnel from homefront units that sound sirens during rocket attacks from Gaza and advise the public on where to shelter. The reservists being called up yesterday were among a total of 30,000 whose draft was authorised by the Defence Ministry. The scale of the potential mobilisation prompted one

commentator on Israel’s Army Radio, who half-joked on air that so many troops would risk “falling over each other” in Gaza.

Interviewed by the station, Vice Premier Silvan Shalom was asked if Israel was preparing the military for possible flare-ups on other fronts, such as Lebanon, which the Jewish state has watched with concern given conflict in neighbouring Syria and furore over the nuclear ambitions of Hezbollah’s patron Iran. “We are taking everything into consideration,” Shalom said, without elaborating. Veteran commanders say around 30,000 troops altogether took part in the 2006 Lebanon war and 20,000 in the 2009 Gaza invasion. The number of garrisoned troops always stationed outside Gaza is a state secret. — Reuters

CAIRO: Protesters chant slogans against the Israeli invasion of Gaza, as they march from Al-Azhar mosque to Tahrir square after yesterday’s Friday prayers in Cairo, Egypt, yesterday. In his Friday sermon at Al-Azhar, influential cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, not shown, said the Islamic world would not be silent in the face of Israel’s military operation in Gaza. — AP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Putin, Merkel seek to soothe tensions German lawmakers urge for more democracy MOSCOW: German Chancellor Angela Merkel was to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday with the two sides seeking to soothe tensions over Berlin’s recent criticism of Moscow’s rights record.

On the eve of the visit, German lawmakers from Merkel’s coalition urged the government to push for more democracy in Russia as they expressed concern over a crackdown on civil society since

German parliament resolution, a source in Berlin added.

Merkel must tread a fine line between expressing rights concerns and the need to protect Berlin’s economic interests as a top client of state gas giant Gazprom as well as a leading investor in the overhaul of Russian infrastructure.

An official at the Russian Railways company, speaking to AFP off the record, said the company later yesterday

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel attend a Russian-German business forum in the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, yesterday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that her government is committed to the development of strong ties with Russia despite concerns about the situation there. —AP Putin’s return to the Kremlin in May. German government sources said on Thursday that Berlin would emphasise that a thriving free civil society was a chance for Russia rather than a threat.

However Merkel, accompanied by eight ministers and a dozen business leaders, did not feel herself obliged to raise all 17 demands on Russia formulated in the

planned to announce a framework deal to buy around 700 locomotives from Siemens. Spokespeople at Russian Railways and Siemens declined to comment but analysts say the deal could be worth several billion dollars.

A week before the talks, German lawmakers passed a resolution co-authored

by Andreas Schockenhoff, the govern-

ment’s coordinator for German-Russian relations, urging the government to push for more democracy and warning of a “confrontational course towards government critics” in Russia.

Moscow has been particularly needled by the public comments of Schockenhoff, who has shown no fear in taking issue with the Russian rights record and will accompany Merkel to Moscow. But on the eve of the talks, the Kremlin showed little appetite for confrontation and dismissed any possible criticism as pre-election rhetoric. “We know that as in all the other countries, someone there (in Germany) too will for sure seek to exploit relations with Germany’s closest partners to win extra points,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian journalists.

“We would not want Russian-German relations to be used in this way,” he said in reference to next year’s general election. The talks are due to get under way at around 1200 GMT and wind up with a news conference in the Kremlin at 1500 GMT. A fluent German speaker who spent five years as a KGB agent in Dresden, Putin has long prided himself on building a solid working relationship with Merkel, even though it has lacked the camaraderie he cultivated in his ties with her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder.

He conspicuously made Berlin his first European destination after his inauguration in May. Putin’s spokesman Peskov has told AFP that energy and the euro zone crisis will be among top issues, noting that Russia holds a large chunk of its foreign reserves in euros.

The European Union’s ongoing probe into Gazprom over concerns it was hindering competition in Europe is expected to be addressed, too. Addressing the criticism of Kremlin’s rights record, Peskov said that Moscow also had questions for Berlin over Germany’s rights record. —AFP

Britain holds ‘encouraging’ talks with Syrian opposition LONDON: British Foreign Secretary William Hague indicated he would decide within days whether to officially recognise the new Syrian opposition after “encouraging” talks with its leaders in London.

Hague said he had pressed Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib and his two deputies, who are on their first visit to a Western capital since a united Syrian opposition was formed last weekend, on the need to be inclusive and to respect human rights.

“I’m encouraged by what I’ve heard and seen from the leaders of the coalition,” he said after meeting the trio at the Foreign Office, adding that he would make a statement to parliament on the issue next week.

Earlier, Hague said in a BBC radio interview that Britain was re-examining a European Union embargo that prevents the arming of the opposition, but stressed that London was currently only offering non-lethal support. France, Turkey and the Gulf states have so far granted official recognition to the new Syrian grouping and Hague said Britain was inclined to follow suit.

“We would like to be able at an early stage to recognise them as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people,” he

told reporters. “I wanted to meet them myself before the United Kingdom takes that step. We need their assurances about being inclusive of all communities, we need to see that they have genuine support within Syria.”

Hague said he had stressed the importance of respecting minority rights, of committing to a democratic future for Syria and of taking a stand against the “abuse, violence and rape” committed by the Assad regime.

“I’m encouraged by their response to that... and we’ll continue to work on this over the next few days. I will make a further statement to our parliament about this next week,” he said.

Hague’s talks with Khatib and his deputies Riad Seif and Suhair al-Atassi was followed by a broader meeting involving Western and Gulf powers.

Khatib then heads to Paris today for a meeting with French President Francois Hollande. Britain is pushing for a new international approach to the conflict, in which more than 39,000 people have died since the uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s regime erupted 20 months ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. —AFP

THE HAGUE: Lawyer Luka Misetic, left, and Gotovina’s American lawyer, Greg Kehoe, second right, talk to the media outside the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal (ICTY) in The Hague, Netherlands, yesterday. The ICTY appeals judges overturned the convictions of two Croat generals yesterday for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against Serb civilians in a 1995 military blitz. —AP

UN war crimes court frees Croatian generals THE HAGUE: A UN court yesterday acquitted Croatian ex-generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac of war crimes during the bloody 1990s breakup of Yugoslavia, to shouts and tears of joy from their supporters and outrage in Serbia.

The packed public gallery at International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) erupted in cheers and applause as Judge Theodor Meron read the acquittal. Many people burst out in tears and hugged Markac’s wife, Mirjana, who was at the hearing, as supporters outside uncorked champagne bottles.

But Serbia, which still has military and political leaders including Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic on trial at the court, was furious over the acquittal. “The UN war crimes court has lost all credibility,” minister Rasim Ljajic, responsible for the country’s cooperation with the tribunal, told the Beta news agency.

“Today’s decision is proof of selective justice which is worse than any injustice,” he said. Gotovina and Markac, considered heroes in Croatia, were last year jailed for 24 and 18 years respectively for the murder of Croatian Serbs during their country’s struggle for independence and the bloody, ethnically driven break-up of Yugoslavia. But the court rejected the premise on which the initial convictions had been based, namely that any artillery that landed on Serb-inhabited towns and was more than 200 metres (yards) from a military target amounted to an attack on civilians. Judges therefore also overturned the finding of “a joint criminal enterprise whose purpose was the permanent and forcible removal of Serb civilians from the Krajina region.”

Gotovina, dressed in a light blue suit and dark blue tie, listened intently as Judge Meron read the verdict, sometimes tapping his fingers on the table. As the judges left the courtroom, he smiled and shook Markac’s hand. “We’re absolutely elated with the verdict,” Gotovina’s lawyer Gregory Kehoe told AFP. “I’ve been working on this case for six years. This is a great day.”

“Mr Gotovina has gone back to the detention unit to pack his things-he has been there since December 2005 so you can imagine he has accumulated quite a few things,” Kehoe said.

The generals will be driven to nearby Rotterdam airport in “Croatian government” vehicles, to be flown back in a Croatian plane to a hero’s welcome in Zagreb.

“Right now, Mr Gotovina just wants to go home and spend some time with his wife, daughter and young son. Christmas is coming up and he might want to take a bit of holiday.”

Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic hailed the acquittals but admitted that “the Croatian state” had made mistakes during the conflict. “For those wronged by the state of Croatia, Croatia will settle its debts. We should not forget in this moment that these cases also exist,” Milanovic vowed. Outside the courthouse supporters uncorked champagne while singing Croatian nationalist songs. “It’s a great day for us,” said Zvonko Komsic, 53, as he hugged Markac’s wife while taking a swig of champagne. Candle-lit vigils were held the night before the ruling around Croatia, which will join the European Union in July, having fulfilled the condition of handing over war crimes suspects to the court based in The Hague. People cheered and broke down in tears in Zagreb’s central square, where thousands watched the generals acquitted in a live broadcast. 1995 offensive shelled four Serb towns-Gotovina, and Markac, both 57, were convicted last year on nine counts including murder and inhumane acts committed against Serbs. —AFP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Obama to showcase US clout in Southeast Asia WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama hopes to demonstrate rising US clout in Asia on his first foreign trip since his re-election, with a tour of three countries including a once unthinkable stop in changing Myanmar. Obama, who has cast himself as the first “Pacific president” with his roots in Hawaii and boyhood years in Indonesia, will head Saturday to longtime US ally Thailand and meet Asia’s top leaders at a summit in Cambodia.

It will be the first trip by a US president spent entirely in Southeast Asia since the Vietnam War, part of Obama’s effort to focus on the dynamic and largely US-friendly region where several nations worry

about a rising China. Obama in his first term launched a so-called “pivot” to Asia, which included greater military cooperation with Australia, Thailand and Vietnam and a plan to shift the bulk of the US navy to the Pacific by 2020.

“Continuing to fill in our pivot to Asia will be a critical part of the president’s second term and ultimately his foreign policy legacy,” Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, told reporters. Tom Donilon, the national security adviser, said that Obama’s trip showed that the United States was “not only rebalancing towards Asia; we’re also rebalancing our efforts within Asia.” Donilon said it was “impossible to overstate Asia’s impor-

tance” to the United States as the continent is expected to account for nearly half of the world’s economic growth outside the United States through 2017. “The fact is today that there is a tremendous demand and expectation of US leadership in the region,” Donilon said. Virtually no nation has seen a greater shift toward the United States under Obama than Myanmar.

The nation formerly known as Burma was for years a close ally of China and treated as a pariah by Western nations. Surprising skeptics, Myanmar launched reforms after its nominal end to nearly half a century of army rule last year.

President Thein Sein, a former general, released political prisoners,

opened dialogue with ethnic rebels and allowed once-confined opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi to enter parliament.

Some human rights groups said that Obama should have waited, arguing that he could have dangled the prospect of a visit as leverage to seek more progress such as the release of remaining political prisoners estimated to number in the hundreds.

Danny Russel, Obama’s top aide on Asia, countered: “This is not a victory celebration, this is as barn raising.” “We want to show the people of Burma that there are benefits to be had from the hard work and move some of the leaders off the fence and into the reform program,” he said. — AFP

Petraeus testifies for Congress on Libya attack ‘He’s a tough individual’

NEW ORLEANS: In this Friday, Dec. 2, 2005 file photo, from left, Steven Robinson, his wife, Jacqueline, and Patricha Franklin take their bicycles from their shed in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, La. An Associated Press analysis of outage times from other big hurricanes and tropical storms suggests that, on the whole, the utility response to Sandy, especially in hardest-hit New York and New Jersey, was typical - or even a little faster than elsewhere after other huge storms. — AP

Georgia detains dozen interior ministry ‘spies’ TBILISI: Georgia has detained 11 senior police and Tbilisi’s deputy mayor for alleged cyber spying on opposition leaders, in the latest arrest of officials who served under President Mikheil Saakashvili, prosecutors said yesterday.

The officials are accused of using a malware to access computers of political parties opposed to Saakashvili, whose long dominant party was defeated in the October parliamentary elections by a coalition led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Former deputy interior minister and current vice mayor of Tbilisi Shota Khizanishvili, an ally of Mikheil Saakashvili, and 11 serving interior ministry officials are suspected of the illegal surveillance of opposition leaders, chief prosecutor Archil Kbilashvili told journalists.

Using the malware the officials have “been accessing computers of different political parties’ and religious organisations’ representatives and bugging them,” he said.

The arrests follow the prosecutions on abuse of power charges of former defence minister Bacho Akhalaia and army chief of staff Giorgi Kalandadze, the first major cases against top officials from the Saakashvili government.

The suspects are also accused of recording the telephone conversations of leaders of Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream coalition and releasing them through the Internet in a move aimed at “exciting popular distrust” towards the billionaire’s bloc before the polls, Kbilashvili said.

The recordings of the Georgian Dream leaders insulting each other were initially said to have been uploaded to YouTube by Ivanishvili’s bodyguard in September. — AFP

WASHINGTON: Former CIA Director David Petraeus was sneaked into the Capitol yesterday, away from photographers and television cameras, to face lawmakers’ questions for the first time about the deadly attack on the US Consulate in Libya - just one week after he resigned over an extramarital affair.

The retired four-star Army general, formerly one of the country’s most respected military leaders, entered through a network of underground hallways leading to a secure room. CIA directors typically walk through the building’s front door.

Petraeus is under investigation by the CIA for possible wrongdoing in his extramarital affair, though that’s not the subject of yesterday’s closed-door hearings. The Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, which killed the US ambassador and three other Americans, created a political firestorm, with Republicans claiming that the White House misled the public on what led to the violence.

Five days after the attack, the administration sent UN Ambassador Susan Rice on the Sunday news shows to describe it as a spontaneous protest over an anti-Muslim video produced in the US Rice relied on initial intelligence that proved incorrect, and she’s now under attack by some Republican senators who vow to block her if she’s nominated as secretary of state when Hillary Rodham Clinton steps down.

Lawmakers spent hours Thursday interviewing top intelligence and national security officials in trying to determine what the intelligence community knew before, during and after the Benghazi attack. They viewed security video from the consulate and surveillance footage by an unarmed CIA Predator drone that showed events in real time.

Petraeus was appearing first before the House Intelligence Committee yesterday and then its Senate counterpart and was expected to provide more

details about the US response.

“Director Petraeus went to Tripoli and interviewed many of the people involved,” said Democratic Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein. “I’d like to get his sense of why it took as long as it did to get more accurate assessments of what took place in Benghazi,” said Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, a member of the House Intelligence Committee. As for Petraeus testifying shortly after his resignation amid a sex scandal, Schiff said, “He’s a tough individual, and I am sure he will handle it to the best of his ability.”

Petraeus has acknowledged an affair with a woman later identified as his biographer, the married Paula Broadwell. The resignation of the former US commander in both Iraq and Afghanistan stunned Washington, which once had buzzed with talk about a possible run for president in his future. The FBI began investigating the

matter last summer but didn’t notify the White House or Congress until after the Nov. 6 election.

In the course of investigating the Petraeus affair, the FBI uncovered suggestive emails between Afghanistan war chief Gen. John Allen and Florida socialite Jill Kelley, both of them married. President Barack Obama has put Allen’s promotion nomination on hold.

Top national security officials were on Capitol Hill on Thursday to grapple with fallout from the sex scandal as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta asked service chiefs to review ethics training for military officers. Lawmakers went forward with a hearing on the nomination of Gen. Joseph Dunford to replace Allen in Afghanistan. But with Allen’s own future uncertain, they put off consideration of his promotion to US European Command chief and NATO supreme allied commander.

Allen had initially been scheduled to testify. — AP

WASHINGTON: Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., walks to the hearing room where former CIA Director David Petraeus will testify before the House Intelligence committee on the Sept. 11, 2012 attack in Libya on Capitol Hill in Washington, yesterday. — AP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Family confirms release of Taleban leader by Pakistan ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities have released Anwar-ul Haq Mujahid, a Taleban leader, following negotiations with an Afghan peace delegation earlier in the week, his family told AFP yesterday.

Mujahid, the eldest son of late Afghan resistance leader Maulvi Yunus Khalis, was released late Thursday, said a close relative speaking on condition of anonymity. Pakistani security officials on Wednesday said authorities released at least seven Afghan Taleban leaders in a move seen as a potential breakthrough in stalled peace negotiations before the withdrawal of US-led NATO troops in 2014. It is not clear if Mujahid was among that group. But

he is the first Taleban prisoner recently released by the Pakistani authorities to be identified by name.

“He was with us last night, he has rejoined his family members and his health is good,” the relative said.

Another family member also confirmed the release. Mujahid, who is in his 40s, had formed his Tora Bora Mahaz (front) whose fighters are allied with Afghan Taleban.

Mujahid, who hails from the eastern Nangarhar province, named his group after Tora Bora valley which was bombed by the US air force in December 2001 in its pursuit of Osama bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda fighters. According to Afghan expert

Rahimullah Yusufzai he had aligned his group with the Taleban movement. He was arrested from northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in 2009.

Support from Pakistan, which backed the Taleban regime that held power in Kabul from 1996 to 2001, is seen as crucial to peace in Afghanistan after the departure of NATO combat forces in 2014.

Kabul had pressed for the release of senior Taliban leaders held in Pakistan. While no names have been officially revealed, local media reports mentioned the possible release of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a powerful Taleban military chief who has

been described as the former insurgents’ second in command, and ailing former Taleban justice minister Mullah Nooruddin Turabi.

A Taleban official has already dismissed the deal as insignificant. “All those that are being freed are not members of Taleban any more, they have been dismissed and they’re not important,” the Taleban official told AFP in northwest Pakistan on Thursday.

He said the Taleban were not in contact with the Afghan governmentappointed High Peace Council and that any negotiations should take place between the Taliban and the United States. — AFP

Protest at Irish embassy in India over abortion row Indian govt cranks up pressure on Dublin

TOKYO: Japan’s main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader Shinzo Abe (C) and party lawmakers raise their fists in the air to welcome the upcoming general election at the party headquarters in Tokyo yesterday. — AFP

Japan’s premier dissolves parliament, vote on Dec 16 TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda dissolved the lower house of parliament yesterday, paving the way for elections in which his ruling party will likely give way to a weak coalition government divided over how to solve the nation’s myriad problems.

Elections are set for Dec. 16. If Noda’s center-left party loses, the economically sputtering country will get its seventh prime minister in six and a half years.

The opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which led Japan for most of the post-World War II era, is in the best position to take over. The timing of the election likely preempts moves by more conservative challengers, including former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, to build electoral support. Campaigning is set to begin Dec. 4, but leaders were already switching into campaign mode. “What’s at stake in the upcoming elections is whether Japan’s future is going to move forward or backward,” Noda declared to fellow leaders of the Democratic Party of Japan. “It is going to be a crucial election to determine the fate of Japan.”

The DPJ, in power for three years, has grown unpopular largely because of its handling of the Fukushima nuclear crisis and its recent doubling of the sales tax. Noda’s most likely successor is LDP head and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He resigned as Japan’s leader in 2007 after a year in office, citing health problems he says are no longer an issue.

“I will do my utmost to end the political chaos and stalled economy,” Abe told reporters. “I will take the lead to make that happen.” The path to elections was laid suddenly Wednesday during a debate between Abe and Noda. Noda abruptly said he would dissolve parliament if the opposition would agree to key reforms, including a deficit financing bill and electoral reforms, and Abe jumped at the chance. — AP

NEW DELHI: About a hundred opposition protesters held a demonstration outside the Irish embassy yesterday over the death of an Indian woman who died after being refused an abortion in the Catholic country.

The crowd, carrying posters of the dead 31-year-old dentist Savita Halappanavar and accusing Irish authorities of committing “medical murder”, were prevented by police from getting close to the Irish compound.

Elsewhere, the Indian government cranked up the pressure on Dublin over the October 28 death of Halappanavar after local politicians expressed their concern and urged the government to act.

Foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said India’s ambassador to Ireland would meet Irish authorities yesterday to seek assurances of a “transparent” probe.

“We expect that he will also seek reassurance from the Irish authorities that they will hold an independent, transparent enquiry into the matter,” Akbaruddin told AFP. “He will request that the Irish authorities keep India informed of the progress and outcome of the enquiry,” he said, adding that the envoy would also convey the “concern growing in India” over Halappanavar’s death.

The dentist repeatedly asked staff at University Hospital in Galway, west Ireland, to terminate her pregnancy because she was miscarrying, her family said.

Doctors allegedly refused her demand, telling her that “this is a Catholic country”. Abortion is illegal in Roman Catholic-dominated Ireland except when it is necessary to save the life of the mother.

Smriti Irani, president of the women’s wing of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, was among the protesters outside the embassy and she was allowed in as part of a four-

person delegation to meet the ambassador.

“The Irish ambassador assured us that there could be a possibility of inviting international experts to be part of the investigation and we told him that Savita’s husband should also be part of it,” Irani said.

“The ambassador acknowledged that there is intense pressure (on Ireland) not only from the people of India but globally over Halappanavar’s death,” Irani told reporters amid shouts of “we want justice”.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has described the death as a “tragedy”, while two separate investigations have been announced.

Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid expressed regret over her death, saying: “It is extremely sad and unfortu-

nate. Whatever the inquiry does, human loss cannot be compensated.”

Indian Communist Party leader Brinda Karat said not treating Halappanavar’s condition as a medical emergency was a “crime”. Ireland’s abortion laws have been the subject of debate for years.

Under a 1992 Supreme Court ruling, women in Ireland are legally entitled to an abortion when it is necessary to save the life of the mother. But legislation has never been passed to reflect this.

In India, there is a maternal death every 10 minutes, according to the United Nations, with the country accounting for about 20 percent of deaths worldwide of women who die during or shortly after childbirth. — AFP

NEW DELHI: Demonstrators from India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shout slogans against the Irish government for the death of Indian national Savita Halappanavar, who died in Ireland after doctors allegedly refused her an abortion, in front of the Embassy of Ireland in New Delhi yesterday. — AFP

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

A Tunisian protester shouts slogans during a demonstration called by the ruling Islamist party Ennahda in Tunis to denounce Israelís ongoing military operation in the Gaza Strip.

Malaysian students display placards during a march against Israeli attacks in Gaza in front of the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

Pro-Palestinian protesters hold a rally against Israel’s operations in the Gaza Strip outside the road leading to the Israeli Embassy in London late Thursday.

Protesters slam Israel’s Gaza assault

Protesters chant slogans against the Israeli invasion of Gaza in Al-Azhar mosque, where President Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood called for demonstrations after Friday prayers in Cairo. (Inset) Egyptian Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf AlQaradawi delivers a sermon at the mosque. — AP/AFP photos

Iranians hold anti-Israel and anti-US placards during a protest in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza in Tehran.

Demonstrations, called for by the authorities, against Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip also took place in several other Iranian cities after Friday prayers, with protesters chanting ‘death to America’ and ‘death to Israel’ in the capital.

Hamas supporters carry an obituary posters of Ahmed Jabari reading in Arabic ‘revenge, revenge. West Bank Qassam (Brigades)’ as they march in support of the people of the Gaza Strip and against Israel’s military operations in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Palestinian supporters hold a protest against the offensive on Gaza by Israel outside the South African Parliament building in Cape Town.

An activist holds a portrait of a blank face signifying all the deceased Palestinian people during a rally against Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip in front of the Israeli Embassy in Seoul. The banner reads ‘Stop the military attack against Palestine’s Gaza’.

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Turkmen gas company flows to Iran restored

Growth and US fiscal worries hurt shares

Business

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India sees task to meet 2012/2013 deficit target

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

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IMF head says Eurogroup deal key to saving Greece

MADRID: Government employees and civil servants take part in a demonstration against the Spanish government’s latest austerity measures, in the center of Madrid, yesterday. Spain announced on November 15, 2012 it has moved into a second year of a job-killing recession, a day after millions joined anti-austerity strikes and vast protests. — AFP

French fury over Economist ‘time-bomb’ taunt Hollande determined to reform at own pace PARIS: French officials angrily rejected a charge by Britain’s The Economist weekly yesterday that France was the “time-bomb at the heart of Europe” and a danger to the euro single currency, accusing the magazine of sensationalism.

The Economist’s front cover showed seven loafs of “baguette” bread bound together by a French tricolour with a lit fuse protruding from the centre. Its main article raised concerns that Socialist President Francois Hollande’s economic reforms are not ambitious enough, warning that financial markets could turn against France, and so could jeopardize the future of the euro.

The government retorted that the Economist report did not take into account corporate tax rebates unveiled last week which amount to a 6 percent reduction in labor costs, a measure it believes will add jobs and reduce a ballooning trade deficit. Public spending cuts announced in that package, along with existing budget measures, should add up to 60 billion euros in savings over Hollande’s five-year term, the government says, an effort the Economist has not factored in.

“Their analysis is outdated, it’s not accurate anymore,” said Thomas Philippon, an adviser to Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici. “Cutting 60 billion euros in five years is anything but easy and it’s anything but timid.” Ministers slammed the report as one-sided.

“Honestly, The Economist has never distinguished itself by its sense of even-handedness,” Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg told Europe

1 radio. “It is the Charlie Hebdo of the City,” he said, referring to a French satirical weekly which drew criticism in September for publishing blasphemous cartoons.

Aside from doubts over the scale of structural reforms, EU officials and many economists are skeptical Hollande can hit his goal of cutting the 2013 public deficit to 3 percent of output.

Failure to do so could prompt financial markets to demand higher yields for French bonds, which

Britain’s The Economist weekly’s cover showing the story ‘France was the ‘time-bomb at the heart of Europe.’

are currently around record lows of 2 percent on the perception that France is, along with Germany, a safe haven in the euro-zone.

Moody’s rating agency is due to update its view on France this month, raising the prospect of a second downgrade after France lost its AAA-rating with Standard & Poor’s in January. Many economists believe, however, that another downgrade is already priced into the market and see traders loath to ditch French debt in favor of lower-yielding Bunds or riskier Italian or Spanish paper.

“What’s keeping French yields low are the woes of Spain and Italy,” said Nicolas Spiro at Spiro Sovereign Strategy. French public spending accounts for 56 percent of gross domestic product, the highest level in the euro-zone, and public debt reached 90 percent of GDP this year. Hollande’s deficit-reduction strategy is based two-thirds on tax increases, much of it on businesses, and onethird on spending cuts.

The Economist’s Europe editor, who wrote the special report, defended the weekly against accusations of being unfair.

Two previous cover stories this year accused France of being “in denial” about economic reality and called Hollande “rather dangerous”, endorsing his presidential election opponent, conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. “The point of this cover and the article is to encourage France,” John Peet told the newspaper 20 Minutes. “Other countries including Greece and Portugal have conducted many reforms. This is not yet the case in

France.” Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who travelled to Berlin on Thursday to explain France’s efforts to boost competitiveness to Chancellor Angela Merkel, also denounced the cover.

“You are talking about a newspaper which is resorting to excess to sell paper. I can tell you that France is not at all impressed,” he told French TV station i>Tele late on Thursday.

Laurence Parisot, head of the employers’ organization Medef which has been lobbying for cuts to labor costs, also defended the government and said The Economist was behind the times.

Six months into his term, Hollande’s approval ratings have slumped as he battles to both cut the deficit and kick start an economy where unemployment has risen to a 13-year high. His government’s move last week to grant 20 billion euros in annual tax credits to companies as a way of lowering high labor costs that weigh on industry were bolder than many expected but seen by many economists as insufficient.

In the first formal news conference of his presidency, Hollande vowed on Tuesday to reform at his own pace and asked voters to judge him in 2017. Peet agreed the government had taken on board its competitiveness problem but added: “Now they must act.” Hollande had some good news this week when data showed the French economy grew by an unexpected 0.2 percent in the third quarter as households splurged on items like clothing, although the risk of recession next year is not averted. —Reuters

business

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Turkmen gas company flows to Iran restored Turkmen gas heats northeast Iran, feeds industry

BREMAN: Model builder Joerg Kolano of the Bremen’s model ship club prepares a 700 kg model of a container ship for a display in Bremen, northern Germany yesterday. The model with a ratio of 1:20 was presented at the EuroModell 2012 fair. — AFP

Oil rises towards $109 as Mideast violence rages LONDON: Oil rose towards $109 a barrel as a showdown between Israel and the Palestinians stoked worries about supply, but ample stockpiles supplies and concern about the well-being of the global economy tempered gains.

Investors were concerned that Arab producers may be drawn into any possible Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which could impact their supply lines. Brent has held above $100 for most of this year on fears of disruption from the Middle East with a weak demand outlook capping further gains.

Brent crude rose 76 cents to $108.77 a barrel by 1306 GMT. US oil gained 60 cents to $86.05.

Analysts said more than adequate supplies of oil have prevented crude prices from moving higher on fighting between Israelis and Palestinians over Gaza. Samuel Ciszuk, analyst with British-based consultancy KBC Energy Economics, said there was no current threat to oil supply from the Gaza conflict.

“If we would see protests erupting on a very large scale in Egypt, putting pressure on the government to do something radical and/or popular protests spreading through the region, then we could start saying that risks to supply are increasing.”

The slowing of the global economy continues to pressure financial and commodity markets. European shares fell for a third day yesterday as the weak outlook and uncertainty over US budget talks weighed on investors.

“This all translates to a slowing of global oil demand growth and if it were not for the growing geopolitical risk in the Middle East, oil prices would likely be in a much steeper downtrend,” said Dominick Chirichella of New York’s Energy Management Institute.

“The bottom line for oil is simply there is a shortage of demand versus the growing supply situation.”

The unrest in the Middle East has resulted in Brent futures rising more than the US benchmark, which is weighed down by US factors such as higher inventories, weak demand growth outlook and a potential financial crisis. That widened the price difference between the two crudes to $26 a barrel in the previous session, the most since October 2011, and the spread may stay wide for sometime. It was at around $23 during London trading yesterday.

“While an easing of Middle East concerns will invariably lead to a narrower spread, we feel that the extent of this narrowing is more limited than a month ago,” analysts at Standard Bank said in a report.

“The main impetus for a sustained narrowing will have to come from support in the WTI market - support which does not look as promising anymore.”

US crude inventories rose last week while gasoline and distillate stockpiles fell along the East Coast where the fuel distribution system was still recovering from Hurricane Sandy, the US Energy Administration said. Crude stockpiles in the world’s largest consumer rose nearly 1.1 million barrels, below estimates for a build of 1.9 million barrels.

Overall distillate stockpiles fell by 2.54 million barrels versus a 1.3 million barrel drawdown forecast. — Reuters

ASHGABAT: Turkmenistan has resumed gas supplies to Iran after a brief stoppage for repairs along a stretch of pipeline linking the two countries, the Turkmen state gas company said yesterday.

Iran buys almost a third of Turkmenistan’s exported gas, relying on it for heating in winter and using it year round to meet industrial demand in regions distant from the country’s own fields clustered around the Gulf.

Turkmengaz Chairman Sahatmurad Mamedov told Reuters Iran had requested the halt. He denied an Iranian news report on Nov. 14 that the former Soviet republic and Iran were in a dispute over pricing.

“Supplies were stopped at their initiative. The pipeline was repaired and put back into operation,” he said on the sidelines of an energy conference.

“We’re now supplying the same volumes as before, in line with our con-

tract.”Turkmengaz later issued a statement saying the stoppage occurred “several days ago” on a stretch of pipeline between Artyk in Turkmenistan and Lutfabad in Iran. It said there had been no contract dispute between the two countries. “Gas supplies along the Artyk-Luftabad gas pipeline were temporarily halted at the request of the Iranian side because of a need to carry out repair work on the territory of Iran,” the company said in the statement.

“When the work was completed, gas supplies were renewed.” Neither Turkmengaz nor Mamedov specified the contracted volumes or the exact dates on which supplies were halted.

The semi-official Mehr news agency had quoted Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qosemi on Wednesday as saying a price dispute had led to a halt in gas supplies from Turkmenistan.

Hossein Esmaeili Shahmirzadi, general director for Europe, America and Caspian Sea countries at Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum, said at the same conference on Thursday that the Islamic republic was receiving gas from Turkmenistan. “We have no financial issues with Turkmenistan. We are importing gas from Turkmenistan,” he said. “Perhaps there were some technical issues.”

Iranian imports of Turkmen gas averaged just over 1 billion cubic feet a day from July 2011 to June 2012, according to the US Energy Information Agency, but imports are much higher in winter and lower in summer.

Iran has been importing natural gas from Turkm-enistan since 1997.

Western-imposed banking restrictions have made it difficult for Iran’s suppliers and buyers to trade with Tehran. — Reuters

Twinkies maker Hostess to go out of business NEW YORK: Hostess Brands Inc, the bankrupt maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, said it had sought court permission to go out of business after failing to get wage and benefit cuts from thousands of its striking bakery workers.

Hostess, which has about $2.5 billion in sales from a long list of iconic consumer brands of snack cakes and breads, said it had suspended operations at all of its 33 plants around the United States as it moves to start liquidating assets. “We’ll be selling the brands and as much of the infrastructure as we can,” said company spokesman Lance Ignon. “There is value in the brands.” Hostess said a strike by members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union that began last week had crippled its ability to produce and deliver products at several facilities, and it had no choice but to give up its effort to emerge intact from bankruptcy court.

The Irving, Texas-based company said the liquidation would mean that most of its 18,500 employees would lose their jobs. Hostess had given employee a deadline to return to work on Thursday, but the union held firm, saying it had already given far more in concessions than workers could bear and that it would not bend further. Union officials blamed mismanagement for the company’s woes.

The company, which filed for bankruptcy in January for the second time since 2004, said it had filed a motion with US Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, New York, for permission to shut down and sell assets. — Reuters

A photo of a twin pack of Hostess Twinkies and CupCakes. —AFP

Afghan workers wait to get paid at the end of their workday while standing near an archeological dig in Mes Ainak yesterday, an ancient Buddhist site where a religious community was set up more than 17 centuries ago to exploit the copper deposits underground. — AFP

Lebanese banks’ Syrian losses $400m, says CB BEIRUT: Lebanese banks’ operations in neighboring Syria have lost a combined $400 million during the 20-monthold conflict there, Lebanon’s central bank chief Riad Salameh told Reuters yesterday.

He gave no breakdown for individual lenders, but Audi Bank said last month it had seen its asset base in Syria shrink by two-thirds since the start of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. Overall, however, the Lebanese bank posted a 14 percent rise in nine-month net profit to $309 million.

Salameh said that the government is also planning to exchange $1.5 billion of Eurobond debt when it matures in 2013, and he said that a public share offering for the Beirut stock exchange would be ready in “one or two years.” In September, the International Monetary Fund blamed weak government policies for a slowdown in investment in Lebanon, though many economists also cite the Syrian conflict as a factor.

Salameh said Lebanon’s economy is expected to grow by 2 percent this year, marking a sharp slowdown from last year. The government says the economy grew 5.2 percent in 2011 but economists are skeptical. The central bank chief declined to estimate a growth figure for 2013 but said that new loan facilities would be available. He said: “We want to prop up growth in 2013 as the situation in all the Arab World is not really growing.” — Reuters

business

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Growth and US fiscal worries hurt shares Obama meets congressional leaders on tax

BERLIN: President of the German Central Bank, Jens Weidmann, speaks on the 2nd day of a congress on the European economy, organized by the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) held at Hotel Adlon in Berlin yesterday. About 300 entrepreneurs, politicians and scientists discussed issues under the theme: ‘The New Europe with a new World Economy’. — AFP

Euro-zone current account surplus shrinks, says ECB FRANKFURT: The euro-zone’s current account surplus slumped to 800 million euros ($1.02 billion) in September from 10.9 billion euros the previous month, European Central Bank data showed yesterday.

The current account on the balance of payments, which includes imports and exports in both goods and services plus all other current transfers, is a closely tracked indicator of the ability of a country or area to pay its way in the world. It is crucial for the long-term confidence of investors and trading partners.

Over the 12 months to September, the current account showed a surplus of 77.8 billion euros, compared with a deficit of 7.6 billion euros in the corresponding period a year earlier, the data showed.

In Brussels, the Eurostat statistics agency said the 17nation euro-zone had a trade surplus of 9.8 billion euros in September, after 5.2 billion euros in August and compared with 1.7 billion euros in a year earlier. September eurozone exports fell 1.1 percent from August while imports were down 2.7 percent, it said. — AFP

Mersch to get ECB post despite gender row BRUSSELS: Luxembourg central bank chief Yves Mersch is expected to be named to a top European Central Bank post next week after his nomination was held up for months by objections that there were no women candidates for the job, EU sources said yesterday. EU leaders meet Thursday and Friday in Brussels for difficult talks on the bloc’s 201420 budget but they will also find time to name Mersch to the ECB’s all-male executive board, the sources said.

Leaders will “examine the nomination of a member of the ECB executive board,” one source said. “Everything suggests that we will take a decision,” another source said.

Euro-zone finance ministers Yves Mersch named Mersch in July to replace Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo of Spain but Mersch was fiercely opposed by many in the European Parliament who objected that his appointment would result in an all-male ECB top management until 2018.

The situation became more complicated earlier this month when Spain blocked the appointment, apparently motivated by a desire to regain influence at the top of the euro-zone’s central bank. Mersch had been named in preference to a male Spanish candidate to replace Gonzalez-Paramo, with Madrid said to be unhappy at what it saw as a “non-transparent” appointment. — AFP

LONDON: World shares were headed for a second consecutive weekly loss yesterday as uncertainty over US budget talks, a weak economic outlook and violence in the Middle East weighed on investors.

Further falls were likely when Wall Street opens, according to stock index futures, as investors worry about progress in negotiations between US President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders on tax and spending measures due later in the day. The MSCI world equity index was down 0.1 percent on the day at 317.36 points but has lost almost two percent this week and about 4.5 percent since the outcome of the US elections raised fears of a prolonged fiscal crisis.

“We need to see signs that it’s going one way or another,” Rabobank strategist Philip Marey said. “There’s still a general perception that they’ll be realistic and reach a deal, but if you listen to political commentators you may think financial markets are a bit optimistic.”

Persistent worries about the eurozone’s ability to deal with its debt problems, especially a row over aid to Greece, have added to the weakness in equity and currency markets.

Europe’s FTSEurofirst 300 index of top companies shed 0.3 percent to 1,074.85 yesterday, putting it on course for its worst week since late September. London’s FTSE 100, Frankfurt’s DAX and Paris’s CAC-40 were around 0.24 to 0.6 percent lower.The euro was down 0.3 percent against the dollar at $1.2740 though well above Tuesday’s two-month low of $1.2661. “I think things are deteriorating steadily in Europe,” said Neil Mellor, currency strategist at BNY Mellon, who expects ongoing weak economic data to keep pressure on the euro. Greece has taken centre stage in the three-year-old euro zone crisis as its international lenders squabble over how to bring down its debt pile, delaying a 31 billion euro aid payment nec-

essary to keep the country afloat. The head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, who has cut short a tour of Asia to attend a Eurogroup meeting in Brussels on Nov 20 aimed at resolving the dispute, said a deal was needed that would put the insolvent country’s economy on a sustainable path.

Anxiety over the outcome of those talks saw 10-year German government bond yields fall half a basis point to 1.35 percent. Elsewhere in the currency markets, the Japanese yen steadied at around 81.10 to the dollar having fallen sharply this week as investors

aggressively will we see some weakness in the yen but it is not yet clear when this will happen,” said Marcus Hettinger, global FX strategist at Credit Suisse in Zurich.

Earlier, Japan’s Nikkei stock index bucked the global trend and rallied 2.2 percent to a two-week high. The index has risen 3 percent this week, helped by a 4.2 percent jump in the past two days.

However, most of the market’s attention is on Washington and the progress in efforts to resolve the so called ‘fiscal cliff’ facing the govern-

NEW YORK: Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange.

Trading on world stock markets was lethargic yesterday after data showed Europe slipped back into recession and several big US retailers disappointed investors with weak forecasts. —AP adjusted to the likelihood of a change in government and the possibility of an easing in monetary policy. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda paved the way for a snap election on Dec. 16 by dissolving the lower house of parliament yesterday. Shinzo Abe, leader of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, is widely expected to win the vote and has already called for the Bank of Japan to adopt interest rates of zero or below to spur lending.

“Only if the BOJ were to ease more

ment at the end of the year. Since last week’s US election, investors have become worried the giant economy could be tipped back into recession if no deal is reached to avoid the $600 billion in spending cuts and tax hikes due to take effect early next year.

Some in the markets are worried that efforts to reach a deal could result in tax hikes on wealthy investors, and have looked to lock in profits made from strong gains in US share prices made this year. — Reuters

Laos-China rail work to start in 2013 BANGKOK: Construction of a $7 billion train link between Laos and China will go ahead next year after a Chinese bank threw a financial lifeline to the stalled project, state media reported yesterday.

The two countries had initially agreed to jointly fund the line, which will run from the Chinese border to Vientiane, but Beijing pulled out over reported concerns about profitability. Chinese state-run EXIM bank has now stepped in with a loan offer for Laos, an official from the public works and transport ministry told the Vientiane Times, adding the pair are “now ironing out the details” of the loan.

Another official at the ministry confirmed to AFP that discussions on the details of the loan were under way along with consultations over the route. “The work has not started yet, but we plan to finish it in five years,” said the official, who did not want to be named.

A Chinese firm will carry out the construction, the Vientiane Times report said, describing the project as the

biggest ever infrastructure scheme undertaken by communist Laos. It will be a link in a vast network set to connect the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming with Singapore.

Landlocked Laos, one of Asia’s poorest countries, has no railway apart from a short stretch of track near the Thai border. Under current plans the new Boten-Vientiane line will be 420 kilometres (260 miles) long and require 76 tunnels and around 150 bridges to be built as it carves through Laos, the report said.

Passenger trains, which will run at up to 160 kilometres an hour, will stop at 31 stations once work is complete, it added. The scheme has stirred controversy in Laos with the proposed route likely to force thousands of people to move from their homes.

Construction on a separate $5 billion 220-kilometre line linking southern Laos and Vietnam is set to start in January, the Vientiane Times reported Thursday, after financing from a Malaysian investor was secured. — AFP

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Man Group sells Lehman exposure for $456 million Proceeds to boost Man cash position

HEFEI: Laborers working on a construction site in Hefei, central China’s Anhui province. China’s new Communist boss Xi Jinping has raised hopes with a straight-talking debut, but observers say he may struggle to achieve reforms and satisfy growing calls for change in the world’s second-largest economy. — AFP

Gold dips, heads for weekly loss LONDON: Gold drifted lower with shares yesterday and headed for a weekly loss, as investors focused on uncertainty over global growth and worries over the so-called US “fiscal cliff”.

Spot gold edged down 0.5 percent to $1,706.56 an ounce by 1123 GMT, on track for a weekly loss after prices climbed more than 3 percent last week.

US gold was down $6.80 at $1,707.00.

Gold had slid more than 1 percent to a one-week low on Thursday following falls in equity markets. European shares fell for a third day on Friday as the weak economic outlook, uncertainty over US budget talks and an upsurge of violence in the Middle East weighed on investors.

Gold edged down as some investors liquidated profits from bullion to cover losses in other markets such as equities.

Investors see gold as a risky asset similar to other commodities or shares.

However, gold can resort to being a safe haven in times of deep economic uncertainty. “Gold is being seen increasingly as a source of cash. Liquidation of gold can cover losses elsewhere,” said Simon

Weeks, head of precious metals at Scotia Mocatta, referring to Friday’s slippage in gold with equities. The gold market’s attention is on the budget talks between US President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders. As the two sides prepared for the talks yesetrady aimed at preventing the US economy from falling back into recession, Democrats and Republicans dug in on their longheld opposing positions.

Gold’s safe haven status would shine in the case of failed talks and political paralysis, while success in avoiding the fiscal disaster may dampen sentiment in gold, analysts said. Technical analysis suggested that spot gold could test support at $1,701 an ounce, a break below which will open the way towards $1,672.24, according to Reuters market analyst Wang Tao. Gold has drifted around $1,720 an ounce over the past week or so as support from US President Obama’s re-election faded and political uncertainty around the fiscal problems kept some investors on the sidelines. — Reuters

SURABAYA: Vendors prepare vegetables and other agricultural produce before dawn at Surabaya market yesterday. Indonesia’s Central Statistics Agency said that inflation in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy edged up in October as the price of processed food, drinks and tobacco increased. — AFP

LONDON: Hedge fund manager Man Group is selling off its legal claims to the estates of defunct US investment bank Lehman Brothers in a $456 million deal that will boost its net cash position and capture attractive gains for investors.

Hutchinson Investors, managed by the Baupost Group, has agreed to buy the portfolio at a 32 percent premium to the June 30 valuation and Man may receive a further $5 million if future recoveries from the claims exceed certain thresholds.

Man originally acquired the claims in July 2011 from funds managed by its GLG Partners subsidiary for $355 million. GLG was one of hundreds of hedge fund and asset managers who had struck trades with Lehman that collapsed when the bank faltered in 2008. Besides sparing GLG’s investors uncertainty and

possible loss while lawyers pursued compensation, Man spotted an opportunity to potentially profit from a burgeoning secondary market in the legal exposures as investors took bets on the likelihood that claims would be paid out, and by how much.

The sale follows a challenging period for Man Group, which has seen clients withdraw their cash in droves after poor returns from its flagship AHL fund.

In October, the former FTSE 100 group posted a fifth consecutive quarter of outflows. In an effort to reverse its fortunes, the company has made a raft of changes: slashing costs, launching new funds and naming Jonathan Sorrell, son of WPP CEO Martin Sorrell, as finance director. Shares, which have fallen almost three-quarters since the start of 2011, were trading 1.3 percent up at 74.7 pence by 0844 GMT. — Reuters

Lafarge and Anglo American sell UK assets to Mittal Shrinking good for banks as layoffs near 160,000 LONDON: Major banks have announced some 160,000 job cuts since early last year and with more layoffs to come as the industry restructures, many will leave the shrinking sector for good as redundancies outpace new hires by roughly two-to-one. A Reuters analysis of job cuts announced by 29 major banks showed the lay-offs were much bigger in Europe than in Asia or the United States. That is a particular blow to Britain where the finance industry makes up roughly 10 percent of the economy.

The tally of nearly 160,000 job cut plans, meanwhile, is likely to be a conservative estimate as smaller banks and brokers are also cutting staff or shutting up shop, and bigger banks have not always disclosed target numbers of lay-offs. The tally also does not include reports of 6,000 job cuts to come at Commerzbank, for example, which the German group would not confirm last week. Well-paid investment bankers are bearing the brunt of cost cuts as deals dry up and trading income falls. That is particularly the case in some activities such as stock trading, where low volumes and thin margins are squeezing banks.

“When I let go tons of people in cash equities this year, I knew most would be finished in this business. It is pretty dead.

Some will just have to find something completely different to do,” said one top executive at an international bank in London, on condition of anonymity. The job cuts eat into tax revenues usually reaped from the sector at a time when the global economic recovery is slowing. This year’s tax income from the industry in Britain could drop to around 40 billion pounds ($63 billion) this year, compared to 70 billion in 2007/08, when the financial crisis hit, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) think-tank said this week.

The job cuts announced since the beginning of 2011 come on top of job cuts already carried since 2009. Of the 29 banks, from Europe’s biggest bank HSBC to U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley, just over 83,700 net jobs have been lost since 2009, with 167,200 jobs axed and 83,500 created. Squeezed by regulations forcing banks to store up more capital in their trading businesses, firms are likely to shrink their investment banking units even further, as they overhaul their models to survive.

“It is structural as well as in response to cycles in the market.

The market is still over-broked,” said Zaheer Ebrahim at recruiters Kennedy Group. Swiss bank UBS last month outlined a further 10,000 lay-offs after announcing a plan for 3,500 job cuts last year. It said in October it had decided to exit most of its rates and debt trading units. Workers in retail banking operation will not be immune to job cuts either, particularly in slowing European economies. In France for instance, bank executives predict retail revenues will falter. —Reuters

PARIS/LONDON: Cement maker Lafarge and miner Anglo American have agreed to sell British assets for up to 285 million pounds ($452 million), clearing the way for a building materials joint venture in the country.The sale, to Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, was a condition set by Britain’s Competition Commission to allow the two firms to combine their building materials activities.

Lafarge and Anglo said yesterday they would sell a number of construction materials operations in Britain as well as Anglo unit Tarmac’s 50 percent interest in Midland Quarry Products, one of the UK’s main suppliers of hard rock and asphalts.

Nomura analysts said the deal could be seen as a positive for investors fretting over a potential rights issue at the Mittal family’s debt-burdened flagship asset, ArcelorMittal , the world’s largest steelmaker. “Spending $450 million on construction material assets now does not necessarily sound like someone who is thinking about imminently piling in a few billion dollars into his steel business as part of an equity raise,” they said.

Anglo, refocusing on core mining activities, struggled for more than three years to find a buyer for Tarmac before agreeing last year to a joint venture with France-based Lafarge’s British cement, aggregates, concrete and asphalt businesses.

The price for the assets, which include one of the UK’s largest cement plants, includes up to 30 million pounds contingent on future performance.

A Lafarge spokeswoman said the company would receive around 160 million euros ($205 million) from the sale of its British assets, which it would use to cut its debt.

She added that with this deal, Lafarge had raised nearly 650 million euros from asset sales this year against a target of at least 1 billion euros.

The French company has been shedding noncore assets and refocusing on its cement and concrete business after the debt it racked up to acquire Middle Eastern cement maker Orascom in 2007 led to the loss of its investment-grade credit rating last year. Britain’s Competition Commission began looking into the proposed venture, which would have rung up annual sales worth 1.8 billion pounds ($2.9 billion) in 2010, after the tie-up was challenged by the country’s consumer affairs watchdog, the Office of Fair Trading, in September last year. Lafarge’s Hope cement plant in northern England is one of the largest in Britain, and regulators hoped its sale will bring in a new player to maintain the current level of competition. The UK cement market is dominated by Lafarge, Tarmac, Cemex and HeidelbergCement’s Hanson. — Reuters

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

India sees task to meet 2012/2013 deficit target Sovereign credit faces rating downgrade

KUALA LUMPUR: A shopper walks through fruit stalls at a vegetable market in down town Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

The State bank of Malaysia announced that the economy expanded by 5.2 percent in the third quarter. — AFP

Malaysian economy expands 5.2% in Q3 KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s economy grew a better-thanexpected 5.2 percent in the third quarter as domestic demand continued to compensate for a slowdown in exports, the government said yesterday.

The central bank said Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy expanded due to private consumption and private and public investment in such sectors as transportation, oil and gas, and public utilities.

This managed to offset a further decline in demand abroad for the export-reliant country’s goods and services as its key partners, such as the US and Europe, are struggling amid the global economic crisis. “Going forward, the more challenging international environment would present risks to Malaysia’s growth prospects,” Bank Negara said in a statement.

“Nevertheless, domestic demand is expected to continue to be the anchor of growth, supported by the expansion in private consumption and investment. Public spending and investment activity are also expected to lend support to growth,” it added.

Malaysia’s economy grew a faster-than-expected 5.4 percent in the second quarter, and a revised 4.9 percent in the first quarter. Bank Negara has previously forecast full-year growth between four and five percent, slower than the 5.1 percent seen last year.

Alan Tan, an economist with Affin Investment Bank, said he was revising his expectations for full-year growth to five percent as the third quarter figure was better than the 4.9 percent that had been expected. “The 5.2 percent is driven mainly by healthy domestic demand driven by private investment and consumption. We expect this trend to continue into the fourth quarter,” he said.

Inflation moderated to 1.4 percent in the third quarter, down from 1.7 percent in the second quarter, the central bank said.

Prime Minister Najib Razak, who must face a strengthening opposition in elections by mid-2013, has set a goal of Malaysia becoming a “high-income developed nation” by 2020. He has previously said the economy needs to expand six percent annually to reach that target. — AFP

YANGON: A Myanmar woman harvesting rice at a paddy field on the outskirts of Bago, around 80 km north of Yangon. Rice exports from Myanmar may more than double to 1.5 million metric tons this year, an industry group forecast, highlighting the country’s potential to boost overseas trade as its government pursues reform. — AFP

NEW DELHI: India will struggle to meet its already swollen deficit target this year after a dismal response to this week’s auction of mobile phone licenses and a battle to sell stakes in state companies, Indian finance ministry officials privately concede.

Global rating agencies have threatened to downgrade India’s sovereign credit rating to junk if it fails to put its fiscal house in order. Analysts said while the disappointing auction would likely not be a deciding factor, it underscored the challenges facing the government in trying to slash the deficit.

Just last month, subdued tax revenue and higher spending on subsidies forced the government to revise its fiscal deficit target to 5.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for the current financial year from a previous target of 5.1 percent. In setting the new target, the government was banking heavily on generating billions of dollars from the auction of second-generation (2G) mobile phone licenses. But the auction this week yielded just under 25 percent of the targeted 400 billion rupees ($7.3 billion), a result that caught officials offguard. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram declined on Thursday to answer questions about the disappointing auction, but his officials said it may have pushed the government’s already tough deficit target even further out of reach. “The task has become more difficult. Some out-of-the-box measures are needed to save the situation,” a senior finance ministry official with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Other finance ministry officials interviewed by Reuters this week gave similar assessments. The officials declined to be identified as they are not authorized to speak to the media.

Seven private economists polled by Reuters said they now expected the fiscal deficit for the year to end-March 2013 to slip to 5.5-6 percent of GDP. “Slippage is now inevitable. How much

slippage happens depends on whether they can actually cut down on any spending area,” said Sonal Verma, an economist at Nomura.

The government still holds some tools to get it closer to its fiscal goal. It has an option to sell its stakes in private firms such as Axis Bank, infrastructure company Larsen and Toubro and hotel and tobacco conglomerate ITC . It can also ask for special dividends from cashrich state-run companies. Besides selling still-unsold telecom spectrum, it could even consider liquidating its land holdings, finance ministry officials said. But

target,” said a finance ministry official.

“Time is running out.”

The government’s battle to mend its finances not only undermines the battle against high inflation, but it also lowers growth prospects as funding the deficit from domestic savings crowds out private investment. The government is on track to borrow 5.7 trillion rupees, 5.6 percent of GDP, by February. Every 0.1 percentage point increase in the deficit is estimated to result in an additional market borrowing of at least 100 billion rupees. The response to the 2G auction was in sharp contrast with the 2010 sale

AHMEDABAD: A camel is pictured on a deserted street after sunrise in the old city of Ahmedabad yesterday. Widening income gaps and rising numbers of unskilled young people could derail India’s economic growth, speakers at a high-profile economic conference warned on November 8. — AFP the officials said it was unclear just how much revenue this would all generate and whether it would be enough to meet the 5.3 percent fiscal target. Last year, the fiscal deficit overshot the target of 4.6 percent by 1.2 percentage points. Another big slippage this year could further erode the nation’s fiscal credibility.

“It is not business as usual. Everybody is under pressure to meet the (deficit)

of faster third-generation licenses, which fetched the government more than $12 billion and helped contain the deficit that year at 4.7 percent. “We were over-optimistic,” a senior economic adviser at the ministry conceded.

Chidambaram pledged last month to nearly halve the fiscal deficit by March 2017. But the plan he presented was short on specifics and was panned by economists. — Reuters

India probes Wal-Mart over stake in local unit NEW DELHI: Indian authorities are investigating claims that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. violated foreign exchange rules when it invested $100 million in a domestic unit owned by its wholesale joint-venture partner, a law enforcement official said.

An Indian lawmaker first raised the allegations in a letter to the prime minister in early September, and the complaint was subsequently passed from one government department to another without action being taken. Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, has denied any wrongdoing. The allegations relate to the company’s complex investment through debentures-which could later be converted to an equity stake-at a time when direct ownership by foreign firms was prohibited.

“Yes, the Enforcement Directorate has initiated an investigation into the allegations against Wal-Mart,” a senior official, who declined to be named, told Reuters yesterday.

The Enforcement Directorate, an elite agency that falls under the finance ministry, investigates financial crimes.

“The probe is at an early stage and therefore (it is) difficult to say what the outcome will be,” the official said.

News of the investigation comes at a bad time for the Congress Party-led minority government, which is preparing to do battle with opponents in parliament next week over its decision to allow foreign companies into India’s retail sector.

The furore could derail parliamentary proceedings.

Parties opposed to the new retail policy, which include some government allies, may use the investigation to fan suspicion among supporters against foreign retailers including Wal-Mart whose entry is seen threatening the livelihoods of local mom-and-pop store owners.

Arkansas-based Wal-Mart has repeatedly denied the allegations. “The central government has sought certain information and clarification, which has been provided by us. We are not in a position to offer further comments as the matter is before the courts,” a Wal-Mart spokesman said yesterday.

India liberalized its retail sector in mid-September to allow global superstores to buy stakes in Indian companies one of a number of big-ticket reforms passed in September

by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to revive a sluggish economy. — Reuters

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

IMF head says Eurogroup deal key to saving Greece Euro-zone finance ministers to meet next week

Protesters wearing Zombie masks lie on a pavement at a rally near Malacanang Palace in Manila yesterday to coincide with a visit by International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde. — AFP

SMS tax could help Philippines: IMF MANILA: International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde urged the Philippines yesterday to tax mobile phone messages to shore up state funds in a country sometimes called the world’s text message capital. Such a tax could boost proceeds from revised “sin taxes” set to be passed by the country’s parliament, she told a news conference during an overnight visit to Manila.

Lagarde said Vice-President Jejomar Binay told her telephone coverage in the country of nearly 100 million people has reached to 112 percent, thanks to the popularity of mobile phones for sending short messages cheaply. “(This) clearly satisfies one of the two criteria for what we call a good taxation... a very broad base,” she told reporters.

However she said the government must be the one to decide what kind of taxes it imposes.

Surveys have credited the Philippines as being the most prolific country in sending SMS messages with the average mobile phone user sending 600 messages a month. Each message now costs just a peso (2.40 US cents). A hugely unpopular bill to levy a five-centavo tax on SMS messages has already been defeated in parliament in 2009. The government, which hopes to balance the national budget in 2016, instead turned to proposing higher taxes on alcohol and tobacco, which would have the added benefit of combating the health hazards of smoking. The government says this “sin tax” could be passed next week despite opposition stalling ahead of the May 2013 elections. — AFP

Marketing spend lifts Paddy Power revenues DUBLIN: Increased marketing spending helped Irish bookmaker Paddy Power to third-quarter revenues up 23 percent on last year, while favorable results boosted its returns on sports betting.

The Dublin-based group has been more adept than larger rivals at reacting to punters moving to online gambling and saw internet sports betting activity climb by 28 percent in the three months to Nov 14.

Trading was boosted by a 74 percent increase in marketing spending in the first half, though betting activity during the Olympic Games was slower than during the Euro 2012 soccer tournament earlier in the summer. The group said that it plans to open 45 new shops next year in the United Kingdom, where likefor-like net revenue was up 5 percent in the third quarter.

Davy Stockbrokers said in a note that higher than expected revenue growth of 34 percent in Australia made up for slightly weaker than expected revenues online and left unchanged its full-year forecast for 18 percent growth in earnings per share.

Paddy Power, which has increased its presence in Britain as well as Australia, Canada and France in recent years, did not give details of its performance in the Italian market it entered this year. — Reuters

MANILA: A crucial meeting of eurozone finance ministers next week will be key to getting Greece “back on its feet”, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said yesterday, as she cut short her visit to Asia to attend the talks.

The International Monetary Fund managing director told a news conference in Manila that the Eurogroup’s focus was getting the debt-wracked country on a “sustainable” path as soon as possible.

“You know, it’s not over until the fat lady sings, as the saying goes,” Lagarde told reporters when asked if she expected a deal to be forged at the meeting next week in Brussels. “It’s a question of working hard, putting our mind to it, making sure that we focus on the same objective, which is that... Greece can operate on a sustainable basis, can recover, can get back on its feet, can re-access markets as early as possible,” she said.

“That is what is driving the IMF’s determination.” Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker has said he hopes the meeting on Tuesday will clear the way for it to receive 31 billion euro tranche of bailout cash Greece desperately needs to avoid default.

Juncker has clashed publicly with Lagarde over extending Greece’s agreed debt-to-gross domestic product ratio target. Juncker wants the target of 120 percent of Greek debt-toGDP ratio by 2020 pushed back to 2022. It is now at 170 percent.

Despite two bailouts involving the EU, the European Central Bank and the IMF as well as a private-sector debt cut, Greece is set to enter its sixth year of recession in 2013, pushing its debt mountain to 190 percent of output in 2014. The euro-zone slipped back into

recession for the second time in just three years in the third quarter, according to data Thursday, raising fears it would make the resolution of the debt crisis even more difficult. “The recession, it is not exactly a surprise.

We had actually forecasted there

adequate. “The IMF has the capacity to lend ... slightly in excess of $1 trillion, which we believe is sufficient, appropriate under current circumstances.”

She added: “You can never say never.

But, frankly, I hope that this is appropriate and sufficient.”

MANILA: Christine Lagarde (center) International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director, talks with Philippine Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima (right) and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, after a press conference in Manila yesterday. — AFP would be a recession in the euro-zone She also complimented Asia for its in 2012 and growth will pick up in swift recovery from its own financial 2013,” Lagarde said yesterday. “I cer- crisis in the late 1990s, saying it could tainly hope that will be the case in teach lessons to other parts of the 2013 if policy makers will actually act world. Lagarde was due to attend an and do what is necessary and appro- Association of Southeast Asian Nations priate to recover from the crisis.” summit in Cambodia, but will now be Asked if members needed to con- represented at the weekend meeting tribute more to boost the IMF’s by IMF deputy managing director resources to deal with financial crises, Naoyuki Shinohara, IMF spokeswoman Lagarde said the fund’s resources were Gita Phatt said. — AFP

Hong Kong avoids recession HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s economy expanded faster than expected in the third quarter, helping the trade-dependent territory avoid a recession as its exports and retail sector regained traction thanks to a pick-up in the world’s two largest economies.

The global economic turmoil and a slowdown in China

HONG KONG: People walk past signage displayed on Russell Street in the Causeway Bay region of Hong Kong yesterday. The southern Chinese city’s bustling shopping district of Causeway Bay has knocked New York’s Fifth Avenue off the top of the list of most expensive places to rent retail space in the world, new research showed. — AFP

have weighed on Hong Kong’s economy, but analysts are more optimistic about the outlook for the financial centre on the back of encouraging data from China and the United States. But the Hong Kong government remained cautious, saying the outlook was subject to a high degree of uncertainty. It revised its full-year 2012 economic growth forecast to 1.2 percent from 1-2 percent, down sharply from a 4.9 percent expansion in 2011. The seasonally-adjusted thirdquarter data was stronger than t he average forecast of four analysts who expected the economy to grow 0.13 percent from the previous quarter, when the economy contracted 0.1 percent.

On a year-on-year basis, Hong Kong’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth edged up 1.3 percent, compared with a 1.2 percent expansion in the second quarter. “The pick-up in Hong Kong’s economy is a combination of base effect, China recovery, slight recovery in the US as well as iPhone5 and other technical gadget shipments,” said Citi Group analyst Adrienne Lui, who expects full-year growth of 2.2 percent. “We do expect a bit more of a recovery at the end of the year, as trade gradually recovers in the region, some liquidity push to the system and therefore better sentiment,” she said. Exports in the former British territory in September grew 15.2 percent from a year earlier, recovering from a growth rate of 0.6 percent in August as demand from mainland China and the United States picked up. — Reuters

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Charlie Chaplin hat and cane to go under hammer

www.kuwaittimes.net

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Juanes, Jesse & Joy take home top Latin Grammys PAGE 27

A model wears a creation by Mexico’s designer Alejandro Carlin at the Mercedes Benz Fashion show in Mexico City. — AP

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Why isSelena Gomez skipping the AMA?

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elena Gomez will not be attending the American Music Awards because her exboyfriend Justin Bieber is performing. Justin is set to perform at the ceremony today and Selena is not going to make an appearance at the prestigious event in Los Angeles because the pain of their recent split is just too fresh. A representative told Hollyscoop.com: “Selena has never been confirmed to be at the show.” She is also not nominated for any prizes at the ceremony, unlike Justin who is up for three awards, including the highly coveted Artist of the Year accolade. Selena and Justin were believed to have held crisis talks last weekend to discuss where their relationship was going after their split was confirmed last week. A source said: “I saw Selena go into the hotel around 5:40 pm and not even three hours later, Justin went in. I saw him leave around 11 pm. “It’s not just over for Justin and Selena, whatever happens they have a lot to talk about. “They’re both being a bit cagey and stubborn but they’re desperate to see one another. This isn’t new for them; they often have a tumultuous relationship. We all expect them to work it out.”

Rihanna holds a party on her plane

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he ‘Diamonds’ singer began her “rock ‘n’ roll adventure” on board her private 777 Delta Boeing aircraft as she and her guests flew from Los Angeles to Mexico City for the first concert of her unique run of shows. The ‘777’ tour sees Rihanna perform concerts in seven different cities in seven different countries in North America and Europe in seven days to promote her new album ‘Unapologetic’. Rihanna, 24, greeted her Rihanna Navy fans and invited journalists as they boarded by shouting into a microphone: “Hello! This is 777. I love you! We will transform this jumbo jet into a tour bus ... We’re practically living on this thing for a week: sleeping, partying, all together... it’s going to be a wild ride. “I wanted it to be a rock ‘n’ roll adventure, and I think when it’s over it will be the coolest thing I’ve ever done.” Before the plane touched down in Mexico guests were given a special gift bag personally put together by Rihanna, which included flight socks, a T-shirt, perfume and a diamond bracelet. She announced: “It looks cheap but if you read the fine print, it’s a real diamond. “I don’t want anyone to lose that - and you can’t say you’ve never had a diamond in your life.” Rihanna and her 18-strong entourage, which includes a massage therapist, various stylists and security, were escorted by police to the venue where she performed to a crowd of 2,000. Rihanna’s next stop is Toronto, Canada, where she will play to an even smaller crowd of 1,400.

David Walliams, Lara Stone

expecting first child

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he comic actor has announced his model wife is pregnant and insists the couple couldn’t be happier with the news. David wrote on his twitter page: “Some wonderful news. My beautiful wife Lara is pregnant. We are having a baby! It is due next year and we both couldn’t be happier. Dx (sic)” David, 41, and 28-year-old Lara started dating in September 2009 and got married in May 2010. Earlier this year, Lara revealed she and her husband had been practising for parenthood by caring for their pet dog Bert - who they adopted last Valentine’s Day (14.02.12). Speaking about their beloved mutt, she jokingly said: “We love him. A baby will probably never be as fun as Bert.”

Lara also recently revealed she thinks she and ‘Little Britain’ star David have a great relationship because they share a similar sense of humour and are both strong-minded individuals. She said: “I think people like it when you have a bit of personality. It helps that I am not afraid to say what I want to do and what I don’t want to do.”

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Ben Affleck thinks Stewart is

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he ‘Argo’ director is reportedly set to work with the ‘Twilight Saga’ actress in romantic comedy ‘Focus’ and Ben admitted he would jump at the chance. He told E! News: “I’m hesitant to get into casting stuff because I don’t know what’s finished or isn’t because people come in and out of things all the time. But she’s terrific and hopefully it will work out.” Kristen recently revealed she is desperate to land another role now that ‘Breaking Dawn Part 2’, the final movie in the ‘Twilight Saga’ franchise is finished and can’t wait to start working on something new. The 22-year-old star admitted: “I’m kinda desperate to get a job right now. I’m itching to get back to

Lady Gaga

wants Versace to reinvigorate her outfits

‘Judas’ hitmaker has revealed the Italian Thefashion designer will be giving her stage outfits a “face-lift” when her ‘Born This Way Ball’ world tour reaches North America in January.

Gaga tweeted: “THE BORN THIS WAY BALL is getting a face-lift for America. I heard rumors @Versace IS CUSTOM ESIGNING ALL THE CLOTHES AND NEW LOOKS. (sic)” The 26-yearold eccentric pop star is a huge fan of Versace’s striking designs, and she recently stepped out in the iconic safety-pin dress first worn by Elizabeth Hurley in 1994. Donatella is known for giving garments a feminine and risque flair, so Gaga - who has memorably worn a meat dress and worn a Kermit the Frog outfit - can expect some revealing new stage outfits to show off her curvier figure. The musician has put on 25lbs this autumn and despite some criticism from commentators, she insists she feels healthier and happier than ever before. Gaga - who is in a relationship with ‘Chicago Fire’ actor Taylor Kinney - said: “When I eat and am healthy and not so worried about my looks then I’m happy.

I’m happier than I’ve ever been. This is who I am.

And I am proud at any size.”

Kristen terrific

work.” The actress - whose other new movie ‘On The Road’ also premiered in the US earlier this month - has no confirmed projects on the horizon, but aid it is possible she might reprise her role in ‘Snow White and the Huntsman 2’ despite her fling with director Rupert Sanders during the summer. The fantasy adventure movie - starring Kristen and Chris Hemsworth as the titular characters - took more than $55 million at the US box office over its opening weekend, leading to Warner Brothers to green-light a follow-up.

Kelly Clarkson’s relationship is her ‘best accomplishment’

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he 30-year-old singer - who shot to fame after winning ‘American Idol’ in 2002 - has been romancing Brandon Blackstock for eight months and insists the romance has completely changed her outlook on life. She said: “I completely fell in love. I did!

Welcome to Cheeseville!

I don’t know. Your priorities kind of shift and you become happier and all that stuff. It’s probably my best accomplishment because I think, for me, especially, I just didn’t think it would happen.”

However, the ‘Mr Knot It All’ hitmaker insists her personal happiness doesn’t mean she will stop writing angry songs. She joked: “[Brandon’s] totally gonna p**s me off at some point, right? I’ll write about it.” Kelly recently admitted she wanted to marry

Brandon - the son of her manager Narvel Blackstock - as soon as they met. She said: “We met years ago when I was working with Rascal Flatts, and he used to tour manage with him. “I didn’t really know [Brandon] was [my manager’s] son and it was kind of weird. I was like ‘dude I gotta know that guy. We were just in a room together, and then he came up and said he was from the same home town as me and I was like, ‘oh we’re so getting married’. I was so that girl. When he became single, I was on the prowl. It’s weird how life kind of puts you in certain situations.”

Katie Holmes considering a

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Dawson s Creek

he 33-year-old actress thinks it would be fun to get back together with the cast of the hit teen drama - James Van Der Beek, Michelle Williams and Joshua Jackson - to film a brand new series where the gang go on holiday together.

Speaking on US chat show ‘Late Night With Jimmy Fallon’, Katie said: “I love everyone from the show and we have kind of talked about it here and there, but what do you do?

“Michelle’s character passed away ... Our last episode, we were already five years older. Maybe we’ll go on vacation, that will be fun-and just film it!” The popular show ran from 1998 until

reunion

2003 and afforded Katie her break-out role. The brunette beauty - who recently divorced Tom Cruise - is currently making a return to acting and juggling rehearsals for Broadway play ‘Dead Accounts’ with looking after six-year-old daughter Suri. Discussing her new project, where she plays an Ohio woman who still lives with her parents whose brother comes home after “doing something really wrong”, she said: “It’s a comedy, but there’s a lot of heavy themes.”

— Bangshowbiz

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

An Elvis Presley tour jacket from his last special tour, worn in Indianapolis, Indiana in June 1977 and estimated between $750 and $800 on display during a press preview at auction house Bonham’s in Hollywood, California.

An Elvis Presley signed photograph, estimated between $100 and $1500, is displayed during a press preview.

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In this 1957 photo, clothier Bernard Lansky displays a jacket in his high-fashion store in Memphis, Tenn. — AP photos

ernard Lansky, the Memphis retailer who helped a young Elvis Presley establish his signature clothing style of pegged pants, two-toned shoes and other flashy duds in the 1950s, has died.

He was 85. Julie Lansky, the clothier’s granddaughter, said he died Thursday at his Memphis home. Bernard Lansky and his brother Guy started a retail business in Memphis in 1946, with help from a $125 loan from their father, Samuel. After World War II, the store started selling Army surplus goods on Beale Street. When the supply dried up, they opened a high-fashion men’s store, where Bernard Lansky established his reputation as a natural salesman and storyteller.

Lansky Bros ended up supplying Presley with the pink and black shirts and other outfits. “It’s a statement to say that he dressed one of the most influential entertainers of all time,” Julie Lansky said in a telephone interview. “He knew that for any entertainer, they had to look different.” Even though his style of dress changed over the years - including sparkling jumpsuits - Presley shopped at Lansky Bros. the rest of his life. Presley died at his Memphis residence, Graceland, in 1977. Lansky picked out the white suit and blue tie that Presley wore when he was buried. “I put his first suit on him and his last suit on him,” Lansky was fond of saying. By the early 1950s, Lansky’s shop was known as a place where a man with a taste for flash could find the styles Lansky referred to as “real sharp.” At the time, Beale Street was a hot spot for blues, rhythm and blues and jazz, and drew a colorful parade of musicians, gamblers and hustlers from the Mississippi Delta.

Presley began hanging around Beale Street as a teenager and

Models wear creations by Mexico’s designer Alejandra Quesada at the Mercedes Benz Fashion show in Mexico City. — AP photos

picked up quickly on its music. One of Lansky’s favorite Elvis stories was how he first met the future King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Presley was a teenager working as an usher at a nearby theater and liked to window shop at Lansky’s. “He said, ‘When I get rich, I’m going to buy you out,’” Lansky said in a standard version of the story. “I said, ‘Don’t buy me out. Just buy from me.’ And he never forgot me.”

Presley made his first record, “That’s All Right,” at the old Sun Studio in 1954. Before long, Presley’s star was rising, and he began shopping at Lansky Bros. in earnest. The Lansky brothers often opened the store at night so Presley could avoid drawing crowds and took outfits to Graceland for him to check out. Lansky dressed him for the “Louisiana Hayride” and his first TV spots on the Tommy Dorsey and Ed Sullivan shows.

Eventually, Lansky became a favorite of the Elvis faithful who flocked to Memphis by the thousands for annual gatherings in Presley’s honor. Jack Soden, CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc., described Lansky as “a business and fashion pioneer.” “Bernard Lansky will forever be known as the ‘Clothier to the King,’” Soden said. Lansky Bros. kept drawing the fans even after moving in 1981 from the Beale Street entertainment district to the Peabody Hotel, a downtown Memphis landmark a few blocks away.—AP

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

A man walks past a display of promotional movie paintings from the 1930’s, including the 1934 release on the bottom corner “Hell in the Heavens” with Warner Baxter and Conchita Montenegro.

Bing Crosby’s hats, a set of seven estimated between $500 and $700 are on display.

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A quilted portrait image of Marilyn Monroe with airbrushed facial features, part of a group of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia estimated between $300 and $400, is displayed.

harlie Chaplin’s iconic bowler hat and cane are to go under the hammer in Los Angeles this weekend, as part of an auction which also includes a John Lennon nude drawing of himself and Yoko Ono. The hat and cane, trademark of Chaplin’s Little Tramp character, are in “remarkable condition” and are estimated to go for between $40,000 and $60,000 at the sale by auction house Bonhams today.

Legend has it that Chaplin came up with the tramp persona and wardrobe spontaneously one rainy afternoon in February 1914, seizing various wardrobe items in a communal male dressing room at a Hollywood studio. These included baggy trousers from Fatty Arbuckle, size 14 shoes which he had to wear on the wrong feet to keep them falling off, the hat belonging to Arbuckle’s father-in-law, and a mustache intended for another actor.

The 32-inch (81-centimeter) bamboo cane is inscribed “CCLT 36” in black ink, a reference to the Little Tramp, Chaplin’s signature character. Other items on sale include a handwritten letter by Lennon with a nude drawing of himself and Yoko, sent to an avant-garde magazine publisher in connection with the controversial 1968 “Two Virgins” album cover.

The letter is estimated to go for between $18,000 and $22,000, while several other Beatles-related items are also up for sale, including a set of autographs of the four

Jackets worn by Sammy Davis Jr are displayed.

Two pairs of Bing Crosby’s golf shoes, estimated between $200 and $400 are on display.

A Charlie Parker Buescher Aristocrat E-flat alto saxophone, estimated between $22,000 and $26,000 is dusted before being placed on display.

band members before a 1964 Hollywood Bowl show ($4,500 to $6,500). A saxophone which once belonged to jazz legend Charlie Parker has a reserve price of $22,000 to $26,000. Also on sale are various items related to Marilyn Monroe and three signed, abstract original oil paintings by crooner Frank Sinatra. — AFP

Charlie Chaplain’s iconic bowler hat and cane are displayed during a press preview at auction house Bonham’s in Hollywood, California. — AFP photos

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

4 Latin

Grammysto

Jesse & Joy, Juanes wins too M

Jose Luis Guerra performs.

Musician Joy Huerta of Jesse Joy performs.

Performers on stage during the 13th Annual Latin Grammy show.

exican brother-sister duo Jesse & Joy and their pop hit “Corre!” ran away with four awards at the 13th Annual Latin Grammys, but Colombian rockero Juanes danced away with the award for best album for “MTV Unplugged.” “What a great joy.

Thank God, and all the fans,” Juanes said Thursday night as he dragged Dominican mereguero Juan Luis Guerra, who produced the album, to the stage to accept the mini-gramaphone for best album at the close of the ceremony. The winner for best new artist, the Mexican DJ trio 3ball MTY, threw down beats with America Sierra and Sky Blu of LMFAO. Pitbull performed “Don’t Stop the Party” with dancers in gold spangled bikinis and hot pants. Juanes jammed with legendary guitarist Carlos Santana. Hosted by actors Cristian De La Fuente and Lucero, the ceremony attracted super-stars from across the world and from dozens of Latin musical genres to the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Just like at a big family party, new faces shared the spotlight with older generations, and traditional styles mixed with electronica and Vegas dancers on stage.

Traditional Mexico met Las Vegas in a colorful number featuring Oaxaca native Lila Downs, Afro-Colombian singer Toto la Momposina and dancers in regional costumes, Carnival masques and skeleton makeup. Michel Telo, the Brazilian sertanejo or country music singer, performed his hit, “Ai si eu te pego,”with Blue Man Group.

Bachata heartthrob Prince Royce sang with veteran Mexican singer-songwriter Joan Sebastian. But the applause was also strong for the 1980s hit, “Yo No Te Pido la Luna,” a duet between Spaniard Sergio Dalma and Mexican singer Daniela Romo, sporting a short silver hairdo following her bout with breast cancer.

Jesse & Joy also won for best contemporary pop vocal album for “Con Quien se Queda el Perro” and best short video for “Me vow.” “Thanks to people like Juanes and Juan Luis Guerro who have inspired us. Love and peace,” Jesse said. Guerra, who came into the ceremony as the leading nominee with six bids, won producer of the year for Juanes’ album “MTV Unplugged.”

Guerra performed “En el Cielo No Hay Hospital,” which brought the audience to its feet to dance, and for a standing ovation. Puerto Rican reggaeton singer Don Omar and Uruguayan alt rockers Cuarteto de Nos won

two Latin Grammys each. Downs won best folkloric album for “Pecados y Milagros.” Colombian singer Fonseca won for best tropical fusion album, and Los Tucanes de Tijuana won best norteno album for “365 Dias,” the narco-corrido band’s 32nd album.

Milly Quezada brought home two statuettes, including best contemporary tropical album for “Aqui estoy yo.” “Long live merengue! Long live the Dominican Republic!” she said as she accepted the award. She also thanked Guerra, who helped produce the album.

Cuban-American jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval won three Latin Grammys, two for “Dear Diz (Every Day I Think of You),” but said these awards was just exciting as his first. “The emotion is the same because one puts the same effort into each recording and the fact that the work is received well and respected by the public is very satisfying,” he said. The Latin Grammy celebration kicked off Wednesday with a tribute to Person of the Year winner, Caetano Veloso, one of the founders of the Tropicalismo movement. The Brazilian singer, composer and activist sang in Spanish and Portuguese before Pitbull and Sensato closed with “Crazy People.” The event was broadcast live on Univision. — AP

Carlos Santana performs.

Pitbull performs during the 13th Annual Latin Grammy Awards show on November 15, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

— AFP/AP photos

Kany Garcia performs “Alguien”.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Kinky arrives for the 13th Annual Latin Grammy Awards.

Caetano Veloso performs.

Arturo Sandoval performs.

Members of the musical group Reik present the award for best tropical contemporary album at the 13th Annual Latin Grammy Awards.

Juanes poses backstage with his awards for album of the year and best long form music video for “MTV Unplugged”.

Sergio Dalma (left) and Daniela Romo perform.

Juan Luis Guerra, winner of the awards for producer of the year and album of the year for “MTV Unplugged Juanes,” poses backstage.

helped produce the album. Cuban-American jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval won three Latin Grammys, two for “Dear Diz (Every Day I Think of You),” but said these awards was just exciting as his first. “The emotion is the same because one puts the same effort into each recording and the fact that the work is received well and respected by the public is very satisfying,” he said. The

Natalie Cole (left) and Pepe Aguilar present the album of the year.

Latin Grammy celebration kicked off Wednesday with a tribute to Person of the Year winner, Caetano Veloso, one of the founders of the Tropicalismo movement. The Brazilian singer, composer and activist sang in Spanish and Portuguese before Pitbull and Sensato closed with “Crazy People.” The event was broadcast live on Univision. — AP

SkyBlu, of musical group LMFAO, is seen backstage.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

F

orty years after Glenn Frey began crafting some of the most memorable rock songs ever, the Eagles musician and singer finds himself in a new role - college professor. For the past few months, Frey has been helping to teach a songwriting class at New York University’s Steinhardt Department of Music.

The semester culminated Thursday night with a benefit concert by the Eagles at the Beacon Theatre, where the opening act was three of the class’s students performing their original songs.

“Their enthusiasm is contagious,” Frey said in an interview. He said that working with the students has energized him: “It’ll be interesting to see where my next batch of songs comes from.”

The concert was one of a handful of Eagles shows this year - the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members play Las Vegas today and Dec 30.

They played an abbreviated, tight set at the Beacon, just an hour long, working seamlessly through classics such as “The Long Run,” “Lyin’ Eyes” and “Witchy Woman.”

Frey said during the interview there are no firm plans for the Eagles to record together or do a full tour, but all of that may be in the works.

He said he expects the band, including fellow members Timothy B Schmit, Joe Walsh and Don Henley, to gather in the coming days to determine the next steps. A documentary about the band, Frey said, is slated to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival next year.

“We’re going to set that time aside to talk about how we think 2013 is going to unfold for us,” said Frey, 64, who released a solo album of standards earlier this year. During the concert, which raised more than $1 million for scholarships, Henley noted the band’s recent 40th anniversary. “Hopefully, we’ve got a few good years left,” he told the Beacon crowd. The Eagles’ 11-song set also included “In The City” from the 1970s New York gang film “The Warriors,” “I Can’t Tell You Why” and two songs with the NYU symphony orchestra, “Take It To The Limit” and “Desperado.” Walsh ripped guitar solos known as well as many of the Eagles’ lyrics while all of the members continued, 40 years on, to hit the high notes during their trademark harmonies.

Frey, who has a daughter at NYU, said he was drawn to teaching the songwriting class after

attending the Country Music Awards a few years ago and hearing a series of poorly written songs.

A mutual friend connected him to Phil Galdston, a Grammy-nominated songwriter and Steinhardt’s first faculty songwriter-in-residence.

Sixteen students have been in this semester’s class, which wraps up with intensive recording sessions for the students - with Galdston and Frey as the producers. Galdston said it was Frey’s idea that a few of the students perform as the opening act. Using a violin, a piano, a cello and a guitar, the three students worked through three songs that received a warm reception from the audience.

The students and the teachers said the goal of the class was not to look for the next big hit, but instead how to tell stories through music and end up with great songs. Weekly assignments included writing a song with no chorus or with a limited number of chords, then the teachers and the students worked on the songs in their next classes.

Tiger Darrow, a sophomore from Dallas studying music composition, said Frey helped her focus on the idea of telling a big story into a small package - a song. She said she and her colleagues weren’t intimidated working with Frey, although she got a bit nervous when she realized the details of his legendary life.

Frey explained how songwriting classes weren’t available when he was trying to make it as a musician, and he instead worked on his craft with masters like Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Bob Seger. “We just said, ‘I wonder if they’d like this,’” Frey recalled of songwriting with those musicians. AJ Smith, a senior studying music composition from Washington, DC, said Frey helped focus the students on the songwriting process and the idea that all parts of their songs “should be something someone can feel and appreciate.” He also said Frey noted that the Eagles even tried to make their guitar solos “sing-able” - thus the reason almost everyone knows the final minutes of the song “Hotel California,” a surefire highlight of Thursday night’s show. — AP

This image shows NYU Steinhardt student songwriters (from left) AJ Smith, of Washington, Tiger Darrow, of Dallas, and Peter Wise opening for the Eagles at Inaugural Vision Award Gala, Thursday, Nov 15, 2012 in New York. — AP

This image shows Brian d’Arcy James (left) and Kate Baldwin during a performance of “Giant,” at The Public Theater at Astor Place in New York. — AP

B

eware of allowing tradition to blind you to the benefits of progress. That’s one message from the aptly-titled “Giant,” the robust, polished, three-hour new musical that opened Thursday night at The Public Theater. Like its massive setting of Texas ranch country and its three-decade time frame, “Giant” is presented on a grand scale, with a 22-member cast and a 17piece orchestra floating above the stage, conducted by Chris Fenwick.

Music and lyrics are by Michael John LaChiusa, the book is by Sybille Pearson, and direction is by Michael Greif. Lush orchestrations are provided by Bruce Coughlin and Larry Hochman. The score contains a range of musical styles, including overtones of country western, swing, blues, Mariachi music and jazz.

“Giant” is based on the 1952 novel about the Texas oil boom by Pulitzer Prize-winner Edna Ferber. Somehow Ferber’s sprawling material has been wrangled into a generally cohesive, often-eloquent musical that retains her concern with social issues while examining 25 turbulent years. Social and political changes overtake several generations of American and Mexican citizens in what one lovely song deems the “Heartbreak Country” of Texas cattle ranch life. The story begins with the whirlwind 1925 marriage of Jordan “Bick” Benedict, a wealthy, stubborn Texas rancher (ruggedly and richly voiced by Brian D’Arcy James,) and Leslie Lynnton, a daydreaming, aristocratic Daddy’s girl from Virginia (a tour de force performance by Kate Baldwin.)

The newlyweds are met at the Benedict family ranch, Reata (“rope”), with the powerful disapproval of Bick’s hardscrabble older sister, Luz (a rather harsh portrayal by Michelle Pawk) who partners with Bick in running the ranch.

Luz bellows out her anger in the unsubtle, “No Time For Surprises,” but soon there’s a tragic accident, and Leslie takes over with a new, progressive agenda.

Noted performances include Katie Thompson in a lusty portrayal of Benedict neighbor Vashti, who hoped to win Bick for herself. Thompson richly voices Vashti’s heartache in “He Wanted A Girl,” and later joins Baldwin in a show

stopping duet, “Midnight Blues,” about the changing nature of married desire over the years.

Lowly, flirtatious ranch-hand Jett Rink, played with slithering relish by PJ Griffith, is later reborn as a vulgar oil millionaire with zero regard for environmental consequences. In contrast, John Dossett is warmly sensitive as Bick’s open-minded Uncle Bawley. Soon oil derricks despoil the ranch and foul the water, as Rink and others use political chicanery and deceitful lobbying to elevate petroleum to a patriotic necessity.

Bick tries to hold onto cherished family traditions and honor the land, but he’s outnumbered by other relatives.

In the turmoil, he grows apart from Leslie while brooding over unwanted changes. Baldwin is feline and sexy as she tries to rekindle Bick’s interest with the smoothly seductive, “Topsy Turvey.”

Ever present in the background are the Mexican servants and vaqueros (ranch hands) and their families, repressed by legalized prejudice and xenophobia. In a hopeful sign for the future, the second act is more focused on the next Benedict generation’s absence of prejudice. It’s now 1941, and Bobby Steggert and Mackenzie Mauzy bring freshness to the stage as bright, open-minded Jordy and Lil Luz, who are close friends with the Mexican kids their own age.

Miguel Cervantes is scene-stealingly dynamic as young Army enlistee Angel.

Together with Mauzy and Jon Fletcher as Luz’s would-be boyfriend, Bobby, they animatedly perform the optimistic song “Jump!” A wide variety of costumes

by Jeff Mahshie encompass young Leslie’s flapper dresses in 1925, rougher outfits for the ranch hands and Mexican servants, and glamorous period fashions for the wealthy white Texas elite over the ensuing decades.—AP

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

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here’s not much Carolee Carmello doesn’t do in her new Broadway musical. The Tony Awardnominated actress ages 20 years and spends much of it dressed like a nurse, except the time when she’s dressed like a naughty Delilah. She belts out terrible song after terrible song. She faces off against the Ku Klux Klan, hands out roses to the audience and endures a rain of fake frogs.

But try as she might - and Carmello was ordered by a physician to be put on vocal rest the day before its opening night - nothing can save her “Scandalous: The Life and Trials of Aimee Semple McPherson,” a musical as overstuffed and uninspired as its title suggests.

An endless - 2 1/2 hours, but seemingly longer biography of the controversial 1920s-era Pentecostal evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, the musical has a book and lyrics by TV host Kathie Lee Gifford, who proves she’s not going to give up her day job anytime soon. Music by David Pomeranz and David Friedman is almost absurd, linking one overwrought tune to another and then stuffing in another. Airport waiting lounges have better piped in music.

The tale of McPherson is something of Gifford’s Moby Dick, a project she’s been writing for a dozen years. The preacher is certainly a fascinating figure: She was a pioneer in radio evangelism who incorporated vaudeville elements in her sermons, considered the PT Barnum of the pulpit. She fed millions during the Great Depression, but also had a mysterious five-week disappearance in 1926 that many believed was a fling with a married man. She died of a drug overdose in 1944.

But what opened Thursday at the Neil Simon Theatre is insipid and patronizing, a work that seems more at home in a church parking lot than on Broadway. The most aggravating thing is, at the end, the audience is no closer to understanding what really motivated McPherson at all.

Gifford, a proud Christian, says she’s written a wartsand-all portrait, but don’t believe it: It’s pure hagiography, except when it veers into camp, an endearing Gifford quality. (Sample lyric from the ensemble when McPherson disappears: “Lost or found?/Is she lost at sea/or just fooling around?”)

It’s also got all the stereotypes you’d expect these

days - a sassy black lady (Roz Ryan, still winning despite the sins), blissful tambourine bangers and old timey reporters yelling out questions like, “The miracles. How do you do it?” They’re not needed, mainly because

McPherson to her mother. “Even if it means losing your mother?” her mother (a valiant Candy Buckley) asks, quivering, of course. “Come whatever may,” her daughter replies. George Hearn, who plays McPherson’s

Gifford ladles out huge chunks of exposition as if we can’t be trusted to follow the tale. Director David Armstrong has apparently decided to allow this grotesque mockery of a musical to go on unedited.

That explains why, instead of one illustrated sermon, we get two. And why McPherson’s trial goes on longer than most real court cases. One scene has McPherson doing a 400word monologue.

Oddly, the songs and the book seem written by two different people since they step on each other’s toes so much, usually when one repeats what the other just said. Armstrong also has allowed some of the most unsubtle dialogue ever heard to clang on stage. “I cannot ignore the voice of God. Wherever it leads me,” says

father and later a rival preacher, is excellent and deserves better material. But not enough can be said about Carmello, who throws all she’s got into this. On opening night, a metal hook connected to a section of fabric became stuck onstage and it was Carmello - of course - who came to the rescue. Pity she couldn’t rescue herself from this unholy work. — AP

I

This photo shows musician and actor Andre Benjamin, better known as Andre 3000, during a promotional event for Gillette in New York. — AP

n order to capture his best version of Jimi Hendrix for an upcoming biopic, Andre 3000 said he had to think of him as a regular dude and not a rock star. “I didn’t look at him as an icon because when you’re in it, you don’t know you’re an icon.

You don’t know you’re an icon until people say you’re an icon,” the 37-year-old said in an interview Tuesday. “So I had to take it as a person, you know what I mean? And I just tried to say, ‘Well, what would Jimi want people to know that they can’t get off of YouTube?’ And that’s how I approached it,” he said.

Hendrix died at age 27 in 1970. He was ranked No 1 on Rolling Stone magazine’s greatest guitarists of all-time list. His band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, is known for iconic albums such as “Electric Ladyland” and “Are You Experienced.” “All Is by My Side,” which focuses on the early days of Hendrix’s career, will be released next year. Andre 3000 is excited to see the film, which he’s finished shooting in Ireland. He believes the public “will be pleased.”

Andre 3000, one-half of OutKast with Big Boi, has been out of the music scene in recent years, although he’s been featured on songs by Beyonce, Frank Ocean, Rick Ross, Ke$ha and Young Jeezy. OutKast’s 2006 platinum-selling album, “Idlewild,” which accompanied a film of the same name starring the duo, was their last album. Their 11-time platinum “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” won the 2004 Grammy Award for album of the year.

Big Boi, who released a solo album two years ago to welcoming reviews, will release a new solo disc, “Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors,” next month. But Andre 3000 isn’t in a rush to record an album. “Some days I feel like I’ll do it, some days I don’t.

Some days I feel like I don’t need to, some days I feel like I want to do it before I die. So, I don’t know where to fall. I am just hoping

This theater image released shows Carolee Carmello (center) during a performance of the musical “Scandalous: The Life and Trials of Aimee Semple McPherson,” at the Neil Simon Theatre in New York. — AP

one day I get that inspiration,” he said at an event for Gillette’s eMO’gency Styler Tour, which supports men’s health and prostate cancer programs. The tour kicked off in New York, with stops scheduled in Chicago and Houston.

“It’s a feeling for me. Like, I can’t just throw out an album to be rapping,” he said. “And I don’t even know if it will be rap. I don’t even know what it will be.” However, he could find the inspiration and complete an album in just a few days: “It could be a rush situation. Like if I feel that feeling and I record an album in three days and I’m like, ‘This is what I want to say right now’ - that can happen, too.”

He also says he’s constantly writing songs. “I write all the time. ... I actually stopped typing it in my phone because like a cloud is basically reading every thought that I have and I don’t like that,” he said. “So I went back to my paper and started writing.” He’s not sure fans want a new OutKast album for the right reasons. “Man, we’ve had a great ride. ... Like when we got into it when we were high school kids and we just wanted to do something fun and push it, and if it’s not that then why do it?” he said.

“I’m not the type that prescribes to nostalgia, and most people say they want an OutKast album because they used to love it. Y’all don’t even know if y’all still love it. You just know you used to love it. But you may not like it now, who knows?” — AP

technology

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Smartphones, tablets spark ‘post-pie’ Turkey Day sales Online sales rise 15.6 percent NEW YORK: Retailers are targeting “postpie” commerce, the jump in shopping created by the boom in smartphones and tablet computers which Thanksgiving dinners grab as they collapse onto the couch after eating turkey and pumpkin pie. While people relax with family and friends or watch football on TV, they are increasingly shopping online with these mobile gadgets, creating a surge in traffic and purchases that retailers are beginning to target for the first time this year.

“This is a new shoppable moment,” said Steve Yankovich, who heads the mobile business of eBay Inc, operator of the largest online marketplace. Before the rise of smartphones and tablets, it was socially unacceptable to pull out a laptop after Thanksgiving dinner, or head to a home office to fire up a desktop computer, Yankovich explained. “With a tablet or

ple of how mobile devices, in particular Apple Inc’s iPad and iPhone, are changing consumer behavior and forcing retailers to adapt quickly. The holiday shopping season traditionally kicks off with Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when shoppers use a day off from work to head to stores. The following Monday became a big online shopping day known as Cyber Monday because people returned to the office and shopped using their office computers.

Now Thanksgiving is emerging as a big new shopping day online. The value of e-commerce transactions on Turkey Day has surged 128 percent to $479 million over the past five years, outpacing the growth of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and other big holiday shopping days, according to comScore Inc. That’s a far cry from the $1.25 billion spent online

This undated image provided by Google shows Google’s new 10inch tablet, the Nexus 10. The Nexus, which starts shipping soon appears on its face to be a good alternative to Apple’s general-purpose tablet, and with a price tag that’s $100 less. —AP smartphone you don’t get that reaction,” he added. EBay recently surveyed more than 1,000 shoppers in the United States about their holiday shopping plans.

Almost two thirds said holiday sales should begin after Thanksgiving dinner and respondents said their meals would end, on average, at 5:23 pm EST (2223 GMT).

Based on that feedback, eBay plans to launch 20 mobile-only deals through its eBay Mobile application at 5:23 p.m. EST this Thanksgiving. The company plans 20 more at 5:23 pm PST for West Coast shoppers. Other retailers including Toys “R” Us, HSN Inc , Rue La La and ideeli are also targeting mobile shoppers this Thanksgiving in the evening. “The iPad holiday sales season starts at the point of indigestion while you’re sitting on the couch after Thanksgiving dinner,” said Ben Fischman, chief executive of Rue La La, which specializes in online limitedtime fashion sales events known as flash sales.

Post-pie commerce is the latest exam-

on Cyber Monday last year, but the growth has caught retailers’ attention.

“It’s still a smaller day, but it is growing much faster,” said Andrew Lipsman of comScore. “We’re seeing a lot more talk about Thanksgiving becoming a more important shopping day.” Several big retailers, including Target Corp, are opening physical stores on Thanksgiving to make sure they don’t lose sales to online rivals.

“Consumers that would rather shop than watch 12 hours of football on Thanksgiving Day should be given the chance to shop,” Marshal Cohen of The NPD Group wrote in a blog on Thursday.

“If online is open, why should brick-andmortar close just to give away those precious shopping hours to the competition?” Thanksgiving evening is where the action is online. By 3 p.m. EST last year online sales were up about 20 percent compared to the same period in 2010, according to IBM Software Group, a unit of International Business Machines Corp.

But by midnight PST on Thanksgiving 2011, online sales were up 39 percent versus the same period the previous year, IBM data show. Overall, November 2011 online sales rose 15.6 percent compared to the year-earlier period. “Postpie shopping this year will be fueled mostly by tablet shoppers, especially iPad users,” said Jay Henderson, global strategy director for IBM’s enterprise marketing management business.

In September and October, the iPad accounted for at least 7.5 percent of all traffic to retailers’ websites, beating out the iPhone with about 6 percent and Android devices at just over 4 percent, IBM data show. “This is the first time the iPad has shown sustained leadership over all other mobile devices,” Henderson said.

Last Thanksgiving, retailers were surprised by the surge in tablet traffic in the evening. They also did not expect the devices would be used to complete so many purchases, instead expecting them to be browsing devices mostly, according to Steve Tack, chief technology officer for APM Solutions, a unit of Compuware Corp. “Tablet users are not waiting for Black Friday or Cyber Monday to purchase, they are doing it on Thursday night on the couch in front of the game,” he said. “This is a significant new shopping event.”

This year, retailers are more prepared, he added. Rue La La will launch an online boutique called “The Holiday Dash” at 8 p.m EST on Thanksgiving, “specifically to go after the shopper who will be sitting at home after dinner on the couch,” CEO Fischman said. More than half of Rue La La’s sales over Thanksgiving, Black Friday and the following weekend will come from mobile devices. Half of those mobile purchases will be on an iPad, he said.

Fischman said the conversion rate on an iPad is close to double the conversion rate on a smart phone, meaning shoppers are more than twice as likely to purchase using the tablet device.

“The tablet offers the luxury of a larger screen with the convenience and portability of the phone,” Fischman said. “It’s the killer e-commerce device.” Ideeli, a rival to Rue La La, plans a “Think Fast” online sales event at 6 p.m. EST on Thanksgiving to target tablet shoppers.

Ideeli usually runs sales at noon every day.

Toys “R” Us, the largest toy retailer, launched a new tablet-optimized website on Tuesday and the company plans to make all its Black Friday deals available online at 8 p.m. EST on Thanksgiving.

HSN, which runs the Home Shopping Network and has traditionally focused on TV sales, on Tuesday unveiled an online holiday gift guide designed for tablet shoppers. The company plans to send discounted deals to mobile shoppers on Thanksgiving. “When people are done with the holiday meal and go back into the screen world, we will have great products on sale,” said Jill Braff, executive vice president of Digital Commerce at HSN. —Reuters

In this image released by NASA, a scoop of Martian soil collected by the NASA’s Curiosity rover is seen. —AP

Mars rover Curiosity to hit the road again LOS ANGELES: After playing in the sand, the Curiosity rover is poised to trek across the Martian landscape in search of a rock to drill into, scientists reported Thursday. The six-wheel rover has been parked for more than a month at a sand dune where it has been busy scooping up soil, sniffing the atmosphere and measuring radiation levels on the surface. Its next task is to zero in on a rock and that requires driving to a new location. Mission deputy scientist Ashwin Vasavada expected Curiosity to be on the move in the “next few days.”

“It’s the bedrock which really gives you the story of ancient Mars,” said Vasavada of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the $2.5 billion mission. “The soil is a little harder to interpret because we don’t know how old it is or where it came from.” The car-size rover touched down in Gale Crater, an ancient depression near the Martian equator, in August on a two-year mission to probe whether the landing site once had conditions capable of supporting microbial life.

Armed with a high-tech suite of instruments, it’s the most sophisticated spacecraft to ever land on the red planet.

During the first three months, a weather station aboard Curiosity detected brief drops in air pressure, a sign of whirlwinds in the region. “These events are starting to occur more and more often,” said Manuel de la Torre Juarez of NASA JPL. “We expect to see more in the future.” Previous rovers have spotted and even recorded dust devils dancing across the Martian terrain, but scientists said Curiosity has not yet seen evidence that the swirling winds have lifted dust. Curiosity’s ultimate destination is a 3-mile-high mountain rising from the center of the crater floor that’s rich in mineral deposits.

Scientists had hoped to drive to the base of the mountain before the end of the year, but that doesn’t look likely after the extended stay at its current spot. —AP

Alfred Hitchcock’s earliest surviving film released online LOS ANGELES: The earliest known surviving feature in which Alfred Hitchcock is credited was released online on Thursday after sitting under the noses of archivists for decades. The recovered parts of 1924’s “The White Shadow,” in which Hitchcock served as an assistant director among other credits, will be streamed for free for the next two months at the US National Film Preservation Foundation’s website, the nonprofit group said in a statement.

“The White Shadow,” a silent British melodrama directed

by Graham Cutts and a financial flop, tells the story of twin sisters, one angelic and the other soulless. It stars Betty Compson as the twins. The New Zealand Film Archive stumbled across three of the film’s delicate nitrate reels in its collection last year. No other copies are known to exist.

The foundation, which supports film preservation in the United States, said it was able to stream the film online from cash donations and bandwidth donated by the online film service Fandor. Hitchcock, who shot to international prominence with “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (1934) and “The 39 Steps” (1935), is additionally credited as writer, art director and editor. “The White Shadow” is also believed to be the first surviving production that Hitchcock, then 24, worked on with Alma Reville, whom he married in 1926. Part of Hitchcock’s and Reville’s life together has been dramatized in “Hitchcock,” a Fox Searchlight film starring Anthony Hopkins as Hitchcock and Helen Mirren as Reville. The film is set to be released on Nov 23. —Reuters

technology

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

US firms drawing a line on after-hours email ‘Email checking impedes productivity’

LONDON: A woman uses her smartphone in central London. —AP

In UK, Twitter, Facebook rants land some in jail LONDON: One teenager made offensive comments about a murdered child on Twitter. Another young man wrote on Facebook that British soldiers should “go to hell.” A third posted a picture of a burning paper poppy, symbol of remembrance of war dead. All were arrested, two convicted, and one jailed - and they’re not the only ones. In Britain, hundreds of people are prosecuted each year for posts, tweets, texts and emails deemed menacing, indecent, offensive or obscene, and the number is growing as our online lives expand.

Lawyers say the mounting tally shows the problems of a legal system trying to regulate 21st century communications with 20th century laws. Civil libertarians say it is a threat to free speech in an age when the Internet gives everyone the power to be heard around the world.

“Fifty years ago someone would have made a really offensive comment in a public space and it would have been heard by relatively few people,” said Mike Harris of free-speech group Index on Censorship.

“Now someone posts a picture of a burning poppy on Facebook and potentially hundreds of thousands of people can see it.

“People take it upon themselves to report this offensive material to police, and suddenly you’ve got the criminalization of offensive speech.” Figures obtained by The Associated Press through a freedom of information request show a steadily rising tally of prosecutions in Britain for electronic communications - phone calls, emails and social media posts - that are “grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character - from 1,263 in 2009 to 1,843 in 2011. The number of convictions grew from 873 in 2009 to 1,286 last year.

Behind the figures are people - mostly young, many teenagers who find that a glib online remark can have life-altering consequences.

No one knows this better than Paul Chambers, who in January 2010, worried that snow would stop him catching a flight to visit his girlfriend, tweeted: “Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your (expletive) together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high.” A week later, anti-terrorist police showed up at the office where he worked as a financial supervisor. Chambers was arrested, questioned for eight hours, charged, tried, convicted and fined. He lost his job, amassed thousands of pounds (dollars) in legal costs and was, he says, “essentially unemployable” because of his criminal record.

But Chambers, now 28, was lucky. His case garnered attention online, generating its own hashtag - (hash)twitterjoketrial - and bringing high-profile Twitter users, including actor and comedian Stephen Fry, to his defense. In July, two and half years after Chambers’ arrest, the High Court overturned his conviction.

Justice Igor Judge said in his judgment that the law should not prevent “satirical or iconoclastic or rude comment, the expression of unpopular or unfashionable opinion about serious or trivial matters, banter or humor, even if distasteful to some or painful to those subjected to it.” But the cases are coming thick and fast. Last month, 19-yearold Matthew Woods was sentenced to 12 weeks in jail for making offensive tweets about a missing 5-year-old girl, April Jones.

The same month Azhar Ahmed, 20, was sentenced to 240 hours of community service for writing on Facebook that soldiers “should die and go to hell” after six British troops were killed in Afghanistan.

Ahmed had quickly deleted the post, which he said was written in anger, but was convicted anyway. On Sunday - Remembrance Day - a 19-year-old man was arrested in southern England after police received a complaint about a photo on Facebook showing the burning of a paper poppy. He was held for 24 hours before being released on bail and could face charges.

For civil libertarians, this was the most painfully ironic arrest of all.

Poppies are traditionally worn to commemorate the sacrifice of those who died for Britain and its freedoms. “What was the point of winning either World War if, in 2012, someone can be casually arrested by Kent Police for burning a poppy?” tweeted David Allen Green, a lawyer with London firm Preiskel who worked on the Paul Chambers case. Critics of the existing laws say they are both inadequate and inconsistent. —AP

WASHINGTON: Katey Klippel makes a point of keeping her smartphone in her bag when she returns home from a hard day at the management consulting firm where she works in Washington. That way, she can better practice what her employer preaches and stop checking her emails after hours. “Before, I would take my computer home,” Klippel, 26, told AFP. “I would pull up my emails to check things, or knock off a few extra emails while watching TV or cooking dinner. I don’t do that anymore.”

Americans have a reputation for seeing work as a virtue in itself, but with technological progress shaking up the work-life balance like never before, some employers are taking action. In September, Klippel’s employer The Advisory Board Company imposed an “email moratorium” over the three-day Labor Day weekend on its 1,850 employees from the top brass on down. “I found myself looking at my iPhone and ready to respond, but I told myself, ‘No, let it go’,” said chief executive Robert Musslewhite, who has since issued guidelines to curb after-hour emailing.

Email has no doubt helped to speed up communication, but Musslewhite sees a “growing sentiment” that its growth has crossed a stage where it is now cutting into productivity. “That’s the part we really want to tackle,” he said. “There’s some part of email that has gone too far and that is now impeding productivity.” Advisory Board’s guidelines seem sensible enough, such as limiting the number of addresses of any given email, summing up the message in the subject line, and opting for instant messaging.

Juggling emails or taking phone calls after hours adds up to an extra month and a half of work every year, according to a study by software developer Good Technology. Outside the United States, some major corporations such as French IT services group Atos have virtually banned emailing once employees have clocked out for the day. “There is a grow-

ing sentiment that email is not very productive, and actually decreases productivity,” said Gwanhoo Lee, an associate professor of information technology at American University in Washington.

“A typical manager receives hundreds of emails a day, and that consumes a substantial amount of work hours.” Some organizations are trying to move away from email in favor of instant messaging or social media, added Lee, who has

private lives. Judith Glaser, founder of consulting firm Benchmark Communications said many employees are consumed by emails because they are driven by a need to feel part of an organization.

Workers not copied on an email, she said, may suspect an indirect signal from their bosses that “you are not important anymore in the decision process,” she said.

The secret is to discuss the expectations of each employee and enable them to plan

WASHINGTON: Robert Musslewhite, CEO of the Advisory Board Company, looks at his smartphone in his office. —AP worked with several major corporations.

Nevertheless, “many organizations are still expecting their employees to check their emails even over the weekend or when out of town,” he said.

According to a study by the Society for Human Resource Management, hardly one company in five has an email policyand out of those, only one in four aims to strike a balance between professional and

to take time off, free of email, “without being stressed,” she said. For Klippel, the ability to draw a firm line between her working and personal life has been a very positive change. Now she can go out with friends or cook dinner without interruption. “If you’re sending emails in the middle of the night, people start to worry about you,” she said. “It’s encouragement for you to shut down.” —AFP

Computer problems at United delay travelers NEW YORK: A computer outage at United Airlines delayed thousands of travelers on Thursday and embarrassed the airline at a time when it’s trying to win back customers after glitches earlier this year. The two-hour outage held up a total of 636 of the 5,679 United flights scheduled for Thursday, the airline said. That included 257 planes delayed directly by the outage, with the rest caused by planes that were late to arrive for subsequent flights, the airline said. From Los Angeles to London, Boston to San Francisco, frustrated fliers tweeted snarky remarks about the problem. It was United’s third major computer mishap this year.

“Does anyone have a Radio Shack computer or abacus to help United get their system fixed?” tweeted Lewis Franck, a motor-

sports writer flying from Newark, New Jersey, to Miami to cover the last race of the NASCAR season. In a subsequent phone call with The Associated Press, Franck added: “Why is there a total system failure on a beautiful day? What happened to the backup and the backup to backup?” United said the technology problem occurred around 8:30 a.m. EST and was fixed by 10:30 am. But morning delays can ripple throughout an airline’s network for the rest of the day even after the underlying cause is fixed. That’s because once a plane departs late, it can be hard to make up for lost time. The glitch involved communication between dispatchers at the company’s operations center in Chicago and planes at airports around the world, United spokesman Rahsaan

Johnson said. Dispatchers communicate information such as weight and fuel loads to pilots, who need it to operate the flight.

Johnson said the airline has identified the specific problem, and said it won’t happen again.

The stock price of United Continental Holdings Inc. fell 47 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $19.51 on a day when shares of other big airlines rose. United has been struggling with technology problems since March, when it switched to a passenger information computer system that was previously used by Continental. United and Continental merged in 2010. That system, called “Shares,” has needed extensive reworking since March to make it easier for workers to use. —AP

CINEMA

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

IKTUWA KNCC PROGRAM FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (15/11/2012 TO 21/11/2012) SHARQIA-1 SINISTER (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) SINISTER (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) SINISTER (DIG) SINISTER (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED SHARQIA-2 THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

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AVENUES-1 MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED AVENUES-2 HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG)

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AVENUES-3 FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:30 PM 5:00 PM 7:30 PM 10:00 PM 12:30 AM

AVENUES-4 JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:15 PM 4:45 PM 8:15 PM 11:45 PM

AVENUES-10 JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) 12:30 PM JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) 4:00 PM NO FRI (16.11.2012) Special Show “JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI)” for Western Union 4:00 PM FRI (16.11.2012) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) 7:30 PM JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) 11:00 PM NO SUN+TUE+WED AVENUES-11 THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 3:00 PM 5:30 PM 8:00 PM 10:30 PM 1:00 AM

360 º- 1 FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) FLIGHT (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:15 PM 3:45 PM 6:15 PM 8:45 PM 11:15 PM

360 º- 2 ALEX CROSS (DIG) ALEX CROSS (DIG) ALEX CROSS (DIG) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) ALEX CROSS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:30 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 9:30 PM 1:00 AM

360 º- 3 HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA(DIG-3D) TAKEN2 :2D JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) NO SUN+TUE+WED TAKEN2 :2D SUN+TUE+WED 360 º- 4 HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) HERE COMES THE BOOM (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED 360 º- 5 WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) THU+FRI+SAT THE SWEENEY (DIG) THU+FRI+SAT WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) THE SWEENEY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 11:00 PM 11:00 PM

1:15 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:30 PM 10:45 PM 1:00 AM

360 º- 6 LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR WRECK-IT RALPH (DIG-3D) LEGENDS OF VALHALLA: THOR SINISTER (DIG) SINISTER (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:15 AM

360 º- 7 MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) MISS MOMMY (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:15 PM 4:30 PM 6:45 PM 9:00 PM 11:15 PM 1:15 AM

360 º- 8 JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) 1:30 PM JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) 5:00 PM NO FRI (16.11.2012) Special Show “JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI)” for Western Union 5:00 PM FRI (16.11.2012) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) 8:30 PM JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) 12:05 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED 360 º- 9(VIP-1) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) NO SUN+TUE+WED 360 º-10(VIP-2) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) NO THU (15.11.2012) Special Show “THE TWILIGHT SAGA : BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG)” THU (15.11.2012) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 2 (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED 360 º- 11 SINISTER (DIG) SINISTER (DIG) SINISTER (DIG) SINISTER (DIG) SINISTER (DIG)

12:30 PM 4:00 PM 7:30 PM 11:00 PM

2:00 PM 4:30 PM 7:00 PM 7:00 PM 9:30 PM 12:05 AM

1:00 PM 3:30 PM 6:00 PM 8:30 PM 11:00 PM

TV listings

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

00:50 01:45 02:35 03:25 04:15 05:05 05:55 06:20 06:45 07:35 08:00 08:25 09:15 10:10 11:05 11:30 12:00 12:25 12:55 13:50 14:45 15:40 16:35 17:30 18:25 19:20 20:15 21:10 22:05 23:00 23:55

Animal Cops South Africa Buggin’ With Ruud I’m Alive Shark Fight Monster Bug Wars Wildest Latin America Wild Britain With Ray Mears Orangutan Island Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Wildlife SOS Talk To The Animals Dogs 101 Crocodile Hunter Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Breed All About It Natural Born Hunters The Really Wild Show Wild France The Magic Of The Big Blue The Jeff Corwin Experience The Jeff Corwin Experience The Jeff Corwin Experience The Jeff Corwin Experience The Jeff Corwin Experience Wildest Africa Wildest Africa In Search Of The King Cobra Wild France Bad Dog Baboons With Bill Bailey

00:00 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 00:45 Come Dine With Me 01:35 Antiques Roadshow 02:30 Fantasy Homes In The City 03:10 Fantasy Homes In The City 03:55 Out Of The Frying Pan 04:45 House Swap 05:30 Saturday Kitchen 2008/09 05:55 Out Of The Frying Pan 06:50 House Swap 07:35 Saturday Kitchen 08:00 Antiques Roadshow 11:35 Antiques Roadshow 12:30 Baking Made Easy 13:00 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 13:25 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 13:50 The Hairy Bakers 14:15 Come Dine With Me 15:05 Bargain Hunt 15:50 Bargain Hunt 16:35 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 17:20 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 18:05 Baking Made Easy 18:30 Antiques Roadshow 21:05 Antiques Roadshow 22:00 Cash In The Attic 22:45 Cash In The Attic 23:30 Bargain Hunt

00:40 Chowder 01:30 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 01:55 Bakugan Battle Brawlers 02:20 Foster’s Home For...

02:45 Foster’s Home For...

03:10 Courage The Cowardly Dog 04:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 04:25 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 04:50 Adventure Time 05:15 The Powerpuff Girls 05:40 Generator Rex 06:05 Ben 10 06:30 Ben 10 06:55 Angelo Rules 07:00 Ed, Edd n Eddy 07:30 Casper’s Scare School 08:00 The Marvelous Misadventures...

08:25 Redakai: Conquer The Kairu 08:45 Grim Adventures Of...

09:35 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 09:55 Level Up 10:15 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 10:35 Transformers Prime 11:00 Ben 10: Omniverse 11:25 Thundercats 11:50 Regular Show 12:15 Adventure Time 12:40 The Amazing World Of Gumball 13:05 Johnny Test 13:30 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 13:55 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 14:20 The Powerpuff Girls

15:10 Green Lantern: The Animated Series 15:35 Transformers Prime 16:00 Angelo Rules 16:50 Ben 10: Omniverse 17:15 Generator Rex 17:40 Eliot Kid 18:30 Regular Show 19:20 Adventure Time 19:45 The Amazing World Of Gumball 20:10 Johnny Test 20:35 Ben 10: Alien Force 21:00 Ben 10: Alien Force 21:25 The Powerpuff Girls 22:15 Grim Adventures Of...

23:00 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 23:25 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 23:50 The Powerpuff Girls

00:00 02:00 04:30 06:00 08:00 PG15 10:00 12:00 14:00 PG15 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Scream Of The Banshee-18 Carlito’s Way-18 Disturbing Behavior-18 Jackie Chan’s Who Am I?-PG15 True Justice: BrotherhoodHackers-PG15 Judge Dredd-18 True Justice: BrotherhoodAnaconda-PG15 Judge Dredd-18 Machete-18 The Speak-18

01:00 The Artist-PG 03:00 Garfield’s Pet Force-FAM 05:00 Happiness Is A Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown-PG 06:00 Unmatched-PG15 07:00 Every Jack Has A Jill-PG15 09:00 The Artist-PG 11:00 Greener Mountains-PG

Largo Winch 2-PG15 The Vow-PG15 Win Win-PG15 A Separation-PG15 Dirty Girl-18 Snowtown-R

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Weeds 02:00 South Park 02:30 Family Guy 03:00 Raising Hope 03:30 Last Man Standing 04:00 Samantha Who? 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Seinfeld 06:00 Seinfeld 06:30 Friends 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Samantha Who? 08:30 Raising Hope 09:00 Seinfeld 09:30 Seinfeld 10:00 Two And A Half Men 10:30 Community 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Friends 12:30 Samantha Who? 13:00 Seinfeld 13:30 Seinfeld 14:00 Last Man Standing 14:30 Community 15:00 Two And A Half Men 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Friends 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Raising Hope 18:30 Last Man Standing 19:00 Two And A Half Men

19:30 Parks And Recreation 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Saturday Night Live 23:00 Family Guy 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

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

Parenthood Survivor: Philippines Perception Justified The X Factor U.S. Perception Parenthood Emmerdale Coronation Street C.S.I. New York Glee The X Factor U.S. Survivor: Philippines Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show C.S.I. New York Body Of Proof Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show C.S.I. New York Bones C.S.I. C.S.I. Miami Breakout Kings Strike Back

01:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00

Burning Bright-18 Alien-18 Go Fast-PG15 Arachnophobia-PG15 Boiler Room-PG15

MACHETE ON OSN ACTION HD

11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Go Fast-PG15 Enter The Phoenix-PG15 Boiler Room-PG15 Kick-Ass-18 Botched-18 The Speak-18 The Shining-R

00:00 The Men Who Stare At Goats-18 02:00 MacGruber-18 04:00 It’s Kind Of A Funny Story-PG15 06:00 Letters To Juliet-PG15 08:00 Easy A-PG15 10:00 Morning Glory-PG15 12:00 Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son-PG15 14:00 Life As We Know It-PG15 16:00 Morning Glory-PG15 18:00 High Fidelity-PG15 20:00 Failure To Launch-PG15 22:00 Super-18

01:00 Posse-18 03:00 Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind-18 05:00 Elizabethtown-PG15 07:00 Family Gathering-PG15 09:00 Certified Copy-PG15 11:00 Tresor-PG15 13:00 The Greatest-PG15 15:00 Certified Copy-PG15 17:00 Bob Roberts-PG15 19:00 Loosies-PG15 21:00 Quiz Show-18 23:15 Patriot Games-PG15

00:15 02:15 04:15 06:00 08:00 PG15 09:00 10:45 13:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 PG15 22:00

Brighton Rock-PG15 Honey 2-PG15 The Adventures Of Tintin-PG Yogi Bear-FAM Marion Jones: Press Pause-

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 17:45 20:00 PG15 22:00

Shadows & Lies-18 The Winning Season-PG15 Josie And The Pussycats-PG15 The Eagle-PG15 The Smurfs-PG Jack And Jill-PG15 Johnny English Reborn-PG15 The Cry Of The Owl-PG15 The Smurfs-PG X-Men: First Class-PG15 I Don’t Know How She Does It-

02:00 02:30 04:30 05:00 05:30 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 15:00 17:00 17:30 19:30 20:30 22:30 23:00

Rugby Matchday Rugby Union International Rugby Matchday ICC Cricket 360 Trans World Sport PGA European Tour Weekly ICC Cricket 360 Futbol Mundial Live PGA European Tour Futbol Mundial ICC Cricket 360 PGA European Tour Weekly NFL Gameday Trans World Sport Rugby Union International Live Rugby Matchday Live Rugby Union International Live Rugby Matchday Live Rugby Union International Live Rugby Matchday Live Rugby Union International

00:30 01:00 03:00 04:00 04:30 05:00 07:00 11:00 13:00 17:00 19:00

ICC Cricket 360 WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line ICC Cricket 360 Futbol Mundial Rugby Union International Grand Slam of Darts Rugby Union International PGA European Tour Live Rugby Union International Rugby Union International

Treasure Buddies-PG John Carter-PG15 Muhammad And Larry-PG15 Rango-FAM Treasure Buddies-PG The King’s Speech-PG15 I Don’t Know How She Does ItSucker Punch-PG15

The Fighter-PG15

21:00 Trans World Sport 22:00 Live Grand Slam of Darts

00:30 01:00 01:30 05:00 05:30 06:30 07:00 07:30 09:30 10:30 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:30 17:30 21:00

Total Rugby Top 14 Highlights Premier League Snooker Futbol Mundial Golfing World Total Rugby Top 14 Highlights Rugby Union International Trans World Sport Total Rugby Show Jumping La Baule Asian Tour Golf Show MENA Golf Tour Highlights Live PGA European Tour Premier League Snooker PGA European Tour

00:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 01:00 WWE SmackDown 03:00 WWE Bottom Line 04:00 UFC Prime Time 05:30 UFC Countdown 06:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 07:00 WWE Bottom Line 08:00 Live V8 Supercars Championship 09:00 WWE SmackDown 11:00 WWE Bottom Line 12:00 WWE Vintage Collection 13:00 NHL 15:00 V8 Supercars 16:00 Live Darts Grand Slam 20:00 UFC Prime Time 21:30 UFC Countdown 22:00 V8 Supercars 23:00 WWE SmackDown

00:15 Machines Of Glory 01:10 World’s Top 5 02:05 Wheeler Dealers 03:00 Mythbusters 03:55 Border Security 04:20 Scrappers 04:50 Auction Kings 05:15 How Do They Do It? 05:40 How It’s Made 06:05 Robson Green’s Extreme Fishing Challenge 07:00 How It’s Made 07:25 Mighty Ships 08:15 Mega Builders 09:10 Extreme Engineering 10:05 Man-Made Marvels China 10:55 Man, Woman, Wild 11:50 Gold Rush 12:45 Machines Of Glory 13:40 World’s Top 5 14:35 Wheeler Dealers 15:30 Dynamo: Magician Impossible 16:25 Mythbusters Dirty Dozen 17:20 Mythbusters 18:15 You Have Been Warned 19:10 Body Invaders 20:05 Ultimate Survival 21:00 Around The World In 80 Ways 21:55 Deadliest Catch 22:50 An Idiot Abroad 23:45 American Guns

00:40 Gadget Show - World Tour 01:05 How Tech Works 01:35 The Colony 02:25 Building The Future 03:15 Mighty Ships 04:05 Weird Connections 04:35 The Colony 05:25 Da Vinci’s Machines 06:15 Gadget Show - World Tour 06:40 How Tech Works 07:05 How The Universe Works 08:00 Building The Future 08:50 Brave New World 09:40 Head Rush 09:43 Sci-Fi Science 10:40 Robocar 11:30 Smash Lab 15:45 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 16:35 Things That Move 17:00 Head Rush 17:03 Tech Toys 360 18:00 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 18:50 Scrapheap Challenge 19:40 Build It Bigger: Rebuilding Greensburg 20:30 Meteorite Men 21:20 How Tech Works 22:10 Gadget Show - World Tour 23:00 Meteorite Men 23:50 Things That Move

what’s on

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS

W

hat’s more fun than clicking a beautiful picture? Sharing it with others! This summer, let other people see the way you see Kuwait - through your lens. Friday Times will feature snapshots of Kuwait through Instagram feeds. If you want to share your Instagram photos, email us at instagram@kuwaittimes.net

Write to us Send to What’s On upcoming events, birthdays or celebrations by email: local@kuwaittimes.net Fax: 24835619 / 20

Indian Embassy Announcements Indian Embassy passport and visa Passports and visa applications can be deposited at the two outsourced centers of M/S BLS Ltd at Sharq and Fahaheel. Details are available at www.bls-international.com and www.indembkwt.org.

Consular Open House Consular Wing is providing daily service of Open House to Indian citizens on all workings days from 1000 hrs to 1100 hrs and from 1430 hrs to 1530 hrs by the Consular Officer in the Meeting Room of the Consular Hall at the Embassy. For any unaddressed issues, Second Secretary (Consular) can be contacted. Furthermore, the head of the Consular Wing is also available to redress grievances.

Vanithavedi celebrates 56th ‘Kerala Piravi’

V

anithavedi, Kuwait celebrated the 56th ‘Kerala Piravi’ on 2nd November 2012 in Kala Centre.

The function was inaugurated by Vinod, President of KALA. The special message for the Day was presented by Sumathi Babu. Tolly Prakash presented a Prabandham about the subject ‘Sthreekalum Vilakayattavum’ which was

well appreciated by the audience. The relevance of the subject was very much reflected in the hot, lively and interesting discussion on the prabandham.

Prasanna Ramabhadran, Valsa Stanly, Naganathan, Sam Pynummoodu, Rema Ajith, Albert, Saji Mathew, Salim Raj, Valsa Sam and Sajitha Skaria spoke on the occasion. Santha Nair was the

Moderator. Songs by talented singers Aparna Shine and Santha Nair were enjoyed by the audience. The quiz led

by Prasanna was very informative.

Vanithavedi President Valsamma George presided over the function in which Subha Shine welcomed the gathering and Valsa Stanly rendered vote of thanks.

Indian workers helpline/helpdesk Indian workers helpline is accessible by toll free telephone number 25674163 from all over Kuwait. It provides information and advice to Indian workers as regards their grievances, immigration and other matters. The help desk at the Embassy (Open from 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 4:30PM, Sunday to Thursday) provides guidance to Indian nationals on routine immigration, employment, legal and other issues. It also provides workers assistance in filling up labour complaint forms.

For any unaddressed issues, the concerned attachÈ in the Labour section and the head of the Labour Wing can be contacted.

Legal Advice Clinic Free legal advice is provided on matters pertaining to labour disputes, terms of contracts with employers, death/accident compensation, withholding of dues by employers, etc. by lawyers on our panel, to Indian nationals on all working days between 1500hrs to 1600hrs.

Ambassador’s Open House The Open House for Indian citizens by the Ambassador is being held on all Wednesdays at the Embassy for redressal of grievances. In case Wednesday is an Embassy holiday, the meeting will be held on the next working day.

KKCA reception to Rt Supreme Court judge Cyriac Joseph

K

uwait Knanaya Cultural Association held a reception to Retired Supreme Court Judge of India Cyriac Joseph who came on a short visit to Kuwait. People spoke on the occasion were President Reji Kunnasheril, General Secretary Joby Pulikolil, Jose Mookenchathiyil and Jt

Treasurer Reji Azhakedam.

In his reply address Cyriac Joseph spoke about the unique customs and traditions of Knanaya community and the importance of preserving them which they have been following for the last 17 centuries as well as answered the questions/doubts raised by the audi-

ence. Justice Cyriac Joseph who hails from Kaipuzha, Kerala has served as a Judge in Kerala & Delhi High Courts, as Chief Justice of the Uttarakand and Karnataka High Courts prior to serving as Supreme Court Judge. He is also a prominent leader of the Knanaya Catholic Community.

what’s on

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

PALPAK celebrates 5th anniversary

P

alakkad Pravasi Association of Kuwait (PALPAK) celebrated its fifth anniversary titled ‘Palakkadan Mela 2012’ as a full day socio-cultural event on November 9 at Indian Central School auditorium, Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh. Celebrations were inaugurated by chief guest Lal Jose, the renowned film director from Kerala, by lighting the lamp. A grand welcome in traditional way was accorded to the chief guest with thalappoli

by PALPAK’s ladies wing and chendamelam.

Chakyarkooth, the famous performing art of Kerala, was staged by Kalamamdalam Kanakakumar from Kerala. It was a combination of the traditional style and current

socio-political events mixed with instant comedy dialogues involving the participation of audience. Three types of doll dances performed by Kovai Alphonsa were of special entertainment to the audience.

Another highlight of the event was the musical orchestra led by the famous playback singers Vidhu Pratap and Cicily Abraham along with other singers from PALPAK. With the professional training of Kalamandalam Priyam Anand and Prathibha Menon, PALPAK’s lady members and children performed theme dance with PALPAK’s title song. Dandia dance, Season dance, clas-

sical and cinematic dances, Oppana and Arabic dance were also presented.

President P N Kumar presided over the inaugural session. Unnikrishnan, SA Homes, Askar M Thaklief Asmar,Srilankan Airlines K N S Das, Lulu Exchange joined the inaugural function as guests of honor and addressed the community. Other invited guests Sharafuddin Kanneth,(KKMCC), Saji Thomas Mathew (KALA Kuwait)and Dili (patron of PALPAK) delivered felicitation speeches. The souvenir published in connection with the Palakkadan Mela 2012 was released by K N S Das by handing over the first copy to the Souvenir Committee Convener Jaya

Krishnan. Program Convener Suresh Pulikkal welcomed the guests and audience. General Secretary Aravindakshan presented the report and vote of thanks was delivered by Vice President T.M. Mohan. Also a raffle draw was conducted and more than 10 fabulous prizes were distributed to the winners of the draw. Mementos were distributed to all participants of the cultural programs in recognition of their outstanding performances.

More than thousand people gathered to watch the day-long cultural programs.

A

lumni Association of St Stephen’s College Uzhavoor (Almass, Kuwait) members gave a warm welcome to Prof Sunny Thomas, Indian icon of shooting and Ex HOD English, St Stephen’s College, Uzhavoor at the Kuwait International Airport.

Prof Sunny Thomas arrived in Kuwait to participate in the formation of the alumni and attend the general body meeting of Almass Kuwait which was held yesterday at Al-Jawhart Arabic School Auditorium, Near Ramada Hotel, Reggai.

health

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Rising obesity strains Europe’s health budget 52% of EU adults overweight LONDON: More than half of Europeans are obese or overweight, adding significant pressure to healthcare costs at a time when spending is being cut by governments, the OECD and European Commission said yesterday. On average across the European Union, health spending per capita rose by 4.6 percent a year in real terms between 2000 and 2009, but fell 0.6 percent in 2010.

In a report on health across the 27-nation bloc, the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Brussels-based Commission, said 52 percent of adults in the EU are now overweight or obese. The report blamed physical inactivity and the widespread availability of energy-dense, sugary and fatty foods.

In 18 countries out of the 27 member states, the proportion of overweight and obese adults now exceeds 50 percent and the obesity rate, at 17 percent on average across the region, has doubled since 1990 in many countries. “(The rise) is a major public health concern,” the report said.

“Because obesity is associated with higher risks of chronic illnesses, it is linked to significant additional healthcare costs.”

The report noted that the growing cost burden coincided with governments around Europe cutting spending to reduce the debts left over from the 2008 financial crisis. “Spending had already started to fall in 2009 in countries hardest hit by the economic crisis,” it said. “But this was followed by deeper cuts in 2010 in response to growing budgetary pressures and rising debt-to-GDP ratios.”

As a result, EU members spent an average of 9.0 percent of their GDP on health in 2010, up from 7.3 percent in 2000, but down from a peak of 9.2 percent in 2009.

The Netherlands was the highest, devoting 12 pct of its gross domestic product to health in 2010, followed by France and Germany, both at 11.6 percent.

The rate of obesity in France is close to twice what it was in 1990 but at 12.9 percent it is still less than half the rate in Britain of 26.1 percent. The risk of diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, asthma, arthritis and some forms of cancer is increased by obesity. Although it was affecting all populations, obesity tended to be worse among the poor and less well

educated, and was more prevalent in women than men.

People with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 30 are classed as overweight while those at 30 or higher are obese.

BMI is formula of weight and height that differs slightly depending on whether it is done in kilograms and metres or pounds and inches. Despite the fall in health spending, life expectancy in the EU continued to rise and stood at an average 79 years in 2010, up more than six years since 1980.

This was driven by improved living and working conditions as well as better access to higher quality healthcare.

But Yves Leterme, the OECD Deputy Secretary-General, and Paola Testori Coggi, head of the Commission’s directorate for health, had a warning for EU governments. “If the report does not yet show any worsening health outcomes due to the crisis, there is no cause for complacency -it takes time for poor social conditions or poor quality care to take its toll from people’s health,” they said in a joint foreword to the report. —Reuters

Population of Africa’s mountain gorillas rises KAMPALA: The population of Uganda’s mountain gorillas has grown to 400, up from 302 in 2006, according to a census conducted last year, bringing the total number of mountain gorillas in Africa to 880 and giving hope to conservationists trying to save the critically endangered species. Uganda is now home to nearly half of the world’s mountain gorillas remaining in the wild, a source of confidence for a country that has come to depend heavily on the popular apes for

substantial tourism revenue. The rest of the surviving mountain gorillas - the species Gorilla beringei beringei - are in Congo and Rwanda.

“The increase in the population of mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is testimony to the sound natural resource management policies that are being implemented in the protected areas,” Uganda’s Ministry of Tourism said in a statement received Friday. “This result confirms

SAN DIEGO: Comfortably curled up in a keeper’s lap, the giant panda cub Xiao Liwu received his weekly veterinary exam at the San Diego Zoo in San Diego, California. Initially placed on the floor, Xiao Liwu kept crawling into the laps of keepers, who were happy to accommodate him. —AFP

beyond reasonable doubt that Uganda’s conservation efforts are paying off.”

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a network of forested jungle deep in the country’s southwestern frontier, is recognized by UNESCO as a heritage site of world value. A permit to track gorillas there costs at least $500 and the World Wildlife Fund estimates that each gorilla brings in up to $1 million in revenue each year for the East African country.

The census shows a stunning recovery for a species that once faced a real threat of extinction. Mountain gorillas in the wild still face threats ranging from habitat loss to poaching, especially in Congo, where lawlessness in the country’s vast eastern territory has allowed illegal hunters to prosper. Mountain gorillas are hunted for their meat in Congo, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Even a common cold can kill a mountain gorilla, as species is particularly vulnerable to respiratory diseases usually associated with humans.

The conservation group Gorilla Doctors said the population growth was partly due to “extreme conservation” methods such as daily ranger monitoring in the forest. Ugandan wildlife officials have been able to build successful partnerships with local communities in part by pouring some of the revenue into local projects, converting previously hostile groups into friendly advocates for the gorillas’ survival.

“The mountain gorilla is the only non-human great ape that is actually growing in number,” said Mike Cranfield of Gorilla Doctors. “The growth of the mountain gorilla population can be attributed to the intensive conservation and collaboration between multiple conservation groups and government authorities.” —AP

SYDNEY: Australian Environment Minister Tony Burke speaks to the media at the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium yesterday. —AFP

Australia creates world’s largest marine reserves SYDNEY: Australia yesterday created the world’s largest network of marine reserves, protecting a huge swathe of ocean environment despite claims it will devastate the fishing industry. The announcement, after years of planning and consultation, will significantly expand the protection of creatures such as the blue whale, green turtle, critically endangered populations of grey nurse sharks, and dugongs. The scale of the plan, which will cover more than 2.3 million square kilometres (890,000 square miles) in six marine regions, was first made public in June.

Environment Minister Tony Burke said of 80,000 submissions received, the vast majority supported the proposal.

“There are very few countries in the world that are as responsible for as much of the ocean as Australia is. And our oceans are under serious threat,” he said. “There are a range of actions that need to be taken to turn the corner on the health of our oceans. Establishing national parks in the ocean is a big part of that total picture.”

Burke added that his decision was important for future generations. “We need to appreciate that in the years to come we don’t want people to only know the magnificence of their oceans through aquariums or by watching ‘Finding Nemo’,” he said, referring to the animated Disney film. But fishermen are furious, claiming coastal communities would be ruined, thousands of jobs lost and the Aus$2 billion (US$2 billion) aquaculture industry seriously impacted.

The Australian Marine Alliance, which conducted a cost analysis, claimed 60 regional communities would be affected, 36,000 jobs lost and 70-80 trawler operators displaced, while the cost of seafood imports would soar. Burke said he understood his decision would have an impact, but claimed it would only affect one percent of the commercial fishing industry nationally.

To compensate, he said businesses hurt by the changes would be able to access Aus$100 million in assistance. “Even though the new marine reserves have been designed in a way to minimise impacts on industry and recreational users, the government recognises that there will be impacts on some fishers and we will support those impacted,” he said. The Commonwealth Fisheries Association criticised the amount of compensation on offer and Queensland’s Fisheries Minister John McVeigh said the plan, which will lock up huge areas off the state’s central and north coast, was “madness”.

“The impact right across our fishing communities will be enormous,” he said, warning of job losses.

“There will be a marked shift to imported seafood-that will rape fragile reef and other marine environments overseas where there is no proper management.” While some limits will be placed on where energy companies can work, tracts of coast off Western Australia, where Shell and Woodside Petroleum recently won permits, will remain open to oil and gas exploration. The Australian Conservation Foundation welcomed the initiative, saying it would “go down in Australian history as an economically and environmentally sustainable decision”.

But the foundation’s Paul Sinclair said more could still be done. “Although the national marine reserve network is an achievement for Australians to celebrate, there is more work to be done to protect our coastal way of life,” he said. “While the reserve network bans oil and gas exploration in the Coral Sea and off Margaret River in Western Australia, protecting nearby beaches from oil spills, the northwest region, including the Kimberley coast, is still vulnerable.” —AFP

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Health

CLASSIFIEDS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Al-Madena

22418714

Al-Shohada’a

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Fayhaa

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

Al-Jahra

25610011

Al-Salmiya

25616368

Hospitals Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Clinics Rabiya

24732263

Rawdha

22517733

Adailiya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Khaifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salim

22549134

Al-Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Al-Qadisiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Ghar

22531908

Al-Shaab

22518752

Al-Kibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Kibla

22451082

Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

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Palem, Sakhineti Palli, East Godawari Dist, AP, hereby declare that with my free consent I have embraced Islam on 13-06-2005 at State of Kuwait and I have adopted my name as Abdul Rahman. (C 4215) I, Rage Nagaraja (Passport No. G3636805), S/o Rage Nageswara, age 25 years, R/o Jandlavaram, Mydukuru, Kadapa Dist, AP, India, hereby declare that with my free consent I have embraced Islam on 25-05-2011 at State of Kuwait and I have adopted my name as Abdulla. (C 4214) 13-11-2012 I, Jagadhabi Anand, holder of Indian Passport No. H1819620, Passport issues in Kuwait on

02.03.2009, hereby change my name to Jagadhabi Anad Raju.

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Ministry of Interior website: www.moi.gov.kw

112 Prayer timings Fajr:

04:51

Duhr:

11:33

Asr:

14:32

Maghrib:

16:53

Isha:

18:12

information SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION In case you are not travelling, your proper cancellation of bookings will help other passengers to use seats Airlines JAI KLM THY JZR QTR SAI ETH GFA UAE ETD OMA FDB MSR QTR DHX THY JZR JZR KAC JZR BAW KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC UAE KAC GFA KAC ABY QTR FDB ETD GFA BAB IRC JZR MSC IRM UAE JZR MSR FDB KNE KAC SVA QTR KAC JZR IZG QTR IRC JZR JZR KAC SYR UAE JZR ETD RJA GFA SVA KAC JZR QTR ABY UAL KAC KAC JZR

Arrival Flights on Saturday 17/11/2012 Flt Route 574 MUMBAI 413 AMSTERDAM 772 ISTANBUL 539 CAIRO 148 DOHA 441 LAHORE 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 643 MUSCAT 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 138 DOHA 170 BAHRAIN 770 ISTANBUL 503 LUXOR 555 ALEXANDRIA 416 JAKARTA 529 ASSIUT 157 LONDON 412 MANILA 206 ISLAMABAD 53 DUBAI 382 DELHI 302 MUMBAI 352 COCHIN 855 DUBAI 344 CHENNAI 223 BAHRAIN 284 DHAKA 121 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 436 BAHRAIN 6592 MASHAD 165 DUBAI 401 ALEXANDRIA 1190 MASHAD 871 DUBAI 175 DUBAI 610 CAIRO 57 DUBAI 472 JEDDAH 672 DUBAI 500 JEDDAH 140 DOHA 788 JEDDAH 257 BEIRUT 4161 MASHAD 134 DOHA 6692 MASHAD 325 NAJAF 535 CAIRO 118 NEW YORK 341 DAMASCUS 857 DUBAI 357 MASHAD 303 ABU DHABI 640 AMMAN 215 BAHRAIN 510 RIYADH 502 BEIRUT 777 JEDDAH 144 DOHA 127 SHARJAH 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 538 SOHAG 542 CAIRO 177 DUBAI

Time 0:30 0:30 0:35 0:50 1:00 1:30 1:45 1:50 2:35 2:45 2:50 3:05 3:10 3:45 5:15 5:30 5:55 6:00 6:25 6:35 6:40 6:45 7:40 7:45 7:45 7:55 8:05 8:40 8:40 8:45 8:45 9:05 9:10 9:15 9:20 9:55 10:05 10:10 11:20 12:00 12:50 12:50 13:00 13:05 13:50 14:10 14:15 14:30 14:35 14:55 15:05 15:20 15:30 15:50 16:25 16:25 16:35 16:40 16:40 16:45 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:20 17:40 17:45 17:50 17:55 17:55 18:00 18:05 18:15

BAB FDB FDB MSC KAC KAC KAC KAC IRA KAC OMA KAC FDB JAI AXB MSR JZR ABY QTR ALK MEA QTR GFA ETD UAE JZR JAI FDB KLM KAC AIC JZR GFA JZR KAC UAL DHX BBC DLH

438 63 8051 405 176 310 104 674 607 774 647 562 61 572 389 618 189 129 146 229 402 136 221 307 859 135 576 59 415 786 975 239 217 185 614 981 370 43 636

BAHRAIN DUBAI DUBAI SOHAG GENEVA DOHA LONDON DUBAI MASHAD RIYADH MUSCAT AMMAN DUBAI MUMBAI MANGALORE ALEXANDRIA DUBAI SHARJAH DOHA COLOMBO BEIRUT DOHA BAHRAIN ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN COCHIN DUBAI AMSTERDAM JEDDAH CHENNAI AMMAN BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DHAKA FRANKFURT

Airlines AIC UAL DLH JAI KLM SAI ETH THY FDB UAE OMA ETD MSR QTR QTR JZR GFA THY FDB JZR BAW JZR JZR KAC KAC GFA KAC ABY KAC UAE FDB ETD

Departure Flights on Saturday 17/11/2012 Flt Route 976 GOA/CHENNAI 981 WASHINGTON DC 637 FRANKFURT 573 MUMBAI 413 AMSTERDAM 442 LAHORE 621 ADDIS ABABA 773 ISTANBUL 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 644 MUSCAT 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 54 DUBAI 174 DUBAI 156 LONDON 256 BEIRUT 534 CAIRO 101 LONDON 787 JEDDAH 224 BAHRAIN 671 DUBAI 122 SHARJAH 537 SOHAG 856 DUBAI 56 DUBAI 302 ABU DHABI

18:40 18:45 18:55 19:00 19:15 19:20 19:35 19:35 19:50 19:50 19:55 19:55 20:00 20:10 20:15 20:25 20:30 20:35 20:45 20:55 21:20 21:25 21:30 21:35 21:40 21:50 21:55 22:00 22:05 22:25 22:30 22:45 22:50 23:05 23:15 23:25 23:40 23:45 23:55 Time 0:05 1:10 1:20 1:30 1:45 2:30 2:45 2:55 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:00 4:10 4:50 6:05 6:55 7:00 7:35 8:25 8:35 8:45 9:05 9:15 9:20 9:25 9:30 9:40 9:45 9:50 9:55 10:00 10:05

QTR GFA JZR BAB IRC KAC KAC KAC JZR JZR MSC JZR MSR IRM UAE FDB KAC KAC KNE KAC SVA JZR QTR IZG KAC IRC KAC JZR ETD SYR JZR QTR UAE RJA GFA JZR SVA ABY JZR QTR JZR UAL FDB BAB FDB MSC KAC KAC FDB IRA OMA KAC JAI ABY MSR KAC KAC DHX ALK MEA ETD QTR GFA KAC KAC FDB JZR UAE JAI KAC KLM QTR GFA KAC

133 214 356 437 6593 541 501 165 776 324 406 176 611 1191 872 58 561 673 473 617 505 188 141 4162 773 6693 785 238 304 342 538 135 858 641 216 184 511 128 266 145 134 982 64 439 8052 402 613 283 62 604 648 331 571 120 607 351 543 171 230 403 308 137 222 301 381 60 554 860 575 205 415 147 218 411

DOHA BAHRAIN MASHHAD BAHRAIN MASHHAD CAIRO BEIRUT ROME JEDDAH AL NAJAF SOHAG DUBAI CAIRO MASHHAD DUBAI DUBAI AMMAN DUBAI JEDDAH DOHA JEDDAH DUBAI DOHA MASHHAD RIYADH MASHHAD JEDDAH AMMAN ABU DHABI DAMASCUS CAIRO DOHA DUBAI AMMAN BAHRAIN DUBAI RIYADH SHARJAH BEIRUT DOHA BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN DHAKA DUBAI ISFAHAN MUSCAT TRIVANDRUM MUMBAI SHARJAH LUXOR KOCHI CAIRO BAHRAIN COLOMBO BEIRUT ABU DHABI DOHA BAHRAIN MUMBAI DELHI DUBAI ALEXANDRIA DUBAI KOCHI ISLAMABAD DAMMAM DOHA BAHRAIN BANGKOK

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

10:10 10:40 10:45 10:50 11:10 11:30 11:45 11:50 12:15 13:00 13:00 13:50 14:05 14:15 14:15 14:30 14:30 15:05 15:10 15:45 16:00 16:05 16:15 16:20 16:25 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:35 17:40 17:40 17:45 17:50 17:55 18:15 18:30 18:35 18:40 18:45 18:50 19:05 19:10 19:25 19:30 19:35 20:00 20:15 20:30 20:40 20:50 20:55 20:55 21:10 21:15 21:25 21:30 21:40 21:50 21:55 22:20 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:40 22:45 22:50 22:55 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:50 23:55

SPORTS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Saint-Andre hoping French go against type PARIS: France will be determined to show Coach Philippe Saint-Andre against bogey team Argentina in Lille today that unlike their predecessors they can put together two impressive performances in successive tests. Their 33-6 defeat of the Wallabies last Saturday - their first over them since 2005 - saw the French fulfill the first part of what Saint-Andre hopes will be three victories in November and assure themselves of one of the top four seedings for the 2015 World Cup draw in December.

However, Saint-Andre acknowledges the Pumas may present the stiffest of their three tests - they round off their campaign against Samoa on November 24 and not just

because of their poor record against the South Americans which has seen the Argentineans win eight of their last 12 encounters. For the Argentineans, who are a mix of hardened veterans and new blood brought in since last year’s World Cup, produced an impressive performance to defeat Six Nations Grand Slam champions Wales 26-12 at the Millennium Stadium last Saturday.

All the more reason why former France captain Saint-Andre is looking to this French side to produce an unstereotypical performance in what will be the first rugby test played at Lille’s flashy new stadium.

“We want to see whether we’re able to win two very, very high-level

matches in succession. It’s an enormous challenge for the staff and the players,” said the 45-year-old, who was capped 69 times from 1990-97.

“In French rugby we are used to producing great performances worth 18 out of 20 and to follow up with an eight out of 20. “What we are aiming to do now is to be more consistent to put in a good week’s training and not to get carried away. To reproduce the same physicality and the same realism.”

Saint-Andre, who first made his name as a coach in England with Gloucester where he had ended his playing career, is also at pains to keep the pressure off the mercurial fly-half Frederic Michalak, who symbolizes the French habit of playing

Italy defiant in face of revamped All Blacks MILAN: New Zealand have made sweeping changes to the side that beat Scotland 51-22 last week, but what some may see as a charitable move has not been designed to give the hosts a fighting chance in Rome. When it comes to Italy, still an emerging rugby power, and the All Blacks, two-time world champions and the most successful national team to have graced the sport, there really is no contest. Italy have lost all 11 previous encounters beginning with a 70-6 reverse in the 1987 World Cup to a far tighter 20-6 test defeat at Milan’s San Siro stadium in 2009.

Yet their record, and the fact the Azzurri fought their way to an edgy 28-23 win over minnows Tonga last week, has not dimmed the hopes of Italy coach Jacques Brunel.

“If New Zealand are the Everest of rugby, we must be ready to climb as far and as high as we can and make light of the cold and bad weather,” Brunel said yesterday. “Otherwise we’re better off staying in the comfort of Mont Blanc.” For the growing army of rugby fans in Italy, a much-improved performance from last week’s display in windy and rainy Brescia would be a good start. While a defiant Tonga side were giving Italy plenty of food for thought in Brescia, New Zealand were dismantling Scotland 51-22.

Their win in Murrayfield, however, still left plenty of room for improvement, according to head coach Steve Hansen. “The team last week put a stake in the ground, and while the performance was nowhere near perfect, there was some quality rugby played,” he said. “There is now an opportunity for this group to build on that.” Intent on making sure most of his touring party get involved at some stage or another, and ahead of arguably tougher tests against England and Wales, Hansen has rung the changes for Italy.

Kieran Read has notably been handed the captain’s armband for the first time after World Cup-winning skipper Richie McCaw was rested, while star pivot Dan Carter is on the bench in favour of understudy Aaron Cruden. Changes have been made elsewhere in the team, some enforced: Liam Messam has been called in at blindside flanker to replace Adam Thomson, banned for one match for stamping on the head of Scotland loose forward Alasdair Strokosch. However that does not rhyme with lack of ambition in what Hansen believes will be a “torrid” encounter in the Eternal City.

“We are expecting another torrid test against the Italians in front of their passionate fans,” he added. “They are renowned for their forward play so they will certainly be up for the challenge and we will have to match that physicality. “The team is excited about playing in front of the sold out crowd of 80-thousand and this will only add to their motivation.”After last week’s performance, Italy captain and number eight Sergio Parisse revealed his frustration

and warned there can be no repeat in Rome. “It’s an important week for us, we’ll regroup and train for next week in calm conditions but we can’t play like that for 80 minutes against the All Blacks,” he said.

Italy have been working on key areas, and Brunel made a total of eight changes from the side that started against Tonga, notably with Mirco Bergamasco returning to the wing from a small injury layoff. In all probabilty, he will get his wish to see “in which direction our project needs to go” against the “strongest team in the world”. But the bespectacled Frenchman-an assistant coach of France when Les Bleus beat the All Blacks 20-18 in Cardiff during the 2007 World Cup - may secretly be hoping for more. “Every game is different, but to put New Zealand in trouble we have to be in the game,” Brunel said. “The last time I faced the All Blacks, as an assistant coach of France, we won. I hope to experience more of the same.” — AFP

ROME: New Zealand All Blacks’ fly-half Dan Carter attends a training session at the Olympic Stadium in Rome yesterday on the eve of the rugby union test match between Italy and New Zealand. — AFP

brilliantly one week and then mediocrely the next. “Talk about other players, leave Frederic alone,” said Saint-Andre, who will again pair Michalak alongside Maxime Machenaud as the halfback partnership. “He is working hard, he is hungry to continue to do so, we are keen to continue with Frederic but also Francois Trinh-Duc. “It is absolutely essential to stop putting so much pressure on those that play at fly-half. “There is a French culture which dictates that when one wins, the fly-half is the best player in the world and when one loses, it is time to burn his effigy.

“Frederic played well last week, and I am not going to put more pressure on him than that.” — AFP

Boks can be beaten, Scottish skipper says EDINBURGH: Scotland have the game to once again sink South Africa in today’s Test match at Murrayfield, but they must first shore up their defensive forces, skipper Kelly Brown believes. Andy Robinson’s men kicked off the November north-south international face-offs by taking a 51-22 drubbing at the hands of world champions New Zealand in Edinburgh last weekend. But they did manage to score three tries, the first team to do so against the All Blacks this year, and, failing to get over the line has been an area which has been the undoing of the Scots recently, leading to an early World Cup exit in New Zealand and a Six Nations wooden spoon.

On the down side, the Scottish defensive lines were far too easily breached by New Zealand’s array of running talents and that is something that Robinson will be keen to tighten up. Skipper Kelly Brown, who moves over to replace the injured Ross Rennie at flanker, with David Denton coming in at No 8 as one of two team changes made by Robinson, believes a repeat of Scotland’s shock 21-17 win the last time the teams met in the corresponding fixture here two years ago is on the cards. “There’s no doubt it’s possible,” the 30-year-old said. “We know what happened two years ago but in saying that, so do South Africa.

“So they will be looking for a bit of payback and it’s up to us to make sure we really nail the level of performance that we need to be successful. “It was a great win, on that day I think it was based on a really solid defensive effort.

We will need to make sure that we are really tight in that aspect of the game and make them work for anything that they get, and when we’re on the attack we need to ask them questions and put them under pressure.” “There is no doubt there is improvement to be made. We have looked at the video and we know the areas that we need to work on. We have been doing that in training and I’m very confident we can put it right today.”

Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer has also made two changes to his line-up from the side that came from behind last weekend to edge Ireland 16-12 in Dublin.

Toulouse prop Gurthro Steenkamp takes over from CJ van der Linde, while Juan de Jongh gets his first start at centre since the 40-7 Tri-Nations loss to New Zealand in Wellington last year. Meyer has said that while avoiding another loss to Scotland was important, he very much also had on his mind his players getting used to the kind of damp, heavy conditions they can expect to encounter in 2015 when England hosts the next World Cup. “Here every single facet of play is an unbelievable battle,” he said.

“These guys scrum for penalties, it’s not just the start of the game.

“One big difference is the breakdown. I think Scotland are superb at the breakdown, if you just look at what happened against New Zealand. “It’s more fierce, it’s more a battle and more physical, I believe, because it’s a little bit slower and you need a different type of player. — AFP

sports

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Froch eyes Bute re-match despite Mack attack NOTTINGHAM: Carl Froch cannot help but look ahead to what could lie in store for him after his world supermiddleweight title defense against Yusaf Mack today. Froch makes the first defense of the International Boxing Federation (IBF) belt in front of his home fans at the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham and, should he prevail against Mack, a rematch against Lucian Bute is set for March 30.

Froch, in his third reign as world champion, relieved Bute of the IBF belt in brutal fashion last May, overwhelming the Canada-based Romanian in five rounds. Under the terms of their contract, Froch is obliged to give Bute a rematch on his adopted home soil and Froch’s promoter Eddie Hearn expects the pair to clash again in Montreal. But it is not only Bute that Froch has in his sights in 2013. Froch is desperate to avenge the two blemish-

es in a 31-fight professional record, after losing on points to Denmark’s Mikkel Kessler in 2010 and on points to American Andre Ward last year.

The 35-year-old Froch believes a rematch with Ward, the World Boxing Council champion and world No 1, is the more likely-provided he gets past Mack and then Bute. “There is a quick turn-around after this fight for the Bute rematch and then there is potentially a huge fight later next year against either Ward or Kessler,” Froch said. “I spoke to Kessler on the phone recently and he sounded like a man who doesn’t want to fight. He wasn’t saying ‘let’s do it in the summer’ and if a fight isn’t a necessity and he’s not a mandatory challenger, it won’t happen.

“He’s thinking ‘why fight Froch?’, after seeing what I did to Bute, when he could earn a load of money by

fighting the likes of Brian Magee in Denmark. “But the Ward fight will happen because he’s got nowhere to go and Ward will be confident taking the re-match against me.” Despite appearing to have his future mapped out, former WBC champion Froch insists he is not overlooking the task ahead of him today posed by Mack, who last year was stopped by fellow American Tavoris Cloud in a challenge for the IBF light-heavyweight title.

“Mack has fast hands and looks for counter-punches,” said Froch. “He has got range and good boxing ability.

“He’s looking to win the fight on the outside and I will have to close him down to land my shots but not get caught. “I need to put pressure on him and walk him down without getting caught by silly shots, especially early on which would give him confidence. “He’s not a big and tall light-

heavyweight, so he could be better at super-middleweight. I’m not taking anything for granted and I am making sure that I do my work right, and that will be enough to defend my title in style.”

Mack, 32, has been taunting Froch this week by claiming the champion is not as good as his fellow Briton Joe Calzaghe, the former world No 1 who retired without boxing Froch. “He wants to be Calzaghe and do all the moves like him, but he is a fake Calzaghe,” said Mack. “I got under his skin with the Calzaghe comment and I hope that’s to my advantage on the night. “He’s said he’s going to knock me out so the pressure is on him to do that, and when I’m still standing there after the sixth round, when people think I’m going to tire, what’s he going to do? I don’t fade and he can’t beat me.” —AFP

Guyatt holds Masters lead as Scott hovers

MACAU: Image shows the remains of the motorbike of Portuguese pilot Luis Filipe de Sousa Carreira who died in the qualifying session of the 46th Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix. (Right) Motorbike rider Luis Filipe de Sousa Carreira receives medical attention after a racing accident at Fisherman’s Bend.

Carreira died from injuries sustained in the crash. —AFP

Portuguese rider dies HONG KONG: Portuguese motorcycle rider Luis Filipe de Sousa Carreira was killed in an accident during a qualifying session for the Macau Grand Prix, organizers said. The organizing committee said Carreira died from injuries sustained in the crash on Thursday afternoon. “No other rider was involved in the incident, which occurred at Fisherman’s Bend ... The qualifying session was immediately red flagged,” the committee said in a statement. “As a result of the doctors’ diagnosis, Carreira

was immediately evacuated by ambulance to the hospital.” The 35-year-old from Lisbon died about 30 minutes later, it added. “The Macau Grand Prix Committee has contacted the family and the members of the team, and the committee expresses its sincere condolences,” it said.

“In over 60 years of the Grand Prix, the record can be considered acceptable,” coordinator of the Macau Grand Prix committee Joao Manuel Costa Antunes told Hong Kong daily newspa-

per South China Morning Post. “Those involved in motorsport and motorbikes know exactly what I’m saying,” Antunes said, commenting on the Carreira incident, the second death of a motorbike rider at the track in seven years, and the second serious bike accident of the day.

Organizers did not provide further details to AFP. Celebrated Italian motorbike rider 24-year-old Marco Simoncelli died last year in a crash that resulted in the cancellation of the Malaysian MotoGP at Sepag. —AFP

MELBOURNE: Surprise leader Matthew Guyatt was two shots in front at the halfway stage of the Australian Masters yesterday but top-ranked rival Adam Scott was still within reach of winning his first title of the year at Melbourne’s Kingston Heath. World number five Scott lies in third after he posted a second round 70 in difficult, blustery conditions to go seven under with 137. Between the two Australians is New Zealander Michael Hendry (67-69) who lies in second by two strokes, Scott just one stroke behind him.

Defending champion Ian Poulter of England was two shots further back in joint fourth, at five-under, heading into the weekend rounds. “I’m in pretty good shape. There’s only two people in front of me to get past for me to get the job done,” Scott said. He added that the windy conditions required conservative play, especially when the small greens became rock hard. “It made it difficult to hold your approach shots on them. Just getting on the green was a struggle today,” he said.

Scott added that windy conditions over the final two days would not worry him. He and leader Guyatt have been rivals on the golf course since they were young amateurs but are good friends off it. “Matt’s worked hard for a number of years and he deserves everything he can get. But I’ll be gunning for him,” said Scott. Poulter and Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell discovered how tricky the relatively short Kingston Heath course can be in a challenging southerly wind. Poulter had a 72 to be five off the lead and was not pleased with his round.

“I’m not going to stand here laughing. I shot level par and I’m disappointed,” he said. McDowell said he lost his rhythm after the first three holes. “I got off to a dream start. Threeunder after three holes and no comment after that really,” the 2010 US Open champion said, after shooting five-over to squeeze into the weekend right on the cut.

McDowell three-putted the fourth hole, was plugged in a trap after trying to lay-up at the sixth and then three-putted seven. “I just sort of got in a tail spin and lost the feel of my swing a little bit and it knocked the wind out of my sails,” the 2010 US Open champion said. “The harder I tried the worse I got. It was just one of those humbling days.” Guyatt, who returned to the game in recent years after taking time out, said he hoped he was up for the challenge over the closing 36 holes. “I’m relieved to back up with a 69 and pleased I haven’t gone the other way, as so many guys with my experience seem to do when they get in contention.” He said he would love the opportunity to play with Scott tomorrow. —AFP

SPORTS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

No 13 UCLA overpower James Madison 100-70 UTEP loses 72-51 to No 12 Arizona LOS ANGELES: James Madison found out early on there was no stopping No 13 UCLA. The Dukes didn’t reach double digits on the scoreboard until 10 minutes into a 100-70 loss on Thursday night in regional play of the Legends Classic. Rayshawn Goins led James Madison with 24 points, one off his career best. The Dukes traveled across the country to play their first game and fell to 0-4 against top-25 teams in season openers. “We got our butts kicked,” Goins said.

“We want to throw the first blow, but they beat us to the punch. They outworked us and at the end of the day they just wanted it more.”

Norman Powell scored a career-high 27 points and Jordan Adams added 25 for the Bruins. Adams scored 16 points in the first half when UCLA shot 68 percent and led 63-29. The Bruins were 6 of 7 from 3-point range and made 11 of 13 free throws while holding James Madison to 34 percent field-goal shooting. “They were awesome in the first half,” Dukes coach Matt Brady said. “We had a chance to keep it close in the first 5-6 minutes but we went 0-4 from the foul line with two seniors. When you miss free throws and give up first shots at the rim and second shots on the glass and give up quick shots in transition, it’s a really difficult game.”

The Dukes were 9 of 15 from the free-throw line and had 12 turnovers. Adams had 21 points in the season opener against Indiana State and 26 points against UC Irvine on Tuesday, making him the first freshman in school history to score 20-plus points in his first three games. He made all seven of his free throws, extending his streak to 26 in a row. The Bruins (3-0) next play Georgetown on Monday in Brooklyn, NY, as part of the Legends Classic. They will then face either No 1 Indiana or Georgia on Tuesday.

Larry Drew II had a career-high 12 assists and freshman Kyle Anderson grabbed 12 rebounds playing with a bone contusion on his right wrist that he sustained against Irvine. The scoreboard operator at new Pauley Pavilion had to shrink the numbers on the digital board to fit triple digits once the Bruins topped 100 points on a layup

by Tony Parker with 1:21 to play. The only suspense in the second half was whether Adams could keep his free-throw shooting streak intact.

With 31/2 minutes to go, one of his attempts bounced on the front of the rim before going in and he sank his last one before heading to the bench shortly after.

NO 12 ARIZONA BEAT UTEP One of Arizona’s strengths this season is supposed to be a big front line filled with talented young players. The Wildcats didn’t use it to their advantage in the opener against Charleston Southern. They sure did against Texas-El Paso.

Dominating UTEP inside with its depth and aggressiveness, No 12 Arizona overcame some sloppy ball-handling by grabbing 20 more rebounds in a 72-51 win over the Miners on Thursday night. “Last game, we didn’t get as many rebounds as we normally should, so Coach got on us,” said Arizona freshman Grant Jerrett, who led the Wildcats with seven rebounds.

“That’s basically it. We wanted to show that we could rebound.”

Arizona (2-0) took care of the ball in its open-

er against Charleston Southern and shot well from the perimeter, but was outrebounded 3431 by the smaller Buccaneers. The Wildcats were a little sloppier with the ball this time, turning it over 19 times, and fouled a little too much, particularly in the second half to let the Miners keep it close for a while. They were good again from 3-point range, going 9 of 18 after hitting 11 against Charleston Southern, but the real difference was on the glass.

Arizona had a 35-15 advantage in rebounds

and scored 13 second-chance points off 13 offensive boards, impressive numbers against UTEP’s big front line. Mark Lyons led Arizona with 17 points and Solomon Hill added 10. “We went against a physical, big team and we were able to really hurt them on the glass,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “That’s a credit to us, not a discredit to UTEP.” Despite the rebounding issues and trailing by double-digits most of the second half, the Miners (1-1) remained aggressive, taking the ball to the rim against the big

LOS ANGELES: UCLA’s Jordan Adams (center) puts up a shot as James Madison’s Andre Nation, (right) defends along with Rayshawn Goins during the first half of their NCAA college basketball game in Los Angeles. — AP

Wildcats. UTEP got to the free throw line 16 times in the second half and went 14 of 19 overall.

The Miners just had trouble making shots from anywhere else, shooting 36 percent while leading scorer John Bohannon went scoreless before fouling out. Julian Washburn and Chris Washburn each had 11 points for the Miners.

“Tonight was very tough, but it’s a learning experience,” Julian Washburn said. “Arizona’s defense wasn’t smothering, but they really beat us on the boards. We didn’t get many rebounds and took away our own chance of winning.” Arizona and UTEP are no strangers on the basketball court.

The Wildcats and Miners played in the same conference together from 1935-78, first with the Border Conference, then the Western Athletic Conference.

They hadn’t met since 1995, though, and went in different directions after that: Arizona became a national powerhouse in a major conference while UTEP scratched its way into the NCAA tournament twice. Arizona entered this season with some big expectations after Miller signed another highly touted recruiting class that included four of the top incoming big men in the country. They didn’t contribute much in the Wildcats’ opener, though, forcing Miller to go with his veterans down the stretch in a tighter-than-expected 82-73 home win over Charleston Southern. Arizona’s young bigs got off to a good start against UTEP, with Kaleb Tarczewski scoring its first basket on a putback and Jerrett hitting a 3-pointer for the next one.

RENNER LEADS TAR HEELS One minute, North Carolina was clinging to a 20-13 lead, and Virginia was in position to tie the game. The next, the Tar Heels’ maligned defense had a goal-line stand, and the rout was about to be on. Bryn Renner threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter after a goal-line stand preserved the Tar Heels’ lead and North Carolina ended Virginia’s postseason hopes with a 37-13 victory on a cold Thursday night at Scott Stadium. “I told the team ... we can make these the best two weeks, or the worst two weeks,” defensive lineman Sylvester Williams said of the final games in a season where the Tar Heels are ineligible for the postseason because of NCAA sanctions. “Don’t let Georgia Tech best us twice,” Williams said he told his defensive teammates, referring to last week’s 68-50 home loss to the Yellow Jackets on homecoming. “We never lost pride because at the end of the day, when you’re a good football team, you’ve got to build off the losses. Sixty-eight points? That was embarrassing, but we built off of it.” The game looked as if it might become a classic in the oldest rivalry in the south, then turned quickly. The Tar Heels (74, 4-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) stopped Kevin Parks for a 2-yard loss on fourth-and-goal from the 1, then drove 97 yards to Renner’s 23-yard pass to a wide open Giovani Bernard over the middle for the touchdown. A 5-yard completion to Erik Highsmith on fourth-and-2 came on the play just before the touchdown pass, and after Virginia (4-7, 2-5) was forced to punt on the ensuing possession, Renner’s 20-yard TD pass to Highsmith finished it. — Agencies

SPORTS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Detroit’s Cabrera wins AL MVP award First Venezuelan to claim season’s MVP honors NEW YORK: Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers, the first player to win the Triple Crown in 45 years, added the American League’s Most Valuable Player award on Thursday for the 2012 Major League Baseball season. Cabrera became the first player since Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox in 1967 to lead the league in the three top traditional offensive categories with a .330 batting average, 44 home runs, and 139 runs batted in.

He also became the first Venezuelan to win the coveted MVP award, getting the nod over Rookie of the Year winner Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, whose brilliant all-around play had made him a serious challenger to Cabrera. “I’m very excited. I don’t have any words to explain how excited I feel,” Cabrera, 29, said. “I never expected I’m going to win because Mike Trout, he got

an unbelievable season.” Some pundits favored the overall talents of Trout, making a case that his 30 home runs while hitting .326 with a league-leading 129 runs scored and 49 stolen bases made him the MVP, especially given his defensive brilliance in center field.

Even Cabrera was a fan of the Angels’ outfielder, though what was expected to be a close race turned into a rout as the Venezuelan won 22 of 28 first-place votes cast by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Trout received the other six first-place votes. Cabrera said the duel between him and the 21-year-old Trout was good for baseball. “To see a player like Trout do the kind of stuff he does in the field, people talk about that,” Cabrera told reporters in a conference call. “People can understand how good baseball is,

how beautiful it is. Hopefully every year, players come up and do a better job. It’s good for baseball.”

For all his success with the bat, Cabrera said the most impressive thing he accomplished for the Tigers was his switch from first base to third to make room for free-agent slugger Prince Fielder in the lineup.

“I think (Detroit manager) Jim Leyland made a good decision moving me to third base. He said he thinks I had the ability to push and work hard, to make it a better lineup,” Cabrera said. “The only thing is to try to work hard, try to get better, try to do everything to win games. I think it was the hard thing for me this year.”

Cabrera caught fire at the plate late in the season and helped carry the Tigers past the Chicago White Sox to the AL Central title and on to the World Series. Trout’s Angels fin-

Powell hits century; West Indies collapse Bangladesh hit back after Powell’s twin hundred DHAKA: Kieran Powell notched up his second century of the match before Bangladesh brought alive the first cricket test by grabbing five West Indian wickets in 13.1 overs yesterday to raise the specter of an unlikely victory. The visitors will take a 215-run lead into the final day but will struggle to add to their tally as the only recognized batsman remaining, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, is unwell and may not be able to bat. West Indies reached 244-6 at the close on the fourth day and the hosts will fancy their chances of notching up their first test win against a top side having scored their highest ever total of 556 in the first innings. Powell became the ninth Caribbean batsman to score two centuries in a single test after getting a patient 110 from 197 balls, adding to the 117 he amassed in the first innings.

He shared a 189-run second-wicket stand with Darren Bravo, mainly thanks to the butter fingers of Zunaed Siddique who dropped the batsman on 17 at slip. “I am not to sure how often it happened but I am happy that it happened to me,” Powell said. Bangladesh got an early breakthrough when Rubel Hossain had Gayle caught behind for 19, but Powell and Bravo denied them any chance of gaining an upper hand with their prolific stand. Rubel dismissed Bravo for 76 before off-spinner Sohag Gazi forced Marlon Samuels (1) to loft a catch to Shahriar Nafees at forward short leg to trigger a late West Indian collapse.

Left-arm spinner Shakib Al-Hasan induced an edge from Powell to end his knock, which included 12 fours and a six, and trapped first innings centurion Denesh Ramdin for five.

West Indies sent Veerasammy Permaul in ahead of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who fell ill after smashing a double century in the first innings, and the debutant struck two fours in the first two balls he faced to ease some pressure. However, Gazi bowled him for 10 on the final ball of the day to cap in a remarkable session for Bangladesh.

Earlier, Bangladesh’s Nasir Hossain missed out on his maiden test century when he was out for 96, caught by Gayle at slip off Tino Best. “A century is a matter of luck. As it was not in my fate I couldn’t do it,” said Nasir.

Nasir resumed on 33 and added 121 runs for the seventh wicket with fellow overnight batsman Mahmudullah, who made 62. The duo helped Bangladesh to overhaul

DHAKA: West Indies cricketer Kieran Powell plays a shot during the fourth day of the first cricket Test match between Bangladesh and The West Indies yesterday. — AFP their previous highest test total of 488 against Zimbabwe at Chittagong. Following Mahmudullah’s dismissal with the total on 489, Nasir kept his focus and nudged a single to take Bangladesh over the 500-run mark for the first time.

Bangladesh then snatched an unlikely 29-run first-innings lead courtesy of Nasir’s 61-run ninth wicket stand with Shahadat Hossain, the last man out as Sunil Narine bowled him for his third wicket of the day. — Reuters

ished in third place in the AL West. “I think winning the division, winning games, helped me to win the Triple Crown and the MVP because baseball is about winning, not personal numbers. I think this MVP is about all my team.” Cabrera followed his team mate, ace pitcher Justin Verlander, as the American League MVP winner. He said Verlander had cheered him on this season. “He said, ‘keep the MVP in Detroit,’” added Cabrera.

Cabrera was also proud to crown a terrific year for Venezuelan players by becoming the first from his country to win the MVP. “Venezuela is going crazy right now. I’m getting like a hundred calls from back home, text messages,” he said.

A record nine Venezuelans were on the rosters of the World Series teams, the San Francisco Giants and Detroit. — Reuters

Giants’ Buster Posey wins NL MVP award NEW YORK: Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants added to a career’s worth of accomplishments by winning the National League Most Valuable Player award on Thursday in just his third season. Yet the humble, 25-yearold catcher said what he took away from the 2012 season was a heartfelt appreciation just to be able to play.

Posey had the highest batting average in the major leagues at .336 and pounded 24 homers while driving in 103 to win MLB’s top individual award following a 2011 season that ended for him after only 45 games in a devastating collision at home plate. “I do know that I definitely have a deeper appreciation for being able to play baseball,” said Posey, who suffered a broken leg and torn ligaments in his ankle while trying to block home on a play at the plate. “I’ve seen that it can be taken away quick,” he told reporters in a conference call. “Hopefully I can continue to embrace the game and enjoy it, regardless of outcomes and how you do. Just try to appreciate each minute you’re out there.”

Posey has thrived in his brief major league time on the diamond. He came up in May of 2010 and helped the Giants win a World Series and claim Rookie of the Year honors in the process. This season he won his second World Series in three years, was a runaway winner of the Comeback Player of the Year award, and on Thursday became the first catcher in 40 years to win the NL MVP following Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds in 1972. “I think I’ve been fortunate to play with some really good players and play on some really good teams,” the soft-spoken Georgia native said.

One thing Posey is proud of is playing catcher. He was determined to get back behind the plate even when it was thought he might be shifted to first base or another less physically demanding position in coming back from his injuries. “I think it’s a position that to start playing it in the first place you have to love it,” said Posey. “There’s something about being back there behind the plate and working with your pitchers. For me, especially, having such a good staff in San Francisco...I wanted another opportunity to work with those guys. “I’m glad I did. It didn’t take long once I was able to get back in a crouch again to get that same feeling and remember how much I enjoy doing it.”

Posey became just the third catcher to win both the rookie award and an MVP, following Bench and Thurman Munson of the New York Yankees.

He also became just the third Giants player to achieve that double, following Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Willie McCovey. — Reuters

SPORTS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

ITALIAN LEAGUE PREVIEW

Cavani hoping to be first to shoot down Juventus MILAN: Lazio’s away-from-home blues could be set to continue today when they travel to Juventus seeking to overcome an unenviable record against the champions. Juventus stretched their lead over title rivals Inter Milan to four points last week thanks to a 6-1 rout of Pescara and the shock 3-2 defeat for their closest rivals in Atalanta. With Inter expected to collect three points at home to struggling Cagliari tomorrow, Juve know they have to seize every possible chance for three points.

“We’ve started the season well and taken a lot of points, but there are still plenty of games to play and we need to hang in there,” said Ghanaian Kwadwo Asamoah.

Lazio may take heart from Inter’s stunning 3-1 defeat of the champions two weeks ago, but the form of Vladimir Petkovic’s side has been inconsistent. Having suffered a first away

defeat to Napoli, in which Edinson Cavani scored a memorable hat-trick in a 3-0 win, Petkovic could only look on helpless as his side were humbled 4-0

by Sicilian side Catania two weeks ago.

That reverse came on the back of a 1-1 home draw to Torino and a 2-0 defeat away to Fiorentina. In all, Lazio have amassed only nine points from a possible 22 on their travels this season-and the statistics against Juve do not make good reading.

In a total of 68 matches away to the Old Lady of Turin, Lazio have won only eight times and drawn 17. In last season’s corresponding fixture Juve prevailed 2-1 thanks to a late freekick from Alessandro Del Piero, a result which allowed the hosts to retain top spot until the end of the season. On paper, Juve will be hard to beat but a shock defeat would boost both Inter and Napoli ahead of their respective match-

es. Napoli welcome an AC Milan side which is enduring its worst start to the season in living memory. Napoli, too, have suffered their fare share of away defeats but rolled up their sleeves to secure a gutsy 4-2 win against Genoa last week to move to within a point of Inter.

Both AC Milan forward Stephan El Shaarawy and Napoli striker Edinson Cavani are top of the Serie A scoring charts on eight goals apiece and are attracting interest from some of the top clubs in Europe. El Shaarawy is in rude health, having scored Italy’s only goal in a 2-1 friendly defeat to France on Wednesday, but after 12 games Massimiliano Allegri’s men sit 13th on just 14 points, 17 adrift of Juventus.

Inter, meanwhile, will have to get back on the winning trail if they are to keep pace with Juve and keep Napoli at bay.

But defender Javier Zanetti believes last

week’s defeat will not define their season. “You have to accept the result, Atalanta played well,” said the Argentinean.

“They scored their second and third goals when we were on top, but that’s part of the game and it won’t alter the path we’re on.” Cagliari’s last outing was a scoreless draw at home to Catania but on their last travels the Sardinians lost 4-1 to Fiorentina. The Fiorentina v Atalanta match, meanwhile, could produce one of the tightest contests this weekend. Both sides have won their last five fixtures, with La Viola notably accounting for Lazio and Milan and Atalanta claiming memorable wins over Inter and Lazio.

Tomorrow’s late match is the Genoese derby between Sampdoria and Genoa, who sit fourth and third from bottom respectively, and could decide the fate of the hosts’ coach Ciro Ferrara. — AFP

Qatar Airways lands on Barcelona shirts MADRID: Barcelona, until recently one of the few clubs in world soccer whose players did not display a corporate logo, will switch to Qatar Airways as their official shirt sponsor next season, the Spanish club said yesterday.

The airline’s logo will replace Qatar Foundation on the front of their strip, the club said in a statement on their website (www.fcbarcelona.com).

The change is part of a controversial sponsorship agreement signed with Qatar Sports Investment (QSI) last year. Barca signed what was then the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal in soccer, worth 30 million euros ($36.5 million) a year and helping to promote the Gulf nation that will host the 2022 World Cup. ìQatar Foundation has been the beneficiary of the contract (signed with QSI) for the last two years and starting from July 1 it is going to

become Qatar Airways,’ Barca vice president Javier Faus told the club’s television channel. ìQSI has given the rights of our main sponsorship to Qatar Airways. We are happy to accept the change.

They are a global company and we share many of the values they have. ‘Beyond that, they have expressed their intentions to increase their investment in Catalunya.’ As part of the deal with QSI, Qatar Foundation replaced the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Barca’s shirts, with the UNICEF logo being relegated to the back below the number and player’s name. Barca pay the organization 1.5 million euros ($2 million) a year to display their name. Barca are one of four Spanish top-flight clubs to be owned by their members, along with Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna. — Reuters

Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham Spanish league preview

Beckham’s team deny talk of Australia move LONDON: David Beckham’s representatives have shot down claims made by the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) that they were negotiating a move to the A-League for the former England captain. According to FFA officials, the approach was made in relation to the 37-year-old LA Galaxy midfielder playing in the A-League during the current 2012-13 season. “There are absolutely no plans to play in Australia,” Beckham’s management team said in a statement released to Sky Sports in England yesterday.

“David is completely focused on the MLS playoffs and winning another Championship with the Galaxy.” That poured cold water on the FFA’s statement that they had been contacted by the player’s agent and begun negotiations with one of the sport’s iconic names.

“The approach from David Beckham’s people is another sign of how much the A-League has grown in stature on a global basis,” the FFA said earlier yesterday. “Beckham is a superstar on the world stage and he would be another massive signing for the A-League after the arrivals of Alessandro Del Piero,

Emile Heskey and Shinji Ono.” Local media in Australia had reported that Beckham was interested in a 10-game deal at the conclusion of the Major League Soccer season.

Beckham’s Galaxy, reigning Major League Soccer champions, face the Seattle Sounders next week in the second leg of their Western Conference final after winning the home leg 3-0. Beckham is out of contract at the end of the MLS season in December and has already been linked with the New York Red Bulls by American media, who speculate the move would allow his former popstar wife Victoria to pursue a fashion career.

Despite the FFA’s disclosure, three Australian clubs had already distanced themselves from the former Real Madrid, Manchester United and AC Milan midfielder.

“That’s great if he is coming,” Melbourne Victory coach Ange Postecoglou told local media. “Would we be interested? Nah.” Western Sydney Wanderers executive chairman Lyall Gorman told Fairfax Media: “If we were approached, we would go through the normal process. — Reuters

Free-scoring Barcelona should watch defense MADRID: Barcelona have only dropped two points so far this season, rolling out victories to open up an eight-point lead over rivals Real Madrid, but defender Gerard Pique admits that they are still vulnerable at the back. The Catalan side’s gung-ho style under new coach Tito Vilanova, which has sometimes left only two in defense as both full-backs surge forward, has led to an average of more than three goals a game, with 36 amassed to date.

But as they prepare to take on Zaragoza today, Pique expressed concern that they were also conceding goals too easily. “It has almost been as though they (opponents) score against us every time they attack and I am not sure why but it is something that we need to think over,” he said. “We are also scoring more than last season and so, of course, the more attack-minded you are, the more you risk, but we need to improve at the back.” Barca have leaked 14 goals so far-the most at this stage of the season in 12 years. Injuries have been partly to blame,

although Pique returned to the centre of defense in last weekend’s win over Mallorca and now Carles Puyol is in line for a starting place.

Real Madrid dropped behind after a slow start but have now picked up speed with Cristiano Ronaldo returning to form but Pique believes that Barca are stronger with Lionel Messi. “I respect those who believe that Cristiano Ronaldo deserves to be European Player of the Year but I live with Leo and he is like an alien and Cristiano would be the best human,” he said. “I was a team-mate of Cristiano’s at Manchester (United) and he is a hard worker but alongside Messi he doesn’t compare. “One day Messi will retire and what I believe is special about him is that others like Maradona who have won world cups have had ups and downs. “He (Maradona) was not even half as good as Messi when he was at Barca and I think that already for what he has achieved he deserves to be called the best ever.” — AFP

SPORTS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Silverware only measure of City success for Milner MANCHESTER: James Milner believes Manchester City have to repay their loyal supporters by continuing to bring in trophies as he nears a return to action ahead of the Premier League match at home to his former club, Aston Villa today. Roberto Mancini’s men will be looking for three points to keep on the tails of league leaders and rivals Manchester United, while City also welcome Real Madrid to Eastlands on Wednesday for a must-win Champions League group tie.

Some critics have suggested that winning the Premier League last season has quashed some of City’s desire to lift trophies as they face a second-successive group exit from the Champions League unless they beat Real next week to keep their slim hopes alive. But Milner, who thanked fans for their backing while he has been out injured, believes the onus is on City to keep rewarding loyal supporters who backed the club through its more unsuccessful days, and that is what keeps driving them. “I just want to go out and play as well as I can for City and our supporters and hopefully keep the trophies coming,” Milner said.

“Our fans turn out in big numbers whether it’s at home where the games are always sold out-or away and overseas where they always travel in their thousands, so we want to do the best we can for them and repay that backing. “They were here when we weren’t winning things for so many years, so it’s nice we are now and as I say, that’s not a feeling we could ever get tired of.” The England international has missed City’s last four games owing to a combination of a one-game suspension following a red card and then a hamstring injury suffered in the warm-up before their clash with West Ham. Milner revealed he is now in full training and could face Aston Villa ahead of a big week for the Premier League champions.

Premier League hots up at both ends of the table LONDON: The battle for the Premier League title may be compelling, with three heavyweights in contention, but the fight to avoid relegation from English football’s topflight is nearly as fierce. At the top, leaders Manchester United travel to Norwich today with a two-point advantage over champions Manchester City, at home to Aston Villa. European champions Chelsea, a point further back in third, travel to surprise package West Brom, an impressive fifth in the table, in a match that pits Blues boss Roberto di Matteo and the Baggies Steve Clarke, once an assistant manager at Stamford Bridge, against their former clubs.

In an era where Premier League players are routinely criticized for being primarily concerned with their pay packets, United veteran Rio Ferdinand said the lure of silverware remained as strong as ever. “It doesn’t matter how much money you have, at the end of your career, what you will be most proud of are your achievements,” said Ferdinand. “If you have won things and continue to win things for this great club, that is something to talk about. I wouldn’t sit down and talk about how much money I have.”

It was a point echoed by City winger James Milner, who said: “Our fans turn out in big numbers. “They were here when we weren’t winning things for so many years so it’s nice that we are now and as I say, that’s not a feeling we could ever get tired of,” the England international added. There will be plenty of attention at Eastlands on City and England goalkeeper Joe Hart, beaten on four occasions by striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic during Sweden’s 4-0 friendly international win in midweek, with the striker’s stunning scissor-kick fourth set to become a staple of all great goal compilations. But there will be a different sort of grim fascination in watching bottom of the table QPR welcome second-bottom Southampton to Loftus Road as both clubs battle to remain in the lucrative top flight. West London club QPR have yet to win in 11 Premier League matches this season while Southampton have just one victory to show for their efforts since ending seven years’ of Premier League exile. —AFP

“I’ve been progressing well and I’m back training so I’m hoping to be available for Villa,” he said. “My hamstring was a little tight before the game at West Ham and hadn’t felt quite right in the days leading up to the game. “I’d had some treatment because it happens from time to time-then you play and it’s OK, but I went to do a sprint in the warm-up, it didn’t feel right and I made the decision not to carry on which I think has been proved correct. “If I’d have played, it would have probably gone during the game and I could have been out for a lot longer. As it was, it was just ten days or so before I started light training again and now everything feels fine.”

Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke is hoping to earn the bragging rights over Belgium international team-mate Vincent Kompany again. The 21-year-old helped his side to a 4-2 victory over City in a League Cup encounter in September and is relishing the prospect of facing his compatriot in the Premier League.

“It will be good to come up against Vincent Kompany, who I play with for Belgium,” said Benteke. “He is a brilliant central defender, one of the very best in the Premier League. I am looking forward to playing against him. There won’t be any texting before the game though. I am focused on the game for Villa.”

However, Benteke insists his side will not be thinking back to their League Cup triumph to motivate themselves for the game.

“The cup tie won’t have any bearing on this match,” he said. “In football, you have to concentrate on the present-not the past or the future. “All you can affect is the present moment. We are totally focusing on this match, not looking back at the cup win.

“We are motivated for every game. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Manchester United, Manchester City, anyone, we are going out to try and get a good result.— AFP

Di Matteo defiant ahead of West Bromwich clash LONDON: Roberto di Matteo has already been forced to dismiss suggestions Chelsea are heading for yet another November slump but there is no doubt his side are in need of three points when they visit fast-improving West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League today. When the Blues faced Manchester United at Stamford Bridge last month, they knew victory would take them seven points clear of Alex Ferguson’s team. Instead they fell to a defeat that came with the added cost of red cards for Branislav Ivanovic and Fernando Torres.

And, having drawn their subsequent two league games, the European champions now lie in third place, three points adrift of league leaders United. Already parallels are being drawn with last season when Chelsea’s domestic decline continued until the New Year and ultimately led to the dismissal of Andre Villas-Boas, di Matteo’s predecessor.

Former Chelsea and Italy midfielder di Matteo is well aware his side cannot afford to lose more ground. However, their efforts to claim a first win in four league games will not be helped by the absence of captain John Terry, who is out for several weeks after injuring his knee in last weekend’s draw with Liverpool. Gary Cahill and David Luiz are expected to partner each other in central defence, but attention will also be focused on Torres after Luiz urged the club to recruit Atletico Madrid striker Radamel Falcao.

The Blues have been strongly linked with the forward who scored a hat-trick against di Matteo’s side in the European Super Cup in August and is believed to have a buy-out clause in his contract worth around £50 million ($79 million). And Luiz was once again impressed by the forward during Brazil’s 1-1 draw in midweek with Falcao’s Colombia. “He would fit perfectly in to the squad,” said Luiz. “We would all be happy (if he signed) because Falcao would undoubtedly be a great player for our team. He is very difficult to stop. He is an excellent striker.” Frank Lampardwho has been linked with a move to Chinese club Guizhou this week-and Ashley Cole remain doubtful through injury.

West Brom’s decision to part company with di Matteo in February 2011, has worked out well for both parties according to defender Jonas Olsson. The Swede has enjoyed playing for both managers but believes di Matteo’s move to Chelsea, where he has won the FA Cup and Champions League, combined with West Brom’s change in managerial policy has produced dividends. —AFP

Matches on TV (Local Timings) English Premier League Arsenal v Tottenham Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 5

15:45

Reading v Everton Abu Dhabi Sports HD 8

18:00

Newcastle v Swansea Abu Dhabi Sports HD 7

18:00

Man City v Aston Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3

18:00

QPR v Southampton Abu Dhabi Sports HD 9

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West Brom v Chelsea Abu Dhabi Sports HD 5

18:00

Liverpool v Wigan Abu Dhabi Sports HD 4

18:00

Norwich v Man United Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 5

20:30

Osasuna v Malaga Aljazeera Sport +2

Spanish League

18:00

Valencia v RCD Espanyol Aljazeera Sport +10

20:00

Barcelona v Real Zaragoza Aljazeera Sport +2 Aljazeera Sport 2 HD

22:00

Real Madrid v Athletic de Bilbao Aljazeera Sport +2 Aljazeera Sport 2 HD Italian League Juventus v Lazio Aljazeera Sport +1 Aljazeera Sport 1 HD Napoli v AC Milan Aljazeera Sport +1 Aljazeera Sport 1 HD

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20:00

22:45

German League Hannover 96 v SC Freiburg Abu Dhabi Sports HD

17:30

Borussia v VfB Stuttgart Abu Dhabi Sports HD

17:30

Eintracht v Augsburg Abu Dhabi Sports HD

17:30

Nuremberg v Bayern Munich Abu Dhabi Sports HD

17:30

Dortmund v SpVgg Gr F¸rth Abu Dhabi Sports HD

17:30

Hamburger SV v FSV Mainz Abu Dhabi Sports HD

17:30

Bayer 04 v Schalke 04 Abu Dhabi Sports HD

20:30

French League PSG v Stade Rennais Aljazeera Sport +4

19:00

AC Ajaccio v FC Sochaux Aljazeera Sport

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Brest v Bastia Aljazeera Sport +10

22:00

ES Troyes AC v Nancy Aljazeera Sport

22:00

Valenciennes v Montpellier Aljazeera Sport +4

22:00

Evian Thonon v Saint Etienne Aljazeera Sport +4

22:00

sports

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Bills shut down Tannehill, Dolphins Third consecutive loss for Miami LOS ANGELES: Leodis McKelvin had a 79-yard punt return and Rian Lindell booted four field goals as the Buffalo Bills defeated Miami 1914 Thursday to kick off week 11 of the National Football League season. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick had 168 passing yards and C J Spiller compiled 91 rushing yards on 22 carries for Buffalo, who snapped a three-game losing streak. The Bills also posted their first win against an AFC East division opponent in four attempts this season.

Miami rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill threw a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Davone Bess at Ralph Wilson Stadium. But Tannehill was intercepted twice in the game’s final two minutes, sealing the Dolphins’ third consecutive loss. He came into the game needing 232 passing yards to surpass Dan Marino for the most by a rookie in Miami history. The Dolphins have been very good defensively for most of the year but they have slowed in recent weeks thanks to struggles in their defensive game.

The win moves Buffalo into a tie with Miami for second place in the AFC East with a 4-2 record. The Pittsburgh Steelers also hope to win this weekend to gain a share of first in the AFC North. But Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger went down with a shoulder and rib injury in week 10, depriving one of the NFL’s most heated rivalries of a little of its grandeur. The Steelers have decided to go with Byron Leftwich at quarterback in the divisional matchup against the first place Baltimore Ravens on one of several key NFL matchups tomorrow.

Pittsburgh are 0-4 against the Ravens without two-time Super Bowl winner Roethlisberger. The Steelers enter tomorrow night’s contest trailing Baltimore by one

game for first place as Leftwich will make his first NFL start since September 2009 with Tampa Bay. The Ravens are coming off a 55-20 rout last Sunday of the Oakland Raiders. Torrey Smith caught two touchdown passes for a total of 67 yards and Dennis Pitta added five catches for 67 yards and a score for the Ravens, who established a new franchise record for most points in one game.

Indianapolis rookie quarterback Andrew Luck will face veteran quarterback Tom Brady for the first time when the Colts battle the New England Patriots tomorrow. Luck has guided the Colts to four consecutive wins and has won six of his first nine career starts, passing for 2,631 yards and 10 touchdowns while running for 159 yards. Last Sunday against Jacksonville, Luck rushed for two touchdowns in Indianapolis’ 27-10 win. Luck was the top pick in the 2012 NFL draft.

The Philadelphia Eagles will be without their top quarterback Michael Vick when they face the Washington Redskins tomorrow.

Vick suffered a concussion in last week’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Nick Foles is expected to make his first NFL start against the NFC East-rival Redskins at FedEx Field. Foles has hit work cut out for him as the Eagles will be minus four starters because of injuries. Foles made his debut in a 38-23 home loss to the Cowboys, in which he completed 22 of his 32 pass attempts for 219 yards. “Preparation is very important,” Eagles coach Andy Reid said. “Going against a good football team in the Redskins, another NFC East rival, a loud place.

“It’s important that he has a silent countdown and understands that and that he has his fundamentals down and knows his game plan.” —AFP

NEW YORK: Miami Dolphins running back Reggie Bush (center) is tackled by Buffalo Bills middle linebacker Kelvin Sheppard (below) and teammate Nick Barnett (above) during the first half of an NFL football game on Thursday, Nov 15, 2012. —AP

Rookie Luck takes on Brady’s Patriots MIAMI: The league’s finest young quarterback takes on one of the masters of the trade when rookie Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts face Tom Brady and the Patriots in New England tomorrow. Luck came into the league this year as the number one draft pick and with a stellar reputation from his college career at Stanford. His coming to a young Colts team going through a major rebuilding, with a new coaching staff and following the departure of his predecessor Peyton Manning, meant high hopes were tempered with calls for patience in his first season.

But the Colts head into tomorrow’s game with the same 6-3 record as the Patriots and with their young quarterback having already thrown for 2,631

yards and 10 touchdowns as part of a totally reworked offense. His success has not surprised many. “I thought that he would come in and do well, it is the rest of the rookies on offense that have exceeded my expectations,” said Colts offensive coordinator and interim head coach Bruce Arians.

“When we played the Dolphins, on the game-winning drive, we have eight first-year players out there.”

Brady didn’t start a game in his first year, back in 2000, and says he is full of admiration for rookies like Luck who are able to learn so quickly the demands of the pro game. “It’s always challenging for those rookies. As a rookie I was like fourth-string and eating nachos before the game in the stands. There wasn’t much of me

thinking of playing so I always admire those rookies who can do it,” he said.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has been impressed with Luck’s ability to improve quickly through his first year.

“It looks like he is getting better and better every week, playing with more and more confidence. He’s got a great core of receivers to throw it to,” he said. “He shows a lot of poise to make all those throws and is very athletic in the pocket, he can scramble to run and can buy more time in the pocket to throw the ball down the field. “He’s playing like a very experienced and poised player.” The Pittsburgh Steelers’ ambitions have taken a blow with the loss of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to shoulder and rib injuries.

The Steelers will have to rely on veteran back-up Byron Leftwich who hasn’t started an NFL game since the 2009 season against the Baltimore Ravens this week. The Ravens lead the AFC North on 7-2 while the Steelers are on 6-3. Injury losses are also likely to impact Monday night’s game in San Francisco between the 49ers (6-2-1) and the Chicago Bears (7-2). Both Bears quarterback Jay Cutler and his 49ers counterpart Alex Smith suffered concussions last week and are at risk of missing the NFC clash with Jason Campbell the deputy for the Bears and Colin Kaepernick Smith’s substitute.

The Atlanta Falcons (8-1) look to bounce back from their first loss off the season when they host the Arizona Cardinals. —Reuters

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Sports

Buffalo Bills shut down Tannehill

47

NBA results/standings Brooklyn 102, Boston 97; NY Knicks 104, San Antonio 100; Miami 98, Denver 93.

DENVER: Kenneth Faried #35 of the Denver Nuggets is charged with an offensive foul as he collides with Shane Battier #31 of the Miami Heat at the Pepsi Center. — AFP

Heat break Denver duck Miami win in Denver for first time in decade DENVER: The defending champion Miami Heat claimed a rare road win over the Denver Nuggets 98-93 on Thursday despite being without the services of eight-times All-Star Dwayne Wade. The Heat led throughout but needed to survive a late Nuggets rally to claim a first victory in Denver since January 2002. Despite trailing by as many as 19 points on the night, the Nuggets (4-5) were just one behind with 65 seconds remaining but Danilo Gallinari’s wide-open three-point shot fell woefully short. Norris Cole then stuck a dagger in the home fans heart by nailing a triple of his own just 14 seconds later after three-time league MVP and eight-times All-Star Lebron James trusted him with the shot and fed him the ball.

“We just have high self esteem and we have confidence in everybody’s ability that is on the floor,” James, who usually loves making the clutch plays down the stretch, said of the play. “I was happy to see him knock it down. “They made their run, they’re a great team at home but we were able to withstand them,” James told reporters. Wade sat out the contest at the Pepsi Center in Denver after spraining his left foot earlier this week against the Los Angeles Clippers but the Heat overcame his absence to move to 73. James took charge for the Heat, leading the team with 27 points, seven rebounds and 12 assists and he was helped by Shane Battier (18 points), Chris Bosh (14) and Mike Miller (12) in what was an impressive team performance.

The Heat were on fire from distance, claiming 39 points at 48 percent from outside the three-point arc compared to the Nuggets 18 points at 30 percent. But James preferred to talk up a better defensive performance by Miami, who have regularly allowed over 100 points this season. “In order for us to win throughout the course of the season we have to defend,” James said. “We’ve had some slippage early in the season but the first thing about it is we

own it and we know it. “It’s not just coming from the coaching staff.

We know our staple is defense, we know it’s going to give us the best opportunity to win, to defend and rebound and I was glad to see we got back to that tonight.” It wasn’t all great news for the Heat with Mario Chalmers playing just seven minutes for Miami before succumbing to injury.

UNBEATEN KNICKS Raymond Felton scored 25 points as the New York Knicks rallied to beat the San Antonio Spurs 104-100 on Thursday to remain undefeated. J R Smith added 17 points, Jason Kidd had 14 and Tyson Chandler 13 for the Knicks (6-0), who closed on a 22-11 run to remain the NBA’s lone unbeaten team. Tony Parker led San Antonio (7-2) with 19 points and 12 assists. Kawhi Leonard added 16 points and Tim Duncan had 14 points and 14 rebounds. Smith and Kidd hit consecutive 3-pointers to give the Knicks a 100-95 lead with a minute left in the game.

BROOKLYN 4TH STRAIGHT WIN Brooklyn won its fourth straight game after Johnson made the tiebreaking basket with 3:03 left, Deron Williams and Brook Lopez each scored 24 points in the Nets’ 102-97 victory over the Boston Celtics. Williams had eight assists and made all nine free throws on a night Paul Pierce had two huge misses in the final minute for the Celtics, who played without injured point guard Rajon Rondo.

Johnson finished with 19 points and eight rebounds for the Nets.

Pierce scored 22 points and Leandro Barbosa had 17 in place of Rondo, who was out with a sprained right ankle. Kevin Garnett added 14 points but Boston had its three-game win streak snapped and lost to the Nets for just the third time in 21 meetings.— Agencies

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L NY Knicks 6 0 Brooklyn 5 2 Boston 5 4 Philadelphia 4 4 Toronto 2 6 Central Division Milwaukee 5 2 Chicago 5 3 Indiana 3 6 Cleveland 2 6 Detroit 1 8 Southeast Division Miami 7 3 Charlotte 4 3 Atlanta 3 4 Orlando 2 5 Washington 0 7 Western Conference Northwest Division Oklahoma City 6 3 Minnesota 5 3 Denver 4 5 Utah 4 5 Portland 3 5 Pacific Division LA Clippers 6 2 Golden State 4 4 Phoenix 4 5 LA Lakers 3 5 Sacramento 2 6 Southwest Division Memphis 6 1 San Antonio 7 2 Dallas 5 4 Houston 4 4 New Orleans 3 3

PCT 1.000 .714 .556 .500 .250

GB 1.5 2.5 3 5

.714 .625 .333 .250 .111

0.5 3 3.5 5

.700 .571 .429 .286 0

1.5 2.5 3.5 5.5

.667 .625 .444 .444 .375

0.5 2 2 2.5

.750 .500 .444 .375 .250

2 2.5 3 4

.857 .778 .556 .500 .500

2 2.5 2.5