5 Jan

IPT IO N SC R SU B

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

9

14

Firebrand Shiite cleric Sadr visits Baghdad church

150 Fils

SAFAR 23, 1434 AH

In ‘rape capital’ Delhi, women turn to self-defense

No: 15679

47

Australia rue run outs despite taking lead

Egypt seizes US-made arms bound for Gaza Uprising leaves Libya awash in weapons

EL-ARISH: Egyptian authorities seized six US-made missiles in the Sinai Peninsula yesterday that security officials said were likely smuggled from Libya and bound for the Gaza Strip.

Libya’s 2011 uprising and subsequent civil war left the country awash in weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades, automatic rifles and other munitions.

Since the end of the country’s eight-month conflict, smugglers have transferred some of the weapons to Islamic militants in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, which has faced a security vacuum since the country’s own uprising, and from there onward in underground tunnels to neighboring Gaza. Security officials said that police working on a tip from local Bedouin discovered the six US made missiles hidden in a hole in the desert outside the northern Sinai city of El-Arish before dawn yesterday.

They said the anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles have a range of up to two kilometers. The officials, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak to media, did not specify the make of the weapons. Over the past year, Egypt’s Interior Ministry has confiscated hundreds of weapons smuggled from Libya, often near the Egyptian city of Marsa Matrouh, which is located along the Mediterranean coastal highway some 430 kilometers northwest of Cairo.

Last month, security officials seized 17 French-made missiles near El-Arish, some 750 kilometers east of Marsa Matrouh along the coast, before they could be smuggled through tunnels to the Gaza Strip. Gaza has been under an IsraeliEgyptian blockade since the militant Hamas group took over in 2007 following an election win two years earlier.

Egyptian security often turn a blind eye to the smuggling of goods to Gaza, which ranges from cars to diapers to food, but have come down harder on weapons smuggling.

Meanwhile, the US State Department has provided funding to US Customs and Border Protection to conduct training for officials from the Libyan Ministry of Defense and the Customs Authority with the aim of reducing the illicit transfers of weapons across borders. - AP

GAZA: Palestinians wave yellow Fatah flags during celebrations marking the 48th anniversary of the Fatah movement in Gaza City yesterday. — AP (See Page 7)

Walking ‘linked’ to fewer strokes NEW YORK: Women who walk at least three hours every week are less likely to suffer a stroke than women who walk less or not at all, according to research from Spain that looked at thousands of people. While the current study, which appeared in the journal Stroke, cannot prove that regular walking caused the fewer strokes, it contributes to a small body of evidence for potential relationships between specific kinds of exercise and risk for specific diseases.

Past studies have also linked physical activity to fewer strokes, which can be caused by built-up plaque in arteries or ruptured blood vessels in the brain. “The message for the general population remains similar: regularly engaging in moderate recreational activity is good for your health,” lead author Jose Maria Huerta of the Murcia Regional Health Authority in Spain told Reuters Health.

Max 19º Min 07º

Women who walked briskly for 210 minutes or more per week had a lower stroke risk than inactive women but also lower than those who cycled and did other higher-intensity workouts for a shorter amount of time.

In all, nearly 33,000 men and women answered a physical activity questionnaire given once in the mid1990s as part of a larger European cancer project. For their study, Huerta and his team divided participants by gender, exercise type and total time spent exercising each week. The authors checked in with participants periodically to record any strokes. During the 12year follow-up period, a total of 442 strokes occurred among the men and women. The results for women who were regular walkers translated to a 43 percent reduction in stroke risk compared to the inactive group, Huerta said. There was no reduction seen for men based on exercise type or frequency. — Reuters

‘Fake’ photo of Delhi rape victim goes viral THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The father of a student in south India has complained to police after Internet users circulated a photo of his daughter on social media claiming it was the Delhi gang-rape victim, officers said yesterday. A picture tribute to the dead Delhi woman, who was repeatedly raped on a moving bus on December 16 and thrown out of the vehicle in a crime that appalled the nation, has gone viral on Facebook.

Her name and identity have been withheld by police and the media in line with a law that entitles victims of sex crime and their families to anonymity to protect them from social stigma. Vinayakumar, an assistant commissioner in the cyber crime unit of Kerala police in south India, said that the

photo used in the Facebook tribute was a fake and had caused distress.

“We have received a complaint from the father stating that the photograph uploaded on Facebook as the Delhi rape victim picture was fake,” the officer, who goes by one name said. “The picture used was his daughter’s photograph uploaded with her Facebook profile. We have directed Facebook officials to delete the photograph and help us to track the culprits,” he added. The brutal gang-rape of the 23-yearold medical student in New Delhi on December 16 has led to a bout of national soul-searching over the treatment of women in Indian society and provoked daily protests. — AFP

LOCAL

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Kuwait’s petrochem capacity grows at 16% GPCA data shows sector exports account for 48% of state’s non-oil export KUWAIT: The Gulf Petrochemicals & Chemicals Association (GPCA) has released 2011 data which show that Kuwait’s petrochemicals capacity grew at 16% compound annual growth rate between 2007 and 2011 to reach 7.6 million tons last year.

According to latest GPCA data available, petrochemicals and chemicals exports accounted for 48% of Kuwait’s non-oil export value in 2010. This is an increase of 66% from 2009 data. Volume wise the share of petrochemicals and chemicals exports in 2010 reached 61% or 3.9 million tons. Compared to the export volume in the previous year this is an increase of 38%.

“GCC petrochemicals sector is continuing to demonstrate strong growth in spite of challenging market conditions, especially deepening economic woes in Europe and other key markets. The GPCA annual data provide a comprehensive overview of the major sector developments in each of the Gulf states, and we are happy to announce its latest findings which are vital indicators of the performance of the regional petrochemicals market,” said Dr Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun,

Dr Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun Secretary General of the GPCA. He added: “We are optimistic about the coming year and aim to overcome uncertainties about the future growth through continued focus on technology, innovation and long-term partnerships.” The findings show

that Kuwait petrochemicals sector employed 5,622 people in 2011, representing 7% of the total number of employees in the GCC petrochemicals sector and 5% of the workforce in the Kuwait’s manufacturing sector.

The workforce nationalization process in the country’s petrochemical sector picked up considerable momentum reaching 26% in 2011, compared to 7% achieved in the manufacturing sector. Growth of nationals in Kuwait’s petrochemicals sector at 4% was actually double the employment growth recorded in the petrochemicals sector.

Meanwhile, the GPCA data show that petrochemicals capacity is continuing to expand in the GCC. Regional capacity grew by 10% last year, reaching 121 million tons per annum, according to the report. Between 2007 and 2011 regional petrochemicals capacity expanded at 13% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR).

Petrochemicals accounted for 43% of GCC’s non-oil export value in 2011, registering 33% growth over 2010. Quoting the National Statistical Departments of GCC States, the GPCA data says chemical and

related products exported from the GCC equaled $44.7 billion.

The data show that while the contribution of petrochemicals sector to the GCC GDP in 2011 was just 1.5%, the sector represented the fast growing part of the regional economy, creating additional jobs on yearly basis. In fact, employment in the sector grew by 15% over 2010 and reached 79,255 employees.

The number of GCC nationals employed in the petrochemical sector grew by 11% last year, totalling 34,564 citizens. According to the GPCA data, contribution of petrochemicals was quite significant in the manufacturing sector, accounting for 17% of the manufacturing GDP in 2011. Besides, the GCC petrochemicals sector accounted for 6% of the total manufacturing workforce last year.

In the case of Kuwait, petrochemicals sector contributed 0.49% to its GDP in 2011 as the country’s Real GDP grew 8.2% in 2011 over the previous year. Petrochemicals sector accounted for 10.6% of the manufacturing sector’s contribution to Kuwait GDP in 2011, according to GPCA data.

KUWAIT: Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Undersecretary Dr Adel Al-Falah attended a forum held by the ‘Center for Correcting the West’s Misconceptions about Islam’ to train students studying overseas. The event took place recently at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. —Photos by Fuad Al-Shaikh

News

in brief

Govt solving travel ban issue of citizens KUWAIT: The government has already started serious steps towards solving the problems of around 100,000 citizens who are banned from travelling for failing to pay their debts, said government sources noting that a special committee would be formed to study such cases and work on lifting their travel bans or arrest warrants. Further, the sources explained that all cases would be studies in collaboration between the justice and interior ministries without contacting the concerned citizens until decisions are made to solve their problems.

Road 306 to replace 8th Ring Road Kuwait Municipality recently approved the dismantling of the Eighth Ring Road and developing Road 306 between Wafra and Mina Abdullah to replace it. Kuwait Municipality Director engineer Ahmed Al-Subaih said that the decision to cancel the 8th Ring Road was taken on cabinet instructions. The Ministry of Public Works, Kuwait municipality and KOC were asked to coordinate to take all legal and technical measures to divert the 8th Ring Road so that the privacy and security of the nearby oil facilities in the Burgan oilfield is maintained. Further, Al-Subaih explained that the replacement, Road 306, would be developed to absorb heavy traffic and allocate a special lane for trucks.

KD 254m projects to upgrade transportation network KUWAIT: The Ministry of Communications recently signed contracts with some international companies to develop the Port Public Authority (PPA) as well as to renovate all transportation network between Kuwait and its neighbors, said informed sources.

The sources added that the project includes the implementation of the world’s standard ships and ports safety code, restructure PPA’s training sector, activating the role played by the private sector in various fields including training, developing the current basins in various ports as well as building new ports along Kuwait’s coastal areas in collaboration with the major projects department at the ministry of public works.

Further, the sources added that the cabinet had recently urged PPA to activate the resolution it issued in 2004 pertaining to the construction and development of the Fintas and the Fishermen basins as well as building new ones in Watiya, Benaider, Abu Halifa, Jahra, Subbiya and Kazema. The sources also noted that these KD 254 million worth projects, that are being executed in conjunction with Kuwait Municipality, MPW, the Customs Department, Kuwait Fire Services Directorate (KFSD) and the ministry of communication, are scheduled to be finished by January 2014.

Meanwhile, the manager of the Industrial Environment Department at the Environment

Public Authority (EPA) Eng Mohammed AlEnezi said that a committee presided over by EPA had completed a report on the Eshairej industrial area and submitted it to the Public Authority for Industry (PAI) pending referral to the cabinet with a recommendation to demolish the whole industrial area for its negative

environmental impacts.

In this regard, Al-Enezi explained that the committee recommended removing all 40 industrial facilities at Eshairej and that some of the owners would be compensated, namely those who have contracts with the Ministry of Finance and PAI.

75% of students skipped schools after holiday KUWAIT: Schools across the country recorded a high percentage of students absenteeism during the past couple of days before the weekend in which students voluntarily skipped classes following Tuesday’s New Year’s day holiday.

Despite the Education Ministry’s efforts to tackle the recurring problem in which students connect a national holiday with the following weekend, the average absence rate recorded on the latter day ranged between 45 and 75 percent.

According to Education Ministry insiders, the attendance rate at some schools Thursday did not exceed 20 percent. The problem was evidently noticed

in elementary schools, some of which reportedly had to distribute lunch meals intended for students at local charities due to the high absence rates.

Separately, the MOE’s acting undersecretary Mohammad Al-Kandari made a decision to dismiss 1,600 night school students for repeated absence. The decision was taken following an unscheduled visit by the official to a night studies center Thursday in which no student was reportedly present. The decision came after Al-Kandari reviewed the students’ records which showed that they have exceeded the 15-days limit of absence before they are automatically sacked. — Al-Jarida, Rai

LOCAL

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Gadheer Al-Sabti receiving the honor.

Awatef Al-Bader receives the award

Mohammed Al-Munae receives the honor

Theatre activists share platform KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti Theater Group hosted a ceremony recently to reward performers of the Yamah (university) play and celebrate its members for achievements carried out throughout the year 2012. —Photos by Fuad Al-Shaikh

Veteran theatre activists pose with young activists during a photo call session.

Amiri Tower contract to be signed this month KUWAIT: The Ministry of Health’s Assistant Undersecretary for Public Services and Maintenance Eng Samir Al-Asfour said that a contract to build the Amiri Hospital Tower would be signed this month once the KD 100 million worth project gets the clearance from the Audit Bureau.

“The next step after the Amiri Tower will be signing a project to build Kuwait Cancer Control Center (KCCC) with a total cost of KD 172 million”, added Al-Asfour hoping that this step would be taken in March. AlAsfour said that the budget allocation for each project covers building all facilities such as car parking lots, laundry, kitchens, electricity services, medical equipment, furniture and maintenance for five years.

Al-Asfour said that the radiology center allocated for examining expatriates labor at Fahaheel polyclinic would be temporarily shifted to Mahboula Center until the Fahaheel center completes in rebuilding which is expected in two years. — Al-Anbaa

3 Bedouins face assault charges

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: An Egyptian expat accused three Bedouins of assaulting him and puncturing his ear drums during a fight in Jlaiah area. The expat said the fight began over negotiation about price of fireworks.

Immigration detectives arrested three Egyptian expats and sent them to Nugra police station for forging entry visas.

A 17-year-old Kuwaiti citizen was killed when his car overturned.

An abandoned bomb was found near Virginia camp. The bomb is believed to be remnant of the Iraqi invasion.

Young theatre activists during the celebration

5-man human trafficking racket busted 20 work permits issued using cancelled license KUWAIT: Five people were arrested in connection with a major forgery racket that was involved in selling forged work permits to Asian laborers. According to report, the five released 20 work permits using a suspended license. Investigations got went underway as per directions from the Interior Ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary for Immigration Affairs, Major General Abdullah Al-Rashid, who received information about a cleaning company involved in human trafficking.

The information indicated that the company’s license was used to issue a forged request to hire drivers, based on which a number of work permits were issued and then they were sold to expatriate laborers. The laborers in turn used the forged permits to land in Kuwait without being offered a job.

Migration department detectives first contacted the labor department and found out that the company in question was in suspension. The company’s owner was summoned for investigations during which he divulged information about an Arab man he had hired as a manager for the company and was given authority to sign labor-related documents. The manager was also placed under arrest who admitted that he was working with four other Arab men in forging labor-related documents. Further investigations revealed that the racket collected a total of KD 4,000 from 20 workers, KD200 from each, who came to Kuwait using the fake driver permits. The five suspects will

remain in custody pending trial.

Camp thieves in custody Jahra police arrested three male suspects responsible for multiple thefts reported at camps in Kabad and Al-Mutla areas recently. The suspects in their fifth robbery attempt targeted a camp owned by a police officer who arrived at the scene within minutes after the camp’s keeper called him. The three Gulf nationals admitted to carrying out four successful robberies before their last one. They were referred to the Public Prosecution to face charges.

Man beats son’s bully A man faces assault charges after allegedly beating an elementary school student who had a fight with his son. The Kuwaiti complainant had rushed his son to hospital after picking him up after school to get treated for bruises on his face and left knee. He took his son to the Abu Hlaifa police station afterwards and filed a case against an Egyptian man who reportedly waited outside the school to attack the fifth grader.

Harasser arrested A man sustained mild injuries after confronting a teenager who reportedly jumped into a school bus carrying female students on Thursday afternoon.

The incident took place in Al-Waha where a 40-year-old man rushed to the aid of the panicked students when the

bus stopped outside his house. The suspect reportedly escaped after physically assaulting the good Samaritan who after which reported the incident to local police. The suspect, a 16-year-old Kuwaiti, was later located at his residence in Al-Waha and placed under arrest.

Prisoner’s escape thwarted A mentally unstable man attempted to escape from court after punching his guard before back-up police overpowered him. The man was escorted from the Psychiatric Hospital to the Riggae court for trial in a criminal case filed against him. He was able to overpower his guard and run in an attempt to escape but quick response from back-up officers helped thwart his attempt. He was taken back to custody to face attempted escape charges.

Suicide attempt A man was hospitalized in a critical condition following suicide attempt committed at his workplace in Qashaniya near Abdaly recently. Paramedics and police rushed to a farm in the area where a man reported that his coworker was bleeding from a self-inflicted neck wound. He was rushed to the Jahra Hospital and admitted in the intensive care unit where his condition is reported to be stable. Investigations revealed that financial woes that motivated the Asian man to attempt suicide.

LOCAL

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

New crisis looms over Kuwait budget figures ‘Hidden agenda’ to push extra projects into state plan seen

KUWAIT: Far from the madding crowd and the humdrum of busy mechanical life, people find their pastime in fishing, an all-time hobby for many Kuwaitis. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Full servers behind filing system faults KUWAIT: The automated filing system used by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor faces recurring faults of late due to the fact that its servers have reached their full data capacity.

This was announced by Deputy Manager of the Capital Governorate Labor Department, Abdul-Hakeem Shaaban who said that the servers “in desperate need for updating” which never happened since the system’s inception in 2008.

Workers and companies have complained of delay in procedures at labor departments due to the faults in the electronic system the ministry had introduced to speed up the labor related transactions. “A letter has been sent to Minister Thekra Al-Rashidi detailing the problems found in the system and the best ways to overcome them”, Shaaban said, adding that the letter includes a recommendation to extend the contract for the company operating the system which expired last September.

The ministry requested time to study the letter before making any decisions, Shaaban further indicated.

Top MOI officials to retire in reshuffle KUWAIT: Two top Interior Ministry officers are poised to retire by the end of the month in a prelude to major reshuffles planned by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Hmoud Al-Sabah.

This was published by Al-Rai on Thursday quoting “reliable sources” who indicated that Minister Al-Hmoud “did not request extending the service for Major General Mustafa AlZaabi and Major General Khalil Al-Shamali”, who occupy the posts of Assistant Undersecretary for Traffic Affairs and Assistant Undersecretary for Correctional Institutions Affairs respectively.

The reshuffle which starts sometime this month is set to cover directors and deputy directors and will fill the vacuum left by the two assistant undersecretaries. In this regard, the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity indicated that Assistant Undersecretary for General Security Affairs, Major General Mahmoud Al-Dousary, is expected to be shifted to the traffic affairs department “in order to utilize his long experience in the field which can prove helpful in carrying out strategic plan to end the state’s traffic problem”.

The same sources further indicated that the ministry plans to launch a “comprehensive study” to address the problem of the shortage of staff through measures that will include “simplifying enrollment conditions at the Saad Al-Abdullah Police Academy”. — Al-Rai

KUWAIT: The government faced a new crisis over its alleged failure to provide the parliament’s financial committee with the budget figures for the fiscal year even as the panel’s chairman accused ministers of pushing ‘additional’ funds into the state’s budget for personal benefits.

The government team was expected to outline the figures of the state budget for the fiscal year 2013/2014 during the financial committee’s meeting on Wednesday. The meeting was cut short “after the Finance Ministry representative failed to provide logical explanations to the fact that they were not ready to discuss the topic,” according to chairman Adnan Abdulsamad.

“What happened was not a coincidence and hinted that some government officials “might have hidden plans to force certain projects they can benefit from into the state’s development plan,” he indicated.

While MP Abdulsamad did not provide further explanations about which official means, parliamentary insiders told Al-Rai daily that the subject pertains to one minister “believed to be involved in hidden activities” the nature of which they failed to explain.

In the meantime, other sources from the parliament revealed that some lawmakers have already sent a mes-

sage to HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah Al-Sabah about their displeasure regarding the performance of Minister of Planning and Development, State Minister for Parliament Affairs, Dr Rola Dashti. The unnamed lawmakers complained that Dr Dashti is “crossing the line” of her authority as a minister and “continues to interfere with the legislative authority’s work”, something they warned could lead to a “parliament - cabinet impasses” according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“There are complaints against Minister Dashti who is accused of pushing parliamentary committees to adopt certain projects on the pretext that they would fall in line with the government’s priorities and shun others which in her opinion fall out of the government’s plans”, the sources added. Abdulsamad warned during a press conference on Thursday that the parliament “will keep a close eye” to detect any financial or administrative violation committed on the cabinet’s part. “I’m afraid that the government is deliberately refusing to reveal the budget’s figures so that they won’t become committed to them and later can add extra expenses under the pretence of funding development projects”, Abdulsamad told reporters.

On that regard, the parliamentary insiders who spoke to Al-Rai on condition of anonymity indicated that “suspicious practices committed by one minister” were behind what happened during the financial committee’s meeting on Wednesday.

“A minister overseeing the development plan is accused of seeking to pass certain projects and had met with senior officials at multiple ministries for that purpose”, they said, adding that the subject came to the notice of the financial committee’s members. In other developments, MP Nawaf Al-Fuzai rejected the idea of holding the parliament session on January 10 which is allocated to address the security situation in the country behind closed doors.

“We are dealing with an issue that affects all parts of the society, Kuwaitis and expatriates alike”, AlFuzai said on Thursday, hinting that the public deserves to know “the interior ministry’s responses with regards to alleged failure of the state’s security apparatus to curb crimes”.

Meanwhile, repporteur of the foreign affairs committee MP Taher AlFailakawi hoped that the GCC security agreement is referred to the parliament in time “to be listed on the committee’s schedule for Sunday’s meeting”. — Al-Rai

Asian caught with ‘ice-drug’

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Narcotics detectives at the Criminal Security Department arrested an Asian with possession of ‘Ice drug’ (methamphetamine) and other hallucinating substances, said security sources. Case papers indicate that the detectives had been tipped off about the suspect’s activity in selling the drugs. The suspect was arrested red-handed with small plastic bags containing the drugs. The suspect confessed to possessing the drugs for personal use as well as for trading. A case was filed and further investigations are in progress.

Stabbing case An Ethiopian recently stabbed two citizens in a Jlai’a desert camp for unknown reasons, said security sources. Case papers indicate that the expatriate suspect who works as a shepherd stabbed the two citizens who were later treated in a hospital. A search is on for the culprit and investigations are in progress to unfold the mystery of the suspect’s motives.

Car stolen A search is on for five unidentified suspects who reportedly stole a sports car from Amghara, drove it to a nearby place where they robbed three expatriates of their money and mobile

under construction building in Sharq, said security sources noting that the man was rushed to the Amiri hospital for treatment.

Indian run over A 39-year-old Indian woman was run over by a speeding vehicle along the Airport Road opposite Khaitan, said security sources noting that the woman was taken to Farwaniya hospital’s ICU with a serious head injury.

KUWAIT: The arrested Asian with the narcotics phones in addition to some copper cables from the site they guarded.

Escape bid fails A citizen who is being prosecuted for attempting to murder his family members failed to escape from a court room where he was appearing upon his lawyer’s request to examine his mental state, said security sources. The sources added that the unlucky suspect jumped into another room to flee the court house but found himself in a dead-end since the room had no windows.

Work site accident A 22-year-old construction worker broke his left thigh when he lost control and fell from a height on an

Boy run over A 16-year-old Kuwaiti boy broke his left arm and right foot when he was run over in Dhubaeya, said security sources noting that the young man was taken to Adan Hospital for treatment.

Saudis scuffle Two Saudis, 14 and 19, were recently injured in a fight with others in Saad Al-Abdullah where they sustained head and hand wounds, said security sources. They were both taken to Jahra Hospital for treatment.

Citizen wounded A 22-year-old citizen broke his knee and sustained a head wound in a car collision outside Shuaiba port, said security sources noting that the man was taken to Adan Hospital for treatment.

LOCAL SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

BEIRUT: Sheikh Nadim Hijazi pictured during his visit to KUNA headquarters in Beirut. — KUNA

Lebanese activist lauds Kuwait’s Syria initiative KRCS distributes food, aid to refugees in Jordan BEIRUT: A Lebanese philanthropist lauded Kuwait’s call for hosting an international conference for donors for Syria, due to take place by the end of the month, noting significance of the Gulf state role in easing the hardships of the Syrian people.

Sheikh Nadim Hijazi, the chairman of the Lebanese Al-Istijaba charity, made these remarks during a visit to headquarters of KUNA in the Lebanese capital.

Hijazi, who headed a delegation during the visit, praised HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for his call to hold the convention to aid the Syrians. He also underscored significance of aid provided by Kuwait for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. “The Kuwaiti assistance to the Syrian and Palestinian refugees through a number of associations and charities has been the most generous and has contributed to soothing wounds of thousands of them, “ he affirmed further.

He also praised KUNA’s role in shedding light on plight of the refugees and granted an honorary shield to the bureau chief of the news agency in Lebanon, Mubarak Al-Hajeri, as a symbolic appreciation for these efforts.

Meanwhile, the Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) has distributed food parcels and blankets to some 250 displaced Syrian families out of 10,000 families in Jordan’s Madaba governorate.

The humanitarian campaign began Thursday and will continue for 10 days. Head of KRCS’ field team Jafar Al-Jamali told KUNA that the society’s delegation arrived Madaba and began distributing

relief supplies to the displaced families. Al-Jamali expected the arrival of a new aid convoy carrying about 20 tons of food to Jordan within two weeks. Al-Jamali said that the campaign in Jordan coincides with similar campaigns in Lebanon and Turkey aimed to help Syrian refugee families there, pointing to efforts by the Kuwaiti Red Crescent through the International Federation of Red Cross and Crescent to reach the needy Syrian families inside Syria. — KUNA

VIVA first to launch Samsung GALAXY S III Mini

KUWAIT: President of the International Sports Press Association’s (AIPS) Asia, Faisal Al-Qanaei presents a commemorative plaque to Minister of Communications, State Minister of Housing Affairs Salem Al-Othaina for his support during his tenure as Minister of Social Affairs and Labor to the AIPS Asia conference that concluded last month in Kuwait.

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s fastest-growing telecom operator, VIVA, yesterday announced the launch of the third generation of Samsung’s GALAXY S Series, the Samsung GALAXY S III Mini with two annual subsidy plans tailored to fit customer’s needs. The new device will be available for customers at VIVA’s branches and distributors across Kuwait.

VIVA prides itself for being one of the first companies to launch the latest Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini in Kuwait. In line with its core responsibility as the latest telecommunications company, it is imperative to offer the newest devices to customers and to the wider Kuwaiti community at competitive prices. VIVA is always keen on being a pioneer in offering the Kuwaiti market with the latest products and services and will continue to do so.

The Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini packages come with local calls, local SMS text messages and internet data services. Customers can choose one of two packages and take advantage of the discounted price of the device and the high speed reliable internet service; post paid annual plans are for KD15 where the customer will receive the Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini for KD 29, and for the KD 30 annual plans, customers will receive the device for free.

The Samsung Galaxy SIII is powered by an innovative 1.0 GHz dual-core Cortex A9, and is powered by Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), the latest version of the world’s most popular smartphone operating system, benefitting from fast, fluid and smooth graphics along with a new Google Search(tm) experience featuring Google Now. A beauti-

ful 4-inch Super AMOLED display offers a generous viewing experience that means multimedia and Web content can be viewed in brilliant color and clarity. It features a 5MP main camera and VGA front camera offer users a variety of intelligent camera features and face recognition related options that ensure your special moments are captured easily and instantly. This latest device also includes many attractive features such as ‘S Voice,’ the advanced natural language user interface, to listen and respond to your words. For more information about VIVA’s latest Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini, and any other VIVA promotion, customers can visit any of VIVA’s 14 branches or authorized dealers, or simply visit the website www.viva.com.kw or contact its 24 hour call center at 55102102.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Firebrand Shiite cleric visits Baghdad church

9

Pakistan’s Malala leaves hospital ahead of surgery

12

Drug-fuelled gunman kills 7 in Philippines

14

GAZA: Waving Fatah’s yellow banners, young supporters of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas’ party hold their first mass rally in Gaza since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007. — AFP

Fatah stages mass rally in Gaza Israel fears Hamas could topple Abbas GAZA: President Mahmoud Abbas predicted the end of a five-year split between the two big Palestinian factions as his Fatah movement staged its first mass rally in Gaza with the blessing of Hamas Islamists who rule the enclave. “Soon we will regain our unity,” Abbas, whose authority has been limited to the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the 2007 civil war between the two factions, said in a televised address to hundreds of thousands of followers marching in Gaza yesterday, with yellow Fatah flags instead of the green of Hamas.

The hardline Hamas movement, which does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, expelled secular Fatah from Gaza during the war. It gave permission for the rally after the deadlock in peace talks between Abbas’s administration and Israel narrowed the two factions’ ideological differences. The Palestinian rivals have drawn closer since Israel’s assault on Gaza assault in November, in which Hamas, though battered, claimed victory. Egypt has long tried to broker Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, but past efforts have foundered over questions of power-sharing, control of weaponry, and to what extent Israel and other powers would accept a Palestinian administration including Hamas.

An Egyptian official told Reuters Cairo was preparing to invite the factions for new negotiations within two weeks. Israel fears grassroots

support for Hamas could eventually topple Abbas’ Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank. “Hamas could seize control of the PA any

day,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday. The demonstration marked 48 years since Fatah’s founding as the spearhead of

Ex-security chief ridicules Netanyahu ‘zig-zag’ style JERUSALEM: The former head of Israel’s internal security service said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday was wavering and weak in an unusually personal condemnation of the rightwinger, who enjoys a strong lead in polls ahead of the Jan 22 election. Yuval Diskin, who retired as Shin Bet chief in 2011, last year warned that Netanyahu sought a “messianic” war with Iran.

His new criticism was potentially more potent given that Shin Bet duties include vetting civil servants’ psychological fitness for security posts, though there was no indication Diskin was citing any official assessment of the prime minister. “At play inside Netanyahu, in my opinion, is a mix of ideology, a deep sense that he is a prince of a ‘royal family’ from the Jerusalem elite, alongside insecurity and a deep fear of taking responsibility,” Diskin said in a front-page interview published by Israel’s biggest-selling daily Yedioth Ahronoth.

Ridiculing what he deemed Netanyahu’s “zigzag” style in decision-making, Diskin added that

the prime minister “has no strong core, no tough kernel about which you can say, ‘Know what? In an extreme situation, in a crisis situation, I can follow him. I can trust him.’ Yedioth, which has often editorialized against Netanyahu, published a response by the prime minister’s office dismissing Diskin’s remarks as “fatuous”. The statement accused Diskin of being motivated by politics and resentment at not having been chosen to head the Mossad spy service when he left the Shin Bet. An Israeli official, who declined to be named, played down the impact of Diskin’s remarks. The Shin Bet does not conduct psychological “profiling” of prime ministers, the official said, predicting that the public would perceive Diskin as having voiced his own opinion only. A Diskin confidant, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to Reuters that he had sought the Mossad post, but argued that the former Shin Bet chief saw in it the opportunity “to ensure the right decisions are made on national security”. —Reuters

the Palestinians’ fight against Israel. Its longtime leader Yasser Arafat signed an interim 1993 peace accord that won Palestinians a measure of self rule. Hamas, which rejected the 1993 deal, fought and won a Palestinian parliamentary election in 2006. It formed an uneasy coalition with Fatah until their violent split a year later. Though shunned by the West, Hamas feels bolstered by electoral gains for Islamist movements in neighboring Egypt and elsewhere in the region - a confidence reflected in the fact yesterday’s Fatah demonstration was allowed to take place. “The success of the rally is a success for Fatah, and for Hamas too,” said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri. “The positive atmosphere is a step on the way to regain national unity.”

Fatah, meanwhile, has been riven by dissent about the credibility of Abbas’s statesmanship, especially given Israel’s continued settlementbuilding on West Bank land. The Israelis quit Gaza unilaterally in 2005 after 38 years of occupation.

“The message today is that Fatah cannot be wiped out,” said Amal Hamad, a member of the group’s ruling body, referring to the demonstration attended by several Abbas advisers. “Fatah lives, no one can exclude it and it seeks to end the division.” In his speech, Abbas promised to return to Gaza soon and said Palestinian unification would be “a step on the way to ending the (Israeli) occupation”. — Reuters

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Zimbabwe stops foreign-owned farm seizures HARARE: Zimbabwe’s government said yesterday it will not seize any more foreignowned farms after losing multi-million-dollar compensation claims under a treaty aimed at protecting overseas investments. President Robert Mugabe started giving white-owned farms to landless blacks over a decade ago, a policy that had the unintended result of devastating food output in a country that had been a regional breadbasket.

An estimated 4,000 farmers were thrown off their land without compensation and, while efforts to get legal redress in Zimbabwe failed, some have successfully

sued for compensation in international courts. Lands Minister Herbert Murerwa said that lawsuits brought by foreign investors at the Washington-based International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes had prompted a change in policy. A group of 40 Dutch farmers won a 25 million euro ($32.74 million) claim there against Zimbabwe in 2009 as their farms were covered by the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (BIPPA).

“We have acquired many BIPPA farms, but we are not going to be taking any future farms,” Murerwa told Reuters. A policy docu-

ment tabled by Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party at its annual conference in December showed that out of a total of 153 farms protected by the treaties, 116 farms had already been seized by the government. The government had previously promised not to seize farms protected by BIPPA but continued to evict the farmers, citing Zimbabwe’s constitution which allows authorities to take any land suitable for farming.

Justice for Agriculture (JAG), a group representing the dispossessed farmers, was skeptical about the government’s policy change. “It’s ok to talk, but where is the

action? They previously committed to stop disruptions on the farms but haven’t done so. They have already taken more than twothirds of BIPPA farms,” JAG chief executive John Worsley-Worswick said.

“They just want to create a false perception that they will now respect property rights in order to attract investment. If they were sincere, they would have compensated the Dutch farmers back in 2009, when they undertook to pay within 28 days, but they haven’t.” He said that last month a Dutch farmer was shot and injured on a BIPPA-protected farm. — Reuters

Yemen tribesmen protest against US drone strikes SANAA: Dozens of armed tribesmen took to the streets in southern Yemen yesterday to protest against drone strikes that they say have killed innocent civilians and increased anger against the United States. A drone killed at least three suspected Al-Qaeda militants including a local commander in the town of Redaa on Thursday, the fifth strike by a pilotless plane in the area in 10 days. One tribesman participating in a sit-in in front of the government administration building in Redaa told Reuters by telephone that at least seven innocent civilians were killed in the recent raids. “If the authorities don’t stop the American attacks then we will occupy the government institutions in the town,” he said.

Another said: “The government has opened up the country to the Americans so that they can kill Muslims.” The protesters were carrying rifles, as Yemeni tribesmen usually do, and there was no report of violence.

Separately, an army officer was kidnapped by suspected drug traffickers in Yemen’s eastern region of Hadramout, a local security official told Reuters, declining to be identified. The kidnapping, which happened in the desert near the Saudi border, was thought to be a revenge act against an army operation against drug trade in the area three days ago that forced a group of traffickers to flee, the source said.

ORDERS Yemeni officials will not comment on who exactly carries out drone attacks and on whose orders. Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi spoke openly in favor of the strikes during a trip to the United States in September. Praised by the US ambassador in Sanaa as being more effective against AlQaeda than his predecessor, Hadi was quoted as saying that he personally approved every attack. Hadi has not commented on the most recent strikes.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is considered by Western governments to be the most active and dangerous wing of the global network, and has attempted a number of attacks against US targets. Redaa was the scene in September of the killing of at least 10 civilians including a 10-year-old girl in an air strike that apparently missed its intended target, a car carrying militants nearby, tribal officials and residents said. In 2011, AQAP offshoot, Ansar Al-Sharia (Partisan of Islamic Law), seized a number of towns in the south that were retaken by the government in a USbacked offensive in June. — Reuters

SANAA: A Yemeni pro-democratic female protester shows her hands painted in the colors of her national flag and text reading in Arabic: “We want the implementation of the decisions” during a demonstration in Sanaa, demanding a quicker enforcement of President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi’s latest orders to restructure Yemen’s military. — AFP

Sudan, S Sudan try to defuse tension Deep mistrust remains after civil war and secession KHARTOUM: The leaders of Sudan and South Sudan met yesterday to make another attempt to defuse hostilities after their countries split and restart cross-border oil flows to throw their beleaguered economies a lifeline. Sudan’s Omar Hassan Al-Bashir and South Sudan’s Salva Kiir have both signaled possible concessions at the talks in Addis Ababa to end a stalemate over how to set up a demilitarized buffer zone after the countries came close to war in April. They signed agreements at a meeting in the Ethiopian capital in September to resume oil exports and secure the volatile border, but sharing deep mistrust after fighting one of Africa’s longest civil wars, neither country has implemented the deals.

Both countries badly need the oil exports, for which Juba has to pay Khartoum millions of dollars. But analysts say they also need the confrontation with the other side to shore up domestic legitimacy and divert attention from their crumbling economies and widespread corruption. The African Union, backed by Western powers, urged them to hold talks to try again to reach a deal. Sudan’s state news agency SUNA said late on Thursday Bashir would meet Kiir to discuss “speeding up” implementing the September deals. Kiir said in a speech on New Year’s Eve the South was ready to withdraw its troops.

But diplomats remain skeptical of a quick breakthrough because both countries have a history of signing and then not implementing the agreements. Since April’s flare up, the worst violence since South Sudan seceded in 2011 after a 2005 peace deal ending the civil war, they have pulled back their armies from the almost 2,000 km (1,200 miles) border, much of which is disputed.

Both sides say such a buffer zone is necessary before oil from the landlocked South can flow through Sudanese territory. Juba shut down its entire output of 350,000 barrels a year ago after failing to agree on an export fee.

TRADING ACCUSATIONS They agreed in September not just to set up the buffer zone and restart oil exports but also to open the border for trade and start a monetary cooperation - none of which saw the light of day. South Sudan’s oil minister, Stephen Dhieu Dau, said on Wednesday it would delay resuming oil exports until at least mid-March even if Juba solves all security conflicts with Sudan at the summit - the such first forecast since November. South Sudan accused Sudan on Thursday of launching air strikes on the southern side of their border on Wednesday, wounding several civilians. Sudan’s armed forces were not immediately available for

comment but have regularly denied southern accusations of attacks in the past.

In turn, Sudan accuses South Sudan of supporting rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North) in two border states. Juba denies the accusation and says Sudan is backing militias on its territory. The enmity remains deep and diplomats say both sides tend see such summits, the latest in a series of bilateral talks, more as a way of focusing on the other’s weaknesses, rather than primarily as a way to solve their conflicts. In Sudan, some officials think, diplomats say, Kiir has made a grave mistake by shutting down the oil production, depriving state coffers of 98 percent of revenues, with some saying South Sudan’s leadership might soon run out of money. In Juba, many officials believe that Bashir’s government might collapse due to popular dissent over spiraling inflation and cracks inside his ruling circles. The government said in November it had uncovered a plot attempt against Bashir. Faced with such mutual mistrust, the African Union will try at the summit to get some sort of border security agreement under way to help restart the oil flows.

Once that happens, the hope among diplomats is that both have an incentive to keep talking and sort out their remaining conflicts such as the final status of Abyei and other disputed border regions. — Reuters

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Iraq looks to put squeeze on pudgy police BAGHDAD: Ihsan Ghaidan, a policeman in one of Iraq’s most volatile provinces, admits he stands little chance of promotion and notes his performance is increasingly under the microscope, for one simple reason. He is overweight, and Iraq’s security leaders are not happy. In fact, he is not just overweight-standing 177 cm and weighing 116 kilograms, Ghaidan is obese, according to the US Department of Health’s online body mass index calculator. And Ghaidan is among those whom Iraq’s security forces want to put the squeeze on.

By one measure, the vast majority of soldiers and policemen in his province of Diyala, northeast of Baghdad, are overweight. “My body is not fit, and that is definitely affecting my movement while on duty,” he said. “My movement is usually slow, and especially during raids, to the extent that I sometimes have to stay and guard cars, just in case there is a chase, which I cannot do.” Iraq’s laws regulating the military and police require that all members meet certain health and fitness

requirements, and officials are increasingly demanding that the rules be strictly applied.

According to Dolir Hassan, a provincial councillor in Diyala, which still suffers near-daily violence, between 70 and 80 percent of the police and army in the province are obese. “Most sufferers of this disease are officers, because of the lack of oversight,” he complained. Weight problems are common among Iraqi policemen, largely as a result of lax internal health and fitness standards, little daily exercise, and unhealthy diets heavy on meat and light on greens.

Hassan said in previous decades an overweight officer risked being brought before a supervisory committee that had the power to fire the offending member of the security forces. Now, however, such an apparatus has fallen out of use, but top officials are pushing for tough rules to be applied to the letter. “We ordered, three months ago, to return to old promotion regulations, which require (police) to not be obese, and to be at a

normal weight,” Deputy Interior Minister Adnan Al-Assadi said.

He said that this represented the best hope of reducing weight en masse among the security forces-those who do not comply will not be promoted.

However, in a country where corruption in the security forces remains a key problem, whether the rules will be strictly applied remains an open question. Ex-army officer Abduljabbar Abdulrahman recalled that warnings would be issued to anyone in the police and the army whose weight was ballooning, and officers up for promotion would often be forced to exercise to meet minimum fitness requirements.

At the time, before the 2003 US-led invasion, the Iraqi army still struggled with overweight soldiers, though those were primarily conscripts who were not forced to maintain a healthy weight, Abdulrahman noted. He and others made reference to a report by AlArabiya satellite television, a copy of which was uploaded onto the videosharing website YouTube in August 2011, showing Saddam-era leaders

Firebrand Shiite cleric visits Baghdad church Shiite pilgrims death toll rises to 23 BAGHDAD: Firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr visited a Baghdad church that was the scene of a deadly 2010 attack as well as one of the Iraqi capital’s main Sunni mosques yesterday, an apparent overture to other religious groups as opposition mounts against his rival, Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. The cleric’s stops at the holy sites - a rare public appearance by Al-Sadr outside predominantly Shiite parts of Iraq - came as tens of thousands of protesters angry over perceived second-class treatment gathered in Sunni-dominated areas to maintain pressure against Al-Maliki’s Shiite-led government.

Al-Sadr, wearing his signature black cloak and turban, said he visited the Our Lady of Salvation church to express sorrow at the attack and send a message of peace to Iraq’s Christian community. The visit comes amid rising sectarian tensions a year after the US withdrawal from Iraq.

Al-Sadr grudgingly backed fellow Shiite Al-Maliki following elections in 2010. But last year he joined Iraq’s minority Sunni Arabs and Kurds in calling for Al-Maliki to resign. Al-Sadr, since coming to prominence following the US-led 2003 invasion, has frequently made overtures to Sunnis and others. But militias loyal to him were some of the worst perpetrators of sectarian violence last decade, and he is still viewed with hostility or suspicion by many Sunnis, Kurds and others.

At the church, Al-Sadr sat quietly in the front pew, listening and nodding as Father Ayssar Al-Yas welcomed him. The priest then gave Al-Sadr a tour of the recently renovated church, pointing out places where attackers in 2010 killed priests and worshippers during a church service ambush. Over 50 were killed in the attack, blamed on Sunni extremists.

Al-Maliki himself attended a ceremony to officially reopen the church last month.

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s maverick Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr visits Baghdad’s Our Lady of Salvation Church before heading to the Friday prayers at a Sunni Muslim mosque yesterday. — AFP Al-Sadr’s heavily protected convoy then made its way to the Al-Gailani mosque, one of Baghdad’s most prominent Sunni places of worship, shortly before midday Friday prayers. As he entered the mosque, one worshipper called out that he is “the unifier of Sunnis and Shiites.”

Another hailed him as “the patriot, the patriot.”

Al-Sadr this week spoke up for the Sunni protesters, and echoed that sentiment again yesterday. “We support the demands of the people, but I urge them to safeguard Iraq’s unity,” he said in brief comments inside the mosque following the Sunni imam’s speech and midday

prayers. As he left, women in the courtyard ululated and showered him with candy. Protesters, meanwhile, massed in several Sunni areas around the country.

The demonstrations appeared to be some of the largest in a wave of rallies over the past two weeks that erupted following the arrest of bodyguards assigned to Finance Minister Rafia Al-Issawi, one of the central government’s most senior Sunni officials.

The detention of female prisoners has been a focus of the demonstrations, though the protests tap into deeper Sunni feelings of perceived discrimination and unfair application of laws against their sect by Al-Maliki’s government. Iraqi authorities this week ordered the release of 11 women facing criminal charges and pledged to transfer other women prisoners to jails in their home provinces in a nod to protesters’ demands. But demonstrators yesterday continued to press for more prisoners to be released. Several thousand people took to the streets amid tight security outside Baghdad’s Abu Hanifa mosque after the midday prayers. They demanded the release of detainees, and held banners with slogans against the politicization of the judiciary and calling for an end to corruption.

Their chants included: “Iran out!” - a reference to what many Iraqis see as their neighbor’s influence over the government - and “Nouri Al-Maliki is a liar.” Local TV broadcast what appeared to be tens of thousands of protesters massed along a highway near the western city of Ramadi, which has been the focus of demonstrations and sit-ins in recent weeks. About 3,000 people gathered in the northern city of Mosul, where they called for the release of female prisoners and to end to what they say are random arrests of Sunnis. — Agencies

exercising on camera under the supervision of elite Republican Guard officers.The video, which had around 150,000 views at the time of publication, has highlighted key differences in health and fitness between Saddam-era security forces and their current incarnations.

Those current officers, and their weight problems, are not just an issue in Diyala province, either. Captain Muqdad Al-Mussawi, spokesman for police forces in Najaf province, south of Baghdad, said that the interior ministry’s new rules had been sent to all precincts, while a senior cop in the northern province of Kirkuk said they wanted to force chronically overweight officers to retire. “We have proven that being fat represents a big obstacle to building security institutions, and fighting terrorism and organized crime,” said the top officer, who declined to be identified.

He said the province had instituted guidelines whereby a policeman standing 180 centimeters tall had to weigh between 70 and 75 kilograms. “Security officers must be very fit,” he said. — AFP

Gas station blast kills 11 in Damascus AZAZ: At least 11 people were killed and 40 wounded when a car bomb exploded at a crowded petrol station in the Syrian capital Damascus yesterday, opposition activists said. The station was packed with people queuing for fuel that has become increasingly scarce during the country’s 21-monthlong insurgency aimed at overthrowing President Bashar AlAssad.

The semi-official Al-Ikhbariya television station showed footage of 10 burnt bodies and Red Crescent workers searching for victims at the site. The opposition Revolution Leadership Council in Damascus said the explosion was caused by a booby-trapped car. There was no immediate indication of who was responsible for the bombing in the Barzeh Al-Balad district, whose residents include members of the Sunni Muslim majority and other religious and ethnic minorities. “The station is usually packed even when it has no fuel,” said an opposition activist who did not want to be named.

“There are lots of people who sleep there overnight, waiting for early morning fuel consignments.” It was the second time that a petrol station has been hit in Damascus this week.

Dozens of people were incinerated in an air strike as they waited for fuel on Wednesday, according to opposition sources. In northern Syria, rebels were battling to seize an air base in their campaign against the air power that Assad has used to bomb rebel-held towns. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the uprising and civil war, the United Nations said this week, a much higher death toll than previously thought.

DRAMATIC ADVANCES After dramatic advances over the second half of 2012, the rebels now hold wide swathes of territory in the north and east, but they cannot protect towns and villages from Assad’s helicopters and jets. Hundreds of rebel fighters were attempting to storm the Taftanaz air base, near the highway that links Syria’s two main cities, Aleppo and Damascus. A rebel fighter speaking from near the Taftanaz base overnight said much of the base was still in loyalist hands but insurgents had managed to destroy a helicopter and a fighter jet on the ground. The northern rebel Idlib Coordination Committee said the rebels had detonated a car bomb inside the base. The government’s SANA news agency said the base had not fallen and that the military had “strongly confronted an attempt by the terrorists to attack the airport from several axes, inflicting heavy losses among them and destroying their weapons and munitions”. Rami Abdulrahman, head of the opposition-aligned Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which monitors the conflict from Britain, said as many as 800 fighters were involved in the assault, including Islamists from Jabhat Al-Nusra, a powerful group that Washington considers terrorists. — Reuters

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Seven die as Nigeria army clash with insurgents Boko Haram ravages Nigeria’s northeast MAIDUGURI: Seven people were killed during an insurgent attack on government soldiers in northeast Nigeria, where security forces are fighting Islamist militants, the army said yesterday. At least 44 people have been killed in this restive region of Africa’s top oil producer over the last two weeks in clashes between fighters suspected of belonging to Islamist sect Boko Haram and security forces. “Gunmen attacked 21 brigade troops location at Marte. In the process, one soldier, one policeman and five gunmen lost their lives during an exchange of fire” on Wednesday, military spokesman Sagir Musa told Reuters.

Marte is close to Nigeria’s porous borders with Cameroon and Niger and is about 100 km from Maiduguri, Boko Haram’s headquarters and largest town

in the northeast. Musa said two AK47 rifles, one locally made shotgun, ammunition and machetes were recovered from the attackers. The sect, which is loosely based on the Afghan Taliban, killed hundreds last year in a campaign to impose sharia, or Islamic law. Nigeria’s more than 160 million people are split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.

About 3,000 people have been killed in violence linked to Boko Haram in the last three years, human rights groups say. Boko Haram’s violence remains focused mostly on security forces in the northeast, although its attacks have spread across the north and to the capital Abuja. It is the biggest threat to stability in Africa’s top oil exporter. President Goodluck Jonathan has been unable to

stop the rebellion despite waves of military offensives in the northeast and other parts of northern and central Nigeria where Boko Haram has a strong presence. Jonathan said this week that most suspects behind major bombings in Nigeria had been arrested and attacks by what he called terrorists would be over soon. Security experts believe Boko Haram is not the only threat. An emerging group called Ansaru, known to have had ties with Boko Haram, claimed an attack on a major police barracks in the capital Abuja in November, where it said hundreds of prisoners had been released. The group, which has been labeled a terrorist organization by Britain, has also said it was behind the kidnapping of a French national last week. — Reuters

Different challenges in land-locked CAR, Mali BANGUI: Two land-locked, desperately poor African countries are gripped by rebellions in the north that have left huge chunks of both nations outside of government control. Neighboring countries are rushing troops into Central African Republic only a few weeks after rebels started taking towns but Mali’s government is still awaiting foreign military help nearly one year after the situation there began unraveling. Here’s a look at why there’s been quick action in one country, and not in the other.

THE INSURGENTS The simple answer lies in the vastly different challenges faced by intervention forces. Northern Mali is home to alQaida-linked militants who are stocking weapons and possess stores of Russianmade arms from former Malian army bases as well as from the arsenal of toppled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The local and foreign jihadists there are digging in and training forces in preparation for jihad and to repel an invasion. Central African Republic, by contrast, is dealing with home-grown rebels who are far less organized and have much less sophisticated weapons.

The numbers of troops being sent to Central African Republic are relatively small - Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Gabon are each sending about 120 soldiers. The rebels stopped their advances toward the capital on Dec. 29, perhaps at least in part because of the presence of the foreign troops who have threatened to counterattack if the rebels move closer to Bangui, the capital. In Mali, it will take far more than the 3,000 African troops initially proposed for a military operation to be successful in ousting the militants, analysts say.

THE MISSION The military objectives are also a stark contrast. In Central African Republic, neighboring nations have a mandate to help stabilize the region between rebel-held towns and the part of the country that is under government control. The intervention force will fire

DAMARA: People leave Damara, the last strategic town between the rebels from the SELEKA coalition and the country’s capital Bangui as the commander of the regional African force FOMAC warned rebels against trying to take the town, saying it would “amount to a declaration of war.” — AFP back if fired upon, but so far are not being asked to retake the towns already in rebel hands. The mission in Mali that foreign forces are slowly gearing up for is far more ambitious. It involves trying to take back a piece of land larger than Texas or France where militants are imposing strict Islamic law, or Sharia.

Making things even more complicated there: A military coup last year that created chaos and enabled the rebels to more easily take territory has left the country with a weak federal government and the country’s military with a broken command-and-control structure, and with its leaders reluctant to give real power to the civilians.

“In Mali you have a very undefined mission. What does it mean to retake the country and give it back to government forces that were not able to hold it in the first place?” noted Jennifer Cooke, director of the Africa program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Central African Republic’s situation “is a more limited, defined and frankly somewhat easier mission in the military sense,” she said.

THE TERRAIN Northern Mali is a scorching desert that is unfamiliar to many of the troops who would be coming from the West African regional bloc of countries known as ECOWAS. By contrast, Central African Republic’s neighbors already have been pulled into past rebellions in the country.

Chadian forces helped propel President Francois Bozize into power in 2003 and they have assisted him in putting down past rebellions here. “These forces - particularly the Chadians - have been there before,” Cooke said. “They know the players, they have an interlocutor in Bozize however fragile he is. This is familiar territory to them.” The Economic Community of Central African States, or ECCAS, also already had established a peacekeeping force in Central African Republic known as MICOPAX. “From the beginning, they knew that they needed to have troops on the ground. MICOPAX was already there, had already been deployed there. There was already a structure in place,” said Thierry Vircoulon, project director for Central Africa at the International Crisis Group. — AP

Nigerian poster previews a contentious coming attraction LAGOS: They apparently came when no one was looking and carried out what some now say was an evil deed around the Nigerian capital Abuja. Their crime? They plastered posters. Posters appeared on January 1 promoting President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election in 2015 - a seemingly innocuous gesture, but one capable of setting off major controversy in Africa’s most populous country.

Their emergence has made front-page news, sparking strong denials from the president’s spokesman and suspicion over who could be behind them.

One newspaper quoted an activist suggesting those responsible were “evil-minded,” while another headline declared, “Security Agents Lay Ambush for the Masterminds.” The move stirs up issues at the heart of politics in Nigeria, which includes 160 million people, 250 ethnic groups and Africa’s biggest oil industry. Such issues involve which region of the diverse nation will control the presidency-and the vast oil revenues and patronage that come with it. For some, Jonathan has no right to run in the 2015 vote.Others say it is too early to talk about 2015 polls in a nation that suffers daily electricity blackouts, debilitating corruption and a long list of other developmental shortcomings. It is also facing an insurgency from Islamist extremist group Boko Haram in the northern and central regions that has killed hundreds. The president’s spokesman Reuben Abati told journalists Jonathan had nothing to do with the posters, and some wondered whether it could be his enemies causing trouble. Jonathan “believes that those doing that are playing games,” Abati said. “There is no reason for the president to engage in any form of scaremongering. “He has said that by 2014, his position on the 2015 presidential race would be made public.” The posters, many of which have since been taken down, included a photo of Jonathan with slogans such as “One Good Term Deserves Another.”

Government ‘free-for-all’-One reason Jonathan’s potential 2015 candidacy is so controversial, some argue, is because it was never his turn to be president in the first place. His 2011 election violated “zoning,” essentially a power-sharing agreement meant to see the ruling Peoples Democratic Party rotate its candidate between the mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south every two terms.

Jonathan, who had been vice president, became head of state in 2010 after the death of his northern predecessor Umaru Yar’Adua, who was not able to finish his first term before the presidency returned to the south. The accidental leader ran for office in 2011 elections, handily beating his main rival from the north. Regional issues are certain to again play a role in 2015. Some even argue that Jonathan cannot legally run since that would give him more than the legally mandated two terms of office.His supporters dismiss this, saying he was simply serving out Yar’Adua’s term from 2010-2011.

A spokesman for the Arewa Consultative Forum, a group of influential northern politicians, said he did not believe Jonathan was behind the posters and that it was too early to talk about who would run in 2015. “The idea of starting the politics of 2015 now-that is two and a half years ahead-it is ... capable of detracting from governance,” Anthony Sani said. For Clement Nwankwo, who heads the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre watchdog group, one of the disappointments of Jonathan’s term is that he has not been able to further put the idea of zoning to rest. Achieving significant progress with development and infrastructure could have helped demonstrate it does not matter where the president comes from, he said.

According to Nwankwo, Jonathan has failed to do so in a country where most citizens live on less than $2 per day.

“Government is seen today as a free-for-all where officials are basically plundering national resources without anyone calling them to account,” Nwankwo said. Some argue a northern president would be better placed to end the Boko Haram insurgency, but Nwankwo said that would not get to the root of such problems in a country that also saw major unrest in the oil-producing south before a 2009 amnesty deal. “What does it matter where a president comes from if it is all still the same vicious cycle of corruption?” he asked. — AFP

International SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Cost of combating climate change surges OSLO: An agreement by almost 200 nations to curb rising greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 will be far more costly than taking action now to tackle climate change, according to research published on Wednesday. Quick measures to cut emissions would give a far better chance of keeping global warming within an agreed UN limit of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6F) above pre-industrial times to avert more floods, heatwaves, droughts and rising sea levels.

“If you delay action by 10, 20 years you significantly reduce the chances of meeting the 2 degree target,” said Keywan Riahi, one of the authors of the report at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria. “It was generally known that costs increase when you delay action. It was not clear how quickly they change,” he told Reuters of the findings in the science journal Nature based

on 500 computer-generated scenarios.

It said the timing of cuts in greenhouse gases was more important than other uncertainties - about things like how the climate system works, future energy demand, carbon prices or new energy technologies. The study indicated that an immediate global price of $20 a ton on emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas, would give a roughly 60 percent chance of limiting warming to below 2C. Wait until 2020 and the carbon price would have to be around $100 a ton to retain that 60 percent chance, Riahi told Reuters of the study made with other experts in Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia and Germany.

And a delay of action until 2030 might put the 2C limit - which some of the more pessimistic scientists say is already unattainable - completely out of reach, whatever the carbon price. “The window for

effective action on climate change is closing quickly,” wrote Steve Hatfield-Dodds of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Australia in a separate commentary in Nature. Governments agreed to the 2C limit in 2010, viewing it as a threshold to avert dangerous climate change.

Temperatures have already risen by 0.8 degree C (1.4F) since wide use of fossil fuels began 200 years ago.

ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN After the failure of a 2009 summit in Copenhagen to agree a worldwide accord, almost 200 nations have given themselves until 2015 to work out a global deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions that will enter into force in 2020. Amid an economic slowdown, many countries at the last UN meeting on climate change in Qatar in December expressed reluctance

to make quick shifts away from fossil fuels towards cleaner energies such as wind or solar power.

Each US citizen, for instance, emits about 20 tons of carbon dioxide a year.

There is no global price on carbon, only regional markets - in a European Union trading system, for instance, where industrial emitters must pay of they exceed their CO2 quotas, 2013 prices are about 6.7 euros ($8.83) a ton. The report also showed that greener policies, such as more efficient public transport or better-insulated buildings, would raise the chances of meeting the 2C goal. And fighting climate change would be easier with certain new technologies, such as capturing and burying carbon emissions from power plants and factories. In some scenarios, the 2C goal could not be met unless carbon capture was adopted. —Reuters

Washington cops urge gun control

Chavez suffers lung woes

Murder rate wanes

Aides allege ‘psychological war’

WASHINGTON: Washington’s police chief spoke out Thursday in favor of tougher gun laws in the United States after statistics showed the homicide rate in the nation’s capital at its lowest level in a half-century. Eighty-eight murders were committed in the District of Columbia in the past year, compared with the late 1980s and early 1990s when the number routinely surpassed 400 annually in the midst of a crack cocaine epidemic.

But while Washington has some of the toughest gun laws in the country, guns nonetheless figured in 59 of the homicides in the city last year. Debate over US gun laws raged last month following the massacre of 20 first-grade students and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, by an unhinged teenager using a Bushmaster assault rifle. Asked about a possible ban over such militarystyle weapons, Metropolitan Police Department chief Cathy Lanier told reporters that law enforcement cannot “stop everything from happening,” but can reduce risks.

“High capacity magazines and automatic rifles-those are two things we ought to be thinking about in terms of reducing the risk (of homicide) and reducing harm,” she said. The Sandy Hook gunman, Adam Lanza, 20, also killed his mother, who owned the weapon he used to kill the children, before taking his own life in one of the worst mass shootings in US history. President Barack Obama said at the time that America must act to prevent such massacres, but reform of gun laws is politically unpalatable given that the right to bear arms is preserved in the US constitution.

Washington, a city of 617,000, long ago shed its reputation as “the murder capital of the world.” The drug trade and crime has waned amid an influx of new residents and investment. But although 2012 was the first year in decades in which murders fell below the 100 mark, anyone in Washington who wants a handgun, rifle or shotgun can easily buy one by taking a short drive into neighboring Maryland or Virginia. In the wake of the Sandy Hook killings, opponents of tougher gun laws, led by the National Rifle Association, have launched a counter-campaign to train armed guards for every school in the nation that wants them.

Washington Mayor Vincent Gray said the homicide rate for 2012 represented “a tremendous milestone for public safety.” Four deaths resulting from self-defense were excluded from last year’s figures. Generally speaking, homicide has been trending downwards in the United States since 2000, after doubling from the early 1960s to the late 1970s, according to a US Justice Department analysis. New York saw 414 murders last year-nowhere near its 2,245 homicides in 1990. But in other cities such as Chicago, where 506 murders were reported in 2012, up 16 percent on the year, homicide remains stubbornly high.—AFP

CARACAS: Venezuela’s government accused opposition leaders of waging a “psychological war” to destabilize the country, as its cancer-stricken president, Hugo Chavez, battles a serious lung infection. The hardline stance was adopted after Vice President Nicolas Maduro returned from a visit with the ailing Chavez in Cuba, where he is suffering from complications more than three weeks after undergoing cancer surgery. Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said a “severe pulmonary infection” that Chavez developed after the surgery had led to a “respiratory insufficiency” requiring strict adherence to his treatment.

Villegas then leveled the charge that the president’s health had become the target of a campaign to destabilize the government and finish off its socialist revolution. The government “warns the Venezuelan people about the psychological war that the transnational media complex has unleashed around the health of the chief of state, with the ultimate goal of destabilizing the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” he said in a televised statement. The statement came amid rising demands at home for a detailed accounting of Chavez’s condition and whether he is fit to take the oath of office January 10 for another six year term.

Venezuela’s constitution calls for new elections to be held within 30 days if the president is unable to take the oath of office or dies during his first four years in office. But Maduro and National Assembly speaker Diosdado Cabello, the regime’s number two and three leaders, made clear on their return from Cuba that they were not preparing for a transfer of power. “Here there is only one transition and it began at least six years ago and it was decreed by comandante Hugo Chavez,” Maduro said, referring to the launch in 2006 of the president’s socialist revolution.

Maduro and Cabello spoke on Venezuelan state television, as they toured a coffee packaging plant in Caracas that had been taken over by the state. Both men went out of their way to deny rumors of an internal power struggle between them, with Maduro saying they had sworn before Chavez that they would remain united. “We

are here more united than ever,” said Maduro, who is Chavez’s handpicked successor. “And we have sworn before comandante Hugo Chavez, and we reaffirmed to him today in our oath ... that we would be united with our people.”

Referring to the reported rift, Cabello said the opposition would have to wait “2000 years for that to happen” and said

“no conciliation is possible with this opposition.” Maduro accused the opposition of “lies and manipulation, a campaign to try to create uncertainty.” “We know that the United States is where these manipulations are being managed,” he said. “They think that their time has come. And we have entered a kind of crazy hour of offensive by the right, here and internationally.” —AFP

CARACAS: A man shows a clock with the image of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at a store in Caracas. Top Venezuelan officials returned to Venezuela after visiting cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez in Cuba, who keeps ‘battling’ for his life. —AFP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Journalists confront China censors over editorial BEIJING: In a rare move, some Chinese journalists are openly confronting a top censor after a southern newspaper known for its edgy reporting was forced to change a New Year editorial calling for political reform into a tribute praising the Communist Party. Sixty journalists from the Southern Weekly in Guangdong province issued a complaint Thursday over the last-minute changes that they said were made without the consent of the editorial department.

Another group of 35 former reporters from the newspaper went a step further yesterday, calling for the resignation of the provincial party propaganda chief Tuo Zhen whom they held personally responsible for the changes while arguing that strong and credible news media are crucial for the country and even necessary for the ruling party.

“If the media should lose credibility and influence, then how can the ruling party make its voice heard or convince its people?” their letter said.

The party-run Global Times newspaper hit back with a defense of the government line, publishing an editorial saying the media cannot exist “romantically” outside the country’s political reality. The spat has become one of the hottest topics on China’s popular microblog site Sina Weibo. Also apparently coming under pressure from Chinese censors was the Beijing-based pro-reform journal Yanhuang Chunqiu, whose website was no longer accessible on the mainland yesterday. The journal regularly challenges censorship and recently published a New Year’s message advocating political reform.

Yang Jisheng, the journal’s deputy director, said a Ministry of Industry and Information Technology department instructed the journal to shut down the website on

Monday without providing a reason. By yesterday, journal staff found the site blocked in China. China’s media in recent years have become increasingly freewheeling in some kinds of coverage, including lurid reports on celebrities and sports figures. Still, censorship of political issues remains tight - although government officials typically claim there is no censorship at all - and the restrictions have drawn increasingly vocal criticism from journalists and members of the public.

Touching off the latest tussle was a New Year’s message to be published in the Southern Weekly on Thursday. The newspaper’s annual feature has become a popular and influential tradition because of its boldness. For 2013, the theme was to be constitutional rule. The original version called for democracy, freedom and adherence to the constitution - a reference to promises made in the 1982-era constitution to allow such reforms as independent courts and the rule of law. The country’s communist leaders have been reluctant to fulfill those pledges for fear of eroding their monopoly on power.

“The Chinese dream is the dream of constitutional rule,” the original version read, according to photographs of the text widely disseminated online and confirmed in a telephone interview with its author, one of the newspaper’s editors, Dai Zhiyong. That later was watered down as part of the newspaper’s usual vetting process with upper-level management - a process that is part self-censorship, part consultation with Communist Party censors. It was watered down further, Southern Weekly journalists say, without the knowledge of front-line reporters and editors on the evening before it hit the newsstand.

The version that eventually was published said the

Chinese dream of renaissance was closer than ever before, thanks to China’s Communist leaders. The journalists took issue not only with the changes to that message but with revisions of the headline and design. In particular, they said an additional message apparently added by censors to the newspaper’s front page contained a major error about Chinese folk history. A reference to a flood control campaign supposedly introduced 4,000 years ago was erroneously dated to about 2,000 years ago.

The phone for Guangdong’s provincial information office rang unanswered yesterday. In their call for Tuo’s resignation, former Southern Weekly journalists said the man has brought the darkest time in the past three decades to the media industry in Guangdong, one of the boldest in China. Zhao Chu, an independent media observer in Shanghai, said the intervention was not isolated but had the sanction of Beijing. The party remains keen on maintaining its rule, and the Southern Weekly - a symbol of China’s media ideals - became a target as it tries to control public discussions, Zhao said.

Zhan Jiang, a journalism professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, wrote on his microblog that the apparent party intervention runs contrary to China’s claim that there is no news censorship. “This clearly tells the international community that China has broken its word,” he said.

When Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying was asked about the issue during a routine briefing yesterday, she said she was not aware of the specifics of the situation, but added, “I want to point out that there’s no so-called news censorship in China and the Chinese government protects the freedom of news report and has given full play to news media in terms of supervision.”—AP

China closes liberal journal website after reform call Latest crackdown against online freedom of expression

BIRMINGHAM: An injured 15 year-old Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai waves as she is discharged from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham yesterday. — AFP

Pakistan’s Malala leaves hospital ahead of surgery LONDON: The British hospital treating Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot by the Taleban for campaigning for girls’ education, said yesterday that she has been temporarily discharged ahead of surgery. Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, west-central England, said Malala would stay at her family’s temporary home nearby before undergoing major surgery on her skull in a few weeks.

“Malala Yousafzai was discharged from Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham as an inpatient yesterday to continue her rehabilitation at her family’s temporary home in the West Midlands,” the hospital said in a statement. “The 15year-old, who was shot by the Taleban for campaigning for girls’ education, is well enough to be treated by the hospital as an outpatient for the next few weeks.” In an attack that shocked the world, Malala was shot by a Taleban hitman in October as her school bus made its way through the town of Mingora in Pakistan’s northwestern Swat Valley.

The bullet grazed her brain, coming within centimeters of killing her, and she was airlifted to the specialist Queen Elizabeth Hospital days after the attack.

“She is still due to be re-admitted in late January or early February to undergo cranial reconstructive surgery as part of her long-term recovery and in the meantime she will visit the hospital regularly to attend clinical appointments,” the hospital said. Video released by the hospital showed Malala wearing a grey dress and cream patterned headscarf as she walked out of her ward, waving to staff as a nurse led her by the hand. Photographs showed her hugging a nurse at the doors.

The hospital said Malala had been regularly leaving the hospital over the past couple of weeks to visit her family at home. “Following discussions with Malala and her medical team, we decided that she would benefit from being at home with her parents and two brothers,” said the hospital’s medical director Dave Rosser. —AFP

BEIJING: A liberal Chinese journal’s website was shut down yesterday, it said, in the latest and most prominent example of a crackdown by Chinese authorities against online freedom of expression. The website of the Beijing-based Annals of the Yellow Emperor was closed days after it published an appeal for leaders to guarantee constitutional rights including freedom of speech and assembly. The publication, which has links with senior retired Communist officials, had argued in the article that China’s constitution lays out a road map for political reform.

Closure of the Annals’ website follows censorship by the authorities of similar calls made by a key liberal newspaper, while several influential Chinese journalists have had their social networking accounts deleted in recent weeks. The crackdown comes despite pledges of change from China’s new Communist leadership, headed by president-in-waiting Xi Jinping, which has promised a more open style of governance since the ruling party’s congress in November. Attempts to access the Annals’ website yesterday led to a page with a cartoon policeman holding up a badge and the message: “The website you are visiting has been closed because it has not been filed on record.”

“At around 9 am today, the website was closed,” said a post on the Annals’ official web page on Sina Weibo, a website similar to Twitter, and later confirmed by the magazine’s editors to AFP. Editor-inchief Wu Si said he received a message from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China’s Internet regulator, last month stating that the website had been “cancelled”. “I want to understand why the website was closed... we have been calling the relevant ministries all morning, and haven’t had any answers,” he said, adding that the magazine’s print copies did not appear to have been seized.

The information technology ministry did not respond to faxed questions and phone calls made by AFP yesterday. The Annals magazine, which boasts former propaganda officials amongst its patrons, represents the views of the Communist party’s more liberal faction, and its readership includes many within the par-

ty hierarchy. The website closure came a day after censors blocked an article from popular liberal newspaper Southern Weekly which called for the realization of a “dream of constitutionalism in China” so that citizens’ rights could be protected.

A propaganda official in Guangdong province, where the newspaper is based, removed the piece and replaced it with a weaker message, said several current and former journalists at the newspaper. David Bandurski, a Chinese media researcher at the University of Hong Kong said: “The Southern Weekly incident is very important, very unprecedented... this kind of direct intervention by propaganda officials is something we haven’t seen.” The clampdown was not unprecedented in China, where media has long been tightly controlled, but appears to contradict Xi’s “new image”, he added. “I see this as the first test for Xi Jinping... it’s basically saying: when you talk about openness do you really mean it?” he said. Asked about the Southern Weekly article, a foreign ministry spokeswoman in Beijing said: “There is no so-called news censorship in China.” Several journalists known for criticism of the government found that their accounts on Sina Weibo were deleted last month, shortly before China-which has the world’s biggest population of Internet users-implemented tightened online controls. The new rules require Internet users to register with their real names, and service providers to remove posts with “illegal information” before forwarding them to authorities.

All Chinese media organizations are subject to instructions from government propaganda departments, which often suppress news seen as “negative” by the Communist Party, although some publications take a more critical stance. The US-based China Digital Times website, citing a leaked directive, said the Central Propaganda Department ordered that “all reporters and editors... may not discuss” the censored Southern Weekly issue “on any public platforms”.

China came 174th in a list of 179 countries ranked for press freedom in 2011-12 by the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders, falling three places compared to the previous year. —AFP

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

In ‘rape capital’ Delhi, women turn to self-defense NEW DELHI: After nearly three weeks of lurid reporting on a horrifying gang-rape in New Delhi, women in the Indian capital say they are more anxious than ever, leading to a surge in interest in self-defense classes. New Delhi has long been known as the “rape capital of India”, with more than twice as many cases in 2011 as the commercial hub Mumbai, and special care is taken by most women when travelling at night or on public transport.

But the December 16 gang-rape, in which a 23-year-old student was repeatedly violated on a moving bus and assaulted with an iron bar, has brought concern to new levels amid increased focus on the city’s safety record. Selfdefense trainer Anuj Sharma says he has fielded a flurry of calls from concerned women interested in taking classes with his Invictus Survival Sciences training institute in south Delhi.

“There has been a certain surge in the level of demand for services like self-defense and personal protective training,” Sharma said at a class in a school hall, echoing comments from other martial arts experts in the city. “I think this infamous case has forced people to think that they can no longer put this (safety issue) on the backburner, selfdefense is a priority for them,” he said. Smriti Iyer, a 23year-old student like the Delhi victim, says she started coming to Sharma’s classes to protect herself better and her example has sparked interest in other friends.

In the classes, Sharma teaches her basic self-defense, including how to squirm free from the grip of an attacker and disable them with a punch or kick to the groin. “I think women have always known that they have to look after themselves, but after this incident a lot of people of my age have really started taking this up,” said Iyer. Across the sprawling city of 16 million, shopkeepers say sales of pepper spray and rape alarms are up, while many young women report that relatives have become more concerned than ever about their welfare. One newspaper reported this week that women had started coming forward to apply for gun licenses.

Jai Shankar, owner of a general store on the Janpath main road in central New Delhi said that sales of pepper sprays had been “brisk” since the gang-rape, which has galvanised disgust over rising crime against women. “Earlier we would sell just a few cans in a month. But more women have been coming to my shop asking for the spray,” he said. Ashima Sagar, a 22-year-old sales assistant in Shankar’s shop who takes the “relatively safer” metro train with reserved carriages for women at night, says her mother has become almost paranoid. “I leave my workplace around nine in the night. After this incident, even if I am late by 10 minutes, my mother gets anxious and calls me to find out if I am OK,” Sagar said.

In the outsourcing industry, rocked by a rape and murder of an employee late at night in 2005, some companies have begun providing extra security to women staff who work shifts around the clock. “After the Delhi incident, we ensure that at least one security guard is present in our late-night cabs,” Anurag Mathur, a human resource executive in a Delhi-based company said. A survey by industry group ASSOCHAM published on Friday showed a 40 percent fall in productivity of women employees at call centers and IT companies because many had reduced their hours or had quit.

As anxiety takes root, meaning in many cases that women simply stay at home more, activists have raised their voices to condemn the state for failing to offer protection. “Why should we live in a society where every woman is made responsible for her own security and safety? What we need really is a system which will protect us,” said Ranjana Kumari of the New Delhi-based Centre for Social Research. This has been the source of sometimes violent protests against the government over the last two and a half weeks as incensed women led marches and demonstrations in cities across the country of 1.2 billion people.

The statistics show however that any self-defense techniques are most likely to be needed against a family member or neighbor, with more than 95 percent of alleged perpetrators in rape cases being someone known to the victim. There were 24,206 cases of rape registered in 2011 in India, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, but this is thought to be gross under-representation of the problem. In the cities, 17 percent of cases were recorded in Delhi compared with 8.6 percent for Mumbai.- AFP

India’s rape suspects NEW DELHI: Brief profiles of the men set to be charged with rape, murder and kidnapping in a New Delhi court over the brutal gang-rape and killing of a 23-year-old medical student on December 16. After watching a film, she was raped on a moving bus after being lured onto it with her boyfriend.

Following the ordeal both were thrown off the moving vehicle at a roadside near the international airport. Details of the suspects have emerged from Delhi police statements and media reports.

RAM SINGH The alleged ringleader is a 35-year-old widower who police and neighbors near his home in Ravi Dass colony, a slum in south Delhi, describe as a rowdy, heavy drinker. He was the regular driver of the white private bus alleged to have been used for the crime, which was normally used to ferry school children. Originally from the western state of Rajasthan, police say he and friends had had a meal together and had been drinking heavily before deciding to take the bus out for a night-time joyride.

MUKESH SINGH The 26-year-old brother of Ram Singh of the same address who worked as an occasional driver and cleaner of the bus. He is accused of taking part in the rape as well as hitting the woman and her boyfriend with an iron rod.

VINAY SHARMA A 20-year-old gym assistant and fitness trainer, who has apparently confessed to beating up the boyfriend but denies raping the girl, according to The Hindu newspaper.

AKSHAY THAKUR A 28-year-old helper on the bus, from the impoverished eastern state of Bihar. He was arrested in Bihar on December 21. He is also accused of trying to destroy evidence by helping to wash the bus after the incident.

PAWAN GUPTA A 19-year-old fruitseller, reported by The Hindu to have said “I have done a horrible thing... I have done a bad thing” during an earlier court appearance when police sought permission for an identification parade.

NEW DELHI: An Indian woman practic kicks during a selfdefense class in New Delhi. — AFP

SUSPECT NO 6 A minor whose name cannot be given for legal reasons.

Thought to be 17, police are checking his age with a bone test.— AFP

Drug-fuelled gunman kills 7 in Philippines Shooting raises concerns about lax gun controls KAWIT: A gunman with a semi-automatic pistol killed seven people and wounded 11 others during a drug-fuelled rampage in a slum near the Philippine capital yesterday, authorities said. The ordeal, which ended when police shot the assailant dead, again raised concerns about the country’s lax gun controls after the week began with two children dying from bullets fired by revelers to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Two girls, aged three and seven, as well as a pregnant woman, were among the seven confirmed fatalities in yesterday’s rampage, according to police in Kawit town on the outskirts of Manila where the killings occurred. “It was random. He would fire at anybody who crossed his path,” Kawit police investigating officer Arnulfo Lopez said, adding the shooting spree lasted for about half an hour.

Residents of the rundown town hid in their homes and gardens as the man, a former low-level local politician named Ronaldo Bae, roamed through narrow streets and a market firing what police said was a .45 semi-automatic pistol. “As we were hiding out in the muddy yard, I was thinking about my nephews and niece (in their house),” resident Edwin Lacorte said. “I wanted to go back. The chil-

dren were crying for help, but what can you do, the man has a gun.” Bae lived in a nearby house and most of the victims were his neighbors. One of the others killed was 56-year-old Alberto Fernandez, who was shot as he stood on his porch, according to the victim’s brother-in-law, Lito Ronquillo. Ronquillo spoke to AFP in the narrow street where the initial shootings took place. A bullet hole could be seen in a window above the porch where Fernandez died. Bae then walked towards a nearby market, shooting more people before returning home where police demanded he surrender, according to Lopez, the local police officer. “He opened fire on the police. So a gunbattle ensued which resulted in the death of the suspect,” Lopez said.

Bae had once served on a local council but was also a known drug dealer and had been taking methamphetamines since New Year’s Eve, said Juanito Victor Remulla, the governor of Cavite province in which Kawit town is located. Kawit police chief Superintendent Dionisio Borromeo also told reporters that “paraphernalia” used for methamphetamines, known locally as shabu, had been found at Bae’s home. —AFP

OPEC oil output falls in Dec, lowest in a year

16

European shares, euro retreat on Fed policy

Business

18

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5 , 2013

19

Spanish banking unions brace for more job cuts

‘Fiscal cliff’ fracas: From smiles to distrust to rancor

20

TOKYO: Kimono-clad Tokyo Stock Exchange employees smile as the new logo mark of the Japan Exchange Group, Tokyo Stock Exchange and Osaka Stock Exchange which were merged on January 1, is displayed at the opening ceremony of the first trading day of the year at the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday after the New Year’s holidays. — AFP

US activity picks up, hiring rises Surveys suggest euro-zone downturn easing NEW YORK/LONDON: Activity in the dominant US services sector perked up in the final month of 2012, while hopes grew that Europe may be through the worst of its economic slump, surveys showed yesterday.

Britain’s vast services sector, however, contracted for the first time in two years, suggesting the broader economy probably shrank as well in the final three months of 2012.

Worldwide, private sector business growth hit a nine-month high, boosted largely by service-oriented firms. But none of the data suggest growth is robust enough to pressure central banks on either side of the Atlantic to tinker with highly stimulative monetary policies.

The Institute for Supply Management said its index of US service firms grew at its fastest clip in 10 months in December, boosted by a rise in new orders. The pace of hiring in the sector hit a fivemonth high. Throughout the US economy, employers added 155,000 new workers last month, a separate report yesterday showed. Gains were distributed broadly, from manufacturing and construction to health care, which economists say suggests the economy would probably grow by about 2.0 percent in 2013. “The overall tone was one consistent with modest economic growth,”

said Joshua Shapiro, chief US economist at MFR, a global consulting firm based in New York.

The 17-country euro-zone, on the other hand, probably closed out the year in recession, though evidence that the pace of contraction in the service sector had slowed suggested things may be turning around. “I think (the euro-zone PMIs) are showing a decisive bottoming-out of activity,” said James Nixon, chief European economist at Societe Generale. “Now, the actual levels of the surveys are still consistent with GDP declining, but at least things aren’t getting worse any faster.”

According to financial information firm Markit, the euro zone’s composite PMI, which measures the activity of thousands of companies, rose to 47.2 last month, its highest since March.

The decline eased among firms such as banks and restaurants, which comprise the bulk of the euro zone economy, though things looked worse for manufacturers.

“The surveys at least bring some substance to the belief that the worst is over and that a return to growth is in sight for the region in 2013,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.

The UK services PMI, however, slipped to 48.9 from 50.2, sagging below the 50 mark that divides expansion and contraction for the first time in two

years. “The broader picture is that for some time the economy has been bouncing around the bottom ... and I think this is likely to stay with us for the next couple of quarters,” said Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Berenberg Bank.

Survey compiler Markit said the figures suggest Britain’s economy shrank 0.2 percent in the final quarter of 2012, a slightly bigger drop than most other private-sector forecasts.

Yesterday’s European data followed news that China’s services sector saw its slowest rate of expansion in nearly a year and a half in December, although the HSBC services PMI still pointed to a modest revival in economic growth.

Fears that China’s economy would hit the skids kept investors on their heels in early 2012, but data in the second half of the year suggested the world’s second biggest economy would avoid a hard landing and continue to grow modestly.

With Europe likely to remain in recession, the world economy will increasingly depend on China and the United States to provide the fuel for continued growth. Recent US data, particularly from the labor market, has been encouraging, not least because firms continued to hire in December despite a looming government budget crisis that many feared would bring recession in 2013 if not

solved. “This supports the view that the economy is picking up steam and employers added to payrolls even with worries about the fiscal cliff,” said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economist strategist at Miller Tabak & Co in New York.

The US Congress struck a deal to avoid going over the “fiscal cliff” of tax hikes and spending cuts on New Year’s Day, though decisions on important spending issues were delayed.

Bond markets also got a scare on Thursday when published minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting revealed some officials thought it would be appropriate to wind down the central bank’s open-ended asset purchase program, known as QE, before the end of 2013.

That prompted a spike in long-dated bond yields, though Friday’s data showing the US jobless rate rising to 7.8 percent eased some of those fears. “When is comes to Fed policy, this report should keep it steady,” said Tom Porcelli, chief US economist at RBC Capital Markets.

“There was talk of a scaling back of QE yesterday, but this number is a snapshot and is basically where it was when the Fed decided to do more QE last month.” Economists think the European Central Bank may go further and cut interest rates again. — Reuters

Business SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

OPEC output falls in Dec, lowest in a year Supply falls by 90,000 bpd led by Iraq, Iran, Saudi

KUALA LUMPUR: People walk in front of an advertisement billboard in downtown Kuala Lumpur yesterday. According to the state news agency yesterday, the Malaysian economy is expected to expand by 5.3 per cent this year, taking into consideration domestic forces that may offset weaknesses in the external sector. —AFP

Saudi Arabia may cut Feb OSPs for heavy grades SINGAPORE: Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia may lower its official selling price for the heavy grades it sells to Asia for a third straight month in February due to weaker margins and expectations of dwindling demand, a Reuters poll showed yesterday.

Saudi Arabia may lower the OSP for Arab Heavy by 25 cents from the previous month, according to the median of estimates of five traders and refiners. The OSP for Arab Medium may drop by 15 cents, while those for Arab Light and Arab Extra Light may rise by 10 cents in February, the poll showed.

A sharper-than-expected hike in OSPs by Middle Eastern producers last month put pressure on spot differentials, although they were supported by the relatively steady product markets in December.

Demand, which had been supported by winter buying by north Asian refiners, may also weaken as some refineries in Japan and South Korea begin planned maintenance and as the weather turns warmer after March, traders said. Complex refinery margins remained steady at between $5-$5.5 per barrel in December, a far cry from the $9 per barrel average seen earlier in the year.

“The outlook is weak and margins are not looking good,” said a trader at a Southeast Asian refiner. “Some Middle Eastern grades went into discount (last month), so we would expect cuts in OSP.” Naphtha and gasoil cracks - the profit or loss made by a refinery by processing crude into specific products - remained steady in December, strengthening expectations that the OSP for lighter grades may be left unchanged.

The front-month Dubai spread nearly halved to 45 cents a barrel backwardation in December, from a seven-month high of 80 cents a barrel in November. Immediate prices are higher than those in future months in a backwardated market, suggesting stronger demand for near-term cargoes. But the narrowing suggests that the strong demand seen last month may not sustain.

Saudi crude OSPs are usually released around the fifth of each month, and set the trend for Iranian, Kuwaiti and Iraqi prices, affecting some 7 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude bound for Asia.

Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest crude exporter, sets its crude prices based on recommendations from customers and after calculating the change in the value of its oil over the past month, based on yields and product prices.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) said late on Thursday that it has cut the December retroactive price for its key Murban crude by $1.35 a barrel from November to $110.75 a barrel. Murban price was set at a premium of $4.41 a barrel to the December average for Dubai versus a premium of $4.84 for November. While the OSPs were cut by 95 cents per barrel to $1.45 per barrel across grades, their differentials to the Platts Dubai average slipped by 3-53 cents per barrel. —Reuters

LONDON: OPEC oil output fell in December to its lowest in more than a year as Iranian exports dipped again because of sanctions, top exporter Saudi Arabia cut output and supplies from Iraq eased, according to a Reuters survey.

Crude supply from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries averaged 30.62 million barrels per day (bpd), down from a revised 30.71 million bpd in November, the survey of sources at oil companies, in OPEC and consultancies found. OPEC output is now down by 1.13 million bpd from its April 2012 peak of 31.75 million before the European Union implemented an oil embargo on Iran and as Saudi Arabia lifted output to bring prices down from a year-high $128 a barrel.

The survey indicates Saudi Arabia trimmed output in the last two months of 2012 in response to lower demand, helping to bring OPEC supply the closest it has yet been to its 30 million bpd output target since it was set a year ago. With oil prices above Riyadh’s preferred $100 a barrel but with expectations of slower demand in early 2013, OPEC left the target unchanged at a meeting last month, leaving the door open to informal supply tweaks depending on demand.

“Saudi Arabia still holds the key for changes in OPEC output,” said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank in

Frankfurt. “Most of the others produce close to maximum.”

December’s OPEC total is the lowest since November 2011 when the group also produced 30.62 million bpd, according to Reuters surveys. The biggest decline in supply came from Iraq, the world’s fastestgrowing exporter, due to technical and political setbacks. Supply declined to 3.05 million bpd from 3.20 million bpd in November, the survey found.

Bad weather contributed to lower shipments from the country’s south and exports of Kirkuk crude in the north were curbed by a renewed dispute between the central government and the Kurdistan region over payments. “Delays kicked in over the latter part of the month,” said a source with a company that buys Iraqi crude, referring to Kirkuk exports. “It must be the issue over the Kurdish volume not being delivered into the stream.”

Iranian supply fell further because of US and European sanctions, with exports declining by 60,000 bpd to 1.05 million bpd for production of 2.65 million bpd, the survey found.

That would be its lowest since 1988, according to figures from the US Energy Information Administration. Output from Iran dropped sharply last year 2012 due to the sanctions, allowing Iraq to displace Tehran as OPEC’s second-largest producer

after Saudi and costing Iran billions of dollars in lost revenue.

The embargo on Iran bars EU insurance firms from covering its exports, hindering imports by some non-EU buyers and making Iran more reliant on its own tanker fleet to supply customers.

Sales may come under further pressure next year as buyers seek to avoid further US sanctions effective in February. India and South Korea are among those planning to cut purchases in 2013, sources have said.

Saudi Arabia’s output was revised lower in November to 9.55 million bpd after the kingdom told OPEC it curbed supply.

According to the survey, output slipped again in December.

A drop in output from Libya, where protests shut down an oil port in eastern Libya for four days in December, was the other notable decline in OPEC’s output last month. The main increases in December came from OPEC’s West African members, Nigeria and Angola, the survey found.

Output in Nigeria rose by 100,000 bpd, recovering from disruptions caused by oil spills, flooding and theft. Exports of only one crude oil grade, Eni’s Brass River, remain under force majeure.

Angola boosted shipments by 80,000 bpd. Up to four more crude oil cargoes were exported in December than November. —Reuters

Brent falls below $111 LONDON: Oil fell below $111 a barrel yesterday after US Federal Reserve policy makers indicated they may at least slow a stimulus program this year, threatening the economic recovery in the world’s biggest fuel consumer. Further talks in Washington next month to tackle the debt ceiling, and signs of hesitation within the Fed about more increases to the central bank’s $2.9 trillion balance sheet, weighed on prices.

Brent crude for February delivery tumbled $1.20 to $110.94 by 0951 GMT. U.S. crude was down $1.04 at $91.88.

“Most people do not want to take further risks in equities and commodities if the QE (quantitative easing) program is not going to continue beyond 2013,” said Tetsu Emori, a commodities fund manager at Astmax Investments in Tokyo.

While the Fed said it would keep buying bonds to boost the economy over coming months, minutes of a December meeting showed that some officials are increasingly concerned about the program’s potential risk to financial markets.

Several officials thought it would be appropriate to slow or stop asset purchases well before the end of 2013.

Yet oil could get a boost later yesterday if jobs and oil inventory data from the United States affirms that the world’s largest economy is on track for a recovery. Thursday’s data from the American Petroleum Institute showed a steeperthan-expected drop of 12 million barrels in crude inventories in the week to Dec. 28. Analysts were expecting a 900,000 barrel draw. Data from the US Energy Information Administration was due later. The US government will also release non-farm payroll data, a key economic indicator that could offer further evidence of underlying strength in the economy as 2012 ended. The latest jobs data showed that private-sector employers shrugged off the looming budget crisis and stepped up hiring in December. “If the positive news continues, there is likely to be a piling on of traders, as the story for 2013 becomes an even more compelling one,” Jason Schenker, president of Texas-based Prestige Economics, said in a note. Yet oil product prices may come under pressure as supply will rise when Motiva Enterprises restarts its new 325,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) crude distillation unit at its Port Arthur, Texas, refinery. —Reuters

WOLFSBURG: A lift brings a Volkswagen Beetle from a tower at the Autostadt in Wolfsburg, Germany. A steadily improving economy and strong December sales lifted the American auto industry to its best performance in five years especially for Volkswagen and Japanese-brand vehicles, and experts say the next year should be even better. —AP

Concord, Sinopec Fujairah oil facility to be ready by 2014 SINGAPORE: An oil storage terminal being built in the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah by Singapore-based Concord Energy and a subsidiary of China’s Sinopec is expected to start operations by late next year, Concord Energy said yesterday.

Asia’s strong oil and oil products demand have prompted many oil producers and trading houses such as Litasco, Noble Group and Azeri SOCAR to secure oil storage rights in the Gulf region.

Construction of the tank farms is expected to start this month with commercial operations commencing in the fourth quarter of 2014, John Stuart, chief executive of Assets Group Concord Energy, said in a statement. Concord and Sinomart KTS Development, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sinopec Kantons, each hold 50 percent of the project. —Reuters

Business SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

US job market resilient despite budget fight Private firing rose in December: Survey WASHINGTON: The US job market showed resilience in three reports, suggesting it may be able to withstand a federal budget battle that threatens more economic uncertainty in coming months.

A survey showed private hiring increased last month, while layoffs declined and applications for unemployment benefits stayed near a four-year low. The data led some economists to raise their forecasts for December job growth one day before the government releases its closely watched employment report.

“The job market held firm in December despite the intensifying fiscal cliff negotiations,” said Mark Zandi, chief

inclined to cut jobs last month.

Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said that the number of announced job cuts fell 43 percent in December from November, and overall planned layoffs in 2012 fell to the lowest level since 1997.

The decline in layoffs coincided with a drop last month in the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits.

The four-week average was little changed at 360,000 last week. That’s only slightly above the previous week’s 359,750, which was the lowest since March 2008.

Most economists expect the Labor

NEW YORK: Taneshia Wright of Manhattan fills out a job application during a job fair in New York. Economists forecast that employers added 155,000 jobs in December, according to a survey by FactSet. That would be slightly higher than November’s 148,000. —AP economist at Moody’s Analytics.

“Businesses even became somewhat more aggressive in their hiring at year end.” The most encouraging sign came from payroll provider ADP. Its monthly employment survey showed businesses added 215,000 jobs last month, the most in 10 months and much higher than November’s total of 148,000.

Economists tend to approach the ADP survey with some skepticism because it has diverged sharply at times from the government’s job figures. The Labor Department released its employment report Friday.

But some economists were also hopeful after seeing businesses were less

Department report will show employers added about 150,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate stayed at 7.7 percent. Some economists saw potential for stronger gains after seeing Thursday’s data. Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank, raised his forecast for job growth in December to 190,000 jobs, up from 150,000. Credit Suisse increased its forecast to 185,000, up from 165,000.

“Given that we have restraints, the labor market data do appear to be improving,” said Dana Saporta, an economist at Credit Suisse.

Still, many economists remained cautious about where the job market is

headed. While Congress and the White House reached a deal this week that removed the threat of tax increases to most Americans, they postponed the more difficult decisions on cutting spending. And the government must also increase its $16.4 trillion borrowing limit by late February or risk defaulting on its debt.

Congressional Republicans are pressing for deep spending cuts in return for any increase in the borrowing limit.

President Barack Obama has repeatedly said wants the issues kept separate.

The economy has added about 150,000 jobs a month, on average, over the past two years. That’s too few to rapidly lower the unemployment rate.

Hiring probably won’t rise above the current 150,000 per month trend until after the borrowing limit is resolved, economists say. A similar fight over raising the borrowing limit in 2011 was only settled at the last hour and nearly brought the nation to the brink of default. “That’s not an environment where you’re likely to be taking risks,” such as boosting hiring, said Nigel Gault, chief US economist at IHS Global Insight.

Even with modest gains in hiring, the unemployment rate remains high. It fell to 7.7 percent in November from 7.9 percent in October. But that was mostly because many of the unemployed stopped looking for jobs. The government counts people as unemployed only if they are actively searching for work.

The number of people receiving jobless benefits fell to 5.4 million in the week ended Dec 15, the latest data available.

That’s down about 70,000 from the previous week. The figure includes about 2.1 million people receiving emergency benefits paid for by the federal government.

The White House and Congress agreed earlier this week to extend that program for another year.

There are signs the economy is improving. The once-battered housing market is recovering, which should lead to more construction jobs this year.

Companies ordered more long-lasting manufactured goods in November, a sign they are investing more in equipment and software. And Americans spent more in November. Consumer spending drives nearly 70 percent of economic growth. —AP

KUALA LUMPUR: A man sells umbrellas during a light rain outside a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Malaysia is heavily reliant on migrant workers: they number about 2.2 million people and are the mainstays of the plantation and manufacturing sectors. —AFP

Euro-zone endures the worst: Survey LONDON: Tentative signs emerged in December that the eurozone economy may have passed the worst of its downturn, although a recovery still looks some months away, a business survey showed on Friday.

Markit’s Eurozone Composite PMI, which gauges business activity across thousands of companies, rose in December to 47.2 from 46.5 in November. The headline figure was revised down slightly from an initial reading of 47.3.

While lingering below the 50 line dividing growth from contraction for an 11th month, December’s reading was the highest since March last year. The decline eased among the services firms that make up the bulk of the euro zone’s economy, ranging from banks to restaurants, but manufacturers endured an awful end to 2012.

Survey compiler Markit warned that yesterday’s figures would probably fail to prevent the euro zone’s recession deepening in the fourth quarter of last year, thanks to dismal figures in October and November. “The surveys at least bring some substance to the belief that the worst is over and that a return to growth is in sight for the region in 2013,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit. “The surveys rose to multi-month highs in all four of the largest euro member countries, suggesting that rates of decline eased in France, Italy and Spain while the economic situation stabilized in Germany.” As with last year, the euro-zone economy’s fate hinges on the resolution of the sovereign debt crisis, which still smolders despite the creation of financial firewalls from the European Central Bank and European Union. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said last week he thought the worst had past for the debt crisis, although those words have been uttered by various European policymakers and politicians since mid-2010.

The outlook for the next few months is still very unclear. The composite new orders index, which correlates closely with the next month’s main PMI reading, held steady at 45.0 in December, hinting at limited upside for January’s survey.

Service sector businesses became more optimistic about the year ahead in December, as Markit’s Eurozone Services PMI hit a five-month high of 47.8, up from 46.7 in November and unchanged from the preliminary reading. The survey also brought mixed news on inflation pressures. While prices charged to consumers fell last month at a sharper pace, prices paid by companies for goods and services rose at the fastest pace since last March. —Reuters

Sri Lanka seeks new IMF loan as investments falter COLOMBO: Sri Lanka intends to ask for another loan from the IMF of $1 billion after foreign investments in infrastructure failed to materialize in the formerly war-torn island, a top official said yesterday. The government will discuss borrowing another billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund this year after drawing down a previous $2.6 billion IMF bailout loan six months ago, Treasury chief Punchi Banda Jayasundera said. “We are asking the IMF to extend budget support,” Jayasundera told

reporters in Colombo, explaining that the money would be used for government spending.

An IMF team is expected in Colombo later this month for talks. Jayasundera said delays in construction work had slowed the in-flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) which stood at about a billion dollars in 2012, 50 percent down from the government’s original target for the year.

Sri Lanka is still facing international censure over allegations that up to

40,000 civilians were killed in 2009 in the final months of its ethnic war pitting the largely Sinhalese army against Tamil separatists.

The government denies the claims. A 2009 IMF bailout was secured when the island’s foreign reserves crashed to a dangerously low level of $1 billion, but Central Bank of Sri Lanka figures showed reserves of $8.6 billion by September last year. The government has revised down its growth forecast for 2012 from 7.2 percent to 6.5 percent after a drastic slow-

down in imports following sharp increases in import tariffs in the face of a $10-billion trade deficit. Sri Lanka’s economy grew 8.3 percent in 2011, up from 8.0 percent in 2010, the first full year after government forces crushed the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Economic activity has been hit by high interest rates designed to discourage imports using borrowed money.

However, the Central Bank cut its key interest rates by 25 basis points in early December in a sign of easing. —AFP

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Thailand loses ‘top rice exporter’ rank to India Controversial farmer scheme blamed

TOKYO: The first working day of the year at the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday after the New Year’s holidays.

Japanese share prices rose 29.072 points to close at 01.666,01 points at the morning session of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, as the yen tumbled on relief over a US deal to avert the “fiscal cliff” of tax hikes and huge spending cuts. — AFP

European shares, euro retreat on Fed policy LONDON: European stock markets fell yesterday as investors took profits after the US fiscal cliff deal and eyed growing concerns over the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying scheme, dealers said. Minutes from the Fed’s December policy meeting indicated overnight that the US central bank’s huge monetary easing measures could be scaled back sooner than expected.

In late morning deals, London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies dipped 0.09 percent to 6,042.24 points, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 index dropped 0.27 percent to 7,735.63 points and the Paris CAC 40 fell 0.50 percent to 3,702.39. The Fed news has hampered market sentiment ahead of the release of crucial US non-farm payrolls data at 1330 GMT. “The minutes turned out to be somewhat hawkish in nature and subsequently approached the topic bringing at least some of the current $85-billion monthly asset purchases to a halt,” said Alpari analyst Craig Erlam.

“This was in large part owing to the perceived lack of effect being felt by such actions in the market. Overall this is pointing towards 2013 seeing the end of US QE (quantitative easing) as we know it.

“Equity markets are currently trading lower across the board as investors show a general lack of support for the discontinuation of the current US QE, along with the after-effect of worries surrounding the fiscal cliff bill.”

The euro dived to $1.3003 — which was the lowest level since December 12 and compared with $1.3052 late in New York. “The dollar surged ... after the release of the minutes that indicated most members believed QE3 would not be in place beyond the end of the year,” said Derek Halpenny, European head of global markets research at the Bank of TokyoMitsubishi UFJ in London.

“The fact that the FOMC appears less enthusiastic about QE than the market expected has had a clear impact on equity market performance.” In addition, the dollar also struck its highest against the yen for more than two years, as yen-selling sentiment remained strong after Japan’s new prime minister vowed to push for aggressive monetary easing.

The greenback soared to 88.33 yen, the highest level since July 2010, compared with 87.19 yen late Thursday. And on the London Bullion Market, gold prices sank to $1.635.46 per ounce hitting a low point last seen in late August. British investor sentiment was also hit by news that the British services sector shrank last month for the first time for two years, stoking speculation over contracting economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index (PMI) survey showed a reading of 48.9 in December, down from 50.2 in November. That was below the 50 mark which separates growth from contraction.

In Asia yesterday, Tokyo and Shanghai stocks advanced on their first trading day of 2013, but other markets retreated in line with losses on Wall Street. Hong Kong dipped 0.29 percent, Sydney shed 0.36 percent and Seoul was off 0.37 percent. Tokyo however climbed 2.82 percent and Shanghai shares closed up 0.35 percent. Shares had broadly climbed on Wednesday and Thursday after US lawmakers agreed a lastminute deal to avert the fiscal cliff of tax hikes and spending cuts that could have sent the world’s biggest economy into recession. — AFP

BANGKOK: Thailand lost its status as the world’s top rice exporter in 2012 as a controversial scheme to boost farmer incomes saw it overtaken by India and Vietnam, an industry group said yesterday.

Thailand exported 6.9 million tons of rice last year, falling behind India which shipped 9.5 million tons and Vietnam which sold 7.8 million tons overseas, according to the Thai Rice Exporters Association. Thai exports slumped 35 percent from the 2011 level of about 10.6 million tons, based on the group’s figures.

“We had been the champion since 1980, for 31 years, but we lost the top spot in 2012,” the group’s honorary president Chookiat Ophaswongse told AFP. He said the figures from the rival exporters were based on data from Vietnam’s rice industry and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s more than one-year-old policy to buy rice from farmers for 50 percent more than the market price, while popular with the rural poor has hit the competitiveness of Thai exports.

“Now Thai rice is $130-150 per ton more expensive than our competitors.

That’s why our exports have fallen as no customer can buy from us,” said Chookiat. “Exporters should change their jobs because they can’t survive.

Rice has become a political issue now,” he said.

The kingdom produces about 20 million tons of the grain annually on aver-

age, about half of which was sold overseas in the past.

Chookiat estimated that Thailand now has about 12-13 million tons of stock in storage and predicted that by the third quarter of 2013 this rice mountain will have grown to about 20 million tons. While the scheme is putting strains on Thailand’s government finances, it has been welcomed by many farmers, whose support helped sweep Yingluck to a landslide election victory last year.

Her older brother Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted as prime minister by royalist generals in a coup in 2006, is hugely popular in rural Thailand thanks to his populist policies while in power.

The government has said it is confident that it can find buyers for its rice on world markets at a price that will raise the living standards of its farmers. It says it has signed deals to sell rice directly to other countries. — AFP

BANGKOK: Laborers carry large bags of goods while working at a market in Bangkok yesterday. Thailand’s new daily minimum wage hike to 300 baht ($9.8) went into effect throughout the country on January 1. — AFP

UK service sector activity falls for 1st time in 2 yrs LONDON: Britain’s services sector shrank for the first time in two years in December, data showed yesterday, suggesting the economy as a whole slipped back into contraction in the last three months of 2012. The Markit/CIPS services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dropped to 48.9 in December - its lowest reading since April 2009 - from 50.2 in November, confounding economists’ forecasts for a small rise.

Markit said the figures, combined with mixed manufacturing and construction figures earlier this week, suggest Britain’s economy shrank 0.2 percent in the final quarter of 2012, a slightly bigger drop than most other private-sector forecasts. “The first fall in service sector activity for two years raises the likelihood that the UK economy is sliding back into recession,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at survey compilers Markit.

The figures dash hopes raised by a recent more upbeat manufacturing survey and solid official services data for October that Britain might avoid a fourth-quarter contraction.

A fresh fall in GDP, just three months after Britain emerged from its second recession since the financial crisis, would be a blow for finance minister George Osborne. It would also raise the chance of the Bank of England restarting its stimulus program - something most analysts currently doubt.

It is the first time the services sector index has fallen below the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction since December 2010, when unusually heavy snow disrupted business.

Although December 2012 was very wet, weather disruption was less widespread than two years earlier, and Markit said underlying weakness meant a rapid rebound looked unlikely.

“Bad weather is likely to have played a role in dampening service sector activity in December, but the fact that incoming new business dropped for a second successive month suggests that underlying demand remains very weak and that activity may continue to fall in the New Year,” Williamson said.

The services sector new business index dropped to 49.4 from 49.6, hitting its lowest level since December 2010. The composite PMI, which combines surveys for the services, manufacturing and construction industry, fell to 49.9 from November’s 50.1. Averaged over the fourth quarter as a whole, Markit said that the composite PMI was at its lowest level in three-and-a-half years.

Within the services survey, which does not cover the public sector or retailers but does look at transport and communication, financial and business services, computing, hotels and restaurants, employment fell and the rate of price increases slowed.

“Market conditions were subdued, with client budgets being tightened towards the end of the year. There was evidence that clients were holding back from committing expenditure, preferring instead to focus on cost control at a time of ongoing economic uncertainty,” Markit said.

Economists polled by Reuters expect Britain’s economy to grow by 1.1 percent in 2013 after contracting 0.1 percent in 2012. — Reuters

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Spanish banking unions brace for more job cuts Unions expect 12,000 job losses this year

PARIS: An employee of the Virgin Megastore on the Champs-Elysees avenue holds a sign reading ‘Facebook supports workers at Virgin’ as she demonstrates against planned job cuts, at the store’s entrance, yesterday in Paris. — AFP

French retailer Virgin says to declare insolvency PARIS: Entertainment retailer Virgin, which employs 1,000 workers in France, is to declare itself insolvent, a management spokesman said yesterday.

The company, which has struggled to maintain sales of CDs and DVDs in the face of increasing digital distribution of music and films, is to hold a works council meeting with employees on Monday to announce the insolvency, the spokesman said. Virgin, controlled by French investment firm Butler Capital Partners, operates 25 stores in France.

It has already taken steps to terminate its lease on its landmark location on the Champs Elysees boulevard in Paris, which accounts for 20 percent of its sales.

Butler bought 80 percent of Virgin in 2007 from French media company Lagardere, which had purchased Virgin France from Britain’s Virgin Group in 2001. — AFP

Germany back to growth as Dec PMI raises hopes BRUSSELS: Germany appeared set for a return to growth in December as wider euro-zone business activity hit a nine-month high, a closely watched survey showed yesterday.

The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) Composite Output Index, a leading indicator compiled by the Markit research firm, came in at an preliminary 47.2 points for December, slightly down from an earlier estimate of 47.3 points. This was still up, however, from 46.5 points in November and edging closer to the 50 points boom-bust line although the reading overall remained in negative territory for an 11th successive month.

The data offered “some hope that the euro-zone is showing signs of lifting out of its deep double-dip recession,” said Markit chief economist Chris Williamson, noting that “rates of decline eased in France, Italy and Spain while the economic situation stabilized in Germany.”

Germany posted a score of 50.3 points, an eightmonth high, as Italy, France and Spain languished on 45.7, 44.6 and 43.9 points, respectively. Williamson said the results “at least bring some substance to the belief that the worst is over and that a return to growth is in sight for the region in 2013.”

However, he added: “The improvements in December are unlikely to prevent the euro-zone economy having contracted at a sharper rate in the fourth quarter, and strong growth disparities are likely to persist for some time.” London-based IHS Global Insight analyst Howard Archer said deep-rooted problems remain, “with incoming new business, backlogs of work and employment all still falling in December.”

He tipped a further contraction in the first quarter of 2013, with domestic demand still constrained by austerity policies, high and rising unemployment and limited consumer purchasing power. — AFP

MADRID: Spanish banking unions are bracing for thousands more job cuts this year, starting with redundancies at Spain’s largest bank Santander after its merger with subsidiary Banesto.

Unions said yesterday they expect between 3,000 and 4,000 jobs to go as a result of the merger and would hold talks next week with the bank. With 6,000 jobs also going at Bankia and thousands of redundancies at other nationalized banks, the year has started on a gloomy note for many workers in Spain where around one in four of the workforce is already jobless.

In the financial sector alone, banking unions estimate 12,000 job losses this year, on top of about 35,000 cuts since the middle of 2008 when Spain’s property crisis began to grip the industry.

Spain has received 40 billion euros in European aid to restore its financial system, but as a condition of the aid - much of which will go to nationalized lenders including Bankia - troubled lenders must

cut more jobs and sell assets.

Santander last month announced plans to fully absorb its 110 year-old Banesto brand, closing 700 branches to cut costs and help position itself for any further downturn in Spain’s sickly banking sector.

The bank had warned of job losses stemming from the branch closures after the Banesto tie-up but said they would be implemented gradually.

“We’ll start to talk about the cuts with Santander next week. The bank hasn’t confirmed any numbers, but we think the final figure will be closer to 3,000,” said Jose Miguel Villa, secretary general of the services federation for Spain’s second-largest union UGT. A Santander spokeswoman said the bank will meet with unions on Jan. 9 but would not give any further details such as on the scale or timing of any reductions. Santander has said that the job cuts would be made through early retirements, incentivized departures and

transfers to other units of the group. The bank was one of the best performers on Spain’s blue chip index last year, rising from around 5.26 euros at the end of 2011 to close the year at just over 6 euros thanks to its handling of the financial crisis.

The stock was up 0.1 percent at 6.31 euros at 1110 GMT. Almost every day brings fresh unemployment news in Spain, where on average 2,000 jobs were lost a day last year, a number that many analysts expect to rise in 2013 as struggling companies cut staff in a weak economy. “This is going to be a tough year,” Villa of UGT said.

Unions will also begin talks with state-owned Bankia on Jan 9 over previously announced plans to lay off 6,000 of its 20,000-strong workforce, Villa said.

In other sectors, Spanish airline Iberia is negotiating 4,500 job cuts - a quarter of its workforce - with unions as part of a wider restructuring it says is necessary for its survival. — Reuters

Gold falls to 4-1/2-month low after Fed minutes LONDON: Gold fell 2 percent to a 4-1/2 month low yesterday after minutes from the US Federal Reserve highlighted increasing concerns over its highly stimulative monetary policy, knocking stock markets lower and boosting the dollar.

Fears that central banks’ moneyprinting to buy assets will stoke inflation had been a key driver in boosting gold, which rallied to an 11-month high in early October after the Fed announced its third round of aggressive economic stimulus.

Spot gold fell to its lowest since late August at $1,629.59 an ounce, and was heading for its sixth week of losses - the longest such run since June 1999. Gold was down 1.9 percent at $1,631.60 per ounce at 1021 GMT. US gold futures for February fell 2.6 percent or $43.50 an ounce to $1,631.10.

“The market had been too preoccupied with the sheer size of the quantitative easing program, and had not seen that at some point you would need a phase out of QE policy,” Christin Tuxen, an analyst with Danske Bank, said. “The timing will be earlier than the market had been initially expecting, which is negative for gold.”

Minutes from the Fed’s December policy meeting showed some voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee were increasingly worried about the potential risks of the Fed’s asset purchases on financial markets.

Ultra-loose monetary policy implemented by leading central banks had fuelled gold’s rally as a climate of historically low interest rates heightened inflationary fears.

Recent positive US economic data has fuelled the view that further steps to stimulate the economy may be unnecessary. Investors are keenly awaiting US non-farm payrolls data due at 1330 GMT on Friday for a clue to the pace of eco-

nomic recovery. The figures are expected to show the economy added 150,000 jobs last month, after adding 146,000 in November. Tuxen said that if the payrolls data reveals that the economy added at least 200,000 jobs, gold prices could extend losses.

Technical analysts, who study past chart patterns to determine future moves in prices, say the failure of key support at $1,635 could lead to a further retracement. “Since the peak we saw in early October we’ve been in a downtrend,” Cliff Green of the Cliff Green Consultancy said. “The rally from $1,635 to $1,695 has always been just a correction within that downtrend, and this

(current move) is a resumption of that.”

“If we break (support around $1,635), we’re vulnerable to a movement down toward the $1,600 area,” he added. “Our short- to medium-term outlook is bearish. We’ve had a good correction against that trend, which looks complete, and now we’re resuming that downward path.”

Among exchange-traded funds, the SPDR Gold Trust reported an outflow of 9.638 T yesterday, the biggest one-day decline in its holdings since Sept 26.

Lower prices spurred buying from jewelers in Asia, keeping premiums for gold bars steady in Singapore at $1.10 to $1.20 to spot London prices. — Reuters

PARIS: French President Francois Hollande (centre) speaks to French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault (left) and French Economy, Finance and Foreign Trade Minister, Pierre Moscovici after a meeting with French government’s ministers, yesterday at the Elysee presidential Palace in Paris. — AFP

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

‘Fiscal cliff’ fracas From smiles to distrust to rancor WASHINGTON: It began so optimistically.

On Nov 16, after their first “fiscal cliff” session with President Barack Obama, the four leaders of Congress had stood in the driveway of the White House shoulder-toshoulder for what is a rare photo these days, Republicans and Democrats together, smiling.

There they were at the microphone, talking about a “framework” for tax reform and deficit reduction.

In hindsight, the shot of House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell - the Republicans - with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi - the Democrats - seems like an old family photo, before things went bad.

From that day on the driveway, things went downhill, rather quickly.

There was a feeling on both sides that the other was not acting seriously to avert the “fiscal cliff” of tax hikes and spending cuts that were set to occur at the beginning of this month. That was inflamed by public comments from ranking Republicans and Democrats, poisoning the atmosphere.

Many lawmakers and their aides fear that things may get more toxic through a series of bitter struggles expected in the next few months over the nation’s debt and deficit burdens - fights not just between the parties but within them, and between the White House, the Senate and the House.

At stake is not only the US government’s ability to get its finances under control but whether it might default on its debts, and suffer further downgrades in the nation’s credit rating.

While Obama is perceived the victor in the fiscal deal passed by Congress earlier this week, he did not come close to getting the one thing he demanded that could have headed off the next potential crisis: Freedom from a fight over the federal government’s debt ceiling, which is likely to occur in February when the Treasury Department must ask Congress to increase the government’s borrowing limit beyond the current $16.4 trillion.

Any positive vibes started fading a few days after the photo. On Nov 20, at a meeting between Republican staffers and Rob Nabors, the White House director of legislative affairs. Nabors announced that he had a White House offer in hand but “didn’t want to be laughed out of the room and implied he would skip it because it was a waste of time,” according to one Republican source. The White House declined to comment. What the White House was offering was Obama’s budget proposal from earlier in the year, long ago rejected by Republicans.

A Democratic source familiar with the negotiations said it was merely an opening bid that should have come as no surprise, but Republicans saw it as a red flag, particularly after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner touted it again nine days later.

Things didn’t get better in the final weeks of the year.

At a Dec 13 meeting between Obama, Boehner and their aides at the White House,

This combination made from file photos shows (from left) Rep Paul Ryan, Republican Wisconsin, Vice President Joe Biden, New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. — AP

Obama spoke for almost the entire 50minute session, according to Republican sources. They said he warned that if he did not get an agreement to his liking, he would spend the next four years “campaigning against House Republicans,” starting with his second-term inauguration speech on Jan. 21.

As far as the Republicans were concerned, Obama had effectively remained in campaign mode after his Nov 6 re-election, going on the attack in his “fiscal cliff” speeches.

One of the clearest examples of this, occurred at a delicate point in negotiations on Monday, with a looming deadline and the risk growing that the Republican-controlled House would blow up any deal pulled together by the Senate. At a campaign-style event with “middle class” Americans in the background, Obama accused Republicans of trying to “shove spending cuts at us that will hurt seniors, or hurt students or hurt middle-class families.”

The move angered House Republicans who were already divided on how to proceed, leading to more bad blood.

Republican Senator John McCain responded in the Senate, wondering “whether the president really wants this issue resolved.”

The people Obama was talking to, McCain said, “were laughing and cheering and applauding as we are on the brink of this collapse.”

By that time, Boehner had ceased to be a force in the negotiations, thanks to his own miscalculation on Dec 20. That’s when he brought his own “Plan B” to the House - a

bill to avoid the “fiscal cliff” with minimal tax hikes on the wealthy - and then had to pull the bill when he couldn’t get enough Republicans to support it. The defeat humiliated Boehner and, by depriving him of the ability to deliver on any commitments he might make, sidelined him in the final stages of the negotiations.

Accusations fly In the final days of the year, Republicans routinely accused the president of bad faith, saying he preferred to go over the ‘cliff,’ triggering the tax hikes and rattling the markets, because it would increase his ability to pressure them.

The same was said of Boehner by Democrats, including Reid. “He’s waiting until Jan. 3 to get re-elected as speaker before he gets serious with negotiations because he has so many people over there that won’t follow what he wants. That’s obvious from the debacle that took place last week,” Reid said in the Senate, referring to Boehner’s failed effort to get his own caucus in line on December 20.

He was operating the House as a “dictatorship,” Reid added in his Dec. 27 speech, by refusing to allow a vote on a Senate bill to avoid the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts. Boehner was reelected as speaker on Thursday. After that goading, Boehner let loose the next time he saw Reid.

The occasion was the final White House meeting of the standoff, on Friday, Dec. 28, as Obama and the congressional leaders were trying to figure out how to proceed.

Reid said Boehner was just mouthing

“talking points,” according to a senior Democratic aide.

“The other folks at the table were engaged in a meaningful discussion. Every time the conversation got back to Boehner, he’d say ‘The House has acted; the Senate needs to act.’ It was like he arrived with a very short leash,” the aide said.

“They were walking out of the meeting,” the aide said, when Boehner turned to Reid and said, “‘Go fuck yourself.’” “‘What?’” Reid asked, according to the aide, who said Boehner then uttered the profanity again.

Obama used the Dec. 28 meeting to ask McConnell and Reid to work up a bipartisan bill in the Senate that might win approval in the House, and they agreed. McConnell made an offer to Reid, but grew impatient waiting for a response, according to a Republican aide.

The Senate Republican left a message at 1:20 pm EST (1820 GMT) on Sunday, Dec 30 for Vice President Joe Biden: “Please call.”

“Does anybody down there know how to do a deal?,” McConnell told Biden, a former colleague of McConnell’s in the Senate.

“There doesn’t appear to be the level of understanding that you have about these negotiations” elsewhere in the administration, McConnell told Biden.

“It’s a lack of experience. Smart people but they don’t have a good sense of the trip wires,” he added. Despite Reid’s 25 years in the Senate, he was out of the picture.

After the Nov. 6 election, Reid had wondered whether Obama would cave or use his re-election as a hammer. — Reuters

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Mirren gets star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

www.kuwaittimes.net

PAGE 25

Russians mock Kremlin decision on Depardieu passport PAGE 24

Keeper Jeff Lambert smiles as two leaf insects get close during a photo call for the annual stock take at London Zoo, Thursday. More than 17,500 animals including birds, fish, mammals, reptiles and amphibians are counted in the annual stock take at the zoo.— AP

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Campbell injured in violent attack

N

Cyrus has adopted a rescue dog

T

he 20-year-old singer-and-actress has given a home to an adorable chihuahua cross breed puppy who she has named Bean. In a series of Tweets - accompanied by a picture of her and her new dog - Miley wrote: “Meet Bean @SpotRescueDogs Bean is a little girl :) she is a chihuahua mix of some type :) she brought so much sunshine!!! (sic)” Miley - who is engaged to actor Liam Hemsworth - has posted several images of her with her new canine friend on the social networking site and it seems the pooch has had no trouble making herself comfortable in her new home. In other tweets, the ‘Party in he USA’ hitmaker revealed: “I love my

little bean so much ... My little burrito ... I spot a baby bean Napping with her Aunty @RealDenikaB #puppyluv (sic)” Miley’s decision to get a puppy comes just a few weeks after her dog Lila was killed by one of her other pets. In December, the former ‘Hannah Montana’ singer was left heartbroken after the diminutive Yorkshire terrier was fatally attacked by her English bulldog Ziggy. Miley even dedicated her performance at the ‘VH1 Divas’ concert to her departed mutt.

The pop star also made the painful decision to give up Ziggy to an owner with no other pets or children in case the attack wasn’t a one-off.

Weisz loves

playing bad girls T

aomi Campbell suffered a torn ligament in her leg after she was violently attacked and robbed on a Paris street. The British supermodel was recently sporting a cast on her leg for a mystery injury and it has now been revealed she was set upon by a group of thugs after she tried to hail a cab in the French capital during the incident last month. A source told the New York Post newspaper: “It was terrifying. Naomi believes the assailant had been watching her, casing her out, and waited for a moment to strike when she was alone. She was attacked in the street as she hailed a cab, and robbed. “Her leg was injured as she was violently pushed to the ground. She was understandably very upset and shaken up.” It is not known what the thugs stole from her, but it’s believed they were targeting the expensive jewellery she may have been wearing. The 42-year-old beauty’s billionaire boyfriend, Vladimir Doronin, immediately flew her by private jet to Vail, Colorado, where she was treated by J. Richard Steadman, one of the top orthopaedic surgeons in the world. Naomi has been using a wheelchair and crutches to get around following the attack, and Vladimir has upped security around her.

he 42-year-old beauty relished her role as the Wicked Witch of the East in the new ‘Wizard of Oz’ reboot ‘Oz: The Great and Powerful’ because she finds it liberating to get her teeth stuck into evil characters. She told the Daily Mail newspaper: “She’s someone who revels in being really, really evil. I enjoyed playing her. She’s a bad, bad girl. “Remember in old-fashioned black and white movies you had Barbara Stanwyck and others who played bad girls who enjoyed being bad, and had fun being bad? Well, that’s Evanora. I had a lot of fun being bad. It’s all sport for her.” Rachel - who wed ‘Skyfall’ star Daniel Craig in 2011 - enjoys letting out her wild side and living out her fantasies on screen since her home life is a lot more “grounding” and settled. The famously secretive actress recently opened up about her marriage, saying: “I love being married to Daniel. It’s a wonderful feeling of stability and it’s very grounding. I mean, it hasn’t made me more domestic or anything - just being married doesn’t make you able to cook but I am very happy right now. Extremely happy, in fact.”

Bono takes family on spiritual trip

B

ono treated his family to a round-the-world holy pilgrimage. The U2 rocker has finally recovered from the back surgery he had in 2010 and decided to thank his wife Alison Hewson and their children Jordan, 23, Memphis, 21, Elijah, 13 and 11-year-old John for their constant support by whisking them off on a luxury tour of the world’s most spiritual regions. He told The Sun newspaper: “I’ve possibly had the best year personally because I’ve spent most of it with my family. Having been away on tour for so long, then taking so long to recover from my back injury, it was time for a trip. “I decided to take the family on tour as a little thank you to the kids for being so patient with me. Because I wasn’t busy with the band we kind of went wandering. Once in a lifetime sort of stuff, places like Africa and Central America. “We also went to Jordan and Israel and Peru. It was really great to have time off.” The 52-year-old ‘With Or Without You’ crooner suffered a spinal injury while rehearsing for U2’s world tour in 2010 and had to have emergency neurosurgery in a Munich clinic. Bono - real name Paul David Hewson - has also been busy in the studio with U2 as the band are currently penning material for a new album.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Crystal driven crazy by monsters mad grandkids

B

illy Crystal was “driven crazy” by his grandchildren making him do the voice of his ‘Monsters, Inc.’ character. The actor provided the voice of the one-eyed green creature Mike Wazowski in the Disney animated film and his role impressed his daughter, ‘House’ actress Jennifer Crystal Foley’s two girls - who are both under 10 so much they wouldn’t let him talk normally. He told UK TV show ‘Lorraine’: “My grandkids, when they started to understand what I did, because they didn’t know, the first thing they saw was ‘Monsters, Inc.’ so then for six months I had to talk like Mike Wazowski. It drove me crazy.” Billy, 64, also revealed he got the idea for his latest movie, ‘Parental Guidance’, from a lengthy babysitting experience he and his wife Janice Goldfinger had with the grandkids. He explained: “The movie started because we had the girls for six days.

Alone. And on the seventh day I rested, then came into the office, and said, ‘Alright, here’s a movie.

I’m exhausted.’ Two grandparents babysitting for the kids while their daughter goes away, it’s about old school and new school, how do you raise the kids, do you follow the rules or not? Do you just do it your way? And that’s how it started.” Billy who reprises his role as Mike Wazowski in prequel ‘Monsters University’ is also set to become a grandfather again, as he and Janice’s other daughter, Lindsay, is pregnant with her second child, who will join her two-year-old son in the family’s brood. He added: “I am the grandfather of three and two thirds - the new one is coming in March.”

Kanye plans duet with kim

K

anye West is planning to record a duet with his pregnant girlfriend Kim Kardashian. The ‘Stronger’ hitmaker - who announced on stage last weekend that he and the socialite are expecting their first child together - has booked a recording studio for the end of January and thinks it would be “cool” to make some music they can play to their baby when it is born. A source told the Daily Star newspaper: “Kanye’s really soppy. He wants Kim to lay down some vocals while she’s carrying his child. “He thinks it’ll be cool for his son or daughter to listen

to the track when they’re older.” As well as making music together, it has been revealed Kim and Kanye plan to document her pregnancy and their subsequent trials and tribulations as parents in a new reality TV show. E! Entertainment network president Suzanne Kolb said: “Kim and Kanye are an incredibly dynamic couple, and their baby news is just so exciting. Like so many Kardashian fans, we love it when this close-knit family gets even bigger. We look forward to sharing the joy as they prepare for more diapers, more bottles and without a doubt, more fabulous baby wear.”

Presley and Anstis plan fourth date P

riscilla Presley and Toby Anstis are planning their fourth date in Los Angeles. The 67-year-old actress - who enjoyed a romantic dinner with the former BBC children’s TV presenter last week - is heading back to the US later this month after her run in the pantomime production of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ at the New Wimbledon Theatre, in south west London comes to an end. But Toby, 40, is keen to carry on seeing her and they plan to reunite when he covers the Oscars in February for UK radio station Heart FM. A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “They have a very fun, flirty friendship and Toby hopes to reconnect once Priscilla’s stint in the panto is over. “They have swapped details and the plan is for Toby to visit early next month.”

Priscilla - the ex-wife of late rock ‘n’ roll legend Elvis Presley - plays the Wicked Witch in the production and she invited Toby to watch her perform after they met through mutual friends. After the show they were spotted dining at San Lorenzo restaurant, which is close to the theatre, and were caught sharing a kiss as they left. Priscilla, however, insists that the pair are “not dating”. She said: “I’m very much single. I’m not dating Toby. It was the first time I met him.”

Toby has also stated they are just “friends” and are simply enjoying time together. He posted on Twitter : “Just 4 record, myself and 3 others inc Priscilla Presley had a lovely dinner the other night. She is wonderful, but just friends havin fun:) (sic)”

Harry buys bracelet for Taylor

H

arry Styles gave Taylor Swift a vintage bracelet as a new year’s present. The One Direction hunk - who has been dating the ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ singer for around two months - wanted to mark 2013 in style so presented the blonde beauty with the emerald bracelet, which he had picked out in a second-hand jewelry store near his home in Cheshire, North West England, over Christmas. A source told The Sun newspaper: “Harry handpicked the present for Taylor while he was back home. “He found it in a second-hand shop and she was impressed when he handed it to her. “He gave it to her at the plush hotel they stayed in while they were celebrating New Year in New York. Harry is head over heels for Taylor and even admitted he loves her while they were in the Big Apple.”

The smitten couple saw in the new year with a kiss in front of thousands of fans in Times Square after Taylor had performed at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve on Monday night The two pop stars stunned onlookers on as they shared a very public embrace after Taylor took to the stage to sing her hit song ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ at the New Year’s Eve event which was hosted by Ryan Seacrest.

Deschanel slams skinny actresses

Z

ooey Deschanel thinks Hollywood stars are too thin.

The ‘New Girl’ actress isn’t a fan of the recent trend of stick thin actresses and thinks many of her contemporaries look “much, much too skinny”. In an interview for the February 2013 issue of Glamour, she said: “Actresses have definitely gotten thinner over the course of my lifetime. Women I admired growing up-Debra Winger, Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep-were all beautiful and thin, but not too thin. There are a lot of actresses who are unhealthy-skinny-much, much too skinny. You can’t Pilates to that. “I’m a very small person, and if I lost 15 pounds, I’d look like them; it’s scary. For young girls, what does that say? You need to look this way to be successful? That’s not true. You do not need to look or be anorexic to be successful in Hollywood. The range of what’s acceptable is larger than what people believe.” Zooey - who is divorced from Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard - also revealed her parents and grandparents are her relationship idols. She said: “Everyone has to make some compromises.... I think of my parents, who have been married for 40 years, and my grandparents, who were married for 69 years before my grandfather passed away. My dad is so sweet; he’s always like, ‘Your mom is a better cook than any restaurant.’ And I remember my grandfather looking at my grandmother, saying, ‘She’s the most beautiful woman in the world.’ You can’t get any better than that.” — Bang Showbiz

SATURDAY, JANUARAY 5, 2013

R

ussians reacted Friday with amusement, disbelief and a heavy dose of irony to the news that the Kremlin has granted citizenship to French actor Gerard Depardieu to solve his tax woes. In a letter broadcast on Russian television on Thursday, the former Oscar nominee declared his love for President Vladimir Putin and called Russia a “great democracy.” “He is impressed by our democracy-he has completely lost his marbles,” wrote one Facebook user, Vladimir Sokolov.

Far-left politician Eduard Limonov suggested Depardieu could reprise his famous film role of French revolutionary Georges Danton and risk detention by riot police at a regular unsanctioned rally against Putin.

“Gerard, come to Triumfalnaya Square on January 31 with your new Russian passport in your pocket,” Limonov wrote on his blog. “Our French friend: here’s an invitation to a real historical role.” Depardieu seemed unlikely to take up this offer after Putin praised their “very friendly, personal relationship” at a recent news conference.

Many jokingly speculated about how the film star might adapt to life as a pensioner if he moved to Russia after threatening to renounce his French citizenship over a proposed 75-percent tax rate on the super rich. If Depardieu, 64, opted to live in Russia more than half the tax year, he would pay just 13 percent tax to the government whose budget is highly dependent on state-owned energy resources. “We’re going to meet him pushing a trolley in the shop, in the queue for blood tests at the polyclinic or at the social security office,” wrote journalist and blogger Anton Orekh on the website of popular Moscow Echo radio station.

As a Russian, he now qualifies for a respectful patronymic and can be addressed not as Monsieur Depardieu, but Gerard Renevich, because his father’s first name was Rene, Orekh added. “I’m ready to let him register as a resident in my apartment, he can stay as long as he likes,” wrote television host Tina Kandelaki on Twitter.

Depardieu, like other Russian citizens, would have to register his place of residence with local authorities. Yet some also questioned the morality of Russia fast-tracking Depardieu’s citizenship request.

His public opposition to paying high taxes in France showed he “loves money more than motherland,” wrote Orekh. “Let’s give our passports to everyone who has lots of money and doesn’t want to pay taxes at home!” he said, contrasting Depardieu’s experience with that of ordinary applicants who spend years going through complex red tape. Poet Lev Rubinshtein warned Depardieu on Facebook that if he chose to pay taxes in Russia, they would go to “gorillas with batons who joyfully beat up young men and women and old ladies.” Russia has used Depardieu’s request to preen itself over what it sees as an endorsement of its economic policies.

“Depardieu’s case shows that financial and economic stability are often the most important factor in choosing a country not only for investors but for artists, too,” former economic development minister and now head of Russia’s largest savings bank, German Gref, told the Interfax news agency. Meanwhile Depardieu’s threat to give up his passport over soaring tax demands has prompted much soul-searching in France. Right-wing daily Le Figaro described the affair as a “bad farce” but stressed in a front-page editorial that “this 75 percent tax is an economic, political and diplomatic fiasco that we should not be smiling about.”

The canny PR stunt comes as Russia faces widespread international criticism over a recent decision to ban adoptions of Russian children by US citizens, and looks like an attempt to deflect public attention. “Giving Depardieu citizenship is a strong PR move inside the country but it is the anti-orphan law that influences Russia’s image worldwide. This can’t offset that,” wrote Alexei Venediktov, chief editor of Moscow Echo, on his blog. Putin last week signed a law banning US adoptions despite emotional appeals after Washington passed legislation targeting the Russian officials who were allegedly involved in the prison death of a lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky. — AFP

A woman looks at a computer screen displaying a webpage of Russian TV station Pervyi Kanal internet site in Moscow yesterday that shows a picture of French actor Gerard Depardieu and a letter by the actor translated into Russian. — AFP

A

parent who was “All Shook Up” about Elvis Presley songs in a high-school drama prompted educators to cancel the musical, deeming it too sexual. But the decision was reversed Thursday by administrators at the high school south of Salt Lake City. The administrators at Herriman High School received permission from the copyright owners of “All Shook Up” to edit some of Presley’s songs and make scene changes in the American jukebox musical that borrows from William Shakespeare. “The show will go on,” said Sandy Riesgraf, a spokeswoman for the Jordan School District. “Our biggest concern early on, we wanted to make some changes to keep the play within community values. It’s a win-win for all of us.”

Presley warbles about a sweetheart whose “lips are like a volcano that’s hot” in his song from 1957. “I’m proud to say she’s my buttercup. I’m in love. I’m all shook up.” His song lyrics together with a scene suggesting cross-dressing were deemed offensive by a person the school is refusing to identify. Some think school administrators folded too easily at the start. “I’m at a loss,” Jill Fishback, whose daughter worked on the production, told The Salt Lake Tribune. “They’re singing Elvis songs. A girl dresses up as a boy and kisses a

File photo shows Filmmaker George Lucas, right, and Mellody Hobson arrive for the screening of ‘Wall Street Money Never Sleeps’, at the 63rd international film festival, in Cannes, southern France. — AP

“S

tar Wars” creator George Lucas is engaged. A spokeswoman for Lucasfilm Ltd. says the 68-year-old director is engaged to 43-year-old investment firm president Mellody Hobson. No other details were provided. Hobson serves as chairman of DreamWorks Animation and is a financial contributor to ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Lucas helped to launch the modern blockbuster age with his “Star Wars” sagas and “Indiana Jones” adventures.

The original “Star Wars” still stands as the No. 2 film in terms of tickets sold domestically, behind only “Gone with the Wind.”

Lucas has three children: Amanda, Katie and Jett. He was previously married to film editor Marcia Lucas from 1969 to 1983.

Disney completed its acquisition of Lucasfilm and the “Star Wars” franchise from Lucas for $4.06 billion in cash and stock last month. — AP

boy. ... It’s not promoting homosexuality. It was supposed to be a farce.”

“All Shook Up” brings a modern twist to Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” which portrays a female castaway who dresses as a boy to evade detection in ancient southern Europe, said Martine Green-Rogers, a theater fellow at the University of Utah. “There’s a misunderstanding about the plot of the play,” Green-Rogers said. “It happens a lot in theater. Artists push boundaries.” The female castaway dresses as a boy as cover to wander about, but reveals herself as she falls in love with a young man. “By that time, the genders have been righted,” Green-Rogers said. “The audience knows it’s not a homosexual relationship.”

Nonetheless, Herriman High School, about 20 miles from Salt Lake City, will make some scene changes to the musical version of the Shakespeare play that Riesgraf couldn’t immediately specify on Thursday. “We weren’t asking for a lot. It will not change the intent of the play. They gave us their blessing,” she said of the musical’s producers. —AP In this undated file photo, Elvis Presley, left, appears in a scene from the movie, ‘Kid Galahad.’ — AP

SATURDAY, JANUARAY 5, 2013

B

ritish actress Helen Mirren, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Elizabeth II in “The Queen”, on Thursday, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The 67-year-old Mirren saw her star unveiled in front of the Pig ‘N Whistle, one of Tinseltown’s historic pubs, on Hollywood Boulevard. American playwright David Mamet and US director Jon Turteltaub attended the event.

Mamet just directed Mirren in an as yet untitled HBO film about American rock producer Phil Spector, who was sentenced to 19 years in prison in 2009 after being convicted of murdering a onetime actress.

In the film, which co-stars Al Pacino as Spector and is expected to air later this year, Mirren plays the producer’s attorney. Turteltaub worked with Mirren on “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” in 2007. Born in 1945 in the London suburbs, Mirren began her career on stage and was a member of

the Royal Shakespeare Company. She first appeared in films in the 1960s, tackling all genres from historical drama to musical comedy to action.

She took home an Oscar in 2007 for Best Actress for her work in “The Queen” a role for which she also won a BAFTA and a Golden Globe. Mirren has earned three other Oscar nominations. Since then, she has appeared in spy thrillers “The Debt” and “Red”, and currently stars in “Hitchcock” as the famed director’s wife Alma-a role for which she has again been nominated for a Golden Globe. On television, she is best known for her work as Detective Jane Tennison on “Prime Suspect”-a role that has earned her three Emmys. — AFP

T

jumble of this tedious, flat movie.

Longoria goes full-on Serious Actress here, from wearing minimal amounts of makeup to trying to sell dialogue like, “How long can anyone live? The answer is always the same: Until we die.”

It’s a noble effort, but one better suited for a smarter movie. Garcia and Whitaker look pained and earnest, as though every scene were a latenight commercial for a child-hunger charity, and the usually compelling Unger seems incapable of emotion or expression here. (The best performances come from Bostick and Bauer who are, alas, dispatched all too early.)

By the time we get to the shootouts in downtown Toronto and the gruesome comeuppance to the bad guys, “A Dark Truth” has forfeited any opportunities it has either to entertain or to inform. Its good intentions accomplish nothing but additional paving of the ever-lengthening path to Movie Hell.—Reuters

he painfully silly conspiracy thriller “A Dark Truth” comes in two basic settings: It’s either whisper-whisper-mumble as the characters drone their way through an endless series of dull conversations or BAM-KA-BLAM as everyone shoots their way through pedestrian action scenes that wouldn’t be out of place in a direct-to-DVD cheapie.

Had this movie gone straight to video without passing Go and without collecting (possibly a literal) $200, we could ignore it. But no, it’s on the big screen (and on demand), with a cast that includes Forest Whitaker, Eva Longoria and Andy Garcia, so attention must be paid. Even if such attention is barely earned. We begin in Ecuador, where villagers are running for their lives through the jungle with trigger-happy soldiers in hot pursuit. It’s a sequence that lets us know that revolutionary leader Francisco Francis (Whitaker) and his wife Mia (Longoria) have witnessed something horrible, and it also tells us that writerdirector Damian Lee has almost no idea how to shoot an action sequence.

Young Ecuadorian Renaldo (Devon Bostick, of the “Wimpy Kid” franchise) manages to escape thanks to his ties to CIA agent Tony (Steven Bauer); we next see Renaldo in Toronto, where he blows his brains out in front of philanthropist and water-filtration company exec Morgan (Deborah Kara Unger) to protest what her company did in his village.

Turns out, the filtration system wasn’t ready for the river to overflow and for the sewage system to back up, which led to a horrible typhus outbreak. Morgan’s brother Bruce (Kim Coates) then got the local military to come in and kill everyone to cover up the disaster, since he’s got a pending deal to build a huge water system in South Africa. Bruce tries to assure Morgan that nothing is amiss, but she hires CIA-agent-turnedtalk-radio-host Jack (Garcia) to go to South America and check things out. (His show bears the unpretentious title “The Truth,” incidentally.)

This sets up lots more mumble-mumble (whether it’s Garcia talking to Whitaker about the will of the people or water-company no-goodniks conspiring in a series of blue-lit rooms) and bangbang, but none of it registers. There are certainly points to be made about corporate exploitation of the third world - and the opportunities of making those points probably attracted name actors to the project-but any and all ideas are lost in the

British actress Helen Mirren is photographed by her husband, film director Taylor Hackford, as she speaks at her star ceremony on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. — AP

T

urns out Adele ruled 2012, too and set a record while she was at it. The British singer’s “21” was the highest-selling album in the US for the second consecutive year, according to 2012 sales figures released by Nielsen SoundScan on Thursday.

That’s a first in the SoundScan era.

Adele sold 4.4 million copies of the album in 2012 after selling 5.8 million in 2011. She crossed the 10 million threshold in November and was only rivaled by Taylor Swift, whose “Red” was second on the list. If her album sales continue apace in 2013, ‘21’ will move into the top 10 list for sales since 1993, when SoundScan began current tracking methods.

Gotye scored the year’s top-selling song with “Somebody That I Used To Know” featuring Kimbra. The song was downloaded a record 6.8 million times.

Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” was next at 6.5 million. Both songs are the first to cross the 6 million digital sales mark, while fun. came close with 5.9 million downloads of “We Are Young” featuring Janelle Monae.

Forty-one songs crossed the 2 million download mark, helping drive digital and overall sales to a new high even as album sales began to drop again after a momentary gain. A record 1.65 billion music units - combining physical albums, digital albums and digital songs - were sold in 2012, fueled by an increase of 9.1 percent in total digital sales and a 14.1 percent increase in digital album sales.

Overall, however, album sales declined 4.4 percent. That continues a downward trend since 2004 that was only briefly halted by last year’s 3 percent gain - mostly due to the surprise success of “21.” Only two genres showed album sales gains in 2012.

Rock gained by 2 percent and country, fueled by the format’s assault on the top 10, jumped 4.2 percent. Swift led a record five country artists into the top 10, selling 3.1 million copies of “Red” in just over two months. Other country artists on the list included Carrie

Underwood’s “Blown Away” at No. 7 (1.2 million) followed by Luke Bryan’s “tailgates & tanlines” (1.1 million), Lionel Richie’s duets album “Tuskegee” (1 million) and Jason Aldean’s “Night Train” (1 million).

One Direction nearly matched Swift’s sales total, but did it by placing two 2012 releases in the top 10 - “Up All Night” placed No. 3 with 1.6 million sold and “Take Me Home” was fifth with 1.3 million. Mumford & Son’s “Babel” at No. 6 (1.4 million) and Justin Bieber’s “Believe” at No. 6 (1.3 million) round out the top 10. Only 10 albums reached 1 million in sales.

Katy Perry received the most radio airplay for the second year in a row with 1.4 million spins, while Swift was the most streamed artist at 216 million streams. — AP

In this Feb 12, 2012 file photo, Adele performs during the 54th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. — AP

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

dog

Missing mystery is on Mass author’s mind

Author Dennis Lehane stands next to a poster for his missing dog in Brookline, Mass. —AP

T

here’s a new mystery on Dennis Lehane’s mind, but the story isn’t something the best-selling author can control from behind a keyboard. The plot kicked off Christmas Eve, when the crime novelist’s rescue beagle Tessa escaped from his yard after an outdoor gate latch didn’t lock all the way. Since then, Lehane’s family has launched an allout search. They’ve posted fliers, organized foot searches and used social media to try to bring Tessa back to their home in Brookline, Mass., near Boston.

The 47-year-old author of books including “Mystic River” and “Gone, Baby, Gone” is offering a monetary reward and has said he’ll name a character in his next book after whoever finds Tessa. Lehane said Thursday outside his home that he’s surprised by the media attention the story has attracted, and thinks it has something to do with the character offer. But he said as word of the missing dog spread, his family has heard from people across the country on a “Finding Tessa” Facebook page. They even got an offer of help from a dog psychic in San Francisco.

“No dog since Lassie ever got this attention ... the flip side of the comedy is, who wouldn’t do this for their dog?” he said. The doggie dilemma comes as Lehane faces a Friday deadline for finishing a movie script based on his short story “Animal Rescue,” timing he said may be “sadistic irony.” The movie is scheduled to begin shooting in March in New York City. The author said he’s been spending about four hours a day searching for the tri-colored female beagle after he finishes writing, and his wife has dedicated about 10 hours a day to the effort.

They adopted the 4-year-old beagle not long ago from a Florida rescue agency. Before that, Tessa was a stray in Georgia. With the help of Twitter and Facebook accounts, Lehane and his wife organized two search efforts Thursday in sections of Brookline and Boston, where they suspect Tessa could be. In the beginning, there were three sightings within about two miles of their home not long after a house sitter reported that the dog was loose. But the trail went cold for days after a sighting near a McDonald’s restaurant. Tessa wasn’t wearing tags, but does have a microchip.

“Every dog expert we talk to is strongly suggesting that she’s in somebody’s house,” Lehane said. “That’s why we keep saturating the area with pictures. Because somebody could have her and just not know.” Missing dog posters dotted the family’s Coolidge Corner neighborhood Thursday, including in the front windows at Durty Harry’s dog grooming shop where Tessa is a client. Shop owner Michelle Fournier said interest in the search took off even before people knew Tessa had a famous owner.

“This is about a dog and her family. This is about a community who loves dogs,” she said. Lehane said Thursday that Tessa is so sweet that she’d taken to spooning the family’s puppy before her disappearance. He said if someone knows where Tessa is, he only cares about a happy ending, not about solving the mystery of where she’s been. “It’s a noquestions-asked issue,” the author said. “... Bring the dog to a shelter or call me and I will pick up the dog.” — AP

Photos show musicians play John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ in a memorial tribute to the 23-year old Indian gang rape victim, during a mass guitar ensemble played by some 600 guitarists in Darjeeling.

—AFP photos

600 Indian guitarists play tribute to gang-rape victim A

group of 600 guitarists have paid a musical tribute to an Indian gang-rape victim, playing “Imagine” by John Lennon in a bid to spread “hope, peace and promise” in a country still coming to terms with the violence. The group assembled at a music festival in the eastern Indian hilltown of Darjeeling on Thursday, nearly three weeks after the brutal rape and murder of a student on a moving bus in New Delhi brought an outpouring of national anger.

“We chose this song because it talks about hope, peace and promise,” Sonam Bhutia, tourism secretary of Darjeeling and one of the festival organizers, told AFP by telephone. “The song is so inspiring. It talks about a universe without any boundaries,” Bhutia said of the 1971 Lennon track.

“The tribute was a gesture on our part to show that we are with the victim’s

family in their hour of unimaginable sorrow.” The scenic town of Darjeeling, in a part of India wedged between Nepal and Bhutan, is famous for its tea. The savage

attack on the woman has triggered countrywide protests with calls for better safety and an overhaul of laws governing crimes against women. — AFP

Swift’s ‘Red’ holds down top spot on Billboard chart

C

ountry-pop star Taylor Swift’s “Red” finished 2012 atop the Billboard 200 album chart on Thursday, claiming the No. 1 spot for the fourth consecutive week. It was the album’s seventh non-consecutive week at No. 1 on the chart as post-holiday digital sales accounted for more than half of its 241,000 units sold, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

Swift, 23, has now topped the Billboard album chart for 24 weeks in her fouralbum career, tying Adele for the most

weeks by a female artist at number one on the chart since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales figures for Billboard in 1991.

The soundtrack to the big screen adaptation of Broadway musical “Les Miserables” jumped 31 spots to number two on the album chart. It sold 136,000 units and was buoyed by a full week on the chart and the release of the film in movie theaters on Dec 25. British boy band One Direction placed third with “Take Me Home,” while singer Bruno

Mars’ “Unorthodox Jukebox” and rapper T.I.’s “Trouble Man: Heavy Is the Head” round out the top five.

US album sales for last week were up 27 percent compared to the same week in 2011, at 9.77 million units. The postChristmas week, in which many cashed in their holiday gift cards, saw a record for digital song downloads in a week as a total of 55.74 million tracks were downloaded, besting the previous record of 47.73 million from the same week in 2008. — Reuters

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

LA sisters Haim lead hopes of pop revival in 2013

T

hree sisters from Los Angeles producing fun and infectious folk-pop could be the tonic that chart music needs to lift it from what some experts are calling a creative slump. As music channels, journalists and record labels step up their search for the “next big thing” in 2013, the Fleetwood Macinspired Haim sisters have appeared in a growing number of lists produced at the start of each year. They include MTV’s “Brand New for 2013” survey, the band topped BBC’s “Sound of 2013” poll on Friday decided by over 200 experts and also appeared on the cover of music magazine NME’s new music edition out this week.

Matt Wilkinson, New Bands Editor at NME, was upbeat about indie music in 2013 because up-and-coming acts like Haim had the attitude to succeed unlike more “reluctant” stars of the past. “The difference (from recent times) is that they want to be pop stars, want to be on the front of NME, want to create their own scene and want to be No. 1,” he told Reuters. “It’s been quite a long time since bands really wanted to do that.”

Haim is made up of Este, Alana and Danielle, all in their early- to mid-20s - as energetic as they are photogenic and signed to the Polydor label in Britain. Dorian Lynskey of the Guardian praised their “fantastic, inventive songs”, and said they were part of a revival from “the current sickly condition of chart pops” dominated by familiar faces like Rihanna and producers David Guetta and Calvin Harris.

Return of guitar heroes?

Sharing NME’s new music cover with Haim is Palma Violets, a London-based indie quartet also longlisted on the BBC’s annual survey whose past winners include chart queen Adele and 50 Cent. The death or otherwise of

indie guitar rock has been discussed almost obsessively by the British music press over the years, but George Ergatoudis, head of music on BBC’s Radio 1, bravely predicted: “Rock and alternative guitar acts are going to find public taste swinging their way” in 2013.

If that is true, those set to benefit include two Birmingham acts - quartets Peace and Swim Deep - two London bands - female post-punk foursome Savages and alternative rockers Bastille, and two Irish acts, Kodaline

Haim sisters and Little Green Cars. As in previous years, one area with the biggest potential for topping charts around the globe is the single female act. Whether or not inspired by the likes of Gaga, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and beyond, a new crop of female performerswith-attitude has emerged ready to take on the world.

Creating the biggest stir so far is Angel

Haze, a US rapper whose sexually explicit lyrics and self assertive manner have put her on a path to stardom, helped by the success of her EP “Reservation” which draws on her Native American heritage. “I will say to anyone’s face I am the best out there right now,” she said in a recent interview, with typical bluntness. At the other end of the musical spectrum comes Gabrielle Aplin, a singersongwriter who built up an online following by posting acoustic covers before signing to a major label.

Underlining the increasing crossover between merchandising and musical success, Aplin has already scored a No. 1 single hit in Britain with her cover of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “The Power of Love” which was used in a John Lewis commercial. Somewhere in between falls Laura Mvula, whose powerful voice has earned comparisons from acts as diverse as Billie Holiday and Adele, and MTV has selected Ebony Day as its unsigned artist to watch this year.

There are precious few single male artists on the radar in early 2013. Tom Odell appears on MTV’s Brand New list, the BBC’s Sound Of survey and won the BRITs Critics’ Choice award for up-and-coming talent, while London rapper K Koke is included on Digital Spy’s “Ones to Watch” column and MTV. Accent on authenticity Duos are de rigueur in 2013 with British brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence of Disclosure delighting with their house music including new single “Latch”, and MS MR from New York the enigmatic pair who have music critics drooling. “Prepare to be blown away,” wrote Paul Lester in the Guardian. “This duo could be the first superstars of chillwave.”

London electro pop pair AlunaGeorge have been championed by the same newspa-

per and were runner-up in BBC’s poll this year.

The surveys have a patchy track record in predicting chart success, and are crammed with dozens of acts already signed to record labels and so well on the way to success. But they are closely watched by a music industry facing falling sales and desperate to spot the next Rihanna, Lady Gaga or One Direction.

While no one is suggesting the chart reign of Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift is over, there is growing optimism about a new crop of acts who have commercial ambition as well as musical ability and originality.

“I think across all genres there is a thirst from the audience for authenticity, whether it’s from folk acts or rappers or dance artists,” said David Mogendorff, digital media director of talent and music at MTV International. He was involved in drawing up the music channel’s “Brand New” list of 10 artists destined for greatness overseen by Anna Karatziva, head of talent and music at MTV UK. Voting for the winner is open at www.mtv.co.uk/brandnew from Jan 14-31. Outside Britain and North America, K-pop sensation Psy will seek to build on his global hit “Gangnam Style” which became the first video on YouTube to reach one billion views last month. Whether he can prove more than a one-hit wonder in the West remains to be seen, while other South Korean acts including Girls’ Generation are gearing up to follow in his footsteps. NME has singled out Australia’s indie-dance duo Jagwar Ma for special attention, while Russian-German dance music producer Zedd has begun to make inroads in the US market.—Reuters

As Online Voting Begins, Oscars Take Extra Steps Not to Leave Voters Behind

T

he Academy opened online voting for the first time in his history on Monday. But in the days leading up to the unprecedented move away from paper ballots, AMPAS also took measures to make sure that chunks of its membership aren’t left on the sidelines by the digital revolution. “We’re trying to enfranchise as many members as possible,” AMPAS COO Ric Robertson told TheWrap. Months ago, the organization set up stations in the lobby of its Beverly Hills headquarters where members could register to vote electronically and also receive answers to questions about the process. In November, the organization extended the deadline for voters to request paper ballots. And in the week before that new Dec. 14 deadline, AMPAS took an extra step that essentially made that deadline irrelevant. Academy officials, worried about the number of members who hadn’t chosen either option, decided to mail paper ballots to every one of its 5,856 members whose dues were current but who hadn’t signed up for the online-voting option.

“If you’ve paid your dues and you haven’t registered to vote electronically, we’re going to send you a

paper ballot whether or not you’ve asked for one,” said Robertson. That final decision by AMPAS officials, he said, will make the percentage of potential nominating voters commensurate with what it has been in prior years, when all voters whose dues were paid automatically received paper ballots. “Between those who registered to vote electronically and those who are receiving paper ballots, we’re at a number that is similar to what we’ve had in the past,” he said. As for the breakdown in this first year of online voting, Robertson said that “the majority of voting members” have registered to cast their votes by computer. The move to online voting, he added, is particularly important this year, when the deadline to return nominating ballots is Jan. 3, two weeks earlier than usual. “The voting period for nominations is essentially the holiday season,” he said.

“Whether you’re vacationing in Hawaii or working in Mexico, it’s now much easier to vote - and you don’t have to worry about being out of town while your ballot is sitting in your mailbox back in West LA.” Still, Robertson admits that not every AMPAS voter has embraced moving into the online age. —Reutres

Indian actors Ragini Nandwani and Adhyayan Suman pose during a promotional event for the film ‘Dehradun Diary’ in Mumbai. —AFP

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

New winter sports to experience on

Garrett Marsh, 12, airboarding down the slope near Snowmass Village.

This April 2010 photo provided by Brenter Snowbike shows Floran Schwarzenbacher riding a snowbike at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area in Colorado.—AP

A

fter nearly 50 years of living in the Rocky Mountains, I thought I knew how to enjoy the winter. I’ve gone skiing, skating, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, tobogganing, sleigh riding, dog-sledding and more. But until this winter, I’d never heard of bumper cars on a skating rink. And it wasn’t until recently that I had my first chance to carve turns down a ski hill on a snowbike.

It’s part of a trend to provide visitors to ski resorts and other snowy destinations with a wider variety of choices, said Troy Hawks, managing editor of the National Ski Areas Association Journal.

“What we’re seeing is a larger swath of the family - you’ve got the grandkids all the way to the Bumper cars on ice at Howelsen Ice Arena in grandparents - and all of them have Steamboat Springs, Colo. their idea of how they want to spend their day,” he said.

Some activities are more popular in certain regions, and some aren’t well advertised, so for a different spin on a snow-destination vacation, here are some things to look for: Air bags These massive, inflatable air bags John O’Malley, from Westchester County, NY, snowkit- are placed at the bottom of jumps to ing across an open field in Cranbury, NJ.

allow skiers and boarders to try flips and spins. Nail the landing on your feet and you ride off down the hill. Fail, and you have a soft landing; http://www.bagjump.com or http://www.bigairbag.com .

Airboards A high-tech spin on winter tubing, these snow body boards are inflatable sleds with molded plastic runners on the bottom and handles on the top. The sleds can reach speeds of 60 mph or more (nearly 100 kilometers per hour), and users steer by shifting their body weight.

They’re offered at some ski areas (though banned at others) as well as through some private operators; http://www.airboard.com has a partial list of rental locations.

Bumper cars on ice Just what it sounds like, these are turning up at skating rinks from coast to coast. The battery-operated “cars” are large rubber tubes with molded seats that can hold one adult or an adult and small child. Controlled by two joysticks, they are easy to steer or spin as they bump along on wheels with tiny cleats. Most rinks have age, height or weight restrictions.

First tracks The opportunity for intermediate and advanced skiers to take the first runs in the morning before the slopes open to the public is an option at more resorts.

Some, like Northstar in California, require skiers to stay with a guide; others, like Aspen, Colo., include a gourmet breakfast. Steamboat Springs, Colo., has been experimenting with multiple day First Track passes, some of which can be shared among buddies.

Skijoring From the Norwegian word meaning “ski driving,” skijoring is still primarily the stuff of winter carnivals and cowboy competitions. But some places, like the adultonly Triple Creek Ranch in Darby, Mont., offer guests the chance to see what it’s like to be pulled on Alpine skis behind a horse. Other resorts, like Eden Mountain Lodge in Eden Mills, Vt., and Devil’s Thumb Ranch in Tabernash, Colo., work with experienced skiers and their own dogs to learn what it’s like to go mushing on Nordic skis.

Ice Castles These massive ice castles are formed by thousands and thousands of icicles. A series of pathways take visitors through ice columns, tunnels, caverns and archways. Introduced last year in Silverthorne, Colo., the castles were being built this winter in Steamboat Springs, Colo., and at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn.

Snowbikes Bicycles that ride on skis, rather than wheels, have been around in various forms for decades, but now they have the blessing of some ski resorts, which rent the bikes and offer instruction. Smaller skis clip to your ski boots, helping with balance and maneuvering. The bikes can be taken on the chairlifts to access a variety of terrain; http://www.snowbike.info .

Snowkiting Snowkiting or kite boarding is a cousin to ocean kite surfing. For the winter version, an experienced, fearless skier or snowboarder is harnessed to a kite and uses wind power to propel themselves around. An extreme sport, it requires strength and an understanding of wind patterns. Lessons are recommended.-AP

Skier Blair Weathers of Wilmot, NH, flying off a jump as he is pulled by Summertime and rider Jennifer Elliot during the Skijoring competition at the Newport Winter Carnival in Newport.

SATURDAY, JANUARAY 5, 2013

People look at a map of the world in Lisbon’s Belem neighborhood at the Padrao dos Descobrimentos, or Monument to the Discoveries that celebrate’s Portugal’s 15th and 16th century Age of Discovery. — AP

F

or anyone considering a trip to a European city, Lisbon perhaps isn’t a destination that springs immediately to mind. The Portuguese capital’s singular charms, however, are drawing an increasing number of visitors.

The port city on Europe’s southwestern edge can’t boast the scale or variety of, say, Paris or London. What it offers is a small scale suited to walkers, a sedate pace of life, little crime and lots of history. The famously hospitable Portuguese are another asset, and the restaurants can lay on exceptional fish and seafood from the Atlantic.

During the Age of Exploration 500 years ago, when Portugal led Europe out of the Mediterranean and established an empire spanning from Latin America across Africa to Asia, Lisbon was one of the world’s wealthiest cities. The massive 1755 earthquake - so catastrophic that it helped change the course of western European thought - destroyed many of the greatest Lisbon monuments.

Though the city swiftly modernized after Portugal joined the European Union a quarter century ago, it has retained an old-time attractiveness as well as a beguiling blend of people from the country’s former colonies in Africa, India and Brazil.

Belem The Belem neighborhood, on the north bank of the Tagus River, was the launch pad for the great Portuguese ships and dauntless mariners who set off to discover the world beyond the horizon in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Belem, which translates as Bethlehem (the voyages had a strong religious component), has the Jeronimos monastery and church from 1601, broad gardens, and a

A tourist takes photos from a viewpoint overlooking Lisbon’s Alfama neighborhood and the Tagus river.

A tourist poses for a snapshot next to the statue of Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa in Lisbon’s Chiado neighborhood.

large marble map on the riverbank showing the places the Portuguese encountered, and when, as they radiated across the globe. The Portuguese like to think of it as the ground zero of globalization. The Monument to the Discoveries features statues of national heroes such as Vasco da Gama. The local pastry shops sell the famous, and irresistible, Portuguese custard tarts. Across the river, next to the April 25 Bridge that bears a striking resemblance to San Francisco’s Golden Gate, a giant statue of Christ overlooks the city, its arms open.

Alfama The Alfama quarter is distinguished by its narrow, cobbled streets on the hillside below Lisbon castle, where archaeologists have found traces of occupation dating from the seventh century BC. Once home to medieval Jewish and Moorish settlements, the quarter has an endearing shabbiness and lived-in feel. Walking through the quiet streets often involves ducking under washing hung out to dry and slaloming between smoky barbecues where fish is being grilled.

Baixa The downtown district, called the Baixa, was rebuilt after the 1755 quake in what for Portugal is a rare gridiron pattern. Many old-fashioned stores, as well as modern international chains, line the streets. Look down at your feet and admire the sidewalks decorated in the black-andwhite patterns of traditional Portuguese paving, which is also found in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil and Macau, in China. Rua Augusta, a pedestrians-only street, links two main squares - Rossio and the riverside Praca do

Journalists look at Swallows The Poisoned Apple, a work in which Portuguese artist Paula Rego revises the tale of Snow White, during a visit to the Casa Das Historias, house of the stories, a museum dedicated to Paula Rego in Cascais, outside Lisbon.

Comercio, where government offices have moved out to make way for al fresco cafes and restaurants.

Chiado The Chiado quarter’s heyday was in the late 19th-century Belle Epoque when writers and artists gathered at its cafes. Outside the Cafe A Brasileira, a statue of Fernando Pessoa, Portugal’s best-known 20th-century poet who also wrote in English, is one of the city’s most-photographed sights. A 1988 fire damaged many historic buildings. The reconstruction was overseen by Alvaro Siza Vieira, who has won the world’s top architecture prizes, and the quarter has preserved its elegant, sophisticated atmosphere.

Paula Rego museum Paula Rego is one of Portugal’s most famous modern artists. She fled Antonio Salazar’s dictatorship, which ruled over Portugal for four decades in the last century, and settled in London in the 1950s but her work still draws powerfully on Portuguese culture and her childhood memories around Cascais, a seaside town just outside Lisbon where some of her work is housed. The 30-minute train ride from the capital traces the coast’s contours, with magnificent views over the Atlantic. Cascais also offers beaches and a long promenade. — AP

A woman crossing the street is reflected on the window of a women’s traditional shop in Lisbon’s Baixa neighborhood.

TECHNOLOGY SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Huge gadget show gears up in Vegas LAS VEGAS: Think your high-definition TV is hot stuff - as sharp as it gets? At the biggest trade show in the Americas, which kicks off next week in Las Vegas, TV makers will be doing their best to convince you that HDTVs are old hat, and should make room for “Ultra HDTV.” It’s the latest gambit from an industry struggling with a shift in consumer spending from TVs, PCs and single-purpose devices such as camcorders to small, portable doit-all gadgets: smartphones and tablets. The Consumer Electronics Association estimates that device shipments to US buyers fell 5 percent in dollar terms last year excluding smartphones and tablets, but rose 6 percent to $207 billion if you include those categories.

The trends suggest that the International CES (formerly the Consumer Electronics Show) is losing its stature as a start-of-the-year showcase for the gadgets that consumers will buy over the next 12 months. It started out as a venue for the TV and stereo industries. Later, PCs joined the party. But over the last few years, TVs and PCs have declined in importance as portable gadgets have risen and CES hasn’t kept pace. It’s not a major venue for phone and tablet launches, though some new models will likely see the light of day there when the show floor opens on Tuesday. The biggest trendsetter in mobile gadgets industry, Apple Inc, stays away, as it shuns all events it doesn’t organize itself.

Apple rival Microsoft Corp has also scaled back its patronage of the show. For the first time since 1999, Microsoft’s CEO won’t be delivering the kick-off keynote. Qualcomm Inc. has taken over the podium. It’s an important maker of chips that go into cellphones, but not a household name.

None of this seems to matter much to the industry people who go to the show, which is set to be bigger than ever, at least in terms of floor space.

Gary Shapiro the CEO of the organizing Consumer Electronics Association expects attendance close to the 156,000 people who turned out last year.

That’s pretty much at capacity for Las Vegas, which has about 150,000 hotel rooms. The show doesn’t welcome gawkers: the attendees are executives, purchasing managers, engineers, marketers, journalists and others with connections to the industry.

“We don’t want to be over 160,000,” Shapiro said in an interview. “We do everything we can not to be too crowded.” Nor do the shifting winds of the technology industry seem to matter much to exhibitors. Though some big names are scaling back or missing, there are many smaller companies clamoring for booth space and a spot in the limelight for a few days. For example, while Apple doesn’t have an official presence at the show, there will be 500 companies displaying Apple accessories in the “iLounge Pavilion.” Overall, the CEA sold a record 1.9 million square feet of floor space (the equivalent of 33 football fields) for this year’s show. These are some of the themes that will be in evidence next week: Sharper TVs Ultra HDTVs have four times the resolution of HDTVs. While this sounds extreme and unnecessary, you’ve probably already been exposed to projections at this resolution, because it’s used in digital movie theaters. Sony, LG, Westinghouse and others will be at the show with huge flat-panel TVs that bring that experience home, if you have a spare $20,000 or so.

While the sets are eye-catching, they will likely be niche products for years to come, if they ever catch on. They have to be really big - more than 60 inches, measured diagonally - to make the extra resolution really count. Also, there’s no easy way to get movies in UHDTV resolution.

“While there’s going to be a lot of buzz around Ultra HDTV, we really think what’s going to be relevant to consumers at the show is the continued evolution of 3D TVs and Internet-connected TVs,”

said Kumu Puri, senior executive with consulting firm Accenture’s Electronics & High-Tech group.

Bigger phones Unlike TVs, new phones are launched throughout the year, so CES isn’t much of a bellwether for phone trends. But this year, reports point to several super-sized smartphones, with screen bigger than five inches diagonally, making their debut at the show. These phones are so big they can be awkward to hold to the ear, but Samsung’s Galaxy Note series has shown that there’s a market for them. Wags call them “phablets” because they’re almost tablet-sized.

Acrobatic PCs Microsoft launched Windows 8 in October, in an attempt to make the PC work more like a tablet. PC makers obliged, with a slew of machines that blend the boundaries. They have touch screens that twist, fold back or detach from the keyboard. None of these seems to be a standout hit so far, but we can expect more experiments to be revealed at the show. “All the PC manufacturers recognize that they have to do things differently,” Accenture’s Puri said.

Attentive computing CES has been a showcase in recent years for technologies that free users from keyboards, mice and buttons. Instead, they rely on cameras and other sophisticated sensors to track the

user and interpret gestures and eye movements. Microsoft’s motion-tracking add-on for the Xbox 360 console, the Kinect, has introduced this type of technology to the living room. Startups and big TV makers are now looking to take it further.

For example, Tobii Technology, a Swedish company, will be at the show to demonstrate “the world’s first gaze interaction computer peripher-

al” - basically a camera that tracks where the user is looking on the screen, potentially replacing the mouse. PointGrab, an Israeli startup, will be showing off software that lets a regular laptop webcam interpret hand movements in the air in front of it.

Assaf Gad, head of marketing at PointGrab, said that CES is usually full of hopeful companies with speculative interaction technologies, “but this year, you can actually see real devices.”—AP

Nintendo’s TVii tops button-laden remotes LOS ANGELES: Nintendo’s TV-watching tool for the new Wii U game console beats my regular remote control hands down. Called TVii, the service transforms how you watch television in three key ways. It turns the touchscreen GamePad controller for the Wii U into a remote control for your TV and set-top box. It groups your favorite shows and sports teams together, whether it’s on live TV or an Internet video service such as Hulu Plus. And it offers water-cooler moments you can chat about on social media.

It takes some getting used to, and I had a lot of re-learning to do after years of using my thumb to channel surf. But once I did, I found the service an advance from the mass of buttons on most TV remote controls. TVii comes free with the Wii U, although it didn’t become available in the US until mid-December, about a month after the game machine’s debut.

One nice touch is that TVii gives you a way to search for shows over Internet video apps and live TV all in one place. I can then choose whether to watch it on the big TV or on my controller’s touch screen, which measures 6.2 inches diagonally.

Handling these different sources of video at once is a tall order, and Nintendo Co. does it pretty well. No one else has combined live and Web TV as seamlessly before. As the lines blur between the two, I would hope some of TVii’s advances are copied and improved upon by other gadget makers and TV signal providers.

For starters, TVii asks for your TV maker, your set-top box maker, your location and your TV provider (that could be an antenna). TVii then uses infrared codes to control your TV just like the old remote, and it can offer a traditional channel guide for live TV shows. TVii also asks for your favorite shows, sports teams and movies. This helps it create an easy-tounderstand grouping of shows you might want to watch.

I appreciate the way TVii walked me

through the setup process. It was refreshing, given the misfortune I recently had of trying to program the remote control that came with my cable set-top box, which is about as fun as doing your tax returns. TVii takes away the need to read folded-up instruction manuals that appear to be written by and for electronics hobbyists.

After the setup, TVii presents you with a series of icons for Favorites, TV, Movies, Sports and Search. A little avatar of your identity is in one corner, and tapping on it lets you adjust your favorites or go through the setup again.

Each person in a household can have a different avatar and set of favorites.

In Favorites, your shows are listed with cover art, and you can swipe through the offerings. Tapping one, say, “The Mindy Project,” will pull up an episode list with pictures and brief summaries. Choosing an episode will bring up a range of options - the channel if it’s on live TV, or buttons for Hulu Plus or Amazon, where you can pay for monthly access or just one episode through the service’s app. (The free version of Hulu is blocked on gadgets, including the Wii U and tablet computers.

Apple’s iTunes, unsurprisingly, isn’t integrated.)

The option of clicking through to Netflix will be added some time in 2013.

One hiccup is that if you want to watch a show on live TV now, it asks if your TV’s input source is already set to the set-top box, rather than the Wii U or another gadget such as a DVD player. If it is, you tap “yes” and the channel changes. If not, you have to tap until the source switches to the right one and then tap “yes.” Still, there’s no need to go back to your TV’s remote control.

The other menu items for TV, Movies, Sports and Search operate pretty similarly.

Eventually you’ll get a range of options to watch. In the case of sports, you’ll likely see several game possibilities, with the latest score showing up on each game icon. As an alternative, you can resort to a physical TV button on

the GamePad that brings up touch controls that mimic a simplified, standard remote.

Another option is using an altogether separate interface in which favorite channels and other controls are displayed graphically on a semi-circular wheel. It looks strange, and I wouldn’t recommend it. Anyone who is frustrated by the jumble of cables and boxes that now surround TVs will see TVii’s appeal. My wife said she liked the ease of holding and touching the controller, rather than fiddling with the button-laden remote. One downside I can see with TVii is that you have to keep looking down to figure out what to watch. And you have to plug it in frequently, as the GamePad controller will die out after three to five hours of use.

TVii also offers a standard channel guide in which you can scroll up and down for programs on different channels or right and left for different times of day. A touch will change the channel to the program, which is nice. For certain shows and sporting events, TVii will supply a running list of key events called “TV tags.” These descriptions of events, like the precise moment when Mindy’s Christmas party descends into chaos, are displayed on the GamePad’s screen, along with a screenshot.

Tapping on one opens up a comment window, and an onscreen keyboard allows you to make a comment.

For sports, you get a description of each play, such as the number of yards thrown in a pass, beside a graphic that gets updated. Not many people have Wii U consoles yet, nor is everyone tuned to TVii. As a result, I found myself with only one or two commenters to share my thoughts with. If you’ve connected TVii to Facebook and Twitter (again, some signup is involved), your comments will go out to your friends and followers, but the TV tag that you are commenting on won’t show up, so they might not know what you’re talking about. TVii adds the hashtag “NintendoTVii” to help readers take a guess.—AP

TECHNOLOGY SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

This undated publicity photo shows the fitness video game, ‘Nike + Kinect Training,’ for Microsoft Xbox 360. — AP photos

Photo shows a scene from the fitness video game, ‘Dance Central 3,’ for Microsoft Xbox 360.

This undated publicity photo provided by Majesco Entertainment shows the fitness video game, ‘Zumba Fitness Core,’ Majesco for Xbox360 and Wii.

‘Nike+ Kinect,’ ‘Your Shape’ sweat it out

I

t’s that time of the year when the line for an elliptical machine at your local gym stretches a bit longer thanks to freshly motivated folks who’ve resolved to start 2013 by shedding pounds and shaping up. Why wait to work out - or even leave your living room - when you can get your heart rate up at home with these recently released fitness games?

• “Nike+ Kinect Training” (Microsoft, for Xbox 360, $49.99) is probably the closest you can get to a personal trainer coming over to your place without added expense or intimidation. Brought to you by the swooshy shoemaker, “Nike+ Kinect Training” is essentially a four-week exercise program centered on three goals: get lean, get strong or get toned. The camera-based Kinect system does an impressive job detecting motion in personalized cardio drills. The graphics and interface are slick, and the virtual trainers are actually helpful, though their repetitive prerecorded motivation will eventually become as tiresome as that grunting meathead at your gym’s free weights. Three-and-a-half stars out of four.

• “Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013” (Ubisoft, for Wii U, $49.99) is the only fitness title out for the Wii U since Nintendo has yet to unleash a “Wii Fit” for the new console. While this edition of “Your Shape” smartly utilizes the GamePad for navigation, it unfortunately requires a Wiimote to track movements, and there are no Wii Balance Board features. The Zen-heavy routines in “Your

Shape” feel less intense but more diverse than the “Nike+ Kinect” workouts, and the game awards currency for exercising, which can be used to buy stuff like new songs and virtual gear. It’s clever inspiration. However, holding a remote while working out feels like a big lunge backward for the genre. Three stars.

•

This undated publicity photo provided by Ubisoft Entertainment shows the fitness video game, ‘Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013,’ for Ubisoft Wii U.

CES show to see changing of guard in tech sector WASHINGTON: The inexorable push for mobility in gadgets has reshaped the electronics industry, a shift that reflects a changing of the guard at the world’s biggest consumer technology show.

Gone from the 2013 International CES, to be held January 8-11 in Las Vegas, are giants such as Microsoft, and longtime tech stalwarts such as Intel and Hewlett-Packard are taking a back seat to firms focused on more portable, or even wearable, devices. There will of course be big, dazzling displays of televisions that are smarter and bolder. However, a key focus is likely to be on devices that are mobile but can remain connected via the Internet cloud, from tablets to wrist watches, to Wi-Fi ski goggles.

“There is a changing of the guard,” said Danielle Levitas, a consumer tech analyst at the research firm IDC. “The shift we’ve seen over the past years has been on the mobile aspects of technology versus home entertainment. This continues to accelerate.”

Emblematic of the shift is the choice of the main keynote speakerQualcomm chief executive Paul Jacobs. “Most people have never heard of Qualcomm. People might know they have a stadium with that name somewhere,” said Roger Kay, a technology analyst and consultant with Endpoint Technologies.

Semiconductor firm Qualcomm quietly overtook Intel in market value in 2012, a sign of the growing importance of mobile chips that reduce battery drag and are popular on smartphones and tablets, mostly using ARM technology licensed by Britishbased ARM Holdings. “Qualcomm is the opposite of Intel,” said Kay, who points out Qualcomm’s reluctance to follow its rival’s strategy of branding devices with “Intel Inside.” “It has been shy of the limelight and wants its partners to get all that credit. They are a reluctant hero. So important, and yet so unknown.”

With mobile devices gaining ground, “folks are interested in the services that are attached to consumer electronics at the show,” said Kevin Spain of Emergence Capital Partners, among the venture capital firms attending. Spain said delivery of video over mobile devices is just starting, opening up possibilities for new ventures. “Everything that is cloud is obviously white-hot in the venture community,” Spain said. “People are interested in sharing content across a variety of devices and the cloud plays an integral role in that. Consumers expect to have a variety of content be

•

available on demand: video, music, anytime, anywhere.”

Another focus at CES will be improving batteries and charging for all those mobile devices, according to Stu Lipoff, fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. “One of the major limitations of portable devices is they are getting smaller and asked to do more, so people are finding innovative and creative ways of charging,” he said. CES will feature a range of power pads on which a device can be placed for charging, Lipoff said, but other firms are eyeing technologies “where you can put a transmitter in the room and it will charge the device” from several feet away.

James McQuivey at Forrester Research said CES has evolved from a show in which manufacturers would sell their wares to a branding event. “It is shifting to a more abstract or long-term vision of technology,” he said. “It’s about branding, demonstrating you are innovating for the future.” McQuivey said old guard firms like Hewlett-Packard and Dell, which have been struggling amid a move to mobile devices, must demonstrate they are still part of the future.

“It’s a challenge to get back in the innovation game,” he said.

McQuivey said CES is different than in the past because the industry now revolves around a handful of big companies whose platforms are a key. “Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple are creating platforms on which everyone is innovating,” he said. “CES is living in the shadow of these large platforms.” The 2013 CES features a record 1.87 million square feet (170,000 square meters) of exhibit space, with some 3,000 exhibitors displaying gadgets for digital health, connected cars, smart home devices and a broad array of communications and entertainment gear. Attendance is expected to be in line with last year’s record 156,000.

Eight automakers will exhibit at the 2013 CES, the largest number ever, showing off “infotainment” technology, crash avoidance and other “smart” vehicle technologies. Tech giant Apple is not a participant but 440 exhibitors will showcase accessories for Apple devices in the “iLounge.” “With the largest show floor in history, more innovative technologies and services will launch at the 2013 CES than anywhere else in the world,” said Gary Shapiro, president and chief executive of the Consumer Electronics Association, which hosts the show. —AFP

“Dance Central 3” (Microsoft, for Xbox 360, $49.99) isn’t technically a fitness title - and that’s exactly why it just might be the best one out there. The third iteration of the popular Kinect choreography series features a revamped fitness mode that can stealthily track calories burned as players shake what their mama gave ‘em to hit songs. The new fitness feature also allows wannabe Ushers to set weekly goals and program playlists of varying styles and lengths. (I preferred getting funky with the “cardio groove” list.)

“Dance Central” isn’t as comprehensive as “Nike+ Kinect Training” or “Your Shape,” but it’s a fun diversion when those games’ virtual trainers boil your blood. Four stars.

“Zumba Fitness Core” (Majesco, for Xbox 360 and Wii, $49.99) is the latest entry in the cha-cha-sweat empire’s interactive catalog, combining several different dance styles into ab-busting workout classes set in ridiculously silly locales, like next to a waterfall or aboard a yacht. The Kinect version isn’t as polished as “Dance Central,” although it’s more extreme. You’ll feel the burn to the game’s wild soundtrack. Unlike the expected hip-hop-and-pop flavor of “Dance Central,” the kooky tunes in “Zumba Fitness Core” range from Latin cheesiness (Enrique Iglesias’ “Bailamos”) to refreshingly eclectic (Grace Potter and The Nocturnals’ “Paris”). It’s a must-buy for fans of the gyrating franchise who own a Kinect.

Three stars. — AP

India’s Infosys denies reports of 5,000 job cuts MUMBAI: Indian software outsourcing giant Infosys said yesterday it was weeding out under-performing staff and would be asking some to leave, but denied a media report saying 5,000 workers were to be sacked. The Economic Times reported yesterday morning that the firm was set to ask about three to four percent of its 151,000-strong workforce to leave immediately, citing people familiar with the development. The business daily said the Bangalore-based firm, which lags in growth to rivals TCS and Wipro, wants to reduce costs while moving towards a more aggressive sales strategy.

“The people who are being let go are part of a performance-basis evaluation. It has nothing to do with layoffs. It happens each year,” Infosys spokeswoman Sarah Vanita Gideon told AFP. She said such staff exits would be “significantly lower” than 5,000. The firm, which is also listed on the Nasdaq in New York, has been struggling to expand its business and has missed sales targets, lost market share and seen its stocks slide in the past year as revenues from the United States ease.

Amid intense competition, Infosys in October announced a six percent pay rise for Indian employees and a two to three percent increase for overseas staff. The firm has projected an estimate of $7.34 billion for its fullyear revenues for the fiscal year ending March 2013. It will report its third quarter earnings next week, but analysts say the near-term outlook for the firm remains challenging. Infosys, which is in the midst of a top management shuffle, has decided to focus on higher value software and consulting services for clients instead of labour-intensive outsourcing services. One-fifth of the company’s revenue comes from Europe, and in recent years the firm has shifted focus to emerging and new markets such as Singapore, Brazil, Mexico and eastern Europe. — AFP

TV listings

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

00:50 01:45 02:35 03:25 The...

04:15 05:05 05:55 06:20 06:45 07:35 08:00 08:25 09:15 10:10 Baker 11:05 11:30 12:00 Baker 12:25 12:55 13:50 14:45 19:20 20:15 21:10 22:05 23:00 23:55

Animal Cops Miami Killer Crocs Untamed & Uncut Jaws Comes Home: Return Of Monster Bug Wars Profiles Of Nature Call Of The Wildman Cheetah Kingdom Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Wildlife SOS Meerkat Manor Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 Crocodile Hunter Weird Creatures With Nick Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Breed All About It Deep Into The Wild With Nick The Really Wild Show Wildest Africa Great Ocean Adventures Crocodile Hunter The Animals’ Guide To Survival The Animals’ Guide To Survival Sharkman Wildest Africa Bad Dog Karina: Wild On Safari

00:00 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 01:15 Come Dine With Me 02:05 House Swap 02:50 Saturday Kitchen 2008/09 03:15 Saturday Kitchen 2008/09 03:40 Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is 04:25 Come Dine With Me 05:10 Antiques Roadshow 06:05 House Swap 06:50 Saturday Kitchen 2008/09 07:15 House Swap 08:00 Antiques Roadshow 11:25 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 12:10 Rhodes Across The Caribbean 12:55 Rick Stein’s Mediterranean Escapes 13:50 Eating In The Sun 14:15 Eating In The Sun 14:40 Come Dine With Me 15:30 Come Dine With Me 16:20 Bargain Hunt 17:05 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 18:20 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 19:40 Come Dine With Me 20:30 Antiques Roadshow 23:05 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 23:50 Bargain Hunt

00:00 Business Edition With Tanya Beckett 00:30 Football Focus 01:00 BBC World News America 01:30 BBC World News America 02:00 BBC World News 02:30 Mothers On The Edge 03:00 BBC World News 03:10 World Features 03:30 BBC World News 04:00 BBC World News 04:10 Have You Heard From Johannesburg?

05:00 BBC World News 07:30 Fast Track 08:00 BBC World News 08:30 Middle East Business Report 09:00 BBC World News 09:30 Click 10:00 BBC World News 10:10 World Features 10:30 BBC World News 11:00 BBC World News 11:10 World Features 11:30 BBC World News 12:00 BBC World News 12:10 The History Of The Doha Debates 13:00 BBC World News 13:10 World Features 13:30 Mothers On The Edge 14:00 BBC World News 14:10 World Features 14:30 BBC World News 15:00 BBC World News 15:30 BBC World News 16:00 BBC World News 16:15 Sport Today 16:30 Fast Track

SECRET WINDOW ON OSN ACTION HD 17:00 BBC World News 17:30 Dateline London 18:00 BBC World News 18:10 Have You Heard From Johannesburg?

19:00 BBC World News 21:30 Fast Track 22:00 BBC World News 22:15 Sport Today 22:30 Click 23:00 BBC World News 23:10 The History Of The Doha Debates

00:05 00:30 00:55 01:20 01:45 02:10 02:35 03:00 03:25 03:50 04:00 04:30 04:55 05:20 05:45 06:00 06:10 06:35 07:00 07:20 07:45 08:10 08:35 09:00 09:25 09:40 09:55

Taz-Mania Pink Panther And Pals Moomins Tom & Jerry Kids A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Puppy In My Pocket Wacky Races Looney Tunes Duck Dodgers Dastardly And Muttley Dexter’s Laboratory Wacky Races Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries Tom & Jerry The Garfield Show Moomins Looney Tunes Tom & Jerry Tales What’s New Scooby Doo? Taz-Mania The Looney Tunes Show Tom & Jerry Tales The Garfield Show Baby Looney Tunes Bananas In Pyjamas Cartoonito Tales Ha Ha Hairies

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

Jelly Jamm Gerald McBoing Boing Moomins What’s New Scooby Doo? Tom & Jerry Tales Dexter’s Laboratory Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries Taz-Mania The Looney Tunes Show Tom & Jerry The Garfield Show Pink Panther And Pals Pink Panther And Pals Tom & Jerry Tales Taz-Mania Taz-Mania Johnny Bravo Dexter’s Laboratory Looney Tunes The New Scooby Doo Movies The New Scooby Doo Movies The Garfield Show Pink Panther And Pals What’s New Scooby Doo? Moomins Puppy In My Pocket The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop The Addams Family Droopy: Master Detective

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 Casper’s Scare School 07:30 Casper’s Scare School 08:00 Grim Adventures Of...

08:45 Total Drama Island 09:35 Transformers Prime 09:55 Level Up 10:15 Ben 10: Ultimate Challenge 10:35 Ben 10: Omniverse 11:00 Thundercats 11:25 Mucha Lucha 11:50 Regular Show 12:00 Adventure Time 18:05 Young Justice 18:30 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 18:55 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 19:20 Ben 10: Ultimate Challenge 19:45 The Amazing World Of Gumball 20:10 Adventure Time 20:35 Regular Show 21:00 Mucha Lucha 21:25 Total Drama Island 21:50 Total Drama Island 22:15 Grim Adventures Of...

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

00:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson 01:00 Amanpour 01:30 World Sport 02:00 Piers Morgan Tonight

03:00 03:30 04:00 05:00 06:00 06:45 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 09:15 09:30 10:00 10:15 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 18:30 19:00 19:15 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:30 22:00 22:30 23:00

World Report World Sport Anderson Cooper 360 Piers Morgan Tonight Quest Means Business CNN Marketplace Africa The Situation Room World Sport Inside The Middle East World Report CNN Marketplace Africa Backstory World Report CNN Marketplace Middle East Eco Solutions World Sport Living Golf The Best Of The Situation Room Amanpour The Brief World Report Inside Africa Talk Asia Business Traveller World Report Cnngo News Special Backstory International Desk African Voices CNN Marketplace Europe CNN Marketplace Africa The Brief World Sport Mainsail International Desk Inside Africa International Desk Inside The Middle East The Best Of The Situation Room

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

Fast N’ Loud One Car Too Far Wheeler Dealers Mythbusters Border Security Scrappers Property Wars How Stuff’s Made How It’s Made Sons Of Guns Sons Of Guns Mythbusters Magic Of Science Time Warp Mythbusters Sharkbite Beach Survivorman Animal Cops South Africa Dynamo: Magician Impossible Dynamo: Magician Impossible Dynamo: Magician Impossible Dynamo: Magician Impossible Real Superhumans Fast N’ Loud World’s Toughest Drive Deadliest Catch Sons Of Guns Auction Hunters Auction Hunters Auction Hunters Auction Hunters Property Wars Scrappers

00:00 00:10 00:25 00:35 01:00 01:25 01:50 02:15 02:40 03:05 03:30 03:55 04:20 04:45 05:10 05:35 06:00 06:15 06:40 07:05 07:30 07:55 08:20 08:45 09:10 09:35 09:45 10:00 10:25

Fish Hooks Fish Hooks Fish Hooks Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Emperor’s New School Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Emperor’s New School Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Phineas And Ferb Suite Life On Deck Suite Life On Deck A.N.T. Farm A.N.T. Farm Jessie My Babysitter’s A Vampire A.N.T Farm Jessie Fish Hooks Fish Hooks Good Luck Charlie Cheetah Girls

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

Phineas And Ferb Austin And Ally My Babysitter’s A Vampire Gravity Falls Jessie Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb A.N.T Farm Jessie Fish Hooks Fish Hooks Good Luck Charlie Austin And Ally Wendy Wu Good Luck Charlie Cheetah Girls Phineas And Ferb My Babysitter’s A Vampire Gravity Falls A.N.T Farm Jessie Jessie Fish Hooks The Suite Life Of Zack And The Suite Life Of Zack And Stitch

00:00 Scouted 00:55 Style Star 01:25 15 Remarkable Celebrity Body Bouncebacks 03:15 Behind The Scenes 03:40 Extreme Close-Up 04:10 E!es 05:05 E!es 06:00 THS 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 E! News 09:15 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 10:15 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 11:10 Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane 12:05 E! News 13:05 Scouted 14:05 Giuliana & Bill 15:00 Giuliana & Bill 16:00 Opening Act 17:00 Opening Act 18:00 E! News 19:00 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 20:00 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 21:00 Married To Jonas 21:30 Fashion Police 22:30 E! News 23:30 Chelsea Lately

00:15 Heat Seekers 00:40 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 01:05 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 01:30 Heat Seekers 01:55 Barefoot Contessa - Specials 02:45 Amusement Park Eats 03:35 Heat Seekers 04:00 Heat Seekers 04:20 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 04:50 United Tastes Of America 05:15 Unique Eats 05:40 Chopped 06:30 Iron Chef America 07:10 Unwrapped 07:35 Unwrapped 08:00 Iron Chef America 08:50 Kid In A Candy Store 09:15 Unwrapped 09:40 United Tastes Of America 10:05 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 10:30 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 10:55 Cooking For Real 11:20 Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger 12:10 United Tastes Of America 12:35 Unwrapped 13:00 Iron Chef America 13:50 Tyler’s Ultimate 14:15 Andy Bates Street Feasts 14:40 Everyday Italian 15:05 Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger 15:30 Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger 16:20 United Tastes Of America 16:45 Chopped 17:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 18:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back To

TV listings

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013 Basics 18:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 18:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 19:15 Kid In A Candy Store 19:40 Tyler’s Ultimate 20:05 Guy’s Big Bite 20:30 Chopped 21:20 Iron Chef America 22:10 Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger 23:00 The Fat Spa Chef Challenge 23:50 All Star Healthy Makeover

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

Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghost Lab A Haunting Evil, I Evil, I I Escaped Death Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghost Lab A Haunting Disappeared Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Undercover Disappeared Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol Forensic Detectives On The Case With Paula Zahn Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

Undercover Disappeared Forensic Detectives Street Patrol True Crime With Aphrodite Who On Earth Did I Marry?

Nightmare Next Door Couples Who Kill The Haunted Ghost Lab

16:00 18:00 19:45 22:00

Twins Mission-PG15 And Soon The Darkness-PG15 Ronin-18 The Shining-R

01:00 Awaydays-18 03:00 Garfield’s Pet Force-FAM 05:00 Eva-PG15 07:00 Little Big Soldier-PG15 09:00 Blackthorn-PG15 11:00 John Carter-PG15 13:15 The Decoy Bride-PG15 15:00 An Invisible Sign Of My OwnPG15 17:00 Judy Moody And The Not Bummer Summer-PG 19:00 Return-PG15 21:00 Casino Jack-18 23:00 I Melt With You-R

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Community 02:00 South Park 02:30 Weeds 03:00 Two And A Half Men 03:30 Two And A Half Men 04:00 Hope & Faith 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Gary Unmarried 06:00 Samantha Who? 06:30 Seinfeld 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Hope & Faith 08:30 Last Man Standing 09:00 Gary Unmarried 09:30 Samantha Who? 10:00 How I Met Your Mother 10:30 The Office 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay

Leno 12:00 Seinfeld 12:30 Hope & Faith 13:00 Til Death 13:30 Samantha Who? 14:00 30 Rock 14:30 The Office 15:00 How I Met Your Mother 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Seinfeld 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Last Man Standing 18:30 30 Rock 19:00 How I Met Your Mother 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 Weeds 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

21:00 C.S.I. Miami 22:00 Strike Back 23:00 Homeland

00:00 01:00 02:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00

00:00 Pieces Of April-PG15 02:00 Loser-PG15 04:00 Easy A-PG15 06:00 Desperately Seeking SantaPG15 08:00 Cheaper By The Dozen 2-PG 10:00 Open Season 3-FAM 12:00 Easy A-PG15 14:00 Little Shop Of Horrors-PG15 16:00 Open Season 3-FAM 18:00 The American President-PG15 20:00 The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou-PG15 22:00 Failure To Launch-PG15

Top Gear Specials Glee Damages Homeland Good Morning America Covert Affairs Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Smallville Covert Affairs Top Gear Specials Glee Smallville Damages Live Good Morning America Emmerdale Coronation Street Burn Notice Criminal Minds

00:00 02:00 03:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 12:00 12:30 15:00 16:00 16:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

01:00 Yelling To The Sky-PG15 03:00 Gardens Of The Night-18

00:45 Amish: Out of Order 01:40 On The Camino De Santiago 02:05 On The Camino De Santiago 02:35 One Man & His Campervan 03:00 One Man & His Campervan 03:30 Exploring The Vine 03:55 Exploring The Vine 04:25 Amish: Out of Order 05:20 Bondi Rescue: Bali 05:45 Bondi Rescue: Bali 06:15 Street Food Around The World 06:40 Market Values 07:10 Market Values 07:35 Market Values 08:05 Departures 09:00 Treks In A Wild World 09:55 Treks In A Wild World 10:50 Amish: Out of Order 11:45 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 12:10 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 12:40 On Surfari 13:05 On Surfari 13:35 Exploring The Vine 14:00 Exploring The Vine 14:30 Amish: Out of Order 15:25 On Hannibal Trail 15:50 Finding Genghis 16:20 Departures 17:15 Treks In A Wild World 18:10 Treks In A Wild World 19:05 Bondi Rescue: Bali 19:30 Bondi Rescue: Bali 20:00 Street Food Around The World 20:30 Market Values 21:00 Market Values 21:30 Market Values 22:00 On The Camino De Santiago 22:25 On The Camino De Santiago 22:55 On The Camino De Santiago 23:20 On The Camino De Santiago 23:50 Bondi Rescue

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00

My Bloody Valentine-R Taxi Driver-18 Vengeance-PG15 Secret Window-PG15 Warbirds-PG15 Rage Of The Yeti-PG15 And Soon The Darkness-PG15 Warbirds-PG15

Grimm Glee Six Feet Under Emmerdale Coronation Street Criminal Minds Emmerdale Coronation Street Parenthood Emmerdale Coronation Street Criminal Minds Burn Notice Criminal Minds C.S.I. Miami Strike Back Six Feet Under

05:00 Boy-PG15 07:00 Espions-PG15 09:00 Elevator Girl-PG15 11:00 Ike: Countdown To D-DayPG15 13:00 Backwash-PG15 15:00 Elevator Girl-PG15 17:00 The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom-U 19:00 Swing Kids-PG15 21:00 Departures-PG15 23:15 Dragonfly-PG15

00:00 Marley-PG15 02:30 The Help-PG15 05:00 Zathura: A Space Adventure-PG 07:00 Summer Coda-PG15 09:00 Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader-PG 11:00 Big Miracle-PG 13:00 Kings Ransom-PG15 14:00 Rising Stars-PG15 16:00 Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader-PG 18:00 The Tourist-PG15 20:00 Seeking Justice-PG15 22:00 30 Minutes Or Less-18

01:00 Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs.

Evil-PG 02:45 Turtle Hero: Part II-FAM 04:15 Zathura: A Space Adventure-PG 06:00 The Wind In The Willows-PG 08:00 Winner & The Golden Child: Part I-FAM 10:00 Scooby-Doo! Legend Of The Phantosaur-PG 11:30 Marco Macaco-FAM 13:00 Spooky Buddies-PG 14:30 Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs.

Evil-PG 16:00 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules-PG 18:00 Scooby-Doo! Legend Of The Phantosaur-PG 20:00 Emilie Jolie-PG 22:00 Spooky Buddies-PG 23:30 Winner & The Golden Child: Part I-FAM

00:00 MSNBC Martin Bashir 01:00 MSNBC Hardball With Chris Matthews 02:00 MSNBC Politicsnation 03:00 Live NBC Nightly News 03:30 ABC World News With Diane Sawyer 04:00 MSNBC The Ed Show 05:00 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 07:00 NBC Nightly News 07:30 ABC World News With Diane Sawyer 08:00 NBC Nightly News 09:06 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 10:00 MSNBC The Last Word W/ Lawrence O’Donnell 11:00 MSNBC Morning Joe 14:00 MSNBC Caught On Camera 15:00 Live NBC Saturday Today Show 17:00 MSNBC Up With Chris Hayes Saturday 21:00 Live ABC 20/20 22:00 MSNBC Weekends With Alex Witt Saturday OSN PREMIERE 00:00 Roadie-18 02:00 Battle For Terra-PG 04:00 The Swan Princess-FAM 06:00 Puss In Boots-PG 08:00 According To Greta-PG15 10:00 Spud-PG15 12:00 Big Miracle-PG 14:00 Captain America: The First Avenger-PG15 16:15 According To Greta-PG15 18:00 The Ides Of March-PG15 20:00 Seeking Justice-PG15 22:00 Super-18

I MELT WITH YOU ON OSN CINEMA

02:00 02:30 10:30 11:00 14:00 15:00 22:00

ICC Cricket 360 Live Test Cricket ICC Cricket 360 Live Cricket Twenty20 Trans World Sports Cricket Test Match Cricket Twenty20

00:30 01:00 01:30 06:00 07:00 10:00 15:00 15:30 16:30 17:00 19:00 22:00

ICC Cricket 360 Inside the PGA Live PGA Tour Trans World Sport Cricket T20 PGA Tour Inside the PGA Trans World Sport Futbol Mundial Live Top 14 Cricket T20 Top 14

00:00 01:00 02:00 02:30 04:30 05:30 06:30 07:00 09:00 09:30 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 14:30 15:00 15:30 20:30 22:30

World Cup of Pool Golfing World Top 14 Highlights Pro 12 World Pool Masters World Cup of Pool Futbol Mundial Pro 12 Top 14 Highlights Trans World Sport Spirit of Golf Spirit of Golf Asian Tour Golf Show Futbol Mundial Pro 12 Top 14 Highlights ICC Cricket 360 PGA Tour Pro 12 Live Pro 12

00:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter The Smashes 01:00 WWE SmackDown 03:00 WWE Bottom Line 04:00 UFC Unleashed 05:00 NHL 07:00 WWE SmackDown 09:00 WWE Bottom Line 10:00 WWE Vintage Collection 11:00 NHL 13:00 UAE National Race Day Series 14:00 WWE SmackDown 16:00 WWE Bottom Line 17:00 European Le Mans Series 17:30 European Le Mans Series 18:30 European Le Mans Series 19:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter The Smashes 20:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 21:00 WWE SmackDown 23:00 WWE Bottom Line

01:00 01:30 02:00 03:00 05:00 06:00 06:30 09:00 11:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 15:30 16:30 17:00 19:00 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:30 22:00 23:00 23:30

Pawn Stars Storage Wars Ancient Aliens Rise & Fall Of The Third Reich UFO Files Pawn Stars American Restoration Ancient Aliens American Pickers Soviet Storm: WWII In The East Soviet Storm: WWII In The East Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Ancient Aliens Ancient Aliens Storage Wars Storage Wars Pawn Stars Pawn Stars American Pickers Storage Wars Storage Wars

01:15 03:00 04:30 06:00 07:20 09:15 11:10 12:35 14:10 15:45 17:15 18:40 20:25 20:40 22:00 23:45

Liebestraum Leather Jackets Dark Angel The Lost Brigade Viva Maria!

The 70’s Frankie And Johnny Keys To The Kingdom Solarbabies I’ve Been Waiting For You A Dog’s Breakfast Hidden Agenda Mgm’s Big Screen Zelig The Handmaid’s Tale Eye Of The Needle

W h a t ’s o n SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

IKFS conducts economic seminar

I

ndo-Kuwait Friendship Society, a non-profit socio-cultural, friendship, NRI association is conducting “ECONOMIC SEMINAR” on Tuesday, 29th January 2013 at “Plaza Athenee Hotel Kuwait City.

Invitations are open for Public to participate in presenting ideas and suggestions related to the subject “Eradicating Poverty in India and role of NRIs”. This is the first time in Kuwait a NRI association is hosting this type of program. A general convention is arranged to deliver the winners of the Presentation in the form of Excellence Awards as “The Best Economist of 2012”. The event is arranged also to commemorate India’s 64th Republic Day. Distinguished guests from Indian and will attend the event.

Announcements

Shirva feast

S

hirva Welfare Association Kuwait (SWAK) will be celebrating their Shirva Parish feast2013 here in Kuwait. On this occasion there will be a mass offered at 9.15 am on February 8, 2013 at the Holy Family Cathedral. Kuwait and the celebration / get-together with a of variety entertainment programme will he held from 4:30 pm - 9 pm on the same day at the Indian Community School, Salmiya. SWAK members or their children who would like to participate in the variety entertainment programme and show their talent are requested to contact any of the SWAK committee members listed below to avail the opportunity before January 10, 2013.

Likewise if any of members children have excelled in academics or any other extra curricular activities in the past 1 year will be appreciated and hence are requested to inform any of the SWAK committee members listed below before the 10th of January. Last date for enrollment in the talent show is January 15, 2013.

Goan Culinary Club

T

he Goan Culinary Club - Goa encourages you to log on to their website where you can find a video of Odette and Joe Mascarenhas sharing their thoughts on Goan cuisine. These videos were recorded at the launch of the Goan Culinary Club in Goa on March 3, 2012. Thanks to support from all at the Goan Culinary Club, we have made great progress in six months.

Basketball Academy

T

Arabic courses

A

understanding, and conducting business or simply to become more involved in the community.

For more information or registration, please logon to our website.

WARE will begin Winter 1 Arabic language courses with new textbooks and curricula on from December 2, 2012 until January 24, 2013. AWARE Arabic language courses are designed with the expat in mind. The environment is relaxed & courses are designed for those wanting to learn Arabic for travel, cultural

he new Premier Basketball Academy offers coaching and games every Friday and Saturday from 10 am onwards for 6 to 18 year olds, boys and girls. Located in Bayan Block 7, Masjed AlAqsa Street by Abdullah Al-Rujaib High School. Free Basketball and Tee Shirts for all participants, with certificates and special awards on completion of each 6 week course. Qualified and experienced British and American Coaches, Everyone Welcome.

SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS

W

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

W h a t ’s o n SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Embassy Information

FAIPS - DPS Class 1 Sports Day

I

t was indeed a morning of fun and excitement for the spectators who witnessed the little children exercise, dance and run, with vigor and talent, on 13th Dec ‘for the Class 1 Sports day in FAIPS. The Chief Guest, Capt Pawan Choudhry, was accompanied by the Principal, Vice Principal and Supervisor to hoist the flag and declare the event open. The magnificent performances and the admirable anchoring speeches added elegance and color to occasion.

The program started with the recitation of the Holy Quran, followed by the

Kuwait National anthem.

It was a spectacular event beginning with ‘nature dance’ which had colorful flowers and butterflies trotting around ‘Zumba’, a foot tapping item, to show how one can exercise with rhythmic steps. Next was a beautiful melody, displaying the color and graceful movements with little hearts in hand, and then a brilliant display of ‘yoga’ which started with Surya Namaskar. A complete stretching exercise left the spectators awestruck and spellbound!

A fusion dance, a soft medley, where

the children performed in rhythmic movements to perfection was the final show before the races. Each race had a new innovative theme, which brought excitement and applauds from the spectators. Every item was a grand visual treat by the exuberant young performers. In brief, it was a platform to showcase the talent and creativity of the 6 year olds! The morning ended on a festive note with Santa’s appearance to wish the children Merry Christmas.

EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Australian Embassy Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department.

All processing of visas and immigration matters in conducted by The Australian Consulate-General in Dubai. Email: info.ausdxb@vfshelpline.com (VFS) immigration.dubai@dfat.gov.au (Visa Office); Tel: +971 4 355 1958 (VFS) - +971 4 508 7200 (Visa Office); Fax: +971 4 355 0708 (Visa Office).

In Kuwait applications can be lodged at the Australian Visa Application Centre 4B 1st Floor, Al-Banwan Building Al-Qibla Area, Ali Al-Salem Street, opposite the Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City, Kuwait. Working hours and days: 09:30 - 17:30; Sunday - Thursday. Or visit their website www.vfs-au-gcc-com for more information. Kuwait citizens can apply for tourist visas on-line at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm.

■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF CANADA he Embassyof Canada in Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department. All processing of visa and immigration matters including enquiries is conducted by the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. Individuals who are interested in working, studying, visiting or immigrating to Canada should contact the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, website: www.UAE.gc.ca†or www.goingtocanada.gc.ca, E-mail: abdbi-imenquiry@international.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakei St, Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is open from 07:30 to 12:30. Consular services for Canadian citizens are provided from 09:00†until 12:00, Sunday through Wednesday.

T

■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF KENYA The Embassy of the Republic of Kenya wishes to inform the Kenyan community residents throughout Kuwait and the general public that the Embassy has acquired new office telephone numbers as follows: 25353982, 25353985 - Consular’s enquiries 25353987 - Fax Our Email address: info@kenyaembkuwait.com.

■■■■■■■

Greetings

C

ongratulations to Mohammed Hameed Abdulraheem on the occasion of his engagement to his cousin Buthaina Abeen Siddeq. An engagement party was held on behalf of the couple and was attended by a large number of relatives and friends.

EMBASSY OF MYANMAR Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar would like to inform the general public that the Embassy has moved its office to new location at Villa 35, Road 203, Block 2, Al-Salaam Area in South Surra. The Embassy wishes to advice Myanmar citizens and travellers to Myanmar to contact Myanmar Embassy at its new location. Tel. 25240736, 25240290, Fax: 25240749, email:myankuwait11@gmai1.com.

■■■■■■■

EMBASSY OF NIGERIA The Nigerian embassy has its new office in Mishref. Block 3, Street 7, House 4. For enquires please call 25379541. Fax25387719. Email- nigeriakuwait@yahoo.com or nigeriankuwait@yahoo.co.uk.

HEALTH

SATURDAY,JANUARY 5, 2013

Poll: Americans split on government role on fat WASHINGTON: A new poll finds that Americans blame too much cheap fast food for fueling the nation’s fat epidemic, but they’re split on how much the government should do to save them from themselves. Most draw the line at policies that would try to force healthier eating by limiting food choices, according to the poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. A third of people say the government should be deeply involved in finding ways to curb obesity, while a similar proportion want it to play little or no role. The rest are somewhere in the middle.

A third of US children and teens, and two-thirds of adults, are either overweight or obese. While threequarters of Americans consider obesity a serious health problem, most of those surveyed said dealing with it is up to individuals. That highlights the dilemma facing public health experts. Societal changes

over recent decades have helped spur growing waistlines. Regular-sized food portions are larger, and a fast-food meal can be cheaper than healthier food. In the current environment, it’s difficult to exercise that personal responsibility, said Jeff Levi of the nonprofit Trust for America’s Health.

“We need to create environments where the healthy choice becomes the easy choice, where it’s possible for people to bear that responsibility,” he said. Require more physical activity in school? Provide nutritional guidelines to help people make better choices? Yes, 8 in 10 people surveyed support those steps. Make restaurants post calorie counts on their menus, as the Food and Drug Administration is poised to do? Some 70 percent think it’s a good idea.

But nearly 6 in 10 people oppose taxes targeting unhealthy foods, known as soda taxes or fat taxes.

And when it comes to restricting what people can

Sperm donor offspring calls for privacy changes It is more complex and less cost-effective to run an open system TOKYO: Hideaki Kato discovered his true identity by accident. During his medical training a decade ago, the now 39-year-old Japanese doctor was performing blood tests on family members when he learned something startling: his dad was not his biological father. Suspecting an extramarital affair, the Tokyo-area physician questioned his mother while the man he had always known as his father was away on a trip. But rather than uncovering a cheating parent, Kato learned his biological father was an anonymous sperm donor and that his parents had hidden the infertility from him. “I felt as if half of me had collapsed,” he said. “I asked myself’Were childhood memories of my family’s smiling faces at the beach just a fake’?”

But Kato’s desire to learn more was hampered by his upset parents and a lack of laws in Japan over access to details of his genetic parentage. It is a challenge shared by thousands of people in Japan and elsewhere who were the product of anonymous sperm and egg donors. Many suffer identity crises upon learning of their background and wonder about the existence of a brother or sister, or fear unwittingly forming a romantic relationship with a half-sibling.

Such concerns have led many donor-conceived children to call for the practice to be banned, among them a 33-year-old editor at a Tokyo publishing company. Ten years ago, the woman dropped out of university, distraught after being told her father was not biologically related to her. “I hope (it) will be banned,” she said, referring to anonymous donors. “Why isn’t adoption enough? To me, the technology is a way to pretend that you have a ‘normal family’, to hide infertility in a society where the pressure is still high to get married and have children.”

She added that treatment with donor eggs was another worrying technology. “I don’t want children of donor eggs to suffer the same mental anguish that I experienced,” she said. She is far from alone. Canadian Olivia Pratten filed a lawsuit to learn her genetic identity, and in 2011 the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled donor-conceived children in the province should be guaranteed access to their biological parents’ identities.

That ruling was overturned in November 2012 on appeal, but Pratten may take the case to the country’s top court, according to

Canadian media reports. She rejects arguments that lifting anonymity would all but empty the pool of willing donors. “The fertility industry likes to falsely claim that no anonymity equals no donors. This is absolutely false,” Pratten said in an email to AFP. “Other countries, from New Zealand to Sweden to the United Kingdom to certain states in Australia have successfully banned anonymity,” she added.

Respect for genetic lineage In 2005, Britain changed the law so donor-conceived people could learn the identity of their parents, according to the country’s National Health Service. Elsewhere, there is a patchwork of anonymity laws, or no relevant legislation at all including in Japan, which also has no regulations for doctors carrying out the procedure. “It is more complex and less cost-effective to run an open system, but the rights and needs of the resulting children must be kept paramount,” Pratten said.

“I am sympathetic to those facing infertility, but the desire to have genetic lineage

needs to be respected for both the parents and children.” For his part, Kato’s efforts to learn his father’s identity included getting a list of medical school graduates at Japan’s Keio University-where his parents had sought treatment. The graduates were potential sperm donors, but Kato’s decision to pay them a visit in his quest to learn more drew a bewildered reaction from the men.

Yahiro Netsu, whose maternity clinic pioneered fertility treatment with donor eggs in Japan, said he cannot ignore patients’ desire to have children. “If a child born from a donor egg faces an identity crisis, it will eventually ease if there is trust between the child and the parents,” Netsu said. But he agreed children should have the right to know their genetic history. Mari Saimura, a professor at Tezukayama University, is among those who are calling for Japan to establish laws on the issue.

“Japan should give up the technology unless it sets up guidelines to guarantee people’s right to know their identity,” Saimura said. There has been little progress on the

JAPAN: File photo shows 39-year-old Japanese doctor Hideaki Kato showing an image of artificial insemination during an interview with AFP at his office in Yokohama, suburban Tokyo.—AFP

buy - like New York City’s recent ban of supersized sodas in restaurants - three-quarters oppose it.

“The outlawing of sugary drinks, that’s just silly,” said Keith Donner, 52, of Miami, who prefers teaching schoolchildren to eat better and exercise. More than half of women say the high cost of healthy food is a major driver of obesity, compared with just 37 percent of men. Women also are more likely to say that the food industry should bear a lot of responsibility for helping to find solutions. Physical activity is an important factor too. About 7 in 10 people said it was easy to find sidewalks or paths for jogging, walking or bike-riding. But 63 percent found it difficult to run errands or get around without a car. The AP-NORC Center survey was conducted Nov 21 through Dec 14.

It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,011 adults nationwide and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points. — AP

Flu, Malaria, virus?

Disease forecasters look to the sky NEW YORK: Only a 10 percent chance of showers today, but a 70 percent chance of flu next month. That’s the kind of forecasting health scientists are trying to move toward, as they increasingly include weather data in their attempts to predict disease outbreaks. In one recent study, two scientists reported they could predict - more than seven weeks in advance - when flu season was going to peak in New York City. Theirs was just the latest in a growing wave of computer models that factor in rainfall, temperature or other weather conditions to forecast disease.

Health officials are excited by this kind of work and the idea that it could be used to fine-tune vaccination campaigns or other disease prevention efforts. At the same time, experts note that outbreaks are influenced as much, or more, by human behavior and other factors as by the weather. Some argue weather-based outbreak predictions still have a long way to go. And when government health officials warned in early December that flu season seemed to be off to an early start, they said there was no evidence it was driven by the weather.

This disease-forecasting concept is not new: Scientists have been working on mathematical models to predict outbreaks for decades and have long factored in the weather. They have known, for example, that temperature and rainfall affect the breeding of mosquitoes that carry malaria, West Nile virus and other dangerous diseases. Recent improvements in weathertracking have helped, including satellite technology and more sophisticated computer data processing. As a result, “in the last five years or so, there’s been quite an improvement and acceleration” in weather-focused disease modeling, said Ira Longini, a University of Florida biostatistician who’s worked on outbreak prediction projects. Some models have been labeled successes.

In the United States, researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the University of New Mexico tried to predict outbreaks of hantavirus in the late 1990s. They used rain and snow data and other information to study patterns of plant growth that attract rodents. People catch the disease from the droppings of infected rodents. “We predicted what would happen later that year,” said Gregory Glass, a Johns Hopkins researcher who worked on the project. More recently, in east Africa, satellites have been used to predict rainfall by measuring sea-surface temperatures and cloud density. That’s been used to generate “risk maps” for Rift Valley fever a virus that spreads from animals to people and in severe cases can cause blindness or death.

Researchers have said the system in some cases has given two to six weeks advance warning. Last year, other researchers using satellite data in east Africa said they found that a small change in average temperature was a warning sign cholera cases would double within four months. “We are getting very close to developing a viable forecasting system” against cholera that can help health officials in African countries ramp up emergency vaccinations and other efforts, said a statement by one of the authors, Rita Reyburn of the International Vaccine Institute in Seoul, South Korea.—AP

SCIENCE SATURDAY,JANUARY 5, 2013

CLASSIFIEDS SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

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

ACCOMMODATION Room available, rent KD 65, near the big Jamiya, Bahrain St, Ghadeer Clinic building.

Tel: 66792392/ 66282602/ 60421240.

(C 4263) 25-12-2012 FOR SALE Ford Mondeo, maroon color, model 2003, very good condition, price KD 800, kilometer 200,124.

Phone: 99839184. (C 4276) 3-1-2012 Jeep Honda CRV - 2007, green color, full options, km 47,000, KD 2,950. Tel: 66729295. (C 4272) Toyota Prado 2003, white color, 4 cylr, excellent condition, km 1,52,000, KD 3,100.

Tel: 50994848.

(C 4271) 31-12-2012 TUITION Learn Holy Quran in perfect way, private tuition available for elders and children by Hafiz-E-Quran. Contact: 66725950.

(C 4262) Tuition available for Web Designing & Professional Graphic Designing. Learn to create your own website just in 3 months. Flexible schedule, join us to build your career as Web Designer. Call 60078629, 22403408.

(C 4264) 25-12-2012 AutoCAD tuition available by Highly Qualified Experienced Teacher, Learn professionally

AutoCAD 2D&3D with Projects, Flexible Schedule, and individual tutorial. Contact: 99302850 / 22467301. (C 4251) 20-12-2012

SITUATION VACANT Required cook for house, good knowledge of cooking all kinds of food, good salary, good facilities, full time or part time. Phone: 23901053, 66519719.

(C 4273)

Prayer timings Fajr:

05:18

Shorook

06:43

Duhr:

11:52

Asr:

14:43

Maghrib:

17:02

Isha:

18:24

Looking for a part time cleaning lady, 1-5pm 6 days/week.

Contact: 96942874. (C 4274) Looking for a part time nanny to help care for 2 young children. (4 1/2 + 1 1/2) 1pm 6pm, Filipino preferred.

Contact: 96942874. (C 4275) 1-1-2013

GOVERNMENT WEB SITES Kuwait Parliament www.majlesalommah.net Ministry of Interior www.moi.gov.kw Public Authority for Civil Information www.paci.gov.kw Kuwait News Agency www.kuna.net.kw Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affair www.islam.gov.kw Ministry of Energy (Oil) www.moo.gov.kw Ministry of Energy (Electricity and Water) www.energy.govt.kw Public Authority for Housing Welfare www.housing.gov.kw Ministry of Justice www.moj.gov.kw Ministry of Communications www.moc.kw Supreme Council for Planning andDevelopment www.scpd.gov.kw

The Public Institution for Social Security www.pifss.gov.kw Public Authority of Industry www.pai.gov.kw Prisoners of War Committee www.pows.org.kw Ministry of Foreign Affairs www.mofa.gov.kw Kuwait Municipality www.municipality.gov.kw Kuwait Electronic Government www.e.gov.kw Ministry of Finance www.mof.gov.kw Ministry of Commerce and Industry www.moci.gov.kw Ministry of Education www.moe.edu.kw Ministry of Information www.moinfo.gov.kw Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation www.awqaf.org

information SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

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

Arrival Flights on Saturday 5/1/2013 Flt Route 574 MUMBAI 413 AMSTERDAM 772 ISTANBUL 267 BEIRUT 539 CAIRO 148 DOHA 441 LAHORE 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 406 BEIRUT 239 ISLAMABAD 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 643 MUSCAT 138 DOHA 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 170 BAHRAIN 770 ISTANBUL 503 LUXOR 555 ALEXANDRIA 416 JAKARTA 529 ASSIUT 157 LONDON 412 MANILA 206 ISLAMABAD 53 DUBAI 302 MUMBAI 352 COCHIN 855 DUBAI 344 CHENNAI 362 COLOMBO 121 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 436 BAHRAIN 6592 MASHAD 165 DUBAI 4161 MASHAD 327 NAJAF 401 ALEXANDRIA 610 CAIRO 871 DUBAI 1190 MASHAD 382 DELHI 325 NAJAF 57 DUBAI 472 JEDDAH 672 DUBAI 500 JEDDAH 140 DOHA 789 MEDINAH 257 BEIRUT 788 JEDDAH 470 JEDDAH 284 DHAKA 134 DOHA 6692 MASHAD 787 RIYADH 535 CAIRO 118 NEW YORK 857 DUBAI 341 DAMASCUS 357 MASHAD 303 ABU DHABI 640 AMMAN 215 BAHRAIN 510 RIYADH 777 JEDDAH 144 DOHA 127 SHARJAH 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 538 SOHAG 542 CAIRO 177 DUBAI

Time 0:30 0:30 0:35 0:45 0:50 1:00 1:30 1:45 1:50 2:00 2:20 2:35 2:45 2:50 3:01 3:05 3:10 5:15 5:30 5:55 6:00 6:25 6:35 6:40 6:45 7:40 7:45 7:55 8:05 8:40 8:40 8:45 9:05 9:10 9:15 9:20 9:55 10:05 10:10 11:20 11:45 11:55 12:00 12:45 12:50 12:50 12:55 13:00 13:50 14:10 14:15 14:30 14:45 14:45 14:50 14:55 15:10 15:10 15:30 15:50 16:10 16:25 16:35 16:40 16:40 16:45 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:20 17:45 17:50 17:55 17:55 18:00 18:05 18:15

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

3553 438 63 4167 405 176 618 104 674 607 774 647 562 61 572 389 618 189 129 146 462 229 474 402 136 221 307 859 135 576 59 415 786 975 239 217 502 185 614 981 370 43 636

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

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

Departure Flights on Saturday 5/1/2013 Flt Route 976 GOA 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 637 FRANKFURT 573 MUMBAI 413 AMSTERDAM 283 DHAKA 442 LAHORE 621 ADDIS ABABA 773 ISTANBUL 407 BEIRUT 381 DELHI 240 SIALKOT 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 644 MUSCAT 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 54 DUBAI 326 AL NAJAF 156 LONDON 256 BEIRUT 534 CAIRO 101 LONDON 787 JEDDAH 324 AL NAJAF 671 DUBAI 122 SHARJAH 537 SOHAG

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

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

856 56 792 302 133 214 356 437 6593 541 165 776 786 406 4162 611 176 872 1191 58 561 673 473 617 505 188 461 141 773 6693 785 501 238 304 342 538 135 858 641 216 184 511 128 266 145 3554 134 982 64 439 402 4168 613 62 604 648 331 571 120 607 351 471 543 475 171 230 403 308 137 222 301 60 554 860 575 205 415 147 218 411

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

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

9:55 10:00 10:00 10:05 10:30 10:40 10:45 10:50 11:10 11:30 11:50 12:15 12:55 13:00 13:05 13:45 13:50 14:15 14:15 14:30 14:30 15:05 15:10 15:45 16:00 16:05 16:10 16:15 16:25 16:50 16:55 17:05 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 19:00 19:05 19:10 19:25 19:30 20:00 20:05 20:15 20:40 20:50 20:55 20:55 21:10 21:15 21:25 21:30 21:40 21:40 21:50 21:50 21:55 22:20 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:45 22:50 22:55 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:50 23:55

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Word Search

Yesterdayʼs Solution

C R O S S W O R D 6 0

ACROSS 1. (psychophysics) The difference between two stimuli that (under properly controlled experimental conditions) is detected as often as it is undetected.

4. A Dravidian language spoken in southern India.

11. A small nail.

15. Relating to or characteristic of or occurring in the air.

16. Not usual or common or ordinary.

17. A Tibetan or Mongolian priest of Lamaism.

18. An island in the Aegean Sea off the west coast of Turkey.

20. The act of hitting a baseball lightly without swinging the bat.

22. A high-crowned black cap (usually made of felt or sheepskin) worn by men in Turkey and Iran and the Caucasus.

24. A hard gray lustrous metallic element that is highly corrosion-resistant.

25. Property that is leased or rented out or let.

26. A nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (trade name Clinoril).

29. An authoritative direction or instruction to do something.

31. Having any of numerous bright or strong colors reminiscent of the color of blood or cherries or tomatoes or rubies.

32. That can be given a date.

35. A minor Hebrew prophet (8th century BC).

39. Lower in esteem.

40. A flat-bottomed volcanic crater that was formed by an explosion.

44. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

45. A simple compound whose molecules can join together to form polymers.

46. A color varying from dark purplish brown to dark red.

47. A boy or man.

49. The basic unit of electric current adopted under the System International d'Unites.

50. (Greek mythology) Son of Daedalus.

51. A yellow quartz.

52. A small cake leavened with yeast.

53. United States poet and critic (1899-1979).

54. A temporally organized plan for matters to be attended to.

58. An informal term for a father.

60. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

64. Sour or bitter in taste.

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

72. A nucleic acid consisting of large molecules shaped like a double helix.

73. Held up in the air.

77. The cry made by sheep.

78. A potent estrogen used in medicine and in feed for livestock and poultry.

79. The middle of the day.

80. To make a mistake or be incorrect.

81. A sweetened beverage of diluted fruit juice.

82. Durable fragrant wood.

83. A young woman making her debut into society.

Daily SuDoku

DOWN 1. Plaything consisting of small 6-pointed metal pieces that are used (along with a ball) to play the game of jacks.

2. The most northwestern Hawaiian island (beyond Kauai).

3. A rotating power drill powered by an electric motor.

4. A member of the North American Indian people of Oregon.

5. An associate degree in nursing.

6. A small lump or protuberance.

7. Inflammation of the urethra of unknown cause.

8. The sister of your father or mother.

9. An organized body of related information.

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

11. (Scottish) Bluish-black or gray-blue.

12. Measuring instrument in which the echo of a pulse of microwave radiation is used to detect and locate distant objects.

13. Occupy in an agreeable, entertaining or pleasant fashion.

14. In a state of mental numbness especially as resulting from shock.

19. Speak one's opinion without fear or hesitation.

21. Large lipoproteins rich in triglycerides.

23. Being one hundred more than three hundred.

27. A city in southern Turkey on the Seyhan River.

28. Alternatively, a member of the family Nymphaeaceae.

30. A peninsula in southwestern Europe.

33. A resort city in western Florida.

34. Showing empathy or ready comprehension of others' states.

36. A spread made chiefly from vegetable oils and used as a substitute for butter.

37. Minute floating marine tunicate having a transparent body with an opening at each end.

38. Affect with wonder.

41. 100 aurar equal 1 krona.

42. (medicine) Having or experiencing a rapid onset and short but severe course.

43. Sew again.

48. (South African) A camp defended by a circular formation of wagons.

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

56. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

57. A metallic element having four allotropic forms.

59. (of complexion) Blemished by imperfections of the skin.

61. An Indian side dish of yogurt and chopped cucumbers and spices.

62. (Norse mythology) The chief race of gods living at Asgard.

63. English monk and scholar (672-735).

65. Freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort.

66. The fleshy part of the human body that you sit on.

67. Port city in northwestern Belgium and industrial center.

69. In bed.

70. Denuded of leaves.

71. Clothing of a distinctive style or for a particular occasion.

74. Chiefly perennial grasses of cool temperate regions.

75. A Chadic language spoken in northern Nigeria.

76. The last (12th) month of the year.

Yesterdayʼs Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

SPORTS SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Intense rematches kick off wild-card playoffs NEW YORK: A rugged defensive battle could be contrasted with a free-wheeling scoring spree when the National Football League kicks off the postseason today with a pair of wild-card playoff games.

The Houston Texans (12-4) host the in form Cincinnati Bengals (10-6) in a battle of top-10 defenses to launch the Super Bowl tournament, followed by the Green Bay Packers (11-5) against the Minnesota Vikings (10-6) under the lights at Lambeau Field.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the division champion Packers will be renewing hostilities with NFC North rivals Minnesota one week after a 37-34 last-second road loss to the Vikings that deprived them of a first-round bye.

Waiting in the wings, will be Sunday’s wild-card playoff participants, with the Indianapolis Colts (11-5) visiting the Baltimore Ravens (10-6), and the Washington Redskins (106) entertaining the Seattle Seahawks (11-5).

AFC South champion Texans were riding high with the NFL’s best record before a late-season slide in which they lost three of their last four games. In contrast, Cincinnati came on strong in the second half going 7-1, boosted by a defense that led the league in sacks and the dangerous combination of quarterback Andy Dalton and explosive wide receiver A.J. Green.

“We were playing really good when we were an 11-1 football team. We struggled the last month,” acknowledged Houston coach Gary Kubiak. “We understand that, but we have a lot of confidence in what we can do and what we’re capable of doing.” For Houston and Cincinnati, the showdown will be a rematch of their clash on the same playoff stage last season when the Texans tamed the Bengals 3110. Defensive end J.J. Watt, who led the league with 20.5 sacks, tipped the balance in last year’s meeting, deflecting a Dalton pass, catching it and carrying it 29 yards into the end zone for a second-quarter lead the Texans would never relinquish.

Houston defensive coordinator Wade Phillips said Watt has been even better this season. “He has had the best year I’ve ever seen out of a defensive lineman, bar none,” Phillips said about the second-year player. “He had 10 tackles for loss in the last three games. He is playing at a tremendously high level.” Lapses in the secondary have made Houston vulnerable to the deep pass, and quarterback Matt Schaub, who missed last year’s playoffs due to injury, has struggled to generate points in an attack that leans on running back Arian Foster.

The Texans averaged just 12 points in their three lateseason losses. Bengals linebacker Rey Maualuga said Cincinnati was prepared to turn the tables on the Texans this time at Reliant Stadium. “We know that they’re going to come in with their bread and butter, which is try to run and get to the perimeter,” Maualuga said. “This is a different team than we were last year going into the playoffs. We’re a lot more familiar with the situation, and we’re comfortable.”

The NFC clash pits a superb passer in Packers’ quarterback Rodgers against a brilliant runner in Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson with neither team noted for their defensive prowess. Peterson, a sublime combination of power, speed and elusiveness, ran roughshod over Green Bay in the season finale, gaining 199 yards to finish the campaign with 2,097 yards, nine yards shy of Eric Dickerson’s 28-year-old single-season record.

Rodgers passed for four touchdowns against the Vikings giving him 10 in his last three games. Green Bay, hoping to take charge early to force Minnesota to rely on inconsistent quarterback Christian Ponder, will have all their receivers available for the first time since early this season with Randall Cobb expected to join an arsenal that includes Jordy Nelson, Greg Jennings, James Jones and tight end Jermichael Finley. “(We) create mismatch problems for the defense, and you can’t just key on one person,” said Jones.

“Aaron will spread the ball around and hopefully we’ll make some plays.”

Minnesota defensive coordinator Alan Williams said Rodgers’ ability to dodge pass rushers and buy time was a big problem. “He stays alive,,” said Williams. “We have to stay alive, we have to keep hustling, make sure you don’t turn receivers loose.

“They do a fantastic job of the deep guys working short, the short guys working deep. It seems like...it’s choreographed because he always finds an open guy.” — Reuters

CHILE: Officials inspect motorcycles during the technical and administrative checks of the 2013 edition of the Dakar Rally Lima. The race of over 400 vehicles including cars, bikes, trucks and quads begins today in Lima, and finishes in Santiago, Chile on Jan. 20. — AP

Dakar Rally faces safety questions LIMA: The Dakar Rally kicks off its 34th edition on Saturday with question marks over the gruelling 8,400km event’s environmental impact and safety record. In all, 459 vehicles will blast their way from the Peruvian capital of Lima on their way to the finish line in Santiago, Chile on January 20.

The race that originated in 1978, when it traditionally started from Paris on New Year’s Day and made its way to Africa, has been run on South American soil over the past five years as a result of security issues that hit the original route.

However, this year’s edition has already come in for criticism after paleontologists warned that the heavy duty vehicles will once again pose a serious risk to whale and dolphin fossils dating back more than 20 million years.

“We have many skeletons of large mammals, especially whales and dolphins, and the fossilized remains of invertebrates that have suffered damage due to passing vehicles,” Carlos Vildoso, director of the Peruvian Institute of Paleontology, told

AFP. Organisers have also been keen to pay down the dangers associated with the Dakar which has claimed 59 lives, including 20 spectators, over the years. Twelve months ago, Argentine rider Jorge Martinez Boero was killed on the first day of the race. This year, around 150 security staff as well as 60 doctors and surgeons will be deployed, backed up by five helicopters and 10 medical vehicles, all mobilised 24 hours a day. “This is an extreme sport,” said race organiser Etienne Lavigne. “Zero risk doesn’t exist.”

Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel, a 10time champion, defends his title as strong favorite in the auto category, but faces a stiff challenge from former winners, Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar and Spanish driver Carlos Sainz who won the race in 2011 and 2010 respectively.

The route winds along the Pacific coast before two diversions into mainland Argentina and some rugged roads in the Andes mountains featuring 14 stages across three countries.

The motorcycle category sees the return of the Honda team who have been absent since 1992. It was set to feature another intense rivalry between defending champion Cyril Despres of France and Spaniard Marc Coma who have shared the last seven titles.

However Coma suffered an accident in the recent Morocco Rally and will not make the start line meaning Helder Rodrigues of Portugal is the main threat to Despres after finishing on the podium in 2011 and 2012.

Amongst the 459 vehicles taking part is a strong South American contingent.

Argentina has 70 particpants-the second largest number behind France. The race begins for the first time on the desert sands south of Lima before gradually becoming more difficult as it enters Argentinian soil and a series of dangerous stages through valleys and canyons.

“It is far from a country drive along the sea between Lima and Santiago and the difficult sections sets up the race for a thrilling battle,” said Lavigne. — AFP

NHL talks at near standstill as season deadline looms NEW YORK: Negotiations on a labor deal between the National Hockey League (NHL) and locked out players ground to a near standstill on Thursday, with time running out on salvaging even a partial season. The optimism that surrounded talks on Wednesday vanished quickly as the NHL Players Association (NHLPA) dialed up the pressure, calling on the membership to vote again to give their executive board the power to file a disclaimer of interest that would dissolve the union and free individual players to file anti-trust lawsuits against the league.

The move came less than 24 hours after the union opted not to play the disclaimer card and let a self-imposed Wednesday midnight deadline pass, allowing negotia-

tions to continue into the late evening.

However, the mood had changed dramatically when the two parties returned to the bargaining table early on Thursday afternoon with talks limited to small group discussions that did not include NHLPA chief Donald Fehr.

With very little bargaining taking place, the focus shifted to tactics and legal maneuvering, with the union going to court on Thursday to ask a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the league.

The dispute moved to court last month after reports circulated that the NHLPA would seek a vote from its members to proceed with a “disclaim of interest” and the NHL launched a pre-emptive strike asking to have the lockout declared legal.

In its court filing, lawyers for the NHLPA argued that the lawsuit filed by the league was premature and that it should be dismissed.

“They ask the court to simply assume the outcome of events that had not yet taken place at the time the complaint was filed, and then decree what the law would be on the basis of those assumptions,” wrote lawyers for the players. US District Judge Paul Engelmayer of Manhattan immediately responded to the players’ request by issuing an order scheduling a Jan. 7 conference to establish a case-management plan for the litigation that “may enhance, and does not needlessly inhibit, the parties’ ability to resolve their disputes with dispatch”.—Reuters

SPORTS SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Clermont chase Toulon in Top 14 PARIS: Clermont will look to keep up the pressure on Top 14 leaders Toulon when they host Montpellier today. Vern Cotter’s men have been in outstanding form of late, scoring back-to-back wins over Leinster in the European Cup and hammering Bayonne 48-3 on Sunday as the second half of the domestic season got underway.

But despite their run of wins, the gap beytween themselves and Toulon at the top stubbornly remains at seven points, with champions Toulouse hanging on a further three points adrift.

Clermont were rocked in midweek with the news that veteran international winger/centre Aurelien Rougerie will be out for six weeks after suffering a badly sprained ankle against Bayonne.

But there was better news for the pack as France loosehead prop

Thomas Domingo is available again after being sidelined in early December with a knee ligament injury. “I think the match that we will have today (against Montpellier) will be at a higher level than we had in the game against Bayonne, especially in the physical domain,” said Cotter. “Montpellier are very strong in the rucks and in defence and they can hand us a lot of problems.

“We need to be very focussed and controlled and be ready for a difficult and testing challenge.” Montpellier, coming off an impressive 54-16 thumping of Stade Francais, are currently in fifth place, two points back off fourth-placed Castres.

There was injury news from Toulouse also as back rower Gillian Galan has been ruled out for up to two months after injuring his left knee in the narrow win at Castres last weekend. But Guy Noves’ squad

should prove too strong for bottom side Mont-de-Marsan who have won just once all season to date. Veteran centre Yannick Jauzion said the win over Castres could provide a perfect launchpad for the second half of the season.

“That win will help us build up our confidence - the two aspects go together,” he said. “We can still do better and we have our chances both in the short and long term, especially in the European Cup. We just have to be sure of ourselves mentally.”

League leaders Toulon are not in action until Sunday and they will be looking to continue their winning ways when they take on struggling Racing Metro at the Stade Mayol.

Bernard Laporte’s men have been in superb form of late trouncing Sale 62-0 in the European Cup before hammering Perpignan 46-13 on

Players in paradise for PGA Tour season opener

Oregon runs past K-State GLENDALE: As Oregon coach Chip Kelly was about to receive the massive Fiesta Bowl trophy, Ducks fans inside University of Phoenix Stadium started a chant of “We want Chip!” Whether he returns or not is up in the air. If Kelly does head to the NFL, this was a great send off.

Sparked by De’Anthony Thomas’ 94-yard touchdown return on the opening kickoff, No. 5 Oregon turned the Fiesta Bowl into a track meet from the start and bolted past No. 7 Kansas State 35-17 Thursday night in what could be Kelly’s final game with the Ducks.

“This wasn’t going to be a distraction,” Kelly said of reports that he was headed to the NFL. “It wasn’t a distraction for me - I think it’s an honor. But I think it’s an honor because of the players we have in this program that people want to talk to me.”

Teams that had their national title aspirations end on the same day, Oregon and Kansas State ended up in the desert for a marquee matchup billed as a battle of styles: The fast-flying Ducks vs. the methodical Wildcats.

With Kelly reportedly talking to several NFL teams, Oregon (12-1) was too much for Kansas State and its Heisman Trophy finalist, Collin Klein, who were playing catch-up from the start. Thomas followed his before-everyone-sat-down kickoff return with a 23-yard touchdown catch, finishing with 195 total yards.

Kenjon Barner ran for 143 yards on 31 carries and scored on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Marcus Mariota in the second quarter. Mariota later scored on a 2-yard run in the third quarter, capped by an obscure 1-point safety that went in the Ducks’ favor.

Even Oregon’s defense got into the act, intercepting Klein twice and holding him to 30 yards on 13 carries. “We got beat by a better team tonight, combined

Sunday. Back in the mix comes France international fly-half Frederic Michalak, but he is far from sure of starting given the form currently being shown by England legend Jonny Wilkinson.

Racing Metro meanwhile could welcome back talented fly-half Jonathan Wisniewski, who has been out of action since early September when he sustained a serious back injury playing against Clermont. “I have got the same ambitions that I had at the start of the season before I was injured,” he said. “I just want to give it my best and go all out.”

In other matches Saturday Castres travel to Grenoble for a tough assignment, while Perpignan host Bordeaux and Stade Francais look to rebound with a home game against Bayonne. Late yesterday’s match sees mid-table Biarritz take on Agen at home. —AFP

GLENDALE: Oregon’s Brian Jackson (12) and Troy Hill (13) break up a pass intended for Kansas State’s Chris Harper during the first half in the Fiesta Bowl NCAA college football game. —AP by the fact that we let down from time to State’s Anthony Cantele by unleashing time,” coach Bill Snyder said after Kansas one of its blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scoring State’s fifth straight bowl loss. Last year’s drives late in the second quarter. Moving Fiesta Bowl was an offensive fiesta, with 77 yards in 46 seconds, the Ducks went Oklahoma State outlasting Stanford 41- up 22-10 at halftime after Mariota hit 38 in overtime. The 2013 version was an Barner on 24-yard TD pass. Alejandro upgrade: Nos. 4 and 5 in the BCS, two of Maldonado hit a 33-yard field goal on the nation’s best offenses, dynamic play- Oregon’s opening drive of the third quarers and superbly successful coaches on ter and Mariota capped a long drive with both sides. Oregon has become the stan- an easy 2-yard TD run to the left. Kansas dard for go-go-go football under Kelly, its State’s Javonta Boyd blocked the pointfleet of Ducks making those shiny hel- after attempt, but even that went wrong mets - green like Christmas tree bulbs for for the Wildcats. Chris Harper was tackled the Fiesta Bowl - and flashy uniforms blur in the end zone for a bizarre 1-point safety that put Oregon up 32-10. across the grassy landscape.

It was the first 1-point safety in major Thomas offered the first flash of speed, picking up a couple of blocks and college football since 2004 when Texas racing toward a not-so-photo finish at did it against Texas A&M, STATS said. the line. Thomas hit the Wildcats (11-2) “There were so many things that could again late in the first quarter, breaking a have changed the outcome of this couple of tackles and dragging three game,” Kansas State linebacker Arthur defenders into the end zone for a catch- Brown said.

Kansas State needed a little time to and-run TD that put the Ducks up 15-0.

It’s nothing new for Oregon’s sophomore get its wheels spinning on offense, laborsensation: He had 314 total yards and ing early before Klein scored on a 6-yard two long touchdown runs in the 2012 run early in the second quarter. Klein Rose Bowl. The Ducks are used to it, too, kept the Wildcats moving in the quarter, averaging more than 50 points per game. though not toward touchdowns: Cantele And they kept flying. Oregon followed a hit a 25-yard field goal and missed from missed 40-yard field goal by Kansas 40 after a false-start penalty. — AP

MAUI: If winning breeds winning, then the picturesque Hawaiian island of Maui is a paradise in more ways than one for the select group of players competing at this week’s $5.7 million Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

The only way to qualify for the elite field of 30 in the PGA Tour’s season-opening event was through victory on the U.S. circuit last year and, with no cut and a guaranteed cheque after Monday’s final round, the pickings are certainly favourable.

“It’s always great to be here,” American Hunter Mahan, a twice champion on the 2012 PGA Tour, told reporters at the Kapalua Resort while preparing for Friday’s opening round. “Obviously you won on the PGA Tour the year before so it’s a great start and every player enjoys coming here and wants to start here. “It’s exciting but it’s also crazy ... I feel like the year never really ended last year, it just kind of keeps on going. But it’s certainly fun to be here.”

Masters champion Bubba Watson agreed. “Who would not want to come to Maui and play golf?” the American left-hander smiled. “Ride in a golf cart in the pro-ams and practice rounds wearing shorts and then the tournament starts and you have to walk. But other than that it’s great.

“A great time for the family, hanging out with friends and seeing the scenery. Playing the golf course is a challenge,” Watson said of the par-73, 7,411-yard Plantation layout, “but it’s a fun time to start off the year here in Maui.”

Many of the players competing at Kapalua make the most of what time they have away from the golf course by surfing, swimming and taking the ever popular whalewatching cruises but Mahan said he was unlikely to follow suit. “I don’t particularly like the water that much,” Mahan said. “I get seasick pretty easily, so I won’t be out in the water too much. “There’s a hundred different things you can do here. At the same time, this is great weather and I’m trying to work on my game a little bit and make sure I get enough time for that.”

While the Maui attractions are certainly plentiful for the competitors and their families, seven leading players who had qualified for the PGA Tour’s season-opener have opted not to travel to Hawaii, mainly for tournament scheduling reasons.

Those notable absentees are world number one Rory McIlroy, second-ranked Luke Donald and Justin Rose (fourth), along with former Kapalua winners Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Sergio Garcia. American veteran Steve Stricker, who clinched his 12th PGA Tour victory by three shots at Kapalua last year, is back to defend his title. — Reuters

Sports SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

NBA results/standings NY Knicks 100 San Antonio 83; Minnesota 101 Denver 97.

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L 22 10 17 15 15 18 14 17 12 20

PCT .688 .531 .455 .452 .375

GB 5 7.5 7.5 10

Indiana Chicago Milwaukee Detroit Cleveland

Central Division 19 13 17 13 16 14 12 22 7 26

.594 .567 .533 .353 .212

1 2 8 12.5

Miami Atlanta Orlando Charlotte Washington

Southeast Division 22 8 20 10 12 20 8 23 4 26

.733 .667 .375 .258 .133

2 11 14.5 18

Western Conference Northwest Division 24 7 18 16 15 14 16 15 16 17

.774 .529 .517 .516 .485

7.5 8 8 9

LA Clippers Golden State LA Lakers Sacramento Phoenix

Pacific Division 25 8 22 10 15 16 12 20 12 21

.758 .688 .484 .375 .364

2.5 9 12.5 13

San Antonio Memphis Houston Dallas New Orleans

Southwest Division 26 9 20 9 18 14 13 20 7 25

.743 .690 .563 .394 .219

3 6.5 12 17.5

NY Knicks Brooklyn Philadelphia Boston Toronto

Oklahoma City Denver Minnesota Portland Utah

NEW YORK: Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony (7) shoots a layup against San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (21) as guard Tony Parker (9), forward Tiago Splitter (22) and guard Danny Green (4) watch in the first half of their NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden. —AP

Knicks snap Spurs winning streak NEW YORK: Carmelo Anthony scored 23 points, JR Smith added 20 and the New York Knicks snapped the San Antonio Spurs’ seven-game winning streak with a 100-83 victory Thursday night.

Steve Novak added 15 points and Tyson Chandler had 10 points and 14 rebounds to help the Knicks bounced back from consecutive losses by dominating the final period against the Spurs, who may have run out of gas in their second game in two nights.

Tim Duncan and Tony Parker each had just 11 points for the Spurs, who lost Stephen Jackson to an unusual injury, then lost what had been the NBA’s longest winning streak.

Jackson played just three minutes off the bench before spraining his right ankle when he took a shot then fell back into a waitress working the sideline in front of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Smith, who had scored 25 points in his last four games as a reserve, highlighted his outing with an acrobatic dunk in the fourth quarter that brought fans to their feet. The pass came from reserve point guard Pablo Prigioni, who had one of his most complete games since coming to the NBA at age 35, finishing with six points and nine assists.

Timberwolves 101, Nuggets 97 In Denver, JJ Barea scored 12 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter while All-Star

forward Kevin Love sat on the bench with a sprained finger, lifting Minnesota over Denver.

The Timberwolves were playing for the second straight night, but fatigue hardly appeared to be a factor as they handed the Nuggets a rare home loss.

Denver, on the other hand, looked lethargic two days after snapping the Los Angeles Clippers’ 17-game winning streak. Kosta Koufos and Ty Lawson led the Nuggets with 16 points each. The game went back and forth in the final quarter before Luke Ridnour gave the Timberwolves the lead for good on a 3-pointer with 2:43 remaining.

Barea followed with another 3 to cement the win. —AP

Schlierenzauer wins third stage INNSBRUCK: Austria’s defending champion Gregor Schlierenzauer improved on his two previous second placings with victory in the third leg of the Four Hills event yesterday. Schlierenzauer, who finished behind Norway’s 2007 champion Anders Jacobsen in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, produced jumps of 131.5 and 123m for a total of 253.7 points Poland’s Kamil Stoch finished second on 240.9pts (124.5 and 123m), while Norway’s Anders Bardal claimed third with 235.4 (125 and 120m). Jacobsen could only finish a disappointing seventh on 230.5pts, INNSBRUCK: Austria’s Gregor Schlierenzauer soars through The competition comes to an end at Bischofshofen the air during his final jump to win the third stage of the tomorrow. —AFP four hills ski jumping tournament. —AP

Family, practice leave Federer ready for another slam SINGAPORE: Weeks of practice and family time have left Swiss maestro Roger Federer fit and refreshed ahead of what the 17-times major winner believes could be an unpredictable Australian Open in the absence of old foe Rafa Nadal.

Federer, 31, opted to skip his usual Australian Open warm-up tournaments in the Middle East this year and instead spent it working on his game and parenting, all part of a shorter 2013 schedule that he hopes will extend his career but has left him hungry for matches.

“I am very happy that the year is starting. It’s a bit of a different preparation for the Australian Open this year but I’m confident I am mentally refreshed, which I am, and physically I am fine and that I will play a good Australian Open,” Federer told reporters in Singapore yesterday. “I have been practising really hard the last few weeks and didn’t play a leading up tournament this year just because I thought practice is very important for me coming up in the next year, yearand-a-half.”

The world number two’s last match on Tour was back in November when he was defeated in the final of the ATP Tour Finals in London by Serbia’s Novak Djokovic.

With only some exhibition matches in South America since, some questioned the move to go straight to the Australian Open but Federer, who won the last of his four Australian Open titles in 2010, said rest was required. “It is key to always have a healthy schedule, it is difficult to do as they (the tournaments) are spread out basically from January to October-November,” he said. “It is hard to say I’m going to take one or two months off and practice hard while there are 10 to 15 new tournament winners on the Tour and you are sitting at home.” —Reuters

SPORTS SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Azarenka suffers setback ahead of Open defence BRISBANE: Victoria Azarenka’s Australian Open preparations were complicated yesterday when “a bad pedicure experience” forced the world number one to withdraw from her Brisbane International semi-final against Serena Williams.

Thirty minutes before the match against her American opponent, the defending Australian Open champion announced she would be unable to compete after undergoing a minor procedure to fix an ingrown nail that infected her right big toe.

“It’s been there for about 10 days,” the 23-year-old Belarussian told reporters. “It’s just been getting worse a little bit,” she added. “I don’t know in medical terms, but I had to get a piece (of nail) out of my toe because it was jamming into me and got infected.

“It’s something that’s very just really unfortunate, but I had to do that. It was just jamming underneath into the skin. I was trying to minimise the pain with taping and everything. “Yesterday it got worse. It got really infected and got really red, so we had to go and see the doctor. He had to open it. That’s what I had to do.”

Azarenka had won her first two matches at Brisbane without any signs of discomfort but the eagerly-anticipated showdown against the thirdranked Williams failed to materialise.

“It just got infected from a bad pedicure experience,” she said. “I had somebody who gave me infection. They cut a little bit too much and it got infected.

And then from as much as we do, as much exercise, it’s just been jamming into it and it’s created an infection inside. Created a little piece of nail to go in and always be hurting me.

“Actually the doctor said it happens a lot. Never happened to me, so it’s something that I am definitely going to prevent for the next time. “I tried everything.

We tried medication with taping, and I was playing through the pain for quite a while.

“You know, it’s just something that I had to do to make sure that I can be fully recovered and ready for Australian Open. It’s the compromise I had to take.

“It’s just very unfortunate timing, because I was really looking forward to playing. But the health is definitely

something that’s more important.”

Despite the setback, Azarenka expected to be fully fit when the Australian Open begins in Melbourne on Jan. 14. “The procedure has been done and the worst already passed by. It just needs some time to get it better.” Williams will now meet either Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko in the Brisbane final today. — Reuters

Radwanska, Wickmayer in Auckland final AUCKLAND: Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska overcame blustery conditions and a dogged Jamie Hampton in the semi-finals of the Auckland Classic yesterday to set up a title clash against Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer. The Polish world number four had to dig deep in the year’s first tournament to edge out the 70th-ranked American 7-6 7-6. “I’ve never been in a final in my first tournament of the year, so it’s a good start, and I’m going to do everything in my power to win that match tomorrow,” Radwanska, who is yet to drop a set at the tournament, told reporters.

“Winning a title is a great thing, especially at a tournament I haven’t played before.” Third seed Wickmayer reached her third Auckland final in four years after winning a final set tiebreak against eighth-seeded German Mona Barthel. The 2010 champion and runner-up a year later won 6-4 1-6 7-6 after struggling against Barthel’s serve in the windy conditions. “It was really tough to get a rhythm on her serve - it’s really tough to read, and when she served a bit slower the wind was taking it,” the Belgian said of the Barthel serve, which produced 12 aces. “I managed to stay mentally strong in the tiebreak - I’m really happy with the way I handled that pressure.”— Reuters

BRISBANE: Victoria Azarenka of Belarus attends a press conference. Azarenka announced her withdrawal from the ongoing Brisbane International tennis tournament due to an injury to her right big toe. — AP

BRISBANE: Andy Murray of Britain plays a shot in his quarterfinal match against Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan at the Brisbane International tennis tournament. — AP

Murray cruises into semis BRISBANE: Andy Murray has succeeded in reaching the semi-finals of the Brisbane International but the US Open champion has fallen short in a pledge to curb his habit of swearing on court.

Moreover, he has toned down the promise itself.

Last month, the Briton said he wanted to clean up his act after repeated warnings for unsavoury language, but audible obscenities have been uttered in his opening matches in Brisbane against Australia’s John Millman and Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin.

Spectators at Pat Rafter Arena have clearly heard Murray barking the occasional swear word, something the world number three has done throughout his career to let off steam when dissatisfied with his own performance.

Murray defeated Istomin 6-4 7-6 yesterday to book a semi-final against Japan’s Kei Nishikori, who trumped Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov by an identical scoreline. The other semi-final today will feature Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov against Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.

Dimitrov beat Austria’s Jurgen Melzer 6-3 6-2 after Baghdatis had taken out France’s Gilles Simon 6-3 6-4.

“Obviously, me saying ‘shit’ or whatever is bad and wrong, and it’s something I want to try to stop doing,” Murray was quoted as saying last month. However, he declined to make

the same promise ahead of his clash against Nishikori.

“I don’t really know how that will go, to be honest,” Murray said. “A lot of times I get asked after matches about it. It can get picked up on the microphone or whatever. No-one has mentioned anything to me (in Brisbane) yet but the microphones at the Aussie Open are all around the court, so we’ll see.” Murray denied his attempt to tone down his language was because he felt more of a role model after winning the Olympics and U.S Open in a breakthrough 2012. He claimed worse levels of swearing from other players went undetected because it was not delivered in English.

“Where it (the pledge to stop swearing) came from was when I got asked a question,” he said. “I was doing an interview over the phone. I got asked about swearing on the court. I said ‘obviously I don’t mean to do it. I don’t want to do it. Sometimes you get frustrated and you do and obviously I will try to stop.’ “I didn’t make any promises or guarantees that I was going to.

“Then it came out that I’ve said this year I will stop swearing. What I also said was that a lot of players swear on the court and a lot of people say a lot worse things than me - in other languages. It doesn’t get picked up the same. “So where I would obviously love to stop doing it, I try not to. But I can’t guarantee it.”— Reuters

SPORTS SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Indian body stands firm on Davis Cup demands MUMBAI: The Indian tennis association is refusing to be held to ransom by regular Davis Cup players, who have hinted at a possible boycott if their demands for a greater involvement in the running of the team are not met. Eight top players, excluding Leander Paes, have submitted a list of requirements to the All India Tennis Association (AITA) with a veiled threat to snub the regional first round home tie against South Korea early next month if no action was taken.

The governing body would look into the suggestions but the players would not be allowed to dictate terms, AITA chief executive Hironmoy Chatterjee told Reuters in an interview.

“They have put forward some views

and not all of them are pointless. Some of their demands are acceptable but we have told them that ultimately the call will be ours,” Chatterjee said.

“I have spoken to them and have heard their views. I will speak to the committee members and decide on the future course of action,” he added. “They have been told ‘you can suggest’ but as players, they are supposed to play. They can’t be players, administrators and selectors at the same time.”

The group, which includes Mahesh Bhupathi, Somdev Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna, want changes made to team management, a higher share of Davis Cup prize money and a say in the choice of venues for ties. The AITA and

the players currently divide the prize money for the tournament down the middle as an equal 50/50 split.

“There are a few good suggestions.

They want a change in their support staff like the addition of a full-time physio, which is not wrong,” Chatterjee added.

“We will give them everything they need to perform better. But if they are adamant, we have to walk a different path.” Last year, the AITA handed doubles specialists Bhupathi and Bopanna a two-year Davis Cup suspension for their refusal to partner Paes at the London Olympics. The trio figured in an ugly row ahead of the Games that forced the association to change their original decision to field Paes and Bhupathi as a pair. Paes

eventually partnered rookie Vishnu Vardhan while India had a second pair in Bhupathi and Bopanna, but neither partnership returned with a medal from London. Chatterjee, a veteran tennis administrator, said his organisation would not bow to player power, adding it would also set a bad precedent for other sports in the country.

“We cannot force anyone to play. If one doesn’t want to play, he doesn’t play,” he said. “There are other players available. “There is no question of bowing down. We will accept few requests but not all. “It will be wrong to tolerate this indiscipline, it will give a wrong signal to other sporting factions. We have to be very firm.” — Reuters

Djokovic and Ivanovic win, Serbia in Hopman Cup final

DOHA: France’s Richard Gasquet returns the ball to Daniel Brands of Germany during their semifinal match at Qatar ATP Open Tennis tournament. — AP

Gasquet starts new year with a final DOHA: Richard Gasquet’s bid to climb up the top ten during 2013 made an excellent start when he reached the final of the first tournament of the new year, the Qatar Open.

The world No.10 from France also produced an encouraging performance in overcoming Daniel Brands, the German giantkiller, 7-5, 7-5, making tactical improvements and showing good mental strength on the bigger points.

Though a qualifier ranked outside the top 150 Brands had won six matches, despatched two seeds, and shown signs, with his unusual game that he might be making a careerchanging surge into the ATP World Tour on a regular basis for the first time.

But Gasquet blunted the Brands weapons by sometimes playing a little further up the court than usual, denying time and reducing angles for his opponent. Allied to solid serving and a high ratio of winners to losers (3213), he had many reasons to celebrate with a

leap and a yell. “My backhand is my best shot, but I need not to miss it,” Gasquet said, referring to the early stages when that had happened. “But I became happy with the way I played and it’s very nice to be in a final. I practised a lot because I knew I was coming to Doha and I wanted to do well here.” Gasquet had to survive uncomfortable moments early on against an opponent with a tremendous inside-out forehand drive which created difficult angles, and who liked to make ambushing rushes to the net, either behind a steep serve, or a sliced backhand.

The Frenchman was break point down in both his first and third service games, and with his uncharacteristically mistimed backhand drives, once produced a complete air shot. He avoided dropping serve first with an ace, and then with a cleverly managed multipatterned rally in which each player zigzagged across most of the court. Brands too made a good escape when he was 15-40 and

then ad out in the sixth game. However when the tall qualifier was obliged to serve to save the first set a second time he was broken for the first time, Gasquet concluding it with sweetly struck backhands in different directions which set up a forehand winner.

The second set saw Gasquet grow in strength and confidence, almost breaking through again at 30-40 on the Brands serve in the sixth game, and then taking advantage of the pressure on the underdog when he was forced to serve to save the match for a second time. Gasquet delivered a trademark backhand pass to reach match point, and then a tight return of serve, eliciting a forehand drive from Brands into the net, to close the match out at the first attempt.

“Now I want to win the tournament,” Gasquet concluded. he will play either David Ferrer, the top-seeded Spaniard, or Nikolay Davydenko, the unseeded former titleholder from Russia. — AFP

PERTH: Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic led Serbia into the Hopman Cup final, winning their singles matches Friday over Germany. Djokovic beat Tommy Haas 6-2, 6-0, while Ivanovic lost only 15 points in defeating Tatjana Malek 6-0, 6-1. The Serbs will face Spain in today’s final.

“It’s been a great performance from beginning to the end,” Djokovic said. “I was really focused from the start and I just felt drastically better than in the first few days.”

Djokovic took a 4-0 lead in the first set but was broken by Haas in the fifth game.

The German held his serve for the only time in the match in the next game. Haas had three break points when trailing 2-0 in the second set but he couldn’t convert.

“Right now I believe I am where I need to be,” Djokovic said. “Still not 100 percent, physically also, but I’m getting there.

We’re still working on some things in particular that will make me feel 100 percent for Melbourne in 10 days.” In mixed doubles, Haas withdrew, citing a toe injury.

In the women’s match, Ivanovic didn’t face a break point against Malek, who had been brought in to replace the injured Andrea Petkovic after the first of the round robin matches.

“I didn’t do much wrong,” Ivanovic said. “I really put my head down to work hard for this match and from the first moment I stepped on the court I really put a lot of pressure on her. I was really dominating and striking the ball well.”

Earlier, South Africa beat France 2-1 when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had to retire in the deciding mixed doubles match with a left hamstring injury Neither team had a chance of advancing to the final.

Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa beat Mathilde Johansson 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 before Tsonga defeated Kevin Anderson 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3), including winning the final five points of the first-set tiebreaker.

During the singles match, Tsonga injured his leg while stretching for a shot.

Tsonga also withdrew from next week’s Sydney International. His retirement was a precaution to ensure he doesn’t worsen the problem before the Australian Open, which begins in Melbourne on Jan. 14th. — AP

SPORTS SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

West Ham await United in FA Cup LONDON: Having established a seven-point lead in the Premier League over the festive period, Manchester United turn their thoughts to the FA Cup on Saturday when they visit West Ham United in the third round. Cup-winners a record 11 times, United have not lifted English football’s oldest trophy since 2004 and have seen Chelsea dominate the competition in recent years, winning four of the last six tournaments.

West Ham eliminated United from the FA Cup with a stunning fourth-round win at Old Trafford in 2001, and the Hammers could have a survivor from that game on the pitch if Joe Cole’s proposed move from Liverpool is completed in time. United also went out in the fourth round last season, losing 2-1 at Liverpool. Manager Alex Ferguson has promised to rotate his squad as he seeks to keep

his players fresh for the challenges ahead.

“We’ll make a few changes for the cup tie,” he said after Tuesday’s 4-0 win at Wigan Athletic. “We’ve got fresh players, though.

Young Shinji Kagawa came on against Wigan and Tom Cleverley is fresh as he’s not had a lot of football.” United’s match at West Ham is one of four all-Premier League ties, alongside West Bromwich Albion’s trip to Queens Park Rangers, Arsenal’s game at Swansea City, and holders Chelsea’s match at Southampton.

Chelsea were stunned 1-0 by bottom club QPR in the Premier League on Wednesday and interim coach Rafael Benitez has admitted that his players are feeling the effects of the gruelling Christmas season.

“I thought they were doing well and I thought that would be fine, but maybe in

odd areas we were tired,” he said. “You could see we didn’t have the intensity and the pace on the pass and the movement that we were expecting.”

Southampton, meanwhile, have shown signs of improvement in recent weeks after a difficult start to the season and avoided defeat for the third successive game by holding Arsenal to a 1-1 draw on New Year’s Day. Manchester City, United’s nearest rivals in the league, host second-tier Watford, with the FA Cup one of only two trophies they can now win after elimination from the League Cup and the Champions League.

Mario Balotelli was in line to replace the injured Sergio Aguero at the tip of City’s attack, but he may have jeopardised his chances of playing after being pictured in a furious training-ground row with manager

Cancer-battling Vilanova set for Barcelona return MADRID: Barcelona expect to have coach Tito Vilanova back at the helm following cancer surgery as they return to league action after the winter break with a local derby against Espanyol.

Although news that Vilanova had a recurrence of a tumour on a saliva gland sent shockwaves around the Catalan club, the impact has been limited by the stoppage over Christmas.

After a successful operation he has missed just one game, an away victory against Valladolid where his assistant Jordi Roura took charge and Barcelona extended their record start to the campaign to 16 wins from 17 games in La Liga.

Vilanova returned to the training ground this week where fullback Eric Abidal, who has had his own battle with cancer, is also on the comeback trail. “Tito and Abidal are both examples of fighting spirit. They are examples to follow for all that they have been through and yet at the same time they have always been there to help the club and their teammates,” said keeper Victor Valdes.

“They give us a big boost and the energy to keep going season after season and to continue the success. We all hope that they are well and happy. “We now have a derby game and they are always important at home or away but for those of us who are from here we are used to facing Espanyol. On a professional level it is a big match and we will give them full respect.

“There is still a long way to go in the title race as we haven’t even finished the first half of the season although we do have a good lead. It is a very competitive league and there are a lot of points at stake.”

Real Madrid have fallen 16 points behind Barcelona and will now have to field a makeshift defence against Real Sociedad with Pepe, Marcelo, Raul Albiol and Fabio Coentrao are all injured and Sergio Ramos suspended.

The decision to drop keeper Iker Casillas in the final game of 2012 against Malaga reinforced rumours that Jose Mourinho had lost the support of key figures in the dressing room. Pepe further antagonised the situation by telling the press in his home country that the Portuguese players in Spain were victimised. Sergio Ramos has since tried to ease the atmosphere at the Bernabeu.

“When things are not going well it is necessary to be more united. I’ve know Iker for years and we are good friends. I don’t think it is strange what happened (that he was dropped) as it is the job of the captain of a ship to take decisions,” he said. “We are on the right track, everyone’s attitude has been good and there is no reason to complain. Our job now is to keep fighting for the title.”

Atletico Madrid lead the pursuit of Barca, lying nine points behind, and they are now away to Mallorca while Malaga, in fourth, just two points off Real Madrid, are away to bottom side Deportivo La Coruna.

Real Betis have been one of the major surprises so far and will look to continue their strong start away to Zaragoza while Levante aim to bounce back against Athletic Bilbao with their defeat away to Rayo Vallecano their first in four games. Valencia and Sevilla, who face Granada and Osasuna respectively, are both used to being higher up the table and will be hoping for an upturn in fortunes this year. Elsewhere Celta Vigo take on Valladolid and Rayo Vallecano play Getafe. — AFP

Roberto Mancini. With many of the competition’s big names drawn against fellow topflight sides, the chances of a major upset have been reduced, but seventh-tier Hastings United will hope to pull off a shock at Championship side Middlesbrough.

Romantics will also hope to see Mansfield Town earn a place in cup history when the team from the fifth-tier Conference National host last season’s beaten finalists Liverpool on Sunday.

“I have never been to the third round of the cup and not many players get the opportunity to play against Liverpool, so this is extra-special,” goalkeeper Alan Marriott told local newspaper the Mansfield Chad. “We can go out and enjoy it without any pressure and the club should make some money out of it.” — Reuters

Today’s matches on TV

FA Cup Brighton v Newcastle.........................................14:30 Aljazeera Sport +3 Southampton v Chelsea.....................................18:00 Aljazeera Sport +3 West Ham v Man United.....................................20:15 Aljazeera Sport +3

Spanish League Levante v Athletic..............................................18:00 Aljazeera Sport +2 Granada v Valencia............................................20:00 Aljazeera Sport +6 Deportivo v Malaga...........................................22:00 Aljazeera Sport +2

Italian League Catania v Torino.................................................20:00 Aljazeera Sport +1

French Cup Lille v Nimes........................................................22:45 Aljazeera Sport +4 Savilla v Osasuna.................................................0:00 Aljazeera Sport +8

Ba signs for Chelsea

SPAIN: Barcelona’s Lionel Messi from Argentina waves to the crowd during a training session at Miniestadi stadium. — AP

Gulf Cup kicks off today MANAMA: Ten teams battle it out in the 21st Gulf Cup of Nations, which starts today, in what promises to be a tough tournament to determine as to who will progress from the tough Group A. Only two teams will progress from the group which has pitted the most nation to have won the tournament 10-time winners and defending champions Kuwait against both three-time holders Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and newcomers Yemen.

Meanwhile, hosts Bahrain hope to win their first title, when they face two-title holders Qatar and one-time winners both United Arab Emirates and Oman in Group B. Given the geographic proximity of nations participating, the derby-like nature of the tournament, which started in 1970, has given it an elevated status amongst football enthusiasts in the region. — KUNA

LONDON: Chelsea yesterday announced that they had signed Demba Ba from Newcastle United, ending an 18-month spell at the Magpies during which he helped them to fifth spot in the English Premier League last season.

The west London club said that the 27-year-old had joined on a three-and-a-half year contract for an undisclosed fee and would be eligible to play in the Blues’ FA Cup third-round match against Southampton today.

“It feels good to be here, I’m very happy and very proud,’ the France-born Senegal international was quoted as saying on chelseafc.com. “It was important for me, and for Newcastle, to get my future sorted and now we can move on. Now they have the whole month to buy someone and for me as well, the sooner the better. Now I am here I just need to get settled in.

“When the club who won the Champions League wants you, the decision is very easy. This club is massive and that’s something that helped the decision a lot. It was not a hard one.”

Newcastle confirmed this week that they had given permission to approach the player after meeting the £7 million ($11.4 million, 8.6 million euros) asking price that triggered a release clause in his contract.

Ba, who moved to Tyneside in 2011, was subsequently withdrawn from manager Alan Pardew’s squad for the 2-1 Premier League loss at home to Everton on Wednesday evening that did little to ease the injury-hit northeast England club’s woes.

Chelsea’s interim manager Rafael Benitez has made no secret of his search for extra options up front and with 16 league goals in his debut season and his current total this year at 13, Ba could provide that extra bite.

Ba made his name during a prolific four-year spell with German club Hoffenheim and joined east London side West Ham United in January 2011 after a proposed move to Stoke City collapsed due to a failed medical examination.—AFP

Sports SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

South Africa thrash NZ CAPE TOWN: South Africa completed an innings victory over New Zealand yesterday in a result which was never in doubt after the visitors collapsed to 45 all out before lunch on the opening day of the first Test.

Dean Brownlie’s maiden test century helped New Zealand to 232 for five at lunch on the third day after South Africa had declared their first innings closed at 347 for eight on Thursday.

However five wickets fell for 23 runs in a lower order collapse in the second session and the New Zealanders ended up 27 runs short of making the world number one side bat again.

Brownlie, who had been brought into the team as a replacement for Ross Taylor who opted out of the tour after he was replaced as captain by Brendon McCullum, resumed on day three with wicketkeeper BJ Watling, who was on 10.

The duo were resolute in the morning session and a frustrated Proteas’ outfit were forced to watch as Brownlie reached his century with a big six over long-off from the bowling of Robin Peterson.

South Africa eventually got their man in the penultimate over before lunch as Brownlie cut a Morne Morkel delivery straight to Alviro Petersen on the point boundary having made 109. Watling and James Franklin

continued to frustrate the Proteas in the first hour following the break as they looked to avoid an innings defeat.

Three dropped catches had marred the hosts fielding display on day two and Franklin was next to be given a reprieve as ro Petersen grassed his second chance of the innings at gully.

A double-strike by Vernon Philander shortly before the drinks break crippled the New Zealand innings though, as Watling edged to first slip and was out for 42. Doug Bracewell was caught at gully for a duck to reduce the Black Caps to 252 for seven and Jeetan Patel (8) was clearly rattled by the fearsome pace of Dale Steyn before eventually chopping on to his stumps.

The final two wickets fell in quick succession, as Franklin too played onto his stumps for 22 having lasted 103 minutes to leave New Zealand on the brink at 274 for nine.

The test match ended in a fittingly shambolic fashion for the Black Caps when Chris Martin was run out one delivery later without having faced a ball after being sent back by Trent Boult.

Philander won the man-of-the-match award for his match figures of 7-83, which included five for seven in the first innings. The second and final test starts in Port Elizabeth on Jan. 9. —Reuters

CAPE TOWN: New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum plays a shot against South Africa during a five-day Test in Cape Town. —AP

SCOREBOARD CAPE TOWN: Scoreboard on the third day of the first test between South Africa and New Zealand at Newlands yesterday.

New Zealand first innings 45 (V. Philander 5-7) South Africa first innings 347 for eight declared (A.Petersen 106, H.Amla 66, J.Kallis 60, AB de Villiers 67) New Zealand second innings M. Guptill c Amla b Steyn 0 B. McCullum lbw b Peterson 51 K. Williamson c Petersen b Kallis 15 D. Brownlie c Peterson b Morkel 109 D. Flynn c de Villiers b Kallis 14

BJ Watling c Smith b Philander 42 J.Franklin b Steyn 22 D.Bracewell c Petersen b Philander 0 J.Patel b Steyn 8 T.Boult not out 2 C.Martin run out 0 Extras (b-1 lb-8 w-3) 12 Total (all out, 102.1 overs) 275 Fall of wickets: 1-0 2-29 3-118 4-155 5-229 6-252 7-252 8-265 9-274 10-275 Bowling: Steyn 30-6-67-3, Philander 24-8-76-2 (1w), Morkel 21-6-50-1 (1w), Kallis 11.1-3-31-2 (1w), Peterson 16-6-42-1 Result: South Africa won by an innings and 27 runs

SYDNEY: Sri Lanka’s cricketers appeal for the wicket of Australia’s Matthew Wade on day two of their third cricket Test match. —AP

Australia rue run outs despite taking lead SYDNEY: Australian blew the chance to take an iron grip on the third Test against Sri Lanka yesterday and instead scrabbled to a 48-run first innings lead after reaching 342 for six at the close of the second day’s play yesterday. Phil Hughes and David Warner got the hosts off at a canter on a glorious morning with half centuries in a partnership of 130 as Australia looked to build a big total in their bid to sweep the series 3-0.

Two run outs, including one for Mike Hussey in his final test, and a couple of soft dismissals, however, left Sri Lanka bowling at Matthew Wade, who had survived a good few scares to reach 47, and Peter Siddle (16) when stumps were drawn. Australia captain Michael Clarke also made 50 but will probably remember the day more for having given the call for the risky single that saw Hussey dismissed for 28 by Dimuth Karunaratne’s direct hit.

“Today we could look back and feel we could have been in a better position, it would have been nice to have a couple of wickets less,” said Hughes, who hit a stylish 87, told reporters. “But that’s the position we’re in now, 40-odd run lead and we’re well balanced in this game.” Sri Lanka, who made 294 in their first innings, showed considerably more fight than they had in the innings and 201 run defeat in Melbourne last week and they were only a couple of dropped catches from being right back in the match.

“A number of young players have come in and shown that they’ve got some guts and the desire to play at this level,” coach Graham Ford Said. “On the other hand... we might have been in a better position.

Although we’re still in the game, we could have been in quite a powerful position.” Hughes and Warner, who hit a pugnacious 85, had plundered runs in the opening session against a patched-up pace attack in almost perfect batting conditions.

The only wicket to fall before lunch was that of opener Ed Cowan, who gave a precursor of what was to come when he ran himself out for four. Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene finally introduced spinner Rangana Herath after the break and the most prolific wicket-taker in test cricket last year almost had an immediate impact with a strong lbw appeal against Warner. It was turned down and a TV appeal showed the ball was turning too much to hit the leg stump but half an hour later the opener was heading back to the dressing room.

The 26-year-old, who had reached his half century off just 37 balls, could not resist a slash at a Tillakaratne Dilshan delivery only for the ball to balloon up into the air for Dhammika Prasad to take the catch backtracking at long-on.

Hughes had shown that for all the rebuilding of his technique he could still cut the ball like few other batsmen but on 87, traditionally considered unlucky for Australian batsmen, he tried another and was caught behind off Herath.

Hussey, who will retire from international cricket after this match, received a huge ovation from the

crowd as he came out to bat and was welcomed to the crease by a guard of honor from the Sri Lankan players.

It was Clarke who caught the eye, however, and he punished anything loose from the Sri Lankan bowlers, most notably when he hit a towering six and a lofted four off Herath in consecutive balls just before tea.

The captain turned villain in the fourth over after the break, however, when he called for the single that resulted in Hussey’s dismissal, and put a dent in the 37year-old’s previous average of 117.75 against Sri Lanka and 100 at the SCG. Clarke, the most prolific batsman of last year, reached his 25th half century with a single through the covers but an over later his first innings of 2013 was ended when he misfired a sweep off Herath and Karunaratne took a good catch on the run.

Wade was dropped, then survived a Sri Lanka TV appeal for a catch which was ruled out for a no ball and finally forced to resort to the TV umpire himself to overturn a decision that he had been caught out-all while he was on 22.

Nuwan Pradeep grabbed the final wicket of the day when he had Mitchell Johnson caught behind for 13 - only a second test wicket for the Sri Lankan seamer whose average had soared above 400 during the day’s play. —Reuters

SCOREBOARD SYDNEY: Scoreboard at close of play on the second day of the third test between Australia and Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday: Sri Lanka first innings 294 Australia first innings D. Warner c Prasad b Dilshan 85 E. Cowan run out 4 P. Hughes c Chandimal b Herath 87 M. Clarke c Karunaratne b Herath 50 M. Hussey run out 28 M. Wade not out 47 M. Johnson c Chandimal c Pradeep 13 P. Siddle not out 16 Extras (lb-5, w-7, nb-3) 15 Total (for six wickets, 88 overs) 342 Fall of wicket: 1-36 2-166 3-195 4-251 5-271 6307 To bat: M. Starc, J.Bird, N. Lyon.

Bowling: Lakmal 20-4-63-0, Pradeep 14-0-83-1 (w-5, nb-3), Prasad 11-0-53-0 (w-2), Mathews 20-11-0, Dilshan 19-2-58-1, Herath 22-3-69-2 Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dimuth Karunaratne, Lahiru Thirimanne, Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhammika Prasad, Rangana Herath, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal Australia lead the three-match series 2-0.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2013

Sports

Australia rue run outs despite taking lead

47

KUWAIT : Former French football player and manager, and the president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Michel Platini, is received by Kuwaitis upon his arrival at a hotel in Kuwait City yesterday.— Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Al-Fahad: Kuwait back on sports map UEFA chief in Kuwait

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: Michel Platini, President of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) arrived in Kuwait yesterday. The UEFA chief is due to attend the opening ceremony of the 21st GCC Cup today in Bahrain. He was welcomed by the Olympic Council of Asia president Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Sabah. “Platini’s visit to Kuwait brought back memories of the golden age of Kuwaiti football,” Al-Fahad said. He added that the decree issued by HH the Amir to harmonize Kuwait sports regulations with the

International Olympic Committee (IOC) and other international sport federations had brought Kuwait back to the international sports map.

“Platini’s visit is a good omen for Kuwait’s national soccer team playing in the Gulf Cup. May the ‘Blue team’ succeed in flying the Kuwait flag high in this championship”, he wished.

Platini thanked Kuwait officials for their warm reception. “This sports is uniting people of all walks of life. It brings people together and I am very happy to be part of it,” he said yesterday.

Platini will be among the high ranking officials attending the GCC Cup.