12 Jan

IPT IO N SC R SU B

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

8 150 Fils

Savile abused children as young as eight

SAFAR 30, 1434 AH

No: 15686

48

Bahrain beat Qatar to reach Gulf Cup semis

Kuwaitis bankrolled Brotherhood in UAE

PM reveals detained Islamists financed from Kuwait

MANAMA: A Bahraini fan holds his national flag (left) and the Emirati flag as he cheers on his team prior to the start of Bahrain’s football match against Qatar in the 21st Gulf Cup yesterday. — AFP (See Page 48)

No justice for Gitmo Kuwaiti WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama begins his second gations and abuse - even if the regime has mellowed slightly in term having failed to honor a promise from his first to close the recent years. “In May 2002, I was drugged, my ears were plugged, I Guantanamo Bay prison camp, to the bitter regret of prisoner 552, was diapered and a sandbag was shoved over my head. I was husFayez Al-Kandari. The 34-year-old Kuwaiti, accused by US authori- tled into a military aircraft, where I was short-shackled to the deck ties of being an advisor to slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, before a rough takeoff,” he told AFP. “After what it seemed to be an was one of the first captives to be flown to the US naval base in eternity, I landed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, my agony to this day,” Cuba and has languished there for 11 years. It took six years for the he added. “In the early days, I was interrogated over 300 times,” he US military to charge Kandari with giving “material support to ter- said. “I was shackled to the floor of the interrogation room, somerorism” and five more to abandon the case. Now he is deemed too times for as long as 36 hours. Ice cold water was thrown on my naked body, and barking dogs were brought into the room,” he dangerous to release but no longer faces prosecution. said.

Kandari agreed to talk to AFP via email, the mails In an account that matches those of several other passed to our reporter by the military lawyer detainees now released, he alleged that during the assigned to represent him, Colonel Barry Wingard, in years of his detention, he has been dragged roughly the first interview of its kind at Guantanamo. “Each from his cell and subjected to racial and religious time Colonel Wingard travels to Gitmo to visit me,” abuse. Over time, he admits, physical mistreatment Kandari said, “my first question to him is ‘Have you has waned, and now: “There is a relative peace in the found justice for me today?’ And sadly he has prison, which is based on mutual respect.” But he is answered every time: ‘Unfortunately, Fayez, I have no still angry with US authorities and in particular with justice today’.” Kandari was seized in Afghanistan in Obama over his failure to close the Guantanamo jail, Dec 2001, three months after the Sept 11 attacks by a controversial military detention center on Cuban hijackers who flew airliners into the World Trade soil beyond the reach of US justice.

Center in New York and the Pentagon in Fayez Al-Kandari “I feel extremely let down by President Obama,” Washington, killing 2,977 people.

The Pentagon says Kandari “was an Al-Qaeda propagandist who he said. “To add insult to injury, for the second straight year, produced and distributed multimedia recruitment material and Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act that allows wrote newspaper articles paying tribute to the September 11, 2001 for the indefinite military detention of any individual,” he said. Of hijackers”. The military has thus deemed him “high risk, as he is like- the 779 inmates only nine were ever convicted or brought to trial, ly to pose a threat to the US, its interests and allies.” For his part and of the 166 who remain, 55 are considered safe to be released Kandari insists he was in Afghanistan for charity work and is inno- by the US military, but have nowhere to go. But Kandari has not cent of all allegations. Since the US has failed to bring him to trial given up hope. “I am happy for all the former prisoners who were and Kuwait has not pushed for his release, the matter is unresolved. released,” he told AFP. “It gives me hope that my turn will be next. I In the meantime, he describes his indefinite detention as an am optimistic that I will soon be released. My faith in God has never “agony” that began with rough treatment in transit, harsh interro- been so unshakable.” — AFP

Max 14º Min 03º

KUWAIT: Islamists held in the United Arab Emirates accused of planning to topple the government were financed by Kuwaiti nationals, local media reported yesterday, lending support to UAE fears of an international plot against its rulers. The UAE has detained more than 60 Islamists in the past year who it says belong to the Muslim Brotherhood, a group founded in Egypt in 1928 and which is banned in the Gulf Arab state, and who it accuses of planning to establish an Islamic state and operating an armed wing. The UAE has repeatedly said that the detainees were receiving financial support from individuals in other Gulf Arab states, but had stopped short of naming those countries.

Several newspapers yesterday quoted Kuwaiti MPs as saying Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah informed them at a confidential meeting held on Thursday that Kuwaiti nationals had been providing financial support to Muslim Brotherhood members in the UAE. “Yes, there was financing coming from Kuwait,” Sheikh Jaber told the MPs in the session, according to Al-Watan daily. Sheikh Jaber gave no further details, Al-Watan reported, adding only: “We can’t announce the names before they have been referred to the courts.” The pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat carried a similar report, quoting two MPs as confirming the prime minister’s comments. The Muslim Brotherhood is not banned in Kuwait. — Reuters

King Abdullah names women to top council RIYADH: Saudi King Abdullah has appointed women for the first time to a top advisory body, with decrees published yesterday marking a breakthrough in a kingdom that imposes stringent restrictions on females. The historic decisions mean that 30 women will now be allowed to sit on the previously all-male 150seat Shura Council, although females in Saudi Arabia are banned from driving and denied the right to travel without male consent.

The monarch took the decisions following consultations with religious leaders in Saudi Arabia, which applies a strict version of Islamic sharia law, according to the decrees published by state news agency SPA. Women will be allocated a 20 percent quota in the consultative council, which is appointed by the king to advise him on policy but cannot legislate. The 30 Thuraya Obaid chosen women include university graduates, human rights activists and two princesses.

Also among them is Thuraya Obaid, a veteran UN administrator who served notably as executive director of the UN Development Programme and undersecretary general of the world body. But the decrees stipulated strict guidelines for allowing women into the once all-male enclave, saying men and women will be segregated inside the council. Women will be seated in a special area and enter the council through a separate door so as not to mix with their male colleagues. — AFP

LOCAL

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Indian education and real estate exhibition opens

KUWAIT: The two-day India Education 2013 and India Property 2013 opened simultaneously at the Ramada Hotel in Riggae yesterday. The exhibition, which will remains open from 10.45am to 8.30pm today, highlights courses and learning at some of the finest educational institutions in India, as well as properties from leading real estate developers in the country.

On the education side of the exhibition, more than 12 exhibitors representing over 75 institutions offering more than 200 courses in a wide variety of subjects are on display. The education expo serves as a one-stop information event for learning about the variety of professional and vocational courses that NRI and Kuwait students can pursue in reputed institutions of higher learning in India.

The India Education Exhibition, which has become an annual, much-anticipated event, displays attractive options to obtain undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in various disciplines, including medicine, engineering, business management, marketing and communications, arts and science, hospitality and hotel management and Allied Health Sciences.

A special emphasis at this year’s expo is on several prestigious Indian residential schools that offer international standards

of education with world-class facilities.

The exhibition also provides an opportunity for students, along with their parents, to personally interact with college administrators and professors, to know about the variety of educational programs available in India. Students get updated information on fee structure, eligibility criteria and programs that are currently in high demand. Some of the institutions are also offering spot admissions.

Information about personality development, communication skills and free educational counseling are also available at the venue.

The real-estate portion of the exhibition features over 100 projects from some of the most reputed and leading property developers in India. The properties on show range from luxury villas, fine apartments, value plots, beach-homes and hillside farms, and vary in price from very affordable properties at Rs 1.4 lakhs to premium priced real estate at Rs 10 crores.

The properties on display at the India Property Exhibition 2013 come from across India and include real estate in Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Pune, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Rajahmundry, Vizhag, Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Ooty, Trichy, Pondicherry, Hosur, Gurgoan,

Kochi and several other locations.

NRIs in Kuwait will find that the Property Exhibition offers them an ideal opportunity to view the wide selection of properties and the multitude of pricing plans and payment options. The show also allows them to interact directly with builders and developers of some of the finest properties and to gain a better understanding of the realty sector across the length and breadth of India. Also

people looking to invest in the lucrative Indian real estate sector will find the exhibition an excellent venue to explore the various real estate investment options in residential, commercial, retail and hospitality real-estate.

The India Education Exhibition 2013 and India Property Exhibition 2013 are being organized by Indus Fairs & Events, India and Response Events and Exhibitions, Kuwait.

LOCAL

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Interior minister says ready to face grilling Al-Qallaf backs govt on secret session KUWAIT: Kuwaiti First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Jaber Al-Sabah said he was ready for any interpellation request by the MPs, reports KUNA. “The Ministry of Interior is doing its utmost to discharge its responsibilities fully,” he told reporters after a session by the National Assembly. He appreciated the MPs’ concern for the issue of loose security, saying the MPs expressed sincere solidarity with the security men in their efforts to stabilize the situation.

“The ministry will take stock of all observations and recommendations raised during today’s parliament session and implement them before reporting back to the parliament within three months,” the minister promised.

“It’s an integrated system, including the state departments and the society, which is responsible for maintaining security,” Sheikh Ahmad pointed out.

He affirmed that he answered all questions raised by the MPs very clearly and persuasively, KUNA report added.

Meanwhile, MP Hussain Al-Qallaf extended his support to the secret session of the National Assembly saying: “Today we are in the corruption circle and if our words do not match our deeds, we shall be just like the previous

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent yesterday a cable of congratulation to Chairman of Kuwait Journalists Association Ahmad Bebehani for being elected unanimously as the Chairman of the Federation of Arab Journalists.

In his cable, His Highness the Amir expressed best wishes and success in his new post, including hopes to best serve the country in regional and international arenas.

His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah also sent a cable of congratulations to Bebehani for being elected to the new post.

In his cable, HH the Crown Prince expressed best wishes and success to Behbehani in his new post, including hopes to best serve the country in regional and international arenas. Behbehani became the first Kuwaiti and Gulf personality to head the federation since its establishment in 1964. — KUNA

KU doorsclosed for Kuwaiti PhD holders

KUWAIT: Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Sabah talks to Minister Rola Dashti during the secret assembly session on Thursday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat Damaging words were exchanged assembly which was declared void.”

Regarding the comments of some during the secret session and if it was MP that minister of Interior does not an open session, those words would respect Al-Rashed council and respects have harmed Kuwait’s reputation, he Al-Saadoun council, an Arab daily quot- said. Some personalities from outside ing Al-Qallaf said, “this MP has some- Kuwait who sought to play with Kuwait thing in his heart and we have the security were discussed in the session. details of the bribe-takers of the council Now it is clear that the council is not in the government’s pocket, he said. that was declared void.”

Technical panel to study Terminal 2 expansion

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Public Works is planning to refer the proposed Terminal 2 project expansion plan at the Kuwait International Airport to a technical committee following reports of a possible cost escalation from its original tender and a delay in executing the project. The committee will also look into the ground realities of the project and the feasibility of the project expansion plans, a ministry source said.

The decision was taken on the instructions of the minister of Public Works in accordance with the new plan adopted by the ministry.

The gross budget expenditure for the Terminal 2 project is estimated to be around KD 1 billion.

The Phase One of the project is envisaged to accommodate 13 million passengers annually at Level A and the number is expected to increase to 25 million passengers annually at level B and C services subsequently. Thereafter, the new terminal will serve 50 million passengers in the coming years, the sources added.

The new terminal will also include a runway that can further be expanded in its first phase, a spacious parking lot for cars and buses, an area for two airport hotels and a high-speed baggage separation system. The new terminal will have 120 check-in counters to serve 13 million passengers with a capacity to handle 2,930 suitcases per hour.

AUK’s Dr Loomis releases The Salmiya Collection

KUWAIT: Dr Craig Loomis, Associate Professor of English and Chair of the English Department at the American University of Kuwait.

Amir, Crown Prince applaud Behbehani

KUWAIT: The Salmiya Collection is the latest book release by Dr. Craig Loomis, Associate Professor of English and Chair of the English Department at the American University of Kuwait. The book, which has been published via the Syracuse University Press, deals with the essence of the everyday life in the popular Kuwaiti district of Al-Salmiya.

Through the forty stories in the book, Dr. Loomis unveils the distinct yet complex aspects of the Kuwaiti society that project a holistic picture of the universal nature of characters and situations. As the publisher describes it, “The book captures the spirit of life in modern Kuwait”.

The Salmiya Collection received a review by Earl (Tim) Sullivan, Professor and Provost emeritus, American University in Cairo, in which he says “Loomis’s stories see the world from the perspective of the characters he depicts, foreigners and Kuwaitis alike . . . readers will enjoy and be provoked by The Salmiya Collection.” Craig Loomis is also the author of A Softer Violence: Tales of Orient, and his short fiction has appeared in the Iowa Review, Colorado Review, Quarterly West, Louisville Review, and Prague Revue.

KUWAIT: The door is still closed for Kuwaiti PhD holders who studied on their own and sought to apply for teaching jobs at the Kuwait University. This is in force despite a recommendation to open the door for their appointments as the university is in bad need of such talents to fill the shortage of teaching staff in various faculties of the university, sources said.

The sources said although the university received applications from 2,000 professors, their applications remained in the drawers of the university and no action was taken on them. The sources added that some of them have been working as “deputed” teaching staff for many years and thus they are eligible to be admitted and employed as they meet the university standards as prescribed.

LOCAL SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Bedoon found dead in car Kuwaiti house burgled, valuables stolen

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A bedoon was found dead in his burned car yesterday. A security source said that a call came reporting about a jeep that was on fire with the driver inside. The source added that the cause of the death is yet to be determined.

KUWAIT: Information Minister and State Minister for Youth Affairs Sheikh Salman Al-Humoud Al-Sabah (right) giving a lecture titled ‘Kuwait Media in the Foreign Policy Domain’ at the Diplomatic Institute on Thursday. — KUNA

House burgled A citizen lodged a complaint with the Sulaibiya police that an unknown person broke into his car and took away his wallet containing his civil ID, driver’s license and three bank cards

in addition to KD 300 in cash.

Detectives are investigating the case.

Citizen run over A 36-year-old citizen was killed when he was run over by a car on the Sixth Ring Road. In another case, a citizen told Adan police that three students beat his son in front of the school in Adan area. He also gave the names of the alleged assailants and submitted a medical report stating that the boy sustained cuts and bruises.

Flat burgled An Egyptian and his roommate told

Fahaheel police that their flat was burgled by some unknown persons.

The first person told the police that KD 500 and a mobile phone were stolen while the second person said KD 50 and a mobile phone were also stolen. The case was referred to detectives.

Worker killed A construction worker was killed when a vehicle hit him near Fintas bridge. The worker was standing on the side of the road when the vehicle hit the worker as the driver was trying to exit towards Fintas bridge.

Iranian expat molests divorced wife in Surra Estranged hubby beats up wife KUWAIT: An Iranian expat stopped his divorced wife in South Surra and molested her before escaping as she began to scream for help. A security source said that the woman, who works for the ministry of Electricity and Water, told police that while leaving work she was shocked to see a person who grabbed and fondled sensitive areas of her body. She discovered that it was her divorced husband. When she screamed, the assailant ran away. Detectives are looking for him. Separately, a citizen told Mubarak AlKabeer police that her estranged husband beat her ruthlessly. She submitted a medical report to substantiate her claims.

Car vandalized A fireman told Adan police that his car was vandalized by unknown miscreants. The car was parked in front of his house in Adan area.

KD 7,000 stolen A citizen told Fahad Al-Ahmad police that someone broke into his house and stole KD 7000. The money was kept in the bedroom.

Mobile phone theft An owner of a mobile phones shop told Adan police that a Syrian expat asked for a phone and gave him his ID. While the shop owner was registering the transaction, the Syrian escaped with the pone. Police are investigating.

Murder threat A Kuwaiti woman accused her daughter of threatening to kill her over financial dispute. The citizen said that her daughter called her over the phone and said she bought a gun for KD 50 adding that she will kidnap her young sister’s children. Sabahiya police are investigating the case.

Rumaithiya police rescued a man whose son was chasing him with a knife threatening to kill him. The man was found to be a mentally unstable person who was also wanted in certain case.

A security source said that a female citizen ran to Rumaithiya police station to complain that her brother wanted to kill her father. When police arrived at the house, they found that the father was hiding behind furniture and the son was holding a knife to his face.

When the police came close to him, he threatened to kill him. The police overpowered him. Investigations are under way.

Support Kuwaiti women football: Sheikha Naeema AMMAN: Supporting the Kuwaiti women football sector is very important to help develop skills of female athlete, said Chairperson of the Women Sports Federation in Kuwait, Sheikha Naeema Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, here late Thursday.

Speaking to KUNA on the sidelines of the West Asian conference to develop women sports in the region, Sheikha Naeem said that the event would touch on means to develop football for women in the region, noting that workshops would be held

during the course of the event to help develop skills of of women athletes. The current conference is held under the sponsorship of chairman of the West Asian Sports Federation, Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein and Zain telecom. — KUNA

NBK launches clean and safe camping campaign KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) launched yesterday its environmental awareness campaign “Help Keep Kuwait Clean and Safe” during the winter season. NBK staff and volunteers will clean up camps littered with trash and other harmful waste and will also provide awareness initiatives to encourage campers to keep their areas clean.

“The environment is one of our most precious resources and as part of our corporate social responsibility program, NBK aims to help keep the environment safe and clean this camping season,” said Yaqoub Al-Baqer, NBK Public Relations Officer. “the campaign is divided into phases. NBK team and volunteers will visit campsites and clean up litter and other waste.

Volunteers will also speak with campers and provide them Yaqoub Al-Baqer with safety and security tips,”

added Al-Baqer. NBK is an environment-friendly bank and has launched a range of initiatives -including electricity conservation and paper recycling- aimed at promoting environmental awareness.

LOCAL

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Reckless driver penalized for doing stunts on road Female citizen duped by fraudster

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Interior’s undersecretary, Major General Ghazi Al-Omar, on Thursday presided over a meeting of the police affairs general committee. A number of undersecretaries, assistants and senior officials from the MOI were present at the meeting.— KUNA

Kuwait, France to boost medical training protocol PARIS: Head of the Kuwaiti Cultural Office in Paris Dr Abdul Rahman Al-Radwan, held talks yesterday with officials from the French Foreign Ministry regarding implementation of the French-Kuwaiti health cooperation protocol which stipulates training specialized Kuwaiti doctors in the European country.

Al-Radwan indicated in a statement to KUNA registration of new Kuwaiti doctors who have been accepted for clinical studies for the year 2013-2014. They will continue French language studies as of middle of May 2013, as a prelude to registration at the universities and pursuing clinical training at the hospitals as resident doctors, effective next November.

The two sides, during the meeting, agreed on opening nomination for registration of the Kuwaiti doctors seeking specialization in France, effective next week. The bureau has notified relevant authorities in Kuwait, namely the Ministry of Health and the Civil Service Commission, of nomination files, to be filled by the applicants. This process would end on March 15.

The joint committee will hold a meeting in June to choose the accepted doctors for recording for various medical specializations. France, according to the protocol, hosts 10 Kuwaiti doctors per year for specialized studies. It also offers two seats, each year, for those who desire to specialize in burns and post-accident surgeries. — KUNA

KUWAIT: A reckless driver doing stunts on a road in Jleeb and blocking the traffic told a man questioning his conduct to shut up and asked him whether his father owned the street. To his utter misfortune, the man objecting to such craziness turned out to be a police major general in civilian clothes who was affected by the blocked traffic. The driver was heavily fined. Security sources said when the police officer in civilian clothes forced the driver to pull over and asked him why he was blocking traffic, the man retorted by asking, “What’s it to you? Does the street belong to your father?” All that the officer did in response was to show him his ID. The reckless driver forgot all about his original query about ownership of the street and kept apologizing profusely but the major general insisted on enforcing the law. The stuntman driver was issued three tickets.

Contempt of court A prisoner detained on drug-related charges attracted further charges of committing contempt of court and insulting the Amir when he started shouting and making insulting comments during the hearing of a completely unrelated case. Security sources said the man was waiting behind bars in the court room as lawyer Yousif Al-Harbash represented his brother, the former MP, Jaman Al-Harbash, in a case against former MP Mohammed Al-Juwaihel in which he demanded a KD 50,000 compensation. “Give him 50,000 slippers,”

shouted the prisoner from behind bars.

As the judge ordered him to keep quiet and stop talking, he refused to pay heed and continued shouting and hurling insults at everyone, including the judge, and eventually HH the Amir. Despite the fact that his feet were shackled, the enraged man injured three policemen trying to overpower him and whisk him out of the room on the orders of the judge. Backup security personnel were summoned and the man was referred to the state security department.

Bomb scare in school Alerted by a caller claiming there was a bomb inside a secondary school in the area, Jahra police led by Jahra security commander, Major General Ibrahim Al-Tarrah, senior security officers and a special bomb squad rushed to the scene and evacuated the school but the combing of the premises did not yield any explosives. The hoax call was made using a mobile phone owned by a wanted woman. Further investigations are in progress.

Trapped in elevator An overloaded lift malfunctioned and got stuck in Fahaheel, trapping three citizens and two Arab expatriates who were rescued by a fire and rescue team which managed to manually open the lift’s jammed doors. Security sources said the five had been smoking sheesha at a cafÈ on the third floor before they took the lift down.

Citizen conned by fraudster A female citizen was swindled by a fraudster outside Kuwait who sent her a text message claiming that she had won KD 30,000 and told her to send them KD 100, which she did, to claim her reward.

The woman said she realized it was a scam only when the suspect asked for another KD 500, arousing her suspicions.

Bangladeshi robbed A Bangladeshi reported that an unidentified person robbed him of KD 150 at knifepoint, security sources said.

The man said the robber, who was driving a vehicle without a license plate number, stopped him in a desert area while he was shepherding. A case was filed.

Vice police raid The vice police recently launched its biggest campaign in 2013, raiding 37 cafés in Salmiya where many fines were handed out for using dim lights, building partitions, DJs playing loud music and cafés allowing minors of both genders smoke sheesha.

Canadian quizzed A Canadian man was being interrogated after he assaulted and stabbed his wife, also a Canadian, during a family dispute. Case papers indicated that the woman’s father drove her to the Jahra Hospital with an abdominal stab wound.

The suspect turned himself in on his own, saying he regretted what happened.

Further investigations are in progress.

Sheikha Mona gifts books to Alexandria Library CAIRO: Sheikha Mona Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has dedicated a collection of books to the Library of Alexandria (Bibliotheca Alexandrina), the library said in a statement on Thursday.

The books include “Kuwait - Photos and Memories,” “Sheikh Abdullah AlJaber Al-Sabah 1898-1996,” “Salwa Zoo (the first Zoo in Kuwait and the Arabian Gulf region),” “Historical Photos of Arabian Gulf Rulers,” and “The Lively Palace of Al-Saif - Historical and Architectural Glimpse.”

The book “Sheikh Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah 1898-1996” is a biography of Sheikh Abdullah and was first published in 2005 in both Arabic and English, the

statement noted. Sheikha Mona’s donation to the library is a manifestation of the close cultural ties between the State of Kuwait and Egypt, it added. — KUNA

MOI e-forms The Traffic Directorate’s assistant director for planning and research, Brigadier Saleh Ahmed Al-Najem, yesterday presided over a meeting of a special committee entrusted with ratifying of the forms meant for various traffic related transactions before these are uploaded on the website of the Ministry of Interior for public use as e-forms.

Strategic planning course KUWAIT: A number of leaders and senior officials from the Ministries of Interior, Defense and Social Affairs passed a course on ‘Change Management and Strategic Planning’, conducted by the leaders preparation center of the National Security College.

First-aid training course concludes KUWAIT: Cadets at the Warrant Officers’ Institute on Thursday concluded a training course in first aid and will now be awarded a ‘First Paramedic’ license. The course, which was organized in collaboration with the medical emergency department of the Ministry of Health, was organized under the auspices of Ministry of Interior’s assistant undersecretary for training and education affairs, Major General Ahmed Nawaf Al-Ahmed. The warrant officers’ and privates’ rehabilitation manager, Brigadier Khalid Al-Jenahi, was also present when the course came to a conclusion.

The graduation course was conducted under the auspices of MOI’s assistant undersecretary for training and education affairs, Major General Ahmed Nawaf Al-Ahmed. The College’s assistant manager, Brigadier Fauzi Al-Suwailam was also present.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

‘Sexual predator’ abused children as young as eight

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France says ready to halt any rebel offensive in Mali

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Cleric return jolts Pakistan before vote

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ZHENXIONG: Chinese paramilitary policemen dig through a landslide to search for victims in the Zhaojiagou village in Zhenxiong county insouthwest China’s Yunnan province yesterday. The landslide swept through the village in the steep, snow-dusted mountains of southern China yesterday killing over 40 people, the local government said. —AP

42 dead in China landslide Over 1,000 rescuers sent to the site

BEIJING: A landslide killed at least 42 people including seven from a single family when it smashed into a remote village in southwestern China ysterday, state media said. Another two people were sent to hospital after being rescued from the debris while at least two more were still missing after the landslip engulfed 16 homes in the village of Gaopo, the official news agency Xinhua said.

Photos posted on Yunnan Web, run by the Yunnan provincial government showed rescuers in orange uniforms digging in wide swathes of clumpy mud against a backdrop of snow-covered, terraced hills.

A video posted on a Chinese social networking site appeared to show a group of villagers digging through thick mud and debris to uncover a body, which was carried away on a stretcher. “The landslide, which brought about several hundred thousand cubic metres of watery mud to the village, buried all of the houses there,” Xinhua quoted a local rescue team leader, Sun Anfa, as saying.

The conditions “created great difficulties for rescue efforts amid low temperatures”, he added. More than 1,000 rescuers were sent to the site of the landslide, which was estimated to be 300 metres long, 80 metres wide and 30 metres deep, according to authorities. Snow

was visible in images of the rescue, in an area that has experienced unusually low temperatures in recent weeks, with China suffering

what authorities have called its coldest winter in 28 years. The Communist Party’s top leaders Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, along with

Suspect in New Delhi rape case appeared in TV show NEW DELHI: A driver charged with the gangrape and murder of a student on his bus in New Delhi was accused of drink driving by a former employer when he appeared on a reality TV show in 2010, footage showed yesterday.

Ram Singh, one of six people accused of the fatal December 16 attack on a 23-year-old student, featured in Aap Ki Kachehri (Your Court), a show hosted by former top police officer Kiran Bedi who tries to resolve civil disputes.

Singh, wearing a loose bright orange shirt, argued on the programme that he was entitled to compensation from his employer for injuries that he suffered while driving one of their buses in the capital. But his employer, who also appeared on the show, in turn accused Singh of “drunk, negligent and rash driving” and alleged that he had taken the bus out despite being told it had been withdrawn from service.

“He alleged that his employer had not finan-

cially assisted him with hospital bills following the accident,” Bedi told The Times of India. “The employer refused to pay any compensation as he alleged that Singh had a history of irresponsible behaviour. Singh did not get any compensation at the end of the show,” she added.

The episode also showed Singh pleading that he was a widower and had a young son to take care of. “All I want is the compensation so that I can live the rest of my life peacefully and bring up my son nicely,” Singh said, standing on a podium and facing the judge. Singh and his five co-accused are alleged to have taken it in turns to rape the woman as well as assaulting her male companion before throwing them off the moving bus. The victim died in a Singapore hospital, 13 days after the attack, which triggered mass protests across India.

Singh, if convicted, could face the death penalty. (See Page 12) — AFP

Premier Wen Jiabao, ordered “all-out efforts to rescue victims”, Xinhua said, adding that more than 1,000 rescuers were on the scene.

Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, is a relatively impoverished area of China, where rural houses are often cheaply constructed.

Gaopo is in Zhenxiong county, in the northeast of Yunnan, a temperate province known for its tobacco industry and for being the home of Pu’er tea. But its mountainous areas are prone to landslides and it is also vulnerable to earthquakes.

Two in September-one of magnitude 5.7 — left 81 people dead and hundreds injured.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao made an overnight trip to the quake zone at the time to comfort survivors, many of whom had taken refuge in tents erected on a public square.

A county neighbouring Zhenxiong was hit by a landslide in October that killed 18 children, after one which killed 216 people in 1991, according to the United States Geological Survey.

An earthquake in neighbouring Sichuan province in 2008 claimed around 70,000 livesthe worst natural disaster to hit China in three decades, with shoddy buildings blamed for the high toll. —AFP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Israeli women soldiers have ‘right stuff’ for border watch ISRAELI-EGYPTIAN BORDER: Breaking cover from a lookout point disguised as a dune, four soldiers storm into the open, ploughing through the sand with rifles aloft. Their battle cries are like seagull calls, and from under their helmets, ponytails flap. Team Mor is a spotter unit on Israel’s fenced-off border with Egypt, deployed at night to intercept would-be infiltrators from the lawless Sinai desert. Like dozens of others along the tense divide, it is all-female. “We make a real contribution to protecting the country,” team commander Lieutenant Mor Dafna said during training drills at Sayarim field intelligence headquarters, marching distance from the frontier.

Any trespass in the Sinai would outrage Egyptians, many of whom resent having signed a peace treaty with Israel that largely demilitarised the peninsula in 1979. That makes spotting Islamist guerrillas or illegal African migrants well before they reach the razor-wire border fence a strategic priority for Israel. While the Israeli conscript military’s gender egalitarianism is well known, when it

comes to keeping the peace with Egypt over the border, women are valued perhaps even more than their male counterparts. “It is no accident that so many women are in field intelligence - with all due respect to the men, women bring a special capability,” said Major Oshrat Bachar, the chief of operations for Sayarim. She would not elaborate, but retired brigadier-general Ruth Yaron, a former chief Israeli military spokesperson, voiced her opinion that at draft age, women tended to be better suited for the patient vigilance required of surveillance. “This is a role that multi-tasks between discipline, pro-activeness and long-term focus, attributes that are often less developed among 18- or 19-year-old male soldiers,” Yaron said. The numbers suggest Yaron and Bachar are not alone in their thinking. Women make up 55 percent of Israel’s field intelligence corps, compared to just 33 percent of the armed forces overall.

Uniquely for Israel’s combat units, which are 96 percent male, the field intelligence corps has an all-woman infantry surveillance company - around

70 troops, including Team Mor - whose members sign up for an extra year of service in addition to the compulsory two. Thousands of female sentinels monitor Israel’s frontier video-feeds around the clock from hi-tech bunkers.

Outside Gaza, some of the screens feature crosshairs linked to heavy machineguns, allowing the women to remotefire at Palestinian raiders.

David Tzur, a former general who runs the Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Centre, said the remote system, known as “Ro’ah-Yorah” or “Sees-Shoots”, takes the feminine form in Hebrew in a nod to the gender of its operators.

“The girls were not happy with the original masculine naming,” said Tzur. In the camouflaged crawl spaces that serve as border positions, four- to six-soldier teams can spend several days almost immobile in the blazing heat, peering through powerful binoculars and radioing in reports of suspect movements.

“They have endurance and concentration,” Tzur said. “The intelligence services were among the first in Israel to appreci-

ate this, and to incorporate female staff accordingly.” The role of women in intelligence services is a hot topic these days thanks to a new Hollywood movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, “Zero Dark Thirty”, and the success of the “Homeland” television series, both of which feature female CIA officers as their lead characters. A book by a former US Navy SEAL who took part in the actual raid that killed bin Laden in 2011 also credits a female analyst for finding their target. Richard Kemp, a retired British army colonel and veteran of the Afghan and Iraq wars, said he knew of no Western equivalent to the preponderance of women in Israeli military intelligence. “Women remain the minority in our armed forces, because there is not the conscription that sees so many women joining up in Israel,” he said. But he added: “In my experience, while men tend to be physically stronger, women often tend to be more systematic, thorough and have a greater attention to detail at that age, which is obviously better for intelligence collection and analysis.” — Reuters

Rebels overrun largest military base in Syria Brahimi meets US, Russian officials on crisis

LONDON: In this file picture, British television and radio celeberity Jimmy Savile, joins in with people representing Commonwealth countries wearing their tradional dress crowd into the forecourt of Buckingham Palace during the Golden Jubilee celebrations in London. — AFP

‘Sexual predator’ abused children as young as eight LONDON: Late BBC presenter Jimmy Savile was a predatory sex offender who abused children as young as eight over more than 50 years, using his fame and eccentricity to hide “in plain sight”, British police said yesterday.

A three-month investigation with the NSPCC children’s charity found that Savile, one of the biggest TV stars in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s, took every opportunity to abuse young girls, boys and adult women across the country. He used his fame as presenter of BBC TV’s “Top of the Pops” chart show and children’s programme “Jim’ll Fix It” to rape and assault victims on BBC premises as well as in schools and hospitals, where he was welcomed by his fans.

The scandal has thrown the BBC into crisis, although police said the world’s biggest public broadcaster should not shoulder the blame for his criminal acts. “It is clear that Savile cunningly built his entire life’s work around gaining access to vulnerable children in order to carry out his abuse,” said Peter Watt of the NSPCC. He described Savile as “one of the most prolific sex offenders” the charity had ever dealt with, adding: “He hid in plain sight behind a veil of eccentricity, double-bluffing those who challenged him.” David Gray, head of Scotland Yard’s paedophile unit, said Savile “spent every moment of every waking day thinking about it, and whenever an opportunity came along, he took it”.

The police report was published as Britain’s top prosecutor, Keir Starmer, admitted that action could have been taken against Savile in 2009 if police had taken the victims more seriously. — AFP

DAMASCUS: Rebels yesterday overran Taftanaz airbase in north Syria, a watchdog said, marking a significant advance that came as peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met with top US and Russian officials on the Syrian crisis.

“The fighting at Taftanaz military airport ended at 11:00 am (0900 GMT) and the base is entirely in rebel hands,” said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman. The base soon thereafter, however, came under aerial attack by government fighter jets, the Britain-based Observatory said in a later statement. “Warplanes are bombing Taftanaz military airport in an attempt to destroy it,” it said. The capture of the base marks an important advance for the rebels, who control vast swathes of Syria’s north and east and are battling President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in most major cities, including on the outskirts of Damascus.

“This is the largest airbase to be seized since the revolt began” nearly 22 months ago, Abdel Rahman told AFP by phone. The rebels have previously taken control of the relatively small Hamdan airport in Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border in the east, and the Marj alSultan military airport in Damascus province. The assault on Taftanaz was led by jihadist fighters from the AlNusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham and Islamic Vanguard battalions, as well as other rebel groups, the Observatory said.

Many soldiers and officers fled the base at dawn, while the total number of casualties for each side was not immediately available. The rebels seized several military vehicles and a major

weapons depot.

Government forces, however, managed to pull out most of the 60 helicopters deployed at the airbase, leaving behind 20 choppers that are no longer in working condition, the Observatory said. News of the capture of the airbase came as Brahimi, the UN-Arab League special envoy on Syria was meeting in Geneva with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and US Undersecretary of State William Burns.

They made no comment as they arrived for the closed-door talks at the UN headquarters in Geneva.

The discussions are taking place a day after Syria accused Brahimi of “fla-

grant bias”, casting doubt on whether he could stay on as international mediator. Damascus lashed out at the veteran Algerian diplomat after he described proposals Assad made on Sunday for a “political solution” to the 22-month conflict as “one-sided”.

Brahimi attacked Assad’s plan to keep fighting rebel “terrorists” and ignore opposition groups tied to them, in comments to the BBC. He also questioned the decades-long rule by Assad’s family, saying that in Syria, where Assad took over from his long-ruling father in 2000, “what people are saying is that one family ruling for 40 years is a little bit too long.” — AFP

GENEVA: UN peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi (C) arrives yesterday for a meeting at the United Nations office in Geneva. Brahimi is to meet with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and US Undersecretary of State William Burns for discuss ways of ending the 21month conflict in Syria. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Kremlin says US adoption deal still in place MOSCOW: A Kremlin official said on Thursday a bilateral agreement with Washington on adoptions was still in place, creating uncertainty over the immediate impact of Russia’s new ban on Americans adopting Russian children.

Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the ban from Jan. 1 as part of a law passed to retaliate against US legislation intended to punish Russian human rights abusers. Moscow had told Washington it was also terminating a bilateral agreement regulating adoptions - but Putin’s spokesman on Thursday said a technicality meant that agreement would have to remain in force until the beginning of 2014.

“The agreement is still in effect,” Dmitry Peskov told state-run news agency RIA, citing a built-in one-year delay to any terminations.

He confirmed that to Reuters, and said it would be up to legal experts to determine what effect it might have on American families who were still going through the process of adopting Russian children when the ban was imposed. The US State Department said it was unclear about the impact of Peskov’s statement but told reporters it was “very hopeful” it would be able to work through adoption cases that had already begun.

US officials were sifting through emails from about 950 American families to establish where they were in the adoption process, said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

A prominent Russian defence lawyer, Genri Reznik, told Ekho Moskvy radio station that because an article of the Russian constitution says international treaties take prece-

dence over Russian laws if they contradict one another, Peskov’s announcement meant adoption procedures could continue for a year. But Peskov added to the uncertainty in later interviews by suggesting only children whose adoptions have been approved by Russian courts would be able to go to the United States.

“In cases where certain legal procedures have not been completed, a full ban on adoptions by parents from America takes effect,” Peskov told the Internet and cable TV channel Dozhd. “The (Russia-US) agreement is in no way a mechanism that obliges the Russian side to give its children up for adoption,” he added.

Peskov gave no numbers on Thursday, but he was quoted as saying in late December that six adoptions that had been

approved would go through while another 46 that were underway would not. He was not immediately available to make further comment on Thursday.

Russian lawmakers have said the adoption ban was justified by the deaths 19 Russian-born children adopted by American parents in the past decade. But child rights activists have accused the Russian government of making vulnerable children pawns in a political dispute. Opponents of Putin are planning a protest march over the law in Moscow tomorrow.

Critics of the ban say Russian orphanages are overcrowded and that the number of adoptions by Russian families remain modest. Americans have adopted more than 60,000 Russian children since the 1991 Soviet collapse, including 962 in 2011. — Reuters

France says ready to halt any rebel offensive in Mali Mali launches counter-attack on rebel-held town

ISTANBUL: Kurds shout slogans praising Sakine Cansiz, one of the founders of a militant group battling Turkish troops since 1984, as they protest against France outside the French consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, yesterday.

Cansiz and two other women were “executed” at a Kurdish center in Paris, Thursday. — AP

Turkey blames internal feud as France hunts Kurd killers PARIS: Police yesterday hunted the assassins of three Kurdish activists shot dead in Paris as Turkey said an internal feud in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was most likely behind the slayings. Judicial sources said the three female activists, including founding PKK member Sakine Cansiz, were each shot at least three times in the head, giving further credence to the theory of an execution-style hit.

Autopsies on the bodies revealed that one of the women had been shot four times in the head and the other two shot three times, the sources said. The killings came days after Turkish media reported Turkey and the PKK leadership had agreed a roadmap to end the three-decade old insurgency that has claimed more than 45,000 lives.

The PKK, which took up arms in 1984 for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey, is considered a terrorist organisation by Ankara and much of the international community. Experts have suggested a number of potential motives for the killings, including an attack by Turkish extremists and internal feuding within the PKK. The three were found dead on Thursday at the Kurdistan Information Centre in Paris’s 10th district, after last being seen alive at the centre at midday on Wednesday.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday the slayings bore the hallmarks of an internal feud, noting that the victims appeared to have given the killer or killers access to the centre.

“The place was protected not by one lock but many coded locks,” Anatolia news agency quoted Erdogan as telling reporters. “Those three people opened it (the door). I do not assume they would open it to people they didn’t know.”

But the Turkish leader also upheld his earlier suggestion that the slayings could be aimed at derailing peace talks between Ankara and the PKK’s jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan.

A former guerrilla of the organisation, Cansiz was considered a close ally of Ocalan. “The killings could be the result of an internal feud or steps aimed at disrupting the steps we are taking with good intentions,” Erdogan said. —AFP

PARIS/BAMAKO: France would intervene to stop any further drive southward by Islamist rebels in Mali, President Francois Hollande said yesterday, as Malian soldiers launched a counter-offensive to wrest back a key town captured by militants this week.

Western powers are worried the alliance of al Qaeda-linked militants that seized the northern two-thirds of Mali in April will seek to use the vast desert zone as a launchpad for international attacks.

Mali’s government appealed for urgent military aid from France on Thursday after Islamist fighters encroached further south, seizing the town of Konna in the centre of the country. The rebel advance sparked panic among residents in the nearby towns of Mopti and Sevare, home to a military base and airport. “We are faced with a blatant aggression that is threatening Mali’s very existence.

France cannot accept this,” Hollande said in a New Year speech to diplomats and journalists. “We will be ready to stop the terrorists’ offensive if it continues.”

Hollande said that France, alongside African partners, would respond to Mali’s request for military aid within the framework of UN Security Council resolutions. A French diplomatic source said existing UN resolutions would permit a French military intervention in Mali, if needed.

The Security Council in December authorised the deployment of an African-led force supported by European states. However, an operation was not expected before September due to the difficulties of arranging funding, training Malian troops, and deploying during the midyear rainy season in West Africa.

However, military experts said that escalating military tensions in Mali could force the hand of former colonial power France, the most outspoken advocate of military intervention.

“The French believe that France, and

GAO: A file photo taken on July 16, 2012 shows fighters of the Islamist group Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) sitting in the courtyard of the Islamist police station in Gao. Mali’s president appealed for international help yesterday after Islamists who control the north of the country seized a town in the centre and threatened to march south. — AFP

Europe, face a real security threat from what is happening in the Sahel,” said Jakkie Cilliers, executive director of the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa. He noted, however, that any French military intervention could raise hackles among regional government’s wary of meddling by Paris. “If the French decide to do this they would want to make it as short, sharp and contained as possible.” Mali’s interim President Dioncounda Traore, installed after a military coup in March, was due to meet with Hollande in Paris on Wednesday, a French diplomatic source said. Traore will address the Malian nation on Friday evening.

French officials declined to comment on reports that military aircraft carrying Western soldiers landed late on Thursday at an airport at Sevare, some 60 km (36 miles) south of Konna.

Residents in Sevare also reported the

arrival of military helicopters and army reinforcements, which took part in the counter-attack to retake Konna overnight on Thursday in a bid to roll back the militant’s southward drive.

“Helicopters have bombarded rebel positions. The operation will continue,” a senior military source in Bamako said. A spokesman one of the main groups forming the Islamist rebel alliance said they remained in control of Konna. Asked whether the rebels intended to press ahead to capture Sevare and Mopti, the Ansar Dine spokesman, Sanda Ould Boumama, said: “We will make that clear in the coming days.” He said any intervention by France would reveal an antiIslam bias. “What makes us different for them from the rebel movements in Central African Republic, or Congo. It is that we are Muslim?” he said, referring to insurgencies in other Frenchspeaking African nations. — Reuters

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Obama criticized for white male cabinet ‘It’s embarrassing as hell’ WASHINGTON: The first black US president is coming under fire from some of his own Democratic Party for naming a stream of white men to key cabinet and leadership posts in his second administration.

President Barack Obama on Thursday named Jack Lew as his Treasury secretary, the fourth white male he has named to the most prized cabinet posts in recent weeks. Lew’s nomination follows Obama’s pick of Senator John Kerry to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. He has also named former Senator Chuck Hagel to be defense Secretary and John Brennan to head the Central Intelligence Agency.

Against this, he lost the first Hispanic woman in the cabinet when Labor Secretary Hilda Solis announced her resignation on Wednesday. And last month Lisa Jackson, who is black, announced she was stepping down as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. “It’s embarrassing as hell,” New York Democrat Charles Rangel, one of the most senior black members of Congress, said of the Obama appointments. New Hampshire Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, whose state has the only all-female delegation in Congress, described the appointments as “disappointing.”

“We need a government that looks like America so we can address the concerns that we hear from across the spectrum,” she said. Republicans joined in the criticism with former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee accusing Obama of waging a “war on women,” using the same words Democrats coined to criticize Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney during the election campaign last year. “Now a lot of those females who supported Barack Obama are scratching their heads, and they’re say-

ing, ‘Whoa! How come there is so much testosterone in the Obama Cabinet and so little estrogen?’” the former Arkansas governor said on his radio show. Obama beat Romney 55 percent to 43 percent among women, according to Reuters/Ipsos exit polling on Election Day. He also won large majorities of the African-American and Hispanic vote.

Diversity in the United States is usually defined as including women and racial minorities, especially Hispanics and African-Americans. US political pundits parse polling data of women, Hispanics, African Americans and other groups for signs of voting patterns.

They track the “gender gap,” which is the percentage difference between Democratic and Republican support among women. Since Obama’s re-election in November, many analysts have noted the rising percentage of US ethnic minorities and described his victory as a reflection of changing demogra-

phy. The criticism of Obama is surprising because Republicans usually are the party accused of insensitivity to diversity. Former President George W. Bush deflected this by pointing to the two secretaries of state during his eight years in office-African-Americans Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. They were followed by Hillary Clinton.

If confirmed by the Senate, Kerry will be the first white male to hold the top US diplomatic post in more than a decade. Almost overlooked in the criticism is that the White House announced this week that Attorney General Eric Holder, who is black, will stay on as the nation’s senior legal officer. Obama also was widely reported to be considering an African-American woman, United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice as Secretary of State. She pulled her name from consideration because of Republican objections to her statements about the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya. — Reuters

WASHINGTON: Outgoing US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner (C) smiles as US President Barack Obama pats him on the shoulder after Obama nominated White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew (R) as the next treasury secretary in the East Room of the White House on Thursday. — AFP

Missing 13-year-old Utah girl found unharmed SALT LAKE CITY: A 13-year-old girl whose disappearance this week without shoes or a coat in the chilly Salt Lake City area caused widespread alarm was found unharmed, police said early yesterday.

Brooklyn Gittins telephoned her grandmother late Thursday night from a Wal-Mart store in South Jordan, Unified Police spokesman Lt. Justin Hoyal said. The woman then contacted police and officers found the child.

“Brooklyn was not injured and is fine,” Hoyal said in a press statement. “She did not have on shoes, a coat, and was not wearing glasses.” Hoyal said authorities suspect that she was picked up and harbored by one or more people and police are trying to find out who they are.

He didn’t say if the girl told authorities anything about how she spent the past two days. She disappeared Tuesday evening, causing widespread concern. A major snowstorm Thursday prompted some 1,000 volunteers to join police in searching 17 square miles in the area near

Gittins’ home in Herriman, a Salt Lake City suburb about 18 miles southwest of downtown.

“This was a successful investigation and we appreciate all the efforts by the community, public safety personnel, and the media in response to Brooklyn’s disappearance,” Hoyal said. Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder said Thursday before she was found that the circumstances surrounding the case concened authorities, especially because it appeared her departure was unplanned.Authorities were also concerned because of the storm that is expected to dump as much as 7 inches of snow and bring freezing temperatures.

Gittins’ grandfather Craig Hiller made a plea at the news conference that for her to come back. He said she’s a typical teenage girl who is very outgoing in some cases and very subdued in others. The first time she ran away, she came back a short while later, Hiller said. Investigators also interviewed friends and acquaintances during the search. — AP

OTTAWA: Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence (C) holds a press conference yesterday at her camp on Victoria island in view of Canada’s parliament in Ottawa announcing her hunger strike for improved living standards on reserves will continue as long as the prime minister and governor general refuse to meet jointly with her to discuss natives’ plight. — AFP

Talks aim to defuse Canada natives row OTTAWA: Queen Elizabeth II’s representative in Canada has invited native chiefs to a meeting at his residence yesterday to shore up talks aimed at resolving a row over squalid living conditions on reserves.

The move, by Governor General David Johnston, was seen as a bid to save parallel talks between the chiefs and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which were in danger of unraveling due to a threatened boycott.

The “ceremonial meeting” at Rideau Hall, the official residence of the queen’s representative, will take place after the chiefs have seen Harper. Harper agreed to demands for emergency talks to discuss treaty rights and ways to raise living standards on reserves after a four-week hunger strike by Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence put a spotlight on their plight.

Spence, earlier this week, said she was backing out of the scheduled talks with Harper and a delegation of native chiefs from Manitoba province followed suit on Thursday. Spence had been pushing for Johnston to attend the Harper meeting. It was unclear if the governor general’s separate invitation meant the chiefs would now reverse their boycott decision.

Johnston had originally declined to join in discussions with Spence and other aboriginal leaders, saying their plight is a political matter that must be taken up with elected officials. Spence had said the governor general’s attendance was “integral when discussing inherent and treaty rights.” Canada’s more than 600 indigenous reserves were created by royal proclamation in 1763.

If Spence’s hunger strike continues, so too will protests and highway blockades that have exploded across Canada in recent weeks with thousands demanding their treaty rights. Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo told a press conference the meeting with Harper would proceed, saying the situation for natives has reached a “tipping point” and must be addressed now.

“Our people can’t wait,” Atleo said. “We have to put a stop to lurching from conflict to conflict and disappointment to disappointment,” he added, saying he will seek a commitment from Harper for a “long-term process” to address native concerns.

“What we are talking about is putting in place new arrangements that reflect the original understandings of treaties” inked between aboriginals and the (British) Crown. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

India rape accused hunted victim, aimed to kill NEW DELHI: The gang of men charged with the rape and murder of an Indian physiotherapy student deliberately tried to find a woman to rape and kill and ended the night with blood on their clothes, a police report seen by Reuters said. Five men, along with a teenager who says he is under 18, gathered for dinner at a dwelling in a south Delhi slum on the evening of Dec. 16 and there hatched the plot to find a target, according to the dossier given to court by the prosecution.

The accused “decided ahead of time” they would look for a woman and “intended to kill her”, the police report claims. The file, which runs to more than 600 pages contains the prosecution’s evidence in the case, which it describes as including forensic evidence against the men, along with confessions, witness statements and medical reports.

However, defence lawyers assigned by the court on Thursday said the prosecution’s case is marred by lapses in the investigation, not least the long period during which their clients were without legal representation. The defence has

not yet filed its reply to the prosecution’s dossier. The court hearing the case took cognizance of the police document, known as a charge sheet, on Saturday. Under Indian law once a court takes cognizance of a charge sheet it becomes public record.

The gang boarded a bus that the alleged gang leader, Ram Singh, drove by day to ferry children to school and went out in search of a victim. They found the student accompanied by a male friend who were looking for transport home after watching the movie “Life of Pi” at a South Delhi shopping mall, according to the report submitted to the court. Police arrested Singh the next day after tracing the bus using security camera footage from a hotel.

He was still wearing a T-shirt stained with the victim’s blood and “on sustained interrogation” confessed and led the police to his accomplices, the police report said. The other accused are Singh’s brother Mukesh, Akshay Kumar Singh, alias Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma, all of whom are expected to plead not guilty when the trial

begins. Mukesh Singh claims he was tortured while in police custody, his lawyer said on Thursday. A sixth member of the gang, a teenager, is being processed as a juvenile, has not so far been charged and will be tried separately. Police have said they are conducting bone tests to determine his age as they suspect he may be over 18 years old. After being caught by police, Ram Singh produced two bloodied iron rods from the bus, which had been used to beat the victim and her friend, and were inserted into her body, causing massive organ damage, the report claims.

According to the police dossier, the accused turned the lights out and took turns driving the bus, while two men held the woman down and another raped her. She suffered bite marks on several parts of her body, but also fought back and managed to bite her attackers. Their injuries are part of the case against them, the police report said. After removing part of the victim’s intestines and throwing both her and her companion from the moving vehicle, they then tried to drive the bus over

her. But her companion pulled her away, the report said.

They were left “badly injured and bleeding” on a flyover in south Delhi and were found naked by a highway worker who gave the man a shirt and called the police. The victim, whom Reuters has opted not to name because Indian law generally prohibits doing so, died in a Singapore hospital of infection and “multiple organ failure” two weeks after the crime.

After the attack, Ram Singh tried to wipe the bus clean with the victims’ clothes, then made a fire to burn the clothes and other incriminating evidence, the report alleges. Witnesses from the neighbourhood he lived in came to the fire to warm themselves, the report said. The dossier purports to rely on some 80 witnesses, along with DNA matches, mobile telephone tower records, video evidence, stolen goods belonging to the victims in possession of the accused, the bloodied clothes of the suspects, and the weapons used in the attack. The prosecution will seek the death sentence for murder. — Reuters

Cleric return jolts Pakistan before vote Qadri plans to lead followers in a march

DHAKA: Bangladeshi security personnel stand guard as Muslim pilgrims arrive to offer Friday prayer on the banks of the River Turag in Tongi, on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, yesterday. — AP

Bangladesh begins second largest Muslim gathering TONGI: More than a million Muslims gathered on the banks of a river in Bangladesh yesterday to pray and listen to religious scholars at the start of the world’s second largest annual Islamic congregation.

The streets of Dhaka were largely deserted as devotees flocked to the River Turag at Tongi, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of the capital, where the Biswa Ijtema (World Muslim Congregation) is being held over the next three days. Nurul Islam, one of the chief organisers, said canopies stretching for more than a kilometre, erected on open ground on the banks of the river, were already filled and tens of thousands more were reaching the site every hour. “There are more than a million devotees already here, but we hope, like last year, that the number will pass the two million mark at the final prayers tomorrow,” he said. Special trains and ferries have been arranged to transport pilgrims to the event, while army engineers have set up dozens of makeshift bridges and water tanks.

The devotees will either sleep in the marquees or brave the chilly temperatures outside-Bangladesh is currently experiencing its coldest winter since independence from Pakistan in 1971.

“Around 30,000 foreigners from more than 100 countries also joined the congregation this year,” Islam said.

Launched by Tablig Jamaat, a non-political group that urges people to follow the tenets of Islam in their daily lives, the gathering at Tongi was first held in 1964. — AFP

LAHORE: To his supporters, Tahir-ulQadri is a savior of Pakistan’s fragile democracy who will right the country ahead of elections expected to take place this spring. To his detractors, he is a shady religious figure bent on derailing the vote, possibly at the behest of the country’s powerful military.

After years in Canada, Qadri returned to Pakistan last month and gave a speech demanding that sweeping election reforms be implemented before the vote. His appearance in Lahore drew tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of supporters into the streets. Since then, Pakistani media and political figures have closely followed his every word, and Qadri plans to lead his followers in a march on the capital next Monday. Qadri, 61, is a charismatic Sunni Muslim cleric with a large following that extends outside Pakistan. He has a reputation for speaking out against terrorism and promoting his message through hundreds of books, an online television channel and videos. Now, Qadri’s focus is on Pakistan’s election laws. He is suggesting vaguely worded changes, such as making sure candidates are honest as well as ending exploitation and income disparities so that poor people are free to vote for whomever they want.

Under Pakistan’s constitution, a caretaker government takes over for 60 to 90 days before an election and presides over the vote in a show of impartiality.

Qadri says he does not want to delay the election and that the caretaker government could implement his pro-

posed reforms within days. But he has also said that if it takes longer than 90 days, then it’s perfectly fine - and constitutional - for the caretaker government to stay on.

That has alarmed critics who fear that a caretaker government could last months and even years. In a country with a history of military coups, some Pakistanis fear that Qadri is doing the bidding of the military in an effort to delay elections indefinitely.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Qadri denied any connection to the military and said his aim is to

destroy the current political system in which he contends a few powerful families control the political process. It is a system that he says is deeply corrupt and a democracy in name only.

“People were waiting for someone to raise a voice for true democracy,” he said. “They (the current government) have almost finished their tenure of five years. They have delivered nothing to the people of Pakistan except terrorism, extremism, worsening law and order situation, hunger, poverty, lack of education, lack of health facilities, and unemployment.” — Reuters

LAHORE: Pakistani religious leader Tahir-ul Qadri addresses a press conference yesterday. An influential Pakistani religious leader vowed to press ahead with a mass protest march on the capital to demand key reforms before looming elections. — AFP

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Fiji’s military ruler dumps draft constitution CANBERRA: Fiji’s military ruler has announced a draft constitution underpinning a return to civilian rule and democratic elections will be re-written to ensure “true democracy”, sparking criticism from neighbours Australia and New Zealand.

Australia and New Zealand, two of Fiji’s major aid donors, said the move was a setback for democratic reform in the tiny South Pacific island nation, while a Fiji political analyst said it raised questions over promised 2014 elections.

Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who took power in a bloodless coup in 2006, made the announcement in a televised statement to the nation on Thursday

night, but did not say what was wrong with the original draft constitution.

The revision was likely to address concerns by senior military officers that the draft curbed military interference in politics by restricting it to “protection of the country from external threats at the request of the government”, said Brij Lal, a Fiji expert at the Australian National University. Fiji has suffered four coups and a bloody military mutiny since 1987, mainly as a result of tension between the majority indigenous Fijian population and an economically powerful, ethnic Indian minority. Bainimarama, who imposed emergency laws in 2009 prohibiting protests and censoring the

media, promised last year to begin consultations on a constitution to replace one annulled in 2009.

Police last month seized hundreds of copies of the draft constitution, written by a commission funded by Australia and New Zealand. Under the draft constitution Bainimarama and others involved in the 2006 coup would have been required to take an oath to respect democracy in return for immunity. Bainimarama said elections would still occur in September 2014, but the ANU’s Lal said Bainimarama appeared to be setting parameters around the pathway to elections. “The draft did not deliver what the military wanted,” said Lal, adding the military “wanted a con-

trolled election process”. “In Fiji...at the end of the day the military is there to stay.” New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said the re-draft was a step backwards on promised democratic reforms and could hamper free and fair elections.

“The fact that they’ve trashed the work of the commission is pretty unhelpful,” McCully told New Zealand radio. Australia’s Foreign Minister Bob Carr the revision must deliver freedoms of association, speech and the media. Bainimarama has been flexing his political muscle recently, announcing plans to drop the Union Jack from Fiji’s flag and remove the image of Queen Elizabeth II from the former British colony’s currency. — Reuters

Japan premier fires fresh broadside at China in row Japan, China planes fly side by side near islands

MANILA: Protesters set on fire to a mock model of a US drone during a rally near the US Embassy in Manila, Philippines, yesterday. They protested an unarmed target drone found in central Philippine waters over the weekend which US officials claimed was launched from a US Navy ship during a combat exercise off Guam last year and may have been washed by ocean currents to the country. — AP

Over 600 illegal Rohingya migrants held in Thai raids BANGKOK: At least 600 Rohingya Muslims believed to be illegal migrants from Myanmar have been detained in Thailand after two raids by the authorities near the border with Malaysia, police said yesterday.

More than 300 Rohingya were discovered on Tuesday in a building in the town of Sadao, while a second raid on Thursday at a rubber plantation near the border town of Pedang Besar uncovered 393 more, including 14 children and 8 women.

“These illegal migrants have been handed over to immigration authorities and will be deported back to Myanmar,” Police Colonel Krissakorn Paleetunyawong, deputy commander of police in the area, told Reuters.

An estimated 800,000 Rohingyas live in Myanmar but are officially stateless. The Myanmar government denies them citizenship, regarding them as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, but Bangladesh does not recognise them as citizens either.

Hundreds make their way abroad each year by boat, especially to Malaysia, in search of a better life, an exodus given added impetus after recent sectarian violence between minority Rohingyas and majority Buddhist in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine.

The raids in southern Thailand were led by the army and police as part of what they call anti-human-trafficking operations. “The Rohingyas were en route to Malaysia and the camp we found was used as a holding facility by middlemen paid to facilitate their journey,” said Lieutenant Colonel Katika Jitbanjong of Padang Besar police station.

Last week, Thai authorities found 73 Rohingya boat people adrift near the holiday island of Phuket. They sent the asylum seekers, who arrived in rickety and overcrowded boats, back to sea in Thai fishing boats, New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch said. Various rights groups called then for the Thai government to scrap its policy of summarily deporting Rohingyas who land up in Thailand. In two separate incidents in 2008, the military pushed 992 Rohingya boat people back to sea without food and water and hundreds may have died, activists have said. — Reuters

TOKYO: Japan’s hawkish new prime minister took aim at Beijing again yesterday, accusing China of deliberately allowing Japanese businesses to suffer in the corrosive row over disputed islands. The salvo is the latest from nationalist Shinzo Abe since he swept to victory in elections last month and came as he announced a spending splurge, including on military hardware.

It also follows reports that policymakers want next year’s defence budget in Japan to rise for the first time in more than a decade, as Asia’s two biggest economies continue to face off over the East China Sea. “For political ends, harming Japanese companies and individuals in China that contribute to the Chinese economy and society-I want to say it is wrong for a responsible nation state in the international community,” Abe told a press conference in Tokyo. “It not only harms bilateral relations, it has a significantly negative influence on China’s economy and its society.”Japan and China are locked in a bitter battle over the sovereignty of the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku islands, which Beijing calls the Diaoyus.

Tokyo’s September nationalisation of three of the disputed islands, the seabed of which is believed to harbour valuable minerals, prompted violent rallies across China, with protesters trying to storm diplomatic missions and vandalising Japanese stores, factories and shops selling Japanese-brand goods.

The riots and an unofficial Chinese consumer boycott cost firms more than $100 million, according to one Japanese government estimate. Analysts noted the apparent unwillingness of Beijing to stop the sometimes violent demonstrations, at a time the Communist Party was managing a delicate power transfer from President Hu Jintao to Xi Jinping.

Commentators said large-scale protests in the country are usually quashed quickly if the government does not approve. Beijing took umbrage at the island nationalisation, which came just days after Hu spoke with then-Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Vladivostok.

China has since ramped up its activi-

ties around the isles, sending official vessels on dozens of occasions, often inside territorial waters.

Yesterday, Japan’s coastguard reported maritime surveillance ships were loitering in the so-called “contiguous zone”, which sits a little further out. Also yesterday, Japan scrambled at least one fighter jet after a Chinese plane flew close to Japanese airspace, the defence ministry said. Military aircraft have gone airborne on numerous occasions to counter Chinese state-owned-but not militaryplanes, the defence ministry has said.

Airspace was breached once, last month, the first time since at least 1958.

Unconfirmed reports have said there have also been sorties to meet Chinese airforce planes, including on Thursday.

Observers say Beijing, which insists it is just patrolling its own territory, is looking to prove it can come and go around the islands as it pleases. Abe came to power in December with pledges he would reverse what he said was Noda’s pliant conduct in the face of a confident China.

“Regarding Senkaku, there is no

change to my position to resolutely protect this water and territory. There is no room for negotiation on this,” Abe told the press conference.

But analysts suggest that while Abe’s attitude towards China may be more robust than that of his predecessors, it is also a reflection of the two countries’ economic mutual dependency.

“Perhaps the undercurrent of the message was that China is a necessary partner for Japan’s growth strategy to climb out of deflation,” said Takehiko Yamamoto, professor at Waseda University.

“You might say Japan and China are a married couple that cannot divorce.

Married couples fight. But after a period of time, they have to face each other.”

The spat has left Japan’s already wellequipped coastguard in a prime position to bag more funds.

Yesterday a spokesman said it was considering creating a team dedicated full-time to the Senkakus, with a report in the Asahi Shimbun saying this could mean as many as 400 officers on 12 patrol ships. — AFP

GUAGZHOU: In this photo taken Wednesday Jan. 9, 2013, a supporter of the Southern Weekly wrapped in newspaper and a paper with the Chinese characters for “The media has been kidnapped” protests during a demonstration outside the newspaper’s headquarters in Guangzhou in south China’s Guangdong province. — AP

Egypt central bank chief unworried about pound

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Merkel insists Cyprus must follow reforms

Business

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Japan premier unveils $227bn stimulus plan

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Dreamliner hit by two more mishaps in Japan

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SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

BEIJING: A balloon vendor waits for customers outside a market yesterday. China’s inflation rate slowed to 2.6 percent in 2012, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday, down sharply from 5.4 percent the year before. — AFP

China inflation rate slows Price risks seen rising this year BEIJING: China’s inflation rate slowed sharply in 2012, official data showed yesterday, but analysts warned of increasing price risks this year that may limit scope for measures to boost economic growth. The country’s consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.6 percent in 2012, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, down from 5.4 percent the year before. The annual inflation figure was also lower than the government’s target of 4.0 percent, signalling that prices remained well under control last year.

Inflation stood at 2.5 percent year-on-year in December, the NBS said, the second straight month that the reading rose and the highest since May, when it hit three percent.

Rising food prices, particularly for vegetables due to unusually cold weather, were the major contributor to the December increase,

according to the bureau. The benign inflation environment came as China’s economic expansion slowed during the first nine months of the year, with GDP growth of 7.4 percent in the three months to the end of September - the worst in more than three years.

But data for the final three months of the year, including manufacturing, broader industrial output and retail sales, have spurred optimism among economists that growth accelerated in the fourth quarter. However, the fact that CPI was surging on food price spikes would limit leeway for policymakers - who are sensitive to the risk of inflation leading to social unrest - to take further easing measures to spur economic growth, analysts said. “The central bank is concerned about underlining inflationary pressures and it is one reason

they have not cut more aggressively,” said Ben Simpfendorfer, managing director of Hong Kong-based economic consultancy firm Silk Road Associates. “So the biggest risk is this is actually a restraint on policy makers’ ability to support the economy, either through rate cuts or through more stimulus,” he told AFP. Policymakers cut interest rates twice last year and trimmed the amount of cash banks must place in reserve three times from December 2011 in a bid to encourage lending and pump up economic growth. Yao Wei, an economist with Societe Generale in Hong Kong, said that the increase in China’s subindex of housing inflation to three percent last month from 2.6 percent in November, may increase policy uncertainties. The reading - a key barometer of the country’s proper-

ty market - covers leasing and decoration costs, but excludes purchase prices, according to the NBS definition. “The central government may come under pressure to tighten controls on the property market once the sector shows signs of heating up, which will definitely affect the pace of the overall economic recovery,” she said.

The government has sought to curb property speculation for the past two years, with measures including restrictions on second and third home purchases, higher minimum downpayments, and annual taxes in some cities on multiple and non-locally-owned homes. The moves cooled the once red-hot market, but demand remains pent-up and government monetary policy has eased in recent months. China releases fourth-quarter GDP figures next Friday. —AFP

business SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Saudi refineries to reduce crude export cushion DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s drive to build new refineries means its maximum capacity to export crude, the big gun it aims at other producers wanting higher oil prices, is set to decline over the next five years. Major oil importers are not alarmed, as actual Saudi crude exports are well below their maximum and because more US and Iraqi crude will become available. But India’s refining industry has reason to worry about the emergence of a rival processing more than a million barrels a day. The three new refineries, each able to process 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of mainly heavy crude, could consume nearly a tenth of the kingdom’s current officially declared production capacity of 12.5 million bpd when they are all fully operational in 2017.

Saudi Arabia has so far used its unique ability to produce much more crude than needed to counter price hawks led by Iran in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and keep prices at levels that do not over burden the world economy. Now the world’s largest crude exporter has invested tens of billions of dollars raising refinery capacity to maximise profits by selling more products while cut-

ting a fuel import bill that has ballooned since 2007 as domestic demand grew. The trio of refineries will continue major exports of petroleum in the form of diesel and gasoline, moderating any erosion of the kingdom’s overall clout in crude oil markets. Some traders at Asian refiners, the biggest buyers of Saudi crude, were relaxed about the availability of crude. “I am not worried about the supply situation. Supply of crude is ample, especially from the (Middle East) Gulf,” a trader at north Asian refiner said. “Iraq’s production is increasing, that could make up. But, refining margins will definitely be a concern if Saudi Arabia begins to export products.”

Fereidun Fesharaki, chairman of Facts Global Energy, said the new refineries will result in lower exports of Arab Heavy crude, one of the Saudi grades, pushing up its prices. “Despite growing demand at home, most of the products will go to exports and have a regional impact on product markets and the flow of products globally,” Fesharaki said in FGE’s latest global refining report.

Even when making up for supply

losses from Libya and Iran over the last two years, Saudi Arabia has rarely needed to pump more than 10 million bpd and Saudi officials have said they see no need to increase capacity beyond the current sustainable levels of around 12.5 million bpd. A surge in North American shale oil production and rising Iraqi exports have taken much of the pressure off Riyadh to maintain such a large and costly spare capacity cushion that it has never and may never test.

“The rapid increase in shale oil production will lower US import of crude oil from the Middle East in the next few years,” a senior trader at a western oil company in Singapore said, adding that lower US demand would push more west African crude into Asia.

“Margins will be affected if Saudi products hit the markets, especially with the global economy slowing as well, unless there are more closures of old refineries,” he said.

Saudi Arabia’s move from selling only crude towards more value-added products aims to diversify its economy and should be profitable, especially as the refineries will use mostly heavy and sour oil that it now sells at a discount to

Egypt central bank chief unworried about pound Ramez to take up reins as currency tumbles CAIRO: Egypt’s newly named central bank chief sought to reassure investors on Thursday there was no need to be worried about the situation on the Egyptian currency market, saying the bank had “all the tools” to intervene if it saw speculation. Hisham Ramez will be taking the reins in the midst of Egypt’s most acute financial crisis since the uprising that pushed Hosni Mubarak out of the presidency in early 2011. An surge of political unrest in November sent Egyptians rushing to buy dollars for the Egyptian pound out of fear that the pound would tumble or the government would put capital controls in place.

Reserves have fallen by $21 billion in the two years since Egypt’s popular uprising to $15 billion, equal to less than three months of imports.

The central bank, saying the country’s foreign reserves had reached a “minimum and critical limit”, announced a new currency system on Dec 29 to stabilise the pound. Since then the pound has fallen to record lows. “The matter is not out of control. On the contrary, at any time we can control it,” Ramez told reporters shortly after President Mohamed Morsi named him as the new governor. “The central bank has all the tools to enable it to intervene at anytime it feels there is speculation or anything against the market.”

Ramez, who worked as deputy central banker during the financial turbulence of Egypt’s uprising in early 2011, is expected to assume his duties on Feb 3 after Morsi accepted the resignation of his predecessor, Farouk El-Okdah, the

CAIRO: Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi (right) meets the new governor of Egypt’s central bank Hisham Ramez (left), the outgoing head of the bank Farouk El-Okdah (second left) and Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil on Thursday. — AFP presidency said in a statement. A veteran banker, Ramez won praise from economists for his deft handling of the financial turmoil in the weeks after the uprising, when billions of dollars of fled the country and the currency came under enormous pressure. Far more than Okdah, who rarely appears before the media, Ramez took on a public role during the troubles, often acting as the central bank’s mouthpiece.

Ramez’s appointment has to be approved by the upper house of parliament, which holds legislative powers until Egypt votes for a permanent new lower house in an election expected in the next few months. The upper house is dominated by Morsi’s Islamist support-

ers. Egypt’s currency continued its slide on Thursday, with the central bank allowing it to weaken by about half a percentage point per day. It has lost 5.5 percent in the last two weeks. “We are looking at prices constantly,” Ramez told reporters. “The situation is not out of control. There is no cause for concern.

What concerns the central bank is that the market is normal and balanced. As the price rises it also falls. Supply and demand ... are what are necessary.”

Ramez has been a banker for three decades, joining Bank of America in Bahrain in 1982 in its foreign exchange and money market division before moving in 1988 to Arab Banking Corporation as vice president. — Reuters

other grades. “More of our liquids production can travel farther down the value chain, rather than being exported as crude oil, refined products or natural gas liquids,” state run oil company Saudi Aramco says on its web page. As the new refineries use more crude, Aramco may run its existing oil wells harder but it is already spending to offset declining production from older fields. Unless it invests yet more heavily to build more capacity, its maximum crude export potential will fall. Rapidly rising domestic demand for vehicle fuels and power plants has seen implied Saudi crude oil use rise to an average of 2.4 million bpd in the 12 months to the end of October, 2012, according to Reuters analysis of official figures available through the Joint Oil Data Initiative (JODI). By comparison, the gap between Saudi production and exports in the same period of 2005 was 1.9 million bpd, pointing to a 20 percent rise in Saudi crude use over the last five years. Current Saudi crude consumption rates cap its annual average crude exports at around 10.1 mln bpd, with more available in winter and less in summer when air-conditioning needs are high. — Reuters

Saudi oil price target now $110 LONDON: There has been no official announcement but Saudi Arabia’s effective target for oil prices appears to have risen from $100 to $110 per barrel, based on recent changes in the kingdom’s production levels. In theory, the kingdom remains committed to an informal target of $100 for Brent first announced in a CNN interview given by Oil Minister Ali Naimi in January 2012. “Our wish and hope is that we can stabilise this oil price and keep it at a level around $100,” Naimi said. Speaking after a meeting of energy ministers in Riyadh in October, Naimi reiterated the $100 figure. “We would like to see the price moderating. Today Brent is $111, I think, or $112, we would like to see it lower, towards $100,” he told reporters.

But Saudi production policy tells a different story.

Output was cut to 9.025million bpd in December, down from 9.49 million bpd in November and 9.72 million in October, and over 10 million bpd earlier in the year.

Production was cut back even though Brent averaged over $109 in November and December, and $111 in October, well above the theoretical target of $100. The kingdom now appears content to live with prices around $110. It is focused on balancing the physical market to avert a biggerthan-usual build up of stocks in the first half of 2013 rather than attempting to push prices back towards $100.

Under pressure from consumer countries worried about a new slowdown just ahead of the US presidential election in November, Saudi Arabia ramped up production to more than 10 million barrels per day last summer in a bid to build stocks and prevent a further rise in prices. Behind the scenes, the United States and some other members of the International Energy Agency (IEA) reportedly agreed to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and other government-controlled stockpiles if Brent rose above $120. In the event, it peaked just below $118 and no stocks were released. Now the presidential election is past and the US economy has skirted recession there is far less pressure on the kingdom to be seen to be pushing prices lower.

Policymakers have therefore reverted to their normal posture of producing to demand. Prices at $110 are probably sustainable in the short term but not in the medium and long run. The global economy has successfully adapted to cope with $110 oil. Prices are probably hampering recovery rather than pushing the US and the other advanced economies towards recession. — Reuters

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Privatisation of Greek postal bank flops ATHENS: An attempt to privatise the Hellenic Postbank flopped yesterday without any interest in bidding, a banking source said, adding that the bank would probably have to be broken up.

Privatisations are a central component of reforms which Greece has to enact as part of its debt bailout conditions, but the program is running late and has had to be scaled down. “Barring a last-minute development, (Hellenic Postbank) will have to be broken up” to attract interest, the source told AFP. The Bank of Greece was expected to make an official announcement later in the day.

The top three Greek banks - National Bank, Alpha Bank and Eurobank - and smaller Attica Bank had expressed varying degrees of interest in the sale last week. But according to reports, National Bank and Eurobank are mainly interested in an ongoing merger process while Alpha Bank was put off by the prospect of having to guarantee Hellenic Postbank’s workforce of over 3,000. National Bank said yesterday that on Monday the Hellenic capital market commission had approved its

public offer to Eurobank shareholders for a share exchange. The stock swap was to begin later yesterday and be concluded on Febr 15, National Bank said, and the results will be announced

by Feb 18. Eurobank shareholders will receive 58 shares in the new group for every 100 old shares.

A minor but well-capitalised lender, Hellenic Postbank took a serious blow last year from a restructuring of Greek sovereign debt. Its shares were suspended in August after a run by shareholders following statements from the finance minister that the bank had become “unsustainable”. The Greek state has a 34-percent direct stake in the postal bank and controls another 10 percent through its majority ownership of the Greek postal service, which is also up for sale.

A breakup solution was used at the end of July for ailing state lender ATEBank, the healthy part of which was absorbed by Greece’s fourthbiggest bank, Piraeus Bank. Under the terms of Greece’s EU-IMF loan bailout, the government plans to raise Ä2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) in asset sales in

Implats cedes 51% of Zimbabwe platinum business HARARE: Impala Platinum, the world’s number two producer of platinum yesterday sealed a deal to sell a 51-percent stake in its Zimbabwean unit Zimplats under a state-imposed black empowerment scheme.

The deal will see Impala get $971 million executive Terence Goodlace said, making it one of the largest empowerment transactions in Zimbabwe to date. “We are pleased that after two years of hard work and diligence, we have produced an acceptable solution,” Goodlace said at a deal-signing ceremony in Harare.

“The uncertainty that had dogged Zimplats during the negotiations is now hopefully a thing of the past,” said Goodlace.

The agreement is in compliance with a controversial indigenisation law that President Robert Mugabe signed in 2010. The law forces foreign-owned companies - including banks and retailers - to cede 51 percent ownership to black Zimbabwean investors. Mugabe, who a decade ago launched a campaign to seize whiteowned farmland, has threatened to take over firms which do not comply. The plan is for the Australian-listed Zimplats to transfer 10 percent of shares to workers, 10 percent to a community trust where its mine is located and 31 percent to the government’s National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Fund.

Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere said all foreign firms had no choice but to respect the equity laws. “There will be no sacred cow spared and no stone unturned to ensure that the policy is fully implemented,” said Kasukuwere after inking signing the pact.

“Non-compliance will no longer be tolerated.” He said the law sought to reverse colonial economic policies that pushed the majority blacks to the fringes of the mainstream economy. The Zimplats deal will be closely watched as a bellwether of Zimbabwe’s investment climate and security of operations. Mugabe’s partner in an shaky power sharing government, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, is uneasy with the law, which he says will drive away foreign investment just as the country is recovering from a decade-long economic collapse. — AFP

ATHENS: Striking Hellenic Postbank employees gather yesterday in front of the occupied bank headquarters in the center of Athens to protest against the planned privatization of the state-owned institution. — AFP 2013. Other companies to be sold in Ä19 billion, and in October the govcoming months include gas distribu- ernment said it planned to raise just tor DEPA and gaming monopoly Ä9.5 billion by 2016. In contrast, the OPAP. Greece was originally supposed European Commission expects Ä8.5 to raise Ä50 billion from asset sales by billion in sales by 2016, and Ä22 bil2015. This was later scaled down to lion by 2020. — AFP

Merkel insists Cyprus must follow reforms No immediate bailout package seen LIMASSOL, Cyprus: German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Cyprus yesterday to follow economic reforms, two days after saying the eurozone bailout candidate will not see any special terms as it seeks an aid package. Merkel, who is attending an extraordinary summit of the centre-right European People’s Party in the Cypriot port city of Limassol, also said the reportedly €17 billion ($22 billion) bailout package will not be decided “now”. “We are here today to study the situation of Cyprus and the situation in other European countries,” Merkel, speaking in German, told reporters before attending the summit. “I will say to Cyprus that the task will be such that on one side it must follow reforms and on the other side there has to be solidarity from other European countries.”

Merkel did not clarify what reforms Cyprus must undertake, but the island has already pushed through tough austerity measures to meet the demands of eurozone creditors for more than one billion euros in cuts and savings. Merkel also said that a package being hammered out in talks between Cyprus and the “troika” of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund “are not at the stage to decide now”. Her remarks echoed those made on Wednesday, when she said there would be no exceptional terms for Cyprus and that talks are likely to continue for some time. “There are no special conditions for Cyprus... We have generally accepted rules in Europe and we are a long way from finishing the negotiations,” she said.

Ahead of the Limassol meeting, officials had said it was expected to be dominated by the situation in Cyprus and

LIMASSOL, Cyprus: (First row from left to right) Romanian President Traian Basescu, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Nicos Anastasiades President of the Democratic Rally of Cyprus (DISY) and President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso pose for a family picture prior to the start of the extraordinary European People’s Party (EPP) summit attended by EU heads of state and party leaders and the Presidency of the EPP. — AFP across the eurozone. As an indication of of Cyprus I think is at stake,” Sybrand van Cyprus’s parlous economic state, Moody’s Haersma Buma, opposition leader from downgraded the government bond rating The Netherlands, told reporters on the by three notches from B3 to Caa3 on sidelines of the summit. “I think it is a very Thursday, citing the anticipated increase important statement that so many colin the government’s debt burden. The leagues are coming together in Cyprus to downgrade to middle-range junk bond talk about the future of Cyprus and above status was driven by the further increase all to talk of the future of Europe,” he said. in the amount of government support The EPP is the largest and the most influCypriot banks are likely to require. ential European-level political party of the Cyprus’s banks face rising delinquencies centre-right, which currently includes 74 member parties from 40 countries and on loans to Greek and Cypriot customers.

Thursday’s downgrade is the latest by a among others the presidents of the major ratings agency of debt-plagued European Commission and the European Cyprus. “There is much at stake. The future Council. — AFP

BUSINESS SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

US Fed hawks worry about inflation threat MADISON/KANSAS CITY: Two top Federal Reserve policymakers expressed discomfort on Thursday with the U.S. central bank’s easy monetary policy, in comments suggesting Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke may face more dissent this year.

In remarks that stamped her as a hawk on the Fed’s policy-setting committee, Kansas City Federal Reserve President Esther George warned that the Fed’s near-zero interest-rate policy - aimed at boosting the economy - could spark inflation. “A prolonged period of zero interest rates may substantially increase the risks of future financial imbalances and hamper attainment of the 2 percent inflation goal in the future,” she said in her most extensive remarks in a year on policy.

“Monetary policy, by contributing to financial imbalances and instability, can just as easily aggravate unemployment as heal it,” she said in a speech in Kansas City. That stance is hardly representative of other influential officials at the central bank, including Bernanke and the vice chair, Janet Yellen. Their view was more closely captured by comments from

Narayana Kocherlakota, who noted inflation was forecast to remain below the central bank’s 2 percent target for the foreseeable future, even by the Fed’s own estimates. “This forecast suggests that, if anything, monetary policy is currently too tight, not too easy,” he said in remarks in Minneapolis.

Last month, the Fed voted to keep up asset purchases at an $85 billion monthly pace to lower borrowing costs and spur hiring. It said it would continue that policy, called quantitative easing, until it saw substantial improvement in the labor market outlook. US central bankers also pledged to hold interest rates near zero until unemployment falls to 6.5 percent, provided inflation does not threaten to rise above 2.5 percent. George will cast her first vote this month on monetary policy since taking the helm at the Kansas City Fed in Oct 2011, while Kocherlakota is not a voter this year.

“The latest remarks from Kansas City Fed’s Esther George have cemented the presence of a hawkish dissenter on the FOMC in 2013, with Richmond Fed’s

US moves to halt junk home loans WASHINGTON: The United States issued new rules Thursday restricting the kind of high-risk home loans that led to millions losing their homes in the housing collapse and sparked the financial crisis. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) set regulations that forbid lenders from granting mortgages to buyers who are not in the position to repay the loan, requiring strong documentation and basic income-to-loan ratios. The rules also restrict lenders from offering inducements to borrowers to overextend themselves while protecting the lenders if the borrower defaults.

Both issues were hallmarks of the 2006 implosion of the housing market that left millions unable to pay their mortgages and sparked the near-collapse of the US financial industry, with the government forced to prop up or rescue a number of major institutions. The economy still suffers from the property crash, with more than 10 percent of all home loans in default and foreclosure, though the market has strengthened somewhat in the past year. “To put it simply: lenders should not set up consumers to fail,” CFPB director Richard Cordray said in a statement. “When consumers sit down at the closing table, they shouldn’t be set up to fail with mortgages they can’t afford.” He added: “Our ability-torepay rule protects borrowers from the kinds of risky lending practices that resulted in so many families losing their homes.

This common-sense rule ensures responsible borrowers get responsible loans.”

The new rules require banks to fully document a borrower’s financial status his or her income, debts, and other assets and obligations - to show that the borrower can pay back the loan. “This means that lenders can no longer offer no-doc, low-doc loans, where lenders made quick sales by not requiring documentation, then offloaded these risky mortgages by selling them to investors,” the CFPB said. In addition, the lender cannot bait borrowers with “teaser” loan rates that hide the true long-term cost of a mortgage.

The housing bubble that built up for years before the 2006 collapse was constructed in part on borrowers being offered extremely low, affordable interest rates at the beginning but which later ballooned to levels borrowers had no hope of paying. The CFPB also established a new category of “qualified mortgages” that meet basic standards of soundness and simplicity, including a maximum debt-to-income ratio for the borrower of 43 percent. While lenders will not be forced to issue such loans, the aim was to set a standard that would be required by financial investors in mortgages and mortgage securities - particularly the powerful state-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which dominate the mortgage securitization industry. Banks that adhere to the qualified mortgage standard will have greater protection from lawsuits. —AFP

(Jeffrey) Lacker passing along the hawkish torch,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, US strategist at TD Securities. Lacker was the lone dissenter on the Fed’s policy-setting panel last year.

St Louis Fed President James Bullard, who votes as well this year on US monetary policy, also warned about the potential for inflation, although he noted that inflation was so far running under the Fed’s 2 percent goal. “It is a very aggressive policy and it is making me a little bit nervous that we are overcommitting to the easy policy,” he told reporters after a speech to the Wisconsin Bankers Association in Madison. “We are taking risk.” As Fed officials mull when to reduce or end the asset buying - some, including Bullard, say that could happen this year the debate may focus on potential inflation as well as the outlook for the economy.

On the latter front, George was decidedly more downbeat than Bullard, saying she expected the US economy to grow just above 2 percent in 2013, while unemployment falls about another half per-

centage point. Bullard sees growth at 3.2 percent this year and next, he said Thursday, and sees the jobless rate dropping to 6.5 percent - the Fed’s threshold for rethinking its low-rate policy - by the middle of next year. The US jobless rate in December was 7.8 percent. Kocherlakota predicts US gross domestic product will expand at an annual pace of 2.5 percent in 2013 and 3 percent next year, estimates that put him on the weak end of Fed policymakers’ forecasts.

“This growth will do little in terms of returning the economy to the historical trend,” Kocherlakota said in prepared remarks to a Minneapolis Fed event.

“Consistent with this slow output growth, I expect unemployment to continue to fall only slowly.”

Minutes from the Fed’s December meeting suggested George, while definitely on the hawkish end of the central bank’s policy views, was not alone. They said several voting FOMC members were concerned about possible risks to financial stability from the Fed’s prolonged stimulus policies. — Reuters

Dreamliner hit by two more mishaps in Japan US to review 787, but calls plane safe TOKYO/WASHINGTON: Boeing Co’s 787 Dreamliner jet suffered a cracked cockpit window and an oil leak on separate flights in Japan yesterday - the latest in a series of incidents to test confidence in the sophisticated new aircraft. All Nippon Airways Co said a domestic flight from Tokyo landed safely at Matsuyama airport in western Japan after a crack developed on the cockpit windscreen, and the plane’s return to Tokyo was cancelled.

The same airline later said oil was found leaking from an engine of a 787 Dreamliner after the plane landed at Miyazaki airport in southern Japan. An airline spokeswoman said that return flight to Tokyo’s Haneda airport was also cancelled while the leak was investigated.

No one was injured in either incident. The Dreamliner, the world’s first carbon-composite airliner, which has a list price of $207 million, has been beset by problems this week.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Aviation Administration is conducting a comprehensive review of the design, manufacture and assembly of the Boeing 787, even while government officials declared the plane safe despite recent incidents. Michael Huerta, the FAA administrator, said at a news conference yesterday there is nothing in the data the agency has seen to suggest the plane is not safe, but the agency wants to figure out why the safety-related incidents are occurring.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood went a step further: “I believe this plane is safe and I would have absolutely no reservations about boarding one of these planes and taking a flight,” he said.

“Every new commercial aircraft has issues as it enters service,” said Ray Conner, the president and chief executive of Boeing’s commercial aircraft division, who joined Huerta and LaHood at the news conference. Huerta and LaHood rejected the notion that FAA may have not have vigilant enough when it certified the 787 for commercial operations.

LaHood noted FAA technical experts logged some 200,000 hours on testing and reviewing

WASHINGTON: Boeing Commercial Airplanes President Ray Conner (center), flanked by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (left) and Federal Aviation Administrator (FAA) Michael Huerta, speaks during a news conference at the Transportation Department yesterday. — AP the plane’s design before it was certified in Aug 2011. The 787 Dreamliner made its first commercial flight in late-2011, after a series of production delays put deliveries more than three years behind schedule. By the end of last year, Boeing had sold 848 Dreamliners, and delivered 49. Earlier this week, a battery fire caused damage to an empty 787 jet operated by Japan Airlines while it was on the ground at Boston airport. The next day, another JAL 787 spilled 40 gallons of fuel onto the taxiway at the same airport after a problem that caused a valve to open, forcing the plane to delay its departure. On Wednesday, ANA cancelled a domestic Dreamliner flight due to a brake-control computer glitch. Boeing’s top Dreamliner engineer, Mike Sinnett, was rolled out midweek to defend the 787, saying the plane’s problem rates were no higher than with Boeing’s successful 777 jet.

ANA said crew noticed a spider web-like crack in a window in front of the pilot’s seat

about 70 minutes into Friday’s flight, which was close to its destination. “Cracks appear a few times every year in other planes. We don’t see this as a sign of a fundamental problem” with Boeing aircraft, a spokesman for the airline said. On the later flight, the ANA spokeswoman said she could not specify how much oil leaked from the engine.

The latest incidents came just hours before ANA was due to launch its maiden service between Tokyo and San Jose, California with the Dreamliner. That flight was due to leave Tokyo at 0830 GMT, returning to Japan after an around 90-minute turnaround in the United States. ANA and JAL together fly 24 of the 49 Dreamliners delivered to endDecember.

In India - where state-owned Air India has taken delivery of six Dreamliner jets and has more on order - a senior official at the aviation regulator said there was concern at the recent spate of Dreamliner glitches. —Agencies

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

ArcelorMittal turns deaf ear to debt cut chorus BRUSSELS: Having danced to the credit rating agencies’ tune to no avail, ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, looks likely to ignore the chorus for more debt cuts, reconciled to its “junk” status for now. It should already have done enough to hit a mid-year net debt target of $17 billion, down from $22 billion at end-December; less than two weeks into 2013, it has raised $4 billion issuing stock and convertibles, $1.1 billion selling a Canadian mining stake, and has half a billion dollars coming from the sale of a manganese venture in South Africa. That appears to meet the $5 billion debt reduction Moody’s said in August was needed by early 2013 to keep its investment grade rating.

But Moody’s cut the steelmaker’s credit to junk status in November anyway, though Steve Oman, Moody’s lead analyst for EMEA steel corporates, said the agency was then aware of ArcelorMittal’s latest cash-raising efforts. Now Moody’s says ArcelorMittal needs to cut more to avoid a further drop.

“The landscape can change pretty quickly, that much is clear. Where ArcelorMittal’s rating and rating outlook go next depends on debt reduction but also on the health of the steel industry and of iron ore,” Oman said.

He added that a 25 percent increase in iron ore prices at the start of this year was a positive sign, but overall 2013 would be a tough year for steel, particularly in Europe.

Oman declined to give a new debt reduction figure, but said ArcelorMittal’s debt/EBITDA (core profit) ratio, using a wider definition of debt, was 4 times after the measures already mentioned, and for an

upgrade needed to pull back to 3. Based on expected 2012 earnings, that would be an extra $7 billion. Fitch, with an equivalent rating but a stable outlook, said it also knew of ArcelorMittal’s plans when it cut last month.

“Margins will be under pressure, cash generation will be under pressure.

They will not be able to get debt levels down enough,” said Roelof Steenekamp, a director at Fitch. “The profile for the next two years is not going to be reflective of an investment grade rating.” ArcelorMittal

appears unpersuaded. It said yesterday that programs it had in place to improve its credit status remained on track and it expected to see further progress in the coming months, and two days ago Chief Finance Officer Aditya Mittal left the dance floor. “We are parking the balance sheet issue now.

We are also parking to some degree the asset divestment process,” he told an investor conference call on Wednesday.

ArcelorMittal said in October its plan should

KRAKOW, Poland: Lakshmi N Mittal, chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal, poses with his diploma at the AGH University of Science and Technology yesterday.

Mittal was awarded with a Doctor Honoris Causa by AGH. — AFP

Honda to cut 800 jobs in UK LONDON: Japanese carmaker Honda plans to cut around 800 jobs at its plant near Swindon in southwest England due to falling demand for its vehicles across mainland Europe. The company, which makes the Civic, Jazz and CRV models at the South Marston plant near Swindon, said on Friday it would enter into formal consultation with staff over the cuts which would likely take place in the second quarter of 2013. Carmakers are trying to scrap underused factories and cut surplus jobs that are fuelling losses in Europe as demand for cars in major markets like France and Germany flounders.

Honda employs some 3,500 staff at the South Marston plant, which produced around 150,000 vehicles last year.

The plant has the capacity to make 250,000 cars annually.

Last year Honda expected a surge in demand and hired 500 workers and invested £267 million ($430 million) in the Swindon plant. However, the expected increase in demand failed to materialise, with Honda’s sales in mainland Europe, especially Spain and Greece, falling by around a million in the past year.

Ken Keir, Honda Motor Europe’s executive vice president said the company needed to “realign the business” but was committed to Britain for the long-term. “These conditions of sustained low industry demand require us to take difficult decisions. We are setting the business constitution at the right level to ensure long term stability and security,” said Keir.

Late last year US carmaker Ford announced plans to cut 1,400 jobs at plants in southern England and end vehicle manufacturing in Britain due to weak European sales. Ford and Volvo are also planning to cut thousands of jobs in Belgium, while PSA Peugeot Citroen’s has plans to cut its workforce in France. Honda said its sales in Britain remained strong and that it had long term confidence for both manufacturing and sales in the country. British union Unite said Honda executives revealed they would look to cut 420 managers and supervisors, and 360 production workers on top of 325 agency positions that had already been scrapped in recent months. —Reuters

ensure it retained investment grade, but added such a status was important but not imperative, adding a one-notch cut would cost it a relatively manageable $100 million.

Ironically, the rating cut has taken some pressure off the steelmaker; its shares gained after the Moody’s downgrade. “We were concerned that they could be pressured to sell some of their best assets to raise money and ultimately sacrifice future profitability. Following this week’s capital raise, it looks like they should now be past this,” said Jefferies analyst Seth Rosenfeld.

ArcelorMittal had a modest $3 billion of cash at the end of September, a third lower than at the end of June, meaning it will have to rely on cash generation to fund this year’s needs. Core profit is expected to be about $8 billion this year, according to ThomsonReuters I/B/E/S. Capital expenditure is likely to be little changed from last year’s $4.5 billion. Having already cut its 2012 dividend, payable this year, by more than 70 percent, it should have enough to buy ThyssenKrupp’s Alabama plant, for which it has bid. Given the German group’s writedown of its Steel Americas assets, analysts believe the Alabama price tag is likely to be $1 billion to $1.5 billion. Aengus McMahon, credit analyst at ING, said ArcelorMittal probably wanted to get back to investment grade, but was not desperate to do so. “In Europe, it was traditionally difficult as there wasn’t a high-yield market. But since the financial crisis, a lot of industries are thriving now as sub-investment grade,” he said. — Reuters

Japan premier unveils $227bn stimulus plan Beset by risks, Japan seeks boost

TOKYO: Japan’s new government unveiled a massive $226.5 billion stimulus plan Friday in the latest bid to boost the world’s number three economy, with plans to rebuild disaster-hit areas and beef up the military. Japanese investors welcomed the news, with the Nikkei index surging to a 22-month high and the yen tumbling, but analysts questioned its long-term effect and warned it could lead to more misery further down the line.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who came to power in a landslide election victory last month, followed through with one of his key pledges by outlining details of a bigspending plan designed create jobs and end deflation.

“With the measures, we will achieve real GDP growth of two percent and 600,000 jobs will be created,” he told a briefing. Japan’s economy shrank by 0.6 percent in 2011, while last year’s gross domestic product figures are yet to be released. “It is crucially important to break out of prolonged deflation and the high yen,” he added. A hawkish Abe also repeated his call for Tokyo and the Bank of Japan to “join hands” on driving growth, comments that have stoked tension between the him and BoJ chief Masaaki Shirakawa over perceived threats to its independence and policy decisions.

The new premier had pledged before the election that he would press the BoJ to carry out more aggressive monetary eas-

ing and warned that if it did not agree to a two percent inflation target he would change the law regarding its remit. While the total size of yesterday’s package came in at 20.2 trillion yen ($226.5 billion), Tokyo’s direct spending on economic stimulus and pension financing amounts to about 13 trillion yen, with local governments and the private sector kicking in the rest, Abe said. Rebuilding disaster-struck

areas, making more schools and hospitals earthquake resistant, and upgrading ageing infrastructure were among the planned measures. It will also see 180.5 billion yen spent on missiles, fighter jets and helicopters to beef up the military as Tokyo is embroiled in an increasingly bitter territorial row with China over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. —AFP

TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe points to a chart as he speaks during a press conference at the prime ministerís official residence yesterday. — AFP

BUSINESS

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Indian minister says Areva deal is close PARIS: India and French group Areva are close to agreement on a contract for Areva to build a nuclear power station on the west coast of India, Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said in a newspaper interview yesterday. The project is for two European pressurised reactors (EPR) at Jaitapur 400 km south of Mumbai.

The talks had reached a “very advanced stage”, the minister told the Le Figaro newspaper. “We have to settle the questions of safety raised by the tsunami in Japan and this has an effect on the unit price of energy produced,” he said. This was being studied by experts but “a final agreement is within reach,” he said.

The reference to Japan concerned a disaster at Fukushima in Japan in March last year when a tsunami caused by an off-shore earthquake overwhelmed a nuclear power station built on the coastline. The flooding causing a meltdown and widespread disaster which focused atten-

tion worldwide on the safety of nuclear power stations and particularly on where they are sited. Areva said merely that it was in advanced talks without indicating when an agreement might be signed, after a two-year delay. In Dec 2010, Areva an agreement with India to build the country’s first two reactors of the new-generation EPR type at Jaitapur with an option for four more reactors.

But following the disaster in Japan, many projects around the world were frozen, delayed or abandoned. The negotiations with India slowed down. The Indian authorities indicated that they were waiting for the results of various additional audits on safety issues in relation to the EPR reactors, in the light of the disaster at Fukushima.

There has been opposition to the project locally mainly over concerns about the risk of seismic activity in the area. The minister also took a positive line earlier in the day

PARIS: France’s President Francois Hollande (left) welcomes Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid at the Elysee presidential palace yesterday. — AFP regarding negotiations by French aircraft manufacturer Dassault to sell 126 Rafale fighter planes to India.

French President Francois Hollande is to visit India in the middle of February. — AFP

India industrial output dips 0.1%

GANDHINAGAR, India: Konstantin Markelov (third left), chairperson of the regional government of Astrakhan, a province in Russia, Mukesh Ambani (fourth left), Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Ltd, Former Gujarat Finance Minister Vajubhai Wala (fifth left), Japanese Envoy Takeshi Yagi (sixth left) and Gujarat’s Chief Minister Narendra Modi (seventh left) are seen during the launch of Vibrant Gujarat 2013 6th Global Summit at Mahatma Mandir yesterday. The summit is being attended by national and international corporations. — AFP

MUMBAI: India’s industrial output dipped marginally by 0.1 percent in November from a year ago, data showed yesterday, raising hopes that the central bank will soon cut interest rates to boost sluggish growth. The figure matched market expectations but was well below the previous month’s 8.3 percent growth figure and underlines the challenges the government faces as it seeks to kickstart the economy. Manufacturing output, which accounts for three-quarters of the index of industrial production, rose just 0.3 percent, while capital goods - such as factory plant equipment - plunged by 7.7 percent, the data showed.

“The numbers were not a surprise,” said Siddhartha Sanyal, chief India economist with Barclays Capital, who expects India’s industrial output to grow in low single digits until March. The once-booming South Asian economy has been hit by continuing high interest rates in the face of strong inflation, sluggish exports and slow investment.

India last month cut its growth forecast for the current fiscal year ending March to between 5.7 and 5.9 percent, putting it on track for its worst annual performance in a decade. — AFP

Shares in Infosys soar Indian outsourcer’s Q3 profit beats estimates

BANGALORE, India: Indian IT outsourcer Infosys yesterday reported a strongerthan-expected quarterly profit and gave an improved outlook for annual revenues, sending its shares soaring.

Consolidated net profit for the Nasdaqlisted firm was flat at 23.69 billion rupees ($430 million) in the October-toDecember quarter, against 23.7 billion rupees a year earlier. Analysts had expected Infosys to post a lower 21 billion rupee profit. The firm’s shares jumped 13.88 percent to 2,642.4 rupees after the firm raised its forecast for fullyear revenues in the fiscal year to March 2013, to at least $7.45 billion.

Rivals Tata Consultancy Services (TCS),

Wipro and Mahindra Satyam also rose about three percent each on optimism over earnings growth. Analysts were surprised by the positive data from Infosys, which has been struggling to expand its business and has missed sales targets, lost market share and seen stocks slide as revenues from the United States lag.

“Infosys’ results signal a turn in trajectory in revenue growth,” said Bhuvnesh Singh of Barclays Capital. He said the December figure and the full-year outlook “now implies a narrowing of the growth gap versus TCS,” Singh said.

Infosys top brass also expressed confidence. “We have done well in the quarter despite an uncertain environ-

ment,” said chief executive S D Shibulal in a company statement.

“We continue to gain confidence from a strong pipeline of large deals.

However, the broader economic environment remains difficult.” Revenues rose 12 percent to 104.2 billion rupees for the third quarter. Infosys said it has completed the $350 million acquisition of Zurich-based consulting firm Lodestone, which it announced in September.

Lodestone is likely to contribute $104 million to its full-year revenues, Infosys said yesterday. The Swiss firm would add more than 200 clients across industries to Infosys’ client base. — AFP

BANGALORE: Infosys Chief Executive Officer SD Shibulal smiles as he listens to a question from a journalist after announcing the company’s results yesterday. — AP

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

The Shard pierces London’s skyline and skewers critics Page 29

File photo shows actress Quvenzhane Wallis at the National Board of Review Awards gala in New York.

Wallis was nominated for an Academy Award for best actress for her role in the film “Beasts of the Southern Wild.”

(Inset) French actress Emmanuelle Riva poses during a photocall for ‘Amour’ in this photo in Rome. The 85th Academy Awards will air live on Sunday, Feb 24, 2013 on ABC. — AP

The youngest and the oldest vie for best actress Oscar Page 24

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Lohan’s father accuses ex-wife

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series of tweets, which claimed to be from fortune teller Tiffany Mitchell, accused Michael of setting her up to start a row with the ‘Liz & Dick’ actress in order to force her into rehab but the showbiz patriarch has hit back and alleged his ex is behind the allegations. The fake account tweeted: “The jig is UP. I am no longer with Gloria Allred and will no longer be pursuing any legal action against Lindsay Lohan “Truth is, I was approached and hired by Michael Lohan to

cause a scene at the nightclub in question to eventually force Lindsay into a treatment facility that Michael Lohan had previously set up. Sorry for the chaos &confusion I’ve caused. (sic)” In response, Michael told RadarOnline: “ This will be investigated.

If it turns out Dina is behind this, this will go legal. “I sent her a cease and desist letter the other day. I will have to expand that to ‘do not harass or have any contact personally or through a third party.’”

Megan Fox

quits Twitter

Josh Brolin used to smoke heroin

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he ‘Gangster Squad’ actor admitted he was out of control in his teenage years when he got caught up with narcotics and crime but says filming ‘The Goonies’ saved him because he enjoyed working on movies too much to get completely addicted. He told Men’s Journal: “What’d I spend the money on? Drums and drugs. What else was there? “I was the last guy to get into heroin - I smoked it - and the first to get out. I was around 16 or 17, so it was around the time of ‘The Goonies’.

But I liked working and learning, so it was very difficult for me to lend myself to that drug completely. “I stole a lot of radios from cars. I could pop the detail with a coat hanger real easy. I got very good at it. I can still do it today. I could do it like that.” Josh, 44, who was arrested for public intoxication in Santa Monica, Los Angeles on New Year’s Day, also revealed he served time in jail after getting involved in a brawl.

Quentin Tarantino feels sorry for Ben Affleck B

oth directors missed out on Best Director Oscar nominations on Thursday even though their movies ‘Django Unchained’ and ‘Argo’ picked up nods in other categories but Quentin thinks Ben’s snub was worse than his. Speaking at the ‘Django Unchained’ premiere at London’s Empire, Leicester Square, he told BANG Showbiz: “It would have been nice and everything but at the end of the day, I actually feel more sorry for Ben Affleck. He really deserved it and I think we all thought he was going to get it, so I feel really sorry for him.” While, Quentin is excited that his own movie received five Academy Award nominations, he doesn’t believe it will win the night’s biggest award, Best Picture. He said: “It feels very lovely, it’s nice to be invited to the party.

It’s been a good week. Five Oscar nominations today, five BAFTA nominations yesterday. I don’t think it will win Best Picture. But if it did, I will take it for sure.”

T

he ‘Transformers’ star joined the micro-blogging site last week but decided it was too much commitment and took to her Facebook account to reveal she had removed herself from Twitter. She wrote on Thursday: “Some of you may, or may not have noticed by now that my Twitter account has been shut down... “I thought that 2013 might be the year that I finally blossomed into a social networking butterfly... but as it turns out I still hate it. “Love you guys but I will just never be that girl.

Facebook is as much as I can handle. #I’m Sorry (sic).” Megan’s decision to join the site came hours after “RIP Megan Fox” was trending, but she made no mention of the web death hoax. The 26year-old actress also announced her decision to join Twitter on her Facebook page, writing: “Against my better judgment, I have finally joined Twitter.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Charlie Sheen to pay for paparazzo funeral

Jennifer Aniston defends Kim Kardashian W hile the pregnant reality TV star has been blasted by celebrities including Jon Hamm and Daniel Craig for being too open about her private life, Jennifer is a fan of Kim, although she insisted they have nothing in common.

Speaking in new documentary $ellebrity, she said: “There’s nothing wrong with Kim Kardashian and all those people. “If that’s how they choose to make a living, more power to them.

“My line of work is different. I want to entertain people.” Last year ‘Skyfall’ actor Daniel branded Kim and her family “idiots”

C

hris Guerra, 29, was struck by another vehicle earlier this month as he was crossing a busy road in Los Angeles while photographing Justin’s distinctive white car and after hearing his family were having difficulty raising money for the funeral, Charlie offered them $12,000. The sports car had been stopped by California Highway Patrol for a routine inspection when the photographer appeared. He had been told twice the situation was unsafe and to return to his car. However, he was hit as he crossed the city’s Sepulveda Boulevard. While Justin was not in the car at the time of the accident, he reached out to offer his condolences to Chris’ family following the incident. The pop superstar said: “While I was not present nor directly involved with this tragic accident, my thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim. “Hopefully this tragedy will finally inspire meaningful legislation and whatever other necessary steps to protect the lives and safety of celebrities, police officers, innocent public bystanders and the photographers themselves.”

while ‘Mad Men’ actor Jon blasted the ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’ star for being famous for being stupid. He said: “Whether it’s Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian or whoever, stupidity is certainly celebrated. Being a f***ing idiot is a valuable commodity in this culture because you’re rewarded significantly.” He later added that he didn’t want to be known simply as a sex symbol because then he “might as well be a Kardashian and have a sex tape”, a reference to Kim’s leaked erotic video with former boyfriend Ray J.

Robert Pattinson, Stewart relationship under strain

Justin Bieber sued by his former bodyguard

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he ‘Beauty And A Beat’ hitmaker has been accused of punching Moshe Benabou, an exmember of the Israeli army, multiple times during an argument about a member of Justin’s entourage. The bodyguard - who says he worked for the singer from March 2011 to October 2012 - is asking for unspecified damages for assault and over $420,000 in alleged unpaid overtime. Sources close to Justin told gossip website TMZ, he is merely a “disgruntled employee looking for money” and

called the assault claims “absurd”. They also insisted he was fired after lying about previously working for Justin Timberlake. Meanwhile, Justin’s former girlfriend Selena Gomez, 20, has reportedly been warned off getting back together with him by her parents who are worried the 20-year-old singer is a “bad influence”. Selena’s mother Mandy Cornett and stepfather Brian Teefey advised Selena to leave her New Year’s vacation with Justin early after a huge argument between the two singers.

T

he ‘Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2’ stars reportedly can’t stop fighting and friends fear they could be heading for a break-up. A source told Life & Style magazine: “Things with them aren’t good. They’ve been fighting a lot.

“Rob isn’t happy. It’s just a matter of time before he ends this.” Robert, 26 and 22-year-old Kristen briefly split up last year when she cheated on him with married director Rupert Sanders and Robert has struggled to forgive her despite reconciling. A

source previously said: “Rob is at a point where he sometimes ignores her. He’ll go out and won’t respond to her calls or texts right away. Things will be strained for a while. “She knows she has to go along with it.

She is working hard at the relationship.” Friends believe their relationship will be truly tested when they are forced to spend long periods apart on different film sets in the near future. One pal said: “If they are able to work out being apart while Kristen is filming then they have a shot.”

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Oscars

favorites put spotlight on US history

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o you want a US history lesson? Look no further than the frontrunners for the best film Academy Award, announced Thursday. Nearly half the movies nominated for best picture Oscar are about key events in America’s past, from the abolition of slavery to the post 9/11 hunt for Osama bin Laden. Steven Spielberg’s drama “Lincoln” could also offer a lesson to current US politicians, as the 16th US president schemed to get bipartisan support in Congress. Slavery and the American Civil War era also provide the backdrop for Quentin Tarantino’s latest blood-fest “Django Unchained,” about a slave-turned-bounty hunter seeking to free his wife from Leonardo DiCaprio’s clutches.

Historical accuracy is not necessarily guaranteed: “Argo” allegedly takes liberties with facts about the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, and the CIA has blasted the depiction of torture in the bin Laden flick “Zero Dark Thirty.” Spielberg’s latest movie, which led the field with nominations in 12 categories, tells the story of Abraham Lincoln’s drive to secure crucial votes to pass the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States. Played with uncanny realism by Daniel Day-Lewis-frontrunner for best actor-the Republican president stops at little beyond outright financial bribery to twist Democrats arms into backing the constitutional amendment.

Non-Americans might learn a thing or two as well: that it was the Democrats who opposed abolition seems surprising from the modern point of view, as are the political machinations that eventually ended the Civil War. “Django Unchained” is set a few years before the Civil War, when Jamie Foxx’s title character is freed by a wandering German dentist turned bounty hunter, embarking on a killing spree typical of the “Pulp Fiction” director.

Tarantino justifies relentless use of the “N” word as historically accurate, but that hasn’t stopped critics slamming it for linguistic exaggeration, as well as shooting overload, notably after last month’s school massacre. Ben Affleck’s Iran hostage crisis drama “Argo” tells the story of a CIA agentplayed by the actor-director himself-bidding to free six American diplomats who take refuge in the Canadian ambassador’s residence in Tehran. Critics have included then Canadian envoy Ken Taylor, depicted as playing a clearly supporting role in the plot to get them out of the country disguised as a Canadian film crew.

“The movie’s fun, it’s thrilling, it’s pertinent, it’s timely,” Taylor told Canada’s Star newspaper recently. “But look, Canada was not merely standing around watching events take place. The CIA was a junior partner.” Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty” also focuses on a CIA agent: the female one credited with tracking down bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan, where US Special Forces killed him in May 2011. The movie includes graphic scenes of socalled “enhanced interrogation techniques,” widely seen as torture, and portrays their role in pinpointing the Al-Qaeda’s chief’s courier who eventually led to his compound in Abbottabad. —AFP

This publicity film image released by 20th Century Fox shows Suraj Sharma in a scene from ‘Life of Pi,’ directed by Ang Lee. Best-picture prospects for Oscar Nominations include, ‘Lincoln,’ directed by Steven Spielberg; ‘Zero Dark Thirty,’ directed by Kathryn Bigelow; ‘Les Miserables,’ directed by Tom Hooper; ‘Argo,’ directed by Ben Affleck; ‘Django Unchained,’ directed by Quentin Tarantino; and ‘Life of Pi,’ directed by Ang Lee. — AP

Oscar nominees get kisses, hugs, whoops S

creenwriter Tony Kushner got a kiss and a hug, actor Hugh Jackman found his first Oscar nomination “a bit surreal,” and singer Adele felt a bit like screen legend Meryl Streep. This year’s Oscar nominees reacted with joy, amazement and sometimes just politeness on Thursday after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its shortlists for the movie industry’s highest honors. Jackman, a former Oscars host who was nominated as best actor for “Les Miserables,” said he had not planned to listen to the Academy Awards’ live announcement, at 5:40 am West Coast time.

“When I got into the car ... the driver had the nominations streaming,” said the Australian actor, and he learned he was among them. “To be honest, it’s very exciting but all a bit surreal and hasn’t fully sunk in yet,” said Jackman, adding “to be an actual nominee is something I never would have dreamed possible.” Fellow nominee Denzel Washington (“Flight”), a two-time Oscar winner and seemingly more accustomed to the hoopla, said in a statement “It’s always nice to be asked back to the show, and it will be fun to share the evening with our nominated screenwriter John Gatins.”

Similarly, “Silver Linings Playbook” and past winner Robert De Niro said “I am very pleased” that the academy had honored the film with so many nominations. Saying she

was “honored and grateful” for her best actress nomination for the same film, Jennifer Lawrence said “this was a labor of love that we all poured our hearts into.” And the film’s director, David O Russell, said, “I pretty much started crying” after De Niro and Jackie Weaver were revealed to be nominees, along with star Bradley Cooper.

“Lincoln” producers Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg said “we are absolutely thrilled and astonished with the 12 nominations,” which included one for Spielberg as best director. “Lincoln” received more nominations than any other film. Tony Kushner, nominated for his screenplay, was on a plane waiting to take off when he got the news. “James Gandolfini, who’s sitting in front of me, gave me a hug and a kiss, so I’m about as happy as can be,” said Kushner.

Independent film “Beasts of the Southern Wild” made a surprisingly strong showing with nominations including best picture, best director for Quvenzhane Wallis, who at age 9 became the youngest best actress nominee in Oscar history.

“Everyone who made ‘Beasts’ happen is so happy!” Wallis gushed. “Thank you to all you Oscar folks, from me, my mom and my dad,” said Wallis, a Louisiana girl who was plucked from thousands of local children who tried for the part. “Meeting all these great new people is one of the best parts for me,” she added, ending with the exhorta-

tion, “Beast it!” Oscars host Seth MacFarlane, who directed the surprise hit comedy “Ted,” exhibited his usual irreverence about his best song nomination as “Everybody Needs a Best Friend” lyricist: “First an Oscar nomination then I find a basically brand-new queen mattress on my drive home. This is an incredible day.”

OMISSIONS And while Ang Lee already has an Oscar for “Brokeback Mountain,” the “Life of Pi” director said he was overwhelmed by the wealth of nominations accorded his acclaimed shipwreck fable. “I am deeply honored, and frankly a little overwhelmed, by all of the nominations that ‘Life of Pi’ has received this morning,” he said in a statement shortly after the film received 11 Oscar nods, including one for best picture.

In the high-profile director’s category, there were reactions to omissions as well, with “Silver Linings Playbook” nominated director David O. Russell telling Reuters, “I was especially surprised not to see Ben (Affleck) and Kathryn (Bigelow),” who respectively helmed top nominees “Argo” and “Zero Dark Thirty.”

Eric Fellner, of Working Title Films, which was behind best picture contender “Les Miserables,” called the Academy’s choices “weird” after they failed to include director Tom Hooper. —Reuters

Oldest, youngest vie for best actress Oscar

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These two file photos show actress Quvenzhane Wallis (left) and French actress Emmanuelle. This year’s nominees for best actress Oscar include the oldest ever shortlisted in the category - and the youngest, 9year-old Quvenzhane Wallis. — AFP

his year’s nominees for the best actress Oscar include the oldest ever and the youngest, nine-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis, who reportedly lied about her age to get the job. At 85, French actress Emmanuelle Riva in “Amour” is only two years younger than the oldest ever nominee in an acting category, 87-year-old Gloria Stuart, nominated as best supporting actress for “Titanic” in 1997. Riva is tipped for her role in Austrian Michael Haneke’s “Amour,” which is also nominated for best film and best foreign language film, after winning the Cannes film festival’s Palme d’Or last year.

Schoolgirl Wallis meanwhile was nominated for her role in “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” a fantasy drama in which she lives at the edge of the world in a community reminiscent of Louisiana faced with Hurricane Katrina. According to the IMDb movie industry website, she had to fib about her age to

audition for the movie, as she was five at the time and the minimum age to be considered was six. Director Benh Zeitlin said that when he auditioned her, he realized she was what he was looking for, and changed the scrip to accommodate her “strong-willed personality,” it said. She also appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” last June and told him that the Zhane part of her name means “fairy” in Swahili.

On Thursday, the movie’s co-producer Michael Gottwald told how filmmakers “freaked out for about 15 minutes straight” while watching the pre-dawn announcement, before going to Wallis’ hotel room to celebrate her nomination. The other nominees up for best actress are Jessica Chastain for “Zero Dark Thirty,” Jennifer Lawrence for “Silver Linings Playbook” and Naomi Watts for “The Impossible.” The winners will be announced at the 85th Academy Awards, to be held on February 24 in the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood. — AFP

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Washington blamed for

‘Zero Dark Thirty’

Oscar snub

This undated publicity photo shows James Gandolfini playing the CIA Director in Columbia Pictures’ new thriller, ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ directed by Kathryn Bigelow. — AP

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athryn Bigelow’s snub by Academy Awards voters stunned her cast and awards pundits on Thursday, with some pointing the finger at Washington politicians for the “Zero Dark Thirty” director’s omission from the best director Oscar shortlist. Bigelow was seen as the biggest casualty on Oscar nominations day after her controversial Osama bin Laden thriller won five nods, including best picture, but the director herself was cut out of the running for the industry’s biggest honors.

“Kathryn Bigelow was robbed,” tweeted Megan Ellison, one of the movie’s producers, after the nominations were announced. The movie about the decade-long US hunt for bin Laden has come under fierce attack in Washington. A group of senators in December chided distributor Sony Pictures in a letter, calling the film “grossly inaccurate and misleading” for suggesting torture helped the United States capture bin Laden in May 2011.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has also launched a review of CIA dealings with Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal. Hollywood watchers say the negative publicity affected the choices made by the Academy of Motion Pictures, whose 6,000 members are working professionals in the industry. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan blamed the snub for Bigelow on what he called Washington bullies. “Chalk up this year’s (Oscar) nominations as a victory for the bullying power of the United States Senate and an undeserved loss for ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ in general and director Kathryn Bigelow in particular,” Turan wrote on Thursday.

Noting that the film has been “almost universally acknowledged as formidable,” Turan added that “three members of the Senate, a deliberative body not previously known for its cinematic acumen, decided to place their feet on the neck of this particular film.” Bigelow, who won directing and best picture Oscars in 2010 for her Iraq war film “The Hurt Locker,” was silent on Thursday. But Boal, who got a screenplay nod, said pointedly that “none of us would be so honored today without the genius and remarkable talent of Kathryn Bigelow, and to her we are forever grateful.”

Bigelow and Boal have said repeatedly that their film shows a variety of intelligence methods that were used to find bin Laden, and have denied being leaked classified material.

Jessica Chastain, who plays a determined young CIA agent credited with tracking down the al Qaeda leader to a house in Pakistan, called her best actress nomination “bittersweet.” “I’m so excited, but I also feel the shock of Kathryn not being nominated,” Chastain told entertainment industry website TheWrap.com.

Hollywood awards pundits noted that Bigelow was nominated just two days ago for a Directors Guild award.

Tom O’Neil of Goldderby.com told Reuters the controversy in Washington may have caused a backlash in Hollywood.

But Pete Hammond, awards columnist for website Deadline.com, said the snub for Bigelow could bring a sympathy vote for the movie itself at the Feb. 24 Oscars ceremony.

“Despite the controversy, people may use the snub of Bigelow to make a bigger statement about artists having the right to make the movies they want to make without the interference of the government,” Hammond said. —Reuters

Actress Emma Stone and 2013 Oscar host Seth MacFarlane present the 85th Academy Awards nominations for Best Actor in Beverly Hills, Calif. The 85th Annual Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, Feb 24 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. — AP

Oscars hope edgy MacFarlane can woo youth viewers

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rganizers of the annual Oscars ceremony have made little secret of their desire to reach a younger, edgier audience.

And they are hoping this year’s host Seth MacFarlane can hit the right spot. Judging by the “Family Guy” creator’s turn at Thursday’s nomination announcement-and notwithstanding a cringe-worthy Nazi joke-he could be just what they need, after a couple of years of arguably hosting miscues.

MacFarlane, who is also behind the recent foul-mouthed big screen hit “Ted,” is arguably a risky choice to host the Academy Awards, the time-honored showcase of Hollywood’s movie establishment, scheduled for February 24. The Golden Globes-sneered at

by Oscars insiders as the product of a celebrity-loving foreign journalists’ group-can afford to have British comic Ricky Gervais lampoon them, the Oscars have standards to keep up.

But at the same time they are painfully aware of the need to widen their audience beyond viewers tuning in for traditional Oscars fare. Two years ago a clear get-the-young-viewers ploy, with actors James Franco and Anne Hathaway jointly fronting the show, was widely criticized, with Franco’s wooden performance drawing particular scorn. Last year Eddie Murphy was initially down to host, but he pulled out at the last minute after an embarrassing gay slur row, and the Academy fell back on veteran Billy Crystal, fun hosting for a ninth time but hardly young. This year they have MacFarlanewho on Thursday delivered a series of wisecracks as he and actress Emma Stone unveiled the nominees for this year’s show, with Steven Spielberg’s political drama “Lincoln” leading the pack.

“These are adapted screenplays, keep in mind, so that means the writers just copied stuff from Microsoft Word and pasted it into Final Draft,” he said, of the short lists for one of the below-the-line technical categories. Of the best film and foreign language film nominee “Amour” he said: “I read ‘Amour’ was co-produced in Austria and Germany. The last time Austria and Germany got together and co-produced something it was Hitler, but this was much better.” A series of TV advertising spots unveiled hours later includes one in which MacFarlane walks onto a statuette-flanked stage, saying “Hi, I’m Seth MacFarlane-ask your parents.” “Look, I’m a huge Seth fan. What he brings first is a sense of joy. He wants to be there,” ABC programming chief Paul Lee said when asked about the Hitler joke, according to a Washington Post blog. “He brings a lot of energy to it... He’s coming to the Oscars with a great sense of respect, but brings a really contemporary feel,” he said.

MacFarlane, who launched the Emmy-winning animated situation comedy “Family Guy” in 1999, said when was named last October: “It’s truly an overwhelming privilege to be asked to host the Oscars. “My thoughts upon hearing the news were, one, I will do my utmost to live up to the high standards set forth by my predecessors; and two, I hope they don’t find out I hosted the Charlie Sheen Roast.” MacFarlane, who won plaudits for “Ted”-about a foulmouthed, drug-taking and womanizing cuddly toy bear-hosted the event for perennially troubled TV actor Sheen last year. All eyes will now be on his Oscars performance in the Dolby Theater, Hollywood, in a month and a half’s time. — AFP

‘Beasts, Amour’ actresses make history with Oscar nods

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scar presenters, pundits and fans may struggle to pronounce Quvenzhane Wallis’ name, but they are going to be hearing it a lot in the next six weeks. The 9-year-old breakout star of independent film “Beasts of the Southern Wild” on Thursday was among the handful of new faces who will compete against veterans for an Oscar statuette next month.

Wallis, whose first name is pronounced “kwa-ven-jan-eh,” became the youngest best actress nominee in the academy’s 85year history for her portrayal of Hushpuppy, a fierce young girl living in the swamps of Louisiana in “Beasts.” “Thank you to all you Oscar folks, from me, my mom and my dad ... Beast it!,” Wallis said in a statement. “Beasts” producer Michael Gottwald, whose film was nominated for best picture said he knew audiences enjoyed Wallis’ performance in the film, but was surprised by the academy’s warm response.

“Of all the nominations, that may be the most special because it’s historic and we looked at her after looking at 4,000 girls for that

part ... she had never been on any sort of ride like this before, so that’s a real unique honor,” he said. Wallis will be competing against veteran French actress Emmanuelle Riva, who at 85 years old became the oldest lead actress nominee for the harrowing French language drama “Amour.” “Lincoln” and “Les Miserables” were expected to be nominated, but mythological indie drama “Beasts” and “Amour” were two surprises in key categories, including best picture, directing and screenplay.

Director Benh Zeitlin, a first-time filmmaker, and “Amour’s” Michael Haneke will vie for best director honors against Steven Spielberg for “Lincoln,” Ang Lee for “Life of Pi” and David O Russell for “Silver Linings Playbook.” Oscar-winning filmmakers Kathryn Bigelow, Tom Hooper, Quentin Tarantino and Ben Affleck were overlooked in the director category. “I feel like my house just crashed on the yellow brick road and everything just turned color ... it’s a beautiful thing for independent filmmaking and for creative freedom everywhere,” Zeitlin said on Thursday. —Reuters

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Ex-Guantanamo inmates condemn Bin Laden movie T wo former Guantanamo detainees on Thursday condemned “Zero Dark Thirty,” a film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden whose brutal interrogation scenes have sparked a discussion over the use of extreme methods in the US campaign against terror. Speaking at an event in London on the eve of the 11th anniversary of the opening of the US prison camp in eastern Cuba, the pair said the film was an attempt to rehabilitate those guilty of human rights abuses.

“These people are getting away not only with committing the torture ... they’re justifying it,” said one of the exdetainees, Libyan-born Omar Deghayes, who was left partially blind after what he said was an American guard’s attempt to

gouge out his eyes.

The other ex-detainee, Iraqi-born Bisher Al-Rawi, said Hollywood films he used to watch portrayed torturers as the bad guys. Casting heroes as torturers “will justify a very, very different mindset,” he said at the event organized by human rights group CagePrisoners. “I think that’s very dangerous.” More than 900 people have been imprisoned at Guantanamo, most of them held for years without charge. Deghayes and AlRawi were released in 2007, part of a group of British residents who were returned to the UK following a lobbying campaign by family members and British human rights organizations.

Neither Deghayes nor Al-Rawi had

Tom Odell seen at the Brit Awards Nominations event at the Savoy Hotel in London. Tom Odell was presented with the critic’s choice award at the nominations event. — AP

seen the movie - the Academy Awardnominated film has not yet opened in Britain - but the graphic scenes have been widely discussed. The movie’s suggestion that techniques such as simulated drowning, sleep deprivation, and sexual humiliation were critical to helping the CIA find and kill bin Laden is particularly controversial because there has never been a public accounting for the brutalization of detainees in US custody. CIA interrogation videos were destroyed, a wide-ranging investigation into the agency’s practices ended last year without charges and a report into the CIA approved by the Senate’s intelligence committee last month remains classified.

Some have dismissed the controversy

over the film by noting that it’s a work of fiction, but Karen Greenberg, the director of Fordham Law School’s Center on National Security, said the movie aggressively markets itself as being based on the real-life hunt for bin Laden, who was shot dead by US commandoes in a raid on his Pakistani compound on May 2, 2011. The movie “is impassioned in its belief that torture was an important tool in the war on terror and that it led to the death of Osama bin Laden,” she said. “It’s a polemic dressed up as fiction.” Back in London, Deghayes noted that the film would go on general release in the United States on the anniversary of the camp’s opening. “The timing is so sad,” he said. — AP

British singer Amy Winehouse

BRIT Awards hand posthumous nomination to Amy Winehouse

Affleck, Argo win big at Critics’ Choice Awards

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ours after a surprise snub in Academy Award nominations, Ben Affleck won best director and his film “Argo” was named best picture at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. Affleck, whose film was nominated for seven Oscars including best picture but not best director, accepted the award Thursday night at the Broadcast Film Critics Association’s 18th annual awards in Los Angeles, joking as he took the trophy that he’d “like to thank the Academy.”

Ben Affleck’s Iran hostage drama “Argo,” “Lincoln” star Daniel DayLewis and “Zero Dark Thirty”‘s Jessica Chastain were among big winners at the Critics Choice Movie Awards on Thursday, taking honors for best picture, actor and actress, with Affleck nabbing the prize for best director.

The all-star “Silver Linings Playbook” swept the comedy awards, winning best comedy film, best comedy actor for Bradley Cooper and best comedy actress, which went to Jennifer

Lawrence. The 250-member Broadcast Film Critics Association, the largest film critics organization in the United States and Canada, also gave the film its best acting ensemble prize at the event in Santa Monica, California.

Affleck, known mostly as actor and who was overlooked for directing “Argo” earlier on Thursday when the Academy Award nominations were announced, began his acceptance with the quip: “I would like to thank the academy,” before adding “I’m kidding.

This is the one that counts.” DayLewis won for his acclaimed performance in the title role of Steven Spielberg’s historical drama “Lincoln,” while Chastain took the prize for “Zero Dark Thirty,” about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. It was one of only two awards for “Lincoln,” which led the Oscar nominations with 12. The Oscar runner-up, “Life of Pi,” won only two technical awards. —Agencies

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cottish singer Emeli Sande joined folk act Mumford and Sons and indie rockers Alt-J with three BRIT Award nominations apiece on Thursday, but the biggest surprise was a posthumous nod for Amy Winehouse 18 months after she died. Winehouse was included in the “British female solo” category, in which she was up against Sande, Jessie Ware, Paloma Faith and Bat for Lashes. She was shortlisted for “Lioness: Hidden Treasures”, an album of unreleased songs and demos dating back to 2002 which hit stores in December, 2011 and topped the British charts.

The “Back to Black” singer’s father Mitch Winehouse said he was “delighted” with what he called the first ever posthumous BRIT nomination, adding in a statement: “It proves that her music still has an enormous effect on the public now and for the generations to come.” The other surprise package in a list some critics said largely upheld the BRITs’ reputation for rewarding commercial success over musical originality, veteran rockers the Rolling Stones were nominated for British live act.

The ageing quartet returned to the stage for a short, sellout tour at the end of 2012 in London and the United States to mark 50 years in business. Despite criticism of high ticket prices, the band won critics and audiences over with hit-laden performances that belied their age. “We all had such a blast, everyone was at the top of their game & the hometown audiences at The O2 were just fantastic...” lead singer Mick Jagger wrote on Twitter. “It’s great to be nominated ... we will see you soon.” The last time the group was nominated was in 1996 and it is the only act to

be nominated in both this year’s awards and at the first BRIT Awards in 1977.

OLYMPIC BOOST Sande took part in the opening and closing ceremonies at the London Olympics, helping to boost sales of her debut album “Our Version of Events” which sold an estimated 1.4 million copies in Britain last year. She was nominated for best British female, best British single for “Next to Me” and the coveted Mastercard British album of the year prize.

Sande also features on another contender for the single prize, Labrinth’s “Beneath Your Beautiful”. Among the best album contenders are the other acts who each picked up three nominations - Mumford and Sons, who have enjoyed success both in Britain and the United States, and Alt-J, the former for “Babel” and latter for “An Awesome Wave.” Alt-J walked away with the prestigious Mercury Prize for the same record in November. Rounding out the album category are rapper Plan B for “Ill Manors” and Paloma Faith for “Fall to Grace”.

Boyband sensation One Direction received a nomination for best British group, and are up against Alt-J, Mumford and Sons, Muse and The xx. A new award will be introduced at the ceremony on Feb. 20 at London’s O2 Arena. The BRITs Global Success Award will go to the British act with the highest international sales during the 2012 calendar year excluding the domestic market. Confirmed to perform on the night were Muse, Robbie Williams, Sande, Mumford and Sons, Ben Howard and One Direction. This year’s statuettes were designed by artist Damien Hirst and feature his trademark spots on a white background. — Reuters

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Montreux Jazz Festival founder Nobs dies at 76

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laude Nobs, who founded the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival, has died after several weeks in a coma following a skiing accident, according to the festival’s website.

Swiss-born Nobs, 76, launched the summer festival in 1967 while working at the Swiss resort’s tourism office, attracting some of the world’s greatest stars, including Miles Davis, Ray Charles and Prince, to perform there. He was immortalized as “Funky Claude” in the song “Smoke on the Water” by rock band Deep Purple, written about a fire that burned down Montreux casino during a Frank Zappa concert in 1971.

Nobs was injured while skiing cross-country on Christmas

Eve near his home in the village of Caux overlooking Montreux and Lake Geneva, festival secretary-general Mathieu Jaton told Reuters on Monday. Despite heart surgery some six years ago, he had stayed on as festival director, a position he shared during the 1990s with American producer Quincy Jones who returns each year from Los Angeles to introduce new talent.

Nobs often joined musicians on stage, playing harmonica, sometimes accompanied by his dogs. Sold-out highlights at last year’s festival included concerts by Bob Dylan, American chanteuse Lana Del Rey and British actor and musician Hugh Laurie. This year’s event is scheduled for July. — Reuters

Surfers ride high on Morocco’s winter waves

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leeing the gloom of northern Europe in search of warm winter waves, surfers are flocking to a fishing village on Morocco’s Atlantic coast now selling itself as a top surf destination. It may be a world away from Australia’s Gold Coast, or Hawaii’s Waimea Bay. ut with enough wind, the ocean breakers at Taghazout swell to four or five meters and are usually at least 300 meters long, making it the Maghreb country’s best surf spot, according to Moroccan pro Boukel Simo. Morocco’s first “surf festival”, held at Taghazout in late December, caught the attention in particular of boardriders fed up with the ice and cold of the northern hemisphere winter. “Surfers arrived from all over, mostly Europe,” said Mohammed, who repairs surfboards in Taghazout. “The conditions in December are perfect: winter waves and sunshine.” Add to that the blue skies, mild winter temperatures-the sea averaged 19 degrees Celsius during the three-day festival-and an international airport at nearby Agadir, there is plenty about Taghazout to impress sundeprived surfers. Tom, a seasoned German surfer in his 30s, drew a favourable comparison between California and Morocco’s southwest coast. “Smaller waves, but a better climate than San Diego!”

Phil, a New Zealander living in London, who like his Finnish friend Antton had flown out for the festival, was sold on Morocco’s surf. Less than five hours by plane from northern Europe, the only alternative is the Canary Islands, he explained, “and that’s more expensive.” “In Europe it’s cold and dark at the moment,” he added. The Cecille family, from La Rochelle on France’s Atlantic coast, arrived in Agadir, but not with the intention of spending their holiday in Morocco’s top beach resort. They headed immediately for Taghazout. “It’s been two months since I last surfed. It’s great here,” said Baptiste, the 17year-old son.

‘A NEW COTE D’AZUR’ The village is already a victim of its own success, however, with some visitors complaining of crowded waters during peak season. “Avoid the Christmas holidays... The whole of Europe is out there,” wrote one contributor on the website allosurf.net. The village now hosts numerous “surf camps,” touted by travel agencies, and offering accommodation and courses in a water sport that has flourished since the 1990s.

Surfboards lie alongside fishing boats pulled up on the wide sandy beach at Taghazout, where the tourism trade has provided work for locals like Omar, an instructor who works at the surf camps. The high season runs until April. “After that, there aren’t many people here,” said Xavier Frederic, a Frenchman who has run a pizzeria in the village since 2005, and whose 20 tables were fully booked for the duration of the festival. The event’s organizer, Mehdi Ouhabbi, is seizing the opportunity to clean up Taghazout’s beaches and raise concerns about the environment. “In one day, we filled more than 200 bags of litter that we found on the beach,” he said, pointing to a pile of rubbish nearby, beneath which a trickle of waste water from the village flowed directly out onto the sandy shore.

“Running water arrived here three years ago, but there are no plans for water treatment facilities,” with the local authorities citing a lack of funds, Ouhabbi said. The waste water “smells bad and it makes the surfers’ eyes sting,” he said.

Ouhabbi admitted there was little hope the village would retain its laid-back surfers’ paradise character, pointing to plans for a vast hotel and golf complex in the area. A “surfers’ village” is also envisaged, with the government stressing that it wants to develop “sustainable tourism.” “At the beginning it was just a few hippies,” said Marco, a Frenchman who has lived in the area for 25 years. “But it could become big business, a new Cote d’Azur,” he added. — AFP

German actress Nastassja Kinski arrives for the screening of the film “Maniac” at the 65th Cannes film festival in this file photo. — AFP

Nastassja Kinski ‘proud’ of sister for revealing abuse

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ctress Nastassja Kinski said yesterday she was proud of her half-sister Pola for coming forward with allegations that she had been repeatedly raped by their father, the late German film icon Klaus Kinski. Pola Kinski, 60, said in a magazine interview ahead of the release of a memoir today that the mercurial actor, who died in 1991, had sexually abused her throughout her childhood. Nastassja Kinski, who achieved the Hollywood fame with films such as “Cat People” and “Tess” that eluded her father, wrote in the German daily Bild that she had wept when she read Pola’s account.

“My sister is a hero because she has freed her heart, her soul and thus her future from the burden of this secret,” the 51-year-old wrote. “I stand by my sister, I stand behind her. I am deeply horrified. But I am proud of the strength she has shown in writing this book.” Nastassja Kinski said she hoped the book would raise awareness of child abuse and encourage other victims to tell their stories.

“A book like Pola’s helps all children, youths and mothers who are afraid of fathers, who swallow their fear and hide everything away in their souls,” she said. “Just because someone calls himself a father, as in this case, does not mean that he is a father. The horror has taken place nevertheless. Even fathers do horrible things.” She added: “There is always help-all children should know that.” Nastassja Kinski, who lives in California, is the daughter of Kinski’s second wife Brigitte. Pola’s mother was his first wife, singer Gislinde Kuehbeck. Pola said Klaus Kinski, who was already notorious as a brilliant but tyrannical force in European cinema, began abusing her at the age of five and raped her for the first time when she was nine.

The assaults continued until she was 19, she alleged in an interview this week with Stern magazine. The volatile but prolific star of “Fitzcarraldo” and “Aguirre, the Wrath of God” and a frequent collaborator of German director Werner Herzog “ignored all protests” by his young daughter, she charged. “He just took what he wanted,” she said, adding that as a youngster, she lived in constant fear of his angry outbursts. She said she aimed to go public with her allegations to put a stop to the idolising of her famous father. “I was sick of hearing, ‘Your father! Great! Genius! I always liked him’,” she said. “Since his death, this adulation has only got worse.” — AFP

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

The Costa Concordia cruise ship lays agrounded by the port of the Italian island of Giglio.

The Costa Concordia cruise ship lays aground outside the port of the Italian island of Giglio. — AFP photos

Cruise ship ‘monsters’ stir discord in Venice

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year on from the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster, the luxury liners that ply the waters just in front of St Mark’s Square in Venice are stirring unease in the world-famous lagoon. The debate pits conservationists who are up in arms about the environmental damage caused by the giant ships against supporters who say they bring the city much-needed revenue from passengers. “It’s impossible that there could be another Concordia in Venice,” Massimo Bernardo, head of the Venice Cruise Committee, told AFP in an interview.

“An order from Venice coast guards states that two pilots and two tug boats have to be deployed during the maneuver as well as the captain,” he said. “In order for there to be an accident, everyone would have to go mad all of a sudden!” The ships regularly steer in close to the city’s most famous monuments in a “salute” manoeuvre similar to the one performed by the infamous captain Francesco

Schettino on the Costa Concordia. For all the assurances, the sight of cruise ships as tall as apartment blocks just a few meters from St Mark’s Basilica is an arresting one.”They’re a bit of a hassle,” said Mattia Florian, a 29-yearold water taxi driver.

“They really are too big to pass here but they bring a lot of tourists to Venice,” he said.

Official figures from the European Cruise Council show that the cruise industry brought some 536 million euros ($707 million) in revenue to Venice last year and employs 5,470 people in the city. The ECC also said that cruisegoers represent some 20 percent of the tourist traffic in the city, which has just 58,000 inhabitants but more than 20 million tourists visiting every year. “It’s clear that these resources are ever more necessary at a difficult time on the employment market,” said Roberto Perocchio, director of the Cruise Ship Passenger Terminal at the port.

“It’s very important to keep the economic

and social fabric of the city alive,” he said. One widespread fear among Venetians is that their city is well on the way to becoming a museum as residents are forced to leave to find jobs.

The arguments from cruise ship supporters fail to convince Cristiano Gasparetto, a local architect and campaigner for conservation group Italia Nostra who has taken a leading role against the cruises. He said the ships are “monsters” that disfigure his beloved city and they add an extra burden to the local budget because of the damage they cause.

“A ship of this size displaces a huge amount of water under the surface even when it is going slowly. That means that the quays along the lagoon constantly have to be renovated,” Gasparetto said. Gasparetto said the cruises also damage the foundations of ancient buildings and contribute to atmospheric pollution since even when they are docked they can produce the equivalent of emissions from 15,500 cars every day. “Cruise

ships are unaesthetic, polluting and destroy the ecosystem of the lagoon,” he said, adding that within a few years the waters of Venice will be unable to clean themselves as they do now.

Given Venice’s global status as an architectural treasure, the debate has foreigners riled up too. World cultural figures including Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk and US writer Bill Viola signed a petition to the Italian government in October asking for restrictions to be enforced. The signatories said they were “surprised and shocked” that a restriction imposed in March which banned ships of over 40,000 tons from entering the area around St Mark’s Square had been suspended. The ban on cruise ships sailing too close to the coast in Venice and in nature reserves was imposed after the shipwreck of the Costa Concordia.

The letter slammed “the increasing, invasive and uncontrolled presence of enormous cruise liners.” — AFP

Miss America contestant pursues double mastectomy

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Allyn Rose

in or lose today, Miss America contestant Allyn Rose will have conveyed a message about breast cancer prevention using her primary tool as a beauty queen: her body. The 24-year-old Miss DC plans to undergo a double mastectomy after she struts in a bikini and flaunts her roller skating talent. She is removing both breasts as a preventative measure to reduce her chances of developing the disease that killed her mother, grandmother and great aunt.

“My mom would have given up every part of her body to be here for me, to watch me in the pageant,” she said between dress rehearsals and preliminary competitions at Planet Hollywood on the Las Vegas Strip Wednesday. “If there’s something that I can do to be proactive, it might hurt my body, it might hurt my physical beauty, but I’m going to be alive.” If crowned, the University of Maryland, College Park politics major could become the first Miss America not endowed with the Barbie silhouette associated with beauty queens.

Rose said it was her father who first broached the subject, during her freshman

year of college, two years after the death of her mother “I said, ‘Dad I’m not going to do that. I like the body I have.’ He got serious and said, ‘Well then you’re going to end up dead like your mom.’ “She has pondered that conversation for the past three years, during which she has worked as a model and won several pageants, including Miss Maryland USA, Miss Sinergy and the Miss District of Columbia competition, which put her in the running for Saturday’s bonanza. With her angular face, pale blonde hair and watchful blue eyes, Rose is unusually reserved. She acknowledged that she comes off as more of an ice-queen than a girl next door.

“You have to block out everything and I think sometimes that makes me appear a little cold,” she said. “But it’s because I had to be my own mentor, I had to be my own best friend.” She measures her age by the time of her mother, Judy Rose’s, first diagnosis, at age 27. “Right now, I’m three years away,” she said. Judy had one breast removed in her 20s, but waited until she was 47 to remove the other one, which Rose’s father had called a ticking time bomb. “That’s when they found she had a stage three tumor in her

breast,” Rose said. “And that’s why for me, I’m not going to wait.”

She plans to have reconstructive surgery, but said the procedure has complications and there is no guarantee that she will regain her pageant-approved bust. Preventive surgery is a “very reasonable” choice for someone with Rose’s family history and a genetic predisposition, said Patricia Greenberg, Director of Cancer Prevention at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles. “I’ve seen young women have it done, and they have great peace of mind,” she said, adding that the alternative is repeated mammograms and physical exams, which detect but do not prevent cancer from developing.

The number of women opting for preventive mastectomies increased 10-fold between 1998 and 2007, as genetic testing and reconstructive surgery options improved, according to a 2010 study published last year in Annals of Surgical Oncology. Art McMaster, CEO of the Miss America Organization, called Rose an “incredible example” of strength and courage. —AP

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Photo shows the view of London, featuring St Paul’s Cathedral as seen from the 68th floor of “The Shard” in central London .

London’s

The Shard pierces skyline and skewers critics

T

he Shard-western Europe’s tallest skyscraperopens its viewing platform to the public on February 1, giving unrivalled views over London and defiantly snubbing critics of the gigantic tower. The 310-metre (1,017-foot) Shard has been described as too tall, too futuristic, too likely to cast its shadow over London’s historic monuments-and too costly at a time of austerity, even though 95 percent of its £450 million ($727 million, 548 million euros) cost has been financed by Qatar.

William Matthews, project architect for the gleaming, jagged-tipped building designed by Italian super-architect Renzo Piano, dismisses the critics. “The Eiffel tower was a building that was hated when it was built, and now it is much loved by the Parisians,” he said on a tour of the Shard. “These tall buildings-the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State building-they become symbols that people associate with their city.” For Matthews, it was crucial for the public to have access to the new skyscraper. “It’s not just a private building for a few exclusive people,” he said.

But visitors heading to the viewing decks between floors 68 and 72 will need deep pockets as well as a strong head for heights, with tickets costing £24.95 ($40, 30 euros) per adult. The relatively steep prices-another criticism frequently leveled at the Shard’s developers-have not deterred everyone, however. The attraction has taken tens of thousands of pre-bookings and hopes its high-speed elevators will carry up to 1.5 million people each year to the deck, which offers stunning 360-degree views from a height of 244 meters.

“It’s a natural starting point for exploring the UK’s capital,” Andy Nyberg, chief executive of The View from The Shard said. The attraction includes screens showing documentaries on the city’s history and inhabitants, as well as an introduction to British humor in the form of giant photo montages.

Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister known as the Iron Lady, is shown pedaling alongside her

philosophical nemesis Karl Marx on a tandem bicycle.

World War II premier Winston Churchill, meanwhile, appears in Union Jack-patterned shorts, his ever-present cigar clamped in his mouth. Passengers will rise at a speed of six meters a second to reach the viewing platforms-the highest of which is open to the elements-to strains of original elevator music recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra.

On a clear day, they will be able to see for 60 kilometers around-the River Thames snaking into the distance, along with famous landmarks including Big Ben, St Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace.

“It will feel like flying,” promises Piano, whose previous creations include the colorful Centre Pompidou art gallery in Paris. To the east, the city’s other recent

architectural additions-the Olympic venues dotted around an area that was previously one of London’s most deprived corners-join the futuristic skyscrapers of the financial district.

And just across the river, standing out from the mass of grey stone buildings with its ochre brickwork, sits the thousand-year-old Tower of London.

Though it is significantly shorter than Dubai’s 828metre Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, the top of the Shard often disappears into the clouds.

But organizers insist that even those whose visits coincide with a bout of London’s famous drizzle will be able to enjoy the view, using computerized telescopes showing earlier images of the city bathed in sunshine. Marketed as a “vertical city”,

A construction team carries out checks on the exterior of the 68th floor of “The Shard” in central London.

Media representatives look out at the mist-obscured view of London from the 68th floor of ‘The Shard’ in central London. Designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, ‘The Shard’, which is the tallest building in the European Union, stands at 309.6 meters high. — AFP photos

the Shard will be home to offices, luxury shops and restaurants, a five-star hotel and the highest residential properties in Britain. Developers estimate that the building will have some 8,000 inhabitants once fully occupied. From ground-level, the view of the tower itself is as striking as the one from its summit. Passers-by provide a telling indication of what the public thinks of the new building, says Piano. He likes to quote the advice of his compatriot and friend, the film-maker Roberto Rossellini: “Don’t look at the building-look at the faces of the people looking at the building.”— AFP

TECHNOLOGY SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Tech world crawling into the crib LAS VEGAS: One is never too young to be connected. The technology industry displaying its wares at the massive Consumer Electronics Show this week included a variety of products and apps aimed at the youngest audiences, even those unable to walk. The baby tech offerings featured accessories and apps marketed to parents as tools to help children learn at a very tender age. Fisher-Price was showing a bright plastic object with teething rings that doubles as an iPhone case. That makes it possible for a six-month-old to use the smartphone. “It’s a great learning tool,” said Julia Maher, marketing manager for infant toys at Fisher-Price, a unit of Mattel. “We see moms passing back their devices to occupy babies all the time.”

She said babies “like to turn pages” and can in fact interact with a mobile device.

For 18-month-olds, another device from the toymaker attaches to the iPad, giving toddlers another option to start a digital lifestyle. A tablet designed specifically for young children was on display at CES from the French company Lexibook. The colorful device, which can withstand the numerous drops expected from the young ones’ heavy usage, is designed for children from four to eight years old “but kids have

the ability to use this at age two,” said sales representative Robert Manlin.

These gadgets come on top of others such as the “tabeo” from retailer Toys “R” US designed for children, and released last year. Tactile screens make it a lot easier for

kids to go mobile, but some experts worry about prolonged exposure to these devices. Company officials argue, however, that parents know best the limits for their kids. “When I was young, people asked if kids watch too much TV,” said Bill Hensley,

LAS VEGAS: Journalists demoing the app seen at CES Showstoppers in Las Vegas, Nevada. Drip Drops debuts Color the World app turning a tablet into a 3d digital coloring book for preschoolers. — AP

Scientists urge end to limits on US gun safety research SAN FRANCISCO: Research restrictions pushed by the National Rifle Association have stopped the United States from finding solutions to firearms violence, more than a hundred scientists from virtually every major US university told Vice President Joe Biden’s task force on gun violence in a letter on Thursday. In the wake of the December school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, and other mass homicides, the group of economists, health researchers, educators, doctors and criminologists said funding should be restored to a range of study areas, from gun safety to tracking illegal guns.

President Barack Obama has asked Biden to head a task force to come up with gun policy proposals, and Biden was to meet with NRA representatives on Thursday. He said the task force will have recommendations ready for the president by Tuesday.

“While mortality rates from almost every major cause of death declined dramatically over the past half century, the homicide rate in America today is almost exactly the same as it was in 1950,” the academics wrote in a letter organized by scholars at the University of Chicago Crime Lab research center.

“Politically-motivated constraints” left the nation “muddling through” a problem that costs American society on the order of $100 billion per year, it said. The federal Centers for Disease Control has cut firearms safety research by 96 percent since the mid-1990s, according to one estimate. Congress, pushed by the gun lobby, in 1996 put restrictions on CDC funding of gun research into the budget. Restrictions on other agencies were added in later years.

The NRA, the main lobbyist for gun rights, has taken credit for the research halt. “These junk science studies and others like them are designed to provide ammunition for the gun control lobby by advancing the false notion that legal gun ownership is a danger to the public health instead of an inalienable right,” it said in 2011. Research into links between teenagers’ use of guns and alcohol, and firearm storage practices, were examples the gun rights group cited, arguing that the studies were meant to show gun ownership was a “disease.” The NRA did not respond to a request for comment ahead of the letter’s release.

‘ANTI-GUN PROPAGANDA’ A political fight over firearms research has waxed and waned for years. Public health researchers began digging into gun violence in the late 1980s as homicides surged. By 1996, the NRA and allies had concluded that the work was producing “anti-gun propaganda.” Congress in 1996 nearly cut the CDC budget by $2.6 million, the amount the agency spent on firearms research at the time, researchers say. The funds were later restored, but a restriction was added to the budget and remains. —Reuters

vice president for marketing at Wanderful, which was showing its apps and interactive books for kids at the CES in Las Vegas.

“Education is a big part of what we do.”

The new technology “helps children not only to learn to read, but also to love stories. It’s a gateway to real books,” he said. In some of the new interactive devices, children can find a word or image and figure out how to match them, or to make them move, part of key early learning skills, according to backers. “If the app is used properly, there’s no harm for kids to develop creativity or Internet skills early in the childhood,” said Steven Chu, chief operating officer of Canadian child mobile app maker ToonBoom.

Others note that tactile screens and apps can be especially beneficial for children with disabilities. Interbots has developed a system aimed at autistic children, allowing them to control a robot through a tactile screen. A therapist can also use the robot to speak, offering a new type of interaction for the children. “Children with autism like working with touchscreens, they’re a little more keen on interacting with a robot than with a parent or a therapist,” said Interbots chief technical officer Michael Knight. — AFP

Technology tackling thorniest problems ‘Digital health’ movement in focus at tech show LAS VEGAS: With an app, a game or a gadget, technology startups and major companies across all sectors are trying to tackle some of the thorniest problems in health and medicine. The Consumer Electronics Show is filled with new gadgets to monitor fitness, detect problems and find solutions to health issues ranging from obesity to diabetes to rare medical conditions. One trend is “gamification,” which uses a model from the video game industry to offer points and rewards to boost health and reduce costs.

At CES, the world’s biggest technology show, UnitedHealthcare unveiled a joint effort with Konami Digital Entertainment to reduce childhood obesity through a new dance game that challenges youngsters while monitoring things like body mass index and caloric burn rate. The program “adds game mechanics and game psychology to make the experience more engaging and immersing,” said Arianne Hoyland, game producer for the insurance giant.

Hoyland said the company has other programs such as using mobile apps to provide rewards to pregnant women to encourage prenatal visits. The women are given a gift certificate but if they receive the right care, “we can offset those costs and keep them healthier,” she said. “It turns out gamification of health really works,” said James McQuivey, analyst at Forrester Research. “People have a competitive urge, and this can bring new people into something. People want peer recognition, they want to outdo other people.”

James Fujimoto of the ANT+ Alliance, which includes some 350 firms that use

low-power devices for fitness devices, including many wearable ones, said gamification has grown into a “very big initiative that is very popular for training.

Another gamification example comes from HealthyWage.com, which partners with firms to offer a weight loss challenge for a group with a reward of $10,000. “This past year alone, we’ve seen a surge in businesses, healthcare companies and school districts seeking to offer weight loss programs that will better engage and excite the staff and, ultimately, more successfully achieve health and overriding fiscal program goals,” HealthyWage CEO David Roddenberry said in a statement.

Other firms are finding ways to use mobile apps to improve health care. The business software giant SAP has developed an app called “Care Circles” that allows a parent or other individual to manage health care with a multitude of specialists and others. The program, which has not yet been publicly marketed but is available for free, was developed by an SAP employee to coordinate care among several specialists for a child with a rare medical condition. “This gets around privacy concerns because the care is controlled by the guardian or individual,” said Rishi Diwan, a product manager at SAP who showed the app to CES visitors.

Diwan said the app can help people with special needs, and that the company is working with the Alzheimer’s Association and Breast Cancer Foundation to generate interest in the platform. As of now, the app is not part of any effort to generate revenue but “we are thinking about ways to work on electronic medical records,” he said. Other exhibitors at CES

showed exercise arm bands and other gadgets to track factors such as heart rates, or real-time monitoring of blood sugar for persons with diabetes. Another showed a digital fork that monitors caloric intake and vibrates if its user is eating too much too fast.

Some use low-power Bluetooth-connected patches to transmit data to a smartphone, a godsend for Bastian Hauck, a competitive sailor with type 1 diabetes who attended CES to promote the Continua Health Alliance for mobile wellness. Hauck said the Bluetooth patch he wears transmits to a smartphone and enables him to monitor glucose in real time, helping him determine the best eating and insulin intakes. He shares that information with other diabetics. Treating diabetes, Hauck said, “is like a guessing game. You have to do it 24/7. There is no rest.”

Although he could write down his readings, the wireless app “makes it easier” and provides extra motivation by being part of a community battling the same disease.

NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck showed CES a new skullcap from a company called MC10 that can fit under the helmet of a football player or other athlete and measure the impact of a collision, in an effort to better deal with concussions and similar injuries. “In the NFL, you get hit in the head a lot,” he said, adding that this is a major concern not only for professionals but for youth sports. “This doesn’t prevent a concussion but it’s another set of eyes on the athlete,” Hasselbeck added. “Our hope is that we can change the culture.”— AFP

TECHNOLOGY SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Schoolgirl loses ID locator chip battle CHICAGO: A federal judge has dismissed a Texas girl’s objection to locator chips in student ID badges at a public high school in a case that raises concerns about the erosion of privacy and civil liberties. Andrea Hernandez, 15, and her father told school officials they oppose the use of locator chips on religious grounds.

Officials at San Antonio’s Northside school district said they were willing to give her a chipless badge, but warned the straight-A student she would be expelled from her prestigious selective-enrollment school if she did not wear it.

Hernandez refused, saying the new badges are the “mark of the beast” and that to be made to wear one equates to forcing her to “fall in line” and endorse the program. Judge Orlando Garcia denied her request for an injunction preventing the district from sending her back to the neighborhood school in a 25-page ruling Tuesday.

“In today’s climate, one would be hard pressed to argue that the safety and security of the children and educators in our public school system is not a compelling governmental interest,” he wrote. “The accommodation offered by the district is not only reasonable, it removes plaintiff’s religious objection from legal scrutiny all together.” Her refusal to wear even a chipless badge was “clearly a secular choice, rather than a religious concern,” the judge added. Hernandez’s lawyers have vowed to appeal, arguing that requiring her to wear the badge equates to unconstitutional “forced speech” and that it isn’t a judge’s place to second guess someone’s religious views. “The issue in the case is whether or not people who disagree with these programs on religious or constitutional grounds can opt out,” said John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute civil liberties group helping Hernandez pursue the case. “I’m concerned about the country when we see this compliant complacency being forced on people.” Similar tracking programs are being implemented at schools across the nation. While they can help officials locate students in an emergency, Whitehead said the prime motive is money.—AFP

Intel urges end to online gender gap 21% of women in developing world use Internet WASHINGTON: More needs to be done to boost women’s and girl’s lagging online access, tech giant Intel Corp said in a report to be released later on Thursday that calls for doubling the number of female Internet users in developing nations over the next three years. The report, funded by the global chipmaker with input from the United Nations and US State Department, among others, points to stubborn gaps in women’s access to the Internet in Africa, the Middle East and other developing parts of the world.

It found women are nearly 25 percent less likely than men to be online in those regions, and called on policymakers and technology companies to take steps such as making it easier to access the Internet on mobile phones, allowing free mobile content and boosting digital literacy to shrink the gap. Surveys and interviews with more than 2,200 women and girls focused on four developing countries - Egypt, India, Mexico and Uganda - found that Internet access was critical for women to earn more money or search and apply for jobs.

“With the powerful capabilities the Internet enables - to connect, to learn, to engage, to increase productivity, and to find opportunities - women’s lack of access is giving rise to a second digital divide, one where women and girls risk being left further and further behind,” said Melanne Verveer, ambassador for global women’s issues at the State Department. Although the United States and other developed nations see fairly high levels of overall Internet access and usage among women, some gaps remain, mostly in rural areas or among the poor.

In the developing world, however, the gap is far wider. Just 11 percent of men and women in India have Internet access compared to 79 percent in the United States, said Shelly Esque, a vice president for the chipmaker and president of its educational foundation. Thursday’s report shows 600 million women in devel-

oping nations, or 21 percent, are online now, and another 450 million are expected to gain Internet access by 2016. But taking extra steps could help bring an additional 150 million women and girls online over the next three years, the report said.

GOOD FOR GLOBAL ECONOMY Esque pointed to the role technology played in the Arab Spring revolts, particularly in Egypt. “Information was such a powerful tool,” she told Reuters. “What would be the potential for a country like that if they were able to have more equal access? We need to work on that.”

A UN Human Rights Council resolution last year recognized the power of the Internet to spur progress and encouraged countries to promote and facilitate access to it. Still, many women surveyed by Intel cited barriers ranging from the belief that Internet use was not “appropriate” for them to the cost of getting connected. Illiteracy and lack of awareness about potential uses also were factors. Increased access would not only improve women’s lives but also boost the global economy, according to Intel’s report.

It would add between $50 billion and $70 billion in potential new market opportunities, the report said. It could also bring another $13 billion to $18 billion each year globally to the market value of goods and services - a measure known as gross domestic product or GDP. The findings by the Santa Clara, California-based company aim to encourage other technology companies, policymakers and nongovernmental groups to take steps to get more women and girls online, it said. “Without access to the Internet, women lack access to its tools, resources and opportunities,” the report said. “This gap disadvantages not just women, but their families, communities and countries.” — Reuters

Mock Mars trek finds down-to-Earth sleep woes WASHINGTON: Astronauts have a downto-Earth problem that could be even worse on a long trip to Mars: They can’t get enough sleep. And over time, the lack of slumber can turn intrepid space travelers into drowsy couch potatoes, a new study shows. In a novel experiment, six volunteers were confined in a cramped mock spaceship in Moscow to simulate a 17month voyage. It made most of the wouldbe spacemen lethargic, much like birds and bears heading into winter, gearing up for hibernation.

The men went into a prolonged funk.

Four had considerable trouble sleeping, with one having minor problems and the sixth mostly unaffected. Some had depression issues. Sometimes, a few of the men squirreled themselves away into the most private nooks they could find. They didn’t move much. They avoided crucial exercise.

“This looks like something you see in birds in the winter,” said lead author David Dinges, a sleep expert at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

The experiment was run and funded by Russian and European space agencies. A report on the simulation’s effect on the men was published online Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dinges said scientists can’t tell if the men’s lethargy was just lack of sleep or was also caused by other factors: the close quarters, lack of privacy with so many cameras or being away from their families for so long. It’s a problem that has to be fixed - and can be - before astronauts are sent to Mars, as President Barack Obama proposes for the mid-2030s, Dinges said. The trip to Mars, Earth’s closest neigh-

bor, would take about six months each way. The world record for continuous time in space - 14 months - is held by Dr. Valery Polyakov, who was on the Russian space station Mir in 1994 and 1995. American astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko are scheduled to

France. The data scientists collected wasn’t as rosy. Devices on the volunteers’ wrists measured their movements and showed that when they were asleep and awake they were moving much less than they should have been, an unexpected and disturbing finding, Dinges said. One of the six

This undated artist file photo rendering shows the twin Grail spacecraft mapping the lunar gravity field. — AP spend an entire year in space on the International Space Station, starting in 2015. When leaving confinement in November 2011, the six volunteers - three Russians, a Frenchman, an ItalianColombian and a Chinese - called their experience successful: “We can go forward and now plan to go to Mars and move confidently,” said volunteer Romain Charles of

volunteers - who were paid $100,000 to live in the mock spaceship with limited and time-delayed contact with the outside world - slept nearly half an hour less each night than he did when he started the mission, affecting how he went about his day, Dinges said.

The loss of sleep matters because astronauts will have to perform intricate tasks on

the way to Mars and while on the red planet. And they have to do vigorous exercises daily to fight the toll that near-zero gravity takes on the bones and other parts of the body. And most of the volunteers weren’t doing that. The Moscow study, based on the ground, couldn’t take into account the added difficulty of near-zero gravity.

Former astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who holds the American record for longest space mission, said he could relate to the study findings. During his 215 days in orbit on the space station, he sometimes had trouble getting back to sleep because he didn’t have a sense of lying down or having his head on a pillow.

The lack of sleep and lots of work caused him to sometimes nod off during the day, and the lack of gravity meant that when he fell asleep accidentally he would float away and awaken elsewhere in the station, he said. “It happened more than once, but I never thought it was a big deal. I thought it was amusing in a way,” LopezAlegria said in an interview. Excerpts from astronaut diaries in a NASA report show prevalent sleep problems, with space station residents talking about nodding off while typing and obsessing over getting too much or too little sleep. “I just need sleep,” one unidentified astronaut wrote.

“The morning started disastrously. I slept through two (wake-up) alarms... My body apparently went on strike for better working conditions,” wrote another. Jerry Linenger, a medical doctor and NASA astronaut who spent more than four months on the Russian space station Mir in 1997, said he watched cosmonauts fall asleep in midconversation. —AP

TV listings SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

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

Animal Cops Miami Into The Dragon’s Lair Untamed & Uncut Wildest Arctic Shark Attack File Monster Bug Wars 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

00:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson 01:00 Amanpour 01:30 World Sport 02:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 03:00 World Report 03:30 World Sport 04:00 Anderson Cooper 360 05:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 06:00 Quest Means Business 06:45 CNN Marketplace Africa 07:00 The Situation Room 08:00 World Sport 08:30 Cnngo 09:00 World Report 09:15 CNN Marketplace Africa 09:30 Backstory 10:00 World Report 10:15 CNN Marketplace Middle East 10:30 Business Traveller 11:00 World Sport 11:30 Mainsail 12:00 The Best Of The Situation Room 13:00 Amanpour 13:30 The Brief 14:00 World Report 14:30 Inside Africa 15:00 Talk Asia 15:30 Eco Solutions 16:00 World Report 16:30 Inside The Middle East 17:00 News Special

Monkey Life Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Natural Born Hunters The Really Wild Show Wildest Africa Wildest India Wildest Arctic The Animals’ Guide To Survival Speed Of Life Killer Whales Wildest Africa

00:00 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 01:20 Come Dine With Me 02:10 Antiques Roadshow 03:00 House Swap 03:45 Rhodes Across China 04:30 House Swap 05:15 Come Dine With Me 06:00 Antiques Roadshow 06:55 House Swap 07:40 Saturday Kitchen 2008/09 08:05 Antiques Roadshow 10:40 Vacation Vacation Vacation 11:30 Trish’s Mediterranean Kitchen 11:55 Rhodes Across The Caribbean 12:45 Rick Stein’s Mediterranean Escapes 13:35 Eating In The Sun 14:30 Come Dine With Me: South Africa 15:20 Bargain Hunt 16:05 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 17:25 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 18:45 Come Dine With Me: South Africa 19:40 Antiques Roadshow 22:10 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 23:00 Vacation Vacation Vacation 23:50 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials

00:00 Business Edition With Tanya Beckett 00:30 Football Focus 01:00 BBC World News America 02:00 BBC World News 02:30 Newsnight 03:00 BBC World News 03:10 Weekend World 03:30 BBC World News 04:10 Have You Heard From Johannesburg?

05:00 BBC World News 05:30 Horizons 06:00 BBC World News 06:10 The Art Of Spain 07:00 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 Weekend World 10:30 BBC World News 11:00 BBC World News 11:10 Football Focus 11:30 Horizons 12:00 BBC World News 12:10 BBC World News 13:00 BBC World News 13:10 World Features 13:30 Newsnight 14:00 BBC World News 14:10 Weekend World 14:30 Our World 15:00 BBC World News 15:30 Working Lives 16:00 BBC World News 16:15 Sport Today

THE WARLORDS ON OSN CINEMA 16:30 Fast Track 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 19:30 Our World 20:00 BBC World News 20:30 Final Score 21:00 BBC World News 21:30 Fast Track 22:00 BBC World News

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

Fast N’ Loud One Car Too Far Wheeler Dealers Mythbusters Border Security Auction Kings Property Wars How Stuff’s Made How It’s Made Sons Of Guns Mythbusters Magic Of Science Time Warp Is It Possible?

Great White Appetite Survivorman Animal Cops South Africa Flying Wild Alaska Fast N’ Loud Gold Rush Deadliest Catch Sons Of Guns Property Wars Property Wars Property Wars Auction Kings

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

Fish Hooks Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Handy Manny Suite Life On Deck A.N.T. Farm Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Fish Hooks Fish Hooks Good Luck Charlie Phineas And Ferb Jessie Austin And Ally A.N.T Farm Gravity Falls Princess Protection Program Phineas And Ferb Gravity Falls Jessie Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas And Ferb Prankstars Jessie A.N.T Farm Good Luck Charlie Phineas And Ferb Harriet The Spy: Blog Wars Prankstars Princess Protection Program Phineas And Ferb

20:25 20:50 21:15 21:40 22:05 22:55 Cody 23:20 Cody 23:45

Prankstars A.N.T. Farm Jessie Jessie Good Luck Charlie The Suite Life Of Zack And The Suite Life Of Zack And Stitch

00:00 Dirty Soap 00:55 Style Star 01:25 THS 02:20 THS 03:15 Behind The Scenes 03:40 Extreme Close-Up 04:10 E!es 05:05 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 A-List Listings 21:30 Fashion Police 22:30 E! News 23:30 Chelsea Lately

00:15 Heat Seekers 00:40 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 01:30 Heat Seekers 01:55 All Star Healthy Makeover 02:45 Andy Bates American Street Feasts 03:10 Andy Bates American Street Feasts 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 All Star Healthy Makeover 12:10 United Tastes Of America 12:35 Unwrapped 13:00 Iron Chef America 13:50 Tyler’s Ultimate 14:15 Andy Bates American Street Feasts 14:40 Everyday Italian 15:05 Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger 15:30 All Star Healthy Makeover 16:20 United Tastes Of America 16:45 Chopped 17:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 18:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 18:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 18:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 19:15 Andy Bates American Street Feasts 19:40 Tyler’s Ultimate 20:05 Guy’s Big Bite 20:30 Chopped 21:20 Iron Chef America 22:10 Iron Chef America 23:00 Chopped

00:45 Amish: Out of Order 01:40 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 02:05 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 02:35 On Surfari 03:00 On Surfari 03:30 Exploring The Vine 03:55 Exploring The Vine 04:25 Amish: Out of Order

05:20 Bondi Rescue: Bali 06:15 Dive Detectives 07:10 Departures 09:00 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 14:30 Amish: Out of Order 15:25 On Hannibal Trail 15:50 Finding Genghis 16:20 Departures 17:15 Treks In A Wild World 19:05 Bondi Rescue: Bali 20:00 Dive Detectives 21:00 Departures 22:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 22:55 Deadliest Journeys` 23:50 Deadliest Journeys

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

Monster Fish I, Predator Secret Brazil World’s Deadliest Animals My Dog Ate What?

Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy Insects From Hell Insects From Hell Hooked Fish Warrior Caught In The Act World’s Deadliest Animals Ultimate Animal Countdown Shark Men Dangerous Encounters Secret Brazil World’s Deadliest Animals The Incredible Dr. Pol Fish Tank Kings Animal Intervention Ultimate Animal Countdown Dangerous Encounters Secret Brazil World’s Deadliest Animals The Incredible Dr. Pol Fish Tank Kings

00:05 Empire Girls: Julissa And Adrienne 01:00 Empire Girls: Julissa And Adrienne 02:00 Videofashion News 02:25 Videofashion Collections 02:55 Big Rich Texas 03:50 Big Boutique In The City 04:20 Jerseylicious 05:15 Glam Fairy 06:10 Chicagolicious 07:05 The Amandas 08:00 Videofashion News 08:30 Videofashion News 09:00 Videofashion Daily 10:00 Videofashion Daily 10:55 Designer Marathon 11:50 Videofashion Collections 12:20 Videofashion Collections 12:50 Open House 13:20 Open House 13:50 Giuliana & Bill 14:45 Giuliana & Bill 17:35 How Do I Look?

18:30 How Do I Look?

19:25 Big Boutique In The City 19:55 Big Boutique In The City 20:25 Designer Marathon 21:20 Designer Marathon 22:15 Tia And Tamera 23:10 Tia And Tamera

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:15 10:15 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

The Ward-18 Fright Night-PG15 Battle: Los Angeles-PG15 The Green Hornet-PG15 Reign Of Fire-PG15 Batman: Year One-PG15 Barricade-PG15 Reign Of Fire-PG15 Unknown-PG15 Barricade-PG15 The Perfect Host-PG15 RoboCop-PG15

TV listings SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013 18:00 Vampires Suck-PG15 20:00 A Better Life-PG15 22:00 Straw Dogs-18 01:00 PG15 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

What’s Wrong With VirginiaToast-PG15 Quest For Zhu-PG Greener Mountains-PG What’s Wrong With Virginia The Warlords-PG15 The Hole-PG15 Fighting-PG15 Stolen Lives-PG15 Ceremony-PG15 No Strings Attached-18 The Ledge-18

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 04:00 Brothers 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Til Death 06:00 Samantha Who? 06:30 Seinfeld 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Brothers 08:30 Last Man Standing 09:00 Til Death 09:30 Samantha Who? 10:00 How I Met Your Mother 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Seinfeld 12:30 Brothers 13:00 Til Death 13:30 Samantha Who? 14:00 30 Rock 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

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

House Glee Damages Bunheads Breaking Bad Good Morning America Covert Affairs Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Smallville Covert Affairs House Glee Smallville Damages Live Good Morning America Emmerdale Coronation Street Burn Notice Criminal Minds C.S.I. Miami Strike Back Breaking Bad

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

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

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

Extract-PG15 The Dilemma-PG15 How Do You Know-PG15 The Bad News Bears (1976)-

00:30 02:30 04:15 06:30 09:00 11:15 13:00 14:45 17:00 18:45 21:00 23:00

The Butcher Boy-PG15 Fargo-18 World Trade Center-PG15 Seabiscuit-PG15 The Alamo-PG15 Page Eight-PG15 Soldier Love Story-PG15 The Alamo-PG15 Roger And Me-PG15 Sunshine State-PG15 The Roommate-PG15 Bloodworth-18

00:15 02:15 05:00 07:00 09:00 10:45 13:00 14:30 16:00

Black Forest-PG15 X-Men: First Class-PG15 Marley & Me: The Puppy Years Oceans-PG15 The Art Of Getting By-PG15 Hugo-PG Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2-PG Glee: The Concert Movie-PG15 The Art Of Getting By-PG15

Below The Beltway-PG15 Wayne’s World-PG15 How Do You Know-PG15 Little Fockers-PG15 Wayne’s World-PG15 Wayne’s World 2-PG15 The Trotsky-PG15 A Little Help-18

01:15 A Very Fairy Christmas-FAM 02:45 Crab Island-FAM 04:30 Rh+ The Vampire Of Seville-PG 06:00 A Very Fairy Christmas-FAM 08:00 The Ugly Duckling Goes On Holiday-FAM 10:00 Dolphin Tale-PG 11:30 Arrietty-FAM 13:00 Tom Tom & Nana-FAM 14:30 Crab Island-FAM 16:00 Snow Day-PG 18:00 Dolphin Tale-PG

00:15 00:45 02:30 03:00 11:00 14:00 14:30 16:30 17:30 18:00 18:30 21:30 23:30

ICC Cricket 360 Rugby Union Challenge Cup Inside The PGA Tour Live European PGA Tour Live Cricket Twenty20 ICC Cricket 360 Rugby Union Challenge Cup Trans World Sport Futbol Mundial ICC Cricket 360 Cricket Twenty20 Rugby Union Challenge Cup Trans World Sport

00:00 01:00 03:00 07:00 11:30 12:00 13:00 13:30

Trans World Sport WWE SmackDown UFC The Ultimate Fighter Dubai World Cup Carnival ICC Cricket 360 Trans World Sport Inside the PGA PGA European Tour Weekly

14:00 18:00 18:30 19:30 20:00 23:00

Live PGA European Tour Inside the PGA Trans World Sport NFL Gameday UFC Ultimate 100 Knockouts WWE SmackDown

02:30 Golfing World 03:30 Rugby Union European Challenge Cup 05:30 World Pool Masters 06:30 World Cup of Pool 07:30 ICC Cricket 360 08:00 Trans World Sport 09:00 Rugby Union European Challenge Cup 11:00 Inside the PGA Tour 11:30 PGA Tour 15:30 Inside the PGA Tour 16:00 ICC Cricket 360 16:30 Futbol Mundial 17:00 Rugby Union European

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 18:00 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

FRIGHT NIGHT ON OSN ACTION HD

01:10 02:45 04:35 06:10 07:55 09:25 11:05 12:30 14:05 15:35 17:05 18:30 20:05 20:20 22:00 23:25

Love, Cheat & Steal Toy Soldiers Easy Money Blood Oath Danger Island Dust Factory Ring Of The Musketeers Extreme Close-Up Love Or Money The Tempest Sleeper The Tenth Man Mgm’s Big Screen Molly Cohen & Tate Dressed To Kill

01:10 02:45 04:25 FAM 06:30 08:00 10:00 11:55 13:30 15:05 16:55 18:30 20:00 21:35 23:00

Torpedo Run-FAM To Have And Have Not-FAM The Unsinkable Molly Brown-

01:00 01:30 02:00 03:00 05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 11:00 13:00 15:00 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 Mud Men Pawn Stars American Restoration Ancient Aliens American Pickers Soviet Storm: WWII In The East Pawn Stars Ancient Aliens Ancient Aliens Storage Wars Storage Wars Pawn Stars Cajun Pawn Stars American Pickers Storage Wars Storage Wars

Forbidden Planet-FAM The Yellow Rolls-Royce-PG The Tender Trap-PG The Naked Spur-PG Torpedo Run-FAM An American In Paris-FAM Hotel Paradiso-PG Live A Little, Love A Little-PG Forbidden Planet-FAM Bad Day At Black Rock-PG Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid

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 09:10 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 12:40 The Amazing World Of Gumball 13:05 Adventure Time 13:30 Johnny Test 14:20 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 14:45 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 15:10 Total Drama Island 15:35 Total Drama Island 16:00 Level Up 16:25 Level Up

16:50 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 17:15 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 17:40 Young Justice 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

00:40 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 20:55 21:20 22:10 23:00

Disappeared Dr G: Medical Examiner The Haunted Evil, I Evil, I I Escaped Death Disappeared Dr G: Medical Examiner The Haunted Undercover 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 On The Case With Paula Zahn Stalked: Someone’s Watching Nightmare Next Door Couples Who Kill Blood Relatives

00:20 Little Einsteins 00:50 Special Agent Oso 01:15 Lazytown 01:40 Jungle Junction 02:10 Handy Manny 02:30 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 02:55 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 03:00 Lazytown 03:25 Special Agent Oso 03:50 Imagination Movers 04:15 Handy Manny 04:40 Special Agent Oso 05:00 Timmy Time 05:10 Lazytown 05:35 Little Einsteins 06:00 Jungle Junction 06:30 Little Einsteins 07:00 Special Agent Oso 07:15 Jungle Junction 07:45 Handy Manny 08:00 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 08:15 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 08:45 Doc McStuffins 10:45 Zou 11:00 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 11:15 Animated Stories 11:20 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 11:45 Art Attack 12:10 The Adventures Of Disney Fairies 12:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 13:00 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 13:10 Timmy Time 13:20 The Hive 13:30 Doc McStuffins 14:00 Zou 14:15 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 14:30 Mouk 14:45 Jungle Junction 15:00 Handy Manny 15:15 Animated Stories 15:20 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh

WHAT’S ON

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Embassy Information 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 online at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm.

UIS gives facelift to website

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nited Indian School has now given a complete facelift to its website www.uiskwt.com.

Just log on to keep abreast with the latest happenings on campus.

Whether you want to take a brisk walk or a casual stroll down our virtual corridors, we welcome you and wish you an enjoyable visit.

Some of the new features of the site are Students’ Corner, Staff Profiles, Academic and Sports Achievements etc.

The revamped site comes complete with an added e-portal giving details of marks records and student attendance. The school welcomes parents to navigate into the e-portal to keep a track of their wards’ academic performance and attendance.

EMBASSY OF CANADA The 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-im-enquiry@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.

EMBASSY OF CYPRUS In its capacity as EU Local Presidency in the State of Kuwait, the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus, on behalf of the Member States of the EU and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, would like to announce that as from 2nd October 2012 all Schengen States’ Consulates in Kuwait will use the Visa Information System (VIS). The VIS is a central database for the exchange of data on short-stay (up to three months) visas between Schengen States. The main objectives of the VIS are to facilitate visa application procedures and checks at external border as well as to enhance security. The VIS will contain all the Schengen visa applications lodged by an applicant over five years and the decisions taken by any Schengen State’s consulate. This will allow applicants to establish more easily the lawful use of previous visas and their bona fide status. For the purpose of the VIS, applicants will be required to provide their biometric data (fingerprints and digital photos) when applying for a Schengen visa. It is a simple and discreet procedure that only takes a few minutes. Biometric data, along with the data provided in the Schengen visa application form, will be recorded in the VIS central database.

Therefore, as from 2nd October 2012, first-time applicants will have to appear in person when lodging the application, in order to provide their fingerprints. For subsequent applications within 5 years the fingerprints can be copied from the previous application file in the VIS. The Cypriot Presidency would like to assure the people of Kuwait and all its permanent citizens that the Member States and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, have taken all necessary technical measures to facilitate the rapid examination and the efficient processing of visa applications and to ensure a quick and discreet procedure for the implementation of the new VIS.

SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS

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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

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

Art gallery

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xhibition by Ali Al-Noman at Tillal Gallery. An experience worth exploring. Opening Reception: January 20, 2013 @ 5:30pm Following Days: 10 am - 2 pm and 5:30 pm - 9 pm.

WHAT’S ON

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Jubilant winter carnival at ILOA

Announcements Shirva feast

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hirva Welfare Association Kuwait (SWAK) will be celebrating their Shirva Parish feast-2013 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 / gettogether 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.

Arabic courses

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inter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”

The advent of winter was celebrated pompously by the Learners own students and parents through a memorable winter carnival on 21st December 2012 with a tremendous back up from the administrators and the teaching and non- teaching fraternity. The event was unveiled by

the school’s sponsor Mr. Ebrahim Al Guraer, who extended a warm welcome to all the visitors from morning to night.

With her valuable presence the School Principal Sharma ensured the smooth running of the event.

The beautiful medley of mind luring items arranged in an attractive way tempted even the adults to try a hand.

The challenging game stalls, face painting, magic show, henna, thambola, inflators, baby show, talent show, lucky draw

and the spread of a sumptuous cuisine enticed all. The fantasia from the school music wing added flavor to the entire show. The school started the event and the public took the sole responsibility to turn it out into a mega success.

Rejuvenated, refreshed the Learners’ students were preparing themselves to enter another fabulous year dotting the calendar. They were able to pass on this refreshed feeling to all the distinguished visitors to the school that day.

Indian parliamentarian graced at Tamilosai event

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uwait Tamilosai Poet’s Association meeting was convened on 4th January 2013 in commemoration of Pongal.

Indian Independence Day, Farmer’s day and Milad-Un Nabi. Prominent Indian parliamentarian of Velur constituency Abdul Rahman graced the occasion as guest of honor along with Abdul Majid, the organizing secretary of Indian Union Muslim League. Dr. K. Kumar, the president of Tamizhosai welcomed the guests.

The meeting was presided over by the Tamilosai Secretary Vittukatti Mastan. As a special event, Poet. Sadik Basha chaired ‘Kaviarangam’. Allaudin, the advisor of Tamilosai briefed about the forthcoming mega cultural programme scheduled at Carmel School, on 1st February 2013.

Srinivasan presented the Tamilosai calendar 2013 to all the family members. The calendar was sponsored by Sadik Basha.

Tamilosai members including Messrs.

Anbazhakan, Sivakumar, Mannai Raja, Sathiyan, Gopal, Arif Maricar, Vidyasagar, Kavisai Sekar, Samsudin, Anbarasan, Manikandan, Manickam, Ilangai Ganesh, Portselvan, Gangesh, Ganesh, Ashok Kumar, Thayalan, Muthurarnalingam, Mubarak, Prahu, Suhramaniyan, Karthik, Balamurugan were participated in the programme.

More than a hundred people including sixteen families with their children and new members took part in the joyful event. The singers of Tamizhosai regaled the audience with their cheerful mellifluous voices with glorious cine songs. Tasty traditional Pongal meals were served to all the participants. The food and hall arrangements were sponsored

by Messrs Ajusudin and Kalipullah respectively. The audio system was arranged by the veteran musician of Tamizhosai Francis. The event concluded with vote of thanks by the Vice-President Anbazhakan followed by ‘Vazhiya Senthamizh’.

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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 understanding, and conducting business or simply to become more involved in the community. For more information or registration, please log-on to our website.

Charity show

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n the occasion of New Year Hangama 2013, which will be held tomorrow from 6:00 pm to 12:00 am at Carmel School, Khaitan. Rak Dance Academy is conducting dance competition in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi. The winners will be rewarded.

Goan Culinary Club

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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

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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 Al-Aqsa 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.

ICSK Khaitan wins at Islamic Festival

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he students of the Indian Community School Kuwait, Khaitan Branch, bagged the InterSchool Trophy at the Inter-School Islamic Festival, 2012 held at Najath Boysí School, Salmiya on Friday 23rd November 2012. Commendably, Mohammed Basit Habib of ICSK Khaitan won the Individual Championship trophy in the Senior category and Ayisha Wafia of ICSK, Khaitan clinched the Juniors Individual Championship trophy.

health & science SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Cancer studies downplay chemo side effects: Study Investigators go overboard to make studies look positive

US study finds increase in unused transplant livers WASHINGTON: The number of donor livers thrown away in the United States has increased since 2004 due in part to a population growing older and heavier, though changes in medical practice may also make some donor livers less viable, according to a US study.

“The rationale for looking at this question in the first place is that the number of liver transplants done in the U.S. has gone down,” said Eric Orman, the study’s lead author and a fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. To identify factors that might explain the trend, Orman and his colleagues used a national database of all organ donations beginning in late 1987 to see how many livers from donors of at least one organ were discarded, and why.

They found that the proportion of unused livers fell dramatically, from 66 percent in 1988 to 15 percent in 2004. But after that, the percentage of unused livers began to rise again, hitting 21 percent in 2010.

Between 1988 and 2010, about 107,000 donated their livers. Nearly 42,000 of these were after 2004. Of those post-2004 donations, about 33,900 livers were used and about 7,600 livers were not. When the researchers, who published their findings in the journal Liver Transplantation, looked at the differences between the livers that were used and those that weren’t, they found a few possible links. Specifically, livers from older, heavier and sicker patients were more likely to be thrown out between 2004 and 2010. “That wasn’t too surprising because a lot of those donors are more likely to have fatty livers,” said Orman. “Those livers are avoided because they can lead to worse outcomes after transplant.” The proportion of older, heavier donors also increased during the study period. Between 1988 and 2010, the average donor age rose by almost 10 years, and the proportion of donors who were over age 50 grew from 16 percent to 38 percent. — Reuters

Stephanie Dugger, 20, of Apache Junction, gets a flu shot from nurse Bhagwati Bhakta at Mollen Immunization Clinics in Scottsdale, Arizona on Thursday. Arizona health officials say flu activity is widespread in the US with influenza reported in 14 of its 15 counties. —AP

WASHINGTON: Doctors relying on studies published in top journals for guidance on treating women with breast cancer may not be getting the most accurate information, with the side effects of various treatments downplayed, according to a North American study. “Investigators want to go overboard to make their studies look positive,” said Ian Tannock, senior author of the study that appeared in the Annals of Oncology.

In two-thirds of the 164 studies that Tannock and his colleagues scrutinized, that meant not listing serious side effects, whether of chemotherapy, radiation or surgery, in the paper’s abstract. Such abstracts summarize the findings, and run a few hundred words.

That’s important, said Tannock, at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, because doctors have little time to read. “Most of us are so damn busy, we only read the abstract and skim the tables and figures,” he added.

In fact, a fifth of the studies didn’t include serious side effects in results tables, and about a third failed to men-

tion them in either the abstract or the discussion section.

Most surprising, said Tannock, was that in a third of the studies, if the treatment didn’t work as well as one might hope, researchers moved the goalposts, reporting results that weren’t what the study was originally designed to test.

Often, those so-called “secondary endpoints” may be less important and meaningful. There is a difference, for example, between showing people lived longer overall, or simply lived longer without their cancers coming back. Cancer research is not the only area where some researchers are concerned. In November, a group of cardiology journal editors urged authors to watch their language when describing their results, and a month earlier two pediatrics researchers warned of “spin and boasting” in their field’s journals.

Tannock, whose team analyzed reports of late-stage trials of the kind used by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to decide whether to approve drugs, said researchers “gain

more influence with positive studies.”

There are also various pressures on researchers to make their results look better than they really are, he added, including from the drug companies that often sponsor trials. But in his study, who paid for a study didn’t have any relationship with how the results were presented.

Scientists may also spin their results to increase their chances of publishing in the top journals surveyed by the study. Such marquee publications can improve the chances for tenure, promotion and grants.

One of the journals whose studies Tannock and his colleagues looked at, the New England Journal of Medicine, declined to comment, saying they don’t typically comment on other studies. Another, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, could not provide a comment by deadline.

Journals can help, Tannock said, by insisting that authors include serious side effects in abstracts.

“Even in 250 words, everybody can get that in there,” he said. — Reuters

Mexico City steps up dog neutering drive MEXICO CITY: Hundreds of Mexico City residents brought poodles, labradors and chihuahuas to mobile sterilization units Thursday as the city stepped up a campaign to reduce the number of street dogs after a string of deadly attacks.

The capital renewed calls for residents to spay or neuter their pets after prosecutors said stray dogs mauled four people to death, and perhaps a fifth victim, in a city park in the past two weeks.

The killings have shocked many in the capital, home to 1.2 million dogs, including tens of thousands of stray dogs that roam free. Animal rights activists have voiced doubts that the dogs were to blame in a country torn by runaway crime, but prosecutors insist that only canines could have caused such carnage, with bones exposed and body parts bitten off.

Animal control officers rounded up 54 dogs from the park in the borough of Iztapalapa this week after the mutilated bodies of a woman and her baby as well as a teenage couple were found. Prosecutors suspect that a fifth person, a 15-year-old girl, was the first victim back on December 16.

Prosecutors are conducting DNA tests to find the culprits but they say the dogs will be handed to animal rights organizations. Hoping to control the animal population, the city brought 25 mobile surgical units to a soccer pitch in the impoverished Golondrinas district, where dog and cat owners clutched their pets as they took them in for the free 40minute procedure. A lab puppy barked at a cocker spaniel while a

poodle feeling the effects of anesthesia vomited on the artificial turf. A veterinarian reassured people under a tent that their beloved pets would be okay.

The mobile units are part of a permanent campaign called “Be a Responsible Owner” to convince residents to sterilize their dogs, but city officials said they were intensifying the program following the deadly dog attacks. The sterilization program will focus in areas with high dog populations. Maricarmen Zamora, 23, and Yenifer Moreno, 17, brought three of their five female dogs to be spayed. “There are already a lot of abandoned and mistreated dogs and we don’t want to see more,” said Zamora, holding the leash of two-month-old lab Candy.

But like many pet owners in this city, where people either love dogs or throw them in the street, the pair doubted that man’s best friend could murder people. — AFP

MEXICO CITY: A veterinarian performs a sterilization surgery on a dog in mobile modules at Las Golondrinas neighborhood in Mexico City on Jan 10. The local government started a sterilization campaign for stray dogs and cats. — AFP

Heart attack pattern shifted after Katrina Heart attacks are usually most common on weekdays and mornings, especially Mondays, but the pattern reversed in New Orleans after it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, according to a US study.

“The fact that it’s such a polar opposite shift is really surprising,” said lead author Matthew Peters at Tulane University in New Orleans. After the 2005 storm, the overall number of attacks tripled, likely due to an increased number of smokers. Attacks were more likely on weekday evenings and weekends, according to data published in the American Journal of Cardiology.

Before the hurricane, 23 percent of heart attacks happened on Mondays, in line with national averages. This fell to 10 percent after the storm, less than on any other day of the week.

Previous research has attributed the usual excess of Monday and morning heart attacks to work stress, which also peaks on Monday and in the morning, but researchers were puzzled to find the pattern reversed after Katrina.

“Studies before have looked at the overall increase in (heart attack) after disasters, like the earthquake in Japan and Katrina, but this is the first time we’ve looked at the timing,” Peters said.

If the result holds up after further study, the authors offer a tentative explanation: sources of stress change in a city following a major disaster. — Reuters

health & science SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

CLASSIFIEDS SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

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Duhr:

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Asr:

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Maghrib:

17:09

Isha:

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information SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 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 UAE ETD OMA QTR PIA FDB MSR DHX THY JZR JZR KAC JZR BAW KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC UAE KAC ABY QTR FDB ETD GFA BAB JZR IZG MSC MSR UAE IRM KAC JZR FDB KNE KAC SVA QTR JZR KAC IZG KAC KNE QTR IRC SVA JZR JZR KAC UAE SYR JZR ETD RJA GFA SVA JZR QTR ABY UAL KAC KAC JZR RBG

Arrival Flights on Saturday 12/1/2013 Flt Route 574 MUMBAI 413 AMSTERDAM 772 ISTANBUL 267 BEIRUT 539 CAIRO 148 DOHA 441 LAHORE 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 643 MUSCAT 138 DOHA 239 ISLAMABAD 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 344 CHENNAI 855 DUBAI 362 COLOMBO 121 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 436 BAHRAIN 165 DUBAI 4161 MASHAD 401 ALEXANDRIA 610 CAIRO 871 DUBAI 1190 MASHAD 382 DELHI 325 NAJAF 57 DUBAI 472 JEDDAH 672 DUBAI 500 JEDDAH 140 DOHA 257 BEIRUT 788 JEDDAH 4175 TEHRAN 284 DHAKA 470 JEDDAH 134 DOHA 6692 MASHAD 2056 JEDDAH 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 3553 ALEXANDRIA

Time 0:30 0:30 0:35 0:45 0:50 1:00 1:30 1:45 1:50 2:35 2:45 2:50 3:01 3:05 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 11:20 11:45 12:00 12:45 12:50 12:50 12:55 13:00 13:50 14:10 14:15 14:30 14:45 14:50 14:55 15:00 15:10 15:10 15:30 15:50 15:55 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 18:20

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

438 63 4167 405 176 618 104 674 774 607 562 647 61 572 389 618 189 129 146 462 229 474 402 136 221 307 859 370 135 576 59 415 786 975 239 217 502 185 614 981 43 636

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

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

Departure Flights on Saturday 12/1/2013 Flt Route 976 GOA/CHENNAI 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 637 FRANKFURT 573 MUMBAI 413 AMSTERDAM 283 DHAKA 442 LAHORE 621 ADDIS ABABA 773 ISTANBUL 381 DELHI 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 644 MUSCAT 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 240 SIALKOT 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 54 DUBAI 156 LONDON 256 BEIRUT 534 CAIRO 101 LONDON 787 JEDDAH 324 AL NAJAF 671 DUBAI 122 SHARJAH 537 SOHAG 856 DUBAI 56 DUBAI

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 21:40 21:50 21:55 22:00 22:05 22:25 22:30 22:45 22:50 23:00 23:05 23:15 23:25 23:45 23:55

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

ETD QTR GFA JZR BAB KAC KAC JZR JZR MSC IZG MSR JZR UAE IRM FDB KAC KAC KNE KAC SVA JZR KNE QTR IZG KAC IRC KAC KAC SVA 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 KAC KNE KNE DHX ALK MEA ETD QTR GFA KAC DHX FDB JZR UAE JAI KAC KLM QTR GFA KAC

302 133 214 356 437 541 165 776 786 406 4162 611 176 872 1191 58 561 673 473 617 505 188 461 141 4176 773 6693 785 501 9305 238 304 342 538 135 858 641 216 184 511 128 266 145 3554 134 982 64 439 402 4168 613 62 604 648 331 571 120 607 351 543 471 475 171 230 403 308 137 222 301 371 60 554 860 575 205 415 147 218 411

ABU DHABI DOHA BAHRAIN MASHHAD BAHRAIN CAIRO ROME JEDDAH RIYADH SOHAG MASHHAD CAIRO DUBAI DUBAI MASHHAD DUBAI AMMAN DUBAI JEDDAH DOHA JEDDAH DUBAI MADINAH DOHA IMAM KHOMEINI RIYADH MASHHAD JEDDAH BEIRUT JEDDAH 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 CAIRO JEDDAH JEDDAH BAHRAIN COLOMBO BEIRUT ABU DHABI DOHA BAHRAIN MUMBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI ALEXANDRIA DUBAI KOCHI ISLAMABAD DAMMAM DOHA BAHRAIN BANGKOK

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

10:05 10:30 10:40 10:45 10:50 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 16:15 16:25 16:50 16:55 17:05 17:10 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 22:40 22:45 22:50 22:55 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:50 23:55

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Word Search

Yesterdayʼs Solution

C R O S S W O R D 6 7

ACROSS 1. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits.

4. (physiology) Especially of muscles.

12. The tenth month of the Hindu calendar.

15. A self-funded retirement plan that allows you to contribute a limited yearly sum toward your retirement.

16. (of persons) Seized and detained unlawfully, often for ransom.

17. (British) A title of respect for a member of the English gentry ranking just below a knight.

18. Of or relating to a directionless magnitude.

20. Not elegant or graceful in expression.

21. (Babylonian) The sky god.

22. West Indian tree having racemes of fragrant white flowers and yielding a durable timber and resinous juice.

23. 100 toea equal 1 kina.

25. Framework for holding objects.

27. 1 species.

29. Interface consisting of a standard port between a computer and its peripherals that is used in some computers.

32. One or some or every or all without specification.

34. A rare silvery (usually trivalent) metallic element.

35. Type genus of the family Tridacnidae.

37. The syllable naming the first (tonic) note of any major scale in solmization.

42. The shape of a raised edge of a more or less circular object.

43. A soft white precious univalent metallic element having the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal.

44. A medieval hood of mail suspended from a basinet to protect the head and neck.

46. (Old Testament) The second patriarch.

48. Coming next after the fourth and just before the sixth in position.

51. Primitive chlorophyll-containing mainly aquatic eukaryotic organisms lacking true stems and roots and leaves.

52. Disgustingly dirty.

53. Inflexibly entrenched and unchangeable.

54. A radioactive transuranic element produced by bombarding plutonium with neutrons.

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

58. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

61. Covered with frost.

63. Any of the short curved hairs that grow from the edges of the eyelids.

64. Lower in esteem.

68. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods.

71. Greek mythology.

72. A hormone produced by the anterior pituitary gland.

73. A large estate in Spanish-speaking countries.

75. (of champagne) Moderately dry.

76. Perennial herb of East India to Polynesia and Australia cultivated for its large edible root yielding Otaheite arrowroot starch.

77. A great raja.

78. A transuranic element.

DOWN 1. (computer science) A kind of computer architecture that has a large number of

Daily SuDoku

instructions hard coded into the cpu chip.

2. Type genus of the family Arcidae.

3. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.

4. Jordan's port.

5. English theoretical physicist who applied relativity theory to quantum mechanics and predicted the existence of antimatter and the positron (1902-1984).

6. A doctor's degree in religion.

7. Any division of quantity accepted as a standard of measurement or exchange.

8. The transparent covering of an aircraft cockpit.

9. A fencing sword similar to a foil but with a heavier blade.

10. A small Asian country high in the Himalayas between India and Tibet.

11. (astronomy) A measure of time defined by Earth's orbital motion.

12. Relating to or resembling or made of or adorned with pearls or mother-of-pearl.

13. Widely distributed lichens usually having a grayish or yellow pendulous freely branched thallus.

14. Short and fat.

19. Long-winged web-footed aquatic bird of the gull family.

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

26. Valuable fiber plant of East Indies now widespread in cultivation.

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

30. An unstable situation of extreme danger or difficulty.

31. East Indian silk cotton tree yielding fibers inferior to kapok.

33. Medium-sized tree having glossy lanceolate leaves.

36. With playful slyness or roguishness.

38. United States biochemist (born in Spain) who studied the biological synthesis of nucleic acids (born in 1905).

39. South African plant widely cultivated for its showy pure white spathe and yellow spadix.

40. A roll of tobacco for smoking.

41. A group of biological taxa or species that share features inherited from a common ancestor.

45. Tropical American feather palm having a swollen spiny trunk and edible nuts.

47. Inability to coordinate voluntary muscle movements.

49. A painter who applies a finishing coat.

50. Parasitic nematode occurring in the intestines of pigs and rats and human beings and producing larvae that form cysts in skeletal muscles.

56. God of the Ammonites and Phoenicians to whom parents sacrificed their children.

57. Any of various spiny trees or shrubs of the genus Acacia.

59. A member of the Siouan people formerly living in the Missouri river valley in NE Nebraska.

60. The capital and largest city of Yemen.

62. The basic unit of money in Peru.

65. (Akkadian) Father of the gods and consort of Tiamat.

66. Witnessed at first hand.

67. (used of count nouns) Every one considered individually.

69. A unit of electrical resistance equal to the resistance between two points on a conductor when a potential difference of one volt between them produces a current of one ampere.

70. The cry made by sheep.

74. A person who announces and plays popular recorded music.

Yesterdayʼs Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

SPORTS

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Is ND’s Kelly latest rent-a-coach?

NEW YORK: Coaches bailing out on their teams is nothing new. Neither is saying one thing and doing the opposite. It’s practically an occupational hazard. In the past few weeks, more than a half-dozen pulled that surprise on their teams between the end of the regular season and before the bowl game that was supposed to be their reward. In other sports, a few have departed right after winning a championship. Even so, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly may have taken insincerity to a new level.

Kelly apparently sat for an interview Tuesday with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles. That was roughly a year after Notre Dame signed him to a two-year extension and promised to begin dis-

cussing a raise and yet another extension. And just four days after Kelly called his “the best job in the country” and added, “Leaving is not an option. I don’t even think about it.”

Now fast forward to the early hours of Tuesday morning, moments after Alabama crushed Notre Dame 42-14 in the BCS championship game, and an exchange between Kelly and a reporter in the interview room. The questioner asked Kelly “how optimistic” he was about making big strides in the Irish passing game, since both sophomore receiver DaVaris Daniels and freshman quarterback Everett Golson were coming back with plenty of valuable experience under their belts. Kelly pretended

to panic. He began his answer, “Well, if Everett would come back for another year,” and then turned to face Golson.

For a second, it was hard to tell whether Kelly was still acting. “Are you coming back?” he asked. “Yeah,” Golson said after a brief silence, playing along. “I’m coming back.”

Kelly’s role as a straight man doesn’t seem quite as funny today as it did at the moment. Especially since he answered a handful of questions on either side of that routine with statements like “now it’s pretty clear what we need to do to get over the top” and “as we move forward” and “we’re all going to learn” and so on. Because just a few hours later, while talking to the Eagles, it’s a safe bet

that Kelly used the word “I” a lot more than he did “we.”Of course, Kelly is free to explore job opportunities, same as anybody else. He might genuinely be interested in testing his skills at the highest level of the game, or simply looking for leverage when he sits down soon after his vacation this week to talk about a new contract. Yet neither Kelly nor athletic director Jack Swarbrick needed reminding what happened after Notre Dame, responding to rumors that thenfirst year coach Charlie Weis was being contacted about a return to the NFL, doubled Weis’ original five-year deal. But only one of them is interested in making sure the school doesn’t make a mistake that expensive again. — AP

View of post-quake Haiti, on the run

MADRID: Movistar’s Costa Rican rider Andrey Amador (left) and Spanish rider Jesus Herrada pose during the Movistar Cycling Team presentation in Madrid. —AFP

Movistar eye Grand Tour glory in 2013 MADRID: Spanish team Movistar set their sights on Grand Tour glory in 2013 under the leadership of resurgent climber Alejandro Valverde as they unveiled their new team line-up yesterday.

“With a leader like Alejandro we can only think about podium finishes in the Grand Tours and that is what we are betting on,” said the team’s manager Eusebio Unzue.

Valverde, who won the Tour of Spain in 2009 and came second in 2012 after returning from a two-year ban for doping, said the team would go all out in the Tour de France, in which he won the last mountain stage in 2012.

“We are going to give everything in that” in 2013, he said at Friday’s presentation. “Then there is the Vuelta and the World Championship, which is very hard, but we will see whether any of these aims turns out well and we can achieve something.”

To help Valverde and fellow team stalwarts such as Pablo Lastras, Juan Jose Cobo and Jose Joaquin Rojas do so, the team presented five new riders including Eros Capecchi, a 26-year-old Italian who has ridden five times in the Giro d’Italia.

Other stars retained in the team are Andrey Amador, 26, who won a stage in the Giro last year and Portuguese rider Rui Costa who finished 18th overall in the Tour de Franceahead of Valverde in 20th.

Polish mountain veteran Sylvester Szmyd, 34, joined from team Italian Liquigas and Argiro Ospina, 21, from Colombia, joined his countryman Nairo Quintana, Movistar’s surprise discovery last year. —AFP

PORT-AU-PRINCE: Six days a week, the rail-thin athlete sets off at daybreak, his neon-green running shoes glowing in the grey light of dawn. It’s hard not to notice Astrel Clovis. He’s one of the only runners ever seen in Port-au-Prince, where there are few sidewalks, let alone bike lanes, and major thoroughfares seemed more pothole than road even before disaster struck this city three years ago.

Like virtually all Haitians in the capital of 3 million, the runner’s life was disrupted by the catastrophic earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010. But a month later he was back on the streets, resuming his routine along with the rest of the country. His daily run is a tour of a capital on a slow mend, a jaunt past what has been accomplished so far and what remains to be done.

Clovis starts in the hills above downtown, donning his running shorts and second-hand shoes inside a plywood shed that passes for home on a ledge that overlooks a ravine in Petionville.

Outside, Clovis winds his way through an obstacle course of stray dogs and pecking chickens, parents escorting uniformed school children, sagging trucks, and swerving drivers.

For all the hardship tied to this capital and country, running long distances has helped the 42-year-old mechanic reclaim a measure of hope. “Running,” Clovis says, “is a continuation of life.”

Clovis has run the hills and streets of Port-au-Prince for the past 10 years. He decided to take the sport seriously after he entered a race in downtown Port-au-Prince on a whim - and won.

“That is what pushed me to run,” he says in his native Creole. “I felt special.”

Clovis, a serious, church-going man, isn’t one for small talk. He repairs generators, an important skill in a city that still lacks reliable power much of the time. He brings in a little extra cash running 5 or 10 K races, so compared to his neighbors, he’s relatively well off.

He pays $475 for two-years rent on his one-bedroom shed, one of thousands of temporary shelters aid groups built after the quake-that were then

claimed by “landlords” who charge for them. His fiance will join him there in March, when the couple will get married. As Clovis starts to run, he trots past some of the remaining encampments that sprouted throughout the city after the earthquake and still house nearly 360,000 people. He ignores the choking charcoal smoke of cooking fires that starts to fill the air.

He passes the Royal Oasis, a towering hotel and shopping center that a local business magnate began building before the earthquake, and is now finished thanks to an investment of $2 million from a foundation created by former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

He checks his watch. Clovis typically runs a 7-and-a-half-minute mile, his breathing easy and his stride smooth.

Before the quake, he shared a threebedroom house with his aunt and cousins, and dreamed of running his first marathon.

The quake destroyed that house, along with about 100,000 homes across the capital and southern Haiti.

The government put the death toll at 316,000, but no one knows how many people died. Clovis was lucky. He didn’t lose any relatives, or close friends - or

his marathon dreams. In a country where good health is a luxury, running keeps Clovis strong. He clocks about 75 miles (120 kilometers) a week. Five minutes into his run, he sees several new shops that serve the wealthy Haitians and foreigners who live in Petionville. One recent arrival is an Irish pub, serving pints of Guinness for $8 out of reach for the 70 percent of the population that gets by on $2 a day or less. Sloping down the mountain on John Brown Boulevard, Clovis passes the turnoff to the Hotel Montana, which collapsed during the quake, killing nearly 70 people. It has since reopened. A side road leads to what was once the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping mission, a former hotel that pancaked to the ground. More than 100 died in the heap of twisted steel and dusty concrete, the highest death toll for a single incident in the history of the world body. There is a vacant lot there now. Governments around the world have spent about half of the $5.3 billion pledged for Haitian reconstruction. Most of the rubble is gone; there are two new sewage treatment plants north of the capital and a few homes; the US built a new parliament building. — AP

HAITI: In this Jan. 7, 2013 photo, Astrel Clovis, a 42-year-old marathon runner, trains in the early morning in Petionville, a suburb of Port-auPrince. —AP

SPORTS

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

MLB, players agree to expand drug testing NEW YORK: Major League Baseball and the players’ union have agreed to expand their drug program to include random in-season blood testing for human growth hormone and a new test for testosterone, they said on Thursday. The advanced testing will start this season, in what will be the sternest doping program in major North American professional sports.

“This agreement addresses critical drug issues and symbolizes Major League Baseball’s continued vigilance against synthetic human growth hormone, testosterone and other performanceenhancing substances,” MLB commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement.

The new steps moved baseball well ahead of the National Football League (NFL), which does not test for HGH or have a similar test for testosterone. The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) challenged the NFL Players’ Association (NFLPA) to follow suit in agreeing to such tests. “This is a strong statement

by the players and the league not only confirming the scientific validity of the HGH blood test and the benefit of longitudinal testing, but also the importance of clean athletes’ rights and the integrity of the game,” USADA said in a statement.

“This agreement, following the recent Congressional hearings on testing in the NFL, leaves no reason for the NFLPA not to step up and implement the same to give its players an equal level of protection and confidence that they deserve a level, drug-free playing field in the NFL.” Michael Weiner, executive director of the MLB Players’ Association, said Major League players supported the expanded program. “Players want a program that is tough, scientifically accurate, backed by the latest proven scientific methods, and fair,” said Weiner in a statement. “I believe these changes firmly support the players’ desires while protecting their legal rights.” The

announcement came one day after the players’ union criticised results of the balloting for the Baseball Hall of Fame, in which no one received enough votes for enshrinement in what appeared to be a referendum on widespread doping during what has become known as the game’s ‘Steroids Era’. All-time home run king Barry Bonds and seven-time Cy Young winning pitcher Roger Clemens, have playing records that would have ordinarily made them certain Hall of Famers. But both players have been linked to performance enhancing drugs and punished by voters, receiving about half the ballots required for election. Major League Baseball, striving to remove the stain of doping, was the first major sport in the United States to test for HGH in an agreement with the union in November 2011.

MLB has been conducting random blood testing for the detection of HGH among minor league players since July 2010 and had previously been testing

major leaguers during spring training and off-season. To detect testosterone use, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited Montreal laboratory will establish a program in which a player’s baseline testosterone/epitestosterone (T/E) ratio and other data will be maintained in order to enhance its ability to detect use of the drug and other banned substances.

Christiane Ayotte, the Director of the Montreal Laboratory, praised the steps baseball has taken. “The addition of random blood testing and a longitudinal profiling program makes baseball’s program second to none in detecting and deterring the use of synthetic HGH and testosterone,” she said in a statement.

Doping in baseball has not disappeared. In the last year, Melky Cabrera of the San Francisco Giants, who was leading the league in batting average, and Oakland A’s pitcher Bartolo Colon tested positive for testosterone and were suspended. — Reuters

Oosthuizen snatches lead

HONOLULU: Graham DeLaet of Canada hits a tee shot on the 17th hole during the first round of the Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club. —AFP

Ambitious Piercy in contention at Hawaii HAWAII: Scott Piercy took an encouraging step forward in his aim of becoming a multiple PGA Tour winner this year by charging into contention in the opening round of the Sony Open in Hawaii on Thursday.

The long-hitting American fired a flawless six-under-par 64 on the tight, tree-lined layout at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu to finish level with South African Tim Clark, two strokes behind pacesetting rookie Scott Langley. Russell Henley, like fellow American Langley launching his maiden season on the US circuit, started out with an eight-birdie 63 to trail by just one after a breezy, mainly overcast, day. Piercy, who tied for 13th at the PGA Tour’s windswept season-opening Tournament of Champions at Kapalua on Tuesday, was delighted with his improved putting at Waialae.

“I struck the ball well last week but I didn’t feel like I rolled the ball well putting,” the 34year-old American told reporters after recording three birdies either side of the turn. “I made a couple of little changes and I rolled it better today.

“The wind wasn’t even blowing today compared to last week,” said Piercy, referring

to the continual gusts of over 40mph (64.4 kph) which prevented play over the first three scheduled days at Kapalua. “I just played solid today, hit it in a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens, made two fairly key putts and took care of the par fives.”

Piercy, who won his second PGA Tour title at last year’s Canadian Open, has set his sights on at least doubling his career tally of wins on the US circuit by the end of 2013.

“You always want to win and for it to be a good year, I think I have to win more than once,” he said. “Obviously a major is a goal.

“When you’re first out here you feel like you’re always on the defensive so you don’t lose your (tour) card, where now I feel like I can be aggressive to see how good I really can be.” Langley, who earned his 2013 PGA Tour card after finishing joint 17th at the qualifying school, was still pinching himself after compiling a superb round that included six birdies and an eagle at the ninth.

“To go bogey-free my first event as a full member of the Tour ... wow!” the 23-year-old smiled. “I was pretty nervous starting out, and kind of settled down after three or four holes. — Reuters

DURBAN: South African Louis Oosthuizen birdied the final hole to take a one-shot lead after two rounds of the Volvo Golf Champions tournament at Durban Country Club yesterday.

The former British Open champion birdied eight holes-five on the front nine and three on the journey back-and did not drop a shot for a 64 and a halfway 132 total.

Oosthuizen is one stroke ahead of Scott Jamieson and first round leader Thongchai Jaidee. The Scot also returned a 64 over the 6,111-metre course while the Thai had a 68, three shots more than he took Thursday.

There is a six-shot gap between the leader and those tied for fourth place on 139 — Dane Thomas Bjorn, Julien Quesne of France, Scot Paul Lawrie, Danny Willett of England, Indian Jeev Milkha Singh and Shane Lowry of Ireland.

Reigning British Open champion Ernie Els of South Africa, Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts and Francesco Molinari of Italy are a stroke further back in the 33-man field.

Defending champion Branden Grace of South Africa, winner of five European Tour events last season, atoned for a disappointing opening 75 with a 67 that placed him on 142, nine strokes behind the leader.

Oosthuizen finished the outward nine strongly with three consecutive birdies and had two more on 17 and 18 in a round notable for good recovery shots from the rough after only seven of his 14 tee shots found the fairways.

Jamieson seems to enjoy the Indian Ocean city as he won the Nelson Mandela Championship-shortened to two rounds by torrential rain-at another Durban course last month..

Birdies at two, three and four got his round off to a flying start and two more enabled the Scot to turn in 31 before the only slip, a bogey five at 10, was followed by another four birdies.

An eagle three at the eighth was the highlight for ex-paratrooper Thongchai, who also had three birdies and a bogey as he pursues a sixth European Tour title.

Former victorious Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie of Scotland had a round to forget with his 78 including six bogeys and one double bogey and he lies second last, two shots ahead of Portuguese Ricardo Santos.

The Volvo Golf Champions is restricted to 2012 European Tour winners and those with more than 10 career titles on the circuit, and there is no halfway cut because of the small field. — AFP

DURBAN: Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa plays a shot on first hole during the second round of the Volvo Champions in Durban. —AFP

SPORTS

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

49ers’ Kaepernick move gets test against Packers NEW YORK: A bold mid-season quarterback change will get a high-profile test when Colin Kaepernick leads the San Francisco 49ers against Aaron Rodgers and the visiting Green Bay Packers in the NFL playoffs on Saturday.

Kaepernick replaced signal caller Alex Smith, after the former top draft pick came out with a concussion in Week 10 and San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh decided to make the switch permanent, putting his faith in the second-year player.

A playoff baptism under fire awaits 25-year-old Kaepernick, who makes his National Football League postseason debut against reigning NFL most valuable player Rodgers, who two years ago led the Packers to the Super Bowl title.

Kaepernick, like some of the other new breed of quarterbacks that have hit the NFL, features running skills that have made him the 49ers’ second-leading rusher with 415 yards and a 6.6 yards-per-carry aver-

age that includes five rushing touchdowns. He has also thrown for 10 scores. “He’s improved in all phases.

Not dramatically because I think he was good to start with,” Harbaugh said of Kaepernick.

Smith, who helped take the Niners into overtime of the NFC title game last season, was playing at a high level when he was sidelined but the 28-year-old top pick of the 2005 Draft does not have the arm strength or running speed of Kaepernick, who went 5-2 after taking over as starter.

The teams met in their season opener with San Francisco (11-4-1) prevailing 30-22 over the Packers (12-5) in Green Bay, but that was with Smith calling the plays. In an odd twist, the two quarterbacks grew up rooting for the teams they will be facing for a berth in the NFC title game. Rodgers grew up in Chico, California, about three hours northeast of San Francisco and has never played a regular season game or playoff contest in the City by the Bay. “A lot of good

memories growing up watching Steve Young and Joe Montana on TV and the Super Bowl wins,” Rodgers told reporters. “Being a 49er fan, that was a team I enjoyed watching and dreamt about playing for.”

Kaepernick, who was born in Wisconsin before his immediate family moved to California, said he grew up a Packers fan. “They were the only team I watched.

I remember growing up watching Brett Favre every Sunday. He was just a playmaker. He wasn’t afraid to take chances,” Kaepernick said.

While Green Bay boasts a more explosive aerial attack, the 49ers boast one of the most fierce defenses in the league. “It’s one of the top defenses in the league, if not the best,” said Rodgers, who threw for 39 touchdowns and just eight interceptions during the regular season. “A lot of play makers all over the field at every level. They make a lot of plays on the football, fly to the football, tackle well, get after the passer. “It’s a big-time defense.” —Reuters

Blazers get past Heat

LAUSANNE: Martial Saugy, head of the Swiss Laboratory for Doping Analyses (LAD) of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, CHUV, speaks during a press conference after accusations by US Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart. — AP

Swiss lab refutes USADA Armstrong claim LAUSANNE: A Swiss laboratory yesterday denied that it helped Lance Armstrong cheat after claims from the US Anti-Doping Agency that it gave the shamed cyclist information about how to beat drug tests.

“Did I give the keys to get around EPO (erythropoietin) tests?

The answer is clear: no,” Martial Saugy, head of the anti-doping laboratory in the Swiss city of Lausanne, told a news conference.

The head of the USADA, Travis Tygart, claimed in an interview broadcast on Wednesday that Saugy tipped off the Texan rider about a test for the illegal blood booster in 2002.

That followed a “suspicious” sample the cyclist had given after the 2001 Tour of Switzerland, he told CBS television, adding that Saugy had told him that Armstrong had given samples that indicated EPO use.

Tygart also said the Swiss lab chief told him that world cycling’s governing body asked him to meet Armstrong and his former manager Johan Bruyneel to explain the EPO testing process, calling the rendezvous “totally inappropriate”.

Saugy yesterday confirmed that the International Cycling Union (UCI) had asked him to meet the pair but added: “In the context I remain persuaded that it was the thing to do. It was neither an error nor naivety as some people have written.”

He added that it would be “paradoxical” that the lab that found the first cases of EPO use should be the one to meet the race champion to tell him how to get around the test.

“Our objective at the laboratory is anti-doping tests,” he added. Armstrong was banned for life from cycling and stripped of his seven Tour de France wins after the UCI confirmed a damning USADA dossier that placed him at the heart of what they said was the most sophisticated doping programme in sport.

Tygart said that six of cancer-survivor Armstrong’s samples taken during his first Tour win in 1999 eventually tested positive when they were looked at again in 2005.

Armstrong, 41, continues to deny the allegations but is to appear on the Oprah Winfrey chat show in the United States next week, prompting speculation that he could own up to mitigate his ban and make a return to competition in triathlon events. —AFP

PORTLAND: Wesley Matthews made a 3-pointer to put Portland in front with 26.9 seconds left and the Trail Blazers hung on to beat the Miami Heat 92-90 Thursday night for their fourth straight win and ninth straight at the Rose Garden.

The Blazers held LeBron James to 15 points, snapping his 54-game streak with at least 20 points that dated back to last season. Miami led by as many as 13 points but lost for the fifth time in eight games.

Nicolas Batum led the Blazers with 28 points, and LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points and 15 rebounds. Matthews finished with 18 points. Chris Bosh had 29 points for the Eastern Conference-leading Heat.

Pacers 81, Knicks 76 In Indianapolis, Paul George scored seven points in a 13-0 fourth-quarter run and finished with 24, leading Indiana past short-handed New York. The Pacers have won 12 of 15, including a sweep of the other two Eastern Conference division leaders - Miami and the Knicks - this week. New York was led by J.R. Smith with 25 points on a night they clearly missed Carmelo Anthony, who was suspended for Monday’s postgame confrontation with Boston’s Kevin Garnett.

Without Anthony, the Knicks fell nine points below their previous season-low point total (85). New York rallied from a 49-38 third-quarter deficit and started the fourth with a 60-58 lead.

SACRAMENTO: Dallas Mavericks guard OJ Mayo (left) protects the ball from Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans during the third quarter of an NBA basketball game. — AP

NBA results/standings Indiana 81, NY Knicks 76; Dallas 117, Sacramento 112 (OT); Portland 92, Miami 90.

Mavericks 117, Kings 112 In Sacramento, OJ Mayo had 24 points and 10 rebounds, Vince Carter scored 23 points off the bench and Dallas rallied from 17 points down to beat Sacramento in overtime.

Shawn Marion added 19 points and 10 rebounds to help the Mavericks snap a four-game losing streak. Dallas, which had lost 10 of 11, finished its short road trip 1-2.

With the franchise’s possible sale and relocation to Seattle on the minds of Kings fans, DeMarcus Cousins had 29 points and nine rebounds before getting ejected in overtime for elbowing Carter in the face. Tyreke Evans scored 20 points and Isaiah Thomas had 18 points for the Kings, who lost their third straight game. — AP

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L PCT NY Knicks 23 12 .657 Brooklyn 20 15 .571 Boston 18 17 .514 Philadelphia 15 22 .405 Toronto 13 22 .371 Central Division Indiana 22 14 .611 Chicago 19 14 .576 Milwaukee 18 16 .529 Detroit 13 23 .361 Cleveland 9 28 .243 Southeast Division Miami 23 11 .676 Atlanta 20 14 .588 Orlando 12 23 .343 Charlotte 9 25 .265 Washington 5 28 .152

GB 3 5 9 10 1.5 3 9 13.5 3 11.5 14 17.5

Western Conference Northwest Division Oklahoma City 27 8 .771 Portland 20 15 .571 Denver 21 16 .568 Utah 19 18 .514 Minnesota 16 16 .500 Pacific Division LA Clippers 28 8 .778 Golden State 22 12 .647 LA Lakers 15 20 .429 Sacramento 13 23 .361 Phoenix 12 25 .324 Southwest Division San Antonio 28 10 .737 Memphis 23 10 .697 Houston 21 15 .583 Dallas 14 23 .378 New Orleans 10 25 .286

7 7 9 9.5 5 12.5 15 16.5 2.5 6 13.5 16.5

SPORTS

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Amla century puts SA in charge PORT ELIZABETH: Hashim Amla ground out a patient century to give South Africa the advantage on the first day of the second and final Test against New Zealand at St George’s Park yesterday.

Amla made 106 not out as South Africa reached 325 for four by the close of play. The host nation were made to work for their runs against a determined New Zealand team on a slow pitch on which the batsmen seldom looked completely in control.

But an unbeaten century partnership between Amla and Faf du Plessis (69 not out), with some free scoring after tea, put South Africa well ahead. “They bowled really well up front and asked a lot of questions,” said AB de Villiers, who made 51 in one of three significant partnerships involving Amla.

“The ball was swinging nicely and we felt we were under a bit of pressure. But Hashim and Faf had a really good partnership and put us in a strong position.”De Villiers said South Africa would be looking to pile on the runs today.

“If we get another partnership going I think New Zealand are in trouble. If we can bat them out of the game they will be under a lot of pressure.” New Zealand left-arm bowler Neil Wagner, who was born in South Africa, admitted: “It was a very tough day. The wicket was a bit slow. After lunch we bowled really well and got a couple of wickets that put us back in the game.

“But we let it slip towards the end.

Against a good side like South Africa you have to be patient and create more opportunities by stringing a lot of good balls together for longer periods of time.” Amla survived on 48 when he cut hard at Trent Boult and Kane Williamson could not hold a sharp chance at gully.

Amla reached his half-century in the same over off 92 deliveries with his seventh four. The only boundary in his second half-century was the cut off Boult which raised his 19th Test century after another 95 balls. Amla was involved in partnerships of 92 for the second wicket with captain Graeme Smith and 86 for the fourth wicket with de Villiers.

Du Plessis took the majority of the strike in his partnership with Amla, facing 112 of the 173 balls the pair needed to add 102 runs, with Amla content to push the ball into gaps, taking ones and twos as he ensured he did not take risks on a day when lapses of concentration contributed to all four wickets.

Du Plessis had an escape in the first over of the second new ball with his score on 42 when a ball from Boult flicked his thigh pad and went through to wicketkeeper BJ Watling.

An appeal for caught behind was turned down by umpire Ian Gould and the New Zealanders did not seek a review. A “hot spot” replay showed the ball had brushed his bottom glove before deflecting off his thigh pad.

It was a pitch on which both batsmen and bowlers needed to exercise patience and for much of the day there was a spirited performance by New Zealand, who lost the first Test in Cape Town by an innings and 27 runs inside three days.

Their bowlers responded to a call by captain Brendon McCullum to show aggression and there were numerous short-pitched deliveries when the ball was still relatively new.

Smith was struck on the helmet by Doug Bracewell in the fourth over.

Bracewell was the pick of the New Zealand bowlers, taking two for 70 in 21 overs. —AFP

PORT ELIZABETH: South Africa’s batsman Hashim Amla celebrates his century on day one of their second cricket Test match against New Zealand at the St Georges Stadium. — AP

SCOREBOARD PORT ELIZABETH: Close of play scores on the first day of the second and final Test between South Africa and New Zealand at St George’s Park yesterday: South Africa, first innings A. Petersen c Patel b Bracewell 21 G. Smith c Watling b Wagner 54 H. Amla not out 106 J. Kallis c Watling b Bracewell 8 A. de Villiers c Williamson b Patel 51 F. du Plessis not out 69 Extras (b5, lb6, nb3, w2) 16 Total (4 wkts, 90 overs) 325 Fall of wickets: 1-29 (Petersen), 2-121 (Smith), 3-137 (Kallis), 4-223 (De Villiers)

Bowling: Boult 19-2-74-0 (1w), Bracewell 21-2-70-2 (1w), Wagner 222-88-1 (3nb), Patel 19-1-60-1, Munro 9-0-22-0 To bat: D. Elgar, R. Peterson, D. Steyn, R. Kleinveldt, M Morkel New Zealand: B. McCullum, M. Guptill, K. Williamson, D. Brownlie, D. Flynn, B. Watling, C. Munro, D. Bracewell, N. Wagner, T. Boult, J Patel Match situation: South Africa are 325 for four wickets in the first innings

MELBOURNE: Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan (right) plays a shot off the bowling of Australia’s Xavier Doherty during their One Day International cricket match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.— AP

Hughes debut ton powers Australia to huge victory MELBOURNE: Phil Hughes became the first Australian to score a century on his one-day international debut as he powered the side to a 107-run win over Sri Lanka yesterday.

Hughes hit 112 and stand-in captain George Bailey struck 89 before David Hussey smashed 60 not out off 34 balls to turn a good total into a commanding 305-5 on a flat MCG wicket.

Dinesh Chandimal kept Sri Lanka in contention with a belligerent 73 but four wickets from Clint McKay and some superb fielding, including three run-outs, restricted the tourists to 198 in reply. Australia, who won the Test series 3-0, lead the five-match ODI series 1-0 with the second game on Sunday in Adelaide.

Sri Lanka could be without Chandimal for that game after the wicketkeeper, one of the few success stories of a one-sided test series, had to have repeated on-field treatment to what looked like a hamstring problem. His mobility steadily decreased after he had his thigh bandaged.

Australia, though, can be happy with the way an inexperienced line-up coped without rested captain Michael Clarke and the omitted Mike Hussey.

Opener Aaron Finch and number three Usman Khawaja managed just 16 and three respectively after Australia won the toss but Hughes put on 140 for the third wicket alongside Bailey at the rate of a run a ball. Khawaja later compensated for his failure - run out when he failed to ground the bat - with a direct hit from mid-off to run out the dangerous Tillakaratne Dilshan for 51. Hughes, who averaged 46.60 in the test series that finished on Sunday, timed his strokes sweetly, deploying his favoured cut shot whenever possible and compiled 14 boundaries.

“It is a good deck,” Hughes said. “It flattened out beautifully. “It was nice to get a few. My first game in the one-day format, to get to three figures is a dream come true. This is my favourite ground.”

The leading run scorer in Australia’s domestic one-day and Twenty20 tournaments, Finch was more circumspect and made his way to 16 from 28 balls before edging Ajantha Mendis to Chandimal.

Khawaja’s run out brought Bailey to the crease with the score on 72-2 and Australia’s Twenty20 captain took on a bowling attack bolstered since the end of the test series by Lasith Malinga and Mendis.

He hit eight fours and smacked Jeevan Mendis for a big six high over long on. Australia slipped from 212-2 to 248-5 as Hughes edged Malinga to Chandimal, Bailey pulled Angelo Mathews to Jeevan Mendis at deep midwicket and Glenn Maxwell departed for 5.

But the experienced Hussey grasped the finisher’s role with a whirlwind innings that included 20 runs and a wide off the last over from Ajantha Mendis. Sri Lanka were never in a position to challenge as wickets fell steadily thanks to some poor shot selection and sharp fielding.

Upal Thuranga nicked Mitchell Starc to Brad Haddin

for just 1 and it was 17-2 when Mahela Jayawardene edged McKay to Finch at first slip for 5. Chandimal and Dilshan did their best to rebuild but Khawaja’s direct hit, another by Maxwell that accounted for Mathews (12) and then the run out of Lahiru Thirimanne (0) by the combined efforts of Maxwell and Haddin made it 128-5. There was no way back for Sri Lanka and McKay finally winkled out Chandimal before mopping up the tail. — Reuters

SCOREBOARD MELBOURNE: Scoreboard from the first of five oneday internationals between Australia and Sri Lanka at the Melbourne Cricket Ground yesterday: Australia won by 107 runs.

Australia innings A Finch c Chandimal b A Mendis 16 P Hughes c Chandimal b Malinga 114 U Khawaja run out (J Mendis/Chandimal) 3 G Bailey c J Mendis b Mathews 89 D Hussey not out 60 G Maxwell c A Mendis b Kulasekara 5 B Haddin not out 10 Extras: (2b, 3lb, 5w) 10 Total: (five wickets; 50 overs) Fall: 1-53, 2-72, 3-212, 4-241, 5-248.

Did not bat: M Johnson, M Starc, C McKay, X Doherty.

Bowling: N Kulasekara 10-0-53-1, L Malinga 10-1-611 (2w), A Mathews 8-0-46-1, A Mendis 10-0-62-1 (3w), T Dilshan 4-0-17-0, T Perera 4-0-28-0, J Mendis 4-0-33-0.

Sri Lanka innings U Tharanga c Haddin b Starc 1 T Dilshan run out (Khawaja) 51 M Jayawardene c Finch b McKay 5 D Chandimal c Haddin b McKay 73 A Mathews run out (Maxwell) 12 L Thirimanne run out (Maxwell/Haddin) 0 J Mendis c Bailey b Johnson 20 T Perera c Bailey b Johnson 4 N Kulasekara c Bailey b McKay 18 L Malinga not out 1 A Mendis c Haddin b McKay 0 Extras: (2b, 2lb, 9w) 13 Total: (all out; 40 overs) Fall: 1-8, 2-17, 3-111, 4-128, 5-128, 6-167, 7-169, 8194, 9-198.

Bowling: M Starc 6-0-25-1 (2w), C McKay 8-0-33-4, M Johnson 9-1-43-2 (2w), X Doherty 8-0-41-0, G Maxwell 4-0-28-0, D Hussey 5-0-24-0.

Australia won by 107 runs Australia lead the five-match series 1-0

SPORTS

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Ferrer, Kohlschreiber in Auckland final AUCKLAND: Defending champion David Ferrer cruised into the final of the ATP Auckland tournament against an injured Gael Monfils yesterday, setting up a decider against in-form Philipp Kohlschreiber.

The Spanish top seed defeated Monfils 6-1, 6-2 after the Frenchman, making a comeback after a knee injury that marred his 2012 season, suffered a hamstring strain in the semi-final of the warm-up for next week’s Australian Open.

Ferrer will meet Kohlschreiber in the final after the German second seed downed American Sam Querrey 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), giving the world number five the chance to equal Australian Roy Emerson’s record of four Auckland titles.

Monfils, backing up from a draining win over third seed Tommy Haas on Thursday, lost his first service game to Ferrer before calling for the trainer, receiving strapping to his left thigh.

Moving gingerly around the court, the former

world number seven had the strapping removed two games later but could not find a way into the set, with Ferrer breaking again to win the set 6-1. The Frenchman rattled off three aces to take the first game of the second set but remained rooted to the baseline, conceding two further breaks and losing the match in less than an hour.

Monfils, whose ranking plummeted to 99 as he was sidelined, did not believe the setback would affect his campaign for the season-opening Grand Slam in Melbourne.

“I’m very sore but I’ve got a couple of days to be ready for the (Australian) Open,” he said. “It was tough for me, David is an incredible player and today I was very tired. Against an opponent like David it’s very physical so I was unable to fight and be on the court for two hours.” Ferrer, who won in Auckland in 2007, 2011 and 2012, has dropped just one set in this year’s tournament and said he was looking forward to the

challenge posed by Kohlschreiber.

“It was bad luck for Gael, he was tired after the match from yesterday. I played my game, every day I’ve played better and I’m in the final again,” he said.

“It’s very difficult to play him (Kohlschreiber), he’s playing very well.” Kohlschreiber, the 2008 Auckland champion, had Querrey in trouble early, moving the lanky American around the court to go up a service break in the fifth game and taking the first set 6-4. The big-serving Querrey finally began to find his range after going down another break in the second set, fighting back to force a tie-break.

But he was left stunned as Kohlschreiber, ranked 19 in the world, stepped up his intensity, winning the shoot-out 7-2 with a combination of powerful serving, accurate returns and fading drop shots. “It was a really great match from my side, I played unbelievable,” the German said. “I was very focussed today, I was in the zone.” — AFP

Radwanska crushes Cibulkova

SYDNEY: Australia’s Bernard Tomic plays a forehand shot to Italy’s Andreas Seppi during their semi finals at the Sydney International Tennis tournament. — AP

Tomic to play for first title against Anderson SYDNEY: Australian youngster Bernard Tomic will emulate Lleyton Hewitt and Roger Federer if he can win his first ATP Tour title after reaching the Sydney International final yesterday. Tomic reached his first final with a 7-6 (12/10), 6-4 win over Italian third seed Andreas Seppi in sweltering heat to set up a decider against South African Kevin Anderson on Saturday.

Tomic will bid to become the first Australian winner of the event since Hewitt in 2005 and the first 20-year-old winner since Federer in 2002. It is Tomic’s seventh straight win of the new year-three of them at the mixed teams Hopman Cup, including a triumph in Perth over world number one Novak Djokovic. “It’s the start for me. It’s going to be a big match. I’m grateful for this opportunity. I think I’ve got a good shot to win it,” Tomic said.

“Obviously I’ve played Kevin once and won. He does serve well and he’s a difficult player, but the tennis I’ve been playing now I’m really confident. I’ll be ready to go tomorrow night.”

Anderson earlier fought off two match points to deny Frenchman Julien Benneteau victory and become the first South African to make the Sydney final. The 36th-ranked Anderson won 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10/8) in two hours 23 minutes.

Tomic struggled during a tough first set against Seppi and called for the trainer at 6-5 complaining of dizziness. “It was really hot, but it wasn’t the heat that was affecting me. It was just the dizziness. I think maybe because I ate too soon prior to coming out on court,” he said.

The match swung the Australian’s way in a titanic 22-point tie-break, with Tomic winning on his third set point after fighting off four set points from Seppi. He broke serve in the ninth game of the second set with a fortuitous net cord on break point and powered through his service game to win the match.

Anderson, 26, went one better than Wayne Ferreira, who was the last South African to play in a Sydney semi-final against Carlos Moya in 2004. “This tournament has been going on for a while. There have been some very good South Africans in the past, most notably Wayne Ferreira,” Anderson said. “So, yeah, hopefully I’ll be able to take it one step further tomorrow.” —AFP

SYDNEY: The Agnieszka Radwanska juggernaut ran over hapless Dominika Cibulkova yesterday, as the Pole won the Sydney International to take her unbeaten streak this year to nine ahead of the Australian Open.

The top seed crushed Cibulkova 6-0, 60 in just over an hour for back-to-back tournament victories, making the perfect preparation for the year-opening Grand Slam, which starts in Melbourne on Monday. It was the world number four’s 12th career singles title and she has yet to drop a set this year. “I’m extremely happy that I’ve won two titles in a row and not even losing one set. It’s really been amazing two weeks,” Radwanska said.

“I definitely didn’t really expect that at all. She’s a great player and she had some great wins this week, so I definitely didn’t really expect that score.” Radwanska overpowered Cibulkova, ranked 14th in the world, breaking her serve six times, winning 68 percent of the points and capitalising on her error-prone opponent.

Cibulkova, who was unseeded in the tournament, double-faulted on match point to cap a miserable night’s work. “This is tennis and this is sport. Sometimes things happen like that and of course I feel bad,” Radwanska said.

“This was the final, so it’s always supposed to be tight, long match. It was sixlove, six-love. She didn’t deserve that score.” Radwanska, who beat Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in the Auckland Classic final last week, made it two tournaments in a row, with wins in Sydney over 1994 winner Kimiko Date-Krumm, Roberta Vinci, Li Na and Cibulkova. But the 23-year-old remains at world number four heading into Melbourne where she will compete against the top three-Victoria Azarenka, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.

“I think if I’m going to play like that, like today, in Melbourne, I will be very happy.

So we’ll see,” Radwanska said. “Wherever I go I always think I can win it. Melbourne is also that kind of tournament. “Being in the top 10, top five now for a couple years, I think it means that I can also win the Grand Slam.”

Radwanska faces Australian qualifier Bojana Bobusic in the opening round of the Open and is seeded to face China’s Li Na in the quarters and Sharapova in the semis. It was the shortest Sydney women’s final by games since Gabriela Sabatini’s 61, 6-1 win over Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in 1992. “It’s just sometimes there are days that it’s not going your way,” Cibulkova said. It was just the one for me today.” “All the balls I missed and it was just not going

SYDNEY: Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska holds the winner’s trophy after defeating Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova in their women’s final match at the Sydney International Tennis tournament. — AP right way and everything was going for her. “I was maybe not ready for it (final) because the whole week I just played so well. Maybe I didn’t handle the situation very well.” Radwanska joins a Sydney champions’ list in one of the oldest tournaments in the world which includes

Azarenka, Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, Martina Hingis, and Monica Seles in the last few decades.

Cibulkova was the first unseeded player in six years to reach the Sydney final, beating German second seed Angelique Kerber to reach the decider. — AFP

Paes to lead second-string India team after revolt MUMBAI: Leander Paes will spearhead a second-string Indian team in the home Davis Cup tie against South Korea next month following a revolt by the country’s frontline players.

Eight top players, excluding 13-times grand slam doubles champion Paes, had submitted a list of demands to the All India Tennis Association (AITA) with a threat to snub the regional first round tie in New Delhi from Feb. 1-3.

The AITA agreed to most of the demands but it was not enough to convince the disgruntled players including multiple doubles grand slam champion Mahesh Bhupathi, Somdev Devvarman and Rohan Bopanna who made themselves unavailable for the tie.

AITA chief executive Hironmoy Chatterjee said the federation had

extended the Thursday deadline to Friday noon but the players did not commit to playing in the team event. “We gave them the opportunity to reconsider their stand. We tried everything, what more could we do?” Chatterjee told Reuters by phone. “We did our best.”

The AITA had agreed to the demands for a new coach, a higher share of prize money and the players’ involvement in the choice of venues for ties but rejected a request to change the captain and decided to retain S.P. Misra to lead the team against South Korea.

“We agreed to give them business class airfare, we also agreed to give them a team of six. What more? We tried everything,” Chatterjee said of the last-minute efforts to convince the players. —Reuters

SPORTS

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Kuwaiti Trap team during pre event practice.

Sheikh Salman Sabah AlSalem Al-Humoud Al-Sabah

Qatari Trap Team at the range

Women’s Gulf shooting tournament

By Abdellatif Sharaa KUWAIT: Tournament of the Late Sheikh Fahad Al-Salem Al-Sabah Women Gulf Shooting Tournament will come to a close today at Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Olympic Shooting Complex, in the presence of Sheikha Latifa Al-Fahad, President of Asian and Kuwait Federations, Vice President of ISSF Sheikh Salman Al-Humoud Al-Sabah, Sheikh Abdallah Al-Fahad Al-Sabah and other officials.

Pre-event activities began yesterday with the arrival of all participating delegations. Sheikh Salman Al-Humoud Al-Sabah toured the ranges of skeet, trap and air weapons and made sure all is fine, and

spoke to shooters, urging them to exert all efforts to achieve the best of results. Sheikh Salman welcomed participating delegations and wished them good stay in Kuwait.

Sheikh Salman lauded the patronage of Sheikha Al-Fahad for this tournament, and her keen interest on organizing a special tournament for the Gulf women, to encourage the Gulf shooting sport.

He said “we are proud that Kuwait will be the first country to implement the new laws introduced recently by the ISSF, as they came in effect this year, and officiating will be by Kuwaiti personnel.

Sheikh Salman thanked HH The Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad for his unlimited support to sports in general and shooting

in particular. He also thanked HH The Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad, and HH The Premier Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak for their support of Kuwaiti athletes.

Sheikh Salman appreciated the efforts of the organizing committee to remove all obstacles to make it easy for shooters to participate and concentrate on the competitions.

Meanwhile secretary general of Arab and Kuwait Federations, Director of the tournament Obaid Al-Osaimi said the closing ceremony will be a special one, and will fit the occasion. He said that efforts of all involved in organizing and preparing for the tournament will ensure its success.

Bahrain Shooting Team official Mariam

Balotelli could be given fresh chance at Man City LONDON: Mario Balotelli could be given another chance to resurrect his Manchester City career by being recalled for tomorrow’s match at Arsenal, where the controversial Italy striker’s recklessness almost cost his team the Premier League title last season. Balotelli hasn’t started a game since City’s derby loss to Manchester United on Dec. 9, with his future at the English champions appearing in doubt after he was involved in a trainingground scuffle with manager Roberto Mancini last week.

However, with Sergio Aguero still out with a hamstring injury and Balotelli returning to the squad for the FA Cup last weekend, Mancini may once again put his faith in his compatriot for a fixture City hasn’t won in the league since 1975. “He has trained well and I hope this year will be different,” Mancini said yesterday of Balotelli, who arrived at training on Thursday sporting a new bleached-blond hairstyle.

Balotelli was sent off in City’s last visit to Emirates Stadium, a 1-0 loss in April that left the team eight points behind United with six games left. City still went on to win the title. That was the fifth straight league game at Arsenal in which City has failed to score and extended a 37-year winless run at the home of the London club.

“We feel strongly we can turn up anywhere and win but it’s just not been the case unfortunately when we’ve been to the Emirates,” City goalkeeper Joe Hart said. “But it’s not one of those

places where you walk through the doors and you’re like, ‘Oh no, we’re going to lose.’” City is currently seven points behind United in what appears to be a two-team race for the title with 17 matches remaining. United also has a tough match tomorrow, with a resurgent Liverpool traveling to Old Trafford for what is always one of the biggest matches of the season between England’s two most successful clubs.

“It is intense and emotional.

Everything you can think of in a derby game will probably be there on Sunday,” United manager Alex Ferguson said yesterday. Wayne Rooney, a Liverpudlian, will miss the match as he continues his recovery from a knee injury but United can still fall back on fellow striker Robin van Persie, the league’s top scorer with 16 goals in his first season at the club following his move from Arsenal for 24 million pounds (then $38 million).

“It was a lot of money for a player in the last year of his contract,” Ferguson said, “(but) we wanted him badly, so we were prepared to go the extra mile.

“Any player coming to us for the first year, you never know for sure. Who would have thought Wayne Rooney would have got a hat trick on his debut? It is fairy tale stuff.”

Nani and Anderson are both back in training after their respective hamstring problems and the midfield pair are in contention for tomorrow. Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers must decide whether to start new signing Daniel

Khamees said this tournament is unique being for ladies only. She said that organization is outstanding, as all that is necessary is made available, and it is clear that Kuwait’s Federation is up to the task. She said that such tournaments brings shooters closer and creates the atmosphere for better competition. She said this tournament may form a nucleus for forming a unified Gulf team to participate in world events.

Kuwait’s trap shooter Sarah Al-Hawal said, Kuwait’s shooters are lucky to have the best of coaches who are brought in by shooting officials. She said that they are determined to get the best of results especially that it is being held in Kuwait and carries a name dear to all.

Everton eyeing CL as Swansea await

LONDON: Manchester City’s Mario Balotelli smiles ahead of the English FA Cup 3rd round soccer match against Watford at The City of Manchester Stadium. —AP Sturridge alongside main striker Luis Suarez following the England international’s arrival from Chelsea this month.

Sturridge scored on his debut in the 2-1 win at Mansfield in the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday but has yet to make his league debut. The weekend’s other big match is last-place Queens Park Rangers’ home game against third-place Tottenham, which will see QPR manager Harry Redknapp come up against the team that fired him last year. Redknapp has caused a stir by saying only a “real dope” could fail to be successful at Chelsea - a slight presumed to be directed at Rafa Benitez but one that could also refer to Andre Villas-Boas, the current Tottenham manager who was fired by the Blues last season after just eight months. “I don’t spend my life worrying about what he or Tottenham are doing,” said Redknapp, whose team is five points adrift of safety. — AP

LIVERPOOL: Everton host another of the Premier League’s surprise packages when Swansea head to Goodison Park today, with Leon Osman confident the Blues can maintain their challenge for a Champions League spot. The Welsh side will arrive in Liverpool still fresh from their 2-0 League Cup semi-final first leg victory at Chelsea.

David Moyes’s Everton have built on a fine finish to last season by pushing for a place in the top four, with just one defeat in their last 10 matches in all competitions. They go into the clash with Swansea two points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, although the European champions have a game in hand.

Osman, 31, who won his first England cap in November’s 4-2 defeat in Sweden, celebrates a decade since his first Everton appearance this weekend.

Although Moyes is still struggling for squad depth and admits the only new arrivals at Everton this month are likely to be loan players, Osman believes the Toffees can push all the way for the Champions League if they avoid injuries.

“You’d rather get closer than further away and we’ve been developing as a team and are finding a way to win games now. “We drew a lot at the start of the season but we’re finding a way to get the wins now which should put us in good stead.

“The test will be if we can sustain it. In the past we’ve managed it for the second half of the season but we’ve had a reasonably good start to the second part of the season and hopefully we can maintain it. “We hope we have the depth to do it. We’ll need to have some luck in keeping our key players injury-free.”

Belgian winger Kevin Mirallas remains a doubt with a hamstring problem and midfielder Darron Gibson and defender Tony Hibbert are absent. Swansea have built on their fine debut Premier League season under Brendan Rodgers, now manager of Everton’s local rivals Liverpool, since Michael Laudrup took charge at the Liberty Stadium ahead of the current campaign. — AFP

SPORTS

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Clouds gather over Inter’s title bid ROME: Inter Milan will look to get their title hopes back on track against Pescara today, although the Serie A giants approach their first home match of the year facing major problems.

Prior to the winter break Inter’s youthful but defiant coach Andrea Stramaccioni, 36, strode the touchline confidently as his South American-flavoured side kept close tabs on champions and leaders Juventus. Since then, however, they have dropped to fifth place, nine points behind Juventus having taken just a single point from their last three games.

With experienced Argentine Walter Samuel an injury doubt (Achilles tendon) and the Wesley Sneijder transfer saga still unsettled, Inter can ill afford another slip-up like the 3-0 defeat away to Udinese last weekend.

Although Inter beat league new boys Pescara 3-0 in their first game of the campaign last August, recent media reports have speculated that Inter’s poor form is down to their treatment of Sneijder. The Dutchman, one of the club’s top performers in recent years, is effectively being squeezed out of the club for refusing to drastically cut his annual salary of six million euros. Galatasaray on Wednesday stepped in with an offer which Sneijder is reported to be considering.

Inter president Massimo Moratti, meanwhile, says the ball is firmly in the playermaker’s court. “We had a meeting with Galatasaray the other day which went well, now it’s up to the player,” Moratti told inter.it. “It simply comes down to whether he wants to stay or not.”

The loss of Sneijder would be another setback for a league which once attracted the top names in football, but which is now largely dictated by the financial crisis being felt across many sectors. Victory at the San Siro would allow Inter to pull three points clear of fourth-placed Fiorentina, whose signing of Villarreal striker Giuseppe Rossi last week was tempered by a shock 2-1 defeat to Pescara. Fiorentina beat Udinese 2-1 in their league opener in August with Montenegrin Stevan Jovetic scoring a brace but have more than one reason to be wary on their trip to the Friuli stadium tomorrow. Reports this week claimed Udinese turned down a 3.5 million euro bid from Fiorentina for the club’s talismanic striker Antonio Di Natale, who scored twice in the 3-0 defeat of Inter last week. Despite the welcome result, Udinese coach Francesco Guidolin has called for composure.

“It was proof that we have been doing things the right way, but we have to continue putting points on the board,” said Guidolin.

“The Inter match is done, now we have to focus on Fiorentina.”

Lazio and Napoli, meanwhile, will enjoy home advantage as they host Atalanta and Palermo respectively looking to reinforce second and third place. Only five points off the pace of Juve, Lazio are two ahead of Napoli before they host Atalanta tomorrow with Miroslav Klose, the club’s top scorer, looking to add to his tally of 10 league goals. All bets, meanwhile, will be on Napoli to demolish struggling Palermo especially in the wake of their 4-1 rout of Roma, complete with a hat-trick from Edinson Cavani.

Uruguayan international Cavani now sits top of the Serie A scoring charts on 16 goals, four of which came from the penalty spot, with a two-goal lead on AC Milan marksman Stephan El Shaarawy.

All 14 of El Shaarawy’s goals have come from open play and Milan will be hoping that continues in Genoa a few days after their Italian Cup run was ended at the quarter-final stage by Juventus (2-1).

The Rossoneri have not won away to Sampdoria in Serie A in five years and, sitting seventh only two points behind Roma, are desperate to make up lost ground from earlier in the season. —AFP

CHILE: In this Jan. 10, 2013 photo, KTM rider Thomas Bourgin of France (left) and Jincheng rider Pablo Pascual of Argentina compete in the 6th stage of the 2013 Dakar Rally from Arica to Calama. Bourgine died on Jan. 11, 2013 in an accident during the 7th stage of the Dakar Rally between Calama, Chile, and Salta. — AP

French Dakar rally rider dies — organisers CALAMA: A French motorbike rider competing in the Dakar Rally died yesterday after crashing into a Chilean police car, organisers reported. Thomas Bourgin, aged 25, was making his way to the start of the seventh stage when he hit the car, which was coming in the opposite direction on the link road to the start of Friday’s stage in Calama.

An inquiry was launched into the precise circumstances of the incident which brings to three the number of deaths in this year’s Dakar in the past 24 hours. Bourgin, from Saint Etienne, was discovered dead at the scene.

“The rally’s medical teams deployed on the ground were only able to certify the rider’s death, probably instant,” a statement on the race’s official website reported.

Bourgin was in 68th place in the overall ranking of his first Dakar. His demise follows that of two people killed in a head-on collision between a Dakar Rally support vehicle and a taxi near

Peru’s border with Chile on Thursday.

One of two taxis hit the support vehicle head-on while a second cab overturned as its driver tried to avoid the collision. Two people in the first taxi, including the driver, were killed and seven people, four of them Peruvian, were injured.

Three of the injured travelling in a Land Rover support vehicle were British members of the Race2Recovery team made up of British and US servicemen who have been severely injured and lost limbs in foreign conflicts.

Meanwhile, former Dakar Rally champion Carlos Sainz saw his 2013 title bid grind to a halt on Thursday in the sands of Chile with the Spaniard admitting he may never return to take on the gruelling event. Sainz, the 2010 champion, was forced to retire when the engine on his Buggy failed at the 172km mark of the 438km sixth stage, bringing to an end a roller-coaster Dakar for the 50year-old.

After winning the first two stages, he subsequently fell badly out of contention. “I’m not sure whether I’ll come back,” admitted Sainz, a former twotime world rally champion.

“I’ve had a lot of problems since the start, and today just took the biscuit.

Something must have broken in the engine, but I don’t know exactly what. It just happened all of a sudden.

“There wasn’t any temperature warning or anything. It’s a new vehicle which hasn’t been driven that much. It all happened very quickly.” Sainz’s teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah had a much more successful day.

The Qatari slashed 10-time champion Stephane Peterhansel’s lead by over eight minutes as the 2011 winner stormed to victory on the stage. AlAttiyah started the day at 9min 54sec behind defending champion Peterhansel, but finished just 1min 18sec off the overall lead, winning his third stage of this year’s event. —AFP

Chelsea in search of Stoke comfort LONDON: Rafael Benitez might not normally relish a trip to face Stoke City but recent form suggests his Chelsea side’s best hope of reigniting their season lies away from Stamford Bridge.

The Londoners have looked formidable on the road, in stark contrast to the European champions’ form at home where successive defeats have severely dented their bid for honours this season.

And Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat by Swansea in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final provided a focus for the discontent that has been building up around the club over the past few months. Chelsea supporters greeted the loss with fresh condemnation of both interim manager Benitez, his fellow Spaniard and misfiring striker Fernando Torres, as well as slamming the clubs failure to offer a new contract to fans’ favourite Frank Lampard.

It didn’t help that Chelsea’s previous appearance on

home turf had seen them fall to a shock 1-0 defeat to Queens Park Rangers who sit at the foot of the Premier League table, a result that all but ended the Blues’ title hopes. Those results overshadowed the impressive victory at Everton and the confident 5-1 defeat of Southampton in last weekend’s FA Cup third round, Chelsea’s fifth successive away win in domestic competitions.

And while Chelsea centre-back Gary Cahill has struggled to explain the pattern, it is clear Benitez’s side risk further criticism if they return from the Britannia Stadium empty handed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with our home form,” Cahill said. “Normally, we are unbelievably hard to beat at Stamford Bridge and we’ve been getting results. We just have to be consistent in what we are doing. “We’re finding it difficult at the moment when teams camp in and put up two blocks of four to break down. “We’re having all the possession but it counts for

nothing unless you create a lot. In the first half against Swansea we did create chances and if you take one or two of them then they (the opposition) have to come out-it would have been the same thing with QPR.” Benitez must decide whether Torres or Demba Ba offers the more effective cutting edge.

Ba scored twice on his debut against Southampton and had an effort ruled out for offside against Swansea after appearing as a late substitute, suggesting he is the striker in form. Meanwhile Chelsea captain John Terry is nearing a return to fitness after a knee problem but is unlikely to feature this weekend. Benitez will at least find some support at the Britannia Stadium after Stoke manager Tony Pulis called for Chelsea to make him their permanent, as opposed to “interim” boss. “Rafa needs the opportunity-and it isn’t weeks or months, you have to give people time,” said Pulis. —AFP

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013

Sports

Hughes debut ton powers Australia to huge victory

44

Bahrain reaches Gulf Cup semis RIFA: Bahrain scored a controversial penalty yesterday to beat Qatar 1-0 and advance to the Gulf Cup semifinals. The hosts, needing a win to overtake Qatar in Group A, scored in the 25th minute when Faouzi Aaish converted the penalty. The penalty was given after the ball deflected off the arm of Qatar’s Bilal Mohammed, who appeared to

be unaware of the incoming ball.

Bahrain had several chances in the second half to double the lead, including a shot from Mohamed Husain which hit the cross bar and a point-blank shot from Aaish which was stopped by Qatar goalkeeper Baba Malick. United Arab Emirates, which won the group, beat 10-man Oman 2-0. —AP

Villa double helps Barca rout Cordoba MADRID: Barcelona’s David Villa proved he still has a sharp eye for goal by scoring twice as the holders cruised into the King’s Cup quarter-finals by beating second division Cordoba 5-0 at the Nou Camp on Thursday.

The Spain striker, his country’s leading all-time scorer, has had to be content with a secondary role this season, but has continued to score when called upon and took his tally to five in four Cup games.

The 31-year-old netted twice in five first-half minutes to ease Barca’s passage into the last eight, while a double from Alexis Sanchez after the break to add to the early opener from Thiago Alcantara gave the hosts a 7-0 aggregate victory.

“Villa has played a great game. He has showed us what we all already knew, that he should be an important player for us,” Barca assistant coach Jordi Roura told a news conference as he stood in for the absent Tito Vilanova. “He will return to be more important for us, without any doubt.” Barca set up a meeting with Champions League last-16 side Malaga in the next round, and could meet Real Madrid in the semi-finals, if Jose Mourinho’s side overcome Valencia.

On the other side of the draw, Atletico Madrid also made the quarters with a drab 0-0 draw at near neighbours Getafe after a 3-0 first-leg win.

Their task was made easier by a red card for Getafe defender Rafa Lopez after 33 minutes and they will next meet Real Betis after the Andalusians scraped through 2-1 on aggregate against second division Las Palmas thanks to a late winner.

Betis had to work hard for their victory, having drawn 1-1 in the Canary Islands, and had to wait until five minutes from time before Ruben Castro pounced on an error to fire the only goal of the second leg. Las Palmas’s strikers Macauley Christanus and Thievy will look back on some glaring misses.

Real Zaragoza take on 2010 winners Sevilla in the remaining quarter-final. The first legs are to be played next week. Barca had left players such as Gerard Pique, Xavi and Andres Iniesta out of the squad and newly-crowned World Player of the Year Lionel Messi stayed on the bench, but they still dominated against Cordoba. Thiago burst though the middle to slot home the first after 17 minutes, and Villa scored a superb second soon after. The former Valencia frontman showed quick feet to

skip around a defender in the area, and then from a tight angle dinked the ball over the keeper.

Five minutes later, he fired a snapshot in off the far post. Chile striker Alexis, one of the players keeping Villa on the sidelines, headed a fourth soon after the restart and grabbed his second and Barca’s fifth in the 85th. The evening ended on a sour note for Villa as he was forced to limp off with what looked like a thigh muscle problem 12 minutes from time, though the club later said it had only been as a precaution.

Meanwhile, runaway Spanish leader Barcelona travels to fourth-place Malaga tomorrow to enter its toughest period of the season with five of its next eight games away from the Camp Nou. Lionel Messi, fresh from collecting his record fourth world player of the year award, will lead Barcelona with his league-best 27 goals. Barcelona is aiming to reach the season’s midway point unbeaten after winning 17 games and drawing just once. Barcelona and Malaga will then meet twice more over the next two weeks in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals. “These three games against Malaga will be difficult,” said Barcelona goalkeeper Jose

Pinto, who handles the Copa games while Victor Valdes plays in the league. “We will have to see how the two teams handle the mental wear and tear, which above anything else will be determined by the results.” Atletico Madrid is 11 points behind Barcelona and hosts Real Zaragoza tomorrow. Real Madrid - 16 points off Barcelona’s pace in third will try to avoid another slip at last-place Osasuna on Saturday without the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo and its defense in tatters.

While Barcelona shows no signs of slowing down, its stumbling chasers’ last hope of catching the Catalan club resides in the bumpy road the coming weeks offer. After the game at Malaga, Barcelona has subsequent trips to in-form Real Sociedad, Valencia, Granada and archrival Madrid.

It will also pursue its Copa defense and start the Champions League knockout rounds against Italian side AC Milan. Barcelona will face its packed calendar with coach Tito Vilanova and assistant Jordi Roura sharing coaching duties while Vilanova continues chemotherapy and radiotherapy after his recent surgery to remove a tumor from his throat. —Agencies