23 Jan

CR IP TI ON BS SU

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

In show of friendship, Germany and France

Prince Harry has ‘mental problem’: Taleban

NO: 15697

150 FILS

9 40 PAGES

RABI ALAWAL 11, 1434 AH

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Rotten eggs stench reaches Britain after French gas leak

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www.kuwaittimes.net

Tunisia score late to beat Algeria in African Cup

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Police fire new type of teargas at protesters Barrak rejects compromise • MPs ratify Iraq airline settlement

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conspiracy theories

Stop bluffing the nation!

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

W

e have been lucky enough to have a total of four parliaments since 2006. There have been many common things between these four parliaments. Of course, the previous three parliaments like most of you in Kuwait know were formed with a half-opposition. The other half were liberals and pro-government MPs or a grouping between themselves.

This time Kuwait was luckier to have a parliament without any opposition. Of course, during their election campaigns, the MPs promised the nation the sun and the moon. I do not think we will settle even for a star. First they promised to solve the problem with the housing loans - the enigma of young people in Kuwait. This is a story on its own. They promised us years of development in all fields - electricity power stations, greener Kuwait, new hospitals and roads. Name it and it’s all there. They promised better education for the nation and healthcare. They promised to solve all our problems from A to Z. Most of all they promised to drop the debts which amount to KD 13.46 billion. Only 25 Kuwaitis owe KD 282 million. About 81.5 percent of the 450,000 Kuwaitis aged over 21 took loans.

According to the banks, the loan should not be more than 200 percent of a person’s salary. Giving more than that was a big mistake the banks did.

Some 50 percent of citizens’ loans does not exceed KD 70,000.

By the way, the debt story is being used to play with the sentiment of the voters. It was the main issue and demand of the opposition parliamentarians. Every time they were faced with rejection by the government and pro-government MPs. It was a BIG surprise for me when this parliament started by asking the government to drop the debts and they made it their main issue.

What happened? Was that a maneuver to hit on the opposition and buy the loyalty of voters?

Unfortunately, the government is not bending and the Minister of Finance Mustafa Shamali declared that the government cannot write off the debts. The government said the only solution is the delinquent fund. So, stop playing with the emotions of the voters and stop bluffing the nation.

KUWAIT: Opposition supporters run for cover after police fired teargas during a demonstration to demand the dissolution of the National Assembly in Sabahiya yesterday. (Inset) Former MP and opposition leader Musallam Al-Barrak is seen at the protest. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

By B Izzak and Agencies KUWAIT: Riot police fired teargas and stun grenades at hundreds of opposition supporters who demonstrated yesterday for the third time this month to press for dissolving the national Assembly. Many people suffered from breathing problems after inhaling a new type of teargas used for the first time by police, witnesses said. Chanting anti-government slogans, protesters called for dissolving the new pro-government parliament, elected last month after the opposition boycotted the polls in protest against the controversial electoral law.

The protest, staged in tribal-dominated Sabahiya was led by a number of former opposition lawmakers, including Musallam Al-Barrak. Protesters also called for an elected popular government in the state. Barrak strongly condemned on Twitter what he called police violence, saying this will not stop opposition protests, which will continue until the realisation of “a constitutional monarchy and elected government”.

Barrak also said yesterday he is opposed to any settlement with the government because it has committed grave violations of the constitution, adding that the government should

strike a settlement with the constitution by apologizing for breaching it.

Earlier yesterday, the Assembly comfortably approved an Amiri decree which ratified the settlement between Kuwait Airways Corp (KAC) and Iraqi Airlines under which Iraq will pay $500 in compensation. Forty-six MPs and Cabinet ministers voted for the decree, one MP opposed it while another lawmaker abstained. Only 48 MPs and ministers were present at the time of the vote. The approval means that the dispute between the Iraqi and Kuwaiti national carriers from the time of the Iraqi invasion in 1990 is over.

HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah issued a decree in October ratifying the settlement with Iraq airlines when the Assembly was dissolved. But the decree had to be approved by the new Assembly in order to be legal and effective. The Assembly will start today debating a decree issued by the Amir in October to privatize the loss-making carrier by transforming it into a company operating on a commercial basis. MPs refused to discuss the decree yesterday because the text was given to them late and they had no time to read it. The government agreed to delay the debate until today.

The Assembly also approved the 2011/2012 development

Malaysian PM on solidarity trip to Gaza Kashmiris told to prepare for nuclear attack

Facebook envy causing misery LONDON: Witnessing friends’ vacations, love lives and work successes on Facebook can cause envy and trigger feelings of misery and loneliness, according to German researchers. A study conducted jointly by two German universities found rampant envy on Facebook, the world’s largest social network that now has over one billion users and has produced an unprecedented platform for social comparison. The researchers found that one in three people felt worse after visiting the site and more dissatisfied with their lives, while people who browsed without contributing were affected the most.

“We were surprised by how many people have a negative experience from Facebook with envy leaving them feeling lonely, frustrated or angry,” researcher Hanna Krasnova from the Institute of Information Systems at Berlin’s Humboldt University told Reuters. “From our observations some of these people will then leave Facebook or at least reduce their use of the site,” said Krasnova, adding to speculation that Facebook could be reaching saturation point in some markets.

Researchers from Humboldt University and from Darmstadt’s Technical University found vacation photos were the biggest cause of resentment with more than half of envy incidents triggered by holiday snaps on Facebook. Social interaction was the second most common cause of envy as users could compare how many birthday greetings they received to those of their Continued on Page 13

plan although the plan was supposed to have been issued more than two years ago. The approval was a routine procedure required by the four-year development plan law. During the session, the government used its constitutional right to force a delay for two weeks the debate on a request to form a committee to probe contracts for the Jaber Al-Ahmad Causeway linking Kuwait City with Subbiya and the Al-Zour power plant. The government used the same right regarding parliamentary requests to probe the consequences of the cancellation of a deal with Dow Chemical, an investigation into the issue of expatriate workers in the country and launching a probe into diesel smuggling.

The Assembly approved a request to ask the human rights committee to follow up with the case of the two Kuwaitis detained in Guantanamo Bay prison and gave it three months. During the debate, MPs said the committee should focus its work locally over the rights issue of labourers and bedoons (stateless). MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan charged that the committee should pay greater attention to the illegal deportation of some expatriates from Kuwait, adding that drug cases were fabricated against some expatriates who were deported without going to court.

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya (left) greets Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak after his arrival yesterday. — AP GAZA CITY: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak pledged solidarity with the Palestinians on his first trip to Gaza yesterday, throwing his support behind reconciliation efforts between Hamas and Fatah. Najib, who entered via the Rafah crossing from Egypt with Foreign Minister Anifah Aman and other officials, was met by Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya. Speaking shortly after his arrival, Najib said his visit was intended “to show solidarity and our support for the struggle of the Palestinian people”. “We may come from thousands of

miles away ... but we are one ummah (Muslim nation) and we believe in the struggle of the Palestinian people,” he said. Najib also expressed support for renewed reconciliation efforts between the Islamist movement Hamas and the rival Fatah party, including attempts to form a consensus government to pave the way for new elections.

Amid criticism of his visit from Fatah, he said a unity government would be a good “response” to Israeli Continued on Page 13

SRINAGAR: Police in Indian Kashmir have warned residents to build underground bunkers to prepare for a possible nuclear war in the disputed region, which is on edge after a string of deadly border clashes. The warning comes despite a ceasefire which took hold last week in the scenic Himalayan region, after the Indian and Pakistani armies agreed to halt cross-border firing that had threatened to unravel a fragile peace process. “If the blast wave does not arrive within five seconds of the flash you were far enough from the ground zero,” says the notice, headed “Protection against Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) Weapons”. It warns of “initial disorientation” from a nuclear attack, saying the blast may “carry away many prominent and familiar features”.

The instructions were issued Monday in a local English-language Greater Kashmir newspaper by the State Disaster Response Force, which is part of the police. They vividly describe a nuclear war scenario to prepare residents to deal with “the initial shock wave”. The notice tells them to “wait for the winds to die down and debris to stop falling”. “Blast wind will generally end in one or two minutes after burst and burns, cuts and bruises are no different than conventional injuries. (The) dazzle is temporary and vision should return in few seconds,” it says.

Continued on Page 13

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

LOCAL

KUWAIT: (Left) Adnan Muhsin cutting the ribbon during the launching ceremony.

Jamal Omran (right) awarding Adnan Muhsin.

Adnan Muhsin touring the exhibition. — Photos by Joseph Shagra

Kuwait waste production ‘too huge’ for its size Major conference begins

By Nawara Fattahova

Relief to Jakarta floods victims

By A. Saleh A local charity organization has launched a relief campaign to collect donations for victims of the floods that recently struck Indonesia, leaving behind losses estimated at $210 million. “Around 40 thousand families became homeless in Jakarta as a result of the floods, in which water levels reached three meters and affected at least 240 thousand people”, said head of the Southeast Asia Committee of the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society Jamaal Al-Hashash.

Donations can be made at the RIHS main

building in Al-Roudha or at any of its offices in Kuwait.

Girl scouts camp The 16th annual camp for girl scouts in Kuwait is set to take place between the 12th and 18th of next February, bringing together middle and high school students from public and private schools throughout Kuwait. The announcement was made

by Undersecretary Assistant for Students Activities at the Ministry of Education, Radhi Al-Oyaied, who noted that the camp would include “sleeping in” at the Kuwait Girl Guides Association headquarters.

GCC security database in the works KUWAIT: The Ministry of Interior is all set to announce setting up of a new department which will operate a security database connected with other Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

The database will allow exchange of information regarding criminals among the GCC member states, a local newspaper reported yesterday, quoting a ministry insider.

The ‘Security Data Bank Department’, as described by the source, will include information about citizens and residents in Kuwait including their iris scan, fingerprints, blood test and a photograph. It will also provide any criminal record pertaining to any person that

any GCC state can review once the said person arrives there for work.

But the source who spoke to Al-Qabas on the condition of anonymity said that the blood test is likely to be removed from the databank’s information repository “because it could lead to many complications.” He did not provide any further information in this regard.

“A team from the Criminal Evidence General Department visited Saudi Arabia recently to meet with their counterparts from the other GCC states in order to agree on the database connection,” the source added. He did not indicate a timetable for the system’s introduction.

KUWAIT: ProMedia is organizing the 5th Kuwait Waste Management conference and exhibition on Jan 22 and 23, at the Radisson Blu Hotel. Various international and local institutions are participating in this event. Various issues were discussed during the conference yesterday including waste management before and after the 2012 London Olympics, solid waste management in KSA, United States army camps’ waste management, recycling program in Kuwait, government experience in waste management, sustainable waste management buildings in Egypt, Basel Convention and others.

Lectures scheduled for today (Wednesday) will focus on an overview of waste environment management, recycling stainless steel waste, information systems’ requirement in solid waste management, waste reduction, waste water used in irrigation for establishing man-made forests, potential of mechanically activated mineral waste materials, microbial production of polyhydroxybutyrate, agro-industrial waste products, and environmental management systems development.

Organizers worked for six months in cooperation with the Kuwait Municipality to prepare for this event. “Dr. Khalid Al-Mahdi, Head of the Scientific Committee and a chemistry teacher at the Kuwait University chose the 14 participating scientific researches out of more than 30 which were submitted. On this occasion, I would like to thank all the participants and speakers at this conference for their great effort,” Jamal Omran, Head of the Organizing Committee, said at the launching ceremony yesterday.

Adnan Muhsin, the Head of the Environment Department at the Kuwait Municipality, noted that the scientific researches in waste management will help lead us in finding a way to reduce pollution on our planet. “Such conferences help in enhancing the knowledge about sustainable development and better waste management. The waste produced in Kuwait, whether by individuals or facto-

ries, is too huge for its geographical size. This enjoins even greater responsibility on our Municipality as far as waste disposal processes are concerned,” he pointed out.

The need for waste management is increasing.

“The Municipality had executed many projects related to waste management and we are now seeing the results through the new cleaning contracts.

In addition, we started working on some new waste management projects which envisage sorting out the waste at the source itself to recycle it in three separate ways. Furthermore, we solved the problem related to tires and announced a bid for the private sector to invest in this,” Muhsin added.

He also mentioned some statistics about waste in Kuwait. “Each individual in Kuwait is producing about 1.5 kg of hard waste daily. We are a country of three million. This is one of the highest waste

production rates internationally. Also the industrial waste accounts for about 18,000 tons daily as a result of the building projects and urban development. This waste is treated immediately through local recycling factories,” he explained.

Kuwait Municipality is holding awareness programs by sending messages to spread the environmental awareness in the community. “There is positive response from the public towards these awareness programs and I appreciate the efforts of those working on this issue in different departments and the people who have been responding. Also the Municipality is preparing a huge awareness campaign on waste burning. Lectures will be held at schools to increase the students’ awareness about environment protection. In addition, we are publishing awareness enhancing brochures about to sort out the waste correctly,” concluded Muhsin.

Medical Emergency technician assaulted

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: The Director of Medical Emergency, Dr. Faisal Al-Ghanim, denounced the assault on an Adan Hospital technician Jaafar Mohammad from Fahaheel center on Monday when he was performing his duties.

The technician was dealing with a case in the emergency room of the hospital when a number of people barged into the room. He asked them to clear the room and allow the nursing staff to do their work since the crowd’s presence was hampering the paramedics from performing their duties. Enraged at the technician’s perfectly logical request, people in the group abused and beat him up. The Hadiya police station was informed about the incident. The administration followed up the case at each step and a report was sent to the Undersecretary, Dr. Khalid Al-Sahlawi. The min-

istry will take all necessary legal action concerning this case. Meanwhile, Medical Emergency Administration received a delegation from AlSalehia intermediate school for girls from Mubarak Al-Kabeer governorate on January 17, 2013. The students heard a lecture about first aid by trainer Hussain Al-Saffar. The lecture included details about resuscitation of the heart, lungs and stomachache. Abdul Aziz Hafez explained to the delegation the nature of the work at the operation section and also told them about how reports are received, ambulances are dispatched and cases are followed up. He also told them about the first operation through the phone. The delegation was acquainted with ambulances and the equipments installed therein. They were also briefed about the role of the central emergency room. The visit concluded with the school being presented a first aid kit. Some memorial photos were clicked.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

LOCAL

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah returned home yesterday from Riyadh after leading Kuwait’s delegation to the Third Arab Economic and Social Development Summit. Upon arrival, HH the Amir was received at Kuwait Airport by HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, National Assembly Speaker Ali Fahad Al-Rashid, Deputy Chief of the National Guards Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah, HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and a host of senior officials and sheikhs.

‘KD5,000 for all Kuwaitis’ sparks mixed reactions Majority doubtful about proposal

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: A proposal to dole out KD5,000 to every Kuwait citizen drew mixed reactions from various sections of the Kuwaiti society. While some were too happy to hear about it, many voiced their concern.

A number of Kuwaiti MPs co-authored the bill that calls upon the government to grant every Kuwaiti citizen KD5,000 in addition to KD300 per month to every unemployed Kuwaiti woman. The proposal stipulates that low-income Kuwaitis will greatly benefit from the grant. If just one third of Kuwaiti population was given this grant, it would cost the government at least KD4 billion.

Dr Hajjaj Bukhudoor, an economist and professor at Kuwait University said the proposal is the weakest bill ever to be presented by a few newly elected MPs. “These people (MPs) are poisoning the countr y. They are helpless and ver y unprofessional. They cannot perform their duty well or formulate better regulations for the country but propose a law that is ridiculous and appalling,” he said.

Bukhudoor noted that the newly elect-

ed MPs who propose to grant such handme-downs are not performing well themselves and could deliver no results ever since they were elected as MPs. “This is what they can do. They want to add poison to honey. They are a disgrace to the people of Kuwait and they are damaging our economy. They want to inflate the cost of living which can be very expensive to all,” he added.

Another government official, who did not want to be named, said if Kuwaiti people were just thinking of today, then they should accept the money from the state’s coffers, but if they worry about the future, then they should have another thought coming.

“If people are to live only today, spend everything you have and stay happy. But the reality is that it is not about us only, it is about the future of our country, the future of our next generation. Look at Kuwait now and compare it to its neighbors. We are not the env y of others because we have poor infrastructure. Few buildings came up and little development happened during the last decades. This is not about us today, this is about the

Kuwait of future,” he told the Kuwait Times. A Kuwaiti office worker also commented that if Kuwait was to focus on new development, it could not only help itself but can also contribute to the global economy. “Some countries are dying for liquid cash to develop their countries, and many of them borrow money from World Bank and IMF just to improve their infrastructure but here in Kuwait, we have money, ready cash, but this is how these non-performing MPs think how to spend it. We should use our money to develop our country, create the best infrastructure, improve our roads and the services in the ministries and do something for the welfare of all the people,” the female employee said.

But many would love to receive the amount, believing that otherwise it would be pocketed by few corrupt officials.

“I think it is okay to distribute money to us rather than it being robbed by a few corrupt officials. Perhaps with such an amount, I will be able to start a small business. In that case, I will thank them for it,” a pro-dole man told this reporter.

Another young Kuwaiti college student

said he would love to spend the amount, if granted, to fund a trip abroad. “I would like to go to some place I have never visited. So, the amount is most welcome. I need money in my bank,” he said.

There were others who were doubtful if the proposal would ever fructify.

“We do not have a government that is so ‘stupid, shallow minded’ that it would grant citizens whatever they wish. It has to be properly studied and should be based on the needs or priorities rather than just on the wishes of a bunch of people.” Kuwait government already distributed KD1,000 to every citizen and gave two years worth of free food during the 50th celebration of the National Day, 20th year of Liberation, and the fifth anniversary of HH the Amir’s ascension to power in 2011.

The proposals to write-off debt were denied long time back although such proposals are now being resurrected in the new parliament. Kuwait had also granted some unemployment allowances to its citizens and additional salaries to Kuwaitis working in the private sector as part of Kuwait’s Social Security Program.

Violations at ration centers KUWAIT: The Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Abdullah Al-Ali, said eggs could not be supplied to ration centers because of non-compliance by 30 cooperative societies with the ministry’s regulations governing the ration center branches. The regulations were meant to improve citizens’ satisfaction when it comes to service.

He said that the ration administration and inspectors discovered huge violations at the ration center branches of these 30 cooperative societies, particularly regarding the health requirements. As per the norms, it was mandatory to ensure clean floors and buildings in good shape. The buildings in question were found to be dilapidated and infested by insects and rats.

He said that the Ministry of Commerce communicated with cooperative societies and municipality to improve the situation and grant the cooperative societies extra space to enable them to meet the health requirements and create adequate storage infrastructure besides ensuring good air conditioning.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

LOCAL In my view

In my view

Marriages with expats

Obama’s creative diplomacy

By Amir Al-Taheri

F

By Labeed Abdal

local@kuwaittimes.net

A

n announcement which took everyone by surprise said foreign women who married Kuwaiti men after January 2010 will need the approval of a special committee to be able to live in Kuwait. This comes at a time when the Interior Ministry has stopped stamping residence permits of the foreign wives of Kuwaiti nationals whose marriage took place after that date.

I think the issue has become complex and selfcontradictory to a certain extent since it is the Kuwaiti men who decided to marry non-Kuwaiti wives, not the other way around.

Also, marriage is a very individual and personal decision of two people, not one.

On the one hand, the constitution of Kuwait affirms in Article 9 that “The family is the cornerstone of society. It is founded on religion, morality and patriotism. Law shall preserve the integrity of the family, strengthen its ties, and protect under its support motherhood and childhood.”

In Article 29 para 2, it mentions that “Personal liberty is guaranteed.”

In the light of these constitutional provisions, such an administrative move is equivalent to violation of these pillars of the constitution.

On the other hand, I strongly believe that it is a social issue and should be left for the parties involved to decide. This committee might ruin the seeds of potential new families and actually restrict a Kuwaiti husband’s choice by raking up the issue of residency rights of the expat wife.

Social centers and committees can study the issue thoroughly and come up with reasonable solutions to deal with marriages with expats instead of following the option of restrictions and denying the human rights of people involved.

By all means, Kuwaiti men and women must be given the freedom of choice and liberty to avail of all legal alternatives and the reasonable choices, and should be free to marry anyone in Kuwait or Timbuktu.

kuwait digest

Redistribution of constituencies

By Dr Shamlan Al-Essa

M

assive opposition and innumerable protests were triggered by a proposal forwarded by MPs Saadoun Hamad, Hussein Al-Qallaf, Hamad Al-Dousari, Abdelrahman Al-Jeeran and Khalid Al-Shulaimi suggesting redistribution of the residential areas among the five electoral constituencies according to the principle of retaining fairness in numbers while maintaining the one vote system. Despite the fact that what the MPs submitted was just a “proposed law,” some people considered their move as a tactic to bypass the constitutional court and its ruling which is yet to be issued.

The MPs’ proposal is not related to the court’s ruling. We disagree with the MPs’ proposal because they did not explain to us on what basis were the constituencies divided, or whose interests did such a division serve?

It is normal to find each MP thinking about his own private interest, and how he can divide the constituencies according to his views and electoral interests. Hence, it is no surprise to find that a tribal MP would concentrate on all such areas where his fellow tribesmen reside, and a sectarian would also act the same way. They would be keen on keeping the electoral areas unchanged and untouched as long as the majority of their voters affiliated to that tribe or sect do not shift out or switch loyalties. Distribution of election constituencies has been an eternal problem that the National Assembly failed to solve in the past because each MP wanted to guard his interest first so that his re-election is assured.

While all this argument is going on, no one spared a thought about where does the interest of Kuwait lie? And can its interest be represented? Are tribal, sectarian or family MPs the ones who can represent its interest or does the silent majority represent Kuwait?

The silent majority is distributed over all constituencies, but its strength remained unseen till the election law was amended to end the entitlement to four votes and make it one. The silent majority does not belong to any political party, be it strong, liberal or Islamic.

It believes in Kuwait’s constitution and a civil and democratic state that rejects tribal, sectarian or family affiliations. They believe that all are equal before the law, and reject the domination of tribes and sects in the National Assembly.

The governments and elected assemblies in developed countries face the same problem because each political party, whether republican, democrat, free liberal, labor, conservative, socialist, communist or others, want to distribute constituencies according to its own interests. So the government and the MPs are keen on distributing the mixed constituencies in a way that serves the interest of all. The problem here in Kuwait is that the tribal, sectarian and family affiliation come before national loyalty. The national interest in the west emanates from the parties’ view about the country’s economic, social and political future. In our case, the national interest idea is distorted, unjust and fake. Loyalty to the tribe, sect or family can make them oppose the government, and they do it in the name of patriotism. The tribal and sectarian MPs start speaking about patriotism when they have to oppose the government. It is true of Sunni or Shiite political Islam movements, nationalist or popular factions of varying ideologies. Ironically, all of them, tribes, hadhar, Sunni and Shiite, are in agreement on one thing - their loyalty to the ruling family and HH the Amir - but this “dual principle” did not translate into a national working program based on strengthening institutions. So, the ruling establishment needs to review how to deal with these variables, especially that other groups become more organized because they have parties and operatives who work on religious, tribal or sectarian principles. A partisan organization cannot imbibe the governmental principles to safeguard the interests of Kuwait and preserve the civil, constitutional and a free state through implementation of the law. Finally, I propose, out of my own private interest as a citizen, to divide the electoral areas in Kuwait into 50 constituencies where each voter will have one vote. As for distributing the constituencies, the best way is to go back to the past since the current five constituencies system was actually born out of an idea to divide the 25 constituencies.

So the best way is to go back to the 25 constituencies system and divide each into two parts, thus resulting in 50 constituencies and 50 MPs without any focus on tribes, sects or family interests.

May be this distribution would satisfy everyone, including the government and its concern about its own interests. —Al-Watan

kuwait digest

Healthy and lip-smacking?

You got it!

‘Constitutional’ Discrimination

By Abdullatif Al-Duaij

A

number of lawmakers - I am not sure whether they are simply ignorant or just trying to play smart - proposed an amendment to the electoral law to divide Kuwait into five constituencies with ten MPs to be elected from each.

As per this proposal, each voter would have the right to elect only one candidate whose ancestors must have lived in Kuwait before 1920 to qualify.

This proposal became a hot topic of discussion online with many people heavily criticizing those mooting the idea for their racist bias.

The lawmakers have not proposed anything new. Their proposal is simply a copy of the existing electoral law. The number of constituencies is the same, so are the number of MPs elected from each constituency and the maximum number of candidates each voter can vote for. Meanwhile, Article 82 of the Kuwaiti Constitution says that a member of the National Assembly will be “a Kuwaiti by origin in accordance with the law.” The only involved is the Citizenship Law, which defines a Kuwaiti by origin as “those persons who were settled in Kuwait prior to 1920 and who maintained their normal residence there until the date of the publication of this Law.” So what is new in the MPs’ proposal? Why have they proposed it? And what is the reason behind this irresponsible attack against them?

I call it irresponsible because people criticizing the MPs ignore the fact that discrimination between Kuwaitis of different standing is already present in the Citizenship Law and the Kuwaiti Constitution. All that these lawmakers did was to ‘adopt’ the already existing electoral law. In fact, even if they wanted to propose a more ‘humane’ amendment, they would not have been able to because the aforementioned constitutional article clearly sets having settled in Kuwait prior to 1920 as a condition to run for parliament.

So the real question is: why was the law proposed if it is basically the same as the existing one?

What goal are the lawmakers trying to accomplish here? Of course, some people have already accused the MPs of seeking to enforce a replacement for the existing law in order to ‘circumvent’ an anticipated Constitutional Court ruling on the challenges that the law faces.

I do not think the government is going to go along with that. I also do not think that MPs can manage enough number of votes or even time to pass it before the court comes up with its ruling.

Therefore, I believe the MPs are eyeing to ‘immunize’ the current law and protect it against any potential changes in the long term.— Al-Qabas

or decades, the dream, of making a deal with Iran has nurtured a veritable industry in the United States. Like other industries, this has been subjected to cyclical change, booming at times and suffering bust at others.

Since President Barack Obama’s re-election, the “talk to Iran” industry has experienced an unprecedented boom. Obama’s second administration looks as if it is designed to cajole the mullahs into a fresh attempt at deal-making. Obama’s choices of a new Secretary of State, Secretary of Defence, National Security Advisor and CIA chief show that Tehran could not have hoped for a more sympathetic team in Washington.

The “talk to Iran’ lobby uses some old clichÈs.

“Talking is better than fighting” we are told. Also, it is “better to be a trouble-shooter than a trouble-maker”. And who could disagree? Because deal-making is part of their culture Americans admire politicians who can end conflicts with a compromise. Thus, appeasement marketed as creative diplomacy has generated what the American establishment knows as “the realistic school of foreign policy.”

That “school” is founded on a number of assumptions.

The first is that conflicts among nations are exclusively caused by divergent material interests.

Countries compete over access to raw materials, markets, and, in the old days, colonies. They may have territorial claims or harbour irredentist dreams against one another. They may also have security concerns about trade routes and/or treatment of ethnic kith-and-kin in other countries.

Remarkably Marxian in nature, that analysis puts material differences at the root of human conflicts, implicitly ruling out the possibility of existential threats caused by ideological differences.

That leads to a second assumption: differences cam be narrowed down to one or two “concrete” issues.

Successive US administrations narrowed down the conflict with the Soviet Union to the issue of arms control and, over decades, made several deals with Moscow.

Few noticed the absurdity of the exercise. We were told that nuclear weapons prevented war because of the Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) principle. “Nuclear weapons are an instrument for peace,” President John Kennedy’s Defence Secretary Robert McNamara claimed. If that were the case, why would anyone want to reduce the effectiveness of an “instrument for peace”?

In three decades of “creative diplomacy” the US and the USSR reduced their capacities for destroying the earth with nuclear weapons from 40 times to just 22 times!

Meanwhile the Soviet Union continued its expansionist strategy and remained an existential threat to the United States.

In the 1970s, the USSR reached the peak of its global influence, ironically, with financial support from the United States.

In the end, it was only when Russia stopped being the Soviet Union that it ceased being an existential threat to the US and its allies.

Obama’s appeasement squad seems to be heading towards repeating the mistakes of the “realistic school.” It is trying to reduce issues of conflict with Iran to a single one: Iran’s nuclear ambitions. It then reduces that issue further by narrowing it down to Iran’s right to enrich uranium.

That is then narrowed down further to Iran’s right to enrich uranium up to 20 per cent. The final narrowing down would let Iran do pretty much what it pleases under “international supervision”. But what guarantee is there that the Islamic Republic would not continue a clandestine programme?

According to Ramin Mehmanparast, spokesman for the Islamic Republic’s foreign ministry, Tehran proposes to submit a “fatwa” from “Supreme Guide” Ali Khameneni to the United Nations as a guarantee for its commitment not to “develop, test or deploy” nuclear weapons.

Supposing it exists, the “fatwa” does not legally commit the Islamic Republic to anything. Nor could it have any effect in accordance with international law. In 1989, when the late Ayatollah Khomeini issued his “fatwa” for the murder of British novelist Salman Rushdie, successive Tehran officials publicly described it as a religious “opinion” that did not commit the Iranian government.

At that time, Khamenei was President of the Islamic Republic. On a state visit to Belgrade he told a press conference that Khomeini’s “fatwa” concerned “all Muslims throughout the world” but could not be regarded as “the official position of the Islamic Republic.”

Even inside Iran the “fatwa” has no legal authority.

Though the highest political authority in the regime, Khamenei lacks the theological status of a “Marja’a al-Taqlid” (Source of Emulation). A “fatwa” is a religious opinion issued in response to a question put to a “marj’aa”. It must not be confused with a papal bull. To become legally binding any “fatwa” by Khamenei must go through the constitutional process of legislation, verification and final assent.

However, even if all of that is done, there is no guarantee that Khamenei would not issue another “fatwa” later to cancel the previous one. A regime that violates its own constitution on a daily basis would have little difficulty deceiving the “Infidel” by issuing “fatwas” to buy time. The practice acquires some theological sanctions through the principle of “taqiyah” or dissimulation to deceive an “Infidel” foe.

No doubt Obama thinks that he is a genius and can succeed where five US presidents before him have failed. Obama may be a genius in the American context if only because he has persuaded more than 60 million Americans to vote for him on two occasions. However, when it comes to dealing with mullahs he might fall victim to hubris. Signs indicate that the mullahs are preparing to lead Obama up the same garden path as followed by his predecessors.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

LOCAL

MPs to vote on ‘unified’ bill on loans Opposition agitation ‘to escalate’ KUWAIT: Representatives of local banks, who have been opposing the proposal to write off the interests accrued on Kuwaitis’ loans, defended their position during a meeting with MPs on Monday even as efforts were on reconcile all the proposals into a single draft law that can be passed by the parliament. “The parliament’s financial committee will meet on Sunday and come up with a comprehensive draft law that will merge all proposals submitted with regards to dropping the interests on loans,” panel member Ahmad Lari told Al-Rai following their meetings with members of the Kuwait Banks Association.

The members had reportedly provided documents and court orders supporting banking procedures, but expressed their commitment to follow any decision taken by the Central Bank in this regard. The meeting came a day after the panel met Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Mustafa Al-Shamali, who reiterated his stance against any compromise which would require the government to purchase interests of loans that were estimated by the Central Bank at KD1.7 billion.

In other news, former parliament speaker Ahmad Al-Saadoun told a press conference on Monday that the opposition’s agitation against

KUWAIT: Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs Sharida AlMeosharji shares a laugh with Kuwaiti Shiite MP Hussein AlQallaf during a parliament session at the National Assembly in Kuwait City yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Court orders release of bedoon’s civil ID KUWAIT: In an unprecedented ruling, the Appeals Court on Monday ordered the government to issue a civil ID to a stateless resident who filed a case against the Central Agency for Stateless Residency after it ignored her request to open a file.

The ruling opens the door for residents known commonly in Kuwait as ‘bedoons’ to obtain civil IDs as long as they have a civil number. “We are going to contact the relevant state departments soon in order to obtain a civil ID for my client,” attorney Fawziya Al-Sabah told reporters following the crucial ruling, adding that this ID would be “the first to be issued for a stateless resident in Kuwait.”

Attorney Al-Sabah argued during trial that “the state is committed by law to release a civil number and civil ID for every person living in Kuwait regardless of nationality.”

“Is it logical to have a resident who was born in Kuwait and is already over thirty years of age but still doesn’t have an identity or any means of identification?” Al-Sabah reportedly told the court.

Also on Monday, the Appeals Court ordered the Ministry of Justice to accept applications presented by female graduates from Kuwait University’s Faculty of Law, who applied to work as prosecutors in Kuwait, a job currently restricted to male judges in the country’s judicial system.

the single-vote system and the current parliament was going to “escalate” in the coming few days, noting at the same time that the country “was going through a dangerous juncture.”

Reacting to reports about the opposition’s intentions to contact international organizations, Al-Saadoun argued that the issue had “been internationalized since the beginning because it concerned human rights and freedoms.” The top oppositionist figure announced that “legal action” will be taken in the case of the arrests of youth activists who took part in the demonstrations. In a related piece of news, AlRai reported yesterday, quoting sources privy to

the opposition’s thinking, that former MPs Dr. Faisal Al-Mislem, Mohammad Al-Dallal, Adel AlDamkhi and Faisal Al-Yahya were assigned to “contact other political groups in a bit to unify the opposition factions.”

“The step comes after the opposition felt that their level of public support was receding while they still rely on it in order to achieve their goals,” said the sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Meanwhile, a leading official at the Kuwait Airways Corporation has downplayed the campaign that some writers, newspapers and media have begun against the new Board of Directors, criticizing the elimination of

1400 employees in a smart move saving huge amounts in the process. He said the campaign targets the Chairman of the Board, Sami Al-Nisf, although he is dealing with the KAC issue professionally and with extreme patience.

The source found it strange to see judgments on the Audit Bureau report, which he described as a phantom since no report has been issued, and considered all those promoting the matter as having their own agendas that they have failed to accomplish.

The source asked, “How can the Audit Bureau issue its report on the KAC, even though its finance department has not finished it yet?”

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

LOCAL

Four-member theft gang impersonate detectives One dead, three injured in collision KUWAIT: Khaitan police are trying to identify and arrest four male suspects impersonating as police detectives who stole KD2600 from residents inside an apartment they broke into. The victims described the suspects as “well-built men wearing training suits” who handcuffed them using plastic bands and then proceeded to snatch their money and escaped. The Indian men reported the case at Khaitan police station.

injured when two cars collided with each other recently in Kabad.

Paramedics and police rushed to a location after receiving information about the mishap. The Egyptian was pronounced dead on the scene while two of the injured in his car as well as the driver of the other were rushed to the Far waniya Hospital in a critical condition. An investigation is underway to determine the circumstances behind the accident.

Road accident An Egyptian man died on the spot while three others were

Landmine defused Explosives experts defused a landmine found at an open location

in Kabad on Monday. Investigations indicated it was a remnant from the 1990/91 Iraqi Invasion period.

Police, which reached the spot after a Kuwaiti man reported finding a foreign object half-buried near a property he owns, requisitioned the bomb disposal squads. The area was swept for other potential explosives before the police left the scene.

Extortion Four men reportedly forced a Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh resident to sign a legal document stating he owed one of them KD 1000. In his state-

ment to the local police, the Egyptian man said that the suspects, three Egyptians and one bedoon, physically assaulted him and only left after he signed the document.

Investigations are ongoing.

Inebriated man A heavily inebriated man who passed out near a garbage bin in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh was arrested by patrol officers. The officers woke him uip and arrested him, while also discovering that he was reported missing by his employer. He was taken to the area’s police station for further action. —Al-Rai

Arab League focuses on development projects to meet peoples’ aspirations RIYADH: Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Araby has affirmed the importance of the Arab summit which convenes at a time of great transformations in the region.

Addressing the opening session of the economic summit, which opened here on Monday, Al-Araby said Arab nationals pinned great hopes on this summit to meet their aspirations for sustainable development and social justice.

Al-Araby said that the League was keen on setting up programs and projects that top the table of economic priorities.

He praised the initiative of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlSabah to set up a $2 billion fund for small and medium projects and Bahrain’s proposal to embrace the joint Arab stock market.

Al-Araby also highlighted the League’s efforts to launch the Grand Arab Free Trade Zone and the custom union planned for launch in 2015.

He said the renewable energies project will feature high on the summit’s agenda through a

strategy outlining the future of the Arab world in this field until 2030.

He unveiled that a global dialogue will be held after assessing the implementation of the millennium development goals (MDGs) in order to set up world priorities on achieving sustainable development until after 2015.

Emphasizing the effective role of the private sector, Al-Araby voiced confidence that the Riyadh summit will come up with decisions on fostering Arab development and achieving a better life for future generations.

On Palestine, he said that Arab foreign ministers decided last November to put more pressure on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to end the Israeli occupation of Arab territories within a specific timetable.

He called on international and regional partners to continue providing the Palestinian people with the basic services and needs in order to reduce the adverse effects of poverty and unemployment.

Al-Araby said Israeli must be forced to transfer funds to the Palestinian government in order to remedy its ailing economy.

On the violence in Syria, he expressed regret on the failed efforts of UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to end the bloodshed in this Arab country and starting the transition period which was approved six months ago.

He urged the UNSC to meet immediately and pass a a binding resolution on an immediate ceasefire and setting up an international observers force to make sure that the truce takes effect.

Al-Araby said Arab foreign ministers decided last night to send a mission to countries neighboring Syria to closely view the conditions of refugees and outline their needs ahead of raising the matter before Kuwaiti international donors for the Syrian people at the end of this months. On developments in Algeria, he expressed solidarity with this Afro-Arab state in facing terrorism. — KUNA

Al-Hajraf opens high-quality learning seminar KUWAIT: Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education Nayef AlHajraf inaugurated here Monday a seminar on challenges facing world educational improvement.

The seminar is part of ongoing efforts to overhaul educational methods at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Kuwait University and Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, the minister said during the event.

He said the teacher was the cornerstone of educational development, arguing that no educational system could be revamped unless all the needs of the teacher are met.

The best curricula and facilities could be made available but they mean nothing unless efficient and qualified teachers are available, he noted.

Therefore, the Ministries of Education and Higher Education were very interested in professional empowerment and output revamp, he pointed out.

The minister also stressed the necessity of developing curricula by focusing on quality, rather than quantity.

Furthermore, he pointed to creating a congenial educational environment, boosting the family’s significant role and spurring the private sector to support educational development. — KUNA

KUWAIT: The Commercial Bank of Kuwait sponsored a marathon held by the Houma Elementary School for girls featuring students representing different schools in the Hawally Educational District. CBK Public Relations and Media Manager Amani Al-Wara’a explained that the step came as part of the bank’s “efforts to live up to its social responsibility in sponsoring events held by civil society institutions”.

Cirque De Glace shows at Ice Skating Rink KUWAIT: The Ice Skating Rink will be closed from Feb 3, 2013 to prepare for shows to be presented by the Cirque De Glace team from Feb 6 to 9, 2013, a senior Touristic Enterprises Company official announced yesterday.

Meanwhile, the facility’s minor skating hall will remain open to the public everyday from 10:30 am to 1:00 am all through this period, Ice Skating Rink Supervisor Omar AlSamaraie said.

Cirque De Glace, a professional team in ice skating displays, is set to perform 38 shows during its visit to Kuwait.

Omar Al-Samaraie

2000 experts to attend ‘Government Summit’ DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates will host the Government Summit, which will be held for the first time in the region on Feb 11 and 12; under the theme Leading Governments Services.

The summit which will host 2,000 delegates representing UAE, Arabs and other parts of the world, and will witness participation from a range of national, regional and international government leaders and experts is an ideal platform to exchange experience and knowledge and leading government services.

Mohammed Al-Gergawi Minister of Cabinet Affairs in UAE and head of the organizing committee for the Government Summit, emphasized that the summit is organized in line with the directives of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid AlMaktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai to find a new destination for government services and work continuous improvement and development.

He said that the Government Summit which is the largest government gathering in the region and the Arab world represents a regional platform that gathers such a high profile leaders, decision makers and specialists from the Arab countries and abroad especially that there many concerns about enhancing governments role in providing high quality services and finding innovative methods to improve government services in the region. Al-Gergawi explained that the Government Summit has formed strategic partnerships with renowned organisations including the Dubai School of Government, and international entities such as the Organization for Economic

Co-operation and Development (OECD), Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and specialized international institutions such as Getalio Vargas Foundation, and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore and others.

Mohammed Al-Gergawi To further drive these partnerships, the Summit will launch several international reports published in Arabic for the first time to be distributed in the UAE and the Arab world to expand and disseminate knowledge to benefit decision makers, researchers and government experts. The Summit will also host several workshops and constructive discussions to enhance the quality of government services and provide a model for governmental concepts and practices in the region.

Lebanese Red Cross praises Kuwaiti aid BEIRUT: Lebanese Red Cross extolled here yesterday the significant role played by the State of Kuwait in the field of providing humanitarian aid to the countries and peoples exposed to crises.

Chairman of the Lebanese Red Cross Sami Al-Dahdah said after meeting the Kuwaiti Red Crescent Society delegation on the occasion of the conclusion of its relief aid distribution mission for the displaced Syrians that such generous and kind aid provided by Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) “is not new to the Kuwaiti people.”

He praised historical relations linking the Kuwaiti and Lebanese peoples, as well as between the Lebanese Red Cross and KRCS. He also hailed the distinctive role played by KRCS during the Israeli aggression on Lebanon in 2006.

Meanwhile, the International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO) distributed here yesterday relief aid to some 800 displaced Syrian families in the Shuhaim area and its suburbs in Mount Lebanon.

Director of the Social Society in Lebanon Ghassan Shahata praied to KUNA such generous gesture from the State of Kuwait, which has never hesitated to extend a helping hands to all affected peoples around the world.

He added that the Kuwaiti relief supplies included 1,800 rugs, 1,000 gallons of diesel, 4,000 blankets and 1,500 food parcels. He thanked the State of Kuwait for such relief, chiefly His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. — KUNA

KUWAIT: President of the Kuwait Blind Association Fayez Al-Azmi visited the Kuwait Oil Company yesterday to express gratitude for their initiative to print one of the KOC’s publications that explains the oil production mechanism in Braille. KOC Chairman and Managing Director Sami AlRushaid welcomed Al-Azmi at his office in presence of other KOC officials and received a copy of the ‘From the Desert to the Tanker’ book that was printed in Arabic and English.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

Israel goes to polls, to re-elect Netanyahu

Sports, arts pay price of India-Pakistan tensions Page 10

Page 8

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attend the Inaugural Ball at the Walter E Washington Convention Center on January 21, 2013 in Washington, DC. -—AFP

Obama embarks on first working day Obama eyeing comprehensive overhaul of US immigration laws WASHINGTON: Plenty of fresh challenges lie ahead yesterday as President Barack Obama and his team begin the first working day of the second term. Obama will quickly confront three fiscal deadlines that demand cooperation with Congress, including raising the debt ceiling, which the House of Representatives scheduled for a vote Wednesday. The deaths of three Americans in a siege on a natural gas plant in Algeria have renewed fears about the rise of terrorism in North Africa. And Obama must soon finalize the next phase of the drawdown of US troops in Afghanistan.

In his inaugural address Monday, the president also previewed an ambitious progressive agenda, one that will require cooperation from a divided Congress in an era of looming budget cuts. “We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit,” Obama said, speaking to the hundreds of thousands of people watching his speech on the long strip of green known as the National Mall.

“But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future.”

The president has a few more inaugural obligations to complete before getting down to business. He and Vice President Joe Biden were attending a prayer service yesterday morning at the National Cathedral, and celebrated with campaign and White House staffers at another glitzy inaugural ball yesterday night. Otherwise, yes-

terday was expected to be a normal working day at the White House. The president will meet with top aides, and press secretary Jay Carney will brief the press.

Behind the scenes, Obama and his advisers are working on plans to unveil a comprehensive overhaul of US immigration laws, which is expected to be a central topic in Obama’s Feb 12 State of the Union address. The president also will be seeking support from a wary Congress for the farreaching package of gun control proposals he unveiled last week, including an assault weapons ban and universal background checks for gun purchasers. Obama also paid special attention to climate change during his inaugural address, an issue he spent little time on during his first term.

“Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms,” he said. Still, it was unclear how much effort Obama would put into climate change legislation this year or how much political capital he would have left to spend on the issue after tackling his other priorities. The looming question over Obama’s second fouryear term is whether he can find a way to quell his confrontations with a partisan Congress. He invited a bipartisan group of lawmakers to the White House ahead of his inaugural address Monday, including the Republican leaders with whom he has frequently been at odds: House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Majority

Leader Eric Cantor.

Speaking to the throngs gathered on the National Mall, Obama implored Washington to find common ground when it can. “ We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics or treat namecalling as reasoned debate,” Obama said. And, seeking to build on the wave of public support that catapulted him to two terms in the White House, the president pressed for the public to get help him “set this country’s course.” Obama sent an email shortly after his speech asking supporters to send their contact information to Organizing for Action, the outside group formed by several top Obama campaign officials with the goal of supporting his legislative agenda.

Debates with Congress appeared to be far from Obama’s mind Monday.

A relaxed president soaked in a full day’s worth of activities, starting with a morning church service and ending with two swanky balls. Following his relatively brief, 18-minute inaugural address, Obama gazed over the crowd and said, “I’m not going to see this again.” He and first lady Michelle Obama climbed out of their armored limousine twice during the inaugural parade to walk a few blocks and wave to the jubilant crowd along Pennsylvania Avenue. And he danced and bobbed his head to the marching bands passing by his parade viewing box in front of the White House. Even after his wife and family left the viewing box, Obama stayed to applaud each marching band and float that passed before him.— AP

Obama girls to hit teen milestones in White House WASHINGTON: That’s how it goes with kids. You hardly notice how fast they’re growing up, then suddenly big sis is nearly as tall as Mom and the little one is a tween, gently sassing Dad. On the inaugural platform again four years later, a more mature Malia Obama, 14, and Sasha, 11, smiled, sometimes giggled, and chatted with their cousin Aver y Robinson as they awaited their father’s arrival. Sasha bounced on her feet a bit as if chilly in temperatures hovering around 40 degrees, and later huddled in her seat. Malia, looking poised in calf-high black boots, rivaled her mother’s 5 feet 11 inches. Like any girls their age, they whipped out their smartphones in the parade reviewing stand to take photos.

Both daughters appeared relaxed and oblivious to their global TV audience, unaffected by their rare status,

unfazed by the fuss over their father.

Meanwhile, fashion-watchers were tweeting about the girls’ coats in vibrant shades of purple. For the record: Malia wore a J Crew ensemble, Sasha’s was Kate Spade, and first lady Michelle Obama was in a Thom Browne coat with a navy print like a man’s silk tie.

Such attention to the Obamas’ clothes, their Hawaiian vacations, their hair - Michelle lit up Twitter last week by adding bangs - will continue as they charge into a time of turbulence for so many American families: the teen years. In the second term Sasha, who arrived in the White House as a second-grader, moves on to high school. She expressed her pre-teen spirit Sunday, when Barack Obama took his official, nonpublic oath of office. After giving Dad a “Good job!” she added a reminder of his flubbed words four years ago.

“You didn’t mess up,” Sasha teased the commander in chief.

For Malia, the milestones to come are many - she’ll be hitting the age when typical teens start driving, dating and applying to colleges. How normally can any of this go at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave? Life in the White House is bound to feel different to a teen than it does to a second-grader.

Seven-year-old Emanuel Coleman’s grandmother positioned him on the steps of the National Gallery of Art to watch the swearing-in on a giant outdoor screen Monday. The Durham, NC, boy thought life for a White House k id must be cool, because the president has “his own private limo, helicopter and lives in a really big house.”

“It would be fun to fly in the presidential helicopter,” Emanuel enthused. Sixteen-year-old Colleen Casey isn’t so sure.—AP

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

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

Israel goes to polls, to re-elect Netanyahu Iran issue to return to fore, Palestinians overshadowed

MASNAA: A Russian girl waves to photographers at the Masnaa Lebanese border crossing yesterday. Up to 150 Russians are preparing to flee the bloodshed in Syria over the next two days on board two planes sent to Beirut from Moscow, a Russian diplomat said. — AFP

Syria car bomb kills 30 DAMASCUS: A suicide car bombing in central Syria killed at least 30 people on Monday, a watchdog said, also reporting a powerful blast in Damascus, as the Arab League said UN efforts to end the conflict had failed to bring even a “glimmer” of hope. The United Nations said it would conduct a major humanitarian operation in the war-torn country, with its mission to Syria describing the need for it as “enormous”, having found people in dire need of medical and alimentary aid.

Moscow, one of President Bashar al-Assad’s last remaining supporters, announced it would send two planes to Lebanon to evacuate more than 100 Russians out of Syria. The suicide bombing that targeted a building used by pro-regime militiamen in Salmiyeh, a town in the central province of Hama, killed more than 30 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

State news agency SANA also reported the blast, saying that “a terrorist suicide car bomb was detonated in the heart of Salmiyeh, leaving a number of people killed and others wounded”. The Britain-based Observatory simultaneously reported a deadly powerful explosion in Damascus’s upscale Dumar neighbourhood, but gave no further details and was unable to provide an immediate death toll.

The blasts came as Arab League chief Nabil AlArabi said the mission of the international peace envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, had so far not even “yielded a glimmer of hope” to end the 22-month conflict. The head of the 22-member bloc urged the Arab leaders to call “the UN Security Council for an immediate meeting and to issue a resolution enforcing a ceasefire to stop the bloodbath”. He also called for an “international monitoring force to make sure that fighting has stopped”.

More than 60,000 people have been killed in the conflict that erupted in March 2011 as a popular uprising against the Assad regime, according to the United Nations. The UN mission assessing the “enormous” humanitarian needs in Syria found peopleespecially children-in dire need of food, medical care and clean water, and said it would conduct a major humanitarian operation.

Martin Nesirky, spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said a team from seven humanitarian agencies visited the city of Homs and on Monday morning crossed conflict lines into Talbiyeh.

“It has to be a big UN humanitarian operation in Syria.

That is what the people expect of this mission,” said John Ging, director of operations for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who headed the team.

About four million Syrians, half of them driven from their homes by the fighting, are in urgent need of aid, the UN says. But the opposition Syrian National Coalition warned following talks in Istanbul that it would pressure the UN to stop the delivery of any form of aid to the Assad regime.

“The participants decided to form a committee to move diplomatically and pressure the United Nations to stop delivery of any aid, approved under a plan to respond to Syria humanitarian needs last month, to the official Syrian institutions,” it said.

Meanwhile staunch Assad ally Moscow, which has repeatedly vetoed UN resolutions to impose sanctions on Damascus, said it would send two planes to help evacuate Russian citizens from Syria via Lebanon. Russia “will send two planes to Beirut in Lebanon so all the Russians who wish to can leave Syria,” Irina Rossious, spokeswoman for the emergency situations ministry, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

“More than 100 Russians are expected to leave Syria on board these planes,” she said, without giving any more details. In New York, UN leader Ban Ki-moon and Brahimi hit out at “outside powers” for providing arms to rebels and the government that are fuelling the murderous death toll. They both expressed “anguish” at the carnage in the 22-month-old conflict and the major powers’ failure to agree to a stance on the war to push the two sides into talks, said Ban’s spokesman.

The UN did not name any countries. Russia and Iran are key arms suppliers to President Assad, however. The Syrian government in turn accuses Qatar, Turkey and other Gulf states of arming the opposition. On the ground, fierce fighting raged between rebels and forces loyal to Assad, including militias, as the Observatory reported the formation of a new paramilitary force of men and women, some trained by key ally Iran, to fight what is now becoming a guerrilla war.

The Observatory, which relies on activists and medics on the ground for its information, said the National Defence Army gathers together existing popular committees of pro-regime civilian fighters under a new better-trained and armed hierarchy. The Observatory gave an initial toll of 142 people killed nationwide on Monday, including 34 civilians and the 30 killed in the Hama car bombing. — AFP

JERUSALEM: Israelis voted yesterday in an election that is expected to hand hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a third term, opening the way for a showdown with Iran and bolstering opponents of Palestinian statehood. However, Netanyahu’s own Likud party, running alongside the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu group, looks set to have fewer seats than in the previous parliament, with opinion polls showing a surge in support for the farright Jewish Home party. Political sources said Netanyahu, concerned by his apparent fall in popularity, might approach centre-left parties after the ballot in an effort to broaden his coalition and present a more moderate face to Washington and other concerned allies.

“We want Israel to succeed, we vote Likud-Beitenu ...

The bigger it is, the more Israel will succeed,” Netanyahu said after voting alongside his wife and two sons. Some 5.66 million Israelis are eligible to cast a ballot, with polling stations closing at 10 pm (2000 GMT). Full results are due by today morning, opening the way for coalition talks that could take several weeks.

By 2 pm, the Israeli election committee said turnout was 38.3 percent, up from 34 percent at the same time in 2009 and the highest level since 1999. Ahead of the ballot, analysts had speculated that high turnout would benefit centre-left parties that have sometimes struggled to motivate their voter base. The lacklustre election campaign failed to focus on any single issue and with a Netanyahu victory predicted by every opinion poll, the two main political blocs seemed to spend more time on internal feuding than confronting each other.

“There is a king sitting on the throne in Israel and I wanted to dethrone him, but it looks like that won’t happen,” said Yehudit Shimshi, a retired teacher voting in central Israel in balmy winter weather that drew out the electorate. No Israeli party has ever secured an absolute majority, meaning that Netanyahu, who says that dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions is his top priority, will have to bring various allies on board to control the 120-seat Knesset.

The former commando has traditionally looked to religious, conservative parties for backing and is widely expected to seek out the surprise star of the campaign, self-made millionaire Naftali Bennett, who heads the Jewish Home party. Bennett has ruled out any peace pact with the Palestinians and calls for the annexation of much of the occupied West Bank. His youthful dynamism has struck a chord amongst Israelis, disillusioned after years of failed peace initiatives, and has eroded Netanyahu’s support base. The Likud has also shifted further right in recent months, with hardline candidates who reject the so-called two-state solution dominating the top of the party list.

“Trendy parties” Surveys suggest Bennett may take up to 14 seats, many at the expense of Likud-Beitenu, which was projected to win 32 in the last round of opinion polls published on Friday - 10 less than the two parties won in 2009 when they ran separate lists. Acknowledging the threat, Netanyahu’s son Yair urged young Israelis not to abandon the old, established Likud. “Even if there are more trendy

parties, there is one party that has a proven record,” he said yesterday. Amongst the new parties standing for the first time in an election were Yesh Atid (There is a Future), a centrist group led by former television host Yair Lapid, seen winning 13 seats. “All our lives we voted Likud, but today we voted for Lapid because we want a different coalition,” said Ahuva Heled, 55, a retired teacher voting with her husband north of Tel Aviv. Lapid has not ruled out joining a

JERUSALEM: A torn poster of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen in on a wall yesterday. — AP Netanyahu cabinet, but is pushing hard for ultra-Orthodox Jews to do military service - a demand fiercely rejected by some allies of the prime minister. Israel’s main opposition party, Labour, which is seen capturing up to 17 seats, has already ruled out a repeat of 2009, when it initially hooked up with Netanyahu, promising to promote peace negotiations with the Palestinians. US-brokered talks collapsed just a month after they started in 2010 following a row over settlement building, and have lain in ruins ever since.

Netanyahu blamed the Palestinians for the failure and says his door remains open to discussions.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he won’t return to the table unless there is a halt to settlement construction. That looks unlikely, with Netanyahu approving some 11,000 settler homes in December alone, causing further strains to his already notoriously difficult relations with US President Barack Obama, who was sworn in for a second term on Monday.

Spate of Iraq attacks kill 26 BAGHDAD: A wave of attacks in and around Baghdad and in northern Iraq killed 26 people and wounded dozens more yesterday, shattering a relative calm after a spate of deadly violence last week. The unrest comes amid a political crisis that has pitted Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki against several of his erstwhile government partners and with more than four weeks of anti-government protests in Sunni majority areas hardening opposition against the Shiite leader’s rule.

Yesterday’s bloodiest blasts struck an army checkpoint south of Baghdad, a military base north of the capital, and a mostly Shiite neighbourhood in the city’s north, security and medical officials said. No group claimed responsibility, but Sunni militants often launch attacks in a bid to destabilise the government and push Iraq back towards the sectarian violence that blighted it from 2005 to 2008.

“One of my friends was hurt in his head, and another was seriously wounded in his chest,” said 41-yearold mechanic Ali Jassim at the site of the Baghdad blast, before angrily shouting: “The politicians are busy with keeping their posts, and we are suffering from these explosions!” In the bloodiest attack, six people were

Iran threat Yesterday’s vote is the first in Israel since Arab uprisings swept the region two years ago, reshaping the Middle East.

Netanyahu has said the turbulence - which has brought Islamist governments to power in several countries long ruled by secularist autocrats, including neighbouring Egypt - shows the importance of strengthening national security.

If he wins yesterday, he will seek to put Iran back to the top

killed when a car bomb was detonated near an army camp in the town of Taji, 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of Baghdad, an army officer and a medical official said.

At least 20 other people were wounded. South of the capital in the town of Mahmudiyah, at least five people were killed and 14 wounded by a suicide car bomb, officials said.

Mahmudiyah lies within a confessionally mixed region known as the “Triangle of Death” because of the frequency of attacks during the worst of Iraq’s insurgency in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion. A car bomb near a market in the north Baghdad neighbourhood of Shuala killed five people and wounded 12, while gunmen killed five officials who were transporting salaries between oil refineries near the town of Baiji.

Pieces of metal were littered across the scene of the Baghdad attack, with several cars badly damaged or completely burned, an AFP journalist said.

The insurgents who carried out the latter attack fled, and the funds were recovered, officials said. Meanwhile, seven different shootings and bombings in Diyala, Nineveh and Salaheddin provinces north of Baghdad left four people dead and 12 others wounded.

The violence broke four days of rel-

ative calm in Iraq following a spate of attacks claimed by Al-Qaeda’s front group that left at least 88 people dead on January 15-17, according to an AFP tally. The militant group is widely seen as weaker than during the peak of Iraq’s sectarian bloodshed from 2006 to 2008, but is still capable of carrying out mass-casualty attacks on a regular basis. The latest wave of violence meant the overall death toll from bloodshed in Iraq this month has already surpassed that of any of the previous three months, according to an AFP tally based on reports from security and medical officials.

Iraq’s political crisis has pitted Maliki against several of his ministers who have accused him of authoritarianism and sectarianism just months ahead of provincial elections. Weeks of anti-government rallies in Sunni Arab majority areas, supported by parties that are members of Maliki’s unity cabinet, have increasingly called for the premier to quit. The violence and political troubles come three months before provincial elections, Iraq’s first polls in three years and a key barometer to gauge the popularity of Maliki and his rivals. Attacks in Iraq are down from their peak in 20062007, but they are still common across the country. — AFP

SHUALA: People gather around the site of a car bombing in the north Baghdad neighbourhood of Shuala yesterday. — AFP

of the global agenda. Netanyahu has said he will not let Tehran enrich enough uranium to make a single nuclear bomb - a threshold Israeli experts say could arrive as early as mid-2013.

Iran denies it is planning to build the bomb, and says Israel, widely believed to have the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, is the biggest threat to the region. The issue has barely registered during the election campaign, with a poll in Haaretz newspaper on Friday saying 47 percent of Israelis thought social and economic issues were the most pressing concern, against just 10 percent who cited Iran. One of the first problems to face the next government, which is unlikely to take power before the middle of next month at the earliest, is the stuttering economy. Data last week showed the budget deficit rose to 4.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2012, double the original estimate, meaning spending cuts and tax hikes look certain. — Reuters

Bahrain oppn welcomes king’s invitation to talks DUBAI: Bahrain opposition groups demanding a parliamentary democracy in the Gulf Arab state gave a cautious welcome yesterday to an invitation from the king to talks aimed at breaking nearly two years of political deadlock. King Hamad bin Issa Al-Khalifa made the reconciliation gesture late on Monday, authorising the Justice Ministry to invite “political societies and independent members of the political community” to try to revive discussions that ended inconclusively in July 2011.

Bahrain, where the US Fifth Fleet is based as a bulwark against Iran, has been in political ferment since protests led by majority Shiite Muslims demanding democratic change in the Sunni-led monarchy erupted in early 2011. Khalil Al-Marzouq, a senior official from Bahrain’s main opposition group Wefaq, said five opposition associations had met in the island State’s capital, Manama, to discuss the invitation.

“The opposition is inclined to participate and to have representatives in this dialogue, hoping that this dialogue will be a serious one,” Marzouq, a political assistant to Wefaq Secretary-General Ali Salman, said by telephone yesterday. He said the groups expected to issue an official statement later confirming their stance.

Marzouq added that the opposition, including secular and pan-Arab political associations, wanted dialogue to focus on ways of achieving a constitutional monarchy with an elected government. “We are now waiting for the invitation to attend this dialogue,” Marzouq said.

Regular clashes The ruling Al-Khalifa family used martial law and help from Gulf neighbours to put down the 2011 revolt, but protesters and police still clash on a regular basis.

Rights groups have accused the government of continuing to crush dissent. Shiite Muslims complain of discrimination in the electoral system, jobs, housing, education and government departments. Protesters and opposition parties say they want to end the ruling family’s domination by giving parliament full powers to legislate and form governments.

Opposition groups had given a guarded welcome to a similar call for talks from Bahrain’s Crown Prince made in December, though it did not lead to any negotiations.

An invitation from King Hamad carries extra clout.

Topics for discussion would be agreed later but the aim was to “achieve further consensus around the political agenda,” the justice ministry said, without going into further detail. Information Minister Samira Rajab said the invitation was issued to all Bahraini political groups.

“We are waiting to see which side refuses the invitation to sit at the table of dialogue... We are keen to reach a final and comprehensive national consensus,” Rajab was quoted as saying by state news agency BNA. Former Bahraini parliament member Matar Ebrahim Matar said Rajab’s reference to a possible refusal of dialogue suggested the government was not sincere in seeking discussions. “We want a roadmap to move Bahrain from where it is now to a constitutional monarchy with an elected government,” Matar said by telephone from the United States, where he was on a visit.

Talks on finding a way out of the crisis were held in July 2011, but ended inconclusively after Wefaq pulled out, complaining it had not been allowed enough representation at thenegotiations. — Reuters

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

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Liberia’s Taylor starts war crimes appeal THE HAGUE: Liberian warlord Charles Taylor yesterday began his appeal against a 50-year prison sentence handed down by Sierra Leone’s UN-backed special court for fuelling the west African nation’s savage civil war. Taylor, wearing a black suit, white shirt and red tie, listened intently as the prosecution began its appeal at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, headquartered in Leidschendam outside The Hague. The court should “hold responsible not only those who perpetrate the crimes but also those who promote them”, said prosecutor Nicholas Koumjian.

“They are just as important, including the lords of war who sell arms in these conflicts,” he said. The court’s sentence last May against Taylor, 64, for “some of the most heinous crimes in human history” was widely welcomed around the world at the time. Judges said he aided and abetted rebel forces fighting against Freetown during Sierra Leone’s 10-year civil war, known for its mutilations, drugged child soldiers and sex slaves.

In return, trial judges found, Taylor was paid in “blood diamonds” mined by slave labour in areas kept under the countrol of ruthless Sierra Leonean rebels. But prosecutors argue that trial judges made a mistake by only convicting Taylor of aiding and abetting the notorious Revolutionary United Front and other rebel groups. They say the

court should have convicted Taylor for actively issuing orders to the RUF and its ally, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC).

Taylor was convicted of terrorism, murder and rape, committed by the RUF, who waged a terror campaign during a civil war that claimed 120,000 lives between 1991 and 2001. The initial trial, which saw model Naomi Campbell testify she had received diamonds from the flamboyant Taylor, wrapped up in March 2011.

His sentence was the first handed down against a former head of state in an international court since the Nazi trials at Nuremberg in 1946. Koumjian said that as a result, the trial is “of great consequence”. The case is set to be dominated by particularly complex legal arguments-with both sides saying judges made legal mistakes in convicting Taylor in April last year and sentencing him in May. The prosecution wants Taylor jailed for 80 years, “in order to reflect the totality of his overall conduct and culpability.”

The prosecution attacked Taylor ’s lawyers, who they said would argue that the former warlord had merely benefitted by obtaining blood diamonds. “In their view as long as their purpose is not crimes, but advantages, in the case of Charles Taylor the diamonds of Sierra Leone, then it’s OK they’re not responsible for aiding and abetting,” Koumjian said. — AFP

France, Germany fete 50 years of friendship BERLIN: France and Germany yesterday marked 50 years since a landmark treaty sealed their post-war reconciliation with a day of pomp, symbolism and celebration while papering over their differences.

French President Francois Hollande has travelled to the snowy German capital to join Chancellor Angela Merkel to fete the Elysee Treaty, inked in 1963, which heralded a new era of friendship between the former foes. Eighteen years after the end of World War II, then French president Charles de Gaulle and West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer formalised on January 22 the cooperation that has since been a building block of European unity.

But the half-century milestone comes amid strains in the Franco-German partnership and as the European Union faces testing times over the euro-zone debt cri-

sis and euroscepticism in Britain. France and Germany’s foreign ministers jointly insisted in a German newspaper that Europe was “not the problem, but it must be the solution” and urged a modernisation of the “European reflex” of former generations.

“We want to counter the danger of an erosion within the EU,” Laurent Fabius and Guido Westerwelle wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily. “ The drift towards populism and nationalism has grown alarmingly in the course of the European debt crisis. We are making a stand with a German-French commitment to Europe,” they added. Kicking off a hectic line-up of events, Merkel joined Hollande at the French embassy in Berlin for a meeting with figures from both countries’ cultural scenes.—AFP

Mali troops patrol key town after driving out Islamists Residents cheer ‘long live France’ DIABALY: Malian soldiers yesterday patrolled Diabaly to buttress their presence in the central town, which they seized with another key outpost from radical Islamists with the help of French troops. The breakthrough drove Al-Qaeda-linked rebels out of key positions in government-held areas, where their advance toward the capital Bamako spurred former colonial power France to launch an offensive 12 days ago. In Diabaly, 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of Bamako, French troops handed over charge of the town to Malian soldiers after driving out the Islamists on Monday, an AFP journalist said.

“Our mission is not to stay here, we will leave the town to the Malians,” French Colonel Frederic, not giving his last name in line with army policy, told AFP on Monday night. Residents applauded wildly, yelling “Long Live France!” as the troops rolled into the town as par t of the offensive which has won wide international backing. France swept to Mali’s aid ten months after it lost over half its territory to Islamists who have imposed brutal sharia law in nor thern towns, amid rising fears that the vast zone could become a new Afghanistan-like haven for AlQaeda. Malian army chief General Ibrahima Dahirou Dembele said Monday’s victory came after “aerial support from our French partners neutralised all the enemy vehicles and enemy fighters who were in the town and around Diabaly.”

Diabaly was seized by Islamists in a surprise attack several days after the French began pounding their positions with air strikes. Along with the town of Konna 100 kilometres west of Diabaly-also since re-capturedthe Islamists gained control of strategic points at the narrow centre of the bow-tie shaped nation. Speaking in an interview with French radio RFI, Dembele

MALI: French soldiers from various units of the Air Force, Ground Army (Armee de Terre) and the French Foreign Legion prepare to board a chopper, amongst a group of five helicopters, for a military operation in the north of Mali yesterday. —AFP

said the French-backed army was forging ahead for “the total liberation of northern Mali”.

“If the support remains consistent, it won’t take more than a month to free Gao and Timbuktu,” he said, referring to two of three main cities along with Kidal, in the vast, semi-arid north which has been occupied for ten months. These towns have been subjected to brutal sharia law by the Islamists, who have whipped smokers and drinkers, banned music, forced women to wear veils and long robes, amputated the limbs of thieves and stoned adulterers to death. Dembele said troops from Niger and Chad were expected to come through Niger, which borders Mali on the east, and head to Gao, a key Islamist stronghold which has been pounded by French airstrikes. “The intention of the enemy fighters is to withdraw into the hills around

Aguelhok,” a far northern town near the Algerian border, he said.

The strategic crossroads town of Douentza, which was seized by the Islamists in September, was also retaken on Monday by French and Malian troops. Amid the fighting, Mali extended by three months a state of emergency in place since January 12 and under which public gatherings, rallies and anything that can disrupt public order are banned. “The military operations to liberate the occupied regions of our country are panning out well and the need to install a peaceful social climate throughout the country,” were the reasons for extending the state of emergency, a government statement said. Rights bodies have raised concerns about a growing humanitarian crisis as thousands flee the fresh wave of fighting, facing hunger and atrocities as they run from their homes.

Mali’s crisis first erupted when the nomadic Tuaregs, who have long felt marginalised by the government, launched a rebellion a year ago and inflicted such humiliation on the Malian army that it triggered a military coup in Bamako in March.

The Tuaregs allied with Islamist groups including AlQaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and seized control of huge swathes of territor y including the main nor thern towns of Gao, Kidal and fabled Timbuktu. The Islamists soon chased out their more secular Tuareg allies and began imposing an extreme form of sharia, or Islamic law, flogging, amputating and sometimes executing violators. Their success in seizing a vast stretch of desert territory raised fears they could use nor thern M ali as a base to launch attacks on the region, Europe and beyond. — AFP

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

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Britain’s Prince Harry has ‘mental problem’: Taleban KABUL: Britain’s Prince Harry, who compared shooting insurgents in Afghanistan to playing video games, has probably developed a mental problem, the Taleban said yesterday.

“There are 49 countries with their powerful military failing in the fight against the mujahideen, and now this prince comes and compares this war with his games, PlayStation or whatever he calls it,” Taleban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told AFP. Harry, third in line to the throne, said he had killed Taleban insurgents during a 20-week posting flying scores of missions over the restive southern province of Helmand in an Apache attack helicopter.

As co-pilot, Harry was in charge of the weapons systems in a two-man cockpit,

firing Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, rockets and a 30-millimetre gun. He described the weapons systems as a joy. “It’s a joy for me because I’m one of those people who loves playing PlayStation and Xbox, so with my thumbs I like to think I’m probably quite useful,” he said in interviews released Monday after the end of his posting.

“This is a serious war, a historic war, resistance for us, for our people,” Mujahid told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location. “But we don’t take his comments very seriously, as we have all seen and heard that many foreign soldiers, occupiers who come to Afghanistan, develop some kind of mental problems on their way out.”

Asked by Britain’s Press Association if he had killed from the cockpit, Harry said: “Yeah, so lots of people have. “Take a life to save a life,” he shrugged. “If there’s people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we’ll take them out of the game.”

The last time the Taleban suggested a foreign fighter had mental problems was when an American soldier was arrested on suspicion of killing 16 villagers in their homes during a lone night rampage in March 2012. Staff Sergeant Robert Bales is on trial in the US, facing 16 murder charges. Seventeen of the 22 people killed or wounded were women or children and almost all were shot in the head. The Taleban have been waging an insurgency in Afghanistan for 11 years since being

ousted from power for harbouring alQaeda chief Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks on the United States. During the war, they have faced more than 140,000 troops from over 50 countries but remain a serious threat to the Westernbacked government with NATO troops due to withdraw in 2014.

“We have always wanted to capture or kill this prince, but he was mostly kept inside, safe, and in guarded places underground,” said the Taleban spokesman, Mujahid. “At one point when our mujahideen attacked the airport, we were aware of his presence there but he was hastily flown away.” This was a reference to a major Taleban attack on Camp Bastion in Helmand last September when Britain’s

defence minister admitted that Harry had been moved to a secure location. Taleban commandos, armed with suicide vests, guns and rockets, and wearing US uniforms, breached the outer wall of Camp Bastion and destroyed six US fighter jets in unprecedented damage in the war. The prince flies a £45-million ($71-million, 54million-euro) aircraft, part of NATO’s uncontested air power in Afghanistan where the Taleban are armed mainly with assault rifles, machine guns and rocketpropelled grenades.

The Islamists also use suicide attacks and homemade bombs which cause most of the casualties among both foreign troops and civilians in the Afghan war. — AFP

Sports, arts pay price of India-Pakistan tensions Border fighting fuels anti-Pak sentiment in India

CAMP BASTION: In this photo, Britain’s Prince Harry or just plain Captain Wales as he is known in the British Army, makes his early morning pre-flight checks on the flightline, from Camp Bastion southern Afghanistan. — AP

Prince Harry returns from Afghanistan LONDON: Capt Wales is coming home to be Prince Harry once again. The Ministry of Defense revealed Monday that the 28-yearold prince is returning from a five month deployment in Afghanistan, where he served as an Apache helicopter pilot with the Army Air Corps. It did not immediately divulge his exact whereabouts. In interviews conducted in Afghanistan, the third in line to the British throne described feeling boredom, frustration and satisfaction during a tour that saw him fire at Taleban fighters on missions in support of ground troops. When asked whether he had killed from the cockpit, he said: “Yea, so lots of people have.”

He also spoke of his struggle to balance his job as an army officer with his royal role and his relief at the chance to be “one of the guys.” “My father’s always trying to remind me about who I am and stuff like that,” said Harry, the younger son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana. “But it’s very easy to forget about who I am when I am in the army. Everyone’s wearing the same uniform and doing the same kind of thing.”

Stationed at Camp Bastion, a sprawling British base in the southern Afghan desert, the prince known as Capt. Wales in the military - flew scores of missions as a co-pilot gunner, sometimes firing rockets and missiles at Taleban fighters. “Take a life to save a life. That’s what we revolve around, I suppose,” he said. “If there’s people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we’ll take them out of the game.”

Harry’s second tour in Afghanistan went more smoothly than the first, in 2007-2008, which was cut short after 10 weeks when a magazine and websites disclosed details of his whereabouts. British media had agreed to a news blackout on security grounds. This

time, the media were allowed limited access to the prince in return for not reporting operational details.

A member of the air corps’ 662 Squadron, the prince was part of a two-man crew whose duties ranged from supporting ground troops in firefights with the Taleban to accompanying British Chinook and US Black Hawk helicopters as they evacuated wounded soldiers. He said that while sometimes it was necessary to fire on insurgents, the formidable helicopter equipped with wing-mounted rockets, Hellfire laser-guided missiles and a 30mm machine gun - was usually an effective deterrent.

Harry shared a room with another pilot in a basic accommodation block made from shipping containers, and passed the time between callouts playing video games and watching movies with his fellow officers. His security detail accompanied him on base, but not when flying. “It’s as normal as it’s going to get,” Harry said of the arrangement.

“I’m one of the guys. I don’t get treated any differently.”

But he said he still received unwanted attention at Camp Bastion, which is home to thousands of troops. “For me it’s not that normal because I go into the cookhouse and everyone has a good old gawp, and that’s one thing that I dislike about being here,” he said. “Because there’s plenty of guys in there that have never met me, therefore look at me as Prince Harry and not as Capt. Wales, which is frustrating.” Ever since Harry graduated from the Sandhurst military academy in 2006, his desire for a military career has collided with his royal role. After his curtailed first Afghan deployment, he retrained as a helicopter pilot in order to have the chance of being sent back. — AP

NYC extols virtues of tiny apartments NEW YORK: Sam Neuman jokes that he doesn’t casually throw off his coat when he gets home at night - it would take up half his apartment. Such is life in his walkup studio a few blocks from Manhattan’s bustling Times Square, which at 280 square feet is barely the size of a one-car garage, with just enough space for a bed, a desk, a TV stand on one wall and a kitchen against the other. “I’ve developed this weird Stockholm Syndrome, which you identify with your captors,” said the 31-year-old publicist. “When I go to other people’s apartments, I think, ‘Why do they need more than one bedroom?’ I’m really very happy here. There’s not really time to let things accumulate because ... where would I put them?”

The Big Apple is legendary for its legions of residents who live in really, really small apartments. Many of them are fiercely proud of it and can even find the humor in their cramped quarters.

Now the city is about to see just how small New Yorkers are willing to go. With the population and rents expected to keep climbing, New York City planners are challenging architects to design ways to make it tolerable - even comfortable to live in dwellings from 350 square feet to as small as 250 square feet.

The city wants to incorporate those designs into an apartment complex to be built on Manhattan’s east side next year featuring mostly “micro units.” The aim is to offer more such tiny apartments throughout the city as affordable options for the young singles, cash-poor and empty nesters who are increasingly edged out of the nation’s most expensive real-estate market. If the pilot program is

successful, New York could ultimately overturn a requirement established in 1987 that all new apartments be at least 400 square feet. Smaller living is a concept already endorsed by some cities.

San Francisco recently approved construction of apartments as small as 220 square feet. And Tokyo and Hong Kong have long offered tiny units.

As a way to get New Yorkers to think small, the Museum of the City of New York is opening an exhibit Wednesday featuring a fully furnished 325-squarefoot studio apartment that incorporates the latest space-saving designs. There’s the bed that folds out over a couch, a padded ottoman containing four nesting chairs, a fold-out dinette table tucked neatly under the kitchen counter and a TV that slides away to reveal a bar.

Neuman was amazed at how much more spacious and airy the demonstration apartment felt than his own flat. “If they hooked up the cable and plumbing, I’d move in tomorrow,” Neuman said during a walk-through of the exhibit with a reporter. “You could actually have a cocktail party in there without it feeling like the subway at rush hour.”

Other amenities in the 12-foot-by-24foot model include a cute bathroom that is 5 feet 9 inches by 7 feet 9 inches, a refrigerator and separate freezer tucked under the counter, and the holy grail of New York apartments, a dishwasher. The Murphy bed, like most of the features, glides out with only a light touch of the hand. “It’s almost like a space shuttle or an ocean liner in how it’s designed,” said Donald Albrecht, the co-curator of the exhibition. — AP

NEW DELHI: The guns may have fallen silent, but the collateral damage from a deadly flare-up between India and Pakistan is still mounting with major sporting and arts events among those hit by the fallout. Less than a month ago, Pakistan’s cricket team embarked on its first tour to India in nearly five years. But hopes the trip would herald a wider cultural thaw were soon dashed by tit-for-tat military exchanges in disputed Kashmir that killed five soldiers in nine days. Although the two armies agreed a ceasefire on January 16, the impact of the violence is being felt far away from the front line. In the last few days, some of Pakistan’s leading hockey players have been forced to pull out of a new money-spinning competition while its women cricketers have had to rewrite their World Cup plans.

A Lahore-based theatre group had to scrap a performance at a prestigious Delhi venue and a row has broken out over the participation of Pakistani authors in an international literary festival in Rajasthan. “The arts are always a high-visibility and low-cost target,” said Sanjoy Roy, one of the organisers of this weekend’s Jaipur Literature Festival. Last year’s festival made headlines when the Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie stayed away in the face of threats by Islamic activists. Now Hindu nationalists are threatening to disrupt this year’s event to protest the presence of Pakistani authors such as Nadeem Aslam and Mohammad Hanif.

Local members of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were to meet police yesterday when they will urge officers to instruct festival organisers to rescind the invitations. “We must send a message across the border that Pakistan must be isolated,” Suman Sharma, vice president of the party’s Rajasthan branch, told AFP. “The absence of a few Pakistani authors will not affect the festival, so why bother even having them in Jaipur?”

Roy said there was no question of invitations being withdrawn. “We are not going to be bullied by any kind of faction,” Roy told AFP. But while the Jaipur organisers are standing firm, Ajoka, a Lahore-based troupe, were not allowed to perform as scheduled on Saturday night at an annual theatre festival at the Delhi-based National School of Drama (NSD). Instead, they ended up putting on a production of a play by Urdu writer

Saadat Hasan Manto at the smaller Akshara theatre. The play’s director Madeeha Gauhar said police should have been able to guarantee security at the NSD if they were worried about “fringe elements”.

Jalabala Vaidya, a manager at the Akshara theatre, said it was important for cultural ties to continue even at times of heightened tensions. “Art and sports should never be dragged in whenever there is war-mongering on either side,” she told The Hindu newspaper. Anti-Pakistan sentiment has been fuelled in India by the beheading of a soldier along the Kashmir border on January 8.

New Delhi blames Pakistani troops although

tainly wish that Pakistan does not become an election issue in India,” Bashir told AFP. Protests by Shiv Sena, another right-wing Hindu nationalist party, prompted organisers of the inaugural Hockey India League to send home nine Pakistani stars just as the tournament began last week.

“When sport is above prejudice, it is wonderful.

But when it aligns with prejudice, sport begins to diminish,” said the squad’s Australian coach Ric Charlesworth. Pakistan’s Imran Butt, who was part of the Mumbai Magicians team which lost four Pakistani players, said he hoped to return some day. “Despite what happened, we were well looked after during our stay. We are very friendly

AHMEDABAD: In this photograph, an Indian fan poses with flags of India and Pakistan outside the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium, Motera near Ahmedabad. — AFP Islamabad denies responsibility. Politicians from the government and opposition have criticised the “inhuman” attack with Sushma Swaraj, the BJP’s leader in parliament, calling for India to “get at least 10 heads from the other side”. Salman Bashir, Pakistan’s high commissioner in New Delhi, said Pakistan must not become a political football in the run-up to India’s elections next year. “India will not be an election issue in Pakistan and I cer-

with the Indian players,” he told AFP. Fear of similar disruption has forced the International Cricket Council to look for a separate venue to host Pakistan’s matches in the women’s World Cup starting on January 31.

The entire tournament was due to be held in Mumbai, but the cricket association in the eastern state of Orissa says it has now been asked to host Pakistan’s group matches. — AFP

Top to bottom changes in Congress’ foreign policy WASHINGTON: A harrowing nighttime flight over the African jungle and a wild search for a rebel leader helped forge a relationship between Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez and Republican Rep. Ed Royce, two men standing at the forefront of Congress’ changing guard on foreign policy. It was May 1997 and the lawmakers boarded a small plane to the African bush to plead with Jonas Savimbi, leader of the Angolan UNITA party, about ordering his forces to put down their arms and ending the country’s civil war. Nearly 16 years later, Menendez and Royce are together again, collaborating as the new chairmen, respectively, of the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees.

They will lead a new group of foreign policy figures certain to challenge President Barack Obama on a growing list of issues: the civil war in Syria, the tenuous U.S. relationship with Pakistan, al Qaida-linked groups in Africa and the threat from Iran’s nuclear development program.

Menendez, then a House member, and Royce had been heading a congressional delegation to Angola, trying to persuade Savimbi to take part in elections and join the government.

The effort failed, and they soon discovered that Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos had a unique way of showing his displeasure with the congressional mission.

“Dos Santos gave the order to close down the landing lights at the airport and you can’t see anything over that jungle in the dead of night, including the air strip,” Royce recalled recently. “We kept flying around and he (the pilot) could not find anywhere to land. Luckily for us, it turned out that night that Mobutu Sese Seko (the Congo leader) had been overthrown and there was a plane that came into that airport in Angola and when they turned the lights on to that plane, we came in right behind the plane.” Menendez and others on the trip remember shots being fired at some point. “It was definitely an experience,” Menendez

WASHINGTON: In this file photo, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio (left) performs a mock swearing in for Rep Edward Royce, Calif, on Capitol Hill in Washington as the 113th Congress began. — AP

said. The two House members who headed the Africa subcommittee felt an imperative to act. The decadeslong, Cold War-era conflict pitted dos Santos, whose Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola was backed by the former Soviet Union, against Savimbi, who had the support of South Africa and the United States.

The fighting would leave a half million people dead and displace more than 4 million. Savimbi died in 2002 in a battle with government forces. Dos Santos has ruled Angola since 1979.

The less dangerous assignment for Menendez and Royce is overseeing significantly altered committees. Not only are the chairmen new, but the ranking members will be different - two-term Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker will be the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee and New York Rep. Eliot Engel, elected in 1988, will be the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee. Gone are such stalwarts as six-term Republican Sen. Dick Lugar and 15-term Democratic Rep. Howard Berman. Joining the committees are rambunctious House freshmen and longtime senators willing to take on a second-term president. Republican Rep. Steve Stockman, who has threatened impeachment of Obama over new rules on guns, joins the House panel, while Sen. John McCain, the president’s GOP rival in 2008, and tea party Sen. Rand Paul fill out the Senate committee. Menendez and Royce, who were both elected to Congress in 1992, offer a study in contrasts and similarities.

Menendez, 59, is the son of Cuban immigrants and a hard-charging lawmaker from Union City, N.J., who famously testified about corruption while wearing a bullet-proof vest. He is poised to replace the current chairman, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., tapped

by Obama to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Menendez would be the first Latino to head the Foreign Relations Committee. He will preside Wednesday when Clinton testifies about the deadly Sept. 11, 2012, assault on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, and again on Thursday at Kerry’s confirmation hearing. Royce, 61, is a Californian who got his political start in the youth movement for Ronald Reagan.

Democrats and Republicans recall his efforts to ensure the extradition of Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer convicted in the United States on terrorism charges last year and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Royce has assumed the chairmanship of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, replacing Rep. Ileana RosLehtinen, the Florida Republican who had to step down due to Republican term limits on committee chairmen.

“He’s very thoughtful, very intelligent.

He’s serious, he cares about the issues.

I’ve only good things to say,” Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey of New York, the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee, said of Royce. Menendez, now starting his second full Senate term, has been willing to challenge Republican and Democratic administrations.

He voted against the Iraq war in 2002, tangled with fellow Democrats on Cuba and pushed the Obama administration on sanctions on Iran.

In just over a year, Congress has approved three rounds of penalties on Tehran’s banking, energy and shipping industries to thwart its nuclear ambitions, with Menendez joining forces with Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois. He suggested it might be time to pause and make sure the penalties are working - a possibility the administration probably would welcome.

“I don’t know that there will be any new sanctions,” Menendez said in a recent interview. — AP

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

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Indonesia sentences UK woman to death over drug Woman claims threats against family forced her to smuggle

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (right) receives a joint statement document from Finance Minister Taro Aso at the prime minister’s official residence yesterday. — AP

Japanese envoy in Beijing to talk about islands row BEIJING: China welcomed a Japanese envoy yesterday for talks as both sides took steps to cool tensions over an island dispute that has raised fears of an armed confrontation. In a sign of the importance Beijing attached to the visit, state media gave prominent coverage to the arrival of Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of a junior party in the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Yamaguchi, whose schedule has not been announced, is not a member of the government so his meetings in Beijing represent a type of quiet diplomacy that could allow for a franker exchange of views than official talks might.

Yamaguchi’s visit is part of China’s “normal relations and contact with friendly Japanese political parties and organizations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters at a regularly scheduled briefing. “The dealings can help solve problems and move forward healthy relations,” Hong said.

Yamaguchi made no comments upon his arrival but told reporters in Tokyo he hoped his four-day trip would help ease months of friction over the uninhabited East China Sea islands that are controlled

by Japan but claimed by China. “It is important for us to have consultations to normalize our relationship,” Yamaguchi said.

However, he said Tokyo’s assertion that the islands are Japanese territory is unchanged, rejecting Chinese demands that Japan acknowledge a dispute over their sovereignty. Both nations have called for dialogue recently, and Chinese state broadcaster CCTV led its noon news broadcast with a live report on Yamaguchi’s arrival.

Chinese media reported that Yamaguchi would deliver a letter from Abe addressed

to Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Tensions soared after Japan’s government bought the uninhabited islands, known in Chinese as Diaoyu and Japanese as Senkaku, from their private Japanese owners in September. Trade and tourism between the countries have dropped off sharply and almost all bilateral meetings between their officials have been canceled.

The islands are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and have a potential wealth of gas, oil and other undersea resources. For China, they also mark a strategic gateway to the Pacific Ocean and represent the deeply emotional legacy of Japan’s conquest of Chinese territory beginning in 1895, as well as its brutal World War II occupation of much of the country.

Placed under US control after World War II, the islands were returned to Japan in 1972, although Beijing says they have been Chinese territory for centuries. Taiwan also claims the islands. Japan’s nationalization of the islands sparked violent anti-Japanese rioting in China and prompted Beijing to dispatch marine surveillance ships to them on a regular basis to confront Japanese coast guard cutters assigned to protect the area.

That standoff has also moved to the skies. Earlier this month, both sides scrambled fighter jets to trail each other’s planes - underscoring the potential for accidents or miscalculations sparking a clash that could draw in Japan’s treaty partner the United States.

Beijing has since ratcheted down its verbal attacks on Japan and last week hosted a visit by China-friendly former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama for informal talks on the dispute. — AP

Chinese workers revolt over 2-minute loo breaks BEIJING: Hundreds of Chinese factory workers angry about strictly timed bathroom breaks and fines for starting work late held their Japanese and Chinese managers hostage for a day and a half before police broke up the strike. About 1,000 workers at Shanghai Shinmei Electric Company held the 10 Japanese nationals and eight Chinese managers inside the factory in Shanghai starting Friday morning until 11:50 pm Saturday, said a statement from the parent company, Shinmei Electric Co, released Monday. It said the managers were released uninjured after 300 police officers were called to the factory.

A security guard at the Shanghai plant said yesterday that workers had gone on strike to protest the company’s issuing of new work rules, including time limits on bathroom breaks and fines for being late. “The workers demanded the scrapping of the ridiculously

strict requirements stipulating that workers only have two minutes to go to the toilet and workers will be fined 50 yuan ($8) if they are late once and fired if they are late twice,” said the security guard, surnamed Feng. “The managers were later freed when police intervened and when they agreed to reconsider the rules.”

The plant makes electromagnetic coils and other electronic products. It was closed yesterday, said a man who answered at the plant but refused to identify himself. He said no workers were on strike and staff would return to work today.

Strikes have become commonplace in China, as factories operating in highly competitive markets try to get more productivity from their labor force and workers connected by mobile phones and the Internet become more aware of their rights. — AP

BALI: An Indonesian court sentenced a British grandmother to death yesterday for smuggling cocaine worth $2.5 million in her suitcase onto the resort island of Bali - even though prosecutors had sought only a 15-year sentence. Lindsay June Sandiford, 56, wept when judges handed down the sentence and declined to speak to reporters on her way back to prison, covering her face with a floral scarf. She had claimed in court that she was forced into taking the drugs into the country by a gang that was threatening to hurt her children.

Indonesia, like many Asian countries, is very strict on drug crimes, and most of the more than 40 foreigners on its death row were convicted of drug charges. Sandiford’s lawyer said she would appeal, a process that can take several years.

Condemned criminals face a firing squad in Indonesia, which has not carried out an execution since 2008, when 10 people were put to death. A verdict is expected in the trial of Sandiford’s alleged accomplice, British man Julian Anthony Pounder today. He is accused of receiving the drugs in Bali, which has a busy bar and nightclub scene where party drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy are bought and sold between foreigners.

Two other British citizens and an Indian have already been convicted and sentenced to prison in connection with the bust.

The British Embassy said in a statement that it was in contact with London to discuss the next step in providing legal assistance to Sandiford. It said the United Kingdom “remains strongly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances.”

Martin Horwood, a member of Parliament representing Sandiford’s Cheltenham constituency in western England, called the sentence a shock and said he would raise the case with Foreign Secretary William Hague.

“The days of the death penalty ought to be past. This is not the way that a country that now values democracy and human rights should really be behaving,” Horwood told the BBC. Harriet McCulloch of human rights charity Reprieve, which is assisting Sandiford, urged the British government to support her appeal.

“Lindsay has always maintained that she only agreed to carry the package to Bali after receiving threats against the lives of her family,” McCulloch

said. “She is clearly not a drug kingpin - she has no money to pay for a lawyer, for the travel costs of defense witnesses or even for essentials like food and water.”

In its verdict, a panel of Denpasar District Court judges concluded that Sandiford had damaged the image of Bali as a tourism destination and weakened the government’s drug prevention program. “We found no reason to lighten her sentence,” said Amser Simanjuntak, who headed the judicial panel. Prosecutors had been seeking a 15year prison sentence for Sandiford, who was arrested in May when customs officers at Bali’s airport discovered 3.8 kilograms (8.4 pounds) of cocaine in the lining of her luggage.

State prosecutor Lie Putra Setiawan told

BALI: Lindsay June Sandiford (right) of Britain attends her trial at a court in Denpasar on the Indonesian resort island of Bali yesterday. — AFP

In China, signs that one-child policy may be coming to an end JIUQUAN: China could be considering relaxing its harsh one-child policy because of women like Hu Yanqin, who lives in a village at the edge of the Gobi desert. When Hu married a construction worker seven years ago, she knew she was going to have only one child, although the area where she lives, the Jiuquan region in northwestern Gansu province, is one of the rare places in China where those living in rural areas have been free to have two children since 1985.

“Those people with two children are those who are better off,” said Hu, 32, dropping her six-year-old son off at kindergarten. “The majority of people in my village only have one child.”

Advocates of reforming China’s one-child policy use Hu and millions like her as evidence that relaxing the law will not lead to a surge of births in the world’s most populous nation.

Jiuquan has a birth rate of 8 to 9 per 1,000 people, lower than the national average of about 12 births per 1,000 people. The policy, implemented since 1980 alongside reforms that have led to rapid economic expansion, is increasingly being seen as an impediment to growth and the harbinger of social problems.

The country’s labour force, at about 930 million, will start declining in 2025 at a rate of about 10 million a year, projections show. Meanwhile,

China’s elderly population will hit 360 million by 2030, from about 200 million in 2013. “If this goes on, there will be no taxpayers, no workers and no caregivers for the elderly,” said Gu Baochang, a demography professor at Renmin University.

China’s top statistician, Ma Jiantang, said last Friday that the country should look into “an appropriate and scientific family planning policy” after data showed that the country’s working-age population, aged 15 to 59, fell for the first time. Economists say the policy is also responsible for China’s high savings rate. A single child often must take care of two - and four in the case of married couples - retired parents, increasing the likelihood that working adults will save money for their old age rather than spend.

That has delayed the “rebalancing” of Beijing’s economy toward more consumption, a step economists believe China needs to take to keep its growth going. Expectations that Beijing will ease the restrictions, by gradually allowing couples to have two children, have been building since outgoing President Hu Jintao conspicuously dropped the phrase “maintain a low birth rate” in a work report to a Communist Party congress in November. It was the first time in a decade that a major speech by a top leader had omitted such a

Manila takes S China Sea fight to tribunal MANILA: The Philippines took a legal step against China’s claims to virtually the entire South China Sea yesterday, formally notifying the Asian superpower that Manila is seeking international arbitration to declare Beijing’s moves in the potentially oil-rich waters “illegal and invalid.” Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said at a news conference that his department summoned Chinese Ambassador Ma Keqing and handed her a note notifying the Chinese government that the Philippine government is bringing both countries’ conflicting claims to an international tribunal.

The move is likely to bring an angry response from China, the Philippines’ thirdlargest trading partner. Several countries claim parts of the South China Sea, and China claims virtually all of it. It has confronted Philippine ships in a standoff over the Scarborough Shoal, which both countries claim. The Philippines withdrew ships from the shoal last June and has since protested China’s buildup.

There are fears that territorial conflicts in the region, including a dispute between Japan and China in the East China Sea, could spark Asia’s next major armed conflict. The Philippines hopes that arbitration through an arbitral tribunal operating under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea would lead to a decision that would direct China to respect the Philippines’ claims. But even if a tribunal ruled against China, Beijing could choose to simply ignore the ruling. Del Rosario said that the Philippines made the move after previous diplomatic efforts to resolve the territorial rifts failed. “The Philippines has exhausted almost all political and diplomatic avenues for a peaceful negotiated settlement of its maritime disputes

reporters that the verdict was “appropriate,” explaining that prosecutors had been demanding 15 years because of Sandiford’s age. Indonesia has 114 prisoners on death row, according to a March 2012 study by Australia’s Lowy Institute for International Policy. Five foreigners have been executed since 1998, all for drug crimes, according to the institute.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has granted clemency to four drug offenders on death row since he took office in 2004. The most publicized recent case internationally is that of Schapelle Corby, an Australian convicted of smuggling marijuana in 2005. Her 20-year sentence was reduced last year and she is now eligible for parole, but she remains imprisoned. — AP

with China,” del Rosario said. He added the Philippine government hopes that the legal step it has taken “shall bring this dispute to a durable solution.”

“We are all for improving our economic relations with China but it should not be at the expense of surrendering our national sovereignty,” he said. The Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing did not immediately comment, asking that questions be submitted by fax.

In the note handed by Filipino diplomats to the Chinese ambassador, the Philippines listed several aggressive moves it alleged were launched by China in recent years to fortify its

territorial claims, including the occupation of South China Sea islands and the enactment of a Chinese law that would allow Chinese patrol vessels to block and board foreign ships passing through vast stretches of waters that Beijing claims. Del Rosario said the Philippines’ move was made independently of its ally the United States, which has called for a peaceful resolution of the claims and a guarantee that freedom of navigation will not be hindered. Other countries clashing with China over South China Sea territory, including Vietnam, could benefit from the Philippine action without risking possible Chinese retaliatory steps. — AP

MANILA: Philippine Foreign secretary Albert del Rosario (left) reads a statement during a press conference yesterday while the country’s solicitor general Francis Jardeleza listens. — AFP

reference and could signal that the new government led by Xi Jinping is leaning toward reform. “I think that the 18th Party Congress report indicates that, and this is my personal interpretation, the one-child policy is going to be adjusted,” said Ji Baocheng, a delegate to China’s rubber stamp parliament who advocates change in the policy.

Brutal The one-child policy covers 63 percent of the country’s population and Beijing says it has averted 400 million births since 1980. Its enforcement can be brutal. Couples who flout family planning laws are, at minimum, fined, some lose their jobs, and in some cases mothers are forced to abort their babies or be sterilised.

Last summer, a woman who was seven months pregnant was forced to have an abortion, triggering outrage on China’s Internet and international condemnation.

But evidence has been mounting for years that the policy may be unnecessary to control population growth. In 2008, Renmin University’s Gu and the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy’s Wang Feng published a study on two-child policy programmes in four regions, home to about 8 million people.

They concluded that the high cost of

having children is enough to hold down birthrates, but the freedom to have a second child results in a less skewed gender disparity.

The next year, sources told Reuters, the National Population and Family Planning Commission decided, as a first step, to expand pilot programmes to relax the policy in four to five other regions. The proposal was dropped for lack of a consensus among the leadership, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The new leadership in Beijing, which assumes power formally in March, is likely to make another run at change, reform advocates believe. “The adjustment of the policy is certain, it’s only a question of time,” said a recently retired official from the family planning commission, who maintains close ties with the agency.

Boys and girls A skewed gender ratio is another unwelcome effect of the one-child policy. Like most Asian nations, China has a traditional bias for sons. Many families abort female foetuses and abandon baby girls to ensure their one child is a son, so about 118 boys are born for every 100 girls, against a global average of 103 to 107. In Jiuquan, there are 110 boys for every 100 girls, far less skewed than the national average, because of the freedom to have two children. —Reuters

UN to sanction DPRK space agency UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council will order sanctions against North Korea’s space agency in a resolution to be passed this week condemning the secretive state’s ballistic launch, a diplomat said.

The resolution, which also targets other government entities and individuals linked to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, could be passed by the 15-member council as early as today. The United States and China have been negotiating the new measures since North Korea staged its missile launch on December 12.

Despite near universal condemnation of the launch, China has sought to shield its ally against major new action. The United States, supported by South Korea and Japan, had sought tough new punishment of the North Korean government. Under a compromise between the two, the new sanctions designations are expected to be added to existing measures imposed after North Korea staged nuclear weapons tests in 2006 and 2009.

“The resolution condemns the launch and reiterates the Security Council’s previous demands that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons program and not proceed with further launches,” the diplomatic source said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the measure has not yet been made public.

It “imposes new sanctions on North Korean companies, and government agencies, including North Korea’s space agency responsible for the launch, and several indi-

viduals,” the source added on Monday.

North Korea denied accusations by the United Nations and the international powers that the rocket was a ballistic test.

Pyongyang said it was launching an observation satellite. The proposed resolution updates lists of nuclear and ballistic missile technology banned for transfer to and from North Korea.

It includes “new provisions targeting North Korea’s illicit procurement efforts, in particular its smuggling of sensitive items that could contribute to the prohibited programs,” the diplomat said, declining to provide further details. Washington hopes for a quick vote on the draft resolution.

“The United States circulated the draft text today after getting agreement from China. The vote could be held today,” a council diplomat told AFP. Russia, which could be the other obstacle to sanctions, has also approved the resolution, said the diplomat.

“The resolution will be a signal that China is becoming increasingly exasperated at North Korea’s behavior,” said another western diplomat. The UN already has 11 banks, trading companies and other entities on an assets freeze list that has grown since the nuclear tests. The last three were added in May last year, one month after North Korea staged a failed rocket test. The Security Council agreed on a presidential statement, with lower standing than a binding resolution, after the failed rocket launch in April. — AFP

NEWS

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama dance together at the Commander-in-Chief’s Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center during the 57th Presidential Inauguration on Monday. — AFP

Malaysian PM on...

Facebook envy causing misery

Continued from Page 1

Continued from Page 1

elections which were underway yesterday and seen ushering in a more hardline rightwing government. “We believe in this unity government and we pray to Allah that the talks will be successful and a united government will become a reality in the near future,” Najib said. Haniya commented on the vote, warning that “the trend of the Israeli elections suggests a move from an extremist government to a more extreme government”. “This requires us as Palestinians, and Arabs, and Muslims, to build a unified strategy to confront rising Zionist extremism.”

But Najib’s visit drew criticism from the office of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who heads the Fatah movement. “The Palestinian presidency announces its rejection and condemnation of the Malaysian prime minister’s visit to Gaza,” a statement carried on the official WAFA news agency said. “It undermines Palestinian representation and reinforces the division and does not serve Palestinian interests,” it continued, saying Abbas’ bureau would ask Kuala Lumpur “for clarification”.

Najib visited Gaza City’s Shifa hospital and the parliament building, and laid the first stone at a Malaysian-funded school before leaving for Egypt.

He also met the family of top Hamas military chief Ahmed Al-Jaabari, whose assassination by Israel in November started an eight-day war in which more than 160 Palestinians and six Israelis died. — AFP

Facebook friends and how many “likes” or comments were made on photos and postings.

“Passive following triggers invidious emotions, with users mainly envying happiness of others, the way others spend their vacations and socialize,” the researchers said in the report “Envy on Facebook: A Hidden Threat to Users’ Life Satisfaction?” released yesterday. “The spread and ubiquitous presence of envy on Social Networking Sites is shown to undermine users’ life satisfaction.”

They found people aged in their mid-30s were most likely to envy family happiness while women were more likely to envy physical attractiveness. These feelings of envy were found to prompt some users to boast more about their achievements on the site run by Facebook Inc. to portray themselves in a better light. Men were shown to post more self-pro-

motional content on Facebook to let people know about their accomplishments while women stressed their good looks and social lives.

The researchers based their findings on two studies involving 600 people with the results to be presented at a conference on information systems in Germany in February. The first study looked at the scale, scope and nature of envy incidents triggered by Facebook and the second at how envy was linked to passive use of Facebook and life satisfaction. The researchers said the respondents in both studies were German but they expected the findings to hold internationally as envy is a universal feeling and possibly impact Facebook usage. “From a provider’s perspective, our findings signal that users frequently perceive Facebook as a stressful environment, which may, in the long-run, endanger platform sustainability,” the researchers concluded. — Reuters

Kashmiris told...

Continued from Page 1 It tells residents to build toilet-equipped basement shelters “where the whole family can stay for a fortnight”, and says that they should be stocked with candles, battery-operated lights and radios, adding that stores of nonperishable food and water should be regularly replaced to ensure it is fresh. If there is no basement, residents should construct bunkers in their front yards, the notice advised. It said that during a nuclear attack, motorists should dive out of their cars toward the blast to save themselves from being crushed by their soon-to-be tumbling vehicles. It also warns residents to keep people contaminated by fallout out of their shelters.

Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have fought three wars since partition in 1947, two of them over the Kashmir region that both nations claim. Police confirmed they issued the notice but said it “should not be connected with anything else”, in an apparent reference to border tension. The notice is part of regular year-round civil defence preparedness, Mubarak Ganai, deputy inspector general of civil defence in Kashmir police, told AFP. — AFP

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

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Issues

Canada a base for militants, never a target

By Clement Sabourin f the news that two Canadians were among the hostage takers who triggered the bloody siege of an Algerian gas plant was a surprise to many, perhaps it shouldn’t have been. While there has never been an attack on Canada’s soil, experts say that since the 1990s the country has unwittingly become a base of operation for Islamist militants, particularly Algerians. The attack on the In Amenas plant, mounted by Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s Al-Qaeda linked “Signatories in Blood”, left 37 foreign workers dead and raised worrying questions about the reach and capabilities of North African militants.

Observers in Canada say their country hosts extremist cells of its own. “Particularly in Montreal, there’s a large Algerian network that has operated here for some 20 years,” Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former senior agent with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service told AFP. The city has a large North African diaspora and many historical links to militants across the Atlantic. “Some in Canada still harbor extremist convictions or close to that of the Armed Islamic Group,” former French anti-terrorism judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere noted in a September 2011 interview with the daily La Presse. “With the rise of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, we should be worried.”

The Armed Islamic Group is blamed for more than a thousand deaths in attacks in Algeria and in France in the 1990s, and some of its members immigrated to Canada during that period. “They landed as refugees, claiming to be fleeing the civil war,” explains Fabrice de Pierrebourg, an investigative reporter for La Presse. The Algerians set up a cell, which became known as “The Montreal Cell.” It was finally dismantled in 1999. Five of the cell members were sentenced in France in 2001 for ties to the Gang de Roubaix, which was blamed for bank attacks, murder and a failed car bomb attack against a G7 finance ministers meeting in France.

The Montreal Cell’s best-known member Ahmed Ressam - also known as the “Millennium Bomber” - was arrested on the Canada-US border in 1999 driving a car packed with explosives. He was jailed for plotting to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport. Of greater notoriety is Toronto-born Omar Khadr, the youngest detainee ever held at the US “war on terror” prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, jailed for killing a US soldier in Afghanistan. His Egyptianborn father was considered an influential member of AlQaeda before he was killed in Pakistan in 2003 and his clan has been dubbed Canada’s “First family of Terror”.

The family moved from Canada to the PakistanAfghanistan border area in 1990 to help with reconstruction after the withdrawal of Soviet forces, according to an online family biography. They then lived in a compound in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and allegedly met Osama bin Laden.

The US military and the Canadian government say the young Khadr reported to an Al-Qaeda training camp in 2001 to learn how to make bombs. In pre-trial hearings, prosecutors showed video of him, sitting cross-legged on the ground and smiling as he fashioned explosive devices.

According to Juneau-Katsuya these plots and attacks, like the more recent one at the Algerian gas plant, are reminders “that Canada has allowed recruiting and fundraising” by extremists. “Canada has always been more of a base of operation than a target,” he added, suggesting that this might explain why there has never been an attack in Canada by Islamic militants. Since the Sept 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, however, there have been attempts notably the plot by the so-called “Toronto 18” to storm Canada’s parliament and decapitate the prime minister. The homegrown Islamist militants were arrested in a police sting operation in 2006, but none had any direct links to Al Qaeda and others charged with terrorism-related offenses have mostly been loners, said de Pierrebourg.

Generally, they turn out to be dual nationals - immigrants or descendants of recent immigrants - taking advantage of the ease of traveling on a Canadian passport to reach battlegrounds from Afghanistan to Somalia, say experts. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Ottawa is investigating claims that Canadian nationals were involved in the Algeria hostage siege. “Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms this deplorable and cowardly act and all terrorist groups which seek to create and perpetuate insecurity,” he added through a spokesman. Meanwhile, Canada’s spy service has warned the Canadian government about an upward trend in domestic Islamist extremism, according to a report obtained by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

“Small groups (of) Canadians will continue to be inspired by the narrative and seek to engage in extremist activities both at home and abroad,” reads the threat assessment obtained by the public broadcaster. — AFP

I

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The editor reserves the right to edit any submission as necessary.

Davos leaders uneasy over glut of easy money

By Paul Taylor he world is awash in easy money, with consequences that are starting to worry some central bankers and business leaders at the Davos World Economic Forum (WEF), though so far inflation fears seem overdone. With developed world government finances constrained by huge debts and deficits, central banks have pumped trillions of dollars into the system to try to revive sluggish economies, combat deflation and prop up weak banks. The Fed, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and to a lesser extent the European Central Bank have strayed far from traditional inflation fighting to take into account objectives such as reducing unemployment, raising nominal GDP, and ensuring the smooth functioning of the sovereign bond market.

In pursuit of these goals, they have taken unconventional steps such as keeping interest rates well below the inflation rate, buying government bonds and mortgage-backed securities and providing long-term liquidity to banks at near zero rates. Indeed, the Japanese central bank is now actively trying to create more inflation because prices are obstinately stagnant. Yesterday, the BoJ announced its most radical effort yet to end years of economic stagnation, after weeks of relentless pressure from new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a greater push to lift the economy out of recession.

In a joint statement with the government, the BoJ said it would switch to an open-ended commitment to buying assets next year and double its inflation target to 2 percent. Central banking purists, especially in Germany, with its history scarred by hyper-inflation, worry that the guardians of sound money are losing their independence to governments and will find it hard to get the genie back into the bottle.

The leading hawk on the ECB’s Governing Council, German Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann, who cancelled his appearance at Davos, warned on Monday that central banks were

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being bullied by governments and it could lead to currency wars. “Already alarming violations can be observed, for example in Hungary or Japan, where the new government is interfering massively in the business of the central bank with pressure for a more aggressive monetary policy and threatening an end to central bank autonomy,” he said in a speech in Frankfurt. “A consequence, whether intentional or uninentional, could moreover be an increased politicisation of exchange rates.”

Within the Federal Reserve, dissident Richmond Fed president Jeffrey Lacker has been warning for months that the US central bank’s stimulus actions risk a surge in inflation after this year. Management consultancy Bain & Co said in a report that the most immediate effect of a world awash with capital has been “to paralyse, confuse and distort investment decisions”.

Large financial flows were creating dangerous pockets of excess capital in some places, while simultaneously cutting off access in other places. At the same time, big institutional investors like pension funds face large gaps between the returns they will need to meet payouts and what markets will generate.

“Capital superabundance will increase the frequency, intensity, size and longevity of asset bubbles,” it said, pointing to big risks for economies and businesses closely linked to commodities. The US central bank embarked on a third round of asset purchases in December that are meant to spur growth and pledged to keep rates near zero until the unemployment rate drops to 6.5 percent, as long as inflation expectations remain in check. US unemployment was 7.8 percent last month, and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke made clear last week he is in no rush to tighten monetary policy. Speaking on Jan. 14 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he said “the worst thing the Fed could do would be to raise interest rates prematurely”.

A survey of 1,000 business leaders and academics conducted by the WEF ahead of the Davos meeting found they continue to fear a possible “systemic financial failure”, largely due to unsustainable government finances. “Will the massive quantita-

tive easing undertaken by key central banks to stave off deflation inevitably lead to destabilizing hyper-inflation?” the WEF’s annual Global Risks survey asked, noting that some of the current extraordinary monetary policies were “essentially experimental”. In a sign of the times, one Davos panel discussion on Friday is billed as “No growth, easy money - the new norm?”

Ultra-low interest rates and printing money have combined to fuel a race for weakness among currencies. This raises the risk of a mispricing of assets in the developed world, and of capital controls and trade protectionism in emerging economies. Tied by its own rules and German resistance, the European Central Bank cannot join the downward currency race, raising the risk that an overvalued euro chokes off any economic recovery.

The outgoing chairman of euro zone finance ministers, JeanClaude Juncker, voiced alarm this month that the euro’s exchange rate was “dangerously high”.

The euro has gained 10 percent against the dollar and more than 20 percent against the yen since ECB President Mario Draghi vowed last July to do whatever it takes within the bank’s mandate to preserve the single currency. Bank of England governor Mervyn King acknowledged last week the danger of asset-price bubbles and mispricing of risk by investors due to central banks’ easy money policies.

“One of the things we want to be a bit concerned about is that interest rates have been so low for so long that some of the actions have reduced risk premia to levels where the search for yield appears to be beginning again,” King said in testimony to a British House of Commons committee.

This is occurring at a time when the economy is operating well below full capacity, the banking system is stretched and central bankers are struggling to find instruments to ensure an economic recovery, he said. Easy money policies by major central banks such as the Fed, the BoE and the BoJ have strengthened the currencies of developing countries, hurting those countries’ exporters. —Reuters

Obama pushes activist govt, takes on far right

By Steve Holland epublican President Ronald Reagan declared in 1981 that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem”. Fifteen years later, Democratic President Clinton declared that “the era of big government is over”. That wasn’t exactly President Barack Obama’s message in his second inaugural address on Monday. In a spirited defense of government’s role as a protector of society’s most vulnerable people, the Democratic president signaled a determination to protect costly social programs that have been targeted by Republicans seeking to reduce growth in the $16.4 trillion US debt.

In a series of implied jabs at uncompromising conservatives who have fostered gridlock in Congress and cast him as an unAmerican socialist, Obama essentially portrayed such critics as being outside the mainstream of US politics. “We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate,” Obama said during his 18-minute speech. Laying out a broad vision for his second four-year term, Obama delivered a speech that struck many of the themes that ran through his re-election campaign. Chief among them: a call to increase opportunities for the middle class and “reject the idea that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future.” Such comments struck a ner ve with some Republicans, who saw them as a sign that Obama might be unwilling to make significant cuts to the Medicare and Medicaid healthcare programs and the Social Security retirement program - and that the president might seek more tax increases on the nation’s richest people. Cutting back on those “entitlement” programs is widely viewed as a significant part of reducing the budget deficit. “It was a speech outlining vigorous support for expanding the size and reach of government - at a time when there is a national call for, and bipartisan support of, reduced Washington spending,” said Don Stewar t, spokesman for Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate minority leader.

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Obama begins his second term having stared down Republicans on tax and spending issues at the end of December, achieving a deal that raised taxes on the country’s highest earners. The stage is now set for the next round of fiscal wrangling: Obama wants to revamp the tax code to eliminate a myriad tax loopholes while fending off Republicans’ demands for deep spending cuts. His graying hair and lined face providing proof, Obama appears battle-hardened after his first term, now accustomed to the idea that Republicans will fight him at nearly every turn and determined to muscle as much of his agenda as possible through the divided Congress.

In defending social programs, Obama offered a subtle reminder of comments last May by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who told supporters at a private fund-raiser that 47 percent of Americans were dependent on government programs and benefits, and therefore were unlikely to support Romney. “The commitments we make to each other, through Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, these things do not sap our initiative. They

strengthen us,” Obama said. “They do not make us a nation of takers. They free us to take the risks that make this country great.”

Such talk appeared to foreshadow more ideological fights in Congress over taxes and spending, which have consumed Washington during the past four years.

Obama seemed to claim a far-reaching mandate in his inaugural address, vowing action on issues such as climate change, immigration and gay rights. Those issues were largely on the sidelines during most of Obama’s first term, although he did express support for legalized same-sex marriage. An agreement to revamp the immigration system seems the most likely bipar tisan achievement. Obama wants such a deal and so do Republicans in Congress, after having seen Hispanics vote overwhelmingly for the Democrats in the Nov 6 election.

Far less certain is how Obama might follow through on his pledge to address climate change in a significant way. “He laid out a very activist agenda,” said presidential scholar Thomas Alan Schwartz of Vanderbilt University. “My interpretation would be that he really does feel that the wind is at his

US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama take part in the inaugural parade walk down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the White House following Obama’s second inauguration ceremony as 44th president on Monday.— AFP

back, that he has a very favorable environment to push right now on a wide range of issues.”

Republicans listening for clues as to what to expect from Obama in the coming months did not hear much conciliatory talk.

“It was a liberal checklist,” said one aide to a senior Republican in Congress. “I didn’t hear any outreach to conservatives or the half of the country who didn’t think he should be president. He was speaking to the people who voted for him. That’s fine, but it wasn’t a call for unity. It wasn’t a call for smaller government. It was a call for bigger government.” Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio said Obama “missed the opportunity to talk about where we can find common ground.”

Monday’s events essentially start the clock ticking for Obama. Realistically he has one to two years to achieve most of his agenda before Washington’s attention turns to the 2016 election when America will vote for a new president. “ We cannot afford delay,” Obama said. Still faced with a bitterly partisan environment in which Republicans control the House of Representatives and Democrats lead the Senate, White House officials say Obama will work with Congress when he can and use executive orders to implement policy when possible. At the same time, his presidential campaign apparatus is being rebooted to act as a populist support group to push for his policies.

So how much can he get done? Second terms often are marked by overreaching by the president, a misreading of the public mood. For example, Republican George W Bush pushed for an overhaul of Social Security at the outset of his second term. It quickly ran afoul of public opinion and went nowhere.

Obama has acknowledged the risk of a tooambitious agenda.

But having outmaneuvered Republicans on taxes and spending thus far - and with significantly better favorability ratings than they have - Obama appears determined to pursue a large second-term agenda. “Certainly he is well-positioned right now,” said Peverill Squire, a political science professor at the University of Missouri. “Republicans are having trouble being as aggressive as they have been. I suspect he may be able to cut a few more deals.” — Reuters

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

S P ORTS Keshi tactics cost Nigeria victory

Rafter leaves Tomic out of Aussie squad

JOHANNESBURG: Former Nigeria star Sunday Oliseh says the tactics of coach Stephen Keshi led to a disappointing 1-1 draw with Burkina Faso in the opening round of Africa Cup of Nations Group C matches. Oliseh, a key midfield figure in the last Nigerian team to win the Africa Cup 19 years ago, said the team were the architects of their own downfall in a Monday match they were expected to win. “We were 10 against 11, but we kept on playing like we had 11 men on the field,” he said, referring to the red carding of Celtic defender Efe Ambrose after a needless second caution 15 minutes from time. “Nigeria kept attacking all the time and failed to close down spaces,” noted Oliseh in a criticism of Keshi, captain of the 1994 Cup of Nations-winning team and a long-time team-mate of Oliseh.

“Stephen should have adopted a more cautious approach after Efe was given his marching orders.

The coach should have played with just one man up front and that is why we did not win.” Oliseh is in Johannesburg as part of a team of former African stars working for pan-African TV sports channel SuperSport during the 22-day Cup of Nations tournament. —AFP

MELBOURNE: Australia’s Davis Cup captain Pat Rafter stuck by his guns and left Bernard Tomic out of his squad yesterday despite his promising showing at the Australian Open. Tomic reached the third round and tested four-time champion Roger Federer in Melbourne but his name was missing when Rafter announced the squad for next month’s Asia Oceania Davis Cup tie in Taiwan.

Rafter said he was sticking by his decision, announced earlier, to axe Australia’s leading player from the opening Cup tie when he was disciplined last month for a lack of professionalism. Former Wimbledon and US Open champion Lleyton Hewitt will lead the team also comprising Chris Guccione, Matthew Ebden and Marinko Matosevic. “The decision’s made. You’ve got to stick by your decisions. In terms of his form and everything, yes, it would be great to have him part of it,” Rafter told a news conference at the Australian Open. “But we had our issues. The reason we left him out was hopefully to teach him a lesson. I think he came back at us pretty well. I think he used that anger, channelled it and played some great tennis here.” The 43rdranked Tomic, 20, impressed in his two victories at the Australian Open and in his hard-fought straight-sets loss to 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer last weekend. —AFP

Barca’s Villa fit again for cup MADRID: Striker David Villa will be available for the Barcelona squad for Thursday’s Spanish Cup match against Malaga after two weeks recovering from a thigh strain, the club said.

Club doctors cleared the 31-year-old goalscorer to play in the second-leg King’s Cup quarter final match after overcoming the strain in his right thigh, Barcelona said in an online statement.

Top Spain goalscorer Villa had missed three games, including Barcelona’s 2-2 first leg against Malaga last week and their 3-2 defeat by Real Sociedad on Saturday-their first loss of the season. He had spent several months out last year after breaking his left leg in December 2011.

Winger Isaac Cuenca, 21, was also back training with the team Monday after eight months out with a knee complaint, the club said.

The Spanish league leaders were nearly back to a full squad, still missing two defendersinjured Marc Muniesa and Eric Abidal, who is back training with the squad after recovering from a liver transplant. —AFP

49ers finally get chance to add to glory years

Marvin Miller, center, the former head of the MLB Players’ Association, with current executives of the MLBPA and NHLPA in April 2012. —AP

Former players urge Miller be put in Hall of Fame NEW YORK: Baseball players urged that Marvin Miller be put in the Hall of Fame as they spoke Monday night during a memorial for the union leader. In an auditorium filled with Hall of Famers, dozens of retired and current players, baseball officials, agents and labor lawyers, 13 speakers praised the former baseball union head, who helped players gain free agency in the 1970s and created the path to multimillion-dollar salaries. Miller died in November at 95.

“It is a travesty he is not in the Hall of Fame,” former major league player and manager Buck Martinez said during the two-hour program. Miller has been turned down five times by various Hall of Fame committees that considered baseball executives.

Jim Bouton, who entered the majors in 1962, was critical that Bowie Kuhn, baseball’s commissioner from 1969-84, is in the Hall but Miller has been kept out.

“All those policies were not Bowie Kuhn’s policies. In fact they were all Marvin’s policies because Marvin won every battle he had with Bowie Kuhn,” Bouton said. “I think Bowie Kuhn was 0 for 67.” Miller is next eligible to appear on a Hall ballot this December. Hall of Famers Dave Winfield and Joe Morgan were among those who spoke before a crowd of about 450 at New York University School of Law ’s Tishman Auditorium. Reggie Jackson, Keith Hernandez, Steve Garvey, Ted Sizemore and David Cone were among the approximately three dozen former players in the audience.

Major League Baseball was represented by executive vice president Rob Manfred and senior vice presidents Katy Feeney and Phyllis Merhige. Also attending were George Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; Toru Matsubara, executive director of Japan’s players’ association; and Miller’s children, Susan and Peter.

Winfield, who used free agency to sign a record-breaking contract after the 1980 season, said Miller taught him life lessons he still thinks of. Winfield addressed the five active players in the audience: Andrew Bailey, Bill Bray, Craig Breslow, Adam

Ottavino and Micah Owings.

“Anything you do in life, know where you’ve come from, where you are and where you’re going, and Marvin was able to share that with us,” Winfield said. “Know the history of the players’ association. Know how you got to where you are today.”

A former economist for the United Steelworkers Union, Miller spent 16 1/2 years as executive director of the Major League Players Association, starting in 1966. During Miller’s tenure, the average major league salary increased from $19,000 to $241,000. It was $3.2 million last year.

Players remembered his soft-spokeness, how when speaking on the field during spring training he kept lowering his voice to force players to crane their necks to hear.

“Every time somebody signs one of these wonderful contracts, and there are so many of them out there, I think before they get the first check they should have to write an essay on Marvin Miller,” said Rusty Staub, a big leaguer from 1963-85.

Current union head Michael Weiner hosted the tribute, which included video clips taped in 2010 of Miller reminiscing.

Players spoke in order of when they made their big league debuts.

“We could have searched 100 years and wouldn’t have found a more perfect person for our situation,” said Morgan, a Hall of Fame second baseman who played in the majors from 1963-84.

Donald Fehr, who served as Miller’s general counsel from 1977-82 and then headed the union from 1983-09, said he could read Miller ’s mood by what drink he ordered at lunch: a Tom Collins signaled a happy mood, a martini meant he was perplexed and Old Grand-Dad Bourbon was a sign of problems.

“The reason I think he is remembered as he is, is that the baseball players’ association became a symbol, it became a symbol of what a union could be if it was run right,” said Fehr, current head of the NHL players’ union.

Martinez talked about a telephone call he received from former Oakland Athletics owner Charlie Finley during the 1985 labor negotiations. “You tell Marvin to stick by his guns,” Martinez recalled Finley saying. “You guys are doing the right thing.” —AP

ATLANTA: The team of the 1980s are back, at last. The San Francisco 49ers, one of the great franchises of the National Football League, will finally return to the Super Bowl in search of a record-equaling sixth Lombardi Trophy when they face the Baltimore Ravens on Feb. 3 in New Orleans.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have the most Super Bowl wins, with six triumphs in eight appearances, and the Dallas Cowboys have five wins from eight, but the Niners are the only team to have appeared in multiple Super Bowls and won each of them.

The Green Bay Packers were the first dominant team in the Super Bowl era, in the late 1960s, the Steelers the stars of the 1970s but the 49ers were the team to beat during the 1980s.

Next month’s Super Bowl marks the return to the big stage for the 49ers after an 18-year absence which left many wondering if a franchise that once enjoyed Hall of Famers like Joe Montana and Jerry Rice would ever again be part of the NFL’s elite.

Although formed in 1946, the glory years for a team named after gold prospectors who headed west did not truly begin until Eddie DeBartolo Jr. took over as owner and

brought in head coach Bill Walsh in 1978.

Walsh selected quarterback Montana from Notre Dame in the third round of his first draft in 1979, and it was an inspired decision.

In the 1981 season, Montana’s first as starter, the Niners won the NFC West division with a 13-3 record. They advanced to the Super Bowl but only after Montana found Dwight Clark in the end zone during the closing moments of the NFC Championship game in a play known simply as ‘The Catch.’

A Super Bowl victory over the Cincinnati Bengals kicked off the 49ers dynasty and three years later they captured a second NFL championship with a 38-16 win over a Miami Dolphins team quarterbacked by future Hall of Famer Dan Marino.

In 1985, the 49ers made another inspired draft choice by taking wide receiver Rice in the first round and he played a major role in three more Super Bowl triumphs.

The 1988 season ended with Rice named MVP in one of the great Super Bowls, a thrilling 20-16 victory over the Bengals with a game -winning touchdown pass from Montana to John Taylor in the final minute and Rice collecting 11 passes for 215 yards.

The following year, the 49ers, with rookie head coach, George Seifert now in charge after Walsh’s retirement, utterly crushed the Denver Broncos 55-10 in the title game.

After Montana left for Kansas City in 1992, San Francisco had another Hall of Famer at quarterback in Steve Young, who led them to a 49-26 Super Bowl triumph over San Diego at the end of the 1994 season.

But the turn of the centur y saw San Francisco in decline. For successive seasons the 49ers failed to muster a winning record and it was not until Jim Harbaugh led them to last year ’s NFC Championship game, where they lost to the eventual champion New York Giants, that it was clear a revival was under way.

The links with the past remain - owner Jed York is the nephew of DeBartolo Jr., who was present at the Georgia Dome on Sunday for the 49ers’ 28-24 NFC Championship win over the Atlanta Falcons.

“We set the standard - you are supposed to win the Super Bowl year in, year out and win with class,” said York. “It means a lot to me for us to get there and have an opportunity to win it. But we’ve got a long way to go.” —Reuters

Two weeks and counting for the HarBowl hype BALTIMORE: With two weeks of hype left before the Super Bowl, Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh is already trying to play down the drama of facing his little brother for the National Football League championship.

John used to share a room with his brother Jim and, like many siblings, they would place tape down the middle of the room to claim their turf. Their story has already been told. And told. And told.

“Every story has been told,” he told reporters Monday. “We’re not that interesting. There’s nothing more to learn. The tape across the middle of the room story, OK, you got it? It’s OK. “It was just like any other family, really.”

Baltimore shocked the New England Patriots 28-13 on Sunday to win the AFC and reach the Super Bowl, while the San Francisco 49ers, coached by Jim Harbaugh, edged the Atlanta Falcons 28-24 in the

NFC to set up a HarBowl on Feb. 3 in New Orleans. The brothers have already squared off in the regular season, U.S. Thanksgiving 2011, when the Ravens defeated the 49ers 16-6 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. John Harbaugh, 50 years old and 15 months older than Jim, is hoping the spotlight of the Super Bowl would not be on the coaches. “I really hope the focus is not so much on that,” he said.

“We get it, it’s really cool and it’s exciting and all that. But it’s really about the team, about the players, about the guys you’re talking about. “It’s about the players, the guys out there on the field who are actually in the arena whose face is marred with dust and sweat and blood, you know?

“Remember that one (a Theodore Roosevelt quote)? That’s what it’s about.

The more we focus on those guys, I think the better it is for everybody.” The game will mark the first time that brothers will

face each other in a professional championship game as coaches.

“I guess it’s pretty neat,” said Harbaugh.

“But is it really going to be written about?

It’s not exactly like Churchill and Roosevelt or anything. “It’s pretty cool, but that’s as far as it goes.”

Jim also hopes to keep talk of the ‘Battle of the Brothers’ to a minimum but says there is a negative side to facing the Ravens. “I think it’s a blessing and a curse. A blessing because that is my brother’s team.

And also personally I played for the Ravens.

Great respect for their organization. Know many of the Baltimore Ravens players and have a great respect for them and their team and I’m happy for them,” he told reporters on Monday.

“The curse part would be that the talk of two brothers playing in the Super Bowl and what that takes away from the players that are in the game. And every moment

that you’re talking about myself or John that’s less time that the players are going to be talked about.

“I just feel like the fighters are first. The ones that are playing in the game, the players, they’re the ones that have the most to do with it. And they’re the ones we should be talking about,” he said.

John has been the Ravens’ head coach since 2008 while Jim, a former quarterback who played in the NFL from 1987 through until 2001, is in his second season on the 49ers sideline.

“He’s an incredibly competitive person,” John said of his brother. “He will fight you for anything. Whether it was a game of cards growing up, whatever, he was going to find a way to win no matter what.

“That’s what made a great player, it’s what made him a good student in college, it’s what makes him the man he is.” —Reuters

Payton reinstated after serving season suspension NEW ORLEANS: New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton, who was suspended for a season for his part in a pay-for-pain bounty scandal, has been reinstated, the National Football League said yesterday.

“We had a very productive discussion,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “Sean fully complied with all the requirements imposed on him during his suspension.

“More important, it is clear that Sean understands and accepts his responsibilities as a head coach and the vital role that coaches play in promoting player safety and setting an example for how the game should be played at all levels.

“We are committed to delivering football that fans love and the safety players deserve.

Coach Payton agrees and I look forward to working with him going forward to do that.”

Payton can resume his coaching duties immediately, although the Saints have finished for this season, which ends with the Super Bowl, in New Orleans on Feb 3. Goodell and Payton held a meeting on Monday at which time the Saints coach acknowledged his responsibility for the actions of his coaching staff and players.

Payton’s reinstatement closes one chapter in

the ugly scandal that hung over the Saints the entire season. During Payton’s absence, the Saints went from a 13-3 team that won the NFC South division title to a 7-9 team that missed the playoffs altogether.

Payton, along with members of his coaching staff, general manager Mickey Loomis and several players were handed varying suspensions for their roles in the team’s bounty scheme that saw players given cash rewards for injuring and knocking opponents out of games from 20092011.

“I am thankful today commissioner Goodell has granted me reinstatement,” Payton said in a statement released by the Saints. “As I stated back in March, ‘I, along with Mickey Loomis, take full responsibility for all aspects of our football program.’

“I clearly recognize that mistakes were made, which led to league violations.

Furthermore, I have assured the commissioner a more diligent protocol will be followed.

“I am excited to be back as head coach of the New Orleans Saints!” A former Super Bowlwinning coach, Payton signed a five-year contract extension last month that will run through the 2017 season. —Reuters

Kuwaitis dominate Bahrain, Qatar races KUWAIT: Kuwaiti players from Kuwait Quarter Mile Club (KQMC) still dominate the races in Bahrain Drag Race Championship 2013 that kicked off on January 2nd, said KQMC’s chairman of board, Sheikh Ali Al-Fawwaz AlSabah expressing his happiness and satisfaction with the results and efforts exerted in hoisting Kuwait’s flag high in international events.

Further, Al-Sabah stressed KQMC’s support to all players and urged all youth-related official

bodies and the information minister and minister of state for youth affairs, Sheikh Salman Al-Sabah, to support the club and its players to encourage more youth join it and practice their sport safely instead of risking their lives elsewhere.

Al-Sabah also noted that Kuwait so far dominates The Arab Drag Race Championship 2013 that kicked off on January 16 in Qatar in various categories; Motorbikes, Street Bikes, Super Street Bikes, Cars, Outlaw and ProBikes.

Sheikh Ali Al-Fawwaz

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

S P ORTS

Warriors finish strongly to beat Clippers Slumping Lakers blown away by raging Bulls NBA results/standings Indiana 82, Memphis 81; New Orleans 114, Sacramento 105; Houston 100, Charlotte 94; Atlanta 104, Minnesota 96; Brooklyn 88, NY Knicks 85; Golden State 106, LA Clippers 99; San Antonio 90, Philadelphia 85; Chicago 95, LA Lakers 83; Washington 98, Portland 95.

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L PCT GB NY Knicks 25 14 .641 Brooklyn 25 16 .610 1 Boston 20 20 .500 5.5 Philadelphia 17 24 .415 9 Toronto 15 26 .366 11 Central Division Indiana 26 16 .619 Chicago 24 16 .600 1 Milwaukee 21 18 .538 3.5 Detroit 15 25 .375 10 Cleveland 10 32 .238 16 Southeast Division Miami 26 12 .684 Atlanta 23 18 .561 4.5 Orlando 14 26 .350 13 Charlotte 10 31 .244 17.5 Washington 9 30 .231 17.5

Western Conference Northwest Division Oklahoma City32 9 .780 Denver 25 18 .581 8 Utah 22 19 .537 10 Portland 20 21 .488 12 Minnesota 17 21 .447 13.5 Pacific Division LA Clippers 32 10 .762 Golden State 25 15 .625 6 LA Lakers 17 24 .415 14.5 Sacramento 16 26 .381 16 Phoenix 13 28 .317 18.5 Southwest Division San Antonio 33 11 .750 Memphis 26 14 .650 5 Houston 22 21 .512 10.5 Dallas 18 24 .429 14 New Orleans 14 27 .341 17.5

Louis Oosthuizen targets top ranking DOHA: Louis Oosthuizen fancies himself as a future world number one despite Rory McIlroy showing no signs of slipping down from the summit any time soon. McIlroy is far ahead in the rankings with 593.71 points at the top as compared to Oosthuizen’s 345.24, but the South African is convinced his time will come as he prepared for the 2.5 million dollar Qatar Masters beginning on Wednesday.

“I want to climb up the world rankings to number one if I can, but I always take it slowly and see how my game is,” Oosthuizen said on Monday after a practice round at Doha Golf Club where he and fellow South Africans Ernie Els and Retief Goosen will be hoping to deny Scotsman Paul Lawrie an unprecedented third title.

Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion, added, however, that he is ready to bide his time to achieve his ambition, saying he prefers taking one tournament at a time. “I never try to set goals that I know are too tough to achieve or out of my reach. I feel like I’ve got a good shot at getting to number two at least by the end of the year,” said the 30-year-old, who was joint runner-up behind Spaniard Alvaro Quiros in 2009.

“I’ll need to work hard on my game to get there and stay there, and then reduce the gap with me and Rory.”

Oosthuizen is riding a wave of confidence after winning the Volvo Golf Champions tournament in South Africa this month, a factor he hoped would

help him put in an impressive show in Doha.

“Any win early in the season gets your confidence really high. I feel like I’m swinging it really well at the moment and making the odd long putt. This week the greens are really big and I think we’ll have a lot of birdie opportunities, so the longer putts will be crucial.”

Meanwhile, Els is considering himself a serious contender for a second Qatar Masters title. The four-time major winner will be hoping to join Adam Scott (2002, 2008) and holder Lawrie (1999, 2012) as a two-time champion.

“I have good memories of the Qatar Masters, especially after I won in 2005 when I played really well on the final day (shooting a 65). I enjoyed going back to Doha the next few years and also played pretty well in 2007, when I came third and Retief was champion,” said the “Big Easy”. “I’ve played well over the past year and I’d certainly expect to be a contender this time. It would be great to start the year by lifting the Mother of Pearl Trophy for a second time, especially after lifting the Claret Jug for a second time last year.”

Goosen, who won in Qatar in 2007, is ready for his eighth appearance in Doha where he will bid to add to his 14 European Tour victories. “I always like returning to a course where I’ve won before and it’s nice that Ernie will also be playing this year. We’ve played together in the event a few times and it’ll be good to do that again,” said Goosen. — AFP

ZARAGOZA: Croatia’s left back Stipe Mandalinic shoots during the 23rd Men’s Handball World Championships round of 16 match Croatia vs Belarus at the Pabellon Principe Felipe in Zaragoza on Monday. —AFP

OAKLAND: The Golden State Warriors came from seven points down in the closing minutes to beat the NBA-leading Los Angeles Clippers 106-99, closing the gap between the Pacific Division’s top teams to six games.

In other key games, Indiana stayed clear top of the Central Division by pipping Memphis, Brooklyn beat New York to move within a game of their city rivals in the Atlantic Division, and San Antonio was too good for slumping Philadelphia.

Golden State’s Jarrett Jack had 18 points and 10 assists while Stephen Curry made four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to finish on 28 as the Warriors beat the Clippers for the third time in four meetings this season, dropping L.A. out of a share of the NBA lead.

There were five lead changes in the fourth quarter, but Los Angeles managed only two baskets over the final 3:40 while Golden State closed on a 14-4 run. Blake Griffin had 26 points and 13 rebounds for the Clippers.

The Indiana Pacers stayed a game ahead of Chicago atop the Central by beating the Memphis Grizzlies 82-81. George Hill scored 13 points, including a clinching free throw with 1.4 seconds remaining.

On the ensuing inbounds, Memphis’ Rudy Gay banked in a 24-foot shot, but after a review it was determined the shot came after the buzzer. David West scored 14 points for the Pacers, while Roy Hibbert scored 10 for Indiana.

The Brooklyn Nets’ win over the New York Knicks was almost as close, with Joe Johnson’s jump shot with 22 seconds remaining putting Brooklyn ahead and the Nets hung on for an 88-85 win.

Johnson scored a vital 10 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 25, and Deron Williams added 14 points and 12 assists for the Nets.

Carmelo Anthony had 29 points and seven assists for the Knicks, but missed all six shots in the

fourth quarter and finished 11 of 29 for the game. The San Antonio Spurs moved five games above Memphis in the Southwest Division - and within four of NBA-leading Oklahoma City - by beating the Philadelphia 76ers 90-85.

Tim Duncan had 24 points and 17 rebounds and Tony Parker scored 20 points to lead San Antonio to its fifth straight win. The Spurs blew a 17-point lead in the first half before rallying late in the fourth to win again without injured guard Manu Ginobili. San Antonio has won a league-best 15 road games this season.

Evan Turner’s 18 points and 12 rebounds led the Sixers, who have slumped to seven games below

.500. The Chicago Bulls pulled away late to beat the struggling Los Angeles Lakers 95-83, scoring 20 of the last 28 points. Kirk Hinrich scored 22 points and Marco Belinelli added 15 points. Belinelli was vital in the closing minutes, scoring eight points during the decisive late run.

The Lakers have now dropped six straight on the road, and this one came after coach Mike D’Antoni shook up the lineup. He moved for ward Pau Gasol to a reserve role and replaced him with Earl Clark, but the slide continued.

The Atlanta Hawks came from 18 points down in the second quarter to beat Minnesota 104-96, sending the Timberwolves to a

sixth loss in seven games.

Al Horford scored a season-high 28 points and Jannero Pargo had 16 for the Hawks, who moved within 4-1/2 games of Southeast Division-leading Miami. Derrick Williams finished with 17 points for Minnesota.

In other games, the Houston Rockets snapped a seven-game losing skid with a 100-94 win at the Charlotte Bobcats, the New Orleans Hornets survived a second half without Anthony Davis and beat the Sacramento Kings 114-105 and Washington’s Jordan Crawford hit a 3-pointer on the buzzer to give the Wizards a 98-95 win over the Por tland Trail Blazers. — AP

CHICAGO: Jimmy Butler #21 of the Chicago Bulls dunks in front of Antawn Jamison #4 of the Los Angeles Lakers at the United Center on Monday in Chicago, Illinois. The Bulls defeated the Lakers 9583. — AFP

Kings NBA franchise looks bound for Seattle SEATTLE : Nearly five years after their colors and history were packed away into storage and their NBA franchise relocated, the SuperSonics are one significant step closer to returning to Seattle.

And the Kings are on the edge of leaving Sacramento. All that appears to stand in the way now is approval

by NBA owners. The Maloof family has agreed to sell the Kings to a Seattle group led by investor Chris Hansen, the league confirmed in a statement Monday morning. The deal is still pending a vote by the NBA Board of Governors.

A person familiar with the decision said that Hansen’s group will buy 65 percent of the franchise, which is valued at $525 million, and move the team to Seattle and restore the SuperSonics name. The deal will cost the Hansen group a little more than $340 million. The Maloofs will have no stake in the team.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal was waiting approval. The Maloofs will get a $30 million non-refundable down payment by Feb. 1, the person said.

They will still be allowed to receive other offers until the league approves the sale. The Kings sale price of $525 million would surpass the NBA record $450 million the Golden State Warriors sold for in 2010.

The plan by Hansen’s group is to have the team play at least the next two seasons in KeyArena before mov-

ing into a new facility in downtown Seattle. The deadline for teams to apply for a move for next season is March 1. The office of Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn confirmed Monday it is already working with Hansen on an agreement for using KeyArena.

“We would just like to extend our sincerest compliments and gratitude toward the Maloof family,” Hansen said in a statement. “Our negotiations with the family were handled with the utmost honor and professionalism and we hope to continue their legacy and be great stewards of this NBA franchise in the coming years and decades.”

Sacramento will get its chance to counter with Mayor Kevin Johnson already receiving permission from

NBA Commissioner David Stern to present a counteroffer to league owners from buyers who would keep the Kings in Sacramento.

“Sacramento has proven that it is a strong NBA market with a fan base that year in and year out has demonstrated a commitment to the Kings by selling out 19 of 27 seasons in a top-20 market and owning two of the longest sellout streaks in NBA history,” Johnson said.

Yet Johnson will be fighting an uphill challenge trying to pull together an ownership group in a small window of time while Seattle begins preparing for the return of the green and gold. It seemed the SuperSonics had become a historic footnote when owner Clay Bennett moved the fran-

SEATTLE: A sign for KeyArena appears near the Space Needle, Monday, in Seattle. KeyArena would host NBA basketball games for two seasons if a team returns to Seattle as was reported likely on Monday, while a new permanent facility is built south of downtown Seattle. The Maloof family has agreed to sell the Sacramento Kings to a Seattle group led by investor Chris Hansen, the league confirmed in a statement Monday morning. — AP

chise to Oklahoma City in 2008. It was the conclusion of a contentious two years of lawsuits, broken leases, negotiations and ultimately a settlement that allowed 41 years of pro basketball history in Seattle to be moved away.

While Seattle was excited about Monday’s news, there was an air of caution as well, with many fans still stung about the Sonics previous departure not wanting to believe in their return until everything is signed and delivered. Others in Seattle have wanted an expansion franchise rather than taking a team from another city.

“It tore the hearts out of the city when the (team) left the first time and it’s just wonderful news to get a team back,” said Jerry Brown, who was at KeyArena Monday buying college basketball tickets. “I feel sorry for the people of Sacramento, they have good fans there, but we want our team back.”

Ironically enough, it will be Bennett that has a say in whether Seattle returns to the NBA portfolio, because he is the head of the league’s relocation committee.

Caught in an awkward spot is the Kings’ basketball team itself, some of whom have Seattle ties. Guard Isaiah Thomas grew up in Tacoma, Washington and was already feeling the discomfort of being wedged between two cities.

“It’s just a little weird (but) at the same time I love Sacramento, I love everything about it. Love the fans, the organization just brought me in with open arms.— AP

Cavs’ Varejao done for season with blood clot CLEVELAND: Anderson Varejao’s season rapidly spiraled from a probable All-Star appearance to over. The Cavaliers’ hustling center, who led the NBA in rebounding before he went down last month with what appeared to be nothing more than a bruised knee, remained hospitalized Monday with a blood clot in his lower right lung, a health scare that will force him to miss the rest of this season. Varejao, who underwent surgery on a torn leg muscle on Jan. 10, has been at The Cleveland Clinic since last Thursday.

The Cavs said he will likely remain in the hospital for several more days as he receives treatment. Varejao is expected to make a full recovery, but he will remain on blood thinning medications for at least three months, the team said Monday.

The loss of the 6-foot-11 Varejao is a crushing blow to the young Cavs, who are just 10-32. “Losing him already was

bad enough for us,” star point guard Kyrie Irving said. “The news got worse today. We wish him the best. We’re all going to be there for him morale-wise, just try to be there for him as best as we can as teammates. That’s all we can do right now.”

Despite Varejao being admitted to the hospital four days ago, the Cavs did not reveal he was still there until shortly before Monday’s workout at their training facility.

Varejao was having an All-Star-caliber season before he injured his leg on Dec. 18 against Toronto. Team doctors initially diagnosed the injury as a bruise and expected Varejao to make a quick recovery. However, tests revealed an uncommon split in his quadriceps muscle which required an operation. Varejao was expected to be out eight weeks before he developed the blood clot following the surgery. General manager

Chris Grant said the team is “fairly confident” the clot was not a reaction from surgery. This is the third straight season Varejao has missed extended time with injuries. The Brazilian sat out 41 games last season with a broken wrist, and he was sidelined for 51 games in 2011 after tearing a tendon in his ankle while running after practice. “We’re just feeling bad for Andy,” Cavs coach Byron Scott said following practice. “I think the world of Andy, especially with the way he plays. My heart just goes out to him. He’s had some bad luck in the last three years. I’m sure it’s devastating to him. I feel real bad for him.”

Varejao was averaging 14.4 rebounds and 14.1 points in 25 games before he got hurt. There wasn’t a center in the Eastern Conference playing better than the fun-loving 30-year-old, who has developed into much more than a competent reserve - when he’s healthy.

If he had been able to keep playing, there’s little doubt Varejao, acquired by Cleveland in 2004 in a trade with Orlando, would have been named an AllStar reserve this week. Grant pointed out that Varejao’s injuries have been unrelated.

“They’ve all really been freak things,” he said. “He’s frustrated. We’re frustrated for him and with him. We would love to have him out there, particularly the type of year he was having. He’s really come into his own as a leader on the court, so it’s difficult. But at the same time we believe in him as a guy, we know what he can do. He’s played in a lot of big games for us, into the Finals. We’ll continue to support him.”

Cleveland, which has one of the league’s youngest rosters, just completed a 1-4 road trip. The Cavs will host Boston on Tuesday and play 10 of their next 12 games at home. Varejao’s injury

has allowed Scott to give extra playing time to second-year forward Tristan Thompson and rookie Tyler Zeller. The Cavs, though, have been plagued by wild inconsistency, especially down the stretch in games they’ve let slip away. “ We’ve made strides in the right direction, but we just have to be more consistent game-to-game,” said Irving, who is averaging 23.1 points, 5.7 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game. “I say it all the time, we’ve proven we can play with the best in the league, we just have to put two halves together. We’re still figuring that out.” They’ll have to do it without Varejao, their never-stopping big man who has managed to stay positive despite his latest medical setback. “His spirits are up,” said Grant. “He’s frustrated.

He wants to play; he wants to be with his teammates on the court. But he’s such a good guy. Every time you see him he’s still got that big smile.” — AP

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

S P ORTS

Serena faces next generation, Murray takes on Chardy MELBOURNE: Serena Williams comes face to face with the next generation of US tennis when she takes on 19-year-old Sloane Stephens in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open today. Stephens secured her maiden appearance in a grand slam quarter-final with a composed three-set win over Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski and further impressed with her wise-cracking performance in an on-court interview after the match.

Joking about her nervous relatives and the A$250,000 ($262,600) prize money, Stephens also told the crowd at Hisense Arena that Williams had told her to grunt “louder”, a reference to the 15-times grand slam champion’s sometimes ear-splitting

shrieks during play.

Much has been made of Williams’s reported role as mentor to the 29th seed but the off-the-cuff comment continued a bit of banter from the teenager at the world number three’s expense, carrying on from their heated match at the Brisbane International earlier this month.

Eventual champion Williams won the match in two sets but Stephens took the fight to the 31-year-old and was irked by her fist-pumping exhortations after winning big points. Stephens told her coach that Williams was being ‘disrespectful’ during a change of ends, but later played down the comment as a joke.

With a sixth title at Melbourne Park on

the line, Williams has backed away from the mentor role, saying she felt no responsibility toward Stephens. “It’s hard to be a real mentor when you’re still in competition,” said Williams, who strolled into their clash with a 6-2 6-0 thrashing of 14th seed Maria Kirilenko.

The pair will meet in the second match on Rod Laver Arena before Andy Murray takes on France’s 36th-ranked Jeremy Chardy. Chardy has enjoyed a brilliant run to his maiden grand slam quarter-final, overcoming sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro and 21st-seeded Andreas Seppi, and says he has the confidence to beat “everyone”, including third seed Murray.

“He’s a lot more calm on the court and

he deals with emotion a lot better,” former France Davis Cup captain Guy Forget told Reuters of Chardy. “Once he was too aggressive and emotional, but now he’s choosing his shots a lot better.”

Chardy also beat the 25-year-old Scot at the Cincinnati Masters in their last match and is certain to offer him more competition than 14th seed Gilles Simon, who could hardly run in their three-set match, having exhausted himself in a near-five hour marathon in the previous round. The winner will book a semi-final against either Roger Federer or seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who play in the evening session at Rod Laver Arena.

Federer destroyed the Frenchman in three

sets the last time they played at Melbourne Park in the 2010 semi-finals, but Tsonga avenged the defeat the following year at Wimbledon, when he stunned the 17-times grand slam champion in the quarter-finals.

It has all been one-way traffic since, however, with Federer winning their past four encounters, leaving aside a walkover at the 2012 tournament in Doha when the Swiss pulled out injured.

Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, needing to defend her title successfully to preserve her world number one ranking, kicks off the action against twice grand slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia. —Reuters

N Zealand beat S Africa to clinch one day series KIMBERLEY: New Zealand beat South Africa in the second one day international here yesterday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three match series.

New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson’s superb unbeaten career best 145 saw the tourists to a total of 279-8 while the hosts were all out for 252 in their reply to lose by 27 runs. New Zealand victory goes some way towards putting behind them their 2-0 Test series defeat by the South Africans.

Williamson’s knock was only the second century for New Zealand on their tour of South Africa and saw him bounce back from a disappointing Test series with a confident, stroke-filled innings.

Despite Williamson’s heroics, South Africa were on course for victory until two run-outs in successive overs derailed their run chase. There were a total of five runouts as the hosts limped to defeat while the New Zealand players shouted for joy and hugged each other on the field as they retrieved some pride after losing both Test matches by an innings.

Williamson and Grant Elliott (48) laid the foundation for New Zealand’s total with a third wicket stand of 127 off 128 balls.

Williamson reached his third one-day international hundred off exactly 100 balls with 14 fours. He was hampered by cramp

in the later stages of his innings but finished with a career-best 145 not out off 136 balls with 17 fours and a six.

It was the first century for the tourists since Martin Guptill made a match-winning 101 not out in the second Twenty20 international in East London in December.

Williamson and Elliott enabled New Zealand to recover from a slow start in which they were no runs for the loss of Guptill’s wicket in three overs after being sent in.

On a ground with a history of successful run chases - with two over 300 having been achieved in one-day internationals, South Africa looked in control as Graeme Smith and Colin Ingram put on 139 for the second wicket. But former captain Smith called for a risky third run in the 31st over and was run out by a superb throw from third man

by James Franklin for 66.

In the next over new captain Faf du Plessis was run out by a direct hit by Nathan McCullum from short cover when he ventured out of his crease before being sent back.

Ingram was caught at mid-off for 79 three overs later and South Africa’s inexperienced batting line-up - weakened by the loss of suspended captain AB de Villiers and the injured Hashim Amla - were unable to regain the momentum. — AFP

SCOREBOARD KIMBERLEY: Final scores in the second one-day international between South Africa and New Zealand at the Diamond Oval yesterday: New Zealand M. Guptill c Du Plessis b Kleinveldt 0 B. Watling lbw b Morkel 12 K. Williamson not out 145 G. Elliott c De Kock b Kleinveldt 48 B. McCullum b Morkel 17 C. Munro c Ingram b Tsotsobe 9 J. Franklin b Tsotsobe 0 J. Neesham run out (Du Plessis) 5 N. McCullum c Tsotsobe b Morkel 19 K. Mills not out 15 Extras (lb4, w5) 9 Total (8 wkts, 50 overs) 279 Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Guptill), 2-32 (Watling), 3-159 (Elliott), 4-188 (B. McCullum), 5-201 (Munro), 6-202 (Franklin), 7-211 (Neesham), 8-245 (N. McCullum) Bowling: Kleinveldt 10-2-45-2 (1w), Tsotsobe 10-2-38-2 (1w), Morkel 10-1-713 (1w), McLaren 8-0-57-0 (2w), Peterson 9-0-45-0, Du Plessis 3-0-19-0.

Did not bat: M McClenaghan South Africa Q. de Kock b Mills

25

G. Smith run out (Franklin) 66 C. Ingram c Watling b N. McCullum 79 F. du Plessis run out (N. McCullum) 2 F. Behardien run out (Guptill) 31 D. Miller run out (N. McCullum) 14 R. McLaren c Guptill b Franklin 2 R. Kleinveldt run out (Guptill) 0 R. Peterson c N. McCullum b Mills 0 M. Morkel not out 19 L. Tsotsobe b Neesham 9 Extras (nb1, w4) 5 Total (49.1 overs) 252 Fall of wickets: 1-38 (De Kock), 2-167 (Smith), 3-174 (Du Plessis), 4-180 (Ingram), 5-211 (Miller), 6-215 (McLaren), 7-216 (Kleinveldt), 8-224 (Behardien), 9232 (Peterson) Bowling: Mills 9-2-28-2, McClenaghan 100-51-0 (2w), N. McCullum 10-0-56-1 (1w), Williamson 3-0-22-0, Franklin 10-052-1 (1w), Neesham 3.1-0-20-1, Elliott 4-0-23-0 (1nb).

Result: New Zealand won by 27 runs Series: New Zealand hold a winning 2-0 lead in the three-match series Man of the match: Kane Williamson (NZL)

MELBOURNE: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic reacts during his quarterfinal match against Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, yesterday. — AP

MELBOURNE: Russia’s Maria Sharapova plays a return during her women’s singles match against compatriot Ekaterina Makarova on the ninth day of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne yesterday. — AFP

Iron man Djokovic and Federer reach last four Sharapova, Li roll into Melbourne semis MELBOURNE: Super-fit reigning champion Novak Djokovic shrugged off the exertions of his five-hour epic with Stanislas Wawrinka as he booked an Australian Open semi-final with David Ferrer yesterday. The world number one, showing no ill-effects from his late-night showdown 48 hours earlier, suffered a second-set lapse against Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych but was never seriously troubled in the 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win. The resilient Serb, who came through a record 5hr 53min final against Rafael Nadal last year, said he was glad to get the job done against Berdych in 2hr 31min-exactly half the length of his match with Wawrinka. “It was a great performance. I was hoping to have a shorter match, whoever wins tonight, not to go over five hours,” he said. “It’s always going to be tough against Tomas.”

While Djokovic will face Ferrer, in the women’s competition Maria Sharapova set up a showdown with China’s Li Na as she roared into the semi-finals for the record loss of only nine games.

The world number two swamped her latest victim, fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 62 in a quickfire 1hr 6min, continuing her blistering start to the season. Sharapova was forced to pull out of her warm-up tournament with injury, hitting up with Australian junior boys instead, but she has been remorseless in her rampage to

the last four at Melbourne Park.

Her record of losing just nine games in five matches obliterates the 22-year-old tournament record of Monica Seles, who dropped 12 en route to the 1991 semi-finals. Despite the scoreline, the four-time Grand Slam winner insisted it had been close against Makarova, against whom she has never lost in five matches. “No matter what our record is, we always have close matches,” she said. “It was quite close in the beginning today, we exchanged breaks of serves, but I think I ended up being the more aggressive player. “Today was a matter of staying focused because I know how excited she was to play me.”

However, Sharapova, 25, will face her sternest test yet against China’s Li, who halted the 13match unbeaten run of Agnieszka Radwanska to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final since she won the 2011 French Open. Li, the world number six, became the first player this year to take a set off off the Polish fourth seed when she edged a tight opener containing seven breaks of serve.

Radwanska came storming back by winning eight straight points to take the first two games of the second set to love. But Li then rattled off five consecutive games before serving it out for a 7-5, 6-3 win. “She’s a tough player. I felt like I was against a wall today. She can hit everywhere, but without any mistakes,” said Li.

“I felt it was just very tough. You have to focus on every shot. Not every point, every shot. If you hit like slow or like short one, she’ll attack.”

Meanwhile, Ferrer clawed back from two sets down after his fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro blew a golden chance to reach his first major semi-final in 34 attempts.

Tenth seed Almagro outplayed the world number five, whom he has never beaten, in the opening two sets and served for the match three times, only to falter on each occasion.

Ferrer seized the lifeline and finished too strongly for his Davis Cup team-mate, clinching it with two service breaks in the fifth set as he won 4-6, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 in 3hr 44min.

“It was a miracle that I won this match. Nicolas had a lot of chances to beat me and I tried to fight for every point,” Ferrer said. “I know all the players in important moments are nervous.

Today I was close to losing, but finally I came back.”

Today, Roger Federer and Andy Murray will bid to contest the other men’s semi-final when they take on Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Jeremy Chardy respectively. Serena Williams and defending champion Victoria Azarenka are on collision course in the other half of the women’s draw and will play Sloane Stephens and Svetlana Kuznetsova for a place in the semi-finals. — AFP

Islanders hang on for win over Lightning

KIMBERLY: New Zealand’s Kane Williamson celebrates getting his 100 during their one-day international cricket match against South Africa in Kimberley, South Africa, yesterday. — AP

UNIONDALE: New York Islanders coach Jack Capuano returned after surgery to oversee his team’s 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL on Monday. The tight finish to the game was part of a pattern for the day, with St. Louis, Boston and Detroit all winning in shootouts, Anaheim sneaking a win in a nine-goal thriller, and Buffalo beating Toronto 2-1.

The only comfortable win was for Ottawa, which beat Florida 4-0. Capuano missed the first win of the season after having a kidney stone removed, and would have felt at ease as his team went out to a 4-0 lead thanks to goals from Michael Grabner, Matt Martin, Kyle Okposo and David Ullstrom.

However Martin St. Louis, Benoit Pouliot and Steven Stamkos scored in a 51/2-minute stretch, pulling Tampa Bay within a goal with 12 minutes left, but the Lightning couldn’t get a tying goal.

In Ottawa, the Senators put in an authoritative performance in their home opener, beating the Florida Panthers 4-0.

Kyle Turris scored twice and Craig Anderson made 31 saves to notch his 20th career shutout.

Jim O’Brien and Jakob Silfverberg, with his first NHL goal, also scored for the Senators. The St. Louis Blues left Nashville with full points, beating the Predators 4-3 after a shootout.

St. Louis’ T.J. Oshie and Alexander Steen scored in the shootout which only last two rounds, with replacement goalie Brian Elliott blocking both Nashville shots. Rookie Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two assists for St. Louis. Andy McDonald had a power-play goal and an assist, and Alex Pietrangelo’s goal tied it up in the third period.

Patric Hornqvist, Mike Fisher and Colin Wilson scored for the Predators. The Boston Bruins also needed a shootout to beat the Winnipeg Jets 21, with Tyler Seguin and Patrice Bergeron scoring in the tiebreaker.

Brad Marchand had the regulation goal for the Bruins while Chris Thorburn scored for the Jets. The Columbus Blue Jackets were losers on the ice but winners off it, as a home record crowd of 19,206 was on hand to see the Detroit Red Wings win 4-3 in a shootout victory.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Swiss rookie Damien

Brunner scored in the fourth round of the shootout to lead the Detroit Red Wings past Columbus before 19,206 - the largest regularseason crowd at Nationwide Arena in the Blue Jackets’ 11-plus seasons.

Brian Lashoff scored in his NHL debut and fellow defenseman Ian White also scored for Detroit. Pavel Datsyuk had a goal to send the game into overtime with 6 minutes remaining in regulation and Swiss rookie Damien Brunner netted the shootout winner in the four th round.

Cam Atkinson, James Wisniewski and Vinny Prospal scored goals during regulation for Columbus, which was playing its first home game without Rick Nash - traded to the New York Rangers - since the 2001-2002 season.

The Buffalo Sabres edged the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1, thanks chiefly to goaltender Ryan Miller, who stopped 34 shots. Miller lost his

shutout bid when Nazem Kadri scored with 1:42 remaining. Toronto’s Joffrey Lupul appeared to tie it seconds later but the goal was disallowed.

Cody Hodgson and Jason Pominville had the goals for Buffalo. Anaheim’s Daniel Winnik and Ryan Getzlaf each scored two goals as the Ducks won 5-4 at the Calgary Flames. Saku Koivu had the other goal for Anaheim, which has opened the season with two road wins and will enjoy a rare three-day rest in this year’s compressed schedule before its home opener Friday.

Signed as a free agent last summer, Winnik has found instant chemistry on a line with Koivu and Andrew Cogliano. All three were in on Winnik’s go-ahead goal at 4:02 of the third period, which broke a 3-3 tie.

Curtis Glencross had two goals, and Lee Stempniak and Alex Tanguay also scored for Calgary, which opened with consecutive home losses. — AP

NHL results/standings Boston 2, Winnipeg 1 (SO); NY Islanders 4, Tampa Bay 3; St. Louis 4, Nashville 3 (SO); Buffalo 2, Toronto 1; Ottawa 4, Florida 0; Detroit 4, Columbus 3 (SO); Anaheim 5, Calgary 4.

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL GF Pittsburgh 2 0 0 9 New Jersey 1 0 0 2 NY Islanders 1 1 0 5 Philadelphia 0 2 0 3 NY Rangers 0 2 0 4 Northeast Division Ottawa 2 0 0 8 Buffalo 2 0 0 7 Boston 2 0 0 5 Toronto 1 1 0 3 Montreal 0 1 0 1 Southeast Division Tampa Bay 1 1 0 9 Florida 1 1 0 5 Winnipeg 0 1 1 2 Washington 0 1 0 3 Carolina 0 1 0 1

GA 4 1 5 8 9

PTS 4 2 2 0 0

1 3 2 3 2

4 4 4 2 0

7 5 6 6 5

2 2 1 0 0

Western Conference Central Division Chicago 2 0 0 11 6 4 St. Louis 2 0 0 10 3 4 Columbus 1 0 1 6 6 3 Nashville 0 0 2 5 7 2 Detroit 1 1 0 4 9 2 Northwest Division Minnesota 2 0 0 5 2 4 Edmonton 1 0 0 3 2 2 Vancouver 0 1 1 5 10 1 Colorado 0 1 0 2 4 0 Calgary 0 2 0 5 9 0 Pacific Division Anaheim 2 0 0 12 7 4 San Jose 1 0 0 4 1 2 Dallas 1 1 0 4 4 2 Los Angeles 0 1 0 2 5 0 Phoenix 0 2 0 7 10 0 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L).

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

S P ORTS

Footballer who broke racial barriers resurrected in Ghana ACCRA: On the streets of Ghana’s capital, Accra, the names of English Premier League stars fly off the tongues of footballcrazed youths. But a pioneer of the sport who broke racial barriers is familiar to few.

That may soon change for Arthur Wharton, an all-round athlete from the 19th century who was the first black footballer to play professionally in Britain. A foundation including Ghanaian and British football enthusiasts as well as artists are seeking to resurrect Wharton’s name, both as a symbol of hope for the impoverished area he grew up in and as a stand against racism in the sport in recent years.

“If you look at his story, you realise that he must have gone through a lot in order to play whatever sport that he was playing,” said Kofi Bawuah, the Arthur Wharton Foundation’s representative in Ghana.

“If he could overcome all these things to achieve what he achieved, then we in this present era have no excuse but to push the agenda that racism will not be tolerated.”

Besides being one of west Africa’s most stable democracies and its second-largest economy, Ghana has long been known as a football powerhouse.

Legends like Abedi Pele came from Ghana, and its national team made it to the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals. Ghana is also considered a strong contender in the Africa Cup of Nations, which kicked off in South Africa on Saturday.

Instances of racism have recently cast a pall on the sport’s supporters in Europe.

One involved the German-Ghanaian AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng, who earlier this month stormed off the field in Italy after spectators shouted racist chants at him, sparking a Europe-wide debate about how to tackle bigotry.

The foundation hopes to convince the Ghana Football Association to name the stadium in nearby Tema after Wharton and to adopt the Jamestown Declaration, a statement against racism in football bear-

ing the name of his old neighbourhood.

Born in 1865 to a Ghanaian mother and a father of Scottish and Grenadian descent, Wharton spent his early years in Jamestown, one of the oldest districts in Accra. The nation of Ghana did not yet

the 100-yard sprint in a tournament that at the time was essentially the world championship of the sport, said biographer Phil Vasili Wharton later found his way to professional football, where he joined up with one of the

the goal to protect himself.

Being the first black player to compete professionally was a burden for him, both on and off the field.”He became a paid sportsman, and that’s a short career,” Vasili said. “The prejudice against his colour was

ACCRA: A footballer kicks the ball during an afternoon pick-up game on January 15, 2013 in Accra, Ghana. On the streets of Ghana’s capital, Accra, the names of English Premier League stars fly off the tongues of footballcrazed youths. But a pioneer of the sport who broke racial barriers is familiar to few. —AFP exist and the area was then known as the Gold Coast.He eventually moved to Britain to train as a missionary teacher.

But Wharton proved better at athletics than education, and as a competitive runner he set a 10-second record for

best clubs of the era, Preston North End, he added.

As a goalkeeper, Whar ton was known for his eccentric style: he wore leather foundry gloves to protect his forearms and crouched in the corner of

held against him quite largely.

“That’s one of the things that stopped him from achieving the decent career after his sports career ended.” He struggled with alcohol, eventually dropping out of the sport for a working-class life as a

miner, and died in poverty in 1930 at the age of 65.

Memories of him faded both in Ghana and Britain, in the latter because of his skin colour, Vasili said.Since Wharton’s widow chose not to buy a tombstone for him-perhaps because she was poor or maybe because Wharton fathered children with her sister-he only received a proper gravestone in 1997, paid for by anti-racism group Football Unites, Racism Divides.

That group has since been leading a resurrection of sorts for Wharton’s name in Britain, Vasili said. But on the streets of Jamestown, now a fishing-dependent slice of Accra where the murky streams of sewage in the gutters and mould-ridden colonial architecture betray its poverty, football is as much a lifestyle as a sport.

Matches happen at sun-up and sundown in graffiti-covered old buildings or on dusty fields, the goals bereft of any net.

Matthew Aboagye, an aspiring defender who was waiting for his turn to play on a dirt field during a late afternoon in Jamestown, named Real Madrid and Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo as his idol.

“The style of play makes me fantastic,” he says of Ronaldo. But when asked if he knows who Arthur Wharton is, his answer was unequivocal: “No.” The foundation is trying to change that piece-by-piece, Bawuah said. They have held a football tournament on Wharton’s birthday and last year presented a statue of him to the Ghana Football Association, with a ceremony in Jamestown.

“We felt that if we can use Arthur’s name to bring the plight of the Jamestown people to the fore, then we might be able to get some development in there and then at the same time be able to honour Arthur,” Bawuah said.

“If a 15- or 16-year old boy coming up on the football scene picks Arthur’s stories and becomes a symbol for it, we know how far he can take the story.” —AFP

Debutants Cape Verde eye last-eight place South Africa face Morocco today JOHANNESBURG: There were chuckles from Group A rivals when Cape Verde coach Luis Antunes said before the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations that his team were capable of reaching the quarter-finals.

But Angola and former champions Morocco and South Africa realise

opening games ended goalless.

It could have been even better for the team that eliminated fourtime Cup of Nations winners Cameroon as they missed the best chance of a drab draw against South Africa when Platini shot tamely wide with only the goalkeeper to beat.

fidence. We had the better chances in that match despite facing the host nation in front of 80,000 supporters,” said Antunes. “I am so happy and so are the people back home. No one really took us seriously before the competition kicked off, but now they know we are no whip-

DURBAN: The Cape Verde soccer team practice at the Moses Mabhida Stadium during the Africa Cup of Nations, Durban, South Africa, yesterday. —AP now that the air traffic controller on a three-year sabbatical to handle the Blue Sharks was not joking.

After the first series of pool matches, the Africa Cup debutants from the 10-island archipelago of 500,000 people off the coast of Senegal are level on one point with the more fancied trio after both

Cape Verde face Morocco at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban today in the second half of a double-header that kicks off with South Africa against Angola and a win for the islanders would move them within sight of the quarter-finals.

“The result against South Africa has given my squad enormous con-

ping boys.”

“We were well organised at the back, restricting South Africa to a couple of half chances, and now we must improve our sharpness up front to achieve a beautiful dream and reach the quarter-finals.”

Morocco also know that victory would leave them well placed to

make the round of eight and succeed where the Atlas Lions of 2006, 2008 and 2012 failed and won only two of nine matches.

It is a disastrous record for one of the strongest football nations on the continent and their lone Cup of Nations title came 37 years ago in the last championship decided by mini-league rather than knockout matches.

Coach Rachid Taoussi, who succeeded Belgian Eric Gerets last year after a 2-0 loss in Mozambique threatened to derail the qualifying campaign, says his team must become more clinical inside the box.

“We created space and moved the ball around well against Angola, but did not punish them. However, I must be patient as we have a young team with an average age of 24 and we are building.

“Let us remember that Angola are a good team with excellent strikers and I believe we can offer more in our games this week against Cape Verde and South Africa,” said the coach.

That means improved performances from wide men Noureddine Amrabat and Ossama Assaidi and central striker Mounir El Hamdaoui, all of whom faded after bright starts against the Angolans.

It also means tightening a Mehdi Benatia-marshalled defence that nearly gave away a late goal with Manucho and former Switzerland under-21 striker Guilherme Afonso queueing unmarked to meet a cross that flashed just wide of the far post. —AFP

Struggling South Africa set to make changes JOHANNESBURG: South Africa are set to change the team that fared woefully in the opening round for an Africa Cup of Nations Group A match against Angola in Durban today.

Leaks from the Bafana Bafana (The Boys) camp suggest Dean Furman from English third-tier club Oldham Athletic will return to midfield in place of out-of-sorts Kagisho Dikgacoi from London outfit Crystal Palace.

There could also be a place in the starting lineup for striker Katlego Mphela, probably at the expense of Lehlohonolo Majoro, as the Cup hosts seek an improvement after a 0-0 draw with debutants Cape Verde Islands last weekend.

Many Bafana Bafana supporters would also like to see the one-time darling of the nation, midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala, dumped for the clash with the Black Antelopes before an expected sellout 60,000 crowd at Moses Mabhida Stadium.

Tshabalala scored a magnificent opening goal at the 2010 World Cup staged in South Africa, rifling a close-range drive past the Mexican goalkeeper in a 1-1 draw.

But ‘Shabba’ has looked a pale shadow of his former self in recent national team outings with

many pundits believing it is his reputation rather than his form that is keeping him in the starting line-up.

Silver-haired coach Gordon Igesund, 56, visibly aged before an 80,000 crowd at wet and cold Soccer City in Soweto last Saturday as his team gave their worst performance of his nine-match reign since replacing Pitso Mosimane.

With Dikgacoi struggling, Bafana Bafana resorted to long balls that were comfortably dealt with by the tall, organised defence of a team carrying the hopes of a group of west African islands with a combined 500,000 population.

Igesund believes the 1996 South Africa Cup of Nations-winning team is casting a huge shadow over his team, which certainly does not look capable so far of repeating that feat.

“There is a lot of talk about the 1996 team-it is right in our face all the time,” admitted the coach who has won a record four South African Premiership titles with four different clubs.

“Our players want to emulate that team, the nation wants the current players to emulate that team, and the stars who won the title 17 years ago want my team to succeed.”

Ironically, the South African class of 96 defeated Angola 1-0 in the second round of group games en route to the final, which they won 2-0 against Tunisia thanks to a second-half brace from substitute Mark Williams.

While South Africa have slipped backwards since, Angola have moved in the opposite direction, reaching the 2006 World Cup, and making a fifth consecutive Africa Cup appearance this month.

They held marginal favourites Morocco 0-0 in the second half of the opening round Soweto double-header with lanky striker and captain Manucho coming close to snatching all three points via a late header that finished just off target.

“Our performance against Morocco was satisfactory,” said the Spain-based former Manchester United striker. “I came close a few times and it is encouraging that we created chances.”

Angola are seeking a first victory over South Africa in the premier African national-team competition having lost in 1996, drawn 0-0 in Burkina Faso two years later and 1-1 in Ghana during the 2008 group phase. —AFP

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian national football team coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari (R), arrives for a press conference next to the president of the Brazilian Confederation of Football (CBF), Jose Maria Marin, at a hotel in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil yesterday.

Scolari announced who will be the players for a friendly football match against Great Britain to take place in London on February 6. —AFP

Scolari calls up Ronaldinho for England friendly RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari yesterday handed a recall to Ronaldinho for next month’s friendly in England as he named his first squad since returning to the role for a second time.

Scolari, who was reappointed in November having previously led Brazil to their fifth World Cup triumph in Japan and South Korea in 2002, has named a 20-man squad for the game against England at Wembley on February 6.

Ronaldinho, 32, is now playing his club football for Atletico Mineiro of Belo Horizonte. Queens Park Rangers goalkeeper Julio Cesar, who had fallen out of favour under previous coach Mano Menezes, has also been recalled.

There are also three Chelsea players in the squad, with central defender David Luiz joining midfield duo Ramires and Oscar, but there is no place for Real Madrid’s Kaka. Scolari is building towards next year’s World Cup, which Brazil will host, and he admits the Selecao have no option but to win the title on home soil.

“We are playing a second World Cup in Brazil and we have to assume that we have to win,” said Scolari, who also led Portugal to the final of Euro 2004 and the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

“That is the pressure that they are putting on us. We will be playing at home. Brazil has gone for broke with this and we accept the challenge.” Brazil lost to Uruguay in the deciding match of the 1950 World Cup, the only previous occasion the tournament has been staged in South America’s largest country.

Squad Goalkeepers: Diego Alves (Valencia/ESP), Julio Cesar (QPR/ENG) Defenders: Daniel Alves, Adriano (both Barcelona/ESP), Filipe Luis, Miranda (both Atletico Madrid/ESP), Dante (Bayern Munich/GER), David Luiz (Chelsea/ENG), Leandro Castan (Roma/ITA)

Midfielders: Arouca (Santos), Hernanes (Lazio/ITA), Paulinho (Corinthians), Ramires, Oscar (both Chelsea/ENG), Ronaldinho (Atletico Mineiro) Forwards: Neymar (Santos), Lucas Moura (Paris Saint-Germain/FRA), Luis Fabiano (Sao Paulo), Fred (Fluminense), Hulk (Zenit Saint Petersburg/RUS). —AFP

Matches on TV (Local Timings) English Premier League Arsenal v West Ham United 22:45 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 5 English League Cup Swansea City v Chelsea 22:45 Aljazeera Sport +5 Spain League Sevilla v Zaragoza 21:30 Aljazeera Sport +2 Valencia v Madrid Aljazeera Sport +2 Aljazeera Sport 2 HD Italian Cup Roma v Inter Aljazeera Sport +1 Aljazeera Sport 1 HD

23:30

22:45

African Nations Cup South Africa v Angola 18:00 Aljazeera Sport 1 HD Aljazeera Sport +9 Aljazeera Sport +10 Morocco v Cape Verde Aljazeera Sport 1 HD Aljazeera Sport +9 Aljazeera Sport +10

21:00

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

SPORTS

Walcott tells Arsenal to step on the gas LONDON: Theo Walcott has warned his Arsenal team-mates they are in danger of losing the battle to finish in the Premier League’s top four unless they play with more urgency. Arsene Wenger’s side head into Wednesday’s London derby against West Ham on the back of successive league defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea which have left their bid to qualify for the Champions League in crisis.

The Gunners, languishing in sixth spot, trail fourth placed Tottenham by seven points and sit 11 points adrift of third placed Chelsea.

Failure to book a place in Europe’s elite competition would be a devastating blow to a club already in decline after over seven years without a trophy and victory over West Ham is essential to keep that bid alive and,

just as importantly, restore a little belief among disillusioned fans and anxious players.

Walcott, who scored in Sunday’s 21 loss at Chelsea, agrees with Wenger that Arsenal have played too timidly in recent weeks and he called on the players to show more aggression and desire.

“There are a lot of teams that have got stronger this year, so we need to step on the gas. We don’t want to be playing catch-up. We want to get points on the board,” Walcott said.

“We have a tough game at home against West Ham so we need to be ready. It is a massive game, we have home support and we need to start clocking up points there.

“We have been hot and cold at home of late so we must be very posi-

tive and if we show the commitment that we did in the second half against Chelsea we should be fine.

“We need to show that character to win from the start, not when we concede a goal.” If Arsenal are to win their game in hand on Tottenham, they need a big performance from England international Walcott, who last week ended months of speculation about his future by agreeing a new contract.

Walcott was linked with several clubs as the end of his contract approached, but Arsenal’s desire to hold onto the winger after a host of star sales over the last 18 months forced the Gunners to give him a three and a half year deal, pushing his wages close to £100,000.

The 23-year-old, who was back on the wing against Chelsea after playing

in his preferred central striker role for several weeks, revealed it was difficult to concentrate while his future remained in doubt.

“For the last three games before Chelsea the contract was sort of done, but it was on my mind and had been for a long time because it was so close,” Walcott said.

“It is difficult to play and block out that side of it, but I tried to do the best I could and hopefully everyone was happy with what I did. “I always wanted to stay and I am happy that myself and the club have come to an agreement.

“There has been so much speculation and I am very pleased my future is sorted. It is all about the present now.”

The main threat to Arsenal’s hopes of a much-needed win is likely to come

from West Ham playmaker Joe Cole.

The former Chelsea and Liverpool star is in his second spell with the Hammers and scored his first goal for the club in 10 years on Saturday to earn a 1-1 draw against QPR. West Ham will be without Morocco forward Marouane Chamakh, who is ineligible to play as he is on loan from Arsenal, but Cole still believes they can end a disappointing run of one win in seven league games.

“You can have difficult moments in the season and if you can pick up points in the difficult moments you do all right,” he said. “Let’s focus on the next game at Arsenal. We want to take something from that, then you go from there.”We’ve just got to go there and stifle Arsenal a little bit and then maybe we can do something.” —AFP

Pochettino’s Saints debut ends in draw Saints dominate first half but fail to score DOHA: Manchester United players attend a training session at the Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence in the Qatari capital Doha, yesterday. The squad is in Doha for a four day training camp. — AFP

Barcelona, Messi fall from top of AP rankings LONDON: Lionel Messi and Barcelona were dumped from the top of the Associated Press Global Football Rankings this week and were replaced by rivals Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid.

Messi fell to fifth place and Barcelona out of the list altogether after a surprise 3-2 loss to Real Sociedad, the team’s first league defeat of the season.

“A rare defeat for Barcelona meant a window of opportunity for another team to take top place,” panelist Mike McGrath of England’s Sun newspaper and Wardles news agency said. “Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo have been waiting to pounce.”

Ronaldo was masterful in Madrid’s 5-0 rout of a powerful Valencia team that is still in the Champions League. He scored twice and was influential in the others.

Ronaldo earned 115 points in the vote by the 15-member panel, which awards 10 points for its top player and team in the separate polls. Real Madrid teammate Angel di Maria made his first appearance in the top 10, in sixth position.

Promising Juventus youngster Paul Pogba, dumped by Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson for being too troublesome, was secured with 99 points thanks to his two goals in the 4-0 victory over Udinese.

“Pogba was the key man in Juventus’ win over Udinese: he scored two sensational goals and was dominant in midfield,” Aurelio Capaldi of RAI sport in Italy said. “Pogba, signed in the offseason on a free transfer from Manchester United,

is showing his impressive talent. I think Sir Alex Ferguson is still regretting the way he lost this French teenager.”

Will Tidey of the San Francisco-based Bleacher report said Manchester United would have been better with Pogba this season. “Sir Alex Ferguson will never admit it, but Paul Pogba - on the kind of form he showed for Juventus against Udinese - could have made a big impact for Manchester United this season,” Tidey said.

Manchester City midfielder David Silva showed he has fully rediscovered his form with both goals in a 2-0 victory over Fulham, a performance that lifted him into third in the survey with 62 points, just ahead of Real Sociedad striker Gonzalo Castro.

“Gonzalo Castro scored two goals against Barcelona for Real Sociedad,” Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis PostDispatch said. “That deserves some sort of reward.” Messi languished in fifth place, despite scoring for the 10th game in a row. Real Madrid was awarded 112 points by the panel, four more than Serie A leader Juventus, which went five points clear at the top after the 4-0 victory. Real Sociedad’s surprise victory earned it third place despite its lowly ninth position in the Spanish league.

Borussia Dortmund’s 5-0 victory over Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga was enough for fourth place, 14 points clear of German rival and league leader Bayern Munich, which beat last-place Greuther Fuerth 2-0. —AP

AP Global Soccer Rankings Players: 1. Cristiano Ronaldo, (8), 115 points.

2. Paul Pogba, 99.

3. David Silva, 62.

4. Gonzalo Castro, 51.

5. Lionel Messi, (1), 42.

6. Angel di Maria, 38.

7. Robin van Persie, (2), 36.

8. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 33.

9. Giampaolo Pazzini, 32.

10. Edinson Cavani, 23. (tie). Juan Mata, 23.

Teams: 1. Real Madrid, 112 points.

2. Juventus, 108.

3. Real Sociedad, 95.

4. Borussia Dortmund, 70.

5. Bayern Munich, 56.

6. Manchester City, (3), 55.

7. Chelsea, (5), 40.

8. Atletico Madrid, (6), 39.

9. Ajax, 34.

10. Paris Saint-Germain, 32. — AP

French Cup next for emotional PSG PARIS: Fresh off a return to the top of Ligue 1, Paris Saint-Germain continue their quest for silverware today in the French Cup with the visit of Toulouse.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side usurped former leaders Lyon following an emotional 1-0 victory at Bordeaux over the weekend, two days after the death of PSG performance director Nick Broad, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic separating the sides at Stade Chaban-Delmas.

However, the Swedish talisman will miss the midweek tie through suspension. Thiago Motta is also banned, while injuries to defensive partners Alex and Thiago Silva leave PSG with a depleted backbone for the last 32 encounter at Parc des Princes. Meanwhile, Toulouse boss Alain Casanova believes his side have turned the corner after a barren run that saw his side collect just four points from eight matches.

Following a 2-1 win over Nancy on Saturday, an optimistic Casanova set his sights on a fruitful second half of the campaign. “I liked what my team showed. We’re on a good run, and it bodes well for the rest of the season.” Marseille’s tie at Rouen is in

question due to heavy snow, but that hasn’t prevented the third-tier side from dreaming big. Situated a few kilometres east of Quevilly, Rouen are aiming to match their neighbours’ giant-killing of Marseille last year which sparked a remarkable run to the final.

“We’re not going to be boastful, we have to control (Andre-Pierre) Gignac, (Mathieu) Valbuena, the Ayew brothers (Jordan and Andre)... We know they have lots of options,” said coach Didier Olle-Nicolle.

Elsewhere, Nancy travel to in-form Nice in another all-Ligue 1 affair. Claude Puel’s side have recorded eight wins in 11 outings to soar to fourth in the table, but the mood is far less upbeat at basement club Nancy who are without a win since the opening day of the season.

Montpellier, who saw their League Cup hopes dashed following a semi-final defeat to Rennes last week, face Sochaux in the round’s other all top-flight fixture.

CA Bastia will be out to claim another Ligue 1 scalp against Brest, while third division Epinal, conquerers of title-holders Lyon in the last round, host Nantes.— AFP

SOUTHAMPTON: Mauricio Pochettino’s first match as manager of Southampton ended in a goalless draw at home to Everton at St Mary’s on Monday. The result moved Southampton four points clear of the bottom three in the English Premier League and left Everton three points adrift of the top four and a place in next season’s Champions League.

“I just want to thank the players, they’ve been very good to me in the three days I have been working with them,” former Argentina international Pochettino, speaking through an interpreter, told Sky Sports.

“And the supporters have been very good to me. “The only shame was we didn’t score any goals but we were facing a very good side in Everton, they are fifth in the league. “We just needed that bit more luck.

“I really enjoyed the game.

Once you are in it, you realise what an amazing league it (the Premier League) is.” Pochettino was appointed after Southampton, once a byword for managerial stability, sacked Nigel Adkins on Friday just two days after the Englishman had overseen a draw away to European champions Chelsea.

Adkins joined Southampton from Scunthorpe in 2010 and took the Saints, then a third-tier club, into the Premier League with back-to-back promotions.

His exit as manager came with Southampton, who struggled at the start of the season, in the

SOUTHAMPTON: Southampton’s Luke Shaw, grabs Everton’s Steven Naismith during their English Premier league soccer match at Southampton’s St Mary’s stadium in Southampton, England, Monday. — AP middle of an encouraging run of results which had seen them lose just twice in their last 12 league matches.

Pochettino was brought in by Southampton executive chairman Nicola Cortese despite having been sacked by Espanyol in November with the Spanish side bottom of La Liga.

Saints dominated the first half but failed to score. Jason Puncheon’s low shot was deflected just wide of the post, before Ramirez forced a smart save from Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard in the 13th minute.

Rickie Lambert beat Howard with a 25-yard free-kick only for the ball to hit the keeper’s right post and later on the striker’s

header was cleared off the line by Nikica Jelavic and Leighton Baines.

Lambert then powered another header just wide. Everton came into the match in the second half with Marouane Fellaini twice denied by Saints keeper Artur Boruc in quick succession.

Toffees substitute Victor Anichebe made his presence felt after replacing the injured Seamus Coleman just before the hour. Anichebe powered through the Saints defence and squared the ball to Jelavic only for the Croatian to miss his kick from just a few yards out.

Nigeria forward Anichebe was then denied from close range by a fine one-handed save from

Boruc. “I was frustrated with how we played and frustrated in the second half that we did not get the goal,” said Everton manager David Moyes, the third longest serving manager in the Premier League who should celebrate 11 years in charge in March.

“Southampton have played well in recent weeks and they continued that form. We got better in the second half. In the end they had the better of the first half and we probably had the better of the second. “Their team has done well and Nigel Adkins (has done) really well.

“His players did well against Chelsea and they did well tonight. They are not a bad side are Southampton.” — AFP

Cahill calls on Chelsea to show Champions’ spirit LONDON: Gary Cahill has urged Chelsea to draw on the memory of last season’s Champions League success when they face Swansea in the second leg of their English League Cup semi-final today.

Rafael Benitez’s side travel to the Liberty Stadium trailing 2-0 from the first leg at Stamford Bridge and face a daunting challenge if they are to clinch a place in the Wembley final. They will head to south Wales, however, lifted by the 2-1 weekend win over Arsenal that centre-back Cahill claims has revived the club’s Premier League title ambitions. The England international believes their performances in last season’s European campaign, which included a penalty shoot-out win in the final against Bayern Munich in a match played on the German club’s own ground, proved they are capable of defying the odds when silverware is at stake.

“It’s not beyond us,” Cahill said. “We have done it before in the Champions League. It’s going to be tough because it’s a hard place to go. “The key is getting the first goal, if we get it then it will be a nervous night for them.

That’s what we’re aiming to do.”

Chelsea’s away form under interim manager Benitez has been formidable and they will confront Michael Laudrup’s side on the back of six successive domestic victories on their travels. And Cahill is confident they can now embark on a run that will take them closer to the Premier League top two Manchester United and Manchester City as well as inspire success in the cup competitions.

The defender said: “Yes we are looking at the Manchester clubs. It has been frustrating because there have been many times this season where we have nearly got ourselves back involved and then let it slip. “But we are more than capable of putting a run together and winning nine out of 10 games. That’s what we need to aim for and see where it takes us.

“We have got to make sure we are in one of the spots for the Champions League. We also have the cup competitions and we want to go

as far as we possibly can in them.”

But Cahill warned fatigue could count against the Blues. “At the minute it’s impossible to feel 100 percent fresh. It is difficult but we can’t use it as an excuse.” David Luiz is set to return to the squad after missing the Arsenal game with an ankle problem but doubts remain about captain John Terry’s match fitness.

Swansea’s progress this season has been such that Laudrup has figured prominently among the list of contenders to become the permanent manager at Chelsea at the end of the season. The Denmark playing great’s reputation will only be enhanced if he can steer Swansea to the first major cup final in their 100-year history. That would complete a

remarkable success story for a club that escaped relegation into non-league football on the final day of the 2003 season.

Long-serving midfielder Leon Britton, involved in that battle for survival. said: “This would be massive for me and everyone at the club to reach Wembley and the first major final. “It would be a great achievement.

“When you see the TV screens and it says Swansea were bottom of the Football League 10 years ago and on Wednesday night we have the chance to play in a final, it shows how far we have come,” Britton added.

“We can become legends because it will be the first time it’s happened. If we do get there, people will talk about the team that got to the League Cup final.” — AFP

EPINAL: Epinal’s Judicael Crillon (R) vies for the ball with Nantes’ Jeremy Le Sourne (L) during the French Cup football match between Epinal (Epinal SAS) and Nantes (FC Nantes), at La Colombiere stadium, yesterday, in Epinal, eastern France. — AFP

Iron man Djokovic and Federer reach last four

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

Debutants Cape Verde eye last-eight place

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Barcelona, Messi fall from top of AP rankings

RUSTENBURG: Algeria’s forward Islam Slimani (C) fights for the ball with Tunisia’s defender Khalil Chammam (L) and Tunisia’s defender Aymen Abdennour (R) during their 2013 Africa Cup of Nations football match at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg yesterday. — AFP

Tunisia scores late to beat Algeria Msakni magic earns Tunisia Maghreb bragging rights RUSTENBURG: Youssef Msakni struck in the final minute to hand Tunisia a 1-0 win over Algeria in a scrappy Maghreb derby here yesterday.

Msakni, a recent $15 million (11,276 million euros) signing for Qatar club Lakhouya, lived up to his ‘Little Mozart’ nickname with a superb strike to settle a game that had otherwise failed miserably to justify its billing as one of the headline ties of the opening round.

“You have to be really patient in a match like that as they are often decided at the last minute,” said Tunisia coach Sami Trabelsi. “Unfortunately, when Issam Jemaa came off early on it left us missing something up front.

“Bravo to Algeria also-they played a good match.” “Sometimes there is no logic in football and a match can change any time, but we always believed we could

win.” Algeria coach Vahid Halilhodzic said: “The result was an enormous disappointment for my players-we deserved to get something out of the game.

“I can’t criticise any of my players tonight and the goal came at the end. It’s cruel, but that’s football.

“My team largely dominated, but I told them Msakni could cause trouble with his right foot and we were a little naive at the moment that decided the game.”

The North African neighbours, both former champions, were meeting for the first time in the 56-year Africa Cup of Nations.

And Maghreb upped sticks for the night to the other end of the continent, well at least 1,000 Algerian and several hundred Tunisian fans who made the long trip south.

Despite the 42,000-capacity Royal

Bafokeng stadium being only a quarter full, the atmosphere was charged. Tunisia suffered an early blow when Kuwaitbased striker Issam Jemaa had to come off with a left thigh injury after earlier clashing with Essaid Belkalem. Hamdi Harbaoui took his place. On 29 minutes, Algeria had the first chance worthy of the name when Sofiane Feghouli’s inch-perfect cross found lone out-and-out forward Islam Slimani and his header rattled Moez Ben Cherifia’s bar.

Tunisia caught Algeria hopping on a counter-attack near the interval, French Ligue 1 striker Saber Khalifa racing into the box only to see his rising shot blasting off Rais Mbolhi’s outstretched palms.

The half-time entertainment, four girls and the competition’s fluffy mascot dancing, was more attention-grabbing than the turgid 45 minutes dished up

on the pitch.

Tunisia coach Sami Trabelsi made one switch of personnel at the break, bringing on midfielder Oussama Darragi for Mejdi Traoui.

Northern Irish band D Ream had a huge hit with ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ in the 1990s, but as far as this game was concerned they got worse, until a cracking shot from Algeria’s Nottingham Forest midfielder Adlane Guedioura flew just too high. At the other end, Harbaoui was narrowly off target with a close-range effort.

The game badly needed a goal, and it duly came with Msakni curling a peach of a shot in from the outside of the box, the ball thudding into the top corner of the stunned Mbolhi’s net. Msakni’s late moment of magic lifted Tunisia to second in Group D behind Ivory Coast, 2-1 winners over Togo earlier. — AFP

Arsenal’s Gervinho saves the day for Ivory Coast RUSTENBURG: Favourites Ivory Coast were made to sweat but eventually overcame enterprising Group D ‘lightweights’ Togo 2-1 to get their Africa Cup of Nations campaign off on the right note.

Premier League stars Yaya Toure and Gervinho got the goals for the continent’s top-ranked team with Jonathan Ayite scoring for Togo, back in the competition after the deadly Cabinda attack before the 2010 finals in Angola.

Despite all the pre-competition focus on Didier Drogba making his Cup swansong, the veteran Chinabased striker went largely AWOL throughout the match and was taken off with quarter of an hour to go.

Ivory Coast’s starting XI for the Group D opener featured three Premier League stars-Manchester City’s Toure brothers Kolo and Yaya

and Gervinho of Arsenal, with Newcastle’s Cheik Tiote on the bench.

A fourth taking a busman’s holiday from the British winter to help his national cause was Togo’s talismanic Tottenham striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who decided to turn up after a protracted ‘will he won’t play’ saga.

The match kicked off before barely a couple of thousand fans at the 42,000-capacity Royal Bafokeng stadium-a small crowd was only to be expected perhaps in Rustenburg, Afrikaans for ‘city of sleep’.

Adebayor almost nicked a goal in the opening seconds, when an Ivory Coast defensive blunder presented him with the ball bang smack in front of the goal, but dithering undid him and keeper Boubacar Barry cleared.

On eight minutes Gervinho proved too quick for his marker down the

right flank, his cross finding Yaya Toure who struck first time, the ball zinging through the Togolese defence, taking a deflection en route, and into the back of Kossi Agassa’s net.

The midfielder has now scored at every one of the last four Nations Cups. Despite the gulf in class-they are ranked a yawning 63 rungs below the Ivorians-Togo were making frequent incursions into Elephant territory, with Ayite and Serge Akakpo proving particularly meddlesome.

Ivory Coast, beaten by Zambia on penalties for the title in 2012, seemed happy to sit on their lead, although Yaya Toure almost got a second when his shot ricocheted off the near upright.

Then, in the second minute of stoppage time, Togo achieved something that no team had accomplished

throughout the entire tournament last year - namely score against Drogba and company.

They drew level when Ayite knocked in Serge Akakpo’s corner from the left the first goal Barry has conceded in 613 minutes of CAN action. Togo had the ball in the back of the net for a second time approaching the hour mark off a corner but Cameroon referee Alioum Neant disallowed it, ordering the kick to be retaken as they had taken it too early.

Gervinho and Yaya Toure teamed up neatly again with 15 minutes left, Toure’s shot denied by Agassa’s superb reflex save. Then, with two minutes left, Gervinho saved Ivory Coast’s blushes, this time Yaya Toure turning provider with the free-kick which the Arsenal man swept past Agassa.—AFP

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Business

Kuwait customer satisfaction index up 2% in 2012 vs 2011 Page 22 Netherlands’ Dijsselbloem new Eurogroup chairman

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

Page 25 Under-pressure BOJ adopts inflation target

Bridgestone opens facility at JAFZA, Dubai Page 26

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Cyprus woes may hurt euro-zone ECB official sees Cyprus default sans assistance BRUSSELS: Financial problems of Cyprus could still derail fragile confidence in the euro zone that the bloc fought hard to regain in 2012, European Central Bank board member Joerg Asmussen said yesterday.

H is comments follow doubts whether the small island state, with gross domestic product of barely 0.2 percent of the euro zone’s output, was large enough for a potential default there to unsettle the 17nation euro zone, such a risk being a precondition for a bailout.

“Disorderly developments in Cyprus could undermine progress made in 2012 in stabilizing the euro area. Cyprus could well be systemic for the rest of the euro area despite its size,” he said on the sidelines of a meeting of EU finance ministers.

“Under normal circumstances one would expect the direct impact of a default to be limited, and it’s obvious that without assistance the country will default,” he told Reuters, but added the situation was not normal. “At the same time we should recognize that the situation is not normal. Even though the promise of the OMT (ECB bond-buying)and other important decisions have calmed the markets, this situation is still fragile.” Among those to question the potential impact of difficulties in Cyprus is German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who has said repeatedly it was not yet clear “the problems in Cyprus could be a danger to the euro zone as a whole”.

“We have to (establish) that very clearly as that ’s what the (ESM) treaty says and we do need to stick to the rules we agreed in the treaty,” Schaeuble told repor ters late on

Monday. But Asmussen said Cypriot problems could affect twice-bailedout Greece through banking channels and send a negative signal to the rest of the euro zone, especially harming the outlook for states trying to regain full access to the markets.

Cyprus applied for financial aid last June after its banks suffered huge losses following an EUapproved writedown of Greek debt, but some states, including Germany, are also uneasy about bailing out a countr y they say lacks financial transparency. The concerns have centred on allegations from some states that Cypriot banks may be misused for money laundering and tax evasion, a view Cyprus rejects.

Asmussen said monitoring and addressing such issues needed to be included in a bailout.

Finnish Prime M inister J yrk i Katainen said last week Cyprus must open its books and quell speculation its banks may have been used for laundering money, before it can receive aid. Cyprus rejects the accusations.

“Cyprus is under attack from various quarters over its supposed money laundering. I say supposed, because there have been assessments both by the Council of Europe and international bodies and such a thing has not been established,” government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said yesterday.

“The European Union should display solidarity towards a member state, which is essentially a victim of a European decision. Let us not forget the (losses on Greek bonds) was a European decision, and Cyprus is

today paying the price.”

Cypriot banks were badly burnt by an EU-sanctioned writedown of privately-held Greek sovereign debt.

Investment manager PIMCO is carrying out a review of its bank capital needs, with the findings being assessed by a committee of lenders and Cypriots. Preliminary estimates of a draft bailout deal put the bill at 10 billion euros for bank support. On that basis, its total bailout, including fiscal needs, could reach 17-17.5 billion euros, equivalent to the island’s annual economic output.

Asmussen, who was previously Germany’s deputy finance minister, said he expected a bailout agreement was possible at the end of March, after Cypriot elections on Feb. 17. The current Cyprus government reiterated on Tuesday it would not give in demands for greater privatization, something euro-zone lenders have said they want to see in return for aid.

“As a government, we will fight to ensure semi-government organizations are not privatised, even if some in Europe consider it part of economic reform,” Stefanou said. But Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly was more conciliatory. “We have to be sensitive to the issues which may arise in other member states. We are the applicants, they’re the lenders, we have to be sensitive to their own issues,” he told reporters in Brussels. “ Therefore, if they say ‘Januar y ’, Januar y ; if they say ‘Februar y ’, February; if they say ‘March’, March.

We have the ability to manage our fiscal requirements. We are strong and we can manage it.” — Reuters

DAVOS: A participant works in front of a screen as staff members, participants and journalists gather at the congress centre in Davos yesterday prior to the opening of the World Economic Forum 2013. The meeting gathers some of the world’s leading politicians and economists and is viewed as a global think tank forum. — AFP

UAE CB not to slap mortgage caps DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates central bank has confirmed it will not impose limits on mortgage loans without consulting commercial banks, after an attempt to introduce such rules triggered fierce protests from the banks. It is the third time in the past year that the central bank has introduced regulations designed to reduce risk in the banking sector, only to back off from enforcing them after meeting opposition in the

business community. The incident raises questions over authorities’ regulation of banks as the UAE recovers from Dubai’s corporate debt crisis of 2008-2010 and seeks to avoid the boom-and-bust cycle that plagued its real estate market in the past decade. A circular sent to commercial banks by the central bank late last month, and seen by Reuters, said mortgage loans for foreign individuals should not exceed 50 percent of proper-

ty value for a first purchase of a home, and 40 percent for subsequent homes.

Caps for UAE citizens were set at 70 percent and 60 percent. But UAE state news agency WAM yesterday quoted central bank governor Sultan Nasser al-Suweidi as saying the circular would not be enforced and was merely intended to help banks prepare for eventual rule changes which would reflect their feedback.— Reuters

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

BUSINESS Etihad to finalize deal with Jet on Friday

Kuwait customer satisfaction index up 2% in 2012 vs 2011 Service Hero survey reveals findings based on 10,000 submissions KUWAIT: A survey based on 10,000 submissions tasked with tracking customer satisfaction in Kuwait across 17 industries revealed that customer satisfaction in Kuwait has improved by 2% in 2012 over 2011. The increase was led by satisfaction growth in 13 of the 15 industry monitored categories and a turn-around in the quality of service offered by mobile operators, ISPs, and car ser vice providers, said Service Hero, the operators of the survey and publishers of the annual Service Hero Customer Satisfaction Index (SHCSI).

The SHCSI, now in its third year, is Kuwait’s only customer satisfaction indicator and derives its data from a 100-percent, voter-based survey that is solicited in the fourth quarter of every year. The latest survey ran online from October 1 and December 31 of 2012.

Ser vice Hero President Faten AbuGhazaleh said: “These results reflect the start of a major shift in Kuwait, as it shows that companies have started to listen to their customers and taken the first steps in making changes for a better customer satisfaction experience. This is especially evident for the three bottom-scoring industries on the index, as they have all grown

the most in comparison with the rest of the industries.”

Though the three industry categories that led the SHCSI improvement were and continue to be the lowest scoring industry categories in customer satisfaction for residents in Kuwait, they have also been the highest growth gainers with 9%, 6%, and 5% in car service, ISPs, and mobile operators, respectively, for the last three years.

Key results: Car service industry shows the most improvement, scoring 7.45 points, an increase of 9% e 2010 ● Mobile operators and car service remain the lowest service providers in Kuwait since 2010 and health clubs, a new industry category, ranked third worst at 7.62 ● Customers are most vocal about casual dining, fast food, and ISPs, receiving the highest number of assessments ● Strong improvement for companies as customer expectations increased in 13 out of 17 industry categories in 2012, compared to three out of 15 categories in 2010 The survey asked customers to first ●

Service Hero, licensed and operated by Khayal Consultants, has recruited an Advisory Council comprising of four academic institutions as well as leading business professionals. As a neutral panel of experts, their function is to supervise the assessment and results to ensure fair and empirical findings. The Advisory Council of academic sponsors and independent members this year includes: Dr. Carol Ross of the American University of Kuwait, Mohammad Al-Bader of the Australian College of Kuwait, Dr. Hassan El-Sady of the Gulf Institute of Science and Technology, Dr Nabil El-Hilali of Kuwait Mastricht Business School, Abdulmajeed Al Shatti, ex- Chairman of the Commercial Bank of Kuwait, Dr Reinhold Leichtfuss Senior Partner and Managing Director of Boston Consulting Group, Nauman Sehgal, Chief Operating Officer of Noor Investment Company, and Yann Pavie, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GulfMerger.

Service Hero will be announcing the top performing companies as ranked by customers in an awards ceremony next month. During the event, Kuwait’s best companies in customer service as voted by customers will be revealed and awarded.

note their expected experience level for a product or service and then rate their actual experience in the same product or service. The results were then analyzed on that basis.

Expected satisfaction scores were the highest in 2010 at 7.81 compared to 7.75 in 2012, with a gap of 0.12 points. The categories that exceed customer expectations the most are casual dining, home furniture and Islamic banks. The industry categories falling below customer expectations are mobile operators, car service, health clubs, and fast foods.

The SHCSI is based on eight major service dimensions that include staff behavior, quality of the product or service, speed, reliability, location, value for money, website, and call center. The dimensions were measured by customers across 17 different industry categories, and they are: cafes, casual dining, fine dining, fast food, clothes, home furniture, regional Arab airlines, retail banks, Islamic banks, new car dealers, car service, electronics, hospitals, mobile phone operators, ISPs, supermarkets, as well as health clubs which was added to the industry categories for the first time this year.

Bahrain’s Batelco profit slumps DUBAI: Bahrain Telecommunications Co reported a 10th profit drop in 11 quarters yesterday as domestic competition and one-off charges from a cost-cutting program hurt the bottom line.

The former monopoly, commonly known as Batelco, made a net profit of 17.75 million dinars ($47.1 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, down from 23.5 million dinars in the year-earlier period, according to Reuters calculations. Two analysts polled by Reuters forecast Batelco would make a quarterly profit of 38.05 million dinars. These estimates included an expected gain from the agreed sale of Batelco’s 43 percent stake in Indian affiliate S Tel to its Indian partner, which the Bahraini firm had expected to be completed in the fourth quarter. Prior to the results announcement, Nishit Lakhotia, a telecoms analyst Securities & Investment Co (SICO) in Bahrain, estimated this gain would be 19.3 million dinars based on the difference between the agreed sale price - $175 million - and the book value of S Tel on Batelco’s

accounts as of Sept. 30.

Batelco is now suing its India partner for non-payment. Accounting rules would allow the firm to book the sale gain in the fourth quarter as a receivable item. However, the company declined to comment on whether it had done this. S Tel was one of eight Indian mobile operators stripped of licences in February 2012 as part of a corruption probe. Batelco’s fourthquarter revenue was 77.16 million dinars, it said in a statement. This compares with 81.5 million dinars a year ago.

“Beyond aggressive competition in the Bahrain market and elsewhere in the region, our results for 2012 were also impacted by a number of one off charges including expenses associated with an extensive restructuring and cost rationalisation program at our Bahrain operations,” said chairman Sheikh Hamad alKhalifa in the company’s results statement. The state-controlled firm proposed a 25 fils per share dividend, plus a 10 percent bonus share issue. —Reuters

Qatar Telecom close to clinching $1bn loan deal proved to be very popular.” Qtel declined to comment.

More than a dozen banks have pledged to back the loan, despite its extremely low pricing. The margin is said to be below 100 basis points, two other sources said. Reuters LPC reported in November that Qtel had approached banks about securing the facility, its first major syndicated loan since May 2010.

Qtel increased its stake in Iraqi telco Asiacell and Kuwaiti affiliate Wataniya in 2012 and bought an additional 15 percent in Tunisia’s Tunisiana at the beginning of this year. The operator is also said to be in talks to acquire Vivendi’s 53 percent stake in Maroc Telecom, though it faces competition from others including the United Arab Emirates’ Etisalat. —Reuters

DUBAI: Qatar Telecom (Qtel) is close to clinching a $1 billion loan facility that will help to finance its general business operations, banking sources told Reuters yesterday.

The deal, which will run for four years, is in the documentation stage and will be signed once all lenders have completed this process, the three sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. State-owned Qtel, Qatar’s largest telecoms operator, has been on an acquisition drive in recent months, raising stakes in its subsidiaries as it takes advantage of the gas-rich Gulf state’s healthy financial position at a time when other large telecoms companies are shying away from deals.

Everyone likes Qtel as a business, one of the sources said, adding: “And they weren’t trying to raise too much cash either, so the

NEW DELHI: Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways will finalize a deal to buy a stake in India’s Jet Airways on Friday, CNBC TV18 reported, in what would be the first such investment by a foreign carrier in an Indian airline since rules were relaxed last year.

A deal may be announced as early as Friday or by the first week of February, the TV channel said, citing unnamed sources. The Gulf carrier could pay up to $330 million for a 24 percent stake in Jet, India’s second-biggest carrier, a senior government source said earlier this month.

Etihad and Jet did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Indian government allowed foreign carriers to buy stakes of up to 49 percent in local carriers in September 2012, a move seen as a boon for India’s debtladen airlines. Jet has previously said it was in talks with Etihad, but the terms of the deal were not finalized. Etihad and Jet have a code-sharing agreement, and a tie-up could make Jet a more formidable competitor to state-owned Air India, while strengthening Etihad’s position against Dubaibased Emirates Airline, which carries a big chunk of the traffic between India and the Middle East. Jet shares, which have gained 180 percent over the past year on hopes of a potential fund raising, were up 2 percent at 617.25 rupees on the National Stock Exchange. —Reuters

Dubai retailer MAF aims to bid for Egypt chain DUBAI: Dubai’s Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) expects to bid for the supermarket arm of Egypt’s Mansour Group in the first quarter, MAF’s chief executive said, after it posted a 10 percent rise in annual revenue. Mansour Group, also the largest distributor of General Motors cars in Egypt, aims to sell supermarket chain Metro and discount grocery store Kheir Zaman.

Sources told Reuters in December that the deal was valued at $200 million to $300 million.

“We’re still in the due diligence phase, which we expect to be for another month or so,” Iyad Malas, chief executive of Majid Al Futtaim Holding, told Reuters. “At which time, we would hopefully make an offer that would be subject to negotiations and then would either conclude a transaction or not.” The discussions signal growing appetite by Gulfbased firms to expand their presence in the most populous Arab state at a time when valuations are low due to political strife in Egypt. Metro is the country’s largest supermarket chain with more than 40 outlets in 10 cities. Kheir Zaman has over 2,000 employees and 30 stores throughout the country.

Unlisted MAF, which reported a 10 percent rise in annual revenue to 21.6 billion dirhams ($5.9 billion) yesterday, entered Egypt in 2000 and it owns two shopping malls, plus 14 hypermarkets and supermarkets. “We continue to believe that Egypt has a large consumer base that is attractive,” said Malas, adding the country provided 5-9 percent of the company’s revenue in 2012.

In Cairo, MAF will start building its Mall of Egypt project in the first quarter and also plans to expand its Maadi City Centre mall and develop land it owns near the city’s airport.

The family-owned group is the sole franchisee of French hypermarket chain Carrefour in the Middle East and owns 11 shopping malls and 11 hotels in the Middle East and North Africa.

MAF separated its Iran operations from the group in late 2012, with ownership passing directly to MAF’s family shareholders. “We’ve been fully compliant in terms of sanctions.

However, we felt there was always a risk, given our issuance and access to the bond market, there could be some investors who were nervous about having Iran in MAF Holding,” said Malas. MAF issued a $400 million sukuk, or Islamic bond, in February 2012, plus a $500 million conventional bond in July. Iran provided about 4 percent of group revenue last year following the devaluation of the rial. The United Arab Emirates accounted for about half of MAF’s revenue in 2012 and the company is in talks to acquire a UAE fast food chain, Malas said, declining to give further details.

“We are speaking to someone already,” he said. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain also each provided 5-9 percent of MAF’s revenue last year, with the company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) up 7 percent to 3 billion dirhams.

Revenue from its property division, which includes its malls and hotels, rose 15 percent of 3.2 billion dirhams in 2012, with EBITDA at 2 billion dirhams, the company said in a statement. —Reuters

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Egyptian pounds US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian dollars Danish Kroner Swedish Kroner Australian dlr Hong Kong dlr Singapore dlr Japanese yen Indian Rs/KD Sri Lanka rupee Pakistan rupee Bangladesh taka UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi Riyal/KD Omani riyals Philippine Peso

.2740000 .4440000 .3720000 .2990000 .2810000 .2930000 .0040000 .0020000 .0763380 .7437430 .3880000 .0720000 .7291070 .0430000 CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2812000 .4462080 .3745020 .3006680 .2835530 .0501870 .0431320 .2954430 .0362720 .2291770 .0031210 .0000000 .0000000 .0000000 .0000000 .0765900 .7461850 .0000000 .0750070 .7306740 .0000000

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka

ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.153 5.235 2.887 2.227 3.294 230.330 36.438 3.540

.2840000 .45900 .3810000 .3110000 .2920000 .3030000 .0067500 .0035000 .0771060 .7512180 .4050000 .0770000 .7364350 .0510000 .2833000 .4495400 .3772990 .3029140 .2856710 .0505620 .0434540 .2976490 .0365430 .2308880 .0031450 .0053020 .0022450 .0029110 .0035700 .0771620 .7517580 .4007070 .0755670 .7361310 .0070470

Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - transfer Irani Riyal - cash

UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

6.950 9.515 0.271 0.273 GCC COUNTRIES 75.363 77.653 734.050 734.050 77.653

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 282.500 Euro 377.700 Sterling Pound 449.740 Canadian dollar 285.930 Turkish lire 160.680 Swiss Franc 303.440 Australian dollar 298.040 US Dollar Buying 281.300 GOLD 311.000 157.000 81.500

SELL DRAFT 301.17 289.26 306.98 379.38 282.00 451.17 3.21 3.568 5.243 2.230 3.290 2.892

Rate for Transfer US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

Selling Rate 282.250 285.310 450.050 377.280 301.730 747.250 76.825 77.475 75.230 397.875 42.694 2.227 5.236 2.885 3.540 6.948 692.360 4.125 9.540 3.970 3.320 93.365

SELL CASH 300.000 289.000 311.000 380.000 282.850 458.000 3.750 3.800 5.400 2.600 3.550 2.980

COUNTRY Australian dollar Bahraini dinar Bangladeshi taka Canadian dollar Cyprus pound Czek koruna Danish krone Deutsche Mark Egyptian pound Euro Cash Hongkong dollar Indian rupees Indonesia Iranian tuman Iraqi dinar

SELL CASH 300.400 750.880 4.000 288.300 554.500 46.000 51.300 167.800 44.710 379.900 37.110 5.480 0.032 0.161 0.242

Japanese yen Jordanian dinar Lebanese pound Malaysian ringgit Morocco dirham Nepalese Rupees New Zealand dollar Nigeria Norwegian krone Omani Riyal Pakistani rupees Philippine peso Qatari riyal Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa Sri Lankan rupees Sterling pound Swedish krona Swiss franc Syrian pound Thai bhat Tunisian dollar UAE dirham U.S. dollars Yemeni Riyal

3.250 400.120 0.191 96.850 46.100 4.340 239.500 1.829 51.500 733.410 3.000 7.310 78.100 75.390 231.260 35.080 2.689 452.100 44.300 305.700 3.400 9.780 198.263 76.980 282.700 1.360 GOLD

10 Tola 1,799.160

Sterling Pound US Dollar

Bahrain Exchange Company

UAE Exchange Centre WLL COUNTRY Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro US Dollar Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee

77.200 748.000 45.500 399.500 733.000 78.500 75.350

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 44.300 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 42.580 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.318 Tunisian Dinar 182.610 Jordanian Dinar 399.010 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.896 Syrian Lier 3.070 Morocco Dirham 34.242

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

76.85 750.87 42.71 401.76 733.93 77.78 75.41

TRAVELLER’S CHEQUE 450.100 282.300

Al Mulla Exchange

SELLDRAFT 298.900 750.880 3.538 286.800

231.300 42.588 378.400 36.960 5.245 0.031

Currency US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

Transfer Rate (Per 1000) 281.900 378.250 449.900 286.550 3.175 5.234 42.550 2.223 3.540 6.930 2.889 750.600 76.775 75.250

400.090 0.190 96.850 3.300 238.000

733.230 2.895 6.969 77.670 75.390 231.260 35.080 2.230 450.100 304.200 3.400 9.720 76.880 282.300

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

BUSINESS

EU states get blessing for financial trading tax BRUSSELS: Germany, France and nine other euro zone countries got a goahead yesterday to implement a tax on trading, despite the reservations of financial centers such as London and Luxembourg that are worried it could drive business out of Europe. EU finance ministers gave their approval at a meeting in Brussels, allowing 11 states to pursue a financial transactions tax. The 11 are: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Portugal, Belgium, Estonia, Greece, Slovakia and Slovenia.

The levy, based on an idea proposed

by US economist James Tobin more than 40 years ago but little considered since, is symbolically important in showing that politicians, who have fumbled their way through five years of financial crisis, are getting to grips with the banks blamed for causing it. “This is a major milestone in tax history,” Algirdas Semeta, the European commissioner in charge of tax policy, told reporters after ministers backed the scheme.

Under EU rules, a minimum of nine

New money flows into emerging markets: IIF LONDON: Private investors are set to pour more money into emerging market countries this year as their economies grow strongly and interest rates in developed markets remain low, a global banking group said yesterday. Europe’s emerging east is expected to benefit if the euro zone debt crisis continues to ease, after inflows slowed last year, the Institute of International Finance said. The leading rich economies have kept interest rates at historic lows and are taken even fur ther actions. Japan announced unlimited asset buying yesterday, essentially printing more money. In the past, huge flows into emerging markets have caused problems, strengthening currencies in developing countries that are heavily reliant on exports and prompting fears of currency wars. There has been a chorus of voices from policymakers warning of this threat, including from the heads of Britain and German’s central banks. Emerging market debt issuance rose to record highs last year, 30 percent above the previous year’s levels, which was also a record.

The IIF warned, however, that while interest rates in major economies are likely to stay at historic lows, that trend could be quickly reversed.

In a report, the IIF predicted private capital flows to emerging economies will rise to $1.118 trillion in 2013, a 3.5 percent increase from an estimated $1.1080 trillion in 2012.

“M onetar y conditions in mature economies remain exceptionally easy,” the IIF said. “Combined with the

favourable growth conditions in emerging economies, this has produced a notable upswing in flows during 2012, and we anticipate this will continue in 2013.”

The IIF is the world’s largest international lobbying group for financial firms, with more than 450 members.

It was the lead negotiator for private sector creditors during Greece’s private debt write-down last year.

Flows are likely to rise further in 2014, to $1.150 trillion, the IIF said. It no ted t here h ad been a stron g revival in flows since mid-2012, even though flows overall dipped slightly l ast year from th e 2 0 1 1 level of $1.084 trillion. The IIF highlighted a recent increase in flows to emerging Eu ro p e d u e to re ce d i n g wo r r i e s about the future of the euro. Inflows to the region fell to $193 billion last year from $210 billion in 2011, but the IIF forecasts a rise to $220 billion this year and a further rise to $237 billion in 2014.

The flows are still well below those seen in the “hot money ” years of 2005-2007, before the 2008/2009 sub-prime crisis. But capital flows to Latin America and Asia are more than 30 percent above 2007 levels, the IIF said. This could leave emerging markets at risk of investor flight if there is a rise in U.S. interest rates, Charles Dallara, managing director of the IIF, said in the report, which covers 30 major emerging market economies.

“Investors may be unprepared for a reversal of interest rates. This needs to be seriously considered to avoid disruption,” Dallara said.—Reuters

countries can cooperate on legislation using a process called enhanced cooperation as long as a majority of the EU’s 27 countries give their permission. Britain, which has its own duty on the trading of shares, abstained in the vote, along with Luxembourg, the Czech Republic and Malta, said an EU official attending the meeting. Following yesterday’s decision, the European Commission will put forward a new proposal for the tax, which if agreed on by those states involved, would mean the levy could be intro-

because “at the time you still had stories of people going out with powerboats to offshore rigs and kidnapping people”.Another oil worker, a Scottish man who wanted to be identified only as Phil, said that during more than three years working in Syria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, he never believed his life was at risk.

“I never felt in danger,” he said, “although the security in most places, except Syria, was pretty mediocre-a few cop cars with rusty machine guns.” But again, he knows how dangerous the job can be, recalling how a few years back, one of his friends was held hostage in Nigeria for 23 days along with two others. They were beaten and tortured before a deal was struck for their release.

Alan Wright, one of the British survivors of the hostage crisis at In Amenas, said that he had never worried about security at the plant-and refused to rule out going back to Algeria once the situation has calmed down.”It’s always been a safe place to work,” the 37-year-old Scotsman said, adding: “There’s worse places in the world to work than Algeria, even at this moment in time.”

Algeria attack ‘will not deter energy workers’ Another engineer who has worked in Libya and Syria, who asked to be identi-

ATHENS: A leaflet is posted yesterday on the gate of closed metro station in Athens. Striking subway workers in Athens defied a court order to return to work and continued their protest for a sixth day to protest against salary cuts that are part of the new round of the austerity measures. — AFP

ahead with a smaller group after efforts to impose a tax across the whole EU and later among just the 17 euro zone states foundered. Sweden, which tried and abandoned its own such tax, has repeatedly cautioned that the levy would push trading elsewhere. Critics say the levy could open another rift in Europe, where the 17 states using the euro are deepening ties in order to underpin the currency, and there is the growing risk that Britain could even leave the European Union.—Reuters

Under-pressure BOJ adopts inflation target Plan for infinite monetary easing set TOKYO: The Bank of Japan yesterday adopted a two-percent inflation target and set out plans for indefinite monetary easing in a policy shift that Japan’s new premier hailed as “epoch making”. The moves-set out in a rare joint statement with the government -followed stern calls from the country’s new administration led by Shinzo Abe to become more aggressive in kick starting the nation’s anemic economy.”In terms of a bold review of monetary policy, this statement is epoch-making,” Abe said after the BoJ wrapped up a two-day policy meeting.

Japan’s economic revitalization minister Akira Amari echoed his boss, describing the government-central bank cooperation as an “historic moment”. Some observers were less convinced, with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ economist Takahiro Sekido saying Tokyo’s involvement in setting policy marked a major shift but the “contents (of the plan) are not epoch-making”. “The outcome showed the BoJ yielded to political pressure but was still sticking to its own policies,” Sekido added.

Japan’s new government, led by the hawkish Abe, swept to power last month on a pledge to fix the economy with big spending and to pressure the BoJ into aggressive action to kick start the world’s third-largest economy. Tensions have run high between BoJ policymakers and Abe’s administration, with the 58-year-old premier having openly said he would like to turf out BoJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa, whose term ends in April, and threatening to change a law mandating the bank’s independence if it does not fall into line.

The yen strengthened yesterday on the widely expected moves, but the unit has been in freefall for weeks as markets bet that the BoJ would inflate its 101 trillion yen ($1.13 trillion) asset-buying programme, its main policy tool. “The Bank will introduce a method of purchasing... financial assets every month without setting any termination date,”

Algeria gas workers balance risks, rewards LONDON: For oil and gas workers, the job is all about trade-offs. The money is good but the hours are long, the locations remote and the risks, as shown by the hostage crisis in Algeria, are often high. But expatriates who have spent time at sites such as the In Amenas gas complex, the scene of the deadly fourday assault by Islamist gunmen, say the job is inherently dangerous and terrorism was rarely their main concern. “The work is dangerous in itself. Whether you’re in the North Sea or in Algeria, on an oil rig you work with pressure and explosives,” said Jeremy Perrot, a Frenchman who has worked in Algeria, Siberia and the North Sea. He said that in his two years in Algeria, before he gave up field work five years ago to start a family in France, “I never felt insecure at all.

“Algeria has been safe for so long, that I’m pretty sure the workers (attacked at In Amenas) felt pretty OK with it”.He felt that any risks were worth taking for the money-at one point he was earning 8,000 euros ($10,600) a month-and the chance to see the world.

“It was an opportunity to travel, to go to places you would never get to go to,” said the 35-year-old. “I always planned to do it for a few years then stop and do something else.” Although he professes not to have worried much about security, Perrot did turn down a job in Nigeria

duced within months.

Although critics say such a tax cannot work properly unless applied worldwide or at least Europe-wide, some countries are already banking on the extra income from next year, which one EU official said could be as much as 35 billion euros annually. “We will be able to put it into place quickly,” said Benoit Hamon, a junior minister in the French finance ministry who was at the meeting.

Germany and France decided to push

fied as Vincent, said the attack in Algeria would no more deter people from the job “than deaths on the road stop people driving”. “I feel for the people in Algeria, but you have to put it in perspective. This is a dramatic event, but it’s very rare,” the 36-year-old said. For many, the worst part of the job is the long hours spent in the middle of nowhere, where stints range from anything from four weeks on, four weeks off “if you’re lucky”-to having just one month off a year.Accommodation on site is often cramped and facilities pretty basic, with little in the way of entertainment.”It’s not an easy life. The pay is good, but you have to work for it,” said Perrot. The workers receive a basic salary, topped up by a country co-efficient-Nigeria and Angola carry the highest premiums-plus a bonus for every day spent on site, which can be as much as $200 a day. Phil said trainees in his company could earn $60,000 a year taxfree, which then increased significantly when they took their first jobs. In Saudi Arabia, a mid-level engineer’s monthly bonuses could reach $20,000 a month.

The Scotsman said he had mixed experiences while out in the field. He loved Syria, citing the people, the food and the history, but in one place in Kuwait, “I hated it because I was a single guy with no time off living in a tiny hot hell hole.” The men working in the industry-as they almost all are-often struggle to maintain relationships because of the shift patterns, with divorce rife, although the workers spoke of strong bonds formed out of necessity.

“People are often very friendly because they have to spend time together.

Depending on the company you work for, it can be very agreeable, with sports facilities, communal rooms to watch television,” said Vincent. Wright and his colleagues at In Amenas would play cards and five-a-side football against the Algerian workers, while Phil brewed his own beer, which he said “tasted average... and would give a killer headache the next day”. Vincent said working in the desert was not all that bad, and was significantly better than working on a platform in the middle of the ocean, where you had to deal with bleak weather conditions and there was no escape. “Generally the sites are isolated, but that has its charm-you can walk around in the desert or around the site, or climb up a sand dune,” he said. He added: “These people are not oil industry mercenaries who sacrifice everything. These guys often have a taste for adventure. It’s normally fine.”—AFP

it said yesterday. That was the first time in nearly a decade that the BoJ has announced an expansion of monetary policy in consecutive meetings. The BoJ’s asset purchases usually come with a fixed expiry date, but the new scheme will see about 13 trillion yen in monthly purchases “for some time” starting from next year, it said. The policy is similar to the US Federal Reserve’s unlimited monthly bond-buying program, known as quantitative easing, unveiled in September.

Also yesterday, the central bank raised its economic growth forecast for the fiscal year to March 2014, to 2.3 percent from a previous 1.6 percent estimate, and held interest rates at an ultra-low zero to 0.1 percent. Switching from an inflation “goal” to a more explicit “target” was driven by the “importance of flexibility in the conduct of monetary policy in Japan”, the BoJ said. However, two BoJ policy board members voted against the new inflation target demanded by Abe. “The Bank of Japan at

least offered a gesture to work together with the government to tackle deflation, mainly by adjusting its rhetoric,” said Yoshikiyo Shimamine, chief economist with Dai-ichi Life Research Institute. Londonbased Capital Economics said the vague timeline for the BoJ’s “ambitious” inflation target “makes that commitment much less bold”. “The Bank is already committed to end deflation and similar statements have been made before,” it said. German central bank chief Jens Weidmann on Monday decried government meddling in central banks’ affairs, citing Japan and Hungary. We are witnessing disturbing abuses where the new government is interfering massively in the affairs of the central bank, calling forcefully for a more aggressive monetary policy,” he said. Japan has been beset by deflation since the 1990s. It continues to hurt the economy as falling prices cut into corporate profits, leading firms to slash jobs and put off growth-generating capital investment.—AFP

TOKYO: Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Masaaki Shirakawa (center) and board members attend a policy meeting in Tokyo yesterday.—AFP

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

BUSINESS

Oil tops $112 after Japan stimulus plan LONDON: Oil rose above $112 a barrel yesterday, after Japan pledged to pump more money into its economy, adding to positive growth signals from the US and China, the world’s top oil consumers.

Japan’s central bank announced its most determined effort yet to lift the country out of economic stagnation, saying it would expand asset purchases and double its inflation target to 2 percent.

China is on track to recover from its longest growth slowdown since the global

financial crisis, while data from the United States has improved. Brent crude climbed 50 cents to $112.21 a barrel by 1140 GMT, while US crude was flat from Friday at $95.56. “A stronger Japan is good for the global economy,” said Jeremy Friesen, a commodities strategist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong. Japan, which has the world’s third-biggest economy, is still deciding whether to restart all its nuclear reactors after an earthquake in 2011 caused meltdowns and explosion at the Fukushima

plant. In China, analysts at Barclays Capital said they expect the world’s second-largest oil consumer to post stronger demand of 460,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2013, up from 330,000 bpd last year. “ The strength of fourth-quarter demand partly reflects the start-up of new refining capacity and a surge in product exports as well as better domestic demand for gasoline and diesel, plus lower fuel oil imports to feed small local refiners,” Barclays analysts said in a note. “We expect

all these issues to be important in 2013 and, although the recent pace of year-onyear growth in oil demand of almost 800,000 bpd will not be maintained.”

Broader economic optimism in global markets and worries about supply disruption in the Middle East and North Africa have lifted oil prices at the start of the year, although investors remain cautious as a deadline to settle US debts draws near.

A confident President Barack Obama kicked off his second term on Monday with

an impassioned call for a more inclusive America. In Algeria, its prime minister accused a Canadian of coordinating last week’s raid on a desert gas plant where 38 mostly foreign hostages were killed and he pledged to resist the rise of Islamists in the Sahara. But investment in the country’s oil and gas sector may fall as concerns about the costs of security after the bloody siege eclipsed the impact of a hydrocarbon law designed to win over foreign firms, executives and analysts said. — Reuters

Weekly commodity update

Markets rev up on promising macro data and demand

By Ole Hansen

C

ommodity markets moved up a gear during the past week as strong performances were recorded across most sectors apart from industrial metals and livestock.

Chinese and US economic data continued to improve, raising the prospects for the global economy and supporting increased demand for commodities.

The S&P 500 index recorded additional gains while the dollar was unchanged against the euro but made additional gains against the Japanese yen, which hit a 2.5 year low- the main story in currency markets so far this January.

Strong gains were particularly seen in natural gas which has begun to recover from a milder-than-expected winter sell-off and received a further boost from a bigger-than-expected decline in US inventories which points towards robust demand. Platinum and palladium rallied on news that production of platinum in South Africa is going to be scaled back. This put the focus on dwindling supplies at a time of robust demand from the car industry, especially in the Far East and the US. In consequence, the price of platinum is back trading at parity to gold for the first time since March 2012.

The prices of key crops such as corn, wheat and soybeans have begun to move higher again following recent corrections. Prices are being supported by drought conditions in the US and Argentina plus a recent US government report which pointed towards further tightness in stocks during this current crop season. This raises the need for a bumper 2013/14 harvest so once again , weather developments across the key growing regions on the northern hemisphere will be watched closely as spring approaches.

Algeria crisis The energy sector was generally stronger as the danger of geopoliticalled price spikes surfaced once again.

The hostage crisis in Algeria received some attention as it raised concerns about the security of energy infrastructure in the country which produces around 1.4 million barrels per day. Brent crude oil moved back towards the higher end of its current range but did not find enough ammunition to challenge resistance, which is currently the January high at $113.30/barrel while support can be found at the 200-day moving average currently at 109.

Mixed signals Both OPEC and the International Energy Agency (IEA) released their monthly reports this week. The IEA’s report warned about tightening oil markets due to increased Chinese demand and reduced Saudi Arabian supply. The western countries’ oil watchdog said it expected demand growth to rise by 930,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2013, up from a previous estimate of 865,000 bpd.

OPEC, meanwhile, struck a more cautious note when saying that increased competition from non-OPEC suppliers due to new production techniques could trigger reduced demand for the cartel’s oil. BP seems to have gone along with this assumption as its latest long-term energy outlook saw OPEC’s spare capacity reaching six million bpd by 2015, the highest since the late 1980s. Increased spare capacity is one the most important factors when looking for price stability and following Saudi Arabia’s cut in December its spare capacity (defined as volume of production that can be brought on within 30 days and sustained for at least 90 days) has risen to the highest level since January 2011.

The outperformance of WTI crude oil prices over Brent crude which we have seen during the last month continues

with the spread contracting before finding support at $15 /barrel. This is the lowest level since last July and it comes after an October high of $24/barrel. The contraction was triggered by the continued improved outlook for the US economy combined with the long awaited expansion of the Seaway pipeline from Cushing, the delivery hub for NYMEX WTI crude, to refineries along the Mexican Gulf. The increased flow of crude oil to the Gulf will help reduce supply pressure on Cushing and at the same time make moreof the oil that was previously landlocked available to the international market where prices are currently determined by that of Brent crude.

As the chart below shows, the spread has now reached support at $15/barrel and a break below would signal additional WTI crude outperformance as it moves closer to international levels. Forward prices on the two crude oils currently indicate that it will take another two years for the spread to halve from here.

Gold has managed to recover from its early January slump which was triggered by uncertainty about the duration of quantitative easing (QE) in the US. Having moved back close to $1700/oz, a major test of the current strength and conviction among investors could be tested soon with $1710/oz offering plenty of technical resistance. A move higher through this level would help steady the market’s nerves, especially among leveraged investors such as hedge funds who have been scaling back net-long positions in recent weeks. Price action is, however, now very much driven by economic data from the US with improved data creating headwinds while weaker does the opposite.

Gold and silver together with the two PGM’s platinum and palladium should however continue to find support as QE is nowhere near its completion, forward inflation expectations stays near recent highs and physical demand from China especially should pick up as the economic outlook continues to improve. As the chart below shows the key support remains the 200-day moving average at $1662/oz while the main resistance area to look out for is $1710/oz as mentioned due to trend-line and Fibonacci resistance converging on this level.

The investment demand for Exchange Traded Products (ETP) holding precious metals has remained robust throughout the recent correction with total holdings in gold falling by less than one percent, according to Bloomberg, while silver has seen continued buying interest. Not least this week where the biggest silver exchange-traded fund (ETF), the iShares Silver Trust, saw its assets climb by 572 tons, the most in five years. This dramatic increase brought the total known holdings in such silver funds up to a new record of 19,687 tons, an increase of 770 tons so far this January.

With global economic activity expected to improve silver’s double role as both a financial investment and an industrial metal could help explain this sudden increased interest for silver. Silver holdings through ETPs are only 7.5 greater than gold so it still represents a relatively small value considering gold’s price tag which is 53 times greater than silver.— Saxo Bank

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

BUSINESS

German investor confidence reaches 3-year high FRANKFURT: Sentiment in Germany has soared to the highest levels since the start of the euro-zone debt crisis in 2010 as the outlook for Europe’s top economy continues to brighten, a survey found yesterday.

The widely watched investor confidence index calculated by the ZEW economic institute soared to 31.5 points in January from 6.9 points in December, its highest level since May 2010, when Greece had to be bailed out and the sovereign debt crisis began to unfold. The indicator already re-entered positive territory for the first time in more than six months last month, and analysts had been projecting a modest rise again to around 12.0 points this month. “ The renewed rise in economic expectations shows that financial market experts believe the economic outlook

for Germany to have improved for the next six months,” said ZEW president Wolfgang Franz. Reduced market uncertainty with regard to the future of the euro-zone had contributed to this, Franz said. He suggested that improved sentiment will persuade companies to proceed with investment projects that they had long put on hold.

“Nevertheless, the economic starting point for many of Germany’s key trading partners remains weak. This means the German economy will grow only moderately in 2013,” Franz cautioned. While analysts cheered the ZEW’s strong reading this month, they warned it was too early to crack open the champagne just yet. For the survey, ZEW questions analysts and institutional investors about their current assessment of the economic situation in Germany, as well as their

expectations for the coming months.

And the sub-index measuring financial market players’ view of the current economic situation in Germany edged up by only 1.4 points to 7.1 points. “While the rise in sentiment is encouraging, it is too soon to conclude that the worst is over for Germany,” said Capital Economics analyst Jennifer McKeown. “Despite rising lately, the more reliable German business surveys still look much more pessimistic - some are consistent with a continued recession in Germany. And less timely hard data on trade and industrial production are still weakening rather than strengthening,” she said.

A frequent criticism against the ZEW index is that it can be volatile and is therefore not particularly trustworthy.

Natixis economist Constantin Wirschke said he, too, was “remaining cautious

with regards to Germany’s prospects in 2013. “While we believe Germany will still grow in 2013, growth should be slower than in 2012,” he said.

The German economy expanded by only 0.7 percent last year, its weakest growth in four years. And the government has halved its forecast for 2013 to just 0.4 percent. Annalisa Piazza at Newedge Strategy acknowledged that while the debt crisis “is far from being over, today’s survey confirms that analysts and fund managers have now more faith in policymakers’ response to the solution of the crisis.”

The sub-index measuring investors’ assessment of the current situation “remains well below the levels seen in 2011 as the German economy is still set to contract in the fourth quarter of 2012” and show no improvement early in 2013,

she said. Nevertheless, all in all, she viewed the ZEW survey as “a very encouraging report that paves the way for a modest reacceleration in the German economy in the first half of 2013,” Piazza concluded. Berenberg Bank economist Christian Schulz said “investors seem increasingly confident” that the safety net put in place by the European Central Bank “has averted the risk of a catastrophic eurozone break-up for good.”

The ECB has undertaken a series of emergency measures, such as pumping vast amounts of liquidity into the markets and pledging to buy up the sovereign bonds of the countries hit hardest by the crisis. “Serious risks remain, but the ECB can take comfort,” Schulz said.

“Its commitment to unlimited bond purchases is increasingly passing through to the real economy,” he said. — AFP

Netherlands’ Dijsselbloem new Eurogroup chairman Surprise Spanish resistance fizzles out

HONG KONG: A Cathay Pacific employee walks past self checking booth at the airport in Hong Kong yesterday. — AFP

Cathay asks crew to volunteer for early retirement HONG KONG: Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific yesterday asked its cabin crew to volunteer for early retirement as part of its cost-cutting measures to boost profitability amid a global slowdown.

Cathay has been trying to trim costs after it fell into the red in the first half of 2012 with a HK$935 million ($121 million) loss, partly due to high fuel prices that have also dragged down other regional airlines’ performance. The airline said the scheme would be offered to flight attendants who joined the firm before September 1996, to cut cost as well as to help facilitate recruitment and promotion opportunities. “It is also part of the airline’s cost management measures,” a spokeswoman said, adding that the airline has not set any target on the number of flight attendants that it hopes would sign up for the scheme.

The carrier has around 9,000 cabin crew

members, who serve 170 routes in 42 countries and are among over 20,000 staff the airline employs worldwide. It did not say what number of crew members are eligible for the scheme.

Cathay averted an industrial action by its crews-which had threatened to stop serving alcohol and smiling at passengersover the Christmas holidays last month after it agreed to improve their working conditions. The protest was sparked by Cathay’s bid to give a two percent pay rise to its employees this year, on top of a discretionary one-month bonus for 2012, falling short of the flight attendants union’s demand.

Singapore Airlines, one of Cathay ’s rivals, earlier this month asked its captains to volunteer for unpaid leave after it posted a 69-percent plunge in profit in the carrier’s financial year ending March 2012. —AFP

Portugal asks euro-zone to extend rescue loan dates LISBON: Portugal has asked euro-zone finance ministers to extend the life of bailout loans to help it to borrow normally, Portuguese Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar was reported as saying by media in Lisbon.Meanwhile credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s said yesterday that it was maintaining its notation for Portugal at speculative investment grade mainly because of uncertainty about the outlook for growth. Gaspar said after a meeting of the Eurogroup of finance ministers in Brussels on Monday that Portugal had shown it was carrying out bailout conditions and that it was “ready to launch issues on the primary bond market,” according to media reports.

But the return to the sovereign debt market “is more difficult to the extent that the country faces a concentration of very big (repayment) maturities in 2014, 2015 and 2016,” he was reported as adding.Therefore it was important for Portugal “to be able to count on the support of our European partners so as to dilute and defer these dates over time.”

In May 2011, Portugal obtained bailout loans of 78 million euros ($104 million) from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund on condition that it apply a program of radical reforms and budget rigor to correct public deficits and debt and to raise the performance of

the economy. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said on Friday that Portugal was at the point of overcoming its financial crisis.

His remarks followed success by Portugal on Wednesday with an issue of short-term debt bonds and after the debt management agency had said that if market conditions permitted, this year it would make its first issue of medium-term or long-term debt since the country was rescued. But yesterday, S&P said that it was holding its notation for Portuguese long-term debt at “BB” and for short-term debt at “B” as announced a year ago and confirmed in August.

The agency said that the negative outlook, meaning that the agency could downgrade the notation further in the medium term, reflected risks arising from the weak outlook for growth. The agency also noted that rulings due from the constitutional court on several measures in the budget for 2013 could compromise application of tough budget measures promised to creditors by the centre-right government.

The Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva, and also the left-wing opposition, have asked the court to rule on the legality of some of the measures. However, S&P acknowledged that borrowing conditions for Portugal had improved since the country requested a bailout in 2011, but said that confidence remained “fragile”. —AFP

MOSCOW: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (left) speaks with Igor Sechin, the CEO of state-controlled Russian oil giant Rosneft, during their meeting in Putin’s NovoOgaryovo residence outside Moscow yesterday. —AFP

BRUSSELS: Dijsselbloem of the Netherlands took over yesterday as chairman of the key eurozone finance ministers forum, despite surprise Spanish resistance.”We appointed the Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem to become the new president of the Eurogroup,” outgoing head Jean-Claude Juncker told a press conference late on Monday. A statement said Dijsselbloem was given a 30-month term and that he “will retain his (Dutch) post whilst chairing the Eurogroup”.

The decision brought to an end eight years mostly spent battling global financial headwinds that morphed into the euro-zone debt crisis for Luxembourg Prime Minister Juncker, Europe’s longest-serving national leader. Dijsselbloem faced fresh scrutiny at talks between all 27 European Union finance ministers at 0900 GMT yesterday, with the Netherlands sitting out a bid by 11 euro-zone states to launch a tax on financial transactions.

The 46-year-old Dutchman said it was “a distinct honour to be given the possibility to succeed Jean-Claude”, adding that it was key to “preserve the social European model that we so much cherish”.

Only appointed nationally in November, Dijsselbloem had made a flying visit to Madrid on Thursday night after announcing his lone candidacy earlier that day in the Dutch parliament. After his election, he said that Spanish Finance Minister Luis De Guindos maintained Madrid would “work with me in a very professional and positive way”, brushing aside concerns that almost all the top euro-zone posts are now held by nationals of Triple A-rated members.

Firm backer and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the nomination was “a good decision”, while European Union president Herman Van Rompuy said that all 17 euro-zone national leaders were fully behind Dijsselbloem.”I am confident that he is the right choice and I wish him every success in his work and look forward to cooperating closely with him,” Van Rompuy, who will chair summits of the euro-zone, said in a statement.

Juncker had admitted on his way into the

BRUSSELS: European Commissioner for Internal Market Michel Barnier (left) speaks with Dutch Finance Minister and newly appointed chief of the eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem during a meeting of EU finance ministers at the EU Council building in Brussels yesterday. —AP Brussels talks feelings of “melancholy” and “relief” ahead of the handover. With tensions notably eased on markets compared to six months ago when worries were rife about a Greek exit from the euro, or Spain and Italy being forced into bailouts, Dijsselbloem said his job was all about “further restoring trust in the euro and the euro-zone”, freeing politicians to focus on policies that can help foster “growth and jobs”. The euro-zone is currently laboring under a high unemployment rate of almost 12 percent. In his submission addressed to counterparts, seen by AFP, Dijsselbloem said: “Our economic policies need to be geared towards promoting strong, sustainable and inclusive economic growth, ensuring fiscal discipline, enhancing competitiveness and boosting employment, and in particular youth employment”. That assessment chimed with those of top economists.

“Markets are no longer betting that the European Central Bank will commit suicide by letting major member countries implode,” said

World jobless number rising to record high in 2013: ILO GENEVA: Five years after the global financial crisis hit, unemployment numbers continue to soar, with a record 202 million people worldwide expected to be officially jobless this year, the International Labor Organization said yesterday. Last year saw a clear resurgence of the crisis, the UN’s labor body said in its annual report on global employment trends, pointing out that jobless numbers rose by four million to 197 million in 2012.

“This figure means that today there are 28 millions more unemployed people around the world than they were in 2007,” before the crisis, ILO chief Guy Ryder told reporters in Geneva Monday. Last year’s unemployment number inched up towards the all-time record of 199 million reached at the epicenter of the crisis in 2009, but “we will beat that record in 2013”, an ILO expert said.

In fact, another 5.1 million people are expected to join the jobless ranks this year, bringing the total number to more than 202 million.That number is expected to rise by another three million in 2014 and should hit 210.6 million by 2017, ILO said, adding that the global unemployment rate was expected to stay steady at 6.0 percent until then.“The trends are very much (going) in the wrong direction,” Ryder said, lamenting a “noticeable worsening of the unemployment situation around the world”.

The impact of the economic crises on the global labor market had in many cases been worsened by incoherence between monetary and fiscal policies and “a piecemeal approach” to the problems, especially in the eurozone, the report said. “Weakened by faltering aggregate demand, the labor market has been further hit by fiscal austerity programs in a number of countries, which often involved direct cutbacks in employment and wages,” it said.

At the same time, “labor force participation has fallen dramatically masking the true extent of the jobs crisis,” ILO said, pointing out that 39 million people dropped out of the labor market altogether last year as job prospects became increasingly gloomy. Young people have been especially hard-hit by the expanding jobless trend, the UN agency said, pointing out that there are currently some 73.8 million youths, aged 15 to 24, without work worldwide. “And the slowdown in economic activity is likely to push another half million into unemployment by 2014,” the report cautioned. Last year, the global youth unemployment rate stood at 12.6 percent, and it was expected to rise to 12.9 percent by 2017, according to ILO. “The crisis has dramatically diminished the labor market prospects for young people, as many experience long-term unemployment right from the start of their labor market entry,” the UN agency said, adding that it had never seen anything similar during previous downturns. — AFP

Holger Schmieding of Germany’s Berenberg Bank. Even Greece, despite a sixth year of recession, is said by its public creditors to be on the mend.

However, there was little clarity on key eurozone issues going forward, such as a bailout for Cyprus first requested in the summer but now seen as increasingly in jeopardy. Originally expected to lead the agenda here, a formal request for aid from Nicosia appears to have gone backwards with the long shadow of Russian money-laundering hanging over negotiations.

Schaeuble even questioned whether any bailout should even take place. “We have to examine whether the problems in Cyprus represent a danger for the euro-zone as a whole. That is one of the pre-conditions for the money coming from the euro rescue fund,” he told a German daily in the run-up to the talks. French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici warned that “we can’t just resign ourselves to a Europe caught in a spiral of austerity and recession”. —AFP

Liberian farmers take on Indonesian palm oil giant BUTAW DISTRICT, Liberia: Liberian farmers who survived a 15-year civil war are now fighting lucrative property deals with Indonesian and Malaysian palm oil companies that threaten the land they live on, if not their sacred burial sites. Thirty hours by car from the capital Monrovia, the green and yellow flag of Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL), an Indonesian palm oil giant, floats over deforested hills in Sinoe County, southern Liberia. Local farmer Benedict Smarts looked at the scene, and said: “We are not against development - but we want to be heard, we want respect - we want those people to listen to us.” In 2010, GVL acquired a 63-year lease on 220,000 hectares (544,000 acres) of land to produce palm oil.

It pays annual rent of $1.50 (1.10 euros) per hectare for virgin forest land and $5.00 per hectare for cleared terrain in the lease which is renewable for an additional 30 years. Palm oil is used for cooking in parts of Africa, Brazil and Southeast Asia, and is an ingredient in soaps and washing powders.

GVL’s lease was signed in Monrovia, without the presence of representatives from those who live in Sinoe County.

In the village of Plu, on the plantation’s outskirts, inhabitants showed letters of complaint sent to the Liberian interior ministry. “The Indonesians came here for the first time in September 2010,” resident Benedict Manewah explained.

“They said: ‘We have a concession agreement, your president has sold it to us’.

“Three months later they came back ... and they started to destroy the properties, farmlands, crops, livestock and houses.”

Manewah listed the crops he had planted. “I had rubber trees, cassavas, breadfruits, orange trees, cocoas, coconuts and palm trees” for his family’s personal consumption.

GVL workers uprooted his crops to produce palm oil exclusively, and “they ship everything to their people, at home” in Indonesia, he said. Manewah pointed out a tiny parcel of land that contained the graves of relatives. It used to be tucked in the forest but was now surrounded by palm trees.

Development, or ‘modern slavery’? Saydee Monboe, whose black rimmed glasses lends him a certain resemblance to the late US civil rights activist Malcom X, pointed out

that farmers now had no choice but to work under contract for GVL, charging: “This is not development, it’s modern slavery.”

Alfred Brownell, a lawyer who founded the organisation Green Advocates added: “Nobody is doing anything for the people in this country, they only have their land and now you tell them they have to leave.” He filed a complaint on behalf of local inhabitants, not with Liberian authorities, but with the international organization RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) which groups industry stakeholders including growers, processors, traders, retailers, banks and investors. Producers in Liberia adhere to RSPO, which was launched in 2003 by the World Wildlife Fund and industrialists, and delivers a certification for “sustainable palm oil”. The process requires that information be provided on how the oil was obtained, along with the approval by communities where it was produced, a point reiterated in December by RSPO Secretary General Darrel Webber in a letter to GVL executives.

In late 2011, RSPO upheld a complaint by Liberian villagers against Sime Darby (SD), a Malaysian grower that cultivates 200,000 hectares in Grand Cape Mount county.

Subsequent negotiations between the grower and villagers are ongoing. “SD recognized the right of the communities to their food security and livelihoods,” Brownell noted, “along with rights to compensation for shrines, and water resources affected by the practice of clear-cutting that wiped out the villager’s food supplies. He expected SD to pay more than $1 million in compensation over a 60-year period.

Imam Mustapha Foboi, who led resistance from 17 villages against the Malaysian company added: “We are making history not only in Liberia but in the whole of Africa: Grand Cape Mount has become a landmark case.” Since the petition from Liberia others from Cameroun and Gabon followed suit, and the RSPO is currently reviewing 34 complaints worldwide.

Brownell is nonetheless worried about the situation with GVL, calling it a “terrible case in a very remote area. “The way they operate is almost as mob gangsters; threats, intimidation, illegal arrests,” the lawyer charged. — AFP

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

BUSINESS

Gatehouse Bank opens its first sterling sukuk Bank expands its global Islamic finance capability KUWAIT: Gatehouse Bank, a leading Sharia-compliant investment bank based in the City of London and regulated by the FSA, has issued its first real estate backed sukuk, paying a distribution of 3% per annum over a five year term.

Investors will earn a return by virtue of having pro-rata ownership of the sukuk assets, which comprise shares in a company which owns a 62,000 sq ft property in Basingstoke, in the south east of England.

The property is leased to IT services giant Fujitsu Services Limited for an unexpired term of 68 years. The strong tenant profile offers further guarantee of the security of investment, and is likely to appeal to investors looking for security of income.

Rental payments from the tenant will be applied to fund payments to the sukuk holders on each periodic distribution date, and sukuk holders will have the option to redeem their investment on a quarterly basis which will enhance the liquidity for the sukuk. The sukuk issuance is fully guaranteed by Gatehouse Bank with investors assured a full return on their investment.

As Abdulaziz AlDuweesh, Executive Vice President and Head of Wealth Management at Gatehouse Bank, explains: “Investors want to own an income-producing asset that offers a consistent annual return. As such, this is a highly liquid investment opportunity, particularly as the use of a sukuk instrument delivers an

enhanced yield when compared with standard bank deposits.

The quarterly redemption option creates a short term cash instrument of 3 months tenor with an annual yield of 3%.

The global sukuk market is expected to reach $292 billion issuances by 2016, and our entry into the market comes at an exciting time for the bank as we seek to expand our products and services for the benefit of our clients.”

The property, situated in the Viables Business Park in Basingstoke, just 29km from Central London, is located in a well established commercial centre with manufacturing, high-tech and office occupiers all in the vicinity. Set adjacent to major motor-

way networks and key infrastructure, with efficient rail links to Gatwick and Heathrow airports, the property is well positioned as a business location of choice.

Since its inception in 2008, Gatehouse Bank has established a global portfolio worth in excess of £1.25 billion, spread across Real Estate assets, capital investment, and term deposits. Gatehouse specializes in originating, structuring and funding investments in a Sharia-compliant manner, and aims to develop its capital markets offering by originating real estate backed Sukuk issuances and other structured finance products. Norton Rose LLP acted as UK legal counsel to Gatehouse Bank on this transaction.

Geely (Al Shaya & Al Sagar), Kout Food Group join hands KUWAIT: Kuwait Automotive Imports Co WLL (Al Shaya & Al Sagar), distributor of GEELY cars in Kuwait, recently handed over a fleet of 20 Geely Panda vehicles to Kout Food Group, further reinforcing a long business relationship. KAICO (Al Shaya & Al Sagar) has an over 77-year experience in the automotive industry and is a leading distributor of international brands such as Mazda, Peugeot, Michelin, Mobil, Eicher, Apollo etc. Kout Food Group has an over 25 years of successful food franchise experience. In Kuwait it owns the franchise of Burger King, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Kabab-Ji, Applebee’s. Furthermore, it developed a series of food retail concepts for the Kuwaiti and international markets, among which are Ayyame and Scoop a cone.

Rexzcy Williams, Brand Manager Geely and Daryl Alphonso, Autolease Manager, KAICO. Rexzcy Williams, Brand Manager-Geely thanked Kout Food Group management for their support and trust in KAICO products and especially the Geely Panda vehicles.

He added, “Geely cars are renowned for their up-to-date technology, great performance and superb quality and were developed in accordance with European standards”.

GEELY Panda is the second bionic mini car in global market. The design of the GEELY LC, with vivid application of the principles of bionics, drew China’s national treasure PANDA’s cute looks in the model’s

appearance and interior trim. Its unique round shape is very pleasant and eye-catching. The bionic engineering adheres to the ‘three S’ design R&D concept (small, special and safe), making LC has agile style, spacious inner room and safety performance.

After less than one year since its launch into the market in 2009, GEELY LC won the seventh position in the ‘World’s Smallest Model Awards’ of US ‘Business Week’ which evaluates cars in terms of comprehensive size, engine performance, emission system, consumption, etc. In addition, GEELY LC has been successively awarded two trophies in China, which are The Most Original Design of ‘Chinese Automobile Design 2009’ and The Most Beautiful Model in the Chinese market of ‘Beautiful Automobile Awards 2010’.

GEELY Panda achieved five-star performance in C-NCAP collision test, GEELY Panda applies a safety technology system named GEELY Total Safety Management (GTSM), which includes application of the highstrength steel board, the seamlessly integrating safety features and the front and rear collision bumper with an anti-collision beam. Moreover, GEELY Panda GL version adopts the dual front air bags with the standard configured ABS + EBD electronic system, ESC and over-speed alarm system.

Geely Holding Group completed the full ownership of Volvo Car Corporation from Ford Motor Company in August 2010. Ford bought the Swedish Volvo car business in 1999. So Geely has adopted the Swedish as well as the US car technologies into its own cars. Geely Holding Group has also acquired DSI - the second largest automatic transmission company in Australia. The group has collaboration with Johnson Controls - US & Dayee - South Korea for spare parts. With six car assembly & powertrain manufacturing plants all over China, 900 dealers, 1000 service outlets and over 19,000 employees in China, the company is planning to sell about 2 million units by the year 2015, with a 5.8% market share in China. The full range of Geely vehicles can be test driven at the Geely Showroom in Al Rai.

TAQA Power begins operations at first 120 MVA substation in S Sinai CAIRO: TAQA Power, a leading private-sector power developer, has begun operations at its 120 MVA substation in Nabq. The EGP 200 million substation is the first private-sector project of its kind in South Sinai to provide much needed electrical capacity to the Nabq tourist center. TAQA Power is a branch of TAQA Arabia, Citadel Capital’s full-service energy distribution platform with a focus on gas and electricity distribution and fuels marketing.

“We are very pleased to be launching this crucial project, particularly at a time when Egypt’s energy consumption is growing so rapidly. Private-sector-led projects such as the Nabq Substation will be the key to meeting Egypt’s growing demand for electricity,” said Khaled Abu Bakr, Chief Executive Officer of TAQA Arabia. “We are grateful for the continued support of the Ministry of Electricity as we work to be ‘part of the solution’ to ensure that Egypt has reliable access to energy-and by helping develop the infrastructure that is key to both attracting investors and to the growth of the tourism industry.”

With a capacity of 120 MVA, which is expandable to 160 MVA and upgradable to 375 MVA, the substation’s current voltage level is 66/22 KV upgradable to 220/66/22 KV. The project has been designed to cover both the current and future electricity needs of the entire 35 million-square-meter Nabq tourism center.

The rapidly growing tourist development, located near Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport, currently includes around 100 resorts as well as residential and commercial projects. The substation will extend an electricity distribution network to all of Nabq’s tourism, commercial and residential facilities,

including a number of mega development projects currently under construction such as City Stars Nabq and Porto Sharm.

“Under the terms of our agreement, TAQA Power will purchase electricity from the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Co. at Egyptian electricity unified grid prices, then distribute it to its customers within the Nabq tourism center,” explained Dr Magdy Saleh, Managing Director of TAQA Power.

The design and tendering of the project began in the second half of 2009 and construction commenced in 2010. The substation began operations last week.

“We are fully aware of the impact that our operations have on the surrounding environment and we are seeking to invest in renewable energy including wind and solar power generation,” said Saleh. “The company is also looking into the possibility of generating power from agricultural waste,” he added.

TAQA Power has recently signed the Medgrid Industrial Partnership with 12 leading companies from Europe. The alliance of leading industrial partners involved in the production, transmission and distribution of electricity aims to work together to come up with clean, renewable, alternative energy sources for North Africa. As a leading provider of energy services to companies operating in the oil and gas, cement, tourism, real estate and petrochemicals sectors, TAQA Power is now strategically positioned to capitalize on new market opportunities as increased energy demands place further strain on the national grid. TAQA Power’s current list of clients includes leading players Al Futtaim, Emar Misr, Amer Group, Sabbour Group, Allam Holding, Scimitar Production and E-Styrenics.

Key officials from Jafza and Bridgestone officially opening the Bridgestone Park.

Bridgestone Park opens facility at JAFZA, Dubai DUBAI: Bridgestone Middle East and Africa (BSMEA) officially opened its new 21,678 m2 facility - Bridgestone Park - in the South Zone of Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA) this morning.

Bridgestone Park was formally inaugurated by Ibrahim Mohamed AlJanahi, Deputy CEO of Jafza, and Talal Al-Hashimi, Managing Director Economic Zones World (EZW) - UAE Region; also present at the opening ceremony were Kunitoshi Takeda, Vice President Asia Pacific, China, Russia, Middle East and Africa Tyre Operations, Bridgestone Corporation; Shoichi Sakuma, President, Bridgestone Middle East and Africa; as well as senior officials from JAFZA and Bridgestone’s local business partners.

The new Bridgestone Park includes a training facility serving the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. The Training Center will be used by Bridgestone employees, distributors, and business partners across MEA to develop and enhance their knowledge and skills.

Through the center, Bridgestone is keen to increase professional training standards and take learning and acquiring knowledge to a higher level.

Bridgestone Park features a FirstStop retail store - Bridgestone’s passenger car service center; the Truck and Bus Tyre Service Center (BT TC); and a Bandag Learning Center, which specializes in retread training. The FirstStop, BTTC, and Bandag Learning Center facilities at Bridgestone Park will be used as models to educate and train regional business partners as these new Bridgestone brands and services are introduced across the region.

Bridgestone Park is an extension of the company’s long-standing business in the Middle East and Africa and is operated by BSMEA, Bridgestone’s Headquarters for the MEA region, based in Dubai.

Speaking at the inauguration Shoichi Sakuma said: “The investment in this stunning new facility gives Bridgestone the opportunity

to provide our regional customers with new and enhanced services and to train our staff to deliver the highest possible standards of customer care. Bridgestone Park will become a new, strategic and stateof-the -art hub for BSMEA to enhance our employees’, partners’, and distributors’ skills and knowledge, in order to serve our customers and communities better.”

Ibrahim Mohamed Al-Janahi, Deputy CEO of Jafza, speaking on the occasion said: “Bridgestone’s significant investment in its new sustainability focused facility in Jafza reflects the company’s deep commitment to the region and their trust in the Free Zone. I am sure the “Bridgestone Park” will help Bridgestone serve the region more efficiently and in elevating the level of professionalism in the auto industry in the Middle East and African countries. I wish them great success and assure them of our full support, whenever, they need.”

FirstStop is Bridgestone’s panEuropean network of Passenger Tyre and Auto Care service centers which consists of over 2,000 stores with 19 years of professional experience and service excellence in Europe. The FirstStop shop at Bridgestone Park will be the retail brand’s model store as it is rolled

out to new markets in the Middle East and Africa.

FirstStop not only offers its customers a complete tyre service, but also a unique Autocare experience with exceptional service standards.

Its dedicated team will offer free safety checks on vehicles, with customer safety on the road its number one priority. As part of its commitment to provide superior quality products and services, the shop will stock a full range of tyres and auto-care products. Adding to FirstStop’s comprehensive tyre services - which include alignment, balancing, repair, and rotation - and auto-care services including oil/filter change, and battery change FirstStop’s mission is to become its customers’ ‘ Tyre & Auto Care Partner’.

The new Bridgestone Truck Tyre Center (BTTC) is a unique facility that caters to the maintenance and service of commercial vehicles - a segment in which tyre safety awareness and economy are critical. Through BT TC, Bridgestone intends to increase the safety of commercial vehicles and improve the lifespan of truck tyres through its decades of expertise in tyre and maintenance services, in addition to increasing levels of safety awareness among those working in the industry. As well as the service area

with the latest professional machinery, the center has a dedicated area for drivers to relax and enjoy some tea or coffee while their vehicle is being serviced.

The Bandag Learning Center houses state-of-the-art equipment that will be used for training. The Bandag brand, the world’s leader in retreading for more than 50 years, has been part of the Bridgestone Corporation since 2007. At the Center business associates will enhance their skill and knowledge of the retreading process. The learning center emphasizes the safety and reliability of the Bandag system retreads, and showcases the economical and environmental value of retreaded tyres.

Bridgestone is committed to helping ensure a healthy environment and retreading is a sound ecological solution as it uses up to 75 per cent less energy and resources than making a new tyre.

“Safety and becoming ever-more eco-friendly remain our core values at Bridgestone. Through our work at Bridgestone Park we hope to increase road safety levels, build environmental awareness, and bring the best in customer care, to fulfill our commitment of Serving Society with Superior Quality,” added Shiochi Sakuma Bridgestone’s Middle East and Africa President.

Statement of clarification From Abdulaziz Al-Ali Al-Mutawa Group of Companies Reports in local newspapers and social networks have been circulating about Honda, the Japanese automotive company, ending their relationship with Mutawa Alkazi Co, Ltd. The Chairman of Abdulaziz AlAli Al-Mutawa Group of Companies, Ahmed Abdulaziz Ali Al-Mutawa, responded to this news by clarifying that no business, legal or administrative relationship exists on any level between Al-Qurain

Automotive Company or National Agencies Group (subsidiaries of Abdulaziz Ali Al-Mutawa Group of Companies) and Mutawa Alkazi Co, Ltd, which is a fully independent company managed by its Managing Partner, Suleiman Hamad Alkazi.

Ahmed Abdulaziz Al-Ali AlMutawa reiterated that the Abdulaziz Al-Ali Al-Mutawa group of Companies does not represent Honda and is instead the author-

ized agent for the following brands: KIA Motors, Volvo Cars, Volvo trucks & buses, Bosch spare parts and power tools, Changan Chinese buses, King Long Chinese buses and OSRAM cars’ bulbs.

Ahmed Abdulaziz Al-Ali AlMutawa added that his group thanks to God almighty - enjoys excellent relations with all the companies it represents in Kuwait, and continues to experience growing success.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

technology

At Obama’s church service, hymns, prayers - and a tweet?

WASHINGTON: There was preaching, praying and singing at President Barack Obama’s church service on Inauguration Day on Monday. But was there tweeting, too? As Atlanta pastor Andy Stanley wrapped up his sermon at St John’s Episcopal Church across from the White House by urging Obama to leverage his power for the greater good, a tweet went out from the president’s own Twitter feed.

“I’m honored and grateful that we have a chance to finish what we started. Our work begins today. Let’s go. -bo,” said the tweet, which went to more than 26 million Obama followers.

Obama typically designates tweets

that he writes himself by signing his initials in lowercase: “-bo.” That led to questions over whether the president had tweeted from church - and perhaps provided a new chapter in the debate over the appropriate use of social media. But a White House spokesman said Obama did not send the tweet in the middle of the church service. That means it could have been done by Obama in advance and timed for release while he was in church, or that it was posted by Organizing for Action, the non-profit group that now operates the president’s Twitter account.

The new group, which is led by Obama’s former campaign team, plans to

try to build public support for the president’s policies. The group did not immediately comment on the authorship or timing of the tweet.

Even if Obama had sent out the tweet from church, such messages from the pew are no longer taboo, said Scott Williams, a pastor and consultant from Edmond, Oklahoma, who works with ministries to use social media to spread the word and engage members.

“It’s definitely OK - it’s relevant,” he said. He cited a verse from the prophet Isaiah: “Like a crane or a swallow, so did I twitter.” “‘Thou shalt twitter in church’ is a way that I present it,” Williams said in an

interview, noting that many people now used Bible apps on their mobile devices in the pews. Stanley ’s Nor th Point Community Church in Atlanta produced a Christmas music video for iPhones and iPads that has been viewed 3.7 million times on YouTube, said Williams, who is familiar with the 33,000-member ministry.

Stanley delivered his sermon in a very “old-school” setting. St John’s, a yellow church with white trim, was built in 1816 and often is called the “Church of the Presidents” because every president since James Madison has attended it at least occasionally. The service included a mix of traditional hymns such as “Oh God, Our

Help in Ages Past,” a gospel solo by singer Ledisi, and an African-American spiritual, “Great Day.” It also included readings and prayers from Jewish, Christian and Catholic clergy.

Stanley talked about a passage in the Bible where Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, setting an example of equality.

“What do you do when it dawns on you that you’re the most powerful person in the room? You leverage that power for the benefit of other people in the room,” Stanley said. “Mister President, you have an awfully big room,” the pastor said. “It’s as big as our nation. At times, as you know, it’s as big as this world.” — Reuters

America archives billions of tweets WASHINGTON: The Library of Congress, repository of the world’s largest collection of books, has set for itself the enormous task of archiving something less weighty and far more ephemeral - Americans’ billions of tweets. The venerable US institution is assembling all of the 400 million tweets sent by Americans each day, in the belief that each of the mini-messages reflect a small but important part of the national narrative. “An element of our mission at the Library of Congress is to collect the story of America, and to acquire collections that will have research value,” according to Gayle Osterberg, director of communications at the library.

The Library of Congress, located off the National Mall in Washington, houses millions of hard copy books and historic documents, and its online archives amass millions of additional works produced by Americans for more than two centuries. Now it wants to be keeper of the nation’s brief Internet messages as well: Twitter in April 2010 inked a deal with the Library, giving it access to tweets dating back to the company’s inception in 2006. Collecting the 140character micro-missives, said Osterberg, is in keeping with the library’s main goal “to collect the story of America and to acquire collections that will have research value.”

One major challenge to the Library, however, is storing the messages from the popular social messaging site, which now number 170 billion.

Twitter last month said the number of active users on the messaging platform has topped 200 million, most of whom are in the United States. Tweets that have been deleted or that are locked will not be among those gathered by the Library of Congress. Among the messages to be preserved for posterity are the first-ever tweets sent by one of the company’s founders, Jack Dorsey.

Also saved for all time is a famous tweet sent

by President Barack Obama after his historic November 2008 victory to claim the White House in his first term. “We just made history. All of this happened because you gave your time, talent and passion. All of this happened because of you. Thanks,” read the micro-message from the famously tech-savvy US president. Unlike traditional bound books or even digital web pages, the real challenge of preserving tweets is keeping up with their number, which has continued to grow almost exponentially. There were 140 million tweets sent each day in Feb 2011, but more than three times as many - about a half billion - by Oct 2012.

The Library of Congress’s tweets are being

stored by Gnip, Inc, a social media aggregation company headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, which has put more than 133,000 gigabytes of storage space available. Gnip says it is a particular challenge to gather tweets during “peak” times, such as news event watched the world over like the Japanese tsunami in March 2011, which generated many thousand tweets per second. It has proven to be a Herculean challenge for Gnip to make tweets accessible to all those who wish to view them.

So far it has been unable to meet the demands of researchers worldwide who hope to access the archive. Even a search among the first four years of tweets, from 2006 to 2010, could take about 24 hours.

“It is clear that technology to allow for scholarship access to large data sets is lagging behind technology for creating and distributing such data,” said a recent white paper published by the Library of Congress. “This is an inadequate situation,” the Library concluded, calling the massive archiving project “prohibitively costly”. And yet Lee Humphreys, a professor of communication at Cornell University in New York, said that the brief online messages can reveal volumes “about the culture where they were produced”. — AFP

Kaspersky Lab Bundles Internet Security With World of Warcraft N Korea eases rules, lets visitors bring cellphones PYONGYANG: North Korea is loosening some restrictions on foreign cellphones by allowing visitors to bring their own phones into the country. However, security regulations still prohibit mobile phone calls between foreigners and locals. For years, North Korea required visitors to relinquish foreign cellphones at the border until their departure, leaving many tourists without an easy way to communicate with the outside world.

The ritual of handing over phones was part of an exhaustive security check that most visitors face at immigration in North Korea. Many foreigners - including Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, who traveled to North Korea earlier this month - choose to leave their phones behind in Beijing before flying to Pyongyang. Now, foreigners can bring wideband, WCDMA-compatible mobile phones into the country or rent a local handset at the airport, and purchase a local SIM card for use in North Korea. The SIM card allows them to call most foreign countries, foreign embassies in Pyongyang and international hotels in the North Korean capital, according to Ryom Kum Dan of 3G cellphone service provider Koryolink.

Cellphones rent for about $3.50 per day and SIM cards cost about $67, she said Monday. Satellite phones are prohibited, she said. However, foreigners will not be able to communicate by mobile phone with local North Koreans, whose cellphones operate on a separate network, and they will not have access to the Internet using locally provided

SIM cards. They can phone Japan and the United States, but not South Korea.

Cellphone use has multiplied in North Korea since Egyptian telecommunications firm Orascom built a 3G network in North Korea four years ago. More than a million people are using cellphones in the country, according to Orascom Telecom Media and Technology, which runs Koryolink as part of a joint venture with North Korea’s telecommunications ministry called CHEO Technology JV Co. The 3G network also provides North Koreans with access to the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper for a fee, but not to the global Internet. On Friday, Koryolink saleswomen were setting up cellphone rental booths at Pyongyang’s Sunan airport. One poster depicting a woman in a traditional Korean dress with a cellphone pressed to her ear read, “Here You Can Buy Koryolink Visitor Line.” During his recent four-day trip to North Korea, Schmidt urged North Korea to provide its people with better access to the global Internet. The Google executive chairman noted that it would be “very easy” for North Korea to offer Internet on the 3G cellphone network.

“As the world becomes increasingly connected, the North Korean decision to be virtually isolated is very much going to affect their physical world and their economic growth. It will make it harder for them to catch up economically,” he wrote in a Google blog entry posted Sunday. “It is their choice now, and in my view, it’s time for them to start, or they will remain behind.” — AP

Atari US files for Ch 11 to separate from parent Video game maker Atari’s US operations have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an effort to separate from their French parent company, which is filing a similar motion separately in France. In a statement, Atari says the move is necessary to secure investments it needs to grow in mobile and downloadable video games. Atari’s US operations have shifted to focus on digital games and licensing, including developing mobile games, and have become a growth engine for its owner. France’s Infogrames Entertainment first took a stake in Atari in 2000. It acquired the remaining stake in 2008 and changed its name to Atari SA. But the US operations have been better performing than the rest of the company. In fiscal 2012 digital and licensing revenue both grew significantly and contributed 70 percent of revenue, while sales in bricks-and-mortar stores declined. In December, Atari SA said a credit agreement it entered into with investor BlueBay - its main shareholder and only lender - would lapse at the end of the year and the company was seeking other ways to raise money. It added that it expects to report a “significant loss” for fiscal 2012.

On Monday, Atari SA said it and its

European operations would file related bankruptcy procedures in France at the same time as the US bankruptcy filing. CEO Jim Wilson said the moves were the “best decision to protect the company and its shareholders.”

The auction process in US bankruptcy proceedings will “maximize the proceeds” going to shareholders, he added. Creditors include accounting firm Deloitte & Touche, and retail stores Kmart and Wal-Mart Stores, although none are owed more than $250,000. Blue Bay is not listed as one of the US operations’ creditors. Atari, which turned 40 last year, was a videogame pioneer with games like “Pong” and “Centipede”, but has changed ownership several times amid financial problems. In its filing with the US Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York, Atari said it had $1 million to $10 million in assets and $10 million to $50 million in debt. It is seeking approval for $5.25 million in debtor-in-possession financing from investment firm Tenor Capital Management. Atari said it expects to sell its assets or confirm a restructuring plan within the next three to six months. Atari SA, which trades on the Euronext Paris market of NYSE Euronext, has requested trading of its shares be suspended. — AP

Starting this holiday season, gamers can take advantage of a special arrangement between Kaspersky Lab and Blizzard Entertainment. The two companies are working together to offer a software bundle that includes Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 (KIS) and World of Warcraft, the world’s #1 subscription-based massively multiplayer online roleplaying game-both for the regular KIS 2013 retail price. This package is available from major retail chains in the Middle East.

The KIS2013 and World of

Warcraft bundle comes with its own unique packaging, as well as 30daysof free game time to explore World of Warcraft, including the content of Blizzard’s Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King expansion sets. Players who purchase the bundle will be able to play the award-winning World of Warcraft while benefiting from Kaspersky Internet Security 2013’s world-class protection from all types of contemporary cyberthreats which can be encountered via everyday computer use.

“Cybercrime is no longer just

about stealing passwords to bank accounts or annoying us with spam. It has become a serious issue for gamers. According to our research, ever y day up to 7,000online gamers worldwide* come across malicious programs designed to steal their passwords,” said Sergey Golovanov, Malware Expert at Kaspersky Lab. “Gamers should take responsibility for securing themselves against possible threats. Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 is the latest edition of our proven security software, and offers gamers a reliable defen-

sive tool against cyber-threats.”

“Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 understands what gamers need. It has a special ‘Game Mode’ which, when activated, postpones resource-hungry processes to free up processor power for smooth gaming,” added Peter Aleshkin, Senior Consumer Marketing Manager at Kaspersky Lab Emerging Markets. “Plus, it doesn’t distract you with notifications if you choose a full-screen mode while gaming; but it never stops protecting you and your gaming experience.”

Huawei criticizes US security complaints BEIJING: Chinese tech giant Huawei on Monday criticized US claims the company might be a security risk as trade protectionism that harms consumers.

The comments came as Huawei Technologies Ltd., a maker of network switching gear and smartphones, disclosed details of its 2012 performance in an effort to show transparency and allay security concerns. At a news conference, chief financial officer Cathy Meng expressed frustration about US security complaints. She said Americans pay about twice what Europeans do for third- and fourth-generation mobile phone service and suggested it was due to impediments to competition.

“These measures using trade protectionism to interfere with free competition will ultimately harm the benefits of end users and consumers,” Meng said. “As we continue to invest in this industry and work with our customers, our customers and markets generally see the value we create for them.”

Outside the United States, Huawei has grown rapidly in developing countries and is increasing sales in Europe, becoming the first Chinese firm to break into the top ranks of global technology companies.

It is challenging Sweden’s Ericsson AB for the status of the biggest network gear supplier.

Last year’s profit rose 33 percent over 2011 to 15.4 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) on sales of 220.2 billion yuan ($34.9 billion), according to Meng. Still, last year’s profit was less than half 2010’s high of 24.7 billion yuan ($3.9 billion). Huawei is privately held but has released more financial details in recent years in an effort to ease concern about the company.

Monday’s news conference was the first of its kind for Huawei and part of an effort to “honor our commitment to transparency,” said Meng, a daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei. She did not respond directly to a question about possible plans for further disclosures about things such as how key company decisions are made.

Huawei was set up in 1987 by Ren, a former Chinese military engineer, to sell imported telecoms equipment and later started to develop its own. The company says it is owned by its employees and denies it is controlled by the communist government or China’s military, but such concerns have hampered its efforts to expand in the United States.

In October, a US congressional panel recommended phone carriers avoid doing business with it or its smaller Chinese rival, ZTE Corp. Beijing rejected the report as false and an effort to block Chinese com-

panies from the US market. In Australia, Huawei suffered a setback in 2011 when the government barred it from bidding to work on a national broadband network. The US and Australian actions highlight concern about Beijing’s cyber warfare efforts, a spate of hacking attempts aimed at Western companies and the role of Chinese equipment providers, which are expanding abroad.

Huawei issued a pledge last year not to cooperate with spying. Its financial rebound came as ZTE warned Sunday it is likely to report a loss for 2012 of 2.5 billion yuan to 2.9 billion yuan ($400 million to 460 million) due to thinner margins on contracts in Africa, South America, China and elsewhere in Asia.

Huawei says it serves 45 of the world’s 50 biggest telecoms carriers. The company has 140,000 employees and research and development centers in Europe, Silicon Valley and elsewhere. Meng said Rand-D spending last year rose 26 percent to 29.9 billion yuan ($4.7 billion). Last year, only one-third of sales came from its home China market, according to Meng. Europe, the Middle East and Africa accounted for 35 percent of sales, while 17 percent of sales were in other Asia-Pacific markets and 15 percent from the Americas.— AP

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

China’s young in crisis of declining fitness BEIJING: Xiao Ru spent her last year of high school studying from morning until late at night. That didn’t help her complete one particular assignment in her first year of college: a 1,500-meter run. With two friends setting the pace beside her, she finished the university fitness requirement - barely. Moments later, she doubled over and vomited. “The weather got cold, so I haven’t been training much,” she murmured.

“Then suddenly today I had to do this run ... and I just ... couldn’t do it.”

Clad in a purple wool sweater to fend off the winter morning chill, the 18-year-old student collapsed in the arms of her friends after the run at Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University. They held up each of her elbows as they escorted her from the track. Such dramas are increasingly common on the tracks and fields of China, which, despite its formidable performance in recent Olympic Games, has seen the fitness of its young people decline. “Our economic power has grown while our people’s physiques have not only failed to improve, but have deteriorated. That’s unacceptable,” said Sun Yunxiao, deputy director of China Youth and Children Research Center in Beijing. “This is something that worries the nation.”

The government has urged schools, especially K12, to beef up their physical education following an outcry touched off by a series of events late last year.

Two Chinese college students collapsed and died when they were testing for an annual, mandatory 1,000-meter run in late November. Another two runners in their early 20s died in 5,000-meter and 10,000meter races during a sporting event in the southern city of Guangzhou. The sudden deaths were considered accidental, but the spate of them was enough to draw attention to physical education in China. And several Chinese universities canceled their men’s 5,000-meter and women’s 3,000-meter events from their fall sports meets, for reasons including fear of liability and lack of interest.

The dismal state of fitness in the younger generation prompted a well-known and hawkish military officer, Maj. Gen. Luo Yuan, to bemoan the prospects for China’s future in a recent editorial in the state-run Global Times newspaper. “Femininity is on the rise, and masculinity is on the decline,” Yuan thundered.

“With such a lack of character and determination and such physical weakness, how can they shoulder the

heavy responsibility?”

Sun attributes the decline to an obsession with academic testing scores in China’s cruelly competitive environment for college admissions, as well as a proliferation of indoor entertainment options like video games and surfing the Internet. Though air quality in many Chinese cities has deteriorated in recent years, physical educators have discounted air pollution as a major deterrent for outdoor activities. Sun said an overwhelming majority of Chinese young students cited their academic performance as their parents’ top priority, with a chunk of the population saying it was the only thing that mattered to parents.

Lou Linjun, a former physical education teacher in Hangzhou in eastern China, said the grueling schoolwork has driven students out of the exercise yards. “It’s become a norm that schoolyards are empty in the afternoon at many of the city’s key high schools,” said Lou, who is now an assistant principal. “Students are less likely to be willing to endure hardship and do not like to run anymore.” The results are clear from the annual fitness tests that Chinese university students are required to take. Education Ministry data show that in 2010, male college students ran 1,000 meters 14 to 15 seconds slower on average than male students who ran a decade earlier. Female students slowed by about 12 seconds in running 800 meters.

Students also fared worse in other physical tests, jumping shorter distances and completing fewer situps.

Meanwhile, obesity rates among Chinese college students have gone up. In 2010, 13.3 percent of urban male students were obese, compared to 8.7 percent a decade earlier. Still, that compares with rates in the United States of 19.6 percent for males aged 12-19, and 33.2 percent for males aged 20-39 for the same period. Citing busy schedules, both China’s Education Ministry and its general sports administration declined AP’s requests for interviews. Wang Fangchuan, a sports professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, sees the disregard of health as the “mark of a society in pursuit of academic achievements.”

“We are walking on one leg,” Wang said.

The pressure for academic excellence begins early in Chinese grade schools, which do not have a tradition of competing in sports against neighboring schools. The national goal of earning Olympic gold

medals further separates sports from ordinary schools, because promising young athletes and resources are siphoned off to special sports schools nationwide. “We have this strange phenomenon.

Outside, we are showing off muscles, but at home we are panting,” popular blogger Li Chengpeng wrote last summer, when China’s Olympic athletes in London raked in 38 gold medals - second only to the United States. “Outside, the red flags are flying. At home, the red lights are going up,” Li wrote.

In Wuhan, 24-year-old police officer Yu Meng said he gave up on college and went to the police academy instead after his passion for soccer cost him academically in high school. “On the playing fields are those with lackluster academic scores. Those with excellent scores are all in classrooms,” Yu said. “Under the current education system, you cannot have both, and most prefer studies to exercising.” Xiao, the Tsinghua student, constantly did schoolwork while a high school senior in northern China’s Shanxi province, rising at 7 a.m. and going to bed after midnight every day, to better prepare herself for college

entrance exams.

“The school no longer required us to run in the senior year,” she said, adding that her weekly physical activity consisted only of a bit of badminton with friends. The long hours of studying paid off. School officials awarded her family 20,000 yuan ($3,200) and an LCD television when she scored high enough in the exams to get into the prestigious university.

Sports educators at Tsinghua say they feel obligated to make up for missed opportunities in high school by planting the habit of exercise. “We have elite education here,” said Ma Xindong, the university’s head of physical education. “If you live longer, you can contribute more to the society.”

Tsinghua goes beyond the standard requirement of a 1,000-meter run and makes its male students run 3,000 meters for its fitness tests. Sophomore Xu Sicheng, who had never run such a long distance before coming to Tsinghua, said he and his classmates were “shocked” to learn of the school’s grueling requirement. “We thought it was a mission impossible!” — AP

Obese likelier to die in car accidents: Journal Obesity rate in US above 33%

NZ to eradicate pet cats?

Purr-ish the thought!

WELLINGTON, New Zealand: Gareth Morgan has a simple dream: a New Zealand free of pet cats that threaten native birds.

But the environmental advocate has triggered a claws-out backlash with his new anti-feline campaign.

Morgan called on his countrymen Tuesday to make their current cat their last in order to save the nation’s unique bird species. He set up a website, called Cats To Go, depicting a tiny kitten with red devil’s horns. The opening line: “That little ball of fluff you own is a natural born killer.”

He doesn’t recommended people euthanize their current cats - “Not necessarily but that is an option” are the site’s exact words - but rather neuter them and not replace them when they die. Morgan, an economist and well-known businessman, also suggests people keep cats indoors and that local governments make registration mandatory.

But Morgan’s campaign is not sitting well in a country that boasts one of the highest cat ownership rates in the world. “I say to Gareth Morgan, butt out of our lives,” Bob Kerridge, the president of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, told the current affairs television show Campbell Live. “Don’t deprive us of the beautiful companionship that a cat can provide individually and as a family.”

For thousands of years, New Zealand’s native birds had no predators and flour-

ished. Some \species, like the kiwi, became flightless. But the arrival of mankind and its introduction of predators like cats, dogs and rodents has wiped out some native bird species altogether and endangered many others. “Imagine a New Zealand teeming with native wildlife, penguins on the beach, kiwis roaming about in your garden,” Morgan writes on his website.

“Imagine hearing birdsong in our cities.”

But many New Zealanders are against the campaign. Even on Morgan’s website, 70 percent on Tuesday were voting against making their current cat their last.

Morgan could not be reached yesterday.

And the science remains unclear. Some argue that cats may actually help native birds by reducing the population of rodents, which sometimes feed on bird eggs. Morgan’s separate personal blog, in fact, has a separate campaign to raise $1 million to eradicate mice from the remote Antipodes Islands, where rodents are the only predators.

A 2011 survey by the New Zealand Companion Animal Council found that 48 percent of households in New Zealand owned at least one cat, a significantly higher rate than in other developed nations.

The survey put the total cat population at 1.4 million. In the US, 33 percent of households own at least one cat for a total of 86 million domestic cats, according to a 2012 sur vey by the American Pet Products Association. — AP

PARIS: Obese people face a much higher riskof up to 80 percent-of dying in a car collision compared with people of normal weight, researchers reported Monday in a specialist journal. The cause could be that safety in cars is engineered for people of normal weight, not for the obese, they said. Transport safety scientists Thomas Rice of the University of California at Berkeley and Motao Zhu of the University of West Virginia delved into a US databank on road accidents, the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).

They dug out data from 1996 to 2008, covering more than 57,000 collisions that involved two cars. This was whittled down to cases in which both parties involved in the collision had been driving vehicles of similar size and types. The team then compared the risk of fatality against the victim’s estimated body mass index (BMI), a benchmark of fat, which is calculated by taking one’s weight in kilograms and dividing it by one’s height in meters squared. An adult with a BMI of between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered of normal weight.

Below this is considered underweight.

Between 25.0 and 29.9 is considered overweight; and 30.0 or above is obese.

The researchers found an increase in risk of 19 percent for underweight drivers compared with counterparts of normal weight. For those with BMI of 30 to 34.9, the increased risk was 21 percent; for BMI of 35-39.9, it was 51 percent; and for the extremely obese, with BMI of 40.0 or above, it was 80 percent. Obese women were at even greater risk. Among those in the 35-39.9 BMI category, the risk of death was double compared with people of normal weight. The estimates were made after potentially confounding factors-age and alcohol use, for instance-were taken into account.

Further work is needed to explain the big differences, but the researchers noted that obese people suffer different injuries from normal-weight individuals in car accidents.

Data from intensive-care units say that obese patients tend to have more chest injuries and fewer head injuries, are likelier to have more complications, require longer hospital staysand are likelier to die of their injuries. Another

question is whether obese people properly use their seat belt, rather than leave it unbuckled or partially fastened because it is uncomfortable-and whether safety designs in cars are flawed.

Crash tests, conducted with cadavers, found that in a frontal collision, people of normal weight lurched forward slightly before the seat belt engaged the pelvis bone to prevent further movement, says the study. But obese cadavers moved substantially forward from the seat, especially in the lower body.

This was because abdominal fat acted as a spongy padding, slowing the time it took for the belt to tighten across the lap. “The ability of passenger vehicles to protect overweight or obese occupants may have increasing

Narcolepsy link to GSK swine flu shot suspected STOCKHOLM: Stiernstedt, director for health and social care at the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, helped coordinate the vaccination campaign across Sweden’s 21 regions. The World Health Organization (WHO) says the 2009-2010 pandemic killed 18,500 people, although a study last year said that total might be up to 15 times higher. While estimates vary, Stiernstedt says Sweden’s mass vaccination saved between 30 and 60 people from swine flu death.

Yet since the pandemic ended, more than 200 cases of narcolepsy have been reported in Sweden. With hindsight, this risk-benefit balance is unacceptable. “This is a medical tragedy,” he said. “Hundreds of young people have had their lives almost destroyed.”

Yet the problem with risk-benefit analyses is that they often look radically different when the world is facing a pandemic with the potential to wipe out millions than they do when it has emerged relatively unscathed from one, like H1N1, which turned out to be much milder than first feared. David Salisbury, the British government’s director of immunization, says “therein lies the risk, and the difficulty, of working in public health” when a viral emergency hits. “In the event of a severe pandemic, the risk of death is far higher than the risk of narcolepsy,” he told Reuters. “If we spent longer developing and testing the vaccine on very large numbers of people and waited to see whether any of them developed narcolepsy, much of the population might be dead.”

Pandemrix was authorized by European drug regulators using a so-called “mock-up procedure” that allows a vaccine to be authorized ahead of a possible pandemic using another flu strain. In Pandemrix’s case, the substitute was

H5N1 bird flu. When the WHO declared a pandemic, GSK replaced the mockup’s strain with the pandemic-causing H1N1 strain to form Pandemrix. GSK says the final H1N1 version was tested in trials involving around 3,600 patients, including children, adolescents, adults and the elderly, before it was rolled out.

The ECDC’s Nicoll says early warning systems that give a more accurate analysis of a flu strain’s threat are the best way to minimize risks of this kind of tragedy happening in future. —Reuters

important public health occupations,” says the study, published in the Emergency Medicine Journal.

In the United States, “currently more than 33 percent of adult men and 35 percent of adult women are obese,” the paper notes. “It may be the case that passenger vehicles are well designed to protect normal-weight vehicle occupants but are deficient in protecting overweight or obese patients.” The final dataset used in the study entailed 3,403 pairs of drivers for whom data on weight, age, seat belt use and airbag deployment were available. Almost half of these drivers were of normal weight; one in three was overweight; and almost one in five (18 percent) was obese. — AFP

Rotten egg stink wafts over Paris ROUEN, France: Millions of French fretted yesterday-and some felt sick or got headaches-after a gas leak at a chemical plant cast a strong odor that wafted from northern France as far as Paris.

Authorities insisted that the gas, mercaptan, was harmless, but emergency lines were inundated with calls from people worried about the pong that came from a Lubrizol factory in the Normandy city of Rouen.

The company said yesterday it should within hours be able to plug the leak that began a day earlier and whose odors were blown by winds as far as the streets of the capital, over 100 kilometers (60 miles) away.

Despite the official insistence that the leak was not dangerous, French social media were awash with people in the affected

regions complaining of headaches and nausea from the gas that smelled like rotten eggs.

“They’re all saying not to panic, but they said the same thing about the cloud from Chernobyl,” said mother of four Patricia Cousteau, referring to radioactive fallout that spread across Europe in 1986 after an explosion at a Ukrainian nuclear plant. Local authorities said in a statement that a chemical substance at the Lubrizol plant, which makes additives for industrial lubricants and paint, became unstable and caused odors that are similar to those of town gas.

“The gas has an unpleasant smell but is not toxic,” it said. The concentration of the gas was also “very low”, the statement said, adding that “a large number of people have been inconvenienced”. — AFP

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

Golden retrievers key to lifetime dog cancer study Nearly half of US children late receiving vaccines WASHINGTON: Nearly half of babies and toddlers in the United States aren’t getting recommended vaccines on time, according to a study - and if enough skip vaccines, whole schools or communities could be vulnerable to diseases such as whooping cough and measles. “What we’re worried about is if (undervaccination) becomes more and more common, is it possible this places children at an increased risk of vaccinepreventable diseases?” said study leader Jason Glanz, with Kaiser Permanente Colorado in Denver. “It’s possible that some of these diseases that we worked so hard to eliminate (could) come back.” Glanz and his colleagues analyzed data from eight managed care organizations, including immunization records for about 323,000 children. During the study period, the number of children who were late on at least one vaccine - including their measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) and diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP) shots - rose from 42 percent to more than 54 percent.

Babies born towards the end of the study were late on their vaccines for more days, on average, than those born earlier. “When that happens, it can create this critical mass of susceptible individuals,” said Saad Omer, from the Emory Vaccine Center in Atlanta, who wasn’t involved in the new study. Just over one in eight children went undervaccinated due to parents’ choices. For the rest, it wasn’t clear why they were late getting their shots. Some could have bounced in and out of insurance coverage, Glanz suggested, or were sick during their well-child visits, so doctors postponed vaccines.

Undervaccinated kids also tended to have fewer doctors’ appointments and emergency room visits than those who got their shots on time, according to findings published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. That could be because their parents more often turn to alternative or complementary medicine when it’s an option, Omer said. Recent studies have shown many parents asking to delay or skip certain vaccines, often citing safety concerns such as a link between vaccines and autism - a theory which scientists now agree holds no water.

“We don’t really know if these ‘alternative schedules’ as they’re called are as safe, less safe or more safe than the current schedule, Glanz told Reuters Health, adding that parents who are considering an alternative vaccination schedule should talk with their child’s doctor first - and be especially careful about what they read online.

“We don’t have any evidence that there are any safety concerns with the current recommended schedule, and right now the best way to protect your child from infection is to get your child vaccinated on time,” he said. — Reuters

LOS ANGELES: When Jay Mesinger heard about a study seeking golden retrievers to help fight canine cancer, he immediately signed up 2-year-old Louie. He and his wife know firsthand the toll of canine cancer: Louie is their fourth golden retriever. The first three died of cancer.

“They all had long lives but were taken by complications from one kind of cancer or another,” said the businessman from Boulder, Colorado.

For Louie and 2,999 other purebred goldens, it will be the study of a lifetime.

Their lives, usually a 10-to-14-year span, will be tracked for genetic, nutritional and environmental risks to help scientists and veterinarians find ways to prevent canine cancer, widely considered the No 1 cause of death in older dogs, said Dr Rodney Page. The Golden Retriever Lifetime Study will be the largest and longest dog study ever conducted, said Page, the study’s principal investigator, a professor of veterinary oncology and the director of the Flint Animal Cancer Center at Colorado State University.

The study will focus on three cancers that can be fatal to the dogs - bone cancer, lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes) and a cancer in the blood vessels called hemangiosarcoma. Page said he also expects the data to yield information about other dog diseases, like arthritis, hip dysplasia, hormonal and skin disorders and epilepsy. The Morris Animal Foundation, a 64-year-old group based in Denver, is providing much of the $25 million needed for the study. The rest will be funded through online public donations that allow people to sponsor one of the 3,000 canine volunteers.

The study is recruiting purebred golden retrievers under the age of 2 whose pedigree can be traced back at least three generations. The breed was chosen because “they are very common. They are the fourth- or fifth-most common dog recognized by the American Kennel Club.

They are wonderful companions for people and found in every walk of human endeavor,” Page said. Researchers were seeking young dogs because “knowing the history of their lives provides huge advantages,” Page said. Those involved in the study compared the work to the Framingham Heart Study, which has

Dr Rodney L Page, Professor of Oncology and Director of the CSU Flint Animal Cancer Center, sits on a sofa with a golden retriever, Winston. — AP tracked a group of humans and their most of it spent on verifying eligibility Researchers will pay particular attention descendants from Framingham, and participation. Page said it takes to early onset obesity in dogs to see how about four weeks to verify pedigree and it is related to diabetes, Page said.

Massachusetts, since 1948.

Dog-years are a benefit to researching Dr Nancy Bureau, Mesinger’s veterinar- health, and make sure a dog’s owner and ian at the Alpine Animal Hospital in veterinarian will participate. So far, 200 ailments found in both dogs and Boulder, said that given the condensed dogs have accepted the invitation, and humans, because studying a dog for 10 years is akin to studying a human for 60 lifespan of a dog, it might not take a 600 others are on a waiting list.

Bureau, who also has a golden retriev- or 70 years, said Dr. Wayne Jensen, the decade to see results from the study.

“Before this group of volunteer dogs has er client on the waiting list, said it’s a Morris Animal Foundation’s chief scientifleft this world, hopefully we will have privilege to be part of a groundbreaking ic officer and executive director.”There data to help even them,” she said. A pilot study. Aside from researchers, participat- are many examples where risk factors in study of 50 dogs started in August 2012, ing veterinarians probably have the most dogs have also been found in people,” and Page said preliminary results from work - they have to submit samples of said Jensen. The study will also try to that first group should be ready soon and blood, urine and hair during annual measure factors in a dog’s life, such as reportable results could be possible in a exams and report whenever they treat a how fun and an owner’s love affect the year. Work on the study started about volunteer dog for any reason. Study lead- animal’s health and longevity. That will four years ago. After funding was ers will not intervene or recommend any be attempted through questions about approved, scientific and research teams treatment, Page said. “We will work with the number of children or other pets in were formed, the database was set up, a the vets working with the pets. We will the owner’s family, the amount of time bio-lab found to store the samples and a catalog all the things that happen, the spent together - and the dog’s sleeping medical history, the diet, environment spot. Mesinger knows the answer to that questionnaire was written.

The recruitment of volunteer dogs was and exposures.” The vets hope the study one off the top of his head: “In bed, with expected to be done in two years, with eventually will benefit humans. my wife and I.” —AP

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

W H AT ’ S O N

ACK starts 2013 with ‘Balloon Bazaar’ 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

Announcements Arabic courses

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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.

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India - Flag Hoisting Ceremony

n the occasion of the Republic Day of India, a Flag Hoisting Ceremony will be held at the Embassy of India premises at 9.00 am on Saturday, January 26, 2013. This will be followed by the reading of the message of Honorable President of India by the Ambassador, singing of patriotic songs, and an Open House Reception. All Indian nationals in Kuwait are cordially invited to attend the Ceremony.

IMLA students camp today

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he Kuwait Kerala Muslim Association’s ladies wing IMLA (Indian Muslim Ladies Association) has announced its Students Social awareness program on Wednesday, 23rd January from 6PM to 9.30 PM at KKMA community hall, Jleeb Al Shuwaik. The student aged between 12 to 18 years can attend the event.

Prominent personalities and other professional will be presenting the various topics which is aimed at Women’s development and welfare.

Well known psychologists Mrs. Sreedevi Pradeep and Mrs. Reeshma Farhan will address the session with effective topic “Beware of social evils” and “Adolescent Psychology” respectively. Prominent public speaker and trainer Mr. Mohammed Sameer will be instructing the students on Success and Leadership Essentials.

Special transport facility arranged for the students in Farwaniya, Abbasiya and Fahaheel.

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he Australian College of Kuwait (ACK) succeeded in creating another unforgettable festive experience, this time with its balloon - themed bazaar. On January 13-15, from 10 am till 10 pm, over

2,000 guests visited ACK’s campus where balloons of many different shapes, colors, and sizes were surrounding the entire bazaar area creating a vibrant atmosphere.

More than 60 booths were laid out dis-

playing various products ranging from food and beverage, clothing and accessories. The attendees were also treated to an outdoor screening of the live Kuwait vs.

UAE Gulf Cup semi - final match. The

Balloon Bazaar was a cheerful way to start the year of 2013, gathering all of ACK’s students, staff, and visitors. ACK ended the event with a promise that another outstanding event would soon follow.

Pakistan Embassy hosts dinner

MahaQuizzer registration closes tomorrow

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ahaQuizzer, the annual solo quiz conducted by the Karnataka Quiz Association (KQA) simultaneously across several Indian cities debuts internationally on 1st Feb 2013 in Kuwait with MahaQuizzer Middle East-Kuwait organized by National Institute of Technology, Calicut Alumni Association. This is a solo open general written quiz contest for all participants, irrespective of age, nationality or affiliation.

Test is from 2pm to 3.30pm with centers - Indian English Academy School (Don Bosco), Salmiya and Fahaheel Al-Watanieh Indian School (D P S), Ahmadi.

Separate prizes for ladies, children & schools.

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he Ambassador of Islamic Republic of Pakistan to Kuwait Iftekhar Aziz hosted a dinner on Jan 16 at

Crowne Plaza in honor of the Commanding Officer and officers of Pakistan naval ship ‘Alamgir’. PNS ‘Alamgir’

paid a goodwill visit to the State of Kuwait from Jan 16-20, 2013. Pakistan Naval Ships regularly undertake such vis-

its to Kuwait with an objective to further strengthen the friendly relationship existing between the two brotherly countries.

Swiss-Belhotel Plaza Kuwait holds annual celebration

Ma’adani: Expatriates protest

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erala Islamic Group conducts a conference protesting against the unfair imprisonment Abdul Nasser Maadani, under the heading ‘Human Rights behind bars’. VP Shoukath Ali presented the topic in the event which was held in Pravasi Auditorium Abbasiya. Those who speak for human rights are also being branded as terrorists and media terrorism is on the rise, opined Azeez Thikkoti. The combined protest of all the organizations who have gathered for the cause in Kuwait needs to be communicated to the respective parent organizations in India, said Sathar Kunnil. The judicial system in India is the culprit in this case and the government cannot be blamed, said Chesil Ramapuram.

Let this case serve as a case to raise humanity as an issue, said Muhammed Riyas. Maadani is a living martyr of government terrorism, said Aboobacker.

The dual standards of the left and right parties and their hypocrisy is reason why the case of Maadani has gone to this extent, said Anwar Shaji.

Maadani is a victim of political treachery and the people have lost faith in the judiciary said Ilyas Moulavi. The political ideals upheld by an individual cannot be a deterrent to release him from prison and everyone need to strive to release him, said Muhammed Aripra. Maadani’s issue is a black mark on our democratic system, said Basheer Mohamed.

The government is trying to eliminate all those who they do not like by stamping them as terrorists, said Mannar Murshid Moulavi. KIG General Secretary Anwar Sayeed welcomed the audience and Shareef PT proposed the vote of thanks.

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

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he management of Swiss-Belhotel held its annual party for hotel’s staff and their families as appreciation for the great work during the year 2012; also to strengthen the loyalty and

relation among the team. The event was held in Swiss-Belhotel’s grand ballroom, and welcomed by the hotel General Manager, Ali Haddad. He thanked all the staff for their support and hard work in

2012, added that 2013 will be a great challenge for everyone to achieve and strive for the best. The white theme night was filled with fun and excitement; it included games, prizes and gifts for all

the staff. Employee of the year was awarded to Orvil Cabral from Front Office and Siddique Abu Bakar from Finance who won a trip to Dubai and Bahrain.

JW Marriott Kuwait Hotel welcomes new director of event management

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W Marriott Kuwait Hotel announced today the arrival of Dina Makouyan as Director of Event Management.

Dina Makouyan has 11 years of experience having worked in the hospitality and corporate industry in different regions covering Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. During her tenure in the UAE, Makouyan was exposed to brand management, catering and event management in various hotels that include Hotel Intercontinental Al Ain, Shangri-La Hotel in Dubai amongst others.

Dina also served as a former Events Director at Ideaz Factory International SAL in Beirut, Lebanon before being appointed as a Public Relations and Government Affairs Manager at the

Middle East and Africa Logistics Council, where part of her role was to liaise with government officials such as Ministries of Trade, Finance, and Economy as well as Central Banks and NGOs to co-convene events.

Part of her new remit and responsibility at JW Marriott Kuwait City is to add more creative value by introducing new approaches that aim at meeting guests’ needs and ultimately increasing overall sales.

Commenting on her new appointment, Makouyan said: “I am very proud to be part of a well-established and reputable chain of hotels, and since event management was always my passion, I look forward to working with the team at JW Marriott to bring our experiences and

knowledge together in order to meet our diverse guests’ backgrounds and cultures.”

She added: “The hospitality industry in Kuwait is very promising with different corporate sector activities and events along with social and lifestyle occasions that are constantly being celebrated.”

General Manager of Kuwait Marriott Hotels, George Aoun commented on Dina Makouyan’s appointment, saying: “We are delighted to welcome a professional and a well-rounded expert in the hospitality sector, to complement the growth of JW Marriott’s brand in Kuwait.

We look forward to experiencing a new taste of success with Dina Makouyan and the entire event management team under her leadership.”

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

W H AT ’ S O N

Seminar on violence in Kuwait; society

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he Kuwait Public Relations Association organized a seminar on violence in the Kuwaiti society

in cooperation with the Leaders Security Group for Training and Studies. An exhibition was also held as part of the event

showing the tools commonly used in cases of violence in Kuwait. KPRA President Reem Al-Wuqaiyan rewarded

the General Manager of the Leaders Group, Musa’ed Al-Ghuwainem, at the end of the seminar.

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 on-line at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm.

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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-imenquiry@international.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakei St, Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is open from 07:30 to 12:30. Consular services for Canadian citizens are provided from 09:00†until 12:00, Sunday through Wednesday.

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

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Movenpick Hotel & Resort Kuwait conducts fire drill

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

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

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ovenpick Hotel & Resort AlBida’a Kuwait, one of the leading five-star hotels in Kuwait, conducted an extensive fire drill involving the hotel employees and guests. The purpose of the drill was to provide a tactical experience as well as a training for the stuff on how to handle all circumstances that might arise during emergencies, especially fire.

The management team of the Movenpick Hotel & Resort Al-Bida’a

Kuwait notified all guests of the routine exercise well in advance, to avoid any kind of disturbance or inconvenience.

The emergency response team evacuated all associates to the designated assembly point located next to the hotel main entrance. Head counts and inspections were done, as the hotel’s in-house fire fighting team ensured everyone’s safety.

Movenpick Hotel & Resort Al-Bida’a Kuwait’s General Manager Maged Gubr

commented “our goal is not only to provide a safe environment for all our guests and staff, but also to ensure that everyone in the hotel is very well trained and has enough knowledge on what needs to be done, in case of emergencies ,before the professional help arrives.”

“This exercise, in addition to all fire training sessions that were conducted by the hotel’s Engineering Department and Kuwait Fire Department, serves as a refresher course to all our staff that have

been in the hotel for a while, as well as a good training session for all new joiners.

The fire drill also goes in line with our goal of ensuring the safety of our guests.”

Maged added.

He also mentioned that all guest rooms, meeting rooms, and hotel facilities are equipped with the latest smoke detectors and fire-fighting equipments that are in accordance with international standards to ensure the maximum safety of the guests and staff alike.

Movenpick Hotels & Resorts opens 5th property in Dubai

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he group becomes the first international hotel company to operate a property in Al-Mamzar with the opening of Movenpick Hotel Apartments The Square.

Dubai (United Arab Emirates), January 21, 2013 - Movenpick Hotels & Resorts has opened its fifth property in Dubai, becoming the first international hotel company in the city’s Al Mamzar area of Deira.

Movenpick Hotel Apartments The Square opened on January 20 with 180 superior and deluxe rooms, as well as one- and two-bedroom hotel apartment suites. The property is close to the Al-Mamzar Beach Park and other landmarks within Deira, Dubai’s historical centre.

The upscale hotel company of Swiss heritage presently has four Movenpick properties in operation in Dubai, including Ibn Battuta Gate, Jumeirah Beach, Bur Dubai and Deira. The fifth property will further complement the company’s strategic reach in the city and in the area of Deira. Due to its proximity to Dubai International Airport, Dubai Creek, Sharjah, the airport free zone, port and trading centres, Deira remains a vibrant central district where hotels enjoy upwards of 80 per cent occupancy yearround.

Movenpick Hotels & Resorts is opti-

mistic about its future success in the Emirate, given that the existing portfolio in the city achieved an average occupancy of 86 per cent in 2012.The company is pursuing geographical expansion within the Emirate and a sixth property in Jumeirah Lake Towers will also open later this year.

“In addition to being the only international hotel company in Al-Mamzar, we look forward to differentiate the hotel by providing the Swiss quality, value and fivestar service which Movenpick is renowned for,” said Chadi Gedeon, general manager of Movenpick Hotel Apartments The Square. “Our hotel is ideal for families, executive travellers and long-stay guests. I strongly believe that our stylish and contemporary-design hotel apartments, coupled with our friendly approach, will provide both short and long-term guests with a memorable stay.”

Each of the rooms and apartments at Movenpick Hotel Apartments The Square Dubai are appointed with a convenient kitchenette, making it homely while still providing all the comfort and services of a hotel. The property has also attained the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) classification as ‘Deluxe Hotel Apartments’, the highest standard of hotel apartments in Dubai.

The Spices, a contemporary all day din-

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EMBASSY OF PERU The Embassy of Peru is located in Sharq, Ahmed Al Jaber Street, Al Arabiya Tower, 6th Floor. Working days / hours: SundayThursday /9 am - 4 pm. Residents in Kuwait interested in getting a visa to travel to Peru and companies attracted to invest in Peru are invited to visit the permanent exposition room located in the Embassy. For more information, please contact: (+965) 22267250/1.

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South African Embassy announcement On the occasion of the Birth of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), the South African Embassy will be closed tomorrow.

The embassy will resume its normal working hours on Sunday, January 27, 2013, from Sunday to Thursday. Please note that the working hours will be from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm and the Consular Section operation hours will from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm.

ing restaurant, has a culinary repertoire that includes exotic Asian creations and classic international dishes. At the rooftop swimming pool, cocktails, light snacks and shisha can be enjoyed. On the sixth floor, a fully-equipped fitness centre is available while executive guests benefit from four meeting venues with natural daylight and garden views.

The hotel is owned by Town Square Investment LLC and is part of The Square, a mixed use arabesque-themed community complex inspired by the Arabian inner

courtyard. The two-phase project in AlMamzar comprises residential buildings, extensive gardens, water features, apartments, office space and a retail area.

Movenpick Hotel Apartments The Square Dubai is nestled in the district of Al-Mamzar, close to Deira, Bur Dubai and Sharjah. The property is just ten minutes from Dubai International Airport and nearby leisure destinations include Al-Mamzar Beach Park, Century Mall, Dubai Bowling Centre and Al-Shabab Al-Arabi Sports Club.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

TV PROGRAMS

00:50 Animal Cops Phoenix 01:45 Tigers Attack 02:35 Untamed & Uncut 03:25 Wildest Latin America 04:15 Gator Boys 05:05 Venom Hunter With Donald Schultz 05:55 Call Of The Wildman 06:20 Animal Battlegrounds 06:45 Shamwari: A Wild Life 07:10 Shamwari: A Wild Life 07:35 Wildlife SOS 08:00 The Really Wild Show 08:25 My Cat From Hell 09:15 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 10:10 Deep Into The Wild With Nick Baker 10:35 Animal Airport 11:05 Wildest Latin America 12:00 Animal Cops Philadelphia 12:55 Call Of The Wildman 13:20 Wildlife SOS 13:50 Wildlife SOS 14:45 Animal Precinct 15:40 Wildest Latin America 16:35 Animal Battlegrounds 17:00 The Really Wild Show 17:30 Dogs/Cats/Pets 101 18:25 Weird Creatures With Nick Baker 19:20 Breed All About It 20:15 Monkey Life

00:00 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 01:20 Come Dine With Me 02:10 Antiques Roadshow 03:00 House Swap 03:45 Saturday Kitchen 2008/09 04:10 House Swap 04:55 Come Dine With Me 05:45 Antiques Roadshow 06:35 House Swap 07:15 Saturday Kitchen 2008/09 07:45 Trish’s Mediterranean Kitchen 08:10 Rhodes Across The Caribbean 08:55 Fantasy Homes In The City 09:40 Bargain Hunt 10:25 Antiques Roadshow 11:20 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 12:40 Come Dine With Me 13:30 Rhodes Across The Caribbean 14:20 10 Years Younger 15:10 Bargain Hunt 15:55 Antiques Roadshow 16:45 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 18:10 Britain’s Dream Homes 19:00 Rick Stein’s Mediterranean Escapes 19:55 Rhodes Across Italy 20:40 Come Dine With Me

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

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

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

Duck Dodgers Popeye Top Cat The Flintstones Dastardly And Muttley Ha Ha Hairies Gerald McBoing Boing Jelly Jamm Baby Looney Tunes Cartoonito Tales Moomins Dexter’s Laboratory Johnny Bravo Tom & Jerry Pink Panther And Pals The Garfield Show What’s New Scooby-Doo? Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries Tom & Jerry Tales The Looney Tunes Show Taz-Mania Moomins Pink Panther & Pals The Garfield Show Jelly Jamm

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 Mucha Lucha 08:25 Johnny Test 08:45 Regular Show 09:05 Total Drama Action 09:30 Total Drama Action 09:55 Ben 10: Omniverse 10:20 Young Justice 10:45 Thundercats 11:10 Adventure Time 12:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 12:50 Foster’s Home For...

13:15 Foster’s Home For...

13:40 Courage The Cowardly Dog 14:30 Powerpuff Girls 15:20 Angelo Rules 16:10 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 16:35 Young Justice 17:00 Ben 10: Omniverse 17:20 Johnny Test 18:00 Level Up 18:25 The Amazing World Of Gumball 18:50 Adventure Time 19:15 Regular Show 19:40 Mucha Lucha 20:05 Total Drama Action 20:30 Total Drama Action 20:55 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 21:20 Young Justice 21:45 Bakugan: Mechtanium Surge 22:10 Grim Adventures Of...

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

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 09:30 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00

Evil Up Close Snapped: Women Who Kill Gangland Evil Up Close I Didn’t Do It Snapped: Women Who Kill Gangland The First 48: Missing Persons The FBI Files Psychic Detectives Psychic Detectives Crime Stories Nightmare In Suburbia I Didn’t Do It Evil Up Close Snapped: Women Who Kill The First 48: Missing Persons

16:00 17:00 17:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00

The FBI Files Psychic Detectives Psychic Detectives Crime Stories Nightmare In Suburbia The First 48: Missing Persons Snapped: Women Who Kill Crimes That Shook Britain

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

Flying Wild Alaska Man, Woman, Wild Ultimate Survival Mythbusters Border Security Auction Kings Auction Kings How Stuff Works How It’s Made Sons Of Guns Mythbusters Ultimate Survival You Have Been Warned Border Security Auction Kings Auction Kings How Stuff Works How It’s Made Flying Wild Alaska Man, Woman, Wild Ultimate Survival Border Security Auction Kings Auction Kings Deadliest Catch You Have Been Warned Mythbusters Sons Of Guns How Stuff Works How It’s Made Auction Kings Auction Kings Magic Of Science Time Warp Mythbusters

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

Circus Mythbusters Street Customs Mighty Mississippi Storm Surfers Sci-Trek Ultimate Journeys Chasing Classic Cars Chasing Classic Cars Circus Sunrise Earth Mighty Mississippi Storm Surfers Sci-Trek Circus How It’s Made Street Customs Mighty Mississippi Storm Surfers Ultimate Journeys Chasing Classic Cars Mythbusters Sci-Trek Cafe Racer Cafe Racer American Chopper Ultimate Journeys Chasing Classic Cars Circus Science Of The Movies Cafe Racer Cafe Racer American Chopper

00:00 00:55 01:25 03:15 03:40 04:10 05:05 06:00 07:50 08:20 09:15 10:15 12:05 12:35 13:05

Opening Act Style Star THS Behind The Scenes Extreme Close-Up THS E!es E!es Behind The Scenes Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane THS Khloe And Lamar Khloe And Lamar Married To Jonas

13:35 15:00 15:30 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 22:00 22:30 23:30

00:40 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 01:30 Heat Seekers 01:55 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 02:45 Guy’s Big Bite 03:35 Ultimate Recipe Showdown 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 10:30 Barefoot Contessa 10:55 Cooking For Real 11:20 Hungry Girl 11:45 Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger 12:10 United Tastes Of America 12:35 Unwrapped 13:00 Iron Chef America 13:50 Tyler’s Ultimate 14:15 Andy Bates American Street Feasts 14:40 Everyday Italian 15:05 Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger 15:55 Hungry Girl 16:20 United Tastes Of America 16:45 Chopped 17:35 Barefoot Contessa 18:00 Barefoot Contessa 18:25 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 Charly’s Cake Angels 23:00 Unique Sweets 23:50 Have Cake, Will Travel

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

01:20 01:35 03:05 04:35 06:05 07:35 09:15 10:55 12:25 13:55 15:25 17:00 18:45 19:00 20:30 22:00 23:25

THE KINGDOM.ON OSN ACTION HD

Married To Jonas Style Star E!es Behind The Scenes Giuliana & Bill E! News Fashion Police THS Ice Loves Coco E! News Chelsea Lately

Disappeared Dr G: Medical Examiner The Haunted Deadly Affairs Deadly Women Disappeared Dr G: Medical Examiner The Haunted Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

True Crime With Aphrodite Murder Shift Disappeared Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Forensic Detectives True Crime With Aphrodite Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

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

Nightmare Next Door Couples Who Kill American Greed I Almost Got Away With It

Mgm’s Big Screen Enemy Territory Hangfire Crazy Joe To Kill For The House On Carroll Street The Mechanic Rage Return To Macon County Swamp Thing In The Custody Of Strangers Futureworld Mgm’s Big Screen Vanished Without A Trace Implicated Love And Death Rush

00:15 Kimchi Chronicles 00:45 Around The World For Free 01:40 A World Apart 02:35 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 03:30 Banged Up Abroad 04:25 By Any Means 05:20 Nomads 06:15 Food School 06:40 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 07:10 Delinquent Gourmet 07:35 Kimchi Chronicles 08:05 Around The World For Free 09:00 A World Apart 09:55 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 10:50 Banged Up Abroad 11:45 By Any Means 12:40 A World Apart 13:35 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 2 14:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 14:30 Delinquent Gourmet 14:55 Kimchi Chronicles 15:25 Around The World For Free 16:20 A World Apart 17:15 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 18:10 Banged Up Abroad 19:05 City Chase: Argentina 20:00 Delinquent Gourmet 20:30 Kimchi Chronicles 21:00 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 2 21:30 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet

00:00 Megacities 01:00 Monster Moves 02:00 Helicopter Wars 03:00 Alaska Wing Men 04:00 Jurassic C.S.I. 05:00 Hunter Hunted 06:00 Alaska Wing Men 07:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 08:00 Megacities 09:00 Monster Moves 10:00 Helicopter Wars 11:00 Alaska Wing Men 12:00 Jurassic C.S.I. 13:00 Hunter Hunted 14:00 Departures 15:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr 16:00 Ancient Megastructures 17:00 Monster Moves 18:00 Helicopter Wars 19:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 20:00 Situation Critical 21:00 Hunter Hunted 22:00 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 23:00 Dangerous Encounters With Brady Barr

00:00 Animal Underworld 01:00 Manta Mystery (aka Project Manta) 01:55 Triumph of Life 02:50 Dangerous Encounters 03:45 World’s Deadliest Animals 04:40 Swamp Men 05:35 Hidden Worlds 06:30 Triumph of Life 07:25 Dangerous Encounters 08:20 World’s Deadliest Animals 09:15 How Big Can It Get 10:10 World’s Weirdest 11:05 Wild Case Files 12:00 World’s Deadliest GPU 13:00 Great Migrations 14:00 Dangerous Encounters 15:00 World’s Deadliest Animals 16:00 I, Predator 17:00 World’s Weirdest 18:00 Hunter Hunted 19:00 Monster Fish 20:00 Dangerous Encounters 21:00 World’s Deadliest Animals 22:00 How Big Can It Get 23:00 World’s Weirdest

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

The Daisy Chain-PG15 Get Rich Or Die Tryin’-18 Lords Of Dogtown-PG15 Vengeance-PG15 Enter The Phoenix-PG15 Mission: Impossible-PG15 Warbirds-PG15 Enter The Phoenix-PG15 Reign Of Fire-PG15 Warbirds-PG15 The Kingdom-18 D.E.B.S-18

01:00 A Fall From Grace-PG15 03:00 Space Chimps 2: Zartog Strikes Back-PG 05:00 Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2-PG 07:00 The Warrior’s Way-PG15 09:00 A Fall From Grace-PG15 11:00 Win Win-PG15 13:00 Lord Of The Dance-PG 15:00 Black Forest-PG15 17:00 Teen Spirit-PG15 19:00 The Tourist-PG15 21:00 The Perks Of Being A Wallflower-PG15 23:00 Straw Dogs-18

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 Angry Boys 02:00 American Dad 02:30 The Ricky Gervais Show 03:00 New Girl 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 08:30 New Girl 09:00 Til Death 09:30 Samantha Who? 10:00 Melissa & Joey 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Seinfeld 13:00 Til Death 13:30 Samantha Who? 15:00 Melissa & Joey 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 New Girl 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 Angry Boys 22:30 The Big C 23:00 The Ricky Gervais Show 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy FallonX

00:00 02:00 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00 14:00 15:00 17:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Grey’s Anatomy World Without End Boardwalk Empire Good Morning America Royal Pains Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show House Royal Pains House Live Good Morning America The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street The Finder Warehouse 13 Awake The Carrie Diaries Boardwalk Empire

STRAW DOGS ON OSN CINEMA

07:00 12:00 16:00 16:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00

Emmerdale Emmerdale Emmerdale Coronation Street C.S.I. The Finder Warehouse 13 Awake

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

Pieces Of April-PG15 The Secret Of My SuccessLast Holiday-PG15 Jumping The Broom-PG15 Cheaper By The Dozen 2-PG The Search For Santa Paws-PG Last Holiday-PG15 Little Shop Of Horrors-PG15 The Search For Santa Paws-PG The Bad News Bears (1976)The Banger Sisters-PG15 The Dilemma-PG15

01:15 The Last Gamble-18 03:30 1941-PG15 05:45 Les Miserables 25th Anniversary-PG15 09:00 The Conspirator-PG15 11:00 The Art Of Getting By-PG15 13:00 Oceans-PG15 15:00 The Conspirator-PG15 17:00 Uncorked-PG15 19:00 Garden State-18 21:00 25th Hour-18 23:15 Essential Killing-18

03:00 Source Code-PG15 05:00 Stolen Lives-PG15 07:00 Page Eight-PG15 09:00 Every Jack Has A Jill-PG15 11:00 Source Code-PG15 13:00 The Phantom Of The Opera At The Royal Albert Hall-PG15 15:45 B-Girl-PG15 17:30 Every Jack Has A Jill-PG15 19:00 Red Riding Hood-PG15 21:00 The Perks Of Being A Wallflower-PG15 23:00 The Change Up-18

01:00 The Three Bears: The Amazing Adventurers-FAM 02:45 Judy Moody And The Not Bummer Summer-PG 04:30 The Ugly Duckling In Tales Of Mystery-FAM 06:00 Marco Macaco-FAM 08:00 Tommy & Oscar-FAM 10:00 Puss In Boots-PG 11:30 The Ugly Duckling In Tales Of Mystery-FAM 13:00 Quest For A Heart-FAM 14:30 Judy Moody And The Not Bummer Summer-PG 16:00 Freddy Frogface-PG 18:00 Puss In Boots-PG 20:00 Shark Tale-PG 22:00 Quest For A Heart-FAM 23:30 Tommy & Oscar-FAM

00:00 Evan Almighty-PG15 02:00 Alpha And Omega-PG 04:00 Hitch-PG15 06:00 Ice Dreams-PG 08:00 The Bad News Bears (2005) 10:00 My Best Friend’s WeddingPG15 11:45 The Avengers-PG15 14:15 Tomorrow, When The War Began-PG15 16:00 The Bad News Bears (2005) 18:00 Dolphin Tale-PG 20:00 Tower Heist-PG15 22:00 Happythankyoumoreplease

01:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 02:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 03:00 Futbol Mundial 03:30 Rugby Union European Challenge Cup 05:30 ICC Cricket 360 06:00 Trans World Sports 07:00 Triathlon UK 08:00 Cricket Twenty20 11:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 12:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 13:00 Live European PGA Tour 17:00 Trans World Sport 18:00 Rugby Sevens World Series 21:00 Futbol Mundial 21:30 ICC Cricket 360 22:00 Rugby Union European Challenge Cup

00:00 WWE Experience 01:00 Futbol Mundial 01:30 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 03:00 Cricket T20 06:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 07:00 Trans World Sport 08:00 Rugby Union European Challenge Cup 10:00 Triathlon UK 10:30 Triathlon UK 11:00 Volvo Ocean Race Highlights 12:30 Futbol Mundial 13:00 Triathlon UK 13:30 Triathlon UK 14:00 Trans World Sport 15:00 Rugby Union European Challenge Cup 17:00 Futbol Mundial 17:30 Triathlon UK 18:00 Triathlon UK 18:30 ICC Cricket 360 19:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 20:00 PGA European Tour

00:00 01:00 05:30 06:15 14:30 15:00 16:00 17:00

World Cup of Pool Dubai World Cup Carnival Futbol Mundial Live ODI Cricket ICC Cricket 360 Golfing World World Cup of Pool ODI Cricket

00:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter The Smashes 01:00 V8 Supercars Highlights 02:00 V8 Supercars Highlights 03:00 UFC Unleashed 04:00 UFC Unleashed 05:00 NHL 07:00 WWE Vintage Collection 08:00 WWE NXT 09:00 V8 Supercars Highlights 10:00 V8 Supercars Highlights 11:00 NHL 13:00 WWE SmackDown 15:00 WWE Vintage Collection 16:00 Prizefighter 19:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter The Smashes 20:00 UFC Unleashed 21:00 UFC

00:15 01:30 02:45 04:00 05:15 06:30 08:00 09:15 10:30 11:45 13:00 14:15 15:30 16:45 18:00 19:15 20:30 21:45 23:00

Randy Jones’ Strike Zone Dream Season: Working Man Western Extreme Bow Madness Pro Hunter Journal Randy Jones’ Strike Zone Buck Commander Randy Jones’ Strike Zone Buck Commander Speargun Hunter Penn’s Big Water Adventure Tarpon Of Boca Speargun Hunter Penn’s Big Water Adventure Tarpon Of Boca Speargun Hunter Penn’s Big Water Adventure Tarpon Of Boca Buck Commander

01:30 Singin’ In The Rain-FAM 03:10 Quo Vadis-PG 05:55 The Champ-PG 08:00 Quo Vadis-PG 10:45 Singin’ In The Rain-FAM 12:25 The Wings Of Eagles-FAM 14:10 Ziegfeld Follies-FAM 15:55 Please Don’t Eat The Daisies 17:45 The Wonderful World Of The...-FAM 19:50 Billy The Kid-PG 21:25 Torpedo Run-FAM 23:00 All The Fine Young Cannibals

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

American Pickers Pawn Stars Storage Wars Soviet Storm: WWII In The East Storage Wars Storage Wars American Pickers Mud Men Pawn Stars American Restoration Soviet Storm: WWII In The East Pawn Stars Storage Wars Mud Men Pawn Stars American Restoration Pawn Stars Storage Wars Soviet Storm: WWII In The East Storage Wars Storage Wars American Pickers Pawn Stars American Restoration Mud Men Storage Wars Storage Wars American Pickers Pawn Stars American Restoration Mud Men Pawn Stars Storage Wars Soviet Storm: WWII In The East Swamp People

00:05 Chicagolicious 01:00 Fashion Police 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 Open House 10:30 Big Boutique In The City 11:00 Top 10 11:25 Top 10 11:55 Giuliana & Bill 12:55 Tia And Tamera 13:50 Videofashion News 14:20 Videofashion Collections 14:50 Dress My Nest 15:15 Dress My Nest 15:45 How Do I Look?

16:40 How Do I Look?

17:35 Clean House 18:30 Clean House 19:25 Big Rich Texas 20:25 Big Rich Texas 21:20 Tia And Tamera 22:15 Tia And Tamera 23:10 Empire Girls: Julissa And Adrienne TRACE URBAN 00:00 Playlist 01:00 French Hit 10 01:45 Playlist 02:00 Urban Hit 02:45 Playlist 03:17 Playlist 07:00 Focus 08:00 Playlist 13:17 Playlist 16:00 Sound System 10 16:45 Playlist 18:00 Urban Hit 18:45 Guest Star

Classifieds WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

Kuwait

SHARQIA-1 PARENTAL GUIDANCE (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:00 PM 3:30 PM 5:15 PM 8:00 PM 9:45 PM 12:15 AM

SHARQIA-2 ZAMBEZIA (DIG-3D) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 2:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

SHARQIA-3 THE IMPOSSIBLE (DIG) CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:15 PM 3:30 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:45 PM 1:00 AM

MUHALAB-1 GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:15 PM 5:00 PM 7:30 PM 9:15 PM 11:45 PM

MUHALAB-2 CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

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

MUHALAB-3 DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:45 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

FANAR-1 GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) PARENTAL GUIDANCE (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:15 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 9:30 PM 12:05 AM

FANAR-2 TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) ZAMBEZIA (DIG-3D) TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:45 PM 3:45 PM 5:30 PM 7:30 PM 9:15 PM 11:00 PM 1:00 AM

FANAR-3 HYDE PARK ON HUDSON (DIG) HYDE PARK ON HUDSON (DIG) JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) HYDE PARK ON HUDSON (DIG) THE IMPOSSIBLE (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

FANAR-4 CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG)

12:45 PM

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (17/01/2013 TO 23/01/2013)

THE LAST STAND (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

3:15 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:15 PM 12:45 AM

FANAR-5 DJANGO UNCHAINED DJANGO UNCHAINED DJANGO UNCHAINED DJANGO UNCHAINED DJANGO UNCHAINED NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 3:30 PM 6:30 PM 9:30 PM 12:30 AM

MARINA-1 PARENTAL GUIDANCE (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) PARENTAL GUIDANCE (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

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

MARINA-2 CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:00 PM 3:30 PM 6:30 PM 9:00 PM 12:05 AM

MARINA-3 TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

AVENUES-1 HYDE PARK ON HUDSON (DIG) HYDE PARK ON HUDSON (DIG) HYDE PARK ON HUDSON (DIG) HYDE PARK ON HUDSON (DIG) HYDE PARK ON HUDSON (DIG) HYDE PARK ON HUDSON (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

AVENUES-2 SABOBA (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) SABOBA (DIG)

1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:30 PM 9:30 PM 11:30 PM

AVENUES-3 CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

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

AVENUES-4 DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 3:30 PM 6:30 PM 9:30 PM 12:30 AM

360 º- 1 THE LAST STAND (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG)

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

NO SUN+TUE+WED

NO SUN+TUE+WED

360 º- 2 GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:00 PM 3:45 PM 6:30 PM 9:15 PM 12:05 AM

360 º- 3 ZAMBEZIA (DIG-3D) ZAMBEZIA (DIG-3D) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 8:30 PM 11:30 PM

360 º- 4 SABOBA (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

360 º- 5 PARENTAL GUIDANCE (DIG) SAT PARENTAL GUIDANCE (DIG) FRI+SAT PARENTAL GUIDANCE (DIG) NO MON PARENTAL GUIDANCE (DIG) PARENTAL GUIDANCE (DIG)

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

360 º- 6 THE IMPOSSIBLE (DIG) THE IMPOSSIBLE (DIG) THE IMPOSSIBLE (DIG) THE IMPOSSIBLE (DIG) THE IMPOSSIBLE (DIG) THE IMPOSSIBLE (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

AL-KOUT.1 ZAMBEZIA (DIG-3D) TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:15 PM 4:15 PM 7:15 PM 10:15 PM 12:15 AM

AL-KOUT.2 HYDE PARK ON HUDSON (DIG) PARENTAL GUIDANCE (DIG) HYDE PARK ON HUDSON (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) HYDE PARK ON HUDSON (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:00 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 9:45 PM 11:45 PM

AL-KOUT.3 CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 3:00 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:30 AM

AL-KOUT.4 THE IMPOSSIBLE (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) GREAT EXPECTATIONS (DIG) THE IMPOSSIBLE (DIG)

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

BAIRAQ-1 CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 7:30 PM 9:30 PM 12:05 AM

BAIRAQ-2 THE LAST STAND (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) SABOBA (DIG) THE LAST STAND (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:15 AM

BAIRAQ-3 DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:15 PM 5:15 PM 8:15 PM 11:15 PM

PLAZA TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) THU+FRI TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) SAT+MON SEETHAMMA VAKITLO SIRIMALLE CHETTU THU+FRI SABOBA (DIG) NO THU+FRI SABOBA (DIG) TEXAS CHAINSAW (DIG) LAILA THE LAST STAND (DIG) NO THU CHINESE ZODIAC (DIG) NO THU THE LAST STAND (DIG) NO THU DJANGO UNCHAINED (DIG) NO THU AJIAL.1 SAMAR (DIG) (TAMIL) SAMAR (DIG) (TAMIL) SAMAR (DIG) (TAMIL)

3:30 PM

5:30 PM 6:45 PM 8:45 PM 10:45 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM

3:30 PM 6:30 PM 9:30 PM

AJIAL.2 SEETHAMMA VAKITLO SIRIMALLE CHETTU 3:30 PM SEETHAMMA VAKITLO SIRIMALLE CHETTU 6:30 PM JAB TAK HAI JAAN (DIG) (HINDI) 9:30 PM AJIAL.3 MATRU KI BIJLEE KA MANDOLA (DIG) NAAYAK (TELUGU) KANNA LADDU THINNA AASAIYA (DIG)

FOR SALE

MATRIMONIAL

Mitsubishi Pajero 2004, golden color, 6 clr, excellent condition, km 187000, KD 1850. Tel: 66729295.

(C 4288) 22-1-2013

Jacobite parents from upper middle class family (Ernakulam) living in Kuwait invite proposals from Christian parents of tall/slim/fair girls (age 2528, Bach/Masters degree, pref. Employed in Kuwait) with good family background, for their son 30/173cm/MBA (Australia) employed at a reputed bank in Kuwait. Nurses need not apply. Kerala Matrimony ID: E2321072, Email: cissacjee@yahoo.com (C 4286) 21-1-2013

4:45 PM

4:00 PM 7:00 PM 10:00 PM

METRO-1 SEETHAMMA VAKITLO SIRIMALLE CHETTU 4:00 PM SAMAR (DIG) (TAMIL) 7:00 PM SEETHAMMA VAKITLO SIRIMALLE CHETTU 10:00 PM METRO-2 DA THADIYA (DIG) (MALAYALAM) DA THADIYA (DIG) (MALAYALAM) DA THADIYA (DIG) (MALAYALAM)

3:30 PM 6:30 PM 9:30 PM

GRANADA NAAYAK (TELUGU) NAAYAK (TELUGU)

3:30 PM 6:30 PM

Toyota Camry 2004, 4 cylinder, white color, interior and exterior neat and clean, car’s maintenance done by Al Sayer service center, tires and battery new, accident free, original paint, A/C super cool, 174000 km run, price KD 2,300, Contact: 99072651 / 99527500.

(C 4283) 20-1-2013 Mitsubishi jeep Outlander model 2012 dark silver colour 4 cylinder engine, km 17,000, 4x4 drive electronic gear (installment possible) cash price KD 3,850. Tel: 66507741.

(C 4282) 16-1-2013

SITUATION VACANT Wanted part time maid in Salwa, salary KD 80, 8 am to noon, six days per week.

Contact: 96942874.

21-1-2013

TUITION Well prepared notes for the exams, for the courses of MBA, M.Com, MA, B.Com, subjects including accounts, management, cost accounts, income tax, economics, etc are available by a well experienced Indian Post Graduate teacher.

Also for all levels including O, AS, AI and A levels for IGCSE & British, American schools. Tel: 99838117/99315825. (C 4287) 22-1-2013

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines JAI THY JZR JZR QTR ETH GFA QTR UAE ETD OMA QTR FDB MSR DHX THY JZR JZR BAW KAC KAC FDB KAC KAC ETD KAC UAE ABY QTR FDB ETD GFA BAB IRA JZR MEA KNE MSR IRM UAE KAC CLX IZG FDB KAC IRC SVA QTR JZR KAC JZR

Arrival Flights on Wednesday 23/1/2013 Flt Route 574 MUMBAI 772 ISTANBUL 267 BEIRUT 539 CAIRO 148 DOHA 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 6132 DOHA 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 643 MUSCAT 138 DOHA 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 170 BAHRAIN 770 ISTANBUL 555 ALEXANDRIA 529 ASSIUT 157 LONDON 412 MANILA 206 ISLAMABAD 53 DUBAI 302 MUMBAI 352 COCHIN 933 ABU DHABI 344 CHENNAI 855 DUBAI 121 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 436 BAHRAIN 603 SHIRAZ 165 DUBAI 404 BEIRUT 470 JEDDAH 610 CAIRO 1190 MASHAD 871 DUBAI 382 DELHI 792 LUXEMBOURG 4167 MASHAD 57 DUBAI 672 DUBAI 6692 MASHAD 500 JEDDAH 140 DOHA 561 SOHAG 788 JEDDAH 175 DUBAI

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

KAC QTR KAC JZR IYE UAE JZR ETD RJA GFA SVA KNE JZR QTR ABY UAL KAC JZR KAC BAB FDB KAC MSC KAC KAC KAC KAC OMA FDB KAC JAI AXB MSR ABY QTR ALK MEA QTR GFA ETD UAE JZR FDB DHX KLM AIC JZR GFA JZR UAL QTR DLH

284 134 538 787 824 857 357 303 640 215 510 462 777 144 127 982 542 177 786 438 63 166 2405 618 674 102 774 647 61 614 572 389 606 129 146 229 402 136 221 307 859 135 59 372 417 975 239 217 185 981 6130 636

DHAKA DOHA SHARM EL SHEIKH RIYADH SANAA DUBAI MASHAD ABU DHABI AMMAN BAHRAIN RIYADH MEDINAH JEDDAH DOHA SHARJAH WASHINGTON DC DULLES CAIRO DUBAI JEDDAH BAHRAIN DUBAI PARIS ASSIUT DOHA DUBAI NEW YORK RIYADH MUSCAT DUBAI BAHRAIN MUMBAI MANGALORE LUXOR SHARJAH DOHA COLOMBO BEIRUT DOHA BAHRAIN ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN AMSTERDAM CHENNAI AMMAN BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA FRANKFURT

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

Airlines AIC BBC UAL DLH JAI KAC ETH THY KAC QTR FDB UAE OMA ETD MSR QTR QTR JZR GFA THY KAC JZR FDB BAW KAC KAC ABY UAE FDB KAC ETD QTR ETD JZR GFA JZR KAC BAB KAC IRA JZR KAC MEA JZR KAC KNE MSR JZR IRM UAE FDB

Departure Flights on Wednesday 23/1/2013 Flt Route 982 AHMEDABAD 44 DOHA 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 637 FRANKFURT 573 MUMBAI 283 DHAKA 621 ADDIS ABABA 773 ISTANBUL 381 DELHI 6133 DOHA 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 644 MUSCAT 306 ABU DHABI 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 537 SHARM EL SHEIKH 560 SOHAG 54 DUBAI 156 LONDON 787 JEDDAH 671 DUBAI 122 SHARJAH 856 DUBAI 56 DUBAI 117 NEW YORK 302 ABU DHABI 133 DOHA 934 ABU DHABI 174 DUBAI 214 BAHRAIN 356 MASHHAD 175 FRANKFURT 437 BAHRAIN 541 CAIRO 602 SHIRAZ 776 JEDDAH 103 LONDON 405 BEIRUT 786 RIYADH 785 JEDDAH 461 MADINAH 611 CAIRO 176 DUBAI 1191 MASHHAD 872 DUBAI 58 DUBAI

Time 0:05 1:00 1:10 1:20 1:30 2:25 2:45 2:55 3:15 3:30 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:00 4:10 4:50 6:05 6:55 7:00 7:35 8:10 8:15 8:25 8:45 9:25 9:35 9:45 9:55 10:00 10:00 10:05 10:30 10:30 10:35 10:40 10:45 10:45 10:50 11:30 11:40 12:15 12:20 12:55 12:55 13:00 13:10 13:45 13:50 14:15 14:15 14:30

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

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

792 4168 673 6693 503 617 141 773 613 238 824 304 538 135 858 641 216 184 511 471 128 266 145 134 982 64 439 2404 62 353 331 648 571 120 619 171 230 403 308 137 222 301 60 860 373 205 417 147 502 528 218 415

GIALAM MASHHAD DUBAI MASHHAD MADINAH DOHA DOHA RIYADH BAHRAIN AMMAN SANAA ABU DHABI CAIRO DOHA DUBAI AMMAN BAHRAIN DUBAI RIYADH JEDDAH SHARJAH BEIRUT DOHA BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN ASSIUT DUBAI KOCHI TRIVANDRUM MUSCAT MUMBAI SHARJAH ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN COLOMBO BEIRUT ABU DHABI DOHA BAHRAIN MUMBAI DUBAI DUBAI BAHRAIN ISLAMABAD DAMMAM DOHA LUXOR ASSIUT BAHRAIN KUALA LUMPUR

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

34

stars CROSSWORD 78

STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19) ARIES You could be in the public eye, especially with superiors. You may find that you really enjoy your job or the responsibility it entails. The conservative attitude is the best attitude right now. Finally, clear messages are available—instead of studying a situation, it is time to bring unsolved problems to an end. Your finances show improvement and you may have a significant chance to move ahead with some important plans very soon. You think you have forgotten a birthday or some other special day—make every effort to attend to this tonight. Make sure they know you truly care.

You could be in a mood of self-enjoyment and can appreciate your own better qualities this evening. Music is a great aid to relaxation and romance.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You have a lot of energy to pour into practical and career decisions. You may appear commanding but you are fair and others trust you to direct them when needed. You are at your most practical when it comes to dealing and working with others. You know just what to do and can act without haste. You are called on to make use of your natural abilities and common sense. A need to be respected is an emotionally charged issue in your life at this time. You enjoy helping people by organizing and encouraging others. This may mean that you have been put in charge of a community play or a neighborhood party. Certainly, with the love you express through your creative ideas, you could plan weddings or children’s parties if you wanted.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

ACROSS 1. (British) A waterproof raincoat made of rubberized fabric.

4. In the direction against a stream's current.

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

15. An agency of the United Nations affiliated with the World Bank.

16. Inclined to or conducive to companionship with others.

17. (used especially of commodities) In the natural unprocessed condition.

18. A warning against certain acts.

20. Having prongs or tines.

21. A bachelor's degree in theology.

22. Type genus of the Amiidae.

23. By bad luck.

25. A battle between the successors of Alexander the Great (301 BC).

27. A very poisonous metallic element that has three allotropic forms.

28. Prong on a fork or pitchfork.

30. Date used in reckoning dates before the supposed year Christ was born.

32. Very dark black.

37. American prizefighter who won the world heavyweight championship three times (born in 1942).

39. A republic in West Africa on the Gulf of Guinea.

41. A share of money or food or clothing that has been charitably given.

43. An undergarment worn by women to support their breasts.

46. Positioned so as to be ready for confrontation or danger.

48. A Bantu language spoken by the Chaga people in northern Tanzania.

49. The quality of a color as determined by its dominant wavelength.

50. A member of the Semitic speaking people of northern Ethiopia.

51. Moth whose larvae are flour moths.

55. A woman sahib.

57. A deficiency of red blood cells.

61. A state in northwestern North America.

65. An imaginary elephant that appears in a series of French books for children.

66. Clothing of a distinctive style or for a particular occasion.

69. A branch of the Tai languages.

70. A rapid bustling commotion.

71. Type genus of the Otariidae.

75. A unit of time equal to 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour.

76. A naval battle in the War of Greek Independence (1827).

78. A light touch or stroke.

79. A heavy iron lever with one end forged into a wedge.

80. A child's overgarment for cold weather.

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

DOWN 1. Any of various minerals consisting of hydrous silicates of aluminum or potassium etc. that crystallize in forms that allow perfect cleavage into very thin leaves.

2. (Old Testament) In Judeo-Christian mythology.

3. Type genus of the Caviidae.

4. North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

5. An edible tuber native to South America.

6. A white trivalent metallic element.

7. A person of exceptional importance and reputation.

8. The amount a salary is increased.

9. The compass point that is one point north of due east.

10. Fermented alcoholic beverage similar to but heavier than beer.

11. Aristocratic Italian family of powerful merchants and bankers who ruled Florence in the 15th century.

12. An honorary arts degree.

13. A Loloish language.

14. The compass point that is one point south of southwest.

19. Freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort.

24. A mobile mass of muscular tissue covered with mucous membrane and located in the oral cavity.

26. A genus of Ploceidae.

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

31. An assertion of a right (as to money or property).

33. Tired to the point of exhaustion.

34. An associate degree in nursing.

35. A member of the people inhabiting the Aleutian Islands and western Alaska.

36. (Greek mythology) A princess of Colchis who aided Jason in taking the Golden Fleece from her father.

38. A unit of length (in United States and Britain) equal to one twelfth of a foot.

40. A Chadic language spoken in northern Nigeria and closely related to Hausa.

42. United States newspaper publisher (18581935).

44. Basic principles of the cosmos.

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

47. Brightest star in Centaurus.

52. A silvery soft waxy metallic element of the alkali metal group.

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

54. Lower in esteem.

56. United States baseball player and manager (1873-1934).

58. An extreme state of adversity.

59. Very dark black.

60. Metal shackles.

62. The main city of ancient Phoenicia.

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

64. Jordan's port.

67. Affected manners intended to impress others.

68. Radioactive iodine test that measures the amount of radioactive iodine taken up by the thyroid gland.

72. Of a light yellowish-brown color n 1.

73. 100 avos equal 1 pataca.

74. A sheath worn to protect a finger.

77. A hard malleable ductile silvery metallic element that is resistant to corrosion.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

You look forward to clearing away some old files this morning and someone may join in to help you. Your mind may be busy trying to figure out how to repay the favor. Your attitude is positive and one of cooperation. You may pitch in and help where angels fear to tread. You may find that you are moving into a position of influence in the workplace now. There is better clarity now than ever before.

With a little nudge in the right direction regarding legal, technical or mechanical problems, a solution will develop. Financial opportunities come to your attention today in an unexpected way. These are positive and deserve your attention. Although there is much activity now you can fall asleep tonight knowing you have accomplished good things.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) Your intuitive powers are sharp today—you seem to find the answers you need. Others find you fun-loving, with a quiet satisfaction that life is good and all things turn out swell. You may be a bit difficult to pin down today as a variety of projects and subjects hold your interest. Consider building or erecting some sort of area where you can enjoy some form of meditation—perhaps a water garden or herbal garden. This is a great way to gain a focus. You need the respect of others and you work best when you can advise or guide and see productive results from your efforts. Forgive a family member today. The one completely true thought that you can hold onto regarding the past is that the past is no longer here. Your creative side is showing this evening.

Leo (July 23-August 22) Lay out specific guidelines in all your professional agreements for now so that you are not vulnerable to power plays. Do not undervalue yourself or your talents. Take a chance on your natural abilities. Superiors will be asking favors from you today. The return on your efforts will be worth twice over the energy spent—so do your best. Education and travel are possible soon. Your friends may request your help this afternoon—and that could include travel. Perhaps someone is moving or expecting the arrival of some new equipment. This will all go rather well as everyone may want to pitch in for a pizza party after the work is completed. Take some time this evening to reflect and understand your own situation. An attitude of appreciation prevails.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Stress adds tension and restlessness but it also adds a challenge to complete, compete, achieve and reach beyond the normal and all sorts of positive possibilities—look at the positive. Your friends have two important roles to play in your life just now—fun and harmony. Pay attention to your friends . . . they may also have some good ideas. All of those plans you have been making this month can be successfully put into effect soon—there is much enthusiasm to plan and take action. Sex and healing are obvious needs that play a bigger role in your life. As the subject of taxes, investments and other financial ties or obligations come into your mind, you will set aside some time to organize. Agree upon a secret sign to tell your sweetheart you love him or her.

Word Search

Libra (September 23-October 22) You want to get things accomplished quickly today and you find the day moves along at top speed. Pension, insurance or profit-sharing-plan subjects may be handled successfully—and it is about time. Any confusion you had about your job in the past will be cleared up now. New projects can be started—your mind is full of plans and ideas. Involvements with particular groups enhance your sense of purpose and mission. You learn through the advice you give to others. Educated in the best nutritional care, you may teach others to become more involved in educating themselves on supplement needs for the body. The result is a long and happy life! Treat yourself after such a busy day—relax. There is a basic drive to appreciate and taste life.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) The educational classes that you have been thinking about lately could become a serious undertaking now. If you are not going to take a class, you might think about giving a class in the subject matter you know best. Community colleges pay nicely for a citizen to teach the community about some profitable or indemand subject. This could be anything from how to make shoes to elder computer savvy. A sudden opportunity for a business trip may be planned soon and you could enjoy some great surprises. Stability in the workplace and in the home satisfies a deep emotional need. Sports and recreational activities improve your fitness level and afford you time to enjoy yourself and your friends . . . you could enjoy some group sports.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You have been trying to put through some new projects, methods or employee interests in the workplace—your voice will be heard. You may be making headway in the work world today. You and a co-worker are in-sync and moving quickly through all the allocated work you receive. The two of you make the day move along smoothly. There may be a hint of new ways to make money through an investment.

Check this out and then double-check; it may be worth your time. As usual, a break for exercise will help you regain your energies. This afternoon is an excellent time to study and improve your mind. Your creativity and artistic abilities carry you toward your goals.

Increasing confidence occurs when you recognize the progress you are making now.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) Round table discussions are possible in the workplace today. Getting in over your head is possible so think about what is already on your things-todo list before you volunteer your services. This is a great time to be with others and to work together. Speculative ventures show tremendous promise and may provide excellent resources. You have good insight as to when a proposition or offer may not be wise and today you can make points by bringing attention to the risk. Job and family begin to take up most of your time now and you enjoy your interaction with everyone. You may find that friends and many personal interests are in a flux of change—the changes are all positive! Casual friends are in a positive upswing.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Finally, clear messages are available—instead of studying a situation, it is time to end unsolved problems. Outer circumstances are good and it should be easy to push forward in projects and in all areas of your life. Things may seem almost magical in the way they are accomplished. You may be able to enjoy and value your own life situation today or feel especially kind toward a friend or loved one. A visitor in your home this evening may compliment you on your tastes or belongings. This is a mentally and socially active period. Drastic measures to tone up the body are not necessary at this time. Try recreational activities or team sports. This is a favorable activity and you will enjoy the results of the exercise as well as the interaction with people.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) A story, a job, a child or one of the many subjects that you love, has your attention today and may cause you to dream and think or remember stories from long ago. Perhaps books you have read or things people have told you will spur your imagination to write a song or create a story outline or to write a play. You may have done this before, but at this time, there are energies all around you that only you can twist and turn into a real entertainment for others to enjoy. Now . . . be aware that your friends or family may not be a bit interested in your ideas just now, so write down your ideas, record them to listen to later or join a club that has similar interests, one for writers or musicians, etc. Your energies with this project will be well rewarded.

Yesterday’s Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

Daily SuDoku

Yesterday’s Solution

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

i n f o r m at i o n For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 GOVERNORATE Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Kaizen center

25716707

Rawda

22517733

Adaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Kaifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salem

22549134

Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Qadsiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Gar

22531908

Shaab

22518752

Qibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Qibla

22451082

Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya Jabriya

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Hawally

ST TATE T OF KUW K WA AIT

Tel.: e 161

DIRECTORA ATE T GENE GENERAL OF CIVIL AVIA V AT TION METEOROLOGICAL DEP PARTMENT A DA AY: Y Tuesday

Ext.: 2627 262 - 2630

Issue Time

BY Y DA AY:

Mostly sunny with light to moderate north westerly wind, with speed of 10 - 32 km/h

BY Y NIGHT:

Cold with light variable wind, with speed of 06 - 20 km/h

MAX. EXP P.

MIN. REC.

KUW WAIT A CITY

21 °C

14 °C

KUW WAIT A AIRPOR RT

22 °C

09 °C

NUW WAISEEB A

20 °C

12 °C

WAFRA A

24 °C

12 °C

SALMI

21 °C

08 °C

25746401

ABDAL LY

21 °C

08 °C

25316254

JAL ALIY YAH A

20 °C

09 °C

Maidan Hawally

25623444

FAILAKA A

19 °C

12 °C

Bayan

25388462

AHMADI POR RT

18 °C

15 °C

Mishref

25381200

QARUH ISLAND

21 °C

16 °C

W Hawally

22630786

UMM AL-MARADEM

19 °C

16 °C

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

SFC. CHART

22/01/2013 0000 UTC

4 DA AYS Y FORECAST Temperatures WEA ATHER T

MAX.

MIN.

Wind Direction

Wind Speed

New Jahra

24575755

Weednesday

23/01

sunny

22 °C

07 °C

VRB-SE

08 - 28 km/h

West Jahra

24772608

Thursday

24/01

clouds to increase

23 °C

10 °C

SE-VRB

06 - 28 km/h

South Jahra

24775066

Friday

25/01

partly cloudy

23 °C

10 °C

VRB-SE

06 - 26 km/h

Saturday

26/01

partly cloudy + scattered rain

24 °C

11 °C

NE

12 - 35 km/h

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

PRA RA AYER Y TIMES

RECORDED YESTERDA AY AT KUW WAIT A AIRPORT MAX. Temp.

21 °C

Ardhiya

24884079

Sunrise

06:42

MIN. Temp.

09 °C

Firdous

24892674

Zuhr

12:00

MAX. RH

95 %

Asr

14:57

MIN. RH

49 % N 21 km/h

Fajr

05:19

Omariya

24719048

Sunset

17:17

MAX. Wind

N Khaitan

24710044

Isha

18:38

TOT TA AL L RAIINF FALL A L IN 24 HR.

Fintas

23900322

All times are local time unless otherwise stated.

00 mm

22/01/13 02:41 UTC

V1.00

T1.06

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist

25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535

Dentists

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

22618787

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

General Surgeons Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Internists, Chest & Heart Dr. Adnan Ebil Dr. Mousa Khadada Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

22666300 25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

3729596/3729581

Neurologists

22639939

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Kaizen center 25716707

25339330

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888 Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

22666288

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

Dr Anil Thomas

Dr. Salem soso

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Faiha

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

Al-Jahra

25610011

Al-Salmiya

25616368

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

07:00

No Current Waarnings arnin

WARNING A

DA AT TE

Al-Shuhada

WWW.MET.GOV V..KW

Expected Weeather for the Next 24 Hours

DA AY

22418714

Fax: 24348714

22/01/2013

ST TAT TION

Al-Madeena

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Afghanistan 0093 Albania 00355 Algeria 00213 Andorra 00376 Angola 00244 Anguilla 001264 Antiga 001268 Argentina 0054 Armenia 00374 Australia 0061 Austria 0043 Bahamas 001242 Bahrain 00973 Bangladesh 00880 Barbados 001246 Belarus 00375 Belgium 0032 Belize 00501 Benin 00229 Bermuda 001441 Bhutan 00975 Bolivia 00591 Bosnia 00387 Botswana 00267 Brazil 0055 Brunei 00673 Bulgaria 00359 Burkina 00226 Burundi 00257 Cambodia 00855 Cameroon 00237 Canada 001 Cape Verde 00238 Cayman Islands 001345 Central African 00236 Chad 00235 Chile 0056 China 0086 Colombia 0057 Comoros 00269 Congo 00242 Cook Islands 00682 Costa Rica 00506 Croatia 00385 Cuba 0053 Cyprus 00357 Cyprus (Northern) 0090392 Czech Republic 00420 Denmark 0045 Diego Garcia 00246 Djibouti 00253 Dominica 001767 Dominican Republic 001809 Ecuador 00593 Egypt 0020 El Salvador 00503 England (UK) 0044 Equatorial Guinea 00240 Eritrea 00291 Estonia 00372 Ethiopia 00251 Falkland Islands 00500 Faroe Islands 00298 Fiji 00679 Finland 00358 France 0033 French Guiana 00594 French Polynesia 00689 Gabon 00241 Gambia 00220 Georgia 00995 Germany 0049 Ghana 00233 Gibraltar 00350 Greece 0030 Greenland 00299 Grenada 001473 Guadeloupe 00590 Guam 001671 Guatemala 00502 Guinea 00224 Guyana 00592 Haiti 00509 Holland (Netherlands) 0031 Honduras 00504 Hong Kong 00852 Hungary 0036 Ibiza (Spain) 0034 Iceland 00354 India 0091 Indian Ocean 00873 Indonesia 0062

Iran 0098 Iraq 00964 Ireland 00353 Italy 0039 Ivory Coast 00225 Jamaica 001876 Japan 0081 Jordan 00962 Kazakhstan 007 Kenya 00254 Kiribati 00686 Kuwait 00965 Kyrgyzstan 00996 Laos 00856 Latvia 00371 Lebanon 00961 Liberia 00231 Libya 00218 Lithuania 00370 Luxembourg 00352 Macau 00853 Macedonia 00389 Madagascar 00261 Majorca 0034 Malawi 00265 Malaysia 0060 Maldives 00960 Mali 00223 Malta 00356 Marshall Islands 00692 Martinique 00596 Mauritania 00222 Mauritius 00230 Mayotte 00269 Mexico 0052 Micronesia 00691 Moldova 00373 Monaco 00377 Mongolia 00976 Montserrat 001664 Morocco 00212 Mozambique 00258 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Namibia 00264 Nepal 00977 Netherlands (Holland) 0031 Netherlands Antilles 00599 New Caledonia 00687 New Zealand 0064 Nicaragua 00505 Nigar 00227 Nigeria 00234 Niue 00683 Norfolk Island 00672 Northern Ireland (UK) 0044 North Korea 00850 Norway 0047 Oman 00968 Pakistan 0092 Palau 00680 Panama 00507 Papua New Guinea 00675 Paraguay 00595 Peru 0051 Philippines 0063 Poland 0048 Portugal 00351 Puerto Rico 001787 Qatar 00974 Romania 0040 Russian Federation 007 Rwanda 00250 Saint Helena 00290 Saint Kitts 001869 Saint Lucia 001758 Saint Pierre 00508 Saint Vincent 001784 Samoa US 00684 Samoa West 00685 San Marino 00378 Sao Tone 00239 Saudi Arabia 00966 Scotland (UK) 0044 Senegal 00221 Seychelles 00284 Sierra Leone 00232 Singapore 0065 Slovakia 00421 Slovenia 00386 Solomon Islands 00677

36

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

LIFESTYLE G o s s i p

Rihanna gave a lucky waiter a $200 tip

T

he ‘Stay’ singer caused a stir at the Laugh Factory Comedy Club in Los Angeles last Friday when she slipped the generous wad of cash into an unsuspecting staffer’s hand during a night out with her friends. After watching comedian Dane Cook’s stand-up routine while downing drinks with six pals, the 24-year-old Bajan beauty was all set to cough up the table’s $80 bill. According to TMZ, when the waiter came over, Rihanna asked him what his biggest tip ever was, to which he replied $100. She then thrust $200 into his hand and quipped: “Now I’m your biggest tip!” Rihanna - who is believed to be back with her on/off boyfriend Chris Brown - is famed for her wild nights out and raucous behavior in clubs. The controversial star has been known to post pictures of herself throwing dollar bills at dancers in strip clubs. She shared a snapshot last autumn of a stripper bent backwards with her head between Rihanna’s legs while she showed her with notes, alongside the caption: “Bands ah make her dance. (sic)” The caption was a reference to rapper Juicy J’s song, ‘Bands Will Make Her Dance’.

Brown latest victim of ‘swatting’

C

R

Pattinson’s friends support split decision

obert Pattinson’s friends and family think he has made the “right choice” to split from Kristen Stewart. The 26-year-old actor reportedly dumped the actress - who he reconciled with in October 2012 following a brief split after she cheated on him with her ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ director Rupert Sanders - earlier this month and those who care about him are said to be secretly relieved he has ended the four-year relationship. A source said: “No one would ever have told him what to do. But some people felt he never gave himself time to deal with what happened and heal. They think he has made the right choice.” The screen heartthrob is said to have finally made his mind up following a difficult Christmas in his native UK with his ‘Twilight Saga’ co-star Kristen and his family. The source explained to Britain’s Grazia magazine: “Rob thought it would be good for he and Kristen to visit his family in the UK over Christmas and New Year, but things were very frosty. “Rob’s family, especially his sisters, have found it hard to forgive the hurt and humiliation Kristen has caused him.” And the 22-year-old actress also angered Robert by signing up for a ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ sequel, even though Rupert won’t be involved with the movie. The source said: “Kris thought it would be fine because Rupert is no longer working on the project, but Rob didn’t feel the same way. That caused a major point of tension. However, the brunette star is still hoping her former lover will want her back. The source said: “She’s hoping this is just a temporary

hris Brown has become the latest victim of ‘swatting’. Police officers swarmed the ‘Don’t Wake Me Up’ singer’s home at around 5pm on Monday after an anonymous call was made to 911, claiming there was a domestic violence disturbance at his house. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the caller said a mother and father were in a fight and the father had gone to get a gun, before hanging up. They did not mention it was Chris Brown’s house. However, when police arrived, they found no evidence of a gunman or a dispute at Chris’ $1.6 million home.

Website TMZ claims the 23-year-old star was not at the property at the time, but members of his staff were. Chris’ parents arrived shortly after officers had started searching the home. Chris was spotted at Greystone Manor Supper Club in Los Angeles last night. His on/off girlfriend Rihanna was also there, but they left in separate cars. Chris is the latest in a number of celebrities to fall victim of a ‘swatting’ prank, following a similar incident at Tom Cruise’s Beverly Hills home last Thursday when a prank caller claimed an armed robbery was taking place, but officers found no crime had been committed. A 12-year-old child also previously targeted Ashton Kutcher and Justin Bieber’s homes in a series of elaborate prank burglaries. Kim Kardashian was left furious after her mother Kris Jenner, stepfather Bruce Jenner and step-sisters Kendall and Kylie also became victims of a ‘swatting’ incident last Friday that saw heavily armed officers show up at their door in Calabasas, California, after a hoax caller claimed a shooter was in the house and they heard a gun being fired. Kim tweeted: “Just got a call from my mom telling me about this prank call that someone was shot in their home and 15 swat team & 3 helicopters showed up! (sic) “These prank calls are NOT funny. People can get arrested for this! I hope they find out how is behind this.

It’s dangerous & not a joke! (sic)”

Lohan snubs ‘Dancing with the Stars’ offer

L

indsay Lohan has reportedly snubbed a $500,000 offer to appear on ‘Dancing with the Stars’. The 26-year-old star turned down the huge pay day to compete on the ballroom dancing show because she wants to re-establish herself as an actress. Although she has numerous financial problems, the ‘Liz & Dick’ actress didn’t consider taking bosses up on their offer, gossip website TMZ reports. A representative from ‘Dancing with the Stars’ said: “We don’t comment on casting.” Lindsay’s reputed financial problems include owing her former attorney Shawn Holley $300,000 in unpaid legal fees. Her ‘Scary Movie 5’ co-star Charlie Sheen also lent her $100,000 to help her pay off her $233,904 tax bill last year.

Despite the troubled starlet’s reluctance to take part in ‘Dancing with the Stars’ many famous faces have learnt to ballroom dance, including Pamela Anderson, Kelly Osbourne and ‘Dirty Dancing’ actress Jennifer Grey.

Bieber

overtakes Lady Gaga on Twitter

J Seagal wants presidential pardon for producer

S

teven Seagal has requested a presidential pardon for the film producer convicted of conspiracy to extort money from him. The action star wrote to the office of the pardon attorney at the United States Department of Justice to confirm his support for an eventual pardon for his former business partner Julius Nasso. He wrote: “I have no objections to and would support the application (when it is timely) of Julius R Nasso for a Presidential pardon.” The producer was sentenced to a year in federal prison in 2003 after his decade-long partnership with Seagal was severed. The ‘Born to Raise Hell’ star ended their relationship when his spiritual guru advised him to stop making violent films. However, Julius had already lined up four projects for the actor. Gambino crime family boss Anthony “Sonny” Ciccone and other associates were used in an attempt to persuade Seagal to do the films. The actor then went to the FBI saying Nasso was trying to blackmail him, while the producer claimed he was owed $60 million for Seagal pulling out of the projects. Nasso was convicted, although there was no proof he was a member of the crime family. After being released two months early on good behavior in 2005, he began producing movies again. With a plan to dissolve the pair’s companies in 2007, Seagal began to support Nasso in his request for an official pardon. Robert Hantman, the producer’s lawyer, said: “Julius is now looking forward to hopefully getting a pardon. “Seagal supporting him for a pardon is apropos of two close friends who had a falling out.” Seagal’s representative did not comment.

ustin Bieber has overtaken Lady Gaga as the most followed person on Twitter. The ‘Beauty and a Beat’ singer has amassed over four thousand more followers than the ‘Edge of Glory’ hitmaker, bringing his total to 33,331,355 and counting compared to Gaga’s 33,327,342 on the social networking site. Gaga had held the title for almost three years since overtaking Britney Spears in 2010.

The ‘Born This Way’ star was also the first Twitter user to cross the 10 million followers threshold, and broke her own record by becoming the first user to cross 20 million followers and then 30 million. Gaga previously tweeted about Justin’s growing Twitter following, saying: “So proud of @justinbieber and all the Beliebers! I’m only happy to see your fans growing in size, you all deserve it! Monsters support you!” Both singers have prominent fan bases on the website, with Justin’s fans nicknamed ‘Beliebers’, and Gaga’s branded ‘Little Monsters’. Fellow pop stars Katy Perry and Rihanna, as well as American President Barack Obama, make up the top five most followed people on Twitter.

The 10 most followed Twitter accounts: 1. Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) 2. Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) 3. Katy Perry (@katyperry) 4. Rihanna (@rihanna) 5. Barack Obama (@BarackObama) 6. Britney Spears (@britneyspears) 7. Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) 8. YouTube (@YouTube) 9. Shakira (@shakira) 10. Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian)

Beckham boys missing America

D

avid and Victoria Beckham’s sons are missing Los Angeles. The superstar couple recently moved back to their native England with their children - sons Brooklyn, 13, Romeo, 10, Cruz, seven, and 18-month-old daughter Harper - and the three boys are reportedly craving their old life back in sunny California. It has been snowing across Britain in the last week and David took Brooklyn and Romeo to Primrose Hill in London to enjoy the freezing weather. A source told RadarOnline.com: “The boys are struggling with adapting to life back in the UK. They keep saying it’s so cold back home, and they miss the LA weather, as well as their favorite TV shows, their friends and even the fast food! “It’s even worse when they Skype their pals in the States who tell them what they are missing out on.” David is currently looking for a new soccer club after deciding to leave his last team Los Angeles Galaxy and is currently weighing up several options of where to play.

The source added: “Offers have ranged from all over the world, so the kids are wary they could end up anywhere. Really, they would love to be back in America, although David wants one last hurrah somewhere else for a new challenge.” —Bang Showbiz

37

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

LIFESTYLE M o v i e s

&

M u s i c

‘Restrepo’ director has sorrowful Sundance return

S

ebastian Junger wishes his latest Sundance Film Festival documentary never had to be made. It’s been a bittersweet return for Junger at Sundance, where his war chronicle “Restrepo” won the top documentary prize three years ago. Junger’s back with “Which Way Is the Front Line from Here?

The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington,” a portrait of his “Restrepo” co-director, who was killed covering fighting in Libya in April 2011. The film debuts April 18 on HBO. Junger and producer James Brabazon, a long-time colleague with whom Hetherington covered combat in Liberia, were glad to share the film with Sundance audiences but uneasy coming to a festival that’s billed as a celebration of film. “It’s an odd feeling. James and I are maybe the only filmmakers in the town who are in some ways quite sad our film exists,” Junger said in an interview alongside Brabazon. “But it’s also our opportunity to sort of communicate how extraordinary our good friend Tim Hetherington was. “So I’m walking around, I’m seeing restaurants and street corners where Tim and I had conversations. I’m sort of flashing back.

Yeah, it’s a very kind of poignant experience.”

A portrait of a US platoon in Afghanistan, “Restrepo” earned an Academy Award nomination for best documentary. Six weeks after attending

the Oscars, Hetherington was killed by shrapnel from a mortar round. “Which Way Is the Front Line” chronicles Hetherington’s early life in Great Britain, where he studied photography and first went overseas in 1999 to cover young soccer players in Liberia. In 2003, he returned there with veteran war photojournalist Brabazon to cover rebels trying to overthrow President Charles Taylor.

In 2007, Junger, author of the bestseller “The Perfect Storm,” enlisted Hetherington to shoot photos and video for “Restrepo.” The two spent a year filming a platoon in one of Afghanistan’s most dangerous war zones, capturing both the boredom of waiting around for the fighting and tragedy as US soldiers lost close friends in combat.

Hetherington was not the usual objective, fly-on-the-wall photojournalist. The new film reveals him as a chronicler of combat but also a humanitarian who engaged with his subjects and put his own life at risk to help them.

Brabazon recounts a day in Liberia when a doctor treating rebels was accused of being a government spy. A rebel leader dragged the man away at gunpoint, and Brabazon, who already had witnessed executions in Liberia, was convinced he was about to shoot video of another. Hetherington was shooting video right next to him and stepped in to grab the gun hand of the rebel leader.

He talked the man down, telling him not to shoot the doctor because he was the only medic the rebels had to tend their wounded.

ry for him. That was something that he needed to involve himself in as a human being with a very specific and concrete outcome. That person survived and was

Director Sebastian Junger, left, and producer James Brabuzon from the film “Which Way Is Front Line From Here” pose for a portrait during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival on Sunday, in Park City, Utah. —AP “That for me more than anything demonstrated Tim’s courage, bravery and central humanity,” Brabazon said. “That wasn’t another picture or part of the sto-

able to continue treating the wounded.

That’s how Tim saw war.” Hetherington had talked about leaving combat coverage behind, starting a family and settling

down in a less-dangerous lifestyle.

Though Hetherington had called Libya his last trip to a war zone, Junger and Brabazon said they’re not sure he would have followed through and given up the front lines despite new opportunities that “Restrepo” had opened for him.

Junger and Hetherington had enjoyed the glitz of the Oscars, but they definitely felt out of place. “If you’re in the Hollywood world, the red carpet is in some ways, it’s a savage sort of competition for attention,” Junger said. “It’s their combat zone, and we were just visiting it. ... We’re kind of going to the zoo and seeing the pretty animals in some sense.”

Hetherington enjoyed it and was bemused by all the attention, Junger said. Yet throughout Oscar season, the Arab Spring revolts were erupting in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere in Middle East. Hetherington and Junger kept telling each other they should be there rather than parading around Hollywood in tuxedos.

Soon after, Hetherington was there, back on the front lines. “He is probably the only person who’s managed to do this. He went from the red carpet at the Oscars to dead in a war zone in six weeks,” Junger said. “People who make films that go to the Oscars usually don’t get killed in war zones, and people who go to war zones aren’t often on the red carpet. And he managed to do both.” —AP

Women Are on the Rise at Sundance - What Gives Studios?

F

emale directors, producers and writers have reached new heights in the world of independent film, but now the Hollywood studios need to catch up. According to a new study commissioned by the Sundance Institute and Women in Film Los Angeles, women have made huge strides behind the camera, directing 24 percent of the films at Sundance between 2002 and 2012. The numbers grew when all behind-the-camera positions were considered, as 29 percent of directors, writers, producers, cinematographers and editors of those films were women.

Women in Film and Sundance commissioned the study, carried out by three professors at USC’s Annenberg School for Communications, because they wanted to evaluate how far women have come in what has long been a male-dominated industry. “We hear so much about the lack of gender equity in terms of people behind the camera and we wanted to think about how we could support women,” the Sundance Institute’s Executive Director Keri Putnam told TheWrap at a brunch for the study on Monday.

“Before we went about and started a new program, we said why don’t we get a better sense of what’s going on?”

This positive trend for female filmmakers accelerated this year, as women directed 50 percent of the films in competition this year - a development TheWrap wrote about on Sunday. “This is a great year for women at Sundance,” Putnam said.

However, both Putnam and Cathy Schulman, president of Women in Film LA, took the study as a call for action rather than reason to celebrate.

Despite the growing number of female filmmakers at Sundance, women directed just 4.4 percent of the top 100 films at the box office from 2002 to 2012. According to the study, women have far more success with low-profile projects made outside the studio system. Women are more likely to be associate producers than producers, more likely to make documentaries than narrative films and less likely to be hired for big budget films than those with small ones.

The study was not just quantitative, as the professors also asked female filmmakers about their work experiences. The most prominent barriers they identified were financial - asking financiers for money - and the maledominated social environment. “What happens after women make their first film and have their Sundance experience that prevents them from continuing to work in the movie business?,” Schulman told TheWrap. “Women having children is not an obstacle. The barrier is asking for money and financing.” Though one could blame the status quo of the industry for those problems, that didn’t interest Schulman or Putnam. “We need to focus less on what opportunities need to be given to women and more on what women can do to get the opportunities,” she said. —Reuters

File photo shows performers in a Sydney production of “Semele’s Walk”, which com- File photo shows performer Aleksandra Zamojska in a Sydney production of bines Handel’s baroque opera with the clothing of British designer Vivienne “Semele’s Walk”.

Westwood. —AFP photos

From Handel to a rubber duck, Sydney Festival aims to please

W

hen Georg Friedrich Handel composed “Semele” in the 1740s, he could never have imagined it would be performed by opera singers in outrageous catwalk couture, including towering boots and sequined kilts. But for Sydney Festival director Lieven Bertels, the combination of beautiful baroque music and billowing Vivienne Westwood gowns in the production of “Semele Walk” was a no-brainer for the Australian cultural fair. “When I saw ‘Semele Walk’ when it was first performed at the Herrenhausen Festival in Germany, I thought it had Sydney written all over it,” Bertels told AFP. “It was the beautiful mix of fashion, an entertaining way of presenting opera as a fashion show. It has all the good drama that you want in a festival and it is so beautifully performed that it really appeals to a wider audience.”

From a gigantic, bright yellow rubber duck, to an artist who makes music from the wreck of a rusting car and a performer who ran a full 42 kilometer marathon on a treadmill in a public plaza, Sydney Festival has its quirks. Accompanying the more traditional fare such as an exhibition of Francis Bacon paintings, and an injection of classical music, are performances by Aboriginal singer Archie Roach and France’s Orchestre National de Jazz. “I think what makes Sydney Festival unique is really that kind of crazy mix and that eclecticism,” explains Bertels.

“It’s something we don’t always see in European festivals for instance, where you have high art, or a music

T

File photo shows a crowd of people attending the Daptone Super Soul Revue, one of the free openair concerts at the Sydney Festival in 2012. festival or a jazz festival. Sydney Festival can be all these things at once.” Tens of thousands of people have already experienced some of the January 5-27 gala which kicked off with artist Florentijn Hofman’s 15metre high inflatable duck sailing into the city’s Darling Harbour. Of the several hundred thousand people who experience some of the govern-

ment-supported festival each year, about 15 percent are estimated to be inter-state or international visitors.

More than 580,000 people attended last year’s festivities and more than 120,000 tickets were sold to paid events. Overall, the New South Wales government estimates the festival contributed Aus$56.8 million (US$59.70 million) to the state econo-

my. Bertels believes that Sydneysiders really embrace different forms of art, and this has guided him in choosing the 92 events for this year’s festival. “One of the great traditions of the Sydney Festival is that there is a lot of free stuff as well. So there are all these amazing concerts in the Domain which can hold up to 60,000 people.

“(But) it’s not just these big events; it’s also lots of small events.” One of these is Dawn Calling, in which Russian Arkady Shilkloper plays his four-meter (13-feet) long Swiss alphorn on different beaches and on ferries in the mornings to greet the sun. “That adds to the festival atmosphere,” says Bertels. “And also the giant rubber duck.” Bertels said for those bringing shows from Europe or the United States, committing to Sydney means having your sets and costumes in transit for weeks and cuts into the time which could be spent performing. But he says there is no better place to be than Sydney in January, with its warm summer weather, beaches and arts festival, despite the recent record-high temperatures. For Austrian countertenor singer Armin Gramer, the Sydney production of “Semele Walk” is special. “I think it’s so far away from Europe; it’s the other end of the world.” And then there are the costumes, which for his character include crystal-studded stockings and a kilt festooned with silver sequins. “I never had cooperation with a fashion designer, especially one like Vivienne Westwood,” he says of the flamboyant and celebrated British fashionista.

“And doing it on a runway is a special thing as well because you’re really quite near to... the people. “I like it very much,” he laughs. Sydney Festival was designed to bring life back into the city during the slow summer months. It first took place in 1977 and since then has grown to become one of the country’s largest annual cultural celebrations. —AFP

How the US shapes the military’s big screen image

he CIA and the Pentagon pulled out all the stops for the creators of “Zero Dark Thirty,” staging interviews with officials and a Navy SEAL for an inside account of the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Critics praised the movie’s gritty and gripping feel but, with the film due for release in major European markets this week, controversy has erupted over claims that it justifies US agents’ use of torture on detainees. The access granted to director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal has turned the Oscarnominated movie into the most detailed public account that exists of the May 2011 raid on a Pakistani compound to kill Bin Laden.

Nate Jones of the National Security Archives research institute dubbed it “the closest thing to

the official story behind the pursuit of bin Laden.” Bigelow has been forced to release a statement denying widespread allegations that the film set out to justify or sanitize the “enhanced interrogation techniques” employed during the so-called ‘war on terror’. Although the assistance offered to the “Zero Dark Thirty” crew sparked accusations that the White House used the movie as a propaganda tool, cooperation between Hollywood and the Pentagon or CIA is nothing new.

The first film ever to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards, “Wings” in 1929, featured dogfight scenes with bi-planes thanks to help from the army. It was the beginning of a relationship that has grown over decades. The film

industry covets access to hardware and expertise that only the armed forces can provide, while in return, defense officials want to burnish the military’s image on the big screen. The Pentagon’s criteria for justifying cooperation on any film or television project is loosely defined, but until recently has never been seriously questioned by Congress.

“It just basically says: ‘Is it something that might be of benefit for recruiting and retention?

And/or is it something that might tell the American public more about the US military?” explained Philip Strub, who leads the Pentagon’s liaison unit with the entertainment industry. For the Pentagon, the decision whether to work on a film project all comes

down to the script. Characters in uniform need to reflect what officials consider to be an accurate picture of the practices and the ethos of the military.

If not, then the Defense Department refuses to grant permission to film at a base or to rent out US tanks or aircraft for a production. To the Pentagon’s critics, the arrangement amounts to stealthy propaganda, with the military using its leverage to effectively censor screenplays. “They make prostitutes of us all because they want us to sell out to their point of view,” director Oliver Stone told author David Robb in the book “Operation Hollywood,” which blasts the Pentagon’s role. “Most films about the military are recruiting posters,” the director said. —AFP

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

lifestyle F a s h i o n

Models present creations by Belgian designer Raf Simons for Christian Dior during the Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2013 collection shows in Paris. —AFP

Spring, electricity in the air in couture day 1 T

here’s never a gray moment for haute couture. As it snowed outside, it was a spring garden party for Christian Dior on Monday, the first day of Paris’s spring-summer 2013 season. A roll call of A-list celebrities were able to enjoy agreeable weather thanks to a lavish garden created for the Dior show- replete with hazelnut trees and scented boxwood hedges - in an annex inside Paris’ famed Jardin des Tuileries. Sigourney Weaver, Jessica Alba, Rosamund Pike as well as French first lady Valerie Trierweiler were able to dry off on the front row to explore Raf Simons’ creative flower-themed landscape of gowns.

The spring season often lends itself naturally to earthly explorations, and the show’s first day proved this in abundance.

Italian-born Maurizio Galante’s designs had the delicate layering of forest foliage, whereas organic themes abounded in 28-yearold wunderkind Iris Van Herpen’s death-defying ode to electricity in the human body. But Donatella Versace - who rebelled to show at the end of menswear fashion week and outside the official calendar - is always one to buck the trend. Her designs’ unapologetic, gold contours looked almost superhuman in their sculpted proportions, not to mention sexy thanks to the exposed flesh.

But the Italian designer didn’t convince everyone, not even Kevin Costner, who watched from the front row with his wife.

“Yes, I suppose Versace makes them sexy,” the actor mused after the show. “But the most beautiful woman here is sitting next to me.” Haute couture is an artisan-based method of making clothes that dates back over 150 years. The very expensive garments, shown in collections only in Paris twice a year, are bought by a core group of no more than 100 rich women around the world.

Iris Van Herpen

CHRISTIAN DIOR Spring was in the air at Christian Dior, whose couture show carried on with last season’s idea of the “flower women.” The show saw multi-layered flower embroideries and detailing that increased - like a blossom - as the 47 looks progressed. It was a nice idea, but detailed gold, yellow and blue appliques sometimes detracted from the gowns. The collection’s subtlety was to be found, instead, in Simons’ exploration of sections and layers through color. Apart from the staple hourglass shape that’s familiar Dior territory, Simons experimented away from the

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

lifestyle F a s h i o n

Maurizio Galante house DNA, with colored sections on ensembles which seemed to grow in stages, like a plant shoot. This produced some of the show’s best looks, like strips of pale lemon, offwhite and pale lilac, which broke up one embroidered, black silk bustier. Or one silk ball skirt that expanded out at a line, like an organic growth spurt.

IRIS VAN HERPEN Iris Van Herpen’s electrifying haute couture show should have come with a warning sign: Danger High Voltage. A mysterious black statue in a dimly lit Parisian salon awaited revelers who suddenly gasped as this “statue” began to move; the figure was in fact a performer inside a black body stocking, standing on a Tesla coil. Then followed one of the most unforgettable -and frightening - displays seen in recent couture memory: the electricity was turned on and this figure lit up like lightning. As if straight out of a scene from the movie “X-Men,” long electrical sparks shot out in all directions for several minutes. In 11 dynamic looks, Van Herpen continued her signature exploration of organic life.

This was, as ever, twinned with a dash of poetic license, all to produce one of her strongest shows to date. White trapezoid silhouettes with all-over spiky appliques perfectly evoked the high-energy fuzz of a voltage current. But it was the electric human that stole the show.

MAURIZIO GALANTE Maurizio Galante is inspired by nature. To the sound of birdsong, the designer presented a show where models, like forest spirits, sported moist organic hairstyles. The looping, shredding and draping of diaphanous fabrics such as crepe, chiffon, organza and taffeta - often with glistening crystal beads - were aimed at evoking the delicate layers of foliage. In some ensembles this worked. A shredded, flowing white silk look that included flared chiffon pants flowed beautifully with the natural movement of the model.

However, at times the contrasting shredded fabrics came across busy in their myriad cutouts and loops. —AP

(From left) French actress Isabelle Huppert, US actresses Sigourney Weaver, Jessica Alba and Leelee Sobieski attend the Christian Dior Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2013 collection show by Belgian designer Raf Simons in Paris. —AFP

Models wear wedding gowns, by German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel’s Spring Summer 2013 Haute Couture fashion collection, presented in Paris, yesterday.

—AFP photos

Lagerfeld backs gay marriage

G

erman fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld yesterday used the finale of his Chanel haute couture show in Paris to signal his support for gay marriage. At the end of his spring 2013 show in Paris’s vast Grand Palais, two models in long white gowns with

trains swept in accompanied by a small boy. Speaking backstage after the show, Lagerfeld confirmed that it was intended as a show of support for gay marriage although he added that he was “less supportive” of what he called gay couples “ordering babies”.

at Paris couture show

“I am not so crazy about that,” he told reporters.

Asked about news the disgraced British designer John Galliano had been thrown a lifeline by fellow designer Oscar de la Renta, Lagerfeld said he hoped “something positive comes out of it for him”. Galliano

was sacked by Christian Dior and convicted last year in France of anti-Semitism after a video emerged of him hurling insults at people in a Paris bar. “He made a mistake, but you cannot pay forever,” Lagerfeld said. —AFP

Spring, electricity in the air in couture day 1

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013

Michelle Obama again picks designer Wu for inaugural gown I

t was one of the biggest questions of Monday’s inaugural celebrations: not what would President Barack Obama say, but what would his wife, Michelle Obama, wear? The first lady cemented her reputation as an international style trend-setter with her choice of a Jason Wu red sleeveless ball gown in the evening, and a striking business-style blue navy coat and dress for the ceremonial daytime events. It was a huge win for US designer Wu making one of his ball gowns her choice for a second straight inauguration.

The first lady appeared for her first dance of the night with the president at the Commander-in-Chief’s Ball for US service members in a ruby-colored chiffon and full-length velvet gown custom made by the New York-based designer. Her shoes were from the London-based Malaysian-Chinese designer Jimmy Choo, and she wore a diamond-embellished ring handmade by jeweler Kimberly McDonald of New York. Michelle Obama helped make Wu a household name by choosing a white chiffon gown he designed for the balls celebrating her husband’s first inauguration in 2009. Wu, now 30, has since had significant commercial success, but his creations in the two inaugurations has won him a place in US fashion history. Dressing the first lady, a Harvard-trained lawyer known for her style, can be a huge boost for a fashion designer or retail chain. Praised for wearing high-end designers as well as pieces from mass-market stores, the first lady has won over fashion critics in her four years in the White House. “Icon’s a big word and it sometimes gets over used, but I think if we’re going to use it, we can use it now,” said Steven Kolb, chief executive of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, adding, “What makes her a real icon is the work that she does and the woman that she is.” Dresses, sweaters, shoes and belts she has worn have sold out at retailers from designer showrooms to mass market chains including Gap Inc, J Crew and Target Corp, for which Wu has designed low-priced fashions. Earlier on Monday, the first lady wore a navy coat and dress by designer Thom Browne, inspired by the fabric of a man’s silk tie. Her belt and gloves were from J Crew, a chain that is a fixture in US shopping malls; the necklace and earrings were designed by Cathy Waterman. The suede boots were by Reed Krakoff, as was the short blue cardigan she wore to a celebratory lunch in the Capitol.

This combo image shows first lady Michelle Obama as she arrives at the Inaugural Ball in Washington on Jan 21, 2009, left, and Jan 21, 2013, right. —AP

Big-ticket industry Best known for men’s clothing, Browne boasts a string of design awards, most recently, a prestigious National Design Award for fashion from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution.

“She likes well-tailored clothes, so the inspiration was doing something that looked tailored and structured and fitted through the body and somewhat A-line for the skirt and the dress,” Browne told the Los Angeles Times.

Style mavens credit the 49-year-old first lady with changing the way American women put together their outfits, and, by patronizing US designers, bolstering a multibillion-dollar industry. A 2010 study from New York University’s Stern School of Business found that a single appearance by the first lady can generate $14 million in value for a company. Famed for her toned arms, Obama set a trend for sleeveless tops. Her cardigans and belted dresses have prompted many working women to switch from blazers and suits in the workplace. “Michelle looks good however, wherever, whatever she does. Michelle looks good in her sleeping gown,” said Sharon Johnson, a therapist who came from Baltimore to watch the inauguration, and joked that she is still looking for the green leather gloves Obama wore on Inauguration Day four years ago.

“Her beauty is so far inside, and shines so far outside,” Johnson said. When Michelle Obama held the Bible for her husband during his official swearing-in on Sunday, she wore a dark blue dress by Reed Krakoff, the creative director for the Coach leather goods company, who has become a fashion designer. On Sunday night, she wore a sleeveless black sequined dress by Michael Kors to an inaugural reception for supporters. At that reception, President Obama weighed in on what he termed the most “significant” event of the inaugural weekend; his wife’s hotly discussed new hairstyle. “I love her bangs,” Obama said.

“She looks good. She always looks good.”

Interest in Michelle Obama’s clothing has extended to the outfits worn by her two daughters. On Monday, the White House said Malia, 14, was wearing a J Crew ensemble and Sasha, 11, and wore a Kate Spade coat and File photo shows designer dress. Obama is a far bigger influence on US Jason Wu taking a bow after fashion than most of her predecessors. Laura presenting his Spring 2012 Bush favored suits by Oscar de la Renta and collection during Fashion Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, is best known for wearing a range of brightly colWeek in New York.—AP ored pants suits. Even stylish Jackie Kennedy wore mostly European designers. Obama’s fashion choices have not always been applauded. Some Americans were angry when she wore a red gown from a British label - Alexander McQueen - to a 2011 state dinner for China’s president. Kolb dismissed such concerns, noting that fashion is a global business and that US designers are thrilled when, for example, Kate Middleton, the wife of Britain’s Prince of Wales, wears their clothing. “At the end of the day, we get up in the morning and we look in our closet and we have to feel good about what we put on,” he said. At the end of the inaugural festivities, Michelle Obama’s outfits and accompanying accessories will go to the National Archives. —Reuters

New Empire State Building spire dazzles rivals

W

hen owner Anthony Malkin found his Empire State Building’s dominance of the New York skyline under attack, he turned to Hong Kong for an idea that could dazzle any rival into submission: light. The 1,200 newly installed lamps now illuminating the skyscraper’s famous spire have brought the most visible change to the Art-Deco building since it was raised over Manhattan at the start of the Great Depression. The spire-the same one that King Kong climbed in the black and white 1933 movie-had been lit up in some manner since 1956, with colors introduced in 1976.

In a nightly city tradition, New Yorkers would find the spire either in standard white or honoring some special event: blue and white when the Yankees win the Baseball World Series, red and green for Christmas, green for Saint Patrick’s Day, and so on. But the huge, inefficient lamps installed in the ‘70s-each the size of a small table-left only a dull glow on the spire.

And the so-so performance was apt for an iconic building struggling for relevancy in a competitive age. Downtown, the new

World Trade Center was rising on the ruins of the Twin Towers, last year reclaiming its crown as New York’s tallest building.

Nearby at Penn Station, plans were hatched for a new skyscraper that would crowd in on the splendidly isolated position of the Empire State Building. Also uncomfortably close, the Bank of America tower has become one of a growing gang of Midtown interlopers with their own skyhigh light displays. Malkin knew the centerpiece of his family’s real estate holdings, which he calls “the world’s most famous office building,” could not live on past glories. “The biggest wake-up moment for me came in 2004 when I went with my older son’s class trip to China,” he told AFP in an interview in the lavishly restored lobby of the Empire State Building. “We found ourselves in Hong Kong and Shanghai, and I looked at that landscape and that skyline and I came back to New York and I said, wow, we are behind the times-not just the Empire State Building, but the whole skyline of New York.”

The dream of putting some Hong Kong into King Kong’s spire was born. It

took until last year before the technology, using LED lights, evolved enough, particularly in the power of the basic white. But the result was spectacular. Where the Empire State Building once loomed discreetly over the twinkling Manhattan nightscape, today’s spire is an all-singing, all-dancing pillar of light, which technicians can program to almost any combination imaginable. Instead of the 500 old clunkers, the new barrage of LEDs lamps “throw” light up the spire, reaching further, with greater intensity, and using an amazing 73 percent less electricity, said Jeremy Day, an engineer with Philips Color Kinetics, which installed the system. “If you can verbally describe to me what you want your lights to do, we can probably find a way to program it,” Day said, showing off the new installation on a narrow balcony that runs around the 72nd floor.

Before the new system’s debut at the end of November last year, a team of workers would have to climb daily out to the lights and insert the correct filters ahead of nightfall.

Stacks of the huge colored disks have been left gathering dust alongside battered-looking former lights on the 72nd floor. No one has to go out in the snow and rain carrying the antiquated objects anymore: a click of the mouse from the building’s main computer room downstairs controls every single one of the 1,200 LEDs. “Each one of these lights are individually addressed. We can actually target each one of these and give it an individual color,” Day said. Already, some funky experiments have taken place atop the world’s grande dame of skyscraper architecture. The lights flashed and pulsed in rhythm to a performance by Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys at the unveiling in November. On election night, the spire showed the vote tally in blue and red as President Barack Obama won a second term. And this past week, ending Sunday, the public was being asked to vote on Facebook to choose the seven colors that will comprise the building’s standard palette. But Malkin, who has also spent millions on an environmentally friendly retrofit of the Empire State Building, says

The lights of the Empire State Building illuminate the fog in New York. —AFP there’s no chance of the skyscraper going too far down the Hong Kong route. “It’s never going to be for a commercial purpose. It’s not a billboard,” he said. Day also cautioned against going crazy with the

tower’s new toy. “It’s funny. With all that capability, sometimes I think the best looking shows are the simple ones,” Day said.

“Nothing stands out to me like when the whole building’s blue.” —AFP