16 Feb 2013

IPT IO N SC R SU B

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

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UN hails Kuwait’s efforts to assist Syrian refugees

150 Fils

RABI ALTHANI 6, 1434 AH

Egypt Islamist party holds pro-Morsi rally

No: 15721

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Sharapova in Qatar semi-finals

Meteor explodes over Russia, 1,000 injured Asteroid will buzz, but miss Earth

MOSCOW: A meteor streaked across the sky and exploded over Russia’s Ural Mountains with the power of an atomic bomb yesterday, its sonic blasts shattering countless windows and injuring nearly 1,000 people.

The spectacle deeply frightened many Russians, with some elderly women declaring that the world was coming to an end.

The meteor - estimated to be about 10 tons - entered the Earth’s atmosphere at a hypersonic speed of at least 54,000 kph (33,000 mph) and shattered into pieces about 30-50 kilometers (18-32 miles) above the ground, the Russian Academy of Sciences said in a statement.

Amateur video broadcast on Russian television showed an object speeding across the sky about 9:20 am local time, just after sunrise, leaving a thick white contrail and an intense flash.

The meteor released several kilotons of energy above the Chelyabinsk region, the science academy said. The shock wave blew in an estimated 100,000 square meters (more than 1 million square feet) of glass, according to city officials.

“There was panic. People had no idea what was happening,” said Sergey Hametov, a resident of Chelyabinsk, a city of 1 million about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Moscow.

“We saw a big burst of light, then went outside to see what it was and we heard a really loud, thundering sound,” he said by telephone.

Meanwhile, an asteroid hurtled toward Earth’s backyard, destined yesterday to make the closest known flyby for a rock of its 150-foot (45-meter) size. In a startling coincidence, a meteor exploded above Russia’s Ural Mountains just hours before the asteroid was due to zoom past the planet.

Scientists insisted the meteor had nothing to do with the incoming asteroid since they appeared to traveling in Continued on Page 10

This frame grab is made from a video done with a dashboard camera on a highway from Kostanai, Kazakhstan to Chelyabinsk region provided by Nasha Gazeta newspaper yesterday. — AP

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KUWAIT: Salem Al-Mubarak Street in Salmiya erupted in festivities yesterday as thousands of people joined the monthlong Hala February Festival that kicked off yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat (See Page 4)

150 die in clashes for Syria airport BEIRUT: Heavy fighting for control of the international airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo and a major military air base nearby has killed some 150 rebels and government soldiers over the past two days, activists said yesterday.

The director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said the casualties are almost evenly divided between opposition fighters and troops loyal to President Bashar Assad. Rebels launched a major attack on Aleppo’s civilian airport and the adjacent Nairab military airfield on Wednesday. So far, the rebels have captured most of the “Brigade 80” base, which is responsible for protecting the area, as well as an army checkpoint. The airport itself and the military airfield, which have their own defenses as well, still remain in regime hands.

Yesterday, the Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees activist group said rebels and President Bashar Assad’s forces were shelling each other in renewed clashes in and around the facilities.

“The operation will continue until we control the airport

and Nairab,” Col Abdul-Jabbar Al-Aqidi, commander of the rebels’ Military Council in Aleppo, told Al-Arabiya TV. Control of Aleppo international airport and Nairab would be a huge strategic shift for Syria’s northeastern region, giving the opposition a potential air hub enabling aid and other flights. But in order to start using the airport, the rebels first would likely have to secure all of the embattled city of Aleppo, where fighting has settled into a bloody stalemate in the streets and squares, as well as much of the surrounding countryside.

In Geneva, the UN World Food program said some 40,000 Syrians have fled the northeastern town of Shadadah. Rebels seized the town and most of a nearby oil filed in days of clashes earlier this week. Most of the fleeing Syrians went to the provincial capital of Hassakeh province, which produces most of Syria’s oil. WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told reporters yesterday in Geneva that her agency sent 62 metric tons of food, enough for 10,000 people in Shadadah and Hassakeh. The United Nations says nearly 70,000 people have been killed since Syria’s crisis started in March, 2011. —AP

LOCAL

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Major political role for youth movements No plans to retire: Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Former Speaker of the House Ahmad Al-Saadoun said constitutional freedoms were being violated in Kuwait at an unprecedented scale and the country never witnessed imprisonments and political harassment at this scale earlier. He said he has seen political life in Kuwait since the 50s but violations of rights and arrest of activists were never the order of the day.

Addressing a rally organized by the Kuwait University students’ union over the weekend, Al-Saadoun said the exoneration of some Twitter users was a realistic step and the ruling in this regard was along expected lines since they had not committed any crime and were detained without any evidence.

Referring to the students’ backed rally at the university and the role of the youth movements and activities, Al-Saadoun said youth have always led activities that played a major role in the political movements and brought about a change. He said the youth movement was similarly strong in the 1980s when young people supported politicians through various actions including the famed Monday diwaniyas.

Responding to calls from certain quarters asking him to stay away from political life in view of his advanced age, he said he will continue as long as he felt able to serve Kuwait and Kuwaitis and will not retire unless the people told him that “enough, we do not want you.”

Meanwhile, former MP Musallam Al-Barrak told journalists that with the students and unions making common cause with the popular movement, it will help achieve people’s demands,

including adherence to the constitution and not messing with the electoral system.

He said student power has been playing a major role since a long time in history, be it local issues or international. Thus, the students’ opinions must be respected.

Al-Barrak said repression on students for expressing their opinions means that the government wants to turn Kuwait into a police state. “I believe that Kuwaiti people are free and will never accept this repressive system. As long as there is a movement by the workers and students, the government will have to give in to people’s demands,” he added.

About the silence of current MPs on the issue of the harassment of Twitter users, he said it was an Assembly outside the confines of the constitution, and “we expected it to do worse. It is fighting against the youth and the people.”

Former MP Ali Al-Diqbasi said the students’ movements and unions have a major role in changing governments.

He said these movements do not mean chaos, rather they are meant to safeguard the constitution and law. He said the moves to distort the movement by drawing up lists of certain students and labor leaders revealed bad intentions. The demands of the youth were clear and fair, and they only want to defend the liberties guaranteed by the constitution and prevent anyone from messing with the election system.

Al-Diqbasi said sections of the media were reflecting an untrue image about people not adhering to the constitution and law. He described the current Assembly as “shameful” and

said the silence of the incumbent MPs confirmed that the movement was on the right track.

MP Khalid Al-Tahoos said the movement at the University was the most significant and true, especially because it is youth who build countries by defending freedoms and protecting the constitution.

Al-Tahoos said, “We are facing a repressive government that violates the constitution and laws, and fights those who do not agree with it as was evident by its action of pursuing the Twitter users and former MPs who uncovered the government’s violations of the constitution.” He said this situation will not continue for long, and the government will have to buckle before the people’s will.

He said the current Assembly did not represent the will of the people of Kuwait but of a rather small group. The movement in the streets has more influence than the “one vote” Assembly, he added.

The secretary general of the students’ alliance, Falah Al-Ajmi, said the student movement is part of the society and we must pursue economic and political reforms. He said the student power proved that they can preserve the people’s dignity and safeguard liberties. He said the students’ alliance will stand against the government’s repressive actions and added that “all those who accuse us of fomenting crises actually do not support reforms.” He said he wondered whether reform is being ushered in by restricting freedoms, arresting the youth and violating the constitution, and said, “It is our duty to stand with the students and ensure that all cases are dropped.”

Opposition looks to contain ‘leadership struggle’ KUWAIT: All eyes will be on a meeting today of former opposition MPs who plan to resume efforts seeking to contain a rift after two opposition groups defected from a coalition leading the anti-government movement.

The Nahj Group announced last week that the Popular Action Bloc and Islamic Constitutional Movement were granted their requests to secede from the coalition, leading speculation of conflict emerging in the opposition which seemed united since boycotting last December’s parliamentary elections in protest against an emergency decree that altered the voting mechanism a couple of months before.

The news came on the heels of an announcement of the creation of the Opposition Coalition, under which several opposition groups are incorporated including the National Front which includes the Popular Action Bloc, as well as activists running the ‘Karamat Watan’ (dignity of a nation) Twitter account used to announce details about demonstrations carrying the same name. The Coalition is reportedly competing with the Coordinating Committee of the Public Movement, a group that includes Nahj and some independents, for leading public pressure which pushes for demands ranging between dissolving the present parliament, and adopting a parliamentary system based on an elected cabinet.

The Majority Bloc, a coalition of 35 oppositionists who formed a majority in the 50-seat parliament elected February 2012 and dissolved by a court ruling four months later, hopes during its meeting tonight to avoid having the new developments negatively affect the opposition’s unity. “The two parties made it clear to the Majority Bloc that they are seeking cooperation which both see necessary as they realize that they cannot lead the public movement alone”, said sources close to the Majority Bloc, which functions as an umbrella to both the Opposition Coalition and the Coordinating Committee of the Public Movement.

The sources who spoke to Al-Rai on the condition of anonymity further explained that the two parties agreed on the general goals but disagree on the methods by which they seek to achieve them. “In reality, it is a struggle for leadership, or in other words, who takes the driver’s seat in the public movement”, they said.

Zain wins ‘Best Mobile Operator’ award from Service Hero KUWAIT: For the second consecutive year, Zain, the leading telecommunication company in Kuwait, was awarded with the ‘Best Mobile Operator ‘ award from Service Hero, the creators of Kuwait’s only customer satisfaction index. The company ranked first among the telecommunication sector in achieving the highest customer satisfaction scores by providing best quality standards.

Zain announced in a press release that the awards ceremony was held on Feb 12, at the Hotel Missoni Kuwait and was attended by public and private sector leaders. The company stated that the award was received after an in-depth evaluation by an independent Advisory Council, which recognized Zain’s role in launching advanced programs and exceptional promotions for its customer base, as well as playing a leading role in the development of the telecommunications sector. The company mentioned that the ‘Best Mobile Operator ‘ award is based on eight criteria: confidence in the product, speed of service, quality, price versus value, company’s ranking, and behavior of staff, call center and

the usefulness and functionality of the website. On this occasion, Hani Al-Kukhun, Zain’s Chief Operating Officer commented: “The ‘Best Mobile Operator’ award is a recognition that demonstrates Zain’s commitment in providing its customers with the highest level of

services. This award also highlights the company’s tireless efforts in surpassing customers expectations according to the finest level of quality standards.

Al-Kukhun, pointed out that this prestigious recognition came to reassure that the

company will strive to maintain a customer centric strategy to deliver an ultimate telecommunication experience to its customers. Al-Kukhun, concluded: “This award reinforces Zain’s commitment in maintaining the values of its brand name. We are greatly motivated to continue our pledge in providing exclusive services and telecommunication products to meet the requirements of our customers as well as facilitating their personal, professional, and business needs.”

Local SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Hala February kicks off

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: Salem Al-Mubarak Street in Salmiya turned into a fiesta-like atmosphere at the opening ceremony of a month-long Hala February Festival yesterday. The portion of Salem Mubarak was closed to traffic to give way to the celebration which was enjoyed by families especially the shows related to cultural heritage of Kuwait; music and dancing. The festival which is now on the 14th straight year also became a venue to displaying different kinds of colorful souvenirs from hats in the color of Kuwait, to balloons for kids. The organizers also distributed prizes and awards to participants/attendees. “I am here to

celebrate the festival. I heard they’ll be organizing much better and different events. So I am here to witness the show,” said a Kuwaiti old man sitting on a wheelchair when asked by the Kuwait Times prior to the ceremony.

The epicenter of this celebration will be the superb shopping extravaganzas or discounted prices which will be given to customers by various participating malls, shopping centers/outlets all over Kuwait. The event portrays an atmosphere of Kuwaiti warmth and hospitality which attracts people from all walks of life in Kuwait and visitors from neighboring countries since some Kuwaiti airlines are offering some huge discounts on airfares, accommodation as well as

purchases in shops. Various ministries also display their services and showcase their functions and capabilities.

Twenty two cars will be given away including thousands of cash gift ranging from KD50-500.

This year’s celebration also showcased the biggest mobile stage in the world, about 100 meters long, circuses, booth/stalls and roaming cartoon characters and display of some vintage/old/classic cars on the street. Kuwait cultural heritage were also showcased along with the display of some art crafts from various countries around the world.

“I heard many things about the festival but I never attended the event. I came to see for the

first time, and it was really beautiful,” the Kuwaiti said. Earlier, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Undersecretary Abdul-Aziz Al-Khaldi released a statement in which he recognized the festival’s influence in boosting tourism and trade in Kuwait, which “highly benefits” the state’s economy. Also MP Adel Al-Khurafi said that the festival comes at the right time “in which we are in dire need for national festival and occasions that boost patriotism in the society”.

Chairman of the Salmiya Co-op Society Abdurrahman Al-Sharrah announced special offers and “huge discounts” during the festival which ends on March 9, in addition to daily draws on cars and cash prizes.

Local SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

LOCAL

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Drug, Food Control Administration denies withdrawing One-Alpha

UN hails Kuwait’s efforts to assist Syrian refugees Response ‘extremely positive’ BRUSSELS: Valerie Amos, UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, has praised His Highness the Amir of Kuwait for hosting the international donors’ conference on Syria on Jan 30.

“We were hosted by HH the Amir of Kuwait which was extremely important. Kuwait took the lead in terms of making pledges at that conference, pledging $300 million for humanitarian effort,” she told the Kuwait News Agency during a visit to Brussels.

“I think that was very well received.

The conference was extremely well organised and I think the fact of Kuwait taking the lead in the pledging led other countries to also respond generously,” said the UN’s top most humanitarian aid official.

“The Secretary General, myself the whole of the UN system are enormously grateful to the Amir and to the people of Kuwait for their efforts on our behalf,” noted Amos who has also served as leader of the House of Lords in the UK. She noted that the response from the other Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain was “extremely positive and recognized as such”. Amos noted that a number of charities in the Gulf countries have been active in relief and aid work for Syrian refugees particularly in neigbhouring countries like Turkey and Jordan. “The conference gave a recognition to that work which I think is important, “ she said.

Earlier, speaking at a press conference Amos said she is in Brussels as part of a tour of a number of EU coun-

tries which are strong supporters of humanitarian work. The focus of her visit is the humanitarian issues in Syria and Mali and the wider Sahel region, she said. She will meet Kristalina Georgieva, EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Andris Piebalgs, EU Commissioner for Development, and will brief the EU Political and Security Committee. She will also meet Belgian and NATO officials during her visit to the Belgian capital.

“In Syria the situation is deteriorating as the fighting continues to devastate the lives of millions of Syrians,” said the UN official.

She estimated that four million Syrians require immediate humanitarian assistance including three million who are internally displaced and over 700,000 who have taken refuge in neighbouring countries.

“While political solution continues to evade us the humanitarian community continues to try do more to help Syrians caught up in the conflict,” she said. Amos said she is talking to both the Syrian regime and opposition group to improve access to humanitarian aid. “In the recent pledging conference for Syria which was oganised in Kuwait on Jan 30, the international community came together to show support to the Syrian people and more than $1.5 billion was pledged,” she said.

“We are now working to turn this money into respond efforts on the ground. We are grateful to all of those countries which pledged and there were many European Union countries which did so either in the individual

Valerie Amos capacity or as part of the EU efforts,” she said. The UN needs $1 billion to assist the Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries and $519 million for response effort inside Syria itself for the first six months of this year.

Amos said the situation in the Sahel is better than we feared last year.

“Early and rapid action has helped to save lives but the crisis is now aggravated with the conflict in Mali where over 1.2 million people are caught in the middle of armed operations,” she said. She said that the UN is working with the EU to improve the response on the ground across the Sahel to tackle food and security issues.

As a former secretary of state for international development in the British government Amos has worked globally to tackle poverty in Africa. — KUNA

KUWAIT: Drug and Food Control Administration denied news of withdrawing drug drops of vitamin D (One-Alpha) used for the treatment of patients with vitamin D deficiency. The administration conducted a study and evaluated the product, which turned out to be a registered medicine in the State of Kuwait and approved by the Ministry of Health, the administration’s registration and release observer Rami Sadiq Behbehani said yesterday.

He said that the administration approached the Danish manufacturer (LEO Laboratories Limited) regarding the safety and risk of One-Alpha, and in return, it confirmed that the product was not pulled off the Gulf markets.

The company has a special department responsible for the follow-up of any side-effects that may occur to the pharmaceutical substances it produces and withdrawing them, he added.

He stressed that the administration “would like to reassure all those who use One-Alpha that it is safe, and no dangers were detected when examining it as the administration closely follows up all medicines to pull them off the market.” The administration is in direct contact with global pharmaceutical bodies, such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and pharmaceutical controls in the Gulf States to follow the latest developments regarding all matters concerning medicine safety, he noted.

Behebehani concluded by calling on all residents and citizens not to believe such rumors spread by text messages on Whatsapp, websites or Twitter. — KUNA

US soldier in Kuwait rents billboard to greet his wife SPRINGFIELD: An Ozarks soldier stationed in Kuwait pulled out all the stops when it came to wishing his wife a happy Valentine’s Day. Military wife Michelle Williams says she is always amazed by the romantic gestures her husband is able to pull off. But, when it comes to the president’s promise of a troop draw down, she’s a little more skeptical.

“He tries to surprise me every year,” says the Mercy nurse. Her husband has been deployed for almost a year. “He’s over in Kuwait. He’s with the 935th Alpha Battalion.” This year, her husband, Andy Williams, promised a big surprise for Valentine’s Day. The Williams have been married for 20 years and they have four children.

“He told me he would be sending hints and clues throughout the next couple of weeks.”

With friends, co-workers and family, Williams deciphered she should take a close look at a billboard at Battlefield and National. “When I turned around and I seen it I said, ‘Oh, that’s my name!’ I turned around and looked at the billboard and I was really excited to see it. I did tear up.”

Andy Williams pulled off the surprise with the help of Missouri Neon. This is Sgt. Andy Williams’ second deployment. So, like many military spouses, when the president promised in the State of the Union to drawn down troops, Michelle Williams says in all things actions speak louder than words.

“In all honesty, I am kind of in disbelief. I would like to say that I believe that. But, when my husband was being deployed, they were talking about bringing the soldiers home.” Today, 360 members of the Missouri National Guard are serving in Kuwait and Afghanistan and this fall, hundreds more will be sent there and to Kosovo.

National Guard spokeswoman Tamara Spicer says this fall, 600 more Missouri National Guard soldiers will go overseas and after Oct 1, another 460 will be sent after the start of the federal fiscal year. The spokesman for Fort Leonard Wood says it consistently has about 400 soldiers deployed. Williams says her husband is slated to come home in April barring in changes in his orders.

LOCAL

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Three-member ‘police gang’ tries to rob two Asians Delivery man killed in accident KUWAIT: A man was arrested after storming an apartment in the area with the intention of theft, while search is on for his two accomplices who fled the scene. According to the police report, the suspects forced themselves inside an apartment inhabited by two Asian workers, who fell victim to their physical assault as they introduced themselves as police investigators. The two roommates realized they were set up when the three planned to leave after seizing KD3,000 they found in the apartment.

They turned the table on the suspects and managed to catch one of them while the other two escaped. The suspect, a Kuwaiti man, was taken in custody by police who arrived at the scene following an emergency call.

Investigations are ongoing in search for the two suspects based on information provided by their accomplice.

Adan accident A delivery man was killed in an accident that happened while police were chasing a fugitive in Adan recently. Patrol officers went in pursuit of the suspect who ignored orders to pull over. The car chase ended tragically when the fugitive hit a restaurant delivery car at a roundabout, which prompted the fugitive to stop. He was put under arrest while the delivery man succumbed to his injuries before paramedics arrived at the scene. The body was taken to the coroner while the suspect was referred to the proper authorities to face legal action.

Possessive boyfriend A man faces charges after he brutally assaulted his girlfriend when he saw her talking to another man in public.

The Sri Lankan victim was admitted at the Jahra Hospital with a broken shoulder and multiple contusions. She explained to officers that her Bangladeshi boyfriend beat her up thinking that she was cheating on him with an Indian friend he saw her talking to in the street. A case was filed for investigations in search for the suspect.

Tailor assaulted A tailor refused a hefty price to drop a lawsuit filed against a customer who assaulted him inside his shop in Fahaheel. In his statements to local police, the Pakistani man said that his longtime customer had beat him following a dispute sparked over payment of his wedding dress. The Kuwaiti man had paid KD20 at first, but requested to delay payment of the remaining KD60 until after the wedding, which the tailor refused. The man admitted when summoned by police that he beat the tailor, explaining that he lost his temper when the tailor accused him of being a cheater.

He then offered KD500 for the tailor to drop the charges, but the latter refused which led police to go ahead with legal procedures.

Money laundering Legal action was taken against two bank customers with suspicions of using their accounts to carry out money laundering. Officials at a local bank suspended the two accounts after discovering suspicious operations pertaining with buying clothes for large amounts of money. The bank officials reported the case to the Monetary Prosecution Department who proceeded with legal procedures against the accounts of Syrian and Sierra Leonean owners.

Salmiya suicide A man was found dead inside his Salmiya apartment in a case classified as suicide according to investigations.

A relative of the victim had requested the building janitor’s help to break into the apartment after he failed to answer the door. They called police after finding the man hanging dead from the ceiling. Investigations are underway to determine the circumstances behind the case.

Drug dealer held A man was arrested with possession of drugs and taken in custody for investigation with suspicion of trafficking according to police. The suspect was initially pulled over in Khaitan for reckless driving. The officers arrested the driver, but couldn’t catch his accomplice who ran away as soon as the car stopped. Police found drugs and drug paraphernalia inside the car, in addition to a large amount of money suspected to have been collected from drug trade. Police also found out after verifying the suspect’s identity that he is wanted for 16 criminal charges ranging between theft, mugging and drug abuse. He remains in custody pending legal procedures while search is ongoing for his accomplice.

Man hurt in fight A man was hospitalized with several stab wounds sustained during a fight reported recently at a Hawally coffee shop. The Jordanian man was reportedly engaged in a scuffle with five other Arab men who were taken in police’s custody. A case was filed for investigations.

‘Hasala around Kuwait’ KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) launched its social activity on Instagram “Hasala around Kuwait”, posting the best photos of NBK’s money box (Hasala) taken by fans in Kuwait, on the occasion of Kuwait’s independence and the anniversary of liberation.

The concept behind this social activity is to interact with fans and introduce different touristic and old places in Kuwait. NBK Hasala visited Kuwait Towers and many other places that will be shared with the fans on Instagram during the entire month of February.

NBK’s Hasala attracted thousands of people since last Ramadan’s TV commercial. Many photos have been posted and shared by followers. Participants can send their photos to social@nbk.com or to NBK official page on Instagram @NBKPage ,” Al Reshaid added.

NBK greatly values social media as an easy mean of communicating with customers and also building a strong and lasting relationship. NBK is among the first regional banks to establish a strong social media presence, with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Foursquare and Google + pages. For more information regarding banking transactions, events and competitions check out National Bank of Kuwait official facebook page NBK - Official Page or follow NBK on Twitter @NBKPage, and on Instagram @NBKPage.

KUWAIT: Ministry of Interior Undersecretary Lt Gen Ghazi Al-Omar inaugurated the new building for the Military Trials Department, a subdivision of the ministry’s Legal Affairs General Department over the weekend. The senior official’s tour which took place on Thursday also included stops at the new Migration General Department building and the Criminal Evidence General Department building.

News

in brief

New deans appointed KUWAIT: Kuwait university council witnessed a sharp dispute between Education and Higher Education Minister Nayef Al-Hajraf and University Rector Abdellatif Al-Bader in regards to the list of deans evaluation, as the rector told him “I am not a puppet to force the appointment of deans on me”. The minister then ended the meeting which approved the appointment of Najat Al-Mutawaa as dean of the Education College, Omar Al-Khattab for Architecture, Fawaz Al-Enezi for Computer Science and Engineering, while shareah, law and science were postponed until next meeting. The meeting also agreed to increase the budget of the students union.

Banks present new offers KUWAIT: Banking sources said several local banks are presenting several discount combinations to major customers to encourage them to pay back their debts.

Sources said: “Those banks have several delinquent customers, so they are restructuring the payments for tem, especially that the restructuring process gives customers 10% to 15% discount from the total debt, and this affects the interest only, not the debt itself.” They said that after most banks carried out the allocations deductions during past years, they discovered that several delinquent customers can pay if a special arrangement is made available for them, especially that some of them have companies or revenue generating activities, so it is possible to reach a compromise.

Circular to libraries KUWAIT: The Education Ministry has issued a decision to withdraw all books relatecd to AIDS from public education schools libraries. The education zones were surprised by a circular sent to libraries supervisory department asking them to withdraw all books related to AIDS with giving the reasons. Sources said the withdrawn books contain sexual materials that is not in the interest of the students.

Health delegation KUWAIT: Health Minister Mohammad Al-Haifi will head a specialized delgation to Europe next week.

Sources said Dr Al-Haifi will visit Germany to sign contracts with a group of hospitals to facilitate the treatment of Kuwaiti patients there. It is expected that he will sign contracts with 9 hospitals before leaving to Britain to sign an agreement in regards to health insurance for Kuwaiti students.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Egypt Islamist party holds pro-Morsi rally

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Italian defense boss quits over India bribery scandal

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Weary passengers come out of sinking cruise ship

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HEBRON: Palestinian protestors flash the sign for victory towards Israeli security forces after opening the gate of the main southwest entrance to the West Bank city of Hebron, during a demonstration against the closer of the entrance to the city, which is situated near the Jewish settlement of Beit Hagai, in the occupied West Bank yesterday.— AFP

Tunisia PM grapples with new crisis Jihadists on patrol as tensions simmer TUNIS: Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali was yesterday consulting with a raft of party leaders as he hammered out a government of technocrats designed to pull Tunisia out of its worst political crisis since the revolution.

Jebali has promised to announce the new government today and says he will resign if it is rejected by the National Constituent Assembly, which is dominated by his own Islamist Ennahda party.

The prime minister announced his intention to form an apolitical government after Tunisia was plunged into political turmoil on February 6 when prominent leftist leader Chokri Belaid was assassinated outside his home in a Tunis suburb. The plan has been met with resistance by the Ennahda but has won support from a number of secular parties.

The Islamists have joined ranks with President Moncef Marzouki’s centre-left Congress for the Republic Party, and two other parties, in proposing that the new cabinet comprise both politicians and independents.

Jebali was expected to meet the party leaders later at a palace in the Tunis suburb of

Carthage. “On Saturday I will announce the new government line-up and if it is rejected I will submit my resignation to the president,” Jebali told reporters on Thursday.

“Tomorrow ... (Friday) I will meet all the parties who have, or have not, accepted this initiative,” he added. The prime minister is sticking to his guns that the criteria for inclusion in the new cabinet is non-partisanship as well as a firm commitment by future ministers not to run in the next elections.

Meanwhile, Tunisian jihadist groups, taking advantage of a political crisis after last week’s assassination of a vocal critic of the Islamist-led government, have set up patrols to police towns and keep the peace, witnesses said.

Wearing orange vests and armed with clubs, the militants patrol by night on foot, motorcycles or by car “to protect people and property,” the jihadist Ansar Al-Sharia group said on its official Facebook page.

They have been seen in Tunisia’s second city Sfax in the southeast, in Kef and Mateur in the north, in a half a dozen Tunis neighbor-

hoods and in the central city of Sidi Bouzid, said witnesses and the Facebook page.

On Wednesday their commanders ordered them, however, to get off the streets “because of the threats of the so-called” Interior Minister Ali Larayedh, a member of the Islamist ruling Ennahda party and bete noire of the jihadists. But the orders posted on Facebook urged the jihadists to continue nevertheless to protect their homes and “stay vigilant” amid accusations by the group that the police are hunting down its militants.

Interior ministry spokesman Khaled Tarrouche has warned that the country’s “security forces alone have the right to maintain law and order and protect citizens and their property, in cooperation with the national army.”

“As much as the ministry praises the initiative of some citizens to protect their surroundings from acts of violence, it also reminds (the population) that no one can replace the security apparatus,” he said.

Larayedh said on state television that he would not tolerate any patrols by jihadists.

The group has since reported that one of its members who took part in a patrol in the impoverished Tunis suburb Sijoumi had been arrested by security forces and that police were searching for others.

Two years on from the revolution that toppled the dictatorship of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and brought to power the moderate Islamist party Ennahda, the influence of Salafist jihadists has grown in Tunisia.

The Salafists, known for their radical version of Sunni Islam, are flexing their muscles as Tunisia battles lawlessness and political and social turmoil that has swept the country since the start of the revolution that triggered the Arab Spring uprisings across the Arab world.

The February 6 killing in Tunis of leftist leader Chokri Belaid has further inflamed the tensions in the once proudly secular Muslim nation. The Muslim extremists are believed to number between 3,000 and 10,000 and are held responsible for a wave of violence, including an attack on the US embassy in September. —Agencies

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Bahrain oppn calls rally amid unrest MANAMA: Bahrain’s opposition called a rally near Manama yesterday marking the second anniversary of a Shiite-led uprising against the kingdom’s Sunni rulers, a day after two people died when protests turned violent. The mid-afternoon demonstration, to be held on the Boudaya highway that links a string of Shiite-populated villages with the capital, is likely to heighten tension in the kingdom which has seen two years of political upheaval linked to opposition demands for a constitutional monarchy.

The wave of protests and clashes that began on Thursday comes as members of the opposition engage the authorities in a new round of a national dialogue aimed at resolving the political deadlock.

Demonstrations on Thursday coinciding with the actual anniversary of the start of the uprising on February 14, 2011 turned deadly when a teenager was killed by police gunfire during clashes in a village near Manama.

Clashes raged sporadically in other outlying Shiite villages through the night and into the early hours of yesterday, during which a policeman was killed after

being struck by a petrol bomb, the interior ministry said. “Police officer Mohamed Atef, hit by an incendiary device which seriously injured him, died soon after he was admitted to hospital,” public security chief MajorGeneral Tariq Al-Hassan said in an interior ministry statement.

Protesters were hurling petrol bombs, iron bars and stones at police in the Shiite-populated village of AlSahla when the incident occurred, Hassan said. The opposition identified the teenager slain on Thursday as Hussein al-Jaziri, saying he had been killed in the Shiitepopulated village of Daih near the capital Manama.

Jaziri was “wounded by a shotgun that regime forces fired... He was severely wounded in his stomach and died at the hospital,” said Al-Wefaq, the main Shiite opposition bloc. The official BNA news agency said two police officers are being questioned by prosecutors over the killing, which the opposition described as “cold-blooded”. “The people are steadfast in getting their legitimate rights... for a democratic transition,” said a statement by the opposition, which demands a

full constitutional monarchy, an elected government and an end to confessional discrimination. A number of groups, including Al-Wefaq, had called for strikes and nationwide protests on Thursday and Friday to mark the Arab Spring-inspired uprising that was crushed about a month after it began by the security forces led by troops from neighboring Saudi Arabia.

The latest unrest comes amid a fresh round of a national dialogue between opposition groups and the government and political groups that support it. The dialogue, hailed by the United States as a positive step that could bring reforms to satisfy all Bahrainis, resumed at the weekend for the first time since they broke down in mid-2011, with a second session being held on Wednesday. The opposition is demanding that the results of the talks be put to a referendum and not be submitted to King Hamad for approval. Its representative Sayed Jameel Khadim said agreement was reached in Wednesday’s talks for the regime to act as “a main party in the dialogue and that its outcomes be turned into constitutional drafts”.—AFP

US warns of tensions on Sudan-S Sudan border Reports of clashes between two sides

CAIRO: Thousands of Egyptian protesters shout slogans supporting Islamist President Mohammed Morsi during a rally outside Cairo University yesterday. — AP

Egypt Islamist party holds pro-Morsi rally CAIRO: Thousands of supporters of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi took to the street yesterday to denounce violence after weeks of bloody protests between police and anti-Morsi protesters.

The Islamist Construction and Development Party had called for the rally under the slogan “Together against violence”, blaming the liberalled opposition for unrest that has recently swept the country.

The opposition National Salvation Front “is responsible for the violence, they incite the people to hate the Islamists,” said Hamdi Ramadan, 45.

“Their calls for Morsi to leave are going to destroy the country,” said Mohammed Abdel Dayem, 39.

Protesters also called for the release of blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, holding up pictures of the Egyptian cleric jailed in the Unites States for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center attack.

“Islam is coming”, “The Koran is our constitution!”, demonstrators chanted as they marched towards the

main rally near Cairo University.

“Morsi! Morsi!” others cheered as they waved Egyptian flags and held up banners that read “No to Violence, Yes to Sharia” or Islamic law.

The Muslim Brotherhood, on whose ticket Morsi ran for the presidency, said it would symbolically join Friday’s rally, without mobilising its supporters on the street.

Egypt has been deeply divided between Morsi’s mainly Islamist supporters and a wide ranging liberal-led opposition calling for rights and demanding the separation of state and religion.

In recent months, Egypt has witnessed regular, often bloody, protests against Morsi. His opponents say he has betrayed the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak, accusing him of using his power to promote the interests of his Muslim Brotherhood, long banned under his predecessor.

They also accuse him of failing to reform the interior ministry whose police has been accused of abuse and corruption. — AFP

KHARTOUM: The United States yesterday warned of a dangerous increase in tensions on the undemarcated border between Sudan and South Sudan after reports of clashes between the two sides. Washington is “deeply concerned” by the reported incidents in disputed border areas between South Sudan’s Upper Nile state and Sudan’s Blue Nile, the US embassy in Khartoum said.

These included “reports of Sudanese helicopters crossing into South Sudan and the artillery bombardment by Sudanese armed forces of South Sudanese troops,” it said.

“Additionally, we are also very concerned about the increase in negative rhetoric, which together with these reports of military clashes is leading to a dangerous increase in tension along the undemarcated border.”

The embassy said it had no evidence of “an offensive buildup” on either side of the frontier. “Our concern is that this increase in tension could lead to accidental confrontation that could quickly escalate,” it added.

Sudan and South Sudan fought along their frontier last March and April. In September they hailed an end to conflict by signing security and economic agreements but they have not been implemented. Those agreements, reached with the help of African Union mediation, called for a resumption of oil flows between the two countries and cre-

ation of a demilitarized border buffer zone.

“We strongly believe the tension underscores the importance of both parties agreeing to immediately and without conditions establish the Safe Demilitarised Border Zone (SDBZ)” along with a joint verification mechanism, the embassy said. The United Nations had already told Sudan and South Sudan to activate the monitored SDBZ last May, under a Security Council resolution ordering an end to the earlier border clashes. Khartoum accuses South Sudan of backing rebels in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. This has been the major obstacle to implementing the September deals and resuming the flow of oil which is particularly vital to the South. The Juba government stopped oil production more than a year ago, accusing Khartoum of theft during a row over how much the South should pay for shipping its oil through Sudanese pipelines for export.

South Sudan, which became independent in 2011, denies backing rebels on Sudanese soil. It says Khartoum supports insurgents on southern territory. Diplomats and experts say Khartoum’s concerns over border security are holding hostage billions of dollars in oil revenue for both economies. The experts had also expressed concern that tensions are escalating and said there is no immediate hope of a resolution to the dispute. — AFP

Somali militants kill Kenyan soldier MOGADISHU: Al-Qaeda-linked militants in Somalia claimed yesterday that they have executed a Kenyan soldier after the Nairobi government failed to meet their demands. The Islamic extremist rebels of Al-Shabab said in a statement yesterday that they executed an army private after deadline expired Thursday. The militants want the release of all “Muslim prisoners being held on so-called terrorism charges in Kenya.”

Al-Shabab threatened to execute the five remaining Kenyan hostages in 72 hours if the Muslim prisoners are not released. “While the Mujahideen have executed the serving KDF (Kenya Defense Forces) soldier, there is still a chance of securing the release of the remaining 5 prisoners.

As a response to the growing pleas of the prisoners’ families who have contacted us, HSM (AlShabab) is adding a grace period of 72 hours,” the statement said. Al-Shabab said the Kenyan government does not value the lives of Kenyan citizens because it had not taken the opportunity to negotiate for the lives of the hostages.—AP

LIBYA: Libyan security forces stand guard at a checkpoint on the highway leading to downtown Benghazi yesterday.

Libyans are preparing to mark the second anniversary of the uprising that ousted Muammar Gaddafi. —AP

International SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Italian defense boss quits over India bribery scandal Investigators quiz him in prison

NICOSIA: A man passes in front of a poster showing right-wing opposition leader and presidential candidate Nicos Anastasiades outside his campaign office in Nicosia yesterday. —AP

Cyprus counts down to presidential vote NICOSIA: Cyprus’ heated presidential election campaign winds down at midnight yesterday ahead a crucial ballot to pick a leader tasked with steering the recession-weary island away from bankruptcy.

Nicos Anastasiades, 66, of the rightwing main opposition Disy party, is tipped to win Sunday’s first round when just over half a million Cypriots are to cast ballots. Analysts say he could pull off a first round win if, as expected, absenteeism is high, fringe candidates do badly, and if centre-right Diko party faithful back him.

“I urge you to give me a strong mandate,” Anastasiades told his last major campaign rally. “Success in the first round is what this country needs, so that from Monday I can address the dangers of debt sustainability.” Diko has endorsed Anastasiades but some of its supporters are uneasy about his credentials on the Cyprus issue as their party has a tough stance on peace talks with the island’s Turkish-occupied north.

Anastasiades’ closest challenger is former health minister Stavros Malas, 45, a British-educated independent who has the support of the ruling communist AKEL party.

Anastasiades, who leads Malas by 20 percentage points in polls, is seen as someone the Europe Union can do business with, while his stance on the Cyprus issue is more flexible than his rivals.

First of all, however, Cyprus’ next president will have to agree terms with a troika of lenders on a bailout to save the island’s Greek-exposed banks and failing economy.

The European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund are waiting for the election result before offering the terms for a 17 billion-euro ($23 billion) lifeline.

Malas, who is is confident of seeing off the challenge of 52year-old former foreign minister George Lillikas and reaching a second round next week, argues for “softer” austerity measures.

President Demetris Christofias sought a bailout in June, and talks dragged on as the outgoing leader, who is not standing for re-election, resisted measures including privatisation and reopened talks with Russia on topping up a 2.5 billion-euro loan.

On the political front, the international community will also expect the next Cypriot president to pick up the pieces of a deadlocked UN push for peace. Anastasiades supported a failed “Yes” vote for a UN reunification blueprint in 2004, even though it was rejected by Greek Cypriots, resulting in a divided island joining the EU. As a former minister, Malas must contend with the stigma of being linked to an unpopular government. “I pledge in all honesty that I will lead a government of national unity.

We can rise to the challenge of a new era,” Malas said yesterday. Lillikas is the only one of the three main candidates who rejects a bailout, saying it would plunge the tourist destination into spiralling recession. Instead, he wants to sell untapped offshore gas reserves in advance.

The independent candidate has a tough position over Turkey’s EU accession, saying it should be vetoed unless the Cyprus issue is resolved. Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded and seized its northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup aimed at uniting the island and Greece.

Polling stations open tomorrow at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) and close at 6:00 pm (1600 GMT), and results are expected by around 8:30 pm (1830 GMT). —AFP

ROME: The head of Italian defense and aerospace giant Finmeccanica, Giuseppe Orsi, resigned yesterday in a bribery scandal over the sale of helicopters to India as investigators questioned him in prison. Orsi, who was arrested on Tuesday over alleged bribes paid to secure the sale of 12 choppers, also stepped down as a member of the board and presented his resignation letter to judge Luca Labianca, who heard his testimony behind bars.

His lawyer said the resignation was aimed at “calming the climate created by the probe” into Orsi and the former head of its helicopter division Agusta Westland, Bruno Spagnolini, who is also due to be interrogated. “I never knew anything about illicit operations,” Orsi said according to his lawyer, adding that he had never met members of the “Tyagi

family”-the alleged recipients of the bribes according to leaks in Italian media. Bribes amounting to 20 million euros ($27 million) were paid through two Switzerland-based intermediaries, Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa, who are officially fugitives, Italian media said citing investigative documents. The total of 30 million euros in bribes were paid for the 556-million-euro contract, investigators believe. Investigators say payments were made through Tunisia-registered companies controlled by Haschke and Gerosa and were then transferred to accounts in India and Mauritius belonging to a company called Aeromatrix, the reports said.

“The money was destined for intermediaries and to remunerate corrupt public officials,” Orsi’s arrest warrant was quoted by Il Messaggero daily as saying.

Italian police have so far arrested two people, Orsi and Spagnolini, and carried out 37 raids including on their homes and offices. The two are accused of international corruption and tax fraud.

Italian prosecutors have requested the extradition of Haschke and Gerosa.

During a raid on the house of Haschke’s mother, La Repubblica daily said police had found details of a plan to pay an Indian general referred to as “Saini” a 0.5-percent commission, around five million dollars, for a helicopter deal.

The discovery was first reported by Il Fatto Quotidiano daily. La Repubblica quoted from a transcript of a bugged phone conversation involving Orsi in which the CEO could be heard saying: “They’re talking about the Indian general? Shit, are they talking about the 0.5 percent?”. —AFP

A meteorite contrail is seen over Chelyabinsk yesterday. — AP

Meteor explodes over Russia, 1,000 injured Continued from Page 1 opposite directions. The asteroid is much more immense object that was expected to miss Earth by 17,150 miles (27,500 kilometers), avoiding catastrophe.

But that’s still closer than many communication and weather satellites.

Scientists insisted these, too, would be spared.

Scientists at NASA’s Near-Earth Object program at California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory estimate that an object of this size makes a close approach like this every 40 years. The likelihood of a strike is every 1,200 years.

The Interior Ministry said 985 people sought medical care after the shock wave and 44 of them were hospitalized.

Most of the injuries were caused by flying glass, it said.

There was no immediate word on any deaths or anyone struck by space fragments. Meteors typically cause sizeable sonic booms when they enter the atmosphere because they are traveling

so much faster than the speed of sound.

Injuries on the scale reported yesterday, however, are extraordinarily rare.

“I went to see what that flash in the sky was about,” recalled resident Marat Lobkovsky. “And then the window glass shattered, bouncing back on me. My beard was cut open, but not deep. They patched me up, it’s OK now.” Another resident, Valya Kazakov, said some elderly women in his neighborhood started crying out that the world was ending.

Lessons had just started at Chelyabinsk schools when the meteor exploded, and officials said 204 schoolchildren were among those injured.

Yekaterina Melikhova, a high school student whose nose was bloody and whose upper lip was covered with a bandage, said she was in her geography class when they saw a bright light outside.

“After the flash, nothing happened for about three minutes. Then we rushed outdoors. I was not alone, I was there with Katya. The door was made of glass, a shock wave made it hit us,” she

said.

Russian television ran footage of athletes at a city sports arena who were showered by shards of glass from huge windows. Some of them were still bleeding.

City officials said 3,000 buildings in the city were damaged by the shock wave, including a zinc factory where part of the roof collapsed. The vast implosion of glass windows exposed many residents to the bitter cold as temperatures in the city hovered around minus 9 Celsius (15.8 Fahrenheit).

The regional governor immediately urged any workers who can pane windows to rush to the area to help out.

Some fragments fell in a reservoir outside the town of Chebarkul, the regional governor’s office said, according to the ITAR-Tass.

A six-meter-wide (20-foot-wide) crater was found in the same area, which could come from space fragments striking the ground, the news agency cited military spokesman Yaroslavl Roshchupkin as saying. — AP

International SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Hagel blocked, but confirmation seen Senate seeks answers on Benghazi attacks MOBILE: Passengers from the cruise ship Carnival Triumph are questioned by reporters after they disembarked in Mobile Thursday. —AP

Weary passengers come out of sinking cruise ship MOBILE, Alabama: Thousands of relieved passengers poured ashore from a stinking cruise ship yesterday after five days adrift in the Gulf of Mexico with overflowing toilets and stench filled cabins.

Exhausted passengers lined the ship’s decks, waving towels and flashlights, cheering and singing “Sweet Home Alabama” as tug-boats pulled the stricken Carnival Triumph into the port of Mobile, Alabama.

Some travelers kissed the ground when they walked off, others disembarked wearing the ship’s white bath robes, part souvenir and part protection against a chilly night.

With only one working elevator, it took several hours to get the more than 4,200 people off the ship, Carnival said.

Passengers were greeted dockside with warm food, blankets and cell phones to call family and friends. About 100 buses waited to carry passengers on a seven-hour bus ride to Galveston, Texas, while others buses departed for shorter rides to New Orleans, as well as hotels in Mobile, before eventually flying home.

The end of the saga, documented live on US cable news stations, was another public relations disaster for cruise giant Carnival Corp. Last year, its Costa Concordia luxury liner grounded off the coast of Italy, killing 32 people.

Carnival officials said the Triumph, which entered service in 1999, would be towed to a Mobile repair facility for damage assessment.

The 893-foot (272-metre) vessel was returning to Galveston from Cozumel, Mexico on the third day of a four-day cruise when an engine-room fire knocked out power and plumbing across most of the ship on Sunday. Passengers described a gutwrenching stench on parts of the ship and complained to relatives and media by cellphone that toilets and drainpipes overflowed, soaking many cabins and interior passages in raw sewage.

“The stench was awful,” said Robin Chandler, a 50-year-old from Dallas who spent her birthday on the ship. “A lot of people were crying and freaking out.”

Jacob Combs, an Austin, Texas-based sales executive with a healthcare and hospice company, praised the ship’s crew.

“Just imagine the filth,” said Combs, 30. “People were doing crazy things and going to the bathroom in sinks and showers. It was inhuman. The stewards would go in and clean it all up. They were constantly cleaning,” he said.

Facing criticism over the company’s response, Carnival Cruise Lines Chief Executive Gerry Cahill boarded the ship to personally apologize to passengers. “I know the conditions on board were very poor,” he told reporters, sounding shaken in a brief media appearance before he boarded the ship. “I know it was difficult. I want to apologize for subjecting our guests to that,” he said.

“We pride ourselves with providing our guests with a great vacation experience and clearly we failed in this particular case,” Cahill added.

Operated by Carnival Cruise Lines, the flagship brand of Carnival Corp , the ship left Galveston a week ago carrying 3,143 passengers and 1,086 crew. It was supposed to return on Monday.

Some passengers said conditions deteriorated rapidly on the Triumph earlier in the week, saying people were getting sick and passengers had been told to use plastic “biohazard” bags as makeshift toilets.

“It wasn’t a vacation anymore it was like survival mode. Eat what you can. Snack when you can. It was awful,” said passenger Tammy Garcia.

Smoke from the engine fire was so thick that passengers on the lower decks in the rear of the ship had to be permanently evacuated and slept the rest of the voyage on the decks under sheets, passengers said. —Reuters

WASHINGTON: By delaying a confirmation vote on Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary, Senate Republicans have forced Leon Panetta to remain on the job he is eager to give up. But they’ve also given the White House an opportunity to cast the GOP as obstructing President Barack Obama’s assembly of a second-term national security team.

Senate Republicans temporarily blocked a Hagel confirmation vote on Thursday, insisting that the administration must first answer more questions about its handling of a terrorist attack last September on a US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, called it “political posturing.”

“Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, it got worse,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said after the GOP forced the delay.

The Senate action amounted to a parliamentary maneuver, with Democrats needing 60 votes for Hagel’s confirmation to move forward. It fell two votes short.

Still, Hagel is likely to win confirmation on a mostly party-line vote after the Senate returns from next week’s recess.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said he expects many of his Republican colleagues to join him then to end the debate.

Alexander stopped short of predicting Hagel will be confirmed, but that is almost assured if he only needs a simple majority, and Democrats control the Senate by a 55-45 margin. Alexander called Thursday’s vote “unfortunate” and “unnecessary”

because Hagel’s nomination came up on the Senate floor too quickly - just two days after it was approved by a divided Armed Services Committee.

The unprecedented stall tactic against a defense secretary nominee raised the rancor of frustrated Democrats, who immediately accused Republicans of threatening security and said they unnecessarily undercut US credibility abroad.

“The world is too dangerous to have this period of uncertainty,” said Carl Levin, D-Michigan, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The nomination of John Brennan as CIA director was also delayed; the Senate Intelligence Committee pushed off a vote amid Republican demands that the White House turn over more details about drone strikes against terror suspects and about the Benghazi attack.

In contrast, the Senate swiftly confirmed John Kerry to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state. The Pentagon and CIA will continue under their current leadership, and Panetta will stay on as defense secretary until his successor is confirmed.

At a Pentagon award ceremony for Clinton, Panetta said it was fitting to recognize her accomplishments as secretary of state on Valentine’s Day. And he said the second-best Valentine’s Day present would be for the Senate to confirm Hagel and allow Panetta and his wife to “get the hell out of town.” He said he’s got his belongings packed.

Reid said he hoped to proceed with an up-or-down vote on Feb. 26 and suggested that the Republicans’ maneuvers have left the Pentagon leaderless.

“What does that do to our standing in the world community?” he asked in remarks on the Senate floor.

Although he had made no secret of his hope to retire by now, Panetta will be back in the Pentagon next week.

His press secretary, George Little, said Panetta will fly to Brussels for a NATO meeting late next week where allies will consider the size and scope of a post-combat mission in Afghanistan. The U.S. is hoping allied nations will contribute troops and money for continued training of Afghan security forces, which are to be fully responsible for security by the end of 2014.

Obama himself suggested that Hagel’s absence from the Brussels meeting could hurt the war effort. He also criticized Republicans for blocking the Hagel nomination and forcing him to win 60 votes instead of the usual majority.

“It’s just unfortunate that this kind of politics intrudes at a time when I’m still presiding over a war in Afghanistan, and I need a secretary of defense who is coordinating with our allies to make sure that our troops are getting the kind of strategy and mission that they deserve,” the president said in an online chat sponsored by Google. A veterans group that is backing Hagel’s nomination also lamented the delay. “Our enemies look for any moment - however brief - of weakness,” said Jon Soltz, a Iraq War veteran and chairman of VoteVets.org.

Republicans, led by Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona, insisted the White House tell them more about how Obama handled the Benghazi crisis. — AP

Ecuador’s Correa eyes easy re-election QUITO: Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa is favored to cruise to a new term Sunday to cement a “socialist revolution” that has brought stability to a nation where several leaders were forced out before him.

An outspoken voice of the Latin American left and friend of ailing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the charismatic, US-educated economist is far ahead of his seven rivals in all

opinion polls after six years in office. “This is not one man’s project, this is a citizen revolution. We must make it irreversible,” Correa said during his final campaign rally in a bluecollar Quito district on Thursday as the crowd chanted: “We already have a president!”

In office since 2007, Correa has brought back stability to this rebellious Andean country of 15 million, which had seven presidents

Opposition presidential candidate of the Movement Creando Oportunidades, CREO, party, Guillermo Lasso, center, greets supporters during his closing campaign rally in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. Presidential elections in Ecuador are scheduled for Feb. 17. —AP

in 10 years. Born into a modest family in the southwest port of Guayaquil, the 49-year-old leader has become a popular figure thanks to social programs funded by the country’s oil proceeds.

“His victory appears more than assured.

The only uncertainty is by how much,” Marco Romero, a political scientist at Andina University, told AFP. A self-declared foe of neo-liberal economics, Correa has taken on big business and media groups, imposing new contracts on oil companies and renegotiating the country’s debt while touting his poverty reduction efforts. After clashing with privately-owned media, which he accuses of backing a police revolt in 2010, Correa barred his ministers from talking with opposition newspapers.

And while he presents himself as a “defender of freedom of expression,” Correa wants to enact a new media regulation law.

Last year, he irritated the United States by granting asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at Ecuador’s embassy in London after the anti-privacy group released tens of thousands of secret US military and diplomatic reports.

Critics accuse Correa of scaring away foreign capital, pointing to his friendships with the leaders of Cuba and Venezuela, though the Ecuadoran president has been more pragmatic than his leftist allies. —AFP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

India to scrap Italian $748m chopper deal NEW DELHI: India yesterday said it had started the process of cancelling a $748-million deal for 12 Italian helicopters amid allegations that the contract was won through kickbacks.

The ministry of defense said in a statement it had “initiated action for (the) cancellation” of the contract for 12 helicopters from AgustaWestland intended for use by VIPs such as the prime minister.

The decision is a severe blow to the parent company of AgustaWestland, Italian aerospace group Finmeccanica

whose chief executive was arrested earlier this week in Milan amid a probe by Italian prosecutors.

India, which has already put payments to the company on hold, also asked the Italian firm to “reply within seven days” if any terms of the contract and an “integrity pact” it signed in 2010 had been violated.

The purchase came under scrutiny from Italian investigators probing allegations the group had broken the law by paying bribes to foreign officials, leading to the arrest of Finmeccanica’s

boss Giuseppe Orsi on Tuesday. Italian prosecutors suspect that kickbacks worth around 10 percent of the deal or 50 million euros ($68 million) were paid to Indian officials to ensure AgustaWestland won the contract, press reports say.

The latest move by the defense ministry is seen as an attempt by the government to contain the fall-out from the corruption scandal ahead of elections in the first half of next year.

Defense Minister A K Antony ordered an Indian police investigation

on Tuesday. The chopper deal was cleared by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whose government has been buffeted by a series of corruption scandals that analysts say could affect the party’s electoral chances in 2014 polls.

The cancellation will also overshadow a visit to India next week by British Prime Minister David Cameron.

AgustaWestland, a wholly owned Anglo-Italian unit of Finmeccanica, was manufacturing the helicopters at its plant in southwest Britain. — AFP

Indian troops kill Pakistani soldier Soldier crossed LOC ‘accidentally’

MUMBAI: France’s President Francois Hollande (left) and his partner Valerie Trierweiler pose for photographers at the residence of the Governor of the western Indian state of Maharashtra in Mumbai yesterday. French President Francois Hollande wrapped up his two-day trip to India on Friday with a call for more investment and trade between the countries as he met with business leaders. —AFP

Pakistani tribesmen push Taleban to talk peace PESHAWAR: Five years after setting up an umbrella organization to unite violent militant groups in the nation’s tribal regions, the Pakistani Taliban is fractured, strapped for cash and losing support of local tribesmen frustrated by a protracted war that has forced thousands from their homes, analysts and residents of the area said. The temperamental chief of the group known as the Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP), Hakimullah Mehsud, recently offered to start peace talks with the government, raising the prospect of a negotiated end to Pakistan’s war against insurgents in a lawless region that runs the length of the border with Afghanistan.

The group’s offer of sanctuary to Afghanistan’s Taleban has been one of the most divisive issues in US-Pakistan relations and has confounded efforts to get the upper hand against Afghan insurgents after more than 11 years of war.

Pakistan denies providing outright military and financial help to militants fighting in Afghanistan. With 120,000 Pakistani soldiers deployed in the tribal regions, Pakistan has waged its own bloody battle against insurgents that has left more than 4,000 soldiers dead. In interviews with analysts, residents and militant experts, Mehsud’s network has emerged as a narrow collection of insurgents - often with links to criminal gangs - that has only limited influence in a vast tribal region overrun by scores of insurgent groups led by commanders with disparate agendas and varying loyalties. — AP

ISLAMABAD: Indian troops shot and killed a Pakistani soldier who crossed the makeshift border separating Indian and Pakistani held Kashmir, officials said yesterday.

The incident in the Kashmir region, which is claimed by both Pakistan and India, evoked similar incidents in January in which three Pakistani soldiers and two Indian soldiers were killed. The deaths ratcheted up tension in an area where the two countries have long battled for dominance.

A Pakistani military official said in a text message to reporters yesterday that the soldier was reportedly killed on Thursday night after he’d accidentally crossed the line of control that separates the Pakistani and the Indian held sides of Kashmir region. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military protocol.

Lt Col Rajesh Kalia, a spokesman for the Indian army in Kashmir, said the soldier was killed in a firefight with

Indian troops and an Indian soldier was injured. He said Indian troops saw “suspicious movement” in the Nowshera sector of the line of control.

“Our troops challenged him. This individual resorted to indiscriminate firing. Our troops retaliated. In the ensuing firefight, he was killed, and one of our soldiers was injured,” Kalia said.

Kalia added that Indian forces realized the dead man was a soldier “after the Pakistan army contacted our officers.” “We are returning his body with full respect as a soldier deserves,” he said. In January, three Pakistani soldiers and two Indian soldiers were killed in a series of attacks along the line of control.

India said one of its soldiers was beheaded. Pakistan and India struck a cease-fire agreement over Kashmir in November 2003. There have been periodic violations of the cease-fire, but the incidents in January were the

most serious. The tension disrupted cultural and sporting ties.

Performances by a Pakistani theater group were canceled in the western Indian city of Jaipur and in the Indian capital following protests by hard-line Hindu groups, and nine Pakistani hockey players who went to India to participate in a tournament were sent home.

More recently, the Indian-held part of Kashmir has been rocked by violent anti-India protests after a man convicted in the 2001 attack on India’s Parliament was hanged in a New Delhi jail. A curfew has been in place since the execution, but groups of demonstrators have defied it and clashed with government forces. Three protesters have been killed and more than 100 have been detained, according to police.

India accuses Pakistan of financing and supporting insurgents agitating in Kashmir. —AP

Pakistan province leader escapes murder bid PESHAWAR: The chief minister of Pakistan’s restive northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province survived a suicide bombing assassination bid yesterday. Ameer Haider Khan Hoti was travelling to a political rally when the attacker threw a grenade at his car before blowing himself up, Zaka Ullah, a senior local official, told AFP, but no-one was hurt. The attack came less than two months after the Pakistani Taliban killed Hoti’s number two Bashir Bilour in a suicide bombing at a political meeting in the provincial capital Peshawar.

Danishwar Khan, police chief for Mardan, where the attack took place, confirmed it was a suicide bombing. “The target of the attack was chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He and other associates remained safe in the attack,” he told AFP. Mardan lies around 50 kilometres (30 miles) northeast of Peshawar, which is on the edge of Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt, known as a haunt of Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants. — AFP

Pakistani paramilitary soldiers and Frontier Constables (FC) gather a day after a bomber detonated a pickup truck at a checkpoint in Hangu district, near the tribal areas yesterday. — AFP

SATURDAY, FEBRUUARY 16, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Gunmen refuse to end Malaysia border siege 100 armed men still holed up in village KUALA LUMPUR/MANILA: About 100 armed men holed up in a village in the Malaysian state of Sabah are refusing to leave, saying they have links with the Sultanate of Sulu in the Philippines which has a historic claim over the northern tip of Borneo island.

Malaysia police and army officials have formed a tight security ring around the village, media said, with navy boats patrolling nearby islands.

The gunmen landed near the coastal town of Lahad Datu on Tuesday. The drama on Borneo island has threatened to spark diplomatic tension between the Southeast Asian neighbors whose ties have been periodically frayed by security and migration problems caused by a porous sea border.

“They demand to be acknowledged

as citizens of the Sultanate of Sulu,” Abdullah Kiram, a son of the Sultan of Sulu, Ismael Kiram the II, told Reuters in Manila. Sulu is an archipelago in the southern Philippines. Today, it is a province but the old sultanate covered a wider area that included the northern tip of Borneo, which is now the Malaysian state of Sabah.

In an arrangement that stretches back to British colonial times, Malaysia pays a token amount to the sultanate each year for the “rental” of Sabah.

“They want to be acknowledged as citizens of their own land. They own Sabah,” said Kiram. Sultans in the Muslim-majority Philippine south have no power but generally enjoy the respect of the people. Malaysian officials said they suspected the men were

a faction of a Philippine Muslim rebel group. Philippine officials said they were unarmed Filipinos who had been promised land. A spokesman for the Philippine Foreign Ministry said on Friday that Malaysia had given an assurance that efforts were underway to get the men to leave peacefully.

“We therefore urge these concerned individuals to return to their homes and families,” said spokesman Raul Hernandez said.

Malaysia’s police chief said on Thursday the situation was not tense and the men appeared to be “behaving well”. “Discussion is proceeding well and we have told them to leave Sabah peacefully, as we do not want any situation which can threaten the security of the people,” Inspector-General of

Police Ismail Omar told a news conference, according to state news agency Bernama.

The Philippine embassy in Kuala Lumpur has sent a team to Sabah to coordinate with authorities there and to ascertain the identities of the men.

Sabah has a history of militants attacks in more remote parts of the state. The United States had issued travel warnings in the past to Sabah’s east coast which has diving sites.

In 2000, a group of militants from the southern Philippines kidnapped 21 tourists from diving resort on Sipadan island. In 1985, 11 people were killed when gunmen believed to be from the southern Philippines entered Lahad Datu, shooting at random before robbing a bank. — Reuters

Japan eyes pre-emptive strike ability in future

Internally displaced Ethnic Karen people gather to receive donations from the Nippon Foundation led by Yohei Sasakawa, Japan Goodwill Ambassador for the Welfare of the National Races in Myanmar, in Hpa-an village, Karen State, Myanmar. — AP

Uproar at Mossad over Australia spy story SYDNEY: The journalist who revealed the identity of a prisoner kept incommunicado in Israel described yesterday the frantic reaction of Israeli spy chiefs desperate to keep a lid on the mysterious story.

“Prisoner X”, identified by media as Australian-Israeli Mossad agent Ben Zygier, died in December 2010 while in isolation at Ayalon prison near Tel Aviv, in a case Israel tried hard to cover up until it was revealed this week.

Zygier was reportedly set to reveal information about operations conducted by Israel’s external espionage agency Mossad, including the misuse of Australian passports by its agents.

Australian reporter Trevor Bormann, who broke the story on Tuesday, said Israeli intelligence services were aware his report was going to air with a promo going viral on social media and a news release sent out the previous week. “My sources told me that it was ‘all hands on deck’ for Mossad and Israel’s internal security service Shin Bet,” he said on the website of his employer, the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“Their intelligence had told them that the mainstream Israeli media would most likely grudgingly abide by the court gag order, and that the main task for censors would be to ‘pull down’ the work of bloggers who would be posting links to our story.

“It did not work out quite like that.” As the story went global, Israel Wednesday admitted it imprisoned a man with dual nationality on security grounds in 2010 who later committed suicide, but did not identify him nor confirm reports he worked for Mossad. But Israeli lawyer Avigdor Feldman, who met Zygier just days before his death, confirmed that Mossad agents had been involved in the case and said he saw no indication the prisoner was planning to kill himself. —AFP

TOKYO: Japan has the right to develop the ability to make a pre-emptive strike against an imminent attack given a changing security environment although it has no plan to do so now, the defense minister said on Thursday, days after North Korea conducted a third nuclear test.

Any sign that Japan was moving to develop such a capability in response to North Korea’s nuclear program could upset neighbors China and South Korea, which have reacted strongly in the past to suggestions it might do so. “When an intention to attack Japan is evident, the threat is imminent, and there are no other options, Japan is allowed under the law to carry out strikes against enemy targets,” Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera told Reuters in an interview.

“Given Japan’s political environment and the peace-oriented diplomacy it has observed, this is not the time to make preparations (for building such capability). “But we need to carefully observe the changing security environment in the region.”

North Korea conducted its third nuclear test on Tuesday, drawing condemnation from the United States, Japan, Europe and the North’s only major ally, China.

Onodera said Japan needed to strengthen its ballistic missile defence in view of the North Korean threat. “Japan, the United States and South Korea managed to respond well to North Korea’s missile launch on Dec. 12. But North Korea is expected to boost various capabilities further. We need to improve corresponding capabilities as well.”

But he declined to say whether it was more urgent than ever to lift a selfimposed ban on exercising the right of collective self-defence, or coming to the aid of an ally under attack.

Exercising that right is now prohibited under a long-standing interpretation of Japan’s pacifist constitution but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made clear he wants to lift the ban and a panel of advisers has begun discussing the topic.

Onodera called on China to join the

United States, Japan and other countries in tightening sanctions against North Korea, noting that Pyongyang had gone ahead with the test on Tuesday in defiance of Beijing’s urging not to. “I think China is the one that is most concerned about the development ... From now on, it is necessary for us, including China, to seek effective steps, effective economic measures (against North Korea).”

Onodera urged China to work with Japan to set up hotline and other communications channels between Tokyo and Beijing to prevent any accidental clash over disputed East China Sea islets, while reiterating that the islands belonged to Japan.

Sino-Japanese ties cooled sharply after Japan’s government in September nationalised three of the disputed islets, called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

The island row has escalated to the point where both sides have scrambled fighter jets while patrol ships shadow

each other, raising worries that an unintended collision or other incident could lead to a broader clash.

“There already is a preliminary agreement between Japan and China to set up a maritime communication mechanism,” Onodera said.

“The mechanism would include annual meetings, specialists’ meetings, hotlines between high-ranking people, and direct communications between ships and planes in the field. I would like to have final agreement reached as soon as possible.”

Onodera said last week a Chinese frigate had locked its targeting radar on a Japanese destroyer on Jan. 30 - a step that usually precedes the firing of weapons - but China insisted that its vessel used only ordinary surveillance radar.

He said in the interview that Japan has data to back up its assertion, but was cautious about disclosing the information. — Reuters

Chinese tourists riding a small boat look at the North Korean border areas near the Chinese town of Dandong. —AFP

Business Turkey to Iran gold trade wiped out by US sanction

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Q&A: Currency the latest threat to global economy

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Stock market wavers as Europe’s economy slows

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Buffett’s Heinz buy puts spotlight on huge deals

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

KREMLIN: Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to G20 states finance ministers in the Kremlin yesterday. — AFP

G20 seeks to banish ‘currency war’ Communique won’t single out Japan on forex MOSCOW: Finance ministers from G20 states gathered yesterday in Moscow for their first meeting in the Russian capital aimed at reassuring markets that the world’s economic powers would not slug it out in “currency wars” to boost national growth. The troubles of the debt-ridden euro-zone will for the first time in several international meetings not be centre stage, with the main concern expected to be Japan’s controversial plan for “monetary easing” that weakens the yen.

World economic policymakers need to find ways to boost growth without using instruments that could cause market turbulence or wreck international financial coordination. The main challenge for the G20 is to “bring the world economy out of stagnation and uncertainty, and move on a firm path towards growth,” President Vladimir Putin told the ministers as they met.

But EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn indicated that taking that path might not be easy: “The short-term outlook for the euro area is improving, although forecasts indicate

the economy will only gather momentum slowly over the course of this year,” he said.

The two-day G20 meeting, being hosted by Russia for the first time as it holds the presidency of the world’s leading economies, is a prime chance for Moscow to present itself as a reliable global economic player.

Russia has set the task during its presidency-which will culminate in the G20 summit from September 5-6 in Saint Petersburg-of launching a “new cycle of growth” through investment, transparency and regulation. But economists fear that currency devaluationsmaking the national currency cheaper to spur exports and domestic activity-could prove too tempting if governments see no other way out.

“We do not want state intervention in exchange rates. We want exchange rates that are determined by the markets,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told German Radio ahead of the talks. “I am actually very confident that will also be the joint position of all G20 countries in Moscow,” Schaeuble added in an interview on Germany’s Inforadio.

‘Forex rates must be set by the market’ The Japanese answer to the US policy of quantitative easing-the buying by the central bank of bonds held by banks to increase the quantity of money in the economy-would be aimed at helping Japan reach an inflation target of 2.0 percent after years of deflation.

Under heavy pressure from new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic party, Japan’s central bank last month announced plans for monetary easing which immediately pushed down the yen.

But the Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Angel Gurria denied that a currency war was in progress, saying everyone wanted Japan to rid itself of the curse of deflation. “There is no currency war. We are further today away from a currency war than we were two years ago or three years ago,” he said in Moscow.

“What we have is a number of countries using their instruments, whatever room they have left on the monetary side.” European

Central Bank chief Mario Draghi, quoted by Dow Jones Newswires, dismissed the talk of currency wars as inappropriate and counterproductive.

But Russia-which does not want to see the ruble appreciate against other currencies to the extent it hurts the domestic economy-had indicated its strong opposition to artificial currency devaluations.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that in the final communique the finance ministers would state that “exchange rates are determined by the market.” The G7 group of the world’s richest nations-including Japanissued a statement Tuesday to calm markets by declaring a commitment to “market-determined exchange rates”.

The United States has urged the world to refrain from “competitive devaluation”, a message echoed by the EU commission, France and Germany. An appreciation of the euro as market sentiment improves could also be damaging for the extremely fragile economy in the euro-zone. —AFP

business

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

German financier named new Vatican bank chief VATICAN CITY: The Vatican yesterday named a German financier as the new head of its scandal-hit bank, saying he would help overhaul the secretive institution to comply with anti-money laundering rules. Ernst von Freyberg replaces Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, who was unceremoniously sacked by the board on May 24 last year a day after the pope’s butler was arrested for leaking hundreds of confidential papers from the Vatican.

Vatican watchers say Gotti Tedeschi’s ousting could have been linked to his drive to make the bank,

the Institute for Religious Works, cooperate with an Italian money laundering inquiry but the circumstances remain mysterious. Von Freyberg, a trained lawyer, is chairman of the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg in northern Germany and an active member of the Knights of Malta, a lay religious order founded in the Middle Ages.

From 1991 until 2012 he was chief executive of Frankfurt-based Daiwa Corporate Advisory, a consultancy mainly for financial institutions. “This decision is the result of extensive

evaluation and a series of interviews that the Commission of Cardinals has conducted, with the constant support of the Supervisory Board,” the Vatican said in a statement. “The Holy Father has closely followed the entire selection,” it said. The Vatican is trying to implement reforms to put it on an international “white list” of countries that comply with legislation to combat money laundering after a critical report from the Council of Europe last year.

“There is a clear willingness to proceed. The new president is

absolutely aware of this,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told reporters. The report from Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body in Strasbourg, scored unsatisfactory ratings for the Vatican in seven out of 16 “key recommendations” and satisfactory ratings in nine. The report noted that the foundations for a more transparent financial system in the tiny Vatican state “are now formally in place,” adding: “The Holy See has come a long way in a very short period of time.” — AFP

Turkey to Iran gold trade wiped out by US sanctions Iran restricted to food, medicine purchases with lira ISTANBUL: Tighter US sanctions are killing off Turkey’s gold-for-gas trade with Iran and have stopped stateowned lender Halkbank from processing other nations’ energy payments to the OPEC oil producer, bankers said yesterday. US officials have sought to prevent Turkish gold exports, which indirectly pay Iran for its natural gas, from providing a financial lifeline to Tehran, largely frozen out of the global banking system by Western sanctions over its nuclear programme. Turkey, Iran’s biggest natural gas customer, has been paying Iran for its imports with Turkish lira, because sanctions prevent it from paying in dollars or euros.

Iranians then use those lira, held in Halkbank accounts, to buy gold in Turkey, and couriers carry bullion worth millions of dollars in hand luggage to Dubai, where it can be sold for foreign currency or shipped to Iran.

Halkbank had also been processing a portion of India’s payments for Iranian oil. A provision of US sanctions, made law last summer and implemnted from Feb 6, effectively tightens control on

sales of precious metals to Iran and prevents Halkbank from processing oil payments by other countries back to Tehran, bankers said.

“Halkbank can only accept payments for Turkish oil and gas purchases and Iran is only allowed to buy food, medicine and industrial products with that money,” one senior Turkish banker told Reuters. “The gas for gold trade is very difficult after the second round of sanctions. Iranians cannot just withdraw the cash and buy whatever they want. They have to prove what they are buying ... so gold exports will definitely fall,” he said.

Trade in Turkish gold bars to Iran via Dubai was already drying up as banks and dealers declined to buy the bullion to avoid sanctions risks associated with the trade. Reuters first reported the boom in Turkish gold sales to Iran via Dubai last year. Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Ca layan signalled a decline in the trade last week when he said that, while Turkey would not be swayed by US pressure to halt gold exports to Iran, Tehran’s demand for

the metal was expected to fall. “You could say that the United States has achieved its aim,” said a western diplomat. “If Turkey is going to continue energy imports from Iran, there is no other way to go than trading sanctionfree goods.”

New routes?

Washington says Tehran is enriching uranium to levels that could be used in nuclear weapons and has been trying to ratchet up economic pressure on Tehran. Iran says the programme is for peaceful purposes. Turkish ministers had acknowledged the “gold-for-gas” trade but said it was carried out entirely by the private sector and was not subject to US sanctions. Turkey like China, India and Japan is heavily dependent on imported energy and, while it has cut back on oil from Iran, has made clear it cannot simply stop buying Iranian oil and gas. “With so many restrictions, Iran’s cash may accumulate in Halkbank accounts... they may have difficulty getting some of that money out of Turkey,” another senior Turkish banker said. — Reuters

PORTO: An elderly person exits through a traditional Portuguese grocery specialized in codfish, in Porto, Portugal. — AP

Cyprus election contenders tap gas reserve potential

THESSALONIKI: University students hold a banner that reads ‘’We chose our degrees, not you’’ during a rally against austerity measures affecting the education budget.

Greece’s conservative-led government plans to reduce the number of higher education departments in the new academic year. — AP

NICOSIA: Huge untapped gas deposits almost 20,000 feet below the surface of the Levantine Sea could be a life-changer for debt-crippled Cyprus and candidates in tomorrow’s presidential election are rushing to reap political gains. Experts believe Cyprus, a novice in the energy sector, could be potentially sitting on hydrocarbons worth up to $400 billion. That would dwarf a 17.5 billion euro financial bailout under discussion with international lenders. “Prima facie, its huge. Much bigger than anyone is talking about,” said Michael Economides, an energy consultant based in Houston, Texas. But this treasure is buried deep in the Mediterranean and is trapped in one of the most bitterly-contested regions of the world, with arch-rival Turkey openly branding Cyprus’s efforts to tap it illegal. With a massive bailout bill from lenders amid a deep recession, Cypriots are bracing themselves for years of austerity and the gutwrenching frustration that billions might be languishing under the Mediterranean sea bed. The three main candidates in the island’s election have sensed the potential to score points and the gas has become a campaign issue.

One contender has suggested “securitisation” - pledging future profits to secure loans in advance, so that Cyprus can solve its financial problems without waiting for the gas to flow. It is an idea that is gaining currency in Brussels, where the finances of the small island are a big headache for the EU. But even if Cyprus does try to sell its future gas revenues early, getting any money is still probably years away. Other countries have pledged future oil and gas revenue to securitise loans, but only from proven reserves that are ready to produce. — Reuters

Business SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Gold at 6-month low as chart support crumbles Technical selling triggers further losses LONDON: Gold prices extended losses yesterday to hit a six-month low as a breach of key chart support levels at $1,625, its previous low for the year, and $1,620 triggered technically-driven selling. Softer appetite for the precious metal from investors and a dearth of physical demand from China during the Lunar New Year holiday put the metal on track to slip 3 percent this week, its biggest weekly drop since June. Spot

prices break through key support levels, which allow traders to limit losses in a falling market.

Losses in the euro also pressured the metal. The single currency remained in negative territory against the dollar after data showing manufacturing in New York state expanded in February for the first time in seven months. Gold investment has softened this year on signs that economies such as the United

AHMEDABAD: In this file photograph, an Indian sales person arranges bangles made of gold and other precious metals on the eve of the Hindu festival, Akshaya Tritiya. —AFP gold hit a low of $1,608.11 an ounce, its weakest since Aug 16, and was at $1,615.01 by 1428 GMT, down 1.2 percent. US gold futures for April delivery were down $21.6 an ounce at $1,614.20.

The next technical support was now seen at $1,600, traders said. “The 1,625 level was a big support and once that was broken, stop-selling orders kicked off and now we are in a new range of $1,550 to $1,625,” said Adrien Biondi, head of precious metals trading at Commerzbank. Sell stops are automatic technical selling signals that start after

States and China are picking up, while continued problems of sovereign debt and economic weakness in Europe seem to be priced in by the market.

“The market now seems to be getting used to the more positive frame of mind of a recovering US (economy) - which entails lower probability of continued QE and in turn a lower gold price,” MKS Capital said in a note. The next focus for the market remains a G20 meeting and ensuing statement, which could affect broader markets by giving more clues on currencies. “(The Group of 20) will try

to put the ‘currency wars’ discussion to rest,” MKS added. “Given the uncertainty around the meeting’s results, (there could be) volatility... next Monday.”

The physical market was again subdued in Asia. Chinese players, however, were expected to take advantage of the lower prices to replenish stocks when they return from their week-long public holiday for the Lunar New Year celebrations. “With prices coming lower, all the physical buyers will start covering some of the shorts and maybe some investors will come around as well,” Commerzbank’s Biondi said.

Investment interest in gold has suffered in recent months after the latest monetary easing measures from the Federal Reserve failed to push prices above $1,800 an ounce, and as US economic data took on a firmer tone. Data released on Thursday showed billionaire investor George Soros had cut his holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold exchange-traded fund, by more than half in the fourth quarter, while GLD’s biggest shareholder John Paulson left his holdings unchanged.

A few others also cut exposure to gold, including investment fund PIMCO and Tiger Management’s Julian Robertson, who dissolved his entire stake in Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF. The SPDR’s holdings fell 0.23 percent on Thursday from Wednesday, while those of the largest silver-backed ETF, New York’s iShares Silver Trust, rose 0.26 percent during the same period.

In other precious metals, platinum and palladium gave up gains made at the start of the week and followed the rest of the complex lower. Spot platinum declined to a two-week low of $1,668 an ounce and was later seen at $1,672.99 an ounce, down 2 percent. Palladium was down 1.6 percent to $750.97, retreating from a new best since September 2011 at $775 hit on Wednesday. Spot silver fell to a five-week low of $29.87 an ounce, before settling at $30, still down 1.3 percent. —Reuters

Martin Blessing

Commerzbank CEO to forgo bonus due to poor profits FRANKFURT: The head of Germany’s Commerzbank says he’s not asking for a bonus after a year of meager profits and no dividend for shareholders.

The bank is cutting costs and plans to drop 4,000 to 6,000 jobs through 2016. CEO Martin Blessing also gave a downbeat outlook for 2013, saying it would be a year of restructuring that would cost “effort, money and time.”

He said yesterday that revenues, measured before provisioning for loan losses, “will remain under pressure” for this year.

Blessing termed profit of only 6 million euros ($8 million) for last year as “unsatisfactory” and told the board of directors he would not be drawing any performance-related pay. He said other executives on the top management committee would still get 40 percent of their bonuses, while managers lower down would take home more. He cited a “responsibility pyramid” in saying those with more authority should make a bigger sacrifice. “I am at the top, and find that a larger contribution is correct and justified,” he said. The bank is restructuring to deal with tough conditions for the banking industry, including low interest rates and regulators’ demands that banks keep stronger financial buffers against losses. It is winding down troubled businesses in ship financing and commercial real estate, as ordered by European Union authorities, to compensate for the state aid it got when it was bailed out after the 2007 2008 financial crisis. The German government still owns 25 percent. The bank provided detail yesterday on its fourth-quarter earnings announced Feb 4. It lost 716 million euros ($954 million) largely due to one-time losses of 185 million euros on its sale of Bank Forum in Ukraine and 560 million euros in tax accounting charges. For all of 2012, net profit was a meager 6 million euros. Contributing to the poor result were the large one-time charges for Bank Forum and the tax issue, as well as losses on shipping finance loans that are not being repaid.

Additionally, rock-bottom interest rates set by the European Central Bank and other central banks narrow the difference between what the bank pays depositors and creditors for money and what it can earn on loans.

The bank says its job cuts will see it incur costs of ?500 million for restructuring in the first quarter of this year alone. It says it is ahead of schedule in reducing expenses, however. The bank’s shares rose 2.7 percent to 1.51 euros in midday trading in Europe. Some of the bank’s businesses, particularly its core business lending to mid-size companies in Germany, are doing better. The German business finance division showed very low loan losses of only 30 million euros for the whole year due to the country’s relatively strong, export-based economy and raised operating profit to 1.65 billion euros from 1.59 billion euros. —AP

IMF okays $750m loan to Jamaica

SEVILLA: This picture shows an Airbus Military A400M transport plane under construction in the factory. The four-engine aircraft was designed to replace C130 Hercules and C-160 Transall cargo planes, and can perform three major roles, according to Airbus. —AFP

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund announced yestedray it had reached an agreement with Jamaica for a fresh $750 million loan, after the Caribbean country launched a crucial debt swap earlier this week. “The mission has reached a staff-level agreement with the Jamaican authorities on the key elements of an economic program that can be supported by a 48-month arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility,” the IMF said in a statement.

The Fund said the loan could be approved by the IMF executive board by the end of March, “subject to the timely completion of prior actions to be taken by the Jamaican government and obtaining necessary financing assurances.” The agreement came after Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and Finance Minister Peter Phillips announced on Monday an ambi-

tious domestic program to swap high-yield government debt for lower-yield paper. The swap, the country’s second debt restructuring in three years, was crucial to lowering the government’s debt service burden, which currently sucks up 55 percent of government spending.

The swap was a condition set by the IMF for a new financing program, said Phillips.

The debt swap and other fiscal and structural reforms in Kingston’s economic program “will help reduce Jamaica’s medium-term financing needs and contribute to debt sustainability,” the IMF’s Jamaica mission chief Jan Kees Martijn said in a statement. “The success of the authorities’ program will depend critically on a high rate of participation of private creditors in the debt exchange. All these elements will help secure financing. —AFP

Business SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Q&A: Currency the latest threat to global economy LONDON: The world economy faces a new threat. Instead of a banking collapse or too much debt, fears are growing that countries are using their currencies as an economic weapon. History suggests that’s never a good thing. If too many countries try to weaken their currencies for economic gain - sparking a so-called “currency war” - then the fragile global economic recovery could be derailed and the international financial system thrown into chaos. Financial representatives from the world’s leading 20 industrial and developing nations are gathering in Moscow for a meeting this weekend that looks set to be dominated by these concerns and they will have their work cut out to douse the fires.

er countries respond to the falling yen by devaluing their currencies, Japan will struggle to achieve its objectives - back to square one.

Have other countries been manipulating their currencies?

In Sept 2011, Switzerland took action to arrest the rise of its currency, the Swiss franc.

The rise was triggered by the debt crisis afflicting the 17-country eurozone - investors were looking for somewhere safe to park their cash and the Swiss franc has traditionally fulfilled that role. The Swiss intervention was viewed as an attempt to protect the country’s

of big exporters like BMW or Airbus. However, this week it’s at $1.33 even though the eurozone is still the laggard of the world economy.

Figures Thursday showed that the economic output of the 17 European Union countries that use the euro shrank at an annualized rate of around 2.5 percent in the last quarter of 2012. A rise in the value of euro, which is also partly to do with the diminishing threat of a collapse of the currency, will do little to help companies in the euro-zone - and will hardly help getting it growing again.

Politicians have voiced concerns about the euro’s value - notably French President

for-tat battle with their exchange rates. That decimated global trade, accentuating the depression and providing another catalyst to war. Assuming the world doesn’t descend into a similar abyss, a currency war can still harm the global economy. For example, central banks, particularly in the developing world, may resort to controlling the amount of capital that can be moved out of a country to affect exchange rates. “Increasing impediments to the free flow of capital might be thought to lower the potential growth of the world economy,” said Stephen Lewis, chief economist at Monument Securities. And even

Why is everyone suddenly talking about currencies?

During the financial crisis of the past few years, the value of currencies wasn’t a high priority - governments and central banks around the world co-operated to fix the global economy. But, five years down the line, a full recovery is still a long way off. To encourage their consumers and businesses to keep spending, central banks in the US, Europe and beyond have made it a priority to keep interest rates extremely low. One way of doing this it to use their power to print money to buy up large quantities of bonds. Boosting the amount of currency in circulation also has a knock-on effect: it can drive down the value of that currency. Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, is currently facing charges that it is trying first and foremost to lower the value of its currency, the yen, to stimulate its economy and get the edge over other countries. The new government is trying to get Japan, which is in recession, motoring again after a two-decade bout of stagnant growth and deflation. Earlier this week, the yen fell to a 21-month low against the dollar and a near three-year trough against the euro. As the yen falls, its exports become cheaper and those of Asian neighbors South Korea and Taiwan, and further afield in Europe, become relatively more expensive.

Is Japan trying to weaken the yen?

Yes and no. Though it’s not directly intervening in the foreign exchange markets by selling yen and buying other currencies, the new Japanese government has embarked on an economic course it hopes will finally kickstart the economy. The government has already pushed the Bank of Japan to accept a higher inflation target. This has triggered speculation the bank will create more money. The prospect of more yen in circulation has been the main reason behind the yen’s recent fall to a 21-month low against the dollar and a near three-year record against the euro. Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso doesn’t appear to be holding back on the success of the policy.

Though he insists the government hasn’t been directly intervening in the currency markets, he says the world “has been awed” by the recent surge in share prices and that the weakening yen has “brought huge benefits to the export sector.”

Will a lower yen help Japan?

It can help exporters, such as Sony and Toyota, thereby lifting growth. A lower currency can also stoke inflation by making imports more expensive. For a country that’s seen prices fall for a large chunk of the past two decades, that may be no bad thing. But if oth-

CARACAS: Venezuelan Bolivar notes are pictured. Venezuelans swamped stores to snap up everything from washing machines to plane tickets in a last-minute wave of panic-buying ahead of a 32 percent currency devaluation last week. —AFP exporters.

The appropriate level of currencies was a hot topic of debate before the financial crisis.

For years, U.S. politicians have accused China of keeping its currency artificially weak in order to industrialize fast. And the US was widely seen to have abandoned the “strong dollar” policy at the core of the Clinton administration’s economic policy in a dash for growth.

So why the fears that Japan might start a new currency war?

Getting an edge from a lower currency may be seen as an easy way of “trying to spark economic recovery,” according to Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital. It’s the desire to eke out growth that’s behind the talk of currency wars and the focus on the yen. So far, Europe has felt the impact of the falling yen the most. At the height of the euro-zone’s financial crisis last year, the euro was worth $1.21 - to the potential benefit

Francois Hollande, who indicated he was open to calls for a more managed exchange rate. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said last week that the bank will monitor the economic impact of the euro’s rising value. Several analysts took that to mean the ECB could cut interest rates to bolster growth, which in theory could weaken the euro - an indirect tit-for-tat response to the yen’s fall, some say. Earlier this week, the volatility in the currency markets prompted the Group of Seven leading industrial nations, which includes the US, Germany as well as Japan, to warn that volatile movements in exchange rates could adversely hit the global economy and to reaffirm their commitment to marketdriven exchange rates this week.

How bad could a currency war get?

Since World War II, one of the key objectives of international economic policymaking has been to avoid a repeat of the 1930s, when countries round the world engaged in a tit-

if capital controls are avoided, violent fluctuations in the value of currencies sparked by a currency war don’t encourage businesses to invest- raw materials and components shipped in from abroad would become increasingly difficult to cost and the value of any money invested in a country could quickly be wiped out.

Can the world’s leaders and central bankers calm the situation?

No doubt, a communique will emerge from this weekend’s G-20 meeting in Moscow that pours scorn at competitive devaluations. Most of the action, though, is likely to take place behind-the-scenes with pressure expected to be put on the Japanese finance minister and central bank governor not to allow the yen to fall much further. “Expect smoke and mirrors,” said Simon Evenett, a professor of economics at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland and a former World Bank official. “It’s not the G-20’s style to point fingers.” —AP

Business SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

UK retail sales plunge unexpectedly in January Numbers rekindle worries about triple-dip recession

NEW DELHI: French President Francois Hollande delivers his speech during the India France Economic Conference - Strengthening Long-Team Economic partnership. —AFP

Hollande eyes more trade on India trip MUMBAI: French President Francois Hollande wrapped up his two-day trip to India yesterday with a call for more investment and trade between the countries as he met with business leaders. Hollande, making his first trip to Asia since taking office last year, said that trade between India and France was barely 8.0 billion euros ($11 billion) annually-far from an objective of 12 billion euros set in 2008.

The French leader has sought to sell France for its infrastructure and highly educated labour force in a trip that has focused on business, particularly on the sale to New Delhi of French fighter jets and nuclear technology. “The idea of my visit, beyond friendship and our historical links and our common positions about the future of the world, is also to intensify economic and trade links,” he said in New Delhi.

He arrived later yesterday in commercial capital Mumbai for a meeting with 250 business chiefs. After talks between Hollande and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday, the two leaders stressed that negotiations were progressing on the world’s biggest defence deal, the sale of 126 French fighter jets to India. Hollande’s trip was seen by analysts as vital in giving a push to the $12-billion purchase, which manufacturer Dassault Aviation hopes to conclude after being chosen for exclusive negotiations in January last year. —AFP

LONDON: British retail sales unexpectedly fell in January hurt by heavy snow, reviving worries that the economy may be slipping into a third recession since the onset of the financial crisis. Sales volumes slipped 0.6 percent in both monthly and annual terms, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday, confounding economists’ expectations for growth. “The underlying picture is that the economy is bouncing along the bottom, so weather disruptions can easily tip it into negative territory,” said Rob Wood, economist at Berenberg Bank.

Britain’s economy has endured two recessions since the 2008 financial crisis and contracted again at the end of last year, coming closer to its third slump, although stronger recent economic data has raised hopes of modest growth in early 2013. “This release brings a dip back on the table,” Wood said. Another recession would pile pressure on Britain’s Conservative-led government, which has had to defend its austerity programme against criticism it is stifling growth.

The government says cuts are necessary to shrink a swollen deficit, but it also needs solid growth to meet its budget targets and bolster its chances of winning a 2015 election. The pound hit a half-year low against the dollar and

British government bonds extended gains after the retail data release.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a 0.4 percent rise in sales on the month and a 0.8 percent increase on the year. The ONS also revised December’s numbers down.

Weather is not the only problem facing British consumers. High inflation has eroded their spending power in recent years, with real wages now at their lowest since 2003. Little respite is on the cards.

The Bank of England warned on Wednesday that inflation would remain high until 2016 and economic growth would be slow. In a sign that it was not just the bad weather that is weighing on consumers, sales between November and January posted their steepest fall compared to the previous three months since March 2010. In expenditure terms, retail sales account for roughly one fifth of Britain’s gross domestic product.

Fair-weather shoppers The ONS said weak food sales, which posted their biggest monthly fall since May 2011, were the main reason behind the overall sales drop, with bad weather forcing some small grocers to close.

“Given it has come early in the quarter, there is some chance of catch-up in

UK’s Cameron may fly in to Shell India tax row

Knight Vinke says Darty not showing any urgency LONDON: The biggest shareholder in Darty, Europe’s No. 3 electrical goods retailer, demanded a seat on the firm’s board after it issued a profit warning that threatens its final dividend. Activist investor Knight Vinke, which owns 25 percent of Darty’s equity, said yesterday it would exercise its contractual right to join the Darty board with immediate effect. “It has taken more than six months for the board to implement the strategic changes we recommended back in July and we fail to note any increased sense of urgency in its deliberations, despite a deterioration in the trading environment that was not unexpected,” Knight Vinke said.

Darty, which trails market leader Media-Saturn and No.2 player Dixons Retail, said sales trends had softened in January. It said if current trading conditions continued it would miss the lower end of expectations for underlying pretax profit in the year to April, of 30 million euros ($40 million). Darty, which made a 59 million euros profit in 2011/12 and has been battling weak economies and intense competition from online retailers, said most European markets had become even more promotional since January, particularly Holland and Spain.

“When you look at the overall euro zone data announced yesterday, we can’t expect any material improvement in the coming year, and I think there will continue to be pressures,” acting chief executive Dominic Platt told reporters.

“The consumer is tightening its belt in difficult circumstances and responding perhaps more to promotional activity.” Official EU data on Thursday showed the euro zone slipped deeper than expected into recession in the last three months of 2012 after its largest economies, France and Germany, shrank. —Reuters

February and March,” said David Tinsley, economist at BNP Paribas. “But of course forgone food sales are not necessarily made good,” he said, adding that a scandal over horse meat sold as beef might also hurt sales.

Unemployment figures next week will provide further clues about the state of the economy at the turn of the year. One major British retailer has showed shoppers might be getting back to spending in February. John Lewis said yesterday that sales at its department stores jumped by more than a fifth last week compared to a year earlier. However, that number was flattered by heavy snowfall in February 2012.

The ONS said the quantity of food sold fell by 2.6 percent compared with January last year, touching its lowest volume since April 2004. Meanwhile, the share of online food sales jumped by nearly a third, probably another reflection of the bad weather that kept shoppers at home. The increase in online shopping helped big retailers, the ONS said. Retail sales excluding fuel fell 0.5 percent on the month but were 0.2 percent higher than in January 2012 - much weaker than economists’ forecasts for rises of 0.4 percent on the month and 1.4 percent on the year. —Reuters

PARIS: CEO of the luxury group PPR, Francois-Henri Pinault, speaks to the media as he presents the results for 2012 yesterday. Strong luxury sales outside Europe raised French retail and luxury group PPR’s 2012 revenue and profits, after the company behind Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent jettisoned two of its weaker brands and pressed hard into emerging markets. —AP

LONDON: Oil company Royal Dutch/Shell has asked the British government to raise the subject of a tax dispute with India during Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit there next week, according to a source familiar with the request. The dispute blew up earlier this month when tax authorities revalued by $2.7 billion a 2009 transaction by Shell with a whollyowned subsidiary, and claimed a tax payment was due.

It comes as India faces a potential seeks to balance the need to shore up its finances by raising tax receipts with its desire to encourage foreign investment. The Anglo-Dutch oil group’s run-in with tax officials follows a long-running $2 billion Indian tax claim on British mobile telecoms group Vodafone which has dented foreign investor confidence in the country. Finnish phone maker Nokia earlier this week became the latest international company to protest against an Indian tax investigation.

The amount claimed from Shell was not specified, and an Indian tax official told Reuters it would be confined to interest on that amount. Shell has responded vigorously to the tax claim, which was revealed initially in press reports. “Taxing the money received by Shell India is, in effect, a tax on foreign direct investment, which is contrary not only to law but also to the spirit of the recent global trip by the finance minister,” Shell India Chairman Yasmine Hilton said on Feb 4.

Shell’s Indian presence goes back 80 years and, like other big oil companies, it has its eye on the country’s growing market for natural gas and fuels.

Shell also has bitumen and lubricant operations in India and is the only one of the big-name international oil companies with a fuel retail licence in the country. It employs over 1,600 people at a business services centre in Chennai. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Shell had not been invited to join a business delegation that will accompany Cameron on the trip, but hoped he would raise the issue on their behalf. A spokeswoman for Cameron declined to discuss issues he was likely to raise, and would not say which companies were accompanying him. A Shell spokesman also declined to comment. —Reuters

Business SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Buffett’s Heinz buy puts spotlight on huge deals US mergers total $219 billion year-to-date NEW YORK: Warren Buffett and a fellow billionaire are teaming up to snap up the Heinz ketchup company, marking the food industry’s biggest ever deal and yet another sign that the lifeless merger market is finally picking up. HJ Heinz announced Thursday a $23.3 billion deal to be purchased by Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital, which was cofounded by Jorge Lemann, one of Brazil’s richest men. The news came the same day that American Airlines and US Airways announced their $11 billion merger. Just a little over a week ago, Michael Dell said he struck a deal to buy the computer company that he founded and bears his name.

Even before Thursday’s blockbuster deals were announced, the year had been shaping up to be a promising one

and kitchen cupboards all over the US. The deal, expected to close in the third quarter, sent shares of Heinz soaring. The company’s stock price was up nearly 20 percent at $72.45 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Berkshire picked up steam, too. Its Class A shares gained $1,490, or about 1 percent, to close Thursday at $149,240.

The plans to take Heinz private apparently began to take shape on a plane in early December. In an interview with CNBC, Buffett said he was approached at that time by Jorge Lemann, a fellow billionaire and a co-founder of 3G. The two had known each other since serving on the board of Gillette about 12 years ago.

Soon after that encounter, two of 3G’s managing partners traveled to Pittsburgh to have lunch with Heinz CEO William

PITTSBURGH: HJ Heinz Co CEO William Johnson (left) and 3G Capital Managing Partner, Alex Behring, speak at a news conference at the world headquarters of the HJ Heinz Co on Thursday, Feb 14, 2013, in Pittsburgh. —AP for mergers. US mergers total $219 billion year-to-date, which is the fastest start to a year since 2000, according to Dealogic. At the same time last year, mergers had totaled just $85 billion. Globally, merger activity has been tepid since 2007 when there were $4.6 trillion in deals. Last year’s total was $2.7 trillion. One of the reasons activity is picking up is that financing deals is cheap, with interest rates near record lows. Companies are also sitting on piles of cash, with those in the Standard and Poor’s 500 index holding nearly $1 trillion on their books.

Another reason to buy? After years of slashing expenses and squeezing more work out of remaining staff, companies are struggling to grow earnings. In the January-March quarter, earnings are expected to climb less than 1 percent compared with the year earlier, according to FactSet, a financial data provider.

As for Heinz, the company says its sale to Berkshire and 3G is intended to help accelerate its transformation into a global powerhouse. The company, based in Pittsburgh, also makes Classico pasta sauces and Ore-Ida potatoes, as well as a growing stable of sauces suited to local tastes around the world.

For his money, the Oracle of Omaha gets one of the nation’s oldest and most familiar brands, one that’s in refrigerators

Johnson and raise the prospect of buying the 144-year-old company. “The offer was such that I simply felt compelled to take it to my board,” Johnson said at a news conference Thursday after the deal was announced. Over the next several weeks, Johnson said, the board worked out details of the transaction. Berkshire is putting up $12.12 billion in return for half of the equity in Heinz, as well as $8 billion of preferred shares that pay 9 percent, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 3G Capital will run Heinz, and Berkshire will be the financing partner.

By taking the company private, Johnson said, Heinz will have the flexibility to react more quickly without the pressure of satisfying investors with quarterly earnings reports. Heinz is increasingly focusing on emerging markets, where it expects to get about a quarter of its sales this year. Like other packaged food companies, it is betting that staking an early claim in countries with multiplying ranks of middle-class customers will secure its own future.

Although ketchup and sauces still account for just under half its sales, Heinz has expanded over the years to include a much broader array of products across 200 countries, including ABC soy sauce in Indonesia, Quero tomato sauces and veg-

etables in Brazil and Complan nutritional drinks in India. In 2010, the company bought Foodstar, which makes Master brand soy sauce and fermented bean curd in China.

The ever-expanding business reaches back to 1869, when Henry John Heinz and neighbor L. Clarence Noble began selling grated horseradish, bottled in a clear glass to showcase its purity. It wasn’t until 1876 that the company introduced its flagship product, marking the country’s first commercial ketchup. Heinz is a prize because it has the type of name recognition that takes years to build, said Brian Sozzi, chief equities analyst for NBG Productions. One testament to the strength of the brand has been the company’s ability to raise prices even in the competitive market, he said.

“There isn’t going to be another Heinz brand,” Sozzi said. Johnson stressed that Heinz would remain in its native Pittsburgh as a condition of the agreement with 3G and Berkshire Hathaway.

The only change will be when Heinz no longer appears in stock listings. Although 3G Capital has a record of aggressively cutting costs at businesses it acquires, managing partner Alex Behring said Heinz is different because the business is healthy and sales are rising. But it wasn’t a guarantee that jobs won’t be cut.

The more Heinz is able to grow, the “safer people will be,” said Johnson, who has been CEO for 15 years. As for management changes, including his own tenure, Johnson said there have not yet been any discussions. Buffett did not immediately respond to a message Thursday from The Associated Press. But he has recently said that he’s been hunting for elephant-sized deals. At the end of last year, he said on CNBC that he had about $47 billion in cash available.

Berkshire’s biggest acquisition ever was its $26.3 billion purchase of BNSF railroad in 2010. Last year, Buffett also starting building a newspaper company with the $149 million acquisition of 63 Media General newspapers and several other small or mid-sized newspapers.

Berkshire now owns 28 dailies and a number of other publications. The Heinz deal is a departure for Berkshire Hathaway. Generally, Buffett prefers to buy entire companies and then allow the businesses to continue operating much the way they were before. Berkshire has also helped finance deals before - most recently during the financial crisis of 2008, when he made lucrative deals for Berkshire when few other companies had cash. Heinz shareholders will receive $72.50 in cash for each share of common stock they own. Based on Heinz’s number of shares outstanding, the deal is worth $23.3 billion excluding debt. Including debt, it’s worth about $28 billion. The price for the deal represents a 20 percent premium to Heinz’s closing price of $60.48 on Wednesday. Heinz said the deal was unanimously approved by its board. “It’s our kind of company,” Buffett said in the CNBC interview, noting Heinz’s signature ketchup has been around for more than a century. “I’ve sampled it many times.” —AP

Stock market wavers as Europe’s economy slows NEW YORK: Renewed worries about Europe overshadowed an encouraging US jobs report on Thursday, leaving major stock indexes roughly where they started.

Germany’s economy shrank more than expected late last year, and the slowdown in Europe’s largest economy deepened the region’s ongoing recession. That’s a troubling sign for the US, because sales to Europe have been a boon for American companies. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 9.52 points to close at 13,973.39.

After a strong start, the stock market has drifted sideways over the previous week with few major events to sway investors. That calm could disappear soon, said Doug Cote, chief market strategist at ING US Investment Management. With recessions in Europe and Japan, and weak growth in the US, he’s bracing for some turbulence.

“Everybody is too complacent,” Cote said.

Cisco Systems fell 1 percent. The world’s largest maker of computer networking equipment reported earnings late Wednesday that surpassed Wall Street’s expectations, but the company predicted sales growth that was weaker than previous estimates. Cisco’s stock lost 15 cents to $20.99. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index edged up 1.05 to 1,521.38. The Nasdaq composite index rose 1.78 to 3,198.66.

The S&P 500 index has climbed 1.6 percent this month and has already gained 6.7 percent for the year.

The number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell to 341,000 last week, the lowest level in three weeks, according to the Labor Department. Besides a few weeks last month affected by seasonal trends, that’s the lowest level in nearly five years. Among the many deals announced Thursday, American Airlines and US Airways agreed to merge, creating the country’s largest airline.

Warren Buffett and 3G Capital, a private-equity firm, also plan to buy the ketchup maker HJ Heinz for $23 billion.

US Airways sank 67 cents to $13.99, while HJ Heinz soared $12.02 to $72.41.

Constellation Brands soared 37 percent, the biggest gain in the S&P 500, after reaching a deal with AnheuserBusch InBev. InBev agreed to sell a brewery in Mexico and rights for Corona and Modelo beer in the US to Constellation for $2.9 billion. Constellation Brands gained $11.87 to $43.75. In the market for US government bonds, the yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 1.99 percent, down from 2.02 percent the day before.

The 10-year Treasury yield, used to set a variety of borrowing rates, began the year around 1.70 percent and has climbed steadily higher since then. As worries about a recession ease, traders have shifted money out of the Treasury market, driving yields up. Among other companies making news: Whole Foods Market slumped 10 percent. The grocery store chain trimmed its forecasts for sales and earnings this year, a result of its plans to open more stores and put more lower-priced goods on its shelves. Whole Foods lost $9.40 to $87.50. General Motors fell 3 percent after the biggest US carmaker said it made money in North America and Asia and nearly doubled last year’s fourthquarter profit. But its earnings fell short of analysts’ estimates. GM’s stock dropped 92 cents to $27.75. —AP

EU raps Macedonia over political impasse SKOPJE: The European Union’s enlargement commissioner cancelled a visit to Macedonia next week over a political dispute that he warned could undermine the ex-Yugoslav republic’s bid to start membership talks with the bloc. Macedonia’s main opposition Social Democrats have been boycotting parliament since they were thrown out of the assembly by security during a brawl in late December.

Accusing the rightist government of authoritarianism, the Social Democrats are now threatening to boycott local elections on March 24. EU enlargement commissioner Stefan Fule had planned to visit next week to assess the small Balkan country’s reform progress, but said on Friday this would no longer be “appropriate”. “I am frustrated by the lack of progress in putting an end to the political stalemate,” Fule said in a statement. He warned the situation was “putting at risk” an opportunity for Macedonia to clinch the start of membership talks. —Reuters

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Winter? Not in the hot world of Marc Jacobs Page 28

In this photo taken by Daniel Berehulak, Australia, for Getty Images, pine trees which were uprooted by last year’s tsunami are seen strewn by the beach.

(See Pages 24 & 25)

Swedish photographer wins World Press Photo award Pages 24 & 25

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Taylor Swift’s C

LeAnn Rimes

onor Kennedy, who dated the ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ singer last summer - was reportedly hauled away in handcuffs and taken into police custody, along with her father Robert F Kennedy Jr. and actress Daryl Hannah for protesting with the environmental group Sierra Club outside the White House in Washington DC against the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

According to a press release from the Sierra Club, seen by gossip website RadarOnline.com: “After being taken away from the White House in handcuffs, both Kennedys were driven to a Park Police station and released after paying a fine.” The 18-year-old student, whose mother Mary Richardson Kennedy committed suicide last year, and his father are long time activists.

Taylor and Conor were first spotted together in July and the blonde beauty was said to have missed him so much when she left him in Massachusetts to go home to Nashville over the summer that she chartered a private jet so he could visit.

Speaking at the end of August, a source explained: “Taylor missed Conor so much, she sent a plane for him a few days later.

He’s been with her ever since, and his family doesn’t know when he will be back.” The couple split when Conor returned to school in September but are said to have remained good friends.

is suing her dentist T he country singer has filed a lawsuit - obtained by TMZ - against Dr Duane C McKay on several occasions over the last three years to get work which has included upper front veneers and crowns which she was told would ease her TMJ-related pain and improve the appearance of her teeth. However, Rimes states in the legal papers the dental procedures have actually left her in terrible pain and her mouth often bleeds because of the work. The 30-year-old blonde also claims she has had to undergo nine painful root canal surgeries and have and bone grafting as well as have a temporary bridge fitted and undergo a course of physical therapy. In the lawsuit, Rimes claims she will have a

ex-boyfriend arrested

“permanent cosmetic deficiency” as a result of Dr McKay’s work and the pain she has endured has stopped her from singing and performing live. The ‘Crazy Women’ singer is seeking unspecified damages for physical, emotional and psychiatric injuries and is seeking cash for loss of past and future earnings. Rimes - who is married to Eddie Cibrian - has often took to her Twitter account to complain about her teeth troubles. Last February, she tweeted: “K, coming clean ... I had minor surgery this week and I’ve been in SO much pain it’s not even funny.

“Nothing major just annoying! Pain pain go away!!!!!! When it’s mouth pain and jaw pain it makes your whole head pound! YUCK. (sic)”

David Hasselhoff sucked in his gut on ‘Baywatch’

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he actor - who played head lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the classic series - says the cast, who were required to wear skimpy red outfits, would often breathe in when the cameras started rolling in order to look good. He said: “Well, we had a thing on ‘Baywatch’ called the ‘rolling six pack’. What that would mean is we all come to work and then we’d say, ‘Roll cameras’, we’d suck it in and we’d do the scene. And then they’d say, ‘Cut’, and then we’d let it out. “If you watch ‘Baywatch’, one key to ‘Baywatch’ was in the beginning of the year you would see beautiful slender bodies and the shot would be all of us, entire body. By the end of the year, the camera would move slowly up so soon the only thing at the end of the show was [our heads] because the rest of your body really turned into a mush.”

Sofia Vergara was almost arrested T

he ‘Modern Family’ beauty’s boyfriend Nick Loeb popped the question on a vacation to visit the pyramids at the Mayan archaeological site in the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico last year but they got in trouble when they scaled one of the monuments for the romantic moment. Sofia told chat show host Ellen DeGeneres: “He was like, let’s go take a picture up there. “He said he had gotten permission. I swear to God he

said he had gotten permission to go up there and take a picture. So I said, ‘OK, let’s go.’ So I went up, he took the ring out there.

I made sure I like it. “I like it, I put it on immediately and I said yes. And I checked, but then when we came down they want to arrest us because there were some nationals, no...local people got really upset and they thought I was [taking] advantage of the situation, but it was not true.” Sofia previ-

ously revealed she did not want to wed again after her split from childhood sweetheart Joe Gonzalez nearly two decades ago, but thinks her engagement to Nick “perfect” timing. Sofia - who has 20-year-old son Manolo from her relationship with Joe - said: “I never really planned on getting married again. I had my son and it just wasn’t a priority. But I love being in love, and I’m very happy right now. It’s perfect.”

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Beyonce says Gwyneth Paltrow is ‘incredible’

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he 31-year-old ‘Love on Top’ singer, who has a 13-month-old daughter Blue Ivy, has revealed she is grateful to count the 40-year-old ‘Iron Man’ actress, who is raising daughter Apple, eight, and son Moses, six, among her best pals because they both understand the demands of managing a high profile career and motherhood. She told E! News at the red carpet premiere of her upcoming HBO documentary ‘Life is But a Dream’ in New York: “She is incredible.

She’s a great friend on every level. I think for us, protecting our daughters is so important and ... keeping things on our own terms, so I will still be protective and make sure [Blue Ivy] has a childhood and a great time.”

Beyonce, who is married to rapper Jay-Z, also revealed that she trusts her own instincts when it comes to raising their child. She said: “At some point, you know it is what it is, you can’t control it anymore. But I know as long as I’m the mother that I know I can be and the mother I have - such an incredible mother - my daughter’s going to be fine.” Gwyneth, who is married to rocker Chris Martin, recently admitted she is in awe of her friend’s work ethic and believes none of her contemporaries can compare. She said: “When she is working onstage, she has more power than any woman I’ve ever seen. She would never say it and has never said it, but I feel she knows with every fiber of her being that she is the best in the world at her job.” — Bangshowbiz

Jada Pinkett Chrissy Teigen

Smith ate non-stop for role

gives fiance ultimatum to marry her

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T

he 41-year-old actress - who has a son Jaden, 14, and daughter Willow, 12, with her husband of 15 years Will Smith, has revealed she was required to eat tons of food in order to build enough muscle for her role as Niobe in ‘The Matrix’. She told People.com: “My craziest diet was for ‘The Matrix’. “I actually had to eat tons and tons and tons of food. It was all about building muscle.” The vegetarian actress, who is known for her buff figure, admitted that she is very careful about what she eats in order to maintain her trim and toned figure but still craves “McDonald’s French fries” every so often.

Jada was spotted enjoying a number of catwalk shows at New York Fashion Week in recent days, while her husband Will spent a few days with Kim Kardashian and her boyfriend Kanye West in Rio de Janeiro. The actress previously claimed she hit the “jackpot” when she married Will in 2007. She said: “There are no negatives being married to Will Smith! I swear Will has to be one of the most outstanding fathers. Not only just loving him, and him being my husband, but when I look at how he loves his children, I go, ‘Thank you! I made such a good choice.’ I hit the jackpot with that one.”

he 27-year-old model - who has been dating the ‘Ordinary People’ people singer for seven years and became engaged to him in December 2011 has given her fiance an ultimatum that they either tie the knot by the end of 2013 or she’s “out”. She said: “We keep pushing the date.”

Quizzed when they might marry, she revealed: “Definitely this year, but this year just started. If it’s not this year, I’m out.” The Sports Illustrated cover girl admitted that she and John, 34, got engaged after constant pressure from their friends and family about when they would settle down but bemoaned that she is constantly being hassled about their impending nuptials. Speaking to the New York Daily News newspaper, she said: “We were sick of people saying, ‘When are you getting engaged?’, so we did.

And now everyone’s asking when we’re getting married.” And Chrissy also claimed she now plans to start a family before walking down the aisle. She added: “You know. I’m doing it backwards.

I’m going to get deengaged, then have a baby, then get married.”

Lily Aldridge loves when her husband cooks

T

he Victoria’s Secret model - who tied the knot with the 31-year-old Kings of Leon frontman at San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, California in May 2011 after two years of dating - is never happier than when her spouse treats her to a romantic dinner at home.

Lily, 27, told Us Weekly: “Cooking dinner is very romantic and gets you lots of points. My husband cooks,. Whenever he cooks me dinner, I think it’s very romantic. “He does amazing steaks that are really delicious.” Lily - who walked down the aisle in a custom-made Vera Wang gown - has said her wedding was perfect and she wouldn’t have changed anything about the sunset ceremony. She gushed: “It was really an amazing day. It was more beautiful than I could’ve imagined.” The couple welcomed their first child, daughter Dixie Pearl, in June and Lily has never been happier. She previously said: “Married life is the best. I’m so proud to be a wife. “Caleb is the man of my dreams. And you can quote me on that.”

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

In this photo, the 2013 World Press Photo of the year by Paul Hansen, Sweden, for Dagens Nyheter, shows two-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and her three-year-old brother Muhammad who were killed when their house was destroyed by an Israeli missile strike. — AP

S

In this file photo, butchers use a crane to lift a bull during a bullfight of the San Isidro’s fair at the Las Ventas Bullring in Madrid. This photo is one in a series of images by Associated Press photographer Daniel Ochoa de Olza that won the second place prize for the Observed Portrait series category in the World Press Photo 2013 photo contest. — AP

wedish photographer Paul Hansen won the 2012 World Press Photo award Friday for newspaper Dagens Nyheter with a picture of two Palestinian children killed in an Israeli missile strike being carried to their funeral. The picture shows a group of men marching the dead bodies through a narrow street in Gaza City. The victims, a brother and sister, are wrapped in white cloth with only their faces showing. “The strength of the pictures lies in the way it contrasts the anger and sorrow of the adults with the innocence of the children,” said jury member Mayu Mohanna of Peru. “It’s a picture I will not forget.”

World Press Photo, one of photojournalism’s most prestigious contests, issued awards in nine categories to 54 photographers of 32 nationalities. Hansen’s Nov. 20 shot won top prize in both the spot news single photograph category and the overall competition. It portrays 2year-old Suhaib Hijazi and her 3-year-old brother Muhammad, who were killed when their house was destroyed by the Israeli attack. They are being carried by grieving uncles, as their father Fouad was also killed, and his body can be seen in the background of the picture.

The children’s mother, whose name was not provided, was in intensive care. “This prize is the highest honor you

In this file photo, underprivileged Indian child Rajesh, 8, reads from a black board, painted on a building wall, at a free school run under a metro bridge in New Delhi, India. This photo was one in a series of images by Associated Press photographer Altaf Qadri that received an honorable mention in the World Press Photo 2013 photo contest for the Contemporary Issues series category. — AP

can get in the profession,” Hansen told The Associated Press. “I’m very happy, but also very sad. The family lost two children and the mother is unconscious in a hospital.”

“These situations are so visually complex,” he added. “It’s difficult to convey the emotions, to translate what is happening. The light is harsh and there are a lot of people.

“But in the alley the light bounced off the walls, so I thought this is a place where you can see that it’s a procession. ... You get the depth in the image, and the bouncing light.” Violence in the Middle East, and its effect upon civilians, was the dominant theme in the hard news categories.

The Associated Press won seven awards in all, including top prizes for a spot news series for Bernat Armangue of Spain for photos he took in Gaza during November; and for Rodrigo Abd of Argentina for general news single photograph, with a picture of a woman with a bloodstained face weeping in Idib, Syria, on March 10. She was identified as Aida, and her photo of silent grief is in some ways a reverse image of Hansen’s winning shot. She received severe injuries when her house was shelled by the Syrian Army, killing her husband and two children.

In other categories, Wei Seng Chen of Malaysia won in the sports singles category with a shot of what might be

In this file photo, Spanish bullfighter Juan Jose Padilla is carried out of the ring among jubilant crowd scenes on the shoulders of fellow bullfighter Serafin Marin, a honor for the best performers, after a bullfight at the southwesternSpanish town of Olivenza. —AP

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

This photo taken by US photographer Micah Albert of Redux Images shows a woman who works as a trash picker at the 30-acre dump, which literally spills into households of one million people living in nearby slums, reading a book she came across on April 3, 2012 in Nairobi. — AP

In this file photo, a Torrehandilla ranch fighting bull jumps to the arena during a bullfight in Pamplona, Spain. — AP

considered a local “extreme sport”: a man clutching the tails of two bulls as they pull him through a watery rice field in Batu Sangkar, Indonesia. The competition also includes portrait series, scenes from everyday life, and nature photography, among others. The contest drew entries from professional press photographers, photojournalists and documentary photographers across the world. In all, 103,481 images were submitted by 5,666 photographers from 124 countries.

The photos were submitted anonymously to a panel of 19 jury members, chaired by AP Director of Photography Santiago Lyon, and judged in multiple rounds. The winners were all “stellar examples of first-rate photojournalism,” Lyon

said. Other judges came from Germany, Iraq, Peru, France, Sweden, China, Britain, Spain, Azerbaijan, South Africa, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the US. Hansen will receive 10,000 euros as prize at ceremonies and the opening of the year’s exhibition April 25-27 in Amsterdam. — AP

This photo taken by Malaysian photographer Wei Seng Chen shows a jockey, his feet stepped into a harness strapped to the bulls and clutching their tails, in relief and joy at the end of a dangerous run across rice fields on February 12, 2012 in Batu Sangkar, West Sumatra, Indonesia. — AFP

In this file photo, Mireia Arnau, 39, reacts behind the broken glass of her shop stormed by demonstrators during clashes with the police at the general strike in Barcelona. — AP

This photo taken by Canadian photographer Paul Nicklen of National Geographic Magazine shows emporer penguins in the Ross sea on November 18, 2011 in Antarctica. — AFP

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

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f older women can’t find work in Hollywood they might want to come to Berlin, where this year’s film festival has been studded with performances by seasoned actresses that have put them and their movies in the running for top prizes. The 11-day cinema event, centred around the main competition of 19 films but showcasing hundreds more, winds up with an evening awards ceremony today. Jude Law, Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman and Matt Damon have hit the red carpet, and Nicolas Cage and Catherine Deneuve are still to come, while after a string of critical flops at the start of the festival the reception has picked up.

The two frontrunners for the coveted Golden Bear for best picture, which can help bring a low-budget movie to an international audience, centre around strong women in their 50s and 60s who overshadow the men around them.

“Gloria”, arguably the biggest hit at the 63rd Berlin film festival, stars Paulina Garcia as the eponymous Gloria, a 58year-old divorcee living alone in Santiago where she is determined to enjoy life to the full. She goes out dancing on singles nights, drinks, smokes, has affairs, stays in touch with her children and works full time.

Director Sebastian Lelio said his inspiration for the character was his mother and her generation, rarely tackled in cinema which tends to be obsessed with youth. “We all face crossroads in our lives where we can retreat into ourselves or we can hit the dancefloor,” he said. The Chilean cast agreed that scenes between Gloria and her 60-something boyfriend Rodolfo may prove shocking to some, but should not be. “I don’t think people should be shocked,” said Sergio Hernandez, who plays the charming but weak foil to Gloria’s indomitable spirit.

“It’s always been there...adults making love as they never have before, perhaps better than they ever have before.”

wealthy 60-year-old Romanian mother whose obsessive love for her son sees her try to buy his freedom when he accidentally knocks down and kills a boy. Jay Weissberg, critic for the Variety trade publication, called the performance of Romanian veteran Luminita Gheorghiu as Cornelia a “tour-de-force”. There was also a warm critical reception for French star Juliette Binoche in a film about the tragic story of sculptress Camille Claudel, who spent the last 29 years of her life wrongly confined by her family to a mental asylum.

Compatriot Deneuve’s “On My Way”, in which she plays a grandmother who set off on a road trip across France, screens later yesterday. “Directors seem to have discovered the value of maturity and been anxious to explore the female face and psyche as they age, gracefully or otherwise,” said Deborah Young of trade publication The Hollywood Reporter.

“Child’s Pose” also picks up on another theme running through the festival Eastern European directors looking at the post-Communist world for their inspiration, and arguing that the ills of old have been taken over by fresh injustices and abuse. Russian film “A Long and Happy Life”, for example, follows an idealistic young farmer who refuses to sell his land to a wealthy developer, with dramatic consequences.

And Bosnian drama “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker”, about a man struggling to get enough money for his partner’s life-saving operation, packs the added emotional punch of having the real-life subjects in the main roles.

Iranian entry “Closed Curtain” received mixed reviews, but because it was codirected by Jafar Panahi in defiance of a 20-year ban on filmmaking, it commanded centre stage for much of the festival.—Reuters

Post-communist injustices Another favourite for best film and best actress is “Child’s Pose”, about a

Korean actress Jung Eunchae poses during a photocall for the film “NuguUi Ttal-Do Anin Haewon” (Nobody’s Daughter Haewon) competing in the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival Berlinale yesterday. — AFP

In this photo, movie goers head to a popular theater complex as the Chinese New Year nears in Taipei, Taiwan. — AP

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ights, camera, laughs. Tens of millions of film fanatics are entering theaters around Asia during the long Lunar New Year holiday, but Hollywood can’t count on them to boost the box office for its mostly serious Oscar nominees. Even with the Academy Awards buzz at a peak barely two weeks before the ceremony, patrons are opting for lighter fare. “Viewers are mostly drawn to action films, films with special effects, comedies or easy-to-follow ‘popcorn’ movies,” said Ross Lee, a manager with Vieshow Cinemas, which owns one of Taiwan’s largest theater chains. “In Taiwan the big hits are traditionally disaster films like “2012.”

Lee and others say that with Chinese moviegoers using the New Year holiday to escape their daily grinds, they generally give the cold shoulder to weightier movies, like this year’s leading nominee “Lincoln” or last year’s best picture “The Artist.” “‘Lincoln’ is an American film,” said Hong Kong film fan Leo Wong, 31. “I think Americans will probably be more interested. I don’t really understand the history. And it’s too serious.”

Reflecting Wong’s critique, Hong Kong’s film industry goes out of its way to pander to the local preference for lighter New Year’s selections, turning out a sub-genre of films specifically designed with holiday tastes in mind. This year’s Hong Kong holiday crop includes “Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons,” a prequel to the classic Chinese fable, and “I Love Hong Kong 2013,” a super-light comedy with an all-star cast and a crowd-pleasing happy ending.

Explaining her preference for watching locallyproduced comedies, Hong Kong movie-goer Christine Lam said it reinforced the spirit of the season. “You want to do this on Chinese New Year,” she said, “to watch Chinese movies instead of Western ones because it gives you the vibe.”

Chimed in husband Andy Lam: “(New Year comedies) are funny and we have a lot of fun. We just laugh.”

Sun Shaoyi of Shanghai University’s School of Film and TV Arts and Technology, said in addition to aesthetic considerations, Oscar nominees vying for attention on the mainland must also contend with officially sanctioned blackouts. “Authorities limit the number of Western films showing during the New Year period,” Sun said. “They have to do this to protect the local market.” But even allowing for the artistic and administrative roadblocks, some Oscar-nominated films do manage to make a big impact in Chinese speaking markets during the New Year holiday, particularly if they are

accompanied by a positive critical buzz.

Christine Lam said she had decided to use this year’s holiday to see “Les Miserables,” notwithstanding its relatively heavy subject matter. “This is a very famous movie and people are talking about this movie very much,” she said, adding that the film’s much ballyhooed operatic style and live singing by actors had tipped the balance in its favor. In Taipei, trading firm owner Thomas Huang said his own preference for thrillers made going to see “Zero Dark Thirty” an easy viewing choice.

He said he also said he took in local hero Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi,” the special effect-rich story of a young man’s epic journey of discovery, “half because Ang Lee is Taiwanese and half because of the Oscar nominations.”

Huang saw best-picture front-runner “Argo” previously and would not miss other nominated films if trusted critics endorsed them. He said he’s captivated by the pomp of the Oscar-nomination ceremony, which raised his interest in the nominated films as well.

“You don’t count on the Oscar awards as a guarantee a film is good, but they are still generally up to a certain standard,” he said. Taiwanese film critic Wen Tien-hsiang said that even if some Oscar-nominated films did not do well with Chinese-speaking audiences during the New Year holiday period, scoring big on Oscar night would help to guarantee them substantial audiences later. “Films winning awards will definitely gain them viewer attention,” Wen said in an email. “Film companies sometimes decide to screen Oscar winners only after they get the prize.” — AP

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

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here’s a 15-year-old Florida girl who didn’t really know much about Charlie Sheen before this week - but does now. The actor wired $10,000 to Teagan Marti and her family on Thursday for a therapy dog to help in her rehabilitation from injuries sustained when she plummeted 100 feet from a Wisconsin amusement park ride in 2010. “I think he’s a very kind person for helping me and my family and very generous,” Teagan said by phone Thursday from her home in Parkland, Florida.

Teagan suffered brain, spine, pelvis and internal injuries in July 2010 when nets and air bags that were supposed to catch riders on a free-fall ride were not raised. She had convinced her family to make the trip from Florida to Extreme World in Wisconsin Dells after seeing the amusement park’s Terminal Velocity ride on the Travel Channel.

She was hospitalized in Wisconsin and Florida for three months. She initially had no use of her

arms or legs but through physical therapy is able to walk again with a walker. Teagan’s mother, Julie Marti, said they are financially in trouble from the medical bills and her recent divorce. Their house is being foreclosed upon and insurance isn’t covering physical therapy anymore, she said.

She had no idea how they would pay for the English Golden Retriever puppy. “I’m in such disbelief,” Julie Marti said. “I was crying. ... What a guy. What a guy.” The dog is being trained to turn on lights, pick up objects and be the teen’s constant companion. — AP

In this photo, an English golden retriever puppy sits with her litter in Fond du Lac, Wis. She will be trained to become a therapy dog for a teenager who was severely injured in a fall in Wisconsin. — AP

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Thai couple Ekkachai (left) and Laksana Tiranarat pose with their new record after winning a competition for the “World’s Longest Continuous Kiss” during Valentine’s Day in Pattaya resort. — AFP

he largest-ever retrospective of works of Yoko Ono, once described by her late husband John Lennon as “the most famous unknown artist in the world”, opened yesterday in Frankfurt’s Schirn Kunsthalle. Ono, who turns 80 next week, “is a unique, indeed perhaps even a mythical figure, not only in the art world, but in the field of music and the peace and feminist movements as well,” said the museum’s director Max Hollein.

Most people probably know Ono as the wife and widow of the Beatle, John Lennon who was shot dead outside his New York apartment in 1980.

And the two famously staged “Bed-Ins” in 1969 as a non-violent protest against war. But Ono, born on February 18, 1933, was an avant-garde conceptual artist in her own right long before she met Lennon and was associated with the likes of composer John Cage and the founder of the Fluxus contemporary art movement, George Maciunas. “She is familiar to practically everyone, yet only very few people are fully aware of the outstanding artistic oeuvre she has created. Yoko Ono’s 80th birthday offers us an ideal opportunity to change that,” Hollein said.

The exhibition, entitled “Half-a-wind show. A retrospective”, surveys around 200 objects, films, spatial installations, photographs, drawings and textual pieces from the past 60 years of Ono’s career. It pays particular attention to works from the 1960s and 1970s, featuring groundbreaking works such as the “Instructions for

Paintings” first shown in 1961 and 1962 and the performance “Cut Piece” from 1964, in which the audience was invited to cut the clothes from the artist’s body with sharp scissors while she sat on the stage.

A number of large-scale installations and recent works are also on display and Ono has also developed a new work-the installation and performance “Moving Mountains”-specifically for the Frankfurt exhibition.

Curator Ingrid Pfeiffer said Ono’s work “often tends toward the immaterial, the substance of which consists to a lesser extent of objects and installations but to a significant degree of ideas and texts. It is not easily presented.” Ono, wearing her trademark sunglasses, told a news conference that Lennon “used to say to me: ‘bring me some truth’.”

“We artists have the dignity to tell the truth to the people, unlike politicians,” she said. “But we only know half the truth. The other half is invisible. You have to imagine it, you are the creator, you have to participate.

You change the world by being yourself.” The exhibition runs in Frankfurt until May 12 after which it will tour to Denmark and Austria and then move to the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao in Spain. — AFP

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kiss lasting nearly two-and-a-half days propelled one determined Thai couple to a new record for the world’s longest smooch on Valentine’s Day, organisers said yesterday. Hospital security guard Ekkachai Tiranarat, 44, and 33-yearold housewife Laksana locked lips for 58 hours, 35 minutes and 58 seconds, smashing last year’s Guinness World Record by more than eight hours.

The romance of the clinch may have been marred by competition rules requiring contestants to remain on their feet throughout, slurp food and liquids through a straw and even go to the toilet while continuing to press their lips together. “They were very exhausted because they did not sleep for twoand-a-half days, they had to stand all the time so they were very weak,” Sompron Naksuetrong, vice president of event organiser Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, told AFP.—AFP Yoko Ono poses during the opening of her exhibition “half-a-wind show” at the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt am Main, central Germany.

A visitor looks at the work of Yoko Ono during the opening of her exhibition “half-a-wind show”. — AFP photos

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

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t was too hot for winter in the world of Marc Jacobs, as his new collection was unveiled in the final act of New York Fashion Week on Thursday. On a sepia-lit runway under the cavernous roof of the Lexington Avenue Armory in Manhattan, models strutted out in mini-shorts and mermaid-shiny dresses that banished the February chill. It was the last show of New York Fashion Week, and now the cavalcade moves on to London, Milan and Paris. But Marc Jacobs made sure to leave his mark.

“It’s a sepia world, no filter necessary. Y’all in for a treat tonight,” he tweeted ahead of the show, which had been scheduled for Monday but was postponed, ironically, in part because of a blizzard in the US Northeast. The first part took place in sepia lighting before color returned. Silk and pomegranate reds made the long sparkling dresses even more fluid and-as often during this past week-there was fur aplenty around coat collars.

But the shorts were sometimes so short as to be invisible under the shirts and jackets-making one wonder whether they were there at all. One model came out in mini shorts but no shirt, covering her breasts with a fishnet-gloved forearm.

Earlier, Ralph Lauren unbottled a dose of Russian soul in his fur hats, black peaked caps and long velvet dresses. Silk shirts and high-waisted trousers, high boots and big-buckled belts: this was a romantic journey in elegant dark shades and white by the veteran US trendsetter, who was rewarded with a standing ovation.

Held under enormous lights in a Chelsea loft, Lauren’s show featured cashmere turtlenecks, embroidered collars, and blends of silk and leather.

The sumptuous evening wear included deep red velvet dresses that wouldn’t look out of place on the sofas of a snowbound Russian palace. By contrast, Calvin Klein’s show near Times Square exuded confidence and a touch of military precision, with big, manly coats, large-buckled belts, leather dresses and shining boots.

Even before the big three brought down the final curtain, there were already a myriad of seasonal trends emerging in the eight days of catwalk shows. Fashionistas saw the sophistication of Alexander Wang, shortly off to head Balenciaga, the subtle architecture of Vera Wang, and the military-inspired aesthetics of Prabal Gurung-not to mention the Rodarte sisters’ grunge chic.

More generally, these were collections for autumn-winter 2013-14 brimming with furs, leathers, masculine jackets, big, round-shouldered coats, and high-heeled thigh-high boots. One highlight was the Oscar de la Renta show, where fashion watchers noted a distinct hint of John Galliano, the disgraced former Dior designer who has been spending time with de la Renta.

Stylesight fashion director Sharon Graubard said “minimalism” and “clean shapes were key,” with collections tending to be based around design, rather than broader references. Even if Michael Kors upset the balance a little with his bright oranges and New York taxi yellows, black was back in a big way. “For color, and not surprising for New York, there was black on black on black,” Graubard told AFP. “Even designers not usually associated with black-like Reed Krakoff, the Mulleavy sisters at Rodarte, and Vera Wangshowed nearly all-black collections.” — AFP

Models walk in front of a huge sun as spectators watch from an arena-style set-up during the Marc Jacobs Fall 2013 fashion show at Fashion Week in New York, Thursday. — AP

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

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ashionistas don’t do excitement - they’re too cool for that. But even the frostiest fashion editor might be allowed a little smile of anticipation at the lineup for this year’s London Fashion Week. A debut design showcase by singer Rihanna and designer Tom Ford’s first proper catwalk show in London are headlining the five-day style extravaganza that began yesterday.

Their star power is piling an extra dose of buzz and glamour onto a growing biannual event that already features industry leaders including Burberry, Vivienne Westwood and others. Securing a major designer like Ford is a big coup for London Fashion Week, but it’s the slew of hot young talent based in the capital that keeps the international fashion pack coming back for more.

“Before people used to skip London. Now people make a point of coming,” said Carmen Borgonovo, fashion director of luxury online retailer my-wardrobe.com.

“What I love about London designers is that they’re all very individual, they’re all very unique with their own sensibility. You don’t see that variation in other cities so much.”

The youngest of the “big four” fashion weeks, London had generally been regarded as the irreverent, idiosyncratic sibling to the slick productions in Milan, Paris and New York. For some time, it was more a place for edgy fashion college graduates than a destination for elite fashion buyers Yet these days London Fashion Week is a professional, pulledtogether affair. Burberry packs in the crowds - and the celebrities - with extravagant catwalk display, while growing corporate sponsorship has seen editors and buyers whizzed from show to show in shiny black Mercedes.

The week generates over 100 million pounds ($160 million) worth of orders, and attracts some 5,000 fashion fans from around the world.

Still, considerable resources are pumped into promoting emerging

Models present creations by designer Bora Aksu during the 2013 Autumn/Winter London Fashion Week in London yesterday. — AFP photos

names in London. After all, they could be the next Mary Katrantzou or Christopher Kane - young guns who have burst onto the international scene within just a few seasons. This season Kane and Katrantzou will have to share the buzz with Rihanna, who is making her first foray into designing with a collection for British high street chain River Island. The British Fashion Council is calling it the “most anticipated collaboration of 2013.”

“This has been something I wanted to do ever since I started loving fashion,” the singer said in a video posted on British Vogue’s website. “Every time I saw something on a rack there was something I wanted to do to change it, and so I thought that the only way I could do that is by designing the perfect thing for me.”

Ford, who has dressed everyone from Michelle Obama to James Bond star Daniel Craig, will also be showing his first official catwalk collection in London on Sunday. The former design chief at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent had previously only staged exclusive presentations here. Also on the lineup this season for the first time is celebrity favorite L’Wren Scott, the American designer who is a former model and the current partner of Mick Jagger. Briton Julien Macdonald, another designer with a starry following, is returning after a two-season break. In all, almost 60 runway previews for autumn 2013 will run from Friday to Tuesday. London Fashion Week will be followed by designer shows in Milan and Paris. — AP

Te c h n o l o g y SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Technology whizz kid tackles Greek tax evasion ATHENS: Greece is pinning its hopes of boosting revenue from an antiquated tax system beset by massive evasion on Harry Theoharis, a boyish-looking 42-year-old who describes himself as an “I.T. monkey”.

With Athens fighting to stave off bankruptcy, the former London-based technology manager for Lehman Brothers is tasked with modernising what is effectively a 19th century tax bureaucracy and bringing it up to euro zone standards.

“I’m not the type of person who will lock himself up in his tower and not talk to anyone,” Theoharis told Reuters.

“We must organise services better and cut routine procedures.”

Theoharis had long left Lehman Brothers when the US investment bank collapsed in 2008. But this event set off a worldwide crisis which helped the following year to bring down Aspis Pronia, a Greek insurance group where he was chief information officer.

During the crisis Greek tax revenue also collapsed as the economy went into a downward spiral, compounding the long-standing problem of evasion

and forcing Athens into an international bailout. Last month, Theoharis was appointed Secretary General for Public Revenue - a powerful job Athens created at the behest of its EU and IMF lenders. His job is to rid the tax service of political meddling and remove underperforming officials as part of reforms prescribed in the bailout deal keeping Greece afloat.

Previously as chief of the finance ministry’s data service, he introduced innovations such online payment of road taxes. An avid user of Twitter where he described himself as the I.T. monkey - he tweets taxpayers at one in the morning and yet appears cleanshaven on TV talkshows six hours later.

“The budget and the bailout plan are setting clear targets. Everybody will be measured against them, every quarter,” Theoharis said in an interview at his modest office in the finance ministry. His appointment shows a realisation that computerising the antiquated, paper-based tax administration is the way to cross-check scattered data and help to uncover large-scale tax fraud. Greece has so far disappointed

its lenders on reforming revenue collection. In a report last month, the International Monetary Fund said the rich and the self-employed were continuing to evade taxes “on an astonishing scale”. Middle-class wage earners and pensioners, the hardest-hit group in Greece’s six-year recession, account for 70 percent of total personal income declared, deepening a sense of injustice and resentment against Greece’s pro-EU/IMF government.

In 2011, about four in 10 taxpayers declared annual incomes below the poverty line of 6,600 euros ($8,900) for single people or 13,800 euros for fourmember families - twice the real poverty rate of 21 percent estimated by the Greek statistics agency.

More than 90 percent of all businesses declare losses or profits below 10,000 euros a month. Even at the height of Greece’s debt-fuelled economic boom in 2007, a tiny 0.1 percent of firms accounted for more than half of total corporate profit.

Pushed by the EU and the IMF, Greece is to unveil a much-delayed overhaul of the current, corruption-

Dry ice vacuum cleaner robot bound for Fukushima YOKOHAMA: A remote controlled robot that uses dry ice to vacuum up radiation was unveiled by Japanese researchers yesterday, the latest innovation to help the clean-up at Fukushima.

The caterpillar-tracked device blasts

The robot has two boxy machines the size of large refrigerators and moves on crawlers that are remotely controlled.

Each machine has four cameras that allow the device to “see” what it is doing, an engineer told reporters.

JAPAN: A Toshiba decontamination robot, for work inside a nuclear plant, is used during a demonstration at Toshiba’s technical center in Yokohama, suburban Tokyo yesterday. The crawler robot blasts dry ice particles against contaminated floors or walls and will be used for the decontamination in TEPCO’s stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant. —AFP dry ice-frozen CO2 — against floors and walls, evaporating and carrying radioactive substances with it, engineers said.

The nozzle also sucks up the resulting gases.

“As the machine blasts tiny grains of dry ice against the surface, the impact of it as well as the energy of evaporation help detach radiological substances,” said Tadasu Yotsuyanagi of Toshiba,

which developed the robot.

“Since dry ice immediately gets sublimated into gas, it itself does not produce contaminated waste,” he said, adding the technology was developed initially to scrape paint off airplanes.

The robot can theoretically clean a space of up to two square metres (22 square feet) per hour, but the current system can only hold enough dry ice for half an hour. The engineers will test the robot first at a separate nuclear plant this month, aiming to introduce it to the battered Fukushima nuclear plant this summer, Yotsuyanagi said.

The massive earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, sparked an atomic emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in the northeast of the country.

Efforts to clear up after the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986 are still continuing, with high levels of radiation hampering operations.

The decommissioning of the crippled plant is expected to take several decades. Toshiba in November unveiled a remote-controlled robot resembling a headless dog that they also hoped to use at the Fukushima power plant.

The tetrapod, which weighed 65 kilograms (143 pounds) and was about one metre (3 foot, four inches) tall, was designed to be able to cover difficult terrain-such as going up steep stepsthat regular robots struggle with.

In December, it successfully photographed some of the critical part of the plant’s reactor No 2, where high radiation makes it impossible for workers to walk in. But when it was sent for more inspection for the second time, it was hit by a series of defects, including falling backward on steps, the company said. —AFP

prone system and tax code later this year. Vassilis Korkidis, chairman of the ESEE union of retailers, wants to be rid of the current system. “Enough with that rag from the 1950s, which is impossibly complicated and just fuels corruption,” he said. The ESEE has suggested a series of hi-tech measures to fight tax evasion, such as connecting shops’ cash registers online with the finance ministry, introducing electronic invoicing and digitalising fuel station pumps to combat smuggling.

A 14-member committee set up by the finance ministry is separately drafting a new tax code with simple accounting and record-keeping rules.

These would replace often contradictory tax legislation that has piled up over decades, scaring investors and thwarting business projects.

“You have to consult the tax code to check how to deduct 100 euros for a purchased couch,” said Apostolos Refenes, a member of the committee which brings together Theoharis and a deputy finance minister with experts from the government, business and universities. —Reuters

Tamagotchi returns LOS ANGELES: Tamagotchi is re-hatching as an app. Bandai Co. and Sync Beatz Entertainment are hoping to revive the electronic pet craze of the 1990s with a new mobile app launching Thursday for Android devices. The app duplicates the egg-shaped plastic toy that became a must-own sensation like Beanie Babies, Tickle Me Elmo and Furby after it was first released in 1996 in Japan.

Sync Beatz, which has licensed Tamagotchi from Bandai, is calling the app “Tamagotchi L.i.f.e.” - with “L.i.f.e” standing for “love is fun everywhere.” Much like the original doodad, the app tasks users with taking care of a virtual pet by pressing buttons that simulate feeding, disciplining and playing with the critter on screen. If a Tamagotchi is neglected, it dies.

“The idea was to base the gameplay on the original Tamagotchi that everyone knows and loves,” said Shin Ueno, chief marketing officer at Sync Beatz. “As we move along, every two months, we’ll refresh the app, and it will evolve.”

The colorful app, which Ueno said will later be available for Apple devices, features unlockable characters, backgrounds and shells. It’s split between two modes: an oldschool one that works like the original - right down to three buttons on the shell - and an app mode that utilizes the touchscreen and allows users to play rock, paper, scissors with their pets.

The “Tamagotchi L.i.f.e.” app is free, and a version without ads costs 99 cents. While there have been a few Tamagotchi clones available for mobile devices, this marks the first official Tamagotchi app to come from Bandai, which has released updated versions of the toy since the first Tamagotchi hatched 16 years ago.

Sales of the toy have cracked the 78 million mark, and Tamagotchi paved the way for such virtual obsessions as “The Sims,” “FarmVille” and “Skylanders.” The executives at Sync Beatz think Tamagotchi’s “sweet 16” is the prime time to relaunch Tamagotchi for nostalgic 20- and 30-somethings, as well as a new generation.

“It’s like comfort food,” said Barry Stagg, chief communications officer at Sync Beatz. “I think Tamagotchi brings back good memories. When we were at the Licensing Expo last year, the first thing that people who came up to us and saw what we were doing tended to do was smile. I think there’s an openness to build on Tamagotchi’s brand equity.”

That means Sync Beatz plans to leverage “Tamagotchi L.i.f.e.” as more than simply a sentimental app. The company plans to launch a “Tamagotchi L.i.f.e.” product line later this year with clothing, furnishings and accessories slathered with Tamagotchi imagery. —AP

TECHNOLOGY SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

China, technology and the US middle class NEW YORK: President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech this week confirmed it: The pre-eminent political and economic challenge in the industrialized democracies is how to make capitalism work for the middle class.

There is nothing mysterious about that. The most important fact about the United States in this century is that middle-class incomes are stagnating. The financial crisis has revealed an equally stark structural problem in much of Europe.

Even in a relatively prosperous age - for all of today’s woes, we have left behind the dark, satanic mills and workhouses of the 19th century - this decline of the middle class is more than an economic issue. It is also a political one. The main point of democracy is to deliver positive results for the majority.

All of which is why understanding what is happening to the middle class is urgently important. There is no better place to start than by talking to David Autor, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Autor is one of the leading students of the most striking trend bedeviling the middle class: the polarization of the job market. That is a nice way of saying the economy is being cleaved into highpaying jobs at the top and low-paying jobs at the bottom, while the middle-skill and middle-wage jobs that used to form society’s backbone are being hollowed out.

But when I asked him this week what had gone wrong for the U.S. middle class, he gave a different answer: “The main problem is we’ve just had a decade of incredibly anemic employment growth. All of a sudden, around 2000 and 2001, things just slowed down.”

Academics can usually be counted on to have a confident explanation for everything. That is why I was surprised and impressed by Autor’s answer when I asked him where the jobs had gone. “No one really understands why that is the case,” he said.

It was a winningly modest reply.

But work by Autor and two colleagues - David Dorn, a visiting professor at Harvard, and Gordon Hanson of the University of California, San Diego - is starting to untangle the two forces that both the conventional wisdom and the academy agree are probably responsible for a lot of what is happening to the middle class.

Those forces are technological change and trade. The easy assumption is that the two go together.

After all, trade needs technology - it is hard to imagine outsourcing without the Internet, sophisticated logistics systems and jet travel.

Technology is dependent on trade, too: The opportunity for global scale is one reason technological innovation has yielded such outsize rewards.

But in a careful study of local labor markets in the United States,

Autor, Dorn and Hanson have found that trade and technology had very different consequences for jobs.

“We were surprised at how distinct the two were,” Autor said. “We found that the trade shock had a very measurable impact on the employment rate. Technology led to job polarization, but its employment effect was minimal.” Trade, at least in the short term, really did ship jobs overseas. Technology did not kill jobs per se, but it did hollow out those essential jobs in the middle.

The big surprise, at least for believers (like me) in the classic liberal economic view that trade benefits both parties, is the strong and negative impact of globalization on U.S. workers - Autor estimates it accounts for 15 to 20 percent of jobs lost.

“The rise of China was such a huge change. It really did matter,” Autor said. “First, China is such a huge country. Two, China was 40 or 50 years behind in technology, so it had a lot of catching up to do. Third, it happened so fast.”

What is striking, and frightening, is the extent to which, at least in the U.S.-China trade relationship, the knee-jerk, populist fears intellectuals tend to deride actually turned out to be true.

“U.S.-China trade is almost a oneway street. This trade relationship doesn’t clearly give you the benefit that you can sell a lot of stuff to your trade partner,” Dorn said. “If you talk to someone who is somehow involved in the promotion of free trade, they may say that maybe the headquarters of Apple benefits. That may be true. But the first-order effect is of job loss.”

The impact of technology is more familiar. Autor, Dorn and Hanson found that it did not create fewer jobs overall, but it did hollow out the jobs in the middle.

“Technology has really changed the distribution of occupation. That doesn’t necessarily go hand in hand with reduced unemployment, but it creates a more bimodal set of opportunities,” Autor said. “There is an abundance of work to do in food service and there is an abundance of work in finance, but there are fewer middle-wage, middle-income jobs.”

What is challenging about both of these trends, and what makes the hollowing out of the middle class a political problem as well as an economic one, is how different they look depending on whether you own a company or work for one.

Shipping middle-class jobs to China, or hollowing them out with machines, is a win for smart managers and their shareholders. We call the result higher productivity. But, looked at through the lens of middleclass jobs, it is a loss. That profound difference is why politics in the rich democracies are so polarized right now. Capitalism and democracy are at cross-purposes, and no one yet has a clear plan for reconciling them. — Reuters

Sister of Facebook founder signs book deal LOS ANGELES: Randi Zuckerberg, sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, is writing a memoir about her years at the social network website where she was once director of marketing, publisher HarperCollins said on Thursday. Zuckerberg, 30, signed a two-book deal with HarperCollins that will include her memoir “Dot Complicated,” and a children’s picture book, scheduled to be released in the fall.

“Technology has changed virtually every part of our lives, resulting in a modern, digital society that feels a lot like the wild, wild West,” Zuckerberg said in a statement.

“I am thrilled to be working with HarperCollins to share some of my own crazy experiences on the front lines of social media, and to inspire people of all ages to

embrace technology, as well as the new set of social norms that come along with it.”

“Dot Complicated” will cover Zuckerberg’s six-year role in marketing at Facebook and her decision to leave the social media site to set up her own company, Zuckerberg Media, an entertainment production studio.

HarperCollins said the book will also be released in a digital format that will feature “innovative and engaging interactive components” that will include social media integration and a platform for crowd-sourced stories. Zuckerberg, who left Facebook in August 2011, served as executive producer for the Bravo reality show “Start-Ups: Silicon Valley” and is the editor of the lifestyle blog “Dot Complicated.” — Reuters

NEW YORK: In this Thursday, Jan 24, 2013 photo, Devon Carrow attends Winchester Elementary School from home while operating a robot in the classroom, in West Seneca NY Carrow’s life-threatening allergies don’t allow him to go to school. But the 4-foot-tall robot with a wireless video hookup gives him the school experience remotely, allowing him to participate in class, stroll through the hallways, hang out at recess and even take to the auditorium stage when there’s a show. — AP

My classmate, the robot: US pupil attends remotely WEST SENECA: In a school hallway, a US teacher takes her students to the library, leading a single-file line of giggling boys and girls that’s perfectly ordinary until you get to a sleek white robot with a video screen showing the face of a smiling, chubby-cheeked boy.

Devon Carrow’s life-threatening allergies don’t allow him to go to school. But the robot with a wireless video hookup gives him the school experience remotely, allowing him to participate in class, stroll through the hallways, hang out at recess and even take to the auditorium stage when there’s a show.

What’s most remarkable is how unremarkable this technology is viewed by his classmates. In a class of 7year-olds raised on video games, avatars and remotecontrolled toys, they don’t see a robot. They just see Devon. Just before class one recent day, a girl leaned toward the robot to tell Devon the joke making the rounds at school: Why did the boy eat his homework? The teacher told him it was a piece of cake. While making get-well cards for him during a hospital stay last year, his classmates all drew him as a boy, not a bot.

“In the classroom, the kids are like, ‘Devon, come over, we’re doing Legos. Show us your Legos,’” says teacher Dawn Voelker. “I wondered how the little kids would take to him, thinking they’d be amazed,” adds Principal Kathleen Brachmann. “But I think kids are so tech-savvy now that they accept it more than we do.”

Even Devon doesn’t quite get what all the fuss is about. Steering the four-wheeled robot through school and spinning around to see the classmates is just anoth-

er mouse-and-keyboard challenge. “It’s so cool because it’s like playing a game on the computer,” says the boy.

“It’s like your objective is to just survive.” For a year now, Devon has attended school using “VGo,” a robot shaped a little like a chess pawn. Since it was introduced in 2011

by VGo Communications, a handful of students across the country have used it.

It’s also attracting attention in the medical and business worlds, allowing doctors to consult with patients and workers to virtually pop into the office, even while traveling. For Devon, it was a chance to go to school for the first time in his life. He has eosinophilic esophagitis, caused by an allergic white blood cell that grows in his stomach and esophagus. He’s also got anaphylactic shock syndrome, which causes life-threatening allergic reactions to triggers including milk and peanuts.

Even though attacks have put him in the intensive care unit twice in the past 18 months, Devon is outgoing and energetic, whose personality better suits him to the school experience rather than home-schooling.

But after teachers at Devon’s previous school in New York state resisted the idea of having the VGo’s camera in the classroom, his mother persisted, and Devon was welcomed at another school. It was added to Devon’s special education plan, and the cost - about $6,000 for the robot and $100 in monthly service fees - is being paid out of the district’s budget. The technology broadens Devon’s school experience beyond what would be possible through a video chat. The only restrictions are physical.—AP

TV listings

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

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

Animal Cops South Africa Crime Scene Wild I’m Alive Wildest Africa Shark Attack Survivors Whale Wars: Viking Shores Call Of The Wildman Escape To Chimp Eden Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Wildlife SOS Meerkat Manor Dogs 101 Crocodile Hunter Michaela’s Animal Road Trip Monkey Life Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild Extraordinary Dogs The Really Wild Show Wildest Arctic Wildest India Wildest India Wildest Arctic Wildest Arctic Wild France How Sharks Hunt Wildest Arctic My Cat From Hell Karina: Wild On Safari

00:00 Homes Under The Hammer 00:50 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 02:10 Come Dine With Me 03:00 The Boss Is Coming To Dinner 03:25 The Boss Is Coming To Dinner 03:50 House Swap 04:35 MasterChef 05:00 Bargain Hunt 05:45 Living In The Sun 06:35 Homes Under The Hammer 07:30 Homes Under The Hammer 10:00 Homes Under The Hammer 10:55 The Boss Is Coming To Dinner 11:15 The Boss Is Coming To Dinner 11:40 Come Dine With Me 12:30 Come Dine With Me: South Africa 13:25 Rick Stein’s Spain 14:20 New Scandinavian Cooking 14:50 The Hairy Bikers USA 15:15 The Hairy Bikers USA 15:40 Antiques Roadshow 16:30 Bargain Hunt 17:15 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 18:35 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 19:55 Come Dine With Me: Supersize 21:30 Come Dine With Me: South Africa 22:25 Antiques Roadshow 23:15 Bargain Hunt

00:00 00:30 01:00 01:30 02:00 02:30 03:00 03:30 04:00 04:30 05:00 05:30 06:00 06:10 06:30 07:00 07:10 07:30 08:00 08:10 09:00 09:10 09:30 10:00 10:10 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:15 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:10 14:30 15:00 15:30

11:25 The X-Testers 11:50 The X-Testers 12:15 The World’s Strangest UFO Stories

BBC World News Changing Fortunes BBC World News Horizons BBC World News BBC World News BBC World News Fast Track BBC World News Middle East Business Report BBC World News Click BBC World News Weekend World The Bottom Line BBC World News Football Focus Horizons BBC World News My Country BBC World News World Features Newsnight BBC World News Weekend World Our World BBC World News Equestrian World BBC World News Sport Today Fast Track BBC World News Dateline London BBC World News World Features Changing Fortunes BBC World News Our World

00:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson 01:00 Amanpour 01:30 World Sport 02:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 03:00 World Report 03:30 World Sport 04:00 Anderson Cooper 360 05:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 06:00 Quest Means Business 06:45 CNN Marketplace Africa 07:00 The Situation Room 08:00 World Sport 08:30 Cnngo 09:00 World Report 09:15 CNN Marketplace Africa 09:30 Backstory 10:00 World Report 10:15 CNN Marketplace Middle East 10:30 Business Traveller 11:00 World Sport 11:30 Mainsail 12:00 The Best Of The Situation Room 13:00 Amanpour 13:30 The Brief 14:00 World Report 14:30 Inside Africa 15:00 Talk Asia 15:30 Eco Solutions 16:00 World Report 16:30 Inside The Middle East 17:00 News Special 17:30 Backstory 18:00 International Desk 18:30 African Voices 19:00 CNN Marketplace Europe 19:15 CNN Marketplace Africa 19:30 The Brief 20:00 World Sport 20:30 Living Golf 21:00 International Desk 21:30 Inside Africa 22:00 International Desk 22:30 Cnngo 23:00 The Best Of The Situation Room

GOAL! ON OSN ACTION HD 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 18:15 18:30 19:00 19:10 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:30 22:00 22:10 22:30 23:00 23:10 23:30

BBC World News Final Score BBC World News Fast Track BBC World News Sport Today Click BBC World News My Country BBC World News Dateline London BBC World News BBC World News BBC World News World Features Middle East Business Report BBC World News World Features Equestrian World

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 06:25 06:45 07:00 09:00

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 Bananas In Pyjamas Gerald McBoing Boing Jelly Jamm Lazy Town Krypto The Superdog

09:25 09:40 09:55 10:10 10:25 10:45 11:05 11:30 11:55 12:20 12:45 13:10 13:35 14:00 14:50 15:15 15:40 16:30 16:55 17:20 18:10 19:00 19:30 19:55 20:20 20:45 21:00 21:25 21:50 22:15 22:40 23:05 23:30 23:55

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

00:40 01:30 01:55 02:20

Chowder Bakugan Battle Brawlers Bakugan Battle Brawlers 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 06:55 Angelo Rules 07:00 Casper’s Scare School 07:30 Casper’s Scare School 08:00 Grim Adventures Of...

08:45 Total Drama Island 09:35 Ben 10: Ultimate Challenge 09:55 Level Up 10:15 Transformers Prime 10:35 Ben 10: Omniverse 11:00 Thundercats 11:25 Mucha Lucha 11:50 Adventure Time 12:40 Regular Show 13:35 The Amazing World Of Gumball 14:20 Johnny Test 15:10 Total Drama Island 15:35 Total Drama Island 16:00 Level Up 16:25 Level Up 16:50 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 17:15 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 17:40 Transformers Prime 18:30 Hero 108 18:55 Hero 108 19:20 The Amazing World Of Gumball 19:45 Adventure Time 20:35 Regular Show 21:00 Mucha Lucha 21:25 Total Drama Island 21:50 Total Drama Island 22:15 Grim Adventures Of...

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

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

Fast N’ Loud Jesse James Outlaw Garage American Chopper Mythbusters Dirty Dozen Border Security Auction Kings Auction Kings How Do They Do It? How It’s Made American Guns Mythbusters Magic Of Science Time Warp Life On A Wire Ultimate Air Jaws Ultimate Survival Animal Cops South Africa Gold Rush Gold Rush Gold Rush Gold Rush Gold Rush Gold Rush Fast N’ Loud Around The World In 80 Ways Gold Divers Sons Of Guns Auction Kings Auction Kings Auction Kings Auction Kings Auction Kings Auction Kings

00:40 Prototype This 01:35 The Gadget Show 02:00 The Gadget Show 02:25 Weird Or What?

03:15 Sci-Fi Science 03:45 Tech Toys 360 04:10 Tech Toys 360 04:35 The World’s Strangest UFO Stories 05:25 Engineered 06:15 Sport Science 07:05 Meteorite Men 08:00 Tech Toys 360 08:25 Tech Toys 360 08:50 Stunt Junkies 09:15 Stunt Junkies 09:40 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 10:30 Finding Bigfoot

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

Hannah Montana Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates Suite Life On Deck A.N.T. Farm Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Fish Hooks Good Luck Charlie Shake It Up Shake It Up Austin And Ally A.N.T. Farm Gravity Falls Frenemies Phineas And Ferb Wizards Of Waverly Place Suite Life On Deck Good Luck Charlie Gravity Falls Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Prank Stars Prank Stars Shake It Up Shake It Up Jessie A.N.T. Farm Cheetah Girls Prank Stars Prank Stars Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Wizards Of Waverly Place Shake It Up Austin And Ally Prank Stars Prank Stars A.N.T. Farm Jessie Jessie Good Luck Charlie Good Luck Charlie The Suite Life Of Zack And The Suite Life Of Zack And Stitch

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

00:15 00:40 01:05 01:30 Feasts

Heat Seekers Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Andy Bates American Street

TV listings

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013 01:55 Feasts 02:20 02:45 Feasts 03:10 Feasts 03:35 04:00 04:20 04:50 05:15 05:40 06:30 07:10 07:35 08:00 08:50 09:15 09:40 10:05 Basics 10:30 Basics 10:55 11:20 11:45 12:10 12:35 13:00 13:50 14:15 14:40 15:05 15:30 15:55 16:20 16:45 17:35 Basics 18:00 Basics 18:25 18:50 19:15 Feasts 19:40 20:05 20:30 21:20 22:10 23:00 23:25 23:50

Andy Bates American Street

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

I Almost Got Away With It Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghost Lab Fatal Encounters Ghost Lab I Almost Got Away With It Dr G: Medical Examiner Ghost Lab Murder Shift Killer Outbreaks Street Patrol Street Patrol Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn Murder Shift Disappeared Killer Outbreaks Street Patrol Street Patrol Forensic Detectives On The Case With Paula Zahn Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

Disappeared Murder Shift Forensic Detectives On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Nightmare Next Door Couples Who Kill Blood Relatives I Married A Mobster

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

Unwrapped Andy Bates American Street Andy Bates American Street Heat Seekers Heat Seekers Kid In A Candy Store Unique Sweets Charly’s Cake Angels Chopped Iron Chef America Unwrapped Unwrapped Food Network Challenge Kid In A Candy Store Unwrapped Food Crafters Barefoot Contessa - Back To Barefoot Contessa - Back To Cooking For Real Easy Chinese: San Francisco Easy Chinese Mexican Made Easy Mexican Made Easy Iron Chef America Tyler’s Ultimate Unique Sweets Unique Sweets World Cafe Asia Easy Chinese: San Francisco Easy Chinese Food Crafters Chopped Barefoot Contessa - Back To Barefoot Contessa - Back To Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Andy Bates American Street Charly’s Cake Angels Guy’s Big Bite Chopped Chopped Chef Hunter Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives

Amish: Out of Order Travel Madness Travel Madness On Surfari On Surfari David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 2 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 2 Amish: Out of Order Bondi Rescue Bondi Rescue Walking The World Departures Departures Treks In A Wild World Treks In A Wild World

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

Amish: Out of Order Travel Madness Travel Madness On Surfari On Surfari David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 2 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 2 Amish: Out of Order Banged Up Abroad Departures Treks In A Wild World Treks In A Wild World Bondi Rescue Bondi Rescue Walking The World Departures Don’t Tell My Mother Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy

By Any Means

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

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

Intruders-18 The Last Exorcism-18 True Justice: Dark VengeanceBending The Rules-PG15 True Justice: Street Wars-PG15 Sucker Punch-PG15 Goal!-PG15 True Justice: Street Wars-PG15 Biker Boyz-PG15 Goal!-PG15 Get Rich Or Die Tryin’-18 Interview With A Hitman-PG15

01:00 Judy Moody And The Not Bummer Summer-PG 03:00 The Lincoln Lawyer-PG15 05:00 The Wild Thornberrys MoviePG 07:00 The Tourist-PG15 09:00 Judy Moody And The Not Bummer Summer-PG 11:00 Eva-PG15

A Dog Named Duke-PG15 33 Postcards-PG15 Something Borrowed-PG15 Hanna-PG15 Cowboys & Aliens-PG15 Dirty Girl-18

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 The League 02:00 South Park 02:30 Veep 03:00 Parks And Recreation 03:30 2 Broke Girls 04:00 Less Than Perfect 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Less Than Perfect 06:00 Seinfeld 06:30 Hope & Faith 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Less Than Perfect 08:30 Less Than Perfect 09:00 Parks And Recreation 09:30 30 Rock 10:00 Modern Family 10:30 Hope & Faith 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Seinfeld 12:30 Less Than Perfect 13:00 Less Than Perfect 13:30 Hope & Faith 14:00 2 Broke Girls 14:30 Modern Family 15:00 30 Rock 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 Parks And Recreation 18:30 Baby Daddy 19:00 The Neighbors

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

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 18:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

00:00 02:00 04:00 PG15 06:00 08:00

Castle Survivor: Caramoan Smash Justified American Idol Smash Castle Emmerdale Coronation Street One Tree Hill Glee American Idol Survivor: Caramoan Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show One Tree Hill Castle Emmerdale Coronation Street One Tree Hill Criminal Minds C.S.I. Miami Strike Back Justified

Intruders-18 The Last Exorcism-18 True Justice: Dark VengeanceBending The Rules-PG15 True Justice: Street Wars-PG15

10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

Sucker Punch-PG15 Goal!-PG15 True Justice: Street Wars-PG15 Biker Boyz-PG15 Goal!-PG15 Get Rich Or Die Tryin’-18 Interview With A Hitman-PG15

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

The Men Who Stare At Goats-18 Analyze This-PG15 Below The Beltway-PG15 The Search For Santa Paws-PG The Family Stone-PG15 Desperately Seeking Santa-

01:00 02:45 05:00 07:30 09:15 11:00 13:00 15:00 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

Daydream Nation-PG15 Departures-PG15 The Insider-PG15 Sunny And The Elephant-PG15 Oceans-PG15 The Eagle-PG15 Restless-PG15 Oceans-PG15 Boy-PG15 The King’s Speech-PG15 Black Swan-18 Seabiscuit-PG15

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 07:30 PG15 09:00 10:45 12:45 14:45 16:15 18:00 20:00 22:00

After Life-18 Treasure Buddies-PG Quest For Zhu-PG The Birth Of Big Air-PG15 Tim Richmond: To The Limit-

Below The Beltway-PG15 The Tooth Fairy 2-PG15 Desperately Seeking SantaMorning Glory-PG15 The Dilemma-PG15 Loser-PG15

Happy Feet Two-PG New Year’s Eve-PG15 Jane Eyre-PG15 Backwash-PG15 Happy Feet Two-PG Source Code-PG15 Waiting For Forever-PG15 A Dangerous Method-18

01:00 Cher Ami-PG 02:45 Snow Day-PG 04:30 Tommy & Oscar-FAM 06:00 Arrietty-FAM 08:00 Maroons-FAM 10:00 Cheaper By The Dozen-PG 11:45 Sammy’s Adventure: The Secret Passage-FAM 13:15 Princess Lillifee-FAM 14:30 Snow Day-PG 16:15 Olentzero Christmas Tale-FAM 18:00 Cheaper By The Dozen-PG 20:00 The Adventures Of Don Quixote-FAM 22:00 Princess Lillifee-FAM 23:30 Olentzero Christmas Tale-FAM

THE TOURIST ON OSN CINEMA

00:00 MSNBC Martin Bashir 01:00 MSNBC Hardball With Chris Matthews 02:00 MSNBC Politicsnation 03:00 Live NBC Nightly News 03:30 ABC World News With Diane Sawyer 04:00 MSNBC The Ed Show 05:00 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 06:00 MSNBC The Last Word W/ Lawrence O’Donnell 07:00 NBC Nightly News 07:30 ABC World News With Diane Sawyer 08:00 NBC Nightly News 08:38 ABC Nightline 09:06 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 10:00 MSNBC The Ed Show 11:00 MSNBC Morning Joe 14:00 MSNBC Caught On Camera 15:00 Live NBC Saturday Today Show 17:00 MSNBC Up With Chris Hayes Saturday 18:57 Live MSNBC Hardball With Chris Matthews 19:38 Live MSNBC The Ed Show 20:19 Live MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 21:00 Live ABC 20/20 22:00 MSNBC Weekends With Alex Witt Saturday

00:00 The Conspirator-PG15 02:00 Battle For Terra-PG 04:00 The Beaver-PG15 06:00 Ice Dreams-PG 08:00 Rising Stars-PG15 10:00 12 Dates Of Christmas-PG15 12:00 The Beaver-PG15 14:00 Three Inches-PG15 16:00 Rising Stars-PG15 18:00 Rise Of The Planet Of The ApesPG15 20:00 Waiting For Forever-PG15 22:00 Love And Other Impossible Pursuits-PG15

01:00 Trans World Sport 02:00 HSBC Sevens World Series Highlights 02:30 Top 14 04:30 Super League 06:30 ICC Cricket 360 07:00 Snooker The Welsh Open 10:00 HSBC Sevens World Series Highlights 10:30 Trans World Sport 11:30 Live Super Rugby 13:30 Super Rugby 15:30 ICC Cricket 360 16:00 Live Snooker The Welsh Open 20:00 Super Rugby 22:00 Live Snooker The Welsh Open

01:00 02:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 11:00 14:00 18:00 18:30 19:30 20:30

UFC The Ultimate Fighter WWE SmackDown WWE Bottom Line WWE NXT Trans World Sport Super League Snooker Live PGA European Tour ICC Cricket 360 WWE Bottom Line UFC The Ultimate Fighter Live UFC

00:00 00:30 02:30 06:00 07:00 11:30 12:00 14:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 19:00 20:00 20:45 22:45

ICC Cricket 360 Super Rugby Premier League Darts Golfing World European PGA Tour ICC Cricket 360 Pro 12 Super League ICC Cricket 360 Total Rugby Live Top 14 Trans World Sport ICC Cricket 360 Live Super League Top 14

00:00 WWE SmackDown 02:00 UFC TUF 03:00 Ping Pong World Championships 04:00 US Bass Fishing 05:00 NHL 07:00 WWE SmackDown 09:00 WWE Bottom Line 10:00 WWE Vintage Collection 11:00 NHL 13:00 UAE National Race Day Series 14:00 WWE SmackDown 16:00 WWE Bottom Line 17:00 WWE This Week 17:30 UFC TUF 18:30 NHL 20:30 WWE Bottom Line 21:30 Live Pro 12 23:30 WWE This Week

00:55 The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn-FAM 02:25 Cat On A Hot Tin Roof 04:10 The Biggest Bundle Of Them AllPG 06:00 Travels With My Aunt-PG 08:00 The Swan-FAM 09:45 The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn-FAM 11:15 Travels With My Aunt-PG 13:05 In This Our Life-PG 14:40 Ivanhoe-FAM 16:25 Texas Carnival-FAM 17:40 The Biggest Bundle Of Them AllPG 19:30 Kismet-FAM 21:25 Agatha-PG 23:00 Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

W h a t ’s o n SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Announcements ECC organizes Omra trip for Egyptians ecretary general of the Egyptian Community Council (ECC), Dr Azmi Abdul Fattah congratulated all Egyptians on the second anniversary of the January 25 revolution urging everybody to consolidate and unite for the best of Egypt as a whole. On this occasion, Abdul Fattah announced that the council would organize its annual Omra trip pointing out that it would last eight days in the period of February 21 till 28.

S

Goan Culinary Club

T

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

Police officials hold awareness meeting for Salmiya residents

T

he Coordination Committee of Indian residents of Salmiya organized an interaction with Area Commander of Salmiya and his team on Feb 9, 2013 in the Indian Community School auditorium. Captain Meshal AlMutairi, Lt Dhari Al-Shammari, Lt Dawood Faridhoon took part in the event. Captain Meshal Al-Mutairi and his colleagues were accorded a rousing reception by the members of the coordination committee. This goodwill meeting was a grand success in terms of residents’ participation and confidence-building.

Basheer Batha, general convener of the committee, welcomed the gathering. In his address, he spelt out the reasons for inviting the esteemed guests and the community for an interaction.

He said that such meetings will help to facilitate better interaction between the residents and the authorities.

Vijay Karayil, Chairman of the Salmiya Residents Coordination

Committee, delivered the presidential address and highlighted the support Indians receive from the Kuwait authorities. He underlined that the Indians in Kuwait are indebted and grateful to the rulers of Kuwait for the benevolence and kind hospitality. He informed the community members that, in the context of crimes by some miscreants in the area, the coordination committee contacted Indian Ambassador Satish C Mehta and found full support from the embassy officials. Indian Embassy represented the matter to ministry of Interior and organized a meeting of the community with the authorities in Salmiya in the presence of Balram Upadhyay, counselor at the Indian embassy.

Vijay further informed the gathering that the Salmiya police authorities were very patient and understanding and promised to look into the matter provided proper police complaints were filed. He also prompted the community members to register the case in the

police station and assured them that the bilingual volunteers of the Committee would help them as and when required.

Mukhtar Marouf and Harjinder Singh, patrons of the committee presented a memento to Captain Meshal Al-Mutairi and Adv Razak M Payyoli and Sunil P. Antony, conveners, presented mementoes to Lt Dhari Waleed Al-Shammari and Lt Dawood Faridoon.

Captain Meshal whole-heartedly praised the Indian community for their peace-loving nature and prompted them to register their complaints with the nearest police station. He assured the Indians that they would get full cooperation from Kuwait police in the event of any untoward incident.

Four volunteers came forward to help the community at any moment of time and gave their names and contact numbers. In conclusion, Mehaboob Kappad, convener of the committee, presented the vote of thanks.

Warm welcome to Dr Madhu Paulose

S

t Gregorios Orthodox Maha Edavaka gave a warm welcome to Dr Madhu Paulose, MD, DM, Head of St Gregorios Cardio-Vascular Centre and Dr K M Cherian Heart Foundation, Parumala reached in Kuwait on Thursday. He was received at Kuwait Airport by Parish Vicar Fr Jose Mathew, Fr Jeffin Varghese, Sabha managing committee members, parish office-bearers and the officials of Anti-Alcoholism Movement.

Dr Madhu Paulose led a medical seminar on ‘Common Cardiovascular Problems in NRIs’ on Thursday, at Indian Central School Auditorium, Abbasiya from 7.00 pm organized by Anti Alcoholism Movement, a spiritual organization of St Gregorios Maha Edavaka.

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

T

Salsa & Jive classes alsa & Jive classes in Salmiya: Take the Dive, with Salsa & Jive, Two left feet wont stop the beat. Join now as an individual or a Couple.

Unleash your potential. Individual attention to all students guaranteed. For details contact: 97979816 / 94445711

S

N

Kuwait Carnatic Music Forum Thyagaraja program

J Nandini disciple of Bombay Jayasree who sang the title song in the Oscar nominated movie Life of Pi and winner of Ragarathnam program Amrutha TV classical music competition; accompanying artistes: Kanchi Kamakodi Pitham asthana vidwan Karunagappalli S Balamurali on violin; Kanchi Kamakodi Pitham asthana vidwan Perunna G Harikumar on mridangam; Gireesh Sundareshan on ganchira; Vazhappalli G Anil kumar on ghatam; and Manoj Mavelikkara on morshankh will perform. Full day classical music program on Feb 19 am - 4.30 pm. Participants: music students and devotees. Pancharathna keerthanaalapanam at 5 pm at the Indian Community School Salmiya (senior girls). All are welcome.

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

W h a t ’s o n SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Embassy Information

Honey and Sunny the Sunshine Kindergarten Mascots

TSK dads give us the old heave ho!

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

T TSK mums take part in the tug of war with enthusiasm

TSK Kindergarten children walking to Marble Arch for their Sports Day

Sunshine Kindergarten holds its Annual Sports Day

T

he Sunshine Kindergarten (TSK) in Salwa held its annual Sports Days last week, with children aged between 3 and 4 taking part in a medley of events.

The Sports Days took place over 3 days in Marble Arch, the sports arena belonging to The British School of Kuwait, and were attended by numerous parents and family members of the TSK Pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten children.

Led out into the arena by TSK mascots Honey and Sunny, the children paraded in their House colors to the theme tune from Stars Wars, before warming up ready to take part in their events.

The TSK sports events were designed to test the children’s skills in balance, movement, stamina and agility. The events included a relay

race, two obstacle courses, a bat and beanbag race and a hoop agility test.

For the older children there was also the cycling challenge, which was full of tricky maneuvers and daring dashes to the finish line!

The grand finale for each day was the parents’ tug-o-war event. Firstly, daddies were invited to flex their muscles and pull the rope with all their might and then came the mummies!

This was a hugely entertaining event, enjoyed by the children as much as the parents and a great way to round off each amazing day.

TSK Principal, Miss Joanne, would like to thank all the parents for their support and participation and all the children and staff at TSK for making the events so successful. Even the rain couldn’t dampen spirits and a great morning out was has by one and all.

The Najla Al-Naqqi Forum hosts a dinner banquet tomorrow (Sunday) in the honor of the Aheba’a Misr (Egypt Lovers) Society delegation.

The event starts at 8:00 pm at the forum’s headquarters in Salwa, block 2, AlMasjid Al-Aqsa Mosque Street, House 388.

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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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Wales House girls from PKG navigate through the hoops

SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS

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

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.

Health SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Challenge to cancer gene patent fails in Australia SYDNEY: An Australian court yesterday dismissed a challenge against the patenting of human genetic material in a landmark case which has devastated a cancer group that says it could stifle research.

The case hinged on whether a valid patent can be granted to cover naturally occurring nucleic acids, the building blocks of living organisms-in this case the so-called breast cancer gene BRCA1.

Federal Court Justice John Nicholas rejected the argument that BRCA1, a genetic mutation associated with an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer in women, could not be patented

because it was a naturally occurring substance.

He ruled instead in favour of the two medical research companies that hold the patent, US-based Myriad Genetics and Melbourne-based Genetic Technologies Ltd. “There is no doubt that naturally occurring DNA and RNA as they exist inside the cells of the human body cannot be the subject of a valid patent,” his judgement concluded. DNA and RNA are types of nucleic acid.

“However, the disputed claims do not cover naturally occurring DNA and RNA as they exist inside such cells.

“The disputed claims extend only to naturally occurring DNA and RNA which have been extracted from cells obtained from the human body and purged of other biological materials with which they were associated.”

The decision is the first in the country to consider whether isolated DNA or RNA sequences can be patented and lawyers for Cancer Voices Australia, which brought the case, have argued it raises ethical issues about the commercialisation of the human body.

The judgement is a blow to the cancer campaigners, with the woman who brought the case, Yvonne D’Arcy, leav-

ing the court in tears.

“To tell the truth I’m very disappointed,” she told reporters. “We were doing this for future generations, and I’m just so disappointed.”

Cancer Voices Australia also expressed its disappointment in losing the case which it said was for people with all diseases with genetic markers.

“We think that is it very important that information about people’s genes (and) genetic makeup be freely available to researchers, not only in Australia, but around the world,” Cancer Voices’ John Stubbs told the ABC. —AFP

Smoking bans linked to fewer pre-term births More countries adopt stricter legislation LONDON: Banning smoking in enclosed public places can lead to lower rates of preterm birth, according to Belgian researchers who say the findings point to health benefits of smoke-free laws even in very early life. It is well known that smoking during pregnancy can stunt the growth of unborn babies and shorten gestation, and that second-hand smoke exposure can also effect births, but little was known about the impact of smoking bans on preterm birth rates. So a team of researchers led by Tim Nawrot of Belgium’s Hasselt University investigated trends in preterm births — before 37 weeks gestation — from 2002 to 2011 covering a period before, during and after the introduction of smoke-free laws.

They found the risk of preterm birth after the introduction of each phase of Belgium’s smoking ban, which was implemented in three phases — in public places and most workplaces in January 2006, in restaurants in January 2007, and in bars serving food in January 2010.

No decreasing trend in preterm was evident in the years or months before the bans, the researchers said in their study in the British Medical Journal yesterday.

“Our study shows a consistent pattern of reduction in the risk of preterm delivery with successive population interventions to restrict smoking,” the researchers wrote.

“It supports the notion that smoking bans have public health benefits even from early life.”

Smoking causes lung cancer, often fatal, and other chronic respiratory diseases. It is also a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, the world’s number one killers. According to the World Health Organisation, tobacco already kills around 6 million people a year worldwide, including more than 600,000 non-smokers who die from exposure to second-hand smoke.

By 2030, if current trends continue, it predicts tobacco could kill 8 million people a year.

Public health experts hope that as more

and more countries in Europe and around the world adopt stricter legislation on smoking in public places, the health benefits will start to become evident fairly swiftly. A study from England published last month found that the introduction of smoking bans there led to swift and dramatic falls in the number of children admitted to hospital suffering asthma attacks.

And research published in 2009 also found the ban on smoking in public places in England led to a swift and significant drop in the number of heart attacks, saving the national health service 8.4 million pounds ($13.1 million) in the first year.

The Belgian researchers analysed 606,877 live, single-born babies delivered at between 24 and 44 weeks of gestation in Flanders from 2002 to 2011.

The results show a reduction in the risk of preterm births of 3.13 percent after January 2007, and a further reduction in the risk of 2.65 percent after January 2010. —Reuters

Salt reduction could prevent thousands of deaths NEW YORK: The United States could prevent up to half a million deaths over the next decade if Americans cut their salt intake to within national guidelines, according to a US study.

That finding, which comes the week New York City announced success toward its goals of cutting salt levels by one-quarter by 2014, is based on computer simulations using data from various studies on the effects of extra sodium on blood pressure and heart risks.

The Institute of Medicine recommends most healthy people get 1,500 milligrams (mg) of sodium per day, with an upper limit of 2,300 mg. But the average American eats something like 3,600 mg a day, largely through processed food.

“Reducing sodium intake is important for everyone, not just a small subset of people who are salt sensitive,” said study lead author Pamela Coxson, at the University of California, San

Francisco. Although the health effects of cutting back on salt may be small for the average person, she said, the results show they add up when projected across millions of Americans.

Coxson and her colleagues ran three salt-reduction scenarios through models that predicted how a lower-sodium diet would have an impact on a person’s risk of having high blood pressure or dying of cardiovascular disease. —Reutes

CASTELNAUDARY: Senior employees arrive for a statement at the headquarters of French meat supplier Spanghero in Castelnaudary, southwestern France, yesterday. —AFP

French firm in horsemeat scandal denies fraud PARIS: The president of French meat-processing company Spanghero said yesterday the government had been too quick to accuse it of knowingly selling horsemeat labelled as beef, and said he would prove the firm’s innocence.

Consumer Affairs Minister Benoit Hamon on Thursday released details of an investigation into the firm which he said indicated Spanghero as the likely culprit in the horsemeat scandal that has enraged consumers across Europe and implicated traders and abattoirs from Cyprus to Romania.

“I don’t know who is behind this, but I can tell you it’s not us. I’m astonished,” Spanghero boss Barthelemy Aguerre told Europe 1 radio. “I think we will prove our innocence and that of my associate. I think the government has been too quick.”

The French probe into how horsemeat got into ready meals sold across Europe found that the Spanghero firm labelled meat as beef when it knew what it was processing may have been horse, Hamon said.

He said that Spanghero could not have failed to notice the meat it was importing was much cheaper than beef and there was no indication that a Romanian firm supplying the meat had mislabelled what was in fact horsemeat.

Spanghero, based in the town of Castelnaudary near Toulouse in southwest France, has had its operating licence suspended for 10 days and will face legal action if the suspicions are confirmed.

The results of the investigation have been passed on to the Paris prosecutor. —Reuters

US regulators approve bionic eye WASHINGTON: US regulators approved a so-called bionic eye on Thursday, giving hope to people with a rare genetic disease.

Developed by California-based Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System is the first retinal implant for adults with advanced retinitis pigmentosa that results in the gradual loss of vision and can lead to blindness.

“While the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System will not restore vision to patients, it may allow them to detect light and dark in the environment, aiding them in identifying the location or movement of objects or people,” the US Food and Drug Administration said in a statement announcing its decision.

The device includes a small video camera and a transmitter mounted on a pair of glasses, as well as a video pro-

cessing unit and an implanted retinal prosthesis that replaces the function of degenerated cells in the retina.

“This new surgically implanted assistive device provides an option for patients who have lost their sight to RP (retinitis pigmentosa), for whom there have been no FDA-approved treatments,” said Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

“The device may help adults with RP who have lost the ability to perceive shapes and movement to be more mobile and to perform day-to-day activities.”

Already greenlighted by European regulators, the FDA approved the Argus II as a humanitarian use device, which is limited to instruments that treat or diagnose fewer than 4,000 people in the United States annually. —AFP

Health SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

information SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

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information SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

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

Arrival Flights on Saturday 16/2/2013 Flt Route 574 MUMBAI 413 AMSTERDAM 772 ISTANBUL 267 BEIRUT 539 CAIRO 148 DOHA 441 LAHORE 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 643 MUSCAT 67 DUBAI 239 ISLAMABAD 612 CAIRO 3555 ALEXANDRIA 138 DOHA 170 BAHRAIN 770 ISTANBUL 503 LUXOR 555 ALEXANDRIA 416 JAKARTA 529 ASSIUT 157 LONDON 412 MANILA 206 ISLAMABAD 382 DELHI 53 DUBAI 3401 TEHRAN 302 MUMBAI 5594 ISTANBUL 352 COCHIN 344 CHENNAI 855 DUBAI 362 COLOMBO 121 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 327 NAJAF 165 DUBAI 401 ALEXANDRIA 329 NAJAF 4161 MASHAD 359 MASHAD 610 CAIRO 1190 MASHAD 871 DUBAI 284 DHAKA 325 NAJAF 4171 MASHAD 6592 MASHAD 57 DUBAI 672 DUBAI 472 JEDDAH 8055 DUBAI 500 JEDDAH 140 DOHA 8057 DUBAI 788 JEDDAH 790 MEDINAH 470 JEDDAH 134 DOHA 331 NAJAF 535 CAIRO 118 NEW YORK 857 DUBAI 341 DAMASCUS 357 MASHAD 303 ABU DHABI 640 AMMAN 8063 DUBAI 215 BAHRAIN 510 RIYADH 777 JEDDAH 127 SHARJAH 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 538 SOHAG 542 CAIRO 251 ALEXANDRIA

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

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

177 3553 63 4167 6692 405 176 618 144 104 674 774 607 562 647 61 572 389 618 189 129 462 146 229 474 502 402 136 221 307 859 135 59 415 786 975 239 217 185 613 981 370 43 636

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

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

Departure Flights on Saturday 16/2/2013 Flt Route 976 GOA 283 DHAKA 573 MUMBAI 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 637 FRANKFURT 413 AMSTERDAM 442 LAHORE 621 ADDIS ABABA 773 ISTANBUL 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 644 MUSCAT 306 ABU DHABI 3556 ALEXANDRIA 613 CAIRO 240 SIALKOT 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 358 MASHHAD 326 AL NAJAF 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 328 AL NAJAF 54 DUBAI 156 LONDON 3402 MASHHAD 534 CAIRO 101 LONDON 787 JEDDAH 324 AL NAJAF 671 DUBAI 122 SHARJAH 537 SOHAG 856 DUBAI 56 DUBAI

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

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

5425 302 133 789 214 356 541 165 776 330 406 4162 611 176 6593 4172 1191 872 58 561 8056 673 473 501 8058 617 505 461 188 141 773 785 238 304 538 342 135 858 641 8064 216 184 511 128 266 3554 134 982 252 64 6693 402 4168 613 145 62 604 648 331 571 120 1776 607 351 543 475 171 471 230 403 308 137 222 301 381 60 554 860 205 415 147 218 411

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

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

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

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Word Search

Yesterdayʼs Solution

C R O S S W O R D 1 0 2

ACROSS 1. A young woman making her debut into society.

4. Durable fragrant wood.

12. The compass point midway between south and southeast.

15. The month following March and preceding May. 16. (Polynesian) An alcoholic drink made from the aromatic roots of the kava shrub.

17. A legal document codifying the result of deliberations of a committee or society or legislative body.

18. Horizontal beam used as a finishing piece over a door or window.

20. The greatest possible degree of something.

21. (British) Your grandmother.

22. Established by or founded upon law or official or accepted rules.

25. Deciduous round-headed Asiatic tree widely grown in mild climates as an ornamental for its heart-shaped leaves and fragrant yellow-green flowers followed by hanging clusters of fleshy orange-red berries.

27. A Loloish language.

29. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

31. Goddess of criminal rashness and its punishment.

36. A unit of length of thread or yarn.

38. (of exocrine glands) Producing a secretion in which part of the secreting cell is released with the secretion.

41. Any of various water-soluble compounds capable of turning litmus blue and reacting with an acid to form a salt and water.

43. (Old Testament) The minister of the Persian emperor who hated the Jews and was hanged for plotting to massacre them.

44. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma.

45. Male red deer.

46. A city in southern Turkey on the Seyhan River.

48. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

49. A sliver-white metallic element of the platinum group that resembles platinum.

52. (Old Testament) In Judeo-Christian mythology.

55. (Irish) Ancient Irish god (probably a god of the sun).

56. United States assassin of President John F. Kennedy (1939-1963).

58. Call forth.

62. Chinese ephedra yielding ephedrine.

66. Squash bugs.

67. Cause to lose one's nerve.

70. (Norse mythology) Goddess of old age who defeated Thor in a wrestling match.

71. Resinlike substance secreted by certain lac insects.

72. French explorer who claimed Louisiana for France (1643-1687).

74. A feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause).

75. Inquire about.

76. (of time) Having passed or slipped by.

77. Capital and largest city of Italy.

Daily SuDoku

DOWN 1. Tropical woody herb with showy yellow flowers and flat pods.

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

3. (Norse mythology) God of poetry and music.

4. Of or relating to or forming or attached to a skeleton.

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

6. A state in the western United States.

7. Indigo bush.

8. Similar or related in quality or character.

9. Avatar of Vishnu.

10. The birds of a particular region or period.

11. Feline mammal usually having thick soft fur and being unable to roar.

12. The capital and largest city of Yemen.

13. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

14. An inactive volcano in Sicily.

19. An informal term for a father.

23. (Sumerian) Goddess personifying earth.

24. An American doctorate usually based on at least 3 years graduate study and a dissertation.

26. A shade of brown with a tinge of red.

28. Having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions.

30. Having or provided with a belt.

32. The father of your father or mother.

33. Capital and largest city and economic center of Peru.

34. The capacitance of a capacitor that has an equal and opposite charge of 1 coulomb on each plate and a voltage difference of 1 volt between the plates.

35. Small terrestrial lizard of warm regions of the Old World.

37. Jordan's port.

39. A place of worship that has its own altar.

40. A quantity of no importance.

42. (of reproduction) Not involving the fusion of male and female gametes reproduction".

47. A person who uses scientific knowledge to solve practical problems.

50. Made clean.

51. A Scottish word.

53. Slender bristlelike appendage found on the bracts of grasses.

54. A port city in southwestern Croatia on the Adriatic.

57. A river that rises in central Germany and flows north to join the Elbe River.

59. A large stringed instrument.

60. Muslims collectively and their civilization.

61. Wild ox of the Malay Archipelago.

63. Type genus of the Anatidae.

64. One who works hard at boring tasks.

65. A large bundle bound for storage or transport.

68. A period of time spent sleeping.

69. A master's degree in library science.

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

Yesterdayʼs Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

SPORTS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Birthday bash as Asian Tour takes swipe at rival SINGAPORE: Golf’s Asian Tour outlined a glittering vision for the future and took a swipe at rival OneAsia as it held celebrations to mark the start of its 10th season yesterday.

CEO Mike Kerr said by 2023, the Asian Tour aimed to offer more than US$100 million in prize money and up to 39 events a year. He hoped Asia would have three players in the top 10, three more major-winners and at least one Olympic medal.

But both Kerr and executive chairman Kyi Hla Han said Asian golf’s development in the last decade had been badly affected by the dispute with OneAsia, the region’s alternative circuit which emerged in 2009.

And any rapprochement in the lunar year of the snake, marked by a lion dance during a gala lunch at Singapore’s swanky Laguna National Golf and Country Club, looked unlikely as Kerr said no formal contacts had

been made between the two bodies.

“Absolutely,” Kerr told AFP, when asked if Asian golf would be in a stronger position without the arrival of OneAsia. “Like any competitive threat, like any business that has a competitor, it’s taken market share. But ultimately it’s a relatively small market share,” he said. “Certainly in the last few years, there’s been no growth (for OneAsia).

The damage that was done in 2009 still to this day hasn’t been replaced, in terms of prize fund.

“The events themselves that are on OneAsia have not increased in terms of global profile, whether it’s in prize purse or whether it’s in world ranking points. “So I see them as competition, I respect them as competition but I don’t necessarily believe that they are a growing competitive threat.”

Asia is the big growth area for world golf but despite years of development, players often lag the standards of their

non-Asian rivals and the region’s biggest tournaments are co-sanctioned by the European or US PGA Tour. After Y.E. Yang’s surprise major victory at the 2009 PGA Championship, big wins have been rare, with some experts blaming Asia’s inter-tour dispute for spooking sponsors and putting off players.

“It could have been better,” said Kerr. “You can see in 2009 there was a real impact on golf in Asia-Pacific and really to some extent the Asian Tour has recovered, we’re back up to where we were in 2009.

“But golf as a whole has been affected and it’s difficult to get over that. It’s because there was an organisation who felt they could do something different or better caused a serious impact that we’ve yet to recover fully from.” Kyi Hla agreed the stand-off had “definitely” affected Asian golf and said the Asian Tour was still considering appealing

LeBron ends record run as Heat beat Thunder

November’s ruling, when a Singapore court judged that it had illegally restrained trade by barring players from OneAsia events.

“Competition’s always there so we’re not going to get too worried about it,” Kyi Hla told AFP, when asked about the chances of the two tours working more closely together. “We’ll see if we can cooperate, we’ll see if we have to compete.”

And Kerr, a week before the Asian Tour’s 10th season starts with the Zaykabar Myanmar Open in Yangon, made it clear that joining hands with OneAsia was not high on his agenda.

“To think that somebody has come into the market, set something different up to compete against the establishment and then feel that the establishment should somehow accept them into the fold because they’re a competitive threat, that’s not necessarily the way it works,” he said. — AFP

NBA results/standings Miami 110, Oklahoma City 100; LA Clippers 125, LA Lakers 101.

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L PCT 32 18 .640 31 22 .585 28 24 .538 22 29 .431 21 32 .396

GB 2.5 5 10.5 12.5

Central Division 32 21 .604 30 22 .577 26 25 .510 21 33 .389 16 37 .302

1.5 5 11.5 16

Southeast Division 36 14 .720 29 22 .569 15 36 .294 15 37 .288 12 40 .231

7.5 21.5 22 25

Western Conference Northwest Division Oklahoma City 39 14 .736 Denver 33 21 .611 Utah 30 24 .556 Portland 25 28 .472 Minnesota 19 31 .380

6.5 9.5 14 18.5

Lakers owner in hospital for cancer OKLAHOMA CITY: LeBron James powered the Miami Heat to a 110-100 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, but fell just short of extending a record-breaking scoring run. James finished with 39 points and shot 58 percent from the field in a rematch of last year’s NBA finals which the Heat won in five games.

In Miami’s six previous wins, James did what no NBA player had ever achieved-scoring at least 30 points each game while shooting at least 60 percent from the field.

“All good things have to come to an end at some point,” James said. “It was a good run but we got the win tonight and that is the most important thing.”

The reigning playoff MVP was his usual dominant self Thursday at Chesapeake Energy Arena as he grabbed 12 rebounds and had seven assists, leading the Heat to their seventh consecutive win.

He appeared to be heading for his seventh straight 30-60 game but failed to connect on a three-point shot in the fourth quarter and had to settle for 14of-24 shooting from the field. Chris Bosh finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Dwyane Wade had 13 points and eight assists for the Heat, who have won seven straight and 12 of their last 14. James, Wade and Bosh will represent Miami in the 62nd AllStar Game on Sunday in Houston.

Thursday’s contest was the first of a four-game road trip for Miami and the last game before the all-star break.

Kevin Durant had 40 points on 12of-24 shooting, while Russell Westbrook finished with 26 points, 10 assists and five rebounds for the Thunder, who had their seven-game win streak at home snapped Thursday.

At one point, Durant fell to the floor

NY Knicks Brooklyn Boston Philadelphia Toronto

Indiana Chicago Milwaukee Detroit Cleveland

OKLAHOMA CITY: Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) tumbles over Miami Heat forward Shane Battier, bottom, as he shoots in the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City. Miami won 110-100. — AP and landed with a heavy thud. He struggled early in the game and didn’t make his first field goal until just over four minutes left in the second quarter. James said double teaming Durant on defence was one of the keys to the win. “You can’t guard him one-onone,” James said. “You have got to have help behind you. Defensively we were able to pick up a couple of charges on him.”

It marked just the fourth loss at home for Oklahoma City to go with 23 wins. The Thunder were eliminated by the Heat in the playoffs and lost the first regular season rematch, 103-97, on Christmas Day in Florida. Durant and Westbrook will represent the Thunder in the all-star showdown.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss has been admitted to hospi-

tal for cancer treatment, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday. The 79-year-old, who has been in failing health for the past year, was taken to hospital in July for “dehydration” and underwent surgery a month later for an undisclosed illness. He has also suffered from blood clots.

The LA Times report said Buss had spent time in intensive care. It was not clear what form of cancer Buss is fighting and the Lakers did not immediately respond to requests for a comment.

Buss bought the Lakers in 1979 and has been in charge of the franchise for 10 of their 16 National Basketball Association championships. He used to be a regular fixture at Lakers games but has not been seen at a match this season after not attending any games last season. — AFP

Miami Atlanta Washington Orlando Charlotte

LA Clippers Golden State LA Lakers Sacramento Phoenix

San Antonio Memphis Houston Dallas New Orleans

Pacific Division 39 17 30 22 25 29 19 35 17 36

.696 .577 .463 .352 .321

7 13 19 20.5

Southwest Division 42 12 .778 33 18 .647 29 26 .527 23 29 .442 19 34 .358

7.5 13.5 18 22.5

Sports SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Russian cycling team Katusha wins appeal at CAS NYON: Russian cycling team Katusha won its appeal against the International Cycling Union’s decision to deny it top-tier status this season for “ethical” reasons.The Court of Arbitration for Sport said yesterday it upheld Katusha’s challenge to the rejection by the UCI licensing commission in December.

Katusha will be automatically entered in all World Tour events, including the Tour de France, major stage races and one-day classics.

The legal victory ensures Katusha will keep its top rider, Joaquim Rodriguez of Spain. The verdict was “absolutely objective and justified,” Russian cycling federation leader Igor Makarov said in a statement.

“I would like to express our deep

(gratitude) to all, who sincerely empathized, hoped and believed that justice will be restored,” said Makarov, a member of the UCI management board.The UCI must decide whether to remove another team’s World Tour status to make space for Katusha within its quota of 18 top-tier teams.

“The UCI will now evaluate the consequences of this ruling and will communicate further in coming days, as soon as such evaluation has taken place,” it said in a statement.

The governing body confirmed its independent licensing panel denied the license on “ethical criterion.” It also weighs factors such as team finances and quality of riders. In 2012, Katusha rider Denis Galimzyanov admit-

ted doping with EPO, and the UCI opened an investigation into claims that teammate Alexandr Kolobnev arranged a fix with Alexandre Vinokourov to let the Astana leader win the LiegeBastogne-Liege classic in April 2010. The allegation stated that Kolobnev was paid euro 150,000 (nearly $200,000) for agreeing to concede defeat in their two-man breakaway.

Katusha also recently appointed Viatcheslav Ekimov as general manager. The three-time Olympic champion was a longtime teammate of Lance Armstrong with the US Postal Service team.

The Russian team looks to Rodriguez to help restore its reputation. The 2012 World Tour rankings leader was reportedly ready

Runner’s Twitter feed is a long victory lap ‘Pistorius went from podium to police cell’ LONDON: Since captivating the world with his groundbreaking Olympic trip to London, Oscar Pistorius’ life seemed like an extended victory lap.

More than 230,000 Twitter followers have been given a glimpse into a life of fast cars and luxury holidays as the hero was feted by an adoring public. The “Blade Runner” has reveled in the fame that came from becoming the first amputee sprinter to compete at both the Olympics and Paralympics.

ing a water break with the boys!;)” Steenkamp gushed over Pistorius on Twitter, seeming to relish going out with one of South Africa’s biggest stars. By contrast, there was little outpouring of affection from Pistorius, although there was no indication their relationship had soured or that his mindset had darkened.The only reference to guns was a Twitter image of him on Nov. 28, 2011, firing off rounds at a shooting range, and a boast: “Had a 96% headshot over 300m

PRETORIA: South African athlete Oscar Pistorius at the end of court proceedings, in Pretoria, South Africa, yesterday. Pistorius was formally charged at Pretoria Magistrate’s Court with one count of murder after killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. —AP Among dozens of tweets in recent weeks, there are only a scattering of references to the girlfriend he is now accused of killing earlier Thursday.

Quoting a tweet from Reeva Steenkamp on Dec. 6 - “Wondering what my stalker is up to? Kinda miss him lurking around 2nyt” - Pistorius replies: “Heard he is tak-

from 50shots! Bam!”) Steenkamp was shot four times at Pistorius’ home in Pretoria early on Thursday.

With his arrest and charge, Pistorius went from podium to police cell. At the Olympics in August, Pistorius reached the finals of the 4x400 relay and semifinal in the 400 sprint, with his carbon fiber

blades clattering into the history books on the London track. But the script didn’t go to plan when the Paralympics started later in the month. The 100 and 200 titles were lost in a blaze of fury as he became embroiled in a public row with the rival he accused of unfairly using lengthened blades to win the 200. Only in the final event, the 400, did Pistorius finally collect an individual gold.

While his carefully honed public image - as the poster boy for Paralympic sport - was a little tarnished by his outbursts, Pistorius has spent the time since then, on Twitter in particular, displaying the softer side that enthralled sports fans and the general public alike.

“Don’t sweat the small things and chase your aspirations,” he tweeted on Jan. 29, while posting an image of a quote from Walt Disney: “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”

At the start of December he retweeted a series of motivational messages. “Life consists not in holding good cards, but in playing those cards you hold well.” And from Oscar Wilde: “A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone’s feelings unintentionally.”

Displaying his religious side, Pistorius peppered his timeline with references to his faith, including: “God is good all the time, all the time God is good!”

As he prepared to see in 2013, Pistorius wrote: “Had a blessed day today.

Grateful for the type of people I have in my life.”But his Twitter timeline more regularly featured self-portraits sunning himself or posing among the great and the good at conferences or glitzy events.

In his last personal tweet on Feb. 11, Pistorius was looking forward to the launch of his foundation in July to help 10 disabled children. It was a reminder of how Pistorius had overcome difficulties since having both legs amputated below the knee in the first year of his life. —AP

to leave if the team was not guaranteed a place in the Tour de France.

Rodriguez was riding for Katusha in the Tour of Oman yesterday when the urgent verdict was issued in Switzerland. CAS said its panel of three arbitrators “did not reach the same conclusions as the UCI licensing commission and decided to uphold the appeal.”

A detailed ruling will be published within weeks. Katusha became the 19th licensed World Tour team, rising from the second-tier status which requires teams to seek wild card entries from race organizers. If the UCI drops an already registered team, that decision could prompt a further appeal at CAS. —AP

USA-led group tries to save Olympic wrestling NEW YORK: USA Wrestling executive director Rich Bender knows it will take an international push to save Olympic wrestling. To that end, the Americans have formed a star-studded group designed to help get their sport back on the Olympic program. USA Wrestling has announced that a group led by former world champion Bill Scherr will work to fight the IOC’s decision earlier this week to eliminate wrestling from the 2020 Olympics.

Scherr’s brother, former US Olympic Committee head Jim Scherr, will take part along with World and Olympic champions Bruce Baumgartner, John Smith, Rulon Gardner and Dan Gable and two-time Olympians Kerry McCoy and Clarissa Chun. USA Wrestling also plans to lean on international business leaders and public relations experts as it formulates a strategy to petition for re-inclusion. “It’s an opportunity for our sport to have a platform and talk about the characteristics of wrestling. The demographics of our sport. The broad-based participation of our sport. The history of our sport. All the things that are great about our sport,” Bender said.

The newly-formed group doesn’t have much time to change the IOC’s mind. The IOC executive board will meet in May in St. Petersburg, Russia, to choose which sport or sports to propose for inclusion in 2020. The final vote will be made at the IOC general assembly in September in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Wrestling has now been lumped with a combined bid from baseball and softball, as well as bids from karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and the martial art of wushu. The first major face-to-face meetings between international wrestling officials will come next week in Tehran, site of the upcoming World Cup tournament. Bender, who leaves Monday for Iran, said he intends to meet with leaders from Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Georgia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Belarus.

“We must form a coalition. We must. The wrestling nations must work together on this,” Bender said. “It’s critical that we are all on the same page. And directing the energies of the wrestling communities and their countries to one common cause, and that’s obviously to convince the International Olympic Committee that wrestling belongs on the program.”

Bender said the Russian, Iranian and Japanese wrestling federations have also begun their own plans to fight the IOC’s decision, adding that he spoke about strategy with Russian and Japanese officials over the phone on Thursday. Bender said an international summit could also be on the table, though more solid plans will likely be formed in the coming weeks. Though Bender knows that sports that are removed from the Olympic program don’t usually earn immediate re-inclusion, he sees wrestling as a unique case. “This might be taken the wrong way.

But historically, sports like wrestling haven’t been challenged like this,” Bender said. “The reality of it is that our sport belongs in the program. Our sport has one of the biggest histories and traditions within the Olympic movement.” —AP

SPORTS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

No decision yet on NHL players in Olympics NEW YORK: A decision on whether NHL players will head to the 2014 Sochi Olympics isn’t likely this week, but a first day of discussions went well. Talks between the NHL, the NHL players’ association, and officials from the International Ice Hockey Federation and the International Olympic Committee stretched into Thursday night as the parties worked toward getting NHL players back to the Olympics for a fifth straight time.

There are obstacles in the process, but the sides will get back together on Friday to talk some more. “We had good discussions,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly

told The Associated Press in an email Thursday night after talks wrapped up. “We expect to continue tomorrow.” While the NHL and the players might want to participate in the Olympics again, they have to figure out if it makes sense for them to interrupt another season to make it possible.

“I don’t expect any resolution or decisions this week,” Daly wrote to the AP earlier Thursday. In these negotiations, the NHL and the players’ association appear to be aligned in their position. The Sochi Games are one year away. While a final decision isn’t required this week, one

will have to be reached in the near future. It is believed hockey federations will need to know by May what players will be available for their teams.

The current discussions are being held between NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr, IIHL President Rene Fasel and officials from the IOC. After enduring a long lockout that produced a shortened regular season this year, the NHL is weighing whether it is worth shutting down the game for more than two weeks next season to allow its players to go to Russia for the Olympics. —AP

Staals star as Hurricanes blow away Leafs 3-1 RALEIGH: Carolina’s Staal brothers played key roles as the Hurricanes beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 on Thursday to increase their lead in the NHL Southeast Division to four points.

Jordan Staal scored and brother Eric had an assist to extend his point streak to a league-best 11 games.

Elsewhere, Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne completed back-to-back shutouts in the win over Phoenix, Montreal beat Florida in overtime, and the New York Islanders ended a run of five straight defeats by beating the crosstown New York Rangers in a shootout.

Carolina’s Joe Corvo had a goal and an assist while Jussi Jokinen also scored for the Hurricanes, while Nazem Kadri scored for Toronto, which had won its previous four games.

Nashville’s Rinne extended his shutout streak to just shy of 138 minutes as the Predators beat the Phoenix Coyotes 3-0. Gabriel Bourque, Nick Spaling and Mike Fisher had the goals for the Predators. Montreal’s Rene Borque netted 2:10 into overtime, providing the sole goal in the Canadiens’ 10 win over the Florida Panthers.

Bourque’s winner came on a tip-in just in front of the net. The puck drifted in front of the crease and Shawn Matthias couldn’t clear it for Florida.

Instead, it bounced off goalie Jose Theodore’s pad and Bourque poked it in.

The Islanders’ John Tavares scored one of his team’s three-second period goals and then netted the winner in a shootout as they beat the Rangers 4-3.

Tavares followed Frans Nielsen’s goal in

NHL results/standings NY Islanders 4, NY Rangers 3 (SO); Carolina 3, Toronto 1; Washington 4, Tampa Bay 3; Montreal 1, Florida 0 (OT); Nashville 3, Phoenix 0; Colorado 4, Minnesota 3 (SO).

New Jersey Pittsburgh NY Rangers Philadelphia NY Islanders Boston Montreal Toronto Ottawa Buffalo Carolina Tampa Bay Winnipeg Florida Washington Chicago Nashville Detroit St. Louis Columbus

RALEIGH: John-Michael Liles #24 of the Toronto Maple Leafs moves the puck up the ice as Jeff Skinner #53 of the Carolina Hurricanes looks on during play at PNC Arena on Thursday in Raleigh, North Carolina. — AFP the opening round of the tiebreaker with one of his own, and goalie Evgeni Nabokov stopped two shots to give the Islanders the elusive win. They had dropped eight straight at Madison Square Garden, including a loss there last week.

The Rangers squandered a 2-0 lead and had their three-game winning

streak snapped. Colorado’s Milan Hejduk and Matt Duchene scored in the shootout to lift the Avalanche to a 4-3 win at the Minnesota Wild, while Washington’s Eric Fehr scored twice as the Capitals beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 to notch a third straight win after a dire start to the season. — AP

Gulf Bank, KFH end in 1-1 draw KUWAIT: The Kuwait Finance House held the Gulf Bank to a 1-1 draw in week five of the KBC Football League, a tournament organized by the Kuwait Banks Club featuring teams representing local banks.

The Gulf Bank remained on top of the overall standings with 13 points following this result, while the KFH increased their total to 11 at third place. The National Bank of Kuwait remained in second place with 12 points after defeating the International Bank 3-0.

Meanwhile, the Boubyan Bank defeated the Ahli United Bank, which put the team at fourth

place with 10 points. In other results, Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait defeated the Commercial Bank of Kuwait 2-0 to earn 9 points and the fifth place in the overall standings. Warba Bank is sixth with six points after its match with Burgan Bank ended with a 1-1 draw.

Week six competitions kick off tomorrow (Sunday) with a match between the International Bank and Burgan Bank, followed Monday with the KBH vs. Boubyan Bank, Tuesday with Al-Ahli Bank vs. Gulf Bank, and Wednesday with the Commercial Bank vs. the NBK.

Vancouver Minnesota Edmonton Calgary Colorado Anaheim San Jose Dallas Phoenix Los Angeles

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL 8 2 3 9 5 0 7 5 1 6 7 1 5 7 1 Northeast Division 8 1 2 8 4 1 8 6 0 7 5 2 5 8 1 Southeast Division 8 4 1 6 6 1 5 6 1 4 6 3 5 8 1 Western Conference Central Division 10 0 3 7 3 4 7 4 2 7 5 1 4 7 2 Northwest Division 8 2 2 6 6 2 5 5 3 4 4 3 5 6 1 Pacific Division 9 2 1 7 3 3 7 6 1 6 6 2 4 5 2

GF 35 45 36 34 40

GA PTS 28 19 34 18 34 15 40 13 46 11

32 36 40 35 39

25 33 36 27 48

18 17 16 16 11

41 49 32 30 40

37 40 40 47 49

17 13 11 11 11

44 28 36 43 30

28 26 36 43 41

23 18 16 15 10

35 30 29 33 27

25 36 34 39 32

18 14 13 11 11

42 36 34 35 26

33 29 36 38 32

19 17 15 14 10

Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss.

SPORTS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Ajmal makes double strike for Pakistan CAPE TOWN: Off-spinner Saeed Ajmal dismissed both opening batsmen as South Africa started their reply to Pakistan’s first innings on the second day of the second Test at Newlands yesterday. South Africa were 65 for two at tea after dismissing Pakistan for 338. It was a productive day for Ajmal, who helped fellow tailender Tanvir Ahmed put on 64 for the ninth wicket to take Pakistan comfortably past the 300 mark.

Their eventual total had seemed unlikely when Vernon Philander took three wickets in his first three overs to reduce the tourists to 268 for eight.

Ajmal came on to bowl after 11 overs had been bowled in South Africa’s innings. He struck with his ninth delivery when South African captain Graeme Smith missed a sweep. Umpire Steve Davis turned down Ajmal’s appeal for leg before wicket but the Pakistanis sought a review which showed the ball had pitched in line and would have hit the stumps.

Two overs later Ajmal had Alviro Petersen smartly caught at short leg by Azhar Ali, who dived to his right to hold a sharp chance. At tea, Ajmal had taken two for 20. Faf du Plessis surprisingly batted at number four for South Africa in place of Jacques Kallis.

Pakistan batted until lunch after resuming on 253 for five, although Philander’s early strikes raised the home side’s hopes of wrapping up the innings quickly. Philander, who took five for 59, struck with his first ball of the day when Asad Shafiq was caught at first slip without adding to his overnight score of 111.

Shafiq batted for 308 minutes and faced 230 balls. Sarfraz Ahmed, the other overnight batsman, fell in Philander’s next over when Petersen dived full length to his right to hold a good catch at third slip. Sarfraz made 13.

Umar Gul was leg before wicket without scoring as Philander completed his ninth five-wicket haul in Test matches. But Tanvir and Ajmal went for their strokes, with Tanvir in particular hitting out aggressively as he made 44 off 59 balls with four fours. Ajmal made 21 not out. South Africa suffered a blow when fast bowler Morne Morkel left the field after bowling three balls of his 21st over with what was described as a tight left hamstring.

Tanvir fell shortly before lunch when he hit left-arm spinner Robin Peterson to Philander at deep mid-off, with last man Mohammad Irfan following in the next over when he was bowled by Peterson, going for a big hit. — AFP

WELLINGTON: England’s Alex Hale, right, scrambles back as New Zealand’s Nathan McCullum fields off his own bowling in the Twenty20 cricket match at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand, yesterday. — AP

England thrash NZ to claim Twenty20 series N Zealand blown off park in all departments

CAPE TOWN: South African Dean Elgar plays a shot during the 2nd Test between South Africa and Pakistan, in Cape Town at Newlands yesterday. — AFP

SCOREBOARD CAPE TOWN: Close of play scores on the second day of the second Test between South Africa and Pakistan at Newlands yesterday.

Pakistan first innings (Overnight 253-5) Mohammad Hafeez c Smith b Steyn 17 Nasir Jamshed c De Villiers b Philander 3 Azhar Ali c De Villiers b Morkel 4 Younis Khan c De Villiers b Philander 111 Misbah-ul-Haq c Elgar b Morkel 0 Asad Shafiq c Smith b Philander 111 Sarfraz Ahmed c Petersen b Philander 13 Tanvir Ahmed c Philander b Peterson 44 Umar Gul lbw b Philander 0 Saeed Ajmal not out 21 Mohammad Irfan b Peterson 6 Extras (lb5, nb3) 8 Total (116.2 overs) 338 Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Jamshed), 2-21 (Hafeez), 3-33 (Azhar), 4-33 (Misbah), 5-252 (Younis), 6-259 (Shafiq), 7-266 (Sarfraz), 8268 (Gul), 9-332 (Tanvir) Bowling: Steyn 25-7-55-1, Philander 26-1059-5 (2nb), Morkel 20.3-6-59-2 (1nb), Kallis 19.3-2-52-0, Peterson 23.2-0-

94-2, Elgar 2-0-14-0 South Africa first innings G. Smith lbw b Saeed Ajmal 19 A. Petersen c Azhar Ali b Saeed Ajmal 17 H. Amla lbw Saeed Ajmal 25 F. du Plessis c Younis Khan b Saeed Ajmal28 J. Kallis lbw b Saeed Ajmal 2 A. de Villiers not out 24 D. Elgar not out 11 Extras (b2, lb5, nb6) 13 Total (5 wkts, 60 overs) 139 Fall of wickets: 1-36 (Smith), 2-50 (Petersen), 3-84 (Amla), 4-102 (Kallis), 5-109 (Du Plessis) Bowling: Umar Gul 6-1-17-0, Tanvir Ahmed 5-3-5-0 (1nb), Mohammad Irfan 6-1-18-0 (3nb), Saeed Ajmal 7-1-20-2 To bat: R. Peterson, V. Philander, D. Steyn, M Morkel Match situation: South Africa trail by 199 runs with five wickets remaining in the first innings.

WELLINGTON: England’s opening batsmen Alex Hales and Michael Lumb made a mockery of the New Zealand bowling attack to guide the visitors to a 10-wicket win in their third Twenty20 international and a 2-1 series victory yesterday.

After England’s bowlers restricted New Zealand to 139 for eight, Hales blasted 80 off 42 balls while Lumb scored 53, including a six that landed on the roof to win the match and bring up his half century, as the pair pushed England to victory in just 12.4 overs.

“The power the two openers have shown there was pretty spectacular,” England captain Stuart Broad told reporters. “What was it 12, 13 overs to chase down 140?

“We know that early wickets kill you in Twenty20 cricket so it was great to see the guys get used to the wicket and take their time for two or three overs and then once Alex Hales got going it looked hard to stop him.”

Much of England’s damage was done in the fifth over when Ian Butler lost his composure and sprayed the ball all over the wicket, yielding five wides, four leg byes and three further boundaries by Hales.

Hales then took to Mitchell McClenaghan in the 11th over, blasting a six, a four and two more sixes in four successive deliveries to race towards the victory target on the drop-in pitch at Wellington Regional Stadium.

“We were blown off the park,” New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said. “Batting, bowling and fielding nowhere near the standard it needed to be. England were ruthless in their approach and thoroughly deserved their victory.” Martin Guptill had anchored New Zealand’s innings, scoring 59 runs off 55 balls, but was forced to work the ball around rather than attack as wickets kept falling at the other end.

Guptill tried to force the pace at the end of New Zealand’s innings but was dismissed in the penultimate over to end any chance of the hosts posting a score in excess of 150. England’s frontline pace bowlers were much more aggressive than in the second match in Hamilton and bowled short of a length, hurrying the New Zealand batsmen into mistimed pull and hook shots with the ball skying into the outfield.

Broad finished with three for 15 from four overs, while Jade Dernbach also took 3-36, while Steve Finn was bristling aggression as he conceded just 18 runs from four overs. “We knew the wicket would be good and outfield potentially a bit slow, but the way we started with the ball, the tone we set was fantastic,” Broad

said. “We probably kept them to 20-30 (runs) under par.

“All round, probably the most powerful performance I have seen from an England side.” England won the series after taking the first match in Auckland by 40 runs, while New Zealand won the second in Hamilton by 55 runs.

The first game of the three-match one day series will be in Hamilton tomorrow. — Reuters

SCOREBOARD WELLINGTON: Scoreboard at the end of the third New Zealand v England Twenty20 international at Wellington Regional Stadium yesterday.

New Zealand H. Rutherford c Dernbach b Broad 11 M. Guptill c & b Broad 59 B. McCullum c Bairstow b Tredwell 26 R. Taylor c Bairstow b Root 6 G. Elliott c Finn b Dernbach 15 C. Munro c Root b Broad 1 J. Franklin c Tredwell b Dernbach 15 N. McCullum c Buttler b Dernbach 0 I. Butler not out 1 Extras (b-4, lb-1) 5 Total (for eight wickets, 20 overs) 139 Did not bat: T. Boult, M. McClenaghan Fall of wickets: 1-17 2-62 3-70 4-95 5-99 6-128 7130 8-139 Bowling: Finn 4-0-18-0, Broad 4-0-15-3, Dernbach 4-0-36-3, Wright 2-0-19-0, Tredwell 4-0-31-1, Root 2-0-15-1 England M. Lumb not out 53 A. Hales not out 80 Extras (lb-5 w-5) 10 Total (for no wickets, 12.4 overs) 143 Did not bat: L. Wright, J. Bairstow, E. Morgan, J. Buttler, J. Root, S. Broad, J. Tredwell, S. Finn, J. Dernbach Fall of wickets: Bowling: Boult 2-0-20-0, McClenaghan 3-1-38-0, Butler 2.4-0-41-0, N. McCullum 4-0-32-0, Franklin 1-0-7-0 Result: England won by 10 wickets

SPORTS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Dropped Zigic goes from Blues’ hero to zero LONDON: Birmingham striker Nikola Zigic has been axed from the squad for today’s match against Watford after manager Lee Clark said he’d turned in “the worst training session...I have ever come across”.

Towering Serbian forward Zigic still earns a reported £50,000-plus per week following Birmingham’s relegation from the English Premier League. And he remains something of a fans’ favourite at the Midlands club after heading the opening goal in the 2011 League Cup final win over Arsenal.

Nevertheless, the 32-year-old has been used sparingly by Clark this season, making nine starts and 13 substitute appearances for a return of six

goals. But he will not get the chance to improve those figures when Watford visit St Andrew’s for a second-tier Championship clash on Saturday, even though he was in line to start because of Marlon King’s knee injury.

Clark said Thursday’s training stint had been the final straw. “I witnessed possibly the worst training session in terms of a professional footballer I have ever come across on Thursday,” Clark said yesterday. “We did our preparation work for Watford and he (Zigic) was in the team. And I was disgusted when I walked off. “I need to tell the fans before the game because obviously the social media network will go into overload because of this. I know he’s quite popu-

lar. “But ultimately he’s a very well-paid guy and you’ve got to earn that,” the 40year-old Clark added.

“And what he dished up yesterday (Thursday) was, since I’ve left school at 16 and been a professional footballernot technically or tactically-the worst I have ever seen. “And this is not the first time. This has been coming. Now, whether he has been angry he hasn’t been starting enough games over the previous weeks, that could be a point, it could be valid. But does that mean you just basically down tools, don’t try?

“I think the fans deserve more than that, the football club deserves more than that. I am an honest man and I need to be honest with everyone. “And

there will be people who disagree and say this is a crazy thing. But what am I meant to do? Am I meant to accept that, just let people do that? All the other players see that. Or am I within my rights as a manager?

“Whatever happens tomorrow (Saturday), I can sleep soundly in my bed because I know I have made the right decision, in how Lee Clark goes about the football work and his business.” Zigic joined Birmingham from Spanish club Valencia on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee in 2010.

Now Birmingham run the risk of being drawn into the Championship relegation zone while Watford are in the race for a play-off place. — AFP

Mancini laughs off talk of sack

SCHLADMING: US Ted Ligety celebrates after winning the men’s Giant slalom at the 2013 Ski World Championships in Schladming, Austria yesterday. — AFP

Majestic Ligety joins elite club with treble SCHLADMING: US ski star Ted Ligety produced two majestic runs to defend his world giant slalom title yesterday and join an elite club of skiers to have won three or more gold medals at a world championships.

Riding the thin line between risk-taking and smart tactics to perfection, Ligety laid down a solid foundation in his first run, which was a massive 1.30sec faster than Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal.

The 28-year-old American then nailed a slightly more conservative second run to clock an aggregate of 2min 28.92sec, 0.81sec ahead of Austrian Marcel Hirscher, with Italian Manfred Moelgg claiming bronze at 1.75sec.

“I’m super pumped,” beamed Ligety, already a gold medallist here in the super-G and super combined. “It’s such a cool feeling and I’m glad to have got it. “I don’t know how easy it was. It was on the limit, and I took some risks, it was dark and bumpy. “I heard the cheering in the finish area (when Hirscher briefly took the lead), but I didn’t feel pressure. I had a 1.3sec lead.”

Ligety became the first male skier in 45 years to win triple gold at one World Ski Championships. The illustrious quartet to

have won three or more golds that Ligety joined were Austrian Toni Sailer (four golds in 1956, three in 1958), French duo Jean-Claude Killy (four, 1968) and Emile Allais (three, 1937), and Norway’s Stein Eriksen (three, 1954). It was also a fourth individual gold medal to equal the absent Bode Miller’s US record, and saw the US team regain their place on top of the medals table. “If you want to call me the king of Schladming, that’s cool with me,” Ligety said.

“It’s been a crazy, unbelievable week and definitely far exceeded my expectations. To win three gold medals is awesome and it’s a really cool feeling to join some of the legends of the sport.” Ligety was a shock winner of the opening super-G and then showcased his slalom skills to claim super-combined gold, suitably filling the void felt in the US camp by the absence of the injured Lindsey Vonn.

His victory in the giant slalom, his favoured event, was not unexpected: Ligety has totally dominated the discipline on the World Cup circuit, winning four of the five giant slaloms so far this season. With Austrian hopes for a first individual gold medal resting squarely on the young shoulders of Hirscher, the 23-year-

old produced a no-holds barred quickest second run. But he was left ruing two errors on his first run that saw him start with a 1.31sec deficit on Ligety.

“It was defintiely one of toughest races I’ve ever competed in,” Hirscher said. “Yesterday I had back problems and at 2 a.m. this morning I was thinking about whether it made sense to compete.

“I was looking pretty bad today - a bad hair day! But I mobilised every energy in my body, it means a lot for me. “The whole country’s watching me, they want to see me winning.

I’ve got a silver medal, it’s perfect.”

Svindal was edged off the podium and into fourth by Moelgg, the giant Norwegian thus missing out on his bid for his own third medal of these championships following downhill gold and super-G bronze.

“I feel like the guy who came in fourth place, not ideal but that’s the way it is,” said Svindal. “I’m definitely not happy right now but I have a gold and a bronze and I was in the chase for a medal in all four races so it could’ve been better but... right now I’m disapointed but in an hour or two I’ll be over it.” — AFP

LONDON: Roberto Mancini laughed off suggestions that defeat by Leeds United in the FA Cup could cost him his job yesterday, saying 20 other Premier League managers would also have to go if Manchester City’s owners wielded the axe.

A morale-sapping 3-1 defeat at Southampton last weekend left champions City 12 points behind Manchester United in the title race and the FA Cup is now the only silverware realistically still in the club’s sights this season.

“All the people who talk about this don’t understand football,” Mancini, whose side finished bottom of their Champions League group, told reporters when asked if he was worried about getting the sack.

“If Manchester City should sack me, the other 20 teams in the Premier League should be without a manager.” Mancini led City to their first English title since 1968 last season, having won the FA Cup a year before that for the first time since 1969.

Things have not gone to plan this season, however, and defeat at home to Championship (second tier) side Leeds on Sunday would turn up the heat on the 48year-old Italian.

Mancini defended his record on Friday and even suggested that defending their Premier League title was not beyond them.

“We started our project three years ago,” he said. “In three years we are always on the top - we fight for the title, we have won three trophies, we have the chance to win more this year. “I always think we can do everything. We have 12 games, we need to do our best and not look at the table.”

Leeds manager Neil Warnock, whose side knocked out Tottenham Hotspur in the previous round, said his side were relishing the thought of upsetting the English champions.

“We will give it a go tomorrow, and when you are underdogs, you do tend to come out of your corner fighting, because you don’t want to be embarrassed,” he said. “It’s just the quality of the opposition, though. Give them an inch, and they’ll take a yard.

“We won’t go there to shut up shop.

We would lose for sure if we did that, so we may as well try and take them on and have a real go at it.” — Reuters

Sports SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Celtic seek UEFA view on Champions League referee GLASGOW: Celtic are to seek “clarification” from UEFA regarding referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco’s performance in the 3-0 Champions League defeat by Juventus, manager Neil Lennon revealed yesterday.

Lennon was scathing about the performance of the Spanish match official immediately after Tuesday’s last-16, first-leg loss at Parkead, a defeat that rendered the return leg in Turin all but redundant.

And the Hoops boss repeated those comments yesterday during what was meant to be a news conference previewing Saturday’s Scottish Premier League match at home to Dundee United.

Scottish champions Celtic were furious at the way Juventus defenders repeatedly manhandled their strikers at corners without any punishment and Lennon said yesterday the club would take up the matter with European football’s governing body.

“The referee didn’t do his job and there has been a lot of talk since Tuesday night regarding it, so we are looking for clarification on the referee’s decisions during the game,” Lennon said.

“We are going to compile a DVD and send it to them (UEFA) and wait and see what answers we do get. We needed a strong referee and we didn’t have that. “It was blatant. I have seen photographs where the shirt was almost pulled off Gary Hooper’s back and he ends up in the goal at one stage.

“I admire Gary for keeping his cool, if it had been me I might have got sent off for something I would have regretted later on.

“Gianluca Vialli (former Juventus captain) said we should have had two penalties, Graham Poll and Dermot Gallagher (former referees)...Trevor Francis said that even in his time playing in the ‘80s (in Italy) it was never

as blatant as what he saw the other night, so these guys can’t all be wrong and the referee right.”

Meanwhile, Lennon stood by his decision to play Efe Ambrose, who only returned to Glasgow early on Tuesday following Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations final win over Burkina Faso on Sunday.

Ambrose was at fault for two of Juventus’s goals and former Celtic captain Lennon said the defender had apologised to him for his performance. “On reflection, if I had the opportunity to change anything I wouldn’t, I would go with the same team,” said the Northern Irishman.

“Efe made two basic mistakes but he had the clear-cut chance of the game for us and if he had scored then no one would have been talking about his selection,” Lennon added.

“I spoke to him and he said he was ready

Bale shines for Spurs as Liverpool slump PARIS: Gareth Bale struck two magical free-kicks as Tottenham edged Lyon 21 in the Europa League last-32 Thursday, but Liverpool’s hopes were on a knife-edge after a 2-0 defeat at Zenit St Petersburg in Russia.

Bale beat Lyon keeper Remy Vercoutre with a dipping 35-yard freekick on the stroke of half-time at White Hart Lane and then repeated the preci-

utes midway through the second half turned the tide in Zenit’s favour against Liverpool on a badly churnedup pitch in the country’s former Imperial capital.

That makes the home leg at Anfield an uphill struggle, but disappointed Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers tried to put a brave face on the defeat.

“I thought we looked solid and a

ST. PETERSBURG: FC Zenit St. Petersburg’s football players Hulk (L) and Sergei Semak celebrate after scoring a goal during UEFA Europe League round of 32 football match between FC Zenit St. Petersburg and Liverpool FC in St. Petersburg on February 14, 2013. FC Zenit St. Petersburg won 2-0. —AFP sion in the third minute of injury time at the end of the first leg tie.

In between, Samuel Umtiti had buried a fierce drive past Brad Friedel in the Spurs goal to keep the French side in the tie.

“I’m delighted. I’ve been practising free-kicks and I scored one like that last week,” said Bale.

In Russia, two goals in three min-

threat going forward and could have been in the lead at half-time,” he said.

“But we gave away two poor goals tonight. We ended up losing the game when we should have won it.”

Big-money Brazilian signing Hulk put the Russians ahead in the 69th minute with a blistering shot from the edge of the area which just clipped Martin Skrtel to wrong-foot Liverpool

goalkeeper Pepe Reina.

Then on 72 minutes, Sergei Semak ghosted in behind Skrtel and Glenn Johson to arrive unmarked on the left to clinically dispatch Aleksandr Anyukov’s cross from the right past Reina. Racist taunts from some of Zenit’s more vociferous fans, which Liverpool officials had feared after recent incidents at the club, failed to materialise.

In the Czech Republic, Chelsea substitute Oscar wasted no time getting his name on the scoresheet, grabbing the only goal of a largely lacklustre game in the 82nd minute against Sparta Prague, just 45 seconds after coming off the bench.

Oscar collected a ball from Belgian midfielder Eden Hazard and fired home into the bottom corner of the net. Newcastle were held 0-0 at home

by Metalist Kharkiv in a game in which the English side’s striker Papiss Cisse had two goals chalked off for offside.

Anzhi Makhachkala beat Germany’s Hannover 3-1, despite falling behind to Szabolcs Huszti’s 22nd minute strike. Samuel Eto’o put them back on terms, the former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker tapping in a pass from Willian, and Odil Ahmedov put them ahead just after the break before Moroccan midfielder Mbark Boussoufa sealed it in the 64th minute.

Fellow Russian side Rubin Kazan defeated defending champions Atletico Madrid 2-0 in Spain.

Napoli’s players had to face the wrath of the club’s passionate fans at the end of a comprehensive 3-0 drubbing at home to Viktoria Plzen.

Once Vladimir Darida had put the Czech side ahead, Napoli were always playing catch-up and were exposed when Frantisek Rajtoral doubled the lead in the 79th minute and it only got worse as they went in search of a consolation goal and Stanislav Teci made it 3-0 a minute from time. —AFP

to play. “When you make basic mistakes like Efe did then you are open to criticism and he has apologised for his performance.

“However, he has been a fantastic signing.

He has added a new dimension to the way we play and some of his performances in the Champions League this season have been of an exceptionally high standard and so he doesn’t need to apologise, we all have bad nights.”

After the game Celtic midfielder Kris Commons specifically berated Ambrose, saying: “If he felt good then he should have put in a better performance.” “It was heat of the moment stuff,” Lennon said yesterday.

“I have spoken to Kris about it and it has been dealt with internally, and there is no bad feeling from anyone. “Kris really cares and he was disappointed but he did overstep the line a little bit. Sometimes you have to keep your emotions in check.” —AFP

Wenger eyes Champions glory LONDON: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes his side can end an eight-year trophy drought by capturing European club football’s greatest prize if they knock Bayern Munich out of the Champions League.

The Gunners face the German giants in the first leg of their last 16 clash at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, a match that follows hot on the heels of their FA Cup fifth round tie at home to Blackburn Rovers today.

Bayern lost last season’s Champions League final to Chelsea and are currently 15 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga, having not lost since October 28. They have also returned from German football’s winter break with four straight league wins.

Arsenal, by contrast, are a massive 21 points adrift of Premier League leaders Manchester United and their defence coninues to look vulnerable. However, an upbeat Wenger said Friday: “We have a big game on Tuesday against Bayern. If we get past them, then why should we not go further and win it?”

“It looks at the start that (winning) the FA Cup is more reachable than any other competition, but you don’t really know how difficult it will be.

“If you compare it to the Premier League certainly, we have more chances to do it because we are too far away in the Premier League,” added Wenger, looking to bring sileverware to Arsenal for the first time since the north London club won the FA Cup in 2005.

Meanwhile the French manager insisted the excitement generated by their upcoming Champions League tie would mean no loss of concentration for Arsenal in a match against second-tier Rovers that will take the winners into the FA Cup quarter-finals. “The FA Cup is an important target for us,” said Wenger. “We always take it very seriously, we’re on a good run and we want to continue the run,” added Wenger, whose side have closed the gap on the Premier League top four after back-to-back victories. “We are the favourites, they’re the outsiders, and have nothing to lose. “However, if you look at who is in the squad, many of their players have Premier League experience, that is why they are dangerous.” Arsenal have fitness concerns over England midfielder Jack Wilshere, who went off at Sunderland last week as a because of concerns over a thigh problem.

Wenger said: “I will not take a risk. (That is because of) the rest of the season in mind and what happened to him before.” Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen should be back from his ankle problem, but fellow defender Laurent Koscielny (calf) will be assessed.

Meanwhile Gervinho could return to Arsenal duty following the Ivory Coast forward’s time at the Africa Cup of Nations. “We will play a team who has a good chance to go through with experienced players,” said Wenger. “We only have big names in our squad, so it will be a team of big names, for sure.” —AFP

SPORTS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

City aim to avoid more misery in tricky Cup test LONDON: Manchester City defender Pablo Zabaleta insists his side are determined to avoid becoming the latest high-profile victims of the FA Cup’s giant-killing tradition when they face Leeds in the fifth round.

This season’s competition has already provided a host of memorable moments with several members of the Premier League’s elite suffering shock defeats against lower league opposition. While the Cup is now regarded by many in the Premier League as something of an inconvenience, it remains a beacon of hope for those outside the lucrative top-flight and Liverpool, Tottenham, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Norwich and QPR have all fallen prey to an uprising from the underdogs this season.

Only seven Premier League teams made it out of the fourth round last month and there are several opportunities for more upsets this weekend. English champions City look especially vulnerable as they prepare to host Championship club Leeds, winners against Tottenham in the last round, on Sunday. City’s 3-1 defeat at Southampton last weekend left Roberto Mancini’s out-ofform side 12 points behind leaders Manchester United in

the Premier League title race. Yet Zabaleta claims the spirit in the camp is still very positive. “We will learn from the Southampton defeat and use the deflated feeling we had afterwards as an inspiration to maybe try and re-discover the sort of spirit we had last season,” Zabaleta said.

“We need to stand together, battle and show what we are really capable of. We will aim and get back to winning ways in the FA Cup and that is our immediate focus now.”

Arsenal will also have to be on their guard against Championship side Blackburn. Arsene Wenger’s side have already bowed out of the League Cup against League Two side Bradford this season and, with a Champions League tie against Bayern Munich looming on Tuesday, the Gunners could be distracted. Wenger’s players would do well to heed the words of the club’s German defender Per Mertesacker, who cautioned against looking ahead to the Bayern clash.

“Bayern are doing superb this year and that is a big challenge for us,” Mertesacker said. “But we still have an important cup game today. We absolutely want to advance in the FA Cup and that is why the preparations for

Bayern are not that intense yet.” After beating Liverpool in the fourth round, League One strugglers Oldham will aim to complete a rare Merseyside giant-killing double at home to Everton. Leighton Baines, Everton’s England leftback, concedes his team can’t afford to be below par against opponents who will be fired up to claim another scalp. “We saw what a tough game they gave to Liverpool in the last round,” Baines said.

“We played them ourselves a few seasons back and they beat us, so we know what those cup ties are all about.

It’s just about getting through.”

Luton, seventh in the fifth-tier National Conference, are also looking to cause another shock after becoming the first non-league side to beat a top-flight team in the FA Cup since Sutton in 1989.

Only six other teams from outside England’s Football League have made it this far in the competition since the Second World War and the Hatters host Millwall on Saturday knowing a win over the second-tier side would make them the first non-league outfit to reach the quarterfinals in 99 years.—AFP

Matches on TV (Local Timings) Spanish League Getafe v Celta de Vigo Aljazeera Sport +9

18:00

Malaga v de Bilbao Aljazeera Sport +2 Aljazeera Sport 2 HD

20:00

Granada v Barcelona Aljazeera Sport +2 Aljazeera Sport 2 HD

22:00

Osasuna v Real Zaragoza Aljazeera Sport +8

0:00

Italian League Chievo Verona v Palermo Aljazeera Sport +1

20:00

AS Roma v Juventus Aljazeera Sport +1 Aljazeera Sport 1 HD

22:45

German League Werder Bremen v Freiburg Dubai Sports 4

17:30

Hambuger v Borussia Dubai Sports 2

17:30

Leverkusen v Augsburg Dubai Sports 1

17:30

FSV Mainz v Schalke Dubai Sports 6

17:30

Dortmund v Eintracht Dubai Sports 1

20:30

French League Marseille v Valenciennes Aljazeera Sport +4

19:00

Brest v AC Ajaccio Aljazeera Sport +9

22:00

Montpellier v Nancy Lorraine Aljazeera Sport +4

22:00

Bastia v Nice Aljazeera Sport +10

22:00

LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur’s Welsh midfielder Gareth Bale (L) vies with Lyon’s French defender Anthony Reveillere during the Europa League Round of 32 football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Lyon at White Hart Lane in London, England, on Thursday. Tottenham Hotspur won 2-1. — AFP

Barcelona wary of Granada, derby clash for Madrid MADRID: Barcelona full-back Adriano has said they won’t be taking their trip to Granada this weekend lightly, despite holding a 12-point advantage at the top of the table.

The Catalans stretched their lead with a 6-1 demolition of Getafe last weekend and the Brazilian believes it is better to maintain that kind of form heading into their Champions League tie against AC Milan next Wednesday than rest players.

“We know we have a good advantage over Atletico and Real Madrid, but we cannot forget the league,” he said. “If we take our foot off the accelerator they will be there. We cannot stop. Every game we go for it 100 percent. “We know we are entering the final straight of the Champions League, but we have an important match today,” he added, with the southern side having beaten Real Madrid and Deportivo in the last fortnight.

“It will be a difficult match, they are in very good form coming

off the back of two consecutive victories.” However, with matches against Sevilla and a Copa del Rey semi-final second-leg against Madrid to follow their trip to Italy in midweek, the 28-year-old accepts it will be a tiring spell for his side.

“The calendar is very difficult and this month it does not stop,” he said. “The truth is when there are more rest days between matches, above all the important ones, you are thankful for it.” Barca will be without David Villa on Saturday as he has been taken back into hospital with kidney stone pain, while Xavi remains on the sidelines despite returning to light training on Wednesday. Granada welcome the league leaders in the midst of their best spell of the season with three wins from four games and, following their 1-0 defeat of Madrid in their last home outing, former Barca striker Nolito believes they can spring another surprise.—AFP

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Sports

Runner’s Twitter feed is a long victory lap

42

DOHA: Maria Sharapova of Russia hits a return to Samantha Stosur of Australia during their WTA Qatar tennis Open quarter-final match yesterday in the Qatari capital Doha. — AFP

Sharapova in Qatar semi-finals Azarenka too good for Sara Errani DOHA: World number one Victoria Azarenka and third-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova moved into the Qatar Open semi-finals yesterday as Serena Williams eyed becoming the oldest woman to take the top ranking.

Azarenka moved closer to a successful title defence for the second tournament in a row when she survived a weird umpiring incident and overwhelmed Sara Errani, the French Open finalist, 6-2, 6-2. The Belarussian’s surprisingly emphatic win over the Italian means she has now dropped a mere nine games in three matches, and looks the part of the favourite even though the quarter-final line-up contained the four best players in the world. “She’s a great fighter and I’m just happy to get through to the semi-finals again here,” said Azarenka, who has established an affinity for the sea air, gentle winter sunshine and slowish hard courts in Qatar.

“I came here to practise before the Australia Open, and I shall be back here to do the same in December.”

Errani’s fighting qualities manifested themselves after she thought she had been unfairly denied a point with an over-ruled line decision in the sixth game, with the umpire oddly asking Azarenka to “help her out”. An argument of several minutes ensued with Errani contending that the incorrect “out” call had interfered with her attempt

to return the ball, and the umpire apparently unable to remember if Errani had hit the ball or not.

Errani had indeed done so, but may have been unable to return the ball in court anyway.

Australian Open champion Azarenka, however, kept quiet about what she had witnessed, and Errani worked herself up into a feverish sense of injustice. She duly held serve and continued to play

spiritedly in many long rallies, without ever being able to find weaknesses in Azarenka’s game. The top seed got 72 percent of her first serves in, enabling her to force the issue in the rallies more often, and struck 26 clean winners.

More surprisingly, Azarenka also won all of the 14 rallies where she came to the net, not normally one of her strongest areas. She may though have

Nadal cruises into q-finals SAO PAULO: Rafael Nadal beat Joao Souza 6-3, 64 on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Brazil Open, the Spanish star’s second tournament since returning from a left knee injury.

Nadal broke Souza’s service late in each set to win in 1 hour, 18 minutes at the indoor clay-court tournament in South America’s biggest city. The victory over the 140th-ranked Brazilian came a day after Nadal withdrew from the doubles tournament to preserve the sore knee that sidelined for seven months. The 11-time Grand Slam winner, the tournament champion in 2005, had a bye in the first round.”Today I felt good,” Nadal said. “It’s not perfect yet, I don’t know when I’ll be at 100 percent. It was acceptable. I’m confident that as the days and weeks go by I’ll recover what’s still

missing.” Nadal will face Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq, a 7-6 (7), 6-4 winner over eighth-seeded Albert Ramos of Spain. Nadal lost the singles and doubles final last week at the VTR Open in Vina del Mar in Chile. Earlier in the day, defending champion Nicolas Almagro of Spain beat Chilean qualifier Paul Capdeville 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2. The 11th-ranked Almagro won the last four games to stay on track for his third straight title in Sao Paulo - and fourth overall. Almagro won the tournament for the first time in 2008 and then in 2011-12. “Hopefully, I’m on my way to winning another title here,” said Almagro, who had 18 aces in a match that lasted nearly two hours. “I’ve been successful in Brazil so far and I hope it continues like this for a long time.” —AP

to contend with Sharapova, who has won the Qatar title twice and remains unbeaten in Doha after reaching the semi-finals in the other half with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Sam Stosur, the former US Open champion from Australia. It was Sharapova’s 12th win in three Doha tournaments, and after trampling her way through the first three-quarters of the match, responded well when Stosur finally found a higher gear and almost regained parity just before the end. Afterwards Sharapova explained why she, Azarenka and Williams have appeared so downbeat about the three-way struggle for the world number one ranking this week.

“Is it great to have the opportunity to come back to that position? I mean, we’d be lying if we weren’t,” she said, dispelling the impression given

by Williams that she no longer cared.

“We’re excited about having the chance. It’s pretty special. But, you know, I have been in that spot before. “The ranking is always one of those things where it also depends on the other players’ success and the amount of points and the tournaments that they play. “That’s out of control. I think that’s the reason why maybe we’re a little bit, you know, not so jumping up and down at this table here.” Later Williams, at the age of 31, was aiming to become the oldest player ever to become world number one, during her quarter-final with Petra Kvitova, the former Wimbledon champion. — AFP