21 Feb

CR IP TI ON BS SU

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

US-Kuwait trade volume hit milestone in 2012

Cameron regrets ‘shameful’ colonial Indian massacre

RABI ALTHANI 11, 1434 AH

Future science: Using 3D worlds to visualize data

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AC Milan stun Barcelona 2-0, Schalke draw at Galatasaray

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for 1-hour token strike

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6Opposition 8 activists 27 20 call Assembly approves several laws, treaties

Max 25º Min 12º High Tide 10:12 & 19:33 Low Tide 03:40 & 13:59

By B Izzak conspiracy theories

It’s not just a name

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

R

ecently the Fifth Ring Road in Kuwait was renamed after the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan AlNahyan. Sheikh Zayed died a few years ago but our Amir ordered the Fifth Ring Road to be named after him recently. Sheikh Zayed does not need my praise. He deserves anybody to remember him and to name many distinguished things after him. The man did very well during his lifespan and his rule.

He was the engine behind the union of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In fact he was the first president of the UAE, a post he held for 33 years. He has so many accomplishments that I do not have space enough to mention them all. He was very generous and did many charity projects in the Muslim and Arab world. I remember in Egypt he built a village which was named after him. He has done a lot of charity work across the Middle East he was good-hearted and played a big role in the unity of Arab and Muslim nations.

Every time I visit the Emirates, I pass through Sheikh Zayed Road. Everyone in fact has to pass there. Of course comparing Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai and the Fifth Ring Road in Kuwait is impossible. Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai is done in the most modern way.

Although it is a traffic artery, it has its own unique touch of beauty. There are many trees and greenery and islands on both sides of the road. There are many resorts on both sides of the road. They all have beautiful designs and architecture.

I am hoping and praying to God that as we name our Fifth Ring Road after him, there will be a magic touch to the Fifth Ring Road in Kuwait and it will become a bit similar to the one in Dubai. I would like to see greenery, islands and beautiful architecture on both sides of the Fifth Ring Road. I would like to see more organized traffic and better scenery.

In fact, naming things after well-known people who have contributed to the their country and the world in general is not a bad idea at all. It is some kind of appreciation for generations to come to ask and find out about these people. But to name things after ordinary people who did not contribute at all is a bit of an oversight. The name on the street is supposed to teach people something. When they read the name it should remind some of their accomplishments, whether if it was a woman or a man.

I am sure that the younger generations will be curious to know about the person a street, an area, school, university or a hospital is named after. Was he a scientist or hero who died for his country? Did humankind benefit from his discovery? A martyr who died for his country is worth remembering. It is educational for the nation the way names are given to places. It cannot be done at random to please certain people and have their names.

It is more than that. It is more than a name.

I noticed in the Arab world that places are named after unknown people who have not had any accomplishments. Just that they have the connections and were given the name. Who gives names to areas, streets or buildings anyways? If you are not going to name a place after somebody who really accomplished a lot, then at least give it a nice name with a beautiful meaning. What is wrong with naming places after heroes of our Islamic era such as Ibn Sina and Al-Razi and many others. These were men known for their justice, thinking, philosophy and many accomplishments.

Naming places to me is a serious issue. It has to be done thoughtfully. Naming places is a big responsibility.

ALEPPO: A Syrian girl cries following an explosion in this northern city yesterday. — AFP

Syria rebels warn Hezb DAMASCUS: A commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army warned yesterday that his forces would target Lebanon’s Hezbollah unless the powerful militant group stops shelling territory held by the insurgents. The ultimatum, which expires today, came after the outgunned rebel fighters shot down a regime warplane following a deadly air strike that killed 20 people in a Damascus province town.

General Selim Idriss, the FSA chief of staff, told AFP that Hezbollah had long been taking part in hostilities in Syria, but had gone too far by shelling villages near Qusayr in Homs province from the Bekaa valley in Lebanon.

“Hezbollah is abusing Lebanese sovereignty to shell Syrian territory and Free Syrian Army positions,” said Idriss. “In the past week... Hezbollah has been shelling into villages around Qusayr from Lebanese territory, and that we cannot accept.”

The commander said the rebels were giving Hezbollah a 48-hour deadline to stop the attacks and “as soon as the ultimatum ends, we will start responding to the sources of fire”. Rebels in the Qusayr area would would be backed by FSA fighters “equipped with longrange weapons from other areas,” he said. — AFP

Pistorius ‘fought’ with lover before her death PRETORIA: Witnesses heard arguing, a woman screaming and gunfire at the house of “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius the night he shot dead his model girlfriend, police told a South African court yesterday.

Pistorius’ defence team played down the reliability of the claims as the South African sporting hero sought bail for the Valentine’s Day killing that he insists was a horrible accident and not intentional, as prosecutors aim to prove. Police also said Pistorius had previously been arrested at his Pretoria home for assault, although he was not charged, and faced further charges of pos-

sessing an unlicensed gun.

A woman who lives in the same highly secured complex as Pistorius “heard talking that sounded like non-stop fighting from two to three in the morning,” hours before she was killed, Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said.

Another witness reported hearing gunshots, screams and then more shots, police said. “We have the statement of a person who said after he heard gunshots, he went to his balcony and saw the light was on.

Then he heard a female screaming twothree times, then more gunshots,” Detective Hilton Botha said. — AFP (See Page 17)

KUWAIT: Opposition youth activists called on civil servants to observe a one-hour work stoppage today as a start of the so-called civil disobedience campaign the activists plan to gradually implement to force the government to dissolve the Assembly and call for fresh polls. The activists called on their civil disobedience Twitter account on all employees to observe the strike between 11 am to 12 noon but remain in their workplaces. They added they were preparing to carry out another activity which will announce only a short while before it takes place almost at the same time.

Opposition youth activists have been discussing the possibility of intensifying their protest movement against the government to force the dissolution of the Assembly and then forge with long-awaited democratic reforms including the introduction of an elected government.

The activists have said that they will gradually upgrade their protest movement until the government accepts their demands and begins with democratic reforms.

Continued on Page 2

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

LOCAL

Cabinet ‘asked to avoid’ favoritism in appointments ‘Grilling delay came with a price’ KUWAIT: Parliament Speaker Ali Al-Rashed met two ministers prior to meeting a group of lawmakers on the eve of last Tuesday’s session which saw the National Assembly approve with a comfortable majority a government request to postpone the debate on two grilling motions.

According to sources familiar with the issue, Minister of Cabinet Affairs Mohammad AlAbdullah and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Rola Dashti conveyed the cabinet’s frustration with the repeated grilling, a message that Al-Rashid gave to the MPs he met at 8 pm on Monday.

“Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah was kept updated by ministers AlAbdullah and Dashti, who on the other hand conveyed his sentiments about non-cooperation motion being an option if the parliament continues to escalate the tensions,” said the sources

who spoke to Al-Qabas on the condition of anonymity.

The sources further indicated that the communications with the cabinet was established during the MPs’ meeting since the cabinet “wished” that the lawmakers agree to postpone the grillings to the next parliamentary term. On the other hand, the lawmakers made it clear that cooperation must be on the condition that the law will be adhered to.

“The cabinet was asked to avoid favoritism in appointing senior government officials, as well as score achievements on the ground as far as developmental projects were concerned,” the sources added. A non-cooperation motion based on which HH the Amir can dissolve the parliament was reportedly entertained as a “serious option” by the cabinet on Monday night, but the escalated situation subsided by the next day

following the session, “albeit momentarily” as the sources described. Meanwhile, the postponement of the grilling motions is a sign that the parliament sees as patriotic duty towards the Kuwaiti people, said Speaker of the National Assembly Ali Al-Rashed here yesterday.

Al-Rashed told the press after the complimentary session of parliament that the MPs’ vote on postponing the grilling motions against First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, as well as Minister of Communication and Minister of State for Housing Affairs Salem Al-Utheina, showed a solemn desire to protect the interests of Kuwait.

The grillings, said Al-Rashed, would be postponed for a period no longer than five months, noting that the dates for the motions would be decided at a later session.

KUWAIT: His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received Sheikha Fareeha Al-Sabah, chairperson of Kuwait’s Ideal Family Society and other members of the society yesterday.

News

in brief

Court reinstates EPA chief KUWAIT: Overruling an order of the lower court, the Cassation Court reinstated the Environment Public Authority Director Dr. Salah Al-Mudhhi in his position. The Appeals Court had canceled the decree issued for AlMudhhi’s appointment based on a challenge which contested the legality of the appointment procedures. The EPA chief took the case to the Cassation Court whose ruling is final, and it ruled in his favor on Tuesday. Al-Mudhhi made a brief comment to reporters outside the courtroom following the ruling, in which he indicated that the order was “in accordance with the facts” that supported his plea.

Campaign to check roadside vendors

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: As part of its focused efforts in the run up to the National Day and Liberation Day celebrations, the Kuwait municipality’s Jahra governorate branch, in coordination with public relations and security forces from Jahra, carried out a large scale campaign to check roadside vendors.

It carried out the drive in Al Mutlaa, Al Naeem, Taima, industrial area of Jahra, Kabd and Al Salmi. A large quantity of foodstuff was confiscated and 57 citations were handed out to the vendors.

Supervisor Faisal Al-Otaibi said the municipality was determined to end the practice of vendors exhibiting their goods by the roadsides in the open since food products thus sold tend to become unfit for human consumption.

Besides, this was in violation of municipality regulations.

Al-Otaibi pointed out that the campaign resulted in 57 citations being handed out. Besides, two lorry loads of foodstuff were confiscated along with a number of charcoal bags and fireworks.

He said the health and safety of the consumers topped the agenda of the municipality authorities.

He called upon everyone to stop dealing with the vendors who are not qualified to sell such food stuff and also warned that these vendors did not have any health papers to show that they were free of diseases that could be transmitted to consumers.

Naif chicken safe, edible KUWAIT: The Kuwait’s Ministry of Health announced yesterday that the chickens of Naif Poultry Company, one of the main suppliers of chicken and poultry products in the country, are safe for human consumption. In a press statement, the Ministry said that the Nutrition and Food Department at the Ministry has sent several samples for official laboratories to test the edibility of the chicken and if it is infected by bacteria or viruses. The laboratory test rests showed that they are edible and constitutes no threat to human health, the Ministry stated.

Speaker congratulates Al-Babtain KUWAIT: National Assembly Speaker Ali AlRashed sent a letter of congratulations yesterday to the Chairman of the Foundation of Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain’s Prize for Poetic Creativit y, the Kuwaiti writer and poet Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain on the occasion of being chosen by the American-Arab AntiDiscrimination Committee (ADC) as Goodwill Ambassador and Personality of the Year. In the letter, Al-Rashed expressed his heartfelt congratulations to Al-Babtain, in recognition for his role in extending the bridges of communication between different peoples with the initiative of saving the Arabic language by publishing various literar y works around the world.

Opposition activists...

Continued from Page 1 Meanwhile, former opposition MP Musallam AlBarrak said Tuesday night that the opposition is still pressing to transform Kuwait into a constitutional monarchy under which the people will elect their own government. Speaking to activists gathered in support of opposition tweeters serving jail terms, Barrak said the opposition coalition will be official launched on March 2. The coalition intends to bring all opposition groups under one umbrella to make their impact stronger. Barrak charged that Kuwait was fast becoming a big prison and that the jail terms against opposition activists are political in nature and not legal because “they want to jail people for holding steadfast to their principles”.

Former MP Khaled Al-Sultan said the people in their protests have not called for the overthrow of the regime but only for reforms and civil rights. He said the will of the people will emerge victorious at the end and “we will not allow anyone to destroy Kuwait and the lessons from Arab Spring must be learned carefully”.

The pro-government National Assembly meanwhile yesterday passed several laws including the Arab treaty for combating money laundering and terror funding. It also unanimously passed the small-scale projects law which will provide financial assistance to Kuwaitis to start their own projects. The Assembly also passed amendments to the corporate law.

A number of MPs however strongly criticized Tuesday’s assembly decision to postpone two grillings against the ministers of communications and interior until the next term starting October. MP Youssef AlZalzalah said the action means providing the government with a “declaration of innocence” because it is unprecedented to postpone a grilling indefinitely.

Speaker Ali Al-Rashed however said the debate of the two grillings will take place at the start of the next term. He said the decision was legal and based on the articles of the Assembly’s internal charter. But MP Hussein Al-Qallaf said what the speaker and other MPs have done amounts to a “betrayal”. A number of MPs also submitted a proposal calling to ban postponing any grilling for more than three months.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

LOCAL

Senior ministry official held for human trafficking Fake job openings in MSAL database KUWAIT: A senior official of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor faces legal action in connection with charges of forgery and suspected human trafficking, several local newspapers reported yesterday. The Interior Ministry’s Undersecretar y Assistant for Citizenship, Passport and Immigration Affairs, Maj Gen Abdullah Al-Rashid, reportedly issued direct orders to Immigration Investigation General Department (IIGD) personnel to refer the official in question for prosecution based on investigations which linked him to violations in which he created fake job openings in the MSAL’s database for certain companies in lieu of money.

The investigations had been ongoing ever since Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Thekra Al-Rashidi referred the files of ten companies to the IIGD after an internal probe found that the labor assessment mentioned in their files exceeded that of the companies’ actual labor needs.

The decision to prosecute the suspected companies came based on investigations which indicated that the labor department’s database was hacked to increase the labor assessment and generate fake job openings based on which work permits can be issued and then sold to expatriate laborers wishing to come to Kuwait.

According to an insider quoted by Al-Jarida yesterday, the detectives had summoned owners of the companies after confirming the preliminary investigations about their labor assessment files being suspiciously increased. The owners confessed during interrogations that they paid a senior official in the MSAL labor department who used his ability to access the database in order to increase the labor assessments in their respective files. The official reportedly collected amounts ranging between KD300 and KD1000 depending on the number of fake jobs he was asked to generate, according to the owners’ confessions. Further investigations revealed that the suspected transactions were

Thekra Al-Rashidi

Maj Gen Abdullah Al-Rashid

done using four data entry accounts and were all carried out after regular working hours. Based on the testimonies of the security guards who indicated that a senior official had often reported to his office in the labor department’s building after working hours, as well as testimonies of the four employees who indicated that their supervisor had the authority to access their accounts, the official in question was summoned as a prime suspect in the case.

Following extensive interrogations that lasted for 48 hours during which the suspect was confronted with evidence and testimonies, orders came to refer the official to the Public Prosecution to face charges after he refused to cooperate. The man, who had denied all accusations during the interrogation, refused to comment after being told that three Arab middlemen he used to collect the money from the

company owners had left the country when recent news reports came in about the labor minister’s decision to refer suspicious files for investigations.

According to the sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity, investigators discovered at least 90 more companies which were involved with the same official in forgery. The number of workers registered illegally at the ten companies that were referred to investigations was estimated by the sources at 1700. They indicated that there were “hundreds of others” registered at companies that were yet to be referred. The suspect remains in custody pending further investigations and could be charged with human trafficking. The sources also expected measures to be taken in order to address “the major flaw” in the labor department’s database system which was exposed by the recent ordeal.

KUWAIT: Ahmadi is all bright with lights in different colours days before Kuwait celebrates the National and Liberation days. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Leaders Group briefs ministry about tourism improvement KUWAIT: The Leaders Group for Consultation and Training briefed the Ministry of Commerce and Industry officials about its plans for contributing towards improving the tourism sector in Kuwait as part of the first phase of the government’s national tourism strategy.

This was the first meeting following a contract signed by the two sides for the project after the Leaders Group won the tender. “We hope that our cooperation can result in meeting people’s ambitions and utilizing Kuwait’s financial and human resources to improve the country’s tourism sector,” Leader Group’s Ms. Nabila Al-Anjari said in a press statement.

The company provided a comprehensive work plan that addressed the four main fields of the project, namely studying, training, generating awareness and providing consultation. The plan reportedly includes assigning a specialized expert to come up with the basic concepts of tourism based on which a touristic identity for Kuwait can be established. It also includes a marketing strategy combined with a framework for touristic planning.

The ministr y ’s team was led by Undersecretary Abdul-Aziz Al-Khaldi, and included other senior officials including Acting Undersecretar y Assistant for Tourism Affairs, Fawaz Al-Shallal.

Kuwaiti athlete to climb up Al-Tahrir Tower

Fire exercises in Khaitan

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: The fire department, in cooperation with the UN building at Khaitan and Civil Defence, carried out a drill to evacuate the building early this month. After a report about the mock fire that broke out in the building, it was evacuated as per a plan prepared to deal with any accident in the premises which houses a large number of employees.

Several such plans for training purposes are an integral part of the training programs and medical emergency drills, carried out in cooperation with the ministry’s

organizations. The key concern in such hypothetical accidents is to stick to the exact drill to enhance the efficiency of the employees and train the people for quick evacuation.General Director of fire department, Lt. General Yousuf Al-Ansari, inspected the operations yesterday morning in a round that covered different departments of construction administration and maintenance. The leading figures had a cordial chat with administration personnel and considered the requirements of the centers. AlAnsari talked about the administration’s strategy to provide suitable working conditions.

KFAED organizes tour for Kuwaiti students to Sri Lanka attractions KANDY: Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KAFED) has organized a recreational tour for Kuwaiti students of excellent records to the Sri Lankan tourist city of Kandy, which is also distinguished with some of the country’s major industries.

The high-mark female students, taking part in KFAED’s special educational-entertainment program, “Be Excellent,” started their exploration adventure with a visit to Pinnawala Elephants’ Orphanage, which is an orphanage, nursery and captive breeding ground for wild Asian elephants located at Pinnawala village,

13 km northwest of Kegalle town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka.

Pinnawalla is notable for having the largest herd of captive elephants in the world. In 2011, there were 88 elephants, including 37 males and 51 females from 3 generations, living in Pinnawala. The orphanage was originally founded in order to afford care and protection to many of the orphaned unweaned wild elephants found wandering in and near the forests of Sri Lanka. It was established in 1975 by the Sri Lanka Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC).

The students proceeded to a park displaying some of the country’s most famous spices and herbs. They also visited a tea factory. Sri Lanka is fourth among the world’s top producers of high-quality teas.

Tea plants are grown on 400,000 hectares of land. Up to 300,000 persons work in the tea industry. Tea secures 12 percent, some $700 million per year, of the country’s gross domestic product.

The students are due to explore other attractions of the Asian nation in the coming days. — KUNA

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti athlete Ali Al-Edan continues preparations to climb up Al-Tahrir Tower in Kuwait on Feb 26, in memory of His Highness late Father Amir Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah.

Al-Edan said, as part of his annual activities and in celebration of the National Days of Kuwait, he would climb up the stairs of Al-Tahrir Tower in memory of Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah who devoted his time and efforts in serving his country. This event will be held under auspices of Sheikha Fadya Saad Al-Abadullah, he added. “My choice of climbing Al-Tahrir Tower was for being the second highest tower in the Middle East, and the fifth worldwide,” he said.

Climbing sky-high towers in Kuwait and abroad is an action aimed to spread awareness of healthy lifestyle and manifesting

importance of practicing sports, he affirmed. A total of 750,000 of Kuwaitis are suffering from obesity, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Health, Al-Edan said. Obesity is considered as one of the most dangerous diseases regarding its negative effects on one’s health, and on the performance of the vital organs of the body, he stated.

Al-Edan is planning to ascend Cairo Tower on Feb 29, in memory of late Sheikh Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah who served his country, the Arab and Islamic nations, especially in the sports field. This event will be patronized by President of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.

Al-Edan, aged 54, expressed his hope that this sports effort would serve humanitarian and sports causes. — KUNA

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

LOCAL kuwait digest

In my view

Give support to women groups

Stop school bullying

By Ahmad Al-Sarraf

T

By Labeed Abdal

labeed@kuwaittimes.net

B

ullying has been historically a part of schools and students have often found themselves reluctant to complain while teachers have equally been reluctant to admit its existence.

However, it is time the menace is brought to an end instead of being allowed to continue like some sexually transmitted disease with the parents of the bullies breeding more bullies and those of the victims just standing there mutely and helplessly, watching the perpetrators.

No doubt bullying is a form of abuse that includes harassment and assault and could be traced to many sorts of imbalances like perceived superior physical or social ability, race, gender or religion etc.

Comprehensive steps need to be taken on all fronts to stem the rot since there are many interrelated issues involved, like legal, young generation educators, responsible school administrations and psychologists.

A national campaign needs to be launched to save the potential victims, extend any help that they might require and warn any bullies and their families about the consequences.

There must be prevention strategies in place and the campaign must not allow any child to become a future adult criminal.

There has to be put in place a system for reporting such a crime and also filing feedback. Teenagers can be encouraged to report via email or hotline numbers mobile or landlines in order to stop the crime as early as possible.

Also the teachers and schools directors must be realistic and keep a hawk’s eye to check any mischief. An added dose of precaution would help save tens of students from physical and psychological damage that could ruin their lives because someone chose to be an irresponsible bully or advanced monitoring and security systems were not in place.

The school owners must not flinch from spending a little bit of additional money as this is an area that we can ignore only at our own peril.

kuwait digest

Arrest of Iran intellectual

By Jaafar Rajab

D

o Tehran’s prisons now so desperately in need of prisoners to be stuffed into them that the state has to throw behind bars an intellectual of the stature of Ahmed Al-Gubbanchi? Of course, that situation seems to have arisen, and I am sure the Evin Prison will continue to welcome new inmates who perhaps the authorities are now trying to educate since jail is the only school where suppressive regimes tend to teach people.

Ahmed Al-Gubbanchi is a man who speaks with honesty about everything he believes in. Sometimes we agree with him, and at others, we do not. But never did he carry a weapon to kill or instigated people to kill, blow things up or blow themselves up. He never spread myths which could push people to perdition, nor did he drive youngsters towards their own death so that he can enjoy the luxury of life. He never stole in the name of religion, nor was he hypocritical when arguing with people about his ideas.

On the other hand we have ‘repressive’ people who used religion to gain control by adopting a hypocritical approach and resorting to punishment and suppression as the only ways by which respond to those who disagree with them.

The most dangerous thing for any ‘repressive’ people is the word “why”. For them, it is a sinful word which can doom anyone uttering it to eternal Hell. For them, it was ‘why’ which triggered God’s damnation of Satan, forced

Adam and Eve out of Heaven, and pushed people out of faith and into blasphemy. They make sure at the same time not to tell the people that the Prophets were the first to use the word ‘why’ and that without it both, the Prophets and their messages, would have never been.

The ‘repressive’ people use suppression not because they care about religion or want to defend it, but because by itself religion could never sanction killings and suppression. Religion was never about drawn swords, severed heads or overcrowded prisons. They adopt this approach to defend their positions and influence, as well as to accumulate wealth by spreading stupidity in the name of religion.

The ‘repressive’ people are not intimidated by a terrorist wearing an explosive belt, a car bomb or armed militias. Those kinds of things can be overpowered with weapons. But what frightens them is the pen, the idea and the intellectual person because they know that the bullet of reason once fired cannot be reverted, nor can anything stand in its way as it pierces through the boundaries of time and place and destroys the very foundations of their make-believe ideas.

Al-Gubbanchi is a man of his ideas who tried to make people think for themselves, because the thought processes have been covered by a thick patina of years of myths and superstitions. No wonder, someone like him gets arrested in Tehran.—Al-Rai

here is a French proverb which roughly translates as “If you want to know how developed a country is, start with the state of its women.” Going by the state of women in many countries around us, the proverb seems indeed very accurate. Just look at the situation of Muslim women in countries like Egypt, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tunisia, Libya, and recently in Mali where women were seen crying in the streets from joy after the French freed their country from the extremists’ hold. There is no doubt that education levels have increased among women in these countries but had suffered setback in the past thirty years due to patriarchal influence.

Kuwait takes pride in the fact that it is probably the only Arab country which has a law that forces shareholding companies to allocate a percentage of their profits to be donated to the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences. Established in 1976, the KFAS’s goal is to support development in the field of science and technology by funding research and using rewards as a means to encourage it. It also backs seminars, book publishing and efforts aimed at raising scientific awareness.

But after nearly four decades of its establishment, we find that the amount of money spent on these activities is little compared to what KFAS earns from shareholding companies annually. As a result, the recent decision to slash the percentage of allocation to half was hardly any surprise. In the meantime, I believe this should encourage the KFAS to look for new methods to utilize the huge funds on their hands, something that can be achieved now that there is a new management in place.

Kuwait is ranked among the underdeveloped countries in the world, the reason why the KFAS was set up in the first place. The reasons behind this ranking are well-known, and a majority of these accumulated over the years. In my opinion, these reasons mostly have to do with the primary source of development, the women. Women are from where all humans come, are raised receive knowledge and guidance. If they are underdeveloped in their ideologies and management, the results would be no different regardless of how much the surrounding environment is improved.

The mother, the sister, the wife are crucial to the development of any country. Without the development of women, we cannot achieve development in any field regardless of how many millions are spent. Therefore, I hope the KFAS’ board would allocate part of its budget to support women groups which are active in improving the level of women’s education, awareness and living standards. We can spend millions on research studies, conferences and books but all that will go in vain if we fail to ameliorate the conditions in which our women live. I hope no one replies to my column or pretends otherwise or claims that women are not subjected to any injustice and discrimination in our societies.— Al-Qabas

LOCAL

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Kuwaiti stabbed to death in Nugra apartment

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Security sources revealed that a Kuwaiti man was killed in his apartment in Nugra. The deceased was stabbed with a knife after a dispute started between him and his bedouin wife in their apartment in Nugra.

Road accidents The Kuwait army announced yesterday that one of its personnel was killed and another was wounded in a car accident, after the vehicles they were riding collided and turned upside down at Al Iddairie road. The army’s public relations department said the accident happened Tuesday afternoon, and the injured soldier was taken to a hospital for treatment.

The son of a well-known media executive died early morning Tuesday after his car met with an accident and turned upside down. Other people were injured, too, and taken to a hospital for treatment. The deceased is 18 years old.

A car accident at the King Fahad Road opposite Mina Abdullah left a 37-yearold Kuwaiti woman with fractures in her right shoulder and right elbow while a 41-year-old Indian woman complained of back pain as a result of the same accident. Both were taken to the Adan

Hospital. Six people were injured in a car accident, with four of them fracturing a limb, when a car met with an accident at the main traffic light at Doha. Two Egyptians, aged 28 and 31, fractured a left arm and a left leg, respectively, while two Syrians, both 18 years of age, ended up with a fractured leg. A 32-year-old Indian national and a 25-year-old Egyptian national complained of pain in the back as a result of the accident. Five ambulances were rushed to the site along with 10 technicians, and casualties were referred to the Sabah Hospital.

A car accident at Fahaheel Expressway opposite the Hadi Hospital resulted in a head injury and a fracture in the right leg for a 31-year-old Pakistani. He was taken to the Mubarak Hospital and admitted to its intensive care unit.

A 17-year-old Kuwaiti man suffered a head injury in a car accident at Jahra opposite the police station. A 15-yearold Kuwaiti youth suffered some facial injuries in the accident. Both were taken to the Jahra Hospital.

Jleeb scuffle A 40-year-old Indian expat suffered a head injur y in a scuffle at Jleeb Al Shoyoukh opposite the health clinic. He was taken to the Farwaniya Hospital.

Maid sexually assaulted in desert KUWAIT: An Ethiopian maid accused an unknown person of kidnapping her from the front of her sponsor’s house. She said he had taken her to the Ahmadi desert and raped her, claiming he was a detective. The maid sought help from the owner of a spring camp in the area, who took her to Riqqa police station to report her case.

Drug dealer A convicted drug dealer serving a 20year sentence escaped using a police officer’s car after he was sent to a medical facility on Tuesday morning, local media reported yesterday. The convict was taken to the Chest Hospital in the Sabah Medical Zone at dawn from where he reportedly escaped around 4:00 am when two officers assigned to guard him were asleep. He snatched the keys of one of the officers and drove away in his civil car. Four search teams were assigned to track down the suspect whose name and picture were circulated at all border outlets. Meanwhile, the two officers were detained to face disciplinary procedures.

Investigations were underway to determine whether the prisoner had any help in escaping.

Drug possession Two addicts were arrested at the Chalet Road south of the country for possessing heroin. The two were arrested when the police ordered a male driver

accompanied by a woman to pull over for swerving while driving. They arrested the couple after finding out that they were under the influence and found two envelopes containing heroin from the car. Both were referred to the proper authorities to face charges. (Rai) Meanwhile, two men were arrested in Sulaibiya for possessing 60 drug tablets.

The two were pulled over near the industrial zone in the area, and their car was searched when they betrayed signs of nervousness. They were arrested and taken to the Drug Control General Department for further action.

School theft A thief climbed his way inside a private school in Sabah Al-Salem at night recently and stole KD400 in cash and five cell phones stored in a safe. Crime scene investigators lifted fingerprints from the scene. A case was filed.

Tourist mugged Search is on for three suspects who robbed a pedestrian in Salmiya recently.

Local police filed a case after a British man reported that he was attacked by three people who escaped after robbing him of his credit card, passport, tourist visa and KD1000 in cash. The plaintiff provided descriptions and the license plate number of the suspects’ car which police are using to identify the suspects.

Kuwait donates $2million to UNICEF for Syrian children GENEVA: The Envoy of the UN Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Chairman of the International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO) Dr. Abdullah Al-Maatouq urged here yesterday donor countries on the need to speed up transfer funds pledged at the international conference for Syria, which was held in Kuwait last January.

“The Syrians are going through hell, and their tragedy requires all of us to redouble efforts in order to support them in their ordeal,” Al-Maatouq, also Amiri Diwan Advisor in the State of Kuwait, said after the seventh meeting of the Syria Humanitarian Forum, which concluded Tuesday evening. “ The member states praised the donor conference, held in Kuwait, and the role of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in the success of this initiative,” he added.

Meanwhile, Permanent Mission of the State of Kuwait to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Dhirar Al-Razouqi said here Wednesday that Kuwait’s contribution with $2 million to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNISEF) comes in support of its vast humanitarian activities. “The meeting with the UNICEF’s

Deputy Executive Director, Yoka Brandt, during the delivery of the grant, addressed the role of UNICEF in dealing with the crisis of the Syrian children,” he told KUNA. The organization has a long history in dealing with such cases, especially the rehabilitation of children of humanitarian disasters as it supports the Syrian children refugees in the neighboring countries, he noted.

The discussion with Brandt also addressed making sure that the aid reaches the displaced Syrian children inside and outside of Syria, the UN Envoy added.

The Ambassador noted that this aid was planned prior to what was announced at the donors’ conference hosted in Kuwait in January.

For her part, Brandt hailed Kuwait’s donation, stating that “whoever follows up with the Syrian children’s crisis, discovers that more than two million children are victims of violence inside and outside of Syria.”

She explained that the Syrian children are facing several problems, such as lack of health care and education and water shortage, therefore, “every step taken to help them is necessary”. — KUNA

Health minister in Germany to follow up on cooperation KUWAIT: Minister of Health Dr Mohammad Barrak Al-Haifi is currently on an official visit to Germany to inspect the national health bureau and follow up on execution of cooperation agreements with German hospitals and universities, the Ministry of Health said in a statement yesterday.

Dr Al-Haifi’s visit to Germany is aimed at cementing cooperation between the ministry and German hospitals and medical centers, particularly regarding dispatch of Kuwaiti patients to the European nation for treatment, hosting German

doctors and specialists by the Gulf state and holding cooperation workshops.

The minister flew to Germany, late on Tuesday, on an official visit, due to be followed with an identical mission in the United Kingdom.

He is scheduled, during the visit to Germany, to sign cooperation agreements with the country’s major hospitals and health institutions.

In the UK, he will embark on similar activities and follow up on accords regarding health insurance for Kuwaiti students. —KUNA

KUWAIT: The Shaab Sea Club and Ras Al-Ardh Sea Club held a picnic for members and their families at the Jlai’fh desert this past Friday, which featured competitions and various other activities.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

LOCAL

US-Kuwait trade volume reached a milestone in 2012 ABCK celebrates 28th anniversary

Kuwait Times Editor-in-Chief Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan (third left) with ABCK members.

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: The two-way volume of trade between the United States and Kuwait reached a milestone in 2012, says US envoy to Kuwait. Speaking at the 28th anniversary gala of the American Business Council Kuwait (ABCK) held at the Radisson Blu, AlHashemi II Ballroom, the US Ambassador to Kuwait, Matthew Tueller, said the trade volumes surged by 49 percent from $10.5 billion in 2011 to $15.7 billion in 2012. “The growth in trade and investment between the two countries continued over a positive trajectory throughout the last year which contributed to the Kuwait’s five percent annual GDP growth. Kuwait is now the 5th largest US export market in the Arab World.

The US maintained its position as Kuwait’s top supplier of goods,” he said.

“In the US, we notified the Congress of foreign military sales contract worth $4 bil-

lion,” he mentioned. On the services front, Kuwaitis demonstrated their growing respect and demand for US higher education, he said, adding around 1,850 new Kuwait scholarships were provided by the Kuwaiti government to study in the US. There was also surging demand in health care and travel. The Embassy, according to ambassador Tueller, also processed nearly 40,000 visa cases last year, the largest volume ever in a decade.

“All these numbers signal positive trends and developments in our enduring bilateral economic relationship. I want to commend the ABCK for its ongoing contributions towards nurturing this relationship. “All of us - the American Business Council, companies, universities, NGOs, and the US Embassy - have unique but mutually reinforcing roles to play in this endeavor,” he said. “The ABCK has played an important role in strengthening the U.S.-Kuwait com-

(From left) ABCK Chairman Gregg Stevens, Kuwait Times Editor-in-Chief Abd Al-Rahman AlAlyan and US ambassador to Kuwait Matthew Tueller are seen at the ABCK function held on Tuesday evening.

mercial relationship. My team and I are committed to supporting US companies and their business goals in Kuwait,” he added.

He said both sides always aspired for transparent, open, free and fair business environment. The US continued to be the source for the Direct Foreign Investment in Kuwait including management expertise.

The envoy also mentioned that the two countries would continue to work hard in the domain of Intellectual Property Rights.

“IPR protection is significant for both the US and Kuwait for the growth of domestic industries,” The envoy said.

Tueller also spoke about his country’s unwavering support for the Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects as these empower people and create jobs and opportunities for many and the next generation. In his opening remarks, ABCK Chairman Gregg Stevens welcomed the visitors, among others, from Kuwait National Assembly, includ-

ing Safa Al-Hashem, Ministry of Commerce Undersecretary Dr Mansour Al-Sayed and from the Ministry of Interior, Lt. Comm.

Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah, apart from the US embassy employees.

He stressed the importance of greater cooperation between the US embassy and ABCK and the chambers of commerce and industry of both countries. As Kuwait prepares for the upcoming celebration of Kuwait’s National Day and Liberation Day, Stevens also extended his wishes to its people for both these great occasions.

“During the 28 years of ABCK, we had the pleasure of meeting and working with great deal of people from various government and non-governmental agencies, the Embassy, the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the US Chamber of Commerce,” he said. Muna Al-Fuzai, ABCK Executive Director, also thanked the sponsors, special guest and visitors for gracing

the 28th Gala anniversary celebrations. “For many years, the US and Kuwait have been close friends and allies as trade between our nations survived and continuously progressed. ABCK’s role has been vital, and as the council, we remain committed to our mission in promoting services and products,” she said.

The American Business Council of Kuwait is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and development of American business and American business interests in the State of Kuwait. ABCK strives to promote better awareness of American businesses, products, and services in Kuwait. ABCK provides a forum for American business and business interests, and advocates the enhancement of the business climate within the State of Kuwait. ABCK seeks to proactively promote an understanding of the challenges and issues facing American business interests operating abroad.

(From left) Narjis Al-Shatti, Al-Fuzai, Jassem Qabazard, Salah AlAwadi and Beverly attended the function.

(From left) Ernie Alexander, Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah, Al-Obaid and Stevens.

US ambassador Tueller addressing the occasion.

Farris Al-Obeid, Dr Adel Al-Ogayan, and Gregg Stevens with other ABCK members.

Yousef Mahdi, Saud Al-Asfor and Abdulaziz Al-Anjari.

Stevens presenting ABCK Board members.

A partial view of the audience during the national anthems.

Kuwait Times booth at the exhibition.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

LOCAL

United efforts lead to excellent results

By Muna Al-Fuzai Executive Director American Business Council Kuwait -ABC K

D

ear ABC-K General Membership and Board of Directors, As I begin to write this letter on the occasion of the ABC-K Gala 2013, I find myself thinking of the times when I first joined the American Business Council as its Executive Director in early 2008.

I clearly recall sharing the vision of the Executive Officers of the ABC-K Board of Directors back then.

Their main focus was to stem the decline in the membership of the organization and to transform it from being just a social organization back then into a business oriented council and to adhere as closely as possible to the mission set forth in the ABC-K Charter. We set out with the objective of realigning the efforts of the Board of Directors and the office staff to develop and encourage greater participation of the American and Kuwaiti corporate and professional entities. We were convinced then and remained convinced that our membership would derive significant benefits from the networking opportunities and financial support that would be available to the ABC-K, thanks to greater corporate

member participation. Many of the efforts undertaken today by your Council are directly attributable to the realization in 2008 that we should increase corporate and business participation in the Council to the fullest extent possible.

Consequently, I received a mandate from the Board of Directors in 2008 to increase the corporate membership and to change the general character of the organization into a professional business organization. I am pleased to report to the members that our results so far have been excellent. I am grateful to the Board of Directors for its tireless support, and the assistance of our staff, especially Meera Ibrahim. I want to recognize Gaelyn Anderson and Lori Beverly for the time and effort they have given to us this past year and to the many members who have helped in so many ways with all our activities.

I know I speak for the entire Board of Directors in expressing my gratitude and appreciation for the kind and generous assistance we receive from the Honorable United States Ambassador Matthew H. Tueller and Dao M. Le, the Senior Commercial officer of the United States Embassy in Kuwait, and his staff.

Our Members should also be aware that the

American Business Council of Kuwait is now a member in good standing of the American Chamber of Commerce and I will be updating you periodically on joint events we plan to host with the American Chamber of Commerce.

Hopefully you would have noticed and participated in the many programs we have implemented to add tangible value to our members such as Focus Groups in the Energy, Defense, Education, Banking, Financial, Legal and Health Care Sectors.

Last year we held several important seminars, and hosted wonderful and well informed speakers on important topics. This year we will add an executive roundtable discussion and I will circulate details about it in the upcoming weeks.

It is a privilege for me to be a part of the American Business Council as its Executive Director and I remain passionate about the mission and the importance of the relationship between the United States of America and the State of Kuwait. Our work at the American Business Council has never been more important.

I look forward to speaking with as many members as possible in the days ahead and listening to your ideas on how we can continue to constantly improve our organization.

Al-Fuzai thanking sponsors

(From left) Dr John Hayes, Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan and Mrs Hayes pictured at the event.

Ambassador Tueller, MP Safa Al-Hashem and ABCK members and guests.

(From left) Muna Al-Fuzai, Sulaiman Al-Shaheen, Amer Al-Tamimi and MP Safa Al-Hashem

Lorry and Scott Beverly (right) with ABCK members. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat A partial view of the audience during the event.

Meera Ibrahim, Dr Juliet and staff of Kaizen Center

Ambassador Tueller with KGL staff.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Bulgarian govt quits after days of protests

Anger, scuffles as Pakistan Shiites bury 89

Page 10

Page 11

AMRITSAR: British Prime Minister David Cameron lays a wreath in tribute to the Jallianwala Bagh martyrs at the Jallianwala Bagh memorial yesterday.—AFP

Cameron regrets India colonial massacre British PM makes historic visit to Amritsar, stops short of apology AMRITSAR, India: British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the site of a colonial-era massacre in India yesterday, describing the episode as “deeply shameful” while stopping short of a public apology. On the last leg of a three-day trip aimed at forging deeper economic ties, Cameron took the bold decision to visit the city of Amritsar and tackle an enduring scar of British rule over the subcontinent, which ended in 1947. Dressed in a dark suit and bowing his head, he laid a wreath at the memorial to the victims at Jallianwala Bagh where British troops opened fire on thousands of unarmed protesters in 1919.

In a message in the visitors’ book, he wrote: “This was a deeply shameful event in British history and one that Winston Churchill rightly declared at

the time as ‘monstrous’. “We must never forget what happened here.

And in remembering we must ensure that the United Kingdom stands up for the right of peaceful protest around the world.” He later defended his decision not to say sorry, explaining that it happened 40 years before he was born and “I don’t think the right thing is to reach back into history and to seek out things you can apologise for”. “I think the right thing is to acknowledge what happened, to recall what happened, to show respect and understanding for what happened,” The Guardian newspaper quoted him as saying.

The number of casualties at the Jallianwala Bagh garden is unclear, with colonial-era records showing about 400 deaths while Indian figures

put the number killed at closer to 1,000. S K Mukherjee, the secretary of the Jallianwala Bagh memorial trust, spent half an hour guiding the British leader around the site, showing him a well into which 120 people jumped to their deaths as well as bullet holes in the walls. Mukherjee said Cameron had struggled for words but had told him he was “regretful and this should not happen ever again” as he left the memorial which has 20,000 visitors a day.

The incident saw soldiers under General Reginald Dyer’s command open fire on men, women and children in the enclosed area in one of the most infamous episodes of Britain’s colonial rule that helped spur the independence movement. But the move to visit the site is seen as a

gamble by Cameron, who is travelling with British-Indian parliamentarians, and could lead to calls for similar treatment from other former colonies or even other victims in India. It immediately invited a debate about why Cameron was opening up wounds from the past - and was stopping short of saying sorry - during a visit designed to stress the future of Indo-British ties.

Cameron said Monday in Mumbai that he wanted Britain to be India’s “partner of choice”, stressing their shared history, democratic values and the 1.5 million Britons of Indian origin as a foundation for a deeper alliance.

“Writing a note in the visitors’ diary is a half-hearted approach. He should have met us to say sorry,” Bhusan Behl, who heads a trust for the fami-

Tunisia seeks new premier TUNIS: Tunisian leaders began the search for a new prime minister yesterday to try to lead the North African nation out of its gravest political crisis since an uprising that inspired a wave of Arab revolts two years ago.

Rached Ghannouchi, the powerful head of the main Islamist Ennahda party, said the group had not named anyone to replace Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, who resigned on Tuesday, but that he expected a new government to emerge this week. “We need a coalition government with several political parties and technocrats,” Ghannouchi told reporters after talks with secular President Moncef Marzouki.

Jebali quit after his plan for an apolitical technocrat cabinet to prepare for elections failed. He had proposed it after the assassination of opposition leader Chokri Belaid on Feb. 6 shocked Tunisia and widened Islamist-secular rifts.

Eventually it was Jebali’s own Ennahda party that scuppered the idea, extending a political impasse that has cast a shadow over the Nor th African state’s fledgling democracy and ailing economy.

“The crisis deepens,” ran the headline in the independent Assarih newspaper, which said Ennahda’s efforts to keep its cabinet posts and the collapse of Jebali’s initiative had “returned the country to square one”.

Tunisia began a transition to

democracy after the peaceful overthrow of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in Jan 2011, electing a National Constituent Assembly to write a new constitution, and then forging a deal under which the moderate Ennahda agreed to share power with its secular rivals. But disputes have delayed the constitution and the failure to tackle unemployment and poverty in a country that relies on tourism has dismayed many Tunisians and led to frequent unrest. Negotiations on a $1.78 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund cannot be concluded amid the latest uncertainty. “Once a new government is named, we will enquire about its intentions/mandate,” an IMF spokeswoman, Wafa Amr, told Reuters in an email. “Once the political situation is clarified, we’ll assess how best to help Tunisia.”

Standard and Poor’s lowered its long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit rating on Tunisia on Tuesday, citing “a risk that the political situation could deteriorate further amid a worsening fiscal, external and economic outlook”. Marina Ottaway, senior scholar at the Wilson Center ’s Middle East Program in Washington, said the economic woes of countries like Tunisia and Egypt could not be solved in the short run. “There will remain unfulfilled expectations and a lot of economic hardship, but the major

TUNIS: Ennahdha Islamist party leader Rached Ghannouchi meets Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki (right) yesterday at the Carthage palace. —AFP cause of instability now is a strug- the biggest party in the assembly, gle for power between Islamists rejected it, fearing it would be and secularists.” sidelined from power. Jebali, who No one claimed responsibility has been in office for 15 months, for Belaid’s assassination, the first may be asked to carry on as carein Tunisia since 1952, but it deep- taker premier. Ghannouchi has said ened the misgivings of secularists he wants Jebali to head a new who accused the government of coalition, but the outgoing leader failing to rein in the sometimes vio- said on Tuesday he would need lent activities of Islamist hardliners. assurances first on the timing of Three days of unrest followed the elections and a new constitution. killing, straining the Islamist-secu- “Jebali will probably refuse to head lar coalition government and a new government as Ennahda prompting Jebali to propose a wants,” said political analyst non-partisan cabinet to avert fur- Youssef Ouslati. “If Ennahda does ther strife. Secular parties mostly not open up more, it will be very supported his idea, but Ennahda, isolated.” —Reuters

lies of Jallianwala Bagh victims, told AFP. He has campaigned for decades on behalf of his grandfather who was killed in the shooting, which was immortalised in Richard Attenborough’s film “Gandhi” and features in Salman Rushdie’s epic book “Midnight’s Children”.

Cameron is the first serving British prime minister to visit the site, diplomatic sources said, but not the first senior British public figure. In 1997 the Queen laid a wreath at a site during a tour of India. But her gaffeprone husband Prince Philip stole the headlines by reportedly saying that the Indian estimates for the death count were “vastly exaggerated”.

Daljit Kaur, a 29-year-old British citizen of Indian origin, praised Cameron, who has visited India twice

and made building an alliance with New Delhi a foreign policy priority since his election in 2010. “I am proud that a British prime minister has admitted the blunders committed by former leaders and has invested his energy to understand Indian culture,” she said.

Earlier in the day Cameron visited the Golden Temple, the most revered place for the Sikh religion, where he walked around bare foot and was photographed wearing a b l u e c l o t h cove r i n g h i s h e a d.

Cameron has made several official apologies since becoming prime minister, saying sorry for the official handling of a football disaster at Hillsborough stadium in 1989 and 1972 killings in Northern Ireland known as “Bloody Sunday”. —AFP

Top US general retires, won’t take up NATO job WASHINGTON: US General John Allen, who just wrapped up a tour as commander in Afghanistan, said Tuesday he will retire instead of accepting the top job at NATO, citing his wife’s health problems. Allen’s departure comes weeks after a Pentagon investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing in a drama over emails to a Florida socialite, and he told the Washington Post the highly-publicized case did not influence his decision. Speculation had been rife for weeks that Allen, who led the war effort in Afghanistan for 19 months, would not take up Obama’s offer to serve as NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe due to the fallout from the email episode.

“Today, I met with General John Allen and accepted his request to retire from the military so that he can address health issues within his family,” Obama said in a written statement. Obama praised the Marine Corps general for presiding over “significant growth” in Afghanistan’s security forces and a “further degradation” of AlQaeda. In Brussels, a NATO spokesperson said the alliance fully respected the general’s decision. “As the longest serving commander of ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) he has shown great leadership,” the spokesperson said.

In a statement, the 59-year-old Allen said his decision to retire after 38 years in uniform was the “only choice” due to his wife’s illness. “The reasons for my decision are personal. I did not come to it lightly or quickly, but given the considerations behind it, I recognized in the end it was the only choice I could make,” he said. “While I

John Allen won’t go into the details, my primary concern is for the health of my wife, who has sacrificed so much for so long.” The fourstar general said his family had stood by him throughout his career and now it was his turn “to be there for them when they need me most”.

Allen told the Washington Post in an interview published Tuesday he wanted to focus on helping his wife, Kathy, who has chronic health problems, including autoimmune disorder. “Right now, I’ve just got to get her well,” Allen said. “It’s time to take care of my family.” He said his decision was not related to the episode over his email exchanges with the Florida socialite, Jill Kelley. The Pentagon inspector general investigated the correspondence but concluded Allen had not violated rules on conduct “unbecoming of an officer,” including adultery.—AFP

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

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

Azadi Tower, witness to history, victim of neglect DUBAI: Within days of the 2009 election that returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to office, demonstrations engulfed Tehran and other Iranian cities, centred on the capital’s sprawling Azadi Square. The unrest’s defining moment took place on June 15 around the square’s white marble monument, where photographer Hasan Sarbakhshian found himself in the early evening after walking street by street through western Tehran feeling a heady mix of hope, excitement and worry.

His press card revoked by authorities weeks earlier, Sarbakhshian used a simple digital camera to record the hundreds of thousands of people gathered in silence below the monument, accessory and observer to four decades of tumultuous political history. “As a photographer I saw Azadi Tower as a character in my pictures,” said Sarbakhshian, who also photographed pro-government rallies there and now lives in the United States. “It’s a witness, a third eye.”

But the tower, having stood through

Iran’s explosive revolution in 1979 and an eight-year-long war with Iraq in the 1980s, is now falling victim to neglect and shoddy repairs, and suffers from extensive internal water damage. “Azadi Tower is exposed to humidity, and still no one has paid any attention,” Seyyed Mohammad Beheshti, an architect and former cultural heritage official, told the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) recently. “The past disregard of this valuable building must be rectified.”

Completed in 1971, the tower is shaped in the form of an inverted letter Y and features a design influenced by both pre-and post-Islamic architecture. Iranian news organisations have published pictures of cracked stones, water dripping from ceilings and peeling walls. ISNA quoted an unnamed expert as saying repairs in 2010 to the tower and the museum complex below were to blame.

“Two years ago the municipality rebuilt (Azadi), and drainage systems in different sections of the complex were destroyed,” the expert told ISNA in December. “Now,

Mortars hit Syria stadium, player killed DAMASCUS: Two mortars exploded next to a football stadium in central Damascus yesterday, killing one player and injuring several, Syria’s state-run news agency said. The mortar attack was the second in as many days in the capital. On Tuesday, two mortars exploded near one of President Bashar Al-Assad’s palaces, causing material damage only. But it was the first confirmed strike close to a presidential palace and another sign that the civil war is moving closer to the heart of Assad’s seat of power and into areas of the capital once considered safe.

SANA news agency said the mortars landed yesterday in a complex housing the Tishrin Stadium and a hotel next to it in the central Baramkeh district. Some players were practicing in the stadium at the time. It said the player killed was from the Homs-based Al-Wathbah club. He was wounded inside the hotel as some players were getting ready to go out and join the practice and died later at the hospital. The Britain-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported one player was killed.

Players from Al-Wathbah team who witnessed the attack identified the dead teammate as 19-year-old Youssef Suleiman, the team’s striker. They said he was the father of a 6-month-old baby. They said the mortars landed in front of Tishrin hotel next to the stadium where players normally stayed, and shattered some of the building’s windows. The attack hit a few hours before the team was to play against the Hama-based Al-Mawaair club as part of the domestic league.

“We were collecting our things about to head to the stadium when we heard the first explosion and the windows were blown off,” said Ali Ghosn, a 20-year-old player.

“Youssef was hit in the neck. We ran out to the corridor when the second explosion struck and I saw Youssef fall down bleeding from his neck,” he told AP in Damascus as some of his colleagues wept. Ali said Suleiman died shortly after he arrived at the hospital. Three other players were wounded, one of them in critical condition.

Assad has tried to maintain an image as the head of a functioning state even as rebels edge closer to the heart of Damascus. The capital had largely been spared the violence that has left other cities in ruins. For weeks, however, rebels who have established footholds in the suburbs have been pushing closer to the center of Damascus from the eastern and southern outskirts, clashing with government forces. — AP

Lebanon seeks death penalty for ex-minister BEIRUT: A Lebanese judge yesterday demanded the death penalty for ex-minister Michel Samaha and Syrian security chief Ali Mamlouk, who face charges of plotting attacks on political and religious figures in Lebanon. Military magistrate Riad Abu Ghida said Samaha and Mamlouk should be given the ultimate punishment “for transporting explosives from Syria to Lebanon in an attempt to assassinate Lebanese political and religious leaders,” according to a copy of the indictment received by AFP. They were also accused of targeting “Syrian gunmen” and “smugglers” in the Akkar region along Lebanon’s northern border with Syria. Samaha and Mamlouk were first accused in August of planning the attacks along with a Syrian army colonel identified only by his first name, Adnan.

Investigators have said that explosives were found in Samaha’s car when he was arrested at his home on Aug 9. A former information minister, the Christian politician is known for having close ties to the Damascus regime. An arrest warrant for Mamlouk was issued on Feb 4.

According to the indictment: “The exploMichel Samaha sives were delivered by Colonel Adnan to Samaha in Syria with the approval of Mamlouk.” “Defendants Mamlouk and Adnan agreed with Michel Samaha to carry out bombings aimed at killing Syrian gunmen and smugglers... and to recruit people to carry out the bombings against insurgents and smugglers in the Akkar region.” Samaha is also accused of “inciting sectarian strife”. An inquiry will be made to learn the full identity of Colonel Adnan.

The military court, meanwhile, decided not to prosecute in the same case Buthaina Shaaban, a senior advisor to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, citing “lack of evidence”. Syria occupied Lebanon militarily and politically for nearly three decades until 2005, when its troops were forced to pull out of the country under international pressure. Seven years after Syria withdrew from Lebanon, the country’s political forces remain sharply divided over their powerful neighbour. — AFP

with the slightest rain, the rainwater has nowhere to go.” A committee has been formed to determine next steps, but any repairs must be delayed until the weather warms up. “Azadi Tower’s foundations and ceiling are stricken with serious problems,” municipal official Gholamreza Ahmadi told state news agency IRNA. “Azadi Tower has not been well cared for.”

News of the damage to a structure that has served as a symbol of Tehran to the outside world concerns many Iranians, not least the monument’s creator, Hossein Amanat. A member of the persecuted Baha’i faith, Amanat was one of many prominent Iranians compelled to leave the country during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He is worried that the authorities will not address the problem urgently or competently. “I feel responsible to talk about how urgent it is for them ... to correct the damage they have done themselves to this building,” he said in a telephone interview. “They should find qualified and informed people to do it.”

Amanat was 24 when he spotted a

two-paragraph notice in the Etelaat newspaper in 1966 advertising a contest to design a monument to commemorate 2,500 years of Persian monarchy. A fresh graduate of the University of Tehran’s architecture school, he had planned to emigrate to the United States to continue his studies but stayed instead to work on his design. The resulting monument features two prominent arches: one a sweeping parabola reminiscent of ancient Iranian architecture, and the other more representative of Iran’s Islamic identity, evoking its many grand mosques. “It’s really an allusion to prominent periods in the history of Iran,” said Amanat, now 70 and living in Canada. “It reflects my great imaginations about the history of Iran and the fascination it had for me since childhood. “It is the essence that I understood as a simple young boy in those days.”

The completed tower was named Shahyad Aryamehr, or King Memorial, and coincided with a push by the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to encourage

tourism and investment by the West. Its shape, suggesting a curtain fluttering open in the wind, was an entrance to the city. “Shahyad became the perfect metaphor for the many cultural paradoxes that were the rapidly changing Tehran,” wrote Abbas Milani, an Iran expert at Stanford University, in his 2011 biography of the Shah. “Shahyad was a gateway to the future and a celebration of the past.”

But by the late 1970s, the monarchy that Shahyad was built to honour was losing its grip on power. Iranians flocked to Shahyad Square during the revolution to demand the return of exiled Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who would eventually found the Islamic Republic. Grainy photos show them bearing banners with Khomeini’s picture and standing atop the gleaming monument’s base. Those images helped the tower shed its royal associations and ensure its survival under Iran’s new rulers, who removed other icons connected to the Shah but embraced Shahyad, renaming it Azadi, or Freedom. — Reuters

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

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

Pirates kidnap six foreigners in Nigeria LAGOS: Armed pirates who stormed an oil service ship off Nigeria have k i d n a p p e d s i x fo re i gn e r s a n d demanded a $1.3 million ransom for their release, the police and military told AFP yesterday. “ Three of those abducted are from Ukraine, two from India, one from Russia,” Bayelsa state police spokesman Fidelis Odunna said of the Sunday attack. “One of the kidnappers called to demand the sum of 200 million naira” ($1.3 million), he added. The kidnapping of foreign oil workers is common in Nigeria’s oilrich south, with the hostages often released following a ransom payment.

It is however rare for police to discuss

the details of ransom demands.

There has also been a recent series of kidnappings in nor thern Nigeria claimed by an extremist Islamist group, but those are considered a different phenomenon. The Armada Tuah vessel operated by the Lagos-based Century Group with a crew of 15 was attacked by gunmen 40 nautical miles off southern Bayelsa state at about 4:00 pm (1500 GMT ), the area’s military spokesman, Colonel Nwachukwu Onyema told AFP. The vessel was on route from the oilhub of Port Harcourt to Abo, the site of a key deepwater oil field, where Shell, Italy’s Agip and several domestic firms have operations, Onyema further said.

“Gunboats (and) troops are already on search and rescue,” he added.

The International Maritime Bureau which tracks sea attacks worldwide has described the waters off Nigeria as an emerging piracy hub, with many of the raids involving gunfire. Militants in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta region carried out scores of kidnappings before a 2009 amnesty deal led to a sharp decline in unrest, though incidents continue. Five Indian crew members of an oil tanker who were kidnapped in December after heavily armed pirates stormed their vessel off Nigeria’s coast were released last month.

Medallion Marine, a Mumbai-based shipping firm, said the hostages were freed in good health, but did not disclose whether a ransom had been paid, or whether Nigeria’s security forces played any role in securing their release.

The theft of crude is considered a key motivation for pirates operating in the Niger Delta. Armed gangs in the region have become notorious for blasting into pipelines and siphoning out crude for sale on the lucrative black market. Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke on Tuesday told an oil industry conference in Abuja that Nigeria was seeking international help to curb criminality in the region.

The head of Shell’s Nigeria subsidiary, Mutiu Sunmonu, told the same conference that “there is still a lot more that must be done” to pacify the Niger Delta. Meanwhile in a separate abduction case, a French family of seven kidnapped in nor thern Cameroon on Tuesday were believed to have been taken across the Nigerian border, Yaounde said, suggesting the hostagetakers may be linked to Nigeria’s main Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram.

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer and most populous country with an estimated 160 million people, where most in the north are Muslim while the south is predominantly Christian.—AFP

Bulgarian govt resigns amid growing protests Election will probably be brought forward from July

YAOUNDE: A picture taken yesterday shows the entrance of the French school, closed for holidays during ongoing repair works, in the Cameroonian capital in which children from a French family seized in a kidnapping used to study. — AFP

Cameroon says French hostages now in Nigeria YAOUNDE/DAKAR: The Islamist militants believed to have abducted a French family of seven, including four children, in Cameroon have taken them into Nigeria, a Cameroonian minister said yesterday. The abduction highlights the growing risk of attacks on French nationals and interests in Africa since Paris sent forces into Mali to oust Islamist rebels occupying the country’s north. Speaking on French television, Joseph Dion Ngute, a junior minister at the foreign ministry, said the kidnappers had put the hostages on motorcycles after their car broke down. “They then took another woman hostage with her car and fled into Nigeria,” he said. “Our forces and the Nigerian forces were alerted, but before they reacted the kidnappers had vanished.” It was not clear what had happened to the additional female hostage. Security in the Dabanga area, 10 km from the Nigerian border, where they were taken has been reinforced and “urgent measures” to locate the family put in place, he said.

It is the first case of foreigners being seized in the mostly Muslim north of Cameroon, a former French colony. But the region - like others in West and North Africa with typically porous borders - is considered to be within the operational sphere of Nigerian Islamist militants Boko Haram and Ansaru. The father of the family, which included four children aged between 5 and 12, worked for utility firm GDF Suez. French television reported the father was from a family of winemakers in the Burgundy region.

Nigerian army spokesman Colonel Sagir Musa said “the armed forces were on alert ... ready to apprehend any criminal elements or terrorist that come into our areas.” He gave no further details. Cameroon state television said a French military unit had arrived in the country to help in the rescue efforts. A French defence ministry spokesman said the report was “baseless”. “Based on long-standing and political and socio-economic ties between France and Cameroon, it is expected that French forces will engage in resolving this

issue from within Cameroonian borders, with the support of the Cameroon government,” said Nadia Ahidjo of africapractice, an Africafocused consulting firm.

France has about 6,000 nationals in Cameroon. It issued a travel warning on Tuesday advising its citizens not to travel to the extreme north of Cameroon and those already in that region to leave as soon as possible. Cameroon is a largely secular state where 70 percent of the population is Christian and about 24 percent Muslim. Most Cameroon Muslims live in the three northern regions of the country. Until now, there have been no known links between Muslims in north Cameroon and Islamists in northern Nigeria.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said yesterday all the evidence pointed to Boko Haram, but there did not appear to be a direct link with France’s intervention in Mali. “We believe it’s the Boko Haram group that carried out the kidnapping, but we don’t know for sure. Unfortunately, terror breeds terror,” Le Drian told France 2 television. Boko Haram pose a big threat to stability in Nigeria, Africa’s top oil-producing state. Western governments worry they could link up with other Islamist groups in the region.

France intervened in Mali last month after Islamist rebels seized control of the north of the country and pushed south towards the capital Bamako. French-led forces have since driven the Islamists from north Mali towns and back into remote desert and mountains.

“It’s these groups that are calling for the same fundamentalism, whether it’s in Mali or in Somalia or in Nigeria. These groups threaten our security,” Le Drian said. French President Francois Hollande said the kidnappings would not stop France from pursuing its operation in Mali. The kidnapping of the family brought the number of French hostages held hostage in isolated regions of west and north Africa to 15, including one abducted by Nigerian al Qaeda-linked Ansaru in December.

Pope may change conclave rules before leaving VATICAN CITY: Before he abdicates, Pope Benedict may change Church rules governing the conclave where cardinals from around the world will meet next month to secretly elect his successor, the Vatican said yesterday. The changes could mean that the conclave in the Sistine Chapel, where cardinals will choose the next leader of the 1.2 billion member Roman Catholic Church, might be able to start before March 15, which is currently the earliest it can begin.

Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said Benedict, who will lose all power when he steps down on Feb. 28, was “considering” issuing a “Motu Proprio,” a personal document which has the force of Church law and addresses a specific need.

A 1996 apostolic constitution by Pope John Paul stipulates that a conclave must start between 15 and 20 days after the papacy becomes vacant, meaning it cannot begin before March 15 under the current rules because Benedict abdicates on Feb 28. Some cardinals believe a conclave should start sooner than March 15 in order to reduce the time in which the Roman Catholic Church will be without a leader.

But others in the Church believe that an early conclave would give an unfair advantage to cardinals who are already in Rome and working in the Vatican’s central administration, known as the Curia.

“A short period before a conclave helps the curial cardinals in Rome, who are operating on their home turf,” said Father Tom Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University and author of several books on the Vatican. “The curial cardinals are the ones that cardinals from outside Rome turn to for opinions about the other cardinals.

The longer the pre-conclave period, the more time non-curial cardinals have to talk to each other and to get to know each other.

The longer the period prior to the conclave, the less dependent outside cardinals are on the curial cardinals,” he said. Lombardi said Benedict was considering making changes that would “harmonise” two documents approved by his predecessor. One, the 1996 apostolic constitution called “Universi Dominici Gregis,” governs the entire period while the papacy is vacant, known as the “Sede Vacante”. —Reuters

SOFIA: Bulgaria’s government resigned yesterday after mass protests against high power prices and falling living standards, joining a long list of European administrations felled by austerity during four years of debt crisis. Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, an ex-bodyguard who took power in 2009 on pledges to root out graf t and raise incomes in the European Union’s poorest member, faces a tough task of propping up eroding support ahead of an expected early elec tion. Wage and pension freezes and tax hikes have bitten deep in a country where earnings are less than half the EU average and tens of thousands of Bulgarians have rallied in protests that have turned violent, chanting “Mafia” and “Resign”.

Moves by Borisov on Tuesday to blame foreign utility companies for the rise in the cost of heating homes was to no avail and an eleventh day of marches saw 15 people hospitalised and 25 arrested in clashes with police. “My decision to resign will not be changed under any circumstances. I do not build roads so that blood is shed on them,” said Borisov, who began his career guarding the Black Sea state’s communist dictator Todor Zhivkov.

A karate black belt, Borisov has cultivated a Putin-like “cando” image since he entered politics as Sofia mayor in 2005 and would connect with voters by showing up on the capital’s rutted streets to oversee the repair of potholes. But critics say he has often skirted due process, sometimes to the benefit of those close to him, and his swift policy U-turns have wounded the public ’s trust. The spark for the protests was high electricity bills,

SOFIA: A man waves a Bulgarian flag in front of the Bulgarian parliament building during a rally in support of Prime minister Boyko Borisov yesterday. —AFP

af ter the government raised prices by 13 percent last July. But it quickly spilled over into wider frustration with Borisov and political elites with perceived links to shadowy businesses. “He made my day,” said student Borislav Hadzhiev in central Sofia, commenting on Borisov’s resignation. “ The truth is that we’re living in an extremely poor country.”

The prime minister’s final desperate moves on Tuesday included cutting power prices and risking a diplomatic row with the Czech Republic by punishing companies including CEZ , moves which conflicted with EU norms on protection of investors and due process. CEZ officials were hopeful yesterday that it would be able to avoid losing its distribution licence after all and officials from the Bulgarian regulator said the company would not be punished if it dealt with breaches of procedure.

But shares in what is central Europe’s largest publicly-listed company fell another 1 percent

yesterday. If pushed through, the fines for CEZ and two other foreign- owned firms will not encourage other investors in Bulgaria, who already have to navigate complicated bureaucracy and widespread corruption and organised crime to take advantage of Bulgaria’s 10-percent flat tax rate. Financial markets reacted negatively to the turbulence yesterday. The cost of insuring Bulgaria’s debt rose to a three -month high and debt yields rose some 15 basis points, though the country’s low deficit of 0.5 percent of gross domestic product means there is little risk to the lev currency’s peg against the euro.

Borisov ’s interior minister indicated that elections originally planned for July would probably be pulled forward by saying that his rightist GERB par ty would not take part in talks to form a new government. GERB’s woes have echoes in another excommunist EU member, Slovenia, where demonstrators have taken to the streets and

added pressure to a crumbling conser vative government. A small crowd gathered in support of Borisov outside Sofia’s parliament, which is expec ted to approve his resignation today, while bigger demonstrations against the premier were expected in the evening.

Unemployment in the country of 7.3 million is far from the highs hit in the decade after the end of communism but remains at 11.9 percent. Average salaries are stuck at around 800 levs ($550) a month and millions have emigrated, leaving swathes of the country depopulated and little hope for those who remain.

GERB’s popularity has held up well and it still led in the latest polls before protests grew in size last weekend, but analysts say the opposition Socialists should draw strength from the demonstrations. The leftists, successors to Bulgaria’s communist party, have proposed tax cuts and wage hikes and are likely to raise questions about public finances if elected. — Reuters

Russia lawmaker quits over property scandal MOSCOW: The head of the Russian parliament’s ethics committee resigned his seat yesterday after a leading anti-corruption crusader accused him of having US-based property worth over $2 million. Ruling party lawmaker Vladimir Pekhtin quit after Alexei Navalny, arguably the most charismatic leader of Russia’s opposition movement, accused him of owning luxury property in Florida that he had not declared. The resignation of a prominent ruling party lawmaker is the biggest scalp yet for Navalny’s anti-corruption investigations that have turned the lawyer into a figurehead of the anti-Vladimir Putin protest movement.

Property deeds and other documents that Navalny posted online this month show that Pekhtin, a member of the ruling United Russia party, and his son Alexei jointly own two condos in Miami Beach and a villa in Ormond Beach. Navalny estimated the property to be worth over $2 million. He and his allies have over the past weeks exposed several top officials they say own property in the West but Pekhtin is the first lawmaker to resign over the claims.

Pekhtin denied that he violated any laws and said the Russian opposition wanted to discredit the entire parliament. “I do not want the unjustified accusations to cast a shadow over our party,” he told the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, in televised remarks. “That is why I made a difficult decision - I will say that honestly - to resign the post of a State Duma deputy,” said the mustachioed lawmaker. Pekhtin, 62, called the documents showing his co-ownership of the US property an “obvious legal misunderstanding” which he promised to fight. “I don’t have the slightest doubt that I will prove that I am right,” said Pekhtin who over the past days has become the subject of ridicule online. “We will fight on,” he said

to applause from his colleagues.

The Russian opposition charges that the parliament lacks legitimacy because Dec 4 parliamentary polls were slanted in favour of the ruling party. Claims of vote fraud brought tens of thousands into the streets last year and encouraged opposition activists to cob-

Vladimir Pekhtin

ble together an anti-Kremlin protest movement. Since Putin’s return to the Kremlin for a third term in May, the parliament has fasttracked a number of controversial laws that critics say are designed to clamp down on civil society.

The opposition says pro-Kremlin lawmakers are hypocrites because many of the recently adopted laws are anti-Western yet many of the deputies have secret property in the West. “To be fair, we have to admit that such a step by Pekhtin shows that he has the remnants of a conscience lingering somewhere deep down,” Navalny wrote in his blog yesterday. The documents on Pekhtin’s US property were provided to Navalny by a likeminded blogger, known by his nickname doct-z, who is a Russian physicist residing in Spain.

The blogger doct-z, whose real name according to the opposition magazine The New Times is Andrei Zayakin, said yesterday that he and Navalny planned to expose more officials soon. “This information gets accumulated faster than we are able to analyse and publish it,” he told Kommersant FM radio. Proopposition commentators praised the result, saying the tactic would prove rewarding after the unprecedented protests largely died down. “This is exactly what the opposition needs to do now - this way they can put out of action half of the United Russia top brass,” said Vladimir Pribylovsky, head of the Panorama think-tank.

Russian lawmakers and top officials are widely known for their reluctance to step down over corruption allegations. Analysts suggested that the party leadership had told Pekhtin to resign but colleagues praised his resignation as a bold move. The parliament is debating amendments to a law that would protect personal privacy, in a move critics say is aimed at shielding lawmakers from investigations by the opposition. Another United Russia lawmaker, Anatoly Lomakin, whose fortune the Russian edition of Forbes magazine puts at $1.2 billion, plans to resign because of ill health, officials said later yesterday. — AFP

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

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Trying to revive heart of Philippines’ toxic river MANILA: Boys shout in delight as they flip backwards off a bridge. Fishermen quietly cast rods out. They are joyful acts that should belong to an earlier era, before the Philippines’ Pasig River turned toxic. Yet some slum dwellers in Manila whose shanty homes choke the river and its tributaries have little choice but to live as if the national capital’s most important waterway is clean. “It’s hot. We have no other place to swim and escape the heat,” 16-year-old Christian Ivanes said as he took a break from jumping off a bridge near the mouth of the river with his friends.

Ivanes, his seven siblings and a few hundred other illegal squatters live under the bridge in stilt houses made of junk wood and plastic, their existence as desperate as any in an Asian megacity infamous for its brutal poverty.

Shopping from the community stall at high tide requires wading ankle-deep through plastic wrappers and other garbage that is floating in black water. A thick stench rises with strong hints of untreated sewage and industrial waste. “There have been people who have gone into this with an open wound and died,” said Gina Lopez, a prominent environment campaigner who is leading the latest government drive to clean up the Pasig.

The national government is spending 10 billion pesos ($240 million) a year to transform the waterway and its 47 tributaries, according to Lopez, chairperson of the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission. Half the money is being spent on trying to relocate about 300,000 squatters who live directly along the banks of the river and tributaries, known locally as esteros. “As long as there are illegal dwellers living along the estero, using the place as their toilets and dumping garbage, there’s no clean-up that can happen. So that’s the beginning,” Lopez said.

The commission has cleared and rehabilitated four esteros since 2010, when President Benigno Aquino took power and implemented the program, according to Lopez. It is aiming to start work on 16 more this year, then have all the esteros as well as the Pasig transformed by the time Aquino ends his term in 2016. At Estero de Paco, a 2.9-km tributary that a few years ago was one of the most polluted in the city, shanty homes have been replaced with tree-lined boardwalks while water-treatment machines now nestle amid plants.

The more than 1,300 families, or roughly 6,500 squatters, who lived within three metres of the channel have been relocated, while vendors at a nearby market have stopped dumping garbage into the water. Programs with local water companies to improve sewage facilities have also been implemented. Flooding that regularly hits the area has lessened because drains are not blocked by

garbage, according to Lopez, and the residents who have remained beyond the three-metre clearance zone appear much happier. “It’s like living in a subdivision now,” said Evelyn Quitala, 51, who has called Estero de Paco home all her life and runs a small shop from her two-storey concrete home. “We can now jog here along the footpath and our children don’t have to go somewhere else to play... and it is no longer smelly.”

Estero de Paco is being used as a template for cleaning up the entire Pasig river system. Nevertheless, while the estero may look better, the water remains badly polluted, according to Javier Coloma Brotons, an urban development specialist at the Asian Development Bank who is involved in cleaning up the tributary. And although the rehabilitation commission is aiming for a major transformation of the entire water system within just three years, Coloma Brotons cautioned the project could take decades to complete.

He said many of the city’s more than 12 million residents polluted the waters in some way. Among the myriad of problems he cited were the lack of sewage treatment plants and trained people to maintain them, countless small businesses that dump waste into the water, and polluting industries upstream. Coloma Brotons also pointed out that the 27-kilometre Pasig River - which connects Laguna de Bay, the largest lake in the Philippines, with Manila Bay - is tidal. This means pollution from the vast Manila Bay, including waste from huge ports, washes back up the river. “To clean up the river, you also have to address problems with the bay,” Coloma Brotons said.

Adding to the complexity is the general chaos of the Philippine political system, which makes it extremely difficult for a co-ordinated approach from many government branches and vested interests. Such issues have led to repeated and costly failures to transform the Pasig. The national government launched its first project to rehabilitate the Pasig in 1989, and the rehabilitation commission was formed 10 years later with a mandate to completely transform the waterway by 2014. Even now, few people expect the government to be able to relocate 300,000 slum dwellers by 2016, as similar programs for other shanty towns across Manila have repeatedly failed over recent years. People are determined to stay in the slums despite the atrocious conditions because they are close to jobs, with relocation sites typically many hours’ commute from Manila. Nevertheless Lopez insists a firm commitment from the Aquino administration means the latest clean-up campaign will work. “I believe Manila can be interlinked and interlaced with waterways that are clean and avenues for recreation,” she said. — AFP

PHILIPPINES: In this picture taken on February 18, 2013, a boy stands along a bridge next to stilt houses, one of the many areas along waterways in Manila.

Japan eyes change over snatched kids TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be under pressure when he meets US President Barack Obama this week to pledge progress on a long-stalled treaty to prevent the snatching of children by a Japanese parent in international divorce cases. Abe is expected to promise that Japan will follow through on a decades-old pledge to ratify the Hague Convention on child abduction, giving some legal muscle to hundreds of foreign fathers - including Americans, French and Canadians - kept apart from their half-Japanese children. “Those are only the reported cases,” French Senator Richard Yung told AFP during a recent trip to Tokyo to press officials on the issue.

Japan is the lone member of the G8 industrialised nations - the others being the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Russia and Canada - not to have adopted the 32-year-old international treaty. Key allies including the US, France and Britain have long demanded Tokyo step into line. Diplomats say ratification of the Hague Convention could come during Japan’s current parliamen-

tary session, which ends in the summer. That would make it the 90th state to adopt the treaty, which is aimed at securing “the prompt return of children wrongfully removed or held” in another treaty state. “These cases are particularly cruel - birthday or Christmas presents are returned,” said Yung, who added that he met a vice foreign affairs minister but was refused a sit down with Justice Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki. The changes would also offer hope to hundreds of thousands of Japanese fathers who face similar estrangement under domestic custody laws.

Japan is unique among major industrialised nations when it comes to the children of estranged parents. Courts do not recognise joint custody - for foreigners or Japanese nationals - and almost always order that children live with their mothers, leaving desperate fathers with almost no recourse to see their children. Many lose touch with their offspring if the ex-spouse blocks access, a common occurrence due to the widely held opinion that child rearing is a task for women, while men earn the money.

Yasuyuki Watanabe, the deputy mayor of a small Japanese town, has not seen his daughter in years. After the country’s devastating 2011 quake-tsunami disaster, he says he tried to make contact with the now five-year-old girl. “And my wife called the police on me,” he said. Michael, a foreigner who has lived in Japan for three decades, had a messy divorce that ultimately saw two of his three kids tell a Japanese court they had no wish to ever see their father again. That, he says, was the product of “brainwashing” by his ex-spouse. Michael, which is not his real name, has never met his two grandchildren.

Sometimes, judges do order the custodial parent to send photos of a child to their former spouse, or to allow a short monthly visit. But police almost never intervene when those orders are commonly ignored. Ratification of the convention would not automatically change Japanese laws, but it offers hope for hundreds of thousands of Japanese men cut off from their kids, including Watanabe who said he recently met with the justice minister. “I told him how the judicial system is malfunctioning and that judges encourage these abductions, whether it is international or in Japan,” he added.

But ratifying the treaty alone is no silver bullet and there are fears that future changes to domestic laws could lack both scope and substance, warned Yung, who cited public opinion as the biggest weapon in winning the fight for access. Richard Delrieu, president of advocacy group SOS Parents Japan, has not seen his own half-Japanese son in years and also said that ratifying the treaty alone won’t change things overnight. “This situation is not worthy of a great country like Japan,” he said. — AFP

QUETTA: Pakistani Shiites prepare to bury bombing victims yesterday. — AP

Anger, scuffles as Pak Shiites bury 89 Community leaders demand army protection QUETTA, Pakistan: Scuffles broke out yesterday as Pakistani Shiites buried the 89 victims of a second major bomb attack in five weeks, which has highlighted the government’s inability to stem sectarian violence. Shiite leaders called off a three-day nationwide protest demanding army protection after the government promised those responsible would be arrested in a “targeted operation” and relatives of the dead compensated. But for many of the mourners, the deal was insufficient.

Around 1,000 people, shouting antigovernment slogans and beating their chests, quarrelled with community leaders who agreed late Tuesday to call off their sit-in on a main road in the southwestern city of Quetta. Similar protests had been held in other major cities including Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, paralysing key routes and neighbourhoods. In Quetta yesterday, an angry mob of young people and women, crying and screaming, initially refused to bury the dead, an AFP reporter said.

Mourners pelted stones at the car of a government official, as the burials got under way, prompting security forces and then protesters to fire into the air.

No-one was hurt in the incident. As the bodies, wrapped in white shrouds and placed in wooden coffins, were buried in a row of graves, hundreds of volunteers formed a human chain in a symbol of solidarity and protection.

Shiites, who make up around 20 percent of the mostly Sunni Muslim population of 180 million, are facing record numbers of attacks, raising serious questions about security as nuclear-armed Pakistan prepares to hold elections by mid-May. The 89 people were killed when a massive bomb tore through a market in the Quetta suburb of Hazara Town on Saturday.

Suicide bombers killed 92 others at a Hazara snooker hall on Jan 10 in another area of Quetta. Outlawed militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) claimed responsibility for both attacks. The government says four men have been killed and more than 170 others arrested, including a purported mastermind of Saturday’s attack. But mourners told AFP they thought nothing would change. “We are in severe shock, we want the government to take visible steps,” said college student Kazim Ali, mourning a relative. “The army is our last hope. We want a comprehensive

military operation.” Pakistani security forces frequently detain people en masse after major bombings but few if any are charged. Courts have repeatedly detained and released the head of LJ, Malik Ishaq, on bail, most recently last September. Ali Raza, 35, asked how up to 1,000 kilos of explosives were smuggled into Hazara Town, the suburb where the attack took place. “Why are they killing us? What is our crime?” Raza said, shovelling mud onto one of the graves. “How did terrorists transport such a huge amount of explosives here? The government will have to take some serious steps.”

Soldiers from the paramilitary Frontier Corps and police were deployed in all markets and on roads in Quetta city as the burials took place, while troops searched every vehicle heading towards the Hazara Town area.

Pakistan’s top judge has also demanded to know why the authorities had failed to arrest LJ culprits and took no action after the Jan 10 attack. Chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry summoned senior officials to explain why they had failed to act on a purported intelligence report. “Just go and get this Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. — AFP

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

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

Peru’s dynamic first lady has presidential aura LIMA: Humble crowds adore her populist gestures. Fans and critics alike call her the co-president. Her husband, a rebellious army officer turned moderate leader, says people who think his wife is too influential are sexist. Peru’s first lady, Nadine Heredia, is a potent political force. A telegenic 36-year-old mother of three who started the Nationalist Party along with President Ollanta Humala, she weighs in on a range of policy issues behind the scenes and, in public, often serves as the government’s messenger.

Her prominent role has made her more popular than Humala - so popular that she is widely viewed as a potential successor to the 50-year-old president.

She is arguably her party’s only viable candidate after Humala and could become Peru’s first female president if an anti-nepotism law is struck down to allow her to run in 2016. Though Heredia insists she has no such plans, she has a remarkable knack for headlining events that feel like campaign rallies, often touching on her parents’ roots in Ayacucho, a poor province in the Andes.

“Many of you might be migrants who have come to the capital looking for opportunities,” she recently told cheering fans in Puente Piedra, a hardscrabble neighborhood on the outskirts of Lima where she led a workshop on preventing dengue fever. “We have to help each other because I’m the daughter of migrants and know the obstacles one has to overcome!”

After the speech, Heredia was whisked away in a dinky motorcycle taxi, one of the three-wheeled put-puts common in the developing world. It was festooned with balloons. Minutes later, bodyguards ushered her into her real ride: an imposing SUV. Heredia is as comfortable on the streets as she is posing for the covers of society magazines in designer gowns. Her approval rating of 60 percent is 7 points higher than her

husband’s, Ipsos says. That is remarkable because Humala’s twinning of pro-investment economic policies with expanded social welfare programs has made him Peru’s most popular leader in years.

Still, his often reserved nature - he did not speak in public for the first two weeks of his term - has made him reliant on his outgoing wife. When Humala first entered politics he tried to improve his wooden speaking style by studying recordings of himself, according to a founder of his party. Humala has since begrudgingly embraced public speaking but lacks the inspired zeal of his predecessor, the grandiloquent Alan Garcia.

Humala often mumbles or mixes concepts by speaking off the top of his head.

Political veterans say Heredia elevates his game. “Peru would be far worse off without Nadine,” said a former cabinet official under Garcia. “Humala is aware of his limitations. That is why he depends on her.” Most of the dozen people interviewed for this article, from lawmakers and political operators to former cabinet officials and voters, referred to Heredia as “La Presidenta”. Sometimes they were joking. Other times, it was inadvertent.

But they all said Heredia is Humala’s most important adviser. When people ask if she will be a candidate, Heredia relies on a pair of stock phrases: “I’m not thinking about this now,” or “This isn’t in my plans.”

Neither amounts to a categorical denial. Aides said Heredia was not taking political questions at this time, but they emphasized that she ignores polls and that her role is to support her husband by “walking alongside him - neither in front nor behind him.” Heredia has won the respect of other powerful women in the Americas - including two former first ladies. At a women’s development forum in Lima in October, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - thought to be considering a run for president in 2016 was keen to spend time with Heredia,

whose story resonates with her own, according to a former US State Department official. “She (Heredia) is widely seen as very smart and a key adviser with political ambitions to succeed her husband. So the Hillary ClintonNadine Heredia meeting was a natural, beyond just protocol,” the former official said. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has spoken in glowing terms about Heredia. “I made a complaint to President Humala that I must mention.

When I saw him walking alone I asked ‘Where’s Nadine?’” she said during Humala’s visit to Buenos Aires in November. “She’s a charming woman and a true political force,” said Fernandez, who succeeded her late husband, Nestor Kirchner, as president. Heredia’s international profile is set to grow. This week she formally takes on a global role as a UN Special Ambassador for nutrition. The post is largely ceremonial, but will give her a platform to hold formal meetings with foreign officials.

Heredia was active in politics as far back as her days at the University of Lima, where she studied communications. Humala’s mother is Heredia’s cousin and he reportedly first met her when he went to see her father about an accounting question. They married in 1999. The following year, Humala led a brief military revolt to demand former President Alberto Fujimori step down.

Fujimori’s government was already falling apart because of scandals but the gambit catapulted Humala to fame as a defiant outsider.

Humala and Heredia founded the Nationalist Party in 2005 and in 2006 Humala launched his first bid for the presidency. He ran as a hardline leftist and narrowly lost. In 2010, when Humala was moderating his views and trying to address concerns about his radical past, a pregnant Heredia was by his side at a lunch with Wall Street analysts at J P

Morgan in New York, said an investor who was at the meeting. Heredia was by all accounts central to the decision to pick economist Luis Miguel Castilla to be finance minister, a move that calmed markets when Humala was elected in June 2011.

“The government has pleasantly surprised the business community,” said Humberto Speziani, the head of Confiep, Peru’s business chamber. “I had the privilege of knowing Humala and Nadine before they were presidents,” he said in a slip of the tongue that reflects a wider view that they govern together. Heredia was also the first person in the government to publicly urge Humala to oust one of his two vice presidents over a corruption flap shortly after taking office.

She did so via twitter. She has made comments that implied to some people that she thinks she outranks members of the cabinet. “Where’s my minister?” she demanded at an event last year while looking for Education Minister Patricia Salas, who reports to Humala.

Critics said the gaffe revealed a bossy side rarely seen in public, where Heredia smiles broadly for minutes on end. Over the years, Heredia has deflected periodic attempts by opponents to link her financially to fiery Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Critics allege she worked for a private Peruvian organization that promoted national “identity and development” and a Venezuelan newspaper that had ties to allies of Chavez. She has called the allegations baseless.

Former allies say she can play political hardball. Javier Diez Canseco, a left-wing lawmaker who quit Humala’s party last year saying the president had swung to the right, said Heredia played a role in getting him suspended from Congress for three months over an alleged conflict of interest. “I know of people who received phone calls in the name of the first lady or directly from her to vote a

certain way.” Her aides had no comment on the allegation. Heredia is so influential that people often ask her via twitter (@NadineHeredia) to define the government’s official line on the main issues of the day. That is partly because Humala sometimes stays silent on divisive issues.

She generally avoids responding to the pleas.

Humala’s mercurial father has called his daughter-in-law “drunk on power” but the president says people who think his wife has too large a role are stuck in the past. “It is unfortunate that certain sectors of the political class are male chauvinists who only want to see women relegated to subordinate, domestic roles,” Humala has said.

While Peru’s constitution prohibits Humala from running for a second straight term, the rules on whether Heredia can be a candidate are muddled.

A so-called lower level law, which Humala has criticized, bans members of the president’s family from succeeding him. But the head of Peru’s national elections court and a justice on the constitutional court have both said the law should be thrown out because the constitution guarantees any Peruvian the right to run for the presidency. There are two ways the law could be overturned: by a court once a lawsuit is formally filed, or by Congress.

Political analysts say it may be better for Heredia to wait until 2021 to run.

Then she could avoid any talk of nepotism and pitch herself as a wiser candidate in her mid-40s. But if she does run in 2016, she could pitch herself as someone experienced in governing and might benefit from the public support for Humala’s many public works projects.

One potential rival, former lawmaker Keiko Fujimori, whose jailed father was president and who lost to Humala in the 2011 race, has opposed any rule changes for the next election. — Reuters

Tiger tees off White House media storm Obama dubbed ‘puppet master’ for manipulating coverage WASHINGTON: The image-savvy White House denied squelching media access Tuesday, after Tiger Woods unwittingly teed off a new storm between President Barack Obama’s spin team and reporters who cover him. The row erupted when Woods joined Obama for a round on Sunday, lifting the lid on a simmering dispute between journalists and a White House machine pumping out news, opinion, photos and video, bypassing traditional media. Sunday’s match-up of the most powerful man in the world, and the man still regarded by many as the planet’s greatest golfer, was by any account a big story - but White House officials declared it off limits to the press.

Grumbling White House reporters were sent into apoplexy when a Golf Digest writer tweeted details of the round from the swish Floridian resort and popped up on the Golf Channel to sell his scoop. Reporters and photographers in the small pool that trails Obama everywhere be it to Kabul or on a date night with his wife - fumed about missing what was likely to be a front page story. Twitter rained derision on journalists seen as pampered prima donnas on a glamour beat, but reporters protested they were guarding the cherished privilege and public service of their access to the president. “There is a very simple but important principle we will continue to fight for today and in the days ahead: transparency,” said White House Correspondents’ Association president Ed Henry, who works for Fox News.

Jay Carney, spokesman for a White House that brands itself the most transparent in history, denied that Obama’s team had broken with precedent that granted access to other golf

games by this president and others. He scoffed that the media wanted a picture of the president simply playing with a “golf pro,” mockingly understating the news value of Obama’s encounter with a 14-times major champion tainted by a sex scandal. “I doubt that there’s ever been a White House Press corps that’s ever been wholly satisfied with the level of access that they’ve been afforded,” said Carney, a poacher-turned-gamekeeper as a former Time White House correspondent. Carney listed Obama’s 35 news conferences since taking office in 2009 and 591 interviews as evidence of his boss’s openness to the media.

But reporters from traditional media question the nature of that interaction - as many interviews are with local television networks which often lob softball questions. Obama and top aides also avoid rigorous cross-examination on forums like “Google Plus hangouts” or “Facebook townhall events” exploiting the reach of social media. Reporters for traditional outlets, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, complain that their long-cherished capacity to get interviews with the president has been compromised.

And in off-the-cuff remarks, the president has sometimes let slip his disdain for some news coverage, which he sees as obsessed with trivia.

Tensions always come to the boil between administrations and the press. But the clash has been exacerbated under Obama by his team’s mastery of social and online media. In a Politico article Tuesday, the president was dubbed a “puppet master” manipulating coverage of his White House. The unwanted competition comes as traditional media fight for survival and the

internet devours traditional revenue sources.

Former Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt tweaked the media by saying many Americans do not watch traditional news or read papers. “ The White House has found more ways to engage Americans in the conversation directly, so should the media,” he said on Twitter.

Most infuriating to journalists is the daily stream of behind-the-scenes pictures by official White House cameraman Pete Souza on Twitter and Flickr. The pictures often encroach into territory - bill signings for instance - that the White House press corps say should be open to all, and free from propagandizing influence of Obama’s spin team. Top news agencies, including Agence France-Presse, mostly refuse to distribute such pictures on editorial grounds, though they are frequently blasted across social media platforms.

White House aides argue, sometimes rightly, that the feed is an exercise in transparency - revealing scenes never before open to the media - as in the famous picture of the president’s national security team during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. But often the Flickr stream seems more an attempt to not just to manipulate the news but to influence history, and how Obama is seen decades hence.

The photos often lionize Obama, making him seem pensive, compassionate and even taking his rightful place in historic company. In one Souza shot in 2012 for instance, Obama is seen in a moment of reflection in the Oval Office, framed by a bust and portrait of Abraham Lincoln, a picture of George Washington and a statue of Martin Luther King. — AFP

Life returns gingerly to Mexico’s city of death CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico: A young crowd filled “El Rudo” bar in Ciudad Juarez, laughing at jokes, downing beers and dancing to Shakira tunes, no longer afraid to go out after dark in the Mexican city once known as the world’s murder capital. Just over a year ago, the 30 university students would have stayed locked indoors after sunset, like many people in Juarez, afraid of falling victim to a stray bullet, carjacking or kidnapping amid a raging war between drug cartels. But after more than 10,500 murders in the past six years, the killing frenzy is finally fading, shops are reopening and people are going out at night again in the desert city bordering Texas.

“We were scared to go out in the street. We couldn’t do anything,” said Vicente Martinez, a 21-year-old university student sipping a beer with five friends at the lucha librethemed “El Rudo” bar on a recent Tuesday night. “But now that things have changed, we can enjoy ourselves again,” he said. The carnage has dropped sharply since peaking at 3,116 deaths in 2010, when more than 300 bodies piled up in a single month, according to official figures.

Last year, 759 people were murdered in the city of 1.3 million, and 2013 has kicked off with even more promising figures: just 27 homicides were recorded last month and only 10 in the first three weeks of February. “This used to be a ghost town,” Mayor Hector Murguia told

AFP. “Today we can say it clearly: Ciudad Juarez is like Palermo (Sicily), Medellin (Colombia), New York or Chicago. It took them 10 years to lower the crime rate when it took us two years. You can see it in the streets. The city is alive on Thursdays or Fridays. We have come back and returned to the condition we were in when things were good,” he said.

The reason behind the relative peace in Ciudad Juarez is up for debate. Local authorities credit the arrival of a new, hard-nosed city police chief in 2011, along with efforts to provide better weapons and equipment to the 2,600-strong municipal force, tougher sentencing laws, and a slew of arrests. But some officials and security experts say the violence has fallen because the powerful Sinaloa cartel, led by elusive kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, triumphed in a war for lucrative US drug trafficking routes against the Juarez cartel. “It’s the most credible reason,” a Mexican government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

While Juarez heals, the violence continues unabated across the country, with the Pacific resort town of Acapulco the new murder capital.

More than 70,000 people have died in the drug war since 2006 - one in seven in Juarez. President Enrique Pena Nieto, who took office in December, has unveiled a $9.2 billion nationwide crime prevention program, and his government has

CARACAS: Venezuelan Vice-President Nicolas Maduro (left) and Bolivian President Evo Morales are seen during a meeting on Tuesday. Morales flew to Caracas to see his ailing counterpart Hugo Chavez. — AFP

Chavez stays out of the public eye CARACAS: Venezuelans yesterday had yet to get a glimpse of their ailing president three days after he returned home from a twomonth trip to Cuba for cancer treatment.

Admitted to the military hospital in Caracas upon his arrival Monday, the onceomnipresent leader has stayed out of the public eye - even as his supporters took to the streets to welcome him back. On Tuesday, it was unclear whether Chavez had even seen Bolivian President Evo Morales, who stopped over in the capital to visit his close ally on his way to the United States.

Venezuelans had neither seen nor heard from their usually ubiquitous head of state since he left for Havana on December 10 for another round of cancer surgery, though on Friday the government released photos of him bedridden but smiling. The government said then that it was hard for Chavez to speak because he has been fitted with a tracheal tube due to a post-operative respiratory infection. The president announced his return on Twitter but in an unusual move in the country he dominates both politically and personally, his arrival was not broadcast on television.

Morales met Tuesday with Vice President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez’s handpicked political heir who has essentially been running Venezuela in the leader’s absence, and with National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello. One of Chavez’s daughters, Maria Gabriela, tweeted her appreciation for the visit. “Nice meeting with our brother Evo. He

came to support us and express the love of the Bolivian people. What a man! Thank you Evo!” she wrote, without clarifying whether the two leaders had met.

Meanwhile, the governor of the northern state of Aragua, Tareck El Aissami, told state television that Maduro had briefed ruling party leaders on the new treatment plan for Chavez, without giving specifics. The government has asked Chavez supporters who had gathered outside the military hospital to be patient and to leave so as not to disrupt the goings-on there. State-issued updates on Chavez’s condition have been sketchy, fueling speculation that it is worse than officials admit. Authorities have never specified what type of cancer the 58-year-old has been treated for.

A pressing question is when or if Chavez, who has undergone surgery four times since mid 2011, will be sworn in by the Supreme Court to begin a new term after he won elections last October. He was too sick to return home for his scheduled inauguration on Jan 10. A Supreme Court source said the tribunal is ready and waiting for the go-ahead from the president and his medical team. But pollster Luis Vicente Leon has said uncertainty remains over whether illness will force Chavez - who has been in power in the oil-rich nation for 14 years - to step down and call early elections. A poll released Sunday said that if elections were held now between Maduro and opposition leader Henrique Capriles, the former would win by 14 percentage points. — AFP

US conservative email paints Rove as a Nazi CIUDAD JUAREZ: Police officers take part in a security operation on Feb 12, 2013. — AFP cited Juarez as a model for other boulevards, small shopping centers cities. His predecessor, Felipe and low-rise buildings. Some 115 Calderon, had focused a $473 mil- restaurants, bars and clubs have lion effort there to repair the city’s reopened, according to city figures. social fabric, named “We Are All Factories, the city’s economic Juarez,” after 14 young people and lifeblood, went from employing two adults were gunned down at a 230,000 people in 2007 to 143,000 house party in January 2010, a mas- in 2010, partly due to the US ecosacre that became a symbol of the nomic crisis. They hire 210,000 city’s senseless violence. today. Javier Zarragoicoechea, the The runaway crime caused peo- 28-year-old co-owner of El Rudo, ple to flee, with a 2010 study by the decided to open the bar early last non-governmental Juarez Citizen year as violence waned.

Security and Coexistence “I think that the city will get betObservatory showing that more ter,” he said. “We had a very difficult than 230,000 people had fled the test, and I think it will remain in city. But businesses that were extor- every resident’s conscience. It will be tion targets are putting up “open” even better than before the violence signs again in this city of wide began.” — AFP

WASHINGTON: The spat between grassroots American conservatives and mainstream Republicans got nastier Tuesday when a group sent out a fundraising email portraying a leading party figure in Nazi uniform. The mail from Tea Party Patriots featured a photo montage of Karl Rove who was former president George W Bush’s chief strategist and is still a key Republican heavyweight - as an officer in Adolf Hitler’s SS. The image bears the marking “Reichsfuhrer SS” with “K.Rove” printed below. A Nazi swastika is visible on the uniform pocket.

The magazine Politico’s website found a photo of SS Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler - the SS chief who was one of the driving forces behind the Holocaust - and which, aside from the face, appeared to match the Rove image.

Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth

Martin’s, whose name appears on the email, described the image as a mistake “added by an outside vendor”. “While we may have strong disagreements with (Rove) on the future of conservatism, we want to be clear this imagery is absolutely unacceptable and are working to ensure this type of mistake doesn’t happen again,” she said.

The vendor, political fundraising firm Active Engagement, said the error happened when the image was chosen instead of an adjacent one approved by TPP. The group apologized to Rove, and stressed it “does not believe there is any place in political discourse for images such as these.”

Racist and other offensive imagery - including some from smaller tea party groups - has been used in the past to criticize President Barack Obama, the nation’s first AfricanAmerican commander in chief. — AFP

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

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Issues

Berlusconi surge evokes recurring nightmare for left

By Steve Scherer ilvio Berlusconi’s remarkable fightback ahead of Italy’s election has revived a recurring nightmare for the country’s centre-left - that they can throw away a commanding lead in the final days before the weekend vote. Little more than two months ago, the centre-left led

by Pier Luigi Bersani was riding high with an apparently unassailable lead of 10 points against a demoralised centre-right, which looked close to disintegration. But in December a rejuvenated Berlusconi stormed back into the race with an extraordinary media blitz in which he rushed from political rallies to television studios, adopted a homeless puppy, told off-colour jokes and promised to abolish a hated new property tax.

This week he outraged his opponents by mailing official-looking letters to millions of Italians promising to reimburse payments already made under the levy. Between December and Feb 8, when a pre-election ban on publishing opinion polls took effect, the 76-year-old billionaire had halved the gap with the centre-left. The colourless Bersani seems to have been stuck in his tracks, unable or unwilling to respond to the crowd-wooing tactics of his opponent, a born showman. His mockery of what he calls impossible election stunts by Berlusconi have been low key and delivered in his familiar deadpan voice, failing to hit home with many voters.

Most pollsters nevertheless believe the centre-left is still on course to win by 5-6 points, although a big surge by anti-establishment comedian Beppe Grillo is adding to uncertainty, raising chances of an inconclusive result that could destabilise the euro zone. The most likely result, pollsters say, is that Bersani will have to form a governing pact with outgoing technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti, although there are concerns the economics professor’s own lacklustre electoral performance will fall short of enough votes for this scenario.

Leading elections expert Roberto D’Alimonte also says polls underestimate Berlusconi’s support because people are reluctant to admit they will vote for him, given his reputation for scandal and allegations of sex parties that offend conservative and religious voters who otherwise like his policies. All this is putting nerves on edge among centreleft supporters, frustrated that Bersani has not led a more dynamic campaign and tormented by memories dating back to the 2006 election which is burned into their collective psyche. Berlusconi, who learned to work crowds as a singer on a cruise liner on his youth, used the same showmanship to close a 10-point gap then, forcing the left’s Romano Prodi to form a weak government that collapsed two years later. Berlusconi returned to power for his fourth term with a record majority. “I have good news. We are ahead and we will win,” Berlusconi told ecstatic fans at a rally in Milan on Monday, a claim that cannot be verified because of the pre-election polling blackout.

Bersani, the son of an auto mechanic, is a famously bland if worthy candidate with a good track record as a minister under Prodi. Although his spontaneous remarks, delivered in a distinctive accent from the northern Emilia region, can be sharp and humorous, his scripted speeches are often sleep-inducing. In contrast the livewire, wisecracking Berlusconi has outclassed both him and Monti in the charisma stakes and shown remarkable energy and dynamism for his age. In addition, the centre-left appears to have thought that their best tactic was to sit tight on their lead and leave the other candidates to make mistakes in a bitter campaign.

Another mistake seems to have been to leave it until the last minute to roll out Matteo Renzi, the youthful mayor of Florence, a lively orator who mounted a credible challenge to Bersani for the party leadership in December. The suspicion is that the formerly communist left wing of Bersani’s Democratic Party dislike Renzi, who is considered too much to the social democrat right. However, Renzi has recently made appearances, perhaps reflecting party alarm about the polls, and shared the stage with Bersani at a rally in Palermo yesterday. “We have to make a final push,” Bersani told supporters on Saturday as he heightened the urgency of his tone in the southern city of Lecce. “The right must not be underestimated.” The resurgence of Berlusconi was a surprise to many. Weakened by a lurid sex scandal, he was forced from power and replaced by Monti in Nov 2011 as Italy slid towards a major debt crisis. He spent the next year in the shadows, demoralised and depressed, before surging back in December. He has been hounded by magistrates for two decades on a string of fraud and corruption charges and is currently on trial for having sex with an underage prostitute at “bunga bunga” parties in his villa outside Milan. —Reuters

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Iran economy far from collapse

By Andrew Torchia ossein Ahmad, an Iranian who runs a jewellery shop in wealthy Dubai, marvels at the spending power he sees on show during his monthly trips to Tehran, a year after US sanctions largely froze Iran out of the global banking system. Shops in the Iranian capital are crowded.

Finding a seat at good restaurants can be difficult. And the ski resorts in the mountains north of Tehran continue to attract Tehran’s glamorous and well-heeled. “The economy has problems with the sanctions, yes. But it’s still working,” he says. “It isn’t as bad as people outside the country think.”

Sanctions are clearly having an impact; the country’s oil revenue has been slashed and other trade disrupted; a weak currency has sent the prices of some imports soaring, destroying jobs as some factories using imported parts have folded. But they are not close to having the “crippling” effect envisaged by Washington. The Iranian government has found ways to soften the impact, and Iran’s economy is large and diverse enough to absorb a lot of punishment.

So at talks next week with the world’s major powers in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Iran seems unlikely to feel under overwhelming pressure to back down on its disputed nuclear program, which the West suspects is a cover to make weapons. “The government had a long time to prepare for economic war,” said Mohammad Ali Shabani, an Iranian political analyst based in London. “If you’re talking about collapse, that is not happening.”

Iran’s oil and gas exports, which previously accounted for three-quarters of total exports, plunged last year because of international sanctions, and they may fall further as Washington makes it even harder for Tehran to obtain payment for them. The International Energy Agency estimated last week that Iran’s oil exports may have dropped below 1 million barrels per day in January from 2.2 million bpd in late 2011, costing the country over $40 billion in lost revenues last year. That loss is manageable, however, for a nearly $500 billion economy, and Iran has taken steps in the past year to put the economy on an emergency footing, partially offsetting the drop in inflows of wealth with a reduction of outflows.

Imports of luxury goods including foreign cars and mobile phones were banned, state media said, while the government cut subsidies for students studying abroad.

Gold exports were controlled to make capital flight from

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the country harder. Most importantly, the government presided late last year over a slide in the Iranian rial, which lost about two-thirds of its value against the US dollar in the free market before stabilising in its current range around 36,500.

It is not clear whether authorities deliberately engineered the slide, which caused panic among businessmen and brief street protests in Tehran, but the end result suits a government that is hunkering down to resist more years of sanctions. Since the state controls the oil sector, it can divert most of Iran’s remaining hard currency supplies where it wishes. It is using special exchange centres to sell dollars at cheap rates to importers of basic foods, medicines and other essentials.

Meanwhile, the mass of Iranians who want dollars for other purposes - to import luxuries, travel overseas or move their savings abroad - must buy them at the expensive market rate. This cuts demand to send money out of the country. The outcome, analysts say, is that Iran may avoid an external payments crisis even if oil exports fall further. Its foreign reserves are estimated by private economists to have dropped to around $70-80 billion from just above $100 billion at the end of 2011; the fall may slow and eventually halt as the currency depreciation and other emergency policies take hold.

Iranian-born economist Mehrdad Emadi, of the Betamatrix consultancy in London, said statements by officials in Iran suggested they had identified $60 billion as a safe minimum level for reserves, and would take further steps to restrain imports if necessary to protect that level.

“We are not even in the neighbourhood of a critical situation for the balance of payments,” he said.

Oil used to provide about two-thirds of government revenues, so the sanctions have hit state finances hard. But once again, the weak rial has come to the government’s aid, letting it make money by selling some of its petrodollars to the private sector at much higher prices than a year ago. The International Monetary Fund estimated in October that Iran would post a general state budget deficit of 3.9 percent of gross domestic product this year - easily bearable for a government with gross debt of only about 9 percent of GDP. The sanctions are, however, sapping Iranians’ living standards as the weak rial pushes up inflation through higher import costs. Chicken prices, for example, nearly

tripled in a year as the cost of buying feed from abroad jumped. The official inflation rate hit 27.4 percent at the end of 2012. Including imported goods, actual inflation is believed to be roughly twice as high. A small jar of Nescafe now costs about 230,000 rials ($6.30 at the free market rate) in a Tehran store, up from 120,000 rials a few months ago. Higher import costs, as well as inefficient management, have made it hard to obtain some medicines.

Hospitals have reported shortages of drugs to treat cancer, diabetes and other diseases. The auto sector, which built over 1.6 million vehicles in 2010, has been devastated by more expensive imported parts. Output roughly halved in the past year, and thousands of people lost their jobs as some parts plants closed, local media said.

But the picture is more nuanced. Some companies such as home appliance makers, which were being undercut by cheap imports, are now growing strongly because the rial’s drop has made them more competitive, Shabani said.

Iranians seeking to escape inflation and unable to move their money out of the country are building new homes, boosting the construction and carpentry industries. These mini-booms are reflected in flashy new cars cruising Tehran’s streets and luxury apartments going up in its affluent neighbourhoods. The stock market hit a record high this week. Emadi estimated that while some of Iran’s top industrial centres could haemorrhage jobs because of the sagging oil and auto industries, overall the economy was unlikely to shrink more than around 2 or 3 percent this year. Meanwhile, government subsidies and handouts are expected to continue softening the impact of inflation on Iran’s poorer families by keeping staple foods such as bread, rice, sugar and edible oil affordable for them.

Parliament agreed last month to allocate a further $2 billion to support low-income families. The rial’s depreciation has halved the savings of the middle class and destroyed some of their businesses, but “those at the top and bottom of the pyramid haven’t seen a dramatic amount of change”, said Emad Mostaque, a strategist who follows Iran at London-based NOAH Capital Markets. This uneven distribution of the pain of sanctions is why, for Washington, they could prove counter-productive: they are doing most damage to a group that might be expected to push for political change in Iran. “The middle class, people with fixed incomes, pensioners are under a lot of pressure. They are too exhausted to rise up,” Shabani said. — Reuters

Livni faces rough road in peace push

By Jeffrey Heller zipi Livni’s coalition pact with right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu speaks volumes about the obstacles ahead for the moderate former Israeli foreign minister in her new task of pursuing peace with the Palestinians. Expectations of a new peacemaking initiative have been raised by a planned visit to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan next month by US President Barack Obama, who has clashed with Netanyahu over the prime minister’s policy of expanding settlements on occupied land Palestinians want for a state. But the coalition deal attested to wariness between Livni and Netanyahu and seemed couched to reassure hardliners in his Likud party that the prime minister, who is deeply mistrusted by Palestinians, will ultimately call the shots.

Taking his first step in forming a new government after a Jan 22 election, Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that Livni would serve as his justice minister and handle efforts to renew peace talks with the Palestinians, frozen since 2010. Palestinian reaction was reserved, with some officials saying they first wanted to see the final shape of the government Netanyahu is trying to put together.

The addition of the six parliamentary seats won by Livni’s centrist Hatnuah party to the 31 captured by Netanyahu’s Likud-Beitenu faction falls short of a majority in the 120-member Knesset, and he must still recruit other partners to govern.

And while her appointment as negotiator seemed to signal a new peace drive, it raised questions whether Livni would be just a fig leaf for Netanyahu, whose pursuit of settlement expansion in the West Bank has been a critical

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factor in the impasse. “He will use her as a whitewash, as a PR (public relations) person overseas,” Yossi Verter, a political commentator for the left-wing daily Haaretz, wrote yesterday. “He’ll send her often to the Americans and the Europeans, who like her, so she can explain how hard coalition life is, and how insubordinate the Palestinians are.”

Addressing such scepticism, Livni told Hatnuah legislators that her former party, the centrist Kadima, “would have been a fig leaf for an existing policy” had it followed other factions and joined the government Netanyahu formed four years ago.

But with current coalition efforts still in flux, she said, Hatnuah had come to the cabinet table first and its agreement with Netanyahu and commitment to peace would serve as guidelines for setting government policy. In 20062009, Livni failed as thenPrime Minister Ehud Olmert’s foreign minister and peace negotiator to clinch a peace deal even after he offered a withdrawal from much of the West Bank, which Israel captured in a 1967 war.

Now, key clauses in the coalition accord appeared tailored to rein in Israel’s most prominent female politician, She “will coordinate with the prime minister - who bears supreme responsibility and directs policy - the moves that she proposes and will regularly report all developments to him”, the text of the pact read. It also stipulated that

Netanyahu, who has balked at again freezing settlement after a 10-month partial construction suspension three years ago, would keep a watchful eye on his new political partner. “The prime minister will appoint a senior representative ... (who) will permanently accompany the negotiations and participate in every meeting, contact and discussion related to the peace process,” the agreement said.

“There will be no parallel negotiations.”

“I hope (Livni’s appointment) is not a tactical move on part of Mr Netanyahu in preparation for the visit of Mr Obama,” said Abdallah Abdallah, a senior official of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement.

Outgoing Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who has long called for concerted negotiations with the Palestinians, was widely viewed as playing a “fig leaf” role for Netanyahu. The prime minister’s testy relationship with Obama has been highlighted by differences over settlement policy and how to restrain Iran’s disputed nuclear programme.

The Palestinians have refused further negotiations with Israel without another halt to settlement-building, which they say is rapidly consuming territory they need for a viable state. Netanyahu has said he is open to talks without preconditions. “Livni is experienced in peace negotiations, but what’s more important ... is the political decision (she) will implement, and that depends on the policy of Mr. Netanyahu’s government,” Abdallah said.

Both Israel and the United States also have been playing down prospects for a breakthrough in efforts to create a Palestinian state, which Netanyahu says must be demilitarised and not pose a security threat to the Jewish state.

Asked in an Israeli Army Radio interview Wednesday whether Netanyahu had made her any promises to curb settlement building in the West Bank, Livni said the issue of reviving peace talks was “complicated”. “After the government is formed, I will see what is needed to restart peace negotiations, what are the conditions and the positions of the United States, Europe and the Palestinians.

“Only after that will we know if there are any decisions the Israeli government needs to make,” she said.— Reuters

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

S P ORTS

Man United chief Gill to step down

Bielsa accepts Athletic have underperformed

Pakistan recall Afridi, Malik for ODI series

LONDON: Manchester United chief executive David Gill said yesterday he is to step down in June after a decade at the helm of one of the world’s most valuable sporting clubs.

His move will deprive long-time manager Alex Ferguson of one of his closest confidants at the soccer club that was taken over in 2005 by the Glazer family, who also own the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Gill’s responsibilities from July 1 at New York-listed Manchester United will be assumed by executive vice chairman Ed Woodward, although he will remain on the board that will eventually choose Ferguson’s successor as manager.

Ferguson has been manager since 1986 and his tenure has delivered unprecedented success for the club, which currently leads the English Premier League by 12 points. He has yet to say when he plans to retire.”I am looking forward to continuing my involvement on the club board,” Gill said. “And I hope to be able to make a contribution to the game on a wider national and European level.” Ferguson heaped praise on Gill, who will be standing for election for the ruling body of European football, UEFA, in May.— AP

MADRID: Athletic Bilbao manager Marcelo Bielsa has said he has not made the most of the resources available to him this season.

The Argentine, who will bring up his 100th game in charge of Athletic in the Basque derby against Real Sociedad on Friday night, said that his side had not met lived up to expectations after reaching two cup finals last season.

“What I want to say is that the management of the human resources we have has not been adequate,” he told reporters.

A 12th defeat in 24 league games last weekend saw Athletic slip to 15th in the table and they were also dumped out in the early rounds of the Europa League and Copa del Rey. “The evaluation is negative, last season the team finished 10th when it could have been fifth and this season it is in the bottom third of the table when we have the squad to be in the top third.” However, the 57-year-old denied that his job was under threat or that he had considered walking away from the club.—AFP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan cricket selectors have recalled the flamboyant Shahid Afridi and former captain Shoaib Malik for next month’s one-day international series in South Africa.

Both allrounders played in December in the drawn Twenty20 series against India but were ignored for the one-day series.

However, the selectors have turned back to the old pros after Pakistan’s batsmen struggled in the ongoing test series against the Proteas.

Pakistan trails 2-0 in the three-test series with the last test beginning at Centurion from Friday.

Middle-order batsman Umar Akmal, who missed out on the test team, also returns to give the struggling lineup some impetus.

Durban and Centurion will host the two Twenty20s on March 1 and 3 before the fivematch ODI series begins at Bloemfontein on March 10. — AP

2013 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix begins countdown

By Nawara Fattahova

Media persons and audience.

Veteran Tennis coach bids farewell to Qadisiya club KUWAIT: M.K. Cherian tennis player and coach at the Qadisiya Sporting Club and Tennis Federation from 1973 is leaving Kuwait for good.

Kuwait Tennis Federation jointly gave a farewell par ty at the club. Rtd. Brigadier Gen Jassim Salem Al Salem

and Brigadier Gen Shamlan Saud Al Shamlan, top dignitaries and club members attended the farewell party. They wished Cherian a bright future. M.K. Cherian is the chief technologist at the Virology Laboratory in the Ministry of Health, Kuwait.

BAHRAIN: The Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), in cooperation with national carrier Gulf Air, began on Monday its official 60day countdown to the region’s biggest and most highly anticipated sporting and social event: The 2013 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.

Sometimes people are anxious of coming to the Kingdom of Bahrain cause of what they see in the media, thus in fact this is exaggerated. After visiting the capital Manama, we assure that the situation is completely calm and quiet.

So people should not worr y of coming and enjoying the exciting event.

The annual festival of top-class motor racing and entertainment will take place on April 19-20-21 at BIC, “The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East”, in Sakhir. It will be the fourth round of the 2013 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

This was announced during the press conference held on Monday at the circuit premises. BIC Chief Executive Sheikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa revealed an array of details about this year’s event, which will be the Kingdom of Bahrain’s ninth hosting of the Formula 1 race.

The official slogan for this year Grand Prix weekend: “Imagine Your Moment”. “Every year we come with new idea for the slogan, and this year we thought of making people remember their memories.

“Imagine Your Moment” reflects both the excitement from all Formula 1(tm) fans ahead of the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix, as well as all the memorable moments people create during the enjoyable time they have at the race,” said Sheikh Salman. “ There is always a special moment or two for whoever attends the Bahrain Grand Prix, be it on the track or off of it, and we would like all the fans to ‘Imagine Your Moment’ and feel the excitement of our upcoming Grand Prix,” he added.

He also spoke about the massive attendance of last year’s race. “I’m delight with the massive crowd of up to 70,000 people attending last year’s highly successful Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix. I expects an even larger turnout this

year, with the growing popularity of the sport and the rapidly developing motorsport culture both in Bahrain and the rest of the Middle East all contributing to the greater attendance. BIC hopes to come close to matching its biggest-ever turnout to the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend of 100,000 fans in 2010,” stressed Sheikh Salman.

Sheikh Salman bin Isa Al-Khalifa (right) and Maher Al-Musallam (left) during the conference.

Sheikh Salman Al-Khalifa addressing during the conference.

From his side, Gulf Air Acting Chief Executive Officer Maher Salman Jabr Al Musallam spoke about Gulf Air’s involvement and support for the Formula 1(tm) extravaganza. “This will be Gulf Air’s eighth year as the official title sponsor of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Since its beginning in 2004, the race has become one of the region’s most prestigious sporting events. The 2013 Formula1 Bahrain Gulf Air Grand Prix is expected to draw thousands of fans from across the

Crowne Plaza Kuwait - Perfect Tee off KUWAIT: Crowne Plaza Kuwait hosted its first golf tournament on 8th Feb at the Sahara golf resortan 18 hole championship golf course crafted by Peter Harradine and built to PGA championship standards.

The tournament took place under slightly haz y skies and breezy conditions but nonetheless the enthusiasm of all the golfers overpowered it all and it turned out to be a perfect fun filled event.

Excellent spor tsmanship and camaraderie were the highlights of the day as many golf enthusiasts came down to enjoy the sport.

There was a great turn out featuring over 90 golfers competing in

teams comprised of Crowne Plaza officials, their business partners including the Ambassadors from the Embassy of China, Italy and many more.

The tournament registrations opened up at 7 am and tee off was at 8 30 am followed by a gala lunch at the resort. The event started in full swing with golf enthusiasts competing for individual prizes in the closest to the pin and longest drive contests, In addition to the tournament prizes.

With great scores of Stableford points the team of Hussni Al Azem, Mounzer Jou Jou, Shika Letoaba, Abdulrazzaq Abdulla won the tournament. They were thrilled to

receive the prize package of a weekend stay at Crowne Plaza Abu Dhabi and Crowne plaza Dubai Festival city including a round of golf. Their tickets to Dubai were sponsored by Bukhamseen travels.

The second winning team of Gordon Muirhead, Nancy Musick, Byron Haynes & Jackie Whyte won room nights at the Crowne Plaza Kuwait along with sponsored prize from the Spa Aquatonic. The nearest to the pin and longest drive contests for men was claimed by Mark Wright & Jim Batchler respectively who won golf woods and drivers while the same contests for ladies was claimed by J Y Lee & martina Nicoletti. They both won

Middle East and the international community allowing the Kingdom to reap the associated economic benefits. The Gulf Air- F1 sponsorship agreement has also paid great dividends in firmly establishing the Kingdom of Bahrain on the global map as the ‘Home of Motorsport in the Middle East”, as well as raising the airline’s image as the sports

memberships at the Spa Aquatonic Kuwait. Apart from all these prizes all the winners also received 1 year complimentar y Privilege Club memberships.

Ramy Haykal, General manager congratulated all participants for showing great sportsmanship and for a great day at the golf course.

He also thanked the Sahara Kuwait resort team for their great support in making the event a great success. He said, “It is great to see all the golf enthusiasts having so much fun at the tournament and we look forward to hosting the Crowne Plaza Tournament again next year making it bigger and better every coming year.”

ambassador of the country.”

Just as it is each year at the Bahrain Grand Prix, Formula 1 will not be the only racing championship that will be thrilling fans on the track.

An action-packed program of international support races has been lined up by BIC, including once again the highly popular single-seater championship: the GP2 Series.

GP2 is widely accepted to be the chief feeder category to Formula 1.

“Many of the sport’s biggest stars today are all GP2 graduates, including former World Champion Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain, his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg and Sauber ace Nico Hulkenberg both of Germany, Argentinean Sergio Perez of McLaren, Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Lotus, and Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado of Williams,” explained Sheikh Salman.

Each year, the Formula 1(tm) Village located behind BIC’s Main Grandstand is bustling with activity, and that will be no different in 2013.

Race-goers will be able to enjoy the very best of top-class entertainment, ranging from musical performances, stage shows and mesmerising acts to carnival rides, parlour games and dazzling exhibitions.

BIC has signed entertainers from all over the world to be at the Grand Prix, including countries such as France, Kenya, Mexico, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, China and India, to name a few.

One of the main features of the Formula 1 Village will be the children’s entertainment area. There will once again be a large tent solely allocated for the kids’ enjoyment, and this plus so much more will be available on all three days of the race.

With the very best of international motorsport coming into our backyard and with so much more to enjoy at the three-day event, the 2013 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix is certainly an occasion that must not be missed.

Tickets can be purchased for all three days of the race weekend or for Race Day alone. All three-day ticket holders get exclusive bonuses not available to single-day passes. Tickets can be purchased for the various grandstands strategically located around BIC, including the Main Grandstand, the Turn One Grandstand, the University Grandstand, the Batelco Grandstand, and the Victory Grandstand.

A Friday roaming ticket can also be purchased for those looking to experience all the vantage points of the track, while tickets can also be bought for the Gulf Air Club lounge where you can watch the race in a luxury tent.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

S P ORTS

Johnson’s OT buzzer-beater lifts Nets past Bucks 113-111 Suns hold off Blazers 102-98

NEW YORK: Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez (11) tries to block a shot by Milwaukee Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova (7) in the second half of their NBA basketball game at Barclays Center, Tuesday, in New York. The Nets won 113-111 in overtime. — AP

NBA results/standings Brooklyn Nets 113, Milwaukee 111 (OT); Detroit 91, Memphis 105; Sacramento 102, San Antonio 108; Portland 98, Phoenix 102; Denver 97, Boston 90; Utah 115, Golden State 101; New Orleans 87, Chicago 96; Washington 88, Toronto 96; Orlando 92, Charlotte 105.

Eastern Conference Western Conference Atlantic Division Northwest Division W L PCT GB Oklahoma City 39 14 .736 New York Knicks 32 18 .640 Denver 34 21 .618 6 Brooklyn Nets 32 22 .593 2 Utah 31 24 .564 9 Boston 28 25 .528 5.5 Portland 25 29 .463 14.5 Philadelphia 22 29 .431 10.5 Minnesota 19 31 .380 18.5 Toronto 22 32 .407 12 Pacific Division Central Division LA Clippers 39 17 .696 Indiana 32 21 .604 Golden State 30 23 .566 7.5 Chicago 31 22 .585 1 LA Lakers 25 29 .463 13 Milwaukee 26 26 .500 5.5 Sacramento 19 36 .345 19.5 Detroit 21 34 .382 12 Phoenix 18 36 .333 20 Cleveland 16 37 .302 16 Southwest Division Southeast Division San Antonio 43 12 .782 Miami 36 14 .720 Memphis 34 18 .654 7.5 Atlanta 29 22 .569 7.5 Houston 29 26 .527 14 Washington 15 37 .288 22 Dallas 23 29 .442 18.5 Orlando 15 38 .283 22.5 New Orleans 19 35 .352 23.5 Charlotte 13 40 .245 24.5

Ireland opt for uncapped Jackson over O’Gara DUBLIN: Paddy Jackson is set to make his Ireland debut against Scotland on Sunday after being selected ahead of veteran outside-half Ronan O’Gara for the Six Nations match at Murrayfield.

Ireland coach Declan Kidney had to find a new starting No 10 after first-choice flyhalf Jonathan Sexton suffered a hamstring injury during the 12-6 defeat by England last time out at Lansdowne Road earlier this month.

But rather than recall O’Gara, Ireland’s most-capped player with 127 Tests behind him and the man who came off the bench to replace Sexton against England, Kidney sprang one of the biggest surprises of his five -year reign as national coach on Wednesday by opting to start Ulster’s Jackson in Edinburgh.

O’Gara, 36 next month, was on the bench. Also making his Test debut this weekend will be Jackson’s fellow Ulsterman Luke Marshall, in at inside centre after the experienced Gordon D’Arcy was ruled out with a foot injury. O’Gara, for several seasons Ireland’s first-choice outside-half, has played back-up to Sexton since the 2011 World Cup. However, his form this season has been modest with O’Gara failing to sparkle against England and below his best playing for provincial side Munster against Llanelli last weekend.

“Paddy’s inclusion was a challenge given the stature of Ronan O’Gara, but I think Paddy deserves a go in this one,” Kidney said. “It was a very difficult decision to leave Ronan out, it was right up there. But that’s a compliment to Paddy.”

Ireland were forced into making five changes after injuries took a toll of their side in a bruising defeat by England in Dublin and Kidney, turning to Marshall, said: “Luke was with us all through November and accomplished himself very

well.” Elsewhere in the backs, left wing Simon Zebo’s tournament-ending foot injury led to a recall for utility back Keith Earls. Meanwhile, the pack showed two changes, with Tom Court replacing Cian Healy after the loosehead prop was suspended for stamping on England’s Dan Cole and experienced second row Donncha O’Callaghan coming in for Mike McCarthy, out with a knee injury.

Ireland, one of four teams along with Scotland boasting one victory and one defeat after two rounds, need to win at Murrayfield to maintain their hopes of winning the Six Nations title.

Even before the Championship started, Ireland suffered a huge double blow when both lock Paul O’Connell and wing Tommy Bowe were ruled out of the entire tournament, with the loss to England compounding their injury problems.

But the good news for Ireland was that star centre Brian O’Driscoll (ankle) and flanker Sean O’Brien (hamstring), who both suffered injuries against England, were declared fit to start against the Scots.

Scotland, who beat Italy 34-10 at Murrayfield in the second round, made just one change to their starting side earlier yesterday when prop Geoff Cross was recalled in place of Euan Murray, whose Christian beliefs mean he refuses to play on Sundays.

Ireland (15-1) Rob Kearney; Craig Gilroy, Brian O’Driscoll, Luke Marshall, Keith Earls; Paddy Jackson, Conor Murray; Jamie Heaslip (capt), Sean O’Brien, Peter O’Mahony; Donnacha Ryan, Donncha O’Callaghan; Mike Ross, Ror y Best, Tom Court Replacements: Sean Cronin, David Kilcoyne, Declan Fitzpatrick, Devin Toner, Iain Henderson, Eoin Reddan, Ronan O’Gara, Luke Fitzgerald. — AFP

NEW YORK: Joe Johnson came through twice with big shots and helped the Brooklyn Nets end a long losing streak to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Johnson hit a tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter and then his buzzerbeating jumper at the end of overtime lifted the Nets to a 113-111 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” said Johnson, who finished with 24 points. “Regardless of the situation, whether it’s regular season or playoffs, it’s always a great feeling. And, just to see everybody kind of explode with excitement is probably the best feeling.”

Brook Lopez and Deron Williams added 19 points each as the Nets snapped a 13-game skid against the Bucks dating back to March 30, 2009.

“The first game after (the All-Star break) is usually pretty sloppy,” Williams said. “For us to get a win against a team that we lost 13 straight against is a good win for us.” The Nets were aware of their long losing streak but insist they weren’t thinking about it during the game. “(Coach P.J. Carlesimo) mentioned the streak before the game, but I don’t think anybody took that out there with that on their mind,” Brooklyn’s Gerald Wallace said. “It wasn’t anything about their streak. It was about us as team. It shows the fight we have.”

Brandon Jennings scored 34 points to lead the Bucks. Ersan Ilyasova had 21 points, Monta Ellis added 18 and Larry Sanders 14. Luc Mbah a Moute had given the Bucks a 111-108 lead with 2:58 left in overtime. The Nets tied the game on Keith Bogans’ 3-pointer with 1:02 left.

Jennings, who scored 23 points after halftime, saw his short jumper go in and out with 15 to go.

After a Nets timeout, Johnson was intentionally fouled by Mbah a Moute with 5 seconds left. The Nets inbounded again and Johnson won the game with his foul line jumper over Mbah A Moute.

“Joe Johnson makes big shots,” Bucks coach Jim Boylan said. “It wasn’t a shock that Brooklyn went to him. We knew that’s where they’d be looking.

Luc played him tough and Joe just made a great shot.” Johnson sent the game into overtime with a 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left in regulation. “Joe has been doing this his whole career,” Carlesimo said. “The other guys did a good job with the execution and putting us in a good position, particularly the 3 at the end of regulation.” The Bucks trailed 61-51 at halftime, but outscored the Nets 30-19 in the third quarter to take an 81-80 lead.

Ekpe Udoh gave Milwaukee its biggest lead, 8782, with 9:57 left in the game. However, Brooklyn’s 10-4 run capped by a long jumper from Andre Blatche gave the Nets a 92-91 lead with 6:24 left.

Blatche scored 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter. Sanders’ tip-in of Jennings’ missed layup attempt gave the Bucks a 103-102 lead with 10 seconds left in regulation. After Williams was called for an offensive foul with 7 seconds left, Jennings was fouled and made both free throws.

That set up Johnson’s tying 3. The Nets took a

SACRAMENTO: Danny Green #4 passes the ball to Tim Duncan #21 of the San Antonio Spurs during their game against the Sacramento Kings at Sleep Train Arena on Tuesday in Sacramento, California. — AFP 56-41 lead - their largest of the game - on Lopez’s jumper with 2:29 left in the first half. The Nets led 31-24 after the first quarter, having made 7 of 8 free throws while the Bucks didn’t attempt any.

“We’ve got to turn it on right from the very beginning,” Boylan said. “We’re not Oklahoma City or Miami or something like that. We’ve got to play hard for 48 minutes.” C.J. Watson added 11 points for Brooklyn.

In, Portland, Goran Dragic had 16 points and a career-high 18 assists and the Phoenix Suns snapped a four-game losing streak with a 102-98 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night. Wesley Johnson came off the bench to score a season-high 14 points for the Suns, who led by as many as 19 points and survived a late Portland rally. J.J. Hickson had 25 points and 16 rebounds for his 28th double-double of the season for the Blazers, who lost their sixth straight to match their season-high. The Blazers pulled to within 96-92 on rookie Damian Lillard’s 3-pointer with 3:57 left in the game. Marcin Gortat’s dunk and Luis Scola’s layup slowed the rally, but Nicolas Batum made a 3-pointer to close the Blazers within 100-95 with 2:35 to go.

Nolan Smith made a free throw and LaMarcus Aldridge added two more with 20.5 seconds left to make it 100-98. After Dragic made a pair of free throws for the Suns, Lillard’s 3-point attempt fell short as time wound down.

Portland was without starting shooting guard Wesley Matthews because of a sprained left ankle and elbow that he hurt in the first quarter of Portland’s 99-63 loss to New Orleans just before the

All-Star break. That loss capped a six-game Portland road trip, which started with a victory at Minnesota but concluded with five-straight losses.

The Blazers hadn’t played at home since Feb. 2.

The Suns (18-36) lost to the Lakers at Staples Center 91-85 last Wednesday. Phoenix is a leagueworst 6-23 on the road this season. It was the first of a back-to-back for Phoenix, which visits the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday as trade rumors continue to swirl around the team. Coach Lindsey Hunter said before the game that his focus is on the Suns, which has the worst record in the Western Conference.

“I’m sure if something gets serious, I’ll know about it,” he said. The trade deadline is Thursday.

Last season at the deadline the Blazers fired coach Nate McMillan and traded away both Gerald Wallace and Marcus Camby. This season most trade talk is about Hickson, who must agree to any deal.

The Suns jumped out to a 12-0 lead to start the game, led by Scola with six points. Portland did not score until Hickson’s jumper with 7:17 left in the first quarter. The Blazers were playing catch-up the rest of the way, and trailed 36-23 at the end of the quarter.

The Suns extended the lead to 40-25 on Johnson’s 16-foot-jumper and led 63-47 at the half.

Phoenix went up 71-56 on Jared Dudley’s long jumper, but the Blazers pulled within 71-63 on Aldridge’s bank shot. Portland couldn’t get closer than eight points and trailed 84-73 to open the fourth quarter. Portland pulled to with 96-89 on Aldridge’s layup and freer throw before Lillard’s 3pointer.—AP

Yordanov returns gold in protest at wrestling’s demise SOFIA: Bulgarian wrestling federation president Valentin Yordanov sent back his Olympic gold medal from the 1996 Atlanta Games yesterday, protesting against the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommendation to drop the sport from the Games.

“As a sign of protest I am return-

ing my gold medal, won at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, to the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne,” seven-times world champion Yordanov wrote in a letter to IOC president Jacques Rogge shown at an emotional news conference.

SOFIA: Olympic medalist and seven times World wrestling champion Valentin Yordanov (R) together with Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxe Coburg (L) hold the Olympic torch, during a ceremony in Sofia on July 7, 2004. Bulgarian wrestling legend and federation chief Valentin Yordanov said yesterday, 2013 that he would return his Olympic gold medal to protest the sport’s loss of spot at the 2020 Summer Olympics. — AFP

The wrestling world was shocked last week when the IOC made a surprise recommendation to drop the sport from 2020.

“With this act I express my solidarity with the millions of athletes and fans of our sport who are condemning the recommendation of the IOC,” added the 53-year-old, who is also a seven-time European champion.

“Our sport is an integral part of the Olympic movement and one of the foundations of both the ancient and modern Olympics.” Bulgarian wrestlers have won 16 Olympic titles, making wrestling the most successful sport in the Balkan country. Yordanov, the only wrestler to win 10 medals at world championships, retired in 1996, soon after winning the gold at the Atlanta Games in the freestyle 52-kg category. Some of Bulgarian wrestling’s biggest names expressed their support for Yordanov, saying they believed that the IOC would scrap the plans to drop the sport.

Bulgarian Greco-Roman wrestling national team coach Armen Nazarian, a double Olympic champion, said he was considering going on hunger strike in protest.

Yordanov said that IOC president Rogge had achieved something that many politicians had failed to do. “He unreservedly united Russia,

the United States and Iran for a single cause - saving the sport of wrestling, without which the Olympics will never be the same,” Yordanov said.

Contested in the first modern Olympics in 1896 and part of the ancient Games in Olympia, wrestling joins baseball and softball, making a joint bid, martial arts karate and wushu, rollersports, wakeboarding and squash as candidate sports battling for one vacant spot in a revamped programme.

The IOC executive board will meet in St Petersburg in May to determine which of them will be put to the vote in September at the IOC session in Buenos Aires. Less than a week after the IOC’s recommendation, wrestling’s world governing body (FILA) president Raphael Martinetti resigned.

Wrestling’s surprise exit has been blamed by some on a lack of political support within the IOC executive board, where other sports at risk - including modern pentathlon and taekwondo - had the upper hand with representatives in the 15-member group.

The Bulgarian sports ministry said it would continue to back and fund the domestic wrestling federation regardless of the final IOC decision in September. — Reuters

Foreign runners wary of possible Kenyan election violence ITEN: Foreign middle and long-distance athletes worried about potential violence during elections next month in Kenya are shunning high-altitude training in the country’s Iten village.

Britain’s world women’s marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe and double Olympic champion Mo Farah are among the elite runners who have pounded the dirt tracks criss-crossing the lush green hillsides perched some 2,400 metres above sea level.

However, fears of a repeat of the bloody unrest that followed the last presidential election in 2007 and forced the evacuation of some foreign athletes is scaring international runners away.

“They won’t confirm (hotel bookings).

They are saying ‘we would like to come but we will wait and see’,” said Wilson Kipsang, Olympic bronze medallist and 2012 London Marathon winner, who also owns the newly-opened Keellu hotel in

Iten. Hotel owners say the number of elite athletes booked in for March are down by around half compared with 2012 when runners from Britain, the United States and Scandinavia descended on Iten in the runup to the London Olympics. “Foreign clubs are often sending us e-mails inquiring about elections and safety,” said Simoens Peter, who runs Iten’s popular Kerio View hotel. Peter said elite athletes from Belgium, Sweden and Norway were among those who have reserved a space at the hotel but were unwilling to pay the customary 50 percent deposit.

“We have no other choice but to accept it,” Peter said. “We just had a German running club cancel. They have one group here now and another was due to come in March but they pulled out.” The Rift Valley was the epicentre of ethnic clashes that followed opposition claims that President Mwai Kibaki’s re-

election was a sham. Mobs from the rival Kalenjin and Kikuyu communities set up roadblocks, burned houses and killed with stones and machetes.

Local athletes were also caught up in the violence that killed more than 1,200 people nationwide. Lucas Sang, the 1988 Olympics 4x400 relay finalist, was killed during a mob fracas in Eldoret, while marathon runner Wesley Ngetich was shot by a poisoned arrow near the Maasai Mara game reserve. Training was disrupted for nearly two months.

Western diplomats and political analysts say violence cannot be ruled out this time. Front-runners in the presidential vote Prime Minister Raila Odinga and former Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta are running neck-and-neck in the polls.

Luke Kibet, Kenya’s 2007 world marathon champion and friend of murdered Sang, was knocked unconscious and concussed by a stone thrown during

riots in Eldoret on New Year’s eve in 2007.

A few weeks later he was forced to fire his pistol in the air when a mob a road and approached him with machetes. “I think we will be safe this time around,” said Kibet, who gave refuge to women and children in his house during Kenya’s worst outbreak of violence since independence in 1963.

Kibet’s optimism is shared by fellow Kenyan champions. They who say the authorities are watching out for intertribal hate speech in the runup to the poll and plan to bolster security force numbers in potential flash-points.

“It has really put people at ease,” said Kipsang. In a vote of confidence, he said, most Kenyan athletes, many of whom have amassed personal fortunes beyond most Kenyans’ dreams, were staying put rather than training abroad.

Deep-seated tensions, primarily over land ownership, have simmered since

independence between the local Kalenjin tribe and the Kikuyu community, who obtained tracts of Rift Valley land when the British colonial masters left.

In a country where political support tends to follow ethnic lines rather than ideology, those animosities occasionally flare up, notably around elections.

This vote, though, may be different in the Rift Valley. Uhuru Kenyatta, a prominent Kikuyu, has formed an alliance with Rift Valley favourite William Ruto, a Kalenjin. Both men face charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, accused of masterminding the post-election violence five years ago when they backed rival candidates.

“I don’t hear any fears expressed by the athletes that things are going to get out of hand,” said Brother Colm O’Connell, who coaches Olympic 800 metres champion and world record holder David Rudisha. — Reuters

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

S P ORTS

Pistorius ‘fought’ with lover before her killing: Witnesses Claim of previous assault, negative drugs tests

KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti team for Gigisto represented by Kuwait Gigisto Academy and side kick academy has won 7 coloured medals in the Gulf Gigisto Championship which was held in Abu Dhabi recently.

France’s Pervis takes world title MINSK: French rider Francois Pervis ended years of frustration yesterday when he was crowned kilometre world champion here at the track cycling world championships.

The 28-year-old, who had previously won four bronzes and a silver medal in the event, won in a time of 1min 00.221sec to edge out New Zealand’s Simon Van Velthooven with Joachim Eilers of Germany taking the bronze.

Germany’s defending champion Stefan Nimke did not contest the event having retired from international competition.

Meanwhile, American rider Sarah Hammer won her fifth women’s pursuit world track title on the opening day of the world track cylcing championships yesterday. The 29-year-old-the only American competing in Minsk-edged out young Australian Amy Cure while another Australian Annette Edmondson took the bronze.

Hammer-who won her previous titles in 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2011 before giving last year’s championships a miss-is one away from the record of world title wins jointly-held by her compatriot Rebecca Twigg (from 1982 to 1995) and Russian cyclist Tamara Garkuchina (from 1967 to 1974).

Germany’s Olympic champions Miriam Welte and Kristina Vogel maintained their hold over the women’s speed cycling track event here yesterday as they retained their world title.

The German duo-who had been pessimistic about their chances as they had been taking their exams to become policewomen-beat the Chinese pairing of Gong Jinjie and Guo Shuang in the final.

The Germans’ time of 33.053sec was 63hundredths of a second outside the world record for the event held by the silver medallists, who set the mark at the London Olympics.

Great Britain-who, after dominating at last year’s Olympics, are blooding new cyclists here-took the bronze as Rebecca James and Victoria Williamson beat Australia’s Kaarle McCulloch and Stephanie Morton in their match-up.

Katusha has provisionally suspended Spanish rider Angel Vicioso for misleading his cycling team over his non-appearance at a high-profile doping trial in his home country, the Russian outfit said yesterday.

“As of now Vicioso is suspended from all competitions,” a Katusha spokesman told Reuters. The 35-year-old is one of several world-class athletes being linked to Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, who is currently on trial for allegedly masterminding a doping ring.

“He told us he had settled his case but it turned out that he didn’t tell us the truth,” Katusha general manager Vyacheslav Ekimov was quoted as saying by local outlet R-Sport. Vicioso was originally supposed to testify in person in court in Madrid last week. However, Spanish media reported that he sent a doctor’s note saying he had back problems so the court rescheduled his testimony for this Friday.

The Spaniard is due to appear by a video link from the town of Lleida in Catalonia.

The judge said on Tuesday that Vicioso would be forced to appear if he did not do it on his own.

Last week, Katusha won the right to compete on the elite World Tour this year following an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

In December, cycling’s world governing body UCI rejected their application to compete in the top flight because of the team’s doping record over the past four years. “We want to cooperate with the UCI in every possible way, therefore such actions by Vicioso just discredits our image,” said Ekimov. — Agencies

PRETORIA: Witnesses claimed hearing arguing, a woman screaming and gunfire at the house of “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius the night he shot dead his model girlfriend, police told a South African court yesterday.

Pistorius’s defence team undermined the reliability of the claims as the South African sporting hero sought bail for the Valentine’s Day killing that he insists was a horrible accident and not intentional, as prosecutors aim to prove.

Police also said Pistorius had previously been arrested at his Pretoria home for assault, although he was not charged, and faced further charges of possessing an unlicenced gun.

A woman who lives in the same highly secured Pretoria complex as Pistorius “heard talking that sounded like non-stop fighting from two to three in the morning”, hours before she was killed, Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said. Another witness reported hearing gunshots, screams and then more shots, police said. “We have the statement of a person who said after he heard gunshots, he went to his balcony and saw the light was on. Then he heard a female screaming two-three times, then more gunshots,” Detective Hilton Botha said. But Pistorius’s legal team disputed these accounts as police said the witnesses were 300 metres (660 feet) from the house. And the prosecution, which wants to prove that the Paralympian had deliberately planned to kill Steenkamp, was forced to admit that Pistorius’s claim that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder matched the crime scene.

“I t sounds consistent,” Botha said.

Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, was shot three times through the bathroom door early on February 14, with wounds to her head, elbow and hip.

She was declared to have died later by medics who found her covered in bloodied towels and wearing white shorts and a black vest. Botha, the first double amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in the Olympics in London last year, says he shot her by mistake through a locked bathroom door, believing she was a burglar.

“I had no intention to kill my girlfriend,” he said in an affidavit read to the court on the first day of his trial Monday. “We were deeply in love and couldn’t be more happy,” he said.

Pistorius, 26, said he kept a firearm under his bed at night because he had been a victim of violence and burglaries before and had received death threats. But the state prosecutor said the athlete would face an additional charge of possessing unlicenced .38 special calibre ammunition.

PRETORIA: South African Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius appears yesterday at the Magistrate Court in Pretoria. Pistorius battled to secure bail as he appeared on charges of murdering his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on February 14, Valentine’s Day. South African prosecutors will argue that Pistorius is guilty of premeditated murder in Steenkamp’s death, a charge which could carry a life sentence. — AFP

A police search of his home also found testosterone and needles in a dresser in his bedroom, Botha said, amid speculation that per formance-enhancing drugs may have influenced his mental state.

But his defence lawyer, Barry Roux, said the sex hormone was an acceptable supplement. “It’s a herbal remedy and he can use it and he has used it before,” he said. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced that he was drug-tested before and during last year’s Paralympic Games in London and on both occasions the results were negative.

Magistrate Desmond Nair said he could not rule out that there was some planning involved in the killing, which may be considered as a premeditated murder, setting a high bar for bail.

The bail hearing was adjourned until today. Pistorius, who off the track has had a rocky private life with stories of rash behaviour, beautiful women, guns and fast cars, has built up a powerful team of lawyers, medical specialists and public relations experts for his defence.

In 2009, Pistorius-who once admitted to a newspaper that he slept with a pistol, machine gun, cricket bat and baseball bat for fear of burglars-spent a night in jail after allegedly assaulting a 19-year-old woman at a par ty. He runs on carbon-fibre blades, which inspired his nickname, after being born without the fibulas in both of his legs which were amputated below the knee when he was a baby. Pistorius revealed he earned 5.6 million rand ($640,000) a year and owned the $570,000 house where the killing took place as well as two other homes.

But his career has been put on hold since the shooting, forcing him to cancel races in Australia, Brazil, Britain and the United States between March and May. But two of his American sponsors, N i k e a n d s u n g l a s s e s m a k e r O a k l e y, announced they were dropping Pistorius from their advertising campaigns, which have earned him millions of dollars in e n d o r s e m e n t s . Fr e n c h c o s m e t i c s f i r m Clarins said Wednesday it was dropping a fragrance advertising campaign featuring Pistorius. —AFP

India expects global amateur ban lifted MUMBAI: Indian International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Randhir Singh is confident the world amateur boxing federation (AIBA) will soon lift its ban on the country’s pugilists, the official told Reuters yesterday.

The AIBA suspended the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) in early December for “possible manipulation” of its elections, in the wake of a wider Olympic ban that has sent shockwaves through sport in the South Asian country.

Randhir, Indian Olympic Association (IOA)

secretar y general during the previous regime, said he asked AIBA chief Wu Chingkuo to lift the ban on the country’s boxers when he spoke to the Taiwanese official on Tuesday.

“I spoke to Wu and told him that the boxers should not be made to suffer for no fault of theirs,” Randhir said by phone.

“I will be sending an official letter today. I am very hopeful that AIBA will lift the ban on the players and let them participate.

“I have my fingers crossed.”

The IOA was kicked out of the Olympic

family for allowing government interference in its Dec. 5 elections, which also saw a tainted official being elected to a key post.

Vijender Singh, whose middleweight bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics helped raise boxing’s profile in India, was glad to hear news of a development.

“That’s great news, all our boxers will be very happy. I have always said that the boxers should not be penalised,” Vijender told Reuters.

“We never stopped training, hoping there will be some solution some day.” — Reuters

Carter’s late goal lifts Kings over Oilers 3-1 Blackhawks match record for opening point streak EDMONTON: Jeff Carter scored the go-ahead goal with 49.6 seconds remaining in regulation to lift the Los Angeles Kings over the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 on Tuesday night.

After the Oilers turned the puck over at the Kings blue line, Carter beat goalie Nikolai Khabibulin through the legs with a quick shot.

Los Angeles then put the game away with an empty-net goal by Jarret Stoll.

Colin Fraser also scored for the Stanley Cup champions, who have won three of four.

Jonathan Quick made 23 saves. Sam Gagner had a goal for the Oilers and Khabibulin stopped 35 shots. Edmonton had the best early chances. Taylor Hall dropped a pass to Jordan Eberle just 3 minutes in, but he hit the post behind Quick. A minute later, Quick was

forced to come up with a big toe save on another solid opportunity for Hall. The Kings took a 1-0 lead at 4:44 of the second period.

Khabibulin made a save on a long shot by Jordan Nolan, but the Oilers were unable to clear the rebound and Fraser swooped in for his first of the season.Los Angeles had most of the momentum in the period, at one point outshooting Edmonton 13 1, but the Oilers fought back to tie it.

Seconds after Khabibulin made a diving save after an odd bounce off the boards, Edmonton connected on the power play when Gagner ’s shot beat a screened Quick at 16:50.Edmonton once again had a great chance denied 3 minutes into the third when Quick stoned Hall point blank on a shot from

EDMONTON: Ryan Smyth #94 of the Edmonton Oilers tries to check Davis Drewiske #44 of the Los Angeles Kings during an NHL game at Rexall Place on Tuesday in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The Los Angeles Kings won 2-1. — AFP

the top of the crease. The Kings finish a threegame road trip in Calgary today. The Oilers play the fourth game of a five-game homestand Thursday against Minnesota before heading out on a nine -game road swing.

Meanwhile, Marian Hossa has come up with a handful of big goals. Duncan Keith leads a group of solid defensemen, and each of the goalies has played really well.

This is the best start in the proud history of the Chicago Blackhawks, and it could become the NHL’s best ever on Friday night. The Blackhawks beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 in a shootout on Tuesday to give them 16 straight games with at least one point, matching the league record to start a season.

“It’s a remarkable start,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “We’re very happy and pleased. Guys should be proud of the achievement and where they’re at, especially in a 48-game season. It’s put us in a real good spot.” Patrick Kane and Andrew Shaw scored in the tiebreaker for the Blackhawks (13-0-3), who earned their third consecutive win and joined the 2006-07 Anaheim Ducks as the only teams to record at least one point in the first 16 games of a season. The Ducks got off to a 12-0-4 start that year and went on to win the Stanley Cup. Chicago will go for the record Friday night when it hosts the San Jose Sharks for the second time in a week. But it could be without Hossa for that one after the star forward had to be helped off the ice during the third period following a forearm to the back of the head from Vancouver forward Jannik Hansen.

“It’s great to start, but that’s all it is: It’s a start,” said Ray Emery, who made 29 stops.

“You want to see it at the end of the year, that’s when it counts.”

Alexander Edler and Kevin Bieksa each scored in the final 2:42 of regulation for the Canucks, who opened a four-game trip with their third consecutive loss. Daniel Sedin had a goal and an assist, and twin brother Henrik had two assists.

After Jonathan Toews of Chicago and Jordan Schroeder of Vancouver were denied in

NHL results/standings Winnipeg 2, Buffalo 1; Montreal 3, NY Rangers 1; Ottawa 3, NY Islanders 1; Tampa Bay 4, Toronto 2; San Jose 2, St. Louis 1; Nashville 4, Detroit 3, OT; Chicago 4, Vancouver 3, SO; Los Angeles 3, Edmonton 1.

Eastern Conference Western Conference Central Division Atlantic Division Chicago 13 0 3 29 55 34 W L OT Pts GF GA Nashville 8 4 5 21 39 38 Pittsburgh 11 5 0 22 52 38 St. Louis 9 6 1 19 53 50 New Jersey 9 3 4 22 42 38 Detroit 7 6 3 17 43 48 NY Rangers 8 6 1 17 39 38 Columbus 4 10 2 10 36 51 Philadelphia 7 9 1 15 45 49 Northwest Division NY Islanders 6 9 1 13 46 57 Vancouver 8 3 4 20 44 37 Northeast Division Minnesota 7 6 2 16 33 38 Montreal 11 4 1 23 46 35 Edmonton 6 6 3 15 36 41 Toronto 10 7 0 20 48 40 Colorado 6 7 1 13 37 43 Boston 9 2 2 20 37 31 Calgary 5 6 3 13 39 51 Ottawa 9 6 2 20 40 32 Pacific Division Buffalo 6 10 1 13 47 56 Anaheim 12 2 1 25 53 39 Southeast Division San Jose 8 4 3 19 39 34 Carolina 8 5 1 17 41 40 Phoenix 8 6 2 18 44 41 Tampa Bay 8 6 1 17 59 47 Dallas 8 7 1 17 41 43 Winnipeg 6 8 1 13 37 47 Los Angeles 6 6 2 14 33 37 Florida 4 7 4 12 35 56 Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss Washington 5 9 1 11 41 51 or shootout loss.

the shootout, Kane skated in on Cory Schneider and tried to stuff one in close to the goal. It was waved off as the puck trickled into the net, leading to boos from the sellout crowd and an exasperated reaction from Quenneville.

Replays showed Schneider knocked it in with his glove, and the officials put the goal on the board after a short review.

Chris Higgins then converted his chance for the Canucks, and Shaw put the Blackhawks ahead once again with a nice backhander.

That put all the pressure on Ryan Kesler, whose shot was gloved by Emery to end the game.

“A big goal by Shawzy and big stops by Razor in the shootout, so it’s another big win for us,” Toews said. Hossa had two goals and Patrick Sharp scored in regulation for the Blackhawks, who have won seven of eight overall. Emery, subbing again for Corey Crawford, improved to 6-0 this season.

The Canucks had the lead when the second period started, but Chicago turned up the pressure on Schneider to grab control.

Sharp took a pass from Kane at 6:36 and fired a slap shot between The Canucks’ rally came after Hansen belted Hossa early in the third, adding another subplot to one of the NHL’s biggest rivalries.

Hossa eventually got up and went to the bench as Hansen made his way to the penalty box to serve his penalty for roughing. “ We will know more tomorrow,” Quenneville said. “It was a major concern, so hopefully he is OK. I think everybody saw it.

Everybody can have their own opinion. So we’ll let the people who do that stuff do their job.”

Hansen hit Hossa as he reached for a high puck. “It wasn’t even a penalty,” Vigneault said.

“Both referees looked at the play. Until Toews went out to talk to them, it wasn’t even a penalty.”

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

S P ORTS

Floyd Mayweather Jr to fight Guerrero on Showtime LAS VEGAS: The biggest star in boxing dropped a surprise Tuesday while announcing his long-rumored next bout: After several years on HBO, Mayweather is moving to Showtime with a lucrative multi-fight deal.

Mayweather’s move is a coup for Showtime, the CBS-owned network that has always trailed behind HBO in boxing prominence. Mayweather (43-0, 26 KOs) is the sport’s biggest moneymaker, and his new revenue -sharing deal with Showtime could include up to six payper-view fights over 30 months. “ They were extremely aggressive from the start, and they made it clear they want Floyd Mayweather to be the face of Showtime,” Mayweather adviser Leonard Ellerbe told The Associated Press. “It’s the ultimate compliment to a fighter like Floyd. They were aggressive, and the deal that they put on the table was essentially a deal that you can’t refuse.”

Mayweather’s first bout is against Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KOs), the WBC’s interim welterweight champion. The fight likely will be at the MGM Grand

Garden in Las Vegas, the site of Mayweather’s last six bouts.

Mayweather turns 36 on Sunday, but the unbeaten WBC 147-pound champion has shown few signs of advancing age in the ring. He hasn’t fought since beating Miguel Cotto last May 5, and he spent two months in jail last summer after his conviction in a misdemeanor domestic battery case.

With Showtime as his new showcase, Ellerbe said Mayweather’s fans will see much more in the next few years from the re-energized champion, who has fought just four times since December 2007. “He has a renewed motivation to stay active and to take on everybody out there,” Ellerbe said. “When Floyd is more active, he’s going to be beyond untouchable. He’s proved he can stay sharp with those layoffs in the past, but he’s going to be more active now.”

Guerrero beat out several contenders to get the biggest payday of his career and a shot at his sport’s biggest name.

Guerrero, from Gilroy, Calif., is a onetime featherweight champion who hasn’t lost since 2005, beating welterweight Andre

Berto in a thrilling fight last November.

“On May 4th I’m going to shock the world,” Guerrero tweeted. Ellerbe said Mayweather chose Guerrero as his next opponent because of his toughness and crowd-pleasing style.

“He definitely earned the right to fight Floyd,” Ellerbe said. “He won the Mayweather sweepstakes, so now he gets to see what the grand prize is, and when he opens up that grand prize, it’s going to be a can of (tail) whooping.”

Guerrero and Showtime Sports general manager Stephen Espinoza both felt lucky after Mayweather made his decision. Espinoza went after Mayweather before his last fight, but finally got his man after two weeks of negotiations.

“He is as compelling an entertaining a personality as there is in sports, and his performance is at the top of the sport as well,” Espinoza told the AP. “You don’t often see those things in combination.

Everything he does, everything he says generates reaction and discussion.

Those are the people you want. We’re thrilled to be working with Floyd.”

Mayweather has been on Time

Warner-owned HBO for essentially his entire professional career, which began after the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Along with his peerless pay-per-view prowess, Mayweather starred in HBO’s popular “24/7” reality series before each of his past six bouts, further growing his celebrity with the four-episode showcases of his Vegas lifestyle and irrepressible personality.

Any boxing fans who are worried about missing Mayweather on “24/7” can rest easy: Espinoza is forming his own plans to showcase Mayweather outside the ring. “It would be a major failure if we didn’t capture all that interesting stuff,” Espinoza said. “Literally within the next 24 hours, we’re going to have cameras on him. We’re going full speed ahead.

What HBO has done is very impressive, and I respect their creative work.

We have a slightly different approach, and we feel there’s a lot of the Floyd Mayweather story and the personality that has not been exposed. We’ve seen one facet of him repeatedly, and we think that’s only part of the story.”

Manny Pacquiao, another longtime HBO fixture, was Mayweather’s only rival for boxing supremacy in recent years before the Filipino congressman’s backto-back losses last year. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum moved Pacquiao off HBO for one fight in 2011, beating Sugar Shane Mosley on Showtime, but returned to HBO for Pacquiao’s next bout.

HBO fought to keep Mayweather as well, but couldn’t top Showtime. “We made an aggressive and responsible pay-per-view offer,” HBO said in a statement from spokesman Kevin Flaherty.

“Now we move on. We are focused on the best boxing franchise in the television business. We are proud of the roster of superstar fighters and emerging stars who are scheduled to appear on the multiple HBO television platforms this year.”

Mayweather usually partners with Golden Boy Promotions to organize his fights, but the boxer essentially serves as his own promoter and cuts his own financial deals with help from adviser Al Haymon.— AP

Cook anchors easy win for England over NZ NAPIER: A five -wicket haul for James Anderson backed by a dominant England batting display set up an eight wicket win over New Zealand in the second one-day international in Napier yesterday.

Facing a series defeat after an upset loss in the first match in Hamilton, England bounced back after standout performances from Anderson and up-and-coming batsman Joe Root.

England’s top order rose to the occasion, with half centuries to captain Alastair Cook (78), Jonathan Trott (65) and Root (79), the 22-year-old tipped as a future star. But the foundation for England’s victory came from a miserly five for 34 from Anderson, who swept through New Zealand’s batters to restrict the home side’s total.

His scalps included both the Black Caps opening batsmen and a rejuvenated Ross Taylor, whose century late in New Zealand’s innings threatened to set England a formidable total, along with a quickfire 74 from 36 balls from Brendon McCullum.

The Black Caps made a slow start after being sent into bat on a tame wicket, all out for 269 after 48.5 overs, with England reaching the target of 270 after 47.4 overs.

Missing injured opener Martin Guptill, New Zealand were pedestrian, with the first boundary coming when Hamish Ruther ford pulled a delivery from Anderson in the fifth over.

Anderson dismissed openers BJ Watling (7) and ODI debutant Ruther ford (11) cheaply as New Zealand’s frustration mounted and the home side were on just

22 runs after 12 overs. Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor gradually increased the run rate, putting on 72 runs together to take the Black Caps to 91 before Williamson (33) dragged a ball from Chris Woakes on to his stumps to again slow the host’s momentum.

New Zealand’s struggle was apparent when Taylor, in his best performance since returning to the international fold after being axed as captain late last year, brought up his half century off 81 balls with only three fours.

Backed by McCullum, his successor as captain, Taylor notched a century off 116 balls with a four but was dismissed by the next delivery he faced. The New Zealand tail failed to fire, leaving England with a tricky but achievable target.

England’s Ian Bell and Alastair Cook made a brisk start to the run chase with an opening partnership of 89 in the first 20 overs before part-time spinner Williamson dismissed Bell for 44.

The England batsman attempted to cart Williamson’s delivery over mid-wicket but was out when Hamish Rutherford made an athletic dash to catch him on the boundary.

Cook brought up a chanceless 50 from 67 balls, including five fours and one six, bit he was dismissed on 78 after hitting the ball straight back down the wicket to Tim Southee.

Trott and Root then combined the see England home, with Root displaying a wide variety of shots ranging from authoritative drives to risky reverse sweeps. — AFP

SCOREBOARD NAPIER: Scoreboard at the end of the second one day international between New Zealand and England at McLean Park in Napier yesterday: England won the toss and opted to field.

New Zealand BJ Watling c Cook b Anderson 7 H. Rutherford C Cook b Anderson 11 K. Williamson b Woakes 33 R. Taylor c Buttler b Anderson 100 G. Elliott c Bairstow b Finn 23 B. McCullum c Woakes b Broad 74 J. Franklin c Root b Woakes 1 N. McCullum c Buttler b Anderson 7 T. Southee b Woakes 2 K. Mills not out 3 T. Boult c Woakes b Anderson 1 Extras (lb-3, w-3, nb-1) 7 Total (all out, 48.5 overs) 269 Fall of wickets: 1-12 2-19 3-91 4-143 5-243 6245 7-254 8-261 9-267 Bowling: Anderson 9.5-2-34-5, Finn 10-1-33-1 (w-1), Woakes 10-0-68-3, Broad 9-0-69-1 (w-2, nb-1), Swann 10-0-62-0.

England A. Cook c & b Southee 78 I. Bell c Rutherford b Williamson 44 J. Trott not out 65 J. Root not out 79 Extras (lb-1, w-3) 4 Total (for two wickets, 47.4 overs) 270 Did not bat: Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Steven Finn, James Anderson Fall of wickets: 1-89 2-149 Bowling: Mills 6.4-0-43-0, Boult 9-1-55-0 (w2), Franklin 5-0-32-0, Southee 9-0-54-10, N. McCullum 10-0-46-0, Williamson 8-0-39-1 (w-1) Result - England won by eight wickets Previous result Feb. 17 - New Zealand won by three wickets Remaining one-day international fixtures Feb. 23 - Eden Park, Auckland

DUBAI: Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland returns to Yulia Putinseva of Kazakhstan during the first day of Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, yesterday. — AP

Radwanska favourite as Williams pulls out Injured Serena targets Miami Open DUBAI: Titleholder Agnieszka Radwanska is favourite for the Dubai women’s tennis championships after the Pole overcame Kazakh Yulia Putintseva in the second round and Serena Williams withdrew due to a back injury yesterday. Seven of the world’s top 12 remain in the draw, but the tournament has been shorn of its two top names, with Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka pulling out on Tuesday because of a foot injury.

World number one Williams said she had been struggling for several weeks with the back injury and is targeting a return at next month’s Miami Open after pulling out of her Dubai second-round match just before she was due to play. Earlier, world number four Radwanska beat teenager Putintseva 7-5 6-3 despite losing three of her first four service games. The Pole had a bye into the second round.

“For me, the first match is always a bit tricky,” Radwanska, 23, told reporters. “I didn’t hit on the centre court here this year, and I was just practising outside - it was actually much faster. I was surprised - the ball is just not going anywhere.”

Toiling at 4-3 down, Radwanska came to the net more often to force Putintseva, ranked 101 in the world, on to the back foot. The Kazakh, who beat Britain’s Laura Robson in an allteenage first-round battle, prefers brute force over finesse and although a fast hitter, she consistently played the ball too short, allowing Radwanska to stay in rallies with relative ease.

Radwanska, the top remaining seed, was too out of sorts to fully exploit her opponent’s shortcomings but as the overcast sky gave way to a muggy desert sun she also upped the playing temperature on court and took control of the match.

She will have to improve to defeat her next opponent, Czech Petra Kvitova, who beat former world number one Ana Ivanovic 7-5 7-6.

DUBAI: German’s Angelique Kerber returns the ball to Italy’s Roberta Vinci during their WTA Dubai Open tennis match in the Gulf emirate yesterday. — AFP The 24-year-old-Serb started with a 4-1 winning record against the 2011 Wimbledon champion, but three of those victories came in 2008-9 when Ivanovic appeared poised to become the new force in the women’s game. She has sunk down the rankings since, although showed enough of her undoubted talent to trouble the world number eight in Dubai.

Ivanovic battled back from 5-1 down in the first set to square the match at 5-5, saving three set points along the way, but just when she appeared in the ascendancy, Kvitova broke again and eventually converted a fourth set point.

Ivanovic sparkled in patches and was defter

in her touch, but ultimately could not cope with the relentless power of the 22-year-old’s brutal baseline play.

“She’s a clean striker of the ball, it’s hard to pick where she’s going to go - you sort of have to commit to one side,” said Ivanovic. “She served big when she needed it.”

Another former world number one, Caroline Wozniacki, routed China’s Jie Zheng 6-0 6-1 to earn a quarter-final showdown with France’s Marion Bartoli, who had been due to play Williams. Samantha Stosur - a 6-4 6-0 winner against Taiwan’s Su-Wei Hsieh - will play Italy’s Roberta Vinci, who ousted German Angelique Kerber 7-5 6-1.— Reuters

South Africa retain Du Plessis as T20 captain

NAPIER: Alastair Cook of England (R) bats as New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum (L) looks on during their second one-day international cricket match at McLean Park in Napier yesterday. — AFP

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa have retained Faf du Plessis as captain of their T20 squad for the twomatch cricket series against Pakistan starting on March 1 after AB de Villiers asked not to be considered for the role.

De Villiers will remain in charge of the one-day international (ODI) set-up, giving South Africa different skippers in all three formats of the game.

Du Plessis was in charge for the 2-1 T20 series victory over New

Zealand last month. Cricket South Africa announced their squads for the shortened versions of the game yesterday, with the side also set to take on Pakistan in five ODI matches in March.

“Handing Faf the T20 captaincy is an exciting option for us to explore our leadership resources,” coach Gar y Kirsten said. “He showed a lot of potential during the series against New Zealand in both the T20 and ODI formats, and this will be another great opportu-

nity for him to work on his role as a leader. “Having three captains also allows us to spread the resources amongst our three formats, with Graeme (Smith) and AB also providing the ideal support in the Test and ODI formats. This is an important year for our limited-overs squads and this new direction is an exciting step forward.”

Morne Morkel should be sufficiently recovered from his hamstring injury to play in the ODI series but will be replaced by new

cap Kyle Abbott for the T20 matches. South Africa have rested Jacques Kallis from both their ODI and T20 squads, while Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn have been given time off for the T20 series as well.

South Africa ODI squad: AB de Villiers (captain), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Rory Kleinveldt, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Robin Peterson, Aaron Phangiso, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.—Reuters

19

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

SPORTS

Malaga can breathe life into Porto tie, thanks to defence MADRID: Malaga’s forwards have their defence to thank for giving them a chance to redeem themselves against Porto and for keeping alive their Champions League quarter-final hopes.

Competition debutants Malaga have been one of the surprise teams this season, their attractive brand of possession football winning widespread praise, but they ran into a wall in Porto and lost Tuesday’s last-16 first leg 1-0.

Double European Cup winners Porto starved the visitors of the ball and Joao Moutinho scored the only goal, albeit from an offside position, to give the Portuguese side a narrow advantage for the second leg on March 13.

“We played one of our worst games of the season in attack,” Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini told a post-match news conference, after his side failed to register a shot on target. “But taking into account how the game progressed, with all the possession they had, Porto didn’t do us too much damage.

“We hope that in a more normal game, where we see more of the ball, we will turn this around.” Malaga, who are fourth in La Liga, have the Spanish league’s tightest defence and, in Willy Caballero, one of the most in-form

goalkeepers.

However, it is in midfield and up front that Malaga have usually caught the eye, with the ball-playing talents of Spanish under-21 international Isco standing out.

Freeing the playmaker from the straightjacket Porto managed to keep him in on Tuesday will be key to their hopes of overturning the result in the second leg. “Considering what happened, the best thing about the game was the result,” Isco told reporters.

“At 1-0 I think we are capable of turning the tie around at the Rosaleda.

“They played a very tough game, very tactical, and they barely let us breathe.

They didn’t give us a minute to play our football. We couldn’t find the space, but 90 minutes are very long and we can turn this round.”

Malaga’s experienced midfielder Julio Baptista, an influential figure in the dressing-room after spells at Real Madrid, Arsenal and AS Roma, said: “We let Porto play and didn’t manage to play ourselves.

“They were better than us but the knockout rounds aren’t settled in 90 minutes,” added the Brazil international, back after almost a year out with injury. “Nothing is decided yet and we still have the return match. We certainly have to be a lot better then we were today.” — Reuters

Wenger has few options to save Arsenal’s season LONDON: Long-serving Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger can do very little to salvage even pride from what looks like being another trophyless season after Tuesday’s 3-1 Champions League home defeat by Bayern Munich.

The last-16 first-leg loss exposed the lack of strength in depth which has contributed to the Londoners going out of both domestic cup competitions, lying fifth in the Premier League and looking poised to bow out of Europe.

Bundesliga leaders Bayern had the luxury of bringing on Dutch World Cup runnerup Arjen Robben and prolific Germany striker Mario Gomez in the second half but a glance at Arsenal’s bench showed no such riches and Wenger’s hands are largely tied.

The Frenchman, at Arsenal since 1996, failed to bring in attacking quality in the January transfer window and the club look doomed to an eighth season without a trophy, leading fans to question whether they still have the right man in charge.

The indefatigable Jack Wilshere is carrying the team almost alone but the midfielder jumped to the defence of Wenger, who won three Premier League titles in 1998, 2002 and 2004. “It’s nothing to do with the manager - he puts us on the pitch, it’s down to us to perform,” he told reporters.

“The players have to take responsibility, we’re man enough to take it. The manager has been here 16 years and he’s done a great job so you can’t question him.”

However, celebrity fans such as British U.S. talk show host Piers Morgan and golfer Ian Poulter are among those to have called for Wenger’s departure and it is difficult to see what the manager can do to ease the pressure.

First-half strikes from Toni Kroos and Thomas Mueller already had Arsenal against the wall but Mario Mandzukic’s bizarre third goal after Lukas Podolski had pulled one back against his old club means

Arsenal’s manager Wenger last-16 progression looks impossible.

Not even a 2-0 win in Munich in three weeks’ time will be enough, though that looks highly unlikely given Arsenal’s current naivety in defence and fickleness in attack.

Thomas Vermaelen, still easily Arsenal’s best centre half despite some lapses this term, had to switch to left back following Wenger’s bungled attempts to fill the role and that left Per Mertesacker coming back into the heart of the backline.

The tall German lumbered about like a zombie butler in a horror movie, a pale imitation of the man Bayern would have remembered from his Bundesliga days.

Midfielder Aaron Ramsey again looked out of his depth and main striker Theo Walcott proved for the umpteenth time that despite a lucrative new contract he is not the finished article. — Reuters

LIVERPOOL: Liverpool’s English midfielder Raheem Sterling (4th L) and teammates take part in a training session at their Melwood Training Ground in Liverpool, north west England yesterday. Liverpool play Zenit St Petersburg in the Europa League today, Zenit leading 2-0 from the first leg. — AFP

FIFA urges strict laws against match-fixing Asian crime groups involved in match-fixing KUALA LUMPUR: FIFA’s head of security warned yesterday that the fight against match-fixing will ultimately flounder without the full support of governments across the world.

Ralf Mutschke hopes a Singaporean businessman accused of heading a crime syndicate that made millions by betting on rigged Italian games will be brought to face the courts with the help of local government authorities.

Speaking at a conference in Malaysia cohosted by Interpol and the Asian Football Confederation, Mutschke said referees and players are being banned for life for corruption but the masterminds walk free because of legislative weaknesses.

“We have to bring in the governments because they have to change legislations and laws, because a lot of countries do not have proper laws fighting match manipulation and corruption,” he said. “Talking is nice, but we have to come to a conclusion that it’s time now for action.”

The European Union’s police agency reported earlier this month that organized crime gangs have fixed or tried to fix hundreds of football matches around the world in recent years. Europol said its 18-month review found 380 suspicious matches in Europe and another 300 questionable games outside the continent, mainly in Africa, Asia and South and Central America. It also found evidence that Asian crime groups were involved in some of the match-fixing.

Mutschke pointed to the case of Singaporean businessman Tan Seet Eng known as Dan Tan - for whom Italian authorities have issued an arrest warrant but have been unable to take into custody because it cannot be served on him while he is in Asia.

He said FIFA would not sanction Singapore’s football association, which is not responsible for arresting Tan. Tan “needs to be brought to justice ... but it’s out of our jurisdiction,” Mutschke said. “Why should FIFA punish the entire Singapore if it’s a political problem? The problem has to be solved on a political level.”

Singapore police have said the city state’s authorities are reviewing information submitted by the Italians before deciding what to do.

Tan’s former associate, Wilson Raj Perumal, has alleged to Italian investigators that Tan has placed syndicate wagers on fixed games

KUALA LUMPUR: FIFA director of security Ralk Mutschke speaks at the opening of the two day conference by INTERPOL and FIFA to combat match fixing in football in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. — AFP using Asia-based online betting sites via inter- its source. To tackle organized crime and, mediaries in China. within the sport, do whatever we can to make Mutschke said FIFA is working to ensure the players more resilient.” that betting syndicates don’t infiltrate the He said problems were rife in Indonesia 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and is providing where some foreign players have been special training for referees and teams and detained after their clubs failed to fulfill their setting up a round-the-clock hotline to report work permit responsibilities. In December, any irregularities.

Paraguyan striker Diego Mendieta who died “Up to now, to the best of my knowledge, of a suspected viral infection in an Indonesian there was no World Cup infiltrated by organ- hospital was owed months of wages, Schwab ized crime,” he said. Zhang Jilong, the acting said. president of the Asian Football “In Indonesia, it’s at a tragic level. We have Confederation, acknowledged that Asia has said to the Asian Football Confederation that emerged as the financial hub for match-fixing we can’t have players suffer like this. If we are syndicates and must make more effort to serious about integrity, we have to be serious fight the scourge. about the rights of the players,” Schwab said, Brendan Schwab, the Asian head of the adding that players also need to be educated International Federation of Professional about not accepting bribes.

Footballers, warned that targeting players The officials’ comments came as Football and officials without going after criminal syn- Association of Thailand president and longdicates would be ineffective. time FIFA executive committee member “This will just give more ammunition and Worawi Makudi prepares to meet with offimore confidence to the fixers who realize that cials from FIFA and Interpol at Kuala Lumpur the sport is not serious in cooperating with today about allegations of match-fixing durinternational police to target the fixers,” ing last year’s Thai FA Cup final.

Schwab said on the sidelines of the conferEarlier this week, the Chinese Football ence. “We know that the fixers treat the play- Association stripped Shanghai Shenhua of its ers as disposable, so if (the players) are sanc- 2003 league title and fined the club $160,000 tioned, they’ll just go with another group (of as part of sanctions aimed at stamping out fixplayers). Our strong message is to tackle it at ing in the Chinese Super League. — AP

Former banker takes on top role at Man Utd LONDON: Former investment banker Ed Woodward will take on the top executive role at Manchester United from July, working with manager Alex Ferguson to hire new players for the 19-times English soccer champions.

Woodward, who joined the club in 2005 after its takeover by the American Glazer family in a controversial 790 million pounds ($1.2 billion) deal, replaces longserving chief executive David Gill who is stepping down after a decade in the role, the club said yesterday.

Woodward will retain the title of executive vice chairman but take on the duties vacated by Gill, 55. A 40-year-old Briton, Woodward worked with the Glazers on their takeover of the club when he was a banker with JP Morgan and then joined United where he helped to organise the club’s successful commercial expansion.

He played a prominent role in United’s $2.3 billion flotation on the New York Stock Exchange last August and has recently been hosting conference calls with investors when the club publishes its financial results every three months.

Ed Woodward As part of United’s reorganisa- keen to see how Woodward gets tion, commercial director Richard on with Ferguson, the Scot who Arnold, who has done a series of has managed United since 1986 sponsorship deals around the and led the club to 12 Premier world, is promoted to the role of League titles and two European managing director.

Champions League triumphs.

United regularly attract crowds Ferguson, 71, said he was sorry of 75,000 to their Old Trafford that Gill was leaving but welStadium and claim to have more comed the appointment of than 650 million followers across Woodward. “He is a young man the globe - making them one of with the energy and drive to help the world’s most popular soccer keep United at the forefront of the clubs. game and to help us maintain our Fans and investors who have success on the field,” he said in a bought shares in the club will be statement. Woodward’s role will

involve helping to agree transfer fees and wage packages for new additions to a squad that includes England forward Wayne Rooney and Netherlands striker Robin van Persie.

A vocal section of United supporters accused the Glazers of overloading the club with debt and harming its chances of competing with the top teams in Europe. After a barren season in 2011-12, the signing of Van Persie from Arsenal last August for a fee put at 24 million pounds by local media has helped to silence the critics.

United lead the Premier League by 12 points and are well placed to reach the last eight of the Champions League after a 1-1 draw with fellow European heavyweights Real Madrid in Spain last week. Gill, 55, joined United in February 1997 as finance director and has been chief executive since 2003. He will remain a club director. He has been moving more into the politics of the game, having been appointed vice chairman of the English Football Association last year, and will seek a place on the executive committee of UEFA, European soccer’s ruling body, in elections scheduled for May. — Reuters

ACK organizes sports & arts trip to UAE

KUWAIT: In a distinctive initiative, the Australian College of Kuwait (ACK) organized a sports and arts trip for 96 of its students to the United Arab Emirates. Accompanied by 8 supervisors, the students competed in a series of friendly games against the American University of Dubai (AUD).

The sports component of the trip consisted of numerous friendly matches in football, volleyball, basketball and table tennis. Both male and female ACK

teams tasted moments of success and pride. Student clubs from both educational institutions, including drama, art, photography and video, held several meetings and discussion groups where they shared their experiences, information and expertise. The trip, organized by 1Boxoffice Services, ended successfully with ACK’s students returning back to Kuwait carrying with them an unforgettable experience, new alliances and glory.

Pistorius ‘fought’ with lover before her killing: Witnesses

17

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Radwanska favourite as Williams pulls out

18

FIFA urges strict laws against match-fixing

Page 19

MILAN: AC Milan’s Ghanaian defender Prince Kevin Boateng kicks and scores during the Champions League football match between AC Milan and FC Barcelona yesterday at San Siro Stadium in Milan. — AFP

Milan strangle Barca to seal shock win MILAN: Ghanaians Kevin-Prince Boateng and Sulley Muntari both scored in a lively second half as AC Milan inflicted a shock 2-0 defeat on Barcelona in their Champions League last 16, first leg, at the San Siro here yesterday.

Milan, crowned European champions seven times, had failed to beat the Catalan giants in the competition since a 2-0 win at the Camp Nou in 2000 and had exited the competition last season and in 2006 after defeats at the hands of Barcelona.

But, after a promising first-half display was taken up a level in the second period, fans of the Rossoneri were given reason to believe that their team can advance to the quarter-finals.

In a tight first half, Barcelona toyed with the hosts’ defence without really putting ‘keeper Christian Abbiati in danger.

Milan sought to get men behind the ball but were still left rueing several missed chances. On 16 minutes, an unmarked Giampaolo Pazzini failed to convert Boateng’s first-time effort from Stephan El Shaarawy’s corner at the far post.

French defender Phillipe Mexes then did well at the other end with a saving block at the near post from a dangerous Pedro Rodriguez cross.

El Shaarawy then missed a great chance for the opener, prompting a torrent of abuse from angy home fans, when he ran on to Boateng’s ball on the left only to fire tamely towards Valdes.

From the striker’s ensuing corner, Boateng produced a great first-time effort with the outside of his foot that went inches past Valdes’ far post as Pazzini stood rooted.

El Shaarawy was then unlucky not to reach Boateng’s floated ball in from the right on 36 minutes after Muntari had done well to win the ball in midfield. No changes were made at half-time, but the game itself went on to change dramatically.

On 53 minutes tempers frayed when Sergio Busquets brought down Pazzini in midfield, earning the Spaniard a yellow card.

Moments later the San Siro erupted when Boateng pounced to give Milan the opener. A Riccardo Montolivo freekick from 30 metres bounced fortuitous-

ly off the hand of Cristian Zapata for Boateng, who beat Valdes with a superb strike from the edge of the area.

Barca protested but Scottish referee Craig Thomson responded by showing a yellow card to Gerard Pique. Barcelona were showing little of the cohesion and possession football they had displayed in the first half while Milan, growing in confidence, were getting more bullish.

On 63 minutes, Barcelona replaced Cesc Fabregas with Alexis Sanchez but the change had little impact as Milan continued to frustrate the Catalans.

The visitors had barely threatened the home goal until an Andres Iniesta strike from the edge of the area shaved the far post, and they then fell further behind in the 81st minute.

Muntari, unmarked on the left of the area, finished off some neat build-up play by El Shaarawy and M’Baye Niang to beat Valdes with a superb angled strike.

Barca rallied in the dying minutes and Puyol was unlucky with a bullet header when he rose to meet a corner from the left, but they were unable to get what would have been a precious away goal. — AFP

MILAN: Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi (C) reacts during the Champions League football match between AC Milan and FC Barcelona yesterday at San Siro Stadium in Milan. AC Milan defeated Barcelona 2-0. — AFP

Jones strike earns Schalke draw againt Galatasaray

ISTANBUL: Schalke 04 midfielder Marco Hoger (R) shots the ball in front of Galatasaray’s midfielder Felipe Melo (L) during an UEFA Champions League football match between Galatasaray and FC Schalke 04 at the Ali Samiyen stadium in Istanbul yesterday. — AFP

ISTANBUL: Schalke 04 brushed off poor recent form to earn a 1-1 draw at Galatasaray in the Champions League last 16, first-leg clash yesterday despite the hosts fielding Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder.

After Turkey striker Burak Yilmaz gave Galatasaray an early lead at the Turk Telekom Arena, US midfielder Jermaine Jones equalised on the stroke of half-time to give Schalke a slim advantage ahead of the March 12 second leg.

Schalke have now lost just one of their last ten European away fixtures, including victories at Olympiakos and Arsenal, in sharp contrast to their recent Bundesliga form.

After just one victory in their last 12 games, this was a huge improvement by the Royal Blues.

Despite Drogba and Sneijder making their Champions League debuts for the ambitious Turkish club since joining last month from Shanghai Shenhua and Inter Milan respectively, both had quiet games as the hosts failed to dominate. The game started at a frantic pace with both teams focusing on attack while leaving plenty of space at the back. The hosts took the lead when Yilmaz, with a superb first touch, flicked the ball with his heel over marker Benedikt Hoewedes and slammed his shot past Schalke goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand after just 12 minutes.

The Germans had their chances as Hoewedes’ header

found Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, back in the side after a two-week break with a burst blood vessel in his left eye, but he could not stab the ball over the line.

Ex-Schalke midfielder Hamit Altintop hammered the underside of the cross bar for Galatasaray in a busy opening period while Schalke’s Jefferson Farfan was only denied when defender Semih Kaya turned his shot around the post.

Jones is suspended for the return leg on March 12 after his appeals for a booking against Selcuk Inan saw him earn a yellow card of his own on 35 minutes. But the US international redeemed himself when he converted a brilliant pass from Farfan to hit the back of the net after a fast break for the equaliser on 45 minutes which will be invaluable in the return leg.

Schalke had a let off with 25 minutes left when Drogba put Yilmaz in a great position, but Hildebrand blocked the shot just as the offside flag went up. Huntelaar smashed a shot over the bar with 75 minutes before making way for Finland’s Teemu Pukki, while both Yilmaz and Sabri Sarioglu both tested Hildebrand at the other end.

With Borussia Dortmund having earned a 2-2 draw at Donetsk and after Bayern Munich’s impressive 3-1 win at Arsenal on Tuesday, all three Bundesliga clubs now have a strong chance of making the quarter-finals. — AFP

India’s workers strike

Business

Page 22 Boeing close to fixing Dreamliner battery

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Bahrain hangs on as banking centre amid political turmoil

Page 24 Al-Zayani giving free 2013 Jaguar XF on 50th ’versary Page 23 Page 23

Thousands of Greeks protest Strike paralyses transport, hospitals and schools ATHENS: Tens of thousands of Greeks took to the streets of Athens yesterday as part of a nationwide strike against austerity that confined ferries to ports, shut schools and left hospitals with only emergency staff. Beating drums, blowing whistles and chanting “Robbers, robbers!” more than 60,000 people angry at wage cuts and tax rises marched to parliament in the biggest protest for months over austerity policies required by international lenders. In the capital, riot police fired tear gas at hooded youths hurling rocks and bottles during a demonstration, mostly of students and pensioners, which ended peacefully.

The two biggest labour unions brought much of crisis-hit Greece to a standstill with a 24-hour protest strike against policies which they say deepen the hardship of people struggling through the country’s worst peacetime downturn. Representing 2.5 million workers, the unions have gone on strike repeatedly since a debt crisis erupted in late 2009, testing the government’s will to impose the painful conditions of an international bailout in the face of growing public anger.

“Today’s strike is a new effort to get rid of the bailout deal and those who take advantage of the people and bring only misery,” said Ilias Iliopoulos, secretary general of the ADEDY public sector union, which organised the walkout along with private sector union GSEE. “A social explosion is very near,” he told Reuters from a rally in a central Athens square as police helicopters clattered overhead.

The eight-month-old coalition of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has been eager to show it will implement reforms promised to the European Union and International Monetary Fund, which have bailed Athens out twice with over 200 billion euros.

The government has cracked down on striking workers, invoking emergency laws twice this year to get seamen and subway workers back to work after week-long walkouts that paralysed public transport in Athens and led to food shortages on islands.

Demonstrations were also held in Greece’s second-biggest city, Thessaloniki, and on the island of Crete where dozens of protesters hit the streets waving black flags. In Athens, crowds began to disperse from Syntagma Square outside parliament, but minor clashes between riot police and hooded youths moved to sidestreets. Labour unrest has picked up in recent weeks. A visit by French President Francois Hollande in Athens on Tuesday went largely unreported because Greek journalists were on strike.

“The period of virtual euphoria is over,” said opposition leader Alexis Tsipras, whose Syriza party has regained a narrow opinion poll lead over the governing conservatives. “Those who thought Samaras would renegotiate the terms of the bailout ... are now faced with the harsh reality of unpaid bills, closed shops and lost jobs,” he said.

Anger at politicians and the wealthy elite has been boiling during the crisis, with many accusing the government of making deep cuts to wages and pensions while doing too little to spread the burden or go after rich tax evaders. “This government needs to look out for us poor people as well because we can’t take it anymore,” said Niki Lambopoulou, a 43-year-old insurance broker and single mother. “I work night and day to make ends meet and the government is killing our children’s dreams.”

In a sign it may be buckling under pressure, the government announced on Monday it would not fire almost 1,900 civil servants earmarked for possible dismissal, despite promising foreign lenders it would seek to cut the public payroll. “The strike highlights the growing gap between the plight of ordinary Greeks and the demands of Greece’s international creditors,” said Martin Koehring, analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, forecasting more social unrest this year.

Greece secured bailout funds in December, ending months of uncertainty over the country’s future in the euro zone, and analysts said this had created expectations among Greeks that things would improve for them personally. “If these expectations are not satisfied by the summer, then whatever is left of the working class will respond with more protests,” said Costas Panagopoulos, head of Alco pollsters.

Six years of recession and three of austerity have tripled the rate of unemployment to 27 percent. More than 60 percent of young workers are jobless. Most business and public sector activity came to a halt with schoolteachers, train drivers and doctors among those joining the strike. Banks pulled down their shutters and ships stayed docked as seamen defied government orders to return to work. “I’m on the brink of going hungry. My life is misery,” said Eleni Nikolaou, 60, a civil servant who supports her unemployed brother on her reduced wage. “If this government had any dignity it would resign. I want them to leave, leave, leave.” — Reuters

A protester kicks back a tear gas canister at riot police during minor clashes at a protest of the 24-hour strike in Athens, yesterday. — AP

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

BUSINESS

Indian wages ready to grow by over 10%

BHUBANESHWAR: Indian activists from various trade unions smash windows of a car during a two-day strike opposing the current UPA government’s economic policies yesterday. — AFP

India’s workers strike policies,” Tapan Sen, general secretary of the umbrella Centre of Indian Trade Unions, told AFP. The “big ticket” reforms include opening the retail, insurance and aviation sectors to wider foreign investment, raising prices of subsidised diesel used by farmers and reducing the number of discounted cooking gas cylinders. The steps aim to free up the still heavily state-controlled economy and reduce India’s ballooning subsidy bill and fiscal deficit.

But they have stirred anger in some areas, especially among the poor. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry estimated losses from the strike at more than 200 billion rupees ($3.7 billion).

“The national economy... can ill afford this situation. In fact, the strike would aggravate the price situation because of disruption in supply line of essential commodities,” the chamber said in a statement. The strike’s impact appeared to

be the greatest in the eastern state of West Bengal and the southern state of Kerala where banks, schools and the transport sector were hit.

Flag-waving protesters stopped trains and staged noisy demonstrations in the eastern states of Orissa and Bihar. A trade union leader was crushed by a bus that he was trying to stop in Ambala district in the northern state of Punjab. In Mumbai the financial sector was crippled, with government banks, insurance companies and workers at other businesses taking part in the stoppage.

Protests turned ugly in Noida, a sprawling suburb of New Delhi, when a mob threw stones and set vehicles on fire before police brought the situation under control. “Almost every factory here has broken glass. When I came in this morning, I saw several cars either still on fire or completely charred,” Harjeev Chawla, a factory owner, told NDTV news network. — AFP

US CEO mocks ‘3 hours a day’ French workers PARIS: The head of US tyremaker Titan has mocked French workers for putting in only “three hours” a day and said his company would be “stupid” to take over a troubled French factory. The letter from Titan CEO Maurice Taylor to French Industrial Renewal Minister Arnaud Montebourg was in response to a request for Titan to consider investing in a loss-making Goodyear plant in Amiens, northern France. “I have visited that factory a couple of times. The French workforce gets

tory of buying and turning around troubled factories but in this case was not in any way interested. “Sir, your letter states that you want Titan to start a discussion. How stupid do you think we are? Titan is the one with the money and the talent to produce tyres. What does the crazy union have? It has the French government,” Taylor wrote. He said France’s industrial base was under threat from low productivity and cheap imports, including tyres from China that he said were made in

paid high wages but only works three hours,” Taylor said in the letter, dated February 8 and obtained by French business daily Les Echos.

“They get one hour for breaks and lunch, talk for three and work for three. I told this to the French union workers to their faces. They told me that’s the French way!”

Goodyear said last month it was set to close the plant, which employs 1,173 workers, following five years of failed talks with unions.

Taylor said Titan had a long his-

just 2.4 percent, the survey showed.

Salaries in the United States and in Britain are forecast to increase by around three percent in 2013, Chaudhary said.

Globally the highest pay rises will be in inflation-hit Venezuela and Argentina where increases are seen in the mid-20 percent rage. The divide in India between the highest and the lowest paid is still vast despite mounting public concern about a lack of equal distribution of the fruits of economic growth in the country where hundreds of millions of people still live in desperate poverty.

The highest-paid employees get 822 times more than the lowest-paid in India, Chaudhary said, compared with 625 times in the United States and around 550 times in China.

He attributed the wage disparities in India to low entry salaries and the need to pay large sums to attract key talent for top jobs. The figures for India only reflect prospects for the seven percent of workers employed in the so-called “organised sector” such as government, state and privately owned firms, according to official data.

A massive 93 percent are employed in the unorganised sector working as pushcart vendors to servants. Attrition rates, traditionally high in India especially in skilled areas where there is a war for talent, were 19.3 percent last yearbroadly unchanged from the last few years. “There is a constant struggle to retain talent” in sectors such as retail and information technology, said AonHewitt’s Chaudhary. — AFP

Egypt state grain buyer steps aside as currency reserves fall

Protest over prices hits transport, banking NEW DELHI: Millions of India’s workers walked off their jobs yesterday in a two-day nationwide strike called by trade unions to protest at the “anti-labour” policies of the embattled government. Financial services and transport were hit by the strike called by 11 major workers’ groups to protest against a string of pro-market economic reforms announced by the government last year, as well as high inflation and rising fuel prices. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had appealed to unions to call off the strike, warning it would cause a “loss to our economy” already poised for its slowest annual growth in a decade.

But talks following Singh’s appeal this week collapsed after the government refused to bow to union demands to roll back the reforms, which are aimed at jumpstarting the economy and averting a downgrade in India’s credit rating. “The workers are being totally ignored and this is reflected in the government’s anti-labour

NEW DELHI: Even with India’s economy growing at its slowest pace in a decade, average salaries in the country are projected to jump by more than 10 percent in 2013, a new survey forecast yesterday.

That is far below the blistering 15 percent wage growth pace set before the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis when India’s economy was expanding at near double digits. But India leads in forecast salary rises across key AsiaPacific nations with its projected average 10.3-percent increase the highest followed by China, where wages are seen growing by 9.3 percent, according to global staffing services company AonHewitt.

“Business sentiment is strengthening,” Sandeep Chaudhary, consultant at AonHewitt, told a news conference to announce the results of the survey of 518 Indian companies ranging from auto manufacturers to infrastructure firms. A government statistics agency has forecast the economy will grow by 5.0 percent in the current financial year to March 2013, the weakest in a decade, though Finance Minister P. Chidambaram says he is confident he can steer expansion up to six-to-seven percent next year.

After India and China, the Philippines will post the next biggest wage rise of 7.2 percent this year, followed by Malaysia with 6.0 percent, Hong Kong with 4.8 percent, Singapore with 4.7 percent and Australia with 4.2 percent.

Japan is expected to give workers the lowest rise among Asia-Pacific nations of

subsidised factories. “Titan is going to buy a Chinese tyre company or an Indian one, pay less than one euro per hour wage and ship all the tyres France needs. You can keep the so-called workers. Titan has no interest in the Amien North factory,” he wrote. France’s Socialist government is struggling to boost the productivity of its industries in the face of increasing global competition.

French firms have announced thousands of job cuts in recent months as the economy stagnates. - AFP

CAIRO: One of the most powerful figures on the global wheat market, Nomani Nomani, said yesterday he has left his job as vice chairman of Egypt’s state grains buyer GASC, at a time when the country is struggling with falling foreign currency reserves. For more than three years he has overseen strategic buying for the world’s biggest importer of wheat, encompassing Egypt’s 2011 revolution and the periods of political and economic uncertainty since the fall of president Hosni Mubarak.

The Islamist government of President Mohamed Mursi government stressed yesterday that the country had ample stocks to produce bread, the national staple, and grains traders reported no significant disruption to Egyptian payments despite a severe shortage of foreign currency.

Nomani gave no reason for his move beyond saying it was a promotion. “I got promoted to become an adviser to the minister of trade and supplies, which means that I will no longer handle the wheat bidding and buying process, starting now,” Nomani told Reuters.

Nomani said Mamdouh Abdel Fattah had taken over as acting deputy head of the GASC (General Authority for Supply Commodities) for a period of one year, but it was not yet clear if this was renewable or not. Fattah is career civil servant who has worked at GASC since the 1980s but had not until now been directly involved in the wheat buying process. His previous position was as a senior aide to the minister of trade and supplies, responsible for purchase and distribution of products.

Hard act to follow European grains

traders expressed disappointment at Nomani’s departure but said they saw no major problems with Egypt funding its grains purchases. “Mr Nomani is a very hard and effective worker who won a lot of trust in the market. An era will change and it will be a hard act to follow,” one trader told Reuters. Another pointed to the importance of maintaining affordable food supplies at a time of political conflict between Mursi’s government and the liberal and leftist opposition.

“Large and continued wheat imports to supply the Egyptian state rationing scheme are a key factor in keeping the Egyptian public happy with cheap bread and I think the government will put top priority on keeping imports high,” the trader said. “I have seen some minor delays in the Egyptian private sector with some buyers struggling to get letters of credit operational. There were delays for 4-5 days, but this is not all that much of an issue.”

Egypt’s foreign currency reserves have fallen to $13.6 billion, less than the $15 billion needed to cover three months’ worth of imports. In an attempt to control the rate of a drop in the Egyptian pound’s value, the central bank introduced regular dollar auctions in December. The Egyptian economy has been hit by more than two years of turmoil since the popular uprising that swept Mubarak from power. The unrest has driven away tourists and investors.

Central bank governor Hisham Ramez said this week that he had taken steps to prioritise certain imports including foodstuffs, production machines and their spare parts, and fertilisers. — Reuters

EXCHANGE RATES Irani Riyal - cash

Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Egyptian pounds

.275000 .432000 .375000 .303000 .276000 .29000 .0040000 .0020000 .0764330 .7446660 .3900000 .0720000 .7300130 .0420000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2815500 GB Pound/KD .4347270 Euro .3776290 Swiss francs .3054180 Canadian dollars .2782530 Danish Kroner .0506220 Swedish Kroner .0446790 Australian dlr .2915730 Hong Kong dlr .0363070 Singapore dlr .2277080 Japanese yen .0030130 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 Pakistan rupee .0000000 Bangladesh taka .0000000 UAE dirhams .0766850 Bahraini dinars .7471140 Jordanian dinar .0000000 Saudi Riyal/KD .0751000 Omani riyals .7315840 Philippine Peso .0000000

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal - transfer

ASIAN COUNTRIES 3.024 5.216 2.883 2.224 3.272 229.220 36.519 3.572 6.967 9.478 0.271

.2840000 .444000 .384000 .3150000 .288000 .3000000 .0067500 .0035000 .0772010 .7521510 .4050000 .0760000 .7373500 .0470000 .2836500 .4379700 .3804460 .3076960 .2803280 .0509990 .0450120 .2937480 .0365780 .2294070 .0030350 .0052770 .0022340 .0028990 .0036070 .0772570 .7526870 .4012020 .0756600 .7370400 .0070360

0.273

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd

GCC COUNTRIES 75.550 77.845 735.870 752.490 77.145

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 42.100 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 41.980 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.322 Tunisian Dinar 182.710 Jordanian Dinar 400.080 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.901 Syrian Lier 3.078 Morocco Dirham 34.327 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 283.200 Euro 379.490 Sterling Pound 439.530 Canadian dollar 281.370 Swiss Franc 307.830 US Dollar Buying 282.000 GOLD 311.000 157.000 81.500

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

SELL DRAFT 296.24 283.18 311.65 381.80 282.35 435.92 3.09 3.595 5.224 2.218 3.269 2.881 76.94 751.80 41.50 402.25 734.84 77.97 75.49

Selling Rate 282.700 282.920 438.490 379.575 307.340 748.445 76.945 77.600 75.350 398.510 41.945 2.214 5.228 2.875 3.564 6.952 693.470 4.030 9.540 3.980 3.350 91.180

Bahrain Exchange Company CURRENCY

UAE Exchange Centre WLL COUNTRY Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro US Dollar Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

Rate for Transfer US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit

SELL CASH 295.000 288.000 311.000 379.800 283.500 445.000 3.150 3.750 5.350 2.520 3.450 2.860 77.500 750.800 42.500 409.500 734.000 78.500 75.900

British Pound Czech Korune Danish Krone Euro Norwegian Krone Scottish Pound Swedish Krona Swiss Franc Australian Dollar New Zealand Dollar Uganda Shilling Canadian Dollar Colombian Peso US Dollars Bangladesh Taka Cape Vrde Escudo Chinese Yuan Eritrea-Nakfa

BUY Europe 0.429415 0.006042 0.046856 0.374118 0.047132 0.426843 0.040873 0.302127

SELL 0.438415 0.018042 0.051856 0.381618 0.052332 0.434343 0.045873 0.309127

Australasia 0.282552 0.229796 0.000109

0.294552 0.239796 0.000109

America 0.272732 0.000147 0.280600

0.281732 0.000165 0.282750

Asia 0.003537 0.003135 0.044451 0.016317

0.003592 0.003365 0.049451 0.019417

Guinea Franc Hong Kong Dollar Indian Rupee Indonesian Rupiah Jamaican Dollars Japanese Yen Kenyan Shilling Malaysian Ringgit Nepalese Rupee Pakistan Rupee Philippine Peso Sierra Leone Singapore Dollar Sri Lankan Rupee Thai Baht

0.000044 0.033908 0.005164 0.000024 0.002821 0.002942 0.003168 0.087450 0.003114 0.002852 0.006509 0.000072 0.224543 0.001919 0.009065

0.000050 0.037008 0.005234 0.000029 0.003821 0.003122 0.003396 0.094450 0.003314 0.002892 0.006979 0.000075 0.230543 0.002224 0.009665

Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Ethiopeanbirr Ghanaian Cedi Iranian Riyal Iraqi Dinar Jordanian Dinar Kuwaiti Dinar Lebanese Pound Moroccan Dirhams Nigerian Naira Omani Riyal Qatar Riyal Saudi Riyal Sudanese Pounds Syrian Pound Tunisian Dinar UAE Dirhams Yemeni Riyal

Arab 0.743574 0.039930 0.012919 0.147173 0.000079 0.000184 0.393222 1.000000 0.000173 0.022278 0.001197 0.723403 0.077009 0.074867 0.049656 0.003154 0.180876 0.075555 0.001275

0.752074 0.041960 0.019419 0.148963 0.000079 0.000244 0.400722 1.000000 0.000193 0.046276 0.001832 0.734403 0.077792 O.075507 0.050206 0.003374 0.186876 0.077005 0.001375

Al Mulla Exchange Currency US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

Transfer Rate (Per 1000) 282.700 379.650 439.900 282.900 3.050 5.212 41.975 2.229 3.577 6.963 2.880 752.800 77.000 75.500

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

BUSINESS

Al-Zayani giving free 2013 Jaguar XF on 50th ’versary KUWAIT: For 50 years now, Al-Zayani Trading have been introducing luxurious brands into the Kuwaiti automotive market that have proved to be highly desirable and under constant demand. Today, they hold key brands that include Bugatti, Bentley, Ferrari, Maserati and the popular Jaguar. Ever since its establishment, Al-Zayani Trading have been keen on maintaining a consistent level of service in terms of both the brand names and after-sales services.

Over the years, the company’s client base and portfolio have been growing at an increasing pace earning them a prestigious position in the both the Kuwait and regional automotive markets.

To celebrate this important milestone, Al-Zayani Trading is planning to share fruits of their achievements with its loyal customers across the entire year. To start off, and to warm things up, Al-Zayani is giving away a free 2013 Jaguar XF to one of the lucky customers that purchases any Jaguar model during the first quarter of the year!

Jaguar’s multi-award winning XF features significant enhancements for the 2013 Model Year with considerably improved efficiency through a newly expanded powertrain range. Jaguar’s latest 340PS Supercharged Petrol Engine is capable of accelerating the XF sports saloon to 100kph in 5.7 seconds

and on to limited top speeds of 241kph.

The eight-speed transmission is now extended across the entire XF range for the 2013 Model Year offering better economy, reduced emissions and smoother acceleration compared to the previous six-speed equipped models. For all installations the transmission’s operating software has been specifically tuned to ensure it perfectly matches the power delivery of the engines to which it is mated and offers the sporting feel, precision and smooth shifting expected of a Jaguar.

The 2013 Model Year XF marks the start of a new partnership for Jaguar with British audio experts

Meridian. The company has been creating ultra-premium home sound systems for more than 35 years and worked closely with Jaguar’s engineers to integrate their expertise seamlessly into the luxurious environs of the XF interiors. Technology upgrades introduce enhancements, new features and optimise ease of use for audio and infotainment systems across all XF models. Al-Zayani have always given the niche market unique, award-winning cars for them to lavishly enjoy, and they will continue to do so for many more years to come! Visit Al-Zayani showroom in Al-Rai for a chance to be the lucky winner of a brand new 2013 Jaguar XF.

Bahrain hangs on as banking centre amid political turmoil Questions over ability to fight off competition

LISBON: Graphs are reflected in the spectacles of a broker while working in a trading room of a Portuguese bank in Lisbon, yesterday. — AP

Portugal raises $2bn in debt sale LISBON: Portugal raised 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion) in a debt sale at sharply lower rates yesterday as the bailed-out country continues to benefit from improving market confidence, despite forecasts its recession will deepen.

Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar said yesterday the government expects an economic contraction this year of 2 percent - double its earlier prediction. It will be Portugal’s third straight year of recession as austerity measures including steep tax hikes and welfare cuts are blamed for a crunch on spending and investment, as well as an unemployment rate that has hit a record 16.9 percent.

Portugal needed a 78 billion euros bailout in 2011 when a decade of average growth below 1 percent and mounting debts pushed it close to bankruptcy. Investor faith in Portugal has returned in recent months - a trend reflected in falling interest rates on its debt - as the European Central Bank has indicated it is willing to help euro-zone countries that, like Portugal, are abiding by debt-reduction programs. Portugal hopes to be able to finance itself without help by the end of the year. In the third quarter of last year, the latest figure available, the deficit stood at 3.2 percent of annual GDP. In 2010, it was 10.1 per-

cent. Given Portugal’s recent record on slashing debt, Gaspar told a parliamentary committee hearing it was “reasonable” to expect that its bailout lenders - the so-called troika of the ECB, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund - will grant Portugal an extra year to meet its debt targets.

He did not elaborate but Portugal is currently aiming for a deficit of 2.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2014. A longer time span to reduce the deficit would potentially allow the government time to ease off on its contested cuts and tax hikes. Gaspar said the government’s priority this year will be to encourage investment, with possible policies due to be discussed with troika officials next week when they begin their regular quarterly assessment of the country’s progress. The government debt agency, meanwhile, said it sold 1.155 billion euros in 12-month debt at a rate of 1.277 percent, down from 1.61 percent last month. It said there was market demand for more than double the amount offered. It also collected 345 million euros from a 3month T-bill sale, with the yield slightly up at 0.737 percent compared with 0.67 percent in January. Demand was almost four times higher than the amount available. — AP

Merkel says euro rate of $1.30-$1.40 ‘normal’ BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday that a euro exchange rate of $1.30-$1.40 was “normal”, in an unusual comment on foreign exchange markets. “Euro rates of between 1.30 and 1.40 (against the dollar) are normal in the historical context of the euro,” Merkel told an economics conference here, amid concerns in some quarters that the euro is too strong against other currencies. She said that Germany was determined to push for a “free movement” of exchange rates and says that in this respect the recent statement by finance ministers from the group of 20 developed and developing countries was a “good signal”. At a recent meeting in Moscow, G20 powers undertook not to target specific exchange rates or devalue currencies to make them more competitive, amid concerns of “currency wars”.

Some euro-zone countries, notably France, have expressed concern that the level of the euro, which has risen recently on the foreign exchange markets, could hurt exports and dampen any nascent recovery in the euro-zone.

And some have accused Japan of deliberately trying to engineer a lower exchange rate for its currency, the yen, in a bid to boost exports. The yen has tumbled over the past few months, as the

Bank of Japan has vowed to implement aggressive monetary easing. Without mentioning Japan directly, Merkel noted that “we are again seeing that there are still efforts to maybe weaken one’s own currency through certain monetary policy measures and therefore create better export opportunities.” She said: “We at least do not think a great deal of carrying out an active exchange rate policy.”

This seemed to be a veiled attack on French President Francois Hollande who said recently that the external value of the euro should not be left to market forces. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi told the European Parliament on Monday that the euro was “around its long term average” and said it was crucial for leaders to exercise what he called “very, very strong verbal discipline.”

“I think the less we talk about this the better,” said Draghi. In a wide-ranging speech to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the German Council of Economic Experts, Merkel also touched upon world trade, saying the multilateral Doha Round of trade talks was “unfortunately in a stalemate.” She said: “We must simply accept that we are not moving forward with the Doha Round. The world has decided to organise itself in a variety of bilateral trade deals.”

MANAMA: When Ahli United Bank, Bahrain’s largest lender by market value, announced this week a rise in profits for 2012, it was more than good news for the bank alone. It was a sign that the island kingdom is surviving as a regional financial centre. Two years after pro-democracy protesters inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings blockaded Bahrain’s financial district, political tensions still weigh on its banking industry. This is deterring some investment and inflows of money, and making it harder for Bahrain to compete with other centres such as Dubai.

But contrary to fears at the time, a mass exodus of financial firms from Bahrain has not happened and local banks are proving resilient, allowing the island to remain a hub for financial services in the Gulf. Bahraini authorities have mounted an active campaign to persuade financial institutions to stay in the country. Economic support to Bahrain from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, which are politically allied to the Bahraini government, has helped that campaign.

“Though Bahrain’s 2011 political crisis weakened growth potential and damaged the country’s reputation as a business services hub, we believe a postcrisis status quo has been established,” Standard & Poor’s said in late January as it upgraded the outlook for Bahrain’s credit rating, a low-investment grade BBB, to stable from negative. The survival of Bahrain’s financial industry is important to the country of about 1.3 million people; its oil resources are not as lavish as those of some of its Gulf neighbours.

Bahrain’s financial sector makes up 17.1 percent of its economy, which had an output of $29 billion in 2011, according to the latest central bank figures.

The industry is a major employer of local citizens, with Bahrainis accounting for 66 percent of the sector’s workforce. When protests closed down Bahrain Financial Harbour in the days following the outbreak

of unrest on Valentine’s Day 2011, forcing bankers to work from other locations, the fear was that many might never come back.

The protests were put down by force but sectarian tensions between majority Shias and minority Sunnis have persisted, with skirmishes between angry youths and security forces in villages outside the capital still reported almost daily. Political talks began on Feb 10 in an effort to end the deadlock, but there have been few signs of progress so far.

Two people were killed on the second anniversary of the uprising. Some banks did choose to leave the island in the aftermath of the uprising. The biggest blow was the departure of France’s Credit Agricole, which said in late 2011 that it was moving its regional headquarters and about 60 staff to Dubai.

Japan’s Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi moved most of its people to Dubai in mid-2012, leaving a small presence behind. However, worries about a disastrous hollowing-out of Bahrain’s banking industry were misplaced. Assets in Bahrain’s banking system have fallen to $194.9 billion last November from $222.2 billion at the end of 2010, just before the uprising. This contrasts with growth in other Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but does not suggest a mass pull-out of money from the country.

The number of banks and financial institutions licensed in Bahrain has remained roughly steady; it was 407 at the end of the third quarter of last year, against 406 at end-2010, central bank data shows. A trickle of departures has also been offset by the granting of new licences, some to foreign institutions; 14 licences were awarded in 2012. Global asset manager PineBridge Investments opened its Middle East headquarters in Manama last month. “They’ve done a good job preventing a mass exodus of financial firms,” said Jeffrey Singer, chief executive of the

body managing the rival Dubai International Financial Centre.

Many factors are behind Bahrain’s survival.

Abdulkarim Bucheery, chairman of the Bahrain Association of Banks, an industry body, cited an established infrastructure and regulatory framework and a qualified local workforce. Bahrain benefits from hosting the headquarters of the influential Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions, whose standards are used in whole or in part by regulators of Islamic finance around the world.

Boyd Winton, director of financial services at Bahrain’s Economic Development Board, said the island could co-exist with rapidly expanding centres elsewhere in the region. He noted that London, Paris and Frankfurt all worked as banking hubs despite their proximity. “Just because one place is a financial centre doesn’t mean another place can’t have a financial industry,” he said. Pledges of financial support from Bahrain’s wealthy Arab neighbours have helped; those countries undertook in March 2011 to provide a combined $10 billion in aid over 10 years.

This appears to have reassured Saudi and other foreign depositors in Bahrain that it is safe to keep money there. Ahli United Bank, which saw its 2012 net profit climb 8.1 percent to $335.7 million, is among several Bahraini banks that have so far announced higher 2012 earnings. In a report last week, the government said bank lending began to pick up last year, setting the stage for strong economic growth in 2013. “I think 2012 will start to see the beginning of the growth cycle...and I think 2013 will be building on that growth,” said Bucheery, also chief executive of local lender BBK. However, there is a split between the health of local, retail-focused banks and Bahrain’s investment houses, which mostly operate under Islamic principles. — Reuters

Europe horsemeat scandal spreads PARIS: Europe’s horsemeat scandal spread yesterday to Asia where an imported lasagna brand was pulled from the shelves in Hong Kong, as Czech officials ordered similar action on frozen meals mislabelled “beef”. A host of top players have been caught up in the spiralling scandal including Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, top beef producer JBS of Brazil and British supermarket chain Tesco.

Hong Kong authorities ordered ParknShop, one of the biggest supermarket chains in the city, to remove lasagna made by frozen food giant Findus, one of the firms at the centre of the scandal.

The product was imported from Britain and made by French firm Comigel. Hong Kong’s Centre for Food Safety said the item “might be adulterated with horsemeat which has not undergone tests for veterinary drugs”. “The product was removed from our stores last week following the government’s instructions,” a ParknShop spokeswoman told AFP. The chain, owned by tycoon Li Ka-shing, has about 280 stores in Hong Kong and the neighbouring gaming hub of Macau.

A spokeswoman at the government’s food and environmental hygiene department said only one contaminated product had so far been sold in Hong Kong. In Europe, the Czech Republic became the latest country embroiled in the affair, with food inspectors ordering Tesco to withdraw Nowaco brand frozen “beef ” lasagna after detecting horsemeat.

The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority said it had found horse DNA in two samples of the Nowaco meals manufactured in Luxembourg. Inspectors “ordered the seller to immediately withdraw the products from its network,” the authority said in a statement.

“We are very sorry about the situation and we will discuss the matter with the supplier,” Tesco spokesman Jan Dvorak told the CTK news agency, adding the chain had protectively withdrawn the product earlier. Supermarkets in

MUMBAI: An Indian pedestrian checks his mobile phone in front of an advertisement for a burger of a fast food giant yesterday. — AFP

Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, France, Austria, Norway, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Slovenia have all removed meals from shelves.

The Czech authority noted that horsemeat is sold for human consumption in the country, but that if not mentioned on the product label it was misleading to consumers and could lead to a fine of up to three million koruna (118,000 euros, $159,000). Spanghero, the French firm that sparked the food alert by allegedly passing off 750 tonnes of horsemeat as beef, was on Monday allowed to resume production of minced meat, sausages and ready-to-eat meals.

But the company, whose horsemeat found its way into 4.5 million “beef” products sold

across Europe, will no longer be allowed to stock frozen meat. Under the ban it cannot act as middleman between slaughterhouses and food-processing companies, the situation which allegedly allowed it to change labels on horsemeat from Romania and sell it on as beef. The firm’s sanitary licence was suspended last Thursday after it was accused of passing off huge quantities of mislabelled meat over a period of six months.

Investigators yesterday conducted a second day of raids on Spanghero’s headquarters in Castelnaudary in southern France, a source close to the probe said, adding they had already seized several documents and copied computer records. — AFP

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

BUSINESS

Boeing close to fixing Dreamliner battery NEW DELHI: Boeing Co has found a way to fix battery problems on its grounded 787 Dreamliner jets that involves increasing the space between the lithium ion battery cells, a source familiar with the US company’s plans told Reuters. “The gaps between cells will be bigger. I think that’s why there was overheating,” said the source, who declined to be identified because the plans are private.

A spokeswoman from the US National Transportation Board declined comment on the report or any Boeing plan to return the 787s to the air. “The decisions to return the airplane to flight will be made by the FAA and only after Boeing has demonstrated to them that the solution is adequate,” Nantel said. “We continue to investigate the cause

of the short circuiting.” A spokeswoman from the US Federal Aviation Administration declined to comment.

The 50 Dreamliners in commercial service were grounded worldwide last month after a series of battery-related incidents including a fire on board a parked plane in the United States and an in-flight problem on another jet in Japan. Until the Dreamliner is cleared to fly again, Boeing will be starved of delivery payments.

The logical solution for Boeing would be to install ceramic plates between each cell and add a vent to the battery box, Kiyoshi Kanamura, a professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University who has conducted research with several Japanese battery makers, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Earlier yesterday, the chairman of state-run Air India said Boeing is hopeful of getting the Dreamliner back in service by early April. “They said that these planes should start flying again from early April. They can’t be sure but they are hopeful,” Rohit Nandan said. Air India has six Dreamliners and has ordered 21 more. The question of the airline seeking compensation from Boeing for the jet’s glitches would be taken up once the aircraft are flying again, Nandan said.

“Good progress is being made,” a Boeing spokesman in Seattle said in response to questions about a possible flight restart in April. “We have been in close communication with our customers since this issue arose. The details

of our conversations with customers are confidential,” he added. On Feb. 7, in its most recent official update on the Dreamliner, the NTSB said it had a “long road ahead” in its investigation of the lithium ion batteries.

Spokesmen for Japan’s All Nippon Airways Co Ltd (ANA) , which has the biggest fleet of Dreamliners, and Japan Airlines Co Ltd (JAL) said they were unaware of the suggested April schedule. ANA and JAL have been most affected because they own around half of the lightweight, fuelefficient jetliners in operation as a strategic move to win market share from their US and European rivals. Boeing shares rose in early trading yesterday, up 2.0 percent to $76.14 on the New York Stock Exchange. — Reuters

NORTH CHARLESTON: A Boeing assembly line employee is seen working on a component for the Dreamliner 787 at Boeing’s production facilities in this photo in North Charleston, South Carolina.— AFP

BHP Billiton CEO Kloppers retires as profits plunge SYDNEY: BHP Billiton said yesterday its boss Marius Kloppers will leave in May, weeks after the head of rival miner Rio Tinto resigned, with profits hit by weak commodity prices and cool Chinese demand. After nearly six years at the helm, South African Kloppers will be replaced by Andrew Mackenzie, the chief executive of non-ferrous business at the world’s biggest miner. The departure of Kloppers, who led the firm through the global financial crisis, came on the same day BHP reported that first half net profit plunged 58 percent to US$4.2 billion. Chairman Jac Nasser gave credit to Kloppers for BHP outperforming rivals.

Demands for change surfaced in November as Kloppers failed to finalise big deals-including a bid for Rio Tinto-while he lost his bonus over hefty US shale gas and oil purchases. However, the succession process had been expected to take a year or two. Scotland-born Mackenzie, 56, who has spent 30 years working in oil, gas, petrochemicals and minerals, joined BHP Billiton in November 2008. His appointment was “very aggressive from a timing point-of-view,” said IG Markets strategist Evan Lucas.

“We knew it was coming, but this shows BHP is looking to get on to the front foot with a division it has been keen to invest in over the last few years-petroleum,” he said.

The departure of Kloppers comes after Rio chief executive Tom Albanese quit in January owing to $14.4 billion in impairment charges, while last Thursday it logged its first annual loss in 18 years.

And in October Anglo American’s USborn CEO Cynthia Carroll said she would step down owing to a weak performance as well as slumping platinum output on strike action in South Africa, which resulted in dozens of deaths. Anglo American on Friday posted an annual net loss of $1.49 billion-its first in a decade-after taking a $4.6 billion hit on the value of an iron-ore project in Brazil and platinum assets.

A fall in commodity prices has hit the industry hard, with key market China in 2012 seeing its worst year of economic growth since 1999, although recent figures point to a strong pick-up this year. But Fat Prophets resource analyst David Lennox said after a run of poor results, sentiment had changed and mining appeared to have started 2013 on a firmer base. He pointed out that companies had reported a weakening of commodity prices but said they would likely take “action to minimise their cost base and action to maximise the returns they are getting on their existing assets”.

He added: “You would have to suggest that probably we have seen the bottom of the worst of it but there will be another negative cycle at some point in the future.”

Despite the fall in commodity prices, BHP underlined it had fared better than others.

Yesterday’s results show underlying earnings of $9.8 billion for the JulyDecember 2012 period, ahead of a consensus of $9.5 billion. Excluding one-off writedowns, earnings dropped 43 percent to $5.7 billion, in line with analyst forecasts.

Revenues fell 14 percent to $32 billion, BHP said in a statement, declaring an interim dividend of 57 cents a share, up four percent from a year ago. BHP described the results as “solid” in a challenging half-year for the global resources industry but remained guarded about the future.

“Substantially lower commodity prices and resilient producer currencies, such as the Australian dollar and the Chilean peso, weighed on margins and profitability,” it said. “Measured economic stimulus has helped stabilise China’s economy,” the statement said. “In the short term, we expect a general improvement in the global economy to support demand and prices for a number of commodities. However, the addition of low cost supply in many markets is expected to dampen the pricing upside.” BHP Billiton shares fell 0.90 percent to $38.65. — AFP

SYDNEY: BHP Billiton’s CEO Marius Kloppers drinks water during a press conference yesterday. — AP

Talk of more deals sends stocks higher NEW YORK: Talk of more deal-making sent the stock market higher Tuesday, putting the Dow Jones industrial average within close reach of its all-time high. Reports that retailers Office Depot and OfficeMax are discussing a merger came after big corporate deals for Heinz and Dell were announced in recent weeks. Some investors are betting that more deals could be on the way as buyers pay premium prices for publicly traded companies. The Dow rose 53.91 points to close at 14,035.67. All it would take now is one good day to push the average above 14,164, the record high reached in October 2007.

“It seems that investors are more comfortable with taking risk right now,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago. That’s despite the $1.2 trillion in automatic federal spending cuts that are

scheduled to start March 1 unless Congress and the White House find a way to avoid them. Congress returns from vacation next week. Previous budget battles in Washington have rattled financial markets. But this time out, many investors seem unfazed by the prospect that Congress won’t stop the “sequester” from kicking in. One reason is that the cuts are spread across the board for a decade, instead of all at once.

“I think investors are actually comforted by it,” Ablin said. “It’s not ideal. But if Congress can’t do it when left to their own devices, this is the next best thing.” In other trading Tuesday, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 11.15 points to 1,530.94. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 21.56 points to 3,213.59.

Google crossed $800 for the first time. — AP

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

BUSINESS

Spanish real estate prices falling further MADRID: Banks in Spain may take bigger losses than they hoped this year on real estate repossessed from borrowers, as they compete for buyers with Sareb, the agency tasked with clearing up the weaker banks after a property crash.

Banks were left holding hundreds of thousands of houses, half-built commercial and residential developments and plots of land after borrowers and developers ran into trouble when the property boom turned to bust in 2008. Propertyrelated losses eventually forced the government to secure a 40 billion euro ($53 billion) bailout for its banks from Europe.

Last year, the banks wrote down foreclosed property on their books by around 40-50 percent after government decrees forced them to make provision for losses and reflect lower market values. The clean-up helped them start selling housing at discounts, mainly to individuals, but with the country in a deep recession and unemployment at 26 percent, demand for property is weak even at knockdown prices.

But now lenders face competition for buyers from Sareb, the “bad bank” set up

to manage up to 60 billion euros’ worth of assets from bailed-out lenders, which put its first lot of 13,000 properties up for sale at the end of January. Since Sareb, set up at the request of Brussels, is taking over assets from rescued banks at discounts that are steeper than those forced on the sector by the government, the fear is that its disposals will push down prices and clog up the market.

Yet if Spain’s healthier banks turn to private equity firms and hedge funds to help shift their assets, they might have to swallow more losses too. Four investment bankers in Madrid said funds typically demanded discounts of 60-80 percent. “ The sale of secured assets to investors would likely be done at prices below those of the Royal Decrees (the government-enforced clean-up), with big discounts,” said Fernando Acuna of Taurus Iberica, which markets banks’ properties and advises them on portfolio sales. “The discounts from the decrees were more in line with the prices seen in the normal consumer market.” But what is normal once Sareb is selling in volume?

Early estimates had put the properties

Sareb would house at 89,000, though Sareb said that could change. There are about 200,000 repossessed properties in Spain, on top of 1 million newly built homes for sale, rating agency Fitch estimated in December, adding that banks had on average been selling properties last year at half the price they were originally valued at.

Cruising speed Property prices have already slumped 35 percent from a 2007 peak, according to real estate valuations group Tinsa, and Fitch forecast recently they had another 15-20 percent to fall. Banks able to take another hit could now start selling portfolios to investors to move quickly with disposals, bankers said.

Santander, which has said it wants to aggressively shed property assets this year, is setting aside 1 billion euros in its 2013 budget to cover possible portfolio sales at a “significant discount”. “If we can get in there before the Sareb starts achieving cruising speed, so much the better,” Chief Executive Alfredo Saenz said in January during a results presenta-

tion. Capital gains from sales of other items would offset the hit, he said. US funds Centerbridge, Apollo, Fortress, Lone Star and Cerberus are among those actively circling the Spanish market for property assets, investment bankers said.

Foreclosures on the rise Not all Spanish banks will want to take more immediate pain from their property problems, with Santander and rival BBVA , the country’s top two banks with large overseas operations, better able to weather writedowns than most. Selling to individuals is slower than shifting portfolios but typically costs less, because individuals are not necessarily looking to turn a profit like funds are.

BBVA for example said it had sold 12,000 foreclosed properties last year at an average 40 percent discount, mainly by selling them piecemeal. But asset values risk dropping the longer properties sit on banks’ books, and lenders may struggle to sell anything beyond their better assets to individuals at attractive prices. House prices have fallen more sharply on the Mediterranean coast,

Economic disaster is averted: Spanish PM Spain cut deficit for 2012 to under 7% MADRID: Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, delivering his first state of the nation address as he fends off a party slush-fund scandal, declared on Tuesday he had slashed the deficit and averted economic catastrophe. The conservative 57year-old leader lamented Spain’s jobless queue of nearly six million people and a jobless rate of more than 26 percent, but vowed to press ahead with his tight-fisted programme. “We have achieved a twin task: avoiding the shipwreck that threatened our country and, without wasting a moment, launching the reforms needed for our system of production,” Rajoy told parliament.

“For those who ask for some relaxation because the process of change is already under way-not for a minute, not one single minute of rest,” the grey-bearded prime minister said.

Rajoy, hit recently by allegations of corruption in his Popular Party, said Spain had curbed its yawning public deficit to less than 7.0 percent of total economic output in 2012 from 9.4 percent in 2011. Spain has agreed with Brussels to lower the deficit to 6.3 percent of gross domestic product last year but lowering the shortfall to less than seven percent would be seen as a considerable achievement in a period of severe economic contraction. “We have left behind us the constant threat of imminent disaster and we are starting to see the path for the future,” said Rajoy, whose party took power in December 2011 after ousting the Socialists in an election landslide.

The prime minister, who defied predictions that Spain would have to seek a sovereign bailout last year, thanks in large part to the European Central Bank’s promise to intervene in the markets if needed, highlighted the easier conditions Madrid now enjoys when borrowing on financial markets. “The noose of external debt that tormented us with such force is no longer strangling us,” Rajoy said. The prime minister,

MADRID: Lawyers, judges and prosecutors hold banners reading ‘No rates’ during a protest outside a court yesterday. — AFP who has faced calls to resign over a corruption scandal battering his ruling Popular Party, called for harsher criminal penalties for corruption but insisted Spain was not a corrupt nation. “It’s one thing to condemn and pursue corruption by all means. It is another thing to sow the idea that Spain is a corrupt country, even among the most corrupt,” he said. “Spain is a clean country going through tough times in which cases of corruption emerge just like in any other,” Rajoy added.

Rajoy has denied as “absolutely false” purported Popular Party hand-written ledgers, published in the leading daily El Pais, supposedly showing secret payments to at least a dozen

senior party officials including himself over a period of more than a decade. The scandal has sparked anger among Spaniards at a time when they are being asked to make sacrifices with lower salaries, benefit cuts, and lost jobs.

An online petition calling for Rajoy’s resignation and snap elections, posted on change.org, has garnered more than 1.1 million signatures.

Defending his spending cuts and tax rises launched last year, Rajoy also announced a series of reforms aimed at stimulating economic activity in Spain. These included easing the deadlines for value-added tax payments by small and medium-sized businesses. — AFP

China vows more effort to cool costs BEIJING: China’s government ordered local officials yesterday to do more to cool surging housing costs after a scandal over a bank employee who bought 45 properties highlighted the potential for evasion of ownership limits. A Cabinet statement also directed local leaders to build more low-cost housing. Soaring Chinese housing prices have made fortunes for some people but pushed home ownership out of reach of millions of families, fueling political tensions.

The government pledge comes as a new generation of Communist Party leaders who took power in November are promising more action to narrow the wealth gap between an elite who have benefited from economic reform and China’s poor majority. The government has increased minimum required down payments, imposed limits in some cities on how many properties one buyer can own and imposed other

curbs. Price rises have moderated but stories in the Chinese press about officials and businesspeople suspected of evading ownership limits have fueled public frustration.

In the most high-profile case, a bank officer in the northern province of Shaanxi is accused of amassing 45 properties worth at least $160 million with the help of phony identity cards and corrupt police. In other cases, a city official in southern China and his family were found to have 21 properties. In the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, a political commissar of an anticorruption bureau and his ex-wife had 19. In the central province of Henan, a housing director and his children bought 25 properties.

Yesterday’s Cabinet statement said local leaders were ordered to create mechanisms to monitor housing prices. “If prices rise too fast, governments are required to take measures quickly to

limit purchases,” it said. The statement gave few details but also said local officials were to push ahead with experimental changes in taxes on real estate sales. It told local governments to speed up work on meeting Communist Party pledges to complete 4.7 million low-cost homes this year and start construction of 6.3 million more homes. Construction of low-cost housing is part of a series of government initiatives to spread China’s prosperity more widely. Earlier this month, the government issued a sweeping pledge to narrow China’s wealth gap with measures including requiring cash-rich state companies to turn over more profits to pay for social programs. It promised more spending on health, education and job training but gave few details and no sign of how Beijing will enforce changes that might hurt state industry and other politically influential factions. — AP

QINGDAO: In this photo, migrant workers seek jobs at a labor market in east China’s Shandong province. — AP

where developers erected kilometres of resorts that now stand empty, than in city areas, according to Tinsa.

Funds are also interested in the best real estate, such as commercial developments or upscale flats in the centre of big cities, but they might also help banks shift less attractive ones at heavily discounted rates, bankers said. Foreclosures are also still rising - up over 18 percent in the first nine months of 2012, court data shows - adding to the pressure to sell existing stock. And developers are still collapsing, with major real estate firm Reyal Urbis filing for insolvency on Tuesday. While banks have no firm timelines to rid themselves of properties, keeping big exposures could also hinder their funding prospects as they try to cut their reliance on central banks and turn to bond markets instead.

“Spanish banks seeking to target international investors as a source of funding must now reduce their exposure to real estate assets to help regain investor confidence,” Fitch analysts Carlos Massip and Juan David Garcia said in a December report. — Reuters

Chinese oil firm Addax eyes Nigeria for growth ABUJA: Chinese energy firm Addax said yesterday it was seeking further growth in Nigeria after the recent purchase of a significant offshore stake from France’s Total in Africa’s largest oil producer. Chinese firms have so far had limited impact in Nigeria’s oil industry in comparison to Western companies such as Shell and ExxonMobil. But an executive from Addax, owned by China’s Sinopec, told an industry conference here it was hungry for more. Speaking of Sinopec’s international arm SIPC, Cornelis Zegelaar, managing director for Addax’s Nigerian branch, said “Nigeria is the most important for us and the biggest producer.”

“So when I was in Beijing last month when I was meeting with the top leaders of Sinopec, they told me that I have to do everything possible to make sure that the operations are not only run efficiently and safely, but also that they will grow the business,” he said. He told AFP that Addax was now producing more than 90,000 barrels per day from four licenses in Nigeria, mainly in the shallower offshore areas.

That remains significantly below major producers in Nigeria, where total output is currently at around 2.0 million barrels per day. Total announced in November the sale of its 20-percent stake in an offshore bloc to Sinopec, whose official name is China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, for $2.5 billion (2.0 billion euros). The OML 138 bloc, which includes the Usan oil well in production since last year, is co-owned by US groups Chevron and ExxonMobil and Canadian company Nexen.

“Let’s say it’s our first step to get into deepwater-a modest step, but we are certainly committed to growth internationally,

and certainly in Nigeria,” Zegelaar told AFP. Total said the sale of its stake in the bloc did not signify any loss of confidence in production in Nigeria, which has been seeking to overhaul taxes and other aspects of the industry for years.

Charles Ngoka, a deputy managing director for Total’s Nigeria operations, pointed to its plans to develop the Egina offshore field as proof of its commitment to the country.

Total currently produces around 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in Nigeria, said Ngoka.

“Our strategy is to make sure that we use our resources in the places that we want them,” he told AFP. While China has begun making inroads in Nigeria’s oil industry, other major Western firms, including Shell and Exxon, also expressed their continued commitment to operating in the country at the conference yesterday despite insecurity and other challenges.

The industry has also been in tough negotiations with the government over a planned sweeping overhaul of the industry years in the making that would rework taxes and royalties as well as restructure the state oil firm, among other issues. Industry executives have warned that the taxes and royalties as written in the legislation are too harsh and would freeze out new investment.

Nigeria’s government says the proposed terms are fair, but has said it is open to a compromise. Certain analysts and industry executives have expressed doubts that the long-delayed bill would be passed this year as too many issues remained to be negotiated. The uncertainty has already limited new investment by major oil firms in the country as the tax impact remains unclear. — AFP

HSBC tops Global Investor Sub Custody Awards 2013 KUWAIT: HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, Kuwait received top honours in the 2013 Global Investor Sub Custody Survey. The results that were released in February showed that HSBC’s Sub Custody Services ranked first in the Weighted, Unweighted and Weighted by Importance categories in Kuwait and six other markets in the MENA region. The award is a testament to the exceptional service delivered by the team in Kuwait.

“HSBC Securities Services was launched in Kuwait in 2005. The team in Kuwait comprises personnel with a rich experience of working in international markets as well as a mix of local talent who have a very good understanding of the Kuwait market. HSBC is the only bank that offers custodian services in ten MENA markets, affirmation of our strong global connectivity. This enables us to adopt best practices from our branches worldwide, thereby ensuring that our clients get the same consistent high level of service across our global branch network

Simon Vaughan Johnson and the MENA region,” said Simon Vaughan Johnson, CEO of HSBC in Kuwait. HSBC Securities Services in Kuwait offers a full range of sub-custody services to foreign institutional investors investing in the Kuwait capital market.

Sony announces another asset sale TOKYO: Sony said yesterday it would book a $1.2 billion gain from selling part of an online medical services unit, the Japanese electronics giant’s latest asset sale as it eyes a full-year profit. The firm has announced a massive corporate overhaul that includes thousands of job cuts and the sale of a chemical division and its US headquarters in Manhattan. It is also investing in Olympus to tap the camera and medical equipment maker’s strong foothold in the global market for endoscopes used in surgery.

Yesterday -when it is also expected to unveil its latest PlayStation games console-Sony said it would book a one-time gain of 115 billion yen ($1.2 billion) by selling a six percent stake in M3 Inc to Deutsche Securities. The unit supplies online medical information to doctors.

Sony, which would still own about 50 percent of M3 after the sale, said the move was part of a bid to “transform” its business and “reorganise assets” and that it would still remain M3’s major shareholder. The maker of Bravia televisions lost 456.66 billion yen in the last fiscal year, its fourth year in the red, but says it

is still on track for a 20 billion yen net profit in the year to March. Sony was expected to announce the launch of the latest PlayStation console in the United States yesterday as it faces growing competition from cheap-or sometimes freedownloadable games for smartphones and tablets.

Its PlayStation 3 has sold more than 75 million units, while over 155 million units of the PlayStation 2 have been sold since its debut in 2000, making it one of the best-selling videogame consoles of all time. Sony, Nintendo and Xbox maker Microsoft dominate the global games console market, which is worth about $44 billion annually, according to industry figures. Japan’s electronics sector, including giants Sony, Panasonic and Sharp, has suffered from myriad problems including a strong yen, slowing demand in key export markets, fierce overseas competition especially in television sales, and strategic mistakes. It has also been hurt by a Chinese consumer boycott of Japanese brands stemming from a territorial spat between Beijing and Tokyo. — AFP

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

BUSINESS

‘Nissan’ Al-Babtain ranks 1 in new car sales category KUWAIT: As a part of its continues success, ‘Nissan’ Al-Babtain ranked the best in the new car sales category at the Service Hero based on the customer satisfaction index for the best companies providing customers service in Kuwait. The awards were based on a three-month voting drive that collected close to 10,000 direct customer votes through an online-based survey that was then validated and reviewed to ensure empirical and authentic findings.

Service Hero unveiled the results of a three-month customer survey for the best customer service brands based in Kuwait in a red carpet awards ceremony attended by senior executives and CEOs of Kuwait’s business community.

Customers rated the companies based on a 10-point scoring system that measures customer expectations versus actual customer satisfaction across eight service dimensions. The eight dimensions were: reliability, speed, product quality, value for money, location of offering, staff quality, call center and website.

Service Hero President, Faten Abu-Ghazaleh, said: “We would like to congratulate all the winners from the 2012 awards ceremony who have received the highest customer satisfaction scores in their industry cate -

gories. This ceremony is to acknowledge the hard work and focus that these companies have put into either maintaining or uplifting their service standards for their customers.

“After all, customer satisfaction is sometimes misunderstood with training staff to smile or making locations and branches look attractive. In reality, customer service is a discipline and a

continuous series of activities and hard work to address the needs of customers. It includes the right communication, staff motivation and improvement of internal processes all for the benefit of the customer. The SHCSI shows companies where they are positioned against their competitors in customer service and it helps provide them with the insights to improve - all based on

customer feedback.” From his side Mohammed Shalaby, Chief Operating Office at Al-Babtain Group highlighted that customer’s satisfaction is a priority.

“Al-Babtain Group is keen to provide complete customer care service.

Obtaining the New car sales award is the best evidence of the service standard we provide to our customers. The thousands votes of the participants at the survey increases our challenge to provide the best for our loyal cus-

tomers and to keep our high standard,” he pointed out.

Empirical findings The Service Hero online survey used strict security protocols to ensure the authenticity of voters. Service Hero also employed a rigorous sampling and data quality methodology that is in line with the European Society of Opinion and Market Research (ESOMAR). The Ser vice Hero Customer Satisfaction Index is overseen by an independent

Advisory Council comprising the American University of Kuwait, Gulf University of Science and Technology, Australian College of Kuwait, and the Kuwait Maastricht Business Schoolas its academic sponsors, and other prominent businessmen from leading organizations, including the Boston Consulting Group and Noor Financial. None of the organizations represented by the council members were either directly or indirectly assessed in the survey.

Gulf Express Co launches TOTAL oil change stations

KUWAIT: Hamad Saleh AlSelmi is pictured with the winner Bader Al-Shaijy.

FASTtelco announces InfoConnect draw winner KUWAIT: FASTtelco, the leading Internet Service Provider in Kuwait specialized in providing Internet and data communication solutions recently announced the name of the winner of the Grand Prize Draw organized during its participation in the annual InfoConnect 2013 exhibition held at Kuwait International Fair Grounds from January 27 to February 2.

On behalf of FASTtelco, Public relations manager, Hamad Saleh AlSelmi handed the grand prize of $5,000 to Bader Al-Shaijy. On this occasion, AlSelmi announced, “FASTtelco’s InfoConnect grand draw succeeded in attracting and generating a record number of subscribers, all of which had the chance to win the $5,000 grand prize through their highs-speed, and costeffective internet package subscriptions.

According to AlSelmi, clients and visitors expressed their great appreciation for the quality and uniqueness of the innovative internet services and packages introduced

by FASTtelco, re-affirming that FASTtelco is consistently striving in offering state-ofthe-art Internet technologies and reliable, easy-to-use Internet services, that are specifically tailored to meet the unique needs and demands of both large to medium enterprises and individuals.

On his part, InfoConnect draw winner Bader Al-Shaijy expressed his sincere gratitude for the unique value-added products and services introduced by FASTtelco. AlShaijy also added that this draw aimed at encouraging customers to participate in FASTtelco’s exceptional innovative services and to benefit from the various prizes and giveaways offered by FASTtelco.

Committed to always being ahead of customer needs and meeting market demands, FASTtelco will continue to introduce unique value-added products and innovative services to its customers, in addition to a vast array of special offers and promotions for all in the state of Kuwait.

StarcomMediaVest Group retains Saudi Telecommunications account DUBAI: Leading media agency StarcomMediaVest Group (SMG) has successfully retained the Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC) account - held since 2002 following a highly competitive multi-agency pitch.

The high profile win will see SMG remain as STC’s multichannel, full-service and integrated media agency. In line with this, the Group will continue to spearhead traditional media strategies for STC as well as deliver exceptional digital solutions for an everevolving telecommunications sector.

STC is one of the top advertisers in the MENA region and the leading telecommunications provider in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, SMG’s position as the biggest media agency in the MENA region and in Saudi Arabia makes this collaboration especially befitting. Throughout the years, SMG and STC have maintained a highly successful partnership punctuated by a slew of industry accolades - including the Advertiser of the Year Award won at the Dubai Lynx 2009.

During the intense pitch process, SMG managed to, once again, set itself starkly apart from competition, unveiling opportunities driven by data and insights applied to consumer communication, and an unparalleled understanding of the STC brand. SMG’s pioneering planning approach also shed light on its unyielding commitment to quality deliverables and sales success. “This win serves as a true testament to our longstanding partnership spanning 11 years - and our shared leader-

ship vision,” said John Antoniades, Chief Executive Officer of SMG MENA. “We are honored to have the opportunity to continue to serve and work in partnership with STC. In an industry where client turnover is common, we, at SMG, worked relentlessly to build a solid reputation, strong credentials and long-lasting relationships. This is rooted in a desire to deliver sustainable advantage from our leading scale, talent and capabilities. We look forward to a continued and prosperous alliance with STC.” RamziGhanem, Managing Director, SMG KSA, also added: “From the very beginning, we ventured into our partnership with STC with a long-term and innovative approach, using our talent, cutting-edge technologies and data. It has been a truly rewarding and successful experience and one that can only be attributed to our talented team and their multifaceted capabilities. As we further expand our business, we hope to continue to deliver exceptional results.”

The win kicks off the new year in full force following a stellar 2012 where SMG truly cemented its status as the leading media buying and planning network in the region in 2012. With annual monitored billings of $2.6 billion and a 20% growth over 2011, not only did SMG successfully defend Almarai in the biggest pitch of 2012, they also managed to secure 14 new pieces of business which include coveted brands such as Emirates NBD, Novartis, Mango, Meydan, Savola, Lazurde, Tetley, Dubai Sports Council, Ministry Of Cabinet Affairs and Enterprise Qatar.

KUWAIT: To strengthen TOTAL Lubricants’ retail presence, Gulf Express Co (an Al-Babtain Group of Co) and TOTAL Marketing Middle East, have launched the branded oil change concept at strategic locations with reputed partners in Kuwait in the presence of Ghazi Saleh AlBabtain-General Manager, Shakilur RahmanVice President GCC Sales -Total Marketing Middle East, & Management teams of Al Babtain Group & Total Marketing Middle East.

Ghazi Saleh Al-Babtain emphasized that “being close to our end customers has been a core principal to our operations and we take pride in being one of fastest growing lubricant brands in Kuwait in a very short time. These strategically located service centers provide the customers an ideal solution for their automobile service requirements”.

Moreover Al-Babtain added that TOTAL branded oil change stations offers a warm welcoming team, professional Services, trust and a selection of high quality TOTAL lubricants. AlBabtain Group is committed to improve service center standards in Kuwait over the next few years and by tying up with reputed and likeminded partners, TOTAL branded oil change stations should become the preferred destination for customers seeking professional solutions for their service requirements.

“TOTAL-branded oil change centres are not merely a branding exercise but an extension of

our partnership with the people running the show to offer the consumers a pleasant oil change experience with an emphasis on quality products” stated Shakilur Rahman - Vice President GCC Sales. We believe in the principle of mutual advantage and to build productive

relationships with Gulf express Company “Total Lubricants”.

At Go Clean car wash we provide excellent service to assure long-term customer satisfaction based on competitive pricing” said Rasheed Al-Haroon the owner of Go Clean car wash.

UAE Exchange bags global excellence recognition DUBAI: The leading global remittance and foreign exchange brand, UAE Exchange, today announced that it has won the TISSE 2012 accreditation from the UK-based The International Customer Service Institute (TICSI) in recognition of its excellence in customer service benchmarked to global standards of best practices. In a statement, UAE Exchange said that it is the first remittance brand in the Middle East to attain the ‘International Benchmark’ excellence level in TISSE 2012.

Varghese Mathew, Country Head, UAE Exchange - UAE, said, “We have always exhibited a penchant for quality in delivering our products and services to the end customer. This aim has made us evolve from just one office in 1980 to over 660 offices across 30 countries.” “Quality is the driving force in our journey to customer delight. This incessant focus on quality service has earned UAE Exchange the TISSE certification.

We thank the prestigious TICSI body for recognising and appreciating our efforts. Such recognitions motivate us to achieve more,” he added.

TICSI accreditation is aimed at enabling organisations to focus their attention on the delivery of excellence in service quality. The certification ceremony was held on February 7, 2013 in Dubai at the UAE Exchange Country Head Quarters. TICSI is an independent organisation enabling the recognition and sharing of global best practices in customer service excellence. TICSI is the custodian of The International Standard for Service Excellence (TISSE), the first global standard for customer service in the world. The International Customer Service Standard is a generic standard that assists organisations to manage and continuously improve on service quality. TICSI offers independent third-party assessment by the world’s leading certification body, British Standards Institution (BSI).

Customer has always been the centre of every activity that UAE Exchange has undertaken and this focus has helped the organisation win many awards including the Banker Middle East Product Award, Dubai Quality Award, Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Business Award, Dubai Human Development Appreciation Programme, Best Partner by Emirates National Development Programme, UAE Emiratisation Award, Deutsche

Bank STP Excellence Award, Customer Service Week Star Award for 2010, 2011 and 2012, ISO 9001 and 14001 certification, while being voted Superbrand from 2009 to 2012, consecutively.

Known for its excellent customer service and acclaimed as the ‘ World’s Trusted Money Transferrer,’ UAE Exchange has the largest global network among remittance brands with over

660 branches in 30 countries across five continents, serving over 4 million customers. Strong correspondent relationship with over 150 global banks further adds to the might. In the UAE, the global money transferrer has over 120 branches, of which 14 are in Dubai metro network. UAE Exchange is the first remittance brand to establish itself in this railway network.

NBK rewards customers KUWAIT: NBK Rewards program is recognized as the first and best rewarding program in Kuwait. NBK Credit Cardholders ( Visa, MasterCard and Diners Club( enjoy exclusive discounts and rewards when using their credit cards at more than 600 participating outlets.

The program’s mechanics are simple and guarantee discounts and reward points at many of the best international and local brands in Kuwait.

NBK Credit Cardholders benefit from exclu-

sive discounts at more than 600 outlets in Kuwait encompassing world-renowned brands in fashion, dining and lifestyle. NBK Credit Cardholders also have the opportunity to redeem their NBK Reward points for vouchers and use them in the participating outlets.

NBK’s leadership in the Credit Card market in Kuwait has been established by consistently delivering superior value to its customers. NBK always strive to develop promotions and exclusive offers to reward its customers.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

technology

Microsoft’s ‘Open Door Kuwait’ showcases productivity innovation

By Islam Al-Sharaa KUWAIT: Microsoft brings the next generation of Cloud and Productivity technology products and services to Kuwait as part of its annual Open Door.

Windows 8, Office 2013, Windows Server 2012 are highlights from the technology portfolio that event attendees will experience during Open Door.

Bringing customers and partners across the region the latest innovation news and updates on Microsoft technologies, products and offers, Open Door will shed the light on Office 2013, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 and other Microsoft innovation.

Microsoft Open Door is a one-day event that brings together speakers from Microsoft and partners to provide the IT professional and business community with insights into the latest technology innovations. Attendees engage with Microsoft experts and interact with other peers from the IT community, while learning about Microsoft’s breadth of solutions, technologies and vision for 2013.

Open Door Kuwait is one of five Microsoft experiential technology showcases taking place in the Gulf region in 2013, reaching people across five countries including Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Regional sponsors for Gulf Open Door are Nokia and HP. Additional partners include Exceed IT Services and Training, Lenovo and Toshiba.

“Microsoft Open Door presents a unique opportunity for IT professionals and enthusiasts in Kuwait to experience tomorrow’s technologies today,” said Ihab Moustafa, Country Manager Microsoft Kuwait.

“As a company, we place innovation at the heart of

Ihab Moustafa, Country Manager Microsoft Kuwait

Ihab Moustafa with some of the officials.

everything we do and our belief that technology enables change goes hand in hand with Kuwait’s vision of the development of a competitive and diversified economy, and we are confident that innovation and technology will contribute to the future development of Kuwait. We are committed, through working with our partners, to providing IT professionals and businesses in Kuwait with the latest technology to enhance productivity, enable innovation and reduce security risks,” he continued.

During the event, Microsoft will provide access to pioneering next-generation IT solutions but also discuss ways and means to help businesses

improve their productivity and Return on Investment (ROI) using technology. In addition, a special focus will be given to cloud computing, with Microsoft showcasing its latest innovations and the cloud capabilities that Microsoft Office 365, Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 bring to businesses and consumers.

Omar Draghmeh, Managing Director, HP Kuwait & Bahrain said “We are pleased to announce our partnership with Microsoft Gulf for the Open Door Roadshow, which aligns with HP’s vision of creating new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and

society. As the world’s largest technology company, we are looking forward to engaging with IT and Business professionals through Open Door to introduce them to the latest innovation.”

“Innovations within the realm of technology have played a vital role in the growth and productivity of the region. We see partnering with Microsoft Gulf for the Open Door as an opportunity to be involved in the new ways by which leaders from the IT and corporate world connect with each other to share the latest trends in productivity through real-time conversations,” said Vithesh Reddy, General Manager Nokia Lower Gulf.

Microsoft email better, not revolutionary

Kaspersky Lab Executives in the press conference .

Kaspersky Lab takes a big step in the global endpoint security market DUBAI: Kaspersky Lab yesterday announced its new flagship corporate security platform, Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business, at a press conference held at the Jumeriah Beach Hotel in Dubai, UAE. The launch in the UAE follows the global launch announcement at the company’s Cyber Security Summit titled, “How Cyber-Warfare Impacts Corporate IT Security” that was held in New York, late last month. The launch of this entirely new security platform is a significant milestonein thecompany’songoing growth in the global market for corporateIT security solutions.

The summit featured insights from a variety of recognized IT security experts, reinforcing Kaspersky Lab’s status as an industry leader.

These guestsincludedHoward Schmidt, former Cyber-Security Coordinator of the Obama administration; Lawrence Orans, Research Director, Gartner Inc.; and several security representatives of international businesses such as RIM and PayPal.These experts were joined on stage by Kaspersky Lab executives and researchers, who shared their latest threat intelligence, expert insights, and valuable strategies to help businessescombat cybercrime.

Throughout the presentations and panel discussions, the dangers of cyber-weapons were a consistent theme, and Kaspersky Lab CEO and founder Eugene Kaspersky told the audience that an eventual cyber-attack against a high-profile corporation or critical infrastructure was inevitable. The assembled experts

also discussed the security challenges presented bycorporate employees using their own devices to access company networks, which was cited as a potential vulnerability for many businesses. Another key theme to emerge from the panel discussion was the need for an increased emphasis on security education amongst current and future business executives.

Kaspersky endpoint security for business The company’s new flagshipcorporate security platform for businesses offers a powerful combination of deep protection, efficiency, and seamless manageability. To simplify IT security management and ensure advanced protection for business of all sizes, Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business comes with a number of new and improved technologiesthat allow IT administrators to see, control, and protect their network.

Available for purchase in specialized bundles for businesses of all sizes, Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business is a single, unified platform, created by Kaspersky Lab’s engineers from a single codebase.It delivers protection in a way that other security products cannot. Through ONE platform, ONE console, and at ONE cost, IT administrators can see, control and protect all systems and endpoints within the organization’s IT infrastructure, whether it’s a PC down the hall, a virtual machine in another office, or a missing smartphone across the country.

NEW YORK: Longtime users of Hotmail, MSN and other Microsoft email services will start noticing a big change: When they sign in to check messages, they’ll be sent to a new service called Outlook.com. You might be thinking, isn’t Outlook the software Microsoft Corp. makes for people to use email at work? Indeed it is, but Microsoft is now adopting that brand for personal, Web-based email services as well.

It’s part of a broad makeover that includes the company’s overhaul of the Windows operating system and the Office software suite.

There’s little relationship between the two Outlooks apart from the name. That’s good. The Outlook Web App I use for checking work email at home feels like an adaptation of software meant to be installed on work computers, rather than something designed from the start to play to the Web’s strengths.

The consumer Outlook.com, on the other hand, feels the way Web email should. It bears more similarities with consumer-based email services, such as Google’s Gmail and Yahoo Mail, than with the corporate Outlook.

People have been able to sign up for Outlook.com email addresses and use the new interface as a “preview” for several months now. Microsoft made Outlook.com official on Tuesday and plans to spend millions of dollars to advertise it. Microsoft is even starting to force people using older Microsoft email services to switch to Outlook.com. If you’ve already tried Outlook.com on a browser, you might find your other accounts automatically upgraded the next time you sign in. Others will be moved over starting this summer. One important note: People will be able to keep their existing addresses while using Outlook.com. There’s no need to print new business cards replacing Hotmail with a new Outlook.com address. But if you want to change your address, you can get a new one for free. In fact, at least for now, it’s still possible to get new Hotmail and Live addresses by signing up through Hotmail.com or Live.com, rather than Outlook.com. You’ll see a lot of improvements when you switch, though nothing feels revolutionary if you’ve already been using Gmail.

By revolutionary, I mean something along the lines of what Gmail did to email when Google introduced it in 2004. First, Gmail scrapped the use of folders to organize older messages. Instead, it gives you labels, and you can apply as many as you want to a particular message. So an email among friends to make plans for “The Hobbit” movie might be filed away as “friends,” “movies” and even “The Hobbit.” With folders, you had to choose one folder to put your message into or create multiple copies of the messages. It’s a relic of the offline world, in which a paper document can only go in one folder without a copying machine.

Meanwhile, those 50 emails it might take to coordinate your movie date with friends could have easily cluttered your inbox. Gmail automatically groups those into “conversations,” so you see all 50 messages as a single item in your inbox. These changes took time to get used to, but that’s what happens with revolutions. Outlook.com adopts conversations, which makes it feel like it’s catching up to Gmail, but it still uses folders instead of labels. The improvements over Gmail are mostly around the edges: Outlook integrates with leading social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Gmail mostly integrates with Google’s own services. With Outlook, you can have the service automatically fill your address book

have contents of emails automatically appear in a reading pane, rather than just as a list with subject lines.

This is the part that feels most like Outlook software for work. You’d need to turn this feature on, though. It’s something you might not want if you check messages a lot from public places and don’t want messages to automatically appear. But Gmail doesn’t even give you that option unless you install a tool that Google says “may change, break or disappear at any time.” Outlook also lets you create alternate email addresses without signing up for additional accounts - up to five a year, or up to 15 at any one time. So you can create “UseThisForSpam(at)

WASHINGTON: File photo shows Microsoft Corp retail store employees and guests mingle at a pop-up Microsoft Store during Microsoft’s annual meeting of shareholders, in Bellevue. — AP with contact information not just from Google but also from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and even China’s Sina service. You can chat with a Facebook friend directly from the Outlook website. And if you get an email from a Facebook friend, you might see that person’s latest Facebook post to the right, as long as Facebook has that email address registered to the social-networking account.

Keep in mind that your posts won’t start showing up next to correspondences with people you’re not friends with, unless you’ve set them on Facebook to be publicly visible. Outlook offers many ways to customize and manage the mailbox. One of the complaints I have about Web-based email is the lack of versatility. You’re not given as many options as you are with stand-alone email software. I was pleased to see a number of options with Outlook. For instance, I can

Outlook.com” for dealings with merchants, whereas Google requires you to set up a new Gmail account to get that second address, which you can then link with your main account.

Outlook matches Gmail in letting you use Outlook.com to manage email from other services, such as Gmail and AOL, though neither works with Yahoo Mail unless you pay $20 a year for a Plus account. Outlook also has tools for keeping your mailbox clean. You can automatically move or delete messages older than a certain number of days. You can also choose to keep only the latest message from that sender. Be careful, though, as I had inadvertently deleted more than 300 messages in a few seconds that way. A more useful option would have been to move only messages that had been read, or to move rather than delete all but the latest message.—AP

Future science: Using 3D worlds to visualize data CHICAGO: Take a walk through a human brain? Fly over the surface of Mars? Computer scientists at the University of Illinois at Chicago are pushing science fiction closer to reality with a wraparound virtual world where a researcher wearing 3D glasses can do all that and more. In the system, known as CAVE2, an 8-foot-high screen encircles the viewer 320 degrees. A panorama of images springs from 72 stereoscopic liquid crystal display panels, conveying a dizzying sense of being able to touch what’s not really there. As far back as 1950, sci-fi author Ray Bradbury imagined a children’s nursery that could make bedtime stories disturbingly real.

“Star Trek” fans might remember the holodeck as the virtual playground where the fictional Enterprise crew relaxed in fantasy worlds.

The Illinois computer scientists have more serious matters in mind when they hand visitors 3D glasses and a controller called a “wand.” Scientists in many fields today share a common challenge: How to truly understand overwhelming amounts of data. Jason Leigh, co-inventor of the CAVE2 virtual reality system, believes this technology answers that challenge. “In the next five years, we anticipate using the CAVE to look at really large-scale data to help scientists make sense of that information.

CAVEs are essentially fantastic lenses for bringing data into focus,” Leigh said.

The CAVE2 virtual world could change the way doctors are trained and improve patient care, Leigh said. Pharmaceutical researchers could use it to model the way new drugs bind to proteins in the human body. Car designers could virtually “drive” their new vehicle designs. Imagine turning massive amounts of data - the forces behind a hurricane, for example - into a simulation that a weather researcher could enlarge and explore from the inside. Architects could walk through their skyscrapers before they are built. Surgeons could rehearse a procedure using data from an individual patient.

But the size and expense of room-based virtual reality systems may prove insurmountable barriers to widespread use, said Henry Fuchs, a computer science professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who is familiar with the CAVE technology but wasn’t involved in its development. While he calls the CAVE2 “a national treasure,” Fuchs predicts a smaller technology such as Google’s Internet-connected eyeglasses will do more to revolutionize medicine than the CAVE. Still, he says large displays are the best way today for people to interact and collaborate.

Believers include the people at Marshalltown, Iowa-based Mechdyne Corp, which has licensed the CAVE2 technology for three years and plans to

market it to hospitals, the military and in the oil and gas industry, said Kurt Hoffmeister of Mechdyne. In Chicago, researchers and graduate students are creating virtual scenarios for testing in the CAVE2.

The Mars flyover is created from real NASA data.

The brain tour is based on the layout of blood vessels in a real patient. Brain surgeon Ali Alaraj

remembered the first time he viewed the brain using the CAVE2.

“You can walk between the blood vessels,” said the University of Illinois College of Medicine neurosurgeon. “You can look at the arteries from below.

You can look at the arteries from the side.... That was science fiction for me.” Would doctors process

CHICAGO: File photo shows computer scientist Jason Leigh, coinventor of the CAVE2 virtual reality system, stands in the CAVE2’s doorway where the system’s 72 stereoscopic liquid crystal display panels encircles the viewer 320 degrees and creates a 3D environment that can take you to the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, a flyover the planet Mars, or through the blood vessels of the brain.

information faster with fewer errors using CAVE2?

That’s the question behind a proposed study that would compare CAVE2 to conventional methods of detecting brain aneurysms and determining proper treatment, said Andreas Linninger, UIC professor of bioengineering, chemical engineering and computer science.—AP

CHICAGO: In this photo taken in Chicago, brain surgeon Ali Alaraj talks about the first time he viewed the brain using the CAVE2.

— AP photos

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

Exposure to smog causes surge in heart deaths Major problem in cities PARIS: Exposure to higher levels of airborne pollution that is an emerging problem in many Asian cities-causes a sharp rise in deaths from heart attacks, a study published yesterday said.

Research published in the European Heart Journal pointed the finger at so-called PM2.5 pollution, which comprises tiny particles measuring 2.5 micrometres across or less. They are mainly generated by burning coal and oil for power stations, and petrol and diesel for transport.

Around 30 times smaller than a human hair, PM2.5 particles have long been identified as a respiratory problem, as their size enables them to lodge deep in the lungs. Less understood, though, is their impact on cardiac health.

Cathryn Tonne at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine led a study into 154,000 patients in England and Wales who had been hospitalised for a heart attack between 2004 and 2007.

They followed the patients for more than three years after their release from hospital.

During this period, nearly 40,000 of them died.

After stripping out factors that could skew the

picture such as socio-economic status and smoking, the researchers found a clear link between exposure to PM2.5 and early death. It far surpassed the risk from exposure to bigger particles called PM10, which are 10 micrometres across.

“We found that for every 10 microgrammes per M3 in PM2.5, there was a 20-percent increase in the death rate,” said Tonne.

If PM2.5 levels had been reduced to their natural background rate, the total number of deaths would have fallen by 4,873, or 12 percent.

The average exposure to PM2.5 in England was 11.0 microgrammes per m3, with the highest in London, which was 14.1 microgrammes per m3. The lowest was in northeast England, which had 8.4 particles per m3. By comparison, the World Health Organisation (WHO) sets down guidelines of a maximum of 10 microgrammes of PM2.5 per cubic metre as an annual average exposure, and a maximum of 25 microgrammes per m3 over a 24-hour period.

Particulate smog is becoming a major problem in Asian cities that have built up over the past decade.

In Beijing last month, PM2.5 levels reached 993 microgrammes per m3, almost 40 times the WHO’s recommended safe limit, triggering an outcry.

“The pollution in Beijing is a huge cause for concern,” said Pier Manucci, a professor at the University of Milan and a leading European authority on thrombosis, when asked to comment on the study.

“When you think that here in Italy, in Milan, we are concerned when the concentration of PM2.5 is around 100 and in China it reaches values of 1,000, you can understand the magnitude of the difference in risk and effects.”

He said that almost all of the research into the link between cardiac risk and pollution was conducted in rich countries, where PM2.5 levels were far lower.

“We know the degree of pollution in these countries, thanks to satellite data about aerosol concentrations,” Manucci told AFP. “But they pay little attention, except as you notice during the (2008 Olympic) Games, when they decreased the traffic in Beijing.” —AFP

Retinal implants clear new hurdle PARIS: German-designed implants aimed at restoring vision to patients blinded by retinal disease have succeeded in the second phase of trials, researchers reported yesterday. The device was tested for up to nine months among nine people with retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited disease in which light receptors on the back of the eyeball degenerate and eventually cease to function.

“Of the nine patients observed in the study, three patients were able to read letters spontaneously,” Retina Implant AG, a nine-year-old technology startup company that invented the device, said in a press release.

“During observation in and outside the laboratory, patients also reported the ability to recognise faces, distinguish objects such as telephones and read signs on doors.”

The study appears in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a journal published by Britain’s de-facto academy of sciences.

The device consists of a tiny lightsensitive chip measuring 3mm by 3mm (0.11 x 0.11 inches), which sends electrical signals down the optic nerve to the brain, providing a “diamond-shaped” black-and-white image with a field of 15 degrees.

Attached to the retina, the implant is powered via a thin cable which connects to a small coil fitted under a fold of skin behind the ear.

The coil is charged when a handheld battery unit is brought up close

brightness and contrast of the image.

The patients received the implant in one eye, the one with the worst visual function.

One of the nine had to drop out of the experiment after the optic nerve

to it the same principle of wireless charging that is used, for instance, in electrical toothbrushes-and thus means it can be used outdoors. The battery unit also has two knobs, enabling the user to adjust the

was damaged during the implant operation, and another experienced a buildup in eyeball pressure which was successfully treated with drugs.

New drugs and revolutionary medical devices typically undergo a

three-phase process of trials on human volunteers.

The number of patients and the scope of the test gradually widens, in a bid to ensure that the innovation is both safe and effective.

The first trial of the implant, published in 2010, used a cable, rather than wireless technology, to power the device. There are several other entrants in the field for retinal implants, reflecting big advances in electronic miniaturisation and microsurgery in the past decade.

None claims to be a cure but rather an aid to distinguish between light and darkness and ascertain the shape of objects.

“Although the restoration of vision described here is limited, blind persons with no alternative therapy options regard this type of artificial vision as an improvement in everyday life,” the German doctors said.

Last week the US firm Second Sight Medical Products gained US regulatory approval in addition to the green light from Europe for its Argus II retinal prosthesis.

There is also a 24-electrode device made by Bionic Vision Australia, which has so far been tested on one patient. —AFP

Do you need to see your gynecologist every year?

NEW YORK: Recommendations no longer support annual visits to the gynecologist -but every woman is different.

It feels good to know that we’re staying on top of our health, whether we’re having our teeth cleaned every six months, getting regular eye exams, or seeing our doctor for a check-up. Many of us have come to rely on our annual gynecological visit as a time to check on our health, to make sure our female organs are in good working order.

But do we really need to see our gynecologist each year for a check-up? The answer used to be yes, in part to ensure we got regular Pap tests to screen for cervical cancer. However, new cervical cancer screening guidelines recommend less frequent Pap tests for younger women and no Pap tests for many older women, which may mean many of us no longer need this annual health ritual.

New Pap test guidelines In 2012, the US Preventive Services Task Force, American Cancer Society, and American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued the following revised recommendations on Pap tests: Women ages 30 to 65 who have had negative Pap test results in the past should have a combination Pap and human papillomavirus (HPV) test once every five years.

Women ages 65 and older do not need to have Pap tests, as long as they have no history of precancerous cells or cervical cancer, and they’ve had either three con-

secutive negative Pap test results or two consecutive negative Pap/HPV tests within the previous 10 years.

Women who have had a hysterectomy and no longer have a cervix do not need Pap tests, unless they’ve had precancerous cells in the cervix or a reproductive cancer in the past.

The new recommendations stem from a better understanding of how cervical cancer develops, says Dr. Martha Richardson, assistant clinical professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School. “People don’t develop cervical cancer very rapidly. There are very clear precancerous stages that take years to progress,” she says.

Research has shown that most cervical cancers are caused by specific types of HPV, a virus that is sexually transmitted. Dr. Richardson says that, given what we now know about the causes and course of cervical cancers, “to do a yearly Pap test is overkill. And for young women-under 30-in particular, frequent Pap tests have led to way too much diagnosis and treatment for conditions that are not likely to spread.”

When you do see your gynecologist, these tips from Dr. Richardson can help you make the most of your visit. ● If you haven’t done so already, find a gynecologist you trust-one you feel comfortable calling on when related health issues arise. ● Keep in touch with your gynecologist in between visits. Ask your doctor if you can email or call with any questions or problems. ● Before your appointment, write up a list of issues you want to discuss, and tell your doctor about them at

the start of your visit. Don’t wait until the doctor is about to leave the room to bring them up. ● Keep track of your medications and screenings. Tell your doctor whether you’ve had your mammogram, Pap test, vaccinations, colonoscopy, and bone density scan, and find out when you’re due for your next screenings.

Do you still need a yearly pelvic or well-woman exam?

If you’re not having an annual Pap test-and you don’t have any worrisome symptoms-is there any reason to still get a yearly gynecological exam? “The answer is there’s no evidence that it’s valuable,” according to Dr. Richardson. A 2011 article in the Journal of Women’s Health suggests the routine pelvic exam might even be “obsolete.” The article says many of the reasons for doing a pelvic exam-including screening for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and detecting ovarian cancer earlymay not be needed or are covered by other tests.

Even so, ACOG stands behind the annual wellwoman visit. The organization says these visits are a time for women and their doctors to discuss : personal health and family medical history, diet and exercise, pelvic prolapse, menopause symptoms, sexual practices, neglect or abuse, incontinence, height, weight, body mass index (BMI).

Yearly visits might also include: a bone mineral density screen, a cervical cancer screen, a clinical breast exam, a colorectal cancer screen, a diabetes test, a pelvic exam (depending on your age and health), a mammogram, a thyroid test, tests for STIs. —MCT

Dr Hisham Lotfy Al-Khatib

Laser resurfacing helps improve skin’s appearance What is a laser resurfacing?

Laser resurfacing is one of the leading cosmetic procedures performed around the world.

It was first introduced in New Mowasat Hospital three years back. The procedure utilizes a special kind of laser to improve the overall look of your skin.

Who should consider laser resurfacing?

Any patient looking for a moderate to dramatic visible improvement in their skin’s appearance should consider laser resurfacing. Patients who have acne scars or deep wrinkles have found laser resurfacing to be the best treatment for these types of conditions.

How does laser resurfacing work?

The laser used in resurfacing has a very high attraction to the water in your skin. When the laser energy is applied, it ablates (vaporizes) a layer of skin to a depth controlled by your physician. The high water attraction allows the FRACTIONAL laser to ablate blemishes, wrinkles and damaged skin very efficiently, which makes it both safe and effective. As your skin heals, a new layer of fresh healthy skin replaces the old damaged skin. Additionally, laser resurfacing stimulates the formation of new collagen leading to a stronger dermal foundation and noticeably firmer skin.

Why choose laser resurfacing over other resurfacing methods?

With the precision of resurfacing laser, your physician has the ability to create a plan with customized recovery periods, depending on the patient’s needs. In shallow treatments, laser resurfacing accomplishes effects similar to dermabrasion and chemical peels, but with much greater precision, consistency of results, and predictable recovery methods.

What conditions can be treated by Sciton laser? ● Hypertrophic, surgical and acne scars ● Fine lines and deep wrinkles ● Poor skin texture (e.g. enlarged pores) ● Actinic Keratosis (sun damage) ● Freckles and other pigmented skin lesions What areas can be treated?

Laser resurfacing is most commonly performed on the face. It can be very effective at eliminating the wrinkles that occur around the mouth (e.g lip lines) and eyes (e.g. crow’s feet), as well as improving the overall skin tone, texture and color anywhere on the face. LASER can also be used on other parts of the body.

What will happen during the procedure?

Your physician will protect your eyes with safety shields or glasses and prepare your skin for treatment. During the procedure, the physician will hold the laser headpiece in place as a computercontrolled scanner that precisely moves the laser beam over the treatment area.

You may hear snapping or popping sounds as the laser gently removes the outer layer of the skin. The procedure may take a few minutes to half an hour or more, depending on the size of the

treatment area and the depth of your treatment.

Will the procedure be uncomfortable?

Your physician will discuss options for managing any discomfort associated with the procedure. The amount of discomfort varies from patient to patient and depends on the depth of the treatment. For areas like the face an anesthetic cream can be applied for one hour before the procedure.

What should I expect after treatment?

Your physician has designed an aftercare regimen to address the common side effects associated with laser resurfacing and will include specific instructions to minimize these effects and speed up your healing. Some swelling may be present in the treated area and can be addressed with cool compresses.

Redness may persist for several days, depending on the depth of the treatment, but will resolve over time. It is important that you avoid sun exposure, especially while your skin is healing. If you must go outdoors, it is recommended that you cover your treated skin, wear a hat and use sun block of SPF 50 or higher after skin has healed.

How long will it take to recover?

Your healing time will depend on factors such as treatment depth and posttreatment care. Healing time may also vary between individuals. As a general rule of thumb, the deeper the treatment, the longer the healing time, but the more dramatic the results. Your physician can provide realistic expectations of downtime based on your specific treatment as well as answer questions about temporary changes to your skin color and provide suggestions on how they may be camouflaged.

Are there any risks with the procedure?

Generally, resurfacing laser carries very few risks, which is one of the reasons why it has become the preferred method of resurfacing for many. Your physician can provide more information on the risks associated with any type of medical procedure, including laser resurfacing. One of the best ways to reduce the possibility of complications is to follow the after-treatment care instructions and follow-up schedule provided by your physician. Doing so will help reduce the risk of infection and ensure proper healing.

What kind of results should I expect, and how soon can I expect to see them?

Your results will vary depending on the severity of the conditions treated and the depth of treatment. Usually you will be able to see immediate visible results such as elimination of sunspots, wrinkle reduction and skin texture improvement as soon as the skin heals.

Additionally, you may notice gradual firming of the skin over the next several months as the skin’s healing and rebuilding response stimulates collagen remodeling and production, leading to healthier, softer skin.

(Dr Hisham Lotfy Al-Khatib is Consultant Dermatology & Venereology in New Mowasat Hospital)

US Court tilts toward Monsanto in battle with farmer

PYONGYANG: A North Korean nurse comforts a baby at a nursery inside Pyongyang Maternity Hospital in Pyongyang yesterday. —AP

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court appeared yesterday to side with Monsanto against an Indiana farmer accused of having pirated the geneticallymodified crops developed by the agribusiness giant. At stake is whether farmers can reproduce genetically-modified seeds on their own without paying for the technology again each growing season, which Monsanto says would stifle biotechnology innovation.

Critics counter that Monsanto is asserting ownership over a now nearly ubiquitous life form, which would allow it to share in the occasional profits of struggling farmers but insulate it from the risk they face.

Vernon Hugh Bowman, the 75-year-old soybean farmer at the center of the controversy, claims he acted in good faith and poses no threat to the multi-billion dollar genetically modified seed industry.

“I’ve done nothing wrong,” Bowman said before the Supreme Court on Tuesday. “If I had done something wrong, no matter how big, they would have the right to come after me.”

In a lawsuit filed in 2007, Monsanto accused Bowman of infringing on its intellectual property rights by replanting, cultivating and selling herbicide-resistant soybean seeds it spent more than a decade developing.

The patented seed, which allows farmers to aerially spray Monsanto-made Roundup herbicide over their entire fields, was invented in 1996 and is now

grown by more than 90 percent of the 275,000 US soybean farmers.

Bowman claims to have respected his contract with Monsanto and purchased new Roundup Ready seeds each year for his first planting.

But he says hard times forced him to purchase a cheaper mixture of seeds from a grain elevator starting in 1999, which he used for his second planting.

The mixture included Roundup Ready soybeans, which Bowman was able to isolate and replant from 2000 to 2007.

Monsanto attorney Seth Waxman argued that Bowman was able to profit from the seed giant’s technology without having to pay for it, comparing the case to software piracy.

“Without the ability to limit reproduction of soybeans containing this patented trait, Monsanto could not have commercialized its invention, and never would have produced what is, by now, the most popular agricultural technology in America,” he argued.

“Having committed hundreds of millions of dollars in 13 years to develop this technology, in the very first sale of an article that practices the patent, it would have exhausted its rights in perpetuity.”

Monsanto, which won earlier rulings in lower courts, appeared to have also convinced the nation’s highest judicial body.

“Why in the world would anybody spend any

money to try to improve the seed if as soon as they sold the first one anybody could grow more and have as many of those seeds as they want?” Chief Justice John Roberts asked.

Justice Stephen Breyer, a more progressive jurist, appeared to agree.

“You know, there are certain things that the law prohibits. What it prohibits here is making a copy of the patented invention. And that is what (Bowman) did,” he said.

Bowman’s attorney, Mark Walters, countered that extending Monsanto’s rights to the less reliable grain elevator seed would allow it to profit from the crop without sharing the farmer’s risk.

In Monsanto’s legal reasoning, he said, “it doesn’t matter how you come into possession with these seeds... Any cell division is patent infringement.”

“So what they’re essentially asking for is for the farmers to bear all the risks of farming, yet they can sit back and control how that property is used.”

He added that the use of grain elevator seed by small-scale farmers like Bowman is “never going to be a threat to Monsanto’s business.”

After the hearing, Walters told reporters that Bowman-from whom Monsanto has demanded $85,000 in damages-is in dire economic straits.

But the attorney admitted that the court may rule according to the “impact of patterns of investment.” The court is expected to rule on the case by the end of June. —AFP

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Diet drinks may not fuel appetite NORTH CAROLINA: Take another sip of that Diet Coke without fear that it may be spurring your appetite. Apparently, diet soda drinkers don’t eat any more sugary or fatty foods than people who stick with water instead, according to a U.S. study.

Some researchers have proposed that drinks sweetened with artificial sugar might disrupt hormones involved in hunger and satiety cures, causing people to eat more. Others hypothesized that diet beverages could boost the drinker’s preference for sweet tastes, translating to more munching on high-calorie treats. “Our study does not provide evidence to suggest that a short-term con-

sumption of diet beverages, compared with water, increases preferences for sweet foods and beverages,” wrote lead researcher Carmen Piernas in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Piernas, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health, and her colleagues, looked at 318 overweight or obese adults in North Carolina, all of whom said they consumed at least 280 calories’ worth of drinks each day.

One third of the participants were advised to substitute at least two daily servings of sugary beverages with water.

Another third was instructed to substitute diet drinks, including Diet Coke and

Diet Lipton Tea. “Artificial sweeteners are a lot sweeter than regular sugar, on the order of 250 times sweeter, so that’s where the concerns came from,” said Vasanti Malik, a nutrition researcher from the Harvard School of Public Health, who was not part of the study. After three and six months, people reported their food and beverage intake on two different days in detail. A previous publication showed that participants in both groups lost weight.

According to the new report, water and diet beverage drinkers reduced their average daily calories relative to the start of the study, from between 2,000 and

2,300 calories to 1,500 to 1,800 calories.

At both time points, people in the two groups were eating a similar amount of total calories, carbohydrates, fat and sugar. Six months in, the only differences were that members of the water group ate more fruit and vegetables, and people randomized to diet beverages ate fewer desserts, compared to their diet habits at the study’s onset.

“That’s sort of the opposite of what you would expect if consumption of diet soda increased the preference for sweets,” Malik told Reuters health. Some studies have suggested an increased risk of cancer tied to certain artificial sweeteners, but convincing evidence is lack-

ing, Malik said. In addition, a French study, which appeared in the same journal, found that Frenchwomen who drank beverages sweetened with either real or fake sugar were more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes over 14 years than those who stuck with water.

Piernas warned that everyone in her study was heavy and tr ying to lose weight, so the findings may not apply to normal-weight people who drink a lot of diet beverages.

“We’re trying to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage intake in the population for obesity, so the next logical question is, what substitutes can be used?” Malik said. —Reuters

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

W H AT ’ S O N

SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS

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

Kuwaiti actor attends Hala February Festival

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uwaiti actor Tariq Al-Ali attended the second raffle draw of the 2013 Hala February festival, which was held in Souq Sharq recently. The prizes include invitations to fancy restaurants, perfumes, accessories, as well as electric appliances valued between KD 30 and KD 150.

The Regency welcomes Chinese Table-tennis star Ding Ning

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urelio Giraudo General Manager of The Regency met Ding Ning the former World Champion and recent winner of 2013 Austrian Open Table Tennis Champion. Ding Ning was one of a number of global table tennis celebrities staying at The Regency who were attending Kuwait Open 2013 - ITTF World Tour, Super Series from 14-18 February 2013, held in Kuwait.

Ding Ning is a household name in her home country of China. She has won gold medals at the London Olympics in 2012 and at the Dortmund World Championships in 2012. A year earlier she captured two of the biggest titles in Table Tennis by winning the Women’s Singles title at the GC Group World Championships in Rotterdam, later in 2011 she clinched the Volkswagen Women’s World Cup title. She was the reigning World Champion for over a year. Giraudo mentioned it was pleasure to welcome Ding Ning to The Regency and wished her and all the sportsmen and women visiting Kuwait the very best for their future games.

National Day celebrations at The Palms Beach Hotel & Spa IKEA Kuwait wins Service Hero Award for 3rd consecutive year

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he Palms Beach Hotel & Spa introduces distinguished packages on the occasion of Kuwait’s National & Liberation Days. Families can celebrate these joyful occasions through an unfor-

gettable stay at the hotel’s spacious and luxurious suites. The package includes one or two bedrooms suite with spacious living and dining room for two adults and one child or for four adults and one child.

The offer is rich with valuable benefits for the families to enjoy these occasions; the entire family can entertain themselves in a relaxed and luxurious environment.

Guests can avail form the special added

I

KEA Kuwait has been voted the leading brand in Home Furniture for the third year in a row at the recently concluded 2012 Service Hero Award. Close to 384 companies within 17 different private industry categories were ranked by customers to determine their preference on the Service Hero Customer Satisfaction Index (SHCSI) for 2012, with the home furnishings sector being one of highest scoring services again this year.

Customers rated the companies based on a 10-point scoring system that measures customer expectations versus actual customer satisfaction across eight service dimensions. The eight dimensions were: reliability, speed, product quality, value for money, location of offering, staff quality, call center and website. The Recent report has indicated that the Home furnishing sector is rapidly expanding with a sharp rise in demand with IKEA Kuwait competing against 12 other similar companies this year. The report has reinforced the certainty that a customer always comes first and it is crucial to ensure complete consumer satisfaction to maintain success and steady business growth.

Service Hero allows customers to rate customer services online based on eight key dimensions staff behavior, quality of the product or service, speed, service reliability, location, value for money, website and call center. All votes have a confidence level of 95 percent with an error margin of plus or minus five. The survey is ESOMAR-compliant following scientifically sound and empirical research, which is based on international standards and principles.

IKEA Kuwait continues to invest in its brand and exceed customer expectations with constant innovation backed by a dedicated team of employees that have carved an apparent niche in the retail industry for many decades.

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

Announcement

Bharat Vikas 2013

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eva Darshan Kuwait, a voluntary non-profit organization registered with the Indian Embassy, Kuwait, will hold a day-long mega event named as ‘Bharat Vikas, 2013’ on February 25, 2013 at the Marina Hall, Abbasiya.

The event will be marked with the esteemed presence of embassy officials, Viswanatha Subramanyam (Deputy General Manager, Karur Vishay Bank), Pritpal Jit Singh (Branch Manager, Karur Vishay Bank, Delhi), Krishana Dasan Rajan (Branch Manager, Karur Vishay Bank, Kollam), Dr T A Ramesh (Gulfmart Country Head), and other eminent personalities in Kuwait.

A 100-page souvenir will be released on the occa-

sion with a wide variety of articles to commemorate the all round development and the influence and contributions that India has bestowed for a better world.

On the occasion of 150th birthday celebration of Swami Vivekananda, the cultural event incorporates a signature show throwing light to his life which will be presented by our members and children. The highlight of the function will be the presence of talented professional team from India, ‘Cochin Guinness’. The program commences from 10 am. The entry to the show would be free. Seva Darshan was set up basically to fulfill its long standing ideals of being a support to the needy back in India and to help its members and people of our community in Kuwait when needed.

benefits of this packages which includes rich buffet breakfast and lunch or dinner in Palmerie Restaurant which offers a wide variety of Arabic and international cuisine with live cooking stations. In addition to the special family gift and Palms gift vouchers. Seafood lovers can enjoy AlMuhallab Seafood Restaurant, with rich authentic local seafood flavor and original legacy of Kuwait’s traditions with a direct and fascinating view over the gulf waters where Al-Muhallab offers a wide variety of seafood which will appeal to all connoisseurs and satisfy the most difficult taste buds while Tagine Restaurant and Lounge offers you a new and modern experience that reflects the magic and beauty of art to savor sumptuous delights along with the new added dishes in a captivating and stylish ambiance.

The Palms has also planned special kids’ fun programs and entertainments at the Junior Care Center, The Little Palm and around the pools to include: competitions face painting, and other activities designed to spread happiness and laughter. Moreover, families can enjoy access to the hotel’s premier Beach Club, first of its class and furnished with the latest sport’s equipments and overlooking the beach and swimming pools, not to forget the Orchid Spa with its special discounts on massage and beauty treatments run by people with the industry’s best expertise.

The Palms Beach Hotel & Spa located in AlBedaa, Al Ta’awon Street at Salwa area which is considered the closet spot to shopping district.

ECC organizes Omra trip for Egyptians

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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.

W H AT ’ S O N

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

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

All processing of visas and immigration matters in conducted by The Australian Consulate-General in Dubai. Email: info.ausdxb@vfshelpline.com (VFS) immigration.dubai@dfat.gov.au (Visa Office); Tel: +971 4 355 1958 (VFS) - +971 4 508 7200 (Visa Office); Fax: +971 4 355 0708 (Visa Office). In Kuwait applications can be lodged at the Australian Visa Application Centre 4B 1st Floor, Al-Banwan Building Al-Qibla Area, Ali Al-Salem Street, opposite the Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City, Kuwait. Working hours and days: 09:30 - 17:30; Sunday - Thursday. Or visit their website www.vfs-au-gcc-com for more information. Kuwait citizens can apply for tourist visas on-line at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm.

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The Kuwait Autism Club held its 9th annual spring camp featuring various activities, including celebratory activities in commemoration of the National Holidays.

Student-run Cultural Club launches at GUST

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he Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) students launched a new student club called the Cultural Club. The Cultural Club mission is to support the intellectual, social and cultural development of our community. The Cultural Club also hopes to educate, promote and expose GUST students to the multi-cultural disciplines of art, history and education topics in general. For their launch, they invited young Kuwaiti

writer Yousef Ramadhan to talk about his hit book, as well as Marina FM radio show host and GUST Alum, Ali Najim, to talk about his success in his field.

The two guests talked about their journeys in writing and radio show presenting in Kuwait, touching on the different lessons and life stories and experience you gain along the way, both good and bad. They discussed the mentality differences between men and women

and how those differences shape the society we’re in. At one part of their lecture, the gentlemen talked to the audience about how their careers had changed them and their lives completely, whether by being a writer with a hit book or one of the youngest, most liked radio show hosts. They also talked about how they affected each other’s lives, especially when writing their new book to be released later this year.

The event was a successful launch for the Cultural Club, who hopes to introduce the GUST student community to more inspiring youth and leaders in Kuwait through their events and lectures. GUST prides itself in allowing its students to excel and express themselves both academically as well as socially and intellectually and wishes the Cultural Club the best of luck in their future events.

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of 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, UAE Individuals who are interested in working, studying, visiting or immigrating to Canada should contact the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, website: www.UAE.gc.ca or www.goingtocanada.gc.ca, E-mail: abdbi-imenquiry@international.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, Al-Mutawakei St, Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is open from 07:30 to 12:30. Consular services for Canadian citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00, Sunday through Wednesday.

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EMBASSY OF CYPRUS In its capacity as EU Local Presidency in the State of Kuwait, the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus, on behalf of the Member States of the EU and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, would like to announce that as from 2nd October 2012 all Schengen States’ Consulates in Kuwait will use the Visa Information System (VIS). The VIS is a central database for the exchange of data on short-stay (up to three months) visas between Schengen States. The main objectives of the VIS are to facilitate visa application procedures and checks at external border as well as to enhance security. The VIS will contain all the Schengen visa applications lodged by an applicant over five years and the decisions taken by any Schengen State’s consulate. This will allow applicants to establish more easily the lawful use of previous visas and their bona fide status. For the purpose of the VIS, applicants will be required to provide their biometric data (fingerprints and digital photos) when applying for a Schengen visa. It is a simple and discreet procedure that only takes a few minutes. Biometric data, along with the data provided in the Schengen visa application form, will be recorded in the VIS central database. Therefore, as from 2nd October 2012, first-time applicants will have to appear in person when lodging the application, in order to provide their fingerprints. For subsequent applications within 5 years the fingerprints can be copied from the previous application file in the VIS. The Cypriot Presidency would like to assure the people of Kuwait and all its permanent citizens that the Member States and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, have taken all necessary technical measures to facilitate the rapid examination and the efficient processing of visa applications and to ensure a quick and discreet procedure for the implementation of the new VIS. ■■■■■■■

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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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.

EQUAITMUN 2013 at GUST

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quait (www.equait.org) is a youthdriven organization founded and run by myself, Faisal Al-Fuhaid.

Equait firmly holds that communal participation and the promotion of various benign ethical values shall create a unilateral principle of respect and responsibility towards Kuwait, its inhabitants, and its environment, and that these principles can be best encouraged by the methods utilized by EQUAIT and its 13 executive members, who are responsible for spreading this message.

Equait has over 200 aids known as Qheroes, who actively participate in

fighting for equality and justice across the country and region. Among them are artists, photographers, filmmakers, who all donate their tools to spread a peaceful message of equality, ethics, compassion and love. The Equait founders were interviewed on KTV1, the Al-Gaayla show on 103.7fm, which attracted over 200,000 listeners, and on Al-Watan TV during the Proud to be Kuwaiti expo.

We decided to combine the initiative of Equait and the very popular activity of MUN as a way to spread awareness and empower young people. Model

United Nations is an exact simulation of the United Nations. From my personal background, Model United Nations has provided me with the skills and inspiration to be able to engage in activism today in Kuwait. By hosting the conference at my university, The Gulf University for Science and Technology, we aim to inspire the youth to do the same and make them more independent; while also educating them about current world issues and teaching diplomacy skills. We believe that collaborating with the GUSTMUN to help pull this off will help raise the profile of the

club and the university.

The EQUAITMUN 2013 conference specifically addressed “the evolution of the Arab world” because, as seen by the recent results of the Arab spring, countries across the MENA region have taken giant steps forward in its development in recent years. The main topics addressed in the conference tested the delegates’ research and creativity in an effort to show that this generation possesses many bright young individuals who have the potential to achieve great things for their country, the MENA region and, hopefully, the world.

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

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EMBASSY OF PERU The Embassy of Peru is located in Sharq, Ahmed Al Jaber Street, Al Arabiya Tower, 6th Floor. Working days / hours: SundayThursday /9 am - 4 pm. Residents in Kuwait interested in getting a visa to travel to Peru and companies attracted to invest in Peru are invited to visit the permanent exposition room located in the Embassy. For more information, please contact: (+965) 22267250/1.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

TV PROGRAMS

00:50 Animal Cops South Africa 01:45 Great Animal Escapes 02:10 Great Animal Escapes 02:35 I’m Alive 03:25 Wildest Arctic 04:15 Mutant Planet 05:05 Daniel And Our Cats 05:55 Call Of The Wildman 06:20 Escape To Chimp Eden 06:45 Wildlife SOS 07:35 Wildlife SOS 08:00 The Really Wild Show 08:25 Breed All About It 08:50 Breed All About It 09:15 Dogs 101 10:10 Weird Creatures With Nick Baker 11:05 Wildest Arctic 12:00 Animal Cops Phoenix 12:55 Call Of The Wildman 13:20 Wildlife SOS 13:50 World Wild Vet 14:45 Animal Precinct 15:40 Wildest Arctic 16:30 Escape To Chimp Eden 17:00 The Really Wild Show 17:30 Dogs 101 18:25 Rescue Vet 18:50 Rescue Vet 19:20 Extraordinary Dogs 19:45 Cats Of Claw Hill 20:15 Bondi Vet 20:40 Wild Africa Rescue 21:10 Rescue Vet 21:35 Escape To Chimp Eden 22:05 Wildest Arctic 23:00 Wild Things With Dominic Monaghan

00:00 Homes Under The Hammer 00:50 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 01:30 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 02:10 Come Dine With Me 02:55 Holmes On Homes 03:45 MasterChef 04:35 House Swap 05:20 Bargain Hunt 06:05 Living In The Sun 07:00 House Swap 07:45 Perfect Day 08:10 Homes Under The Hammer 09:00 Bargain Hunt 09:45 Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds 10:30 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 11:10 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 11:50 MasterChef 12:40 Come Dine With Me 13:30 Perfect Day 13:55 Baking Made Easy 14:20 10 Years Younger 15:10 Bargain Hunt 15:55 Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds 16:40 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 17:20 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Specials 18:00 Homes Under The Hammer 18:50 Rick Stein’s Spain 19:45 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 20:10 French Food At Home 20:30 Come Dine With Me 21:20 Perfect Day 21:45 Celebrity Fantasy Homes 22:30 Bargain Hunt: Famous Finds 23:15 Bargain Hunt

00:00 00:30 00:45 01:00 01:30 01:45 02:00 02:30 02:45 03:00 03:30 04:00 04:30

Newsday Asia Business Report Sport Today BBC World News Asia Business Report Sport Today BBC World News Asia Business Report Sport Today BBC World News Hardtalk BBC World News World Business Report

04:45 BBC World News 05:00 BBC World News 05:30 World Business Report 05:45 BBC World News 06:00 BBC World News 06:30 World Business Report 06:45 BBC World News 07:00 BBC World News 07:30 World Business Report 07:45 BBC World News 08:00 BBC World News 08:30 Hardtalk 09:00 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 Sport Today 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 BBC World News 11:00 GMT With George Alagiah 11:30 GMT With George Alagiah 12:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 12:30 Impact With Mishal Husain 13:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 13:30 Hardtalk 14:00 BBC World News 14:30 BBC World News 15:00 BBC World News 15:30 World Business Report 15:45 Sport Today 16:00 BBC World News 16:30 BBC Focus On Africa 17:00 BBC World News 17:30 World Business Report 17:45 Sport Today 18:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 18:30 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 19:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 19:30 World Business Report 19:45 Sport Today 20:00 Business Edition With Tanya Beckett 20:30 Hardtalk 21:00 BBC World News America 21:30 BBC World News America 22:00 Newsday 22:30 Asia Business Report 22:45 Sport Today 23:00 Newsday 23:30 Asia Business Report 23:45 Sport Today

00:05 Taz-Mania 00:30 Pink Panther And Pals 00:55 Moomins 01:20 Tom & Jerry Kids 01:45 A Pup Named Scooby-Doo 02:10 Puppy In My Pocket 02:35 Wacky Races 03:00 Looney Tunes 03:25 Duck Dodgers 03:50 Dastardly And Muttley 04:00 Dexter’s Laboratory 04:30 Wacky Races 04:55 Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries 05:20 Tom & Jerry 05:45 The Garfield Show 06:00 Bananas In Pyjamas 06:25 Gerald McBoing Boing 06:45 Jelly Jamm 07:00 Ha Ha Hairies 07:25 Baby Looney Tunes 07:50 Lazy Town 08:15 Krypto The Superdog 08:40 Jelly Jamm 09:05 Gerald McBoing Boing 09:30 Cartoonito Tales 09:55 Bananas In Pyjamas 10:20 Ha Ha Hairies 10:45 Lazy Town 11:10 Krypto The Superdog 11:35 Baby Looney Tunes 12:00 Jelly Jamm 12:25 Gerald McBoing Boing 12:50 Cartoonito Tales 13:15 Krypto The Superdog 13:40 Lazy Town 14:00 A Pup Named Scooby-Doo 14:25 Tom And Jerry Tales 14:50 Sylvester And Tweety Mysteries 15:20 Johnny Bravo 15:45 Tom & Jerry 16:10 Pink Panther And Pals 16:35 The Garfield Show 17:00 What’s New Scooby-Doo? 17:25 Sylvester And Tweety Mysteries

17:50 Tom And Jerry Tales 18:15 The Looney Tunes Show 18:40 Taz-Mania 19:05 Moomins 19:30 Pink Panther & Pals 19:45 The Garfield Show 20:00 Sylvester And Tweety Mysteries 20:20 Tom And Jerry Tales 20:45 Moomins 21:10 Dexters Laboratory 21:20 Johnny Bravo 21:35 Puppy In My Pocket 22:00 The Garfield Show 22:25 What’s New Scooby-Doo? 22:50 Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries 23:15 Tom & Jerry Tales 23:40 The Looney Tunes Show

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

02:45 Foster’s Home For...

03:10 Courage The Cowardly Dog 04:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 04:25 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 04:50 Adventure Time 05:15 The Powerpuff Girls 05:40 Generator Rex 06:05 Ben 10 06:30 Ben 10 06:55 Angelo Rules 07:00 Casper’s Scare School 07:30 Casper’s Scare School 08:00 Mucha Lucha 08:25 Johnny Test 08:45 Adventure Time 09:05 Total Drama World Tour 09:30 Total Drama World Tour 09:55 Ben 10: Omniverse 10:20 Young Justice 10:45 Thundercats 11:10 Regular Show 12:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 12:50 Foster’s Home For...

13:15 Foster’s Home For...

13:40 Courage The Cowardly Dog 14:30 Powerpuff Girls 15:20 Angelo Rules 16:10 Batman: The Brave And The Bold 16:35 Young Justice 17:00 Ben 10: Omniverse 17:20 Transformers Prime 17:40 Johnny Test 18:00 Level Up 18:25 The Amazing World Of Gumball 18:50 Adventure Time 19:15 Regular Show 19:40 Mucha Lucha 20:05 Total Drama World Tour 20:30 Total Drama World Tour 20:55 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 21:20 Hero 108 21:45 Bakugan: Mechtanium Surge 22:10 Grim Adventures Of...

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

00:00 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 07:00 The Situation Room 08:00 World Sport 08:30 News Special 09:00 World Report 11:00 World Sport 11:30 Inside Africa 12:00 World Business Today 13:00 Amanpour 13:30 On China 14:00 World One 15:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 16:00 News Stream

SECRET WINDOW ON OSN ACTION HD

17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 20:30 21:00 22:00 23:00 23:30

World Business Today International Desk Global Exchange World Sport On China International Desk Quest Means Business Amanpour CNN Newscenter

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

Flying Wild Alaska Man, Woman, Wild Finding Bigfoot Mythbusters Border Security Auction Kings Auction Hunters How Do They Do It? How It’s Made American Guns Mythbusters Fine Dining With Bear Grylls Outback Truckers Border Security Auction Kings Auction Hunters How Do They Do It? How It’s Made Flying Wild Alaska Man, Woman, Wild Finding Bigfoot Border Security Auction Kings Auction Hunters Unchained Reaction Outback Truckers Mythbusters American Guns How Do They Do It? How It’s Made Auction Kings Auction Hunters Magic Of Science Time Warp Mythbusters

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

Prototype This The Gadget Show The Gadget Show Investigation X Sci-Fi Science Da Vinci’s Machines Squid Invasion Mega Builders Sport Science Meteorite Men Da Vinci’s Machines Engineered Prototype This Sport Science The Gadget Show The Gadget Show Meteorite Men Engineered Prototype This Sci-Fi Science Da Vinci’s Machines Investigation X The Gadget Show The Gadget Show Sport Science Mega Builders Meteorite Men Scanning The Skies Bermuda Triangle Exposed The Gadget Show The Gadget Show Scanning The Skies Bermuda Triangle Exposed

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

Hannah Montana Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Emperor’s New School Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Emperor’s New School Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Phineas And Ferb Suite Life On Deck My Babysitter’s A Vampire A.N.T. Farm Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb Jessie Good Luck Charlie Doc McStuffins Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jake & The Neverland Pirates The Hive Mouk Jonas So Random Hannah Montana Sonny With A Chance Kim Possible Shake It Up Wizards Of Waverly Place Phineas And Ferb Austin And Ally Art Attack A.N.T. Farm Suite Life On Deck My Babysitter’s A Vampire Shake It Up Austin And Ally Jessie A.N.T. Farm Good Luck Charlie Gravity Falls Suite Life On Deck Austin And Ally Phineas And Ferb Phineas And Ferb A.N.T. Farm Good Luck Charlie Jessie That’s So Raven Cory In The House Phil Of The Future Hannah Montana Good Luck Charlie Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana

00:20 00:50 01:00 01:15 01:40 01:55 02:10 02:20

Little Einsteins Special Agent Oso Special Agent Oso Lazytown Jungle Junction Jungle Junction Handy Manny Handy Manny

02:30 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 03:00 Lazytown 03:25 Special Agent Oso 03:40 Special Agent Oso 03:50 Imagination Movers 04:20 Handy Manny 04:30 Handy Manny 04:40 Special Agent Oso 04:50 Special Agent Oso 05:00 Timmy Time 05:10 Lazytown 05:35 Little Einsteins 06:00 Jungle Junction 06:15 Jungle Junction 06:30 Little Einsteins 06:50 Special Agent Oso 07:05 Special Agent Oso 07:15 Jungle Junction 07:30 Jungle Junction 07:45 Handy Manny 08:00 Special Agent Oso 08:15 Imagination Movers 08:40 Cars Toons 08:45 Handy Manny 09:00 The Hive 09:10 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 09:35 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 09:50 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 10:05 Doc McStuffins 10:20 Doc McStuffins 10:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 11:00 Lilo And Stitch 11:30 Cars Toons 11:35 Mouk 11:45 Art Attack 12:10 The Adventures Of Disney Fairies 12:35 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 13:00 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 13:10 Doc McStuffins 13:25 Handy Manny 13:40 Jungle Junction 13:55 Timmy Time 14:05 The Hive 14:15 Mouk 14:30 Little Einsteins 14:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 15:20 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 15:45 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 16:00 The Little Mermaid 16:25 Lilo And Stitch 16:55 Zou 17:10 Zou 17:20 Handy Manny 17:35 The Hive 17:45 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 18:10 Doc McStuffins 18:25 Doc McStuffins 18:40 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 18:55 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 19:10 The Adventures Of Disney Fairies 19:35 Zou 19:50 Zou 20:05 Timmy Time 20:15 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 20:25 Doc McStuffins 20:40 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 20:55 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 21:10 The Hive 21:20 Timmy Time 21:30 Mouk 21:45 Handy Manny 22:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 22:25 The Hive 22:35 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 23:00 Timmy Time 23:10 Animated Stories 23:20 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 23:30 Jungle Junction 23:45 Handy Manny 23:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

00:40 I Almost Got Away With It 01:30 Dr G: Medical Examiner 02:20 Ghost Lab 03:05 Couples Who Kill 03:55 Deadly Women 04:45 I Almost Got Away With It 05:30 Dr G: Medical Examiner 06:20 Ghost Lab 07:10 Murder Shift 08:00 Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries 08:50 Street Patrol 09:15 Street Patrol 09:40 Real Emergency Calls 10:05 Who On Earth Did I Marry?

10:30 On The Case With Paula Zahn 11:20 Murder Shift 12:10 Disappeared 13:00 Life Or Death: Medical Mysteries 13:50 Street Patrol 14:15 Street Patrol 14:40 Forensic Detectives 15:30 On The Case With Paula Zahn 16:20 Real Emergency Calls 16:45 Who On Earth Did I Marry?

17:10 Disappeared 18:00 Murder Shift 18:50 Forensic Detectives 19:40 On The Case With Paula Zahn 20:30 Disappeared 21:20 Nightmare Next Door 22:10 Couples Who Kill 23:00 American Greed 23:50 I Almost Got Away With It

00:00 Opening Act 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 15 Remarkable Celebrity Body Bouncebacks 07:50 Behind The Scenes 08:20 Opening Act 09:15 Opening Act 10:15 THS 12:05 Khloe And Lamar 12:35 Khloe And Lamar 13:05 Married To Jonas 13:35 Married To Jonas 14:05 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 14:30 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 15:00 Style Star 15:30 THS 16:30 Behind The Scenes 17:00 Giuliana & Bill 18:00 THS 18:30 E!es 19:00 Fashion Police 20:00 THS 21:00 Keeping Up With The Kardashians

TOAST ON OSN CINEMA 22:00 Ice Loves Coco 22:30 Giuliana & Bill 23:30 Chelsea Lately

00:15 Kimchi Chronicles 00:45 Around The World For Free 01:40 A World Apart 02:35 Long Way Down 03:30 Banged Up Abroad 04:25 City Chase Rome 05:20 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 06:15 David Rocco‚Äôs Dolce Vita 3 06:40 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 07:10 Exploring The Vine 07:35 Kimchi Chronicles 08:05 Around The World For Free 09:00 A World Apart 09:55 Long Way Down 10:50 Banged Up Abroad 11:45 City Chase Rome 12:40 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 13:35 David Rocco‚Äôs Dolce Vita 3 14:00 Food School 14:30 Exploring The Vine 14:55 Kimchi Chronicles 15:25 Around The World For Free 16:20 A World Apart 17:15 Long Way Down 18:10 Banged Up Abroad 19:05 City Chase Rome 20:00 Exploring The Vine 20:30 Kimchi Chronicles 21:00 David Rocco‚Äôs Dolce Vita 3 21:30 Delinquent Gourmet 22:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 22:55 David Rocco‚Äôs Dolce Vita 3 23:20 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 23:50 Eccentric Uk

02:30 Monsters-PG15 04:15 True Justice: Vengeance Is Mine-PG15 06:00 Enter The Phoenix-PG15 08:00 True Justice: Violence Of Action-PG15 10:00 Mission: Impossible-PG15 12:00 Secret Window-PG15 14:00 True Justice: Violence Of Action-PG15 16:00 The Scorpion King 3: Battle For Redemption-PG15 18:00 Secret Window-PG15 19:45 Beverly Hills Cop-PG15 21:30 The Kingdom-18 23:30 The Godfather III-18

01:00 Henry’s Crime-PG15 03:00 Space Chimps 2: Zartog Strikes Back-PG 05:00 An Invisible Sign Of My OwnPG15 07:00 Blank Slate-PG15 09:00 Henry’s Crime-PG15 11:00 Restitution-PG15 13:00 The National Tree-PG15 15:00 Love Takes Wing-PG15 17:00 Ip Man 2-PG15 19:00 Toast-PG15 21:00 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel-PG15 23:15 The Inbetweeners-18

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 The New Normal 02:00 American Dad 02:30 Veep 03:00 The Simpsons 03:30 Raising Hope 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 The Simpsons 09:30 How I Met Your Mother 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 Raising Hope 14:30 Modern Family 15:00 How I Met Your Mother 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Seinfeld 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 The Simpsons 18:30 Raising Hope 19:00 Allen Gregory 19:30 The Mindy Project 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 The League 22:30 Louie 23:00 Veep 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Castle World Without End Homeland Justified Castle Emmerdale Coronation Street Alphas The Ellen DeGeneres Show Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Alphas Castle Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Alphas The Finder Franklin & Bash Awake The Carrie Diaries Justified

00:00 Kill List-R 02:00 Deadtime Stories 2-18 04:00 True Justice: Urban WarfarePG15 06:00 Tank Girl-PG15 08:00 True Justice: Vengeance Is Mine-PG15 10:00 Do No Harm-PG15 12:00 Enter The Phoenix-PG15 14:00 True Justice: Vengeance Is Mine-PG15 15:45 Mission: Impossible-PG15 17:45 Enter The Phoenix-PG15 19:30 Monsters-PG15 21:15 Street Kings 2: Motor City-18 23:00 The Godfather II-18

00:00 Super-18 02:00 Paul-PG15 04:00 Zookeeper-PG15 06:00 The Ladykillers-PG15 08:00 The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom-PG 10:00 Just Crazy Enough-PG15 12:00 Zookeeper-PG15 14:00 Scooby-Doo! Curse Of The Lake Monster-PG 16:00 Just Crazy Enough-PG15 20:00 Old School-18 22:00 The Guru-18

01:00 George Harrison: Living In The Material World-PG15 04:30 A Separation-PG15 06:30 The Evening Star-PG15 08:45 Justice For Natalee HollowayPG15 10:15 Soldier Love Story-PG15 11:45 Loosies-PG15 13:15 Roger And Me-PG15 15:00 Soldier Love Story-PG15 17:00 Sunshine State-PG15 19:00 Frozen-PG15 21:00 Hugo-PG 23:15 Adaptation-18

01:00 Ondine-PG15 03:00 Larry Crowne-PG15 05:00 B-Girl-PG15 07:00 Certain Prey-PG15 09:00 Judy Moody And The Not Bummer Summer-PG 10:45 Transformers: Dark Of The Moon-PG15 13:15 Battle For Terra-PG 15:00 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules-PG 17:00 Judy Moody And The Not Bummer Summer-PG 19:00 The Beaver-PG15 21:00 The Big Bang-18 23:00 In Time-PG15

00:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 01:00 Futbol Mundial 01:30 Premier League Darts 05:00 Super League 07:00 HSBC Sevens World Series Highlights 09:00 Super Rugby 10:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 11:00 Super Rugby 13:00 Trans World Sport 14:00 HSBC Sevens World Series Highlights 15:30 HSBC Sevens World Series 18:30 Futbol Mundial 19:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 20:00 Live PGA Tour

00:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 01:00 Trans World Sport 02:00 Top 14 04:00 Futbol Mundial 04:30 ICC Cricket 360 05:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 06:00 PGA Tour Highlights 07:00 Trans World Sport 08:00 Snooker 11:00 Super Rugby 13:00 Premier League Darts 16:30 Super League 18:30 ICC Cricket 360 19:00 Top 14 21:00 Trans World Sport 22:00 Inside The PGA Tour 22:30 PGA European Tour Weekly 23:00 Premier League Darts

00:00 World Cup of Pool 01:00 Dubai World Cup Carnival 05:30 Top 14 Highlight 06:00 Golfing World 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 European PGA Tour Highlights 09:00 World Pool Masters 10:00 World Cup of Pool 11:00 Top 14 13:00 Top 14 Highlight 13:30 Golfing World 14:30 World Pool Masters 15:00 World Cup of Pool 16:30 Pro 12 20:30 European PGA Tour Highlights 21:30 Adventure Challenge 22:30 Top 14 Highlight 23:00 Futbol Mundial 23:30 Golfing World

00:00 WWE Bottom Line 01:00 NHL 03:00 Ping Pong World Championships 04:00 US Bass Fishing 05:00 NHL 07:00 WWE Vintage Collection 08:00 WWE NXT 09:00 Ping Pong World Championships 10:00 US Bass Fishing 11:00 NHL 13:00 WWE SmackDown 15:00 WWE Vintage Collection 16:00 UAE National Race Day Series 17:00 Ping Pong World Championships 18:00 UFC 157 Countdown 19:00 UFC TUF 20:00 UFC

Classifieds THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Kuwait SHARQIA-1 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 6 BULLETS (DIG) 6 BULLETS (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) NO TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 12:05 AM

SHARQIA-2 THE SNOW QUEEN (DIG-3D) SNITCH (DIG) THE SHOCK LABYRINTH (DIG-3D) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) NO TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

SHARQIA-3 FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) MAMA (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) MAMA (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) NO TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

MUHALAB-1 BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (DIG) 6 BULLETS (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) JABARDASTH (DIG) (TELUGU) BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 6 BULLETS (DIG) NO TUE+WED

12:45 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 4:00 PM 7:45 PM 10:15 PM 12:45 AM

MUHALAB-2 FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) MAMA (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) MAMA (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) NO TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

MUHALAB-3 SNITCH (DIG) THE SNOW QUEEN (DIG-3D) THE SNOW QUEEN (DIG-3D) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) NO TUE+WED

1:00 PM 1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

FANAR-1 SNITCH (DIG) GAMBIT (DIG) 6 BULLETS (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) 6 BULLETS (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) NO TUE+WED

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

FANAR-2 MAMA (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) MAMA (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) MAMA (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) MAMA (DIG) NO TUE+WED

1:00 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 7:00 PM 9:00 PM 11:00 PM 1:00 AM

FANAR-3 FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG)

12:45 PM 2:45 PM

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (21/02/2013 TO 27/02/2013)

FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) ZILA GHAZIABAD (DIG) (HINDI) BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (DIG) BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (DIG)

4:45 PM 6:45 PM 9:45 PM 12:15 AM

FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) BROKEN CITY (DIG)

5:30 PM 7:30 PM 9:30 PM 11:30 PM

MARINA-1 6 BULLETS (DIG) MAMA (DIG) 6 BULLETS (DIG) BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (DIG) MAMA (DIG) 6 BULLETS (DIG) NO TUE+WED

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

AL-KOUT.1 THE SHOCK LABYRINTH (DIG-3D) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) MAMA (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) MAMA (DIG) THE SHOCK LABYRINTH (DIG-3D) NO TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:15 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

MARINA-2 A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) GAMBIT (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) NO TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:45 PM 1:00 AM

AL-KOUT.2 6 BULLETS (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 6 BULLETS (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 6 BULLETS (DIG) NO TUE+WED

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

AL-KOUT.3 SNITCH (DIG) GAMBIT (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) NO TUE+WED

1:00 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

BAIRAQ-1 THE SNOW QUEEN (DIG-3D) THE SNOW QUEEN (DIG-3D) 6 BULLETS (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 6 BULLETS (DIG) NO TUE+WED

12:45 PM 2:45 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 9:15 PM 11:30 PM

MARINA-3 THE SNOW QUEEN (DIG-3D) SNITCH (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) NO TUE+WED AVENUES-1 FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) SAVE YOUR LEGS! (DIG) BULLET TO THE HEAD (DIG) NO TUE+WED AVENUES-2 MAMA (DIG) GAMBIT (DIG) MAMA (DIG) MAMA (DIG) MAMA (DIG) MAMA (DIG) NO TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 11:00 PM 1:15 AM

AVENUES-3 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) NO TUE+WED

2:15 PM 4:45 PM 7:15 PM 9:45 PM 12:15 AM

360 º- 1 SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) NO TUE+WED

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

360 º- 2 BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (DIG) BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (DIG) BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (DIG) BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (DIG) BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (DIG) NO TUE+WED

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

360 º- 3 FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG)

1:30 PM 3:30 PM

BAIRAQ-2 SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) NO TUE+WED PLAZA FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) JABARDASTH (DIG) (TELUGU) FRI+SAT+SUN+MON 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) THU+TUE+WED JABARDASTH (DIG) (TELUGU) FRI+SAT+SUN+MON 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) THU+TUE+WED

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

4:15 PM 6:15 PM 6:45 PM 9:30 PM 9:45 PM

LAILA SNITCH (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) SNITCH (DIG)

4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM

AJIAL.1 MIRCHI (DIG) (TELUGU) MIRCHI (DIG) (TELUGU) MIRCHI (DIG) (TELUGU) JABARDASTH (DIG) (TELUGU) JABARDASTH (DIG) (TELUGU) JABARDASTH (DIG) (TELUGU)

3:30 PM 6:30 PM 9:30 PM 3:30 PM 6:30 PM 9:30 PM

AJIAL.2 FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) HARIDAS (DIG) (TAMIL) HARIDAS (DIG) (TAMIL)

3:30 PM 5:15 PM 7:15 PM 10:15 PM

ACCOMMODATION

SITUATION WANTED

Sharing accommodation available for bachelors or families in Farwaniya with an Indian family. Please contact: 50540846, 97337658. (C 4324) 20-2-2013

Post Graduate Diploma in Business Accounts & Tax Management + B.Com, Indian female having 15 years experience in Financial Accounting, worked as Accounts Manager (having Kuwait Ekama), looking for a suitable job in a reputed company. Email: zafhaf@yahoo.com (C 4320) 19-2-2013

FOR SALE Jaguar XF V8 model 2012 (new look) grey color - off white leather inside - low mileage (km 9,000), five year warranty by Zayyani (like new), full specification, price KD 14,500 firm. Call 90000162. (C 4322) Mercedes Benz G55 AMG (Designo) model 2011, pearl white color, red leather inside - under warranty by dealer until 5/2014 - include rear two T Vs, mileage km 27,000 (like new) price KD 34,000 firm.

Call: 90080013. (C 4323) 19-2-2013 LOST Jordanian Passport lost in Jabriya under name of Heba Mohd. Hassan, Passport No. 310007.

Contact: 90035120.

21-2-2013

Indian male MBA Finance having 7 years experience in Finance/Accounting in Kuwait is seeking a suitable placement. Proficient on Excel, Word, Powerpoint.

Fluent in English, Arabic and Hindi. Visa #18, transferable.

Call: 66765077.

(C 4316) CHANGE OF NAME I, Shabbir Moizbhai Dahodwala, holder of Indian Passport No. J4441363, son of Moizbhai F. Bhatia, change my name to Shabbir Moizbhai Bhatia.

(C 4319) 18-2-2013 I, Rachaveeti Prameela holder Indian Passport No: E6134736 hereby change my name to Rayachoty Prameela. (C 4317) 17-2-2013

MATRIMONIAL Financially sound Ex. NRI Orthodox parents invites proposal for their daughter 29/152, ME+MBA, from parents of God fearing professionals with good family backgrounds.

Email: gracegeevar@gmail.com (C 4325) 20-2-2013

No: 15726

Proposals invited from parents of Urdu speaking Indian girl - from Karnataka for a boy aged 26 years old/ 5.9ft, working in Kuwait. Interested please contact: kasim@clicq8.com (C 4321) 19-2-2013 Proposals invited for an Orthodox Syrina Christian boy (29 years, 155cm, Btech) from Central Travancore, working as Engineer in Kuwait.

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines JAI THY JZR JZR QTR SAI ETH GFA UAE ETD FDB MSR RBG QTR DHX THY JZR JZR JZR BAW KAC KAC KAC FDB KAC IRA IRA KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR FDB ETD IRC IZG GFA FDB JZR MSC MEA MSR UAE SYR KAC ABY JZR IRC FDB KNE KAC KAC SVA QTR KAC UAE KNE JZR JZR

Arrival Flights on Thursday 21/2/2013 Flt Route 574 MUMBAI 772 ISTANBUL 267 BEIRUT 539 CAIRO 148 DOHA 441 LAHORE 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 67 DUBAI 612 CAIRO 3555 ALEXANDRIA 138 DOHA 170 BAHRAIN 770 ISTANBUL 503 LUXOR 555 ALEXANDRIA 529 ASSIUT 157 LONDON 412 MANILA 354 COCHIN 206 ISLAMABAD 53 DUBAI 382 DELHI 605 ISFAHAN 617 AHWAZ 302 MUMBAI 332 TRIVANDRUM 855 DUBAI 121 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 6588 SHAHRE KORD 4161 MASHAD 213 BAHRAIN 8055 DUBAI 165 DUBAI 403 ASSIUT 404 BEIRUT 610 CAIRO 871 DUBAI 341 DAMASCUS 284 DHAKA 123 SHARJAH 241 AMMAN 6692 MASHAD 57 DUBAI 472 JEDDAH 672 DUBAI 546 ALEXANDRIA 500 JEDDAH 140 DOHA 788 JEDDAH 3871 DUBAI 470 JEDDAH 257 BEIRUT 175 DUBAI

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

QTR OMA FDB MEA JZR JZR KNE KAC UAE JZR ETD RJA GFA FDB SVA JZR QTR ABY UAL KAC NIA JZR RBG KAC FDB MSC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC OMA FDB JAI AXB MSC MSR JZR ABY QTR ALK MEA UAE KAC KAC MEA QTR GFA ETD UAE JZR FDB DHX AIC JZR GFA JZR UAL BBC DLH

134 645 8055 406 787 535 474 118 857 1779 303 640 215 8063 510 777 144 127 982 542 251 177 3553 786 63 405 176 618 104 674 774 647 61 572 393 401 618 189 129 146 229 408 3855 562 502 402 136 221 307 859 135 59 372 981 239 217 185 981 43 636

DOHA MUSCAT DUBAI BEIRUT RIYADH CAIRO JEDDAH NEW YORK DUBAI JEDDAH ABU DHABI AMMAN BAHRAIN DUBAI RIYADH JEDDAH DOHA SHARJAH WASHINGTON DC DULLES CAIRO ALEXANDRIA DUBAI ALEXANDRIA JEDDAH DUBAI SOHAG GENEVA DOHA LONDON DUBAI RIYADH MUSCAT DUBAI MUMBAI KOZHIKODE ALEXANDRIA ALEXANDRIA DUBAI SHARJAH DOHA COLOMBO BEIRUT DUBAI AMMAN BEIRUT BEIRUT DOHA BAHRAIN ABU DHABI DUBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN CHENNAI AMMAN BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN DHAKA FRANKFURT

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

Airlines AIC KAC AXB JAI UAL DLH DLH SAI ETH THY FDB UAE ETD RBG MSR QTR QTR JZR GFA KAC JZR THY FDB BAW IRA IRA JZR JZR KAC KAC KAC ABY UAE FDB ETD QTR IRC IZG GFA JZR FDB JZR KAC KAC JZR MSC MEA JZR KAC ABY MSR JZR SYR IRC UAE FDB KAC KNE KAC

Departure Flights on Thursday 21/2/2013 Flt Route 976 GOA/CHENNAI 283 DHAKA 390 MANGALORE 573 MUMBAI 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 637 FRANKFURT 637 FRANKFURT 442 LAHORE 621 ADDIS ABABA 773 ISTANBUL 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 306 ABU DHABI 3556 ALEXANDRIA 613 CAIRO 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 545 ALEXANDRIA 240 AMMAN 771 ISTANBUL 54 DUBAI 156 LONDON 606 MASHHAD 616 AHWAZ 256 BEIRUT 534 CAIRO 101 LONDON 787 JEDDAH 671 DUBAI 122 SHARJAH 856 DUBAI 56 DUBAI 302 ABU DHABI 133 DOHA 6589 SHAHRE 4162 MASHHAD 214 BAHRAIN 174 DUBAI 8056 DUBAI 1778 JEDDAH 541 CAIRO 165 ROME 776 JEDDAH 406 SOHAG 405 BEIRUT 786 RIYADH 785 EDDAH 124 SHARJAH 611 CAIRO 176 DUBAI 342 DAMASCUS 6693 MASHHAD 872 DUBAI 58 DUBAI 673 DUBAI 473 JEDDAH 501 BEIRUT

Time 0:05 0:10 0:15 1:05 1:10 1:20 1:20 2:30 2:45 2:55 3:45 3:50 4:00 4:05 4:10 4:50 6:05 6:55 7:00 7:30 7:30 7:35 8:25 8:45 8:50 8:55 9:05 9:15 9:20 9:25 9:40 9:45 9:55 10:00 10:05 10:10 10:25 10:35 10:40 10:50 11:00 11:15 11:30 11:50 12:15 12:35 12:55 12:55 13:00 13:40 13:45 13:50 13:55 14:10 14:15 14:30 15:05 15:10 15:15

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

KAC KAC SVA KNE JZR QTR KAC UAE FDB OMA MEA JZR KNE ETD JZR QTR UAE RJA FDB GFA JZR SVA ABY JZR QTR RBG JZR UAL NIA FDB MSC FDB KAC KAC OMA JAI AXB ABY KAC MSC MSR KAC DHX ALK MEA ETD MEA QTR GFA UAE KAC FDB JZR UAE DHX KAC QTR GFA JZR KAC KAC

561 617 505 471 188 141 773 3872 8058 646 407 238 475 304 538 135 858 641 8064 216 184 511 128 266 145 3554 134 982 252 64 404 62 351 331 648 571 394 120 343 402 619 543 171 230 409 308 403 137 222 3856 301 60 554 860 373 205 147 218 528 411 415

AMMAN DOHA JEDDAH JEDDAH DUBAI DOHA RIYADH DUBAI DUBAI MUSCAT BEIRUT AMMAN JEDDAH ABU DHABI CAIRO DOHA DUBAI AMMAN DUBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI RIYADH SHARJAH BEIRUT DOHA ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA DUBAI ASSIUT DUBAI KOCHI TRIVANDRUM MUSCAT MUMBAI KOZHIKODE SHARJAH CHENNAI ALEXANDRIA ALEXANDRIA CAIRO BAHRAIN COLOMBO BEIRUT ABU DHABI BEIRUT DOHA BAHRAIN DUBAI MUMBAI DUBAI ALEXANDRIA DUBAI BAHRAIN ISLAMABAD DOHA BAHRAIN ASSIUT BANGKOK KUALA LUMPUR

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

34

stars CROSSWORD 107

STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19)

A letter or phone call could bring upsetting news about money, Aries. Your first reaction may be to blame yourself or someone else, but the circumstances are probably beyond anyone’s control. Chances are good that it can be set right.

Before anyone gets too upset, it’s best to investigate and find out what needs to be done. It may take some effort, but all will be well.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

Jealousy could rear its ugly head today, Taurus. This may involve a romantic relationship. Jealousy is often groundless. If you want to avoid an upset, try a little communicating.

This is definitely the time to make the effort to turn a disadvantage into an advantage. Strong emotions can work for you under some circumstances. A passionate reconciliation is better than an angry estrangement.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

ACROSS 1. Alternative names for the body of a human being.

4. Stem of the rattan palm used for making canes and umbrella handles.

11. A metal cleat on the bottom front of a horseshoe to prevent slipping.

15. Any of various primates with short tails or no tail at all.

16. Type genus of the family Elephantidae.

17. Largest known toad species.

18. (informal) `johnny' was applied as a nickname for Confederate soldiers by the Federal soldiers in the American Civil War. 19. (New Testament) One of the three sages from the east who came bearing gifts for the infant Jesus.

20. Lacking either stimulating or irritating characteristics.

21. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

23. Full of flavor.

25. Type genus of the family Arcidae.

26. A training program to prepare college students to be commissioned officers.

29. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

31. An expression of greeting.

32. A colorless and odorless inert gas.

34. Of a strong pink to yellowish-pink color n 1.

36. Long-tailed brilliantly colored parrot of Central and South America.

38. Give a description of.

40. A state in northwestern North America.

41. Slender bristlelike appendage found on the bracts of grasses.

44. Make amends for.

45. A Chadic language spoken in northern Nigeria.

49. A writing implement with a point from which ink flows.

51. Creation that is created again or anew.

54. Web-footed diving seabirds of northern seas.

56. The main city of ancient Phoenicia.

57. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

59. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

61. American novelist (1909-1955).

64. A federal agency established to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment.

67. The Mongol people living the the central and eastern parts of Outer Mongolia.

70. A genus of Ploceidae.

72. (prefix) Indicating difference or variation.

74. (in Scotland or Ireland) A mountain or tall hill.

75. European strong-scented perennial herb with gray-green bitter-tasting leaves.

76. Any of various slender filaments that function as roots in mosses and ferns and fungi etc.

80. One of the five major classes of immunoglobulins.

81. Shackle that consists of a metal loop that can be locked around the wrist.

82. By bad luck.

83. A unit of length of thread or yarn.

84. Having a pattern of dots.

85. A small cake leavened with yeast.

DOWN 1. Gymnastic apparatus consisting of two parallel wooden bars supported on uprights.

2. An organization of countries formed in 1961

to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum.

3. Bar temporarily.

4. The number that is represented as a one followed by 6 zeros.

5. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

6. (comparative of `little' usually used with mass nouns) Quantifier meaning not as great in amount or degree.

7. Struck with fear, dread, or consternation.

8. A boy or man.

9. Type genus of the Cariamidae comprising only the crested cariama.

10. A very poisonous metallic element that has three allotropic forms.

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

12. Any culture medium that uses agar as the gelling agent.

13. A midday meal.

14. A family of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in southeastern Asia.

22. Italian lawn bowling (played on a long narrow dirt court).

24. East Indian tree bearing a profusion of intense vermilion velvet-textured blooms and yielding a yellow dye.

27. A prominent rock or pile of rocks on a hill.

28. A card game in which each player is dealt 6 cards and discards one or two to make up the crib.

30. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

33. Used by northerners of Confederate soldiers.

35. Lower in esteem.

37. Gully or streambed in North Africa and the Middle East that remains dry except during rainy season.

39. Make synchronous and adjust in time or manner.

42. Air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure.

43. Kamarupan languages spoken in northeastern India and western Burma.

46. Any of several related languages of the Celts in Ireland and Scotland.

47. Large bamboo having thick-walled culms.

48. Jordan's port.

50. A bachelor's degree in religion.

52. (Akkadian) God of wisdom.

53. Used in combination to denote the middle.

55. Made agreeably cold (especially by ice).

58. French novelist.

60. Type and sole genus of the family Albulidae.

62. A measuring instrument for measuring and indicating a quantity or for testing conformity with a standard.

63. Swelling from excessive accumulation of serous fluid in tissue.

65. American Revolutionary leader and signer of the Declaration of Independence (1731-1814).

66. A light semitransparent fabric.

68. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

69. Squash bugs.

71. Weapons considered collectively.

73. A fastener fitted to a door or drawer to keep it firmly closed.

77. An accidental happening.

78. A doctor's degree in education.

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

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Nervous tension could cause a temporary malaise that keeps your energy low today. Tasks and chores need to be done, Gemini, so you will probably drag yourself up and try to finish them in spite of the way you feel. Try not to get overworked, and try not to take your weariness out on others. It’s better to let work go than make yourself and everyone else more stressed out.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

A group with which you’re affiliated may be temporarily torn apart by politics and quarrels. If so, Cancer, it’s best to stay out of it. A friend could be having trouble and come to you for advice and help. Don’t get too frustrated by his or her weaknesses. This could be a frustrating day for you - one best spent working on your own projects. All will be better tomorrow.

Leo (July 23-August 22)

Changes in your home could cause temporary frustration that creates some tension with family members. Perhaps you’re moving, cleaning, or refurnishing, and everyone is getting in everyone else’s way. The best way to handle this situation is to try to get the job done as quickly as possible. Once it’s done, Leo, tempers will subside and all will be fine.

Virgo (August 23-September 22)

Miscommunication with someone far away could lead to bruised egos, heightened emotions, and angry phone calls. Don’t get sucked into a quarrel, Virgo. Try to sort out the problem. Changes in your neighborhood could cause trouble getting around, so be prepared for blocked streets and heavy traffic. Walk, if you can. It will clear your head and get you where you’re going more quickly.

Word Search

Libra (September 23-October 22)

Your psychoanalytical talents could be put to work today when misunderstandings come up. Your friends aren’t likely to be thinking clearly and may not respond to reassurances, Libra. Use your intuition to determine the best way to defuse the situation. Finances might cause some worry now, but your ingenuity and fiscal sense should put things right. Go out and have a good time tonight.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)

A person you’re attracted to may seem to be interested in someone else. This could bring up your insecurities and jealousy. Don’t make yourself crazy, Scorpio. Try to learn the facts before letting the situation get the better of you.

Invitations to more than one social event for the same night might force you to make an uncomfortable choice. Make the choice that’s best for you.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21)

Someone is keeping secrets from you. We all have private issues we don’t wish to share, Sagittarius, but this affects you. Your intuition will probably tell you who this person is. Try to get him or her to open up without exerting pressure.

Unfinished tasks could be driving you crazy. You may try to run through them quickly, causing too much stress. Get the most crucial done and let the others go.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

Perhaps you planned to attend a group event but circumstances beyond your control got in the way. Maybe it was canceled. This could cause some disappointment for you and others, Capricorn. Find something else to do. A project of your own is likely to need some attention, and this challenge could keep you engrossed for hours. Tonight, treat yourself to dinner out.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18)

A visitor who needs a little sympathy could visit you today. Your friend probably wants some advice about some problems. He or she could also bring information involving new scientific or metaphysical studies that you find fascinating. This information could trigger your own insights. Write down your ideas. You will want to remember them.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Some important plans, perhaps for a vacation or involving education in some way, could be temporarily blocked by circumstances beyond your control, Pisces. This can cause considerable upset and might even set your temper on edge.

You may be tempted to take your frustrations out on others. It would be far more productive to find ways to make your plans work, even if there’s a delay. Go to it.

Yesterday’s Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

Daily SuDoku

Yesterday’s Solution

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

i n f o r m at i o n For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 GOVERNORATE Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Kaizen center

25716707

Rawda

22517733

Adaliya

22517144

Khaldiya

24848075

Kaifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salem

22549134

Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Qadsiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Gar

22531908

Shaab

22518752

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

Sabhan

24742838

24575518 24566622

Al-Helaly

22434853

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Al-Faiha

22545051

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

Al-Jahra

25610011

Al-Salmiya

25616368

Hawally

ST TATE T OF KUW K WA AIT

Te el.: 161

DIRECTORA ATE T GEN GENERAL OF CIVIL AVIA V AT TION METEOROLOGICAL DEP PA ARTMENT

26 - 2630 Ext.: 2627

Fax: 24348714 WWW.MET.GOV V..KW

INTERNATIONAL CALLS Expected Weeather for the Next 24 Hours BY Y NIGHT:

Cool with light to moderate north westerly wind, with speed of 08 - 28 km/h

BY Y DA AY:

Sunny with light to moderate north westerly to northerly wind, with speed of 08 - 28 km/h

WA ARNING

No Current Waarnings arnin

ST TATION T

MAX. REC.

MIN. N. EXP P.

26 °C

15 °C 09 °C

Mirqab

22456536

NUW WAISEEB A

23 °C

11 °C

WA AFRA

25 °C

10 °C

SALMI

24 °C

10 °C

ABDAL LY

26 °C

09 °C

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

JAL ALIY YA AH

25 °C

08 °C

Maidan Hawally

25623444

FAILAKA A

24 °C

14 °C

Bayan

25388462

AHMADI POR RT

23 °C

16 °C

Mishref

25381200

QARUH ISLAND

21 °C

17 °C

W Hawally

22630786

UMM AL-MA-

21 °C

17 °C

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

SFC. CHART

20/02/2013 1200 UTC

4 DA AY YS FORECAST Temperatures DA AY

DA AT TE

WEA AT THER

MAX.

MIN.

Wind Speed

Wind Direction

Thursday

21/02

sunny

26 °C

09 °C

NW-N

08 - 28 km/h

Friday

22/02

sunny + scattered clouds

25 °C

10 °C

NW-VRB

06 - 28 km/h

24775066

Saturday

23/02

clouds to decrease + raising dust

29 °C

15 °C

SE

25 - 50 km/h

North Jahra

24775992

Sunday

24/02

dusty

25 °C

16 °C

NW

20 - 45 km/h

North Jleeb

24311795

Firdous

24892674

Omariya

24719048

N Khaitan

24710044

Fintas

23900322

PRA AY YER TIMES

AY AT KUW WA AIT AIRPOR RT RECORDED YESTERDA

Fajr

05:04

MAX. Temp.

Sunrise

06:23

MIN. Temp.

24 °C 12 °C

Zuhr

12:02

MAX. RH

57 %

Asr

15:15

MIN. RH

Sunset

17:41

MAX. Wind

Isha

18:58

TOT TA AL L RA AINF FA ALL L IN 24 HR.

18 % NE 32 km/h 00 mm

All times are local time unless otherwise stated.

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist

25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535

Dentists

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

22618787

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

Dr. Salem soso General Surgeons Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Internists, Chest & Heart Dr. Adnan Ebil Dr. Mousa Khadada Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

22666300 25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

3729596/3729581

Neurologists

22639939

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Kaizen center 25716707

25339330

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888 Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

22666288

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

Dr Anil Thomas

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

22545171

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

25 °C

24884079

Al-Nuzha

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

KUW WA AIT AIRPOR RT

Ardhiya

24810598

Jahra

22451082

South Jahra

Al-Shuwaikh

23915883 23715414 23726558

Ayoun Al-Qibla

24772608

22545171

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

22459381

West Jahra

Al-Shuhada Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Qibla

24575755

22418714

Ahmadi

KUW WA AIT CITY

New Jahra

PHONE

Al-Madeena

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

Afghanistan 0093 Albania 00355 Algeria 00213 Andorra 00376 Angola 00244 Anguilla 001264 Antiga 001268 Argentina 0054 Armenia 00374 Australia 0061 Austria 0043 Bahamas 001242 Bahrain 00973 Bangladesh 00880 Barbados 001246 Belarus 00375 Belgium 0032 Belize 00501 Benin 00229 Bermuda 001441 Bhutan 00975 Bolivia 00591 Bosnia 00387 Botswana 00267 Brazil 0055 Brunei 00673 Bulgaria 00359 Burkina 00226 Burundi 00257 Cambodia 00855 Cameroon 00237 Canada 001 Cape Verde 00238 Cayman Islands 001345 Central African 00236 Chad 00235 Chile 0056 China 0086 Colombia 0057 Comoros 00269 Congo 00242 Cook Islands 00682 Costa Rica 00506 Croatia 00385 Cuba 0053 Cyprus 00357 Cyprus (Northern) 0090392 Czech Republic 00420 Denmark 0045 Diego Garcia 00246 Djibouti 00253 Dominica 001767 Dominican Republic 001809 Ecuador 00593 Egypt 0020 El Salvador 00503 England (UK) 0044 Equatorial Guinea 00240 Eritrea 00291 Estonia 00372 Ethiopia 00251 Falkland Islands 00500 Faroe Islands 00298 Fiji 00679 Finland 00358 France 0033 French Guiana 00594 French Polynesia 00689 Gabon 00241 Gambia 00220 Georgia 00995 Germany 0049 Ghana 00233 Gibraltar 00350 Greece 0030 Greenland 00299 Grenada 001473 Guadeloupe 00590 Guam 001671 Guatemala 00502 Guinea 00224 Guyana 00592 Haiti 00509 Holland (Netherlands) 0031 Honduras 00504 Hong Kong 00852 Hungary 0036 Ibiza (Spain) 0034 Iceland 00354 India 0091 Indian Ocean 00873 Indonesia 0062

Iran 0098 Iraq 00964 Ireland 00353 Italy 0039 Ivory Coast 00225 Jamaica 001876 Japan 0081 Jordan 00962 Kazakhstan 007 Kenya 00254 Kiribati 00686 Kuwait 00965 Kyrgyzstan 00996 Laos 00856 Latvia 00371 Lebanon 00961 Liberia 00231 Libya 00218 Lithuania 00370 Luxembourg 00352 Macau 00853 Macedonia 00389 Madagascar 00261 Majorca 0034 Malawi 00265 Malaysia 0060 Maldives 00960 Mali 00223 Malta 00356 Marshall Islands 00692 Martinique 00596 Mauritania 00222 Mauritius 00230 Mayotte 00269 Mexico 0052 Micronesia 00691 Moldova 00373 Monaco 00377 Mongolia 00976 Montserrat 001664 Morocco 00212 Mozambique 00258 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Namibia 00264 Nepal 00977 Netherlands (Holland) 0031 Netherlands Antilles 00599 New Caledonia 00687 New Zealand 0064 Nicaragua 00505 Nigar 00227 Nigeria 00234 Niue 00683 Norfolk Island 00672 Northern Ireland (UK) 0044 North Korea 00850 Norway 0047 Oman 00968 Pakistan 0092 Palau 00680 Panama 00507 Papua New Guinea 00675 Paraguay 00595 Peru 0051 Philippines 0063 Poland 0048 Portugal 00351 Puerto Rico 001787 Qatar 00974 Romania 0040 Russian Federation 007 Rwanda 00250 Saint Helena 00290 Saint Kitts 001869 Saint Lucia 001758 Saint Pierre 00508 Saint Vincent 001784 Samoa US 00684 Samoa West 00685 San Marino 00378 Sao Tone 00239 Saudi Arabia 00966 Scotland (UK) 0044 Senegal 00221 Seychelles 00284 Sierra Leone 00232 Singapore 0065 Slovakia 00421 Slovenia 00386 Solomon Islands 00677

36

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

LIFESTYLE G o s s i p

Morrissey requests meat-free Los Angeles concert venue

B

ritish singer Morrissey has convinced a Los Angeles concert venue to not sell meat at concessions during his performance next month. The longtime animal rights activist and former singer for 1980s rock group The Smiths urged the Staples Center arena to shutter the concession stands of fast food chain McDonald’s and to halt the sale of meat by other outlets at the venue for his March 1 performance. “We respect Morrissey’s lifestyle and his concern for the wishes of so many of his fans and are happy that we are able to honor his requests in this manner,” Lee Zeidman, the arena’s general manager, said in a statement on Tuesday. Staples Center operator Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) said the arena will also roll out a special line of meatless food concessions, including vegan sloppy Joes, vegan sushi, and hummus and pita bread. “I don’t look upon it as a victory for me, but a victory for the animals,” the “Irish Blood, English Heart” singer said earlier this week. AEG and its promoter subsidiary Golden voice will donate a portion of ticket sales from the show to the animal rights group PETA, Morrissey said. Morrissey, 53, who cowrote The Smiths’ 1985 song “Meat Is Murder,” postponed a series of concerts on his North America tour last month after being hospitalized for a bleeding ulcer. He is expected to relaunch the tour with a performance on US late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” next week.

Christensen doesn’t have any guilty pleasures Victoria Beckham loves making art with Harper

V

ictoria Beckham loves arts and crafts sessions with her daughter.

The 37-year-old fashion designer recently moved back to London with husband David and their children, Brooklyn,13, Romeo, 10, Cruz, eight, and 19-month-old Harper, and during her time off she loves nothing more than buying new stationery and taking her youngest child to family private members’ club Purple Dragon for some creative play.

Asked what her secret pleasures are in the city, she said: “Potato printing at the Purple Dragon with Harper and stocking up with stationery at Mount Street Stationers.” Victoria is enjoying living back

in the UK for the first time since 2003 because it is so convenient - and also because her popularity has increased over the last decade. She told the Daily Telegraph website: “I love being near my family and so close to the design studio.

And there’s always the opportunity to wear a fabulous coat. “What’s changed most? People like me now.” However, after years living in Spain and Los Angeles with her soccer star spouse - who recently signed a five-month contract with French side Paris Saint Germain - and their family, Victoria wishes the weather was better in London. Asked what she would change about the city, she said: “The lack of sun-

D

espite having a figure envied by millions of women, the statuesque supermodel - who claims to be a cheese addict - never deprives herself of anything and doesn’t believe in having indulgences perceived as naughty.

Helena, 44, explained to Stylist magazine: “I don’t have any [guilty pleasures] because I don’t look at anything I do as something that should make me feel guilty. I’m not an addictive person; if I do something, it just won’t feel good after a while. “As humans, whatever they tell us not to do, we’ll do. So mentally, I look at them as pleasure to enjoy once in a while.

Well, probably more than just once in a while.” The Danish beauty also admitted she finds it hard to understand the concept of the fashion industry, despite working both in front and behind the camera for three decades, but she enjoys the unusual nature of the business. She mused: “I once said modeling is a silly business but it was taken out of context. It is a weird and curious job, but I don’t only look at it that way. It’s hard to describe to anyone who’s not in it. “It seems like it would be unnatural to use yourself as a product and be the one who is exposed. That will always feel slightly unnatural and strange, but also challenging and interesting.”

Jennifer Lawrence quit surfing

J

ennifer Lawrence stopped surfing when she got hit on the head with her board. The ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ actress used to relax by taking to the waves, but it stopped being fun after she had an accident in the water. She explained: “I used to love surfing, then I got hit in the head with my board, got concussion, and couldn’t remember my phone number. I like yoga and I like going out, but every time I do, I’m always thinking about my couch.” Though Jennifer likes to be in shape, she hates going to the gym so would prefer to seek out alternate forms of exercise. She told more! magazine: “I’m a complete gym-o-phobe. People who are like ‘OMIGOD I can’t wait to get to the gym’ drive me nuts. I am always happier when I’m in shape, but I like to take my exercise outdoors. “I won’t actually say that running uphill when you’re out of breath is fun, but I do feel better afterwards.”

McCartney tops Bonnaroo music festival lineup

P

aul McCartney will perform at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee in June along with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Mumford & Sons, Bjork and Wilco, festival organizers said on Tuesday. “Top to bottom, this is one of the strongest lineups we have ever had,” Bonnaroo spokesman Jeff Cuellar said in an interview. “Looking at the festival landscape out there ... no other American festival has Mumford & Sons, Paul McCartney and Bjork all under one roof.” Bonnaroo is among the top live music gatherings of the year, much like the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California and the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts in Britain. Up to 100,000 fans flock to the annual festival in Manchester, Tennessee, to see singers, comedians, art and films. The 2013 concert lineup announced on Tuesday also included R Kelly, Wu-Tang Clan, David Byrne & St Vincent, ZZ Top, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Gov’t Mule and Dwight Yoakam. Tickets for the festival go on sale Feb 23 on bonnaroo.com.

Jay-Z over-protective of his daughter

A

licia Keys thinks Jay-Z is over-protective of his daughter. The ‘Girl on Fire’ singer says the rap star wasn’t pleased when her two-year-old son, Egypt, went to give 13-month old Blue Ivy - Jay’s daughter with wife Beyonce Knowles - a kiss. Speaking on US TV’s ‘The Wendy Williams Show’, Alicia said: “Egypt kissed Blue, and I don’t think Jay liked it very much. “He called my husband and he was like, ‘Watch your son.’ “Alicia - who is married to producer Swizz Beats - added most of Egypt and Blue’s play dates have been when their parents have been in the studio. She said: “When we’ve met, strangely enough it’s been in the studio.

“We do bring our children to the studio and the kids will hang out.” Alicia - who collaborated with Jay on the track ‘Empire State of Mind’ - has previously talked about her son’s musical prowess, saying he has displayed an early talent for piano and drums. She explained: “He plays [piano]. Egypt has a stark sense of rhythm.

He also plays the drums already. He likes that most. The kid’s making noise all day long. “He’s adorable. Soon Egypt will come on tour with me, and then he’ll get a taste of that world.”

Dido struggles to lose baby weight D

ido is still struggling to lose her baby weight. The 41year-old singer gave birth to Stanley - her first child with husband Rohan Gavin - in July 2011 and admits she still hasn’t lost the pounds she gained during her pregnancy, but she isn’t too worried as her priorities have changed. She said: “I still haven’t quite managed [to lose the weight]. It has definitely been a bit of a struggle because you need to eat to have energy and I ate for Britain. I was so hungry the whole time. “That whole ‘weight drops off you when you’re breastfeeding’ thing is a complete myth. I haven’t worried about it so much because your attitude shifts to thinking about how you can be the best mum.” During her pregnancy, Dido worked on her new album ‘Girl Who Got Away’ and loved being in the studio and feeling Stanley move as she sang. She told Hello! magazine: “Usually I’m in the vocal booth in the studio singing on my own. “What was nice as having this little mate, kicking away, dancing - or struggling to get out, I’m not sure which. “I just loved having him there. I took a year out after he was born and finished the album at the end of last year.” —BangShowbiz

37

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

LIFESTYLE M o v i e s

This film image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Bryan Cranston, left, as Jack O’Donnell and Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez in “Argo,” a rescue thriller about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. —AP

T

M u s i c

This image released by DreamWorks II Distribution Co, LLC and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation shows Sally Field and Daniel Day-Lewis appear in a scene from “Lincoln.” —AP

In fact-based films, he scene: Tehran’s Mehrabad airport, January 1980. Six US diplomats, disguised as a fake sci-fi film crew, are about to fly to freedom with their CIA escorts. But suddenly there’s a moment of panic in what had been a smooth trip through the airport.

The plane has mechanical difficulties and will be delayed. Will the Americans be discovered, arrested, even killed? CIA officer Tony Mendez, also in disguise, tries to calm them. Luckily, the flight leaves about an hour later.

If you saw the film “Argo,” no, you didn’t miss this development, which is recounted in Mendez’s book about the real-life operation. It wasn’t there because director Ben Affleck and screenwriter Chris Terrio replaced it with an even more dramatic scenario, involving canceled flight reservations, suspicious Iranian officials who call the Hollywood office of the fake film crew (a call answered just in time), and finally a heart-pounding chase on the tarmac just as the plane’s wheels lift off, seconds from catastrophe.

Crackling filmmaking - except that it never happened. Affleck and Terrio, whose film is an Oscar frontrunner, never claimed their film was a documentary, of course. But still, they’ve caught some flak for the liberties they took in the name of entertainment. And they aren’t alone - two other high-profile best-picture nominees this year, Kathryn Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty” and Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” have also been criticized for different sorts of factual issues. Filmmakers have been making movies based on real events forever, and similar charges have been made. But because

&

This undated publicity film image provided by Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. shows Jessica Chastain in”Zero Dark Thirty.”—AP

how much fiction is OK? “Maybe there was another way to do it. But really, it’s not terribly important. People accept that liberties will be taken. A movie is a movie.

People going for a history lesson are going to the wrong place.” Walter says he always tells his students: “Go for the feelings. Because the only thing that’s truly real in the movies are the feelings that people feel when they watch.” Carson Reeves, who runs a screenwriting website called Scriptshadow, says writers basing scripts on real events face a constant problem: No subject or individual’s life is compelling and dramatic enough by itself, he says, that it neatly fits into a script with three acts, subplots, plot twists and a powerful villain.

“You just have to get rid of things that maybe would have made the story more truthful,” says Reeves, who actually gave the “Lincoln” script a negative review because he thought it was too heavy on conversation and lacking action. He adds, though, that when the subject is as famous as Lincoln, one has a responsibility to be more faithful to the facts.

Screenwriter and actor Dan Futterman, nominated for an Oscar in 2006 for the “Capote” screenplay, has empathy for any writer trying to pen an effective script based on real events, as he did. “This is fraught territory,” he says.

“You’re always going to have to change something, and you’re always going to get in some sort of trouble, with somebody,” he says.

Futterman recalls seeing “Lincoln” and wondering briefly why Connecticut would have voted the way the movie depicted it. On the other hand, he says, he has so much admiration for Kushner’s achievement in writing an

these three major films are in contention, the issue has come to the forefront of this year’s Oscar race, and with it a thorny cultural question: Does the audience deserve the truth, the whole truth and nothing but? Surely not, but just how much fiction is OK? The latest episode involved “Lincoln,” and the revelation that Spielberg and his screenwriter, the Pulitzer-winning playwright Tony Kushner, took liberties depicting the 1865 vote on the 13th amendment outlawing slavery. In response to a complaint by a Connecticut congressman, Kushner acknowledged he’d changed the details for dramatic effect, having two Connecticut congressmen vote against the amendment when, in fact, all four voted for it. (The names of those congressmen were changed, to avoid changing the vote of specific individuals.)

In a statement, Kushner said he had “adhered to time-honored and completely legitimate standards for the creation of historical drama, which is what ‘Lincoln’ is. I hope nobody is shocked to learn that I also made up dialogue and imagined encounters and invented characters.” His answer wasn’t satisfying to everyone. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd called on Spielberg this weekend to adjust the DVD version before it’s released lest the film leave “students everywhere thinking the Nutmeg State is nutty.” One prominent screenwriting professor finds the “Lincoln” episode “a little troubling” - but only a little.

“Maybe changing the vote went too far,” says Richard Walter, chairman of screenwriting at the University of California, Los Angeles.

exciting movie about 19th-century legislative history that he’s inclined to overlook the alteration. Futterman also doesn’t begrudge the “Argo” filmmakers, because he feels they use a directorial style that implies some fun is being had with the story. “All the inside joking about Hollywood tonally, you get a sense that something is being played with,” he says.

He recalls his own object lesson in the difficulty of writing about real people and events: In “Capote,” he combined three of Truman Capote’s editors into one, for the sake of the narrative. He ended up hearing from the son of New Yorker editor William Shawn, actor Wallace Shawn, who wasn’t totally pleased with the portrayal of his father. Futterman says he was sympathetic to those concerns and would certainly have addressed them in the script, had he anticipated them. Of the three Oscar-nominated films in question, “Zero Dark Thirty” has inspired the most fervent debate.

The most intense criticism, despite acclaim for the filmmaking craft involved, has been about its depictions of interrogations, with some, including a group of senators, saying the film misleads viewers for suggesting that torture provided information that helped the CIA find Osama bin Laden.

There also have been questions about the accuracy of the depiction of the main character, a CIA officer played by Jessica Chastain; the real person - or even combination of people, according to some theories - that she plays remains anonymous. Mark Boal, the movie’s screenwriter, said in a recent interview that screenwriters have a double responsibili-

ty: to the material and to the audience.

“There’s a responsibility, I believe, to the audience, because they’re paying money, and to tell a good story,” he said. “And there’s a responsibility to be respectful of the material.”

In a later interview with the Wall Street Journal, he added: “I think it’s my right, by the way, if I firmly believe that bin Laden was killed by aliens, to depict that. ... In this country, isn’t that legit?”

The debate over “Argo” has been much less intense, though there has been some grumbling from former officials in Britain and New Zealand that their countries were portrayed incorrectly in the film as offering no help at all to the six Americans, whereas actually, as Mendez writes, they did provide some help.

And as for the Canadians, the Toronto Star detailed late last year how Affleck (who also stars as Mendez) agreed to adjust the postscript to his film to more generously credit Canada and its ambassador at the time, Ken Taylor, who protected the Americans at great personal risk. To Walter, the screenwriting professor, keeping track of all the historical details is a losing battle.

“When I am hungry and crave a tuna fish sandwich, I don’t go to a hardware store,” he says. “When I seek a history lesson, I do not go to a movie theater. I loved ‘Argo’ even though I know there was no last-minute turn-around via a phone call from President Carter, nor were there Iranian police cars chasing the plane down the tarmac as it took off. So what?

These conceits simply make the movie more exciting.” —AP

How ‘Safe Haven’ Made Things Ugly for ‘Beautiful Creatures’ at the Box Office

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How ‘Life of Pi’ makers brought audience into film

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irector Ang Lee wanted to offer filmgoers an “immersive” experience with “Life of Pi,” his Oscarnominated 3D fable about an Indian boy trapped on a boat with a tiger. Claudio Miranda helped him do it. The ChileanAmerican cinematographer, a veteran of 3D film-making who himself is up for an Academy Award on Sunday, says bringing Yann Martel’s philosophical novel to the silver screen was no easy task. “You just can’t put a boy and a tiger on a boat together, ever. You know that you’re going to be in the hands of visual effects to put the tiger in for you, and then just hope it doesn’t look like a cartoon,” Miranda told AFP. The film is up for 11 Oscars, including best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay and best cinematography, earning the second highest number of nominations after Steven Spielberg’s presidential drama “Lincoln.” To recreate the world of Pi, who is stranded on the boat with the Bengal tiger in the Pacific after a shipwreck, the crew had to build a huge water tank of 90 by 30 meters in Taiwan.

Miranda says that was the only way to control the light and decide how the waves would move in a film where the ocean is nearly a character itself.

“We just wanted to make it feel immersive. There’s something very different about water and 3D and how that feels,” said the 47-year-old Miranda, who previously did 3D camera work on “TRON: Legacy.”“There was a big concern that they (the public) were going to be sick” due to the 3D movement of the water, he said.

“There’s a lot of editing choices and horizon choices that make you feel less sick.”

The extra work paid off: even though “Life of Pi” earned mixed reviews from critics, reviewers were nearly unanimous in their praise of the film’s stunning visuals.”Ang is

very experimental,” Miranda said of the Taiwanese-born director, already a best director Oscar winner in 2006 for gay cowboy romance “Brokeback Mountain.”

“He wanted to find new ways for storytelling. He felt like really exploring 3D.” Miranda said the success of his cinematography was due in part to his decision to break with some of the rules most follow when shooting in 3D. “There are a lot of rules on things on 3D and I looked at them and I said well, maybe, and maybe not.

Some people think that you need everything sharp and I don’t agree,” he explained. For a scene near the film’s end, “everything falls out of focus naturally. If you’re bored with the story and you start looking around the screen, and you see something soft, your eyes are going to feel comfortable,” he said.

Among the most memorable scenes in the film is a religious ceremony in India twinkling with 50,000 candles-lit by 2,000 crew members-and a whale jumping in phosphorescent waters. The whale scene was in part inspired by a real-life experience, Miranda said. One night during filming, he and Lee went to go swimming at night and quickly found themselves surrounded by phosphorescent plankton.

They loved the effect and decided to recreate it in what may be one of the film’s most beautiful scenes. Miranda, already nominated for an Oscar in 2009 for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” says he’s thrilled about the 11 nominations “Life of Pi” has received, but regrets that young actor Suraj Sharma was not among them. “What makes me really sad is that the boy, Suraj, didn’t get anything,” he said. “This is a boy that is carrying the whole movie, acting with someone who is not there. Eighty percent of the movie is just one actor. He carries the whole ocean, he carries everything.” —AFP

he battle between “Safe Haven” and “Beautiful Creatures” for young female moviegoers provided the biggest surprises at the President’s Day weekend box office. “Safe Haven” won, in a knockout. Relativity Media’s $28 million Nicholas Sparks romantic adaptation finished a strong third to “Good Day to Die Hard” and “Identity Thief,” with $34 million since opening on Thursday - about $10 million more than analysts had expected.

Alcon Entertainment’s $60 million “Beautiful Creatures,” the supernatural romance based on Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl’s young adult novel, managed around $10 million over the same stretch - about $10 million less than both analyst and studio pre-release projections. Audiences for both films were dominated by young women. The “Safe Haven” audience was 71 percent female and 68 percent under 25 years of age, the “Beautiful Creatures” crowd 67 percent women, 57 percent under 25. So why did “Safe Haven” draw so many more people?

“When you looked at it in terms of what movie would be the one that had girls dragging guys to, ‘Safe Haven’ was the answer,” Box.office.com vice-president and senior analyst Phil Contrino told TheWrap. “It was more dramatic and grounded. It had realistic elements.

‘Beautiful Creatures’ just looked like the next ‘Twilight,’ and that’s poison to some guys who didn’t want to go to another supernatural teenage love story.”

Of course, since the success of the

“Twilight” series, followed by “The Hunger Games,” Hollywood has been searching for the next young adult series and Alcon can hardly be faulted for trying to tap into that. “The teen audience isnt going to go away,” Contrino said, “but ‘Beautiful Creatures” feels like a little too much of

the minds of its fans, and they are rabid and protective, and they just weren’t ready to drop into a new series.” Another reason may among be the simplest: There are many more people who have read the novels of Sparks, a perennial name on the New York Times bestseller list, than those

the same. It arrived too soon after ‘Twilight: Breaking Dawn” to capitalize.”

That film debuted in November and has taken in more than $290 million domestically for Lionsgate’s Summit Entertainment. “There are only so many ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Twilight” franchises out there,” agreed Exhibitor Relations senior analysts Jeff Bock. “‘Twilight’ is still fresh in

of Garcia and Stohl. But there are other reasons, too.

“The Nicholas Sparks audience is faithful, dependable and supportive,” Kyle Davies, Relativity’s president of worldwide distribution, told TheWrap, “and that’s in part because he really speaks to the Heartland of America. There were cities that aren’t typically in the top ten markets

where it really played very well.” He cited Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City and Kansas City as over-performers. The Valentine’s Day surprise pulled off by “Safe Haven,” which debuted to $9 million and edged Fox’s “Good Day to Die Hard,” gave it a ton of momentum. On Thursday and Friday, there were 281,000 Twitter mentions of “Safe Haven” - the vast majority positive compared to about 122,000 for the “Die Hard” sequel and 47,000 for “Beautiful Creatures.”“The word of mouth really helped,” Davies said. “It had the B+ CinemaScore, but it got an A- from women under 25. There’s a thriller aspect to the film, too, and that helped with guys, who gave it the B+.”

The stars of “Safe Haven” - Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel are more wellestablished than Alice Englert and Alden Ehrenreich, who toplined “Beautiful Creatures.” Hough toplined 2011’s “Footloose” and was in last year’s “Rock of Ages.” Neither were hits but both were high-profile spots for the former regular on TV’s “Dancing With the Stars.” Duhamel is well known from the “Transformers” series. Relativity bought the rights to “Safe Haven” in 2010, before it was published, in the wake of their success with another movie based on a Sparks book, “Dear John,” which took in $80 million domestically. That allowed it to land the ideal Valentine’s date, and put them in a position to create awareness and engage Sparks’ huge fan base from the outset of the publishing campaign. —Reuters

Schwarzenegger says new film has universal appeal

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or his first starring role since before serving as California’s governor for seven years, Arnold Schwarzenegger says he was looking for a film with universal appeal. In “The Last Stand,” Schwarzenegger plays the sheriff of an Arizona town tasked with stopping a Mexican cartel boss from returning to Mexico. It’s the 65-year-old’s first leading role since “Terminator 3” a decade ago.

He said in Seoul yesterday that he tries to pick projects that “could be popular not only in America, but all over the world.” “The Last Stand,” the debut Hollywood film of South Korean director Kim Jee-woon, opens in Seoul today.

Schwarzenegger recalled his memories of South Korea from his bodybuilding days, saying “it’s a major Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger poses during a press conference to promote his latest film “The player in the world stage economically and in every other way.” —AP Last Stand” in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday. —AP

lifestyle

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

F a s h i o n

Models present creations by Maria Grachvogel during the 2013 Autumn/Winter London Fashion Week in London.

— AFP photos

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pectral outfits and chilling winter prints capped off London Fashion Week on Tuesday, as the fashion season baton moves from the British capital to Milan. London, one of the four major international fashion hubs alongside New York, Milan and Paris, attracts more than 100 million pounds ($154.43 million) in orders each season, according to estimates from the British Fashion Council (BFC). Britain is also increasingly drawing high-profile names to its fashion industry, which has a direct value of 21 billion pounds ($32.43 billion) to the Britain’s $2.5 trillion economy, BFC figures show.

American designer Tom Ford made his catwalk debut in London this week, while pop-star Rihanna chose to launch a clothing line with British retailer River Island. Ghostly girls in white Edwardian lace and black veils circled the vast space of the Tate Modern museum’s tanks for Anglo-French design duo Meadham Kirchhoff on the final day of fashion week. The predominantly monochrome collection, which included outfits of black velvet with white collars and long silk skirts, was inspired by lyrics from the Beatles song “Helter Skelter”.

A spokeswoman for Meadham Kirchhoff declined to comment onwhether using the song for a show at the Tate was a deliberatereference to Charles Manson, whose interpretation of it as aprophecy of racial war led him to go on a murder spree 1969 that included the killing of actress Sharon Tate. The pair told Elle UK it was an obsession with perfection that inspired the designs. “I was thinking about perfection, being the perfect homemaker,” Meadham told the publication in an online posting. “People want to trivialise women’s interests...I bake all the time; keep my home clean. I’m obsessed with perfection; that’s what got me going in the first place,” he said. Belgrade-born Roksanda Ilincic echoed the mood at her show, where models in pale pink and black drifted down the catwalk. “It was really about creating that special modern feel of a haunted beauty mix of opposites,” Ilincic said.

BRITISH LUXURY British designer Maria Grachvogel printed the skeletal branches of trees in winter onto a sheer white blouse for one of the final shows at London’s Somerset House, which hosted John Rocha, Jasper Conran and Issa London to packed audiences.

Grachvogel, who used hues of bone, oxblood and lichen in her 34 piece collection, said London was going from strength to strength as a fashion capital. “London has always been known for its young creative spirit and its young talent, but I think what’s happening now is that the young talent is growing up,”

Grachvogel told Reuters after the show. “We’ve got the luxury brands of the future - we have some already - but it’s getting stronger and stronger,” she said.

Luxury British label Burberry Prorsum drew international celebrities to its red carpet reception earlier in the week, as did veteran designer Vivienne Westwood’s Red Label, another British fashion industry torchbearer. But London is best-known for its up-and-coming talent, such as Fashion Fringe award winner Haizhen Wang, whose show of sharply tailored separates, draped dresses and quilted jackets served as a finale for fashion week. Wang, who was mentored by Burberry’s chief creative officer Christopher Bailey, follows in the footsteps of former Fashion Fringe winner Erdem Moralioglu, who has gone on to garner international appeal and also presented at London Fashion Week this season. “It feels exciting and I wanted to see how far I can make it myself,” Wang said.

DOMINOES Anya Hindmarch provided relief from the darker collections of the final day, with an elaborate display of 60,000 dominoes that tumbled around a course of trapdoors and pyramids. The British accessories designer showcased her collection of satchels, clutches with graphic prints and handbags with giant tassels. “The whole inspiration behind the collection was about games, so looking at dominoes and backgammon boards and all the kind of amazing graphics and colors,” Hindmarch told Reuters. All eyes now turn towards Milan’s fashion week, which kicks off on Wednesday, before the finale of the season in Paris.

— Reuters

lifestyle

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

F a s h i o n

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ara Delevingne, the British model of the moment, set the catwalk alight at London Fashion Week with looks that have won her comparisons to her celebrity compatriot Kate Moss. Burberry, Topshop Unique, Peter Pilotto and Issa London all hired the pixie-like 20-year-old with her distinctive dark eyebrows to strut her stuff at their shows, delighting photographers and enchanting critics.

Backstage after the Burberry show, Delevingne looks relaxed in a t-shirt and trousers as she gracefully accepts congratulations from fans and fashion journalists, and clowns around between photoshoots and interviews.

She seems stunned to be compared to her idol Moss, despite the fact that they share not only a nationality but also an agent, Storm’s Sarah Doukas. They are both smaller than many of their colleagues, too, with Delevingne standing 1.76 meters (five feet, 9.5 inches) tall. “I don’t mind it, I just don’t think I am at all like her, no one can ever be her.

She’s incredible, she’s a supermodel,” Delevingne told AFP. “I am very lucky to be where I am now but I want to do other things as well and... even being mentioned in the same sentence as her is like, come on, amazing, so it’s just weird.”

But even if the young Londoner is brimming with energy and is only sleeping “between two and four hours a night”, she is finding the rhythm of life as a famous model tough. “I miss my life, I miss my family, I miss my friends and

relaxing... that’s why I find it stressful, but it’s good; it’s a good job, it’s just hard,” she says. Her family heritage is impeccable-her grandfather was Sir Jocelyn Stevens, chairman of national cultural body English Heritage, her father is a wealthy property developer and her elder sister Poppy is also a model.

Delevingne has been the face of British luxury clothing line group Burberry since 2010 and has also appeared in adverts for Chanel, while also taking part in catwalk shows for major designers.

In 2012 she was named Model of the Year by the British Fashion Council, which represents the country’s fashion industry. More importantly she was the cover girl for the last edition of British Vogue. The magazine’s editor, Alexandra Shulman, said Delevingne’s success was down to a strong personality. “I think she’s got a very individual look,” Shulman told AFP before the Burberry show. “One of the things that people want from models ideally is the sense of their personality. “Cara seems to convey that; it’s a kind of spirit of fun and individuality. “Because she’s not conventionnal, she’s little, short, she’s got a quite quirky face, that’s what I like about her.” Yasmin Le Bon, a model in the 1980s and 1990s who is married to Duran Duran pop star Simon Le Bon, said Delevingne had a “very special kind of energy.”

“Cara has particularly gorgeous features-elfin but still

strong,” Le Bon told AFP at London Fashion Week. “She’s not somebody who sinks into the background; you always notice her.” Le Bon added: “It takes time to build up that kind of energy level-it’s not easy when you’re young to be able work very long hours. Most young people want to spend their time sleeping in bed. “But Cara has got energy, and when you meet her you see immediately why everybody warms to her.”

The young model was seen hanging out with friends at London Fashion Week including pop star Rihanna, who was launching her first clothing line, and British singer Rita Ora, who was photographed with a t-shirt saying “Queen Delevingne”. She also featured in a YouTube video with fellow models Jourdan Dunn and Rosie Tapner performing the “Harlem Shake” dance craze. But for Delevingne-who describes herself on her Twitter profile as a “professional human being” who loves “eyebrows and playing the drums”-modelling is not her only ambition. The next step is movies, following a brief role in the 2012 film “Anna Karenina” by British director Joe Wright. — AFP

Models display an Autumn/Winter design by David Delfin during Madrid’s Fashion Week, in Madrid, yesterday. — AP

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taly’s top luxury brands take to the catwalks for Milan fashion week yesterday, as the industry waits keenly for general election results which may have a knock-on effect on culture and Made in Italy. After New York and London, it’s the turn of Italy’s luxury capital: charcoal greys, burnt oranges, hot reds and glitter have dominated the catwalks so far and all eyes are on Milan to bring that touch of Italian sophistication. But as houses show off their hotly-awaited autumn-winter 2013 collections to global fashionistas, Italians will be flocking to the polls Sunday and Monday to elect a new government which could boost or reduce funding for the arts.

The crisis has hit the industry hard, and its future is far from certain. “It’s not an easy challenge. New York, Paris and London have a lot of fire power,” said Mario Boselli, head of the Italian Chamber of Fashion. “Our only exit strategy is excellence. But, for their part, public institutions and

politicians have to support Made in Italy harder,” he said.

Gucci kicked off the fashion extravaganza, which will see 69 Italian and international brands-including two new arrivals-strutting on runways in a week of shows, boutique openings, cocktail presentations and parties.

Frankie Morello, Alberta Ferretti and No.21 follow yesterday, opening a packed schedule with overlaps in time slots bound to cause logistical problems for fashionistas and reportedly sparking heated spats between top designers. Thursday’s star is Prada, followed by cheeky Canadian twins Dan and Dean for DSquared2, while Moschino, Etro and the glamorous Versace show on Friday. Saturday opens with German designer Tomas Maier, who will unveil his latest creations for Bottega Veneta, followed by Roberto Cavalli and Jil Sander with her second collection since rejoining the label as creative director last year.

Sunday-the day Italians will begin flocking to the polls for

the election vote-sees big hitters Emporio Armani and Dolce & Gabbana take to the catwalks, as well as Missoni, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

Fashion week closes it doors with John Richmond, Giorgio Armani and Gianfranco Ferre on Monday, with Tuesday dedicated to up-and-coming or new designers, including Japan’s Ryuya Ohishi and Spanish-born Miguel Garcia Abad. Despite frantic pre-show preparations taking place across the city, where industrial warehouses are being transformed into luxurious catwalk hubs the latest data reveals the extent of the crisis.

The industry’s turnover was an estimated 60 billion euros ($80 million) in 2012 according to the Chamber of Fashion, down 5.0 percent compared to 2011. “We’re back to 2010’s level, but bearing in mind the extent of the crisis, that’s not so bad. It means the system held up,” Boselli said.

Despite the gloom in Milan, most big names have man-

aged to save their skins. The savvy houses have been focusing their efforts on expansion abroad-particularly in economic powerhouses such as China and Brazil-and some, such as Bottega Veneta, are reportedly powering ahead with further store openings.

Revenue from Asian sales in particular have seen a boom in profits posted by brands such as Roberto Cavalli and the exclusive Prada, which celebrated a 29 percent increase in profits in 2012 compared to the previous year.

Those not big enough to launch in Asia must battle it out for recognition in Italy-and this week will tell whether they have enough to wow the critics. — AFP

Schwarzenegger says new film has universal appeal

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

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The King of the Nice Carnival 2013’s float parades during the 129th Nice Carnival, Tuesday in Nice, southern France. The carnival celebrates the theme “King of the five continents”. — AP

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uards accompany them when they travel. Crowds flock to them when they arrive. Johannes Vermeer’s exquisite paintings of young women in gleaming domestic settings are the vigilantly watched and amply insured celebrities of the museum world, promising not only a glimpse of extraordinary beauty but big crowds as well. Now two of Vermeer’s luminous women are making rare appearances in California.

“Girl With a Pearl Earring” from 1665, a popular painting even before the Tracy Chevalier novel and Scarlett Johansson movie of the same name, went on display last month at the De Young Museum in San Francisco.”Woman in Blue Reading a Letter,” painted a year or two earlier, will be shown for six weeks at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, starting Saturday. Both paintings are on loan from European museums in the process of completing major renovations and expansions. And both California museums are giving their 17th century Dutch guests the full star treatment.

At the De Young, “Girl With a Pearl Earring”-whose real-life identity is unknown and status ambiguous (is she a servant or a lady?) - has been given its own gallery, with no other works on the wall. “What other picture could you possibly put in a room with her?” said Dede Wilsey, president of the De Young.

“Nothing could compete with her.” The De Young has used the title of the painting as the name of its current exhibition with 34 other works on loan from the Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery in The Hague. And its image-a close-up of a pale, wideeyed woman with parted lips wearing a blue and yellow head scarf-is the face of its citywide marketing campaign.

Wilsey described the subject’s appeal as very contemporary. “The ‘Mona Lisa’ is fascinating but she’s dark,” Wilsey said.

“This girl is full of light and youth, with such a compelling

expression that you really do want to know what she’s saying.

It’s hard to stay away from her.” “There is so much that doesn’t translate in reproduction, like the way Vermeer painted the pearl,” said Melissa Buron, a De Young assistant curator who helped coordinate the show, which runs through June 2.

“When you see it in person, you can see it’s only three brush strokes that he used to create one of the most exquisite pieces of jewelry in art history.”

The Getty Museum has borrowed its Vermeer from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and plans to hang it in its 17th century Dutch galleries surrounded by Vermeer’s contemporaries like Frans Hals and Pieter de Hooch. The painting shows a woman, who appears to be pregnant, standing at a table in a long skirt and bright blue jacket (made brighter by a recent restoration). A map of Holland hangs on the wall beside her, but she seems absorbed in another world: the one created by a letter in her hands whose contents are hidden from our view.

(The Getty has an online contest in progress asking people to submit the first line of the letter she is reading.)

“This painting is one of the most beautiful and magical Vermeers-and his paintings do have a magical quality about them,” said museum director Timothy Potts. “Their sense of light, reality and immediacy-an almost photographic realismhas never been achieved in that way before and frankly never since.” Even though the Getty’s “Woman” won’t have its own gallery, Potts says the museum will be leaving a lot of space around the Vermeer to accommodate sizable crowds. The museum is also replacing large benches nearby with smaller ones to create more standing room.

Potts has shown works by Vermeer once before, as director of the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge. When the Louvre

Models wear wedding dresses by Japanese fashion designer Yumi Katsura during the 2013 Yumi Katsura Grand Collection show in Tokyo yesterday. — AFP

wanted to borrow a work from the Fitzwilliam, he negotiated in exchange the loan of Vermeer’s “The Lacemaker.” He used that as the centerpiece for a larger show on 17th century Dutch domestic customs, including three other Vermeers and some two dozen works by his contemporaries. “Vermeer’s Women: Secrets and Silence” opened in 2011. Museum attendance doubled, he said.

The popular clamor for Vermeer owes something to

Chevalier’s 1999 novel, a sort of will-she-or-won’t-she romance dressed up in 17th century period detail. It has sold about 2 million copies and been translated into 39 languages. Then there’s the fact that Vermeer painted so few works during his lifetime. When he died, at 43, he had painted only 40 or 50 pieces, according to experts. And only 34 or so works are known today. The exact number is a matter of great debate, hinging on the authenticity of a few paintings.

What is known is that no Vermeer makes its home on the West Coast. The majority belong to European collections. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York owns five Vermeer paintings, plus one now established as a forgery. The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. has four, as well as two considered fake. The Frick Collection in New York has three. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston had one, “The Concert,” but it was stolen as part of a legendary art heist in 1990 and never recovered.

The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, Calif, has borrowed two Vermeers in recent years, drawing big crowds with its 2008 to 2009 showing of “A Lady Writing” from the National Gallery.

Museum attendance spiked over those three months to 55,000 visitors, a nearly 60 percent increase over the same period the previous year. Norton Simon spokeswoman Leslie Denk said she had never seen anything quite like it, noting that tours and talks were sold out. “We had to turn people away for events,” she said, “which is rare because our theater seats 300.”—MCT