9 Mar 2013

IPT IO N SC R SU B

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

RABI ALTHANI 27, 1434 AH

No: 15742

7Osama’s48son-in-law 150 Fils

Israel prepares for the next war with Hezbollah

Tottenham thump sorry Inter Milan, Chelsea stung

pleads ‘not guilty’ Ghaith stripped of Kuwait citizenship

NEW YORK: Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law pleaded not guilty yesterday to plotting against Americans in his role as Al-Qaeda’s top spokesman as a landmark case trying a terror suspect on US soil moves forward. Sulaiman Abu Ghaith entered the plea through a lawyer to one count of conspiracy to kill Americans after being captured in Jordan over the past week.

The case marks a legal victory for the Obama administration, which has long sought to charge senior Al-Qaeda suspects in US federal courts instead of holding them at the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Charging foreign terror suspects in federal courts was a top pledge by President Barack Obama shortly after he took office in 2009 - aimed, in part, to close Guantanamo Bay. Republicans, however, have fought the White House to keep Guantanamo open, and bringing Abu Ghaith to New York led to an outcry. Republicans in Congress do not want high-threat terror suspects brought into the United States, fearing that outcomes in a civilian jury trial are too unpredictable, compared to a military trial.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced the capture of Abu Ghaith on Thursday, saying “no amount of distance or time will weaken our resolve to bring America’s enemies to justice.” Holder reluctantly agreed in 2011 to try self-professed Al-Qaeda mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a Guantanamo Bay military court instead of a civilian court after a fierce Republican backlash.

The Justice Department said Abu Ghaith was the spokesman for Al-Qaeda, working alongside bin Laden and current leader Ayman Al-Zawahri, since at least May 2001. Abu Ghaith is a former mosque preacher and teacher and urged followers to swear allegiance to bin Laden, prosecutors said. The day after the Sept 11 attacks, prosecutors say he appeared with bin Laden and Al-Zawahri and called on the “nation of Islam” to battle against Jews, Christians and Americans.

A “great army is gathering against you,” Abu Ghaith said on Sept 12, 2001, according to prosecutors. Kuwait stripped him of his citizenship after the 2001 attacks. In 2002, under pressure as the US military and CIA searched for bin Laden, prosecutors said Abu Ghaith was smuggled into Iran from Afghanistan.

Tom Lynch, a research fellow at the National Defense University in Washington, described Abu Ghaith as one of a small handful of senior Al-Qaeda leaders “capable of getting the old band back together and postured for a round of real serious international terror.” “His capture and extradition not only allows the US to hold - and perhaps try - a reputed Al-Qaeda core survivor, further tarnishing the AQ core brand, but it also points to the dangers for those few remaining Al-Qaeda core refugees,” Lynch said.

Several Republican lawmakers said Abu Ghaith should be considered an enemy combatant and sent to Guantanamo, where he could be questioned more thoroughly than his lawyers likely would allow as a federal defendant on US soil. Generally, Guantanamo detainees have fewer legal rights and due process than they would have in a court in America but could potentially yield more information to prevent future threats.

Since 2001, 67 foreign terror suspects have been convicted in US federal courts, according to watchdog group Human Rights First, which obtained the data from the Justice Department through a Freedom of Information Act request. By comparison, of the thousands of detainees who were swept up shortly after the terror attacks and held at Guantanamo Bay, only seven were convicted by military tribunals held at the US Navy base in Cuba, the watchdog group said. The vast majority have been sent back overseas, either for rehabilitation or continued detention and prosecution. — AP

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KUWAIT: Australian Chris McDougall, the renowned extreme adventure base jumper, jumps off Kuwait’s tallest tower AlHamra (inset) yesterday to set a Kuwait record as thousands of people watched the gut-wrenching event and cheered him. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat (See Page 2)

Saudi accuses activists of lying to stir protests Protesters fume over detentions BURAIDAH: Saudi Arabia has accused online activists of using social media to stir up protests, banned in the kingdom, by distributing “false information” about the number of people detained by the security apparatus. Concern over the fate of the kingdom’s thousands of security detainees, who the government says are Islamist militants, has prompted demonstrations, culminating in the arrest of 161 people at a protest last week in the central city of Buraidah.

The accusation, delivered during a news conference in Buraidah, underscored the government’s concerns over the impact of reports distributed via social media that many long-term detainees have not been brought to trial, and that

police treated women protesters disrespectfully.

Last week’s protest was the latest in a string of demonstrations by relatives of detainees in the capital Riyadh and Qassim Province, heartland of the kingdom’s ultra-conservative Wahhabi school of Islam. In January more than 100 Wahhabi clerics wrote to King Abdullah, pressing him to address the issue swiftly, a significant step given the paramount role of religion in Saudi society and top clerics’ backing of the protest ban.

“There are people who misuse the social networking and try to send false information,” Maj Gen Mansour Turki, the Continued on Page 10

LOCAL

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

McDougall floats on his parachute before safely landing on earth

Chris McDougall leaps off Al-Hamra Tower.

McDougall leaps off Al-Hamra Thousands cheer as Australian jumper sets record

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: Shot of pure adrenalin, anyone?

Australian Chris McDougall, the renowned extreme adventure base jumper, leapt off Kuwait’s tallest tower Al-Hamra yesterday to set a Kuwait record as thousands of people watched the gut-wrenching event and cheered him. McDougall’s jump was a first for Kuwait and was organized by Al-Hamra Tower to celebrate National and Liberation Days. Thousands of people who gathered to

watch the nail-biting act by the adventurer, cheered MacDougall as he jumped off the 414-meter tall tower in Kuwait City. Base jumping is a sport in which a parachutist jumps from a building, rather than an airplane. “I was very much nervous when he jumped.

I thought for a moment what if the parachute wouldn’t work. If I had seen a dead man, I would have probably collapsed,” said a Lebanese woman in the crowd. The jump took place around 2 pm and was the first of

the two jumps he planned in Kuwait. “It was a fascinating jump with a very beautiful landing. I want to see him again for the second jump,” said another spectator at the foot of the tower.

The street leading to Al-Hamra Tower was temporarily closed at the time of jump to accommodate and provide space for the large crowd. Some of them were seen waiting since 12 noon. “I have been waiting here since 12 noon. I read about it in your paper, so I brought my children along with me to witness history being made,” an Indian said who came with his four kids and wife.

McDougall was introduced to Kuwaiti media last Wednesday along with Kuwaiti skydiver Mohammad Al-Refai. Al-Refai has skydived more than 400 times in various locations too around the world, but not the base jump.

McDougall plans to train Al-Refai in base jumping in the next few months. McDougall jumped twice yesterday to the delight of the spectators. “Base jumping is a very dangerous and serious sport, a single mistake means death. But whether I have sponsors or not, I like it a lot and I want people to see why I like the sports,” McDougall said. He set the record in Kuwait and currently holds the record for trouble-free jumps, with 2,600 base jumps and 10,000 sky jumps.

“I am setting a record in Kuwait as there is no record for base-jumps as yet, so I am here to set the record and not to break anybody’s

record.” McDougall has been training people in some 40 countries for more than 15 years.

Al-Hamra Tower is 414 meter above sea-level and is known to be Kuwait’s tallest tower and has become a landmark. Base jumping, also written as B.A.S.E. jumping, spells an acronym

Australian Chris McDougall ready for the jump. that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antennas, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs). The event was sponsored by Zain, Gulf Bank, Dominos Pizza, Go Sports, Torino Lamborghini and Camco Global Events.

Chris McDougall reacts to media after the safe landing. — Photos by Joseph Shagra

LOCAL

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

PM says solution to loans issue in sight Premier seeks updated draft law

MANAMA: Kuwaiti Ambassador to Bahrain Sheikh Azzam Al-Sabah met yesterday with Kuwait’s team that takes part in the 3rd GCC Women Games currently held at the kingdom. He commended the team’s effort in winning three medals in table tennis, including a gold in the doubles competition, a silver in the teams competition and a bronze in the singles competition. —KUNA

Opposition gears for Iradah Square rally KUWAIT: The opposition plans to organize a procession that culminates in a public address at the Iradah Square, a local daily reported yesterday quoting sources with knowledge of the case. However, they were unable to provide a specific date for the event.

The news came on the eve of an announcement to hold the eighth Karamat Watan (dignity of a nation) procession that was posted on a Twitter account with the same name on Thursday night. Speaking to Al-Rai on the condition

of anonymity, the sources indicated that the idea to hold the procession came last week during a meeting for the Majority Bloc. “Former MPs had requested that the event should be organized by the Opposition Coalition and The Coordinating Committee for the Public Movement”, the sources said while referring the two main factions representing Kuwait’s political opposition. “They want to avoid speculations which could arise if either party failed to take part in the event.

KUWAIT: A lawmaker revealed that His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak AlSabah had sought an updated draft law to pass a debt relief that would “end the ordeal of all citizens struggling with their loans’ repayments.” His statement coincides with Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali’s promise that “a near solution that helps borrowers and protects public funds,” will be soon found.

“We appreciate HH the Prime Minister’s efforts which helped us come up with a new draft law that achieves justice and quality by ending the ordeal of all debtors before or after April 2008 while maintains the banking sector and public funds”, said president of the parliament’s financial committee Dr Yousuf Al-Zalzalah. He added in statements to Al-Anba that a copy of the new draft law “was handed [Wednesday] to minister Al-Shamali to be studied before his scheduled attendance to the panel’s meeting next Tuesday”.

According to Al-Zalzalah, the main revision in the new law calls for allowing debtors with loans taken after April 1, 2008 to have the principal amount of their loan rescheduled if the repayment exceeded fifty percent of the salary.

Meanwhile, the law stipulates that the government purchases citizens’ loans taken before that

Project for young Kuwaiti entrepreneurs launched Al-Shamali sees headway in cutting red-tape KUWAIT: Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shamali reaffirmed the keenness of the government to safeguard the interests of the youths and remove all the obstacles young entrepreneurs face in executing their projects. “The government made headway in cutting the red-tape relating to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) launched by young entrepreneurs,” he said. Al-Shamali made the remarks after the inauguration ceremony of the Heritage Village of the “Kuwaiti and Proud” Project at Kuwait International Fairgrounds in Mishref.

The ceremony, part of the project’s sixth annual meeting, was held under the auspices and in the presence of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

“The Kuwaiti and Proud Project provides an opportunity for the youths to network and share experience in launching businesses, handicrafts and SMEs and encourage them to enter the labor market,” Al-Shamali said.

He took pride in the talented youths who raise innovative entrepreneurial ideas, hailing the Heritage Village as great initiative for preserving “the country’s beautiful heritage.”

On the suggestion to waive the interests of loans for young investors, he said the issue is being discussed by the National Assembly’s financial and economic committee.

“We have reached an understanding on a draft bill in this regard; it’s 90 percent complete and the committee could reach consensus on the matter during its upcoming meeting,” he revealed.

On his part, Minister of Information and Minister of State for Youth Affairs Sheikh Salman Sabah Salem Al-Sabah said HH the Prime Minister instructed the government to end bureaucracy and redtape especially for the youths and SMEs. “The government has a comprehensive strategy

for caring for the youths,” he said, noting that the Kuwaiti and Proud Project is one of the government-backed initiatives by the youth. Sheikh Salman added that the national youth conference, due on March 10, will provide a platform for direct interaction between the government and the youths. Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs and Minister of State for Municipal Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Sabah said Kuwait has a huge youth potential which has yet to be tapped.

He cited the Heritage Village project as an example which was developed by the talented youths and through government support in “a very short period to time.” Minister of Commerce and Industry Anas Al-Saleh said the government spared no effort in supporting the young entrepreneurs and fostering their SMEs. “Efficiency is the main criterion in selecting the board members of the fund for supporting SMEs,” he said.

“The legislators are developing a bill for bailing out the stumbling debtors, and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is in contact with the National Assembly in this regard,” Al-Saleh pointed out. He added that a consultative panel from World Bank is expected to visit Kuwait later this month to discuss the draft bill.

As for the business law, he said a technical committee is working out the executive statutes of the draft legislation in collaboration with the Central Bank of Kuwait, the Capital Market Authority and Ministry of Commerce and Industry as well as other concerned associations. Commenting on speculations about the privatization of Kuwait Stock Exchange, saying: “The government has no plans to delay the privatization.” “There are only some snags in the Capital Market Authority Act which failed to realize the existence of special corporations such as the bourse; we are working to iron out such problems,” he added. —KUNA

date, and then reschedules their repayments after writing the interests off. The law also changes the name of the insolvency fund to be known as the ‘Family Fund’, which provides assistance to citizens with repayments exceeding fifty percent of the salary for loans taken before April 1, 2008.

Minister Al-Shamali had told Al-Rai Thursday that there is a “near solution that guarantees the rights of debtors while protects public funds”, revealing at the same time that “a study is currently ongoing to end the loans’ issue completely”. He also confirmed the government’s plan to attend the financial committee’s meeting on Tuesday.

On the other hand, MP Khalil Al-Saleh announced his plans to reject the draft law because “it fails to achieve justice” and “encourages people to take loans with the impression that the government will eventually take care of repayments”. “While the proposed law helps end the ordeal of 6,6555 citizens, its details are unacceptable because they fail to provide a comprehensive solution that addresses the problem from all angles”, Al-Saleh told Al-Rai on Thursday. He said that the best solution would be to “study each defaulter’s file separately” as he called the government to “achieve justice”.

local

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

15 incidents of fire a day reported in 2012 KUWAIT: An average of 15 incidents fire as well as 10 cases of rescue a day were reported in 2012, said Director of the Kuwait Fire Services Directorate, Major General Yousuf Al-Ansari on Thursday.

The official’s statements came during the inauguration of the 11th Annual Firemen’s Day exhibition in Souq Sharq. He quoted official 2012 statistics which indicate that firemen handled a total of 15,370 reports, with an average of 43 reports a day, including 5,609 incidents of fire and 3,552 evacuation missions. He further indicated that the number of incidents of fire last year increased by 8 percent compared to 2011.

The event was inaugurated by Minister of Cabinet Affairs and State Minister for Municipality Affairs Sheikh Mohammad AlAbdullah Al-Sabah, who expressed gratitude to the “heroes of Kuwait who risk their lives and safety to protect our own”. In addition to the KFSD, the 3-day event features participation of fire services department in the Kuwait Army, National Guard, Kuwait Oil Company and Oil Sector Services Company (OSSC).

Kuwait police book 531 vendors at vegetable market KUWAIT: The Interior Ministry said on Thursday that the law enforcers arrested 531 vendors during a crackdown at the local vegetable market. Those arrested were booked on various violations of the law as part of the security procedures adopted by the ministry.

They were charged with violating the immigration and labor laws, according to a statement by the ministry. The successful crackdown comes as part of a wider campaign by the ministry’s public security sector which aims to end all negative practices. The statement added that high ranking police officers took part in the raid, under supervision of Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry for Public Security Lt-Gen Suleiman Fahad Al-Fahad. — KUNA

KUWAIT: The arrested vendors following a crackdown at the local vegetable market.

KUWAIT: Minister for Municipality Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah during the inauguration of fire expo on Thursday.

Ministry cracks down on human trafficking Egyptian murder suspect in custody KUWAIT: A senior official along with four of his employees at the labor department were taken into custody for investigations over human trade suspicions, local daily Al-Watan reported yesterday. The suspects face charges for reportedly creating fake job opportunities in companies’ files in the department’s database, a measure that paves the way for issuing visas that are sold to expatriate labor forces who to come to Kuwait. The decision came as per direct orders of the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Thekra Al-Rashidi, and is the fourth of its kind since the minister assumed office last December.

Footballer collapses A man died after collapsing for unspecified reasons while playing football in Al-Mahboulah recently. The young man was pronounced dead inside the intensive care unit of Al-Adan Hospital shortly after he was rushed there by other players who picked him when he suddenly fell

unconscious on the field. An autopsy was ordered to determine the cause of death.

Search for child molester Hunt is on for a male suspects who reportedly attempted to sexually assault a child inside a Hawally building. The case was filed on Thursday at the area’s police station by an Arab man who works as a doctor in a public hospital. He said that an unidentified person attempted to molest his 6-year-old daughter inside the elevator of their apartment building. The suspect escaped before anyone could see him as the girl screamed for help, according to the report.

Teenagers avoid rape Search is on for three suspects accused of kidnapping two teenagers who barely avoided sexual assault. In their statements to Rumaithiya police station officers, the two Kuwaiti boys said that they were jogging in the area when

a Bedoon (stateless) man they knew crossed their path, then forced them into his car with two other men they never met before. The suspects drove to a remote location where they attempted to rape the two teenagers. However, the boys resisted them strongly and escaped from their clutches. Investigations are ongoing.

Body found A man was found dead in Al-Zoor while investigations are ongoing to determine the circumstances behind the death. Police accompanied by crime investigators headed to a house in the area where the body was found. An Indian man explained in an emergency call that he came over to meet the GCC national, but could smell foul odor as he approached the house before later realizing that the man was dead. The body was taken to the forensic department for an autopsy.

LOCAL

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Gulfmart opens third mini-supermarket in Salmiya KUWAIT: Gulfmart, the largest supermarket chain in Kuwait, opened its third mini-supermarket in Salmiya on March 6, 2013 with a colorful ceremony held at the store’s premises in Building 25, Block 10, Al-Dhahak Bin Qays Street.

The new branch was inaugurated by Fr Lionel Braganza SDB, the Principal of Indian English Academy School, in front of a crowd of shoppers, well-wishers and senior Gulfmart

officials. Speaking on the sidelines of the opening, Dr T A Remesh, Country Head for Gulfmart said, “The mini-supermarket format is proving to be extremely popular among shoppers in localities where we have opened, especially among women, as they can easily walk over to buy their immediate kitchen needs.” “Through our retail mix of mini-supermarkets and large format supermarkets we aim to provide customers with the convenience and easy accessi-

bility of our mini-outlets, as well as greater variety and wider selection of our larger branches.

We are pleased at the enthusiastic response we keep receiving to both retail formats and thank our patrons for their continued support,” added the country manager.

Gulfmart is well-known for carrying a wide variety of products that cater to the shopping needs of the diverse population in Kuwait, and is especially popular for offering ethnic prod-

NBK Annual Walkathon opens new registration center at the Avenues Two weeks left to the start KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait’s (NBK) 19th Annual Walkathon, scheduled to kick off on Saturday 23rd of March 2013, is heading for yet another record year. NBK has opened additional registration booth at the Avenues Mall-phase1 in order to satisfy the increasing demands for registration.

Registration at NBK’s Booth in the Avenues will be open this weekend and today (March 8 and 9 and the registration center next to the Scientific Center continues to be open daily from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm and from 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

This year, NBK’s Walkathon will include a variety of fun, entertainment filled and health awareness-raising activities. NBK Walkathon 2013 will hold great surprises.120 participants will be awarded with valuable prizes in addition to giving away two brand new MG5 cars as the grand prize alongside the grand quarterly KD 250,000 prize for Al-Jawhara that will be announced live during the Walkathon.

Ten winners will be selected from each of the 12 categories of partici-

pants. The Walk for the male participants will start from the Scientific Center located in Ras Salmiya, while the walk for female participants will

begin from the Marina Crescent and the walk for kids and Zaina Friends club members will be conducted at the Green Island.

NBK registration center at the Avenues Mall

ucts that are tailored to meet the population mix of local areas.

Aggressively opening new stores in different formats across the country, particularly in suburbs underserved by full-service retail supermarkets, is proving to be very successful for Gulfmart. And, the brand’s commitment to full customer satisfaction is evident in the consistent successes of the ever-increasing number of Gulfmart branches across the country.

Kuwait embassy honors US state secretary’s wife WASHINGTON: The wife of the Ambassador of the State of Kuwait to the United States, Sheikha Rima Al-Sabah, honored Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of newly appointed US Secretary of State John Kerry, with a luncheon at the Embassy residence.

In her remarks before the luncheon, Sheikha Rima celebrated the hard work and dedication of Mrs Kerry, stressing that the over 100 friends in attendance were a “testament to the role she has played in the life of her nation, as well as the new role she has embraced as the wife of the Secretary of State.”

Sheikha Rima affirmed that Mrs Kerry “leads a truly extraordinary life” and has been married to “two great men who have been significant actors in both American politics and the world stage.”

Mrs Kerry was married to Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania, who died in a tragic airplane crash. After his death, “she became and has remained a major philanthropist for many worthy issues and was one of the first enlightened individuals to alert the world to the effects of the environmental degradation.”

In line with her commitment to both the environment and education, Mrs Kerry also endowed a number of Heinz chairs or professorships at prestigious universities, Rima AlSabah noted.

She continued to say that Mrs Kerry returned to her role as an activist and senate spouse in 1995 when she married then Senator John Kerry. She was a partner in his 2003/2004 presidential campaign, his senate campaign, as well as some foreign trips. She “continues to steer the Heinz Endowments with great dedication and skill.” —KUNA

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Iran presidential hopefuls remain in the shadows

8

Indian tribe puts women in control

11

‘Atheist church’ set to go global

14

REVIVIM: Israeli soldiers lay on the ground as they participate in a drill in Revivim southern Israel. —AP

Israel prepares for Hezbollah war Hezbollah waging shadow war, replenishes its arsenal

REVIVIM JUNCTION: On a dusty field in Israel’s southern desert, the military is gearing up for the next battle against a familiar foe: Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. As the Syrian civil war intensifies, military planners are growing increasingly jittery that the fighting could spill over into Israel, potentially dragging the Islamic militant group that is allied with President Bashar Assad into the fray.

After battling Hezbollah to a stalemate in 2006, the Israeli military says it has learned key lessons and is prepared to inflict heavy damage on the group if fighting begins again. The Israel-Lebanon border has remained largely quiet since that last war. But Hezbollah has since replenished its arsenal and has waged a shadow war with Israel around the world.

The fall of the Syrian leader or alternatively an Israel strike against Hezbollah’s other main patron, Iran, could spark another full-fledged war. “There is an increase in tension because of Syria,” a senior commander in the military’s northern command said about a possible battle with Hezbollah. The commander, who traveled south to observe Thursday’s exercise here, spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military protocol.

In 2006, weeks of Israeli air raids killed more than 1,000 people, including hundreds of Hezbollah fighters, and key infrastructure was destroyed. But the heavy onslaught failed to prevent Hezbollah from firing some 4,000 rockets into Israel, and the fighting ended in a UN-brokered truce. While the truce has largely held, Israel says Hezbollah has systematically restocked its arsenal with tens of thousands of even more powerful rockets and missiles capable of striking virtually anywhere in the Jewish state. Israeli military offi-

cials frequently say it is only a matter of time before the next war erupts.

In the meantime, Israel and Hezbollah have fought a covert war outside the borders of their countries. In 2008, Hezbollah’s top military commander Imad Mughniyeh was killed in a car bombing in the Syrian capital of Damascus, an attack widely thought to be the work of Israeli agents.

Hezbollah, for its part, is thought to be responsible for a bus bombing in a Bulgarian resort town last July that killed five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian driver, as well as failed attempts to bomb Israeli diplomats in Thailand, India and Georgia.

Israeli military officials believe that Hezbollah, which is preoccupied with its own domestic problems and the precarious position of its Syrian ally, has no desire to reignite hostilities. But they say the Syrian civil war, as well as Israel’s tensions with Iran, could easily upset the fragile balance. As Assad’s grip on power weakens, Israeli military planners fear that Syria, backed by Hezbollah, might try to open a new front in order to deflect attention.

Israel also fears that sophisticated Syrian weapons, including a chemical arsenal, could be transferred to Hezbollah. Israel has all but confirmed it carried out an airstrike in Syria in January that destroyed a shipment of anti-aircraft missiles allegedly bound to Hezbollah. Likewise, an Israeli attack on Iran would almost certainly draw a Hezbollah reprisal. Israel has repeatedly hinted it is prepared to attack Iran’s nuclear installations if it determines that international sanctions and diplomacy have failed to curb the Iranian nuclear program. Israel and much of the West believe Iran is developing a nuclear weapon, a charge Iran denies. Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu warned of the potential link between Iran and Hezbollah. “A nuclear-armed Iran would dramatically increase terrorism by giving terrorists a nuclear umbrella,” he told members of the pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee, known as AIPAC. “That means that Iran’s terror proxies like Hezbollah ... will be emboldened to attack America, Israel and others because they will be backed by a power with atomic weapons.”

Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has warned that anyone who thinks Hezbollah is vulnerable because of Syria’s civil war is mistaken.

He also said the group has all the weapons it needs in case war breaks out with Israel, and it would not need to import them from allies Syria and Iran. “The resistance will not be silent regarding any aggression against Lebanon,” Nasrallah said last month. Israel is also taking a fiercer tone, saying it will act with far less restraint than it did in 2006, when it took out electric grids, roads and city blocks during the monthlong war that was sparked by a deadly cross-border raid by Hezbollah. Military officials say entire villages that host Hezbollah’s arsenal would be considered fair targets.

During Thursday’s exercise, near the Revivim collective farm, scores of Israeli reservists in full battle gear participated in a drill meant to simulate Israel’s capture of a strategic hill overlooking a southern Lebanese village. In the drill, three tanks kicked up dust as they charged forward and fired live rounds. In front of them, groups of soldiers lay flat on the ground and opened fire with proppedup guns as other soldiers stormed up the hill. Their targets were small cutout cartoon heads meant to

represent Hezbollah fighters.

On a nearby Israeli army base, reservists have also been practicing urban warfare recently on a set made to resemble an Arab village, complete with concrete homes, narrow alleyways and mosque minarets. Military officials say that while Hezbollah has upgraded its capabilities, Israel has also made important offensive and defensive changes since 2006, when it came under heavy criticism for its lack of preparedness and perceived sloppy performance.

They say the military now possesses sophisticated real-time intelligence and upgraded drones.

For any potential land operation, it has fortified its armored personnel vehicles, activated a new tank defense that can shoot down anti-tank rockets and recently deployed “Iron Dome,” a defense system that shot down hundreds of rockets during a recent round of fighting against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. Despite its arsenal and political clout in Lebanon, Hezbollah’s maneuvering space has been significantly reduced in recent years.

Hezbollah still suffers from the fallout of the 2006 war, which many in Lebanon accused Hezbollah of provoking by killing and kidnapping Israeli soldiers from the border area. Since then, the group has come under increasing pressure at home to disarm. Though Hezbollah has been accused of fighting alongside the military in Syria, the group has largely been cautious with regards to the Syria conflict, knowing that any action it takes could backfire. In addition, the group’s reputation has been tarnished because its leader has supported Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, but has backed the Assad regime in Syria— AP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Iran presidential hopefuls stay in the shadows TEHRAN: With just 100 days to go until a presidential election in Iran, both conservative heavyweights and reformists weakened after the controversial 2009 poll are keeping their cards close to their chests. The June 14 election will be followed closely in the West four years after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election for a second term sparked a wave of violent protests that were suppressed by the regime with deadly force. Under the constitution, Ahmadinejad cannot stand for a third consecutive fouryear term.

Mohsen Rezai, once commander of the elite Revolutionary Guard and now secretary of the Expediency Council, Iran’s highest arbitration body, and ex-foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki have expressed an interest in the post. But both lack

a popular support base and do not seem to have backing from within the regime, so their chances must be slim.

Rezai also stood as a candidate in 2009, but secured less than a million out of the 40 million votes cast.

And if Mottaki was well-known outside Iran, he has all but disappeared from the domestic political arena since his surprise dismissal by Ahmadinejad in 2010. Without essential backing they may not even put their names forward on May 7, when the official registration of presidential contenders begins. The process of screening candidates is entrusted to the Guardians Council, an unelected body controlled by religious conservatives appointed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The council is set to announce the names of those who have been cleared to stand no

later than May 22. Given the microscopic scrutiny that contenders must undergo, Ahmadinejad’s mentor Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie is unlikely to pass muster. The former presidential chief of staff is the bane of ultra-conservatives because of his perceived “deviationist” nationalist and liberal views. Ahmadinejad is therefore expected to resort to another likeminded person to back.

The ultra-conservatives supported Ahmadinejad in 2009, but declared open war against him after he challenged Khamenei’s authority in spring 2011. To find a suitable replacement, the conservative camp has been active behind the scenes.

Three potential successors have formed an alliance called the “tripartite principalists coalition.”

Ali Akbar Velayati was foreign min-

Egyptian opposition scents chance in election debacle So far Islamists have excluded rivals from big decisions CAIRO: To Egypt’s opposition, a court ruling throwing the electoral process into limbo offers an opportunity to force Islamist President Mohamed Morsi into compromise as the country heads towards chaos. Leaders of liberal and leftist parties believe the delay to parliamentary elections is a chance to extract concessions on major constitutional issues from Morsi - and possibly to back out of an opposition boycott that may backfire.

“Let’s think about this without being stubborn ... Halting the election is beneficial for everyone,” said Conference Party leader Amr Moussa, a former Arab League chief. “The time we will be given by the decision to halt it will open the door to many possibilities, a lot of them positive and hopeful,” he told the state MENA news agency, describing the court’s decision as a “gift from the sky”. Wednesday’s Administrative Court order cancelled Morsi’s decree last month calling lower house elections, and sent the electoral law under which they were to be held back the Constitutional Court, the nation’s highest legal authority. The election committee followed up on Thursday by cancelling the timetable under which Egyptians should have voted in four rounds lasting from April 22 to late June. Now no one knows when the polls will be held, with much depending on what the Constitutional Court decides, and how long it takes. On the face of it, the shambles could not have come at a worse time: the euphoria that followed the fall of Hosni Mubarak two years ago has long gone. “We have a very dangerous economic situation and even before the Administrative Court’s decision ... the security situation was very bad,” said Hassan Al-Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University and campaigner. However, he added: “If it is taken as an opportunity for the president to postpone the

PORT SAID: Egyptians chant slogans on top of Egyptian army vehicle as the army takes over control of the state security building after several days of clashes between protesters and riot police in Port Said yesterday. —AFP election and call for reconciliation, that that consensus was vital for securing a will be a gift for the country to get out $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to get the economy of this very deep crisis.” back on its feet. That consensus is currently non-existent, throwing into CAMPAIGNING OPERATION Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood has lost doubt the IMF deal that was agreed in popularity due to the state of the principle last November but put on nation but still has an effective cam- hold at Cairo’s request due to street viopaigning operation that has won every lence. Egypt cannot hold out much vote since the 2011 revolution. “The longer without help. Its foreign currencourt decision ... could be the only way cy reserves have dropped to a critically out of the current political crisis but low $13.5 billion, little more than a third that will depend on the desire of the of where they were in the last days of government to engage the opposition Mubarak, while the Egyptian pound is in serious talks,” said Mustapha Al- falling and the budget deficit soaring to Sayyid, a professor of politics. “I doubt unaffordable levels. “The IMF is unlikely this will happen, given how the opposi- to want to grant a loan while there tion has been completely excluded remains significant upheaval and lack from any important decisions taken by of any form of political consensus,” said Jason Turvey at Capital Economics in the government.”

Nevertheless, Morsi is under pres- London. “This uncertainty will further sure to compromise both at home and weigh on the Egyptian economy, which from Egypt’s major ally, the United is already very weak, and possibly lead States. Secretary of State John Kerry to further capital flight and greater made clear in Cairo earlier this month pressure on the pound.” —Reuters

ister for 16 years from 1981 to 1997 and foreign affairs adviser to Khamenei, and the second is Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the current mayor of Tehran and a former national police chief. The third, Gholam Ali Hadad-Adel, used to be a speaker of parliament, and his daughter is married to Khamenei’s son.

Velayati, who is touted as the most serious candidate, has said that one of the trio will register as a candidate, but remained open on who it will be and when the name will be announced. The conservative “persistence front,” which though close to Ahmadinejad is anti-Rahim Mashaie, could field Saeed Jalili, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council who is leading talks with world powers on Tehran’s nuclear drive. — AFP

US delays award for Egyptian woman over Twitter remarks WASHINGTON: In an embarrassing about-turn, the US Thursday said it would delay giving a prestigious award to an Egyptian activist to check reports she had made antiAmerican and anti-Semitic remarks. Samira Ibrahim was to have been honored Friday along with nine other women with the International Women of Courage Award at a glittering event to be hosted by top US diplomat John Kerry and First Lady Michelle Obama. The annual award marking International Women’s Day is given to women for “exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women’s rights and empowerment, often at great personal risk,” according to the State Department.

Ibrahim had been initially chosen “because of the incredible bravery and courage she displayed at the time of the Tahrir Square protests,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. She acknowledged the department “became aware very late in the process about Samira Ibrahim’s alleged comments.” “After careful consideration we’ve decide that we should defer presenting this award to Ms Ibrahim this year so that we have a chance to look further into these statements,” she told journalists.

The rightwing Weekly Standard said Ibrahim, who is prolific on Twitter, had written in August: “An explosion on a bus carrying Israelis in Burgas airport in Bulgaria on the Black Sea. Today is a very sweet day with a lot of very sweet news.” She also allegedly wrote on September 11 “Today is the anniversary of 9/11. May every year come with America burning,” the Standard said. Ibrahim has told the State Department that her account was hacked.

Of the 18,000 tweets Ibrahim has sent out in recent years, “she is denying authoring some four that were brought to our attention, two of which were anti-Semitic, two of which celebrated terrorism.” She had already been in Washington for the ceremony and was now heading home as the department decided “these comments need to be looked into,” Nuland said. According to the Weekly Standard, Ibrahim was among several Egyptian women who was forced by the military to undergo “virginity tests” during the protests in March 2011 in Cairo.

Nuland said she had been subjected to “real police violence” which she had spoken out against and “she became a real leader in her country in trying to address gender-based violence and other human rights abuses.”

Among the nine women who will be honored Friday are the Indian student who died after being gang-raped in a bus in Delhi in December; Tsering Woeser, a Tibetan poet and blogger; Malalai Bahaduri, a first sergeant and senior instructor with the Afghan National Interdiction Unit, and a Syrian human rights lawyer, Razan Zeitunah. — AFP

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

US panel backs crackdown on clandestine gun sales WASHINGTON: The US Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday backed President Barack Obama’s call to crack down on the clandestine trafficking of firearms, marking the first votes in Congress on gun-control since a school massacre last year prompted calls for action. On a largely party-line vote of 11-7, the Democratic-led committee approved a bill to make it a federal crime to engage in “straw purchasing,” or buying of guns on behalf of those who are prohibited from owning them. “It is designed to prevent criminals from using straw purchasers who can pass a background check and then hand those firearms to criminals,” Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said in touting his bill. It carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. The proposal was the first of

four gun-control measures that are expected to pass the committee, setting up fights in the full Senate where Republicans strongly oppose a proposed ban on assault weapons and have doubts about a plan to expand background checks on prospective gun buyers. Obama hailed the vote and urged “Congress to move on other areas that have the support of the American people, from requiring universal background checks to getting assault weapons off our streets.” The committee will decide next week on other efforts to curb gun violence, beginning on Tuesday with the most controversial element: a plan to outlaw the sale of military-style assault weapons.

Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, the panel’s top Republican, joined the

committee’s 10 Democrats in backing the firearms-trafficking bill. But he made it clear he will lead the charge against the proposal on assault weapons. He said the ban, similar to one that ran out in 2004 after 10 years in force, would violate the constitutional right to bear arms. “This bill represents the biggest gun ban proposal in our history. A similar ban was enacted in 1994. And the Justice Department’s own studies failed to show that the ban had any effect,” Grassley said.

But Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said there would have been fewer victims in the Dec. 14, 2012 school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut had the gunman not had a military-style semi-automatic assault weapon with a high-capacity ammuni-

tion magazine. The bill would ban those weapons and limit magazines to 10 bullets.

“Newtown showed on the ground how a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips would have saved lives,” said Blumenthal, who represents Connecticut. Each of the 20 children killed in the Newtown school were hit with three to 11 bullets. Six adults were also shot dead. A new study showed US states that have more laws restricting gun ownership have 42 percent lower rates of death from shootings - both suicides and homicides - than those with the least restrictions. Along with the assault weapons bans, the other main element of Obama’s gun control push is widening background checks on gun buyers. — Reuters

World leaders gather for Chavez’s funeral

Kenyatta lead shrinks in Kenyan vote count

Venezuela to embalm Chavez ‘like Lenin’

NAIROBI: Kenya’s presidential race tightened yesterday with frontrunner Uhuru Kenyatta gaining just under half of the ballots counted four days after the vote, raising the prospect of a tense run-off against his main rival Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Kenyatta, 51, the deputy prime minister who is due to go on trial at The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity linked to the violent aftermath of the last election in 2007, has led since results started trickling in after polls closed on Monday.

Results from strongholds loyal to Odinga, 68, closed some of the gap, but with about a fifth of constituencies still to report, Kenyatta could yet secure more than 50 percent of the vote, the level needed for a first-round victory. The count, questioned by both sides but which international observers broadly said was credible, is likely to go down to the wire.

The poll is seen as a critical test for Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy, after its reputation as a stable democracy was damaged by the bloodshed that followed the 2007 election.

Much will rest on whether the final result is accepted, and whether any challenges take place in the courts or on the streets. By 0900 GMT yesterday, with 9,760,168 total votes tallied, Kenyatta had 4,835,482 votes or 49.5 percent, to Odinga’s 4,316,005 or 44.2 percent, according to a display by the electoral commission. That was based on votes reported from 223 of 291 constituencies. As counting has progressed, Kenyatta’s tally has been nudged above and below the crucial 50 percent mark. If no candidate achieves more than that level, the top two go to a run-off tentatively set for April. The Kenyatta and Odinga camps have both raised concerns about the process, so legal battles could delay that, heightening tensions in the divided nation. But this time, both sides have promised to turn to legal channels and keep the peace.

CARACAS: World leaders were to join hundreds of thousands of mourners at a state funeral for Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez yesterday, as his political heir vowed to embalm the towering leftist leader “like Lenin.” The funeral for the firebrand Latin American populist was set to begin at 11:00 am (1530 GMT), and was to be followed by the swearing-in of his handpicked successor Nicolas Maduro, who plans to call for elections.

Fifty-five world leaders were expected at the funeral, including Cuba’s Raul Castro, Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Belarussian strongman Alexander Lukashenko, fellow bugbears of the West long courted by the anti-US Chavez.

Chavez, a former paratrooper whose socialist revolution delighted the poor and infuriated the wealthy, will be embalmed “like Ho Chi Minh, Lenin and Mao” and kept in a glass casket to be seen “for eternity,” Maduro said Thursday. Maduro said the body will be taken to the “Mountain Barracks” in the January 23 slum that was a bastion of Chavez support, a facility that is now being converted into a Museum of the Revolution.

It was there that Chavez had spearheaded what proved to be a failed coup against President Carlos Andres Perez on February 4, 1992. His arrest turned him into a hero, leading to his first of many election victories in 1998. But Maduro suggested that Chavez may one day be moved elsewhere, a nod to popular pressure for him to be taken to the national pantheon to lie alongside Latin American independence hero Simon Bolivar. The National Assembly president, Diosdado Cabello, said Maduro would be formally sworn-in as acting president at 7:00 pm after the funeral, and that he would “call for elections.”

The national electoral council is tasked with setting a date for elections, which must be called within 30 days under the constitution. As the tense political transition gets under way, the farewell to Chavez has also been extend-

CARACAS: (From left to right) Venezuela’s Vice President Nicolas Maduro, Brazilian former President Lula Da Silva, present Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, Adan Chavez and Chavez’s daughter Rosa Virginia seen during the funeral of President Hugo Chavez, in Caracas. — AFP ed, with Maduro saying the public viewing period would last at least seven more days after the funeral. Chavez lay in a half-open, glass-covered casket in the academy’s hall, wearing olive green military fatigues, a black tie and the iconic red beret that became a symbol of his 14year socialist rule.

The government said more than two million people had come since Wednesday to get a glimpse of their hero, whose petrodollar-fueled socialism earned him friends and foes at home and abroad. Many stood in line through the night. “He’s in there, but my comandante is immortal,” said Saul Mantano, a 49year-old salesman with a hat emblazoned with Chavez’s name and the Venezuelan flag. “I didn’t want to see him dead, but it’s a reality now.” Soldiers and civilians, many clad in red, walked past the casket with just seconds to pause, pumping their fists to their hearts or blowing kisses. They were forbidden

from taking pictures or carrying cellphones. Chavez lay with a red sash across his torso bearing the word “militia”-the name of a 120,000-strong armed civilian force that he had formed to spearhead his so-called Bolivarian Revolution. A four-man honor guard and four tall candelabras flanked the coffin, with a golden sword at the foot of it.

The country gave Chavez a rousing send-off through the streets of Caracas on Wednesday, one day after he lost his battle with cancer at the age of 58, with a sea of people in red shirts throwing flowers on his coffin. A Philippine mortician famous for installing deceased dictator Ferdinand Marcos in a glass display case offered his services yesterday, stressing that authorities must act quickly if they want to preserve the body properly. “I have not been contacted for it but I am always expecting a call. I will process anyone, anywhere,” Frank Malabed, 62 said in Manila. — AFP

TRIBAL VOTES International observers have said the vote and count have been transparent so far, and the electoral commission has promised a credible vote. Yet Kenyans are still in the dark about the outcome. The United States and other Western nations, big donors that view Kenya as vital in the regional battle with militant Islam, have already indicated that a victory

by Kenyatta would complicate diplomatic relations. Kenyatta, son of Kenya’s founding president, Jomo Kenyatta, and his running mate, William Ruto, face trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague on charges of unleashing death squads after the 2007 election. Both men deny the charges and have said they plan to clear their names.

Turnout had been estimated by election officials at more than 70 percent of the 14.3 million eligible voters. Yet, that level has almost been reached with no clear idea of how many votes still need to be tallied. Reflecting how voting tends to run along ethnic lines rather than ideology, constituencies in tribal strongholds of the leading hopefuls often report results that show more than 90 percent or more of votes going to one candidate. That means the remaining constituencies to report could have a big impact. — Reuters

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

N Korea to scrap South peace pacts; Sanctions toughened Pyongyang threatens nuclear war SEOUL: An enraged North Korea responded to new UN sanctions with fresh threats of nuclear war yesterday, vowing to scrap peace pacts with South Korea as it upped the ante yet again after its recent atomic test. Pyongyang is renowned for its bellicose rhetoric, but the tone has reached a frenzied pitch in recent days, fuelling concerns of a border clash with both North and South planning major military exercises next week. It has even threatened a “pre-emptive nuclear attack” against the United States and South Korea-a notion dismissed as bluster by analysts, but not without dangerous, underlying intent.

North Korea “abrogates all agreements on non-aggression reached between the North and the South”, the state-run Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said yesterday. The CPRK said the pacts would be voided as of Monday, the same day that Pyongyang has vowed to rip up the 1953 armistice agreement that ended Korean War hostilities. It also announced the immediate severing of a North-South hotline installed in 1971. State television, meanwhile, showed North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un laying preparations for “all-out war” as he visited a frontline military unit involved in the shelling of a South Korean island in 2010.

Footage of the visit showed him being greeted by chanting troops who were held back as they surged towards him.

Their families brought children to meet the leader, with one woman encouraging her daughter forward for a hug. At the end of the trip, the soldiers ran down to the beach and waded chest deep into the freezing water clutching at Kim’s motor launch as it moved away. The November 2010 shelling came eight months after the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel with the loss of 46 lives that was also blamed on Pyongyang. While North Korea is not deemed capable of any nuclear strike on the US mainland, there are growing fears that it will mount some provocation in the form of a missile test or a similar artillery assault. “To me, this feels like the most dangerous situation since the Korean War,” said Paik Hak-Soon, a North Korean analyst at the Sejong Institute in Seoul. “The North is cornered more than ever in the international community and will keep pushing ahead with even more confrontational moves militarily,” Paik said.

South Korea’s new president, Park Geun-Hye, who was sworn in less than two weeks ago, said the situation had become “very grave” but vowed to “deal strongly” with any provocation from the North. The CPRK statement came hours after the UN Security Council beefed up existing sanctions on the communist state in response to its February 12 nuclear test. The resolution adopted by the 15-member Council tightened restrictions on North Korea’s financial dealings, notably its suspect “bulk cash” transfers.

The new sanctions will “bite hard”, said the US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice. “They increase North Korea’s isolation and raise the cost to North Korea’s leaders of defying the international community.” Germany’s foreign minister said he wanted his EU counterparts to consider further measures against North Korea beyond UN sanctions, while France urged Pyongyang to show restraint. China wants “full implementation” of the resolution, said its UN envoy Li Baodong, but stressed that efforts must be made to bring North Korea back to negotiations.

In Beijing, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying urged “relevant parties to exercise calm and restraint, and avoid actions that might further escalate tensions,” describing the situation as “highly complex and sensitive”. Prior to the Security Council meeting, the North Korean foreign ministry had threatened a “pre-emptive nuclear attack” against the US and all other “aggressors”. The United States responded by saying it was “fully capable” of defending itself and its allies-including South Korea-against any missile strike.

Yesterday’s CPRK statement condemned the UN resolution as proof that Washington and its “puppets” in Seoul were “hell bent” on confrontation. “North-South relations have gone so far beyond the danger line that they are no longer reparable and an extremely dangerous situation is prevailing... where a nuclear war may break out right now,” it said. An annual US-South Korea military exercise known as Foal Eagle is currently under way and another joint drill is scheduled to begin Monday.—AFP

JANGJAE ISLET: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (center) goes to Jangjae Islet on a wooden boat to meet with soldiers of the Jangjae Islet Defense Detachment near from Taeyonphyong Island in South Hwanghae province, North Korea’s southwestern sector of the front. —AFP

Indonesia mulls criminalizing unmarried cohabiting couples JAKARTA: Indonesia is deliberating criminalizing unmarried couples living together and lengthening jail terms for adulterers, a lawmaker said yesterday, in plans that activists have dubbed regressive. The proposals were drafted by the Justice and Human Rights Ministry as the House of Representatives revises the nation’s dated criminal code, garnering support from several members. “If couples are living in one home and aren’t married, of course they should be sanctioned,” Khatibul Umam Wiranu, a member of the commission overseeing the revision said. “In my opinion, adultery is the root of many social problems.”

The proposed revision would raise the maximum jail term for adultery from nine months’ jail-considered “too light” by the ministry-to 30 months, while cou-

ples living together outside marriage could face five years.

Rights activists said elements of the 500-page draft revision were politically motivated, aimed at winning votes of key conservative demographics ahead of legislative elections next year. “We’ve seen this before when the parliament passed the anti-pornography law to appease conservatives ahead of the last elections,” Haris Azhar of the prominent rights groups Kontras said.

Cohabitation of unmarried couples is generally frowned upon in Indonesia, Azhar said, though such cases were becoming more common. “If there are moral concerns about it, they should be addressed maturely and peacefully in the community, not through the law,” Azhar said, adding that jailing Indonesians for

such cases was extreme. The draft also includes an article to ban “black magic” that causes death or suffering, carrying a sentence of five years in prison.

Claiming to possess the powers of black magic would also be a criminal offence, while “white magic”, or good magic, would remain legal. Sandrayati Moniaga of the National Human Rights Commission said laws on morality were unnecessary and that the state should not intervene in people’s personal affairs.

“It’s none of the government’s business, it’s each person’s business with God and their partner,” she said. “Adultery and cohabiting are personal problems.” The parliament has long promised to update Indonesia’s criminal code, drafted in 1918 based on Dutch law and last updated in 1958. — AFP

Saudi accuses activists of lying to stir protests Continued from Page 1 Interior Ministry’s security spokesman, said. “They use (it) to make some families go outside and try to protest, saying you should release our husbands or our fathers or our sons,” he added. Families of some detainees say their jailed relatives have been held for years without charge or trial, have been mistreated while in detention or continue to be held after their sentences were completed.

Human rights activists say people who merely called for political change or elections have been jailed on the same grounds, something the authorities deny. Al-Qaeda launched a series of deadly attacks against foreigners and government targets from 2003-06, prompting a heavy crackdown on Islamist militants. Al-Qaeda’s regional wing, now based in Yemen, has sworn to end al-Saud rule.

Turki said 2,772 people were now held in security prisons.

One local human rights activist, whose trial for “electronic

crimes” will reach a verdict today, previously had estimated the figure was as high as 30,000. In last week’s protest in Buraidah, some protesters burned photographs of the interior minister, King Abdullah’s nephew Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, underscoring the strong emotions the issue evokes.

The move was almost unprecedented in a country named for the Al-Saud dynasty and where most businesses still display portraits of the king and crown prince.

“People here in Qassim are angry with the Interior Ministry.

People have died in prison. People have gone mad in prison.

But thank God the clerics in Qassim are all good. They have spoken on our behalf,” said Huda Al-Araini, whose husband has been held for nine years. Turki said activists had pushed detainees’ relatives who had attended the protests to lie about their treatment by police. “Some people... try to make some of the protesters go and accuse the policemen of mistreating them or being very offensive when they deal with them,” he said. — Reuters

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Unsolved murder highlights the plight of Afghan women BAMIYAN: Shakila was murdered, shot in the back 13 months ago in the house where she worked as a maid for a wealthy local leader in one of the most progressive provinces of Afghanistan. Her murderer has never been arrested, and her family’s search for justice has laid bare the complex web of grinding poverty, attitudes towards women and a culture of immunity that plagues much of the country’s legal system.

As International Women’s Day was marked on Friday, campaigners say that progress in Afghanistan is slow even after billions of dollars of Western aid and some advances since the 2001 fall of the hardline Taleban regime. The departure of the NATO coalition next year has also raised fears that the limited improvements for women could be erased as conservative groups vie to seize power in Kabul. Shakila,

whose was about 16, spent the last six months of her life working for a member of the provincial council in Bamiyan, the quiet Afghan town 180 kilometers west of Kabul.

Her family were poor and they needed the money from her job, but her body was found in her employer’s home in January 2012. “Investigators told us that she had been shot in the back,” her 18-year-old brother, Mohammad Alam Sadiqat said.

“And doctors said that she had been raped.” In a country where an unmarried women’s virginity is sacrosanct, the shame of having a daughter raped adds to the family’s burden, but they dare not make an official accusation of sexual abuse.

Most Afghan female rape victims never publicly name their attacker, out of fear of being ostracized or even killed, campaigners say. Shakila’s brother-in-law, who works as a guard in the same house, was impris-

oned for six months in connection with her murder, then released. Esmail Zaki, the coordinator of a local charity, then started to investigate. “We found out that the attorney general and the judicial system had gone in the wrong direction. They had evidence that the guy (the brother-in-law) was not even there when it happened,” Zaki said.

Shakila’s murder was never brought to court in Bamiyan. It has since been referred to the attorney general’s office in Kabul, which could not be reached by AFP. The family owners of the home have denied having anything to do with murder, and the Bamiyan police have washed their hands of responsibility. “We did all the research we had to do. We finished that case and then handed it to the court,” said deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Ali Lagzi.

One senior official in the local administration said on condition of anonymity that the family’s poverty meant the odds of getting justice were stacked against them. “Her case has been taken to the AG’s office in Kabul but it seems not much has been done to give her justice,” he said.

“The murder happened in the home of a member of the provincial council,” he added. “They are powerful people.” Last December, the United Nations said Afghanistan had made progress in protecting women against violence and welcomed an increase in reported cases.

But in 16 of 34 provinces where the UN was able to gather details, just 21 percent of 470 reports of violence against women resulted in convictions. “The situation is very difficult,” Ingibjorg Gisladottir, the UN women’s representative in Kabul, said. —AFP

Key political risks to watch in India NEW DELHI: India’s slowest economic growth in a decade could be even worse than anticipated, as preliminary data released in February showed the economy appears to have grown 5.0 percent in the fiscal year that ends this month - lower than both the central bank and Finance Minister’s forecasts underscoring the urgent need for reforms to boost growth.

Following is a summary of key political risks in India: ELECTIONS AND ECONOMY In his budget at the end of February, Finance Minister P Chidambaram defied market expectations of spending cuts by promising a bigger outlay for the coming fiscal year, which falls just before an election. The budget was an illustration of how he and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are being pulled in different directions: by foreign investors who want fiscal discipline and reform, and by voters at home who would react badly to anything resembling austerity measures.Total budget expenditure will hit 16.65 trillion rupees ($309 billion) in the new fiscal year that begins on April 1, Chidambaram said, in comparison with spending in the 2012/13 fiscal year that is on track to hit 14.3 trillion rupees. Even while pledging higher spending, he said he had “no choice but to rationalise expenditure”.

Ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s and Fitch have threatened a downgrade if the fiscal deficit is not tamed.

Chidambaram, who has staked his reputation on hitting a fiscal deficit target of 5.3 percent of GDP this year, has tried with some success to please investors, introducing reforms such as allowing foreign supermarkets to enter India, but the budget was aimed squarely at Indian voters, many of whom are turning away from the ruling Congress party. Long periods of gridlock in parliament, failure to pass promised reforms, and a series of corruption scandals have characterized Singh’s second and final term in office, and the party is nervous about its prospects in polls due by May 2014. In a high-profile speech in January, Rahul Gandhi appeared to embrace his role as a leading contender to be the country’s next prime minister, though he gave few clues about his views on politics and the economy. Gandhi, whose mother Sonia is president of the Congress party, will be the party’s main hope for elections in the world’s largest democracy.

WHAT TO WATCH How share prices, bond prices and the rupee move as government spending rises. Official announcements of candidacy, or suggestions from leading politicians they may stand in 2014.

Chidambaram has been mentioned as an alternative to Rahul, potentially in a power-sharing arrangement between Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, especially if Congress can only form a weak government.

DEFENCE, WEAPONS IMPORTS The worst fighting between India and Pakistan in the disputed Kashmir region for almost a decade struck in early January when two soldiers from each side were killed, and the Indian army chief accused Pakistani soldiers of beheading one of the victims. — Reuters

SHILLONG: Men take leaflets from Carelynda Lihgdon (right) as she distributes reading material promoting Syngkhong Rympei Thymmai (SRT), a men’s rights organization, in the streets of the north eastern Indian city of Shillong. — AFP

Indian tribe puts women in control Men move into their wives’ homes after marriage SHILLONG: India’s remote northeast is home to an ancient tribe whose high regard for women makes it a striking anomaly in a male-dominated country. But as the world marked International Women’s Day yesterday, the region has become a staging ground for an unlikely battle in which men are trying to end a matrilineal tradition practiced by more than a million people. The Khasi tribe in the picturesque state of Meghalaya places women at the centre of its society from the cradle to the grave.

“Go to any hospital and stand outside the maternity wards and listen,” says Keith Pariat, a men’s rights activist. “If families have a boy, you will hear things like: ‘oh okay, he’ll do’. But if it’s a girl then there is joy and applause.” Pariat is the chairman of Syngkhong Rympei Thymmai (SRT), an organization fighting to eradicate a tradition with tremendous staying power.

According to Khasi tradition, the youngest daughter inherits all ancestral property, men are expected to move into their wives’ homes after marriage and children must take their mother’s family name.

And, in a ruling which helps explain the grand welcome for female babies, all parents with ancestral property but no daughters are required to adopt a girl before they die, since they cannot leave the inheritance to their sons. The matrilineal system has endured for thousands of years here, but now activists like Pariat are determined to overthrow it. “When a man has to live in his mother-in-law’s house, it tends to make him a little quiet,” Pariat says. “You are just a breeding bull. No one is interested in hearing your views about anything, you have no say in any decision whatsoever.”

The 60-year-old businessman believes that the matrilineal system has been “totally detrimental” to Khasi men. “It puts no

responsibility on their shoulders so they tend to take life easy and they go into drugs and alcohol and that cuts their life short,” he said in the state capital Shillong.

It also makes them unappealing to Khasi women, who exercise their right to marry outside the community instead. Teibor Langkhongjee, a 41-year-old entrepreneur and SRT member, says the choice is easy to understand. “Khasi men don’t have any security, they don’t own land, they don’t run the family business and, at the same time, they are almost good for nothing,” he said. A men’s rights movement did emerge in the early 1960s but petered out after hundreds of Khasi women turned up at one of their meetings, armed with knives. SRT, founded in 1990, faces an uphill battle to overturn Khasi tradition, since India’s constitution guarantees the tribal councils’ right to set their own customary laws.— AFP

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

John Kerry, America’s European secretary of state

US Secretary of State John Kerry

GOP splits over terrorism and immigration play out WASHINGTON: Republican Party divisions over immigration, anti-terrorism and other issues are bubbling to the surface just as President Barack Obama shows a new interest in capitalizing on GOP differences. The latest example played out Thursday on the Senate floor, where two Republican senators rebuked a third - tea party favorite Rand Paul of Kentucky for his filibuster that challenged US policies for using drones to kill suspected terrorists. Just a few days earlier, other highprofile Republicans had differed on immigration, and a House committee chairman renewed his call for spending cuts that would go much deeper than those now making headlines.

Every case featured past or possibly future presidential candidates. It was a fresh reminder that the party has no clear leader, and no clear road map, after Mitt Romney’s November loss to Obama. The quarrels also underscore the Republican establishment’s uneasy relationship with the tea party. That grass-roots movement, born in 2009, pumped new passion into the GOP, but it also fueled unwise Senate nominations that saved several endangered Democrats.

Every party undergoes self-examination and blame-swapping after losing a presidential race. The Republicans’ intramural disputes may eventually lead to greater solidarity and popularity. Some party activists, however, are warily watching Obama launch a new outreach to rank-and-file Republicans, including his Wednesday night dinner with a dozen GOP senators at a posh Washington restaurant. “The president recognizes the fractures within the Republican Party and is moving to try to take advantage of them with a charm offensive,” said GOP pollster Steve Lombardo.

Republicans should react carefully, he said, because voters “want to see each side extend an olive branch and work together.” First, however, top Republicans must resolve some of their own differences. And either by choice or trial-anderror, the GOP must decide how closely to align its identity with the tea party movement, whose fiercely small-government philosophy draws relatively low approval ratings in national polls. Paul, the son of libertarian hero and three-time presidential contender Ron Paul, drew widespread attention this week with a 13-hour Senate filibuster. He demanded assurances from the Obama administration that unmanned aircraft would not be used in the United States to kill terrorism suspects who are US citizens.

Many Republicans say Paul and his father are so libertarian in their outlook that they operate outside the party mainstream. But Paul’s filibuster drew active support from several tea party-leaning senators, including Marco Rubio of Florida, who possibly could vie with Paul and others for the 2016 presidential nomination. Also helping with the filibuster were more traditional Republican senators such as John Cornyn of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota.

That sharpened the drama Thursday, when Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina claimed the Senate floor to chide Paul and to defend the administration’s drone policies. — AP

WASHINGTON: His mother nursed the wounded in Paris during World War II, he biked around a divided Berlin as a boy and got lost in the London zoo, and he speaks French, German and Italian. John Kerry, who has just returned from his first overseas trip since becoming secretary of state, wowed his European hosts with his deep knowledge of the continent and his insistence on the strength of transatlantic ties.

Whereas his predecessor Hillary Clinton made Asia her first stop, Kerry was drawn back to the streets and neighborhoods of his boyhood traveling first to London, Berlin, Paris and Rome before flying to Ankara and then further east. It sent a strong signal to European critics, who have feared that with the US administration’s much vaunted pivot to Asia, the old ties with Europe were beginning to fray. Not so, said Kerry, time and again on the 11day, nine-country trip. In each of the European capitals he visited, he shared memories and personal vignettes of times he had spent in the cities.

Like many Americans, Kerry can trace his roots back to Europe, born into a family of Austrian-Hungarian Jews on his father’s side who converted to Catholicism and ScottishAmericans on his mother’s. His mother, Rosemary Forbes, was born in Paris when Kerry’s grandfather was working there in the 1920s. She grew up between France and Britain and became “very active” early on in World War II, Kerry told US embassy staff in Paris. “She worked over in Montparnasse as a nurse aid caring for

the wounded who were coming back from the front as the Germans were approaching Paris.”

As the Germans approached the city, she jumped on a “bicycle with her sister and a couple of friends and biked out of Paris and forged her way across France, got to Portugal, where she got help to get on a ship to come back to America,” Kerry added. Kerry still has family ties in France as his cousin, the son of his mother’s sister, is the French environmentalist Brice Lalonde. And he spent many summer holidays on the family estate in Saint-Briac-sur-Mer in Brittany. He has retained the French he grew up with as a boy, which drew sneers from American critics during his 2004 presidential bid.

But Kerry delighted his hosts speaking perfectly-even though with an American accent-during a press conference with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius. He referenced the centuries-old ties between Washington and Paris, calling France “the oldest ally of the United States.” “We just finished one of those wonderful French lunches that have been drawing Americans to Paris for centuries,” he said to laughter, evoking former secretaries of state Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. Germany also remains close to his heart.

The son of an American diplomat, Kerry spent part of his childhood cycling through the rubble-strewn streets of Berlin, then divided between the four Allies after World War II. He visited the Brandenburg Gate, which at the height of the Cold War was the symbol along with the Berlin Wall of

the division between East and West Europe. And he held a meeting with young Germans in an Internet cafe, where he encouraged them to tell him what he should know about today’s reunified Germany. And Kerry didn’t forget what he called “a partnership of the heart” with Britain when he met with British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

“When you think of everything that binds the United States and Great Britain-our common values, our long shared history, our ties of family, in my case, personal and friendship-there is a reason why we call this a special relationship,” he said. “I came here many, many years ago as a young child, managed to get lost in London Zoo. I want to thank somebody for finding me.”

And in Rome, where his good friend and former brother-in-law David Thorne is the ambassador, Kerry thanked Prime Minister Mario Monti in Italian for his “spirit of friendship.”

But even though his visit was at times an intensely personal journey, Kerry was all business when it came to pushing for a free trade zone between the United States and the European Union. Last month, Washington and Brussels announced the start of talks for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership to create the world’s largest free trade zone. Kerry hailed “a moment where fair and free trade can kick into gear economic growth, restore competitiveness, create millions of jobs on both sides of the Atlantic, and provide us the strength that we seek and the quality of life for our citizens.”— AFP

Domestic abuse law expanded to protect US gays, immigrants Obama reauthorizes the Violence Against Women Act WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act, the landmark 1994 law designed to curb domestic abuse, which is now expanded to cover gays, immigrants, Native Americans and sextrafficking victims. Obama signed the new version of the law at a packed ceremony at the Interior Department where the event was shifted because the White House could not accommodate all the advocates who supported the measure, the president said.

“One of the great legacies of this law is that it didn’t just change the rules,” Obama said. “It changed our culture. It empowered people to start speaking out. ... And it made clear to victims that they were not alone, that they always had a place to go, and they always had people on their side. “And today, because members of both parties worked together, we’re able to renew that commitment,” he said. In thanking Democrats and Republicans, Obama was tacitly recognizing the bill’s tough path through Congress.

Republican lawmakers initially refused to support the measure, and then offered an alternative that advocates said would weaken domestic violence protection for women. In the end, 87 Republicans in the House of

Representatives and 18 in the Senate bucked party leadership to support the law and send it to Obama for his signature. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops opposed the new law, objecting to the mention of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” “These two classifications are unnecessary to establish the just protections due to all persons,” the bishops said in a statement. Obama thanked Vice President Joe Biden, the chief author of the original Violence Against Women Act two decades ago when he was a senator. There has been a 64 percent drop in domestic violence in the past 10 years, according to Justice Department statistics.

HELP FOR, SEX-TRAFFIC SURVIVORS Biden was introduced by Diane Millich, founder of Our Sister’s Keeper, an organization founded in 2007 to decrease violence against Native American women using tribal traditions.

Millich, a member of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe in Colorado, is a domestic abuse survivor, although her case was never prosecuted because her abuser was a non-Indian. The updated law ensures that abusers of American Indian women can be arrested and prosecuted on Indian lands. Obama praised Tysheena “Tye” Rhames, who was

recruited into the sex trade by a neighbor at the age of 12 and rescued two years later. She is now enrolled in college and working with at-risk girls in New York City.

“So with this bill, we reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act to help more girls turn out like Tye,” he said. Since abused women have a heightened risk of being killed, the law mandates screening for homicide risks and requires states to work to reduce domestic violence deaths. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered victims of domestic violence have a harder time seeking shelter and other services, so the new law makes those services more accessible and protects people seeking such help from discrimination.

The law also addresses the issue of immigrants who might be reluctant to report abuse because their immigration status may be in question. The law improves existing protections for immigrants by supporting better access to life-saving services and encouraging more victims to cooperate with law enforcement. The predominantly female audience gave Obama and Biden standing ovations and repeated applause.

Obama won a second term last November, receiving 55 percent of the women’s vote.—Reuters

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Cardinals eye reform in rare Popeless interim ‘The Curia must be revolutionized’ VATICAN CITY: Catholic cardinals have seized the rare chance of being able to air their grievances against the Vatican at talks that continued yesterday, with no new pope to defer to and no old pope to mourn. Benedict XVI suddenly announced his resignation last month saying he was too old to keep up with a fast-changing modern world, an unprecedented decision in modern Catholic history that has sent shockwaves through the Church worldwide.

The meetings of elderly cardinals that began on Monday are normally something of a formality before the conclave to elect a new pope but this time around they have taken a revolutionary turn. The closed-door talks are protected by an oath of secrecy sworn by the cardinals, but the voices calling for change have been growing louder after the first papal resignation since the Middle Ages.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi has revealed little about the meetings, known as “general congregations”, and has reminded cardinals they should pursue “greater reflection and discretion”. Lombardi has said however that the issue of the Roman Curia-the administration of the Catholic Churchand its interaction with the Church around the world has been brought up frequently. German cardinal Walter Kasper has been perhaps the most outspoken, telling the Italian daily La Repubblica before a media blackout was imposed that it was time for a “more horizontal government” to shake up the Church hierarchy.

“The Curia must be revolutionized,” Kasper said in the interview, adding: “As well as the word reform, there must be a second: transparency.” Cardinals like Kasper have called for the talks to last longer to give more time for discussions that could effectively set out an agenda for the new pope but Italian media

reports say that many Italian cardinals are getting restless. Before they abruptly cancelled their daily media briefings on Wednesday, the US cardinals said they were also in favor of broader talks on the Church. “For some, they want more discussions about these issues. There may be some who are a little more impatient,” Daniel DiNardo, the archbishop of Galveston-Houston in Texas, told reporters. “I think that we need to look attentively at the work of the Curia in recent years,” DiNardo said, calling for more efficiency in Vatican government.

Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston who is seen as a possible candidate for pope, said: “There is definitely a lot of reflection going on in the Catholic world on the governance of the Catholic Church and how to improve it.”

The Il Messaggero daily said there have been “informal discussions” going

on between the cardinals on the sidelines of the formal meetings. “The central theme is the form of the pontificate and the central government of the Church,” it said. Anthony Padovano, a US theologian told Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano: “The cardinals want more of a voice on decisions regarding the Church. “They want a synod of bishops that is stronger and a greater role for the national bishops’ conferences,” he said.

The Curia is the main instrument of Church governance and includes the Secretariat of State, effectively the foreign ministry, as well as an array of pontifical councils and congregations. While its role has been a subject of often heated debate in the Church for centuries with reformers calling for greater “collegiality”, matters have come to a head with the “Vatileaks” scandal which engulfed the Curia last year. — AFP

VATICAN CITY: Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi (left) joins other cardinals as he arrives for a meeting at the Vatican yesterday. — AP

Brazilian cardinal cheats death to emerge as papal contender SAO PAULO: Brazil’s Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz survived being shot in a terrifying kidnap ordeal before later emerging as an outside bet to succeed Benedict XVI as pope. The progressive 65-year-old archbishop of Brasilia cheated death in 1983, when he was caught in the crossfire as police opened fire on two youths who had kidnapped him following a robbery attempt. In the aftermath of the attack, Braz de Aviz said he heard a divine voice reassuring him as he fought for life. “Jesus, why should I die at the age of 36?” the future archbishop recalled in an interview. According to Braz de Aviz, it was then that he heard the voice of Jesus, telling him: “I died at the age of 33. You already had three more years than I.” Braz de Aviz rose from humble beginnings to join the lengthening list of papal contenders. Along the way, the charismatic prelate had to clear many hurdles while conducting pastoral work in this predominantly Catholic country of 194 million people. Now he is at the Vatican, one of 115 cardinals who are to pick a successor to Benedict XVI who stepped down February 28 due to old age. Sao Paulo Archbishop Odilo Scherer, a 63-year-old German-Brazilian, is also being touted as a strong contender for the job.

Viewed as a progressive, Braz de Aviz said a Latin American could be elected pope and added that he was a candidate just like the other cardinals. Ordained priest in 1972 and bishop in 1994, Braz de Aviz was appointed cardinal by Benedict XVI in February 2012. A year earlier, he was called to the Vatican to serve as prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life, in charge of 800,000 men and women from around the world. He has served as Brasilia archbishop since 2004. Braz de Aviz was born on April 24, 1947 in the small town of Mafra in the southern state of Santa Catarina.

The second of eight brothers, he and his family moved to the neighboring state of Parana, where his father found a job as a butcher. “The decision to look after the poor gave us great hope, above all to us who came from poor families,” he told the Italian magazine “30 Days” soon after arriving in Rome to take up his new post. A member of the Focolare movement, an international organization inspired by the gospel that promotes universal brotherhood, he completed his theological studies in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian University. But he shunned the radical liberation theology that holds that the church must stand on the side of the poor and the downtrodden, though he recognized its influence in the Catholic Church. When he was appointed cardinal, he told the Catholic news agency I-Media: “In Latin America and other parts of the world, we must admire Europe’s great history, its beauty.” — AFP

Britain’s ‘atheist church’ set to go global LONDON: Echoing with joyful song and with a congregation bent on leading better lives, this London church is like any other except there’s no mention of God. Britain’s atheist church is barely three months old but it already has more “worshippers” than can fit into its services, while more than 200 nonbelievers worldwide have contacted organizers to ask how they can set up their own branch.

Officially named The Sunday Assembly, the church was the brainchild of Pippa Evans and Sanderson Jones, two comedians who suspected there might be an appetite for atheist gatherings that borrowed a few aspects of religious worship.

Held in an airy, ramshackle former church in north London, their quirky monthly meetings combine music, speeches and moral pondering with large doses of humor.

“There’s so much about Church that has nothing to do with God-it’s

about meeting people, it’s about thinking about improving your life,” said Jones, a gregarious 32-year-old with a bushy beard and a laugh like a thunderclap.

The Sunday Assembly’s central tenets are to “help often, live better and wonder more”-themes that would not be out of keeping with the teachings of any major world religion. At last Sunday’s service, which had a volunteering theme, songs included “Help” by the Beatles and “Holding Out For A Hero” by Bonnie Tyler. The “sermon” was given by the founder of an education charity, while in a section called Pippa Is Trying Her Best, Evans had the congregation in stitches as she reported on her attempts at voluntary work.

The service ended with big cheers and-this is Britain, after allshouts of “Who would like a cup of tea?” Coming soon to a city near you? - Like many Western countries,

Britain is becoming an increasingly faithless nation. While a majority still consider themselves Christians, census data revealed in December that their numbers plummeted from 72 percent in 2001 to 59 percent in 2011. The proportion of Britons with no religion, meanwhile, shot up from 15 percent to 25 percent over the same period.

But the Sunday Assembly’s success - 400 Londoners packed into last week’s two services, while 60 had to be turned away at the doorsuggests many urban atheists crave the sense of community that comes with joining a church. “You can spend all day in London not talking to anyone,” said Evans.

“I think people really want somewhere they can go and meet other people, which doesn’t involve drinking and which you don’t have to pay to get into.” It’s an idea that is catching the attention of atheists further field. Jones reels off the locations of

would-be atheist “vicars” who have asked to set up new branches.

“Colombia, Bali, Mexico, Houston, Silicon Valley, Philadelphia, Ohio, Calgary, all across Britain, The Hague, Vienna... It’s so ludicrously exciting that my head occasionallyliterally-spins round.”

The pair cheerfully admit that they have “ripped off” many elements of their services from the Christian Church. “You’re asking people to do new things, so it makes sense for it to be familiar,” said Jones. Religious people have been broadly supportive of the aims of the atheist church. “The only thing is, they’ve said they’ll have to think about what to do if it gets bigger,” Evans laughed.

“Actually, the biggest aggression towards us has probably been from atheists saying that we’re ruining atheism and not believing in God properly. So that’s quite funny.” The assembly met the approval of local

vicar Dave Tomlinson, who came from his church two miles away to see what his new rivals were up to.

“Being here, I felt there was as much of what I call ‘god’ as there was in my own church this morning,” he said. “Everything we’ve said here would be completely at home in my church. I hope it grows and sustains.”

The second Sunday Assembly launches in the Scottish city of Glasgow at the end of March, while Evans will open an Australian branch in April. She and Jones say they don’t want to exert too much control over any new assemblies-but they will keep a watchful eye over them. “We only need one child sacrifice at a Sunday Assembly to spoil it for everyone,” Jones joked. As for how far the idea could eventually spread, the pair are in the dark.

“Who knows?” said Evans. “We have no idea. We’re just enjoying finding out what it is.” — AFP

Chrysler invites IPO pitches, leaves door open to Fiat buyout

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Kwok brothers plead not guilty in HK graft trial

Business

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SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Asian markets rise, Tokyo hits post-Lehman high

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IMF chief open to changes for Ireland’s bailout deal

LOS ANGELES: A worker wipes tabletops at an outdoor plaza ahead of the busy lunch hour in downtown Los Angeles in this January 6, 2012 file photo. The US jobs market brightened better than expected in February, with the unemployment rate falling and solid job growth, official data released yesterday showed. The jobless rate fell to 7.7 percent, from 7.9 percent in January, and the US gained a net 236,000 jobs, the Labor Department said. — AFP

US job gains offer bright sign for economy Unemployment rate falls to 7.7% WASHINGTON: US employers added a greater-than-expected 236,000 workers to their payrolls in February and the jobless rate fell to a four-year low, offering a bright signal on the economy’s health.

The data from the Labor Department yesterday showed the economy gaining traction despite the blow from higher taxes and deep government spending cuts. “This was a strong number and one of those rare cases where we were firing on all cylinders,” said Jacob Oubina, a senior US economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York.

The jobless rate fell to 7.7 percent, the lowest since December 2008, from 7.9 percent in January. The drop reflected both gains in employment and people leaving the labor force. The upbeat report, which showed broad-based job gains, was another sign of the economy’s fundamental health, and it added fuel to a rally in US stock markets that had already propelled the Dow Jones industrial average to record highs.

At the same time, the dollar strengthened and the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note rose sharply. While payrolls

growth beat economists’ expectations for 160,000 jobs, it was not seen as a game changer for the Federal Reserve in its efforts to foster even faster economic growth by buying bonds, a policy known as quantitative easing.

“It’s a first step down a long road before the Fed is convinced we are really we are seeing a substantial improvement in the labor market conditions,” said Michael Hanson, a senior economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York. “They will want to see 200,000 job growth, not just in one month, but several months in a row.” Fed officials are likely to remain leery of withdrawing their support for the economy too soon in the face of tightening fiscal policy. The central bank is buying $85 billion in bonds per month and has said it would keep up asset purchases until it sees a substantial improvement in the labor market outlook.

Although December and January’s employment data was revised to show 15,000 fewer jobs added than previously reported, details of the report were solid, with construction adding the most jobs since March 2007 and hours for all workers increasing.

Job gains averaged 195,000 per month in the three months through January.

Economists say roughly 250,000 jobs per month are needed on a sustained basis to significantly reduce unemployment.

The level of employment is still 3 million jobs from the peak reached in January 2008.

Since the 2007-09 recession ended, the economy has struggled to grow above a 2 percent annual pace. In the fourth quarter, output barely expanded.

Highlighting the need for faster employment growth, the share of the work age population with a job was unchanged at a historically low 58.6 percent for a third straight month. Economists also worry the tightening of fiscal policy could slam the brake on job growth in the months ahead. A 2 percent payroll tax cut ended and tax rates went up for wealthy Americans on Jan. 1, and $85 billion in federal budget cuts known as the “sequester” started taking effect on March 1.

“The impacts of the tax increases will be starting to take effect soon while sequestration’s harm will be showing up as we move through the spring and especially into the

summer,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania. “While the economy appears to be gaining some momentum right now, the sand in the gears is Washington.” In February, construction employment increased by 48,000 jobs after rising by 25,000 in January. The housing market has turned around decisively and employment is also being support by rebuilding on the East Coast after the destruction by Superstorm Sandy in late October.

Manufacturers also stepped up hiring.

Factory jobs increased 14,000 last month after rising 12,000 in January. Retail employment increased by 23,700 jobs, an eighth straight monthly gain that defied a recent slowdown in sales. Healthcare and social assistance saw another month of solid job gains. The same was the case for leisure and hospitality.

Government continued to shed jobs. Public payrolls dropped 10,000 last month after falling 21,000 in January.

The sustained steady job gains are lending some stability to wages. Average hourly earnings rose four cents last month. That was the fourth straight monthly gain. — Reuters

business SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Obama discusses deficit reduction with Paul Ryan WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama expanded his fledgling search for Republican allies on a possible deficitreduction deal when he hosted lunch on Thursday for Paul Ryan, one of the House of Representatives’ leading fiscal conservatives.

Coming the day after he took Republican Senators to dinner to discuss the budget, Obama’s new outreach brought optimism that two years of fiscal battles could ease up. But the White House and Republican lawmakers signaled the

road to a grand bargain will still be difficult. Criticized for not forging links with the opposition, Obama has been unable to reach a long-term deal in often acrimonious talks with House Speaker John Boehner to trim at least $4 trillion in deficits over 10 years.

Obama’s new tack seems to be in response to the failure of both sides to halt $85 billion in automatic spending cuts that kicked in last week. A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday showed Obama’s approval rating falling to 43 percent, partly due to the par-

tisan fight over taxes and spending.

Obama and his spokesman Jay Carney have frequently come under questioning from reporters about the president’s unwillingness to speak to Republicans, who control the House.

Ohio Republican Boehner told reporters this week’s thaw was “a hopeful sign. I think something will come of it.”

On Thursday, Obama lunched at the White House on lentil vegetable soup and broiled sea bass with Ryan of Wisconsin, who spent much of last year bashing the

Democratic president’s fiscal policies when Ryan was the Republican vice presidential candidate. They were joined by Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the top Democrat on Ryan’s House Budget Committee.

Obama told Ryan he wants to keep talking in the weeks ahead, the White House said.

While lawmakers and the White House have described the various meetings and conversations as productive, nobody was yet willing to predict success. —Reuters

17 of 18 US banks pass stress tests WASHINGTON: All but one of the nation’s 18 largest banks are more prepared to withstand a severe US recession and a global downturn than at any time since the 2008 financial crisis, the Federal Reserve says.

Results of the Fed’s annual “stress tests” showed Thursday that as a group, the 18 banks hold fewer bad loans compared with last year, thanks to a stronger economy. The Fed will announce next week whether it will approve the banks’ plans to increase dividends or repurchase shares.

The Fed’s data show that one of the banks, Ally Financial Inc., would have a much lower capital buffer against losses than the others under the most severe scenario. Ally’s projected capital level is below the minimum that the Fed considers a bank would need to survive a severe recession.

But Fed officials wouldn’t say whether that means it would reject Ally’s request for issuing dividends or buying back shares, if Ally were to make one. Last year, government-owned Ally - the former financial arm of General Motors - was the worst-performing bank in the Fed’s stress tests. It was one of four banks that failed the tests and were not allowed to raise their dividends or repurchase shares. The others were Citigroup Inc., SunTrust Banks Inc. and MetLife Inc., which has since sold its banking operations and is no longer tested.

Citigroup objected to any characterization that it had failed the 2012 test. It said it had enough capital to withstand the Fed’s crisis scenario, just not enough to do that and raise its dividend at the same time.

In a statement, Ally countered that it is well-capitalized and called the Fed’s analysis for calculating the bank’s potential losses “fundamentally flawed.”

“While Ally appreciates the Fed’s role in ensuring that financial institutions have adequate capital during stressed situations, using flawed assumptions could have lasting adverse impacts on the economy, including ultimately causing banks to reduce certain key lending categories,” the bank said.

The 18 banks were tested on how they would withstand severe downturns not only in the United States but also in Europe and in Asian countries including China and Japan. Under the stress tests’ most severe scenario, the United States would undergo a recession in which unemployment would reach nearly 12 percent, stocks would lose half their value and home prices would plunge 20 percent.

The Fed said that under that crisis scenario, the 18 banks would suffer combined losses of $462 billion through the fourth quarter of 2014. The Fed has conducted stress tests of the largest banks every year since 2009 in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

Next Thursday, the Fed will announce whether it has approved each bank’s request, if one has been made, to raise dividends for its shareholders. Its decisions will be based on how each bank would fare in a severe recession if it increased its dividends.

“The stress tests are a tool to gauge the resiliency of the financial sector,” Daniel Tarullo, a Fed governor, said in a statement.

Tarullo said significant increases in the amount and quality of banks’ capital cushions against risk “help ensure that banks can continue to lend to consumers and businesses, even in times of economic difficulty.”

The 18 banks, along with hundreds of other U.S. banks, received federal bailouts during the financial crisis that struck in 2008 and triggered the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The banking industry has been recovering steadily since then, with overall profits rising and banks starting to lend more freely.— AP

DUBLIN: Christine Lagarde, (C) Head of the International Monetary Fund, (IMF) speaks to journalists during a press conference with Irish Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore (R) and Irish Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan (L) at Government Buildings in Dublin, Ireland, yesterday. The International Monetary Fund is open to changing the terms of Ireland’s bailout programme to help the bailed-out eurozone nation return to long-term bond markets, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said here yesterday.— AFP

IMF chief open to changes for Ireland’s bailout deal DUBLIN: The International Monetary Fund is open to changing the terms of Ireland’s bailout programme to help the bailed-out eurozone nation return to long-term bond markets, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said here yesterday.

“We have an open mind about many issues, many of the terms and conditions of the exit strategy and as far as the adjustment to the loans,” the managing director of the IMF told reporters at a press conference in the Irish capital.

Lagarde was speaking during her first visit to Dublin since it entered an 85-billion-euro ($112-billion) bailout programme in November 2010, and her first visit to a rescued eurozone nation since taking over as head of the IMF in 2011.

Earlier this week, EU finance ministers requested the so-called troika of lenders-comprising the European Union, the European Central Bank and the IMF-consider extending maturities

on the Irish and Portuguese bailout loans. Such a move would reduce the immediate financial burden for these struggling economies to raise money on the open markets.

“It’s not just about the extension of maturities, you can really think of other devices possible, but it certainly includes the extension,” Lagarde said.

“We will look at it together with our two partners in the troika, and we have been tasked to do that and as I said with an open mind with the imperative to help Ireland exit the programme.

“We are in a dialogue, we will continue in that dialogue so there is certainty as to the terms of the exit and the way forward,” she added.

Lagarde also argued that there was scope for the European Central Bank (ECB) to cut its main eurozone lending rate below the current record-low of 0.75 percent. The ECB had held borrowing costs at this level for the eighth month in a row on Thursday.

“Monetary policy should remain accommodative, and we believe that there is still some limited room for the ECB to cut rates further,” the IMF chief said.

Ireland meanwhile hopes to become the first bailed-out eurozone nation to exit its rescue programme by returning fully to the sovereign markets in nine months.

Dublin was bailed out in late 2010 when the global financial crisis, a domestic property market meltdown and massive debts left it on the brink of collapse.

“The underlying problem (of the eurozone) is depressingly familiar-lingering debts of households, banks, corporations and government,” Lagarde added yesterday.

“As the different sectors struggle to shake off these millstones, growth is bond to suffer. And indeed, we expect a continued recession in the eurozone this year.” — AFP

business SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Dow’s recovery is old news to these top funds BOSTON: The stock market keeps pushing higher. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed to a record on Tuesday, finally recovering to surpass its October 2007 high. The momentum continued as stocks piled on more gains the next two days.

To the managers of a select group of mutual funds, that’s not a big deal. They crossed the recovery milestone some time ago. They needed just two or three years to make up for the losses they incurred after the market peaked in October 2007. That’s quick work, compared with the nearly five and a half years it took the Dow to return to its pre-crisis level of 14,164 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500, a broader index that’s a benchmark for many stock funds, remains about 1 percent below its level of Oct. 9, 2007.

Examine the records of the top-performing stock funds since that date, and one thing stands out: Nearly all were unusually successful at limiting their losses in 2008, when stocks plunged 38 percent.

Amid a crisis, losing 30 percent was an acceptable result.

It’s an accomplishment achieved by the vast majority of the large-cap stock funds with the strongest overall results since October 2007, according to Morningstar. Twenty of the 30 top-performers posted 2008 losses of less than 30 percent.

The best in the bunch since October 2007 lost just 5.1 percent the following year. Manager Frederick “Fritz” Reynolds of the Reynolds Blue Chip Growth fund (RBCGX) sensed trouble in the housing market and began selling stocks and holding onto cash as subprime mortgage troubles rippled into the stock market. When the recovery rally began in March 2009, Reynolds shifted back into stocks.

Such good timing is often a matter of luck as much as skill, and Reynolds posted mixed results in 2009 through 2012. But the fund’s 2008 result was so strong that Reynolds Blue Chip Growth possesses the top record among all largecap stock funds since Oct. 9, 2007, according to Morningstar.

The growth stock fund posted a total return of nearly 88 percent through Monday. That’s a huge margin over the broader stock market.

If it seems odd that a single year can have such a big impact over a 5-year period, consider the realities of recovery math. If stocks lose 50 percent of their value, you’ll need a 100 percent gain - not 50 percent - to get back to where you started. That’s comparable to recent experience, as the Dow tumbled 54 percent from October 2007 to March 2009. It has since gained 119 percent.

The takeaway for investors is that limiting losses during market declines can be crucial, because losses have a bigger impact on long-term results than comparable gains.

Here’s a look at other top-performing funds since October 2007 in their respective large-cap categories.

These funds invest primarily in large US companies, the types of stocks that typically anchor a well-diversified portfolio: These two funds earned the top results in the large-cap blend category, posting returns of 75 percent and 68 percent, respectively. Yacktman Focused is a leaner version of its sibling, with a slightly smaller number of stocks in its portfolio. There’s plenty of overlap among the funds’ top holdings. They’re also managed by the same teams: Donald Yacktman, his son Stephen, and Jason Subotky. They tend to stick with their favorite stocks for years rather than make frequent trades. For example, both funds have owned shares of Coca-Cola and Pfizer for about a decade. Both possess top-rung 5-star ratings from Morningstar based on past performance.

This was the top performer among large-cap value funds, which primarily invest in stocks considered inexpensive relative to the earnings they generate.

SunAmerica Focused Dividend Strategy posted a total return of nearly 37 percent. Although the fund narrowly edged out its peers in 2008, it beat 98 percent in 2009 and 99 percent in 2011. Brendan Voege has managed the fund since 2006, often holding onto his favorite dividend-paying stocks for several years. Pfizer, DuPont, Verizon and AT&T have been in the portfolio since 2006, for example.

With such strong results since the financial crisis, these funds have helped investors repair their portfolios much faster than most. Yet caution is advisable for anyone who might think it’s a terrific time to invest in these funds simply because they led their peers throughout the financial crisis and its aftermath.—Reuters

FRANKFURT: A trader sits in front of a board displaying Germany’s share index DAX yesterday at the stock exchange in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany. Europe’s main stock markets rose further, with traders reacting to positive Chinese economic data before the release of key US jobs data, analysts said. — AFP

Chrysler invites IPO pitches, leaves door open to Fiat buyout NEW YORK/LONDON: US carmaker Chrysler has asked banks to pitch next month for a mandate to run a potential public listing of its shares, four people familiar with the matter said, as parent Fiat wrangles with minority shareholder VEBA over a possible buyout.

Chrysler will interview investment banks in April for a underwriting role in a proposed initial public offering (IPO), the people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. Three of the people said bankers had been asked to prepare a “dual-track” sale leading either to the flotation of Chrysler shares owned by a United Auto Workers union retiree healthcare trust, VEBA, or an agreed buyout of its stake by Fiat. Fiat owns 58.5 percent of Chrysler, while the other 41.5 percent is owned by VEBA. A Chrysler Group spokesman said he had not heard of an April meeting of bankers for an IPO. Fiat declined to comment. Fiat’s shares rose 1 percent on Thursday, closing at 4.194 euros, outperforming the Milan stock exchange which rose 0.3 percent.

Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of both Fiat and Chrysler, has long wanted to merge the two automakers but has said he would be open to an IPO if Fiat and VEBA could not reach a deal.

Fiat has options to buy blocks of shares from VEBA, but its attempts to exercise them has been contested in court over their

valuation. An IPO pitching process could provide a way of independently valuing the company and settling the argument.

Fiat has no intention of reducing its ownership, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Marchionne said earlier this week that he expected to reach a deal with VEBA and avert a public listing.

Talks are also starting on how Fiat would finance any future takeover of Chrysler, the people familiar with the matter said. Under a deal struck in 2009, when Fiat rescued Chrysler from bankruptcy, the Italian carmaker has options to purchase up to 16.6 percent from VEBA at a price set by an agreed formula. But the two sides have been arguing about the arithmetic for months. Fiat filed last July to buy the first 3.3 percent for $139.7 million, but VEBA said the transaction value was $342 million, and the issue has been in court ever since.

In January, VEBA said it would exercise a separate entitlement to sell Chrysler shares in an IPO, formally asking the company to register with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a 16.6 percent issue. Fiat has valued Chrysler at $4.2 billion in court filings, way below VEBA’s $10.3 billion figure. UBS put the U.S. carmaker’s worth at around $9 billion in November.

Richard Hilgert, a Chicago-based analyst with Morningstar, estimates the value of Chrysler to be $13.5 billion, he said on

Thursday. But he cautioned that watching the drama of the court case or a possible IPO misses the point when each are expected to be factors in the major goal of Marchionne’s that Fiat buy Chrysler outright. “I don’t think an IPO’s going to happen,” Hilgert said, and noted that Marchionne has clearly stated he would rather want that Fiat buy Chrysler.

The IPO process could still help set a market price for the contested 16.6 percent of the company Fiat wants to buy in accordance with the 2009 bankruptcy exit agreement. Under Marchionne, Chrysler has rebounded from a company near death to one that is making enough profit to buoy the health of its parent, Fiat, which has been losing money largely due to a sick European economy. In its home US market, Chrysler has had year-over-year sales gains for 35 straight months. Marchionne in the past has proven to be a tough negotiator. In 2009, he was able to convince the US government to allow Fiat to take control of Chrysler on the promise that the Italian company could make Chrysler more competitive globally and that it would help fix the problem Chrysler had with making quality small cars.

In 2005, Marchionne won $2 billion from General Motors in exchange for scrapping a “put” option Fiat it could have used to force GM to buy its 90 percent stake in Fiat Auto, its carmaking arm which was deeply lossmaking.— Reuters

Britain esure eyes $1.7bn valuation in market debut LONDON: British home and motor insurer esure expects to be valued at around 1.1 billion pounds ($1.7 billion) when it makes its London stock market debut this month, it said yesterday.

Esure, which insures about 5 percent of Britain’s motorists, set a price range of 240 pence to 310 pence per share for the offering, in which it plans to float up to half of its shares. After years of subdued listing activity due to the financial crisis, London has seen a resurgence in companies seeking to

sell shares on its markets this year.

British estate agent Countrywide and cable products maker HellermannTyton are also in the process of listing. Announcing its flotation plans last week, esure, which owns the female-focused Sheilas’ Wheels brand, reported 2012 pretax profit more than doubled to 115 million pounds. “Our 2012 results were excellent and investors will clearly look at that and make their own decisions,” Chief Executive Stuart Vann told Reuters on Friday, as investor roadshows

kicked off in London.

“We will be seeing (investors in) a lot of different markets over the next two weeks so it is a very exciting time for us, very busy but very exciting.” Esure, which plans to raise 50 million pounds from the sale of new shares to wipe out its debt, said the bulk of the offering would be made up of existing shares being sold by founder and chairman Peter Wood, Tosca Penta Investments as well as company management and employees. — Reuters

business SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

A nation of shopkeepers?

LONDON: The small shopkeepers in Greenwich are running out of time. In the London borough that gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time, businesses like Lorraine Turton’s are endangered by online shopping, cut-price competition from giant supermarkets, changing tastes and, increasingly, the protracted recession. Her Internet cafe on Trafalgar Road is a rare hive of activity on a “high street” - the British name for a town’s main business district.

These days, those streets are increasingly dotted with empty storefronts. Napoleon once derided England as a “nation of shopkeepers,” but its small retailers are vanishing at an alarming rate. If the trend continues, the character of the country’s cities and towns, whose high streets have attracted retailers for hundreds of years, could change profoundly.

“The shopping high street is an important local place of community,” Turton said. “Our entire country has been founded on the principle of market towns. If we lose our high streets, we lose an intrinsic part of our culture.”

Retailers are being forced out of business as Britain struggles to recover from an economic slowdown that has been longer and deeper than any since the 1930s.

What makes this downturn different is that consumers have been reluctant to start spending again on small purchases just the sort of thing people buy at the neighborhood store.

Three and half years after the start of the downturn, so-called nondurable purchases remained more than 5 percent below pre-recession levels. After the recessions of the 1980s and 1990s, they had already rebounded within three years.

A study released last week by the accounting firm PwC and the Local Data Company found that retailers were closing an average of 20 stores a day, a number it predicted would rise to 28 per day in the first three months of this year.

Greeting card shops, travel agents and jewelry outlets are being shut down. Charity shops selling donated second-hand goods, pawnshops, and payday lenders increasingly take their place. Those closures worry British Prime Minister David Cameron, who two years ago hired the nation’s undisputed shopping czarina, Mary Portas - a retail expert dubbed by the tabloids “Mary, Queen of Shops” - to offer advice on luring people back to the high street and make it the heart of every community.

Despite the fanfare, Portas and the government have struggled to show results. Retail sales remain poor, putting more pressure on shops trying to attract what Portas called “today’s increasingly sophisticated, time-poor yet experience-rich, consumer.” Like merchants in many downtowns in the United States, British shopkeepers have suffered as others feel the hard times. Revenue-strapped local governments raise parking fees, which discourage shoppers; banks are reluctant to lend; suppliers have killed businesses by cutting off credit; landlords seek tenants who will pay the highest rent, not those who make the high streets attractive shopping destinations.

Even the 2012 London Olympics didn’t change much for Greenwich’s Trafalgar Road, situated between two venues in east London.

What should have been a bonanza nearly killed Turton’s business, she said. Road construction before the games disrupted traffic and prompted suppliers to refuse to make deliveries. During the Olympics, marshals hustled fans away from the venues and toward the train station - rather than let spectators kill time by having a meal, a beer, or in Turton’s case, stopping by her Internet cafe.

“That was just an opportunity lost,” she said, staring out of her store, the Greenwich Communication Centre, an oasis of humming Macs and PCs. What’s tough about losing such opportunities is that they come along so rarely, says Peter Vlachos, a business professor at the University of Greenwich. Striding down Trafalgar Road, Vlachos shakes his head, pointing to empty storefronts and tacky signs in garish greens and fading reds. The gas station seems to be the only place doing a steady business. While there are pockets of brightness - a Pilates studio, a cozy wine store - the overall impression is of a road that hasn’t bustled since Margaret Thatcher’s governments of the 1980s. Or maybe longer.

Vlachos has tried to offer expertise to local merchants.

When he walks into Turton’s shop the two fall into animated discussion about tactics for growth: Could Vlachos persuade students to gather marketing data that might help her reach out to new customers? Does he want to attend a workshop with other small business owners? The problems are complex and the opportunities for help are few.— AP

Is Europe out of the woods?

DekaBank provides opportunities for investors in Europe ABU DHABI: DekaBank made its fifth presentation under the title “Is Europe out of the woods?” to potential institutional investors in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait City, providing information on the current economic situation and future outlook in Europe, and investment opportunities in the German and global real estate markets.

Oliver Behrens, Deputy Chairman of the DekaBank Board of Management, opened by discussing DekaBank’s 60 years of asset management experience and its pioneering role in this area in Germany. Behrens stated, “DekaBank is an institution with a stable ownership structure and close ties with both business and the public policy sector. We would like to make this extensive experience available to our clients to support them in their investment decisions”.

DekaBank Chief Economist Dr. Ulrich Kater praised the extensive reform efforts made by the European crisis countries in his opening presentation on general economic developments in the Eurozone.

“We have come through the severe phase of the euro crisis and industrialised countries are now on a necessary path of consolidation”, stated Dr. Ulrich Kater.

However, the Eurozone still faces great challenges in coming months such as bank restructuring in Spain, a potential haircut in Cyprus, and the uncertainty about the direction of reforms following the Italian election stalemate.

The high volatility in financial markets in recent years has led to great uncertainty among investors. “However, interest rates for secure investments, such as bank deposits and government bonds from ‘safe’ countries are below the rate of inflation, which leaves investors in these products in a trap with regard to real interest rates”, according to Dr. Kater. Only real assets, such as stocks, corporate bonds, commodities and real estate can promise returns higher than the inflation rate. “Still, investors should observe a number of rules; specifically, broad international diversification, regular portfolio monitoring, continuous investing and a long-term investment horizon.

Custom-tailored products and professional risk management will therefore be

Dr Ulrich Kater

Oliver Behrens

more important than ever for the foreseeable future”, stated Kater.

Mark Wolter, Managing Director of WestInvest GmbH, a securities house for Sparkasse banks and full service provider for institutional investors, followed a similar theme in his presentation. “Europe is currently divided in terms of economic growth. Economic developments are significantly better in the northern part of the continent compared to the south. For this reason, attractive new real estate investments are mainly found in Germany, Scandinavia, and Great Britain, primarily in London”, according to Mark Wolter. The financial and economic crisis has had relatively little effect on Germany since 2009, and the country is a safe harbour in the current turbulence. This is evidenced by strong private consumption and low unemployment. In addition, the German commercial real estate market has recorded only modest declines in leasing.

“German and foreign investors continue to be interested in investing in Germany. We have observed rent increases for office properties in the top 7 cities in Germany. Retail properties also showed rental rate increases for properties in prime locations due to high

demand by international retail chains.

This applies similarly to logistics sites, where e-commerce is the main driver of demand for suitable properties”, stated Wolter.

With more than 45 years of market experience, Deka Immobilien can help institutional investors take advantage of the opportunities in the German real estate market. Its in-house research department covers the full spectrum of major usage types in the real estate sector, offers valuable medium and longterm forecasts for upcoming developments in German and European real estate markets, and is a leader in terms of professional expertise. More than 450 real estate investments in 23 countries with a current total value of approximately EUR 25 billion clearly underscore the benefits to investors of DekaBank’s real estate expertise. “The knowledge of more than 400 experts, DekaBank offices in major market locations and our custom-tailored products are key factors in the positive earnings and performance we have delivered to our investors. DekaBank is and will remain a strong and reliable partner in the centre of Europe for our clients”, stated Mark Wolter, Managing Director of WestInvest GmbH.

Crude dips below $111 as China data fails to support LONDON: Brent crude oil futures dipped below $111 a barrel yesterday, failing to react to better-than-expected Chinese export data, and pressured by returning supply in the North Sea. Brent futures were down 57 cents to $110.58 per barrel at 1023 GMT. The contract has eased some 7 percent from this year’s high of $119.17 after speculative length came out of the market in the second half of February.

US oil was down 5 cents to $91.51, after ending more than a $1 higher in the previous session on an unexpected drop in US unemployment benefits.

Analysts said Brent oil prices were consolidating after coming off hard in the second half of February. “We have spent a week forming a base after the

sell off,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank.

“We have realigned ourselves with the fundamentals around $110 and are in a range of $109-$113 a barrel at the moment. And until we see a new catalyst that’s where we’ll be stuck.”

The oil market failed to find support from relatively positive Chinese data, with exports for January and February up 23.6 percent, beating expectations for a rise of 17.6 percent. Analysts look at the combined figures because of distortions caused by the Lunar New Year holidays, which fell in January in 2012 and in February this year.

“There are probably still a few concerns brewing with regard to China,” Hansen suggested. China’s February

crude oil imports fell nearly 9 percent from a year earlier, but 2012 set a very high base level with imports hitting 5.95 million bpd, the second highest on record.

“The market is not trading on this data,” said Carsten Fritsch, an energy analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

“The crude oil imports figure is actually the strongest part of the commodity complex. Imports of copper and soybeans plunged.”

He noted that commodity prices appear to have decoupled from equity markets which are setting fresh highs.

Investors have been pulling money from commodity futures and exchange traded products after a run of disappointing price performance. —Reuters

business SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

India’s Iran oil debt pool funds rice payments DUBAI: Iran’s oil export revenues are helping Indian rice exporters to claw back some of the lucrative business lost to cross-border truckers in Pakistan as a result of Western sanctions.

Indian rice exports direct to Iran have bounced back, thanks to shippers being paid up front in rupees from a huge pool of oil money owed to Iran by Indian refiners.

“Now business is being done directly because Iran is allowed to open letters of credit in Indian rupees because the government has to pay money to Iran for the oil,” said Suresh Manchanda, marketing director of a Delhi-based company which exports rice, wheat and sugar globally.

“For the importers back in Iran, Indian rupees are easily available to them via the government, so they can do business in a much easier way than doing business in any other currency,” Manchanda told Reuters at the Gulf Food trade show in Dubai.

“For all practical purposes the money never leaves anywhere, the money is already in India.” India is Tehran’s biggest rice supplier but shipments were held up in early 2012 after Iranian buyers defaulted on payments. Many Indian suppliers then stopped sales on credit.

Tightened sanctions on shipping and bank transfers between Iran and India started a boom in Pakistani rice trucked across the remote border into Iran by groups based in Quetta, grains traders from Pakistan and India said at the world’s biggest food show last week.

Problems getting paid by private Iranian buyers hit by a slide in the value of the rial also saw the rice flow from India being routed through Dubai, with wholesalers there taking on the payment risk in return for a mark-up.

Before Western sanctions aimed at stopping Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme began to bite, Indian official data show rice sales to the Islamic Republic were surging. They more than doubled in the financial year of 2009-2010 and also rose in value by nearly 35 percent to over $600 million from April 2011 to the end of March 2012, but this was a period when India’s overall rice export earnings almost doubled in value globally.

Dubai’s role in the India-Iran rice trade has withered since oil pool payments started. From April 2011 to the end of March 2012, $821 million of Indian rice was shipped to the United Arab Emirates, more than anywhere else. But in just nine months from April to December last year Iran imported over $725 million of Indian rice, up 20 percent on the previous 12 months, while Indian exports to the UAE slumped to $287 million, official figures show.

There is effectively no limit to how much Indian rice exports to Iran can be funded by the oil money pool, because even when India’s oil imports from Iran fell more than 40 percent from January 2012 to 2013, their value was still nearly $1 billion in one month.

“The new payment mechanism has been helping Indian rice exporters. Competitors in Pakistan don’t have any such facility,” M P Jindal, president of the All India Rice Millers Association said.

“This year we are estimating at least a 10 percent rise in basmati rice exports. Exports are booming, especially to Iran and Iraq.” —Reuters

HONG KONG: Sun Hung Kai co-chairman Thomas Kwok (C), one of Asia’s wealthiest men, arrives at court for a hearing on a corruption case in Hong Kong yesterday. The Kwok brothers, two of Asia’s wealthiest men, and three others were charged in July 2012 with eight offences related to payments and unsecured loans amounting to 4.4 million USD. —AFP

Kwok brothers plead not guilty in HK graft trial HONG KONG: The two billionaire cochairmen of property goliath Sun Hung Kai Properties and a former senior government official pleaded not guilty yesterday to involvement in one of Hong Kong’s biggest corruption cases.

In a pre-trial hearing, five defendants, including Thomas and Raymond Kwok of Sun Hung Kai Properties, listened to eight charges against them before pleading not guilty. The others were former Hong Kong No. 2 official Rafael Hui, another Sun Hung Kai executive, Thomas Chan, and businessman Francis Kwan.

The corruption case involves a series of payments and unsecured loans totalling million of dollars, between 2000 and 2009, allegedly paid to Hui through a number of financial entities by the four men, accord-

ing to authorities.

A bribery charge against the younger Kwok brother, Raymond, was dropped.

However, he still faces two other criminal charges, including “conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office” over a HK$4.125 million payment to Hui and “furnishing false information” to try to cover up the payment. “(Raymond) faces no allegations at all under the prevention of briberies ordinance,” Raymond Kwok’s lawyer, Gerard McCoy, said in the courtroom.

His brother, Thomas Kwok, faces “conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office” for a HK$5 million payment to Hui, and involvement in a second HK$8.5 million payment to Hui. Hui faces one extra charge, that of

“misconduct in public office”, for allegedly failing to declare or concealing a series of payments totalling HK$11.182 million from Chan and Kwan.

Hui was Hong Kong’s No.2 official from 2005 to 2007. No date was given for the trial by the magistrate, but it is expected to begin next year.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) arrested the tycoons last March in one of the agency’s biggest investigations since it was set up in 1974 to root out widespread corruption in the then-British colonial government and police. Sun Hung Kai Properties is the world’s second-largest property developer by market value. The Kwok family is Hong Kong’s second wealthiest after that of tycoon Li Ka-shing. — Reuters

China’s February exports surge but imports fall HONG KONG: China’s exports surged more than expected in February in a possible sign of stronger global demand.

Exports leaped 21.8 percent, well ahead of analysts’ expectations of single-digit growth as companies shut down for the Lunar New Year holiday, data showed yesterday.

Imports fell 15.2 percent, a decline from January’s 28 percent growth. That suggested domestic demand might be weakening, but the picture is clouded by the holiday, when companies shut down for up to two weeks.

“We are impressed by China’s ability to expand its exports so strongly despite

a muted external environment,” said Credit Agricole CIB economist Dariusz Kowalczyk in a report.

China’s trade growth has been rebounding in recent months in a sign of recovery in the world’s second-biggest economy. Economic growth rebounded in the final quarter of 2012 from a threeyear low. The latest trade data might help to reassure analysts who say China’s recovery is still shaky and will be too weak to drive a global rebound without a revival in the United States and Europe.

Trade data for January and February are complicated by the Lunar New Year, which falls at different times in those

two months each year. Businesses shut down for up to two weeks. Last year, the holiday began in January, making that month’s performance look better by comparison this year, while this year the holiday fell entirely in February.

For the combined January-February period, exports rose 23.6 percent compared with the same two months last year while imports grew 5 percent.

February’s import decline was also probably caused by falling prices for shipments coming into China rather than stalling demand, Kowalczyk said.

Exports rose to $139.4 billion while imports declined to $124.12 billion,

resulting in a global trade surplus of $15.2 billion, compared with a trade deficit of $32 billion in the same month last year.

China usually runs a global trade deficit for at least one month early in the year as factories restock following the holiday shutdown.

Premier Wen Jiabao, the country’s top economic official, announced a 7.5 percent annual economic growth target this week. That is below double digit rates of the past decade but in line with Communist Party plans to shift from relying on trade and investment to domestic consumption to drive growth. — AP

business

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Japan recession over, recovery eyed TOKYO: Japan eased out of recession in the last quarter of 2012, with modest growth analysts said yesterday underpins a strengthening economy, as the government and central bank up their fight against deflation.The 0.2 percent expansion on an annualised basis in the three months to December will be welcome news for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose first few months in office have seen renewed optimism over the world’s third largest economy.

The economy had shrunk for two consecutive quarters from April through September as export demand weakened on the back of financial turmoil in the key European market, a strong yen and a diplomatic row with China. Adding to the upbeat sentiment Friday was a 2.64 percent surge in the benchmark Nikkei 225 index, taking it to levels not seen since before the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers that heralded the global economic crisis. Abe’s mantra since being swept to power in December has been one of pumping life into a flaccid

economy and turning around 15 years of growth-sapping inflation, while announcing huge debt-funded spending packages.The country has seen a mixed bag of economic data lately, with the unemployment rate edging down to 4.2 percent in January and deflation doggedly persisting, while industrial output showed a modest rise of 0.1 percent in January from the previous month.

In January, Japan also posted its third straight deficit in the current account, the broadest measure of trade with the rest of the world, showing it was 364.8 billion yen ($3.8 billion) in the red for the month.

However, the yen has weakened by almost a fifth since November on expectations the Bank of Japan would adopt an aggressive monetary easing policy, helping make the nation’s exporters more competitive and boosting their latest earnings results.

Abe has heaped pressure on the central bank, threatening to change the law guaranteeing its independence if it did not fall into

China expresses currency fears as yen plummets BEIJING: Chinese commerce minister Chen Deming expressed concern yesterday about loose central bank policies pushing down the value of major currencies, as the Japanese yen extended its recent falls.

Chen told reporters he was “very concerned” this year with “the competitive depreciation of currencies in the world and the negative impact on the global economy led by the excess issuance of money”.

He said that declines in the value of the yen, the US dollar and the euro would have a big impact on developing countries, including China.

Chen added that monetary easing policies by central banks in the United States, Japan and the European Union to stimulate their economies “should not spread out to affect other countries”.

While his criticism was not focused solely on Japan, it followed steep falls in the yen in recent months since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took power backing a policy of aggressive monetary easing to boost the economy.

Easing tends to weigh on currencies, and the yen hit a three-and-a-half-year low against the dollar in Asia Friday, with the greenback fetching 95.42 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade.

But the aggressive policy pursued by Abe has led to accusations that the government is seeking to manipulate the yen to help its exporters, whose products are more competitive overseas when the yen is weaker.

The falling value of the yen could further strain trade ties between Beijing and Tokyo, which have already been damaged by a row over East China Sea islands, controlled by Japan but claimed by China.

Critics in emerging nations have also argued that easing measures, especially in the US, have driven down the value of the dollar and sparked huge “hot money” capital flows, raising the risk of overheating and driving up national currencies.

Chen also emphasised that finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 major advanced and developing economies had recently promised not to weaken their currencies to gain competitive advantage.

At a meeting in Moscow in February, the G-20 officials said in a statement they “will refrain from competitive devaluation” and “will not target our exchange rates for competitive purposes”.

His comments came after Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said late last month that the central bank’s $85 billion a month bond-purchase programme aimed at holding down longterm interest rates and encouraging investment-known as quantitative easing-was still merited. — AFP

line. Last month he nominated Asian Development Bank head Haruhiko Kuroda, an advocate of aggressive easing measures, to take the helm at the Bank of Japan, after Masaaki Shirakawa stepped down early following repeated policy clashes with the premier.

Abe also unveiled a massive spending plan in January that he says will boost gross domestic product by two percentage points and create 600,000 jobs. Hideki Matsumura, economist at Japan Research Institute, said the GDP figure Friday “confirmed that the Japanese economy has hit bottom and started picking up”.

“Thanks to measures introduced by the Abe administration, Japan is likely to show stronger recovery from now. Nearly all factors are pointing to the positive,” he said.

Yasuo Yamamoto, senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute, said the numbers “show that the bottom of the latest recession was probably in November”. “Looking at the latest trade data, I would say recovery

in exports will still be slow in the JanuaryMarch quarter, so GDP growth in the same quarter would be also modest,” he said.

“The question is when the effects from public spending in the government’s stimulus package will appear, and I think it will be probably in the April-June quarter,” he said.

Together with a positive impact from a weak yen, which should visibly boost demand for Japanese exports from around July, “Japan will be able to achieve a real GDP growth of two percent for fiscal 2013” starting April, Yamamoto said. Japan logged its worst ever monthly trade deficit of 1.63 trillion yen ($17 billion) in January despite an upturn in exports, as the yen’s recent sharp drop pushed fuel costs higher, finance ministry data showed last month. And the latest ministry data on Friday showed Japan posted a trade deficit of 935.79 billion yen ($9.87 billion) in the first 20 days of February, the gap more than 12 times a 74.49 billion yen deficit in the same period the previous year.— AFP

Asian markets rise, Tokyo hits post-Lehman high Sydney, HK gains, Seoul flat HONG KONG: Asian markets climbed yesterday following another record-breaking close for Wall Street’s Dow Jones index, while Tokyo hit its highest level since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

The Japanese currency fell to a threeand-a-half-year low against the dollar and also sank against the euro as investors look to the Bank of Japan’s next policy meeting, on expectations of a further loosening of monetary policy.

Tokyo closed up 2.64 percent, or 315.54 points, at 12,283.62, its highest level since the collapse of Wall Street banking giant Lehman Brothers heralded the start of the global financial crisis.

Sydney gained 0.28 percent, or 14.2 points, to 5,123.4, Seoul was flat, edging up 1.61 points to 2,006.01, while Hong Kong added 1.41 percent, or 320.51 points, to 23,091.95.

Shanghai fell 0.24 percent, or 5.68 points, to 2,318.61 despite data showing China’s exports had surged a much betterthan-expected 21.8 percent on year in February, even with the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, while imports tumbled 15 percent.

In New York the Dow ended at an alltime high for the third straight session, with analysts saying the market’s stellar performance had attracted more buyers.

The Dow ended 0.23 percent higher after breaking on Tuesday its previous record set in October 2007. The S&P 500 was up 0.18 percent and the Nasdaq climbed 0.30 percent. Adding to buying pressure was another batch of upbeat data.

New claims for US unemployment benefits fell to 340,000, suggesting modest strength in the jobs market in the week before the “sequester” of $85 billion in deep federal budget cuts kicked in on March 1.

The report, which came a day after figures showed a rise in jobs growth in the private sector, boosted confidence that yesterday’s much-watched US payroll and

unemployment data would be strong.

Japanese shares enjoyed another bump as the yen resumed its downward trend, with investors betting that the man expected to take over at the BoJ will introduce more aggressive easing at his first policy meeting next month.

emerged from recession. Gross domestic product expanded 0.2 percent on an annualised basis in the three months to December, following contraction in the two previous quarters.

Oil prices were mixed. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in

TOKYO: Pedestrians pass before a share prices board in Tokyo yesterday.

Japan’s share prices rose 251.03 points to close at 12,219.11 points at the morning session of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, taking its cue from Wall Street, where the Dow hit a record high for a third straight day, while the yen weakened further against the dollar. — AFP The greenback was changing hands at 95.38 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade-its strongest since August 2009 — from 94.83 yen in New York late Thursday, while the euro was buying 124.82 yen, compared with 124.28 yen.

The single currency dipped to $1.3085 against $1.3107. There was also some good news on the economy front for Tokyo, with data showing the country had

April was up two cents to $91.58 a barrel in the afternoon and Brent North Sea crude for April dipped two cents to $111.13.

Gold was at $1,579.00 at 0830 GMT compared with $1,581.45 late Thursday. In other markets: Taipei rose 0.69 percent, or 54.63 points, to 8,015.14. TSMC rose 0.49 percent to Tw$103.5 while HTC fell 2.44 percent to Tw$259.5. — AFP

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Costello, D’Angelo, more perform at Prince tribute

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Bieber faints at London concert PAGE 25

A model displays an outfit by Ukrainian designer Sukhanova during a Fashion Week in Kiev, Ukraine,yesterday, 2013. —AP

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Katie Price won’t find the gender of her unborn child

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Kim Kardashian advised rest by her doctor

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he reality TV star - who is expecting her first child with boyfriend Kanye West was taken ill on a flight back to Los Angeles from Paris and rushed straight to hospital amid concerns for her unborn baby but after a check-up she has merely been told to slow down. A source told Us Weekly: “All fine — doctor-ordered rest.î The insider blamed Kim’s hectic work schedule, moving in to a new home in Beverly Hills and her ongoing divorce battle with Kris Humphries for the health scare. The source added: “She’s been working a lot, and with a divorce and the move and everything else she has going

on, she just needs to take a little rest.” It was previously claimed 32-year-old Kim’s obsession with staying in shape during her pregnancy is leaving her exhausted. A friend of the ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’ star explained: “Kim’s not respecting her pregnancy. She’s running around, working out seven days a week. She’s working with two different trainers to control her weight, including Tracy Anderson and a pregnancy trainer. “She’s scared that her butt is as big as a couch and is going south. But she is having a very rough pregnancy, and doctors have ordered her to slow down.”

Keith Urban flies to UK just to say ‘hello’ to family

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he country singer is currently busy working as a judge on ‘American Idol’ but delights his wife Nicole Kidman - who is currently based in London with their daughters Sunday Rose, four, and Faith Margeret, two, while filming ‘Before I Go To Sleep’ - by jetting across the Atlantic to demonstrate his “crazy” love for her. Nicole said: “Keith comes and goes. He’ll fly in for 24 hours just to say hello and give us all a hug, or he might stay a couple of days. He’s busy over in Nashville and LA. But once I’ve finished filming, I’m going to be the wife by his side because it’s family time.

“I love it that he’s crazy enough to get on a plane and come over here for 24 hours. But that craziness is rooted in a love and a friendship for each other. The friendship is just as important as the love, and it builds over time. I know how lucky I am.” At this year’s Oscars,

Nicole wore a low-cut L’Wren Scott gown and admitted she chose it to please her spouse. She told the Daily Mail newspaper: “It had all the bells and whistles for men. ‘You know what men like in a dress, and that’s what I wore. It was for Keith.”

he former glamour model is pregnant and though she knew the genders of her kids, Harvey, 10, Junior, seven, and fiveyear-old Princess Tiaamii, before they were born, she has vowed to keep the sex of her fourth offspring a surprise as it is her new husband Kieran Hyler’s first baby. She said: “I’ve always known the sex of my kids in advance but this time it will be a surprise as I already have boys and a girl and it’s Kieran’s first so he doesn’t want to know yet.” The 34year-old star is suffering from terrible morning sickness and has praised Duchess Catherine - who was known as Kate Middleton before her marriage to Prince William - for continuing with official engagements despite being hospitalised with similar problems early in her pregnancy. She added in her column for The Sun newspaper: “I am suffering from morning sickness all day long, so I know how hard it must be for [Catherine] to get all done up, put on a grin and go about those royal duties. “All mums know that we make arrangements but they often have to be cancelled because when a wave of sickness comes we just want to pull on our tracksuits and curl up on the sofa.

“Kate doesn’t have this luxury so let’s keep supporting her rather than making a fuss when she seems to get a small thing wrong.”

Rachel Weisz’s son is ‘unimpressed’ with her career

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lthough his mother is an Oscar-winning movie actress and is married to James Bond star Daniel Craig, the ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ actress’ seven-yearold son Henry isn’t “interested” in the glitz and glamour of her job. Rachel told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “Henry will love ‘Oz’ when he sees it, but he’s generally very unimpressed with my work. He enacts his own stories in his bedroom with Lego and toys. He has a rich fantasy life but isn’t very interested in what I do.” The 43-year-old screen star - who had Henry with her exfiancÈ, film director Darren Aronofsky - married ‘Skyfall’ actor Daniel, 45, in 2011 and has revealed she’s “very, very happy” with her family life. She added: “I’m very, very happy. I have a wonderful family and the career seems to be going well. “Being a mother is the thing that matters most to me. It’s incredible watching my son grow up, discovering the world and testing his boundaries. Being a mother is the greatest joy of my life.”Rachel isn’t worried about film work drying up as she enters her 40s, in fact, she insists she’s busier than ever appearing in the ‘Wizard of Oz’ prequel and action thriller ‘The Bourne Legacy’ as well

as signing up for a Broadway production with her husband. She said: “I don’t spend much time in Hollywood so I don’t feel I’m an expert on the city. I turned 40 and then I did the ‘Bourne Legacy’ and this movie, so I’ve been incredibly busy. “I was filming them both at the same time. So I did a month in New York on ‘Bourne’, then a month in Detroit on ‘Oz’, then back to New York again.”

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Anna Kendrick splits from T

director Edgar Wright

he ‘Pitch Perfect’ actor had been dating Edgar since 2009 after he directed her in the movie ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’ but the pair have now called time on their relationship because they found it difficult to maintain a long distance romance with Anna based in Los Angeles and Edgar in London. A source told MailOnline: “Anna and Edgar really love each other, but the relationship ended amicably. They’re both great, funny people.” Anna spent a great deal of time in London during the course of their relationship and is a fan of all things British, recently revealing she craves English tea. She

said: “Every time I go to England the first thing I do is have tea.

I crave it to the point where I panic, ‘What am I going to do when I get home? I don’t have a kettle.’ But then the craving disappears - it’s like something’s pumped into the air.” She is also a huge fan of UK talent show ‘The X Factor’, and was thrilled when girl group Little Mix won last year. She added: “I have to catch up on ‘Sherlock and ‘X Factor’. I loved that group who won last year, Little Mix. During their first performance I wanted to scream at the TV, ‘Do you guys know that these are really good, really solid vocals.’ “

Selena Gomez wants to date an older man

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he 20-year-old brunette beauty - who dumped Justin Bieber in January after struggling to maintain a “normal” relationship - is ready to move on but wants someone more mature than the 19-year-old ‘As Long As You Love Me’ hitmaker. A source told RadarOnline: “Selena is looking to date an older man this time. She finally sees how toxic it was to date a toddler like Justin.

“Selena is doing really well and feels like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders now that Justin is out of the picture. She finds Justin to be embarrassing since their breakup. He’s turned into exactly the kind of

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he 24-year-old actress will make her on-stage leading role debut as Juliet in the Classic Stage Company’s production, which will open the company’s 2013-14 season later this year, according to E! News. Although Elizabeth’s older siblings are actresses and designers Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen she previously insisted they never tell her how to behave or get ahead in her career. She said: “It’s always felt as though Mary-Kate and Ashley have been women, while I’ve been the kid. But we’re very close and I look up to them a lot. I wasn’t really affected by their fame until I went to college. People would expect me to be partying and all sorts of stuff. It was really strange. “We’ve never had a conversation about [fame], but I learn by example. They try to keep their lives private and they work their asses off. People have this idea of them swanning around the world, partying, but they’re at an office every day - I wouldn’t be able to do what they do. They have so much pressure on them. They tell me, ‘It’s all about being happy with what you’re working on and trying to be the best at it that you can be.’

Elizabeth Olsen set to star in Broadway production

person she’d never want to be with.” Justin’s recent antics, including being almost two hours late to his recent London concert and reportedly kicking up a fuss when his 14year-old friend Jaden Smith was stopped by bouncers from entering Justin’s birthday party in a nightclub have ensured Selena doesn’t regret her decision to break-up with him. The insider added: “For now Selena isn’t concerned one bit with Justin’s boyish antics. It’s the last thing she cares about. Her sights are set on a much more mature man who won’t embarrass her or cause childish fights for no reason.”

Kristen Stewart turns to Taylor Lautner for love advice

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he 22-year-old actress’ relationship with Robert Pattinson, 26, has been strained ever since her infidelity with married director Rupert Sanders was discovered last year and Kristen is hoping their friend and ‘Twilight Saga’ co-star Taylor, 21, can help. A source told RadarOnline: “Kristen has been spending a lot of time with Taylor of late because she’s been using him as a sounding board for her relationship with Robert. “She thinks that he may have some insight in how she should proceed with Robert - and where their relationship is going. “Robert and Taylor are also tight, so she’s been

fishing a little to find out if they have been talking about anything. “But Taylor has just told Kristen that she has to give Robert time to heal still. It’s not even been a year since the now infamous cheating scandal, so he can’t be expected to forgive and forget so quickly.” Robert is currently filming ‘The Rover’ in Australia and while he doesn’t want Kristen to visit him on set, Taylor has cautioned her to be patient. The insider added: “He also told her that Robert is busy working and trying to stay together long-distance is as tough as it gets. She needs to just be patient until he comes back.” — Bangshowbiz

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

This artist’s rendering image provided by the Walt Disney Company shows a model of the Shanghai Disney Resort, featuring the resort’s theme park, Shanghai Disneyland. — AP

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early 75 years after “The Wizard of Oz,” Disney has crafted a new story about the magical kingdom, by going back to its creator-in what is tipped to be a blockbuster movie opening this weekend. Walt Disney long sought to make a film about Oz, the imaginary land created by American author L Frank Baum in “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” in 1900, after MGM made its own version in 1939. But the project never got off the ground, and it was Sam Raimi, director of the hit “Spider-Man” and “Evil Dead” trilogies, who has finally brought it to life for Disney’s company as “Oz the Great and Powerful.” And it could be as big a hit as the first film: box office tracker Exhibitor Relations estimates a debut weekend take of $88 million, saying that “if all goes well, it certainly has a shot at the other side of the $100 million rainbow.”

The new film is not a remake of Victor Fleming’s masterpiece, but more a prequel that recounts events before those told in “The Wizard of Oz,” based on Baum’s original novel. “Every filmmaker knows when you make a book into a movie, the first thing you have to do is kill the book, unfortunately. You’ve got to recreate it,” Raimi told reporters ahead of the film’s release.

“But I decided I could be truest to the fans of Baum’s great work if I recognized what was great and moving and touching and most effective about those books to me... and put as much of that into this picture as I could.” The film-in which the character of Dorothy, played in the earlier version by Judy Garland, does not appearfocuses on Oscar Diggs (played by James Franco), a small-town circus magician transported to Oz by a tornado.

There, he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who see in him a wizard capable of saving the kingdom. Happy to be showered with power and riches, Diggs plays along with the misperception, until his lies begin to catch up with him.

“His character starts off as a flawed man. He’s selfish; he’s a bit of a womanizer. He thinks that happiness will come from financial success and fame. It blinds him to the love of the people around him,” said Franco, who learned tricks from magician Lance Burton in Las Vegas while preparing for the role. “One of the reasons to start the character off that way was that it would allow for growth... The movie would not just be a physical journey through a mystical land,

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This theater image shows Holland Taylor as former Texas Gov. Ann Richards during a performance of “Ann. — AP

but it would also involve an inner journey of the character.”

If the film lacks some depth, but not in length, visually it is stunning, thanks to Raimi. “There were a tremendous amount of new challenges for me. I didn’t know anything about 3D, so I had to go to school and learn about 3D,” the director said, describing how artists created every blade of grass, flower or insect. “I had to meet with technicians and study the camera systems and go to effects houses and hear what the different visual effects artists had to say about working with the systems,” he added.

The film includes several bravura segments, including the opening scenes in black and white and the switch to color when Oz arrives-an idea taken from the 1939 movie, watched by generations of children. The new movie has high expectations riding on it: only 2010’s “Alice in Wonderland” ($116 million) and last year’s “The Hunger Games” ($152 million) have opened with more than $100 million in the relatively quiet month of March. — AFP

ne important rule before putting on a one-person show must surely be to make sure you find someone who is already beloved. Actress Holland Taylor has found that in Ann Richards, the former Texas governor with the cotton candy hair and down-home humor. “Ann,” which opened Thursday at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, is choppy in parts and sometimes loses focus, but cannot be denied as a moving valentine by a fully committed Taylor, who is also its writer. Taylor becomes Richards, somehow capturing that glint in the Texan’s eye, reveling in being her at her witty best.

“I bet some of you probably remember ME just ‘cause of my hair,” Richards opens the play, in a perfect good’ol-boy accent. “I notice most of you guys who tease me about my hair don’t have any.” The silver-tongued Richards, a longtime politicians and one-term governor from 1991 to 1995, was a longtime champion of women and minorities in government. She died in 2006 at age 73 after battling cancer.

Her most famous line perhaps was when she electrified the 1988 Democratic National Convention with a keynote speech in which she joked that Republican presidential nominee George HW Bush had been “born with a silver foot in his mouth.” That line interestingly doesn’t appear in Taylor’s play, which the script tells us is based

on “writings of Ann Richards, interviews with her staff, friends and family, film records, news publications, anecdote and imagination.” Taylor is aiming for a more personal look and that big line might overwhelm her efforts.

The two-hour play asks the audience to know some American history and be aware of such figures as the politician Barbara Jordan, Richards’ press aide Bill Cryer and the death row inmate Johnny Frank Garrett. (Rob Lowe’s sex tape also gets a nod.) One of biggest rounds of applause is heard for Richards’ defense of her concealed weapons veto, which has resonance now. The man who defeated her for the governorship, George W. Bush, is never mentioned Taylor, perhaps best known for playing the feisty grandmother on the CBS sitcom “Two and a Half Men,” has previously taken her play - a labor of love - to various theaters in Texas, as well as Chicago and The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Her Richards uses a spot-on Paul Huntley wig and is slightly stooped and stiff, always eager to get out of her high heels.—AP

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

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ustin Bieber says he is “getting better,” after fainting backstage at a concert in London, and the venue said yesterday’s show was scheduled to go ahead as planned. A spokesman for the O2 Arena said the 19-year-old pop star was treated backstage during Thursday’s concert after becoming short of breath, but recovered and finished his set. “As far as we are concerned everything is on, on, on” for the show, Jeremy King said. “He was treated by our team of medics and after further examination they didn’t find anything more serious or worrying.”

A spokeswoman for Bieber said he was recovering after Thursday’s incident, which saw him given oxygen before returning to the stage. “Justin has been released from the hospital after a check-up and, while he’s feeling a little under the weather, he’s currently planning on going ahead with tonight’s show,” the spokeswoman said yesterday. She demanded anonymity to discuss the star’s condition.

Bieber later posted a shirtless photo of himself in a hospital bed, saying he was getting better and listening to Janis Joplin. Before that on Twitter he thanked “everyone pulling me thru tonight.” “Best fans in the world,” he wrote. “Figuring out what happened. Thanks for the love.” Video footage from the concert shows Bieber appearing to fade during a performance of his up-tempo hit, “Beauty and a Beat.” He slows down, puts a hand to his head then bends over, resting his hands on knees before walking slowly to the back of the stage.

The AP spoke to 18-year-old journalism student Prithvi Pandya, who shot the footage, to confirm its

authenticity. “When he started ‘Beauty and a Beat’ you could see he was struggling,” said Pandya, who was near the front of the crowd. “He took lots of drinks of water, that seemed unusual, and he was really sweaty, sweating a helluva lot. “Toward the end of it, he went backstage. We didn’t see him fainting. They brought on dancers to entertain, and I knew something was wrong at that point.”

Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun, appeared onstage and told the crowd that the singer was feeling “very low of breath” but would come back to finish the show.

Jazz Chappell, a 20-year-old concertgoer who brought her younger sister and her friend to the show, said that In the nearly 30 minutes he was offstage, some fans started to leave. Once his manager announced what had happened, Chappell said many fans in the audience were gasping and crying, while others kept cheering for him to return.

“I thought, ‘Give the guy a break. He just fainted.

He’s not a performing horse. Let him rest a second,’” said Chappell. Chappell said Bieber, who is in London to perform four concerts at the O2, later returned and performed low-energy renditions of his hits “Boyfriend” and “Baby.” Braun later tweeted “everyone please give him a little space and he will be ok. Im sure he appreciates the support ... Tough kid proud night once again he always finishes the show. Full out. True pro...”

The incident caps a difficult week for Bieber. He was forced to apologize to outraged fans who accused him of taking the stage almost two hours late for his first concert at the O2 on Monday. He insisted he was only 40 minutes late and blamed “technical issues.” He took

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In this photo provided by the Vienna State Opera Marina Rebeka in the role of Donna Anna performs during a dress rehearsal for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera “Don Giovanni” at the state opera in Vienna. — AP

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he tenor wandered off, the corpse didn’t rise as planned, and the lead soprano dissed her own performance. But “Don Giovanni” still managed to go to hell in style. The story of the dissolute nobleman who leaves a path of seduction across Europe before descending into the fiery abyss screaming but unrepentant is Mozart’s darkest opera. Comic at the same time, it features some of the most complexly beautiful music ever written for the stage. So, there is little tolerance for mediocrity - and there was none, in Thursday’s performance at the Vienna State Opera.

Conductor Louis Langree is masterfully in charge of the music on stage and in the pit, from the first resounding chords of the overture to the crashing waves of the full orchestra as the Don is dragged to his doom. In between, he makes Mozart’s intentions his own, focusing on the music to develop the personality of each character in a manner few other composers were capable of.

Vocally, Marina Rebeka delivered her worst performance as Donna Anna since she started singing the role in Vienna in October. Or so she said. If so, her best must have been stellar because her voice was like molten silver Thursday and her acting admirable in her portrayal of the young noblewoman who swears vengeance after the Don first tries to rape her and then kills her father who tries to protect her.—AP

ritish artist William Turnbull, a figurehead of the post-war modernist movement, is finally embracing the mainstream four months after his death with an exhibition that spans the indoor and outdoor spaces of one of England’s grandest stately homes. A selection of works by Turnbull, known for his sculptures in bronze as well as abstract expressionist paintings, will be showcased at Chatsworth House, a 16th century estate in the Peak District, central England, from March 10 to June 30.

“William Turnbull at Chatsworth” charts the evolution of Turnbull’s work over four decades and documents his take on themes such as the head, totems and primitive tools. Scottish-born Turnbull, who died in November aged 90, was little known to the general public thanks to his reluctance to embrace celebrity and a row with a powerful US critic which cast him adrift from the international art scene. His supporters hope the show, and a documentary on his influence due to be broadcast by the BBC next week, will finally earn Turnbull the popularity they believe he deserves.

“It’s the establishment validation that he’s never had,” said Alex Turnbull, William’s son, who co-curated the show.

“There is no creative person who doesn’t like it when people like their work, you can’t be a punk all your life. You have to mellow out and Bill did. He would have loved this, it is a great shame that he couldn’t see it.” The exhibition begins in dramatic fashion. Visitors take a winding route through some of Chatsworth’s elegant Regency-style rooms before the vibrant colours of Turnbull’s abstract oil painting “Head” jump into view at the end of a long corridor.

to Twitter to vent his frustrations with the media’s portrayal of the incident. The star’s Believe world tour is due to move on to Portugal on Monday, then continue across Europe, the Middle East, South Africa and North America until August. — AP

In this file photo, Canadian singer Justin Bieber performs at the O2 Arena in east London. — AP

Outside the imposing house, some of Turnbull’s sculptures, including the dark and imposing “Large Horse”, are scattered on the sprawling Salisbury lawns and throughout the tranquil rock pool. A splash of colour comes from Turnbull’s more linear steel sculptures placed in the verdant Chatsworth maze. There the exhibition finishes with a series of the artist’s later pieces, mainly in his favourite medium of bronze, many of which are reminiscent of tools like arrowheads and spades. Visitors are invited to touch the smooth sculptures and trace the engravings on their surfaces, a trademark of Turnbull’s pieces.—Reuters

Snugs, the dog of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, lies curled up beneath a painting entitled ‘15-1958’ by British artist William Turnbull. — AFP

Peregrine Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire (right), and his wife Amanda, Duchess of Devonshire pose with a sculpture entitled ‘Queen 2’ by British artist William Turnbull in the grounds of the Chatsworth House stately home, in Bakewell, Derbyshire, northern England. — AFP photos

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

This photo shows a visitor viewing the National Mall from the Lincoln Memorial looking towards the Washington Monument and the US Capitol in Washington. — AP photos

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here are probably more free things to do in the US capital than nearly any other major city in the world. The most popular museums and the zoo are free, thanks to government funding, as well as the picturesque memorials and monuments. With so many free options, the biggest challenge might be narrowing down what to see.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION No visit to the nation’s capital is complete without a visit to the nation’s museums. First-time visitors learn fast that a trip to the Smithsonian is not a visit to one place. There are actually 19 different museums that are part of the Smithsonian, along with the National Zoo. Most line the National Mall. Some must-see exhibits: The Apollo 11 capsule that carried the first men to land on the moon, President Abraham Lincoln’s top hat and Dorothy’s “ruby slippers” from “The Wizard of Oz,” and the large Hope Diamond. The Smithsonian was founded in 1846 after a bequest by British scientist James Smithson to establish an educational institution in Washington. Smithson’s remains are interred at the Smithsonian’s oldest building, the red sandstone Castle. This is also a good place for a quick orientation to decide where to start.

NATIONAL MALL The nearly two-mile grassy expanse between the Capitol and Potomac River features memorials honoring five presidents, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham

Lincoln, as well as Martin Luther King Jr. and battle monuments in tribute to America’s veterans. One of the best times to visit is in the evening, as the monuments are lit and crowds have dwindled. Beyond the large monuments, there are dozens of smaller statues, historic sites and walking paths along the Mall. The park also draws about 1 million people each year to see its famous cherry blossom trees when they reach full bloom in late March or early April. Some of the oldest trees that were a gift from Japan line the Tidal Basin and make for a picturesque view.

BEHIND THE SCENES Washington is a city where everyone wants special access and a look behind the scenes of power. One of the best ways is to plan ahead. Call your member of Congress to request a personal tour led by a congressional staffer. Visitors can also ask for a tour of the Capitol dome. White House tours are also normally available through congressional offices, though they have been halted temporarily due to government budget cuts.

International visitors can request tickets through their country’s embassy. If you don’t have time for reservations, the Capitol Visitor Center offers free exhibits and tours of the Capitol. Tickets are available online. A limited number of same-day passes also are distributed at the information desks each day. The center also offers specialty tours on the Capitol’s history and artwork.

The Library of Congress offers free access and impressive architecture near the Capitol. Volunteers offer free, guided tours of the nation’s oldest cultural institution.

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This undated photo provided by filmmakers John Choi and Nicolina Lanni shows a sandal found in Hawaii by a beachcomber. — AP

This photo shows The John F Kennedy Center Memorial Center for the Performance Arts illuminated as part of the “Nordic Cool 2013: Northern Lights” exhibit, in Washington.

ball. A boat. A little girl’s sandal. Filmmakers are working to find - and tell - the stories behind some of the items that have washed up on North American shores following the deadly 2011 tsunami in Japan. “Lost and Found” aims to reunite items discovered by beachcombers and others who feel compelled to return them to their rightful owners, co-director John Choi said. A trailer for the film, which is still being produced, features two men affected by the items they’ve found. John Anderson found a volleyball on a beach in Washington state and Marcus Eriksen, head of an expedition that sailed from Japan to Hawaii to look for tsunami debris last year, found part of a boat.

Neither of the items has been linked to their original owners yet.

“It was just like, Whoa, oh man! There’s one of them balls with all the writing on it,” Anderson says in the clip. “I’m more interested in the story behind it. You know, I would sure like to know what happened to these people. It would be nice to know that they survived or this was at home while they were away - just this got washed away.” Eriksen said when his team first saw the boat, there was initial excitement, “because we had been watching the ocean for a few weeks, just wondering what’s out there.

But when we approached this, it quickly went from fascination and excitement to, like, the sobering reality that this was someone’s property, and we were very quickly filled with compassion about, you know, who lost this boat.”

“They didn’t lose it,” he said in the clip. “It was taken from them by natural disaster, so I feel compelled to find that individ-

PRESIDENTIAL SITES A walk through downtown Washington offers a chance to connect with presidential history. A short walk from the White House, Ford’s Theatre, where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, offers daily tours with free same-day tickets distributed each morning at 8:30 a.m. Otherwise, advance tickets are $2.50 per person. Walk five minutes further from the theater, and visitors will find the National Portrait Gallery. Its most popular collection is the presidential portraits, including some of the most famous images of George Washington and Abe Lincoln.

WATERFRONT AND KENNEDY CENTER Washington is increasingly embracing its waterfronts that were once neglected. New gardens and walking paths are bringing new life to these spaces. In Georgetown, a new park along the Potomac River has become a popular place to relax. Take a stroll along the water. Bring a picnic or stop for a late lunch at a riverside cafe. Then head toward the Kennedy Center along the river. This living memorial to President John F Kennedy offers free tours with no reservations required. Arrive in time for the 4:30 pm tour of the theaters and concert halls. Then stay for a free Millennium Stage performance every day at 6 pm The dress code for free shows is casual. Finally, the evening views from the Kennedy Center’s rooftop are a treat. — AP

ual.” Monday marks the two-year anniversary of the disaster, which devastated a long stretch of Japan’s northeastern coast and killed thousands of people. The Japanese government estimated that 1.5 million tons of debris was floating in the ocean in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami, but it’s not clear how much is still floating.

Tsunami debris is tough to monitor and distinguish from the everyday debris - much of it from Asia - that has long been a problem along the West Coast. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said just 21 items of the more than 1,500 reports of possible tsunami debris - including balls, a motorcycle and boats - have been firmly traced back to the tsunami. However, the agency lists scores of other items along the West Coast and across the Pacific Ocean as potentially linked.

Choi first got the idea for the documentary about 1 1/2 years ago, after hearing a news report discussing a tsunami debris field. He started thinking about what might wash ashore, and how cool it would be if there was an effort to return found items.

He connected with co-director Nicolina Lanni. At the time, he said, nothing had washed ashore. The effort took off after they met Seattle-based oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, who shared his thoughts on what might happen and encouraged them in their effort.—AP

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Bollywood film stars (left to right) Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan are on display at the Bollywood Exhibit unveiling at Madame Tussauds on March 7, 2013 in New York City. — AFP

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Actors Sandra Bernhard (left) and Maya Rudolph perform together during the encore at “The Music of Prince” tribute concert at Carnegie Hall on Thursday March 7, 2013 in New York. — AP

hey partied like it was 1999 - the audience and the musicians - at a Prince tribute concert at Carnegie Hall. More than 20 performers including Elvis Costello, The Roots and the Waterboys paid tribute to the pop icon in a two-hourplus concert Thursday night. They all joined together onstage to close the show with “1999.” Singer D’Angelo took the lead while putting his arm around Bettye LaVette, Chris Rock and Costello clapped hands side-by-side, and comedians-actresses-singers Maya Rudolph and Sandra Bernhard danced in a silly manner - all while the crowd cheered on.

Many of the performers got into character as they sang signature Prince tunes. Soul singer Bilal was wild on “Sister,” singing in various tones like a mad man and thrilling the crowd. Bernhard, in her leather pants, shimmery shirt and shiny shoes, impressed on “Little Red Corvette” as she skipped around onstage and belted high notes. And singer-songwriter Kat Edmonson captured the audience with “The Beautiful Ones,” standing still and singing with only a pianist onstage.

It was one of the only times The Roots weren’t backing up other performers throughout the concert, which raised $100,000 for music education programs. Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson jammed on the drums and even took photos of a pregnant Rudolph when she danced with one hand on her

Jimmy Carter, Ben Moore, Eric “Ricky” McKinnie and Joey Williams The Blind Boys of Alabama perform at “The Music of Prince” tribute concert at Carnegie Hall on Thursday March 7, 2013 in New York. — AP photos

belly and the other stroking her hair. Rudolph, who sings Prince covers under the moniker PRINCEss with Gretchen Lieberum, screeched on “Darling Nikki” and didn’t slow down while performing choreography in heels.

Few words were said to the audience, though Rock thanked the crowd “for coming” toward the end of the show.

He impersonated Prince, too, when reciting the lyrics to “If I Was Your Girlfriend” with sass. Comedian-actor Fred Armisen took on many roles: He recited lyrics from “Let’s Go Crazy,” played the drums while the Blind Boys of Alabama sang “The Cross” and offered light vocals during “It’s Going to Be a Beautiful Night” alongside D’Angelo.

Most of the musicians wore black onstage, though LaVette rocked a purple blazer while singing “Kiss.” Other performers included Eric Leeds, Nina Persson and Talib Kweli. Husbandand-wife Citizen Cope and Alice Smith sang a duet version of “Pop Life” and Booker T. Jones was joined by singer Diane Birch and members of the Young Audiences New York Youth Choir for “Raspberry Beret.” — AP

Singer/musician Elvis Costello performs.

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2012

Models present creations by Jean Paul Gaultier during the Fall/Winter 2013-2014 ready-to-wear collection show in Paris.

— AFP photos

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autical sailor tops and Madonna’s conical bra are coming to London next year in an exhibition of the work of fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier. “The Fashion World Of Jean Paul Gaultier” will open at the Barbican Centre in April 2014. It features more than 140 outfits by the cutting-edge French couturier, including the bra-andcorset costume from Madonna’s 1990 Blonde Ambition tour and outfits for singers Kylie Minogue and Bjork. There are also pieces from Gaultier’s couture

collections, which often feature sailor stripes. The show comes from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and is currently running at Rotterdam’s Kunsthal gallery. Gaultier said Wednesday that London held a special place in his heart, because “the English were the first ones to come to my shows and appreciate my fashion.” — AP

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British model Kate Moss presents a creation for Louis Vuitton during the Fall/Winter 2013-2014 ready-to-wear collection show in Paris. — AFP

he classic Hollywood scene of a mysterious and glamorous woman leaving an anonymous hotel room inspired Louis Vuitton’s ready-to-wear show, moving the house in a more sensual, feminine direction.

A carpeted hotel corridor with a series of numbered doors was recreated inside the Louvre for the fall-winter 2013-14 show, to the sound of nostalgic piano. Suddenly the doors opened, out of which slinked models in ‘50s wigs wearing satin dresses resembling slips. A bathrobe made from a man’s coat followed a crepe dress made with motifs of an undergarment.

“It was about intimacy, the mystery of what’s going on behind the door,” said creative director Marc Jacobs. “It’s Hollywood mixed with rive gauche.” The Hollywood-factor was certainly there in the roll call of top actresses lining the front row including Jessica Chastain, Madmen’s January Jones and Naomi Watts, who’s in Paris promoting her new film “The Grandmothers.” The

numerous long fur coats - some of the most luxurious seen this season - also provided a glam-factor. Mink coats dyed in two tones and murky-colored astrakhan were stand outs - as well as crocodile bags lined with sheared mink, lashings of marabou feathers and hand-curled goose feathers.

“All sorts of creatures were lying around in embroidered form,” joked Jacobs, who may indeed be responsible for emptying a local zoo. Menswear touches like a buttonless tailored jacket or the pajama print reined in the more overtly feminine lingerie looks, ensuring a nice overall balance. But the show was also about Kate Moss. — AP

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2012

In this photo, a 1960’s fashion book of actress Audrey Hepburn is displayed with vintage jew-

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hen Adele wants to make a vintage fashion statement, stylist Gaelle Paul has a go-to source: the cleverly named The Way We Wore shop. Now TV viewers can peek inside Los Angeles store owner Doris Raymond’s 19th- and 20th-century collection that’s lured shoppers Anne Hathaway, Katie Holmes and Angelina Jolie, as well as top designers searching for inspiration from the past. “LA Frock Stars,” a Smithsonian Channel series debuting 8 p.m. EST Thursday, is both a fashionista’s delight and a chance to see passion at work with Raymond, who’s made finding and selling great old duds a quest for more than 30 years.

“The show is about spreading the gospel of vintage,” said Raymond - which translates, for example, to a 1940s jacket with tailoring and fabric that would cost $1,500 to replicate today but can be had for less than $200. Rayond’s tidy but chockful shop also has racks of impressive labels including Chanel, Versace, Halston and Gucci, and the stuff of fashion history like the first version of the Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dress that launched the designer’s career.

Those are found above-stairs at the shop, to be surveyed by VIPs and vintage mavens who also can ogle - or shell out for - such rare items as an intricately made 1920s dress priced at $6,000. The ground floor is the “democratic” section, as Raymond puts it, with less-pricey garments and accessories. But even those are likely to be in the hundreds of dollars: Don’t mistake The Way We Wore for something in Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ clever “Thrift Shop” tune, which celebrates Goodwill-style bargains (“Thank your granddad for donating that plaid button-up shirt”).

“It’s not like going to a thrift shop. This is a high-end, fully curated vintage clothing store. It’s really picky,” said Raymond, who sees her stylish inventory as both art and a link to social history. The farfrom-ordinary garments are what draw stylist Paul and her client Adele, who came in recently on a scouting expedition.

The shop has “designers that I don’t know where else I would find them,” Paul said, such as James Galanos. “It’s just great you can get those designers and their really strong pieces. It’s not the average 1950s dress you find in vintage stores.” A recent day saw actress Samantha Mathis escorted upstairs, while a first-time shopper who wandered in for a party frock was downstairs admiring, wide-eyed, a 1926 hand-beaded French cotton tulle gown for about $3,000.

“When I’m going to get married, I’ll take a vintage dress,” said Anna Ovdienko, a Russian-born psychologist now living in Los Angeles. The Way We Wore is a popular resource for film and TV productions, including “Titanic,” “Casino,” “Boardwalk Empire” and “Mad Men.” Designers find something even more precious: a means to rethinking their approach to modernfashion by looking backward to the construction and materials used by distant counterparts.

Museum-quality garments from couture houses and older, unlabeled ethnic designs are safely tucked in Raymond’s back office, with John Galliano and Alexander McQueen among those who have dropped in to shop. Designers from J. Crew and other retail

In this photo, owner Doris Raymond poses for a photo at her Hollywood high-end vintage store, “The Way We Wore,” in the La Brea District of Los Angeles. — AP photos

chains have done the same. The six-episode series includes visits to The Way We Wore by celebrities including burlesque artist Dita von Teese and actress Debi Mazar (“Entourage”). A singer-songwriter, Alexandra Starlight, preparing for a showcase performance at South by Southwest, is tickled to learn that one of glittery outfits she’s trying is by Fabrice Simon, who costumed Tina Turner.

On-screen pop-ups give viewers a bit of history about the Haitian-born Simon and other designers mentioned on the show, part of Raymond’s mission to enlighten as well as buy and sell (she scours estate sales, vintage auctions and more for potential finds).

At her insistence, “LA Frock Stars” is minus the trumped-up drama tailored for many reality shows. But Raymond’s drive and a sassy workplace “family” including Sarah, Shelly Lyn, Jascmeen and Kyle keep it lively.

Raymond, who discovered second-hand clothes as a teenager when her family fell on hard times, is part of a vintage mini-wave on TV that includes Bravo’s new “Dukes of Melrose,” featuring the owners of LA’s Melrose Avenue boutique Decades. For the Smithsonian Channel, owned by a joint venture between Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution, Raymond and her shop were the right way to expand the channel’s attention to style, according to David Royle, its executive vice president for programming and production. Even as “a guy not heavily into fashion,” Raymond’s enthusiasm and knowledge makes that world engaging, Royle said. “We are an entertainment channel and want to be fun and entertaining, but at the same time provide something substantial.” — AP

In this photo, Angelika Sjostrom (left) helps antique jewelry dealer, Hilary Tisch, to try on a vintage sequin dress.

In this photo taken, vintage dresses are displayed in the window of owner Doris Raymond’s Hollywood high-end vintage store, “The Way We Wore,” in the La Brea District of Los Angeles.

TECHNOLOGY

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Czechs baffled by unprecedented cyber assault PRAGUE: The Czech Republic has been hit by an unprecedented wave of cyber attacks this week, with investigators stumped over their origin amid concerns they could lead to worse mayhem.

“We don’t know anything about the motivation for now, because no one has claimed the attacks,” Radek Holy, spokesman for the National Cyber Security Centre, told AFP following attacks on media, banks and telecommunications websites.

“The character of the attacks gives us absolutely no clues about the reasons” behind them, he added.

On Monday hackers launched a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack on leading Czech news websites, blocking their servers with hundreds of thousands of requests.

They targeted Seznam.cz, the most popular Czech search engine, on Tuesday before taking on the Prague Stock

Exchange, the central bank and several commercial banks on Wednesday, and then two national mobile operators Thursday.

According to Karel Kucharik, head of the country’s police cyber crime squad, this week’s assault constituted “the biggest attack of its kind in the Czech Republic since the Internet was launched.”

Hany Farghali, spokesman for targeted Telefonica Czech Republic, said the IP (Internet provider) addresses behind the attacks were Russian.

“I can confirm that we are cooperating on the international level,” Czech police spokeswoman Marketa Johnova told AFP, without disclosing details “for tactical reasons.” But Holy was sceptical about the Russian link.

“We definitely can’t say this attack has come from Russia. The IP addresses are not only Russian, they are from other

America takes its diplomacy digital WASHINGTON: When John Kerry took to Twitter on his first day as US secretary of state, he joined an army of diplomats using social media to reach out and connect directly with people around the world. “Exhilarating to walk into @StateDept today and get to work with remarkable team. Dad on mind! -JK,” Kerry wrote in his first personal tweet. In less than 140 characters, the new US top diplomat instantly signaled he intended to carry on and deepen a commitment to using social media begun under his predecessor Hillary Clinton.

Clinton did not tweet, but she propelled the State Department towards what she called 21st Century Statecraft, and social media engagement has taken off. There are now more than 300 Twitter accounts with some three million followers, over 400 Facebook pages with close to 20 million fans, and 185 YouTube channels as well as Flickr, Google+ and Instagram links run by the State Department, its embassies, staff and diplomats.

Most of the embassy Facebook pages are written both in English and the local language, and the official Twitter accounts are in 11 languages including Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Hindi, Russian and Turkish. “We want to participate in the conversations that are taking place around the world every day,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary Victoria Esser, in charge of managing digital strategy within the public affairs department.

“The secretary is really committed to using these tools to help us advance our diplomatic goals... It’s going to continue to make our diplomats more effective in today’s world,” she said. The State Department on Friday hosted its first ever tweet-up, asking followers on its @StateDept account, Facebook and Google+ to join it to cover the annual International Women of Courage award. Absent any diplomatic ties with Iran, there’s even a “virtual embassy of Tehran” (http://iran.usembassy.gov/) set up in late 2011 and managed from Washington carrying information about visas and studying in the United States.

But while US diplomatic staff are excited about expanding their reach beyond the traditional embassy walls, there’s a recognition of the inherent problems associated with such freedom. As Kerry said during a trip to Rome diplomats are now working in “an age where it isn’t a letter that comes from the cardinal to the king in some place; it’s instantaneous.” Last year, the Kremlin got involved in a heated Twitter row with US envoy Michael McFaul, the US mission in Cairo was under fire for a statement released about an anti-Islam video and Beijing has been infuriated by a US embassy Twitter feed monitoring pollution levels.

“It’s a good way to communicate, and it’s a new way to communicate, and it’s omnipresent in everyone’s lives. So my feeling is that we should explore this and use it where ever we can,” said US ambassador to Italy, David Thorne. But he cautioned: “I think it’s a challenge to the State Department to manage the message this way, and have a way of interacting with the public that doesn’t get misconstrued. We’re constantly trying to figure out how to do that.”

During the 2012 White House race, Thorne-who honed his social media skills running Kerry’s 2004 online presidential campaign-wrote a weekly blog for La Stampa daily and on election night 2,000 people packed into a room to follow the results electronically. —AFP

parts of Europe too,” he said, explaining the attackers were taking control of drone computers.

The computers’ “owners may not even know about it,” Holy added. Hackers on Wednesday led an assault on the Czech central bank and major commercial banks including Ceska sporitelna owned

by Austria’s Erste Bank, Komercni banka owned by France’s Societe Generale, CSOB, which is in the hands of Belgium’s KBC, and the local branch of Austria’s Raiffeisenbank.

Czech media were awash with speculation the following day. They suggested it was work of a solitary hacker looking to boost his ego, or a protest movement similar to Anonymous, or a test ahead of a more serious assault.

Holy said this was “a possibility which is however impossible to confirm.”

Mikulas Ferjencik, deputy head of the Czech Pirate Party, insisted he knew noth-

ing about the whereabouts of the attacks.

“We still don’t know who’s behind it. It’s a bit surprising that no one has raised any claims,” he said. “We have some people who are close to the hackers’ community and we have no information yet,” Ferjencik said, adding he was afraid the attacks might lead the government to tighten up a cyber security bill now in the works. “I still think the culprit is from the Czech Republic,” he told AFP. Holy said that although he wasn’t taking the attacks lightly, they were “not dangerous, rather unpleasant” for the targeted institutions.

“These attacks can’t damage anything, they really merely burden the servers,” he said. “It’s as if a crowd of people surrounded a building, blocked the door and the road and prevented people from going in or out, but no one would steal anything from the building itself,” added Holy. — AFP

Facebook puts focus on photos in new look, may boost ads Divides newsfeed into several tabs MENLO PARK: Facebook Inc introduced the biggest change in years to its popular newsfeed on Thursday, with a new look and focus on photos that is expected to make the social network more ad-friendly and may entice users to spend more time on the website.

The changes to the newsfeed, whose look and feel had remained largely unchanged since Facebook’s inception, include a division into several sections, with separate areas for photographs and music. The newsfeed is the ever-changing stream of photos, videos and comments uploaded from friends, and is the first page most users see upon logging in.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said the makeover was part of an effort to position the social network as a “personalized newspaper,” complete with different sections for users to explore.

It comes with a revamped interface that gives more prominence to visual media, such as photos and videos. The makeover comes roughly a month after Facebook introduced a new social search feature it dubbed “graph search” that makes it easier for the social network’s more than 1 billion users to discover more content on the social network.

The much-needed changes unveiled on Thursday, which standardize the network’s look across different types of desktop and mobile devices, bring Facebook up-to-date as Google+, the much younger social network started by Google Inc, begins to incorporate more video and images. “This is just going to provide more opportunity for people to click around and stick around,” said Brian Blau, an analyst with industry research firm Gartner, about the revamped newsfeed.

“The newsfeed was kind of outdated.

This sort of brings it up to maybe what’s comparable to...their competition, and partner sites that are focusing on media and richness.”

Facebook’s newsfeed is one of three “pillars” of the service, along with search and user profiles.

HAREN: A file photo taken on September 21, 2012 shows hundreds of youths gathered in Haren, northern Netherlands, after a schoolgirl posted a message inviting friends to her 16th birthday party, but forgot to mark it as a private event. Police and the mayor of a sleepy Dutch town “failed” in their handling of a riot triggered when thousands attended a party after receiving a Facebook invitation meant to be private, a probe found yesterday. — AFP The updated newsfeed provides more space for the photos and videos that users share on the network, and provides a more consistent look and feel between the version for PCs and for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. The changes will begin rolling out in limited fashion from Thursday, Facebook said.

Facebook executives say the updates will help keep organized the increasing jumble of content available on the social network as its user base grows.

The last major update to the feature occurred in September 2011. Since then, the company has incorporated ads directly into the feed and has shifted its focus to creating “mobile-first experiences,” because more people now access the social network from smartphones than from desktop computers.

Marketers will be able to fashion more compelling ads thanks to the increased real estate for photos, said Hussein Fazal,

the chief executive of AdParlor, a firm that helps companies advertise on Facebook.

“Larger images will result in higher click through-rates, a higher level of engagement and better performance,” Fazal wrote in an email.

Still, analysts say the company needs to tread carefully to avoid inundating users’ various feeds with advertising, as Facebook tries to sustain a rapid pace of growth that helped it debut on public markets at the highest-ever valuation for a technology company.

The world’s largest social network is moving to regain Wall Street’s confidence after its botched IPO last year, addressing concerns about its long-term prospects many of which center on an industry-wide shift toward the use of mobile devices.

Facebook shares, which are still more than a quarter off their IPO price of $38, closed up 4 percent at $28.57 on Thursday on the Nasdaq. —Reuters

technology

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Roku adds headphones to latest online video player Feature unavailable on Apple TV player SAN FRANCISCO: Roku is plugging headphones and several other new features into its latest set-top box for streaming Internet video to TVs, a move that amplifies its effort to upstage Apple’s better-selling player.

The Roku 3 box going on sale also includes a more powerful search engine to find movies, TV shows and music more quickly and new menu for perusing the more than 750 online services available through the device.

The new model will be sold for $100, initially only at Roku’s website and Amazon.com. Next month, it will expand into other retail outlets, including Costco and Best Buy stores. Prices for older Roku models with less horsepower start at $50. The new player is the first update to Roku’s line of set-top boxes since July 2011. In the interim, Roku last year

introduced a finger-shaped device that plugs directly into high-definition ports, much like a flash drive fits into a personal computer’s USB drive.

The ability to listen to video and music on headphones will probably be the Roku 3’s biggest attraction, especially for households that already own one of the company’s earlier boxes. Ear buds are included with the Roku 3, although any pair of headphones can be plugged into a jack on the side of the device’s remote control. Just as with the set-top box itself, a Wi-Fi connection is required for the headphones to work. It’s a feature unavailable on the Apple TV player that poses the main competition to Roku’s streaming devices.

The Roku 3 introduces new navigation tools that will be automatically sent to previous versions of the box in

This product image provided by Roku shows the Roky 3. Roku is plugging headphones and several other new features into its latest set-top box for streaming Internet video to TVs, a move that amplifies its effort to upstage Apple’s better-selling player. The Roku 3 box going on sale Wednesday also includes a more powerful search engine to find movies, TV shows and music more quickly and new menu for perusing the more than 750 online services available through the device. — AP

a software update later this year. The redesign displays more information by stacking the channels vertically in rows of three instead of in single, horizontal row in the middle of the screen. The makeover means nine channel choices can be seen at a time instead of just five under the old format.

The new box also boasts a faster processor than previous models, an upgrade likely to appeal to people who want to use the device to play online video games on their TVs. Although it’s still a small company, Roku Inc. has emerged as a significant player in the steadily growing market for Internet video since it introduced its first settop box nearly five years ago.

Originally conceived within Netflix Inc. as a cheap and easy way to get Internet video on to flat-panel TVs, Roku now offers a wide array of entertainment options. Besides Netflix’s Internet video subscription service, Roku boxes also connect to alternatives from Amazon.com and Hulu.com, as well as a variety of online music stations.

Most of the top Internet video services can also be seen through Apple TV, a set-top box that’s similar to Roku’s device. But Apple TV is better known, largely because it’s made and sold by a technology powerhouse that operates more than 400 stores scattered throughout the world while the Roku players are made by a small, privately held company.

Although Apple Inc. doesn’t provide precise figures, CEO Tim Cook has indicated to analysts that the company has sold more than 10 million of its streaming boxes. That includes more than 2 million Apple TV players sold during the final three months last year, up from about 1.4 million at the same time in 2011, Cook told analysts during a January conference call. — AP

Solar batteries could be utilities’ next headache FRANKFURT/MILAN: Renewable energy is constantly evolving and challenging traditional utilities but one growing sector could make home-generated power much easier to use and cut customers’ dependence on energy companies dramatically - solar batteries.

A major conundrum with solar panels has always been how to keep the lights on when the sun isn’t shining.

Solar batteries allow homes and businesses to store solar power to use in the hours of darkness and can also help to create “smart grids” that react to sudden power swings and free stored energy when needed.

The technology is still expensive and not widely used but with energy bills soaring for consumers, it could quickly gain market share and reduce dependence on utilities, which are already struggling with overcapacity and weak demand.

Italy has some of the highest power prices in Europe and is looking at how to cut costs to allow its businesses to compete. Nicola Cosciani, head of energy storage at Italy’s top industrial battery maker Fiamm, says heavy

power users like cement and steel makers are looking at generating and storing their own solar power - and even selling excess power from their batteries on to the grid.

“Germany and Italy will be explosive markets for residential storage and big energy users are also starting to show an interest. This is a game changer,” he told Reuters. By 2020, the EU aims to get 20 percent of its energy from renewables. That compares to 12.5 percent of the EU energy mix in 2010 and 8.1 percent in 2004, according to most recent EU statistics. Batteries will be crucial in reaching this target.

In Germany, the world’s largest solar market and Europe’s largest energy consumer, about 40 percent of all modules sold have been installed in homes, directly hitting demand for power from E.ON and RWE. A four-person household can cut the amount of power it uses from the grid by 30 percent per year if it uses solar panels and another 30 percent if it uses a solar battery, leaving it to buy only 40 percent of supplies from utilities. — Reuters

LONDON: Lorraine Turton, managing director of the Greenwich Communication Centre internet cafe poses for photographs outside her premises on Trafalgar Road in Greenwich, London, Tuesday. The small shopkeepers in Greenwich are running out of time. In the London borough that gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time, businesses like Lorraine Turton’s are in danger of being relegated to history — the victims of online shopping, changing tastes and, increasingly, the protracted recession. Her Internet cafe on Trafalgar Road is a rare hive of activity on a “high street” _ the British name for a town’s main business district. — AP

Despite flaws, voice search has potential DOVER: I never thought I’d be telling my phone what to do.

But I often find myself talking to various digital assistants Siri on the iPhone and Google Now on Android devices - to request driving directions, restaurant recommendations and answers to all sorts of nagging questions.

Until recently, I harbored a small prejudice against this kind of voice technology. I’ve long been annoyed by automated phone systems that make you speak instructions rather than enter them with a touch-tone phone. These technologies tend to hear me incorrectly and slow me down as I try to make a train reservation or check my credit card account. I also feel odd talking to my phone, rather than with a real human.

Even when smartphones started letting you search the Web with voice commands, my instinct was to stick with typing, however awkward touch-screen keyboards became. My attitude slowly changed. A key turning point came during a 230-mile drive from Charleston, W.Va., to visit friends outside Cleveland. I needed to pick up wine for my hosts and was pleased when Siri found a winery in Dover, Ohio. The shop was about 50 miles away from where I was, but relatively close to the highway I was on.

A traditional search might have located places that were closer in distance, but more out of the way. More importantly, I was able to perform that search while cruising on the highway. (Yeah, I know I shouldn’t be doing that, but using voice commands beats typing while driving.) Of course, neither Siri nor Google Now is flawless. During the course of my trip, Siri responded to a request for directions to Marygate Drive with a list of movie theaters named Mary. Google Now tried to look up “Fort museum” rather than the Ford museum. As for that search for wine shops, one of Siri’s recommendations was about 120 miles away in the wrong direction. It took a few tries to find choices closer to my route.

Another complaint: Both require Internet connections for the most part -even for tasks that don’t involve looking up anything, such as setting the alarm on your phone. The exception is Google Now’s ability to make phone calls anytime by saying “Call Tom” or another name on your contact list, but in those times when you don’t have a data connection, you’re not likely to have voice service, either.

But if you don’t need perfection, both Siri and Google Now are decent assistants, especially considering that typing on small touch-screen keyboards can be frustrating. Siri is chattier - and feistier - than Google Now. She’ll always respond with something, whereas Google Now often gives you no more than a list of websites, as if you’d just conducted a regular Web search. Only occasionally does Google Now give you a spoken-aloud response. Ask for the assistant’s name on the iPhone, and she responds, “My name is Siri, but you know that already.” Google, being Google, responds with websites with “What is your name?” in them. — AP

TV listings

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

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

Crime Scene Wild Untamed & Uncut Wildest Islands Air Jaws 2 Whale Wars: Viking Shores Rescue Vet Escape To Chimp Eden Animal Precinct The Really Wild Show Pandamonium Bad Dog Crocodile Hunter Too Cute!

Animal Airport Animal Airport My Cat From Hell The Really Wild Show Animal ER Animal ER Animal ER Animal ER Animal ER Animal ER Wild France Wild France Into The Pride Wildest Islands My Cat From Hell Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer Animal Cops Houston

00:00 Homes Under The Hammer 00:50 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 01:35 Come Dine With Me 02:25 The Boss Is Coming To Dinner 02:50 The Boss Is Coming To Dinner 03:15 MasterChef 04:10 Celebrity Fantasy Homes 05:00 Bargain Hunt 05:45 Bargain Hunt 06:30 Homes Under The Hammer 07:25 Homes Under The Hammer 08:20 The Hairy Bikers USA 08:45 Homes Under The Hammer 09:40 Homes Under The Hammer 10:30 Homes Under The Hammer 11:20 The Boss Is Coming To Dinner 11:45 The Boss Is Coming To Dinner 12:10 Come Dine With Me 13:00 Come Dine With Me: South Africa 13:55 Rick Stein’s Spain 14:50 New Scandinavian Cooking 15:15 The Hairy Bikers USA 15:40 The Hairy Bikers USA 16:05 Antiques Roadshow 16:55 Bargain Hunt 17:40 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 18:25 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 19:10 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 19:55 Come Dine With Me: Supersize 21:25 Come Dine With Me: South Africa 22:20 Antiques Roadshow 23:10 Bargain Hunt 23:55 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

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

05:10 Emperor’s New School 05:35 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 06:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 06:25 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 06:40 Suite Life On Deck 07:05 A.N.T. Farm 07:30 Wizards Of Waverly Place 07:55 Fish Hooks 08:05 Fish Hooks 08:20 That’s So Raven 08:45 Good Luck Charlie 09:10 Shake It Up 09:35 Jessie 10:00 Austin And Ally 10:25 A.N.T Farm 10:50 Gravity Falls 11:15 Finding Nemo 12:55 Wizards Of Waverly Place 13:20 Suite Life On Deck 13:45 Good Luck Charlie 14:10 Jessie 14:35 Jessie 15:00 Gravity Falls 15:25 Gravity Falls 15:50 Good Luck Charlie 16:15 Good Luck Charlie 16:40 Shake It Up 17:00 Good Luck Charlie: The Road Trip Movie 18:20 Gravity Falls 18:45 Good Luck Charlie 19:10 Wizards Of Waverly Place 19:35 Shake It Up 20:00 Austin And Ally 20:25 My Babysitter’s A Vampire 20:50 A.N.T. Farm 21:15 Jessie 21:40 Jessie 22:05 Good Luck Charlie 22:30 Good Luck Charlie 22:55 The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody 23:20 The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody 23:45 Stitch

Taz-Mania Pink Panther And Pals Moomins Tom & Jerry Kids A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Puppy In My Pocket Wacky Races Looney Tunes Duck Dodgers Dastardly And Muttley Dexter’s Laboratory Wacky Races Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries Tom & Jerry The Garfield Show Bananas In Pyjamas Gerald McBoing Boing Jelly Jamm Ha Ha Hairies Baby Looney Tunes Cartoonito Tales Gerald McBoing Boing Lazy Town Krypto The Superdog Bananas In Pyjamas Cartoonito Tales Ha Ha Hairies Jelly Jamm

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

Gerald McBoing Boing Lazy Town Krypto The Superdog Baby Looney Tunes Ha Ha Hairies Jelly Jamm Gerald McBoing Boing Lazy Town Krypto The Superdog Tiny Toons Pink Panther And Pals Pink Panther And Pals Tom And Jerry Tales 13 Ghosts Of Scooby-Doo Johnny Bravo Dexter’s Laboratory Looney Tunes Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries Taz-Mania The Looney Tunes Show Tom & Jerry The Garfield Show Pink Panther And Pals What’s New Scooby-Doo? Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries Puppy In My Pocket The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop The Addams Family Droopy: Master Detective

00:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson 01:00 Amanpour 01:30 World Sport 02:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 03:00 World Report 03:30 World Sport 04:00 Anderson Cooper 360 05:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 06:00 Quest Means Business

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

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

00:15 01:10 02:05 03:00 03:55

Fast N’ Loud Jesse James Outlaw Garage American Chopper Mythbusters How Stuff’s Made

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

Auction Kings Auction Hunters Factory Line How Stuff’s Made American Guns Superhuman Showdown James May’s Man Lab Life On A Wire Great White Shark: Uncaged River Monsters Animal Cops South Africa American Chopper American Chopper American Chopper American Chopper American Chopper American Chopper Fast N’ Loud Gold Rush Gold Divers Sons Of Guns Auction Hunters Auction Hunters Auction Hunters Auction Hunters Auction Hunters Auction Kings

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

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

00:20 Little Einsteins 00:50 Special Agent Oso 01:05 Special Agent Oso 01:15 Lazytown 01:40 Jungle Junction 01:55 Jungle Junction 02:10 Handy Manny 02:20 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 07:00 Special Agent Oso 07:15 Jungle Junction 07:30 Jungle Junction 07:45 Handy Manny 08:00 Special Agent Oso 08:15 Jungle Junction 08:30 Little Einsteins 08:55 Lazytown 09:20 Imagination Movers 09:45 Timmy Time 09:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 10:20 The Hive 10:30 Doc McStuffins 10:45 Zou 11:00 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 11:15 Toy Story Toons 11:20 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 11:45 Doc McStuffins 12:00 Handy Manny 12:10 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 12:25 Mouk 12:35 Lilo And Stitch 13:00 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 13:10 Timmy Time 13:20 The Hive 13:30 Doc McStuffins 13:45 Doc McStuffins 14:00 Zou 14:15 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 14:30 Mouk 14:45 Jungle Junction 15:00 Handy Manny 15:15 Handy Manny 15:25 Handy Manny 15:40 Handy Manny

15:50 Handy Manny 16:05 The Hive 16:20 Mouk 16:35 Zou 16:50 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 17:05 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 17:20 Doc McStuffins 17:35 Doc McStuffins 17:45 Art Attack 18:10 Lazytown 18:40 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 19:05 Mouk 19:20 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 19:35 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 20:00 Animated Stories 20:05 Timmy Time 20:15 Pajanimals 20:25 Doc McStuffins 20:40 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 20:55 Jake & The Neverland Pirates 21:10 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 21:20 The Hive 21:30 Pajanimals 21:45 Handy Manny 22:00 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 22:25 Pajanimals 22:35 New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh 23:00 Timmy Time 23:10 Animated Stories 23:15 A Poem Is...

23:20 Winnie The Pooh: Tales Of Friendship 23:30 Jungle Junction 23:45 Handy Manny 23:55 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

00:00 Scouted 00:55 Style Star 01:25 THS 02:20 THS 03:15 Style Star 03:40 Extreme Close-Up 04:10 E!es 05:05 E!es 06:00 THS 07:50 Style Star 08:20 E! News 09:15 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 10:15 THS 11:10 E!es 12:05 E! News 13:05 Scouted 14:05 Giuliana & Bill 15:00 Giuliana & Bill 16:00 Opening Act 17:00 Opening Act 18:00 E! News 19:00 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 20:00 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 21:00 Fashion Police: The 2013 Academy Awards 22:30 E! News 23:30 Chelsea Lately

00:15 Heat Seekers 00:40 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 01:05 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 01:30 Heat Seekers 01:55 Outrageous Food 02:20 Unwrapped 02:45 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 03:10 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 03:35 Heat Seekers 04:00 Heat Seekers 04:25 Unique Eats 04:50 Food Crafters 05:15 Charly’s Cake Angels 05:40 Chopped 06:30 Iron Chef America 07:10 Unwrapped 07:35 Unwrapped 08:00 Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger 08:25 Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger 08:50 Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger 09:15 Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger 09:40 Cooking For Real 10:05 Cooking For Real 10:30 Cooking For Real 10:55 Cooking For Real 11:20 Symon’s Suppers 11:45 Symon’s Suppers 12:10 Symon’s Suppers

TV listings

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013 12:35 13:00 13:50 Basics 14:15 Basics 14:40 Basics 15:05 15:30 15:55 16:20 16:45 17:35 Basics 18:00 Basics 18:25 Basics 18:50 Basics 19:15 19:40 20:05 20:30 21:20 22:10 23:00 23:25 23:50

Symon’s Suppers Iron Chef America Barefoot Contessa - Back To

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

I Almost Got Away With It Dr G: Medical Examiner The Haunted Scorned: Crimes Of Passion Most Evil I Almost Got Away With It Dr G: Medical Examiner The Haunted Murder Shift Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

True Crime With Aphrodite

Barefoot Contessa - Back To Barefoot Contessa - Back To Unique Sweets Unique Sweets Unique Sweets Unique Sweets Chopped Barefoot Contessa - Back To Barefoot Contessa - Back To

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

The Last Exorcism-18 RoboCop-18 True Justice: Lethal JusticeIce Road Terror-PG15 Battle: Los Angeles-PG15 Sucker Punch-PG15 Goal!-PG15 Battle: Los Angeles-PG15 Season Of The Witch-PG15 Goal!-PG15 RoboCop 2-PG15 Troy-PG15

Barefoot Contessa - Back To Barefoot Contessa - Back To Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Chopped Chopped Chef Hunter Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives

00:45 03:00 05:00 07:00 09:00 11:15 13:00 15:00 PG15 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

John Carter-PG15 The Edge Of Love-PG15 Battle For Terra-PG Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2-PG John Carter-PG15 The Proud Family Movie-FAM Lord Of The Dance-PG The Marc Pease ExperienceThe Tourist-PG15 On The Inside-PG15 The Big Bang-18 The Trotsky-PG15

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 The Ricky Gervais Show 02:00 Louie 02:30 Family Guy 03:00 Parks And Recreation 03:30 2 Broke Girls 04:00 Gary Unmarried 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Hope & Faith

06:00 10 Items Or Less 06:30 Less Than Perfect 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Gary Unmarried 08:30 Modern Family 09:00 Parks And Recreation 09:30 30 Rock 10:00 Cougar Town 10:30 Last Man Standing 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 10 Items Or Less 12:30 Gary Unmarried 13:00 Hope & Faith 13:30 Less Than Perfect 14:00 2 Broke Girls 14:30 Cougar Town 15:00 30 Rock 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 10 Items Or Less 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Parks And Recreation 18:30 Happy Endings 19:00 The Neighbors 19:30 Don’t Trust The B In Apartment 23 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 22:00 Saturday Night Live 23:00 Family Guy 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00

American Idol Glee Survivor: Caramoan Smash Good Morning America The Practice Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Body Of Proof

11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00

The Practice American Idol Glee Body Of Proof Smash Live Good Morning America Emmerdale Coronation Street Top Gear (US) Criminal Minds The Mob Doctor Sons Of Anarchy

00:00 01:00 02:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Royal Pains Survivor: Caramoan Smash Royal Pains Emmerdale Coronation Street Perception Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Perception Royal Pains Emmerdale Coronation Street Perception Top Gear (US) Criminal Minds The Mob Doctor Sons Of Anarchy Boardwalk Empire

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

Murder Shift Disappeared Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol Forensic Detectives True Crime With Aphrodite Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

Disappeared Murder Shift Forensic Detectives True Crime With Aphrodite

Season Of The Witch Goal!

RoboCop 2 Troy

00:00 The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou-PG15 02:00 The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard-18 04:00 In Her Shoes-PG15 06:15 The Decoy Bride-PG15 08:00 The Tooth Fairy 2-PG 10:00 Sleepless In Seattle-PG 12:00 In Her Shoes-PG15 14:15 Little Fockers-PG15 16:00 Sleepless In Seattle-PG 18:00 Beware The Gonzo-PG15 20:00 Tamara Drewe-18 22:00 The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou-PG15

01:00 04:00 05:30 07:00 09:00 PG15 11:00 13:15 15:00 PG15 17:00 19:15 21:00 23:00

Hindenburg-PG15 Krach-18 The Roommate-PG15 Super 8-PG15 An Invisible Sign Of My OwnElizabethtown-PG15 Honey 2-PG15 An Invisible Sign Of My OwnThe Evening Star-PG15 The Adjustment Bureau-PG15 The Presidio-PG15 An Officer And A Gentleman-18

00:00 Awaydays-18 02:00 The Adventures Of Tintin-PG 04:00 Transformers: Dark Of The Moon-PG15 07:00 Treasure Buddies-PG 09:00 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules-PG 10:45 The Pirates! Band Of Misfits-PG 12:15 Rio-FAM 14:15 Oceans-FAM 16:00 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules-PG 18:00 Red Riding Hood-PG15 20:00 Crisis Point-PG15 22:00 The Inbetweeners-18

01:00 The Ugly Duckling Goes On Holiday 02:45 Rango 04:30 Alex & Alexis 06:00 Hop 08:00 A Fairy Tale Christmas 10:00 Hey Arnold! The Movie 11:30 Ploddy Police Car 13:00 The Fairy Tale Tree 14:30 Rango 16:15 Rebound 18:00 Hey Arnold! The Movie 20:00 Happy Feet Two 22:00 The Fairy Tale Tree 23:30 A Fairy Tale Christmas

Disappeared Nightmare Next Door Couples Who Kill Deadly Affairs I Was Murdered

00:45 Living With The Amish 01:40 Travel Madness 02:05 Travel Madness 02:35 Bondi Rescue 03:00 Bondi Rescue 03:30 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita 2 03:55 Maverick Chef 04:25 Living With The Amish 05:20 Bondi Rescue 05:45 Bondi Rescue 06:15 Walking The World 07:10 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 08:05 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 09:00 Long Way Down 09:55 Long Way Down 10:50 Living With The Amish 11:45 Travel Madness 12:10 Travel Madness 12:40 Bondi Rescue 13:05 Bondi Rescue 13:35 David Rocco’s Amalfi Getaway 14:00 Maverick Chef 14:30 Living With The Amish 15:25 Banged Up Abroad 16:20 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 17:15 Long Way Down 18:10 Long Way Down 19:05 Bondi Rescue 19:30 Bondi Rescue 20:00 Walking The World 21:00 Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled 22:00 Don’t Tell My Mother 22:55 Bite Me With Dr. Mike Leahy 23:50 By Any Means

The Last Exorcism RoboCop True Justice: Lethal Justice Ice Road Terror Battle: Los Angeles Sucker Punch Goal!

Battle: Los Angeles

16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

THE TOURIST ON OSN CINEMA

00:00 MSNBC Martin Bashir 01:00 MSNBC Hardball With Chris Matthews 02:00 MSNBC Politicsnation 03:00 Live NBC Nightly News 03:30 ABC World News With Diane Sawyer 04:00 MSNBC The Ed Show 05:00 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 06:00 MSNBC The Last Word W/ Lawrence O’Donnell 07:00 NBC Nightly News 07:30 ABC World News With Diane Sawyer 08:00 NBC Nightly News 08:39 ABC Nightline 09:06 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 10:00 MSNBC The Ed Show 11:00 MSNBC Morning Joe 14:00 MSNBC Caught On Camera 15:00 Live NBC Saturday Today Show 17:00 MSNBC Up With Chris Hayes Saturday 18:57 Live MSNBC Hardball With Chris Matthews 19:38 Live MSNBC The Ed Show 20:19 Live MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show

21:00 Live ABC 20/20 22:00 MSNBC Weekends With Alex Witt Saturday

00:00 According To Greta-PG15 02:00 StreetDance 2-PG15 03:30 The Phantom Of The Opera At The Royal Albert Hall-PG15 06:15 Into The Wind-PG15 08:00 Puss In Boots-PG 10:00 Jetsons: The Movie-FAM 12:00 StreetDance 2-PG15 14:00 Tower Heist-PG15 16:00 Puss In Boots-PG 17:45 Hugo-PG 20:00 The Change Up-18 22:00 Albert Nobbs-18

00:00 00:30 08:30 09:00 09:30 11:30 13:30 15:30 17:30 18:00 20:00 22:00

ICC Cricket 360 Live Cricket Test Match Inside The PGA Tour ICC Cricket 360 Live Super Rugby Live Super Rugby NRL Premiership Live Anglo Welsh Cup ICC Cricket 360 Live Super Rugby Live Super Rugby Dubai World Cup Carnival

01:00 02:00 04:00 05:00 08:00 09:00 09:30 13:30 14:00 16:00 20:00 23:00

UFC The Ultimate Fighter WWE Smackdown WWE Bottom Line Live AFL Premiership Trans World Sport Futbol Mundial Live NRL Premiership ICC Cricket 360 Super Rugby Live Dubai World Carnival NRL Premiership Anglo Welsh Cup

00:00 01:00 01:30 02:30 03:30 04:30 05:30 06:00 07:00 07:30 10:30 13:30 15:00 16:00 18:00 18:30 19:00 20:00 20:45 23:00

Adventure Challenge Total Rugby Golfing World World Pool Masters World Cup Of Pool Adventure Challenge Total Rugby Golfing World ICC Cricket 360 Live AFL Premiership Live AFL Premiership Super League Trans World Sport Live Top 14 Total Rugby ICC Cricket 360 Trans World Sport Futbol Mundial Live Super League Top 14

01:00 WWE Bottom Line 02:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 03:00 Ping Pong World Championships 04:00 US Bass Fishing 05:00 NHL 07:00 WWE SmackDown 10:00 WWE Bottom Line 11:00 NHL 11:00 WWE Vintage Collection 13:00 UAE National Race Day Series 14:00 WWE Smackdown 16:00 WWE Bottom Line 17:00 UFC The Ultimate Fighter 18:00 UAE National Race Day Series 19:00 NHL 21:00 WWE SmackDown 23:00 WWE Bottom Line

00:40 03:00 05:05 06:45 08:00 09:50 11:30 13:20 15:15 17:05 19:25 23:00

The Wild Bunch-U Bells Are Ringing-FAM The Time Machine-FAM The Omega Man-PG The Great Lie-U Hotel Paradiso-PG An American In Paris-FAM The Big Sleep-PG Bachelor In Paradise-PG The Comedians-PG Gone With The Wind-PG Westworld

WHAT’S ON SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Gulfspic-Bentley seminar on engineering software

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echnical seminar on world’s leading structural analysis and design software ‘STAAD.Pro V8i/RAM & ProStructures’ was jointly conducted by Gulf SPIC General Trading & Contracting Co WLL, and Bentley Systems Inc, at Safir Hotel & Residency Fintas on Feb 7, 2013 Thursday. The morning session started with welcome address by Vice Chairman Dr Abdulhadi Al-Awadi. Technical Team from Bentley Systems Kareem Sherif, Regional Sales Manager, Ali Alkhalifa Regional Account Manager and John Paul Dela Rosa, Applications Engineer Structural moderated the technical seminar with entirety.

Bentley Systems is the global leader in engineering software for information modelling through integrated projects for infrastructure for Bridges, Roads, Rail and Transit Networks, Power

Plants, Water and Wastewater Utilities, Offshore Structures, Construction Simulation, Collaboration Services, Process Plant Operations, Structural Analysis and 3D City Modelling joined hands with Gulf SPIC producing success for the past several years in promoting Bentley Products in Kuwait. Gulf SPIC with expertise in all engineering discipline helps to support the users of Bentley Software. One thing it was highlighted in the seminar is Bentley Institute training and all the engineers attended the seminar shown over whelming response to learn for career development. The enthusiastic Engineers from Ministry of Public Works, KNPC, KOC, PIC, EQUATE, National Guard and other consultants like SSHI, Gulf Consult and KEB etc, were attended the seminar. Bill Dewald Sr. Director, Gulf SPIC, concluded the seminar with vote of thanks.

ABS attends Harvard Model Congress in Dubai

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rom January 24-26, a delegation of High School students from The American Baccalaureate School will travel to the UAE to participate in the prestigious Harvard Model Congress conference hosted at the American University of Dubai. Organized and run by Harvard University students, the conference is billed as “the premier government simulation for international students,” and offers delegates the opportunity to actively engage in debate on alternative energy, bioterrorism, nuclear proliferation, women’s health, the conflict in Syria, immigration, and a range of other subjects that preoccupy world leaders and affect millions around the globe today.

Drawing on the personal research conducted into the subjects and countries assigned in December, the ABS delegates will attend meetings and debates in Dubai with their peers from schools in Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Palestine, Turkey, Pakistan, India, and Kazakhstan.

As representatives of their assigned countries the students will learn how to speak and conduct themselves in a public forum while grappling with contentious, transnational, and

time-sensitive issues. At no point does any delegate break character and proceedings mirror real-life diplomacy in action.

ABS is taking Latifah Al-Kandari, Khulood Al-Asfoor, Mariam Al-Qadfan, Nora Al-Kulaib, Nora Al-Halabi, Samarah Al-Ali, Nawal Al-Ibrahim, Munira Al-Qudabi, and Khaled AlRoomi from the 12th grade and Dana Al-Refai, Sarah AlMohaisen, and Suleiman Al-Ghenaiman from the 11th grade.

Collectively, the ABS delegates will represent Syria, Tunisia, Russia, Brazil, and Malaysia at the Arab League, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the World Health Organization. Additionally, several of our students will take on the personas of representatives of the United States House of Representatives to debate US domestic issues.

The conference offers our students the opportunity to meet peers from diverse backgrounds, learn how to conduct research and formulate arguments and political motions, and to hone public speaking skills. Managed entirely by students from Harvard University, the conference is the intersection of classroom-based education and its real-world applicability.

Announcements St Patrick Day Kuwait Irish Society presents our St Patrick’s Day celebration at Hilton Hotel, Al-Dorra Ballroom, Friday March 15, 2013. Dress Code: Black tie.

Musical extravaganza with Dr Yesudas Trend setter Udupi Restaurant, Kuwait proudly present “Gandharva Nadamritham”, a live classical musical extravaganza featuring the living legend & maestro Padmabooshan Award winner Dr. K.J. Yesudas with his troupe from India, on March 22 at American International School, Maidan Hawally, Kuwait.

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

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

Qualified and experienced British and American Coaches, Everyone Welcome.

Places of interest Sadu House Al Sadu House stands on Arabian Gulf Street near the National Museum, representing one of the last preserved pre-oil -era dwellings in Kuwait. Al Sadu House became a centre for Bedouin art and the sale of traditional goods In 1979. Visitors can observe Bedouin women weaving at their looms, handmaking carpets, camel bags and tent screens.

Opening hours are Saturday to Thursday from 8:00 am to 1:00 p.m and from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m daily except Friday. (Tel: +965 2243.2395) Admission is FREE.

Science & Natural History Museum A wealth of education awaits the visitor to the Science and Natural History Museum on Abdulla Al Mubarak Street.

Each gallery contains either a collection or an exhibit covering a wide range of themes. Collections on display Include fossils, stuffed animals, skeletons, and dried flowers. There are exhibits on health, petroleum, space travel, and electronics, among others. Forming part of the National Museum complex, the wonderful, modern Planetarium In the museum complex has shows at around 18:00 daily: local children, convinced the room is spinning, clap In syncopated beats every time the accompanying music begins.

A museum planetarium shows: Mornings: 1st Show: 10:00 a.m; 2nd Show: 11:00 a. m; 3rd Show: 12:00 p.m

Evenings: 1st Show: 5:00 p.m; 2nd Show: 5:45 p.m; 3rd Show : 6:00 p.m. Note: Friday & Saturday no morning shows. (Tel: +965 22451195; +965 22456534). Admission is FREE. The Dickson House The house of the first British political agent In Kuwait is still standing. The Dickson House, located across from the dhow harbour east of Sief Palace, was originally a Kuwaiti home built in 1870, but was given to Britain to use as residential headquarters. The compound was expanded several times over the years, but stands as an excellent example of early Kuwaiti architectural styles. Opening hours are from Saturday to Thursday 8:30 a.m-12:30 p.m and 4:30 a.m-8:30 p.m Friday 4:30 a.m - 8:30 p.m. Admission is FREE.

WHAT’S ON SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Black and White Day at ABS

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he American Baccalaureate School held another enthusiastic theme day filled with many smiles and laughter was celebrated on Thursday, January 31, 2013. Our KG department dressed all out for Black & White Day and participated in many class activities and fun festivities at our morning assembly! We kicked off our Black and White Assembly with a cow-milking demonstration, an Oreo stacking contest between KG2 students and, best of all, a “Best Hairdo” competition out of shave cream and black

accessories added for the final touch. Team Ms. Amal and Ruben won it! Our lovely moo-cow mascot was on hand for picture taking and fun was had by all! Staff and students all dressed in black and white with matching accessories; cow costumes, Minnie and Mickey Mouse were even seen in their black and white attire. Milk was generously provided by KD Cow for all of the classes to enjoy during snack time. Lots of photos were taken of this exciting Black and White event and memories made!

Kuwaiti entrepreneurs visit ABS

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s part of their Introduction to Economics elective, The American Baccalaureate School 12th graders have been meeting with Kuwaiti entrepreneurs for the past several weeks to work on their end-of-semester projects. The entrepreneurs, who were recently hosted at a reception by the United States Embassy in Kuwait, have graciously taken time out of their busy schedules to attend multiple classes per week in which they have mentored and advised the students on their projects.

After a semester in which the seniors studied the basics of economics, evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of command

and market-based economies, and examined the role of the Kuwaiti government in the national economy, they are developing businesses that would fill a specific gap in the Kuwaiti market.

It was thought that this project would allow students to apply the basic economic principles they learned to real-life entrepreneurship as well as allowing students to seriously consider, with the guidance of the entrepreneurs, how to establish and run a profitable and successful business in Kuwait.

During Semester One students became aware of the extent to which the Kuwaiti economy depends on the export of oil and the

FREE ARABIC LANGUAGE Course at IPC

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PC and all its branches is opening FREE Arabic Language Course for non-Arab LADIES accessible in beginners and advance levels. Classes will commence from March 1st till June 2013. Islamic and Quran courses are alos presented in different languages. Registration is on!

Call the nearest IPC branch: Rawdah: Offers 2 alternatives for Leval 1 - Call: 22512257, 1. Once a week class (4 - month course) 2. Twice a week class (2 - month course) Salmiyah: 25733263 / 97533263 Kheitan: 24730137 / 99285459 Mangaf: 23720931Jahra: 90003931

benefits to be gained from diversifying the national economy and strengthening Kuwait’s private sector; this end-of-semester project provided the seniors the chance to consider how they could contribute toward that end.

The seven young entrepreneurs, all of whom are Kuwaiti, have successfully founded and run event management companies, a restaurant, a multi-brand store, various consultancies, an athletic foundation, and one of Kuwait’s best-known bakeries. They have brought with them invaluable sector-specific expertise that they have employed to mentor the ABS seniors over weeks of contact in the classroom. The students’ ideas have developed in previously-unforeseeable ways to include smartphone apps, wholesale import companies, a website that matches individuals with service providers, a smartphone app, and more.

One of the most memorable moments to date has been being told by the entrepreneurs that they have witnessed a significant development in the students’ ability to think as entrepreneurs navigating Kuwait’s private sector. As the entrepreneurs youth attests to, Kuwait is a place where, with the correct attitude and approach, individuals with an innovative idea and a passion can succeed in the private sector. The hope is that the entrepreneurially-inclined ABS seniors can now take the lessons learned in school and apply them professionally post-graduation. ABS would like to express its deep gratitude to the entrepreneurs who have mentored, taught, and guided our students with such professionalism and humility.

New Indian business forum to be launched

I

ntroducing a new world of business networking and commercial synergy, a world all set to open fresh contours in the emerging global economic scenario.

A forum comprising of Indian businessmen and professionals will soon be launched in Kuwait to promote business and trade. The forum will primarily aim to provide an interactive platform of networking for Indian businessmen and professionals with their Kuwaiti counterparts through regular interface, meetings and even workshops. The new forum, which plans to engage with all trade and commerce bodies across India and also in Kuwait, intends to act as a unified forum for exchange of information related to current or

expected business or professional opportunities in India and Kuwait.

Not merely confined to business exchanges, this forum will also enable Indian businessmen and professionals to make suggestions to the government on matters of policy matters, procedures pertaining to the business activities. The forum plans to promote Indian businesses in Kuwait by providing several opportunities between businesses, dissemination of information through seminars and interaction with local and government counterparts. In brief, the Forum intends to revolutionise and develop new business and professional relationships while consolidating existing ties.

health & science

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

American childhood obesity fight records some success Half of all Americans will be obese by 2030

MIYAKO, Japan: This combination photo shows a street in Miyako, Iwate prefecture yesterday. Japan’s progress in rebuilding from the mountain of water that thundered over coastal sea walls, sweeping entire communities away and killing nearly 19,000 people, is mainly measured in barren foundations and empty spaces. — AP

Floating tsunami trash will be decades-long headache PARIS: The tsunami that ravaged northeast Japan in March 2011 created the biggest single dumping of rubbish, sweeping some five million tons of shattered buildings, cars, household goods and other rubble into the sea.

About three-and-a-half million tons, according to official Japanese estimates, sank immediately, leaving some 1.5 million tons of plastic, timber, fishing nets, shipping containers, industrial scrap and innumerable other objects to float deeper into the ocean.

Marine experts poring over the disaster say the floating trash adds significantly to the Pacific’s already worrying pollution problem. For many years, and possibly decades, items will be a hazard for shipping, a risk for sea mammals, turtles and birds, a hitchhiking invitation for invasive species and a poorly understood threat to wildlife through plastic micro-particles. “In a single stroke, the tsunami dumped 3,200 times the amount of rubbish that Japan discharges annually into the Pacific,” said Robin des Bois, a French environmental group that is studying the problem.

“In plastic alone, the volume is the equivalent to several decades of accumulated waste in the Atlantic and Pacific.”

Early last year, the first debris started to wash up on shores of Oregon, Washington and southern Alaska and the Canadian province of British Columbia.

They were foam and buoys that have “high windage”, meaning objects that sit proud of the waves and are easily pushed by the wind. They were followed by other items that sometimes spoke poignantly of the disaster on the other side of the ocean. They included a Harley-Davidson motorbike in a container, a football with the owner’s name on it, a crewless ship and two massive concrete docks on styrofoam floats. — AP

NEVADA: Lead Trial Attorney Robert Eglet (left) reviews deposition with Jonathon Bunker (right), former CEO and President of Health Plan of Nevada, during questioning Thursday in Las Vegas for the role of the HMO in the largest outbreak of hepatitis C in US history. — AFP

WASHINGTON: US companies and other groups that have made attempts to reverse the nation’s rising childhood obesity rate are starting to see results as more American kids exercise and have better access to healthy foods, they said on Thursday. More than 1,700 US cities have promoted exercise to get nearly 3 million more kids moving in the last year, according to a report by the Partnership for a Healthier America, a nonprofit that works to get private companies and organizations to pledge specific action to fight the weight epidemic.

Still, if left unchecked, about half of all Americans will be obese by 2030, according to the group, whose partners range from Darden Restaurants Inc and Walmart Stores Inc to the YMCA and the US Olympic Committee. Some health advocates welcomed the findings but said more effort was still needed, including government action. Already, one in three US youth are obese and another third are overweight.

Experts are worried because heavier children are more likely to remain overweight as adults, and suffer a higher incidence of diabetes, heart disease and other conditions.

“We’re seeing pockets of progress toward reversing the childhood obesity epidemic,” said Dr Risa Lavizzo-Mourey of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “For progress to reach every corner of our country, we must redouble our efforts: parents, schools, nonprofit organizations, government at all levels, and the private sector.” Childhood obesity carries significant healthcare related costs and even poses national security risks, experts say, by reducing the pool of those fit for military service.

Some of the partner companies have pledged to change food offerings on restaurant menus or work to get more children into activities like soccer or tennis, according to the group, which released the report as part of its annual conference in Washington that also headlined First Lady

Michelle Obama. The group has said it wants to help 10 million Americans gain access to healthier foods, saying 23.5 million people in the United States - including 6.5 million children - have no nearby access to options like fresh produce or cannot afford to buy it.

Already, 141 grocery stores have been built or renovated in so-called “food deserts,” often low-income urban neighborhoods without nearby grocery stores, helping more than a half-million people, it said. “In places like Philadelphia, New York City and Mississippi places where folks from every sector are working together - we’ve seen childhood obesity rates begin to come down,” said Obama, who has made tackling obesity her signature issue while in the White House. Fruits and vegetables, meat and other whole foods can often be more expensive than processed ones that contain subsidized ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup. — Reuters

Study: Even in Canada, wealth influences medical treatment TORONTO: Poorer people have a harder time getting a doctor’s appointment in Canada, even though the country’s universal health insurance pays doctors the same amount regardless of the type of patient they see, according to a Canadian study.

Researchers who called primary care practices pretended to be a bank employee were 80 percent more likely to be offered an appointment than when they called pretending to be on welfare. “We expected that we would find the result that we did, which was that there would be preferential treatment,” said Stephen Hwang, who worked on the study at St Michael’s Hospital and the University of Toronto.

“As a physician who provides care for people who are marginalized or disadvantaged, they not infrequently tell me that they feel like they’ve been treated poorly by healthcare providers in the past simply because they’re poor,” he told Reuters Health.

Hwang, whose team published their findings in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, expects the disparity to be due more to doctors’ and receptionists’ unconscious biases than an explicit policy to pick wealthier patients. Members of his team

called 375 family physicians and general practitioners in Toronto pretending to be looking for a primary care doctor. Half of the time the caller pretended to be a bank employee recently transferred to the city, and for the other half of the calls, the caller took on the persona of a welfare recipient.

Researchers impersonating the bank employee were offered an appointment almost 23 percent of the time. In

the other cases, a receptionist put the caller on a waitlist or said the doctor wasn’t taking new patients.

In comparison, callers pretending to be on welfare were offered an appointment at just 14 percent of offices. Receptionists were more likely to offer an appointment to a caller posing as someone with diabetes or low back pain than one without a chronic condition. — Reuters

Indian malnutrition fund used to fix buses: Report MUMBAI: A fund of millions of dollars raised to help malnourished children in western India has been diverted to maintain public buses, a report said yesterday. The “Child Nutrition Surcharge” was set up 16 years ago to collect a small percentage of each bus ticket fare in major cities in Maharashtra state, where thousands of children die from malnutrition each year.

But public transport officials say that millions raised have yet to be transferred to the state treasury because they allegedly need the

funds to maintain buses and keep them on the road, the NDTV news channel reported. “All the transport undertakings are suffering huge loses. Therefore we cannot give the government the nutrition taxes we collect,” said Ravindra Pardesi, a spokesman for the public transport company in Pune city. “If we had deposited the money the government would have given us 2.5 percent commission but the transport bodies are not in a position to do away with the funds because of the huge losses,” he told NDTV. — AFP

HEALTH SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

FOR SALE

Al-Madena Al-Shohada’a Al-Shuwaikh Al-Nuzha Sabhan Al-Helaly Al-Fayhaa Al-Farwaniya Al-Sulaibikhat Al-Fahaheel Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh Ahmadi Al-Mangaf Al-Shuaiba Al-Jahra Al-Salmiya

22418714 22545171 24810598 22545171 24742838 22434853 22545051 24711433 24316983 23927002 24316983 23980088 23711183 23262845 25610011 25616368

Hospitals Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

Maxima car model 2000, navy blue for sale, single hand driven, very good condition, all new tires, owner leaving Kuwait, registration up to Dec., 2013. Serious buyers contact 66772656, Khaitan.

(C 4339) 6-3-2013 Mitsubishi Galant 2009, black color (4 clr) excellent condition, 33000 km, KD 2,250/-. Contact: 66729295.

(C 4334) Lancer - car for sale 2010 model, GLX, 1600 cc, beige color, 4 cylinder, engine, gear, chassis very good condition, interior & exterior neat and clean, 105,000 km run, price KD 2,200/-. Broker excuse. Contact: 99072651.

(C 4335)

MATRIMONIAL Keralite Christian Orthodox parents invite proposals for their daughter 27/150, MSc Nurse, b/b, in Kuwait, from parents of god fearing professionally qualified Orthodox boys (preferably B.Tech). Contact Email: kmat077@gmail.com (C 4340)

24732263

Rawdha

22517733

Adailiya

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Sharq

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25746401

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Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

A decent housemaid urgently needed for a family in Mangaf. Please call 60055305.

6-3-2013 A family is looking to hire a cook who can prepare dishes from the Arabic and Chinese Cuisines. Contact: 99006777.

(C 4337) 5-3-2013 CHANGE OF NAME I, Mrs. Annie Cristine Kuriakose, holder of Passport No. F5417121 have changed my name to Mrs. Annie Cristine Pinto. (C 4336) 9-3-2013 I, Ayub Khan Abdul Shakur Khan, holder of Passport No. E5265742, issued at Pune, have changed my name to Ayub Shakoor Khan for all purposes.

(C 4341) 7-3-2013 I, Posina Lakshmi Prasanna D/o Posina Venkata Ratnam holder of Indian Passport No. H5961214 converted to the Islam do hereby change my name to P. Zareena Begum.

(C 4338) 5-3-2013

Kuwait

Clinics Rabiya

SITUATION VACANT

SHARQIA-1 PARKER (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) PARKER (DIG) PARKER (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) PARKER (DIG)

12:30 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

SHARQIA-2 SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) APARTMENT 1303 (DIG-3D) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) APARTMENT 1303 (DIG-3D)

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

MUHALAB-1 PARKER (DIG) PARKER (DIG) PARKER (DIG) MR. PELLIKODUKKU (DIG) (TELUGU) PARKER (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) PARKER (DIG) PARKER (DIG)

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 2:00 PM 4:15 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

MUHALAB-2 MAMA (DIG) VEHICLE 19 (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) VEHICLE 19 (DIG) VEHICLE 19 (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG)

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:15 PM 6:15 PM 8:15 PM 10:00 PM 11:45 PM

FANAR-1 PARKER (DIG) PARKER (DIG) PARKER (DIG) PARKER (DIG) PARKER (DIG)

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM

Prayer timings Fajr:

04:47

Shorook

06:05

Duhr:

11:59

Asr:

15:21

Maghrib:

17:52

Isha:

19:09

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (28/02/2013 TO 06/03/2013)

PARKER (DIG)

11:45 PM

FANAR-2 VEHICLE 19 (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) MAMA (DIG) VEHICLE 19 (DIG) VEHICLE 19 (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) VEHICLE 19 (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

12:45 PM 2:45 PM 4:45 PM 6:45 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

MARINA-1 MAMA (DIG) PARKER (DIG) MAMA (DIG) PARKER (DIG) PARKER (DIG) PARKER (DIG) PARKER (DIG) MARINA-2 A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED AVENUES-1 FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG) 3ALA GOSETY (DIG)

1:30 PM 1:15 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

1:45 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:15 AM

2:15 PM 4:15 PM 6:15 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

AVENUES-2 BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (DIG) 1:15 PM BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (DIG) 3:30 PM

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (DIG) BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (DIG) BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (DIG) BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (DIG)

5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:15 AM

360º- 1 SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) NO SUN+ TUE+WED

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:30 PM 10:45 PM 1:00 AM

360º- 2 MAMA (DIG) MAMA (DIG) MAMA (DIG) MAMA (DIG) MAMA (DIG) MAMA (DIG)

12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

AL-KOUT.1 PARKER (DIG) APARTMENT 1303 (DIG-3D) PARKER (DIG) APARTMENT 1303 (DIG-3D) PARKER (DIG) PARKER (DIG)

1:45 PM 4:15 PM 6:15 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

AL-KOUT.2 A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) VEHICLE 19 (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) VEHICLE 19 (DIG) A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD (DIG) VEHICLE 19 (DIG) VEHICLE 19 (DIG)

12:45 PM 2:45 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:15 PM 10:15 PM 12:05 AM

information SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

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

Arrival Flights on Saturday 9/3/2013 Flt Route 574 MUMBAI 413 AMSTERDAM 772 ISTANBUL 267 BEIRUT 539 CAIRO 148 DOHA 441 LAHORE 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 643 MUSCAT 67 DUBAI 239 ISLAMABAD 612 CAIRO 3555 ALEXANDRIA 138 DOHA 170 BAHRAIN 770 ISTANBUL 503 LUXOR 555 ALEXANDRIA 416 JAKARTA 529 ASSIUT 157 LONDON 412 MANILA 206 ISLAMABAD 53 DUBAI 382 DELHI 302 MUMBAI 352 COCHIN 855 DUBAI 344 CHENNAI 362 COLOMBO 121 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 165 DUBAI 401 ALEXANDRIA 4161 MASHAD 482 TAIF 610 CAIRO 871 DUBAI 1190 MASHAD 284 DHAKA 325 NAJAF 57 DUBAI 472 JEDDAH 672 DUBAI 500 JEDDAH 140 DOHA 257 BEIRUT 788 JEDDAH 341 DAMASCUS 790 MEDINAH 470 JEDDAH 134 DOHA 6692 MASHAD 787 RIYADH 535 CAIRO 118 NEW YORK 857 DUBAI 357 MASHAD 303 ABU DHABI 640 AMMAN 215 BAHRAIN 510 RIYADH 777 JEDDAH 144 DOHA 127 SHARJAH 982 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 538 SOHAG 542 CAIRO 251 ALEXANDRIA 177 DUBAI

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

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

3553 63 4167 405 176 618 674 104 607 774 647 562 61 572 389 618 189 129 462 146 229 474 402 136 221 307 859 135 59 415 786 975 239 217 502 185 981 614 370 43 636

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

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

Departure Flights on Saturday 9/3/2013 Flt Route 976 GOA/CHENNAI 283 DHAKA 573 MUMBAI 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 637 FRANKFURT 413 AMSTERDAM 442 LAHORE 621 ADDIS ABABA 773 ISTANBUL 68 DUBAI 854 DUBAI 644 MUSCAT 306 ABU DHABI 3556 ALEXANDRIA 613 CAIRO 240 SIALKOT 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 164 DUBAI 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 54 DUBAI 156 LONDON 256 BEIRUT 534 CAIRO 101 LONDON 787 JEDDAH 324 AL NAJAF 671 DUBAI 122 SHARJAH 537 SOHAG 856 DUBAI 56 DUBAI 302 ABU DHABI

18:20 18:45 18:50 19:00 19:15 19:20 19:35 19:35 19:50 19:50 19:55 19:55 20:00 20:10 20:15 20:25 20:30 20:35 20:40 20:45 20:55 21:00 21:20 21:25 21:30 21:35 21:40 21:50 22:00 22:05 22:25 22:30 22:45 22:50 23:00 23:05 23:10 23:15 23:40 23:45 23:55

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

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

133 789 214 356 541 165 776 406 786 4162 483 611 176 872 1191 58 561 673 473 617 505 342 461 188 141 773 6693 785 501 238 304 538 135 858 641 216 184 511 128 266 145 3554 134 982 252 982 64 402 4168 613 62 604 648 331 571 120 607 351 543 475 171 230 471 308 403 137 222 301 381 60 554 860 205 415 147 218 411

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

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

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

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Word Search

Yesterdayʼs Solution

C R O S S W O R D 1 2 3

ACROSS 1. The executive agency that advises the President on the federal budget.

4. Leap around playfully, like young primates.

11. Wading birds of warm regions having long slender down-curved bills.

15. Large brownish-green New Zealand parrot.

16. Age or bleach flour with Agene (nitrogen trichloride).

17. A quantity of no importance.

18. An honorary arts degree.

20. A univalent chemical radical derived from ethylene.

21. Large sweet juicy hybrid between tangerine and grapefruit having a thick wrinkled skin.

22. Not only so, but.

24. Of or relating to or characteristic of Mali or its people.

26. Angular distance above the horizon (especially of a celestial object).

27. Small tropical American tree bearing edible plumlike fruit.

30. A midday meal.

32. (pathology) Abnormally constricted body canal or passage.

35. Engaged in as a pastime.

38. Doctrine of enlightenment as the realization of the oneness of one's self and the visible world.

39. The branch of computer science that deal with writing computer programs that can solve problems creatively.

40. A unit of surface area equal to 100 square meters.

41. A characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves).

46. 4-wheeled motor vehicle.

47. A gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number).

50. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

51. A festival featuring African-American culture.

53. Capable of becoming hot.

55. Same in identity.

57. The compass point midway between east and southeast.

59. A United Nations agency to promote trade by increasing the exchange stability of the major currencies.

60. Capital of Vanuatu.

63. A genus of Ploceidae.

66. A chronic skin disease occurring primarily in women between the ages of 20 and 40.

69. Inability to walk.

71. Excessive desire to acquire or possess more (esp material wealth) than one needs or deserves.

73. (Babylonian) The sky god.

74. An emotional response that has been acquired by conditioning.

75. Small family of usually tropical butterflies.

77. A tube in which a body fluid circulates.

78. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.

79. In some classifications considered synonymous with Microtus.

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

3. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad.

4. An anxiety disorder characterized by chronic free-floating anxiety and such symptoms as tension or sweating or trembling of light-headedness or irritability etc that has lasted for more than six months.

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

6. The basic unit of money in Bulgaria.

7. (statistics) Having a single mode.

8. Tropical Asian starlings.

9. Small active cicada-like insect with hind legs adapted for leaping.

10. A very light colorless element that is one of the six inert gasses.

11. Administer an oil or ointment to.

12. A flexible container with a single opening.

13. Not in action or at work.

14. A large piece of fabric (as canvas) by means of which wind is used to propel a sailing vessel.

19. Relating to or characteristic of Shintoism.

23. An independent group of closely related Chadic languages spoken in the area between the Biu-Mandara and East Chadic languages.

25. Moth whose larvae are flour moths.

28. Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico (1485-1547).

29. A ductile gray metallic element of the lanthanide series.

31. A form of energy that is transferred by a difference in temperature.

33. National capital of Kiribati.

34. A postulated biochemical change (presumably in neural tissue) that represents a memory.

36. Bearded reddish sheep of southern Asia.

37. Reconnaissance (by shortening).

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

43. A package of several things tied together for carrying or storing.

44. Small beads made from polished shells and formerly used as money by native Americans.

45. Be hungry.

48. A very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk.

49. Being or relating to or like a chimera.

52. In such a manner as could not be otherwise.

54. Epithet of Siva.

56. Large Indian antelope.

58. The main city of ancient Phoenicia.

61. Ions are accelerated along a linear path by voltage differences on electrodes along the path.

62. Dried out by heat or excessive exposure to sunlight.

64. In bed.

65. Any of a group of Indic languages spoken in Kashmir and eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.

67. A deep prolonged sound (as of thunder or large bells).

68. The content of cognition.

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

72. The capital and largest city of Japan.

76. A state in the western United States.

Yesterdayʼs Solution

DOWN 1. (informal) Being satisfactory or in satisfactory condition.

2. Being nothing more than specified.

Daily SuDoku

Yesterday’s Solution

SPORTS SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Pakistani women hail breakthrough tourney LAHORE: For Sana Mir, the captain of the Pakistan women’s cricket team, the successful and peaceful completion of a national Twenty20 event this week was a giant step forward for women’s rights in the conservative and troubled country. The six-team tournament, named after former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was held at the Pakistan Cricket Board headquarters at the Gaddafi stadium under a heavy security blanket and concluded on Thursday night in a colourful finale.

In a first for conservative Pakistan, men were allowed inside the stadium to watch the matches which have been out of bounds for them in the past - except for those who came with families. Pakistan’s conservative society, which has been divided by a continuing war against mili-

tants, has left women’s sports battling to be taken seriously or even properly funded. In 2005 a marathon race in Lahore that included women was attacked by extremists and had to be called off. But there were no such problems this week. “The girls who came from all over the country really enjoyed themselves,” Mir told reporters. “Besides the cricket, it was a chance to mingle and interact with each other and this has really raised their confidence.”

Mir, who has been playing for Pakistan for the last seven years and has led the side in many international events, said girls still face difficulties playing the sport they love because of the conservative outlook towards women in sports in the country. The final, won by Sana’s domestic team ZTBL, turned out to be an occasion for the players

and their friends and families to celebrate and enjoy themselves as some of them even danced to the beats of popular local hits by singers at a concert after the match.

“I am really happy to see these girls enjoying and expressing themselves. It has been a long journey for women’s cricket in Pakistan,” said Shamsha Hashmi, a former Pakistan captain who has headed the Pakistan Cricket Board’s women’s wing.

It was also the first time a women’s cricket tournament was covered live on television in Pakistan. Shamsha said this showed that women’s cricket had progressed a lot since her days of playing. “This tournament has shown women’s cricket is not just a pastime for the girls and we have a good standard. —Reuters

Rutherford scores debut century as NZ build lead DUNEDIN: Hamish Rutherford’s century on debut helped New Zealand to a 235-run first innings lead over England yesterday before rain and fading light stopped them from extending their advantage by cutting short the third day of the first Test.

Rutherford scored a dynamic 171, the second highest score by a New Zealander in his first test, to help the hosts reach 402 for seven in reply to England’s 167 when play was stopped about 20 minutes into the third and final session of the day.

Umpires Asad Rauf and Paul Reiffel decided the light mist that had been drifting across University Oval for 45 minutes was too bad to continue and no further play was possible.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, who was unbeaten on 45, and Bruce Martin, who had made 17, will resume their promising 32-run partnership on day four. McCullum, one of the best exponents of aggressive batting in test cricket, would have been looking to up the tempo in the final session and give his bowlers another crack at the England batsmen sooner rather than later.

With the entire first day having been washed out but the pitch still a good batting surface, the hosts probably need some time to try and bowl out the much vaunted England lineup for a second time. Rutherford became the ninth New Zealander to score a century on debut before England’s bowlers wrested back some of the advantage they had ceded with five wickets falling in the second session. The lefthander added just four runs to his lunch score of 167 when he popped a catch to substitute fielder Chris Woakes off James Anderson with the first delivery of the second new ball.

The 23-year-old, who had a double century well

within his sights, cut a disconsolate figure as he trudged off, only acknowledging the standing ovation from the crowd on his home ground as he approached the boundary rope.—Reuters

SCOREBOARD DUNEDIN, New Zealand: Scoreboard at the close of play on the third day of the first test between New Zealand and England at University Oval on yesterday: New Zealand won the toss and chose to bowl England first innings 167 New Zealand first innings (overnight 131-0) P. Fulton c Prior b Anderson 55 H. Rutherford c sub b Anderson 171 K. Williamson b Panesar 24 R. Taylor c Trott b Anderson 31 D. Brownlie b Anderson 27 B. McCullum not out 44 BJ Watling b Broad 0 T. Southee b Broad 25 B. Martin not out 17 Extras (lb-8) 8 Total (for seven wickets, 108 overs) 402 Fall of wickets: 1-158 2-249 3-267 4-310 5-321 6-326 7-370 Still to bat: Neil Wagner, Trent Boult.

Bowling: J. Anderson 29-2-108-4, S. Finn 26-3102-0, S. Broad 24-3-89-2, M. Panesar 22-2-831, J. Trott 2-0-4-0, J. Root 5-1-8-0.

DUNEDIN: England’s James Anderson (right) celebrates New Zealand’s Ross Taylor being caught out during day three of the first international cricket Test match between. — AFP

GALLE: Sri Lanka’s captain Angelo Mathews (right) bats as Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim (second right), Mahmudullah (second left) and Anamul Haque watch the ball during the first day of their first cricket Test match. — AP

Sangakkara makes Bangladesh toil GALLE: Kumar Sangakkara struck his 31st Test century to equal the Sri Lanka record held by Mahela Jayawardene as the hosts reached 361 for three on the first day of the first Test against Bangladesh yesterday.

Sangakkara, playing his first competitive match since December after recovering from a finger injury, smashed the hapless Bangladesh attack to all parts before he departed for 142 after he was caught by Jahurul Islam in the covers off Sohag Gazi.

He was dropped on 111 when Mohammad Ashraful put down a head high chance at mid on off Gazi who took the other two wickets to fall. “It’s a great privilege to equal Mahela’s record. Getting runs and scoring more hundreds sometimes you can say there is a selfish element, but if you keep doing that, you benefit and your side benefits as well,” said Sangakkara.

“It was very satisfying getting back into the runs. Going into this match I had only batted three or four days and I had worked really hard on those sessions.” On a flat track, Bangladesh took the second new ball in the 81st over but bowled only four more before rain brought an early end to the day.

With Lahiru Thirimanne, who scored his third test half-century, Sangakkara put on 124 for the third wicket. Thirimanne was unbeaten on 74 at stumps with skipper Angelo Mathews on 25 not out. Bangladesh’s only success in the afternoon session was the wicket of Dimuth Karunaratne, who was trapped leg before on the back foot by Gazi for 41.

Karunaratne had earlier left the field when on 15 after he tried to pull a delivery from Shahadat Hossain and took a blow on his left

elbow. “Dimuth suffered from dizziness and double vision and was forced to retire,” Sri Lanka manager Michael de Zoysa told reporters.

Karunaratne’s opening partner Tillakaratne Dilshan had Sri Lanka off to a fast start after Mathews had won the toss for the home side on his test debut as captain. Dilshan hit 54 before he came down the track to Gazi and offered a low catch to Mominul Haque at mid-off. — Reuters

SCOREBOARD GALLE: Scoreboard at close on the first day of the first test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on yesterday: Sri Lanka first innings D. Karunaratne lbw b Gazi 41 T. Dilshan c Mominul b Gazi 54 K. Sangakkara c Jaharul b Gazi 142 L. Thirimanne not out 74 A Mathews not out 25 Extras: (b-4, lb-13, nb-5, w-3) 25 Total: (three wickets, 85.3 overs) 361 Fall of wickets: 1-114, 2-181, 3-305 To bat: D. Chandimal, A. Mathews, K. Vithanage, N. Kulasekara, R. Herath, S. Eranga, A. Mendis.

Bowling: Shahadat 13-1-60-0 (nb1), Abul 14.3-1-66-0 (w3, nb4), Gazi 31-3-101-3, Sunny 14-0-60-0, Ashraful 4-0-23-0, Mahmudullah 9-1-34-0.

Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Mahmudullah, Abul Hasan, Anamul Haque, Elias Sunny, Jahurul Islam, Mohammad Ashraful, Mominul Haque, Nasir Hossain, Shahadat Hossain, Sohag Gazi.

SPORTS SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Pistorius of old is gone for good JOHANNESBURG: Flying to South Africa to report on Oscar Pistorius, I went with an open mind about the night he shot and killed his girlfriend, not least because in competing at the London Olympics on prosthetic legs, Pistorius showed it isn’t wise to rush to judgment and that appearances can be deceiving.

Two weeks later, I return home to Europe no closer to knowing or really understanding exactly why Pistorius pulled the trigger of his 9 mm pistol in the early hours of Valentine’s Day. I’m not convinced we’ll ever know for certain, given that Reeva Steenkamp, the only person other than him in the track star’s villa that night, is dead. I wouldn’t bet on South African police furnishing all the answers.

Not after watching scratchy footage of officers attaching a taxi driver by his wrists to the back of their police vehicle and dragging him down a street in a township east of Johannesburg. Mido Macia later died in a jail cell. This was two weeks after Pistorius killed Steenkamp.

The eight officers charged with murder for Macia’s death aren’t the same crack

team working the Pistorius case, led by a veteran of the force described as South Africa’s “top detective” by the police commissioner.

Still, the videotaped brutalizing of Macia and missteps by the first chief investigator in the Pistorius shooting, who was subsequently replaced after it emerged that he is facing attempted murder charges, did nothing to inspire confidence in the professionalism of South Africa’s police.

Some here believe Pistorius’ legal and forensic team will concentrate in coming months on picking holes in police evidence and that the two sides might eventually reach a plea deal, avoiding a highstakes court drama that would be South Africa’s equivalent of the “trial of the century” for O.J. Simpson, the former NFL star acquitted in 1995 in the Los Angeles slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Either way, the Pistorius of old is gone for good.

Watching the “Blade Runner” sprint at the London Olympics was so uplifting.

Standing tall on his carbon-fiber prosthetics, the double-amputee runner could

India welcomes IOC move to meet minister to end deadlock MUMBAI: India has welcomed the IOC’s invitation to attend a meeting at its headquarters in Switzerland and sees it as a positive step towards its return to the Olympic fold, a top government official told Reuters yesterday.

The IOC banned the country after refusing to recognise the results of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) elections held on Dec. 5, which led to a tainted official being named as its new secretary general, because of government interference.

P.K. Deb, the secretary of India’s sports ministry, was optimistic that the request for talks with the sports minister might lead to a quick end to the impasse. “It’s definitely a very positive development. We believe it’s not going to be just one single meeting but the first in a series of meetings with the IOC,” he told Reuters by telephone.

“I am not sure if the minister will be able to make it since the parliament is in session but I will be definitely going to Lausanne to meet the IOC.” The IOC encourages a free hand in the running of National Olympic Committees and has often banned countries from the movement due to government interference.

An Olympic ban means an effective end to funding from the IOC to the NOC. No officials from that association can attend meetings and athletes of a banned nation cannot compete at the Games under their country’s flag.

Last December’s election led to Lalit Bhanot, who spent 11 months in custody last year on corruption charges and is on bail pending further investigations, winning a senior IOA post despite the IOC deeming the elections “null and void”.

In a letter seen by Reuters sent to the IOA last week, the IOC requested a joint meeting with the Indian sports minister to discuss a roadmap for the country to return to the Olympic fold.

“We hereby request that you agree with the sports minister on a suitable date to come to Lausanne, which should be no later than 31 March 2013, and that you submit a concrete proposal to us by the end of next week,” it read.

“As soon as we agree on a date, we will of course extend an official invitation to the sports minister. “It is indeed the intention of the IOC and OCA to resolve all pending issues as soon as possible, together with the sports minister and the suspended IOA.” — Reuters

have been a metaphor for South Africa damaged by its past but not despondent.

Pistorius embodied can-do spirit and the idea that people shouldn’t be judged on looks, which was the rule South Africa’s racist white-minority apartheid government used to enforce so brutally.

But after making Olympic history, the handsome star’s idyllic image took a beating. Pistorius was a poor loser and hypocrite at the London Paralympics when he moaned about the “unbelievably long” prosthetic legs of another amputee runner who beat him. And the image shattered when he shot his telegenic 29-yearold girlfriend in his bathroom toilet and prosecutors charged him with murder.

Pistorius’ account of what happened shifted some blame onto South Africa, with him saying that his fear of violent crime was a factor in the killing. Having been such a brilliant ambassador in London for the so-called “Rainbow Nation,” Pistorius painted his country as a sometimes frightening place in explaining the shooting.

“I am acutely aware of violent crime being committed by intruders,” he said in

his affidavit to the magistrate who freed him on bail. “I have received death threats before. I have also been a victim of violence and of burglaries before. For that reason, I kept my firearm, a 9mm Parabellum, underneath my bed.”

Pistorius said he woke up in the early hours of Feb. 14 and heard noise in his bathroom toilet, which “filled me with horror and fear of an intruder.” “I felt a sense of terror rushing over me,” Pistorius testified. “As I did not have my prosthetic legs on and felt extremely vulnerable, I knew I had to protect Reeva and myself.”

“I fired shots at the toilet door.” Pistorius said he then found Steenkamp slumped inside the toilet and that later, “she died in my arms.”

Living in France, which had 743 murders in 2011, being shot is the last thing I worry about. Although police figures show homicide rates have come down significantly in South Africa, there are still 15,000 murders here a year. That is more than in the United States. With 311 million people compared to South Africa’s 51 million, the FBI counted 14,612 murders there in 2011.—AP

Nuggets rout Clippers DENVER: The Denver Nuggets routed the surging Los Angeles Clippers 107-92 on Thursday night, riding 21 points from Ty Lawson and 20 from Danilo Gallinari to their 12th straight home win.

Seven Nuggets scored in double figures as Denver won its seventh straight overall and improved to 27-3 at home, tied with the Miami Heat for best in the NBA. Lawson also had 11 assists. Despite 19 points from Matt Barnes and 17 from Blake Griffin, the Clippers saw their five-game road winning streak come to an end.

More importantly, they lost the season series to the Nuggets 2-1, a tiebreaker that could come into play if Denver can catch them for the third seed in the Western Conference playoffs. Right now, the Nuggets are in fifth, behind Memphis. Chris Paul had 16 points and 10 assists for Los Angeles. A bucket by Griffin, who was coming off his third career triple-double, gave the Clippers a 60-59 lead before the Nuggets scored 20 of the next 24 points to grab control.

Thunder 95, Knicks 94 In New York, Kevin Durant scored 34 points for Oklahoma City, including the go-ahead free throws with 1:38 left.

Russell Westbrook struggled over the final three quarters but finished with 21 points, six rebounds and five assists in the Thunder’s first trip to New York since Dec. 22, 2010. Durant also had eight boards and six assists.

Oklahoma City posted its third straight win, fighting off a spirited effort by a Knicks team missing Carmelo Anthony. The All-Star forward missed his second straight game with what the Knicks said is a stiff and sore right knee.

J.R. Smith scored a season-high 36 points for New York, but missed a turnaround jumper that would have won it as time ran out. Neither team led by more than two points over the final 101/2 minutes. Durant scored 12 in the final period.— AP

DENVER: Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari (right) of Italy, looks to pass the ball as Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul covers in the fourth quarter of the Nuggets’ 107-92 victory in an NBA basketball game. — AP

NBA results/standings Oklahoma City 95, NY Knicks 94; Denver 107, LA Clippers 92.

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L PCT NY Knicks 37 22 .627 Brooklyn 35 26 .574 Boston 33 27 .550 Toronto 24 38 .387 Philadelphia 23 37 .383 Central Division Indiana 38 23 .623 Chicago 34 27 .557 Milwaukee 30 29 .508 Detroit 23 40 .365 Cleveland 21 40 .344 Southeast Division Miami 45 14 .763 Atlanta 34 26 .567 Washington 19 40 .322 Orlando 17 45 .274 Charlotte 13 48 .213

GB 3 4.5 14.5 14.5 4 7 16 17 11.5 26 29.5 33

Western Conference Northwest Division Oklahoma City 45 16 .738 Denver 41 22 .651 Utah 32 29 .525 Portland 28 32 .467 Minnesota 21 37 .362 Pacific Division LA Clippers 44 20 .688 Golden State 35 27 .565 LA Lakers 31 31 .500 Phoenix 21 40 .344 Sacramento 21 42 .333 Southwest Division San Antonio 48 14 .774 Memphis 40 19 .678 Houston 33 29 .532 Dallas 27 33 .450 New Orleans 21 41 .339

5 13 16.5 22.5 8 12 21.5 22.5 6.5 15 20 27

SPORTS SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Vettel aims for fourth title in a row LONDON: No driver in the history of Formula One has won four championships before the age of 30 but being first has become something of a habit for Sebastian Vettel.

The 25-year-old Red Bull driver became the youngest triple champion last year and the German with the cheeky grin and raised single finger will start the new season in Australia next week as favourite for a fourth title.

The youngest points scorer, podium finisher, race winner and champion who could become only the third driver after Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher to win four successive crowns - may be facing his toughest task yet, however.

Vettel ended testing in Spain last weekend without fanfare and as the only driver from the leading five teams to fail to top any of the end-of-day timesheets over the 12 days.

“I would say that we never had a winter that was less conclusive than this one,” Vettel told reporters in Spain, recognising that the team had not ticked all their boxes on the test track. “I think it is impossible for all of us to read

the pace of the cars and to make out any favorites.” While rivals suspect that Red Bull have deliberately masked the potential of Adrian Newey’s latest creation, there is hope that the gap between the champions and the rest may have narrowed.

Vettel, who took his first crown by stealth in 2010 and his third last year with a second-half surge, will still be the man every driver wants to beat when the red start lights go out.

The lifelong Beatles fan may have a long and winding road ahead of him but even if it all starts off as a bit of a mystery tour, magical or otherwise, he has every chance of staying at number one with his own fab four. “He is still the favourite,” said Frenchman Alain Prost, the only other four-times Formula One champion, who took his last title in 1993 at the age of 38. “Behind him, it’s hard to say.” The swansong for the screaming V8 engines, before they are swept away in 2014 by the arrival of a costly new V6 turbocharged unit with energy recovery systems, means the regulations are barely changed this season.

New Pirelli tyre compounds, designed to encourage more frequent pitstops and overtaking with high levels of degradation, introduce an element of uncertainty however.

“I’m not sure there will be a surprise package among the teams,” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Reuters this week. “The surprise package this year could be the tyres.”

Last season started with seven different winners in the opening seven races and this year saw nine different drivers leading the timesheets on the first nine days of testing. “We’re not on our own, that’s for sure,” said Vettel’s Australian team mate Mark Webber of the level of competition the champions face. After three double championships in a row, Red Bull may have less pressure on them than rivals starved of success but the battle could be faster and more furious than ever.

Fernando Alonso, the double world champion who was overall runner-up last year, declared his new Ferrari F138 to be 200 times better and on another planet compared to the old F2012 at the same point last year.

“Last year was the best year of my career and I was very happy with the performance, but I think this year will be better,” said the Spaniard, voted driver of the year by team principals last season despite Vettel’s success.

“We have a better starting point, and I have learned from some mistakes of last year...I have prepared better. I am better than last year,” added Alonso of a season that coincides with the 25th anniversary of team founder Enzo Ferrari’s death.

Mercedes put in some impressively quick laps, after a shaky start, with both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg well inside the Barcelona race lap record while also putting in the hard miles.

How 2008 champion Hamilton goes after a move that surprised many is one of the big questions to be answered and he has sounded more confident after initially playing down his prospects. “We will definitely be able to win a race at some point,” said the Briton, who plans to take his Bulldog ‘Roscoe’ to some races after securing a special pass from Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone. —Reuters

F1 calendar for 2013 MELBOURNE: The 19-race Formula One season, which starts in Melbourne on March 17, will have no new grands prix this year and one fewer than last season following the postponement of New Jersey’s debut to 2014. The following box details each race and its key characteristics.

MARCH 17 - AUSTRALIA Albert Park street circuit. 58 laps of 5.303km. Total distance 307.574km. 2012 winner: Jenson Button (McLaren). Melbourne has hosted what has become one of the most popular races on the calendar since 1996.

MARCH 24 - MALAYSIA Sepang circuit. 56 laps of 5.543km. Total distance 310.408km. 2012 winner: Fernando Alonso (Ferrari). The hot and steamy Hermann Tilke-designed track, next to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, made its debut in 1999.

APRIL 14 - CHINA Shanghai International Circuit. 56 laps of 5.451km. Total distance 305.066km. 2012 winner: Nico Rosberg (Mercedes). Built on a vast, and some might say overwhelming, scale in the shape of the Chinese character ‘shang’.

On the calendar since 2004.

APRIL 21 - BAHRAIN Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir. 57 laps of 5.412km. Total distance 308.238km.

2012 winner: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull).

Another Tilke circuit and the first in the Middle East to host a grand prix in 2004. Civil unrest on the Gulf island has cast a cloud over the race since 2011.

MAY 12 - SPAIN Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona. 66 laps of 4.655km. Total distance 307.104km. 2012 winner: Pastor Maldonado (Williams). A regular test destination and once the most predictable of circuits, familiar to all teams since 1991.

MAY 26 - MONACO Monte Carlo. 78 laps of 3.340km. Total distance 260.520km. 2012 winner: Mark Webber

(Red Bull). The slowest and shortest race on the calendar but also the most glamorous.

Steeped in history, Monaco is the one every driver wants to win.

JUNE 9 - CANADA Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal. 70 laps of 4.361km. Total distance 305.270km. 2012 winner: Lewis Hamilton (McLaren). A popular destination with teams and sponsors since 1978, the circuit is on the Ile Notre-Dame, an artificial island in Montreal’s St Lawrence River.

JUNE 30 - BRITAIN Silverstone. 52 laps of 5.891km. Total distance of 306.198km. 2012 winner: Webber.

The former World War Two airfield hosted the first F1 championship grand prix in 1950.

JULY 7 - GERMANY Nuerburgring. 60 laps of 5.148km. Total distance of 308.623km. 2012 winner: Alonso.

The original Nordschleife circuit was known as the ‘Green Hell’ but the current one, used since 1984, is a far more tame affair if still atmospheric.

JULY 28 - HUNGARY Hungaroring, Budapest. 70 laps of 4.381km. Total distance 306.630km. 2012 winner: Hamilton. The first race here in 1986 marked Formula One’s debut behind what was then the ‘Iron Curtain’ dividing Europe.

Tight, twisty and slow.

AUGUST 25 - BELGIUM Spa-Francorchamps. 44 laps of 7.004km.

Total distance 308.052km. 2012 winner: Button. The longest lap on the calendar and one of the fastest circuits, Spa is a blast down memory lane. Often wet, always thrilling for drivers and fans.

SEPTEMBER 8 - ITALY Monza. 53 laps of 5.793km. Total distance 306.720km. 2012 winner: Hamilton. The temple of Italian motorsport and home of Ferrari, the circuit is the fastest in Formula One. The now disused and crumbling banking dates back to 1922.

SPAIN: Ferrari’s Brazilian driver Felipe Massa drives his car during a test session at the Montmelo racetrack in this file photo. — AP SEPTEMBER 22 - SINGAPORE Marina Bay street circuit. 61 laps of 5.073km. Total distance 309.316km. 2012 winner: Vettel. Formula One’s first race run entirely at night, a glamorous and wildly successful fixture since its floodlit debut in 2008.

OCTOBER 6 - SOUTH KOREA Korea International Circuit, Yeongam. 55 laps of 5.615km. Total distance 308.630km.

2012 winner: Vettel. An anti-clockwise Tilke circuit, located in a shipbuilding centre 370km south-west of Seoul. Attendances have been low since the first 2010 race.

OCTOBER 13 - JAPAN Suzuka. 53 laps of 5.807km. Total distance 307.471km. 2012 winner: Vettel. A classic figure of eight layout, owned by Honda and built in 1962 as a test track. Fast, flowing and one of the greatest challenges for any F1 driver.

OCTOBER 27 - INDIA Buddh International Circuit, Greater Noida.

60 laps of 5.125km. Total distance

307.249km. 2012 winner: Vettel. The first race at the undulating Tilke track south of Delhi was held in 2011 and became an instant hit.

NOVEMBER 3 - ABU DHABI Yas Marina. 55 laps of 5.554km. Total distance 305.355km. 2012 winner: Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus). The first day-to-night race made its debut in 2009. A spectacular noexpense-spared Tilke circuit that raised the bar for opulence.

NOVEMBER 17 - UNITED STATES Circuit of the America. Austin, Texas. 56 laps of 5.513km. Total distance 308.405km.

2012 winner: Hamilton. Anti-clockwise and the first purpose-built F1 track in the United States. A massive hit on its debut last year.

NOVEMBER 24 - BRAZIL Interlagos, Sao Paulo. 71 laps of 4.309km. Total distance 305.909km. 2012 winner: Button. Dilapidated but hugely atmospheric bowl of a circuit that hosted its first race in 1973. Home of the late Ayrton Senna.— Reuters

SPORTS

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Kuwait shoots to glory HH The Amir Second International Grand Prix concludes

Al-Otaibi (center) with other officials during the closing ceremony. — Photos by Sherif Ismail

India’s Kumar Amit clinches silver

By Abdellatif Sharaa KUWAIT: Competitions of HH The Amir Second International Grand Prix, and the Arab Shooting Championship came to a close yesterday with three events, that saw intense competition between finalists, both in the qualification and final rounds. In the 25m pistol Zorana Arunovic from Serbia continued her high scoring performance throughout the competition and won first place and gold medal defeating Bibiana Peichin who took the silver medal, followed

by Kazakhstan’s Zauresh Baibussinova who took third place.

Meanwhile in the 50m rifle 3 positions (men) Ole-Kristian from Norway scored 458.1 points and claimed first place and gold

medal, while his compatriot Simon Kolstad Clussen, grabbed second place with a score of 457.4 and the silver, while Slovania’s Rajmond Debevec was satisfied with bronze with his score of 442.7 In the 10m Air Pistol, competition was fierce and had to be decided by a shoot-off to determine the winners who came out as follows: Kazakhstan’s Rashid Yunusmetov was first claiming the gold medal with a score of 199.2 points, followed by India’s Kumar Amit as he scored 197.5 points and Serbia’s Dimitrije Gregic ended in third place with 174.0 points.

In his closing speech, President of the Arab Shooting Federation, Chariman of the Higher Organizing Committee Eng. Duaij AlOtaibi said, Kuwait Shooting Sport Club was

happy to host this event, and enjoyed the presence of the huge audience. He said the championship was successful, as we try our best to provide the best environment and conditions to our guests to compete at their very best.

Al-Otaibi said, the Grand Prix already gained great reputation, bearing in mind that 32 countries participated in the first edition, and the second edition saw more than 40 countries, represented by more than 425 shooters. Al-Otaibi said Kuwait Shooting Sport Club is looking forward to welcome all shooters again next year in the third International Grand Prix.

Al-Otaibi thanked HH The Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for patronizing the championship and thanked

his representative Minister of Information and Minister of State for Youth Affairs Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Humoud Al-Sabah for his support and advice.

Meanwhile, Kuwait’s Olympic shooter Fuhaid Al-Daihani, was honored by the Arab Shooting Federation for winning the bronze medals in Sydney 2000 and London 2012, said this is an appreciation that prompts him to thank officials of the ASF. He said “I relived the moments of winning the Olympic medals while receiving the plaque from Sheikh Salman Al-Humoud Al-Sabah and Eng. Duaij Al-Otaibi.”

He said he is proud of his Olympic medals that placed Kuwait in the history of Olympic Championships, adding that this is the least that can be done for Kuwait.

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

SPORTS

SPORTS SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Spanish League Preview

Fabregas targeting return to winning ways for Barca

Antonio Conte

Italian League Preview

Conte urges Juve to refocus on title race ROME: Juventus’s joy at reaching the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in seven years will quickly be archived as they turn their attentions to defending their Serie A title this weekend.

Juve reached the last eight of Europe’s premier club competition with a dominant 5-0 aggregate victory over Celtic, helped by Wednesday’s 2-0 success at home.

Their progression was little more than a formality following their opening 3-0 success at Celtic Park and now the tie is over, coach Antonio Conte has urged his players to focus on domestic matters.

Juve lead the table by six points from Napoli, who have proved inconsistent since the turn of the year, and host European football-chasing Catania today.

But Conte doesn’t want the delight at re-establishing themselves as one of the continent’s strongest forces to sidetrack his players from the domestic campaign.

“Now that we’re in the quarter-finals the Champions League is a dream that we want to continue cultivating,” said Conte. “But first we must think about Catania. We’re the favorites in the league, which is only right, but we expect to have many challenges for which I expect more than ever to need everyone.”

So far Juve have managed their twin objectives with panache but their nearest rivals Napoli have nothing left to play for except Serie A, having been eliminated from the Europa League last month in a shocking 5-0 aggregate loss to Czechs Viktoria Plzen.

Napoli face a tricky match this weekend away to Chievo where they have struggled in recent years, losing on both their last two visits. Perhaps more alarming than history for coach Walter Mazzarri has been his side’s recent slump.

They have failed to win any of their last six games in all competitions and have drawn their last four in the league. Despite boasting Serie A top scorer Edinson Cavani in their ranks, they have found the net only twice in that time.

Such form will have them looking nervously over their shoulders at hard-charging AC Milan, the form team in Serie A who travel to Genoa late yesterday.

Despite beginning the season in disastrous fashion, losing five of their first eight domestic encounters, Massimiliano Allegri’s men are unbeaten in nine league games since the turn of the year and have won 10 of their last 14 Serie A clashes.

Last week’s 3-0 success over Lazio propelled them above the Romans into third and the last Champions League qualification position. Lazio host Fiorentina while fourth-placed Inter Milan, stunned 3-0 by Tottenham in the Europa League on Thursday, entertain Bologna. — AFP

MADRID: Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas has highlighted the importance of getting back to winning ways against Deportivo la Coruna this weekend ahead of the crucial Champions League clash with AC Milan on Tuesday.

The Catalans will have to overcome a 2-0 first-leg deficit against the Italians if they are to progress to the quarter-finals of Europe’s leading club competition.

However, Barca still hold an 11-point lead at the top of La Liga and Fabregas believes the visit of Depor could provide a significant confidence boost ahead of their return to European action.

“The Milan match is the most important one of the season, but the Deportivo one is important as well,” he told reporters. “We have a good advantage over Atletico Madrid at the top and clearly we want to be league champions. “If we don’t get a good result or play well then we won’t go into Tuesday with the same confidence. “Everyone believes that this team can come back and it is a little unjust that after just three games people have started to doubt this team.” Fabregas is expected to return to the starting line-up on Saturday after being an unused substitute in the 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid last weekend, but he insists he won’t have a problem if he doesn’t start on Tuesday.

“Over the past seven years with the national team I have almost never been a starter but I have been there in some of the most historic moments,” he said.

“Sometimes a substitute can be more important than someone who starts and I feel stronger than ever.”

Barca will be without goalkeeper Victor Valdes, however, after he was banned for four matches for abusing referee Miguel Perez Lasa for failing to award them a penalty in the dying minutes of the defeat to Madrid.

Xavi Hernandez will also miss out as he continues to recover from a hamstring problem, but Pedro Rodriguez is fit despite suffering from flu-like symptoms earlier in the week. Depor, meanwhile, have much bigger problems than their opponents this weekend as they sit bottom of the table, eight points from safety, and have yet to win away all season. Should Barca somehow slip up,

though, both Real Madrid and Atletico will be looking to take advantage tomorrow.

It is the champions who are first up as they look to build on an incredibly successful 10 days in which they have not only beaten Barcelona in the league, but also progressed to the Copa del Rey final and Champions League quarter-finals with victories away to Barca and Manchester United respectively. Coach Jose Mourinho is expected to name his strongest side after resting a number of first-team regulars for their last two league games, but Angel di Maria has been ruled out for two weeks with a hamstring problem, whilst both Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso are both doubtful after playing with niggling injuries at Old Trafford on Tuesday night.

Atletico face one of the league’s most in-form sides in Real Sociedad as they try to maintain their 100 percent record at the Vicente Calderon in the league this season.

A run of just one defeat in their last 17 games has taken Real Sociedad to within just two points of a Champions League place, but Atletico have been boosted themselves this week as their much-coveted coach Diego Simeone signed a new contract trying him to the club for the next four years. — AFP

Cesc Fabregas

German League Preview

Bayern out to floor Fortuna BERLIN: Bayern Munich striker Mario Mandzukic has said the Bavarian giants aim to floor minnows Fortuna Duesseldorf in the Bundesliga today to prepare for next week’s Champions League visit of Arsenal.

With a 17-point lead at the top of the table, and 10 league games left this season, Bayern are running away with this season’s Bundesliga title, but aim to add to their 10-match winning streak at home to Fortuna, who are 12th. Bayern are eager to maintain their iron grip on the league before hosting Arsenal in Munich next Wednesday in the Champions League last 16, second leg tie holding a 3-1 lead.

Fortuna’s last victory over Bayern in the Bundesliga was back in April 1991 and Munich have won all of their last three meetings against them without conceding a goal. Nevertheless, Mandzukic has said the guests will receive maximum respect come today.

“We respect Duesseldorf. They need points, and every team always gives everything against Bayern,” said the Croatia striker, who has 15 Bundesliga goals this season.

“But we’re ready for them. We’re at home and want to maintain our winning run, preferably with another clean sheet. It’s also an important match with regard to next Wednesday. “A lot of people think we’re already through

to the next round (of the Champions League), but anything can happen in football. “Provided we play the way we did in London we need have no worries. But if we concede an early goal, it could be dangerous.”

Bayern stars Arjen Robben and Bastian Schweinsteiger trained on Thursday, having shaken off knocks, while Mario Gomez, Mandzukic’s main rival for the striker berth, broke off training with a minor hamstring twinge. Having already booked their Champions League quarter-final berth with a midweek win over Shakhtar Donetsk, Borussia Dortmund travel 40km east to face neighbours and rivals Schalke 04.

Schalke have won only one of their last five Bundesliga games against Dortmund, but the guests, who are second in the table, will want to avenge their 21 defeat at Borussia’s Signal Iduna Park last October.

Both captain Sebastian Kehl (ribs) and fellow defensive midfielder Sven Bender (ankle) face a race to be fit having played in the 3-0 win over Donetsk, which sealed a 5-2 victory on aggregate.

Schalke, who face Galatasaray in the Champions League on Tuesday in Gelsenkirchen after a 2-2 draw in Istanbul, have picked up form after back-to-back wins and are up to sixth in the table. — AFP

SPORTS SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Ferguson breaks his silence over Rooney

Matches on TV (Local Timings)

England FA Cup Everton v Wigan Aljazeera Sport +5

15:45

Man City v Barnsley Aljazeera Sport +5

20:30

English Premier League QPR v Sunderland Abu Dhabi Sports HD

18:00

Reading v Aston Abu Dhabi Sports HD

18:00

Albion v Swansea Abu Dhabi Sports HD

18:00

Norwich v Southampton Abu Dhabi Sport HD

18:00

Spanish League Rayo v Espanyol Aljazeera Sport +7

18:00

Valladolid v Malaga Aljazeera Sport +2

20:00

Barcelona v Deportivo Aljazeera Sport +2

22:00

Mallorca v Sevilla Aljazeera Sport +9

0:00

Italian League Udinese v Roma Aljazeera Sport +1 German League Schalke v Dortmund Dubai Sports

22:45

17:30

Bayern v Dusseldorf Dubai Sports

17:30

Monchengladbach v Bremen Dubai Sports

20:30

French League Germain v Lorraine Aljazeera Sport +4

19:00

Ajaccio v Lorient Aljazeera Sport +10

22:00

Brest v Toulouse Aljazeera Sport +4

22:00

Valenciennes v Lille Aljazeera Sport +7

22:00

Gaillard v Sochaux Aljazeera Sport +9

22:00

MANCHESTER: Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson broke his silence yesterday over this week’s Champions League exit and dismissed media speculation that dropped striker Wayne Rooney’s Old Trafford days were numbered.

The England international only came on as a 73rd-minute substitute against Real Madrid in United’s biggest game of the season on Tuesday when his side were 2-1 behind and reduced to 10 men after the controversial dismissal of winger Nani.

“He will be here next year, you’ve got my word on that,” Ferguson told a news conference after British media reports had suggested Rooney could leave the club at the end of this season. “He will be involved tomorrow (against Chelsea in their FA Cup quarterfinal), no doubt about that.

“There is absolutely no issue between Wayne Rooney and I, to suggest we don’t talk to each other on the training ground is absolute nonsense,” Ferguson added. “He understood the reason for not playing him was completely tactical and I think we were right ... (Danny) Welbeck is the best player we have in terms of operating in a double role (attacking and tracking back).”

It was the first time Ferguson had addressed the media since Tuesday’s match when he was too distraught to speak publicly, sending assistant Mike Phelan to the news conference instead after Nani’s 56thminute red card completely changed the game.

He arrived at the training ground smiling and asking whether reporters wanted to “do the nonsense first” or “talk sense” and was anything but the angry manager who remonstrated so furiously during the Champions League last 16 second leg match.

Portugal winger Nani was sent off after a high-footed collision with Real defender Alvaro Arbeloa with United leading 1-0 at the time. The Spanish visitors scored twice in the next 13 minutes through Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo to go through to the quarter-finals 3-2 on aggregate after a 2-1 win on the night.

Even Real coach Jose Mourinho questioned whether Nani should have been dismissed, saying on another occasion it could have been a yellow card. Ferguson was still stunned by the sending off.

“It’s hard to keep your faith in the game when you see what’s happened in the last few years. It’s the third time we’ve been knocked out by a referee’s decision,” he remarked.

Ferguson also said he had made the right call in letting his assistant do the talking in the aftermath of the defeat, regardless of the fact the club faces UEFA disciplinary proceedings for failing to fulfil their media obligations.

“I thought it was a nice time for a chat with Jose and a nice glass of wine, relax a bit,” he explained. “I think Mike was the right one to go out, (he was) calm, very good at press, I’m going to give him more.” He had his concerns before the game over the referee as Turkey’s Cuneyt Cakir had a previous history of sending off players from English teams.

“I had a big worry about it,” Ferguson said before making it clear he did not want to dwell on the past. His focus now is firmly on the two remaining chances of silverware in the shape of the FA Cup and the Premier League, where they hold a 12-point lead over champions Manchester City.

“In the analysis in the cold (light) of the day you realise for Manchester United you just have to get on with it, nothing can be done now,” the 71-year-old Scot said.

“I’ve cleared my mind now and just have to get on with it, this is just another day in the history of the club, it’s not a good day but another day. My job now is to galvanise the troops, who were fantastic on Tuesday.”

United will face Chelsea without defendermidfielder Phil Jones, who is still out with an ankle injury but should be available next week.

Midfielder Ryan Giggs, who played the full game against Real in which he reached 1,000 professional appearances, will also not feature against Chelsea with Ferguson saying the 39-year-old had “done his bit”. The manager added the Real defeat would not have a negative impact on their frame of mind for the Chelsea game.

“There are a lot of things you can do when you lose a game but one of the things we don’t do is give in,” he said. “We will get up off our backsides and make sure we are ready for tomorrow.”— Reuters

LONDON: In a file picture taken on January 30, 2013 Manchester United’s Scottish manager Alex Ferguson (right) talks to Manchester United’s English forward Wayne Rooney. — AP

FA Cup priority for Utd LONDON: Manchester United will aim to vent their feelings of injustice on holders Chelsea in the FA Cup this weekend after a controversial Champions League exit against Real Madrid on Tuesday torched their hopes of a treble.

Alex Ferguson’s side have concentrated their firepower on bigger prizes since last lifting the FA Cup for a record 11th time in 2004 when they beat Millwall. But knocking out the club who have won the FA Cup four times in the last six seasons - including the 2007 final when Chelsea beat United in the first final at the re-built Wembley Stadium would be some consolation.

The clash at Old Trafford is the standout match of the quarter-finals which also features the all-Premier League tie between Everton and Wigan Athletic.

Manchester City, the 2011 winners, face 1912 winners Barnsley of the Championship and in an allChampionship tie Millwall meet Blackburn Rovers, who knocked out Arsenal in the last round.

“We’ve still got an FA Cup tie and we’re still in a commanding position in the league. So we’ll get over it, we’ll bounce back,” United assistant manager Mike Phelan told the club’s website after United’s 2-1 home defeat by Real Madrid in which Nani was controversially sent off.

“We’ve had disappointments before and we’ll get over this one. We’ll come in (to training) and kick on. “The players will rally round, the staff will rally round and we’ll be Manchester United right the way through until the end of May.” Chelsea perhaps have a different emphasis with finishing in the top four of the Premier League and ensuring Champions League qualification the priority although a Cup quarter-final at Old Trafford will focus minds.

Chelsea’s interim manager Rafael Benitez caused a storm last week when he confirmed he was leaving in May and took a swipe at the board and the club’s fans who continue to boo him with the Londoners sitting a perilous fourth in the Premier League table.

However, the Spaniard will relish trying to get one over Ferguson, who he often locked horns with during his time at Liverpool. Benitez only faced Ferguson once in the FA Cup, masterminding a 1-0 fifth-round victory in 2006 when Liverpool went on to lift the trophy.

Considering they trail United by 12 points in the title race, champions Manchester City’s best hope of salvaging silverware from a disappointing season is the FA Cup and a home game against Barnsley should represent a comfortable route into the semi-finals.—Reuters

SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2013

Sports

Vettel aims for fourth F1 title in a row

43

Spurs thump sorry Inter

LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur’s Gareth Bale (right) tries to control the ball in front of Inter Milan’s Christian Chivu (left) during their Europa League round of 16 first leg soccer match at the White Hart Lane ground. Tottenham won the match 3-0. — AP BERNE: Tottenham Hotspur trounced a sorry Inter Milan 3-0 in the Europa League on Thursday while last year’s European champions Chelsea were humbled 1-0 by Steaua Bucharest after being stung by a Raul Rusescu penalty. Big-spending Russian pair Zenit St Petersburg and Anzhi Makhachkala failed to manage a goal between them. Zenit lost 2-0 to late goals at FC Basel and Anzhi were held 0-0 by Newcastle United. Former European champions Benfica beat Girondins Bordeaux 1-0 thanks to an unlucky own goal and Lazio won 2-0 at VfB Stuttgart in other last 16 first leg ties. Fenerbahce won 1-0 at Czech side Viktoria Plzen and the Levante-Rubin Kazan tie finished goalless.

Tottenham and Inter were meeting for the first time since the 2010-11 group stage when Inter raced into a 4-0 lead at the San Siro, before a Gareth Bale hat-trick in second half brought it back to 4-3.

Spurs then beat Inter 3-1 in return game.

Inter, fourth in Serie A, have been spectacularly inconsistent this season and suffered one of their off-nights, shoddy in defence and

toothless up front. Tottenham went ahead after only six minutes when man-of-the-moment Bale scored a rare headed goal, taking his tally to 10 for Spurs in his last eight matches Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson added the second from close range in the 18th minute after Jermaine Defoe’s shot on the turn was parried by keeper Samir Handanovic.

Bale was booked for diving and will miss the second leg, but Tottenham may not need him after Jan Vertonghen headed a third from a poorly-defended corner early in the second half. Antonio Cassano, briefly banned by Inter following a furious dressing-room row, was restored to the side but failed to make an impact.

“It was a very good performance and a great night of European football for us. At halftime we thought we could have gone further, they had a couple of chances but we had so many opportunities we played really well and deserved to win,” said Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas.

“They are going through their best phase of the season and to conceded two goals at the start of the game penalised my team,” said his opposite number Andrea Stramaccioni.

“We did not want that to happen. Gareth Bale is a great player, but tonight was a great night for their team and Tottenham deserved what they got as a team.” Chelsea, who ended up in the competition after becoming the first titleholders to be eliminated in the Champions League group stage, are in danger of a second European exit of the season after losing in front of a full house at Bucharest’s National Stadium. Steaua, European champions in 1986, scored the only goal when Ryan Bertrand was penalised for impeding Rusescu at the far post and the 24-year-old forward stepped up to fire the penalty in the 34th minute. Despite the setback, Chelsea’s interim manager Rafa Benitez was confident his team will overcome the setback in the second leg. “In these kind of games and this kind of competition, if you don’t score away it’s always more difficult. —Reuters