23 Apr 2013

CR IP TI ON BS SU

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

Kuwait hosts investment seminar on Vietnam

‘Dozens’ killed in Nigeria gun battles

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Appeals court sets Barrak free on bail Next hearing set for May 13

Max 32º Min 18º High Tide 10:16 & 22:16 Low Tide 03:52 & 16:23

By B Izzak

KUWAIT: Opposition figure Mussallam Al-Barrak is being carried by his followers outside appeals court after he was granted bail yesterday. —Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Saudi may switch Islamic weekend RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council, which advises the government on new laws, has recommended changing the country’s official weekend to Friday and Saturday to boost the economy, local media reported yesterday. Some local business leaders and economists say the existing ThursdayFriday weekend is bad for the economy because it limits the amount of time Saudi companies can work with partners overseas during the week.

However, some members of the powerful conservative clergy in the birthplace of Islam have opposed the move in the past, citing concerns it is intended to bring the kingdom closer to the Jewish and Christian traditions.

Oman said this month it would shift to a Friday-Saturday week in May. That will leave the biggest Arab economy as the only Gulf Arab state to maintain a Thursday-Friday weekend.

“Especially for the financial sector it’s vital. They’re only connected three days a week now to the international financial system. For other companies it would also be much more convenient, with one more day when we overlap,” said Les Jenka, chairman of the American Business Group in of Riyadh.

Any switch might have important ramifications for the Saudi bourse, which is heavily influenced by international energy prices and world equity markets, but only shares three working days with them.

The websites of Al-Riyadh and Al-Medina newspapers reported yesterday that the Shura Council, a body appointed by the king that has advisory powers but no veto on new laws, had decided to recommend to the government it should change the weekend days. — Reuters

500 feared dead in Damascus suburb

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Myanmar unrest is ‘ethnic cleansing’

Canada foils terror plot, two arrested OTTAWA: Two foreign nationals have been arrested in Canada in connection with an Al-Qaeda-supported plot to derail a passenger train in the Toronto area, authorities said yesterday.

Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35, were allegedly planning to carry out an attack on a Via Rail passenger train with help from Al-Qaeda in Iran, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) told reporters.

The suspects “were receiving support from Al-Qaeda elements located in Iran” and that “there’s no indication that these attacks were state-sponsored,” a spokesman said. The plot “involved a domestic attack (with) planning being supported by Al-Qaeda. And when I speak about support, of course, I mean direction and guidance,” he added.

Authorities said the pair are “not Canadian citizens” but declined to reveal their respective nationalities. The main suspect lived in Montreal for several years, another official added. The suspects’ plans were “not based on their ethnic origins but on an ideology,” police said.

They are expected to appear in court today for a bail

hearing. Charges include conspiring to carry out an attack and conspiring with a terrorist group to murder people.

Police said the duo planned “to derail a passenger train,” though they wouldn’t specify on which route. The two suspects had been under surveillance since last August. “They watched trains and railways in the Toronto area” in planning the attack, an official said.

“We are alleging these individuals took steps and conducted activities to initiate a terrorist attack. They watched trains and railways in the Greater Toronto area.” However, authorities said an attack was not imminent. “While the RCMP believed that these individuals had the capacity and intent to carry out these criminal acts, there was no imminent threat to the general public, rail employees, train passengers or infrastructure,” said a statement.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation was also involved in the criminal investigation. The arrests come a week after twin bombings at the Boston Marathon killed three people and wounded 200, and as Canada’s parliament debates a proposal to beef up anti-terror measures. — AFP

Boston suspect could face death BOSTON: The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings was charged yesterday with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction and could face a death sentence, the US Attorney General said. US Attorney General Eric Holder in a statement detailed the charge against 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is listed in serious but stable condition.

Tsarnaev made his first appearance before a magistrate judge in Beth Israel hospital, according to Gary Wente, circuit executive of the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals.

Officials say Tsarnaev and his older brother and suspected co-conspirator, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, set off the twin explosions at yesterday’s marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 180 others.

The White House, meanwhile, said Tsarnaev will not be tried as an enemy combatant in a military tribunal because he is a naturalized US citizen. The Tsarnaev brothers were born in southern Russia.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will be prosecuted in the federal court system. Tsarnaev is a naturalized US citizen and under US law US citizens cannot be tried in military commissions, Carney said. Carney said that since Sept. 11, 2001, the federal court system has been used to convict and incarcerate hundreds of terrorists.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev remained unable to speak with a gunshot wound to the throat, and he was expected to be charged by federal authorities and face separate state charges in the fatal shooting Continued on Page 13

KUWAIT: The appeals court yesterday agreed to suspend the implementation of a five-year jail term against senior opposition figure Mussallam Al-Barrak and set him free until the court issues its final ruling on the case that has shaken the Kuwaiti society. The court asked him to pay a bail of KD 5,000 and set the next hearing on May 13.

The court held its hearing amid extremely tight security measures rarely seen at the Palace of Justice in Kuwait City as hundreds of special forces backed by armoured vehicles were deployed around the court complex. Security men blocked all entrances to the Palace of Justice and allowed those concerned to enter the building, checking their identity cards. They completely sealed off the sixth floor where the court room is located, preventing most people from entering including journalists.

But a number of people managed to enter including a team from Human Rights Watch, which has criticized the ruling against Barrak, and several other activists and former opposition MPs. Barrak arrived at the Palace of Justice early in the morning along with a few of his supporters and some of his defense team and went straight to the court room without any attempt by the police to arrest him. The former lawmaker was last week sentenced to five years in jail for allegedly making remarks at a public rally on October 15 that were deemed offensive to HH the Amir.

He immediately appealed the ruling.

Judge Anwar Al-Enezi began the session by calling the name of Barrak and then told him that he is accused of insulting HH the Amir and undermining his authorities. Barrak categorically denied the charge.

Barrak did not show any regrets for making the remarks by saying that if time goes back, he would repeat the same speech, telling the judge that all he wanted is a fair trial.

Continued on Page 4

MEDFORD, Massachusetts: Mourners walk out of St. Joseph Catholic Church after the funeral service for Krystle Campbell, a victim of the Boston Marathon bombing yesterday in Medford. — AFP

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Taleban seize 11 foreigners from copter PULI ALAM, Afghanistan: Afghanistan’s Taleban insurgents have seized 11 civilians including eight Turks after their helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing, officials said yesterday. Police sent to the area where the helicopter came down Sunday, in a rugged rural area of Logar province south of Kabul, had a firefight with the militants but pulled back for lack of support, the Logar police chief said.

The Taleban claimed the 11 were US military personnel.

After the helicopter came down in bad weather, they “were captured alive and were then transferred to the most secure region of the nation”, the militants said in a statement. The USled International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said no foreign military were involved and the helicopter was a civilian one.

Turkey’s foreign ministry said eight of its nationals were seized and its diplomats were holding “intensive talks” with Afghan authorities to trace their whereabouts. Russia’s foreign ministry said two pilots-a Russian named Pavel Petrenko and a Kyrgyz national who was not identified-were among those captured. An Afghan was also detained.

The Afghan-based charter firm Khorasan Cargo Airlines, which operated the MI-8 helicopter, said the Turks were working on a road project. The Afghan interior ministry said a police team had been sent to the area and a search for the passengers and crew had begun. It could not confirm the number or nationality of those held.

“Police were sent to the area where the helicopter made an emergency landing and engaged in a firefight with the Taleban,” Abdul Saboor Nasrati, Logar provincial police chief, said. “We pulled the police back because there was no help from the Afghan army or foreign forces. The police were unable to secure the area, which is very rural, and we were worried,” Nasrati said.

Hamidullah Hamid, governor of Azra district near where the helicopter came down, said the detained Afghan was acting as an interpreter. ISAF is preparing to withdraw all its foreign combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, handing over to Afghan troops and police despite widespread fears about instability in the country.

An ISAF spokesman said NATO troops were ready to assist Afghan security forces but there had been no request so far. A Logar provincial government spokesman, Din Mohammad Darvish, said provincial officials have been talking to village elders to try to persuade the Taleban to release the captives.

The helicopter had been travelling from the eastern city of Khost to Kabul when it was forced to land.

The Taleban, ousted from power in 2001 by a US-led invasion, claimed it had 11 US military members, including two translators, on board. “The foreign forces, by disassociating themselves from the Continued on Page 13

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

LOCAL

Quick solution to many issues Praise for new companies law

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: The new Companies Law No. 25/2012 has brought in some changes, which seem to be complex but have solved many issues that were not addressed by the past law, due to which it was not previously possible to resolve many conflicts that reached the court. Now, companies need to make some changes in their status so as to comply with the modified law.

For instance, the new law has regulated not only the transfer of promissory notes into shares but also electronic underwriting, thereby legalizing the transactions of Islamic companies. Other changes have been incorporated into the new law, too, in order to simplify it.

The procedure of establishing a company depends on the type of the company. Basically, there are three categories of companies: Individual Establishments, Personal Companies, and Shareholding Companies. The second category comprises three subcategories: Joint

Liability, Simple Recommendation, and With Limited Liability (WLL). The third category has two subcategories: Closed Sharing companies and General Sharing companies. All companies have to apply for registration at the Ministry of Commerce.

Each category of company engages in about 1,000 different commercial activities. “The most significant factor while establishing the company is the limit of capital required to establish the company, which differs according to the activity it engages in. Companies falling under the first category usually require at least KD 3,500. Those under the second category need a minimum of KD 10,000 now, while previously the figure was KD 7,500. And for companies belonging to the third category, the minimum required capital has been decreased from KD 250,000 to KD 150,000, because license is now only issued for ‘General Trading’ and not ‘General Trading and Contracting’, as was the case in the past,” Mohammed Al-Raamzi from the Ministry of

Commerce told the Kuwait Times. The latest changes affect companies under the three categories in many other ways. “For instance, the individual establishment should be established by only one person, who is either retired, or is a housewife, or is an employee working in the private sector and is a Kuwaiti more than 21 years of age. The applicant can apply for a license to found such an establishment at any branch of the Ministry in the different governorates. But Personal Companies and Shareholding Companies can only apply at the Ministry’s headquarters,” added Al-Raamzi. The responsibility for losses also varies among the companies. “At a Joint Liability company, all partners share the losses, while in case of ‘Simple Recommendation company’, only the manager carries the responsibility. And in the case of a WLL company, only the company carries the responsibility, so the personal property and bank accounts of the partners remain safe,” he further said.

Any company should have at least two part-

ners, of which at least one should be Kuwaiti.

“The company with all Kuwaiti partners can choose the percentage of sharing for each partner. For the companies with mixed partners, the Kuwaiti partner should own at least 51 percent of the company. The Kuwaiti partner can’t be working in the public sector. The manager should always be Kuwaiti, but a non-Kuwaiti can replace him later after the company is established. Also for the Simple Recommendation company, at least one of the partners should be a minor, that is under 21 years of age,” Al-Raamzi explained.

Certain commercial activities are exclusive to citizens, such as those in the field of media or real estate. Even GCC citizens are not allowed to own companies engaged in these activities.

Foreign companies are not allowed to launch new branches in Kuwait. “GCC companies can open a branch only after fulfilling certain conditions: Their founding contract must be at least three years old and all their partners should be

from the GCC. Foreign companies can open their branches through partnership with a Kuwaiti individual or a Kuwaiti company, with a maximum shareholding of 49 percent as in the case of founding a company,” Al-Raamzi stated.

“Applicants should bring along the rent contract and the proof that rent is being paid for the place where the company will be operating from.

They will also have to bring the electronic number of the company. Foreign partners should also bring an approval from their sponsors for establishing a company and also a copy of their work permit from the sponsors. After signing the agreement, they choose a name for the company. Then, they must get an approval from the municipality of their location. Also, if any of the partners had debts, they should clear it and get an approval from the Ministry of Interior - which can be done online. Then they get an official letter from us and deposit the capital at the bank account, which is frozen for a few days until the license is issued,” concluded Al-Raamzi.

All views on unified media law ‘welcome’ KUWAIT: Information Minister and State Minister for Youth Affairs Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Humoud AlSabah has stated that all views on the “unified media” law are welcome as part of efforts to support the information mission. In response to rumours that the proposal will be withdrawn, he said: “The proposed law has already been tabled and will now be discussed between the government and the National Assembly.”

Al-Sabah pointed out that the ministry presented its views on dealing with the latest developments in the media world, such as the emergence of electronic media, with clarity and transparency. He said the objective of the new law would remain the same regardless of the differing views on it.

The minister also spoke about his meeting with editorsin-chief of local papers. He said such meetings will continue, adding that the law made in 2006 still exists and the amendments to it in 2010 were introduced keeping in mind the media community. “That is why we did not introduce anything new that would have implications on journalism,” he explained. However, Al-Sabah said regulating information was the responsibility of the information ministry, and the ministry’s views were developed in consultation with specialists in the field, after which they were presented through the proposed law. He stated the new law would help organize “unorganized information issues, most notable of which is the e-media”.

Electronic files of patients ready KUWAIT: Health Minister Dr Mohammad Al-Haifi asked the ministry’s leader to complete the electronic files of patients within a year’s time. He said it was important to have those files ready very quickly.

Al-Haifi said such a step will open the doors for having permanent health files that will contain all the data regarding patients and their history and will enable any doctor in any hospital to peruse these through the unified electronic record.

The minister said the monthly meeting with heads of medical departments discussed the implementation of the system, reserving morning hours for appointments for Kuwaitis, but adding that no decision has been taken as yet though the mechanism was being studied.

He added that discussions at the National Assembly regarding the health situation in Kuwait and the recommendations by MPs were reviewed.

Legislative committee rapporteur Yacoub Al-Sane said an amendment regarding the Audit Bureau was discussed on Sunday. The amendment allows for submitting a complaint at the public prosecution if it was proven in its report that one of the officials committed a financial violation, or that any of the officials pocketed public funds, and in such a case, the bureau will have the right to take him to criminal and civil courts till all the money is recovered.

KU signs MoU with Hungary universities BUDAPEST: President of Kuwait University Prof. Abdullatif Ahmad Al-Bader stressed yesterday the importance of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Kuwait University and Hungarian universities, which aim at furthering scientific and research exchange.

This is hoped to bring a boost and expansion of scope of cooperation, moving forward from the customary cooperation between Kuwait University and establishments in the US, Britain, Europe, and Canada.

Al-Bader spoke on the sidelines of the ceremony organized by Corvinus University of Budapest honoring Dr. Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah and granting him an honorary doctorate. The KU rector said he held some fruitful meetings with presidents of Hungarian universities here, and signed several MoUs. He remarked that the first MoU was signed with Semmelweis University, well-known for its medical sciences studies.

He further pointed out that he had a fruitful discussion with the university’s administration on future cooperation prospects, and on feasibility of bringing Hungarian doctors in medical specialties that are not offered at Kuwait University for 3-4 months, as well as sending Kuwaiti interns to Hungary for training in new specialties.

The rector noted that KU’s MoUs are signed through its colleges each in its respective area of specialization, such as humanities, sciences, and medicine.

Furthermore, Al-Bader acknowledged that Kuwait University cooperation with international universities began with Egypt, and moved on to cooperate with institutes in Britain, Europe, the United Sates, and Canada and the relations with universities of these countries continue to improve.

Now, through cooperation with Budapest, the aim is to vary and bolster academic relations and improve scientific and research exchange with leading institutions elsewhere.

Moreover, he explained that Kuwait University also aspires to shift from the concept of scholarships to earn degrees to that of scholarships that lead to creating a basis of all needed specialties within the Kuwaiti health sector, which has a bounty of national professionals. — KUNA

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

LOCAL

Hidden charm of Vietnam awaits visitors all year round

By Ben Garcia

KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah received at Seif Palace yesterday Falah Eid bin Jamiía, Al-Awazim Philanthropic Foundationís Board Chairman Dr. Rasheed Abdulhadi Al-Hori and the foundation members. AlHori presented to HH the Amir a memorial gift on the occasion.

Early water supply cuts start KUWAIT: With the temperature rising and the onset of summer, water supply was cut in a number of areas in Farwanya over the past two days. This also coincided with weak water flow at Khaitan and Sulaibiya water stations, informed sources said, noting that the measures foretell a dry summer. The sources added that water supply was also affected in Abdullah Al-Mubarak, Eshbelya and Suliabiya where 200 people queued up at the water tankers.

The sources added that similar scenes

were witnessed at the Khaitan water pump station where a tanker took more than 40 minutes to be filled, compared to seven minutes at Salmiya water pump station where there were no long lines.

Moreover, the sources described Sulaibiya water station as a ‘time bomb’ that could explode any time because it was built way back in 1979, which means that all the pipes laid underground must have been corroded by now and would not be able to sustain high water pressure.

Man stabbed to death KUWAIT: A 19-year-old youth stabbed to death his own father, an old Kuwaiti citizen, when the two quarreled at Fintas area last night. Security sources said the operations room received a report about

the stabbing, after which a police team from Ahmadi security proceeded to the site and arrested the son. The father was rushed to the Al-Adan Hospital. It was not known why the two men fought.

NA panel receives draft GCC security agreement KUWAIT: The National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman MP Saleh Ashour announced yesterday the Committee has received Decree No. 90/2013 on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) security agreement from the Parliament Speaker Ali Fahad Al-Rashed.

MP Ashour said in a press statement that the security agreement, which was initially signed in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Nov 13, 2012 comprises 20 articles and six chapters.

He unveiled that the first chapter includes the general provisions and the second chapter identifies areas of security cooperation and coordination.

The third chapter tackles border control arrangements, while the fourth chapter focuses on the mutual cooperation in rescue operations of accidents’ causalities and victims, whereas chapter five touches upon the arrangements of wanted people extradition and chapter six comprises the final provisions. MP Ashour underlined that the committee will thoroughly study the agreement to make sure that it does not conflict with the Kuwait’s constitution and laws.

The committee will summon interior and foreign ministers in their capacities to discuss the agreement, he said. — KUNA

News

in brief

Dissolved charity houses KUWAIT: Sources at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor said that the ministry has formed a special committee to clear the accounts of dissolved charity houses. The committee consists of six people, including law makers and accountants, and an amount of KD 100,000 was cleared in case of two charity houses.

This money will be deposited in the ministry’s account since the charity houses violated licensing conditions for collecting money from outsiders, ostensibly for the benefit of Syrian refugees.

Screen allowance KUWAIT: The Ministry of Health wrote to Civil Service Commission enquiring about the staff working in pharmaceutical service jobs (pharmacists and pharmacy technicians), engineers, those working in engineering-related jobs, and nursing staff employed in jobs where computer screens are involved. The Ministry’s enquiry pertained to knowing whether these Kuwaiti employees were entitled to screen allowance. The ministry asked the commission to respond quickly so that it can add these employees to the list of those deserving this allowance as per the commission’s letter. The letter dated December 24th asked about the possibility of paying screen allowance along with other allowances to the employees except for doctors who were covered by a special job system.

Public funds violation KUWAIT: The Kuwait public prosecutor recently referred HH the PM Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak, finance minister Mustafa Al-Shamali and others to the Ministers’ Court after a complaint was filed against them by the Nebras Movement’s secretary general, Abdullah Fairouz, regarding violations in utilizing public funds.

Kuwait hosts investment seminar

KUWAIT: Planning a vacation this summer? The hidden charm of Vietnam awaits visitors all year round as they can enjoy one of the most beautiful weathers anywhere in Asia anytime.

The Embassy of Vietnam hosted a tourism and business opportunity presentation at their embassy premises in Jabriya yesterday. The presentation featured investment, trade, tourism and labor, and was attended by local media, travel agencies and people who have already experienced their hospitality.

Speaking at the event, Bui Quoc Trung, the Ambassador of Vietnam to Kuwait, said the Embassy will continue to organize activities to boost the country’s cooperation with Kuwait.

“First and foremost, we want to strengthen our trade relations with Kuwait; we want to bring our products here, and vice versa. We have especially selected wooden furniture and we want you to help us promote our products,” he said.

“Secondly, we have a lot of potential for tourism. We have many charming destinations and places to visit in Vietnam and we would like you to experience these. Our country has fascinated tourists from all over the world, especially people from the Middle East and Kuwait who want to discover our hidden charms. We are here today to introduce and unveil places to visit in Vietnam,” he added. Le Ba Ngoc, the Commercial and Economic Counselor, spoke about various trade and business opportunities in Vietnam while Thieu Tan Dzung, the First Secretary, paraded the best places to visit.

Vietnam, officially named as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is the easternmost coun-

KUWAIT: Le Ba Ngoc, presenting trade and investment. (Inset) Ambassador Bui Quoc Trung — Photos by Joseph Shagra try on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated 90.3 million inhabitants as of 2012, it is the world’s 13th mostpopulous country, and the eighth most-populous Asian countr y. The name Vietnam translates as “South Viet,” and was officially

adopted in 1945. The country is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east. Its capital city has been Hanoi since the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1976.

Foreign training vital for Kuwait oil sector KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti oil official stressed the importance of dispatching young Kuwaitis for scholarships abroad to the creation of a national workforce able to administer the country’s vast oil wealth.

“Companies which operate under the umbrella of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) assist in the field of education, through the dispatch of students abroad, the formation of local scientific research centres and the rehabilitation of national teaching standards,” Kuwait Gulf Oil Company’s (KGOC) Board Chairman and Managing Director Hisham Al-Rifai said.

Al-Rifai made the comment during his attendance of the Kuwait Energy and Community Forum, and said that the event was discussing KPC’s role in funding foreign-based scholarships for the national workforce.

The event groups experts on oil from Kuwait and Arab Gulf states, in addition to others from Kuwait University and UNESCO, and will focus on creating a generation that is sustainable and is

able to carry out achievements and accomplishments that will push forward the wheels of development. Al-Rifai said that he himself had been dispatched on a scholarship to the United States by the Arabian Gulf Oil Company - a Japanese company that was operating in Kuwait at the time. He was confident that Kuwaiti youth would be given a chance, like himself, to receive education in the field at advanced industrial nations.

“The responsibility, after that, lies on the society - in huge efforts carried out by oil companies towards the healthcare, education, environment and cultural sectors. It is our social responsibility to focus on education, as it is ‘the tractor’ that leads state institutions to development and growth, “ he added.

For his part, KGOC’s Deputy Board Chairman and Deputy Managing Director for Financial and Administrative Affairs Dr. Mohammed AlRamadan said that the event was aimed at spreading awareness on oil sector affairs amid the public and at advocating local educational insti-

tutions, both financially and morally.

He expressed the view that educating the public on the science of oil should be encouraged at an early age - as early as primary level - and that this should be enhanced all the way up to high school.

KGOC, he said, has many contributions to education, through the organisation of lectures on the field, across local universities, colleges and schools in addition to arranging field visits to the company’s headquarters.

In the forum’s second session, Chairman of the Kuwait Teachers’ Association Metab Al-Otaibi urged the need for a “social partnership” between state institutions, including KOC, which would have a positive role on education.

The event was held under the patronage of Oil Minister Hani Hussain and was chaired by Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s Board Chairman and Managing Director for Government, Parliament and Public Affairs Sheikh Talal AlKhaled Al-Sabah. — KUNA

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

LOCAL

KUWAIT: Mussallam Al-Barrak answers journalists after he was granted bail by the Appeals Court yesterday. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat and Hanan Al-Saadoun

Appeals court sets...

Continued from Page 1

Traffic awareness lecture at Sabahiya KUWAIT: First Lt Israa Boland from the security media delivered an informative lecture at the Lubra Bent Al Hareth school for girls at Sabahiya area of the Ahmadi governorate. The lecture was organized by scientific studies department under the supervision of teacher Manal Dashti and school principal Kawatab Al Bannai, jointly with teacher Sayed Al Shafie. First Lt Boland said that the unified GCC traffic week was aimed at exchanging experiences and information in order to reduce traffic accidents.

She pointed to the importance of wearing seat belts in reducing casualties among passengers in the case of accidents and explained how.

She explained the threat posed by speeding and

use of mobile phones while driving and other wrong practices, particularly for girls who drive.

She also explained the role of police women.

She further pointed to certain mistakes that some drivers make and which lead to catastrophic accidents. These included over speeding, sudden turns and failure to abide by road markings and traffic signs.

Calling upon the students to cooperate with the traffic regulating personnel and obey their commands, she asked them not to start driving any vehicle till they obtain a driving license and complete the legal age.

She further briefed the students about some roles that policewomen play in all security fields.

The judge then allowed four of the 35 lawyers who volunteered to defend Barrak to make their arguments. They were Mohammad Al-Jassem, Dokhi Al-Hasban, Waleed Al-Jari and Thamer Al-Jadaei.

Jassem highlighted a number of verdicts which clearly indicated that the lower court verdict was null and void. He also claimed that the special forces were planning to assassinate Barrak when they raided his Diwaniya last Wednesday. Hasban told the court that the lower court did not follow the proper procedures because it issued its verdict even after the defense team had walked out, adding that the defendant should not be made to pay for that mistake. All the lawyers demanded that Barrak be set free against any bail until his case has been reviewed by the appeals court and the judge obliged. Dozens of opposition activists who waited outside the Palace of Justice began singing and dancing when they heard about the decision and chanted, “Barrak you are the conscience of the whole nation”.

As soon as he came out of the gate, they carried him and repeated the slogans. Barrak considered the decision of the court as a victory for the people and the “protest movement” and an indication that the “puppet National Assembly will go”.

He invited the people to his Diwaniya to celebrate the occasion later in the night.

In a related development, Kuwait Lawyers Association decided yesterday to go on strike tomorrow in protest against the interior and justice ministry for the mistreatment at the Palace of Justice yesterday.

The decision came after an extraordinary meeting by the association board following what they claimed harassment of lawyers at the Palace of Justice because of Barrak’s trial.

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

LOCAL

Kuwait hails training cooperation with UN Investment of financial, human resources

SACGC receives delegation from special education schools KUWAIT: Sabah Al-Ahmed Center for Giftedness and Creativity (SACGC) recently received at its headquarters in Qadisiya Youth Center a delegation from special education schools, which reviewed the mental and intellectual skills development equipment used at the center.

SACGC gifted workshops supervisor stated that the center was always in search of gifted people because they are the real

assets for any country seeking technological and scientific development.

The head of the delegation, Maha Saad Al-Ameeri, who is also psychological services supervisor, hailed SACGC’s achievements and pointed out that many special education students were gifted and intelligent.

She also expressed hope that SACGC would continue to help such students unleash their talents and creativity.

STOCKHOLM: Kuwait’s Minister of State for Planning and Development Affairs Dr Rola Dashti yesterday praised the cooperation with the UN, noting that the 10 Kuwaitis who were accepted for training by the international organization will contribute to their country’s development efforts. The Kuwaiti minister is currently in Stockholm attending the 9th meeting of the National Recruitment Services and UN Organizations on Associate Expert/JPO/APO Programmes, with Kuwait having recently joined the donor group of nations.

The recruitment of 10 Kuwaiti Junior Professional Officers is being supported by Kuwait, and minister Dashti said that this would “strengthen the UN activities in New York, Vienna, Istanbul, Copenhagen, and Barbados.”

“Indeed, the first of those 10 Kuwaiti JPOs are arriving in their duty stations as we gather here this week, so the present discussion provides a timely opportunity to reflect upon Kuwait’s experience as a new donor for this program.

“First, allow me to say that I have been positively impressed by the wonderful collaboration offered to the State of Kuwait by the Team of UNDP Kuwait Country Office, under the leadership of its Resident Representative, Stein Hansen and the UNDP JPO Service Centre based in Copenhagen.

“Together, we have tailored a program that will contribute to meeting both the goals of the broader United Nations System and the needs of Kuwait, as a high-income, but still developing countr y. The Government of Kuwait was attracted to the JPO program by the opportunities it provides to make an investment of financial and human resources that we believe will benefit our country in three major ways: “First, the employment of young Kuwaiti professionals will expose them to international expertise and practices that will enrich our national development in the future.

“Secondly, their participation in the international arena will contribute to increasing the profile of Kuwait as a UN Member State, which, although a small country in land mass and population, has the potential to make a great contribution to the international community.

“Thirdly, our contribution to the JPO program is a very direct manifestation of our commitment to the UN principles of Human Rights, Solidarity, and Peace embodied in the UN Charter.”

Kuwaiti panel develops youth care strategy KUWAIT: - Minister of State for Youth Affairs Sheikh Salman Al-Sabah said yesterday the high consultative committee of the Ministry has set out a comprehensive strategy for caring for the youths.

“Since its foundation, the State of Kuwait attaches great importance to youth; the existence of the Ministry of State for Youth Affairs evidences to the government’s care for, and support to, the youths,” Sheikh Salman, also Minister of Information, said.

Sheikh Salman made the remarks in a press conference to unveil the strategy at the headquarters of the Ministry of State for Youth Affairs.

He promised that the ministry will offer all necessary resources for the implementation of the strategy and fostering the skills of the youths, noting that care for the youths is not only

a government responsibility but a responsibility for families and society at large. “The government has set aside KD 20 million for the Ministry of State for Youth Affairs in a bid to help realize the aspirations of the youths for a better future and tap into their potentials in serving the society,” he revealed.

Meanwhile, chairman of the high consultative committee Dr Abdulaziz Al-Du’aij said the government shoulders its responsibility for caring for the youths under articles nine and 10 of the constitution.

“The ministry serves as a national project for building the capacity of the youths,” he said, noting that the youths constitute up to 60 percent of Kuwait’s total population.

“The consultative committee is made up of academics from Kuwait

University and the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET),” Dr Al-Du’aij noted.

On his part, rapporteur of the committee Dr. Fawwaz Al-Husainan said the ministr y cares for the youths between 14 and 34 years in collaboration with all concerned state departments. “The strategy, part of the government plan for sustainable development, envisages building more youth centers and sports, entertainment, social, cultural and educational facilities for the youth countrywide,” Dr AlHusainan added.

Besides Dr. Al-Duaij and Dr. AlHusainan, the panel includes Dr. Khalifa Behbehani, Dr. Jassem AlRubai’an, Dr Mishaal Al-Janoubi, Jassem Yaaquob, Youssof Al-Roumi, Roqaiyeh Hussien, Zain Al-Sabah and Reem Al-Rashidi. — KUNA

Dashti noted that Kuwait “has enjoyed a unique partnership with UNDP for more than five decades and has consistently offered its support to the United Nations as a donor country.

“This provides an opportunity to deepen our relationship with the United Nations and with the international community at large, in order to foster both international cooperation and our country’s greatest resource - the youth,” she said.

As Kuwait is “a relatively young state, undergoing an accelerated development process, participation in the JPO program.

“The diversification and strengthening of our national capacity in both the public and private sector is essential for the State of Kuwait to increase the momentum of national development. Kuwait has invested heavily in the formal education of young people, many of whom are searching for an outlet for their creativity and innovation.

“The Government (of Kuwait) is committed to developing a comprehensive strategy for the engagement of Kuwaiti youth in the national development plan of the State, in accordance with the Vision 2035 elaborated

by His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed AlSabah, the Amir.

“Under the Amir ’s guidance, the Government aims to inspire generations of future leaders who will propel Kuwait forward in the attainment of its development goals. To encourage youth to take on a greater role in our society, we must open avenues for talented individuals to pursue new challenges to develop their potential at the highest level.

“The JPO program is one means by which we can create such opportunities and in selecting the posts in order to accelerate our own development, thus, the Kuwaiti JPOs should choose to return home upon completion of their assignment, they will be able to apply the expertise they acquired as members of the international civil service to contribute to building our national capacity in the key areas of engagement.

“The level of response by Kuwaiti youth to the advertised JPO vacancies was remarkable and demonstrated that our young people are enthusiastically interested in making their contribution to a community beyond our borders.

“Simultaneously, the JPO recruitment process has contributed to greater public awareness of the opportunities for youth to engage on the national development dialogue. The UNDP Kuwait Countr y Office

reports a higher number of Kuwaiti inquiries to vacancies advertised by that office, and increased following of the UN activities on social media, since the Kuwait JPO program was initiated.

“This growing interest and awareness is essential to establish a grassroots consensus for a sustainable national development agenda.

“The Government regards these 10 young professionals as Ambassadors for Kuwait, sharing with the world the best elements of our nation. Kuwait has a strong record of promoting South-South cooperation through the activities of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, one of the largest sovereign aid funds in the world.

“By suppor ting UN activities directly through the provision of 10 JPO posts, the State of Kuwait will expand the dimensions of our support to global sustainable development. The experience of working directly within the UN will also offer fresh ideas and perspectives to our development activities and help to strengthen the ties between the Kuwait Fund and the UN system.

“The State of Kuwait is the only country in the Arab region currently funding JPO posts and we believe that this initiative will reflect well on the capacity and willingness of Kuwait to play a greater role in regional and international humanitarian affairs.

“I would strongly encourage UNDESA to engage with other states, and in particular with our fellow Gulf Cooperation Council members States to participate in the Associate Expert/JPO/APO programs. These States have a great deal of commitment and potentials to participate in these programs.

“Just as 10 Kuwaiti young professionals are about to make their mark on the UN system through hard work and dedication, so the State of Kuwait is determined to expand our development cooperation with the international community.

It is my intention that we extend our partnership with the JPO program in the years to come and hopefully we will serve as a model to our neighbors and beyond to join us in this venture.

In conclusion of her speech, the minister stressed that, “The Government of the State of Kuwait believes that collaboration on these programs offers substantial benefits to the donor, the young professionals themselves, and the advancement of international cooperation towards Peace, Sustainable Development, and prosperity for all.” — KUNA

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

LOCAL

Wanted citizen surrenders after gunfight with police Asian held with liquor in Mahboula KUWAIT: Mubarak Al-Kabeer security sought help of the Swat team of special forces in arresting a wanted Kuwaiti citizen who was armed with a machine gun and targeted a vehicle belonging to the sentences implementation department. The team surrounded the house where the suspect was holed up and was all set to storm it when the citizen gave up after negotiating with the officers. A large quantity of illicit tablets and marijuana was found on him. Police are looking for two of the suspect’s friends who escaped after putting up some resistance. They also tried to help their wanted friend to escape.

The incident took place in Al-Qusoor area when two policemen reported that they came under firing by a wanted man. Senior officers reached the scene and laid a siege to the house.

The two policemen said that when they knocked at the door, a man came out but the policemen, unaware that he was the wanted

man himself, told him about their identity and asked him to call the “wanted” man out.

The man went inside and came out with a machine gun. He tried to fire but failed. The two policemen were able to snatch the gun from him, but by then two of his friends came out and tried to put up some resistance to enable their friend to escape but failed.

The suspect went back into the house again and fired with another weapon at the car.

Two policemen negotiated with the suspect and explained to him how it would be dangerous if they stormed the house. The suspect was arrested and sent to the concerned authorities.

Police are looking for the two friends of the suspect.

Asian arrested Ahmadi police launched several campaigns during which they arrested an Asian expat with

81 bottles of bootlegged liquor in Mahboula, 20 shotguns with 470 cartridges from some young men in the chalets area, while 25 vehicles were confiscated for being recklessly driven. The arrested people were sent to the concerned authorities.

Nervous passenger Airport customs officers arrested a 36-yearold Arab expat when he arrived with hallucination-inducing tablets. The suspect seemed very nervous while being checked, prompting officers to inspect all his belongings, and leading to the discovery of the drugs.

Somali duo held Ahmadi police arrested two Somali expats and sent them to the drugs control department for being in possession of three bags of marijuana, and some cigarette paper.

Kuwaiti, Lebanese dive teams sign cooperation protocol

KUWAIT: NBK Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer, Isam Al-Sager along with a group of NBK officials in a group picture with NBK Academy newly hired staff.

New batch of young Kuwaitis joins NBK KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) recently welcomed the seventh batch of newly hired young Kuwaitis in the NBK Academy. NBK Academy aims to train and develop the professional skills of young Kuwaitis as part of NBK’s strategy to attract and develop national human resources. NBK organized a special welcoming ceremony for the newly hired employees. The

ceremony was attended by Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer Isam J. Al Sager, Mazin AlNahedh, General Manager, Consumer Banking Group, and Emad Al-Ablani, NBK Deputy General Manager, Human Resources Group, along with a group of NBK officials.

NBK Academy is the first initiative of its kind in the private sector in Kuwait, and is part of

NBK’s strategy to attract young Kuwaitis by offering them a range of career and professional development opportunities.

NBK Academy programs run for five months and are specially tailored to provide trainees with theoretical and practical skills covering the different aspects of the banking industry in addition to on job training.

Al-Ansari visits wounded fireman

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: The Director General of Fire Department, Lt Gen Yousuf AlAnsari, the Deputy Director, Brig Khalid Al-Mikrad, and the Director of Hawally governorate, Col Mohammad Al-Mihaimeed, called upon firefighter Ammar Ashoor Abdeen at the Babtain Hospital for Burns to see him off to France where he will receive further treatment for burns he suffered in a fire accident a few weeks back.

They wished him swift recovery and a safe return home. Al-Ansari conveyed the greetings of Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah to the family of the patient and his regrets for his inability to come personally to participate in the council of ministersí meeting. Lt. General Yousuf Al-Ansari expressed gratitude

towards Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak and state minister for municipal affairs, Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah, for their concern and their continuous follow up as far as affairs of the firemen and the treatment of injured firemen were concerned. He further thanked the Minister of Health and Director of Al-Babtain Hospital, Dr. Mohammad Al-Ajmi, the medical team and the nursing team for their efforts all through the period that Ammar Ashoor spent in the hospital. In the meantime, fireman Abdul Hadi Al-Rashidi returned home from a trip for treatment abroad after he had suffered injuries in a fire accident while on duty. He was met at the airport by Brig.

Khalid Al-Mikrad and Fayez AlNassar. Al-Mikrad thanked God for the safe return of Al-Rashidi and

hailed his courage during the performance of his duty. He said it was in the nature of firemenís work to sacrifice their lives for the safety of

the public. The father of the fireman thanked the fire department for their care and for being present at the airport to receive his son.

KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti Dive Team of the Environmental Voluntary Foundation and the Lebanese Diving Team announced yesterday signing an environmental cooperation protocol that focuses on safe diving sports, in accordance with marine environment protection frameworks.

Head of the Kuwaiti Diving Team Waleed Al-Fadel said that the cooperation between the two teams would contribute in exchange of expertise and information related to the development of the teams while encouraging the divers and sea lovers to engage in scientific and cultural initiatives to increase environmental awareness.

The Kuwaiti team set a comprehensive

strategy to benefit from the various regional and international experiences in the fields, Al-Fadel added.

The Head of the Lebanese Diving Teams Khalid Al-Mer’abi meanwhile said he is hopeful this cooperation protocol would yield joint projects that support environment protection activities.

The Kuwaiti diving team is one of the most active ones in the Middle East region, and has to its credit a long list of local and international achievements in the field of volunteer and environment work, AlMer’abi stressed. The cooperation protocol was signed recently in Kuwait, and was initialed by the heads of the Kuwaiti and Lebanese diving teams. — KUNA

Al-Bader hands over Kuwaiti contribution for Albanian orphans SARAJEVO: Kuwaiti Ambassador to Albania Najeeb Al-Bader met with Abdulsamad Sheeho, President of AlIrfan Society, at the Embassy’s headquarters in Tirana yesterday.

Ambassador Al-Bader said that during the meeting, he had handed to the Albanian charity foundation a contribution of EUR 301,000 from Kuwait’s Jamiat Ihya at-Turath Al-Islami (Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, RIHS) to support a number of projects related to care for orphans.

Furthermore, he mentioned that this contribution is aimed at humanitarian and charitable projects that target the whole of Albania - not only Tirana.

These contributions stem from Kuwait’s belief in supporting vulnerable communities, and its efforts aimed at

easing the suffering of disadvantaged people through meeting their necessary needs, he added.

Moreover, Al-Bader praised the efforts and contributions of Kuwaiti state and civil society institutions, including the Ministry of Awqaf, or Endowments, and Islamic Affairs, Bait AlZakat (The House of Alms) and benefactors and charitable organisations that have aided helped the expansion of cultural and social cooperation with Albania.

Sheeho, for his part, expressed the gratitude of the Albanian people for the contributions made in support of their country’s cultural and development projects, particularly by the Kuwaiti charity, which provides care to around 2, 500 orphans in Albania. — KUNA

Al-Awadhi presents credentials HAVANA: Kuwaiti Ambassador to Cuba Bader Mohammad Al-Awadhi presented his credentials as Non-Resident Ambassador to the Governor General of the Republic of Saint Lucia Pearlette Louisy yesterday.

In a statement, Ambassador AlAwadhi expressed how honored he was to have the trust of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and the political leadership to represent Kuwait in the Republic of Saint Lucia.

Al-Awadhi also expressed pleasure for the kind words and warm feelings expressed by General Governor Pearlette Louisy, including her praising of Kuwait’s humanitarian role and through supporting developmental projects in friendly nations.

The General Governor also conveyed greetings to His Highness the Amir, His Highness the Crown Prince, and the

political leadership, expressing gratitude to the role played by Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) to Saint Lucia.

Ambassador Al-Awadhi also met with Saint Lucia Prime Minister Kenny Davis Anthony, who also expressed gratitude for the support of the State of Kuwait, and the leadership of His Highness the Amir in supporting the people of Saint Lucia and all of the eastern Caribbean sea countries.

Al-Awadhi is the first Kuwaiti Ambassador to Saint Lucia since the signing of diplomatic relations agreement in January 31, 2011.

Saint Lucia is a member country of the Caribbean Sea group and a full and participating member of the Caribbean Community CARICOM. Saint Lucia is considered among the most countries that stood by the State of Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion in 1990. —KUNA

US embassy, Amideast welcome new Access students KUWAIT: US Ambassador Matthew H. Tueller inaugurated a new class of 80 students into the Access Microscholarship Program on April 15, 2013. Parents and students attended a reception at the Holiday Inn in Kuwait City where the Ambassador congratulated each student on joining this prestigious program.

“The opportunity to learn languages is one of the greatest gifts we receive,” the Ambassador said. He added that, “The rich dialogue all people share is enhanced when we have a common language. As we learn languages, we also come to know the cultures of the people who speak those languages. We look forward to sharing American culture with you during workshops and cultural activities,” the ambassador concluded.

The Access program is US Department of State funded two-year English language program for Kuwaiti students administered by Amideast. In addition to language studies, students engage in cultural and leadership activities, community service, and discussions about educational opportunities. Since its establishment in Kuwait in 2004, Access has worked with over 1,000 Kuwaiti students ages 13-15.

This year’s class is composed of 80 students from Ministry of Education schools in all five of Kuwait ’s governates.

Additionally, for the first time ever, we are pleased to have students from the Center for Child Evaluation & Teaching (CCET) in Surra. The course will be taught by native English speaking teachers.

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

Up to 500 feared dead in Damascus suburb

Indian cops arrest 2nd man over girl’s rape

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Boston bomb suspects ‘innocent’ Parents of Boston suspect describe his Russia trip MOSCOW: The father of the suspected Boston bombers insisted in an interview published yesterday that his sons Tamerlan and Dzhokhar were innocent and could not have carried out the bombings. Their plans for the future had included returning to work in Russia, Anzor Tsarnaev said in the telephone inter view with Komsomolskaya Pravda daily, adding that he hoped to travel to the United States where his younger son Dzhokhar is in hospital after his capture with serious injuries.

“I only know what they are showing on television. We plan to go and see him in America if Allah the Almighty permits.” His two sons “were studying and working” in the United States, he said. He said that he last spoke to his elder son Tamerlan Tsarnaev after the bombings. His son told him then that he had received a phone call saying he was a suspect, he said. The men’s father argued that the attacks were somehow orchestrated by the FBI, who he said “kept my Tamerlan constantly under surveillance.”

“They just wanted to set up Tamerlan and Dzhokhar just turned out to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said. “Tamerlan was driving him to school when they started shooting at them,” he claimed. “This is a setup, a political order, a Hollywood show.” “Tamerlan changed jobs a few times: he delivered post, he changed tyres, he was a boxing trainer and in recent months a baby sitter-he sat at home with his three-yearold child. His wife worked. She looked after disabled people.”

Tamerlan last visited Russia in January to get a new passport after turning 25, he said, although he apparently referred to January 2012, since Tamerlan was 26.

“He didn’t want to leave. he said that he wanted to bring his family over here. He didn’t like it there, although he was a famous boxer in Boston.” He denied that Tamerlan held radical Islamist views. “Tamerlan did get religious after getting married. He went to the mosque every Friday. He prayed five times a day. He was a righteous Muslim, and could not have done what he is accused of.”

His other son, Dzhokhar, “was an ‘A grade’ student at Cambridge. He worked as a lifesaver at a pool. He had big plans: to become a doctor, to open a business, to come over here,” Anzor Tsaraev said. “He said: ‘Dad, don’t worry. I’ll finish studying and come over, I’ll help you.’”

Meanwhile, the parents of Tamerlan Tsarnaev insisted Sunday that he came to Dagestan and Chechnya last year to visit relatives and had nothing to do with the militants operating in the volatile part of Russia, with his father saying he slept a lot of the time. But the Boston bombing suspect couldn’t have been immune to the attacks that savaged the region during his six-month stay.

Investigators are now focusing on the trip that Tsarnaev made to Russia in January 2012 that has raised many questions. His father said his son stayed with him in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, where the family lived briefly before moving to the US a decade ago.

The father had only recently returned.

“He was here, with me in Makhachkala,” Anzor Tsarnaev told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “He slept until 3 pm, and you know, I would ask him: ‘Have you come here to sleep?’ He used to go visiting, here and there. He would go to eat somewhere.

Then he would come back and go to bed.” Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and his 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev - both ethnic Chechens - are accused of setting off the two bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15 that killed three people and wounded more than 180 others. Three days later, Tamerlan died in a shootout with police, while his brother was later captured alive but wounded.

No evidence has emerged since to link Tamerlan Tsarnaev to militant groups in Russia’s Caucasus. On Sunday, the Caucasus Emirate, which Russia and the US consider a terrorist organization, denied involvement in the Boston attack. A woman who works in a small shop opposite Tsarnaev’s apartment building said she only saw his son during the course of one month last summer. She described him as a dandy.

“He dressed in a ver y refined way,” Madina Abdullaeva said. “His boots were the same color as his clothes. They were summer boots, light, with little holes punched in the leather.” Anzor Tsarnaev said they also traveled to neighboring Chechnya. “He went with me twice, to see my uncles and aunts. I have lots of them,” the father said.

He said they also visited one of his daughters, who lives in the Chechen town of Urus-Martan with her husband. His son-in-law’s brothers all work in the police force under Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, he said.

Moscow has given Kadyrov a free hand to stabilize Chechnya following two wars between federal troops and Chechen separatists beginning in 1994, and his feared police and security forces have been accused of rampant rights abuses.

What began in Chechnya as a fight for independence has morphed into an Islamic insurgency that has spread throughout Russia’s Caucasus, with the worst of the violence now in Dagestan. In February, 2012, shortly after Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s arrival in Dagestan, a four-day operation to wipe out several militant bands in Chechnya and Dagestan left 17 police and at least 20 militants dead. In May, two car bombs shook Makhachkala, killing at least 13 people and wounding about 130 more. Other bombings and shootings targeting police and other officials took place nearly daily.

The Caucasus Emirate said Sunday that its mujahedin are not fighting with the US. “We are at war with Russia, which is not only responsible for the occupation of the Caucasus, but also for heinous crimes against Muslims,” it said in a statement on the Kavkaz Center website. The group suggested that Russia’s secret services would have had a greater interest in carrying out the attack in Boston. Despite the violence in Dagestan, Anzor

Tsarnaev said Sunday that his son did not want to leave and had thoughts on how he could go into business.

But the father said he encouraged him to go back to the US and try to get citizenship.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev returned to the US in July. His mother said that he was questioned upon arrival at New York’s airport. “And he told me on the phone, ‘Imagine, mama, they were asking me such interesting questions as if I were some strange and scary man: Where did you go? What did you do there?’” Zubeidat Tsarnaeva recalled her son telling her at the time. When the two ethnic Chechen suspects were identified, the FBI said it reviewed its records and found that in early 2011, a foreign government - which law enforcement officials confirmed was Russia - had asked for information about Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The FBI said it was told that Tsarnaev was a “follower of radical Islam” and was preparing to travel to this foreign country to join unspecified underground groups.

The FBI said that it responded by interviewing Tsarnaev and family members, but found no terrorism activity. Both parents insist that the FBI continued to monitor Tamerlan Tsarnaev and that both of their sons were set up. Their mother went so far on Sunday to claim that the FBI had contacted her elder son after the deadly bombs exploded at the marathon. If true it would be the first indication that the FBI considered him a suspect before Boston descended into violence on Thursday. — Agencies

MASSACHUSETTS: Running shoes are placed at a makeshift memorial for victims near the finish line of the Boston Marathon bombings at the intersection of Boylston Street and Berkley Street two days after the second suspect was captured on April 21, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. — AFP

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

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

Iran to meet UN nuclear watchdog DUBAI: Iran and the United Nations nuclear watchdog will have further talks over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program around May 21 in Vienna, Iranian media reported yesterday. There was no immediate confirmation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), leaving unclear whether a firm date for the next meeting had already been agreed.

Iran’s Mehr and ISNA news agencies initially reported that the meeting would be held on May 21, but ISNA later quoted an unnamed official as saying this was only a “preliminary agreement” and that the date could be moved by one or two days.

The IAEA-Iran talks are separate from, but have an important bearing on, diplomatic negotiations between Tehran and six world powers aimed at a broad settlement to the decade-old dispute to

head off the risk of a new Middle East war.

Western powers suspect Iran is trying to develop the capability to produce nuclear weapons under the guise of a declared civilian atomic energy program. Iran denies this, saying it seeks only electricity from uranium enrichment. But its refusal to curb sensitive nuclear activity with both civilian and military applications and its lack of openness with IAEA inspectors have drawn UN and Western sanctions.

Last week, a diplomatic source told Reuters that a meeting between the Vienna-based IAEA and Iran in May was a possibility, but that no date had yet been fixed. If it were to take place, it would be the 10th round of negotiations between the two sides since early 2012, so far without a deal that would enable the UN watchdog to resume its long-stalled

investigation into Iran’s nuclear facilities.

A Western diplomat in Vienna held out little hope the next round of talks would be more successful than previous rounds. If confirmed, it would take place shortly before the IAEA is expected to issue its next quarterly report on Iran’s nuclear program and ahead of a June 3-7 meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation, policymaking Board of Governors, when the Iranian nuclear dispute will once again be on the agenda.

“We have seen this game before,” said the diplomat, from a Western country critical of the Islamic Republic. “Iran seems to have no intention of engaging in real dialogue...(It) just maintains the illusion of movement in order to deflect tough responses from the international community.”

Officials at Iran’s IAEA legation were not immediately available for comment. The last round of IAEAIran negotiations, in February, yielded no breakthrough.

Speaking in Geneva yesterday, European Union nuclear non-proliferation official Jacek Bylica said the EU was “deeply concerned” about Iran’s nuclear program. “Our objective remains to reach a comprehensive long-term settlement, which would restore international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program,” Bylica said, according to a prepared statement. Some analysts say the Islamic Republic’s leadership may be unwilling or unable to make important decisions in nuclear negotiations before its presidential election in June. — Reuters

Up to 500 feared dead in Damascus suburb At least 100 dead in govt offensive

BOSTON: Holly Holland (right) hugs her daughter Katie (center) as her husband Kevin Holland (left) all of St Louis, looks while visiting a makeshift memorial yesterday. — AP

Silence marks one week after Boston bombings BOSTON: Seven days after the Boston Marathon bombings, the city was bustling Monday, with runners hitting the pavement, children walking to school and enough cars clogging the streets to make the morning commute feel almost back to normal in the hours before the traumatic week would be marked with mournful silence. Massachusetts Gov Deval Patrick had asked residents to observe a moment of silence at 2:50 pm yesterday, the time the first of the two bombs exploded near the finish line. Bells were set to ring across the city and state after the minutelong tribute to the victims. Many Boston residents headed back to workplaces and schools for the first time since a dramatic week came to an even more dramatic end. Traffic was heavy on major arteries into the city yesterday morning, and nervous parents dropped their children off at schools, some for the first time since the attacks.

Authorities on Friday had made the unprecedented request that residents stay at home during the manhunt for suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. He was discovered that evening hiding in a boat covered by a tarp in suburban Watertown. His older brother Tamerlan was earlier killed during a furious getaway attempt. At the Snowden International School on Newbury Street, a high school set just a block from the bombing site, jittery parents dropped off children as teachers - some of whom had run in the race - greeted each other with hugs. Carlotta Martin, 49, of Boston, said that leaving her kids at school has been the hardest part of getting back to normal.

“We’re right in the middle of things,” Martin said outside the school as her children, 17year-old twins and a 15-year-old, walked in, glancing at the police barricades a few yards from the school’s front door. “I’m nervous.

Hopefully, this stuff is over,” she continued. “I told my daughter to text me so I know everything’s okay.” The city is beginning to reopen sections of the six-block site around the bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 180.

Tsarnaev remained hospitalized and unable to speak, with a gunshot wound to the throat. He was expected to be charged by federal authorities. The 19-year-old also is likely to face state charges in connection with the fatal shooting of MIT police officer Sean Collier in Cambridge, said Stephanie Guyotte, a spokeswoman for the Middlesex District Attorney’s office. On Norfolk Street, where the brothers lived, neighbors said they thought they saw some more detectives Monday morning. But unlike Friday, the street was open. Outside City Paint, the paint store a half-block from the brothers’ home, Brian Cloutier smoked a cigarette.” We’ll get back to normal,” he said.

“Cambridge and Boston are resilient.”

A private funeral was scheduled Monday for Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant worker killed in the blasts. A memorial service will be held that night at Boston University for 23-year-old Lu Lingzi, a graduate student from China. City churches on Sunday paused to mourn the dead as the city’s police commissioner said the two suspects had such a large cache of weapons that they were probably planning other attacks. After the two brothers engaged in a gun battle with police early Friday, authorities found many unexploded homemade bombs at the scene, along with more than 250 rounds of ammunition. Police Commissioner Ed Davis said the stockpile was “as dangerous as it gets in urban policing.”

“We have reason to believe, based upon the evidence that was found at that scene the explosions, the explosive ordnance that was unexploded and the firepower that they had - that they were going to attack other individuals. That’s my belief at this point.”

Davis told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

On “Fox News Sunday,” he said authorities cannot be positive there are not more explosives somewhere that have not been found.

But the people of Boston are safe, he insisted.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, the suspects in the twin bombings, are ethnic Chechens from southern Russia. The motive for the bombings remained unclear. Sen Dan Coats of Indiana, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the surviving brother’s throat wound raised questions about when he will be able to talk again, if ever. The wound “doesn’t mean he can’t communicate, but right now I think he’s in a condition where we can’t get any information from him at all,” Coats told ABC’s “This Week.” It was not clear whether Tsarnaev was shot by police or inflicted the wound himself. In the final standoff with police, shots were fired from the boat, but investigators have not determined where the gunfire was aimed, Davis said. In an interview with The Associated Press, the parents of Tamerlan Tsarnaev insisted Sunday that he came to Dagestan and Chechnya last year to visit relatives and had nothing to do with the militants operating in the volatile part of Russia. His father said he slept much of the time. A lawyer for Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s wife told the AP Sunday night that federal authorities have asked to speak with her, and that he is discussing with them how to proceed.

Attorney Amato DeLuca said Katherine Russell Tsarnaev did not suspect her husband of anything, and that there was no reason for her to have suspected him. He said she had been working 70 to 80 hours, seven days a week, as a home health care aide. While she was at work, her husband cared for their toddler daughter, he said. —AP

SANAA: Bsam Ali, 11, swims in polluted water at a slum area on the outskirts of Sanaa, Yemen, yesterday. Hundreds of countries globally, marked International Earth Day yesterday, to help raise ecological awareness and support environmental protection. — AP

AMMAN: At least 109 people have been documented as killed and up to 400 more are likely to have died in an almost week-long offensive by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad on a rebellious Damascus suburb, opposition activists said. If the accounts are confirmed, the killings in the mainly Sunni Muslim suburb of Jdeidet al-Fadel would amount to one of bloodiest episodes of the two-year-old uprising against Assad. Many of the dead were civilians, the activists said.

Syrian state media gave no death toll but confirmed the army had been fighting in Jdeidet al-Fadel. It said it had saved the town from what it described as criminal terrorist groups, killing and wounding an undisclosed number of them.

On Sunday activists said at least 85 people had been killed and the toll might reach 250, but with the army beginning to pull back they said more accounts were emerging which suggest the final figure could be even higher.

The activists, speaking from the area, 10 km (six miles) southwest of Damascus, said residents had buried some victims in the early stages of the five-day attack by elite forces and pro-Assad militias. More bodies are now being found burnt or summarily executed in buildings and streets.

They said rebel brigades who numbered aroud 300 fighters withdrew two days ago, leaving Assad’s forces in total control.

The working-class district is one of several Sunni Muslim towns surrounding the capital that have been at the forefront of the uprising. It is situated near hilltop bases of elite forces which are mostly from Assad’s minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam that has dominated Syria since the 1960s. Documented deaths of people who were discovered in the street and buildings on Saturday and Sunday and later buried in mass graves stood at 109, the opposition activist said. Activist Abu Ahmad al-Rabi’ said they included seven refugees from nearby towns found shot dead inside a residential building.

Dozens of bodies were also seen near a disused railway line in the centre of the district but the presence of army patrols have prevented the collection and documentation of victims.

“Assad’s forces are beginning to withdraw from Jdeidet Al-Fadel but they are still there patrolling the streets and there are snipers deployed,” he said.

Bodies lying in streets In addition to those buried over the weekend,

DAMASCUS: An image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube shows the body of a Syrian found dead in the town of Jdaidet Al-Fadl, outside Damascus, among scores of bodies, some of them disfigured, that were found there following five days of violence according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.— AFP and those bodies reported lying in the streets, refugees and in the last year thousands of famibetween 100 to 200 people were killed and lies from nearby areas took shelter in the town.

The Local Coordination Committee, an organburied in the first three days of the fighting, the activists said. Shamel Al-Golani of the opposition isation of grassroots activists, put the death toll Sham News Network said among the hardest hit at 450, while the Syrian Organisation for Human areas was a neighbourhood adjacent to the 100 Rights (Sawasiah) said the number of victims army brigade, one of several elite units based was at 500. In a statement, Sawasieh said the army forces included elite Republican Guards, around Jdeidet Al-Fadel.

“In the first three days the army would go the 100 and 153 artillery brigades and the 555 into neighbourhoods and commit killings and brigade, formerly known as the Defence withdraw and come back the next day,” he said. Brigades.

Units of “sectarian militia” supported by mem“Many of them who were killed early were refugees from Daraya and Al-Mouadamiya and bers of airforce intelligence, one of the most were buried quietly,” he said, referring to two feared of a myriad of secret police branches, adjacent suburbs that have been the scene of accompanied the army units, it said. According to witness accounts interviewed by the Syrian fighting and several army incursions.

Assad’s forces have been accused of mas- organisation, water and electricity were cut off sacring hundreds of Sunni Muslims in areas they from the town and residents were not allowed to stormed in Hama and Homs provinces and leave as Assad’s forces blocked the entrances of Damascus suburbs. International rights groups the suburbs. Many of the victims, Sawasiah said, say rebel forces have also committed atrocities, were civilians, targeted because the suburb was although on a smaller scale. Jdeidet Al-Fadel lies an “incubator for armed resistance” and showed on the road from Damascus to the Israeli-occu- solidarity with refugees in adjacent towns also pied Golan Heights. Its residents are Golan subjected to mass killings. — Reuters

Greek former defense minister goes on trial ATHENS: A former Greek defense minister strongly denied felony charges of money laundering against him yesterday, the first day of a corruption trial against him and another 18 defendants, including his immediate family. Akis Tsochadzopoulos, his wife Vicky Stamati, daughter Areti and another five of the suspects have spent the past year in jail awaiting the trial on felony money-laundering charges stemming from allegations of kickbacks in defense contracts. In March, the 73year-old Tsochadzopoulos was sentenced to eight years in prison in a separate but related trial after being convicted of filing false income declarations.

The case has been a dramatic fall from grace for the former political high-flier who served as defense minister from 1996 to 2001 and development minister between 2001 and 2004. The Socialist PASOK party he belonged to dominated Greek politics for decades but saw its public support hammered over its handling of a severe financial crisis that broke out in late 2009.

Struggling to tame the country’s runaway debt, the country now depends on international rescue loans for survival, and successive governments have imposed punishing austerity measures and suffered spiraling unemployment. PASOK is currently a junior partner in the conservative-led coalition government.

The accused include Tsochadzopoulos’ German-born ex-wife Gudrun, his cousin Nikos Zigros, as well as a former accountant, a lawyer and several former associates and businessmen. All have been charged with money laundering and face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. All except Zigros, who had previously admitted some wrongdoing, denied the charges.

The trial is expected to last several months.

The first day was taken up mainly with procedural issues before being adjourned to May 8, after the Greek Easter break. “I categorically

ATHENS: Former Greek Defense Minister Akis Tsochadzopoulos (left) arrives at a court for the start of long anticipated corruption trial into allegations of kickbacks in defense contracts yesterday. —AP

and absolutely reject the indictment, which systematically attempts to give the impression that there was an illegal criminal organization, a gang, that aimed to launder dirty money,” said the 73-year-old Tsochadzopoulos, who arrived at the courthouse from jail in handcuffs.

He said the indictment alleged that the former defense minister had been behind such an organization, “when for six years we were doing the best that could be done for the country.” The state is also acting as a civil

claimant in the case, seeking 1 million euros from each defendant for “moral damages.”

The trial is being held in the ceremonies hall of the Athens appeals court to ensure there is enough room for 19 defendants, about 50 lawyers and dozens of reporters.

Tsochadzopoulos has been accused of setting up a system of kickbacks from purchases of military hardware, in particular German-made submarines and a Russian-made anti-aircraft missile system, allegedly funneling the money into property purchases. —AFP

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

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

‘Dozens’ killed in Nigeria gun battles Colonel denies ‘185 people dead’ claims KANO: Dozens of people have been killed in fierce fighting between Nigeria’s military and suspected Islamists after troops raided an insurgent hideout in the northeast, a government source told AFP yesterday.

Gun battles broke out in the remote fishing village of Baga on Friday, forcing residents to flee the town that

state military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa told AFP that media reports that some 180 people could have died in the clashes were “extensively inflated.” “There could have been some casualties, but it is unthinkable to say that 185 people died,” Musa said. “On my honour as an officer, nothing like that hap-

insurgents, soldiers as well as civilians. The Red Cross and the National Emergency Management Agency said their staff had not yet visited the area but both organisations planned to dispatch teams to the village yesterday. “We just mobilised our volunteers. Once the security situation is clear, they will move in,” Red Cross

MAIDUGURI: People walk past police armored tank stationed at the main gate of the state police command headquarters in this file photo. —AP also serves as a small trading centre on the shores of Lake Chad. The village lies in Borno state, the home base of Boko Haram Islamists who are blamed for carrying out scores of attacks across northern and central Nigeria since 2009.

The fighting “killed dozens of people,” said a state government official who refused to be named. Borno

pened,” he added.

Heavy damage was visible throughout the village, including signs that a massive fire had razed several homes and a market, according to an official who toured the area on Sunday with regional governor Kashim Shettima. The official, who also requested anonymity, said local residents reported deaths among the

spokesman Nwakpa O. Nwakpa told AFP. He confirmed that a significant attack occurred, but said, “we really don’t know yet how many people died.” Baga is more than 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the state capital Maiduguri, a precarious drive on poor roads in a region hit by waves of violence. Boko Haram has used Maiduguri as a base for its insur-

gency, but scores of militants have reportedly fled to more remote corners of the state following a crackdown by security forces in the city.

Local residents told the governor’s delegation that the clashes started when troops surrounded a mosque that was allegedly sheltering insurgents. A shootout ensued and there were reports from residents of the Islamists using heavy weapons including rocket propelled grenades, but the nature of the fighting could not be confirmed and details were still emerging. Mobile phone network coverage in some parts of Borno was crippled last year after Boko Haram burned down a series of telecommunication masts. Nigeria’s security forces have a history of minimising casualty figures in the conflict with Boko Haram, in a bid to downplay the Islamists’ capacity. But resentment of the military is high in some communities and locals have in the past given inflated death tolls while accusing the military of indiscriminately killing civilians during their operations.

Boko Haram has said it is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north, but the group’s demands have shifted repeatedly.

The conflict in Africa’s most populous country and top oil producer is estimated to have left about 3,000 people dead since 2009.

The toll includes people killed by the security forces, who have been accused by international rights groups of massive abuses, especially in the northeast. Facing mounting political pressure over his inability to end the violence, President Goodluck Jonathan set up a panel last week to study how an amnesty could be offered to Boko Haram. It is unclear whether an amnesty offer would help reduce the unrest, or whether member of the radical group are open to the proposal. —AFP

Italy president tells parties to stop fighting ROME: Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, in a tough address to the country’s squabbling political parties, said yesterday they must agree to form a government without delay. In his inaugural address to parliament after an unprecedented presidential re-election, the 87-year-old head of state repeatedly attacked the parties for their endless conflict and failure to reach agreement since an election in February. He told the parliamentarians only a broad coalition was possible in the current circumstances and they must swiftly form an administration capable of winning confidence votes in both houses of parliament.

President Giorgio Napolitano has reluctantly been re-elected for an unprecedented second term after traditional politicians begged him to stay on and deal with one of the most turbulent moments in recent Italian political history. Now there is some optimism that a government can be formed within the week, nearly two months after February’s inconclusive election.

Napolitano, who is 87, has emerged from the turmoil with his power greatly enhanced compared to the previous few months, when as an outgoing president his arms were constitutionally tied.

Now he not only has the big stick of being able to call a snap election, which many politicians want to avoid, but is thought to have obtained solid assurances of cooperation from party leaders who begged him to stay on.

Napolitano is expected to hold a rapid round of consultations with political parties today, banging their heads together and then handing a mandate to a potential new prime minister as soon as tomorrow.

This prime minister-designate would try to form a broad based coalition between the divided centre-left and Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right plus the centrists of outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti within the week. Beppe Grillo’s populist 5-Star Movement bitterly opposes the deal that re-elected Napolitano and would remain in opposition, joined by the leftist SEL party of Puglia governor Nichi Vendola.

Napolitano’s favourite to lead this government is said to be veteran politician Giuliano Amato, a 75year-old former premier with the experience and skills to face the political chaos.

However, after the election in February showed an overwhelming desire for change, Amato may be seen as too old and too much a member of the traditional establishment. One alternative is Enrico Letta, the 46-year-old outgoing deputy leader of the divided centre-left Democratic Party (PD).

However the PD splits may torpedo Letta, leaving Napolitano to choose a less established political figure.

Whoever is given the mandate is expected to try to form a government by the end of the week with ministries mixed between senior politicians and a few technocrats.

They could include members of Monti’s government or of the two commissions of “sages” that Napolitano set up last month to propose reforms to mend the broken political system and address a chronic recession that has incited serious public anger. —Reuters

PARIS: People wave flags on the esplanade des Invalides during an anti-gay marriage demonstration “La Manif Pour Tous” (Demonstration for all!) yesterday. —AFP

Protesters make final bid to block France gay marriage law PARIS: Tens of thousands of opponents of government plans to legalise gay marriage marched in Paris Sunday two days before a final vote on the bill, which has provoked fierce and sometimes violent protests.

Clutching French flags, dressed in pink and blue, the colours of the movement, carrying children or pushing buggies, protesters shouted slogans against President Francois Hollande as they made their way through the city. “We’ve been to all the protests,” said a 32-year-old mother who only gave her first name Camille.

“We’re here for children’s rights. We don’t want the state to be complicit in a child being deprived of a father or a mother,” she said. The mass protest was staged just two days ahead of a decisive parliamentary vote on the bill, which also allows adoption by gay couples. If passed it will make France the 14th country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage.

Organisers and security forces were on alert after violence marred anti-bill protests last week and amid fears that far-right extremists intent on sparking unrest had infiltrated the opposition movement. The leader of the far-right “Nationalist Youths” group, Alexandre Gabriac, was among those marching. “ We have around 50 nationalists in the protest,” said Gabriac, who last week was detained after clashes with security forces.

“We want a peaceful demonstration and we reject all groups that directly target homosexual people,” said the humorist known as Frigide Barjot, spokeswoman for the “Manif pour Tous” group driving the anti-bill protests. Police sources said officers had detained three protesters carrying tear gas canisters. Paris police estimated the march attracted 45,000 people, while organisers said 270,000 turned out on a sunny afternoon in the French capital and the march passed off peacefully. Late on Sunday however, on the Esplanade des Invalides near parliament, police scuffled with a few hard-core protesters who had stayed on after the rally, and made some arrests. But there were no major clashes.

Opinion polls regularly show that while a slim majority backs same-sex marriage, a similarly narrow majority opposes adoption by gay couples. The bill tackling both issues has proved hugely divisive in a country which, while officially secular, is still predominantly Catholic. Tension over the imminent adoption of the bill reached breaking point last week.

In parliament’s lower house, the National Assembly, a final debate on the legislation was marred by scuffles between deputies early Friday. On the streets of Paris, opponents of the measures marched for three nights in a row and activists, some wearing masks, clashed with police, who made more than 100 arrests. Two journalists were attacked during one march and cars were vandalised.

Rights groups have also reported a rise in verbal and physical assaults against homosexuals, and two gay bars came under attack last week, in the northern city of Lille, and in Bordeaux in the southwest.

Elsewhere in the capital Sunday, supporters of the legislation gathered in Place de la Bastille, one of the city’s main squares, to protest against homophobia-around 3,500, said police. Organisers put the number at 15,000. “Those who are for more equality must also make themselves heard,” said the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, who is himself gay. He denounced the recent violence as “a form of barbarism and regression”.

Supporters of the bill, while less vocal than those against it, have also staged large-scale demos in recent months. “We wanted to show that sexual minorities can be visible, that we are there and that our lives have the same value as those of others,” said Laure Pora from the pro-gay marriage group Act-Up. The bill is largely supported by the ruling Socialists, their allies in the Green Party and the Communists, and opposed by the main opposition UMP and other right-wing and centre-right parties.

The UMP has accused the government of rushing the bill through its final legislative stages. —AFP

Spain’s population falls as immigrants flee crisis

MITROVICA: A Kosovo Serb waves a flag during a protest against the accord on the normalisation of relations between Serbia and Kosovo, in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica yesterday. —AFP

Serbian govt approves deal with Kosovo BELGRADE: The Serbian government yesterday approved a landmark agreement to normalize relations with breakaway Kosovo, but thousands of Kosovo Serb demonstrators chanting “Treason, Treason” - rejected the deal. Up to 10,000 flag-waving protesters gathered in the divided northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica, demanding that the EUbrokered agreement be annulled and branding the Serbian officials who endorsed it “traitors.” The Serbian government approved the deal unanimously at an extraordinary session and ordered ministries to implement it, said government spokesman Milivoje Mihajlovic. The agreement could end years of tensions and put the Balkan rivals on a path to European Union membership The prime ministers of Serbia and Kosovo reached a tentative EU-mediated deal in Brussels on Friday that would give Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leadership authority over rebel Kosovo Serbs. In return, the minority Serbs would get wide autonomy within Kosovo. After the Serbian approval, the EU’s executive Commission recommended on Monday that the bloc should start membership negotiations with Serbia. The Commission said in a report that “Serbia has taken very significant steps towards visible and sustainable improvement in relations with Kosovo.”

Kosovo, which is considered by nationalists to be the medieval cradle of the Serbian state and religion, declared independence in 2008. Serbia has vowed never to recognize it, and Serbian officials insist that the latest agreement does not mean Belgrade has de-

facto recognized Kosovo’s statehood. It is not clear how the deal will be implemented on the ground in northern Kosovo where hardline Serb leaders vehemently reject any authority coming from Pristina’s ethnic Albanians and consider the region a part of Serbia.

In Mitrovica, hardline Kosovo Serbs said they will prevent the implementation of the agreement and form their own, self-ruled region in the north. On Sunday, Kosovo’s parliament voted in favor of a resolution to support the initial agreement. The Serbian parliament is expected to do the same later this week. The influential Serbian Orthodox Church on Monday, however, denounced the deal as a “clear surrender” of “our most important territory,” and urged the country’s lawmakers to reject it.

The church said in a statement that the deal amounts to “indirect and silent, but still de-facto recognition” of the Kosovo state.

The deal allows Serbs to police and manage the north of Kosovo, which is inhabited predominantly by ethnic Serbs, in exchange for nominal recognition of the authority of the Kosovo government. It also calls for the two sides not to obstruct one another as they seek eventual membership in the EU. Serbia relinquished control of most of Kosovo in 1999 when NATO chased its troops out of the region after a three-month bombing campaign. Ending the partition of Kosovo between the Albanian majority and the Serb-controlled north - about a fifth of the country - is a key condition of Serbia’s further progress toward EU membership. —AP

MADRID: Spain’s official population fell last year for the first time since records began as immigrants fled a five-year onand-off recession that has sent unemployment soaring. The number of residents fell by 206,000 to 47.1 million, the National Statistics Institute said yesterday, a figure entirely accounted for by the fall in the number of registered foreign residents. It was the first time a population drop had been recorded in official statistics since records began in 1857 although until 1998 figures were published roughly every decade, rather than annually.

Spain and the rest of Southern Europe are suffering twin economic and fiscal crises. During a long economic boom that ended abruptly in 2008, Spanish-speaking immigrants from Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia flocked to Spain to work in construction. Between 2000 and 2010, the immigrant population swelled from 924,000 to 5.7 million.

But building has come to a standstill since a housing bubble burst, and a government spending squeeze to try to meet

strict deficit cutting targets imposed by Brussels has further strained the economy. As the unemployment rate has soared to 26 percent, many immigrants have returned home. The biggest fall in registered foreign residents was among South Americans, especially Ecuadoreans and Colombians, the statistics agency said.

“There was extraordinary growth (in immigrants) from 2000 to 2009, which is reversing quickly due to the economic crisis,” demographer Albert Esteve of the Barcelona Centre for Demographic Studies told Spain National Radio.

“Spain is less attractive because there are no jobs.” Spain’s two largest groups of immigrants, Romanians and Moroccans, both shrank last year. Not only are immigrants returning home; many Spaniards are also leaving to look for work abroad.

The youth unemployment rate is higher than 50 percent. The population of native Spaniards grew last year by 10,000, a smaller increase than in recent years, only minimally offsetting a fall of 216,000 in the number of registered foreigners. —Reuters

TOSNO: People prepare to paddle on a boat in the flooded village of Tosno during a spring flood in the northwestern Russian Leningrad Region yesterday. —AFP

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

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

Dutch schools closed over shooting threat Police arrest ex-British school pupil

ASUNCION: Paraguayan presidential candidate for the Colorado Party, Horacio Cartes (left) and his Vice-President Juan Afara, wave after winning the elections in Asuncion on April 21, 2013. —AFP

Cartes wins Paraguay presidential vote ASUNCION: Millionaire businessman Horacio Cartes of the opposition Colorado Party, a political neophyte with alleged drug ties, won Paraguay’s presidential race, electoral officials said Sunday. Cartes took 45.91 percent of the votes, compared to 36.84 percent for Efrain Alegre of the ruling Liberal Party, who has conceded defeat, Electoral Board chief Alberto Ramirez said.

In a country where 40 percent of the population still lives in poverty, Cartes-whose myriad businesses include banks, sports teams, drinks bottling, soybeans and currency exchanges-promised he would “create jobs and then create more jobs.” “If God has given me this success in my business life, then I think I should be able to use my skills in political life,” he said.

Voters were turning the page on a political crisis that saw leftist president Fernando Lugo impeached 10 months ago. The new president takes over from Lugo on August 15. Cartes, a 56-year-old conservative tobacco baron, had been the favorite ahead of the economist Alegre, 50. They traded accusations of corruption and links to drug trafficking in a highly negative campaign.

The conservative Colorados held Paraguay’s presidency for 60 years until being ousted by Lugo in 2008, thanks to a united liberal coalition. By contrast, Cartes, one of Paraguay’s wealthiest men, is a relative newcomer on the political scene. He did not join the Colorado party until 2009, and says he only voted for the first time the following year. Paraguay is plagued by drug trafficking, smuggling and pirating of copyrighted materials like music and movies, and corruption is pervasive.

During the election campaign, Alegre-a self-styled crusader against crime and corruption-highlighted Cartes’s brief 1985 jail

stint for his role in a currency smuggling affair, while Cartes accused Alegre of embezzling $25 million in government funds. The leftist Alegre, 50, was an activist who fought passionately against the dictatorship of Paraguay’s strongman, who ruled the country between 1954 and 1989. A mostly rural country of 6.5 million bordered

by Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia, Paraguay is replacing Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop who was ousted 10 months ago by the opposition-controlled legislature after a police eviction of farmers left 17 people dead.

Lugo’s administration was rocked by a sex scandal, after he was forced to admit to having fathered two children out of wedlock while he was still a priest, and he faces at least two other as-yet unresolved paternity suits. Now, the leftist coalition that swept him to power has split, although Lugo is again on the ballot-this time as a Senate candidate.

Paraguay’s 3.5 million voters are also casting ballots for the country’s legislature and 17 governors. Since Lugo’s impeachment, Liberal Federico Franco has led the country. He did not seek re-election. Most Latin American countries saw Lugo’s impeachment as a legislative coup d’etat, and Paraguay’s membership in the Mercosur common trade bloc and the Unasur regional group has been suspended.

Cartes, a smoker and wine-lover who lives in a mansion in Asuncion, is separated from his wife Maria Montana, with whom he has three children. At his closing campaign event, he rallied supporters to do more together: “Yes we can, we can be a better country,” as fireworks lit up the skies, and he named his father and children. “I won’t disappoint you,” Car tes pledged. —AFP

LEIDEN: Dutch police arrested a former pupil at a British school in the Netherlands yesterday in connection with a threat to go on a shooting spree that saw armed police deployed and schools closed. Police in the university city of Leiden, just northeast of The Hague, confirmed one person had been arrested following the threat to “shoot my Dutch teacher and as many students as I can”, made on an Internet site over the weekend. “Someone was arrested in connection with the threat and we’re continuing our investigations,” a police spokeswoman said, declining to give her name.

“We have been informed that a former student of the British School in the Netherlands (BSN) has been arrested in connection to threats made against a Dutch school in Leiden,” said a statement issued by the school. The British School in Voorschoten, between Leiden and The Hague, said the pupil was expelled in October 2011 “after incidents regarding his behaviour and has therefore not attended the school for over a year.”

Police informed the school that there was never a threat to the British School or to its students, the school said, adding that it had remained open yesterday. Founded in 1931, the expensive private school hosts students of 80 different nationalities, according to its website. Authorities in Leiden decided late Sunday night to close secondary schools to thousands of pupils following a tip-off by Swiss police following the threat. “I will shoot my Dutch teacher and as many students as I can,” said the anonymous message in English on the US-based online forum 4chan.org.

“It’s at a school in the Dutch city of Leiden” it said, chillingly adding “for more proof, I will be using a 9mm Colt Defender.” “Oh, and I’m using a proxy, the police is not gonna find me before tomorrow,” the message end-

ed. In a statement late Sunday, law officials said they did not yet know against which school the threat had been made and warned parents not to send their children to class.

An AFP correspondent said that besides the cordoned-off schools

He said after running out of time, the decision was taken to close the schools because “if you can’t find the perpetrator or know exactly which school is being targeted, only that it’s a school in Leiden... you have to do something.” Lenferink added that “of

LEIDEN: Police officers stand in front of the ROC College in Leiden, The Netherlands yesterday. —AFP and the police presence, life in the city appeared to be continuing normally. Leiden mayor Henri Lenferink told the NOS broadcaster “we received a report via the police in Zurich, who saw the posting on the Internet and gave it through to the police in Leiden.” “ They tried to establish who placed the text but that was not immediately successful.

There has also been and still is, contact with the FBI in the United States” to see if the person can be traced, Lenferink said.

course its possible that it’s a morbid joke.” “On the one hand you don’t want to overreact, on the other nobody wants to take the risk-that’s the difficult dilemma we were facing yesterday,” he said.

Secondary schools in the Netherlands cover the 12-to-18 age group and there are at least 22 such schools in Leiden-some of them international. The city is home to the country’s oldest university. Dutch police in 2009 arrested an 18-year-old man for posting threats on 4chan.org.

tors who opposed the new regulations of “cowardice” in a piece published in the New York Times’ op-ed page. Giffords was among 13 people wounded two years ago when a lone gunman opened fire as she met with constituents in a Tucson, Ariz, shopping mall, killing six others. She and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, had lobbied for the bills’ passage.

On CBS’ “Face the Nation,” moderator Bob Schieffer asked Heslin, Lafferty and Soto Sunday whether the words “cowardice” and “cowards” were appropriate to describe Wednesday’s vote. “I do,” said Heslin, who’s 6-year-old son Neil Lewis died at Sandy Hook. “I feel they’re not standing up for what they should be.” Carlee Soto, recounted her sister Victoria’s courage to try to save her students, Neil Lewis among them.

“My sister wasn’t a coward that day. My sister pushed the kids up against the wall, out of sight,” she said, adding, “She protected her kids. Why aren’t they protecting us?” referring to the senators who voted against the gun bills. The families say the gun legislation would have strengthened laws already in effect rather than undercut the Second Amendment, which provides a constitutional right to bear arms. “It’s beyond me how these congressmen cannot stand up and support something that would prevent - or help prevent - something like this from ever occurring again,” Heslin said. “We aren’t going to go away. I know I’m not,” he added. “We’re not going to stop until there are changes that are made.” —AP

More rain, snow could lead to more flooding GRAFTON: The Mississippi River is topping out at some problematic spots, but there is growing concern that spring floods are far from over. The river was at or near crest at several places Sunday between the Quad Cities and near St. Louis. Some towns in the approximate 100-mile stretch of river from Quincy, Ill., to Grafton, Ill., reached 10-12 feet above flood stage. The good news was that most businesses and homes were high and dry, though hundreds of acres of farmland were under water, bridges were closed at Quincy and Louisiana, Mo., and countless roads were shutdown.

But river towns aren’t yet in the clear: An inch or more of rain is in the forecast as well as continuing accumulation of snow to the north, especially in Minnesota and the Dakotas. Flood watchers along both the Missouri and Mississippi rivers know that

once that snow - record levels in some cases - melts, a lot of it ends up in the big rivers.

The current flooding is bad enough. In scenic Grafton, a small tourist town 40 miles north of St. Louis, floodwater 3 inches deep seeped into the basement of Pam and Dennis Bick’s home where they’ve lived for four decades.

“We have time to figure out what to do, where we would go and where we would put everything,” Pam Bick, 57, said. “I don’t want it to come up any more. But I can’t stop it.” Rain last week started the whole mess, causing the Mississippi and many other rivers to surge in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. Flooding has now been blamed in three deaths - two at the same spot in Indiana and one in Missouri. In all three cases, vehicles were swept off the road in flash floods. —AP

Japanese anime and pornography. In April 2011, a man armed with a semiautomatic rifle killed six people when he opened fire on shoppers at a mall in the western town of Alphen aan de Rijn. Gunman Tristan van der Vlis, 24, then committed suicide, in what was the worst mass shooting in recent times in the Netherlands. In 1999, four students and a teacher were wounded when a student fired 10 shots in a computer room at a school in the southern Dutch town of Veghel. —AFP

US Border Patrol now counts how many escape capture

We’ll keep fighting for gun law: Newtown families WASHINGTON: Disappointment. Disgust.

Grossly unfair. That’s how some families who lost loved ones in December’s massacre at a Connecticut elementary school view the Senate’s defeat this past week of the most far-reaching gun control legislation in two decades, as they pledged to keep fighting for measures to prevent gun violence. Neil Heslin, Erica Lafferty and Carlee Soto were among the Newtown, Conn., family members who spent a week on Capitol Hill describing how their loved ones died at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec 14. But their stories of horror and heroism were no match for a threat from the National Rifle Association to rate the vote, and concern from Republicans and a small band of rural-state Democrats.

Lafferty, whose mother, school principal Dawn Hochsprung, lunged unarmed at the gunman to stop him from firing the assault weapon, said she was “honestly disgusted that there were so many senators that are doing nothing about the fact that my mom was gunned down in her elementary school, along with five other educators and 20 6- and 7-year-old children.”

The Senate rejected on Wednesday a series of gun control bills that would have tightened background checks for buyers, banned assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, and loosened restrictions on carrying concealed weapons across state lines, the last measure backed by the NRA. Within hours of the votes, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords accused sena-

The man, who threatened a shooting at a school in the southern city of Breda, later said he did it as a joke.

The 4chan.org website describes itself as a “simple image-based bulletin board,” covering a variety of topics including video games, sports,

POTSDAM: A woman with a baby buggy and a dog passes a blooming Japanese cherry birch in Potsdam, northeastern Germany yesterday. —AP

Maduro retains key Chavez ministers CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro confirmed key cabinet ministers first appointed under the late Hugo Chavez in office late Sunday, in a sign there would be little change from the former leader’s policies. Two days after his controversial inauguration, Maduro announced that 15 of 32 cabinet ministers-including those in the key posts of foreign affairs, petroleum, defense and information-would stay in office. He also ratified Chavez’s son-in-law Jorge Arreaza as vice president.

He nevertheless appointed a new finance minister, Nelson Merentes, previously head of the country’s central bank.

Jorge Giordani, architect of Venezuela’s strict currency exchange controls aimed at halting capital flight, was appointed the new planning minister. The new cabinet will “speed off this Monday April 22, with a lead foot on the gas pedal” to travel the country to govern close to the Venezuelan people, Maduro announced just before midnight Sunday.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who disputes Maduro’s April 14 razor-thin presidential election victory, dismissed the cabinet as “more of the same” in a Twitter message. Government and opposition remain locked in a tense confrontation over the outcome of the snap election to replace Chavez, who died March 5 after 14 years in power. On Sunday the Roman Catholic Church weighed in on the political crisis, with Pope Francis calling for dialogue.

Maduro and Capriles both welcomed the pope’s statement on their Twitter

accounts, but sidestepped the call for talks.

The Argentine-born pope said in a statement from the Vatican Sunday that he was following events in Venezuela “with great concern.” “I invite the dear Venezuelan people, and in particular its institutional and political leaders, to establish a dialogue based on the truth, mutual recognition in the search for the common good and out of love for the nation,” he said.

Maduro responded: “I agree, Pope Francis. I’m concerned about the intolerance, the hate and the violence that generated deaths and injured.” Capriles tweeted: “A million thanks to Pope Francis for his mention of our Venezuela and the search for solutions founded on the truth.” In an interview with the Ultimas Noticias daily, Cardinal Jorge Urosa, the head of the Venezuelan church, offered to help arrange a dialogue.

The Catholic Church has often mediated in political conflicts in Latin America but was largely sidelined in Venezuela under Chavez, a leftwing populist who claimed to be a devout Catholic but often clashed with the bishops. Urosa acknowledged the church’s appeals have often gone unheeded. “It’s regrettable. They pay no attention!

And when I’ve talked about poor public safety conditions and violence, they’ve told me I’m getting involved in politics.” An expanded audit of the presidential vote, demanded by the opposition, is set to begin this week, even though the vice president of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council said Saturday it could not overturn Maduro’s victory. —AFP

CAMPO: Richard Gordon is one of the US Border Patrol’s best at spotting the smallest human traces in pursuit of people who enter the US illegally from Mexico: dusty footprints, torn cobwebs, broken twigs, overturned pebbles. It’s a skill he has sharpened over the last 16 years in the craggy, shrub-covered mountains east of San Diego and one that is taking on new importance as gauging border security has emerged as a potential stumbling block to an overhaul of the US immigration system.

With lawmakers demanding more measures of border security and assurances that massive spending increases on enforcement yield results, Gordon’s skill, known as “sign-cutting,” will likely get greater focus because it is the Border Patrol’s dominant technique to count those who escape capture. It’s not the new cameras, sensors and airborne radars. “You can have all the technology, but we’re still back to sign-cutting,” said Gordon, 46, who works in the same sparsely populated area where he grew up hunting deer and quail. “It’s tried, and it’s true, and it works.”

Its effectiveness at tracking how many escape agents’ grasp is open to debate. A recent Government Accountability Office report cites Border Patrol data from fiscal 2011, the latest available, that 61 percent of estimated illegal crossings on the southern border resulted in capture, 23 percent turn back to Mexico and 16 percent got away. Of the 85,467 who got away, 70,980 (83 percent) were counted by sign-cutting, with nearly all the rest from cameras and plain sightings.

Despite such precise tallies, Border Patrol Chief Mike Fisher said sign-cutting “is not an exact science.” Even the most skilled trackers make educated guesses and, as the GAO noted, counting has been inconsistent. “We get better every day,” but the agency doesn’t know with pinpoint accuracy the number of border crossers and what happened to them, said Fisher, who issued a directive in September to ensure that the more than 21,000 agents under his command are consistent in how they count.

The implications for immigration reform are potentially significant as lawmakers seek assurances that the border is secure before millions are allowed to legally remain in the country. The Border Patrol has been judged almost solely by its number of arrests, which are hovering near 40-year lows. Apprehension figures are unquestionably accurate but have limited value in assessing border security.

A Senate bill introduced last week sets a goal that 90 percent of illegal crossings from Mexico in high-traffic areas result in arrest or a turn-back. One key possible point of contention is how much weight to give to turnarounds, which are mainly tallied by plain sightings. The Border Patrol takes credit for them, but others note they may succeed on a second try after waiting a few hours or trying another location.

“The fact that they weren’t apprehended isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” Fisher said in an interview. “The fact that they didn’t continue their entry is, overarching from our strategy, what we’re trying to prevent.” Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told a congressional panel last month that lawmakers should avoid putting too much emphasis on the numbers because it is unknown how many people the Border Patrol misses altogether, failing to find any traces. He also warned about a potential for agents to game numbers to hit targets.

But Doris Meissner, the top immigration official under former President Bill Clinton, said Congress and the GAO will scrutinize the numbers closely to make sure they are credible, as airborne radar gets more sophisticated.

“They’re going to want to know these are not funny numbers,” she said. The Border Patrol has been experimenting with airborne radar to count getaways. —AP

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

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

Pakistan govt won’t charge Musharraf ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s caretaker government told the Supreme Court yesterday it will not file treason charges against former military ruler Pervez Musharraf but will leave the decision on that to the winner of the upcoming election. The petitions before the Supreme Court alleging Musharraf committed treason while in power constitute just one of several legal challenges he is facing following his recent return to Pakistan from self-imposed exile.

The former military strongman was placed under house arrest over the weekend in connection with a different case, which involves his decision to fire senior judges while in power.

Musharraf’s detention was the latest in an array of setbacks he has faced since returning home last month with hopes of making a political comeback.

Lawyers have filed private petitions before the

Supreme Court alleging Musharraf committed various treasonable offenses, including toppling a civilian government, suspending the constitution and declaring a state of emergency.

But according to Pakistan’s constitution, the government is the only one with authority to file treason charges against Musharraf. Attorney General Irfan Qadir submitted a statement to the Supreme Court yesterday, saying caretaker officials have decided not to file treason charges because it was not part of their mandate. The caretaker government should avoid controversial matters that are not reversible by the winner of the May 11 parliamentary election, Qadir said. Instead, he added, caretaker officials are focused on routine matters, such as ensuring security for the upcoming election.

However, Law Minister Ahmad Bilal Sufi indicated

that caretaker officials would not defy the Supreme Court if the judges ordered the government to act.

“At present all the focus, the attention is on the election arrangement,” Sufi told reporters in Islamabad.

“But we will be ready to proceed according to what the court asks us to do.”

The interim government took over last month and will hold power until a new government is formed after the vote. At this point, it’s unclear how the next government will choose to proceed in the case of treason charges against Musharraf. The front runner to become the next prime minister is Nawaz Sharif, who was toppled by Musharraf in a military coup when he was serving as premier in 1999.

Musharraf held power for nearly a decade until he was forced to step down in 2008 because of growing discontent with his rule. He returned

despite Taliban death threats and an array of legal challenges. But upon his homecoming, Musharraf encountered paltry levels of public support and was disqualified to run in the upcoming election because of his actions while in office.

Things got even worse last week, when Musharraf fled a court in the capital Islamabad to avoid arrest after a judge rejected his bail and ordered his detention.

The arrest order was connected to Musharraf’s decision in 2007 to dismiss senior judges, including the chief justice of the Supreme Court, apparently out of concern that they would challenge his reelection as president. Musharraf was eventually placed under house arrest at his heavily guarded compound on the outskirts of Islamabad until the next hearing on May 4. — AP

Myanmar unrest is ‘ethnic cleansing’ Myanmar forces accused of aiding Muslims killing

NEW DELHI: Indian women protest against Indian authorities over the rise in sex crimes yesterday. — AP

Indian cops arrest 2nd man over girl’s rape NEW DELHI: Indian police arrested a second man yesterday over the kidnap and rape of a five-year-old girl in New Delhi, but officers faced protests and a hail of criticism over their insensitive handling of the case. After a weekend of demonstrations in the capital, crowds again vented their anger over the levels of sexual violence which first came to the boil in December after the gang-rape of a student on a bus.

Doctors meanwhile said the five-year-old victim of the latest shocking case was in a stable condition and was able to talk to her parents.

Two people are now in custody in connection with the attack which began on April 15 when the youngster was allegedly abducted from her home and then locked in a room where she was repeatedly raped and violated.

After a 22-year-old garment worker who was a tenant in the girl’s house was arrested on Friday a second suspect was detained overnight at his uncle’s house in the eastern state of Bihar.

“We will be soon bringing him to Delhi for a joint interrogation and medical tests,” said an investigating officer who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity. The second man was named as Pradeep Kumar, who is a friend of the main accused, Manoj Kumar. News of the arrest came as protesters gathered outside the victim’s hospital and at Delhi police headquarters to express fury at the conduct of investigators. There were also calls for the city’s top policeman to resign.

Delhi police have opened an inquiry into allegations that the victim’s family was offered 2,000 rupees (around $35) to keep quiet about the case and told they should be grateful that she was alive. The chief investigating officer and a senior colleague who is alleged to have slapped a protestor on Friday have both been suspended. The noisy and often dysfunctional national parliament, which re-convened yesterday after a mid-session break, was repeatedly adjourned amid protests from opposition lawmakers demanding better security for women.

The capital’s police force came in for heavy criticism over the student’s gang-rape on December 16 which took place on a bus which had been

able to pass through a series of checkpoints late at night. While there have been pledges to increase the number of women police officers and rethink the handling of rape accusations, the latest episode has put the force once more into the firing line. “We have been protesting since December 16 but the Delhi police have not learned their lesson,” said Sunil Singh, a student who took part in yesterday’s protest outside the hospital.

“It’s shameful that the parents of this child were asked to keep quiet. I am worried what kind of future are we looking at,” he told AFP. Sandeep Dikshit, a Delhi lawmaker who is the son of the capital’s chief minister Sheila Dikshit, renewed his demand for the removal of Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar which he had first made back in December. “When such an incident takes place and you want to give a message, then accountability is the most important part of that message,” he told reporters. The Times of India said a new law dealing with sexual violence should be used to act against police who had failed in their duty of protection “so that the message goes down the line that negligence will not be tolerated”. The Hindu newspaper highlighted a string of other cases of police insensitivity towards victims. “No law will achieve its purpose unless its enforcers shed their insensitivity and callousness towards the victims of sexual crime,” it said. India’s umbrella chamber of commerce group, ASSOCHAM, said the police’s failure to protect women was undermining productivity in areas where they account for much of the workforce such as the health service and IT industry.

The attack on the five-year-old is one of a string of recent shocking child abuse cases in the last week, including the rape of a four-yearold girl at a construction site in the central state of Chhattisgarh, In a speech on Sunday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said there needed to be a collective effort to “root out this sort of depravity from our society”. A senior UN envoy was to begin a 10-day visit to India on yesterday to discuss violence against women. — AFP

MUMBAI: Chairman of Reliance Industries Limited Mukesh Ambani (right) arrives for the company’s annual general meeting with his wife Nita in Mumbai. — AFP

India’s richest man to get top govt security NEW DELHI: The Indian government has agreed to provide billionaire Mukesh Ambani with top-level security cover following threats to his life, an interior ministry spokesman said yesterday. The country’s richest man, who controls the Reliance Industries Ltd conglomerate, personally requested the “Z Category” security that is usually reserved for politicians and top-level civil servants. The government has not yet decided whether Ambani will pay the government for the services, and how many policemen will guard the billionaire, Home Ministry spokesman H. Rahman said.

A source familiar with the issue, who declined to be named, said Ambani may pay the government up to 900,000 rupees ($16,600) a month for protection by armed commandos. Ambani received a handwritten letter about two months ago that threatened

an attack at his $1 billion Mumbai residence.

He added that the Islamist group Indian Mujahideen was suspected of sending the letter, but investigations were still under way.

Social media websites were abuzz with criticism of the move, with many questioning why highly trained commandos should protect a private citizen. Among them was Arvind Kejriwal, an anti-graft activist, who told Reuters: “He is such a rich man. He can hire the best security agencies. Why does the government need to provide him with security?”

“None of the political parties is opposing this move. This clearly shows Mukesh Ambani is in the good books of all political parties,” Kejriwal added. Reliance already provides protection for Ambani, whose personal worth Forbes magazine has put at $21.5 billion, the source said. —Reuters

BANGKOK: A leading international rights group yesterday accused authorities in Myanmar, including Buddhist monks, of fomenting an organized campaign of ethnic cleansing against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority that killed hundreds of people and forced 125,000 from their homes. Human Rights Watch also described the bloody wave of violence and massacres in western Rakhine state last year as crimes against humanity, and slammed the government of President Thein Sein for failing to bring the perpetrators to justice months after mobs of Buddhists armed with machetes and homemade guns razed thousands of Muslim homes.

While state security forces sometimes intervened to protect fleeing Muslims, more often they fueled the unrest, the rights group said, either by standing by idle or directly participating in atrocities. One soldier reportedly told a Muslim man whose village was ablaze: “The only thing you can do is pray to save your lives.”

The allegations, detailed in a new report by the New York-based rights group, came the same day the European Union was expected to lift all sanctions on Myanmar except an arms embargo to reward the Southeast Asian nation for its progress toward democratic rule.

Win Myaing, a government spokesman for Rakhine state, strongly rejected the allegations against state security forces, saying Human Rights Watch investigators “don’t understand the situation on the ground.” He said there the government had no prior knowledge of impending attacks and deployed forces to stop the unrest.

“We don’t want unrest in the country because such incidents stall the democratic process and affect development,” he said. The spread of sectarian violence has posed one of the greatest challenges yet to Thein Sein’s nascent government as it takes unprecedented steps to liberalize the country after almost half a century of military dictatorship. Rakhine state was shaken twice by anti-Muslim violence - first in June, then again in October. In March, unrest spread for the first time to central Myanmar, where dozens of people were killed in the city of Meikhtila.

Also yesterday, the British Broadcasting Corp aired dramatic video footage showing police in Meikhtila standing by as looting, arson and multiple attacks against Muslims were underway.

One scene showed a charred man thought to be Muslim lying prostrate on the ground, badly burned but apparently still alive. As one person said, “Let him die, no water for him,” several police walked past. Another scene showed a young Muslim man who had tried to flee being forced out of a thicket of green reeds and beaten

SITTWE: This photo shows what HRW says is a police officer (fourth left) pointing his rifle at street level during ethnic violence in Sittwe, Rakhine State. — AFP by an angry crowd that included a Buddhist monk who was armed with a stick. The BBC said much of the footage was filmed by police. In western Myanmar, the crisis goes back decades and is rooted in a highly controversial dispute over where the region’s Muslim inhabitants are really from. Although many Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for generations, they are widely denigrated by majority Buddhists as foreign intruders who came from neighboring Bangladesh to steal scarce land.

The UN estimates their number at 800,000.

The government does not count them as one of the country’s 135 ethnic groups, and - like Bangladesh - denies them citizenship. Human rights groups say racism also plays a role: Many Rohingya, who speak a distinct Bengali dialect and resemble Muslim Bangladeshis, have darker skin and are heavily discriminated against.

While the June violence was apparently triggered spontaneously by the rape and murder of a 28-year-old Buddhist woman by three Muslim men the previous month, the violence in October “was clearly much more organized and planned,” Human Rights Watch said. The report detailed how officials from the powerful Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, as well as Buddhist monks, publically vilified the Rohingya after the June riots. They encouraged segregation, the boycott of Muslim businesses, and described the Rohingya living among them as a threat to the state.

“These groups and others issued numerous

anti-Rohingya pamphlets and public statements, explicitly or implicitly denying the existence of the Rohingya ethnicity, demonizing them, and calling for their removal from the country, at times using the phrase ‘ethnic cleansing,’” Human Rights Watch said. “The statements frequently were released in connection with organized meetings and in full view of local, state, and national authorities who raised no concerns.”

Then, starting Oct. 23, ethnic Rakhine mobs attacked Muslim communities in nine townships over the course of a single week, forcing tens of thousands to flee.

The deadliest attack occurred that day in the village of Yan Thei, where Buddhist mobs armed with machetes killed 70 Rohingya, including 28 children.

“Despite advance warning of the attack, only a small number of riot police, local police, and army soldiers were on duty to provide security, but they assisted the killings by disarming the Rohingya of their sticks and other rudimentary weapons they carried to defend themselves,” the report said. Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights watch, said Myanmar’s “government engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya that continues today through the denial of aid and restrictions on movement.”

“The government needs to put an immediate stop to the abuses and hold the perpetrators accountable or it will be responsible for further violence,” he said. — AP

Indian girl’s rape highlights police apathy NEW DELHI: A child disappears. Police are called. Nothing happens. Child rights activists say the rape last week of a 5-year-old girl is just the latest case in which Indian police failed to take urgent action on a report of a missing child.

Three days after the attack, the girl was found alone in locked room in the same New Delhi building where her family lives. More than 90,000 children go missing in India each year; more than 34,000 are never found. Some parents say they lost crucial time because police wrongly dismissed their missing children as runaways, refused to file reports or treated the cases as nuisances.

The parents of the 5-year-old said that after their daughter disappeared, they repeatedly begged police to register a complaint and begin a search, but they were rejected. Three days later, neighbors heard the sound of a child crying from a locked room in the tenement. They broke down the door and rushed the brutalized girl to the police station. The parents said the police response was to offer the couple 2,000 rupees ($37) to keep quiet about what had happened.

“They just wanted us to go away. They didn’t want to register a case even after they saw how badly our daughter was injured,” said the girl’s father, who cannot be identified because Indian law requires a rape victim’s identity be kept secret. Delhi’s Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar admitted Monday that local police had erred in handling the case. “There have been shortfalls, so the station house officer and his deputy have been suspended,” Kumar told reporters. Other poor parents of missing children say they also have found police reluctant to help them. In 2010, police took 15 days to register a missing-persons case for 14-year-old Pankaj Singh. His mother is still waiting for him to come home. “Every day my husband and my father would go wait at the police station, but they would shoo them away,” Pravesh Kumari Singh said as she sat on her son’s bed, surrounded by his pictures and books.

One morning in March 2010, she fed her son a breakfast of fried pancakes and spicy potatoes,

then left for a community health training program. “He told me he would have a bath and settle down to study for his exams,” said Singh, clutching the boy’s photograph to her heart.

When she returned, he was gone. “The neighbors said some boys had called him out. We searched everywhere, went to the police, but they refused to believe that something had happened to our son.”

The police insisted he had run off with friends and would return, she said. “They said we must have scolded him or beaten him, which is why he had run away from home,” she said. Formal police complaints were registered in only onesixth of missing child cases in 2011, said Bhuwan Ribhu, a lawyer with Bachpan Bachao Andolan, or the Save the Childhood Movement. He said police resist registering cases because they want to keep crime figures low, and that parents are often too poor to bribe them to reconsider.

Ribhu said the first few hours after a child goes missing are the most crucial. “The police can cordon off nearby areas, issue alerts at railway and bus stations, and step up vigilance to catch the kidnappers,” he said. Activists say delays let traffickers move children to neighboring states, where the police don’t have jurisdiction. There is no national database of missing children that state police can reference.

Police have insisted that most of missing children are runways fleeing grinding poverty. “It’s easy enough to blame the police for not finding the children. Some of the parents do not even possess a photograph of the child. Or they will come up with a years-old picture. It becomes difficult when there’s not even a photograph to work with,” Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said last month when asked about complaints on police inaction in investigating case of missing children. —AP

NEW DELHI: In this photo, Pinky Devi shows the picture of her son Ravi Shankar, who disappeared three years ago, as she stands with her sons, Rahul, 7 (left) and Ramesh, 5, in their one room tenement. — AP

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KUWAIT: Opposition figure Mussallam Al-Barrak is being carried by his followers outside appeals court after he was granted bail yesterday. —Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Saudi may switch Islamic weekend RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council, which advises the government on new laws, has recommended changing the country’s official weekend to Friday and Saturday to boost the economy, local media reported yesterday. Some local business leaders and economists say the existing ThursdayFriday weekend is bad for the economy because it limits the amount of time Saudi companies can work with partners overseas during the week.

However, some members of the powerful conservative clergy in the birthplace of Islam have opposed the move in the past, citing concerns it is intended to bring the kingdom closer to the Jewish and Christian traditions.

Oman said this month it would shift to a Friday-Saturday week in May. That will leave the biggest Arab economy as the only Gulf Arab state to maintain a Thursday-Friday weekend.

“Especially for the financial sector it’s vital. They’re only connected three days a week now to the international financial system. For other companies it would also be much more convenient, with one more day when we overlap,” said Les Jenka, chairman of the American Business Group in of Riyadh.

Any switch might have important ramifications for the Saudi bourse, which is heavily influenced by international energy prices and world equity markets, but only shares three working days with them.

The websites of Al-Riyadh and Al-Medina newspapers reported yesterday that the Shura Council, a body appointed by the king that has advisory powers but no veto on new laws, had decided to recommend to the government it should change the weekend days. — Reuters

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Myanmar unrest is ‘ethnic cleansing’

Canada foils terror plot, two arrested OTTAWA: Two foreign nationals have been arrested in Canada in connection with an Al-Qaeda-supported plot to derail a passenger train in the Toronto area, authorities said yesterday.

Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35, were allegedly planning to carry out an attack on a Via Rail passenger train with help from Al-Qaeda in Iran, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) told reporters.

The suspects “were receiving support from Al-Qaeda elements located in Iran” and that “there’s no indication that these attacks were state-sponsored,” a spokesman said. The plot “involved a domestic attack (with) planning being supported by Al-Qaeda. And when I speak about support, of course, I mean direction and guidance,” he added.

Authorities said the pair are “not Canadian citizens” but declined to reveal their respective nationalities. The main suspect lived in Montreal for several years, another official added. The suspects’ plans were “not based on their ethnic origins but on an ideology,” police said.

They are expected to appear in court today for a bail

hearing. Charges include conspiring to carry out an attack and conspiring with a terrorist group to murder people.

Police said the duo planned “to derail a passenger train,” though they wouldn’t specify on which route. The two suspects had been under surveillance since last August. “They watched trains and railways in the Toronto area” in planning the attack, an official said.

“We are alleging these individuals took steps and conducted activities to initiate a terrorist attack. They watched trains and railways in the Greater Toronto area.” However, authorities said an attack was not imminent. “While the RCMP believed that these individuals had the capacity and intent to carry out these criminal acts, there was no imminent threat to the general public, rail employees, train passengers or infrastructure,” said a statement.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation was also involved in the criminal investigation. The arrests come a week after twin bombings at the Boston Marathon killed three people and wounded 200, and as Canada’s parliament debates a proposal to beef up anti-terror measures. — AFP

Boston suspect could face death BOSTON: The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings was charged yesterday with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction and could face a death sentence, the US Attorney General said. US Attorney General Eric Holder in a statement detailed the charge against 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is listed in serious but stable condition.

Tsarnaev made his first appearance before a magistrate judge in Beth Israel hospital, according to Gary Wente, circuit executive of the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals.

Officials say Tsarnaev and his older brother and suspected co-conspirator, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, set off the twin explosions at yesterday’s marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 180 others.

The White House, meanwhile, said Tsarnaev will not be tried as an enemy combatant in a military tribunal because he is a naturalized US citizen. The Tsarnaev brothers were born in southern Russia.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will be prosecuted in the federal court system. Tsarnaev is a naturalized US citizen and under US law US citizens cannot be tried in military commissions, Carney said. Carney said that since Sept. 11, 2001, the federal court system has been used to convict and incarcerate hundreds of terrorists.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev remained unable to speak with a gunshot wound to the throat, and he was expected to be charged by federal authorities and face separate state charges in the fatal shooting Continued on Page 13

KUWAIT: The appeals court yesterday agreed to suspend the implementation of a five-year jail term against senior opposition figure Mussallam Al-Barrak and set him free until the court issues its final ruling on the case that has shaken the Kuwaiti society. The court asked him to pay a bail of KD 5,000 and set the next hearing on May 13.

The court held its hearing amid extremely tight security measures rarely seen at the Palace of Justice in Kuwait City as hundreds of special forces backed by armoured vehicles were deployed around the court complex. Security men blocked all entrances to the Palace of Justice and allowed those concerned to enter the building, checking their identity cards. They completely sealed off the sixth floor where the court room is located, preventing most people from entering including journalists.

But a number of people managed to enter including a team from Human Rights Watch, which has criticized the ruling against Barrak, and several other activists and former opposition MPs. Barrak arrived at the Palace of Justice early in the morning along with a few of his supporters and some of his defense team and went straight to the court room without any attempt by the police to arrest him. The former lawmaker was last week sentenced to five years in jail for allegedly making remarks at a public rally on October 15 that were deemed offensive to HH the Amir.

He immediately appealed the ruling.

Judge Anwar Al-Enezi began the session by calling the name of Barrak and then told him that he is accused of insulting HH the Amir and undermining his authorities. Barrak categorically denied the charge.

Barrak did not show any regrets for making the remarks by saying that if time goes back, he would repeat the same speech, telling the judge that all he wanted is a fair trial.

Continued on Page 4

MEDFORD, Massachusetts: Mourners walk out of St. Joseph Catholic Church after the funeral service for Krystle Campbell, a victim of the Boston Marathon bombing yesterday in Medford. — AFP

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Taleban seize 11 foreigners from copter PULI ALAM, Afghanistan: Afghanistan’s Taleban insurgents have seized 11 civilians including eight Turks after their helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing, officials said yesterday. Police sent to the area where the helicopter came down Sunday, in a rugged rural area of Logar province south of Kabul, had a firefight with the militants but pulled back for lack of support, the Logar police chief said.

The Taleban claimed the 11 were US military personnel.

After the helicopter came down in bad weather, they “were captured alive and were then transferred to the most secure region of the nation”, the militants said in a statement. The USled International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said no foreign military were involved and the helicopter was a civilian one.

Turkey’s foreign ministry said eight of its nationals were seized and its diplomats were holding “intensive talks” with Afghan authorities to trace their whereabouts. Russia’s foreign ministry said two pilots-a Russian named Pavel Petrenko and a Kyrgyz national who was not identified-were among those captured. An Afghan was also detained.

The Afghan-based charter firm Khorasan Cargo Airlines, which operated the MI-8 helicopter, said the Turks were working on a road project. The Afghan interior ministry said a police team had been sent to the area and a search for the passengers and crew had begun. It could not confirm the number or nationality of those held.

“Police were sent to the area where the helicopter made an emergency landing and engaged in a firefight with the Taleban,” Abdul Saboor Nasrati, Logar provincial police chief, said. “We pulled the police back because there was no help from the Afghan army or foreign forces. The police were unable to secure the area, which is very rural, and we were worried,” Nasrati said.

Hamidullah Hamid, governor of Azra district near where the helicopter came down, said the detained Afghan was acting as an interpreter. ISAF is preparing to withdraw all its foreign combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, handing over to Afghan troops and police despite widespread fears about instability in the country.

An ISAF spokesman said NATO troops were ready to assist Afghan security forces but there had been no request so far. A Logar provincial government spokesman, Din Mohammad Darvish, said provincial officials have been talking to village elders to try to persuade the Taleban to release the captives.

The helicopter had been travelling from the eastern city of Khost to Kabul when it was forced to land.

The Taleban, ousted from power in 2001 by a US-led invasion, claimed it had 11 US military members, including two translators, on board. “The foreign forces, by disassociating themselves from the Continued on Page 13

NEWS

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

Israel hints at patience on Iran as Hagel visits

MEDFORD, Massachusetts: People wait in line to attend the funeral of 29-year-old Krystle Campbell who was one of three people killed in the Boston Marathon bombings yesterday in Medford, Massachusetts. — AFP (See Page 7)

Boston suspect could face death Continued from Page 1 of a university police officer. Seven days after the bombings, the city planned to mark the traumatic week with mournful silence and a return to its bustling commute. Massachusetts Gov Deval Patrick has asked residents to observe a moment of silence at 2:50 pm local time yesterday, the time the first of the two bombs exploded near the finish line. Bells will ring across the city and state after the minute-long tribute to the victims.

The White House said President Barack Obama would observe the moment of silence yesterday. The president will mark the moment privately at the White House, with no media coverage. Authorities on Friday had made the unprecedented request that residents stay at home during the manhunt for Tsarnaev. He was discovered that evening hiding in a boat covered by a tarp in suburban Watertown.

His older brother Tamerlan was earlier killed during a furious getaway attempt.

“It’s surreal,” said Barbara Alton, as she walked her dog along Newbury Street. “But I feel like things are starting to get back to normal.” Many Boston residents were heading back to workplaces and schools for the first time since a dramatic week came to an even more dramatic end. Traffic was building on major arteries into the city yesterday morning.

In another sign of progress, city officials said they are beginning the process of reopening the public the sixblock site around the bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 180. The announcement came Sunday, a day when people could still watch investigators at the crime scene work in white jumpsuits. A private funeral was scheduled Monday for Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant worker killed in the blasts. A memorial service will be held that night at Boston

University for 23-year-old Lu Lingzi, a graduate student from China.

City churches on Sunday paused to mourn the dead as the city’s police commissioner said the two suspects had such a large cache of weapons that they were probably planning other attacks. After the two brothers engaged in a gun battle with police early Friday, authorities found many unexploded homemade bombs at the scene, along with more than 250 rounds of ammunition.

On “Fox News Sunday,” he said authorities cannot be positive there are not more explosives somewhere that have not been found. But the people of Boston are safe, he insisted.

The brothers are ethnic Chechens from southern Russia and the motive for the bombings remained unclear. Sen Dan Coats of Indiana, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the surviving brother’s throat wound raised questions about when he will be able to talk again, if ever. The wound “doesn’t mean he can’t communicate, but right now I think he’s in a condition where we can’t get any information from him at all,” Coats told ABC’s “This Week.”

It was not clear whether Tsarnaev was shot by police or inflicted the wound himself.

In the final standoff with police, shots were fired from the boat, but investigators have not determined where the gunfire was aimed, Davis said. In an interview with The Associated Press, the parents of Tamerlan Tsarnaev insisted Sunday that he came to Dagestan and Chechnya last year to visit relatives and had nothing to do with the militants operating in the volatile part of Russia. His father said he slept much of the time. A lawyer for Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s wife told the AP Sunday night that federal authorities have asked to speak with her, and that he is discussing with them how to proceed. — AP

TEL AVIV: Israel suggested yesterday it would be patient before taking any military action against Iran’s nuclear program, saying during a visit by US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel there was still time for other options. With Iran’s presidential election approaching in June there has been a pause in hawkish rhetoric by Israel, which has long hinted at possible air strikes to deny its arch-foe any means to make an atomic bomb, while efforts by six world powers to find a negotiated solution with Tehran have proved fruitless so far.

“We believe that the military option, which is well discussed, should be the last resort,” Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon told reporters at a news conference with Hagel.

“And there are other tools to be used and to be exhausted,” Yaalon said, listing diplomacy, economic sanctions and “moral support” for domestic opponents of Iran’s hardline Islamist leadership.

Iran has denied seeking nuclear weapons capability, saying it is enriching uranium only for domestic energy purposes while calling for the elimination of the Jewish state. Israel is widely believed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal.

US President Barack Obama has in the past clashed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over how urgent the need may be to consider military action against Iran.

Washington has suggested more

time should be given for concerted diplomacy combined with sanctions pressure to produce a peaceful solution. But with Obama recently installed in his second term, and Netanyahu in his third, the allies have publicly closed ranks. The United States projects more defense aid for Israel after the current disbursements of some $3 billion a year expire in 2017. And Hagel unveiled the planned sale to Israel of missiles, warplane radars, troop transport planes and refuelling jets.

“These decisions underscore that the military-to-military cooperation between the US and Israel is stronger than ever, and that defense cooperation will only continue to deepen in the future,” Hagel said. By contrast, the Bush administration in 2008 declined to provide Israel with refuelling tankers and missiles that might be used in a strike on Iran.

Before taking the helm at the Pentagon, Hagel had stirred ire among pro-Israel Americans for remarks including skepticism about the feasibility and desirability of such military action.

But in Israel, the second foreign country he has visited as defense secretary after Afghanistan, Hagel hewed to Obama’s line. “All military options and every option must remain on the table in dealing with Iran,” he said. “I support the president’s position on Iran. And it’s very simple and I have stated it here ...

Our position is Iran will not be

allowed to develop a nuclear weapon - the prevention of Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Period.”

Iranian media reported yesterday that Iran and officials from the United Nations nuclear watchdog would hold a new round of talks on May 21 in Vienna. The International Atomic Energy Agency wants inspectors to restart a long-stalled investigation in Iran’s suspected atomic bomb research.

From Israel, Hagel travels to Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The latter two Gulf Arab countries, which are also wary of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, stand to win a major US arms sale.

After lengthy disagreement, Israeli and US estimates of when Iran might be able to produce a first nuclear weapon now largely dovetail to a time frame of about a year.

Hagel also said that non-military pressure on Iran has yet to be exhausted. “The sanctions on Iran are as potent and deep and wide a set of international sanctions that we have ever seen on any country. And those will continue to increase,” he said.

“Whether it leads to an outcome that we desire remains to be seen ... and as I said, the military option is always an option.” After the news conference, Hagel boarded an Israeli military helicopter for an aerial tour of the Golan Heights frontier - Israelioccupied territory on the edge of Syria’s civil war. — Reuters

Qatar to lash barber over drinking alcohol DOHA: A Qatari court has sentenced a Muslim barber from an unknown Asian country to 40 lashes over consuming alcohol in the Gulf state, a local daily reported yesterday. The man was arrested following a complaint by another who accused him of harassing his domestic worker by throwing at her a piece of paper on which he scribbled his phone number, Al-Sharq daily reported. Police found him drunk when they arrived, it said.

‘As a Muslim, the sharia applies in his case,’ said the paper, referring to the Islamic law that prohibits alcohol consumption and is the main source of legislation in Qatar. In addition to the lashes the man was fined 500 rials ($135) for causing disturbance.

Alcohol consumption is banned in Qatar, except in hotels and for non-Muslims who obtain special licenses. — AFP

Taleban seize 11 foreigners...

Continued from Page 1 helicopter, are trying to make it seem as the detainees are civilians but denial will not benefit them as all were captured while wearing American military uniforms,” it said.

Attacks by the Taleban and other guerrillas soared in the first quarter of 2013, according to a study by an

independent group released on Saturday.

The Afghanistan NGO Safety Office reported 2,331 insurgent attacks in January-March, a 47 percent rise on the first quarter of last year. Helicopter mishaps are common in mountainous Afghanistan.

Last month five foreign soldiers died in a crash in the south of the

country. In February this year a NATO helicopter came down in the east but there were no fatalities.

Turkey, one of only two Muslimmajority members of NATO, has around 1,800 soldiers serving with ISAF. But unlike its European allies, their mission is limited to patrols and its troops do not take part in combat operations. — AFP

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

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

Bhutan to give verdict on first 5 years of democracy THIMPHU: The tiny Himalayan country of Bhutan begins electing a new parliament today for only the second time in its history, five years after the Buddhist monarchy gave up its absolute power. Voters will first choose members of the upper house National Council today, a non-party body, then in the following weeks will decide which of five parties will form the next government in the National Assembly. Since the beginning of April, the 67 candidates for the 20 elected National Council seats-five more members will be appointed by King Jigme Khesar Wangchuk-have been holding debates and public meetings in their respective districts after a local selection process.

In the more remote areas, villagers have

walked for hours, or even days, to attend the forums and question the candidates at first hand, and election staff have made similar long treks to set up and staff polling stations in hamlets inaccessible by road.

Election officials were making a fourth attempt yesterdayto reach Lunana in the far north by means of Indian military helicopters after bad weather frustrated the first three tries.

Today has been declared a public holiday and Bhutan’s land borders will be closed for 24 hours over the election period.

While interest is reported to be high, confusion persists about parliament’s role in a hierarchical country with an illiteracy rate of some 50 percent, where for decades the monarchy’s word has been law and is still

deeply revered.

There have also been grumblings about the obligation for the candidates to make their pitches in the national language, dzhonka, which is one of half-a-dozen tongues spoken in Bhutan and not well understood in many rural areas. The National Council, whose members have no party affiliation, monitors the actions of the government, reviews legislation and advises the king. It can also propose laws itself, provided they are not financial. With an electorate of less than 400,000 and the use of electronic voting machines, results will be declared soon after the polls close, but will be no pointer to the National Assembly elections, whose dates have not yet been announced.

The centre-right Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) party of Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley has governed Bhutan since winning a massive landslide victory in 2008. It took 45 of the 47 seats in the house against the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). This time round three new parties are in the fray, two of them led by women, but there is little between them in their centre-left stance and the requirement that all candidates must be graduates has caused them problems in their hunt for recruits.

Opinion polls are banned in Bhutan and analysts are thin on the ground, but the DPT is not expected to repeat its massive triumph of 2008. The country known abroad for its high-end tourism and unique yardstick of Gross National Happiness has seen

Japan war shrine visits anger China, S Korea S Korean minister cancels Japan visit

TOKYO: The Japanese government said yesterday that donations made by the prime minister to a controversial war shrine and visits by three Cabinet ministers were done in an unofficial capacity, while neighbors China and South Korea lodged

are routinely criticized by South Korea, as well as China and North Korea, which bore the brunt of Japan’s pre-1945 militarist march through Asia. The visits are regarded as evidence that Japan’s leaders do not acknowledge their country’s responsibility

Yoshihide Suga said that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe didn’t visit the Yasukuni Shrine but donated religious ornaments marking the shrine’s spring festival with the title “prime minister” on it. The finance minister and two other Cabinet ministers prayed at

POHANG: A US Marine follows an M1A1 tank at a beach during the Combined Joint Logistics Over the Shore (CJLOTS) exercise in Pohang, 260 kms southeast of Seoul yesterday. —AFP protests over the actions. The Yasukuni Shrine honors Japanese wartime leaders convicted of war crimes among 2.5 million Japanese killed in fighting during World War II. The shrine compound has a war museum that glorifies Japan’s wartime past, and the site is a focus of nationalist pride among Japanese conservatives and rightwingers.

Visits to the shrine by political leaders

for its colonialist past. Dozens of parliamentarians campaigning for official visits to the shrine are set to make a group visit Tuesday, likely to invite more protests. A separate group of ultra-nationalists are to approach a set of East China Sea islands at the center of territorial spat between Japan and China, further complicating the problem.

Top Japanese government spokesman

the shrine over the weekend. “My understanding is that the three ministers paid visits to the shrine in their private capacity,” Suga told a news conference. “There is no government comment to their shrine visits as private citizens.”

But at least one Cabinet minister, National Public Safety Commission chief Keiji Furuya, told reporters that he prayed as a state minister during his visit Sunday but

privately paid his donation money. “As a national lawmaker, it is only natural to offer prayers to the sacred spirits who sacrificed their lives for the country,” Furuya said. Suga acknowledged reports that South Korea cancelled foreign ministerial talks but said the talks for later this month were at a planning stage and weren’t official.

In Seoul, a Foreign Ministry spokesman expressed “deep concern and regret” over the actions by Abe and the other Cabinet members, calling Yasukuni a place that “glorifies Japan’s wars of aggression that caused huge losses and pain to the peoples of neighboring countries.” South Korea “once again strongly urges the Japanese government to immediately stop its retrograde behavior which ignores history” and take responsible measures to restore confidence among neighboring countries, spokesman Cho Tai-young told reporters.

China’s Foreign Ministry said it lodged a diplomatic protest yesterday over the “negative moves.” Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in Beijing that how Tokyo treats the Yasukuni Shrine is a test of Japan’s ability to respect people in the countries it attacked in the past. “People of the whole world, including the Chinese people, are watching them. There is a mountain of iron-hard evidence for the crimes committed by Japanese invaders during the Second World War. Only by facing up to and deeply reflecting on the history of aggression can Japan possibly create a future and develop friendly and cooperative relations with the people of Asia,” Hua said at a daily media briefing.

The weekend visits came amid increased tension between Northeast Asia’s political giants. Japan is at odds with South Korea over an island group in the Sea of Japan that Seoul has controlled since the 1950s, and is increasingly at odds with China over a group of small islands in the East China Sea that both countries claim. Suga said yesterday that the shrine visits and donations were private and shouldn’t affect diplomacy. “Each country has its own stance on different issues. We should not let these things affect diplomatic relations,” Suga said. Abe last visited the shrine in October, when he was opposition leader. —AP

Anger rises from rubble of China’s deadly quake LUSHAN: Hundreds of survivors of a 6.6 magnitude earthquake that hit southwest China, killing nearly 200 people, pushed into traffic along a main road yesterday, waving protest signs, demanding help and shouting at police. “We are in the open air here. No place to sleep, nothing to eat. No one is paying any attention to us,” said Peng Qiong, 45, a farmer in Chaoyang village on the outskirts of Lushan, near the epicentre.

China has poured resources into Sichuan since the early Saturday quake, including 1 billion yuan ($161.9 million) from central coffers for disaster relief and compensation. About 18,000 troops are in the area. The earthquake killed at least 186 people and injured more than 11,000, state media said. But while many have praised the government for its swift response, growing anger among some underscores the government’s challenge, magnified by the fact that Sichuan bore the brunt of a 7.9 earthquake in 2008 that killed nearly 70,000 people. In some cases, roads closed to non-emergency traffic have been clogged with all kinds of government vehicles. On the way to Baoxing, a heavily damaged area about 40 km (25 miles) from Lushan, idling ambulances, troop transporters, construction vehicles and tour buses for relief workers blocked both lanes of the road, making access possible only on foot or by weaving motorcycles.

Tian Kuanqian surveyed a winding fissure that split the upper level of his house. For more than two days, the 40-year-old farmer has watched as emergency vehicles passed their wrecked village by. “If they continue to ignore us like we are trivial, we will have no choice but to protest,” he said. The back room hung of Tian’s house was torn from the building and perched on a steep slope.

Inside, a poster of former revolutionary leader Mao Zedong hung above a collapsed wall. Tian’s family including elderly parents sleep on the ground. “It’s been three days and we haven’t seen noodles or water. What we need are tents,” Tian said. A police officer in Chaoyang trying to clam protesters on the road said the authorities were doing all they could. “Our leaders have visited and we’re working getting these people food and water,” said the officer, who declined to give his name.

Mountainous terrain and poor infrastructure have made reaching victims difficult. The Xinhua news agency said aftershocks had triggered landslides that blocked a main road. The damage to listed businesses in the area

SICHUAN: An elderly Chinese man waits for food to be distributed with his dog at a makeshift tent in Lushan county in southwestern China's Sichuan province yesterday. — AP

appeared limited. Toll road operator Sichuan Expressway said none of its roads were damaged, while motor-maker Dongfeng Electric said the quake did not cause any losses.

China Lumena New Materials Corp said none of its equipment in Sichuan had been damaged, while department store owner Maoye International said its subsidiary, Chengshang Group, whose principal business is in Sichuan, said all stores were operating normally.

In Zhongba village, part of Baoxing, residents said it took two days for help to arrive. When it did, supplies and tents were in short supply. Almost all buildings are damaged and many have collapsed. Zhang Zhenghua, a 41-year-old farmer, said officials drove through the village yesterday and stopped briefly to apologise for the delay in help. “The secretary mentioned subsidies to rebuild our homes. We hope they do what they say,” Zhang said. — Reuters

huge development under the DPT government but a wide income gap, youth unemployment and delinquency and urban migration are among the main issues expected to figure in the campaign. The DPT also faces seeing key figures barred from standing, with Home Affairs Minister Minjur Dorji and National Assembly Speaker Jigme Tshultim appealing against recent convictions for corruption in a land allocation case dating back to before the last elections. If their appeals are not heard, or not upheld, before the elections, the party will have to find new candidates. Information and Communications Minister Nandalal Rai could also be excluded for the alleged mishandling of large contracts for domestic airports. —AFP

News

in brief

Radio broadcaster shot dead in Philippines ZAMBOANGA: Gunmen shot dead a radio broadcaster in the troubled southern Philippines yesterday, police said as fears grew of mounting violence ahead of national elections next month. Mario Baylosis Vendiola, 33, host of DXLM, was gunned down by two men on a motorcycle in Kabasalan town on the island of Mindanao, said town police head Senior Inspector Rico Pondol. The victim was returning from hosting his radio show when he was killed, Pondol said. Police said he hosted an entertainment show and they still did not know the motive for the attack. But he had previously reported a threat to his life. Rowena Paraan, head of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, said the group was looking into the incident. “We want to verify very carefully if this is work-related. We are trying to verify if he is connected to any politician or espoused any candidate,” in the May 13 local and legislative elections, she said. If Vendiola’s murder is related to his work as a broadcaster, it would be the first job-related killing of a journalist this year and the sixth since President Benigno Aquino’s election in 2010, according to the union’s count. He would also be the 155th journalist murdered over his work since democracy was restored in the Philippines in 1986, Paraan said. In the worst such incident, at least 32 journalists were among 58 people murdered when followers of a powerful political clan waylaid a convoy of a rival politician in Mindanao in November 2009.

Taiwan stages live-fire drill TAIPEI: Taiwan’s coastguards said yesterday that Taipei had staged a live-fire drill within a hotly-contested island chain in the South China Sea, in a move that risks stoking regional tensions. More than 2,000 rounds of ammunition were fired by garrison forces on Taiwan-administered Taiping, the largest of the Spratly Islands, Wang Chin-wang, chief of the Coast Guard Administration, told parliament. It was Taipei’s first live-fire drill in the Spratlys-claimed in whole or part by Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei-since long-range mortars and artillery were shifted to Taiping Island in August last year. The exercise took place in the middle of the April, Wang said. Taiwanese legislator Lin Yu-fang, who sits on the bench of parliament’s defence and diplomacy committee, asked Wang to disregard possible reaction from other claimants.”Taiping Island is part of our territory. You just did what you should do.

You’ve done a good job,” Lin said. Wang said the live rounds included 40 millimetre artillery shells and 120 millimetre mortars, which were transported to the island last year causing Vietnam to express its anger over the new, longer-range weapons. All claimants to the Spratlys, apart from Brunei, have troops based on the archipelago of more than 100 islets, reefs and atolls, which cover a vast area but have a total land mass of less than five square kilometres (two square miles). The potentially resource-rich sea, home to important trade routes, is a potential military flashpoint and there have been a string of diplomatic rows between countries with overlapping territorial claims in recent years. The Philippines and Vietnam have complained that China is becoming increasingly aggressive in its actions in the area-such as harassing fishermen-and also through bullying diplomatic tactics.

Philippine rebels warn candidates MANILA: Philippine communist rebels warned politicians yesterday to seek permission before campaigning in their strongholds following an ambush that wounded a town mayor and killed two of her aides. The New People’s Army (NPA) launched an attack with grenade launchers on a convoy carrying Ruth Guingona, the 78-year-old mayor of Gingoog on Saturday, killing two of her aides and leaving her and two policemen wounded. Gingoog lies in a remote, mountainous area of the southern island of Mindanao where the rebel group has been fighting the government since 1969. Jorge Madlos, a spokesman for the NPA, told AFP it would continue to man checkpoints to “impose revolutionary policies” on candidates for the May 13 local elections. “They should secure permission and coordinate with our local forces when entering our area, and they should also not have armed escorts,” he added. Madlos said the ambush was unfortunate, but added that Guingona, a member of President Benigno Aquino’s ruling party, had been previously warned that entering rebel areas with armed escorts could touch off violence. “Our fighters are calling politicians on the phone to inform them we are serious in implementing our policy,” Madlos said. “They are free to campaign in our areas, but they should first coordinate with us.” Aquino’s spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the latest attack further dimmed the prospects of peace with the NPA and its leadership, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

“It’s obvious that the CPP-NPA is not interested in pursuing peace talks with us. Certainly, we would like to pursue peace talks with them but the burden is on the CPP-NPA,” he said. He said the military and police would secure any campaigning politicians and break up any checkpoint set up by the rebels. The military has accused the communist guerrillas of extorting money from politicians in exchange for letting them campaign but Lacierda said this would not be tolerated. More than 18,000 posts are at stake in the May local elections, from town mayors and governors to members of congress. In 2011, the military said the rebels earned at estimated 300 million pesos ($7.3 million) in illegal “revolutionary taxes” collected from individuals and businesses. The military estimates the rebels have about 4,000 fighters nationwide, down from more than 26,000 at their peak in the 1980s.

NEWS

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

Israel hints at patience on Iran as Hagel visits

MEDFORD, Massachusetts: People wait in line to attend the funeral of 29-year-old Krystle Campbell who was one of three people killed in the Boston Marathon bombings yesterday in Medford, Massachusetts. — AFP (See Page 7)

Boston suspect could face death Continued from Page 1 of a university police officer. Seven days after the bombings, the city planned to mark the traumatic week with mournful silence and a return to its bustling commute. Massachusetts Gov Deval Patrick has asked residents to observe a moment of silence at 2:50 pm local time yesterday, the time the first of the two bombs exploded near the finish line. Bells will ring across the city and state after the minute-long tribute to the victims.

The White House said President Barack Obama would observe the moment of silence yesterday. The president will mark the moment privately at the White House, with no media coverage. Authorities on Friday had made the unprecedented request that residents stay at home during the manhunt for Tsarnaev. He was discovered that evening hiding in a boat covered by a tarp in suburban Watertown.

His older brother Tamerlan was earlier killed during a furious getaway attempt.

“It’s surreal,” said Barbara Alton, as she walked her dog along Newbury Street. “But I feel like things are starting to get back to normal.” Many Boston residents were heading back to workplaces and schools for the first time since a dramatic week came to an even more dramatic end. Traffic was building on major arteries into the city yesterday morning.

In another sign of progress, city officials said they are beginning the process of reopening the public the sixblock site around the bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 180. The announcement came Sunday, a day when people could still watch investigators at the crime scene work in white jumpsuits. A private funeral was scheduled Monday for Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant worker killed in the blasts. A memorial service will be held that night at Boston

University for 23-year-old Lu Lingzi, a graduate student from China.

City churches on Sunday paused to mourn the dead as the city’s police commissioner said the two suspects had such a large cache of weapons that they were probably planning other attacks. After the two brothers engaged in a gun battle with police early Friday, authorities found many unexploded homemade bombs at the scene, along with more than 250 rounds of ammunition.

On “Fox News Sunday,” he said authorities cannot be positive there are not more explosives somewhere that have not been found. But the people of Boston are safe, he insisted.

The brothers are ethnic Chechens from southern Russia and the motive for the bombings remained unclear. Sen Dan Coats of Indiana, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the surviving brother’s throat wound raised questions about when he will be able to talk again, if ever. The wound “doesn’t mean he can’t communicate, but right now I think he’s in a condition where we can’t get any information from him at all,” Coats told ABC’s “This Week.”

It was not clear whether Tsarnaev was shot by police or inflicted the wound himself.

In the final standoff with police, shots were fired from the boat, but investigators have not determined where the gunfire was aimed, Davis said. In an interview with The Associated Press, the parents of Tamerlan Tsarnaev insisted Sunday that he came to Dagestan and Chechnya last year to visit relatives and had nothing to do with the militants operating in the volatile part of Russia. His father said he slept much of the time. A lawyer for Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s wife told the AP Sunday night that federal authorities have asked to speak with her, and that he is discussing with them how to proceed. — AP

TEL AVIV: Israel suggested yesterday it would be patient before taking any military action against Iran’s nuclear program, saying during a visit by US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel there was still time for other options. With Iran’s presidential election approaching in June there has been a pause in hawkish rhetoric by Israel, which has long hinted at possible air strikes to deny its arch-foe any means to make an atomic bomb, while efforts by six world powers to find a negotiated solution with Tehran have proved fruitless so far.

“We believe that the military option, which is well discussed, should be the last resort,” Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon told reporters at a news conference with Hagel.

“And there are other tools to be used and to be exhausted,” Yaalon said, listing diplomacy, economic sanctions and “moral support” for domestic opponents of Iran’s hardline Islamist leadership.

Iran has denied seeking nuclear weapons capability, saying it is enriching uranium only for domestic energy purposes while calling for the elimination of the Jewish state. Israel is widely believed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal.

US President Barack Obama has in the past clashed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over how urgent the need may be to consider military action against Iran.

Washington has suggested more

time should be given for concerted diplomacy combined with sanctions pressure to produce a peaceful solution. But with Obama recently installed in his second term, and Netanyahu in his third, the allies have publicly closed ranks. The United States projects more defense aid for Israel after the current disbursements of some $3 billion a year expire in 2017. And Hagel unveiled the planned sale to Israel of missiles, warplane radars, troop transport planes and refuelling jets.

“These decisions underscore that the military-to-military cooperation between the US and Israel is stronger than ever, and that defense cooperation will only continue to deepen in the future,” Hagel said. By contrast, the Bush administration in 2008 declined to provide Israel with refuelling tankers and missiles that might be used in a strike on Iran.

Before taking the helm at the Pentagon, Hagel had stirred ire among pro-Israel Americans for remarks including skepticism about the feasibility and desirability of such military action.

But in Israel, the second foreign country he has visited as defense secretary after Afghanistan, Hagel hewed to Obama’s line. “All military options and every option must remain on the table in dealing with Iran,” he said. “I support the president’s position on Iran. And it’s very simple and I have stated it here ...

Our position is Iran will not be

allowed to develop a nuclear weapon - the prevention of Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Period.”

Iranian media reported yesterday that Iran and officials from the United Nations nuclear watchdog would hold a new round of talks on May 21 in Vienna. The International Atomic Energy Agency wants inspectors to restart a long-stalled investigation in Iran’s suspected atomic bomb research.

From Israel, Hagel travels to Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The latter two Gulf Arab countries, which are also wary of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, stand to win a major US arms sale.

After lengthy disagreement, Israeli and US estimates of when Iran might be able to produce a first nuclear weapon now largely dovetail to a time frame of about a year.

Hagel also said that non-military pressure on Iran has yet to be exhausted. “The sanctions on Iran are as potent and deep and wide a set of international sanctions that we have ever seen on any country. And those will continue to increase,” he said.

“Whether it leads to an outcome that we desire remains to be seen ... and as I said, the military option is always an option.” After the news conference, Hagel boarded an Israeli military helicopter for an aerial tour of the Golan Heights frontier - Israelioccupied territory on the edge of Syria’s civil war. — Reuters

Qatar to lash barber over drinking alcohol DOHA: A Qatari court has sentenced a Muslim barber from an unknown Asian country to 40 lashes over consuming alcohol in the Gulf state, a local daily reported yesterday. The man was arrested following a complaint by another who accused him of harassing his domestic worker by throwing at her a piece of paper on which he scribbled his phone number, Al-Sharq daily reported. Police found him drunk when they arrived, it said.

‘As a Muslim, the sharia applies in his case,’ said the paper, referring to the Islamic law that prohibits alcohol consumption and is the main source of legislation in Qatar. In addition to the lashes the man was fined 500 rials ($135) for causing disturbance.

Alcohol consumption is banned in Qatar, except in hotels and for non-Muslims who obtain special licenses. — AFP

Taleban seize 11 foreigners...

Continued from Page 1 helicopter, are trying to make it seem as the detainees are civilians but denial will not benefit them as all were captured while wearing American military uniforms,” it said.

Attacks by the Taleban and other guerrillas soared in the first quarter of 2013, according to a study by an

independent group released on Saturday.

The Afghanistan NGO Safety Office reported 2,331 insurgent attacks in January-March, a 47 percent rise on the first quarter of last year. Helicopter mishaps are common in mountainous Afghanistan.

Last month five foreign soldiers died in a crash in the south of the

country. In February this year a NATO helicopter came down in the east but there were no fatalities.

Turkey, one of only two Muslimmajority members of NATO, has around 1,800 soldiers serving with ISAF. But unlike its European allies, their mission is limited to patrols and its troops do not take part in combat operations. — AFP

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

ANALYSIS

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Issues

Bahrain evades F1 fiasco but crisis endures

By Alexander Dziadosz

B

ahrain’s rulers can breathe a sigh of relief after a prized Formula One race went off largely unhindered by unrest, but in villages beyond the wellprotected Grand Prix bubble simmering tensions still pose a stubborn challenge to stability. Last year’s race was seen as a public relations own-goal for the country’s ruling Al-Khalifa family as security forces battled protesters and black smoke rose on the skyline across the US-allied country.

This year the opposition again staged rallies hoping to grab the media spotlight to press for reforms of the Sunni-dominated government. On the more extreme end, young men complaining of marginalization by the minority battled police with rocks and petrol bombs almost every night, as they have done regularly since unrest erupted in early 2011.

But the government seemed to have learned from last year’s race, calibrating the security response to the protests so that they avoided fatalities - the death of a protester last year injected energy into the demonstrations.

They also used public relations to greater effect, and avoided trying to use the race to talk up the political reform process, a strategy that backfired in 2012.

“Last year they tried to use the race to demonstrate everything was normal in Bahrain,” Jane Kinninmont, senior research fellow at Chatham House, said, pointing to the “UniF1ed” slogan which came off poorly last year. “It was pretty obvious the country wasn’t unified.”

The race was cancelled in 2011 after the start of the protests, which were put down by force and at the cost of at least 35 lives, including members of the security forces.

The public relations battle between the government and opposition appeared to end in stalemate this year, reflecting a broader sense of political stagnation among the opposition.

Representatives from the government and the opposition group Al-Wefaq have held “National Dialogue” talks aimed at finding a political solution to the crisis since February, but they have stalled on procedural issues.

Even if the process does move forward, moderates on both sides have been hemmed in by more hardline members of their respective camps who resist concessions to the other side. Another complication to political reform in Bahrain is its geopolitically strategic position near the Strait of Hormuz, the neck of the Gulf through which 40 percent of the world’s sea-borne oil exports pass.

The kingdom - only about a quarter the size of Luxembourg - hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet and is seen in the West as a key ally in the regional power struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Bahrain’s economy also relies in part on oil it sells from a field it shares with Saudi Arabia but which is in Saudi hands. “Certainly, our neighborhood is challenging,” Crown Prince Salman Al-Khalifa told reporters in rare remarks a day ahead of the Formula One race.

“What’s happening in the wider Middle East does reflect inside our society. But I want a typically Bahraini solution.”

The complexity of the situation - and the lack of reform after two years of protests and clashes - has led many in the opposition to temper their expectations.

Ali, a 24-year-old engineer who did not want to give his full name for fear of upsetting his job prospects, said he believed many protesters would settle for more modest reforms such as the resignation of the prime minister rather than a full-scale gutting of the monarchy.

“It’s safer for us for the monarchy to stay. But provided that we elect our own prime minister.”

But letting Bahrainis elect a prime minister, which could result in a Shiite winning, may be farther than even moderates in the ruling circle may be willing to go. This leaves open the question of what meaningful reforms could put an end to the unrest, and puts Wefaq in the awkward position of trying to satisfy a variety of diverse parties.

The danger is that some in the opposition could become frustrated with the lack of progress in mainstream politics and become more violent in pressing their demands, a risk highlighted by the explosion of a car in Manama’s financial district this month claimed by an opposition group. —Reuters

All articles appearing on these pages are the personal opinion of the writers. Kuwait Times takes no responsibility for views expressed therein. Kuwait Times invites readers to voice their opinions. Please send submissions via email to: opinion@kuwaittimes.net or via snail mail to PO Box 1301 Safat, Kuwait.

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

How do you spell Singapore without ‘LKY’?

By John O’Callaghan

T

hey crammed into an art cafe in Singapore and pulled no punches, deriding authoritarian officials who ruled with an “iron fist” and complaining that government ministers with milliondollar salaries were out of touch. One woman, a middle-aged professional, got nods of agreement when she said modern Singapore’s founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, had done great things but that new ways were needed from current leaders still practicing a “do-as-I-say style of parenting”.

Singapore remains regimented but the unusually frank criticism at the recent gathering, part of a government-run national “conversation” about the city state’s future, reflects the reality that this is no longer the era of Lee Kuan Yew. LKY, as he is widely known, built the tiny Southeast Asian island into one of the world’s wealthiest nations with a strong, pervasive role by the state and no patience for dissent.

Now 89 and in declining health, LKY has receded from the public and political scene, leaving the government of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, his elder son, to deal with economic and social challenges roiling the country of 5.3 million people.

“The time has come for a younger generation to carry Singapore forward in a more difficult and complex situation,” LKY said in 2011 as he resigned from the cabinet after the ruling party suffered its worst election result in history. Saying they feel inundated by foreign workers and priced out of their own homeland, Singaporeans are angry. And with the hugely respected figure of LKY retired from the political stage, they are no longer hesitant to show it. In online chatrooms, letters to statelinked newspapers and at the “Our Singapore Conversation” sessions, they are pressing for answers from the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) which is doing more to listen but struggling with how to change after five decades in power.

Despite the new climate of open criticism, there is still some trepidation about

speaking out in front of journalists. At the recent “conversation” session, the organizers asked Reuters not to identify the participants so they could talk freely without being intimidated by the presence of a foreign reporter.

LKY’s long-standing openness to foreign workers clashes with the current mood and detractors decry his paternalistic and stern ways, including defamation lawsuits against critics.

But his legacy as Singapore’s first prime minister for 31 years and then advisor emeritus is not in doubt. Last August, rumors spread that LKY was gravely ill or had died. When he disproved the chatter by appearing at the National Day parade, the flag-waving crowd erupted into cheers.

In February, he was hospitalized when an irregular heartbeat interrupted the flow of blood to his brain. But he turned up at a forum a month later and took the stage with Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve.

Replying to questions about US-China relations, Europe’s woes and Asia’s future, LKY showed his intellect remains intact and powerful. But his speech was slow and sometimes difficult to understand. Many of his answers were short and trailed off.

Volcker prompted nervous laughter from the crowd when he said: “Singapore is going to have to adjust to Lee Kuan Yew at some point not being the guide.”

That adjustment is already happening, senior officials say, with LKY leaving the current leaders to set policies without him pulling the strings. The pace of change is the big question. Hit by voter discontent in 2011 and again in a by-election in January, the PAP must walk a fine line in pacifying the public’s concerns without abandoning policies that have created a financial powerhouse where stability and an ease of doing business are magnets for investors and multinational companies.

“We have to work in a more open way.

We have to accept more of the untidiness and the to-ing and fro-ing, which is part of normal politics,” Prime Minister Lee told the Washington Post.

“It is a major change, of course, which we hope we will be able to navigate safely over a period of time and not suddenly.”

While the PAP’s majority in parliament has shrunk to 80 of 87 elected seats, few expect the opposition to prevail in the next election in 2016. But as the PAP charts the way ahead, there are internal differences over what approach to take, senior officials say.

Some of those divisions were on display in parliament in February over a government document that envisioned the population swelling by as much as 30 percent by 2030, largely due to more foreigners, to maintain economic growth.

“I have very serious reservations about the white paper,” PAP member Tin Pei Ling said during the five-day debate. Inderjit Singh, also from the PAP, said: “Our past decade of rapid population growth has already created too many problems which need to be solved first before we take the next step.” During LKY’s time, it was very rare for PAP politicians and civil servants to publicly voice any difference of opinion.

But the new scope for dissent extends only so far. In the end, no PAP member voted against the white paper and it passed by a 77-13 margin. Singh was not present for the vote. Despite the unusually heated debate, the outcome illustrates why speculation may be overblown about a split in the ruling party or major shifts in policy when LKY is no longer around.

“They still have this pretty much authoritarian kind of mindset,” said Kumaran Pillai, a businessman and former chief editor of The Online Citizen, a popular public affairs website. “I don’t think the split would happen so soon. The main reason is a lot of PAP cadre members, grassroots members and the elite are vested in the system and they aren’t going to let it fall apart just because Lee Kuan Yew has passed away.”

The government has taken steps to restrict immigration, cool the property market, build up infrastructure and broaden social safety nets. But it did itself no favors with the population white paper which sent public anger into overdrive and, for many, reaffirmed the PAP’s reputation for

prescriptive policies.

“I just want more opposition voices,” said Brendan Mok, a university student with a dragon tattoo on his arm. “At the same time, I don’t feel the opposition is solid enough for anything that could deliver positive change. But we do want more debate.” Mok and his friend Ron Ho, who both voted for the opposition in 2011, said the priority was to narrow income inequalities and address concerns about housing, good jobs and living costs.

“A lot of Singaporeans aren’t happy and one of the reasons is because there’s a lot of status anxiety here,” said Ho. With the PAP under pressure to listen, the year-old “Our Singapore Conversation” is assuming greater resonance.

In a Singaporean twist, the dialogue about the role of the state is organized by the government at venues such as The Connoisseur Concerto, a boutique cafe where about 50 people from diverse backgrounds recently gathered. Crowded around low tables, they tucked into a buffet dinner and then engaged in a feisty chat about the PAP listening but not really changing and about well-paid officials being out of touch with anxiety over public transport and home prices.

“They don’t take the train, they don’t take taxis, they don’t live in HDBs,” said one woman, referring to the state-built Housing & Development Board apartments where most Singaporeans live. “So how do they know?” Lee Kuan Yew, who continues to espouse the need for immigrants and scolds Singaporeans for not having enough babies, is also seen as out of touch as citizens challenge the government’s top-down approach and demand their voices be heard. With characteristic bluntness, he summed up his own legacy in the book “Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going” published in 2011, just before the election that led to his retirement.

“It’s irrelevant to me what young Singaporeans think of me,” he said. “I’ve lived long enough to know that you may be idealized in life and reviled after you’re dead.” — Reuters

Boston suspects expose Russia’s Caucasus woes

By Stuart Williams MOSCOW: Their grandparents were deported by Stalin’s police in the mass expulsion of Chechens in World War II. Their parents went to the United States from Dagestan in search of a better life. And they became adherents of radical Islam. The family history of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects has shown how the turbulence of the Caucasus region reverberates far beyond Russia’s own borders. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and his brother Tamerlan, 26, had lived in the United States for over a decade but their origins shed light on the experiences that turned the young men into suspected murderers.

Much has been made of their ethnic origins in Russia’s Caucasus region of Chechnya, but their father Anzor was in fact born in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan where Tamerlan and Dzhokhar spent much of their youth.

Their grandparents were deported to Kyrgyzstan under the mass expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Chechens from their homeland in the Caucasus in 1944 after the Soviet authorities accused the entire people of mass collaboration with the Nazis.

In a lightning operation, the entire Chechen people were herded on to trains and shifted thousands of kilometers away to Central Asia, mostly to Kazakhstan but some, like the parents of Anzor Tsarnaev, to Kyrgyzstan. Tens of thousands died on the way in freezing conditions and the Chechens were only allowed to return to their homeland in the late 1950s after Stalin’s death. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Anzor left Kyrgyzstan with his family and went back to the Caucasus, an official with Kyrgyzstan’s state security service GKNB told AFP in Bishkek. But with the first Chechen war between separatists and the Kremlin under way, the family left the Caucasus and returned to Kyrgyzstan in 1995, living in the town of Tokmok where Tamerlan started attending school number two in 1998,

Patimat Suleimanova, the aunt of Boston bomb suspects, speaks in her home in the Russian city of Makhachkala yesterday. (Right): Anzor Tsarnaev, the father of the suspected Boston bombers, brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnayev, speaking with journalists at home Makhachkala, the capital Russia’s North Caucasus region of Dagestan. — AP/AFP the Kyrgyz official said. According to Kyrgyz sources, Dzhokhar was born in Kyrgyzstan and had Kyrgyz citizenship. Tamerlan however was born in Kalmykia in southern Russia and had Russian citizenship. The youngest son may have been named after Dzhokhar Dudayev, the leader of Chechen separatist rebels, who was killed by a Russian air strike in 1996. According to the Kyrgyz government, the family in 2001 went back to Dagestan, the home region of the brothers’ mother Zubeidat.

US-based Chechen surgeon and prominent diaspora figure Khassan Baiev, who knew the family, told the New Times weekly from the United States that they moved as ethnic tensions were by then also flaring in Kyrgyzstan.

Dagestan, then as now, was one of the poorest regions of Russia beset by unemployment and also an Islamist insurgency that spread from Chechnya. The family did not stay

long and in 2002 moved to the United States where they filed for refugee status and settled. “Dagestan today, is the acutest hotspot in Russia,” Grigory Shvedov, chief editor of specialist Internet newspaper Caucasian Knot (www.caucasianknot.info) said.

“This development of terrorism and dissent is due to the high level of religiousness, the high level of corruption and the low level of control on the part of the federal centre. All these factors flourished in post-Soviet times.”

In recent years Tamerlan apparently posted militant videos on a YouTube page bearing his name, and travelled to Dagestan and Chechnya for six months in 2012.

In the years after the second post-Soviet Chechnya war, the insurgency against the Kremlin began to be increasingly rooted in Islamic radicalism rather than separatism. — AFP

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

S P ORTS Nehwal banging head against Chinese wall

Referee says assault left him impotent

NEW DELHI: China’s enviable pool of outstanding talent makes it almost impossible for anyone else to make a dent on their ruthless domination of badminton, top Indian player Saina Nehwal said yesterday. The London Olympic bronze medallist has been something of an aberration in the women’s rankings, being the lone non-Chinese in the top five for much of the last year and offering sporadic challenges to the sport’s super-power nation.

Nehwal is ranked second, sandwiched between Li Xuerui and Wang Yihan, winners of the gold and silver in London last year, and is in awe of China’s conveyor belt of talent.

“It’s not easy to break the Chinese wall,” Nehwal told reporters ahead of this week’s Indian Open in New Delhi. “Even if you beat one or two in one tournament the others will be there in the next tournament. It’s not easy to beat them again and again,” added the 23year-old. “We can try to do it but we don’t have a system like that. They have so many players, it’s like cricket (in India). “I’m happy that girls from different countries are trying to beat them and be among the top players. But to be there consistently, it’s difficult for other countries.”

German Juliane Schenk and Korean Sung Ji Hyun complete the women’s top five. “The competition is really tough,” said Nehwal.

“When you play a lot, you get tired but they (China) have seven or eight players. “Whether one wins or the other, finally China wins.

It’s not easy for other countries to do well consistently. —Reuters

MOMBASA: A Kenyan referee is suing the national football federation, saying he was left impotent after a coach grabbed and squeezed his testicles in a pitch invasion. Referee Martin Wekesa said he was seeking $240,000 in compensation from FKF after the alleged assault in a game in September last year, when he was kicked and hit by members of the Sparki Youth team before being “attacked in my private parts” by one of the coaching staff.

Wekesa said Daudi Kajembe came onto the field and assaulted him after a decision to send a Sparki player off. “He pulled my testicles. He actually pressed them and I was hanging on him when he was pulling me. I was crying and could not get myself out from his hands,” Wekesa said. “I remember Kajembe told me, raising his hand, ‘I can kill you in a minute,’ and came directly to my testicles.” Wekesa was rescued by a police officer, he said, but slumped to his knees in pain on the pitch before being taken to the hospital.

He is now unable to have sex with his wife, he claims, saying it is “impossible.”

“It is so painful, painful, painful in my areas,” he said.

Kajembe is due to appear in court in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa on Thursday on a charge of assault and causing grievous bodily harm, while Wekesa is claiming the 20 million Kenyan shillings in compensation from the federation for his expensive medical bills and the problems the assault has caused him and his wife. —AP

Tyson follows Suarez on Twitter LONDON: Luis Suarez has a new brother in arms in former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson. Tyson, who famously bit the ear of Evander Holyfield during a 1997 world heavyweight title fight, began following Suarez on Twitter after the Liverpool striker sunk his teeth into the arm of Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic during an English Premier League match on Sunday.

According to Tyson’s profile page on Twitter, he made Uruguayan Suarez his 432nd and most recent follow. Suarez, who faces an investigation by English soccer authorities for his actions, apologised for his behavior. “I’m sad for what happened this afternoon,” he said on Twitter. “I apologize Ivanovic and all football world for my inexcusable behavior. I’m so sorry about it!!”

Tyson, now 46, took a chunk out of Holyfield’s right ear in the third round of a bout in Las Vegas in June 1997, after which Holyfield, nicknamed the “Real Deal”, became known as the “Meal Deal”.

Tyson, currently touring the United States with his one-man show, “Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth”, was disqualified from the fight and fined $3 million.

Suarez’s afternoon ended on a more satisfying note as he scored a stoppage-time header to salvage a 2-2 draw for Liverpool. —Reuters

Angels tame Tigers ANAHEIM: Mark Trumbo homered leading off the bottom of the 13th inning and Albert Pujols doubled home two runs, lifting the Los Angeles Angels to a 4-3 victory over Detroit on Sunday for their second straight series sweep of the Tigers.

Detroit lefty Phil Coke (0-2) intentionally walked Pujols with two outs and the bases empty in the 12th before striking out Josh Hamilton on three pitches. But Trumbo drove a 3-1 pitch into the top part of the doubledecker bullpen in left field for his second homer of the season. Jerome Williams (1-0) got the victory with three innings of two-hit relief.

SAN FRANCISCO:(Left to right) Brandon Crawford No. 35, Hunter Pence No. 8, and Angel Pagan No. 16 of the San Francisco Giants celebrates after defeating the San Diego Padres. —AFP

Giants blank Padres SAN FRANCISCO: Barry Zito and Chad Gaudin combined on a six-hitter and Buster Posey homered as the San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres 5-0 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.

Zito (3-1) bounced back from the worst start of big league career to beat the Padres for the first time in nearly two years. He allowed five hits in seven innings, struck out four, walked one and did not give up run for the third time in four starts.

Posey’s first home run of the season was just the 11th this year for the powerstarved Giants. Before the two-out, two-run drive off Eric Stults (2-2) in the fifth, Hunter Pence, Pablo Sandoval and Brandon Crawford had accounted for all of San Francisco’s homers.

METS 2, NATIONALS 0 In New York, John Buck hit his seventh home run of the season and Dillon Gee earned his first win as the Mets beat the Nationals to take two of three games from the NL East champions.

Coming off a pair of poor starts, Gee (13) pitched three-hit ball for 5 2-3 innings and New York finally got a strong effort from its struggling bullpen, which entered with the highest ERA in the majors at 5.47.

Buck hit a drive into the second deck at Citi Field and Mike Baxter added a sacrifice fly as New York ran up Jordan Zimmermann’s pitch count in dealing the right-hander his first loss of the year. Zimmermann (3-1) threw 96 pitches in five innings. He allowed two hits and three walks.

REDS 10, MARLINS 6 In Cincinnati, Brandon Phillips drove in the go-ahead run for the second straight day, while Joey Votto homered and had three hits as the Reds beat the Marlins for their sixth win in seven games.

Todd Frazier hit a three-run double in an eight-run seventh inning for the Reds, who won three of four from the Marlins and improved to a major league-best 10-3 at home.

With the score 2-2, Shin-Soo Choo drew Cincinnati’s fifth walk off Alex Sanabia (2-2), who also hit Chin with a pair of pitches.

Singles by Xavier Paul and Votto loaded the bases, and Phillips had an RBI single against Jon Rauch, and Paul scored when right fielder Giancarlo Stanton bobbled the ball for an error.

Logan Ondrusek (1-0) struck out the side in the seventh to win in relief of Homer Bailey, who allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings with eight strikeouts and three walks.

PIRATES 4, BRAVES 2 In Pittsburgh, slumping Clint Barmes had a pair of run-scoring singles for his first two RBIs of the season, including a

tiebreaking hit in the sixth inning that led the Pirates over Atlanta for their third straight win over the Braves.

Barmes began the day with a .093 batting average and was in a 0-for-14 slide. Kris Medlen (1-2) lost for first time in 29 regularseason start in which he was given a lead.

He allowed three runs and six hits in six innings with six strikeouts and one walk.

Justin Wilson (1-0) got his first major league win by giving up one hit in 1 2-3 scoreless innings.

BREWERS 4, CUBS 2 In Milwaukee, Ryan Braun hit a threerun homer in the fifth then was ejected three innings later as the Brewers won their seventh straight.

The Brewers are 18-2 over the past 20 meetings with the Cubs at Miller Park.

Milwaukee improved to 9-8 after losing eight of 10 to start the year.

Wily Peralta (1-1) pitched 6 2-3 innings for Milwaukee, giving up two runs and five hits. Scott Feldman (0-3) gave up four runs on three hits in five innings and made an error before Braun’s homer.

DIAMONDBACKS 5, ROCKIES 4 In Denver, Didi Gregorius hit his second major league home run and singled to start a two-run rally in the ninth inning that led the Diamondbacks over Colorado and stopped the Rockies’ eight-game winning streak.

Gregorius, who homered Thursday at Yankee Stadium on the first pitch he saw with the Diamondbacks, started a comeback from a 3-0 deficit when he homered against Juan Nicasio leading off the fifth.

Colorado led 4-3 when Gregorius singled leading off the ninth against Wilton Lopez (0-1). A.J. Pollock doubled over third baseman Jonathan Herrera, and pinch-hitter Alfredo Marte grounded out to third, driving in the tying run. Gerardo Parra followed with a sacrifice fly to deep center.

Heath Bell (2-0) pitched a scoreless eighth.

PHILLIES 7, CARDINALS 3 In Philadelphia, Erik Kratz hit a three-run home run to break the game open in the eighth inning and lead the Phillies to a win over the Cardinals.

Mike Adams (1-1) tossed a scoreless eighth inning to help the Phillies split the four-game series. The Phillies snapped a 3-3 tie with a four-run eighth that put the game away.

Michael Young extended his hitting streak to 12 games with an infield single off reliever Mitchell Boggs (0-2). Dom Brown singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Ben Revere made it 4-3 on a goahead single up the middle. Kratz then hit the first pitch deep into the left-field seats for a three-run homer and a 7-3 lead. —AP

ROYALS 4, RED SOX 2 In Boston, Ervin Santana pitched seven strong innings as the Royals ended Boston’s seven-game winning streak with a win over the Red Sox in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.

The nightcap was scheduled after Friday night’s game was postponed because of the manhunt for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings.

Santana (2-1) allowed two runs on six hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. It was the third straight start in which he gave up two runs or less.

The Royals scored three runs in the fourth with Salvador Perez’s two-run single breaking a 2-2 tie against Ryan Dempster (0-2).

The atmosphere at Fenway Park was more like a typical baseball game following the emotional pregame ceremony when the Red Sox returned to action Saturday.

RANGERS 11, MARINERS 3 In Arlington, Nelson Cruz hit his fifth career grand slam, one of four home runs by the Texas Rangers in a victory that completed a three-game sweep over the Mariners.

Cruz went way deep, an estimated 431 feet to left-center field, to cap a five-run fifth that chased Aaron Harang (0-2). Leonys Martin, Mitch Moreland and Adrian Beltre also homered for the Rangers, whose 11 runs were a season high. Martin had a triple leading off the fifth before scoring on Ian Kinsler’s bloop single to right.

Justin Grimm (1-0) struck out nine and walked one over six innings in his fourth major-league start, the second this season.

The right-hander allowed two runs, including an unearned run in the first that snapped the Mariners’ 19inning scoreless streak after they were shut out the first two games of the series.

INDIANS 5, ASTROS 4 In Houston, Mark Reynolds’ seventh homer of the season put Cleveland on top in the seventh inning and the Indians held on for a win over the Astros.

The home run by Reynolds, who also homered in Cleveland’s 19-6 win Saturday, was one of four solo shots for the Indians, who took two of three in the series.

Carlos Santana, Drew Stubbs and Yan Gomes also connected for the Indians. The game was tied at 4 in the seventh inning before the two-out full-count homer to left-center by Reynolds off Hector Ambriz (0-1).

Cody Allen (1-0) got the final out of the sixth and Chris Perez pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save in three opportunities.

TWINS 5, WHITE SOX 3 In Chicago, Josh Willingham atoned for an earlier misplay with a tiebreaking three-run double in Minnesota’s four-run seventh inning, leading the Twins to a victory over the slumping White Sox. Aaron Hicks singled in a run and

ANAHEIM: Austin Jackson No. 14 of the Detroit Tigers hits into a fielder’s choice but picks up an RBI as Jhonny Peralta scores from third in the second inning against the Los Angeles Angels. —AFP Justin Morneau had a bases-loaded walk as Minnesota swept a pair of weekend games against Chicago to stretch its winning streak to four.

Scott Diamond (1-1) pitched six effective innings, keeping the Twins in the game while they struggled to score against Gavin Floyd. Diamond allowed two runs, one earned, and four hits in his first start since he made his season debut in a loss to the New York Mets on April 13. Chicago led 2-1 before Hicks drove in Trevor Plouffe with a single to right against Matt Lindstrom (1-1) in the seventh.

Minnesota went on to load the bases when Donnie Veal issued a two-out walk to Joe Mauer, and Willingham drove the first pitch from Jesse Crain deep to center to give the Twins a 5-2 lead.

RAYS 8, ATHLETICS 1 In St Petersburg, Roberto Hernandez pitched six effective innings for his first win since he was known as Fausto Carmona, helping the Tampa Bay Rays complete a threegame sweep of the Athletics.

Hernandez (1-3) allowed one run, three hits, three walks and had seven strikeouts in his first win since Sept.

20, 2011, while with Cleveland.

Oakland starter Tommy Milone (31) had his season-opening threegame winning streak end. The lefthander gave up six runs and eight hits over 6 2-3 innings. Jake McGee and Brandon Gomes completed the threehitter. One day after having a DJ play music in the clubhouse to help relax his team, Rays manager Joe Maddon had a magician doing card tricks Sunday.

BLUE JAYS 8, YANKEES 4 In Toronto, JP Arencibia hit a tworun homer and Melky Cabrera had three hits as the Blue Jays rallied for a victory over the Yankees after Josh Johnson walked in the tying and goahead runs.

Brett Cecil (1-0) worked 1 1-3 innings for the win as the Blue Jays capped a seven-game homestand on a winning note. Esmil Rogers worked 1 1-3 innings and Darren Oliver pitched the ninth for Toronto.

Chris Stewart hit a solo homer for the Yankees, who had won nine of their previous 11. Adam Lind walked and Arencibia doubled, bringing Boone Logan (0-1) gave up a two-run double to Brett Lawrie and an RBI single to Cabrera in a four-run sixth that gave Toronto the lead.

DODGERS 7, ORIOLES 4 In Baltimore, Mark Ellis drove in three runs as the Dodgers beat erratic Jake Arrieta and the Orioles to end a sixgame losing streak.

Matt Kemp singled in the go-ahead run during a four-run fifth inning, and the Dodgers received a solid performance from their bullpen in the finale of the three-game interleague series.

Making his fourth start of the season, Arrieta (1-1) allowed only two singles in four-plus innings. But he walked five - three of whom scored - and hit a batter, who also came home.

Adam Jones homered for the Orioles and Chris Davis had three hits.

Before the game, the Dodgers put scheduled starter Chad Billingsley on the 15-day disabled list with right elbow soreness and recalled Stephen Fife from Triple-A Albuquerque to take his place on the mound. Fife, who started five games with Los Angeles last season, recovered from a rocky start to allow four runs and seven hits in 4 2-3 innings. JP Howell (1-0) gave up a single before getting the final out in the fifth.

Matt Guerrier and Paco Rodriguez each pitched a hitless inning, Kenley Jansen allowed a single in the eighth and Brandon League got three outs for his fifth save. —AP

MLB results/standings Toronto 8, NY Yankees 4; Cincinnati 10, Miami 6; NY Mets 2, Washington 0; LA Dodgers 7, Baltimore 4; Kansas City 4, Boston 2; Pittsburgh 4, Atlanta 2; Tampa Bay 8, Oakland 1; Minnesota 5, Chicago White Sox 3; Milwaukee 4, Chicago Cubs 2; Cleveland 5, Houston 4; Texas 11, Seattle 3; LA Angels 4, Detroit 3 (13 innings); San Francisco 5, San Diego 0; Arizona 5, Colorado 4; Kansas City 5, Boston 4 (10 innings); Philadelphia 7, St. Louis 3.

National League American League Eastern Division Eastern Division .722 5 13 GB Atlanta PCT L W 3 .556 8 10 Washington .667 6 12 Boston 3.5 .529 8 9 NY Mets 1.5 .588 7 10 NY Yankees 5.5 11 .421 8 Philadelphia 2 .556 8 10 Baltimore 9.5 15 .211 4 Miami 4 10 .444 8 Tampa Bay 4.5 11 .421 8 Toronto Central Division .579 8 11 Cincinnati Central Division 0.5 .556 8 10 Pittsburgh .588 7 10 Kansas City 0.5 .556 8 10 St. Louis 1 .533 7 8 Minnesota 1 .529 8 9 Milwaukee 1.5 .500 9 9 Detroit 5 12 .294 5 Chicago Cubs 3 10 .412 7 Cleveland 3.5 11 .389 7 Chicago White Sox Western Division .722 5 13 Colorado Western Division 1.5 .632 7 12 San Francisco .667 6 12 Texas 3 .556 8 10 Arizona 0.5 .632 7 12 Oakland 5 10 .444 8 LA Dodgers 4.5 10 .412 7 LA Angels 8 13 .278 5 San Diego 6 13 .350 7 Seattle 7 13 .278 5 Houston

Sato wins first IndyCar race for Japan NEW YORK: Takuma Sato won a crash-filled Long Beach Grand Prix on Sunday to become the first Japanese driver to win an IndyCar race.

The victory ended a long wait for the 36-yearold Sato, coming in his 52nd career IndyCar start following seven winless seasons on the Formula One circuit with Jordan, BAR and Super Aguri.

It was also a big day for AJ Foyt Racing, Sato giving the American motor racing legend his first win in 11 years. “I just can’t find the words,

the boys did a tremendous job,” said Sato, who jumped out of his car waving a Japanese flag after pulling into victory lane. “Just fantastic, the car was great, the pit stops were perfect.

“Just incredible feeling. This was awesome. “I really wish AJ was here.” In a race littered with yellow flags, Sato produced what team principal Larry Foyt described as a perfect drive.

Sato started fourth and steered clear of trouble all day to lead American Graham Rahal

across the finish line under caution when Brazilian Tony Kanaan slammed his car into the wall on the 79th lap of the 80-lap race through the streets of Long Beach.

Briton Justin Wilson was third followed by compatriot and three-time Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti. Helio Castroneves, who finished ninth, has an eight point lead over Sato in the championship standings heading into the May 5 race on the streets of Sao Paulo. —Reuters

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

S P ORTS

Bruins snap winless streak when he backhanded the puck into an empty net with 1:22 remaining.

BOSTON: Jaromir Jagr scored his second goal as a member of the Bruins, helping Boston end a four-game winless streak with a 3-0 victory over the Florida Panthers on Sunday.

The Bruins were playing the second of back-to-back afternoon games after hosting the Penguins in a 3-2 loss Saturday. The game was originally scheduled for Friday night, but postponed because of the lockdown and manhunt for one of the suspected Boston Marathon bombers.

Tuukka Rask stopped 28 shots for his fourth shutout of the season and the Bruins pulled into a share of first place in Northeast Division with Montreal on 59 points. The Bruins have four games to play, one more than the Canadiens.

The Panthers honored local law enforcement by wearing Boston Police hats during their pregame skate. Bruins fans once again took over the singing of the national anthem, a practice that started last week in the first game since the deadly explosions at the marathon finish line.

Rookie Dougie Hamilton also scored for Boston and Brad Marchand picked up his team-leading 18th goal

DUCKS 3, OILERS 1 In Edmonton, Cam Fowler, Kyle Palmieri and Corey Perry scored to help put Anaheim on the brink of clinching the Pacific Division with a victory over Edmonton.

The Ducks could have clinched the division title if the Kings lost to Dallas in regulation, but that game went to overtime. Anaheim can seal it with another win over the Oilers on Monday.

Taylor Hall scored for Edmonton, which lost for the seventh time in eight games to extend its playoff drought to seven years.

The Oilers’ last playoff appearance came in a Game 7 loss in the 2006 Stanley Cup finals against Carolina.

KINGS 4, STARS 3 In Los Angeles, Jeff Carter deflected the winning goal off his upper body with 51 seconds left in overtime as Los Angeles seized fourth place in the Western Conference with a win over Dallas.

Captain Dustin Brown scored two goals for the defending Stanley Cup

champions, and Mike Richards scored an early goal before putting the puck off Carter’s chest for the overtime winner.

The Kings (26-14-5) moved two points clear of San Jose for fourth place and home-ice advantage in the first round after the Sharks lost to Columbus.

Alex Goligoski scored in the third period and Kari Lehtonen stopped 27 shots for the Stars, who sit three points behind Columbus and Minnesota for the final playoff spot in the West.

AVALANCHE 5, BLUES 3 In Denver, Jamie McGinn scored twice and Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 29 shots as Colorado prevented St. Louis from wrapping up a playoff spot.

Cody McLeod, Matt Duchene and Chuck Kobasew also scored for the Avalanche, who chased Brian Elliott late in the second period. It was Colorado’s eighth straight home win over the Blues.

David Backes, Jaden Schwartz and Kevin Shattenkirk had goals for St. Louis, which could have secured a postseason berth with a win over a

Colorado team that’s last in the Western Conference.

After Elliott gave up a fourth goal, the Blues pulled him in favor of Jake Allen. He allowed Kobasew’s thirdperiod goal that gave Colorado a 5-3 advantage.

BLUE JACKETS 4, SHARKS 3 In San Jose, Ryan Johansen scored the tiebreaking goal with 1:37 remaining to give Columbus a big boost in its push for the playoffs with a victory over San Jose.

Mark Letestu scored twice and Vinny Prospal also had a goal for the Blue Jackets, who moved into a tie for seventh place with Minnesota in the Western Conference with 51 points. Columbus has played one more game than the Wild and two more than ninth-place Detroit, who is three points back in the race for the final playoff spot. Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves.

Marty Havlat, Andrew Desjardins and Joe Pavelski scored for the Sharks, who needed only to take the game to overtime to clinch a ninthstraight playoff berth. Antti Niemi made 18 saves.

RANGERS 4, DEVILS 1 In New York, Ryan Callahan scored a goal in the opening minute and another in the third period, and Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves as New York eliminated New Jersey from the playoff race.

Callahan provided the lead 34 seconds in, Derek Stepan added a goal in the first period, and Taylor Pyatt snapped a long drought in the second for the eight-place Rangers, who are inching closer to a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

Callahan made it 4-0 at 5:13 of the third with a power-play goal, flipping a shot over sprawled-out Devils goalie Martin Brodeur, who finished with 18 saves. Lundqvist was solid, allowing only Andrei Loktionov’s goal with 6:30 remaining.

LOS ANGELES: Dallas Stars’ Reilly Smith (left) collides with Los Angeles Kings’ Matt Greene during the first period of an NHL hockey game. —AP

NHL results/standings Boston 3, Florida 0; NY Rangers 4, New Jersey 1; Carolina 3, Tampa Bay 2; Calgary 4, Minnesota 1; Colorado 5, St. Louis 3; Columbus 4, San Jose 3; Anaheim 3, Edmonton 1; Los Angeles 4, Dallas 3 (OT).

Pittsburgh NY Islanders NY Rangers New Jersey Philadelphia

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L OTL 34 10 0 24 16 5 24 17 4 17 18 10 20 22 3

Boston Montreal Toronto Ottawa Buffalo

Northeast Division 27 12 5 27 13 5 25 15 5 23 15 6 19 20 6

123 139 138 108 118

97 120 124 96 138

59 59 55 52 44

Washington Winnipeg Carolina Tampa Bay Florida

Southeast Division 25 18 2 23 19 3 18 24 3 17 24 4 13 26 6

140 121 118 140 104

123 134 145 141 162

52 49 39 38 32

GF 150 134 120 106 124

GA 108 131 106 121 137

PTS 68 53 52 44 43

Chicago St. Louis Columbus Detroit Nashville

Western Conference Central Division 34 5 5 26 17 2 22 17 7 20 16 8 15 21 9

146 119 114 109 104

94 112 117 112 128

73 54 51 48 39

Vancouver Minnesota Calgary Edmonton Colorado

Northwest Division 25 13 7 24 18 3 19 22 4 17 20 7 15 23 7

121 116 123 111 109

110 119 149 124 142

57 51 42 41 37

Pacific Division Anaheim 28 11 6 131 112 62 Los Angeles 26 14 5 128 111 57 San Jose 24 14 7 118 109 55 Dallas 22 19 4 127 133 48 Phoenix 19 17 8 114 118 46 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L).

FLAMES 4, WILD 1 In St. Paul, Joey MacDonald made 34 saves and Mark Cundari scored a goal in his first NHL game as Calgary handed Minnesota a potentially harmful home loss in its playoff push.

Mikael Backlund, Mike Cammalleri and Jiri Hudler also scored for the Flames, who are long out of the postseason hunt but have won six of their last eight games.

Zach Parise got his team-high 17th goal for the Wild, who will likely at least need to win two of their three remaining games to make the playoffs without help from others.

They’re in seventh place in the Western Conference with 51 points, while Columbus, Detroit, Dallas and Phoenix remain in a tight pack still alive behind them.

HURRICANES 3, LIGHTNING 2 In Tampa, Jiri Tlusty scored two first-period goals and Dan Ellis stopped 34 shots to lead Carolina to a victory over Tampa Bay. Alexander Semin scored 16 seconds into the game for the Hurricanes, who jumped ahead 3-0 and held on for their first victory against the Lightning this season.

Semin took a feed in the slot from Eric Staal and whipped it over the shoulder of Andres Lindback. Semin also had two assists.

Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis scored for the Lightning, who lost their sixth straight. Ellis turned away 15 of 16 shots in the third period, including point-blank opportunities by Eric Brewer, Ryan Malone and BJ Crombeen. —AP

CHIASSO: Australian team’s players (left to right) Casey Dellacqua, Jarmila Gajdosova, Ashleigh Barty and Samantha Stosur pose with a flag after winning against Switzerland in the Fed Cup World Group play-off tie. —AFP

Italy seals Fed Cup final against Russia MILAN: Roberta Vinci secured Italy’s fifth Fed Cup final appearance in eight years yesterday after battling past Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic to give the hosts an unassailable lead on the red clay of Palermo. Vinci’s 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 win over Safarova handed Italy a 3-1 lead ahead of the dead doubles rubber to be played Monday afternoon.

Italy will now meet Russia, winners Sunday over Slovakia, in the final on November 2-3. The hosts had powered to a 2-0 lead on Saturday after straight singles victories for Sara Errani and Vinci over Safarova and Petra Kvitova respectively.

Former Wimbledon winner Kvitova gave the Czechs hope of launching a fightback when she defeated Errani 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 on Sunday.

However any momentum gained, and indeed the day’s play, was soon halted by

rain which had already disrupted proceedings, prompting the decision to carry the tie over to late yesterday.

Vinci, who was tied at 1-1 from her previous two encounters with Safarova, showed little fear on her way to a commanding 6-3 win in the first set.

Safarova put up more resistance in the second and after spurning the chance to close out the set while serving at 5-4, she made amends in the tiebreak where she dropped just two points to force a decider.

The Czech burst into a 2-0 lead in the third set but Vinci broke back and maintained the pressure to take a 5-3 lead before sealing victory on her third match point.

Flavia Pennetta and Francesa Schiavone are slated to face Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in the doubles later yesterday. —AFP

Nadal aims at Barcelona recovery after streak ends BARCELONA: Rafael Nadal will quickly bury his sorrows after the end of his eight-year title streak in Monte Carlo, with the Spaniard quickly turning his focus to the Barcelona Open starting yesterday.

Nadal went down to defeat in Sunday’s Monte Carlo final to Novak Djokovic 6-2, 7-6 (7/1) but is not mourning the end of a 46-match winning run at the prestige venue.

“With not much preparation, I was able to play in the finals, a few matches,” said the knee injury victim who missed seven months but who has since played in five straight finals and won three trophies.

“This week is going to help me be fit for the next weeks.” Nadal is the king of the home clay in Catalonia. The 26-year-old has won seven of the past eight editions at the venerable Real Club de Tenis. His only miss came in 2010, when he did not play, compatriot Fernando Verdasco keeping the trophy firmly in Iberian hands.

Nadal began his clay season last week and showed his usual superb form on his surface of choice - just not enough to get past an inspired Djokovic - though Nadal can see improvement.

“I feel for moments in the second

set I played my best tennis of the week. So that’s an important thing.”

But there is a shift in the ground at this edition, with the fifth-ranked Nadal seeded second behind countryman David Ferrer, who takes the top spot in the draw.

Ferrer is playing after missing the Monte Carlo Masters with a thigh injury which bothered him in his losing Miami final to Andy Murray last month. The hard-working Ferrer has a grudge to settle with his celebrated Davis Cup teammate, who has beaten him in four of the last five Barcelona finals, including the last two.

All 16 seeds get byes into the second round, which will leaving opening play to outsiders including Australian Bernard Tomic, Czech veteran Radek Stepanek and Spain’s Tommy Robredo, who got his career back on track with the Casablanca title this month.

Czech Tomas Berdych takes the third seeding at the event he last played in 2009, while Spain’s Nicolas Almagro is seeded fourth ahead of Canadian Milos Raonic.

Japan’s sixth seed Kei Nishikori, a quarter-finalist last year, makes his season clay start, with Argentine Juan Monaco seeded seventh and German Philipp Kohlschreiber eighth. —AFP

McDowell wins playoff at gusty Harbour Town HILTON HEAD ISLAND: Graeme McDowell held his nerve in fierce winds to clinch his second PGA Tour title with a playoff victory over US Open champion Webb Simpson at the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on Sunday.

Northern Irishman McDowell sealed the win with a regulation two-putt par at the first extra hole, the 18th, where Simpson three-putted for bogey after missing the green to the right with his approach.

Using a putter for his third shot from 33 feet, Simpson narrowly missed the left edge of the cup with his birdie attempt, his ball ending up six feet beyond the hole after being blown by a sudden gust.

After former US Open champion McDowell left his birdie putt from 13 feet inches short and right before tapping in for a four, Simpson missed his par putt and sank to his knees in anguish.

“I’m just disappointed for Webb,” a gracious McDowell told CBS television in a greenside interview after emerging triumphant on a day when ocean winds gusted up to 40 mph (64.37 kph) across Harbour Town Golf Links.

“He hit a great first putt there on this playoff hole and he got a terrible gust of wind. That’s kind of the way it was today. It was really tricky and gusty. I am just really happy to get my first official (regular) PGA Tour win across the line.” McDowell clinched his maiden PGA Tour victory at the 2010 U.S. Open, maintaining his composure in tough scoring conditions at a wind-buffeted Pebble Beach to end a 40-year title drought by Europeans in the year’s second major.

“I played nicely, I played nicely all week,” said the 33year-old McDowell, a seven-times winner on the European Tour. “It’s a great golf course here.

“I sat down with (2010 Heritage champion) Jim Furyk on Tuesday ... and he said, ‘You’re never out of this tournament. You’ve just got to hang

around and hang around.’

“And I did that. I played great Friday. The putter was cold most of the week but I really got it going today.” The pair had finished the 72 regulation holes on nine-underpar 275, McDowell three-putting to bogey the last for a two-under 69 and Simpson closing with a 71. English

world number six Luke Donald, who made a sizzling start with four birdies in the first six holes, lost momentum after the turn on the way to a 69, finishing joint third at seven under with American Kevin Streelman (72).

Overnight leader Charley Hoffman limped home in fiveover 40, a closing 77 dropping him back into a three-way

HILTON HEAD ISLAND: Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland hits a shot from the sand on the 13th hole during the final round of the RBC Heritage at Harbor Town Golf Links. —AFP

tie for sixth at five under.

The final round was always going to be difficult as strong winds gusted through the tree-lined layout but Simpson made a fast start with two early birdies, a 10footer at the par-four third putting him a tie for the lead with Hoffman at 11 under.

American Hoffman briefly dropped back with a bogey at the fourth, where he missed the green with his approach, but then benefited from a two-shot swing at the par-five fifth.

While Simpson bogeyed the hole after finding a fairway bunker off the tee and the right rough with his second shot, Hoffman rolled in a 12-foot birdie putt there to edge a stroke in front at 11 under.

As howling winds swept across the course, the longhaired Hoffman bogeyed the sixth after driving into trees but he reached the turn with a one-shot lead, Simpson having missed a six-foot par putt at the eighth.

Within the space of a few minutes early on the back nine, three players ended up in a tie at the top of the leaderboard.

McDowell, who had drained a 28-foot birdie putt at the 11th, coolly sank a 20-footer for par at the 13th to remain at nine under and bogey-free for the round. Level with the Northern Irishman were Hoffman, who bogeyed the par-four 12th after finding a bunker with his approach and splashing out 16 feet beyond the hole, and Simpson, who sank a four-footer there for birdie.

Hoffman’s title challenge effectively ended when he double-bogeyed the par-three 14th after dumping his tee shot into water before McDowell went ahead for the first time with his birdie at the 16th. Though McDowell made his only bogey of the day at the par-four 18th, where he ran his approach putt from just off the back of the green 12 feet past the cup, he coolly clinched the title on the first extra hole. —Reuters

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

S P ORTS

Marquez youngest MotoGP winner AUSTIN: Spanish rookie Marc Marquez out-duelled Repsol Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa to win the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas on Sunday and become the youngest ever winner in the MotoGP premier class.

Starting from pole, Marquez was beaten to the first turn by Pedrosa but the 20year-old Spaniard patiently stalked his team mate around the twisting Circuit of the Americas before grabbing the lead with nine laps remaining in the 21 lap

race and pulling away for a comfortable 1.534 second victory.

“Racing MotoGP always it is hard,” a beaming Marquez told television reporters following the race. “I chose the hard tire on the rear and was not very sure but in the end was working well.

“I don’t know what happen in the front I had many problems, especially at the end of the race I could not push but in the end it was like that and I am very happy.”

The inaugural Texas race quickly turned into a two-rider tussle as the factory Hondas pulled away with Marquez and Pedrosa engaging in a thrilling catand-mouse battle.

But after Marquez dove inside Pedrosa to take the lead his fellow Spaniard could not respond with Marquez powering away from the field to replace Freddie Spencer, winner in Belgium in 1982, as the youngest rider to win a premier-class grand prix.

Pedrosa said he was trying to catch up in the second part of the track. “But three laps from the end I make a mistake, I lose one and a half second and that was it,” he shrugged. “Anyway he (Marquez) did a very good race being just his second race he was really strong so congratulations.”

Double world champion Jorge Lorenzo, winner of the season opener in Qatar two weeks ago, came home third to complete an all-Spanish podium with round three of the series set for May 5 in

Jerez. Britain’s Cal Crutchlow was fourth on his non-works Tech3 Yamaha while Germany’s Stefan Bradl brought his LCR Honda across the line in fifth.

Seven-time champion, Italian great Valentino Rossi, back on a Yamaha as Lorenzo’s team mate after two years with Ducati, was sixth.

After two of 18 rounds Marquez and Lorenzo top of the rider’s standings with 41 points with Pedrosa eight back on 33 and Rossi on 30. —Reuters

Boubyan post record score of 283 in T20 format KUWAIT BANKS CLUB LEAGUE CRICKET KUWAIT: In the last league round matches of the Kuwait Banks club cricket league played at Sulaibiya ground, Gulf Bank & Boubyan banks convincingly prevailed over Burgan Bank & Ahli Bank of Kuwait.

In the morning match, Burgan Bank won the toss and opted to bat first as Dilip & Waheed provided a

hits to the fence while Waheed’s useful knock of 30 runs contained 4 boundaries. Burgan notched up 125 runs in 20 overs. Gulf Bank bowler Waleed bowled economically well to take 2 for 13 in four overs while Rafat Khan, Faby & Bilal supported Waleed very well to capture a wicket each.

fell on like nine pins, Tanveer stroked his innings to blossom with 5 well timed boundaries & 3 cracking sixes to take Gulf Bank to the victor y stand. His mar velous innings of 66 runs rightly fetched him the Player of the match award.

Ashraf was the most successful bowler for Burgan capturing 3

Hisham Mirza in action stable platform by putting on 60 runs. Both the openers, quick in running between the wickets relied more on singles and doubles and the odd ball was dispatched to the boundary with immense authority.

Dilip top scored with 46 runs with 2

Burgan’s slow left arm bowler Ashraf accounted for both the Gulf Bank openers quickly but Tanveer the one drop Gulf Bank batsman played a stellar role to keep the hopes of Gulf Bank by playing an innings of his life time. As wickets

wickets while Manoj took 2 for 34.

A nerve cracking unbeaten 166 runs in just 62 balls by Hisham Mirza and his unbroken 272 runs partnership for the second wicket with Irfan helped Boubyan bank to win their league round match

against ABK in the ongoing Kuwait Banks club cricket league tournament played at Sulaibiya.

Electing to bat first after winning the toss, Boubyan lost their opener Akbar who was bowled neck & crop by Shahzad but the other opener Irfan & Hisham took control of the game in such an admirable fashion that the cherry was sent for a leather hunt almost every over. A record number of 18 sixes were smashed all over the ground compared to just 16 boundaries. Sighting the ball quite well and punching the ball with awesome power Hisham Mirza was at his very best and exhibited quality cricket as he excelled in his drives and pulled the ball with vigor. Hisham’s record score of 166 runs contained 12 magnificently timed sixes and 11 perfectly struck boundaries. Irfan played a sensible game as he rotated the strike to give the major portion of the strike to his senior partner & stroked a handsome 89 runs with 6 sixes and 5 boundaries. Boubyan Bank posted a record total of 283 runs in 20 overs for the loss of one wicket.

Chasing a hu g e tota l ABK started well as Pervaiz (20 runs) & Sunder ( 16 runs) put on 40 runs for the first wicket and later Irfan and Abhishek added 48 runs for the fourth wicket to give some respectability to the ABK score of 124 runs in 20 overs. Abhisekh the mainstay of ABK batting t hro ughou t the tou rnament again played a solid knock of 42 runs. Hisham Mirza was presented the Player of the match for sterling batting performance.

Ali Al-Baghli awards Best Player

ABK felicitates the ‘Best Player’ at Basketball Championship KUWAIT: Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait is keenly involved in lending support to the youth of Kuwait, and has always taken an enthusiastic interest especially in their sport programs. In line with this ABK has, in several tournaments instated the ‘Best Player’ prize, in order to felicitate the best player of the tournament.

Recently, ABK presented a cash prize to the best player at the Al Qadsiya v/s Kuwait Sporting Club final game during the Basketball Championship. Mr. Ahmed Al Mutairi from Kuwait Sporting Club was cho-

sen as the best player.

Ali Al Baghli, Assistant Manager, Public Relations stated, “We congratulate Ahmed Al Mutairi, the winner in the Basketball championship, whose display of talent and sportsmanship is exemplary!” He added, “ABK is eager to participate in several youth activities, with an emphasis on sport, under the Bank’s CSR banner “Our Society...Our Responsibility.”

Activities under this are designed to engage in and support social initiatives at various levels and for different segments of society.

Bahrain looks long term with F1 race MANAMA: Formula One left Bahrain yesterday with commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone talking of a five-year extension to the race contract and the possibility of switching it to the start of the season next year. “I feel they do a super job and we’re more than happy to give them a new contract for five years. I don’t see any problems,” the 82-year-old billionaire told Reuters at the Sakhir circuit. Bahrain is the most controversial race on the calendar due to concerns about alleged human rights abuses after a bloody crackdown on a 2011 anti-government uprising in the tiny Gulf kingdom. The race was cancelled in 2011 but the last two have proceeded without incident, despite regular protests and clashes between police and demonstrators in mainly Shi’ite villages far removed from the circuit and organisers are planning for the long term. The current contract runs to 2016.

“We’re committed to motorsports, and F1 especially,” said Bahrain International Circuit chairman Zayed Alzayani after Sunday’s race. “We were the first race in the Middle East and we call ourselves the home of motorsport in the Middle East.

“We truly believe that in every sense of those words, so we are here for the long term ... maybe we can sign something this year.

“We had a race last year, and we had a race just finished and we will have a race for the years to come,” he added. “We are now developing the grassroots karting and an academy of open wheel racing to

look to the future.”

Australia currently hosts the current season-opener with a highly popular race in Melbourne, while Bahrain is the fourth of 19 races this year.

It is no longer the sole race in the Middle East, with Abu Dhabi’s day-tonight grand prix under the Yas Marina floodlights becoming a more popular and glamorous destination with many sponsors towards the end of the year.

Bahrain has twice before hosted the opening round and officials have made no secret of their desire to return to the coveted slot, with its higher profile for a worldwide television audience.

Ecclestone has been supportive of the idea, despite some tongue-in-cheek comments at the weekend suggesting that the Bahrain authorities had been “stupid in a lot of ways” to host the race because of the platform it gave to opponents.

“It’s on the table,” said Alzayani of the date change. “For us, we’re ready any day of the year, but we will have to see how it fits with logistics, other dates, other countries hosting and if there are conflicts with any other events they may have.

“We’ve had the first race before, and

by July or August we will get a better picture as to where we will lie on next year’s calendar.”

Bahrain could be attractive logistically to teams because they would be able to test at the circuit in dry conditions before the start of the season and leave equipment in place. —Reuters

BAHRAIN: Red Bull Racing’s German driver Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari’s Spanish driver Fernando Alonso, Force India’s Scottish driver Paul di Resta and Ferrari’s Brazilian driver Felipe Massa drive at the Bahrain International Circuit. —AFP

The selected Pakistan A team with Coach Arshad Shams

India, Pakistan festival match KUWAIT: The much awaited traditional India vs.

Pakistan festival cricket match under the auspicious of Kuwait Cricket, the apex body of cricket in Kuwait is all set to take place at Kuwait University stadium on Friday, April 26, 2013. The selected teams from either side are to brush their talents and will be cheered by a large gathering of expa-

triate crowd. Both the sides have been preparing for this mega event and are thrilled to be in action.

This year the event is conducted in the T20 format and two teams namely India A & India B will play against Pakistan A & Pakistan B teams. The first game between India B & Pakistan B will commence at 1:30 PM and will be followed by an exhi-

bition match of Kuwait’s women cricket team. The final event, the match between India A team Vs. Pakistan A team will commence at 7 PM. The prize distribution will be at 10 PM. The event will be graced by the presence of Ambassadors from India, Pakistan & Great Briton as well as many other dignitaries.

The selected Pakistan B team with coach Tariq Rasool Shah

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

S P ORTS Photo of the day

FA charges Liverpool striker Suarez for bite LONDON: Luis Suarez found himself in the familiar position of being an outcast yesterday, charged by the Football Association, fined by Liverpool, and rebuked by the government for biting an opponent a day earlier.

In a Premier League match broadcast globally on Sunday, Suarez bit Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic’s arm.

Although he escaped punishment during the game, Suarez now faces a lengthy ban.

“The incident was not seen by the match officials and has therefore been retrospectively reviewed,” the FA said in a statement. “It is alleged that the conduct of Suarez constitutes violent conduct, and it is the FA’s contention that the standard punishment of three matches that would otherwise apply is clearly insufficient in these circumstances.” Suarez has until Tuesday at 6 p.m. local time to respond to the charge, with a disciplinary hearing lined up for tomorrow.

Liverpool also moved swiftly to condemn Suarez after the club faced widespread outrage for defending the striker when he racially abused an opponent in 2011. Suarez, who was also suspended for seven matches in 2010 while playing for Ajax after biting a player, said he has been fined by Liverpool for his “unac-

ceptable behavior.”

The sum was undisclosed, but clubs can only fine players two weeks’ worth of wages without seeking permission from the Professional Footballers’ Association.

On his Twitter and Facebook accounts, Suarez asked for the fine to be donated to families affected by the 1989 Hillsborough Stadium disaster, which killed 96 Liverpool supporters. He said it was “for the inconvenience I have created to the Liverpool fans and to Ivanovic.”

“It is a nice gesture but it is a terrible thing under the circumstances,” Hillsborough Families Support Group chairman Margaret Aspinall said.

Suarez will not face a police investigation because Ivanovic said he did not want to press charges. “He had no apparent physical injuries and did not wish to make a complaint,” Merseyside Police said in a statement. But Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said it was “rightly a matter for the football authorities to consider.”

“As part of their consideration, I think it would be very understandable if they took into account the fact that high-profile players are often role models,” Cameron’s office said. Liverpool said it has no intention of selling its top scorer despite the latest transgression.

“It affects his future in the sense that

we have to work with him on his discipline, but Luis is a very important player to the club,” Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre said. “He’s a very popular player with his teammates. As we keep saying, he signed a new four-year contract last summer and we’d all love to see him here throughout that contract.”

Just why was clear on Sunday as he displayed the goal-scoring instinct that has turned him into one of the most feared strikers in England. After staying on the Anfield field despite the bite, Suarez went on to score his 30th goal of the season - a last-gasp equalizer - to clinch a 2-2 draw against Chelsea.

“He’s a fantastic player, top scorer and everything we’d want in a striker,” Ayre said. “This is more about getting him back on the right track.”

The Professional Footballers’ Association has offered Suarez the services of counselors. “There is no doubting his football ability, that’s why it is so disappointing and embarrassing when he lets himself down,” PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor said. “We have to work hard on anger management now.

We have trained counselors in this field and we will be offering their services to Liverpool and the player to try to improve matters.” —AP

B-Boy Naki of Slovenia poses for a pre-event portrait at the Red Bull BC One Cypher in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. —www.redbullcontentpool.com

Atletico defeat Sevilla to keep pace with Real

FRANCE : Paris Saint-Germain’s Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic controls the ball during the French League football match against Nice. —AFP

Ibrahimovic shines as PSG march on PARIS: Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored one and set up another as Paris St Germain continued their march towards their first league title since 1994 with a 3-0 home win against Nice on Sunday.

After Jeremy Menez’s first-half opener, Ibrahimovic scored his 27th goal of the Ligue 1 season and fed Clement Chantome for the third to put PSG on 70 points with five games left, nine ahead of secondplaced Olympique Marseille.

In the process, PSG also dented Nice’s hopes of playing in next season’s Champions League. Nice, who finished the game with 10 men after keeper David Ospina was shown a straight red card, slipped down to sixth on 54 points, five behind third-placed Olympique Lyon.

PSG, who are unbeaten in their last 14 home games in all competitions, were looking to make amends for tomorrow’s elimination in the French Cup quarter-finals by Evian Thonon Gaillard.

“I still don’t understand today how we could be so bad against Evian and so good today,” PSG coach Carlo Ancelotti told French TV channel Canal Plus.

“We started well with a lot of intensity and aggressiveness. That was the key. Now what we need to do is be more consistent.”

Ancelotti’s side got off to a brilliant start, with Javier Pastore and Ibrahimovic tormenting the visitors’ defence.

Ibrahimovic chested down a delightful looped pass from Pastore, only for his cross-shot to hit Ospina’s right post.

On a swift counter attack, Pastore and Ibrahimovic played a fine one-two before the Argentine midfielder toyed with Ospina in the box and then set up Menez with a cutback for the France international to poke the ball into the empty net.

Menez had a chance to double the tally in the 28th, but shot straight at Ospina from point-blank range after Ibrahimovic had headed the ball into his path.

Ibrahimovic and Nice centre back Renato Civelli tried repeatedly to provoke each other, with the Argentine even kissing

his opponent on the neck shortly before the break. Both players were handed a yellow card.

Nice, who were without injured striker Neal Maupay and suspended forward Eric Bautheac, struggled to threaten the PSG defence.

Ospina was sent off in the 63rd minute when, after fluffing a routine clearance, he fouled Ezequiel Lavezzi. Ibrahimovic converted the resulting penalty before his excellent pass was met by second-half substitute Chantome, who poked the ball home for the third with two minutes remaining.

Earlier, Lucas Digne and Marko Basa struck late as Lille kept their Champions League challenge alive with a 2-1 win at Bastia.

Basa netted the winner two minutes into stoppage time after Digne’s missile five minutes from time had cancelled out Wahbi Khazri’s opener as Lille moved up to fourth on 56 points. Bastia are 13th on 39 points, six points above the relegation zone.

In Corsica, the visitors missed out on a chance to go ahead when Dimitri Payet’s volley was parried away by Mickael Landreau after 13 minutes.

After hitting the post in the first half, Khazri was luckier on his second attempt two minutes into the second half as his whipped shot from just inside the box went into the top corner.

But fullback Digne sent a rising shot from 25 metres under the bar to give the northerners a deserved equaliser. Basa then latched onto a Benoit Pedretti cross to give Lille a lucky win - their fifth consecutive away victory in the league.

Strugglers Nancy continued their impressive run with a 3-1 home win against Evian Thonon Gaillard to move out of the relegation zone for the first time in over seven months. They have now earned 13 points in their last five league games to move up to 17th in the standings with 34 points.—Reuters

MADRID: Atletico Madrid stayed hot on the heels of second-placed city neighbours Real Madrid when Radamel Falcao netted his 25th goal of the La Liga campaign in a scrappy 1-0 win at mid-table Sevilla on Sunday.

Diego Simeone’s Atletico can overhaul Real, whom they play in next month’s King’s Cup final, if they beat them by more than two goals at the Calderon next weekend.

However, they will be without combative Brazil forward Diego Costa, who was booked on Sunday and will miss the game through suspension.

In a poor-quality and bad-tempered match at Sevilla’s Sanchez Pizjuan stadium, littered with yellow cards, diving and play-acting, neither side created much danger until Falcao struck in the 76th minute. Adrian chipped a cross to the far post and when fellow substitute Raul Garcia volleyed towards goal Falcao nipped in to poke the ball into the corner of the net.

Sevilla pressed for an equaliser and Alvaro Negredo nodded just wide and midfielder Ivan Rakitic curled a free kick on to the crossbar but Atletico held them at bay.

“We defended well, we took our chance and they are three priceless points that keep us in the fight for second place,” Adrian said in an interview with Spanish television broadcaster Canal Plus.

“It’s bad news (that Diego is suspended) because he has been putting in some spectacular performances but those who are available have to be prepared and the coach will decide who is in the team,” he added.

The victory stretched Atletico’s lead over fourth-placed Real Sociedad to 13 points after the Basque side were earlier held to a 0-0 stalemate at Osasuna.

The result gave Valencia a chance to leapfrog Sociedad into Spain’s fourth Champions League qualification berth when they clash in San Sebastian next weekend.

The surprise packages in Spain’s top flight this season, Sociedad created plenty of chances at Osasuna’s Reyno de Navarra stadium in Pamplona but the relegation-threatened home side held on for a point that left them in 15th on 32 points.

Sociedad have 55 points in fourth, two ahead of Valencia after their 5-1 win at home to Malaga on Saturday lifted them above the Costa del Sol club to fifth.

Leaders Barcelona took another step towards

SPAIN: Atletico Madrid’s Brazilian defender Joa Miranda de Souza (left) vies with Sevilla’s forward Alvaro Negredo (right) during the Spanish league football match. —AFP their fourth title in five seasons when a late strike from Cesc Fabregas gave them a 1-0 win at home to Levante on Saturday.

Barca have a 13-point lead over Real, who beat visiting Real Betis 3-1, and can wrap up the title next weekend if they win at Athletic Bilbao and Real lose at Atletico.

In Sunday’s earlier kickoffs, Espanyol climbed to 10th, a point ahead of 11th-placed Sevilla, thanks to a 2-0 win at nine-man Getafe.

Deportivo La Coruna, who seemed doomed to relegation a few weeks ago before embarking on a four-match winning run, earned another precious point in a 1-1 draw at home to Athletic Bilbao.

Depor are 16th on 30 points, two above the drop zone, while Bilbao, who have been unable to reproduce the form that took them to the final of the Europa League and the King’s Cup last season, are 14th on 36 points. —Reuters

Hart slams City after Spurs flop

PORTUGAL: Sporting’s Argentinian midfielder Fabian Rinaudo (left) vies with Benfica’s Argentinian forward Nicolas Gaitan during the Portuguese league football match. —AFP

Benfica secure derby victory over Sporting LISBON: Eduardo Salvio and Lima made the most of rare chances as league leaders Benfica stayed four points clear of Porto at the top of the table with a clinical 2-0 win at home to Lisbon rivals Sporting on Sunday. Sporting surprised the hosts by making a good start despite fielding a very young team, but could not convert any of the chances they created. Benfica, however, were ruthless and broke the deadlock with one of their first attacks. Argentine Salvio, unmarked in the box, scored with a clean left-footed strike after 36 minutes to send the Luz stadium’s 63,000-capaci-

ty crowd into raptures.

They added a second following some great link-up play after 76 minutes. Lima fired home a volley following a Salvio assist after some neat dribbling by Nicolas Gaitan. Benfica, undefeated in the league, are chasing a league, Portuguese cup and Europa League treble. They play Fenerbahce in the first leg of a Europa League semi-final in Istanbul on Thursday. The defeat dented Sporting’s hopes of qualifying for the Europa League next season. They are eighth in the league with four games remaining. —Reuters

LONDON: Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart admits his team can have few complaints about losing the Premier League crown after their lacklustre title defence was summed up by a second-half meltdown in their 3-1 defeat at Tottenham.

Roberto Mancini’s team were on course for a victory at White Hart Lane on Sunday that would have delayed Manchester United’s title celebrations for at least one more week.

But, despite controlling most of the match, City collapsed in the closing stages as Clint Dempsey, Jermain Defoe and Gareth Bale scored within the space of seven minutes to stun the champions.

United can now clinch their 20th English league title with a win over struggling Aston Villa later on Monday and England star Hart knows he and his team-mates have only themselves to blame.

“We took the lead and didn’t kick on from there. Second half we just kind of existed and paid the price,” Hart told City TV. “I just thought we took our foot off the gas and you can’t do that. “Spurs have got a lot to play for and congratulations to them but I’m not really interested in them.”

It has been suggested that the exertions of a busy recent schedule could have contributed to City’s struggles at White Hart Lane.

But Hart denied that fatigue was an issue, pointing out that the team’s early exit from the Champions League should have kept the team fresh.

“No, we can’t complain of that,” he said. “We messed up in Europe and we have had plenty of weeks rest so I don’t think that is what it is down to. It was just a poor second half.”

City hoped they had ended United’s domination of Manchester when they won the league in dramatic fashion 12 months ago. —AFP

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

S P ORT S

Godolphin endures ‘dark day’ after dope tests LONDON: The power ful racing outfit Godolphin Operation was under a cloud yesterday after it was revealed 11 of their horses had tested positive for anabolic steroids.

Godolphin, the brainchild of Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum, said that it was a dark day for the team and an urgent review would be carried out. All 11 horses who tested positive came from Mahmood Al Zarooni’s yard in Newmarket, England.

The trainer - who has made a big impact since becoming one of Godolphin’s trainers winning last year’s Dubai World Cup and the oldest classic the English St Leger - said he had made a catastrophic mistake.

A costly one as well as all the horses who tested positive are barred from racing until further notice by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), British racing’s governing

body, who will also hold a disciplinary hearing into the case.

Among those who tested positive was unbeaten filly Certify, who was vying for favouritism for next week’s English 1000 Guineas, the first fillies classic of the season and run over a mile.

“I deeply regret what has happened. I have made a catastrophic error,” Zarooni told the Operation’s website.

“Because the horses involved were not racing at the time, I did not realize that what I was doing was in breach of the rules of racing. “I can only apologise for the damage this will cause to Godolphin and to racing generally,” added the 37-year-old, who has largely superseded Godolphin’s first trainer Saeed bin Suroor as their main handler.

A statement on the Godolphin website

read: “Following an inspection of Zarooni’s stable by officials from the BHA, traces of prohibited substances were discovered in a number of the horses tested, including Certify. The BHA has advised that, as a result, the filly will not be allowed to take part in the Qipco 1000 Guineas at Newmarket next month.

“Al Zarooni has admitted that he was responsible for the administration of the prohibited substances.” Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford said that Sheikh Mohammed had ordered a full internal review be carried out.

“This is a dark day for Godolphin. We are all shocked by what has happened. “His Highness Sheikh Mohammed was absolutely appalled when he was told and this is completely unacceptable to him. We will await

the outcome of the BHA inquiry before taking any further internal action.

“Sheikh Mohammed has instructed me to begin an urgent review of all of our procedures and controls. That is already under way and we will take advice from the BHA in completing it.”

The BHA said that on April 9 this year samples were obtained from 45 horses trained by Al Zarooni at Moulton Paddocks Stables and that on Monday afternoon it had received written advice from the Horseracing Forensic Laboratory that upon analysis 11 of the samples had present in them prohibited substances, namely ethylestranol and stanozolol.

Adam Brickell, Director of Integrity, Legal and Risk for the BHA, said: “Ethylestranol and stanozolol are anabolic steroids and therefore Prohibited Substances under British

Rules of Racing, at any time - either in training or racing. Mahmood Al Zarooni has been advised of the analysts’ findings and has been visited by an Investigating Officer.

“A Disciplinary Panel inquiry into the analysts’ findings will take place at the first available opportunity, confirmed details of which will follow when available.

“The horses which have produced positive tests will also not be permitted to race with immediate effect and for an extended period of time. As part of the ongoing process a decision will be made as to what period this suspension will be imposed for.

“The BHA understand the importance of this process being carried out as quickly as possible because of implications for betting markets.” A date for the hearing has yet to be announced.—AFP

Cruz Azul edge closer to playoff berth MEXICO CITY: Cruz Azul won 2-0 at Toluca to climb into the top eight in the Mexican Clausura championship on Sunday and put themselves in with a good chance of securing a title playoff berth.

Playmaker Christian Gimenez opened the scoring after 20 minutes and centre back Luis Perea doubled their lead 10 minutes later to seal Cruz Azul’s third consecutive victory.

Cruz Azul, who emerged from a worrying slump to win the Copa Mexico knockout competition 10 days ago, are sixth in the standings with 23 points from 15 matches.

The top eight teams at the end of the 17-match league stage of the championship qualify for the knockout rounds.

Leaders UANL Tigres, who have 32 points after Saturday’s 3-1 win over Pachuca, second-placed Atlas (31), and America and

Santos Laguna (both on 29) have secured quarter-finals berths. Atlas beat Guadalajara 1-0 with a goal from Rodrigo Millar in their derby at the Jalisco stadium on Saturday.

Guadalajara coach Benjamin Galindo complained of the way Atlas coach Tomas Boy celebrated his team’s victory. “It bothered me because he turned towards our bench and that’s not ethical since he too will lose one day and he won’t like it if someone celebrates in his face,” Galindo said. Guadalajara have been struggling for more than a year with Galindo unable to turn things round after former consultant Johan Cryuff was sacked in December.

Striker Cristian Benitez, the championship’s joint top scorer, headed his ninth goal to give America a 1-0 victory in the Mexico City derby against UNAM Pumas at the Azteca.—Reuters

Scolari: It’s either Kaka or Ronaldinho for Brazil SAO PAULO: Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari will likely choose between Ronaldinho and Kaka for his squad at the Confederations Cup in June.

The coach said in an interview with Folha de S Paulo newspaper published yesterday that he almost certainly won’t pick both players when Brazil hosts the World Cup warm-up tournament.

Scolari said he gave enough chances to both players, adding there’s a “90 percent chance” that he will select only one of them for the squad.

“I don’t think that they will play together,” the coach said. “I wasn’t able to test both players together in the friendlies we had, because of the different moments that they were going through.

It’s likely that I will pick one of them and not the other.”

Both have been among Brazil’s best players in the past decade but faded significantly recently. They started for Brazil in the 2006 World Cup, however only Kaka made the squad for the 2010 tournament in South Africa. Ronaldinho and Kaka were in the World Cup-winning team led by Scolari in 2002, although only Ronaldinho was a starter.

Ronaldinho now appears to have the edge on his former Brazil teammate. The 33-year-old former Barcelona star has been thriving with Brazilian club Atletico Mineiro, while the 31-year-old Kaka is struggling to earn a starting spot with Real Madrid.

Kaka was picked for Brazil’s friendlies against Russia and Italy earlier this year, and the coach said the former AC Milan star performed “as expected.” Scolari has also regularly praised Ronaldinho.

Ronaldinho was left out of the squad for the friendlies in which Kaka played.

But he was in the team selected by Scolari for the friendly against England in February, the first for the coach since he took charge of the national team again in December.

Ronaldinho was included in the squad that will play Chile in a friendly next Wednesday, but only players from Brazilian clubs were picked. Brazil will also play England and France before the Confederations Cup, and Scolari will use the same squad that will play in the tournament.

Brazil has played four matches since Scolari returned - the 2-1 loss to England, a 2-2 draw with Italy, a 1-1 draw with Russia and a 4-0 win over Bolivia.

He said only a few adjustments need to be made before Brazil opens the Confederations Cup against Japan on June 15 in Brasilia.

“The team is on the right track,” he said. “We have a base, a style of play. We only need to make some final decisions, analyze some alternatives.”

Brazil is a two-time defending champion at the Confederations Cup, which is played among continental champions plus the World Cup winner and the host nation.

Looking ahead to the 2014 World Cup, Scolari said Germany, Italy, Argentina and the defending champions are set to be Brazil’s top challengers.

“Those three, plus Spain, will make it to the final eight,” the 64-year-old former Portugal and Chelsea coach said. Scolari also said that he thinks it would be good for the national team if star striker Neymar decided to join a team in Europe. There’s been talk of several top clubs interested in the 22-year-old player, who is touted as the future of Brazilian football, and many in Brazil say he won’t reach his full potential until he moves abroad.

“Neymar has been improving a lot in the past few years. He will be even better in two, three or five years from now,” the coach said. “If he decides to go, it would be great. It would be good for the national team. But he doesn’t need to go.”—AP

ITALY : Juventus’ French midfielder Paul Pogba (center) takes a shot during an Italian Serie A match between Juventus and AC Milan at the Alps stadium. —AFP

Juventus sink Milan to close in on title ITALY: Juventus closed on their 29th Italian title with a 1-0 win over AC Milan thanks to Arturo Vidal’s second-half penalty on Sunday.

Juve need four points from the final five games after closest rivals Napoli, 11 points behind, saw off Cagliari 3-2 in dramatic fashion at the Stadio San Paolo.

A disappointing Milan side now have to think seriously about a resurgent Fiorentina, who beat Torino 4-3, and now sit just one point behind them in fourth.

The result left Fiorentina five points ahead of Inter Milan, who got back to winning ways with a 1-0 defeat of Parma, veteran striker Tommaso Rocchi’s 82nd-minute strike lifting some of the pressure on coach Andrea Stramaccioni.

A cagey, goalless first half in Turin saw only one real opportunity when Milan keeper Christian Abbiati was at full stretch to deny an Andrea Pirlo free kick which deflected off the wall. Abbiati picked up an injury after his acrobatics and was replaced by Marco Amelia. The home side went ahead in the 58th minute when Kwadwo Asamoah was clumsily upended by Amelia. Vidal stepped up and struck an excellent penalty into the right-hand corner.

With Milan struggling to find any fluidity and looking toothless in attack, Juve began to take control of the game, dealing comfortably with the visitors who were clearly missing the spark of the suspended Mario Balotelli. Juve coach Antonio Conte was delighted with the victory but played down any title talk. “Milan are Milan, they always play to win,” he told reporters. “It wasn’t easy for us, if we lost to them, Napoli would have been closer and some pressure would have built up.

“I wouldn’t say today was a decisive step but was a great step forward. To find ourselves 18

points ahead of Milan is a rare thing indeed. Was it a penalty? Without any doubt.”

Milan have now gone three games without a win but coach Massmiliano Allegri believes they can still enjoy a strong finish to the season.

“We conceded very little to Juventus, but then we created very little ourselves,” Allegri said. “ There are 18 points between us and Juventus. There’s really not a lot you can say when you’re up against a side like them, who could reach 90 points this season.

“This team still needs to grow, but in the meantime we need to think only about finishing third, it will still be a great achievement.”

Earlier, Naples-born Lorenzo Insigne scored deep into stoppage time to complete a 3-2 win for Napoli over Cagliari.

Insigne, the 21-year-old striker, fired in from just outside the area in the fourth minute of stoppage time to cement Napoli’s claims on an automatic qualification place for next season’s Champions League. Cagliari took the lead against the run of play when Napoli failed to clear a corner, allowing Victor Ibarbo to let fly from distance and beat Antonio Rosati, deputising for the suspended Morgan De Sanctis. The home side drew level three minutes after the break through a Davide Astori own goal, but in controversial circumstances.

Cavani was adjudged to have not been interfering with play, though the Uruguayan was in an offside position in the build-up to the goal, which took a hefty deflection off Astori from Marek Hamsik’s shot.

Napoli went ahead in the 64th minute, when Cavani was first to a loose ball following Cannavaro’s initial shot from a corner.

Cagliari made it 2-2 in the 71st when Marco Sau came off the bench to run at goal and hit a

neat curling shot from the edge of the box.

“It was incredible stuff, at times we risked throwing away two points. We showed great strength at the end, to take a victory which, I think, was one we fully deserved,” Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri said. In Florence, Juan Guillermo Cuadrado’s eighth-minute chip was followed by an Alberto Aquilani header, before Adem Ljajic scored direct from a free kick in the 34th minute to put Fiorentina 3-0 up.

Paulo Barreto got one back for the visitors on halftime, before Mario Santana made it 3-2 10 minutes into the second half.

Alessio Cerci then grabbed the equaliser with a powerful drive from long-distance. Four minutes from time, Brazilian right-back Romulo made the most of a defensive mix-up to grab the winner for Fiorentina. Roma, in sixth place, drew 1-1 at home with bottom club Pescara. The visitors went ahead with a first-half goal from Gianluca Caprari but Mattia Destro equalised six minutes after half-time.

The Sicilian derby between Catania and Palermo ended in a 1-1 draw after Josip Ilicic, in the fifth minute of stoppage time, cancelled out Pablo Barrientos’s 68th-minute opener for Catania.—Reuters

Matches on TV (Local Timings) UEFA Champions League Bayern Munich v Barcelona 21:45 Aljazeera Sport +4 Aljazeera Sport HD1

Tax case of Hoeness stuns Germany

Kaka

MUNICH: Uli Hoeness has been a figure larger than life in German football, building Bayern Munich into a bastion of financial health and one of the top clubs in the world. As loved and hated as his club, Hoeness polarized football fans and displayed a trademark red face every time he got into a passionate discussion or a vocal argument, which was often.

His face is now red with shame, after revelations over the weekend that the Bayern president is the target of a tax evasion investigation. Hoeness reported himself to tax authorities in January about a bank account in Switzerland, a move that would spare him prison time if the amount is small enough and if his report came before an investigation had been opened.

Few details have emerged but the 61-year-old Hoeness’ reputation as “a moral beacon” already has taken a huge hit and could be tarnished beyond repair, depending how the case develops.

With the case dominating headlines and talk

shows on the eve of Bayern’s Champions League semifinal against Barcelona - timing that couldn’t be worse - even Chancellor Angela Merkel had something to say. “Many people in Germany are now disappointed in Uli Hoeness and the chancellor is among those people,” Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said yesterday.

He said the disappointment was “all the greater” because Hoeness “stands for so much that is positive”- like supporting an effort to improve the integration of immigrants that Merkel also backed.

Hoeness is well-known for his generosity and charity work. He has supported many good causes at home and abroad and helped former players who had fallen onto hard times.

The timing of the case is unfortunate in more than one way for Hoeness. In an election year, it has rekindled a political discussion about a failed deal between Germany and Switzerland. The deal would have allowed Germans with undeclared assets in Switzerland to escape punishment by

making a one-time payment of between 21 and 41 percent of the value of those assets, and to remain anonymous.

The deal was scuttled in December in the upper house of the German parliament by the opposition Social Democrats and the Greens, who are now seizing on Hoeness’ case to criticize the government for being too soft on tax cheats. Hoeness was quoted as telling Focus magazine, which broke the story, that he originally hoped to resolve the issue under the proposed German-Swiss agreement.

As a player, Hoeness was a Bayern star who won the 1972 European Championship and the 1974 World Cup with Germany and three straight Cup of Champions titles - the predecessor of the Champions League - before retiring in 1979 with chronic knee problems. He became Bayern’s general manager and built the most influential career in German football. Under his guidance, Bayern built financial reserves rarely seen in debt-ridden club football in Europe.—AP

Ibrahimovic shines as PSG march on

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

18

Scolari: It’s either Kaka or Ronaldinho for Brazil

19

Godolphin endures ‘dark day’ after dope tests

Page 19

LONDON: Manchester United’s Robin van Persie (right) scores his third goal past Aston Villa’s goalkeeper Brad Guzan (centre) during their English Premier League soccer match at Old Trafford Stadium. — AP

Van the man for United Man United win record 20th league title

Man United 3

Aston Villa 0

MANCHESTER: Robin van Persie hit a firsthalf hat-trick as Manchester United cantered to an unprecedented 20th English league title with an emphatic 3-0 victory at home to Aston Villa yesterday.

Manchester City’s 3-1 loss at Tottenham Hotspur a day earlier had handed United a chance to regain the title and Alex Ferguson’s men needed no second invitation, swamping Villa to claim the championship with four games to spare.

Van Persie, United’s number 20, was the man who brought United their 20th topflight crown, netting inside 90 seconds and then scoring a breath-taking volley before

completing his hat-trick 12 minutes before half-time.

“I am very happy, but it is weird. I had to wait so long for my first title. It is a great feeling,” van Persie told Sky Sports. “This is our 20th title. It is deserved.”

With 13 Premier League titles, United manager Ferguson and veteran midfielder Ryan Giggs, creator of two of van Persie’s goals, have now each won as many English league crowns as Arsenal.

Eternal rivals Liverpool, meanwhile, now trail United by two championships on the all-time honours board. Wayne Rooney, who was mak ing his 400th appearance for United, said the achievement par tially atoned for the pain of losing last year’s title to City on the season’s final day.

“When you lose the title, it is hard to take,” he said. “It wasn’t a nice feeling last time. We have all dug in deep and done fantastic to put ourselves in this position.

“You can never take anything for granted in football and thankfully it is now done.

The manager has great desire and a winning mentality. We all buy into that and want to

do well for the club.”

Villa never threatened to poop the party and remain under threat from third-bottom Wigan Athletic, who could suck Paul Lambert’s side into the relegation zone if they win their game in hand.

The evening’s outcome was never in doubt from the moment, just one minute and 23 seconds into the game, when van Persie put United in front.

Rafael da Silva’s delivery from the right appeared overhit, but Giggs rescued it by volleying a cushioned cross across goal for the Dutchman to tap in from barely a yard.

A chant of ‘Championey!’ rang out from Old Trafford’s Stretford End as United continued to press, Rafael hitting the post with a crisp strike from 20 yards.

Villa threatened to spoil things when Christian Benteke side-footed over from Andreas Weimann’s pass, only for van Persie to double United’s lead with a strike to rival any goal scored in Europe this season.

Rooney floated a 40-yard pass behind the Villa defence and van Persie met the ball first-time with a technically immaculate vol-

Preview

Two of a kind clash as Bayern take on Barca

MADRID: Pep Guardiola is not the only connection between Bayern Munich and Barcelona, who meet in their Champions League semi-final, first leg at the Allianz Arena today.

Both teams are dominating their leagues to an almost embarrassing extent, have won the Champions League four times apiece, share an acrimonious rivalry with Real Madrid, and owe part of their success to the flamboyant Dutchman Louis van Gaal. Both have also been in two Champions League finals in the last four years, though the Catalans won both of theirs and the Bavarians came out losers on each occasion.

Barcelona are 13 points clear at the top of La Liga, yet could be considered underdogs against a rampant Bayern, who wrapped up the Bundesliga two weeks ago and won two games by 6-1 margins this week even when resting their top players.

“The players are just enjoying their football, and our attitude is superb. Every man was totally motivated, we put together some very fluid moves, we showed great discipline, and we created outstanding goals,” said coach Jupp Heynckes after Saturday’s 6-1 win at Hanover 96.

“Once again, the players have proved we don’t have a Bteam, we only have an A team.” Bayern’s dominance has caused some disquiet in the Bundesliga, which often proclaims itself to be Europe’s most open league.

“There’s a big difference in performance levels in the league,” club president Uli Hoeness told Kicker last week. “We can’t be comfortable with that. We have to analyse why this is the case.”

Barcelona’s superiority in La Liga has led to suggestions from Madrid media that it has become a formality for them and they will not even celebrate winning it.

“It appears there are people who want to make out that the league doesn’t count for anything, but that’s not the case, it’s a very important title,” said midfielder Cesc Fabregas. “We have worked very hard.” “If we do eventually win the league, there is no doubt that there is great merit in taking four titles in five seasons,” stand-in coach Jordi Roura said. “It’s a very difficult championship.”

Bayern believe their playing style and policy of giving priority to players raised locally makes them similar to Barcelona and that it was only natural that Guardiola, who quit the Nou Camp last season, should continue his career at the Allianz Arena from next season.

Hoeness revealed recently that Bayern had been involved in talks with Guardiola long before he agreed to coach them in January. “I had the impression from the beginning that Bayern are a club who are quite close to Barcelona in footballing attitude, so it was not that difficult for us to convince him,” Hoeness told World Soccer magazine.

Then there is the Van Gaal connection. The Dutchman left Bayern when he was sacked two years ago, but has a legitimate claim to be the architect of the current side.

It was under Van Gaal that Bayern began to press the opposition in their own half and play attacking, possession football, a style that makes them such formidable opposition. — Reuters

ley from outside the box that rocketed past goalkeeper Brad Guzan and into the net. “It was one of the best goals,” van Persie said. “I only had to time it right.”

On a night rich with symmetry, his third goal arrived in the 33rd minute. Shinji K agawa freed Giggs, who unselfishly squared to van Persie, and the former Arsenal striker neatly side-stepped Guzan before lifting the ball into the roof of the net.

With 24 goals, United’s £24 million ($37 million, 28 million euros) man now leads Luis Suarez by a goal in the top scorers’ chart, to further blacken the Liverpool striker ’s mood after he was charged by the Football Association for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic on Sunday.

Van Persie further illustrated his value by heading off the line from Weimann early in the second half, while David de Gea saved smartly from Benteke and Karim El Ahmadi.

Kagawa spurned a glorious chance to make it 4-0 when he blazed over the bar, but by then the match, like the title race, had long been decided. —AFP

EPL results/standings Manchester United 3 (van Persie 2, 13, 33) Aston Villa 0.

Played Sunday Liverpool 2 (Sturridge 52, Suarez 90+7) Chelsea 2 (Oscar 26, Hazard 57-pen); Tottenham 3 (Dempsey 75, Defoe 79, Bale 82) Manchester City 1 (Nasri 5).

English Premier League table after yesterday’s match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Man Utd 34 27 3 4 Man City 33 20 8 5 Arsenal 34 18 9 7 Chelsea 33 18 8 7 Tottenham 33 18 7 8 Everton 34 14 14 6 Liverpool 34 13 12 9 West Brom 33 13 6 14 Swansea 33 10 12 11 West Ham 34 11 9 14 Fulham 34 10 10 14 Southampton 34 9 12 13 Norwich 34 8 14 12 Sunderland 34 9 10 15 Stoke 34 8 13 13 Newcastle 34 10 7 17 Aston Villa 34 8 10 16 Wigan 33 8 7 18 QPR 34 4 12 18 Reading 34 5 9 20 Note: Top four clubs qualify for three clubs are relegated

78 35 84 - champions 59 30 68 65 35 63 66 35 62 58 41 61 51 38 56 61 42 51 43 44 45 43 42 42 40 47 42 44 52 40 47 54 39 33 53 38 38 45 37 30 41 37 43 60 37 36 63 34 37 60 31 29 56 24 37 65 24 Champions League; bottom

Heat top Bucks in Game 1 MIAMI: LeBron James scored 27 points, finishing two assists shy of a triple-double, as the defending champion Heat picked up where they left off in the NBA playoffs a year ago, never trailing on the way to beating the Bucks 110-87 in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference first-round series on Sunday.

Ray Allen scored 20 off the bench, Dwyane Wade scored 16 and Chris Bosh added 15 for the Heat, who opened their title defense by holding Milwaukee to 42 percent shooting.

Brandon Jennings scored 26 points and Monta Ellis added 22 for the Bucks, who have not won the opening game of a playoff series since May 2001. Game 2 is Tuesday in Miami.

Also in the Eastern Conference, Paul George scored 23 points and recorded his first playoff triple double to lead Indiana past Atlanta 107-90.

San Antonio beat the Los Angeles Lakers 91-79 in Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round series, with Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker scoring 18 points each, and Kevin Durant scored 24 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder routed ex-teammate James Harden and the Houston Rockets 120-91.

Tim Duncan added 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Spurs. Dwight Howard had 20 points and 15 rebounds, Steve Nash scored 16 points and Pau Gasol added 16 points and 16 rebounds for Los Angeles. Despite the double-doubles from Howard and Gasol, the Lakers failed to take full advantage of their inside presence, much to the consternation of the injured Kobe Bryant, who watched the national broadcast.

“Post. Post. Post,” Bryant tweeted in reference to the Lakers’ offense. Bryant is out for the remainder of the season with a torn Achilles. Los Angeles’ length caused San Antonio problems early as the Spurs missed their first three shots - all inside the paint - as they altered their shots to avoid Howard and Gasol. Nash, who returned after missing nine games with a

hip/hamstring injury, gave the Lakers their only lead with a jumper on the game’s opening possession.

Duncan broke the drought, hitting a pair of jumpers over Gasol that gave San Antonio a 4-2 lead with 9:33 remaining and the Spurs led the rest of the way.

In Indianapolis, George made just 3 of 13 shots but was 17 of 18 from the free-throw line, had 11 rebounds and 12 assists.

It’s the first time since 2006 that the Pacers have opened a playoff series with a win. The best-of-seven series resumes tomorrow at Indy.

On Sunday, the Central Division champs played more like the team that was contending for the No. 2 seed rather than the one stumbling to five losses in its previous seven games.

Atlanta was led by Jeff Teague with 21 points and Josh Smith with 15. The Pacers weren’t sure what to expect after four starters - George, Hill, Roy Hibbert and David West - took a six-day break from game action.

All that rest appeared to help the struggling Pacers get back in sync. They took advantage on the glass with a 48-32 advantage, forced Atlanta to play a half-court game instead of allowing the Hawks to run and were nearly flawless at the free-throw line. Indiana made its first 24 free throws, a streak that ended when Lance Stephenson missed the second of two shots in the final minute of the third quarter. The Pacers finished 30 of 34 from the line, compared with 7 of 14 for Atlanta.

At Oklahoma City, after letting Houston wipe away an 11point deficit in the first half, the Thunder regained control with a 14-1 surge just before halftime and kept pouring it on.

Harden, playing against the team that traded him away just before the season started, had 20 points but the league’s second-highest scoring offense was held 15 points below its regular-season average while shooting 36 percent. — AP

Business

BA announces Airbus order worth $12bn Page 22 European austerity yields meager results in 2012

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

Barclays continues shake-up with two new directors

Page 23 Asian markets up as dollar nears 100 yen

Page 25

Page 25

DUESSELDORF: Airplanes of German airline Lufthansa stand at the airport in Duesseldorf, western Germany, yesterday. German airline Lufthansa said it has cancelled most of its domestic, European and long-haul flights at six German airports due to strike action by ground personnel and some cabin crew. — AFP

Lufthansa grounded by strike 1,700 flights cancelled, only 30 operating FRANKFURT: Germany’s largest airline Lufthansa was virtually grounded yesterday by a second strike in a month over pay. The carrier scrapped 1,700 flights, leaving only about 30 operating, after allday stoppages at Germany’s biggest airports, including Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg and Berlin.

Unlike other strikes over the past couple of years, Lufthansa cancelled the majority of its long-haul flights. “That’s 150,000 passengers we are unable to carry today,” Lufthansa personnel executive Stefan Lauer said, standing in front of a departure board at Frankfurt showing a swath of cancelled flights. Lufthansa said air traffic would return to normal today, with only occasional disruptions expected. Germany’s airports and railways have

been hit repeatedly over the past two years by strikes involving pilots, control tower staff, airfield workers, security staff and train drivers.

The emergence of smaller trade unions and years of pay restraint have resulted in tough negotiations and more strikes. “We want to call on the union to end this madness. Germany’s transport sector is becoming the laughing stock of Europe,” Lauer said. Frankfurt airport, Europe’s third largest, was largely free of long queues yesterday morning, in contrast to last month’s five-hour strike. The high number of cancellations yesterday meant that many passengers had either stayed at home or were not able to fly to the airport, which mostly serves transfer passengers.

Guenter Grabherr, a 54-year-old Austrian travelling with his wife to Tobago on rival airline Condor, said they had expected a German company like Lufthansa to be more reliable. “It’s terrible for the passengers who just want to get away,” he said.

Striking workers included cabin crew and ground staff at Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Technik, Lufthansa Systems, catering unit LSG Sky Chefs and ground crews.

In Frankfurt, 2,000 Lufthansa employees went on strike from 0300 GMT. They marched through Terminal 1 blowing whistles and waving flags.

Trade union Verdi, which represents 33,000 workers, is asking for a 5.2 percent pay rise and job guarantees. It is

pressing the company to improve an offer it has described as “scandalous”.

Short warning strikes are a more common tactic in German pay talks and Lufthansa has complained that full-day action is out of proportion.

The airline, in the middle of a restructuring programme, last week offered to raise salaries by 1.2 percent from October and by a further 0.5 percent a year later, in a deal with no job guarantees.

Lufthansa estimates that the strike will cost it tens of millions of euros.

Its shares closed up 1.37 percent, prompting traders to speculate that Lufthansa would take a hard line in negotiations and would not to meet the unions’ demands. — Reuters

QCB plans to issue same bond, T-bill amounts DUBAI: Qatar’s central bank (QCB) will if needed flexibly adjust the amounts of local currency bonds and Treasury bills which it offers, and believes the issues will reduce Qatar’s reliance on foreign funding, the QCB’s governor said yesterday.

The QCB launched quarterly issues of riyal-denominated bonds in March, giving it a tool to manage excess liquidity in the banking sector as the economy gears up for heavy infrastructure spending in the next few years.

“As of now, we plan to issue the same amounts in every quarter. Cumulatively, that would imply total issuances of 16 billion riyals ($4.4 billion) during the year,” Sheikh Abdullah bin Saud al-Thani said in written answers to questions from Reuters.

“We, however, would continue to keep a close watch on the evolving domestic and global developments and would react accordingly, if required.”

In March, the central bank placed 1 billion riyals of Islamic bonds and 3 billion riyals of conventional bonds, half with three-year maturities and half with five-year, directly with local banks.

In addition, the central bank has been holding monthly auctions of 91-, 182- and 273-day Treasury bills since 2011. The volume of funds drained through this tool has stayed in recent months at 4 billion riyals per month, despite a build-up in surplus liquidity in the banking system.

“As of now, we intend to continue with the

Treasury bill auctions of the same amount as done hitherto. As mentioned before, we would take stock of the evolving situation in future and react flexibly if there is any need to change the current practice,” Sheikh Abdullah said.

A more active monetary policy may be needed in coming years as Qatar plans to spend some $140 billion on infrastructure building, partly in preparation to host the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament.

In the wake of the 2011 interventions in the money market, total available liquidity dropped to a mere 5.8 billion riyals at the end of that year from 73.2 billion riyals a year earlier, the QCB has said.

But excess liquidity has begun building again. Funds parked by banks at the central bank’s low-yielding deposit facility hit a twoyear high of 204 billion riyals in January this year, though they subsequently fell back to 138 billion riyals in February, the latest QCB data show.

Loose liquidity pushed the average threemonth interbank lending rate down to 0.76 percent in November, the lowest since June 2011. It rose again to 1.03 percent in February but is still well below the March 2012 peak of 1.75 percent.

In January, the International Monetary Fund said Qatar’s central bank needed to start managing liquidity fluctuations more finely through more flexible open market operations.

Asked if the QCB planned to launch a reverse repo instrument to absorb liquidity in case of short-term fluctuations, as the IMF recommended, Sheikh Abdullah said there were not enough government securities outstanding at present to use such an instrument in a sustained manner.

“As of now, we are not contemplating the introduction of reverse repo in the immediate future...Since the QCB does not finance the government by purchasing government bonds in the primary market, there is little scope of enhancing its stock of securities substantially in the near future,” he said.—Reuters

TOKYO: Angel Gurria (L), Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida (R) display the leaflets of “Economic Surveys of Japan 2013” prior to their dinner at the foreign ministry’s guesthouse in Tokyo yesterday. Gurria will annnounce the Economic Surveys of Japan 2013 today. — AFP

Gold rises as buyers swoop LONDON/SINGAPORE: Gold rose more than 2 percent yesterday, supported by strong physical buying after a fall last week to a two-year low, but investors reduced holdings of bullion in the top exchange-traded fund to the lowest in nearly three years.

The technical outlook for gold, which has plunged more than 15 percent so far this year, has yet to improve despite the physical buying in Asia and elsewhere. Spot gold rose more than 2 percent to a session-high of $1,438.66 per ounce, more than $100 higher than the two-year low of $1,321 it hit on April 16. It had trimmed those gains to $1,429.40 per ounce by 1231 GMT. Gold posted its biggest-ever daily loss in dollar terms last Monday, shocking investors, who have used gold as a protection against inflation and other market risks. But while investors fled the market, the price fall has released years of pent-up retail demand in the past week. Parents buying dowries, casual shoppers and tourists have snapped up bars, coins, nuggets and jewellery.

“We’ve been seeing some fairly good buying from the physical market,” Citi analyst David Wilson said. “The speed and the extent of the pullback on Friday a week ago and Monday was extreme, and you normally expect to see a push-back from that, and that is essentially why we’ve seen gold go higher.” The US Mint reported sales of gold coins to the public of 167,500 ounces so far in April, the highest level since May 2010 and half of the all-time monthly high, Barclays said in a note to clients.

“This highlights the dichotomy that has developed between retail and institutional investors,” the bank said.

Wilson and many other analysts said they see the goldprice gains as short-lived, however, as inflation, one of the key drivers of the gold price, shows signs of easing in big economies. Investors say it is likely that the US Federal Reserve could soon end its bond-buying programme, which could ease inflationary pressure. “Sure, the market is vulnerable to intense short covering ... while many physical players see these prices as very attractive indeed and will chase price dips,” V TB analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said. “However, we still believe the market went through a fundamental shift and that a sustained rebound ... is very unlikely.” Kryuchenkov said persistent physical interest is needed to support the metal at a time when investors prefer to stay away from the market.

Gold prices thrive in a high-inflation, low-interest rate environment, because this reduces the opportunity cost of holding a metal that pays no yield. The precious metal had rallied to an 11-month high in October last year after the Fed announced its third round of aggressive economic stimulus, raising fears the central bank’s money-printing to buy assets would stoke inflation.

US gold futures hit an intraday high of $1,438.80 an ounce yesterday from the previous close of $1,395.60. The June delivery was $1,428.70, up 2.4 percent.

Holdings of the largest gold-backed exchange-tradedfund, New York’s SPDR Gold Trust , dropped 0.88 percent on Friday to the lowest level since May 2010. Holdings of the largest silver-backed ETF, New York’s iShares Silver Trust, remained unchanged on the day. —Reuters

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

BUSINESS

QNB plans to sell at least $500m of 7-yr bond DUBAI/DOHA: Qatar National Bank, the Gulf state’s largest lender, plans to issue a seven-year bond of at least $500 million in a swift one -day deal to take advantage of favourable conditions in the debt market.

The lender set final price guidance of 3.0 percent for the deal, tighter than price talk of 3.125 percent released earlier in the day, indicating healthy investor demand. Final pricing could be 2 basis points above or below 3.0 percent.

Arranging banks said order books were over $2 billion in a sales document informing investors of final guidance, which was seen by Reuters. QNB is expected to print a benchmark-sized deal, typically at least $500 million, taking advantage of low interest rates to lock in longer-term funding which will help the bank extend its debt maturity profile.

“It is not related to a political deal or buyout. My understanding is that it’s for

general funding purposes only. They want to take advantage of the current conditions in terms of rates,” said a senior Doha-based banking source.

“The thinking seems to be that it’s better to go to the market now rather than wait for a potential liquidity squeeze down the road.” QNB is one of the Gulf’s most acquisitive lenders, with ambitious expansion plans in the region and further afield. It completed the purchase of a majority stake in Societe

Generale’s Egyptian arm for $2 billion earlier this year.

The bank has also snapped up several banking stakes as part of a regional expansion strategy, and said in December it was looking at a majority stake in one of the top 10 Turkish banks.

QNB last tapped the US dollar bond market in November when it priced a $1 billion long five-year bond, maturing in 2018, at 2.125 percent.

The bond was bid at 2.40 percent on

Monday afternoon, according to Thomson Reuters data. The yield on the bond has fallen from nearly 2.60 percent last week.

At initial guidance, the new bond was expected to offer a new issue premium of at least 25 bps, according to calculations by IFR Markets, a Thomson Reuters unit. Deutsche Bank, HSBC Holdings, JP Morgan , Mitsubishi, Standard Chartered and QNB itself were mandated to arrange the deal. — Reuters

UAE hit multi-year highs, Saudi PetroRabigh tumbles Kuwait up after opposition politician given bail

PAWTUCKER: In this Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013, photo, the newest Monopoly token, a cat, rests on a Boardwalk deed next to a die and houses at Hasbro Inc. headquarters, in Pawtucket, R.I. Hasbro Inc. reports quarterly financial results before the market opened yesterday. — AP

Hasbro says Monopoly contest help lift sales PAWTUCKET: Hasbro reported first-quarter results yesterday that beat Wall Street expectations as the toy maker benefited from an online contest that let people vote to eliminate one of its Monopoly tokens and introduce a new one.

The maker of Transformers, My Little Pony and G.I. Joe, said revenue rose in the period for three of its four categories: games, girls and preschool. Its boys category continued to face troubles, with sales down 20 percent.

Rival Mattel, which is the world’s biggest toy maker with its Barbie dolls, also reported better-than-expected results last week, as strong sales of dolls like Monster High, Disney Princess and American Girl helped more than quadruple net income.

Hasbro, meanwhile, said growth in its girls category for the period was driven by Furby, My Little Pony and One Direction.

Play-Doh helped boost its preschool category and action games such as Angry Birds Star Wars helped fuel growth in the games category.

The company also noted that the Monopoly contest was “tremendously successful” and that it plans to follow up with new versions of the game this year. The Facebook campaign earlier this year let people vote to eliminate one of the eight tokens that identify the players and introduce a new one. Ultimately, a cat token replaced the iron.

Toy makers are looking to adapt and

reinvent old brands as the industry faces a slowdown in developed markets such as the US and Europe, where mobile devices and electronics are stealing attention away from toys.

As such Hasbro has embarked on a costcutting program to maintain profitability.

By 2015, it says the program will result in $100 million in savings annually. For now, the changes are taking its toll in restructuring charges.

For the quarter, Hasbro lost $6.7 million, or 5 cents per share. That compares with a loss of $2.6 million, or 2 cents per share, a year ago. When stripping out the impact of a restructuring charge and tax adjustments, however, Hasbro Inc. said it earned 5 cents per share. Analysts expected adjusted earnings of 4 cents per share.

Revenue rose more than 2 percent to $663.7 million despite a hit of more than $3 million from foreign exchange rates. In North America, revenue growth of 4 percent was driven by the girls and games categories.

International revenue was flat, or up 1 percent when excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates. The increase was driven by growth in Latin America and Asia, as well as the games, girls and preschool categories. Analysts expected $642.1 million in revenue. Hasbro shares rose $2.59, or 5.7 percent, to $47.61 in morning trading after rising as high as $48.46 earlier, the highest since December 2010. — AP

DUBAI: Markets in the United Arab Emirates rose to multi-year highs as investors positioned themselves for first-quarter earnings, while Saudi Arabia’s PetroRabigh plunged after posting a big first-quarter loss and warning about second-quarter earnings.

Dubai’s index advanced 1.4 percent yesterday to its highest level since December 2009. UAE investors are now focused on quarterly earnings, which begin in earnest this week, said Amer Khan, fund manager at Shuaa Asset Management.

“From a valuation perspective, many UAE stocks are cheaper than the rest of the region so you can see people building some positions,” he said, adding that earnings seen so far in the UAE had been broadly positive.

One of those firms to have already reported, Dubai Islamic Bank, was the session’s biggest mover, jumping 5.9 percent. Blue chip Emaar Properties, which is expected to report towards the end of this week, rose 1.3 percent.

In the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi’s benchmark registered its biggest one-day gain in more than two years, climbing 1.8 percent. The index, which closed at 3,153 points, is at its highest level since November 2009. Banks helped the advance, as First Gulf Bank broke back above the 15.0 dirhams mark with a 3.8 percent gain. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank rose 3.1 percent; it is due to report first-quarter results on Thursday.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi, which will publish earnings today, rose 0.9 percent.

“The key thing for UAE banks has been the (2012) dividend announcements, as investors have been getting good yields and they also point to a positive earnings outlook,” said Khan.

In Saudi Arabia, PetroRabigh slumped 9.9 percent, dropping the permitted daily limit, after reporting a big loss in the first quarter due to a major disruption in its supplies of power and steam, and warning that its second-quarter earnings would be hurt by a 12-day shutdown

for maintenance at its ethane cracker.

Saudi Telecom, which reported disappointing first-quarter earnings on Sunday, dipped 0.5 percent. “Net profit has remained volatile in the past few quarters due to one-off events ranging from revenue from sale of towers to impairment charges relating to subsidiaries,” said Global Investment House in a note, adding that the company’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) had declined year-on-year for the last two quarters.

However, trading on the Saudi bourse was broadly positive, with the Gulf region’s largest exchange rising 0.4 percent to 7,124 points - its third successive gain. Last week the index was pushed down by sliding global oil prices but it tested and held chart support around 7,050 points, which had acted as resistance in early March.

In Kuwait, the measure recovered early-session losses to hit a new 29-month peak. It rose 0.3 percent, with Zain and Boubyan Bank reversing falls in the previous session with gains of 1.4 and 1.6 percent.

One positive for the market was news that a Kuwaiti appeals court granted bail to a prominent opposition politician convicted of insulting the ruling emir, which could help to reduce political tensions.

The five-year sentence was not overturned but the court ruled that Musallam al-Barrak should be released on bail of 5,000 dinars ($17,600) and that his defence team would have a chance to argue his case next month, defence lawyer Dokki al-Hasban told Reuters. The case has prompted street protests, some of them resulting in confrontations between police and his supporters.

Egypt’s benchmark declined for the second day this week, slipping 0.7 percent. Telecom Egypt slumped 8.2 percent as the stock went exdividend; Palm Hills Development dipped 1.8 percent and Ezz Steel fell 2.2 percent.

The International Monetar y Fund and Egyptian officials said late on Sunday they were working to reach a deal on a proposed $4.8 billion loan in “coming weeks”; they cited progress in weekend talks in Washington.

The IMF had previously avoided giving a time frame for concluding the talks but it failed to impress the stock market, suggesting investors feel a deal, when it finally comes, will have only a limited impact in solving Egypt’s economic problems.

Qatar’s index climbed 0.2 percent. United Development rose 2.4 percent after posting a 51 percent jump in first-quarter net profit and announcing it would liquidate a joint venture with Commercial Bank of Qatar. Industries Qatar, which posted an estimate-beating jump in firstquarter net profit after the market closed, rose1.0 percent.

Oman’s benchmark dipped 0.3 percent as financial stocks continued to weigh; many have reported below-forecast earnings for last quarter. Heavyweight Bank Muscat slipped 0.5 percent and HSBC Oman dropped 1.5 percent.

DUBAI The index climbed 1.4 percent to 1,986 points.

ABU DHABI The index jumped 1.8 percent to 3,153 points.

SAUDI ARABIA The index rose 0.4 percent to 7,124 points.

KUWAIT The measure rose 0.3 percent to 7,141 points.

EGYPT The measure fell 0.7 percent to 5,215 points.

QATAR The benchmark gained 0.2 percent to 8,443 points.

OMAN The index fell 0.3 percent to 6,129 points.

BAHRAIN The index edged down 0.01 percent to 1,088 points. — Reuters

BA announces Airbus order worth $12bn LONDON: British Airways yesterday announced a deal to buy up to 36 long-haul Airbus A350 passenger planes worth almost $12.0 billion at list prices. BA said parent group IAG, which owns also Spanish carrier Iberia, had signed a Memorandum of Understanding to buy 18 Airbus A350-1000 aircraft with an option to purchase 18 more.

Each plane has a catalogue price of $332.1 million, according to European planemaker Airbus’ website, though airlines tend to receive

significant discounts on bulk orders.

“After a thorough selection process, International Airlines Group (IAG), and British Airways have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to buy 18 Airbus A350-1000 aircraft plus 18 options, as part of the airline’s on-going long-haul aircraft fleet renewal and modernisation strategy,” a statement said.

“IAG, owner of both British Airways and Iberia, has also secured commercial terms and delivery slots that could lead to firm orders for

Iberia. Firm orders will only be made when Iberia is in a position to grow profitably, having restructured and reduced its cost base,” it added.

IAG chief executive Willie Walsh said adding the A350-1000 to BA’s fleet would “bring many benefits.”

He added: “Its size and range will be an excellent fit for our existing network and, with lower unit costs, there is an opportunity to operate a new range of destinations profitably. This will not only bring greater flexibility to our network but

also more choice for our customers.”

Earlier this month, IAG said it had reached an agreement with Airbus’ US rival Boeing to buy 18 of its 787 Dreamliners. The move is a show of confidence in the plane, which was grounded around the world in January owing to problems with its battery system.

IAG meanwhile plunged into an annual net loss of 943 million euros in 2012 on severe financial strains at its Spanish arm Iberia and owing to a soaring fuel bill. — AFP

EXCHANGE RATES Irani riyal - cash

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

.2770000 .4310000 .3680000 .3020000 .2780000 .2940000 .0040000 .0020000 .0771240 .7513970 .3930000 .0720000 .7366120 .0370000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES US Dollar/KD .2841000 GB Pound/KD .4338920 Euro .3707360 Swiss francs .3043390 Canadian dollars .2795430 Danish Kroner .0497330 Swedish Kroner .0443660 Australian dlr .2963730 Hong Kong dlr .0365940 Singapore dlr .2291130 Japanese yen .0029600 Indian Rs/KD .0000000 Sri Lanka rupee .0000000 Pakistan rupee .0000000 Bangladesh taka .0000000 UAE dirhams .0773800 Bahraini dinars .7538810 Jordanian dinar .0000000 Saudi Riyal/KD .0757800 Omani riyals .7382100 Philippine Peso .0000000

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

ASIAN COUNTRIES 2.902 5.230 2.900 2.273 3.281 232.740 36.776 3.646 6.909 9.847 0.271

.2880000 .4470000 .3760000 .3170000 .2920000 .3020000 .0069000 .0035000 .0778990 .7589480 .4110000 .0770000 .7440150 .0440000 .2862000 .4370990 .3734770 .3065880 .2816100 .0501010 .0446940 .2985640 .0368650 .2308060 .0028810 .0052870 .0022880 .0029190 .0036810 .0779520 .7594530 .4048090 .0763400 .7436660 .0069870

0.273

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd

GCC COUNTRIES 76.150 78.463 741.720 758.470 77.758

Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 39.500 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 41.045 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.332 Tunisian Dinar 180.660 Jordanian Dinar 403.260 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.916 Syrian Lier 3.102 Morocco Dirham 34.186 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 285.450 Euro 377.650 Sterling Pound 441.450 Canadian dollar 284.600 Turkish lira 159.060 Swiss Franc 311.290 US Dollar Buying 284.250 GOLD 298.000 150.000 77.500

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

SELL DRAFT 297.92 282.58 308.08 376.18 285.10 437.78 2.93 3.672 5.269 2.272 3.307 2.901 77.69 759.11 40.86 406.16 741.99 78.73 76.16

Selling Rate 284.700 282.110 438.745 376.005 308.880 753.750 77.490 78.145 75.885 401.330 40.854 2.269 5.278 2.890 3.649 6.891 698.380 3.890 9.920 4.025 3.390 93.945

Bahrain Exchange Company CURRENCY

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

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

SELL CASH 298.000 282.000 310.000 375.000 286.500 438.000 3.300 3.720 5.450 2.440 3.400 3.000 78.300 757.500 40.800 410.000 743.000 78.500 76.500

British Pound Czech Korune Danish Krone Euro Norwegian Krone Scottish Pound Swedish Krona Swiss Franc

BUY Europe 0.4279670 0.0061791 0.0460000 0.3679225 0.0449691 0.4253500 0.0395780 0.3011225

SELL

Australian Dollar New Zealand Dollar Uganda Shilling

Australasia 0.2836925 0.2325400 0.0001154

0.2956926 0.2425400 0.0001154

Canadian Dollar Colombian Peso US Dollars

America 0.2713203 0.0001487 0.2833500

0.2803203 0.0001667 0.2855000

Bangladesh Taka Cape Vrde Escudo Chinese Yuan Eritrea-Nakfa

Asia 0.0036139 0.0031674 0.0451165 0.0165000

0.0036689 0.0033974 0.0501165 0.0196000

0.4369670 0.0181791 0.0510000 0.3754225 0.0501691 0.4328500 0.0445780 0.3081225

Guinea Franc Hg Kong Dollar Indian Rupee Indonesian Rupiah Jamaican Dollars Japanese Yen Kenyan Shilling Malaysian Ringgit Nepalese Rupee Pakistan Rupee Philippine Peso Sierra Leone Singapore Dollar Sri Lankan Rupee Thai Baht

0.0000443 0.0342386 0.0052139 0.0000244 0.0028529 0.0027872 0.0033512 0.0896844 0.0031570 0.0028752 0.0064928 0.0000729 0.2269562 0.0019592 0.0095825

0.0000503 0.0373386 0.0052779 0.0000296 0.0038529 0.0029672 0.0035812 0.0966844 0.0033570 0.0029152 0.0069628 0.0000759 0.2329562 0.0022612 0.0101825

Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Ethiopeanbirr Ghanaian Cedi Iranian Riyal Iraqi Dinar Jordanian Dinar Kuwaiti Dinar Lebanese Pound Moroccan Dirhams Nigerian Naira Omani Riyal Qatar Riyal Saudi Riyal Sudanese Pounds Syrian Pound Tunisian Dinar UAE Dirhams Yemeni Riyal

Arab 0.7508679 0.0388163 0.0129361 0.1486163 0.0000794 0.0001737 0.3971117 1.0000000 0.0001751 0.0220465 0.0012143 0.7305483 0.0777645.

0.0756000 0.0480051 0.0031859 0.1779524 0.0763038 0.0012880

0.7593679 0.0408463 0.0194361 0.1504063 0.0000799 0.0002337 0.4046117 1.0000000 0.0001951 0.0460465 0.0018493 0.7415483 0785475 O.0762400 0.0485551 0.0034059 0.1839524 0.0777538 0.0013880

Al Mulla Exchange Currency US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Japanese Yen Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

Transfer Rate (Per 1000) 285.100 375.200 436.750 280.100 2.875 5.275 40.820 2.261 3.654 6.940 2.898 759.150 77.700 76.150

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

BUSINESS

Euro zone laggards face long wait for recovery LONDON: The struggling economies of Greece, Portugal and Spain will probably not grow again until next year and former Celtic tiger Ireland is likely to purr rather than roar, a Reuters poll suggested yesterday.

The poll of around 40 economists, taken in the past week, showed tough austerity measures are still hampering the four euro zone economies. With unemployment expected to rise further, there is little hope for substantial nearterm growth.

Median forecasts were largely cut from a similar poll taken in January. The outlook has worsened in almost every quarterly poll since the first one was conducted in June 2011. Only Ireland’s economy is expected to grow this year.

At a comparatively healthy 1.0 percent, rising to 2.0 percent in 2014, it will outperform the wider euro zone.

The global economy has struggled -

this year now looks unlikely to deliver much improvement on 2012 - but growth should pick up to 3.8 percent next year. Cyprus became the latest member of the 17-nation currency bloc to seek a sovereign bailout, following in the footsteps of Greece, Ireland and Portugal. Spain has had help with its banks. But Spain’s success in raising funds from the bond market in the last few weeks has led to far fewer economists expecting it to need its own sovereign bailout as well. Greece and Spain both have more than one in four people unemployed and yesterday’s poll predicts there will be scant improvement next year. Unemployment in Ireland and Portugal is also expected to be higher than in the bloc as a whole.

Austerity policies, including cuts in public sector pay and pensions and higher taxes, will keep Greece’s economy in a sixth straight year of recession in

2013, with the poll projecting a 4.5 percent contraction, in line with government forecasts.

The Cyprus crisis may have a 0.2 to 0.5 percent negative impact on Greece’s GDP but the government expects this will be offset by a strong tourism season.

“In the near term, some negative spillover effects from Cyprus are likely to hit Greece’s economy,” said Giada Giani at Citi. Lisbon has also hiked taxes and cut spending to meet deficit reduction goals set out under its bailout.

Consumer demand and investment have collapsed, causing the deepest recession in western Europe’s poorest country since the 1970s. The poll forecast a 2.4 percent contraction this year with growth of 0.3 percent next, similar to government projections, after last year’s 3.2 percent slump. The government says it wants to prepare a growth strategy without compromising its deficit goals

European austerity yields meager results in 2012 Debt of 17 EU countries rise to 8.6tn euros LONDON: The austerity pain pursued by a number of European countries led to very little gain in 2012.

Figures yesterday from Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics office, showed that many of the countries hit hardest by Europe’s financial crisis, such as Portugal and Spain, saw their budget deficits increase last year - even though they have pursued strict austerity policies designed to get their public finances back into shape.

Though Europe’s combined deficit level fell during the year - largely thanks to Germany swinging into a budget surplus - countries continue to reel from the impact of austerity. The overall debt of the 17 EU countries that use the euro rose from 8.2 trillion euros ($10.7 trillion) to 8.6 trillion euros as the region sank back into recession.

After the European crisis over too much debt broke out in late 2009, the region’s governments slashed spending - either to meet conditions for bailout loans, or to reassure jittery bond markets. But austerity has also inflicted severe economic pain. Slashing spending and raising taxes have proved to be less effective at reducing deficits than initially thought - and perhaps counter-productive. As economies shrink, so do their tax revenues, potentially making it harder to close budget gaps.

“The news that the eurozone budget deficit shrank again last year will be hailed as evidence by some that austerity is working,” said Ben May, European economist at Capital Economics. “But the fact that most economies’ deficits have fallen by less than expected and that the consolidation has coincided with deeper-thananticipated recessions confirms that the costs have been large.”

One of the key economic justifications for austerity is under attack. In 2010, US economists Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart wrote a paper arguing that growth slows once a government’s debt tops 90 percent of its economic output. Their findings suggested that reducing debt, as Europe’s most troubled economies have been pressed to do, could increase growth.

But economists at the University of Massachusetts who studied Rogoff and Reinhart’s calculations have pointed to errors and omissions that cast doubt on the idea that high government debt will significantly slow economic growth. Overall in the eurozone, the

deficit dropped in 2012 to around 353 billion euros ($460 billion) from 391 billion the year before. Germany was largely behind the improvement as it swung back into surplus.

As a result, the budget deficit of the whole eurozone fell to 3.7 percent of the region’s annual gross domestic product from the previous year’s 4.2 percent. Countries in the EU are supposed to keep deficits at or below 3 percent. Nevertheless, overall borrowing in the eurozone is lower than in the US, which has a budget deficit of around 7 percent of annual GDP. In 2012, eurozone debt was worth 90.6 percent of the region’s GDP, up from 87.3 percent the year before.

Here’s a look at the performance of some of the eurozone countries during 2012: GREECE - The bailed-out country at the epicenter of the region’s debt crisis - it was first bailed out in 2010 and has received up to 270 billion euros in assistance - saw mixed results in 2012.

Though the government managed to reduce its annual borrowing to 19.4 billion euros from 19.8 billion the year before, the deficit swelled to 10 percent of GDP from 9.5 percent because of a deepening recession. Even so, the country has lately been winning plaudits for its progress - in 2009, Greece’s annual borrowing stood at over 36 billion euros. When not counting the cost of paying interest on its existing debt, the government hopes to post a surplus over the coming year. Public debt fell in 2012 to 156.9 percent of GDP from 170.3 percent, partly because private holders of Greek bonds agreed to a big writedown.

IRELAND - The second euro country to receive a bailout is widely viewed as the poster child of austerity and its performance in 2012 showed further improvements. As well as reducing annual borrowing to 12.5 billion euros from 21.3 billion, Ireland saw its deficit shrink to 7.6 percent of annual GDP against 13.4 percent the year before.

Unlike fellow bailout recipients, Ireland has managed to post some economic growth for most of the past three years and is ahead of its target to prune the budget deficit to 3 percent by 2015. In a further sign of its reputational rebound, Ireland has resumed limited auctions of long-term bonds at a relatively low cost and is confident of exiting its bailout program later this year.

PORTUGAL - In spite of winning praise

from its international creditors, Portugal’s deficit swelled to 6.4 percent of annual GDP from 4.4 percent the year before. However, the 2011 figure was flattered by the transfer of private banks’ pension funds to the Treasury, which temporarily improved the balance sheet. In 2012, the government’s plan to use 3.1 billion euros from the privatization of airport management company ANA to lower its deficit fell foul of Eurostat, which didn’t allow the inclusion of that revenue in the deficit calculation.

SPAIN - In spite of efforts to get a handle on its debts, Spain saw its budget deficit rise to 10.6 percent of GDP in 2012, the highest in the eurozone. It rose from 9.4 percent the year before as the country took 40 billion euros in rescue loans to help its banks.

Excluding the rescue funds, Spain says its deficit last year improved to just below 7 percent, but still above the initially pledged target of 6.3 percent.

FRANCE - At first glance, the public finances in Europe’s second-biggest economy appear to be in relatively good health - its deficit in 2012 fell to 4.8 percent of annual GDP from 5.3 percent the year before. However, there are growing concerns over the outlook as growth has stalled. The French government originally promised to reduce its deficit to 3 percent this year, bringing it in line with European rules. But slow growth has knocked it off track, and the government has said the deficit will be 3.7 percent. France has a history of overly rosy forecasts, and some say the government’s numbers are still too optimistic.

GERMANY - While many of its euro partners are struggling to get a grip on their public finances, Germany has done so and more. In 2012, it posted a budget surplus of 4.1 billion euros, in contrast to the 20.2 billion euros deficit the year before. A number of factors helped, including restrained spending, lower debt servicing costs and falling unemployment, which means less outlays for jobless benefits. But economists said state income was also significantly boosted by so-called “bracket creep” - the failure of the government to move tax rates up along with inflation. That means workers who are increasingly winning pay raises in the country’s tight job market are pushed into paying higher rates - and more tax. — AP

Wall St dips as McDonald’s, GE extend losses on earnings NEW YORK: US stocks edged lower yesterday, as earnings from Caterpillar, Halliburton and other major companies pointed to more volatile trading ahead.

General Electric, down 2.1 percent to $21.29 and McDonald’s Corp, off 1.2 percent to $98.66, extended losses from Friday after posting lackluster earnings. Both stocks were declining for the fourth straight day.

Wall Street is coming off a week of extreme volatility, with the CBOE Volatility index jumping 24 percent, the biggest weekly gain for the so-called fear index this year.

The index was up 2.5 percent yesterday.

The swings were largely driven by weak corporate earnings and signs of slowing growth from China, which led to a steep drop in commodity prices. The week’s decline

TOKYO: In this Tuesday, April 16, 2013, photo, Trader Peter Costa works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. World markets rose higher yesterday with Tokyo stock markets heading close to a five-year high after a meeting of global finance leaders lent support to Japan’s aggressive monetary policy. —AP

fueled talk that the market’s long anticipated pullback had arrived, though the S&P remains up nearly 9 percent on the year. Caterpillar reported disappointing quarterly results and cut its 2013 profit forecast. Its stock advanced 0.6 percent to $80.92 after bullish comments from Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman.

Halliburton, the oil field services company, rose 2.6 percent to $38.19 after the company posted quarterly results and said it is in talks to settle private claims against it in a trial. “This is all going to be very much a direction driven by earnings,” said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey. “The majors are only off 3 to 4 percent from the high but we have done that fairly efficiently and if earnings are any indication, there is going to be more choppy action ahead.”

Earnings also due on Monday included Texas Instruments and Netflix Inc after the market’s close. For the week, 168 companies in the S&P 500 are scheduled to report earnings. With 104 S&P 500 components having reported through Friday, 67.3 percent of companies have topped profit expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data. Analysts expect earnings growth of 2.1 percent this quarter, up from expectations of 1.5 percent at the start of the month. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 48.66 points, or 0.33 percent, to 14,498.85. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index shed 3.90 points, or 0.25 percent, to 1,551.35. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 3.48 points, or 0.11 percent, to 3,202.58.

Investors will be looking to the S&P 500’s 50-day moving average of 1,544.74, which could serve as a level of market support. The index closed under that level for the first time this year on Thursday but rebounded above it on Friday. The National Association of Realtors said existinghome sales edged down 0.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.92 million units.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected home resales to rise to a 5.01 million-unit rate. — Reuters

as it seeks to exit the rescue programme as planned by mid-2014.

“A lack of growth and weak internal demand are, of course, important risk factors to meeting the deficit targets, but our current scenario accommodates the goals, they can be reached,” said Teresa Gil, an economist at Banco BPI in Lisbon. Spain’s economic outlook remains a 1.5 percent contraction this year, unchanged for the third consecutive poll, although there are signs of improvement as Madrid sold sovereign debt at borrowing costs not seen since November 2010.

In an interview published on Monday in the Wall Street Journal, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said the government’s official forecast will be revised down to a contraction of between 1 percent and 1.5 percent.

Previously, the government had forecast a contraction of only 0.5 percent

this year in GDP. The poll median was at the bottom end of his new forecast. “We believe the Spanish economy will go from a contraction to growth in a scenario with little dynamism,” said Estefania Ponte, strategy director at Madrid-based Cortal Consors.

In contrast, unlike much of the euro zone, Ireland’s economy has grown for the last two years. But it contracted in the third quarter of 2012 and was flat in the fourth as weak global demand weighed on the countr y ’s exportfocussed strategy.

“The shadow of growth and the political stomach for further adjustments are the key issues. That means that you can’t simply extrapolate forward and say yes, Ireland will bound beyond the finishing line. It is likely that that will occur, but it promises still to be a bumpy route,” said Austin Hughes, chief economist at KBC Ireland. — Reuters

Caterpillar Q1 profit shrinks MINNEAPOLIS: A slowdown in the mining business is digging a hole in Caterpillar’s profits. First-quarter profit shrank 45 percent. Caterpillar lowered its expectations for full year sales and profits because its mining business is slowing. Sales of Caterpillar-branded mining machines will drop by half this year, the company said yesterday.

Caterpillar said mining customers placed big orders for gear last year, just as mining profits fell, so now those customers are cutting back.

Dealers who would normally be stocking up on Caterpillar gear to get ready for a busy summer instead cut inventory during the first quarter.

Caterpillar has already started cutting costs. On April 5 it said it would lay off more than 460 employees at a mining truck plant in Decatur, Ill. Caterpillar also announced miningrelated layoffs in Milwaukee and plans to cut 1,300 of 3,400 jobs at a plant near Brussels that makes excavators, loading vehicles, and engine parts.

This year’s capital spending - which covers big-ticket items like factories and computer systems - will fall below $3 billion, down from $3.4 billion last year.

Net income dropped to $882 million, or $1.31 per share. Revenue fell 17 percent to $13.21 billion, from $15.98 billion a year ago. Both missed analyst expectations. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting a profit of $1.36 per share on revenue of

GOSSELIES: This Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013, file photo shows a parking lot at Caterpillar Belgium, in Gosselies, Belgium. Caterpillar Inc. reports quarterly financial results before the market opened yesterday. — AP $13.79 billion. It also cut its 2013 guidance. Caterpillar now expects to earn $7 per share, down from $7 to $9 previously. It forecast revenue of $57 billion to $61 billion, down from $60 billion to $68 billion.

Analysts were expecting a 2013 profit of $7.67 per share on revenue of

$62.48 billion. There were some bright spots. Sales in China rose compared to a year ago.

And the company is “becoming more optimistic” on the US housing sector. Shares of Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar Inc. rose 70 cents to $81.13 in premarket trading. — AP

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

BUSINESS

Greece offers residence to foreign investors ATHENS: Greece will be offering residence to nonEU investors purchasing or renting property over 250,000 euros ($326,000), in a bid to revive its moribund real estate industry, officials said yesterday.

The initiative, voted into law by parliament last week, comes in response to strong demand from Arab, Chinese and Russian investors, the officials from the interior ministry and property groups told a news conference.

Valid for five years and open to renewal, the residence plan follows similar measures adopted by Hungary, Spain and Portugal in the past. “Finally, the property market can move out of its paralysis a lit-

tle,” Stratos Paradias, head of the confederation of Greek home owners, told AFP. The permits will enable the holders, their spouses and children under the age of 18 to freely travelthough not work-in the Schengen area for three consecutive months at a time. The recession gripping Greece for a sixth straight year and heavy taxation has crippled the country’s construction industry that was previously one of pillars of the economy.

The Greek crisis has put half a million sector staff out of work and sidelined 12,000 companies, Dimitris Kapsimalis, chairman of the confederation

of construction firms, told journalists. Under the terms of the multi-billion EU-IMF bailout that saved its economy from bankruptcy, the Greek state itself must raise 2.6 billion euros through asset sales this year.

In addition to controlling stakes in state enterprises, a large number of state real estate has been put up for lease or sale, including ministry buildings and consulate buildings abroad. Also yesterday, the tourism ministry announced plans to increase the flow of so-called senior tourists, in response to an ageing worldwide population.

“We have to upgrade our services and form a

specific policy aiming at the increase of senior tourism,” said Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni.

“Greek tourism so far mainly addresses youths,” she added. While tourism numbers look promising for this summer, Greece remains lacking in facilities catering for the over-55s, a fast-growing sector of the population that has different needs and interests.The Hellenic chamber of hotels said senior tourists will make up 24 percent of the global market in 2030. But only 9.5 percent of Greek hotels currently appeal to that age group by offering appropriate activities and services, the chamber said. — AFP

NEWARK: In this July 10, 2012 file photo, a United plane prepares to land at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., with the New York City skyline in the background. Commercial airline flights moved smoothly throughout most of the country on Sunday, the first day air traffic controllers were subject to furloughs resulting from government spending cuts, though some delays appeared in the late evening in and around New York. — AP

Flight delays pile up after FAA budget cuts NEW YORK: It was a tough start to the week for many air travelers as federal budget cuts led to cascading delays along the East Coast yesterday morning.

Some flights out of New York and Washington were delayed by more than two hours as the Federal Aviation Administration kept planes on the ground.

The federal agency has said furloughs of air traffic controllers could lead to delays if there weren’t enough people to monitor busy air corridors.

For instance, the 8 am US Airways shuttle pushed back from the gate at Reagan National Airport six minutes early but didn’t take off until 9:58 a.m. The plane landed at 10:48 am - more than two and a half hours later than its scheduled time.

If travelers instead took Amtrak’s 8 am Acela Express train from Washington, they arrived in New York at 10:42 a.m. - 4 minutes early. Government budget cuts that kicked in last month are forcing the FAA and other agencies to cut their spending. FAA officials have said they have no choice but to furlough all 47,000 agency employees, including nearly 15,000 controllers. Each employee will lose one day of work every other week. The FAA has said that planes will have to take off and land less frequently, so as not to overload the remaining controllers

on duty. Skies were mostly calm along the East Coast, with the exception of a few wind gusts in New York. The delays seen were much more severe than what would normally be seen on a comparable day with full staffing.

Delta Air Lines said it was “disappointed” in the furloughs and warned travelers Monday to expect delays in the following cities: New York, Philadelphia, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.

The flight tracking service FlightAware says flights heading to Florida are seeing delays of up to an hour. Raymond Adams, president of the air traffic controllers union at New Jersey’s Newark airport, said on Twitter than a few flights out of Newark to the south got sent back to Newark because the Washington area air traffic control system was overwhelmed.

Some groups are warning that the slowdown could hurt the economy. “Our nation’s economy and businesses will pay a very steep price that significantly outstrips savings produced by furloughs,” the Global Business Travel Association warned the FAA in a letter Friday. “If these disruptions unfold as predicted, business travelers will stay home, severely impacting not only the travel industry but the economy overall.” — AP

Africa ministers urge rich nations to prevent prolonged slump WASHINGTON: African finance ministers told their rich nation counterparts at weekend meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to work harder and faster to kick-start their economies to avoid a prolonged slump that could undermine strong growth in the developing world.

“We are concerned,” Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said at the meetings of global finance leaders. “If we continue to see slow growth in the euro zone, which provides a large market for many African countries, and is coupled with a slowdown in emerging economies, then we will become more vulnerable,” Okonjo-Iweala told a news conference of African finance ministers. “We need to insist that our partners in other parts of the world work harder and faster.” Despite a global economic slowdown in 2012, most African economies grew at close to 6 percent buoyed by strong internal demand and higher commodity prices. Strong and better managed economies have also attracted investors’ attention, with net capital flows to the region reaching a record $54.5 billion last year, an increase of 3.3 percent from 2011.

But figures released by the World Bank last week showed that most of the world’s poor are now concentrated in Africa despite increased economic growth.

African economies are also hobbled by poor infrastructure, high unemployment and growing inequality. The region also remains vulnerable to droughts and floods, and pockets of instability.

Okonjo-Iweala said the region was concerned with how central banks in advanced economies planned to exit from years of easy monetary policy, which has led to a surge in investment capital in emerging and developing countries. Aggressive stimulus from central banks in the United States, Britain, the euro zone and now Japan has so far failed to spark a reliable recovery, and questions are already being raised over how much more monetary policy can - or should - do. OkonjoIweala emphasized it will be important for central banks to signal early on when they intend to change course. “ The signaling

should be given ahead so we can prepare our economies for what the consequences might be, is important because we don’t want to precipitate a situation in which money suddenly flows out of the countries,” she said.

“But also, for us, we should be looking at our own instruments that we can apply should we have problems with volatility that arises out of some portfolio flows that might have come in,” she added. Cameroon’s finance minister, Alamine Ousmane Mey, said African economies had built up more resilience to withstand economic downturns. Increased trade with the BRICS emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa has also helped, he added. “The BRICS countries which allow us to diversify our trade and rebalance a situation where growth in advanced economies has slowed down,” he said.

While Africa has witnessed booms before, many question whether this time Africa’s growth takeoff will stick. New IMF research finds that it is likely to stay on course if countries maintain the strong economic policies of the past 10 years.

Antoinette Sayeh, the IMF’s director for Africa, believes the region has turned a corner. “We certainly are optimistic that growth will continue to be robust and have an uptick as global growth itself recovers,” Sayeh told Reuters. “We think the conditions that underpin this robust growth in the past are still very much there, that is good macroeconomic management in many countries, good commodity prices, strong investment both domestic and foreign investment in a number of countries.” Last week, the IMF forecast that Africa will grow at 5.6 percent this year and picking up to 6.1 percent in 2014, with Ivory Coast and Mozambique growing at the fastest clip. Sayeh said a sustained stagnation in Europe and sharp downturn in investment by large emerging economies posed the biggest risks to the region. “Could it derail growth?

Our assessment is that, absent a truly dramatic shock to the global economy, probably not because it is not just externally propelled growth, it is also domestic. That is the difference,” she added. —Reuters

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

BUSINESS

British businesses back Cameron over ‘better deal’ from EU LONDON: Prime Minister David Cameron won the support of 500 business leaders yesterday in his campaign to renegotiate Britain’s ties with the European Union, a political gamble that has infuriated some of the bloc’s biggest members.

Business for Britain, a new lobby group, said it backed Cameron’s plan to repatriate powers from Brussels and hold a referendum on Britain’s EU membership, provided his Conservative Party wins the next election.

France and Germany have attacked Cameron’s stance, saying they will block any attempts by London to “cherry pick” EU policy. The United States has said it wants Britain to remain inside the EU. Other business groups say the referendum pledge risks creating uncertainty that will deter

investment, isolate Britain and stifle the stagnant British economy.

However, the new lobby group said cutting regulation, scrapping a planned financial transaction tax and allowing looser ties between its 27 members would benefit Britain and boost growth across a continent shaken by a debt crisis.

“Many would have you believe that business doesn’t want politicians to try and renegotiate a better deal from Europe,” said Alan Halsall, the group’s co-chair and chairman of Silver Cross, a company that makes baby products. “Jobs and economic growth depend on a more flexible, looser relationship with the EU.” Since Cameron came to power in 2010, the long and bitter debate over Britain’s place in Europe has resurfaced. Groups on

both sides of the argument have begun drawing up battle lines before an election due in 2015.

Cameron, who wants to stay inside the EU, trails the Labour Party in the polls and is threatened by the UK Independence Party, an increasingly popular anti-EU group wooing disgruntled Conservatives.

The British leader is under pressure to appease Conservative lawmakers who want him to take a tougher line with Brussels, seen by euro sceptics as a wasteful, interfering bureaucracy eroding British sovereignty. On the other side of the debate, the pro-EU camp says close ties with the EU, Britain’s biggest trading partner, are vital at a time of intense global competition. Among the 500 signatories of a letter sent by Business for Britain to newspapers to launch its campaign were Simon Wolfson, chief

executive of retailer Next Plc ; Stuart Rose, chairman of online retailer Ocado Group Plc, and Richard Burrows, chairman of British American Tobacco Plc .

Business for Britain describes itself as an independent, cross-party group funded by donations from business supporters.

A poll last week for the British Chambers of Commerce, a lobby group that represents more than 100,000 companies, suggested some support for the group’s position.

Nearly two-thirds of those polled (64 percent) said Britain’s economic prospects would improve if it stayed inside the EU on renegotiated terms. Sixty percent said withdrawal would be bad for business and the economy; 18 percent said it would have a positive impact. — Reuters

Asian markets mostly up as dollar nears 100 yen Chinese shares dip

JAKARTA: Construction workers build iron reinforcement column at a high rise office building construction site in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta yesterday. Asia-Pacific growth will edge up this year on the back of a recovery in the US and emerging nations, a United Nations study said, but it urged governments to take bolder steps to lift millions out of poverty. — AFP

New Indonesian FM will stand by prudent policies JAKARTA: Indonesia’s new acting finance minister pledged yesterday to stick with pro-growth, low-debt policies already in place, and gave priority to cutting a hefty fuel subsidy bill in a bid to allay fears of a spending spree before elections next year.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono surprised many by giving Chief Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa, who has an engineering background, the additional role of finance minister last week, a job usually reserved for technocrats with strong economic or financial backgrounds.

The Jakarta stock market has eased slightly since Friday’s announcement, with many economists uneasy over Rajasa’s ability to implement key policy changes. Rajasa, who has family ties to Yudhoyono, sought to ease those concerns, saying he planned to follow the fiscal measures of his predecessor Agus Martowardojo, who will take over as head of the central bank in late May. “(I will) make sure that the 2013 state budget is safe and smooth, make sure that state revenue is safe and state spending is running well,” Rajasa told a news conference after being sworn in at the finance ministry.

Rajasa also said that he wanted to cut hefty government fuel subsidies and avoid deepening the fiscal deficits in Southeast Asia’s largest economy. “The subsidy must be controlled and reduced for people who can afford it,” he said.

Rajasa is head of the National Mandate Party, a moderate Islamist party that is part of the ruling coalition, and there is speculation that Yudhoyono will back him to run for the presidency once hesteps aside next year after a decade in power.

Some critics suspect the 59-year-old Rajasa, nicknamed the “Silver Fox” because of his hair, has been given the finance portfolio in order to control the flow of money ahead of next year ’s

legisaltive and presidential elections.

“The fact that Hatta Rajasa is not from the traditional pool of technocrats, the fact that he is a leader of a major party, and related to the president have created questions whether fiscal prudence will remain,” Fauzi Ichsan, senior Indonesia economist with Standard Chartered Bank.

Some analysts believed Rajasa’s close ties to Yudhoyono could prove a lightning rod for criticism. His daughter is married to one of Yudhoyono’s sons. n”Even if he means well, Hatta is a leader of a political party and a relative of the president so any major changes will create suspicions,” Standard Chartered’s Ichsan said.

In his first newsconference as finance minister, Rajasa did not address foreign investors’ concerns over the government’s tendency towards more nationalist policies, especially as next year’s elections draw near. “While investors overall remain optimistic that good policy will ultimately prevail, they remain cautious that, as in all democracies, politics may override good policy in the short term during the election cycle,” said Andrew White, managing director of American Chamber of Commerce.

Despite those concerns, foreign investment remained robust, with inflows of $6.74 billion in the first quarter, mainly bound for the mining, chemical and base metal sectors. Foreign direct investment was a record $20 billion last year, helping fuel economy grow of 6.2 percent and shielding the balance of payments from a far deeper deficit.

Rajasa is Indonesia’s third finance minister in as many years, but it is unclear how long he will hold the post. “His appointment... is temporary. It means nothing for us because he will only be in position for two to three months and is probably not going to take any big decisions,” said Fahmi Idris, senior official with the powerful Golkar party. — Reuters

HONG KONG: Asian markets mostly climbed yesterday, with Tokyo surging as the dollar pushes back towards the 100 yen mark after the G20 cautiously endorsed the Bank of Japan’s huge stimulus measures.

Chinese shares dipped, however, as insurers suffered a sell-off after an earthquake struck Sichuan province, leaving more than 200 dead or missing and destroying villages.

Tokyo jumped 1.89 percent, or 251.89 points, to 13,568.37, while Seoul was up 1.03 percent, or 19.56 points, at 1,926.31. Sydney rose 0.70 percent, or 34.7 points, to 4,966.6.

Hong Kong added 0.14 percent, or 30.80 points, to 22,044.37 but Shanghai was 0.11 percent lower, shedding 2.47 points to 2,242.17.

The yen added to gains made in New York on Friday after the Group of 20 economic powers agreed that Japan’s huge monetary easing measures unveiled this month were necessary to boost the country’s stagnant economy.

In a statement following their meeting in Washington, G20 finance chiefs said the policy actions “are intended to stop deflation and support domestic demand”. Many countries, including the United States, have expressed concern that Japan could be deliberately trying to force the yen lower to boost exports and cut imports via “competitive devaluation”.

But the G20, which includes the United States and Japan, called for more efforts to stimulate “strong, sustainable and balanced” growth globally, and took note of Japan’s efforts towards that.

The dollar jumped in New York to 99.52 yen on Friday, from 98.23 yen the previous day. In European trade Monday it stood at 99.80 yen.

The greenback is expected soon to break the 100 yen barrier, a level it has not seen since April 2009. The euro fetched $1.3046 and 130.21 yen, against $1.3057 and 129.94 yen. “The G20 effectively gave the green light for further yen weakness by supporting the aggressive easing by the Bank of Japan,” National Australia Bank said in a note. “However, the G20 did add that it would like to see Japan also detail the structural reforms it can take to further boost growth.”

On Wall Street, the Dow ended flat, the S&P 500 jumped 0.88 percent and the Nasdaq added 1.25 percent. In Shanghai, insurance firms weighed on the market after Saturday’s quake, which flattened thousands of houses.

Ping An and China Life were among the losers, although construction companies were up slightly on speculation of short-term construction work. Oil prices were higher. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, added 62 cents to $88.63 a barrel in the

TOKYO: Pedestrians stand in front of a share price board showing the numbers of various stock exchanges around the world, in Tokyo yesterday. Japanese shares opened 1.66 percent higher following a jump in the US dollar against the yen after G20 officials signaled their approval of Japan’s aggressive monetary easing. — AFP afternoon and Brent North Sea crude for June delivery rose 30 cents to $99.95.

An ounce of gold fetched $1,432.35 at 1040 GMT, compared with $1,414.20 late Friday.

In other markets: Singapore rose 0.45 percent, or 14.87 points, to 3,308.92. United Overseas Bank slipped 0.48 percent to Sg$20.78 while real estate giant Capitaland gained 0.57 percent to Sg$3.53.

Taipei added 0.50 percent, or 39.58 points, to 7,970.38. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. gained 1.88 percent to Tw$108.5 while leading chip design house MediaTek was 1.40 percent higher at Tw$363.0.

Manila surged 2.35 percent, or 163.38 points, to 7,120.48. The index broke 7,000 points for the first time. “You have a confluence of positivesstrong earnings and excess liquidity and what

you have is a rampaging market,” Jose Vistan of AB Capital Securities told Dow Jones Newswires.

SM Investment gained 2.22 percent to 1,150 pesos while BDO Unibank rose 2.6 percent to 92.56 pesos.

Wellington advanced 0.88 percent, or 39.16 points, to 4,438.66. Chorus gained 3.41 percent to NZ$2.73, Telecom added 1.53 percent to NZ$2.57 and Air New Zealand was off 0.69 percent at NZ$1.43.

Kuala Lumpur was flat, nudging up 0.40 points to 1,706.68. UEM Land lost 1.5 percent to 2.70 ringgit, PPB Group eased 0.6 percent to 12.60 while Maybank gained 0.7 percent to 9.77.

Bangkok rose 0.88 percent, or 13.64 points, to 1,559.10. Airports of Thailand added 4.18 percent to 137 baht, while Siam Cement gained 5.19 percent to 486 baht. Jakarta was flat, edging down 1.54 points to 4,996.92. —AFP

Barclays continues shake-up with two new directors LONDON: Barclays named two new non-executive directors on Monday as new bosses attempt to put a series of scandals behind the British bank. The board was criticised last year for being too indulgent with management and failing to spot the risks from a freewheeling, risk-taking culture under former Chief Executive Bob Diamond.

Alison Carnwath quit as head of its remuneration committee in July and said later that she had clashed with the board over Diamond’s bonus.

Chairman David Walker and Chief Executive Antony Jenkins were picked the following month after Barclays was fined $450 million for manipulating Libor interest rates, with a brief to streamline operations and overhaul the culture of the three century-old bank.

Barclays said Frits van Paasschen, who is president and CEO of U.S. group Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, would join the board in August and Michael Ashley, head of quality and risk management for KPMG in Europe, a month later.

Ashley will be the fourth new nonexecutive, alongside Tim Breedon who arrived in November and Diane de Saint Victor in March. Andrew Likierman, who joined the board in 2004, is stepping down. The other remaining nine non-executive direc-

tors are standing for re-election at the annual shareholder meeting on Thursday, and critics say the changes at the top of Barclays have not gone far enough.

John Sunderland, who has been on the board for eight years and replaced Carnwath as head of remuneration, was harshly criticised by politicians in January for defending a past pay-out to Diamond.

Fulvio Conti joined the board in 2006 and Michael Rake, the deputy chairman who has been on the board for five years, said in October he had no plans to resign, after the Financial Times reported that he was likely to depart soon.

There have been big changes below board level, however. CEO Jenkins said on Friday that Diamond’s last top lieutenants - investment bank boss Rich Ricci and wealth management head Tom Kalaris - would be leaving..

Finance director Chris Lucas said in February he would retire as soon as a replacement is found. Barclays said Van Paasschen has previously been CEO of Coors Brewing Co. and had senior roles at Nike and Disney Consumer Products. It said Ashley is an experienced auditor and financial expert, with over 20 years as an audit partner, including lead audit partner for several large financial firms. — Reuters

Rolls-Royce celebrates 10 years of excellence KUWAIT: This year, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars celebrates 10 Years of Excellence across the world. On 1st of January 2003 the Home of Rolls-Royce officially opened for business and the first car was presented to its delighted customer at one minute past midnight.

Described at the time as ‘the last great adventure in automotive history’, production of Phantom was initially one car per day, rising to three by the end of 2003. Today, with a product range spanning two model families (Phantom and Ghost) and six models, the company’s craftsmen and women hand-build up to 20 cars each day. In 2011, RollsRoyce celebrated a second consecutive sales record and the best result in the company’s then 107-year history. The response to the company’s portfolio from customers, media and enthusiasts has been overwhelmingly positive throughout the

company’s first ten years of business. Each new model has been warmly welcomed and attracted worldwide acclaim, with the cars winning many design and luxury awards. The unequalled quality of all Rolls-Royce motor cars built at the company’s manufacturing plant has been recognised by the media from the very beginning. And bringing the story up to date, the launch of Phantom Series II in 2012, for example, was met with the highest acclaim.Starting with a workforce of less than 400, there are now more than 1400 people employed at the Goodwood-based manufacturing plant and head office. More than 100 new positions were created in 2012 alone. The company has invested heavily in future talent, with thriving apprenticeship, graduate and intern programmes.

The company makes a significant positive economic impact to the local area and, with more than

90% of cars exported, to the British economy.

Investment has also extended to the site, with a major new extension to the manufacturing area currently nearing completion. This is to help the company meet further growth in worldwide sales and satisfy demand for highly personalised Ghost and Phantom models.

“Rolls-Royce is a great British manufacturing success story and I am very proud to celebrate 10 Years of Excellence”, said Torsten M¸ller-?tv?s, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. “The renaissance of the world’s most famous automotive brand and the creation and development of the Home of Rolls-Royce has been an extraordinary and successful journey. I applaud the Rolls-Royce team at Goodwood and across the world for their passion and together we can look forward to the next ten years with great optimism.”

IMF, Egypt hope to reach loan agreement WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund and Egypt hope to conclude talks for a loan deal “in the coming weeks”, they said in a joint statement Sunday.

The statement came after IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde met an Egyptian delegation in Washington this weekend that included Central Bank of Egypt Governor Hisham Ramez and Finance Minister Al-Mursi Hegazy.

The Egyptian officials “are firmly committed to addressing Egypt’s economic and financial challenges with the objective of restoring sustained and socially-balanced growth, and they are already taking encouraging actions in this direction,” the

brief statement read. “Work will continue with the objective of reaching agreement on an IMF StandBy Arrangement to support the authorities’ national economic program in the coming weeks.” The IMF and Egypt have been in talks for months over a multibillion-dollar IMF loan that is contingent on strong support from domestic political actors and a commitment to key reforms.

Last year the IMF reached a deal in principle to provide a $4.8 billion loan to help finance the government while it undertakes reforms. The loan was close to completion in November when political changes in Cairo set it back.

Authorities believe the IMF loan will help

restore investor confidence in Egypt, where unrest that accompanied the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak hammered revenue from the oncelucrative tourism industry.

On Saturday Lagarde said the IMF would remain engaged in loan negotiations with Egypt but also wanted the international community to provide financing.

“It’s a task and we will not give up, we will not leave the table,” Lagarde said at a news conference during the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington. Lagarde emphasized that the IMF “cannot be the only one” to help prop up Egypt’s economy. —AFP

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

BUSINESS

Ford Taurus charges ahead in 2013 KUWAIT: Taurus, Ford’s flagship sedan, showed its might across Middle Eastern markets during the first quarter of this year, as it posted an 88 per cent increase in regional sales. The positive growth was also reflected in Kuwait where sales grew by over 10 per cent, thanks to the growing popularity of the full-size sedan among customers in the country.

The 2013 Ford Taurus builds on strong safety and technology foundations and offers a class-leading array of unique and unsurpassed technologies such as active park assist, adding to more convenience for customers.

“Since Ford Taurus debuted in the region, it has consistently become a favourite among Ford customers with its array of safety, infotainment and fuel-saving technologies which even more expensive sedans cannot match,” said Thierry Sabbagh, Ford Middle East’s director of Sales. “This encouraging performance in Kuwait proves that customers welcome the Ford Taurus and appreciate the unique features and driving dynamics that this model offers them, and that our commitment to deliver quality, smart, safe and fuel-efficient vehicles is well-appreciated.

“Ford Taurus is not just big in size but leverages technology to deliver best-in-class quality and performance, elevates driving dynamics and maintains its safety legacy,” Sabbagh continued. “It has definitely raised the technology bar and our customers love it. Adding unique features like MyFord Touch(tm) powered by

SYNC, active park assist and EcoBoost(tm) engine availabilities keeps Taurus a rolling showcase of technology leadership. With award-winning Ford Taurus and Ford Taurus SHO available, our customers only have the best choices that suits well their lifestyles.”

Ford Taurus received accolades from critics and consumers alike. The full-size sedan recently topped the Large Car category in JD Power and Associates’ 2012 Initial Quality Study and received the highest overall vehicle score (5-star) New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Ford Taurus Ford Taurus is even more refined for the 2013 model year - with better fuel economy, more technology, enhanced design, improved craftsmanship and sharpened driving dynamics.

The 3.5-liter V6 is offered as standard equipment in Taurus SE, SEL and Limited series models.

In the Ford Taurus, this engine benefits from the addition of twin independent variable camshaft timing (Ti-VCT), achieving better fuel economy, more horsepower and a reduction in part-throttle emissions compared to the previous standard Taurus V6. This engine delivers an expected increase of 170 L/km highway, with 10 percent more horsepower than the current model. The engine has been engineered for durability

with chain-driven camshafts, high-strength forged metal connecting rods with floating pins, a fully counterweighted forged steel crankshaft, die-cast aluminum deep-sump oil pan and four-bolt main bearing caps with side bolts through the engine block.

Noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) characteristics are controlled and reduced through employment of a tuned composite upper and lower manifold, and a silent-chain camshaft drive. The Taurus engine is mated to the 6F50 six-speed transmission that adds fuel economy and performance, while allowing for lower gearing to be optimized for improved off-the-line acceleration, yet enabling higher gears to help provide economical cruising by keeping engine rpm levels low.

America’s most innovative full-size sedan also gets even smarter with an array of even more class-leading technologies including SYNC(r) with MyFord Touch(r), which replaces many traditional buttons, knobs and gauges with clear, colorful LCD screens and steering wheel-mounted five-way toggles. These screens can be personalized to display information relevant to each driver by using voice command, keeping the driver’s eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.

MyFord Touch is powered by a new version of Ford’s award-winning SYNC system, combining voice control for vehicle functions, enabled Bluetooth devices, MP3 players and a wide variety of external media.

The new Taurus also adds Ford’s intuitive active park

assist technology, making life simpler and more convenient for customers.

Ford Taurus SHO The Ford Taurus SHO is the sportiest model yet to wear SHO badge, offering unique, performanceinspired design, road manners to match - and even more differentiation within the Taurus lineup.

For the new Ford Taurus SHO, subtle differentiation from the other members of the Taurus family starts up front, with a performance-inspired grille in black mesh unique to the SHO - flanked by series-specific highintensity discharge headlamps. Behind the front wheel openings, a fender-mounted scallop contains a subtle SHO badge. Unique 19-inch premium painted wheels wearing standard 19-inch all-season tires fill out the openings, giving SHO a muscular, athletic look. Buyers can also choose 20-inch machined and painted wheels.

The high-performance Taurus SHO comes standard with Ford’s most powerful EcoBoost offering, the 3.5liter V6, delivering 365 horsepower and 350 lb.-ft. of torque, featuring a high-capacity 6F55 6-speed automatic transmission. Combining direct injection and a pair of turbochargers, the V6 EcoBoost engine avoids lag by employing impellers that spool up quickly for swift response. This Taurus SHO combination of power, consistent torque delivery, all-wheel drive and up to 9.4 L/km on the highway is unmatched by competitors.

Allam Ahmed Shadid wins GMC Yukon in Gulf Bank’s KOC draw

Ideal Standard reveals findings of spy-in-the bathroom study KUWAIT: Ideal Standard, Europe’s leading bathroom specialist, has unveiled an interesting, firstof-its-kind bathroom research which provides some fascinating glimpses into family life. No wonder, for most people, the bathroom is a sanctuary from which even partners and family members are excluded!

The research -”BathroomBehaviours; how to optimise bathroom space for modern households”-has come up with findings, supplemented with quantitative data gathered from 4,000 people. The findings were recently revealed at ISH 2013 in Frankfurt, one of the biggest Fairs in Europe.

As part of the research, nineteen people across Germany, France, Italy and the UK agreed to let Ideal Standard track their every brush, splash and flush in the name of research for two weeks in February 2013.

In a first for bathroom research, prototype motion mapping technology was installed in bathrooms across Europe to monitor bathroom behaviours. By adapting depth sensors to provide accurate 3D tracking of the human body and using two sensors in each bathroom, Ideal Standard has been able to build a detailed picture of how people actually use their bathroom space.

It’s a tale of neglected baths and bidets, conflicting bathroom etiquette and maddening, illogically arranged bathroom suites.

Behind the data lie some fascinating glimpses: the parents who seek refuge from their families with long baths and showers; the bathrooms that double up as laundries and dressing rooms; the flatmates forced to do their ablutions in unison.

According to the findings, 40% of us crave a new bathroom, but interestingly, for the most part, it’s not a bigger space that we lust after; just a space that better meets our needs.

“We started with a hypothesis that in many homes the bathroom is not used as well as it could be,” said Kerris Bright, Chief Marketing Officer of Ideal Standard International. “The findings seem to confirm what we suspected.

Renovating a bathroom often starts with excitement and ends in disappointment. It’s hard to know where to start and harder to see past the limitations of the room.”

The publication of the study coincides with the launch of Ideal Standard’s new marketing campaign - A Beautiful Use of Space. The cam-

paign features a series of abstract bathroom spaces - a far cry from the usual imagery of scented candles and infinity baths looking out onto lush forests - to capture the different needs a bathroom meets in a day; invigoration, transformation, relaxation and play.

The results of the quantitative and qualitative studies will be analysed over the coming months but already some fascinating insights are emerging which will help Ideal Standard and its design teams innovate for the future.

“We conducted the study because, uniquely, our product range spans every aspect of bathroom design,” said Kerris Bright. “We’ve always tried to understand how a bathroom works in totality and to think about the ergonomics of the bathroom to help our customers get the most out of their bathroom experience.” “ The bathroom is a unique space in the home,” said Dr John Curran, social anthropologist and author of the paper. “It stands out from other rooms in the home because it has to meet an array of needs. It’s a room that transforms us from one state of mind to another and can therefore mark different personas we have throughout the day. These transformational characteristics mean that the bathroom is embedded in everyday rituals - rituals that help define who we are.”

For each of the bathrooms in the motion mapping study Ideal Standard has set about creating a ‘profile bathroom’ based on insights gathered. Each profile bathroom can be considered a useful starting point when designing bathrooms for different needs. The profile bathrooms have been developed by Robin Levien, an award-winning designer.

Robin used Ideal Standard’s full product offering - the core Connect range, the elegance of Softmood, the minimalism of Strada and an extended range of water and energy efficient showers and fittings - to create spaces which meet the needs of the different types of household in the study.

“It was important to have a multifunctional approach to the products we recommended in each of the bathrooms,” said Robin. “Based on the household make up, coupled with their individual preferences, we selected a range of Ideal Standard products to offer a complete solution.

To borrow from Le Corbusier’s famous quote ‘a bathroom is a machine for living in’ so we made them more liveable.”

KUWAIT: Gulf Bank announced Allam Ahmed Shadid as the winner of the first quarterly KOC prize draw for 2013. The winner received a new 2013 GMC Yukon delivered off the floor at the GMC Yukon dealership by Yaser Sulaiman, Executive Manager, Consumer Banking at Gulf Bank.

Gulf Bank’s Quarterly Prize Draw for a new GMC Yukon is part of the benefits offered in the KOC salary package. The KOC salary package is an exclusively designed banking package for KOC staff members.

All KOC staff that transfer their salaries and have a valid Gulf Bank credit card are eligible to enter the quarterly draws.

Expressing his gratitude on winning, Allam Ahmed Shadid said, “I would like to take this chance to thank Gulf Bank for giving me the opportunity to win a brand new GMC Yukon. I enjoy banking with Gulf Bank and appreciate the level of service I get from them.”

The KOC salary package provides a noninterest bearing current account especially designed to fulfill KOC staff ’s banking needs. KOC staff are entitled to several exclusive benefits such as, vouchers from Xcite by Alghanim Electronics, free issuance charges for Visa and MasterCard Credit Card and special discounts upon using Gulf Bank cards at 100 outlets in Kuwait. Upon

entering the draw, KOC staff are further qualified to win a new GMC Yukon as an added bonus to the KOC salary tailored banking package.

Gulf Bank is the only Bank available at the KOC Head Office and it invites all KOC staff to visit the branch to find out more about the KOC salary package.

To find out more about Gulf Bank’s KOC salary package or any of the Bank’s products and services, customers can also visit one of Gulf Bank’s 56 branches, or call the Customer Contact Center on 1805805 for assistance and guidance, or log on to www.e - gulfbank .com, Gulf Bank’s website.

Nissan Urvan supporting Infiniti Red Bull Racing during Bahrain GP DUBAI: Building on the success story of 2012, Nissan is committed to continuing supply of Light Commercial Vehicles and related ser vices for the 2013 season to the triple World Championship-winning Formula One team now known as Infiniti Red Bull Racing. Nissan’s Light Commercial Vehicle Business Unit has provided Infiniti Red Bull Racing with eight Nissan Urvans to support race operations at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Since 1970, the Nissan Urvan has proven very popular with consumers. The Nissan Urvan played a vital role in supporting Infiniti Red Bull Racing by transporting equipment and staff at the Grand Prix.

Nissan Motor Company Corporate Vice President Hideto Murakami, head of the Global Light Commercial Vehicles Business Unit, commented: “We are pleased to offer our Urvan

vehicles to the defending Formula One World Champions, Infiniti Red Bull Racing. We are confident that the versatility and superior convenience of the Nissan Urvan provides excellent support for Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s operations at Bahrain, and that its powerful design will provide encouragement for the team - hopefully leading to a successful result in the race.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal, Infiniti Red Bull Racing, commented: “Within such a high- pressure and challenging environment as Formula One, we need reliable partners taking care of all our versatile transportation needs all over the world.

Extensive travel is part and parcel of Formula One, and the transportation of our material and staff are an essential part of our successful operations. We highly appreciated Nissan Urvan supported our race operations at this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix.”

Air Arabia breaks passenger record in first quarter of 2013 SHARJAH: Air Arabia, the first and largest low-cost carrier (LCC) in the Middle East and North Africa, yesterday reported that it carried a record 1,445,783 passengers in first

quarter ending March 31, 2013, a 17.5 per cent growth compared to the first quarter 2012.

The significant growth in passenger

numbers is a testimony to the airline’s growing network and the appealing value for money product. In the first quarter of 2013, the airline has launched flights from its primary hub in Sharjah to Sialkot in Pakistan, Baghdad in Iraq and Mattala in Sri Lanka.

The airline also increased frequencies to many exiting routes. Air Arabia currently serves 85 Global routes from its hubs in the UAE, Morocco and Egypt.

“Air Arabia continues to witness significant growth in passenger numbers, and this demonstrates the popularity of the airline’s value for money and excellent service,” said Adel Ali, Group Chief Executive Officer, Air Arabia. “Air Arabia will continue to set the standard for the low-cost travel segment, offering great fares to an ever growing range of destinations.”

Air Arabia took delivery of two brand new sharklet equipped Airbus A320 aircraft.

The delivery is part of an order of 44 aircraft placed in 2007. The delivery of eth aircraft will be completed by 2016, and will more than double the size of Air Arabia’s fleet.

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

technology

IAEA urges Fukushima safety improvements On-site inspection at plant

HAMBURG: Picture taken on Nov 18, 2010 shows a special camera of Google picured at Hamburg’s harbour after a press conference on the launch of Google’s street info service ‘Street View’ from 20 German cities. German authorities said yesterday they had fined Google for illegally collecting massive amounts of personal data including emails, passwords and photos while setting up its disputed Street View service. — AFP

Former Google CEO shares vision in tech treatise SAN FRANCISCO: Some illuminating books already have been written about Google’s catalytic role in a technological upheaval that is redefining the way people work, play, learn, shop and communicate.

Until now, though, there hasn’t been a book providing an unfiltered look from inside Google’s brain trust. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, who spent a decade as the company’s CEO, shares his visions of digitally driven change and of a radically different future in “The New Digital Age,” a book that goes on sale Tuesday.

It’s a technology treatise that Schmidt wrote with another ruminator, Jared Cohen, a former State Department adviser who now runs Google Ideas, the Internet company’s version of a think tank. The book is an exercise in “brainstorming the future,” as Schmidt put it in a recent post on Twitter - just one example of a cultural phenomenon that didn’t exist a decade ago. The ability for anyone with an Internet-connected device to broadcast revelatory information and video is one of the reasons why Schmidt and Cohen wrote the book. The two met in Baghdad in 2009 and were both struck by how Iraqis were finding resourceful ways to use Internet services to improve their lives, despite war-zone conditions.

They decided it was time to delve into how the Internet and mobile devices are empowering people, roiling autocratic governments and forcing long-established companies to make dramatic changes.

The three years they spent researching the book took them around the world, including North Korea in January over the objections of the U.S. State Department.

They interviewed an eclectic group that included former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Mexican mogul Carlos Slim Helu, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the former prime ministers of Mongolia and Pakistan. They also drew on the insights of a long list of Google employees, including cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

The resulting book is an exploration into the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead as the lines blur between the physical world around us and the virtual realm of the Internet. Schmidt and Cohen also examine the loss of personal privacy as prominent companies such as Google and lesserknown data warehouses such as Acxiom compile digital dossiers about our electronic interactions on computers, smartphones and at check-out stands. “ This will be the first generation of humans to have an indelible record,” Schmidt and Cohen predict.To minimize the chances of youthful indiscretions stamping children with “digital scarlet letters” that they carry for years, online privacy education will become just as important - if not more so than sex education, according to Schmidt and Cohen. They argue parents should consider having a “privacy talk” with their kids well before they become curious about sex.

Not surprisingly, the book doesn’t dwell on Google’s own practices, including privacy lapses that have gotten the company in trouble with regulators around the world.

Among other things, Google has exposed the contact lists of its email users while trying to build a now-defunct social network called Buzz. It scooped up people’s passwords and other sensitive information from unsecured Wi-Fi networks. Last year, Google was caught circumventing privacy controls on Safari Web browsers, resulting in a record $22.5 million fine by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. European regulators have a broad investigation open.

Google apologized for those incidents without acknowledging wrongdoing.

Schmidt and Cohen suggest that is an inevitable part of digital life.

“The possibility that one’s personal content will be published and become known one day - either by mistake or through criminal interference - will always exist,” they write.

The book doesn’t offer any concrete solutions for protecting personal privacy, though the authors suspect that calls for tougher penalties and more stringent regulations will increase as more people realize how much of their lives are now in a state of “near-permanent storage.” “The option to ‘delete’ data is largely an illusion,” Schmidt and Cohen write.

People can choose not to put any of their information online, but those that eschew the Internet risk become irrelevant as online identities become increasingly important, the book asserts. Schmidt and Cohen foresee an option that will allow all of a person’s online accounts - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Netflix and various other subscriptions - to be merged together into a “constellation” that will serve as a one-stop pro-

file. If this book is right, there is no turning back from the revolution that is making Internet access as vital as oxygen and mobile devices as important as our lungs.

As much disruption as there already has been since Google’s inception in 1998, Schmidt and Cohen contend that the most jarring changes are still to come as reductions in the cost of technology bring online another 5 billion people, mostly in less developed countries. At the same time, the combination of more powerful microprocessors, much-faster Internet connections and entrepreneurial ingenuity will turn the stuff of science fiction into reality.

Schmidt and Cohen are convinced that holograms will enable people to make virtual getaways to exotic beaches whenever they feel the need. Nasal implants will alert us to the first signs of a cold. Virtual assistants - the kind Google is developing with Google Now and Apple with Siri - will become constant companions that influence when we shop and what we buy.

Those assistants will generally steer us in directions drawn from an analyses of our personal preferences vacuumed off the Internet and stored in vast databases.

These aren’t far-out concepts to the tech cognoscenti, or even younger generations who can barely remember what it was like to surf the Web on a dial-up modem, let alone use a typewriter.

The ideas will be more unnerving to older generations still trying to figure out all the things that their smartphone can do.

Schmidt, who will turn 58 on Saturday, can remember the days before there were personal computers. But he has been studying tech trends for decades, long before he became Google’s CEO in 2001 and became a mentor and confidant to company cofounders Page and Brin. —AFP

TOKYO: The International Atomic Energy Agency yesterday called on the operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to improve “essential systems” as it struggles to deal with leaks and power cuts.

The stricken site has suffered an increasingly long line of mishaps, including a series of radioactive water leaks, that have rattled public confidence in the aftermath of the worst atomic crisis in a generation.

“TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power) should continue its efforts to improve the reliability of essential systems, to assess the structural integrity of site facilities and to enhance protection against external hazards,” the UN nuclear watchdog said in a statement. “Measures should continue to improve management issues regarding radiation releases and exposures from the site, particularly issues created by the storage of accumulated water,” it added.

The comments came after an IAEA mission met with officials from the Japanese government and TEPCO last week in Tokyo, ahead of their on-site inspection at the plant to monitor progress in its decommissioning.

The statement was released just hours after TEPCO said it had temporarily switched off a reactor cooling system following the discovery of a pair of dead rats near critical equipment.

The measure was taken to allow workers to safely remove the bodies and to check whether the animals had done any damage to delicate electrical systems, a TEPCO spokesman said.

Monday’s incident came after a rat last month caused a short-circuit at the plant, which knocked out power to cooling systems for pools storing nuclear fuel and sparking fears of a meltdown. It took more than a day to fix the problem in March. In the past month TEPCO has reported another temporary outage at one of the reactor cooling systems and several incidents of suspected leaks of radioactive water, undermining the precarious fix at the plant since the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in March 2011.

At a news conference, Juan Carlos Lentijo, head of the IAEA mission, told reporters that dealing with massive amounts of radioactive water was the “most challenging” task in the short term, but predicted a solution would be found.

“It is expected that in such a complex site additional incidents will occur as it happens in nuclear power plants under normal operation,” he said. Lentijo also said decommissioning procedures were under way as scheduled, but it was “nearly impossible to ensure the time for decommissioning such a complex facility”.

The IAEA inspection by nuclear experts and international specialists came at the request of the Japanese government and is the third of its kind since the Fukushima plant was knocked out. The 9.0-magnitude earthquake and massive tsunami sparked reactor meltdowns that forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes.

Many remain displaced and some will never be able to return. —- AFP

TOKYO: Juan Carlos Lentijo, Director of Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology, mission leader of the International Atomic Energy Agency, leaves after a press conference at the Foreign Press Center in Tokyo yesterday. The International Atomic Energy Agency on April 22 called on the operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to improve ‘essential systems’ as it struggles to deal with leaks and power cuts. — AFP

Fuel-rod cooling halted by rats at crippled Japan nuclear plant TOKYO: Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant halted cooling of a spent fuel pool at the site yesterday to remove two dead rats, the third time cooling equipment has gone offline in five weeks because of rodents.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said it halted cooling of the No. 2 unit pool, which stores spent uranium fuel rods at the Fukushima Daiichi site, for a few hours to remove the rats and install a net to stop further such intrusions.

Last month, Tepco lost power to cool fuel rods for 29 hours, an outage it later blamed on a rat that had shorted a temporary switchboard.

Two weeks later, workers attempting to install a net tripped the system again.

A tsunami crashed into the plant in March 2011, causing fuel-rod meltdowns at three reactors and triggering the evacuation of 160,000 people in the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

Monday ’s incident follows a string of mishaps including four leaks of contaminated water from underground storage pits.

The problems at the plant, 240 km north of Tokyo, attracted a rebuke from the government and the nuclear regulator, reviving pub-

lic debate over whether Tepco was up to the task of a decommissioning project expected to last decades.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it believed Tepco could handle the job, but said the contaminated water was its “biggest challenge”.

Juan Carlos Lentijo, an IAEA team leader, said decommissioning would be an enormous task.

“It will be near impossible to ensure the time for decommissioning such a complex facility in less than 30, 40 years as it is currently established in the roadmap,” he said after a week-long IAEA tour of the site.

Tepco has been waging a constant battle to filter and store groundwater that continues to flood the basements of the reactor buildings at a rate of 400 tonnes a day.

The IAEA said that Tepco had achieved the stable cooling of the reactors and spent fuel pools, but cautioned that it needed to improve systems to treat the toxic water and find reliable ways to monitor and store it on site.

More than 80 percent of available storage capacity has been filled, forcing Tepco to scramble to build new tanks. —- Reuters

Windows 8 brims with innovative technologies, visual elegance Portable ATMs, phone-charging in China quake zone LUSHAN, China: The tent village that sprang up in two days to house quake survivors in mountain-flanked Lushan is no ordinary refugee camp. China’s full range of disaster response is on display: Trucks with x-ray equipment, phone-charging stations, bank tellers-on-wheels - even a tent for insurance claims.

The efforts under way yesterday in mountainous Sichuan province after a quake Saturday that killed at least 188 people showed that the government has continued to hone its disaster reaction - long considered a crucial leadership test in China - since a much more devastating earthquake in 2008, also in Sichuan, and another one in 2010 in the western region of Yushu.

“Lushan was so heavily hit and my family’s house toppled. It has been such a disaster for us,” said Yue Hejun, 28, as he waited to recharge his family’s three mobile phones at a charging stall, volunteered by a communications company and coordinated by the government in a new addition to the arsenal of services after natural disasters. “If we can charge our phones, we are at least able to keep in touch with our family members outside and that helps to set our minds at ease.”

At a mini-clinic with two green cots in the open air and a small tent for doctors to sleep, a doctor said the government has learned the importance of fast coordination since the Yushu quake, which killed more than 2,600 people. Much of the initial relief in that disaster came from Buddhist monks and other non-government volunteers, partly because of the remoteness of much of the affected areas.

“After 24 hours or 48 hours in Yushu, things were not so orderly or settled in,” said the doctor, who like many government officials would give only her surname, Luo. “The government’s quick, organized response is very important. It’s no use to blindly come here and try to save people.”

Helicopters have been an obvious presence in the latest rescue efforts, used to reach outlying communities, unlike in 2008 when bad weather hampered their use in the critical first 36 hours. This time, better use of helicopters for reconnaissance - with remote sensing technology - and for the distribution of aid has allowed help to get out more quickly to where it is needed, said

Teng Wuxiao, director of the Institute of Urban Public Security at Fudan University in Shanghai.

Still, complaints were common among the survivors of the latest quake, especially in the more hard-to-reach areas. While aid was being delivered, it was not getting out to all who need it. Yue said family members in his remote mountain village had received no help with shelter and were living under tarpaulins.

Huang Mingxian, 47, who was camped out with seven family members in a government-issued blue tent in a small public square, said the government’s efforts were appreciated but that supplies were not always distributed fairly.

“This morning is the first time in three days that we have gotten instant noodles,” Huang said, waving a pair of long chopsticks she was using to stir the noodles in a wok over a gas canister-powered mobile stove. “Other areas have electricity and water, what about us?”

Earlier yesterday, about two dozen residents briefly gathered on a street corner near a camp area, shouting that they had not been given food in two days. A halfhour later, a large truck rolled up and dozens of evacuees ran up to it, jostling as the supplies were being handed out.

The death toll in Saturday’s quake measured at magnitude 7.0 by Chinese authorities and at magnitude 6.6 by monitors in the U.S. - may continue to tick upward, with about two dozen people still missing. More than 15,000 people have been sent to hospitals, with more than 300 of them seriously injured.

Central authorities’ ability to respond to natural disasters has been seen as tests of legitimacy for centuries. Chinese emperors put state resources into controlling floods, and earthquakes and other disasters were believed to be signs that a dynasty was losing the “mandate of heaven.”

The state-run tabloid Global Times boasted in an editorial of China’s communal “disaster-relief” culture, and its “more mature” response to the latest quake, comparing it favorably to those overseas. “In its ability to mobilize people and in other indicators, China’s disaster relief comes ahead of the United States, Japan and other developed countries,” the newspaper said.—AFP

NEW YORK: Windows 8 is a computer science masterpiece trapped inside a user interface kerfuffle.

Microsoft’s new operating system for phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and servers brims with innovative technologies, bold ideas, and visual elegance. The system’s radical new interface, called Modern, is a pleasure to use on phones and tablets.

And although that interface fares poorly on today’s larger desktop computer screens, Windows 8 probably won’t damage the company’s standing in corporate America. It might even shore up its eroding presence on residential desktops and laptops by offering a user experience that’s new, fun, and different from anything offered by Apple and Google.

Indeed, that’s the only real criticism of Windows 8: the touch-based user interface is clearly designed for consuming information and having fun, rather than for doing serious work.

It makes technical sense for Microsoft to maintain a single, core operating system with a consistent set of application programming interfaces (APIs). In fact, it makes so much sense that Apple and Linux moved to a single kernel years ago. What’s different about Windows 8 is that it gives users a similar graphical user interface (GUI) on every platform, too. Microsoft has spent more than a decade trying to get cutdown versions of its operating system, with names like Windows CE, Pocket PC, and Windows Mobile, accepted on mobile platforms. Some of these systems even had scaled-down versions of the standard Windows desktop interface-complete with pop-up windows, buttons, scroll bars, and even tiny Start buttons. But their GUIs and APIs were just different enough to confuse programmers and users alike.

Windows 8 finally delivers consistent GUIs and APIs across the Microsoft ecosystem, although it is now the desktop that wears the tablet’s clothes.

It’s easy to find things that are wrong with Modern (which was called Metro in developer and early versions). For example, there are no overlapping windows, and there’s simply no way to put three or four applications on a single screen at the same time-even if your work space has a screen that’s 27 inches across. Windows 8 largely eliminates menus-the product of more than 40 years of usability research-and introduces a new system of touchbased text labels and controls that are frequently hidden and obscure. The interface is sparse-applications like e-mail and the address book now present far too little information on the screen, resulting in the need to frequently pan and scroll.

Complicating our understanding of whether these are bugs or features is the departure of Steve Sinofsky shortly after the product’s launch. Sinofsky, who had been president of Microsoft’s Windows Division and was seen as a likely successor to Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, was the very public face of the redesign. He spent more than a year documenting many of the more radical departures in his blog, Building Windows 8, with detailed posts that were supported with telemetry data captured from the millions of users who participated in

the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program. Microsoft will never admit that Windows 8 is a colossal mistake, but was Sinofsky’s sudden departure an admission of sorts that some of the changes were just too radical? Will they be undone in some soon-to-be-released Windows 8.5?

While many critics have decried Windows 8 as another Microsoft misstep, I think they’re wrong.

After using the new operating system in all its incarnations on a phone, on Microsoft’s Surface tablet, and on several desktops, I’ve come to regard it as truly transformative. Windows 8 will well serve the needs of those nontechnical users who just want to access their online social networks, watch Netflix, and go shopping-especially since the underlying system provides more security while making it easier for them to find, download, and install their (Microsoft-approved) apps. Windows 8 does a poor job of catering to knowledge workers like me who earn a living by synthesizing information from multiple data sources or use application programs that have hundreds of specialized features. But those brain-heavy office workers do not represent Microsoft’s present or future. Last year, Microsoft made just $18 billion (24 percent) of its $74 billion in revenue from the sale of Windows operating systems. Its real moneymakers in the corporate world are not operating systems for desktops but applications like Office and servers like Exchange. Many of Microsoft’s corporate and government users are only now upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7. Few corporate IT departments will immediately deploy Windows 8 to their desktops: they can continue to support older versions of the operating systems for years, or until Microsoft releases a version of the new operating system that’s appropriate for offices.

Windows 8 doesn’t need to be an efficient, productive-business-oriented operating system to be a success; it needs to win the home market by making laptops and desktops as much fun to use as phones and tablets.

The idea of a single operating system to be deployed on all computing platforms-from the slowest of cell phones to relatively high-performance laptops and desktops, and even supercomputershas clear technical benefits for users. Consider power efficiency: new algorithms and data structures inside the core of an operating system can let the kernel perform more functions while executing fewer instructions. Such changes extend the battery life when the OS is run on a cell phone. On a server in a data center, those same changes will lower electricity and cooling bills.

Developers also benefit from having a single OS. For example, it means that the same tools can be used to develop applications for all platforms, so advances can be made immediately available across the entire product line. A single OS with the same set of APIs also means that a programmer with experience working on, say, cell phones can be rapidly reassigned to work on a cloud-based application.—MCT

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

No sustained human-to-human transmission of bird flu: WHO China reports one more bird flu case

JALALABAD: An Afghan health worker (right) administers a polio vaccination to a child on the second day of a vaccination campaign in Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province yesterday. A new three-day nationwide immunization campaign against polio began on April 21 by Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health all over the country, officials said. — AFP

France salutes Nobel winner, WWII veteran PARIS: The French government paid tribute yesterday to Francois Jacob, a Free French fighter whose post-World War II work in genetics earned him a share of the 1965 Nobel Prize for Medicine. Jacob, who died on Friday at the age of 92, was “a great researcher, a great doctor, one of those strong personalities whose insistence on truth and science allowed him to write history,” said Health Minister Marisol Touraine.

The minister for higher education, Genevieve Fioraso, described Jacob as “an exceptional figure, one of those whose life and commitment are our country’s pride.”

Jacob, born in the eastern French city of Nancy in 1920, studied medicine before joining the Free French Forces in exile after France’s defeat to the Nazis in 1940.

He took part in four campaigns in North

Africa and France before being badly wounded in 1944 shortly after the D-Day landings. He was awarded France’s highest decoration for valor, the Liberation Cross, as well as the Legion of Honor. Jacob resumed his studies after the war with the idea of becoming a surgeon, but had to change career path because of the pain from his injuries. He threw himself into the emerging field of cellular biology, where he unlocked insights into how enzymes are created from transcription - the process by which DNA code is copied into a cousin molecule called RNA. He shared the 1965 Nobel with two colleagues, Jacques Monod and Andre Lwoff. Jacob married pianist Lysiane Bloch in 1947 and they had four children. He remarried in 1999 to Genevieve Barrier. — AFP

SHANGHAI: A top WHO influenza expert said yesterday there was still no evidence H7N9 bird flu was spreading in a “sustained” way between people in China, despite the possibility some family members may have infected one another.

China announced on March 31 that the virus had been discovered in humans for the first time and had confirmed 21 deaths and 104 cases yesterday with another fatality in Shanghai and two new cases in neighboring Zhejiang province.

Experts fear the prospect of such a virus mutating into a form easily transmissible between humans, which could then have the potential to trigger a pandemic.

“Right now we do not see evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission”, Keiji Fukuda, the World Health Organization’s assistant director general for health security and environment, said at a news conference in Shanghai.

Fukuda is part of a WHO team visiting China to study whether H7N9 was spreading among humans, which spent the last three days in Shanghai meeting government officials and visiting an agricultural market. Chinese health officials have acknowledged so-called “family clusters”, where members of a single family have become infected, but have so far declined to put it down to human-to-human transmission.

Commenting on the clusters, Fukuda said that based on all the available information, “it’s not clear why we have these small clusters”. He said families where more than one person had contracted the virus may have caught it from animals, the environment or one another.

“With other avian influenza viruses we have seen where you can have limited, person-to-person transmission, so there’s always the possibility,” Fukuda said. Health experts differentiate between sustained human-to-human transmission and limited transmission, in which family members or medical personnel caring for the ill become infected. The son of a man who was Shanghai’s first case of H7N9 was confirmed to have contracted the virus after an initial test ruled it out, Chinese officials said last week. The Shanghai government also said the husband of a woman confirmed with the virus had become sick with H7N9, but added there was not enough evidence to verify transmission between them.

“Family clusters in general do not change our understanding of the characteristics of the dis-

SHANGHAI: Keiji Fukuda (C) Assistant Director-General for Health Security and Environment in the World Health Organization (WHO) attends a press conference in Shanghai yesterday. — AFP ease,” Feng Zijian, an official of China’s disease control centre, said last week. “It is still passed from poultry to people and there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission,” he said.

Fukuda said an “unusual” characteristic of H7N9 was a higher number of cases in older people though the reason was unknown. He said it would take four to six months to develop a vaccine once the decision was made to do so, though preparatory work had already started.

China said earlier this month that it expects to have a vaccine ready in seven months.

Another reports that the H7N9 virus has killed 20 people in China. Although it is not clear how people are becoming infected, the World Health Organization (WHO) says there is no evidence of the most worrying scenario sustained transmission between people. A total of nine people in close contact with the victim in Shandong were under observation but were showing no signs of infection, Xinhua said. Other bird flu strains, such as H5N1, have been circulating for many years

and can be transmitted from bird to bird and bird to human, but do not generally pass from human to human. But Ho Pak-leung, an associate professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, noted in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) that in the two months since it was first detected, the H7N9 flu has already resulted in almost twice as many confirmed infections in China as H5N1 caused there in a decade. “H7N9 is much more transmissible to humans, and it’s much more difficult to track down,” he told the BMJ, adding “We don’t understand why it’s so difficult to find.” He said he did not believe the difficulties were related to sampling techniques or testing levels, but thought it could be that virus can only be detected in infected animals for a few days, meaning the timing of tests could be important. “It might be that they are not sampling enough animal species, and they may have to take a look at the less common species of birds being sold in Chinese markets,” he said. — Agencies

MSD launches campaign to raise awareness on sandstorms risks KUWAIT: As part of their ongoing commitment to raising awareness of key health problems that affect the local communities in which they work, MSD launched an awareness campaign to educate Kuwaiti citizens on the serious dangers sandstorms pose and provide information on the best ways to manage respiratory problems resulting from these storms. Hosted at the Marina hotel in Kuwait, the event brought together medical and environmental experts who discussed the causes and dangers of sandstorms, as well as the best way for Kuwaiti citizens to protect themselves during sandstorms.

Talking about their decision to launch the campaign, Mazen Altaruti, Managing Director of MSD Gulf said “On average, Kuwait faces up to 26 severe sandstorms each year.

In many cases these sandstorms can last for several hours or sometimes even the whole day, bring traffic to a standstill, forcing places of work and school to close and significantly increasing the number of hospitalizations. Officials have suggested that hos-

pital admissions due to respiratory diseases such as asthma have increased by more than 25 percent over the last few years, as a result of severe weather; particularly sandstorms.

At MSD we are committed to addressing the issues and health problems that affect the local community most, and in Kuwait sandstorms are a serious and growing problem.”

In addition to being a major safety issue, with increased car accidents as sandstorms can reduce visibility to almost zero, these storms are a major cause of allergic rhinitis. Sandstorms carry large amounts of allergens including bacteria, fungi, viruses and pollens and because sandstorms have the ability to carry these allergens over large distances, the risk of bacterial and viral infections greatly increases during the sandstorm season.

Elaborating on why sandstorms occur, Dr Hassan A Al-Dashti, Climatology Superintendent/ Meteorology Department-State of Kuwait, said “Sand or dust storms are a weather phenomenon that is represented by a confluence of dust particles

carried by turbulent and strong wind to higher altitude; which severely deteriorates the horizontal visibility in terms of meteorology. There are a number of different causes that play a role in dust eruption, dust transportation and dusts rising locally; most of these causes are directly related to the effecting pres-

sure systems, weather fronts and cumulus clouds. There are different sources of dust and aerosols; however, the most dominant source is dust traveling from neighboring region of Iraq, Syria and eastern territories of Jordan. The wind moves the dust south towards the UAE causing sandstorms. Farah went on to

Mazen Altaruti, Managing Director of MSD Gulf add “It is difficult to control sand or dust storms, due to the spread of deserts and sand dunes in the country and the surrounding regions; in fact this is one of the major reasons for the increase in sandstorms over the last few years.”

Talking about the health risk of sandstorms, Dr Mona Sulaiman AlAhmad, a Consultant Internist, Allergist and Clinical Immunologist for the department of allergy, at the Kuwait Ministry of Health “Sandstorms are a

major cause of bacterial and viral infection particular amongst those with weaker immune systems such as the elderly and pediatrics, in addition to those with compromised immune systems. Additionally, because of the large load of pollen s that these storms carry, allergies commonly known as allergic rhinitis, and allergic asthma, are also a big emerging problem. In severe cases and when left untreated, allergic rhinitis can lead to asthma, even in patients with no previous history of this illness.

The awareness campaign which is supposed to run over the next few months, in-line with Kuwait’s sandstorm season; will focus on providing patients and medical professionals with important information on how to manage allergies and respiratory problems during these sandy months. Globally it is estimated that over 400 million people suffer from allergies, and over 22 percent of Kuwaiti school children suffer from allergic rhinitis.

Research has shown that by simply raising awareness of key disease areas the health and well being of citizens is significantly improved.

W H AT ’ S O N

EQUATE sponsors physical rehabilitation program

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hat’s more fun than clicking a beautiful picture? Sharing it with others! Let other people see the way you see Kuwait - through your lens. Friday Times will feature snapshots of Kuwait through Instagram feeds. If you want to share your Instagram photos, email us at instagram@kuwaittimes.net

Greetings

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special birthday wish to our sunshine Rohan!

May you stay as bright as ever. May God pour all his love and warmth on you and have God’s best in everything. You’re a special little guy.

We love you so very much. Happy birthday to our Chackochan (Rohan Laku on his 3rd Birthday).

Wishes from Kunjunju (Ryan), Ammuchechi (Kripa), Appa, Amma, Linupa, Thottathil and Areekal Family.

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

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QUATE Petrochemical Company yesterday announced its support for the physical rehabilitation program at non-profit physical rehabilitation centre, Fawzia Sultan Rehabilitation Institute (FSRI). The physical rehabilitation program established by the FSRI, aims to provide cutting-edge physical rehabilitation treatment through a multi-disciplinary approach for those from the lower economic strata who are unable to afford medical treatment in Kuwait and abroad.

On this occasion, EQUATE VP Technical Services and head of EQUATE Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Team, Mohammad Al-Benali, said, “As the areas of medicine and health are key components of EQUATE CSR Program, the company is currently collaborating with FSRI to support persons unable to afford the cost of relevant medical care to reflect EQUATE’s ‘Partners in Success’ tagline “ On her part, the President and Medical Director at FSRI, Dr. ElhamHamdan, said, “We are glad to work together with EQUATE, a company that has had a solid record of initiatives in the field of medicine and health through this sponsorship agreement. As a multi-disciplinary non-profit organization that aims to provide comprehensive rehabilitative services to the community and people with financial difficulties, these collaborative opportunities are essential in order for us to continue our mission in improving the quality of medical care in the country in the various areas of physical rehabilitation and treatment.”

Established in 1995, EQUATE is an international joint venture between Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), Boubyan Petrochemical Company (BPC) and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC).Commencing production in 1997, EQUATE is the single operator of a fully integrated world-scale manufacturing facility producing over 5 million tons annually of high-quality petrochemical products which is marketed throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.

Established in 2006 with a mission to promote well-

ness and provide effective physical rehabilitation solutions for the people in Kuwait and the Gulf region, Fawzia Sultan Rehabilitation Institute (FSRI) is a leading multi-disciplinary non-profit organization that aims to empower people with acute injuries and long-term disabilities, the community at large and healthcare professionals alike.

With a strong focus in collaborative, education and community service, FSRI focuses on physical rehabilitation in specific areas such as psychology, physiotherapy,

speech therapy, occupational therapy, and nutritional counseling; integrating fundamental clinical aspects such as research, clinical care, education, training and service delivery to achieve this goal. A clinical hub for health services and training, FSRI is equipped with cutting-edge physical rehabilitation technology and research as well as highly trained therapists’ from North America, Australia and U.K to Kuwait and provides world-class services for the people in Kuwait and the Gulf region.

GUST Writing Lab receives ACK English, Foundation departments

Announcements NAFO ‘Samanwayam’ he 10th anniversary of NAFO Kuwait will be celebrated on May 10 at the American International School Auditorium from 6pm onwards. Indian Ambassador Satish C Mehta will inaugurate the event.

Former Indian Ambassador to the US and the United Nations T P Sreenivasan and NSS Director Board Member Pandalam Sivankutty will be guests of honor.

NAFO will also present an eclectic dance drama ‘Krishna’ which is conceived and choreographed by Padmashri Shobana. She will be accompanied by a 15-member troupe from Kalarpana Chennai and supported by Oscar winner Rasool Pookkutty. It has voice-overs in English by film personalities such as Irrfan Khan, Konkonasen, Shabaana Azmi, John Abraham, Prakash Raj, Stephen Devassy and P Rajeevan. For details, contact email: contact@nafoglobal.org

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‘Shaastrotsav 2013’ haastrotsav, the Festival of Science, which is the most popular science and technology event in Kuwait, will be held on Friday, April 26. This year NSS College of Engineering Alumni (Kuwait Chapter) and the Institution of Engineers (India) Kuwait Chapter are jointly organizing ‘Shaastrotsav’ which will be held at Salmiya Indian Model School (SIMS), Kuwait. More than 400 students from various schools in Kuwait will be displaying their science and technology skills in the science project exhibition and various other competitions which will take place from 10 am to 5 pm. For details, website: www.shaastrotsav.org

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Konkani musical show nited Friends Club - Kuwait presents Kuwait Trio’s Konkani Songit Sanz (a Konkani musical evening) with fun filled comedy and songs, starring: Gracy Rodrigues, Clemmie Pereira, Irene Vaz, Lucy Aranha, Espy Crasto, Bab. Agnel, Katty de Navelim, Salu Faleiro, Gasper Crasto, Braz de Parra, Anthony D’Silva, Agnelo Fernandes, Seby & Seby, Zeferino Mendes, Lopes Bros., Comedian Nelson, Laurente Pereira & Cajetan de Sanvordem-Michael D’Silva-Mario de Majorda (Kuwait Trio). The show will be held on Friday, 10th May 2013 at 4 pm at the Indian Community School (Senior), Salmiya, Kuwait. Music will be provided by Maestro Shahu.

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he Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) Writing Lab, under the supervision of Dr. Janet Testerman, received Camille Bondi, Head of the Australian College of Kuwait (ACK) Foundation Department and Dr AbdulalsatarMahfoudhi, Head of the ACK English Department for a meeting at the GUST Writing Lab. ACK is interested in opening a writing lab for their students, which was the main reason for their visit. The main focus of the meeting was to share with ACK methods the writing lab uses to improve students’ grammar and writing skills.

Blessen George Memorial Ever Rolling Volleyball Tournament 2013

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KALA-Balakalamela registeration alakalamela-2013, the art and cultural competition for Indian students in Kuwait, organized yearly by KALA-Kuwait is scheduled to be conducted on 3 May 2013 at Indian Public school, Salmiya. The completions are open for Indian students from Class 1 to 12 categorized as Sub Juniors (Class 1~4), Juniors (Class 5~8) and Seniors (9-12). The completions will be held for Bharathanatyam, Mohiniyattam, Folk Dance, Group Dance, Light Music, Classical Music, Fancy Dress, Elocution (English & Malayalam), Essay (English & Malayalam), Recitation (English & Malayalam) in 6 different stages in the venue. The registrations can be done through schools or directly through KALA web site ‘www.kalaonweb.com’ or directly handed over to any of the nearest KALA-units, or to sent to our e-mail ‘kalabalakalamela@gmail.com’ on or before 20 April 2013.

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

GUST’s Writing Lab is unique in terms of having one-to-one sessions, which helps the student focus on thespecific problems that they face and how to avoid them. The Writing Lab also coordinates with the GUST professors to meet their needs in terms of improving the outcomes of their students. GUST studentsare able to schedule appointments for their sessions beforehand anytime between 8:00 am to 5:00 pm to avoid conflicts with their classes. Two TAs are available at the Writing Lab. Heba Ibrahim works from 8:00 amto 3:00 pm and Reem Al-Nesef works from 10 am to 5:00 pm.

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lessen George Foundation, which organized the first Blessen George Memorial Volleyball Tournament in Kuwait in 2012 from April 12 to 14 is organizing the second Blessen George Memorial Ever Rolling Volleyball Tournament from 24th April to 27th April 2013 in cooperation with leading Indian social and cultural organizations and with the support of sports loving personalities in Kuwait. The main objectives of Blessen George Foundation and the purpose of holding the Volleyball Tournament in Kuwait can be summed up as follows:To keep alive the memory of Blessen George, who was considered the greatest all-rounder in Volleyball Kerala has produced and who played for Kerala University, Kerala State and Indian National Team, Kerala Police, Kerala Electricity Board, Abu Dhabi Police Team,

Dallas Strikers and for other local and international Clubs in 70s and early 80s.

To revive the game of Volleyball in Kerala and among the Indian expatriate community in Kuwait. To promote Sports and Games and to encourage budding sports talents among the younger generation of Indian community in Kuwait.

1. To develop and foster friendship between people of various communities crossing the Tournament will commence on Wednesday 24th April at 7 pm with League matches between the Club Teams after the opening ceremony. The League matches will continue on Thursday 25th April. The Semi Finals and the matches of the School Teams will be held on Friday 26th April.

The Final and Loser’s Final of the Club Teams and the final of The School

Boys’ Teams will be held on Saturday 27th April. The matches of Friday and Saturday will start at 5 pm.

Trophies, medals and prize Money will be offered as follows: Club Teams:- Trophy and Prize Money of KD 501 for the Winning Team of the Club Teams; Trophy and Prize money of KD 251 for the Runner-up of the Club Teams; Trophy and Prize Money of KD 101 for the Third Placed Club Team; Special Award for the Player of the Tournament; Man of the Match Award from the SemiFinal stage School Boys Teams; On the Final day of the Tournament, Blessen George Foundation will offer outstanding sportsman and sportswoman awards to students of every Indian School in Kuwait nominated by the School management with the motive of encouraging promising sportspersons among the younger generation.

2. Teams of the tournament Club teams Based on the Tournament Organizing Committee’s decision to give preference to Club Teams who have Players played or playing at University, State or National levels, with the aim of having high standard games, the Team Registration Committee has selected the following Club Teams for the Tournament:- Riggae Volley-UAE Exchange; S.D.F.C. (Nepail); Asharafiya; Amaz Shipping; Team ACME; Bobby Chemmannur International; School Boys’ Teams: United Indian School, Abbassiya; Carmel School, Khaitan; Integrated Indian School, Abbassiya; India International School, Mangaf; School Girls’ Teams; The Indian Schools in Kuwait do not have Volleyball Teams so far. However, United Indian School Sports Teacher took the initiative in this matter and he developed and trained two Girls Teams from his School to participate in this year’s BGMV Tournament and in future CBSE Interschool matches. The two Teams are as follows:- United Sixes; UIS Flames.

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

W H AT ’ S O N

Al-Sanabel Al-Thahabiya and Sebamed participate in health awareness week

Sebamed goes Instagram

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Australian Embassy Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department.

All processing of visas and immigration matters in conducted by The Australian Consulate-General in Dubai. Email: info.ausdxb@vfshelpline.com (VFS) immigration.dubai@dfat.gov.au (Visa Office); Tel: +971 4 355 1958 (VFS) - +971 4 508 7200 (Visa Office); Fax: +971 4 355 0708 (Visa Office). In Kuwait applications can be lodged at the Australian Visa Application Centre 4B 1st Floor, Al-Banwan Building Al-Qibla Area, Ali Al-Salem Street, opposite the Central Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait City, Kuwait. Working hours and days: 09:30 - 17:30; Sunday - Thursday. Or visit their website www.vfs-au-gcc-com for more information. Kuwait citizens can apply for tourist visas on-line at www.immi.gov.au/e visa/e676.htm. nnnnnnn

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e are glad to inform you that we launched our site on instagram.

Follow us on @sebamedkuwait and (hashtag) #sebamedkuwait.

We plan to launch a contest about the daily life with sebamed involving all family members, so follow us for more details, for the weekly contest and prizes.

Tomorrow! Look For Details On Sebamed Contest.. Be Ready.. Join Us.. All Are Welcome.

Al-Sanabel Al-Thahabiya and Sebamed participated in the 4th health awareness day, organized by Al-Israa High School in Surrs yesterday. The event was organized as part of the unified Gulf week to boost the dental and oral health. A large number of students from various schools participated.

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

Palestinian Cultural Center opens spring exhibition

EMBASSY OF CYPRUS In its capacity as EU Local Presidency in the State of Kuwait, the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus, on behalf of the Member States of the EU and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, would like to announce that as from 2nd October 2012 all Schengen States’ Consulates in Kuwait will use the Visa Information System (VIS). The VIS is a central database for the exchange of data on shortstay (up to three months) visas between Schengen States. The main objectives of the VIS are to facilitate visa application procedures and checks at external border as well as to enhance security. The VIS will contain all the Schengen visa applications lodged by an applicant over five years and the decisions taken by any Schengen State’s consulate. This will allow applicants to establish more easily the lawful use of previous visas and their bona fide status. For the purpose of the VIS, applicants will be required to provide their biometric data (fingerprints and digital photos) when applying for a Schengen visa. It is a simple and discreet procedure that only takes a few minutes. Biometric data, along with the data provided in the Schengen visa application form, will be recorded in the VIS central database. Therefore, as from 2nd October 2012, first-time applicants will have to appear in person when lodging the application, in order to provide their fingerprints. For subsequent applications within 5 years the fingerprints can be copied from the previous application file in the VIS. The Cypriot Presidency would like to assure the people of Kuwait and all its permanent citizens that the Member States and associated States participating in the Schengen cooperation, have taken all necessary technical measures to facilitate the rapid examination and the efficient processing of visa applications and to ensure a quick and discreet procedure for the implementation of the new VIS. nnnnnnn

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alestinian Ambassador to Kuwait Rami Tahboub opened the spring exhibition of the Palestinian Culture Center. The exhibition is being held in cooperation with Bayt Lothan. The exhibition aims to preserve Palestinian handicrafts, to reaffirm the Palestinian national identity as well as empowering refugee

women in the camps. We display classic designs intertwined with modern uses, colors, and motifs to showcase some of the creativity of the Palestinian women. Items on sale include: cushions, scarves, shawls, long traditional dresses as well as smaller items. We also have handmade ceramics from Palestine, books, music, and

movies. There will be a bake sale of traditional foods on Thursday and in the evening children’s activities. ‘Dabkah’ our Folkdance will be on Thursday at 6:30 evening. Venue: Bayt Lothan, Salmiya, next to Marina Mall Dates: Monday, April 22 to Thursday, April 25, 2013 Hours: Mornings: 10:00 am - 1:30 pm - Evenings: 4:30 pm - 8:30 pm.

EMBASSY OF KENYA The Embassy of the Republic of Kenya wishes to inform the Kenyan community residents throughout Kuwait and the general public that the Embassy has acquired new office telephone numbers as follows: 25353982, 25353985 - Consular’s enquiries 25353987 - Fax Our Email address: info@kenyaembkuwait.com. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF MEXICO The Embassy of Mexico to Kuwait has the pleasure to announce the opening of its Consular Section where visa applications are already being handled. The Consular Section is open to the public from Sundays-Thursdays 09.00-12.00 hrs. at Cliffs Complex in Salmiya, Villa No. 6 (3rd floor). nnnnnnn

EMBASSY GREECE The Embassy of Greece in Kuwait has the pleasure to announce that visa applications must be submitted to Schengen Visa Application Centre (VFS office) located at 12th floor, Al-Naser Tower, Fahad Al-Salem Street, Al-Qibla area, Kuwait City, (Parking at Souk Watia). For information please call 22281046 from 08:30 to 17:00 (Sunday to Thursday).

Working hours: Submission from 08:30 to 15:30. Passport collection from 16:00 to 17:00. For visa applications please visit the following website www.mfa.gr/kuwait. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF ALBANIA The Embassy of the Republic of Albania to the State of Kuwait would like to inform that on 03.04.2013, the new Albanian Ambassador, Kujtim Morina presented credential letters to His Highness, the Amir of the State of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah. The address of the embassy is the same: Al - Zahra, Block 8, Street 802, Villa 169, Kuwait,P.O.BOX 3090, Safat 13131. The ebassy offers consular services as well. Working hours are from 9:00 to 14:00, Sunday through Thursday.

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

TV PROGRAMS

00:45 Rogue Nature With Dave Salmoni 01:35 Untamed & Uncut 02:25 Wildest Islands 03:15 Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer 03:40 Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer 04:05 My Cat From Hell 04:55 Call Of The Wildman 05:20 Orangutan Island 05:45 Wild Africa Rescue 06:10 Wild Africa Rescue 06:35 Wildlife SOS 07:00 The Really Wild Show 07:25 Must Love Cats 08:15 Dogs 101: Specials 09:10 Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild 10:05 Wildest Islands 11:00 Animal Cops Houston 11:55 Call Of The Wildman 12:20 Wildlife SOS 12:50 Shamwari: A Wild Life 13:15 Shamwari: A Wild Life 13:45 Animal Precinct 14:40 Wildest Islands 15:30 Orangutan Island 16:00 The Really Wild Show 16:30 Dogs 101: Specials 17:25 Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife 18:20 Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer 18:45 Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer 19:15 Monkey Life 19:40 Rescue Vet 20:10 Call Of The Wildman 20:35 Orangutan Island 21:05 Wildest Islands 22:00 Shamwari: A Wild Life 22:25 Shamwari: A Wild Life 22:55 World Wild Vet 23:50 Animal Cops Phoenix

00:40 Come Dine With Me 01:30 Masterchef: The Professionals 02:15 Gok’s Fashion Fix 03:00 What To Eat Now - Summer 03:25 Cash In The Attic 04:10 Bargain Hunt 04:55 Britain’s Dream Homes 05:45 Gok’s Fashion Fix 06:35 New Scandinavian Cooking 07:00 The Good Cook 07:30 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 08:10 Homes Under The Hammer 09:05 Bargain Hunt 09:50 Antiques Roadshow 10:40 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 11:25 Masterchef: The Professionals 12:10 Come Dine With Me 13:00 The Good Cook 13:30 New Scandinavian Cooking 13:55 Cash In The Attic 14:40 Bargain Hunt 15:25 Antiques Roadshow 16:15 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 17:00 Homes Under The Hammer 17:55 The Roux Legacy 18:30 Nigel Slater’s Simple Cooking 18:55 Baking Made Easy 19:20 New Scandinavian Cooking 19:45 Come Dine With Me 20:35 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 21:20 Antiques Roadshow 22:15 Bargain Hunt 23:00 Homes Under The Hammer 23:55 Cash In The Attic

00:00 00:30 01:00 01:30 01:45 02:00 02:30 02:45 03:00 03:30 03:45 04:00 04:30 04:45 05:00

BBC World News America BBC World News America Newsday Asia Business Report Sport Today Newsday Asia Business Report Sport Today Newsday Asia Business Report Sport Today BBC World News Asia Business Report Sport Today BBC World News

05:30 Asia Business Report 05:45 Sport Today 06:00 BBC World News 06:30 Hardtalk 07:00 BBC World News 07:30 World Business Report 07:45 BBC World News 08:00 BBC World News 08:30 World Business Report 08:45 BBC World News 09:00 BBC World News 09:30 World Business Report 09:45 BBC World News 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 World Business Report 10:45 BBC World News 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Hardtalk 12:00 BBC World News 12:30 World Business Report 12:45 Sport Today 13:00 BBC World News 13:30 BBC World News 14:00 GMT With George Alagiah 14:30 GMT With George Alagiah 15:00 BBC World News 15:30 World Business Report 15:45 Sport Today 16:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 16:30 Impact With Mishal Husain 17:00 Impact With Mishal Husain 17:30 Hardtalk 18:00 Global With John Sopel 18:30 Global With John Sopel 19:00 Global With John Sopel 19:30 World Business Report 19:45 Sport Today 20:00 BBC World News 20:30 BBC Focus On Africa 21:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 21:30 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 22:00 World News Today With Zeinab Badawi 22:30 World Business Report 22:45 Sport Today 23:00 Business Edition With Tanya Beckett 23:30 Hardtalk

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

Wacky Races Duck Dodgers Duck Dodgers Dastardly And Muttley 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 Bananas In Pyjamas Lazytown Krypto: The Super Dog Baby Looney Tunes Gerald McBoing Boing Cartoonito Tales Lazy Town Baby Looney Tunes Krypto: The Super Dog Cartoonito Tales Jelly Jamm Gerald McBoing Boing Lazy Town Jelly Jamm Tom & Jerry Kids A Pup Named Scooby-Doo Moomins Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries Tiny Toon Adventures The 13 Ghosts Of Scooby-Doo Taz-Mania Tom & Jerry Tales Moomins The Garfield Show The Looney Tunes Show Tiny Toon Adventures Taz-Mania The Pagemaster The Looney Tunes Show Taz-Mania Puppy In My Pocket What’s New Scooby-Doo? Looney Tunes Dexter’s Laboratory

22:15 23:05 23:30 23:55

Tom & Jerry Tales Pink Panther And Pals Pink Panther And Pals Moomins

00:30 Grim Adventures Of...

01:20 Johnny Test 02:10 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 02:35 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 03:00 The Amazing World Of Gumball 03:25 Regular Show 03:50 Ben 10: Omniverse 04:15 Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated 04:40 Powerpuff Girls 05:05 Evil Con Carne 05:30 Cow & Chicken 06:00 Casper’s Scare School 06:30 Angelo Rules 07:00 Ben 10 Omniverse 07:25 The Amazing World Of Gumball 07:45 Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated 08:10 Evil Con Carne 08:55 Adventure Time 09:45 Regular Show 10:35 Angelo Rules 11:25 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 11:50 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 12:15 Hero 108 12:40 Hero 108 13:05 Mucha Lucha !

13:30 Angelo Rules 14:20 Evil Con Carne 15:10 Ben 10 15:35 Ben 10 16:00 Johnny Test 16:35 Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated 17:00 Ben 10 Omniverse 17:25 Dreamworks Dragons: Riders Of Berk 17:50 The Amazing World Of Gumball 18:15 Adventure Time 18:40 Regular Show 19:05 Total Drama World Tour 19:30 Total Drama World Tour 19:55 Starwars: The Clone Wars 20:20 Ben 10: Omniverse 20:45 Hero 108 21:10 Young Justice 21:35 Green Lantern: The Animated Series 22:00 Ben 10 22:25 Ben 10 22:50 Mucha Lucha !

23:15 Mucha Lucha !

23:40 Powerpuff Girls

00:00 Amanpour 00:30 World Sport 01:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 02:00 World Report 02:30 World Sport 03:00 Anderson Cooper 360 04:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 05:00 Quest Means Business 06:00 The Situation Room 07:00 World Sport 07:30 African Voices 08:00 World Report 09:00 World Report 10:00 World Sport 10:30 Talk Asia 11:00 World Business Today 12:00 World One 12:30 News Special 13:00 Amanpour 13:30 CNN Newscenter 14:00 Piers Morgan Tonight 15:00 News Stream 16:00 World Business Today 17:00 International Desk 18:00 Global Exchange 19:00 World Sport 19:30 News Special 20:00 International Desk 21:00 Quest Means Business 22:00 Amanpour 22:30 CNN Newscenter 23:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson

NOWHERE TO RUN ON OSN ACTION HD

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

Gold Rush Jungle Gold One Car Too Far Mythbusters Border Security Auction Hunters Baggage Battles How Do They Do It? How It’s Made Sons Of Guns Mythbusters Moonshiners American Chopper Border Security Auction Hunters Baggage Battles How Do They Do It? How It’s Made Gold Rush Jungle Gold One Car Too Far Border Security Auction Hunters Baggage Battles Ultimate Survival American Chopper Mythbusters Sons Of Guns How Do They Do It? How It’s Made Auction Hunters Baggage Battles Dual Survival Yukon Men Finding Bigfoot

00:05 The Tech Show 00:30 Weird Connections 01:00 Things That Move 01:25 Things That Move 01:50 Weird Or What?

02:45 X-Machines 03:35 Things That Move 04:00 Things That Move 04:25 Kings Of Construction 05:15 Gadget Show - World Tour 05:40 The Tech Show 06:05 The World’s Strangest UFO Stories 07:00 Scrapheap Challenge 07:50 Prototype This 08:40 Gadget Show - World Tour 09:05 The Tech Show 09:30 Smash Lab 10:25 Nextworld 11:15 Robocar 12:05 Moon Machines 13:00 Prototype This 13:50 Weird Connections 14:20 Gadget Show - World Tour 14:45 The Tech Show 15:10 Scrapheap Challenge 16:00 Smash Lab 16:55 Sci-Fi Saved My Life 17:45 Kings Of Construction 18:35 The World’s Strangest UFO Stories 19:30 Scrapheap Challenge 20:20 Prototype This 21:10 Gadget Show - World Tour 21:35 The Tech Show 22:00 Scrapheap Challenge 22:50 Weird Or What?

23:40 Gadget Show - World Tour

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

Hannah Montana Forever Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Emperor’s New School Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Brandy & Mr Whiskers Replacements Replacements Emperor’s New School Emperor’s New School Brandy & Mr Whiskers Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Doc McStuffins Hannah Montana Hannah Montana A.N.T. Farm Jessie Jessie Good Luck Charlie Good Luck Charlie Austin And Ally Austin And Ally Shake It Up Shake It Up Suite Life On Deck Suite Life On Deck Hannah Montana Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place Jessie A.N.T. Farm A.N.T. Farm Hannah Montana Hannah Montana Good Luck Charlie Jessie Shake It Up A.N.T. Farm Austin And Ally Suite Life On Deck Minnie And You Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Minnie And You That’s So Raven Cory In The House Good Luck Charlie Jessie Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place Phil Of The Future Hannah Montana Jonas Los Angeles Sonny With A Chance Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place Hannah Montana Forever

00:00 Scouted 00:55 Style Star 01:25 15 Most Infamous Child Star Mugshots 03:15 Style Star 03:40 Extreme Close-Up 04:10 E!es 05:05 THS 06:00 THS 07:50 Style Star 08:20 E! News

09:15 Giuliana & Bill 10:15 E!es 11:10 E!es 12:05 E! News 13:05 Ice Loves Coco 13:35 Ice Loves Coco 14:05 Kourtney & Kim Take York 14:30 Kourtney & Kim Take York 15:00 Style Star 15:30 THS 16:30 Extreme Close-Up 17:00 Keeping Up With Kardashians 18:00 Keeping Up With Kardashians 19:00 THS 20:00 Married To Jonas 20:30 Giuliana & Bill 21:30 Giuliana & Bill 22:30 Fashion Police 23:30 Chelsea Lately

New New

The The

00:05 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 00:30 Outrageous Food 00:55 Unwrapped 01:20 Unwrapped 01:45 Reza’s African Kitchen 02:10 Reza’s African Kitchen 02:35 Andy Bates American Street Feasts 03:00 Andy Bates American Street Feasts 03:25 Unique Eats 03:50 Andy Bates Street Feasts 04:15 Andy Bates American Street Feasts 04:40 Chopped 05:30 Iron Chef America 06:10 Food Network Challenge 07:00 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 07:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 07:50 Unique Eats 08:15 Andy Bates Street Feasts 08:40 Andy Bates American Street Feasts 09:05 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 09:30 The Next Iron Chef 10:45 Extra Virgin 11:10 Everyday Italian 11:35 Unwrapped 12:00 Staten Island Cakes 12:50 Have Cake, Will Travel 13:15 Barefoot Contessa 13:40 Barefoot Contessa 14:05 Extra Virgin 14:30 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 14:55 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 15:20 Guy’s Big Bite 15:45 Chopped 16:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 17:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 17:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 17:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 18:15 Symon’s Suppers 18:40 Guy’s Big Bite 19:05 Tyler’s Ultimate 19:30 Chopped 20:20 Chopped 21:10 Iron Chef America 22:00 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Special 22:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 23:15 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 23:40 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives

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

Dr G: Medical Examiner A Haunting Deadly Sins Who On Earth...

Who On Earth...

I Almost Got Away With It Dr G: Medical Examiner A Haunting FBI Case Files Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

On The Case With Paula Zahn FBI Case Files Disappeared Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol Forensic Detectives On The Case With Paula Zahn Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry?

Disappeared FBI Case Files Forensic Detectives On The Case With Paula Zahn Disappeared Nightmare Next Door Couples Who Kill Couples Who Kill Deadly Women I Almost Got Away With It

00:15 Fancy Fast Food 00:45 Ep 1 01:40 Ep 7 02:05 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita, 10 02:35 Lisbon 03:00 Bluelist Australia, 1 03:30 Empire of The Children of The Sun 04:25 Crossing The Rhone 04:50 Tennessee 05:20 Ep 1 06:15 Jamaica 06:40 Venice 07:10 Coming To Italy 07:35 Fancy Fast Food 08:05 Ep 1 09:00 Ep 7 09:25 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita, 10 09:55 Lisbon 10:20 Bluelist Australia, 1 10:50 Empire of The Children of The Sun 11:45 Crossing The Rhone 12:10 Tennessee 12:40 Sri Lanka 13:35 Sardinia 14:00 Morocco 14:30 Sweet Tooth 14:55 Making Scents 15:25 Ep 2 16:20 Ep 8 16:45 Ep 9 17:15 New York 17:40 Bluelist Australia, 2 18:10 Heirs of The Andes 19:05 Over The Alps

THE DARKEST HOUR ON OSN CINEMA 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:30 22:00 22:55 23:20 23:50

New Orleans Sweet Tooth Making Scents Sardinia Morocco Ep 2 Mexico Singapore The Black Diamonds

06:00 10:00 12:00 13:45 15:45 17:45 20:00 22:00

00:00 02:00 04:00 08:00 10:00 11:45 13:45 15:45 18:00 20:00 22:00 PG15

Nowhere To Run-18 AVP: Alien vs Predator-PG15 Four Brothers-PG15 Friday Night Lights-PG15 Deadly Hope-PG15 The Ring-PG15 Friday Night Lights-PG15 Mission: Impossible III-PG15 The Ring-PG15 Fright Night-PG15 Starship Troopers: Invasion-

00:00 Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy-PG15 02:00 Caddyshack-18 04:00 3 Holiday Tails-PG15 06:00 Wayne’s World-PG15 08:00 Elf-PG 10:00 Wayne’s World 2-PG15 12:00 3 Holiday Tails-PG15 14:00 Lying To Be Perfect-PG15 16:00 Wayne’s World 2-PG15 18:00 Just Crazy Enough-PG15 20:00 Old School-18 22:00 Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy-PG15

01:00 Madea’s Big Happy FamilyPG15 03:00 Golden Christmas 3-PG15 05:00 Marley & Me: The Puppy Years-PG 07:00 Larry Crowne-PG15 09:00 Madea’s Big Happy FamilyPG15 11:00 When Love Is Not EnoughPG15 13:00 Princess Lillifee-FAM 15:00 What’s Wrong With VirginiaPG15 17:00 Second Chances-PG15 19:00 The Darkest Hour-PG15 21:00 Hemingway & Gellhorn-18 23:30 The Sitter-18

00:30 The Daily Show Global Edition 01:00 The Colbert Report Global Edition 02:00 Louie 03:00 Hot In Cleveland 03:30 Malibu Country 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Hope & Faith 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:30 Hope & Faith 09:00 Hot In Cleveland 13:00 Hope & Faith 14:00 Malibu Country 15:30 The Daily Show Global Edition 16:00 The Colbert Report Global Edition 18:00 Hot In Cleveland 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 The New Normal 22:30 South Park 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Supernatural Game Of Thrones Once Upon A Time Greek Alphas Supernatural Emmerdale Coronation Street The Closer Once Upon A Time Alphas Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Closer Supernatural Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show The Closer Grey’s Anatomy House Of Cards The Americans American Horror Story Greek

02:00 Nowhere To Run 04:00 AVP: Alien vs Predator

01:30 03:15 05:15 07:15 09:15 11:00 12:45 14:15 16:00 17:45 21:00 23:00

Four Brothers Friday Night Lights Deadly Hope The Ring Friday Night Lights Mission: Impossible III The Ring Fright Night

The First Grader-PG15 Ironclad-18 Oscar-PG15 Swing Kids-PG15 The Imposter-PG15 B-Girl-PG15 Paws-PG The Imposter-PG15 Love Finds A Home-PG15 Gandhi-PG The End Of The Affair-18 Woodstock-18

01:00 Another Earth-PG15 03:00 The Dragon Chronicles: Fire & Ice-PG15 05:00 Rio-FAM 07:00 Win Win-PG15 09:00 I Don’t Know How She Does It-PG15 10:45 We Bought A Zoo-PG 13:00 War Horse-PG15 15:30 Marion Jones: Press PausePG15 17:00 I Don’t Know How She Does It-PG15 19:00 The Descendants-PG15 21:00 American Reunion-18 23:00 The Samaritan-18

01:00 MIA And The Migoo 02:45 Tommy & Oscar 04:30 Wheelers 06:00 MIA And The Migoo 08:00 Moomins And The Comet Chase 10:00 A Monster In Paris 11:30 Hop 13:15 The Apple & The Worm 14:45 Cheaper By The Dozen 16:30 The Three Bears: Dreadful Dangers 18:00 A Monster In Paris 20:00 Horrid Henry 22:00 The Apple & The Worm 23:30 The Three Bears: Dreadful Dangers

00:00 MSNBC Hardball With Chris Matthews 01:00 MSNBC Politicsnation 02:00 Live NBC Nightly News 02:30 ABC World News With Diane Sawyer 03:00 MSNBC The Ed Show 04:00 MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 05:00 MSNBC The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell 06:00 NBC Nightly News 06:30 ABC World News With Diane Sawyer 07:00 Live NBC Nightly News 07:39 ABC Nightline 08:06 Live MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 09:00 MSNBC The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell 10:00 ABC World News Now 10:30 Live ABC World News Now

11:00 NBC Early Today 11:30 ABC America This Morning 12:00 ABC America This Morning 12:30 Live ABC America This Morning 13:00 Live ABC America This Morning 13:30 MSNBC First Look 14:00 Live NBC Today Show 17:57 Live MSNBC Hardball With Chris Matthews 18:38 Live MSNBC The Ed Show 19:19 Live MSNBC The Rachel Maddow Show 20:00 MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports 21:00 MSNBC Newsnation 22:00 MSNBC The Cycle 23:00 MSNBC Martin Bashir

01:00 04:30 06:30 07:00 11:00 12:00 16:00 16:30 20:00 20:30 21:00

Premier League Darts International Rugby League ICC Cricket 360 Snooker AFL Premiership Highlights Live Snooker ICC Cricket 360 Live Snooker NRL Full Time ICC Cricket 360 Live Snooker

00:00 Trans World Sport 01:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 02:00 Snooker World Championship 06:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 07:00 Super League 08:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 09:00 PGA Tour Highlights 10:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 11:00 Super Rugby 13:00 International Rugby League 15:00 Trans World Sport 16:00 Rugby League Challenge Cup 17:30 Super Rugby 18:30 Inside European Tour Highlights 19:30 PGA Tour Highlights 20:30 PGA European Tour Highlights 21:30 Futbol Mundial 22:00 WWE SmackDown

00:00 PGA Tour Highlights 01:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 02:00 Golfing World 03:00 Pro 12 05:00 World Cup Of Pool 06:00 Trans World Sport 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 ITU World Triathlon 10:30 ICC Cricket 360 11:00 World Pool Masters 12:00 World Cup Of Pool 13:00 Top 14 Highlights 13:30 Futbol Mundial 14:00 Golfing World 15:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 16:00 London Marathon 19:00 ICC Cricket 360 19:30 Top 14 Highlights 20:00 AFL Premiership 22:30 Rugby League Challenge Cup

00:00 Advanture Challenge 01:00 NHL 03:00 UFC Countdown 04:00 US Bass Fishing 05:00 NHL 07:00 WWE NXT 08:00 WWE Bottom Line 09:00 Ping Pong World Championships 10:00 US Bass Fishing 11:00 NHL 13:00 WWE Experience 14:00 Prizefighter 17:00 Ping Pong World Championships 18:00 WWE This Week 18:30 NHL 20:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 21:00 UFC 159 Countdown 22:00 UFC Prelims

Classifieds TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

Kuwait

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY

(18/04/2013 TO 24/04/2013) SHARQIA-1 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 DEAD MAN DOWN (DIG) IT TAKES A MAN AND A WOMAN (DIG) (FILIPINO) THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 KON-TIKI (DIG) THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 SHARQIA-2 SKY FORCE (DIG-3D) SKY FORCE (DIG-3D) G.I. JOE: RETALIATION (DIG-3D) THE HOST (DIG) THE HOST (DIG) THE HOST (DIG) SHARQIA-3 OBLIVION (DIG) FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) OBLIVION (DIG) FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) OBLIVION (DIG) FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) MUHALAB-1 DEAD MAN DOWN (DIG) THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 GET LUCKY (DIG) KON-TIKI (DIG) THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 MUHALAB-2 FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) OBLIVION (DIG) FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) OBLIVION (DIG) FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) OBLIVION (DIG) MUHALAB-3 THE HOST (DIG) SKY FORCE (DIG-3D) THE HOST (DIG) G.I. JOE: RETALIATION (DIG-3D) THE HOST (DIG) THE HOST (DIG) FANAR-1 OBLIVION (DIG) OBLIVION (DIG) IT TAKES A MAN AND A WOMAN (DIG) (FILIPINO) OBLIVION (DIG) OBLIVION (DIG) FANAR-2 KON-TIKI (DIG) THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 DEAD MAN DOWN (DIG) THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 KON-TIKI (DIG) THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 FANAR-3 GET LUCKY (DIG) THE HOST (DIG) THE HOST (DIG) GET LUCKY (DIG) THE HOST (DIG) THE HOST (DIG) MARINA-1 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 GET LUCKY (DIG)

12:45 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM 12:30 AM 1:00 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:45 PM 12:15 AM 1:15 PM 3:45 PM 5:45 PM 8:15 PM 10:15 PM 12:45 AM 12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:30 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM 1:15 PM 3:15 PM 5:45 PM 7:45 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM 1:00 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:45 AM 1:45 PM 4:30 PM 7:00 PM 9:30 PM 12:05 AM 1:00 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM 12:45 PM 2:45 PM 5:15 PM 7:45 PM 9:45 PM 12:15 AM 1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM

KON-TIKI (DIG) THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 MARINA-2 OBLIVION (DIG) FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) OBLIVION (DIG) FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) OBLIVION (DIG) FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) MARINA-3 SKY FORCE (DIG-3D) THE CROODS (DIG-3D) THE HOST (DIG) G.I. JOE: RETALIATION (DIG-3D) THE HOST (DIG) THE HOST (DIG) AVENUES-1 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 AVENUES-2 KON-TIKI (DIG) DEAD MAN DOWN (DIG) KON-TIKI (DIG) DEAD MAN DOWN (DIG) KON-TIKI (DIG) DEAD MAN DOWN (DIG) AVENUES-3 THE CROODS (DIG-3D) THE CROODS (DIG-3D) THE CROODS (DIG-3D) GET LUCKY (DIG) GET LUCKY (DIG) GET LUCKY (DIG) 360ยบ- 1 THE HOST (DIG) THE HOST (DIG) THE HOST (DIG) THE HOST (DIG) THE HOST (DIG) 360ยบ- 2 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 360ยบ- 3 THE CROODS (DIG-3D) THE CROODS (DIG-3D) OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL (DIG-3D) SNITCH (DIG) SNITCH (DIG) AL-KOUT.1 SKY FORCE (DIG-3D) SKY FORCE (DIG-3D) FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) G.I. JOE: RETALIATION (DIG-3D) FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) AL-KOUT.2 THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2

8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM 12:45 PM 3:15 PM 5:15 PM 7:45 PM 9:45 PM 12:15 AM 1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:45 AM 1:00 PM 3:15 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM 12:45 PM 3:15 PM 5:45 PM 8:15 PM 10:45 PM 1:00 AM 1:15 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM 1:45 PM 4:15 PM 6:45 PM 9:15 PM 11:45 PM 2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 11:00 PM 1:15 AM 2:15 PM 4:30 PM 6:45 PM 9:30 PM 12:05 AM 1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 11:45 PM 1:00 PM

DEAD MAN DOWN (DIG) 3:15 PM THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 5:30 PM KON-TIKI (DIG) 7:45 PM THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 10:30 PM THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 12:45 AM AL-KOUT.3 OBLIVION (DIG) 2:00 PM OBLIVION (DIG) 4:30 PM OBLIVION (DIG) 7:00 PM IT TAKES A MAN AND A WOMAN (DIG) (FILIPINO) 9:30 PM OBLIVION (DIG) 12:15 AM BAIRAQ-1 THE CROODS (DIG-3D) 12:45 PM FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) 3:00 PM THE CROODS (DIG-3D) 5:15 PM G.I. JOE: RETALIATION (DIG-3D) 7:30 PM FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) 9:45 PM FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) 12:05 AM BAIRAQ-2 THE HOST (DIG) 1:00 PM THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 3:30 PM THE HOST (DIG) 5:30 PM THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 8:00 PM THE HOST (DIG) 10:15 PM THE HOST (DIG) 12:45 AM NO SUN+ TUE+WED BAIRAQ-3 OBLIVION (DIG) 1:30 PM DEAD MAN DOWN (DIG) 4:00 PM OBLIVION (DIG) 6:30 PM KON-TIKI (DIG) 9:00 PM OBLIVION (DIG) 11:30 PM NO SUN+ TUE+WED PLAZA FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) 6:00 PM DEAD MAN DOWN (DIG) 8:00 PM FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) 10:30 PM LAILA THE HOST (DIG) 5:45 PM THE HOST (DIG) 8:15 PM OBLIVION (DIG) 10:45 PM AJIAL.1 GUNDE JAARI GALLANTHAYYINDE (DIG) (TELUGU) 3:30 PM GUNDE JAARI GALLANTHAYYINDE (DIG) (TELUGU) 6:30 PM GUNDE JAARI GALLANTHAYYINDE (DIG) (TELUGU) 9:30 PM AJIAL.2 EK THI DAAYAN (DIG) (HINDI) 6:15 PM EK THI DAAYAN (DIG) (HINDI) 9:15 PM AJIAL.3 AMEN (DIG) (MALAYALAM) 3:45 PM AMEN (DIG) (MALAYALAM) 6:45 PM AMEN (DIG) (MALAYALAM) 9:45 PM AJIAL.4 UDHAYAM NH4 (DIG) (TAMIL) 4:00 PM UDHAYAM NH4 (DIG) (TAMIL) 7:00 PM UDHAYAM NH4 (DIG) (TAMIL) 10:00 PM METRO-1 GUNDE JAARI GALLANTHAYYINDE (DIG) (TELUGU) 3:45 PM GUNDE JAARI GALLANTHAYYINDE (DIG) (TELUGU) 6:45 PM GUNDE JAARI GALLANTHAYYINDE (DIG) (TELUGU) 10:00 PM METRO-2 UDHAYAM NH4 (DIG) (TAMIL) 3:30 PM AMEN (DIG) (MALAYALAM) 6:30 PM UDHAYAM NH4 (DIG) (TAMIL) 9:30 PM

MATRIMONIAL American male looking for a good wife. Serious people only please! ibngrant2000@hotmail.com (C 4385) 22-4-2013 SITUATION WANTED Job wanted for Project/ Technical/ Sales Engineer with 3-1/2 year experience, have GCC driving license, familiar with Primavera & Autocad.

Contact: 60374540. (C 4384) 22-4-2013 Need a job in Kuwait, having master degree in business, K. Suresh Kumar (MBA) Mobile: 00919440707761. Relative in Kuwait contact Mr. Balu: 66195135. (C 4383) 21-4-2013

FOR SALE Fully furnished flat for sale in Burj Behbehani building opposite to Salmiya Garden. Big hall, 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, big kitchen. Swimming pool, Gym facility, underground parking and round the clock security available.

Contact: 50701181.

(C 4381) Mitsubishi Galant 2013, white color, excellent condition, 6,000km, price KD 3,100/-. Contact: 50994848.

(C 4382) 21-4-2013

112 Prayer timings Fajr:

03:50

Shorook

05:14

Duhr:

11:46

Asr:

15:22

Maghrib:

18:19

Isha:

19:41

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines BBC QTR JZR PIA THY ETH GFA UAE ETD RJA FDB RBG MSR OMA QTR THY DHX FDB KAC BAW KAC KAC JZR FDB KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR FDB IRA ETD GFA MEA TMA JZR JZR KAC UAE MSR KAC QTR FDB KAC SVA KNE

Arrival Flights on Tuesday 23/4/2013 Flt Route 43 DHAKA 148 DOHA 267 BEIRUT 239 SIALKOT 764 SABIHA 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI 642 AMMAN 67 DUBAI 555 ALEXANDRIA 612 CAIRO 643 MUSCAT 138 DOHA 770 ISTANBUL 170 BAHRAIN 69 DUBAI 412 MANILA 157 LONDON 416 JAKARTA 206 ISLAMABAD 503 LUXOR 53 DUBAI 302 MUMBAI 332 TRIVANDRUM 352 COCHIN 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 132 DOHA 55 DUBAI 605 ISFAHAN 301 ABU DHABI 213 BAHRAIN 404 BEIRUT 213 BEIRUT 165 DUBAI 561 SOHAG 284 DHAKA 871 DUBAI 610 CAIRO 514 TEHRAN 140 DOHA 57 DUBAI 546 ALEXANDRIA 500 JEDDAH 472 JEDDAH

Time 0:05 0:15 0:20 1:05 1:40 1:45 1:55 2:25 2:30 3:10 3:10 3:15 3:15 3:20 3:30 4:35 5:10 5:50 6:15 6:30 6:35 7:25 7:40 7:45 7:50 7:55 8:05 8:25 8:50 9:00 9:15 9:20 9:30 10:40 10:55 11:00 11:35 12:00 12:05 12:45 13:00 13:40 13:45 13:50 14:15 14:30 14:35

KAC SYR RJA QTR JZR ETD FDB UAE ABY SVA GFA UAL JZR KAC QTR KAC KAC KAC FDB GFA KAC AXB KAC KAC KAC JAI KAC RBG FDB OMA ABY MEA IRA MSR KLM ALK UAE ETD QTR GFA DHX QTR FDB AIC JZR UAL JZR DLH JAI THY

562 341 640 134 325 303 71 857 127 510 215 982 177 542 144 786 166 104 63 219 618 393 774 674 742 572 678 553 61 647 129 402 619 618 415 229 859 307 136 217 372 146 59 981 239 981 185 636 574 772

AMMAN DAMASCUS AMMAN DOHA NAJAF ABU DHABI DUBAI DUBAI SHARJAH RIYADH BAHRAIN WASHINGTON DC DULLES DUBAI CAIRO DOHA JEDDAH PARIS LONDON DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA KOZHIKODE RIYADH DUBAI DAMMAM MUMBAI MUSCAT ALEXANDRIA DUBAI MUSCAT SHARJAH BEIRUT LAR ALEXANDRIA AMSTERDAM COLOMBO DUBAI ABU DHABI DOHA BAHRAIN BAHRAIN DOHA DUBAI CHENNAI AMMAN BAHRAIN DUBAI FRANKFURT MUMBAI ISTANBUL

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

Airlines AIC PIA AXB JAI UAL DLH KLM BBC JZR THY PIA THY ETH UAE FDB RBG MSR OMA ETD QTR QTR JZR FDB RJA GFA THY KAC JZR BAW FDB KAC KAC ABY UAE FDB QTR ETD IRA KAC GFA KAC KAC MEA TMA KAC KAC JZR JZR MSR UAE

Departure Flights on Tuesday 23/4/2013 Flt Route 976 GOA 206 LAHORE 490 MANGALORE 573 MUMBAI 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 637 FRANKFURT 411 AMSTERDAM 44 DHAKA 502 LUXOR 773 ISTANBUL 240 SIALKOT 765 ISTANBUL 621 ADDIS ABABA 854 DUBAI 68 DUBAI 556 ALEXANDRIA 613 CAIRO 644 MUSCAT 306 ABU DHABI 139 DOHA 149 DOHA 560 SOHAG 70 DUBAI 643 AMMAN 212 BAHRAIN 771 ISTANBUL 545 ALEXANDRIA 164 DUBAI 156 LONDON 54 DUBAI 513 TEHRAN 561 AMMAN 126 SHARJAH 856 DUBAI 56 DUBAI 133 DOHA 302 ABU DHABI 604 ISFAHAN 101 LONDON 214 BAHRAIN 541 CAIRO 165 ROME 405 BEIRUT 223 DUBAI 785 JEDDAH 677 MUSCAT 324 AL NAJAF 176 DUBAI 611 CAIRO 872 DUBAI

Time 0:05 0:15 0:15 0:20 0:25 0:30 0:55 1:30 1:30 2:20 2:20 2:40 2:45 3:45 3:50 3:55 4:15 4:20 4:20 4:25 5:15 5:35 6:30 6:35 7:00 7:10 7:20 7:25 8:25 8:25 9:15 9:25 9:30 9:50 9:55 10:00 10:15 10:20 10:25 11:25 11:30 11:45 11:55 12:00 13:00 13:00 13:00 13:20 14:00 14:15

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

FDB QTR KAC KNE SVA KAC KAC KAC SYR RJA JZR QTR ETD FDB JZR ABY UAE SVA GFA JZR JZR UAL QTR FDB GFA AXB RBG JAI FDB ABY KAC OMA KAC MEA IRA MSR DHX KLM ETD ALK UAE KAC QTR KAC GFA DHX KAC FDB QTR KAC KAC JZR

58 141 673 473 501 617 773 741 342 641 238 135 304 72 538 128 858 511 216 184 266 982 145 64 220 394 554 571 62 120 343 648 351 403 618 607 171 415 308 230 860 381 137 301 218 373 205 60 147 411 283 528

DUBAI DOHA DUBAI JEDDAH JEDDAH DOHA RIYADH DAMMAM DAMASCUS AMMAN AMMAN DOHA ABU DHABI DUBAI CAIRO SHARJAH DUBAI RIYADH BAHRAIN DUBAI BEIRUT BAHRAIN DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN KOZHIKODE ALEXANDRIA MUMBAI DUBAI SHARJAH CHENNAI MUSCAT KOCHI BEIRUT LAR LUXOR BAHRAIN DAMMAM ABU DHABI COLOMBO DUBAI DELHI DOHA MUMBAI BAHRAIN BAHRAIN ISLAMABAD DUBAI DOHA BANGKOK DHAKA ASSIUT

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

34

stars CROSSWORD 168

STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19)

ARIES Knowing what you want and going after it is the opportunity of the day, and what you fall into now may be just the chance you’ve been waiting for. Sharing goals and deciding to mutually go for it will be the best of all possible worlds for everybody, with a minimum of conflict resulting later. If you are looking for someone special to compliment your life and make long term goals with, the energy is out there for interesting encounters. Accept any offers for social gatherings that may come up and shine your shoes and take some breath mints with you as you’ll never know just who might show up to rock your world.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You easily become fired up emotionally at this time, especially about people, places, or causes you have a strong attachment to from the past. Also, you are energized and invigorated now and eager to be involved in projects that benefit your children, family, or home. Today is a day you may be powerfully attracted, emotionally and sexually, to someone you encounter at this time, and any romantic involvements you currently have are intensified. Expect fireworks! Also, your relationships can become tempestuous, especially if your partner is not as responsive or passionate as you would like.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

ACROSS 1. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

4. Central part of a plant ovule.

12. The cry made by sheep.

15. The second day of the week.

16. Place a value on.

17. A white linen liturgical vestment with sleeves.

18. A large vase that usually has a pedestal or feet.

19. The act of ceding.

20. A church associated with a monastery or convent.

22. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.

24. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

26. A British peer ranking below a Marquess and above a Viscount.

27. The friend of Phintias who pledged his life that Phintias would return (4th century BC).

29. Capital and largest city of Indonesia.

31. Having come or been brought to a conclusion.

34. The last (12th) month of the year.

35. Commercially important fish of the North American Pacific coast.

38. A substance produced by the hypothalamus that is capable of accelerating the secretion of a given hormone by the anterior pituitary gland.

39. On a ship, train, plane or other vehicle.

43. (Old Testament) In Judeo-Christian mythology.

44. (informal) Of the highest quality.

46. A sharp hand gesture (resembling a blow).

47. A unit of magnetomotive force equal to 0.7958 ampere-turns.

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

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

51. South American armadillo with three bands of bony plates.

53. Any of numerous low-growing cushionforming plants of the genus Draba having rosette-forming leaves and terminal racemes of small flowers with scapose or leafy stems.

56. The dialect of Malay used as the national language of the Republic of Indonesia or of Malaysia.

59. A native-born Israeli.

60. Syncopated music in duple time for dancing the rumba.

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

66. Australian shrubs and small trees with evergreen usually spiny leaves and dense clusters of showy flowers.

69. A river in central Europe that arises in northwestern Czechoslovakia and flows northward through Germany to empty into the North Sea. 71. God of love and erotic desire.

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

73. An ancient Greek city famous for military prowess.

77. The 17th letter of the Greek alphabet.

78. Causing fear or dread or terror.

80. A religious belief of African origin involving witchcraft and sorcery.

81. An adult male person (as opposed to a woman).

82. A language spoken by the Atakapa people of the Gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas.

83. A coenzyme derived from the B vitamin nicotinic acid.

DOWN 1. A doctor's degree in musical arts.

2. Spanish poet and dramatist (1898-1936).

3. A communist state in Indochina on the South China Sea. 4. An acute inflammatory disease occurring in the intestines of premature infants.

5. The part of the eye that contains the iris and ciliary body and choroid.

6. An attendant who carries the golf clubs for a player.

7. English essayist (1775-1834).

8. A city in southeastern Sweden.

9. The act of slowing down or falling behind.

10. The local time at the 0 meridian passing through Greenwich, England.

11. Relating to or characteristic of or occurring on the sea or ships.

12. An imaginary elephant that appears in a series of French books for children.

13. Very attentive or observant.

14. A promontory in northern Morocco opposite the Rock of Gibraltar.

21. A fire (usually on a hill or tower) that can be seen from a distance.

23. German mystic and theosophist who founded modern theosophy.

25. Relating to the deepest parts of the ocean (below 6000 meters).

28. The compass point that is midway between north and northeast.

30. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

32. Lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise.

33. Depressing in character or appearance.

36. (Babylonian) A demigod or first man.

37. A region of Malaysia in northeastern Borneo.

40. Essential oil or perfume obtained from flowers.

41. Type genus of the Ranidae.

42. No longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life.

45. A metabolic acid found in yeast and liver cells.

49. Of or relating to or containing basalt.

52. Not widely known.

54. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

55. A coffee cake flavored with orange rind and raisins and almonds.

57. A member of the Indian people of northern California and southern Oregon.

58. A soft yellow malleable ductile (trivalent and univalent) metallic element.

61. United States baseball player (born 1925).

63. American professional baseball player who hit more home runs than Babe Ruth (born in 1934).

64. Naked freshwater or marine or parasitic protozoa that form temporary pseudopods for feeding and locomotion.

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

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

68. An unstable meson produced as the result of a high-energy particle collision.

70. A small cake leavened with yeast.

74. Preferred above all others and treated with partiality.

75. The products of human creativity.

76. Seed of a pea plant.

79. A long-playing phonograph record.

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

There may be lots of books around you involving lots of research and study but not of the institutional type. You may be moving through a stage of self knowledge where you want to gain a deeper understanding of your self.

Spending quiet time alone and expanding your mental horizons may be just what you need at the moment. Scheduling time for recreation or to take care of a personal relationship is a good idea now. Just be aware that the desire to socialize and be friendly, or even to be loved may interfere with getting commitments done.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) Today is a good time to express your feelings with conviction, knowing that there will be response in kind. Uncertainty and shifting grounds can mark the day’s outcomes, and confidence may retreat in the face of a challenge. Confrontation is the wrong game to play, but pulling out entirely is equally unsuitable. Make judicious compromise now and the resulting situation will improve, but don’t chase diminishing returns. Your emotions are high at this time, and you feel optimistic, self-confident, generous, and goodnatured. You greet life with a fresh attitude, and it is easy for you to forget the mistakes of the past and envision bright new avenues for growth and fulfillment. It’s also good time to meet someone new that will bring you a great deal of pleasure.

Leo (July 23-August 22) Your friendly concern for others and your willingness to meet people half way benefits your career, reputation, or public image at this time. This is a favorable time to socialize with people you have professional ties with, as the positive feelings you generate now are likely to be an aid to you in the future. Beautifying the place where you interface with the public and an increased concern about your own physical appearance are also brought out now. You could find that you are appreciated or valued for your feelings or your ability to act and get things done. This is a time when you express yourself very clearly, and conversations, negotiations, and communications of all kinds can be very successful in any love or romantic relationship you are involved in. Expect the time to fly by today with lots of communication in all forms.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) You are alert and on your toes now. The pace is likely to be fast, even hectic. You are restless and eager to meet others halfway, to converse, exchange information, and make connections. Nervousness or irritability due to aggravations and the stress of increased demands at work is possible. You could be feeling especially attractive or friendly or even a bit more frisky! The warmth you radiate is noticed and appreciated. Love, relationships, beauty, and pleasure are emphasized now. A new romance or friendship may ensue or an old or current one may take a new turn for the better.

Word Search

Libra (September 23-October 22) Don’t be goaded into forcing the situation just to have your way. You may be lured into actions you will later regret, even if only because they are a waste of time. If you can’t go around it, go under or over it, or just back away. A struggle will get you nowhere and only tire you out. Be like water, not like rock. You may see value in or feel love for an older person in your family or social circle. Support from close friends, family, and the women in your life gives you confidence now and a greater appreciation of who you are. This is also a good time to mend fences and repair problems and issues in your home life.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You are serious and disinclined to frivolous or inconsequential activity. It’s a time best spent working alone, structuring and organizing your life in some way, and focusing on whatever tasks (however distasteful or tedious) that you really need to do.

You feel like withdrawing from people and find social situations unfulfilling or wasteful.

The energy of this time is light, friendly and easy, it all just flows today. Positive connections are made with others, and you may meet a new friend that could turn into more if you let it. You may also want to call or email someone you love, simply to cheer them up or tell them you love them.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Ohh my, you want to do what you want today. Fortunately you are able find ways to be yourself and even be a little “crazy” without offending or upsetting others. Take advantage of any unusual offers or opportunities from others.

Your intuition is on the mark and your reactions fit in with all around you. It’s easy to agree with any plans or goals in your relationships, and most people will if you let them, so spread as much good energy as possible. Any agreements now will be a benchmark for cooperation in the future.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) There may be someone you want to reach out to and help at the moment.

If so, they certainly could use your help. If you offer them assistance, don’t overdo it. They don’t need to be “fixed,” and should you try to revamp their entire life they will resent it. Instead, give them a gentle push in a positive direction through suggestion. Lighthearted fun is the order of the day at the moment. Spend some extra time in the company of your friends and family, but keep it light. Avoid addressing serious issues. A family gathering, or possibly a fun filled night with your friends or mate will elevate your spirits tremendously.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) You need to balance your attitudes or your creative definition of life may remain a little impractical on a project you are currently working on. This could cause you to lose focus and be too easily distracted from the plan you’ve previously set for yourself.

Children and other younger people may be part of the problem. Keep them at arm’s length while you clarify where you are going and how you are going to get there.

Confusion and the inability to focus on mundane tasks as well as poor understanding or miscommunication between yourself and others, and the desire to evade real responsibilities and challenges are negative potentials for you now. Overall a very confusing day and may be one that if the opportunity presents itself just to stay home and wait it out.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) Clear demands are more easily met and you know where you stand when the possible and impossible are sorted out. Your limitations become clear, so they become easier to work around. Sudden realization of overall requirements and dimensions can give you a better handle on what’s really going on today. This can be a time for exposing and talking about hidden, intensely private or secret subjects. It could be about past issues or current fantasy’s. Conversations and interactions are intense. Just be sure the person you share your inner thoughts with is someone you can trust.

Yesterday’s Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

Daily SuDoku

Yesterday’s Solution

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

i n f o r m at i o n For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 GOVERNORATE Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Hawally

Al-Madeena

22418714

Al-Shuhada

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Faiha

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

Kaizen center

25716707

Rawda

22517733

Adaliya

22517144

Al-Jahra

25610011

Khaldiya

24848075

Al-Salmiya

25616368

Kaifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salem

22549134

Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Qadsiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Gar

22531908

Shaab

22518752

Qibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Qibla

22451082

Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

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24884079

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24892674

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24719048

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24710044

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23900322

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PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

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Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

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23729596/23729581

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22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

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23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

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25665898 25340300

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25710444

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22621099

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25713514

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23713100

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24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535

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22655539

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25343406

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22641071/2

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25739272

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22562226

22618787

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22561444

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22619557

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22525888

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25653755

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25620111

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22610044

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25327148

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22666300 25728004

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25355515

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24726446

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25654300/3

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

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22639939

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info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

3729596/3729581

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25633324

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25345875

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22636464

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25322030

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22633135

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25339330

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25722291

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22666288

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Dr Anil Thomas

Dr. Salem soso

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

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36

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

LIFESTYLE M U S I C

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M O V I E S

With CD, Fall Out Boy wants to save rock ‘n’ roll

Hymn for Her light a fire on ‘Flames’

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Review

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ucy Tight’s cigar box guitar is the Devil, whispering sinful thoughts in your ear. Tight, half the husband-wife duo Hymn for Her, does more with three strings and a slide than most guitarists can with six strings. Combine that with the quirky sense of humor and songcraft she shares with Wayne Waxing, who plays kick drum and an acoustic guitar or banjo throughout, and you’ve got yet another rockin’ lightning-strike twopiece outfit to check out.

“Lucy and Wayne’s Smokin Flames” is the second album they’ve put out since being given the guitar by a friend (who did not sport a pair of horns). It completely changed their sound - and we’re guessing their fortunes. The new album finds Lucy and Wayne in an experimental mood, expanding arrangements and taking chances on the follow-up to the fiery punk blast “Lucy & Wayne and The Amairican Stream.”

If you’re looking for loud, they pay tribute to the desert on the acid-fried “Mojave” and unleash an epic, 7-minute sci-fi jam about saving the planet by launching garbage into the sun on “Trash the Sun.” No kidding - and it’s awesome.

But that guitar’s not just a bludgeon, it’s also a scalpel and used to make delicate incisions on “Landescape” and “Dark Deeds.” — AP

hen Fall Out Boy learned that Elton John was a fan of their music, they jokingly thought he might want to record with them. As it turned out, he did. “We were nearly done with the album,” lead singer Patrick Stump said in a recent interview. “I think we were mixing at that point, but he said ‘yes’ and we were like, ‘Oh, wow. OK, yes.’” The Chicago-based rockers halted the mixing process of their fifth album - their first in five years - and Stump flew to Atlanta to record with the veteran rocker.

John is featured on the title track of “Save Rock and Roll,” released last week.

Band members say the title of the album is “tongue-in-cheek,” but they’re also serious about their choice of words. “It hits on ...

‘Why are we the only ones that are saying this?’” said frontman and bassist Pete Wentz. “But at the same time, it’s kind of a joke, but if it means something to you, then it’s not really that much of a joke.”

Stump said John’s inclusion on the title track really drives home their point.

“He actually spoke up for the album’s title. He came in and was like, ‘Love the album title. Love where this is going. This is great,’” Stump said. “And that was really special for us to have him support us like that.” Just before the John-featured tune

Photo shows members of the band Fall Out Boy, from left, Pete Wentz, Joe Trohman, Patrick Sump and Andy Hurley in New York. —AP plays on the 11-track set, there’s the song hangers for boys, it’s not all about being “Rat a Tat,” featuring Courtney Love. “We’ve groupies,” he said. “So we thought it would had a couple different run-ins just over the be important to have an iconic female years, you know, just ones where you’re voice on the album, and Courtney screams like, ‘I had 17 drinks last night and I ran into rock ‘n’ roll.”

Fall Out Boy released their debut album Courtney Love,’” Wentz recalled with a laugh. “It’s important for girls to under- in 2003. They are known for their alternative stand that they don’t need to just be coat punk rock sound and Top 10 pop hits

including “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race,” “Dance, Dance” and “Sugar, We’re Goin Down.” The album’s first single, “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up),” is a Top 40 hit that was remixed by 2 Chainz, who stars in the song’s music video.

“We’re big, big 2 Chainz fans,” Wentz said of the ubiquitous rapper. Added guitarist Joe Trohman: “He works hard.”

2 Chainz and rapper Big Sean’s appearances balance the rock heavyweights on “Save Rock and Roll,” which the band will promote on a US tour that kicks off May 14 in Milwaukee. (They’ll also hit the road internationally this summer and will return to the US for a fall tour.) A year after releasing 2008’s “Folie a Deux,” the foursome, which includes drummer Andy Hurley, took a break from recording together. There was speculation the group had split up.

“No, we never broke up,” Trohman said.

Wentz quickly jumped in, saying: “No, but I think that it’s like, I don’t know. ... When we were taking time off and it was like ... we could be back in 20 years or maybe we won’t ever come back. I think that was the great thing about how we took time off and it kind of allowed it to be healthier that it didn’t put a return date on it.” “It wasn’t like we were a library book being checked out,” Wentz added. — AP

Charli XCX’s album varied, but imperfect File photos show Taylor Swift performing at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ Swift, Maroon 5 and fun. (Centre) Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. (Right) Nate Ruess of Fun. performing, at The Tabernacle in Atlanta. — AP photos

I

Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, fun lead Billboard awards

t’s a three-way tie: Taylor Swift, Maroon 5 and fun. are finalists in 11 categories at the Billboard Music Awards.

Billboard announced the finalists yesterday. Rihanna, Carly Rae Jepsen and One Direction are up for 10, nine and eight trophies, respectively.

Swift, Maroon 5, Rihanna, One Direction and Justin Bieber will compete for the top artist award. Adele’s 10-million selling 2011 album, “21,” won top Billboard 200 album last year and is up for the award this year. It’ll battle Swift’s “Red,” Mumford & Sons’ “Babel” as well as One Direction’s

Campbell ends

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harli XCX may not be a household name, but if you’re a fan of HBO’s “Girls” then you would have heard her vocal and songwriting prowess already. The British singer co-wrote Icona Pop’s “I Love It,” which features in a hedonistic clubbing scene in the second season of the show. Charli XCX’s debut album, “True Romance,” also fits in with that vibe with songs focusing mainly on optimism with a youthful detachment, which is hardly surprising considering the girl is only 20.

However irrelevant age is to music, an immaturity shines through in Charli’s lyrics, which are often nonsensical and annoying. Musically, however, the record is varied. “What I Like” opens with an almost techno beat. “Take My Hand” opens with a pounding rhythm and then merges into electronica that could have been taken directly from an ‘80s computer game, and the combination of pounding bass and twinkling synth is pretty addictive. And sampling the already perfect “You” by Gold Panda is also a good move: “You (Ha Ha Ha)” is the best song on the record. — AP

Martin’s banjo melds well with Brickell

touring career, to release new album

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Michael Peter Balzary, aka Flea, of the Red Hot Chili Peppers performs at the second weekend of the 2013 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club on Sunday, April 21, 2013 in Indio, Calif. — AP

Divinyls lead singer Chrissy Amphett dies at 53

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t’s clear from the opening line on the first song “When You Get To Asheville” that “Love Has Come For You” isn’t your grandfather’s banjo record. “When you get to Asheville,” singer Edie Brickell intones after a beguiling banjo introduction by Steve Martin, “please send me an email.”

Mixing the traditional with the modern, Brickell and Martin find a comfortable groove on what may seem like an unlikely collaboration but that turns out to be a perfect fit. Brickell’s ability to create vivid characters and spin a tale in the confines of a 3-minute song melds well with Martin’s five-string banjo stylings.

Brickell lets her native Texas twang come out on songs like “Sarah Jane and the Iron Mountain Baby,” while Martin, following up his 2009 Grammy-winning debut bluegrass album, finds melodies and tunes that hearken to an earlier time but still sound contemporary. The title track has a particularly haunting feel that grabs a hold after multiple listenings, proving once again that Martin is more than just a comedic actor and Brickell is an underrated singer-songwriter. — AP

albums - “Up All Night” and “ Take Me Home” - both released last year. Performers include Swift, Bieber, Bruno Mars, Miguel and Prince. The Billboard Music Awards will air live May 19 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on ABC. —AP

hrissy Amphlett, the raunchy lead singer of the Australian rock band Divinyls whose hit “I Touch Myself” brought her international fame in the early 1990s, died at her home in New York City on Sunday. She was 53 years old.

“Christine Joy Amphlett succumbed to the effects of breast cancer and multiple sclerosis, diseases she vigorously fought with exceptional bravery and dignity,” her musician husband Charley Drayton said in a statement.

“Chrissy’s light burns so very brightly. Hers was a life of passion and creativity. She always lived it to the fullest. With her force of character and vocal strength, she paved the way for strong, sexy, outspoken women,” he said. Amphlett was an icon of Australian music renowned for her distinctive singing voice as well as edgy stage performances clad in school uniforms and fishnet stockings. She was born on Oct 25, 1959, in Geelong city in Victoria state, cousin of 1960s Australian pop star Patricia Amphlett, known as “Little Pattie,” who was at her New York bedside on Sunday.

Amphlett met musician Mark McEntee at a concert at the Sydney Opera House in 1980 and the pair formed the Divinyls. The band released six albums between 1982 and 1996, peaking in 1991 with the success of the single “I Touch Myself,” which reached No. 1 in Australia, No. 4 in the United States and No. 10 in Britain. The band reformed briefly in 2006. Amphlett announced in 2007 that she had multiple sclerosis and in 2010 that she had cancer. Amphlett was also an actress

who made her movie debut in the 1982 Australian film “Monkey Grip,” which featured several Divinyls tracks.

She later played Russell Crowe’s mother in the Australian stage production of the musical “Blood Brothers.” Crowe sent a Twitter message after Amphlett’s death. “Dear Chrissie, The last time I saw you was in the Botanic Gardens, loving life and reciting verse. That’s how I’ll remember you, your boy, R,” it said. —AP

File photos shows Australian singer Chrissy Amphlett performs with cast from the musical “The Boy from Oz” during a photocall at the Sydney Entertainment Center in Sydney. —AP

len Campbell’s Alzheimer’s disease has progressed too far to allow him to continue touring. Instead, he’ll spend his 77th birthday yesterday in Washington as an advocate for Alzheimer’s research. The trip includes a fundraising dinner for the Alzheimer’s Association and a visit to Capitol Hill, where he’ll visit the Senate. Alzheimer’s has robbed Campbell of many of his best memories, gained over a lifetime as an entertainment icon who was a pop star, a groundbreaking session musician, an actor and TV variety show host.

File photo shows singer Glen But it hasn’t taken everything.

Campbell performing during his Campbell will release a new Goodbye Tour in Little Rock, album, “See You There,” on July Ark. — AP 30. It’s a reimagining of some of his most popular songs, recorded

by Julian Raymond during the same sessions that produced Campbell’s last studio album of all new material, 2011’s “Ghost on the Canvas.” The album offers new versions of his biggest hits like “Wichita Lineman,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Rhinestone Cowboy” and “Hey Little One.” In a brief interview, Campbell said of the songs: “Oh, they’re great. Those are great.”

His wife, Kim Campbell, says her husband still occasionally lays down vocal tracks in the studio but the disease has progressed too far to allow him to continue touring, something the family and Campbell’s management left open when he wrapped up his successful goodbye world tour last year. “Glen still wants to record, but it’s just a matter of if he’s able to,” Kim Campbell said. “It just gets more and more difficult for him all the time.” He remains healthy and vigorous and continues to play golf. His family invites musicians over to the house from time to time - songwriter Jimmy Webb, who wrote some of Campbell’s most iconic hits, visited with his family over the weekend - and Campbell joins in on jam sessions, playing the guitar as if the progressive, irreversible neurological disorder has yet to touch his muscle memory.

“We’re trying to live our lives and stay out there and socialize as much as we can as long as we can,” she said. “The other night we went to see Merle Haggard and hung out with Toby Keith on his bus. ...

Everybody played different songs and had a great time. So we’re still out there trying to do that kind of stuff. But eventually we might not be able to do that.” Surfdog Records owner Dave Kaplan says “See You There” is meant to feel like sitting next to Campbell in the living room, the way he was introduced to him on “The Goodtime Hour.” The singer’s voice has changed enough with age that the songs take on a new life. Kaplan took Raymond’s vocal recordings and surrounded them with music meant to leave lots of space for the singer’s voice.

“I was immediately struck that they were kind of intimate and they definitely shook your spine,” Kaplan said. “They were haunting and stunning and had this new intimacy in a way I hadn’t heard these songs.” It was hearing Campbell sing “Hey Little One,” with its simple opening that convinced Kaplan it was OK to mess with the perfection of the originals. “You just don’t hear that on planet Earth,” he said. “You don’t just hear that. That sealed the deal in three words.” — AP

37

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

LIFESTYLE M U S I C

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M O V I E S

Carly Rae Jepsen

Marianas Trench receives the Juno for Group of the Year.

Monster Truck receives the Juno for Breakthrough Group of the year award.

big Juno winner

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all her a winner, definitely. Carly Rae Jepsen has won the top Junos at the 42nd annual Canadian music awards ceremony, including Album of the Year, Pop Album of the Year and Single of the Year for her smash hit “Call Me Maybe.”

Jepsen seemed stunned during Sunday’s awards show that her gold-selling album “Kiss” beat out teen-pop sensation Justin Bieber and Celine Dion. However, Bieber did take home his fourth career Juno for Fan Choice Award.

Leonard Cohen won his second Juno of the year - the fifth of his career - for Songwriter of the Year for his album “Old Ideas.” Vancouver pop outfit Marianas Trench won Group of the Year for their record “Ever After.” Classic rockers Monster Truck won Breakthrough Group of the Year. — AP

Host Michael Buble performs.

Marianas Trench performs.

Carly Rae Jepsen poses with the Juno after winning pop album of the year, album of the year, and single of the year.

Serena Ryder receives the Juno for Adult Alternative Album of the year.

Carly Rae Jepsen receives the Juno for Album of the Year during the 2013 Juno Awards in Regina on Sunday. — AP photos

k.d. lang waves to the crowd after receiving a Juno for her Canadian Music Hall of Fame induction.

Billy Talent, right, and Serena Ryder perform.

Reese Witherspoon arrested for disorderly conduct

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scar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon was arrested in Atlanta for alleged disorderly conduct after her husband, talent agent James Toth, was stopped by police on suspicion of drunken driving, online Hollywood magazine Variety reported on Sunday. Witherspoon, 37, was arrested early on Friday after she quarreled with officers who had taken Toth, 42, into custody during a traffic stop of the couple on Peachtree Street, Variety said, citing an Atlanta police report.

Toth, who was behind the wheel, was pulled over when he crossed a double line on the road, Variety said, citing the police report. Appearing disheveled and

smelling of alcohol, he then failed a blood-alcohol breath test administered at the scene, according to the report.

Witherspoon was warned to stay inside the vehicle, but after her husband’s arrest, she got out of the automobile and said, “she was a ‘US citizen’ and that she had the right to ‘stand on American ground,’” according to Variety.

Witherspoon herself was then arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct.

The magazine, citing the arresting police officer’s account in the report, said: “Mrs. Witherspoon asked, ‘Do you know my name?’ I answered, ‘No, I don’t need to know your name.’ I then added, ‘right now.’ Mrs Witherspoon stated, ‘You’re

about to find out who I am.’”

The report cited by Variety further quoted Witherspoon as telling the officer, “You’re going to be on national news.” The couple was released from custody at about 3:30 a.m. on Friday, and were scheduled to appear in court today, but sources told Variety that their attorney is expected to request a later date.

The couple married in 2011 and have a son together. Witherspoon has two children from her first husband, actor Ryan Phillippe. Witherspoon won an Oscar for her work in the 2005 film about country music star Johnny Cash, “Walk the Line,” in which she played his wife, June Carter Cash. — Reuters

This combination of undated photo provided by the City of Atlanta Department of Corrections shows Reese Witherspoon, left, her husband James Toth. —AP

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

lifestyle T r a v e l

R

ecent images of a cruise ship limping back to port after an engine malfunction didn’t do the cruise industry any favors heading into the summer vacation season. And cringe-worthy accounts from passengers who had to make do without power or working toilets for five days may have turned some travelers off cruising for good. But for those undeterred by the mishap that befell the Carnival Triumph in February, nor that of several other headline-grabbing woes that afflicted some of Carnival Corp.’s other ships over the past year, this is a good time to save money on a cruise vacation, experts say.

And it’s not just Carnival that has had to discount its fares to coax back passengers. An economic slowdown in Europe has opened the door to savings on cruises that sail around ports in the Mediterranean Sea, says Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor-in-chief, of Cruise Critic, an online cruise reviews guide published

by The Independent Traveler Inc. “A lot of Europe is feeling the pinch of the recession,” she says. “There are some low prices and there’s a lot of availability.” Ready to set sail? Here are eight tips for saving money on a cruise vacation: 1.

Book early The cruise industry touts offer-packed deals during its annual “Wave Season,” which runs from January through March. If you know exactly when you want to travel, say specifically in the summer when kids are out of school, it pays to book as soon as possible.

Although you may get a lower price attempting to book at the last minute, by booking early you can often get perks, such as free airfare to the departure city, or on-board credits to spend on extras like a massage, or an upgraded cabin.

In general to take advantage of these added incentives, travelers need to book at least four to six months in advance to get the ship, travel dates and state room of choice, adds Carrie Finley-Bajak, CEO of cruising information site CruiseBuzz.net. Also, if you

aren’t picky about which cabin you get, you can save by accepting an unspecified cabin guarantee.

2.

Avoid peak times High season is generally during the summer and other times of the year when school is out. That includes spring break, around the December holidays, Thanksgiving, etc. For the best deals, book travel for other times of the year: During the school year. After Thanksgiving and before Christmas. And, incidentally, right now. “This is the season,” Spencer Brown says.

“Spring is a great time after the Easter holidays to nab a deal.”

At this time of the year, different cruise ship itineraries become more affordable, too. With summer still a couple months away, Caribbean and Mediterranean cruises are more affordable, as is an Alaskan voyage, Spencer Brown says.

3.

Sail old school Another way to save money: Select a cruise with an older ship. It may not have as many amenities, but it also won’t have nearly as many of the cabins with balconies, which are pricier than the smaller, windowless interior cabins.

Finley-Bajak recommends doing some research on the cruise line to find what year a given ship was built.

Many of the older ships tend to run all year long on the three-day itineraries and are more affordable.

4.

Look for repositioning cruises Cruise lines move their ships from their rotation in one region to another every few months, usually as the high season in one region cools off and before the next destination heats up. For example, a ship will shift from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean for the winter, or vice versa. Or from the Caribbean to Alaska for the summer.

Booking a vacation on one of these repositioning cruises can be significantly cheaper than a regular itinerary that hits several stops before returning to a

home port. All told, you could pay from $35 to $65 per person, per day on a repositioning cruise, says Spencer Brown. However, one should consider that repositioning cruises are only one-way. The voyage also can take 10 days to two weeks, with fewer stops at ports of call along the way.

5.

Look beyond price When selecting a cruise, price isn’t the only consideration, by far. There are the perks and incentives that could end up making the trip a better value. But a key factor is whether the cruise you select is right for you.

That’s because cruise lines cater to different niches of travelers.

An older traveler looking for a refined cruise probably wouldn’t be happy on a party ship festooned with nightclubs, basketball courts and other attractions aimed at younger passengers. Experts recommend you read up about specific ships and their itineraries to get a sense of whether the cruise fits what you’re looking for.

6.

Target cheaper iteniraries The shorter the voyage, the less costly the cruise. If you’re looking for ultra-cheap, go for a three-day cruise, which tend to compete more on price. The weak economy in Europe makes a seven-day Mediterranean cruise a good value. Plus, as more cruise lines reposition ships there, competition will increase. That’s good for the consumer. Other ways to find deals: Monitor sites that advertise deals. Some of them include Cruisebuzz.net, Cruise.com and Cruisedeals.com In addition, getting on cruise company mailing lists can tip you off to sales in advance.

7.

Consider a travel agent A cruise vacation has a lot of components to sort out, from air travel to the departure port, to offshore activities that often are not included in your cruise costs. Travel agents can help sort out the details. “A

travel agent will have access to all the ships and current pricing and promotions,” says Finley-Bajak.

8.

Account for extras The term all-inclusive is often associated with a cruise vacation, but in most cases, it’s far from the truth. “If anybody says cruising is all-inclusive, they’re crazy,” says Spencer Brown, adding that one always pays extra to gamble in the casino, visit the spa, use the Internet, eat at certain restaurants and onshore excursions. There may also be a hotel stay before your departure, government taxes, fees and gratuities to cover. Here’s a tool to help add up potential travel costs when you book a cruise: www.independenttraveler.com/travel-budget-calculator. — AP

Cruise Liner Majesty of the Seas heads out to sea in Miami Beach, Fla Saving money on a cruise vacation requires timing and knowledge. — AP

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ew things celebrate the end of winter like a great drive and enjoying the beach. Whether you can put the top down or not, members and editors of travel website VirtualTourist.com are sure you’ll enjoy any of our “Top 10 Coastal Drives.”

1. Pacific Coast Highway-Monterey, California At around 454 miles (730 km), California’s Pacific Coast Highway is probably the most well-known coastal drive in the United States. From Los Angeles to San Francisco, the distance is about 455 miles (732 km), though VirtualTourist members specifically recommend the 135-mile (217 km) stretch from San Luis Obispo to Monterey. This drive includes Point Lobos State Reserve, Point Sur State Historic Park, and the highly-recognizable, oft photographed Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. One thing to keep in mind: When you pay admission to one California state park, your receipt will cover your admission to any other state park for the day — so it’s great to hit this sector of the road on the same day.

The Overseas Highway crosses the Florida Keys.

2. Kuhio Highway-Kauai, Hawaii Although many choose Maui’s Hana Highway as Hawaii’s primary coastal drive, the drive from Kauai’s South Shore to the “end of the road” at Haena State Park is truly exceptional. By starting at Poipu Beach, your 52-mile (84 km) drive along Highway 56 has gorgeous views in either direction. With lookouts along the road, you’ll see scenery that is vaguely recognizable _ this is the land where dinosaurs once roamed in “Jurassic Park.” The drive ends at Haena State Park, also the start of the Kalalau Trail, a rugged difficult climb along the NaPali Coast, which is inaccessible to cars. If you’ve got time, turn off the road and follow signs to the Kilauea Lighthouse as well as the St. Regis Princeville Resort _ both spots have exceptional views.

3. Overseas Highway (Hwy 1) — Florida Keys The Overseas Highway is the portion of US Route 1 that extends from the end of mainland Florida through the Florida Keys to southernmost Key West. The route runs 160 miles (257 km) from Miami to Key West, with large portions of the highway built on bridges left over from the long-forgotten Overseas Railroad. While the primary view seen along this drive are the bright blue waters of the Florida Straits, the waters between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, the Keys are actually exposed ancient coral reefs leading to varied wildlife and much ecotourism. The Keys have an interesting spirit of their own and it’s definitely worth pulling off the route to explore some of the individual island’s personalities.

A bridge arches into the horizon along the Atlantcic Road in Norway.

Australia’s Great Ocean Road takes in views of the country’s majestic coastline.

B100 is the Twelve Apostles, a natural formation of limestone stacks which seem to magically rise from the Southern Ocean.

There are two walkways alongside the Twelve Apostles so park your car and get a great photo.

Jokulsarlon is seen from the Ring Road (Route 1) in Iceland.

6. The Garden Route-Western Cape Province, South Africa The shores of South Africa provide as many great drives as they do gorgeous views. Members suggested the “Garden Route,” which lies between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town connecting the Eastern and Western Cape Provinces. The route (known as N2 within South Africa) is nicknamed for its abundance of wild flowers and is also dotted with secluded bays and quaint villages. For those who don’t want to leave Cape Town proper, VirtualTourist members also suggested Chapman’s Peak drive as fun driving, as it has over 114 curves and spectacular cliffside views.

7. Ring Road-Iceland Most visitors to Iceland do the “Golden Circle Tour,” embarking from Reykjavik and traveling inland to see Thingvellir National Park, Gullfoss waterfall, and the island’s geothermal geysers. However, Iceland’s “Ring Road,” or Route 1, forms an 830-mile (1335 km) circle around the country with incredible coastal views and even more landmarks to behold. Traveling east on Route 1 from Reykjavik includes sites such as Skaftafell National Park and Jokulsarlon, the largest glacier lagoon in Iceland. If you only want to travel a section of the road, the trip from Reykjavik to Jokulsarlon is just 233 miles (376 km).

4. Cabot Trail-Nova Scotia, Canada Multiple VirtualTourist members suggested the shores of Nova Scotia, particularly the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island, as an ideal coastal drive for Canada-bound travelers. The Cabot Trail, which spurs off the Trans-Canada Highway 105, extends north and passes through Cape Breton Highlands National Park before looping back to the 105 only 16 miles (27 km) further up the road. Cape Breton Highlands National Park has 26 hiking trails and 24 stunning viewpoints along the Cabot Trail, so it is definitely worth the small price of entry ($7.80 per adult, $3.90 per youth) to get out of your vehicle and explore. The entire route is approximately 170 miles (274 km) in length.

8. The Atlantic Road-Norway Located in the fjord area of Norway, the Atlantic Road connects a series of islands along the western coast. Even though talk of connecting the islands began as early as 1909, the Atlantic Road didn’t open for another 80 years, in July 1989.

Although the road, known as Route 64, is relatively short compared to our other chosen drives at just over 5 miles long (8,274 meters), you may recognize it as it’s been the site of numerous car commercials. Many locals use the bridges for cycling and fishing. Surprisingly, an area along the route, Hustadvika, is incredibly popular for scuba diving due to the number of wrecks along the route before the bridges were built.

5. Great Ocean Road-Victoria, Australia Only 60 miles (93 km) from Victoria’s capital of Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road winds alongside the Southern Ocean from Torquay to Portland. Created by soldiers returning from the First World War, the route is more than 180 miles (290 km) and includes a variety of sites such as world-renowned beaches, national parks and shipwrecks. The most famous spectacle along

9. Northeast Loop-Phuket, Thailand While the majority of the resorts on Phuket are centered on the south and western shores, a few VirtualTourist members suggested driving along the Northeast loop to get a “behind the scenes” view of island life. By turning off Route 402 at the Heroines Monument circle, drivers head on a 6.8-mile (11 km) loop on the far Northeast tip of the island. The loop provides the opportunity to see excellent bay views and small fishing villages, a nice change of pace from the busy beach resorts on the opposite side of the Thai island.

Visitors take in the scenery from a wilderness viewpoint on the Garden Route in Western Cape Province, South Africa. — MCT photos

10. Kotor to Sveti Stephan-Montenegro An unexpectedly popular suggestion by many VirtualTourist members was Montenegro, specifically the drive from Kotor to Sveti Stephan. This route, which starts through Montenegro countryside, eventually travels south along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea past the popular resort town of Budva to Sveti Stephan. From the shoreline, the islet of Sveti Stephan juts out resembling Ischia’s Ponte Aragonese and making it a fantastic stop for photographs. If you’d rather not make the trek south, members also suggested following E65 along the Bay of Kotor— it’s only a 24-mile (37 km) round trip along this scenic route from Kotor to Risan. — MCT The Kauaíi cliffs look over pristine ocean in Hawaii.

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

lifestyle F a s h i o n

A roadside groom trims finger nails of a lady at Ikeja district.

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comfortable salon may be the ideal place to have a manicure-pedicure, but in Nigeria’s sprawling economic capital, the curb above a open sewer works just fine. The roadside ‘mani-pedi’ is something of a Lagos institution and one of many examples of how residents in the mega-city of 15 million people defy what could be considered personal grooming norms. Privately tailored suits delivered to your home or office are a luxury reserved for the wealthy in some cultures, but in Lagos, many in the middle class are also in regular contact with their personal clothier.

And, while paying for your toe and fingernails to be soaked, scrubbed, trimmed and moisturized is considered a luxury in some parts of the world, in Lagos, “it’s for everybody,” said Bashir Haruna, 32, a groom at a polo club who also hauls boxes at an appliance store for extra cash. During a recent evening rush-hour, Haruna squatted on the dusty sidewalk of the chaotic commercial street where he works, with the scent of sewage wafting up from below, while his preferred nail-care specialist tended to his feet and hands.

“Indian oil to make it soft,” he said, as manicurist Mustapha Abdulrahaman rubbed lotion on his feet, part of the $0.37 (0.24 euro) treatment. The informal

nail care sector in Lagos is dominated by people from the northern, mainly Muslim, Hausa ethnic group, like Abdulrahaman. The north is racked by crippling poverty and considered worse off that the mostly Christian south, while an insurgency by Boko Haram Islamists which has killed hundreds in the region since 2009 has further hindered the economy.

The 30-year-old Abdulrahaman explained that he has been travelling around Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, for the last 12 years, with his collection of nail clippers bundled in a handkerchief, visiting regular customers in need of a trim. “I don’t stay in one place. I walk along the street. People that know me say ‘come and cut my fingers,’” Abdulrahaman said in Hausa. His decades of experience contrasts with rookie 16-year-old Kabiru Garba, another northerner from Katsina state, who was sent down to Lagos alone by his family last year.

He rents a bed on the mainland, where the bulk of the city’s population lives, takes a bus every morning to the wealthier island neighborhood of Ikoyi and then begins walking the streets. He clicks two small pieces of metal together as he moves, an audible calling card to alert potential customers that he is approaching. Some of his most loyal patrons include the private drivers parked outside the island’s office

Nadia Mistry

Pakistani film and television actress Zeba Bakhtar presents a creation by designer Mifrah during the last day of Bridal couture Week in Karachi. — AFP photos

Pakistani cricket legend Wasim Akram presents a creation by Pakistani designer Deepak Perwani.

A roadside groom paints toe-nails of a lady at Ikeja district in Lagos.

Pakistani designer Mifrah

Thirty two-year-old roadside groom Bashir Haruna trims finger nails of a man for cash at Ikoyi district in Lagos. — AFP photos

buildings and the dock workers at the Lagos Boat Club, where membership is restricted to the ultraelite.

Abdulrahaman said he regularly does 35 manicures and pedicures each day, while Garba explained that he tops out at roughly 16, putting the daily income he earns in sometimes oppressive heat at about $4.00. “I’m used to being tired,” said Garba, with a poorly fitting red baseball cap worn skewed to the right side of his head. A number of customers said they had no problem whatsoever with sitting for a pedicure on a tattered bench next a parking lot, or above a sewer filling up with waste.

‘Captain’ Lucky Paul of the boat club, 52, said of trimming his nails at home: “I used to...but sometimes my (clippers) go missing.” Haruna, the polo club worker, said there are times when he has been forced to cut nails, although, he insisted, he does not trim his own. “I do it for my girlfriend,” he said.

“Sometimes I pay for somebody else to do it for her, but she likes it more for me to do it.”— AFP

A woman paints toe-nails of a girl at Ikeja.

‘Mani-pedis’ for the people in Nigeria’s mega-city

TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

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This picture taken on April 17, 2013 shows a spectator looking at ‘Outdoor Painting’, as he stands in the ‘Tokyo Pop Shop (Container)’, both art creations by US artist Keith Haring, at the Cenquatre art center, in Paris, two days before the opening of an exhibition dedicated to Haring’s work, 23 years after his death. The exhibition will till August 18. — AFP

W

atching the solemn parade of Special Forces soldiers climb into their trucks, blessed by a priest, and drive into the grey Afghan night, Australian artist Ben Quilty wondered if they would ever return. Quilty, winner of Australia’s prestigious Archibald portrait prize, spent 24 days embedded with troops in Kandahar and Tarinkot as the nation’s official war artist, sketching, photographing and filming life as a modern soldier. It is an “often very mundane existence, spiked with these extremely horrific, terrifying moments all the time-much more than we hear in the press, they’re all engaged constantly,” he told AFP. “People say ‘So tell me what it was like’, and it’s an impossible question to answer. (For the soldiers) after eight months of driving out there into the desert and being engaged by an enemy, being involved in deaths so directly, there’s no answer.” The embed in 2011 led to a collection of works titled “After Afghanistan” that is currently touring Australia after being exhibited in Sydney’s National Art School this month. The portraits-huge, thickly textured canvases of visceral flesh and dark tones-show the human face behind the headlines about shootings, helicopter crashes and IED (improvised explosive device) strikes in Afghanistan.

Quilty said his journey to Afghanistan took him to the extremes of human experience, continuing his work’s exploration of masculinity and what he described as its “self-indulgent” rites of passage. He was invited on very short notice, given three days to accept the assignment and deployed six weeks later.

The pre-deployment training, which he described as “emotional preparation” for some of the worst possible

outcomes, was in itself an inspiration. “(It’s) quite (a) confronting and very moving experience to sit in this big theatre in Sydney with all these quite often really young people who are listening to this stuff with very real reason-they’re going to Afghanistan.”

Once deployed, Quilty said he tried to remain in the background, feeling out of place and way out of his depth as rockets sailed into Kandahar base at night and he lay “shit-scared” on a cot in an armored shipping container. The troops were intrigued by his presence, a welcome break from the monotony and adrenaline of their lives, and Quilty said he met “quiet, sensitive and normal” people. The major question for Quilty, who shirks simplistic labels like “pacifist” or “anti-war” but was terrified as a young man about the prospect of conscription, was “why”.

“They’re 18 and they look like they can’t even shave, (you want to ask) ‘does your mum know what you’re doing? What are you doing here?’”. Some were following the family tradition, others were attracted to the emphasis on fitness, physicality and hierarchy, or had flunked school and saw military service as more respected and better paid than learning a trade. It was a sensitive topic-they spoke freely about the sounds a wounded man made, about watching a comrade die or suffer horrific injuries, but the why was something they couldn’t, or wouldn’t explain. “They’ve just got to get through this experience,” he said.

“A lot of them wanted to get out, but they don’t talk about that, there’s no way they want their friends to hear that. It’s destructive; you’ve got to keep your shit together for everyone.” The pressure can boil over-

once Quilty saw an all-in brawl break out over a hockey game in Kandahar and he was warned to stay away from the American quarters, where women walked around “wearing bra tops with M16s slung across their shoulders, the guys have tattoos and big chains and M16s and sidearms”. There were also profound moments: special forces soldiers doing a yoga class, fare welling a patrol with a priest’s blessing of the trucks at 3:00 am.

“It’s one of the most moving things I’ve seen, the men climb in very quiet, very concentrated, and drive off into the desert,” he said. “Every time you see someone drive through those gates you wonder if they’re going to come back.” Once back in Australia Quilty said he found it difficult to reconnect with the experience and asked some of the men and women if they would come to his rural studio and sit for him. Bleak, stirring tales emerged. “It was impossible to make a bad painting of those people. They’re unbelievably powerful subjects, broken sometimes,” he said.

Several of the men have been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder; Quilty spoke to their psychiatrists to ensure he was doing the right thing by asking them to relive the events that scarred them so deeply. “All of them said yes, it’s been a really positive thing in an otherwise bleak year for these guys,” he said. Quilty was surprised by how philosophical the troops were: “ The literature they’re reading in Afghanistan predominantly is about the strategies of withdrawing from war and how wars end successfully,” he said. There was a particular conversation in the mess one evening that stayed with him. “One of them

This photo taken shows official Australian war artist Ben Quilty standing in front of some of his paintings of soldiers in a Sydney art gallery. — AFP photos

said ‘War follows politics’ and a much older man said ‘No, you’re wrong, politics follows war’,” said Quilty. “It’s the extremity of human nature and there has to be participants, and they’re it.” — AFP

Ben Quilty standing in front of some of his paintings of soldiers in a Sydney art gallery.