7 May 2013 by Kuwait Times

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Convictions of spy ring upheld, oppn slams Iran

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Assembly panel has key info on Dow deal By B Izzak conspiracy theories

The Iran obsession By Badrya Darwish

KUWAIT: The court of cassation yesterday upheld life terms on two Iranians, a Kuwaiti and a stateless man for being members of a spying ring that passed information about the Kuwaiti and US militaries to Iran. The court also upheld the acquittal of two Iranians, including the only woman in the ring, and a Syrian national. The two Iranians and the Kuwaiti who received life terms were active soldiers in the Kuwaiti army when they were arrested in May 2010, while the fourth man is an ex-soldier in the Kuwaiti army. The two Iranians and the stateless are brothers while the Kuwaiti is

the husband of the woman defendant who is also the daughter of one of the Iranians sentenced to life in prison. About two years ago, the criminal court sentenced the two Iranians and the Kuwaiti to death, the stateless and the Syrian to life and acquitted the remaining two. In May last year, the appeals court however reduced the death sentences on the three men to life in jail, maintained the life term on the stateless man and acquitted the Syrian and the two others. The cassation court’s verdict is ﬁnal and cannot be challenged. Only HH the Amir has the power to commute the sentences. All the spy ring members have categorically denied the

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charges during all degrees of trials in the three courts and claimed they had been tortured to extract confessions from them. The men were convicted of passing conﬁdential military information on Kuwaiti and US militaries in Kuwait to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards through diplomats at the Iranian embassy in Kuwait. They were also charged of plotting to blow up some key oil pipelines in the north of the country. Iran has repeatedly denied that its intelligence was involved in the spy ring and even condemned Kuwait after the appeals court issued its verdict last year. It had called on Kuwait to release the defendants. Continued on Page 5

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salute Ali Al-Rashed, the Speaker of the House, for the candid interview he gave to Al Arabiya. The Speaker gave his true impression as a citizen on what Kuwait is currently going through. It was courageous of him to say that Iran is not a threat to the Gulf countries. I agree with his looking at what is going on around us in the Arab world - conspiracies, wars and mushrooming of weapons of mass destruction. The West is leading the campaign claiming that Iran is ready to cross the border of almost any Gulf country and invade us all. Of course the West has a long history of selling its arsenal to all of us. Why not the rich oil countries buy more arms and more arms and more arms. Of course only Israel has an interest to hit Iran. However, they have to convince the Arab world that it is in danger and needs more arms. They have to convince the Gulf and some of its neighbours that in order to protect themselves, maybe they have to build what is called the Iron Dome. Maybe they will come and convince the Gulf countries to pay billions of dollars to set an early warning system to detect advanced Iranian ballistic missiles. Going back to the interview with Ali Al-Rashed. The Speaker drew a pessimistic picture about the Gulf union. I agree with him. Each country has its own rules, functioning, constitution and regulations. The countries cannot be on any union level except what we already have - we travel with our IDs and customs regulations are facilitated. Of course, we also have security cooperation on many levels. As for the common single Gulf currency: I say: “forget it.” The topic died on its own much earlier before the collapse of the euro. Every country in the Gulf insisted on preserving its monetary sovereignty. Every country is busy protecting its own interests. So does the Gulf. The only country which has an interest in attacking Iran is Israel and it wants somebody else to do the job for them. It looks like the United States is not going to be directly involved with this Netanyahu obsession. Wherever he goes around the world, Netanyahu always discusses Iran’s nuclear program. He thinks the whole world shares his views. Isn’t this the perfect way to distract the world’s attention from his atrocities in Palestine and the West Bank?

DUBAI: (Clockwise from above) Bentley, Mercedes SLS and Aston Martin One-77 Dubai police cars are on display during the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) at the Dubai World Trade Centre yesterday. Dubai police have introduced top end sports cars to their patrol fleet to further strengthen the image of “luxury and prosperity” of the emirate. — AFP

Gulf union ‘just a wish’: Rashed Speaker doesn’t see Iran a threat KUWAIT: National Assembly Speaker Ali AlRashed expressed on Sunday his reticence on forming a union that brings together the countries that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Rashed explained in an interview with Al Arabiya that constitutional differences between Gulf countries and the uniqueness of each state’s domestic affairs makes it difficult to form a union. As the GCC celebrates its anniversary this month, Rashed suggested that the GCC

36 killed as Bangladesh cracks down on Islamists DHAKA: Bangladeshi police broke up a protest by tens of thousands of religious hardliners and shut down Islamist television stations yesterday as 36 people died in some of the ﬁercest street violence for decades. Hundreds more were injured in running battles as riot police broke up the rally near a commercial district in a predawn raid in the capital Dhaka. Dozens of demonstrators were also arrested, while the leader of the protests was put on a plane to the country’s second city Chittagong. — AFP (See Page 9)

DHAKA: An injured Islamist activist is carried away during a protest to demand that the government enact an anti-blasphemy law yesterday. — AP

union is “just a wish” that is recommended every now and then. There should be a “legislative convention” that is agreed upon by all Gulf countries in order to achieve a GCC union, he said. In his interview with Al Arabiya, Rashed touched on the political controversy in Kuwait, adding that there are groups that aim to hurt the government but not overthrow it. Continued on Page 5

4 Saudis held over Tanzania bombing Prez cuts short Kuwait visit DAR ES SALAAM: Tanzania has arrested four men from Saudi Arabia and four Tanzanians in connection with the bombing of church yesterday that killed two people, an attack that has heightened sectarian tensions in the east African nation. Investigators said they were still determining the type of device used in the attack on the Catholic church in Arusha, a town in the north of the nation of about 45 million people that is roughly evenly split between Muslims and Christians.

A statement from President Jakaya Kikwete’s office yesterday said two people had now died from the blast after the death toll had previously been put at one. Sixty people were injured. The president’s office said Kikwete had cut short his state visit to Kuwait following the bomb attack on the church. The Vatican’s ambassador to Tanzania, Archbishop Francisco Montecillo Padilla, was attending the official opening of the church when the explosion occurred. He escaped unharmed. — Agencies

Syria threatens to hit Israel Strikes killed at least 42 soldiers DAMASCUS: Israeli air raids on Syria at the weekend killed at least 42 soldiers, a watchdog said yesterday, fuelling international concern over a spillover of the conflict, as Damascus warned it would strike back. UN human rights investigator Carla del Ponte, meanwhile, said that rebels have used the deadly nerve agent sarin in their fight to oust Syria’s regime, although a commission of inquiry later said there was no conclusive proof. “At least 42 soldiers were killed in the strikes, and another 100 who would usually be at the targeted sites remain unaccounted for,” Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. The strikes early on Sunday near Damascus were the Jewish state’s second reported air raids on Syria in 48 hours. An early Friday raid had targeted a weapons storage facility at Damascus airport. A senior Israeli source said the raids targeted Iranian weapons destined for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Iran and the Shiite group Hezbollah are steadfast allies of Syrian President Bashar AlAssad’s regime, and arch-foes of Israel. A Syrian official in Damascus, reached by phone from Beirut, warned “Syria will respond to the Israeli aggression and will choose the moment to do so.” “It might not be immediate because Israel now is on high alert,” he added. “We will wait but we will answer.” —AFP (See Page 10)

TEHRAN: An Syrian man wrapped in a Syrian flag with a portrait of President Bashar Al-Assad walks past anti-riot police during an anti-Israeli demonstration in front of the UN office yesterday. — AP

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

LOCAL

Sri Lanka enjoying significant growth in tourism sector Road Show at Crowne Plaza

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Data on revenues KUWAIT: Informed sources said that the Governor of the Kuwait Central Bank has asked Kuwaiti banks to submit data on revenues and expenses of each of the main banks and their branches to the Central Bank by the tenth working day of each month. The sources said the Central Bank asked for this data periodically. The data for the month of April is to be included. This data will ensure that the Central Bank stays well apprised about the expenses of any of the banks at any time. They said such instructions were part of the Central Bank’s job as it wants to remain at the helm of all events and developments related to banks’ expenses, whether administrative or otherwise. KUWAIT: Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Kuwait C A H M Wijeratne addressing the road show held at Crowne Plaza.—Photos by Joseph Shagra

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: Following its victory against the Tamil Tiger rebels after years of insurgency, Sri Lanka has been enjoying signiﬁcant growth in its tourism sector, said the island nation’s envoy to Kuwait. Speaking to the Kuwait Times during the recently held Sri Lanka Tourism Road Show at the Crowne Plaza hotel, C A H M Wijeratne, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Kuwait said soon after its 2009 victory against the rebels, Sri Lanka has been drawing visitors from all over the world, including from Kuwait. “Kuwait has been identiﬁed by our tourism authority as one of our main sources of tourism recently. In fact, last year, we recorded more than 5,000 arrivals from Kuwait, mostly Kuwaitis accompanied by their families,” Wijeratne said. The envoy said Kuwaitis enjoyed coming to Sri Lanka for various reasons but mostly for its beautiful weather and the warm hospitality of its people. “Sri Lanka is now known as the ‘Wonder of Asia’ and we are happy and proud of the description. Every year, we have various attractive packages for foreign tourists, right from hotel accommodation to food and places to visit,” the

Debates League KUWAIT: The Kuwait University signed a memorandum of understanding with the Qatar Debate Center as the KU’s Deanship of Student Affairs organizes the ‘Debates League’. “Debating is considered an important activity in the enrichment process and opens the door for discussions,” KU Rector Dr. Abdullatif AlBader said in a statement in which he applauded the deanship’s steps in “instilling a culture of dialogue among the students.” Meanwhile, Dean of Students’ Affairs Dr. Abdurraheem Theyab said that this year’s event saw ten teams from five educational institutes participating. He added that the final round takes place today (Monday) between the Kuwait University female students and the American University of Kuwait male students.

KUWAIT: A cross-section of attendees

ambassador said. “For Middle Eastern travelers, we are going to cater to them in a very special way and paying speciﬁc attention to their needs such as villa style accommodation and halaal food. We will also provide Arabic speaking guides who are well versed with the Middle Eastern customs and traditions,” he added. Sri Lanka expects 90,000 tourist arrivals in 2013, up from more than 70,000 last year. By 2016, Sri Lanka would like to double this number, if not triple it. The road show provides an opportunity for business networking and information dissemination regarding Sri Lankan tourism. He also wooed Kuwaitis and urged them to plan their vacation this summer in Sri Lanka. He said the peninsula will always be a destination that people will forever treasure since it presents miraculous and natural paradise awash in diamond blue colours with verdant greenery to relax. A tourism promotional video presentation wrapped up the two-hour event and concluded with business reception and a sumptuous dinner. Sri Lanka is an island country in the northern Indian Ocean oﬀ the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent in

KUWAIT: Tourism promotion performances

South Asia. Known until 1972 as Ceylon, Sri Lanka has maritime borders with India to the northwest and the Maldives to the southwest. Sri Lanka is a diverse country home to many religions, ethnicities and languages. Sri Lanka has a rich

Buddhist heritage, and the ﬁrst known Buddhist writings were composed on the island. The country’s recent history has been marred by a thirty-year civil war which decisively but controversially ended in a military victory in 2009.

Co-ops campaign to collect donations for Syrian people KUWAIT: Co-operative societies began a campaign to collect donations for the Syrian people in co-operation with the Social Affairs Ministry and the cooperatives union. SAL Assistant undersecretary for social development sector, Munira Al-Fadhly, said the ministry allowed the co-operatives union to have the co-ops collect donations to rescue the Syrian people. The venture will be carried out under the umbrella of the International Rescue Authority according to specific rules that were agreed upon with the union. She said donations will be collected in the administration’s offices and not in the supermarkets, and payments will be made through K-Net and as bank deductions. Cash payments will not be allowed. She said that co-ops must submit documents about the total donation collected when the campaign is over. Meanwhile, the Social Reform Society submitted two complaints to the Investigations General Department based on clips published on the YouTube. One complaint was against MP Safaa Al-Hashem and the other was against former MP Talal Al-Saeed. The complaint against Al-Hashim was based on an interview aired by Al-Watan TV during the parliamentary elections in which the society was accused of collecting donations without license and sending them to the Free Syria Army instead of women and children, also that the reform society itself was not reformed enough. In the second complaint against AlSaeed, the society accused him of unleashing verbal insults and describing the society as one of the Muslim Brotherhood colonies. These insults were from Scope TV and the society considered these a punishable offense.

Technological legislations KUWAIT: The Minister of Information, State Minister for Youth Aﬀairs Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem AlHumoud Al-Sabah announced yesterday the acceptance of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to sponsor and attend the National Conference of Technological Legislations, to be held and organized in forthcoming July. HH the Amir’s acceptance to sponsor this important conference, sets foundations for a legislative leap in the technology ﬁeld, in which attain improvement of the country’s executive environment in general, Sheikh Salman told reporters at the Parliament. Moreover, Sheikh Salman expressed his gratitude to Parliament Speaker Ali Al-Rahsed, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah for adopting the idea to hold this conference, through which Kuwaitis aspires to attain a legislative renaissance for their country.

Premier stresses on supporting, encouraging youth

KUWAIT: General Director of Traffic Department Lt Gen Abdul Fattah Al-Ali pictured with Stien Hansen, resident representative of a United Nations growth program yesterday.

UN praises Kuwait traffic strategy KUWAIT: General Director of Traffic Department Lt. General Abdul Fattah Al-Ali received at his office Stien Hansen, resident representative of a United Nations growth program in the state of Kuwait. Al-Ali conveyed to Hansen the greetings of First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Hmoud and thanked him for the visit. Al-Ali also expressed Kuwait’s concerns about executing the 2014-20 phase of the growth strategy under the UN program. It was agreed during their meeting that more such meetings should be held in order to speed up the execution of projects under program strategy, which would assist the government in its efforts meet to meet the country’s requirements. The meeting discussed the National Traffic and Transport Sector Strategy for

Kuwait 2010-20, which would be implemented by the traffic department in cooperation with officials of the UN program, as per the Council of Ministers’ Decision No. 1426/2010. Hansen said Kuwait does not need more studies and suggestions to deal with its traffic and environmental pollution problems, because it has already prepared a comprehensive traffic strategy that has outlined the state’s vision for the coming 10 years. The national strategy involves 26 stakeholders and projects have been prioritised, many of which are already being implemented by some traffic departments and other ministries. Therefore, what is required now is to speed up the projects prioritised under the strategy, as traffic problems are escalating with population growth and rising number of vehicles.

Kuwaiti families opt for marine cruises KUWAIT: The countdown of the summer vacation and travel season has started for a large number of Kuwaiti families, with most of these families opting for marine cruises instead of conventional travel destinations. In the last ﬁve years, cruises have taken on an unprecedented demand, where the desire to discover new places and away from the routine in traveling to the same cities and capitals, tour agency owner and specialist Lulu Al-Issa said. “Being in a cruise is a unique experience in the sea, away from aircraft, jammed airports and problems that might face the person at airports,” added Al-Issa, who manages Horizon Travel and Tourism. “A journey by cruise is like a trip on a ﬂoating city that provides passengers with a 24hour range of activities,” she enthused. She noted renowned providers of the service like Royal Caribbean - known for providing pas-

sengers with a celebrity-like status and for their high-quality facilities, along with cinemas, ice skating rinks, swimming pools and tennis courts. The cruises link people from one point to up to seven destinations, giving travellers the opportunity to disembark at exotic unfamiliar locations then return to their ship within a day or two. Some travelers might prefer to stay onboard the luxury liners, which provide supermarkets, restaurants and luxury boutiques, while others are quick to take to the stations of the various islands. Those aﬀected with seasickness can beniﬁt from specialized clinics, able to deal with emergency cases, on board these ships, she added. On the cruise starting point for travellers from Kuwait, Al-Issa said that the port of Barcelona is the most suitable launchpad for its reasonable price and relatively close proximity to Kuwait.—KUNA

KUWAIT: His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak AlHamad Al-Sabah, sponsor of the Sheikh Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah Journalism Excellence Award Contest, stressed on giving youth all the attention, support and encouragement to excel in their respective field of work and competence. Head of the contest committee Ayman Al-Ali told the press yesterday that His Highness the Premier’s statements came during a meeting with members of the committee who have reviewed with him the successful fifth session, and also presented him with the sixth session plan. Al-Ali, who is also Chairman of KUNA Workers Union, conveyed the praising of HH the Premier for the fifth session, especially in the youth award category, which was newly introduced, and received great support in encouraging winners of this category to pursue excellence in journalism and media. He added that His Highness the Prime Minister reiterated the need to provide support to these young people and

motivate them to pursue success and invest in their talents, as it pours into the benefit of the country and preserving national unity. He noted that among the development plans that will be introduced at the sixth session, a special award for audiovisual media for youth, which was highly praised by His Highness Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak. Al-Ali said the next session will witness distinctive development, aimed at fulfilling the contest goals of increasing the spirit of competition between journalists, especially young people, and the development of journalism to its highest levels. He added His Highness the Premier’s support for this contest resulted in its great success, due to his keenness on continuously developing the Kuwaiti media. Al-Ali expressed gratitude to His Highness the Prime Minister for his support, affirming that “his instructions lead us towards development and prosperity to what serves the country.” —KUNA

Asian woman held for drug trading By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: An anti-drug squad led by Brig. Saleh Al-Ghannam, in cooperation with customs officials, has confiscated about 3 kilograms of heroin from an Asian woman. Earlier, the officials were tipped off that a woman intended to smuggle some heroin. After the tip-off was confirmed, anti-drug authorities asked customs officials to inspect the suspect and her luggage. As the woman arrived at the inspection counter of Kuwait International Airport, a female customs officer examined her luggage. She found two large packets of heroin, which were hidden in a secret pocket of the bag. The woman confessed to bringing the drugs for trading purposes. She and the drugs were then sent to the concerned authorities.

supervision of operations manager Faleh Al-Dawsari arrested a man for possessing drugs, some heroin and hashish. At the same time, another person was arrested for being in possession of 84 bottles of liquor. Four people were arrested as they were found wanted in various cases while six were found absent. Six vehicles were detained while 65 citations were handed out.

Lightening strike Amidst changing weather conditions and unpredictable weather, lightening struck a 16-year-old Kuwaiti youth in Riqqa Area, leaving him with severe burns on the hands just when he was leaving school. He was rushed to the AlAdan Hospital. The lightening was accompanied by storm and heavy rains. Ahmadi arrests Ahmadi security men led by Lt. General Ayedh Al-Otaibi and under the

KUWAIT: The Asian drug trader pictured after her arrest.

TUES, MAY 7, 2013

LOCAL

Smart ID cards for expats in private sector PACI starts issuing new cards By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: Starting today, the expats residing in Kuwait according to visa article 18 (work permit) and article 22 (family visa) will receive new smart ID cards instead of the old regular ones. These smart IDs were issued last year to all Kuwaitis, expats treated as Kuwaitis, GCC nationals, and expats working in the public sector. This was announced by Musaed AlAsousi, General Director of the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI), at a press conference held yesterday at the PACI headquarters. “Soon, even expats residing in Kuwait according to other articles will also receive these IDs, but we want ﬁrst to allot the same to these two categories. The smart IDs will be issued in phases, starting with expat residents with visa 18 and 22 residing in Mubarak Al Kabeer and Asima Governorates. Later, expats in Jahra, followed by those in Ahmadi, Hawali and ﬁnally Farwaniya will also receive the smart IDs,” stressed Musaed Al-Asousi. “The residents of these two governorates will receive these obligatory smart IDs. The

residents of the other governorate are free to apply for the smart ID when renewing their visa if they wish to do so, irrespective of their address, but they will have to bring the required documents,” he added. In order to receive these IDs, cer tain requirements need to be fulfilled. “The applicant must bring a latest personal photo according to the specification, a copy of the passport, and other required documents if needed. Also, these smart IDs would not be issued through the phone information system or online as was the case in the past, and not unless the required documents were provided,” noted Al-Asousi. “The applicants can submit their documents to the PACI headquarters in South Surra or by visiting the PACI branches in all of Salwa, Jahra, or Keifan Co-ops. The applicant can also use the envelope machines available at the different co-ops. In addition, they can also visit the PACI branches at the immigration department in all of Asima, Mubarak Al Kabeer, Hawali, Farwaniya, Ahmadi, and Jahra,” he stated. PACI will announce later when each phase of issuing IDs will start. “We

hope that the public will cooperate with us in this matter, as this project is part of the attempts to simplify procedures and streamline government infrastructure,” he pointed out. The smart ID applications are directly connected to the expats as part of the strategic plan. “It is time to add them to this system. This category of expats (visa 18 and 22) comprise a majority of the population. The smart ID connects the holder with diﬀerent sectors such as health, banks, education, oil, and others. As regards travelling to GCC countries, this feature is still limited to the GCC citizens, but it may be expanded to expats in the future, in keeping with a decision by the GCC,” explained Al-Asousi. PACI is only in charge of building the smart ID infrastructure. “These applications depend on the cooperation from the GCC countries. We are also waiting for the Ministry of Health to provide the necessary data to be included in the ID. This data will dovetail into the data with the hospitals and health centers. We are also waiting for the cooperation of other ministries and institutions to beneﬁt from the smart ID,” he concluded.

KUWAIT: Amiri Diwan Advisor Mohammad Abulhasan and head of the committee tasked with accompanying the visiting President of Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete hosted a lunch banquet on Monday in honor of the leader and his delegation.

News

in brief

81 held in security crackdown

Municipal elections KUWAIT: Informed sources have put an end to rumours that the government intends to postpone municipal council elections. The sources stated that the elections would take place as scheduled and a decree would be issued to that eﬀect on May 13. They said the suggested amendments to law No. 5/2005 would be made by N.A. Council. After the amendment, the municipal council’s ﬁnancial and administrative dependence on the municipality would come to an end, and a special budget will be allocated to the municipal council.

KUWAIT: Capital governorate security men under the supervision of the General Director Lt. General Tareq Hamada continued with their sudden inspection campaigns on Sunday. The campaign in the Mubarakia Area and Al-Mirgab, that lasted several hours, was organized in coordination with the security forces. The campaign resulted in the arrest of 89 persons, of whom 21 arrests were on account of expiry of residency permit while 11 people were arrested since they were found wanted in diﬀerent cases, 15 were found violating residency law, and 41 were found without identiﬁcation documents. One man was caught for trading in liquor. Lt. Gen Tareq Hamada said the campaigns will continue across all capital governorate areas with the aim to ensure everyone’s security.

Unlicensed nurseries, religious centers to be closed K U WA I T: T h e M i n i s t r y o f S o c i a l Affairs and Labor plans to soon close down unlicensed nurseries and teaching centers run at night - vent u re s t h a t a re u s u a l l y r u n by re l i gious organizations in Kuwait. The step was based on a repor t which revealed several violations found in these centers. Acco rd i n g to a m i n i s t r y i n s i d e r

privy to the developments, the action came after the ministry was notified by security agencies about investigations which revealed that some of the unlicensed centers were being used to “feed a culture of hate within the society and inculcating intolerance towards others among the children.” “ The ministr y received several

EPA disapproves airport expansion KUWAIT: The Environment Public Authority reiterated its disapproval of the Kuwait I n t e r n a t i o n a l A i r p o r t e x p a n s i o n p ro j e c t , demanding studies that “prove that landfills located in the area have properly been treated” as a prerequisite for its approval. T h e E PA p o i n t e d o u t t h a t t h e a i r p o r t expansion zone included areas where there were at least two landfills. Therefore, before gi v i n g t h e gre e n l i g h t fo r t h e p ro j e c t , i t demanded reports that could confirm that proper treatment procedures had been carried out in the areas. According to sources familiar with the case, the EPA believes that evaluating the land in question is the duty of the Civil Aviation General Department “which decides whether [environmental] violations are involved or not”. The sources who spoke to Al-Rai on the condition of anonymity said the EPA considers the Jleeb Al-Shuyiukh landfill, 90 percent of which is within the planned airport expansion zone, as the major obstacle facing the project. “The expansion zone needs rehabilitation, and the EPA can never approve the project without the problem being addressed,” the source explained. The Kuwait Municipality is repor tedly d e ve l o p i n g a p ro j e c t t o re h a b i l i t a t e t h e Jleeb Al-Shuyiukh landfill area, as well as the other landfill located in the northern part of the seventh ring road. “ This might have prompted the DGCA to wait instead of preparing the report that the EPA has requested,” the sources speculated.

‘Social Security’ revenues KUWAIT: The Public Institution for Social Security has earned KD2.8 billion in profits from the investments it made during the four fiscal years following the global economic crisis in 2008-09, General Manager Fahad Al-Raj’an said in a statement yesterday. Al-Raj’an stated that the institution made KD936.6 million during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013, taking into account the funds required for dealing with global economic changes. He also pointed out that the institution remained cautious about entering new markets or investing in new projects, and would instead focus on lowrisk investments. The institution has earned nearly KD7.2 billion from its investments since it was established, Al-Raj’an added.

complaints which basically accused it of failing to carry out its responsibility with regards to controlling the work of nurseries and centers run by charity or religious organizations,” said the source who spoke to Al-Rai on the condition of anonymity. Furthermore, the source pointed out that “stric t controls” were currently being formulated for estab-

l i s h i n g n u r s e r i e s , d a’ w a h ( I s l a m preaching) centers and other centers which function in the afternoon and offer various activities. The controls will include sticking to a unified curriculum “that will honor the principles of national unit y and coexistence” and which will be taught in the religious centers, the source added.

Oil containers inspection KUWAIT: Kuwait Petroleum Corporation has asked the general administration of customs not to open the oil containers for inspection after these are sealed by the KPC for export to oﬀshore markets, informed sources said. There were certain reservations as complaints were received from other countries about such containers being received with the KPC seal broken for inspection. In fact, some countries refused to receive such containers since these had been opened. Sources added that customs has issued a circular to all shift heads and customs inspectors not to open the containers sealed by the KPC as it was contrary to the international agreements in this respect. Those instructions have been implemented with eﬀect from May 5 to avoid delay in exporting oil containers.

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

LOCAL Gulf union ‘just ... Continued on Page 5 Some are trying to exploit arguments that have taken place between members of the royal family, he said. The speaker, however, considered that what is taking place in Kuwait is normal and the fate of the Assembly will only be determined by the constitutional court. “We will accept the court ruling no matter what it is, and we call everyone to accept it,” Rashed said. Rashed said inadequacy can be seen in some ministers’ performances. The postponement of these ministers’ interrogations made some assume that no action will be taken, he said. “I informed His Highness the Amir and His Highness the prime minister of the lack of cooperation by some ministers,” he added. Rashed said that Iran is not a threat to the Gulf region but that there are diﬀerences in points of view. “There are assaults on islands belonging to the UAE that we hope our brothers in Iran would stop,” he said. However, Rashed said that he believes Iran to be a Muslim country and that their relationship is very neighborly. — Al Arabiya

KUWAIT: First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Hmoud Al-Sabah carried out an unscheduled visit yesterday to the Special Forces Camps, during which he met senior Special Forces officials and was taken on tours to inspect new constructions and machines that entered service for the first time recently. The minister was also briefed

‘Sarayat’ paralysis traffic, naval activity suspended Flight diverted to Bahrain

Tanzanian First Lady visits Autism, Al-Kharafi Activity Kids centers KUWAIT: The First Lady of Tanzania, Salma Kikwete, and her accompanying delegation yesterday visited Kuwait Center for Autism where she was received by the center’s founder and director, Dr. Samira Al-Saad, who accompanied the eminent

guest on a tour around the center. The First Lady also visited Al-Kharaﬁ Activity Kids Center, located in Mishref, where she was received by the center’s Chairperson, Sabeeka Al-Kharaﬁ, who also took her on a tour around the center. — KUNA

Convictions of spy ring... Continued from Page 1 But former opposition MPs strongly blasted the Islamic republic for conspiring against Kuwait and other Gulf Arab states. “The ruling has confirmed Iran’s spying involvement and is a message to the governments and peoples of the Gulf to unite efforts to confront the Iranian danger,” former MP Mohammad Al-Dallal said on Twitter. “The conviction is an indication of a flagrant interference in the security of Kuwait that requires an official Iranian apology and an official and popular condemnation in Kuwait,” former MP Adel Al-Damkhi said. Former MP Abdullatif Al-Omairi said the ruling confirms that Iran has evil and aggressive intentions against Kuwait. In another development, the National Assembly’s public funds protection committee yesterday continued its investigation into the scrapped multibillion-dollar deal with US Dow

Chemical. The committee is probing why and how the $19 billion deal was signed and later scrapped, which required Kuwait to pay a fine of around $2.5 billion. Rapporteur of the panel MP Saud Al-Huraiji said the meetings have reached key information about the deal and that a number of officials will be summoned to reach the facts that will be announced to the people. MP Nasser Al-Marri meanwhile said that the value of the deal was inflated by around $4.7 billion to become $18.7 billion instead of $14 billion only and that $17 million was paid to the advisor of the deal, JP Morgan. He said we will ask JP Morgan for the reasons why the value was inflated and if it does not respond, “we will issue legislation banning dealings with the bank”. Marri said that scrapping the deal was better than continuing with it because if Kuwait had continued, the losses would have been much higher than the penalty.

KUWAIT: A thunderstorm that hit Kuwait early Sunday resulted in the naval traffic being suspended for a couple of hours while a passenger flight coming from Cairo was forced to land in Bahrain due to the emergency. Forecasts predicted that unstable weather would continue till mid-May. Veteran meteorologist Dr. Saleh Al-Ujairi told AlQabas newspaper that the rocky weather which witnessed heavy downpour, hail and dust-stirring strong winds was a ‘normal feature’ of the Sarayat season which Kuwait is subjected to during these days and will last till May 17. He said that sudden changes in weather could still happen until the end of the season which usually signals the beginning of the dry summer. Supervisor at the Shuwaikh Port Musa Behbehani said in the meantime said that naval traffic at the key harbor as well as the Shuwaiba and Doha ports was suspended due to low visibility as a result of the dust, adding that the wind speed reached as high as 35 knots early Sunday morning. Meanwhile, Operations Manager at the Kuwait International Airport Essam Al-Zamel revealed that low visibility forced the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to redirect flight number 539 coming from Cairo to land at the Bahrain International Airport. He added that the plane landed in Kuwait at 2:10 am Sunday, an hour and a half late than its original schedule. Several passengers at the airport were caught in the ‘middle of the storm’ when dust penetrated inside the terminal, prompting complaints about preparations in case of emergency at one of the country’s most critical places. In the meantime, traffic jams caused by the unusual traffic conditions were reported in different parts around the country, while several complaints were received against reckless drivers who took the opportunity to perform dangerous stunts on the slippery roads. In a related note, Ministry of Electricity and Water officials confirmed that a blackout which hit the Salmi Road, the Kabad Road and a large part of the Jahra stables was directly caused by the weather conditions Sunday morning. A senior ministry insider who spoke to Al-Rai on the condition of anonymity indicated that several power outage reports came shortly when rain and sandstorm began, soon after which emergency teams were sent to restore electricity. The source who preferred to keep his identity hidden indicated that technicians managed to restore power within an hour after replacing wires damaged due to exposure to rain water. The term Sarayat is derived from the Arabic word meaning ‘fast movement’ of clouds which are generally unpredictable in nature. The whole process lasts through stages; the first comprising the formation period; followed by saturation and then rainfall. Finally, it dissipates.

Kuwait pays tribute to Al-Afasy KUWAIT: Kuwait has lost one of its most distinguished figures in the former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice and Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Dr Mohammad Al-Afasy, who passed away on Monday after a long period of suffering and illness. Al-Afasy, who died at 65, started his career in the military field as a soldier in the Kuwait Army, later ascending military ranks until he became Lieutenant General. His educational life was an inspiring and challenging one, as he continued his primary studies after joining the army, and later continuing his education until he graduated from Law School at Kuwait University with honors. He later gained his Master’s degree in political sciences from New York University in the U.S., followed by another MA in Law from the University of Miami in Florida in 2003, before going on to complete his PhD in international law from the University of Wales in the UK. A keen patriot, Al-Afasy took part in the Arab-Israeli October War of 1973 and the Gulf War, which freed Kuwait from Iraqi invasion in 1991. Before becoming minister he was appointed to several posts, including chief of the Kuwaiti Military Court in the late eighties, and later a member in the defense military council - which was formed after the liberation of Kuwait in 1991 - representing Kuwait in talks which resulted in the Damascus Declaration. He was also chosen to represent the Gulf Cooperation Council at International Labour Organization (ILO) talks. In 2009, he was appointed Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, heading the legal committee at the Kuwaiti Cabinet of ministers in 2011, and later recieving the post of Deputy Prime Minister, until his resignation later that year. Other positions he had held include Board Member of the Public Institution for Social Security (PIFFS) from 1994 to 2009, Deputy President of the National Union of Kuwait University Students and Vice-President of the board of the local Al-Nasr Sports Club. — KUNA

Kuwaiti Cabinet approves plans for local human rights body KUWAIT: Kuwaiti ministers adopted a law for the formation of a local human rights bureau while expressing “content” with the release of HH the Crown Prince from hospital in Munich after successful surgery yesterday. After their weekly meeting at Seif Palace, the ministers were quoted in a statement by State Minister for Cabinet Affairs and State Minister for Municipal Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Abdallah AlMubarak Al-Sabah as having been briefed on the safe recovery after surgery of HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah. The bearer of the good news was HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, who said that he had received the information over the phone. The ministers jointly expressed their joy over the safe recovery of HH the Crown Prince, wishing him a safe return home. Meanwhile, the ministers adopted a law that would form a human rights bureau, aimed at protecting and enhancing these rights in light of the Kuwaiti constitution and international agreements. The move is aimed at “unifying and coordinating national efforts that support human rights and civil liberties within a single comprehensive functional mechanism that goes hand-in-hand with legal and social developments and the modern reputation of Kuwait,” added the statement. The draft will be raised to HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for a final adoption, before being received once again by lawmakers at the National

Assembly. Two letters addressed to HH the Amir were revealed at the meeting, one of which included an invitation to attend donor talks for Mali in Brussels on May 15 from the presidents of France and Mali, while the other expressed UNICEF’s gratitude for donations provided by Kuwait in supporting children across the world, describing the country as a pioneer in such initiatives. The Cabinet welcomed the visit of President of Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete to the country, adding that the visit will do much to increase bilateral relations, and wishing him a pleasant stay in Kuwait. Later, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah briefed the ministers on his visit, along with HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to Turkey. The visit was marked by several meetings with President Abullah Gul and senior oﬃcials along with the signing of several bilateral agreements and MoUs. Ministers were also briefed by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shemali on the recent meeting of the GCC ﬁnancial and economic committee in Bahrain. Al-Shemali said that the talks highlighted supervision of the implementation of steps aimed at integration between the six states. These include a customs union, a common market and monetary union, while the talks also discussed the GCC’s international economic policies on commercial partnerships and organizational governance.— KUNA

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

LOCAL In my view

Letters to Badrya

Time to go to work

Consider our visa plea badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

By Labeed Abdal

labeed@kuwaittimes.net

he residency status of expats must not seem like European weather forecasts on television where it is sunny one fine day, before it is suddenly cloudy, or rainy one day and then snowing the other. In Kuwait, you would often come across forecasts that proclaim day after day that it will be sunny, sunny, sunny, sunny, and then, may be, dusty. Yes, on any July morning, you realize that the temperature would break the 50 degree centigrade record. It is understandable that even freakish changes in the weather are only part of the universal natural phenomenon that is related to climatic conditions and positions of the sun and the moon. There is some logic in such sudden changes. But the latest snow avalanche that has hit Kuwait in the form of talk about deporting 100,000 expats every year to reduce the number of expats by a million in ten years clearly indicates a process that has not been thought through. Further, deporting any expat drivers guilty of committing traffic violations was a step against human rights and definitely unwanted. Needleless to say that our Kuwaiti constitution actually safeguards the interests of the expats when it mentions in article 31: (1) No person shall be arrested, detained, searched, or compelled to reside in a specified place, nor shall the residence of any person or his liberty to choose his place of residence or his liberty of movement be restricted, except in accordance with the provisions of the law. Kuwait must not look like a boat stuck in the middle of a sea that is vulnerable to wayward winds that fling it around from left to right or toss it up and down, never guaranteeing whether it will reach the shores or be sunk to the bottom of the sea. Any decisions that can affect the fate of nearly half the population must be taken with some responsibility. According to the 1961 constitution of Kuwait, which is meant for all the people, whether citizens or expats or even Bedouins, the liberty of movement must be protected and any action against any person on the soil of Kuwait should only be within the provisions of the law. That said, and putting myself in the shoes of the expats, I find that it is a historic and national responsibility of all officials to ensure that the expats do not face such an unsure fate. I am one hundred percent sure that all the expats, numbering over two million, want to stay in Kuwait, that they love Kuwait and see it as their second home, and that they have a stake in its peace and harmony and are law abiding. Those who are not must not disturb since this is the time to go to work and build a prosperous Kuwait.

kuwait digest

To be more rightist! By Bassem Youssef

n the 1960s and 1970s, the Republican Party in the United States suffered repeated defeats in the Congress and Senate elections it contested against the Democratic Party. The economically conservative Republicans could not face the Democrats in various fields such as social justice, health care and education since the latter adopted pure capitalism regardless of issues like social security or equal rights for minorities. The Republicans exerted no effort to attract marginalized voters and immigrants. The Republican Party should have changed its policies in order to stop losing voters over the years. Accordingly, there was a group of experts that worked on how to restore their electoral status. After months of research, it noticed that they were doing badly in elections in certain regions or states and that the votes they lost were in what is known as ‘The Bible Belt’ that included many southern states. They also noticed that voters’ participation in rural areas was close to zero, not because those voters lacked potential or awareness, but because they thought that none of the candidates followed Biblical regulations properly. This became a turning point in the Republican Party’s stance as well as, in addition to being economically conservative, turned it into a religiously conservative one. Thus, they started flirting with this leftist segment of voters and instead of competing only on economic issues, they preferred prioritizing issues like women abortion rights and other socially controversial topics. Forty years after this shift took place, the Republican Party became a uniquely racist one that hated minorities and marginalized certain sects, supported owning weapons, despised other world cultures, supported waging wars and endlessly adored Israel, believing in the Jews’ Divine Right. The party has been now nick-named as the ‘Idiot Party,’ and in one of his famous speeches, its member Bobby Jindal beseeched to ‘stop calling us as the idiot party.’ After forty years of extreme rightist policies, there emerged a group of the dumbest American leaders, like George W. Bush and Sarah Palin. The party’s racist policies cost it the votes of a lot of minorities such as Arabs and Muslims who used to support it because it opposed abortion and the homosexuals’ rights, which matched their own traditions and values. Yet, after Bush assumed the presidency, the Neocons took the lead in the party and Arabs and Muslims started voting for the Democrats despite their liberalism because the Neocons were too racist and spread hatred. Since stupidity has no religion, it also has no limits. Years ago, a more rightist group called ‘The Tea Party’, who were even more extreme and thought that the Republican Party has become useless and has deviated from its path, appeared in America accusing Republicans of ‘not being Christian enough.’

The only thing that stopped those extremists was the constitution that protects the people’s rights against the church or religious domination under the rule of ‘Separation of the State and the Church.’ Reading about this, I visualize the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Its leaders had a golden opportunity to replicate the Turkish model and unite everybody under one umbrella. Yet, they preferred to shift deeper towards the Right and allied with the Salafis to be the winning horses in the elections. And because they chose to ‘play religious and sacred’, others, such as the Salafis and the Al-Nour Party, adopted the same view and accused them of undermining the Sharea and not following Allah’s regulations. This triggered battles about jurisdiction with regards to economic issues such as the Islamic bonds, the World Bank loan and the treasury bills. Some Jihadist leaders even accused President Mursi himself of being an infidel. Muslim Brotherhood leaders are now being targeted with the same weapons that they used against us all, and, alas, so is Egypt. Regular Muslims used to hope they will not be pursued or arrested, and will be eventually able to take part in governance and freely practice Da’wa but now, with their media tools and treacherous utilization of Salafis, the MB activists have turned the whole thing into a battle for survival in which Islamists must win and apply Sharea on everybody regardless of how they define the Islamic project. They turned the battle to one in which only those with louder voices can win. So, with no clear separation between politics and religion, as in the American constitution, there is no limit to political bidding in this country. Once people start bidding on who is more religious, then anyone who looks more religiously abiding, will immediately overbid you and pretend to be more pious by accusing you of not following the exact religious and Sharea regulations. The result would ultimately be that someone would accuse you of ‘not being Muslim enough.’ Muslim Brotherhood played the religious card, the Salafis outbid it and now the Jihadists look down upon them both, which has left citizens bewildered, asking: ‘Where the hell is Islam in all this? You ruined religion through politics and ruined politics in the name of religion. You spread hatred amongst the people, opened it to those who bid on grounds of being holy and sacred which opened the floodgates for extremism, racism and stupidity. You may win the elections, you may control the public using religion and indulge in disgusting display of sectarianism, but you have surely lost your own selves and won everybody’s hatred and made them hate each other when you used the holy religion in unholy politics. Allah will never forgive you for this and for what you have done to this country and to Islam! —- Al-Jarida

Dear Badrya, I have been following your articles for quite some time and hats off to you for the way you highlight and express the expats’ point of view. We cannot thank you enough for being our voice. I am a British national with Asian ethnicity. I moved from UK back in 2011 to look for greener pastures (as anyone can expect) and started working as a private consultant. At that time, I was not aware of the on-going visa issues and honestly speaking, it did not bother me much because everyone believed it was all temporary and the ban will be lifted soon. It is now three years in a row and still there is no news for people in the private sector. My better half, who is a Pakistani national, is currently stuck in Pakistan, and despite all my efforts and applications, the situation has not improved. Recently, God gifted me with a little princess and the only thing I can do now is regularly visit Pakistan and cannot thank those people enough who developed e-messenger through which I can watch my daughter growing up day by day. She probably thinks of me as her e-daddy by now, who appears and disappears at a certain time during the day on a screen. What’s more appalling is that my daughter being a British national by descent can come to Kuwait (even though she was born in Pakistan) but my wife can’t! We are law abiding citizens and pose no threat or harm to anyone. It is, in fact, not in our favour to become part of any wrong doing. We came to Kuwait for better opportunities and believe me when I say that these opportunities have come around for us. I am only making a humble request that please lift the ban on the relatives of first degree (parents/spouse/kids) of six nationalities. How can a 70-year-old or a spouse be a security threat or a nine-month-old so to speak? Secondly, if my family is with me, I would be spending my salary here in Kuwait, adding to the local economy since I will be buying my food and paying for my rent here, than sending the money all the way back home. I do hope that the Kuwaiti government will consider our plea and revisit their visa policies for the banned nationalities. Thanks.

the column

Islam in Contemporary Middle East By Fouad Al-Obaid

In my view

Ministry of Education woes

By Abdallah Bwair

local@kuwaittimes.net

ews reports about problems with the Ministry of Education and the incidents happening therein have become a regular feature, but in the meantime, we hardly see the ministry officials coming up with solutions. A high school teacher punches one of her students and takes away her textbook so that she can’t take notes during the class. This story is further proof that the ministry is unable to protect the students or provide a safe atmosphere for them. Can you imagine a high school graduation ceremony that costs KD6000? This happened at a school in AlQairawan where twelfth grade students were asked to pay KD30 each to fund their upcoming graduation ceremony. Given the fact that the school has eight sections of twelfth grade class, each comprising 25 students, clearly it planned to collect KD6000, an amount that seems rather big for a school-level graduation ceremony. In another incident, the ministry reportedly canceled a contract with a catering company based on test reports which revealed that the meals it prepared for students were not fit for human consumption since these were contaminated with colon bacteria. Not only did the company violate food safety norms by preparing an average of 4500 meals inside a small factory, but the factory was also located in the Industrial Subhan area where Kuwait Municipality regulations ban establishing central kitchens. Incidents of students falling victims to physical assaults by their teachers continue. In one recent case, a woman teacher at an elementary school left her Kuwaiti student with multiple contusions as shown in his diagnosis report. Meanwhile, a Kuwaiti man filed a complaint against a male teacher who beat up his 10-year-old son in class. According to the child, the teacher became furious after he noticed the child asking his classmate about a subject he could not understand. The student also explained that he was too scared to ask the teacher directly for fear he might think that he was not paying attention. One of the Education Ministry’s mottos defines as a duty inculcating ethics among the students. This duty is as important, if not more, as teaching. But as shown by a recent incident, this does not seem to be the case. According to a recent report, families of tenth grade students were very upset when they discovered an English language book given to their daughters contained the phrase ‘I need my ex-boyfriend.’ It appears that the MOE officials, with whom people entrust their children, are too affected by the western lifestyle and were oblivious to the conservative nature of our beloved Kuwait’s society. I urge the MOE officials to pay extra care towards the students’ problems, find some radical solutions to them and hold the wrongdoers accountable.

Fouadlobaid@kuwaittimes.net Twitter:@fouadalobaid

ou would be justified in your confusion to question what religion people in the Middle East are following in light of the rapid changes brought forth with globalization. It used to be that people travelled the world to experience different cultures, and ways of life. In the contemporary Middle East a schism is building up (I am not referring to the Sunni-Shia divide) rather one between so called ‘liberals’ and ‘conservatives’ which in this part of the world is an oxymoron for both claim to be Muslims! The irony is that the interpretation of clear verses seems to lead a majority astray on matters that are rather crystal clear. Yesterday morning while on my way to work listening to BBC WS a documentary was aired exploring post-revolutionary Egyptian society. In it, a young ‘veiled’ presenter was highlighting the dilemma between the restrictive ‘liberal leaning’ old guard and the Sunni hardcore recently elected majority stronghold. Though the documentary was an interesting listen, two incidents struck me. The reason I found them rather peculiar is that they highlighted a reality that I for one believe many are failing to grasp: religion apparently to the majority of Muslims is a gimmickry! Those that want to take offence at me, please understand that I am exposing the blatant hypocrisy that many people selectively chose to adopt some rules while discarding others to suit their convenience. The host elaborated on the story of an Egypt Air stewardess that fought hard to get the right to wear a ‘headscarf’ while at work! The plight of the air hostess highlights a contradiction between what some believe to be the ‘true’ teachings of religion. I don’t think that many respectable scholars of Islam would condone such a job for a pious woman, especially if the serving of alcoholic beverages is part of the job, let alone the proscription banning women to travel without their men folk! The other is the frustration of the show host that got rejected from a nightclub because she was wearing a ‘headscarf’! The irony. I wonder whether people are actually aware of their inner contradictions or not? Closer to home I wonder whether the dress attire of some females conforms to public mores as expected from our society. Perhaps a quick shift to the understanding of societal tolerance is the dual contradiction of ‘veil’ wearing women taking their teenage girls to see a foreign celebrity in a major mall known for her sexual promiscuity! I believe that as a society we need to take a stance, whether people would prefer to live pious lives as endorsed by religion or alternatively, they wish endorse more liberal globalizing modes of life. We can be either one, but we certainly cannot be both! The daily contradictions I believe are leading the upcoming generation astray as to what is expected of them. Let us uphold our local mores and culture for if we lose them, we would lose a part of our national identity. In light of the ongoing cultural invasion, we ought to balance the foreign influx with national standards.

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

LOCAL

KUWAIT: After discovering that certain dealers were not abiding by hygiene norms, the Jahra municipality has sent four samples of foodstuff to the Ministry of Health’s labs to find out whether these were suitable for human consumption. The aberrations were discovered in one of the companies supplying schools with meals in Sulabiya Area where Director of Jahra municipality branch, Saleh Al-Kandari, paid a surprise inspection visit. He was also heading the inspection campaign. — Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

Information Minister discusses NCCAL cultural plans KUWAIT: Minister of Information Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Humoud AlSabah discussed yesterday with members of National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) cultural plans related to the five-year national development strategy. Sheikh Salman, also the Minister of State for Youth Affairs and the chairman of the council, affirmed during the meeting significance of cultural activities at various levels and among public and private institutions for supporting national unity, enhancing care for children and youth as well as boosting patriotism. The minister congratulated the council Secretary General Ali Al-Yoha and members of the Secretariat General for winning Zayed Book Award for Publishing and Technology. He praised nationals, namely Umaima Al-Issa, Basema Al-Enezi and Saud Al-Sansoussi, for winning literary awards. Moreover, Sheikh Salman welcomed Social Affairs Undersecretary Abdul Mohsen Al-Mutairi and Education Undersecretary Mariam Al-Watid as new

members of the council. He also hailed Dr. Kafia Ramadan and the team tasked with re-structuring the national library, stressing that it should be equipped with all necessities. Furthermore, the minister thanked the council members and secretariat general for their efforts and keenness on promoting Kuwaitís cultural role in the Arab world. Participants in the meeting approved the organizational structure, formation of the consultative council of the national library, tasking Dr. Hussein Al-Ansari of Kuwait University as its director general. They affirmed necessity of transferring the intellectual rights department from the Ministry of Commerce to the library and tasked the secretariat general to take necessary measures in this respect. They also examined the 2014-2018 strategy, agreed to delay discussing the executive program and schedule of the plan to a meeting to be held later and recommended focus on the executive program for children and youth. — KUNA

Attempt to smuggle petroleum products foiled in Shuwaikh Student injured in school mishap KUWAIT: Investigations are on to identify the suspects behind an attempt to smuggle certain petroleum products that was thwarted on Sunday at the Shuwaikh Port. Customs oﬃcials obtained warrants to search 22 containers that were 20-feet-long in size after they became suspicious while noticing the contentsí description cards. The containers were seized after samples tested by the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation labs revealed that these contained products prohibited for export. A case was ﬁled with the proper authorities for investigations. Road accident A man died in an accident reported on Sunday at the Salmi Road. The Kuwaiti was found in a critical condition after paramedics arrived at the scene, but died while being taken in an ambulance to the Jahra Hospital. Medical personnel rushed to the scene along with police after an emergency call about a vehicle losing balance and overturning on the highway. An investigation was opened to determine the circumstances behind the incident.

School mishap A ninth-grade student was injured when he fell from the third floor in a private school in Jahra. The student sustained serious fractures and other injuries which required treatment at the intensive care unit of the Al-Jahra Hospital. The child reportedly fell from the third floor and landed on a car parking shade before rolling on to the floor. Police are waiting for his condition to stabilize before questioning him on the circumstances behind the incident. It is being surmised that either he fell accidently while trying to flee from the class, or could have been pushed by a classmate. Search for thieves Three suspects left a security guard seriously injured after a failed robbery attempt at a charity organizationís office. Police and paramedics headed to the location in Salwa where man was found bleeding, according to an emergency call. The Egyptian man, who was rushed to the Mubarak Hospital, later explained that the three men stabbed him repeatedly when he refused

Dubai ‘crucial’ in hosting $4 trillion industry DUBAI: Dubai Ruler’s initiative of setting up a comprehensive platform of Islamic economy products and services is crucial to ﬁnding a host that takes under its wings an industry valued at USD four trillions, Kuwait’s Arab Planning Institute (API) chief said yesterday. The initiative known as “Dubai: Capital of Islamic Economy” was announced, January 2013, by Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammad

Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum. It aims at further diversifying Dubai’s economy and boosting Islamic economy; which stands at 11 percent of world economy. “Islamic economy is promising and fast-growing,” API’s Director General Dr. Bader Othman Malallah said at the end of a two-day conference on international and Islamic economics and China, held at Zayed University in its Dubai Campus. He further noted that Islamic economy is the

only economy that truly benefits consumers since it does not seek profit or commercial exploitation. “Choosing Dubai as the capital of Islamic economy mainly depends on the city’s well-diversified economy and its ambitious growth fuelled by the robust performance of its core sectors including trade, retail, tourism, aviation, hospitality, financial services and logistics,” Malallah continued. “Nominal value of sukuk listed on Dubai exchanges

NBK launches summer internship program

KUWAIT: A group picture of last year’s students

KUWAIT: In light of the tremendous success of the “Summer Internship Program” in the past years, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) is launching the first in a series of the 2013 Summer Internship Program on the 16th of June, 2013. The two-week courses are specially designed for high school and college students between 15 and 20 years old. Online registration for the Summer Internship Program starts today (Tuesday 7th of May, 2013), and is open until the 6th of June, 2013, through nbk.com and through NBK official page on Facebook, on Twitter and Instagram @NBKPage. “NBK views the Summer Internship Program as an extension to its educative initiatives and as part of its corporate social responsibility,” said Yaqoub Al Baqer, NBK Public Relations Officer. “ This annual program demonstrates NBK’s longstanding social involvement Yaqoub Al-Baqer as well as its national commitment towards providing young generations with the appropriate opportunities to experience how the actual professional banking issues and transactions are handled and processed”, Al Baqer added. The Summer Internship Program consists of 5-hour daily sessions and features a mixture of theoretical and practical training dedicated to providing the interns with invaluable knowledge on a variety of subjects such as: the teamwork, creative thinking, means of self expression and modern banking, in addition to helping them to have greater exposure to daily banking work procedures.

EQUATE recognized by Gulf Petrochemicals & Chemicals Association KUWAIT: EQUATE Petrochemical Company received the recognition of Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA). During GPCA 4th International Conference for Plastics Conversion (PlastCon 2013), EQUATE was recognized for its distinguished role in the success of GPCA’s “Clean Up the Gulf” campaign launched in Kuwait and across other Gulf countries. As one of the association’s main founders in 2006, EQUATE and GPCA ties have truly manifested the company’s tagline of “Partners in Success” throughout the years and at all relevant levels. 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 pro-

duction in 1997, EQUATE is the single operator of a fully integrated world-scale manufacturing facility producing over 5 million tons annu-

ally of high-quality petrochemical products which are marketed throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.

EQUATE representative receiving GPCA recognition

registered at USD 426 billion from 1996 to 2012, setting Dubai in third place in the global sukuk leagues.” This initiative seeks the development of Islamic ﬁnancing tools, attraction of the biggest insurance companies to take Dubai as their headquarters, development of commercial standards for Islamic industries and guidelines for Halal food manufacturing and development of Islamic quality standards for Halal food approval. —KUNA

to hand over the key to the Zakat House branch that he was guarding. A case was filed for investigations. Driver held A Kuwaiti man driving a vehicle was caught in possession of drugs in Mahboulah recently. The 20-year-old first stopped at a police checkpoint, and was instructed to pull over after he failed to produce a driverís license and registration documents of the vehicle. Before police could search him, the man swallowed some pills that he took out of his pocket, but officers managed to stop him from consuming the remaining pills in his pocket. The officers also found hashish rolls in the manís custody and took him to the proper authorities to face charges. Activist charged A man identified as a political and law activist was arrested after he verbally assaulted a police officer on duty, Al-Watan newspaper reported yesterday. According to the report, the man had a history of criminal behavior and was facing more than ten State Security cases. He had reported to the Rumaithiya police station to file a case against the Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Hmoud Al-Sabah, following his most recent arrest for allegedly violating the law during a political seminar. The man reportedly became furious after being told that the case could not be filed as documentation was incomplete. He was taken to the proper authorities to face charges.

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

Syria threatens to hit back after deadly Israel raids

Italy’s Machiavellian ex-PM Andreotti dies Page 12

Page 10

DHAKA: Vehicles burn following clashes with Bangladeshi police and Islamist protestors in Narayanganj, some 20 kms from Dhaka yesterday. — AFP

36 dead as B’desh cracks down on Islamists B’desh shuts down pro-Islamist TV DHAKA: Bangladeshi police broke up a protest by tens of thousands of religious hardliners and shut down Islamist television stations yesterday as 36 people died in some of the fiercest street violence for decades. Hundreds more were injured in running battles as riot police broke up the rally near a commercial district in a pre-dawn raid in the capital Dhaka. Dozens of demonstrators were also arrested, while the leader of the protests was put on a plane to the country’s second city Chittagong. Hundreds of bankers and stock market traders had to sleep in their offices as the sound of gunfire echoed around Dhaka’s Motijheel Commercial Area through the night. Shops and vehicles were set alight while the roads were littered with rocks that protesters had thrown at police, witnesses said. Police said they used sound grenades, water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse at least 70,000 Islamists who were camped at Motijheel as part of a push for a blasphemy law. “We were forced to act after they unlawfully continued their gathering at Motijheel. They attacked us with bricks, stones, rods and bamboo sticks,” Dhaka police spokesman Masudur Rahman told AFP. The protesters dispersed early yesterday, he added. Mozammel Haq, a police inspector at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, told AFP that 11 bodies were brought to the clinic, including a policeman who had been hacked in

the head with machetes. A total of 25 other people were killed in the protests, according to an AFP toll compiled through police and medical officials. This included eight people killed in the Kanchpur district on the outskirts of Dhaka, said the sources. Violence also flared up at Hathazari, a town just outside Chittagong, where local police chief Liaqot Ali said at least four people were killed after several thousand Islamists clashed with police and border guards. And at least two people were killed in the southern coastal district of Bagerhat where police exchanged gunfire with Islamists, police spokesman Shah Alam told AFP. Two pro-Islamist television stations which broadcast footage of the raid on Motijheel were forced off the air, journalists at the channels said. The plug was pulled on Diganta Television and Islamic TV as dozens of plain-clothes policemen stormed into their offices. The violence erupted Sunday afternoon after police tried to break a blockade of highways leading into Dhaka. The protests had been instigated by Allama Shah Ahmad Shafi, the leader of Hefajat-e-Islam who is said to be around 90 years old. Police managed to persuade Shafi yesterday to leave his madrassa (religious school) in Dhaka, escorting him to the airport from where he was flown to Chittagong. In a sign of their desire to avoid inflaming tensions, police insisted he was not arrested but left of his

own volition. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has ruled out a blasphemy law, saying she will not cave into hardliners who accuse bloggers of insulting the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH). Chanting “Atheists must be hanged”, activists from Hefajat-e-Islam marched along at least six highways on Sunday, effectively cutting Dhaka off from the rest of the country. Police said the number of protesters reached around 200,000 at one point although the numbers had dwindled by the early hours. Social media networks were inundated with photos of bloodied Islamists lying on the streets after the crackdown. The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which backed Hefajat’s blockade, accused the government of “killing hundreds of people and concealing the bodies” but gave no proof. Fearing more violence, Dhaka police banned all protests and the carrying of firearms. Bangladesh, an officially secular country with a 90 percent Muslim population, has seen a surge in violence since the start of the year, when a court began handing down war crimes verdicts related to the 1971 independence conflict. Three leading Islamists have so far been convicted for their role in mass killings during the conflict, which saw what was then East Pakistan break from the regime in Islamabad. The overall death toll in violence between religious hardliners and the police since January now stands at around 150. — AFP

Bahrain upset with US envoy DUBAI: Bahraini lawmakers have urged the government to stop the US ambassador in Bahrain from “interfering in domestic affairs” and meeting government opponents, newspaper reports and a lawmaker in the USallied Gulf state said yesterday. The reports said the government had agreed to the proposal and would take diplomatic measures, but it was not immediately clear what those steps would entail. The decision highlights the sensitivity in relations between the strategic allies, particularly in the wake of Bahrain’s displeasure about a US State Department report which was critical of the Gulf Arab country’s government. Pro-government daily Akhbar Al-Khaleej reported that a cabinet session had agreed to the parliamentary proposal, which also called for the government to stop the ambassador, Thomas Krajeski, attending “repeated meetings with those who inspire sedition”, an apparent reference to the Shiite-led opposition. Asked to comment, Information Minister Samira Rajab told Reuters without elaborating: “We affirm that nothing will affect the presence of the US ambassador in Bahrain”. It was not immediately clear whether the lawmakers’ complaint about the ambassador was related to a specific incident. But Western diplomats in the Gulf normally try to meet as many different political opinionmakers as possible as part of their jobs. “Very upset” Bahrain, which hosts the US Fifth Fleet, is ruled by the Sunni al-Khalifa family which crushed Shiite-led pro-

democracy demonstrations that began in February 2011. At least 35 people were killed in the unrest, though the opposition says the number is higher. Lower-level unrest has since continued. Under criticism from human rights groups, the government invited an independent inquiry to examine its handling of the trouble. Its report said the authorities had used widespread and excessive force, including torture to extract confessions. The US State Department report from last month said the government had failed to implement the most important recommendations detailed in that report, a finding rejected by the Bahraini government. A Bahraini lawmaker who declined to be named confirmed news of the parliamentary proposal and echoed displeasure with the State Department report. “The US ambassador has a lot of interference in Bahrain and in the politics of the Bahraini emirate, since he is in constant contact with the opposition,” the lawmaker told Reuters, speaking by telephone from Manama. “The people were very upset. The public in Bahrain were very upset... The report wasn’t even,” he said. The US Embassy in Bahrain declined to comment. In Washington, a US State Department spokesman had no comment, saying it was not aware of any new legislation or proposal. Khalil Al-Marzouq, an official with the largest opposition group, Al-Wefaq, said the report showed the government was failing to manage its domestic affairs and foreign relations. “Al-Wefaq is in contact with all diplomats, Western or otherwise. —Reuters

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

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Syria threatens to hit back after deadly Israel raids DAMASCUS: Israeli air raids on Syria at the weekend killed at least 42 soldiers, a watchdog said yesterday, fuelling international concern over a spillover of the conflict, as Damascus warned it would strike back. UN human rights investigator Carla del Ponte, meanwhile, said that rebels have used the deadly nerve agent sarin in their fight to oust Syria’s regime, although inspectors later said there was no conclusive proof as yet. “At least 42 soldiers were killed in the strikes, and another 100 who would usually be at the targeted sites remain unaccounted for,” Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. The strikes early on Sunday near Damascus were the Jewish state’s second reported air raids on Syria in 48 hours. An early Friday raid had targeted a weapons storage facility at Damascus airport. A senior Israeli source said the raids targeted Iranian weapons destined for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Iran and the Shiite group Hezbollah are steadfast allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and archfoes of Israel. A Syrian official in Damascus, reached by phone from Beirut, warned “Syria will respond to the Israeli aggression and will choose the moment to do so.” “It might not be immediate because Israel now is on high alert,” he added. “We will wait but we will answer.” UN leader Ban warned against any escalation of a conflict that has killed more than 70,000 people in Syria since it erupted in March 2011. “The secretary-general calls on all sides to exercise maximum calm and restraint, and to act with a sense of responsibility to prevent an escalation of what is already a devastating and highly dangerous conflict,” his spokesman Martin Nesirky said. Ban spoke by telephone with Arab League chief Nabil Al-Arabi, whose 22-member bloc demanded UN Security Council intervention to stop such Israeli attacks.

The EU also said it feared recent developments “risk dragging the region into an expanding conﬂict.” Russian President Vladimir Putin held telephone talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Syrian conﬂict, the Kremlin said yesterday. Putin and Netanyahu discussed the “situation in the region and the situation around Syria,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement to Russian news agencies, without giving further details.

LEBANON: Syrian refugee children who fled their country due to violence, pull bottles of water, in the southern village of Wazzani at the Lebanese Israeli border yesterday. — AP

Suicide bomber kills 25 at Pakistan polls rally PARACHINAR: An explosion ripped through a campaign rally of a leading Islamist party in Pakistan yesterday, killing 25 people and wounding dozens more, a government official said as the run-up to the country’s May 11 election becomes increasingly dangerous. The bomb blast at the rally held in the village of Sewak in the northwest Kurram tribal region by the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam party is the latest incident of violence targeting candidates, political offices and election-related events as the vote approaches. Much of the violence is believed to have been carried out by the Taleban against three liberal and secular parties but yesterday’s blast was unique in that it targeted a party believed to have a more favorable relationship with the militant group. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast. The bomb, which was apparently planted near the main stage of the rally, killed 14 and wounded 50 people, said Javed Khan, a government administrator in the Kurram tribal region. Two party leaders who were speaking at the event escaped unharmed, Khan said. One of the candidates, Ainuddin Shakir, told a local television station that the blast went off just as the candidates were finishing their rally and leaving the stage. He said it appeared to have been detonated by remote control. About 2,500 people had gathered at a local religious school to hear the candidates speak, said one man who was in the crowd, Sabir Gul. The massive explosion came just as one of the candidates ended his speech and was leaving the stage, he said. Another resident, Mohammad Jamil, attended the meeting with his brother and was in the dining hall eating when the blast went off. Political parties often give food to people at rallies who sometimes travel from nearby villages to hear candidates speak. Jamil said people attending the rally had been searched as they went into the gathering. “There was a deafening sound which stunned me for a while but I quickly moved out of the dining hall,” he said, describing a ‘hell-like’ situation. “There were countless people bleeding and crying for help. My brother Khalil was among them.” The

The foreign ministry in Russia, the most powerful ally of Assad’s regime, had earlier expressed concern over the air strikes. And China implicitly criticised the strikes as Netanyahu arrived in Shanghai, saying “we are opposed to the use of force and believe that the sovereignty of any country should be respected”. The Syrian regime’s main regional ally Iran denied the weapons targeted were from the Islamic republic. A diplomatic source in Beirut told AFP the sites were the

Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam party is considered supportive of the Afghan Taleban’s fight against the United States and its allies in neighboring Afghanistan. It’s also sympathetic to the Pakistani Taleban, which have been fighting Pakistani troops and would like to establish a hardline Islamic government in Pakistan. The group’s leaders have generally opposed the Pakistani military’s operations against militants in the tribal region and instead called for negotiating with the militants. The Taleban have claimed responsibility in recent weeks for a string of attacks against secular Pakistani parties that have in general supported military intervention against the militants in the tribal regions. Interim Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso condemned the bomb blast and called on the local government to strengthen protection for candidates in the upcoming election. The historic vote, scheduled for this Saturday, will be the first time a democratically elected civilian government completes its term and hands over power to another. But the ongoing attacks against candidates, their supporters and political offices has cast a shadow over the momentous occasion, and may deter many people from going to the polls. There is also concern that the attacks could benefit the parties that take a softer line toward the militants, because they are able to campaign more freely ahead of the vote. Yesterday’s blast however showed that no side is immune from the violence. Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the head of Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam, has been an outspoken supporter of the Afghan Taleban, but some militants in Pakistan have shown a willingness to target anyone connected to the U.S.-backed government in Pakistan. In 2011, a suicide bomber struck a convoy in which Rehman was traveling through northwestern Pakistan, killing 12 people. The Taleban has also condemned democracy as a whole, meaning that any political party taking part in the elections could be considered fair game by the militant group. The violence is multi-faceted and reflects the various militant problems facing the Pakistani government and military. —AP

Jamraya military facility, a nearby weapons depot and an anti-aircraft unit in Sabura, west of the capital. Israel reportedly targeted the Jamraya facility earlier this year, in a January 30 raid its officials have implicitly acknowledged. UN human rights investigator Del Ponte, meanwhile, said there was evidence that Syrian rebels have used the deadly nerve agent sarin. “According to the testimonies we have gathered, the rebels have used chemical weapons, making use of sarin gas,” the former UN war crimes prosecutor said in a Swiss radio interview. “We still have to deepen our investigation, verify and confirm (the findings) through new witness testimony, but according to what we have established so far, it is at the moment opponents of the regime who are using sarin gas,” she said. But UN investigators into rights abuses in Syria stressed yesterday they had no conclusive proof that either side in the conflict has used chemical weapons. “The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic wishes to clarify that it has not reached conclusive findings as to the use of chemical weapons in Syria by any parties to the conflict,” the commission said. It did not mention del Ponte’s comments specifically, only stressing that it was “not in a position to further comment on the allegations at this time”. US President Barack Obama has said the use of chemical weapons in the conflict was a “red line” for his administration but also that he does not foresee US troops on the ground in Syria. Yesterday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said the ongoing fighting was preventing the evacuation of the dead and wounded. “An increasing number of casualties are being left behind owing to the life-threatening risks associated with the retrieval of the wounded and the dead,” the organisation said. — AFP

Malaysian polls expose worrying social schisms Opposition leader Anwar says result was ‘fraudulent’ KUALA LUMPUR: It was hardly the look of the victorious. Wearing a bright blue shirt and a grim expression, Prime Minister Najib Razak appeared before the media early yesterday to somberly acknowledge that his coalition had won general elections for the 13th time in a row. He had reason to be cheerless. The National Front coalition’s victory in Sunday’s parliamentary elections despite losing the popular vote has not only exposed the entrenched racial divide in the country but also a new schism - between the rural poor who preferred the status quo and the urban middle-class who wanted change. Healing the divisions will be a big challenge for Najib, who took the oath of office yesterday to begin his second five-year term after surviving the fiercest challenge to the National Front’s 56-year rule. If left untended, the racial and social divisions could undermine the stability of Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy. On the face of it, the National Front appears to have done well. It won 133 seats in the 222-member Parliament down a fraction from the 135 it won in 2008. The opposition People’s Alliance coalition led by Anwar Ibrahim won 89 seats. But look deeper and the numbers carry a grim story for Najib: The National Front polled 5.22 million votes to the opposition’s 5.49 million votes, according to calculations by The Malaysian Insider, an independent news website. The National Front banked heavily on three states with large rural populations - Sarawak, Sabah and Johor - where many people from indigenous groups and the ethnic Malay majority are beholden to the government for handouts traditionally given to them. The three states alone, out of Malaysia’s 13, accounted for more than half of the 133 seats won. People in many urban areas - especially Chinese who are Malaysia’s second largest ethnic group - voted overwhelmingly for the opposition, reflecting the huge disenchantment with the government’s affirmative action policies that favor Malays. Speaking at the news conference, Najib blamed a “Chinese tsunami” for the coalition’s performance. “On the whole, the people’s decision this time shows a trend of voting polarization,” Najib said. “This worries the government, because if it’s not handled well, it could spark tension.” Many opposition supporters also believe the coalition resorted

KUALA LUMPUR: In this photo, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak takes his oath of office at the National Palace yesterday. — AP to fraud to win, including using migrants from has created groups whose political perspectives lie Bangladesh as illegal voters. The government and far apart. Traditional National Front loyalists comelectoral authorities deny it. Despite losing the pop- prise villagers who receive valuable cash handouts ular vote, the National Front benefited from gerry- from the government ahead of elections and rely mandering of constituencies. In Sarawak, on Borneo on government-linked TV stations and newspapers island, nearly all of the six constituencies won by for information. Many among the rural Malays also the opposition had between 26,000 and 40,000 vot- fear the opposition will scrap affirmative action proers each. In contrast, the National Front won 20 grams that provide scholarships, loans and other seats in Sarawak, where each constituency had benefits for Malays. In the cities, the opposition has made gains about 10,000 voters. “What we are seeing here is a regime that has among middle-class voters who read and spread used the trappings of power to stay in power,” said news about the government’s failings including Bridget Welsh, a political science professor at the corruption scandals on independent news websites Singapore Management University. “The reality is and blogs. During campaign rallies this past month, that many people will see this election as an elec- the ruling coalition handed out sacks of rice to tion bought and stolen. There will be a huge trust crowds who came to listen to speeches. Opposition deficit for the National Front.” The results also reflect candidates passed around empty bags seeking the complexities of modern-day Malaysia, which donations. The National Front has held power for 56 evolved from a 1950s backwater of rice paddies and years through a unique system of race-based politin mines into a country where cities like Kuala tics. The coalition is dominated by Najib’s United Lumpur and its famous Petronas Twin Towers are Malays National Organization, a Malay Muslim paronly an hour’s drive from rural rubber and palm oil ty, and supported by smaller parties representing plantations. In recent years, the rural-urban divide the other ethnic groups. —AP

Christians vote for safety in Pakistan LAHORE: Traumatised Christians in a Lahore slum where angry Muslims torched more than 100 homes say Pakistan’s two largest parties offer the only hope of protection at this week’s general election. The Pakistan Muslim League-N of Nawaz Sharif, a man accused of being soft on the Taliban but tipped to win Saturday’s polls, and the main outgoing Pakistan People’s Party both gave affected families $5,000 each in compensation. PML-N is the party in power in Punjab province, the home of the largest Christian community in Pakistan. PPP led the outgoing federal government. While in the northwest, Christians feel religious parties offer them more protection, voters in Joseph Colony say they will opt for PML-N for the regional assembly and PPP for the national assembly, in gratitude for their support. “They helped us cover our losses and gave 500,000 rupees ($5,000) to each family. So all of us have decided to vote for them,” said factory worker Sohail Masih. Pakistan’s 86 million registered voters go to the polls on Saturday to elect four provincial assemblies and 272 lawmakers directly into the national assembly. In the lower house of parliament, another 60 seats are allotted to women and 10 to religious minorities on a party ticket based on proportional representation. Christians cannot directly elect Christian lawmakers. They vote like everyone else for different parties, which in turn choose their Christian candidates, in a process criticised as “selection” not election. Only two percent of Pakistan’s overwhelmingly Muslim population of 180 million are Christian. The community is poor and complains of increasing discrimination. Last week, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom warned that the risk to Pakistan’s minorities has reached crisis level. It said blasphemy and other laws are used to “violate religious freedoms and foster a climate of impunity”. Campaigners argue that blasphemy legislation, for which the maximum penalty is death, is often abused to settle personal scores and should be reformed. Punjab has seen some

of the worst cases. A Christian mother was sentenced to death for blasphemy in 2010. In the town of Gojra in 2009, a mob burned 77 houses and killed seven people after rumours that a Holy Quran had been desecrated. Last year, a young Christian girl spent three weeks in jail after being accused of blasphemy before the case was thrown out, although she and her family have been in hiding ever since, fearing for their lives. —AFP

PESHAWAR: Pervaiz Masih (right), a Christian candidate of the Jamaat-e-Islami party for general election, is hugged by a Christian woman at his election campaign. — AFP

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

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Kenya court imprisons Iranian pair for life NAIROBI: A Kenyan court yesterday sentenced two Iranians to life in prison on terror-related charges, including the possession of explosives allegedly to be used in bomb attacks. “I shudder to imagine the amount of damage that could have been seen,” judge Kiarie Waweru Kiarie told the court in the capital Nairobi. Ahmed Mohammed, 50, and Sayed Mansour, 51, who were arrested last June, were found guilty of possessing 15 kilos (33 pounds) of the powerful explosive RDX, found by police hidden in a hole in a golf course. The court said they had suspected links to a network planning bombings in

Nairobi and the eastern port of Mombasa, the country’s second largest city. “I have considered their individual pleas,” Kiarie said, but added: “The cry of victims of previous terrorist attacks is louder.” They were sentenced to life on charge of committing an act intended to cause grievous harm, as well as 10 years for possession of explosives and 15 years for intention to commit serious crime, with the sentences to run concurrently. Both defendants, dressed in suits and open neck shirts, showed little emotion as the sentence was read out, although when they were led out to the cells one angrily

a trial that began in July. Iranian embassy official Mohamed Zaboli, speaking outside the court yesterday, said: “There has been some extrajudicial pressure that influenced the ruling and the procedure,” without giving further details. The men were arrested after police found the explosives in Mombasa, a key commercial hub as the main port for east Africa as well as a popular international tourist destination for its beachfront hotels on the palm-fringed Indian Ocean coast. Defence lawyers alleged the suspects were interrogated by Israeli security officers while in Kenyan detention, claims dis-

tried to kick a photographer. Defence lawyer David Kirimi described the life terms as “outrageous” and said appeals would be launched. “The sentencing is wrong, misconceived and outrageous, and an injustice to our clients,” Kirimi told AFP. The wives of both the men, who were in court to watch the sentencing, issued a joint statement in which they alleged “unfair treatment” of their husbands. They called for a retrial, saying there was “no concrete evidence linking our husbands to any evidence presented in court”. The two men, who had denied the charges, were convicted last Thursday after

missed by the prosecution. The defence largely depended on their clients alleged failing health to appeal to the courts leniency. The accusation followed a declaration by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who shortly after the two were charged said Iran was plotting attacks against Israel in Kenya. Israeli businesses in Kenya have been targeted in the past, including the Al-Qaedaclaimed bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa in 2002, in which 18 people died, as well as a failed missile strike on Israeli charter plane at the same time. —AFP

Italy’s Machiavellian ex-PM Andreotti dies Andreotti embodied postwar political system ROME: Giulio Andreotti, who served as Italian prime minister seven times and whose name was synonymous with political survival and cunning in the land that gave the world Machiavelli, died yesterday at the age of 94. Andreotti, who for more than half a century was known as “Mr Italy” because of the many offices he held, died at home, family sources said. He had suffered from respiratory problems for years and had been in hospital several times. A leading member of the defunct Christian Democrat party which dominated Italian politics for almost fifty years after World War Two, Andreotti was a lawmaker in every Italian parliament since 1945. He was made a sen-

sential back-room wheeler-dealer, overseeing a political system riddled with cronyism and corruption. He held nearly every political post in Italy short of the presidency. His leadership of seven post-war governments was beaten only by his mentor, Alcide De Gaspari, who led eight. At the end of a sensational trial and two appeals, Andreotti was cleared in 2004 of charges that he had been a member of the mafia and had protected the mob in the corridors of power. However, Italy’s highest court said he had ties until 1980 with mafia gangsters, which were covered by the statute of limitations. The most shocking allegation was that he once exchanged a kiss

ROME: Giulio Andreotti looks on during a session at the Senate in Rome. —AP ator for life in 1991. He was a complex figure who embodied the contradictions and intrigues of Italy’s often shady politics. His enemies called him Beelzebub but he was deeply religious and took communion from popes. He was accused and acquitted both of being a member of the mafia and of ordering the murder of a muck-raking journalist. His supporters said he served his country like few others, helping transform Italy from a war-devastated agricultural backwater to a leading industrial power in the space of a generation. But many Italians believed he was the quintes-

of respect with “boss of bosses” Salvatore “Toto” Riina, then Italy’s most wanted man and now in jail. Andreotti denounced the accusations, based on testimony from mafia turncoats, and in the end, the courts believed him. He embodied Italy’s so-called first republic, dominated by the Christian Democrats and a bewildering string of “revolving door” governments. Their eternal political rivalry with the Communist Party, the largest in the West at that time, was sharpened by the Cold War and American fears of a communist takeover, which also fuelled violent political conflict between right and left. The so-called

years of lead in the 1970s culminated in the farleft Red Brigades kidnap and murder of Christian Democrat president Aldo Moro when Andreotti was prime minister in 1978. But the party was swept away by a huge bribery scandal in 1992, together with much of the old order, although corruption is now said to be worse than ever and Italy is in a renewed period of political instability which has worsened a deep economic recession. A fervent Catholic who went to Mass every morning, Italians called him the “the eternal Giulio” because of his political longevity and his mastery of intrigue. He was the subject of more than 20 parliamentary investigations on suspicion of underthe-counter dealings, ranging from corruption to links with shady financiers. On every occasion he was cleared and the investigations did not dent his power with voters in Rome, his constituency. “Apart from the Punic Wars, for which I was too young, I have been blamed for everything,” he once said in one of his famous, cutting quips. “Faith helps me a lot,” Andreotti told Reuters during one of trials in 2002. “The justice that counts is that which will be carried out in the next world. I will not have a place of honour in the next world because I too have been a moderate sinner in my life, but I certainly have not committed sins of mafia or sins of murder.” A bespectacled, stooping figure with protruding ears, he was meat and drink for two generations of editorial cartoonists. He said his appetite for work was helped by insomnia but detractors said it stemmed from a lust for power. “Power wears out those who don’t have it,” he once said in a famous retort. As a life senator Andreotti attended parliament regularly until recently when his health failed. Andreotti, who was married with four children, got his first taste of power in May 1947 when he was named cabinet secretary. His introduction to politics came when he went to the Vatican library and asked for an obscure book on the military power of the Vatican in the 19th century. “Have you nothing better to do?” grumbled the librarian, who turned out to be De Gasperi, the future Christian Democrat leader and prime minister. Andreotti became De Gasperi’s personal assistant and never looked back. He helped write Italy’s new constitution after World War Two and assumed his first cabinet post, as interior minister, in 1954. Before his health failed, he worked though most of the night, slept only a few hours and spent the rest of the time before dawn reading files and writing books.—Reuters

Iran may be limiting growth in sensitive atom stockpile VIENNA: Iran appears to be pressing ahead in using some of its most sensitive nuclear material to make reactor fuel, diplomats said yesterday, a step that could help buy time for diplomac y between Tehran and world powers. Iran’s possession of medium-enriched uranium gas is closely watched in the West as Israel, which has threatened to attack its arch-foe if diplomacy fails to stop its nuclear drive, says it must not amass enough for one bomb if fur ther processed. Since Iran in 2010 began refining uranium to a fissile concentration of 20 percent - a relatively short technical step away from the level required for nuclear arms - it has produced more than the 240-250 kg which would be needed for one weapon. But while the stockpile has expanded, Iran has still kept it below the Israeli “red line” by converting part of the uranium gas into oxide powder in order, Tehran says, to yield fuel for a medical research reactor in the Iranian capital. Three diplomats said they believed Iran had continued this activity - thereby slowing the growth of the amount of 20 percent uranium gas - since the UN atomic agency issued its last report on Tehran’s nuclear programme in February. “Our impression is that it is fairly steady what they are doing,” one Western official said. Another envoy said: “I think they are trying to demonstrate that their conversion is a significant amount, an amount that (Iran believes) should ease the concern of the international community.” If this is confirmed in the next report on Iran by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), expected in late May, the increase in the holding of 20 percent gas will be less than the production, which has amounted to about 15 kg per month. In February, the stockpile stood at some 167 kg. West wants more Critics say Iran is trying to achieve the

ability to make atomic bombs. The Islamic Republic denies this, saying says it needs nuclear power for energy generation and medical purposes. But while the uranium conversion activity may postpone any decision by Israel on whether to strike Iranian nuclear sites, the diplomats made clear Tehran must do much more in order to allay Western suspicions about its atomic programme. “Simply converting is not enough,” one of them said. Turning uranium gas into oxide powder in order to make fuel plates for the Tehran research reactor may be just a temporary positive development because the process could be reversible, Western experts say. Iran could reconvert its entire inventory of 20 percent enriched oxide powder into gas “in a matter of a few weeks,” said Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment think-tank. “Reconversion is not hard,” said Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies think-tank. “Once the initial hiccups are overcome, the chemical process is straightforward.” But Iran’s uranium oxide powder, like its other nuclear material, would be under IAEA safeguards and its inspectors would notice if it was being transformed back into gas form, unless it was done at a secret facility, experts say. Were Iran to inform the IAEA that it intended to reconvert the material into gas form, “that step would immediately precipitate a crisis,” Hibbs said. Is ra e l i Pr im e M inister B enjam in Netanyahu has said Iran was “continuing to get closer to the red line”. The six world powers involved in diplomacy with Iran want it to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent and suspend work at the underground Fordow site where most of this activity is pursued. In their last meeting in early April, Iran refused the powers’ demand. The two sides’ chief negotiators will meet again on May 15 in Istanbul. —Reuters

ISTANBUL: Turkish riot police spray tear gas on protestors yesterday during a demonstration against the government and on the anniversary of the execution of Denis Gezmis, one of the founders of the People’s Liberation army of Turkey (THKO) on Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul. —AFP

MUNICH: A woman is held by police after she tried to force her way into the court yesterday before the start of the trial of an alleged member of a German neo-Nazi cell. —AP

Crucial neo-Nazi murder trial opens in Germany MUNICH: A woman accused of being at the heart of a neo-Nazi killer cell went on trial yesterday in a case that has shocked and shamed Germany and prompted calls for a security services overhaul. The random discovery of the gang in late 2011 embarrassed authorities, exposing deep security flaws and raising uncomfortable questions about how the cell went undetected for 13 years in a country proud of owning up to its Nazi past. Dozens of anti-racist protesters shouted slogans outside as Beate Zschaepe, 38, entered the heavily-guarded Munich courtroom, appearing relaxed with her arms folded. She is charged with complicity in the murders of eight ethnic Turks, a Greek immigrant and a German policewoman between 2000 and 2007 as a founding member of the National Socialist Underground (NSU). Dubbed the “Nazi moll” by media, she is also accused of involvement in 15 armed robberies, arson and attempted murder in two bomb attacks. Her lawyers deny she was directly involved in murder. Four men joined Zschaepe in the dock on charges of supporting the NSU. Germans were stunned to learn in November 2011 that foreign criminal gangs were not behind the unsolved murders, as long suspected by police and the media, but home-grown racist killers. The case only came to light after Zschaepe’s alleged accomplices, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Boehnhardt, were found shot dead in an apparent murder-suicide. Zschaepe then allegedly blew up their shared home in eastern Germany and later surrendered to police. A DVD later emerged with a film in the style of a “Pink Panther” cartoon in which the group claimed responsibility for the attacks. A probe into the handling of the case revealed oversights and missteps by police and domestic intelligence services and a realisation that the right-wing extremist threat had been grossly underestimated. The head of domestic intelligence resigned in July after staff admitted shredding files relevant to the case, and a parliamentary committee has been set up to look into what went wrong. The scandal also exposed a web of contacts between the secret services and the far-right in which the state systematically exchanged cash for information, raising questions about possible collusion. Chancellor Angela Merkel has called the killings a “disgrace” for Germany and apologised at a February 2012 memorial for suspicion having fallen on some victims’ relatives,

which she called “particularly tormenting”. Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich later pledged a root-and-branch reform of the security services to improve coordination and ensure accountability. Dressed in a black trouser suit, white shirt and wearing large hoop earrings, Zschaepe entered the courtroom before the hearing got under way and stood with her back to the TV cameras. Proceedings were adjourned for five minutes while the defendant talked to her lawyers after it emerged that Zschaepe has objected to chief judge Manfred Goetzl. Her lawyers accuse him of bias in ordering the defence team to undergo security checks on entering the courtroom over the possibility of objects or messages being brought to defendants, while prosecutors, police and other parties are not required to be searched. Reporters and members of the public queued up outside the court overnight to claim one of 50 free seats at what is Germany’s biggest terror trial since members of the prominent left-wing militant group, the Red Army Faction, were sentenced 36 years ago. Outside hundreds of police were on guard as emotions ran high with two women scuffling with police as ethnic Turkish protesters held banners declaring: “How could they kill so many?” Inside the court, many of the victims’ families got their first glimpse of the accused in person whose photo has regularly featured in the media but who has remained silent during her 18 months in custody. She faces life in prison if convicted. Lawyers for Semiya and Kerim Simsek, whose father was the first victim, said their clients who are co-plaintiffs would be seeking many answers. “They want to know why their father was murdered. How they came upon the flower seller Enver Simsek? Did local neo-Nazi networks help in the victim selection?” they said in a statement. A controversy over the accreditation of journalists overshadowed the run-up to the trial after the court initially failed to guarantee Turkish media seats when it handed out reserved spots on a first-come, first-served basis. This strained German-Turkish ties and forced a lastminute postponement when Germany’s top court ordered it to allocate seats to foreign reporters, leading to the final 50 media organisations being chosen in a lottery. Turkish media now have four seats but several leading German newspapers missed out. —AFP

Telephone: Weapon of Eritreans in exile LONDON: Galvanised by the Arab spring, Eritreans in exile in Europe are mobilising against the authoritarian regime of President Issaias Afeworki with a new tool-the humble telephone. Every week, members of the diaspora make hundreds or even thousands of automated calls to their compatriots in the eastern African nation, chosing their numbers at random and playing them oneminute recorded messages to spread dissent. “It is time to restore our liberty and dignity,” says one of the messages. In another, the mother of high-profile political prisoner Aster Yohannes recalls the fate of her daughter, who was arrested in 2003 and who has not been heard of since. Such political statements are rarely heard in Eritrea itself, where opposition parties are banned and anyone who challenges the president-who has ruled the tiny nation with an iron grip since independence in 1993 — is jailed without trial, often in the harshest of conditions. They are the work of a new generation of exiles who refuse to fall in behind traditional opposition parties, which are widely viewed as unrepresentative and divided, explains Leonard Vincent, a Paris-based specialist on Eritrea. Unlike those opposition leaders, their passion was forged not in the war of independence but in

the conditions forced upon their people today. “Their own war is against the current problems in the Eritrean nation,” Vincent said. About 1,500 Eritreans leave their country every month, according to the United Nations, paying up to 30,000 euros ($39,500) each to seek a new life free of grinding poverty and repression. Those who make it-refugees are often a target for people traffickers-settle around the world, from Australia to Germany, Britain to the United States, but keep in touch over the Internet. Their demands are simple-the application of the 1997 constitution which calls for elections in Eritrea, and the release of political prisoners, estimated by the NGO Human Rights Watch to be about between 5,000 and 10,000. And they have put these demands to the Eritrean people in about 100,000 recorded telephone calls made every Friday since late 2011 — including to some members of the regime. Ironically, “sometimes it’s actually the people who don’t like what we’re doing that spread the message because they are not afraid”, said Selam Kidane, founder of the ‘Arbi Harnet’ (Free Friday) movement. The phone calls are a way of spreading dissent without putting those receiving the messages in

danger, explains Kidane, a mother-of-three who is now settled in London. In a country where freedom of expression and the press are virtually nonexistent, logging onto a subversive website or tuning into a banned radio station could put their lives at risk. But the project has involved people who are still in Eritrea. The phone calls have only been made possible, for example, after someone smuggled a telephone directory out of the country. And a handful of those who remain are promoting the cause at great risk to themselves. “We have a little team inside the country that we have recruited via these calls. They have put up posters with our logo,” Kidane told AFP. Eritrea specialist Vincent explained that some posters take the form of fake versions of the public notices of deaths that are traditional in Eritrea. “The photo on the fake death notices is fictitious and the message is subversive, along the lines of ‘Wake up, they have stolen your freedom’,” he explained. He said the telephone messages are a new challenge to Issaias’ authority, but cautioned that they may have limited impact in a country of five million where “only the old, the young and the slaves” of military service remain. —AFP

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

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

Could immigration bill set off backlash again?

FOSTER CITY: San Mateo County firefighters and California Highway Patrol personnel investigate the scene of a limousine fire on the westbound side of the San MateoHayward Bridge in Foster City, California. — AP

Bride, 4 others perish in limo fire on Calif bridge SAN FRANCISCO: When one of the nine women in his limousine complained about smoke, Orville Brown pulled to the side of a San Francisco Bay bridge to check. As he got out, the back of the vehicle became engulfed in flames. A newlywed bride and eight of her friends were still inside, but passersby quickly pulled three from the burning Lincoln Town Car late Saturday night. And one woman managed to reach safety by squeezing through the partition from the passenger section to the driver’s compartment, Brown told authorities. But five others, including the bride whose marriage they were celebrating on a girls’ night out, became trapped. The five were found dead as firefighters doused the vehicle - all huddled near the partition, apparently unable to squeeze through. “My guess would be they were trying to get away from the fire and use that window opening as an escape route,” said San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault, who also relayed some of the comments the driver made to investigators. The San Mateo Fire Department was looking into the cause of the fire, while the coroner’s office was working with the California Highway Patrol to determine if anything criminal occurred. “We don’t believe there” was, Foucrault said. Relatives told the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News that one of the dead was Neriza Fojas, 31, a

registered nurse from Fresno who recently wed and was planning to travel to her native Philippines to hold another ceremony before family. Her friends in the limousine were fellow nurses. Brown, 46, of San Jose, told investigators he picked the women up in Oakland and was taking them across the bridge to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Foster City. Fojas’ sister, Rosalyn Bersamin, told the Chronicle that after a night out on the town, Fojas and her friends were heading to the hotel to party with her husband. “She was a hard worker, a loving sister,” a sobbing Bersamin said. Aerial video shot after the incident showed about one-third of the back half of the limousine had been scorched by the fire. Its taillights and bumper were gone and it appeared to be resting on its rims, but the remainder of the vehicle didn’t appear to be damaged. A photo taken by a witness and broadcast on KTVU-TV showed flames shooting from the back of the limo. Brown’s brother told the Chronicle the flames spread before he could help all the women escape. “He told me, ‘Man, it was so fast.’ He said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.’” “He kept saying, ‘I should have done more, I should have done more,” he added. The brother said that Brown is an experienced commercial driver who has operated big rigs and moving trucks and has a clean record. —AP

Posters open dialogue about Cuba’s future MIAMI: In one poster, Raul and Fidel Castro ride in a hot air balloon made of newspapers. Their ﬁngers are plugged into their ears, drowning out any noise around them. A blue bird similar to the Twitter icon ﬂies nearby, its beak threatening to punch a hole and send them to the ground. In another, a Havana street is lined with banners hanging from streetlights. “Citizen demand for another Cuba,” the signs read. “Sign it now!” The works are part of an exhibit held Saturday in Miami by State of SATS, an activist group attempting to foster civil society and stimulate discussion about Cuba’s future. The group’s leader, Antonio Rodiles, is in Miami to promote a campaign demanding that Cuba implement the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and ratify two United Nations covenants the government signed in 2008 protecting civil, political, social and economic rights. The posters all contain the words “For Another Cuba” and were created by artists on the island and in the diaspora. The works were shown in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood and will later be put on display at the State of SATS in Havana, which is operated out of Rodiles’ house. “The posters are part of a campaign including artists, musicians and citizens of all types,” said Rodiles, 40, who earned a doctorate in physics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and taught at Florida State University before returning to Cuba. “Caricatures and posters send very direct messages that sometimes words and analysis cannot.” Rodiles and other

members of State of SATS are the most recent Cuban opposition leaders to travel abroad and share their work with the international community - and the large base of exiles in Miami - since Cuba eliminated its exit permit requirement in January Blogger Yoani Sanchez, Berta Soler, co-founder of the Ladies in White group and Rosa Maria Paya, the daughter of Oswaldo Paya, a dissident killed in a car accident last year, all visited Miami in April. —AP

WASHINGTON: As a Senate committee prepares to begin voting this week on far-reaching immigration legislation, advocates are watching warily to see whether opposition, thus far subdued, builds into the same kind of fierce backlash that shut down Congress’ last attempt to remake the nation’s immigration system. That time around, in 2007, angry calls overwhelmed the Senate switchboard and lawmakers endured raging town hall meetings and threats from incensed constituents. The legislation ultimately collapsed on the Senate floor. “I’ve been through this battle, and it’s ugly,” said former Sen Trent Lott, R-Miss., who supported the bill. “My phones were jammed for three weeks and I got three death threats, one of which I turned over to the FBI. So it’s rough business.” Supporters of the immigration bill, released last month by a group of four Republican and four Democratic senators, have been cautiously optimistic about their prospects because of factors including public support for giving citizenship to immigrants, a large and diverse coalition in support of the bill, and a growing sentiment among Republican leaders that immigration must be dealt with if they are to regain the backing of Hispanic voters. Backers have been working hard to build alliances and strategies aimed at avoiding the mistakes of 2007, when critics largely defined the bill and some supporters ended up turning against it. Opponents acknowledge that supporters started out better organized and mobilized than last time around, and they also anticipate that outside groups pushing the legislation - including efforts headed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg - will outspend them. Supporters include large and influential groups including the US Chamber of Commerce, AFL-CIO and the Catholic Church, while opponents include lesserknown think tanks or advocacy organizations such as NumbersUSA, the Federation for American Immigration Reform and the Center for Immigration Studies. Both sides have already begun running ads.

But critics also have important grass-roots influence, including from talk radio hosts who were instrumental in defeating the bill in 2007, and opponents argue that as the public absorbs the content of the legislation, the tide will turn against it. They say that there are already signs that it’s happening. Although conservative commentators on Fox News Channel and elsewhere have been more muted so far than in 2007, some talk radio hosts including Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh have begun to voice deep unease about the bill despite the efforts of its conservative standard bearer, Sen Marco Rubio, R-Fla, to sell the legislation to them and other conservative opinion leaders. “The supporters promoted the bill aggressively before anybody saw the language, and certain Republicans and conservative voices sort of held their fire, but that’s beginning to change,” said Sen Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who was a leading voice in the Senate against the bill in 2007 and is reprising that role this time around, making floor speeches, issuing press releases and holding briefing calls with reporters to argue that the bill would unlock a much larger volume of immigration into the US than advertised, to the detriment of US workers and jobs. “It’s going to be like that mackerel in the sunshine - the longer it’s out there the worse it smells,” Sessions said. The bill would aim to boost border security, fix legal immigration and worker programs, require all employers to check their workers’ legal status and offer eventual citizenship to the estimated 11 million immigrants already living in the country illegally. Joyce Kaufman, a host on a Florida radio station, WFTL, said that opposition to the bill was soft at first but grows daily. “Yes, we believe this is amnesty,” Kaufman said. “Citizen activists are outraged.” Lott said that supporters of the legislation still haven’t come up with an argument as concise and effective as that one word - “amnesty” - from opponents. He said he’s spoken with Rubio, among others, to make clear that supporters of the bill need to hone their arguments. “Last time our explanation was three paragraphs. Theirs was a word,” Lott said.

When that happens, he said, “You’re dead.” The Democratic-led Senate, where the Judiciary Committee takes up the bill on Thursday, is already going to be a tough challenge. But if the bill does pass the Senate, opponents are betting it gets stopped in the Republican-led House. A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has been promising for months to release their own bill mirroring elements of the Senate legislation but taking a tougher tack. So far they haven’t delivered. Meanwhile, to the dismay of immigration advocates, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has announced plans to move forward with individual, single-issue immigration bills, rejecting the comprehensive approach in the Senate that’s backed by President Barack Obama, who’s made immigration legislation a top second-term priority. The legislation was also a priority in 2007 for then-President George W. Bush, but he was unsuccessful in persuading Republican lawmakers to get behind the bill, and Democrats who at the time controlled Congress were divided, too. In the 2007 debate, a turning point came when the conservative Heritage Foundation released a report saying that the legislation would cost taxpayers $2.6 trillion, including benefits to immigrants and other expenditures. Although the analysis was disputed it carried weight with GOP lawmakers. Now under the leadership of former Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., another lead opponent of the legislation in 2007, Heritage is preparing to release an updated version of that report. In a sign of how supporters of the bill are working hard not to repeat mistakes from the past, conservative groups that support the legislation have already sought to pre-empt the Heritage report, with the Cato Institute deriding it ahead of time as “fatally flawed,” and Cato and others arguing that immigration reform would boost the economy by growing the labor market. Nonetheless officials with Heritage argue their report could have the same impact this time around as in 2007. —AP

Teen immigrant angst: A factor in bombings? CHICAGO: Anna Tabakh didn’t know a word of English. At age 5, a stranger in a strange land, she was en route with her parents from the Soviet Union to a new home in Kansas City, Mo. But she understood the intent when security guards at a New York City airport suspiciously eyed her stuffed animal, a rather rotund plush toy. “They thought we were smuggling diamonds in my stuffed animal friend,” Tabakh, now 27, says, recalling how her mom, pleading in broken English, persuaded the guards not to tear apart the toy to search its contents. Tabakh still has the pig in her New York apartment, “to remind me how far I’ve come since those first days.” The beginning was traumatic, she says, but the transition to American life was relatively smooth - a result that some social scientists would say was partly due to her age. There is, in fact, a term researchers use to describe young people who, like Tabakh, were born in other countries but came to the US between the ages of 5 and 12 and have a foot in two worlds. They call them “Generation 1.5.” They remember the places they came from but come of age in their new home - and research shows that, while they may struggle at first, many end up adapting better than immigrants who arrive as teenagers. It is a dynamic that could help explain why the two brothers suspected in the Boston bombings had seemingly different experiences in this countr y, in terms of how well they adapted. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger brother, was about 9 when he came to the United States from the Russian Caucasus region. He was more integrated in daily American life, according to accounts from friends and relatives. By compari-

son, they say older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev - who came to this country in his mid-teens and died in a gunfight with police after the bombings - had a more difficult time fitting in. He once told a journalist that he had no American friends. And yet when he returned to his homeland last year, relatives said he had trouble fitting in there, too - that he seemed more American than Chechen. Experts say that inability to fit into either world is a common predicament for immigrants who came here as teens, though many of them eventually adapt much more successfully than Tamerlan Tsarnaev did. “Being a teenager itself is such a hard journey. That coupled with being an immigrant is very, very difficult,” says Barbara Greenberg, a clinical psychologist who ran an inpatient adolescent psychiatric unit at a hospital in New York for many years and whose patients included young immigrants. She says the teen years are a particularly difficult time to fit in because social groups have formed, and cliques are tougher to break into. “When you’re a little kid, social groups are more in flux,” says Greenberg, who still specializes in adolescents in private practice in Connecticut. Of course, she and others note, there are many other factors that likely led the elder Tsarnaev brother to allegedly mastermind the bombings - factors that many hope will become clearer as the investigation continues. Did the absence of their parents, who moved back to Russia, play a role? Did Tamerlan Tsarnaev become a father figure to his younger brother and lead him astray? Were there mental health issues? Did extremist religious views play a role?

KANSAS CITY: In this image, Anna Tabakh and her older brother, Ilya, stand with their family after arriving at the Kansas City, Mo. airport in December 1990, a year before the collapse of the Soviet Union. — AP “It’s just sad that they lost their way,” says Marko Mamic, a 27-yearold Croatian immigrant in suburban Chicago. His family moved there a decade ago, in search of the one thing that motivates many immigrant families - opportunity. It was a tough move for a teenager, Mamic recalls. He left his friends. He left his basketball team. He only knew the British form of English he’d learned in school, but had never really used it. “I was crying so bad. I wanted to go back home my ﬁrst year,” says Mamic, now 27 and a third-year medical student at Loyola University ’s

Stritch School of Medicine in suburban Chicago. “You have to start from scratch.” But Mamic had a strong support system - a tightknit family and a large and active community of Croatian immigrants. He also had sports, a shared love for basketball that helped bridge the gap. And, he says, he and his sister were very social and made friends easily, a factor that Greenberg says is key. “Kids who are ﬂexible, kids who are engaging, kids who have a likeability factor ... and who can engage both adults and kids - these are the ones who are most resilient,” she says. —AP

Finding burial plot for bomb suspect a struggle WORCESTER: A funeral director trying to find a cemetery to take the body of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is going next to the city where Tsarnaev lived, but will run into another obstacle: It doesn’t want him. Worcester funeral director Peter Stefan said he plans to ask the city of Cambridge to provide a plot because he hasn’t been able to find a cemetery in Massachusetts willing to accept Tsarnaev’s remains. He said if Cambridge turns him down, he will seek help from state officials. Cambridge City Manager Robert Healy said in a statement Sunday that he is urging the funeral director and Tsarnaev’s family not to request a burial permit for the city-owned cemetery. “The difficult and stressful efforts of the citizens of the City of Cambridge to return to a peaceful life would be adversely impacted by the turmoil, protests, and wide spread media presence at such an interment,” Healy said. The dilemma over where to bury the 26year-old suspect comes as a friend of his brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev heads to court for

a bail hearing on charges that he lied to federal investigators after the bombings. Defense attorneys said in court documents filed Saturday that they will ask a federal judge to release Robel Phillipos of Cambridge from jail. They said he had nothing to do with the deadly bombings and isn’t a flight risk. Phillipos, 19, was charged last week with lying to investigators about visiting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s college dorm room on April 18, three days after the bombings. Two other friends were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice by taking a backpack with fireworks and a laptop from Tsarnaev’s dorm room. All four had studied at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Phillipos faces a maximum of eight years behind bars and a $250,000 fine if convicted. The Tsarnaev brothers are accused of carrying out the April 15 bombing, which used pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails, ball bearings and metal shards. The attack killed three people and injured more than 260 others near the marathon’s finish line. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died after a gunfight with police on April 19. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was

captured and remains in a prison hospital. He has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and faces a potential death sentence if convicted. Healey said there has been no formal application for a permit or purchase of a cemetery plot for Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and that it would not be in the best interest of the city to execute a deed for a plot. Healey said the families who have loved ones interred at the cemetery also deserve to have their deceased family members rest in peace. He said other federal agencies should take the lead in the burial. Stefan did not immediately return a call Sunday night seeking comment on Healy’s statement. Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, of Montgomery Village, Md., and three of his friends met with Stefan on Sunday and prepared to wash and shroud Tsarnaev’s body according to Muslim tradition. Tsarni told reporters that he is arranging for Tsarnaev’s burial because religion and tradition call for his nephew to be buried. He would like him buried in Massachusetts because he’s lived in the state for the last

decade, he said. “I’m dealing with logistics. A dead person must be buried,” he said. He said he was grateful to Stefan for agreeing to arrange the burial and to his friends for accompanying him to Massachusetts to aid with the funeral. “These are my friends who feel for me ... as I do understand no one wants to associate their names with such evil events,” he said. Tsarnaev, who had appeared in surveillance photos wearing a black cap, was identified by authorities as Suspect No. 1. Stefan said he has received calls from people criticizing him and calling him “un-American” for being willing to handle Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s funeral. “We take an oath to do this. Can I pick and choose? No. Can I separate the sins from the sinners? No,” he said. “We are burying a dead body. That’s what we do.” A half-dozen protesters gathered outside the funeral home Sunday holding signs and American flags and chanting “USA!” One sign read: “Do not bury him on U.S. soil.” Several people drove by the funeral home earlier Sunday and yelled, including one man who shouted, “Throw him off a boat like Osama bin Laden!”

The state medical examiner ruled that Tsarnaev died from gunshot wounds and blunt trauma to his head and torso, and authorities have said his brother ran him over in a chaotic getaway attempt. Stefan said Sunday that the family won’t request that an independent medical examiner perform a second autopsy, but representatives from the family’s legal team might photograph Tsarnaev’s body before it’s washed. Tsarni has denounced the acts his nephews are accused of committing and has said they brought shame to the family and the entire Chechen ethnicity. The brothers are ethnic Chechens from Russia who came to the United States about a decade ago with their parents. Both parents returned to Dagestan last year. Tsarni said Sunday that he hopes to eventually see Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at his prison hospital. “This is another person left all to himself,” he said. In other developments: The FBI on Sunday conducted a court-authorized search in Cambridge as part of its ongoing investigation into the bombings, said Jason Pack, a supervisory special agent in the FBI’s press oﬃce. —AP

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

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

Bangladesh building collapse toll tops 640 DHAKA: Bangladeshi police are investigating possible murder charges against the owner of a shoddily built factory that collapsed nearly two weeks ago after the wife of a garment worker crushed in the accident filed a complaint. The legal development comes as officials said yesterday that the death toll from the country’s worst industrial disaster had reached 645. Sheuli Akter, the wife of Jahangir Alam, filed the complaint with Dhak a magistrate Wasim Sheikh, saying her husband and other workers were “pushed toward death” by building owner Mohammed Sohel Rana and two others. Alam was employed in New Wave Styles Ltd., one of the five garment factories housed in the eight-story Rana Plaza that collapsed April 24 as workers started their morning shift even though cracks had developed in the building. New Wave Styles owner Bazlul Adnan

and local government engineer Imtemam Hossain were the two others accused in the case. Magistrate Sheikh ordered police to investigate the complaints, and local police chief Mohammed Asaduzzman said yesterday that they would now investigate possible murder charges. A conviction for murder can result in a death sentence in Bangladesh. Nine people, including Rana and Adanan, have already been arrested on other charges. Rana faces charges such as negligence and illegal construction, which are punishable by a maximum of seven years in jail. By yesterday afternoon, the death toll had reached 645, according to the police control room at the scene. It is not known how many people are still missing, as workers use heavy equipment to search through the rubble. There is still a stench around the col-

lapse site from decomposing bodies. An architect whose firm designed the initial floors of the building said Sunday it had not been designed for heavy industrial work. Masood Reza, an architect with Vastuk alpa Consultants, said they designed the building in 2004 as a shopping mall and not for industrial purposes.Officials say Rana illegally added three floors and allowed the garment factories to install generators. Vibrations from garment machines and from the generators were thought to have contributed to the collapse. The disaster is the worst ever in the garment sector, surpassing the 1911 garment disaster in New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist factory, which killed 146 workers, and more recent tragedies such as a 2012 fire that killed about 260 people in Pak istan and one in Bangladesh that killed 112, also in 2012. — AP

SAVAR: A Bangladeshi woman screams for a missing relative, believed to be trapped in the rubble of an eight-storey building collapse in Savar, on the outskirts of. — AFP

India, China withdraw troops from the border Indian minister to visit China as crisis ends

NEW DELHI: Indian Sikhs shout slogans from a police bus as they are detained during a protest against former parliamentarian Sajjan Kumar near the Presidential Palace yesterday. — AP

Sikhs protest over acquittal of Indian leader in 1984 riots NEW DELHI: Scores of Sikhs demonstrated in New Delhi yesterday against the acquittal of a senior Indian ruling party politician on murder charges in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. More than 200 turbaned Sikhs demonstrated, blocking the road near the parliament building and calling for the reversal of last week’s court judgment acquitting Sajjan Kumar for lack of evidence. The protesters hoisted placards that read “Hang Sajjan Kumar” and staged a sitin in the high-security zone before being taken away in police vehicles. The government says nearly 3,000 Sikhs were killed in riots following the assassination of then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards, while human rights activists put the ﬁgure at around 4,000. Gandhi was shot dead to avenge her decision to use military force to expel Sikh sep-

aratists from inside the Golden TempleSikhism’s holiest shrine in the northern Indian city of Amritsar. At the time, Kumar was an MP belonging to India’s ruling Congress party and he is still a party leader. Activists accuse Congress of turning a blind eye to the killing of Sikhs and allege leaders such as Kumar and Jagdish Tytler incited mobs during the riots. Sikh protesters have been demonstrating in Delhi since the verdict was handed down last Tuesday, marching to the residence of Indian Congress Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the nation’s ﬁrst Sikh premier, and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Some MPs had to walk to parliament yesterday as they could not take their vehicles due to the protesters’ blockade. Sikhs make up some two percent of Hindu-majority India’s population of 1.2 billion. — AFP

Lanka uses terror law to hold Muslim leader COLOMBO: Sri Lanka has detained an opposition Muslim political leader for 90 days under a tough anti-terrorism law, in what a leader of the minority community yesterday described as the latest attack against them. Azath Sally, 49, the former deputy mayor of Colombo and leader of the Muslim National Unity Alliance, was being held under a 90-day detention order, police spokesman Buddhika Siriwardena said. “The charges are under the Prevention of Terrorism Act,” Siriwardena said, without elaborating. The United States, which moved a censure motion against Sri Lanka at the March UN Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva, asked Colombo to ensure that Sally had access to lawyers. “We urge the government of Sri Lanka to ensure Mr Sally has access to his attorneys and that the rule of law and due process are protected,” US ambassador Michele Sison said in a question and answer session on Twitter. The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka (MCSL), an umbrella organisation of Muslim groups, said Sally was detained on Sunday. “We have written to the president to release Mr. Sally immediately and make public the charges that are said to have been brought against him,” MCSL leader NM Ameen told AFP. Sally has been a vocal critic of the government of President

Mahinda Rajapakse. He blamed the authorities for allowing an anti-Muslim campaign in the Buddhist-majority nation that culminated in an arson attack on two Muslimowned businesses in March. “There is a feeling among Muslims that Mr Sally was arrested because he spoke and stood up against attacks from Buddhist nationalists who targeted Muslim interests,” Ameen said. “Muslims believe this arrest is the latest attack against their community.” The arson attacks caused extensive damage to a clothing store and a vehicle yard. But three Buddhist monks and 14 other Buddhists arrested over the attack were later freed after the police and the victims did not press charges. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemned Sally’s arrest under the act, nearly four years after security forces crushed Tamil rebels and ended the island’s decades-old ethnic war. “The AHRC warns that a new principle is emerging in Sri Lanka now where if anyone is considered as having made a wrong political decision, the government agencies can arrest and detain them,” the Hong Kong-based commission said. Last week London-based Amnesty International accused Sri Lanka of instilling a climate of fear by stepping up repression-a charge denied by Colombo as a “fascinating piece of ﬁction”. — AFP

NEW DELHI: India and China yesterday began withdrawing troops from a disputed area of the Himalayas after settling a border dispute that had threatened to reverse a recent warming in ties, Indian officials said. More than three weeks after Chinese troops were reported to have set up a camp far inside a region claimed by India, senior officers from both sides reached an agreement for a joint pullback. “Both sides reached an agreement on Sunday night after a meeting was held between border commanders. We will withdraw our troops and China will do the same,” a senior Indian army official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Another army source said around 50 Chinese soldiers had withdrawn from the Siachen glacier in the remote Ladakh region and pulled down their tents close to an Indian military airstrip. A source in the foreign ministry confirmed that the pullback had begun and said a statement would be made before parliament later in the day. News of the withdrawal came after Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid had hinted that he could cancel a planned trip to Beijing this week if there was no settlement of the dispute. Foreign ministr y spokesman Syed Akbaruddin confirmed yesterday that Khurshid would be travelling to Beijing as scheduled on

Thursday where he would “discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of concern” with Chinese counterparts. “Governments of India and China have agreed to restore status quo along Line of Actual Control (LAC),” he told AFP, adding that the flag meetings were held to work out the modalities and to confirm the border arrangements. The informal border separating China and India is known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The row had also cast a cloud over the build-up to a planned visit to New Delhi by new Chinese Premier Li Keqiang later this month. But India’s domestic news agency, PTI quoted an unnamed Chinese official stating that the faceoff in Ladakh sector was resolved fruitfully and the issue at the border was resolved with larger bilateral interests in mind. Khurshid said last month it was important to avoid “destroying” years of progress made between the neighbours, while India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also stressed his desire to avoid inflaming tensions. Relations between the neighbours have improved in recent years but they are still dogged by mutual suspicion-a legacy of a 1962 border war. While the LAC has never been formally demarcated, the countries have signed two accords to maintain peace in frontier areas.

Indonesia summons UK ambassador JAKARTA: Indonesia yesterday summoned the British ambassador to make a protest after a group supporting independence for the restive Papua region set up its headquarters in England, the envoy said. Mark Canning said he was summoned to see Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, who “conveyed to me in clear terms the strong concern of the Indonesian government at the opening of a ‘Free West Papua’ oﬃce in Oxford”. The “Free West Papua” group last month established the headquarters in the central English city, and the opening ceremony was attended by the mayor and a member of parliament. “I explained to the minister that we recognised the sensitivity of this issue for Indonesia,” said Canning in a statement. “The position of (the) British government on this matter is quite clear. We respect the territorial integrity of Indonesia and do not support calls for Papuan independence. We regard Papua as being part of Indonesia.” After their meeting, Natalegawa said that “we cannot accept and we object to the opening of the oﬃce”. He said Canning had stressed that the views of local authorities in Oxford “do not represent the view of the British government and this is not something that is in line with the position of the British government”. The issue of separatism in Indonesia remains deeply sensitive, particularly after the bloody secession of East Timor which gained independence in 2002. For decades, ethnic Papuans in the mountainous and sparsely populated region have rejected the area’s special autonomy within Indonesia. They have demanded a referendum on self-determination for the region’s estimated population of 3.6 million. The vast area is split into two provinces for administrative purposes, Papua and West Papua. But some-such as the group which set up the office in Oxford-refer to the whole region as West Papua. Indonesia has strict treason laws and courts have handed down stiff penalties ranging from 20 years’ jail to life for people caught with separatist symbols such as the Papuan flag. —AFP

Small incursions of a few kilometres across the contested boundary are common but it is rare for either country to set up camps in disputed territory. The Indian media had been clamouring for the government to take a tough line towards China, saying its latest incursion represented a significant raising of the stakes. Sujit Dutta, a professor at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi who specialises in Indo-Chinese relations, said further such disputes were inevitable. “The latest standoff was more serious than the usual cross-border incidents. The present issue has been resolved but such disputes will flare up again,” Dutta told AFP. Dutta said the new leadership in Beijing was making a concerted effort to challenge India’s territorial assertions. “India should not assume that the dispute has ended. The fact is that the dispute has reached another level at a time when the new Chinese leadership is determined to contest India’s territorial claims,” said Dutta. Comments from both governments during the dispute have reflected a desire not to let it disrupt their booming trade. Officials in Beijing said both countries had the “capacity and wisdom” to defuse the row through “friendly consultation” but insisted their troops had not trespassed across the LAC. — AFP

After riding high, Indian govt hit by new scandals NEW DELHI: After riding high since launching economic reforms in September, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s minority coalition has been brought to a new low, with key ministers entangled in corruption investigations and Singh facing calls to quit. In the space of just a week, Singh’s government has seen its economic reform legislative agenda disintegrate in parliament as opposition members have repeatedly disrupted proceedings to demand the resignation of the two-term technocrat and his law and railway ministers. The new corruption allegations and the fallout in parliament are embarrassing for a government which has been aggressively courting foreign investors in major world capitals with promises of more measures to liberalise the economy. “How will the finance minister face investors abroad after the exposure of new corruption scandals and the parliament session ending without passing any important bills?” asked a Finance Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Parliament is due to go into a 2-1/2 month recess on Friday after one of the least productive sessions on record, a notable low given that India’s parliament has regularly been paralysed by filibustering opposition parties. Singh’s government has been on the back foot for the past week, fending off suggestions that the law minister interfered with a federal police investigation into irregularities in the award of coalfield concessions to private and state companies. The latest scandal came on Friday with the arrest of the nephew of Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal in connection with allegations that he accepted a bribe of $160,000 to arrange the promotion of a railways official. There has been no suggestion

that Bansal was in anyway involved but the case reinforces popular perception that the government is “corrupt beyond redemption”, The Hindu newspaper said in an editorial yesterday. The scandals have dented Singh’s Teflon image. The prime minister, who has a goldplated reputation for probity, has been untouched by the raft of corruption scandals that have battered his government during its nine years in power. But the latest allegations have raised questions about how so many graft scandals have occurred on his watch. The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which will face off against the ruling Congress party in elections due by May 2014, has demanded that Singh quit. The latest edition of India’s most widely read news magazine, India Today, said Singh was a “political liability” for his party and should go. Congress party leaders meeting on Sunday backed Singh and the ministers under fire. One party insider said the leadership feared a domino effect. “Sacking the railway minister would mean sacking the law minister as well, which would bring the prime minister in the direct line of fire,” a Congress party leader with knowledge of the meeting told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Coalgate flares up again The so-called Coalgate scandal emerged last August with the release of a report by the auditor general that questioned the lack of transparency and undervaluing in the award of potentially valuable concessions. But it was quickly eclipsed by Singh’s launch of investorfriendly economic reforms on Sept. 14 that shifted the narrative of a government in crisis to a government in overdrive to win back foreign investors. —Reuters

Afghan-Pakistan clashes flare JALALABAD: Cross-border clashes flared Monday between Afghan and Pakistani security forces for a second time in five days as Kabul and Islamabad engaged in a war of words over the porous frontier, officials said. On the edge of the Afghan capital, more than 2,000 people, mostly villagers, demonstrated and chanted “Death to Pakistan!” to protest against the fighting. Relations between the fractious neighbours have become increasingly strained despite renewed efforts last month by US Secretary of State John Kerry to get them to work more closely on peace efforts in Afghanistan. Afghanistan and Pakistan are in dispute over a site where Pakistan has tried to construct a gate on what Afghan officials say is Afghan territory. Clashes last Wednesday in the same spot killed an Afghan guard and wounded two Pakistanis. The border is unmarked in places and a key battleground in the fight against Taleban violence plaguing both countries. “Today the Pakistanis returned to the construction site and said they will rebuild the installations,” said Afghan interior ministry spokesman, Sediq Sediqqi. “Our border police told them not to do so. The Pakistanis fired at them and our police returned fire. The fighting lasted for two hours before the Pakistanis requested a ceasefire,” the spokesman added. He told AFP the clashes had since stopped and the Pakistani border guards had left the site

of the construction. Pakistani officials blamed Afghans for starting the clashes. “Afghan troops opened unprovoked fire from across the border at our post... They fired mortars and automatic weapons,” one Pakistan official told AFP on condition of anonymity. “Our troops responded with retaliatory fire. There have not been reports of any casualties so far. The exchange of fire continues at intervals,” a second official said, also on condition of anonymity. Afghanistan and Pakistan are both US allies in its battle against militants. But Kabul accuses Islamabad of playing a double game in supporting Taleban insurgent attacks on US and Afghan troops. Pakistan denies the allegations and is locked in its own battle against the Pakistani Taleban. On Saturday Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the cross-border clashes could be an attempt by Islamabad to put pressure on Kabul to accept the “Durand Line”, the disputed border which Afghans do not accept. Pakistan’s foreign ministry dismissed Karzai’s remarks and said “opening discussions on this issue” was a “distraction from the more pressing issues requiring the priority attention and cooperation of Pakistan and Afghanistan”. It said Pakistan’s post had come under attack and complained about “several threatening and provocative statements” from the Afghan leadership. —AFP

KABUL: Protesters hold Afghanistan flags during a demonstration against Pakistan yesterday. — AP

ANALYSIS

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

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Issues

The lessons of Reinhart-Rogoff By Lawrence Summers he economics commentariat and no small part of the political debate in recent weeks has been consumed with the controversy surrounding the work of my Harvard colleagues (and friends) Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff (RR). Their work had been widely interpreted as establishing that economic growth was likely to stagnate in a country once its government debt-to-GDP ratio exceeded 90 percent. Scholars at the University of Massachusetts have demonstrated and RR have acknowledged that they made a coding error that resulted in their omitting some relevant data in forming their results and also have noted that using updated data for several countries reduces substantially the strength of some of the statistical patterns they asserted. Issues have also arisen with respect to how RR weighted observations in forming the averages on which they base their conclusions. Many have said that the questions raised undermine the claims of austerity advocates around the world that deficits should be quickly reduced. Some have gone so far as to blame RR for the unemployment of millions, asserting that they provided crucial intellectual ammunition for austerity policies. Others believe that even after re-analysis the data support the view that deficit and debt burden reduction is important in most of the industrialized world. Still others regard the controversy as calling into question the usefulness of statistical research on economic policy questions. Where should these debates settle? From the perspective of someone who has done a fair amount of econometric research, consumed such research as a policymaker and participated as an advocate in debates about fiscal stimulus and austerity, here would be my takeaways. First, the RR experience should accelerate the evolution of mores with respect to economic research. Rogoff and Reinhart are rightfully regarded as careful, honest scholars. Anyone close to the process of economic research will recognize that data errors like the ones they made are distressingly common. Indeed the JP Morgan risk models in use when the “London Whale” trade was placed had errors not unlike those made by RR. In the future, authors and journals and commentators need to devote more effort to replicating significant results before broadcasting them widely. More generally, no important policy conclusion should ever be based solely on a single statistical result. Policy judgments should be based on the accumulation of evidence from multiple studies done with differing methodological approaches. Even then, there should be a reluctance to accept conclusions from “models” without an intuitive understanding of what is driving them. It is right and understandable that scholars want their findings to inform the policy debate. But they have an obligation to discourage and on occasion contradict those who would oversimplify and exaggerate their conclusions. Second, all participants in policy debates should retain a healthy skepticism about retrospective statistical analysis. Trillions of dollars have been lost and millions have been unemployed because the lesson learned from 60 years of experience between 1945 and 2005 was that “American house prices in aggregate always go up.” This was no data problem or misanalysis. It was a data regularity until it wasn’t. The extrapolation from past experience to future outlook is always deeply problematic and needs to be done with great care. In retrospect, it was folly to believe that with data on about 30 countries it was possible to estimate a threshold beyond which debt became dangerous. Even if such a threshold existed, why should it be the same in countries with and without their own currency, with very different financial systems, cultures, degrees of openness and growth experiences? And there is the chestnut that correlation does not establish causation and any tendency for high debt and low growth to go together reflects the debt accumulation that follows from slow growth. Third, while RR’s work, even unqualified by the recent replication efforts, did not support the claims made by the prominent figures on the right in the U.S. and UK regarding the urgency of deficit reduction efforts, much of the joy taken on the left in their embarrassment is inappropriate. It is absurd to blame them for austerity policies. The authors of those policies chose the policies first and only then cast about for intellectual ballast. While there may be no threshold beyond which debt automatically becomes catastrophic, and while the British and American experiences are both suggesting that fiscal contraction in a slack economy where interest rates are near zero is inimical to growth, it is a grave mistake to suppose that the debt can or should be accumulated with abandon. —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.

Congo rebels prepare to face UN force By Jonny Hogg n forested hills in eastern Congo, rebels are honing their ambush skills to prepare to face a new United Nations force which has a mandate to go on the offensive. “Destroy the enemy. Cause fear and stop his patrols,” a rebel officer wrote on a blackboard as he instructed uniformed M23 fighters at a camp seized from the government in Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern borderlands. In the latest effort to bring peace to a region riven for years by conflict over ethnic rivalry and mineral riches, the United Nations is deploying a 3,000-strong brigade of African troops with a mission of neutralising armed groups such as M23. Approved by the Security Council in March for “targeted offensive operations”, the brigade from South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi is the first to be created within a traditional peacekeeping force. A 17,000-strong existing UN force, MONUSCO, has struggled to maintain security in eastern Congo. If the M23 rebels, who emerged last year from a Tutsiled rebellion in 2004-2009, fear the new UN Force Intervention Brigade, they are not showing it. They routed UN-backed Congolese troops and briefly seized the North Kivu provincial capital of Goma in November, an embarrassment for President Joseph Kabila and the United Nations. M23 spokesman Colonel Vianney Kazarama said the rebel group, which is demanding political concessions from Kabila’s government, had no plans to attack U.N. peacekeepers. But if targeted, it would respond. “You’ll see, we’re going to capture them, destroy their equipment, march over their forces,” Kazarama said. At the captured government camp, rebels paraded and put on a show of hand-to-hand combat in the bush grass. Military experts say the brigade could find itself severely stretched in its mission to neutralise and disarm the M23 and other armed groups. M23 is well-trained and well-armed. UN experts say it is backed by Rwanda and Uganda although both countries deny it. FDLR rebels, the remnants of Hutu killers who carried out the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda, and other militias also roam the green hills and valleys of North Kivu. “It’s a complex mission. From a tactical point of view this is a logistical nightmare because you don’t know who’s who in the zoo from one day to the next,” said Helmoed Romer Heitman, a South African military analyst. He questioned whether the UN brigade, which will include about 1,000 South African troops and an equal number from Tanzania and Malawi, would big and strong enough. “The overall UN mission is not properly conceived. I think the force is too small and there is a certain amount of wishful thinking,” Heitman told Reuters in Pretoria. South African military spokesman Xolani Mabanga said the numbers were in line with recommendations. “We are happy with the size of the force,” he said. South Africa’s armed forces are already smarting from the deaths of 13 soldiers in March in Central African Republic when anti-government rebels confronted a 200-strong South African contingent deployed there under a defence agreement. This has increased the political sensitivity of South Africa’s participation in the Congo. M23 have shown signs of being rattled, appealing against South Africa’s involvement with a mixture of threats and entreaties to pan-African solidarity. “They’re scared of the brigade. They call meetings to tell the population to reject it,” student Guillaume Muchuti told Reuters in the M23-held town of Rutshuru, north of Goma. Tanzania also brushed off threats from M23 that it will target its soldiers if they join the UN mission. “We are not going to Congo as lords of war, we are going there as advocates of peace to help our neighbours,” Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe told parliament. M23 officials privately admit their force’s numbers have been reduced by months of infighting between rival factions. Congo’s army estimates the rebels’ strength at around 1,000. This led to one leader, Bosco Ntaganda, surrendering to the International Criminal Court to face war crimes charges. Despite seizing tonnes of ammunition and scores of vehicles when it occupied Goma, M23 is running short of cash to pay its fighters, rebel sources say. MONUSCO says it has received a steady stream of deserters. Kabila’s government, whose weak and indisciplined army has struggled to contain rebels in the east and is accused by rights groups of rapes and abuses against civilians, welcomes the new UN brigade. Government spokesman Lambert Mende says Kinshasa would like a negotiated peace with M23, but, failing that, hopes the African peacekeepers’ robust mandate can have a real impact. UN officials caution that while the intervention brigade is expected to be a deterrent to violence in North Kivu, it will not be a “magic wand” for bringing peace. “It’s not as if they’re going to come and start shooting on the first day. The objective is to contain and neutralise and disarm armed groups. If we can do that without firing a shot, everyone will be very

happy,” said Alex Queval, head of MONUSCO in North Kivu province. Former Irish president Mary Robinson, who was appointed UN special envoy to the Great Lakes region in March, toured last week to encourage implementation of a UN-mediated peace plan for the eastern Congo signed by 11 countries in February. “There’s no doubt these armed groups need to be dealt with, but I think it’s important that this does not become a focus on a military solution,” she said in Goma. M23 was not part of the February pact and its own separate peace negotiations with the Congolese government have stalled, amid signs that Kinshasa is reluctant to implement vague promises of national political dialogue and decentralisation. Maria Lange, country head of advocacy group International Alert, says that even if the UN brigade makes short-term gains, this may not guarantee lasting solutions.

The brigade would allow the government to pursue a military solution. “They’ve been liberated from the obligation to actually conduct talks and address underlying governance problems,” Lange told Reuters. “This brigade risks at best being ineffective, or at worst, will lead to an escalation of the situation.” There are fears too the government will not carry out much-needed reforms of its security forces, Lange added. UN troops have faced protests in the past by Congolerse civilians angry about what they see as the peacekeepers’ failure to protect them from abuses by armed groups. “The last hope we have is for this brigade, we’re waiting for them. But I don’t have much faith,” said Innocent Bisimungu. His parents were hacked to death by Hutu rebels in 1998 and now he lives in a zone under the control of the Tutsi-led M23. “I was born in conflict and I grew up in conflict. We’ve never known anything else,” he said wearily. — Reuters

Mexico aims to overhaul tax system By Krista Hughes ax breaks for attending “civic values” courses, taxfree sales of second-hand furniture, special treatment for call centers and an informal economy employing six out of 10 workers are all in the line of fire as Mexico prepares a long-awaited tax overhaul. An analysis of budget data shows Mexico’s extensive network of tax breaks and stimulus programs generate costs equal to about half the taxes actually collected. Mexico has the lowest tax revenue in the 34-nation Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, crimping its ability to spend on health, infrastructure and social programs vital to boost living standards and growth in what is Latin America’s secondlargest economy. Finance Minister Luis Videgaray has given few details of the overhaul, due to be presented in the autumn session of Congress, but has promised it will be “large,” reviewing both direct and indirect taxes and making those who earn more, pay more. Currently, the world’s richest man, Carlos Slim, is in the same tax bracket as a worker earning $2,700 a month, paying 30 percent income tax - low compared to top rates of 39.6 percent in the United States, 45 percent in Germany and 50 percent in Japan. No data is available on revenue by tax bracket, but most of the poor live and work in a shadow economy that accounts for one-third of gross domestic product (GDP) and pay little tax. That leaves a high burden on middle-income earners. The narrow tax base, along with a complicated tax code and rampant evasion, capped gross tax revenues at just 9.7 percent of GDP in 2012. The reform will aim to boost that and ease the country’s reliance on oil revenues, which account for nearly 40 percent of government income and make it vulnerable to market swings. OECD head Angel Gurria, a former Mexican finance minister, still shudders at the memory of the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and 1998, when benchmark oil prices fell as low as $8 per barrel, half the level the government had budgeted for. “One day when I was finance minister I came into the office at 9 am and the budget deficit was at 0.5 (percent of GDP) and by the time the day was over it was at 3 percent,” he told Reuters in January. Although Mexico has a balanced budget and optimism about the government’s reform agenda is drawing a surge in foreign investment, ratings agencies say the skimpy tax base and oil dependence have been hurdles to a sought-after upgrade, especially as oil output has dropped by a quarter since 2004. Standard & Poor’s changed its outlook on Mexico’s BBB-rating to positive in March, suggesting an upgrade is possible within 18 months, but S&P credit analyst Joydeep Mukherji said the scope of the fiscal reform would be key. “If it’s basically a relatively small impact and kind of gets washed out among other things, it won’t have a big impact and we may not upgrade,” he said. “You can’t rely forever on that much money from the oil sector and such high oil prices.” Mexico’s net tax income, taking the negative impact of fuel subsidies into account, was worth just 8.5 percent of GDP last year. Total government revenue, including oil, averaged 18 percent of GDP in the last decade, compared to 26 percent in the

United States, 32 percent in Brazil and more than 40 percent in some European countries, OECD data show. Experts estimate Mexico must boost its tax intake by 6-8 percentage points of GDP, or about $100 billion a year to reduce its reliance on oil revenues and fund increased government spending, although the reform could start out netting half that amount and be ramped up progressively over coming years. Measures to bridge the gap could include increased efforts to tackle tax evasion, worth 2.57 pct of GDP in 2007 according to the Monterrey Institute of Advanced Technological Studies. Other options are raising top personal tax rates for the rich; making state governments levy more tax; imposing taxes on capital gains, inheritances and property transfers; and scrapping an entrenched zero rate of value-added tax (VAT) on basic food and medicine. This last exemption is the biggest single contributor to tax breaks worth 4.8 percent of GDP in 2012, equivalent to about half of tax revenues. Mexico’s ratio of tax breaks to revenue is similar to the United States but more than in Germany, Spain and South Korea, a sign of the complexity of its tax code. One tax break the government has vowed to end is consolidated reporting for firms, which allows companies to set losses in one business against gains elsewhere - a practice critics say is easily abused. Total discounts and deductions, listed in a 117-page budget document, include special tax regimes which mean many family firms and self-employed workers pay no income tax or VAT, and allow individual deductions for medical expenses, school fees, some share purchases and courses which promote “civic values,” while VAT discounts and exemptions span items from gold ingots to lottery tickets, medical services and table water. The governing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) has taken a step towards breaking the taboo of no VAT on food and medicines by removing a ban on such a move from its statutes, although insiders say staples such as tortillas and beans may remain exempt, or be charged at a low rate, such as 3 percent. Many Mexicans shop for groceries at canvas-covered farmers’ markets and buy anything from chewing gum to calendars from roving street vendors, none of whom pay or charge tax. “You have to revise the zero rate,” said Ernst & Young partner Herbert Bettinger, who has advised the PRI on past tax reforms. “You can leave it on food, but everything else should be removed.” However, extending VAT to products currently exempt is a sensitive political issue and the government may struggle to win support from opposition parties and even some lawmakers inside the PRI. The Mexican Institute of Chartered Public Accountants (IMCP) says tackling the informal economy must be one of the priorities of the new regime, which the government hopes will be passed together with the 2014 federal budget and take effect next year. The IMCP, which would also like to scrap a ‘flat tax’ option for firms and lower the corporate tax rate from the current 30 percent, estimates that taxing all informal workers would boost the tax take by 3 percentage points of GDP. “The 10 percent (of GDP) tax that Mexico does raise, it raises from 40 percent of the economy because 60 percent of workers are informal and don’t pay tax,” said IMCP president Carlos Cardenas. “We can’t do a fiscal reform just for that 40 percent.” — Reuters

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

S P ORTS

Horwill looking for ‘series of a lifetime’

Bosman lawyer challenges UEFA ban on overspending

Full-back Riise quits international scene

SYDNEY: Wallabies skipper James Horwill is looking forward to the “series of a lifetime” against the British and Irish Lions after signing an extension to his deal with the Australia Rugby Union (ARU) until 2015 yesterday. The 27-year-old lock, who missed the last international season through injury, had already extended his deal with the Queensland Reds and was therefore unlikely to join fellow Wallabies Drew Mitchell and Digby Ioane in heading to France. Horwill will be one of the ﬁrst names on the team sheet for the Lions clashes and is likely to lead his country into the highly-anticipated series. “It’s coming up quickly now and you can really feel that in the intensity it has brought to Super Rugby this year, especially in the derby games,” he said in a news release. “The competition just to make the squad is ﬁerce, which is exactly as it should be. “It bodes well for what is going to be the series of a lifetime, both for the test players but also those players who feature against the Lions in the tour matches. —Reuters

BRUSSELS: A lawyer involved in the landmark Bosman ruling 18 years ago lodged a European Commission complaint yesterday against UEFA rules aimed at limiting the spending of top clubs. European soccer’s ruling body UEFA will bring in Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations next season to ensure clubs move towards break-even or face exclusion from continental competition. Jean-Louis Dupont, representing Belgian player agent Daniel Striani, is challenging the break-even rule and believes it restricts competition. “In effect a club owner is prohibited from overspending even if such overspending aims at growing the club,” Dupont said in a statement. He added the rule restricts investment, ensures the continued dominance of the leading clubs, reduces transfer activity and is likely to lead to a cut in player wages and the income of agents. UEFA suspended Turkish team Besiktas from European competition a year ago over unpaid bills and announced in December the same punishment for Spanish side Malaga. The European Commission confirmed it had received a complaint but declined to comment further. UEFA did not make any immediate comment. Dupont said that even if the ban on overspending was justifiable, it would be illegal because UEFA could achieve its aims with a less restrictive measure. —Reuters

OSLO: Norway and Fulham full-back John Arne Riise announced his international retirement yesterday after a record 110 caps for his country. The former Liverpool, Roma and Monaco left-back’s decision caused shock waves in his homeland as Norway are midway through a qualiﬁcation campaign for the World Cup in Brazil next year. But the 32-year-old claimed he is too old for the twin commitments of club and international football. “I’ve come into the last phase of my football career and I’ve got to an age where I have to make clear decisions if I want to achieve my last goal: to play on for another four or ﬁve years in a European club,” said Riise in a statement. “To be in my best condition I want to concentrate on my club.” Norway coach Egil Drillo Olsen said he was “surprised” by the announcement but said he respected it. Some believe part of the decision is down to Riise feeling undervalued by his country. —AFP

Marlins clobber Phillies

Adidas launches interactive Messi Gallery experience KUWAIT: Adidas unveiled a cutting edge, interactive video tour of the ‘Messi Gallery’, the pop-up exhibition in central Barcelona dedicated to the world’s best footballer, Leo Messi. The Messi Gallery has been open for the past month, but will continue to live on with Leo’s legion of fans around the world able to experience the gallery and get closer to their hero. Messi himself helped preview the experience with his own personal guided tour. The interactive video experience is part of the wider ‘Team Messi’ campaign to mark the launch of the Adidas Messi Collection of boots and apparel, including a signature Adizero f50 Messi boot. ‘Team Messi’ celebrates the attributes, behavior and values that make Leo the most admired and inspiring footballer in the world. The new video tour of the Messi Gallery will be hosted exclusively on the ‘Team Messi’ Facebook page. The gallery features a host of iconic memorabilia and exhibits representing Leo Messi’s outstanding career, with each item fully interactive through the tour. As they are guided through the gallery, fans will be able to immerse themselves in key moments and campaigns from Leo’s career and explore exciting imagery, video content, in-depth facts and information, as well as links to buy their favorite Messi boots and apparel. The gallery houses a series of impressive exhibits, most notably Messi’s four successive FIFA Ballon d’Or trophies from 2009 to 2012. Kit and oﬃcial match balls from land-

mark games and tournaments are also displayed, alongside the catalogue of Adidas boots that Messi has worn throughout his career. This includes the adizero f50 boot worn when Messi scored twice against Real Betis to break Gerd Muller’s 1972 record of 85 goals in a calendar year and the Adidas TUNiT boot from the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final in Rome, which Messi famously kissed upon scoring. Other exhibits look at the Adidas campaigns that Messi has previously starred in and launched. These include the 2011 launch of miCoach f50, the world’s ﬁrst football ‘boot with a brain’, the 2012 miadidas campaign where fans of Leo Messi were given the unique opportunity to design a pair of adidas football boots for him to wear, as well as the latest 2013 launch of ‘Team Messi’ and the Messi Collection range of boots and apparel. The ‘Team Messi’ campaign was launched through the release of a bold video which captures the guiding philosophy of how Messi plays football and articulated through a ‘Messi Mantra’. The campaign has also seen the launch of the Messi Gallery and a new, innovative Facebook experience. By joining ‘Team Messi’ on Facebook fans are able to star alongside the world’s best player in an interactive ﬁlm personalised to the user through Facebook Connect. Messi fans can also celebrate their hero and ‘play the Messi way’ through the Messi Collection range of boots and apparel, including a signature Adizero f50 Messi boot.

PHILADELPHIA: Adeiny Hechavarria hit a grand slam and a bases-loaded triple oﬀ an ailing Roy Halladay, driving in seven runs for the Miami Marlins in a 14-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday. After the game, Halladay said he had a sore right shoulder. He said he will undergo tests this week in Los Angeles and be examined by Dr. Lewis Yocum. Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said Halladay (2-4) will likely be put on the disabled list. The two-time Cy Young winner and eighttime All-Star had his worst start since his rookie season. He gave up nine runs on four hits, four walks and two hit batters in 2 1-3 innings. Halladay, who turns 36 this month, has an 8.65 ERA. Kevin Slowey (1-2) gave up two hits in seven shutout innings for his ﬁrst win since September 2010. He had been winless in 22 major league appearances, including 15 starts. Justin Ruggiano homered twice for the Marlins.

first inning. He tried to hold up on a 2-2 pitch from Wandy Rodriguez (2-2) and home plate umpire Bob Davidson pointed to third base ump John Hirschbeck for help. Hirschbeck ruled that Harper had swung. Harper stood outside the batter’s box, stared at Hirschbeck for a few moments and dropped his bat. Hirschbeck then tossed last season’s NL Rookie of the Year. Gonzalez (3-2) got the win. Starling Marte hit a leadoff homer in the first, his fourth home run in five games for Pittsburgh. PADRES 5, DIAMONDBACKS 1 In San Diego, rookie Jedd Gyorko hit a tworun homer with two outs in the sixth and Will Venable followed with a solo shot to help carry Edinson Volquez and the San Diego Padres beat Arizona. Volquez (3-3) won his third straight start and the Padres, who took two of three from the

Coors Field for the first time in four visits. Cobb (4-2) went 6 2-3 innings and allowed eight hits. Nolan Arenado hit a two-out homer in the seventh that pulled the Rockies within 6-3, a day after the rookie had a grand slam. Tampa Bay took a 3-0 lead in the first off Jhoulys Chacin (3-1), activated from the 15-day disabled list prior to the game. He’d been out because of a lower back strain. GIANTS 4, DODGERS 3 In San Francisco, Hunter Pence doubled twice and drove in four runs, Matt Cain pitched into the eighth inning for his first victory of the season as the Giants beat the Dodgers to complete a series sweep. Leadoff hitter Andres Torres had three hits for San Francisco while Marco Scutaro had two hits and scored twice. The Giants extended their season-high winning streak to six

BRAVES 9, METS 4 In Atlanta, Freddie Freeman homered and drove in three runs, and Tim Hudson pitched into the eighth inning as the Atlanta Braves beat the Mets. Freeman got three hits, including a two-run double off Jonathon Niese (2-3) in a five-run third. David Wright hit a two-run homer off Hudson (4-1), who gave up three runs on five hits and a walk in 7 1-3 innings. CARDINALS 10, BREWERS 1 In Milwaukee, Jaime Garcia pitched eight innings and Allen Craig drove in four runs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to the franchise’s first four-game sweep of Milwaukee. Matt Holliday also homered for the Cardinals, who have won six straight. Garcia (4-1) gave up one run on eight hits in his third straight win. Marco Estrada (2-2) lasted 3 1-3 innings for the Brewers, who have lost five in a row. REDS 7, CUBS 4 In Chicago, Joey Votto had three hits, Todd Frazier hit a two-run single and the Cincinnati Reds completed a three-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs.Mat Latos (3-0) extended his scoreless streak to 21 innings, tying a career high, but didn’t pitch past the fifth inning for the first time in seven starts this season. He struck out six and walked three. JJ Hoover earned his second save. Edwin Jackson (0-5) struggled again for the Cubs, allowing four runs and eight hits in five innings. NATIONALS 6, PIRATES 2 In Pittsburgh, Tyler Moore hit a three-run homer and Danny Espinosa homered and drove in three runs, leading Gio Gonzalez and the Washington Nationals over Pittsburgh. Nationals star Bryce Harper was ejected in the

ARLINGTON: Koji Uehara No. 19 of the Boston Red Sox throws in the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers at Rangers Ballpark. —AFP Diamondbacks, won for the eighth time in 11 games. The Diamondbacks have lost ﬁve of six. Ian Kennedy (1-3) has not won since opening day. RAYS 8, ROCKIES 3 In Denver, Alex Cobb pitched eﬀectively into the seventh inning, withstanding three solo homers by Colorado and helping the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Rockies. Jose Lobaton, Ryan Roberts and Kelly Johnson each drove in two runs for the Rays. Tampa Bay took two of three and won a series at

games and defeated Dodgers rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu (3-2) for the second time this year. Cain (1-2), who pitched six shutout innings against Los Angeles on opening day, gave up one run and ﬁve hits in 7 1-3 innings and allowed only one runner past second base while ending the longest winless drought of his career. AJ Ellis had two hits for the Dodgers. The Giants won the ﬁrst two games of the series on game-ending home runs but didn’t need any late dramatics this time, though the Dodgers made it close with three runs in the eighth. —AP

Rangers scrape past Red Sox

NSS beat MACE to win the 9th CETAA Kids tournament KUWAIT: CETAA conducted the 9th Kids Cricket Tournament for KEF children at the Fahaheel Sports Club on April 16, 2013. In all 7 Alumnus of KEF fraternity (except AECK) took part in this league cum knockout tournament. The new venue with its artificial pitch and outfield coupled with the excellent weather, saw the children and their parents alike enjoy every moment of this fun filled event. The teams were divided into 2 pools, with Pool A comprising of KEA, MACE, NIT & NSS and Pool B comprising of TKM, CETAA & TEC and each team playing once against each other in their respective pools. The winner and runner-up in each pool qualified for the semifinals. With matches played simultaneously in 2 grounds, it was an action packed day for the participants and organizers. After the league matches, NSS, MACE, CETAA and TEC qualified to the knockout stage. In the semis CETAA lost to NSS while MACE beat TEC to qualify for the final. In the match to decide the 2nd runner up , TEC scored a challenging 90 runs in

their 8 overs but CETAA easily hit off the required runs in 6.1 overs with Dhanush (man of the match with 3 wickets and 19 runs) leading the way. In the final between 2 evenly matched teams, NSS won the toss and elected to field. MACE showed their batting quality with both openers Naveen and Akhash retiring after scoring 20 and 22 respectively. Akshay scored a brisk 18 to help MACE reach 74 for 4 wickets off their 8 overs. Anirudh with 2 wickets was the most successful bowler for NSS. Chasing a respectable score, NSS hit off the required runs in just 5.5 overs with outstanding contributions from Saurav and Shaheen who had to retire with 23 and 20 respectively. For MACE Joel and Sidharth took a wicket each. Saurav was declared the player of the final for his all round contribution. The following were given special prizes for their performance:- Man of the series : Anirudh of NSS. Best Batsman : Shaheen of NSS Best Bowler : Ivin of MACE. Promising Youngster : Advaith of TKM.

ARLINGTON: Yu Darvish struck out 14 batters and Adrian Beltre hit an RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning as the Texas Rangers beat Boston 4-3 Sunday, completing a three-game sweep and matching the Red Sox for the best record in the majors. The Rangers, Red Sox and St. Louis all have 20-11 marks. Beltre lined a hit to right-center off Clayton Mortensen (0-2) that sent home Elvis Andrus, who reached on a two-out single and moved up on a wild pitch. Boston then intentionally walked Lance Berkman. Darvish matched a career high for strikeouts and left after throwing a career-high 127 pitches in seven innings. Joe Nathan (1-0) worked around a walk and a hit in the ninth. While Darvish had 14 strikeouts for the second time this season, the right-hander from Japan allowed multiple homers in a game for only the second time in 36 starts for the Rangers. David Ortiz and David Ross connected in the first two innings. Darvish leads the majors with 72 strikeouts. Mitch Moreland and Nelson Cruz homered off Red Sox starter Jon Lester. TIGERS 9, ASTROS 0 In Houston, Justin Verlander held Houston hitless until the seventh inning and Detroit romped to a fourgame sweep. Verlander, who has already pitched two no-hitters in his career, made a bid for another one against the overmatched Astros in their sixth straight loss. Carlos Pena got Houston’s first hit, a single with one out in the seventh. Carlos Corporan followed with a single. Verlander (4-2) struck out nine and left after the seventh. The 2011 AL MVP and Cy Award Young winner has a 1.55 ERA this season.

Prince Fielder homered and drove in four runs. Andy Dirks had four hits, including a home run. Brayan Pena and Omar Infante also went deep. Detroit has won nine of its last 10 and swept a four-game road series for the first time since taking four at Kansas City in May 2006. Houston, which has the worst record in the majors, has lost 10 of 11. Philip Humber (0-7) gave up eight runs in four innings. ATHLETICS 5, YANKEES 4 In New York, Josh Donaldson hit Oakland’s third home run of the game, a tiebreaking drive off Boone Logan in the eighth inning that lifted the Athletics over New York. Luke Montz and Yoenis Cespedes homered as Oakland took a 4-1 lead against Andy Pettitte, who struggled for the second straight start, but the Yankees rallied in the sixth against reliever Jerry Blevins. Preston Claiborne followed Pettitte and retired six straight batters in his major league debut. Donaldson homered into the left-field second deck with one out in the eighth against Logan (2-2). Sean Doolittle (2-0) pitched a perfect seventh and Ryan Cook got out of a jam in the eighth. Grant Balfour struck out Vernon Wells with two on to convert his 23rd consecutive save chance dating to May 5 last year. Eduardo Nunez, the Yankees’ starting shortstop with Derek Jeter injured, left after four innings because of tightness in his left ribcage and was sent for an MRI. ORIOLES 8, ANGELS 4 In Anaheim, JJ Hardy and Manny Machado each hit a two-run homer off Jerome Williams in his first start of the season, leading Baltimore

over the reeling Los Angeles Angels. Jason Hammel (5-1) allowed four runs and nine hits through six innings. The right-hander came in 03 with a 7.31 ERA in three previous starts against the Angels. Mike Trout homered for the Angels, whose 1120 start has matched the worst in franchise history. They have lost seven of nine and are a season-worst nine games behind first-place Texas in the AL West despite the offseason addition of 2010 AL MVP Josh Hamilton. Their only victory in this four-game series came Friday night. Darren O’Day retired Trout with two runners in scoring position in the eighth and finished up for his first save since Sept. 8, 2009, with Texas. Williams (1-1) threw 93 pitches in 4 1-3 innings, giving up five runs and four hits.

BLUE JAYS 10, MARINERS 2 In Toronto, Mark DeRosa hit a three-run homer, Melky Cabrera added a solo shot and Toronto snapped a four-game skid by beating Seattle. Brandon Morrow (1-2) pitched three-hit ball over eight innings for his first win of the year. He struck out eight, matching a season high. Cabrera was 3 for 4 with two RBIs and his first home run for the Blue Jays. DeRosa went 3 for 5 with three RBIs and scored three times as Toronto improved to 8-0 when scoring five or more runs. The Blue Jays outhit Seattle 15-3 and improved to 7-12 at home. Joe Saunders (2-4) allowed seven runs and nine hits in five innings, losing for the third time in four starts. He dropped to 0-4 with a 12.53 ERA in four road starts.

TWINS 4, INDIANS 2 In Cleveland, Mike Pelfrey pitched six effective innings, Trevor Plouffe hit a two-run homer and Minnesota stopped Cleveland’s six-game winning streak. Justin Morneau drove in a run with a bases-loaded single in the sixth while Joe Mauer, who was in a 5-for-43 slump, added an RBI double in the seventh for his 1,300th career hit. Pelfrey (3-3) slowed down an Indians lineup that produced 53 runs during the winning streak. The right-hander gave up one run and four hits while striking out seven in his longest outing of the season. Plouffe homered to left off Corey Kluber (2-1) in the second, his fourth of the season and second in the series. Glen Perkins pitched the ninth for his seventh save in seven chances. Carlos Santana homered with two outs before Ryan Raburn blooped a single. Perkins struck out pinch-hitter Mike Aviles to end it.

ROYALS 6, WHITE SOX 5 In Kansas City, Alex Gordon hit an RBI single with two outs in the 10th and Kansas City, saved when Billy Butler sent the game into extra innings, rallied past Chicago. Butler’s two-out, two-run double in the ninth tied it for the Royals. Addison Reed blew his first save in 18 opportunities dating to Aug. 25. He was 10 for 10 this season. Lorenzo Cain led off the 10th with his third hit and stole second with one out. With two outs, Chris Getz was intentionally walked and George Kottaras walked on five pitches, loading the bases for Gordon. He singled on the first pitch from rookie Brian Omogrosso (0-1), who made his first appearance since being called up Wednesday. Greg Holland (1-1) worked a perfect 10th. Alex Rios homered and Alejandro De Aza had a two-run double for the White Sox. —AP

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

S P ORTS

Kentucky Derby winner to tackle Triple Crown NEW YORK: The connections of Kentucky Derby winner Orb have already set their sights on trying to complete the Triple Crown after their colt pulled up well from his victory in the ﬁrst leg. Shug McGaughey, the Kentuckybased trainer of Orb, wasted no time declaring his intentions to run the threeyear-old in the remaining two legs. Speaking to reporters outside the winner’s barn at Churchill Downs on Sunday morning, McGaughey said he was already thinking about the next two races, the Preakness Stakes on May 18 and the Belmont Stakes on June 8. “I’m looking forward to getting the process going again and seeing what happens and go from there,” McGaughey said. “I said last week that I wished it had

happened to me earlier so I didn’t have to worry about it anymore, but I’m not sure I believe that now. “Yesterday was quite a day and today’s been quite a day so far. It’s been quite, quite a thrill.” McGaughey said Orb was being flown to New York on Sunday and would remain there before being moved to Baltimore next week to finish off his preparations for the Preakness. It has been 35 years since a horse last completed the Triple Crown. That was Affirmed in 1978 and the wait for another horse to win the three races has been agonising. Last year, I’ll Have Another won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness to renew hopes, but was scratched on the eve of the Belmont and never raced again. What makes the Triple Crown so

difficult to win is the makeup and timing of the three races. They are each held in different states, over different distances, during a span of five weeks. And the winner invariably faces different opposition each time. It is not uncommon for the horses which finish close behind the winner in the Preakness (1 3/16 mile) to save themselves for the 1 1/2 mile Belmont, the longest and most gruelling of the three races. The Kentucky Derby is 1 1/4 miles. The field for the Preakness will not be decided until just a few days before the race but only a handful of the 19 horses who contested the Derby are expected to back up. Trainer Dallas Stewart, who prepared the Derby runner-up Golden Soul, said his horse was unlikely to race in the

Preakness. “At this point, I think we will pass on the Preakness and look at the Belmont,” Stewart said. “That would give us five weeks and hopefully we can get one of the three (races in the Triple Crown series).” Revolutionary, which finished third for trainer Todd Pletcher, was also skipping the Preakness to save himself for the Belmont, as was his stablemate Overanalyze. Normandy Invasion, which led the field turning for home and finished fourth, will not race in the Preakness either and was being aimed at the $1 million Travers at Saratoga. Mylute, which finished fifth under jockey Rosie Napravnik, was a strong possibility to take on Orb in the Preakness as long as the horse was not

fatigued. “We need a couple more days to think about it,” said Todd Quast, the general manager of the farm which owns Mylute. “When he came out of the Louisiana Derby he was so high that we worked him back eight days later. If he comes back with that kind of energy we have to seriously look at it.” Doug O’Neill, who won last year’s Preakness with I’ll Have Another, said he would saddle up Goldencents in the Preakness even though the colt was well beaten in the Kentucky Derby. Goldencents, which won the Santa Anita Derby, was among the favorites to win the Run For the Roses, but struggled in the wet and muddy conditions and ﬁnished 17th. “ We’re a go for the Preakness,” O’Neill declared. —Reuters

Rookie Ernst defeats Lynn in playoff at Quail Hollow

WILLIAMSBURG: Cristie Kerr holds the championship trophy after winning the Kingsmill Championship. —AFP

Kerr wins at Kingsmill WILLIAMSBURG: Cristie Kerr likes being emotional on the golf course, and knows there’s a time and place for it. She almost jumped the gun in the Kingsmill Championship before getting it back together. Kerr made a short par putt on the second hole of a playoff against Suzann Pettersen on Sunday, then hugged her caddie, a few players who stayed around to watch and had one more hug she needed to give. “Where’s my dad?” she asked during the celebration on the 18th hole at Kingsmill’s River Course. Her father, Michael Kerr, was on his way as fast as his motorized cart would take him. “I rarely get nervous when she plays,” the career school teacher who has had both knees replaced said. “I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly. This was the most nervous I have been. It wasn’t just the playoff. It was the last three holes. Honestly, I was in the bar drinking, which I don’t normally do.” Kerr’s 16th career victory was her third at Kingsmill, and the first that her father got to see in person. He stayed with her throughout her round, then figured his cart couldn’t keep up in a crowd, so he found a place to watch.

When he got to the green after the finish, a big hug and many tears awaited. “This was the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” he said. His daughter made it so with a refusal to lose, even after she failed to cash in on her best shot of the day, an approach on the first extra hole that left her with a 6foot putt to win. It never even touched the cup, sliding by on the right. “I wasn’t going to lose, not today, not with my dad here,” Kerr said. But she almost let herself start choking up in celebration before she had reason. “I thought about it a little more and I got a little emotional. Maybe that’s why I pushed it and didn’t make it. The second time, I was going to make sure, ‘OK, I can think about that after. Let’s take care of what we’ve got to take care of right now,’” Kerr said she told herself. “Emotions are good, though. We need emotions to play good.” Kerr closed with a 2-under 69, and Pettersen had a 67 to finish at 12-under 272 on the River Course. Pettersen, whose first career victory came in a playoff at Kingsmill in 2007, had won at Hawaii in a playoff a few weeks ago, and lost for only the third time in eight career playoffs. She didn’t stick around for the celebration. —AP

TALLADEGA: David Ragan, driver of the No. 34 Farm Rich Ford, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. —AFP

Ragan steals last-lap victory at Talladega TALLADEGA: Rain and wrecks pushed NASCAR to the edge of darkness Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, where three of the biggest names in the sport led the field to final flag. NASCAR was giving it one final go to get the rain-delayed race wrapped up, and Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson were at the head of the pack for the two-lap overtime sprint to the finish. None of them ever saw David Ragan coming. Heck, Ragan barely even saw teammate David Gilliland hook onto his rear bumper. But Gilliland locked up with Ragan for that last-gasp push to the finish and the Front Row Motorsports drivers sliced their way to the front and put Ragan into Victory Lane for the tiny organization’s first victory. “ This is a true David versus Goliath moment here,” Ragan said. It was the second career victory for Ragan - he also won at Daytona in July 2011 when he drove for Roush Fenway Racing - and Gilliland finished second for a 1-2 finish for Front Row Motorsports. “I wouldn’t want to line up and have to do it again,” said Ragan, who didn’t realize Gilliland was pushing him until he exited

Turn 2 on the last lap. “That gave me a little extra confidence ... that I could make the right moves and I knew that he was going to stick with me. I had a great teammate. David Gilliland gave us a great push. I owe him a lot. I’ll definitely buy him lunch this week or something.” The victory came a day after Regan Smith won the Nationwide Series race and Ragan was flooded with misfired congratulatory messages on Twitter. “All fans- please send all congrats to (at)ReganSmith. Not this Ragan..... He is the Winner today!! Haha,” he tweeted Saturday night. Now Ragan has his own win - just in time to qualify for the Sprint All-Star race in two weeks. Gilliland wanted the win but was content settling for second on a day his team earned its first victory. “ What a great day for Front Row Motorsports, an underfunded team coming in here and being able to finish 1-2 is awesome,” Gilliland said. “I’m very proud of David Ragan. I know he would have done the same for me. I had a heck of a run, we were pushing, I was locked to his bumper and I wasn’t going to let him go.” —AP

CHARLOTTE: Rookie Derek Ernst crowned a fairy tale week by parring the first hole of a sudden-death playoff on Sunday to beat Briton David Lynn and win the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ernst, 22, who sank a four-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to tie for the lead, won his first PGA Tour title with a tap-in par at the par-four 18th after Lynn, runner-up at last year’s PGA Championship, got into trouble off the tee in sudden death. “It feels incredible,” Ernst said in a greenside TV interview. “It’s just unbelievable. This feeling is incredible. My heart’s beating a million miles an hour.” Entering the field as the fourth alternate, Ernst won his maiden title in his eighth start on the tour this year. The Californian’s previous best finish was a tie for 41st at the 2012 Frys.com Open. Lynn hit his tee shot on the playoff hole into deep rough on the banks of a creek on the left, put his second shot into a greenside bunker and then overshot the green. His chip ran eight feet past the cup, allowing the American to win with par. Ernst won with steady ball-striking, a smooth putting stroke and some brilliant play at the 18th, the hardest hole of the week. He had totaled $28,255 in PGA Tour earnings this year before pocketing a winner’s prize of more than $1 million. Phil Mickelson led by a stroke going into the last three holes but bogeyed 16 and 17 to fall one shot short of joining the playoff. The big lefthander finished third at seven-under 281 after a 73. Ernst and Lynn both shot final rounds of two-under-par 70 to tie at eight-under-par 280 on a wet, chilly day that brought golfers out at 6:45 a.m. in hopes of beating the stormy weather forecast for later in the day. With some players pulling out before the event due to damaged greens at Quail Hollow after unseasonably cold weather, Ernst got his Wells Fargo invite and headed to Charlotte instead of to a Web.com Tour event in Georgia. Besides the immediate balm to his bank account, the victory brought Ernst a wealth of opportunities. It qualified him for next week’s Players Championship, two World Golf Championships, the PGA Championship, next year’s Tournament of Champions and the Masters. He had entered the tournament ranked 1,207th in the world. His path to victory was paved in part by Mickelson’s troubles in the closing holes. Mickelson, who double-bogeyed the par-five 15th and bogeyed 17 in the third round, held a one-shot lead entering the last three holes, known as the Green Mile, before stumbling again. “I’m pretty bummed out. I thought this was one I had in control. Then I bogeyed 16 and 17, there’s just no excuse,” said a frustrated Mickelson, who has finished fifth or better four times at Quail Hollow but has yet to

CHARLOTTE: Derek Ernst poses with the trophy after winning the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club. —AFP win. For the 39-year-old Lynn, it was his second top-10 finish of the season, following a tie for fourth at the Honda Classic. Two strokes off the pace at six-under were Englishman Lee Westwood (72) and Robert Karlsson of Sweden (72). At five under par were Americans Kevin Streelman, Ryan Moore, Bo Van Pelt and Kim Stanley, one shot better than a group of six that included world number two Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and England’s Ross Fisher. —Reuters

Penguins and Wild triumph UNIONDALE: Chris Kunitz scored his second power-play goal of the game 8:34 into overtime, off a pass from Sidney Crosby, as the Pittsburgh Penguins shook off an early deficit and a late blown lead to beat the New York Islanders 5-4 on Sunday in Game 3 of the first-round series. The Eastern Conference’s top-seeded team rode severe ups and downs in taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven matchup. Pittsburgh trailed 2-0 just 5:41 in but rallied to lead 3-2 before the first period was over. The comeback started with power-play goals just 19 seconds apart by Jarome Iginla and Kunitz. The Penguins seemed in control in the third period, but New York erased a 4-2 deficit on goals by Kyle Okposo and John Tavares. Pittsburgh will try to take a commanding 3-1 series lead Tuesday night on Long Island. Crosby, who had three assists in his second game back after missing a month because of a broken jaw, drew the decisive penalty against Brian Strait, who held the Penguins captain as he drove the net 33 seconds before the winning goal. Penguins coach Dan Bylsma used his timeout to rest his power-play unit, and it paid off. Crosby fed Kunitz in the slot for a hard shot that beat goalie Evgeni Nabokov to win it.

line brawl broke out at center ice. Pageau, who was born in Ottawa, scored his second of the game at 1:18 of the third period to give the Senators a 3-1 lead. Turris’ goal, his first of the series, at 7:00 put the game out of reach. On the ensuing faceoff, four different fights broke out. The Senators ended up with the man advantage and Jakob Silfverberg scored on the power play as he beat Habs goalie Carey Price up high to make it 5-1 only 8 seconds after Turris’ goal. SHARKS 5, CANUCKS 2 In San Jose, Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture each scored twice to spoil Cory Schneider’s return to the nets for Vancouver as San Jose beat

the Canucks for its third straight win to open the playoffs. Pavelski scored the first two goals and Couture and Patrick Marleau added scores 9 seconds apart to break the game open early in the third period and give the Sharks a 3-0 series lead. Couture added a second power-play goal early in the third to end Schneider’s night and give him a playoff-best four points for the game. Antti Niemi made 28 saves. San Jose will attempt to complete the first series sweep in franchise history at home on Tuesday night. Alex Burrows and Dan Hamhuis scored for the Canucks. —AP

WILD 3, BLACKHAWKS 2 In St. Paul, Jason Zucker scored at 2:15 of overtime to give Minnesota a victory over Chicago, pulling the Wild within 2-1 in the Western Conference quarterfinal series. Zach Parise scored for the Wild early in the third period, but Duncan Keith got one back for the Blackhawks with 2:46 left in regulation to force the second overtime in three games of this best-of-seven series. Game 4 is here on tonight. Keith’s snap shot glanced off Wild defenseman Marco Scandella and past goalie Josh Harding to make the score 2-2. But after Matt Cullen ferociously chased the puck along the end boards in the opening action of overtime, Zucker swooped in to surprise Johnny Oduya as the Blackhawks defenseman was about to fight for possession with Cullen. Zucker’s bad-angle shot slipped past goalie Corey Crawford. SENATORS 6, CANADIENS 1 In Ottawa, Jean-Gabriel Pageau got his first NHL hat trick to lead Ottawa in a fight-filled victory over Montreal. The teams combined for 236 penalty minutes and nine players were given a game misconduct. The Senators have a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series and Game 4 is Tuesday night in Ottawa. The third period started out with the Senators leading 2-1, but after Pageau’s second goal of the night and a Kyle Turris goal at 7:00, emotions overflowed and a

UNIONDALE: Douglas Murray No. 3, Mark Eaton No. 4, and Marc-Andre Fleury No. 29 of the Pittsburgh Penguins defend against Kyle Okposo No. 21 of the New York Islanders in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. —AFP

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

S P ORTS

Violence mars Boca-River draw after record goal BUENOS AIRES: Crowd violence marred the biggest match of the Argentine league season at La Bombonera on Sunday after River Plate scored the fastest goal in a “superclasico” before being held 1-1 by Boca Juniors. Midfielder Manuel Lanzini rose between Boca’s central defenders to head River into the lead after 45 seconds from winger Carlos Sanchez’s right cross. Uruguayan striker Santiago Silva equalised six minutes before halftime when he steered the ball right-footed inside the far post from Walter Eriviti’s square ball on the right. However, the match was held up for close to 10 minutes in the second half when River coach Ramon Diaz was sent to the stands for allegedly insulting the referee and hardcore Boca fans behind the River goal lit flares and threw objects including petards on to the pitch. Some objects hit River goalkeeper Marcelo Barovero, who appeared to tell referee German Delfino his team could not play on under the circumstances. Delfino, who dished out yellow cards to several players on each

side in a keenly contested clash between the most bitter rivals in South America, opted not to abandon the match and added 12 minutes on to the 90. “We’re going with a bitter taste, we came for the three points� we lacked cool heads in front of goal,” said Lanzini, whose team, unbeaten in six matches and challenging for the title, squandered several chances. River retained third place and are four points behind leaders Lanus, who won 2-1 at Argentinos Juniors on Saturday. Newell’s Old Boys can reclaim top place if they win at Arsenal on Monday night. Boca, near the bottom of the “Final” championship standings after going 11 matches without a victory in the league, had defender Guillermo Burdisso sent oﬀ for a two-footed challenge on Sanchez in the dying minutes. River should have been two goals ahead when Silva scored for Boca but in the 35th minute Sanchez contrived to lob an easy chance the wrong side of the post after Juan Manuel Iturbe’s left cross had beaten the defence. Boca nearly snatched victory from

a last gasp corner when Barovero saved point-blank from substitute Gonzalo Escalante at his near post. After a 2-2 draw at the Monumental in October in the “Inicial” championship in the first half of the season, both derbies have been drawn since River returned from relegation in 2011. River have not won at La Bombonera since 2004. Independiente, another of Argentina’s co-called Big Five clubs, won 2-0 at Tigre for their second successive victory in a tough battle to avoid relegation for the first time. Young Paraguayan striker Adrian Fernandez scored both goals, the first a fine lob over goalkeeper Javier Garcia from 40 metres in the eighth minute. Fernandez made it two in the 40th when he raced through to hit Colombian striker Juan Caicedo’s square ball on the edge of the box. Garcia parried it coming out near the penalty spot but the ball looped high and dropped into the goal just below the crossbar. Striker Silvio Romero hit both goals for Lanus to take his tally to eight at the top of the scorers’ list. —Reuters

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The Peugeot 208T16 for the first test track at the Peugeot test center in La Ferte-Vidame, France. www.redbullcontentpool.com

Nervous PSG frustrated with Valenciennes draw

ARGENTINA: River Plate’s midfielder Ezequiel Cirigliano (front) vies for the ball with Boca Juniors’ midfielder Federico Bravo during their Argentine First Division football match. —AFP

Botafogo wins Rio state championship SAO PAULO: Botafogo clinched its 20th Rio de Janeiro title on Sunday by beating Fluminense 1-0 in the final of the Rio Cup, the second stage of the state championship. The team led by Dutch midfielder Clarence Seedorf automatically won the state title because it had also won the Guanabara Cup, the tournament’s first stage. Seedorf missed a penalty in the 78th minute, but Rafael Marques’ goal in the 40th proved enough to give Botafogo its first state title since 2010. “This is a great moment in my career,” said the 37-yearold midfielder, who cried after the final whistle in Volta Redonda. “Each title I’ve won so far had something special about it. I’m very moved to win here in Rio.” Botafogo dominated the match against Fluminense, the defending state champion. Marques scored the winner at the Raulino de Oliveira Stadium with a low shot from near the penalty spot. Marques, who hadn’t scored in more than 20 matches, had a goal disallowed because of offside in the 29th after a perfect pass by Uruguay striker Nicolas Lodeiro. Replays showed Marques was onside. The striker also netted in the 78th, but the referee disallowed it and instead gave Botafogo a penalty, saying that defender Bolivar was fouled inside the area before the ball went in. Botafogo loudly complained, especially after Seedorf sent his penalty shot into the crossbar. “I have to thank Seedorf because without him in the team this year this triumph would have been much harder to achieve,” Botafogo coach Oswaldo Oliveira said. Seedorf came to

Botafogo last year as one of the biggest transfers by a foreign player to Brazil. He won the Champions League with Ajax in 1995, with Real Madrid in 1998 and with Milan in 2003 and 2007. The midfielder played at the 1998 World Cup with the Netherlands, plus the 1996, 2000 and 2004 European Championships. The Rio Cup final was played in Volta Redonda because the Engenhao stadium in Rio remains closed due to a faulty roof. The Maracana couldn’t be used because it is being prepared for the Confederations Cup in June. Fluminense had to beat Botafogo to force a two-game final against the rival for the state title. In the Sao Paulo state championship, Alexandre Pato converted the winning penalty as Corinthians defeated Sao Paulo 4-3 in a shootout at the Morumbi Stadium, advancing to a final against three-time defending champion Santos, which edged Mogi Mirim 5-4 on penalties on Saturday in the other semifinal. Pato initially missed his shot, but the referee allowed him to retake it because Sao Paulo goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni moved forward before the kick. Former Brazil striker Luis Fabiano and young playmaker Paulo Henrique Ganso missed their penalties for Sao Paulo. The game ended 0-0 in regulation. Internacional, coached by former Brazil manager Dunga and led by Uruguay striker Diego Forlan and Argentine playmaker Andres D’Alessandro, defeated Juventude 4-3 on penalties to win its third-straight Rio Grande do Sul state championship after a scoreless draw in regulation. —AP

PARIS: Paris St Germain showed signs of nerves again as Thiago Silva was sent off in a frustrating 1-1 home draw against Valenciennes on Sunday that slowed down their march towards a first French league title since 1994. Alex salvaged a point with a late header to cancel out Gael Danic’s firsthalf opener to put PSG on 74 points with three games left. The Qatar-backed side played the second half with 10 men after Thiago Silva was sent off in the 42nd minute. Frustrations also spilled over after the match when sporting director Leonardo was seen bumping into the referee in the tunnel before being dragged away by club president Nasser al-Khelaifi. Carlo Ancelotti’s side lead secondplaced Olympique Marseille, who beat Bastia 2-1 on Saturday, by seven points. Last weekend, Marco Verratti and David Beckham were sent off in PSG’s 1-0 win at Evian Thonon Gaillard and keeper Salvatore Sirigu was eventually handed a two-game ban for his involvement in a post-match brawl. They saw red again on Sunday. Gael Danic opened the scoring for Valenciennes in the 17th minute when he poked the ball home after Nicolas Douchez had parried a Vincent Aboubakar attempt into his path. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s free kick shaved Nicolas Penneteau’s left post at the half-hour mark but PSG were too

nonchalant. Thiago Silva was shown a straight red card shortly before the interval after arguing with referee Alexandre Castro and putting his hand on him. PSG came to life 15 minutes from time when an angled Ibrahimovic shot went just wide and Maor Melikson cleared an Alex header off his goal line. Following a corner, Alex sent another header which this time went just under the bar. A minute’s silence was observed before kickoff in memory of the 18 who died in the Furiani disaster on May 5, 1992 when a terrace collapsed before a French Cup semi-final game between Bastia and Olympique Marseille. Earlier, Yoann Gourcuff’s return to form continued as he helped Olympique Lyon stay on track for a Champions League spot with a 3-0 win at strugglers Nancy. Gourcuff, who has failed to impress since joining OL three years ago, netted his second goal in as many games with a fine strike on the turn after Bafetimbi Gomis had opened the scoring following the break. He then set up Gomis for the third. The result put third-placed Lyon on 63 points with three matches left, three points ahead of fourth-placed Nice who beat Stade Rennes 3-0 away earlier on Sunday. The top two teams in Ligue 1 quali-

fy directly for the Champions League group stage while the third-placed side play in the third qualifying round. Nancy remain 17th on 35 points, one point above the relegation zone. After picking up 10 points from their previous four games, Nancy were brought down to earth in the second half. Gomis toyed with a defender in the box before sending a rising shot past Damien Gregorini. Gourcuff doubled the tally with a curled shot from just outside the area in the 80th minute before setting up Gomis with a delightful through ball for the third one minute from time. Nice also took the measure of midtable Rennes after the interval. They went ahead with one of their first clear chances when Dario Cvitanich headed home from close range from Kevin Diaz’s cross seven minutes into the second half. Four minutes later, Rennes were reduced to 10 men as Chris Mavinga was shown a straight red card for pushing Cvitanich in the back. Argentine striker Cvitanich doubled the advantage from the penalty spot after an Alou Diarra handball 20 minutes from time. Eric Bautheac scored the third with a fine strike on the turn with five minutes remaining. Nice also finished with 10 men when Nemanja Pejcinovic picked up a straight red card for a foul on Jonathan Pitroipa. —Reuters

FRANCE: Valenciennes goalkeeper Nicolas Penneteau (left) vies for the ball with Paris Saint-Germain’s Brazilian defender Alex Costa during the French League football match. —AFP

Women can make a difference at FIFA, says Dodd SYDNEY: The introduction of a female seat on FIFA’s executive committee is a significant step in gender inequality being eradicated from the game and not a token position, Australian candidate Moya Dodd told Reuters. A female seat on the executive committee was first proposed by FIFA president Sepp Blatter in 2011 before being adopted a year later with the first election due to take place this month. Dodd, a former player, commentator and current lawyer, is up for the role but faces competition. Also in the running are New Zealand’s Paula Kearns, Sonia Bien-Aime of the Turks and Caicos Islands and Lydia Nsekera, the President of the Burundi Football Association, who has been the co-opted member of FIFA ExCo since 2012. The successful candidate will be decided by a vote at the FIFA Congress in Mauritius on May 31 and Dodd believes whoever wins the seat on the all-powerful board, which rules on

the sport’s significant issues, must seize the opportunity. “For me personally it would be a very significant step. I hope that whoever takes the seat makes a real tangible contribution and I suppose exceeds expectation as to what she can contribute,” Dodd told Reuters. “There are some absolutely outstanding women in football globally, some aspiring, very competent women and it would be great to see that contribution happening in the FIFA ExCo, the top table of world football.” FIFA has faced accusations of sexism in the past. In 2004, Blatter drew outrage when he suggested women footballers should wear tighter shorts. In March, anti-corruption expert and member of FIFA’s reform committee Alexandra Wrage accused the world governing body of ‘blatant sexism’ after she said an unnamed FIFA official told her that it was not acceptable for a woman to hold such a role in the organi-

sation. She resigned in April. Dodd said that women had long faced struggles at all levels in the game but that the newly-created role was not an attempt by FIFA to plaster over past sexism accusations. “Is it a token position? I wouldn’t treat it as that. If you are given an opportunity to contribute to the top table then you have got to make the most of that opportunity. “I do think the football world is tilted against women from the time they begin to play or don’t, as the case may be, right through to the opportunities for coaching, refereeing and other non playing on-ﬁeld activities through to the governance structures, committee rooms and boardrooms. “That is the world we live in and that’s why it’s so important that these positions are being created for female members around the world. “I have sat in boardrooms and it is easy for women’s football to slip oﬀ the agenda or become a low priority. If we have women in

the boardroom advocating for it, then it is going to be much be much better represented and I hope I can do it.” Blatter was in Kuala Lumpur to see Dodd elected unopposed to the role of Asian Football Confederation (AFC) vice president on Thursday. The 77-year-old Swiss hailed Asia for including women in senior positions with Dodd and Bangladesh’s Mahfuza Akhter being joined on the AFC’s executive committee on Thursday by North Korea’s Han Un-gyong and Susan Shalabi Molano of Palestine. “What a realisation after 108 years, what a patience for the women and what a stubborn organisation for men not to accept women in their organisation but this will be changed now,” Blatter told AFC delegates last week about the newly-created FIFA seat. Understandably, Dodd is keen not to be pigeonholed. She has assembled an impressive resume, which includes a victory over Brazil in FIFA’s women’s invitational tourna-

ment in 1988, three years before the inaugural women’s World Cup. “One day I would love to get to the point where your gender is not a matter of comment,” said the 48-year-old, who first joined the AFC in 2007, shortly after Australia’s inclusion in the confederation. “I don’t want to be famous for being female, I would just like to be good at what I do and become known for having made a contribution but that day is some way off.” Also some way off, but inevitable, is a time when men and women will go head-to-head for roles in FIFA, she says. “All things happen eventually, but it would be a long time. So creating seats for female members will accelerate something that would otherwise be a very slow process. “I’m not sure when you will get to the stage where female members are challenging for the seats that are not reserved for them. But this is a step towards it, so it’s a good thing.” —Reuters

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

S P ORT S

Same old recipe works for Juventus ITALY: With most of their rivals mired in financial difficulties, Juventus had to do little more than repeat last year’s recipe to retain the Serie A title. On the pitch, coach Antonio Conte’s 3-5-2 system, masterminded by deeplying playmaker Andrea Pirlo, once again proved superior to anything their rivals could come up with. Off it, Juventus were by far the best organised of the leading Italian clubs, enjoying the huge benefit of playing in their own, modern stadium. While their rivals pay to play in oversized, wind-swept publicly-owned arenas which they rarely fill, Juventus enjoy passionate support at their compact stadium which is invariably packed despite its unpopular location on the outskirts of Turin. Juventus also managed to hold on to the core of last season’s title-winning

team while their rivals were mired in the usual close-season wheeling and dealing. Napoli, eleven points behind Juventus in second place after Sunday’s games, put up a brave ﬁght but the preseason departure of Ezequiel Lavezzi to Paris St Germain left them over-dependent on Edinson Cavani in attack. Although the Uruguayan is Serie A top scorer with 26 goals, he suﬀered a dry spell in February and March which caused Napoli’s challenge to falter badly. AC Milan were always going to struggle after holding a sale of their top players to help balance the books and never recovered from a dreadful start, despite the addition of Mario Balotelli in January. Inter at one stage looked as if they would give Juventus a run for their money, putting together a seven-match winning streak which included a 3-1 win

ITALY : AC Milan’s Italian forward Mario Balotelli (left) celebrates after scoring during the Italian Serie A football match against Torino in this file photo. —AFP

AC Milan, Fiorentina in Champions League fight Siena has faced an uphill struggle from the start after it began the season with a six-point penalty for its part in a match-fixing scandal. It is five points off safety and knows defeat could condemn it to Serie B. “We will honor our season right until the end, looking to get as many points as possible, as we’ve always said,” Siena coach Giuseppe Iachini said. “Without a doubt the penalty affected us, forcing us always to chase. Now we want to turn the page and think about doing our best against Fiorentina.” Palermo is also fighting to avoid the drop and sits just two points ahead of Siena. It hosts Europa League-chasing Udinese. Genoa occupies the last position of safety after two wins on the trot. It travels to Torino, which has been dragged back into the relegation dogfight and is only a point above its opponent. Udinese sits a point behind Roma in the battle for a Europa League spot. Roma hosts Chievo Verona today. Lazio travels to Inter Milan with both sides harboring faint hopes of sneaking into the Europa League. Inter is again likely to be without a striker as all of its attackers are injured along with several other players. Elsewhere, it’s: Cagliari vs. Parma; and Sampdoria vs. Catania.—AP

passes, opening up space for the midfielders behind them. Vidal, with 10 goals, and Marchisio, with eight, have both thrived in the openings which have been created. “ This season we star ted out as favorites and winning was still a great achievement,” said Buffon. “It wasn’t easy to maintain the standard but we are winning this scudetto unequivocally as we were led from start to finish. Antonio Conte is the right man for Juventus and he proved it.” Pirlo added: “It is the scudetto of consistency. The team did something extraordinary last year and it is never easy to keep yourself at that level. “It wasn’t a surprise for me. We put so much hunger and hard work into our daily schedule, so that sacrifice was the key to reach this great objec tive.”—Reuters

MADRID: Lionel Messi came off the substitute’s bench to score twice and help Barcelona to a 4-2 win at home to Real Betis that moved them to within striking distance of the La Liga title on Sunday. The World Player of the Year had missed Barca’s humiliating Champions League semi-final exit to Bayern Munich on Wednesday as he recovered from a hamstring problem, but came on in the 56th minute at 2-2 to score the goals that sealed the victory. The Argentine’s 16th double of the season took his league tally to 46, just four short of last season’s record breaking total. Barca have 88 points with four games left to play, 11 ahead of second-placed Real Madrid who triumphed 4-3 at home to Real Valladolid on Saturday. Tito Vilanova’s side, who need two more points to secure a fourth league title in five years, could claim the trophy tomorow if Real fail to win at home to Malaga. “We have to think we will need two more points because Madrid will probably collect all theirs,” Vilanova told a news conference. Pep Guardiola’s former assistant went on to defend his management of Messi’s injury after not using him against Bayern during the week. “If we hadn’t managed it this way he might not have made the Betis game to help us,” he said. “He lacks fitness because he hasn’t trained much in the last month and a half.” Barca were behind from the second minute after some casual defending allowed Dorlan Pabon to burst through and fire past Jose Manuel Pinto, who was deputising for the injured Victor Valdes. The hosts reacted quickly with Andres Iniesta dancing to the byline and crossing for Alexis Sanchez to bullet in a diving header in the ninth. Betis are a team who like to attack opponents and as a result chances fell to either side in an open encounter.

SPAIN: Real Betis’ defender Pedro Mario Alvarez (left) vies with Barcelona’s forward David Villa during the Spanish League football match. —AFP A second Messi freekick struck ing keeper Kiko Casilla when he An out-of-sorts David Villa could have had a hat-trick before half- the crossbar but he crowned the failed to collect a cross, allowed time, his worst miss a volley over night with the goal of the game, Alvaro Negredo to slide in at the after wonderful approach play from tapping in from an Alexis pass to back post and volley the third. Real Zaragoza, who won their Andres Iniesta and Xavi, while Pinto the back post after a clever backdenied Salva Sevilla from close heel from Iniesta. Adrian denied ﬁrst game of 2013 last weekend, range. Barca’s Cristian Tello lashed a Messi a hat-trick with a couple of notched a second successive victory beating Rayo Vallecano 3-0 with shot against the crossbar which saves in the closing stages. Three goals inside the opening two goals from Apono to haul bounced down on the line, and almost immediately Betis were 23 minutes earned Sevilla a com- themselves out of the relegation ahead again when Ruben Perez fortable 3-0 home win over mid- places. Zaragoza climbed to 16th on 33 thundered a 30-metre shot into the table Espanyol, that kept them in the hunt for a place in Europe next points, ahead of Osasuna in 17th top corner in the 43rd. due to their superior head-to-head Villa made amends for his earlier season in eighth with 46 points. Jesus Navas forced a ﬂuke open- record. The bottom three, who all misses with a far-post header from Dani Alves’s cross to level in the ing goal when Espanyol defender drew this weekend, were Deportivo 56th and immediately made way Joan Capdevila headed his cross La Coruna with 32 points, Celta for Messi, who entered to a huge downwards only to see the ball Vigo with 31 and Real Mallorca with bounce over his keeper and into his 29. roar. Depor drew 0-0 at home to He had barely touched the ball own net in the 11th minute. Navas fed Coke to smash a rising Atletico Madrid, Celta 1-1 at home before he struck the third, curling a superb freekick over the wall and shot into the top corner in the 19th, to Athletic Bilbao and Mallorca 1-1 and soon after a howler from visit- against visiting Levante.—Reuters beyond Betis keeper Adrian.

Match on TV (Local Timings) English Premier League Wigan v Swansea Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 5 Man City v Albion Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 5 Italian League Roma v Chievo Verona Al Jazeera Sport +1

21:45

Benitez looks to wrap up part 1 of Chelsea mission

21:45

KBC 14th Bowling Championship concludes KUWAIT: Under the auspices and with the attendance of the Kuwaiti Banks Club (KBC) chairman of board, Ahmed Sultan, KBC’s social committee chairperson and board member, Reem Al-Waqian, KBC recently concluded its 14th Bowling Championship that is being annually held for bankers at the COSMO Bowling Center, Salmiya, with Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait winning the ﬁrst

formances, while the versatile Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal has been almost as influential alongside him. The 20-year-old Paul Pogba, signed from Manchester United, showed enough potential to suggest that he could blossom into an eventual replacement for Pirlo. While Juventus cannot afford a world-class striker, Conte’s rotation policy of fielding any two from Fabio Quagliarella, Sebastian Giovinco, Mirko Vucinic and Alessandro Matri in attack made up for that. The goals have been evenly distributed with Vucinic netting nine times, Quagliarella eight, Giovinco and Matri seven each and Vucinic nine. The two-pronged strike force has been an interesting aspect of Juventus, with the forwards pulling defenders wide as they run on to Pirlo’s probing

Messi returns to put Barca on brink of title

Preview

MILAN: Although the title has already been secured by Juventus, there is still much to play for at both ends of the Serie A table, with AC Milan and Fiorentina fighting for the final Champions League spot. Milan is in pole position to finish third and earn a place in the Champions League qualifiers, as it is four points ahead of Fiorentina with three rounds remaining. Milan visits already-relegated Pescara tomorrow. Mario Balotelli came to Milan’s rescue again on Sunday, with his ninth goal in 10 games helping it to beat Torino 1-0. “With four points advantage over Fiorentina I’m a bit calmer now,” Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani said. “Now we have a game advantage over Fiorentina, we have to win just one of three to secure third spot...I think third spot was the absolute most we could do after our awful start. “I think the game against Pescara will be fundamental, it would be a great thing to win there and keep up this gap on Fiorentina and Roma.” Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri had two spells at Pescara as a player, and even scored against Fabio Capello’s Milan team. Meanwhile, newly-crowned champion Juventus travels to Atalanta and second-place Napoli visits Bologna, which lost 6-0 to Lazio on Sunday. Fiorentina goes to struggling Siena in the Tuscan derby, knowing it has to shrug off the disappointment of Saturday’s late defeat to Roma. Siena is desperate for the points to avoid relegation. “Losing always hurts, but we’re already looking to the future,” Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Montella said. “Now we have to think about Wednesday, we have a very important game. “Looking at how things are, it will be difficult to get into the Champions League, but we will try and get three wins and then we’ll see.”

at the Juventus stadium. That was as good as it got for Inter, who were hit by so many injuries that coach Andrea Stramaccioni said their season was cursed. Udinese, third last season, were shattered by their Champions League playoff defeat by Bragaand and were never going to in contention after selling their top players for the second close season in a row. With their rivals fielding weakened squads, Juventus just needed to carry on where they left off last season and although they were not quite as consistent, they were more than good enough. The trio of Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli and Leonardo Bonucci, backed by talismanic goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, proved rock solid, conceding 20 goals in 35 games. Pirlo has found a second wind at Juventus, producing some superb per-

place, Al-Ahli United Bank winning the second place and Kuwait Central Bank in third place. A special ceremony was held and both Al-Sultan and Al-Waqian honored the winners. The highest individual score cup was given to Mohammed Al-Shaikh ( Boubyan Bank) while the highest team score cup was given to Al-Ahli United Bank team.

MANCHESTER: Rafa Benitez can virtually wrap up part one of his mission at Chelsea by guiding the team to the cusp of the Champions League with a win over top-four rival Tottenham in the Premier League tomorrow. The Spaniard is still unloved at Stamford Bridge but even the most ardent critic of Benitez must be impressed with the job he’s done in his six months at the club. By reaching the final of the Europa League, Benitez is close to winning the trophy he so craves to mark his brief spell at Chelsea. And beating fifth-place Spurs would all but secure a return to Europe’s top competition, which was the club’s priority this season. A win would put Chelsea six points clear of its London rival - and with a vastly superior goal difference - with two games left. ‘We will try to win because we know it will guarantee a top-four finish,” Benitez said after Sunday’s 1-0 win at Manchester United. “Winning is crucial for us - it’s even more important for them (Tottenham), so there will be a great atmosphere at Stamford Bridge.” Climbing to second place may be a step too far for Chelsea, however, especially if Manchester City beat West Bromwich Albion today to cement the runner-up spot behind alreadycrowned champion Manchester United. City is four points clear of Chelsea with three games left. The tension is building at the other end of the standings, too, with Wigan able to climb out of the relegation zone by beating Swansea in today’s other game. Wigan has proved to be the Premier League’s perennial escapologist, having survived the drop on the season’s final day in three of the past six years. With such experience of relegation scraps, Roberto Martinez could be the calmest manager around over the next fortnight. “We don’t just escape. As a football club we win the title every time we stay in the league,” Martinez said. “It’s a different approach. Any other club fights to avoid something or fears to lose something; we don’t. “We don’t fight to avoid relegation. It’s not a negative - it’s the opposite.” Moving out of the bottom three - and being replaced by one of the northeast clubs, Newcastle or Sunderland - would be the perfect tonic for Wigan ahead of its FA Cup final against Man City on Saturday.—AP

TURKEY: Galatasaray players celebrate their victory in Istanbul to claim its 19th Spor Toto Super League title with a win over Sivasspor .—AFP

Galatasaray seal Turkish title ISTANBUL: Galatasaray clinched their 19th Turkish league title with a 4-2 win over Sivasspor on Sunday, crowning a successful season in which they reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Fans of the club filled the streets of Istanbul, sounding car horns, setting off flares and waving flags in the club’s redand-yellow colours as they sang in the city’s squares. With two weeks remaining in the season, Galatasaray eased to victory with two goals a piece from top goalscorer Burak Yilmaz and Selcuk Inan. They now have 68 points. Istanbul rivals Fenerbahce, who have won the title 18 times, slumped to a 2-0 defeat at Buyuksehir Bld. Spor, leaving them 10 points adrift of the leaders and just three points ahead of Istanbul’s Besiktas. Coach Fatih Terim, in his third spell in charge of Galatasaray, retained the

title after strengthening his squad with the signings of Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder earlier this year. Terim was forced to watch his team’s triumph from the stands as he is serving a nine-match ban following a spat with a referee during a league match last month. “We are deserved champions with the way we played and fought. I thank the fans as well. I greet all the Galatasaray fans around the world,” he said. It was the sixth time that Terim has led the club to success in the Turkish league. Forward Burak Yilmaz, top scorer in the league, was key to Galatasaray’s success on the pitch this season, supported ably in attack by Umut Bulut. But the eye - catching addition of Sneijder and Drogba, last season’s Champions League hero for Chelsea, fuelled the club’s passion in the latter part of the season.—Reuters

Galatasaray seal Turkish title

Kerr wins at Kingsmill

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

Women can make a difference at FIFA, says Dodd

Page 18

MADRID: Maria Sharapova from Russia returns the ball against Alexandra Dulgheru from Romania during the Madrid Open tennis tournament. —AP

Sharapova makes winning start Stosur stumbles in Madrid MADRID: Maria Sharapova survived a sticky start to move into the second round of the WTA Madrid Open yesterday with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania. The Russian, who won the French Open on clay last year, brought a 16-match winning streak on the surface into Madrid and was strongly favored to coast past a player who has been dogged by knee injuries. But she struggled at times in the first set before finding her range in the second. It had all been about adjusting to the dirt surface and the particular demands of playing in Madrid, Sharapova said. “I feel like in the last week I’ve really had to adjust to the different circumstances and the environment a bit,” she said. “When I got here it was really cold and the ball and the court were really heavy. “A few days have

passed and it’s like a whole another tournament. “For me, it’s just been about adjusting when you play indoors for over a week and you get back here and see the sun for the ﬁrst time. It’s a bit of an adjustment. “The altitude as well. So I think there are a lot of things that come into playing when you’re playing here.” The stakes are high for Sharapova in Spain as she could regain the world number one spot from Serena Williams if the results go her way. Williams won through in straight sets on Sunday and the two could face oﬀ in the championship match at the end of the week. If Sharapova and Williams safely won through to the second round, the same could not be said of some of the other seeds. Both Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and China’s Li Na crashed out on

Sunday and yesterday saw the end for Australia’s Samnatha Stosur as she lost 7-6 (9/7), 6-2 to home hope Carla Suarez Navarro. The 2011 US Open champion was competitive in the ﬁrst set, but, once she lost that on a tie-break, her game unravelled and she was outplayed by the Spaniard, who lost the ﬁnal of the WTA tournament in Portugal on Saturday to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia. Sixth seeded German Angelique Kerber came safely through with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Alize Cornet of France, while former world number one Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, seeded third, was scheduled to play later against Pavlyuchenkova. In early action in the men’s tournament, Japan’s 14th seed Kei Nishikori was too good for Jurgen Melzer of Austria winning at a canter 6-3, 6-2.

Meanwhile, the father of Australia’s top-ranked tennis player Bernard Tomic said yesterday he was acting in self-defence when he headbutted his son’s training partner and broke his nose in Madrid. John Tomic denied a charge of assault against Thomas Drouet in a Saturday afternoon brawl outside a hotel where players in the Madrid Masters were staying, his lawyer Carmen Dieguez told journalists at a Madrid court. The court postponed a hearing to May 14 for a judge to decide his guilt or innocence after Tomic opted for court rather than paying a ﬁne. “I don’t feel guilty. I did not do anything wrong,” John Tomic told reporters of the ﬁght, which has sparked consternation in the tennis world. John Tomic struck his son’s training partner with his head only because his own arms were being

Thunder, Pacers win OKLAHOMA CITY: Kevin Durant scored 35 points and hit a pair of jumpers in the final minute to lift the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 93-91 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. The Indiana Pacers took home-court advantage away from the New York Knicks, as David West scored 20 points in a 102-95 win in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinals. In Oklahoma City, Derek Fisher poked the ball away from Mike Conley to spring Durant the other way, and he pulled up to make a shot with 11.1 seconds left that put Oklahoma City up 91-90. Quincy Pondexter had a chance to send the game to overtime when he was fouled attempting a 3-pointer with Memphis trailing 93-90 and 1.6 seconds remaining. But he missed the first free throw. On the Grizzlies’ previous possession, Thabo Sefolosha deflected an inbounds pass, and Conley landed out of bounds while diving for the ball. Reggie Jackson then hit two free throws to make the lead three. But Jackson hacked Pondexter on his right arm before he released a 3-pointer from the left wing in an attempt to tie it. Pondexter, a 72 percent career freethrow shooter, made his second attempt before purposefully missing the third, but Durant swatted the rebound away and Marc Gasol’s attempt at a buzzer-beater was late. The Grizzlies got 20 points and 10 rebounds from Gasol and 18 points and 10 rebounds from Zach Randolph.

Pondexter and Conley scored 13 apiece. Kevin Martin scored 25 for Oklahoma City, which trailed for much of the game but was able to avoid repeating its Game 1 loss from when these two teams met in the West semifinals two years ago. The Thunder were able to rally and win that series in seven. In New York, Paul George scored 19 points and D.J. Augustin added 16 for the Pacers, who built a 16-point lead while Carmelo Anthony was on the bench in foul trouble in the third quarter, and easily held on to spoil the Knicks’ first secondround game since 2000. Anthony finished with 27 points and 11 rebounds, but was frustrated by the Pacers’ rugged defense and by the referees. He shot 10 of 28 from the field. The Pacers, who allowed the secondfewest points per game and the lowest field goal percentage in the league during the regular season, mixed in solid offense as well. They outscored New York 59-38 across the middle two quarters and were comfortably ahead throughout the fourth. Roy Hibbert scored 14 points in thoroughly outplaying counterpart Tyson Chandler, and George Hill also had 14 for the Pacers. J.R. Smith scored 17 points but was 4 of 15 for the Knicks. Raymond Felton had 18 and Kenyon Martin added 12 for the Knicks, who hope to have reserves Amare Stoudemire (right knee surgery) and Steve Novak (back spasms) back for Game 3 and certainly looked as if they could use the help.—AP

held by Drouet and he had to protect himself from falling over, his lawyer said. Drouet, who is from Monaco, appeared at the court house with a neck brace and white plaster over his nose. John Tomic’s lawyer said he was not to blame, however. “There was some pushing and he acted in legitimate self defence,” she said. Bernard Tomic’s father, who is also his coach, was arrested several hours after the ﬁght in the central avenue Paseo de la Castellana and released ahead of the hearing, police said. If found guilty he could be sentenced to between three months and three years in prison. Bernard Tomic has made a poor start to this year’s European clay court season and lost in straight sets to Czech veteran Radek Stepanek in the ﬁrst round of the Madrid Masters.—AFP

James named NBA’s Most Valuable Player

OKLAHOMA CITY: Memphis Grizzlies guard Mike Conley (11) flips a shot over his shoulder in front of Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka (9) and guard Derek Fisher in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series. —AP

NEW YORK: Miami Heat forward LeBron James was named the National Basketball Association’s Most Valuable Player for the 201213 season on Sunday. James received 120 first-place votes from the panel of 121 sports writers and broadcasters selected to choose the award. Oklahoma’s Kevin Durant finished second overall and the New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony, who received the other first-place vote, placed third. It was the fourth time in five years that the 28-year-old James had won the game’s most prestigious individual award, elevating him among the sport’s greatest players. “When people ask me, I tell them I just try to be the best player on the court every night I step on the floor,” James said. Only four other players Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain - have won the trophy at least four times. Abdul-Jabbar holds the record for six MVP wins, one ahead of Jordan and Russell and two in front of Chamberlain and now James. James, who twice won the award with the Cleveland Cavaliers before moving to Miami, averaged 26.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 7.3

assists during the 2012-13 regular season, where the Heat finished with the best record in the NBA. James was the only player in the NBA to lead his team in all three categories during the season. He shot a career-high from the field (.565) and from three-point range (.406). He produced a record streak of six straight games with at least 30 points and a .600-or-better field goal percentage. He received his award at a special presentation on Sunday, attended by his team mates, family and friends, and broadcast live on national television. In an emotional and heartfelt acceptance speech, James extended his thanks to everyone who had supported him both as a person and as a player. He turned to his team mates, who were wearing shorts and t-shirts, and said they deserved the award as much as he did, “Nothing I receive individually is possible without those 14 guys, and the sacrifices they make,” he said. “This really doesn’t mean much to me. I’m humbled and I’m happy about it but I wish it was 15 of these up here because what a great group of guys that allows me to be the MVP.” — Reuters

Business

Half-a-million will flock to Qatar for FIFA Cup 2022: Markaz Page 22 flydubai contributes to Tourism Vision for 2020

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

Page 23 United Industries posts KD3.61m net profit in Q1

CFC introduces its new smartphone applications Page 26

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NEW YORK: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. Following a week where the Dow Jones industrial average closed at record highs, US stocks were down slightly after the opening bell. — AFP (See Page 23)

Kuwait, Dubai stock rally pauses MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS DUBAI: A recent stock market rally in Kuwait and Dubai stalled yesterday as investor’s locked in profits but underlying sentiment towards two of the region’s strongest performing markets remains buoyant. Dubai’s measure fell 0.9 percent, down from Sunday’s 41-month high. Real estate and banking shares weighed; Heavyweight Emaar Properties shed 0.7 percent. “The whole market is taking a breather today,” said Marwan Shurrab, vice-president and chief trader at Gulfmena Investments. “We had a strong move since the beginning of the month and the correction is very small and logical.” In Kuwait, large-caps declined while the index ended flat in choppy trade. The market has closed in

Euro-zone business activity in doldrums BRUSSELS: Private sector business activity remained weak across the euro-zone in April, with Germany registering its first decline since November, a widely-watched survey showed yesterday. The Markit Eurozone Composite Purchasing Managers Index registered 46.9 points, slightly up on an initial estimate and above the March reading of 46.5 points-but still well below the boom-and-bust line of 50 points indicating growth or recession. It was the 19th time in 20 months that the survey of thousands of euro-zone companies signalled a contraction in the single currency area’s economy, and a 15th consecutive overall shrinking-although the researchers noted a first easing in the rate of decline since January. Both manufacturing and services sectors posted weak readings. “The survey does little to dilute suspicion that the euro-zone is headed for further GDP contraction in the second quarter after highly likely suffering a sixth successive quarter of contraction in the first quarter of 2013,” said London-based IHS Global Insight analyst Howard Archer. He tipped a decline of 0.2 percent quarteron-quarter. The survey detail showed that job losses were reported for the 16th month running in April, although there was a slight increase in employment in Germany for the second straight month. While Markit chief economist Chris Williamson highlighted cooling inflationary pressures, the man behind the survey said of the initial estimate: “The renewed decline in Germany will also raise fears that the region’s largest growth engine has moved into reverse, thereby acting as a drag on the region at the same time as particularly steep downturns persist in France, Italy and Spain.” —AFP

positive territory for 12 consecutive sessions and is at its highest level since October 2009. Seven of the 10 largest stocks by market capitalization retreated, with Commercial Bank of Kuwait slipping 1.4 percent. A stabilising political backdrop and the government’s promises it will act to support the economy have propelled sentiment in Kuwait. The finance minister said last month that the government would spend $15.8-17.5 billion on development projects in the next 12 months. “People have to take some money off so they can put it back in - larger stocks went up in anticipation of better earnings,” said Fouad Darwish, head of brokerage services at Global Investment House.

Banks represent more than 50 percent of Kuwait’s overall market value. The recent rise in the stock market has helped them because they have extended loans backed by stocks as collateral, Darwish added. “The entire sentiment has become positive just on expectations for banks to improve their earnings.” Elsewhere, Qatar’s benchmark climbed 0.6 percent to its highest close since April 2012. Heavyweight Qatar National Bank led the gain, rising 2.8 percent. Qatar’s stocks have lagged rises on other Gulf bourses - the main index is up only 5.7 percent this year, compared to gains of well over 20 percent for Dubai and Kuwait - so they are considered cheap by some analysts.

The Qatar Exchange announced it would stage a major conference this Wednesday to discuss listing more private companies, which could mark a fresh initiative by authorities to deepen the market and stimulate sluggish trading activity. In Saudi Arabia, weak sentiment towards leading sectors - banks and petrochemicals - persisted. The index slipped 0.2 percent, down for a second session since Saturday’s three-week high. Petrochemical shares index shed 0.4 percent and banking index dipped 0.1 percent. Boosted by strong earnings growth, cement shares that have helped limit declines on the market in recent weeks. The sector slipped 0.5 percent from a five-year high, trimming 2013

Qatar Airways look to buy Airbus, confirm Boeing 787s DUBAI: Qatar Airways is looking to order another 10 to 15 Airbus A330s before the Paris air show in June and might also confirm options on Boeing’s 787, the Gulf carrier’s chief said yesterday. “We are talking to Airbus for extra A330s,” Akbar al-Baker told reporters in Dubai, saying he hoped to reach agreement over the midsize, wide-body aircraft before the air show which opens June 17. But he said the European manufacturer will have to “sharpen their pencils,” adding that those planes would fill the gap caused by the delay in Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners. The carrier already has 32 A330 planes, including three cargo versions. Baker said “there is a possibility to order more” Airbus A380 superjumbos, for which it has firm orders for 10 units. He also said that his fast growing carrier “will not cancel the Dreamliners” adding that Qatar Airways might order additional units. “On the contrary, we may order additional Dreamliners because we have purchase rights for another 30,” he said. “I wouldn’t be flying them if I weren’t happy,” he said when asked about the resumption of flights following the grounding of all 787s by the US manufacturer due to electrical problems. Qatar Airways resumed operations on one of its five Dreamliners on May 1, he said. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other regulators grounded Dreamliners worldwide in mid-January after failures of the lithiumion batteries caused a fire on a parked plane in Boston and forced the emergency landing of an ANA-operated aircraft in Japan. Following months of investigation, the FAA last month issued

DUBAI: Qatar Airway’s Chief Executive Akbar al-Baker speaks at a press conference in Dubai on the opening day of Arabian Travel Market (ATM) yesterday during which he announced that the Gulf carrier are looking to order another ten to fifteen Airbus A330s before the Paris airshow in June. — AFP formal approval of Boeing’s 787 battery fix, clearing the way for the troubled aircraft to fly again after the prolonged grounding. Baker also said that Qatar Airways is pursuing discussions over a partnership with India’s IndiGo airline, short of buying a stake in the low-cost carrier. “IndiGo is an airline not for sale. We only want to do partnership with them,” he said. “We want to do codeshare with them and we want to get into a situation where we work together, because they are the best airline in India,” he said. “There are already approaches between the managements of the two airlines,” he added. He denied having talks with SpiceJet, another of India’s no-frills carriers. Abu Dhabi’s fast-rising carrier Etihad

last month sealed a $380-million deal to buy a minority stake in India’s Jet Airways, in the first foreign investment in an Indian carrier since the government eased restrictions on foreign buyers into Indian airlines. Baker said the delayed opening of Doha’s new airport will take place in the last quarter of this year, saying his carrier’s expansion is restrained by the limited capacity of the old airport. “The delay is costing us heavily financially, because we cannot expand as we want,” he said. Hamad International Airport was scheduled to enter service last month, but the opening was put off reportedly after the facility failed to meet security standards. —AFP

gains to 12 percent, but they outstrip the wider market’s 5.7 percent rise. “There is continuous growth in the cement sector and we have huge demand,” said Abdullah Alawi, assistant general manager and head of research at Aljazira Capital. The kingdom’s infrastructure and construction sectors benefit from strong government spending but a price cap on cement limits growth for companies already producing at full capacity. “ The focus is gradually shifting - before investors only saw cement stocks as good for high yield sector but it is also becoming a growth story now,” Alawai said. — Reuters

Kuwait firm launches Islamic finance fund SYDNEY: Kuwait-based Asiya Investments has launched an Islamic trade finance fund with $20 million in seed capital, aiming to cater to small Asian manufacturers. Asiya, whose largest shareholder is sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority, aims to fill a gap left by Western banks that are scaling back their trade finance business, making credit scarce for small and medium-sized firms. “We engage those companies that are already banked but whose credit lines are limited - we are complementing their financing,” said Sulaiman Alireza, executive director of Asiya’s investment management arm in Hong Kong. Despite strong growth in Islamic finance globally over the last few years, the industry has neglected merchandise trade, leaving trade finance for conventional banks to dominate. But conventional banks are retreating because of the world financial crisis and higher capital requirements under upcoming Basel III regulations, which could open up about 20 percent of the business to non-bank institutions, Alireza said. Established as the Kuwait China Investment Co in 2005, Asiya estimates that current annual intra-Asia trade of $5 trillion could reach $20 trillion by 2020. Asiya’s Cayman-domiciled fund, soft-launched in December, offers short-term financing through murabaha contracts, where the fund buys and sells merchandise on behalf of the company and shares a portion of the profits. “We use a murabaha structure with the underlying commodity serving as collateral. This is a standard, tried-and-tested murabaha structure,” Alireza said. Islamic institutions across the Gulf are working to diversify their money market transactions, so Asiya’s product could appeal to some of them. It will have a higher yield than commodity murabaha contracts and better liquidity than sukuk, Alireza said. “The value in between remains quite open.” Asiya’s fund aims for a net return to investors of above 5.0 percent and it has $55 million worth of assets in the pipeline, with capacity for approximately $400 million, said Brian Luck, director of Asiya’s advisory office in Dubai. “Trade finance is not well known as an asset class...but the reality is there are not enough Islamic fixed income products available,” Luck said. Plans include offering the trade finance product on a managed account basis, he added. The firm identifies clients such as denim and latex manufacturers through its Singapore-based joint venture partner, EuroFin Asia. — Reuters

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

BUSINESS

Kenya’s Equity Bank sees 30% profit jump in 2013 NAIROBI: Equity Bank of Kenya expects pretax profits soar in 2013 by up to 30 percent and is hopeful Ethiopia will soon seal membership of the World Trade Organization and open up a large new market. Reporting a 21 percent rise in profits in the first quarter, Chief Executive James Mwangi cited the peaceful end to a legal standoff around Kenya’s March presidential elections as well as falling operating costs as reasons for the improvement. The outcome of this year’s elections contrasted to post-election violence in 2007 that crippled east Africa’s biggest economy. That has lifted business confidence, benefitting the bank, which is Kenya and the region’s largest by number of accounts. “We expect an improvement above last year’s growth possibly bouncing towards 30 percent (for) profit before tax,” Mwangi told Reuters after presenting the bank’s first quarter results. Pretax profit in the first quarter was 4.5 billion shillings ($53.8 million), up 21 percent on the year and compared to 17.42 billion shillings over the whole of 2012. Investors driven out of troubled banks in the developed world are showing an interest in lenders in the country of 40 million, also drawn by burgeoning investment in oil, gas and other resources across the region. Mwangi said East Africa as a whole should grow by a minimum of 7 percent per year in the foreseeable future, driven by growth across a range of sectors. Net interest income at the bank also jumped 21 percent on the year to 6.87 billion shillings while the cost-to-income ratio dropped to 49.9 percent from 50.9 percent in the same period a year ago. Mwangi said he expected the ratio to drop below 48 percent by the end of this year. Equity, which operates in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Sudan, is seeking to invest further in Ethiopia where it has already been granted a licence to open a representative office, Mwangi said. But he said the bank was only interested in opening branches. “Given our business model, a representative office can’t do so we are waiting for them to open the market,” the chief executive said. “We are optimistic. There is talk of them signing the World Trade Organization agreement and if they do that it means the market opens.” He said Ethiopia was an attractive market because it was one of the most populous nations in Africa, with more than 80 million people, with a banking sector for now dominated by the state. — Reuters

Saudi oil output rises to 9.3m bpd in April KHOBAR: Saudi Arabia produced 9.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in April, up from 9.14 million bpd in March, an industry source said yesterday. Supply to the domestic and export markets was around 9.2 million bpd, up slightly from the 9.15 million bpd supplied in March, the source said. The other 100,000 bpd of oil produced is likely to have been put into storage. Sources familiar with Saudi oil policy said in late April that they expected external demand for Saudi crude to remain steady from March through June 2013. But Saudi Arabia’s own crude oil demand for power generation has jumped by an average of 147,000 bpd from March to April in the previous three years. The increase from March to April 2012 was much lower, however, at just 64,000 bpd, due to more gas supply coming on line in early 2012 to feed Saudi power plants. Benchmark Brent crude oil, trading near $104.85 a barrel yesterday, has fallen from almost $120 in February on concerns about the global economic outlook, though it is still above Saudi Arabia’s preferred level of $100. According to the latest Reuters survey, overall OPEC crude oil output rebounded in April from its lowest monthly level in more than a year due to the end of export disruptions in Iraq and Libya and a rise in Iranian sales. OPEC is scheduled to meet in Vienna at the end of May. In early April it trimmed its forecast for global growth in oil demand in 2013. Even if export demand for Saudi oil weakens over the next few months, the rise in its own use for power plants to meet a surge in air conditioning demand should support Saudi production over the summer. — Reuters

Half-a-million will flock to Qatar for FIFA Cup 2022: Markaz Tourism, associated activities may add 1-1.5% to GDP KUWAIT: Kuwait Financial Centre “Markaz” recently published the executive summary of its report on analyzing the implication of hosting FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. In this research note, Markaz identifies FIFA specific investments and projects in Qatar and tracks their progress status; and attempts to determine its impact on the regional economies in general and on Qatar in particular. Qatar won the honors for hosting one of the biggest sporting events in the world, when the country won the bid against five countries including the US to host 2022 edition of FIFA World Cup. Qatar will hog the limelight during the event and would represent an Arab world that stands for well-developed, modern, diversified, capable and futuristic group. Qatar has hosted FIFA Under-20 World Cup in 1995, Asian Games in 2006, and Gulf Cup of Nations in 1992 and 2004 where it eventually won the cup too. Apart from these, it has hosted several other regional and International sporting events and would like the opportunity to showcase its prowess to host large scale international events. The event is expected to draw over half a million visitors to the country, which accounts for almost a third of its current population. The huge influx of people and the associated needs is expected to have a direct impact on the Hospitality and Infrastructure sectors and indirectly on the Financial, Communication and Power sectors. In this report, we intend to assess the magnitude of change that this event will drive into Qatari economy and in the neighboring GCC states. Implication Category Implication Qatar’s GDP Spending Specific to hosting world Cup is largely restricted to stadium creation and establishing hospitality

centers, tourist spending and the associated economic activities may add 1-1.5 percent to GDP value. Infrastructure Infrastructure spending worth $3 billion is being made for the construction and up gradation of football stadiums. Doha metro interconnecting the stadiums, airport and city center is under execution. FDI The declining trend in FDI is expected to turnaround as the multiple projects move from boardroom to execution phase by 2015. Hospitality & Tourism The room inventory is all set to double (from the current 44,000) as 140 new properties are being established at a cost of USD 12.4 billion and they pose to threaten the already prevalent low Hotel occupancy rates (approx. 60 percent). Banking and Investment Multiple opportunities exist in project financing and capital rising. Qatar’s recent move to deepen the debt market and build a sovereign yield curve augurs well for the outlook. Regional economies Qatar would need to tap the neighboring countries for building and construction materials. FIFA specific projects would be providing opportunities for regional Financial Institutions and Infrastructure companies Prior to winning the FIFA bid, Qatari Government, under National Vision 2030, had announced ambitious spending plans to boost the infrastructure of the country as part of

diversification away from hydrocarbon driven economy in line with other GCC peers. Hosting the world cup would instill a sense of urgency and provide an additional incentive to attain the National Vision 2030. Select projects were also launched to specifically address the issue of hosting a successful world cup. Ambitious and large scale infrastructure plans and the associated spending levels will have implications on the financial sector. Government of Qatar has already made moves to deepen the debt market and it intends to issue three and five-year domestic government bonds to build sovereign yield curve. Banks would have ample opportunities to increase their loan book size and generate income fees. As of September 2012, credit to private sector has grown by 14.5 percent (YoY basis) while credit to public sector registered a growth rate of 44.3 percent (YoY basis). GCC firms are actively expected to pursue the diverse opportunities in Qatar. Intra-regional trade would receive a major boost as most of the raw materials involved in the construction of many projects would be sourced from neighboring countries. Large regional financial institutions would stand to benefit by offering financial services to the large number of projects. However, there remains certain risks; such as: cost overrun for event specific investments which are likely to be redundant for Qatar as it has a very small population base and limited means to put them to use after the event, inherent implementation risk for large scale projects which have high tendency to be delayed, and risk of hosting the event during the hottest months of the year in June/July. Additionally, post FIFA World Cup event there is likely to be a huge legacy cost in terms of excess hotel room capacity, dismantling of newly built stadiums to be given away to other developing nations, and extended metro lines.

Indonesia growth slowest since 2010 JAKARTA: Indonesia’s economy expanded by 6.02 percent in the first quarter, official data showed yesterday, the slowest pace in more than two years as exports fell due to the weak global economy. It was the slowest quarterly, year-on-year growth in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy since the third quarter of 2010 and came in below forecasts. The economy grew 6.11 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. Exports fell by 4.33 percent compared to the previous quarter, according to the statistics agency. Economists attributed the slowing growth to a fall in demand for commodities. Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer of palm oil-found in a wide variety of everyday goods from soap to cosmetics and biscuits-and also a major exporter of coal, tin and rubber. Many firms were experiencing “lower demand for commodities, not only in Europe and the US but in China as well”, said Bank Danamon Indonesia chief economist Anton Gunawan. Nine economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast first quarter growth of 6.10 percent. Last month, concerns about the weak recovery in the global economy led the central bank to lower its growth forecast for this year to 6.2-6.6 percent from 6.3-6.8 percent. The economy grew 6.23 percent in 2012. Despite the slight slowdown, Indonesia still has one of the best growth rates in the world, driven by strong domestic consumption and high levels of foreign investment. Yesterday’s data will reduce the likelihood of the central bank hiking interest rates anytime soon from 5.75 percent, where they have been for more than a year, analysts said. — AFP

JAKARTA: Workers erect an iron reinforcement column at a high rise office construction site in Jakarta yesterday. The Indonesian economy expanded by 6.02 percent in the first quarter, official data showed yesterday, the slowest pace for more than two years as exports fell due to the weak global economy. — AFP

Dubai’s CBD plans first-ever bond issue DUBAI: Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) plans to tap international debt markets for its first dollar-denominated bond, taking advantage of attractive pricing on the back of returning investor confidence in the emirate. Gulf Arab banks have stepped up bond sales this year, tapping into substantial investor appetite for bonds issued by regional financial institutions, with over $5 billion of dollar-denominated bonds issued so far this year. Total year-to-date issuance of dollar bonds in the Gulf is nearly $12 billion.

CBD, rated A- by Fitch, has mandated Citigroup, HSBC Holdings and National Bank of Abu Dhabi to conduct investor meetings which begin on May 9, ahead of the bond sale, it said in a statement yesterday. A possible benchmark-sized bond may follow, subject to market conditions. Benchmark-sized bond issues are typically at least $500 million in size. The program will help the bank to capitalise on business opportunities and will enable it to benefit from an improving economic cycle in the UAE, Chief Executive Peter Baltussen said in the statement.

CBD, 20 percent owned by Investment Corp of Dubai, has an outstanding loan of $450 million due in August 2014, according to Thomson Reuters data, but has so far not issued any public debt denominated in US dollars. Banks in the region have been able to take advantage of low borrowing costs to secure funding for regional expansion, as well as bolster their capital ratios. Last year, bond sales in the financial sector accounted for 44 percent of total bond issuance in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). — Reuters

Thai Baht Malaysian ringgit Irani Riyal Irani Riyal

Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

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

EXCHANGE RATES Commercial Bank of Kuwait US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian Dollar Australian DLR Indian rupees Sri Lanka Rupee UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi riyals Omani riyals Egyptian pounds US Dollar/KD GB Pound/KD Euro Swiss francs Canadian dollars Danish Kroner Swedish Kroner Australian dlr Hong Kong dlr Singapore dlr Japanese yen Indian Rs/KD Sri Lanka rupee Pakistan rupee Bangladesh taka UAE dirhams Bahraini dinars Jordanian dinar Saudi Riyal/KD Omani riyals Philippine Peso

.2770000 .4310000 .3680000 .3020000 .2780000 .2940000 .0040000 .0020000 .0771240 .7513970 .3930000 .0720000 .7366120 .0370000

.2880000 .4470000 .3760000 .3170000 .2920000 .3020000 .0069000 .0035000 .0778990 .7589480 .4110000 .0770000 .7440150 .0440000

CUSTOMER TRANSFER RATES .2841000 .4338920 .3707360 .3043390 .2795430 .0497330 .0443660 .2963730 .0365940 .2291130 .0029600 .0000000 .0000000 .0000000 .0000000 .0773800 .7538810 .0000000 .0757800 .7382100 .0000000

.2862000 .4370990 .3734770 .3065880 .2816100 .0501010 .0446940 .2985640 .0368650 .2308060 .0028810 .0052870 .0022880 .0029190 .0036810 .0779520 .7594530 .4048090 .0763400 .7436660 .0069870

Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. ASIAN COUNTRIES Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso

2.879 5.290 2.898 2.252 3.315 232.480 36.766 3.649 6.980

9.663 94.221 0.271 0.273

740.69 78.59 76.02

743.000 78.500 76.400

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd GCC COUNTRIES Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

76.097 78.408 741.200 757.940 77.704

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound - Transfer Yemen Riyal/for 1000 Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira/for 1000 Syrian Lier Morocco Dirham

40.450 40.571 1.331 177.620 402.980 1.914 3.100 34.285

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 285.250 Euro 375.250 Sterling Pound 445.850 Canadian dollar 284.540 Turkish lira 158.720 Swiss Franc 306.390 US Dollar Buying 284.050 GOLD 20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

298.000 150.000 77.500

UAE Exchange Centre WLL COUNTRY SELL DRAFT 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

SELL CASH 299.45 285.97 306.21 376.06 284.60 444.81 2.98 3.675 5.263 2.245 3.313 2.896 77.55 757.78 40.62 405.45

298.000 285.000 307.000 374.500 285.500 449.000 3.300 3.720 5.450 2.430 3.400 2.953 78.000 756.800 40.500 410.000

Rate for Transfer Selling Rate 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

285.000 286.360 444.895 374.265 305.150 754.545 77.570 78.230 75.965 401.755 40.465 2.254 5.294 2.894 3.652 6.952 699.120 3.875 9.680 4.060 3.395 93.855

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY SELL CASH British Pound Czech Korune Danish Krone Euro Norwegian Krone Scottish Pound Swedish Krona Swiss Franc Australian Dollar New Zealand Dollar Uganda Shilling Canadian Dollar Colombian Peso US Dollars Bangladesh Taka Cape Vrde Escudo Chinese Yuan Eritrea-Nakfa

SELLDRAFT Europe 0.4370972 0.0061567 0.0460968 0.3689556 0.0451451 0.4332070 0.0397769 0.2996574 Australasia 0.2842247 0.2355748 0.0001114 America 0.2758529 0.0001450 0.2829000 Asia 0.0036104 0.0031600 0.0451557 0.0164700

0.4460972 0.0181567 0.0510968 0.3764556 0.0503451 0.4407070 0.0447769 0.3066574 0.2962247 0.2455748 0.0001114 0.2848529 0.0001630 0.2850500 0.0036654 0.0033922 0.0501557 0.0195700

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

0.0000442 0.0341806 0.0052168 0.0000243 0.0028477 0.0027972 0.0033500 0.0889109 0.0031537 0.0028706 0.0065243 0.0000728 0.2269659 0.0022139 0.0092294 Arab 0.7496745 0.0385342 0.0128902 0.1483801 0.0000793 0.0001734 0.3964753 1.0000000 0.0001748 0.0220208 0.0012114 0.7293790 0.0776409 0.0754800 0.0463475 0.0031807 0.1754013 0.0761813 0.0012859

Al Mulla Exchange Currency Transfer Rate (Per 1000) US Dollar 284.700 Euro 376.250 Pound Sterling 445.900 Canadian Dollar 284.650 Japanese Yen 2.950 Indian Rupee 5.275 Egyptian Pound 40.570 Sri Lankan Rupee 2.252 Bangladesh Taka 3.650 Philippines Peso 6.905 Pakistan Rupee 2.893 Bahraini Dinar 758.000 UAE Dirham 77.500 Saudi Riyal 76.000 *Rates are subject to change

0.0000502 0.0372806 0.0052808 0.0000294 0.0038477 0.0029772 0.0035800 0.0959109 0.0033537 0.0029106 0.0069943 0.0000758 0.2329659 0.0022559 0.0098294 0.7581745 0.0405642 0.0193902 0.1501701 0.0000798 0.0002334 0.4039753 1.0000000 0.0001948 0.0460208 0.0018464 0.7403790 0.0784239 0.0761200 0.0468975 0.0034007 0.1814013 0.0776313 0.0013859

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

BUSINESS

Digital oilfield is the way - and Mideast is right on it By James McCallum

n Formula One, where fractions of a second determine success or failure, making the best decisions in the shortest possible time is critical. Thanks to the introduction of ever-more powerful software and hardware capable of analyzing massive amounts of data within milliseconds, Formula One drivers and their race teams are better placed than ever before to making these decisions - and boost performance. Granted, F1 is still very much about the driver but it’s also one of many examples of how technological advances are transforming the way we operate and make decisions every day in order to optimize business. The global oil industry isn’t an exception. Advances in and the widespread adoption of information technology have triggered a transformation process that will shape the industry in all its facets in the years to come. Whether its devices such as iPads becoming a common tool to conduct real-time monitor-

ing of what’s happening at the well site or new breeds of young engineers with backgrounds in IT entering the space, the industry is amidst an exciting period of change. Today’s oil fields are increasingly connected from end to end, enabling companies to harvest and analyze ever-larger amounts of data generated by people and assets along the oil value chain in real time. Digital Oil Fields as they’re commonly referred to - essentially integrated operation systems - help in reservoir and production optimization, and drilling and well completion among other processes. They speed up and allow more accurate analysis and decision making, and improve safely levels. The ultimate aim of the Digital Oil Field (DOF) is to overlap field and decision center to boost output and recovery rates, and manage assets more efficiently and safely. The oil industry’s migration into the digital sphere is part of a natural evolution. To be sure, the sector hasn’t been the fastest adopter of information sys-

tems compared to other industries. But with the long-term energy demand curve pointing up and oil prices at comfortable levels, new technologies such as DOF have put fields that were once deemed too expensive, too deep or too remote back on the radar screen. Not too long ago, oil companies were questioning whether they should evaluate DOF technology. Now the question goes: ‘how can we best optimize our return on investment in DOF?’ The same question is being asked all over the globe, including in the Middle East, a region long known for its access to ‘easy oil’. It may be the world’s richest hydrocarbons habitat, but as the development of new fields and maintaining or expanding output levels at existing ones is becoming more complex, the region’s national oil companies (NOCs) have begun adopting the DOF concept to enhance oil recovery. The Middle East has been relatively slower than other parts of the world in adopting DOF solutions but this is changing. From Abu Dhabi to Kuwait,

from Oman to Saudi Arabia, regional NOCs have started to embrace the concept and are now actively engaged in implementing numerous DOF projects. Kuwait Oil Co. has launched three major DOF pilot projects with a fourth one in the planning phase. Oman, a pioneer in deploying enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies to boost output from its fragmented and mostly heavy crude reserves, is betting on its DOF program to ramp up production in the future. According to RnR Market Research, the Middle East is going to be the world’s fastest-growing DOF market between 2012 and 2022, with revenue estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.9 percent. This compares with 4.8 percent for the global market during the same period. By 2022, the global DOF market is expected to be worth $33.3 billion in terms of revenue. Going forward, there can be little doubt that DOF will be at the core of all Greenfield projects in the region; more and more existing oil fields will be upgraded. NOCs embarking on their

‘digital’ strategy aren’t doing so alone. The national incumbents have always stressed the need for technology transfer as part of their decision-making on new partnerships and concessions. As such, international oil companies (IOCs) and oil field service companies, which provide the technologies around digital oil fields, will all play a role. But the rising complexities involved in developing future oil reserves may well bring about a new era of collaboration between NOCs, IOCs and oil field service firms. By pooling their limited resources, in terms of infrastructure and skilled labor, the players will be in a better position to leverage their different capabilities. I am happy to say that it is not too bold an assumption to make that the inclusion of DOF Knowledge transfer will undoubtedly play an increasing role in the technology transfer demanded from relationships on new concession awards across the Middle East as it will in all the major global energy supply regions. —By James McCallum is CEO, Senergy

Stocks subdued as US jobs cheer fades

Ghaith Al-Ghaith and Jeyhun Efendi during a press conference in Dushanbe.

flydubai contributes to Tourism Vision for 2020 Passengers benefit from simplified visa rules KUWAIT: “Simplified visa processes and lower barriers to travel have contributed significantly to rising passenger traffic to the UAE,” said Ghaith Al-Ghaith, CEO of flydubai. “Easing visa processes has supported the growth of the aviation sector throughout the UAE, over the past few years, by allowing 32 nationalities to benefit from receiving a visa on arrival. This approach has been possible due to the continued efforts of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs. Further simplification of the visa processes will contribute to substantially increased global passenger traffic and will make Dubai an even more attractive destination for both leisure and business travellers in support of the Government’s Tourism Vision for 2020,” said Al Ghaith. Overall passenger traffic at Dubai International Airport soared 13.2 percent to 57 million in 2012, up from 50 million recorded in 2011. This trend is forecast to continue into this year and the first three months of 2013 have already recorded a strong start with a 15.6 percent increase in passenger traffic compared to the same period of 2012. Dubai International is now the second busiest airport for international passenger traffic and is currently undergoing an expansion to accommodate growing passenger numbers. Ghaith AlGhaith, CEO of flydubai - the second largest carrier by passenger numbers operating out of Dubai International commented on the impact of the expansion of Terminal 2 on the airline’s capacity: “Terminal 2 has been home to flydubai since the airline’s inception and its ongoing expansion and refurbishment will improve services and accessibility

for an increased number of passengers seeking affordable air travel to and from Dubai. The current expansion will more than double the terminal’s annual capacity to accommodate the growth of the airline which has serviced 5.1 million passengers in 2012 and 10.4 million passengers overall since its launch in 2009,” he said. flydubai’s proven track record has demonstrated how it has contributed to the economic growth of Dubai’s tourism and commercial sectors. Its ongoing plans to grow its fleet and network will support Dubai’s Vision for Tourism for 2020. The vision of the Government of Dubai is to transform the trade and tourism sector to further contribute to the growth of the emirate; the sector is expected to contribute $45 billion in revenues to the emirate’s GDP by 2020. This continuous commitment to developing this sector, which was marked in the provision of 16 percent of its budget for 2013 to infrastructure projects, was a key growth factor for the airline enabling it to provide greater connectivity and accessibility to the region and surrounding destinations. flydubai has strategically expanded its network to previously underserved markets, mostly within a five-hour radius. This has offered passengers in these markets access to more convenient and affordable travel options and further strengthened Dubai’s position as a global trade and tourism hub. Since its launch four years ago, flydubai has launched 57 routes including up to 32 routes that either did not previously have direct links with Dubai or were not served by an UAE national carrier from Dubai. It now travels to 33 countries spanning North and East Africa, the GCC, Middle East, Subcontinent, Central Asia,

Russia, Ukraine and Central & Eastern Europe. Al-Ghaith noted, “Our growing network offers passengers the freedom to travel as frequently and as easily as ever. Travellers now have the option of crossing borders and returning home within a day, which has been a rising trend amongst the business community. Leisure travellers can also enjoy their preferred cities within our network more frequently or explore new destinations through our recently launched routes such as Male in the Maldives, our ninth point in Saudi Arabia, Ha’il and our flights to Dushanbe in Tajikistan started just last week.” Passenger appetite for travel to Dubai has significantly increased across all destinations. The Russian, Ukrainian, Central Asia and Central & Eastern European markets have been key areas of growth, with an 89 percent rise in the number of UAE visas facilitated by flydubai for passengers from these countries. UAE visa applications from Ukraine, facilitated by the airline, have significantly grown by 370 percent in 2012, a trend that is expected to continue, while Azerbaijan, Georgia, Serbia and Turkmenistan remain the largest markets for visa applications made through flydubai. Aside of these countries, Iraq and Sudan are the largest markets for visa applications on the key trading routes. flydubai’s excellent on-board experience and professional services have also contributed to increased demand from passengers across its network. The airline launched 14 new routes over the past quarter and intends to announce additional routes during 2013. The airline currently operates a young, modern fleet of 29 aircraft.

Etihad, South African Airways ink deal ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways and South African Airways said yesterday that they have agreed on a codesharing agreement that foresees even greater cooperation. Under the deal, Etihad would place its “code on flights from Johannesburg to 10 South African Airways destinations” and South African would do the same for 12 routes from Abu Dhabi, they said in a joint statement. The memorandum of understanding would allow “the two airlines to introduce a comprehensive range of codeshare and interline air services as well as explore synergy and efficiency opportunities,” said the statement. Etihad president and chief executive James Hogan said the carrier was looking to expand its African operations. “This strategy, of working closely with partner airlines to serve secondary cities in a market, has been highly successful for Etihad Airways around the world and we look forward to build upon our already strong relationship with the team at South African Airways to extend our footprint in the strategically critical African market,” said Hogan. The two airlines expect to jointly carry more than 20 million passengers in 2013. The agreement allows Etihad Airways to consolidate its access to the African market. It already has similar agreements with Kenya Airways and Air Seychelles. Etihad, which began operations in 2003, carried more than 10 million passengers in 2012. With its 73-strong fleet, it serves 88 passenger and cargo global destinations. Etihad also holds equity investments in Airberlin, Air Seychelles, Virgin Australia, Aer Lingus and Jet Airways. It posted a 200-percent rise in net profit in 2012 and a net income of $42 million last year compared with $14 million in 2011. —AFP

Swiss bankers drop opposition to info exchange ZURICH: The Swiss Bankers Association has dropped its outright rejection of the exchange of bank client data with foreign tax authorities, its head was quoted as saying yesterday. Swiss bank secrecy has come under heavy fire from the United States, France and Germany since the financial crisis. Switzerland agreed in 2009 to share more information with foreign authorities hunting tax cheats on request, but it has consistently rejected an automatic exchange of data. Patrick Odier told the Aargauer Zeitung daily paper that the banking association’s change of heart was largely down to Germany’s rejection in December of a deal to have Swiss banks tax its citizens’ assets without naming them. Odier, who is also senior partner of Genevan private bank Lombard Odier, said it was “pure coincidence” that Luxembourg and Austria had both agreed last month to share data on accounts held by foreigners, increasing the heat on Switzerland to do likewise. “We adjusted our position in the first quarter after numerous talks with bank representatives and came to the conclusion at the end of March that we should no longer categorically reject an automatic exchange of information,” he said. “But it should be introduced globally.” Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf has signalled a similar willingness to discuss automatic exchange of information, but the Swiss coalition government remains divided on the issue. —Reuters

MILAN: World stock markets were subdued yesterday as the momentum from an unexpectedly strong US jobs report last week faded. Major indexes on Wall Street as well as Germany’s DAX hit record highs on Friday, when the US Labor Department said employers added 165,000 workers in April. The figure was above forecasts and hiring in February and March was also stronger than previously estimated. The unemployment rate fell to 7.5 percent, the lowest level in four years. Investors turned more cautious yesterday as some focused once again on the problems facing the global economy. Though growth in the US is holding up well, it is slowing in China. The 17-country euro-zone remains in recession and unemployment there has been hitting a series of record highs. By mid-afternoon in Europe,

Germany’s DAX was flat at 8,119.65 while France’s CAC-40 was down 0.2 percent at 3,903.73. London trading was closed for a bank holiday. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 14 points at 14,960 points, a decline of 0.1 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up two points at 1,616, or 0.1 percent. The Nasdaq composite was up nine at 3,387 points, or 0.2 percent. Friday’s job report counterbalanced weeks of mixed signals about manufacturing and corporate earnings and renewed hopes of a recovery in the world’s largest economy. “Markets just came back to life, helped by that strong reading from U.S. nonfarm payrolls. That number completely obliterated expectations,” said Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG in Melbourne. In Asia, Malaysia’s KLSE Composite

surged 3.4 percent to 1,752.02 after the country’s governing coalition won national elections, albeit with a weakened majority, to extend its unbroken, 56 year rule. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1 percent to 22,915.09. Australia’s S&P/ASX advanced 0.5 percent to 5,156.20. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia also rose, while the Philippines fell. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.2 percent to 1,962.25. Japan’s stock market was closed for a public holiday. Benchmark oil for June delivery was down 48 cents to $95.13 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.62 to close at $95.61 a barrel on the Nymex on Friday. In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3074 from $1.3110 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose to 99.33 yen from 99.04 yen. —AP

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

BUSINESS

Oil hits one-month high above $105 LONDON: Oil rose above $105 a barrel yesterday to its highest in nearly a month as an Israeli air strike on a Syrian military facility refocused attention on Middle East supply risks, although prices pared gains after weak European economic data. Israeli jets hit Syrian targets near Damascus on Sunday in an air raid that Western and Israeli officials called a new strike on Iranian missiles bound for Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Iran denied the attack was on armaments for Lebanon and urged the region to unite against Israel. Brent crude touched $105.49 a barrel, the highest since April 11, and was up 70 cents at $104.89 by 1030 GMT. US oil rose to a high of $97.17 and traded up 72 cents at

$96.33. “Rising geopolitical worries have increased the risk premium on oil and the fear is that the Israeli attack is going to lead to a wider involvement of other nations in the Syrian conflict,” said Victor Shum, an oil consultant at IHS in Singapore. “That’s allowing oil to extend gains made on the back of strong jobs data in the United States.” Countering the supply risks, surveys yesterday showed the euro-zone’s business downturn dragged on in April. The purchasing managers’ indexes (PMIs) also showed Germany is now suffering a contraction in business activity that has long beset France, Italy and Spain. “The attack over the weekend of Israel on Syria, on the

one hand, can lead to some increased geopolitical premium,” said Olivier Jakob, oil analyst at Petromatrix in Switzerland. “But the global PMIs are weak and that in itself is not really bullish for distillates because the economy is still not providing signs that a strong recovery is ahead. Global oil demand is driven by distillates.” Brent has gained as much as 9 percent in less than three weeks since reaching a 2013 low of $96.75 on April 18. Its high for the year is $119.17 reached on Feb. 8. Prices rallied on Friday in response to an upbeat US jobs report. Payrolls rose more than expected in April, pushing the unemployment rate to a four-year low of 7.5 percent, easing concerns about a sharp slowdown in the economy.

Morgan Stanley cited signs of a stronger physical market for Brent, such as a drop in expected Nigerian crude exports and supply of North Sea crude Ekofisk in June. “Crude oil fundamentals continue to tighten, with supply disappointing yet again,” the bank said in a report yesterday. “The key risk remains weak demand.” Weak economic data from the world’s second-biggest oil consumer, China, and Europe’s prolonged debt crisis, have helped oil fall from its 2013 high near $120 a barrel. The official China Securities Journal reported yesterday China’s export growth was expected to slow to around 10 percent in the second quarter from 18 percent in the first. —Reuters

PAMPLONA: A man puts up a sign on the window of an association for the unemployed which reads on the last line, “Unemployed but not Stopping” in Pamplona, northern Spain, yesterday. —AP

Bankers whisper: Spain’s bailout bill could rise MADRID: Spain’s bill to bail out its banks may yet rise, some bankers and analysts fear, as a worsening economy hampers the government’s early attempts to sell off nationalized lenders and threatens the “bad bank” housing their rotten property deals. Spanish banks say the worst is behind them after steep losses last year and they are now recovering - a view broadly shared by authorities such as the European Commission, backer of a 41 billion euro ($54 billion) rescue of ailing lenders. But while Madrid is on schedule with demanded industry reforms and banks are better protected against losses from a sunken real estate market, a growing number of bankers argue in private that more state funds may still be needed to help sell rescued lenders and keep “bad bank” Sareb ticking over. Sareb was used to clean the balance sheets of state-rescued banks by taking on 50.7 billion euros worth of foreclosed properties and troubled loans to real estate developers. The assets are matched by 50.7 billion euros in senior debt and backed by 4.8 billion euros in capital, more than half of which was contributed by Spain’s healthy lenders to reduce the burden on state books. The 8 percent capital cushion may however be too thin to withstand losses without a top-up, which could be hard to source from the private sector, said several senior Spanish bankers and investment bankers who have worked with the government. “It was a big mistake. The government is going to have to take over the entire vehicle sooner or later,” said a Spanish banking executive, on condition of anonymity, echoing a view from three other senior bankers. Spain took 41 billion euros of a 100-billion-euro European credit line to bail out its banks last year. The bill added the equivalent of 3.5 percent of gross domestic product to a deficit that was already higher than allowed under EU rules. The bailout came after several failed government efforts to clean up the financial sector, crippled by more than 300 billion euros in bad loans after a housing bubble burst in 2008. If the liabilities of the bad bank, known by its Spanish-language acronym Sareb, were to be put on the state’s balance sheet, it could add up to another 5 percentage points of GDP to the country’s debt, pushing it to more than 100 percent of annual output. Spain’s economy ministry declined to comment. The real estate parked with Sareb was already written down by an average of 63.1 percent and the loans by 45.6 when the assets were transferred to the bad bank, but four bankers argued that further losses could still deplete its capital. Of its loans, only 22 percent are considered “normal”; 34 percent are rated “substandard” and 45 percent “doubtful”. Most of the loans are linked to finished properties, for which it might be easier to find a buyer, but 4.3 percent are for unfinished developments and nearly 10 percent are for empty lots, for which there is little or no demand. Nearly all of the foreclosed properties in its portfolio are empty, including apartment blocks far outside big cities. Only 6,000 of nearly 83,000 housing units have tenants. Bankruptcies and defaults are on the rise in Spain, and the fall in housing prices accelerated in the first quarter. The bankruptcy of property developer Reyal Urbis,

which now counts Sareb as one of its major creditors, underlined the problem. Meanwhile, Sareb is just beginning to comb through its assets. “This (structure) could be a problem if the vehicle starts making losses and needs more equity, something very likely to happen in our view once it reappraises its assets,” JPMorgan analyst Jaime Becerril said in a recent note. One source familiar with Sareb said it was aware of the risk it might need more capital, but believed “that would only happen under an extremely distressed economic scenario.” A stress test of Spanish banks last year by consultant Oliver Wyman, which served as the basis for some of Sareb’s calculations, defined a worst case scenario as a 2.1 percent economic drop in 2013 and a 0.3 percent contraction in 2014. Spain expects its economy to shrink 1.3 percent in 2013, further than initially forecast, while growing 0.5 percent in 2014. Sareb does have a contingency plan for shoring up capital, which involves restricting eventual dividend payments to shareholders, the source said. Otherwise fresh capital will have to come from investors the state, or sound banks, some of whom had came under pressure from the government to invest. A spokeswoman for Sareb said “the contingency plan is the sales plan”, which entails selling almost half of assets over the next five years and paying down half of the debt. That would bolster Sareb’s capital position, she said, adding that the vehicle had enough capital at present to see its strategy through and relative to the assets it has. Spain has already had to fork out more funds to help sell rescued banks. After failing to sell nationalised lender CatalunyaBanc in February as bidders demanded greater guarantees against future losses, the government was forced last month to pump 245 million euros of extra capital into small nationalised Banco Gallego to clinch its sale to Sabadell for one euro. While a small amount relative to the billions already poured into the system, the need for a capital hike exposed worries about the risks still attached to bailed-out lenders. Spain still fully owns three banks, including Bankia , controls another, Banco Mare Nostrum, and could yet end up controlling a fifth, Banco CEISS, if its sale to Unicaja falls through. These banks and healthy ones alike are increasingly vulnerable to rising bad loans, especially among small company borrowers, as the Spanish economy worsens. For now, that is mainly seen as a threat to earnings. While most banks maintain they have stocked up on enough capital to counter growing provisions for losses, a handful of analysts still believe some will have to do more to ward off problems outside the real estate realm. The Bank of Spain on Tuesday tightened the rules on how banks classify bad debt in cases of refinancing, in a move that could force lenders to recognise more bad debt. Ratings agency Moody’s had forecast last October that banks had a 100 billion euro capital gap, rather than the 54 billion euros projected by Oliver Wyman in its stress test. “Despite all the developments, it’s difficult to see that all of that 100 billion euros is cancelled out,” Alberto Postigo, analyst at Moody’s, said. —Reuters

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

BUSINESS

Agaoglu Dubai showroom

Agaoglu closes over $200m of sales in 10 days New Turkish law bolsters property market sales DUBAI: Maslak 1,453 project has been the focus of the buyers from the Middle East since it has been introduced at Cityscape in Dubai last November. It is currently the largest active mixed use development in Europe with more than 4800 residential units, 200 thousand sqm of retail and a lot of life style activities like a fashion center, amphitheatre, sports facilities etc. with total construction area of 2 million sqms. Ali Agaoglu states that before the legislation has passed, there were individual buyers but now investors are buying towers. He states that they have sold two towers last week and another 3 towers are under negotiation. He comments that there is special interest for the serviced apartments sector, the buyers wants to convert the towers for the

needs of the middle eastern families who can reside in Turkey without limitation to exit the country like in the past. Maslak 1453 project was introduced at $2,650 m2 prices and now reached to $3,400m2. General Manager of Agaoglu Group Hasan Rahval states that comparative prices in the region is around $6,000m2 and there is a lot of room for price increase when the projects construction is finished. Currently about 65 percent of the residential units has been sold. The adds that the size of the project gives them cost advantage and they are reflecting this to the buyers that are buying off-the-plan. The government of Turkey has been improving the ties with the Arab countries. It has liberalized the real estate markets for foreign ownership last year and now liberalizing the movement of

people. Arab people who buy real-estate will be entitled to have residency and will not need Visa as long as they keep the property. After 8 years, they will be granted full residency. City of Istanbul As Napoleon said: “If the world was only one country, Istanbul would be its capital.” Istanbul is a unique city, being the 3rd most popular European tourist destination after London and Paris. Istanbul enjoys a network of 93 direct flights to Europe and other countries daily. Istanbul is home to ‘The Grand Bazaar’, and soon home to the “ Istanbul International Fincance Center”, a project by Agaoglu group of companies.

Ali Agaoglu

United Industries posts KD3.61m net profit in Q1 37% rise over same period last year

BEIJING: A Chinese worker sleeps in his bicycle cart under an advertisement for a new building development as a man passes by wearing a mask due to pollution levels on a street in Beijing yesterday. China’s economic growth slowed unexpectedly in the first three months of the year, fueling concern about the strength of its shaky recovery. — AP

Portugal pushes ahead with wide spending cuts 30,000 public sector jobs to go LISBON: Portugal yesterday pushed ahead with deeply unpopular plans to slash 30,000 public sector jobs by launching talks with unions as part of a sweeping savings package to satisfy international creditors. The new “medium-term program”, which also includes pushing back the full pension age for civil servants from 65 years to 66 years and extending their work-week to 40 hours, was announced on Friday. The program, hoped to be worth about 4.8 billion euros ($6.3 billion) to the treasury by 2015, is intended to keep the small debt-hit euro-zone member eligible for another 2-billion-euro slice of its bailout funding. Portugal was granted its 78-billion-euro bailout loan in 2011. Portugal’s “troika” of international lenders-the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank-need to approve the program and will start evaluating it today. Hundreds of people gathered outside the finance ministry on Monday to protest as government officials met representatives of the country’s two

main unions, the CGTP and the UGT, to discuss the savings package. Carrying banners reading “We’re being robbed, but we’re not silenced” and “If you’ve had enough: whistle”, demonstrators sang, chanted and whistled against the government’s belt-tightening. The program has also been fiercely attacked by both unions and government opposition groups. “How can you accept this brutal attack on public sector workers’ rights,” said Ana Avoila with the Public Administration Common Front. The secretary-general of the Socialist Party, Antonio Jose Seguro, also rejected the plans, accusing the government of bringing Portugal to “the verge of social tragedy” with its austerity measures. The Portuguese economy is expected to shrink by 2.3 percent this year with the unemployment rate poised to breach a record 18 percent. With the cuts, however, Portugal’s public deficit is expected to narrow to 5.5 percent of gross domestic product this year, to 4.0 percent in 2014 and finally to 2.5 percent in 2015, under the EU’s ceiling of 3.0 percent. — AFP

French companies hit by government sale talk PARIS: Shares in a number of companies in which the deficit-hit French government has a stake plummeted yesterday after Prime Minister Jean Marc Ayrault said the state was looking to reduce its stake in a “number of companies”. On a slightly falling Paris stock exchange, shares in airliner Air France KLM fell by 2.85 percent to 7.39 euros, utility giant GDF Suez fell 1.46 percent to 16.49 euros and defence company Safran dropped 1.09 percent to 37.49 euros. France holds a 37-percent stake in GDF Suez, a 16-percent stake in Air France-KLM and a 27-percent stake in Safran. Hit by a stagnant economy, the French government is struggling to balance its finances. Last week, the European Union allowed the country a two-year reprieve to meet the bloc’s deficit ceiling of three percent of GDP after Brussels said it expected the French deficit to reach 3.9 percent in 2013 and 4.2 percent in 2014.

The EU also said France will contract by 0.1 percent in 2013 but despite the gloom, there was a glimmer of positive news on Monday with an index tracking sentiment in France’s key service sector coming in slightly better than expected. The Markit purchasing managers’ index for the services sector rose in April to 44.3 from a four-year low of 41.3 in March, though at below 50, the result still indicates economic contraction. The survey however said manufacturing data was at its worst level since August 2010 as companies prioritize cutting staff, helping push French unemployment to a record 3.2 million people in March. On Monday French President Francois Hollande spent the first anniversary of his election victory against right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy as the most unpopular president in modern French history with many angered by his government’s failure to turn around the economy. — AFP

KUWAIT: United Industries Company (UIC), a member of the Kuwait Projects Company (KIPCO) Group, posted KD3,618,768 in net profit for the first quarter of 2013. This represents an increase of 37% over the same period in 2012, where the company reported net profit of KD 2,648,662. Earnings per share stood at 8 fils compared to 5.45 fils for same period in 2012. UIC’s total assets came to KD179.6 million, showing an increase of 6.7%. This is attributed to the increase in value of investments. The share of income from associates (QPIC) went up 22% and came to KD 3.37 million compared to KD 2.76 million during the corresponding period in 2012. This is due to the achievement of better results by QPIC investments. The share of income from subsidiaries

(SADAFCO) went up 24% and came to KD 1.53 million compared to KD 1.23 million during corresponding period in 2012. This is mainly attributed to SADAFCO’s improved sales and operational profit during the period. Commenting on the results, UIC’s Chairman, Sheikh Khalifa Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah said that the Board of Directors approved the financial report for the first quarter of 2013. He noted that the achieved profits represented a good start to the year and would contribute to realizing the aspirations of the shareholders. He added: “I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to our valued shareholders for their trust and support. We hope to continue to prosper and succeed with our future plans.”

Burgan Bank announces winners of Yawmi account KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced yesterday the names of the five lucky winners of its Yawmi account draw, each taking home a prize of KD5,000. The lucky winners for the daily draws took home a cash-prize of KD 5000 each, and they are: 1. Kutbuddin Shikari Fakhruddin 2. Waleed Fadhel Abdul-Raheem AlMatrod 3. Laila Ali Khazaal Kamal 4. Ali Taher Mohd AlBaghli 5. Fatmah Mohd Ali AlWazzan With its new and enhanced features, the Yawmi Account has become more convenient, easier, and faster for customers to benefit from. Now, customers will be eligible to enter the draw after 48 hours only from opening the account. Customers are also required to deposit KD100 or equivalent only to enter the daily draw, and the coupon value to enter the draw stands at KD10.

The newly designed Yawmi account has been launched to provide a highly innovative offering along with a higher frequency and incentive of winning for everyone. Today, the Yawmi account is a well understood product, where its popularity can be seen from the number of increasing account holders. Burgan Bank encourages everyone to open a Yawmi account and/or increase their deposit to maximize their chances to becoming a daily winner. The more customers deposit, the higher the chances they receive of winning the draw. Opening a Yawmi account is simple, customers are urged to visit their nearest Burgan Bank branch and receive all the details, or simply call the bank’s Call Center at 1804080 where customer service representatives will be delighted to assist with any questions on the Yawmi account or any of the bank’s products and services.

IMF reports Greece ‘progress’ to growth ATHENS: Greece is “making progress” in overcoming “deep-seated problems”, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday, before adding that Athens must still find a way to get the economy growing again after years of recession. “Progress on fiscal adjustment has been exceptional by any international comparison,” the IMF said in a regular report capping the visit of an audit team as part of the country’s bailout program. “Greece has also made a significant dent in its competitiveness gap,” the report said.But the IMF stressed that “restoring growth remains the overarching precondition for whether Greece succeeds” in its bailout program with the IMF and European Union, and much work remains to be done especially in terms of structural reforms. “Insufficient structural reforms” have meant that deficit-cutting has been achieved primarily through slashing jobs and salaries and has brought “unequal distribution of the burden of adjustment,” the IMF said. The IMF added that “very little” had been done to tackle Greece’s “notorious tax evasion,” with the rich and self-employed “simply not paying their fair share” as austerity unfairly

hits workers earning a regular salary or a pension. In a speech last month, Poul Thomsen, the IMF official in charge of the Greek program, pointed to tacit corruption in a tax service that “has too many employees who have gotten their jobs because of political connections.” Greece also suffers from too many closed professions, the Fund said, a reality that it believed also unfairly hits salary earners not protected by special regimes that limit hiring and firing. Since 2010, the European Union and International Monetary Fund have committed a total of 240 billion euros ($317 billion) in rescue loans to Greece. Greece was obliged to adopt a strict austerity program, including drastic salary and pension cuts, as part of its two EU-IMF bailout deals. On Friday the European Union forecast that Greece would end six years of recession in 2014 with growth of 0.6 percent, in line with an earlier forecast by the IMF. But despite the prediction for expansion next year-following a recession forecast of minus 4.6 percent this year-the IMF warned that attempts to “artificially” stimulate growth should be resisted.—AFP

Sheikh Khalifa Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah

Obama to launch series of trips on economic plans WASHINGTON: Immigration, guns and national security are dominating the discussion on Capitol Hill, but Americans by and large are still focused on their bottom line. So President Barack Obama is launching a series of quick jaunts around the country to remind Americans he’s still got jobs and the economy on his mind. Obama will kick off the effort Thursday with a trip to Austin, Texas, the White House said. While in Texas, the president will visit a technical high school and meet with entrepreneurs. He’ll also drop in on a tech company and talk with blue-collar workers. The trips come as Obama, less than four months into his second term, is facing increasing skepticism from political allies and foes alike that he still has the clout to get big things done before the 2014 midterm elections creep up and his ability to set the agenda diminishes. Those concerns have been compounded by a failed push on gun control and a similarly unsuccessful effort to avert automatic spending cuts that took effect in March. Obama traveled repeatedly outside Washington to rally Americans to urge Congress to act on both fronts, but with questionable results. Progress on the economy provides one opportunity to promote something positive - especially after a solid jobs report on Friday kicked the unemployment rate down a notch to 7.5 percent, a four-year low that offered hope that the US economy is healthier than many had feared. Still, Republicans have criticized Obama over the past four years for announcing several times that he was pivoting back to an issue they say should have taken top billing all along. “The economy is still Americans’ top concern because the president’s policies keep making it harder to create jobs,” said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, pointing to energy, taxes and Obama’s health care law. “Unfortunately, I doubt we’ll hear much about any of those things during this road show.” Obama wants to ensure that his economic proposals don’t get lost in the shuffle in the coming weeks as Congress goes to work on an immigration overhaul and the confirmation process for Obama’s second-term Cabinet nominees. “Even though some in Congress are determined to create more self-inflicted economic wounds, there are things Washington could be doing right now to help American businesses, schools and workers,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. Typically, when Obama touches down for the day in an American town, he delivers a speech and shakes a few hands before returning to Washington. But these one-day trips will see Obama make multiple stops at locations that can serve to highlight elements of his economic proposals, and will take place every few weeks starting Thursday with Austin. Among the policies Obama plans to push in Austin and elsewhere are proposals, announced in February in his State of the Union address, to dramatically expand prekindergarten programs and raise the minimum wage to $9 per hour. Both of those face resistance from some lawmakers who say they are too expensive and could put a drag on the economy. — AP

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

BUSINESS

KIPCO’s Vice Chairman, Faisal Al-Ayyar (third from left) and Group Chief Operating Officer, Samer Khanachet, present the Best Employee of the Year Award to KIPCO’s Finance & Accounts Department.

KIPCO’s Vice Chairman, Mr Faisal Al Ayyar (sixth from left) and Group Chief Operating Officer Samer Khanachet, present the Best Company of the Year Award to OSN.

KIPCO announces 2013 employee awards KUWAIT: KIPCO - the Kuwait Projects Company - has announced the winners of its annual employee awards. The awards were presented by KIPCO’s Vice Chairman Faisal AlAyyar and Group Chief Operating Officer, Samer Khanachet, at the company’s annual Gala Dinner which took place in the Sheikha Salwa Hall at the Marina Hotel, Salmiya. The event brought together over 350 KIPCO Group employees from companies across the MENA region. The winner of the KIPCO Group Best Company of the Year 2013 award went to OSN - the region’s largest and the

world’s fastest growing pay-per-view company. The award was presented to OSN Chief Executive, David Butorac and members of the OSN team. The winner of the Best Group Employee of the Year 2013 award was won by KIPCO’s Finance & Accounts department, headed by Senior Vice President, Mazen Hawwa. The award was in recognition of the department’s outstanding contribution to KIPCO Group operations. The winner of KIPCO’s Best Employee of the Year 2013 was Treasurer, Adel AlWaqyan.

KIPCO’s Vice Chairman, Faisal Al-Ayyar (centre) and Group Chief Operating Officer, Samer Khanachet, present KIPCO’s Best Employee of the Year Award to Mr Adel Waqyan.

CFC introduces its new smartphone applications services through App Store and Google play

New Madinat Jumeirah Hotel

Jumeirah Group sees strong results in first 4 months of 2013 DUBAI: Jumeirah Group, the global luxury hospitality company and a member of Dubai Holding, announces its performance in the first quarter of 2013 and its mid-term growth strategy. During the first quarter of 2013, average occupancy in Jumeirah’s portfolio of hotels has increased by 9 percent globally, compared to the same period in 2012. In the same period the average daily rate rose by 9 percent and the revenue per available room, an industry standard for measuring performance, rose by 22 percent. The performance data is based on hotels that had more than 18 months of operations. Speaking at the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference in Dubai, Gerald Lawless, President and CEO of the Jumeirah Group, said: “The full year of 2012 and the first four months of 2013 have been a tremendous success for Jumeirah. The Dubai hotels have truly benefitted from the continuing attraction of Dubai as a prime holiday and business destination. Our hotel in Abu Dhabi, Jumeirah at Etihad Towers, has established itself as one of the top must-visit locations in the capital. Our two properties in the Maldives are building a strong reputation in that market; and our network of European properties, including London, Frankfurt, Mallorca, Rome and Istanbul are performing well. Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel in Shanghai has developed a loyal customer base and is going from strength to strength.” The top five source markets for Jumeirah’s properties in the UAE continue to be Russia (19.0 percent), the United Kingdom (16.2 percent), the GCC (14.1 percent), Germany (7.4 percent) and the United States (3.5 percent). For Jumeirah’s six properties in Europe, including London, Frankfurt, Mallorca and Rome, the top five markets were the UK (15 percent), UAE (11 percent), USA (9.4 percent), Germany (8.5 percent) and Saudi Arabia (6.4 percent); while the Asian hotels in China and the Maldives enjoyed strong flows of business from China, Russia, the UAE, USA and UK. The Dubai properties have benefited from a significant increase in business (115.2 percent) from Australia, and we look forward to welcoming more guests from that region as the new partnership between Emirates Airlines and Qantas develops. There has also been strong growth in business from the company’s traditional markets for Dubai, namely the UK and Russia, with room-nights up 28.4 percent and 8.6 percent respectively in the first four months of 2013 compared to the same period last year. New Madinat Jumeirah Hotel Starts over the Summer In November 2012, approval was given for the construction of a fourth hotel within the Madinat Jumeirah resort in Dubai, complementing the existing properties - Mina A’

Salam, Al Qasr and Dar Al Masyaf. It has now been confirmed that preparatory works on the site of the new 430-room hotel, which sits between Mina A’ Salam and the Wild Wadi Waterpark, will start during the summer of 2013 and that construction is expected to complete by the end of 2015. This development brings Jumeirah’s total number of hotels in the United Arab Emirates to 10, introducing further choice to its guests, employment opportunities to hospitality professionals and pride to the people of the UAE. Opening in Kuwait on 07 May 2013 Jumeirah has also confirmed that its new hotel in Kuwait, Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel & Spa, will have its soft opening on 07 May 2013. The hotel is located 10 minutes from Kuwait International Airport and close to Kuwait City’s business centre and major shopping malls. The secluded beachfront resort features 316 rooms and suites, 80 residential suites and 12 villas, six restaurants along with cafes and lounges, a 3,500 m2 Talise Spa, a 200-metre private beach, two swimming pools and a children’s play area. Additionally, extensive conference and banqueting facilities are available, including a showpiece 1,950 m2 ballroom. Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel & Spa is the company’s first hotel in the Gulf region outside the UAE. Recruitment There are now over 14,000 people employed at Jumeirah managed properties around the world, 60 percent of whom work in hotels owned by Jumeirah and 40 percent in hotels operated under management agreement. Within the workforce there are 140 different nationalities and with 2013 designated as the Year of Emiratisation, Jumeirah is introducing additional programmes to attract, train and retain the best Emirati talent. Gerald Lawless continued: “Travel and tourism is a major driver of economic development and we are proud to be contributing to it. The whole sector represents 9 percent of global GDP and employs over 255 million people globally or 8.7 percent of all people of working age and it one of the few sectors that is growing year on year. As a leading luxury hotel company, our focus for the immediate future will be on continuing to grow our brand presence in the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific - and on bringing social and material benefits to the countries in which we operate. We are also working towards the Vision 2020. Under the visionary leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum the emirate has successfully built a world class tourism infrastructure that will allow us to double the number of visitors by 2020. We also hope that Dubai will be selected as the host city of the World Expo 2020.”

KUWAIT: Commercial Facilities Company (CFC) introduced its new smartphone applications providing its services directly through smartphone devices that are compatible with the “App Store” and “Google Play”. This includes IOS and Android systems, allowing customers to use the various services of the company anywhere and at anytime using an easy interface and a secure connection. Speaking about the new applications, Nasser Ali Al-Mannai, Assistant Managing Director Marketing, Commercial Facilities Company said: “We are always keen to be updated with the latest technological developments, and are pleased to provide our services through our new smartphone application, which is a remarkable addition to the services provided by CFC. This application is available in both Arabic and English and allows customers to access all information by using their smartphone and tablet devices directly and not through a web connection. With this new application customers will recognize the company profile and latest offerings; in addition customers can take advantage of several benefits, loan applications, loan calculator, payment of installments by K-NET and quick payment service. To save time and effort customers can submit their queries to the call center direct-

ly through this application.” Al-Mannai added: “Using phones today is not limited to only making calls and sending text messages, but its usage extends to completing and finalizing work, including booking travel tickets and hotels along with paying bills in all its forms. There is no doubt that the quick global technological development has contributed to a change at how companies today communicate with customers. This is what led us to launch these new and easy smartphone applications that can be used anytime and anywhere using the respected device. Customers can download this application and activate it easily by logging in and registering with a username, ID number, valid email address, the CFC account No. & password to enjoy all CFC services and benefits.” In conclusion, Al-Mannai said: “This service comes in line with CFC’s commitment to provide the best services that meet our existing and potential customer’s needs. We will always work towards developing our services and products to satisfy our valued customers and hope that they benefit from them”. CFC, the first leading finance company with a market presence of 34 years, has gained a stronger position thanks to its uniqueness in best serving its clients, quick processing of

transactions and remarkable convenience. CFC can be reached in Sharq (head office), Hawalli, Al-Riggae, Fahaheel and Al-Jahra, in addition to all 21 car dealerships, or visit their website www.cfc-kw.com.

Nasser Ali Al-Mannai

Infiniti opens its first-ever showroom in Hong Kong

Hiroyuki Fushiki GM, Infiniti product strategy DUBAI: Hiroyuki Fushiki (53) has been named General Manager, Infiniti Product Strategy, effective April 1, 2013. In this role, he will be responsible for the definition and implementation of Infiniti’s future product portfolio in order to support the company’s brand promise and its projected growth. Fushiki will be based at Infiniti’s global headquarters in Hong Kong and report directly to Johan de Nysschen, President of Infiniti Motor Company Ltd. “A strong product portfolio is the basis for Infiniti’s growth,” said President of Infiniti Motor Company Ltd., Johan de Nysschen. “We are determined to transform the company and set it up for future success. Hiroyuki is a passionate car guy who fully understands the premium market, its customers and their requirements. I am very pleased to have him as the next new member on our new and dedicated Infiniti leadership team, and we welcome him to Hong Kong.” Fushiki is a seasoned Product planner with almost 30 years of global experience. He joined Nissan in 1983 as an engineer in the Planning group within the Engineering division. Throughout his career, he worked on a variety of vehicles including premium SUVs such as the Infiniti QX56 and JX35. In addition, he brings experience from multiple global vehicle programs including some that were implemented jointly with other automotive companies. Fushiki is a Japanese national. He has a degree Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from Mie University in Japan.

DUBAI: Infiniti has opened its first showroom in Hong Kong. This is the next step in the premium brand’s quest to establish a strong presence in Hong Kong. Last year, the company moved its global headquarters to the city which bridges the western world and Asia and provides an excellent gateway to China. Situated in the heart of Hong Kong’s commercial district, the showroom, called Infiniti Gallery, is located at G/F Hutchison House, 10 Harcourt Road, Central, Hong Kong. This marks a major milestone of Infiniti’s global growth plan as Infiniti Gallery reinforces its commitment to Hong Kong. The showroom was officially opened by Johan de Nysschen, President of Infiniti Motor Company Ltd., and Donald Yip, Chief Executive Officer of Dah Chong Hong Holdings Limited, Infiniti’s local automotive dealership partner in Hong Kong. The event featured an appearance by Jennifer Tse, the renowned Hong Kong modelactress, against the sleek backdrop of Infiniti’s much-acclaimed concept car, Essence. Also on display was the FIA Formula One World Championship Constructors’ trophy of the Infiniti Red Bull Racing team. DJ EROK of Infiniti Red Bull Racing provided the entertainment for the evening. For the first time ever in Hong Kong and for one night only, Essence took pride of place at the event. The epitome of the Infiniti brand, Essence, a V6 592hp luxury hybrid coupe, is known for its distinctive styling, intuitive technology and dramatic performance. Along with fellow members of the Infiniti

concept trilogy, Etherea and Emerg-e, Essence has influenced Infiniti’s recent design language including the all-new Infiniti Q50 which made its Asian debut at the recent Shanghai Auto Show. “As the only premium automotive manufacturer to be headquartered in Hong Kong, I am very pleased that there is now the first Infiniti showroom, the Infiniti Gallery, right here in our home town, itself a uniquely discerning luxury car market,” said de Nysschen. “The opening of Infiniti Gallery is the latest milestone in our global expansion which now extends to 50 markets worldwide. We look forward to welcoming customers to Infiniti Gallery and enabling them to experience our range of premium performance Infiniti vehicles.” “We are honoured to be representing the Infiniti brand in Hong Kong and bringing ‘inspired performance’ to the discerning luxury car customers of Hong Kong,” added Yip. “The opening of Infiniti Gallery is a significant chapter in the history of Dah Chong Hong Holdings Limited. To have the stunning Essence on display in Hong Kong for an exclusive viewing made the night very special. “We are confident that Infiniti vehicles, with their definitive styling, performance and craftsmanship will change the way Hong Kong car owners think about premium vehicles.” The new Infiniti Gallery will showcase vehicles from Infiniti’s premium model lineup. The showroom will create an ultra-modern, luxurious and sophisticated environment where visitors can experience Infiniti’s renowned customer service and attention.

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

technology

Apps convert smartphones into home monitoring system TORONTO: Worried about what your dog is chewing on when you’re at work, or whether your home is secure while on vacation? New apps can transform old smartphones into remote security cameras for home monitoring systems. Presence, which was launched late last month, converts a spare Internet-connected iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch into a free video camera with real-time video and audio streaming, and motion detection and notifications. “Essentially we give you an inexpensive security system that you can use to monitor

your house, or help you watch your kids, cats, elderly relatives or act as a baby or nanny cam,” said Gene Wang, chief executive of the Palo Alto, California-based company People Power. Unlike traditional monitoring systems that can be expensive and need technical knowledge to install and use, Wang said Presence is a free do-it-yourself system that can be set up simply by downloading and configuring the app. To use it consumers install and login to their account on two devices - for example two iPhones. Then they can start the camera

within the app on one of the devices and it can be viewed from the app on the other. Triggers can also be set to record when motion is detected and to send alerts. The app can help to avoid false alarms, according to Wang, because it sends a video clip in an email to the user showing the motion that triggered the alert. “With these high-end security systems, you have a lot of false positives and then the security company and police come out and it turns out it was your cat knocking over a broom or something like that,” Wang explained.

He added that many people have replaced their old smartphones with new ones and a monitoring system would be a good way to make use of the old devices. Another app created by a company called People Power 1.0 for iPhone and Android reads electricity meters in real time to show consumers how much they’re spending and whether they are going over budget. “The center of computing has switched to these smart computers that we all carry in our pockets,”Wang explained. “What people are going to want to be able to do is control their personal Internet of

Things from their hands,” he added, referring to Internet-connected devices in the home. The company also plans to work with underfunded public schools to help them set up security systems using old devices donated by the community. Other apps have similar functions. AirBeam is a home monitoring app for iOS that allows users to access video feeds from a Web portal. Izon is an app that streams realtime audio and video from iZon cameras to iPhone and Android devices, and Ivideon, for iOS and Android, also lets people build their own surveillance system. —Reuters

B&N to add Google Play app store to its Nook HD ‘Update will occur over-the-air to all devices’

SHANGHAI: A visitor rides a tricycle during the 23rd China International Bicycle and Motor Fair in Shanghai yesterday. The fair runs from May 6 to 9. —AFP

EU backs Apple in Google-Motorola patent fight BRUSSELS: EU anti-trust officials said yesterday that Google-owned Motorola was abusing its leading position in Germany’s mobile phone market by filing a patent injunction against Apple over some core smartphone functions. A statement said that the European Union had reached a “preliminary view” on a competition investigation opened in April 2012. It had decided that Motorola Mobility’s action “amounts to an abuse of a dominant position prohibited by EU antitrust rules.” The Commission spelt out that “while recourse to injunctions is a possible remedy for patent infringements, such conduct may be abusive where standard-essential patents (SEPs) are concerned and the potential licensee is willing to enter into a licence on Fair, Reasonable and NonDiscriminatory (so-called “FRAND”) terms.” EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said: “The protection of intellectual property is a cornerstone of innovation and growth. But so is competition. “I think that companies should spend their time innovating and competing on the merits of the products they offer-not misusing their intellectual property rights to hold up competitors to the detriment of innovation and consumer choice.” Almunia’s spokesman said no view had yet been reached on a related complaint by

Microsoft, but spelt out when pressed on Google’s involvement. Motorola Mobility is a wholly-owned subsidiary-that “most of the behaviour in question took place before the company was acquired by Google.” He said the row centred on “general packet radio services technology” concerned with “intermediate technologies between 2G and 3G standards,” in other words older mobile phone functioning. In April 2013, the US International Trade Commission tossed out a Motorola Mobility patent claim that threatened to block the importation of some Apple iPhone models into the United States. Motorola had accused Apple of infringing on patented technology that makes touch screens ignore fingers when people are holding smartphones to their ears for calls. Also in April 2013, Germany’s patent court invalidated a patent held by Appleand contested by rivals Motorola and Samsung-on its “slide to unlock” function for smartphones. It concluded that the horizontal swiping gesture was not a technical innovation in itself and therefore did not meet requirements of European patent law. The aim of the function was to make it easier for users to unlock their smartphone and not solve a specific technical problem, the court said. —AFP

PARIS: This picture shows the logo of French video-sharing website Dailymotion. The head of Dailymotion, the video-sharing site at the centre of an uproar after the French state blocked its sale to Yahoo!, said in an interview published on May 3, 2013 there was still a lot of interest abroad for his firm. —AFP

US Cellular embraces iPhone after rejecting it NEW YORK: US Cellular, the only major US wireless carrier to resist the iPhone, says it’s going to start selling it this year. CEO Mary Dillon announced the reversal on a call with investors and analysts. She didn’t specify exactly when the company would start selling Apple’s phone, or what models it would carry. A year and a half ago, Dillon said US Cellular Corp. had the opportunity to carry the phone but rejected it because it was too expensive. The iPhone is more expensive than most smartphones, and phone companies absorb this cost to sell it for $199 or less. Dillon says many of the customers leaving the Chicago-based company are doing so because it doesn’t carry the iPhone. In the 18 months since she talked about rejecting the iPhone, the company has lost 268,000, or 5 percent, of its customers on contractbased plans, which are the most lucrative. Apart from the wholesale cost of the individual phone, carriers face another obstacle: Apple requires them to commit to purchasing a minimum amount. In the case of US Cellular, it has promised to buy $1.2 billion

worth of iPhones over three years, according to a regulatory filing. That’s roughly 2 million phones. Investors appeared to be concerned about the cost of the phone, too. US Cellular shares fell $1.08, or 2.8 percent, to $37.39 in afternoon trading. The company has its own stock listing, but is controlled by Telephone & Data Systems Inc., a phone company. With US Cellular’s embrace of the iPhone, the six biggest cellphone companies in the US will all be selling it. Many smaller ones do as well. The iPhone was sold exclusively by AT&T for three and a half years, and the subsequent broadening of the carrier base has been crucial in boosting Apple’s sales. No. 4 T-Mobile USA was locked out of the iPhone club for a long time, but started selling it last month after a network revamp enabled the company to offer high-speed data service on the phone. US Cellular is the fifth largest cellphone company, after No. 5 MetroPCS combined with T-Mobile this week. US Cellular also has a new high-speed data network, and Dillon said that was a factor in the decision to accept the iPhone. —AP

NEW YORK: Barnes & Noble is teaming up with Google to vastly increase the number of apps available on its Nook HD tablets. The bookstore chain says it will add Google’s Play app store to its 7inch Nook HD and 9-inch HD+ products in the US and UK via a software update. The move expands the number of apps available from the roughly 10,000 the Nook already offered in its own store - such as Angry Birds and Netflix - to 700,000-plus apps and games offered on Google Play. And it comes after a weak holiday sales season for the Nook, which is struggling to gain market share in the rapidly expanding tablet market. CEO William Lynch said research and sales during the holidays show that consumer preference is shifting toward all-purpose tablets rather than simple e-readers. “We saw coming off holiday the market moved to multifunction tablets,” he said. “Consumer research showed us the breadth of applications available is really critical.” Lynch said the company had been in discussions with Google “on and off ” for the past several years. “This addresses the one perceived gap that we had with other tablets virtually overnight,” he said. Terms of the deal were undisclosed. The update is automatic and will occur over-the-air to all devices connected to Wi-Fi. It will also include other Google Inc. services like the Chrome browser, Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps. Google Play Music includes millions of songs as well. The prices and styles of the Nooks that Barnes & Noble offers are not changing. The 7-inch Nook HD starts at $199 and the 9-inch Nook HD+ tablet starts at $269. Barnes & Noble also sells non-tablet

e-book readers, the Nook Simple Touch and Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight, which will not offer Google Play. Barnes & Noble Inc., based in New York, has invested heavily in its Nook e-book readers and a digital

other tablets like the iPad, iPad Mini and Google’s own Nexus 7. The company’s Nook unit has attracted investors - Microsoft Corp. owns 16.8 percent, while U.K. publisher and education company Pearson PLC has a 5 percent

allowances for promotions. Meanwhile market share has slid. Barnes & Noble had a 1.9 percent share of the worldwide tablet market in the fourth quarter, making it the No. 5 Tablet player behind Apple, Samsung, Amazon and Asus,

LOS ANGELES: In this Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 file photo, nook tablets are on display at a Barnes and Noble bookstore in Los Angeles. Barnes & Noble is teaming up with Google to vastly increase the number of apps available on its Nook HD tablets. —AP library as more readers shift to electronic books and competition has grown from discount stores and online rivals. The retailer launched high-definition versions of its Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablets in September in an effort to better compete against Amazon.com’s Kindle Fire as well as

stake. But aside from investor funding, it has not been profitable. In its most recent quarter, which included the holiday season, Nook revenue fell 26 percent to $316 million. Barnes & Noble recorded $21 million in returns due to weak demand during the holiday season, and $15 million in

according to data from IDC. But by the first quarter it had slipped out of the top 5, replaced by Microsoft. At the same time, competition is proliferating, with the global tablet market growing quickly. It more than doubled to 49.2 million units during the first quarter, according to IDC’s estimate. —AP

New efforts to curb cellphone theft SAN FRANCISCO: Disturbed by the nationwide epidemic of cellphone robberies and thefts, law enforcement officials across the country are looking to the wireless industry to help find a cure. In San Francisco, where half the robberies were phone-related last year, District Attorney George Gascon is calling on major companies in nearby Silicon Valley to create new technology such as a “kill switch” to permanently and quickly disable stolen smart phones, making them worthless to thieves. The prosecutor said he’s recently had two discussions with Apple, maker of the popular iPhone, and has talked informally with Google, creator of the Android, the world’s most popular operating smartphone platform. And, he also wants to meet with Samsung, the global smartphone market leader. “We know that the technology can be developed to prevent this. This is more about social responsibility than economic gain,” Gascon said. The stakes are huge in the battle to combat cellphone theft. Nearly 175 million cellphones mostly smartphones- have been sold in the U.S. in the past year and account for $69 billion in sales, according to IDC, a Massachusetts-based research firm. And, now almost one out of three robberies nationwide involves the theft of a mobile phone, reports the Federal Communications Commission, which is coordinating formation this fall of a highly-anticipated national database system to track cellphones reported stolen. The FCC is also working with officials in Mexico to crack down on the trafficking of stolen mobile phones that make it across the border. San Francisco’s district attorney is not the only high-ranking big-city law official seeking solutions. In Washington D.C, where than 40 percent of its robberies in 2012 involved cellphones, police Chief Cathy Lanier said new federal laws are necessary to require all wireless providers to participate in the national stolen phones database, which is now done by choice. “This is a voluntary agreement and the deci-

sion makers, heads of these (wireless) companies may transition over time and may not be in the same position five years from now.” Lanier said in an email. “Something needs to be put in place to protect consumers.” On the theory that an inoperable phone is as useless as a “brick,” Lanier and Mayor Vincent Gray also have urged residents who have their phones stolen to call their carriers and ask that the device be “bricked,” or disconnected remotely to prevent resale on the black market. In New York City, police have created a smartphone squad and partnered with Apple to track down stolen iPhones using the device’s tracking number. For example, when an iPhone is stolen, Apple can report to police where the phone is located, even if it’s been switched to a different carrier. Police said the city’s overall crime rate last year increased three percent mostly due to the more than 15,000 thefts of Apple-related products - a majority of them iPhones - said Paul Browne, a police spokesman. “We would’ve had a one percent decrease in overall crime if you subtracted the Apple thefts,” said Browne, adding that police have coined the phenomenon, “Apple-picking.” “We’re trying to protect the orchard, so to speak,” Browne said. He added that police often use officers as decoys using their own iPhones to catch would-be robbers and stings to catch those who sell them on the black market. About 75 percent of the stolen devices stay within the city’s five boroughs and some have been tracked down as far as the Dominican Republic. In addition, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has been working with US Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, the FCC and CTIA, a trade group for wireless providers, on the national stolen phone database, along with six of the largest wireless companies. Computer security expert Darren Hayes said law enforcement agencies, major corporations and the wireless industry have responded slowly to the spike in mobile phone thefts, leaving individuals as well as businesses vulnerable. “Smartphones have become such an extension of our lives with all of our personal

information on them and criminals recognizing its mass appeal,” said Hayes, a professor and computer information systems program chair at Pace University in New York. “Professionally, there are some corporate network administrators who can control their company servers from their smartphone. While it’s convenient, it could also put them at risk and could be the biggest source of data loss if they are stolen. “We could see a potential nightmare emerging,” Hayes said. Jamie Hastings, a CTIA vice president, said the national stolen phone database is a step in the right direction and deserves a chance. “To suggest that our members don’t care about their consumers is completely inaccurate,” Hastings said. “Our members are now focusing their energies on the database and achieving the start -up goal by November. The important thing at this stage is to allow our members to execute the plan that all of the stakeholders agreed upon.” The national database will be similar to a global database devised by GSMA, a wireless trade group based in the United Kingdom. Nearly 100 wireless companies across 43 countries participate in the overseas database for reported stolen mobile phones, said Claire Cranton, a GSMA spokeswoman in London. But Gascon said a national network to track stolen phones comes up short and he is adamant that a kill switch is the best strategy to render a phone useless. In March, he met with Apple’s government liaison officer Michael Foulkes to talk about creating a kill switch technology. He described the encounter as “disappointing” but said a subsequent phone conversation with Apple’s general counsel Bruce Sewell last month led to plans for talks that would include Apple’s technical people. Representatives of the tech giant did not respond to requests for comment. “For me, a technical solution is probably better than just a criminal solution,” Gascon said. “We can always create more laws, but look at how long it already takes to prosecute somebody at the expense of the taxpayers? “If a phone can be inoperable at the flick of a switch, then a database will become moot.” —AP

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

Hybrid yoga focuses on brawnier form of fitness NEW YORK: A new hybrid form of yoga that blends calisthenics and rehabilitation techniques is gaining popularity across the United States with its brawnier path to fitness. Fitness experts say DDP Yoga may lack the relaxation benefits of a more traditional yoga practice, but it can be a well-balanced and effective exercise workout. Shirley Archer, an American Council on Exercise spokesperson, said DDP Yoga features traditional yoga postures in a non-traditional format. “The style is oriented toward a fighter’s workout,” said the Singer Island, Florida-based fitness and wellness

expert. The program incorporates all aspects of fitness-cardio training, muscle strength and endurance, flexibility and balance but it does not include the meditative or relaxation benefits of traditional yoga. “If you do not include the meditative aspect of yoga,” Archer said, “the benefit of balancing the nervous system and encouraging restoration is lost.” Professional wrestler Diamond Dallas Page said he developed DDP for people who wouldn’t be caught dead doing the traditional mind-body practice. “At the end of 1999 I blew out my back,” said Page, a three-time World

Championship Wrestling (WCW) World Champion. “My wife suggested yoga and I thought, ‘That’s for girls.’ But I tried it and was blown away by how much it helped me.” DDP Yoga mixes traditional yoga postures with what Page calls “rehab stuff and old-school calisthenics.” In mid-class he will drop down for a set of pushups in a boot camp-like setting. The postures are similar to those found in all yoga classes but Page jettisoned their Sanskrit names and beefed up their English equivalents. In DDP Yoga the crescent pose, a back-bending lunge, is re-named superstar. Mountain,

or standing pose, is called touchdown and child’s pose is re-dubbed safety zone. A warrior pose becomes road warrior and packs a martial arts punch. “It’s a difference in tone and attitude,” said Page, who has been doing workshops across the United States and will bring DDP Yoga to Scotland in June. He has also taken it to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Terri Lange, a 61-year-old retired nurse, practices both traditional yoga and DDP Yoga. “I love the flexibility yoga gives me. I think that’s the fountain of youth,” said Lange, who is based in Woodstock, Georgia.

But she said she likes DDP Yoga for the cardio punch it adds to her practice. “Traditional yoga is quieter. DDP Yoga is shouted commands and working with force,” she said. Archer believes if DDP Yoga attracts men who would not otherwise be active, then that is a big bonus. “Since this program does not have a spiritual component, it is attractive to people who may not be interested in more traditional yoga,” she said. Lange said the different feel of DDP Yoga attracts a lot of men disinclined “to walk into a yoga studio in tights.” “It’s an aggressive way to do this,” she said. — Reuters

App lets amputees program their own bionic hands Technology is rapidly changing

BEIJING: A foreign resident wears a mask as air pollution shrouded Beijing yesterday. Swathes of acrid haze have repeatedly shrouded large parts of the country in recent months, provoking outrage among Internet users and unusually outspoken calls for action in state-run media. — AFP

Japan, China, S Korea to cooperate on air pollution TOKYO: Japan, China and South Korea agreed yesterday to cooperate in the fight against cross-border air pollution, despite strained relations between the neighbours because of territorial disputes. The annual ministerial environmental meeting in Kitakyushu, southern Japan, on Sunday and Monday, came after acrid haze blanketing swathes of China earlier this year sparked health warnings in Japan as the smog spread across the ocean. The meeting agreed the launch of a new forum to share information on environmental policy and technology, according to a joint statement. “We have made a new step toward solving the air pollution problem through cooperation among Japan, China and South Korea,” Japan’s Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishihara told a news conference. Ishihara earlier told his counterparts in remarks carried by public broadcaster NHK that it was “indispensable for China, South Korea and other countries to cooperate” on issues such as air pollution and climate change. Zhou Shengxian, China’s minister for

environmental protection, cancelled his attendance, citing a tight schedule after the earthquake in Sichuan last month. But Japanese media reported the likely influence of a territorial dispute over the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, which Beijing also claims and calls the Diaoyus. Li Ganjie, China’s vice minister for environmental protection, who attended in his place, was shown on NHK saying: “We wish to create a more beautiful environment in Asia by continuing cooperation with Japan and South Korea.” South Korea’s Environment Minister Yoon Seong-Kyu told the meeting that the three-way cooperation on environmental issues had reached a “new turning point” with new governments in all three countries. Relations between Tokyo and South Korea have been strained by a separate territorial row over a Seoul-controlled chain of islets in the Sea of Japan (East Sea). The meeting on air pollution, climate change and and environmental policy has been held since 1999. — AFP

PHILADELPHIA: Double-amputee Jason Koger used to fly hundreds of miles to visit a clinician when he wanted to adjust the grips on his bionic hands. Now, he’s got an app. Koger came to Philadelphia this week to demonstrate the i-limb ultra revolution, a prosthetic developed by the British firm Touch Bionics. Using a stylus and an iPhone, Koger can choose any of 24 grip patterns that best suit his needs. It’s the latest evolution in equipment for Koger, a 34-year-old married father of three from Owensboro, Ky., who lost his hands in an all-terrain vehicle accident in 2008. “Five years ago, I couldn’t pull my pants up by myself,” said Koger. “Today, I go hunting and do some of the things that I probably never imagined I could have done five years ago.” The technology indicates how rapidly the field of prosthetics is changing, benefiting patients from injured military members to victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. Practitioners say increased government research in the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is driving some of the advances. In Koger’s case, he was shocked by a downed power line. He went into a coma and had no idea until he woke up three days later that doctors had amputated both his limbs at mid-forearm. His wife spent those three days researching prosthetics, Koger said. Since then, he’s used a variety of prostheses, which he considers like tools - different extensions for different tasks. Electric hooks have allowed him to pursue his passion for hunting. Myoelectric hands, which react to electrical impulses generated by his remaining arm muscles, offer more precise movements. The previous version of Koger’s myoelectric device required programming by a prosthetist, meaning Koger had to fly to Advanced Arm Dynamics in Dallas. The prosthetist would work with Koger to pick a few grip patterns - such as pinching, pointing or shaking hands - to program into the i-limb. Yet sometimes Koger would get home and realize they weren’t the ones he needed. Now, the latest i-limb comes with iPhone or iPad app that allows Koger to reprogram his hand with

the touch of a stylus. On Thursday, he demonstrated by gripping an orange, a baseball and a can of soda. The i-limb allows fingers and thumbs move independently to conform around certain objects, said Ryan Spill, a prosthetist for Advanced Arm Dynamics’ new office in Philadelphia, who is working with Koger. The thumb is also motorized, not passive, as in previous prostheses. The Boston Marathon bombings, which wounded more than 260 people including many with serious leg injuries, have shined a light on the advances in prostheses. But experts note that technology for upper extremity bionics, which involve fine motor skills, is much different from what’s needed for lower extremities, which focuses on weight distribution and gait. There have also been huge advances in computerized knees and feet, said Joe Reda, assis-

PHILADELPHIA: Double amputee Jason Koger, 34, of Owensboro, Ky., accompanied by prosthetist for Advanced Arm Dynamics, Ryan Spill, demonstrates his i-limb ultra revolution prosthetic hands during an interview with the Associated Press, in Philadelphia.—AP

Bashful? Buy the little blue pill online TRENTON: Men who are bashful about needing help in the bedroom no longer have to go to the drugstore to buy that little blue pill. In a first for the drug industry, Pfizer Inc. told The Associated Press that the drugmaker will begin selling its popular erectile dysfunction pill Viagra directly to patients on its website. Men still will need a prescription to buy the blue, diamond-shaped pill on viagra.com, but they no longer have to face a pharmacist to get it filled. And for those who are bothered by Viagra’s steep $25-a-pill price, Pfizer is offering three free pills with the first order and 30 percent off the second one. Pfizer’s bold move blows up the drug industry’s distribution model. Drugmakers don’t sell medicines directly to patients. Instead, they sell in bulk to wholesalers, who then distribute the drugs to pharmacies, hospitals and doctors’ offices. But the world’s second-largest drugmaker is trying a new strategy to tackle a problem that plagues the industry. Unscrupulous online pharmacies increasingly offer patients counterfeit versions of Viagra and other brand-name drugs for up to 95 percent off with no prescription needed. Patients don’t realize the drugs are fake or that legitimate pharmacies require a prescription. Other major drugmakers likely will watch Pfizer’s move closely. If it works, drugmakers could begin selling other medicines that are rampantly counterfeited and sold online, particularly treatments for nonurgent conditions seen as embarrassing. Think: diet drugs, medicines for baldness and birth control pills. “If it works, everybody will hop on the train,” says Les Funtleyder, a health care strategist at private equity fund Poliwogg who believes Pfizer’s site will attract “fence-sitters” who are nervous about buying online. The online Viagra sales are Pfizer’s latest effort to combat a problem that has grown with the popularity of the Internet. In recent years, Americans have become more comfortable with online shopping, with many even buying prescription drugs

online. That’s particularly true for those who don’t have insurance, are bargain hunters or want to keep their medicine purchases private. Few realize that the vast majority of online pharmacies don’t follow the rules. The Internet is filled with illegitimate websites that lure customers with spam emails and professionallooking websites that run 24-hour call centers. A January study by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, which accredits online pharmacies, found that only 257 of 10,275 online pharmacy sites it

deplorable. I’ve seen photographs of these places,” he says. “You wouldn’t even want to walk in them, let alone ingest anything made in them.” Pfizer, which invented the term “erectile dysfunction,” has long been aggressive in fighting counterfeiters. It conducts undercover investigations and works with authorities around the globe, with good reason. Counterfeit versions of Viagra and dozens of other Pfizer medicines rob the company of billions in annual sales. Viagra is one of its top drugs, with $2 billion in worldwide revenue

GROTON: In this Friday, March 2, 2012, file photo, counterfeit Viagra pills, top and bottom left, are displayed alongside real ones, top and bottom right, in a lab at Pfizer in Groton, Conn. In a first for the drug industry, Pfizer Inc. told The Associated Press yesterday, that it will sell erectile dysfunction pill Viagra directly to patients on its website. — AP examined appeared legitimate. Experts say the fake drugs such websites sell can be dangerous. That’s because they don’t include the right amount of the active ingredient, if any, or contain toxic substances such as heavy metals, lead paint and printer ink. They’re generally made in filthy warehouses and garages in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Online buyers are “playing Russian roulette,” says Matthew Bassiur, vice president of global security at New York-based Pfizer. “The factories are

last year. And it’s the most counterfeited drug in the US, according to the company. A 2011 study, in which Pfizer bought “Viagra” from 22 popular Internet pharmacies and tested the pills, found 77 percent were counterfeit. Most had half or less of the promised level of the active ingredient. Viagra is appealing to counterfeiters because it carries a double whammy: It’s expensive and it treats a condition with an “embarrassment” factor. Crooks running the illegal online pharmacies brazenly explain

tant director of orthotic and prosthetic services at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, N.J. “The changes are happening rather rapidly now and I think it’s because of our wars overseas,” said Reda. “The government is trying to put more money into research and development.” The i-limb ultra revolution costs about $100,000, though some insurance might cover it. Koger, who received his free in exchange for testing them and providing feedback, met Friday in Philadelphia with other amputees interested in the new technology. Mark Dowling, 50, of Newark, Del., lost his arm to cancer several months ago. He said he cried while watching Koger demonstrate how the hand worked. “I’m very touched with his story,” Dowling said. —AP

their ultra-low Viagra prices - often $1 to $3 a pill - by claiming they sell generic Viagra. Generics are copycat versions of brand-name prescription drugs. They can legally be made after a drugmaker’s patent, or exclusive right to sell a drug, ends. Generic drugmakers don’t have to spend $1 billion or so on testing to get a new drug approved, so their copycat versions often cost up to 90 percent less than the original drug. But there is no such thing as generic Viagra. Pfizer has patents giving it the exclusive right to sell Viagra until 2020 in the US and for many years in other countries. Many patients are unaware of that. Dr David Dershewitz, an assistant urology professor at New Jersey Medical School who treats patients at Newark’s University Hospital, says erectile dysfunction is common in men with enlarged prostates, diabetes and other conditions, but most men are too embarrassed to discuss it. He says well over half of his patients who do broach the issue complain about Viagra’s price. Some tell Dershewitz that they go online looking for bargains because they can’t afford Viagra. “The few that do admit to it have said that the results have been fairly dismal,” but none has suffered serious harm, he says. For Pfizer, that’s a big problem. People who buy fake drugs online that don’t work, or worse, harm them, may blame the company’s product. That’s because it’s virtually impossible to distinguish fakes from real Viagra. “The vast majority of patients do believe that they’re getting Viagra,” said Vic Cavelli, head of marketing for primary care medicines at Pfizer, which plans to have drugstore chain CVS Caremark Corp. fill the orders placed on viagra.com. The sales lost to counterfeits threaten Pfizer at a time when Viagra’s share of the $5 billion-a- year global market for legitimate erectile dysfunction drugs has slipped, falling from 46 percent in 2007 to 39 percent last year, according to health data firm IMS Health.— AP

Ireland Catholic bishops condemn abortion bill DUBLIN: Ireland’s Roman Catholic leaders appealed to the public to lobby their lawmakers to reject a bill that would permit abortions deemed necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman, a measure long ordered by Irish and European courts. In a joint statement, Ireland’s bishops, archbishops and lone cardinal described the bill, unveiled this week after decades of debate, as “a dramatic and morally unacceptable change to Irish law.” They argued it would be most grievously wrong to give any woman an abortion to assuage her threats to commit suicide, as the bill allows. “It is a tragic moment for Irish society when we regard the deliberate destruction of a completely innocent person as an acceptable response to the threat of the preventable death of another person,” the bishops wrote. Cardinal Sean Brady, leader of Ireland’s 4 million Catholics, said in an interview that the bill made the right to life of the fetus subservient to the rights of the woman. “There are two lives involved here,” he said. The intervention of Ireland’s dominant church in the abortion debate raises the political temperature at a moment when the 2-year-old government of Prime Minister Enda Kenny is already fraying over the merits of the bill. The government has been under international pressure to clarify the rights of doctors to perform life-saving abortions since October, when a miscarrying Indian woman died from blood poisoning in an Irish hospital after being denied a termination. The smaller left-wing party in the coalition, Labour, supports the bill but Catholic conservatives in Kenny’s own Fine Gael party are vowing to weaken or block it, chiefly over its suicide section. The bill faces weeks of parliamentary debate and likely amendments before reaching a vote expected in July. If passed, the bill would permit a single doctor to authorize an abortion if the woman’s life was in immediate danger from continued pregnancy; two doctors if the pregnancy posed a potentially lethal risk, such as by triggering the return of cancer in remission; and three doctors if the woman was threatening to kill herself. Kenny, who has previously clashed with Brady and other Catholic leaders over their admitted involvement in child abuse cover-

ups, declined to respond. But Deputy Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore, the Labour leader, said the bishops had no influence on government policy. “They’re entitled to express their point of view. This is a democratic country. But the laws of this country are made by those of us who are elected by the people and are charged with that responsibility,” Gilmore said. “And for 21 years now, legislators have failed to legislate for a Supreme Court decision which set down what was lawful and what wasn’t lawful in circumstances where a pregnant woman’s life is at risk. It is time that that legislation is dealt with.” In 1992, the Supreme Court ruled that an abortion in Ireland should be lawful only if doctors determined one was necessary to preserve the woman’s life. Crucially, the judges found that this rule should apply to women making credible threats to kill themselves if denied a termination. In 2010, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Ireland’s failure to back the Supreme Court judgment with laws and medical regulations meant Irish doctors were left in legal limbo and women were endangered in the process. The Strasbourg, France-based court found that doctors sometimes told pregnant patients who needed abortions, particularly to keep their cancer in remission, to travel to England for the procedures. The court ordered Ireland to remedy the situation. But the government still took no action until the death of Savita Halappanavar. She was 17 weeks pregnant when hospitalized in severe pain at the start of a protracted miscarriage. Doctors refused her requests to terminate the pregnancy, arguing that the fetal heartbeat must stop first. During a three-day delay, a coroner’s inquest found, Halappanavar contracted blood poisoning from ruptured uterine membranes and died of massive organ failure after the fetus’ own death. Ireland has the most severe restrictions on abortion in Europe. An 1861 law makes it a crime punishable by life in prison to procure or perform an abortion. The bill would reduce that maximum prison penalty to 14 years. Dozens of women in Irish maternity wards annually do receive abortions, but only for the most clear-cut medical emergencies.— AP

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

Fever hits thousands in parched West farm region FRESNO: California and federal public health officials say valley fever, a potentially lethal but often misdiagnosed disease infecting more and more people around the nation, has been on the rise as warming climates and drought have kicked up the dust that spreads it. The fever has hit California’s agricultural hear tland par ticularly hard in recent years, with incidence dramatically increasing in 2010 and 2011. The disease - which is prevalent in arid regions of the United States, Mexico, Central and South America - can be contracted by simply breathing in fungus-laced spores from dust disturbed by wind as well as human or animal activity. The fungus is sensitive to environmental changes, experts say, and a hotter, drier climate has increased dust carrying the spores. “Research has shown that when soil is dry and it is windy, more spores are likely to become airborne in endemic areas,” said Dr. Gil Chavez, Deputy Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at the California Department of Public Health. Longstanding concerns about valley fever were heightened last week when a federal health official ordered the transfer of more than 3,000 exceptionally vul-

nerable inmates from two San Joaquin Valley prisons where several dozen have died of the disease in recent years. A day later, state officials began investigating an outbreak in February that sickened 28 workers at two solar power plants under construction in San Luis Obispo County. Although millions of residents in Central California face the threat of valley fever, experts say people who work in dusty fields or construction sites are most at risk, as are certain ethnic groups and those with weak immune systems. Newcomers and visitors passing through the region may also be more susceptible. Nationwide, the number of valley fever cases rose by more than 850 percent from 1998 through 2011, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2011, there were nearly 22,000 cases, with most cases reported in California and Arizona. In California, according to the CDC, valley fever cases rose from about 700 in 1998 to more than 5,500 cases reported in 2011. The disease has seen the sharpest rise in Kern County, followed by Kings and Fresno counties. Out of the 18,776 California cases

between 2001 and 2008, 265 people died, according to the state health department. Arizona saw an even steeper rise: The number of reported cases there went from 1,400 in 1998 to 16,400 in 2011, with the highest rates of infection occurring in Maricopa, Pima and Pinal counties. Drought periods can have an especially potent impact on valley fever if they follow periods of rain, said Prof. John Galgiani, director of the Valley Fever Center for Excellence at the University of Arizona. Rainfall leads to fungus bloom, but limits dust. “When it dries up, that’s when the fungus goes into the air,” Galgiani said. “So when there is rain a year or two earlier, that creates more cases if drought follows.” Another reason for the increase in cases, Galgiani said, is new residents, who are more susceptible to the disease, relocating to areas with the spores. In addition, the CDC and the California Department of Public Health say improved reporting methods and better diagnosis also partially explain the increase in valley fever. Despite that, an estimated 150,000 valley fever infections go undiagnosed every year, the CDC says. That’s because valley fever is difficult to detect and there’s little

awareness of the disease, experts say. The fever often causes mild to severe flu-like symptoms, and in about half the infections, the fungus - called Coccidioides - results in no symptoms. But in a small percent of cases, the infection can spread from the lungs to the brain, bones, skin, even eyes, leading to blindness, skin abscesses, lung failure, even death. “Valley fever is a very common problem here, and it devastates people’s lives,” said Dr. Royce Johnson, professor of medicine at UCLA and chief of infectious diseases at Kern Medical Center. “But many patients don’t know about it, and some physicians are only vaguely aware of it because half of our physicians come from out of state.” Dale Pulde, a motorcycle mechanic in Los Angeles County, said he contracted the disease three years ago after traveling to Bakersfield in Kern County and was coughing so hard he was blacking out; he spit blood and couldn’t catch his breath. For two months, doctors tested him for everything from tuberculosis to cancer until blood tests confirmed he had the fever. After two lung operations, Pulde gave up his job and is on disability. He says he has to take anti-fungal medica-

tion that costs him more than $2,000 per month out of pocket. He had to sell his house in Sylmar, Calif., to raise money for his treatment. “When I found out that health officials knew about (this disease) and how common it is, I was beside myself,” said Pulde, now 63. “Why don’t they tell people?” California public health officials say they are working to educate and train the public and doctors to recognize the illness. The state has trained county health departments about the fungus, Chavez said. It has also included information on valley fever in a newsletter the California Medical Board sends to the state’s licensed physicians. The CDPH website and social media feature information and data about the disease, including advice to limit outdoor activities on dry, windy days. As prison officials gear up to move inmates from the endemic areas, doctors and patients say more needs to be done, including funding research to work on a cure. “If the state is so concerned about prisoners, they should be worrying about all of us who live and work in the valley,” said Kathy Uhley, a former realtor from Los Banos who contracted the fever last year. — AP

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

W H AT ’ S O N

Cookery class held by Zafran’s master chefs Gaurav Singh & Mohit Dhingra

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Announcements The TIES Center’s ‘trip’ he TIES Center cordially invites those who are interested in its trip to the Historical, Vintage and Classic Car Museum, which is the first museum in Kuwait specializing in old cars on May 30th at 6:00 pm. Revisit past memories or learn something new. If you love cars then this is the trip for you. Even if you don’t love cars, come anyway; you will enjoy the trip. For more information/registration, log onto: www.tiescenter.net. GRAMOLSAV on May 10 ottayam Association, Kuwait is conducting Malayalam Arts competitions - Gramolsav’ 2013 on 10th May 2013 at United Indian School by 4:00pm. The winners of this prestigious competition will be awarded with trophies and medals. The competitions are for Solo Nadan Pattu, Poetry Recitation and Kadaprasamgam. The competitions are meant for children as well as adults. The group is divided as SubJunior, Junior, senior and Super Senior where as Kadaprasamgam is only for Junior and Senior groups. The closing date of receiving entry forms is 7th May, 2013. For entry forms please email to gramolsav2013@gmail.com and the entry forms are available at Family Super Market and Al-Watan Restaurant, Abbassiya.

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 voiceovers in English by film personalities such as Irrfan Khan, Konkonasen, Shabaana Azmi, John Abraham, Prakash Raj, Stephen Devassy and P Rajeevan.

afran, the contemporary Indian restaurant by Foodmark, hosted a group of media representatives to an up close and personal exclusive master cookery class held by the restaurants master chefs; Chef Mohit Dhingra and Chef Gaurav Singh. Chef Singh was specially flown in for the event to provide insights and incorporate some of his favorite easy-to-prepare ingredients into approachable home-style dishes. During the course of the afternoon, participants put on an apron and discovered the secrets of Indian cooking and

the exciting use of flavors. With the chef’s assistance they created interesting dishes including mushroom and cheese kurkure, murg awadhi korma, jhakiya and chironji ka pulao and kesar and pista phirnee. They were treated to the mouth watering delicacies they cooked. They took home a goodie bag consisting of Zafran’s famous spice kit. Sajan Alex, Country Operations Manager, Foodmark Kuwait, said: “It is with great pleasure that we conducted this exclusive cooking session for select media representatives to learn the culi-

nary secrets of Indian cooking. We are really keen to informally meet up with the local media once a year, further strengthen our relationship with them and thank them for their ongoing support. Zafran is all about flavour and indulging in Indian spices, the representatives enjoyed a memorable cooking experience as they reproduced the dishes. After this huge success, we will continue to conduct many more master classes.” The participants had a good time as they interacted with Chef Gaurav and Chef Mohit. They received food

preparation advice and presentation techniques on how to deliver sophisticated presentation with simple ingredients, all of which will be sure to impress guests. Chef Mohit Dhingra also assembled and incorporated some of his favorite easy-to-prepare ingredients into approachable home-style dishes. Zafran, located in Salmiya (Salem Al Mubarak Street), is known for its vibrant and modern setting, and is a warm and welcoming retreat for friends and family who wish to relax and enjoy good high quality food at purse-friendly prices.

German Corner opens at the GUST

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 SanvordemMichael 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.

he Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) celebrated the German Corner opening on Sunday, May 05, 2013 in the A M Al-Refai Library. German Ambassador Frank Marcus MANN and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Robert Cook officially opened the event. Also present at the opening were Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Assistant Dean, College of Business Administration and other members of the GUST Community, students and staff.

Dr Cook welcomed the German Ambassador and the attendees of the event and said he was pleased at the introduction of the German Corner in the Library and that it was a step forward in introducing the GUST Community to yet another foreign language collection. He also said that the facility of borrowing books could be extended to the members of the German Community in Kuwait. On behalf of GUST, Dr Robert Cook thanked the German Ambassador and requested him to say a few words.

The German Ambassador in his speech welcomed and thanked the attendees, and GUST for its support to the German Corner initiative and specifically thanked Ms. Elvisa Alduaij for her efforts in coordinating with the Library Director, Ms. Shobhita Kohli in arranging the German Corner launch. He also notified the attendees about a German school that would be opening in Kuwait in the following year. Commenting on the collection, the Ambassador said that he would like to arrange for more variety and also an

increase in the number of German books at the Library. The A. M. Al-Refai Library houses the German Corner in addition to a few other Corners and works closely with the respective Embassies in maintaining and promoting their books and audio-visual collections. On the occasion of the German Corner opening the Library had on display around 200 German books and a few from Germany which were in Arabic too.

Dartmouth, AUK renew institutional agreement

IMAX

IMAX film program Tuesday: ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups Tornado Alley 3D10:30am, 6:30pm, 8:30pm Flight of Butterflies 3D 11:30am, 9:30pm To The Arctic 3D 12:30pm, 7:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 5:30pm Wednesday: ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups To The Arctic 3D 10:30am Tornado Alley 3D 11:30am, 6:30pm, 9:30pm Flight of Butterflies 3D 12:30pm, 7:30pm Journey to Mecca 5:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 8:30pm Thursday: ** 9:30am Showtime Available for Groups Flight of Butterflies 3D 10:30am, 5:30pm, 8:30pm Born to be Wild 3D 11:30am Tornado Alley 3D12:30pm, 7:30pm, 9:30pm To The Arctic 3D 6:30pm

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

Chair of the AUK Board of Trustees Sheikha Dana Nasser Al-Sabah signing the agreement.

Dartmouth Interim President Carol L. Folt signing the agreement.

A group photo (from left) Dale F. Eickelman, Carol L. Folt, Sheikha Dana Nasser Al-Sabah and Earl L. (Tim) Sullivan.

ly important to Dartmouth in an increasingly connected world,” said Dartmouth Interim President Carol L. Folt. “We are so proud to partner and collaborate with an institution like AUK that values the kind of strong liberal arts education Dartmouth has been committed to for nearly 250 years.” Chair of the AUK Board of Trustees Sheikha Dana Nasser Al-Sabahcommented, “Our partnership with Dartmouth has been, and continues to be, pivotal to the success of the American University of Kuwait. Dartmouth is a model to which we aspire in developing our own programs, curriculum, and creating the intellectual infrastructure of what we believe a liberal arts academic community should be.” The memorandum of understanding was signed by Folt;Sheikha Dana Nasser Al-Sabah; Dale F. Eickelman,

the Ralph and Richard Lazarus Professor of Human Relations and Relationship Coordinator for the Dartmouth-American University of Kuwait Program; and Earl L. (Tim) Sullivan, member of the AUK Board of Trustees. “As we prepare to celebrate AUK’s 10-year anniversary,” Shaikha Dana Al Sabah continued, “we look forward to continuing this relationship as we seek to imbed a liberal arts culture into the Kuwaiti higher education system.” “Dartmouth’s entire community has benefitted from the deep symmetrical alliance that our two institutions share,” said Folt. “The breadth and depth of partnerships between the faculty, students, and staff at both schools serves as a powerful cross-cultural model for liberal arts education in the 21st century.”

artmouth and the American University of Kuwait (AUK) renewed their institutional cooperative agreement that promises to build on the success of a 10-year relationship. Under the terms of the agreement, first signed in 2003, Dartmouth and AUK collaborate on numerous programs, including mutually beneficial faculty and student exchanges. Dartmouth experts in engineering, information technology, library sciences, communications, the arts and sciences, university governance, and other fields regularly visit Kuwait and students, faculty, and staff from Kuwait travel to Hanover to work with their counterparts at Dartmouth. Dartmouth also provides a wide range of administrative and academic consulting services to AUK. “Global partnerships are critical-

Curves, Kellogg’s kick-off strategic partnership in Kuwait

urves For Women and Kellogg’s Special K announced Kuwait’s first health-based partnership campaign between the two companies targeting residents in Kuwait to adopt a balanced lifestyle through healthy nutrition and exercise. The campaign, which kicked-off on International Health Day, will entitle 10,000 lucky women who purchase two boxes of Special K to win various membership packages from Curves Kuwait. Curves For Women, GCC Area Manager, Salma Khreish said: “Curves and Kellogg’s Special K both stand at the forefront of health and fitness excellence. Therefore, we believe this partnership that stems from Kuwait will lead to many more people here taking the first step towards a healthy lifestyle. We hope that the simplified campaign mechanics which involves receiving a scratch and win coupon after purchasing two Special K boxes will encourage women of all ages in Kuwait in taking the healthy step forward.” Kellogg’s Kuwait, Marketing Manager, Samer Hasrouni said: “We are very excited to launch this partnership here in Kuwait and we believe that both our brands stand for two

very important aspects of a healthy lifestyle; nutrition and exercise. Through these two elements, achieving and maintaining your optimum weight level and having a healthy outlook on life becomes rather simple.” Created specifically for women, Curves For Women offers a complete fitness and weight loss program to help women achieve their objectives. Women interested in increasing the intensity of their workout to boost energy levels and increase overall mobility of joints and muscles, or reach their ideal weight can join the Curves 30-minute workout, three times a week, at any of the Curves club locations across Kuwait. The Curves 30-minute workout exercises every major muscle group and burns fats, up to 500 calories during each training session. Through a wide range of strength training, cardio and stretching programs, women will be able to reach their ideal weight and fitness goals, as well as adopt healthier lifestyles. While traveling, members of Curves For Women can also use their membership card at any of Curves locations worldwide.

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

W H AT ’ S O N

Embassy

CONGRATULATIONS

Sebamed on Instagram

Congratulations and blessings to Hamada and Khaled on the occasion of their academic excellence and wishing them more success. From Uncle Sherif Ismail.

e are glad to inform you that we launched our site on instagram. Follow us on @sebamedkuwait and (hashtag)#sebamedkuwait and send us your shots involving all family members and be the lucky winner of a valuable prize from Sebamed products.

David Norton speaks in Kuwait about successful strategy execution What every manager needs to know

igor Events & Al Gas Events in cooperation with Palladium Group will organize a one-day seminar in Kuwait on the 19th of May 2013 for Dr David Norton the famous strategy guru who has worked with hundreds of organizations around the globe in the continued development of the six-stage Execution Premium Process (XPP) strategy execution framework, which, with the Balanced Scorecard as a core tool, are both a system and a feedback mechanism to enable executive teams to navigate strategically through the business environment. The adoption of the XPP ensures that an organization’s leadership is capable of preserving at all times the focus and the strategic initiatives that secure the organization’s future. During this seminar Dr. Norton will present his latest thinking on the development of the XPP framework and will focus specifically on organizational alignment. He will discuss both the process approaches of achieving an organization which is fully-aligned to the strategy, as well as the infrastruc-

David Norton

Bob-Urichuck

ture approaches necessary to execute strategy, such as Theme Teams and the evolving role of the Office of Strategy Management (OSM). David P. Norton is the world’s leading authority on strategic performance management. He is a co-founder and director of several professional services firms, such as Palladium Group,

Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, and Renaissance Worldwide. A frequent lecturer and writer around the world, Norton’s work on strategy management has been the subject of many books, articles, executive conferences, training seminars, and other programs. Norton is co-author, most recently, of The Execution Premium: Linking

All set for NAFO’s ‘Samanwayam’

Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage (Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2008). Norton’s books have been translated into 23 languages. The Balanced Scorecard concept was selected by the editors of Harvard Business Review as one of the most influential management ideas of the past 75 years. Along with Kaplan, Norton was voted as one of the world’s 12 most influential thinkers by Sun Top Media’s “Thinkers 50” in 2008. Norton was awarded the “Champion of Workplace Learning and Performance Award” by the American Society for Training and Development. This seminar is a part of The Knowledge Club series of valuable and unique seminars that will be organized in Kuwait by Vigor & Al Gas Events, The Knowledge Club is a unique and exceptional opportunity for companies and organizations to bridge between marketing and HR, brand and culture, inside and outside in order to better promote the company brand. The Knowledge Club is sponsored by Hadi Clinic, KLSC, Qualitynet, Ahli United bank, Future Tech and IAA-Kuwait.

FAUCHON Kuwait opens its doors to its new flagship store in Avenues

ll is set for the 10th anniversary of NAFO Kuwait (National Forum Kuwait) titled ‘Samanwayam’ this Friday evening (May 10) at the American International School Auditorium from 6 pm onwards. Indian Ambassador Satish C Mehta will inaugurate the anniversary event. Former Indian Ambassador to the United States and the United Nations TP Sreenivasan and NSS Director Board Member Pandalam Sivankutty will be guests of honor. Other prominent personalities from Kuwait and neighboring GCC countries will also attend the mega event. NAFO is also bringing a dazzling musical drama ‘Krishna,’ conceived, designed and choreographed by the multi-faceted actress Padmashri Shobana and her 15-member troupe from Kalarpana Institute, Chennai. This multimedia dialogue-drama has been supported by the Oscar winner Rasool Pookkutty and it has voice-overs in English by acclaimed film personalities such as Irrfan Khan, Konkonasen, Shabaana Azmi, John Abraham, Prakash Raj, Stephen Devassy and P Rajeevan. “The two-and-a-half-hour dance with its classical, folk and contemporary styles, will be a real entertainer for the dance lovers. The dance drama with its cinematic techniques, songs and music of the highest standards, will enthrall and amaze the audience of all age groups. The entry for the show is restricted with invitations. For details contact: www.nafoglobal.org

Shobhana

Sreenivasan

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

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

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

EMBASSY OF SOUTH AFRICA

hile consolidating its position on its traditional markets in Europe and Asia, FAUCHON is focusing on Middle East where the brand has just opened a new branch of its flagship store in Kuwait. Fauchon Kuwait proudly announced the opening of its new flagship store at Prestige, The Avenues. This is the fourth successful opening of the famous brand in Kuwait. Kuwait plays a major role in FAUCHON’s strategy of expansion in the Middle East. This journey began with the first opening in Qatar in 1994, followed by two stores in Cairo, and eventually making its Kuwaiti debut in 2004 with now 4 stores in prime locations around the country. Created in 1886, Fauchon is renowned for contemporary luxury cuisine, and is internationally recognized for its pursuit of excellence and the creation of unique combinations of flavor. FAUCHON, the Ambassador for French Culinary Culture worldwide, owned by Michel Ducros, has joined forces with the Bukhamseen Group (Al Houda Hotels and Tourism) in 2004 to enter the Kuwaiti market, with

the opening of the first outlet as the classic Salon de the Gourmet Chocolate Boutiqueat Crowne Plaza Hotel, followed by additional branches in 2007 at the luxurious Salhiya Complex and in 2010 in the exclusive 360 Mall where it was awarded in 2012 as “ Best cafÈ/ restaurant” by the Mall, as well as the prestigious award from Fauchon Paris of “ Best F&B outlet”. Fauchon Kuwait came to major developments in 2012-13 as it saw the launch of its high end “Events & Catering department; offering catering services of the highest quality for all types and sizes of events. Fauchon Catering has also gone to the next level by being the only and exclusive caterer of the new Al Baraka Grand Ballroom, which currently stands as the largest and most prestigious Ballroom in the country. Today the new flagship store in Avenues Mall- Prestige, which is Kuwait’s latest luxury shopping center, has opened its doors as a CafÈ-restaurant combined with a Gourmet Boutique. With its central kitchen and pastry lab, FAUCHON provides its esteemed customers with the

company’s key fresh French gourmet products for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, including FAUCHON’s famous pastries, with its signature Èclairs and macaroons. The store also offers a wide range of confectionary, fine groceries, perfumed teas and chocolates including the new “Choc, Made in F” collection. With a presence in 42 countries worldwide, the FAUCHON brand is now planning more new openings in the Middle East, especially in Oman, Bahrain and Saudi where there is a great potential for luxury brands. In 2011-2012, FAUCHON retail sales reached 169 million Ä, from which 70% is made internationally through more than 450 sales outlets, including 51 branded stores. Fauchon Kuwait, with its high standard of services, has captured the loyalty and trust of high-end clientele in the Countyand is now looking forward to new expansion plans within the country in the near future.

The Embassy of the Republic of South Africa will be closed on Tuesday, 28 May 2013, for an official event. The Embassy will resume it’s normal working hours on Wednesday, 29 May 2013, from Sunday to Thursday. Please note that the Working hours will be from 8h00 to 16h00 & the Consular Section operation hours will be from 8h30 to 12h30, for any emergencies please contact: 94924895. 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, AlQibla 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 SOUTH KOREA The Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Kuwait will organize 2013 K-POP Contest on Thursday, June 6, 2013 at 6:00 pm. The aim of the contest is to provide an opportunity to the participants to showcase their exciting talents to the audience. Everyone is encouraged to participate in the contest. Application forms can be downloaded from the Embassy’s website: http://kwt.mofa.go.kr (Select English from the menu at the top of the page then Bilateral Relations) or visit the “Korean Culture Diwaniya” Facebook Group. Interested applicants must send their application forms to Kuwait@mofa.go.kr by 24 May 2013.

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

TV PROGRAMS

00:45 Rogue Nature With Dave Salmoni 01:35 I’m Alive 02:25 Roaring With Pride 03:15 Karina: Wild On Safari 03:40 Karina: Wild On Safari 04:05 My Cat From Hell 04:55 Call Of The Wildman 05:20 Cheetah Kingdom 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 Cats 101 09:10 Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild 09:35 Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild 10:05 Roaring With Pride 11:00 Animal Cops Houston 11:55 Call Of The Wildman 12:20 Wildlife SOS 12:50 Dolphin Days 13:15 Dolphin Days 13:45 Animal Precinct 14:40 Roaring With Pride 15:30 Cheetah Kingdom 16:00 The Really Wild Show 16:30 Cats 101 17:25 Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife 17:50 Chris Humfrey’s Wildlife 18:20 Karina: Wild On Safari 18:45 Karina: Wild On Safari 19:15 Monkey Life 19:40 Rescue Vet 20:10 Call Of The Wildman 20:35 Cheetah Kingdom 21:05 Roaring With Pride 22:00 Glory Hounds 23:50 Animal Cops Houston

00:40 Come Dine With Me 01:30 Masterchef: The Professionals 02:15 Gok’s Fashion Fix 03:05 Coastal Kitchen 03:30 Cash In The Attic 04:15 Bargain Hunt 05:00 Holmes On Homes 05:45 Gok’s Fashion Fix 06:35 New Scandinavian Cooking 07:00 The Good Cook 07:25 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 07:50 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 08:15 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 Bargain Hunt 14:40 Cash In The Attic 15:25 Antiques Roadshow 16:15 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 17:00 Homes Under The Hammer 17:55 The Roux Legacy 18:35 Nigel Slater’s Simple Cooking 19:00 Baking Made Easy 19:25 New Scandinavian Cooking 19:50 Come Dine With Me 20:40 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

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

04:45 Sport Today 05:00 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 Wacky Races 01:35 Duck Dodgers 02:00 Duck Dodgers 02:25 Dastardly And Muttley 02:50 Dastardly And Muttley 03:00 Dexter’s Laboratory 03:30 Wacky Races 03:55 Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries 04:20 Tom & Jerry 04:45 The Garﬁeld Show 05:00 Bananas In Pyjamas 05:25 Gerald McBoing Boing 05:45 Jelly Jamm 06:00 Ha Ha Hairies 06:25 Bananas In Pyjamas 06:50 Lazytown 07:15 Krypto: The Super Dog 07:40 Baby Looney Tunes 08:05 Gerald McBoing Boing 08:30 Cartoonito Tales 08:55 Ha Ha Hairies 09:20 Lazytown 09:45 Baby Looney Tunes 10:10 Krypto: The Super Dog 10:35 Cartoonito Tales 11:00 Jelly Jamm 11:25 Gerald McBoing Boing 11:50 Lazytown 12:15 Baby Looney Tunes 12:40 Jelly Jamm 13:00 Tom & Jerry Kids 13:25 A Pup Named Scooby-Doo 13:50 Moomins 14:20 Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries 14:45 The Looney Tunes Show 15:10 The 13 Ghosts Of Scooby-Doo 15:35 Taz-Mania 16:00 Tiny Toon Adventures 16:25 Moomins 16:50 Tom And Jerry Tales 17:15 What’s New Scooby Doo 17:40 The Looney Tunes Show 18:05 The Garﬁeld Show 18:30 Tweety’s High-Flying Adventure 19:45 What’s New Scooby Doo

20:10 20:35 21:00 21:25 21:50 22:15 23:05 23:30 23:55

Tiny Toon Adventures Puppy In My Pocket What’s New Scooby-Doo? Looney Tunes Dexter’s Laboratory 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 Johnny Test 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: Alien Force 11:50 Ben 10: Alien Force 12:15 Hero 108 12:40 Hero 108 13:05 Mucha Lucha ! 13:30 Angelo Rules 14:20 Evil Con Carne 15:10 The Amazing World Of Gumball 15:35 Adventure Time 16:00 Regular Show 16:30 Johnny Test 17:00 Ben 10 Omniverse 17:25 Dreamworks Dragons Riders Of Berk 17:50 Gormiti New 18:15 Young Justice 18:40 Ben 10: Ultimate Alien 19:05 Total Drama: Revenge Of The Island 19:30 Total Drama: Revenge Of The Island 19:55 Mucha Lucha ! 20:20 Ben 10: Omniverse 20:45 The Amazing World Of Gumball 21:10 Adventure Time 21:35 Regular Show 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 Live 02:00 CNN Newsroom Live From Hong Kong 03:00 Anderson Cooper 360 04:00 Piers Morgan Live 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 Live 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

END OF DAYS ON OSN ACTION HD

21:00 Quest Means Business 22:00 Amanpour 22:30 CNN Newscenter 23:00 Connect The World With Becky Anderson

00:15 Gold Rush - Season 3 Specials 01:10 Jungle Gold 02:05 One Car Too Far 03:00 Mythbusters 03:55 Border Security 04:20 Auction Hunters 04:50 Storage Hunters 05:15 How Do They Do It? 05:40 How It’s Made 06:05 Sons Of Guns 07:00 Mythbusters 07:50 Robson Green’s Extreme Fishing Challenge 08:45 Flying Wild Alaska 09:40 Border Security 10:05 Auction Hunters 10:30 Auction Kings 10:55 How Do They Do It? 11:25 How It’s Made 11:50 Gold Rush - Season 3 Specials 12:45 Jungle Gold 13:40 One Car Too Far 14:35 Border Security 15:05 Auction Hunters 15:30 Auction Kings 16:00 Ultimate Survival 16:55 Flying Wild Alaska 17:50 Mythbusters 18:45 Sons Of Guns 19:40 How Do They Do It? 20:05 How It’s Made 20:35 Auction Hunters 21:00 Storage Hunters 21:30 Dual Survival 22:25 Yukon Men 23:20 Ultimate Survival

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

How Tech Works Patent Bending Things That Move Things That Move The Colony X-Machines Things That Move Things That Move Superships The Gadget Show How Tech Works Prophets Of Science Fiction Scrapheap Challenge Prototype This The Gadget Show How Tech Works Punkin Chunkin 2010 Ecopolis Man-Made Marvels Asia Race To Mars Prototype This Patent Bending The Gadget Show How Tech Works Scrapheap Challenge Da Vinci’s Machines What’s That About? Superships Prophets Of Science Fiction Unchained Reaction Prototype This The Gadget Show How Tech Works Unchained Reaction The Colony The Gadget Show

00:00 Hannah Montana 00:20 Hannah Montana 00:45 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 01:05 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 01:30 Emperor’s New School 01:50 Emperor’s New School 02:15 Replacements 02:35 Replacements 03:00 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 03:20 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 03:45 Emperor’s New School 04:05 Emperor’s New School 04:30 Replacements 04:50 Replacements 05:15 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 05:35 Brandy & Mr Whiskers 06:00 Prankstars 06:25 Suite Life On Deck 06:45 Cory In The House 07:10 A.N.T. Farm 07:35 Austin And Ally 07:55 Jessie 08:20 Good Luck Charlie 08:45 Doc McStuﬃns 09:05 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 09:30 A.N.T Farm 09:55 Jonas 10:15 So Random 10:40 Hannah Montana 11:05 Sonny With A Chance 11:25 Kim Possible 11:50 Shake It Up 12:15 Shake It Up 12:35 Wizards Of Waverly Place 13:00 Wizards Of Waverly Place 13:25 Austin And Ally 13:45 Jessie 14:10 A.N.T. Farm 14:35 So Random 14:55 The Adventures Of Disney Fairies 15:20 Good Luck Charlie 15:45 Jessie 16:10 Shake It Up 16:35 A.N.T. Farm 17:00 Austin And Ally 17:20 Suite Life On Deck 17:45 Suite Life On Deck 18:10 Cory In The House 18:30 Wizards Of Waverly Place 18:55 That’s So Raven 19:20 A.N.T. Farm 19:40 Good Luck Charlie 20:05 Jessie 20:30 Wizards Of Waverly Place 20:50 Wizards Of Waverly Place 21:15 So Random 21:40 Hannah Montana 22:00 Jonas 22:25 Sonny With A Chance 22:50 Sonny With A Chance 23:10 Wizards Of Waverly Place 23:35 Wizards Of Waverly Place

03:15 03:40 04:10 05:05

Style Star Extreme Close-Up THS THS

06:00 THS 07:50 Style Star 08:20 Opening Act 09:15 Opening Act 10:15 15 Remarkable Celebrity Body Bouncebacks 12:05 Khloe And Lamar 12:35 Khloe And Lamar 13:05 Married To Jonas 13:35 Married To Jonas 14:05 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 15:00 Style Star 15:30 E!es 16:30 Extreme Close-Up 17:00 Chasing The Saturdays 17:30 Chasing The Saturdays 18:00 E! News 19:00 Fashion Police 20:00 E!es 21:00 Kourtney And Kim Take Miami 22:00 Chasing The Saturdays 22:30 E! News 23:30 Chelsea Lately

00:05 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 00:30 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 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 Food Wars 03:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 04:15 Unique Eats 04:40 Chopped 05:30 Iron Chef America 06:10 Food Network Challenge 07:00 Guy’s Big Bite 07:25 Guy’s Big Bite 07:50 Reza’s African Kitchen 08:15 Kid In A Candy Store 08:40 Unique Sweets 09:05 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 09:30 The Next Food Network Star 10:20 Extra Virgin 10:45 Extra Virgin 11:10 Cooking For Real 11:35 Food Crafters 12:00 Ultimate Recipe Showdown 12:50 Grill It! With Bobby Flay 13:15 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 13:40 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 14:05 Food Wars 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 Food Wars 17:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 18:15 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 18:40 Guy’s Big Bite 19:05 Reza’s African Kitchen 19:30 Chopped 20:20 Chopped 21:10 Amazing Wedding Cakes 22:00 Food Wars 22:25 Food Wars 22:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 23:15 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 23:40 Food Wars

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 Nightmare Next Door Mystery Diagnosis Street Patrol Street Patrol Real Emergency Calls Who On Earth Did I Marry? On The Case With Paula Zahn Murder Shift 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 Murder Shift 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 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 00:45 Ultimate Traveller 01:40 Bondi Rescue 02:05 Bondi Rescue 02:35 Chasing Time 03:00 Bluelist Australia 03:30 A World Apart 04:25 On Hannibal’s Trail 04:50 Travel Madness 05:20 Departures 06:15 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 06:40 Food School 07:10 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 07:35 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 08:05 Ultimate Traveller 09:00 Bondi Rescue 09:25 Bondi Rescue 09:55 Chasing Time 10:20 Bluelist Australia 10:50 A World Apart 11:45 On Hannibal’s Trail 12:10 Travel Madness 12:40 Departures 13:35 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 14:00 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 14:30 Earth Tripping 14:55 Earth Tripping 15:25 Ultimate Traveller

JANE EYRE ON OSN CINEMA 16:20 Bondi Rescue 16:45 Bondi Rescue 17:15 Chasing Time 17:40 Bluelist Australia 18:10 A World Apart 19:05 On Hannibal’s Trail 19:30 Travel Madness 20:00 Earth Tripping 20:30 Earth Tripping 21:00 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 21:30 My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita 22:00 Departures 22:55 Food Lover’s Guide To The Planet 23:20 Earth Tripping 23:50 Delinquent Gourmet

01:15 PG15 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:15 20:00 22:00

Covert One: The Hades FactorThe Stool Pigeon-PG15 Legendary Assassin-PG15 Carjacked-PG15 Justice League: Doom-PG15 True Justice: Street Wars-PG15 Carjacked-PG15 Constantine-PG15 True Justice: Street Wars-PG15 Intruders-18 End Of Days-18

01:00 The Game Of Their Lives-PG15 03:00 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel-PG15 05:15 No Surrender-PG15 07:00 B-Girl-PG15 09:00 The Game Of Their Lives-PG15 11:00 Adventures Of Sharkboy And Lavagirl-PG 13:00 Golden Christmas 3-PG15 15:00 Jane Eyre-PG15 17:00 Larry Crowne-PG15 19:00 Joyful Noise-PG15 21:00 Hesher-18 23:00 Breaking The Girl-18

00:00 Brickleberry 00:30 The Daily Show Global Edition 01:00 The Colbert Report Global Edition 01:30 Family Guy 02:00 Louie 02:30 Girls 03:00 Breaking In 03:30 Malibu Country 04:00 Seinfeld 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Til Death 06:00 Arrested Development 06:30 Samantha Who? 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Seinfeld 08:30 Til Death 09:00 Breaking In 09:30 How I Met Your Mother 10:30 Samantha Who? 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Arrested Development 12:30 Seinfeld 13:00 Til Death 13:30 Samantha Who? 14:00 Malibu Country 15:00 How I Met Your Mother 15:30 The Daily Show Global Edition 16:00 The Colbert Report Global Edition 16:30 Arrested Development 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Last Man Standing 18:30 Friends 19:00 How I Met Your Mother 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 The New Normal 22:30 Out There 23:00 The Big C 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

00:00 Breakout Kings 01:00 Game Of Thrones 02:00 Once Upon A Time

03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Treme Alphas Revenge Breakout Kings Emmerdale Coronation Street C.S.I. New York Once Upon A Time Revenge Alphas Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show C.S.I. New York Breakout Kings Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show C.S.I. New York Grey’s Anatomy House Of Cards The Americans American Horror Story Treme

01:30 03:15 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:15 22:00

7 Below Covert One: The Hades Factor The Stool Pigeon Legendary Assassin Carjacked Justice League: Doom True Justice: Street Wars Carjacked Constantine True Justice: Street Wars Intruders

00:00 Girl Walks Into A Bar-PG15 02:00 Dazed And Confused-PG15 04:00 The Winning Season-PG15 06:00 Men In Black-PG15 08:00 Police Academy 3: Back In Training-PG15 10:00 Men In Black II-PG 12:00 The Winning Season-PG15 14:00 Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol-PG15 16:00 Men In Black II-PG 18:00 The Marc Pease ExperiencePG15 20:00 Goon-PG15 22:00 Girl Walks Into A Bar-PG15

01:30 Ironclad-18 03:30 Money For Nothing-PG15 05:45 Yelling To The Sky-PG15 07:30 Tora! Tora! Tora!-PG15 10:00 Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate-PG 11:45 Honey 2-PG15 13:45 My Enemy’s Enemy-PG15 15:15 Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate-PG 17:00 Trust-PG15 19:00 Frozen-PG15 21:00 Schindler’s List-PG15 23:15 Arc-18

01:15 Dirty Teacher-PG15 03:00 I Don’t Know How She Does It-PG15 05:00 Perfect Plan-PG15 07:00 Rising Stars-PG15 09:00 Captain America: The First Avenger-PG15 11:15 Ghost Machine-PG15 13:00 Blackthorn-PG15 15:00 A Dog Named Duke-PG15 16:45 Captain America: The First Avenger-PG15 19:00 Chronicle-PG15 21:00 Cedar Rapids-18 23:00 The Thing-18

00:00 Princess Sydney: The Three Gold Coins 01:00 Princess Sydney: The Legend Of The Blue Rabbit 02:15 Hugo 04:30 Princess Sydney: The Three Gold Coins 06:00 Zathura: A Space Adventure 08:00 Little Einsteins: Rocket’s Firebird Rescue

09:15 Flicka 3 11:30 Princess Sydney: The Three Gold Coins 12:30 Marco Antonio 14:00 Hugo 16:15 The Adventures Of Tintin 18:00 Flicka 3 20:00 Freddy Frogface 22:00 Marco Antonio 23:30 The Adventures Of Tintin

00:00 Last Holiday-PG15 02:00 Seeking Justice-PG15 04:00 Dead Lines-PG15 06:00 Alvin And The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked-PG 08:00 Vickery’s Wild Ride-PG 10:00 The American President-PG15 12:00 Seeking Justice-PG15 14:00 George Harrison: Living In The Material World-PG15 18:00 Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted-PG 20:00 HappythankyoumorepleasePG15 22:00 21 Jump Street-18

01:00 Premier League Darts 04:30 NRL Premiership 06:30 ICC Cricket 360 07:00 Snooker World Championship 11:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 12:00 NRL Premiership 14:00 PGA Tour Highlights 15:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 16:00 Super Rugby 18:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 19:00 Snooker World Championship 23:00 Super Rugby

00:00 Trans World Sport 01:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 02:00 Snooker World Championship 06:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 07:00 Super Rugby 08:00 AFL Premiership Highlights 09:00 PGA Tour Players Champions 10:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 11:00 Super Rugby 13:00 Snooker World Championship 17:00 ICC Cricket 360 17:30 Premier League Darts 21:00 NRL Full Time

00:30 01:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 16:30 18:30 19:30 20:30 23:00

Top 14 Highlights NRL Premiership Golfing World World Pool Masters World Cup Of Pool Trans World Sport Golfing World Super Rugby World Pool Masters World Cup Of Pool ICC Cricket 360 Top 14 Highlights Golfing World AFL Premiership Top 14 World Pool Masters World Cup Of Pool AFL Premiership Super League

00:00 01:30 03:30 04:00 05:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:30 18:30 20:30 21:00 23:00

Mass Participation Ironman NHL Mobil 1 The Grid US Bass Fishing NHL WWE NXT WWE Bottom Line Ping Pong World US Bass Fishing NHL Mass Participation Ironman Adventure Challenge Triahlon UK Mass Participation Ironman US Bass Fishing NHL Mobil 1 The Grid UFC Prelims UFC

Classifieds TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

ACCOMMODATION

Kuwait

SHARQIA-1 NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) SHARQIA-2 TAD, THE LOST EXPLORER (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) SPIDERS (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D)

12:45 PM 2:45 PM 4:45 PM 6:45 PM 8:45 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM 12:30 PM 2:30 PM 5:00 PM 7:00 PM 9:30 PM 12:05 AM

SHARQIA-3 OBLIVION (DIG) FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) THE CALL (DIG) THE CALL (DIG) THE CALL (DIG) OBLIVION (DIG)

1:45 PM 4:15 PM 6:15 PM 8:15 PM 10:15 PM 12:15 AM

MUHALAB-1 NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG)

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

MUHALAB-2 THE CALL (DIG) OBLIVION (DIG) GREEKU VEERUDU (DIG) (TELUGU) THE CALL (DIG) THE CALL (DIG) THE CALL (DIG) MUHALAB-3 IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) TAD, THE LOST EXPLORER (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) FANAR-1 THE CALL (DIG) OBLIVION (DIG) THE CALL (DIG) THE CALL (DIG) THE CALL (DIG) OBLIVION (DIG)

12:30 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 7:30 PM 10:00 PM 1:30 PM 3:30 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM 12:05 AM

FANAR-3 THE COMPANY YOU KEEP (DIG) WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG) WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG) WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG) WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG) THE COMPANY YOU KEEP (DIG)

11:45 PM

2:00 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

MARINA-1 NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) 1:30 PM NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) 3:30 PM THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) 7:15 PM

WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG)

9:00 PM 11:00 PM 12:45 AM

MARINA-2 THE CALL (DIG) OBLIVION (DIG) FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) THE CALL (DIG) THE CALL (DIG) THE CALL (DIG)

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

MARINA-3 TAD, THE LOST EXPLORER (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D)

2:00 PM 4:00 PM 6:30 PM 9:00 PM 11:45 PM

AVENUES-1 WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG) WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG) WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG) WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG) WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG) WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG)

1:15 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

AVENUES-2 OBLIVION (DIG) 12:45 PM OBLIVION (DIG) 3:15 PM OBLIVION (DIG) 5:45 PM THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 (DIG) OBLIVION (DIG) 10:30 PM THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 (DIG)

2:00 PM 4:00 PM 4:00 PM 7:00 PM 9:00 PM 11:00 PM

FANAR-2 NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) 12:45 PM NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) 2:30 PM THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 4:15 PM NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) 6:15 PM NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) 8:00 PM NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) 9:45 PM THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 (DIG)

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (02/05/2013 TO 08/05/2013)

AVENUES-3 NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG)

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

360ยบ 1 NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG)

1:15 PM 3:15 PM 5:15 PM 7:15 PM 9:15 PM 11:15 PM 1:15 AM

360ยบ 2 FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG) FIRE WITH FIRE (DIG)

2:30 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 9:15 PM 11:30 PM

360ยบ 3 EMPEROR (DIG) EMPEROR (DIG) EMPEROR (DIG) EMPEROR (DIG) EMPEROR (DIG) EMPEROR (DIG)

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

AL-KOUT.1 TAD, THE LOST EXPLORER (DIG-3D) SPIDERS (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) NO SUN+ TUE+WED 5:15 PM

AL-KOUT.2 NO TELL MOTEL (DIG)

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

12:45 PM

THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) 4:45 PM THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 (DIG) NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) 8:30 PM NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) 10:15 PM NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) 12:15 AM NO SUN+ TUE+WED AL-KOUT.3 OBLIVION (DIG) THE CALL (DIG) OBLIVION (DIG) THE CALL (DIG) THE CALL (DIG) THE CALL (DIG)

Sharing accommodation available for ladies or bachelor Filipino only near Big Jamiya Farwaniya. Available from May 10, 2013. Contact: 66158188. Accommodation available for non-smoking decent bachelors, with separate bathroom and C-A/C, sharing with Sri Lankan family in Khaitan near Carmel School. Contact: 66704630. (C 4409) 7-5-2013

1:30 PM 4:00 PM 6:30 PM 9:15 PM 12:05 AM

BAIRAQ-2 WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG) 12:45 PM THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2 (DIG) WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG) 5:15 PM NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) 7:30 PM WINTER OF DISCONTENT (DIG) 9:30 PM NO TELL MOTEL (DIG) 11:30 PM

1:15 AM

6:30 PM

1:45 PM 4:15 PM 6:15 PM 8:45 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

BAIRAQ-1 IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D) IRON MAN 3 (DIG-3D)

8:15 PM

2:45 PM

BAIRAQ-3 THE CALL (DIG) THE CALL (DIG) OBLIVION (DIG) THE CALL (DIG) THE CALL (DIG) THE CALL (DIG)

3:00 PM

FOR SALE Jeep Mitsubishi (ASX) 2011, dark gray color, full options, excellent condition, 68000km, price KD 3,300/-. Contact: 66729295. (C 4406)

1:45 PM 3:45 PM 5:45 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

PLAZA SHADOW (DIG) (TELUGU) SHADOW (DIG) (TELUGU) GREEKU VEERUDU (DIG) (TELUGU) GREEKU VEERUDU (DIG) (TELUGU) NO THU GREEKU VEERUDU (DIG) (TELUGU) LAILA IRON MAN 3 (DIG) NO MON+TUE+WED IRON MAN 3 (DIG) NO MON+TUE+WED IRON MAN 3 (DIG) NO MON+TUE+WED

Sharing accommodation available for decent bachelor/family, non-smoking, one big room, Amman Street, opposite to AlRashid Hospital. Contact: 66232356. (C 4408)

KIA Sorento - SE Jeep, model 2006, full options, sky blue color, excellent condition, price KD 1,750. Contact: 50994848. (C 4407) 7-5-2013

7:00 PM 10:00 PM 4:00 PM 7:00 PM

Nissan Infiniti G37, 2009 model, 6 cylinder, automatic, 6 CD changer, mobile connectivity, rear view camera, sunroof, sand col-

10:00 PM 5:45 PM

or, GPS, excellent condition, 60,000 Kms. KD 7,000. Contact: 99742340. MATRIMONIAL Proposals invited for a Jacobite Christian girl, 27 years, 160cm, masters in occupational therapy, from parents of professionally qualified boys working in India or Abroad. Contact: lalu@kic.com.kw (C 4404) 5-5-2013

CHANGE OF NAME Rajaraman Sundarraj son of Sundarraj and Janaki bearing an Indian Passport No. K2091792 and having an address No. 4A-1, Moongikollai Street, Kumbakonam PO, Tanjore DT, Tamilnadu 612001 had embraced Islam and changed the name as Raja Mohammed. (C 4401) 4-5-2013

seeking suitable job. Contact: 66368027. (C 4405) 7-5-2013 Storekeeper, experience 4 years, Civil ID expir y 4/8/2013. Contact: sanalkumartm12@gmail.com / 69966306. (C 4403) 5-5-2013

SITUATION WANTED Indian experienced generator operator/ mechanic

112

Prayer timings Fajr: Shorook Duhr: Asr: Maghrib: Isha:

03:35 05:02 11:45 15:20 18:27 19:52

8:15 PM 10:45 PM

AJIAL.1 SHADOW (DIG) (TELUGU) SHADOW (DIG) (TELUGU) GREEKU VEERUDU (DIG) (TELUGU) GREEKU VEERUDU (DIG) (TELUGU) GREEKU VEERUDU (DIG) (TELUGU)

6:45 PM 9:45 PM 3:45 PM 6:45 PM 9:45 PM

AJIAL.2 SOODHU KAVVUM (DIG) (TAMIL) SOODHU KAVVUM (DIG) (TAMIL)

6:00 PM 9:00 PM

AJIAL.3 ETHIR NEECHAL (DIG) (TAMIL) FRI+MON ETHIR NEECHAL (DIG) (TAMIL) ETHIR NEECHAL (DIG) (TAMIL)

No: 15801

4:00 PM 7:00 PM 10:00 PM

AJIAL.4 SHOOTOUT AT WADALA (DIG) (HINDI) FRI+MON SOUND THOMA (DIG) (MALAYALAM) THU+FRI+SAT SHOOTOUT AT WADALA (DIG) (HINDI)

3:30 PM 6:30 PM

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Airlines BBC QTR JZR 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 JZR JZR TMA KAC UAE MSR KNE KAC QTR FDB KAC SVA KNE KAC

Flt 43 148 267 539 239 764 620 211 853 305 642 67 555 612 643 138 770 170 69 412 157 416 206 503 53 302 332 352 855 125 132 55 605 301 213 404 165 561 213 284 871 610 480 514 140 57 546 500 472 562

Arrival Flights on Tuesday 7/5/2013 Route DHAKA DOHA BEIRUT CAIRO SIALKOT SABIHA ADDIS ABABA BAHRAIN DUBAI ABU DHABI AMMAN DUBAI ALEXANDRIA CAIRO MUSCAT DOHA ISTANBUL BAHRAIN DUBAI MANILA/BANGKOK LONDON JAKARTA/KUALA LUMPUR ISLAMABAD LUXOR DUBAI MUMBAI TRIVANDRUM COCHIN DUBAI SHARJAH DOHA DUBAI ISFAHAN ABU DHABI BAHRAIN BEIRUT DUBAI SOHAG BEIRUT DHAKA DUBAI CAIRO TAIF TEHRAN DOHA DUBAI ALEXANDRIA JEDDAH JEDDAH AMMAN

Time 00:05 00:15 00:20 00:40 01:05 01:40 01:45 01:55 02:25 02:30 03:10 03:10 03:15 03:15 03:20 03:30 04:35 05:10 05:50 06:15 06:30 06:35 07:25 07:40 07:45 07:50 07:55 08:05 08:25 08:50 09:00 09:15 09:20 09:30 10:40 10:55 11:35 12:00 12:00 12:05 12:45 13:00 13:25 13:40 13:45 13:50 14:15 14:30 14:35 14:40

SYR RJA QTR JZR ETD UAE ABY SVA GFA UAL JZR JZR KAC QTR KAC KAC KAC FDB GFA KAC AXB KAC KAC KAC KAC JAI RBG FDB OMA ABY MEA IRA MSR KLM ALK UAE ETD QTR GFA QTR FDB AIC JZR UAL JZR JZR DLH JAI THY

341 640 134 325 303 857 127 510 215 982 177 777 542 144 786 166 104 63 219 618 393 774 674 742 678 572 553 61 647 129 402 619 618 415 229 859 307 136 217 146 59 981 239 981 185 135 636 574 772

DAMASCUS/LATAKIA AMMAN DOHA NAJAF ABU DHABI DUBAI SHARJAH RIYADH BAHRAIN WASHINGTON DC DULLES DUBAI JEDDAH CAIRO DOHA JEDDAH PARIS/ROME LONDON DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA KOZHIKODE RIYADH DUBAI DAMMAM MUSCAT/ABU DHABI MUMBAI ALEXANDRIA DUBAI MUSCAT SHARJAH BEIRUT LAR ALEXANDRIA AMSTERDAM COLOMBO DUBAI ABU DHABI DOHA BAHRAIN DOHA DUBAI CHENNAI/HYDERABAD/CHENNAI AMMAN BAHRAIN DUBAI BAHRAIN FRANKFURT MUMBAI ISTANBUL

15:50 15:55 16:15 16:15 16:35 16:55 17:10 17:20 17:20 17:25 17:30 17:50 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 22:20 22:25 22:30 22:40 22:40 23:00 23:10 23:20 23:45

Airlines AIC PIA JAI UAL DLH KLM BBC JZR PIA THY 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 JZR JZR KAC KAC JZR TMA MSR KNE

Departure Flights on Tuesday 7/5/2013 Flt Route 976 GOA/CHENNAI 206 LAHORE 573 MUMBAI 981 WASHINGTON DC DULLES 637 FRANKFURT 411 AMSTERDAM 44 DHAKA 502 LUXOR 240 SIALKOT/ISLAMABAD 773 ISTANBUL 765 SABIHA 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/NEW YORK 214 BAHRAIN 541 CAIRO 165 ROME/PARIS 405 BEIRUT 776 JEDDAH 324 NAJAF 677 MUSCAT/ABU DHABI 785 JEDDAH 176 DUBAI 223 DUBAI/BEIRUT 611 CAIRO 481 TAIF

Time 00:05 00:15 00:20 00:25 00:30 00:55 01:30 01:30 02:20 02:20 02:40 02:45 03:45 03:50 03:55 04:15 04:20 04:20 04:25 05:15 05:35 06:30 06:35 07:00 07:10 07:20 07:25 08:25 08:25 09:15 09:25 09:30 09:50 09:55 10:00 10:15 10:20 10:25 11:25 11:30 11:45 11:55 12:25 13:00 13:00 13:00 13:20 13:45 14:00 14:15

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

UAE FDB QTR KAC KNE SVA KAC KAC KAC SYR RJA JZR QTR ETD JZR ABY UAE SVA GFA JZR JZR UAL QTR FDB GFA JZR AXB RBG JAI FDB ABY OMA KAC KAC MEA IRA MSR DHX KLM ETD ALK UAE KAC QTR KAC GFA FDB KAC QTR KAC KAC JZR

872 58 141 673 473 501 617 773 741 342 641 238 135 304 538 128 858 511 216 184 266 982 145 64 220 134 394 554 571 62 120 648 343 351 403 618 607 171 415 308 230 860 381 137 301 218 60 205 147 411 283 528

DUBAI DUBAI DOHA DUBAI JEDDAH JEDDAH DOHA RIYADH DAMMAM DAMASCUS AMMAN AMMAN DOHA ABU DHABI CAIRO SHARJAH DUBAI RIYADH BAHRAIN DUBAI BEIRUT BAHRAIN DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN BAHRAIN KOZHIKODE ALEXANDRIA MUMBAI DUBAI SHARJAH MUSCAT CHENNAI COCHIN BEIRUT LAR LUXOR BAHRAIN DAMMAM/AMSTERDAM ABU DHABI COLOMBO DUBAI DELHI DOHA MUMBAI BAHRAIN DUBAI ISLAMABAD DOHA BANGKOK/MANILA DHAKA ASSIUT

14:15 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 17:40 17:50 18:15 18:20 18:20 18:30 18:40 18:40 19:25 19:35 19:50 20:05 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 23:05 23:40 23:45 23:55

stars CROSSWORD 182

STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19) Finances, purchases, investments and credit in particular could stand some clear thinking. Getting in over your head can happen before you know it, so keep an eye on the bottom line. Your mind may be very clear now and brought to a sharp focus. Some of this jumping in over your head could be just a different point of view and not a do-or-die situation, relax . . . Your time will come. It is easy to organize your thoughts and dialogues of all kinds are encouraged. Your thoughts count, so use your mind and keep your notes handy. Teaching others the art of communication is something you can do by example and also through giving lectures. Laughter is the best medicine for all this evening—you are welcome at any group gathering.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) This could be a time for real breakthroughs in the idea department. You are in top form when it comes to mental activity. Being on the go and keeping a finger to the winds of change make you feel in touch. Learning and communicating satisfy your lust for knowledge. This evening your thoughts may move to secret loves. The hard work you have done is paying off . . . Your goals are within reach. Your support system, which is your family and those who give you nourishment, becomes more secure. You are able to dispense with some of the unessential and develop what is most basic and true in your environment. Others find you especially witty. You have insights with regard to your living situation or life circumstances at this time.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

ACROSS 1. East Indian tree bearing a profusion of intense vermilion velvet-textured blooms and yielding a yellow dye. 4. A Dravidian language spoken in southern India. 11. Lie adjacent to another. 15. A member of the Shoshonean people of Utah and Colorado and New Mexico. 16. The slender spear of the Bantu-speaking people of Africa. 17. Avatar of Vishnu. 18. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits. 19. (Greek mythology) The ferryman who brought the souls of the dead across the the river Styx or the river Acheron to Hades. 21. Long tubular cell peculiar to xylem. 23. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth. 25. A colloid that has a continuous liquid phase in which a solid is suspended in a liquid. 26. Unable to see. 29. A very poisonous metallic element that has three allotropic forms. 31. In operation or operational. 33. Tropical starchy tuberous root. 37. Deciduous or evergreen shrubs and shrubby trees of temperate and subtropical North America, South Africa, eastern Asia and northeastern Australia. 41. Large tropical butterfly with degenerate forelegs and an unpleasant taste. 43. A rapid series of short loud sounds (as might be heard with a stethoscope in some types of respiratory disorders). 44. Provincial capital and largest city of Nova Scotia. 46. Electronic equipment that provides visual images of varying electrical quantities. 47. (folklore) Fairies that are somewhat mischievous. 48. Wearing or provided with clothing. 50. A sweater that is put on by pulling it over the head. 54. Eurasian perennial bulbous herbs. 55. A city is east central Sweden north northwest of Stockholm. 58. (informal) Of the highest quality. 59. Group insurance that entitles members to services of participating hospitals and clinics and physicians. 60. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Reticulum and Pictor. 64. A radioactive element of the actinide series. 66. Liquid containing proteins and electrolytes including the liquid in blood plasma and interstitial fluid. 68. (of hair) Having lost its color. 70. A Chadic language spoken south of Lake Chad. 72. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens. 74. Remove a monarch from the throne. 75. A period marked by distinctive character or reckoned from a fixed point or event. 78. United States composer noted for his innovative use of polytonality (1874-1954). 79. An insecticide that is also toxic to animals and humans. 80. Any of various aromatic herbs of the genus Monarda. 81. A small cake leavened with yeast. DOWN 1. A bodily passage or tube conveying a secretion or other substance. 2. Essential oil or perfume obtained from flowers.

3. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables. 4. Tibeto-Burman languages spoken in northernmost Burma and adjacent China and India. 5. Ash-colored or anemic looking from illness or emotion. 6. An anti-inflammatory drug that does not contain steroids. 7. An aromatic ointment used in antiquity. 8. Gone by. 9. Fairly small terrestrial ferns of tropical America. 10. The branch of computer science that deal with writing computer programs that can solve problems creatively. 11. (Judaism) Sacred chest where the ancient Hebrews kept the two tablets containing the Ten Commandments. 12. South African term for `boss'. 13. A slight rounded elevation where the malleus attaches to the eardrum. 14. An official language of the Republic of South Africa. 20. An associate degree in applied science. 22. At or within a short distance in space or time or having elements near each other. 24. Capital and largest city of Iraq. 27. An implement consisting of handle with a free swinging stick at the end. 28. Being one more than nine. 30. Sorghum having slender dry stalks and small hard grains. 32. The pivot about which a lever turns. 34. The capital and largest city of Bangladesh. 35. English theoretical physicist who applied relativity theory to quantum mechanics and predicted the existence of antimatter and the positron (1902-1984). 36. The clay from which adobe bricks are made. 38. A Christian Bishop who translated the Bible from Greek into Gothic (311-382). 39. (Judaism) A period of seven days of mourning after the death of close relative. 40. (astronomy) The angular distance of a celestial point measured westward along the celestial equator from the zenith crossing. 42. An edge tool with a heavy bladed head mounted across a handle. 45. The syllable naming the fourth (subdominant) note of the diatonic scale in solmization. 49. A cut of pork ribs with much of the meat trimmed off. 51. A genus of temperate and arctic evergreen trees (see spruce). 52. An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the sale of petroleum. 53. A disinclination to work or exert yourself. 56. A solid substance in the form of tiny loose particles. 57. One of 7 to 12 sons of Aditi. 61. A statistical method for making simultaneous comparisons between two or more means. 62. The brightest star in Cygnus. 63. A port city of south central Ukraine on an arm of the Black Sea. 65. One of a set of small pieces of stiff paper marked in various ways and used for playing games or for telling fortunes. 67. A card game in which players bet against the dealer on the cards he will draw from a dealing box. 69. Occupied or in the control of. 71. Tastelessness by virtue of being cheap and vulgar. 73. A decree that prohibits something. 76. A metric unit of weight equal to one thousandth of a kilogram. 77. A state in the eastern United States.

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

Close relationship is likely to be riding an emotional whirlwind today—keep your perspective. In the workplace, there is an urge to change the way you do some daily business. Perhaps you have found a much faster and easier way to gain the results you want. You may try to persuade others to change. You could become too dominating if you are pushy. Do not hesitate, however, to lend your expertise in a crunch. This is a time when the new and unexpected may figure into your living situation or surroundings. An insight about your support system, your mother or other females may be important today. You could meet a student or a young person that you can help today. This evening is a good time to reflect and appreciate your life.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) Decisive action is the main order of business—if you are working. Fate sends opportunity your way if you listen to your instincts and give your natural sense of curiosity a free rein. Travel, as well as further education, can help uncover some of the answers that will give you an advantage. You might eventually consider mass communication, which can be financially rewarding. Think about advertising, broadcasting, publishing, etc. If you are traveling out of the country, consider writing detailed notes on your experiences. You can edit them later. Having lots of information to weed through will eventually culminate in a fun guide that will help people decide if they want to follow in your footsteps. A change of residence may be required if a new career opens up.

Leo (July 23-August 22) This workday is a good one to get the routine business completed quickly. A sustained effort makes almost any task run well. The continued thinking that comes from seeing a fantastic photograph this last weekend is still stirring in your memories. Big ideas and grand visions play a leading role in your life. Mysterious or mystical ideas can fire your imagination—now is the time to think first, act later. Maybe this last weekend’s experience has interested you in a little photography experiment. Keep an open mind, learn all you can and ask questions of an experienced photographer so you get the results you want. These days do not come too often—so do not ignore an opportunity to let your imagination loose.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Positive energies are stirring with regard to your career or life path. Success depends on your own ambition which seems strong at this time. You gain attention through your quick action and mental keenness without really trying to achieve notice. If there is a need for someone to take charge, you can own it. You will find that you can really use your mind to make clear choices and you are able to stay focused. Career decisions or ways in which to improve finances are straightforward and easy to make. You make your way now through ideas, concepts and your ability to communicate and express these things to others. Good news is shared. A romantic evening can be enjoyed. If you do not usually cook, you get extra points for doing so tonight.

Word Search

Libra (September 23-October 22) You will be able to complete an ongoing project in the workplace that results in recognition and cheerfulness. There is not only a desire for outside activities but also plenty of opportunities to be outside today. This may mean that you and a group of your coworker friends will gather a team together to play some sort of team sports during the noon break or at the end of this workday. Think smart and spend your money wisely this evening. Think about keeping the mind set to save for a special purchase instead of spending what you do not have just now. You teach others through your good actions. A young person wants you to teach him or her manners for a special dinner affair. Your good cheer today enhances your social life and may intensify romance.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Good things are attracted to you. Your experiences will be out of the ordinary today and you will likely feel more generous than usual. Great opportunities may emerge in work or in spiritual affairs. Your sensitivity to others tends to delude you—perhaps encouraging you to misplace your affections. The romantic, dreamier side of you is in full bloom. Be aware of compromising too quickly and easily. Work on confidence and self-reliance and trust your own judgment. Someone may need your advice regarding a very emotional issue. You are able to cut through the red tape and get at what is beneath this problem. You could spread your energies too thin today. Begin a ritual, of sorts, that will help you create and maintain a balance.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You can improve just about all areas of your life this month. Today you can proceed with high hopes and raised aspirations. Energies are working in your favor throughout the end of the month—you just may be able to get rid of the projects or items that have caused you frustration. This is a time for decision and action, like it or not. A change in your lifestyle is likely, in response to changes in your environment. Acting on impulse can be riskier than usual: get a grip on yourself; do not just react to stimuli and situations. You want to shape events now. You will get down to business and clear away any old frustrations so that you can work on the things that really interest you. While you may be intense at times, do not forget to laugh occasionally.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) CAPRICORN Communication levels are elevated and important information can be exchanged. New business opportunities open up for you. Don’t hesitate or you will miss the boat. Make your intentions clear. You may not appreciate the emotional clout of someone you meet. Push forward with your own responsibilities and you will have few problems. You will have what you need to focus your thinking in a most positive direction. Your options are clear. Real insight into your own inner workings or psychology could surface today and in a manageable form. You may be in the mood for deep and penetrating conversations or thoughts. Your inner resources and emotions are accented. Expect a sense of support from loved ones.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Fresh insight comes to you through broadcasting, publishing or advertising that will give you a whole new perspective. Educational projects require much study and may involve travel. You may be thinking of changes in your career direction. This may be a real test for you. Your horizons are opening up and you are on level ground after following a rocky road of upsets. You should now feel confident and secure about whatever you may decide for the future. Be careful, however, not to blow an opportunity for success. It could be easy to overdo today—take it easy. Be protective of your personal time this evening. You may need more rest than usual this week and you will be wise to just kick back and enjoy a quiet evening.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) You have your own ideas about health techniques, religious and philosophical beliefs. However, your ideas could be in a flux of change and you may find yourself musing over these subjects often in the next few weeks. There is a high-level difference of opinion or outlook that may represent an important area of change in your life at this time. There is reexamination in the light of new information and influences that surround these deep subjects. Think about planning some travel or a sightseeing trip in order to bring your loved ones together into one get-together soon. A relationship needs work and now is the best time to give thought to the idea of making things better between close friends or loved ones. Find ways to nurture loved ones.

Yesterday’s Solution

Daily SuDoku

Yesterday’s Solution

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 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

Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

24892674

Omariya

24719048

N Khaitan

24710044

Fintas

23900322

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

PRIVATE CLINICS Ophthalmologists Dr. Abidallah Al-Mansoor 25622444 Dr. Samy Al-Rabeea 25752222 Dr. Masoma Habeeb 25321171 Dr. Mubarak Al-Ajmy 25739999 Dr. Mohsen Abel 25757700 Dr Adnan Hasan Alwayl 25732223 Dr. Abdallah Al-Baghly 25732223 Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mouner 24555050 Ext 510 Dr. Abdallah Al-Ali 25644660 Dr. Abd Al-Hameed Al-Taweel 25646478 Dr. Sanad Al-Fathalah 25311996 Dr. Mohammad Al-Daaory 25731988 Dr. Ismail Al-Fodary 22620166 Dr. Mahmoud Al-Booz 25651426 General Practitioners Dr. Mohamme Y Majidi 24555050 Ext 123 Dr. Yousef Al-Omar 24719312 Dr. Tarek Al-Mikhazeem 23926920 Dr. Kathem Maarafi 25730465 Dr. Abdallah Ahmad Eyadah 25655528 Dr. Nabeel Al-Ayoobi 24577781 Dr. Dina Abidallah Al-Refae 25333501 Urologists Dr. Ali Naser Al-Serfy 22641534 Dr. Fawzi Taher Abul 22639955 Dr. Khaleel Abidallah Al-Awadi 22616660 Dr. Adel Al-Hunayan FRCS (C) 25313120 Dr. Leons Joseph 66703427 Psychologists /Psychotherapists

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist

25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

(1) Ear, Nose and Throat (2) Plastic Surgeon Dr. Abdul Mohsin Jafar, FRCS (Canada)

25655535

Dentists

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

22618787

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

General Surgeons Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

Internists, Chest & Heart Dr. Adnan Ebil Dr. Latefa Al-Duweisan

22666300 25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

Neurologists

22639939

Dr. Mousa Khadada

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

3729596/3729581

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Kaizen center 25716707

25339330

Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansari 25658888 Dr. Kamal Al-Shomr 25329924 Physiotherapists & VD Dr. Deyaa Shehab

25722291

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

22666288

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

Dr Anil Thomas

Dr. Salem soso

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

Afghanistan 0093 Albania 00355 Algeria 00213 Andorra 00376 Angola 00244 Anguilla 001264 Antiga 001268 Argentina 0054 Armenia 00374 Australia 0061 Austria 0043 Bahamas 001242 Bahrain 00973 Bangladesh 00880 Barbados 001246 Belarus 00375 Belgium 0032 Belize 00501 Benin 00229 Bermuda 001441 Bhutan 00975 Bolivia 00591 Bosnia 00387 Botswana 00267 Brazil 0055 Brunei 00673 Bulgaria 00359 Burkina 00226 Burundi 00257 Cambodia 00855 Cameroon 00237 Canada 001 Cape Verde 00238 Cayman Islands 001345 Central African 00236 Chad 00235 Chile 0056 China 0086 Colombia 0057 Comoros 00269 Congo 00242 Cook Islands 00682 Costa Rica 00506 Croatia 00385 Cuba 0053 Cyprus 00357 Cyprus (Northern) 0090392 Czech Republic 00420 Denmark 0045 Diego Garcia 00246 Djibouti 00253 Dominica 001767 Dominican Republic 001809 Ecuador 00593 Egypt 0020 El Salvador 00503 England (UK) 0044 Equatorial Guinea 00240 Eritrea 00291 Estonia 00372 Ethiopia 00251 Falkland Islands 00500 Faroe Islands 00298 Fiji 00679 Finland 00358 France 0033 French Guiana 00594 French Polynesia 00689 Gabon 00241 Gambia 00220 Georgia 00995 Germany 0049 Ghana 00233 Gibraltar 00350 Greece 0030 Greenland 00299 Grenada 001473 Guadeloupe 00590 Guam 001671 Guatemala 00502 Guinea 00224 Guyana 00592 Haiti 00509 Holland (Netherlands) 0031 Honduras 00504 Hong Kong 00852 Hungary 0036 Ibiza (Spain) 0034 Iceland 00354 India 0091 Indian Ocean 00873 Indonesia 0062

Iran 0098 Iraq 00964 Ireland 00353 Italy 0039 Ivory Coast 00225 Jamaica 001876 Japan 0081 Jordan 00962 Kazakhstan 007 Kenya 00254 Kiribati 00686 Kuwait 00965 Kyrgyzstan 00996 Laos 00856 Latvia 00371 Lebanon 00961 Liberia 00231 Libya 00218 Lithuania 00370 Luxembourg 00352 Macau 00853 Macedonia 00389 Madagascar 00261 Majorca 0034 Malawi 00265 Malaysia 0060 Maldives 00960 Mali 00223 Malta 00356 Marshall Islands 00692 Martinique 00596 Mauritania 00222 Mauritius 00230 Mayotte 00269 Mexico 0052 Micronesia 00691 Moldova 00373 Monaco 00377 Mongolia 00976 Montserrat 001664 Morocco 00212 Mozambique 00258 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Namibia 00264 Nepal 00977 Netherlands (Holland) 0031 Netherlands Antilles 00599 New Caledonia 00687 New Zealand 0064 Nicaragua 00505 Nigar 00227 Nigeria 00234 Niue 00683 Norfolk Island 00672 Northern Ireland (UK) 0044 North Korea 00850 Norway 0047 Oman 00968 Pakistan 0092 Palau 00680 Panama 00507 Papua New Guinea 00675 Paraguay 00595 Peru 0051 Philippines 0063 Poland 0048 Portugal 00351 Puerto Rico 001787 Qatar 00974 Romania 0040 Russian Federation 007 Rwanda 00250 Saint Helena 00290 Saint Kitts 001869 Saint Lucia 001758 Saint Pierre 00508 Saint Vincent 001784 Samoa US 00684 Samoa West 00685 San Marino 00378 Sao Tone 00239 Saudi Arabia 00966 Scotland (UK) 0044 Senegal 00221 Seychelles 00284 Sierra Leone 00232 Singapore 0065 Slovakia 00421 Slovenia 00386 Solomon Islands 00677

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

LIFESTYLE G o s s i p

rammy-winning singer Lauryn Hill is facing sentencing Monday in New Jersey on federal tax charges. Hill pleaded guilty last year to not paying federal taxes on $1.8 million earned from 2005 to 2007. A judge two weeks ago said Hill had paid only about $50,000 of more than $500,000 she owes. Hill said in an Internet posting that she has signed a recording contract with Sony that will help her pay her taxes. She faces up to a year in prison on each of three counts. Her attorney is

eter Andre wants to take his kids backpacking. The reality T V star - who has two children, Junior, seven and fiveyear-old Princess Tiaamii, with exwife Katie Price - would love to take his children with him on an adventure around the world, but says he’d keep a credit card handy just in case he got tired of the great outdoors. He said: “I really want to go backpacking around the world when the kids are older too. I’d do it properly - staying in hostels, living on a budget, all that kind of thing. But I’d take a

credit card with me just in case I needed to splash out on a nice hotel!” The 40-year-old singer clarified recent speculation about his desire to move back to his native Australia, explaining that he doesn’t plan on going home for “10 years or so”. He said: “There’s been a bit of speculation about me planning to move back to Australia after I made a comment on my show, but it’ll be a long time before I do it - probably 10 years or so. To be honest, if I didn’t have kids, I might have already gone back there. I really love the UK, but until recently, the weather had been getting to me a bit!” Peter has already invited his girlfriend Emily MacDonagh, 23, to join him Down Under - and the medical student’s parents could be joining them too. He added: “Emily’s up for it too and her parents are cool with it. In fact, they might even come out there themselves.”

hris Brown has confirmed he and Rihanna have split up again. The ‘Fine China’ hitmaker celebrated turning 24 on Sunday with several lavish birthday bashes in Las Vegas, New York and Los Angeles, and revealed he is single by saying he hoped to party with as many girls as he could, despite feeling “love” for his on/off girlfriend. Rihanna who is said to have planned a surprise for the singer - didn’t attend any of his parties as she was busy performing her ‘Diamonds World Tour’ over her his birthday weekend. Speaking about the best present he could receive ahead of his birthday on The Kyle & Jackie O Show on Australian station 2DayFM, Chris said: “Just peace - centre of your zen, whatever peace you need, a clear mind ... but, I’m 24, I’m going to be in Vegas, so I want to really see as many girls as possible.” Host Kyle asked: “So hang on, what’s your status, you’re on off ... are you going through this birthday solo?” Chris quickly replied: “I’m going to do it solo, at the end of the day, she’s already doing her thing, she’s on the road ... there’s always going to be love, but I’m just going to do me. I’m a grown man.” The couple initially split up in 2009 after Chris assaulted her

seeking probation for her. The 37-year-old South Orange resident hasn’t released much music since her 1998 solo debut, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” which has sold more than 10 million copies and won five Grammy Awards.

and they have both dated in-between, with the rapper having a brief relationship with model Karrueche Tran and Rihanna, 25, being romantically linked to musician Drake. However, Chris seems adamant their recent split is for good this time as he is “too young” to have a “wife” figure in his life, instead wanting to focus on himself. He added: “The way I look at it is ... I’m always going to love that person, but people have differences, and people have different wants and needs, at the end of the day she’s a young girl. “I can’t really be focused on wife-ing somebody that young, and I’m young too. I just got to step forward and be the man and be the best Chris Brown I can be instead of worrying about whoever else is going to be in my side pocket. “

Arterton regrets mother’s meanness

emma Arterton feels “so sorry” for being “really mean” to her mum when she was younger. The 27year-old beauty - who has a sister three years her junior - still regrets being spiteful towards her mother, Sally, during her teenage years, but insists her mum wasn’t

he 31-year-old singer, who already has 16month-old daughter Blue Ivy with husband Jay-Z, is keen to extend her family as she now feels motherhood is her “biggest” priority, despite initially struggling with it and her music career. She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “Definitely I would like to have more children. Motherhood has changed everything. You see things a bit differently after you give birth and my biggest job now is to protect my child. “After giving birth there’s a moment of rediscovery when you are making sure you still have goals and take care of yourself as a woman. That was something I struggled with - making sure I was still this strong woman and also making time for my child and balancing the two.” Amid her fame, the ‘Sweet Dreams’ hitmaker - who is currently on her ‘Mrs Carter Show’ tour - is grateful to have her mother Tina to keep her grounded and she insists she is just a regular parent when behind closed doors away from the limelight. BeyoncÈ added: “I feel this is temporary and my public life when I’m performing on stage is just a few hours of the day. “The rest of the day I’m with my family, I’m changing diapers and I’m with my mother who reminds me, ‘Girl, you’re not a Queen’. So it’s good to have the balance. “Balancing is something I am struggling with, but I am trying to smell the roses and make sure I don’t work so hard that I don’t enjoy the blessings that are around me every day.”

olly Sims is trying not to be an overprotective mother. The 39-year-old actress gave birth to her first child, Brooks, 10 months ago and while she worries about him getting sick or injured, she is trying to let him be independent. She told People

magazine: “I’ve gotten really great advice to really let him be a boy and let him explore. I’m trying not to be a germaphobe, I just have to be careful about being overprotective. I have a system on my phone where I can see his room. I can be obsessive.” Blonde beauty Molly - who wed producer Scott Stuber in September 2011- also can’t stop dressing up Brooks in all the different outfits they have bought for him. Molly wrote: “Scott and I love dressing him up in all the cute little outfits he has - sometimes he ends up wearing three different outfits in a day - and blue and green are definitely his colors.” The proud mother also admitted the feeling she had when she first held baby Brooks after giving birth was indescribable. The ‘Yes Man’ actress gushed: “I think that no matter how prepared you are no matter how many hours you spend researching strollers, stocking up on organic baby food, and decorating the nursery there’s simply nothing that can prepare you for the feeling that comes with holding your baby for the first time.”

a conventional parent. She said: “My mum isn’t a typical mum. She’s individual. At the moment, she’s into clubbing. Last weekend, she went to Area [a superclub in London]. I haven’t even been to Area! “So when you’re a kid you’re like, ‘You’re so embarrassing. Why couldn’t you just be like everyone else’s mum and sit at home and drink tea?’ And so we - me, especially - were really mean to mum in the teenage years. I think about it now and ... I’m just always so sorry about that.” But Gemma also recalls positive occurrences throughout her childhood where she and her sister benefited from Sally’s less “typical” parenthood. She added to Britain’s Marie Claire magazine: “We would always be painting or doing crafty things with mum, and she’s inspired us to be musical. “My uncle is close to my age and we used to get the guitars out and sit around for hours jamming. We did it again recently. “He’s moved to New Zealand and mum and I went to visit him. Now we’ve got this video of us doing David Bowie - he’s on the piano, mum’s singing and I’m on the guitar. I’m like, ‘Ah, it’s like when I was little.’ “

mma Roberts and Evan Peters had crushes on each other before they started dating. The loved up couple - who met on the set of ‘Adult World’ - harbored feelings for each other before finally getting together and Evan has never been happier. He told OK! Magazine: “I think we both had crushes on each other but we didn’t know it. As soon as the movie was done we started hanging out and everything was perfect. “She’s amazing. She’s so much fun. She has a great laugh, smile, she’s a great kisser. And she’s gorgeous.” Emma - who is the niece of actress Julia Roberts - may be a great kisser, but Evan declined to let on if she also picked up some tips on how to pole dance from Jennifer Aniston, who played a stripper opposite her in ‘We’re The Millers’. Emma has previously described Jennifer’s pole moves as “really hot,” adding: “She’s really good. I saw bits and pieces of it and she is amazing. It was unreal!”— Bang Showbiz

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

LIFESTYLE F e a t u r e s

Sarah Brightman plans on upcoming space journey I Justin Timberlake performs at the MasterCard Priceless Premieres concert on Sunday in New York. —AP

Justin Timberlake brings smooth moves to NYC

ustin Timberlake brought his smooth moves to the Roseland Ballroom on Sunday night. The nattily dressed crooner performed for nearly two hours with his band, also dressed in suits - and some in ties - for some 3,000 fans. He started his set by strumming the guitar to “Like I Love You,” and his falsetto kicked in on “My Love.”“Anyone drunk yet?” he yelled before going into “Cry Me a River.” He danced - alone and a lot - throughout the 15-song set, running to the keys for “Until the End of Time” and “Seniorita,” where he told the crowd, “You’re like an eight right now.” He said they were a nine when he followed with “That Girl” from his new album,

the double platinum-seller “The 20/20 Experience.” He thanked the crowd for supporting his first release in seven years and performed the hits “Suit and Tie” and “Mirrors.” Timberlake will release the album’s second half on Sept. 30. The 32-year-old singer closed his concert for MasterCard with “SexyBack,” with Timbaland joining him onstage. Timberlake’s wife, Jessica Biel, was in the audience as were Andy Samberg and engaged couple Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis. He will be performing for much larger audiences this summer. His stadium tour with Jay-Z kicks off July 17 in Toronto. Timberlake will launch a world tour in Montreal on Oct 31. —AP

Actress Mirren gives drummers a right royal ear-bashing

ritish actress Helen Mirren gave a troupe of drummers a right royal telling-off when she burst out of a London theatre dressed as Queen Elizabeth II, swearing at them to shut up. The furious star, who won the best actress Oscar for her portrayal of the British sovereign, admitted using some very unregal language to get them to clear off. Promoting the As One in

A picture dated April 28, 2013 shows British actress Helen-Mirren arriving for the Lawrence Olivier Awards for theatre at the Royal Opera House in London. —AFP

the Park festival for gay and trans-gender people, the drummers parked up outside the Gielgud Theatre on Saturday as Mirren was on stage. The noise interrupted the first act of “The Audience”, in which the 67-year-old Mirren plays Queen Elizabeth meeting her various prime ministers. An incensed Mirren stormed out at the interval in a scene which even stunned her co-star Rufus Wright-himself playing David Cameron-who also entered the fray. Wright tweeted: “You should have seen Helen. She came out in full Queen costume and shouted at the drummers too. Honestly. It was breathtaking”. A statement from the festival read: “Clearly angered, she shrieked ‘Quiet! I’m trying to do a play in here! People have paid a lot of money for tickets’.” Mirren told The Daily Telegraph newspaper she went a bit further than that. “I’m afraid there were a few ‘thespian’ words used. They got a very stern royal ticking off but I have to say they were very sweet and they stopped immediately,” she said. “They were destroying our performance so something had to be done. “There was just a thin wall between drumming and the theatre so it was unbelievably loud on stage. “The audience couldn’t hear us speak at all. “I literally walked straight off stage, straight up the stairs and straight out the stage door and banged my way through the crowd who were watching and said ‘stop, you’ve got to stop right now’-only I might have used stronger language than that. “They were very sweet and stopped the minute they knew I wasn’t just a batty old woman haranguing them on the streets.” —AFP

f you called Sarah Brightman a space cadet, it would probably make her smile. That’s because she plans on becoming the first recording artist to venture into space en route to the International Space Station sometime in the next two years. The classically trained singer-actress always wanted to explore the heavens. She says it began in 1969 when she was a little girl sitting in front of the television during the historic Apollo 11 landing on the moon. “I was very lucky and privileged to be living in that time to see that actually happen on a black-and-white TV screen and it changed many of us. I don’t think there’s been anything to date that was like that,” Brightman said. Since then, she’s wanted to go to the moon. Clearly, a firm believer in “her reach must far exceed her grasp,” Brightman set her sights on a trip to the ISS. “It looks as if a special journey into space will be happening for me in a couple of years,” said Brightman (she declined to say how much the trip will cost). She said her fascination follows a long history of artists inspired by space. “You look at Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon,’ even if there was nothing specific about space, the fact that it was called what it was and the feeling of the music was definitely inspired,” said Brightman. “David Bowie (too). It goes on and on.” She’s gone through a battery of diagnostic tests to see if she’s “space-worthy.” “I went to Star City in Russia and did a series of psychological tests, physical tests. I was monitored when I was put into a centrifuge taken up to weight G, which I loved and felt very comfortable with. I passed through everything really, really well and as said by the Russian Space Federation, I am officially a cosmonaut in training at this moment,” she said. The intense evaluation was unlike anything she had ever done. “They put you on something called the rotating chair and basically it’s to test you for motion sickness,” Brightman said. After spinning for more than 10 minutes,

SN Subscribers were among the first viewers of the premiere of Iron Man 3, the highly anticipated blockbuster of the season in mind-blowing 3D. Subscribers were given the opportunity to enjoy the first show of the blockbuster, courtesy of OSN’s rewards programme, OSN Privileges.

The exclusive screening for OSN Privileges members was held at Grand Cinemas, in Al Hamra on Saturday 4th May where fans were given the opportunity to pose for photos with their favourite superhero, Iron Man. OSN brings viewers the biggest and latest blockbusters to the region. Iron Man 3 will premiere on OSN screens soon.

miered the single to their upcoming album at the ISS in March. Brightman, 52, is best known for originating the role of Christine in both the London and Broadway casts of “The Phantom of the Opera.” She was married to the musical’s composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Her latest album, “Dreamcatcher,” was inspired by want-

This April 15, 2013 file photo shows actress and musician Sarah Brightman in New York. —AP among five participating space agencies including NASA and the Russian space agency. The habitable satellite resides in Earth’s lower orbit and has a wingspan approximately the size of an American football field. Since its 1998 launch, it has hosted more than 125 missions. The rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars pre-

ing to journey into space. She covers songs about the heavens, including “Angel” and “Venus and Mars.” “It’s given me a beautiful theme to work with, a beautiful palate to work with and it’s been an incredibly creative time,” said Brightman. She’s promoting the album with a world tour. —AP

The Black Keys perform at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans, Sunday. —AP

Trombone Shorty, Aaron Neville close Jazz Fest

OSN subscribers enjoy premiere show of Iron Man 3

she dealt with incredible nausea and dizziness. “You have to really focus. It’s very important not to pass out. They’re looking at a person spinning around in a chair going in different directions. It looks incredibly simple but that actually was the hardest for me,” she said. The International Space Station is a joint project

or more than two decades, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival has closed with a performance by the city’s own Neville Brothers. On Sunday, that tradition changed. Aaron Neville performed on a stage with his new band while young brass band frontman Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews closed the festival’s biggest stage - where the Neville Brothers once held court the last day. Andrews and his band, Orleans Avenue, entertained a jampacked crowd as the festival ended its 2013 run. A sea of faces stretched to the track’s back fence. Neville said he views the closing lineup change as kind of a “passing of the guard. “Trombone Slim, as I call him, will do a great job,” Neville said of Andrews. “I remember when it was Professor Longhair out there and then we did it for a long time. It’s time. Slim is a big musician and I’m proud of the way he’s handled himself.” Neville is promoting his new album, “My True Story,” released earlier this year. At 72, he says it’s the right time to focus on a solo project. “My brothers and I have been performing together like 35 years,” Neville said. “I wanted to do some other things and I couldn’t do both because of my age and my health, so I decided to back off the Brothers and focus on what I wanted to do. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be here and I would be mad at myself if I didn’t take the time to do me.” His brothers - Art, Cyril and Charles - performed during the festival’s first weekend under a new name, The Nevilles. Still, he wasn’t completely without

family on stage. Charles Neville plays saxophone in his quintet. Aaron Neville gave fest-goers a good sampling of the new music which covers a musical genre close to his heart doo-wop. “If you listen to any of my music, there’s a doo-wop essence to it,” he said. “Since I was a little boy, I’ve

several days of rain and muddy ground conditions. John Oates said he and his longtime musical partner, Darryl Hall, have always wondered why this festival was never on their schedule. “I can tell you, both Darryl and I haven’t been more excited about a gig in about 20 to 30 years,”

Daryl Hall, left, and John Oates perform at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. listened to people like Clyde McPhatter and the like. Everything I’ve ever done has some doo-wop in it. It’s innocent music. Music that tells the story of boy meets girl. Music I can listen to with my granddaughter and my grandmother and nobody gets offended.” Another closing day act was Hall & Oates, who made their Jazz Fest debut Sunday under sunny skies and a cool breeze that the crowd reveled in after

Oates said. “We’re really psyched and excited about the opportunity.” Adam Butler, of Lisle, Ill., said he came a long way for his first Jazz Fest, and Hall & Oates delivered. Their set included old favorites such as “Out of Touch,”“Method of Love,”“Maneater,” and “Say It Isn’t So.” They closed the set with “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do),” but came back for encore performances of “Rich Girl,”“Kiss On My List,” and “Private Eyes.”“Their music is

timeless,” said Butler, who sipped a margarita as he took in the music with friends from California, Indiana and Nevada. Other closing day acts included Irma Thomas, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, The Black Keys, Taj Mahal and Pete Fountain. Fans cheered and stretched their hands to the sky as Thomas sang bluesy numbers such as “Let’s Stay Together,”“It’s Raining,”“Forever Young” and “Let It Be Me.” During her upbeat medley of New Orleans favorites such as “Iko Iko” and “Hey Pocky Way,” Thomas asked the thousands packed before the stage to wave a towel or handkerchief in a New Orleans tradition known as a secondline. “We’re so happy to see the sun, we don’t know what to do,” she said. Many in the crowd were on their feet dancing. “You can’t sit still when you listen to Irma,” said Cecelia Wright of San Diego, Calif., who has attended Jazz Fest every year for the past 30 years. “This festival has so many wonderful types of music. I don’t come for the big names. I come for the jazz, the blues and the funk.” Among the music was a touch of romance as festival spokesman Matthew Goldman exchanged vows with Elise Gallinot on the front porch of a shotgun house on the festival grounds. The wedding party later second-lined to one of the music stages where a crawfish boil reception was held as the day closed. Weddings are not uncommon at Jazz Fest, where couples in years past have gotten married between sets in the Gospel tent and other locations around the grounds. —AP

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

lifestyle F e a t u r e s

Santa Barbara’s recently reopened El Encanto hotel includes seven acres of lavishly planted grounds with striking approaches to the hotel.

By Christopher Reynolds

An infinity pool with ocean views is among the selling points at El Encanto in Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara’s recently reopened El Encanto hotel includes seven acres of lavishly planted grounds, including a few water features.

ere are three tweets I would have sent from my recent stay at Santa Barbara’s just-reopened El Encanto hotel if I hadn’t been busy behaving like royalty and pretending the Internet didn’t exist: Arriving Encanto. Tab for a 375-sf room w/fireplace and regal bathroom: $575 for 1 night, $35 for pkng, plus tax. Hey, what’s with extra stairs? Sunset on terrace. Ordering abalone. Below: lush grounds, distant sea, SB’s red roofs. We’re 200 ft above normal life. Waiting for dinner. Wind gusting, asparagus in flight. Superfluous stairs still a mystery. It’s been seven years since Orient-Express Hotels closed the beloved El Encanto for reconstruction and a few weeks since the hotel reopened on March 23. The grounds, the views and the mystery stairs all relate to the same question: Can Orient-Express please the old El Encanto’s old guard and win enough new admirers to justify the $134 million it has spent to buy and rebuild the place? Many old-timers and newcomers will be pleased. The hotel still sprawls over 7 lushly planted acres. The lily pond is as elegant as ever, twin pines towering at one end. A new twinkling chandelier in the dining room evokes the water features outside. Still, some people must be mourning. Seven years ago, guests paid as little as $200 a night to stay in faded bungalows. Now that’s over, and for those visitors priced out, the $75-a-head Sunday brunch isn’t much consolation. The hotel sits in the hillside Riviera neighborhood, half a mile up from the Old Mission Santa Barbara, a mile from the shops and restaurants of State Street, 2 miles from the beach. The property’s first Craftsman bungalows were built before women could vote. By 1918, the site had become a hotel called El Encanto (in Spanish, place of enchantment). The hotel’s Spanish Colonial Revival buildings went up after a 1925 earthquake (which prompted a citywide wave of Spanishstyle reconstruction). For decades, the restaurant’s terrace was admired for its views. When Orient-Express Hotels bought El Encanto, the property had about 65 rooms and plenty of maintenance issues. The company aimed for a 2009 reopening. Then came the recession and preservation regulations. El Encanto now has 92 units, an enlarged restaurant terrace and a spa with seven treatment rooms. The buildings are still a mix of Craftsman and Spanish Colonial Revival, some occupying the site of the former tennis courts. The old pool is gone too. But a new pool, larger and deeper, has been dug in higher ground and given infinity edges so guests can see the Pacific while treading warm water. My wife, Mary Frances, our almost-9-year-old,

A wishing well attracts curious guests at Santa Barbara’s recently reopened El Encanto.

The terrace at Santa Barbara’s El Encanto hotel is a popular spot for outdoor dining.

Grace, and I stayed a night in a superior bungalow, intended for one or two people, and at the bottom of the hotel’s rate schedule. Nice fireplace. Wood floor. In the middle of the bed lay a pillow embroidered with the letter R. (El Encanto stocks an entire alphabet of monogrammed pillowcases, then outfits the rooms to match every guest’s last name. Pampering with a capital P.) The bathroom seemed almost as big as the bedroom, with a separate tub and shower, radiant-heated marble floor and twin sinks. I was standing at one of those sinks when I looked out the window and noticed stairs and a landing below-the stairs leading to our bathroom wall. I walked around the building and ran my hand along the false door on the exterior. Why? As I later learned, this was one of the property’s oldest bungalows. So the city Historic Landmarks Commission required that the building’s footprint remain intact even though the interior was being

Santa Barbara, you can rent spacious rooms, closer to the beach, for a lot less. At El Encanto, you’re paying for the grounds, the view, the monogrammed pillowcase. To get a good look at that view, we booked a terrace table for dinner. Then the wind kicked up-blew my wife’s asparagus off her fork-and I wished I’d reserved a table in the covered part of the terrace. The larger problem was timing. Though we sat down just before 7 pm, the kitchen didn’t get main dishes to our table until after 8. And our waiter, charming though he was, needed to be reminded twice about a drink order. The food was tasty when it came (especially the small plate of abalone with mushrooms and onions), but the restaurant might need a few more weeks to work out the kinks. By the way, Grace endured the long dinner well and enjoyed the rest of El Encanto-flipping a coin into the wishing well, peering through the telescopes on the property, creeping to the headwaters of the little brook by the pond and swimming. Though only 36 of

reconfigured to eliminate the second door and make room for the big bathroom and all its fixtures. Modern luxury, historic preservation: Most awkward bedfellows since Rock Hudson and Doris Day. Anyway, Room 203 was comfortable, and the turndown service (refreshed linens, artful arrangement of Grace’s stuffed animals, etc) was expertly done. And that’s a good thing, given El Encanto’s rates. Come summer, the smallest rooms often will fetch more than $600; the largest, more than $1,200. Rates are about comparable at the Four Seasons Biltmore, El Encanto’s seaside competitor across town. If these numbers alarm you, be assured that in downtown

the hotel’s rooms were occupied that weekend, there were several contented children around. It’s a kidfriendlier place than I’d expected. The parting tweet I meant to send: The hill is steep and the tab is steeper. But a cool pool goes a long way, and El Encanto has one.—MCT

An infinity pool with ocean views is among the selling points at El Encanto in Santa Barbara.

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A fanciful water-drop artwork dominates the center of the dining room of El Encanto in Santa Barbara.

Guests, some with their furry friends, loll in the lounge area of El Encanto, in Santa Barbara.

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

lifestyle F e a t u r e s

This picture taken on May 1, 2013 shows visitors attending the Mark Rothko Center in Daugavpils, Latvia. — AFP photos

he opening of a museum dedicated to US art superstar Mark Rothko in his Latvian birthplace is raising hopes the city of Daugavpils could attract thousands of new tourists and revitalize the economy. Officials believe the Mark Rothko Art Centre will have a “Bilbao effect”-a term used to describe the pivotal role the Guggenheim Museum played in reviving the depressed Basque metropolis. “The museum will be both the pearl of our city and the brand of our city and the whole country,” mayor Zanna Kulakova said at the opening last month. Rothko, who died in 1970, became a giant of the modern art world through his characteristic style: a seemingly simple but arresting juxtaposition of blocks of vibrant color. Along with examples of his abstract expressionism, the Daugavpils collection contains figurative works from his earlier experiments with color. Art lovers willing to make the pilgrimage to the southern city-known as Dvinsk in the Russian Empire when Rothko was born in 1903 — will have to show endurance if they want to lay eyes on the centre’s six masterpieces. The 230-kilometre (140-mile) ride from the capital Riga takes three hours on a highway that for much of its route is a pot-holed carriageway. The trundling trains take even longer, while Daugavpils airport-a

military remnant of the Soviet era-lies unused. Once there, visitors must then locate the museum within a labyrinthine Tsarist-era fortress complex surrounded by crumbling buildings and ramshackle flats. Inna Steinbuka, the head of the European Commission in Latvia, said the museum “will give a new impetus to the city”, drawing art lovers and spurring economic development in Daugavpils and the surrounding area. “We can look at the examples of Bilbao and maybe Metz in France. In Metz the branch of the Pompidou centre made Metz visible. Daugavpils also needs this visibility and its own brand,” she told AFP. Turning the former arsenal into the gallery cost 5.7 million euros ($7.5 million), with 85 percent covered by the EU. In a reversal of Riga’s usual cultural dominance, the museum will be promoted as an attraction in 2014 when Riga becomes one of two European capitals of culture, said Armands Slokenbergs, head of the Latvian tourism development agency, along with the Swedish city of Umea. “Hopefully this will give some impetus to other things such as investment into Daugavpils airport,” added Ojars Sparitis, a professor at the Latvian Academy of Arts. Price tags of up to $86.9 million for Rothko’s work stand in stark contrast to the fortunes of the artist’s native city, which lies in one of the EU’s

poorest regions. The gross average monthly wage in the Latgale region is just 500 euros per month, according to official data, significantly below the national average of 732 euros. Unemployment runs at 21 percent, according to March figures from the state employment agency. The day of the opening, the surrounding district was under a state of emergency due to flooding after the river Daugava broke its banks, the waters lapping almost a stone’s throw from the steps of the freshlypainted art centre. Pushing her baby in a buggy close to the museum, young mother Liga, who declined to give her surname, said she would wait to see what effect the museum would have. “The roads around the museum have been repaired, but the others are still bad,” she said. “What is there for people besides the museum? They will look at the pictures then go back to Riga.” Yet she admitted she plans to visit the museum, whose officials are banking on Rothko’s cult following to draw 90,000 visitors a year in a city of just 100,000 people. Within minutes of reading a report of the museum’s opening, Swiss hotelier Jean-Paul Herzog decided to visit in June. “I will visit Daugavpils specifically for the Rothko museum,” Herzog told AFP. A Rothko fan since the 1970s, Herzog said he was

inspired by the “radiant calm” of the pictures - a quality that will come in handy after the long, bumpy ride to Daugavpils. — AFP

Visitors attend the opening of the new Mark Rothko Center.

etting tattooed with the company logo is all the rage at one New York City brokerage firm. The reward? A bump in pay. The CEO of Rapid Realty NYC says about 40 employees have gotten inked with the logo in the past two years. Anthony Lolli says workers are “passionate about the brand.” They also may be passionate about the extra 15 percent in commission they get for sporting a tattoo. Lolli started the policy a year and a half ago after one employee got the tattoo to prove his company loyalty. The franchise has offices throughout New York City. Lolli says the company may soon be featured in a reality show that would depict New Yorkers apartment hunting.-AP

Mayra Segarra, an employee of Rapid Realty NYC, shows off her tattoo after being inked in the Brooklyn borough of New York.

pring flowers are in full bloom all over the city-and we’re not just talking gardens. Dresses festooned with roses, blouses splashed with tulips and blazers in prints that would rival the best floral arrangements are blossoming in boutique windows. And the floral trend has made its way to the accessories counter too. We’ve picked through the common weeds to find pieces of jewelry that are well

beyond the garden variety. These necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets and headpieces will add some serious petal power to warm weather wardrobes. — MCT

Photo provided by Rapid Realty, tattoo artist Al Fliction inks Mayra Segarra, an employee of Rapid Realty NYC, as her boss, Anthony Lolli, center right, stands by her side while fellow Rapid Reality employees look on at the Ink Master shop in the Brooklyn borough of New York. — AP photos

NYC brokerage rewards employees who get tattooed

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2013

Canadian pop star Justin Bieber, 19-years-old, performs in front of a crowd of 15,000 fans at the Sevens Stadium in Dubai, on May 4, 2013. This is Bieber’s first visit to the UAE. —AFP

Justin Bieber fan disrupts Dubai concert

fan jumped on stage at a Justin Bieber concert in Dubai, sparking a scramble as guards tackled the youth and toppled a piano over in the process, video footage showed yesterday. The YouTube video shows a boy

dressed in shorts and white shirt running across the stage and approaching the Canadian pop star as he performed on the piano. A security guard quickly pounced, flung him away from Bieber and knocked the piano partly off stage, as thousands

of screaming fans looked on. The footage shows the boy then being whisked away by two guards and Bieber skipping away to safety on a side of the stage as the music continues to play. “A young fan desperate to meet his idol did make his way

on stage, but was immediately removed and Justin professionally continued with his show,” said the concert’s organizers. “As far as we know, no further action has been taken against the youth.”The 19-year-old singer

was performing for the second night in front of thousands of fans at a stadium in Dubai. Bieber had arrived nearly two hours late for the concert, angering young fans who arrived in Dubai from across the region to see him perform live. —AFP

Saudi has designs on Beirut

Models present creations by Saudi designer Elham Elyoussef during a fashion show in Beirut on Sunday. —AFP photos

Saudi designer Elham Elyoussef salutes the crowd following a fashion show.