15th Nov

Sheyaab: Blast from the past

10

FR EE

4

Saudi crackdown closes shops, raises fears

www.kuwaittimes.net

Ecstatic crowds as Tendulkar bats in last Test

45 Max 26º Min 16º

NO: 15987- Friday, November 15, 2013

PM vows to face flak PAGE 9

KUWAIT: Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah (center), flanked

by Health Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah (right) and Information Minister Sheikh Salman Al-Sabah, meets editors-in-chief of local dailies yesterday at Seif Palace. (Inset) Kuwait Times Deputy Editor-in-Chief Dr Ziad Al-Alyan (right) attends the meeting. — KUNA

• Tuesday to be a public holiday • Cabinet reshuffle possible

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Kaffeeklatsch

Local Spotlight

Politics and race stymie US immigration reform

‘I am Malala’

By Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net

M

alala Yousafzai, a 16-year-old girl, has come under the spotlight for her extraordinary bravery and desire to reveal facts about the Taleban to the West while narrating her story. Before we go any further, let me introduce this teen activist. Malala is a Pakistani girl who was born in 1997. She went to school in Mingora in the Swat district of Pakistan. She shot to fame when she fought for women’s right to education, especially in Swat Valley where the Taleban banned girls from attending school.

In 2012, Yousafzai was shot in the head and neck in an assassination attempt by Taleban gunmen while returning home and was later sent to the UK for rehabilitation where she lives now. She was shot for criticizing the group’s interpretation of Islam which limits girls’ access to education.

The assassination attempt sparked a national and international outpour of support for Yousafzai’s family. This incident motivated many activists to shore up this young lady’s cause and that’s how she rose to fame all across the world.

She was later received by key world leaders where she put forth her thoughts. Malala gained prominence and started the Malala Fund to support education for girls and recently

released a memoir called ‘I am Malala’, but the book was not appreciated in her home country.

Kashif Mirza, Chief of All Pakistan Private Schools Federation, told AFP that the book had content which was against their country’s ideology and Islamic values and barred Pakistani private schools from buying it. Taleban militants even threatened to attack Pakistani bookshops selling Malala’s book but they couldn’t deny the fact that she was shot for standing up for what she felt was right. I have read parts of the book and feel fascinated by this teenager’s courage. I think it’s really worth reading.

The book also describes Malala’s life under Taleban rule in northwest Pakistan’s Swat Valley in mid-2000, the ban on TV and music, and the family’s decision to flee Swat Valley along with nearly one million people in 2009 amid heavy fighting between the militants and Pakistani troops. Malala insists that she is proud to be a Pakistani. I think her sole mission is to ensure that suppressed women’s voices all over the world are heard because they deserve it. Malala is a role model for many who are surviving under Taleban’s brutal regime. I can see many more in the Arab world who are demanding restrictions against women and society in general. We have many societies that are affected by the Taleban and their fierce ideology and Malala’s book sheds light on the harm the group is capable of causing and the way they plant fear in the minds of people by killing and shedding the blood of innocents. “I believe the gun has no power at all” - these are Malala’s exact words and she is a living example.

Kuwait’s my business

Social media influencers or scam artists?

By John P Hayes

local@kuwaittimes.net

L

ady Gaga has 40,527,426 followers on Twitter, 8-million followers on Google+, and 60,000 Likes on Facebook. If her music career begins to wane (why hasn’t it already?) she could make a second fortune selling her endorsements. Want Lady Gaga to promote your business?

If she agreed, she could charge $1,000 per 140-character tweet. And businesses would line up to pay her!

It’s not likely that Lady Gaga will start pimping businesses any time soon, but there are countless other famous as well as quasi-famous people who are making more than a living by selling their endorsements. It’s happening across the world, including Kuwait and other countries of the Middle East. Celebrities, athletes, bloggers, business leaders and influencers in many different sectors legitimately endorse products and services for a fee.

We depend on relationships The endorsement business works for a couple of reasons, most important of which is relationship. If you’re a fan of a blogger who writes about an “amazing” restaurant, it’s very likely that you’ll visit that restaurant. If you follow celebrities and athletes, you’re likely to listen to their advice. If they shop at Brand X, you will, too. You’ll buy the shoes they wear, go on the diets they recommend, and watch the same TV programs. There’s nothing wrong with you for doing this, by the way. It’s human nature. We all do it. We are more receptive to messages that come from the people we like.

And by using social media, we can “like” just about everybody.

But some people become popular, and then influential, because of their social media numbers, and that’s in spite of the fact that they’re not known for anything except their social media numbers. They’re not actors, artists, athletes or business tycoons - they’re just ordinary people who man-

aged to get big numbers. How’d they do that? They may have bought them.

You can buy popularity “Buying fake followers for social media profiles has become very popular,” explains a manager at a Kuwait media company that represents a stable of legitimate social media influencers. “People buy fake followers to be cool.

They want to show their family and friends that they’re important.” How cool do you want to be? Search for “buy twitter followers” on Google and you’ll get more than 162million hits in 24 seconds. You’ll get similar results if you search for “buy facebook likes” or “buy instagram followers”.

So even if you’ve yet to launch your first tweet, you can get 5,000 followers for just $67. But why stop there? The better value is to buy 100,000 followers for just $997. And if you really want to be cool, get 500,000 followers for about $3,000. Don’t worry about the cost. You can earn that money back in no time!

People with 100,000-250,000 Twitter followers can earn $500 to $1,000 for visiting a restaurant, enjoying a meal (free, of course) and then promoting the experience multiple times. They can do this week after week, several times a week, and collect their money even though they’re sending messages to mostly fake followers. One media executive told me he thinks there are few scamming cases occurring in Kuwait, but another said this scam occurs frequently, especially among small businesses that are eager to get noticed.

Fortunately, you can protect your wallet from this scam.

Numerous apps verify social media accounts before you invest your money. For example, Statuspeople.com will verify up to three Twitter accounts for free. Oh, by the way, in the event Lady Gaga wants to promote your business, Statuspeople.com reports that 50 percent of her Twitter followers are fake!

NOTE: Dr John P Hayes heads the Business Administration department at GUST where he teaches marketing, communications, and franchising. You can contact Dr Hayes at questions@hayesworldwide.com, or via Twitter @drjohnhayes.

By Shakir Reshamwala

shakir@kuwaittimes.net

I

mmigration is a hot-button issue in the United States.

This may be true in other countries too - closer to home, we see a crackdown on illegal migrants in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait’s plan to cut one million expatriates in 10 years.

But the US is a land that was built by immigrants, and moves to initiate reforms to streamline and regularise the process are proving to be extremely contentious.

Depending on who you ask, there are around 11 to 13 million illegal (or undocumented) people in the US, and they are there because there are jobs to be found and more money than what can be made back home. These workers toil in the jobs that Americans do not want - in agriculture, construction and sanitation. Most of them would love to have some legal status in the country that would enable them to live and work without the fear of being caught and deported. A legal status would also give them access to public services and enable them to travel, since some of these illegals pay taxes, directly or indirectly.

But after meeting activists and politicians around the US, one reaches the conclusion that although most of these undocumented workers are there to stay and are going nowhere, there is a marked lack of political will to do something about it. Politicians from both sides of the immigration reform debate are too busy sparring over semantics rather than substance - whether a general ‘amnesty’ should be announced, whether the illegals should get citizenship or work permits or whether the status quo be allowed to fester. Some want immigration to be viewed through the prism of homeland security, healthcare reform, cultural assimilation and political leanings.

Others want an increase in skilled worker visas, clearing the backlog of family visa applicants and forcing immigrants, refugees and exiles who are here legally to fit in.

As an immigration specialist in Miami put it, immigration touches on four most controversial aspects of American life and culture - politics, money, race and sex.

Most of the illegals (70 percent) are Hispanic, and most of these Hispanics are from Mexico (59 percent), which terrifies old-school (or plain racist) ideologues, who fear the US becoming a white minority nation, which it will in the next couple of decades. White Anglos formed 80 percent of the US population for 200 years from 1790-1990. In 2010, this figure fell to 72 percent, while whites are projected to form only 55 percent of the population in 2030. Meanwhile, the percentage of Hispanic voters will reach 12 percent in 2016, from just 1 percent in 1960. Seventy-one percent of these voters support the Democrats, which has Republicans quaking in their boots.

Moreover, oranges would cost $9 a box if there are no illegals to pick them. Prices will rise, there would be no exports and the dollar would tumble. Conversely, the same scenarios would happen if these workers are legalised and are paid what citizens get, albeit minimum wages. So many prefer to just sweep the issue under the carpet. Then there is the issue of maintaining population growth. For a nation to maintain its demographic profile, it needs a minimum fertility rate of 2.1 children per couple. The US fertility rate is 1.9. Interestingly, the fertility rate of Hispanics is 2.4, Blacks 2.0, Whites 1.8 and Asians 1.7. If the Hispanics leave the US, the country’s fertility rate would fall to 1.75, which would be a demographic disaster.

There is no doubt that the work these migrants do is important to keep the wheels of American capitalism and consumerism well-oiled. They pick the fruit that ends up on dinner tables across the nation, keep streets, restaurants and hotels clean, care for the elderly and build houses and skyscrapers. Their children who are born there have US citizenship and American mannerisms. Most of them are law-abiding people with deep cultural and familial values. A compromise that would allow them to stay and build their lives will be good for them as well as America.

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Conspiracy Theories

Casanovas, Don Juans, Romeos and Khaleejis

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

e had a rather interesting debate in the office that I would like to share with you. I noticed that many people brand men in certain countries as playboys, Casanovas and Don Juans.

These days, this kind of branding is attributed to Khaleeji people. I took part in the debate as I did not find it was fair to brand certain nationalities, especially when all others would do the same if given the luck and chance.

I am not defending Khaleejis. I just want to share my opinion. I think that if given the chance, all men would become Romeos. They actually become passionate Casanovas in a minute. Then, may I ask why are only Khaleeji men branded as womanizers? They are accused that they travel a lot and can afford to spend on beautiful company. There is a bit of jealousy in this issue.

Generally speaking, I am exempting the 10 percent saints in the world if they even exist. I think it is circumstances which allow people to do what they do.

W

If somebody has a relaxed lifestyle and the means to support it, travels a lot and can afford to stay in hotels, yachts and nice resorts and can lure beautiful women to accompany him whether with promises of marriage or something else (depending on his morals and religious values), I doubt he would shun away from this kind of enjoyment regardless of race, colour or nationality. It would not matter if you are Indian, Japanese, Jordanian, Russian, American, etc.

Nationality, colour and religion do not change the basic instincts in all of us. Men are men; women are women.

Let’s take an average family man with five kids, which is the normal family size in the Third World, unless you live in Beijing where of course you are only allowed to have just one kid. Regretfully, in this part of the study, we will exempt the one billion in good old China.

Bless the Arab world, we have no baby limits. The family man here, be it a taxi driver, teacher, bus driver, butcher, doctor, worker, cleaner, cook, architect, etc has to wake up at 6 am and to go to his job to earn an average salary that suits the living standards of his country. He has to pay medical bills, water bills and telephone bills of Vodafone, Zain or Orange. He has to dress the army of kids at home and pay for their school accessories, stationery, extracurricular activities, etc. The man has to provide medical care and food for the whole family. You are all family

members and you know all of this.

Then at the end of the workday, this man goes back home with an empty pocket suffering from exhaustion. Do you think he has the time to look at somebody else? I think he can hardly pay attention to his wife during the quality movie time on the sofa - if only he has the time to do this. Mind you, this study is applied to the middle-class person. Leave alone the 60 percent who live under the poverty line. God help them, they are excluded from this study.

Bring any man and give him a luxurious life without many responsibilities; give him a high salary, maids and a driver. Even if he is a civil servant, he can apply for sick leave, weekend leave, paternal leave and whatever other leave. In the worst case, he can take a short trip to a nearby resort for three days. I think he will have all the time in the world to chat and flirt. He will be relaxed and have the money to spend on entertainment. I told all the men in the office not to pretend to be saints. I told them that if they enjoy similar circumstances, they will be spoilt too.

I hate stereotyped branding on any level. I hate hearing that one nation is lazy and another nation is bad. Circumstances control people’s behaviours around the world. Yes, money and a leisurely lifestyle spoil people. This is only natural. @BadryaD

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Sheyaab:

Blast from the past

By Nawara Fattahova

M

any talented Kuwaitis take the initiative to come up with something new, which is evident after three Kuwaiti students formed a performing band called ‘Sheyaab’. The special thing about this band is that they appear as elderly men imitating the behavior, moves and dialects of really old people. Their perfectly done makeup and costumes are very convincing and help people relate to them easily. The members of this band have a special way of expressing themselves even during interviews. They refuse to reveal any real information about themselves and represent the characters they play throughout.

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Each of them has a special nickname - Romeo, Mirshiego, and Alijandro. They play various musical instruments, sing and even dance. “We formed our band 200 years ago, while we were studying in the United Kingdom, during a horse race.

When we met, we felt that our souls, hearts, cultures and hobbies are similar and decided to establish a band. We loved this idea and think that we can spread our feelings and energy through our band’s performance,” Romeo told Kuwait Times.

A clip they posted on YouTube of their participation in Arabs Got Talent got more than 4,873,000 hits in just three weeks. In this competition, they passed the first round of the audition with four ‘Yes’ votes from the judges and moved to the second round where they received the highest number of text message votes from fans. Now they are in the final and hope that they garner a large number of votes from people on Dec 7, 2013.

The Sheyaab band have performed at various corporate events and public places. They have also composed songs but haven’t produced an album yet. “We have plans for the future, including releasing a music album amongst other things. We will surprise the audience with our creative and unique ideas,” said Mirshiego.

The members are involved in different activities. “I’m preparing and working on my doctorate degree, and I’m 105 years old.

Romeo is a salsa instructor and is 103 years old, and Mirshiego is currently studying the art of pain, and is 104 years old.

Mirshiego composes songs for us and Romeo choreographs our dances,” said Alijandro. “We are three friends who are half Kuwaiti and half Latin. Our common talents in acting, music, and sports brought us together. Mirshiego was a golf champion during the Ottoman era, Alijandro was a champion in boxing during the Abassid era, and I was a champion in spearing during the rule of Louis the16th,” deadpanned Romeo.

They also criticized the present generation’s bad manners and behavior. “We hate strolling which most young guys do.

We hate using bad words and insulting others on social media and also hate those who claim to have millions of followers on social media,” noted Mirshiego. On social media, they have only one account on Instagram - Sheyaab, and according to them, all the other accounts are fake. They don’t have any account on Facebook, Twitter, or Keek. After their latest appearance on Arabs Got Talent, they now have many fans, and have become very popular.

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

th Pathiyil

@Yasar Arafa

SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS

W

hat’s more fun than clicking a beautiful picture? Sharing it with others! This summer, let other people see the way you see Kuwait - through your lens. Friday Times will feature snapshots of Kuwait through Instagram feeds. If you want to share your Instagram photos, email us at instagram@kuwaittimes.net

7

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Food safety starts at home

By Ben Garcia

D

o you prepare a lunchbox for your kids on schooldays? Do you take your lunch with you to office? Well, if you do, then there are some basic rules of food safety you need to know. Nutritionist Dr Dana Ghareeb warns that cooked food must be consumed within two hours. “Cooked food must be consumed within a specific period of time because cooked food, especially ones with sauces, can get spoiled easily and it belongs in the garbage bin if it has stayed outside for more than two hours,” she said.

Dana was one of the guest speakers at a ‘Safe Food, Safe Family’ seminar held at 360 Mall recently where assistant undersecretary of the Ministry of Health Dr Mohammad AlKashti was also a guest speaker. She spoke with Kuwait Times on the sidelines of this seminar organized by Al-Yasra Food. Ghareeb noted that children or even adults deserve not just safe but also healthy and nutritious food choices.

The Safe Food, Safe Family campaign is a community initiative and they will be visiting schools to educate children and parents on food safety. “We are particularly concerned over the lunch or breakfast brought by children from home. They are usually prepared by nannies or parents, but how can we be sure that they are really safe? Our responsibility as educators is to share our experience and knowledge with them. Cooked food stays for only two hours and it should either be consumed or refrigerated and reheated before eating. Ghareeb said various educational material will be distributed and information will be shared by a team of specialists from their group who visit schools for this purpose.

“Fruits, of course, must be included in the lunchbox and we also recommend certain types of food that can be safely stored,” she said. Besides schools, the Safe Food, Safe Family initiative will be visiting co-ops, supermarkets and hypermarkets to educate parents on the right way of buying food and the right way of storing it at home. “The event will be interactive. We will not concentrate on Kuwaitis alone and will include expatriates too since they make up more than two thirds of the population,” she noted.

The Safe Food, Safe Family campaign will last for about a year and will be extended on public demand. She also said games and seminars are planned at supermarkets. “We want to educate customers on how to purchase

items correctly. If you are buying frozen items, you cannot mix them with vegetables as contamination may occur,” she said. “Everything must be done in the right way because the family’s safety depends on it”.

According to Dr Ghareeb, food poisoning is the most commonly encountered food safety problem. “This is common but is mostly unreported since victims prefer to just stay at home and rest. Food poisoning is always a problem in schools, and even during holidays because we’re not mindful of what we eat.

People here blame expired food, but many cases of food poisoning are directly related to food handling and safety procedures,” she explained. “The kitchen is not always clean and we do not practice food safety - we cook as we want. We don’t cook at the right temperature too,” she mentioned.

Ghareeb pointed out that the most important aim of the campaign is to educate the public on food safety and to teach them safe practices to apply at home. “We want everything to be safe, especially for children, pregnant women and the elderly. These people are susceptible to diseases and their immune system is really weak,” she said. Ghareeb admits that the reality in Kuwait is that there are not enough safety guidelines at home.

“The restaurants are probably the safest because they follow safety guidelines religiously whereas at home, we should be safer but are not,” she said. “We ask people what temperature they set their freezers at and most of the time they don’t know. We want to create more awareness regarding this because safety begins at home,” she reiterated. “We have to make sure we don’t use the same chopping board for meat and vegetables. We also have brochures in different languages like Malayalam, Urdu, Tagalog, Arabic and English to ensure that everyone can be reached.”

The four basic food safety tips elaborated in the brochure are: CLEAN: Wash hands for 20 seconds before handling any food. Wash utensils and surfaces after each use.

COOK: Cook food items at the right temperature using a food thermometer.

SEPARATE: Separate food items in the grocery cart, refrigerator and on the cutting board.

CHILL: Chill food items in freezer that is at least -18 degrees Celsius and refrigerate perishable food items within two hours of exposure.

8

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

KUWAIT: Shiites mark Ashura in various husseiniyas across Kuwait yesterday. — Photos by Joseph Shagra

New MERS case found KUWAIT: Kuwait has reported its second case of the deadly MERS coronavirus for a man who just returned from abroad, the health ministry said. In a statement cited by the official KUNA agency late Wednesday, the ministry said the new case was for a 52-year-old Kuwaiti national who was in a stable condition. Media reports said the patient had just returned from a visit to neighbouring Saudi Arabia. The announcement came hours after Kuwait reported its first case of the MERS virus for a 47-year-old Kuwaiti man who was in critical condition. Kuwait is now the fifth state in the Gulf to report the disease.

The ministry said the latest case was not related to the first patient and both have been isolated at the country’s Infectious Diseases Hospital. Relatives of the two patients had also been examined. The World Health Organisation said on its website on Monday that it has been informed of 153 laboratory-confirmed MERS cases worldwide so far, including the 64 deaths, a majority of them in Saudi Arabia with two fatalities in Oman and Qatar. Experts are struggling to understand the disease, for which there is no vaccine.

It is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.

Like SARS, MERS appears to cause a lung infection, with patients suffering from a temperature, coughing and breathing difficulties. But it differs in that it also causes rapid kidney failure, and the extremely high death rate has caused serious concern. In August, researchers pointed to Arabian camels as possible hosts of the virus. And the Saudi government said on Monday that a camel in the kingdom has tested positive for MERS, the first case of an animal infected with the coronavirus. — AFP

Opening an eatery no piece of cake Miles of red tape await any restaurateur

By Nawara Fattahova

A

re you looking for a new business opportunity? Opening a restaurant sounds like a very attractive proposition, considering the mushrooming of new eateries in Kuwait. Although there are no official statistics about the number of restaurants in Kuwait, according to Kuwait’s restaurants’ directory, there are more than 10,000 restaurants registered in the country in addition to many others that are not included in this list. The number is confusing, as according to the official website of the Municipality, licenses given to restaurants in the six different governorates including new restaurants and renewing those of older restaurants in the past year totaled 600.

With all the buzz around the food scene in Kuwait, many wonder what is the process to open your own restaurant. Different authorities are responsible for licensing a restaurant. The Kuwait Municipality is one of the main institutions and it is responsible for issuing various licenses for a restaurant. “Every restaurant has to get a health license which includes general issues of hygiene such as the floors, sewage system, ventilation and many

others. Then the owner of the restaurant should also get a license for advertising which includes the signboard placed on the building of the restaurant. And the third license is for the staff working at the restaurant, which is called the health card which they get after a medical checkup at the Ministry of Health,” Fahad from the PR Department at the Municipality told Kuwait Times.

Some restaurants need special licenses. “If a certain restaurant has an outdoor space, they have to get a license for this space as well. This area is usually measured and the owner has to pay for each meter.

There are regular inspections of all the restaurants and violating restaurants are penalized. We check everything before the restaurant opens and after it begins operations. For instance, if a laborer works in the restaurant without a health card, he will have to pay a fine of KD 1,000, and the owner of the restaurant will also pay an additional KD 700. The fines are set for all kinds of other violations as well including food quality, cleanliness, safety measures and others,” he added.

Launching a restaurant is a long procedure. “Getting a license for a restaurant starts with the Municipality.

The owner then goes to other authorities to obtain the rest of the necessary licenses. The Ministry of Commerce is responsible for issuing the commercial license to start a business. Then the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor is responsible for the work permits of the staff working at the restaurant. The Fire Department has to issue the safety and security license for the restaurant as well,” stressed Mahmoud, PR manager of a popular restaurant in Kuwait that has many branches.

According to him, the time spent in getting all the licenses depends on the efforts of the owner of the restaurant.

“In the case of our restaurant, it took us a few months. I heard that other restaurants managed to complete the licensing procedure in a few weeks,” he said. Another factor affecting the time taken to get the licenses is the location of the restaurant and its area. “If the restaurant is large and needs many gas cylinders, the procedures will take longer than a smaller restaurant. Also, in commercial areas, a restaurant can’t be bigger than 40 sq m, while in investment areas, there is no limit to size, and the license will take more time to get. In the end, we have to meet all the conditions necessary to obtain a license,” he pointed out.

Drug dealers nabbed red-handed

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A citizen and two Arab expats were arrested with 25,000 hallucinogenic pills, nine bars of hashish, 20 hashish joints, 60 valium pills, two grams of meth, five guns and some ammunition, said security sources. Case papers indicate that detectives had been tipped off regarding the suspects. A secret agent was assigned to strike a deal with them so that they could be arrested red-handed. However, the suspects showed up with a citizen and the three were arrested with the 25,000 pills. On searching the suspects’ residence, police found more drugs. The suspects admitted that they intended to sell the drugs and use

the weapons to ward off the police in case they were caught. A case was filed.

Injured officer dies The defence ministry yesterday announced the death of army Lt Col Abdul Aziz Al-Ghannam, 39, in a British hospital to which he was sent for treatment upon orders of HH the Amir. The deceased was undergoing joint training with the air force during which the wheels of an Apache hit his vehicle injuring him and four other officers in it. The five officers were immediately airlifted to Jahra hospital. Since Ghannam’s injuries were critical, the Amir ordered flying him for treatment to Britain where he died.

Two Saudi women were killed and a Syrian male was injured in a crash along Nuwaiseeb highway, said security sources.

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

KUWAIT: Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah (center), flanked by Health Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah (right) and Information Minister Sheikh Salman AlSabah, meets editors-in-chief of local dailies yesterday at Seif Palace. — KUNA

PM insists he’s on solid constitutional ground

By Dr Ziad Al-Alyan KUWAIT: There was a very positive feeling around the table when local editors-in-chief sat with Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah yesterday. The minister of health and the minister of information were both in attendance as well.

With a somewhat husky voice due to the respiratory infection the premier is suffering from, he warmly welcomed the journalists visiting Seif Palace. He was quick to open with the topic that was on everyone’s minds, the questioning of the premier by MPs. In a first constitutionally, Sheikh Jaber refused to be questioned on Tuesday unless certain items proposed for questioning were amended first.

The PM went a step further with another constitutional first and put the items to vote, and was successful in doing so. The PM elaborated that he was not going to stand for the chaotic practices that took place in previous governments where ministers and prime ministers took the stand to be questioned over areas outside their job designations. “Many of the issues that were put for-

ward were before my time as PM, so why should I have to answer them,” he reasoned. Sheikh Jaber clearly stated that he was happy to take the stand and believed it was constitutional, but it had to be done in the proper way.

The PM made a strong point of saying “we are capable of buying or influencing the support of the majority of parliament, however this is not how we operate. We choose to stick to the constitution even if it means I get criticized,” he emphasized. The PM stated that Kuwait is blessed with democracy, “however this freedom needs to be regulated and cannot turn into chaos”. When asked about a Cabinet reshuffle, Sheikh Jaber clearly stated that this was a possibility but didn’t give any specifics.

The PM explained that he had just returned from a visit to the ministry of interior and witnessed a lot of preparations to receive delegations for the Arab-African summit next week. “We are very proud of the role we play in hosting such important international events,” Sheikh Jaber stated. On this note, the PM stated along with other ministers that Tuesday was to be a public holiday as there will be significant disruptions to public roads due to the

arrival of the delegates. The PM briefly spoke about his trip to India and Pakistan, adding there was a lot of potential for collaboration there, specially for the private sector.

One of the attendees joked with Sheikh Jaber about him suffering from the MERS coronavirus. The minister of health was quick to intervene and stated that there was no need to dramatise the issue, since there are only two documented cases in Kuwait.

However, the ministry is prepared to deal with this issue and is following regional updates. The PM was happy to address certain concerns that were put forward to him by the journalists, many related to development issues in the country.

The minister of health was also quizzed on some issues related to treatment abroad. He skillfully replied by firing back that he quite frequently announced many of the changes that were related to the treatment abroad department especially in the field of cancer treatment but journalists didn’t carry any of these stories.

He said they were more interested in petty social issues that the minister was criticized for. The meeting concluded as it began with a friendly exchange of light-hearted comments.

Hashem files to grill Sheikh Jaber, Dashti

By B Izzak KUWAIT: November 26 could become one of Kuwait’s most important days as five grillings are scheduled to be debated on that date, two of them against the prime minister, after MP Safa Al-Hashem surprisingly filed two requests to grill the premier and the planning minister. In addition, the Assembly is also scheduled to vote on a no-confidence motion against Health Minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Sabah following a grilling earlier this week over alleged administrative and financial mismanagement.

Assembly Speaker Marzouk Al-Ghanem told reporters that he has received two requests to grill Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak Al-Sabah and State Minister for Planning and Development Rola Dashti. He said they will be listed on the agenda of the Nov 26 session. Three other grillings are also listed on the session’s agenda, one each against the premier and Housing Minister Salem AlOthaina, both filed by opposition MP Riyadh Al-Adasani, and a third against Dashti filed by MP Khalil Abdullah.

It was not immediately known what would exactly happen on Nov 26. What is certain so far is that the vote on the no-confidenec motion against the health minister will take place. It is highly expected that the debate of Dashti’s first grilling will also take place because she has already been granted a two-week delay. It is unknown however whether the prime minister will accept to debate his two grillings or ask for a two-week delay and so is the case with the housing minister.

The prime minister has already said he is prepared to face any grilling as long as it is within his authorities. The Assembly on Tuesday agreed in an unprecedented step to delete essential parts of a grilling filed by Adasani, prompting the lawmaker to refuse to debate it claiming the Assembly’s action breached the constitution.

Adasani later submitted a new grilling against the premier and another against the housing minister. The lawmaker said yesterday that he was prepared to combine the debate of his grilling and that of Hashem against the premier provided the Assembly approves the move.

Hashem’s grilling accused the prime minister of violating the constitution by delaying the submission of the new government’s program immediately after its formation in August. She said the program was submitted to the Assembly only on Oct 28. She also charged that the program contains many contradictions and objectives that go against national goals, especially by propagating that it wants to increase charges on public services and impose taxes. She said that the government’s program is disappointing and does not fulfill the aspirations of the Kuwaiti people as it failed to present practical solutions to the country’s most urgent problems, particularly housing.

Hashem also grilled Dashti for one reason - that she hired an Iraqi national as her personal secretary at the ministry of planning. She charged that Dashti said during a recent television interview that she trusts the Iraqi secretary more than Kuwaiti nationals, claiming that the statement caused a state of desperation among nationals.

KUWAIT: MP Safa Al-Hashem speaks during a session at the National Assembly on Nov 12, 2013.

— Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Attacks kill 41 in Iraq; Shiites mark Ashura

11

Hezbollah vows to keep fighting in Syria

12

Philippines buries the dead; survivors beg for help

17

RIYADH: Foreign workers wait with their belongings before boarding police buses transferring them to an assembly centre prior to their deportation. —AFP

Saudi crackdown raises fears, closes shops Garbage piling up near Prophet’s mosque RIYADH: Garbage is piling up on streets around the mosque housing the burial site of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Grocery stores have shut their doors and almost half of Saudi Arabia’s small construction firms have stopped working on projects. The mess is because foreign workers on which many businesses rely are fleeing, have gone into hiding or are under arrest amid a crackdown launched Nov 4 targeting the kingdom’s 9 million migrant laborers.

Decades of lax immigration enforcement allowed migrants to take low-wage manual, clerical and service jobs that the kingdom’s own citizens shunned for better paying, more comfortable work.

Now, authorities say booting out migrant workers will open more jobs for citizens, at a time when unemployment among Saudis is running at 12.1 percent as of the end of last year, according to the International Monetary Fund.

But the nationalist fervor driving the crackdown risks making migrant workers vulnerable to vigilante attacks by Saudis fed up with the seemingly endless stream of foreigners in their country.

The majority of workers hail from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as Egypt and Yemen. Others, mostly from east Africa, have never acquired visas, often taking perilous boat journeys across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen from where they cross illegally into the kingdom with the help of

smugglers. Since the Saudi government began issuing warnings earlier this year, hundreds of thousands of foreign workers have been deported, though some were able to avoid arrest by getting proper visas in an amnesty program.

That amnesty ended last week, and some 33,000 people have since been placed behind bars.

Others have gone into hiding.

With fewer people to do the job, the statebacked Saudi Gazette reported that 20,000 schools are without janitors. Others are without school bus drivers. Garbage became so noticeable around the mosque housing the Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) tomb that a top city official in Medina helped sweep the streets, the state-backed Arab News website reported.

About 40 percent of small construction firms in the kingdom also have stopped work because their foreign workers couldn’t get proper visas in time, Khalaf Al-Otaibi, president of the World Federation of Trade, Industry and Economics in the Middle East, told Arab News. Saudis say dozens of businesses like bakeries, supermarkets, gas stations and cafes are now closed. They say prices have also soared for services from mechanics, plumbers and electricians.

Adam Coogle, a Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch, told The Associated Press that if the kingdom wants to be serious about the problem, authorities should look at the labor laws and not at the workers. Saudi Arabia’s

sponsorship system, under which foreign laborers work in the kingdom, gives employers say over whether or not a foreigner can leave the country or change jobs, forcing many into illegal employment.

“The entire system by which Saudi Arabia regulates foreign labor is failing,” he said. The owner of a multi-million dollar construction company in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, said he had to halt all of his projects. He told the AP he was not the legal sponsor of most of his laborers but that they made more money working as freelance hires.

“These people have worked in this country and their blood is in the stones and buildings,” he said, speaking anonymously for fear of government reprisal. “You cannot just, like that, force them out.”Despite feeling the loss of the everyday work the foreign laborers provided, Saudis largely have cheered on the police.

Residents have taken matters into their own hands on several occasions, despite police calling on the public not to make citizen arrests.

Over the weekend, Saudi residents of Riyadh’s poor Manfouha neighborhood fought with Ethiopians, detaining some, until police arrived more than two hours later. Video emerged of a crowd of Saudis knocking on the door of an Ethiopian man’s house, then dragging him out and beating him in the street. A Saudi and a migrant were killed and dozens

wounded in the clashes. The violence began when east Africans protesting the crackdown barricaded themselves in the narrow streets of Manfouha, throwing stones, threatening people with knives and damaging cars. Days earlier, an Ethiopian man was killed by police chasing down migrants.

Violence broke out again days later in the same neighborhood, and a Sudanese man was killed in clashes Wednesday. In the Red Sea coastal city of Jiddah in the poor al-Azaziya neighborhood, clashes also broke out when police combed the area for migrants. “This is not racism or a lack of respect for diversity, but you cannot imagine how much negative comes from these groups instead of positive. These people, every day, cause problems,” said Jiddah resident Abdulaziz al-Qahtani, who posted online video from the Riyadh clashes that he said a friend took. Since the weekend clashes, Saudi officials say 23,000 Ethiopians, including women and children, have turned themselves in to the police. Authorities say most had no documentation of ever entering the kingdom and are being held in temporary housing ahead of deportation. Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that officials in Addis Ababa sought an explanation from Saudi Arabia’s envoy over the “mistreatment” of Ethiopians in the kingdom. Workers from neighboring Yemen also face harassment. —AP

11

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Egypt seeks bids for first nuclear plant CAIRO: Egypt will launch an international tender in January to build its first nuclear power station, an Electricity Ministry spokesman said yesterday before talks with Russian officials on cooperation between the two countries. Egypt froze its nuclear program after the 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, but announced in 2006 it planned to revive it. Plans for a tender were being prepared when President Hosni Mubarak was deposed in February 2011.

Aktham Abouelela, spokesman for the Electricity Ministry said: “The Nuclear Power Plants Authority plans to launch the first international tender in January to build a nuclear station in Dabaa,” near the Mediterranean coast.

“It will be a pressurized water reactor with a capacity of 950 to 1650 megawatts. The station will have two units,” Abouelela added.

Egypt’s economic outlook has been clouded by political uncertainty since Mubarak’s downfall, which set off tur-

bulence that has chased away foreign investors and tourists. Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was ousted by the army in July in response to massive street protests against his rule. It was not immediately clear how Egypt would finance the plant, but since Morsi’s removal it has been offered $12 billion in aid from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Egyptian officials were due to meet Russia’s foreign and defense ministers

yesterday for talks that were expected to touch on the nuclear power program. Former Trade and Industry Minister Hatem Saleh said in April that Russia had agreed to help Egypt develop atomic energy. Fuel shortages since the 2011 uprising that ousted Mubarak have strained power generation in the country of 85 million, forcing power cuts and prompting energy-intensive industries to buy electricity from private suppliers at high prices.—Reuters

Egypt ‘not replacing US with Russia as top ally’ CAIRO: Egypt’s foreign minister sought to downplay speculation of a major foreign policy shift, saying during a rare top-level Russian visit yesterday that Cairo wants to boost ties with Moscow and not replace the United States as its key ally. The remarks by Nabil Fahmy came after talks with his visiting counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who is leading the Russian delegation to Cairo. It’s Moscow’s highest-level visit to Egypt in years and includes Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, whose presence has set off rumors of an arms deal in the making. Fahmy said he, Lavrov, Shigu and Egyptian Defense Minister Gen Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi who led the popularly-backed coup in July that ousted Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi - would jointly meet later.

Depicting the meeting as an “activation” of existing ties, Fahmy said Egypt hopes for cooperation “in multiple fields” because of “Russia’s significance in the international arena.” “We seek to energize a relation that is already in existence,” Fahmy told reporters. When asked whether Russia would replace the US as his country’s chief ally, Fahmy said Egypt was not looking for a “substitute for anyone” and that Russia was too significant for such a role.

“Russia has had a relationship with the Egyptian people for dozens of years,” Lavrov said, speaking through an interpreter. He described yesterday’s meeting as “historic.” The Russian visit comes as Egypt’s relationship with the United States - Cairo’s main foreign backer and benefactor since the 1970s - has become increasingly strained in the wake of the military’s ouster of Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president.

Lavrov also said Russia’s supports a return of stability to Egypt a reference to the turmoil roiling the country since the 2011 uprising that ousted staunch US ally Hosni Mubarak. “Russia would like to see a stable Egypt with a prosperous economy and an efficient political system,” he said, offering support for a transition-todemocracy plan by Egypt’s military-backed rulers, including an upcoming referendum on new constitutional amendments. The vote is first step in the interim government’s fast track plan is aimed at returning to democratic rule by next year.

Egypt was Moscow’s closest Arab ally for two decades, starting in the 1950s, with the Soviet Union throwing its weights behind the late nationalist leader Gamal Abdel-Nasser in his ambitious drive to modernize the Arab nation and create a well-armed military at the height of the Cold War and the Arab-Israeli conflict. But in 1972, then-President Anwar Sadat threw out thousands of Soviet military advisers and realigned the country’s foreign policy, taking his nation closer to the United States soon after the 1973 Mideast war.

Egypt’s relations with the Soviet Union took a marked turn for the worse after Moscow’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, but relations have steadily improved in recent years, with hundreds of thousands of Russians vacationing in Egypt every year. The United States last month froze a big chunk of its annual $1.3 billion military aid to Egypt. The move angered the Egyptians and prompted speculations in the local media that Egypt intended to sign a multi-billion dollar weapons deal with Russia. But there has so far been no official word from Cairo or Moscow on such a deal.

The Interfax news agency recently quoted an unidentified official of the state Rosoboron export arms trader as saying that there are no plans to sign big contracts during the Cairo talks. It said Egypt has shown interest in purchasing Russian air defense missile systems and MiG 29 fighter jets, combat helicopters and other weapons. But it quoted an unnamed official dealing with arms trade as saying that no big deals are expected in the near future as Egypt currently can’t afford it. Associated Press writer Vladimir Isachenkov contributed to this report from Moscow.—AP

BAGHDAD: Iraqi Shiite Muslims perform in a self-flagellation ritual marking Ashura that commemorates the 7th century killing of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), in the Battle of Karbala yesterday. — AFP

Attacks kill 41 in Iraq Millions of Shiites mark Ashura KARBALA: Attacks against Shiites, including a suicide bombing that ripped through a religious procession, killed 41 people in Iraq yesterday despite massive security deployed for one of the holiest days of their faith. The bloodshed came as a flood of worshippers, including tens of thousands of foreign pilgrims, thronged the central shrine city of Karbala for the climax of Ashura, braving the repeated attacks by Sunni militants that have marred the festival in previous years.

The suicide bomber, who was disguised in a police uniform, struck in a Shiite-majority area of confessionally mixed Diyala province, north of Baghdad, killing 32 people and wounding 80, security and medical officials said. It was the third attack of the day to target Shiites. Earlier, coordinated blasts in the town of Hafriyah, south of the capital, killed nine people, while twin bombings in the northern oil city of Kirkuk wounded five.

Shiites from Iraq and around the world mark Ashura, which this year climaxed yesterday, by setting up procession tents where pilgrims gather and food is distributed to passers-by. An estimated two million faithful gathered in Karbala, site of the mausoleum of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), whose death in the city at the hands of soldiers of

the caliph Yazid in 680 AD lies at the heart of Islam’s sectarian divide.

Tradition holds that the venerated imam was decapitated and his body mutilated. To mark the occasion, modern-day Shiite devotees flood Hussein’s mausoleum, demonstrating their ritual guilt and remorse for not defending him by beating their heads and chests and, in some cases, making incisions on their scalps with swords in ritual acts of self-flagellation.

Black-clad pilgrims packed the shrines of Hussein and his half-brother Abbas, listening over loudspeakers to the story of the battle in which Hussein was killed, as volunteers distributed food and water.

“I have been coming since I was young, every year, even during the time of the tyrant Saddam,” said Abu Ali,a 35-year-old pilgrim visiting from the southern port city of Basra, referring to the rule of the nowexecuted Sunni Arab dictator who savagely repressed Iraq’s Shiite majority community.

Saddam Hussein barred the vast majority of Ashura commemorations, and the associated Arbaeen rituals, until his overthrow in the US-led invasion of 2003.

“I challenge anyone not to cry,” the worshipper said, describing his emotions on taking part in Ashura ceremonies. The commemorations, which also include a ritual run to Hussein’s mausoleum and a reenact-

ment of the attack that killed him, were due to wrap up in early afternoon. Provincial authorities expect two million pilgrims, including 200,000 from outside Iraq, will have visited Karbala in the 10 days leading up to Ashura, with all of the city’s hotels fully booked.

Shiites make up about 15 percent of Muslims worldwide. They are a majority in Iraq, Iran and Bahrain, and there are large Shiite communities in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen. Sunni militants linked to Al-Qaeda, who regard Shiites as apostates, often step up their targeting of Iraq’s majority community during Ashura and Arbaeen, including by attacking pilgrims.

Security measures have been stepped up, with more than 35,000 soldiers and policemen deployed to Karbala and surrounding areas. Concentric security perimeters have barred vehicles from entering the city, while helicopters hover overhead. The violence against Shiites is the latest in Iraq’s deadliest unrest since 2008. It has prompted Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, himself a Shiite, to appeal to the United States for help in the form of intelligence sharing and the delivery of new weapons systems.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu offered Ankara’s assistance during a recent visit to Baghdad.— AFP

12

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Hezbollah vows to keep fighting in Syria

BEIRUT: Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed yesterday to keep his forces in Syria fighting alongside President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, in a rare public speech delivered in Beirut. Nasrallah, who normally appears via video link for fear of assassination by Israel, spoke in Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold as tens of thousands of followers of his Shiite militant group marked Ashura, one of the holiest days of their faith.

“We have said on several occasions that the presence of our soldiers on Syrian soil is to defend... Syria, which supports the resistance” against Israel, Nasrallah said. “So long as that reason exists, our presence there is justified.

“Those who speak of our withdrawal from Syria as a condition to form a government in Lebanon know that it is an impossible condition. “We won’t negotiate on the existence of Syria (in exchange for) a handful of ministries.”

Lebanon has been without a government for seven months due to deep divisions between Hezbollah and parties opposed to its military action in neighboring Syria. The powerful Shiite

movement says its fight alongside the Assad regime is aimed at combating Sunni extremists who are targeting Syria’s Shiite and Christian minorities.

But it has stirred sectarian tensions in Lebanon, where many Sunnis back the Syrian uprising. Nasrallah also insisted his movement would keep its weapons, despite longstanding calls to lay them down.

“On this day of Ashura, I declare our commitment to the resistance with its readiness, its resources, its weapons... as essential to protect our country and our people,” he said. Nasrallah’s address came at the climax of rituals for Ashura, a festival that marks the killing of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), at the hands of soldiers of the caliph Yazid in 680 AD, an event that lies at the heart of Islam’s sectarian divide. Men and women dressed in black flooded the streets of Beirut’s mainly Shiite southern suburbs to observe the solemn mourning that tradition dictates.

Security was tight after multiple attacks against the Hezbollah stronghold, including car bombs on July 9

and August 15 that killed 27 people.

The Lebanese army deployed armed personnel carriers and troops at checkpoints, and Hezbollah security forces manned their own checkpoints with men and women searched separately as they entered. The day began with prayers and a recounting of the story of Imam Hussein, broadcast over loudspeakers to rows of men and women seated separately on white tarpaulins laid on the street.

As the narrator described Hussein’s death, men and women wept loudly, and volunteers moved through the crowd passing out tissues. Shiite faithful from all walks of life participated.

Many women were draped in the Iranian-style chador veil but others participated with their hair uncovered, and men sported everything from religious robes to expensive designer jeans. Some acknowledged fears of fresh attacks against Hezbollah strongholds.

“Of course, there is a bit of anxiety after the bombings and with all the problems,” said Hoda Alameh, a blonde resident of the south Beirut

Dahiyeh district, wearing white-framed sunglasses and a black tracksuit. “But the men here are taking care of security and we have the Lebanese army too, so I think we are safe,” she added. “And there’s nothing better than being here.

It’s my first time participating and... it’s such a beautiful experience to have together.” Rabia Al-Haj stood by a stall where a man and a woman prepared the Ashura dish of harisseh-a wheat stew-in two giant cauldrons.

“This is a religious duty to be here and to remember our Imam Hussein,” the 50-year-old said. “We’re not afraid.

We don’t care what people say or threaten, this is for Imam Hussein.”

Hezbollah’s role in Syria, where more than 120,000 people have died since the uprising erupted in March 2011, has drawn international criticism.

But some in the crowds, like Dahiyeh resident Zahraa Harb, drew a direct link between Imam Hussein and Hezbollah’s fight in Syria. “Imam Hussein stood up and was martyred for justice, freedom and what is right, and those fighting in Syria are following in his footsteps,” she said.—AFP

Albania seeks rewards for destroying Syria weapons Govt faces growing chorus of opposition

RABAT: Syrian women talk to a driver as they beg In the parking of a supermarket in the Moroccan city of Rabat. — AFP

Syrians in distant Morocco find refuge - but little aid TANGIERS: In a cluster of white-washed houses on Morocco’s north coast, newlyarrived Syrian families have found shelter thousands of miles from their ruined homeland but are struggling to rebuild their lives.

Since the summer, more and more Syrians have crossed from Algeria into Morocco without visas, part of the massive displacement caused by a conflict now thought to have killed more than 115,000 people and created the worst refugee crisis in nearly two decades.

Rabat has yet to offer the Syrians refugee status. This means that while their presence is tolerated, they remain illegal immigrants with no right to work or enrol their children in Moroccan state schools. Abdelkader, 36, used to work in a dental clinic in Damascus but fled with his wife and children four months ago, after an assault on their rebel-held area by Syrian troops. He said they hanged his neighbor “because he was Sunni.” Last month he left his family in Lebanon and travelled to Morocco via Algeria, to rent an apartment and look for work.

But when he started enquiring about jobs, the police told him he needed to obtain

refugee status from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) because he didn’t have a visa. “I came here to look for work because I couldn’t afford to stay in Lebanon. It was costing me 50 dollars per day,” said the father of four, surrounded by other young Syrians hanging around outside their temporary homes on the Tangiers seafront. “I don’t know what I’m going to do next. My family can’t come because they don’t have passports and we have no money.” He says returning to Syria is inconceivable. “There is nothing there now.

People are eating grass.”

Abdelkader’s experience is shared by other Syrians, haunted by the horrors of war and finally welcomed into Morocco at the end of a difficult and uncertain journey. Until they are recognized as refugees and allowed to find work to support their families, they cannot envisage staying here, but there are few alternatives. Mohamed, 50, arrived in Tangiers two months ago from Algeria with his wife and seven children, and lives in a crowded apartment on the sixth floor of a building now inhabited by more than a dozen Syrian families.—AFP

TIRANA: Albania’s government faced a growing chorus of opposition yesterday to a US request that it take on the job of dismantling Syria’s chemical weapons, despite a vow

by Prime Minister Edi Rama that the poor Adriatic nation would be rewarded financially for carrying out the task. Rama, barely two months in the job, repeated that no decision had been taken, but indicated he was in favor.

“Our ‘Yes’ would be linked only to a plan and agreement that will make it clear to everyone that Albania will come out of this with its head held high, the richer for it and cleaner than it is today,” he said late on Wednesday. In the capital Tirana, protesters outside parliament carried placards that read “No to sarin, Yes to oxygen, let us breathe”, and “No to chemical weapons in Albania.”

Albania has been identified as a possible destination for the weapons stockpiles, which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has pledged to get rid of as he seeks to turn the tide of international opinion in a more than twoyear civil war.

The request came under a RussianAmerican deal to destroy the weapons program by mid-2014, averting US missile strikes threatened after an August sarin gas attack on the outskirts of Damascus that killed hundreds of people. A source briefed on the discussions said talks with Albania had reached a “technical level”. The Adriatic nation of 2.8 million people is a member of NATO and staunchly pro-American.

But the prospect of hosting Assad’s Sarin gas and other chemical weapons has stirred anger and complaints that the West is exploiting its poorer, Balkan ally, which is striving to become a candidate for membership of the European Union. Albania has experience in such work, having dismantled its own communist-era chemical weapons with US help in 2004 at Qafe Molle, behind Mount Dajt that overlooks Tirana. It also has a

weapons destruction site at Mjekes, near the central town of Elbasan, where protests have also been held.

ANGER AND OPPOSITION Inside parliament yesterday, female opposition lawmakers seized the rostrum to voice their anger at the US request. “Disarm yourself before you talk about Syria’s weapons,” Rama’s coalition ally, Ilir Meta, railed at the opposition from his seat as parliament speaker. “Everything will be done transparently.

You should be calm about it,” he said.

But a dearth of public information on what the exercise might involve has fuelled a frenzy of doomsday scenarios in Albania and angered environmentalists. “This decision will be taken in full conformity with all the obligations the Albanian government and I personally have to every Albanian,” Rama said. He said the government was seeking “full guarantees for the Albanian public and the future of the country.”

The soul-searching, however, already marks a break with the past. Albania readily offered up its territory for US warplanes to bomb concrete bunkers as training before the 2003 invasion of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

In 2010, Rama’s predecessor, Sali Berisha, agreed to a US request to take in six Chinese Uighurs released from the US jail in Guantanamo Bay and, this year, hundreds of Iranian opposition exiles from Iraq.

Berisha accused Rama’s government of rolling over, and warned of unrest. “We would give you a referendum, as a choice, otherwise the squares and streets will become the parliament of Albania,” he said.

Syria’s Assad has said the total cost of dismantling the chemical weapons program could reach $1 billion. Experts believe it could be done for less, in the range of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on where and how the arms are destroyed.—Reuters

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Turkey lifts ban on trousers for women MPs

ANKARA: Turkey’s parliament has lifted a ban on women lawmakers wearing trousers in the assembly, in a further liberalization of dress rules following a landmark decision to allow female deputies to wear the Islamic headscarf.

A deputy from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Safak Pavey, drew attention to the trouser ban during a parliamentary debate on the emotive headscarf issue, which has long

polarized opinion in largely Muslim but secular Turkey. Pavey, elected to office in June 2011, has a prosthetic leg but parliament had rejected her previous request to be allowed to wear trousers because of regulations which specified that women should wear suits with skirts.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling centre-right AK Party, which has Islamist roots, proposed the relaxation

of the trouser ban and the opposition parties - the secularist CHP, the proKurdish BDP and Turkish nationalist MHP - backed the plan. Parliament approved the measure late on Wednesday. The Turkish parliament witnessed historic scenes at the end of October when four AKP female lawmakers wore headscarves for the first time in the assembly.

The headscarf is viewed by secularists

Glut of Malaysia royal titles dims their luster ‘Datuk’ a high honor that unlocked doors to the elite KUALA LUMPUR: For centuries, the Malay royal title “Datuk”-Malaysia’s equivalent of “Sir”-was a high honor that unlocked doors to the elite. But Datuks like K Basil don’t feel so special these days. “Just throw a stone in the street and you’ll hit a Datuk,” complains Basil, a policeman-turned-politician and one of many who feel the awarding of the coveted titles has got out of hand in a status-obsessed Malaysian society.

Malaysia has one of the world’s highest rates of royal title-holders-estimates run into the tens of thousands-thanks to a centuries-old royal patronage system linked to its now-ceremonial Malay sultans.

They range from politicians to businessmen, from badminton World No 1 Lee Chong Wei to actress Michelle Yeoh.

Nearly every major business or society function will add VIP prestige with a title-bearer as an honoured guest. But allegations of fake or purchased titles along with now-routine reports of corrupt Datuks threaten to tarnish the royalty institution, spurring calls for greater scrutiny.

“It is an open secret that Datukships are for sale by cheats and those who claim to have the ear of the royalty, and there are individuals who abuse their titles,” said opposition parliamentarian Thomas Su. Su supports proposed legislation to criminalize receiving illegitimate investitures “to protect the dignity of the monarchy.” Muslim Malays are multi-racial Malaysia’s majority ethnic group. Malay sultans ceremonially rule nine states-alternating as Malaysia’s figurehead king every five years-and can bestow a range of titles on honored citizens.

The most common, Datuk, is akin to a British knighthood but far more common. Less than 100 will be knighted by Queen Elizabeth II this year, according to the British government. But 700-1,200 new Datuks-or the feminine “Datin”-are anointed annually in Malaysia, whose population of 28 million is less than half the United Kingdom’s. There also are at least hundreds of “Tan Sri”, an even higher-ranking honorific, and above them, “Tun”, reserved for former prime ministers and other elite figures. There can be only 60 Tun at a time.

TITLES ‘WIDELY ABUSED’ Malay cultural expert Eddin Khoo said titles are widely abused for their clout and connections in a country

GOMBAK: A self-styled royal Raja Noor Jan Shah Raja Tuah Shah (2nd left) and his wife Zaidatul Mardiah Yussuf (2nd right) pose for picture on a throne with their ‘Datuks’ at a palace in Gombak, on the outskirt of Kuala Lumpur. — AFP where corruption is widespread.

“Datukships have become crucial status symbols in a culture of ingratiation,” Khoo said. The perks begin with an official crest for a Datuk’s car, “to show money is rolling by,” said Khoo. But titles purportedly also help slice through red tape, protect bearers from prosecution, and gain access to policy-makers.

As far back as 2004, former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad-now retired, and a Tun-warned of a title glut.

“If you produce a million Ferrari cars, nobody will care about buying a Ferrari,” he said. Some Malaysian royalty have complained more recently of illbehaved Datuks and of agents who allegedly claim to broker investitures.

In 2009, maverick blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, himself of royal lineage, ruffled feathers by claiming Datukships can be purchased for 250,000 ringgit ($80,000), adding that recipients “can always make back more than this.” But making direct accusations is highly sensitive due to stiff penalties for insulting royal figures. That has allowed people like self-styled royal Raja Noor Jan Shah Raja Tuah Shah-who has a disputed claim to being the sultan of the southern state of Malacca-to continue anointing Datuks.

Media reports this summer suggested Noor Jan had sold hundreds of dubious investitures-Malacca no longer has a sultan. Yet Noor Jan is regularly feted at events hosted by wealthy businessmen

seeking to rub elbows with him. Noor Jan entered a recent function in Malaysia’s government headquarters of Putrajaya, resplendent in a royal-yellow military-style suit studded with medals and epaulets, trailed by an entourage of his “Datuks” to the beat of traditional Malay musicians.

He admits taking cash “donations” from recipients, but denies selling titles.

“We could easily take hundreds of thousands of ringgit. But you see, we are still driving an old car,” he said, referring to his vintage Porsche sportscar. Danny Ooi, president of the Council of Federal Datuks, said people like Noor Jan must be stopped. “It has been going on for the last 10 years, this problem of Datuks being given out (by self-proclaimed royals),” he said. But Ooi admits money often changes hands even for legitimate investitures, though he terms it, “more as a contribution.”

Meanwhile, reports of Datuks in legal trouble, typically for corruption, are common. In one case, businessman Datuk Koay Khay Chye pleaded guilty in 2010 to drug possession. He was originally charged with trafficking, a capital offence. The case created an uproar when it was reported he had retained his title despite earlier convictions for theft, firearms offences and corruption.

Ooi advocates stripping titles from convicted criminals and setting up searchable databases of Datuks to thwart imposters. — AFP

as an emblem of political Islam and thus a threat to the republic’s secular identity, but the AK Party has argued that the restrictions on its use violate the principle of religious freedom. Secularists made only subdued protests to the move, highlighting a shift in attitudes in Turkey about religion after more than a decade of AKP rule. The headscarf ban has also been lifted in other state institutions as well as parliament. — Reuters

Disunity could scupper Syria’s Kurdish region BAGHDAD: The announcement of a new transitional authority in Syrian Kurdistan marks a key point in the ethnic group’s moves towards self-rule, but experts say disunity and war could still scupper their hopes. Tuesday’s declaration of a temporary autonomous administration in Kurdish-dominated parts of northern Syria, a plan initially mooted in July, came after Kurdish forces made territorial gains against jihadists.

But it was marred by several major Kurdish groups failing to sign on to the announcement. That lack of consensus, coupled with the raging Syrian civil war that has killed more than 120,000 people since 2011, could undermine Syrian Kurdish efforts to gain an unprecedented level of autonomy and emulate the successes of their Iraqi Kurdish neighbours. “If it succeeds, it will be a very important turning point for the Kurds in Syria, from a state which rejected giving them even citizenship to having a self-ruling area inside Syria,” said Asos Hardi, an Iraqi Kurdish journalist and analyst in Sulaimaniyah, the second largest city in the northern autonomous region. “But I am cautious about the reaction from different sides-I am cautious that a fight may happen, and Kurdish citizens may pay the cost of this.”

Hardi pointed in particular to the reactions of other Kurdish groups and Arab-dominated parties opposed to the rule of embattled Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, both of which criticized the decision. Currently, the transitional authority is formed by the powerful Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and several other smaller groupings, but not the Kurdish National Council which includes a broad spectrum of parties. KNC members called the declaration “rushed” and “one-sided”, and expressed concern that the move will become a long-term obstacle towards ending the Syrian war.

Arab groups have said the decision threatens the country’s long-term unity. “The formation of any local administration in the Kurdish areas in West Kurdistan is a must,” said Bahjat Bashir, a member of the opposition Syrian National Council, referring to Syria’s Kurdish areas by the oft-used West Kurdistan name. “But it has to meet the conditions of success, and the first of those is the participation of all of the active political powers. “Apparently the brothers in West Kurdistan rushed in announcing this government,” Bashir said.

“The management of the region cannot be done by a single party without the agreement or coordination of the Syrian opposition.” Turkey, which has supported opposition groups in Syria and sought to make progress on its own long-term dispute with its domestic Kurdish population, has also expressed reservations. “The PYD claim to declare an autonomous administration is not possible,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the private NTV television in an interview late Tuesday.

“We told them to avoid any attempt to declare a de facto administration which would split Syria.” He added: “I hope they will change their stance.” Kurdish regions of Syria have been administered by local Kurdish councils since forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad withdrew in the middle of 2012. Kurds, mostly concentrated in the north, represent about 15 percent of Syria’s population.

The redeployment was seen as a tactical move by Damascus to free up forces to battle rebels elsewhere and encourage the Kurds to avoid allying with the opposition.

In recent weeks and months, though, Kurdish forces have had their hands full battling jihadists keen to secure a wider corridor between Syria and Iraq to ensure more regular supplies and reinforcements. —AFP

15

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

German ex-president vows to clear name in favors trial HANOVER: Former German president Christian Wulff pledged to clear his name at the start of a trial yesterday on charges of accepting favors in office, a scandal which cost him the largely ceremonial post. Wulff, the only German former head of state to have to answer charges in court, said “I am sure I will be able to dispel the very last remaining allegation against me because I have always acted correctly in office”.

Signaling hopes for a return to public life after his resignation in disgrace in February 2012, he added that he would like to dedicate himself once more “to the issues that have always been close to my heart”. Wulff, 54, is accused of having allowed a film producer friend to pay

some of his travel expenses during a visit to Munich five years ago while he was state premier of Lower Saxony, in return for helping him promote a movie project.

The allegation is the only remaining charge prosecutors are leveling against Wulff after initially investigating a series of other claims he took favors from wealthy friends, including luxury holidays and a cheap home loan. Opinion is split on the case because the alleged financial favour amounts to just over 700 euros ($940), with some commentators questioning whether this justifies a scheduled 22-day trial with 46 witnesses set to last until April 2014.

The editor of the mass-circulation daily Bild, whose coverage first broke the

wider scandal, asked whether a state premier could really be bought for such a sum and added that Wulff “has already been punished enough”. The commentary also asked whether state prosecutors were being “petty and stubborn” in seeking to prove wrong-doing at all cost to justify in hindsight the launch of the criminal probe that sparked Wulff’s downfall.

The trial is expected to focus on the details surrounding the 2008 Munich trip, for the Oktoberfest beer festival and a movie event, and the alleged payments made by the film producer, David Groenewold, who is also on trial.

Prosecutors charge that Groenewold paid part of Wulff’s hotel room bill, babysitting costs and a restaurant meal. Wulff said he

was unaware of the favors at the time and later repaid them in cash. Wulff, if found guilty, theoretically faces up to three years’ jail or a fine.

The accusations against him and Groenewold were reduced from the more serious corruption and bribery charges that carry up to five years’ jail.

The ex-president and one-time rising conservative star has opted to fight the case rather than settle it with a 20,000euro fine, but he conceded yesterday that the start of the trial “won’t be an easy day”. The trial was briefly suspended soon after opening after Groenewold’s defense lawyers complained of the large number of journalists in the Hanover courtroom. — AFP

One year in, China’s Xi amasses control Chinese leader burnishing nationalist credentials BEIJING: China’s Xi Jinping took over as Communist chief one year ago to calls for economic reform and faint hopes of greater political tolerance-but has focused instead on consolidating power, burnishing nationalist credentials and stifling dissent.

When Xi strode into Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on November 15, 2012 after being anointed in a five-yearly congress, his relaxed demeanor and open admission of problems such as party corruption hinted at the possibility of change. But since that day a signature of his tenure has been “the absolutely

China’s President Xi Jinping crucial importance of maintaining the absolute leadership of the Chinese Communist Party-in other words, the system will not change”, said Kenneth Lieberthal from the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington. “He spent the last year amalgamating the leverage he needs-or that he hopes to havewithin the system and teeing up the themes,” he said, including “making the party a more disciplined and respected organization”. Nearly a century after its founding, the organization has ballooned from an ideological hard core to the world’s largest political party. Many of its 85 million cadres are drawn less by Mao Zedong Thought than the benefits of membership of the ruling elite. In a high-profile campaign, Xi vowed to crack down on rampant graft among both high-ranking “tigers” and low-

level “flies”. He has presided over the jailing for life of fallen party princeling Bo Xilai, and mounted a parallel austerity drive.

The new general secretary has been “genuinely alarmed” by the “deterioration” of the institution, suggested Lieberthal. “To try to rule through a one-party system where the party itself lacks esprit and is thoroughly corrupt is a formula for failure.” In an apparent appeal to its history, Xi has revived practices such as “self-criticism sessions”-supervising one in Hebei province in September-while invoking the Maoist “mass line” concept of bringing the party closer to the people.

But the anti-corruption campaign has yet to involve systematic reforms which might upset powerful vested interests. Bao Tong, a former secretary to the party’s top decision-making body turned dissident, called the effort less a genuine crackdown than a weapon to silence opponents. “Our system is run on corruption,” he said. “If I beat 10 tigers, 100 more will come out. If I hit 100 flies, 1000 come out. “Why do they want political power? They want it in order to be corrupt.”

The campaign’s real message to party members amounted to: “If you don’t listen to me, I’ll label you as corrupt,” Bao said.

Xi-who met Barack Obama in California earlier this year-has championed a strong nationalist identity with his “Chinese Dream” catchphrase and assertive stances on territorial disputes with neighbours, particularly historic rival Japan. Such moves may shield him from accusations of weakness among the military and public, said Scott Kennedy, a Beijing-based Chinese politics professor with the University of Indiana.

The slogan’s message is “that he supports China becoming powerful, Chinese being wealthy, that China takes its place among the rest of the world’s leaders”, he said. It is “totally undefined but it sounds very patriotic”. Under Xi’s watch authorities have also cracked down on dissenting voices and public conversation, with police detaining an unknown number of activists some after they called for the disclosure of officials’ assets as an anti-graft measure. The media remains strictly censored while high-profile bloggers and other Internet users have been warned to watch what they say.

Anyone posting social media messages that are forwarded more than 500 times or viewed over 5,000 times and later deemed “slanderous” could face three years’ jail, the Supreme Court said in September. “There’s a long laundry list of people who have been intimidated,” said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a China expert at Hong Kong Baptist University. “A lot of people thought he would be reformist but he’s opted for a very conservative drive.”

By contrast, Xi and other leaders have repeatedly pledged to reform China’s economy, whose growth is key to providing prosperity for the people. For his first trip as party chief he chose Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, a hub for China’s drastic “reform and opening” economic liberalization launched more than three decades earlier by Deng Xiaoping. The country enjoyed years of breakneck growth as a result but now faces mounting pressures to restructure economically. —AFP

YANGON: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (2nd right) and Vice President of the European Commission Catherine Ashton (2nd left) walk after attending the launch of EU-Myanmar Task Force in Yangon yesterday. — AFP

Don’t ignore Myanmar politics, Suu Kyi tells foreign investors YANGON: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi told investors at a European Union forum Thursday that business leaders should not ignore the country’s political challenges as it heads towards crucial 2015 elections. The veteran activist, who rejected suggestions that her party would slow economic progress if it came to power, said constitutional change was imperative for the economic development of the nation, seen as a key regional developing market.

“Anybody who encourages business or investment or any other activity in Burma while at the same time totally ignoring the need to amend the constitution is not being pragmatic,” she said, using the country’s former name. She was speaking at a forum on supporting Myanmar’s transition from decades of military rule that was hosted by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. The current constitution, crafted under the former junta, would block Suu Kyi from becoming president after 2015 parliamentary elections because it excludes anyone whose spouses or children are foreign nationals.

It also ensures that a quarter of the legislature is reserved for soldiers. President Thein Sein, who took power in 2011, has won international plaudits and the removal of most Western sanctions for changes including Suu Kyi’s participation in parliament and the release of political prisoners. President’s Office Minister Soe Thane called on the international community to give “constructive advice” to Myanmar as it emerges from half a century of isolation. He said the country was working towards “sustainable economic growth that leads to a shared prosperity”.

“We want to move quickly to embrace democracy, the idea of social inclusiveness, political openness. But these will be just words unless we are able to change deeply-rooted ways of thinking and behaving as well,” he told delegates. Government officials at the EU session expressed frustration that Suu Kyi had repeatedly highlighted constitutional change. “It is irrelevant to focus only on politics in this forum,” a senior politician told AFP on condition of anonymity. “It is no wonder she wants to focus on constitutional amendment because she is a politician.” —AFP

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Sahel states seek to boost security against jihadists RABAT: Ministers from countries across the Sahel and Maghreb gathered in Rabat yesterday seeking to boost border security and confront Islamist linked-violence plaguing the vast desert region. As part of Western efforts to aid the security push, France announced it had signed a contract to train 1,000 policemen in Libya, one of the countries worst affected by the regional unrest.

“We hope to sign another contract to train another 2,000 policemen for counter-terrorism, and an accord with the head of (Libya’s) national security directorate,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told the conference. Tripoli, which hosted the last regional conference on border security in March 2012, has struggled to impose order since NATO-backed rebels overthrew and killed veteran dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. “The Sahel region has become an open space for different terrorist groups, and drugs and arms trafficking networks threaten the security of the whole region,” Moroccan Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar told delegates. “The countries of the region have all the political willingness but need the means... to confront the different security challenges they face,” he added.

Delegates at the last meeting adopted an action plan aimed at boosting coordinated efforts to combat terrorism, illegal immigration and organized crime, including drug and arms trafficking. But Islamist-linked violence that has swept the region since then, including in neighboring Tunisia and Algeria, highlights the need for ever greater efforts. Fabius said he had received evidence that members of Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram, which Washington added to its terror list this week, had received training in Mali’s Infoghas Mountains.

DEADLY THREAT Mali continues to suffer deadly attacks by Islamist insurgents, 10 months after France launched a military operation against Al-Qaeda-linked groups occupying the north, where two French radio journalists were executed at the beginning of November. Libya’s Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdelaziz yesterday announced plans to set up a regional task force to monitor implementation of the Tripoli action plan, which he said could be ready within two months. “The Libyans have been given the mandate to start, in consultation with the

neighboring countries, to establish this mechanism,” Abdelaziz said. He said another conference would be held to adopt the plan and thrash out “the terms of reference of this task force and the time frame”.

Reflecting the difficulty of closer regional cooperation, Algeria’s Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra did not attend the conference following a major diplomatic spat with Rabat over the Western Sahara, a conflict that has long divided the Maghreb arch-rivals. Lamamra was instead represented by a foreign ministry official who said he knew nothing about the planned task force.

Despite their vying for influence among African allies, Algeria remains a security heavyweight in the region, and shares long, porous borders with Libya and Mali.

The ongoing cross-border security threat in the Sahara was most starkly illustrated in January when Islamist gunmen overran a gas plant in the Algerian desert, in a bloody four-day siege in which at least 37 hostages were killed. Stephen O’Brien, Britain’s special representative for the Sahel, emphasized the need for social and economic development alongside the coordinated political track. —AFP

Qatar nods compulsory military service for men DOHA: Qatar’s government has approved a draft law making it compulsory for men in the Gulf state to do military service for up to four months, media reports said yesterday. Under the proposed legislation, the first of its kind in Qatar, it would be compulsory for men aged between 18 and 35 to serve in the military for three months if they are graduates, and four if they are not. The cabinet adopted the bill on Wednesday before submitting it to the Majlis Al-Shura, or consultative council. The move was aimed at mobilizing Qataris for the defense of the country and to ensure “a regular force” that would be backed up by reservists, if necessary, the official QNA news agency reported.

A Qatari official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity said “the aim of the military service is to get young Qataris to rely on themselves,” and that four months was enough. The armed forces of Qatar, which sits on the world’s third largest natural gas reserves, are made up of 11,800 servicemen, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. In Kuwait, parliament is debating a bill for the restoration of compulsory military service, cancelled after the Iraqi army invaded the emirate in 1990 and occupied it for seven months. — AFP

Danish anti-immigrant party snubs alliance COPENHAGEN: The anti-immigration Danish People’s Party (DPP) yesterday rejected a proposed Europe-wide alliance of far-right parties, citing the perceived anti-semitism of France’s National Front (FN). “The Danish People’s Party does not like the National Front,” party spokesman Soeren Soendergaard said. “The National Front has an anti-semitic background,” he added. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Dutch anti-Islamic leader Geert Wilders on Wednesday launched an alliance to fight next year’s European elections, in a bid to unite eurosceptic right-wing parties across the continent. But the pro-Israel Wilders faced questions over aligning with Le Pen, whose father Jean-Marie Le Pen is often accused of being a virulent anti-Semite.

“We realize there are great differences between JeanMarie Le Pen and Marine Le Pen as people, but that doesn’t change our position,” Soendergaard said. Daily Danish newspaper Berlingske quoted the DPP’s deputy leader as saying the party would sever ties with Sweden’s anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats if they joined an alliance that included the National Front. But Soendergaard denied the report, saying there was no formal cooperation between the two parties, and that “cross border cooperation” went against the party’s policy. For 10 years, the DPP pressured Denmark’s centre-right coalition to adopt some of Europe’s most draconian immigration and integration regulations, in exchange for its support on other issues in parliament. —AFP

GAZA: A Palestinian woman holds up a machine gun belonging to a masked militant of Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, as they parade in Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip yesterday, during an anti-Israel march as part of the celebrations marking the first anniversary of what Israel named the ‘Pillar of Defense’ Operation. — AFP

Israel warns of war from Iran ‘bad deal’ Government sees big sanctions cut

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that a “bad deal” with Iran on its nuclear program could lead to war and his aides challenged US assertions to have offered Tehran only “modest” relief from sanctions. As details emerged of a Western proposal that could let Iran sell oil and gold in return for curbs on its nuclear activities, an Israeli minister said the deal would negate up to 40 percent of the impact of sanctions, reducing pressure on Tehran to halt a program the West says has a military motive.

Israel, which calculated the value of direct sanctions relief on offer at $15-20 billion, has lobbied hard against any such deal and says the United States, its closest ally, is being misled by overtures of detente coming from Tehran. Negotiations between Iran and six UN powers - the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China - are scheduled to resume on Nov. 20 with both sides saying they are optimistic following talks at Geneva last weekend.

One source briefed on the discussions told Reuters that Iran was being offered a chance to sell about $3.5 billion of oil over six months as well as $2-3 billion of petrochemicals and $1-2 billion of gold. The source, who criticized the offer, said it would also let

Tehran import some $7.5 billion of food and medicine plus $5 billion of other goods currently barred. Several Western officials involved in the talks said they would not discuss details while negotiations were under way.

Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful. The United States and the European Union agree with Israel that it is seeking a nuclear bomb and imposed tough oil and financial sanctions last year that have caused serious economic harm. Addressing Israel’s parliament in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said continued economic pressure on Iran was the best alternative to two other options, which he described as a bad deal and war. “I would go so far as to say that a bad deal could lead to the second, undesired option,” he said, meaning war.

Israel, believed to be the sole nuclear power in the Middle East, has long warned it could use force to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon that would threaten the Jewish state, creating tensions with the Obama administration. Washington says it is important to seek a negotiated solution, especially since Iran elected a relative moderate this year as president, Hassan Rouhani - a man Netanyahu told the United Nations last month was a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”.—Reuters

17

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Philippines buries the dead; survivors beg for help TACLOBAN: Scores of decaying bodies were laid in mass graves yesterday as overwhelmed Philippines authorities grappled with disposal of the dead, while the living begged for help after the typhoon disaster. The expected arrival later in the day of the USS George Washington, a huge aircraft carrier with 5,000 sailors aboard, offered some hope for the hungry and thirsty left to roam the ruined city of Tacloban.

But almost a week after Typhoon Haiyan swept through the country’s central islands, crushing settlements and laying waste to an already poor area, the stench of putrefying flesh hung heavy in the air. “I do feel that we have let people down,” conceded United Nations humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos, who visited Tacloban on Wednesday. “Those who have been able to leave have done so. Many more are trying.

People are extremely desperate for help,” she told reporters in Manila. “We need to get assistance to them now.

They are already saying it has taken too long to arrive. Ensuring a faster delivery is our... immediate priority.”

By mid-morning in Tacloban on Leyte island, some of the 200 corpses that had been lined up side-by-side at a local government building had been

placed at the bottom of a huge pit expected to be several layers deep by the time it is covered over with earth.

“There are still so many cadavers in so many areas. It’s scary,” said Tacloban mayor Alfred Romualdez, adding that retrieval teams were struggling to cope. “There would be a request from one community to collect five or 10 bodies and when we get there, there are 40,” Romualdez said, saying that aid agencies’ response to the increasingly desperate crisis had been too slow.

Six days after Super Typhoon Haiyan unleashed its fury, President Barack Obama urged Americans to dig deep for donations to their former Asian colony. US officials said relief channels were slowly opening up as the aircraft carrier leads a small armada of warships steaming towards the Philippines. But on the ground, aid is still not getting through to many of the hungry and thirsty battling to survive the aftermath. Sick or injured people lie helplessly among the ruins of buildings, while those with the energy try to leave a place that resembles hell.

Efren Nagrama, area manager at the civil aviation authority, said conditions were “very dire now” as he surveyed the filthy stream of humanity at Tacloban’s battered airport clamoring

Typhoon - after battle to survive, struggle to live TACLOBAN: People who clung to power cables or cowered in concrete buildings as an apocalyptic storm blew through the Philippines may have thought they were lucky to live, but for many, the struggle to survive has only just begun.

Those who made it through the terrifying winds, which hurled cars and parts of buildings around as they brought a surge of seawater ashore, each have a story to tell about the day Super Typhoon Haiyan struck. But all now face the slow-motion disaster of life in a lawless wasteland, where food and water are scarce, medicine is in short supply and gunfire rings out.

On a road behind Tacloban airport, Nelson Matobato, 34, and his wife Karen, 29, sat at night in a pedicab beside an improvised plywood coffin holding the bodies of their two daughters, aged seven and five. Their two sons, one aged four and the another only three months old, are still missing. “The water came at 7:00 am and our house was submerged instantly,” Nelson Matobato said, as a can of floor wax, used as an improvised candle, burned nearby.

“By 9:00 am we were already on the rooftop. Then all of us were swept away as the house disintegrated. We could not do anything.” His neighbor Dennis Daray also sat by the road, with the body of his sister wrapped in a white sack, one of thousands of people feared to have died in one of the most powerful storms ever recorded. Daray said he was waiting for authorities to start retrieving bodies. “It needs to be collected by the authorities. It’s starting to smell,” he said.

Angeline Conchas and her seven-year-old daughter were trapped on the second floor of their building as flood waters rose around them. They made their way to safety by clinging on to an electricity cable to get them to a higher building where they sat the flood out. “It is a good thing the electricity had already been cut off or we would have died,” Conchas said.

The World Health Organization said a number of the survivors have significant injuries that need attention. Medics say wounds left untreated in the heat and humidity can quickly become infected, leading to severe illnesses or death.—AFP

TACLOBAN: A man walks past unclaimed bodies on the beach yesterday in Tacloban city, Leyte province in central Philippines. — AP to get a flight out. “You see hundreds coming to the compound every day.

People who have walked for days without eating, only to arrive here and be made to wait for hours or days under the elements,” he said.

“People are pushed to the tipping point-they see relief planes but cannot get to the food nor get a ride out.

There is chaos.” Mayor Romualdez said the people of Tacloban needed

an “overwhelming response” from aid organizations and the government. “We need more manpower and more equipment,” Romualdez pleaded. “I cannot use a truck to collect cadavers in the morning and then use it to distribute relief goods in the afternoon,” he added. “Let’s get the bodies out of the streets. They are creating an atmosphere of fear and depression.”—AFP

China’s paltry Philippines aid hurting its reputation In relief efforts, Ikea beats China BEIJING: The outpouring of international aid to the Philippines makes China’s contribution for typhoon relief look like a trickle - and that won’t help Beijing’s campaign to win over neighbors with its soft power. The world’s second-largest economy has pledged less than $2 million in cash and materials, compared to $20 million provided by the United States, which also launched a massive military-driven rescue operation that includes an aircraft carrier.

Another Chinese rival, Japan, has pledged $10 million and offered to send troops, ships and planes. Australia is giving $28 million, and even Swedish furniture chain Ikea’s offer of $2.7 million through its charitable foundation beats China’s. China’s reluctance to give more - driven by a bitter feud with Manila over overlapping claims in the South China Sea - dents its global image at a time when it is vying with Washington for regional influence.

“China has missed an excellent opportunity to show itself as a responsible power and to generate goodwill,” said Zheng Yongnian, a China politics expert at the National University of Singapore. “They still lack strategic thinking.” The decline of American influence in Asia, with China filling the vacuum, has been predicted for years. Asian nations have become increasingly dependent on China’s booming economy to purchase their exports, and Chinese companies are increasingly providers of investment and employment.

Yet, China lags far behind the US in

the sphere of soft power - the winning of hearts and minds through culture, education, and other non-traditional forms of diplomacy, of which emergency assistance is a major component.

Despite Chinese academics’ frequent promotion of soft power, Chinese leaders don’t really get it, said Zheng.

Instead, they continue to rely on the levers of old-fashioned major-nation diplomacy based on economic and military might. “They still think they can get their way through coercion,” Zheng said.

China’s donations to Philippines include $100,000 each from the government and the Chinese Red Cross, and it is sending an additional $1.64 million in tents, blankets and other goods.

Meanwhile, the USS George Washington aircraft carrier arrived off the Philippine coast Thursday, and 1,000 troops were expected on the ground in the disaster zone by the end of the week. US planes and choppers carried in supplies and flew out survivors. “We are operating 247,” Marine Capt Cassandra Gesecki said.

In the devastated town of Tacloban, US Air Force Capt Jon Shamess took a break from work on a damaged airstrip, and said he was “thankful” for the opportunity. “I hope that in my time of immense loss somebody will come and help me as well. I can tell you this is a global effort,” he said. Beijing’s tepid response to the disaster shows how its feud with Manila over territory - fed by a constant drumbeat of invective from the government and state media - is metastasizing to all areas of its interactions

with the Philippines.

Though Beijing’s sea claims overlap with Vietnam and others, it has singled out the Philippines, apparently because of Manila’s energetic assertions of its own claims. Beijing was enraged by Manila’s decision to send the dispute to international arbitration and constantly rails against its close military alliance with the US. China’s generosity with the Philippines hasn’t entirely dried up. It pledged $80,000 to the Philippines last month following a major earthquake there, in addition to this week’s pledges.

And President Xi Jinping expressed his sympathy to his Philippine counterpart Benigno Aquino in the latest disaster, although a five full days later and without mentioning assistance. Chinese leaders are notoriously sensitive to public opinion on foreign affairs. On the Chinese Internet, the chief outlet for such expression, sentiment is strongly against providing aid.

“Why should we donate to the Philippines so that they can arm themselves with warships and aircraft? Is the Philippines a country that understands gratitude? Didn’t we show our warm heart to the country? What did we get from that? Nothing,” Fu Yao, a popular maker of micro-films, wrote on his miniblog. Zhu Feng, an international relations expert at Peking University, said the amount donated “reflects the political deadlock, if not outright hostility, between the two countries. The political atmosphere is the biggest influence.”—AP

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Russia fears return of fighters waging jihad Muslims from North Caucasus see jihad in Syria NOVOSASITLI: A scrawny 15-year-old this summer became the first from his deeply religious Muslim village in Russia’s southern Dagestan province to die fighting alongside rebels in Syria. Some regard him as a martyr for joining the rebels in the fight against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad who is supported by Russia.

Moscow now fears that hundreds of Russian-born militants it says are fighting in Syria will return experienced in warfare to join an insurgency in Dagestan and its other North Caucasus provinces by militants fighting for an Islamic state.

Violence in the region claims lives almost daily. Fifteen men from Novosasitli alone have died in shootouts with Russian forces in the last four years, locals say. Analysts say fighters could also try to strike during the 2014 Winter Olympics in February in nearby Sochi. President Vladimir Putin, who has staked his reputation on the Games, has said militants returning from Syria pose “a very real” threat and signed off on a law this month to jail any who come home.

“The militant groups did not come out of nowhere, and they will not vanish into thin air,” Putin said on Sept 23. In Novosasitli, where walls are tagged with graffiti supporting rebels fighting for an Islamic state, villagers say at least eight out of 2,000 inhabitants have gone to Syria. “There are whole brigades of our boys there,” village council member Akhmed Khaibulayev said. Three of them were arrested by Russian forces on their way home via a land route crossing the border from Azerbaijan back into Dagestan, he said, but five have returned, underscoring the ease with which Russians travel to and from Syria.

“They are at home now, waiting for when the security forces come for them,” Khaibulayev said. Anxious parents try to hold back their sons. “A father knows his son. I told him to leave his passport with me. When he refused, I took it away,” a man dressed in a beige tunic and skullcap said, asking not to be named for fear of reprisal by Russian security forces.

Despite his warnings, his 23-year-old son, whom he boasts knew the Koran by heart, left two months ago for the battlefield.

“I don’t know if he will come back,” he said. A photograph, sent by fighters, of the scarred, skinny corpse of the local 15-year-old killed there is still being passed around the village. Stones are placed over his eyelids. In the comment thread under a photo of the smooth-chinned youth on a Facebook page he is called a hero and a martyr.

“He went to Syria because he couldn’t stand that Assad and his army were killing children,” said a villager, who locals said also fought in Syria and who refused to be named. The boy had studied in Egypt before joining other Russian-born militants in Syria, and his family only learned he had gone to fight there after his death, locals said.

His father, who lost an arm in Syria when he went to see his son’s grave, was briefly detained by security forces in August when he returned home. He refused to speak to Reuters.

HOLY WAR The sons of Novosasitli grew up playing “cops and insurgents” in the streets. Russian rule is tenuous with residents describing police as the enemy, the state as corrupt and say they manage their own affairs under Sharia law. Some have had relatives, classmates or neighbors join Islamist insurgency in Russia, rooted in separatist wars in neighboring Chechnya.

The militants adhere to Salafism, an ultra-conservative branch of Sunni Islam. They do not have the support of all Salafis - some disapprove of their racketeering ways or do not view their attacks on police and officials as a lawful jihad. The battle raging in Syria is different. It is widely seen in the majority Sunni Muslim region as a “true” holy war against Assad’s Alawite-dominated government.

But voicing that support for Syrian rebels in Russia is dangerous. A popular young imam who had raised funds to help Syrian refugees has fled to Turkey after coming under pressure from law enforcement. Media with links to police claimed he was inciting youths to join the conflict. The doors of a newly built, emeralddomed madrasa he ran in Novosasitli now stand shut, empty of students. “There’s no obligation for Muslims to go from here to Syria,” says Abdurakhim Magomedov, 71, a Salafi scholar in Novosasitli. “But if someone wants to go, no one can stop him.”

THREAT TO OLYMPICS? The flow of Russians from the North Caucasus going to Syria increased this year, officials and locals say, as pleas for help from rebels grew more acute following a poison gas attack in the suburbs of Damascus. In June, Russia’s FSB security service said 200 Russians were fighting with Al-Qaeda affiliated groups in Syria. By September, it said as many as 400 Russians were there. “They will come back, and that poses a huge threat,” FSB deputy director Sergei Smirnov, said on Sept 20. Russian estimates of the number of fighters may not be accurate, experts say, because of the large numbers of its citizens studying abroad or who have emigrated to Europe, Jordan, Turkey and elsewhere.

Some gained skill and experience, highly-valued by the Syrian

from ruining the Olympics.”

An amendment to Russia’s anti-terrorism law, submitted by Putin and rushed through parliament after a deadly bus bombing killed six people in southern Russia on Oct 21, makes those who fight abroad criminally accountable at home. Under the law, training “with the aim of carrying out terrorist activity” is punishable by 10 years in jail and being part of an armed group abroad “whose aims are contrary to Russian interests” by six years in jail.

‘OUR MUSLIM BROTHERS’ Since Putin rose to power 13 years ago and crushed a Chechen separatist revolt, he has said he would not allow the Caucasus provinces to split from Russia. But the nationalist cause that inspired Chechens to revolt after collapse of the Soviet Union has

OTAIBA: Dead bodies of Syrian rebels are seen on the ground after fighting with Syrian government forces near the Otaiba area, near Damascus. — AP rebels, in fighting the separatist wars in Chechnya in 1994-96 and 1999-2000, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Experts say the number of Russians in Syria may be higher. Russia’s protection of Assad, with weapons supplies and diplomatic backing, has also left many angry at Putin. “Muslims the world over revile Putin for his support of Assad,” said Dzhabrail Magomedov, one of some two dozen in Novosasitli, who studied at a religious school in Damascus.

This summer the Chechen-born Caucasus insurgent leader Doku Umarov urged fighters to use “maximum force” to sabotage the Olympics. His cry was echoed by fighters in Syria, who called on Muslims in the North Caucasus to wage jihad at home rather than joining them. Russia has a history of recent militant attacks.

Suicide bombings in the past two years killed dozens at a Moscow airport and subway. More than 380 people, mainly school children, were killed in the siege of a primary school in Beslan in 2004.

“For such a jihad, one, two people is enough,” a Russian-speaking rebel says in a YouTube address from Syria dated July 30, flanked by seven camouflage-clad fighters armed with heavy machine guns and a grenade launcher. Security is tight around Olympic host city Sochi, which abuts the North Caucasus region.

“Do you know where Sochi is? We have enough of our own rebels there,” said Sergey Goncharov, a former deputy head of the FSB’s elite Alfa counter-insurgency unit. “If they now get reinforcement from Syria, our security services will be hard put to prevent them

mutated into an Islamic one that spread to nearby Caucasus mountain lands.

Defeated in Chechnya, rebels now launch near-daily attacks in Ingushetia, Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria. Today, the ranks of fighters are filled by youths disillusioned by police brutality, joblessness, corruption and the perceived persecution of religious conservatives. Empathy for fellow Sunni Muslims caught in the bloodshed in Syria is especially sharp among Chechens, who see in it echoes of their own suffering in two wars for secession from Russia.

“They also killed our mothers, brothers and grandparents,” said Akhmed, a 21-year-old Chechen, in the village of Berdykel, near the provincial capital, Grozny. “We want to help. They are our Muslim brothers.” In response, Chechen authorities have banned wakes for anyone killed in Syria, and Muslim clerics speak out in mosques and schools, casting the war as a political struggle not a religious one. A local government minister was fired when one of his family left for Syria, a source who knew of the incident said.

Chechen-language TV aired the apology of a 26-year-old, who said he had made a mistake fighting to Syria and doubted the war was a true jihad because of infighting among the rebels. “I got scared that I would die not on the right path, so I came back,” he said, head bowed before Kremlin-backed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. At his yellow-gated home in Berdykel, a relative said his family no longer let him live at home. “It’s very painful for us,” said a young male relative.— Reuters

Business FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Euro-zone revival slows down to ‘snail’s pace’

Samsung owes Apple $52m

PAGE 21

PAGE 20

BENGHAZI: Libyan security forces members stand near their armored personnel carrier vehicle at a security checkpoint. — AFP

Libya’s city booms despite violence Islamist checkpoints contrast with luxury stores BENGHAZI: Shop assistants showcase elegant Italian menswear, next door a fast food restaurant buzzes with customers, and nearby a German sportswear shop hawks the latest high-end running shoes. The scene could be downtown New York or Milan if not for the occasional gun battles, car bombs and bearded Islamist fighters flourishing rifles and fundamentalist beliefs. In Benghazi, Libya’s eastern metropolis, the militias that plague much of the country flourish alongside a boom in sales of foreign brands catering to the city’s burgeoning rich class.

Libya’s second-largest city stands for almost everything wrong with the North African country and its fragile central government since the 2011 ouster of Muammar Gaddafi. Tripoli government has little say in the rundown port where militias and Islamists set up private checkpoints, often beneath black Al Qaeda flags. The U.S. ambassador was killed here during an Islamist assault on the U.S. consulate in September 2012. Benghazi sits at the heart of an autonomy movement resisting central government authority and taking over eastern ports to choke off nearly half of the OPEC nation’s oil shipments in a push for more independence. But that lawlessness has not hindered the arrival of expensive outlets and a three-floor mall.

Venice Street, as it is called by locals, was once a dull backstreet. A year ago, luxury retailers turned it into a buzzing commercial strip. “People have more money than under Gaddafi so business is excellent,” said Mohammed Lara, chief executive of a perfume retailer, which has two Benghazi shops and plans another.

Customers are hungry for luxury goods because shopping under Gaddafi was frustrated by state controls and sanctions, he said. State markets sold anything from Turkish-made chocolate to Chinese socks to cover basic needs, but quality goods were out of reach for most on state salaries. Despite suffering from anarchy and poor public services, Libyans are now better off financially. Gaddafi increased salaries for the public sector just before the NATO-backed uprising in a futile bid to ease dissent.

The new government, struggling to assert control of a vast country still filled with arms, has kept the salary increase and handed out more benefits, and not just for civil servants. This year it raised salaries for oil workers by 67 percent in an apparent attempt to end protests at oil ports. Half of the $54 billion national budget goes to state salaries and subsidies for anything from bread to petrol, health care and plane tickets to keep people happy.

“I am upgrading my fashion shops from Chinese textile to European brands as I see demand for quality products,” said Ghanem Sheikhi, who is partner in a shopping mall and owner of fashion, computer game entertainment and fast-food shops. One sector that is booming is travel. Local air traffic has risen to 1.8 million passengers annually, compared to some 800,000 in the Gaddafi era, said Qais Al-Baksheshe, head of an organisation helping local authorities attract foreign firms. Benghazi’s tiny airport, with two ramshackle buildings dating back to before Gaddafi, is already served by carriers such as Turkish Airways or Egyptair.

Decades of neglect Benghazi, a city with around one million residents, had been neglected for decades by Gaddafi who held a grudge against the eastern region known as Cyrenaica, the cradle of the uprising. Despite the east sitting on 60 percent of Libya’s oil wealth, buildings in Benghazi are dilapidated. Many houses built by Italian colonial rulers still show damage from air strikes during World War Two when the city changed hands between British and German troops.

Tripoli’s government, hampered by infighting and militias refusing to disarm, has done little to improve public services. Aged hospitals, schools and universities have yet to be refurbished. At night, Venice Street is lit by sparkling shop fronts, not street lamps. That has fueled calls for more autonomy from Tripoli under a federal system to share wealth and power under post-colonial divisions of the Cyrenaica region to the east, southern Fezzan and Tripolitania to the west.

A Cyrenaica movement has already grown, declaring itself independent and set up its own administration and oil firm. Protesters have controlled oil ports in the east for months. It is still uncertain how much autonomy they can really exercise. “We have many problems with the government in Tripoli,” said Baksheshe from the business organisation, “For any project we need to go to Tripoli.” If there is development in Benghazi it comes from the private sector such as Chinese firms planning 20,000 housing units.

Four large building projects and eight tower blocks are under way, and a Turkish firm plans an American

University campus like in Cairo or Beirut.

Luxury and lawlessness But the biggest obstacle in Benghazi remains the lack of security. Car hijackings are widespread, and assassinations of army or police officers are commonplace. New luxury also attracts unwanted attention.

When an armed gang attacked one perfume shop, some locals blame radical Islamists who tend to consider perfume or makeup as haram, or forbidden, under their fundamentalist interpretation of Islam.

“You can have growth for this, and the next, maybe three years but what then?” perfume retailer Lara said, sitting in his office in a high-rise tower in central Benghazi. Baksheshe’s institute is trying to persuade investors to come by guaranteeing them protection.

“We had a Turkish firm... which was afraid to come and demanded security. They’ve been here for three months and everything is going well,” he said. Even Islamists publicly welcome the shop bonanza, and say they reject violence. They said the Islamists would always respect others’ beliefs, but hint they can show who is in charge when they are unhappy with Benghazi’s direction. “We only have a problem with violations of Islamic law like interest payments, alcohol or immoral places,” said Ahmed Zlietny, spokesman for a local Islamic group campaigning for the introduction of Sharia law. “If we really wanted to impose Islamic law on Libyans we could do so by force.” — Reuters

Business FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Swiss chocolate maker opens factory in Japan TAKASAKI: The opening of a Swiss-owned chocolate factory northwest of Tokyo is a small but sweet milestone in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s crusade to lure foreign investment to Japan after decades of keeping local industries protected from outside competition. Zurichbased cocoa and chocolate maker Barry Callebaut spent 18.5 million Swiss francs ($20 million) to build the factory, which opened yesterday on the site of a former brewery in Takasaki, smack in the middle of the country. The company aims to help sate the Japanese appetite for chocolate: about 2 kilograms (4 1/2 pounds) of chocolate a year for every person in lean times or fat, which makes this $11.4 billion market the biggest in Asia.

Faced with Japan’s economic eclipse by China, Abe hopes to double foreign investment this decade, a goal set long ago by one of his predecessors, Junichiro Koizumi, but never reached. Foreign investment in Japan is just a fraction of the levels in other wealthy countries, a legacy of mercantilist policies that helped foster giant exporters such as Toyota. So far, both foreign and Japanese companies remain wary: deregulation and tax incentives are feeble weapons against the demographic odds of a country whose population is fast aging and already shrinking.

For chocolate makers, it’s less of a hard sell. Even if Japanese continue to tighten their belts and refrain from splashing out on big ticket luxuries, people still have to eat. Moreover, older Japanese are big chocoholics, con-

Iran asks Indian refiners to pay in euros NEW DELHI: Indian refiners have asked the government to clarify if they can pay Iran for crude in euros after the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) requested settlement of some debts through a Turkish bank, Indian officials said on Wednesday. Western sanctions aimed at forcing Iran to curb its nuclear programme have more than halved Iranian oil exports and all but halted the flow of petrodollars into Tehran’s coffers. The sanctions have cost Iran billions of dollars a month and crippled its economy.

The United States in February tightened sanctions further by forcing Iran’s remaining oil buyers to stop transferring cash payments to Tehran, and instead keep the money in bank accounts in the currency of the importing countries.

Those sanctions cut the payment route Indian buyers had used to pay for over half their imports, which was to transfer euros to Iran via Turkey’s state-owned Halkbank.

India is Iran’s second-largest buyer, and with no payment route, the cash has quickly piled up. India now owes Iran about $5.3 billion for oil imports, government and refining sources said last week.

In mid-October, NIOC informed Indian refiners that Halkbank was ready to restart channelling the payments to Iran, the sources told Reuters, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. NIOC said it had been informed that Halkbank could be used again by Iran’s central bank. It was unclear from the communication from NIOC what had changed that would allow the payments to restart without contravening US sanctions, the sources said. Halkbank declined to comment.

Indian refiners have yet to restart payments via Halkbank and have asked the government for guidance, the sources said. The relationship between Iran and the US has improved in recent months, leading to speculation sanctions could be eased. But the US has said it will not loosen sanctions until Iran desists from activities that could facilitate making nuclear arms. Iran says its nuclear programme is to generate electricity, not to build bombs.

Talks between Iran and world powers over the disputed nuclear programme failed to reach an agreement at the weekend to end the decade-long standoff. Indian refiners Essar Oil, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum and Indian Oil Corp have all bought crude from Iran and owe payment, sources said.

The United States requires Iranian oil customers, most of whom are in Asia, to continuously reduce purchases to qualify for exceptions to sanctions. The waivers are reviewed every six months, and the next review is to take place soon. —Reuters

vinced of the health benefits of cacao bean flavonoids antioxidants that can improve heart health.

Though Barry Callebaut’s investment decision predates Abe’s election win last December, it illustrates some of the potential gains Japanese companies could reap from closer cooperation with foreign partners, but generally are not. Back in 2007, Barry Callebaut strengthened its alliance with Morinaga & Co., one of Japan’s biggest sweets companies with popular treats such as “Choco Balls,” doubling sales volumes here.

With a purpose-built factory alongside a Morinaga plant in Takasaki, Barry Callebaut will be better placed to meet demand, said Mikael Neglen, the company’s president for chocolate in the Asia Pacific. For Morinaga, founded in 1899, Barry Callebaut has brought a stable supply of liquid chocolate, cost reductions and improved efficiency. “We have the capacity to reduce process times by up to 25 percent but still maintain quality standards,” said Michael Roberts, project manager for Barry Callebaut in Asia, as he gave a tour of the tantalizingly aromatic production line that transforms cacao beans into chocolate. Any reduction in manufacturing time translates into huge savings, especially in energy costs, he said.

Attracting foreign capital and innovation are pivotal to reforms Abe has promised to help restore Japan’s competitiveness. So far, his efforts have focused on tax cuts and winning approval for special economic zones

meant to make business easier for foreign companies that are put off by Japan’s high costs and cumbersome labor regulations.

In one of the other major, though modest foreign investments announced this year, French dairy maker Danone SA has said it will spend 14 billion yen ($140 million) to double capacity at its yoghurt factory in Gunma Prefecture to 200,000 tons a year.

But so far, most of the foreign investment in “Abenomics” has been in shares and real estate. Stock prices soared last spring on expectations that Abe’s stimulus policies and the weakening of the Japanese yen would be a boon to exporters, many of whom have since reported surging profits.

In 2012, foreign direct investment in Japan reversed a two year decline to increase by $1.76 billion. But investment overseas by Japanese companies was $122.4 billion. Overall, Japan has a stock of more than $1 trillion in foreign investment overseas, while foreign investments in Japan total $178 billion, according to the Japan External Trade Organization. JETRO has stepped up its own campaign to attract foreign companies, while local governments also are clamoring for attention. Chiba, whose industrial districts are located just across Tokyo Bay, recently announced an “Investment Support Center” and was offering a onethird subsidy for rent to foreign companies starting up new businesses in Japan. — AP

Euro-zone revival slows down to ‘snail’s pace’ French economic recovery stumbles as anger mounts BRUSSELS: A tepid euro-zone recovery slowed to a ‘snail’s pace’ in the third quarter, with powerhouse Germany off its stride and France hit by a surprise contraction, official data showed yesterday. The 17-nation eurozone economy grew just 0.1 percent in the three months to September after a gain of 0.3 percent in the previous quarter, the Eurostat statistics agency said. Germany, Europe’s largest economy, eked out growth of 0.3 percent, down from 0.7 percent in the second quarter, while France slipped back, its economy shrinking 0.1 percent after a gain of 0.5 percent.

The euro-zone emerged from a deep and record 18-month recession in the second quarter with growth of 0.3 percent and it had been expected to maintain that pace initially.

However, recent data has fallen short, with unemployment especially a cause for concern at a stubborn all-time high of 12.2 percent, forcing analysts to steadily downgrade their third quarter estimates to 0.1 percent.

Martin van Vliet of Global Economics ING said the report showed the “recovery continued in the third quarter but at a snail’s pace.”

The cause appears to be slowing exports, which van Vliet blamed on a stronger euro currency, while domestic demand fails to make up the difference. “With weak housing markets, still-tight credit conditions and ongoing fiscal austerity still keeping spending ... subdued, domestic demand simply couldn’t offset this,” he said.

Eurostat gave no details of the figures but in Berlin, its Destatis counterpart said the German slowdown reflected a lacklustre export performance. Just the day after Brussels formally put Germany on notice because of its over-reliance on exports for growth, Destatis said growth was driven “exclusively from within Germany.” Analysts said the German figures disappointed but were not cause for immediate concern. “While the overall level of growth may be disappointing, the mix of components looks strong,” said Berenberg Bank economist

ATHENS: A man begs on a street of Athens in this file photo. — AFP Christian Schulz. “The German economy remains the stronghold of the euro-zone,” said ING DiBa economist Carsten Brzeski, highlighting a “positive mix of record high employment, wage increases and strong external demand for German products.”

Recovery struggling for momentum Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight said the report showed the euro-zone “just about managing to keep growing, it is struggling to develop recovery momentum.” “It was particularly disappointing to see France suffer a renewed dip ... which highlights concern about its underlying competitiveness,” Archer said.As for Germany, the downturn is of concern but “the economy still looks to be in relatively decent shape,” he added. Archer said growth should “edge higher in the fourth quarter but we suspect that recovery will remain gradual and vulnerable in the face of still significant headwinds.” Accordingly, the European Central Bank, fresh from cutting interest rates to a record-low 0.25 percent last

week, will have to be ready to do more to boost the economy, he said.

Other analysts made a similar point. The report does no necessarily mark “the start of a fresh leg down. However, it does confirm that the euro-zone recovery will be a slow affair,” said Nick Kounis of ABN AMRO. “The weak growth figures therefore keep further ECB action very much on the table,” Kounis added.

Eurostat said that compared with a year-earlier, the euro-zone shrank 0.4 percent in the third quarter, slightly better than the 0.6 percent contraction posted in the second. The wider 28member European Union economy also slowed in the third quarter but not by as much-to 0.2 percent from 0.3 percent in the second.

Compared with third quarter 2012, the EU showed growth of 0.1 percent after a contraction of 0.2 percent in the second quarter this year. Among other member states, Spain gained 0.1 percent after shrinking the same amount in the second quarter while Italy contracted 0.1 percent after falling 0.3 percent. —AFP

Business FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Gold demand slides in Q3-World Gold Council LONDON: Gold demand fell 21 percent in the third quarter as outflows from physical bullion funds and a drop in buying from major consumer India offset firmer jewellery, coin and bar sales, an industry report showed yesterday. Gold consumption fell to 868.5 tonnes in the last quarter, a fouryear low, from 1,101.4 tonnes in the same period of the previous year, according to the World Gold Council’s latest Gold Demand Trends report, prepared in association with Thomson Reuters GFMS. The demand slide is likely to slow in the fourth quarter, the WGC’s managing director for investment, Marcus Grubb, said, as selling of gold-backed exchange-traded funds-which have seen outflows of nearly 700 tonnes this year-eases. However, it is still likely to fall for a second consecutive year. “From where we were last year in terms of demand, which was 4,382 tonnes, we’ll be down between 5 and 10 percent at year end,” Grubb said. “That’s not as (big a drop) as we’ve seen so far, which is 12-13 percent, but it’s still significantly down on 2012.”

“That’s almost all due to the ETFs,” he said. Overall investment demand fell 56 percent to 185.5 tonnes in the

third quarter, with bullion-backed exchange-traded funds selling 118.7 tonnes of gold. Central bank purchases were 17 percent, or 18.9 tonnes, lower in that period. Offical sector demand has fallen by 25 percent in the first nine months of the year to 296.9 tonnes from 393.6 tonnes, the data showed. ETF outflows and lower central bank buying comfortably exceeded a 16.7 tonne increase in coin and bar demand and a 25 tonne rise in jewellery buying, to 487 tonnes. Consumer demand for gold in the first nine months of the year hit a record 2,896 tonnes, the WGC said, as buyers took advantage of lower gold prices, which plunged 26 percent in the first half.

Prices peaked at $1,920.30 an ounce in September 2011 and are on track to post their first annual loss after 12 years of gains, currently down more than 20 percent on the year. “We’ve had a strange year, where the market is going to be down in tonnage terms, down in price, driven by one factor: the ETFs,” Grubb said. “(But) if you look at the trend, we’re already at the point where most of that selling has already happened. “In the last few weeks we’ve actually seen new net inflows into gold ETFs,” he said. “Our guess

is that that selling is bottoming out.”

Gold flowing East Demand in India, historically the world’s number one gold consumer, for jewellery, coins and bars fell 71 tonnes or 32 percent in the quarter after the government increased import tariffs in a bid to tackle a record current account deficit. China accounted for the bulk of consumer demand in the last quarter, with offtake of 209.6 tonnes.

Chinese gold jewellery buying rose by nearly a third, although coin and bar demand fell 8 percent to 45.9 tonnes. Chinese consumer demand remains on track to outstrip that of India for the first time, the WGC said, totalling 779.6 tonnes in the year to date versus 714.7 tonnes for India. “China is more than likely going to be the larger market by the end of the year,” Grubb said. “Our formal target for both markets is for demand of 900-1,000 tonnes. I think China could well exceed the upper end of our target range, so you could see 1,000-1,100 tonnes in China. “In India, we favour more the bottom end of the range, at 900 tonnes,” he added. —Reuters

Samsung owes Apple $52 million SAN JOSE: How much does Samsung Electronics owe Apple for copying vital features of the iPhone and iPad? Apple says $380 million. Samsung counters with $52 million. It’s possible a jury presiding over a patent trial in a San Jose courtroom will find somewhere in between. The first day of testimony in the trial got underway Wednesday. At issue are 13 Samsung devices another jury decided infringed Apple patents for technology that allows scrolling and the “bounce-back” function at the end of documents, among other inventions.

That previous jury awarded Apple $1.05 billion after determining 26 Samsung products had infringed six Apple patents. But a judge found the jury miscalculated $400 million in damages for 13 products and ordered a new trial to determine the proper amount.

“Apple lost sales because Samsung was selling infringing products,” Apple attorney Harold McIlhenny told the jury during opening statements. He argued that Apple’s lost profits, Samsung’s profits on the offending devices and royalties owed Apple, add up to $380 million.

“In a fair fight, in a fair competition, the money they got would have and should have gone to Apple,” McIlhenny said. Samsung’s attorney Bill Price countered during his own opening statements that consumers preferred Samsung’s devices, which operate with Google’s Android system, because of the many differences - rather than the similarities - they have with Apple’s products. Price told the jury that Samsung owes Apple $52 million.“Apple is simply asking for much more money than it’s entitled to,” Price said. Price readily conceded that Samsung was guilty of copying Apple’s features, but downplayed the significance of the technology in devices that are built with hundreds of patents each. “This is a case not where we’re disputing that the 13 phones contain some elements of Apple’s property,” Price said. “That doesn’t mean Apple gets to come in here and ask for a windfall ... for more than it is entitled.”

Apple called three expert witnesses and a company executive to discuss Apple’s patents Wednesday before court ended for the day.

The trial is expected to last into the middle of next week. The two companies are locked in legal battles around the globe for supremacy in the more than $300 billion smartphone market. The current trial is a dispute over older products, most of which are no longer sold new in the United States.

Another trial is scheduled in San Jose in March over Samsung’s devices currently on US shelves. Apple and Samsung are the world’s two biggest smartphone makers and combined make nearly half of all smartphones sold globally. The two companies have resisted calls from judges, regulators and analysts to settle their differences, instead choosing to spend many millions of dollars on lawyers and legal fees to battle it out in court and before regulatory agencies.

“Most cases with these enormous stakes would have settled by now - particularly once the court ordered a new trial on damages, which could substantially increase or decrease the damage award,” said Notre Dame law school professor Mark McKenna, who specializes in technology. But McKenna said a key incentive for both companies to reach a settlement was removed by US District Judge Lucy Koh when she refused to ban US sales of the Samsung products the first jury found infringed Apple’s patents.—AP

ASHULIA: A Bangladeshi policeman fires a shotgun loaded with rubber projectiles during clashes with police and garment workers in Ashulia, a key garment manufacturing hub outside Dhaka. — AFP

Bangladesh factories agree to increase pay Violent protests continue DHAKA: Bangladeshi garment factory owners said yesterday they had agreed to a proposed 77 percent rise in the minimum wage, but police used teargas and rubber bullets to break up new protests by stone-throwing workers calling for a bigger increase. Bangladesh’s official wage board had proposed the rise to $68 a month as the minimum wage, up from $38, after a string of fatal factory accidents this year thrust poor pay and conditions into the international spotlight.

The factory owners agreed to the proposal at a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday night after several days of violent protests by workers. “We have agreed to the new wages after the prime minister assured us she would look into our problems,” said Mohammad Atiqul Islam, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers’ and Exporters’ Association.

He said the new wage, to be officially approved by the wage board, would be effective from next month.` “In the greater interest of our garment sector, we agreed to it.

But many small factories cannot afford the rise,” Islam told Reuters. Workers demanding a $100 a month took to the streets, blocking major roads and attacking factories in the Ashulia industrial belt, on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka. Police used water cannon, fired rubber bullets and lobbed teargas to disperse the stone-throwing demonstrators, witnesses said. More than 50 people, including police, were wounded. “We will continue protesting until we realise our demand,” a protester said.

Still lowest Violent protests over the pay rise have forced the closure of more than 100 factories this week. About 200 were shut yesterday. Labour Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju urged workers to go back to work. He said continuing unrest could threaten livelihoods and warned of action against trouble-makers. “We are working to ensure decent pay for garment workers,” he told reporters after a meeting trade unions. “Culprits who are trying to destroy the industry won’t be spared.”

The new wage would still be the lowest for garment workers in the world, said Khandaker Golam Moazzem, a research director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue think-tank. The protests have coincided with violent anti-government protests and strikes led by the main opposition party demanding next year’s elections take place under a non-partisan government.

The impasse between the ruling party and opposition over election rules is a fresh threat to Bangladesh’s $22 billion garment export industry, the economic lifeblood of the impoverished country of 160 million, employing about 4 million people, most of them women. The garment industry, which supplies many Western brands such as Wal-Mart, JC Penney and H&M, has already been under the spotlight after the accidents, including the collapse of a building housing factories in April that killed more than 1,130 people. —Reuters

Business FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Shale has no long-term impact on oil pricing LONDON: Shale will not significantly boost oil production or bring down prices in the long term, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The surprising findings are contained in the latest version of the agency’s annual World Energy Outlook (WEO). Worldwide production of light tight oil (LTO) from shale and other formations requiring fracking is expected to grow from 2.0 million barrels per day in 2012 to just 5.8 million bpd by 2030, before declining slightly to 5.6 million bpd in 2035. The agency predicts shale will account for no more than 6 percent of annual oil and liquids production over the next 20 years. And the shale revolution will remain almost entirely confined to North America. The agency expects US LTO production to plateau around 4.3 million bpd between 2025 and 2030, before declining slightly as the most productive sweet spots in shale plays are used up. As for other countries, the agency says they will struggle to replicate the North American experience because of regulatory barriers and the lack of a competitive upstream oil sector. By 2035, the agency projects, LTO production will reach just 450,000 bpd in Russia, 220,000 bpd in Argentina and 210,000 bpd in China. These forecasts are extremely conservative. The agency predicts that the oil industry will struggle to add the same amount of output in the rest of the world over two decades as from a single shale play in the United States.

Unchanging outlook In the decade to 2025, the IEA thinks that shale, coupled with Canada’s oil sands and deepwater production from Brazil and elsewhere, will reduce reliance on OPEC. There are already hints that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar could reduce investment in new capacity as a result. But by the late 2020s the agency says dependence on OPEC will start to increase again.

The IEA dismisses shale’s significance for both peak oil and the world’s long-term reliance on OPEC. Nor does the agency think natural gas will emerge as a serious rival to refined oil products as a transport fuel by 2035. The share of natural gas in the road-transport market is forecast to rise from 2 percent currently to 2.8 percent by 2020 and 4.8 percent by 2035. In the United States, gas will displace just 450,000 bpd of diesel consumption by 2035.

As a result, the agency’s forecasts for long-term oil prices and consumption have changed little from previous years. In fact, the agency’s long-term price projections have remained remarkably constant since 2008, despite the financial crisis and the shale revolution.

Price above marginal cost The agency admits that the cost of the marginal barrel needed to meet expected 2035 demand is probably no more than $80-90 in real terms, which is significantly less than the real price of $128 it sees for the end of projection period. In theory, investment and production should expand until prices are driven down to marginal cost. But the IEA believes the industry’s expansion will be limited by the restrictive depletion policies and the revenue needs of OPEC producers as well as by constraints on raising output outside the cartel, particularly the shortage of experienced personnel.

“There are many constraints on supply keeping pace with demand, even though production projects may be highly profitable,” the agency explains. “The oil price trajectory, at a level above the marginal cost per barrel, serves the purpose of limiting demand to a level that can reasonably be expected to be supplied.”The IEA noted that widespread shortages of skilled personnel are plaguing the industry and that it will take 10 to 15 years for new recruits to gain enough experience to assume leadership positions. “Empirical evidence suggests the oil industry is very risk-averse in its recruiting policies, leading to long lasting imbalances,” the report warns.

“If oil prices rise with time, it is not because there is a shortage of lower cost oil, but rather because the industry’s capacity to increase oil production at the same pace as demand growth is limited,” the agency concludes. “High prices are required to moderate the growth in demand and bring it into equilibrium with the rate of increase of supply.” Other factors expected to keep prices well above marginal cost are political risks and the high risk-adjusted returns required by the major international oil companies.

Worrying invariance The main problem with the WEO projections is that they assume that the main barriers to industry expansion will not be overcome by 2035, even though the industry has more than 20 years to work on them. It is difficult to believe skill shortages cannot be alleviated in 20 years, or that political and regulatory barriers and the lack of drilling equipment holding back shale development outside the United States cannot be overcome. If the major oil companies remain riskaverse and OPEC producers in the Middle East continue to restrict supply, experience suggests new players will emerge and new sources of production will come on stream. North America’s shale plays have been developed in less than a decade by smaller, innovative oil and gas firms, despite or even because of, the lack of interest from the majors.—Reuters

SEATTLE: Boeing machinists react as the results of a vote are read at the International Association of Machinists union hall in Seattle on Wednesday, November 13, 2013. — AP

Boeing machinists reject labor deal on 777X by 67% Union members cheer as ‘no’ vote announced SEATTLE: Boeing Co machinists soundly rejected an eight-year labor contract extension on Wednesday that would have let them build the company’s newest jetliner in Washington, a historic decision that could forever alter the course of Boeing’s 97-year presence in the state. International Association of Machinists members voted 67 percent against a deal that would secure an estimated 20 years of work building Boeing’s 777X jet, but a deal that would have terminated their pension plan and raised their healthcare costs.

The decision means Boeing will consider building key parts of the 777X, including the wings, in non-union US states or in Japan, where it has already received an offer. A crowd of more than 100 people erupted in cheers when the vote was announced amid a charged atmosphere at the union’s main hall in Seattle. The vote means Boeing will look for other locations to build the 777X, the only jet it is likely to develop in the next 15 years. Even though the union’s 31,000 workers gave up their chance for those jobs, they considered the giveaways in the contract too grave to accept. Boeing “overreached,” said Kathy Cummings, a Washington State Labor Council official. Boeing swiftly issued a statement saying it had sought to strike a balance between its desire to build the jet in the state and to get what it termed a competitive cost structure. “We are very disappointed in the outcome of the union vote,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes Chief Executive Ray Conner said in the statement.

“Without the terms of this contract extension, we’re left with no choice but to open the process competitively and pursue all options for the 777X.” Tom Wroblewski, president of International Association of Machinists District 751, the local union, said in a statement that members “preserved something sacred by rejecting the Boeing proposal. We’ve held on to our pensions and that’s big. At a time when financial planners are talking about a ‘retirement crisis’ in America, we have preserved a tool that will help our members retire with more comfort and dignity.”

He said he hoped Boeing would “not discard our skills when looking to place the 777X.” Wroblewski came under fire for standing with Boeing and Gov. Jay Inslee in announcing the labor proposal last week, then two days later at a raucous meeting with members, he tore up the agreement and disparaged it.

Wilson Ferguson, vice president of District 751, said Boeing’s attempt to put the “future of the job market of the Puget Sound for the next 30 years on us is ridiculous.” “If they’re going to make those business decisions and take the company down the road to corporate suicide, that’s entirely their business,” he said.

Washington state Gov. Inslee, who won approval of an $8.7 billion tax package for Boeing and the aerospace industry in less than a week, said the state still has much to offer Boeing. “This does not diminish the strengths we do bring to the table,” he said.

“Tremendous workforce, tremendous incentive package, good

permitting, a way to move forward on transportation. We bring those strengths to the table and we’ve got to continue to maximize those.”

Strong views Voter turnout was high. Workers began lining up in predawn darkness on Wednesday outside the union hall in Everett, Washington and elsewhere in the Seattle area and in Oregon.

Boeing builds the current 777 model in Everett. “It goes against everything that we’ve fought for over the years,” said John Orcutt, 42, a 17-year union member and hydraulic tube bender in Auburn, Washington. Orcutt said he doesn’t believe Boeing would build the 777X wing elsewhere because the Washington workforce is trained, tooling for the plane is in place and new production lines are risky. He expects the company to eventually come back with another offer if the contract is voted down. “I think they’re totally bluffing,” he said.

But others said they would accept the new deal, fearing Boeing would eliminate 20,000 jobs over the next decade as it moved work elsewhere. “I don’t think Boeing’s bluffing at all,” said another worker. “They did it with second line of the 787.”

Separately, Boeing Chief Executive Jim McNerney confirmed on Wednesday that Boeing would consider moving production elsewhere, but declined to say if the vote was a “take it or leave it deal,” according to an interview with KING 5 TV, Seattle’s NBC affiliate station. Boeing’s alternatives include non-union South Carolina, where the company currently assembles 787 Dreamliners and where it broke ground on Tuesday for a new factory that will make engine housings for its forthcoming 737 MAX planes. Boeing is buying more than 200 acres near the 787 campus to expand its facilities and has agreed to invest more than $1 billion and hire 2,000 more workers over the next eight years.

Boeing also may consider giving the wing work to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the Japanese industrial giant that already makes wings for the 787. Reuters reported exclusively on Tuesday that Mitsubishi had made a detailed proposal to Boeing for building the 777X wing.

Boeing also has facilities in Long Beach, California, where it builds the C-17 military transport plane. That program is ending, freeing space and workers for 777X production. The vote might not mean the 777X ultimately gets built outside Washington, because moving the work would bring logistical headaches, analysts and industry experts said. Boeing already has a smooth-running factory line in Everett for the 777, its best-selling wide body jet. It could use the same workforce and large, fixed tooling to build the 777X, an updated version with essentially the same aluminum fuselage, and new wings, engines and systems. Boeing also is scaling back output of other jets built in Everett, notably the 747-8, which would make room for the 777X.—Reuters

Food FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

As sweet as it gets EASY VANILLA PUDDING • • • • • • •

Ingredients 1/3 cup granulated sugar 2 tablespoons cornstarch 1/4 teaspoon fine salt 2 1/4 cups whole milk 3 large egg yolks, lightly beaten 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions Place a mesh strainer over a 4-cup measuring cup or bowl with a spout and set aside.

Combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan and whisk until incorporated. While constantly whisking, slowly drizzle in 1/4 cup of the milk until smooth.

Whisk in the egg yolks and remaining milk.

Place the saucepan over medium heat and cook, whisking often, until the pudding begins to thicken and just starts to bubble, about 5 to 6 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low and switch to a rubber spatula. Stir constantly, scraping the bottom and sides of the pan, until the pudding makes visible ribbons when drizzled over the surface, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla extract until the butter is melted and completely incorporated. Pour the pudding through the prepared strainer.

Immediately transfer it to 4 (4-ounce) ramekins or resealable containers. Lightly press a piece of plastic wrap on top of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator until set, about 2 hours.

CHOCOLATE PUDDING Ingredients • 1/2 cup sugar • 2 tablespoons cornstarch • 4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened) • 1 1/3 cups whole milk • 1 large egg yolk • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla Directions In a heavy saucepan whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and a pinch salt. Chop chocolate and add to sugar mixture. In a bowl whisk together milk and egg yolk and gradually whisk into chocolate mixture. Bring mixture just to a boil over moderate heat, whisking constantly, and boil 1 minute, whisking. Remove pan from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla.

Divide pudding between two 8-ounce ramekins. Chill puddings in freezer, surfaces covered with plastic wrap, until cooled, about 30 minutes.

HOMEMADE REESE’S CUP Ingredients • 1.75 ounces water • 3.75 ounces sugar • 1.5 ounces corn syrup or honey • 3/4 ounce butter (omit for vegan/lactose free) • 2.5 ounces roasted peanuts • 5.25 ounces creamy peanut butter • 1/2 ounce vanilla extract • 1 ounce peanut oil or more as needed • 20 ounces milk or dark chocolate Directions Make the filling: Lightly grease a sheet pan with butter and set aside. Combine water, sugar, corn syrup or honey, and butter (if using) in a medium pot. Turn the heat to medium and use a heat resistant spatula to stir gently until the sugar has dissolved. Once mixture starts to bubble, stop stirring and let simmer undisturbed.

Cook until mixture has a pale golden color, about 300ºF on a candy thermometer (a thermometer useful but not necessary, you can judge the mixture purely by color).

Shut off heat and stir in peanuts with a spatula. Pour mixture onto sheet pan and use spatula to spread it as thin as you can manage. When the brittle has cooled completely, transfer it to a cutting board and chop roughly with a knife. Put chopped brittle into a food processor and pulse until brittle has been ground into small chunky pieces. Then let the food processor run continuously until the mix-

ture begins to turn into a paste. Shut off processor, add peanut butter, then replace the lid; process until the mixture is homogeneous.

Then, with mixer still running, slowly drizzle in vanilla and oil.

The mixture should be a thick paste, but fluid enough to squeeze through a piping bag. If the mixture seems too thick, drizzle in more oil, a tablespoon at a time, until it has thinned sufficiently.

Transfer mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a large, plain tip. Set aside until needed.

Prepare the cups: Arrange 20 cupcake liners on a baking sheet, set aside. Temper the chocolate, or proceed with melted chocolate instead. In either case, pour 1/2 ounce chocolate into each cupcake liner. Use the pastry bag to pipe about three quarters of an ounce of peanut filling directly into the center of each cup. This will force the chocolate away from the center and up the sides. Use a damp finger to gently pat down the “peak” of each peanut butter center. Top each with another half ounce of chocolate. Take sheet pan in both hands a gently rap it against the counter to level the chocolate and dislodge any air bubbles. If you’re using untempered chocolate, refrigerate peanut butter cups until hardened, about thirty minutes.

Tempered chocolate will harden on its own in a few minutes After the chocolate has set, peel each peanut butter cup free from the cupcake liners. Store in an airtight container with a piece of parchment or waxed paper between each layer. They will keep for about a month at room temperature or indefinitely in the fridge or freezer. Please remember, if you use untempered chocolate you must store the candies in the refrigerator at all times.

Food FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

RICE PUDDING

BREAD PUDDING

STRAWBERRY MILK

Ingredients • 1 loaf stale sliced white bread • 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter • 1/2 cup golden raisins • 1 cup sugar • 3 large eggs, beaten • 2 cups milk • 2 tablespoons vanilla extract • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preparation Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease with butter 3-quart casserole dish. Butter both sides of bread slices, place on tin foil, and put into oven. Toast slices on both sides.

Place raisins in bowl of hot water to plump. Cover, soak for 20 minutes, and drain. Combine sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. Mix well. Break up toasted bread, and put in casserole dish. Add drained raisins. Pour egg mixture over bread, and stir. Bake 40 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

• • • • • • • •

Ingredients • 11/2 cups milk • 1 handful strawberries (rinsed, stems removed) • 2 tbsps honey Directions Put milk, strawberries, and 1 tbsp of honey into a blender. Blend until thoroughly smooth. Taste and add more honey if you wish your strawberry milk to be a little sweeter.

Ingredients 1/2 gal milk 1 cup white sugar 1 cup long grain white rice (uncooked) 3 eggs (lightly beaten) 1/4 cup milk 1/4 tsp salt 2 tsps vanilla extract ground cinnamon (taste)

Directions In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, combine 1/2 gallon milk, sugar and rice. Simmer, covered, 1 hour, stirring frequently. Remove pan from heat and let rest 10 minutes.

1. In a small bowl, combine eggs, 1/4 cup milk, salt and vanilla. Stir into rice mixture and return pot to low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Pour into a 9x13 inch dish and cover with plastic wrap, folding back the corners to allow the steam to escape.

2. When pudding has cooled to room temperature, remove plastic wrap and sprinkle surface of pudding with cinnamon. Cover tightly (with fresh wrap) and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight before serving.

26

Opinion FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

US-Iran talks: Ideology and Necessity

By George Friedman

T

he talks between Iran and the Western powers have ended but have not failed.

They will reconvene next week. That in itself is a dramatic change from the past, when such talks invariably began in failure. In my book The Next Decade, I argued that the United States and Iran would move toward strategic alignment, and I think that is what we are seeing take shape. Of course, there is no guarantee that the talks will yield a settlement or that they will evolve into anything more meaningful. But the mere possibility requires us to consider three questions: Why is this happening now, what would a settlement look like, and how will it affect the region if it happens?

PRECEDENTS It is important to recognize that despite all of the other actors on the stage, this negotiation is between the United States and Iran. It is also important to understand that while this phase of the discussion is entirely focused on Iran’s nuclear development and sanctions, an eventual settlement would address US and Iranian relations and how those relations affect the region.

If the nuclear issue were resolved and the sanctions removed, then matters such as controlling Sunni extremists, investment in Iran and maintaining the regional balance of power would all be on the table. In solving these two outstanding problems, the prospect of a new US-Iranian relationship would have to be taken seriously.

But first, there are great obstacles to overcome. One is ideology. Iran regards the United States as the Great Satan. The United States regards Iran as part of the Axis of Evil. For the Iranians, memories of a US-sponsored coup in 1953 and Washington’s support for the Shah are vivid. Americans above the age of 35 cannot forget the Iranian hostage crisis, when Iranians seized some 50 US Embassy employees. Iran believes the United States has violated its sovereignty; the United States believes Iran has violated basic norms of international law. Each views the other as barbaric.

Add to this that the ideology of radical Islamism regards the United States as corrupt and evil, and the ideology of the United States sees Iran as brutal and repressive, and it would seem that resolution is impossible. From the American side, there is precedent for reconciling national differences: China. When the United States reached out to China in the 1970s, Beijing was supplying weapons to the North Vietnamese, who used them against American troops.

China’s rhetoric about US imperialism, replete with “running dogs,” portrayed the United States as monstrous. The United States saw China, a nuclear power, as a greater threat for nuclear war than the Soviet Union, since Mao had openly stated-and seemed to mean it-that communists ought to welcome nuclear war rather than fear it. Given the extremism and brutality of the Cultural Revolution, the ideological bar seemed insurmountable.

But the strategic interests of both countries superseded ideology. They did not recognize each other, but they did need each other. The relative power of the Soviet Union had risen.

There had been heavy fighting between China and the Soviet Union along the Ussuri River in 1969, and Soviet troops were heavily deployed along China’s border. The United States had begun to redeploy troops from Europe to Southeast Asia when it became clear it was losing the Vietnam War. Each side was concerned that if the Soviet Union chose to attack China or NATO separately, it could defeat them. However,

if China and the United States collaborated, no Soviet attack would be possible, lest Moscow start a two-front war it couldn’t win.

It was not necessary to sign a treaty of military alliance or even mention this possibility.

Simply meeting, talking and establishing diplomatic relations with China would force the Soviet Union to consider the possibility that Washington and Beijing had a tacit understanding-or that even without an understanding, an attack on one of them would trigger a response by the other. After all, if NATO or China were defeated, the Soviets would be able to overpower the other at its discretion.

Therefore, by moving the relationship from total hostility to minimal accommodation, the strategic balance changed. In looking at Iran, the most important thing to note is the difference between its rhetoric and its actions. If you lis-

failures in Syria, the degradation of Iraq has put Iran on the defensive when, just one year earlier, it was poised to change the balance of power in its favor.

At the same time, Iran found that its nuclear program had prompted a seriously detrimental sanctions regime. Stratfor has long argued that the Iranian nuclear program was primarily a bargaining chip to be traded for guarantees on its security and recognition of its regional power. It was meant to appear threatening, not to be threatening. This is why, for years, Iran was “only months” away from a weapon. The problem was that despite its growing power, Iran could no longer withstand the economic repercussions of the sanctions regime.

In light of Syria and Iraq, the nuclear program was a serious miscalculation that produced an economic crisis. The failures in foreign policy

WASHINGTON: US Vice President Joe Biden (3rd right) arrives with US Sen Richard Durbin (DIL) (right) for a briefing with Senate Democratic leadership on negotiations with Iran. — AFP tened to Iranian government officials in the past, you would think they were preparing for the global apocalypse. In truth, Iranian foreign policy has been extremely measured. Its one major war, which it fought against Iraq in the 1980s, was not initiated by Iran.

It has supported third parties such as Hezbollah and Syria, sending supplies and advisers, but it has been extremely cautious in the use of its own overt power. In the early days of the Islamic republic, whenever Tehran was confronted with American interests, it would pull closer to the Soviet Union, an atheistic country making war in neighboring Afghanistan. It needed a counterweight to the United States and put ideology aside, even in its earliest, most radical days.

NEW STRATEGIC INTERESTS Ideology is not trivial, but ultimately it is not the arbiter of foreign relations. Like all countries, the United States and Iran have strategic issues that influence their actions. Iran attempted to create an arc of influence from western Afghanistan to Beirut, the key to which was preserving and dominating the Syrian regime. The Iranians failed in Syria, where the regime exists but no longer governs much of the country.

The blowback from this failure has been an upsurge in Sunni militant activity against the Shiite-dominated regime. But the arc of influence was interrupted elsewhere, particularly Iraq, which has proved to be the major national security challenge facing Iran. Coupled with the

and the subsequent economic crisis discredited the policies of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, changed the thinking of the supreme leader and ultimately led to the electoral victory of President Hassan Rouhani. The ideology may not have changed, but the strategic reality had. Rouhani for years had been worried about the stability of the regime and was thus critical of Ahmadinejad’s policies. He knew that Iran had to redefine its foreign policy.

The United States has also been changing its strategy. During the 2000s, it tried to deal with Sunni radicals through the direct use of force in Afghanistan and Iraq. The United States could not continue to commit its main force in the Islamic world when that very commitment gave other nations, such as Russia, the opportunity to maneuver without concern for US military force.

The United States did have a problem with al Qaeda, but it needed a new strategy for dealing with it.

Syria provided a model. The United States declined to intervene unilaterally against the al Assad regime because it did not want to empower a radical Sunni government. It preferred to allow Syria’s factions to counterbalance each other such that neither side was in control.

This balance-of-power approach was the alternative to direct military commitment. The United States was not the only country concerned about Sunni radicalism. Iran, a Shiite power ultimately hostile to Sunnis, was equally concerned about jihadists.

Saudi Arabia, Iran’s regional rival, at times

opposed Islamist radicals (in Saudi Arabia) and supported them elsewhere (in Syria or Iraq). The American relationship with Saudi Arabia, resting heavily on oil, had changed. The United States had plenty of oil now and the Saudis’ complex strategies simply no longer matched American interests. On the broadest level, a stronger Iran, aligned with the United States, would counter Sunni ambitions. It would not address the question of North Africa or other smaller issues, but it would force Saudi Arabia to reshape its policies.

The Arab Spring also was a consideration. A mainstay of Washington’s Iran policy was that at some point there would be an uprising that would overthrow the regime. The 2009 uprising, never really a threat to the regime, was seen as a rehearsal. If there was likely to be an uprising, there was no need to deal with Iran. Then the Arab Spring occurred. Many in the Obama administration misread the Arab Spring, expecting it to yield more liberal regimes. That didn’t happen. Egypt has not evolved, Syria has devolved into civil war, Bahrain has seen Saudi Arabia repress its uprising, and Libya has found itself on the brink of chaos.

Not a single liberal democratic regime emerged. It became clear that there would be no uprising in Iran, and even if there were, the results would not likely benefit the United States. A strategy of encouraging uprisings no longer worked. A strategy of large-scale intervention was unsustainable. The idea of attacking Iran was unpalatable. Even if the administration agreed with Israel and thought that the nuclear program was intended to produce a nuclear weapon, it was not clear that the program could be destroyed from the air.

Therefore, in the particular case of Iran’s nuclear program, the United States could only employ sanctions. On the broader issue of managing American interests in the Middle East, the United States had to find more options. It could not rely entirely on Saudi Arabia, which has dramatically different regional interests. It could not rely entirely on Israel, which by itself could not solve the Iranian problem militarily. These realities forced the United States to recalibrate its relationship with Iran at a time when Iran had to recalibrate its relationship with the United States.

ALL THINGS POSSIBLE The first US-Iranian discussions would obviously be on the immediate issue-the nuclear program and sanctions. There are many technical issues involved there, the most important of which is that both sides must show that they don’t need a settlement. No one negotiating anything will simply accept the first offer, not when they expect the negotiations to move on to more serious issues. Walking away from the table for 10 days gives both sides some credibility. The real negotiations will come after the nuclear and sanctions issues are addressed.

They will pertain to US-Iranian relations more broadly. Each side will use the other to its advantage. The Iranians will use the United States to repair its economy, and the Americans will use the Iranians to create a balance of power with Sunni states. This will create indirect benefits for both sides. Iran’s financial woes will be an opportunity for American companies to invest.

The Americans’ need for a balance of power will give Iran weight against its own enemies, even after the collapse of its strategy.

The region will of course look different but not dramatically so. The balance of power idea does not mean a rupture with Saudi Arabia or Israel. The balance of power only works if the United States maintains strong relationships on all sides. —Stratfor

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013 www.kuwaittimes.net

Actress Yanina Studilina poses during a photo call for the movie 'Stalingrad 3D', at the 8th edition of the Rome International Film Festival in Rome. —AP

PETS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

This photo shows visitors playing with a puppy near a pool at the dog-friendly inn, located in West Barnstable, Mass. — AP

I

Tales (and horror stories) from pet-friendly inns

f you travel with your dog and prefer small inns and B&Bs over chain hotels, it can be frustrating that so few allow pets. If you listen to some innkeepers’ stories, though, you may wonder why any of them do. At Les Artistes Inn in Del Mar, Calif, for example, a pair of Weimaraners crashed through a window when they saw another dog walk past. “The owners had said, ‘Don’t worry, they’ll be fine,’” said owner John Halper. “The ‘fine’ part was incorrect.” Halper only allows pets in some rooms, but one couple checked into his best no-pets, ocean-view room with a crate “carrying this cat that has a head bigger than my own,” he said. They told him it was “a real live hybrid bobcat.” While most stays don’t involves horror stories like these, understanding the rules - and the reasons behind them - can make your vacation more pleasant for you, your pet and the staff.

Can your dog handle being alone?

The policy with the biggest impact on your stay is whether your dog can be left in the room alone.

Innkeepers need to balance your desire to go out for dinner with the potential for property damage and the comfort of other guests. “You wouldn’t want to be in a room that had a barking dog in it all afternoon when you’re trying to take a nap,” says Tom Dott of the Lamb and Lion Inn on Massachusett’s Cape Cod. Inez Conover remembers guests who left their dog alone at her inn, Bewitched and Bedazzled, in Rehoboth Beach, Del. The dog barked and scratched for nine hours, and the owners never answered their cell. She told them about the problem when they returned, but the next day, she heard a “terrible dragging-back-and-forth noise” in the room. She found the dog tied to the bed, which he’d dragged all over, “tearing up the hard-

‘You wouldn’t want to be in a room that had a barking dog in it all afternoon when you’re trying to take a nap’ wood floor,” and breaking the bed away from the headboard.

Conover is the rare innkeeper who allows dogs to be left alone, because she is willing to make a special effort to keep them out of trouble. If a dog makes noise, she’ll bring it to her office, where she has calming supplies ranging from herbal supplements to chew toys. She also recently put Plexiglas on door bottoms to protect them from scratch marks.

But don’t expect an innkeeper to make an exception to a no-dogs-left-alone policy because your dog is fine at home all day while you go to work. Its behavior in a new place may not be the same. Dogs “have to acclimate first,” said Dott.

“They get scared if left in a strange place by themselves.” To test how a dog will react to a hotel room, leave the dog for a short time while you “hang out by the pool, have breakfast,” Dott said.

“In that hour, if your dog’s quiet, I’m sold.”

A crate-trained dog is a better candidate for being left alone. But the crate needs to be something you use regularly at home, not something you’ve bought for the trip. “I’ve had dogs kenneled that were throwing themselves against the kennels and moving the kennels across the floor,” said Conover.

No matter your dog’s training and behavior,

don’t expect exceptions everywhere. Laila Kollmann says the no-dogs-alone rule at Cayucos Shoreline Inn in Cayucos, Calif, is hard and fast. “We don’t even allow them alone in the room with a crate, even if we personally know them,” she says.

“It’s unfair to see a dog allowed in one room and not the other.” Even regular guests who bring a rabbit that they walk around on a leash aren’t allowed to leave it in a cage in their room.

Innkeepers with a no-pets-alone rule can often direct you to local doggie day care, or pet-sitters who will come to your room.

How dog-friendly is the destination?

The dog-friendliness of the destination is worth considering when planning trips. Where Halper is located, near San Diego, bringing your dog everywhere won’t constrain your activities much. “We have 350 days of sunshine a year,” he said. “There’s a dog beach within a mile. There are lots of sidewalk cafes in town where dogs are allowed to sit with their owners.” But on Cape Cod, that’s less common, so Dott provides guests with a map of dog-friendly spots.

Read the fine print Even in dog-friendly inns, pets are often allowed only in certain rooms. Some also have size

restrictions. Dott says they allow only small dogs in the busy season because of staff time constraints.

“We love big dogs,” he said, “but when you are going at record speed doing housekeeping in July and August, a big black lab adds an extra hour” to cleaning because of shedding. Most places charge pet fees, largely because of the extra housekeeping, but Dott has another reason: “You want to get people who are traveling with their dog because they want to travel with their dog, not because it’s cheaper.” In other words, don’t just bring your dog to save on kennel fees.

How to be the perfect dog-owning guest If you’re leaving a dog in your room, give the front desk your cell number - and answer it. Be considerate of the furnishings. In beach towns, inns often provide a place to hose your dog down outside. Some places ask you to cover the couch and bedspread with a sheet. Some guests “say their dog never gets on the furniture, but we ask them to put them on anyway,” said Kollmann.

“You don’t know what a dog will do in another place.”

Respect leash rules. Once at Halper’s inn, a dog snapped at a child coming in a front gate. The child screamed, and her father and the dog-owner nearly came to blows. “It was just two guys not paying attention, one not watching his dog, one not watching his daughter,” said Halper. The incident made him reconsider whether to allow pets.

Now dogs must be leashed in all common areas.

Don’t bring aggressive dogs to a hotel, and remember that not everyone loves dogs - even little ones like Dott’s Yorkies and pocket Pomeranians. “You’d be amazed how many people are frightened of dogs, even something that small,” he said. — AP

Beauty FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Zap that hair forever Why laser hair removal is a smarter option than sticky waxing

I

f you’re not happy with shaving, tweezing, or waxing to remove unwanted hair, laser hair removal may be an option worth considering. Laser hair removal is one of the most commonly done cosmetic procedures in the US. It beams highly concentrated light into hair follicles.

Pigment in the follicles absorb the light. That destroys the hair.

Benefits of laser hair removal Lasers are useful for removing unwanted hair from the face, leg, arm, underarm, bikini line, and other areas.

Benefits of laser hair removal include: Precision: Lasers can selectively target dark, coarse hairs while leaving the surrounding skin undamaged.

Speed: Each pulse of the laser takes a fraction of a second and can treat many hairs at the same time. The laser can treat an area approximately the size of a quarter every second. Small areas such as the upper lip can be treated in less than a minute, and large areas, such as the back or legs, may take up to an hour.

Predictability: Ninety percent of patients have permanent hair loss after an average of three to five sessions.

How to prepare for laser hair removal Laser hair removal is more than just ‘’zapping’’ unwanted hair. It is a medical procedure that requires training to perform and carries potential risks. Before getting laser hair removal, you should thoroughly check the credentials of the doctor or technician performing the procedure.

If you are planning on undergoing laser hair removal, you should limit plucking, waxing, and electrolysis for six weeks before treatment. That’s because the laser targets the hairs’ roots, which are temporarily removed by waxing or plucking.

You should also avoid sun exposure for six weeks before and after treatment. Sun exposure makes laser hair removal less effective and makes complications after treatment more likely.

er complexions. Other potential side effects are swelling, redness, and scarring. Permanent scarring or changes in skin color are rare.

Costs of laser hair removal According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the average cost for laser hair removal is $235 per session. The cost varies widely, depending on factors that include: • Size of the area being treated and time required for treatment • Number of

What to expect during laser hair removal Just before the procedure, your hair that will be undergoing treatment will be trimmed to a few millimeters above the skin surface. The laser equipment will be adjusted according to the color, thickness, and location of your hair being treated as well as your skin color.

Depending on the laser or light source used, you and the technician will need to wear appropriate eye protection. It will also be necessary to protect the outer layers of your skin with a cold gel or special cooling device. This will help the laser light penetrate the skin.

Next, the technician will give a pulse of light to the treatment area and watch the area for several minutes to make sure the best settings were used and to check for bad reactions.

When the procedure is completed, you may be given ice packs, anti-inflammatory creams or lotions, or cold water to ease any discomfort. You may schedule your next treatment four to six weeks later. You’ll get treatments until hair stops growing.

Recovery and risks For a day or two afterward, the treated area of your skin will look and feel like it’s sunburned. Cool compresses and moisturizers may help. If your face was treated, you can wear makeup the next day unless your skin is blistering.

Over the next month, your treated hair will fall out. Wear sunscreen for the following month to help prevent temporary changes in the color of the treated skin.

Blisters are rare but are more likely in people with dark-

treatments

required • Whether a doctor or someone else is performing the procedure • The part of the country where you are having the procedure Laser hair removal side effects While the procedure involved in the laser treatment is usually risk free, there might be some side effects of laser hair removal to consider: 1. The use of a laser to remove unwanted hair involves a lot of heat to burn the hair. This can lead to skin burns in some users. The laser hair removal burns occurs more frequently on patients with darker skin, as skin with darker pigments absorb the laser more readily. While in most instances the burns are mild, there have been a number of cases where severe burns have been reported.

2. Laser may cause hyper pigmentation and hypo pigmentation. a. Hyperpigmentation is darkening of the skin that may occur after the laser hair removal. The laser treatment stimulates melanin production creating a reaction similar to suntan. b. Hypopigmentation on the other hand refers to the lightening of skin that occurs after the laser treatment.

The absorption of laser light can inhibit the melanin production, leading to a loss of pigment.

3. It might also lead to eye injuries, so it is important to protect your eyes during the process of laser treatment.

4. Itching is a normal side effect of laser hair removal during and after the treatment.

5. The skin turns red for a few days following the treatment and there is likely to be swelling around the follicle after the treatment.

6. Pain, tingling and numbness around the treated area by the laser are probably the most common side effects that can be considered normal.

7. Laser treatment can lead to crusting and formation of scab around the area treated. A mild bruising may also occur on sensitive skin. These side effects appear within the first few days of the treatment and disappears shortly afterwards www.webmd.com

Tr a v e l FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Magical Morocco A perfect blend of tradition and modernity, the exotic and the familiar

F

or Westerners, Morocco holds an immediate and enduring fascination. Though just an hour’s ride on the ferry from Spain, it seems at once very far from Europe, with a culture - Islamic and deeply traditional - that is almost wholly unfamiliar. Throughout the country, despite the years of French and Spanish colonial rule and the presence of modern and cosmopolitan cities like Rabat and Casablanca, a more distant past constantly makes its presence felt.

Fez, perhaps the most beautiful of all Arab cities, maintains a life still rooted in medieval times, when a Moroccan kingdom stretched from Senegal to northern Spain, while in the mountains of the Atlas and the Rif, it’s still possible to draw up tribal maps of the Berber population.

As a backdrop to all this, the country’s physical make-up is extraordinary: from the Mediterranean coast, through four mountain ranges, to the empty sand and scrub of the Sahara.

Across much of the country, the legacy of colonial occupation is still felt in many aspects of daily life. The Spanish zone contained Tetouan and the Rif, the Mediterranean and the northern Atlantic coasts, Sidi Ifni, the Tarfaya Strip and the Western Sahara; the French zone the plains and the main cities (Fez, Marrakesh, Casablanca and Rabat), as well as the Atlas. And while Ceuta and Melilla are still the territory of Spain, it is the French - who ruled their “protectorate” more closely - who had the most lasting effect on Moroccan culture, Europeanizing the cities to a strong degree and firmly imposing their language, which is spoken today by all educated Moroccans (after Moroccan Arabic or one of the three local Berber languages).

This blend of the exotic and the familiar, the diversity of landscapes, the contrasts between Ville Nouvelle and ancient Medina, all add up to make Morocco an intense and rewarding experience, and a country that is ideally suited to independent travel - with enough time, you can cover a whole range of activities, from hiking in the Atlas and relaxing at laidback Atlantic resorts like Asilah or Essaouira to getting lost in the back alleys of Fez and Marrakesh. It can be hard at times to come to terms with the privilege of your position as a tourist in a country with severe poverty, and there is, too, occasional hassle from unofficial guides, but Morocco is essentially a safe and politically stable place to visit: the death in 1999 of King Hassan II, the Arab world’s longest-serving leader, was followed by an easy transition to his son, Mohammed VI, and the country pretty much carried

on as normal while the Arab Spring uprisings toppled governments in nearby Libya, Tunisia and Egypt. Indeed, your enduring impressions are likely to be overwhelmingly positive, shaped by encounters with Morocco’s powerful tradition of hospitality, generosity and openness.

This is a country people return to again and again.

WHERE TO GO Geographically, the country divides into four basic zones: the coast (Mediterranean and Atlantic); the great cities of the plains; the Rif and Atlas mountains; and the oases and desert of the pre- and fully fledged Sahara. With two or three weeks - even two or three months you can’t expect to cover all of this, though it’s easy enough (and highly recommended) to take in something of each aspect.

Broadly speaking, the coast is best enjoyed in the north at Tangier - still shaped by its old “international” port status despite undergoing considerable recent renovation - Asilah and Larache, and in the south at El Jadida, Essaouira, perhaps the most easy-going resort, or remote Sidi Ifni. Agadir, the main package-tour resort, is less worthwhile - but a functional enough base for exploration.

Inland, where the real interest of Morocco lies, the outstanding cities are Fez and Marrakesh. The great imperial capitals of the country’s various dynasties, they are almost unique in the Arab world for the chance they offer to witness city life that, in patterns and appearance, remains in large part medieval. For monuments, Fez is the highlight, though Marrakesh is for most visitors the more enjoyable.

Travel in the south is, on the whole, easier and more relaxing than in the sometimes frenetic north. This is certainly true of the mountain ranges, where the Rif can feel disturbingly anarchic, while the southerly Atlas ranges (Middle, High and Anti) that cut right across the interior are beautiful and accessible. Hiking in the High Atlas, especially around North Africa’s highest mountain, Jebel Toubkal, is increasingly popular, following old mule paths through mud-brick villages or tackling some of the impressive peaks. Summer treks are possible at all levels of experience and altitude, and despite inroads made by commercialization, the area remains essentially “undiscovered” - like the Alps must have been in the nineteenth century.

Equally exploratory in mood are the great southern routes beyond the Atlas, amid the oases of the pre-Sahara. Major routes here can be

travelled by bus, minor ones by rented car or local taxi, the really remote ones by 4WD vehicles or by getting lifts on local camions (lorries), sharing space with market produce and livestock. The oases, around Tinghir, Zagora andErfoud, or (for the committed) Tata and Figuig, are classic images of the Arab world, vast palmeries stretching into desert horizons. Equally memorable is the architecture that they share with the Atlas - bizarre and fabulous pisÈ (mud) kasbahs and ksour, with Gothic-looking turrets and multi-patterned walls. Further south, you can follow a route through the Western Sahara all the way down to Dakhla, just 22km short of the Tropic of Cancer, where the weather is scorching even in midwinter.

WHEN TO GO As far as the climate goes, it is better to visit the south - or at least the desert routes - outside midsummer, when for most of the day it’s far too hot for casual exploration, especially if you’re dependent on public transport. July and August, the hottest months, can be wonderful on the coast, however, while in the mountains there are no set rules.

Spring, which comes late by European standards (around April and May), is perhaps the best overall time, with a summer climate in the south and in the mountains, as well as on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts. Winter can be perfect by day in the south, though desert nights can get very cold - a major consideration if you’re staying in the cheaper hotels, which rarely have heating. If you’re planning to hike in the mountains, it’s best to keep to the months from April to October unless you have some experience of snow conditions.

Weather apart, the Islamic religious calendar and its related festivals will have the most seasonal effect on your travel. The most important factor is Ramadan, the month of daytime fasting; this can be a problem for transport, and especially hiking, though the festive evenings do much to compensate.

CULTURE AND ETIQUETTE Moroccans are extremely hospitable and very tolerant. Though most people are religious, they are generally easy-going, and most young Moroccan women don’t wear a veil, though they may well wear a headscarf. Nonetheless, you should try not to affront people’s

Tr a v e l FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

religious beliefs, especially those of older, more conservative people, by, for example, wearing skimpy clothes, kissing and cuddling in public, or eating or smoking in the street during Ramadan.

Clothes are particularly important: many Moroccans, especially in rural areas, may be offended by clothes that do not fully cover parts of the body considered “private”, including both legs and shoulders, especially for women. It is true that in cities Moroccan women wear short-sleeved tops and knee-length skirts (and may suffer more harassment as a result), and men may wear sleeveless T-shirts and above-the-knee shorts. However, the Muslim idea of “modest dress” (such as would be acceptable in a mosque, for example) requires women to be covered from wrist to ankle, and men from over the shoulder to below the knee. In rural areas at least, it is a good idea to follow these codes, and definitely a bad idea for women to wear shorts or skirts above the knee, or for members of either sex to wear sleeveless T-shirts or very short shorts. Even ordinary T-shirts may be regarded as underwear, particularly in rural mountain areas. The best guide is to note how Moroccans dress locally.

When invited to a home, you normally take your shoes off before entering the reception rooms - follow your host’s lead. It is customary to take a gift: sweet pastries or tea and sugar are always acceptable, and you might even take meat (by arrangement - a chicken from the countryside for example, still alive of course) to a poorer home.

Carpets, rugs and blankets Morocco produces some lovely carpets in wonderful warm colours - saffron yellow, cochineal red, antimony black - that look great in any living space. Nowadays most carpets are coloured with synthetic dyes, but their inspiration remains the natural dyes with which they were traditionally made. The most expensive carpets are hand-knotted, but there are also kilims (woven rugs).

Knotted carpets are not cheap - you can pay Ä1500 and more for the finer Arab designs in Fez or Rabat - but rugs and kilims come in at more reasonable prices, and you can buy a range of strong, welldesigned weaves for Ä50-70. Most of these kilims will be of Berber origin and the most interesting ones usually come from the High and Middle Atlas. You’ll find a big selection in Marrakesh, but if you’re looking seriously, try to get to the town souk in Midelt or the weekly markets in Azrou and other villages in the region. The chain of Maison

Wood Marquetry is one of the few crafts where you’ll see genuinely old pieces - inlaid tables and shelves - though the most easily exportable objects are boxes. The big centre for marquetry is Essaouira, where cedar or thuya wood is beautifully inlaid with orange-tree wood and other light-coloured woods to make trays, chess and backgammon sets, even plates and bowls, and you can visit the workshops where they are made.

Fez, Meknes, Tetouan and Marrakesh also have souks specializing in carpentry, which produce not only furniture, but also chests, sculptures, and kitchen utensils such as the little ladles made from citrus wood that are used to eat harira soup.

TIPPING You’re expected to tip - among others - waiters in cafÈs (1dh per person) and restaurants (5dh or so in moderate places, 10-15 percent in upmarket places); museum and monument curators (3-5dh); gardiens de voitures (5dh); filling station attendants (3-5dh); and porters who load your baggage onto buses (5dh). Taxi drivers do not expect a tip, but always appreciate one.

BerbËre shops in Ouarzazate, Tinerhir and Rissani are good hunting grounds too, but one of the best ways to find carpets is to wander around villages or parts of town where they are made, listen for the telltale sound of the loom in use, and ask at the weavers’ homes if they have any carpets for sale. On a simpler and cheaper level, the Berber blankets (foutahs, or couvertures) are imaginative, and often very striking with bands of reds and blacks; for these, Tetouan and Chefchaouen, on the edge of the Rif, are promising.

MOSQUES Without a doubt, one of the major disappointments of travelling in Morocco if you are not Muslim is not being allowed into its mosques.

The only exceptions are the partially restored Almohad structure of Tin Mal in the High Atlas, the similarly disused Great Mosque at Smara in the Western Sahara, the courtyard of the sanctuary-mosque of Moulay Ismail in Meknes and the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca.

Elsewhere, if you are not a believer, you’ll have to be content with an occasional glimpse through open doors, and even in this you should be sensitive: people don’t seem to mind tourists peering into the Kairaouine Mosque in Fez (the country’s most important religious building), but in the country you should never approach a shrine too closely.

This rule applies equally to the numerous whitewashed koubbas the tombs of marabouts, or local saints (usually domed: koubba actually means “dome”) - and the “monastic” zaouias of the various Sufi brotherhoods. It is a good idea, too, to avoid walking through graveyards, as these also are regarded as sacred places.

CRAFT TRADITIONS Moroccan craft traditions are very much alive, but finding pieces of real quality is not that easy. For a good price, it’s always worth getting as close to the source of the goods as possible, and steering clear of tourist centres. Tangier, Casablanca and Agadir, with no workshops of their own, are generally poor bets, for example, while Fez and Marrakesh have a good range but high prices. In places like Fez and Marrakesh, different parts of the Medina produce specific goods, from furniture to ironwork to sandals to musical instruments. Jewellery and carpets tend to come in from the countryside, where each region each village even - has its own style and its own techniques. Shopping in a big city, you’ll have a wide range to choose from, but there’s a very special pleasure in tracking the souvenir you want down to the place where it’s made, and even seeing the artisans at work making it.

A good way to get an idea of standards and quality is to visit craft museums: there are useful ones in Fez, Meknes, Tangier, Rabat and Marrakesh.

bracelets, belts embellished with old silver coins, or heavy necklaces with big beads of amber, coral and carnelian. Silver brooches are used to fasten garments, and many of the symbols found in Moroccan jewellery, such as the “hand of Fatima” and the five-pointed star, are there to guard against the evil eye. Essaouira, Marrakesh and Tiznit have particularly good jewellery souks.

Ceramics Pottery is colourful if fairly crudely made on the whole, though the blue-and-white designs of Fez and the multicoloured pots of Chefchaouen (both produced largely for the tourist trade) are highly attractive. The essentially domestic pottery of Safi - Morocco’s major pottery centre - is worth a look, too, with its colourful plates, tajines and garden pots. Safi tajines are nice to look at, but for practical use, the best are those produced by the Oulja pottery at SalÈ, near Rabat, in plain red-brown earthenware.

Jewellery Arabic-style gold jewellery tends to be a bit fussy for Western tastes, but silver is another story. In the south particularly, you can pick up some fabulous Berber necklaces and bracelets, always very chunky, and characterized by bold combinations of semiprecious (and sometimes plastic) stones and beads. Women in the Atlas and the Souss Valley regions in particular often wear chunky silver

Clothes Moroccan clothes are easy to purchase, and though Westerners men at least - who try to imitate Moroccan styles by wearing the cotton or wool jellaba (a kind of outer garment) tend to look a little silly in the street, they do make good nightgowns. Some of the cloth on sale is exquisite in itself, and walking through the dyers’ souks is an inspiration. Women will find some sumptuous gowns if they look in the right places - Marrakesh in particular has shops selling beautiful dresses, kaftans, gandoras (sleeveless kaftans) and tunics. Brightly coloured knitted caps are more likely to appeal to men, and there are plenty of inexpensive multicoloured silk scarves on offer too. Even ordinary jackets and trousers are often on sale in the souks at bargain prices.

Leatherware Morocco leather is famously soft and luxurious. In towns like Fes, Marrakesh and Taroudant you can even visit the tanneries to see it being cured. It comes in a myriad of forms from belts, bags and clothing to pouffes and even book covers, but Morocco’s best-known leather item is the babouche, or slipper. Classic Moroccan babouches, open at the heel, are immensely comfortable, and produced in yellow (the usual colour), white, red (for women) and occasionally grey or black; a good pair - and quality varies enormously - can cost anything between Ä5 and Ä25. Marrakesh and Tafraoute are especially good for babouches. — www.roughguides.com

Health FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Try working those triceps

By Matt Weik

T

he tricep is a muscle which I feel is forgotten about when looking for massive arms. Get some great ideas right here for building up your triceps.

Read on for more! How many people like to play horseshoes? Ok, not that many.

How many people would rather have a huge horseshoe on the back of their arms?

Now we’re talking!

Too many people want bulging biceps, but in reality, the bicep is a smaller muscle compared to the tricep. There are many things you can use to build your triceps including dumbbells, cables, barbells, and your own bodyweight. The best thing you can do is try out as many exercises as you can and see what specifically works for you. Let’s first learn a little bit about the triceps, however, before we get into the tips and workouts.

Anatomy of the triceps The Triceps Brachii has three heads which connect the humerus and scapula bones to the forearm bone called the ulna.

These three heads are known as the Lateral, Medial, and Long heads. The lateral head is located on the outward facing side of the humerus. This head is most responsible for the horseshoe shape of the triceps. The medial head is located towards the midline of the body. The long head along the bottom side of the humerus and is that largest of the three heads.

The primary function of the tricep is to

extend the elbow (straightening the arm).

The secondary function of the tricep is fulfilled only by the long head of the muscle, which brings the arm down towards the body (adduction).

Triceps exercises Pulley Pushdowns This basic movement stresses the entire triceps muscle complex, particularly the outer and medial heads. Grip the bar overhand with your index fingers no more than 3-5 inches apart in the middle of the handle. Your feet should be shoulder width apart, about 10-12 inches back from the handle.

Fully bend your arms, pressing your upper arms against your torso, where they should stay through the duration of the set. Leaning slightly forward, move your forearms down, slowly straightening your arms. Hold the straight-arm position momentarily, while flexing your triceps intensely. Slowly return to the starting point.

A good variation is the rope handle. You can also do this exercise with an undergrip on the bar and with different width grips.

Lying Barbell Triceps Extensions These fundamental favorites isolate intense stress on the triceps, particularly the medial and outer heads. Taking a narrow overgrip in the middle of a moderately weighted barbell, lie on your back on an exercise bench. Keep your feet on the sides of the bench to provide balance.

Extend your arms straight up above your head. With your upper arms remaining motionless throughout the set, bend your elbows allowing the barbell to travel downward in a semicircular arc until it slightly touches your forehead. Reverse the direction of the movement of the bar using only tricep strength to slowly straighten your arms.

There are many effective variations, such as using different grip widths, doing them seated, using an undergrip, or using a decline or incline bench.

One-Dumbbell Triceps Extensions This movement stresses the entire triceps muscle complex, particularly the inner and medial heads. Take the dumbbell and grip it so that your palms are facing the inner-top plate and the dumbbell is hanging straight down (perpendicular to the gym floor). To keep the weight from slipping, encircle your thumbs around the dumbbell handle.

Lift the dumbbell straight up above your head. This is the start position. Lower the weight slowly behind your head until your arms are full bent. Without bouncing in the bottom position, slowly raise the dumbbell back to the start position.

You can increase the strictness of this movement by sitting at the end of a flat exercise bench, or on the floor with your back braced against the bench.

Standing Barbell Triceps Extensions This is a fundamental triceps exercise,

stressing the inner and medial heads of the triceps muscle complex. Take a narrow overgrip in the middle of a moderatelyweighted barbell. With feet about shoulder width apart, stand erect, and extend your arms straight up from your shoulders.

Keep your upper arms in the same position, while you lower the weight slowly behind your head until your arms are completely bent. Without bouncing in the bottom position, slowly raise the bar back to the start position.

You can vary the width of your grip on the bar or use an undergrip to isolate different parts of the muscle. You can also do these seated to isolate your legs from movement, making the exercise somewhat stricter.

More great tricep exercises Here’s a list of other effective tricep exercises that you should check out: Reverse-Grip Bench Presses Dips Between Benches One-Arm Dumbbell Triceps Extensions Two-Dumbbell Triceps Extensions Reverse Pulley Pushdowns One-Arm Pulley Pushdowns High-Pulley, Long-Cable Triceps Extensions Kneeling High-Pulley, Long-Cable Triceps Extensions One-Arm, High-Pulley, Long-Cable Triceps Extensions Dumbbell Triceps Kickbacks One-Arm Cable Triceps Kickbacks www.bodybuilding.com

Lifestyle FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Baubles are pictured on an artificial Christmas tree, measuring 27.5m tall and 9.7m wide at its base, in Ellesmere Port in north-west England, yesterday. Organizers claim that it is Britain’s tallest artificial Christmas tree. —AFP

Brazil holds contest for best rear end

P

olitical correctness took a distant back seat late Wednesday as Brazil’s business hub of Sao Paulo played host to tabloid heaven with a contest honoring women’s rear ends.

Namely, the 2013 edition of Miss Bum Bum-in which 15 young women competed for the right to be crowned as the owner of the most delightful derriere. The winner, who got the vote of a halfmale, half-female jury, was 25-year-old Dai Macedo from the central state of Goias for her 107 centimeters (42 inches) of ‘bumbum.’

Second was Eliana Amaral from Pernambuco in the north and, bringing up the rear, so to speak, was third-placed Jessica Amaral from the central northern region of Para. Administration student Macedo had been embroiled in controversy leading up the event,

taking to social media to suggest the result would be fixed to give the title to rival Mari Sousa. Sousa, 25, and Eliana Amaral, 24, were also the subjects of media allegations they may have bribed judges to back their respective campaigns.

There was also a report in daily O Dia of further skullduggery amid suggestions an Xray showing Amaral’s assets to be implant free was a forgery. In recent days the Twitter sphere has been awash with catty remarks from some contestants denigrating each other-the dreaded word cellulite proving a favored insultand the voting process. “I’m all emotional-I didn’t expect to win,” gushed Macedo as she put the pre-event controversy behind her.

“All hell broke loose on social media sites but now I can say the contest was real.”

The new Miss Bumbum indicated her backside had not always been such a marketable asset. “It isn’t 100 percent natural-I had a butt lift. I always had a large backside but liposuction improved it,” she admitted. Indicating a desire for further fame and fortune the brunette said she hoped one day to become a television presenter. Macedo takes home 5,000 reais (some $2,100) for her win and will also net ten times that in advertising contracts. — AFP

‘Amazing Spider-Man’ actor to play Stiller’s son in ‘Night at the Museum 3’

S

kyler Gisondo, who played Emma Stone’s brother in “The Amazing Spider-Man,” has been cast opposite Ben Stiller in Shawn Levy’s sequel “Night at the Museum 3,” TheWrap has learned. Gisondo will play Stiller’s son in the 20th Century Fox comedy, which is slated to hit theaters on Christmas Day next year. The sequel is bringing back Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt and adding “Downton Abbey” star Dan Stevens as Lancelot. Production on the latest installment of the billion-dollar franchise will begin early next year.

Gisondo is a TV veteran best known for playing Jennifer Lawrence’s sister on TBS’ “The Bill Engvall Show” and the younger version of James Roday’s character on USA’s “Psych.” He recently played young Moe in Fox’s “The Three Stooges” and his other feature credits include Rob Zombie’s “Halloween,” Seth Gordon’s “Four Christmases” and Jake Kasdan’s “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.”

Gisondo is represented by Paradigm, Wishlab and attorney Roger Goff. — Reuters

Indian Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh poses with actress Deepika Padukone during a promotional event for the film ‘Ram-Leela’ in Mumbai late November 13, 2013. — AFP

Lifestyle FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Perry to open American Music Awards, Lopez to perform Cruz Tribute

T

US singer Katy Perry poses as she arrives to attend the MTV European Music Awards (EMA) 2013 at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. — AFP

his year’s American Music Awards will be marked by a trio of special performances, with Katy Perry opening the ceremony and Jennifer Lopez performing a tribute to deceased Queen of Salsa Celia Cruz, ABC said Wednesday. Perry will kick off the event with a performance of her single “Unconditionally,” from her recently released album Prism.

Meanwhile, TLC will celebrate their AMA return with a special performance featuring a yet-tobe named guest.

Lopez, Perry and TLC will join previously announced performers Luke Bryan, Miley Cyrus, Florida Georgia Line, Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Imagine Dragons, Kendrick Lamar, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, One Direction and Justin Timberlake. Pitbull will host this year’s festivities and perform as well. Produced by Dick Clark Productions, the American Music Awards will air from the Nokia Theatre LA Live on Sunday, Nov 24 at 8/7c on ABC. — Reuters

Eminem tops Billboard 200 with second-best opening week this year

R

apper Eminem’s latest album debuted with the second-largest opening sales week this year, rocketing to the top of the weekly Billboard 200 music chart on Wednesday. “The Marshall Mathers LP 2,” Eminem’s eighth studio album and seventh to reach No. 1, sold 792,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan. The album falls only behind singer Justin Timberlake’s “The 20/20 Experience,” which opened in March with 968,000 copies, for top opening sales week this year.

Eminem’s new album is a continuation of the rapper’s 2000 breakthrough record “The Marshall Mathers LP,” which came in at No. 30 on the Billboard 200 chart this week with sales of 10,000.

Three other new albums debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 this week. Canadian singer Celine Dion landed at No. 2 with her 11th Englishlanguage album, “Loved Me Back to Life,” which sold 76,000 copies.

Another Canadian artist, punk-pop singer Avril Lavigne, debuted at No. 5 with her self-titled

album selling 44,000 copies, while five-piece a cappella group Pentatonix came in at No. 10 with “PTX, Vol. II.” Last week’s chart-topper, Arcade Fire’s “Reflektor,” dropped from No. 1 to No. 9 this week.

Overall album sales for the week ending Nov. 10 totaled 5.68 million units, up 4 percent from the comparable week in 2012, Billboard said.

Next week’s chart is likely to get a shake-up from pop singer Lady Gaga’s new album, “ARTPOP.” On the Digital Songs chart, which measures digital track downloads, newcomer indie-pop band A Great Big World scored the top spot with the debut single “Say Something,” featuring Christina Aguilera, who performed the song on the NBC show “The Voice” last week. New Zealand singer Lorde’s “Royals” rose one spot to No. 2, and US pop-rock band OneRepublic rounded out the top three with “Counting Stars.”— Reuters

US singer Eminem performs during the MTV Europe Music Awards (EMA) 2013 ceremony in the Ziggo Dome, in Amsterdam.—AFP

Pacman and Peso

N Korea is unlikely springboard

P

for

US rap duo

acman and Peso are rappers with an ambition. They want to stand out in Washington’s hip-hop scene-and they’re going all the way to reclusive North Korea to do it. The dreadlocked duo-who have never been on a plane before, let alone out of the United States-are setting off this weekend for the capital Pyongyang. Their plan: to make what might be the first hip hop video ever filmed in Asia’s last hardline communist state.

“You’ve got to do something different,” said Pacman, real name Anthony Bobb, lounging on a sofa in the bedroom-slash-recording studio of their music producer’s Washington row house. “That’s why North Korea-ain’t nobody ever did it before,” he told AFP. To which Peso, the rap name of Dontray Ennis, added: “Everybody needs a career.”

Not yet household names in hip hop, Pacman and Peso are nevertheless following in the highprofile footsteps of Google’s chairman Eric Schmidt and basketball star Dennis Rodman. Schmidt, 58, popped into North Korea in January to better understand the country-with its severe food shortages, dismal human rights record and worrying nuclear program.

The flamboyant Rodman, 52, followed suit in April and September, promoting basketball diplomacy while partying with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, 30, who he declared him “friend for life.

Pacman, 19, and Peso, 20, probably won’t shake hands with Kim. Nor do they claim to be experts in the mysterious inner workings of a repressive state where the Cold War still simmers.

What they do expect in North Korea is “a different feel, a different scene, a different everything,” said Pacman, as one of the duo’s tracks, “Levels Remix” played in the background.

At the heart of this project is Ramsey Aburdene, 24, a bank loan officer by day and hip hop producer by night, who grew up in the affluent and mainly white Northwest part of Washington.

He was out shooting a video with another artist in the poorer, majority African-American district of Anacostia when Pacman, who hails from the neighborhood, came over and started freestyling-improvising rap lyrics. “That same day he came up to the studio and ever since then it’s been go, go, go,” with Peso, from suburban Landover, Maryland joining soon after, laying down and mixing tracks at Aburdene’s place for their Soundcloud account (https://soundcloud.com/fhtmg) and a justreleased mix tape. Aburdene had been anticipating his own trip to China this year when a friend, Michael Bassett, a graduate student in North Korean affairs at American University in Washington, suggested going to Pyongyang with Pacman and Peso in tow.

That in turn led to a Kickstarter.com campaign in August that eventually raised $10,000 in pledges-including a hefty contribution from a sympathetic Wall Street hedge fund manager-to cover travel expenses. That should be enough to pay for about five days in North Korea, as well as stops in Beijing and Mongolia’s capital Ulan Bator-with club gigs in both places-plus a stopover in Hong Kong.

“Serendipity has brought about a rare opportunity for the duo to join a one-of-a-kind trip to North Korea where they will be able to shoot a music video that will showcase their talent and create a buzz for themselves,” their Kickstarter page says.

Bassett, a former US soldier who was posted to the Korean demilitarized zone and who has been to North Korea four times already, told AFP the authorities in Pyongyang know about Pacman and Peso’s plans and approved them. “It’s showing people that it’s possible to do things like this right now,” said Bassett, who will accompany Pacman, Peso and Aburdene as they go around the country and try to mingle with local folk. —AFP

Lifestyle FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

South Korea’s growing

‘kimchi deficit’

I

Pictures show some 3,000 South Korean volunteers making kimchi, a traditional Korean dish of spicy fermented cabbage and radish, during a mass kimchi-making event for low-income families outside Seoul city hall in Seoul. — AFP

T

t’s kimchi-making season in South Korea, with households across the country preparing and laying down stocks of the ubiquitous spicy side-dish for the coming winter. But many foreign visitors, including the most intrepid foodies, will probably leave without ever tasting a Koreanmade version of the national dish of fermented, chili-soused cabbage. That might be hard to believe for those who watched Wednesday as around 3,000 women wearing surgical hats and masks with rubber gloves and aprons, gathered outside Seoul city hall for a mass kimchi-making exercise.

In just four hours, they churned out 250 tonnes of kimchi that will be distributed to low-income families throughout the city. Despite such prodigious feats of production, Korean kimchi is not that easy to come by in the country of its birth-to the extent that it imports more of the pungent dish than it exports. Apart from upscale restaurants, most food outlets in Seoul and other cities serve Chinese-made versions of the side-dish which, in its classic form, comprises salt watermarinated cabbage flavoured with a mix of powdered chili, salt, garlic, ginger and spring onion.

This is because Chinese kimchi is far, far cheaper, with a wholesale price of around 800 won ($0.75) a kilo (2.2 pounds) compared to 3,000 won for the homemade version. And that huge price differential is largely responsible for what, since

2006, has become known as South Korea’s “kimchi deficit.” Last year, South Korean kimchi exports totaled a record $106.6 million-80 percent of it bound for Japan, according to the Korea AgroFisheries and Food Trade Corp. (KAFTC).

But imports were even higher at $110.8 million-with 90 percent coming from China-for a deficit of $4.2 million. That figure is expected to double in 2013, and already stood at $10 million at the end of September, partly due to a fall in exports to Japan because of the weak yen and strained relations between Seoul and Tokyo. With the exception of 2009, South Korea has run a kimchi deficit every year since 2006.

Many see this state of affairs as an affront to the cultural heritage of a country where pride in the national dish cannot be overestimated. South Korea boasts a global kimchi research centre, a kimchi museum and an annual kimchi festival-and a fermented serving was even blasted into space with the country’s first astronaut in 2008. “It’s regrettable that the locally made kimchi is disappearing at local restaurants,” a KAFTC official told AFP. “There have been concerns about food safety regarding made-in-China kimchi, and some restaurants fake the origin of their kimchi to customers,” he said.—AFP

Warhol’s ‘Crash’ smashes artist’s sale record

he last of four in a series of Andy Warhol paintings depicting car crashes shattered the pop artist’s auction record Wednesday, selling for more than $105 million, Sotheby’s said. Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster), signed and a part of his 1963 Death and Disasters series, fetched $105,445,000 with three bidders vying for the buy in New York, the auction house said in a statement.

The 2.43 m tall and 4-meter (over 8x13 feet) wide work, has two panels: to the left a series of 15 images of a car crash, and to the right, a large silvery rectangle. It is an imposing work experts describe as trailblazing and a cinematic allusion to death on a silver screen. The previous top sale for the enigmatic pop artist and son of Polish immigrants, who was born Andrej Varhola in Pittsburgh, was $71.72 million, Sotheby’s said.

The Sotheby’s auction comes just a day after a triptych by British painter Francis Bacon-”Three Studies of Lucian Freud”-sold for $142.4 million, setting a new world record for the most expensive piece of art auctioned. That work by Bacon, the 20th century figurative artist, who lived from 1909 to 1992, had never before been put under the hammer until Christie’s flagship evening sale. It was bought by a New York gallery. The most expensive artwork ever is a Cezanne that sold for

$259 million in 2011 in a private sale.

Hammered to an outburst of applause, the Bacon surpassed the previous record of $119.9 million fetched by Edvard Munch’s iconic “The Scream” by rival house Sotheby’s in New York in May 2012.

Below is a list of the 15 most expensive art works ever sold at an auction. Unless stated otherwise, all are paintings.

1. Francis Bacon’s triptych “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” sells for $142.4 million at Christie’s in New York in 2013.

2. Edvard Munch’s pastel “The Scream,” sells for $119.9 million at Sotheby’s in New York in 2012.

3. Pablo Picasso’s “Nu au Plateau de Sculpteur” (“Nude, Green Leaves and Bust”) for $106.4 million at Christie’s in New York in 2010.

4. Andy Warhol’s Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster), signed and a part of his 1963 Death and Disasters series, for $105,445,000 in New York in 2013.

5. Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture “Walking Man I” for $104.3 million at Sotheby’s in London in 2010.

6. Picasso’s “Boy with a Pipe” sells for $104.2 million at Sotheby’s in New York in 2004.

7. Picasso’s “Dora Maar with Cat” for $95.2 million at Sotheby’s in

Andy Warhol’s artwork, “Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)” is displayed while being auctioned at Sotheby’s on November 13, 2013 in New York City. — AFP photos

New York in 2006.

8. Gustav Klimt’s “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II” for $87.9 million at Christie’s in New York in 2006.

9. Mark Rothko canvas “Orange, Red, Yellow” for $86.9 million at Christie’s in New York in 2012.

10. Bacon’s “Triptych 1976” sells for $86.2 million at Sotheby’s in New York in 2008.

11. Vincent Van Gogh’s “Portrait of Dr. Gachet” sells for $82.5 million at Christie’s in New York in 1990.

12. Claude Monet’s “Le Bassin aux Nympheas” (“Pool of Water Lilies”) for $80.3 million at Christie’s in London in 2008.

13. Auguste Renoir’s “Au moulin de la galette” (“Dance at the moulin de la galette”) for $78.1 million at Sotheby’s in New York in 1990.

14. Peter Paul Rubens, “Massacre of the Innocents” for $76.7 million at Sotheby’s in London in 2002.

15. Rothko’s “No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue)” goes for $75.1 million at Sotheby’s in New York in 2012. — AFP

Jean Michel Basquiat’s artwork titled “Untitled (Yellow Tar and Feathers)” is auctioned at Sotheby’s for $25,925,000.

Lifestyle FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Singer Taylor Swift performs with Patrick Stump, left, and Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy during the 2013 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show at the 69th Regiment Armory.

Singer Taylor Swift, second left, and the members of Fall Out Boy celebrate during the finale of the 2013 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. —AP/AFP photos

Swift shares catwalk

with Victoria’s Secret angels T

he Victoria’s Secret Angels worked their magic on the catwalk Wednesday, weaving between charttoppers Taylor Swift and Fall Out Boy, and some fancy sets and stage tricks, yet somehow keeping the spotlight mostly on them-

‘Neon Jungle’ performs at the 2013 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

Singer Taylor Swift attends the 2013 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

Singer Taylor Swift performs during the 2013 Victoriaís Secret Fashion Show.

Model Adriana Lima gives an interview backstage.

selves. The elaborate wings, shiny sequins and strategic flashes of skin certainly helped. Oh, and those Nicholas Kirkwood and Sophia Webster stilettos had the models towering over everyone else, too.

Swift donned a Union Jack costume and a sparkly silver mini-dress, but she never put on the lingerie that makes this annual fashion show so famous. She did give a lively performance of “I Knew You Were Trouble” that got the crowd at the Lexington Avenue Armory on its feet. Faux snow fell from the rafters, adding to the fantasy feel of the production. Favorite models Karlie Kloss, Joan Smalls, Alessandra Ambrosio and Doutzen Kroes paraded in outfits - maybe a better word is get-ups that fit themes of Snow Angels, British Invasion, Shipwrecked, Snow Angels, Parisian Nights, Pink Network and Birds of Paradise. (One can imagine this excuse to send tons of feather embellishment floating down the runway.)

Lifestyle FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Models walk the runway during the finale of the 2013 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

At her fitting for her Psychedelic Angel costume, with hand-painted thigh-high boots and maybe the biggest wings of the show, Kloss said that while the garments are skimpy, they take months to make.

Candice Swanepoel got the glory of the opening look, wearing a $10 million bra decorated with diamonds, rubies and sapphires that was cleverly dubbed the “Crown Jewels.” She was quickly followed

by Cara Delevingne as an English footballer and Lily Aldridge, who often gets the good-girl outfits, as a punk in a tartan plaid skirt that no school would allow.

Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz trailed pretty closely behind them, and who can blame him? As has become tradition, there wasn’t much for the lingerie retailer’s customers to wear here, but there was drama, fun and a delicacy to the clothes that seemed a contrast to the more overt sexiness of the past few years.

The light touch on the tattered tulle used for the Shipwrecked segment, and the black beads that caught the light of the faux French streetlamps on the side of the runway were examples of design skill.

This was the 18th Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. It will be shown as a one-hour special on CBS on Dec Models Sara Sampaio and Lais Ribeiro prepare at the 2013 10. —AP Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show hair and makeup room.

‘Project Runway’s’ Gunn to host new lifetime fashion competition

L

ifetime is giving “Project Runway” mentor Tim Gunn a chance to pay it forward with new series “Under the Gunn,” which premieres on Jan 16 at 9/8c.

It will feature the fashion icon as its host and executive producer with “Project Runway” alums Mondo Guerra, Anya Ayoung-Chee and Nick Verreos acting as mentors to 15 up-and-coming designers.

Each mentor will have a team of designers they must manage, coach, and give constructive criticism in the spirit of Gunn’s role on “Project Runway.”

Each mentor will choose four designers to join their team. Together, they’ll tackle challenges presented by Gunn with

one designer and their mentor named the winners at the end of the series.

Designer Rachel Roy, celebrity stylist Jen Rade and TV fashion correspondent and Marie Claire Senior Fashion Editor Zanna Roberts Rassi will also lend their critiques to the show’s designers. The Weinstein Company, Bunim/Murray Productions and the producers of the Emmy-nominated “Project Runway” will produce the 13-episode series. It begins production in Los Angeles this month at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM).

Executive producers include Bob and Harvey Weinstein (Co-Chairmen of The

Weinstein Company), Meryl Poster and Barbara Schneeweiss of The Weinstein Company, Jonathan Murray, Sara Rea and Teri Weidman of Bunim/Murray Productions and Tim Gunn. For Lifetime, Eli Lehrer, Mary Donahue and David Hillman will supervise production.

Previously, Gunn hosted another “Project Runway” spin-off called “Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style” for Bravo, the network “Project Runway” originally aired on from 2007-2008 for two seasons. With cohosts model Veronica Webb on Season 1 and Gretta Monahan on Season 2, Gunn made over guests as long as they adhered to a set of style rules. — Reuters

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Kuwait

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (14/11/2013 TO 20/11/2013)

SHARQIA-1 ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG)

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

MARINA-2 THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG) FREE BIRDS (DIG) ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG)

1:30 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

SHARQIA-2 CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG-3D) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG-3D) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG)

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

MARINA-3 FREE BIRDS (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG-3D) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG-3D) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG)

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

SHARQIA-3 FREE BIRDS (DIG) FREE BIRDS (DIG) FREE BIRDS (DIG) ARENA OF THE STREET FIGHTER (DIG) KALBY DALILI (DIG) ARENA OF THE STREET FIGHTER (DIG) ARENA OF THE STREET FIGHTER (DIG)

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

AVENUES-1 RAM LEELA (DIG) (HINDI) RAM LEELA (DIG) (HINDI) RAM LEELA (DIG) (HINDI) RAM LEELA (DIG) (HINDI) RAM LEELA (DIG) (HINDI)

12:30 PM 3:30 PM 6:30 PM 9:30 PM 12:30 AM

MUHALAB-1 ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) RAM LEELA (DIG) (HINDI) MASALA (DIG) (TELUGU) ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) MUHALAB-2 Seats-210 FREE BIRDS (DIG) ARENA OF THE STREET FIGHTER (DIG) KALBY DALILI (DIG) ARENA OF THE STREET FIGHTER (DIG)

1:45 PM 4:00 PM 4:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM

MUHALAB-3 CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG-3D) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG-3D)

2:00 PM 4:45 PM 7:00 PM 9:45 PM

FANAR-1 ARENA OF THE STREET FIGHTER (DIG) ARENA OF THE STREET FIGHTER (DIG) KALBY DALILI (DIG) ARENA OF THE STREET FIGHTER (DIG) ARENA OF THE STREET FIGHTER (DIG) KALBY DALILI (DIG) ARENA OF THE STREET FIGHTER (DIG)

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

FANAR-2 ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG)

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

FANAR-3 DJINN (DIG) ALL IS LOST (DIG) RAM LEELA (DIG) (HINDI) RAM LEELA (DIG) (HINDI) ALL IS LOST (DIG) ALL IS LOST (DIG)

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:45 PM 7:45 PM 10:45 PM 1:00 AM

FANAR-4 THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG) FREE BIRDS (DIG-3D) FREE BIRDS (DIG-3D) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG-3D) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG-3D)

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

FANAR-5 GRAVITY GRAVITY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2 GRAVITY GRAVITY GRAVITY MARINA-1 ARENA OF THE STREET FIGHTER (DIG) KALBY DALILI (DIG) ARENA OF THE STREET FIGHTER (DIG) KALBY DALILI (DIG) ARENA OF THE STREET FIGHTER (DIG) ARENA OF THE STREET FIGHTER (DIG)

AVENUES-2 ALL IS LOST (DIG) ALL IS LOST (DIG) ALL IS LOST (DIG) ALL IS LOST (DIG) ALL IS LOST (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

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

AVENUES-3 ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 4:00 PM 6:30 PM 9:00 PM 11:30 PM

360º- 1 CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED 360º- 2 ALL IS LOST (DIG) ALL IS LOST (DIG) ALL IS LOST (DIG) ALL IS LOST (DIG) ALL IS LOST (DIG) ALL IS LOST (DIG)

Sharing accommodation available for decent bachelor non smoking, one big room, Amman street, opposite to Al Rashid hospital. Contact: 66232356.

(C 4570) 13-11-2013 FOR SALE

12:45 PM 3:30 PM 6:15 PM 9:00 PM 11:45 PM 1:30 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

360º- 3 FREE BIRDS (DIG-3D) FREE BIRDS (DIG) FREE BIRDS (DIG-3D) FREE BIRDS (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG)

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

AL-KOUT.1 THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG) FREE BIRDS (DIG) FREE BIRDS (DIG) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG-3D) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG-3D)

1:30 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

AL-KOUT.2 ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) ALL IS LOST (DIG) ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) ALL IS LOST (DIG) ROMEO AND JULIET (DIG) ALL IS LOST (DIG)

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

6:00 PM 8:00 PM 10:15 PM 12:15 AM

AL-KOUT.3 CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG)

12:45 PM 3:30 PM 6:30 PM 9:15 PM 12:05 AM

1:45 PM 3:45 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM 12:05 AM

AL-KOUT.4 ARENA OF THE STREET FIGHTER (DIG) KALBY DALILI (DIG) ARENA OF THE STREET FIGHTER (DIG) ARENA OF THE STREET FIGHTER (DIG) KALBY DALILI (DIG)

1:45 PM 3:45 PM 5:45 PM 7:45 PM 9:45 PM

2:00 PM 4:00 PM

ACCOMMODATION

SUV Trailblazer, 2005 model, white color, price KD 1,300.

Tel: 66728911.

(C 4571) 14-11-2013 Well maintained Mitsubishi Lancer car 2000 model, grey color, in Salmiya, 137,000 km run, serviced regularly, single owner, KD 550, negotiable.

Call 99860513. (C 4567) 13-11-2013 2003 model, single owned, good condition, white Pathfinder is for sale.

Interested, you may please do contact 66988269.

(C 4565) 12-11-2013 SITUATION VACANT A Kuwaiti family is looking to hire an Indian driver with Kuwait driving license and knowledge of Kuwait’s streets and areas, transferable visa. Call: 55552782.

(C 4568)

Terrace No. 7, Pune 40, MS and presently residing in Kuwait do hereby change my name from Amira to Amira Sayed, with immediate effect. (C 4566) 12-11-2013 I, Bommry (sur name), Manjunathan, (given name), S/o Bommini Raghava Reddy, date of birth: 24.07.1980, residing at No. 31, Nemilli, Nemili village & Post, Thiruvalluvar District, Pincode-631201, holder of Indian Passport No. J0365702, shall hencefore be known as Bommini (sur name), Manjunathan, (given name) Bommry (sur name), Manjunathan, (given name).

(C 4564)

112 THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION

Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is

1889988 Prayer timings

Required English speaking maid/nanny. Please call 99824597. (C 4569) 13-11-2013 CHANGE OF NAME I, Amira holder of Indian Passport No. Z2519936, issued at Kuwait on June 02, 2013, permanent resident of Clover Village, Rosehill

Fajr: Shorook Duhr: Asr: Maghrib: Isha:

04:45 06:06 11:32 14:36 16:57 18:16

Books FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Spiritual lessons from Paulo Coelho

B

razilian author Paulo Coelho has published 30 books of fiction, poetry and spiritual guidance, selling tens of millions of copies in as many as 70 languages.

Like oral-tradition fables or Biblical parables, Coelho tells tales of characters immersed in universal struggles (such as the search for one’s destiny, or the balance between erotic temptation and love) peppered with quotable life advice. His newest novel, “Manuscript Found in Accra,” joins fan favorites such as “The Alchemist” and “Aleph” in weaving spiritual guidance into a dramatic, adventure-filled read. We’ve rounded up the top Coelho classics and tease out the lessons on love, sex and hardship they provide.

1.The Alchemist

Good things come to those who persevere In “The Alchemist,” Coelho’s most popular novel, a young Spanish shepherd named Santiago has a prophetic dream that treasure awaits him in some distant land. After consulting with a gypsy who tells him the treasure lies under the Pyramids of Giza and Egypt, he embarks upon a long and arduous journey

2. Manuscript Found in Accra Pain is inevitable Coelho’s latest novel opens in 1099 in Jerusalem, where citizens of the walled city are awaiting an attack from crusaders.

Anxious and desperate, they hang on the words of a wise man known only as the Copt.

The Copt’s central message is that the pain and destruction they are all anticipating is unavoidable, and that anxiety and worry will do nothing to stop it. Once his listeners have accepted that they have limited control over their fate, they’re able to transcend their fear, savor the present moment and focus their attention on higher matters, including beauty, sex, success and love.

3.Veronika Decides to Die Don’t wait for life to be over to appreciate it “Veronika Decides to Die” is one of Coelho’s darker novels and, at the same time, one of his more life-affirming. It’s the story of a successful but unhappy 24-year-old girl who, following a suicide attempt, wakes in a psychiatric hospital where a doctor tells her she has only a few weeks to live. This is a ruse-the doctor theorizes that if Veronika believes her death to be imminent, she’ll learn to appreciate her life. And he is right: Adopting a “nothing to lose” attitude, Veronika allows herself to experience the world and her emotions more fully and intensely than ever before. In its depictions of mental health professionals as controlling and manipulative, the novel sends a complicated message about psychiatric care. But

Veronika’s realization resonates for anyone who has struggled to see beauty amid the pain of life.

4. Eleven Minutes Love is greater than pleasure “Eleven Minutes” explores two types of affection-one based in “true love” and the other in sensual pleasure-through the character of Maria, a successful prostitute working in Sweden. Maria’s line of work, which requires her to indulge the sometimes-dubious fantasies of wealthy men, has heightened her sense of erotic pleasure while forc-

across Africa. The obstacles he encounters in the desert-he struggles to secure food and shelter, crosses paths with armies and even falls in love-make him second-guess his dubious quest. But for every hurdle discouraging him, there’s a signpost reminding him to keep his faith alive. Early in his journey an old king tells Santiago: “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

ing her to keep her heart closed. But when she meets and falls in love with a young painter, she rediscovers a deeper, more spiritual affection. Through Maria’s new confusion and vulnerability, Coelho weighs the risks and rewards of higher love: “Keeping passion at bay or surrendering blindly to it,” he writes. “Which of these two attitudes is the least destructive?”

5. Aleph It’s never too late to be reborn “Aleph” is Coelho’s novelization of his own “crisis of faith” that he experienced in

middle age. The protagonist (also Paulo) has every reason to be satisfied-he’s financially successful, happily married and surrounded by good friends-but a lack of mystery and spiritual wonder has left him feeling anxious and at loose ends. He sets out on a journey that takes him from Africa to Europe to Asia, reawakening his senses and reminding himself of life’s mystical essence. The novel is a reminder to anyone feeling numbed by dayto-day drudgery that one’s spiritual side can always be awakened. www.bookish.com

Stars

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Aries (March 21-April 19)

You're trying to protect and shelter a certain part of yourself from others. This special spot in your soul that you hide from others is probably the most beautiful, since you nurture it so carefully. Don't give up this piece of yourself too easily. Save this pristine, delicate place for someone most deserving.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

Although some people may think of you as a space cadet when it comes to decisions and commitments, they may see a different side of you today. Don't be surprised if others come around to your camp once they hear your side of the story.

Somehow all the pieces are fitting into place just like you knew they would. Those who doubted you will be pleasantly surprised.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

It may be hard to find your mental and physical home base.

Your mind could be wrapped in a cloud or some sort of imaginative time warp, so be careful how you proceed. Your head is in another dimension and you aren't paying nearly enough attention to the road ahead of you. Get off the highway and let your mind wander in a place where it's safe to do so.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

You like to recycle in your home and your workplace. Be a part of the solution instead of the problem by picking up after yourself and making sure that you aren't leaving a mess wherever you go. The state of the environment is more of a concern every day. It's up to each individual to make a difference.

Leo (July 23-August 22)

The source of your frustration may be people who seem to be sensitive and honest yet act abrasively and speak aggressively.

Try not to be fooled by those who continuously offer one image while delivering another. Keep your guard up. Don't waste your time giving people more chances than they deserve.

Virgo (August 23-September 22)

Have fun with people today. Talk about the fantasies you dream about coming to fruition in the coming years. Your emotions are strongly tied to your imagination. You could become defensive when someone starts to poke holes in your dreams.

Use your intellect to defend yourself and the ideals you wish to live by in the future.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

Your competitive side may be a strong force in today's activities. Before you get too emotional about any situation, use logic and cold, hard facts to defend your position. Well thought out arguments presented clearly and concisely will be more effective than an emotional explosion full of tears and harsh words.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)

Finding the answers you seek is easier when you take a more adamant position about where you stand now and where you want to be later. If you continue to be uncertain and relaxed about which way to proceed, others may take advantage of you. You have the strength and power to fuel your desires. It's time to put these into effect.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21)

You've almost reached an important finish line. Don't give up.

This is the time to kick into high gear and get moving even more quickly than before. Your emotions may remain out in left field as they merge with your most active fantasies. Do your best to stay on track by looking forward instead of behind you.

You can always change course after you reach this finish line.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

This is a good time to make decisions that bring together your need for practicality as well as desire for emotional freedom. It's important for your mental health to have faith in your fantasies and your ability to see them through to fruition. There's a special portal open for you today with your name on it.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18)

You're apt to feel support, though it might be hidden in unexpected places. Don't discount anyone. Even the most caustic remarks have a touch of sensitivity and progressive thought that can help you a great deal. There's strength in emotional truth even if you don't want to hear it. Bitter pills may be hard to swallow, but they can be good for you.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

It may be hard for anything to hold your attention today. Your mind may drift easily, and you may not have the patience to deal with situations that come your way. Do your best to wait until someone is finished talking before you jump in with your two cents. Be polite and respectful of others and they'll be more respectful of yours.

COUNTRY CODES 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 Republic 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 Somalia 00252 South Africa 0027 South Korea 0082 Spain 0034 Sri Lanka 0094 Sudan 00249 Suriname 00597 Swaziland 00268 Sweden 0046 Switzerland 0041 Syria 00963 Taiwan 00886 Tanzania 00255 Thailand 0066 Toga 00228 Tonga 00676 Tokelau 00690 Trinidad 001868 Tunisia 00216 Turkey 0090 Tuvalu 00688 Uganda 00256 Ukraine 00380 United Arab Emirates00976

L e i s u re

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Word Search

Yesterdayʼs Solution

C R O S S W O R D 3 6 9

ACROSS 1. Electrical conduction through a gas in an applied electric field.

4. A person who owns or operates a ranch.

11. Waterproofed canvas.

15. The longer of the two telegraphic signals used in Morse code.

16. Strive to equal or match, especially by imitating.

17. A slender double-reed instrument.

18. Collect or gather.

20. East Indian annual erect herb.

21. English monk and scholar (672-735).

22. A sudden short attack.

24. (chemistry) Relating to or containing an alkali.

26. Reduce in scope while retaining essential elements.

28. From 40 million to 58 million years ago.

29. A son who has the same first name as his father.

31. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

32. English theoretical physicist who applied relativity theory to quantum mechanics and predicted the existence of antimatter and the positron (1902-1984).

33. A city in western Germany near the Dutch and Belgian borders.

36. The dried fibrous part of the fruit of a plant of the genus Luffa.

40. Counting the number of white and red blood cells and the number of platelets in 1 cubic millimeter of blood.

41. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.

45. Decay usually accompanied by an offensive odor.

46. A Russian river.

49. Type genus of the Percidae.

52. The whiteness that results from removing the color from something.

54. An intense and irresistible love for yourself and concern for your own needs.

56. A shade of brown with a tinge of red.

57. A soft silver-white ductile metallic element (liquid at normal temperatures).

58. In a vessel with two hulls, an enclosed area between the frames at each side.

59. A unit of dry measure used in Egypt.

60. A territory in southwestern Germany formerly ruled by the counts palatine.

62. Not carefully or expertly made.

65. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

69. The fatty flesh of eel.

70. A fighter who batters the opponent.

74. Towards the side away from the wind.

75. Of or relating to or in the manner of the playwright Henrik Ibsen.

77. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.

78. (astronomy) A measure of time defined by Earth's orbital motion.

79. (zoology) Lacking a tail or taillike appendage.

80. A slight amount or degree of difference.

3. Green algae common in freshwater lakes of limestone districts.

4. Rise again.

5. Before noon.

6. A small lump or protuberance.

7. Large swift fly the female of which sucks blood of various animals.

8. Imperial dynasty that ruled China (most of the time) from 206 BC to 221 and expanded its boundaries and developed its bureaucracy.

9. An inactive volcano in Sicily.

10. Someone who walks unsteadily as if about to fall.

11. Leaves of the tobacco plant dried and prepared for smoking or ingestion.

12. A poplar that is widely cultivated in the United States.

13. French sculptor noted for his renderings of the human form (1840-1917).

14. The state prevailing during the absence of war.

19. A region of Malaysia in northeastern Borneo.

23. English aristocrat who was the first wife of Prince Charles.

25. Sluggish tailless Australian arboreal marsupial with gray furry ears and coat.

27. A doctor's degree in education.

30. A disorderly crowd of people.

34. Being ten more than one hundred ninety.

35. A sweetened beverage of diluted fruit juice.

37. Large long-armed ape of Borneo and Sumatra having arboreal habits.

38. (psychiatry) A psychological disorder of thought or emotion.

39. (Greek mythology) A Titan who was forced by Zeus to bear the sky on his shoulders.

42. A person forced to flee from home or country.

43. One millionth of a gram.

44. African tree having an exceedingly thick trunk and fruit that resembles a gourd and has an edible pulp called monkey bread.

47. (Scotland) A landowner.

48. The academic world.

50. Be resplendent or radiant.

51. French novelist.

53. Adornment consisting of an ornamental cloth pad worn on the shoulder.

55. A unit of length equal to one thousandth of an inch.

61. A weekday on which no feast is celebrated.

63. Tall woody perennial grasses with hollow slender stems especially of the genera Arundo and Phragmites.

64. Cheese containing a blue mold.

66. Any of various small biting flies.

67. Goddess of the dead and queen of the underworld.

68. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.

71. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

72. North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

73. Used of a single unit or thing.

76. A highly unstable radioactive element (the heaviest of the halogen series).

Yesterdayʼs Solution

DOWN 1. (Old Testament) In Judeo-Christian mythology.

2. Avatar of Vishnu.

Daily SuDoku

Yesterday’s Solution

Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Giants and Packers set to clash in pivotal game

EAST RUTHERFORD: The New York Giants are desperate to take the next step in a steep climb into the playoff picture while the Green Bay Packers are striving to halt a slide in Sunday’s showdown between old rivals.

Green Bay have lost their last two games with quarterback Aaron Rodgers sidelined with a broken collarbone to slip to 5-4 in the competitive NFC North, while New York have won three in a row to stir hopes after opening 0-6 in the mediocre NFC East. The teams are both accustomed to success as winners of three of the last six Super Bowls. The two old franchises have won 21 NFL titles between them — Green Bay, a record 13, and the Giants eight — including seasons before the advent of the Super Bowl.

New York, Super Bowl winners of the 2011 and 2007 seasons, are gaining confi-

dence but have yet to approach top form.

“We’re definitely a 3-6 team,” defensive back Antrel Rolle said on Wednesday, dismissing a suggestion that the Giants consider themselves better than that. “We can’t mistake that under any means, but our level of confidence is definitely rising each and every week.”

Eli Manning, who ranks 31st among NFL quarterbacks, has cut down on the flurry of interceptions he threw at the start of the season but has failed to get the passing game in top gear.

“We’re still fighting. We’re still fighting to get back on track and get back to where we need to be,” Manning told reporters by his locker. “We can’t let any more slip away.”

New York also ranks a lowly 29th in yards rushing. The Packers, champions of the 2010 season, will be starting a third

different quarterback in three weeks with Scott Tolzien slated to start for Green Bay, who are tied with the Bears and trail the Detroit Lions (6-3) by one game in the NFC North. “This is a long year,” Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy told reporters at the Giants practice facility in a conference call.

“Two weeks ago, things looked different than they do today. It’s important to stay focused on who you are each and every week and what you need to do to get it done. That’s our plan when we come up to New York.”

Seneca Wallace came in for Rodgers after his injury in a home loss the Bears.

When Wallace was sidelined last Sunday at home against Philadelphia, Tolzien stepped up. “He’s a very confident kid, he’s a smart kid,” Jordy Nelson, Green Bay’s top receiver with seven touchdowns, said about the former San Francisco

benchwarmer who was elevated from the practice squad. “He’s a guy who puts a lot of time and work into his craft.” Tolzien performed well in a losing effort against the visiting Eagles, completing 24-of-39 for 280 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.

“I expect him to do well, probably even a little better knowing he’s going to be the starter and that we’re game planning for his skills.”

Green Bay may choose to lean on rookie running back Eddie Lacy, who gained 150 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries against the Bears and has rushed for 669 yards this season.

Giants pass-rusher Jason Pierre-Paul said his shoulder, hurt in last week’s victory over the Oakland Raiders, still bothered him and he was not sure about playing on Sunday. — Reuters

Inquiry can restore image — UCI chief JOHANNESBURG: Cycling has a difficult process of soul-searching to get through if it is to restore its reputation after years of doping scandals, new International Cycling Union (UCI) president Brian Cookson said yesterday.

“Let’s get all of the allegations out, find out more of the history, let’s find out who was involved, what were the procedures, how did people manage to avoid tests for so long and yet be still using such serious substances and procedures,” Cookson told Reuters in an interview.

“I think there is a lot of work still to be done there. (I) think we’ve got to go through that process to restore our image and the reputation of our sport.”

The UCI and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had this week agreed the terms of an inquiry into doping in cycling, Cookson said, and details would be announced in the next few weeks.

Cookson, who won a contentious election for the UCI presidency in September, told Britain’s Guardian newspaper on Wednesday that he wanted disgraced American Lance Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for doping, to contribute to the inquiry.

“I don’t think it is proper to use the phrase ‘truth and reconciliation’ but what we are trying to do is similar to that,” Cookson told Reuters in Johannesburg on the fringes of the World Conference on Doping in Sport.

“There (are) a fair amount of details to be agreed. The important thing is that it will be genuinely independent and take evidence from whoever wants to come and talk to it and we’ll be agreeing the final details of what can be offered by way of incentive to testify and what the powers of the commission will be.

“We are really trying to look forward. We’ll give it an appropriate name that will help focus people’s understanding on reform, reconstruction and revalidation of our sport.”

Cookson said he planned to make the UCI’S drug testing more independent. WADA, who are hosting the Johannesburg conference, would advise on the structures of the inquiry commission and make sure it complied with their code, he said.

Cookson said he felt cycling was making progress after the huge loss of credibility to its showpiece events and Armstrong’s confession that he had used illegal, performance-enhancing drugs.

“A lot of progress has been made but there are many steps ahead yet,” Cookson said. —Reuters

ST PAUL: Nazem Kadri No. 43 of the Toronto Maple Leafs passes the puck away from Dany Heatley No. 15 of the Minnesota Wild during the third period of the game. — AFP

Wild drop Maple Leafs ST. PAUL: Zach Parise and Jason Pominville scored in the shootout, lifting the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.

Parise tied the game late in the third period for Minnesota, which has won five of six and is 8-1-2 in its last 11. The Wild have been involved in three straight shootouts - winning two.

Mason Raymond scored a power-play goal for Toronto, which has scored just three regulation goals in its last four outings.

Jonathan Bernier had 33 saves.

Josh Harding had 19 saves for the Wild in relief of Niklas Backstrom, who was run over by Toronto’s Nazem Kadri 7 minutes into the game. Kadri’s elbow appeared to hit Backstrom in the head. Kadri was also assessed a match penalty for illegally hitting Mikael Granlund in the head in the second period and likely faces a long suspension.

FLYERS 2, PENGUINS 1 Brayden Schenn scored two goals and backup goalie Ray Emery stopped 30 shots to lead the Philadelphia Flyers in a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night for their third straight victory.

Schenn, who had a goal and an assist during Philadelphia’s 5-0 win against Ottawa the previous night, opened the scoring late in the first period and got the tiebreaker late in the second. Emery got the start one night after Steve Mason shut out the Senators.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby scored his ninth goal of the season, and first in eight games. Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves for Pittsburgh, which has lost three straight for the second time this season.

STARS 3, OILERS 0 Kari Lehtonen stopped 22 shots for his 23rd career shutout to lead Dallas. Rich Peverley, Antoine Roussel and Tyler Seguin scored for the Stars, who have won four of their last five games.

The Oilers have lost four straight and are 1-8-1 in their last 1o games. Edmonton was also blanked at home for the third consecutive game, setting a new franchise record, and has totaled just two goals in the last five on home ice.

Peverley got the Stars on the scoreboard with 9:15 left in the second period when he knocked in a rebound of his own shot for his fourth goal of the season. Seguin and Roussel had empty-netters 38 seconds apart in the final minute to seal Dallas’ win. —-AP

Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

McIlroy struggles in Dubai

DUBAI: Rory McIlroy, seeking a first win of 2013, began Dubai’s $8 million DP World Tour Championship in blistering fashion but could not sustain the momentum as he fired a one-under 71 yesterday in the European season climax.

The defending Dubai champion sank birdies in three of the opening four holes on a cloudless morning at the Greg Normandesigned Earth course.

After a 30-foot birdie on the opening par

four, a 40-foot eagle attempt came up just short to leave him with a simple birdie at the second and the 24-year-old Northern Irishman picked up another shot on the fourth as girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki looked on.

But bogeys on the fifth and eighth holes stymied McIlroy’s charge, and although he birdied the seventh he dropped another shot after finding the water on the 18th to end on 71, five behind early leader Alejandro

Nick Cullen

Cullen steals Scott’s thunder in Australia MELBOURNE: Unheralded local player Nick Cullen upstaged defending champion Adam Scott by shooting a sparkling sixunder 65 to take a two-shot lead after the opening round of the Australian Masters yesterday.

The 29-year-old Cullen, ranked well outside the world’s top 300, grabbed a share of the lead with compatriot Scott after a sublime chip-in for eagle on the par-four 11th, then left the US Masters champion in his wake by rolling in three more birdies on a chilly, blustery day at Royal Melbourne.

Having long lived in the shadow of twin brother Dan, an elite cricketer who played a test match for Australia, Cullen was tickled to see his name at the top of the leaderboard above the headline act. “I think it’s an amazing golf course and I’m really loving it here this week,” the Adelaide professional told reporters after offsetting two bogeys with six birdies at the famed sandbelt course.

Enjoying a rich vein of form, Scott teed off early and carded a solid four-under 67 to sit tied for second with German Maximilian Kieffer. The world number two caught fire with four straight birdies in the middle of his round, thrilling hundreds of fans that stuck by him through a drizzly morning, but he marched straight to the practice range to bash a few dozen balls in frustration after his ball-striking wavered in the closing holes.

“Sixty-seven around here is a good score,” Scott said after a five-birdie round marred only by a solitary bogey on his secondlast hole. “I felt like I left a couple out there but my game is in pretty good shape and four rounds like that might go a long way this week.” Having won the Australian PGA Championship at a canter on Sunday, the 33-year-old remains well-placed to sweep the country’s three marquee tournaments, with the national Open title in Sydney to come. Little-known Kieffer made a mockery of the adage that practice makes perfect as he joined Scott on four-under despite having never played the course’s back nine.

On his first trip Down Under to play the World Cup of Golf for Germany, the 23-year-old missed out on a hit on the back nine in the lead-up due to jet-lag and poor weather, but relied on caddy Graeme Heinrich, a Melbourne man and publisher of golf course yardage books, to talk him through the layout.

“My expectations were very low because my preparation was not as it should be but it was good fun and a good learning experience,” Kieffer said.

World number eight Matt Kuchar, who will defend his World Cup of Golf title for the United States, this time with Kevin Streelman, at the same course next week, is six behind Cullen after battling to an even-par 71. Former world number one Vijay Singh cancelled out four birdies with five bogeys on the way to a scratchy 72 to be a further stroke adrift. — Reuters

Canizares. “I feel like I played better than the score suggested,” McIlroy told reporters. “I was pretty wasteful on the back nine. I had a good chance at 10, good chances at 14, 15, 16 so there were a few chances out there that I didn’t take. I’m coming off the course disappointed, but I know there’s a good score out there.”

That McIlroy was one of yesterday’s early starters shows how poorly 2013 has gone for him as he began the day a lowly 46th on the

Race to Dubai, formerly the European Order of Merit, which he won last year along with the US money list.

The world number six stressed the importance of ending the year strongly to lay the foundations for a better 2014. “I’ve got three tournaments left, this one and two more, so it would be great to get a win before the end of the season, but just some solid performances going into next year would be great,” he added. —Reuters

44

Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Perez: Harshly treated or wrong man for McLaren?

LONDON: Sergio Perez arrived at McLaren in January desperate for success, talking of fighting for wins and Formula One titles, and less than a year later the Mexican will walk away with his goals more distant than ever.

Questions will be asked about whether the 23-year-old was ever the right man for McLaren, a driver signed in a hurry late last year when 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton decided to jump ship and join Mercedes.

There will be others, particularly in Mexico, who will wonder just how much of a chance he was really given to prove himself.

Formula One is a cruel arena, a world where harsh commercial realities stamp on sentiment, but Perez might have expected more time after being handed one of the worst racing cars McLaren have built in decades.

He arrived at Woking as the first Mexican in more than 40 years with a real chance of winning a grand prix. At mid-table Sauber, he had finished on the podium three times last year.

Ferrari, who had brought him up through their academy, had said he was not ready for them as a replacement for Felipe Massa but McLaren thought oth-

erwise and snapped him up to fill Hamilton’s shoes. “We undoubtedly believe we can develop him into a world champion in fairly short order,” team principal Martin Whitmarsh told reporters at the time.

More ominously, in retrospect, he added: “You come to McLaren and you’ve got the scrutiny and the pressure. And you either do well and survive, or he will struggle. “You ask me if we are 100 percent sure that he’s the right man for us - I can’t be.” Had McLaren been able to offer Perez a winning car, the marriage might have lasted. Instead, with their worst since 1980 bringing an unexpected tension into the team, it has ended in divorce.

In a dignified and restrained statement posted on Twitter in English and Spanish on Wednesday, Perez made clear he had been shown the door but thanked the team for giving him the opportunity to drive for them. “I will always be a fan of McLaren,” he said. “In the meanwhile, I will be looking at my future to ensure my position in the best possible package to fight for wins.”

He is now expected to be replaced by 21-year-old Danish hotshot Kevin Magnussen, winner of the Renault 3.5

series title and a McLaren protege whose performance has turned heads.

Whitmarsh has described the Dane as “pretty special” and “lightning quick” and reports from Woking have suggested his performances in the simulator have backed up the belief.

McLaren took a risk with Hamilton and it paid off handsomely. The possibility that Magnussen could be another such talent is incentive enough to give him the nod over Perez.

The fact that the sport is going through significant change next season, with all the drivers having to come to terms with a new V6 turbocharged engine, also makes it arguably a better time to bring in a rookie than if the rules were stable.

Sometimes it works and sometimes not. McLaren signed Kimi Raikkonen in 2002 with just one season under his belt at Sauber and they knew immediately he was special. They took Perez after two seasons at Sauber and clearly the feeling has been different.

The last driver to stay for only a year at McLaren was Spaniard Fernando Alonso, a double world champion when he joined for what proved a stormy 2007 season alongside Hamilton. Alonso

Han takes on Chan as Olympic season looms

England seek to repeat 2012 victory over NZ LONDON: The rugby World Cup might be two years away but England’s clash against New Zealand at Twickenham tomorrow is a significant waymarker for both sides’ psychological approach to the 2015 tournament. New Zealand ended a 24-year wait for a second World Cup triumph when they emerged victorious on home soil in 2011 and, under the new management of Steve Hansen, they have continued to dominate global rugby.

The only blot on the landscape since their triumph in Auckland is last year’s 38-21 thrashing by England and they will be desperate to avenge that record defeat on Saturday as they seek to complete 2013 with 13 wins from as many matches.

That win was also of huge importance for Stuart Lancaster’s England, who were at a low ebb having lost previous home games to Australia and South Africa but were then able to go away and plan for the Six Nations full of confidence that, on their day, they were a match for anyone.

The All Blacks fear nobody in the game, least of all anyone from Europe, but another defeat on Saturday would really plant a seed of doubt in terms of the World Cup, with the final at Twickenham in 2015. Significant as it may be, Saturday’s match is only the first of five between the two teams over the next 13 months as England tour New Zealand in June before the All Blacks return to Twickenham next November. New Zealand are likely to have much the better of those games and could quite easily win them all.

However, if England can get to them, and stop them playing the way they want to play while improving their own game all the time, the psychological advantage might just be theirs should they meet again for the ultimate prize in 2015.

Last year’s result has been dismissed in some quarters because of a perceived tiredness among the tourists, exacerbated by illness in the camp, but Hansen was having none of it when he named his team yesterday.

“We were completely outplayed by them last year but this is an opportunity for us to see if we have improved our game to the point where we can be competitive,” he said.

Former All Black captain Sean Fitzpatrick thinks they have, so much so that he considers the current side to be the best ever. —Reuters

fell out with then team principal Ron Dennis, and found it hard to accept that Hamilton - a rookie - could be given equal treatment to him. However, McLaren stuck with Finland’s Heikki Kovalainen for two seasons, even though he was never in Hamilton’s league on the racetrack.

In their first season together in 2008, when McLaren had a title-winning car, Kovalainen scored 53 points to Hamilton’s 98. Perez has scored 35 so far to Button’s 60 and both have had fifth places, the team’s best result so far this year.

When Perez was signed, some saw it heralding a move by Telmex - the fixedline telephone company owned by the world’s richest man Carlos Slim that has backed him throughout his career - to replace Vodafone as title sponsors.

For whatever reason, the talk of incoming Mexican money has died away while Mexico’s return to the grand prix calendar now looks unlikely to happen until 2015 after being listed provisionally for next year. McLaren meanwhile are on the cusp of a new era with an engine partnership with Honda starting up from 2015. The future for them, at least, looks bright. —Reuters

Yan Han in action in this file photo.

PARIS: Rising Chinese star Yan Han will be looking to press his claim as an Olympic challenger by toppling three-time world champion Patrick Chan as preparations for the Sochi Games heat up at the Trophee Bompard starting in Paris today.

Olympic favourite Chan, 22, headlines the field in the fifth of the sixround ISU Grand Prix series at ParisBercy, in a line-up that also includes hot challengers Han and Japanese champion Yuzuru Hanyu, runner-up to Chan in Skate Canada last month.

Seventeen-year-old Han, the first Chinese man to win the world junior title in 2012, proved that he is ready to challenge after winning his first senior title at the Cup of China last month. Chan will be bidding to win a fourth Paris title and along with Han and Hanyu qualify for the elite sixskater Grand Prix Final in Fukuoka, Japan, next month that will serve as a preview of the Olympic contest that will unfold in Sochi in February.

Chan will be looking to iron out problems in his short programme to Rachmaninov encountered in Skate Canada with his free skate to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Corelli’s Concerto Grosso. Han will skate to a selection of waltzes as 18-year-old Hanyu, who finished off the podium in fourth at the worlds earlier this year, performs to ‘Parisian Walkways’ in Friday’s short programme. French champion Florent Amodio is also targetting a podium place after medalling twice in Paris, along with Czech Michal Brezina, fourth in Skate Canada.

The women’s event will be without the top skaters with Olympic champion Kim Yu-Na of South Korea, who withdrew because of a foot injury, set to return to competition in the Golden Spin in Zagreb next month. Olympic silver medallist Mao Asada of Japan is already through to the Grand Prix final after winning Skate America and the NHK Trophy.

In their absence, Russians Anna Pogorilaya and Adelina Sotnikova will be looking to boost the hopes of the Olympic hosts. Pogorilaya,15, surged to her first senior title at the Cup of China when she took gold ahead of world junior champion Sotnikova, 17. A trio of Americans compete, led by US champion Ashley Wagner, defending her Paris title after finishing second in Skate America. She is joined by compatriots Christina Gao and Samantha Cesario.

In pairs, two-time world champions China’s Pang Qing and Tong Jian will be challenged by Canada’s Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, silver medallists in Paris last year, and Russia’s Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov. Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada will be looking to follow their Skate Canada win with another Paris title faced with the challenge of home hopes Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat, the defending champions and world bronze medallists. The Trophee Bompard gets underway today with the short programmes and short dance, with the medal rounds tomorrow. —AFP

45

Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Tendulkar bats in last Test MUMBAI: Delirious crowds greeted India’s Sachin Tendulkar as he walked out to bat in his last Test match yesterday, an emotional farewell game for a national hero whose 24year career has made him a cricketing legend.

Crowds at the Wankhede stadium in his home town of Mumbai erupted as Tendulkar headed for the crease on the first day of the match, walking through a guard of honour created by his West Indian opponents, television pictures showed. Each run was greeted with raucous applause and cheering, with several textbook cover drives exhibiting the elegant strokeplay that has marked Tendulkar out since his international debut in 1989.

He finished the day unbeaten on 38, having hit six boundaries off 73 balls, setting the scene for further excitement today. The 40year-old is ending an international career during which he became the all-time leading Test and one-day batsman and the only man to score 100 international centuries. Ahead of the match, he said the last 20 years had been “marked by some of the most challenging, exhilarating, poignant and memorable moments of my life”.

“The game has seen so much change over the last two decades-from advances in technology, new formats, yet the basic spirit and passion surrounding the game remains the same,” he wrote in a front-page Hindustan Times article.

The end of the “Little Master”, who has almost god-like status in his cricket-mad country, has been met with nationwide nostalgia for his sporting feats.

As he strode to the crease, acknowledging the applause with a modest raising of his bat, Indians all over the country huddled around television sets and Twitter exploded with messages wishing him luck.

Tendulkar led the team out onto the field

at the stadium in the morning and the toss took place with a specially minted coin bearing his image on one side, footage showed.

Cries of “Sachin! Sachin!” echoed throughout the day.

Excitement around the game has been building since last month, when he announced his intention to retire. Highlights of his innings and interviews have been looping on news channels. “He’s not just a cricketer. For me he’s an ideal son, an ideal friend.

The biggest thing about him is his humility,” said fan Himanshu Kapadia, queueing for entry to the stadium with his two sons.

Among the spectators was Sudhir Gautam, Tendulkar’s celebrity fan, who travels across the world to watch him while painted in the colours of the Indian flag-with his idol’s name written across his chest and back.

The star’s wheelchair-bound mother Rajni was also watching him bat for the first time after a special ramp was built for her at the south Mumbai stadium. She normally stays away out of fear of bringing bad luck.

Along with Indian politicians, businessmen and Bollywood stars, cricketing greats Brian Lara and Shane Warne flew in for the game at Wankhede, where a huge security force has been deployed.Many followers expressed disappointment that only 5,000 out of 32,000 seats were for the general public, with the rest reserved for VIPs such as sponsors and cricket club members.

“We will be very fortunate if we get another Sachin,” Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said at the toss. “So it is important that we learn from the great man.”

Since 16-year-old Tendulkar made his debut in Karachi in 1989, he has racked up an astonishing 15,847 runs in 199 Tests, helping India win the 2011 World Cup and reach the top of the world rankings.

KOLKATA: Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary, a fan of Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, waves the Indian national flag in this file photo. Chaudhary, who was attended more than 300 international matches, is widely recognised for showing up at every home match the Indian team plays with his entire body painted in the national colors of India. —AFP Along with murals, banners and billboards that have sprung up ahead of his last match, Mumbai’s tattoo parlours have reportedly seen a surge in requests for designs of the sporting icon.

On a beach in the eastern state of Odisha, an artist created a huge sand sculpture of 200 cricket bats and Tendulkar’s face.

“Sachin Tendulkar was the best batsman of my generation and it will be a privilege to be in Mumbai,” wrote Australia’s Warne, who is commentating on the match.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, on a

England find form with bat as Ashes approach SYDNEY: Jonathan Trott believes everything is coming together for England a week before they embark on their bid for a fourth successive Ashes triumph in Brisbane.

Trott, Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen all scored half centuries as England’s batsmen made the most of the Sydney sunshine on the second day of their final warmup yesterday.

Opener Michael Carberry, who

looks set to make his Ashes debut next week, was dismissed for just four but thereafter it was a good day for the tourists, who reached the close of play on 302 for five against an Invitational XI. Pace bowler Steve Finn had earlier ended up with five for 103 as the Australians were dismissed for 304 before lunch, pressing his claim to be England’s third seamer at the Gabba.

“Everyone has got a few runs

SYDNEY: England Ashes Test cricketer Ian Bell (right) plays a shot past Callum Ferguson (left) during the tour match against a Cricket Australia Invitational XI. —AFP

but you’re not going to know exactly what nick you’re in until you’re in front of 50,000 at Brisbane,” Trott told reporters.

“It’s more about getting mentally prepared for that... being a tight knit unit, everyone firing, not just the batters but the bowlers and the fielding. “We’ve looked good in the field here as well, so everything seems to be coming together.”

After Carberry’s departure, Cook and Trott enjoyed a long period out in the middle on a good Sydney Cricket Ground wicket, putting on 143 for the second wicket before both were caught behind as a result of loose shots.

Trott, who had averaged just 27 in the first Ashes series of the year in England, was unhappy with the manner of his dismissal and ruefully bit his bat as he made way back to the dressing room with 83 runs to his name. “As a cricketer, you have pride and you want to go out there and do well every time,” Trott added.

“I felt I was in good form and played at a ball I shouldn’t have, I was disappointed. Today, I made a mistake and paid for it.”

Cook accumulated 81 before making way for Ian Bell, who joined Pietersen at the crease and the pair

both survived early scares before taking the game to the bowlers.

Bell smashed 35 of 45 balls but it was Pietersen who really caught the eye, playing conservatively for 45 minutes or so before cutting lose with a full repertoire of extravagant shots.

Showing no signs of the knee problem that forced him to have a cortisone injection last Sunday, he knelt to smash his second six of the innings over midwicket before holing out on the boundary three balls later for 57 from 71 balls. “It’s always nice to see him in full flow and being confident, even in warm-up games,” Trott said. “It is important that everyone feels in good touch and the way Kev goes about it might be different but he looks in good form to me.”

Leg spinner James Muirhead (297) took Pietersen’s wicket, a small measure of revenge for the punishment he had received from the almost contemptuous England batsman.

“Before the game I said to the boys he’s the one batsman I want to bowl to,” the 20-year-old Muirhead said. “I knew he’d come really hard at me, I know I got hit for a few sixes but to get him out was just really satisfying.” —Reuters

visit to New Delhi, called him “absolutely an all-time great” and said he was an example and inspiration to cricket-lovers.

Despite his glowing status, Tendulkar’s cricketing powers have waned in recent years and some suggested he should have retired earlier. The latest of his 51 Test centuries was back in January 2011 against South Africa.Due to an ongoing dispute between media groups and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Agence France-Presse is unable to provide coverage of the match between India and the West Indies. —AFP

SCOREBOARD SYDNEYScoreboard at the close on the second day of the four-day tour match between a Cricket Australia (CA) Invitational XI and England at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday: CA Invitational XI 1st innings (271 for 5 overnight): Aaron Finch c Bairstow b Broad 4 Ed Cowan c Trott b Finn 51 Callum Ferguson lbw b Broad 8 Kurtis Patterson c Cook b Finn 5 Ben Rohrer c Carberry b Broad 19 Ryan Carters c Bairstow b Broad 94 Peter Nevill c Bairstow b Finn 83 Josh Lalor c Swann b Finn 0 Chris Tremain c Carberry b Rankin 1 James Muirhead not out 14 Nicholas Bills c Carberry b Finn 6 Extras (lb12, w2, nb5) 19 Total (all out; 103.4 overs) 304 Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Finch), 2-27 (Ferguson), 3-37 (Patterson), 4-90 (Rohrer), 5-93 (Cowan), 6-271 (Carters), 7-276 (Lalor), 8-279 (Nevill), 9-289 (Tremain), 10-304 (Bills) Bowling: Broad 24-10-37-4 (2nb), Rankin 23-5-63-1 (1w), Finn 28.4-4-103-5 (3nb, 1w), Swann 22-5-66-0, Trott 5-1-22-0, Root 1-0-1-0 England 1st innings Alastair Cook c Nevill b Bills 81 Michael Carberry c Nevill b Lalor 4 Jonathan Trott c Nevill b Lalor 83 Kevin Pietersen c Hughes (sub) b Muirhead 57 Ian Bell c Rohrer b Muirhead 35 Joe Root not out 26 Jonny Bairstow not out 11 Extras (b1, w1, nb3) 5 Total (5 wkts; 73 overs) 302 Fall of wickets: 1-19 (Carberry), 2-162 (Trott), 3-182 (Cook), 4-253 (Bell), 5-266 (Pietersen) Bowling: Tremain 15-4-51-0 (3nb), Lalor 19-3-82-2, Bills 14-1-45-1, Muirhead 18-1-97-2 (1w), Rohrer 2-04-0, Finch 5-1-22-0

Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Griffin leads Clippers to victory LOS ANGELES: Blake Griffin had 22 points and 12 rebounds after being involved in a first-half scuffle that resulted in two ejections, sparking the Los Angeles Clippers to a 111103 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.

Serge Ibaka of the Thunder and Matt Barnes of the Clippers were ejected, and Griffin received a technical foul for his part in the altercation with 6 seconds left in the second quarter.

Kevin Durant had 33 points, making 15 of 17 free throws, and 10 assists to lead the Thunder, who had won four straight. Russell Westbrook added 19 points and 10 assists.

Jamal Crawford scored 20 points off the bench for the Clippers, who had six players in double figures while winning their third in a row.

DeAndre Jordan and J.J. Redick scored 15 each, and Chris Paul had 14 points and 16 assists.

lost three straight. The Spurs held a double digit lead for all but about 15 minutes in remaining undefeated at home.

KNICKS 95, HAWKS 91 Carmelo Anthony continued his success against Atlanta by scoring 25 points and New York regrouped after blowing a 17-point lead.

The Knicks, relying on 3-pointers, led 47-30 in the second period. New

18 from the field, but missed his first four shots in the game. DeMar DeRozan scored 13 of his 18 points in the first quarter. Mike Conley led Memphis with 29 points. Marc Gasol had 18 points while Zach Randolph finished with 10 points. Gasol and Randolph each grabbed 10 rebounds.

BOBCATS 89, CELTICS 83 Al Jefferson had 22 points and 11

MAGIC 94, BUCKS 91 Arron Afflalo scored a career-high 36 points, Nikola Vucevic added 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Orlando rallied to beat Milwaukee and snap a three-game skid.

Afflalo was 8 of 11 from beyond the arc, adding six assists and eight rebounds. Maurice Harkless and Victor Oladipo had 10 points apiece for the Magic. O.J. Mayo scored 25 points for the Bucks, losers of three

JAZZ 111, PELICANS 105 Gordon Hayward had 27 points and 10 assists, and Richard Jefferson added 22 points to help Utah claim its first victory of the season. Hayward scored 22 points in the second half and the Jazz erased a 16-point deficit to put an end to their worst start in 39 years. Derrick Favors made a key layup with 24 seconds remaining and Jefferson added three free throws in the final minute to clinch the victory.

When Marvin Williams hit a 3pointer to make it 104-100, Jazz fans leapt to their feet and the Utah reserves bounced around and highfived like college players in a postseason tournament.

Anthony Davis had 29 points and 15 rebounds for the Pelicans, who dropped all three games on their Western road swing.

76ERS 123, ROCKETS 117 Tony Wroten had his first career triple-double, James Anderson scored a career-high 36 points and Spencer Hawes made the go-ahead basket with 34 seconds left in overtime to help Philadelphia beat Houston. Wroten had career highs with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in his first start for injured rookie Michael Carter-Williams, who didn’t play because of a bruised left arch.

Jeremy Lin scored 34 points, making a career-best nine 3-pointers.

Dwight Howard had 23 points and 15 rebounds, and Chandler Parsons added 22 points for Houston. Lin started for James Harden, who was out of Houston’s lineup because of a bruised left foot.

TIMBERWOLVES 124, CAVALIERS 95 Kevin Love had 33 points, eight rebounds and six assists, Ricky Rubio added 16 points and a career-high 16 assists, and Minnesota beat Cleveland Cavaliers.

Corey Brewer scored 27 points for Minnesota while filling in for Kevin Martin, who was out with an illness, and the Timberwolves outscored Cleveland 29-6 in transition points to run the Cavaliers out of the building.

Kyrie Irving scored 20 points on 8for-17 shooting and survived a nasty collision in the first quarter for the Cavaliers. Anderson Varejao had 13 points and five rebounds starting for Andrew Bynum, who missed the game for personal reasons. The Cavs fell to 0-6 on the road this season.

SPURS 92, WIZARDS 79 Tony Parker had 16 points, leading six Spurs in double figures, and San Antonio rolled over Washington.

Boris Diaw had 15 points, Kawhi Leonard added 13 points, and Manu Ginobili and Marco Belinelli each had 10 for San Antonio. Tiago Splitter had 12 points and nine rebounds.

Martell Webster had 21 points, Bradley Beal added 19 points and John Wall had 14 points and eight assists for Washington, which has

McLemore, and Sacramento snapped a five-game losing streak by beating Brooklyn. Greivis Vasquez had 17 points and 12 assists, and Isaiah Thomas added 19 points, six assists and six rebounds to help the Kings blow out Brooklyn. Sacramento led by 18 points in the second quarter and 23 late in the third before holding off a brief Brooklyn rally in the fourth. Brook Lopez had 16 points and nine rebounds, and Deron Williams finished with 13 points and seven assists as the Nets lost their third straight game.

NUGGETS 111, LAKERS 99 Timofey Mozgov matched his career high with 23 points, and Denver beat Los Angeles to win consecutive games for the first time this season.First-year Nuggets coach Brian Shaw, who was part of five championship teams with the Lakers as a player and assistant coach, beat Los Angeles in his first matchup against his former team.

Kenneth Faried added 21 points and Ty Lawson had 19 for the Nuggets, who won their fourth straight against the Lakers, their longest winning streak against Los Angeles since 1994. Pau Gasol led the Lakers with 25 points.

LOS ANGELES: Clippers Blake Griffin drives past Oklahoma City Thunders Kevin Durant at Staples Center.

Clippers defeated Thunder 111-103. — AFP York made only 5 of 25 shots from the field while being outscored 2310 in the third period, leaving the Hawks with a 68-65 lead. Andrea Bargnani had 20 points and 11 rebounds, and rookie Tim Hardaway Jr. had 14 points for New York. Jeff Teague led Atlanta with 25 points and eight assists. Al Horford had 23 points.

RAPTORS 103, GRIZZLIES 87 Rudy Gay scored 23 points in his return to Memphis and Kyle Lowry added 21 to help Toronto beat the Grizzlies. Gay, who was part of a Jan. 30 trade that sent him to the Raptors after spending his first 6-plus years in the league with Memphis, was 8 of

rebounds to lead Charlotte over Boston, snapping the Celtics’ fourgame winning streak.

Gerald Henderson had 13 points, Jeff Taylor 12 and Anthony Tolliver 11 for Charlotte, which ended a twogame skid. Jeff Green led Boston with 19 points and Jordan Crawford had 16 points and six assists.

Both teams were without key big men. Celtics forward Jared Sullinger was out with a bruised right knee and Bobcats forward Josh McRoberts missed the game for personal reasons. He’s expected to play Friday night in Cleveland. It was Bobcats coach Steve Clifford’s second game back after two stents were placed in his heart last week.

straight. Caron Butler added 20 and Khris Middleton had 19. Butler injured his left shoulder with just over two minutes left and didn’t return to the game.

Afflalo scored 29 points in the second half, including 11 straight for the Magic in the fourth quarter. He ended the game with an assist to Vucevic with 9.2 seconds to play that gave Orlando a 94-91 lead. Afflalo then stole the ball from Mayo as the Bucks scrambled to attempt a gametying 3-pointer.

KINGS 107, NETS 86 Marcus Thornton scored a season-high 24 points after losing his starting spot to rookie Ben

TRAIL BLAZERS 90, SUNS 89 Damian Lillard hit a layup with 6.5 seconds left to give Portland a victory over Phoenix. The Suns led by as many nine in the second half before the Trail Blazers rallied. Wesley Matthews made a 3-pointer and Robin Lopez tipped in a shot to put Portland in front 88-87 with 1:35 left.

Miles Plumlee’s layup gave Phoenix the lead again, but Eric Bledsoe missed a shot with 11.9 seconds remaining. Lillard drove to the hoop and scored, and Markieff Morris missed a chance at a tip-in for the Suns at the buzzer.

Lillard, last season’s Rookie of the Year, finished with 11 points and eight assists in the Blazers’ fourth straight win. Lopez had 13 points and 15 rebounds, while LaMarcus Aldridge had 12 points and 12 rebounds. Bledsoe scored 23 for the Suns, who defeated Portland in the season opener. — AP

Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Gulf trio on the verge of sealing Asian Cup spots SINGAPORE: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain can put the disappointment of 2014 World Cup failure behind them by becoming the first three sides to navigate their way through Asian Cup qualifying today.

The Gulf trio did not even make the final stages of World Cup qualifying for various reasons but expected home victories for all three on Friday will earn them places at the 2015 Asian Cup finals in Australia. The hosts automatically have a berth as do holders Japan and third-placed finishers in 2011 South Korea courtesy of their performances four years ago, while North Korea will be present having won the Challenge Cup for emerging Asian nations.

Bahrain face Malaysia in Manama on Friday, confidently predicting they will join them despite having been surprisingly held 1-1 by the Southeast Asians in Kuala Lumpur last month.

Bahrain, though, will have to contend without key defender Hussain Baba as well as midfielders Sayed Dhiya Saeed and Abdulwahab Al Malood for Friday’s clash. The Bahrainis then take on Yemen at home on Tuesday with head coach Anthony Hudson predicting progression from Group D with positive results from the two games which the country’s Football Association have made free for fans. “We want to secure our berths in our next two games, which I am confident we will,” the Englishman said earlier this month.

Bahrain top the group on seven points from three games with 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar occupying the other qualifying berth in the group on six points. Malaysia are third on four with Yemen looking for their first point when they take on Qatar on Friday.

In Group C, three times winners Saudi Arabia have won all three of their matches to sit top ahead of their match against 2007 winners Iraq on Friday.

Iraq are third in the group and need a positive result with second placed China, buoyed by the success of Guangzhou Evergrande who won the AFC Champions League last week, eyeing three more points when they host bottom side Indonesia on Friday.

China then host the Saudis on Tuesday with their final match away to Iraq, who play home qualifying games in Dubai, looking like the key match to decide who joins the Saudis in Australia.

Group E is also being controlled by a Gulf nation with the UAE also boasting a 100 percent record ahead of their fourth match of the campaign at home to Hong Kong.

Victory will book a place in Australia with a second chance of securing a berth also available on Tuesday should they need it when they host Vietnam.

The Southeast Asians have lost all three of their matches but an unlikely victory at home to Uzbekistan on Friday can thrust them back into the qualifying picture. The central Asians are in second in the group on four points, level with Hong Kong. In Group B, Iran, who have qualified for 2014 World Cup finals face two away matches over the next four days in Thailand and Lebanon as they look to secure a place in Australia. Syria take on Singapore in Group A trying to keep pace with Oman and Jordan. — Reuters

Cruzeiro celebrate Brazilian title SAO PAULO: Cruzeiro were confirmed as Brazilian champions during half time of their 3-1 win over Vitoria on Wednesday when their closest rivals slipped up and helped ease their way to a third national title.

There was still 45 minutes to go in their own game but closest challengers Atletico Paranaense went down 2-1 at Criciuma in an earlier match and Cruzeiro knew they could not be caught at the top.

They still won the match with second half goals from Ricardo Goulart and Julio Baptista to end the game with a 16-point lead with four matches remaining.

Thousands of fans took to the streets in the club’s home city of Belo Horizonte, while players danced round the field in celebration.

“It’s hard winning the Brazilian league, there are a lot of good teams,” said a jubilant manager Marcelo Oliveira. “We worked hard and we were all in this together, and there was a great spirit in the side day in, day out. “Our numbers were expressive and I’m very happy.” Cruzeiro were particularly dominant during the second half of the season and became the only champion to beat every other team in the league at least once.

They were also the first club outside the traditional hotbeds of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo to win the Serie A since they themselves won it back in 2003. They have so far scored 72 goals in 34 games, 19 more than any other team, and have a goal difference of +42, more than the next six teams combined.

“We’ve been united, we work hard, and we are serious about how we go about things,” midfielder Willian said of the key to their success after beating Gremio 3-0 last week. “We’re all playing well and enjoying a good phase.”

One of the most surprising aspects of their campaign is the lack of a truly world class player, Tostao, a former Cruzeiro player and now a newspaper columnist with Folha de S.P., wrote last month. —Reuters

Photo of the day

David Coulthard of Scotland performs in a Red Bull Racing Formula One car on the helipad of the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on October 30, 2013 . — www.redbull.com

Mexico crush Kiwis MEXICO: Mexico thumped New Zealand 5-1 in the first leg of their qualifying playoff on Wednesday to take a massive step towards a place in next year’s World Cup finals.

After scoring just three goals in their last four CONCACAF qualifiers at home, Mexico rediscovered their scoring touch as they outclassed the Oceania champions at the Azteca Stadium.

“The team were sensational, I’m very happy because the lads did a phenomenal job, they gave their all,” said Mexico coach Miguel Herrera. “We needed an aggressive and dynamic team with lots of determination because we needed to win the match.” Defender Paul Aguilar opened the scoring for ‘El Tri’ in the 32nd minute and Raul Jimenez quickly added a second to give Mexico a 2-0 lead at halftime. Striker Oribe Peralta scored twice in the second half and Rafael Marquez added the fifth. Chris James grabbed a late consolation goal for New Zealand who will host the return leg in Wellington on Nov. 20 with the winners advancing to next year’s tournament in Brazil. “The worst we can do is think it’s settled,” Peralta said.

MEXICO: New Zealand’s Andrew Durante (top) and goalkeeper Glen Moss (center) vie for the ball with Mexico’s forward Oribe Peralta (bottom) during their FIFA World Cup intercontinental play-off football match. — AFP

“We must win there and we still have a lot to improve. We’re a small step from getting what were looking for.”

Mexico have qualified for every World Cup since they hosted the finals in 1986, with the exception of 1990 when they were banned by FIFA after fielding over-age players in a youth tournament, but almost failed this time.

The CONCACAF region’s traditional heavyweights were minutes away from missing out on the playoffs altogether when they were beaten by Costa Rica last month but survived only after Panama blew a 2-1 lead against the US, who qualified automatically along with Costa Rica and Honduras.

“We’re not at all overconfident, we’re not thinking this is over, its a 0-0 draw for us and we’re going to start from zero,” Herrera said.

“It was important not to get desperate until we got the first goal. The team didn’t lose their concentration. “I can see myself coming back on the 21st (Nov) with the (World Cup) ticket.” Under the guidance of Herrera, their fourth coach of the qualifying campaign, Mexico had no problems overcoming New Zealand, who allowed the Mexicans to dictate the match after adopting a defensive approach.

The All Whites have only qualified for the World Cup twice before and the odds were heavily stacked against them with their captain Winston Reid ruled out of the playoffs because of an ankle injury. “It was always going to be tough for us and we made it tough for ourselves in certain areas,” New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert said.

“We pride ourselves in certainly defending better than we did tonight and that was always going to be costly against a very good side.”

Mexico dominated possession from the outset on Wednesday but needed more than half an hour to get the ball past New Zealand keeper Glen Moss, who pulled off a string of spectacular saves during the match.

But a mix-up with defender Andrew Durante in the box left Aguilar with an open net for the first goal, before an unmarked Jimenez headed in for the second goal off a corner.

Oribe scored three minutes into the second half when he tapped in a low cross from Miguel Layun, then added his second when he again combined with Layun.

New Zealand were facing the prospect of a rout in the energy-sapping high-altitude Mexican capital when Marquez made it 5-0 with six minutes still to go.

But James caught the home team napping when he scored a minute later with a shot that hit the post and dribbled over the line.

“The defending off crosses, allowing players free in the box at crucial times, we’ve always been incredibly strong in that area,” Herbert said. “That’s more disappointing for me ... the way we conceded the goals.” — Reuters

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Griffin leads Clippers to victory Page 46

www.kuwaittimes.net

Mexico crush Kiwis PAGE 47

MEXICO : Mexico’s goalkeeper Moises Munoz celebrates after his team scored against New Zealand during their FIFA World Cup intercontinental play-off match on Wednesday. — AFP