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Karak chai: A new cuppa craze

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NO: 16001- Friday, November 29, 2013

On top of the world PAGE 8

DUBAI: An image made available yesterday shows Dubai’s Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohamed bin Rashid AlMaktoum displaying the Emirati flag on top of Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower. — AFP

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Kuwait’s my business

Here’s why Americans value Kuwait

By John P Hayes

local@kuwaittimes.net

A

ny time you think that no one really cares all that much about what happens in Kuwait - especially because so many survey results trivialize Kuwait - just ask for an American opinion. Many Americans reside here - at least 30,000 are registered with the US Embassy (this number doesn’t include members of the military) - and few Americans are ever shy about sharing opinions, good or bad.

The ambassador’s opinion Some Americans are more diplomatic than others, and some speak with more authority, and both of those attributes apply to the US Ambassador, Matthew H Tueller, who will soon say goodbye to Kuwait as he nears completion of a three-year tour. Earlier this week, in observance of Thanksgiving, perhaps America’s most cherished holiday (it was yesterday), Ambassador Tueller shared his opinions about Kuwait, particularly in terms of the country’s relationship with the US. “I see so much to be thankful for,” Ambassador Tueller told several hundred guests, mostly Americans and Kuwaitis, who gathered at the embassy to give thanks prior to enjoying a traditional turkey dinner. The event was organized by the American Business Council and sponsored by United Airlines. The ambassador explained that about a year ago, the embassy staff set some ambitious goals to further enhance America’s abounding relationship with Kuwait. “We have made great progress,” he continued, especially in areas of education, infrastructure development, and health.

Progress abounds in and out of Kuwait As examples of the progress, the embassy’s consular division recently organized the largest-ever trade mission to Kuwait focused on critical infrastructure and cyber security. Embassy staff

also staged a weeklong Discover America Festival at The Avenues, showcasing more than 100 American entities in education, health, consumer products, and tourism. And not all of the progress occurred within Kuwait. The embassy led the GCC’s largest delegation to the Select USA Investment Summit in Washington, DC, hosted by President Barack Obama.

When it comes to statistics, many generated by Kuwait give Americans all the more reason to be grateful. “Over the last three years alone,” the ambassador explained, “commercial relations between the United States and Kuwait have expanded at a brisk pace, with trade volumes growing by more than 175 percent from $5.7 billion to $15.7 billion.” During this same period, US exports grew by an impressive 41 percent, and visa applications increased by 40 percent.

Last year marked the first time that the two-way trade relationship between Kuwait and the USA exceeded $15 billion. As the US retained its position as one of Kuwait’s top import partners, Kuwait moved into 13th place among the USA’s fastest growing sources of direct investment.

Why Kuwait matters to Americans Deeper economic and commercial ties developed between the US and Kuwait benefit not only Kuwaitis, but Americans, too, the ambassador reminded his audience. And for that, Americans are grateful for Kuwait. “A growing economy undergirds the growth of civil society, encourages entrepreneurship, and advances the interests of Kuwaiti consumers and business people,” the ambassador concluded.

So in the event you get the idea that Kuwait doesn’t matter much, or that what occurs here isn’t important, save this article as a reminder of why Kuwait matters to Americans. Most of us who live here remain here by choice, and hopefully all of us remember to give thanks for Kuwait, not just at Thanksgiving, but also throughout the year.

NOTE: Dr John P Hayes teaches marketing at GUST where he’s grateful for students who want to improve the future of Kuwait. He’s also grateful for the several turkey dinners that he enjoyed this week! You can contact Dr Hayes at questions@hayesworldwide.com, or via Twitter @drjohnhayes.

Local Spotlight

Home sweet home

By Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net

I

always come across stories of expats in Kuwait who have been away from home for five to seven years at a stretch and I find it hard to imagine how someone can stay away from their families and friends for so long. Why would someone opt to do this and how hard is it to live this way? This is what I will focus on today. I don’t mean to depress anyone but this story is worth exploring because it talks of people who suffer in silence only because they need money to take care of their families. They have a fatalistic attitude and spend years on end without seeing their children back home or holding them.

These stories hurt and in fact break my heart and it’s really a pain to have a family that is thousands of miles away and you work hard every day of your life without being able to see them or share your life with them. You tend to miss out on their childhood and the only way you can see them is on webcam and this can never replace the real thing.

Latest apps like Viber, Vonage and other cheap Internet calls make it easy to stay in touch with anyone in the world but they can never beat seeing them face to face and reaching out to them. VOIP calls are the best way to stay in touch with family and friends when you are away for some time, but I doubt if they are the best communication tools for years altogether.

One of the recent stories I heard was of a Filipina who worked as a maid for three years after coming to Kuwait. She was in dire need of money and her sponsor actually paid her, which was good. But the problem was that her sponsor didn’t let her go home for three years because she wanted her to take care of her babies. She didn’t care about the maid’s husband and kids who wanted to see her but was only bothered about her own family.

Such selfish sponsors hold their maids as prisoners and forget that they have husbands and kids and families too. After spending five years away from family, the Filipina maid was depressed and fell ill. Her sponsor claimed that she was mentally ill and wanted to get rid of her. He told her that he wouldn’t pay for her ticket back home and instead told her to look for a new sponsor to finance her ticket.

The greedy sponsor also made her pay money to transfer her residency to a new sponsor. Now this is another story. The new sponsor said that he would let her travel home - on the condition that she worked for two years before traveling. The poor maid worked for three years and finally begged him to let her go home, but he forced her to pay him KD 250 for her airfare and let her travel after eight years of rigorous work in Kuwait.

I can’t understand this system where maids are treated as “slaves” by their “masters”. Why don’t they stand up and fight for their rights? I have come across many maids who are really scared of their sponsors though the law doesn’t support this kind of abuse.

This is the same as women who are in abusive relationships with their husbands but refuse to leave them and run for their lives. They should know that there is no reward for this in the end.

I believe that Asian embassies should keep a close eye on the maids’ files and check when they traveled home last and follow up if they haven’t gone home for a year or two. These cases should be looked into seriously.

Conspiracy Theories

When the night falls

By Badrya Darwish

badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net

D

o not get carried away, guys. This is not the title of a Spielberg movie. It is actually the scene of Kuwait’s parliament. Parliament! Parliament! This is an institution which never ceases to amaze me. I got used to being shocked to such an extent that I am now shockproof.

Just watch the 24-hour marathon debate which we called in Kuwait Times “the day (and night) of grilling”.

Honestly, MPs were fun to watch and listen to. I wish you understand Arabic to hear the colorful slogans that were heard under the Abdullah Salem dome from the honorable ladies and gentlemen. During the debate, MPs used slang language to address each other. Usually, such slang is not used in offices or parliaments. The debate proceeded like radaha (from the Egyptian dialect meaning when two women start screaming at each other and use verbal exchanges of foul language).

The debates showed how our MPs are bringing out each others’ dirty linen. There are no more hidden secrets as to who is working for whom. The session said it all. It seems like the night atmosphere had an effect on them and they became more social and relaxed. When darkness falls, secrets come out. If MPs become so transparent and hardworking at night, then I advise Mr Marzouq to consider changing the timings of sessions to nighttime. We will call it ‘Parliament at Night’.

When arguing, MPs exposed each other’s secrets. In this whole drama, we started wondering where we live. We discovered that most of our MPs have personal agendas and most of them pursue their own interests. We also discovered that they are working for somebody outside of parliament to protect this party’s interests through the parliament. It is a shame. Their debate proved that they are proxies.

We never questioned their loyalty, until now. It was sealed and stamped. What a shame! I am so sad for Kuwait.

Even the people whom we elected in parliament are not bothered about us or about our issues. We are only a tool for them to be elected. They don’t work in the interest of Kuwait. That’s why we are where we are - at point zero, without proper infrastructure, education, electricity, planning and healthcare. We have no proper anything.

God bless Kuwait!

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Karak: A new cuppa craze Savour the flavour of this hearty tea with chapatti!

By Nawara Fattahova

A

new tea trend is getting popular in Kuwait. It’s “karak” tea, which is a Qatari specialty similar to traditional “chai haleeb” in Kuwait. Karak tea is made with

condensed milk and cardamom. The concept probably derives from South Asian workers in the region who brought with them their love of milky tea when they came to the Gulf. “Karak” means “strong” in Urdu and Hindi, the languages of the Subcontinent.

In Kuwait currently, there are only a few places serving it. One of them is Karak Gholam in the Avenues Mall. The place was launched about a month ago and is serving two kinds of karak tea. “We have a new addition to the traditional karak tea and besides the regular hot version, we also serve iced karak tea. Karak tea consists of strong black tea mixed with milk and other ingredients in a secret recipe that I can’t tell,” Iyad Shakir, Operation Manager of Karak Gholam, told Kuwait Times.

“Kuwaitis are always traveling to different countries in the region and they experienced karak tea in some countries such as Qatar and the United Emirates, so we decided to bring it to Kuwait as well, especially since this concept is not yet popular here. Tea with milk - chai haleeb - is available in most Indian restaurant in the country, but karak tea is prepared in a gourmet way to satisfy our customers,” added Shakir. Chapatti (Indian flatbread) is the best accompaniment to karak tea. “Most customers prefer to have chapatti with our karak tea. We have our special varieties of chapatti with various fillings such as burger patties and other unique stuffings,” he pointed out.

Kuwait Times Editor-in-Chief, management and staff convey their deepest condolences to

on the sad demise of his niece

Karak House Cafe is other place serving and specialized in karak tea. “We launched our shop in February this year, and we were the first karak cafe in Kuwait. Our karak tea includes black tea, milk, ginger and cardamom. To prepare the tea after boiling, it takes between 15-20 minutes. Most customers have it with chapatti, so we serve different kinds of chapatti. As the place has got very popular, we are planning to open another branch in the future,” stressed Joseph, a barista at the Karak House Cafe. The cafe is located in Sharq and they serve tasty karak chai with and chapattis with fillings such as halloumi, oregano and Nutella (hazelnut spread).

If you want to prepare karak tea at home, here is a recipe: Add 2 cups of water to a kettle (not an electrical one). Put it under medium heat on a stove and let it boil. After it boils, add cardamom (green, not black). You can add other Indian spices too instead of cardamom, but no need to add both. Let it boil, reduce the heat and add as much sugar as you want and let it simmer. After it boils again, add 4 teaspoons of tea - light tea will take a longer time to infuse. Don’t boil too much after you add the tea. Mix with a spoon and remove the kettle from the heat. Cover the kettle and don’t pour it into a cup immediately.

After 5 minutes, pour the tea into your cup halfway or a bit more, then add milk. If you like it very strong, add only a little milk, but if you like it milky, you can add more of it. To intensify the flavor, add a few strands of saffron, ginger or any of your favorite spices. Sit back and enjoy your cuppa chai!

es, i c a m phar t a e l res b o a l t i s a e v n A d fi n a s p co-o

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

How to keep

kids busy and

mommies happy KUWAIT TIMES: How did the idea for the Kuwait Moms Guide come about?

JAMIE ETHERIDGE: We first had the idea in 2008 when my daughter was born. There is so much available for moms and children in Kuwait but it’s very hard to find. We wanted to create a reference resource that would be the go-to source for finding out everything Kuwait moms need to know.

KT: The guide offers a plethora of interesting topics and suggestions for families and moms in Kuwait. What was the decisive factor on what topics to be included and what topics to be left out?

JE: Our mantra is useful information. We choose topics and ideas based on how useful that info will be for moms living in Kuwait. We have also created a website (www.kuwaitmomsguide.com) that includes tips, how to guides, directories and other stuff moms in Kuwait need. For instance, we have a directory of local parks and playgrounds with maps and directions and a how-to guide for getting your children’s health card for school.

KT: What are the major topics discussed in the Kuwait Moms Guide 2013?

JE: We discuss everything from healthy eating choices to articles for working moms to a directory of parks and playgrounds. We provide a weekender’s guide and also tips on how to get the most out of life in Kuwait and articles by local artists on being a creative mom.

KT: What tips would you like to share with other moms in Kuwait?

JE: 1) Make friends with other moms. 2) Don’t be scared to explore. 3) Sign up for the Kuwait Moms Guide newsletter (www.kuwaitmomsguide.com) for the latest updates, tips, how-tos and information every mom in Kuwait needs to know.

KT: Children are ready to grab fast food and chocolate any time of the day. How have you approached the topic of healthy food in the guide?

JE: We turned to a well-known organic food expert, Jumana Al-Awadhi, to give us tips and information on how to help kids eat healthier food. She offers very useful advice on teaching your children to eat healthier.

KT: What has been the most surprising part

Kuwait Moms Guide a valuable reference source

“

We are proud to be a part of Kuwait’s mom community and hope that we can in some small way contribute to a more positive and family-friendly environment for everyone living in Kuwait. of your work on the guide?

JE: The positive response! So many moms have been encouraging and supportive.

Some have even offered to help. I am incredibly grateful for the community of moms in Kuwait who have encouraged me (especially the mothers of Expat Mums Kuwait). We are proud to be a part of Kuwait’s mom community and hope that we can in some small way contribute to a more positive and family-friendly environment for everyone living in Kuwait.

KT: Who is the average reader of Kuwait

“

J

amie Etheridge, Editor of the Kuwait Moms Guide, and a mother of two girls, talked to the Friday Times about the concept behind Kuwait Moms Guide, the challenges expat moms face in Kuwait and the various topics of interest to moms that have been featured in the guide. Below is the interview with her:

Moms Guide?

JE: Our readers are moms who live in Kuwait, both locals and expatriates. They include pregnant soon-to-be-moms, new mothers and those with children up through age 16.

KT: What are the challenges moms face in Kuwait?

JE: One of the key things we’ve found is that moms have to learn to do things for themselves. In the US or Europe, there are so many parks, playgrounds and activities for kids that there is always something to do.

But here moms have to be more creative, to organize their own events and go out and explore to find the best parks, beaches and other places for their kids to play. On the one hand that’s a really great way to learn. I am teaching myself crocheting and crafts so that I can do more fun things with my girls. On the other hand, it can sometimes be challenging - especially if you’ve worked all day and the kids are out of school on holiday at home and bored.

That’s one of the things we hope to do with the Kuwait Moms Guide - help give moms more information and more options for themselves and their children by providing them useful information on news, events and other things happening in Kuwait.

K

uwait Moms Guide is a reference guide for mothers in Kuwait. It is packed with information and reviews on shops, clothing stores, pediatricians, restaurants, play places, parks, healthy food choices, after school activities, schools, nurseries and day cares.

Useful for every aspect of a mom’s life, it also contains how-to articles, directories, tips and other useful information on salons and spas, crafting and crochet, jewelry shops, photography, travel and lifestyle - essentially everything moms in Kuwait need to know. It is a must have for every Kuwait mom’s bookshelf.

Check out the website at www.kuwaitmomsguide.com or follow us on Instagram @kuwaitmomsguide

KT: Where can moms pick up a copy of the Kuwait Moms Guide?

JE: The guide is free and can be picked up from various locations around Kuwait. We have a full list of locations on the website, www.kuwaitmomsguide.com.

Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Taken for a (long) ride

By Ben Garcia

H

ave you ever hopped in to a taxi, only to realize that the cabbie seems lost and it takes you forever to get to your destination?

This is a common occurrence in Kuwait and different people have different takes on why this happens - ranging from lack of knowledge to blatant attempts to rip you off.

In Kuwait, somebody who wants to be a taxi driver can randomly visit taxi agencies, drop his CV and get the job almost instantly. “We don’t require them (taxi drivers) to know the places. If he knows how to drive and has a license to operate light and heavy vehicles, we hire him,” a taxi operator revealed. “Especially now, we need taxi drivers very badly, so anyone who has a driver’s license can apply,” he added.

In stark contrast to Kuwait’s taxi scene is Dubai where you just give the address to the driver and he takes you there in no time. The difference, one regular passenger says, is that taxi drivers in Dubai have to pass a hard test and undergo a six-month training course. Taxi drivers in Dubai need to pass a series of tests which include driving skills, customer service, quality control, quality assurance and familiarity with locations which enable the drivers to obtain a license according to international standards.

“We need to study various rules and regulations and we must familiarize ourselves with the places before we are accepted in Dubai,” a driver told Kuwait Times. “Unless we know how to transport our passengers safely to their destination, we cannot get the job,” he said.

Back in Kuwait, things are different. “Well, we rely on the fact that passengers know where they’re going. Plus, if our driver is a new hire, we only require him to handle one area. For instance, he will be in charge of all passengers who want to go to Salmiya. And since Kuwait is a small country, he will become familiar with all the places in a very short period like a month or two,” the taxi operator hoped.

Most taxi drivers in Kuwait are expats including Indians, Egyptians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Filipinos. A driver has to pass rigid tests to obtain a heavy vehicle license. To secure a ‘tasreeh’ (permit to drive public transport) in Kuwait, a hopeful must undergo medical examinations like an eye-test and submit his fingerprints to make sure he doesn’t have a criminal record. “If you don’t have the ‘tasreeh’, you will not be allowed to get a taxi license, though in reality, many taxi drivers here do not possess this permit,” the operator admitted.

There are two types of public taxis plying the streets in Kuwait - call taxis [white] and roaming taxis [orange and white]. A call taxi picks up and drops passengers on request, while a roaming taxi picks up passengers who flag it on the road. A roaming taxi charges a minimum of

Three dads try to retrieve a ball stuck in a palm tree on the seaside near Kuwait Towers. — Photo by Sunil Cherian

250 fils while the call taxi charges depend on the destination. “The advantage with a call taxi is that the price is fixed though they are also required to use the meter, but

they don’t use it because the passenger knows how much they charge per destination. However, with a roaming taxi, you will have to bargain the fare and they tend to be more expensive than call taxis. Plus if you forget something in a call taxi, there is a good possibility of getting it back, but with a roaming taxi, chances are less. So safe and reliable is the name of the game,” the taxi operator told Kuwait Times.

Many expatriate passengers are appalled at the way the taxi system works in Kuwait. A European expat said, “I didn’t have a car a year ago, so I had to wait for a taxi every day. The problems I experienced ranged from smelly taxi drivers and unfamiliar locations to being overcharged.

Just because I am blonde, the taxi driver charged me KD 5 instead of KD 1.5. I asked him why and he said he did that because he thought I was American. When I told him that I was from Europe, he took KD 2”. She also mentioned that during another occasion, she was unsure of the place and the driver kept going in circles and the meter chalked up KD 3 instead of KD 1.250.

Taxis may be just one form of public transportation in Kuwait but they are definitely more reliable than buses since they are available everywhere and fares are usually negotiable.

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Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

American held in Dubai for online parody

MINNEAPOLIS: An American man who works in the United Arab Emirates has been held in a maximum-security prison for months after posting a parody video about youth culture in Dubai, a rights group and family attorney said Wednesday. Shezanne Cassim, 29, of Woodbury, Minn., was arrested in April and charged with violating a 2012 cybercrimes law that boosts penalties for allegedly challenging authorities, attorney Susan Burns said. He was moved to a maximum security prison in Abu Dhabi in June. He’s been accused of endangering national security, and is the first foreigner arrested under tougher measures governing Internet use in the United Arab Emirates, according to the Londonbased Emirates Center for Human Rights. Cassim has entered a not guilty plea in court, and has made a statement about his involvement

in the video, which he created and posted online in 2012, said Cassim’s brother, Shervon.

Shezanne Cassim was born in Sri Lanka and is a U.S. citizen. He moved to Dubai after graduating from the University of Minnesota in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He worked for Emirates Airline before taking a job this spring as a business consultant in the aviation division of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Shervon Cassim said.

The family was initially told a verdict would be issued Oct 28, but the verdict has been postponed five times, most recently because a judge was waiting for an Arabic translation of the video.

“And in all this time, they have refused to grant bail, with no explanation given,” Shervon Cassim said. His brother’s next court date is Dec 16. United Arab

MERS virus found in Qatar camels

DOHA/LONDON: Scientists have found cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in camels in Qatar, health officials said yesterday, fuelling speculation that camels might be the animal reservoir that allowed the virus to infect and kill humans. The SARS-like coronavirus, which emerged in the Middle East last year and has killed almost 40 percent of the around 170 people so far infected, was found in three camels in a herd in a barn also linked to two human cases of MERS infection. “The three camels were investigated among a herd of 14 camels, and the samples were collected as part of the epidemiological investigation,” Qatar’s Supreme Council of Health said in a statement. It added that the two confirmed human cases linked to the barn had since recovered.

Scientists around the world have been seeking to pin down the animal source of MERS virus infections since the first human cases were confirmed. British researchers who conducted some of the very first genetic analyses on MERS last September said the virus, which is from the same family as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, was also related to a virus found in bats. Confirming and commenting on the virus being found in camels in Qatar, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said there was still insufficient evidence to say for sure what the source of the human MERS infections was. “Neither camels nor bats can yet be said to be reservoir of MERS,” he said on the networking site Twitter.

Ab Osterhaus, a professor of virology at the Erasmus Medical Centre in The Netherlands that worked on the camel study, told Reuters the results were confirmed by a range of tests including sequencing and antibody testing. Dutch scientists said in August they had found strong evidence that the MERS virus is widespread among one-humped dromedary camels in the Middle East - suggesting people who become infected may be catching it from camels used for meat, milk, transport and racing.

Saudi officials said this month that a camel there had tested positive for MERS a few days after its owner was confirmed to have the virus. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said in its latest MERS update on Nov 22 that of the 176 laboratory-confirmed and probable reported human cases to date, 69 people had died. Human cases of MERS, which can cause coughing, fever and pneumonia, have so far been reported in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Tunisia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Britain.

Osterhaus, whose team worked with Qatar’s Health and Environment Ministries on the study, said that, at this stage, “no more details can be disclosed” about the findings since a scientific paper was in the process of being prepared and submitted for peer review and publication.— Reuters

Emirates authorities did not return messages seeking comment. The US Embassy had no comment. A message left with the US State

Shezanne Cassim Department was not returned, and Cassim’s attorney in Dubai said in an email he had no comment.

Mike Davies, director of global public relations for PricewaterhouseCoopers, said the company was looking into the matter. The case reflects a wider crackdown by Gulf Arab authori-

ties on social media use. In the past two years, dozens of people have been arrested for Twitter posts deemed offensive to leaders or for social media campaigns urging more political openness. Burns said the video was posted on YouTube in October 2012, roughly a month before the cybercrimes law was enacted in the United Arab Emirates. Burns said her understanding of the law includes penalties of temporary imprisonment and a fine up to nearly $250,000.

The video, called “Satwa Combat School,” is set in the Satwa district of Dubai. The family said in a statement that the comedy pokes fun at Dubai teenagers who called themselves “gangstas”, but were known instead for mild behavior. The video shows fictional “combat” training, including throwing a sandal and using a cell-

phone to call for help. It opens with text saying the video is fictional and is not meant to offend.

“It’s tragic. It’s something that can happen to anybody, especially young people who post all the time on YouTube,” Burns said. “To be incarcerated over something that’s clearly a joke, clearly meant in jest, clearly meant in good humor - and held for seven months - is a violation of human rights.”

Shervon Cassim, who spent two months in Dubai trying to help his brother, said the family wants authorities there to “realize that this is not worth their time and just release him”. “At a time when the United Arab Emirates is holding itself out as a modern country, it is sadly ironic and a poor image to present to the world that it continues to imprison my brother for uploading a silly video,” he said. — AP

Dubai hopes Expo boosts economy Trade fair builds on emirate’s core sectors DUBAI: A jubilant Dubai hopes that hosting the world’s five-yearly trade fair in 2020 will draw new investment to an economy still recovering from a debt crisis that required a bailout by Abu Dhabi. The United Arab Emirates city state saw off competition from Brazil, Russia and Turkey on Wednesday to win the right to host Expo 2020. It expects the prize will give a welcome boost to an already reviving tourism- and property-based economy.

The fair site extends across 438 hectares of desert - 10 times the size of Vatican City on the highway towards the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi, along which Dubai has been pushing much of its development.

The government projects the sixmonth fair will stimulate 25 billion dirhams ($6.8 billion) in additional investment and 277,000 new jobs. It forecasts a boost to gross domestic product of more than 140 billion dirhams ($38 billion), equivalent to around 44 percent of the 2012 total. Deutsche Bank said Dubai needs some $43 billion to upgrade its infrastructure, the bulk of which would go into expanding hotels and other leisure facilities, with some $10 billion more for transport infrastructure.

“The successful Expo bid should act as a catalyst to wider investment growth in Dubai, largely aimed at increasing the capacity of the economy,” said Monica Malik, chief economist at EFG Hermes Emirates investment bank. Although much of the investment earmarked for the fair was already part of a master development plan, Vision 2020, the win “will add to Dubai’s confidence and fast track implementation,” she said.

The emirate heavily invested in transforming itself from a sleepy backwater in the 1950s to the bustling regional centre for tourism, trade, transport and financial services it is today. “The Expo builds on Dubai’s core sectors, such as tourism, trade and transportation and will reach

DUBAI: An image made available yesterday shows Dubai’s Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohamed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum gesturing as he wears a T-shirt bearing the logo of Dubai’s 2020 World Expo campaign on top of Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower on Nov 25, 2013 to mark UAE’s 42nd independence day and as part of a campaign that Dubai launched to win the 2020 World Expo. — AFP well beyond just the Expo site,” Malik said.

GDP growth is now expected to increase to between 5.5 percent and six percent in 2014, compared with 4.9 percent in the first half of this year, she said.

Barclays Bank too expected the fair to boost growth, to average 6.4 percent annually over the next three years, and potentially 10.5 percent annually to 2020.

The economy is recovering strongly from the financial crisis that led to a 2.4 percent contraction in 2009, as the emirate’s oncebooming property sector tumbled and government-linked companies struggled under a mountain of debt. Dubai sent jitters across global markets in November 2009, when it said it needed to freeze payments on some $26 billion owed by its largest group, Dubai World.

The conglomerate succeeded in reaching an agreement with lenders to restruc-

ture its obligations, but debt of some $103 billion continues to burden the government and state-linked firms, Barclays says.

Dubai’s economy, which unlike all other Gulf states has no oil revenues to depend on, grew 2.8 percent in 2010, 3.7 percent in 2011, and 4.4 percent in 2012, as its core sectors recovered.

The once-battered property market, which shed more than half of its peak value following the 2008 crisis, has bounced into recovery over the past year, and rents have also surged. Property prices have risen by around 50 percent since the third quarter of 2011, but are still 45 percent below the peak of 2008, Deutsche Bank said. The build-up to the vote for the Expo 2020 has been blamed for contributing to a spike in both purchase prices and rental values, as landlords anticipated a surge in demand.— AFP

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Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Kuwait mulls annual expat nationality quota KUWAIT: In a bid to counter criticisms levelled at Kuwait over human rights and expatriate labor issues, the Interior Ministry’s assistant undersecretary for passports ad citizenship affairs Maj Gen Sheikh Faiasal AlNawaf recently sent a report to deputy PM and Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammed AlKhaled on expatriate labor in Kuwait including the total numbers of illegal residents and “free” laborers and suggested solutions.

Security sources said that the report also included a plan that would help solve the problem for a decade involving around 100,000 expats. They added that according to the report and the immigration department database, the total number of expats

in violation of residency visa laws almost hit 115,000 and that Kuwait has around 35,000 marginal and loose laborers who have been victimized by visa traffickers. “The report demanded setting strict legislations to apprehend both sponsors and laborers,” stressed the sources.

The sources added that the report warned that the spread of marginal labor posed a threat to national security, especially in view of certain ethnic groups residing in certain areas such as Jleeb that are many-atimes inaccessible for security forces unless backed up by special forces. “This is a main reason behind the spread of various forms of crimes such as bootlegging, murders, sexual

abuse, drug trafficking and robberies that vary from stealing manhole covers or parts of power plants,” said the sources.

The sources added that the report includes detailed statistics on crime rates per nationality as well as illegal residents as per entry visa type, nationality and areas certain expat communities inhabit. The report also called for fighting visa traffickers as well as establishing liaison offices with embassies of the countries that have illegal residents to jointly coordinate transferring them to special shelters instead of leaving them in embassy premises in order to eventually issue special travel documents pending deportation.

In addition, the report recommended forming tripartite committees to pursue and apprehend illegal residents round the clock.

Moreover, the sources highlighted that the plan includes suggestions to reduce the total numbers of some communities by setting an annual quota per nationality to prevent uncontrolled increases. The sources also denied Kuwait’s intention to get rid of expatriate labor. “What is happening is rationalizing their presence and imposing the law in a way that would achieve Kuwait’s best interests,” said the sources, noting that the plan also aims at internationally improving Kuwait’s image in terms of human rights. —Al-Rai

Lawmaker files to grill social affairs minister Rasheedi accused of incompetence, nepotism

By B Izzak

Citizen held for dealing in drugs

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A citizen was arrested with the possession of 85 kg of hashish he hid to sell in the local market, said security sources. Case papers indicate that narcotic police had been tipped off on the suspect’s activities of smuggling the drug into Kuwait by hiding it in a ‘safe spot’ near Ouhah island pending sale. The suspect was arrested with the possession of a bar of hashish and during interrogation, he confessed to hiding 85 kg of the drug inside jerry cans in the waters surrounding Ouhah island. He also confessed to using his boat in smuggling the drugs. A case was filed and the suspect was referred to relevant authorities.

KUWAIT: Tribal-Islamist MP Hamdan Al-Azemi yesterday carried out his threat and filed a request to grill Minister of Social Affairs and Labour Thekra Al-Rasheedi over allegations of mismanagement and failure to curb visa traders. The move came just one day after the government scored a decisive victory in dealing with five grillings in a marathon session that began early morning on Tuesday and continued for close to 20 hours non-stop.

Azemi had repeatedly threatened to grill Rasheedi over other allegations including her interference in cooperative societies’ affairs. Assembly Apeaker Marzouk Al-Ghanem told reporters he received the grilling request, adding that the Assembly bureau will discuss whether to debate the grilling in a special session. He said that the grilling will be listed on the agenda of Dec 10 but this coincides with the Gulf summit and may be changed.

Azemi’s grilling is the ninth to be submitted this Assembly term which began Oct 29. One of them was withdrawn after MPs agreed to remove parts of it while all the others but one were debated. Shiite MP Abdullah Al-Tameemi said the grilling is personally motivated and is “born dead” while MP Kamel AlAwadhi said he will speak in support of the grilling and if needed, he will take part in signing a no-confidence motion.

The grilling accuses the minister of misusing her authority as minister of the labour sector - one of the most important

sectors in the country - charging her policies have led to disrupting mega state projects and encouraging visa trading in Kuwait. The griller claimed that the minister has restricted the issuance of work permits for contractors working on mega government projects and kept the process exclusive to her office. He said the restrictions have led to preventing many contractors from recruiting necessary manpower from abroad.

He cited statements from officials responsible for two mega projects - Jaber Hospital and the Shadadiya University - where officials at both projects complained their contractors were not being allowed to recruit foreign workers. The lawmaker claimed that after being appointed to her post, the minister vowed that she will fight against and combat visa traders and paper companies that are involved in recruiting foreign workers against a fee.

Azemi however claimed that all the minister’s decisions in this connection came to achieve exactly the opposite as owners of paper companies have greatly benefited from those decisions. He claimed that the ministry agencies have failed to check on 43,000 commercial licenses to ensure they are not paper companies and also failed to update the information on 39,000 other companies.

The lawmaker also said that the minister has failed to cooperate with the reports of the Audit Bureau which highlighted financial wrongdoings. He also accused the minister of making several key appointments in violation of the law, adding that some of these appointments were of close relatives.

Importance of GCC stability stressed MANAMA: Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khalid Al-Sabah yesterday stressed the importance of security and stability of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Sheikh Mohammad reiterated in his speech before the 32nd meeting of the GCC interior ministers the importance of this gathering in terms of files dealing with the risks posed by terrorism against the security of the entire region.

He said the meeting also deals with issues related to the technical evolution that is harnessed and used in the world of crime on a large scale, explaining that this situation requires follow-up and response through providing the best modern tools to stifle all forms of criminal activities. He explained that cooperation among GCC countries has achieved tangible successes on the level of security integration, calling for the need to continue such cooperation especially with the increasing severity of conflicts and disputes in many countries of the region.

“We are required to develop plans and future strategies that are realistic in order to establish an integrated security organization to meet the desired goals towards achieving the highest rates of security and stability as the most important elements of the overall progress of the GCC,” he said.

At the meeting, Bahrain called on superpowers to explain

“to leaders and peoples of the region” how the tentative accord on Iran’s nuclear file “would serve regional stability and security”. The initial agreement between Iran and world powers on Tehran’s nuclear file “prompts us to expect that these states will clarify to the leaders and peoples of the region that what has been reached upon will serve regional security and stability,” said Bahraini Minister of Interior, Lt Gen Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa.

Sheikh Rashid said this agreement must not be at expense of security of any GCC member states. “We in Bahrain have sensed what may threaten our security, amid certain external affiliations.” Bahrain “tackled the situation, however judging from the security experience we went through, we had to deal with bias on part of some organizations and media in the name of human rights and freedom of expression with the intention to tarnish Bahrain’s international image,” he added.

Sheikh Rashid noted necessity of unifying the GCC countries’ policies, stances and pressing ahead with integration. Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud underscored the extreme significance of the meeting, in light of “regional events and dangerous developments.” He called on the GCC security authorities to take decisive action against crimes, namely “the crime of terrorism”. GCC Secretary-General Dr Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani called for greater efforts for

MANAMA: Kuwait’s Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-Sabah speaks during a Gulf Cooperation Council interior ministers gathering to discuss regional security issues yesterday.— AP inter-GCC “security merger”. Also in this respect, he noted significant role of the Kuwait-headquartered GCC Emergency Risk Management Center to cope with emergencies, face external threats and bolster inter-GCC cooperation. —KUNA

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

IAEA to visit nuclear-linked Iran site under new accord

12

Lanka has ‘nothing to hide’

14

Thailand PM defeats no-confidence move

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NEW DELHI: In this photograph, activists of Akhil Bharatiya Vidya Parishad (ABVP) burn a photograph of Tarun Tejpal, founder and editor of Tehelka magazine, outside the magazine’s office. — AFP

India sex case shows powerful predators Indian magazine chief quits over handling of sex case NEW DELHI: The man at the centre of a sexual assault scandal that has whipped India’s media into a frenzy is no average Joe. Tarun Tejpal is one of India’s most powerful journalists, and accusations that he sexually assaulted a colleague have uncovered what lawyers say is an often buried truth - such violence is common in the highest echelons of society.

An investigation into Tejpal, who denies the accusations, has dominated headlines for eight days as news outlets follow every twist and turn. It comes days after similar accusations were made by an intern against a retired Supreme Court judge. For Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising, both cases show how hard it is for women to press complaints against colleagues in the workplace, particularly if they are powerful individuals not used to having their authority challenged.

Yet they also present authorities with a rare opportunity to demonstrate that no one is above the law - that sexual abuse, no matter who it involves, will be dealt with thoroughly and, if proven, properly pun-

ished. “I think sexual harassment in the work place is pervasive in India, yet the culture of silence is huge,” Jaising, a senior legal adviser to the Indian government, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“That’s why I think that these two cases, both that of the law intern and the Tehelka journalist, are highly significant. If we fail in addressing these two issues, we will have failed the nation.” The allegations against Tejpal, the 50-year-old founder and editor-in-chief of India’s leading investigative magazine Tehelka, surfaced on the Internet last week when an email from a 23-year-old female journalist to her superior was leaked. The woman, whose identity has not been revealed, accused Tejpal of assaulting her on two occasions in a hotel elevator. The incidents in India’s western resort state of Goa occurred during an event bringing together intellectuals, activists and celebrities, including Hollywood actor Robert De Niro. The journalist did not press charges against Tejpal, but police launched an investigation based on media reports. Tejpal could be booked for outraging the

modesty of a woman and rape. Tejpal admitted in a leaked email to the magazine’s management that an “unfortunate incident” had occurred between himself and the journalist, describing it as “a bad lapse of judgment”. But in a more recent statement to a Delhi court he called what happened consensual.

Cases come to light In recent months, the media have focused on alleged abuses within the upper echelons of Indian society. The legal fraternity was shaken after a young lawyer said a retired Supreme Court judge had sexually harassed her in a Delhi hotel room last year while she was an intern. About three months ago, a Hindu guru popularly known as Asaram Bapu was arrested for sexually molesting an ailing girl child on the pretext of exorcising evil spirits said to be inhabiting her body. Asaram calls the charges fabricated.

But it is the Tejpal case, above all, that has revived the intense debate about violence against women first triggered by the gang rape and murder of a

woman on a Delhi bus 11 months ago. That landmark case, in which the four culprits were sentenced to death, dispelled some of the stigma attached to discussing sex crimes in largely patriarchal India, and emboldened more women to come forward with their accounts. Police in New Delhi, for example, believe a rise in rape reports is due partly to victims’ greater willingness to complain. There were 1,036 cases of rape reported in the capital this year by August 15, an increase of nearly 2-1/2 times from 433 cases in the corresponding period last year, police data show.

India’s parliament passed a law to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace in February, although similar public and private sector guidelines had been in place for more than 16 years. The new law covers women working in the informal sector and requires employers to set up internal complaints panels, although Jaising said the guidelines had been ignored. “The two cases - one of the intern and the journalist - we notice a failure of the institutions,” she said. —Agencies

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Syrian army takes crucial town DAMASCUS: The Syrian army recaptured the strategic town of Deir Attiyeh yesterday, less than a week after losing it, taking the advantage in its bid to crush rebels just north of Damascus. The seizure of Deir Attiyeh, on the Damascus-Homs highway, comes two weeks into an army offensive in the Qalamoun region, important to the regime for its proximity to the capital and to the rebels, as it serves as their rear base near the Lebanese border.

It also comes amid intense international efforts to hold a peace conference aimed at ending a 32-month conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people and displaced millions. The opposition demands that any talks should lead to a transitional period in which President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime plays no role.

But in the run-up to the January 22 talks in Geneva, Assad’s forces appear to be pushing for leverage with as many battleground victories as possible. “Our heroic army has taken total control of the town of Deir Attiyeh in Damascus province after it crushed the terrorists’ last enclaves there,” state television said,

quoting a military source.

A high-ranking security official confirmed the report to AFP, adding that “operations to expel the terrorists from nearby areas are ongoing.” Last Friday, hundreds of jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and AlNusra Front, as well as other rebels, captured of Deir Attiyeh, according to a monitoring group.

Most of those who had taken up positions in Deir Attiyeh were “crushed” and the town had been “cleansed,” the security official said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the army was now in “near-total control” of Deir Attiyeh, though gunfire could still be heard. A security source said loyalists also entered the nearby town of Nabuk. “If this town is captured, all we’ll have left is Yabroud and some other villages to completely block off the border with Lebanon and to stop any entrance or exit of rebels into Lebanon,” said the source. “The next phase will be to retake the south (of Syria). The north and the east are for later,” he added, referring to

areas under control of the rebels, jihadists and Kurds.

Also engaged in the fighting in Qalamoun is the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, which backs Assad and has sent thousands of fighters into Syria.

Yesterday, a source close to the movement said a nephew of Lebanon’s agriculture minister was killed along with three other Hezbollah fighters in Qalamoun.

“Ali Rida Fuad Hajj Hassan, aged 22, was killed along with three other Hezbollah fighters in Qalamoun” north of Damascus on Wednesday, the source said. “He was the nephew of Hussein Hajj Hassan,” who is also a leading Hezbollah member, he added. Fighting raged elsewhere yesterday, a day after Iran said it and Turkey, which support opposing sides in the conflict, would press for a ceasefire ahead of the Geneva 2 peace conference.

Eleven rebels were killed around Marj in the Eastern Ghouta region near Damascus, said the Observatory, which also reported fierce clashes around

Douma, another rebel bastion nearby.

And several shells hit central Damascus, one of them in front of the parliament building, said the Observatory. In the northern city of Raqa, a surface-to-surface missile launched from Damascus province killed at least six people overnight and wounded at least 30 others, the monitor said.

Raqa is the only provincial capital in Syria lost to the regime since the conflict broke out in March 2011. It is now under jihadist control, but activists have frequently accused the army of targeting only civilian areas of Raqa, rather than parts of the city where the feared Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is positioned. In Aleppo province’s Atareb, ISIL executed Hassan Jazra and six members of his Ghuraba Al-Sham battalion, after it had accused them of theft and looting. In areas where it is powerful, ISIL has sought to establish itself as the sole power-broker, first by eliminating small rival groups over charges of corruption, then by opening fronts with bigger battalions. — AFP

Protest law, jail terms boost Egypt opposition Latest restrictions galvanize secular activists

BAMAKO: People hold signs as they demonstrate yesterday in Bamako against France’s politics in northern Mali. — AFP

Fears for Nigeria-wide vote after local election chaos LAGOS: Nigeria’s 2015 presidential elections could descend into chaos if alleged irregularities and bungling in a key local vote are repeated nationally, politicians and activists are warning. Nearly two weeks after voters went to the polls to elect a new governor in southeastern Anambra state, there is still no result and Nigeria’s electoral watchdog has ordered a re-run in some constituencies this weekend. The November 16 election in the mineral-rich state was seen as an early indication of support for President Goodluck Jonathan before his expected run for re-election in about 18 months.

Jonathan’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been split by his election ambitions and on Tuesday a splinter group of prominent politicians and powerful governors defected to the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). Provisional results in Anambra gave victory to the All Progressives Grand Alliance party of incumbent governor Peter Obi-a Jonathan ally.

But the PDP, APC and Labour Party all

called for a complete re-run, with one senior figure calling it a “parody of an election” after some people were denied the chance to vote, despite being on the electoral roll.

Ballot boxes, papers and other election material went missing, while police also imposed tough restrictions on movement into and out of the state, which was viewed in some circles as harassment and intimidation. Lawyer and activist Festus Keyamo told AFP only 451,826 people voted-well under half of the 1.8 million voters eligible for the exercise-dismissing the exercise as a “sham” and a danger for the whole country.

“There was a wicked and unholy alliance between INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) and the PDP to subvert the democratic process in Nigeria,” he claimed. “If (chairman Attahiru) Jega’s INEC cannot conduct a free and fair election in 21 local governments in Anambra, should he be trusted to conduct a general election that would produce the nation’s president in the 774 local governments of the federation? — AFP

CAIRO: Restrictions on protests and 11-year jail terms for girl demonstrators are reviving Egypt’s autocratic past, say activists and erstwhile supporters of the government in place after Islamist president Mohamed Morsi’s overthrow. The military, the real power even after it formally appointed a civilian government, remains wildly popular, and many Egyptians care more for stability amid an economic downturn than for rowdy protests. But even supporters of the armyinstalled government and secular activists who viewed it as a lesser evil after Morsi’s divisive rule say it has gone too far with a law that bans all but police-sanctioned protests.

And the sight of more than a dozen white-clad women and girls behind bars on Wednesday, as an Alexandria court sentenced them to 11 years in prison for allegedly taking part in a violent protest in October, proved too much for some.

Putting the law into practice, police violently dispersed two small protests by secular demonstrators on Tuesday, arresting some of Egypt’s most prominent female activists before dumping them on a desert road at night. The activists had been protesting against a clause in the new draft constitution that allows the military to try civilians before summary tribunals. The prosecution service has ordered the arrest of two leading secular activists, Alaa Abdel Fattah and Ahmed Maher, for allegedly inciting the protests.

Both were prominent dissidents under Morsi.

“Deja vu, I’m about to hand myself in to the authorities again on Saturday,” Abdel Fattah wrote on Facebook. He had been arrested under Morsi’s predecessor Hosni Mubarak, the transitional military junta that ruled after Mubarak’s overthrow and also during Morsi’s year in office.In the months since the army removed Morsi after mass protests demanding his resignation, more than 1,000 of his supporters have been killed in a police crackdown, and thousands

have been arrested.

But the latest restrictions have galvanised secular activists. Hamdeen Sabbahi, a former presidential candidate and a leading dissident under Morsi, called on the interim president to pardon the seven girls sentenced alongside 14 women and to repeal the protest law.”I call on president Adly Mansour to use his powers to pardon the girls sentenced to 11 years,” he wrote on his Twitter account. The harsh sentences, which may be overturned or reduced on appeal, left some Egyptians who had protested against Morsi concerned that their rights were being stripped away, said Mohammed Sayyed, a cafe waiter in the upscale Cairo suburb of Maadi.

“What this means is that we as Egyptians have no rights,” he said. Gehad Gamal, an insurance agency employee, said the court’s judgment revived memories of Mubarak, who was overthrown in a 2011 uprising. “Those sentences took us back to Mubarak’s era, with restrictions on political rights,” she said, adding that she too had opposed Morsi. The government has not commented on the prison terms, says it will not reconsider the protest law for now and plans to implement it to the letter, a cabinet official told AFP. But the increasing backlash may strain the unlikely coalition of security hawks and liberal democrats who the military appointed to lead the country ahead of elections next year, and could also provoke the very unrest the law is aimed at quelling, said analyst Issandr El Amrani.

“This strains relations inside the cabinet,” said El Amrani, north Africa project director for the International Crisis Group. “Rather than consolidate the transition, it weakens it. It alienates even supporters of the government,” he said. “For the past three years, police brutality has been the cause of much of the political turmoil. You keep going through a cycle.” — AFP

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Dissidents bid for new Sudan to end decades of rebellion KHARTOUM: Sudan needs to give real power to all its ethnic groups to end regional rebellions that still plague it two years after South Sudan broke away, a new opposition movement says. The founders of the National Movement for Change, themselves all Islamists, want to reach out to secularists and leftists in their campaign for an inclusive democracy to replace the Arab-dominated regime of President Omar Al-Bashir. He seized power in a 1989 military coup and his rule is symptomatic of a political system which has failed since independence, the new movement says.

“We are very concerned about designing a new political system for Sudan,” said Khalid Tigani, one of the group’s founders and chief editor of the weekly economic newspaper Elaff. Since independence from Britain and Egypt in 1956, Sudan has experienced only three periods of democracy lasting about 12 years in all, and endured more than 40 years of military rule. Each of these regimes tried to “impose their own

views” on the vast African nation without effectively addressing its ethnic diversity, Tigani said.

“Sudan is multi-cultural, multi-religious, multi-racial,” he said. Prominent political scientist Al-Tayib Zainalabdin Mohammed, a cofounder of the new movement, said the group must reflect that diversity. “It has to represent other people: secularists, Islamists, leftists, and from different regions, women and young people and old people,” he said. The movement is currently a “forum for dialogue” about how to govern the country, but Mohammed hopes it will become a political party in two or three years.

In 2011, South Sudan, which has a mostly Christian or animist population, voted overwhelmingly to break away after successive civil wars lasting for most of Sudan’s independent existence. Tigani said the problem in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, where rebellion has continued for a decade, is similarly rooted in marginalisa-

25 killed in Iraq car bombs Gun attacks kill 4 in Mosul BAGHDAD: Attacks in Iraq killed 25 people yesterday as 11 car bombs struck nationwide, the latest in a surge of violence sparking fears Iraq is slipping back into all-out sectarian war.

The bloodshed, in which more than 6,000 people have been killed this year, is part of the worst prolonged stretch of unrest since 2008 and comes just months before a general election, forcing Baghdad to appeal for international help in battling militancy. Although there have been no claims of responsibility for much of the unrest, which has drawn international condemnation, officials are concerned about a resurgent Al-Qaeda emboldened by the civil war raging in neighbouring Syria.

Attacks struck across the country, from the northern hub of Mosul to Kut in the south. They cut down civilians as well as security forces in a wide variety of incidents targeting markets, bus stations, a funeral tent and the convoy of a top police official, security and medical sources said. Babil province, south of Baghdad, suffered the lion’s share of the car bombs, as a halfdozen struck provincial capital Hilla and nearby towns, killing six people and leaving dozens more wounded. Another vehicle rigged with explosives targeting Salaheddin provincial police chief Major General Juma al-Dulaimi killed three civilians and wounded two others. Dulaimi himself escaped unharmed from the blast in the restive city of Tikrit, which lies north of the capital. A suicide car bombing at a police checkpoint near Samarra, also in Salaheddin, killed three police and wounded three more.

Two more car bombs in predominantly-Sunni Salaheddin and two others in Wasit, a mostly Shiite province south of Baghdad, killed three people and wounded 15 overall.

Meanwhile in Baghdad, a roadside bomb targeting a patrol of Sahwa anti-Al-Qaeda-militiamen killed two people, one of them a Sahwa fighter, and two other bombs elsewhere in the capital left four dead. From late 2006 onwards, Sunni tribal militias known as the Sahwa turned against their co-religionists in Al-Qaeda and sided with the US military, helping to turn the tide of Iraq’s insurgency.

Sunni militants view them as traitors and frequently target them. Also yesterday, gun attacks in the northern city of Mosul killed four people, including two members of the Yazidi religious sect, near their home. Violence worsened sharply after security forces stormed a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq on April 23, sparking clashes in which dozens died. The authorities have made some concessions aimed at placating the protesters and Sunnis in general, such as freeing prisoners and raising the salaries of Sahwa fighters, and have also trumpeted security operations targeting militants. But diplomats, analysts and rights groups say the government is not doing enough to address the root causes of the unrest, particularly disquiet among Sunnis over alleged mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led authorities. —AFP

tion. “There is some sort of elite from the centre of Sudan which is controlling everything, the power and wealth, and they are denying the other parts of Sudan equal rights,” he said. Uprisings against the Arabdominated Khartoum government also erupted two years ago among non-Arab groups in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. In a report on Tuesday, the International Crisis Group of analysts spoke of “the elites’ decades-long failure to achieve national consensus on how the country should be governed and to build an inclusive and peaceful state.” Most Sudanese are Muslim but millions are nonArab, and the country is home to a small Christian minority.

The Movement for Change suggests that Sudan needs a “strongly federal government” with proportional representation that would ensure parliamentary and executive seats for all the country’s groups.

Mohammed pointed to Lebanon, where an unwritten but rigorously followed tradition

provides that the president be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shiite.

Other countries including Canada also offer potential models, Mohammed said. In the Canadian Senate, seats are distributed to give each major region equal representation. The chamber also has a duty to represent the interests of minority groups.

Government critics in Sudan have become increasingly vocal since September when dozens of people died in protests against a fuel-price rise of more than 60 percent, adding to two years of rising prices in the poverty-stricken nation.

The Movement for Change emerged a few days after more than 30 prominent reformers in the ruling National Congress Party announced in late October that they would form a breakaway party. It was the most serious split in years within the ruling party and left Bashir talking of “reform” and a wide-ranging government shakeup. —AFP

IAEA to visit nuclear-linked Iran site under new accord VIENNA: Iran has invited UN inspectors to visit its Arak heavy-water production plant on Dec 8, the first concrete step under a new cooperation pact aimed at clarifying concerns about the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme. Yukiya Amano, chief of the U.N. nuclear agency, also suggested it would likely need more money to pay for an increased workload to verify the implementation of Sunday’s separate, landmark accord between Iran and six world powers on curbing Tehran’s disputed atomic activities.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) can mobilise expertise and staff from within the Vienna-based organisation but its budget is very tight, he told a news conference. “Naturally this requires a significant amount of money and manpower ... I don’t think we can cover everything,” he said.

Both agreements indicate how Iran is acting quickly to address fears about its nuclear programme after the election in June of a relative moderate, Hassan Rouhani, as new president on a platform to smooth its troubled relations with the world. The Arak facility produces heavy water intended for use in a nearby research reactor that is under construction. The West is concerned that the reactor, which Iran has said could start up next year, could yield plutonium as fuel for atomic bombs once operational.

Iran says it will make medical isotopes only.

As part of its agreement with the powers, Iran is to halt installation work at the reactor and stop making fuel for it.

The IAEA will be able to expand monitoring of Iran’s uranium enrichment plants and other sites under the Nov 24 interim accord reached after marathon talks between Iran and the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain.

The IAEA was studying how to put into practice Sunday’s agreement with respect to its inspectors’ role in checking compliance and this would take some time, Amano said, adding it was a complicated task that needed proper prepa-

TEHRAN: In this file photo, Iranians hold posters of President Hassan Rouhani, while welcoming Iranian nuclear negotiators upon their arrival from Geneva at the Mehrabad airport in Tehran, Iran. — AP rations. “This (analysis) will include the implications for funding and staffing,” he separately told the IAEA’s 35-nation board.

About 10 percent of its annual 121million-euro ($164 million) budget for inspections is already devoted to Iran.

The agency has two to four staff in Iran virtually every day of the year, with some 20 dedicated to inspector activity there.

Under the Geneva interim accord, there will be “significant extra work and they will require extra resources to do it,” a Western envoy said, with “the extremely complex and difficult implementation” expected to start in January.

The agreement between Iran and the powers is designed to halt any further advances in Iran’s nuclear campaign and buy time for talks on a final settlement of the decade-old dispute. After years of confrontation, it underlined a thaw in relations between Iran and the West after the election of Rouhani on a pledge to end Tehran’s isolation and win relief from sanctions that have battered the oil producer’s economy.

“Devil in the detail” But Western officials and experts cau-

tion that finding a permanent solution to the Iranian nuclear issue will likely be an uphill struggle, with the two sides still far apart on the final scope and capacity of the Iranian nuclear programme. The Islamic Republic says it is a peaceful energy project but the United States and its allies suspect it has been aimed at developing the capability to produce nuclear weapons.

Iran agreed on Sunday to stop its most sensitive nuclear work - uranium enrichment to a higher fissile concentration of 20 percent - and cap other parts of its activities in exchange for limited sanctions relief. Refined uranium can fuel nuclear power plants but also the fissile core of a bomb if processed to a high degree.

“The IAEA inspectors are able to give an early warning if Iran does not comply at these locations with its undertakings,” former IAEA chief inspector Olli Heinonen said. “In verification work, the devil is in the detail.” The IAEA’s visit in 10 days’ time to the heavy water production plant near the town of Arak is part of a separate agreement signed this month between the UN agency and Iran. — Reuters

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International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Italy marks end of an era after Berlusconi ouster ROME: Italy entered a period of political transformation yesterday after Silvio Berlusconi’s historic ouster from parliament, with the billionaire tycoon humiliated and assailed by legal woes but now a force in opposition. Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s ruling coalition will survive the withdrawal of support by Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, thanks to the defection of some of his former proteges who will stay on in the government.

But while he is a figure of fun around the world, Berlusconi is still a formidable campaigner who can continue as a figurehead leader even if he is banned from running for election for the next six years. “Silvio Berlusconi’s political story did not end yesterday with his expulsion as senator,” Roberto D’Alimonte, one of Italy’s top political experts, wrote in the business daily Il Sole 24 Ore. “The Cavaliere leaves parliament but not politics, at least not for now. In fact we

should not forget that he still has sixseven million loyal voters on his side.”

Berlusconi was in turns defiant and humble in a speech to thousands of supporters on Wednesday just minutes before the Senate declared his expulsion, donning the mantle of victimhood and vowing “a fight for liberty”. He promised to hold another rally next Sunday to celebrate the founding of the first 1,000 “Go Silvio” fan clubs around the country and said he was staying to protect “our right, our assets and our freedom”.

Some experts are predicting a populist campaign from Berlusconi, known for his anti-tax, anti-Europe rhetoric, but others say the ejection and Letta’s government could gain as the economy improves. “His exclusion from parliament puts him in a precarious condition... and if this is not the end, it is clearly the beginning of a decline that could be quick,” said Marcello Sorgi, the editor

Karzai stands alone in high-stakes US game KABUL: President Hamid Karzai’s stubborn refusal to sign a pact that would keep thousands of US troops in Afghanistan after 2014 is a high-risk gamble that Washington will give in to his demands, one that has left him isolated as the clock runs down on his presidency.

Diplomats said he may have over-played his hand, raising the risk of a complete US withdrawal from the insurgencyplagued country where Western troops have fought Taleban militants for the past 12 years. It also risks a backlash at home by critics who believe he is playing a dangerous game with the country’s future security.

If the bilateral pact is not signed, Western aid running to billions of dollars will be in serious jeopardy, and confidence in the already fragile economy could collapse amid fears that the country will slip back into ethnic fighting or civil war.There was much dismay in Kabul this week after Karzai over-rode the near-unanimous decision of an assembly of nearly 3,000 Afghan tribal elders to back the agreement and introduced new conditions. “What was the point of calling the Jirga (assembly) if Karzai wants to continue haggling with the United States?” said Haji Mursaleen, a prominent elder who travelled all the way from the eastern province of Kunar to attend the assembly. Even Qayum Karzai, who is running in next April’s election to succeed his younger brother - while being careful not to criticise the president told Reuters this week that it was in Afghanistan’s “vital interest” to get the pact signed. Hamid Karzai has repeatedly crossed swords with Washington since he became president in 2001, and - anxious about his legacy - he may want to show he is no push-over for the Americans before the elections bring his second and final term to an end.

Underlining Karzai’s distrust of Washington, Aimal Faizi, his urbane spokesman, told Reuters in Kabul’s fortress-like presidential palace: “He has a very suspicious mind because of all the wrongdoings of the US and NATO of the past.”

Diplomats and politicians say Karzai is likely to hold out as long as he can because, once the deal is signed, he will lose bargaining power and limp to the end of his term a lame duck. “He is a very cunning person and he is in love with his power, more than (Muammar) Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein,” said one senior Afghan politician, referring to the defeated leaders of Libya and Iraq. “He has been going against the will of the people all this time ... He does not want to give away his power.”

Karzai’s surprise change of mind at the eleventh hour has triggered a storm of speculation in Kabul over whether it was a reflection of his often erratic and unpredictable character, or part of a longer-term strategy to retain power beyond next year. Karzai, constitutionally ineligible to run again for the presidency, said this week he would not sign the pact until after the election, a move some believe could be the opening gambit of a plan to declare the poll a failure and stay on as president. —Reuters

of La Stampa daily.

A bellwether of Berlusconi’s continuing influence could be the European Parliament elections in May 2014. But the 77-year-old’s bid to stay on could be hampered on the legal front more than at the ballot box. As part of the tax fraud conviction for which he was booted out of parliament, Berlusconi will have to serve 12 months of either house arrest or community service in which his freedom of movement will be curtailed.

The sentence is to be implemented early next year and at the end of 2014 Berlusconi could face definitive conviction for having sex with an underage prostitute and abusing the powers of the prime minister’s office-which could force him into house arrest for years. As an ex-senator, he has also lost his parliamentary immunity which makes him more vulnerable to arrest in any of multiple other legal proceedings against him.

Berlusconi’s defeat at the hands of fellow senators instead of through the ballot box left a bitter taste even among some of his most virulent critics. “There is no doubt that yesterday marked the end of an era that has lasted for 20 years,” said Stefano Folli, a columnist for Il Sole 24 Ore. But he added: “We would have preferred a different and less bitter end, for us and for our national dignity.”

Letta’s more immediate danger could be “friendly fire” from an ambitious centre-left politician, Matteo Renzi. The 38year-old mayor of Florence is almost certain to be voted in as head of the main Democratic Party next Sunday and has become increasingly critical of Letta’s government in his quest for the party leadership. “This government cannot continue pretending that everything has stayed the same. We have to turn things around,” Renzi said in an interview with the Corriere della Sera daily, adding: “Otherwise, it’s over”. —AFP

Lanka has ‘nothing to hide’ Sri Lanka counts war dead after pressure from abroad COLOMBO: Sri Lanka said it had “nothing to hide” yesterday as it began compiling a death toll from its war against Tamil separatists, after allegations of mass killings of civilians. While rights activists expressed scepticism at the project, organisers said it would reveal the true cost of one of Asia’s bloodiest conflicts which ended when troops routed the Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009.

The start of the six-month “census” comes after the dispute over the scale of the killings in the final phases of the conflict dominated a Commonwealth summit hosted by Sri Lanka earlier this month. UN bodies have said as many as 40,000 civilians may have died in the final weeks of combat-a claim that has been repeatedly rejected by President Mahinda Rajapakse and his mainly ethnic Sinhalese regime.

“The government has nothing to hide,” P B Abeykoon, the top civil servant in the ministry of public administration, who will supervise the census, told a press conference yesterday. “A lot of people have come out with various accusations with their own figures. We will come out with the real facts,” Abeykoon added. The president announced the start of the census on his website in a brief statement on Wednesday evening.

The statement said the department of census and statistics would conduct what it called an “island-wide census to assess the loss of human life and damage to property”, adding that work would begin on November 28. The sixmonth census would see some 16,000 officials fan out across the island to conduct the survey in more than 14,000 villages, including in the mainly Tamil north of the island.

Rajapakse has previously insisted no civilians died in the finale to the war and has said there was no need for international investigators to conduct their own separate inquiry. But international pressure has been steadily building and Rajapakse was sorely embar-

PUTHUKKUDIYIRUPPU, Sri Lanka: In this file photograph, an elderly Sri Lankan Tamil sits among the rubble of a village near Puthukkudiyiruppu. — AFP rassed when the leaders of Canada, India and Mauritius all boycotted the Commonwealth meet in protest at Colombo’s rights record.

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron did attend but he infuriated Rajapakse by paying an historic visit to the war-torn Jaffna region. After meeting survivors and relatives who had lost loved ones during the war, Cameron warned he would lead a push for an international probe unless Sri Lanka produces credible results of its own by March. Asked about the claims of 40,000 civilian deaths, Abeykoon said the census showed the government’s determination to seek the truth. “Why should we go for a census if we have anything to hide? We are trying to get a clear picture for ourselves,” he said. But a leading rights group countered that Sri Lanka has set up several investigations in the past into deaths and disappearances but has not released the findings.

“A number of government inquiries have already been established and there has never been any kind of accountability, so a new one holds no

weight whatsoever,” said Suhas Chakma, director of the New Delhibased Asian Centre for Human Rights.

Chakma said the survey would not have credibility unless its terms of reference allowed it to determine whether international laws relating to war crimes had been broken.

“If they are seeking to assuage the sentiments of the international community and the local people, they need to determine whether war crimes have been committed,” he told AFP. Rajapakse said at the Colombo summit that Sri Lanka needed more time to conduct its own investigations, urging his peers “to trust us”. The census was one of the recommendations of a government-appointed panel that submitted a report last year. D CA Gunawardena, the head of the census department, told reporters that his teams would try to determine the numbers of dead, missing, or maimed by the conflict as well as the extent of property damage. “The public will be asked to substantiate the claims of deaths, missing and property damage,” he said at the launch alongside Abeykoon.—AFP

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International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

China seeks to reform petitioning system

BEIJING: China is taking steps to reform its decades-old civil petitioning system, including diverting cases to courts and improving ways of lodging complaints online, so that citizens’ grievances can be resolved more efficiently and social tensions alleviated. Details on the new policy were announced at a news conference yesterday at a government compound in Beijing where about a dozen protesters gathered to denounce the ineffectiveness of the petitioning system and air their own grievances in front of journalists.

Zhao Min, from Xingtai city in Hebei province, said she had tried unsuccessfully for 15 years to get local authorities to prosecute those responsible for the slaying of her son. “I have been to every government department that I can go to, and I have filled out all the forms that I can fill out,” Zhao said. “Still no one has been held responsible 15 years after my 16-year-old son was killed.”

Government security guards in plain clothes darted through the crowd, seizing banners and posters from the petitioners. Every year, millions of complaints

Chinese anti-veil ‘beauty’ campaign sows tensions KASHGAR: A Chinese government worker in the ancient Silk Road oasis of Kashgar beckons two women to her streetside stand and logs their details under the gaze of a surveillance camera. Their offence: wearing veils. The “Project Beauty” campaign aims to discourage women from covering their faces-a religious practice for some Muslim Uighurs, the largest ethnic group in China’s Xinjiang regionin an attempt to improve security.

But critics warn the effort could sow resentment and backfire instead. “We need to hold onto our traditions and they should understand that,” said a 25-year-old woman who has been registered twice. Offenders were made to watch a film about the joys of exposing their faces, she added, speaking behind a white crocheted covering.

“The movie doesn’t change a lot of people’s minds,” she said, like others declining to be named. Xinjiang, a vast area bordering Pakistan and Central Asia in China’s far west, beyond the furthest reaches of the Great Wall, has followed Islam for centuries. It came under Chinese control most recently during the Qing dynasty in the late 1800s.

For years it has seen sporadic unrest by Uighurs which rights groups say is driven by cultural oppression and intrusive security measures but China attributes to extremist religion, terrorism and separatism. Authorities’ concerns intensified after a deadly attack in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square last month which police blamed on Uighurs.

Kashgar residents say veil restrictions sparked at least one deadly conflict this year near the city, where 90 percent of the area’s 3.3 million residents are Uighur. “For the Chinese government the causal process is: the Islamic extremists ask for independence, ask for separatism, then that’s why they set very strict limits on Uighurs’ religious activities,” said Shan Wei, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore. “For the Uighurs’ part, it’s: ‘OK, I wasn’t involved in any political movements, I’m not a separatist at all, but you set so many stupid restrictions on my daily religious activities that I hate you’,” he added, pointing out that China’s other Muslim minorities did not face such rules.

Women in Kashgar sport a range of coverings, from bright scarves draped stylishly over hairdos that leave their necks exposed, to sombre Saudi-style black fabric cloaking all but their eyes. Policies to stop them covering their faces, and to a lesser extent their hair, are not publicised. City authorities declined to comment and Xinjiang officials could not be reached.

But “Project Beauty” stands could be seen around the city, and a tailor said campaign staff had instructed him not to make the full-length robes often worn with face coverings. Other residents said that to enter government offices, banks or courts, women had to remove their veils and men shave their beards, another Muslim practice.

In Hotan, another predominantly Uighur city 500 kilometres (310 miles) to the east, at least one hospital received government forms to report back on veiled patients. A Xinjiang government web portal featuring Project Beauty did not mention banning veils but listed its goals as promoting local beauty products and other goods, and encouraging women to be “practitioners of modern culture”.—AFP

are filed about what petitioners see as injustice or incompetence by local officials in issues such as land expropriation, forced home demolitions and labor disputes, or the failure of local authorities to prosecute crimes.

When they fail to get satisfactory answers, the petitioners often go to Beijing to appeal directly to the central government. When their grievances are still ignored, many camp out in Beijing in what is known as the petitioners’ village.

Activist Huang Qi estimates they number at least 100,000 in the country’s capital,

with many more making short trips to Beijing.

The system is criticized as ineffective, and local officials often try to prevent petitioners from going to the capital, including by detaining them in illegal “black jails.” Li Gao, a deputy director of the State Bureau for Letters and Calls, told the news conference that the central government will no longer rank local governments based on the number of petitions filed in Beijing, in hopes of deterring efforts by local officials to stymie petitioners.—AP

Thailand PM defeats no-confidence move Protesters march to police headquarters in Bangkok

BANGKOK: Thailand’s embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra easily won a no-confidence vote in parliament yesterday but failed to pacify anti-government protesters who rejected calls for talks and massed by the thousands in the capital. Waving multi-coloured flags, blowing whistles and blocking traffic, protesters rallied outside the heavily barricaded national police headquarters, urging police to join their bid to topple Yinglick and her billionaire brother, ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

“Kill the Thaksin regime,” the protesters shouted. That’s not so easy. The numbers of the protesters appear to have dwindled since the start of the week, raising questions over what’s next in a conflict that broadly pits Bangkok’s middle classes against the mostly rural supporters of Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup. Yingluck, who won a 2011 election by a landslide to become Thailand’s first female prime minister, called on the protesters to clear the streets and enter into talks to avoid confrontation, saying Thailand’s economy was at risk after demonstrators occupied the Finance Ministry on Monday.

“The government doesn’t want to enter into any political games because we believe it will cause the economy to deteriorate,” she said in a televised address. In a sign support for the protest could be ebbing, police spokesman Piya Uthayo said the “main force” of antigovernment protesters in Bangkok was now less than about 15,000, down from at least 100,000 on Sunday, though the total fluctuates through the day and into the evening.

The protesters’ ultimate goals appear increasingly unclear. They have urged civil servants nationwide to resign en masse and for the creation of a democratically elected “people’s assembly” to run alongside parliament and lead electoral reforms. Neither looks achievable, at least in the near term. Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, former prime minister of a military-backed government that Yingluck routed in a 2011 election, called on Yingluck to “move aside” and said party members would march with the protesters today. “This prime minister no longer has a mandate

BANGKOK: An anti-government protester blows a whistle as he protests at Government Complex yesterday. — AFP to govern the country,” he told and his supporters in previous years.

Yingluck’s party holds a commanding reporters. majority in parliament. She needed more than half of the 492 lower house ‘Insincere’ A defiant Yingluck has said she will votes to win the no-confidence vote. not dissolve parliament. Even if she did, She got 297, with 134 against.

After the vote, protesters cut electricprotest leader Suthep Thaugsuban said the rallies would continue. “No more ity to the police headquarters, forcing negotiations,” he told cheering crowds police to use a generator. One attacked late on Wednesday after thousands a policeman with a slingshot, striking massed outside government ministries, him with a stone, said Anucha a state office complex and 25 provincial Romyanan, deputy police spokesman. halls. His step-son, Akanat Promphan, They shouted abuse against Yingluck, a spokesman for the Civil Movement for former business executive, who they Democracy, as the protesters call them- accuse of being an illegitimate proxy for her brother, a tycoon-turned-prime minselves, also rejected talks.

“The prime minister’s suggestion that ister revered by the poor as the first all sides sit down and talk is insincere politician to have addressed their needs.

Yingluck’s party and its coalition partand we do not accept it,” he said. The protests began after Yingluck’s ruling ners faced three days of debate during Puea Thai Party tried last month to pass which the Democrats grilled her on a an amnesty bill that would have $100 million water management project absolved political offenses stretching and financially troubled government back to a 2006 military coup, effectively rice intervention scheme. Those debates clearing Thaksin of a 2008 graft convic- were as much about her as about tion and allowing him to return from Thaksin, a major influence on her signature policies. Despite fleeing into exile self-imposed exile.

The Senate rejected it, and Yingluck’s to dodge a jail sentence for abuse of party dropped it. But the bill galvanised power in 2008, Thaksin remains a politithe Democrat Party and its allies in cal force, often communicating with the protests reminiscent of the “yellow shirt” cabinet members via Skype from his vilmovement which helped topple Thaksin la in Dubai.—Reuters

16

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Japanese switched at birth wants to ‘roll back clock’ TOKYO: A 60-year-old Japanese man switched at birth says he would like to “roll back the clock”, days after winning a lawsuit against the hospital that mistakenly cast him into a life of poverty. The man told a packed Tokyo press conference that he was shell-shocked when he learnt the truth, saying his life would have been starkly different. “I’ve wondered how on earth could this happen. I couldn’t believe it. To be honest, I didn’t want to accept it,” he told Japanese media late Wednesday.

The man was not identified.

“I might have had a different life. I want (the hospital) to roll back the clock to the day I was born.” A Tokyo district court this week ordered the hospital to pay 38 million yen ($374,000) in damages over its 1953 blunder which saw the man switched with another baby boy who was delivered just 13 minutes later. The court

ruled that 32 million yen should go to the man and the remaining six million to his three biological brothers.

It is not clear if the hospital, which has not commented on the bizarre case, will appeal. The man, an unmarried truck driver, would have grown up as the eldest of four brothers in a wealthy family where siblings enjoyed a lavish lifestyle including private tutors. Instead, he was raised on welfare by his non-biological mother who also supported older siblings after her husband passed away.

The family had few frills in their one-room apartment except for a radio, according to the man who studied at night school while working in a factory. “It was like she was born to experience hardship,” the man said of the woman he knew as his mother. She is now also dead. The man has been helping take care of his non-biological

brothers, one of whom suffered a stroke.

The decades-old mistake was uncovered when the wealthy family’s three younger brothers had DNA testing done on their oldest sibling-who looked nothing like them-after their parents died. They checked hospital records and confirmed the identity of their biological eldest brother last year.

The four are now working on building a relationship to make up for lost time.

But the man switched at birth said he cried daily for several months after learning the truth. “As I saw pictures of my (biological) parents, I wanted to see them alive. I couldn’t hold back tears for months every time I saw their pictures.” One of my brothers “told me that we will have 20 more years to live so we should make up for lost time”, he added. “I was happy to hear that and I want to do it.”

The wealthy family’s non-biological eldest son runs a real-estate company while his three siblings work for major firms, media reports said. The trio, along with their genuine older brother, had asked for a much-bigger 250 million yen in damages. The mothers in both families had seemingly suspected they had been raising the wrong babies.

“I think my foster mother might have sensed it,” the man said, noting physical differences from the siblings he grew up with. His real brothers remember their mother saying her first baby came back from his first bath in hospital wearing the wrong clothes.

“I’ve heard mother was a person who hated to lose. I have really hated to lose since I was small and was wondering where this characteristic came from,” he said. “When I heard about her, I thought ‘that was it’.” —AFP

Japan and South Korea defy Chinese air zone China’s response to US B-52s in air zone ‘too slow’

KARO: Sinabung volcano spews volcanic ash in Karo yesterday. Several thousand people left their homes overnight, taking the total number of those who have fled since the volcano rumbled to life to around 12,300, said the national disaster agency. —AFP

IAEA says N Korea images suggest reactor restart VIENNA: Activity has been observed at a North Korean nuclear site that is consistent with an effort to restart a reactor, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano said yesterday. North Korea announced in April that it would revive its aged research reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex - which experts say is capable of producing plutonium for bombs - but said it was seeking a deterrent capacity.

Amano said the Vienna-based IAEA continued to monitor developments at Yongbyon, mainly through satellite imagery.

“Activities have been observed at the site that are consistent with an effort to restart the 5MW(e) reactor,” Amano told the IAEA’s 35-nation board, referring to the research reactor.

“However, as the agency has no access to the site, it is not possible for us to conclusively determine whether the reactor has been re-started,” he said, according to a copy of his speech. The Yongbyon reactor has been technically out of operation for years. North Korea destroyed its cooling tower in 2008 as a confidence-building step in talks with South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia.

When North Korea said it planned to revive the reactor, nuclear experts said it would probably take about half a year to get it up and running, if it had not suffered significant damage from neglect. In September, a US research institute and a US official said satellite imagery suggested North Korea had restarted the facility.

The US-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies said a satellite image from Aug 31 showed white steam rising from a building near the hall that houses the reactor’s steam turbines and electric generators.—Reuters

BEIJING: Japan and South Korea said yesterday they have defied China’s newly declared air defence zone with military overflights, showing Beijing a united front after US B-52 bombers did the same. Meanwhile Chinese authorities are coming under domestic pressure to toughen their response to incursions into the air defence identification zone (ADIZ) they declared last weekend. The zone includes disputed islands claimed by China, which knows them as the Diaoyus, but controlled by Japan, which calls them the Senkakus.

The move triggered US and Japanese accusations of provocation as global concerns grew. China’s ADIZ requires aircraft to provide their flight plan, declare their nationality and maintain two-way radio communication-or face “defensive emergency measures”. But Tokyo said its coastguard and air force had flown unopposed in the zone without complying with Beijing’s rules.

“We have been operating normal warning and patrol activities in the East China Sea including that area,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. “We have no intention of changing this.” South Korea’s military said it encountered no resistance when one of its planes entered the area-which also overlaps Seoul’s ADIZ-unannounced on Tuesday. A day earlier two giant US Stratofortress bombers flew into the zone, an unmistakable message from Washington before a preplanned visit to the region by Vice President Joe Biden. China’s defence ministry issued a statement 11 hours after the US announcement saying its military “monitored the entire process” of the B-52 flights, without expressing regret or anger or threatening direct action. The Global Times, which is close to China’s ruling Communist Party and often takes a nationalist tone, criticised

the reaction as “too slow” in an editorial yesterday.

“We failed in offering a timely and ideal response,” it said, adding that Chinese officials needed to react to “psychological battles” by the US. Asked about the South Korean flight, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said: “China identifies any aircraft within the ADIZ and must have noted the relevant situation you have mentioned.”

He reiterated criticism of US and Japanese responses to the zone, urging both countries to “immediately correct their mistakes and stop their irresponsible accusations against China”. The Communist Party seeks to drum up popular support by tapping into deepseated resentment of Japan for its brutal invasion of China in the 1930s.

Such nationalist passions are easily aroused, and Chinese social media users called for Beijing to retaliate against Washington. “The US’s bomber wandered around the edge of our ADIZ, I figure we should respond in kind. One good turn deserves another, right?” wrote one commentator on Sina Weibo, a social media service similar to Twitter. Senior administration officials in Washington said Wednesday that Biden will raise Washington’s concerns about the zone while in Beijing.

The trip will allow him to “make the broader point that there’s an emerging pattern of behaviour by China that is unsettling to China’s own neighbours and raising questions about how China operates in international space”, an official said. China’s relations with South Korea have recently improved but the zone covers a disputed South Korean-controlled rock that has long been a source of tensions between them.

South Korea’s Vice Defence Minister Baek Seung-Joo expressed “strong

regret” at China’s ADIZ announcement, which he said was “heightening military tension in the region.”Australia yesterday refused to back down from criticism of the air zone after summoning China’s ambassador earlier this week and prompting an angry response from Beijing.

The Philippines voiced concern that China may extend control of air space over disputed areas of the South China Sea, where the two nations have a separate territorial dispute. Japanese passenger airlines said after government pressure they will not obey Beijing’s rules, while the State Department has taken an ambiguous position, saying it was advising US carriers “to take all steps they consider necessary to operate safely in the... region”. Thai Airways said yesterday it will comply with Beijing’s directive.

China for its part has accused the US and Japan-which both have ADIZs-of double standards, saying the real provocateur is Tokyo. Defence ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said in a statement yesterday that Japan established its ADIZ in 1969, so Tokyo had “no right to make irresponsible remarks” about China’s.

“If there are to be demands for a withdrawal, then we invite the Japanese side to first withdraw its air defence identification zone, and China may reconsider after 44 years,” he said. The islands dispute lay dormant for decades but flared in September 2012 when Tokyo purchased three of the uninhabited outcrops from private owners. Beijing accused Tokyo of changing the status quo and has since sent surveillance ships and aircraft to the area, prompting Japan to scramble fighter jets 386 times in the 12 months to September.

The manoeuvres have raised fears of an accidental clash. — AFP

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

The second coming of Obamacare website - can they make it work?

NEW YORK: President Barack Obama’s healthcare law is facing its biggest test this weekend since its disastrous Oct 1 launch, as Americans find out whether the administration has met a selfimposed deadline to fix its insurance shopping website. Another major outage of glitch-ridden HealthCare.gov could spell more political trouble for the president, who was forced to apologize for the botched rollout and admit burdening Democratic Party allies in their bids for re-election to Congress in 2014.

If the website does not work tomorrow’s deadline, that could turn off millions of uninsured Americans, especially young and healthy consumers whose participation in the new insurance exchanges are critical for keeping costs in check. Democratic leaders in Congress might also find it necessary to extend open enrollment beyond the March 31 deadline and delay fines mandated by the law for people who do not have insurance by that date - a prospect that insurers warn would destabilize the market.

Obama officials are confident that this second coming of HealthCare.gov will be much improved from the Oct 1 debut.

Millions of people looked into the website in its first month, but only about 27,000 cleared the gauntlet of technical obstacles to sign up for insurance. The portal is the gateway for health insurance plans in 36 states under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare, which was passed in 2010. It is intended to move the United States closer to universal care by subsidizing insurance sold by the private sector for less affluent families.

Officials have said that by Saturday the website will be able to load quickly and work accurately for at least 80 percent of users.

They have said it will be able to handle 50,000 simultaneous visitors, for a daily total of about 800,000, twice the capacity seen even on Wednesday before a final flurry of hardware and software fixes over the Thanksgiving holiday. And officials have warned that the website will still suffer some delays and outages in the weeks to come. To help consumers left hanging when traffic exceeds capacity, they have created a new “queueing system” to tell consumers when to come back.

Short of a major outage, it may be difficult to immediately measure the administration’s success because officials only release enrollment figures once a month. That will make anecdotes from consumers and enrollment groups all the more important. “Even if it’s working well, people will encounter problems,” said Mark Hall, a Wake Forest University professor of law and public health. “You hope there’s more good stories than bad stories.”

Obama’s approval rating drops The abysmal launch of Obamacare has hurt the president and congressional Democrats, with Obama’s approval ratings dipping to the lowest point of his presidency. A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week showed 56 percent of Americans disapprove of how Obama is doing his job, while 38 percent approve. If the situation worsens, Democrats could risk losing control of the Senate in 2014, when 20 Democratic senators face reelection, and many are in tight races. Republicans have called for the law to be scrapped because they consider it an unwarranted expansion of the federal government and believe it will push up insurance costs.

Obama’s chief of staff Denis McDonough now meets every other week with Democratic senators running in 2014 to reassure them Obamacare is on the mend, a White House official said. The administration has prioritized fixes that consumers see, leaving other parts of the system for a later date. On Wednesday, officials said they would delay online enrollment for small businesses for a year.

Obama issued a rare apology earlier this month for mishaps with the rollout. But as Nov 30 has drawn closer, Obama has become more assertive. “The website is continually working better, so check it out,” Obama said in a speech on Tuesday. Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, told a group of state and local officials on a call this week that “we are definitely on track to have a significantly different user experience by the end of this month.”

Insurance companies have also noticed the difference. “I don’t expect this to be an overnight change because it appears they have been making improvements as they go,” said J. Mario Molina, chief executive of Molina Healthcare Inc, a company offering plans in nine states, including California.

“It is easier to navigate. It’s working better. It’s faster,” Molina said. Even if the website does stand up to increased traffic, there are issues on the system’s “back end” that need to be addressed.

As much as 30 to 40 percent of the site still needs to be built to handle payments and federal subsidies, a federal official told lawmakers earlier this month. — Reuters

Obama pardons turkeys as part of an annual rite Obama helps hand out Thanksgiving fixings to needy WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama spared two turkeys from the brine and the oven Wednesday, fulfilling the annual tradition of a presidential pardon for a couple of lucky birds ahead of Thanksgiving Day. Obama pardoned Popcorn, who shared the stage with the president on the North Portico of the White House on a cold, drizzly day. An alternate turkey, named Caramel, also received a pardon, though it did not have the benefit of a face-to-beak meeting with the president.

“The office of the presidency, the most powerful position in the world, brings with it many awesome and solemn responsibilities,” Obama began. “This is not one of them. The two turkeys, 38-pound gobblers hatched the same day on a farm in Badger, Minn., were each up for top billing as the national Thanksgiving turkey. After an online White House crowdsourcing election, Popcorn won.

The event is usually an opportunity for droll commentary by the president and the kind of inside detail that the White House rarely shares with reporters. Popcorn, the White House said, likes to feed on corn and strut to Beyonce’s “Halo,” while Caramel prefers soybean meal and Lady Gaga.

Good to know.

Popcorn’s victory, Obama said, proves “that even a turkey with a funny name can find a place in politics.”

As for Caramel, “he’s sticking around and he’s already busy raising money for his next campaign,” the president

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama (right) and first lady Michelle Obama participate in a Thanksgiving service project by handing out food at the Capital Area Food Bank on Wednesday, Nov.27, 2013. — AP

said. The turkeys will be on display at George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens through Jan 6.

Presidents have spared turkeys off and on as far back as the Lincoln era, according to the White House. The first official pardon was granted by President George H W Bush. House Speaker John Boehner, meanwhile, was taking a different tack. His Twitter account was drawing attention to a CNN article on his special recipe. “Nice to see the Boehner turkey brine get attention,” he tweeted.

Later Wednesday, Obama, wife Michelle, daughters Malia and Sasha,

and mother-in-law Marian Robinson volunteered at a local charity - the Capitol Area Food Bank - distributing bags of sweet potatoes, onions, carrots, apples and small white boxes of the presidential M&Ms. Obama said the family also planned to deliver a couple of turkeys to the food bank these, not spared. “Tomorrow, as we gather with our own friends and family,” Obama said on a serious note, “we’ll count ourselves lucky that there’s more to be thankful for than we can ever say and more to be hopeful for than we can ever imagine.” — AP

US city hails ruling in smelly sauce row LOS ANGELES: A US city welcomed Wednesday a court ruling which could force the closure of a US factory that makes famed Sriracha chili sauces, after neighbors complained of spicy smells. The California city of Irwindale, outside Los Angeles, asked last month for Huy Fong Food’s facility to be closed and that the company be forced to improve odor-filtering measures.

On Tuesday LA Superior Court judge Robert H O’Brien ruled in favor of the city, ordering the sauce maker to stop any operations that could cause smells and immediately take steps to lessen the odors.

The full impact of the ruling was not immediately clear. It does not stop the company operating completely or say what actions need to be taken, according to the LA Times. But the city hailed the decision. “We are pleased by the ruling and expect that it will be final and in force

by December 9,” Irwindale City Attorney Fred Galante told AFP, without elaborating. The legal action has threatened next year’s supplies of Chili Garlic, Sambal Oelek, and the wildly popular

ROSEMEAD: This file photo shows bottles of Sriracha chili sauce on shelves inside a supermarket in Rosemead, California. — AFP Sriracha “rooster” sauce, according to the Los Angeles Times. The chilis for next year’s sauce supplies are all harvested and ground in a three-month time period that is just completed, but the bottling and mixing is continuous, the Times said.

Representatives for Huy Fong Foods

have not responded to requests for comment on the ruling. Sriracha sauce, of which Huy Fong Foods is the biggest producer in the United States, takes its name from the town of Si Racha in Thailand, where the hot sauce was first produced. — AFP

International FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Hernandez declared winner of disputed Honduras vote Leftist rival camp calls for street protests TEGUCIGALPA: The ruling conservative party’s candidate in Honduras’ presidential election has won, the electoral tribunal said, but he stopped short of making it official. The leftist rival’s camp insisted there was fraud and called street protests. The apparent winner, Juan Orlando Hernandez, is a law-andorder conservative who has promised a militarized program to improve public safety in the nation with the world’s highest murder rate, which is also among the poorest in Latin America.

Gangs run whole neighborhoods, extorting businesses as large as factories and as small as tortilla stands. Drug cartels use Honduras as a transfer point for shipping illegal drugs, especially cocaine, from South America to the United States. The tribunal said the numbers indicate Hernandez won last weekend’s election over leftist Xiomara Castro of the leftist Libre party.

“These numbers that we released today clearly indicate that the winner of the general election is Juan Orlando Hernandez,” said David Matamoros, president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, on radio and television.

Figures from 81.5 percent of polling stations give Hernandez 35.88 percent to Xiomara Castro’s 29.14 percent.

“In the coming days, we will issue the official declaration, once we have added the records that are needed,” he added. The electoral tribunal had already said Hernandez’s lead was irreversible given the number of votes remaining to be counted.

But Castro’s campaign accuses the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of manipulating 19 percent of the votes to favor Hernandez and plans to call massive street protests over the alleged fraud. “On Saturday, we are going to summon people to protest. The Libre (Party) and Xiomara (Castro) have been robbed of their victory, and we are going to show it,” her husband, ousted ex-president Manuel Zelaya, told Radio and TV Globo.

“For now, we do not recognize the results” that have been given, Zelaya said, insisting that they had been “manipulated, and we are going to prove it.” He said the leftist party will stage peaceful protests but insisted “respect for the people’s will will be defended will everything we have.”

For a second straight day hundreds of students took the streets to protest the alleged electoral fraud. Zelaya questioned how a candidate that won just 34 percent of the vote can govern. Castro said Friday she will release figures showing she won.

European Union and Organization of American States observers called the voting process transparent and non-problematic.

“We will defend the will of the people as it was expressed at the polls,” Castro wrote in a Twitter posting late Tuesday. Zelaya, meanwhile, said in a post that “we will confirm our victory.” A civil society group called GSC issued a plea for electoral authorities to “answer to the fraud charges immediately.”

Tensions were running high as the political standoff again spread to the streets with protests by students. “No to fraud!” they shouted during a demonstration in support of Castro outside the gates of a university east of Tegucigalpa.

On Tuesday, about 100 police in helmets and riot gear used tear gas and then truncheons to beat 800 pro-Castro protesters and send them scrambling. The clash between Hernandez and Castro brought new uncertainty to a deeply troubled country, also reeling from the wounds of the coup just four years ago.

Hernandez, who is also speaker of the legislature, said the people have spoken at the ballot box. The governments of Colombia, Guatemala, Panama and Costa Rica congratulated Hernandez. Nicaragua’s leftist President Daniel Ortega also recognized Hernandez as the winner. The election’s winner will inherit a country of 8.5 million people with 71 percent of the population living in poverty and a soaring homicide rate of 20 murders per day.

Castro, who proposes “Honduran-style democratic socialism,” wants to rewrite the constitution and “re-found” the country-a move similar to the one that led to the coup that ousted her husband in 2009. Zelaya was elected Honduran president as a PL candidate in 2005. But when he moved to the political left and tried to reform the constitution, the military abruptly deposed him with support from Congress and the Supreme Court. — AFP

Holiday storm hits US East Coast PROVIDENCE: A wet and windy storm hit the US East Coast on one of the busiest holiday travel days of the year Wednesday, but it wasn’t the disaster that many had feared. Flight cancellations piled up at hubs such as New York’s LaGuardia Airport, Philadelphia and Newark, and by midday around 250 flights had been canceled, according to the tracking website FlightAware.com.

But that was a tiny fraction of the nearly 32,000 flights that were scheduled to, from or within the US on Wednesday, the site said. And the weather in many places was improving as the day went on. High winds could prevent giant balloons from taking flight this year at the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade later yesterday.

Safety rules that specify wind speeds were

enacted after a spectator was killed in 1997 in an accident involving an out-of-control balloon.

The storm, which developed in the West over the weekend, has been blamed for at least 11 deaths, five of them in Texas. But as it moved east, it wasn’t as bad as feared. “This is a fairly typical storm for this time of year,” said Chris Vaccaro of the National Weather Service. “Obviously, it’s ill-timed because you have a lot of rain and snowfall in areas where people are trying to move around town or fly or drive out of town.” More than 43 million people are expected to travel over the long holiday weekend, according to the AAA automobile organization. About 39 million of those will be on the roads, while more than 3 million people are expected to fly. — AP

TEGUCIGALPA: A University student, supporter of Honduran presidential candidate for the leftist Libertad y Refundacion (LIBRE), Xiomara Castro, holds a sign reading “Honduras is in mourning, Democracy died” during a protest in Tegucigalpa, on November 27, 2013. — AFP

Nuke waste burial debate produces odd alliances KINCARDINE: Ordinarily, a proposal to bury radioactive waste in a scenic area that relies on tourism would inspire “not in my backyard” protests from local residents - and relief in places that were spared. But conventional wisdom has been turned on its head in the Canadian province of Ontario, where a publicly owned power company wants to entomb waste from its nuclear plants 2,230 feet below the surface and less than a mile from Lake Huron.

Some of the strongest support comes from Kincardine and other communities near the would be disposal site at the Bruce Power complex, the world’s largest nuclear power station, which produces one-fourth of all electricity generated in Canada’s most heavily populated province. Nuclear is a way of life here, and many residents have jobs connected to the industry. Meanwhile, the loudest objections are coming from elsewhere in Canada and the US - particularly Michigan, which shares the Lake Huron shoreline with Ontario.

Critics are aghast at the idea. They don’t buy assurances that the waste would rest far beneath the lake’s greatest depths and be encased in rock formations that have been stable for 450 million years. “Neither the US nor Canada can afford the risk of polluting the Great Lakes with toxic nuclear waste,” US Reps Dan Kildee, Sander Levin, John Dingell and Gary Peters of Michigan said in a letter to a panel that is expected to make a recommendation next spring to Canada’s federal government, which has the final say.

Michigan’s two US senators, Democrats Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, have asked the State Department to intervene.

Business and environmental groups in Michigan and Ohio submitted letters. An online petition sponsored by a Canadian opposition group has collected nearly 42,000 signatures. The decision on the $1 billion Canadian project could influence the broader debate over burying nuclear waste deep underground, said Per Peterson, a nuclear engineering professor at the University of California at Berkeley, who served on a national commission that studied the waste issue in the United States. The US government’s plan for building a repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada has been halted by stiff opposition.

“Demonstrating that this facility can be approved and operated safely is important because it can improve confidence that future high-level waste facilities also can be operated safely,” Peterson said.

The Canadian “deep geologic repository” would be the only deep-underground storage facility in North America, aside from a military installation in New Mexico. Other US radioactive waste landfills are shallow usually 100 feet deep or less. The most highly radioactive waste generated at nuclear plants is spent fuel, which wouldn’t go into the Canadian chamber. Instead, the site would house “low-level” waste such as ashes from incinerated mop heads, paper towels and floor sweepings. It also would hold “intermediate waste” - discarded parts from the reactor core. — AP

Business FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Spain crawls out of 2-year recession

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Donkeys turn binmen as Gaza fuel crisis bites Page 22

DUBAI: A man jogs along the Jumierah Beach in the early hours of the morning in Dubai. — AFP

Dubai eyes savings scheme for expats Gulf city aims to give workers a sense of security DUBAI: Dubai has proposed to the federal government of the United Arab Emirates that the UAE create a sharia-compliant retirement savings scheme for foreign workers, a step which could help to develop the Islamic funds industry. The aim is that the scheme will be nation-wide, though if the federal government does not want to participate, Dubai may implement the plan merely within the emirate, a source at Dubai’s Department of Economic Development said. “We’ve spoken to everybody - the public and private sector and have received a positive response, especially from multinational corporations,” the source said, declining to be named because the matter has not been publicly announced.

SHARIA-COMPLIANT SCHEME Economic officials in Dubai, the emirate of Abu Dhabi and the UAE federal government could not be reached to comment on the proposal or declined to comment publicly. The UAE Ministry of Labor declined to comment.

Currently, companies employing expatriates in the UAE pay them end-of-service sums when they leave. Under the proposed scheme, which would be voluntary for companies, employers would pay money earmarked for future retirements into a central system that would manage the money under Islamic principles. This would allow the money to be managed with economies of scale, while giving employees a sense of security.

There is no time frame for the scheme to be launched, the source said. “We have the green light from the Dubai government and are waiting to hear the response from the federal government,” the source said. Similar ideas have been discussed for a number of years in the UAE, and the central government has moved slowly with many economic reforms.

Dubai has a growing population of about 2.2 million while the UAE’s population is estimated to be as large as around 9 million, roughly 80 percent of whom are foreigners.

The country relies heavily on expatriate work-

ers for its oil, construction and service industries. Earlier this year Dubai launched a drive to become a top centre for Islamic financial services, and the savings scheme could be a major boost to its sharia-compliant funds industry. “There is a huge gap because asset managers are not looking into Islamic finance.

The scheme would help bridge that gap as it develops the Islamic fund management industry,” the source said.

According to data from Lipper, a Thomson Reuters company, Islamic mutual funds globally hold about $46 billion of assets under management, up from $41 billion at end2012. This is dominated by Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Luxembourg, which host a combined 71 percent, leaving other financial centers behind. Money in Dubai’s proposed scheme would initially not be invested in large amounts in local markets, which might not be able to absorb the liquidity, the source said. The portfolio would be diversified globally. “If you can get expats here to save and in

a sharia-compliant (scheme), that would be a huge boon for this industry,” said Abdul Kadir Hussain, chief executive of Mashreq Capital, a local fund manager. “It will multiply growth in assets under management - you could easily see 50 to 100 percent growth just from the UAE. In terms of impact, it’s probably the easiest win.” Islamic fund managers screen their portfolios according to religious guidelines such as bans on tobacco, alcohol, gambling and interest payments.

Unlike their ethical counterparts in Western markets, they still struggle with a lack of scale; close to half of them globally have under $10 million in assets under management. Only 80 funds have more than $100 million in assets, and the ten largest Islamic funds represent over 44 percent of assets. “If it’s Dubai, it just takes the government to say they will do this and it’s done. Dubai can do it.

It can be any scale. Hopefully, you get to a scale and build on it to get a domino effect,” Hussain said.—Reuters

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Business FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

German unemployment climbs to highest level Coalition deal criticized for labor reform row-back BERLIN: German unemployment rose to its highest level in two-and-a-half years in November, new data showed, a day after Chancellor Angela Merkel unveiled coalition plans that row back on decade-old reforms credited with rejuvenating the labor market.

The number of people out of work increased for a fourth consecutive month, climbing by 10,000 to 2.985 million on a seasonally adjusted basis, data from the Labor Office showed. That was far more than the rise of 1,000 that economists had forecast in a Reuters poll. Major German companies have said they will slash jobs, with construction and machinery group Bauer planning to cut its workforce by as much as 3 percent and utility RWE also laying out plans for thousands of job cuts. Workers at aerospace group EADS staged walkouts across Germany

yesterday over plans to slash defense jobs at the parent of planemaker Airbus. The jobless rate held steady at 6.9 percent, close to its lowest since Germany reunified more than two decades ago, and a level that crisis-stricken peers like Greece and Spain, where more than one in four people is out of work, can only dream of. But Germany’s leading economic institutes have warned that plans to introduce a minimum wage of 8.50 euros per hour, as laid out in a coalition deal agreed by Merkel and the Social Democrats (SPD) on Wednesday, could lead to job losses. “Today’s numbers send a clear warning that the labor market has reached its natural rate of unemployment,” said Carsten Brzeski, senior economist at ING. “To continue the current job market miracle or start a new one, a minimum wage should be flanked by additional

measures to create new jobs.”

Data from the Statistics Office earlier yesterday showed the number of people in work climbing to a record high of more than 42 million-only the second time this threshold has been breached since reunification in 1990. That bodes well for domestic demand, on which Berlin is relying to prop up growth this year as the traditionally export-driven economy suffers from weakening demand from the euro zone and a slowdown in emerging markets. Moderate inflation, robust wage hikes and low interest rates are also encouraging Germans, traditionally a nation of savers, to splash out more cash.

Morale among consumers climbed to a 6year high heading into December. And data last week showed domestic demand drove growth of 0.3 percent between July and

September, helping the euro zone stave off stagnation, while foreign trade dragged.

Other data has shown business morale surging to its highest level in 1-1/2 years, suggesting firms may hire more staff in the future, and the private sector is growing faster, with service providers recruiting more staff as their order books were fuller, though factories slashed jobs.

Still, some economists have panned the 185-page policy blueprint unveiled on Wednesday by Merkel and the SPD. The coalition program would increase pensions and tighten rules on temporary work introduced under the “Agenda 2010” reforms of SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. The parties also agreed to a far smaller boost in public infrastructure spending than many observers had expected.— Reuters

Spain escapes recession MADRID: Spain said yesterday it has technically escaped a two-year recession by posting feeble growth in the third quarter, but with an unemployment rate still towering at 26 percent. Gross domestic product, or total economic output, edged up by 0.1 percent in the third quarter of 2013, the National Statistics Institute said, confirming preliminary data released a month earlier. The upward tick snapped an unbroken two-year downturn in activity in Spain, the euro-zone’s fourth largest economy.

A significant recovery is still a distant prospect for many people, however, notably the 5.9 million in the jobless queue, representing 25.98 percent of the workforce in the third quarter, and many employees suffering from steep wage cuts. Spain is struggling with the aftermath of a decade-long property bubble that imploded in 2008, throwing millions of people out of work, racking up huge debts for the government, banks and people, and plunging the economy into a double-dip recession. Spanish employment in the third quarter shrank with the loss of 522,000 jobs over the year.

Domestic demand fell on a quarter-to-quarter basis, the report showed. Exports remained key, with foreign demand for Spanish goods and services growing, but at a slower pace than in the previous three months.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative government is forecasting a 1.3-percent economic contraction in 2013 and 0.7-percent growth in 2014, a rate considered by many analysts to be insufficient to lead to net job creation. His Popular Party government, which took power in December 2011, has enacted economic reforms and austerity policies so as to curb annual deficits and rein in the national debt.

But the painful impact of the spending squeeze, high unemployment, and a slew of corruption scandals has sparked angry street protests. The Bank of Spain, International Monetary Fund and European Commission are tipping an economic decline of between 1.4 and 1.6 percent this year. Spain’s statistics body released separate data showing consumer prices rose by 0.3 percent this month after showing no change in October.

The price rise could be encouraging news for investors at a time of market concern over the possibility of deflation-a vicious circle of falling prices, wages and output-taking hold in the euro-zone. The European Central Bank cut its key interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point this month. ECB chief Mario Draghi justified the move by saying that the 17 countries that share the euro “may experience a prolonged period of low inflation.”— AFP

HAMBURG: Airbus employees protest against cutbacks during the action day at the aerospace giant European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) in Bremen, in Hamburg, northern Germany yesterday. — AFP

EADS workers protest against restructuring HAMBURG: More than 20,000 workers from EADS in Germany took to the streets yesterday to protest against the European aerospace company’s restructuring plans which they fear could cost thousands of jobs. EADS, part-owned by the French and German governments, is planning to combine its defense and space subsidiaries next year and has said it might sell off some units.

The company is due to announce details of the shake-up on Dec 9, but industry sources have said the plans could cost several thousand jobs. The protests spanned about 30 EADS sites in Germany, including EADS-owned airplane maker Airbus’s factories in Finkenwerder and Stade near Hamburg and Airbus supplier Aerotec in the Bavarian city of Augsburg, according to Germany’s IG Metall labor union. “This is a warning shot, so that management

knows that we will fight if it wants to make cuts,” a spokesman for IG Metall said. EADS employs about 140,000 in total worldwide, of which there are about 50,000 staff in Germany. “What is happening here is just not right,” said Peter Stoerecker, a worker at EADS’s site in the Bavarian town of Manching, where about 1,000 workers marched through snow. Protesting workers blew on red plastic whistles as they marched and were accompanied by a brass band with trumpets, tubas and trombones.

“We make a profit, we are working at full capacity,” Stoerecker said.

The Manching site is seen at particular risk in the restructuring as it depends on future orders for the Eurofighter jet at a time when national governments are reigning in their defense budgets. A spokesman for EADS in Germany said: “This is about securing the company’s

ability to compete in the defense and space business in the long run, but significant cuts are necessary to achieve that.” The shake-up at EADS aims to provide greater cohesion to disparate defense activities and comes a year after Chief Executive Tom Enders had to bow to political opposition to his attempt to merge with UK arms firm BAE Systems.

The company wants to streamline a collection of German, French and Spanish businesses that created EADS in 2000, as part of plans to double margins to 10 percent by mid-decade and get a global lift from one of Europe’s bestknown brands, Airbus. The reorganization follows EADS decision earlier this year to scrap a decades-old FrancoGerman ownership pact, putting a limit on government interference and giving its management more freedom to reshape the company.—Reuters

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Business FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Ireland halves number of ‘ghost’ housing estates DUBLIN: Ireland has seen a significant drop in the number of unfinished housing estates that have come to symbolize the country’s boom-to-bust story, a government study showed yesterday. A report by the environment department revealed that the number of ‘ghost estates’ have fallen by 55.8 percent in the last three years across Ireland, which will next month become the first euro-zone nation to exit an international bailout.

There are now 1,258 unfinished developments across Ireland compared with 2,846 in 2010. “We are making considerable progress,” the minister for housing Jan O’Sullivan said in the report. “Over the past three years, the numbers of unfinished developments remaining has been halved.”

Cheap credit and attractive tax relief encouraged many to build and invest in property during Ireland’s ‘Celtic Tiger’ economic boom lasting a decade from the late 1990s. When the property market collapsed in 2008 many developments were partially built but with credit drying up and diminished demand, work on the sites quickly ground to a halt.

Those unlucky enough to have already bought properties on these sites were left with homes in ugly and often dangerous unfinished developments.

Property prices in Ireland remain 47 percent lower compared with their peak in 2007, despite a current surge in the cost of Dublin homes, leaving many buyers left unsure as to when, if ever, their houses will be worth more than what they paid. In a sign that the situation is improving, government data released this week showed average property prices are up more than 6.0 percent nationally in the last 12 months while in Dublin prices soared by 15.0 percent.

The property crash-and the devastation it caused to Irish banks-was one of the driving factors behind Ireland seeking an international financial rescue in 2010. With just a few weeks to go before Ireland exits that 85-billion-euros ($115 billion) EU-IMF program, progress made in tackling the ‘ghost estates’ will be seen as a further normalization of the cash-strapped nation. Local authorities are working with developers, receivers, banks and O’Sullivan’s department to find funding for the remedial work.

Footpaths, fencing, sewer covers and streetlights were missing in many of these sites. Much of the focus in remedying these developments has been to build these to make the estates or apartment blocks more habitable. However, abandoned portions of some projects have been fenced off indefinitely while unviable parts of other developments have been bulldozed altogether. Yesterday’s report reveals over 500 unfinished developments were completed in the past 12 months. “As economic recovery takes hold, we can now focus on tackling the remaining 1,250 or so developments,” O’Sullivan said.— AFP

Ireland working emigrants reluctant to return home Emigration up 4-fold since economic crisis DUBLIN: When Toby Gilbert decided to emigrate last year, he did not choose Australia over Dublin for sunshine and sandy beaches. He just wanted a few more free hours to see his wife. Fed up with working punishing hours and barely seeing each other, the two doctors were among almost 50,000 Irish people who left the country permanently last year, a near fourfold increase since Ireland’s economic crisis began in 2008. But just as worrying for a country keen to turn another chapter in its painful history of emigration around, the couple are part of a growing cohort of graduates who are leaving jobs, rather than benefits, to seek better opportunities abroad.

“It was becoming an unliveable situation,” said Gilbert, 31, of the gruelling hours that saw Ireland referred to the European Court of Justice last week for breaking EU working time directives for junior doctors.

“You could walk into any hospital at 10am and find a dozen doctors who had been working from 8am the previous morning and who likely would be there until 5pm.

They were absolutely Victorian work practices, it defied belief.”

Like the Gilberts, almost half of Irish emigrants were in full-time jobs before leaving, a recent study at University College Cork (UCC) found, suggesting that the damage wrought by Ireland’s economic crash and resulting sharp budget cuts may play just as key a role in emigration as high unemployment. The health sector is an especially acute example of where the severe cutbacks that followed a spending spree during the ‘Celtic Tiger’ boom years have led to an exodus, often dejected doctors. Almost one-in-ten emigrants had qualified or worked in the health and social work sectors, UCC’s study said.

Hospitals have been left struggling to fill consultant vacancies while overworked junior doctors went on strike for the first time in 25 years last month. With over a third of next year’s government spending cuts to come from the health budget, there is little appetite to return home. “For doc-

tors working abroad, all of us have to be mentally prepared that we might never go home,” said Ciara Freeman who left Ireland two years ago and now happily works in London despite earning 30 percent less than her counterparts at home. “I would never say never to going home, I love Irish patients, I love Irish people but the opportunities are not there any more.”

LOST GENERATION? Emigration has long been a hugely emotive issue in Ireland, from the million or so who fled the Great Famine of the 1800s to the nearly half as many who gave Ireland the ignominy of being the only country in Europe to see its population decline in the 1950s along with East Germany. Ireland’s government, riding a wave of acclaim in Europe as it becomes the first country to exit an EU/IMF bailout, knows putting the brakes on emigration is a far bigger issue at home with prospects of a decade-long flight similar to the 1980s, when recession led to the last period of prolonged emigration. Its bid to turn Ireland into a technology hub, wooing the likes of Google, Facebook and EBay, may be bearing fruit after data on Tuesday showed unemployment fell at its fastest pace in four years to 12.8 percent. The jobless rate is now just above the euro zone average and down from a high of 15 percent. Were it not for emigration, which is the highest per capita in Europe, the rate would have touched 20 percent, the IMF estimated last year.

However the encouraging data also showed that the number of people in employment between the ages of 25 to 34 continues to fall, a consequence of the estimate in the UCC report that over 70 percent of emigrants depart while in their twenties. A more tangible recovery is needed to reverse that trend, according to the managing partner of Ernst & Young Ireland, one of the “Big Four” accountancy firms that is specifically targeting emigrants to help fill 80 new positions.

So far five Irish nationals have agreed terms to come home from South Africa,

two from Malta and one from Dubai. There is huge interest in the firm’s Australian office, a big hub for Irish emigrants from all sectors, but reluctance too. “They all talk to their families about coming back and I still think the general consensus if you talk to your mum, dad, siblings or mates from college, they’re probably all saying it’s not great yet,” said Ernst and Young’s Mike McKerr. “They’re not coming back into a booming, dynamic, fast-growing economy where they’re going to have great careers so there is a risk of a lost generation here.”

NO GOING BACK While financial services firms have proven resilient during the downturn in Ireland - Ernst & Young’s Irish workforce is higher than it was before the crisis - other reeling sectors are nowhere near as equipped to start bringing emigrants home. Servicing a government debt set to peak at 124 percent of annual economic output this year will keep a lid on spending for years, offering little relief in areas like education where teachers have been leaving for Britain, frustrated by a freeze on recruitment and promotions at home.

Ireland’s banking crisis has seen some banks fail, foreign operators exit the market and others severely downsize. Thousands of jobs have been lost with more likely to come. The prospects are toughest of all for the estimated one-in-five emigrants who worked as builders, tradesmen or architects at the peak of Ireland’s boom when construction accounted for a quarter of gross national product (GNP).

The government is trying to revive activity with new tax breaks but any recovery will take years when just under 8,500 house were built last year compared to the 23,000 built on average in the 1970s, when Ireland was a much poorer country. For Brian Collins, an architect who helped London’s Gaelic football team hit the headlines this year when they won a first Irish championship match in 36 years thanks to an influx of talent, the prospects in Ireland are virtually non-existent.—Reuters

BoE cuts mortgage support to avoid a housing bubble LONDON: The Bank of England (BoE) moved to head off the risk of a bubble in house prices yesterday, making a surprise announcement that it would put the brakes on a scheme launched last year to boost mortgage lending. Shares in British construction firms tumbled after the central bank said it would refocus the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) on helping small firms that find it hard to borrow. Britain’s economy and its housing market have staged an unexpectedly strong turnaround since FLS was launched by the BoE and finance ministry in July 2012 to spur lending to home-buyers and businesses. Another, much-criticized, government program to aid the housing market, Help to Buy, remains in place.

“We did not see an immediate threat coming from the housing market but we are concerned about the prospective evolution of the housing market,”

Pound rises, house-building stocks fall BoE Governor Mark Carney said. “The concern is where this could go. We definitely see some short-term momentum,” he said, adding the BoE was prepared to take “larger measures” to tame rising house prices if needed. Carney said it would “no longer be appropriate or necessary for us to have our foot on the accelerator” in terms of spurring mortgage lending. “It’s better to shift into neutral.”

Sterling rose after the announcement, while construction firms lost more than 1 billion pounds ($1.63 billion) in value. Barratt Developments, Britain’s biggest housebuilder by volume, saw its shares slump by as much as 9.6 percent. Finance minister George Osborne said he backed the changes to the FLS scheme. British house prices are likely to rise nearly 6 percent in 2014 on top of a similar a increase this year, according to a Reuters poll of econo-

mists published earlier this week. James Knightley, an economist with ING, said the shift in policy was not a precursor to an interest rate hike by the BoE, which has kept borrowing costs at a record low since 2009. “Such measures have been undertaken elsewhere, and there the sense is that by taking such action it can actually limit the need for direct monetary policy tightening,” Knightley said. A representative of British mortgage lenders said the industry was well placed to cope without the scheme’s support. “Although the changes to the FLS may be a surprise, they are not a shock. Mortgage lenders are well equipped to meet their funding needs, as wholesale funding market conditions have improved and retail deposits are robust,” said Paul Smee, director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Carney said the changes to the FLS did not have implications for Help to Buy,

which aims to lift construction and aid home-buyers without large mortgage

deposits, and which the BoE will review next September. —Reuters

LONDON: Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney delivers this year’s half yearly Financial Stability Report to journalists at the Bank of England in the City of London yesterday. — AP

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Business FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Foreign ownership flagged for Qantas SYDNEY: Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey yesterday raised the prospect of allowing majority foreign ownership of national carrier Qantas in the face of increasing overseas support for rival Virgin Australia. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has been lobbying politicians in recent weeks about what he claimed was no longer a level playing field in the nation’s skies.

His main gripe is that Virgin Australia is now majorityowned by state-backed carriers Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad and that with their financial clout it is able to set uncompetitively low prices to win customers from Qantas. Under the Qantas Sale Act, dating from 1995 when the airline was privatized, foreign ownership in the national carrier is limited to 49 percent and Joyce wants that re-examined.

Hockey admitted that growth in Qantas was impeded in part by those restrictions and said it was time for a public debate about whether to ease them or whether to keep the airline in Australian hands. “The market has changed but still the restrictions are in place,” Hockey told Fairfax radio. “It’s an issue that Australians need to debate. “And if Australians understandably say ‘no, we think it should remain not only Australian-owned but Australian-controlled, and we need to have a national carrier’, and I think there are many good reasons for that as well, then we’ve got to accept we may have to pay a price for that.”

That could involve the government providing funding for Qantas, which was “a burden the taxpayers may have to pick up”. The Labor opposition made clear it favors the airline remaining Australian. “I believe the national carrier is an important part of Australia’s national security, it’s an important part of Australia’s independence,” Labor leader Bill Shorten said. Virgin Australia is already 63 percent owned by Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad and under a recently announced capital raising plan foreign ownership could rise to 80 percent.

Joyce has claimed the overseas carriers are working to destabilize Qantas with the domestic sector, its key money spinner which has helped prop up its underperforming international network. Virgin has called the allegations “offensive” and reportedly called the lawyers in to determine whether there were grounds to sue Joyce for defamation.—AFP

Oil falls to $111 on high US output, inventories LONDON: Brent oil fell to $111 per barrel yesterday, weighed by a bigger-than-expected rise in US crude stockpiles, but Libyan supply disruption kept prices supported. Brent crude fell 31 cents to $111 a barrel by 1220 GMT. It is still up 2 percent in November, and over $8 above its low for the month. US oil fell 17 cents to $92.13, hovering near the lowest in almost six months. It touched a low of $91.77 on Wednesday, its weakest since June 3. US crude oil stocks rose by almost 3 million barrels to 391 million barrels, their highest level for November since records began in 1982, the Energy Information Administration said in weekly data on Wednesday. “In the absence of strongly positive factors, you’re going to get a bit of a drag-down effect [on Brent oil], simply because US prices are falling and you would expect Brent prices would lag them,” said Michael Hewson, market analyst at CMC Markets. The EIA also said US crude oil output last week exceeded 8 million bpd for the first time since January 1989. Earlier this month, its data showed that crude production exceeded imports for the first time in nearly two decades.

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said on Wednesday his government would be unable to pay public salaries and may have to seek loans if armed militias blockading oilfields and ports continue to choke off crude shipments. Trade is set to be light due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. “Libya concerns are market supportive still, but nervous jittery trading is here to stay. With the US off today volumes will be low,” said Andrey Kryuchenkov, strategist at VTB Capital. Refiners in Europe and the United States are coming back from maintenance and increasing output which has seen demand for crude recovering.

International Energy Agency (IEA) head Maria van der Hoeven said oil markets were adequately supplied even with the prospect of dwindling crude output from Libya.—Reuters

Stronger US data spurs world shares; Yen falls Nikkei jumps 1.8%, DAX set fresh record LONDON: World shares rose toward sixyear highs yesterday and the yen languished at fresh lows against the euro and dollar after sentiment was boosted by a batch of strong US economic data.

The signs of an improving US jobs market and more cheerful consumers had spurred Wall Street to a record close on Wednesday, while reinforcing talk the Federal Reserve could start scaling back its stimulus, which supported the dollar.

“Markets have taken on board the view that (US) rates are not going up next year even if they start tapering soon,” said Simon Smith, chief economist at FXPro. As the buoyant mood spread, Japan’s Nikkei hit its highest close in nearly six years, and Asian shares outside Japan rose 0.6 percent to reach a one-week high. In Europe, Germany’s DAX index touched an all-time high as trading got underway while the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.4 percent and on track to post its third straight month of gains. MSCI’s world equity index, which tracks share moves across 45 countries, gained 0.2 percent, reaching its best level since the start of 2008.

In the currency markets, the dollar

popped above 102.00 yen for the first time since May 29, while the euro traded just under $1.36 and came within striking distance of 139.00 yen, reaching its highest against Japan’s currency since June 2009. So far this month, both the euro and dollar are up nearly 4 percent on the yen which investors have been selling to raise funds for carry trades as the Bank of Japan remains committed to keeping ultra-loose monetary policy to shore up growth.

The surging greenback, which gains as the heightened tapering expectations push bond yields upwards, was also putting pressure on commodity bloc currencies like the Australian and New Zealand dollars and many emerging market currencies with weak economic prospects. The Indonesian rupiah hit the 12,000 per dollar for the first time in nearly five years, while the Thai baht slid to the weakest level in 11 weeks.

European bond markets were focused on the outlook for inflation and its implications for the European Central Bank, which holds a policy meeting next week. Spanish inflation rose 0.3 percent year-on-year in November from zero in the previous month, fuelling expectations that overall euro zone inflation fig-

ures, due on Friday, will come out above a 0.8 percent forecast.

“The Spanish inflation figure ... will take a little bit of pressure off the ECB to do something at the next meeting,” said Elwin de Groot, senior market economist at Rabobank in Utrecht. German inflation due at 1300 GMT though could have a bigger influence on market expectations about the ECB outlook.

Ahead of that data, 10-year German Bund yields were up 3.5 basis points to 1.74 percent. Elsewhere, Italian 10-year yields were flat at 4.065 percent before an auction of up to 2.5 billion euros of 2024 bonds. The small amount on offer will ensure a smooth sale, analysts said.

Among commodities, Brent crude was holding above $111 a barrel as supply worries offset the positive outlook for demand from the signs of solid US recovery. Gold snapped a two-day decline, gaining 0.3 percent to about $1,241.7 an ounce and moving away from a fourmonth low of $1,227.34 hit on Monday, though the outlook remained weak. “In view of the apparent improvement in the (US) economy, investors are slowly pulling funds out of gold for better avenues of investment,” said Phillip Futures analyst Joyce Liu.—Reuters

Donkeys turn binmen as Gaza fuel crisis bites GAZA: On a sweltering November afternoon, 10-year-old Alaa skips barefoot along a road in Gaza City picking up festering bags of rubbish and throwing them onto his father’s donkey-drawn cart. This has become the face of rubbish collection in Gaza since a critical fuel shortage has idled all the regular rubbish trucks, leaving the job to those with a slightly more primitive form of transportation. For 55-yearold Mahmud Abu Jabal, it is a seemingly endless battle to clear away the mounds of rubbish which are rapidly amassing in streets across Gaza. At any other time, the traffic police would ensure he keeps away from the middle of the road to allow cars to pass, but he now has free reign to go where he pleases.

People like Abu Jabal, who own a donkey and cart, are being increasingly relied on by Gaza’s Islamist Hamas government as the fuel crisis worsens. “In the past few days there’s been more pressure on us and more rubbish collecting work,” he said. “At first we were tasked with picking up the rubbish outside the hospital, but now we’ve had to take collections from outside people’s homes as well.” It may be a crisis for the impoverished Palestinian enclave but, for him, it’s an opportunity to work he would not otherwise get.

“If not for the fuel crisis, there wouldn’t be this work opportunity,” he says, explaining that the authorities are paying him a monthly wage of 700 shekels (around $200/145 euros). “It really isn’t enough to feed my entire family of 12 and look after the donkey, but it’s better than

GAZA: Palestinian workers from the Gaza City municipality use a donkey cart to collect rubbish from the Yarmuk waste dump area, in Gaza City. —AFP nothing,” he shrugs. On November 1, carts to keep the streets clean, with Hamas’s energy authority announced that around 500 workers getting up at dawn to Gaza’s sole power plant, which supplies 30 collect the rubbish and take it to tempopercent of the Strip’s electricity needs, had rary dumps. Fira warned that the growing stopped working because there was not mountain of rubbish was likely to pose a enough fuel to power it. But it was only on health risk to Gaza’s 1.7 million residents.

Gaza is suffering the most serious fuel Sunday that Hamas announced that the regular bin lorries would also stop work- crisis in its history, causing daily power outages of up to 16 hours. Hospitals, water ing.

“Dustbin lorries have stopped doing and sanitation plants, businesses and pritheir rounds, during which they were vate homes are all being hit. Hamas has gathering 1,700 tons of garbage per day blamed the power outage on Egypt’s throughout Gaza,” municipalities minister destruction of cross-border tunnels used Mohammed Al-Fira told a news confer- for bringing in diesel and has also accused ence. Since then, the Strip has been rely- the Western-backed Palestinian Authority ing on some 430 horse- or donkey-drawn of charging inflated prices for fuel.—AFP

Pe t s FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

These fur-balls deserve the best, so why compromise?

P

ersian cats, also known as Persian longhairs, have long been one of the most popular pets in the United States and the United Kingdom alike. Prized as show animals and beloved as companions, these fancy felines sport a number of genetic assets and detractions that individuals interested in acquiring one must research prior to committing. At once loving, calm, and elegant, Persians also require quite a bit of care due to their unique physiques. Sticking with following tips ensures these cats live happy, healthy existences with responsible owners who may enjoy their soothing presence for many years.

1. They require daily brushing: One of the most striking aspects of the Persian breed is the long, silky, and luxurious coat, praised by breeders and show judges and beloved by their owners.

However, owners run the risk of matting and tangling should the cat prove too stressed or otherwise emotionally distraught to execute the regular cleaning ritual. It is recommended to slowly groom a Persian cat for at least 15 minutes a day using a fine-toothed metal comb to remove any nits, ticks, fleas, or other annoyances. This keeps their coats healthy, saving money and time on regular trips to a groomer. While brushing, be sure to pay very close attention to the areas that the cat may not be able to reach on his or her own, such as the throat, the neck, parts of the tail, and parts of the legs.

Doing so ensures a smooth, even pelt on all sides, devoid of uncomfortable and unsightly knots and mats.

2. It is possible to keep them on a vegetarian diet: Though natural carnivores, Persian longhairs respond fine to a diet comprised of commercial vegetarian food supplemented by wheatgrass. A sturdy but somewhat languid breed, some cats struggle against weight issues. Vegetarian diets prevent some of the unhealthy additional weight gain that many Persian cats face, so it is a possible route to consider when owning one facing these problems. It is never a wise idea to switch a pet’s diet without prior consultation with a veterinarian, however. Keep the cat in question on the same

dietary regimen as always before receiving professional approval. To make the transition, start incorporating the new food into a normal diet little by little until replacing the old food completely. This cuts down on any potential intestinal disrupts experienced as a result of an abrupt dietary shift.

The addition of wheatgrass - which grows easily and rapidly in a windowsill - acts as a digestive aid for cats with sensitive stomachs.

3. They require regular baths: Except for the Scottish Fold and controversial “Puppykat” breeds, most domestic felines harbor a legendary aversion to water. Unfortunately, Persian cats require weekly or monthly baths - especially if they ever venture outdoors. The frequency of these baths depends on owner preference, vet recommendations, and the animal’s lifestyle. Cats who traverse the yard pick up dirt, bugs, twigs, and other detritus harmful to their lengthy pelts and the home, and therefore

require more bathing than those spending their lives indoors. But even homebound Persians have their own unsanitary risks. Being longhaired, excursions to the litter box may result in fecal matter becoming accidentally stuck, even embedded, on the legs or tail. This poses a health hazard not only to the cat, who may accidentally ingest the substances during personal grooming sessions, but their owners as well. Regular bathing reduces the spread of bacteria across the home and helps keeps Persians and their masters and mistresses healthy.

4. Be sure to clean around their eyes: Because of the flat, snub-nosed face that characterizes the breed, Persian cats have a tendency to suffer from teary, gooey, or crusty eyes. As a result, their faces may become discolored and infected with bacteria.

Lighter colored cats may end up with unsightly staining around the eyes if the draining remains unchecked. Depending on the severity of the leak-

age, they will need cleaning once or twice a day to prevent health and aesthetic issues. Cats with more pronounced muzzles tend to deal with these issues less frequently than those with much flatter faces.

Commercial wipes and tear stain remover have been specially formulated for use around (never in) the eyes. However, those on a limited budget may use a tissue, paper towel dampened with warm water, or a soft washcloth to get the job done as well. Extra care must be taken during the cleaning ritual, as Persian longhairs are already prone to cornea scratches, ulcerations, and/or cloudiness as well. Slippage may result in further damaging an already sensitive eye.

5. Persian cats are best kept indoors: While many cat breeds relish the outdoors, it is best for those of the Persian variety to only venture outside the house in small doses for a number of different reasons. Their long pelt traps more dirt, sticks, grass, and leaves as well as ticks, fleas, nits, chiggers, and other pests than shorthaired cats. Tracking in such a mess poses a health hazard for human and animal residents alike and demands precious time to clean. In addition, a Persian’s majestic coat stems from the breed’s origins in the Iranian deserts.

Exposure to particularly humid or frigid climates may prove uncomfortable for extended periods of time, as they are more biologically adept to subsist where the atmosphere remains more arid.

However, cats who have been shaved - most especially in the popular and visually comical “lion cut” function better in the outdoors for longer spans of time than those who have not. Obviously, though, this is unadvisable during colder, wetter months.

Though shaving reduces the chances of the cat dragging in elements best left outdoors, it does not eliminate the threat entirely.

6. They are prone to kidney issues: Between 36 and 49 percent of the Persian cat population suffers from polycystic kidney disease, or PKD. Symptoms begin developing between 3 and 10 years of age and include depression, apathy towards cleaning, weight loss due to a dwindling appetite, and frequent drinking and urination. It results from cysts growing in and around a kidney, eventually grow-

Pe t s FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

ing to replace the organ issue entirely. If left unchecked or undiagnosed, it can lead to enlarged and inevitably failing kidneys. Breeders have done their best to prevent PKD from further tormenting the gene pool, but it has sadly not become eradicated entirely. Owners with the means may want to have their cat screened for the disease via DNA screening or ultrasound if they are concerned it may play host. Regardless of pocketbook, however, all responsible Persian masters and mistresses must whisk their pets to the veterinarian’s office once the symptoms appear to emerge. There is unfortunately no cure for the disease right now in either humans or cats, so owners must face a grim decision after consulting with an animal healthcare professional.

7. Most Persian cats are not terribly active: Breeders and cat fanciers alike approve of Persian longhairs as ideal apartment cats due to their relatively lackadaisical activity. Notorious sun worshippers, they love nothing more than to stretch out with their bellies towards the sparkling warmth pouring in through the window. This makes them fine, lowintensity pets in a house with children, elderly adults, and/or the disabled who may grow over-stimulated or exhausted with hyperactive pets.

Unfortunately, behaving more like a decoration than a companion may lead to weight management issues. Along with a vegetarian diet, Persian cats can keep their bodies healthy by engaging in regular exercise with their owners. Any sort of play - especially involving balls, catnip, simple lengths of yarn, or other toys - helps maintain their waistlines and occupy their minds. Yet another drawback to their slothful demeanors is the lack of mental stimuli once the playthings get put away. For indoor cats, simply leaving the blinds open provides them with something external, unfamiliar, and occasionally dynamic to watch throughout their day.

Even though they will never capture the tempting squirrels or birds flirting through the window, being able to watch them is sufficient to keep their brains moving. Owners unconcerned with electricity bills may want to leave the television on as an alternative.

8. Try to avoid overfeeding: Even factoring out the implications regarding weight gain combined with general laziness, owners of these striking cats must practice prudent portion control. Overfeeding may lead to diarrhea or vomiting, as some Persian longhairs suffer from rather sensitive stomachs and are only able to handle a certain amount of nourishment at a time. They may react poorly to certain foods, regardless of whether or not they contain meat or meat products - wet, canned products may especially cause digestive difficulties. Purchasing expensive provisions is not always the solution, either, as cost does not always necessarily denote quality or effectiveness. Some brands are created especially for cats with irritable gastrointestinal tracts and cost no more than many regular foods. Regardless, however, overindulgence in even the meals tailored for felines with special dietary needs may still result in discomfort (or worse). Discussion with a veterinarian and perhaps a little bit of experimentation is all it takes to ensure a cat receives the amount of food necessary for a healthy, comfortable life.

9. Hairballs are a big issue with Persian cats: As can be expected of an animal sporting such a generous coat, the Persian breed has a tendency to hack up hairballs at a far higher frequency than shorthair cats.

Obsessive groomers, felines who whittle away their lives indoors prove something of a migraine for their owners when it comes time to clean up the soggy regurgitated leavings. Fortunately, there are a few measures that masters and mistresses may take in order to reduce time and spent eradicating hairballs. Many pet food suppliers offer inexpensive products specially formulated to keep them to a bare minimum, occasionally offering weight management perks as well. Some cat treats also come with hairball control features as well. Owners may opt to purchase fresh wheatgrass or wheatgrass seeds (which may be grown in a garden or windowsill) as a far healthier alternative, though plants grown with certain pesticides may result in gastrointestinal discomfort. Shaving also reduces hairballs as well, reducing the amount of fur ingested during the grooming ritual.

10. Pay close attention to their nostrils: Due to their flat faces, many Persian cats suffer from breathing difficulties - more extreme cases are relegated to inhaling and exhaling exclusively through the mouth.

Responsible owners must check them every day for nasal obstructions, as they impact these felines more so than those with normal muzzles.

The less pronounced the animal’s muzzle, the more labored their breathing. Cats with severe issues related to their nose and its role in respiration may qualify for a surgical procedure involving their enlargement. Sinus infections and simple colds also negatively affect the Persian breed’s nasal passages as well, so it is always a wise idea to keep a close eye on their general health. Some snorting and sneezing naturally results from their unusual facial bone structure. It is only when this becomes excessive that the cat’s master or mistress should become concerned.

11. Their ears need a fair amount of cleaning: As with most cats, Persians are unable to groom themselves inside their own ears. Their owners must take the responsibility to clean out uncomfortable and disruptive waxy buildup. This may be accomplished with special swabs, a tissue, dampened paper towel, or soft washcloth. Because their ears host some of the most sensitive skin on a cat’s body, special care must be taken to ensure the procedure ensues as quickly, efficiently, and tenderly as possible. Always make sure to check for mites as well, which oftentimes leave behind a rust-tinted crust in and around the ear. These cause considerable trouble for cats, who often react to their presence with visibly pained squirming and frequent scratching and head shaking. It is essential to treat ear mite infestations with the recommended medications as

quickly as possible before the victim suffers from permanent hearing damage or other infections.

12. Always buy from a reliable breeder: If hoping to secure a Persian cat from a breeder rather than a rescue or homeless animal shelter or through an ad, always make sure to check, double-check, and triplecheck the individual’s or establishment’s credibility. Failure to do so may result in bringing home a potentially inbred animal, shielding a ticking time bomb of genetic defects that cause it a fair amount of pain and its owners a fair amount of financial stress. Aspiring pet owners do not have to spring for the spawn of a Grand Champion in order to ensure the healthiest Persian possible - all it takes is some research and a few well-informed reference checks to find a breeder that will not saddle them with a terrible deal. Some states and cities require catteries to practice with a license, though this does not always indicate legitimacy. Shady breeders act along the same lines as shady used car dealers, displaying little knowledge of the cats they sell and caring little about what sort of home will be provided. They tend to resort to high-pressure sales and insults hurled towards the competition, often displaying little knowledge of the breed in question and downplaying their genetic issues. Always make sure to perform detailed investigations prior to making a commitment to any breeder.

13. Their affection can sometimes turn to clinginess: Though generally possessing a rather docile demeanor, Persian longhairs are also beloved for their capacity for great affection as well. They love cuddling, attention, and sleeping with or near their owners. However, there are moments when the cats’ desire for validation may become overwhelming. Begging for pats, scratches, and even playtime may not necessarily be the norm, but pets feeling ignored as their masters or mistresses deal with their everyday lives do freely express their emotions. Rescue cats may especially develop overly loving personalities, having grown lonely and desperate due to an abusive background.

Unlike some animals such as sugar gliders, however, cats will not self-mutilate if they do not receive adequate attention.

Owners should not face too much pressure should work, family, and other obligations have to take precedence over the persistent Persian for a while because of this. The clinginess may prove irritating at times, but ignoring it has no real dire consequences. www.universityreviewsonline.com

26

Opinion FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

China’s navy breaks out to high seas

By David Lague

I

n late October, flotillas of Chinese warships and submarines sliced through passages in the Japanese archipelago and out into the western Pacific for 15 days of war games. The drills, pitting a “red force” against a “blue force,” were the first in this area, combining ships from China’s main south, east and north fleets, according to the Chinese military.

Land-based bombers and surveillance aircraft also flew missions past Japan to support the navy units.

In official commentaries, senior People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officers boasted their navy had “dismembered” the so-called first island chain - the arc of islands enclosing China’s coastal waters, stretching from the Kuril Islands southward through the Japanese archipelago, Taiwan, the Northern Philippines and down to Borneo. Named Manoeuvre 5, these were no ordinary exercises. They were the latest in a series of increasingly complex and powerful thrusts through the first island chain into the Pacific. For the first time in centuries, China is building a navy that can break out of its confined coastal waters to protect distant sea lanes and counter regional rivals.

Beijing’s military strategists argue this naval punch is vital if China is to avoid being bottled up behind a barrier of US allies, vulnerable to a repeat of the humiliation suffered at the hands of seafaring Europeans and Japanese through the colonial period. “It tells Japan and the United States that they are not able to contain China within the first island chain,” says Shen Dingli, a security expert and professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University. “So don’t bet on their chances to do so at a time of crisis.”

In the process, the rapidly expanding PLA navy (PLAN) is driving a seismic shift in Asia’s military balance. China, traditionally an inwardly focused continental power, is becoming a seagoing giant with a powerful navy to complement its huge ship-borne trade. “As China grows, China’s maritime power also grows,” says Ren Xiao, director of the Centre for the Study of Chinese Foreign Policy at Fudan University and a former Chinese diplomat posted to Japan. “China’s neighboring countries should be prepared and become accustomed to this.”

China’s strongly nationalistic Communist Party leader, Xi Jinping, has thrown his personal weight behind the maritime strategy. In a speech to the Politburo in the summer, Xi said the oceans would play an increasingly important role this century in China’s economic development, according to accounts of his remarks published in the state-controlled media. “We love peace and will remain on a path of peaceful development but that doesn’t mean giving up our rights, especially involving the nation’s core interests,” he was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.

BLUE WATER AMBITIONS China is also making waves in the South China Sea, where it has territorial disputes with a number of littoral states. But it is the pace and tempo of its deployments and exercises around Japan that provide the clearest evidence of Beijing’s “blue water” ambitions.

Fleets of pale grey, PLA warships are a now a permanent presence near or passing through the Japanese islands.

An acrimonious standoff over a rocky jumble of disputed islands in the East China Sea, known as the Senkakus in Japan and Diaoyu

SENKAKU: P-3C patrol plane of Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force flies over the disputed islets known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and Diaoyu islands in China, in the East China Sea. — AFP in China, has given China an opportunity to flex its new maritime muscle. Beijing has deployed paramilitary flotillas and surveillance aircraft to this zone for more than a year, where they jostle with Japanese counterparts.

Tension flared dangerously last week when China imposed a new air defence zone over the islands, demanding that foreign aircraft lodge flight plans with Beijing before entering this area. In definace of the zone on Tuesday, two unarmed U.S. B-52 bombers on a training mission flew over the islands without informing Beijing. The flight did not prompt a response from China.

“The policy announced by the Chinese over the weekend is unnecessarily inflammatory,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in California, where President Barack Obama is traveling. Washington and Tokyo immediately signaled they would ignore the restriction. The Obama administration also reminded China that the treaty obliging the United States to defend Japan if it came under attack also covered the disputed islands.

Particularly unnerving for Tokyo are the increasingly common transits of powerful Chinese naval squadrons through the narrowest straits of the Japanese archipelago, sometimes within sight of land. This puts East Asia’s two economic giants, both with potent navies, in direct military competition for the first time since the 1945 surrender of Japan’s two million-strong invasion force in China.

Drawing on a reservoir of bitterness over that earlier conflict, the demeanor of both sides signals this is a dangerous moment as US naval dominance in Asia wanes.

Even if both sides exercise restraint, the risk of an accidental clash or conflict is ever present. “China and Japan have to come to terms with the fact that their militaries will operate in close proximity to each other,” says

James Holmes, a maritime strategist at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and a former US Navy surface warfare officer.

“Geography compels them to do so.”

COORDINATED CROSSING As the Manoeuvre 5 drills got under way, PLA Senior Colonel Du Wenlong said he was looking forward to units from the three regional Chinese fleets simultaneously crossing three key chokepoints - two through the Japanese islands, and one between Taiwan and the Philippines, according to reports in the official Chinese military media.

It is unclear if the warships performed a coordinated transit. But the exercises and the response of the Japanese military contributed to a spike in tension. “The PLAN has cut up the whole island chain into multiple sections so that the so-called island chains are no longer existent,” Colonel Du was quoted as saying. In this and earlier exercises, the PLA provided daily commentaries and details of the ships, courses and drills, with pointed mention of transit points past Japan.

PLA officers or military commentators, in typical communiquÈs, say China has “demolished” or “fragmented” the island chain in a “breakthrough” into the Pacific - language that suggests the crossings are somehow opposed rather than legal transits through international waters. Tokyo dispatched warships and aircraft to track and monitor the Chinese fleet in response to the latest drills.

Japanese fighters also scrambled to meet Chinese bombers and patrol aircraft as they flew out to the exercises and back. Japan’s defense ministry later released surveillance photographs of a Chinese H6 bomber flying between Okinawa and Miyako Island on Oct 26.

All this attention clearly irritated the PLA leadership. Beijing accused Japan of a “dangerous provocation” and lodged a formal

diplomatic protest, complaining that a Japanese warship and aircraft disrupted a live fire exercise. While the drills were under way, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned that his country would not be bullied. “We will express our intention as a state not to tolerate a change in the status quo by force,” he told a military audience on Oct 27.

“We must conduct all sorts of activities such as surveillance and intelligence for that purpose.” Naval commentators suggest the bellicose rhetoric shows that both sides are struggling to adjust to their new rivalry.

“Chinese hardliners do regional tranquility no service by talking about splitting Japan and so forth,” says American naval strategist Holmes, co-author of an influential book on China’s maritime rise, “Red Star Over the Pacific,” with colleague Toshi Yoshihara.

“And, the Japanese do regional tranquility no service by being alarmed when China’s navy transits international straits in a perfectly lawful manner.” Part of the problem for Japan is that it has been slow to adjust to China’s rise, according to some Chinese foreign policy analysts, and is now excessively anxious. “For so many years they looked down upon China which was big but weak,” says Ren, the former Chinese diplomat. “Now the situation is different and they have to face up to the new reality.”

Some senior Japanese officers accept that China is within its rights to traverse international waters between the Japanese islands.

Likewise, they say, the Japanese are entitled to track and monitor these movements and exercises. “The Japanese Self Defense Force’s reaction is also in full compliance with international laws, regulations and customs,” says retired Vice Admiral Yoji Koda, a former top Japanese naval commander. Koda adds that the Japanese military routinely monitors Russian naval operations around Japan without friction or protest.—Reuters

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013 www.kuwaittimes.net

A Christie's employee poses for photographs with an Imperial Stormtrooper's helmet used as a costume prop in the 1977 movie "Star Wars: A New Hope" at premises of the Christie's auction house in London, yesterday. The helmet, which is expected to fetch 3,000 to 5,000 pounds (US$4,899 to $8,166 or euro3,603 to 6,006), features in a "Pop Culture" online-only sale that is open for bids until December 5. — AP

Beauty FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Cutting through the lard

What is laser lipo and why is it getting popular?

L

aser lipo is a new cosmetic procedure to remove fat, claimed to be as effective as traditional liposuction without a hospital stay. The laser lipo suction technique uses lasers to break up fat before its removal from the body, reducing the need for harsh suction. There are two types of laser liposuction, internal and external. External liposuction uses a laser (in the form of a pen or pad) outside the patient’s body before the surgery begins.

Internal laser liposuction uses a laser attached to the suction device or the end of a fibre-optic probe which is inserted into the area to be treated.

Remember that surgery is only a short term result to a long term issue. If you want results that last and good health inside as well as out, then start your journey with Weight Loss Resources.

What is LipoLaser SmartLipo?

It is the latest technological breakthrough in fat reduction.

It is a technique that destroys fat deposits in specific areas of the body. Using a laser system which breaks down the membranes of the fat cells, the fats are eliminated by the body in a most natural way.

It is a minimally invasive treatment which facilitates body modeling and its results give rise to a harmonious body shape in a short time.

What does lipo laser surgery cost?

Because liposuction is usually used to improve your appearance rather than your health, it is not normally available on the NHS. It may be available if used as part of reconstructive surgery or to treat certain conditions. Prices of laser liposuction will depend on the amount of body fat you intend to have removed. The larger the area you wish to have treated, the more expensive the liposuction will be.

Expect to pay around £2,300 per area, although many clinics offer discounts if more than one area requires treatment. Prices will be dependent on the reputation of the clinic and surgeon carrying out the procedure and whether any hospitalization is required.

How does it work?

It makes use of a laser that acts directly on the fat cells by destroying the membrane and releasing fatty and oily deposits.

The laser pulses are released through a fiber-optic that is inserted through a thin cannula into the fat layer of the skin.

How long does a treatment take?

A LipoLaser treatment takes, as little as 20 minutes per area. On average; one hour, depending on the size of the area treated. In some cases patients can even return to work after a lunchtime treatment!

Does lipo laser surgery work?

While your appearance will be altered initially, cosmetic surgery is not an alternative to maintaining a healthy diet and exercising. It is important to be aware that while lipo laser may be able to change the shape of your body, it cannot address lifestyle issues. In addition it will not reduce the appearance of cellulite or stretch marks. As with all surgical procedures, there are also several risks and complications involved, including infection, blood clots, and scarring. It is far better to make long term lifestyle changes and lose weight though eating less and moving more.

Recovery period / After effects Patients can return to their normal activities almost immediately, although it is advisable to avoid strenuous sports and hot showers for 10 days, or intense massage for 4-5 weeks.

Compared to other more invasive procedures, like Liposuction, the after effects of bruising or swelling are significantly reduced.

This is due to the therapeutic effects of the laser which coagulates the blood vessels immediately, thus reducing the trauma beneath the skin.

What are advantages and disadvantages of laser lipo over ordinary liposuction?

Pros: Available privately, you don’t have to wait long Reduced bruising (possibly) Quicker recovery (possibly) Cons: Private surgery means that the skills and qualifications of the person carrying out the surgery will vary Expensive Risk of burns Allergic reaction to medications or material used during surgery Infection Damage to the skin and surrounding tissues Skin necrosis (dead skin) Puncture of an internal organ The skin may look bumpy and/or withered Fluid imbalance What types of operations are available?

Vaser Lipo employs ultrasonic technology rather than lasers and can be targeted on a specific area. It claims not to damage other tissue.

Smart Lipo suction removes smaller amounts of fat without the need to be sedated. Lasers are used

internally to limit the recovery time.

Ultrasonic Lipo uses concentrated sound waves to break down fat.

What are the considerations before lipo laser surgery?

You must usually be over 18 and in good general health.

You should have an ongoing diet and exercise regime.

Fat must be in certain specific body areas.

Older people may find skin stays saggy.

NHS Choices recommends that if you decide to have liposuction or other weight loss surgery, you should ensure that your surgeon has been trained in both general and plastic surgery.

— www.weightlossresources.co.uk

When will I get to see results?

Visible results are almost immediate, although on average, most will see the final fat loss results in about 1-3 months. There would be good improvement in the contour, regularity and contraction of the skin. Right from day 1, most patients can feel the areas already having less fat when squeezed between the fingers.

How long does it last?

Fat cells are destroyed through the laser system and the fats are eliminated in a natural manner.

Results are long term, giving rise to a harmonious silhouette.

It is important to note, however, that the treatment does not guarantee

that one would not gain weight or accumulate fat deposits in other areas of the body. If we consume more calories then we need, then our body has to store it somewhere.

How many treatments will I need?

If large amounts of fat are to be removed, a stepped program is advised to allow for gradual reshaping. Fat can be reduced in almost any part of the body.

The number of treatments needed much depends on the amount of fat to be removed, and the number of areas of the body to be treated. In most cases one treatment will achieve the desired effect.

What if I want more treatment?

If further reduction is desired on the same area, more treatments can be carried out 4 months after the initial session. If on a different area, treatment can begin.2 weeks later.

Are the results permanent?

LipoLaser is a very effective treatment, however, like any weight loss program a sensible diet and lifestyle is necessary to maintain condition and efficacy.

Are there any side or after effects?

In the majority of cases there are no side effects. Occasionally, however, there may be a temporary bruising, mild swelling or reddening of the skin around the area of treatment.

Does it hurt?

LipoLaser is minimally invasive and is administered under a local anaesthetic. There may be a sensation of tugging and some minor stinging but this is minimal.

What are its advantages over the regular liposuction?

The patient will experience less pain and bruising after the treatment.

It also helps to make the overlying skin contract better. LipoLaser is safer than traditional liposuction because there is less bleeding and anesthetic drugs used.

Recovery is also faster.

How much does it cost?

Less than traditional liposuction! The exact cost will depend on the extent of the treatment. This will be discussed at your initial consultation.

- www.lipolaser.co.uk

Food FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

That’s how the

Cookie c rumbles

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Ingredients Original recipe makes 4 dozen 1 cup butter, softened 1 cup white sugar 1 cup packed brown sugar 2 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 2 teaspoons hot water 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water.

Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.

3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

PEANUT BUTTER CUP COOKIES

Ingredients Original recipe makes 40 cookies 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup peanut butter 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1 egg, beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 tablespoons milk 40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Directions 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.

2. Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk.

Add the flour mixture; mix well. Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.

3. Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.

SOFT OATMEAL COOKIES

Ingredients Original recipe makes 2 dozen 1 cup butter, softened 1 cup white sugar 1 cup packed brown sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 3 cups quick cooking oats Directions 1. In a medium bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanil-

ROBBI’S M&M COOKIES Ingredients Original recipe makes 5 - 6 dozen 1 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 1 cup shortening 2 eggs 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups candy-coated milk chocolate pieces.

Directions 1. In a large bowl, mix sugar, eggs, shortening, and vanilla thoroughly. Add flour, salt, and baking soda to creamed mixture. Blend well. Add 3/4 cup of M&M candies.

2. Drop dough by teaspoonful onto cookie sheet.

Slightly push a few candies on top of each dough ball with remaining candies.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 9 to 11 minutes, to your liking.

la. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in oats. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Grease cookie sheets. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Flatten each cookie with a large fork dipped in sugar.

3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

JAM FILLED BUTTER COOKIES Ingredients Original recipe makes 3 dozen 3/4 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup white sugar 2 egg yolks 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup fruit preserves, any flavor Directions 1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and egg yolks. Mix in flour a little bit at a time until a soft dough forms.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls. If dough is too soft, refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes. Place balls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Use your finger or an instrument of similar size to make a well in the center of each cookie. Fill the hole with 1/2 teaspoon of preserves.

3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom.

Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

Tr a v e l FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Singapore: 10 things to do

How Singaporeans live and play Singaporeans moan that besides shopping, dining and the movies, there’s not a lot you can do here. Ignore them.

The must-see list for the one-day visitor to Singapore, especially the first-timer, is absorbingly long. There is very little chance you’ll get bored. Most tourists tend to gravitate first towards the famed retail stretch of Orchard Road. Fine, get your fix of bold-faced names like Louis Vuitton, Chanel and every other couture label under the sun. When you’ve gotten that out of your system, dump your purchases back at the hotel and head out into the ‘burbs where the real charm of Singapore lies. We’re here to guide you to the top 10 places where tourists don’t normally go; in short, the places where Singaporeans in the know live and play.

SINGAPORE BOTANIC GARDENS So, you’ve arrived. It’s early and nothing really opens for business until around 11 a.m., so how are you going to kill time? Slip on the trainers and head out to the Botanic Gardens (open 5 a.m. to midnight). At this time of the day, downtown Singapore’s last remaining green lung is a cool, bucolic retreat filled with joggers, dogs and tai-chi

practitioners. Wander through the swaths of virgin rainforest (the main boardwalk through it is entered from Upper Palm Valley Road) and then take in the National Orchid Garden’s many-colored collection of 1,000 orchid species and 2,000 hybrids.

When you’re done, drop into the food court near Tanglin Gate for a traditional local breakfast of soft-boiled eggs, coffee and toast slathered with coconut jam.

ARTWORK AT THE RITZ-CARLTON It may seem a little strange to head to a hotel to look at artwork, but the Ritz-Carlton is no ordinary hotel. The massive three-ton Frank Stella installation at the entrance and the pair of Dale Chihuly crystal glass sculptures that anchor both wings of the building kick off one of Southeast Asia’s finest (and under the radar) collections of modern and contemporary art. The majority of the pieces were specially commissioned for the public spaces and guest suites. The treasures on view include Andy Warhol and David Hockney’s exuberant colors, Rainer Gross’s geometric compositions, Henry Moore’s restrained monochro-

matics and the lush botanicals of Robert Zakanitch. It’s all free to view, and you even get an iPod-guided tour.

CHINATOWN HERITAGE CENTRE Let the other tourist hordes charge over to the newly minted Peranakan Museum or the gloomy Asian Civilisations Museum. If you do only one cultural thing during your 24-hour Singapore layover, it must be a tour of the unheralded Chinatown Heritage Centre, where entire sets of bedrooms, kitchens and street scenes from the late-19th century and early-20th century have been faithfully recreated. It’s an authentic slice of Singapore’s history that’s made all the more fascinating by the

gleaming skyscrapers just a few blocks away. And if you must, pick up a kitschy souvenir from the gift shop on your way out.

PLASTIC SURGERY In case you missed the memo, the place for plastic surgery is Asia. While many people head to Bangkok and Seoul for assorted nips and tucks, the locals make a beeline for the ultra-swish, Richard Meier-designed Camden Medical Centre. You may not have time for a full makeover, but squeeze in a spot of Botox or a non-surgical facelift with local celebrity surgeonWoffles Wu. And then adjourn downstairs for snapper pie and Pavlova at Whitebait & Kale.

ELECTRONICS FOR CHEAP Tokyo may have the latest in electronic gadgets, but Singapore has the widest range, and luckily for the time-pressed shopper, they’re all clustered in two massive multistory emporia. Handicams, portable DVD players, mobile phones, hi-tech cameras, MP3 players and laptops in just about every imaginable configuration are up for grabs at Funan Digitalife Mall and Sim Lim Square. The prices are usually about 10% to 20% cheaper than at other commercial outlets. At Sim Lim Square especially, good deals can be had with some serious haggling, and many retailers will knock off a few extra dollars if you pay in cash.

Tr a v e l FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

HAJI LANE This tiny lane, hidden away in the heart of the Muslim quarter, is a fashionista’s paradise.

With very little fanfare, the collection of narrow shop-houses have, in less than a year, been transformed into an aggressively hip retail stretch recalling Le Marais in Paris or New York’s Meatpacking District.

Know It Nothing is a stylish industrial space that stocks beautifully tailored dress shirts stitched with silver skull buttons by Japanese label Garni. Next, pop into Pluck for its shabby chic collection of Austin Powers-inspired cushion covers and a cute ice-cream parlor. A few doors down, Salad boasts a range of home accessories like laser-cut table mats and Hong Kong-based Carrie Chau’s quirky postcards. If you’re feeling peckish, have an authentic Middle Eastern lunch around the corner at Cafe le Caire.

SINGAPORE FLYER The 165-meter-high Flyer is Singapore’s answer to the London Eye. For the moment, it is the world’s largest observation wheel (that title will go to Beijing when its version opens in 2009). Despite much fanfare and hype, the locals have never really taken to the Flyer, grousing that it’s too far from anywhere (it’s not) and S$29.50 is a lot of money to pay for a 30minute ride. Lucky you, since this means you’ll almost never have to wait in line. The best time to hitch a ride is at dusk when the entire row of downtown skyscrapers is softly lit. Back on the ground, head for a dinner of chili crabs at Seafood Paradise.

head up the hill for a chilled mojito at Margarita’s.

GEYLANG Once upon a time, Bugis Street was Singapore’s premier red light district (and forever immortalized in Peter Bogdanovich’s Saint Jack), but the crown has long since passed to Geylang, an atmospheric quarter on Singapore’s east coast that bristles with great period architecture, leggy street walkers and some of the best local food on the island. On offer is a greedy grab of Peranakan, Indian, Malay and regional Chinese standards including the coconut rice and curry chicken at Bali Nasi Lemak, spicy noodles with roast pork and prawns at Kuching Kolo Mee and the Hakka favourite of rice, vegetables, tofu and peanuts in a tea-based broth at Lei Cha Fan.

THE WHITE RABBIT Back in the ‘50s, Dempsey Hill was home to the British Army. These days, the former barracks, set amidst lush jungle, have been transformed into a fine collection of restaurants, bars, art galleries, epiceries and spas. Recently, the long abandoned garrison church was reopened as theWhite Rabbit, a restaurant and bar serving up Euro comfort

food. After extensive renovations, its lofty interiors are now a mood-lit bolthole that heaves with tout le monde.

When people aren’t busy air-kissing and waving to one another across the crowded dining space, they’re tucking into chef Daniel Sia’s cleverly re-imagined classics, like macaroni and cheese drizzled with truffle sauce and a deconstructed Black Forest cake. After dinner,

ZOUK Despite its prim, straight-laced reputation, Singapore’s nightlife is actually quite racy, though compared to Barcelona or New York, the party ends early (around 3 a.m.).

After nearly two decades, Zouk is still the throbbing heart of the action. The pulsating institution is a strobe-lit, rambling warren of dance floors, figure-hugging outfits, swagger and seasoned moves. For many of the pretty young hipsters here, it’s a rite of passage. If it isn’t enough to satisfy your urge to groove, drop into the mammoth Ministry of Sound for a quick shimmy.

— www.content.time.com

Health FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Say cheers and drink to

good health!

Types of teas and their health benefits

F

rom green tea to hibiscus, from white tea to chamomile, teas are chock full of flavonoids and other healthy goodies.

Regarded for thousands of years in the East as a key to good health, happiness, and wisdom, tea has caught the attention of researchers in the West, who are discovering the many health benefits of different types of teas.

Studies have found that some teas may help with cancer, heart disease, and diabetes; encourage weight loss; lower cholesterol; and bring about mental alertness. Tea also appears to have antimicrobial qualities. “There doesn’t seem to be a downside to tea,” says American Dietetic Association spokeswoman Katherine Tallmadge, MA, RD, LD. “I think it’s a great alternative to coffee drinking. First, tea has less caffeine. It’s pretty well established that the compounds in tea their flavonoids - are good for the heart and may reduce cancer.” Although a lot of questions remain about how long tea needs to be steeped for the most benefit, and how much you need to drink, nutritionists agree any tea is good tea.

Still, they prefer brewed teas over bottled to avoid the extra calories and sweeteners. Here’s a primer to get you started.

Health Benefits of Tea: Green, Black, and White Tea Tea is a name given to a lot of brews, but purists consider only green tea, black tea, white tea, oolong tea, and pu-erh tea the real thing.

They are all derived from theCamellia sinensis plant, a shrub native to China and India, and contain unique antioxidants called flavonoids.

The most potent of these, known as ECGC, may help against free radicals that can contribute to cancer, heart disease, and clogged arteries.

All these teas also have caffeine and theanine, which affect the brain and seem to heighten mental alertness. The more processed the tea leaves, usually the less polyphenol content. Polyphenols include flavonoids. Oolong and black teas are oxidized or fermented, so they have lower concentrations of polyphenols than green tea; but their antioxidizing power is still high.

Potential health benefits of tea: Green tea: Made with steamed tea leaves, it has a high concentration of EGCG and has been widely studied. Green tea’s antioxidants may interfere with the growth of bladder, breast, lung, stomach, pancreatic, and colorectal cancers; prevent clogging of the arteries, burn fat, counteract oxidative stress on the brain, reduce risk of neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, reduce risk of stroke, and improve cholesterol levels.

Black tea: Made with fermented tea leaves, black tea has the highest caffeine content and forms the basis for flavored teas like chai, along with some instant teas. Studies have shown that black tea may protect lungs from damage caused by exposure to cigarette smoke. It also may reduce the risk of stroke.

White tea: Uncured and unfermented. One study showed that white tea has the most potent anticancer properties compared to more processed teas. Oolong tea: In an animal study,

those given antioxidants from oolong tea were found to have lower bad cholesterol levels. One variety of oolong, Wuyi, is heavily marketed as a weight loss supplement, but science hasn’t backed the claims.

Pu-erh tea: Made from fermented and aged leaves. Considered a black tea, its leaves are pressed into cakes. One animal study showed that animals given pu-erh had less weight gain and reduced LDL cholesterol.

Made from herbs, fruits, seeds, or roots steeped in hot water, herbal teas have lower concentrations of antioxidants than green, white, black, and oolong teas. Their chemical compositions vary widely depending on the plant used. Varieties include ginger, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, hibiscus, jasmine, rosehip, mint, rooibos (red tea), chamomile, and echinacea.

Limited research has been done on the health benefits of herbal teas, but claims that they help to shed pounds, stave off colds, and bring on restful sleep are largely unsupported.

Here are some findings: Chamomile tea: Its antioxidants may help prevent complications from diabetes, like loss of vision and nerve and kidney damage, and stunt the growth of cancer cells.

Echinacea: Often touted as a way to fight the common cold, the research on echinacea has been inconclusive.

Hibiscus: A small study found that drinking three cups of hibiscus tea daily lowered blood pressure in people with modestly elevated levels.

Rooibos (red tea): A South African herb that is fermented. Although it has flavonoids with

cancer-fighting properties, medical studies have been limited.

Health benefits of tea: Instant teas Instant tea may contain very little amounts of actual tea and plenty of sugars or artificial sweeteners. For health’s sake, check out the ingredients on the label.

Can tea be bad for your health?

Most teas are benign, but the FDA has issued warnings about so-called dieter’s teas that contain senna, aloe, buckthorn, and other plantderived laxatives.

The agency also warns consumers to be wary of herb-containing supplements that claim to kill pain and fight cancer. None of the claims is backed by science and some of the herbs have led to bowel problems, liver and kidney damage, and even death.

The FDA cautions against taking supplements that include: Comfrey Ephedra Willow bark Germander Lobelia Chaparral These cautions aside, nutritionists say to drink up and enjoy the health benefits of tea.

“You want to incorporate healthy beverages in your diet on a more regular basis to benefit from these health-promoting properties,” says Diane L. McKay, PhD, a Tufts University scientist who studies antioxidants. “It’s not just about the foods; it’s about what you drink, as well, that can contribute to your health.”

— www.webmd.com

Lifestyle FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Elephants run a race at the elephant fair.

Elephants’ role fading in Indian livestock fair F

mals sought today more as household pets than beasts of burden. Lawyer Krishan Gupta sized up a bony bay colt selling for about $400 as a possible pet to “make my children happy.” Student Bikas Kumar snagged a bright green parrot for $3.20 because, he said, “It’s cool.”

India banned the sale of elephants to clamp down on the ivory trade and because, like cows, they are considered sacred. But the country’s 26,000 or so wild elephants are threatened by speeding trains and shrinking habitat as human settlements expand. Last month, a passenger train slammed into a herd of elephants and

ortune-telling parrots. Elephants on parade. Trick ponies, rare songbirds and dancing girls behind barbed wire.

Hoping there is something for everyone at the Sonepur Mela, one of India’s largest annual livestock fairs, organizers admit they are struggling to revive a festival that has been sapped by a ban on elephant sales and changing economic realities. In decades past, the festival drew hundreds of elephants - and hundreds of thousands of people hoping to watch the animals revered in India as an earthly incarnation of the Hindu god Ganesh bathe in the river or do tricks for a crowd.

An Indian performs stunts in a well of death.

People laugh as they watch antics of a clown at the elephant fair.

But a 2003 ban on buying and selling elephants has left owners little reason to cart the heavy beasts to the fair. Buyers of other livestock now use cell phones and the Internet to make deals rather that trek out to this livestock market on the banks of the Ganges River in Bihar, one of India’s poorest states. “This is our Indian heritage. This festival is unparalleled. We can’t let it go,” said Rahul, a local government official who goes by one name, running down attractions that include an exotic bird market, traditional folk music concerts, hundreds of food stalls and eight caged stages featuring writhing girls in heavy makeup and sparkly spandex.

An Indian vendor sells posters of Hindu deities and Bollywood stars at the elephant fair.

In size, the festival eclipsed the smaller but more famous Pushkar camel market in Rajasthan. By theme, it was thought to be the largest elephant swap in the world, situated at the site of a mythological battle in which the Hindu god Vishnu helped an elephant defeat a crocodile. Brisk trading saw elephants bought and sold by Indian loggers, army outfits and temple administrators. This year, dozens of elephants still showed up, technically only for exhibition, although Rahul noted that “someone can still give an elephant as a gift.” About a dozen of them - chalked up with colorful decorations - galloped on Sunday for a lumbering race over a dusty track, lined by thousands of cheering spectators under a hazy winter sun.

“This fair is famous for its elephants. But now people with money, they want a BMW, they want a Mercedes. Soldiers have jeeps.

No one needs an elephant anymore,” said veterinarian Brajbushan Prasad Singh.

While the 21-day fair may be past its heyday, the government and private companies together still spent more than $222,000 to hold it in November and December, with creaky carnival rides, booming loudspeakers and more than 1,000 police officers deployed. Some 10,000 people show up daily.

Crowds filed past wire cages crammed with writhing puppies and emaciated pedigree dogs, looking for the healthiest and fluffiest of the motley bunch to take home.

Others sold cows, horses, birds or other ani-

Exotic birds for sale are displayed at the elephant fair. killed seven, including two calves. At the dusty fair grounds, children giggled as a 3year-old elephant named Rani draped garlands of marigolds over the heads of those who paid the equivalent of 32 US cents for a photo of them being blessed by the baby elephant.

Despite the shrinking numbers of elephants at the fair, visitors who interact with them gain an appreciation for them and the dangers they face amid India’s burgeoning growth, said Santosh Kumar Singh, one of four farming brothers who own Rani, three other elephants and much of the land where the festival is held every year. “It disturbs me that they’re not safe in the jungle anymore,” Singh said. “These animals are our lives. I have more faith in the elephants than I do in people. An elephant will never betray you.” — AP

Lifestyle FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Eminem ousts Gaga to reclaim top spot on Billboard 200 chart

R

apper Eminem climbed back to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday after ousting last week’s chart-topper Lady Gaga.

Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP 2” reclaimed the top spot on the weekly album chart with sales of 120,000, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan. The record had debuted at No. 1 following its release on Nov. 5 with sales of 792,000 copies, the second-largest opening week this year behind Justin Timberlake’s “The 20/20 Experience,” which opened with 968,000 copies in March.

Lady Gaga’s latest effort “ARTPOP” debuted at No. 1 last week with 258,000 copies, but sales dropped by 82 percent in its second week, as the record fell to No. 8 in the chart with 46,000 units sold. Five new debuts entered the top 10 of the Billboard 200 this week, led

by heavy metal rockers Five Finger Death Punch at No. 2 with “The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell Vol. 2.”

The soundtrack from the latest “Hunger Games” film, “Catching Fire,” featuring songs by Coldplay, Lorde and Christina Aguilera, landed at No. 5. The film starring Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence, stormed the worldwide box office with $307 million last week.

Rock band Daughtry came in at No. 6 with “Baptized,” rapper Yo Gotti notched No. 7 with his latest record “I Am” and the 25th anniversary edition of the “Cities 97 Sampler” compilation, featuring alternative rock artists such as Capital Cities, Fun. and Matchbox Twenty, rounded out the top 10.

On the digital songs chart, which measures song downloads, Eminem’s “The Monster” featuring

Rihanna kept its reign at No. 1 with 241,000 downloads. New Zealand singer Lorde’s “Royals” climbed one spot to No. 2 and OneRepublic’s “Counting Stars” fell one spot to No. 3. Overall album sales for the week ending Nov. 24 totaled 5.29 million, down 46 percent from the comparable week in 2012, according to Billboard. — Reuters

Hollywood film-shoots boost struggling Spanish islands B Kanye West attends at the Alexander Wang collection during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York. —AP

Kanye West calls out Nike executive during concert

K

anye West continued to vent at former partner Nike, taking to the mic during a concert again this week to complain about his treatment by the sports apparel company. West spent more than six minutes talking and singing about the company during his “The Yeezus Tour” stop Wednesday night at the Bridgestone arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Taking on the role of a preacher in the cult of personality, West talked to the crowd about following a dream, creativity and culture, alluding to the media and corporations who he feels have tried to keep him from expressing himself fully.

The 36-year-old rapper then started to leave the stage, but in a feint returned to launch into a long discussion that was alternately esoteric, comic and emotional.”Do you know who the head of Nike is?” West asked the crowd as he prowled back and forth on an arrowhead-shaped stage in a white mask. “No, well let me tell you who he is: His name is Mark Parker, and he just lost culture. Everyone at Nike, everyone at Nike, Mark Parker just let go of culture.”

West has said in interviews recently that he’s now partnering with Adidas. He first released his Air Yeezy shoe in 2009. He’s chafed recently during interviews at being categorized as just a musician, and told the crowd he has the Internet and the stage from which he can speak directly to his fans. “I’m talking directly to you. No miscommunication,” West said.

“Did you not want the Yeezys? Nike would make you believe it was my fault that you couldn’t get them, but that was not the case. I wanted there to be as many Yeezys as there was LeBrons, and I wanted them to be at a good price, but that was not my choice, and we’re going to change everything. And ... I’m going to create more than you think that any musician in the history of time ever could have.”

West also put his displeasure into song to the delight of the crowd, noting with the help of Auto Tune and piano in the background that even though Nike wouldn’t take his call, other forward-thinking companies will.

“I talked to the head of Disney today,” West sang. “And I talked to the head of Louis Vuitton today. I swear to God on my life, I talked to them both today. I swear to God I talked to them both, and they wished me a Happy Thanksgiving. I said, ‘I want to talk about something that isn’t turkey day. I want to talk about something different. I want to talk about dreaming.’”— AP

arefoot young men in ragged clothes disembark from a 19th century-style whaling ship bobbing in the bay off the Spanish island of Gomera. Despite their shipwrecked appearance, they are here on business. They are here to shoot a Hollywood movie on this Atlantic island, giving hope to local workers and businesses stricken by five years of on-off recession. Smiling for photographs with local girls, Australian actor Chris Hemsworth, 30 — known as the big-screen superhero “Thor”-and his British co-star Tom Holland are among the better-known faces of the project.

They arrived a few days ago, but the first of the filmmakers came three months ago and the bars, restaurants, hotels and houses in this town of 2,000 people have filled up. “This is fantastic. If only they could film all year round,” said Sandra Lorenzo, 36, owner of a local restaurant, Los Chicos. “They have been ordering lots of meals.” Spain’s Canary Islands are suffering more than most regions from the country’s five years of economic crisis, with an unemployment rate over 35 percent. But US filmmaker Ron Howard-director of blockbuster pictures such as “The Da Vinci Code”-saw in these beaches an ideal setting for his current film, “In the Heart of the Sea”. It is the true story of a crew who descend into killing and cannibalism after being shipwrecked by a charge from a sperm whale in 1820 — the same tale that inspired Herman Melville’s classic novel “Moby Dick”.

Wicker huts dot the black volcanic sand of the beach at Playa de Santiago, a tiny port by the town of Alajero. The reproduction whaler sits at anchor nearby, surrounded by canoes and modern vessels for ferrying actors and crew to and from the sailboat. Local carpenter Jose Maria Chinea, 51, was among various carpenters hired to help build the set. He helped erect the old palm trees on the beach, and painted their parched leaves green. “I was unemployed for three years and at my age that’s usually permanent. Now look at me-I’m working in Hollywood, and so is my son,” he said.

Ridley Scott’s ‘Moses’ crosses the sea On the neighboring Canary island of Fuerteventura, another film shoot is under way. British director Ridley Scott arrived there on Monday with a crew of 400 to shoot part of his film “Exodus”-based on the Biblical story of Moses. Scott previously spent several weeks in Andalucia, the southernmost region of the Spanish mainland and another place hard hit by the crisis.

There, where unemployment has topped 36 percent, locals queued up to earn 80 euros ($109 dollars) a day as extras when Scott was shooting there in August in a desert zone near the town of Almeria.

The coming of Hollywood offers a lifeline to a Spanish production industry suffering from a fall in consumption, subsidy cuts and a rise in tax on tickets imposed in the crisis. A parliamentary commission on Tuesday approved a proposal to support film producers and promote international shoots in Spain. Foreign filmmakers can “dynamize the Spanish econo-

Chris Hemsworth my” and hold “intrinsic value as an external projector of Brand Spain”, according to the text of the proposal.

“The cuts to industry and the abusive sales tax are choking us,” said Fernando Sanchez, 32, owner of a local catering firm in Playa de Santiago. “It is very good that the big US producers are looking to the Canaries and the south of Spain.” Chinea the carpenter added however: “It is a shame that they will be leaving soon. There’s no other money coming into my household at the moment.” — AFP

Thicke, Hudson topline ‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve

R

obin Thicke, Jennifer Hudson, Jason Derulo, Fall Out Boy and Enrique Iglesias will perform on ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2014.”

Jenny McCarthy is rejoining Ryan Seacrest as co-host in Times Square, while Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas holds down the west coast portion of the broadcast.

The night kicks off at 8 pm ET on ABC with “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve Presents The 30 Greatest Women In Music” - a two-hour clip and interview countdown of the 30 greatest female artists in music. At 10, Seacrest will spotlight some of the year’s best artists, groups and songs for “Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2014.” Finally, from 11:30 on, the live countdown to midnight begins with “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2014, Parts 1 & 2.”

The party ends at 2:12 am ET. The shows with the really long titles are a presentation of Dick Clark Productions.

Seacrest, Allen Shapiro and Barry Adelman will executive produce. Larry Klein is producer. This will be Seacrest’s 9th year as part of the show. The date will be, you know, New Year’s Eve. — Reuters

Lifestyle FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

This handout photo released to AFP by QT Gold Coast yesterday shows graffiti on a wall inside the complex of the exclusive QT Hotel at Surfers Paradise on Queensland’s Gold Coast that was allegedly created by Canadian teen performer Justin Bieber. — AFP photos

Justin Bieber in Australia graffiti row

T

een heartthrob Justin Bieber was yesterday told to clean up his mess after the pop star was accused of spraying graffiti on an Australian hotel wall. Furious Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate said the Canadian had been disrespectful and “really, really silly”, and sent a graffiti removal kit to the exclusive QT Hotel at Surfers Paradise so he could repair the damage. “If a normal person did that they’d be serving 80 to 100 hours of community service,” Tate told the Nine Network. “Just come and clean it up and we’ll be happy with you.” In a separate interview in the Brisbane Courier-Mail, Tate said: “We’ve all been young

once. But by the sounds of it, he’s gone and done something really, really silly.

“But he’s got an opportunity to make good... I urge him to treat this city the way Gold Coast fans treat him.” Bieber’s handiwork includes a Pacman ghost and other fluorescent cartoon characters, reportedly painted in the early hours of Wednesday after the star’s sell-out Brisbane show. Pictures of the graffiti were posted online, including on Instagram, with reports saying Bieber and his entourage left the cans of spray paint behind for staff to clean up.

Comments on the Instagram page were

largely negative, with one saying: “Celebrities should not be above the law. He needs to grow up.” But the hotel defended Bieber on its Facebook page yesterday, calling him “a lovely young guy” and indicated he asked permission to deface the wall. “He’s Justin Bieber. I can’t imagine why people think that being a superstar means you stop asking permission.” It is the second recent ruckus involving the singer and graffiti, with police in Rio de Janeiro investigating him earlier this month for alleged unauthorized wall tagging.

In that incident, he scrawled “Respect privacy” and “I am off” and made several draw-

Lopez, Mann movies get 2015 release dates

U

niversal on Wednesday set its Jennifer Lopez psychological thriller “The Boy Next Door” for Friday, Jan 23, 2015, and an untitled Michael Mann cyber crime thriller from Legendary Pictures for Jan 16, 2015. The studio set release dates for several movies, including a remake of “The Mummy,” which will debut on Friday, April 22, 2016.

Additionally, it announced 3D releases for Legendary’s “Seventh Son” and “Warcraft.” The Jeff Bridges action fantasy film “Seventh Son” is set for

Singer Jennifer Lopez performs onstage during the 2013 American Music Awards at Nokia Theatre LA Live. — AFP

Friday, Feb 6, 2015, and the action epic “Warcraft” will move from Dec 18, 2015, to March 11, 2016. That gets it out of the way of “Star War: Episode VII,” which debuts on the original date.

In “The Boy Next Door,” Lopez plays a recently divorced mother who embarks upon a doomed romance with her son’s mysterious teen-aged friend.

Directed by Rob Cohen and written by Barbara Curry, the thriller also stars Ryan Guzman, John Corbett and Kristin Chenoweth. It’s produced by Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions, Lopez and Elaine GoldsmithThomas of Nuyorican Productions, Benny Medina of The Medina Company and John Jacobs of Smart Entertainment.

Mann’s project stars Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis, Tang Wei and Wang Leehom and follows a furloughed convict and his Chinese partners as they hunt a highlevel cyber-crime network from Chicago to Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Jakarta. It’s written by Morgan Davis Foehl and Mann, who also directed and produced along with Legendary’s Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni. In “Seventh Son,” Bridges plays the sole remaining warrior of a mystical order who travels to find a prophesized hero born with incredible powers, the last Seventh Son (Ben Barnes). Together they take on a dark queen (Julianne Moore) and her army of supernatural assassins. Sergei Bodrov directed from a screenplay by Matt Greenberg, Charles Leavitt and Steve Knight, based on the book “The Spook’s Apprentice” by Joseph Delaney.

“Warcraft,” an epic adventure of world-colliding conflict based on the video game universe created by Blizzard Entertainment, is directed by Duncan Jones (“Source Code”) and written by Jones and Charles Leavitt. This version of “The Mummy” will be directed by Andy Muschietti (“Mama”) and produced by Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci with Sean Daniel. Jon Spaihts (“Prometheus”) wrote the screenplay. — Reuters

ings on a hotel wall. Police launched a probe into whether he had permission from City Hall to put graffiti on the building. Bieber was believed to have left the hotel for Sydney, where he performs Friday and Saturday, but Tate said he should return.

“I know he’s got beautiful eyes. I’ve got some goggles for him, and some gloves because I know he doesn’t want to get his hands dirty,” he said. “Do your business in Sydney and come on back and I’ll give you a chance to clean it up.” Brisbane was the first of eight shows Bieber is staging across Australian cities. — AFP

Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher finalize divorce

File photo shows cast member Ashton Kutcher, left, and Demi Moore at the premiere for ‘No Strings Attached’ in Los Angeles. —AP

F

ormer Hollywood power couple Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher are officially divorced, two years after she announced their split, according to legal documents released Wednesday. “The parties are restored to the status of single persons,” said documents filed Tuesday and cited by People magazine, while TMZ said the papers were formally entered by Kutcher’s lawyer Laura Wasser.

Representatives for Moore, 51, and Kutcher, 35, did not respond to requests for comment or confirmation on the legal filing at the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Celebrity bible People said the divorce process took two years because thepair were reportedly at odds over how to divide their estimated $300 million fortune.

Moore, whose movies include “Ghost” (1990) and “G.I. Jane” (1997), announced the end of their high-profile marriage in November 2011 “with sadness,” after Kutcher’s reported infidelity with a woman less than half her age.

That announcement was preceded by months of media reports about problems between the couple, who married in 2005 when she was 42 and he was 27.

She had earlier been married to actor Bruce Willis for 13 years. Both People and TMZ speculated that the divorce could pave the way for Kutcher to marry his girlfriend, actress Mila Kunis. The actor and his co-star from “That ‘70s Show” have been “nearly inseparable” since they started dating in April 2012, People said.

Kutcher is best known for TV shows including “That 70s Show” and “Punk’d,” and earlier in 2011 replaced troubled actor Charlie Sheen in the popular comedy “Two and a Half Men.” His big-screen roles have include “What Happens in Vegas” (2008) and the 2011 sex comedy “No Strings Attached” with Natalie Portman.

Moore is also famous for a 1991 Vogue magazine cover photo, in which she is naked and heavily pregnant with her daughter Scout LaRue, her second child with Willis after the pair married in 1987. —AFP

Lifestyle FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Paris’ department store Galeries Lafayette’s Christmas tree is pictured on November 27, 2013 in Paris. — AFP

Americans mark Thanksgiving Day with travel, parades, shopping M

illions of Americans gathered yesterday celebrating Thanksgiving - stuffing turkeys for feasts, braving high winds along parade routes and planning for the holiday shopping madness as soon as the pumpkin pies have been gobbled up. Nosediving morning temperatures that are expect-

Balloon handlers wait before the 87th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Balloon handlers wait for protective netting to be removed from a giant Sonic the Hedgehog balloon.

ed after a rainy, snowy evening along the East Coast may make for slick conditions during one of the nation’s busiest travel times.

In New York City, the threat of high winds could ground Snoopy, Sonic the Hedgehog and other giant helium balloons in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. City regulations prohibit them from flying when sustained winds top 23 miles per hour (37 km per hour), and gusts exceed 34 mph (54 kph). The 87th year of the parade has proved to be among its most controversial with rocker musician Joan Jett, who is a vegetarian and animal-rights activist, moved off the South Dakota tourism float - but still in the parade - after cattle ranchers complained. The parade viewed by 50 million people on television and some 3 million more along its route through Manhattan, included SeaWorld’s float despite an outcry over keeping orcas in captivity by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the animal-rights group.

In an extremely rare coincidence this year, Thanksgiving overlaps with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, sparking the nickname Thanksgivukkah and adding to some dinner

Workers prepare the giant Snoopy balloon before the 87th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade yesterday in New York. — AP tables a turkey-shaped menorah - called a Menurkey - designed by an enterprising 10year-old boy, Asher Weintraub of New York.

In complicated calculations of the Gregorian and Jewish calendars, the two holidays will not fall on the same day again until 2070, according to the Jewish website Chabad.org. In another first, some retailers are opening on Thanksgiving evening to offer the earliest “Black Friday” shopping deals ever.

About 140 million people are expected to shop over the four-day weekend, traditionally the start of the holiday shopping season, according to the National Retail Federation.

That move has prompted protests and an online petition drive by critics who say it takes workers away from their families on the holiday. With 43 million Americans expected to make trips over the long holiday weekend,

according to travel group AAA, a wintry blast of heavy rain, wind and snow across the eastern United States that started on Wednesday snarled roadways and airports. Even after arriving safely, families may find new challenges in the kitchen this holiday.

Butterball LLC, for the first time has reported a shortage of large, fresh turkeys and the cause of the deficiency is under investigation, company spokeswoman Megan Downey said in an email message. Perhaps the biggest surprise this Thanksgiving is the upending of two common perceptions about turkeys and men.

Butterball conducted research and found 84 percent of men take part in Thanksgiving meal preparation. More surprising, it found when it comes to cooking the holiday bird and its trimmings, men are more likely than women to ask for directions. — Reuters

Lifestyle FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

H&M stops making angora products after rabbit torture video

S

wedish fashion giant H&M said Wednesday it would stop making clothing containing angora hair after an animal rights group released video showing fur being plucked from live rabbits on Chinese farms. “We are halting production” of angora products, said H&M spokeswoman Camilla Emilsson Falk. “We need to check to be sure if the producers are conforming to our standards,” she said, although angora

products already in H&M stores would not be withdrawn. The Swedish fashion retailer’s move marks a U-turn from five days ago, when it insisted that its suppliers met necessary standards and that it carried out routine spot checks to ensure that.

But that stance was met with sharp rebuke in Sweden, with critics saying that the checks were not entirely efficient while calling for angora hair products to be banned

completely. According to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), China produces 90 percent of the world’s angora hair.

Its video shows white angora rabbits at a variety of different farms in China tied to wooden tables in rooms filled with cages, as workers hold them down and tear off clumps of their fur by hand, while the animals scream in agony. Another part of the video shows the rabbits pink-skinned after having

their downy fur pulled off.

PETA said its sources told them that plucked angora hair fetched more money due to its length and quality, even though the method put the rabbits at more risk due to stress. H&M’s Swedish competitors Lindex, Gina Tricot and MQ have all said they would stop producing and purchasing angora products as they could not guarantee that the supplies originated from ethical farms.—AFP

hashi

Viktoriya

Veselova

Takuya Abo

Saeko Kato

Shohei O

Shinobu Ogihara

Saki Kawaguchi

A model displays a fur creation, designed by a fashion school student Shiho Kimijima at the annual fur design contest in Tokyo yesterday. Japanese fashion school student Shohei Ohashi received the grand prize from Japan Fur Association.—AFP photos

A model displays a fur creation, designed by a fashion school student Takuya Abo.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Kuwait

SHARQIA-1 CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (28/11/2013 TO 04/12/2013) 1:30 PM 4:15 PM 6:15 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

MARINA-1 DELIVERY MAN (DIG) DELIVERY MAN (DIG) PARKLAND (DIG) DELIVERY MAN (DIG) PARKLAND (DIG) DELIVERY MAN (DIG)

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SHARQIA-2 THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) THE FROZEN GROUND (DIG) THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) THE FROZEN GROUND (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

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MARINA-2 CARRIE (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) CARRIE (DIG)

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1:00 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:05 AM

MARINA-3 THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) THE FROZEN GROUND (DIG) THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) THE FROZEN GROUND (DIG)

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

MUHALAB-1 DELIVERY MAN (DIG) DELIVERY MAN (DIG) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG) DELIVERY MAN (DIG) DELIVERY MAN (DIG)

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

AVENUES-1 THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG)

2:15 PM 4:45 PM 7:15 PM 9:45 PM 12:15 AM

MUHALAB-2 CARRIE (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) PARKLAND (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) PARKLAND (DIG) CARRIE (DIG)

1:00 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 7:00 PM 9:00 PM 11:00 PM

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2:00 PM 4:45 PM 7:30 PM 10:15 PM

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

FANAR-2 CARRIE (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) THOR: THE DARK WORLD (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:15 PM 10:15 PM 12:15 AM

FANAR-3 THE FROZEN GROUND (DIG) THE FROZEN GROUND (DIG) THE FROZEN GROUND (DIG) BULLETT RAJA (DIG) BULLETT RAJA (DIG) THE FROZEN GROUND (DIG) FANAR-4 THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) FANAR-5 CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG)

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 9:30 PM 12:30 AM 12:45 PM 3:30 PM 6:15 PM 9:15 PM 12:05 AM 2:00 PM 5:00 PM 8:00 PM 11:00 PM

SITUATION VACANT A Kuwaiti family is looking to hire a driver with a valid driver’s license.

Contact: 99401126.

(C 4581) 25-11-2014 Professional cook for house, good knowledge of all kind of food, specially Arabic and Indian food, good salary, part time. Call: 23901053, 66519719, 67079253.

(C 4577) 23-11-2014

CHANGE OF NAME

AVENUES-2 BULLETT RAJA (DIG) BULLETT RAJA (DIG) BULLETT RAJA (DIG) BULLETT RAJA (DIG) LAST VEGAS (DIG)

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

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2:15 PM 4:30 PM 6:45 PM 9:00 PM 11:15 PM

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

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I, Mohammed Zakir, holder of Indian Passport No. H4591862 issued in Kuwait on 24/08/2009, address: 8-610-2, Chegunta Ramanpet, Medak, AP, hereby change my name to Zakir Alfouddin Shaikh.

(C 4583) 26-11-2014

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(C 4578) 24-11-2013

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(C 4579) 24-11-2013

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is

1889988

112 Prayer timings

MATRIMONIAL Inviting proposals for God fearing Marthomite boy 27/174/BE, working as an Engineer in Kuwait. Please contact email: oommenanoop@gmail.com or ansa.nick@gmail.com (C 4585)

Fajr: Shorook Duhr: Asr: Maghrib: Isha:

04:59 06:23 11:36 14:30 16:49 18:11

Fe a t u re FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Gifts for movie lovers:

Collectible

I

DVD box sets

n a world of on-demand video and movies shrunken to the size of smartphone screens, home-entertainment releases need something special to stand out. The following box sets offer more than movies for every cinephile on your holiday list.

For the superhero enthusiast: The Dark Knight Trilogy: Ultimate Collector’s Edition includes writer-director Christopher Nolan’s three Batman movies “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight,” and “The Dark Knight Rises” - plus two new short features that go behind the scenes of the popu-

For the traditionalist: The James Dean Ultimate Collector’s Edition pays tribute to the enduring screen idol who died in a 1955 car crash at age 24 with a limited-edition set that includes three documentaries about the actor, plus the three films he made during his short career: “East of Eden,” “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Giant.” (Warner Home Video, $99.98.)

The Wizard of Oz 75th Anniversary Collector’s Edition takes fans down the yellow brick road with a limited release, five-disc set that features the film in all formats (DVD, Blu-

For the funny bone: The “Anchorman: Legend of Ron Burgundy” Rich Mahogany Edition gift set is a sweet indulgence in the silliness of the Will Ferrell film. It includes a two-disc Blu-ray of the original 2004 film, along with a voucher to see

the sequel, “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues,” plus a coupon for a free pint of Ben & Jerry’s “Anchorman”-inspired ice cream flavor, Scotchy Scotch Scotch, and a t-shirt that reads, “I’m Kind of a Big Deal.” (Paramount, $29.96)

lar trilogy. Collectors will especially love the three Hot Wheels vehicles (the Tumbler, the Batpod and the Batmobile), collectible art cards of Scarecrow, Bane and others, and a 48-page book of production stills and other backstage shots from the three films. (Warner Home Video, $99.97.)

For the kids: Rise of the Guardians: Holiday Edition comes with a windup toy elf and various behind-the-scenes features about the making of this story starring a tattooed Santa Claus and other holiday heroes, including the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. (Paramount, $24.99.) — AP

“X-Men”: The Adamantium Collection comes with a replica of Wolverine’s claw and all six “X-Men” films on Blu-ray: 2000’s “X-Men (2000), 2003’s “X2,” 2006’s “X-Men: The Last

ray, UltraViolet, etc.), along with a new documentary, set of three collectible enamel pins, a map of Oz and a hardcover photo book.

(Warner Home Video, $105.43)

Stand,” 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” 2011’s “X-Men: First Class” and the summer blockbuster “The Wolverine.” (Fox, $129.99.)

Harrison Ford; and 2002’s “The Sum Of All Fears” with Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman.

(Paramount, $29.99 DVD, $49.99 Blu-ray)

For fans of political suspense: The Jack Ryan Collection comprises four films featuring Tom Clancy’s ultra-sharp CIA analyst: 1990’s “The Hunt For Red October,” with Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin; 1992’s “Patriot Games” and 1994’s “Clear And Present Danger,” starring

Stars

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Aries (March 21-April 19)

Looking good is the best revenge. If you're trying to get over a failed relationship, the best way to pull yourself out of a depression is to look your very best. Get up early and go for a run or an exercise class. Buy some new clothes and take extra care with your grooming. You'll lift your spirits and attract a new, more fitting partner.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

As much as you enjoy being out with people, tonight is a good evening for rest. If you can, try taking the afternoon off. Curl up in your favorite chair with a good book, take a slow walk through a garden, or putter in the kitchen and cook something fabulous. You need some time to refuel your soul. You'll tackle your projects tomorrow, relaxed and rejuvenated.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

You're especially attuned to the feelings of others. This gift is more blessing than curse, yet there are times when it's hard not to take on the troubles of others. Today a close friend may unload his or her burdens on you. Listen kindly, offer advice, but don't offer to do more than is realistic. After all, this isn't your problem.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

Delays seem to rule the day, and there's no getting around them. Traffic snarls plague the commute and calls don't get returned. You feel as though you're spending the day stuck in a revolving door, whirling around but getting nowhere. Take heart and do your best to get through with some of your humor intact. Chocolate helps. Tomorrow will be better!

Leo (July 23-August 22)

The bubble you've been living in for a long time may burst today. You could face some real disappointments. Try not to let this get you down. Keep the big picture in mind as best you can. Remind yourself that trips or meetings or fun days out can always be rescheduled, and then you'll have the pleasure of looking forward to these events all over again.

Virgo (August 23-September 22)

This is a day to be directed inward rather than outward. It's a good thing, too, because the outer world isn't too pleasant.

Nothing seems to be going right. Checks aren't arriving and calls aren't returned. You're feeling ineffective at best. Take heart. It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the planets. The mood will pass. Meanwhile, do something fun by yourself.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

You've allowed money issues to become too prominent. It's true that your financial picture isn't as rosy as you'd like it to be, but whose is? Try to put your troubles in perspective. There's no need to let these worries impact your relationships with friends and family. Ask for help if you feel you need it.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)

Your body, which usually runs at warp speed, is telling you to slow down. You need to take a break from time to time. Eating a big bowl of caramel popcorn while watching TV won't send you into a downward spiral from which you'll never emerge. On the contrary, such an indulgence may leave you feeling refreshed and even giddy. Why not try it?

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21)

Today is a day to rest on your laurels, literally. You've achieved a tremendous amount in the last few days. You've earned some time off. Call in sick and go see a movie in the middle of the day. Take yourself out to lunch and order a glass of the best champagne. Take this day to reflect on your accomplishments before you set your mind on the next project.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

Flowers and fresh plants can perk up your mood as well as your home. You may feel your abode is looking a bit shabby. Simple tricks to improve its appearance will do wonders for your outlook. Go to a kitchen store and splurge on a few new items. Put a pot of herbs in a window. You'll be amazed at the change in your mood and in the room!

Aquarius (January 20- February 18)

You're in a spiritual state of mind today. Your dreams are vivid and you're sure they're trying to tell you something specific. It's hard to dispel the urge to travel. In particular, you're drawn to someplace where you can study a different culture. Such a trip might not be practical now, but you can manage some online research on the subject!

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

It's important to confront your troubles head on, but not at the expense of putting your life on hold. An important person, someone who acted as your touchstone, no longer figures prominently in your life. This is a difficult adjustment for you.

Make an extra effort not to turn inward as is your tendency in times of trouble. Force yourself to socialize and you may find a new friend.

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 29, 2013

Word Search

Yesterdayʼs Solution

C R O S S W O R D 3 8 3

ACROSS 1. (computer science) A computer that is running software that allows users to leave messages and access information of general interest.

4. Any of several malignant neoplasms (usually of the skin) consisting of melanocytes.

12. A white linen liturgical vestment with sleeves.

15. The universal time coordinated when an event is received on Earth.

16. (formerly) A horse-drawn wagon that delivered ice door to door.

17. A unit of length of thread or yarn.

18. The removal of covering.

20. The principal evil jinni in Islamic mythology.

21. Light informal conversation for social occasions.

22. Similar to the giraffe but smaller with much shorter neck and stripe on the legs.

23. A person who acts and gets things done.

25. A tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling).

27. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.

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

30. The ending of a series or sequence.

34. West Indian tree having racemes of fragrant white flowers and yielding a durable timber and resinous juice.

38. Large burrowing rodent of South and Central America.

40. American novelist (1909-1955).

41. (computer science) A measure of how densely information is packed on a storage medium.

43. A ductile malleable reddish-brown corrosion-resistant diamagnetic metallic element.

45. The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural).

46. A flexible container with a single opening.

48. A trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group.

49. The ratio of the distance traveled (in kilometers) to the time spent traveling (in hours).

51. Nocturnal mouselike mammal with forelimbs modified to form membranous wings and anatomical adaptations for echolocation by which they navigate.

52. Pertaining to a simple method of cell division.

55. Usually elongate cluster of flowers along the main stem in which the flowers at the base open first.

57. East Indian tart yellow berrylike fruit.

58. A town in central Belgium.

60. Produced by inbreeding.

61. A short synopsis.

65. United States industrialist who manufactured and sold processed foods (18441919).

68. Slightly open.

70. A less than average tide occurring at the first and third quarters of the moon.

71. (music) Characterized by avoidance of traditional Western tonality.

74. An organization of independent states to promote international peace and security.

76. The capital and largest city of Japan.

77. A prominent supporter.

80. A silvery malleable metallic element that resists corrosion.

81. A Spanish title of respect for a gentleman or nobleman.

82. Capable of being raised to an upright position.

83. A doctor's degree in education.

Daily SuDoku

DOWN 1. An early form of modern jazz (originating around 1940).

2. A restraint used to slow or stop a vehicle.

3. A violin made by Antonio Stradivari or a member of his family.

4. (British) A minicar used as a taxicab.

5. A graphical recording of the cardiac cycle produced by an electrocardiograph.

6. A chronic inflammatory collagen disease affecting connective tissue (skin or joints).

7. Inspired by a feeling of fearful wonderment or reverence.

8. United States writer (born in Russia) (1899-1977).

9. Look at with amorous intentions.

10. The 3 goddesses of fate or destiny.

11. The part of the nervous system of vertebrates that controls involuntary actions of the smooth muscles and heart and glands.

12. Primitive chlorophyll-containing mainly aquatic eukaryotic organisms lacking true stems and roots and leaves.

13. An accidental hole that allows something (fluid or light etc.) to enter or escape.

14. A small cake leavened with yeast.

19. Large family of bark-boring or wood-boring short-beaked beetles.

24. Small genus of Eurasian aquatic perennial herbs.

26. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).

28. A soft white precious univalent metallic element having the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal.

31. (British) A waterproof raincoat made of rubberized fabric.

32. English scholastic philosopher and assumed author of Occam's Razor (12851349).

33. Loose temporary stitches.

35. Small terrestrial lizard of warm regions of the Old World.

36. A garment covering the leg (usually extending from the knee to the ankle).

37. Enchanter's nightshade.

39. A French abbot.

42. United States architect (born in China in 1917).

44. A state of commotion and loud confused noise.

47. A small molecule (not a protein but sometimes a vitamin) essential for the activity of some enzymes.

50. A fastener for a door or lid.

53. Wild ox of the Malay Archipelago.

54. A bachelor's degree in theology.

56. Comb-plate or locomotor organ consisting of a row of strong cilia whose bases are fused.

59. alter slightly, esp. to achieve accuracy.

62. Income from capital investment paid in a series of regular payments.

63. Any of various fissiped mammals with nonretractile claws and typically long muzzles.

64. become turned or set on end.

66. (prefix) Within.

67. A visual representation of an object or scene or person produced on a surface.

69. (prefix) Opposite or opposing or neutralizing.

72. The sense organ for hearing and equilibrium.

73. Small cubes with 1 to 6 spots on the faces.

75. Minor or subordinate.

78. A state in southeastern United States.

79. A silvery ductile metallic element found primarily in bauxite.

Yesterdayʼs Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Britain’s Bellew vows to manhandle Adonis QUEBEC CITY: Britain’s Tony Bellew landed plenty of verbal jabs Wednesday as he vowed to take the World Boxing Council light heavyweight crown from Canadian southpaw Adonis Stevenson when they meet tomorrow. “Adonis Stevenson is getting beat up and man handled. It’s as simple as that. I don’t care what he brings,” Bellew said.

“All I want to do is nail him with every single thing I’ve got. “I’m talking about whatever it takes and whatever I have got to do. I’m going to do it and Saturday night I’m going to be world champion.”

The Englishman, who turns 31 the day of the fight, has a height and reach edge on

36-year-old Stevenson, who defends for the second time the title he took from US southpaw Chad Dawson in June.

“You’ve never fought anyone like me,” Stevenson told Bellew, adding, “I am going to knock you out.” Haitian-born Canadian Stevenson, 22-1 with 19 knockouts, has stopped all nine foes he has faced since suffering his lone loss in 2010, a second-round loss to American Darnell Boone, whose 19-21-3 record gave Liverpool’s Bellew another taunt for the champion. “He has been knocked out by a guy who has lost 20 fights,” Bellew said.

“You’ve been knocked out by a journeyman. I haven’t.”

The Merseysider said he has been knocked down but added, “I’ve gotten up. Nobody is keeping me on the floor.

This little man (Stevenson) is not keeping me on the floor. I don’t care what it takes.” Bellew, 20-1 with 12 knockouts, suffered his only loss in his only prior world title fight, falling by majority decision to Welshman Nathan Cleverly two years ago. He has four wins and a draw since, avenging a March draw with a triumph last May over Malawi’s Isaac Chilemba in his most recent bout.

Stevenson is coming off a September seventh-round stoppage of American Tavoris Cloud. Awaiting the winner is a potential

matchup next year with Bernard Hopkins, the 48-year-old American who owns the International Boxing Federation lightheavyweight crown and is the oldest major title holder in the sport’s history.

But also in the mix is unbeaten Russian Sergey Kovalev, who is 22-0 with one draw and 20 knockouts. Kovalev defends his World Boxing Organization lightheavyweight crown against Ukraine rival Ismayl Sillakh, 21-1 with 17 knockouts, on the undercard. It’s the first title defense for Kovalev, who stopped Cleverly in the fourth round three months ago in Cardiff to deliver the Welshman’s first career loss.— AFP

Brawn stands down as Mercedes F1 principal India’s Mahindra Racing joins Formula E

SOCHI: Tyvan men perform in front of a torchbearer in Aldyn-Bulak ethnic cultural centre of Tyvans in Russia’s Tyva Republic about 3,444 km east of Moscow. Russian torchbearers started in October the history’s longest Olympic torch relay ahead of Winter Games in Sochi. — AFP

Inconsistency on the green leaves McIlroy feeling blue SYDNEY: Rory McIlroy is driving as well as ever but his putting let him down yesterday when he ended the first round of the Australian Open seven shots behind leader Adam Scott after shooting a three-underpar 69. The world number six’s problems since changing his equipment this year have been well documented and he arrived at the Royal Sydney Golf Club this week still searching for his first title of 2013. After Scott’s brilliant round, McIlroy’s chances of success in Australia already appear remote and the Northern Irishman was left ruing four missed short putts that could have made a huge difference to his score.

“Missed three or four short ones out there,” he told reporters after signing for his card. “Wasteful, yeah. I felt it could have been a lot lower. Off the tee, I’m driving the ball the best I ever have, it’s just a matter of being more efficient and scoring better.

“That’s really it. I only played the parfives at one-under and the way I’m driving it, I should be playing those at four-under.” A missed birdie putt at the seventh and three-putt from the edge of the green at the 16th were the most obvious wasted opportunities, while a pair of bogeys shortly after the turn halted his momentum after a solid front nine.

INCREDIBLE YEAR “I got the most out of it, especially after bogeys on 10 and 11, so to get in the 60s was decent,” he added. “It was nice to finish with a birdie at the last, makes up a little bit for not making birdie at 16.” McIlroy felt conditions may have been a little trickier for the late starters after US Masters champion Scott had posted his record-breaking 10-under-par 62 in the morning. “The wind might have got up for us a little bit this afternoon but still 62 on that course is great going,” McIlroy added. “When I was sitting over breakfast, I saw he’d birdied the first six holes and thought, ‘oh nice’.”

Scott has had an incredible year, following up his Augusta triumph with a win at the Barclays and claiming the Australian PGA and Masters title before helping Jason Day win the World Cup of Golf for his country last weekend. For McIlroy, it was a reminder of his 2012 season when he became world number one and won the US PGA and a string of other tournaments. “He’s doing what I did last year and (world number three Henrik) Stenson’s doing the same thing,” the 24-year-old said. “I’ve been in that position before, I know what it’s like. That’s what I’m trying to get back to.” — Reuters

LONDON: Ross Brawn and Mercedes announced a parting of the ways yesterday with the Briton leaving the Formula One team at the end of the year after handing over as principal to Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe. The announcement, in a Mercedes statement, had been predicted and ended one of the longest-running sagas of the season while shedding no light on what the 59-year-old had planned for the future.

Mercedes hailed Brawn as the architect of their success and said his duties would be split between Wolff, in charge of business, and Lowe on the technical side.

“The most important consideration in my decision to step down from the role as team principal was to ensure that the timing was right for the team in order to ensure its future success,” Brawn said in the statement. “The succession planning process that we have implemented during this year means we are now ready to conduct the transition from my current responsibilities to a new leadership team composed of Toto and Paddy.” The departure of the unflappable Brawn means change for drivers Lewis Hamilton, Britain’s 2008 world champion, and Germany’s Nico Rosberg although neither will have been surprised by the news. Both hailed the “great leader” on their Twitter feeds. “Ross has built the foundations for us to succeed in 2014,” said Hamilton, who joined from McLaren at the end of last year with Brawn’s presence at the team being one of the clinching factors.

“Toto and Paddy are fantastic guys and strong leaders for the team. I’ve started my training already and can’t wait for 2014.” Lowe arrived in June from McLaren, where he had worked with Hamilton, while Austrian Wolff moved from Williams in January to become head of Mercedes motorsport. Brawn is one of the most successful and respected figures in the sport after winning championships with Benetton, Ferrari and his own Brawn GP outfit.

The bespectacled Englishman, a keen Manchester United football fan, was the tactical brains behind seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher’s success at Benetton and Ferrari. After leaving the Italian team at the end of 2006 to take a sabbatical, and spend some time fishing, he joined the Honda team at the end of 2007 and led them until the Japanese manufacturer withdrew from the sport a year later. With Brawn, the team that emerged from the remains of Honda, he won both world championships in 2009 before selling to Mercedes.

NEW ERA Brawn said that, with a new V6 turbo engine being introduced in 2014 and significant changes to the regulations, now was the right time to go “to begin a new era of team management”. “The team is uniquely positioned to succeed in 2014 and I am proud to have helped lay the foundations for that success,” added the

Briton. “In its different guises over the past six seasons, this team has delivered some of the most memorable moments of my career. Our second place in this season’s constructors’ championship is an important milestone on the road to championship success,” Brawn added. “I am confident that the future will hold just as much success for the team and will take real pride in having played my own part in those achievements.”

Non-executive chairman Niki Lauda thanked Brawn, who has been linked over the past few months to future roles with rival teams as well as the governing FIA run by former Ferrari boss Jean Todt, for his contribution and said Wolff and Lowe were the right men to take the team forward. “When you consider the step that has been made from finishing fifth in 2012 to the second place that we have secured this season, he has been the architect of this success,” the Austrian triple champion said.

“He put the plans in place to recruit key people since early 2011, and the performance this season shows that the team is on the right track. “We have had long discussions with Ross about how he could continue with the team but it is a basic fact that you cannot hold somebody back when they have chosen to move on.

Ross has decided that this is the right time to hand over the reins to Toto and Paddy and we respect his decision.”

INDIA’S MAHINDRA In another development, Mahindra Racing will join the new Formula E electric racing series starting next year as the eighth, and only Indian, team, the Mumbaibased Mahindra Group said yesterday. The $16.2-billion multinational group said it had signed an agreement with Formula E Holdings to join the series starting in China in September, with races in 10 leading cities including Berlin. “We strongly believe that Formula E can provide an excellent global showcase for our electric vehicle technology,” group chairman and managing director Anand Mahindra said in a statement.

The group, which manufactures Mahindra Reva electric vehicles, said joining Formula E was a “natural step”. “With advanced operations and expertise in electronics, IT, automotive technologies and manufacturing, we are already seeing the fusion of this technology into our electric vehicle operations,” Anand said.

“Racing will further accelerate that trend while Formula E is set to raise awareness globally about the benefits of electric vehicles.” Mahindra Racing is no stranger in motorsports, having joined MotoGP in 2011. “We are very proud to have a major global company like Mahindra join the FIA Formula E Championship,” Formula E Holdings chief executive Alejandro Agag was quoted as saying in the statement. “Adding a manufacturer from India to what is already a real global mix of teams is fantastic news for the series. —Agencies

Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Lightning down Philadelphia Flyers TAMPA: Victor Hedman had two goals and an assist to help the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 on Wednesday night, spoiling Vincent Lecavalier’s homecoming. Lecavalier, who played 14 years for the Lightning after being selected first overall in the 1998 draft, faced his old team for the first time and scored a power-play goal late in the third period. The former Tampa Bay captain received a standing ovation after a video tribute was played on the scoreboard midway through the first. Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson also scored for the Lightning, who have won seven in a row at home. Anders Lindback stopped Wayne Simmonds on a firstperiod penalty shot. Mark Streit also scored for the Flyers, who were coming off a 3-1 loss Monday at Florida that ended a 6-0-1 stretch.

beat Los Angeles to extend the home-team dominance in this California rivalry. Thornton and Joe Pavelski scored in regulation for the Sharks, who have won nine straight at home against the Kings including the postseason. In all, the home team has won the last 14 matchups, including all seven in last spring’s playoff series won by Los Angeles. Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty scored for the Kings, who tied a franchise record by earning a point in their 11th straight game. They also did that in 1973-74 and 2010-11. Ben Scrivens made 38 saves. Thornton got his first shootout attempt since the 2009-10 season and stuffed a back-

Iginla scored for Boston and Tuukka Rask stopped 22 shots. Detroit scored three goals in less than 4 minutes in the second period.

RANGERS 5, PANTHERS 2 Rick Nash scored his second goal of the season and Henrik Lundqvist rebounded from a poor game with 31 saves to lift New York over Florida. Mats Zuccarello, Brad Richards and Derick Brassard also scored for the Rangers. Carl Hagelin added an empty-net goal with 24 seconds left. Nick Bjugstad and Scottie Upshall scored in the third period for Florida. Tim Thomas allowed four goals on 21

PENGUINS 6, MAPLE LEAFS 5, SO Evgeni Malkin had his first two-goal game in more than 18 months and added the gamewinner in a shootout to rally Pittsburgh past Toronto. Chris Conner, Kris Letang and James Neal also scored for Pittsburgh, which erased 4-1 and 5-3 deficits. Sidney Crosby added two assists to lift his point total to a league-leading 33 and scored in the second round of the shootout against Jonathan Bernier before Malkin finished it off. Jeff Zatkoff stopped 11 of 13 shots after replacing ineffective starter Marc-Andre Fleury less than a minute into the second period. James van Riemsdyk scored twice and added an assist for the Maple Leafs.

Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak and Nazem Kadri also scored for Toronto, but the Maple Leafs lost their way after taking a big lead. Toronto failed to record a single shot in the third period or overtime. There were no such problems for the Penguins, who fired a season-high 48 shots at Bernier. He made 43 stops, but went just 1 for 3 in the shootout.

SHARKS 3, KINGS 2, SO Joe Thornton scored his first shootout goal since 2007 in the eighth round and San Jose

HURRICANES 4, DEVILS 3 Patrick Dwyer scored short-handed to cap a three-goal burst in the second period, and Carolina snapped its six-game road losing streak by beating New Jersey. Justin Faulk scored his first of the season, and Tuomo Ruutu and Ron Hainsey each had a goal for the Hurricanes, who opened a 4-1 lead and held on behind 19 saves from Cam Ward. Eric Staal’s assist extended his season-best points streak to seven games. Travis Zajac, Andy Greene and Jaromir Jagr scored for the Devils, who lost their third in a row - all with Martin Brodeur in goal. Jagr’s 691st goal moved him past former Pittsburgh Penguins teammate Mario Lemieux for ninth place in NHL history.

JETS 3, ISLANDERS 2 Mark Stuart, Andrew Ladd and Devin Setoguchi scored in the second period and Al Montoya made 28 saves to help Winnipeg defeat New York. The Jets won their second straight to start a six-game road trip and handed the Islanders their ninth loss in 11 games. John Tavares and defenseman Andrew MacDonald scored for the Islanders, who fell behind 3-0. Winnipeg’s Jacob Trouba went off for hooking at 14:54 of the third, but the Islanders put minimal pressure on Montoya.

SENATORS 6, CAPITALS 4 Bobby Ryan scored twice and Zack Smith netted the go-ahead goal with 2:23 remaining in Ottawa’s win over Washington. Smith’s goal came after John Carlson tied the game for the Capitals on a power play. Chris Phillips had a goal and an assist, and Mika Zibanejad and Colin Greening added goals for Ottawa.

Erik Karlsson had two assists and Craig Anderson stopped 29 shots. It was Ottawa’s first win in regulation at the Verizon Center since March 12, 2006. Eric Fehr, Marcus Johansson and Brooks Laich also scored for Washington, which led 3-1 before dropping its fourth straight.

BLUES 4, AVALANCHE 1 Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves, David Backes had a goal and an assist and the streaking St Louis Blues beat Colorado. Alexander Steen scored his 20th of the season and Jaden Schwartz also had a goal for the Blues, who have won five straight. Semyon Varlamov stopped 31 shots and Patrick Bordeleau scored for the Avalanche, who had won three in a row. Colorado’s 17-5-0 start was a franchise best this deep into the season, but the Blues have been the better team lately. They have won 10 of 12 and earned points in 11 of those games. One of their wins in that stretch was a 7-3 victory over Colorado on Nov. 14, which came in the middle of a three-game skid for the Avalanche. Steen made it 2-0 on a power play, tying Washington’s Alex Ovechkin for the NHL lead in goals.

BLACKHAWKS 3, FLAMES 2 Patrick Kane scored twice, including the tiebreaking goal with 18 seconds left, and Chicago rallied for three straight goals in the third period to beat Calgary. Patrick Sharp also scored for the Blackhawks (18-4-4), the top team in the NHL. The defending Stanley Cup champions improved to 4-1-0 on their seven-game road trip. Matt Stajan and Sean Monahan scored for the Flames, who are 1-5-2 in their last eight home games. After Sven Baertschi lost the puck at the Calgary blue line, a shot from Niklas Hjalmarsson caromed sharply off the skate of Flames defenseman Chris Butler. The puck went straight to Kane at the side of the net, where he spun and lifted a backhand over goalie Reto Berra.

Markov had three assists and Montreal’s NHLbest road power play scored twice in four chances. Matt Moulson scored for Buffalo as the Sabres lost their fifth consecutive game in regulation. Ryan Miller made 28 saves.

DETROIT: Detroit Red Wings right wing Daniel Cleary (71) checks Boston Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk in the third period of an NHL hockey game in Detroit on Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013. — AP hand past Scrivens. It was his first shootout shots. After the Panthers scored twice to cut goal since Dec. 16, 2007, against Anaheim. their deficit to one, Zuccarello’s power-play Antti Niemi then stopped Tyler Toffoli to seal goal made it 4-2 with 1:28 left. The Rangers it. Niemi made 38 saves as San Jose opened a improved to 3-1 on a five-game road trip. The difficult stretch of three games in four days five goals tied their season high. Lundqvist was back between the pipes after getting against top-five teams. pulled from a 5-0 loss at Tampa Bay on Monday, when the 2012 Vezina Trophy winRED WINGS 6, BRUINS 1 Niklas Kronwall, Henrik Zetterberg, Gustav ner gave up four goals in two periods.

Nyquist and Tomas Tatar each a goal and an CANADIENS 3, SABRES 1 assist in Detroit’s victory over Boston. Justin Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais Abdelkader and Drew Miller and also scored for the Red Wings. Johan Franzen had three scored, Carey Price made 24 saves and assists, Joakim Andersson two assists and Montreal extended its winning streak to four Jonas Gustavsson made 16 saves. Jarome games with a victory over Buffalo. Andrei

PREDATORS 4, BLUE JACKETS 0 Rookie goalie Marek Mazanec made 19 saves for his second shutout, and Matt Cullen and Nick Spaling each had a goal and an assist as Nashville blanked Columbus. Mike Fisher and David Legwand also scored for the Predators, who have found their groove on the heels of a four-game losing streak.

Mazanec, filling in while Pekka Rinne recovers from a hip injury, earned his fifth win - all in the last six games. The Predators improved to 11-1-2 when scoring first and 9-0-1 when leading after the opening period. The Blue Jackets have alternated wins and losses for six games.

COYOTES 3, WILD 1 Radim Vrbata scored two goals and Thomas Greiss made 28 saves to lead Phoenix over Minnesota.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Coyotes, who are 6-0-2 in their past eight games at Minnesota. The Wild have lost two straight and scored a total of one goal in that stretch. The Wild were playing their first game without leading scorer Zach Parise, expected to miss two to three weeks with a foot injury sustained Monday in St Louis. Mikkel Boedker put the Coyotes on top at 8:13 of the first. Dany Heatley scored for Minnesota. — AP

Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Thunder sting Spurs, snap win streak OKLAHOMA CITY: Kevin Durant had 24 points and 13 rebounds, Serge Ibaka added 17 points and 11 rebounds and the Oklahoma City Thunder snapped the San Antonio Spurs’ 11game winning streak with a 94-88 win Wednesday night. Reggie Jackson matched his career high with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting for Oklahoma City, which is 7-0 at home, the franchise’s best home start since 2004-05, when it was in Seattle. The Thunder have won five straight games, their longest streak of the season. The Thunder took control of a tight game with an 8-0 run in the third quarter and withstood a run by San Antonio midway through the fourth quarter. Tony Parker had 16 points and seven assists for San Antonio (13-2), which was seeking the best start in franchise history. The Spurs also started 13-1 during the 2010-11 season. Portland, which entered Wednesday on an 11-game winning streak, is the only other team to have beaten San Antonio this season.

streak is two off the club record set from Feb 17March 10, 2010. Boston had won its last two games, both on the road.

LAKERS 99, NETS 94 Wesley Johnson made the tiebreaking basket on a steal and dunk with 1:35 left, and the Lakers blew a 27-point lead before beating the Nets.

Nick Young scored a season-high 26 points to spark a huge effort from the league’s most productive bench. Pau Gasol added 21 points for the Lakers, moving into second place on the NBA’s career list for points by a European player 15,773 points. The center from Spain now trails only Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki. Joe Johnson scored 18 points after a cold finish for the Nets, who failed in their bid to win consecutive games for the first time this season.

WIZARDS 100, BUCKS 92, OT Marcin Gortat scored 25 points, John Wall

Sixers, which they beat for 17th time in 20 meetings. Thaddeus Young led Philadelphia with 26 points and Carter-Williams added 23. It was Young’s first game in a week after missing three games while dealing with a death in his family.

BULLS 99, PISTONS 79 Taj Gibson had a career-high 23 points and the Bulls pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Pistons.

The Pistons stayed close for most of the game, but managed only seven points in the first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter. That allowed Chicago to increase their lead to as many as 24 points as they ended a four-game losing streak. Luol Deng led the Bulls with 27 points. Rodney Stuckey finished with 25 off the bench for Detroit but no one else had more than 13. Josh Smith had 13 points and 11 rebounds and Andre Drummond had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Pistons.

er early in the fourth quarter. Then Brooks outscored the Hawks 8-4 over the next 11/2 minutes to extend Houston’s lead to 90-74. Houston shot almost 52 percent from 3-point range with Brooks and Garcia combining to make seven of Houston’s 14 3-pointers. Paul Millsap had 16 points for Atlanta and Cartier Martin, who grew up in Houston, started in place of an injured Kyle Korver and had 14. Chandler Parsons and Terrence Jones had 14 points each and Dwight Howard had 11 points and eight rebounds for Houston which improved to 11-5.

MAVERICKS 103, WARRIORS 99 Dirk Nowitzki scored 22 points to offset a rough night for playmaking partner Monta Ellis, and the Mavericks held off a late charge from Golden State. Nowitzki was 11 of 19 from the field and added three assists. He matched the team high with two steals. Ellis finished with a season-low four points on 2-of-16 shooting, but

SUNS 120, TRAIL BLAZERS 106 Goran Dragic scored 31 points, Channing Frye added 25 and the Suns used their up-tempo style to recover from a poor start to snap the Trail Blazers’ 11-game winning streak. Markieff Morris scored 19 and twin Marcus Morris 15 for the Suns, who wiped out a 16-point secondquarter deficit to hand the Blazers their first loss since Nov 5 against Houston. LaMarcus Aldridge had 24 points and Damian Lillard scored 16 points for the Blazers, who had also won six straight on the road.

PACERS 99, BOBCATS 74 CJ Watson made five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and finished with 18 points to send Indiana past Charlotte for its fifth straight victory. The Pacers (14-1) came in with the NBA’s best defense and limited the Bobcats to 31 percent shooting. Watson, who had made just 6 of 29 3pointers this season, was 6 of 8 against the Bobcats. Lance Stephenson had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Roy Hibbert added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Pacers. Paul George had 15 points to surpass 3,000 for his career. Al Jefferson had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Bobcats, who have lost six of their last seven at home.

HEAT 95, CAVALIERS 84 LeBron James scored 28 points and seemed more relaxed than in previous games back in Cleveland, leading Miami to its eighth straight win. James added eight rebounds and eight assists in his fifth game as a visitor against the Cavaliers, the team that drafted him and the one he left as a free agent three years ago to chase championships in Miami. He improved to 11-1 against Cleveland. Dwyane Wade added 22 points and Michael Beasley 17 for Miami, which coasted during long stretches and never appeared threatened. Dion Waiters, the subject of trade rumors, scored a season-high 24 and Kyrie Irving had 16 for Cleveland. The Heat opened a 15-point lead in the third and responded to every spurt by the Cavs, who got within eight in the final two minutes.

GRIZZLIES 100, CELTICS 93 Jerryd Bayless scored 22 points and Mike Conley had 14 with nine assists to propel Memphis past Boston for its fifth straight road win. Zach Randolph scored 13 points, Tony Allen 12 and Ed Davis had 11 with seven rebounds for the Grizzlies, who were coming off two straight losses at home. Jeff Green led the Celtics with 26 points, Jared Sullinger had 23 and Avery Bradley 16. Sullinger added 12 rebounds. The Grizzlies grabbed the lead in the game’s opening minutes and never trailed the rest of the way though Boston made a late charge in the last 2 minutes. Memphis’ five-game road winning

OKLAHOMA: San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard (2) lands on Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka (9) after they chase a loose ball in the third quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City. — AP added 19 points and Washington extended Milwaukee’s losing streak to 10 games.

Milwaukee’s O.J. Mayo hit a 25-foot 3-pointer with 6.9 seconds remaining to tie it at 87-87 and Wall missed a driving layup at the buzzer. The win was the Wizards’ third straight and fifth in their last six. Gortat hit 11 of 12 shots and grabbed eight rebounds. Martell Webster added 18 points. The Bucks’ losing streak is the longest since Milwaukee lost 15 in a row from March 430, 1996. Mayo led the Bucks with 21 points and Khris Middleton added 13 points.

MAGIC 105, 76ERS 94 Nik Vucevic had 21 points and 16 rebounds as the Magic beat the 76ers to post back-to-back wins for the first time since early this month.

Glen Davis had 19 points, and Arron Afflalo and Victor Oladipo each added 18. The game was the first meeting between rookies Michael Carter-Williams and Oladipo, and both played big roles. The Magic led by 15 points before fighting off several second-half surges by the

NUGGETS 117, TIMBERWOLVES 110 Ty Lawson scored 23 points, reserve Nate Robinson added 15 and the Nuggets held off the Timberwolves. Kenneth Faried added 13 points and had three alley-oop dunks as Denver won for the seventh time in nine games after a horrible start. Kevin Martin scored 29 for Minnesota and Ricky Rubio added 17 points and 10 assists. Nikola Pekovic had 21 points and Kevin Love finished with 19. All five Minnesota starters scored in double figures. Minnesota’s bench was outscored 47-10 and was overmatched by Robinson and Denver’s high-octane reserves.

ROCKETS 113, HAWKS 84 Francisco Garcia scored a season-high 21 points, Aaron Brooks also had 21 and the Houston Rockets cruised to their third straight win. Houston never trailed and again used a balanced scoring attack with James Harden out for the third straight game with a foot injury. The Rockets went up by 12 on John Jenkins’ 3-point-

he had 10 assists, including one to get Samuel Dalembert a dunk and push Dallas’ dwindling lead to six at 101-95 with 1:21 remaining.

Stephen Curry led Golden State with 29 points as the Warriors stayed close a night after a tough one-point win in New Orleans.

CLIPPERS 93, KNICKS 80 Blake Griffin had 15 points and 13 rebounds, and Chris Paul had 15 points and seven assists before leaving with a strained right hamstring in the Clippers’ victory over the plummeting Knicks.

JJ Redick also scored 15 points as the Clippers comfortably finished their eighth win in 10 games despite losing their superstar point guard late in the third quarter when Paul hobbled to the locker room favoring his right leg. Darren Collison and Jamal Crawford capably handled playmaking duties while the Clippers ran away in the fourth quarter. Carmelo Anthony scored 27 points and Andrea Bargnani had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks, who have lost seven straight to drop to 3-11. — AP

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Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

French footballer finally leaves Qatar after ban DOHA: French footballer Zahir Belounis left Qatar yesterday after being stuck in the 2022 World Cup host country for 17 months over a pay dispute with his club, an aviation source said. Al-Jaish player left with his wife and two daughters onboard a Qatar Airways flight that departed at 1.40 pm (1040 GMT), the source said.

Belounis had finally obtained an exit visa, which is usually controlled by employers in

the Gulf state under its controversial “kafala”, or sponsorship system, French Ambassador Jean-Christophe Peaucelle said on Wednesday.

The French-Algerian footballer, 33, has not able to leave Qatar since June 2012, after he filed a complaint against Al-Jaish over a payment dispute. The club insisted he would not be granted the exit permit unless he dropped the case. Peaucelle said that

Belounis’ exit permit was the result of “intensive work between the French embassy and Qatari authorities.” The global players’ union FIFPro has said it is to start a four-day visit to Qatar yesterday for talks with Qatari football authorities and organizers of the 2022 World Cup. The association said it would “not sit idly by as the rights of the players are being abused”. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are the only

Gulf states that continue to impose an exit visa on foreign employees who want to leave. Human Rights Watch has denounced the kafala system as abusive. “The kafala, or sponsorship, system ties migrant workers’ residency permits to sponsoring employers, whose written consent is required for workers to change employers or leave the country,” it has said addressing the issue of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia.—AFP

Bilbao sense upset against wounded leaders Barcelona MADRID: Athletic Bilbao host Barcelona at their new San Mames stadium on Sunday sniffing an upset after the La Liga leaders suffered their first defeat of the season at Ajax Amsterdam in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Unbeaten in domestic competition and three points clear of second-placed Atletico Madrid at the top after 14 matches, Barca have lost several key players, including Argentina forward Lionel Messi and Spain goalkeeper Victor Valdes, to injury.

Bilbao, who are fifth, will hope to emulate Ajax’s attacking verve and fighting spirit after the Dutch champions took the game to their illustrious visitors in the first half and then held on for a memorable win despite losing Joel Veltman to a red card shortly after the break. Bilbao have been in fine form at their new stadium this term, winning five and drawing two, while Barca’s last two visits to the Basque club’s old San Mames arena, now demolished, both ended in 2-2 stalemates.

Midfielder Ander Herrera, who scored in each of those games, said the key to Sunday’s clash (2000 GMT) will be to avoid the ultra-defensive tactics most of Barca’s opponents rely on. “It is difficult to imagine Barca slipping up in two games in a row but that is our task,” Herrera was quoted as saying in Marca sports daily yesterday. “To beat them we have to play with complete freedom, without hanging back in defense,” added the 24-year-old. “We have the capacity to play much better and with confidence and the right results excellence will follow.”

Barca could find themselves level on points with Atletico and only three ahead of third-placed arch-rivals Real Madrid going into the Bilbao game if the city neighbors win their matches tomorrow. Atletico play at promoted Elche (1500) and Real are at home to struggling Real Valladolid (1900). The Barca players were self-critical after the Ajax defeat and bemoaned a lack of intensity in the early stages that allowed their opponents to seize the initiative. “The team lifted their game in the second half but we are left with a bad feeling about the first,” playmaker Cesc Fabregas told reporters.

“We knew we were not on good form on the pitch and we had the sense we were running a lot, more than in other matches, but running badly,” added the former Arsenal captain. “And that is worse. Tactically they were better and we did not know where to pick them up.” Villarreal, a point ahead of Bilbao in fourth, play at home to Malaga today (1930). Both Malaga coach Bernd Schuster and his Valencia counterpart Miroslav Djukic, whose side host Osasuna on Sunday (1800), are under pressure after poor starts to the season.— Reuters

MADRID: Real Madrid’s Welsh forward Gareth Bale reacts during the UEFA Champions League football match Real Madrid CF vs Galatasaray SK on November 27, 2013. —AFP

Real defense still a concern for coach MADRID: Real Madrid may have strolled into the Champions League last 16 with a 4-1 win at home to Galatasaray on Wednesday but coach Carlo Ancelotti levelled some sharp criticism at centre backs Sergio Ramos and Pepe after the game.

While the nine-times European champions have had little trouble finding the net this season, largely thanks to the scintillating form of Cristiano Ronaldo, their defence has been fragile and they have only managed three clean sheets in 14 games in La Liga and one in five Champions League outings.

Ramos got himself sent off midway through the first half at the Bernabeu when he allowed Umut Bulut to get in front of him before felling the Galatasaray forward when he was through on goal.

Pepe was at fault for the Turkish side’s equalizer when he reacted too slowly to a

Didier Drogba through ball and Bulut snuck in behind him to finish clinically past Iker Casillas.

If Real are to claim the 10th European crown that has eluded them since their last success in 2002 they will need to tighten up at the back as their opponents in the knockout round are likely to offer a much stiffer challenge than tame Galatasaray. “The match was made more difficult by the Sergio Ramos sending off,” Ancelotti said in an interview with Spanish television broadcaster Canal Plus. “I don’t think the defenders should be taking risks, all they need to do is cover behind them and nothing more,” added the Italian, who was clearly upset with Ramos as the Spain international trudged off the pitch.

“We suffered a sending off because of that and also for the Galatasaray goal when we didn’t cover our backs properly.

“I have told the defenders many times that they have to cover behind them and I don’t need to say it again.” One bright spot in defense in Wednesday’s game was the performance of fullback Alvaro Arbeloa, who scored Real’s second goal and set up Angel Di Maria for the third and was named “man of the match” by Ancelotti.

The former Liverpool player’s performance earned him a huge ovation from the Real fans and his goal was only the second one he has netted in 56 Champions League appearances. “I am happy to be back among the goals,” Arbeloa joked in a post-match TV interview. “Thankfully they don’t pay me for scoring but it is always important to help the team,” added the Spain international. “I told the president that if (injured) Cristiano was not available I would take care of the goals.”— Reuters

Schalke’s Boateng ruled fit after knee treatment BERLIN: Midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng has been undergoing treatment this week for a recurring knee problem but will be fit when Schalke 04 take on VfB Stuttgart tomorrow, hoping to launch a much-delayed attack in the Bundesliga.

Boateng’s surprise arrival at Schalke in September raised fan expectations but the gifted midfielder’s knee has continued to be a source of concern.

He was ruled out at short notice for Tuesday’s Champions

League 0-0 draw at Steaua Bucharest before leaving Romania for treatment in Munich. “Kevin did not have problems in the past few weeks,” Schalke sports director Horst Heldt said after Boateng’s departure. “He was two weeks with the national team (of Ghana) and there his condition could not be monitored. He left Bucharest early to get treatment in Munich.”

Heldt, however, said Boateng would be fit for their

league game against Stuttgart when a victory would ease some of the pressure on coach Jens Keller, especially after his team squandered a two-goal lead last week to draw 3-3 with Eintracht Frankfurt. With more than half a dozen players currently on their injury list, including striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and central defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Schalke would have problems compensating any other absence, especially of Boateng.—Reuters

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Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Age-defying Giggs still shining at 40 LONDON: With a masterful performance at Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday, Ryan Giggs demonstrated that he remains an integral player for Manchester United despite the arrival on Friday of his 40th birthday. Having impressed as a substitute in United’s 2-2 draw at Cardiff City, Giggs was restored to the starting line-up at the BayArena and orchestrated a 5-0 win that sent his side swaggering into the Champions League last 16.

Belying his advancing years, the Welshman dictated the pace of the game throughout and capped his display with an intelligent lofted pass that enabled Nani to score the visitors’ fifth goal in the 88th minute. “I’ve run out of things to say about Ryan,” said United striker Wayne Rooney. “Actually, during the game, the Bayer centre-half was asking how he is still playing at that age.” Alex Ferguson may have stepped down as manager after 26 and a half long, glorious years and United may have fallen off the pace in the Premier League under his successor, David Moyes, but the ageless Giggs bounds on regardless.

“People mention his age, but all you should talk about is his football ability,” says Moyes.

“He is an unbelievable footballer, and you could say he is getting better. He is a wonderful player and I am really fortunate to be working with him.” Giggs is starting to cast an eye towards the future, having been enrolled on United’s coaching staff following Moyes’s arrival from Everton, while he recently opened a London restaurant with former team-mate Gary Neville.

However, although his current United contract is due to expire in June, he says he has had no thoughts about turning the page on his playing career. Asked by Neville during a recent television interview whether the approach of his fifth decade had brought retirement into sharper focus, he said: “I’ve never been guided really by the age. “It’s just about how I felt, if I’m contributing, if I’m still getting picked, still enjoying it.

“I could probably contribute a little bit more, but hopefully that will come as the season goes on. But no, just because I’ve turned 40 doesn’t mean that’s it. “If I felt like that, then I might as well just pack it in now, but I still feel good and I’m still enjoying it.” Giggs is used sparingly these days and has played in only five of United’s 12 league games to date this season, but he is already certain to leave a historic legacy.

He is United’s record appearance-maker (953 games and counting), and with 13 league titles, two Champions League trophies, four FA Cups and three League Cups to his nameas well as a clutch of other prizes-he is the most decorated footballer in the history of the English game. A devilish tormentor of opposition right-backs when he blazed onto the scene as a jet-heeled winger in the early1990s, Giggs has refined his game in recent years and now operates more often than not as an elegant midfield playmaker. As a youngster, he was dogged by hamstring injuries, but he attributes his longevity to the discovery of yoga techniques that have helped him steer clear of the treatment tables in his latter years.

“The yoga has definitely helped me,” he told La Gazetta dello Sport last year. “It helps me train every day because it gives me the flexibility and the strength not only to play the game, but to train as well.” Giggs’s famed hunger for success is unlikely to diminish in the months ahead, particularly with United currently seven points behind leaders Arsenal in the league. He will also be eager to maintain a run of scoring in consecutive league seasons that extends all the way back to 1991 - before some of his current team-mates were even born.— AFP

Villas-Boas under scrutiny as Spurs host Man United

MANCHESTER: Manchester United’s Welsh midfielder Ryan Giggs (right) and English midfielder Ashley Young take part in a training session in Manchester, northwest England. — AFP

Pellegrini highlights defensive deficiency LONDON: Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini lamented a lack of defensive intensity in his side’s 4-2 Champions League win over Viktoria Plzen, despite taking their home goal scoring tally to a remarkable 25 goals in five matches. While the margin of victory on Wednesday appeared comfortable, the visitors from the Czech Republic, bottom of Group D with five consecutive defeats, twice fought back from a goal down to draw level before Alvaro Negredo and Edin Dzeko secured the result in the final 12 minutes.

Progression to the knock-out rounds had already been achieved before the victory, but Chilean Pellegrini said he was disappointed with the number of chances Plzen created in an open match at Etihad Stadium. “I’m satisfied because we won the game but we didn’t play well, we didn’t play with intensity,” he told reporters. “I think that we can attack and we can score four goals without giving the other team so many chances. One of the most important things to being an attacking team is knowing how to defend and I think on that front, we did very bad.”

While City have been making headlines for their high scoring, including Sunday’s 6-0 thrashing of Tottenham Hotspur, they are six points off Premier League leaders Arsenal, mainly due to defensive lapses that have contributed to four losses away from home. That carelessness nearly cost them early as Plzen missed two chances before Sergio Aguero scored from the penalty spot after 33 minutes. City were unable to hold their lead, however, allowing Tomas Horava to score two minutes before the break.

Samir Nasri put the hosts ahead once more on 65 minutes but again the visitors pulled level when a defensive mix-up allowed Stanislav Tecl to level matters four minutes later before Negredo and Dzeko secured the win. Pellegrini fielded a somewhat second-choice backline featuring Micah Richards, Martin Demichelis, Joleon Lescott and Aleksandar Kolarov and restored England goalkeeper Joe Hart but said it was up to the whole team to ensure control at the back. “I am not talking about just Richards and Lescott, I am talking about the whole team,” he said.—Reuters

LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur’s meltdown at Manchester City exposed serious flaws in Andre Villas-Boas’s project and the young coach is under intense scrutiny ahead of Sunday’s match with Premier League champions Manchester United. Back-to-back games against Manchester’s finest always looked like a yardstick for Tottenham’s progress in the wake of the world record sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid and a raft of expensive new signings in the close season with the proceeds.

But few would have predicted the Portuguese would find himself as the bookmakers’ favorite to get the sack. “It all looked good for AVB at the end of October but in a month Tottenham have turned from title contenders into a team clinging on to the top 10,” said a spokesman for betting firm Paddy Power, which slashed odds on his exit to 10-11 on. “Common sense should prevail and the young manager should be given time but this is the bonkers world of Premier League.”

Last Sunday’s 6-0 drubbing at City was Tottenham’s worst defeat since 1996 and while they are only two points off the top four there is growing frustration at the time it is taking Villas-Boas to get his new-look side to click. “I have the confidence of the board and players and I have to move on to do a proper job,” the Portuguese told a news conference.

“I am immune (to criticism) right now. I used to read a lot into situations like this, into pressure points when I was at Chelsea, but not any more. I am very indifferent.”

After being axed by Chelsea, Villas-Boas resurfaced at White Hart Lane last term and earned plaudits as Tottenham came fifth with 72 points - the club’s highest Premier League total - but just failed to earn a Champions League spot. This season, despite the additions of Brazil midfielder Paulinho, Spain striker Roberto Soldado, record signing Erik Lamela of Argentina and Denmark playmaker Christian Eriksen, Spurs have managed only nine goals in 12 league matches. A mean defense has kept them in and around the top four but things unraveled in spectacular fashion at City.

United may not have been setting the world alight either under new manager David Moyes but they are unbeaten in six league games and have not lost at Tottenham since 2001. Wednesday’s qualification for the Champions League last 16 after a 5-0 away thrashing of Bayer Leverkusen has also boosted confidence. Spurs did win at Old Trafford last term for the first time since 1989 - a result that proved the springboard for Villas-Boas’s encouraging first season at the club - but their record against United in recent years is woeful.

Tottenham’s cause is hardly helped by trip to the Arctic Circle to face Tromso in the Europa League, while United have an extra day to prepare. Spurs have lost two of their last three home league games and only beat Hull City with a questionable penalty. Former Tottenham midfielder Graham Roberts believes Villas-Boas must decide quickly on his strongest side. “I wish he wouldn’t swap the team around so much,” Roberts told radio station Talk Sport. “We haven’t had the same team two games running.—Reuters

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Flamengo grab Brazilian Cup RIO DE JANEIRO: Flamengo scored two late goals to seal a 3-1 aggregate win over Atletico Paranaense in the Brazilian Cup final on Wednesday and book a place in next year’s Copa Libertadores. After the first leg ended in a 1-1 draw, midfielder Elias struck in the 86th minute and Hernane hit a second with the last kick of the game to give the Rio club a deserved victory 2-0 in the return. The win was particularly sweet for manager Jayme de Almeida, who took over at the club in September after a 4-2 league defeat by the same opponents prompted Mano Menezes to resign. It was a tense match with few moments of skill but that did not bother the vast majority of the almost 70,000 fans who packed the Maracana stadium to see Flamengo lift the trophy for the fifth time. The result means Flamengo qualify for next year’s Copa Libertadores, South America’s equivalent of Europe’s Champions League.—Reuters

Brazil under pressure as WCup stadium collapses

Six held over football ‘Asian betting scam’ LONDON: Six men have been arrested by police investigating alleged fixing in English football matches, amid claims yesterday of attempts to defraud Asian betting websites. At least three footballers and an agent are among the six arrested, said The Daily Telegraph newspaper, which said an undercover investigation by its reporters had triggered the police swoop. The report said match-fixers from Asia were targeting lower-league English games.

The new National Crime Agency (NCA), Britain’s answer to the FBI, said they were probing a suspected international gambling ring. “Six men have been arrested across the country as part of an NCA investigation into alleged football match fixing,” said a spokesman.”The focus of the operation is a suspected international illegal betting syndicate. “This is an active investigation and we are unable to provide further detail at this time.” The men were being held at a police station in central England on suspicion of bribery and fraud offences, the Telegraph said.

A Singaporean “fixer” was recorded telling undercover reporters that the results of English games could be decided for £50,000 ($81,000, 60,000 euros) and correctly predicted the outcome of three games played by one team. The team and arrested players cannot be named for legal reasons, but the agent was named by the Telegraph as former Bolton Wanderers striker Delroy Facey. No teams in England’s lucrative Premier League are believed to be involved in the probe.

The fixer explained that gamblers could use the insider information to place bets with Asian companies. A spokesman for the Football Association, the sport’s governing body in England, said: “The FA has been made aware of a number of arrests in relation to an NCA investigation. “We have worked closely with the authorities in relation to these allegations. The FA will make no further comment at this time due to ongoing investigations.” The Football League, which runs the three professional divisions below the Premier League, said they had not been contacted by the police.

“We understand from media reports that there is an ongoing police investigation into alleged match-fixing in domestic football,” chief executive Shaun Harvey said in a statement. “To date, we have had no contact from the police regarding this matter. —AFP

RIO DE JANEIRO: Flamengo’s Luis Antonio (left) vies for the ball with Zezinho of Atletico PR, during the Brazilian Championship final football match at the Mario Filho “Maracana” stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on November 27, 2013. — AFP

Altidore and Wambach named US Soccer Athletes of the year CHICAGO: Jozy Altidore, who helped the United States qualify for the 2014 Brazil World Cup, and Abby Wambach, international football’s all-time goal leader, were named US Soccer Athletes of the Year on Wednesday. Altidore, a 24-year-old striker for English Premier League side Sunderland, took the award for the first time while Wambach collected it for a record sixth time in voting carried out half by supporters online and half by a media and US Soccer panel.

Altidore set a US record by scoring in five consecutive matches from June 2 to August 14 and hit a career-best eight goals in 2013 - three of them matchwinners in World Cup qualifying games.

Altidore, who has 21 goals in 66 career US caps, scored 31 goals last season for

Dutch club AZ Alkmaar, including the winner in the Dutch Cup final, before joining Sunderland. Wambach, last year’s FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year, won the award for the third time in the past four years and broke the old mark of five player-of-the-year awards she shared with US icon Mia Hamm.

In June, Wambach scored four goals in a 5-0 rout of South Korea to give her 160 career goals, breaking the all-time record for international goals by any man or woman, held by Hamm with 158.

Wambach, who helped the Americans capture Olympic gold last year at London, led the US women this year with 11 goals and also netted 11 goals for the Western New York Flash, runners-up in the first season of the National Women’s Soccer League.— AFP

SAO PAULO: Part of the stadium that will host the 2014 World Cup opener collapsed Wednesday, killing two workers and aggravating already urgent concerns Brazil won’t be ready for soccer’s signature tournament. The accident at the Arena Corinthians, known locally as the Itaquerao, could hardly have come at a worse time - just a week ahead of the draw that will determine the tournament’s schedule and with the top names in soccer all descending on Brazil.

Preparations have been plagued by setbacks including cost overruns, stadium delays, accidents, labor strife and huge street protests in the run-up to the June tournament, once envisioned as a coming out party for South America’s largest nation, which is also scheduled to host the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Already, public prosecutors and a workers union in Sao Paulo were demanding an investigation into conditions at the venue, saying work shouldn’t resume until authorities deem the stadium safe.

Ricardo Trade, CEO of the local World Cup organizing committee, said authorities would determine if there is a need to suspend construction. “There are seven months till the World Cup, not 10 days, so I don’t believe this is going to cause delays. But there is absolutely no guarantee on this,” Trade said in a telephone interview. The accident could lead to recriminations between local organizers and world soccer’s organization FIFA, which has set a December deadline for all 12 World Cup stadiums to be ready. The tournament begins June 12.

“I don’t want to know about FIFA right now; we are worried about the families of the victims,” said Andres Sanchez, former president of the Sao Paulo soccer club Corinthians, which is building the stadium. The club said workers will not return before a three-day mourning period. The stadium was nearly finished before the collapse, which occurred when a construction crane crashed into a 500ton metal structure.

That structure then cut through the outer walls of the venue, destroying part of the outside of the building and slamming into a giant LED panel that runs across the stadium’s facade. Sanchez said it appeared the structure of the stadium was not compromised, meaning there should be enough time to recover before the World Cup. “Structurally very little was affected,” he said.

Six stadiums have already been declared ready for the games. But Brazil is racing against time to deliver the other six, and there is particular concern that the stadiums in Cuiaba, Manaus and Curitiba may not be ready by the end of December. FIFA has said it would not accept the same delays that plagued stadium construction before soccer’s Confederations Cup earlier this year, for which only two stadiums were ready on time.

Soccer’s governing body said Wednesday that the “safety of workers is the top priority” to World Cup organizers and called on local authorities to “fully investigate the reasons behind such a tragic accident.” The Sao Paulo stadium, which cost nearly $360 million, will seat nearly 70,000 people. —AP

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013

Real defense still a concern for Ancelotti Page 45

www.kuwaittimes.net

OKLAHOMA: Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka (left) blocks a shot by San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker (9) in the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game on Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013. — AP

Thunder sting

Spurs to snap winning streak Page 44