12th Dec 2013

CR IP TI ON BS SU

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

Pope Francis named Time Person of the Year

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10Supersonic 19 daredevil Exclusive interview with free-falling Felix

By Abd Al Rahman Al-Alyan Editor-in-Chief

KUWAIT: Daredevil Felix Baumgarnter meets Kuwait Times Editor-in-Chief Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan at the Kuwait Times offices yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

No need to magnify Iran danger: Premier

KUWAIT: In an exclusive interview with Kuwait Times, daredevil Felix Baumgarnter recounts his epic Red Bull Stratos skydive, the techniques he used to overcome claustrophobia and that single spectacular moment when he stood at the edge of space.

Baumgartner is visiting Kuwait as part of a world tour marking the first anniversary of his leap to Earth.

On Oct 14, 2012, Baumgarnter became the first person to reach the speed of sound in a free fall from the earth’s stratosphere without the aid of a vehicle. It took the skydiver more than 2.5 hours to reach the target altitude - a height of 39 km above the earth’s surface in a helium balloon.

Baumgartner then stepped from the pressurized capsule and plunged to earth, hitting an estimated speed of 1357.64 km/h, or Mach 1.25, and went supersonic. The free fall lasted 4 minutes and 20 seconds, while the dive in total from the edge of space took about nine minutes.

The record-breaking jump happened exactly 65 years after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier while flying an experimental rocket-powered airplane.

The 44-year-old Austrian skydiving expert also broke two other world records (highest freefall and highest manned balloon flight), leaving the one for the longest freefall to project mentor Col Joe

Max 17º Min 06º High Tide 05:52 & 18:57 Low Tide 00:10 & 12:27

Kittinger.

Baumgartner spent five years preparing for the dive, including an intensive training program, research and development, assembling the team and repeated testing. He met with fans and media at 360 Mall yesterday and spoke with the press at a press conference yesterday evening.

But earlier in the day, during a visit to the Kuwait Times newspaper offices, Baumgartner spoke about the five years of planning that led up to his superhuman feat.

KT: What was the biggest challenge you faced at the start?

Baumgartner: The first challenge was bringing together the team. Many of the guys were ex military and air force and didn’t respect me at first. They thought here’s this base jumper teamed up with an energy drink manufacturer. And they didn’t like it in the beginning - they had been working on this - breaking the sound barrier - since the 1960s. But after some time, they could see how professional Red Bull and I were and how focused we were on safety.

We set up a whole space program and did a lot of testing - two unmanned launches and low and high altitude jumps. By telling the guys what our angle of approach was, they could see that we were serious...but it took a while for them to see what we were trying to accomplish.

Full interview on Page 2

GCC wants militias out of Syria, hails Iran shift

Kuwait fully backs Saudi Arabia

By B Izzak KUWAIT: Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah said yesterday that Kuwait solidly backs Saudi Arabia over the Iranian danger in the region but said the so-called Iranian danger should not be magnified. “We and Saudi Arabia complement each other.

We may be considered as one side in this issue but we should not inflate this danger (from Iran),” the premier told reporters in response to a question about if Kuwait was mediating between Saudi Arabia and Iran. He however insisted that the most important factor was to keep “our domestic front strong and in total solidarity”.

The prime minister said that the final communique of the GCC summit

was very clear towards Iran which is a neighbouring country and “we hope that ties with it will be good”. Sheikh Jaber was responding to a question about reports that said the positions of the six-GCC states towards Iran were not unanimous. He said that Kuwait does not have many differences with Iran “but we belong to the GCC and we are with all the GCC states in this issue”.

The premier said that the issue of GCC states taking part in negotiations between Iran and Western powers over Tehran’s nuclear program is “premature and all parties must approve this”.

Sheikh Jaber said the unified military command established by the GCC leaders is an advanced stage over the GCC Peninsula Shield forces because it includes naval and air forces.

Mom, son dead in Farwaniya inferno

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: A woman and her child died and nearly 80 people were injured in a fire that gutted a 13-storey building in Farwaniya Tuesday night. Preliminary investigations indicate that the fire started in the basement used to store food and flammable objects illegally, and

moved upwards quickly due to winds.

Sixty firefighters from 8 fire stations headed to the scene after an emergency call was made at 8:58 pm. They were divided into teams that tackled the flames while others handled rescue missions to save between 230 and 240 residents in the building.

Continued on Page 13

KUWAIT: Firemen evacuate a child from a burning building in Farwaniya yesterday. (See Page 6)

Joint military command OK’d • Damascus slams interference

KUWAIT: A general view of the last session of the 34th Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Bayan Palace yesterday. — AP KUWAIT: Gulf Arab states demanded foreign militias quit Syria and said President Bashar Al-Assad must have no future role yesterday, in a declaration his Iran- and Hezbollah-backed regime denounced as meddling.

Wrapping up a two-day annual summit in Kuwait City, the Gulf Cooperation Council’s leaders welcomed what they described as the new Iranian government’s shift to a positive policy toward the six-nation bloc. The GCC leaders also approved the formation of a joint military command, but postponed a decision on a proposed union.

Adopting a firm stance on Syria, the GCC “strongly condemned the continued genocide that Assad’s regime is committing against the Syrian people using heavy and chemical weapons”. It called “for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Syria,” in a clear reference to Iran-backed Shiite militias from Iraq and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement which are supporting Assad’s troops against Sunni-led rebels.

The GCC backed the opposition National Coalition’s decision to attend a Geneva peace conference, saying the Jan 22 meeting should lead to the formation of a transitional government with extensive executive powers and in which Assad would have no role. “Pillars of the Syrian regime whose hands had been stained by the blood of the Syrian people must have no role in the transitional government or Syria’s political future,” the oil-rich nations said in their summit’s closing statement.

In response, Syria strongly condemned the “inflammatory rhetoric of the Council’s statement on Syria, particularly as countries in the Council... support and practice terrorism”.

Continued on Page13

Spy chief worried by turmoil in Iraq MANAMA: Kuwait is anxious about instability in Iraq and disappointed at its neighbour’s failure to arrest a militia leader who said his group was behind a mortar attack on Saudi Arabia, a Kuwaiti intelligence chief said. Sheikh Thamer Al-Sabah, President of Kuwait’s National Security Bureau intelligence service, said in a rare interview that his working relationships with his counterparts in Iraq, which occupied Kuwait in 1990-91, and Iran needed improvement. Kuwait, a small desert state sitting on 6 percent of global oil reserves, is wedged uneasily between bigger regional powers Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia at the northern end of the Gulf.

Instability in any of the three unnerves Kuwait, possibly more than other small Gulf Arab states, thanks to the decision by then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to invade in Aug 1990.

A US-led coalition expelled Iraq seven months later, but the nation of 3.8 million took years to regain its confidence.

“We are deeply worried ... about the

Sheikh Thamer rapidly growing instability in Iraq,” Sheikh Thamer told Reuters on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue, an annual Gulf security seminar. “After all, Kuwait’s longest borders are with Iraq and any instability will have a direct and a profound impact on us.”

Continued on Page 13

LOCAL

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

Felix is talking to the media during a press conference held in Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel & Spa in Kuwait City yesterday. —Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Daredevil recounts space dive Q and A with Felix Baumgartner Continued from Page 1 KT: What was the biggest challenge you faced at the start?

Baumgartner: The first challenge was bringing together the team. Many of the guys were ex military and air force and didn’t respect me at first. They thought here’s this base jumper teamed up with an energy drink manufacturer. And they didn’t like it in the beginning - they had been working on this - breaking the sound barrier - since the 1960s. But after some time, they could see how professional Red Bull and I were and how focused we were on safety.

We set up a whole space program and did a lot of testing two unmanned launches and low and high altitude jumps. By telling the guys what our angle of approach was, they could see that we were serious...but it took a while for them to see what we were trying to accomplish.

The dreaded spin We also thought a lot about problems that could happen like flat spinning. Flat spinning is when you enter a level at high speed and pretty much become asymmetric. You start to spin and if you start to spin really violently, the blood will leave your eyeballs and your neck can snap. We developed a drogue shoot system that I could use in an emergency to save my life. That in fact did happen in Red Bull Stratos jump. Even with all the test jumps -you know you can probably spin as is no protocol for this.

No one has ever been in such a situation.

[Almost a minute into the dive, Baumgartner went into an uncontrolled spin]. But I was able with pure skydiving skills to stop the spinning by moving my arms and legs around to make up for the asymmetric position. I stayed cool and determined and did not freak out.

KT: What was some of the knowledge gained from the Red Bull Stratos experience?

Baumgartner: For one thing, we proved the next generation of space suits. We proved that the next generation of space suits are reliable and can survive supersonic speeds. [The pressurized space suit was especially designed for Baumgartner’s dive.]

Fighting the fear KT: How did you keep yourself calm? How do you not panic?

Baumgartner: That’s my job. I’ve been skydiving since I was 16 years old. Every time I skydived, I put myself in a dangerous situation and you develop a lot of skills. I was able to do this and survive. Fear is always there. I always had fear. Like when I was standing on the right arm of Jesus (in Brazil) or crossing the English Channel with a wing on my back - it makes you concentrated and focused. You have to make sure that fear is never going to turn into panic. Panic means you are out of control, and at that point, you are not going to make the right decisions and it’s not going to turn out well.

But as long as you are able to control your fear, you’ll perform well. I had so much experience from all those years, so the more you do things like this the more you develop self confidence.

When I started to rotate, I knew this was not good but we had planned for this and I knew I had to get it under control. I was never under the impression I might die because we had developed a rescue system. But I wanted to get out of it myself with my skydiving skills and I was able to do so.

Research and development Anyway, this is not how Red Bull and I work. We’re not going to take chances with someone’s life, putting this on TV. That’s one of the reasons we took so long. In five years, we had to develop so many things. Just look at the camera development - we were going to use these cameras in space and it’s a vacuum and lots of issues like heat dissipation. The cooling system for the cameras took six months to develop. But by the time we were ready, there were new cameras on the market and so we bought the new cameras and the new cameras had a different temperature environment and we had to go back and develop a new cooling system to fit those cameras.

But if you look at the footage right now and all those amazing photos - we made the right decision. Red Bull wanted to strap people into the seat right at the edge of space. We wanted people to see what I could see. And we did it.

Kuwait Times Editor-in-Chief Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan (left) is seen talking to Felix at the Kuwait Times office yesterday. you want as much protection as you can have. Now I pulled myself outside of the capsule and this was a very hard pull because I had almost twice my normal weight and my heartbeat jumped from 130 beats to 186 almost instantly because I’d been sitting in the capsule for the whole ascent without moving.

When I was outside, I enjoyed it because we had been working so hard for five years to lead up to just this one moment. I wish I would have been able to enjoy the moment longer because of five years of preparation - maybe 25 years of preparation because everything I’ve done since I did my first skydive led up to this moment.

That singular moment So now I wish I could have enjoyed that moment a lot longer but I only had 10 seconds because as soon as I disconnected my oxygen hoses from the onboard system, I could only breathe oxygen from my bailout bottles and they only provide oxygen for 10 minutes. It’s a long way home and you do not want to screw around with your oxygen.

So I took a deep breath. I always call this my breathing moment. I know at this moment that I’m in a unique spot - no one else has ever been here before. But you also know that if you do this one step forward, you will never come back to this place again. This is the only and last time.

All the test jumps before, we did two - one from 20 km and one from 30 km - and every time I did this, I thought ‘I will be back soon, just higher, but I will come back’. But this time I knew this is the last and only time. So I enjoyed it for a moment.

Free fall from the edge KT: How was the fall itself?

Baumgartner: Then it was back to business. Because you are so focused and so aware and even though you have done a lot of testing, this is still a step into the unknown. Because nobody could provide the answer - what will happen if you break the speed of sound? This was unknown - from a physical standpoint, from a medical standpoint, from an aerodynamic standpoint. So now it’s on you to find out by putting your life at risk.

But then I took the step forward. I was aware that I had a lot to do. Once the spin started, I had a lot to do to stop it. So I was really busy. But once I stopped that spin, I never lost stability again and then I had time to enjoy because for the last four or five minutes, there is not much to do. I stopped that spin and went into a tracking position and then I had another four or five minutes to enjoy the view and I was talking to Joe Kittinger and mission control, telling them I was OK. So it’s a combination of being completely focused and having a couple of seconds to enjoy that

moment and then being extremely busy and then enjoying it again. So it was like up and down.

The suit scare KT: What was the thing that most surprised you? What did you come out of it saying ‘I didn’t expect that.’

Baumgartner: Having a suit problem. Because normally when they put a suit on you, within the first 15 minutes they will find out and you will find out if you can handle the suit or not.

Most people freak out in a suit because it’s very claustrophobic. If you lock the visor, you are completely separated from the outside world. All you can hear is your breathing. Image listening to your breathing for six hours and that’s all you can hear. It takes a lot of force to breath inside a pressure suit and you feel like you’re not getting enough air and it adds up. At 50 minutes I could always handle it. I didn’t feel good but I was fighting my way through it.

But then later on I had to be in the suit for six hours to prove to all the scientists that I could do it for six hours three times in a row.

I always knew I could not handle this and I should have addressed this problem way earlier to my team but I was too embarrassed. And I was always sure that one day I would be inside the suit and the feeling would be gone and everything would be OK but that day never came.

And now we’re right before the test and I still knew I could not handle the situation, so I bought a ticket and flew home to Austria because I needed to surround myself with people that I know - my girlfriend and my mother. I called the team and told them I was bailing out - that I cannot do it. I was completely weak at that moment. I couldn’t find a solution in Austria so I went back to the States and they found a psychiatrist and it took us three weeks and lots of good conversations and he gave me some basic mental tools to overcome the problem. And in three weeks, I went from 50 minutes inside the suit to six hours without having a problem at all.

And this was the main thing that I learned.

You think you cannot overcome a hurdle. I have never needed anyone in my whole life to overcome a hurdle. If there was a problem, I always found a solution. This was the first time. It took me to reach 42 to figure out that I needed to have someone give me advice because I could not help myself on my own. And for me this was the biggest lesson because in three weeks, someone can change your mind 180 degrees - from “hey I cannot be in this suit” to “six hours no problem”.

KT: What were some of the techniques? Can you give an example?

KUWAIT: Daredevil Felix Baumgarnter is seen in front of the Kuwait Towers during his visit to Kuwait as part of a world tour marking the first anniversary of his leap to Earth.

KT: What was the first thing you did afterwards?

Baumgartner: Since I have done the jump, I’m on the road.

Talking to millions of people - schools, universities, celebrities, royals, leaders, etc.

KT: What will you do next?

Baumgartner: I’m officially retired from the daredevil business. I want to put my skills to public service. I’m a licensed commercial helicopter pilot.

KT: Describe how it felt, that moment at the edge of space?

Baumgartner: When I was climbing outside the capsule, this was the unique moment for me. Because when you are inside the capsule, you have double protection. Number one is your suit which is pressurized and number two is the capsule itself (also pressurized).

I went through a 40-step procedure to get out of the capsule in a very safe way using the least amount of energy. Because if I had to fight my way out, I would have been standing there out of breath and would’ve used up a lot of oxygen and would be unfocused. Having a pressurized capsule is way more weight, way more complicated and way more money but we needed double protection. But as soon as you depressurize the capsule, you lose 50 percent of your protection. So now something is going on in your mind because now I know that my whole life depends on my pressure suit and if that fails, I die within 15 seconds.

KT: So you’re basically on a clock at that point?

Baumgartner: Yes. You’re on a clock and it’s like I just gave away 50 percent of my protection and it’s kind of scary because

Baumgartner:: It’s nothing special. Not hypnosis, but a lot of self talking. You need to breathe. You can breathe fear away. Do it a couple of times and you feel better already just by breathing.

That is why when you have to make an important decision, you take a deep breath, you think twice and it helps. Then the second thing was always to you have to change the way you think about the suit. Right now you see the suit as your enemy and you have to change that. You’re the only guy in the world that has a customized pressure suit. Astronauts choose from three sizes and then the suit is adjusted, but this suit is made especially for you.

So if you look at the suit, it makes you look like a hero. And normally you’re not allowed to go there - to 39 km. But the suit allows you to go there. So it’s your friend because you need that suit up there.

The psychiatrist set up a mirror and dressed me in the suit and explained to me to rethink the way I saw the suit. To look in the mirror and see how cool I look in that suit. I looked like a total hero. If you dress nice, you feel proud. I talked to actors and they always say if you are wearing a knight’s costume and armor, or a uniform of a cop or a king and it fits you and makes you feel proud, you behave proud. With a lot of things like this, he was trying to change my mind and it worked.

This was the most difficult challenge to overcome my fear.

KT: What was your diet for the dive?

Baumgartner: You really have to watch your diet if you go to space. I had dinner with Neil Armstrong before he died. Pretty much all the astronauts have steak and eggs before they go into space. You have to eat prior to being put in the suits and I was sitting there at 1 am in the morning looking at my steak and eggs and it was impossible and when I’m nervous, I don’t really eat that much. But in the days leading up to the Red Bull Stratos dive, we would go to the same restaurant and I ate salmon and rice.

Felix’ leap the whole world witnessed.

KT: What do you think of Kuwait?

Baumgartner: This is my first time in Kuwait. It’s amazing. I learned a little about its history and people have been really friendly and I had no idea how Kuwait would look like. It’s very modern. Girls are really shy. I’ve taken so many pictures this last year but here girls stand one meter away. Usually the girls are right next to you but here they stand away a bit. It’s great, I like it here.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

LOCAL

MP demands action against Christmas celebrations ‘Strange to Islamic society’

By A Saleh

Zain sponsors young Arab entrepreneurs competition KUWAIT: Zain, the leading telecommunications company in Kuwait, hailed its Golden Sponsorship of the 7th annual INJAZ AlArab Young Arab Entrepreneurs Competition, which took place on Dec 4, a success. The competition this year was hosted in Kuwait for the first time and was organized in collaboration with the Ministry for Youth Affairs. The awards ceremony was held at the Regency Hotel under the patronage of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and was attended by Sheikh Salman Sabah Salem Al-Humoud Al-Sabah, Minister of Information and Minister of State for Youth Affairs.

During the awards ceremony, Bader AlKharafi, member of the Board of Directors of Zain Group presented well deserved awards to high school and university students who had submitted innovative projects from 14 Arab countries. Zain’s sponsorship of this major event is in line with the company’s corporate social responsibility strategy that firmly commits to educate and support students from the Arab world to achieve their aspirations. Commenting on Zain’s participation, Bader Al-Kharafi member of the Board of Directors of Zain Group said: “Zain is constantly striving to provide the perfect environment to improve the outlook of youth in the communities in which it operates, and the winners to the competition

were selected following the careful review of their submissions against a range of different business criteria.

The objective of the INJAZ Al-Arab Young Arab Entrepreneurs Competition is very similar to Zain’s CSR objectives when it comes to the youth sector. Both institutions aim to give youth the chance to grow and prosper into the business world”. The competition was designed to educate high school and university students on how to identify opportunities in the market and laterally launch their products after conducting in-depth research and studies.

The INJAZ Al-Arab Young Arab Entrepreneurs Competition is an annual regional event organized by INJAZ, one of the largest mentoring institutions of its kind in the region. By entering the competition students benefit from experiencing the real-life processes of establishing a business in a safe environment. This is designed to help build their confidence in business, enhance their personal skills, and develop their talents.

Al-Kharafi emphasized that Zain will continue to support young people on the local and international level, and is keen to prepare a generation of youth who can manage business efficiently, and the company looks forward to continuing its involvement in youth activities as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility Program.

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Red Crescent Society announced yesterday that a tenth convoy of humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees is set to be sent to Jordan next Saturday. The shipment includes 20 tons of dates and 20 tons of blankets carried by four trucks.

Minister rewards injured officer after lawsuit denied KUWAIT: A police officer was rewarded and given a medical leave for rest after the interior minister learned about his case which involved being denied permission to file a lawsuit according to a report published by Al-Rai daily yesterday.

The report quotes a ‘senior security source’ who explained the details of the incident. “The lieutenant was approached by a detective working on a domestic dispute case, and asked him to accompany her outside the police station”, the source said without specifying the area where the station is located.

The source who spoke on the condition of anonymity added that the officer reluctantly agreed to go out “and soon found a fight between four people outside the station”. “After he stepped in to break up the fight, the four men escaped while a fifth man inside a car that was parked nearby

drove away and hit the officer in the process”, the source said.

The officer was hospitalized and diagnosed with a broken foot, according to the source. “He believes that the incident was deliberate, so went to press attempted murder charges”, the source said, adding that his request was denied by the police station’s chief, and later by the area’s commander.

According to the sources, the news reached senior ministry officials who then informed Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad AlKhalid Al-Sabah about the incident. “The minister gave orders to grant the officer a leave of absence for treatment, in addition to a reward, while ordered investigation in the case as well as into the reasons why his request to file a lawsuit was rejected”, the source said.

KUWAIT: A tribal lawmaker demanded government action to stop Christmas celebrations in Kuwait, and warned authorities against ‘showing leniency’ in this regard. “Allowing activities that promote occasions that are strange to our Islamic society is ridiculous and an offence to our religious teachings,” MP Hamdan Al-Azmi said in a statement made available to the press yesterday. He demanded action from the Ministry of Commerce to ban local shops from selling Christmas merchandise, and from the Interior Ministry to “monitor camps and chalets during Christmas and New Year”.

Azmi issued a similar statement in October demanding action against shops selling Halloween items which he compared to ‘Satanism’. No action was taken by the authorities to remove Halloween-related items from local shops, however, and several private Halloween parties took place without police

intervention.

In other news, MP Faisal Al-Kandari defended the government’s request to exempt housing projects from prior supervision. The Cabinet made the request during an extraordinary session last week. An official statement on KUNA following the meeting explained that the step under which the Public Authority for Housing Welfare would be exempted from being monitored by the Audit Bureau - would ensure “avoiding prolonged routine procedures, accelerating the construction and distribution of housing projects”. “It is important to show faith in state officials”, Kandari said, adding that removing supervision “helps push work forward especially in the early stages” of housing projects. The lawmaker also pointed out that a similar decision was approved in the parliament in 2008.

Meanwhile, budgets committee chief Adnan Abdulsamad announced that the panel discussed yesterday violations mentioned in the Audit Bureau’s annual report committed by the

Ministry of Education. These include failure to collect KD 850,000 from private universities while spending 87 percent of collected funds on ‘rewards and allowances’, according to Abdulsamad.

Separately, the appeals court reduced an 11year in prison term verdict by the criminal court against activist Huda Al-Ajmi to five years. Ajmi was convicted of offending HH the Amir in remarks posted on her Twitter account.

In other news, the Islamic Constitutional Movement organized a celebration after a court acquitted around 70 people including former lawmakers from charges of storming the parliament building.

ICM Secretary General Dr Nasser Al-Sane as well as former MP Jamaan Al-Harbash said during the event that the ruling proves that the incident reflected ‘a political position’ rather than a criminal act. Opposition figure and former MP Musallam Al-Barrak described the ruling as ‘historic’ which ‘restored faith in the judiciary’.

AUK holds debate on compulsory military service

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: The International Relations Club of the American University of Kuwait (AUK) held a debate on compulsory military service on Tuesday at its premises. Lawyer Wasmi Al-Wasmi explained the negative sides of the law, while MP Osama AlTahous defended it. According to MP Osama AlTahous the compulsory military service is a must.

“The applicant should be able to shoulder responsibility. Article no. 157 of the Kuwaiti constitution says that the security of Kuwait is a trust of each citizen. So how can the citizens carry this trust if they don’t know the basic information about first aid for instance. During the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, most of the resistance groups defending the country were civilians but they had done compulsory military service. We live in unstable area and are surrounded with big countries, and the changing situations can cause danger for us. We need to protect our country,” Tahous said during the debate.

“Many negative problems have increased and spread in our community such as sectarian and tribal segregation. We need the compulsory military service to fight these phenomena,” he added.

Wasmi warned against the draft. “The old law was canceled, as well as scrapping compulsory military service in many countries around the world including the United States. This doesn’t mean that they are not able to defend themselves and don’t have armies. The old law wouldn’t have been scrapped unless they found it’s not useful. The new proposed law has changed the period of service to one year instead of two. It also includes exceptions.

And this point is the most important as any law on compulsory service can’t include exceptions, especially in our community, as we know that most applicants will arrange for the exception. And canceling the old law admits that it was a failed law,” he explained.

“Currently we suffer from unemployment and the country is spending a lot on this. Sixty percent of university graduates are waiting to be employed for more than 6 months. So when we add a year of waiting due to the military service, the period of unemployment will be very long. The penalties in this law is strict - between 3-5 years of imprisonment - so citizens will sign up and those who have wasta will benefit from the exception. This will cost the country hugely, as it already spends KD 15 million on the unemployed, KD 25 million for release from the private sector and KD 5 million for rehabilitation to the labor market,” Wasmi added.

Abdullah Burguba of the AUK gave a presentation against compulsory military service. “In the 1980s, Kuwait was the pearl of Gulf in culture, arts, business, etiquette, infrastructure, football and others. And we had soft power, which is political and military power without physical weapons. Soft power includes culture, arts, media, etiquette and infrastructure, and this power may as strong as hard weapons. And we were pioneers of soft power. The best evidence is the Iraqi invasion, when Kuwait won with soft power including the media and good relations with neighbor countries, while the weapons didn’t help us much as we couldn’t resist the huge Iraqi army,” he pointed out.

The countries surrounding Kuwait have larger populations comparing to Kuwait, he said. “The population of Saudi Arabia is 29 million people, Iraq has 33 million people, Iran has 77 million people, while Kuwait has only 1 million natives. So there is no equality in these figures and Kuwait can never resist such armies. I’m against this law proposal not because of a lack of nationalism, because it will cost the national budget a lot,” stressed

Wasmi Al-Wasmi (left) and Abdullah Burguba

MP Osama Al-Tahous

KUWAIT: A partial view of the audience. — Photos by Joseph Shagra Burguba.

There are more important issues that need to be resolved. “We have very high unemployment.

Reports mentioned that in 2014, Kuwait may face a budget deficit, so why should we add compulsory military service issue to the problems which need to be solved. According to a report issued recently by the Institute of Economy and Peace (IEP) on local stability, Iceland ranked as first out of 162 countries included in the report in stability and

local security, although it doesn’t have an army.

While Iran ranked 128th and it has a huge army, and Saudi Arabia ranked 106th. Developed countries are on top and they don’t have strong military power. We should learn from history - Germany, France and the United Kingdom lost a lot in their wars, while Switzerland didn’t lose even one soldier as they used the soft power policy since they are a small country between bigger and stronger ones,” noted Burguba.

Kuwait’s participation in APA ‘enhances’ ties with Pakistan ISLAMABAD: Kuwaiti Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf Al-Enizi said that the Kuwaiti participation in the 6th Plenary Session of the Asian Parliamentary Association (APA) would further enhance bilateral ties with Pakistan.

Al-Enizi said yesterday that the visit of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber AlMubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah to Pakistan resulted in stronger and more solid political ties between the two countries.

National Assembly Deputy Speaker Mubarak Al- Al-Kurinij has promised Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, after meeting him yesterday, to give all sorts of facilitations to Pakistani businessmen who wish to invest in Kuwait. Al-

Kurinij also lauded the several agreements signed between the two countries that would solidify bilateral ties.

The Kuwaiti envoy added that the volume of trade between Pakistan and Kuwait in 2005-2006 exceeded $1 billion; this number went even higher to hit the $2.3 billion mark in 2010. Al-Enizi noted that back in 2000 the two countries signed Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAA).

Meanwhile, direct Kuwaiti investments in Pakistan for the fiscal years 2003-2004 stood at $4.5 million; however, in 2005 these investments, which cover the sectors of tourism, construction, real-estate and funding services, surged up to $38.5 million. —KUNA

KUWAIT: For the third day in a row, Jahra municipality held an inspection campaign in the camping areas around the Kabd area camps yesterday. The campaign headed by Jahra municipality cleanliness department manager, Mamdouh AL-Najdi resulted in removing 13 mobile grocery outlets, 9 trucks selling charcoal, 5 corn vendors, 4 juice vendors and filing 21 citations for peddlers. — By Hanan Al-Saadoun

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

LOCAL

In my view

In my view

Sacrificing relations

Change must be realistic

By Harun Yahya

Al-Anbaa

By Labeed Abdal

local@kuwaittimes.net

T

here is a lot of debate about the reasons behind lack of implementing Kuwait City renovation projects that include renewing its decades-old streets and bridges. The debate often expands to address lack of renovation in schools, hospitals and ministries’ buildings that have been overcrowded to a point in which corrugated iron sheet offices are built outside some buildings.

Improving educational, health and even entertainment systems are key issues that need to be addressed not for political reasons, such as incidents in which politicians make statements about the need to go ahead with developmental projects during election campaigns, but later turns out that all they made were empty promises.

Change must be realistic, and originates from responsible initiatives that carry a vision of keeping up with global developments. There are major national responsibilities that require making development ambitions into a reality that we can rely on as a train which takes us to the future.

Kuwaitis and many foreigners who love this country are eager to see Kuwait reach that goal. Foreign investors are interested to take part in various investments, including construction, in order to get mutual benefit and profit. In the meantime, the private sector is eager for a chance where companies can work productively through reliable partners.

A lot of hope is put on the development plan, but often faces obstacles which hinder ambitious projects while at the same time allows corruption to continue spreading. In order to change this, the parliament and government are required to put their hands together and provide a glimmer of hope which indicates that Kuwait is taking the right track towards development. This can only be achieved if hidden or personal agendas are put aside to focus on joint work for the common good.

‘Cabinet’, ‘parliament’, ‘cooperation of authorities’ and many others are terms that we hear every day yet with little action seen on the ground. We need a vision based on four main pillars - transparency, responsibility, preciseness and honest initiative - to achieve a reality that every person living on this land aspires to see. There are definitely good days awaiting Kuwait, and a future of a better Kuwait for us, our children, and our people, and which we can all be proud of.

In my view

Madiba’s dreams yet to be fulfilled

By Abdulateef Al-Mulhim

I

n the 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr dreamed a dream at a time when segregation between the whites and the coloreds was the order of the day in various southern states in the US. MLK’s dream became a reality and the he successfully put an end to the dark chapter in the history of the US by using non-violent civil disobedience. His dream was fulfilled when the African-American population was granted civil rights, provided with equal employment and education opportunities and African-Americans started to rise above the poverty line and were seen taking up coveted positions in the civil and military administrations.

The election of an African-American as the president of the United States is a continuation of that dream. MLK was assassinated in 1968. At that time he was well known all over the world. Four years before his death, he was awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize.

Ironically, the Nobel Prize Committee awarded this African-American activist the Nobel Peace Prize at a time when an African anti-apartheid leader was sentenced to life imprisonment. The African prisoner was South Africa’s Nelson Mandela. Like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela had many dreams. Mandela accomplished miracles, but at the end of the day, most of his dreams remained unfulfilled.

Mandela served South Africa but the country did not serve itself. He opened South Africa to the world. It was a country that was boycotted by almost every country in every aspect. South Africa was banned from participating in world events including sports. He paid a very high price. He lost 28 years of his life in prisons.

Finally, he was released and the rest is history. But did South Africa really benefit from the eradication of the cruel system?

It is one of the most advanced countries in Africa and well ahead of many others in science and technology. It is rich in natural resources and is one of the most attractive tourist spots. South Africans enjoy a good democratic system and have a high standard of living. But things are slipping away. Poverty is on the rise even among the white population and diseases like AIDS are widespread. The gap between haves and have-nots is widening. Criminality is on the rise and if the trend continues, it could adversely affect the lucrative tourism and mining industries.

Mandela transformed South Africa from the least respected country in the world to one of the most admired. Freedom and democracy are good for any nation and so are stability and security. Mandela didn’t fight apartheid to see his people suffer from instability.

He gave up his own freedom so that his people could enjoy theirs. At this time of mourning, it is important for South Africans to fulfill the dreams of a man who spent all his life fighting for their freedom.

kuwait digest

A man who defeated vengeance

By Khairallah Khairallah

I

t has been long since the world gave such a level of importance to a man’s death. The attention given to Nelson Mandela’s passing was indeed unusual, especially if we consider the media coverage. It seemed that Mandela was a universal citizen with values that all societies aspire for.

It is a collection of values found in one man who was able before everything else to overcome instinct of revenge that is deep rooted in the human soul.

In the end, there is an agreement that Nelson Mandela was a great man because of his humbleness and ability to overcome all kinds of hate, especially that found within people whose lives revolve around their vengeful desires.

Mandela learned how to rise above revenge, and was therefore able to maintain South Africa as a living state - a country capable of achieving development in all fields and becoming an economic force in the world.

Unlike many leaders in the Arab and Third World, Mandela did not come out of jail to practice violence against those who deprived him from freedom. Twenty seven years in jail is a period enough to destroy any person. The importance of Nelson Mandela, or ‘Madiba’ as known by his people, lies in the fact that he became stronger than the jail and the executor, and was able to defeat both.

What is more important than that is that ‘Madiba’ - being a true educated man and a true human being - realized that the future of his country is connected to rising above injustice, and abandoning vengeful feelings. He realized that national reconciliation was the future of South Africa. He focused on ending apartheid, instead of ending diversity in the South African society. He understood quickly that South Africa’s wealth was in its diversity - in blacks and whites, in Christians, Muslims and Jews. He created the second independence of his county with a white man named Frederik Willem de Klerk.

De Klerk had a great sense of humanity and vision. He realized that his country had no future linked to apartheid, and that racial discrimination must be broken. Therefore, he agreed on the historical reconciliation with the majority, the black community. He made the right choice when he picked the best man to carry out a reconciliation that brings justice to everyone involved. ‘Madiba’ was qualified for this historical mission that allowed South Africa to maintain the cohesion of its society and strength of its economy.

Mandela’s genius was in his commitment to preserve social diversity away from discrimination. He did not commit Robert Mugabe’s mistake in Zimbabwe. Mugabe mistreated whites who stayed in Zimbabwe following independence, and the biggest loser was Zimbabwe. Mugabe drove Zimbabwe to poverty in order to stay in power. Mandela never had such way of thinking - he was above power, making him more superior than the rest and allowing him to be known in history as an exceptional man in every sense of the word.

Mandela did not commit the same mistakes committed

by Arab leaders who deliberately drove their countries to poverty. He understood the meaning of diversity and the need to protect it in society. He did not chose nationalization like Gamal Abdel Nasser did in Egypt. Abdel Nasser forced Egyptians who were capable to give to their country out of Egypt in addition to foreign minorities, especially after he nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956. Egypt became nothing like anything it ever was, or anything civilized in the world after foreign minorities were driven out of it. These minorities were an inseparable part of Egypt’s society. This was never understood by Abdel Nasser, a man who came from a military background, becoming a model of the military man who came from the countryside with vengeance against everything that symbolizes the city.

Mandela did not do what the Baath party did to Syria.

Baathists drove Syrians to poverty in order to keep them under control, en route to Hafiz Al-Assad’s assumption of power after which he expelled every Syrian capable of serving his country. Hafiz Al-Assad, who can be seen as the opposite of Mandela, exacted revenge against everyone who helped him reach power, regardless of whether they were guilty or not. Revenge was his main interest. He took revenge on Salah Jadid, Nour Addine Al-Atasi, Mohammad Omran and others. In the end, he took revenge on all of Syria.

Saddam Hussein was not better - he as well gave revenge top priority. He began his rule in 1979 by taking revenge on his fellow Baathists, whom he executed one by one.

Mandela was a different man. He supported the Palestinian cause, and stood by Yasser Arafat when many had abandoned him. He was an honest man who not only helped his citizens out of discrimination, but warned them from practicing it. He refused to marginalize anyone. He was a human being before anything else. In the end, he did not push away any foreigner or South African citizen. He preserved South Africa, as simple as that. He became the headline of a second independence of a country where there is no future for whites without blacks, or for blacks without whites regardless of religion or social class. Is it too much for the world to honor a man who knew how to protect his country, and take revenge from revenge itself?

There is no doubt that we need an Arab Mandela, a man who realizes that there is no place for vengeance among the greats. King Hussein of Jordan was like that, as he rose above the idea of revenge and forgave those who offended him, even those who attempted to assassinate him. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates was like that. He built a great country through tolerance and reconciliation between people and their rulers, and through protecting every human being living in the UAE. Reading through the biography of those two men, as well as that of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri gives us hope about the Arab future which needs today more than any other time a person who at least has some of Nelson Mandela’s characteristics. - Al-Rai

R

ealpolitik is not based on moral or ideological principles, rather it is a system of politics that is based on “material” factors and considerations. In global politics, countries seek closer ties with one another purely for material gains like access to natural resources, trade routes or for strategic military alliance. It is usually seen that such bonds are very weak. In case one partner is destabilized due to any given reason, the other either turns its back or seeks ways to exploit the situation to its advantage.

Divine teachings stress on the need to make peace with others and “to love thy neighbor”. This approach adds an entirely different dimension to the bonds between countries or individuals. This system does not require any maneuvering as political exigencies take a backseat. Unlike the former system, the latter promotes a fraternal bond or brotherhood.

Political maneuvering based purely on circumstances and material conditions only yield temporary success, as a result of which most of the times only a handful of people are pleased and the rest almost always remain discontent. Political maneuvering only saves the day, and cannot prevent likely future catastrophes. Brotherhood, however, requires you to stand by your brother in good times and bad.

In other words, one has to weather the storm with his brother.

Turkey’s concerns over the situation in Egypt stems from a similar bond that exists between the two countries. The current turmoil in Egypt is a grim reminder of the days of political upheaval in Turkey.

We have gone through a similar phase in our history.

Egypt is passing through a crucial phase and needs brotherly advice. Unfortunately, some recent remarks from the Turkish side did not go down well with the Egyptian authorities and led to the expulsion of Turkish envoy from Cairo. Whatever happened between the two brotherly countries was indeed sad. It is imperative to devise a strategy to resolve the issue without wasting time.

It is high time Ankara adopted a policy that is acceptable to all the Egyptian people. It should act as a conciliator rather than a partisan. One has to be fair enough while considering the situation in Egypt.

If Ankara wants pro-Morsi elements to be part of a democratic disposition, it should also consider the valid fears expressed by the opposite camp. The anti-Morsi elements fear radicalization of an otherwise liberal Egyptian society under Morsi or his likes.

After all, this was the major factor that led to the failure of democracy in Egypt within a year. The Morsi regime tried various reforms, but what was expected was far more profound and deep-rooted change. True “freedom” would have pleased the Egyptians, who did not, and still do not, want that extremist mindset as the ideology governing their society. A country can never fight extremist tendencies by adopting coercive measures. Such steps only aggravate the situation and deepen the divide.

There is only one solution to this problem: Education.

Only a suitable education policy can help any country to fight extremism. Turkey could prove to be very helpful in this regard given its past experiences and current achievements. Turkey must show that Islam is a faith of freedom and democracy, that it encourages arts and science and the solution in true Islam is genuine and permanent peace, rather than conflict. It must start to do that by reconciling the two sides. Turkey is not a perfect country, but its historic intermediary role means that it has to become involved. Turkey must stand with Egypt as a brother, as a part of it; and this support should not be based on political exigencies.

The Saudi ambassador left Egypt in an undesired political gambit, but brotherhood is never compromised by political gambits. The ties between the two countries have always remained unharmed by similar crisis in the past. The two sides should not allow the current situation harm the eternal bond. Turkey must seek to embrace all the people of Egypt and their aspirations.

In my view

Mandela legacy in Palestine

By Osama Al-Sharif

P

alestinians marked the death of South African leader Nelson Mandela by remembering the great man’s indefatigable support for their struggle to end Israeli occupation and establish their own independent state. And US Secretary of State John Kerry urged both sides to take inspiration from Mandela in ongoing peace talks as he rounded up another visit to the region. In fact as the world celebrated Mandela’s life and achievements, many Palestinians wondered why their decadesold sacrifices for liberation and freedom against a regime that is as bad as South Africa’s apartheid state had failed.

At one point Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin appeared to be repeating the successful historical reconciliation between Mandela and F W de Klerk that ended decades of racial confrontations in South Africa. But Rabin was assassinated in 1995 and the Oslo Accords were neutralized by his hardline successors. Attempts to conclude a final peace treaty between the Palestinians and Israelis collapsed in Camp David in 2000, and the following years were marked by tragedy, violence and political failures.

Arafat himself died under suspicious circumstances in 2004 and with his departure, the historic moment that was inspired

by Mandela’s release and triumph dissipated forever. Mandela and Arafat faced similar challenges in their early lives. Both had to decide how to deal with injustice that had befallen their people. Arafat launched the national liberation movement that gave the Palestinians a sense of purpose and belonging. Mandela joined the ranks of the African National Congress (ANC), opting at first for peaceful resistance against the apartheid regime of the white minority, but later deciding to resort to violence. His arrest and subsequent sentence to life imprisonment in the 1960s sidelined him, but the national struggle continued as a new generation of black South African leaders took over. He later became the symbol of his people’s fight for justice and libera-

tion. Arafat’s path was different. He turned the PLO into an umbrella organization for all Palestinian groups fighting against Israeli occupation. But he was moving farther away from Palestine - to Amman, Beirut, Yemen and Tunis. Israel accused him and the PLO of terrorism. The Palestinian cause was embroiled in inter-Arab confrontations of the 1960s and ‘70s. He was forced to choose sides and he paid for grave miscalculations like when he supported Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Despite growing international sympathy for the Palestinian cause, exemplified in numerous UN resolutions, Arafat was unable to turn the world community against Israel. He realized that he was fighting the US as well as Israel. The Palestinian issue was at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict, which saw three major wars in addition to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

But in later years and after the US recognized the PLO the political momentum changed dramatically.

Arafat renounced violence and gave up armed struggle in exchange for Israeli recognition and the beginning of years of painstaking peace negotiations under US auspices. Mandela’s success is due to three major factors - his personal strength and refusal to compromise with the apartheid regime, the unabated struggle for freedom that the black majority and their leaders carried on for many years and the fact that the world community imposed political and economic sanctions against the Pretoria government that finally brought the regime to its knees. The culmination of these factors produced that historical moment when de Klerk decided to release Mandela without conditions, paving the way for the ultimate collapse of the apartheid system in South Africa.

Arafat had said repeatedly that he wanted to make “a peace of the brave” with his mortal enemies. After the first intifada, Rabin and Shimon Peres understood that Israel’s occupation of

the Palestinians couldn’t go on any more and that a deal must be struck. Arafat was the only Palestinian leader who could make such a deal. Both sides reached an agreement in Oslo, which was later signed in Washington.

While white South Africa was ready for change, Israel was not. Rabin’s assassination was followed by major political shifts in Israel. Hardliners, such as Benjamin Netanyahu and Ariel Sharon, who were against the creation of an independent Palestinian state, had taken over. In the following years, most of the agreements that were reached in Oslo and Washington fell apart. The US, now fighting international terrorism, sided with Israel, which reoccupied the West Bank and besieged Arafat in his Ramallah compound. In the end, Arafat was abandoned by the US, forgotten by the world and he died feeling betrayed by all.

Today the Palestinians are engaged in dubious negotiations with Israel hosted by the Americans. They have failed to stop Israel’s settlement activities and now they face a humiliating deal that cancels the right of return of millions of refugees, leaves most illegal settlements in the West Bank under Israeli control, gives them token access to East Jerusalem, hands control of their airspace to their enemies and prevents them from running territories in the Jordan Valley. The Palestinians are alone, again, and their leadership is under US pressure to accept such shameful conditions. If the deal goes through, it will be a complete victory for Israel - a reward for its occupation and crimes against the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian struggle veered off course many years ago.

Arafat realized this only too late. There must be another option for the Palestinians, one that reinstates them as victims being subjected to an unjust and humiliating deal. If the legacy of Mandela is to survive in Palestine today, the Palestinians must renew their belief in their just cause and rekindle the will to struggle for their freedom.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

LOCAL

Students cancel musical segment at KU event Rift over ‘prohibited’ instruments KUWAIT: A Kuwait University student group called off a musical segment during an event on campus Monday because it contained playing ‘musical instruments prohibited under Islamic sharia’. This was reported by AlQabas daily yesterday quoting a member of the Students Society in the Faculty of Social Studies. “The event was organized by the society as part of humanitarian week activities inside the faculty,” said the student who requested to stay unnamed in the report.

He indicated that society members interrupted the musical segment as soon as the band members started playing, saying that it contained instruments such as keyboards that are considered prohibited under extreme religious interpretations.

Al-Qabas suggested in the report that the students society in the Faculty of Social Studies is ‘a subsidiar y of the Muslim Brotherhood’. The pan-Arab party has no official representation in Kuwait, but the Islamic KUWAIT: The Commercial Bank of Kuwait sponsored a beach cleaning campaign organized recently by the Environmental Voluntary Foundation featuring public and private school students.

6,000 power plant staff denied bonus KUWAIT: A health ministry department rejected an appeal by 6,000 employees working in seven power plants around the country who say that they are eligible to a special bonus paid to those “working under extreme conditions”. This was reported by Al-Rai daily which quoted Ministry of Electricity and Water sources who said that the decision “kills the hopes of workers at power generating and water desalination plants” and “ignores all efforts taken in this regard since 2007”.

The rejection came from the ‘Occupational Health Department’ which has been in contact with the MEW and the Public Institution for Social Security about the workers’ demands. “We were shocked by the report that lacked technical, professional and realistic standards that define the international classification for hard labor,” read a statement released by the labor union at the MEW.

The statement further indicates that the union plans to ‘follow up’ the case “in order to learn the reasons based on which the department said that the workers were not eligible for the hard labor allowance”.

Labor unions in state departments had resorted to strikes in the past as a way to push demands that include salary increases and additional bonuses. In 2012, the Kuwait customs union staged a strike to press financial demands which paralyzed traffic at Kuwait’s main ports and halted oil shipments, while a simultaneous strike by Kuwait Airways employees forced several flight cancelations.

Several unions joined forces afterwards in a wave of strikes that was essentially sparked by the government’s decision to increase salaries of oil sector workers at a cost of more than $500 million a year, bowing to strike threats in the key revenue earning sector.

KUWAIT: Emad Al-Ablani, NBK Deputy General Manager, Human Resources Group and Donald Bates, President of GUST during their visit to NBK’s booth in the job fair forum.

NBK offers exciting job opportunities to Kuwaitis KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) participated yesterday in the Job Fair Forum at Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST).

The Job Fair forum started yesterday and will be concluded today. NBK’s participation comes in line with its commitment to attract ambitious young nationals.

NBK will continue its efforts to provide career and training opportunities for nationals and to support the country’s aim to encourage young Kuwaitis to assume

roles in the private sector.

NBK provides training opportunities for nationals and new recruits. Annually, NBK offers training programs for nationals and organizes executive training programs in line with the bank’s commitment to developing and investing in its key resource and human capital.

GUST Job Fair forum is tailored for talented youth to benefit in meeting with employers under one roof while identifying the needs of the labor market.

Kuwait, Egypt ink scientific cooperation protocol CAIRO: Kuwaiti Minister of Justice and Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Shareeda Al-Mousherji and Egyptian Minister of Awqaf Dr Mohammad Mukhtar Gomaa signed here a joint cooperation protocol in the field of scientific and cultural communication and interaction.

The signing ceremony took place Tuesday night during a symposium, entitled “Zakat’s role in meeting basic needs of the poor”, organized by Egypt’s Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs. The lectors at the event included Minister Al-Mousherji, Minister Gomaa, Grand Mufti of Egypt Shawki Allam, and Al-Azhar’s Undersecretary Abbas Shoman.

The cooperation protocol aims to build on current cooperation between the ministries of Awqaf and Islamic affairs in the two countries, Minister Al-Mousherji said following the symposium.

The protocol reflects mutual keenness to coordinate stances and exchange expertise in various areas, specifically advocacy organizations affiliated with ministries of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs in Kuwait and Egypt, added the Kuwaiti minister.

In addition, he noted that executive pro-

cedures are to follow to accelerate attainment of terms of the cooperation agreement, ultimately expanding scope of cooperation between the two countries.

For his part, Minister Gomaa stressed importance of continuation of Egypt-Kuwait cooperation on issues in many areas, especially culture and scientific work, pointing out at the same time the significant role of the Kuwaiti ministry of Awqaf in serving issues of the Islamic Ummah, and its contributing to efforts aimed at finding solutions for social and scientific problems that face most Islamic societies.

In his remarks to KUNA, he further noted that the new protocol will contribute in developing and improving efforts on issues of Islamic advocacy. He pointed out that there already is comprehensive coordination between the Kuwaiti and Egyptian ministries of Awqaf on several issues at present.

Moreover, the Egyptian minister lauded the positive role played by Kuwaiti office for philanthropic projects, affiliated with Kuwait’s Zakat House, in serving the Egyptian society. He said Kuwaiti philanthropic projects have reached those in need in the majority of Egypt’s regions. — KUNA

Constitution Movement is widely considered to be its political arm in the state.

The liberal newspaper quoted students who commented on the incidents with statements that described it as “control of extremist ideology” and “regression of freedom”, while some students demanded KU management intervention.

Meanwhile, the same report also revealed that the political club which operates under the National Union of Kuwait StudentsKuwait University Branch turned down applications submitted by female students who wished to take part in a cultural trip to the European Parliament.

According to Al-Qabas, members of the club insisted that every female student was supposed to register the name of a male relative to accompany her during the trip. The report also suggests that the club members follow the Muslim

Prosecutors’ transfer among Gulf countries allowed KUWAIT: The GCC Supreme Council decided yesterday to allow transfer of public prosecutors and investigators among relevant government bodies of the six GCC countries. In a final communique of the 34th GCC summit, the leaders assigned ministerial committees to review laws and regulations which were previously approved and amended it, including setting up deadlines in transforming national laws.

The Council also approved the unification of judicial law system of the GCC

countries, naming the law the Manama doctrine for unification of common jurisdictions of the GCC countries. The council also assigned the consultative authority to study the unified tourism visas for third countries, human development, and evaluation of GCC march throughout history.

The council also stressed importance on strengthening the role of financial regulatory authorities, and collection in GCC countries and enable them to thrive with its responsibilities independently and objectively. — KUNA

Brotherhood’s ideology. Kuwait University adopted a ‘moral dress code’ in 2010 which requires students to avoid wearing revealing clothes or jewelry in campus, drawing mixed reactions in the university as well as the society and the political scene. The code was pushed by Islamists and conservatives while liberals perceived it as a violation of public freedoms.

Coeducation is banned in Kuwait University by a law passed in 1996. There have been several attempts to overrule the ban since then - most recently through a draft law which was passed by the parliament’s legislative committee last June, but MPs never voted on the bill.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

LOCAL

KUWAIT: Firefighters battle a blaze at an apartment building in Farwaniya late yesterday. — Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

High school student held for murder of bus driver Good Samaritan escapes charges KUWAIT: A high school student was arrested for allegedly killing a school bus driver in Ardiya on Monday night. Farwaniya Hospital staff called police after the arrival of a 24-year-old bedoon (stateless) man who was pronounced dead from a fatal stab wound to the chest. Two Iraqi teenagers who rushed the victim to the hospital were taken by police for questioning. They explained that the victim was involved in a fight with another teenager who attacked him with a knife. The killer, a 16-year-old Saudi, was arrested based on information that the two witnesses provided. He admitted killing the victim during a fight to settle old disputes. Investigations revealed that the killer and the two teenagers who witnessed the crime are tenth graders. It was not immediately known whether the victim worked for the same school where the killer or the witnesses study. The killer was taken to the public prosecution for further action.

Unpleasant surprise A woman came back from a trip abroad to find out that she has become a grandmother, but was not excited because the baby her daughter delivered was conceived in an illegal relationship. According to case papers filed at the Salmiya police station, the woman learned as soon as she returned to Kuwait that her daughter was in a private hospital, so she went to check on her and discovered that her unmarried daughter had given

birth to a healthy boy. The girl who the mother had left with family members explained that she had started a relationship with a man during the time and got pregnant. The girl gave information of the baby’s father to her mother, who handed the info over to police. The man is being summoned for questioning. (Rai) Air gun injury A man was hospitalized with an injury after being hit by an air gun shot in Sabaihiya. The Asian national arrived at the Adan Hospital late Monday night in an ambulance which picked him up from a place where the incident was reported. The man told police after receiving treatment that he was walking in the area when he felt a bullet hit his leg and fell down, before a passerby called police. Doctors removed the pellet from the man’s thigh and handed it over to detectives following up with the case.

Kidnap case A man escaped kidnap charges after a female driver who he helped after an accident admitted that he gave her a hand when she had a road mishap while driving under the influence.

The man who has a desk job in the Interior Ministry was driving in Jahra when he saw a car hit a roundabout and stop in the middle of the road. He helped take the woman’s car off of the

road after realizing that she was drunk. The man tried contacting her family members to come pick her up since she was not injured, but neither her father nor brother answered the phone.

The man reportedly made an emergency call after refusing the girl’s request to take her to a camp in Subbiya. When police arrived, they planned to take the man for questioning on suspicions of kidnap, but the girl approached officers when she learned about it and said that the man helped her when he found her in an inebriated state. The man was released whereas the woman was taken in police custody to be questioned.

Illegal resident dies Investigations are ongoing to determine the circumstances behind the death of an Arab man who has been living illegally in Kuwait since birth, according to his mother. Police and paramedics headed to a house in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh in response to an emergency call, and pronounced the 22-year-old dead at the scene. His mother who made the emergency call said that she gave birth to her son during the 1990/91 Iraqi invasion period and could not register him or obtain a birth certificate at the time. She confirmed that her son has been living illegally in Kuwait all his life. Detectives obtained the victim’s fingerprints to match them with the security database, as they are waiting for an autopsy report to determine the cause of death.

Al-Tijari successfully concludes its marketing campaign

Available at Sultan Center branches & Carrefour

KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwait successfully concluded its marketing campaign directed to credit and prepaid cardholders which continued for six months.

This campaign which was highly commended by the bank’s credit cardholders gave them the chance to benefit from the privileges and prizes offered by the bank to encourage its current or new customers who have joined CBK credit card customers’ base numerous chances to win one of three Audi luxury cars the bank has allocated for customers throughout the period of campaign.

On the occasion of holding the last draw on luxury Audi R8, the Bank organized a ceremony in Sahara Resort for announcing the name of the lucky winner of Audi R8. This coincides with the Bank announcing the winners of the daily draw of “Al Najma Account” in the presence of a number of the Bank’s executive team members, Elham Mahfouz Acting CEO, Sheikha Nouf Salem Al Ali AlSabah Head of Advertising and Public Relations Department and a number of bloggers on social websites.

The ceremony began with a speech by Elham Mahfouz Acting CEO who welcomed the attendees and briefly reviewed the benefits and privileges CBK credit cardholders have got from this campaign and the innovative banking services

and product offering the bank strives to deliver to its ever growing customer base.

In a charming atmosphere with soft music surrounding the place valuable gifts were distributed to the attendees who participated in the contest the Bank has arranged, the ceremony introducers Salman Al Najada and Zaina Al-Falah Marketing Department / Retail Banking Division at the bank familiarized the attendees with the details of “Win Your Dream Car with Al-Tijari” campaign and its phases and the great success it has achieved. in the presence of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry’s representative Ahmad Al-Hamad, the bank the draw was held and the name of the winner of the Audi R8 car was announced: Draw on Audi R8 — Noura Khaled Al Jumai, Daily draw on “Al Najma Account”—- Faisal Abdul Aziz Abdulali, Badria Mohammed Othman Al-Qati, Habiballah Razem Ker, Abdullah Salem Mubarak AlAzmi, Abdullah Jaber Mezer Safouq.

Commercial Bank of Kuwait takes this opportunity to congratulate all the winners and extends its thanks to the Ministry of Commerce & Industry for its constant cooperation and effective supervision on the draws which were smoothly run. The Bank also extends its thanks and appreciation to all participants in the ceremony.

KISR hosts workshop on impacts of landmines KUWAIT: Under the aegis of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Oil Mustafa Al-Shimali a workshop on “the environmental impacts of landmines and mine action in Arab world,” opened at Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) here yesterday.

The three-day event was co-organized by KISR, Kuwait National Focal Point (KNFP) and the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD).

Addressing the opening ceremony on behalf of Al-Shimali, KNFP SecretaryGeneral Khaled Buhamra said the world suffers from the existence of at least 100 million landmines some of which date from World Wars I and II. These lethal weapons, including the anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, pose serious threat to both human life and flora and fauna life, he said.

The impacts of these weapons continue to jeopardize people generation after another, which underlines the necessity of joint action for demining and removing all abandoned munitions, Buhamra pointed out.

Many Arab countries suffer from the existence of explosive materials, left over after wars long decades ago, he said, noting that such hazardous materials endanger human, wild and marine lives in variant degrees. He urged doubling efforts on the national, regional and international levels to remove these materials in order to ensure safety of environment and biodiversity.

He added that the Kuwaiti government, aware of the gravity of landmines left by the Iraqi army since the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, attaches great importance to the demining effort and works closely with regional and international agencies in this regard.

A total of 1.65 million mines, including over one million anti-personnel mines, have been removed from various parts of Kuwait, Buhamra went on.

He noted that the demining of a square kilometer costs up to $67,000.

On his part, KISR Director-General Dr Naji Al-Mutairi said there are up to 400 million left explosives, including landmines and unexploded missiles and rounds around the globe.

This large number of hidden munitions under the ground endangers the life of humans as well as wildlife, he said, noting that the desert nature of most Arab countries contributed to the hide of these hazardous materials.

Meanwhile, GICHD Director Ambassador Stefano Toscano said the holding of this workshop is very relevant to the main mission of the Geneva Center which is to enhance regional collaboration in the demining action.

The majority of Arab countries suffer the most severe impacts of landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) impacts, he said, noting that landmine and ERW contamination does not only entail humanitarian or socio?economic impacts, but also environmental threats.

He highlighted the need to promote public awareness about the dangers of landmines and enhancing cooperation in the demining action.

On the sidelines of his participation in the workshop, Ambassador Toscano met with Board Chairman of Kuwait Red Crescent Society Barjas Al-Bargas.

In press statements after the meeting, the GICHD chief said he discussed with Al-Barjas ways to promote cooperation between their two organizations in promoting awareness about mines and changing individuals’ behaviors in a way that could minimize exposure to mines. The GICHD is an international expert organization based in Switzerland that works to eliminate mines, explosive remnants of war and other explosive hazards.

By undertaking research, developing standards and disseminating knowledge, the GICHD supports capacity development in mine-affected countries. It works with national and local authorities to help them plan, coordinate, implement, monitor and evaluate mine action programs. —- KUNA

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

Uruguay first country to legalize marijuana trade

Judges walk out over chaos at Egypt trial Page 8

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PRETORIA: South African President Jacob Zuma pays his respects to former South African President Nelson Mandela during the lying in state at the Union Buildings yesterday. — AP

Tears as Mandela lies in state Statesman to be buried on Sunday in Qunu PRETORIA: Nelson Mandela’s tearful widow was among scores of mourners who paid their last respects before his open casket yesterday, as the much-loved leader lay in state.

Graca Machel, clad in a black head-dress with her eyes shielded by sunglasses, placed both hands on the raised coffin before turning away disconsolate. At each end of the coffin stood two navy officers clad in white dress uniform, heads bowed, eyes closed and swords pointing downward. Later, presidents, royalty and thousands of South Africans made their own pilgrimage.

Some stopped briefly to pray, others bowed or brushed against the rope balustrade to get a closer look at the mortal remains of a man who had earned a place in history long before his demise. Some collapsed, felled by the weight of their grief, before being helped away by medical personnel or fellow onlookers. A blind man with a cane passed by, helped by an aide. “I was just feeling sad when I saw him lying there as if he can wake up. As if I can say ‘Mr Mandela, how are you?” said 44-year-old Anna Mtsoweni, who waited in line from 5:00 am.

Among the dignitaries were Mandela’s former political foe FW de Klerk, ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and musician and activist Bono. The Irish rocker accompanied Mandela’s long time aide-de-camp Zelda Le Grange, who appeared heartbroken and needed to be supported throughout.

Public guard of honour Earlier a black hearse flanked by 16 motorcycle outriders had carried Mandela’s flag-draped coffin on a solemn journey through the streets of Pretoria, the South African capital. The cortege moved briskly through streets lined with flag-waving South Africans who formed a public guard of honour. “I never met Mandela, so this is my only chance and it’s important I pay my respects. I’m South African - I have to be here,” said 28year-old Vaughan Motshwene.

Some cheered but many were tearful, aware that Mandela’s death on Thursday aged 95, opened a new chapter in South African history. “It feels like the end of an era. All the opportunities I’ve had growing up that my parents never had, Madiba gave me that,” said government employee Faaiqia Hartley, 27. “He gave all of us an opportunity to be the best we could be.”

At Union Buildings, the seat of South African government,

the casket was unloaded by eight pallbearers representing the branches of the armed forces in full uniform. From there it was carried up the steps toward the towering acropolis of beige freestone, where nearly two decades ago Mandela was sworn in as the country’s first black president, signifying the rebirth of this long-troubled nation. Trailing behind the coffin was Mandela’s oldest grandson, Mandla Mandela, his manifest grief a poignant reminder that while the nation lost a hero, Mandela’s family lost a father, grandfather and husband.

Mandela’s open coffin was placed on a cubic platform in the building’s amphitheatre, soon to be renamed in his honour, where it will be on view for three days.

Journey of memories Mandela’s final journey through Pretoria is laden with symbolism and replete with landmarks that carry resonance in his life and that of this deeply scarred nation. The procession passed the central prison where he was jailed in 1962 for incitement and leaving the country illegally. Another landmark is the Palace of Justice, the court where Mandela famously stood trial in 1963-64 for treason and sabotage with 10 other codefendants. His conviction and subsequent life sentence marked the beginning of a 27-year jail stint, from which he finally emerged in 1990 as the structure of apartheid crumbled around its white minority supporters.

The cortege will pass near the one-time home of Paul Kruger, the father of the Afrikaner nation. “Oom (Uncle) Paul” was the president of the Transvaal, leading a resistance movement against British rule during the first Anglo-Boer War, which began in 1880. That Afrikaner nationalism later morphed into support for the National Party, which introduced apartheid. The funeral procession will be repeated for three days, ending each time at the Union Buildings where previous presidents signed aspects of the apartheid system into law.

The public will be allowed to view the casket each afternoon, before Mandela’s body is transported to his boyhood home of Qunu in the Eastern cape for its eventual burial on Sunday. The lying in state was a sombre, subdued affair compared to Tuesday’s celebratory memorial service in Soweto the crucible of the anti-apartheid movement. Tens of thousands of people attended the event in Soweto’s World Cup stadium where US President Barack Obama led foreign tributes to the life and legacy of Mandela, whose appeal and influence spread far beyond his native land. —AFP

Military officers carry the coffin of South African former president Nelson Mandela to the Union Buildings yesterday. — AFP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

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

Decade after arrest, Saddam legacy looms over Iraq BAGHDAD: A decade after Saddam Hussein’s arrest, the now-executed Iraqi dictator’s legacy of conflicts, sanctions and repression still exact a heavy toll on the country. And as oil-rich Iraq grows increasingly important to the global economy and regional diplomacy, his legacy of a slow-moving, hierarchical bureaucracy and corrupt decision-making processes have hamstrung a country looking to rebuild. Former members of Saddam’s nowbanned Baath Party are still regularly barred from public office, politicians tar opponents as “Baathists”, and surging violence is typically blamed on some combination of Saddam supporters and Sunni militants.

At the same time, public services that fell into disrepair during the years of conflict have yet to be fully upgraded, unemployment remains high, corruption and nepotism are rampant and analysts say members of Saddam’s Sunni Arab minority have yet to fully reconcile to losing power to Iraq’s Shiite majority. “What is the new social contract going to be?” asked Ayham Kamel, a London-based Middle East analyst at the Eurasia Group consultancy. “A lot of Sunnis believe that there needs to be a shift ... putting the Saddam legacy and the participation of Sunnis in his regime aside. We need to get more power-sharing, and really send signals that the conflict, and some of the tensions that existed between Sunnis and Shiites during the Saddam era, is over, that there is a new path forward. That is a very long-term issue.”

Saddam was arrested on Dec 13, 2003 outside the town of Dawr, where US soldiers found him hiding in a specially-constructed hole in the ground. Hundreds of thousands, most of them Shiites and Kurds, died at the hands of his government. Countless others suffered immeasurably as a result of the wars he waged against Iran and Kuwait, the latter of which led to punishing sanctions that crippled Iraq’s economy. At the time, US and Iraqi officials hailed his capture as a turning point in the war, and voiced optimism that by nabbing him, they had dealt a critical blow to the insurgency.

But in fact, violence only worsened as time went on, peaking in 2006 and 2007, when tens of thousands were killed in nationwide sectarian bloodletting, and only falling off somewhat from 2008 onwards. Unrest has surged again this year, fuelled by widespread discontent among Sunni Arabs, who complain of mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led authorities and have held anti-government demonstrations for almost a year. And some violent groups actually include supporters of Saddam’s regime. “The decade has represented change, and fostered hope among the people,” Bashar Hanna, a 40-year-old government translator, said on Saadun Street in central Baghdad. “Unfortunately, the changes have not met the demands of the people.”

‘Everything is still broken’ Iraqis still suffer from poor electricity provision and a general lack of basic services, with particularly inadequate sewerage highlighted by recent rains that sparked deadly floods. And though oil production has increased, with exports projected to rise dramatically next year, the industry is not labour-intensive and so has not significantly impacted chronically high levels of unemployment. Many also complain that the revenues have not filtered through equitably to all Iraqis, while the broader economy remains hampered by endless and often con-

flicting red tape. And graft has, if anything, worsened, with Iraq now rated the world’s seventh-most corrupt country, according to Transparency International.

“After 10 years, everything is still broken,” said Ihsan Al-Shammari, a professor of politics at Baghdad University. “Unfortunately, this has caused many Iraqis to make comparisons about the achievements of the former regime in terms of security to the marginal improvement in services by the new democratic system.” Officials and supporters of the government point to breakthroughs in terms of freedom of expression and religion since Saddam’s Sunni-dominated regime fell.

Millions of Shiite Muslims now throng shrine cities for commemoration rituals that were banned during the dictator’s rule, while the criticism of the government that is now relatively common via media outlets and the Internet would not have been tolerated under Saddam. “When you go around Iraq and compare Iraq to 2002, 2003, it’s a major shift,” said Sami Al-Askari, a secular Shiite MP. “If you’re looking, from freedom to democracy to employment to (the) economy to many, many other things, (there are) lots of changes. No one talks about this, they talk about the (sectarianism), talking about the killings. ... But if we compare Iraq now to 10 years ago, you will find many, many points, positive ones. It’s not an easy task, taking a society from one regime to another.” — AFP

BAGHDAD: A man holds watches bearing the portrait of late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on Dec 9, 2013 at a market. — AFP

What’s in a name? For Saddams, only trouble AZIZIYAH, Iraq: In a predominantly Shiite town near Baghdad, Saddam Hussein roams the streets unmolested, joking with checkpoint guards and shaking the hands of passers-by, proudly announcing his name. “You didn’t execute me,” he often tells policemen, laughing. “That was one of my body doubles!”

But the man, clad in a long black robe and leather jacket, is not the Saddam known the world over. He is one of many nationwide cursed as the namesakes of a brutal dictator who ruled the country with an iron fist for nearly a quarter century.

From Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit in the north to the western desert province of Anbar, down through the southern provinces, Sunnis and Shiites carry a name once given in tribute, but which has since become an albatross. “Saddam oppressed so many people, so those who were oppressed by him had strong feelings against him,” said Saddam Hussein Ulaiwi, a 35-year-old generator operator living with his family in the town of Aziziyah, southeast of Baghdad. “So they are always berating me, because of my name.”

Named by his grandfather when Saddam was Iraq’s vice president and in ascendance, Ulaiwi had few positive feelings about sharing a name with the country’s dictator. He recounted how, in his school years, teachers would hold him to impossibly high standards and dole out stiff punishments when he failed to meet them. When he joined the army for compulsory military service, upon reporting to the unit to collect his uniform, he announced his name to the duty officer, who responded by physically

assaulting him for taking the name of the president.

After the 2003 US-led invasion ousted Saddam Hussein the dictator, Saddam Hussein the generator operator hoped he would finally have some measure of relief. But while families in his hometown were unquestioning, his father received phone calls from political parties asking him to change his son’s name and passers-by would berate him, his name reminding them of painful memories. Ulaiwi did try to change his name in 2006, but was put off by the time involved in dealing with Iraq’s famously labyrinthine bureaucracy and the expense required of someone with modest means, choosing instead to stick with his birth name.

“I regret giving him this name,” Ulaiwi’s father Hussein said wistfully, sitting with his son in the family’s small one-storey home. “There were pressures on us before 2003 ... and after 2003, there was more suffering.” “There were those who had hatred towards Saddam, and anything with Saddam’s name,” he said, noting for example that civil servants often do not deal with his son’s requests, citing anger over his name.

‘From one extreme to another’ A decade on from his capture, Saddam who was hanged in December 2006, still engenders passionate anger among many Iraqis. Hundreds of thousands, most of them Shiites and Kurds, died at the hands of his Sunni-led government, and countless others suffered immeasurably as a result of the wars he waged against Iran and Kuwait, the latter of

which led to punishing sanctions that crippled Iraq’s economy. And while some Saddam memorabilia can be bought in Baghdad, such as watches and other curios, major markings of his rule in the form of statues and posters have been torn down.

That leaves men bearing his name as among the few reminders of the dictator’s rule. Many Saddams have reported death threats, difficulty gaining access to government services and jobs, and other struggles over and above those faced by ordinary Iraqis.

“After 2003, many things happened to me when I travelled anywhere inside Iraq - I would conceal my name in order to save my life,” said Saddam Hussein Al-Mihimidi, an Iraqi journalist living in Ramadi, a city west of Baghdad. Mihimidi’s father was fired from his civil service job - as a result of his son’s name, he was unable to convince his superiors he was not a supporter of Saddam’s Baath Party - and efforts to change his name went nowhere.

The 33-year-old, who was named by the doctor who attended his birth, said life before the invasion for him was relatively problem-free, living in the Sunni province of Anbar. After US-led forces overthrew the government, he considered obtaining fake identification documents and would avoid leaving his house during the peak of Iraq’s post-invasion violence in 2006 and 2007, “when they were killing people based on their name.” He now asks his friends to refer to him only as Abu Abdullah, or father of Abdullah, to mask his identity. “After 2003, my life changed dramatically - from one extreme to another,” he said. — AFP

CAIRO: Muslim Brotherhood lawmaker Saad El-Katatni (right) leader of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed Badie (center) and Mahmoud Abu Zaid, senior member of the Brotherhood, gesture during an appearance at a courtroom yesterday. — AP

Judges walk out over chaos at Egypt trial Brotherhood leaders denounce junta CAIRO: The trial of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood chief and his deputies on charges related to protest deaths came to an abrupt end yesterday when the judges quit in protest at chaos in the dock. The previous session on October 29 of the trial of Mohamed Badie and 34 co-defendants had also been halted when the three presiding judges withdrew, citing “reasons of conscience”. Yesterday, a new panel of three judges appointed to hear the case recused themselves after the accused Brotherhood members yelled slogans from the dock against the military-installed authorities.

Despite being ordered to keep quiet by the chief judge, the Brotherhood members continued to rail loudly against the government, which has relentlessly repressed their movement since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July.

Badie and his two deputies, Khairat Al-Shater and Rashad AlBayoumi, face charges of inciting the murders of nine protesters who stormed the Brotherhood’s Cairo headquarters on June 30. If found guilty, they could face the death penalty.

Three other accused Islamists also face murder charges while 29 are charged with participating in acts of violence.

Millions of protesters on June 30 called for the ouster of Morsi, accusing him of working for the sole benefit of the Brotherhood, ruining an already dilapidated economy and monopolising power following the 2011 overthrow of longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak. Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, was deposed by the army on July 3 after just one year in office.

During yesterday’s session, presiding judge Mostafa Salama initially suspended proceedings as Badie and his co-defendants hurled verbal abuse at the government installed by the military in the wake of Morsi’s ouster. But at the resumption,

mayhem again erupted in the dock, with the accused jeering and yelling insults at the judges as well as against the government and military chief Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, the new strongman of Egyptian politics. “Sisi traitor, Sisi traitor,” they screamed as the judge tried in vain to restore order. Sisi had been appointed defence minister by Morsi when he became president. Barely audible above the din, the judge then adjourned the trial. “I asked the accused to remain calm but they did not do so. Therefore we are recusing ourselves,” Salama said before he and his two fellow judges walked out.

In a brief but fiery address from the dock, Badie, dressed in white prison uniform like his fellow-accused, railed against the new authorities, accusing them of carrying out a “coup d’etat” by deposing Morsi. “The Egyptian people tasted freedom after the revolution (which toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011) and since the election of Mohamed Morsi,” he yelled, in his first public comments since his arrest. “They will not give up this freedom. Sisi killed people when they were praying, he killed people when they were fasting, he dumped their bodies using bulldozers as if they were garbage. Such a crime has never happened in Egypt’s history.” He was referring to a crackdown by police on Aug 14 when they stormed two protest camps set up by Morsi’s supporters in Cairo, leaving hundreds dead. During yesterday’s court session, Brotherhood supporters continuously flashed the four-finger sign that has become associated with the crackdown, while chanting, “Down with the military regime!” and “Mubarak’s regime of secret police is back!” Thousands of Islamists have been arrested in the crackdown, which has deeply polarised Egypt. Badie meanwhile is also on trial in a separate case, which began on Monday. — AFP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

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

Uruguay first country to legalize marijuana trade Cannabis-smoking supporters set off fireworks

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry testifies on Capitol Hill on Tuesday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. — AP

Kerry, Congress spar over Iran nuke deal WASHINGTON: The Obama administration and Congress clashed Tuesday over the historic nuclear deal with Iran, exposing deep rifts over a US pledge to refrain from any new sanctions over the next six months in exchange for concessions on enriching uranium. The disagreement could have broad consequences for the US diplomatic effort to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

In his first congressional testimony since last month’s Geneva agreement, Secretary of State John Kerry defended the diplomacy as having halted and rolled back central elements of Iran’s nuclear program for the first time. He pleaded with Democrats and Republicans alike not to scuttle the chances of a peaceful resolution to a crisis that has regularly featured US and Israeli threats of potential military action.

“Let me be very clear: This is a very delicate diplomatic moment and we have a chance to address peacefully one of the most pressing national security concerns that the world faces today,” Kerry told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “We’re at a crossroads. We’re at one of those really hinge points in history. One path could lead to an enduring resolution in the international community’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear program. The other path could lead to continued hostility and potentially to conflict.”

Kerry’s appearance came as lawmakers increasingly threatened to undermine the sixmonth interim pact, which gives Iran $7 billion in sanctions relief over the next half-year in exchange for the Islamic republic’s neutralizing its higher-enriched uranium stockpiles, not adding any new centrifuges and ceasing work at a heavy water reactor that potentially

could produce plutonium used in nuclear weapons.

Sens Bob Menendez, and Mark Kirk are close to completing a bill that would require the administration to certify every 30 days Iran’s adherence to the interim pact, according to legislative aides. Without that certification, the legislation would re-impose all sanctions and introduce new restrictions on Iran’s engineering, mining and construction industries. The legislation also calls for a global boycott of Iranian oil by 2015 if Iran fails to live up to the interim agreement. Foreign companies and banks violating the bans would be barred from doing business in the United States.

However, Iran sanctions were left off a defense bill working its way through the Senate this week - much to the dismay of Republicans. “This is a rather transparent attempt to prevent a vote on enhanced Iran sanctions, so they’re trying to circumvent the Senate, pass major legislation, essentially without amendments,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters. In the House, Majority Leader Eric Cantor is drafting separate legislation mapping out how a final deal with Iran should look, aides say.

Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has warned any new package of commercial restrictions would kill the deal. “If Congress adopts sanctions, it shows lack of seriousness and lack of a desire to achieve a resolution on the part of the United States,” Zarif told Time magazine. “My parliament can also adopt various legislation that can go into effect if negotiations fail. But if we start doing that, I don’t think that we will be getting anywhere.” —AP

MONTEVIDEO: Uruguay has approved pioneering legislation legalizing marijuana, becoming the first nation in the world to oversee the production and sale of the drug.

After a 12-hour debate, 16 leftist senators out of 29 lawmakers voted Tuesday in favor of the legislation championed by President Jose Mujica, who must now sign it into law.

Outside the Senate, hundreds of cannabissmoking supporters set off fireworks in what they dubbed “the last march with illegal marijuana.” The atmosphere was festive. “The war against drugs has failed,” said Senator Roberto Conde as he presented the bill on behalf of the ruling leftist Broad Front, calling it an “unavoidable response” to that failure. “It is an historic day. Uruguay is now on the international forefront of this issue,” said ruling party senator Alberto Couriel.

The bill passed the lower house of Congress in August and was assured of approval because the ruling coalition controls both chambers. It authorizes the production, distribution and sale of cannabis, allows individuals to grow their own on a small scale, and creates consumer clubs-all under state supervision and control. Mujica, a 78-year-old former leftist guerrilla fighter, has called his plan an experiment. “There are a lot of doubts and the doubts are legitimate,” he told Channel 4 television before the vote. “But doubts shouldn’t paralyze us in trying new paths to deal with this problem that has gripped us.” However, he added: “We are not totally prepared. But as in everything, you have to give it a chance.”

The legislation has caused unease in neighboring Brazil and Argentina. The bill goes well beyond the marijuana legalization measures recently approved by the US states of Colorado and Washington, or the similarly liberal laws of the Netherlands and Spain.

Consumers over 18 will be able to grow their own marijuana, though no more than six plants per person. They can also get it through clubs or buy up to 40 grams per month from pharmacies. In every case, they must be registered with the government.

‘A blow against social hypocrisy’ Conde argued that the law strikes a balance between individual liberty and public health, while also resolving the “grotesque juridical inconsistency” arising from the status quo, in which marijuana consumption is not penalized but its production and sale is. “Another

A ‘step forward’ but not enough to close Gitmo WASHINGTON: A new US congressional deal that could ease restrictions on releasing Guantanamo detainees doesn’t go nearly far enough towards closing the controversial prison, defense lawyers and rights advocates said. The deal, negotiated by a bipartisan group of senior lawmakers late Monday, would make it easier to send detainees home or to a third country, but would bar their transfer to the United States. The agreement, which must still be approved

by House of Representatives and the Senate, “does not close Guantanamo or anything close,” emphasized lawyer James Connell.

Military lawyer Suzanne Lachelier, who has worked for years in the Cuba enclave, said closing the jail “will take more than the release of the prisoners who have been ruled ‘transferable’.” “Those labeled ‘high value detainees’ would remain (in the jail), and Congress is unlikely to ever allow them to be transferred to the United States,” she said. When President Barack Obama took office nearly five years ago, closing the detention center was one of his first promises.

But today, 162 men remain behind bars there. Most have been held for nearly 12 years, without ever being charged or tried, a situation that has discredited the US reputation abroad. And 82 of the inmates - more than half of whom are from Yemen - are cleared for release, meaning authorities have no evidence incriminating them.

Some rights advocates cheered the congressional deal.

It’s a “first step toward untangling the knot that is Guantanamo,” Human Rights First’s Dixon Osburn said in a statement. “It provides a path forward for foreign transfers that balances our security interests and our legal obligations,” he added. But Connell, who defends one of the five men accused of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, was less impressed. “The central problems of Guantanamo - indefinite detention, second-class justice, and inadequate medical care - remain,” he said.

And freeing the “releasable” detainees could make the situation harder for those “high-value detainees” who remained at Guantanamo, said Lachelier, who represents another of the men accused of the September 11 attacks.

“The injustices and torture experienced by the ‘HVD’ prison-

ers risks losing the attention of the world, when - or if - other detainees are transferred,” she said.

One step forward, one step back Of the 80 inmates who haven’t been cleared for release, around 20 have been dubbed high value by the Pentagon and are being held in Guantanamo’s ultra-secure, notorious “Camp Seven.” They are each accused of links to Al-Qaeda or involvement in deadly attacks. Some of their cases are classified as “defense secrets,” because they came through secret CIA prisons, where they say they were tortured. Others are suspected of still posing a risk to US national security.

Among the remaining 60, the government is reviewing some cases, which could allow them to be redesignated, possibly facilitating their release.

But Republicans in the Congress continue to block the transfer to the United States of any inmates, even to face trial and jail in high security prisons. The congressional “restriction on transfers to the US, even for trial or medical treatment, is a terrible blow for human rights,” said Steven Hawkins, director of Amnesty International USA. The new compromise bill would be like “one step forward and one step back,” he said, calling on Obama to “find a solution to end the Guantanamo crisis.”

And lawyers representing two men repatriated to Algeria last week, despite their fears they would be in danger there, said the new congressional rule was “very positive,” but said the transfer of their clients was a misstep. Rob Kirsch, defense lawyer for the one of the men, said the transfers were aimed at making a political point rather than helping the two men.

“It’s very clear that the special envoy is pushing people out who would actually prefer to stay in Guantanamo,” he told AFP, calling it an “extraordinary” move. Ian Moss, advisory to Special Envoy Cliff Sloan, defended Obama’s actions on Guantanamo, saying they “understand that from time to time, from various quarters, we will receive criticism”. He reiterated that the government was “absolutely committed to moving forward with closing Guantanamo, and doing so in a responsible manner”. — AFP

Pay-by-weight airliner soars to greater height WELLINGTON: The head of a tiny Pacific airline that pioneered a fare system based on passengers’ weight said yesterday the move had been so successful the carrier is upgrading its fleet. Samoa Air introduced its world-first system late last year, when it began charging passengers fares based on how much they weigh, rather than a set price for each seat. Chief executive Chris Langton said the 1.34 tala (57.5 US cents) per kilogram charge had proved popular over the first 12 months as it meant cheaper fares for most passengers.

“People do the sums, that’s their first interest” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “They compare what they would pay on a pay-by-weight system and just do basic arithmetic.” The World Health Organization says Samoa has one of the world’s highest rates of obesity, leading to soaring levels of weight-related coronary disease, diabetes and

strokes in the Pacific island nation. “We find that generally speaking if you look at any operation anywhere between any destination worldwide, a person who comes in at about 120 kilos (265 pounds) or less will always be better off to travel on a pay-by-weight system,” Langton said.

He said the airline was in the process of adding to its three-aircraft fleet a new Cessna 208, which would be configured to ensure larger passengers who pay high fares are given more space. “That way we can provide for people who are paying more because they are larger, obviously in the Pacific that is the case,” he said.

“Everybody gets what they’re paying for.” He said larger airlines were considering similar schemes. “The interest worldwide hasn’t diminished at all. There’s massive discussion going on about how pay-by-weight can be transferred to larger airplanes,” he said. — AFP

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay: Activists gather in support of the legalization of marijuana outside the Congress building, as senators vote on a law to legalize the drug on Tuesday. — AP

blow against social hypocrisy,” said a smiling Valeria Rubino, a 37-year-old who took part in Tuesday’s “last march”. Opposition parties rejected the measure, as did pharmacists, who reject the idea that marijuana will now be sold in drug stores. There is also widespread public skepticism in this small country of 3.3 million.

A poll taken in September found 61 percent disapprove of the law.

Legalizing cannabis will “diminish the perception of risk and foster consumption, especially among children and adolescents,” said Senator Alfredo Solari of the opposition Colorado Party. “Neither our government nor the rest of the world should experiment with Uruguayans,” he said. Uruguayan psychiatrists were divided over the measure. Some argue it will help tamp down the use of more dangerous drugs, while others say it trivializes marijuana’s harmful effects.

Not all users were in favor of the law, either, with some chafing at the government controls. “It’s invasive, because it is not up to the government to determine how much marijuana can be consumed and the quality,” said Alicia Castilla, the author of a book on “Cannabis Culture” who spent three months in

jail for growing the drug at home. In a region where the war on drugs has claimed thousands of lives, the Uruguayan initiative won the support of former Latin American presidents who served on the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

But the International Narcotics Control Board, which oversees the implementation of international treaties on drugs, has warned that it violates the Single Convention of Narcotic Drugs, adopted in 1961 by Uruguay and 185 other countries. The government has accompanied action on the law with a publicity campaign featuring the slogan, “All drug consumption has risks.” Conde said the law deals with an already entrenched social reality. “Marijuana is the illegal drug that is most consumed, fundamentally by young people, one that is perceived as extremely low risk and is easily obtained,” he said. Consumption of cannabis has doubled here in the past decade, and now accounts for 70 percent of the illegal drug consumption in Uruguay. The government estimates that 128,000 of the country’s inhabitants smoke cannabis, though marijuana consumer associations put the number at around 200,000. — AFP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

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Specter of lynching haunts Central African Republic BANGUI: The father of a slain French soldier has described how disarmed Muslim fighters in the Central African Republic were lynched by a Christian mob in harrowing testimony that raised the spectre of a new wave of sectarian killing in the troubled state. President Francois Hollande said France’s intervention in CAR was “essential in the face of abuses and massacres”, vowing the mission would continue until African forces could take over. “To not intervene would be to stand idly by and count the dead,” Hollande told ministers after returning from a brief stopover in CAR on Tuesday, his spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said.

Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian admitted however that the mission represented a much more difficult task than France’s military intervention against Islamist rebels in Mali earlier this year. And those remarks were borne out by Philippe Vokaer’s account of his final contact with his 23-year-old son Nicolas, one of two French paratroopers killed in a firefight while on a night patrol in the capital Bangui on Monday. “We had a text exchange the same evening,” Vokaer senior told French daily Le Parisien.

“He had witnessed some atrocious scenes. As soon as the French soldiers disarmed the Muslim militia, they saw them being lynched by a Christian mob in the middle of the street. There was nothing the army could do to stop it.” In Bangui, a humanitarian aid worker who did not want to be identified, told AFP he feared mass reprisals against members of the country’s Muslim minority, who are associated with the Seleka coalition behind the March coup which plunged the CAR into anarchic terror.

“What we are faced with now is the spectre of a vicious spiral of reprisals with the village selfdefence militias organizing ‘return matches’ against Seleka and the Seleka themselves going on a killing spree as they retreat to their strongholds in the north,” he said. Despite those fears, the situation in Bangui, where hundreds were slaughtered with

clubs and machetes last week, appeared generally calm on Wednesday with residents suggesting that fear levels were subsiding following the weekend deployment of 1,600 French troops. “Around me this morning people are going out and about in large numbers,” said a resident of the Ben Zvi neighborhood.

Bangui, which is under an hours-of-darkness curfew, was also quiet overnight with the exception of some sporadic shooting heard close to the national broadcaster’s headquarters. The situation was in sharp contrast to Monday and Tuesday, when ram-

essentially a humanitarian mission, French officials have in recent days expanded its goals to disarming all armed groups in the country and creating the conditions for free and fair elections. Le Drian acknowledged that the chaotic situation in CAR made the French operation there more complex than the much bigger intervention in Mali, where France deployed 4,000 troops from January to try and break the backbone of armed Islamist groups who had taken control of much of the north of the country. “Central Africa may be less demanding in terms of weapons, transport and logistics than operation Serval was in Mali, but it is a lot more difficult because the identification of the enemy is not nearly as simple,” Le Drian said.

The defense minister reiterated that France would be seeking to hand over responsibility for the CAR peace enforcement mission to an African force as soon as it could. He also rebuffed criticism in France that the Socialist government should have done more to secure concrete international support for the military action. He said Britain, Belgium, Denmark and Poland had all promised practical help. US President Barack Obama on Tuesday authorized the release of $60 million in military aid to the CAR, some of which is expected to help meet France’s costs.

Hollande on Tuesday met in Bangui with interim authorities including Michel Djotodia, the interim president who led the so-called Seleka rebellion that began 12 months ago. “He reminded them of the importance for France of a quick political transition,” Vallaud-Belkacem said. Djotodia’s Seleka rebels captured Bangui and ousted president Francois Bozize in March. Djotodia became the country’s first Muslim president, but while some Seleka members retained their discipline, others became involved in a spree of killing, raping and looting which sparked the creation of Christian vigilante groups in response. — AFP

Mandela ceremony interpreter a ‘fake’ Fake ‘signer’ outrages the deaf

VATICAN CITY: This image shows the 2013 Person of the Year cover with Pope Francis. Time magazine yesterday named Pope Francis its person of the year, saying that in nine months in office the head of the Catholic Church had become a new voice of conscience. — AFP leaker whose disclosures of classified documents has rattled Washington, said he had acted to force reforms and to direct the NSA to focus “its tremendous power toward developing new global technical standards that enforce robust end-to-end security.” “What we recoil against is not that such surveillance can theoretically occur, but that it was done without a majority of society even being aware it was possible,” he told Time. In third place was US gay rights activist Edith Windsor in honor of her victory in June when the US Supreme Court granted same-sex married couples the same federal benefits as heterosexual couples.

In fourth place was Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for managing not only to survive but turn the tide of the civil war his way. “The mild-mannered ophthalmologist-turned-Old-Testament-tyrant has taught his neighbors an ancient lesson: that absolute, unrelenting brutality combined with geostrategic cleverness is the most likely way to retain power in the Middle East,” the magazine wrote. In fifth place was Republican Tea Party US Senator Ted Cruz, who pushed the October shutdown of the federal government in an ideological war over President Barack Obama’s medical care bill. —AFP

British woman wins bid for Scientology wedding LONDON: A British woman yesterday won her fight to get married in a Scientology chapel in London after the Supreme Court ruled that her church could be considered a place of worship.

Louisa Hodkin had been refused permission to wed fiance Alessandro Calcioli in a Church of Scientology chapel in central London because it was not legally listed as a place of religious worship. A High Court judge had ruled in 1970 that Scientology services did not count as acts of worship because they involved no “veneration of God or of a supreme being”.

But five judges at Britain’s highest court on Wednesday said Hodkin and Calcioli should be able to marry in the Scientology chapel, and that religion should not be confined to faiths involving a “supreme deity”. Hodkin had compared her faith to Buddhism and Jainism-neither of which feature a deity-and argued that the 1970 ruling should not be binding because Scientologist beliefs and services had evolved over the past four decades. Calcioli pronounced himself “ecstatic” after the couple was finally granted permission to marry in the

MORE COMPLEX THAN MALI Having initially presented operation Sangaris as

BANGUI: Under the scrutiny of FOMAC troops, providing security, grave diggers cover the bodies of 16 Muslims after their burial yesterday. — AP

Pope named ‘Time person of the year’ NEW YORK: Time magazine named Pope Francis its person of the year yesterday, hailing the head of the Catholic Church as a new voice of global conscience since taking office in March. The 76-year-old, who rose from modest beginnings and has been praised for his down-to-earth approach, is the first non-European pope in nearly 1,300 years, the first Latin American head of the Church and a leading voice for the dispossessed. He has taken on leadership of a 1.2-billionstrong Church beset by scandal and signs of deep internal dysfunction, but there are signs his popularity is revitalizing it.

Time’s runner-up was NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who has been granted asylum in Russia and with whom Time published an exclusive interview yesterday conducted over email. “For pulling the papacy out of the palace and into the streets, for committing the world’s largest church to confronting its deepest needs and for balancing judgment with mercy, Pope Francis is TIME’s 2013 Person of the Year,” said managing editor Nancy Gibbs. She said it was rare for a new figure on the world stage to capture so much attention so quicklyfrom the “young and old, faithful and cynical.”

“He has placed himself at the very center of the central conversations of our time: about wealth and poverty, fairness and justice, transparency, modernity, globalization, the role of women, the nature of marriage, the temptations of power,” said Gibbs. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi welcomed the accolade, not because the pope sought fame but because it would give people hope.

“It is a positive sign that one of the most prestigious acknowledgments in international media should be given to someone who preaches spiritual, religious and moral values in the world and speaks effectively in favor of peace and more justice,” he said.

“If this draws women and men and gives them hope, the pope is happy.” The pope last week set up a committee to fight child sex abuse in the Catholic Church and give pastoral care to victims following a recommendation from a council of cardinals he asked to advise him. The scandals-many of them dating back decades-have scarred the Church worldwide and led to sharp drops in public confidence in countries such as Ireland and the United States.

Snowden, the fugitive US intelligence

paging locals pillaged shops owned by Muslims. The scale of any violence outside Bangui remains unclear. French officers say the vast majority of the armed groups who had brought terror to Bangui were disarmed within 24 hours of the intervention force arriving to back up African troops in the 2,500strong MISCA force that has been in the country for some time but had proved incapable of preventing the recent violence.

chapel. “I think the court’s definition of religion is excellent. I think it’s what most people today would understand ‘religion’ to be,” he said.

Hodkin said the couple hoped to get married in the next few months. “I am really excited. I’m really glad we are finally being treated equally and can now get married in our church,” she said. But local government minister Brandon Lewis said he was “very concerned” that the ruling will lead to the organization becoming eligible for tax breaks, and that his ministry was seeking legal advice.

“Hard-pressed taxpayers will wonder why Scientology premises should now be given tax cuts when local firms have to pay their fair share,” he said. Britons can marry in a wide range of religious and non-religious venues, but the location must have official approval.

Scientology, which counts actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta among its supporters, has long been controversial due to allegations of brainwashing and violence, as well as claims that it is designed to trick members out of large sums of money. —AFP

JOHANNESBURG: A man who appeared to provide sign language interpretation on stage for Nelson Mandela’s memorial service, attended by scores of heads of state, was a “fake,” the national director of the Deaf Federation of South Africa said yesterday. The scandal over the interpreter is another indication of bad organization of the historic memorial service at a huge soccer stadium on Tuesday.

Other difficulties included public transportation breakdowns which hindered mourners from getting to the event and a faulty audio system that prevented many of the tens of thousands in the stadium from hearing the leaders’ speeches.

In an apparent security failure, police did not search the first wave of crowds arriving at the stadium. The unidentified man seen around the world on television next to leaders including United States President Barack Obama “was moving his hands around but there was no meaning in what he used his hands for,” Bruno Druchen, the federation’s national director said.

Collins Chabane, one of South Africa’s two presidency ministers, said the government is investigating the matter but has not finished yet because it has been overwhelmed with work preparing for Mandela’s funeral Sunday in his hometown of Qunu. Four sign language experts, including Druchen, said the man was not signing in South African or American sign languages and could not have been signing in any other known sign language because there was no structure to his arm and hand movements.

South African sign language covers all of the country’s 11 official languages, according to the federation.

Ingrid Parkin, principal of the St. Vincent School for the Deaf in Johannesburg, said she’s received complaints from the deaf community from Canada to China about the man on stage and that his movements look “like he’s signing gibberish.” He also used no facial expression to convey the emotions of the leaders, a key element of sign language interpretation. “This man himself knows he cannot sign and he had the guts to stand on an international stage and do that,” Parkin said.

Nicole Du Toit, an official sign language interpreter who also watched the broadcast, said in a

JOHANNESBURG: In these combination pictures, US President Barack Obama delivers a speech next to a sign language interpreter (right) during the memorial service for late South African President Nelson Mandela at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg. South Africa’s deaf community has accused the sign language interpreter of being a fake, who had merely flapped his arms around during speeches. — AFP telephone interview that the man on stage purporting to sign was an embarrassment. “It was horrible, an absolute circus, really, really bad,” she said. “Only he can understand those gestures.” The man also did sign interpretation at an event last year that was attended by South African President Jacob Zuma, Druchen said. At that appearance, a deaf person in the audience videotaped the event and gave it to the federation for the deaf, which analyzed the video, prepared a report about it and a submitted a formal complaint to the ANC, Druchen said.

In their complaint, the federation suggested that the man should take the five years of training needed to become a qualified sign language interpreter in South Africa. But the ANC never responded, Druchen said. Druchen said a fresh complaint will be filed to the ANC about the interpreter he called a “fake” with a

demand for an urgent meeting. “We want to make a statement that this is a warning to other sign language interpreters who are fake and go about interpreting,” Druchen said. “I am hoping the South African government will take notice of this.”

Bogus sign language interpreters are a problem in South Africa, because people who know a few signs try to pass themselves off as interpreters, said Parkin, the principal of the school for the deaf. And those hiring them usually don’t sign, so they have no idea that the people they are hiring cannot do the job, she said. “ They advertise themselves as interpreters because they know 10 signs and they can make some quick money,” said Parkin. “It is plain and simple abuse of the deaf community, they are taking advantage of the deaf community to make money.” — AP

French face veil ban faces new challenge VERSAILLES: Lawyers for a young woman whose arrest for wearing a full-face veil sparked riots argued yesterday in court that France’s contentious ban on such coverings was unconstitutional and targeted Muslims. The court said it would deliver a verdict on January 8 on her lawyer’s request for a special procedure to seek a review by the country’s Constitutional Council of a law that has already been passed.

The case relates to Cassandra Belin, 20, who was stopped by police in the gritty town of Trappes, west of Paris, on July 18 for wearing the veil in public. The incident, in the midst of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, led to an altercation and her husband Michael Khiri was arrested and accused of insulting a police officer. He was later found guilty and got a three-month suspended sentence. The incident sparked two nights of rioting in Trappes, which has a large immigrant population.

Belin’s lawyer Philippe Bataille told the court in the western suburb of Versailles that the ban on the veil, which came into force in 2011, impinged on freedom of religion and of movement and went against human dignity. “How can a woman who is entirely veiled be considered a threat to public order?” Bataille said, adding that the law was discriminatory as “it only applies to Muslims.” He said one of the policemen had ripped apart Belin’s veil

and shoved her mother-in-law, who was accompanying the couple. “The law must not be put in the hands of Islamophobic officers,” Bataille added.

France argues that the ban, which was approved by the Constitutional Council in 2010 after three years of intense debate, is necessary for security reasons and to uphold the country’s secular traditions. Critics of the ban say if security is a consideration, then motorcycle helmets should also be outlawed. In theory the ban covers all face coverings but in practice the only arrests have been of women wearing Muslim veils. Belin’s trial for defying the ban and insulting a police officer opened at the end of October but was immediately deferred to Wednesday after her lawyer asked for a review of the law.

‘POLYGAMY AND SHARIA’ The public prosecutor has asked the court to throw out the request on the grounds that the law has already been declared constitutional. Belin shunned yesterday’s hearing. Her lawyer said she did not want to be wrongly seen as a “symbol of rampant Islamisation.” She has admitted telling the police officers to “shut up” but denied saying “Allah will crush you.” The police officers claim she also used swear words. In a parallel case, one of the three officers involved in the incident is being

investigated for using Islamophobic language on Facebook and for “inciting hatred and racial discrimination.” The officer allegedly posted a message saying, “white women are the best” and mocked veiled women.

The lawyer representing the police officers said some people were using religion as a pretext to attack France’s core values. “Under the guise of a debate undertaken by some people on the freedom of religion, you have people who attack our laws,” Thibault de Montbrial told the court. “Our institutions are being put to the test,” he said. “Cassandra Belin was not made to undergo an identity check because she was Muslim but because she had committed an offence.” “ The Republic must be firm and resist,” de Montbrial said.

“Otherwise in 10-15 years they will be asking for polygamy and sharia.” The Trappes case is not the only legal challenge to France’s ban on the full-face veil in public places. Last month, the Strasbourgbased European Court of Human Rights heard a case brought by a 23-year-old French graduate, identified by her initials SAS, that the law is discriminatory. She argues that the burqa ban violates her rights to freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and a prohibition against discrimination. — AFP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

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

‘Father of Taleban’ backs vaccination

PESHAWAR: A radical Pakistani religious scholar known as the “Father of the Taleban” has issued a fatwa urging parents to immunize their children against polio and other fatal diseases, adding that vaccinations comply with Islamic law. The edict by Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, who heads the hardline Darul-Uloom Haqqania seminary, comes more than a year after the Pakistani Taleban banned polio immunization following a fake CIA vaccination program meant to help track Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden. The ban has led to a surge in polio cases in

Pakistan that threatens worldwide efforts to eradicate the infectious crippling disease, which is also endemic in Nigeria and Afghanistan. Taleban fighters have launched regular attacks on medical workers and security personnel resulting in at least 25 deaths since the June 2012 prohibition on inoculation.

But according to a statement signed by Haq and dated October 30, parents should disregard the militants’ warnings. “According to Sharia there is no harm in using vaccines which medical experts recommend to save children against deadly diseases,”

the statement seen by AFP on Tuesday said. “Polio, measles, tetanus, tuberculoses...are fatal and dangerous diseases and the vaccines to save young children and pregnant women are effective and harmless. There is no reality in the doubts and suspicions being spread against these vaccines.

“Parents should give the injections and drops of these vaccines to their children to save from fatal diseases,” it added.

The Taleban ordered their ban in response to the CIA’s recruitment of doctor Shakeel Afridi to run a

fake vaccination program in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad, where they hoped he could obtain DNA samples that would help identify bin Laden.

Afridi was arrested after US troops killed the terror chief in his home on May 2011. Pakistan recorded 72 cases of polio this year compared to 58 for all of 2012, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said yesterday. Haq’s seminary has awarded Afghan Taleban leader Mullah Omar an honorary doctorate and also counts Jalaluddin Haqqani, chief of the feared Haqqani network, as a graduate. — AFP

India’s Supreme Court reinstates gay sex ban ‘Intercourse against order of nature’ prohibited

JALALABAD: The foot of mentally ill Afghan man Abdul is seen as he rests, chained to a wall at a holy shrine in the village of Samar Khel, on the outskirts of Jalalabad. — AFP

40 days in chains: Afghan shrine ‘cures’ evil spirits SAMAR KHEL: All it took to land Din Muhammed in a cell at an Afghan shrine, chained up and living on bread for 40 days, was an argument with his father.

Muhammad was forced to undergo the traditional “cure” at the shrine of Mia Ali Baba, outside the eastern city of Jalalabad, to rid him of evil spirits. Even after a decade of international funding and medical expertise pouring into Afghanistan, many locals still believe that the grim ordeal at the shrine will cure mental health problems-or as they see it, possession by malevolent “jinn” spirits.

“I had a big argument with my father,” said Muhammed, a thin young man sitting on a dir ty blanket with heavy chains

JALALABAD: A chained mentally ill Afghan man looks on at a holy shrine in the village of Samar Khel, on the outskirts of Jalalabad. — AFP around his ankles and wrists. “I took money from him to buy a motorbike. “I am very unhappy and I am angry at him that he put me here.” Muhammed, who says he has five war wounds after serving in the Afghan army, is incarcerated in a row of 20 miserable stone cells.

The ceilings are low and damp, and there are no fans in the summer or heating in the winter. “The patient is kept in chains for 40 days on a diet of bread with black pepper,” said Malik, the shrine supervisor. “He is given this to make bad spirits go away. When someone is infected by ghosts, we read verses of the Koran, and married women without children give them amulets to make the spirits depart.”

“It has been the same for 360 years, and

thousands of people have been cured.” At the end of the course, the “patients” are given broth made from goat’s head to complete the cleansing process.

Those undergoing the grueling regime appear in fast-deteriorating health and barely able to talk due to exhaustion. “I did not want to come, my brother forced me,” said Abdul, in his 30s, in a weak voice, unable to explain why he was sent to the shrine. “They told me they would take me to a doctor and they took 5,000 Afghanis ($90) from my pocket for that. I feel dizzy and have headaches.” Abdul’s cell stinks of sweat and urine, and it is littered with trash and soiled linen. Children approach the cell to mock him, before running away laughing as he shakes in desperation.

‘NO BASIS IN SCIENCE’ Shah Temor Mosamim, a doctor and director of a psychiatric hospital in Kabul, dismissed the shrine’s treatment as “having no basis in scientific fact”. “No matter how aggressive a patient is, if you don’t give him much food for 40 days, he will get quieter,” Mosamim said. “In Afghanistan, there have been these traditional ways of treatment for mental patients-chaining them up in rooms or shrines. In some cases, patients are suffering from depression or mental problems.”

The campaign group Human Rights Watch has called for the Mia Ali Baba shrine, named after a 17th-century holy man, to be closed and there is also concern from local rights activists. “This place should be shut down as its practices are not compatible with human rights,” said HR W researcher Heather Barr.

“Mental health treatment is at its basic stages in Afghanistan and unfortunately has not been a high priority for international donors in spite of the fact that many Afghans have experiences of serious trauma.” Rafiullah Bidar, of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, described how families leave patients to live in appalling conditions at the shrine.

“They think that it is the last option... we cannot ignore it,” he said. “These families are not satisfied with government medical services, that is why they rely on the shrine.

“The environment that the patients live in is unhealthy, they defecate and urinate in their cells. I remember the stench and filthy environment when I visited.” For Muhammed and Abdul, the greatest fear is that they have been incarcerated not to be cured-but to die. From their cells, they can see the rough graves of those who never left. “Some families do not come back for the sick who remain for six or eight months and sometimes die,” said caretaker Mir Shafiqullah. “We bury them here.” — AFP

NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court yesterday reinstated a colonial-era ban on gay sex that enables the jailing of homosexuals in a major setback for rights campaigners in the world’s biggest democracy. A two-judge bench struck down a landmark Delhi High Court ruling in 2009 which found that section 377 of the Indian penal code prohibiting “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” infringed the fundamental rights of Indians.

The decision four years ago to decriminalize gay sex emboldened the still largely closeted homosexual community which has since campaigned publicly against widespread discrimination and ignorance. But the Supreme Court bench, headed by GS Singhvi on his last day before retirement, found the High Court had overstepped its authority and that a law passed by the British in 1860 was still constitutionally valid. “It is up to parliament to legislate on this issue,” Singhvi said in the judgment which crushed the hopes of activists who had fought the case and led to tears outside the court in central New Delhi.

The 2009 ruling was strongly opposed by religious groups, particularly leaders of India’s Muslim and Christian communities, who appealed to the Supreme Court and were delighted with yesterday’s outcome. “Such a decision was totally unexpected from the top court. It is a black day for the community,” Arvind Narayan, a lawyer of the Alternative Law Forum gay rights group, told reporters outside court.

India’s law minister promised to review the ruling, but a new gay rights law that would have limited public support is unlikely to pass the dysfunctional national parliament before gener-

al elections next year. “We have the right to make laws and we will exercise that. If the parliament runs we shall take up this issue,” Law Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters.

HUMAN RIGHTS ‘BODY BLOW’ Amnesty International called the decision a “body blow to people’s rights to equality, privacy and dignity”, while a legal challenge from gay rights groups is also possible. “We will explore all options, probably look into the option of a review petition,” T Tandon, a lawyer appearing for Naz Foundation, a non-profit group that has spearheaded legal activism against the law. “ The movement of gay rights is so much stronger now. It is not 2001, it is 2013. You can’t have a decision like this.”

Religious groups who opposed the 2009 repeal hailed the reinstatement of the law, which is rarely invoked in practice. Activists say police use it to harass and intimidate gays who can be threatened with sentences of up to life imprisonment. Ejaz Maqbool, a lawyer for All India Muslim Personal Law Board, said India should not simply “ape” Western culture. “We have our own religious and cultural ethos and all communities in this country feel that our religions treat it as an offence and it should remain so,” Maqbool said.

Gay sex has long been a taboo subject in conservative India, where homophobic tendencies abound and many still regard being gay as a mental illness. The 2009 ruling was widely described as India’s “Stonewall” moment in reference to protests in New York 40 years earlier after a police raid on a gay bar which helped launch the gay and lesbian rights movement. In

recent years, the community in India has raised its profile through gay pride marches, magazines and events which have encouraged many to come out of the closet. But the country still has no major openly-gay public figures in politics, entertainment or sport.

A SURPRISE RULING The Indian-born author Vikram Seth, who is gay, said the judges had taken away “the rights, the prerogatives, and the dignity” of millions of Indians. “Today is great day for prejudice and inhumanity and a bad day for law and love,” he told the NDTV network. “Law develops and love is resilient and prejudice and inhumanity will be beaten back.” Several hundred gay activists gathered in downtown Delhi to protest the verdict, waving rainbow flags and chanting slogans for freedom. “It will be back to the days when the police harass me for walking out on the street, thinking I am prostitute. At least that had changed a little after the 2009 verdict,” said one of the protestors, Vikramaditya, a transgender research scholar.

At a smaller gathering in Mumbai, about 50 activists posed with a banner showing “377” with a red line through it. “I came here expecting to celebrate. But the fight continues,” said one 32-year-old woman who gave her name as Raj. The Supreme Court ruling puts India back in the company of most nations in the Islamic world and many African countries which criminalize homosexuality. The only country in South Asia where gay sex is now legal is Nepal.

In most Western countries, the debate about same-sex couples has shifted on to their rights to marry. — AFP

Sikh gang members jailed for UK attack LONDON: Four members of a Sikh gang which slashed the throat of the Indian general who oversaw the 1984 Amritsar Golden Temple assault were jailed by a British judge on Tuesday.

Retired lieutenant general Kuldip Singh Brar, who is in his late 70s, was attacked as he walked through London’s West End entertainment district with his wife Meena on September 30 last year. Two men and a woman were found guilty of wounding with intent to cause Brar grievous bodily harm at a two-week trial in July. A third man had admitted the charge in January.

Brar survived the knife attack, which left him with a 30-centimetre (12-inch) cut across his jaw and neck and a separate eight-centimeter cut to the jaw. Mandeep Singh Sandhu, 35, from Birmingham in central England, was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court in London. Dilbag Singh, 37, was also jailed for 14 years, while female defendant Harjit Kaur, a 39-year-old Londoner, was sentenced to 11 years.

Barjinder Singh Sangha, 34, from Wolverhampton near Birmingham, was jailed for 10-and-a-half years. The trial heard the gang targeted Brar, himself a Sikh, in revenge for his leading role

in Operation Blue Star against Sikh militants in Amritsar, northwest India, which left at least 500 people dead. The raid was aimed at flushing out militants who had occupied the Golden Temple, which is considered Sikhdom’s holiest shrine. The militants were demanding an independent Sikh homeland.

Kaur tracked Brar’s movements, while Sangha drew the knife as the other men held the retired

general, the trial heard. “This was a pre-planned and organized attempt to assassinate General Brar for his military involvement in the siege of the Golden Temple in India in 1984,” said Commander Richard Walton, head of the British police’s Counter Terrorism Command. “It was ultimately unsuccessful and we are pleased that the sentencing reflects the seriousness of this attack.” —AFP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

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

Myanmar’s surreal capital now less of a ghost town NAYPYITAW: Watched around the clock, bathed twice a day and otherwise pampered, five white elephants are munching on choice greenery in Myanmar’s vast, remote and surreal capital. Above them soars a shimmering, gold-plated pagoda. From ancient times, Myanmar’s rulers regarded these rare albino animals as sacred accessories of kingly capitals, symbols of power and prestige. But in this grandiose city built from scratch in secrecy, at great cost and in a seemingly unsuitable location by the country’s former military dictators, some find it fitting that “white elephant” is also a term for a troublesome possession too expensive to maintain.

Eight years after Naypyitaw - “Abode of the King” - was proclaimed the new government seat, it has become some-

thing more than a “ghost capital hacked out of the jungle,” as it was once described. Private enterprise is staking some ground. More shops and restaurants have opened and 79 hotels are operating or under construction. Some foreign companies, notably the Japanese, have set up small branch offices.

A dozen impressive stadiums, meeting halls and hundreds of villas for visiting VIPs have been built here for the Southeast Asian Games, an 11-nation event that began yesterday. Naypyitaw (nay-pee-thaw) will be in the spotlight again next year when Myanmar chairs the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

But the capital remains far from meeting the grand expectations that built it. It’s 40 times the area of

Washington, DC, dotted with enormous public buildings that seem incongruous in one of the world’s poorest countries.

The US Capitol is positively puny compared with the equivalent here. The main conference center dwarfs the United Nations building in New York, and the airport, home to just two international airlines, is designed to handle up to 10.5 million passengers a year.

Vast empty spaces dominate. Many government workers live alone because their families don’t want to move here.

The political opposition and diplomats are among those who hope the capital one day reverts to Yangon, the country’s heartbeat in almost every way, as democracy truly takes root and the military’s power wanes. Myanmar has a rich history of moving capitals - more than 30 shifts since the 9th century, the

NAYPYITAW: Bicyclists ride along one of the many, multi-lane but empty highways in Naypyitaw, Myanmar’s military-built capital. —AP

shortest lasting barely a year.

The current leadership says Naypyitaw is here to stay, and the city has other boosters, including executives of two international-brand hotels nearing completion. “As the capital of one of Asia’s fastest-emerging economies, Naypyitaw has a huge amount of potential,” says Glenn de Souza, the regional vice president for US-based Best Western International. “Initially you might call it a ‘curiosity factor,’ but as time goes on it could become a serious option for more leisure travelers.”

A senior vice president of the French-owned Accor Group, Patrick Basset, predicts Naypyitaw will become one of the most-visited cities in Myanmar, also known as Burma. Some residents say the airy capital is more livable than Yangon, a city of seething tenements, traffic-jammed roads and about 5 million people. Naypyitaw’s water supply is better, and its virtually uninterrupted electricity contrasts with Yangon’s daily power cuts. “It’s a spacious, green city, so it’s a healthier city. I feel suffocated when I go back home,” says Ko Pyone, a Yangon native who manages a branch of the Cherry Oo watch chain.

Foreign embassies are steadfastly holding on in Yangon, 320 kilometers south of Naypyitaw and a five-hour drive away. Diplomats are looking toward the 2015 election, expected to pit military-backed parties against opposition led by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. “I strongly believe that the capital will one day move back to Yangon,” said the spokesman for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, Nyan Win. Although no public poll has been taken, one joke circulating says that any politician who promises to restore Yangon as the capital will be guaranteed election.

Naypyitaw has some amenities, including a state-of-the-art movie theater, a safari park and a modern mall.

But except for one bustling market, it lacks the color, crowds and friendly chaos of other Myanmar towns and cities. The sprawling city lacks public transport, so people must rely on expensive taxis, private cars and motorcycles. “There is no nightlife here. There is nobody walking in the streets after 9 o’clock. So you stay at home and watch TV,” says Zeyar Oo, owner of a mini-mart chain.

Several officials said moving the capital back to Yangon is not an option.

Like most in the government, they spoke on condition of anonymity.

Reflecting the secrecy still ingrained in a country under iron-fisted military rule for nearly half a century, officials refused to provide such basic information as the city’s population. Various sources, citing official statistics, have said it was 925,000 in 2009, though many visitors have found that figure hard to accept. The government has never even clearly stated why the capital was relocated in the first place.

Theories include its more central, strategic position, allowing better control of the country, and its isolation from a Yangon population that periodically rose up in bloody protests against the regime. Many Burmese believe former junta leader Gen Than Shwe, the capital’s prime architect, followed the examples of ancient kings who believed changing capitals was auspicious and consulted astrologers before giving the command. Than Shwe, still believed to wield considerable power behind the scenes, lives in a secluded Naypyitaw compound with other top military leaders. A restricted military zone is said to contain bunkers and tunnels.

Thailand crisis deepens as PM’s supporters weigh in Red shirts offer to back Yingluck in streets

BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s red-shirted supporters said yesterday they were ready to defend her government in the streets from royalist-backed protesters seeking to install unelected leaders. The warning by Thailand’s mostly working poor “red shirts” highlights the risks of a crisis fuelled by middle-class anger at the electoral and legislative power of the Shinawatra family, revered as populist heroes in the vote-rich north and northeast.

The turmoil has veered from violent protests in which five people were killed and more than 300 wounded to occupations of government buildings and, in recent days, bewildering statements by Suthep Thaugsuban, a firebrand politician who quit the mainstream opposition to lead the protesters. He has told police to arrest Yingluck for treason, ordered civil servants to report to him, not the government and called for citizen “peacekeeping forces” to take over from police.

Yesterday, he mocked Yingluck for her earlier comment that she could not resign because she needed to run the country as caretaker until an election slated for Feb 2. “If a plane crashed with the whole cabinet in it and they all died, Thailand would still go on,” Suthep said, describing himself as an “ambassador of the people” before a crowd of 2,500, one of the smallest since his campaign started. He said he had requested a meeting with the police and military chiefs by Thursday evening, during which he would ask them to choose a side in the conflict. Their comments, he said, would help shape his strategy to overthrow Yingluck. It’s unclear if they will meet. Missed deadlines have become the norm for a publicity-thirsty protest movement that has openly courted anarchy on Bangkok streets in hopes of inducing a military coup or judicial intervention to bring down Yingluck.

Threatened national strikes have not materialized. Police have ignored calls to withdraw.

Deadlines for toppling the government have passed with Yingluck shaken but still in power.

Demonstrations expanded on Monday when 160,000 people rallied in Bangkok, causing Yingluck to dissolve parliament and call an election for Feb. 2. That vote may be meaningless if the Democrat Party, which backs the protests, decides to boycott it.

Suthep, a silver-haired former deputy prime minister in Democrat-led government that Yingluck’s ruling party beat by a landslide in

people than Suthep managed to gather,” he told Reuters in an interview.

POLITICAL IMPASSE Suthep, who a few weeks ago resigned the parliamentary seat he had held for 34 years, derives support from a small but powerful minority: the royalist elite in Bangkok and the opposition Democrat Party, the country’s oldest, which

BANGKOK: Thai army soldiers (front) seek blessings from Buddhist monks near the Government House in Bangkok yesterday. —AFP 2011, has pressed forward with a plan to install an unelected “people’s council” made up of appointed “good people”. If that happens, the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), as the red shirts are known, would rally to Yingluck’s side, said Jatuporn Promphan, one of its leaders. “It is the UDD’s job to bring together en masse the red shirts and those who love democracy and don’t agree with Suthep’s methods. There will be many more

has failed to win an election since 1992. In 2010, Suthep authorized a security crackdown that left downtown Bangkok burning and killed scores of red shirts. Their movement says it still supports Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck’s brother, who was ousted as prime minister in a 2006 coup.

Akanat Promphan, Suthep’s step-son and anti-government protest spokesman, said if Yingluck resigned, the Senate would name a “neutral prime minister” and the “People’s

Council” would be the legislative body and help set up a “parallel government”. The impasse could drag on for weeks. Suthep’s group could even seize power if the politically powerful military or the judiciary get involved, a familiar pattern in Thailand. Although Thaksin or his allies have won every election of the past decade, the politicized courts have often intervened, annulling an 2006 election won by Thaksin on a technicality and later dissolving his Thai Rak Thai Party for electoral fraud.

His party’s next incarnation, the People’s Power Party, suffered the same fate. Nearly 150 executives of both parties were banned for five years. Suthep says his People’s Council would eradicate the influence of Thaksin, a billionaire who remains a powerful force in Yingluck’s government and sometimes convenes cabinet meetings by webcam from Dubai, where he lives in self-exile to avoid jail for abuse of power, a ruling he says was politically motivated.

Late on Tuesday, Suthep called for protesters to target Yingluck’s entire family. “When Suthep speaks he should bear in mind that there are millions of Thais who love Thaksin and love the Shinawatra family,” red shirt leader Thida Thawornseth said. “Where does Suthep come off thinking he can speak on behalf of all Thais?” she asked. “Suthep has said Yingluck cannot go anywhere in Thailand without being insulted. What about him? He is the one who should be worried.” Such comments suggest the protests could lead to a wider conflict if Yingluck’s elected government is forcibly removed. After courts brought down two Thaksin-allied prime ministers in late 2008 and the Democrats came to power through a parliamentary vote, believed to be orchestrated by the military, the red shirts paralyzed Bangkok in April-May 2010. The red shirts cut short a rally at a Bangkok stadium on Dec 1 after fatal clashes outside and postponed a Dec. 10 demonstration in Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok. Asked what would bring them out on to the street, Jatuporn said: “When chaos ensues or when Suthep’s side uses violent methods to gain power.” —Reuters

Agonizing wait for the missing in Philippines TACLOBAN: In the grieving, grey wastelands that were once bustling towns on tropical Philippine islands, thousands of typhoon survivors are enduring an agonizing wait of hope and denial for news of loved ones. Nearly 1,800 people are officially listed as missing after Super Typhoon Haiyan swept across the central Philippines just over a month ago, and not knowing what happened to them is for some relatives nearly as painful as confirmation that they died. Francis Batula, 35, buried his aunt and four other relatives in shallow graves outside their badly damaged home in the coastal city of Tacloban, where giant storm surges wiped out thousands of homes as well as schools, churches and other places serving as evacuation centers.

His aunt was in her house facing the Pacific Ocean, along with her husband and daughter. The aunt’s body was found but not those of the other two, and Batula refuses to acknowledge that his uncle and cousin are likely dead. “We are still hoping that they are safe, but that they can’t contact us. Maybe there’s no (phone) signal where they are now,” Batula said after walking past the graves of his five other relatives. Batula said he and other relatives had paid fruitless visits to neighboring communities to ask if people had seen his uncle and cousin, and expressed anger at authorities for not doing enough to search for the missing.

“All they are doing is asking for the names of the missing people. They say they will report it. But when you ask them what they will do to help you find them, there is no concrete answer... they say it’s not a priority right now,” he said. The government

insists it is doing all it can to find the missing but, like virtually all other aspects of the disaster, the magnitude of the response needed is overwhelming. The number of people confirmed killed is 5,936, and just the task of dealing with the dead has been too much to handle properly, with countless bodies having been dumped into mass graves without being properly identified. The typhoon on November 8 generated tsunami-like storm surges that powered through dozens of coastal communities on the islands of Leyte and Samar, and piles of rubble from destroyed homes still lie in the streets. As that debris is being cleared by cash-for-work clean-up crews of survivors and just a few bulldozers, bodies continue to be found. Amid the chaos, there are haunting messages for the lost. Churchgoers browse lists of missing people and look at posters appealing for help that are pinned up to the entrances of cathedrals. At the Santo Nino church in Tacloban, a photocopied photo of a three-yearold boy hangs on a notice board. Alongside, a handwritten message says the boy was wearing an orange life vest and diapers, but no shirt, when he went missing on November 8. The phone numbers of five people are listed for anyone with information to call. The Red Cross is playing an important role in trying to find the missing. It sends tracing teams into communities to look for people after they are reported by relatives or friends as having disappeared.

One of the charity organization’s team leaders in Tacloban, Iris Recto, said her small team had found at least eight people a day

over three weeks, with a record daily success of 29, by searching in evacuation centers and communities. But Recto said the Red Cross cases mainly involved relatives overseas or elsewhere in the Philippines reporting missing people. The Red Cross typically finds people who had lost their phones or were living in an area without a phone signal, so had been unable to call relatives outside the disaster areas, according to Recto. —AFP

TACLOBAN: A girl carries a baby as she walks among debris of destroyed houses in Tacloban. —AFP

Construction of the city began in the early 2000s in an area inhabited by largely dirt-poor farmers. Much of the city consists of long stretches of multilane highways flanked by scrubland, forest and fields where water buffaloes graze. Set within the greenery are hundreds of orderly apartment blocks housing civil servants, assigned according to rank. The roofs are color-coded: green for employees of the Agriculture Ministry. To attract - some say force usage, the government has relocated everything from the equivalent of Myanmar’s Academy Awards to most animals in the Yangon Zoo to the annual gems emporium.

Diplomats have been more difficult to attract. Only Bangladesh and Malaysia are known to have paid the government’s $1.5 million price for an embassy plot, and neither has begun construction. But Thant Myint-U, a prominent historian and government adviser, says returning the capital to Yangon would be very expensive, and the government will have other priorities. “Nothing is irreversible, but as the years go by, I think it will increasingly difficult, even if there was the political desire,” he says. “Having an administrative center that’s different than the biggest city is not in itself a bad thing.”

Than Shwe stamped a traditional seal on Naypyitaw as a center of power by erecting an almost exact replica of Yangon’s incomparable Shwedagon Pagoda here. He made it 30 centimeters shorter out of respect for that holiest of shrines. And the white elephants were given their deluxe lodgings. Life here is “lonely, boring” for Forestry Department veterinarian Tin Ko Lat, whose wife and two children live far away. But he loves his work. “The rulers believe that keeping the white elephants here will bring prosperity,” he says. —AP

News

in brief

China inferno kills 16 BEIJING: A blaze which engulfed a Chinese food market killed 16 people in the early hours of yesterday, firefighters and state media said.

The inferno raged through the Rongjian Agricultural Wholesale Market in Shenzhen bordering Hong Kong, the city’s fire department said. The state news agency Xinhua said 16 people including an infant girl were killed and five injured, and the market manager was in police custody. It took 145 firefighters and 29 fire engines a hour and half to put out the blaze, the fire department said on its verified account on Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter. The cause of the fire was still under investigation and rescuers were still searching the site. Zhang Xiaowei, spokesman for the city fire department, was quoted by Xinhua as saying all the victims were people associated with four stores in the market. Security guard Wang Long, who discovered the fire, was quoted as saying many shopowners and their families live in the market and store their goods there to start business in the early morning. Workplace safety standards can be poor in China. Fatal accidents happen regularly at mines and factories, with some blaming lax enforcement of rules.

Taiwan’s former captain gets life term for spying TAIPEI: A former Taiwanese air force captain was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for leaking military secrets to China, in the latest spying scandal to hit the island. Chiang Fuchung was convicted of leaking large amounts of confidential documents to China through his uncle, a Taiwanese businessman based on the mainland, the high court said. No other details were released but he can appeal the ruling. Chiang, who worked for the air force radar command and control centre, has been detained since his arrest last year. Taiwanese media have reported that the Chinese military has long sought access to the centre, which houses highly sensitive information including details on the air force’s “Strong Net” radar program and the US-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system. The centre is responsible for surveillance of the skies stretching from the island’s north to southeastern Chinese coastal provinces like Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi.

Taiwan has been hit by a string of spying scandals in recent years.

Taleban suicide bomber targets NATO convoy KABUL: A Taleban suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a NATO military convoy entering Kabul airport yesterday, killing himself but causing no other casualties.

The blast was heard across the Afghan capital, which has seen a recent drop in insurgent attacks after several high-profile strikes earlier this year. “We can confirm a suicide car bombing that targeted an ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) convoy coming to Kabul International Airport,” a spokeswoman with the NATO force said. “The vehicle detonated too early and didn’t reach the convoy. There were no ISAF casualties.” Interior ministry spokesman Sidiq Sediqqi said there were no Afghan casualties in the attack on the airport, which houses a major NATO military base as well as operating civilian flights to cities including Dubai, New Delhi and Istanbul. Flights were delayed only briefly after the bomb exploded. The Taleban, who regularly exaggerate casualty numbers, claimed responsibility via their main Twitter account, saying ten soldiers had been killed or injured and two German vehicles destroyed.

NEWS Mom, son dead in...

GCC wants militias out of Syria...

Continued from Page 1

Continued from Page 1

Seven hours later, firefighters were able to put out the blaze and evacuate all residents, including 68 who were hospitalized with smoke inhalation and other injuries, including dozens of infants. Firefighters were too late however to save a woman and her child who were pronounced dead as a result of asphyxiation according to early medical diagnoses. Eleven firefighters were treated for exhaustion.

It was earlier believed that between 350 and 400 people were trapped inside the 1,000 sq m building that consists of 72 apartments. A senior official at the Kuwait Fire Services Directorate described the fire as ‘one of the largest’ recorded in an apartment building in Kuwait. “Though this is not the first time that a fire broke out under similar circumstances, this is considered one of the largest to hit an apartment building in Kuwait’s history,” said Director General Maj Gen Yousuf Al-Ansari. The official confirmed that the two fatalities happened as a result of “thick smoke ascending from the basement”, and offered condolences to the victims’ family.

Ansari hailed the rescue operation as a success, saying that quick intervention of firefighters helped avoid more casualties. “Firefighters followed flame-tackling, rescue, reinforcement and supply plans consistently which demonstrates their competency and the role of training and preplanning in cases of fire,” he said.

Firefighters used oxygen cylinders during the operation to rescue the residents trapped in thick smoke created by the blaze. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fire. Firefighters reportedly found food items, tents, charcoal and other material stored in the basement, which they said helped create the huge inferno that spread very quickly.

“Those who participated today in the summit in Kuwait, first among them the Saudi regime, have contributed in large part to the killing of Syrians and the destruction of their country,” said the foreign ministry. “Their sorrow about the suffering of the Syrian people is nothing more than crocodile tears.”

But brushing aside differences with Iran on Syria, the GCC praised the Islamic republic’s overtures to Gulf Arab states. The monarchies “welcome the new orientation by the Iranian leadership towards the Gulf Cooperation Council and hope it will be followed by concrete measures that would positively impact regional peace,” said the statement. They also “welcome the interim deal signed by the P5+1 and Iran as a first step toward an inclusive and lasting agreement on Iran’s nuclear program that would end international and regional concerns”.

While welcoming the nuclear deal, Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah told reporters the Gulf states would “monitor the issue closely and through direct consultations with our allies”. The GCC members, he added, had not requested to take part in negotiations for a final agreement on Iran’s nuclear program. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif toured the Gulf last week to assure some of its governments the nuclear deal was not at their expense, while calling for a new page in relations. Like Western powers, Gulf monarchies fear Iran wants to develop atomic weapons

under the guise of a civilian nuclear program.

Iran says the program is for peaceful purposes only. Ties between some Gulf states and Iran have also been strained over Tehran’s support for Assad and a Shiite-led uprising in Bahrain.

This year’s summit was also held amid differences over a Saudi proposal to upgrade the GCC into a confederation. At the weekend, Oman - which reportedly hosted secret talks that led to the Iranian nuclear deal - threatened to pull out of the loose alliance if a union was announced, while Saudi Arabia, which is solidly backed by Bahrain, has insisted it is time to move ahead. Yesterday’s final statement said Gulf leaders had directed the ministerial council to continue consultations on the matter. Sheikh Sabah told reporters that “consultations will continue until we reach consensus”.

However, the Gulf Arab leaders approved the creation of a unified military command “as part of efforts aimed at strengthening security and stability”. No details were provided on the structure or duties of this command. They also agreed to lay the foundations for a joint Gulf police force and a strategic studies academy. The GCC states Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - formed the Peninsula Shield force in 1982 as a 5,000strong force but has since expanded to more than 30,000 troops. Together, the six states sit on 40 percent of global crude reserves and a quarter of the world’s natural gas. They have a population of 47 million, about half of them foreigners. — Agencies

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

Spy chief worried by turmoil...

Continued from Page 1 Two years after the departure of US troops who invaded Iraq in 2003, Kuwait’s northern neighbour is again a war zone, with Sunni Muslim militants close to Al-Qaeda challenging the Shiite-led government. Shiite militias, which have no love for Saudi Arabia or Kuwait, also operate, but on a smaller scale. Sheikh Thamer said he was “saddened” Iraq had not detained the leader of an Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiite militia who said his men fired mortar bombs that landed near a border post in northern Saudi Arabia on Nov. 21. There were no casualties.

Wathiq Al-Batat, commander of Iraq’s AlMukhtar Army militia, told Reuters by telephone the same day that the strike was a warning to the kingdom to stop meddling in Iraqi affairs. Two days earlier suicide bombers had hit Iran’s embassy in Lebanon, killing 25 people. Some Shiite commentators saw a Saudi hand in the attack, although Riyadh condemned the bombing. Sheikh Thamer said Batat had ties with other “terrorist organisations” in the region. “However what saddens us the most is the Iraqi government’s reluctance to apprehend him and their shy condemnation of Wathiq Al-Batat’s attacks,” he said.

Asked if Kuwait saw Batat as linked to Iran, Sheikh Tamer replied: “We are fully aware of his supporters and the people who instigated him to launch these attacks - he himself made it clear that these attacks are in retaliation for the Iranian embassy bombing in Beirut.” Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Saad Maan said Batat’s arrest had been ordered, but that he was on the run. “We respect all brothers in Kuwait and all Arab countries and

tell them that the Iraq of today is not like the Iraq of yesterday,” Maan said. “It is not possible that Iraq will be part of anything that may harm, or a place for launching any bullets toward the borders of our brothers.”

Security incidents in Saudi Arabia, Iran’s regional rival, stir bad memories in Kuwait, a close ally of the kingdom. Bombings of US forces in Saudi Arabia by anti-Western militants in the mid-1990s reminded Kuwaitis of bombings in Kuwait against Western targets in the 1980s, a time when Iran and Iraq were fighting an eight-year war. Kuwaitis blamed most of those on pro-Iranian Iraqi Shiites demanding the creation of an Islamic state in Iraq.

Asked about his regional counterparts, Sheikh Thamer said: “We enjoy excellent ties with our Saudi counterpart. In terms of Iraq and Iran, I think we have a long way to go.”

Sheikh Thamer said Kuwait welcomed a nuclear deal Iran struck with six world powers last month but suggested Tehran had to do more to win the trust of Gulf Arabs. “We have been advocating such a deal with Iran and finally we see it coming through,” he said.

“However Iran has other commitments to fulfil in order for it to gain trust and must embark on confidence-building measures with its neighbours.”

Some Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab states view Shiite Iran as a troublemaker in the region, seeking to build a nuclear bomb, politically dominant in Syria and Iraq and stirring subversion in Bahrain. Iran denies it interferes anywhere in the region and says its nuclear work is only for peaceful purposes. The interim nuclear deal requires Tehran to limit uranium enrichment in return for an easing of international sanctions. — Reuters

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

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Issues

Obama-Castro handshake offers hope for ties

By Jean-Herve Deiller

T

he handshake between US President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro at a memorial service for Nelson Mandela could provide an opening for an easing of ties between the Cold War foes, analysts say. Some however cautioned that the significance of the brief encounter in South Africa should not be exaggerated, noting that courteous gestures do not necessarily translate into policy changes after 50 years of enmity. “It’s extraordinarily symbolic, and this opportunity must not be missed.

Now the next step is to start talking,” Cuban political scientist Esteban Morales told AFP. “What happened is a sign that the two countries are ready to negotiate.”

Peter Schechter, director of the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin American Center in Washington, agreed but said the process could be a slow one. He said the gesture was “perhaps a telling sign” that Obama “may be willing to continue to implement small, incremental steps to engage with Cuba even if it comes with spending some political capital.” But he also emphasized that Obama had struck a “good balance” between openness and skepticism, by taking a swipe in his eulogy for Mandela at states like Cuba for claiming kinship with Mandela but eschewing his message of tolerance. “The handshake came with finger-wagging,” Schechter noted.

The encounter at the stadium in Soweto between Obama and Castro involved the exchange of a few words, according to images broadcast on South African television. Deputy US national security advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters on Air Force One that the handshake was not “planned” and that Washington still had “grave concerns” about the human rights situation in Cuba and the continued detention of American Alan Gross. “The president’s focus was on honoring the legacy of Nelson Mandela,” Rhodes said.

In Cuba, the official Granma newspaper carried the photo of Obama and Castro in its online edition, without comment. The government website Cubadebate.cu also ran a photograph of the moment with the caption: “Obama greets Raul: may this image be the beginning of the end of the US aggressions against Cuba.” The United States and Cuba have not had diplomatic relations since 1961, two years after Fidel Castro came to power in the Cuban revolution.

Washington has imposed a strict embargo on the Communist-run island for a half-century, and Havana is on the US State Department’s list of sponsors of state terrorism along with Sudan, Iran and Syria.

While Washington is incensed at the ongoing jailing of Gross, a State Department contractor who was sentenced to 15 years for crimes against the state, Cuba has railed constantly over the conviction of the so-called “Cuban Five” on espionage charges in 2001.

Nevertheless, Obama has sought to lower tensions since taking office in 2009, easing restrictions on visas, remittances and travel. Last month, speaking at a fundraiser at the home of a Cuban-American activist in Miami, Obama said: “We have to continue to update our policies” toward Havana. “Keep in mind that when Castro came to power, I was just born. So the notion that the same policies that we put in place in 1961 would somehow still be as effective as they are today in the age of the Internet and Google and world travel doesn’t make sense,” he said.

Arturo Perez-Levy, a professor at the University of Denver, said the importance of “a simple handshake must not be exaggerated,” recalling that former US leader Bill Clinton and Fidel Castro exchanged greetings in New York on the sidelines of a summit of world leaders in 2000. Frank Mora, director of the Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University, agreed. “We should not read too much into this handshake. I don’t think that it is a signal of rapprochement or a change in US politics nor a change in Cuba policy,” Mora told AFP. Analyst Jorge Gomez Barata said the Obama-Castro handshake was simply a result of “Mandela diplomacy” - and a testament to the example set by the antiapartheid icon and South Africa’s first black president.

“Mandela did not know that such a meeting was going to occur... But he most certainly cleared a path that allowed for the avoidance of confrontation and created the basis for such an important meeting.” —AFP

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

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

Palestinian ‘honour’ killings rising

By Noah Browning

A

silvery green olive grove set in the red soil of a Palestinian village is a crime scene - testament to a practice so sensitive that it is spoken of only in whispers. One night in late November, Rasha Abu Ara, a 32-year-old mother of five, was beaten to death and strung from a gnarled tree branch as a gruesome badge of “family honour” restored. The woman’s alleged sin was adultery, and her killer was either her own brother or husband, security sources told Reuters. Both are behind bars while an investigation continues. Her murder brought to 27 the number of women slain in similar circumstances in Palestinian-run areas this year, according to rights groups more than twice last year’s victims.

The rise has led Palestinians to question hidebound laws they say are lax on killers, as well as a reluctance to name and shame in the media and society, which may contribute to a feeling of impunity among perpetrators. “It feels like something that belongs to another time,” said one young man in Aqqaba who refused to give his name, the first hints of a beard on his chin.

“But, it’s standard.” A week after the crime, Aqqaba mayor Jamal Abu Ara, who is a member of the victim’s extended family, and his brothers sat in their village home, smoking cigarettes and choosing their words carefully.

“This act has no religion - it comes from closed, tribal thinking left over from an age of ignorance. People here are walking around in a haze; they want to know who did it and why. Of course, it’s the first time it’s happened here,” he said. His brother added: “Islam requires you have four witnesses to prove the act of adultery. “It’s not right what happened. Especially since if it

were a man, some would just say ‘boys will be boys’,” he said. A representative of the slain woman’s family declined to speak to Reuters.

“Honour killing” is a social menace that occurs throughout the Middle East, though precise figures are often elusive. In neighbouring Jordan, for example, a Cambridge University survey of attitudes among young people published in June found that a third of respondents agreed with the practice.

The researchers attributed the result to low levels of education and “patriarchal and traditional world views, emphasis placed on female virtue and a more general belief that violence against others is morally justified”.

The study estimated an average of 15 to 20 such killings occur every year in Jordan, with a population of around 6.3 million, compared to around 4 million in Palestinian lands.

Patriarchy Some activists believe the rise in honour killings indicates social and economic problems are mounting in the territories, where Palestinians exercise limited selfrule but Israel holds ultimate sovereignty, including over commerce. But Soraida Hussein, whose rights group Muntada tallied this year’s killings, said the practice also has deep roots. “There is no balance in power relations between the genders.

There is a patriarchal mentalit y...as always, the force and pressure in society is transferred from the strong to the weak,” she said.

Palestinian female participation in the labour force stands at 17 percent, a figure the World Bank called “abysmally low,” noting that employers appeared to favour men, among whom joblessness was almost a third lower in 2013. Hussein said

that most of the killings related to “the movement and the freedom of the woman, so (perpetrators) say it’s an ‘honour killing ‘... also, there’s still no clear law to discourage the practice.” Many of the cases had economic underpinnings, such as connections to disputes over inheritance, or may have been committed to cover up incest, she added.

The passing of stricter laws on violence against women is hamstrung by the absence of a Palestinian parliament, which has not met since President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and the Islamist Hamas group fought a brief, bloody civil war in 2007. Abbas has used his executive power to amend or cancel parts of the penal law, but has not yet changed all legislation which applies a separate status to domestic violence and has been used to justify killings and lighten prison sentences.

Palestinian Minister of Women’s Affairs Rabiha Diab saved much of her blame for violence toward women for Israel. “The Israeli occupation is the one practising the utmost violence ... it’s the main thing keeping us from advancing. There’s been a deterioration, financial and psychological pressure on our society, poverty. But there are also certain backward cultural legacies that must be combated,” she said.

Unemployment and pover ty both increased in 2013, with both standing at around 25 percent. Growth has slowed from boom rates averaging around 9 percent annually in 2008-2011 to just 1.8 percent in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in the first half of 2013, according to the World Bank.

Banished Not just laws but lawmakers may be part of the problem. Residents of the

northern West Bank village of Deir alGhusun began muttering about Thamar Zeidan, a 32-year-old mother of two, after an apparently intoxicated man was spied leaving her home one morning, a local source told Reuters. Elders, including a Hamas member of parliament, soon gathered and signed an announcement formally banishing her family from the larger tribe. The notice was pasted on the outer walls of homes and on the village mosque.

Days later in late September, Thamar was choked to death with a metal wire in her sleep. Her father confessed to the deed.

The lawmaker, Abdel Rahman Zeidan, denied charges in the Palestinian media that the petition was tantamount to inciting murder, and said the banishment targeted the father, whom villagers say allowed his children too many freedoms.

“Taking the law into your own hands is wrong,” he told Reuters. “These acts are unacceptable, and laws must be passed to discourage them.”

Spreading awareness on the issue can open campaigners and journalists to criticism and even threats, which may partly explain its scant airing in public, however.

Press bulletins occasionally note the discovery of a woman’s body in what are called “hazy circumstances” - a common euphemism for honour killings. Names are concealed and the news is rarely followed up on. “ When you touch such stories, you’re up against a social taboo,” said Palestinian journalist Naela Khalil, whose work focuses on women’s issues. “Here, the family is stronger than even the security forces. I might criticise Mahmoud Abbas more easily than a father or a brother who killed a woman. Doing this may mean a struggle with a whole family or village,” she said. —Reuters

Qaeda tightens grip on western Iraq

By Suadad Al-Salhy

I

n Iraq’s western desert near the Syrian border, in a landscape of sand and rock, a signpost announces that you are entering Al-Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). A short video of the sign was broadcast on jihadi websites last month and reflects a long-held goal of Al-Qaeda fighters to establish an Islamic emirate.

ISIL insurgents have increased attacks on strategic targets in parts of western Iraq in the past three months in a bid to make their putative state a reality, security officials and analysts say. “Al-Qaeda believes these areas do not have strong security and social ties to the central government so it would be easy to separate them from Iraq,” independent analyst Hashim Al-Habobi said. “This is the goal of all these attacks.”

Al-Qaeda fighters seized control of most of Iraq’s Sunni Muslim areas after the 2003 US invasion. American troops and local allies finally beat them back in heavy fighting during the “surge” of 2006-07, but today the fighters once again aim to control towns and cities and realise their dream of a state ruled according to strict medieval Sunni Islamic practice. After years of plotting underground and on the Internet, they have joined forces with powerful groups fighting in neighbouring Syria against President Bashar Al-Assad, and aim to establish a Caliphate that would transcend modern state borders.

“They want to establish their own state on the ground. It is not enough to

have a state in the virtual world anymore,” said a senior federal police officer who has attended interrogations of Al-Qaeda detainees in Baghdad. He said that late last month the army uncovered an ISIL plot to seize border towns near Syria in western Anbar province and Anbar’s main cities of Ramadi and Falluja. The plan was thwarted by a raid on a camp in Anbar’s desert just two days before it was to have taken place, he added.

Fighters had planned to attack police stations, an army operations centre for four provinces in western and northern Iraq as well as government buildings in Ramadi and western towns, the officer said. The attack would have involved suicide bombers on foot and in vehicles as well as rockets, like an attack in July that freed hundreds of prisoners from Abu Ghraib jail, the boldest insurgent operation in Iraq in more than five years.

Rethinking Habobi, the analyst, said ISIL views Anbar and nearby Mosul city as the core of a wider area that could be wrested from control of the Shiite-led Baghdad government and serve as a haven to move freely in and out of Syria. The rise of ISIL and its allies in neighbouring Syria has already transformed that conflict and forced a rethink among Western countries backing rebels against Assad. The United States and Britain suspended assistance into northern Syria on Wednesday after Islamists seized head-

quarters and warehouses there from Western-backed rebels.

ISIL, which announced its formation earlier this year out of pre-existing groups, operates on both sides of the frontier, though it is not clear how closely Syrian and Iraqi wings coordinate their activities. In Iraq it has claimed responsibility for mass bombing campaigns that have killed thousands of civilians this year, by far Iraq’s worst violence since the U.S. surge. In Syria, ISIL is led by foreigners hardened by guerrilla warfare in Iraq, Chechnya and Libya and has seized expanses of land in rebel-held areas. In some places it has tried to implement a rigid Islamist social agenda. Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has estimated the total number of ISIL fighters at 12,000, a figure that appeared to cover both Syria and Iraq. “This is toxic, and the day will come, God forbid, when they will have another Islamic Emirate outside control,” he told a security conference in Bahrain this week.

Virtual State Not Enough In Iraq the group is mainly based in the natural valleys and caves in western and northern parts of the country’s vast desert, which is an expansion of the Syrian desert. Since September, ISIL has bombed four bridges on routes linking the Iraqi border towns of Rawaa, Aana, Haditha and Rutba to the Anbar capital Ramadi, 100 km west of Baghdad. This was to stop security services from sending back-up forces when ISIL attacked security headquar-

ters and troops in the border towns, security officials said. The Western Sunni province of Anbar occupies a third of Iraq’s territory and borders Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Its cities and towns, strung along the vast stretch of the Euphrates river as it spills out of Syria, are populated

by Sunni Muslims, many of whom resent the dominance of Shi’ites in the government in Baghdad. Thousands took to the streets in anti-government protests late last year, and there have been smaller gatherings since. When Al-Qaeda fighters last controlled Anbar before the US surge, much of the population turned against them because of their harsh methods of justice and disregard for local tribal leaders. But there are signs they are again gaining support.

A video posted on jihadi websites earlier this month shows dozens of masked ISIL members holding machine guns in a military-style parade in a residential area near the highway in Anbar. There is a small group of observers cheering and waving. The parade took place in late November near a square in the city of Ramadi where protesters regularly gather, witnesses and security officials in Anbar told Reuters by telephone.

The crowd welcomed the masked men, they said. Anbar authorities have installed curfews several times in the past two months because of intelligence reports warning of possible attacks on government buildings and troops.

“The intelligence we have been getting shows that the militants are seeking to control the province again,” said Falih Al-Essawi, deputy head of Anbar’s provincial council. In late October, in what appeared to be a coordinated assault, suicide bombers and other attackers targeted security headquarters and checkpoints in Anbar, killing at least 16 members of the security forces and wounding 35.

Two days earlier, bombers driving cars packed with explosives attacked sites in the border town of Rawa. ISIL claimed responsibility for both assaults.

North and South Jazeera The group has set up two desert areas that it refers to as “wilayah”, a type of governed area; one is called the State of North Al-Jazeera, outside the northern city of Mosul, and the other the State of South al-Jazeera, in the Anbar desert. The areas include camps, training centres, command headquarters and stocks of weapons, security officials say. ISIL fighters control villages, oases, grazing areas and valleys in these areas, while the Iraqi army is based in military barracks scattered across the desert, security officials and residents said. “Establishing a geographical area comprising natural resources such as oil and gas and totally dominated by Sunnis is a priority for the ISIL in this stage,” said a retired senior military officer who was responsible for making plans to combat AlQaeda. —Reuters

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

S P ORTS

Striker Suarez credited with 15th league goal

LONDON: Liverpool striker Luis Suarez was credited with his 15th Premier League goal of the season yesterday following a review of his side’s 4-1 win over West Ham United. The Uruguay international played a key role in Liverpool’s fourth goal in last weekend’s game at Anfield with a long-range strike that took a deflection off West Ham defender Joey O’Brien and was recorded as an own goal. However, the Premier League’s dubious goals panel has now ruled that the goal should be credited to Suarez, who also scored earlier in the match. It means that Suarez’s lead at the top of the scoring chart has increased to three goals, with nearest rival Sergio Aguero of Manchester City having found the net 12 times this term. Suarez’s achievement is rendered all the more remarkable by the fact that he missed the first five games of the campaign as he completed a suspension for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic during a game last season. —AFP

Everton’s Baines plots Christmas comeback LONDON: Everton’s England left-back Leighton Baines revealed yesterday that he hopes to return to action in time for his club’s busy festive fixture schedule. The 29-year-old, who is bidding to oust Ashley Cole as England’s first-choice left-back at next year’s World Cup, has not played since breaking a toe in Everton’s 3-3 draw with Liverpool on November 23. Manager Roberto Martinez estimated that he would be out of action until early January, but Baines is hoping to recover before the end of the year. “The manager said early on it’s quite a broad timeframe that you can be looking at,” he said. “We thought about different things, injections and stuff, but we didn’t know whether that would set me back further so we are just trying to let it heal naturally at the moment.

“Obviously the schedule thickens up around Christmas and New Year so you like to think you would be back and available to help the team at that point, but it’s just one of those things. You have to wait and see.”

Having won 1-0 at Manchester United and drawn 1-1 at Arsenal in their last two outings, Everton currently sit in fifth place in the Premier League table ahead of Saturday’s home game with Fulham. —AFP

Australia on the brink against dispirited England SYDNEY: Already 2-0 up in the series and with Mitchell Johnson running riot, Australia could hardly be charged with more confidence as they look to rout a dispirited England in the third Ashes test and recapture the coveted urn. In a remarkable turnaround, Australia have transformed themselves in a few short months from plucky 3-0 losers in England into an aggressive outfit which has dominated every aspect of play in crushing victories in Brisbane and Adelaide.

Star ting on Friday, they have a chance to drive home their advantage and win the tiny terracotta symbol of Anglo-Australian sporting rivalry for the first time since Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath signed off with a 5-0 sweep in 2007. Johnson’s personal transformation has been no less spectacular and the oft-ridiculed paceman now gets his chance to terrorize at his adopted home ground, where even in the dark days of the 2010-11 series he bowled his country to victory.

“It should be fast and bouncy and that excites me a lot, excites all our fast bowlers,” said Johnson, who has taken 36 wickets in five tests at an average of 19.66 at the WACA. “We’re familiar with these conditions and we know where to bowl ... if you can bowl a ball accurately at someone’s (helmet) grill, I don’t care who you are, you are going to feel intimidated, especially on a wicket like Perth.” England could hardly have chosen a worse arena to find themselves with their backs to the wall than the WACA, where they have won only one test in 12, and that back in 1978.

Blinding sunlight and sweltering heat look assured for the five-day match and, if the WACA deck is no longer as quick as it once was, it can still be an intimidating place to face genuine pace bowling of the sort Johnson has been producing.

Even when the afternoon breeze blows up from Fremantle, what relief it brings will be tempered in English minds by the knowledge that it has in the past enabled Johnson to swing the ball to devastating effect.

“One thing I do know about this team is that when we get to this place we come out fighting. You have no option,” wicketkeeper Matt Prior said. “You can sit

there and sulk, moan, whinge and make excuses - but you will just get beaten.

You have to get rid of all that, and fight.”

Australia, a shambolic team at the start of the year who have discovered unity in victory at home, have an unchanged squad for the third test in a row as they look to give captain Michael Clarke something to cheer about in his 100th test. England have never before come from 2-0 down to win an Ashes series and will definitely make changes as they look to stem their own demise and Australia’s rise.

LOST TOSSES One of the two spinners, Graeme Swann and Mony Panesar, will probably give way to bowling all-rounder Tim Bresnan but England need huge improvements in all areas, even down to captain Alastair Cook’s effectiveness in the toss of the coin. England won the toss in all three of their victories on home soil earlier this year but lost it in the two drawn matches. Clarke has won both tosses in the Australia-hosted series with his team going on to win by 381 runs in Brisbane and 218 runs in Adelaide.

As every sportsperson since South African golfer Gary Player will attest, though, luck is best improved through hard work. One of the more disappointing aspects of England’s misery so far has their poor fielding with three dropped catches costing them 286 runs in Adelaide. And even if Cook did manage to call correctly on Friday morning and put his side into bat, England have not managed the sort of 400-plus total they would need to accumulate in any of their matches against Australia this year.

The disappointing batting, not least a rash of ill-judged hook shots, has called into question the hunger and desire of the England top order. “Sometimes when you haven’t been playing well that’s one thing you start looking at, whether we do have that,” Cook, who will also be playing his 100th test, admitted after the Adelaide match. “I can only say from speaking to the guys and watching them, how much this is hurting, that we do.

Only the guys will know that inside themselves. I honestly believe that we’ve got that.” —Reuters

Unrest threatens T20 WCup, hosts admit DHAKA: Bangladesh’s cricket chief has said that next year’s Twenty20 World Cup is threatened by the country’s deadly political violence, and there may only be weeks to save the tournament. The 16team competition, due to take place between March 16 and April 6, should be the biggest sporting event ever staged

by Bangladesh. But the country has been gripped by violent protests in recent weeks, with opposition supporters insisting that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stand aside before elections due next month. More than 74 people have been killed since late October.

“If this situation prevails, then any big tournament or participation of any big country will be under threat,” Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan told reporters late Monday. “This must end in January and preferably in December.” The political violence has affected almost every city, including the three host venues for the T20 tournament-the capital Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. A team of International Cricket Council (ICC) inspectors declared last week they were “happy” with security arrangements but said they would continue to monitor the situation.

However, the dangers posed to teams was underlined at the weekend when a small bomb exploded outside the West Indies’ Under-19 team’s hotel in the port city of Chittagong, prompting them to cut short their tour.

Bangladesh is also due to host a tour by Sri Lanka in January before then staging the Asia Cup, a 50-over tournament starting in February which also features India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. “ The quicker this political situation improves the better because the Sri Lanka tour is in January and then we have the Asia Cup. It needs to be resolved before

that,” said Hassan, who is a ruling party lawmaker.

Nizamuddin Chowdhury, the BCB’s chief executive, told reporters that the ICC had asked the board to relay them an update on the situation. “We will send (it to) them accordingly,” he said.

An ICC spokesman said on Monday that it was “actively monitoring” the situation in Bangladesh, stressing that it gave the highest priority to the safety of all participants in ICC events. FICA, the umbrella body for players’ associations from around the cricketing world, said it was seeking advice from its independent security adviser on the threat level.

“We will continue to monitor the threat levels between now and the start of the tournament and will keep players informed as to the situation,” said FICA executive chairman Paul Marsh. “As is always the case with security issues, we will ensure that the safety of our players is paramount in our decision-making.

There is, however more than three months until the event starts and as such we do not need to be making any decisions at this time.” A spokesman for Cricket Australia said the board would seek its own government’s advice on the security situation, but no decision on whether to go to Bangladesh would be made until much nearer the time.

Australia and the West Indies both refused to play in Sri Lanka during the 1996 50-over World Cup after a bomb went off in Colombo, killing 91 people, shortly before the tournament began.

New Zealand refused to play in Kenya during the 2003 World Cup, a few months after a deadly bomb attack in Mombasa. Pakistan has not hosted any international matches since militants attacked the Sri Lankan team during a Test in Lahore in 2009. —AFP

Boateng extends Bayern Munich’s deal until 2018

MUNICH: Germany centre-back Jerome Boateng has signed a three-year extension to his Bayern Munich contract to stay with the European champions until 2018, the club announced yesterday. “Jerome has developed really well here and is one of the most important players for Bayern Munich,” said chairman KarlHeinz Rummenigge. “For this reason it was a logical step to extend his contract which we did today.” Boateng had a below-par performance in Bayern’s 3-2 defeat at home to Manchester City on Tuesday, their first home defeat since March, but they still finished winners of their Champions League group to reach the last 16. Having joined in July 2011, Boateng helped Bayern win last season’s Champions League title as the Bavarian giants became the first German side to win the treble of European, league and cup titles. “I am happy, Bayern is one of the biggest clubs in the world and it’s a lot of fun and an honor to play for them,” said Boateng, who has made 36 appearances for Germany. “I want to win more things with this team in the coming years.” —AFP

N Zealand’s Taylor ton torments West Indies WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s Ross Taylor tormented the West Indies’ bowlers yesterday, making the most of an early let-off to score a century on the first day of the second Test as the home side reached 307 for six. The former skipper, who scored an unbeaten double century in the series opener, was dismissed shortly before close of play at Wellington’s Basin Reserve for 129 when Shane Shillingford pulled off a diving catch.

In-form Taylor arrived at the crease with the home side in deep trouble at 24-2 on a green wicket and was dropped before he got off the mark. In conditions that favoured the bowlers, the 29-year-old forged half-century partnerships with Kane Williamson, Brendon McCullum and Corey Anderson to swing the match New Zealand’s way, taking the sting out of the second new ball with BJ Watling.

Taylor has amassed a total of 362 runs in just three innings and been dismissed just once. He also passed 4,000 Test runs during his innings and now has an average of 46.52, topping the list of New Zealand batsmen who have played a minimum of 20 innings. After his early life when dropped in the slips by Kirk Edwards, Taylor offered another opportunity on 122 when Tino Best spilled a catch at fine leg.

That came just after Taylor had belted 13 runs off one over by the West Indies quick. But he was seldom under pressure as he faced 227 balls and hit 15 boundaries before slashing at Shannon Gabriel and being well caught by Shillingford.New Zealand’s cause was also helped by the inability of West Indies strike bowlers Best and Gabriel to maintain the good line and length that saw them claim openers Peter Fulton and Hamish Rutherford in quick succession.

Fulton, whose leg before wicket first ball dismissal was overturned on appeal, did not make the most of his reprieve as he poked at a Darren Sammy delivery outside off-stump a few overs later and was caught behind for six. Rutherford, dropped by Sammy on eight, made only three more runs before chasing a shorter Best delivery, which he edged to wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin. Kane Williamson, returning to the New Zealand line-up after missing the Dunedin Test with a thumb injury, scored freely until he reached 45, when he flashed at a wide Best delivery to be caught by Sammy in the slips.

McCullum and Anderson, like Williamson, also made solid starts before being undone.

McCullum spooned an innocuous Narsingh Deonarine delivery to Edwards without adding

WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s Ross Taylor dives in for his 99th run against West Indies during the first day of the second International cricket match at Basin Reserve in Wellington yesterday. —AP

SCOREBOARD WELLINGTON: Scoreboard at stumps on the opening day of the second Test between New Zealand and West Indies at the Basin Reserve in Wellington yesterday: Extras (b16, lb6, nb2) 24 New Zealand 1st innings Total: (6 wickets; 90 overs) 307 P. Fulton c Ramdin b Sammy 6 Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Fulton), 2-24 (Rutherford), 3H. Rutherford c Ramdin b Best 11 112 ( Williamson), 4-189 (McCullum), 5-257 K. Williamson c Sammy b Best 45 (Anderson), 6-296 (Taylor) R. Taylor c Shillingford b Gabriel 129 To bat: I. Sodhi, N. Wagner, T. Boult B. McCullum c Edwards b Deonarine 37 Bowling: Best 14-1-66-2, Gabriel 18-4-56-1, C. Anderson c Edwards b Shillingford 38 Sammy 19-3-65-1, Shillingford B. Watling not out 8 23-4-59-1, Deonarine 16-2-39-1.

T. Southee not out 9 to his teatime score of 37 while Anderson fell to Shillingford for 38 after earlier hitting the spinner for two sixes. Best was the most successful of the

West Indies bowlers, with two for 66 off 14 overs while part-time spinner Deonarine proved the most economical with 1-39 off 16 overs. —AFP

Reborn Johnson evokes Lillee, Thomson era SYDNEY: The astonishing revival of Mitchell Johnson has put Australia one win from the reclaiming the Ashes and evoked the bygone era of lethal quicks Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson 40 years ago. A popular saying during the 197475 series was, “Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust, if Thomson doesn’t get ya, Lillee must”, such was their destructive impact on Mike Denness’s visiting England side.

Roll on to the current series and Johnson, the left-armer with Lillee’s 1970s-style moustache, is enjoying a similar role with 17 wickets at 12.70 in back-to-back man-of-the-match performances. Johnson snatched nine wickets as England crashed to a 381-run defeat in the first Test in Brisbane, and in the second Test in Adelaide, he produced one of the great Ashes spells.

Johnson ripped the heart out of the England first innings with a spell of six wickets for 16 off 26 balls, on the way to taking seven for 40 and a 218-run victory for Australia. With England now 2-0 down in the five-Test series, Johnson has largely precipitated England’s demise as they scramble to stay alive this week in Perth. It has been some turnaround for Johnson, 32, who is now Australia’s 10th all-time Test wicket-taker with 222 and the promise of more to come in the remaining three Tests.

On England’s last tour to Australia, Johnson was left out of the second Adelaide Test after spraying the ball around the Gabba in a wayward display that drew taunts from England’s Barmy Army fans. Johnson admits the goading dented his confidence, but now the wheel has turned and he is putting the frighteners on England with his hostile, short-pitched bowling. Lillee, who once described Johnson, then a raw 17-yearold from Townsville, as a “once-in-a-generation bowler,” works closely with his protege.

In one example, Lillee has encouraged Johnson on long jogs to build the fitness needed for the lengthier run-up

he has used since returning last year from a career-threatening toe injury.

While Lillee has been a key element in Johnson’s development, it’s been a group effort getting Johnson to fulfil his undoubted potential. Adam Griffith, his bowling coach at Western Australia, has been working on getting him to run in straighter, staying tall at the crease and remaining high in his follow-through.

Terry Alderman, who took 41 English wickets in the 1989 Ashes, gave advice

on his wrist position, while Troy Cooley, head coach at Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, has been concentrating on his run-up. “He’s running in nice and hard now, and he’s relaxed.

It’s his game sense now, and he’s got himself very fit again. He’s taking good responsibility for himself, and that’s why he’s bowling so well,” Cooley said.

“This is him. When he’s fit and strong he bowls beautifully.” Johnson could be the fastest bowler in world cricket at the

BRISBANE: In this file picture Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson celebrates the wicket of England’s Steve Smith during day two of the first Ashes cricket Test match between England and Australia at the Gabba Cricket Ground in Brisbane. —AFP

moment. He has frequently broken the 150 kilometers per hour mark during this series, and could go even faster in Perth with the prevailing ‘Fremantle Doctor’ breeze coming in over his shoulder.”When I sit back and look at it, I felt like my run-up rhythm was the best it’s ever been. I’ve lengthened my run-up since coming back from my toe injury,” Johnson said.

“That’s made a big difference. I just feel like I’m getting better momentum through the crease and being able to hit those speeds without applying myself or forcing it. It feels pretty good.” Australia captain Michael Clarke has also been using Johnson in shorter spells, which has allowed him to bowl at a higher intensity. “He has always been an X-factor, with bat and ball. He’s as good an athlete in the field as you’ll see,” Clarke said.

“Mitch has always had that. It’s just about working out how to use him best in your team.” Another remedial factor are changes in Johnson’s personal life.

Shy off the pitch, his struggles away from cricket were well known. Two years ago a public feud with his mother ended with her being excluded from his wedding to Jessica Bratich, a former karate athlete. Now, bridges rebuilt, he has a wife who understands the pressures of elite sport and a young daughter, Rubika, who provides the perfect escape.

Thomson, whose bowling style Johnson’s most resembles, likes what he is seeing from the dynamic paceman in this Ashes series. “It really was shades of 74,” Thomson said after Adelaide. “I was really pleased for him.

He was superb. The Poms (England) are used to playing on flat decks but they are not used to having to play backfoot cricket and he exposed that. “He made the rest of the bowlers look like medium-pacers. It’s great to see a bit of feeling back in the game. It was old-fashioned cricket.” —AFP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

S P ORTS

Obscure ball game brings Myanmar medal glory NAYPYIDAW: To purists it is a non-competitive pastime in which beauty outweighs victory, but to others Myanmar’s enigmatic ball game chinlone is a source of pride that has already brought the host nation a clutch of gold medals at the Southeast Asian Games. A mesmerizing form of keepy-uppy with a cane ball among six players, the sport is one of a welter of disciplines unknown to the wider world but popular within the region.

The roster at this year’s SEA Games in Myanmar is peppered with obscure nonOlympic sports such as martial arts vovinam, wushu and pencak silat-an Indonesian fighting skill-as well as another more widely played cane ball game, sepak takraw. The regional sporting extravaganza, which holds its official opening ceremony later Wednesday despite some events having already begun, has returned to the country after a 44-year absence, marking another landmark in Myanmar’s opening up after decades cloistered by paranoid generals.

Desperate to showcase chinlone, Myanmar lobbied hard for its inclusion in the games as a “culturally specific” sport, sparking allegations from outraged rivals that the hosts were cherry-picking events for its athletes. While it is not alone in its use of feet to juggle a ball, chinlone’s uniqueness is revealed in its high kicks, balletic overhead touches and precise exchanges between players, who gracefully swap positions or rotate around a circle.

It holds a hallowed place in Myanmar as a recreation casually played on road-

NAYPYITAW: Indonesia’s Nofrisal (left) returns a shot from Myanmar’s Thant Zin Oo during the men’s sepak takraw match at the South East Asian Games in Naypyitaw, Myanmar yesterday. (Right) Traditional Myanmarese dancers perform the opening ceremony of the 27th Southeast Asian Games (SEAGAMES) yesterday. — AFP / AP sides everywhere, but also for its almost ak takraw federation-under whose banner teams. There are now calls for it to be women’s event on Monday.

The team cruised past Thailand, with meditational quality, which is revealed the sport has fallen as it also uses a cane included on a more regular basis in the through the concentration required to ball. “Some of the basic skills are the same SEA Games, which are held every two the ball hitting the floor only a handful times in the 30 minutes of play. To chinrepeat the moves over long periods. The as sepak takraw but the game is very dif- years.

Somewhat predictably, Myanmar lone masters the sport is a metaphor of game is so idiosyncratic that formal rules ferent,” he said.

Officials had to make the game hoovered up six golds, helping fire the sorts for their country, which has underhad to be crafted for the games in Naypyidaw, such as the introduction of an “umpire-able”, he added, with rules country to an early lead in the medals gone sweeping political and economic opposition, scoring system and defined including restricting the game inside two table in a competition which inspires reforms since 2011. “It’s a complex, deliconcentric circles, introducing scores fierce regional rivalry but goes all but cate and difficult game,” said Myanmar’s playing area.

But its inclusion posed a sizeable chal- across three sets and holding a parallel undetected in the wider sporting world. head chinlone coach Khin Muang Win. lenge to the other six nations who signed game to act as the opposition. Fans have “As a Myanmar woman I’m delighted to “People do not know about this tradiup for the discipline. “They had to learn it gloried in the staging of the game, filling win this medal... I don’t have words to tion... (but) I believe the world will get to from scratch,” said Boonchai Lorhpipat, a purpose-built indoor arena to cheer describe my happiness,” said a jubilant know Myanmar better through chinlone,” deputy president of the international sep- Myanmar’s men’s and women’s chinlone Khine Win Thu after claiming gold in a he added. — AFP

NHL results/standings Buffalo 2, Ottawa 1 (So); Washington 6, Tampa Bay 5 (SO); Columbus 5, New Jersey 4; Los Angeles 6, Montreal 0; Florida 3, Detroit 2 (SO); Nashville 4, NY Rangers 1; St. Louis 2, Winnipeg 1; Chicago 6, Dallas 2; Phoenix 3, Colorado 1; Boston 2, Calgary 1; Edmonton 5, Carolina 4 (OT); NY Islanders 3, San Jose 2 (SO).

Western Conference Eastern Conference Atlantic Division Pacific Division Boston 21 8 2 86 62 44 W L OTL GF GA PTS Montreal 19 10 3 85 71 41 21 7 5 106 86 47 Anaheim Detroit 15 9 8 87 85 38 Tampa Bay 17 10 3 85 76 37 San Jose 19 6 6 103 78 44 Toronto 16 12 3 86 87 35 Los Angeles 20 7 4 85 62 44 Ottawa 12 14 6 92 105 30 Vancouver 18 10 5 88 81 41 Florida 10 17 5 73 106 25 Phoenix 17 8 5 97 94 39 Buffalo 7 22 2 53 92 16 Metropolitan Division Calgary 11 15 4 79 100 26 Pittsburgh 21 10 1 98 71 43 Edmonton 11 18 3 89 109 25 Washington 17 12 2 98 90 36 Central Division Carolina 13 13 6 75 91 32 Chicago 22 6 5 122 91 49 NY Rangers 15 16 1 70 84 31 New Jersey 12 14 6 73 82 30 20 6 3 100 67 43 St. Louis Philadelphia 13 14 3 68 78 29 Minnesota 18 9 5 77 75 41 Columbus 13 15 3 78 86 29 Colorado 20 9 0 83 68 40 NY Islanders 9 18 5 80 111 23 Dallas 14 10 5 83 86 33 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth Winnipeg 14 14 4 83 90 32 one point in the standings and are not Nashville 14 14 3 71 89 31 included in the loss column (L).

Capitals stop Lightning 6-5 WASHINGTON: Alex Ovechkin scored four goals, including the equalizer with 32.4 seconds left in regulation, and the Washington Capitals rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-5 in a shootout Tuesday night.

Ovechkin increased his NHL-leading total to 26 goals and became Washington’s career leader in power-play goals, scoring twice with the extra man to pass Peter Bondra, who had 137.

Nicklas Backstrom had a goal and four assists, and Troy Brouwer beat Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop in the fifth round of the shootout to provide the Capitals with their fifth win in six games. Martin St Louis and Tyler Johnson each had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who squandered a three-goal lead in losing their sixth straight at Washington. Ondrej Palat scored on a wrist shot between the circles after taking Johnson’s centering pass from behind the net to put Tampa Bay up 5-4 at 8:36 of the third period. It appeared that would hold up until Ovechkin scored from the left circle after Washington pulled goalie Philipp Grubauer.

ISLANDERS 3, SHARKS 2, SO Kyle Okposo scored the tying goal with 1:37 left in regulation and got the game-winner in the fourth round of a shootout to help New York snap a 10-game losing streak with a victory over San Jose. Thomas Vanek also scored in regulation and the shootout for the Islanders.

Kevin Poulin made 46 saves and was outstanding early to keep the Islanders in the game until they broke through with two third-period goals. Then he stopped three of four attempts in the shootout despite appearing to injure himself on a pad save against Joe Pavelski in the first round. Patrick Marleau and Pavelski scored for the Sharks, who blew a 2-0 lead and have lost four straight. Antti Niemi made 26 saves. New York had also lost 10 straight road games in regulation since beating Ottawa 5-4 in a shootout on Nov 1.

QUEBEC: Jake Muzzin #6 of the Los Angeles Kings and Lars Eller #81 of the Montreal Canadiens battle for the puck during the NHL game at the Bell Centre on December 10, 2013. — AFP

F1: Double points to go to winner of final Grand Prix PARIS: Formula One’s governing body has announced a series of changes aimed at making the motor sport more competitive and crowd-pleasing. These include awarding double points for the final Grand Prix of the season, which next year takes place in Abu Dhabi on November 23, and a numbers identification system for drivers which they will retain throughout their career. There was also an agreement reached to bring in a long-discussed budget cap from the 2015 season although the final details of this have yet to be decided.

The decision to award double points, counting towards the drivers’ and constructors’ championships, at the final race of the season was made “to maximize focus on the championship until the end of the campaign”, according to a statement from the International Automobile Federation (FIA) after the meeting of its strategy group. The move reduces the possibility of a championship being settled before the final race by increasing the number of points available to a driver from 25 to 50.

Two of the last four seasons have been settled with a number of races still remaining - Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won with five races to go in 2011 and with four left in 2013. For the new numbers system, drivers will be able to choose any number they want from 2 to 99 and they will retain that number for the duration of their careers. The exception will be the number one, which will be awarded to the reigning world champion unless he opts to keep his original number.

The decision on a costs cap has been seen as much needed as costs have been spiraling out of control over the past few years. A statement from the FIA read: “The principle of a global cost cap has been adopted. The limit will be applied from January 2015. “A working group will be established within the coming days comprising the FIA, representatives of the commercial rights holder (Bernie Ecclestone) and Team representatives.

“The objective of the working group will be to have regulations approved by the end of June 2014.” — AFP

PANTHERS 3, RED WINGS 2, SO Brad Boyes scored the winning goal in a shootout to lift Florida over Detroit. Aleksander Barkov also scored in the tiebreaker for Florida, which has won three of four overall and two in a row against the Red Wings. Tomas Tatar scored for Detroit in the shootout but Tim Thomas stopped shots by Daniel Alfredsson and Gustav Nyquist. Nick Bjugstad and Sean Bergenheim had goals in regulation for Florida.

Thomas made 24 saves. Pavel Datsyuk and Todd Bertuzzi scored for the Red Wings. Jimmy Howard made 25 saves and Johan Franzen had two assists. Detroit lost for the sixth time this season when leading after two periods. Florida scored twice in the third to tie the game.

PREDATORS 4, RANGERS 1 Nick Spaling and Rich Clune scored first-period goals, and seldom-used backup Carter Hutton made 28 saves as Nashville snapped a five-game losing streak by beating New York.

Hutton (5-3-1) made his first start since Nov. 10 and his third appearance in that span as the Predators try to get by while Pekka Rinne (hip) is out. Marek Mazanec went 0-4-1 in the previous five games. Matt Hendricks made it 3-1 just 2:38 into the third, knocking in a loose puck from in front, with Clune earning an assist. Paul Gaustad scored an empty-net goal with 1:06 left and added two assists. Rick Nash cut New York’s deficit in half in the second period and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 22 shots, but the Rangers fell to 0-2-1 on their nine-game homestand. They have dropped four straight at Madison Square Garden (0-3-1).

SABRES 2, SENATORS 1, SO Zemgus Girgensons scored the tying goal in the second period and added a score in the 10th round of a shootout to lift Buffalo over Ottawa. Ryan Miller made 35 saves for the Sabres, who snapped a three-game skid. Matt Moulson, Brian Flynn and Steve Ott also scored for Buffalo in the shootout. With his 46th shootout win, Miller took sole possession of

CALGARY: Blair Jones #19 of the Calgary Flames collides with Johnny Boychuk #55 of the Boston Bruins during an NHL game at Scotiabank Saddledome on December 10, 2013. — AFP

the record for most shootout wins in NHL history. Milan Michalek scored Ottawa’s goal and Robin Lehner made 35 saves. The Senators’ shootout scorers were Mika Zibanejad, Kyle Turris and Michalek. Buffalo is 4-0 in games decided by a shootout.

win over Winnipeg. Bryan Little scored early in the third for the Jets, who outshot the Blues 8-2 in a scoreless first period. Alex Steen turned things around in the second for St Louis with his 21st goal of the season. Brian Elliott made 20 saves.

BLUE JACKETS 5, DEVILS 4 Nick Foligno scored the game-winning goal with 91 seconds left when Ryan Johansen’s shot went in off his skate, giving Columbus a victory over New Jersey. Cam Atkinson had two goals and two assists, Brandon Dubinsky had a goal and three assists and Matt Calvert also scored for the Blue Jackets, who have won their last four at home. Damien Brunner scored twice and Travis Zajac and Michael Ryder also had goals for the Devils, who have lost four of five. The Blue Jackets trailed 3-1 before scoring twice in 49 seconds in the second period against Martin Brodeur.

COYOTES 3, AVALANCHE 1 Antoine Vermette scored two goals, Thomas Greiss stopped 29 shots and Phoenix topped Colorado. Jordan Szwarz also had a goal for the Coyotes, who won for the second time in five games. Phoenix has struggled of late, going 3-5-2 in its past 10 games to slip to ninth in the Western Conference. This win pulled the Coyotes within a point of Colorado.

Patrick Bordeleau scored his fourth of the season and Semyon Varlamov made 22 saves for the Avalanche, who have lost three of four.

KINGS 6, CANADIENS 0 Rookie goalie Martin Jones made 31 saves for his second shutout in two games, and six Los Angeles players scored against Montreal.

Jordan Nolan, Anze Kopitar, Alec Martinez, Tyler Toffoli, Jake Muzzin and Justin Williams had the goals for the Kings, who won their fourth straight. Carey Price made 12 saves on 16 shots for the Canadiens before being replaced by Peter Budaj, who stopped 12 of 14 shots. The loss snapped Montreal’s 10-game point streak dating to Nov 16.

BLACKHAWKS 6, STARS 2 Patrick Sharp scored twice to extend his domination of Dallas and help Chicago cruise to an easy victory. Brandon Saad also scored two goals for Chicago, which has won three of the four games between the teams. One victory was in a shootout. Sharp has four goals and four assists against the Stars this season. In his last eight games versus Dallas, he has eight goals and seven assists. Patrick Kane had a goal and two assists for the Blackhawks.

Defenseman Michael Kostka returned after missing 24 games because of a foot injury to score Chicago’s first goal. Antti Raanta made 27 saves for his fourth win. Antoine Roussel scored twice for the Stars. Dan Ellis replaced starter Kari Lehtonen after he gave up four goals in the first 28:20.

BLUES 2, JETS 1 Kevin Shattenkirk scored a power-play goal at 16:58 of the third period to give St Louis a

BRUINS 2, FLAMES 1 Reilly Smith scored the tiebreaking goal at 15:27 of the third period and Boston beat the Flames in Jarome Iginla’s return to Calgary.

David Krejci scored a power-play goal almost 14 minutes into the third to pull Boston even.

Only 1:38 later, Smith skated down left wing, cut around defenseman TJ Brodie and roofed a shot into the top corner of the net over the outstretched glove of Reto Berra. Tuukka Rask made 26 saves to help Boston win its third straight. Jiri Hudler scored in the second period for the Flames, who had won three of four.

Iginla received an extended standing ovation before the opening faceoff of his first game back in Calgary since he was traded to Pittsburgh last season. The former Flames captain signed with the Bruins as a free agent in the offseason.

OILERS 5, HURRICANES 4, OT Jordan Eberle scored a power-play goal at 1:48 of overtime to give Edmonton a victory over Carolina. Justin Faulk of the Hurricanes took a penalty early in the overtime for a hit from behind on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The Oilers’ forward was able to remain on the ice and set up the winner, sending a pass to Eberle at the side of the net. Edmonton recovered after wasting a 4-1 lead. Taylor Hall, Nail Yakupov, Nugent-Hopkins and Jesse Joensuu also scored for the Oilers, who are 7-3-1 in their past 11 games. Tuomo Ruutu, Jordan Staal, Eric Staal and Jeff Skinner scored for the Hurricanes, who have lost two in a row on the heels of a three-game winning streak — AP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

S P ORTS

Murray to miss BBC awards ceremony LONDON: Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has decided not to attend Sunday’s BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year awards ceremony despite being the hot favorite to take the top prize. The Scot was installed as the front-runner for the prestigious award immediately following his historic win over Novak Djokovic in July made him the first British men’s singles victor at Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936.

Murray had considered being present at the hugely popular ceremony in Leeds, but in the end decided to stay at his training base in Miami where he is working his way back to fitness after an operation on his

lower back in September. Instead the 26-year-old Murray will link up with the show live by video from Florida, as he did last year, when he was presented with the third-placed trophy by boxer Lennox Lewis.

The world number four intends to train every day up to and including Christmas Day before flying to Abu Dhabi, where he is due to begin his season on December 26 with a match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Murray does not want his decision to be seen as a snub to the award or the BBC, who he writes a column for during Wimbledon and with whom he collaborated on a documentary ahead of this year’s Championships. The Scot only began playing points

in practice last week and, although his recovery is said to be broadly on track, he feels he still has a lot of work to do.

Murray is renowned as one of the tour’s hardest trainers and knowing he has done everything possible to prepare himself for big events is central to his approach. After the exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi, which also features Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, Murray will return to the ATP Tour in Doha the following week. The world number four has yet to confirm his participation at the Australian Open, but his desire to be in the best shape possible for the first grand slam of the season is the main reason behind

his decision not to fly back to Britain.

Murray underwent what was described as a minor surgical procedure on September 23 having struggled with the back problem on and off for 18 months causing him to drop out of the French Open. A BBC spokesperson said of Murray’s absence: “We are of course disappointed that Andy Murray cannot be in Leeds in person but are very much looking forward to him joining us live on the night via link-up.” Last month, Murray was named on the 10-strong shortlist alongside Ben Ainslie, Ian Bell, Hannah Cockroft, Mo Farah, Chris Froome, Leigh Halfpenny, Tony McCoy, Christine Ohuruogu and Justin Rose. — AFP

NBA results/standings Cleveland 109, NY Knicks 94; Indiana 90, Miami 84; San Antonio 116, Toronto 103; Oklahoma City 101, Atlanta 92; Brooklyn 104, Boston 96; Minnesota 121, Detroit 94; Milwaukee 78, Chicago 74; Phoenix 114, LA Lakers 108.

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L PCT Boston 10 13 .435 Toronto 7 13 .350 Brooklyn 7 14 .333 Philadelphia 7 15 .318 NY Knicks 5 15 .250 Indiana Detroit Chicago Cleveland Milwaukee Miami Atlanta Charlotte Washington Orlando

GB 1.5 2 2.5 3.5

Central Division 19 3 .864 10 12 .455 9 8 11 .421 9.5 8 13 .381 10.5 5 16 .238 13.5 Southeast Division 16 6 .727 11 11 .500 10 11 .476 9 11 .450 6 15 .286

5 5.5 6 9.5

Western conference Northwest division Portland 18 4 .818 Oklahoma City 16 4 .800 1 Denver 13 8 .619 4.5 Minnesota 10 11 .476 7.5 Utah 4 19 .174 14.5

LA Clippers Phoenix Golden State LA Lakers Sacramento

San Antonio Houston Dallas Memphis New Orleans

Pacific Division 14 8 12 9 12 10 10 11 6 13

.636 .571 .545 .476 .316

1.5 2 3.5 6.5

Southwest Division 16 4 .800 15 7 .682 13 9 .591 10 10 .500 9 10 .474

2 4 6 6.5

‘Tiger Dads’ hunt for China’s Tiger Woods GUANGZHOU: China is mobilizing the state behind golf, but 13-year-old Ye Wocheng, the youngest player to compete on the European Tour, says officials should turn instead to the country’s “tiger” parents to find the next Tiger Woods. Golf was once banned in Communist China as a bourgeois indulgence, but its return to the Olympics has seen Beijing build a high-tech $80 million training complex and enlist its rigid education system in a search for new stars.

While officials are looking to satisfy the national urge for medals, a wave of child prodigies is already emerging, tutored by foreign coaches and ingrained with an insatiable desire to succeed by their wealthy, highly-disciplined parents. Ye made history earlier this year when he played at the Volvo China Open aged just 12 years and 242 days. The schoolboy smashed the record set by compatriot Guan Tianlang, who astonished the world in April when he made the Masters cut at the age of 14.

The rise of golfers like Ye and Guan outside China’s sporting infrastructure throws up potential challenges for Beijing, which presents individual talents as state-moulded patriotic champions, rather than self-motivated sports stars.

China has now introduced golf into its Soviet-like sports school system for the first time, and its ultra-modern training centre in Shandong province is expected to be a production line for future champions, with an eye on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

But Ye-who still wears teeth bracesbelieves China’s future as a golfing superpower will be down to individual hard work, along with a dose of firm parenting. “There will be lots of great (Chinese) players in the future,” he said, predicting half the world’s top 100 will come from China in 20 years, a huge improvement for a country which currently has only six in the PGA’s top 1,000, with its top player Liang Wenchong at 107.

“This is because in China a lot of children play golf and they are all conscientious and hard working. They train hard and also the parents are very strict.

“Sometimes, if the kids don’t play golf well, the parents will hurl abuse at them or even hit them,” he added, with a serious stare belying his age. Strict parenting is common in China, particularly with regards to education, and sometimes sport. The tough approach became a media phenomenon in 2011, when Chinese-American professor Amy Chua’s book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” detailed how she insisted on top marks from her kids.

YE’S PARENTS ‘NOT STRICT’ The best golfer of recent years, Tiger Woods, a child prodigy who was on television aged two, has often praised his exmilitary father and Thai mother for helping develop his competitive edge, and said in 2007 he would be a “disciplinarian” with his own children. Ye lives with his parents-who he says are “not strict”-in the southern city of Dongguan in Guangdong, China’s most affluent province, although the family are considering moving to the US to focus on his golf. His father, a wealthy interior design-

er, has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Ye’s training, and has recruited British former professional David Watson, who coached Lee Westwood and Justin Rose when they were amateurs.

Ye trains at Lion Lake Country Club near Guangzhou, a lavish dual-course complex containing China’s largest inland yacht club and a “southern California-style” clubhouse. Guan also trains there, and his image is everywhere, with his trophies on show in the restaurant. “We have an exclusive putting green just for Guan,” said club president Zheng Jingfen. “And we don’t charge him to use the course, as youngsters need an environment to develop their skills.” Club officials say several families have moved into the local area purely to develop their children’s golf.

A few hours away is the enormous Mission Hills complex in Dongguan, the world’s largest golf club with 12 sprawling courses. Ye won an under-18 tournament there in June, carding a two round two-under-par total of 142 on its World Cup course, designed by golf legend Jack Nicklaus. Its Mission Hills Golf Series Junior Tour is open to children as young as nine, and competitor Chen Geyi, 14, was born Beijing, 2,000 kilometers to the north, but said he moved to Shenzhen when he was a toddler because “you cannot play golf in the winter in Beijing”.

His father Chen Daxin says the family relocated to warmer climes for “work reasons”, but admits he has spent a fortune on developing his son’s golf. “Parents basically don’t bother too much about cost when it comes to children’s interests,” said the 43-year-old, brushing off suggestions he was a strict parent. Some “give up their career and life to throw everything into their children’s future” Chen added, before taking his son’s clubs on his shoulder. — AFP

LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles Lakers center Jordan Hill (right) is fouled by Phoenix Suns forward Marcus Morris during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Dec 10, 2013. — AP

Pacers overcome Heat INDIANAPOLIS: Roy Hibbert scored 24 points and Paul George had 15 of his 17 points during a second-half rally to lead the Pacers past Miami 90-84 Tuesday night in a matchup of the Eastern Conference’s top two teams. Indiana improved its league-best record to 19-3 and extended its lead to three full games by beating Miami at home for the fourth straight time. LeBron James led the Heat with 17 points, 14 rebounds and six assists but had only three baskets and nine points over the final 36 minutes. Miami has now lost three of five. The Heat led by 13 in the first half and didn’t trail until Hibbert completed a three-point play with 6:12 left in the third quarter to put the Pacers ahead 58-57. But with George heating up, Hibbert dominating the middle and Indiana’s bench playing solid, Miami couldn’t tie it or take the lead again.

SUNS 114, LAKERS 108 Goran Dragic scored 31 points and Phoenix kept Los Angeles winless with Kobe Bryant back in the lineup. Bryant led the Lakers with 20 points while playing 29 mostly sharp minutes in his second game back from a nearly eightmonth absence with a torn Achilles tendon. He led a fourth-quarter rally by the Lakers, who got within four points with 3 minutes left before Phoenix held on for its first three-game winning streak of the season. Marcus Morris scored 22 points and Eric Bledsoe had 18 points and nine assists for the surprising Suns, who never trailed after the opening minutes. Phoenix held off the Lakers with superb fourth-quarter play from both Morris brothers. Markieff Morris added 15 points.

SPURS 116, RAPTORS 103 Manu Ginobili scored 16 points, Tony Parker had 15 and San Antonio beat Toronto for the sixth straight time. Tim Duncan scored 14 points and Aron Baynes had a career-best 14 as the Spurs overcame a 14-point first quarter deficit to improve to 26-9 all-time against Toronto. San Antonio has won three of six since its 11-game winning streak was halted with a loss at Oklahoma City on Nov 27. Danny Green had 14 points for the Spurs, while Marco Belinelli had 12 and Patty Mills 11. DeMar DeRozan scored 19 points and Amir Johnson had 19 points and nine rebounds for the Raptors, who lost for the sixth time in seven games.

NETS 104, CELTICS 96 Deron Williams scored a season-high 25 points in his return to the lineup, Brook Lopez added 24, and Brooklyn beat Boston in the first matchup for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett against their former team. Garnett had 11 points, just his third time in double figures for the Nets this season, and grabbed nine rebounds. Pierce finished with four points and seven rebounds in his first appearance off the bench in six years after making a quick recovery from a broken right hand. Avery Bradley scored 22 points and Jeff Green had 19 for the Celtics, who have been competitive after trading away two of their most important players from their 2008 NBA championship team. Boston had a three-game winning streak snapped and its Atlantic Division-leading record fell to 10-13 record.

GUANGZHOU: Ye Wocheng tees off at the Lion Lake golf resort outside the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. Golf was once banned in Communist China as a bourgeois indulgence, but its return to the Olympics has seen Beijing build a high-tech $80 million training complex and enlist its rigid education system in a search for new stars. —AFP

CAVALIERS 109, KNICKS 94 Kyrie Irving scored 37 points and Jarrett Jack added 17 points, leading Cleveland past sinking New York. Irving added 11 assists. The All-Star point guard had 12 points in the third quarter, when the Cavs outscored the defenseless Knicks 33-20 and pulled away. Tristan Thompson added 12 points and nine rebounds as Cleveland won its fourth straight at home. New York, coming off

NEW YORK: Boston Celtics forward Gerald Wallace (45) defends as Brooklyn Nets guard Alan Anderson (6) goes up for a layup in the first half of their NBA basketball game on Tuesday, Dec 10, 2013. —AP an embarrassing 41-point loss at home to Boston, dropped to 5-15 and made coach Mike Woodson’s future even more uncertain. Carmelo Anthony scored 29 and Amare Stoudemire 15 for the Knicks, who erased an early 18-point deficit, gave it all back, fell behind by 19 and lost for the 11th time in 13 games.

TIMBERWOLVES 121, PISTONS 94 Kevin Love had 26 points and 16 rebounds to lead Minnesota. Love only played 30 minutes, sitting out the fourth quarter with the big lead.

Detroit was unable to stop him inside, outside or on the break. Several of his seven assists came on his trademark 70-foot outlet passes off missed shots. Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Martin added 18 points each for Minnesota, which finished with six players in double figures. Brandon Jennings had 20 points for Detroit, but Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond were held to a combined total of 18 points and 10 rebounds.

The Pistons have relied heavily on their frontcourt this season, but didn’t have the advantage in that matchup against Minnesota.

THUNDER 101, HAWKS 92 Kevin Durant scored 30 points and Oklahoma City won for the 11th time in 12 games. Shelvin Mack scored 17 points off the bench to lead an Atlanta comeback but finally cooled off at the

end. Coming off an impressive 118-94 home victory over Indiana, the Thunder had more trouble on the road against the Hawks. But the result was the same: another Oklahoma City victory, despite a tough night for Russell Westbrook. He was held to 14 points on 6-of-21 shooting, though he did sink an impressive reverse layup with 1:41 remaining to help finish off Atlanta.

Durant made 9 of 21 from the field and 11 of 15 free throws. Paul Millsap led the Hawks with 23 points.

BUCKS 78, BULLS 74 John Henson had 25 points, 14 rebounds and six blocked shots, and Milwaukee beat Chicago in a matchup of injury-riddled teams trying to break out of a slump. Brandon Knight added 19 points and 10 rebounds for Milwaukee, which had dropped three of four. OJ Mayo was just 2 for 12 from the field, but had seven assists and made a couple of big plays in the fourth quarter.

Chicago used only eight players after Joakim Noah was sidelined by a bruised right thigh.

Carlos Boozer was the only starter in the lineup from the season opener at Miami. Mike Dunleavy scored 18 of his 24 points in the second quarter, but the Bulls struggled on offense in the latter part of their fourth loss in five games. Boozer finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds.— AP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

S P ORTS

New horizons for Coach Vrba after Pilsen glory PRAGUE: Coach Pavel Vrba bade a triumphant farewell to Viktoria Pilsen late Tuesday, with a 2-1 win over CSKA Moscow in the Champions League being his final game in charge before taking over the Czech national team.

Having lost 3-2 in Moscow, Czech champions Pilsen eased ahead of their rivals on away goals in a Group D dominated by Bayern and Manchester City to clinch a spot in the Europa League playoffs. “It was a fantastic finale that everyone in Pilsen will remember for a long time,” Vrba said after the tireless Pilsen battled back from 1-0 down to win on a 90thminute goal.

“I guess the boys wanted to please me and get into the national team,” he chuckled. In five years in the western Czech city famous for its Pilsner beer, Vrba has lifted the team from rags to riches, winning league titles in 2011 and 2013 and leading Pilsen to the Champions League twice. Vrba, who turned 50 on December 6, built a strong team playing attractive, offensive football around stocky captain Pavel Horvath, who previously played for Sporting Lisbon, Galatasaray and Vissel Kobe.

“Don’t think I’ve come to be thirteenth in the league and worry all the time about relegation,” he told players

PLZEN: Plzen’s head coach Pavel Vrba kicks a ball during the training session in Pilsen. —AFP

before taking his first training session in October 2008. Horvath later confessed to having thought: “My God, now he’s going to tell us he wants to win the title and I’ll die laughing.”

Vrba’s top-flight coaching career started in 2003 at Banik Ostrava, a team where he had once played, with a 7-0 defeat at the hands of Slavia Prague.

He also coached Slovakia’s Matador Puchov and then MSK Zilina, with whom he won the Slovak title in 2007 before moving to Pilsen.

Pilsen fans will for long cherish the memory of games against giants Barcelona, AC Milan, Bayern and Manchester City.But even more memorable were the team’s wins over Atletico Madrid and Napoli in the Europa League last season, which the Czech media coined as “the miracle of Pilsen”. Angering Pilsen officials and fans alike, Vrba agreed to an offer to take over as coach of the national team as of January 1, 2014. He used a clause in his contract running until June 2015, which allowed him to leave upon the payment of a release fee worth 8 million koruna (290,000 euros, $401,000).

“It was a terribly difficult decision, what with the environment here and the fans,” Vrba said. “I could go on enjoying this wonderful life but I want to try something new. Now I’m facing an unknown situation.” The anger on Pilsen’s side was short-lived, and many fans failed to fight back tears after Vrba’s last league game on December 1. “He came as a coach, he leaves as a legend. Thank you!” read a banner displayed by fans on Tuesday. Vrba will take over from Czech Republic interim boss Josef Pesice, who replaced Michal Bilek in September after the Czechs failed in their bid to reach next year’s World Cup in Brazil.

In the national team, he will be able to pick several current and former Pilsen players, including Vladimir Darida, Petr Jiracek and Vaclav Pilar, all of whom have moved to the Bundesliga since rising to stardom in Vrba’s hands. Leaning on Premiership stars Tomas Rosicky and Petr Cech, the Czech Republic team is looking to regain the face it has lost since finshing third at Euro 2004. Vrba’s first match in charge will be an international friendly against Norway in Prague on March 5. At Pilsen, Vrba is most likely to be replaced by Dusan Uhrin jr., who recently quit Georgian champions Dinamo Tbilisi. —AFP

City boss eyes Arsenal after stunning Bayern MUNICH: Manchester City’s Manuel Pellegrini admitted keeping his stars fresh for Saturday’s Premier League visit from leaders Arsenal had been a factor in their stunning 3-2 win at Bayern Munich. On a historic night for the club, City fought back from two-goals down to break the holders’ record 10-match Champions League winning streak as Bayern coach Pep Guardiola suffered his first defeat in major competition with the German side.

Bayern also fell to their first home defeat-after 18 wins in Munich-since losing 2-0 at home to Arsenal in last season’s knock-out stages of the Champions League in March. With both teams already through to the knock-out stages, City avenged October’s 3-1 defeat to Bayern at the Etihad Stadium, but still finished second to the Germans in Group D with both teams on 15 points.

City winger James Milner completed the fairytale fightback with the 62ndminute winner, but a 4-2 win would have sent Pellegrini’s side through as Group D winners. Pellegrini brought on Spanish striker Alvaro Negredo for David Silva, back from a calf injury, for the final 20 minutes, but the Chilean admitted his thinking had been as much about the Gunners as chasing a fourth goal. “It was important for us to

get the fourth goal, but it would also have been a risk of continuing playing with David Silva,” said the City coach.

“It was important for us to be at the top of the group, but we also have a big game on Saturday and it was not the most important thing.” Remarkably, City pulled off a famous European victory at the defending champions with first-choice forwards Sergio Aguero and Negredo, plus captain Vincent Kompany started on the bench. “It’s an important victory for the club, not just for me,” said Pellegrini, who later said on television that he was not aware a 4-2 win would have put City through as group winners.

“I have been trying to find a style of play here, some of our results had not been that good in the Premier League and this is very good for the club. “The first message for the squad is that they can win without the likes of Kompany, Aguero and Negredo. “I told they players this was the chance to prove to me what they can do, that is the most important thing for me.” It had started ominously for City as Bayern raced into a 2-0 lead after 11 minutes. Goals by Thomas Mueller and Mario Goetze left Bayern cruising before Silva pulled one back for City as it finished 2-1 at the break.

Stand-in captain Aleksandar Kolarov then converted a penalty to pull level on 59 minutes before Milner gave City a deserved lead three minutes later with a superb curling shot to complete the miraculous fight-back. Despite his first major defeat, not including July’s pre-season German Super Cup defeat at Borussia Dortmund, Guardiola was in philosophical mood. “Perhaps we needed a defeat to remind us of a few things,” said the Spaniard. “We have made a good start in the league, in the cup, in the Champions League, winning in Manchester, perhaps we thought things were too easy.

“Congratulations to City, I also congratulated my players in the changing room for finishing top of their group.

“The most important thing now is that we learn the lessons from the defeat. “It’s not a bad thing for us to lose, I read all the time how ‘Bayern will win their next game’ or ‘Bayern have it easy’. “No, no, no, that’s not football. “We had a lot of possession, but we must use the ball and counter attack more, we have to create more.” This was only the second time Bayern have thrown away a two-goal lead in the Champions League having gone down 3-2 to AS Roma in November 2010. —AFP

Swansea and Wigan’s Europa League fates go down to wire

PARIS: Swansea City and Wigan Athletic are on the road today as they bid to seal their berths in the first knockout round of the Europa League. A total of 18 clubs are already through to the last 32 of Europe’s second-tier competition with six more spots up for grabs today. They will be joined by the eight third-placed teams from the UEFA Champions League group stage. Another English representative, Tottenham Hotspur, are already through along with Spanish clubs Valencia and Sevilla, France’s Lyon and Fiorentina of Italy. The north London outfit host Russians Anzhi Makhachkala at White Hart Lane with both sides having already qualified from Group K. Swansea are second in Group A behind Valencia as they travel to face Swiss side St Gallen needing just a point to advance, while Championship outfit Wigan, third in Group D, visit Slovenian outfit Maribor.

Of Swansea’s task, goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel remarked: “It won’t be easy .. but the whole squad is determined to go to Switzerland and get the result we need to get through.

“Of course, it also depends on how Kuban do in Valencia, but we will only be concentrating on our match. “A positive result will give us a good feeling and a bit of momentum for the league game at Norwich on Sunday.” Michael Laudrup’s Swansea were unable to get the point that would have clinched qualification last month as they lost 1-0 at home to Valencia. For today’s game, Laudrup has said he is reluctant to risk Michu despite the Spaniard’s return from five weeks on the sidelines in Monday’s 1-1 Premier League draw against Hull City, while Ivorian forward Wilfried Bony is recovering from a hamstring problem picked up against Valencia. “He (Michu) will be tired for a couple of days so we have to think about the rest of the week as we have three games in six days and he cannot play in all three,” said Laudrup. He added on Bony: “He is a little better, but we have to be careful because we are talking about a muscle injury. With a muscle injury, if you come back one day too early, you could have a setback and be out for four weeks.

We don’t want that.”

Last season’s FA Cup winners Wigan know that their fate is out of their hands as they make the journey to Slovenia under new management. German Uwe Rosler was appointed to replace Owen Coyle, who departed last weekend after a run of three successive defeats left the club from the English northwest in 14th place in the Championship. Wigan, who lost 2-1 at home to Zulte Waregem last time out, visit Maribor needing to win while also hoping the Belgian side lose to group winners Rubin Kazan. Elsewhere, Dutch club PSV Eindhoven host Chornomorets Odessa of Ukraine in Group B with all to play for as both have seven points behind already qualified Ludogorets Razgrad of Bulgaria.

German side Freiburg will be looking to seal qualification from Group H alongside Sevilla when they host the Spaniards, although Czech side Slovan Liberec travel to eliminated Estoril also hoping to progress. Dynamo Kiev host Rapid Vienna with both sides looking for the remaining berth from Group G behind Genk, and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv are on the verge of advancing from Group F. —AFP

Photo of the day

Cyrille Oumedjkane of France dives from the 27 metre platform on Hong Island during the last competition day of the eighth and final stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, Krabi, Thailand.

—www.redbullcontentpool.com

Brazilian ‘hooligan clubs’ face huge fines, closures RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian sides Atletico PR and relegated Vasco da Gama face record fines and stadium closures after their fans were caught up in violence Sunday. The shocking scenes of fans kicking and punching each other on the terraces in the southern city of Joinville has provoked a storm-not least as it harms Brazil’s image six months before it hosts the World Cup. Brazil’s Supreme Tribunal for Sporting Justice (STJD), part of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), on Tuesday confirmed it was assessing what punishment should be dished out after violence which Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said the country would not tolerate. “Given the seriousness of this case we must make a judgment now as everyone wants a response-we shall not leave it till 2014,” said STJD chairman Flavio Zveiter, adding the Tribunal would likely hold an extraordinary session on the case.

Additional controversy erupted after it emerged police were only on duty outside with private security drafted inside, a decision which had police and state government firing accusations and counter-accusations at each other Tuesday. The STJD could hand both clubs as much as a 20-game stadium ban and a fine in the region of $50,000 dollars. Match referee Ricardo Ribeiro faces a four-month suspension if he is found to have officiated a match “without adequate security,” Zveiter told Lance sports daily.

Atletico were playing in Joinville, some 150 km south of their Curitiba home-the latter is scheduled to host World Cup action in June-after previous disorder. Sunday’s match was suspended for more than an hour after fans fought running battles before security forces belatedly intervened.

Four fans were injured. STJD prosecutor Paulo Schmitt on Tuesday ruled out any possibility of accepting a Vasco request to have the match replayed on the grounds it was stopped for more than an hour.

Brazilian federation rules provide for a match being annulled following a stoppage of more than one hour but Schmitt ruled that out as a ploy.

Atletico chairman Mario Celso Petraglia went further, telling the club’s radio station that Vasco fans “sought in premeditated fashion to cause trouble so that the game would be called off - a last-ditch hope of avoiding going down to the second division.” Vasco’s defeat sent them down alongside outgoing champions Fluminense, on a doubly black day for Brazilian football.

After Sunday’s violence, FIFA insisted a comprehensive security plan will

be in place for the World Cup at 12 venues to ensure the safety of all concerned and Andrei Rodrigues, a Brazilian justice ministry official dealing with security during major events, said that what happened in Joinville “will not happen again during the World Cup.” He added that “an integrated security scheme” would be backed by 200 cameras monitoring venues, with “clear intervention plans” to nip potential trouble in the bud. — AFP

SANTA CATARINA: Fans of Rio de Janeiro’s Vasco da Gama clash with fans of Parana’s Atletico PR, during a Brazilian Championship football match in Joinville on December 8, 2013. —AFP

World sports leaders meet in Qatar capital DOHA: Sports ministers from all over the world have converged on Doha for the Doha Goals summit which kicked off in the Gulf State on Monday. The closeddoor forum sponsored by the Emir of Qatar has also brought together investors, lobbyists and sports personalities. The question of finance is now fundamental to sports as Brazilians question the amount being spent on the 2014 World Cup while recent Olympics have proved a major drain on national finances.

“Sport should not be seen as a burden, it’s an investment,” Congo sports minister Leo-Alfred Opimbat told AFP however as his country prepares to host the 2015 African Games. “We see that sport is taking an ever more important role in the budget of States. Funding is of course up to the State but you have to also seek additional finances.” The threeday forum will also be the world’s leading platform focusing on sport as a force for social and economic change.

The event is being hosted in the Aspire Zone, a huge complex of sports facilities with the most up-to-date technologies. Wealthy but isolated, Doha has in recent years used sport to spearhead its “soft diplomacy” of investing in European clubs and multiplying bids to host major events. A nation of just two million people, including 200,000 Qataris, Doha will host the 2015 world handball

championships and the 2022 football World Cup. They have yet to host an Olympics, failing to even make the short list for the 2016 and 2020 Games.

But their successes have failed to impress everyone with criticism of work conditions in World Cup venues and doubts about Qatar’s ability to fill stadia.

“We’re going to have sport in empty stadiums, far from the image of the competition that unites the whole country and gets people interested in taking up sports,” one European delegate said on

DOHA: Former British athlete Kelly Holmes attends the Doha Goals summit (Gathering of all Leaders in Sport) in the Qatari capital yesterday. —AFP

condition of anonymity. The Doha Goals is also part of a Qatari strategy to soften their image. “The Qataris have realized that they may have had a too aggressive strategy,” said another delegate.

“This is a mock trial,” replied businessman Richard Attias, Executive Producer of the Doha Goals forum on behalf of local authorities, for whom “sport is part of the development strategy of Qatar.”

Three initiatives are to be formally launched at the forum - the creation of an international sports index on the model of the poverty index, the construction of sports facilities in disadvantaged areas, and production of prosthetics to help disabled children practice sport. But the outline of these projects is still quite vague, especially the issue of funding.

Money, the lifeblood of sport, is clearly at the heart of debates, with companies and athletes seeking funding. Such as Greek sailing champion Sophia Bekatorou, a gold medalist in Athens and bronze in Beijing, who is looking for funding for a Masters, in organizing sports events, in the historic home of the Olympic movement Ancient Olympia. “People here have the wealth to support projects. And the Doha Goals is all about sports connecting people,” said Bekatorou. “I am trying to build a bridge, not to take the money and go away with it.” —AFP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

S P ORTS

Sneijder sinks Juventus to send ‘Gala’ to last 16 Galatasaray 1

MILAN: AC Milan forward Mario Balotelli (right) grimaces in pain after being fouled by Ajax’s Daley Blind during a Champions League, Group H, soccer match between AC Milan and Ajax yesterday. —AP

Milan limp into last 16 AC Milan 0

Ajax 0

MILAN: AC M ilan is through to the Champions League last 16 after holding Ajax to a goalless draw yesterday despite playing most of the match with 10 men after captain Riccardo Montolivo was sent off. Montolivo was shown a straight red card in the 22nd minute for a stamp on Christian Poulsen. The Ajax midfielder was loudly jeered every time he touched the ball and was substituted at halftime.

Poulsen had gone closest to scoring but headed off the inside of the post in the fifth minute. Ajax dominated but failed to find the goal it needed, thanks mainly to an impressive performance from Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati.

Milan rarely threatened but managed to earn the draw it needed to qualify for the knockout stages for the 11th consecutive season. Milan needed just a point to progress and was undefeated at home in the Champions League. Ajax had not won any of its last six away fixtures in the competition but was full of confidence following a shock 2-1 defeat of Barcelona. The visitors almost got off to the perfect start but Cristian Zapata perfectly timed his interception to clear for a corner as Viktor Fischer was about to hit Lasse Schone’s cross.

Ajax went even closer from the resulting corner but Poulsen headed off the inside of the left upright. Milan was pressing but struggling to car ve out clear goalscoring opportunities, while Ajax

again went close in the 19th minute with Davy Klaassen’s diving header which Abbiati did well to turn around his post. A moment of madness from Montolivo saw him shown a straight red card and left Milan with 10 men for the remaining 68 minutes.

M ilan coach Massimiliano Allegri immediately rang the changes, bringing off Italy forward Stephan El Shaarawy who was making his first start after three months out with injury - and replacing him with Andrea Poli. Milan fans, realizing how difficult the situation had become, immediately got behind the players, upping the noise levels at San Siro and resoundly jeering every time Poulsen touched the ball. Ajax almost made its numerical advantage count immediately but Schone was denied by another fine Abbiati save.

The Dutch side could have taken the lead on the stroke of halftime when it was awarded a free kick in a dangerous, central position after Sulley Muntari shoulder-barged over Klaassen. But Schone blasted over the crossbar. Milan seemed to be content to camp out in its own half and tr y to attack on the break .

Massimiliano Allegri’s men did not have a single shot on target the entire second half and it almost got caught out several times, but Ajax couldn’t find the finishing touch.

Abbiati pulled off another good save in the 67th minute, using his legs to block an angled drive from Klaassen, who had been left unmarked on the right side of the penalty area. Ajax again went close to break ing the deadlock but Fischer ’s attempt rolled narrowly past the far post.

The visitors almost snatched a win with the last kick of the game, but substitute Kolbeinn Sigthorsson’s overhead kick flew narrowly wide of the left post. —AP

Juventus 0

ISTANBUL: An 85th minute strike from Wesley Sneijder secured what will go down as a controversial 1-0 win for Galatasaray over Juventus and a place in the last 16 of the Champions League yesterday.

Galatasaray’s second win in six games left them second in Group B on seven points, allowing the Turkish giants to join Real Madrid in the last 16 of the competition. Juventus finished third on six points, two more than FC Copenhagen, and drop into the Europa League.

The match resumed in the 32nd minute at the Ali Sami Yen stadium after officials called a halt to proceedings while the match stood scoreless on Tuesday due to heavy snowfall. Officials had managed to clear the pitch of snow for the remaining 59 minutes of the game, however snow continued to fall and several areas of the pitch were virtually unplayable. Juventus coach Antonio Conte was clearly unhappy, especially as a large chunk of damaged pitch lay in Juventus’s attacking end for the second half.

He complained vociferously of the playing conditions to the match referee at half-time, but to no avail. It made for a farcical game of football, with many passes incomplete, overplayed and stuck in the mud as players tried to compensate for the poor conditions underfoot. Galatasaray coach Roberto Mancini, who took over from Fatih Terim the day before holding Juventus to a 2-2 draw in Turin, admitted the “dangerous” conditions should have perhaps led to

ISTANBUL: Galatasaray’s players celebrate winning during the UEFA Champions League group B football match yesterday, at Turk Telekom Arena in Istanbul. —AFP another postponement. “It was difficult to play the ball, maybe it would have been better not to play. It was dangerous for the players,” Mancini told Sky Sport Italia.

“It was a difficult situation, but the lads did well. The point we took from Turin served us well and today we deserved the win.” Conte said his pleas to have the match postponed fell on deaf ears. “We’ve been penalized in a very harsh manner,” complained the Juventus coach. “I congratulated the lads because they gave everything they could on a pitch that wasn’t fit for football, and this fact penalized us a lot.

“The shame is that we were reduced to having to qualify in this last game. Hopefully the experience will serve us well for the future.”

Zenit make history VIENNA: Zenit St Petersburg created Champions League history by becoming the first team to qualify for the knockout stages with only six points from six matches after a 4-1 defeat at Austria Vienna yesterday. The Russian side went through thanks to Porto’s 2-0 defeat at Group G table-toppers Atletico Madrid who finished on 16 points.

Juventus eventually grew into their stride and were by far the dominant team towards the end of the second period, however the chances they did create were only ever half-chances.

Four minutes after the restart Frenchman Paul Pogba, playing in central midfield for injured Andrea Pirlo, managed to get a shot away from outside the area as Galatasary failed to clear but his effort was collected by Fernando Muslera.

Sneijder was next to show a glimpse of creation on 54 minutes, the Dutchman pouncing on a loose ball from Drogba to send a drive narrowly wide of Buffon’s upright. Buffon then pulled off a superb diving stop down low to block Drogba’s goalbound shot from the edge of the area. Juventus moved up a gear in the

Wasteful Porto eliminated Atletico Madrid 2

Porto 0 Austria Wien 4

Zenit 1

Zenit dominated most of the match but Vienna keeper Heinz Lindner was in great form, saving three times in quick succession in the first half to deny Hulk twice and Cristian Ansaldi. Zenit deservedly went ahead on 35 minutes when a fine through ball by Hulk found Aleksandr Kerzhakov who rounded Lindner and fired home his seventh goal of the season. A minute before halftime, Vienna were level when Philipp Hosiner collected the ball on the edge of the box and hit a low right-foot drive past Yuri Lodygin.

Tomas Jun made it 2-1 after 48 minutes when he got on the end of a great cross from Markus Suttner and tucked it away from close range and three minutes later it was 3-1.

Hosiner was quickest to react when Yuri Lodygin pushed out an effort from Florian Mader. Romain Kienast made it 41 in stoppage-time for Vienna’s first Champions League win in their debut season. Porto and Vienna finished on five points but Porto ended third because of a better head-tohead record against the Austrians. —Reuters

GELSENKIRCHEN: Schalke’s Felipe Santana (left) and Sead Kolasinac (right) challenge for the ball with Basel’s Giovanni Sio (center) during the Champions League Group E soccer match between FC Schalke 04 and FC Basel yesterday. —AP

Schalke power into CL knockout stage Schalke 2

Basel 0

GELSENKIRCHEN: Schalke 04 powered into the Champions League (CL) knockout stage with a 2-0 win over 10-man Basel yesterday, helped by a fine goal from Julian Draxler and a clear offside effort from Joel Matip. The Germans, who moved into the last 16 for the second consecutive season, took a deserved lead in the 51st minute through 20-year-old Draxler after dominating from the start and needing victory to advance from Group E. They were lucky to have had their second goal count, however, with at least four Schalke players clearly in offside position when Matip slotted in from close range to seal the win and relieve some of the pressure on coach Jens Keller.

The win moved Schalke, who have dropped down to sixth in the Bundesliga, above their Swiss rivals into second place with Chelsea securing top spot in the group. Schalke, who had not won any group game since beating Basel on matchday two, carved out their first chance in the

12th minute with Taulant Xhaka sending his clearance on to the crossbar and teenager Max Meyer seeing his rebound shot cleared on the line.

Jefferson Farfan picked up the ball in the box but sent his curling shot narrowly wide as Schalke pressed high in the Basel half. Things took a turn for the worse in the 31st minute for the Swiss, whose last trip to Germany was a 7-0 demolition by Bayern Munich two seasons ago, when Ivan Ivanov was sent off for a foul on Adam Szalai who was charging clear at the edge of the box.

The Hungarian forward had come on seconds earlier for injured captain Benedikt Hoewedes as coach Jens Keller, under mounting pressure to turn things around, brought on a striker for a central defender.

Germany international Draxler and 18year-old Meyer continued to wreaked havoc with their dazzling display of tight dribbling and explosive speed but Farfan failed to stab in from close range in their biggest chance before the break. Draxler managed to break the deadlock five minutes after the restart with Farfan delivering a cross at the far post and the 20-year-old drilling in.

Matip then was left in the box along with three other Schalke players but neither official signalled for offside and the Cameroon international had little trouble in scoring.

The Swiss side will go into the Europa League. —Reuters

MADRID: Portuguese champions Porto were left to rue a number of missed opportunities as they bowed out of the Champions League with a 2-0 defeat away to Atletico Madrid yesterday. The visitors struck the woodwork three times in the first-half and saw Atletico keeper Daniel Aranzubia save Josue’s penalty as goals from Raul Garcia and Diego Costa saw the hosts maintain their unbeaten record in the Champions League this season. Porto’s defeat means that Zenit St Petersburg progress to the last 16 despite the Russians losing 4-1 to Austria Vienna in the night’s other game in Group G, whilst Porto drop into the Europa League thanks to their better head-to-head record against the Austrians.

With Atletico already assured of first place in the group, Diego Simeone rested a number of first team regulars from the start and it was no surprise that Porto started the brighter. Jackson Martinez went desperate close to the opener on eight min-

Dortmund sneak into CL last 16 Marseille 1

Dortmund 2

MARSEILLE: Borussia Dortmund sneaked into the Champions League (CL) last 16 when Kevin Grosskreutz’s late strike earned them a 2-1 win at 10-man Olympique Marseille in a nail-biting Group F finale yesterday. Souleymane Diawara had cancelled out Robert Lewandowski’s early opener but Borussia were heading for the exit until Grosskreutz found the back of the net with a deflected shot three minutes from time.

His goal meant last season’s runners-up finish top of Group F. Arsenal are second, also on 12 points, after losing 2-0 at Napoli who are eliminated. Napoli also finished with 12 but were robbed of a last-16 place by their head-to-head record.

Marseille were down to 10 men from the 34th minute when Dimitri Payet was sent off. They are the first French team to finish the group phase without a point.

Dortmund were without the injured Sven Bender, Ilkay Gundogan, Neven Subotic, Mats Hummels and Marcel Schmelzer,

final 20 minutes, with Carlos Tevez finally finding his feet. On 74 minutes the Argentinean striker squeezed between two defenders on the right and from the resulting corner defender Giorgio Chiellini saw an effort go wide.

Four minutes later Tevez failed to get enough height on his cross from the right of goal as Juventus piled the pressure on. And minutes later Tevez cut the ball back for Claudio Marchisio following Arturo Vidal’s smart cross to the left, but Marchisio’s first-time strike was straight at Muslera. Juve were having the lion’s share of play but were ultimately stunned five minutes from time when Sneijder beat Buffon at his far post from a tight angle after running on to Drogba’s header. —AFP

while Marseille had to deal with the absence of France international Mathieu Valbuena and Ghana striker Andre Ayew.

Centre back Nicolas N’Koulou and midfielder Alaixys Romao also missed out through suspension and N’Koulou’s absence was immediately felt. In the fourth minute, the central defense let Lewandowski power his way into the area to flick the ball past Steve Mandanda after collecting Eric Durm’s long pass. Marseille, though, equalized 10 minutes later when Souleymane Diawara headed the rebound into the empty goal after Saber Khalifa’s header from Dimitri Payet’s free kick had bounced off the bar. Goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller completely misjudged the free kick.

The game turned the visitors’ way when Payet was sent off 11 minutes before the interval after receiving two yellow cards in quick succession, the second for simulation.

Marco Reus hit the woodwork in the 57th as Borussia piled on the pressure but despite their domination, they failed to score.

Lewandowski inexplicably missed an empty net after dribbling past Mandanda following a Marseille defensive blunder in the 67th, but Grosskreutz’s low shot from the edge of the area spared Juergen Klopp’s team an embarrassing exit. —Reuters

utes as he connected sweetly with Danilo’s cross from the right and the ball rebounded to safety off the crossbar. Six minutes later it was Atletico who went in front as Garcia’s fierce effort from a narrow angle caught Porto keeper Helton napping at his near post.

Silvestre Varela then saw a headed effort clip the bar as Porto responded positively and they had a glorious chance to equalize when Aranzubia upended Martinez inside the area. However, Josue’s powerful spotkick was placed too close to the keeper who redeemed himself with a smart save. It wasn’t to be Martinez’s night as he struck the post once more moments later. And Atletico eventually took advantage of Porto’s high line on the counter-attack as Costa raced onto Oliver Torres’ through ball to round Helton and squeeze home his fourth goal in just three Champions League appearances.

David Villa replaced Costa at the break as Simeone looked ahead to Saturday’s visit of Valencia in La Liga. Without their top scorer, Atletico were happy to sit on their lead rather than go in search of a third and as a result the second-half was far less of a spectacle as Porto pressed without having creating any clear openings of note. However, that was of no concern to Simeone’s men who now await to see who they will face in the last 16 when the draw is made in Nyon, Switzerland on December 16. —AFP

Qatar ready for winter or summer World Cup DOHA: Qatar is prepared to stage the 2022 World Cup in the summer or in the winter and will abide by whatever decision world governing body FIFA takes on the matter according to a senior official in Doha. “From the beginning, we’ve always said we can stage the World Cup in summer,” said Hassan AlThawadi, Secretary General of the Qatar 2022 Organizing Committee. “The cooling system for the stadia will be very much part of our legacy. But if the football world or FIFA want it to be staged in the winter then we are happy and ready. If they want it in summer, then we are still ready.”

The awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar has been met with a volley of criticism especially over the searing heat that bakes the Gulf emirate in the summer when the tournament is traditionally held. Some have suggested that it should be switched to the winter time to protect players and fans alike, but this has run into opposition from European clubs, who would lose their top players for several weeks in the middle of the season and from the International Olympic Committee fearful of any competition with the Sochi Winter Olympics in February.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Doha Goals sports summit being held in Doha, Al-Thawadi rejected any suggestions that Qatar was not fit to host the World Cup. “We have always complied with FIFA regulations and these allegations have absolutely no basis,” he added. “Our bid team had to build credibility, showcase Qatar and deliver the messages. We worked very hard and were at every major event in the build-up to winning the right to host the tournament.

“Why did we win it? Without wanting to sound arrogant, it was because we had the best bid in terms of messages.

“We offered a compact World Cup with no long distance travel involved; we offered the perfect geographic location that allows three billion prime time TV viewers; and we offered a concept of modular stadia.” “There are so many misconceptions about the Middle East and the World Cup in 2022 will go a long way to showing the world the friendliness, hospitality and sense of humor of the Middle East. It is a great opportunity for us all to come together. —AFP

10-man Milan resist Ajax to book last 16

19

Wasteful Porto eliminated by Atletico defeat

19

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

Qatar ready for winter or summer World Cup

Page 18

BARCELONA: FC Barcelona’s Neymar (left) duels for the ball against Celtic’s goalkeeper Fraser Foster (below) during a Champions League soccer match group H yesterday. — AP

Neymar nets hat-trick, Barca crush Celtic Barcelona 6

Celtic 1

BARCELONA: Neymar scored his first Barcelona hat-trick as the Catalans secured top spot in Group H of the Champions League with a 6-1 thrashing of Celtic at the Camp Nou yesterday. Gerard Pique got the hosts off

to the perfect start when he slammed home from close range after Celtic keeper Fraser Forster had done well to deny Alexis Sanchez.

Neymar then produced a magical piece of skill to ghost past Efe Ambrose to set up Pedro for the second and rounded off a fine team move with the simplest of finishes to make it 3-0 a minute before half-time. The Brazilian striker then added a brilliant fourth with a curling finish after a one-two with Xavi before completing his hat-trick with an individual effort 10 minutes later. Cristian Tello made it 6-0 with a deflected strike 18 minutes from time before Georgious Samaras pulled one back for the Scottish champions.

Napoli agonizingly crash out Napoli 2

Arsenal 0

NAPLES: Arsenal qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League despite losing 20 away to Napoli yesterday, while the Italian side agonizingly miss out. Gonzalo Higuain and Jose Callejon both scored in the second half either side of Mikel Arteta’s sending-off, but Borussia Dortmund’s dramatic late 2-1 win in Marseille saw them go through as winners of Group F ahead of Arsenal and pushed Napoli into third place.

The Premier League leaders did just enough in the heated atmosphere of the San Paolo stadium, with Napoli needing to win by three goals to be certain of qualifying, and Arsene Wenger’s side can look forward to playing in the Champions League

knockout stages for the 14th year in succession. Napoli, meanwhile, miss out on a place in the last 16 as the losers in a threeway tie at the top of a remarkably competitive group, and will have to settle for the consolation of Europa League football in the New Year. It was a sore one for Rafael Benitez’s side, and another blow for the prestige of Italian football after Juventus were eliminated earlier in the day.

Beaten 2-0 by Arsenal in London in October, Napoli knew that, to be sure of qualification, they had to win by three clear goals, and their task was not helped by the absence of both Slovakian creator Marek Hamsik and goalkeeper Pepe Reina. Brazilian Rafael Cabral made his Champions League debut in place of Reina, as Napoli, whose recent form has been patchy, looked to keep a clean sheet for the first time in nine outings.

The hosts knew they had to attack and they started with intent. However, their only attempt of any real note in the opening stages was a Goran Pandev shot that was blocked by visiting goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. — AFP

Teams qualified for last 16 PARIS: Teams through to Monday’s draw for the last 16 of the Champions League after the conclusion of the group stage yesterday: Qualified as group winners: Manchester United (ENG) Real Madrid (ESP) Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) Bayern Munich (GER) Chelsea (ENG) Borussia Dortmund (GER) Atletico Madrid (ESP) Barcelona (ESP)

Qualified as group runners-up: Bayer Leverkusen (GER) Galatasaray (TUR) Olympiakos (GRE) Manchester City (ENG) Schalke (GER) Arsenal (ENG) Zenit St Petersburg (RUS) AC Milan (ITA) NB: Group winners and runners-up will be kept apart in last 16 draw. Teams who were in same section in group stage and teams from same country cannot face each other in last 16. — AFP

Despite being already assured of a place in the last 16, Barca boss Gerardo Martino sent out the message that he didn’t want a repeat of the lacklustre performance that saw the Catalans beaten 2-1 away to Ajax in their last Champions League outing as he named a strong side. Barca could even have gone in front inside three minutes as only a last-ditch challenge from Virgil Van Dijk prevented Xavi from having a clear sight of goal. However, the reprieve only last a further four minutes for the visitors as Pique coolly volleyed home his second goal of the season. Forster had to be alive to deny Pique his second midway through the half as Barca continued to swarm

forward with ease.

And the only surprise was that it took until the 39th minute for the La Liga leaders to double their advantage as Neymar skipped past Ambrose on the right side of the area before squaring for Pedro to slot home.

Neymar then scored his first Champions League goal just before the break as a lovely move involving Sanchez, Sergi Roberto and Martin Montoya found the later in behind the Celtic defense and he rolled the ball into Neymar’s path to slot into an unguarded net.

The flurry of goals continued after the restart as Neymar got his second of the evening just three minutes into the second period with a

precise finish into the top corner from 20 yards.

And the 21-year-old then embarrassed Ambrose once more as he nutmegged the Nigerian before rolling the ball past a helpless Forster. Neymar ought to have had his fourth of the night 26 minutes from time when he rounded Forster only for Pedro to take the ball off his teammate and fire the ball of Van Dijk with the whole goal to aim at. Substitute Tello did add a sixth as his shot from outside the area deflected in off a stary Celtic leg. However, there was time for Celtic to salvage some pride as Samaras headed home Charlie Mulgrew’s free-kick a minute from time.— AFP

Chelsea retain top spot Chelsea 1

Steaua 0

LONDON: Demba Ba ensured Chelsea finished top of Champions League Group E as the Senegal striker clinched a 1-0 win over Steaua Bucharest yesterday. Jose Mourinho’s side had already qualified for the last 16 of Europe’s elite club competition, but they needed a victory in their final group fixture at Stamford Bridge to guarantee first place.

Ba’s first half goal was enough to fulfil that ambition and, while Chelsea were some way from their best, this fairly forgettable encounter could yet prove a significant stepping stone if they go on to have a successful European campaign. Mourinho claimed on Monday that Chelsea were unlikely to win the Champions League this season because the squad is still a work in progress in the first season of his second spell at the Bridge.

But that sounded suspiciously like kidology from the Chelsea boss in a bid to ease the pressure on his players, who should benefit from a significantly easier draw in the last 16 now they have finished top of their group. After Saturday’s surprise defeat at Stoke, Mourinho opted to rest Petr Cech as one of seven changes to the team

LONDON: Chelsea’s English defender John Terry (right) vies for the ball with Steaua Bucharest’s Italian forward Federico Piovaccari during the UEFA Champions League group E football match yesterday. — AFP beaten by Stoke, with Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer finally making his Champions League debut, while England left-back Ashley Cole returned after a spell on the sidelines.

Schwarzer became the oldest Champions League debutant at 41 years and 66 days, and also the second oldest player ever in the Champions League. Mourinho was unhappy with his strikers’ lack of goals following the Stoke loss, but his criticism sparked an immediate response,

albeit against one of the weaker defences Chelsea will face this season.

Oscar came close to opening with barely five minutes played when he ghosted through the Steaua defense and flashed a shot just wide from the edge of the penalty area.

It took Chelsea just 11 minutes to break down Steaua’s feeble resistance.

Oscar took advantage of Steaua’s sloppy marking and rose to head Willian’s corner towards the far post, where Ba got the final touch ahead of

Bucharest’s Daniel Georgievski, bundling the ball into the net from virtually on the line for just his third goal of the season. Yet Mourinho had been vexed by Chelsea’s careless defending after they conceded six goals in two matches against Sunderland and Stoke last week.

And he was given more reason for concern when Chelsea’s defense parted with alarming ease moments after his side took the lead. Gabriel Iancu surged clear of John Terry and looked odds on to score, only to drag his shot wide with just Schwarzer to beat.

Branislav Ivanovic almost doubled Chelsea’s lead midway through the first half, but the Serb’s powerful header from Eden Hazard’s cross was tipped over by Ciprian Tatarusanu. Ba should have delivered the knockout blow early in the second half, but he somehow managed to lift his closerange effort well over the bar from Willian’s cross.

Steaua’s total lack of goal threat ensured Chelsea rarely needed to overly exert themselves in a moribund second period. Substitute Andre Schurrle injected some life into the closing stages when he jinked into the penalty area and tested Tatarusanu with a low strike. Tatarusanu could only push the ball back into the sixyard box, but Hazard was unable to capitalise on the rebound as the Belgian headed over. Ba had a strike ruled out by a debatable offside call in the closing moments, but it was already mission accomplished for Chelsea. — AFP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

BUSINESS

EU cites progress on ‘Banking Union’ Europeans rough out new rules on bank rescues BRUSSELS: EU finance ministers agreed yesterday to meet again next week to finalise details of a “Banking Union” meant to prevent failing banks from ever again wrecking the economy.

Following more than 14 hours of talks, the ministers cited some progress but not enough, with agreement only on the general principles on one of the bloc’s most ambitious projects. “We did not finish. We agreed to reconvene next week,” said Lithuanian Finance Minister Rimantas Sadzius who chaired the talks.

“We have come a long way,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said. All countries now accept the principle that if banks “get into difficulty, then it will not be the taxpayer but the investors and creditors that bear the costs,” Schaeuble said. But as to how to put that into practice, all member states “still need to check a few things so that we can make the final political accord... next week,” he said.

Sadzius said ministers would gather again on December 18, on the eve of a two-day EU leaders summit supposed to sign off on the plan which will then go to the European Parliament. Ministers hope the Banking Union will prevent any repeat of failing banks driving governments into international bailouts. Tuesday’s talks focused on a socalled Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) which

would step in to close a bank at risk before it could do too much damage to the wider economy.

The SRM would have a pot of cash at its disposal-funded eventually by the banks themselves-to cover the cost involved so the taxpayer does not have to pick up the bill. The SRM would follow an already agreed Single Supervisory Mechanism which the European Central Bank will run to oversee the top 130 or so euro-zone banks directly, and thousands more indirectly via national authorities.

95 percent of the way there While all agree, as Schaeuble stated, on the principle, the political issues are fraught since the new system would effectively hand control of national banks to the EU. This is a major sticking point, not least for EU powerhouse Germany and other member states anxious to ensure maximum authority over their own banking systems. The European Commission, backed by France, wants the SRM to have the power to shut down any of the euro-zone’s 6,000 banks if they get into difficulties.

However, Germany believes the mechanism should have jurisdiction only over the 130 top banks under ECB supervision. A draft document on the working of the SRM showed that Berlin’s

Slovenia to receive banking bailout bill LJUBLJANA: Slovenia is to learn later this week if it has enough money to shore up its banks on its own or become the latest eurozone country to need outside help. The government and central bank will publish later this week-the day is still unclear-the results of EU-supervised stress tests of its banks which have become weighed down by assets that have lost value as the economy has been gripped by a long recession. Slovenia has been dogged for months by worries that it could become the sixth eurozone country to be forced to seek aid, and as the moment of truth arrives there is a sense of confidence it can avoid an international bailout.

Observers seem to agree that the 4.7 billion euros ($6.5 billion) the government has set aside for recapitalising the banks will suffice. The Delo newspaper estimated Slovenia will need some 4.2 billion euros. Other domestic media put the figure between four and five billion euros. “Over the last eight months we have solved the main problems, extinguished the fire, now we need to develop a long-term strategy,” centre-left Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek said ahead of the results.

“We know exactly what we need to do,” she added, insisting Slovenia will not be the next country to seek international assistance. Officials are not the only ones optimistic Slovenia will dodge the bullet. “With solid cash buffers in place, a strong political consensus to avoid a bailout and improving economic activity, the fallout of the stresstests is likely to be less negative than previously expected,” ING economist Anthony Baert also said in a note Tuesday.

For Davorin Kracun, professor at Maribor University’s economics and business faculty, the government’s next steps will be crucial.

“The audit results by themselves will not have repercussions on the economy, they are just an accounting evaluation of how bad things in banks are,” he told AFP. “The main challenge for the government will be eliminating the obstacles to economic recovery,” he added, a reference to the corporate debt overhang and lack of foreign investments in Slovenia over the last two decades.

preferred option appeared to have won the day.

More differences arose over who controls the SRM. The Commission, the EU’s executive arm, wants the final say over whether and how a failing bank is wound up but Germany believes member states should have that right.

According to the draft document, an SRM board would take the initial decision to wind up a bank, with the Commission having a right of review within a set time limit. If the Commission objects, the issue would go to the 28 member states to intervene-but if it did not then the board decision would stand, the draft text proposes.

Finally, there remains discord over whether the fund-which the Commission wants to total some 55 billion euros ($76 billion) — should be a centralised European pot or come under control of the member states. The draft document detailed a transition arrangement, based first on separate national resolution funds which, over a period of 10 years,would gradually merge into a panEuropean single pot to back the SRM. “We have made great progress... we are 95 percent of the way there,” said French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici. At next week’s meeting, ministers “will go over the technical details and harmonise our positions,” Moscovici said. “I can’t imagine that we will fail.” —AFP

Gold eases on 3-day rally

Fixing the banks will not be enough Hoping to raise some cash, Bratusek has visited Germany, France, Italy and Russia in the last few weeks seeking buyers for 15 state-owned companies that Slovenia plans to privatise, including the airport and telecommunications operator. The central bank has said the three largest state-owned banks will be recapitalised before the end of the year and toxic assets will be immediately transferred to a “bad bank,” enabling lenders to quickly resume the normal financing of companies.

Slovenia created a “bad bank” in 2012 to relieve lenders of an estimated 7.9 billion euros in risky assets and non-performing loans. But the European Commission, fearing the true amount of distressed assets could be higher, requested it become operational only after the completion of independent audits.

The asset quality reviews and stress tests were initially launched on 10 Slovenian banks but the central bank in September announced two of them had to be liquidated. Three out of the eight remaining-Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB), Nova Kreditna Banka Maribor (NKB) and Abanka-are owned by the state and will absorb most of the planned state money.

“The bank problem can be solved and Slovenia needs this sort of positive boost,” said Cvetka Selsek, the head of Societe Generale’s Slovenian branch SKB, in a recent debate on the banking system. “The only thing I’m afraid of is that parties start fighting among themselves, thinking this (crisis) is the perfect stage for showing off instead of solving problems,” she added.

Political bickering over how to handle the global crisis already brought down the government in 2011. Bratusek’s cabinet, in place since March, has also had to fight unions and the opposition over every proposed measure, including its action plan to stabilise the country and the 2014 budget.

In recession since 2011, Slovenia is only expected to see a slow recovery in 2015, when the government also plans to bring the public deficit below the EU ceiling of 3.0 percent of gross domestic product. —AFP

SINGAPORE: Gold snapped a three-day winning streak yesterday but was well-supported near a three-week high, boosted by short-covering and weakness in the dollar. News of US lawmakers reaching a budget agreement to avoid a government shutdown next month dented some of gold’s safe-haven appeal, while physical demand also cooled in Asia on higher prices.

But analysts said technical buying should support prices for a little longer. Spot gold had eased 0.3 percent to $1,256.31 an ounce by 0410 GMT, after gaining 3 percent in the last three sessions - its strongest such winning run since October.

“Technically, gold should make a run for $1,270 and then $1,300 by year-end. However, it depends on whether it can hold support at $1,250 and the Fed meeting next week,” said a Hong Kong-based precious metals trader.

Markets are watching the Federal Reserve meeting on Dec 17-18 to see if the US central bank begins to taper its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases. A scale-back would hurt gold, which has so far benefited from the monetary easing as it burnishes the metal’s inflation-hedge appeal.

“We suspect that given the better looking chart patterns, the current rally in gold will likely continue until $1,290, where we see next resistance or until the Fed meeting - whichever comes first,” INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said. Many believe investors have already priced in the possibility of a December tapering as prices did not drop sharply after last week’s strong non-farm payrolls data.

Instead, since the data release gold has been climbing as funds have been hurrying to cover their short positions ahead of the Fed meeting next week. Similarly, the dollar index was trading near a six-week low yesterday as funds adjusted their long positions ahead of the gathering. Data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday that bearish bets on gold were at a 7-1/2year high, while long positions have been cut to a six-year low. Meanwhile in Washington, budget negotiators in the US Congress reached an agreement that, if approved by the House and Senate, could restore some order to the nation’s chaotic budget process and avoid another government shutdown on Jan 15. —Reuters

LONDON: A file picture shows a Lloyds TSB bank sign outside a branch in central London. —AFP

Lloyds fined $46m for pushing sales LONDON: Britain’s financial watchdog imposed a record 28 million pound ($46 million) fine on Lloyds Banking Group for the way it encouraged staff to sell 2 billion pounds of products that customers did not need. The probe covered the sale of products such as critical illness or income protection between January 2010 and March last year. During this time over a million products were sold to about 700,000 people.

Lloyds sales incentives included the chance to win a one-off payment of 1,000 pounds, known as a “grand in your hand”.

Another was called the “champagne bonus”. “The findings do not make pleasant reading,” said Tracey McDermott, the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) director of enforcement. The FCA was launched in April to try and end Britain’s litany of misselling scandals in financial products spanning over two decades. The fine was the largest ever imposed on a bank for failings in how it sold products to retail customers.

The penalty was increased by 10 percent because the watchdog’s predecessor, the Financial Ser vices Authority, had already warned the bank about poorly managed incentive schemes over a number of years. Lloyds was also fined in 2003 for unsuitable sales of bonds. “The incentive schemes led to a serious risk that sales staff were put under pressure to hit targets to get a bonus or avoid being demoted, rather than focus on what consumers may need or want,” the watchdog said in a statement on Wednesday.

Lloyds had already set aside 8 billion

pounds for mis-selling loan insurance and 400 million pounds for mis-sold interest rate swaps. Lawyers said the level of the fine was a clear sign of how the FCA wanted to crack down on poor conduct. It comes at a time when the bank is trying to burnish its image and bolster capital levels for the sale of the government’s remaining 33 percent stake in the lender, possibly to retail investors.

Lloyds said it accepted the findings and was already in touch with customers to address “potential impacts” that may have occurred due to past failings at its Lloyds TSB, Bank of Scotland and Halifax units. “We are determined to ensure that any customer impacts are dealt with quickly and fully,” Lloyds said in a statement, adding that it did not expect there to be any material financial consequences for the bank.

Lawyers said the fine was a “drop in the ocean” for a bank the size of Lloyds and the real cost was the disruption from having to review so many customer files at a time when the bank is in the middle of a turnaround ahead of full privatisation.

Regulators published a review of incentive schemes last year which highlighted problems and said at the time one firm, now identified as Lloyds, had been referred to enforcement. The FCA said Lloyds has made substantial changes to “right many of these wrongs”. Labour union Unite said the target driven sales culture at banks must be changed to better serve customers by giving staff a “fair day’s pay” that is not linked to sales. —Reuters

Hotel giant Accor plans Asia-Pacific expansion JAKARTA: Hotel giant Accor said yesterday it plans to open more than 200 hotels in the Asia-Pacific in the coming years, highlighting continued confidence in the region despite slowing growth in key markets. A total of 227 hotels should open “in the next three to four years”, meaning more than 49,000 extra rooms, Michael Issenberg, Asia-Pacific chief operating officer for the French group, told AFP. “It’s the fastest growing part of the world”, he added during an interview in Jakarta.

Accor is the top hotel group in Asia-Pacific with 560 hotels and 107,000 rooms. China, the group’s top market in the region with 135 hotels currently, will have the bulk of the new developments with 90 hotels, he said.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, is the group’s second-fastest growing market in the region and 71 of the new hotels are planned for the sprawling archipelago.

Accor, the sixth biggest hotel group in the

world with brands including Novotel, Sofitel and Pullman, already has 73 hotels in Indonesia. Issenberg downplayed fears slowing growth in China, the world’s secondbiggest economy, could affect Accor’s plans.

China’s economic growth has slowed in recent years but still came in at a strong 7.8 percent on year in the July-September quarter.

“In China, there’s been a bit of an oversupply but that will change. The next couple of years will be challenging but in the medium term, we think we’ll be OK,” he said. He also expressed confidence in the Indonesian market despite expectations economic growth will come in below six percent in 2013 for the first time in four years. “After China, the biggest market for development is Indonesia.

The hotel market in Indonesia has a very, very bright future,” he said. Gerard Guillouet, senior vice president for Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, added Accor was on track to have 100 hotels in Indonesia by 2015. —AFP

EXCHANGE RATES Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal transfer Irani Riyal cash Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

ASIAN COUNTRIES 2.750 4.634 2.610 2.162 2.903 227.060 36.518 3.636 6.440 8.828 0.271 0.273 GCC COUNTRIES 75.537 77.831 735.840 752.360 77.142

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 40.600 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 40.660 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.321 Tunisian Dinar 171.090 Jordanian Dinar 400.010 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.900 Syrian Lira 3.077 Morocco Dirham 35.394 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 283.150 Euro 389.330 Sterling Pound 464.080 Canadian dollar 266.750 Turkish lira 140.030 Swiss Franc 318.150 Australian Dollar 258.800 US Dollar Buying 281.950 20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

GOLD 233.000 118.000 61.000

UAE Exchange Centre WLL COUNTRY Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro US Dollar Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

SELL DRAFT 263.06 270.20 316.41 387.43 282.85 468.29 2.82 3.638 4.549 2.158 2.859 2.610 77.08 752.83 41.05 402.56 735.59 78.11 75.56

SELL CASH 262.000 270.000 316.000 389.000 285.600 471.000 2.800 3.800 4.860 2.600 3.400 2.760 77.400 753.7000 41.100 407.600 741.700 78.500 75.800

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd Rate for Transfer US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen Thai Bhat

Selling Rate 282.700 269.000 466.070 390.375 318.830 746.465 76.945 78.500 76.255 398.510 40.991 2.159 4.618 2.620 3.632 6.379 694.370 3.735 09.795

Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit Chinese Yuan Renminbi

3.010 3.885 89.105 46.942

Singapore Dollar South African Rand Sri Lankan Rupee Taiwan Thai Baht

0.223253 0.021456 0.001892 0.009435 0.008519

0.229253 0.029956 0.002472 0.009615 0.009069

Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Iranian Riyal Iraqi Dinar Jordanian Dinar Kuwaiti Dinar Lebanese Pound Moroccan Dirhams Nigerian Naira Omani Riyal Qatar Riyal Saudi Riyal Syrian Pound Tunisian Dinar Turkish Lira UAE Dirhams Yemeni Riyal

Arab 0.744074 0.037659 0.000078 0.000186 0.394864 1.0000000 0.000138 0.022632 0.001197 0.728903 0.077009 0.074817 0.002168 0.166061 0.139334 0.076055 0.001285

0.752074 0.040759 0.000080 0.000246 0.402364 1.0000000 0.000238 0.046632 0.001832 0.734583 0.078222 0.075517 0.002388 0.174061 0.146334 0.077204 0.001365

Bahrain Exchange Company COUNTRY Belgian Franc British Pound Czech Korune Danish Krone Euro Norwegian Krone Romanian Leu Slovakia Swedish Krona Swiss Franc Turkish Lira

SELL CASH Europe 0.007354 0.458866 0.006624 0.048076 0.383884 0.042119 0.081644 0.008104 0.039423 0.312028 0.139334

SELLDRAFT 0.008354 0.467868 0.018824 0.053076 0.391384 0.047319 0.81644 0.018104 0.044423 0.322228 0.146334

Australasia 0.249563 0.228409

0.261053 0.2397909

Canadian Dollar US Dollars US Dollars Mint

America 0.260897 0.278850 0.279350

0.269397 0.283200 0.283200

Bangladesh Taka Chinese Yuan Hong Kong Dollar Indian Rupee Indonesian Rupiah Japanese Yen Kenyan Shilling Korean Won Malaysian Ringgit Nepalese Rupee Pakistan Rupee Philippine Peso Sierra Leone

Asia 0.003437 0.045076 0.034408 0.004399 0.000020 0.002658 0.003349 0.000258 0.084619 0.002974 0.002430 0.006419 0.000069

0.004037 0.048576 0.037158 0.004800 0.000026 0.002838 0.003349 0.000273 0.090619 0.003144 0.002710 0.006699 0.000075

Australian Dollar New Zealand Dollar

Al Mulla Exchange Currency Currency US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

Transfer Rate (Per 1000) Transfer Rate (Per 1000) 282.400 391.100 466.650 267.650 4.617 40.980 2.158 3.637 6.380 2.620 752.000 77.000 75.450

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

BUSINESS

Multinationals boost Ireland’s economy but jobs go unfilled DUBLIN: Many of the world’s leading tech companies call Ireland home, providing a boost for the cash-strapped nation but huge employment opportunities are being missed as Ireland marks the end of its bailout on Sunday. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Paypal and a host of other tech giants have set up in Ireland or increased their presence since Dublin turned to the EU and IMF for an 85-billion-euro ($115 billion) rescue programme in late 2010. Foreign direct investment into Ireland has actually increased during the bailout years.

“If you look at why multinationals came to Ireland before the crisis, they came for a number of reasons,” said Barry O’Leary, the Industrial Development Agency’s (IDA) chief executive. “The things that they came for were not affected when the international financial crisis hit,” he told AFP. The Irish economy crashed after a banking crisis and an overheated property sector plunged it into a downward spiral of rising unemployment and huge public debts. On December 15, after years of spending cuts and tax rises, Ireland will become the first of the rescued euro-zone coun-

tries to exit its EU-IMF bailout programme. Dublin had to move the economy away from reliance on property “to move to a sustainable economy built on enterprise, innovation and exports,” the minister with responsibility for jobs and innovation, Richard Bruton, said. Ireland targeted the IT sector because “it’s a very dynamic sector”. “It helps a lot not only in the direct employment it creates but it creates a very exciting enterprise culture where there’s a lot of start-ups happening Irish-owned as well as foreign-owned.” Facebook set up in Ireland in 2009 and last month said it was moving its

international headquarters in Dublin to bigger offices for up to 1,000 staff. Earlier this month, Microsoft announced a second expansion of its data centre in Dublin in an investment worth 170 million euros. However, despite the willingness of high-profile companies to invest in Ireland, a skills shortage is leaving many of the jobs they create unfilled.

A report from Fast Track to IT (FIT), a non-profit industry-backed organisation which liaises with lawmakers and the education sector, revealed there were 4,500 unfilled jobs in the sector. With

nearly 300,000 people unemployed, a rate of over 12 percent, the unfilled positions look to many like a missed opportunity. “There’s a mismatch of skills,” said John Dennehy, project director of Make IT in Ireland, another industry-backed initiative. “You cannot take someone who is unemployed that hasn’t worked in the tech sector and make them an experienced software developer in a short period of time.” One major attraction for multinationals is Ireland’s favourable corporate tax rate of 12.5 percent, long the ire of its EU partners. —AFP

LAS VEGAS: In this file photo, shoppers rest on chairs in the Fashion Show mall in Las Vegas. The National Retail Federation estimates that sales over the four-day 2013 holiday weekend including Thanksgiving declined 2.9 percent from last year, marking the first drop since the group began tracking the figure in 2006. —AP

After long fight, new bridge for Detroit may be in sight DETROIT: A decade ago Les Cadman stopped making improvements to his small house in Detroit’s declining Delray district because it stood in the path of a proposed bridge to Windsor, Ontario, the bustling Canadian city just across the Detroit River. “Why bother fixing the place up when it looked like it would become a tear down?” asked Cadman, a former trucker, still spry at age 83.Ten years on and his house no longer directly in the bridge’s path, Cadman and other residents of this forgotten neighborhood near the Detroit River are still waiting to see what a new bridge and a proposed 170-acre (70-hectare) US customs plaza would mean for their community.

Years of opposition to the project, led by the billionaire private owner of the lone existing bridge from Detroit to Windsor, have helped keep plans for the new bridge on hold. This has left residents and community groups preparing for an eventual construction boom - but without knowing when it might start. “We have had hundreds of meetings (with government officials) but we haven’t got anywhere,” said Tom Cervenak, executive director of the area’s community center. “It’s become comical.”

But after years of delays, the chances of the bridge being built are improving, bridge supporters say. The project will need $250 million in federal funding, and there could always be a new legal challenge, but expectations are rising. “We know it’s coming and maybe soon, whether people like it or not,” said Simone Sagovac of the Community Benefits Coalition, which is lobbying on behalf of local residents. A federal judge ruled last Tuesday that Detroit is bankrupt under federal law, prompting hope that the Motor City can emerge with a fresh chance for success. And a $4 billion bridge project would provide just the type of jobs and opportunities the city needs.

A bridge too far The Ambassador Bridge that links Windsor and Detroit is 84 years old and carries about a quarter of U.S.-Canada trade, which totaled $616 billion in 2012. The proposed second bridge has the backing of the Canadian and US governments, Michigan’s Republican Governor Rick Snyder and a wide array of logistics firms, a handful of other US states, car makers and other businesses. The bridge would enable trucks to travel smoothly from one country’s highways to the other’s, bypassing the nearly 20 stop lights en route from Windsor to Detroit today.

The Canadians have already begun building a link to Ontario’s highway network, and the Canadian government has offered to pick up all but $250 million of a $4 billion construction tab.

“This is Canada’s number one infrastructure project,” said Roy Norton, Canada’s Consul General in Detroit, of the offer to foot most of the bill. Once Governor Snyder accepted a Canadian government offer in 2011 for Canada to cover most of the cost, and used executive authority to circumvent a recalcitrant state legislature, the deal seemed done. But Manuel “Matty” Moroun, 86, a trucking magnate and owner of the Ambassador Bridge, has been standing in the way.

The Moroun family, worth $1.5 billion according to the latest Forbes list, has spent tens of millions of dollars fighting to protect the Ambassador Bridge’s monopoly over the Detroit-Windsor crossing, most prominently in a failed state ballot measure and lawsuits. “The only reason the bridge is still a story is because of Matty Moroun,” said Sandy Baruah, CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce and a firm supporter of a new bridge.

Moroun and his spokespeople did not respond to repeated requests for comment made over several weeks. The bridge has received all permits required by governments on both sides of the border. The US Congress needs to appropriate $250 million for the customs plaza, which some bridge supporters fear could be held up by Washington’s

unusually strong partisan divisions. And the US Coast Guard needs to issue a permit for shipping traffic on the Detroit River around the new bridge.

Supporters of the project expect the Moroun family to file fresh legal objections but say his options to stop the bridge are becoming increasingly limited.

“I don’t think their lawsuits can do much at this late stage,” Canada’s consul general Norton said, calling US funding the only significant issue. “I am confident we can find a way to get it done.”

Moroun’s monopoly In 2011, some 20,000 trucks a day crossed the Ambassador Bridge, which charges a $5.50-per-axle toll for large trucks and has a lucrative side business selling duty-free fuel. Moroun has sponsored several court challenges to bridge construction, including arguing in a federal court filing in the spring that State Department approval for the project was unconstitutional because it violated Michigan state law. The Detroit Regional Chamber’s Baruah said none of the legal challenges have succeeded, but any holding action plays into Moroun’s hands.”Moroun’s win-loss record in litigation has been dismal,” Baruah said. “His goal is to use the process to run down the clock.”

The Moroun family also backed a state constitutional ballot measure in the 2012 election that would have required state and local referenda to approve any international bridge that might use state funds for construction. The Morouns, through the family company Detroit International Bridge Company that runs the Ambassador Bridge, pumped $33.4 million into a campaign backing the ballot proposal, according to state regulatory filings. That topped the $29 million spent by all of Michigan’s US House candidates, from both parties, in the 2012 general election. The ballot proposal was defeated, with 60 percent of voters opposing it, but the campaigning gave a platform to antibridge sentiment.

Economic boom?

For a state and city that dearly could use the revenue generated by bridge construction and increased trade with Canada, the wait is costly. “To compete as a world-class community, we need a new crossing that will improve traffic flow with direct freeway links and reduce or eliminate congestion,” said Bill Ford, chairman of Ford Motor Co, which sends 600 trucks a day over the existing bridge.

“The new bridge will be a major boost for southeastern Michigan and the state as a whole,” Gov Snyder told Reuters. Nowhere is the delay felt more keenly than Delray. An industrial neighborhood of Southwest Detroit that once boasted 29,000 residents, Delray today is home to only 3,000 people and seemingly countless shuttered businesses. Groups like the Southwest Detroit Business Association are working with local contractors and residents to prepare, just in case the bridge gets built. The bridge will require skilled workers in the construction trades, including qualified welders.

“We’re going out talking to people and telling them ‘get off the marijuana and get your GED,’” said Maria Salinas, executive director of local non-profit Congress of Communities.

Mixed feelings The neighborhood is at least as neglected as the many struggling residents who live in it. The city cuts the grass on the land it owns only once a year, residents say. Thieves steal metal fences for scrap and even take manhole covers. Troubled as Delray can look to outsiders, many residents still cling to it a phenomenon familiar in large tracts of Detroit, whose population has fallen from a peak of 1.8 million in 1950 to around 700,000 today. Many residential blocks boast more abandoned homes or empty lots than occupied ones. —Reuters

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

BUSINESS

Pay gains for young women; but inequality still seen WASHINGTON: About 75 percent of young women believe the US needs to do more to bring about equality in the workplace, a new study finds, despite a narrowing pay gap and steady employment gains for women at higher levels of business and government. Those women remain as pessimistic as their mothers and grandmothers regarding gender equality in the workplace, according to the report released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.

The study finds that women under 32 now make 93 percent of what young men earn, aided by women’s higher rates of college completion. But the analysis of census and labor data also shows the gender pay gap will widen for women by their mid-30s, if the experience of the past three decades is a guide.

That widening gap is due in part to the many women who take time off or reduce their hours to start families. Other factors cited in the report are gender stereotyping, discrimination, weaker professional networks and women’s hesitancy to aggressively push for raises and promotions, which together may account for 20 percent to 40 percent of the pay gap.

Even so, just 15 percent of young women say they have been discriminated against because of their

gender. “The report shows that we have made substantial progress on gender equality in the workplace,” said Andrew Cherlin, a sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University. “But our progress has shown us more clearly what still needs to be accomplished.”

“More doors are now open to women, but they can now see how far they are from equality in highlevel jobs,” he said. Kim Parker, associate director with the Pew Social & Demographic Trends Project, also attributed young women’s negative assessment of workplace equality in part to the slow movement of women into top job positions. “They feel empowered in many ways, yet when they look at the workplace, they see it as a ‘man’s world’ with the deck stacked against them,” she said.

Women are increasingly moving into higher positions both in government and business. They make up nearly half the workforce, and the share of women in managerial and administrative occupations is nearly equal to that of men - 15 percent compared with 17 percent. Another milestone occurred Tuesday, when General Motors picked Mary Barra, a 33-year company veteran, as the first female head of

a major US car company. Still, women currently hold just 4.5 percent of Fortune 1000 CEO positions, the Pew report said.

The near-equal pay for young women is being driven in large part by their educational gains. Some 38 percent of women ages 25-32 now hold bachelor’s degrees, compared with 31 percent of young men. As a result, 49 percent of employed workers with at least a bachelor’s degree last year were women, up from 36 percent in 1980. That means more women in higherskilled, higher-paying positions.

The current ratio of hourly earnings for young women to young men, now at 93 percent, is up from 67 percent in 1980 and is the highest in government records dating back to at least 1979. Across all age groups, the median hourly wage for women last year was 84 percent as much as men - $14.90 vs. $17.79, up from 64 percent in 1980. At the same time, the Pew study indicates that a woman’s job advancement often will hit a ceiling, due in part to competing demands of work and family. Women remain twice as likely as men to work part-time and are more likely to take significant time off from employment during their lives to care for children or other

family members.

Among young women, 59 percent say that being a working parent makes it harder to advance in a job or career, compared with just 19 percent of young men. Across all age groups, 22 percent of women and 9 percent of men report having quit jobs for family reasons at some point during their working lives. Fewer young women than young men aspire to become a boss or top manager. Some 34 percent say they’re not interested, compared with 24 percent of young men. And the vast majority of adults of all ages who reduced their work hours to care for family members - 94 percent - say they are glad they did it.

“This report shows that we are still very much in a ‘stalled revolution’ when it comes to gender equality in the workplace - and young women see it,” said Pamela Smock, a sociology professor at the University of Michigan. “When we see our male CEOs taking off a day to care for a sick child, then we will be working in a more gender-equal workplace - and a more genderequal world.” The Pew study was based on interviews with 2,002 adults by cellphone or landline from Oct 727. The Pew poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points. — AP

GM names first woman CEO CEO Akerson accelerates exit after wife’s cancer diagnosis

JAKARTA: Shopkeepers wait for customers yesterday. — AFP

Indonesia aims for insurance, takaful legislation in 2014 SYDNEY: Insurers in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, will have to wait until at least next year for a new law that will require the spin-off of their sharia-compliant units, an official at the country’s financial regulator told Reuters. The move could reshape Indonesia’s Islamic insurance, or takaful, market by spurring mergers as firms try to meet capital requirements for their full-fledged Islamic units.

A draft law is now with parliament but other legislative priorities means it won’t be enacted this year as previously anticipated, said Alis Subiyantoro, head of the sharia insurance subdivision at the country’s financial services authority. “The draft is still in discussion. The government asked to look at other legislation so it was postponed until next year.”

“It covers all areas - licensing, market conduct, corporate governance, consumer protection - for both takaful and non-takaful firms,” he said. Assets in Indonesian takaful firms grew 42.8 percent to 13.1 trillion rupiah ($1.1 billion) as of December 2012 from 9.15 trillion rupiah a year earlier, data from the regulator showed, representing 2.3 percent of total industry assets.

The law would give three years for insurers to comply with requirements to spin-off their Islamic units, although that timeframe is also under discussion, Subiyantoro added.

Minimum capital requirements for full-fledged takaful firms would be set at 50 billion rupiah, compared with 100 billion rupiah for conventional insurers, which could prompt smaller

operations to either merge or close.

Windows Indonesia’s takaful market is dominated by windows: there were five full-fledged takaful firms versus 37 sharia units of conventional insurers, as of December 2012. Takaful windows enable firms to offer sharia-compliant and conventional products side by side, provided client money is segregated, but the practice is not widespread as in commercial banking where Islamic windows are commonplace.

Takaful is based on the concept of mutuality; the takaful company oversees a pool of funds contributed by all policy holders, but does not necessarily bear risk itself. Indonesia’s takaful sector has attracted global firms keen to capitalize on rapid economic growth in the world’s most populous Muslim country, a market of 240 million consumers. Firms offering takaful products include Europe’s top insurer Allianz, Britain’s biggest insurer Prudential, Torontobased Manulife Financial Corporation, and French insurer AXA. Passing Indonesia’s insurance law would close the last market that allows takaful windows to operate, helping develop the country’s nascent Islamic finance market which still lags behind neighbor Malaysia.

The only other regulator that has allowed takaful windows is Pakistan, which passed a law in July of last year to that effect but which has been challenged in court by local takaful firms. The law has been in legal limbo ever since. — Reuters

Japan recovery faltering TOKYO: Economists cut Japan’s economic growth forecast for the second straight month, a Reuters poll showed, as a slowdown in capital expenditure and lackluster export demand weighs on the outlook for the current fiscal year. The economists stuck with their view that Japan’s growth will slow further next fiscal year due to a planned increase in the sales tax in April.

The biggest downside risks to this scenario are a longer-than-expected downturn in consumer spending after an increase in the sales tax, the poll showed, as well as if overseas economies unexpectedly weaken. The chance of these risks materialising is not that high, but the Bank of Japan would likely bear the

TOKYO: This file picture shows a bank teller counting 10,000 yen ($100) bank notes. — AFP burden of responding to these risks by further expanding its balance sheet, according to the poll.

“The biggest risk to growth is obviously that spending stays weaker for longer following the consumption tax hike,” said Marcel Thieliant, economist at Capital Economics. “For inflation, the main risks are probably to the downside, as inflationary pressure might be lower than expected once the impact of the weak exchange rate fades.” The world’s thirdlargest economy is forecast to grow 2.5 percent in the fiscal year ending March 2014, a Reuters poll of 25 economists taken Dec. 5-10 showed, down from 2.6 per-

cent in last month’s poll.

That marked the second straight month that economists cut their forecasts for the current fiscal year. Growth is expected to slow to 0.8 percent in the following fiscal year and pick up to 1.2 percent in fiscal 2015, unchanged from last month’s poll. Data earlier this week showed Japan’s gross domestic product growth was revised down more than expected in July-September as capital expenditure flat-lined, showing how difficult it has been for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to stimulate business investment.

It has been almost a year since Abe took office and jolted financial markets with promises to revive the moribund Japanese economy and end deflation.

Fiscal stimulus spending and bold easing from the BOJ gave the economy an initial boost, but Abe has yet to deliver complex reforms needed to increase the country’s long-term growth potential.

Under a new policy framework put in place in April, the BOJ aims to double the base money in two years to 270 trillion yen ($2.6 trillion) by the end of 2014 via purchases of government bonds and risky assets to meet a 2 percent inflation target in two years. Many private sector economists have said the two-year timeframe is unrealistic, and now some members of the BOJ’s policy board are also calling for the price target to be watered down.

The Reuters poll showed that Japan’s core consumer prices were expected to rise 0.8 percent for the fiscal year starting April 2014 and 0.95 percent for fiscal 2015, excluding the effect of the expected sales tax hike, little changed from last month’s poll. The trend for prices in Japan is becoming more uncertain as companies have been slow to raise wages while capital expenditure, a key driver of new employment, has struggled to take off. Many economists said the BOJ would be under more pressure than the government to respond to any sudden downturn in the economy by expanding its debt and asset purchases even further, the poll showed. — Reuters

DETROIT: General Motors Co CEO Dan Akerson will step down next month and be replaced by GM “lifer” and global product chief Mary Barra, a sign that the development of new vehicles will be the paramount focus of the company that emerged from bankruptcy four years ago. The appointment of Barra, 51, is at once groundbreaking - she will be the first woman to lead a global automaker - and yet also very traditional. Her father is a long-time GM employee and Barra has spent her entire 33year career at the No. 1 US automaker.

Barra’s ascension also marks the re-emergence of an engineer at the helm of GM, a company long dominated by financial executives who were sometimes criticized by investors as lacking experience on the product side of the business. With her engineering background, plant experience, time spent running human resources and her current job in charge of product development, purchasing and suppliers, Barra has the expertise needed to help continue the company’s turnaround, analysts and investors said. The big question is whether someone so steeped in GM tradition can continue to drive the cultural transformation Akerson started.

“The promotion of Barra as CEO indicates there is more to come in the evolution of the company and may attract some new longer-term investors who were skeptical about an over finance-dominated executive suite,” Barclays analyst Brian Johnson said. GM said on Tuesday that Akerson, who is also the chairman, will leave on Jan. 15. He had planned to step down in mid- to late-2014, but brought that forward after learning about two months ago that his wife had an advanced stage of cancer.

Barra will be GM’s fifth CEO in less than five years since Rick Wagoner was forced out by the Obama administration in March 2009 as the company headed towards its bankruptcy filing. She is currently an executive vice president.The Michigan native will be GM’s fifth female director. Theodore Solso, 66, will succeed Akerson, 65, as chairman.

Before the new CEO was named, some analysts and investors were concerned about whether Barra and the three other internal candidates had enough experience for the job. GM might be trying to address that by naming Solso to the chairman role. Akerson said Barra had “brought order to chaos” in the global product development process.

He said her task would be to finish the job he started: further raising profits by making product development more efficient, bolstering operations in Asia outside China and building on the small progress made in money-losing Europe.

‘Car gal’ In a town hall meeting with employees, Akerson called Barra a “car gal,” playing on the “car guy” term used heavily in the industry to describe male executives who know vehicles well. He said Barra was chosen for her talent, not gender, and that the board had not looked at any outside candidates.

He said Barra’s selection was unanimous and it was the board’s decision to split the chairman and CEO jobs, a move he supported.

Under Akerson, GM moved to eliminate some of its historic bureaucracy and inefficiencies, recovered its investment grade credit rating and pared financial losses in its European business. He said history would view him as a “transition CEO.” “The bankruptcy transformed the balance sheet, but the transformation of the company is still a work in progress,” Guggenheim Securities analyst Matthew Stover said. He added that only time will tell whether Barra, who has spent her entire career at

DETROIT: Mary Barra, former General Motors Senior VP of Global Product Development, introduces the 2013 Buick Encore during the press preview at the North American International Auto Show at the COBO Center. — AFP GM, is the change agent as touted by Akerson. As Akerson leaves the helm at GM, Ford Motor Co is also on the verge of a possible change at the top.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally is on a short list to become the next CEO at Microsoft Corp.

Choosing a successor Investor reaction to the news was muted: GM shares closed down 1.2 percent at $40.40 on the New York Stock exchange. However, they hit an alltime high of $41.16 on Monday after the US Treasury announced it had sold the last of its GM shares, something investors believe could lead to the restoration of a common stock dividend. Some investors see a possible dividend as a bigger stock catalyst than a new CEO. “Bottom-line is that investors need to focus on valuations, GM’s ability to grow its top-line, bottom-line and cash flow,” said Martin Gedja, an investment adviser at GM shareholder BMO Nesbitt Burns.

Barra has risen through a series of manufacturing, engineering and senior staff positions, and is currently in charge of reducing the number of platforms on which GM builds its vehicles. Her father worked as a die maker at GM for 39 years. “The key to General Motors’ long-term success is great products,” Barra said in a video posted on the company’s website on Tuesday.

Sources told Reuters last month that Akerson might step down in 2014, a move widely expected once the government exited its stake. He was appointed CEO just before GM re-entered public markets on November 2010, following a $49.5 billion government bailout and bankruptcy reorganization. Speculation on his exit gained steam in April, when GM disclosed in a securities filing that his compensation plan had changed.

GM’s board began discussing the succession issue about a year ago, but Akerson’s wife’s cancer sped up the decision, a person familiar with the board’s thinking said. The topic was heavily discussed at the late November board meeting before the plan was finalized over last weekend, said the person, who asked not to be identified. Some GM employees and analysts said Akerson gave Barra’s candidacy a boost in September when he said it was “inevitable” that a woman would one day run

one of the US automakers. In addition to the women on the board, GM has several women executives in senior management.

In 2013, women accounted for 4 percent of CEOs in Fortune 500 companies and only 3.3 percent of those at durable goods manufacturers, according to advocacy group Catalyst.org.

Independent auto analyst Maryann Keller said Barra has many of the attributes that Mulally used to help turn around Ford after his arrival in 2006.

“Akerson’s tenure is too short and will be measured on whether or not he has chosen the best successor,” she said. “She is an excellent choice, but you won’t know that until she actually starts the job and appoints the people she wants to help her finish a job that is only partly done.” GM has not yet disclosed the new CEO’s compensation package.

Akerson said with Treasury’s exit as a shareholder, GM’s executive compensation will become more performance-oriented with as much as a quarter tied to quality.

Other executive changes In other management changes, GM said Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann, 41, would assume the title of president, while North American chief Mark Reuss, 50, would replace Barra as head of product development. Alan Batey, currently vice president of global Chevrolet, will replace Reuss as head of North America. Ammann will assume responsibility for managing the company’s regional operations around the world, as well as having the Chevrolet and Cadillac brand operations and GM Financial report to him. Analysts welcomed his promotion as it keeps the highly regarded executive in the fold and gives him the operational experience many felt he lacked to round out his resume.

GM did not name a replacement for Ammann as CFO. Ammann will retain his CFO duties through the release of fourth-quarter results in February.

Vice Chairman Steve Girsky, 51, will move to a senior adviser role until leaving the company in April, GM said. He will remain on the board. Solso is the former chairman and CEO of Cummins Inc and has been a member of the GM board since June 2012.

Guggenheim’s Stover expects Solso to be an active chairman at GM. — Reuters

Asian shares slip as Federal worries trump US budget deal HONG KONG: Asian markets fell yesterday as fears that the Federal Reserve will soon wind down its stimulus program overshadowed a US budget deal to avoid a repeat of the October government shutdown. The dollar retreated against the yen after approaching highs not seen for five years, while the euro continued to receive suppor t from the European Central Bank’s decision last week to delay cutting interest rates further.

Tokyo slipped 0.62 percent, or 96.25 points to 15,515.06, Sydney fell 0.77 percent, or 39.4 points, to 5,104.2 and Seoul ended 0.78 percent, or 15.48 points, lower at 1,977.97. Hong Kong closed 1.71 percent lower, giving up 405.95 points to 23,338.24, while Shanghai ended down 1.49 percent, or 33.32 points, at 2,204.17. Congressional negotiators on Tuesday reached a two-year deal on spending which President Barack Obama hailed as a sign of rare bipartisan cooperation in the strife-filled legislature.

Under an agreement in October that ended a crippling 16-day shutdown, US federal

spending authority expires on January 15, when a new agreement would need to be in force. Tuesday’s deal sets the new annual budget caps for 2014 and 2015 at just over $1 trillion-slightly higher than current levelsand at least partially repeals the automatic and widely loathed budget cuts known as “sequestration”.

By most accounts the agreement is an underwhelming one, far from the grand bargain envisioned by some optimists in Washington earlier this year. But it sets the warring Democratic and Republican Parties on track for further cooperation on fiscal policy, ending the cycle of budget feuding that has marred Washington since 2011.

On Wall Street, which closed before news of the budget deal, the Dow fell 0.33 percent, the S&P 500 shed 0.32 percent and the Nasdaq lost 0.20 percent. While the news out of Washington was positive, traders are keeping a close eye on next week’s Fed policy meeting to see if it announces a cut in its stimulus programme.

Expectations it will start to whittle down the $85 billion a month bond-buying scheme were fuelled Monday when St Louis Fed President James Bullard said a marginal reduction could be on the cards after strong jobs and growth data at the end of last week.

That boosted the dollar, which rose to 130.30 yen on Tuesday, closing in on highs not seen since 2008. But it eased yesterday on hints of only a slight taper of the stimulus.

The dollar fetched 102.53 yen in afternoon Asian trade, from 102.81 yen in New York and well down from 103.30 yen in Tokyo earlier Tuesday.

The euro bought $1.3747 and 141.00 yen, compared with $1.3760 and 141.68 yen in US trade. On oil markets, New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for January delivery, was down seven cents at $98.44 in afternoon Asian trade.

Brent North Sea crude for January rose six cents to $109.44. Gold fetched $1,256.40 at 0820 GMT compared with $1,247.49 late Tuesday. — AFP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

BUSINESS

Maldivian appoints Caesars Int’l Travel as GSA for Kuwait MALDIVES: Maldivian, the national airlines of Maldives has appointed Caesars Int’l Travel, one of Kuwait’s largest travel companies as their General Sales Agent (GSA) for Kuwait, representing passenger sales, holidays and cargo division. Maldives, a well known honeymoon hotspot reigns supreme as one of the most popular short-break options for tourists from the region. As flight connections from the gulf are on the rise and targeting this vision, Maldivian plans to start online operations to Kuwait in the near future. While assigning the GSA on Caesars Int’l Travel, Maldivian’s managing director Abdul Haris said, “I believe the start of Maldivian flights opens up our wonderful nation to a wider

number of tourists, especially from Kuwait and we look forward to welcoming them from a wider range of destinations and developing our tourism appeal. We are extremely positive about the market in Kuwait, the oil-rich nation with a healthy appetite for travel and that has maintained strong economic growth and the world’s leading nations”.

Maldivian commenced its first regional operations in 2008 with the first flight to Trivandrum, India. Today, the flag carrier operates daily frequent flights to 8 domestic airports in the country. In addition to daily flights to Trivandrum, Maldivian added 2 more destinations to its regional network by commencing flights to Chennai - India and

Dhaka - Bangladesh in 2012. In June 2013 Maldivian further expanded its network by starting flights to Chongqing, China.

“Maldivian representation under Caesars Int’l Travel marks another strategic step towards expanding the presence of leading airlines in the world in Kuwait aviation arena and this will also create a better travel potential for the travelers in Kuwait. The proposed on-line operation of Maldivian to Kuwait will foster new business and tourism to Maldives and near-by areas where already Maldivian is operating now, provide even more convenient connections for onward travel through their international hub in Maldives, especially for India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh”, commented PNJ Kumar, CEO of Caesars Travel Group.

Maldives has deep blue seas, turquoise reefs, white sandy beaches and palm trees. It is also a place full of character, where its people have long spent their days languishing in the very essence of idyll living. The country is made up of 1,190 coral islands formed around 26 natural ring-like atolls, spread over 90,000 square kilometers. From the award winning holiday destinations worldwide, Maldives is known for its one-of-a-kind private island resorts, offering to the guests, gorgeous white sandy beaches, and golden sunlight all year round.

“The Middle East is a flourishing region and we see a bright future for business and leisure travel and our proposed operation to Kuwait will be a stepping stone to further strengthen the bilateral relations between Kuwait and Maldives. A destination of diversity and sophistication, Maldives provides visitors an assortment of relaxing experiences. This is a significant move towards strengthening our tourism business from Kuwait by signing this partnership with one of the leading travel setups in Kuwait, Caesars Int’l Travel”, said Fathmath Inasha Shareef, Assistant Manager of Maldivian Holidays.

The Maldives has a reputation as one of the best diving destinations in the world and the islands are

MALDIVES: Officials during Maldivian GSA assignment (from left to right) Rajesh Reghunathan, Senior Manager/Commercial & Marketing, Caesars Int’l Travel, PNJ Kumar, CEO, Caesars Travel Group, Ghazi Y Al-Abdulrazzak, Chairman, Caesars Group of Companies, Abdul Haris-MD, Mohamed Imthiyaz-Head of Commercial and John Lorcin-Manager/Sales from Maldivian. (Inset) Ghazi Y Al Abdulrazzak signs the GSA agreement. surrounded by breathtakingly beautiful reefs with Maldivian to Kuwait, Caesars Int’l Travel can offer coral gardens and dazzling marine life, which Indian sub-continent travelers from Kuwait, anothattract divers from all over the world. Built away er bigger platform to reach their destinations from civilization, Maldives Resorts & Maldives through the Maldivian hub in Maldives as the presHotels are quite the hideaway destination for any- ent number of flights operating in these sectors are one looking for a tranquil besiege. “Maldives has all not enough to meet the demands from passengers the natural elements of a world-class destination- of Kuwait. Moreover, in a bid to remain competilandscape, number of islands and the state of art tive in line with Kuwait’s growing aviation market resorts. Most of the resorts in these island country needs, Caesars Int’l Travel always take innovative are designed to become a haven of luxurious life steps by further expanding our presence among style living and an un-paralleled leisure destination. our valued passengers and we will continue to This incredible development comprises of water- establish new partnerships with world’s leading airfront homes, floating villas, beach bungalows, lines to enhance more seat capacities to destinahotels, sporting facilities and commercial areas tions in demand from Kuwait”, said Rajesh which is becoming a major tourist attraction of Reghunathan, Senior Manager-Commercial & Maldives. Further, with the proposed operation of Marketing, Caesars Int’l Travel.

EU talking to IMF, World Bank, others about Ukraine assistance Focus on help to Ukraine if it signs EU trade deal

Wataniya Telecom enhances rewards program ‘Nojoom’ KUWAIT: Wataniya Telecom, the first private telecom operator in Kuwait, has recently enriched its Wataniya Rewards Program “Nojoom” through partnerships with some of the best brand names in Kuwait offering an added value to its customers. The recent partnership with Sama Dental Center stems from Wataniya’s mission to offer variety and options to its customers and expand its network of partners as part of the best loyalty program of its kind in Kuwait and in an effort to introduce new options to its customers.

In collaboration with Sama Dental Center, “Nojoom” members will be able to use a variety of specialized, comfortable, safe and advanced dental services provided by Sama’s

professional team work. Members of “Nojoom” can benefit from the special discounts offered by Sama by simply showing their membership details by dialing *5##.

Wataniya Telecom expressed its delight regarding the partnership and is looking forward to a fruitful cooperation: “Wataniya’s efforts continue to find new ways to provide members with a wide range of choices on rewards because they deserve to be appreciated and valued for their loyalty and dedication. The partnership with Sama Dental Center is another added value to the program which was awarded The Best Loyalty Program in the Middle East by Customer 360 ME last year.”

IKEA recalls lamps for repair KUWAIT: IKEA urges all customers that have an IKEA SMILA wall mounted lamp to check immediately that the lamp and cord are out of reach of children when in a cot or playpen and securely fastened to the wall. Loose lamp cords can present a strangulation hazard to infants and young children.

IKEA has received a report indicating a tragic accident where an infant got entangled in the cord of a SMILA wall mounted lamp.

Customers are asked to contact Exchange &

Returns department or call Customer Services on 1840408 to receive a repair kit free of charge containing a warning label, safety instructions and self-adhesive fasteners for fixing the lamp cord to the wall.

IKEA reminds customers that any corded product such as a window covering or blind can present a strangulation hazard.

Accessible cords should always be kept out of reach of young children. IKEA apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause.

BRUSSELS: European officials are in discussion with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other major financial institutions on ways to help Ukraine if it decides to sign a free-trade agreement with the European Union. Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov was quoted as saying yesterday he had asked the EU for 20 billion euros ($27 billion) in aid to offset the cost of signing the EU deal, which Kiev backed away from last month in favour of closer ties with Russia, sparking huge street protests and a financial crisis.

It is not clear how Azarov came to the 20 billion figure, but EU officials believe it was based on broad estimates of the cost of lost trade with Russia, Ukraine’s former overseer and largest trading partner, and the financial burden of adopting a wealth of regulations that come as part of the EU deal. There is no question of the EU providing 20 billion euros to Ukraine - the most Brussels has so far offered is 610 million euros as it would be almost impossible to get pan-EU agreement at a time when it is struggling to help several indebted euro zone member states.

But the combined impact of aid and financing programmes from multiple institutions, including the EU, might go some way to providing Kiev with the investment it needs to remain solvent in the event it rejects Russia’s advances and signs up with the EU. “We’re not talking about a coordinated package to entice Ukraine out of Russia’s arms and into the EU’s,” one official familiar with the discussions told Reuters. “That would be the wrong way of looking at it.

“It is just a case of the various institutions doing the

sums and working out what investment programmes there already are and what others are in the pipeline and could be activated if Ukraine decides to sign the association agreement.” As well as the IMF and World Bank, the discussions involve the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

All four institutions already have operations in Ukraine, though the IMF has suspended talks on a stand-by loan facility because of Ukraine’s failure to meet the conditions. The World Bank mostly lends to specific industrial sectors via its International Finance Corporation arm, while the EIB has a mandate to finance major infrastructure projects, such as roads, railways and power lines. The EBRD has invested nearly 9 billion euros in a range of public and private investments since it first moved into Ukraine in 1993.

“We are a major catalyst for foreign direct investment in Ukraine,” said Anton Usov, a spokesman for the EBRD in Kiev. “If we say we are staying here and investing, that sends a strong message of confidence to the wider investment community.”

IMF loan talks on hold The discussions among the institutions have been taking place for several weeks as concerns have grown about how to hold Ukraine’s economy together, with solvency a pressing issue. The cost of insuring Ukrainian bonds against default - a measure of the risk international investors attach to owning Ukrainian debt - rose towards a four-year high yesterday. Much of the debt is denominated in dollars but must be

financed using the local hryvnia currency, which is at a four-year low against the dollar and forecast to lose a further 9 percent in the next six months.

Without international aid, investors fear Ukraine will struggle to repay $7 billion of hard currency debt falling due next year, while it is also dealing with a balance of payments deficit and unpaid gas bills from Russia. In its efforts to find a solution to the rapidly escalating crisis, the EU has also explored whether it could bring forward financing that would have gone to Ukraine over the coming seven years as part of its association agreement. Any advances would only happen if Ukraine signs the deal, and the current amount available - the 610 million euros - is in any case conditional on Ukraine securing an IMF agreement. The IMF wants Ukraine to introduce more exchange rate flexibility - effectively allowing the currency to devalue and remove subsidies from domestic gas supplies, but Kiev has refused. Some EU officials say the IMF is prepared to be flexible in applying its conditions, for example by allowing Ukraine to phase in the removal of subsidies or retain them for less well-off Ukrainians.

But publicly, the IMF’s line remains firm. “The IMF is ready to move, especially on the commodity prices issue,” said the foreign policy adviser to one EU leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “If you ask them, they will deny it, but behind the scenes there is a lot of discussion going on along those lines.” Asked where talks stood, an IMF official dealing with Ukraine said there had been no progress, but the issue would be discussed at a board meeting in Washington on Dec 16. — Reuters

IMO commends Dubai Maritime Authority’s efforts to create a sustainable maritime sector in the Emirate DUBAI: A high-profile delegation from Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA), met with Koji Sekimizu, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), in London and discussed the latest developments regarding the implementation of Dubai’s Maritime Sector Strategy (MSS), which is aimed at developing, regulating and promoting the various components of the maritime field in Dubai to make it a globally recognized maritime cluster. In addition, DMCA officially invited the IMO Secretary-General to be guest of honour at Dubai Maritime Week 2014 which is set to run till October 2014. The event represents a significant milestone to promote Dubai’s leading position in hosting international maritime events.

The meeting shed light on some of Dubai’s major industry achievements, including the launch of modern maritime regulations and initiatives to meet the new requirements for managing maritime operations under the highest standards of security and professional safety and best environmental practices, as well as local and international policies.

The delegation, led by Amer Ali, Executive Director of DMCA, further shared aspects of Dubai’s MSS which is based on key fundamentals and core values related to leadership and excellence in customer service, innovation, cooperation and the effective promotion of human resources as well as the upkeep of a healthy maritime environment. All this will go on to boost Dubai’s competitiveness at the regional and global levels, as well as establish a basic infrastructure to raise the bar of the local maritime industry in line with the highest standards and best international practices.

The IMO delegates were also briefed about the new maritime legislations and regulations which have positively impacted the local maritime industry in Dubai. Most important among these is the legislative frameworks aimed at reinforcing the ability to respond to maritime requirements while catering to the ongoing efforts to create an attractive investment environment for industry leaders and establish a secure and vibrant maritime sector serving the regional and international community. The meeting also covered some of DMCA’s leading initiatives, including Dubai Maritime Week and Maritime Safety Policy which mainly focus on positioning Dubai amongst the world’s best maritime hubs.

Koji Sekimizu commended the efforts of DMCA to

boost local maritime competitiveness and contribute to comprehensive and sustainable development across the UAE. Amer Ali, Executive Director of Dubai Maritime City Authority, appreciated the IMO’s contin-

uous support to further maritime best practices across the UAE, and reaffirmed DMCA’s commitment to continue their ongoing efforts to promote the Dubai’s maritime sector initiatives.

Mexico Senate debates disputed oil reform MEXICO CITY: Mexico’s Senate opened a debate Tuesday on controversial legislation to break the country’s oil monopoly by allowing foreign firms to drill for crude for the first time in 75 years. The bill, which has sparked demonstrations, is the centerpiece of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s sweeping reform drive, which has led to new laws in tax collection, telecommunications and education in an effort to revitalize Latin America’s second biggest economy. The latest reform would let private firms explore and extract oil and gas as well as share profits, production and risks with state-run energy giant Pemex, ending a ban cemented in the constitution.

The bill proposes a contract and licensing

schemes that fall short of more controversial concessions. The proposed constitutional changes stem from a deal between Pena Nieto’s centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the conservative opposition National Action Party (PAN). The two parties say the reform is badly needed to modernize Pemez and reverse falling oil production.

“History judges events and it will have to judge this reform as a turning point for the national economy,” said PRI Senator Oscar Roman Rosas Gonzalez. But the left-wing Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) equates the plan to treason and submission to US oil companies, calling the legislation a bid to privatize a symbol of national sovereignty.—AFP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

technology

Backup transformation to help change business DUBAI: Whether you realize it or not, the performance of backup - and more importantly - of recovery has impacts across the organization. The entire point of backup is for recovery. When a recovery is needed, that’s not the time to hope that the backup was done properly. Yet, many organizations in the Middle East and Turkey continue to employ hope as a backup strategy.

To look into the situation of backup and recovery in the region, EMC commissioned a study by IDC. The purpose was to do an in-depth analysis of the “before” and “after” situations of leading companies in the region regarding their backup and disaster recovery practices.

The study did extensive quantitative analysis of what the situation was with the old backup technology. And then IDC quantified the benefits from modernizing the backup infrastructure and processes with EMC solutions. The final outcome is recently published: “Generating Proven Business Value with EMC Backup and Recovery Solutions: An ROI Assessment for the Middle East and Turkey.”

A key point out of the study is that business

improvements can be gained by modernizing backup infrastructure. You’ll notice that I did not start with the typical focus on backup improvements, like how long backups take to complete or how much capacity is required to store backups. That’s not to say it’s not important, but I think our fixation on measurements like backup windows has relegated backup to an IT discussion.

If anything, I hope this study will elevate the impact, and therefore the importance, of a backup infrastructure that can support the needs of the business. This is not just an IT conversation.

Highlights of the study On average, companies in the study had a 40% success rate of operational recoveries before they modernized their backup infrastructure. I don’t know about you, but I don’t consider a 4 in 10 chance of a successful recovery to really be “success.” After replacing existing backup infrastructure, the companies in this study now have a 100% success rate.

A 100% success completely changes the game.

Instead of hoping that the recovery will work, these

companies have the confidence that when they need to recover something, it will quick and reliable.

Better said, here is a quote from the report: “It gave us immense confidence to improve service quality and meet the expectations of our customers and employees. The business has gained considerably, both in terms of speed and time.”

Backups complete without failure and operational restores are done 64% faster, according to IDC.Who benefits? Everyone.

In the “before” scenario, users spent an average of 54 hours per year waiting for recoveries. Doesn’t sound like a lot? That’s more than a work week of annual productivity wasted. Now, they wait only a matter of minutes - 13 minutes on average in an entire year, according to IDC. The IT team is also a big winner in this transformation. On average, 37 hours per week were spent on backup and recovery related issues, including restores, restarting failed backups, and physically managing tape. After backup transformation, 9 hours are spent per week on backup and recovery related tasks, a 75% improvement. This changes the

game for IT. Instead of backup being nearly a full time job, it is a partial responsibility, freeing the IT staff to take on additional projects.

So what did these companies change to make this kind of impact? They modernized their existing backup infrastructure in 3 key ways: 1. They replaced tape with purpose-built backup appliances. This alone saved companies in the study on average $627,000 per year and significantly improved service levels for recovery. It also enabled DR readiness with replication and made DR testing possible.

2. They added deduplication into the backup process. This allowed the companies to manage the data growth, saving 86% in capacity requirements for backup storage with deduplication. Less data to move also made replication for DR possible, even with constrained bandwidth.

3. They consolidated backup silos across multiple environments, including their physical and virtual servers.These companies reigned in their “accidental architecture” with an integrated, centrally managed data protection strategy.

Music lovers seek to pump up quality High-resolution market grows

NEW YORK: A new generation of communications technologies are upon us. They are addressing the new way to work that is permeating workplaces worldwide.

How technology has changed workplace communication NEW YORK: Business doesn’t happen face to face as often as some would like. Instead, today’s communication depends on conference calls and emails chains that make it challenging to get to know your partners.

It’s been a common lament among business people dissatisfied with the technology that has become the norm in their daily lives. But with so many workers worldwide now working in virtual teams, many business relationships do depend on technology. And that’s not a bad thing - as long they’re using the right technologies in the right ways.

“Collaboration technology sprang up 20 years ago, but we kept acting, behaviorally, like we did when we were meeting face to face,” said Keith Ferrazzi, best-selling author of the books “Never Eat Alone” and “Who’s Got Your Back.”

As it turns out, the answer to all of the complaints about the evolving workplace wasn’t to abandon technology for a more human way of working, but to evolve technology to make the new way of working more human.

“People have to have a delightful experience in their hand - a joyful experience - all behind a single plane of glass,” said Rick Puskar, SVP of Customer Experience & Services for Unify.

A new generation of communications technologies are upon us. They are addressing the new way to work that is permeating workplaces worldwide. It’s what Puskar calls a “dynamic, cultural shift in the marketplace.”

They’re making the global workplace exactly what it’s looking for: a joyful, delightful experience. Who wouldn’t want to engage with that?

Mobile Work-from-Home We live in a global workplace without time zones or office hours. Just ask any spouse who has waited to serve the main course while awaiting a husband or wife to finish a work email at the table. Delayed dinners notwithstanding, the ability to shoot out that email at the dinner table actually allows that spouse to get out of work an hour earlier and be there in the first place. A fair tradeoff.

And it’s also good for employers when employees have happy, balanced lives. “You might be on a conference call with Europe in the wee hours and have to get your kids to a soccer game in the afternoon,” Ferrazzi said.

“You can do it working virtually, and there’s real value in accommodating that employee need.”

The better that mobile technology becomes, and the more employers embrace the bring your own device (BYOD) to work philosophy, the more deeply connected workers become to their workplaces, which exist on the same devices as their social networks and family photos.

Embracing the mobile workplace is increasingly compulsory. In its Tech Trends 2013 Elements of Postdigital, Deloitte projects a “mobile only” future to the global workforce.

Closer Collaborations Collaboration used to happen in board rooms with whiteboards and bagels. Today, it’s on documents being edited by multiple people all over the world at the same time.

It’s sharing screen data and chatting over video.

“Seventy-nine percent of people work on virtual teams,” said Puskar. “What’s interesting is that in most organizations there is a preponderance of using yesterday’s tools.”

And that’s where the disconnect

between the promise of the virtual workplace seems to fall short for most. When using the first generation of collaboration tools, workplaces sometimes miss out on the increased productivity offered by the newer wave.

Puskar related how he tested this theory with his own team during one of his weekly, 6 a.m. leadership phone calls. Instead of a conference call, he decided to switch to video.

“By leveraging video in a collaborative work environment, I took what was normally a 90 minute call down to 60,” he said. “I could see where everyone was. They paid attention like nobody’s business.”

And it’s more than just video that is bringing people together. It’s also social media.“Social media?” some companies may ask. “The thing we’re not allowing access to?”

The surprising truth about social networks is that it fills the humanity gap many global workers feel in cold, impersonal email chains and conference calls.

Take the client of Ferrazzi’s who witnessed the phenomenon herself. A home-based consultant of 20 years, she always felt something was missing in her relationship with her clients. Then, along came Facebook.

“She found that the ability to converse on a corporate social network with [her team] and to be able to text with them during conference calls and see them on video has enabled her to feel like people she’s never met are some of her best friends,” Ferrazzi said.

That’s more than a warm and fuzzy outcome. Ferrazzi said one of the key predictor of employee engagement is whether they have a best friend at work. Even across the world, real relationships forming on social networks are making real impacts on productivity.

Unified Communications So mobile communications are great, connecting via video is beneficial and social engagement boosts productivity - doesn’t that sound like an awful lot of digital clutter to keep track of?

It is. In fact, a McKinsey Global Institute study found that high-skill knowledge workers spend 19 percent of their average workweek searching for and gathering information. That’s an incredible amount of lost productivity time.

“What this new generation of platforms is doing it pulling it all together,” said Ferrazzi.

“You get the information you need for the business moment you’re in.”

Puskar calls it a thought trail. This digital collection of data includes notes from conference calls, recordings of video conferences and every text conversation into a single stream that can be recalled at the click of a mouse.

“At the beginning of a recurring meeting, you get a picture of exactly where things stand, action item status, all relevant documents and emails,” said Ferrazzi. “It’s like the recap at the beginning of a television show.

You quickly make the context switch and pick up right where the last meeting left off.”

That’s some real, measurable productivity.

And when in human history has an increase in workplace productivity come hand-inhand with an increase in workplace delight?

Joy? Social connectivity? This is what makes the new generation of workplace collaboration tools so exciting - they don’t just make the new way to work more possible and productive. They also make the job itself more desirable. — AP

WASHINGTON: When he sees people listening to music on portable digital devices, David Chesky cringes. “You can have an $8 million Stradivarius, and it sounds like you bought it at a local hardware store,” says Chesky. A composer who also has his own record label, Chesky began a music download site in 2007 called HD Tracks, offering “high resolution” music which retains much of the fidelity lost in most digital music.

“We are making a quality product for someone who is passionate about music,” Chesky said. “No artist goes into a studio and slaves for six months over each detail, to have their music listened to on a laptop and $5 headsets.”

Chesky’s was among the first offering highres digital music which captures more quality than typical MP3 audio files, but the segment is growing, with music labels, electronics firms, musicians and others joining the push for better-quality formats.

Increased broadband speeds are another factor, allowing high-quality music downloads without the compression that many say is detrimental to sound quality.

Brighter outlook Jared Sacks, an American living in the Netherlands who is preparing an expanded launch of a site called nativedsd.com, said he believes the market is evolving.

Sacks said many consumers under the age of 35 have never heard high-quality audio, and “now some people are waking up and saying ‘we want this quality.’”

The outlook is brighter, Sacks said, because of the availability of hardware, download sites like his and lower-cost digital storage and Internet access.

“A year and a half ago you had only two (high-resolution audio) players and now there are over 60,” he said.

“People who want good quality are willing to pay for it, but a lot of people have never heard better quality.”

Sacks’s site and HD Tracks are among six partnering with Sony, selling high-resolution audio files which can be played on the Japanese firm’s recently launched HD audio equipment.

HD audio will cost more than what most consumers are paying, but many audiophiles appear willing to pay roughly $20 to $30 for an music album, and individual tracks close to $3.

“I think the digital stars are aligning,” says Jeffrey Joseph, senior vice president at the Consumer Electronics Association, a trade group for the tech industry.

“Our research indicates the market for high quality music products is extending beyond the enthusiasts.”

Joseph said debate over music quality has been around for decades, with the advent of the CD, which “lacked the warmth” of vinyl recordings. Digital technology allowed music to reach

NEW YORK: David Chesky, a composer with his own record label, sits in his studio in New York yesterday. Chesky runs a music download site called HD Tracks, offering “high resolution” music which keeps much of the fidelity lost in most digital music. — AFP called Pono. more people, but often sacrificed quality.

“Miraculously, there’s a wealth of music & “What is particularly exciting about high resolution is that it has the high quality sound that soul (or if you must, ‘data’) trapped on millions you want but all the benefits of digital-the of recordings made over the last half century, that we’re hoping to unleash for the very first portability, the customization,” he said. time,” Young said in a Facebook post.

“We’re still toiling away on making this hapOn display at CES At the CEA’s annual International Consumer pen.”

Electronics Show in January, a space will be Do listeners care? dedicated for the first time to high-resolution Some experts say new formats are unlikely to music. CEA said its survey found 39 percent of consumers with a moderate interest in audio take hold because most consumers cannot tell indicate they are willing to pay more for high the difference.

“I hate to use the term ‘snob appeal’ but quality audio electronics devices and 60 percent would pay more for higher quality digital music. that’s really what it is,” said Colby Leider, director Sony has joined the effort both as a music of music engineer at the University of Miami’s publisher-by making its recordings available in Frost School of Music.

Leider, who has studied both electrical engihigh-definition format-and as an electronics maker with a range of high-resolution audio neering and music composition, said while it is devices including music players, headphones true much data is lost when music is compressed to the MP3 format, “it works because it and speakers.

“What the consumer needed was products removes the por tions of sound that most that supported everything they could get their humans can’t hear.”

“There are people who buy a $20,000 power hands on” fore higher-quality digital music, Sony Electronics product manager Aaron Levine cable to plug it into their system. But science told AFP. Sony maintains that high resolution says there is no difference between your audio helps recreate the experience of an origi- $20,000 power cable and a coat hanger.”

Digital music on CDs is based on a “sampling” nal studio recording or live performance.

After home audio, the next frontier for high- at 44,1000 times a second, transferring 16 bits; resolution is portable. Sony has been selling a MP3 music has less data, and HD is higher, often portable HD player in some markets, and South sampling at 96,000 times a second with 24 or 32 Korea’s Astell & Kern has devices selling at $700 bits of data.

“Some people can tell the difference,” Leider to $1,300 which promise HD sound.

But some music lovers are waiting for a said. “But if it’s a great song, you are still going device being developed by pop star Neil Young, to love it even if it’s not HD, and if it’s a bad who is promising a portable player in early 2014 song, it doesn’t matter.” — AFP

Bill on online game addiction divides S Korea SEOUL: A law under consideration in South Korea’s parliament has sparked vociferous debate by grouping popular online games such as “StarCraft” with gambling, drugs and alcohol as an anti-social addiction the government should do more to stamp out.

The bill is winning support from parents, religious groups and doctors but has alarmed the Internet industry and enraged gamers. The legislation includes provisions to limit advertising while a separate bill would take 1 percent of the gaming industry’s revenue to create a fund to curb addiction.

The uproar over the legislation highlights conflicting social and economic priorities in technology-soaked South Korea. Internet entrepreneurs are prized as a source of innovation in an economy dominated by gray conglomerates, but conservative lawmakers and many parents say online obsessions are taking a growing toll on schooling, families and workplaces.

“We need to create a clean Korea free from the four addictions,” Hwang Woo-yea, a top lawmaker in the ruling party, said in a recent speech.

The legislative assault, backed by 14 ruling party lawmakers, is the latest phase in South Korea’s version of American culture wars. Professional gamers in South Korea can gain wealth and status akin to sports stars but as a pastime it is framed by its critics as threat to family and the social order.

Headline grabbing incidents such as the starvation death of the infant daughter of online gamers have fueled a moral panic. A law passed in 2011 that

bans gaming between midnight and dawn for anyone under age 16 is being appealed at South Korea’s Constitutional Court.

“There is a huge prejudice that gaming is harmful,” said Lee Byung-chan, an attorney involved in the Constitutional Court case. “Games are as harmful as alcohol, drugs and gambling, that’s the prejudice,” Lee said.

A death sentence Game companies have taken exception to being lumped together with drugs, alcohol and gambling.

They say the bill is a death sentence for their industry. “The 100,000 people employed in the game industry are not drug makers,” Korea Internet and Digital Entertainment Association, which represents game companies, said in a statement.

Nourished by South Korea’s rapid adoption of broadband Internet and the ubiquity of cyber cafes, online gaming has become a significant export industry. In 2012, “MapleStory” and other online game titles earned more cash from abroad for South Korea than the YouTube sensation “Gangnam Style,” K-pop music, movies and other cultural exports all combined.

The government started studying Internet game addiction in 2011. Its latest annual study found that 2 percent of South Koreans aged 10-19, or about 125,000 people, needed treatment for excessive online gaming or were at risk of addiction.

“My parents tried to stop me but I kept playing.

Even the government wouldn’t have stopped me,” said Shin Minchul, a 21-year-old college student as

he recounted his heavy gaming past.

At elementary school he bonded with his friends at an Internet cafe playing StarCraft three to four hours a day after classes finished.

He dreamed of becoming one of the professionals with corporate sponsorship whose games are broadcast live on cable TV to audiences numbering in the millions. By high school, he was playing another title, “World of Warcraft,” for up to 15 hours straight.

His parents barked at him but he didn’t budge.

Shin’s rank at school plunged from the top to bottom half. Nothing but his own volition could take him away from Warcraft.

“When I tried to think more broadly about my life, playing games wasn’t that important,” Shin said.

“Then I lost interest.”

Supporters of the bill say cases like Shin’s show why curbs are needed.

Kim Min-sun, a mother of two, said online games take children away from real life.

“Without online games, kids would talk to their mother and play,” she said.

Others say South Korea should do more to address the factors behind online game addiction, such as hyper competitive education and a dearth of other leisure options for teenagers.

South Korea had the lowest percentage of students who reported being happy at school in 2012 among 65 countries surveyed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. — AP

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

TOKYO: Photo shows vets checking the displaced kneecap in the right hind leg of a rare white tiger cub on computer screens prior to an operation at Nihon University Animal Medical Center in Fujisawa.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

TOKYO: Photo shows vets operating on the displaced kneecap in the right hind leg of a rare white tiger cub at Nihon University Animal Medical Center in Fujisawa. — AFP photos

Rare white tiger has knee surgery in Japan TOKYO: Vets in Japan have carried out knee surgery on a rare white tiger cub, fixing a leg problem the animal had been born with. In what was being billed as the first such operation of its kind on a white tiger, surgeons fixed a congenitally displaced kneecap in its right hind leg. The nine-month-old male, named

Sky, was under the knife for five-and-a-half hours Tuesday at the Nihon University Animal Medical Centre in Fujisawa, south of Tokyo, the institution said on its website.

The animal was under general anaesthetic throughout the operation. The tiger, now weighing 56 kilograms (123 pounds), was born

New H7N9 bird flu resists drugs without losing ability to spread LONDON: Scientists have found that a mutation in a new strain of bird flu infecting people in China can render it resistant to a key first-line treatment drug without limiting its ability to spread in mammals.

The discovery means that unlike seasonal flu strains, which often become less transmissible when they develop resistance to drugs like Roche’s Tamiflu, the new H7N9 bird flu does not lose any of its spreading potential with drug resistance.

While this does not make H7N9 any more likely to develop into a human pandemic, researchers said it means doctors should be prudent in their use of antiviral medicines to treat H7N9 cases, and consider using drugs other than Tamiflu, such as GlaxoSmithKline’s Relenza, where possible.

“It’s important to emphasize that these H7N9 viruses seem to transmit fairly inefficiently overall,” said Nicole Bouvier, who led the H7N9 study which was published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday.

“But what was surprising about our study was that the drug-resistant virus was no less efficient than the drug-sensitive one. Usually what we see with influenza, is that resistance...also confers a fitness disadvantage on the virus.” H7N9 bird flu emerged earlier this year in China and has infected at least 139 people so far in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, killing 45 of them.

Experts say there is no evidence as yet of any easy or sustained human-tohuman transmission of H7N9. But an early scientific analysis of probable transmission of the new flu from person to person, published in August, gave the strongest

proof yet that it can at times jump between people and so could potentially cause a human pandemic.

A separate team of researchers in the United States said this week that while it is not impossible that H7N9 could become easily transmissible from person to person, it would need to undergo multiple mutations to do that. So scientists around the world are keeping a watchful eye, on alert for any sign the virus might develop such potential.

Antiviral drugs such as Roche’s Tamiflu, known generically as oseltamivir, are useful for treating flu infections, but human cases of Tamiflu-resistant H7N9 were found fairly swiftly after the current outbreak began.

For her study, Bouvier’s team at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York analysed a mutated H7N9 virus taken from a sample from an infected patient in China, examining its resistance to drugs and its infectivity.

They found it was highly resistant to Tamiflu, but also that it still had the ability to infect human cells in a laboratory dish, and spread between laboratory animals just as efficiently as its non-mutated counterpart.

“This is unusual, as it is known that when seasonal influenza viruses gain resistance to drugs, it usually happens at a cost to the virus - the cost being a reduced ability to transmit between hosts and to grow within them,” they wrote.

And since it is known that treating flu with antivirals can lead to drug resistance “this study further underscores the need of prudent use of antivirals in H7N9 influenza infections”. — Reuters

Diverticulosis complications may be relatively rare NEW YORK: Diverticulosis, a common condition that causes small pouches in the walls of the intestines, might not be as dangerous as doctors have thought. The pouches are usually harmless. But sometimes they become inflamed and infected, in a painful condition known as diverticulitis. Experts have thought that about one in four patients with diverticulosis would eventually develop diverticulitis.

But a new study suggests the actual risk may be much lower.

“The little pouches that form in the wall of the colon are incredibly common and with the increased emphasis on preventive care we do a lot of colonoscopies,” Dr Brennan Spiegel told Reuters Health. “We find a lot of people who have these sacs in their colon.”

Spiegel, who was the senior author of the new study, is an associate professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Fewer than 5 percent of adults under age 40 have these pouches, but by age 85, more than 65 percent of people are affected.

Spiegel said that very little is actually known about the normal behavior of these pouches.

But when a pouch does become inflamed, “it can be serious and might need surgery to fix.”

“At the very least it requires antibiotics and some intensive medical therapy,” he said.

Doctors have accepted the idea that onequarter of patients with these pouches would eventually develop inflammation. “The text books and review articles that go back to the 1940s all say the same thing, that if you have one of these pouches in your colon then there’s up to a 25 percent chance that it can become infected or complicated or even rupture,” Spiegel explained.

But this notion of a 25 percent rule didn’t make sense to his team - it seemed too high.

“If that were true, our hospitals would be absolutely overflowing with people with diverticulitis, and they’re not,” Spiegel said. He and his colleagues wanted a better sense of the real numbers in order to provide more reliable statistics to newly diagnosed patients.

To learn more, they studied 2,222 patients from the Veterans Affairs Health System in Los

Angeles who had been diagnosed with diverticulosis. None of the patients had any symptoms of the condition when it was diagnosed; instead, doctors noticed the pouches while the patients were having a colonoscopy for some other reason.

Using information from medical records, Spiegel’s team tracked these patients for an average of almost seven years and published their findings in the December issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Of those 2,222 patients, 95 (4.3 percent) developed diverticulitis. Not all of those cases were actually confirmed by a CT scan, however, so the researchers couldn’t be sure the patients’ symptoms were actually from an inflamed pouch. When the researchers counted only cases that were confirmed by a CT scan or during an operation, only 23 patients (about 1 percent) actually developed diverticulitis.

The researched also discovered that patients who were diagnosed with diverticulosis at a younger age had a higher risk of developing diverticulitis, compared to patients in whom the pouches were diagnosed later in life. The study was supported

by Shire Development LLC. Shire, a pharmaceutical company, was at one point trying to develop a drug to treat diverticulitis.

There were some limitations to the study.

For instance, most of the patients were male.

The authors say, however, that other studies have shown that the risk of diverticulitis is similar in men and women. Also, they admit, some of the information in patients’ medical records may have been inaccurate. Spiegel hopes his new research leads to some changes in how physicians treat diverticulosis, adding that current suggestions to add fiber and avoid things like nuts, seeds and popcorn aren’t evidence-based.

“The next steps are dissemination of this information, rewriting textbooks and reeducating physicians so they can have rational evidence-based discussions with patients so they don’t feel like the sword of Damocles is hanging over their head because they’ve been given this diagnosis.”

Spiegel said. — Reuters

in March at Tobu Zoo in a northern suburb of Tokyo. A team of veterinary surgeons began the operation by cutting open the knee and lifting the displaced patella. “It was a very difficult operation but we managed to complete it without any problems,” said Kazuya Edamura, an expert with experience operating on the

knees of cats and dogs, who led the operation.

“The bone and muscle there were more deformed than we expected. They were thicker and heavier, so we were forced to change the planned method of operation.” But, he added, Sky-who is between 4-5 years in human termshas youth on his side and will make a full

recovery. The white tiger is a rare variant of the Bengal tiger, born without the pigment that usually makes its fur orange. According to the website of the university’s College of Bioresource Sciences, there are about 300 white tigers in captivity in the world, including some 30 in Japan. — AFP

G8 summit calls for AIDS style fight against dementia More than 100 drug failures in past 15 years LONDON: The world needs to fight the spread of dementia in the same way it mobilized against AIDS, a British government minister told a special summit on the disease yesterday, saying failure to tackle it would wreck state health budgets. Global cases of dementia are expected to treble by 2050, yet scientists are still struggling to understand the basic biology of the memory-robbing brain condition, and the medicine cupboard is bare.

“In terms of a cure, or even a treatment that can modify the disease, we are empty-handed,” World Health Organisation ( WHO) DirectorGeneral Margaret Chan told ministers, campaigners, scientists and drug industry executives from the Group of Eight leading economies at the summit in London. British Health Minister Jeremy Hunt said there were lessons to be learnt from the fight against AIDS, where a 2005 G8 summit played a key role in pushing for better and more widely available drugs.

“We have turned the global tide in the battle against AIDS. Now we need to do it again. We will bankrupt our healthcare systems if we don’t,” he said. Dementia - of which Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form - already affects 44 million people worldwide and this is set to reach 135 million by 2050, according to new estimates this month from Alzheimer ’s Disease International, a non-profit campaign group.

More than 70 percent of them will be living in poorer countries with scant access to healthcare. Experts say many people could avoid dementia by adopting healthier diets, exercising more, and giving up smoking, but that what the world badly needs is effective drugs. It is a decade since the last drug was approved to treat Alzheimer’s, and there is still no treatment that can slow the progression of the disease.

Current drugs can do no more than ease some of the symptoms of the disorder. Over the past 15 years more than 100 experimental Alzheimer’s drugs have failed in development, according to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

Drug failures Some companies are still trying to crack the

problem, since the potential prize would be sales running into many billions of dollars a year.

Merck & Co said on Tuesday it would begin latestage trials of a drug designed to block the build up of brain plaques that are a central feature of the disease, after safety problems with other similar drugs. Eli Lilly is starting a new trial of an antibody treatment that failed in earlier testing but is now being tried out in patients with mild disease.

Others in the Alzheimer’s drug race include Roche, Johnson & Johnson and Eisai. Much of the current research is focused on the idea that early intervention is likely to be a key to success, since once dementia has developed enough to show serious symptoms, it may be too late for

any medicines to work. British Prime Minister David Cameron said his country aimed to double its annual spending by 2025 to more than 130 million pounds ($214 million), up from a 2015 target of 66 million pounds.

The hope is that this will encourage other countries to follow suit, but dementia campaigners argue that spending will still remain a fraction of that spent on cancer research.

The global cost of dementia is already more than $600 billion, or around 1 percent of global gross domestic product - and that figure will only increase, according to the WHO’s Chan.

“Dementia is costly,” she told the summit. “And not only is it costly, it is a heartbreaking disease.” — Reuters Fact file on dementia

What is it?

Dementia is the term for memory loss and a decline in mental abilities that progressively disrupt everyday life. The cause is damage to brain cells, preventing them from communicating with each other. Alzheimer’s, an agerelated disease characterized by a buildup of toxic proteins in the brain, accounts for between 60 and 80 percent of cases. Vascular dementia, or cognitive loss that occurs after a stroke, is the second biggest cause.

How many people are affected?

According to the charity Alzheimer ’s Disease International (ADI), around 44 million people around the world have dementia. This is a rise of 22 percent over the past three years, reflecting a bulge in the world’s population and higher life expectancy over the past decades. The number is likely to treble to 135 million by 2050. A frontline country is China, where according to a study published in June, the number of people with dementia was around 9.19 million in 2010, compared with 3.68 million 20 years earlier.

Is there a cure?

There is no cure or vaccine for dementia

and there are no treatments that slow or stop its progression, although there are drugs that may improve symptoms temporarily.

Scientists are working hard on understanding fundamental causes of dementia, including genetic risks, and at blocking the molecular pathways by which the disease develops.

There are more than 100 clinical trials and studies underway. A sound lifestyle-regular physical exercise, a healthy diet, no smoking and staying mentally active — may help lower the risk.

What are the costs?

Dementia carries very high costs; both directly-in the labor-intensive hospital care for people with the disease-and indirectly, for people who give up time to care for lovedones.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), dementia cost $604 billion, or 440 billion euros, in 2010. A study by the not-for-profit RAND Corporation this year found dementia costs the United States more than cancer or heart disease, with an annual bill ranging from $157 billion to $215 billion. It based these figures on a cost per person of $41,000 to $56,000 per year. — AFP

Stomach acid drugs may increase vitamin deficiency risk NEW YORK: Popular drugs that are used to control stomach acid may increase the risk of a serious vitamin deficiency, suggests a new study.

Researchers found people who were diagnosed with vitamin B12 deficiency were more likely to be taking proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) and histamine 2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs), compared to those not diagnosed with the condition.

The drugs are commonly used to treat conditions like acid reflux - also known as GERD - and peptic ulcers. “This doesn’t mean people should

stop their medications,” Dr. Douglas Corley, the study’s senior author, said. “People take these for good reasons. They improve quality of life and prevent disease.” “It does raise the question that people who are taking these medications should have their B12 levels checked,” he added.

Corley, a gastroenterologist, is a researcher at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California. Humans typically get vitamin B12 from eating animal products. B12 is also added to many processed foods and can also be purchased as a supplement. Without enough

Eye care rare among low-income diabetics NEW YORK: Young, low-income diabetics may not know they need annual eye exams, a new study suggests. At a large public hospital where the study was done, few diabetic patients had visited the eye care clinic within the last two years. That’s troubling because without regular eye care, diabetics can lose their vision, author Paul MacLennan told Reuters Health.

MacLennan led the study at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine.

Roughly 26 million people in the US have diabetes - and about a third of them have a dangerous eye condition called diabetic retinopathy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In diabetic retinopathy, the retina doesn’t receive enough blood, and people can go blind as a result.

In early stages, the changes in the eye are

hard to detect. Laser treatments can help slow or stop vision loss, but they cannot restore sight that’s already lost, according to the American Optometric Association. That’s why it’s important to catch the condition in its first stages with regular eye exams.

“Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness among working-aged adults in the United States,” MacLennan told Reuters Health in an email. “People with diabetes are also at increased risk for other eye disease such as glaucoma and cataracts,” he said. Patients are at risk regardless of whether their diabetes is type 1 or type 2. Several US health authorities agree that people with type 2 diabetes should have eye exams every year, and those with type 1 should have yearly exams starting five years after their diagnosis. —Reuters

vitamin B12, people become tired, weak, constipated and anemic, according to the US National Institutes of Health. Ultimately, the vitamin deficiency can lead to nerve damage and dementia.

The problem is that the body absorbs B12 with the help of stomach acid. Because PPIs and H2RAs limit the stomach’s production of acid and the body needs stomach acid to absorb B12 - the drugs could “theoretically increase the population’s risk of vitamin B12 deficiency,” the researchers write in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Commonly used PPIs include omeprazole (also known as Prilosec), esomeprazole (sold as Nexium), and lansoprazole (Prevacid). H2RAs include cimetidine ( Tagamet), famotidine (Pepcid), and ranitidine (Zantac). For the new study, the researchers compared the medical records of nearly 26,000 Northern California residents who were diagnosed with a vitamin B12 deficiency between 1997 and 2011, and nearly 185,000 people with healthy B12 levels.

Among those who were vitamin B12 deficient, 12 percent had been on PPIs for at least two years and about 4 percent were on H2RAs for an equally long period. By comparison, among people without a diagnosis of B12 deficiency, 7 percent had been on PPIs for two or more years and 3 percent were on H2RAs longterm.

Not only were PPIs and H2RAs tied to an increased risk of vitamin B12 deficiency, but higher doses were more strongly associated with deficiency than weaker ones, the researchers found. Those findings, Corley said, suggests that people should use the drugs for as short a time as possible, and take the lowest dose that’s still effective. —Reuters

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

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

Yelling, threatening parents harm teens’ mental health NEW YORK: Threatening or screaming at teenagers may put them at higher risk for depression and disruptive behaviors such as rule-breaking, a new study suggests. “The take home point is that the verbal behaviors matter,” Annette Mahoney, who worked on the study, said. She’s a professor of psychology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. “It can be easy to overlook that, but our study shows that the verbal hostility is really relevant, particularly for mothers who scream and hit, and for fathers who do either one,” Mahoney told Reuters Health.

All of the kids in her study had been referred to a community clinic due to mental health or behavioral problems. Their mothers had to be both verbally and physically abusive to increase the kids’ risk for depression and behavior issues. But either kind of behavior alone from a father was sufficient to produce lasting ill effects. The researchers realize that parents can be trapped in a vicious cycle. Verbal abuse “has a cyclical nature to it,” said Mahoney. Kids with behavioral or mental health problems can be tough to handle, she said. Not surprisingly, her team found, adolescents whose parents were also physically violent toward them - hitting, choking, or threatening them with a gun or knife - had an even higher risk for mental illness and behavioral problems. “Parental verbal aggression towards adolescents is just as - if not more - destructive than severe physical aggression, particularly in families seeking mental health services,” said Michelle Leroy, also of Bowling Green State University who led the research.

For the study, which was published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect, 239 troubled adolescents between the ages of 11 and 18 filled out surveys that asked if they were hit, called names, or subjected to other forms of physical or verbal violence over the past year. Parents of the youths also participated,

reporting their behaviors in the same time frame.

Fifty-one percent of the adolescents said they’d experienced serious physical or verbal aggression, or both, from one or two parents. Having a mother who both screamed and hit increased kids’ risk for mental health problems (such as anxiety, depression, and rule-breaking behaviors) to an even greater extent than having a mother who was aggressive in only one way.

In other words, the effect of a mother’s verbal hostility may be worsened if she also hits her child, Mahoney said. That may be because teens likely feel more traumatized and threatened when physical violence is a real possibility. In contrast, screaming by mothers who had not previously escalated to serious physical aggression did not appear to increase the risk of psychological problems among teens getting

counseling in this study, Mahoney told Reuters Health.

On the other hand, fathers who were verbally abusive affected the adolescents’ mental health, regardless of whether the threats were accompanied by physical violence. The study’s results may indicate that doctors should be on the lookout for verbal aggression at home, particularly in families with an adolescent who may be having mental health or behavioral problems, the researchers say.

Many doctors make it a habit to ask their patients about acts of physical abuse. They should also ask about verbal violence, Mahoney’s team adds. “You have to break the cycle; someone has to crack it open. It doesn’t excuse the parents’ behavior, but (doctors and therapists) have to not be judgmental (and) get the facts out.” — Reuters

CVS, Cardinal Health form US generic drug venture NEWYORK: Pharmacy chain CVS Caremark Corp and pharmaceutical distributor Cardinal Health Inc on Tuesday announced a 10-year agreement to form the largest generic drug sourcing operation in the United States, the world’s biggest generic drug market.

The 50-50 joint venture, which combines the generic drug purchasing power of two of the largest companies in the market for the cheaper medicines, will be operational as soon as July 1, 2014. Under the agreement, Cardinal will pay CVS $25 million on a quarterly basis for the duration of the contract, with an estimated after-tax value to CVS of $435 million.

“We view this agreement positively as it provides an effective way to drive better purchasing through increased scale without a large capital commitment or increased complexity of international markets,” JP Morgan analyst Lisa Gill said in a research note.

The companies also announced a three-year extension of their existing distribution agreements, taking them through June 2019. The US market for medicines has seen a major shift toward cheaper generic drugs following a wave of patent expiries in recent years for major brand-name treatments and a growing effort to lower costs throughout the healthcare system.

Generic drugs now account for more than 80 percent of all prescriptions filled, according to data from IMS Health, which tracks prescription drug

data. RBC Capital Markets analyst Frank Morgan said the CVS-Cardinal joint venture should help keep generic drugmakers from substantially raising prices. “To the extent that there was any concern about pricing leverage for the generic manufacturers, this JV will likely be one of the largest global buyers of generics on the planet now, so that should certainly calm any potential concerns about that,” Morgan said.

“From the CVS perspective, this joint venture brings quantifiable incremental cash flows to CVS over the next 10 years and also the potential for savings down the road,” Morgan said. ISI Group analyst Ross Muken in a research note said the deal was important following tie-ups by Cardinal’s main competitors - AmerisourceBergen Corp and McKesson Corp. He was referring to the Amerisource deal with pharmacy chain Walgreen Co and McKesson’s bid to buy German pharmaceutical wholesaler and retailer Celesio “ The partnership puts Cardinal Health back on equal footing with other industry participants that have formed buying groups,” Muken said.

Muken forecast that the deal could add 25 cents to 30 cents per share to annual Cardinal earnings and 18 cents to 20 cents to CVS Caremark earnings per share. CVS Caremark shares rose $1.38, or 2.1 percent, to $68.11, while Cardinal shares were up $2.50, or 3.9 percent, at $66.77 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. — Reuters

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

W H AT ’ S O N

Beach cleaning campaign

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he Environmental Voluntary Committee organized a cleaning campaign at the Kuwait Towers beach with 350 students from public and private schools. The event is part of a program to spread awareness about costal environment in Kuwait.

KKK celebrates ‘Karnataka Rajyotsava’

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uwait Kannada Koota (KKK) celebrated its annual mega event ‘Karnataka Rajyotsava’ on Friday, November 8, at Cambridge School, Fahaheel. The program began with an invocation song followed by lighting of the lamp. Renowned poet, story writer, columnist, TV presenter and lyricist of Kannada films, Jayant Kaikini was the chief guest of the event.

Dinesh R, the president gave the welcome speech. The chief guest admired Koota’s efforts to preserve and propagate the values of Karnataka. The PR committee welcomed all the guests and members in a very traditional manner.

The entertainment program was presented by the cultural committee of the Koota ,under the theme “Namma Aacharane, Namma

Samskruthi” which was based on festivals of Karnataka state. More than 160 members of the Koota with more than half of them being children, brought 12 festivals of the state live onstage. Each festival was presented in the form of dances, skits and commentary.

Another highlight of the program was a dance by an eight-yearold budding artist, Poorvi K Rao, from Karnataka. She enthralled the audience with her dancing abilities and gravity-defying versatility.

KKK is proud to give her an opportunity to perform on an international platform. Jayant Kaikini was honored in a traditional style. The Secretary of the Koota, Ramesh P, presented the vote of thanks. The mega event ended with a sumptuous dinner.

Appeal to the Interior Minister

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n Egyptian national who is working in Kuwait for 17 years needs help. Due to a legal issue, he was remanded in custody for four months until the court acquitted him of all charges. He has a five-month-old girl who is living illegally. Therefore, he appeals to

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khalid AlSabah that he is exempted from paying fines accumulated during his time in prison. He requests help, given other financial obligations that he has, including rent and school expenses.

Announcements 6th Fitness Convention or the 6th time in a row Al Corniche proudly announces its Fitness Convention 2013 to be held on Thursday, 12th December at the Al Corniche Club.

The event is hosted by 5 key international industry experts, who will conduct seminars covering a full range of topics. Topics include why social media is now essential for your business, how does DiSC communication help in your workplace, nutrition and exercise for optimal performance, priceless global tips to run successful health club and how to create a VIP membership service option. Dr. Jim Bell will also be conducting a very special seminar for all the doctors in Kuwait on the 10th December and one for the Al Corniche members and guests, for more information please call at the Club. Presenters include: Dr Jim Bell (PhD/MS, Exercise Physiology /MBA/BS, Engineering & CEO of IFPA); Fred Hoffman, International Fitness Expert, Consultant and Personal Trainer; Bridget Rosser, Management Consultant in the UK & Certified DISC Trainer; Dave Wright CEO of CFM/MYZONE & and IHRSA speaker; Duncan Green Managing Director and Principal Consultant for MomentumBD Ltd. Our event sponsors Porsche Centre Kuwait, Behbehani Motors Company is proud to be the main sponsor of an internationally acclaimed event that focuses on health and well-being, as well as making the fitness and spa industry in Kuwait a profitable and innovative enterprise. This convention is open to the general public

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and all interested parties including team members and management from health clubs across Kuwait, suppliers of fitness and health equipment and services, school teachers, researchers and the Corniche Club members, are invited to attend. It is a ‘must do’ for all owners and employees of the flourishing fitness industry in Kuwait.

TIES Center - Where cultures meet he TIES Center is glad to announce that its Winter 2 Arabic language courses will begin on Sunday January 19 until Wednesday March 5, 2014. We offer classes for all levels, from beginner to advanced. Our classes are specially tailored to meet the needs and requirements of expats living in Kuwait. You still have the chance to join if you are interested. The TIES Arabic classes are intended for all expats who wish to learn Arabic. Whether you want to Learn Arabic for business or basic communication or simply as a hobby, the TIES Center welcomes you. Throughout the course, the students will learn how to read, write and speak Arabic in a friendly, relaxed and welcoming environment. TIES Arabic program highlights: Lessons are step by step - ranging from basic to advanced level; Lessons build confidence for speaking, reading, and writing Arabic; Lessons combine language learning with cultural insights; Lessons are specially tailored for expats living in Kuwait. It is an opportunity to interact with other Westerners, who are taking the courses.

For more information.

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KNES students visit House of Parliament of Kuwait

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econdary students from Kuwait National English School visited the House of Parliament of Kuwait early month.

The National Assembly of Kuwait is a breathtaking place and has undoubtedly changed the life of our students. The whole atmosphere of the parliament affirmed the sense of

democracy in the State of Kuwait.

Students from Kuwait National English School had the privilege to witness the latest changes that may be taking place in the field of education in Kuwait. Whilst in the auditory chamber of the house of parliament students recognized that the Kuwait Parliament valued the campaign of

the educational policies and committed itself to the successful implementation of such. The format of the event enhanced the will of the Kuwaiti government to keep on improving in the field of education. Kuwait National English School students witnessed speeches that were of extreme importance to Kuwaiti citizens and many issues

were resolved in the presence of our students.This experience has been a real motivation for the pupils who wish to join the political field. Kuwait National English School would like to take this opportunity to thank the Kuwaiti Government for giving us the opportunity to experience the place where decisions concerning Kuwait are taken.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

W H AT ’ S O N

Embassy Information

Group photo of the guest speakers of the Olympics & Sport Education Seminar — KUNA Photos

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed AlSabah

Dr Nizar Hamzeh, Interim President of AUK

EMBASSY OF AUSTRALIA The Embassy of Australia has announced that Kuwait citizens can apply for and receive visit visas in 10 working days through www.immi.gov.au. All other processing of visas and Immigration matters are handled by the Australian Visa Application Centre located in Al Banwan Building, 4B, 1st Floor, Al Qibla Area, Ali Al Salem Street, Kuwait City. Visit. www.vfs-au-gcc.com for more info. The Embassy of Australia does not have a visa or immigration department. All processing of visas and immigration matters is conducted by the Australian Consulate-General in Dubai. Email: Info.ausdxb@vfshelpline.com (VIS), immigration.dubai@ dfat.gov.au (Visa Office), Tel: +971 4 205 5900 (VFS), Fax: + 971 4 355 0708 (Visa Office). Notary and passport services are available by appointment. Appointments can be made by calling the Embassy on 22322422. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF CANADA The Embassy of Canada in Kuwait does not have a visa or immigration department. All processing of visa and immigration matters including enquiries is conducted by the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Individuals who are interested in working, studying, visiting or immigrating to Canada should contact the Canadian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, website: www.UAE.gc.ca or www.goingtocanada.gc.ca, E-mail: abdbi-im-enquiry@international.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is located at Villa 24, AlMutawakei St, Block 4 in Da’aiyah. Please visit our website at www.Kuwait.gc.ca. The Embassy of Canada is open from 07:30 to 15:30 Sunday through Thursday. The reception is open from 07:30 to 12:30. Consular services for Canadian citizens are provided from 09:00 until 12:00, Sunday through Wednesday.

Group photo of AUK students with Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad

Olympics & Sport Education Seminar, an exclusive event for AUK students

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he Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) held the Olympics & Sport Education Seminar exclusively for students of the American University of Kuwait (AUK). The event took place at the OCA headquarters in Kuwait and was organized by AUK’s International Relations Club, Office of Student Life, and Office of Public Affairs. The seminar aimed to educate the students about the role participating in sports has on building character in educational, professional, and social levels. The seminar was attended by the President of the Union of National Olympic Committees and Chairman of the OCA and the head of the Kuwait Olympic Committee, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, Dr Nizar Hamzeh, Interim President of AUK, and Dr Saleh Al-Qambaz, Member of the Executive Bureau of International AntiDoping.

Three remarkable world athletes were invited to the event to share their experiences with AUK students; Lothar Matthaus, first title winner of the “Year”, best soccer and Captain of the West Germany team, who won the1990 FIFA World Cup; Sergei Bubka from Ukrain, member of the International Olympic

Committee and world record holder in pole vaulting; and Rania Alwani, member of the International Olympic Committee and swimming champion from Egypt.

Matthaus stressed in his speech the importance of sports, especially football, in promoting the spirit of cooperation and harmony amongst teammates as they depend on each other and work together on achieving a common goal.

He explained that this translates into the players’ personal lifestyles as well, encouraging them to become more community-conscious individuals.

Bubka agreed with Mathews, adding that dedication to one’s community is a value that is supported by the Olympic Games and sports in general. Alwani explained that she has participated in sports since early childhood. She began winning tournaments at an early age, which helped in developing her character as a self-motivator; in competitions, and in her life, making her a positive, contributing member of her community.

Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad, Al-Sabah said that the Olympic movement plays a vital role in the growth of individuals,

and society in general, by the impact it has on political, economic and social development. “The Olympic movement has pushed many countries to develop their infrastructure and sports facilities and urged them to pay attention to young people,” he added. Al-Sabah also explained that the Olympic movement still has a few obstacles to overcome, primarily the elimination of illegal betting on games and doping.

Dr Al-Qambaz stressed the need to encourage sports activities among the youngsters, and educate them about the negative effects of illegal stimulants on human life and the health risks associated with steroid consumption, that in some instances lead to death. In addition to leading to harmful results in individuals, steroid usage also affects the image of the country they are representing, he said, adding that the international community is taking steps towards eradicating its usage.

AUK Interim President Hamzeh commended the OCA for organizing such a productive seminar for the students of AUK. He also stressed that “the American University of Kuwait understands the importance of seeking a balance between academic learning and sports education. They actually, complement each other. If total education makes full development of the over-all personality of a student possible, he/she gets the qualities of leadership, tolerance, sharing and team-spirit from sports.” In his closing remarks, Interim President Hamzeh urged the attending students to participate in sports and have a positive impact on the society.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is the apex sporting body which controls all the sports in Asia. It is one of the five continental associations recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The OCA was formed in 1982 and has its permanent headquarters in Kuwait. The main objective of the OCA is to develop sport, culture and education of Asian youth as well as to promote international respect, friendship, goodwill and peace through sports.

(Article adapted from Kuwait News Agency (KUNA))

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Rania Alwani receives an award.

EMBASSY OF GREECE The Embassy of Greece in Kuwait has the pleasure to announce that visa applications must be submitted to Schengen Visa Application Centre (VFS office) located at 12th floor, Al-Naser Tower, Fahad AlSalem Street, Al-Qibla area, Kuwait City, (Parking at Souk Watia). For information please call 22281046 from 08:30 to 17:00 (Sunday to Thursday). Working hours: Submission from 08:30 to 15:30. Passport collection from 16:00 to 17:00. For visa applications please visit the following website www.mfa.gr/kuwait. nnnnnnn

Luther Matthews receives an award.

Sergei Bubka receives an award.

EMBASSY OF US The US Embassy in Kuwait has new procedures for obtaining appointments and picking up passports after visa issuance. Beginning August 9, 2013, we now provide an online visa appointment system, live call center, and in-person pickup facilities in Kuwait. Please monitor our website and social media for additional information. This new system offers more flexibility for travelers to the US and to meet the increase in demand for visa appointments.

The general application steps on the new visa appointment system are: 1. Go to www.ustraveldocs.com/kw (if this is the first time on ustraveldocs.com, you will need to create a profile to login).

2. Please complete your DS-160 Online Visa Application which is available at ceac.state.gov/genNIV. 3. Please print and take your deposit slip to any Burgan Bank location to pay your visa application fee.

4. Schedule an appointment for your visa interview online at www.ustraveldocs.com/kw or by phone through the Call Center (at +9652227-1673).

5. If you need to change or cancel your appointment, please do so 24 hours beforehand, as a courtesy to other applicants. For more information, please visit the US Embassy website kuwait.usembassy.gov - as it is the best source of information regarding these changes. nnnnnnn

Pictured are players from the PGA Everton Saturday Coaching Course Program, sponsored by Porsche Centre Kuwait, Behbehani Motors Company. The players are looking forward to this Saturday’s Festival of Football, under the patronage of British Ambassador, Frank Baker, to be held at Bayan Block 7, street 302, next to Abdullah Al-Rujaib High School from 8.30 am till 5.30 pm. Over 60 teams will be participating in the event, competing in six age groups and all are welcome to come along and enjoy a festive football spectacular.

EMBASSY OF VATICAN The Apostolic Nunciature Embassy of the Holy See, Vatican in Kuwait has moved to a new location in Kuwait City. Please find below the new address: Yarmouk, Block 1, Street 2, Villa No: 1. P.O.Box 29724, Safat 13158, Kuwait. Tel: 965 25337767, Fax: 965 25342066.

Email: nuntiuskuwait@gmail.com.

SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS

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hat’s more fun than clicking a beautiful picture? Sharing it with others! Let other people see the way you see Kuwait through your lens. Friday Times will feature snapshots of Kuwait through Instagram feeds. If you want to share your Instagram photos, email us at Grade two students from the Indian Central School visited the Porsche Road and Traffic Safety Program, sponsored by Porsche Centre Kuwait, Behbehani Motors Company. The students learnt the ‘Golden Rules’ of road safety and enjoyed driving their own Porsche pedal cars around the specially designed indoor road circuit at Qadsiya Sports Club.

instagram@kuwaittimes.net

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

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

Paradox Eastenders Doctors Alan Carr: Chatty Man Luther Prison, My Family & Me Doctor Who Confidential Nina And The Neurons Poetry Pie Balamory Spot’s Musical Adventures Show Me Show Me Buzz & Tell Nina And The Neurons Poetry Pie Balamory Spot’s Musical Adventures Show Me Show Me Buzz & Tell One Foot In The Grave Come Fly With Me The Weakest Link Eastenders Doctors Hustle King George & Queen Mary One Foot In The Grave The Weakest Link Come Fly With Me Eastenders Doctors Hustle Prison, My Family & Me The Weakest Link Eastenders Doctors Hustle Keeping Up Appearances The Office The Night Watch The Cafe Hebburn Famous, Rich And Jobless Keeping Up Appearances The Office

00:00 Cash In The Attic 00:45 DIY SOS: The Big Build 01:40 Come Dine With Me 02:30 Masterchef: The Professionals 03:15 Design Star 04:00 Eating With The Enemy 04:50 Cash In The Attic 05:35 New Scandinavian Cooking 06:05 Bargain Hunt 06:50 Design Star 07:35 Chef At Home 08:00 Bargain Hunt 08:45 DIY SOS: The Big Build 09:40 New Scandinavian Cooking 10:05 Nigel Slater’s Christmas Suppers 10:55 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 11:20 Come Dine With Me 12:10 Masterchef: The Professionals 12:55 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 13:35 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 14:15 Antiques Roadshow 15:10 Holmes On Homes 16:00 Holmes On Homes 16:50 Bargain Hunt 17:35 Cash In The Attic 18:20 Antiques Roadshow 19:15 Homes Under The Hammer 20:10 The Restaurant Inspector 21:00 Planet Cake 21:30 Come Dine With Me 22:20 Antiques Roadshow 23:15 Bargain Hunt

00:30 01:20 02:10 03:00 03:50 04:15 04:40

You Have Been Warned Treehouse Masters Mythbusters Mythbusters Border Security Storage Hunters Flip Men

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

How Do They Do It? How It’s Made American Guns Mythbusters Finding Bigfoot Fast N’ Loud Border Security Storage Hunters Flip Men How Do They Do It? How It’s Made You Have Been Warned Treehouse Masters Mythbusters Border Security Storage Hunters Flip Men World’s Top 5 Fast N’ Loud Ultimate Survival Dirty Jobs Mythbusters American Guns Storage Hunters Flip Men How Do They Do It? How It’s Made Sons Of Guns Amish Mafia Inside The Gangsters’ Code

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

Ten Ways Stunt Junkies Gadget Show - World Tour Tech Toys 360 Prophets Of Science Fiction The Science Of Star Wars Smash Lab How The Universe Works Gadget Show - World Tour Tech Toys 360 Mega World Junkyard Wars Rocket City Rednecks Rocket City Rednecks Gadget Show - World Tour Tech Toys 360 Nextworld Mega World Smash Lab How The Universe Works The Science Of Star Wars Stunt Junkies Gadget Show - World Tour Tech Toys 360 Prophets Of Science Fiction Nextworld Mega Builders Smash Lab How Techies Changed The

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Game Changers Game Changers Bang Goes The Theory Bang Goes The Theory Gadget Show - World Tour Tech Toys 360 Game Changers Game Changers Bang Goes The Theory

The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody Sonny With A Chance Sonny With A Chance Suite Life On Deck Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody Sonny With A Chance Sonny With A Chance Suite Life On Deck Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place Austin And Ally Austin And Ally A.N.T. Farm A.N.T. Farm Gravity Falls My Babysitter’s A Vampire Jessie

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

Good Luck Charlie Dog With A Blog Shake It Up Austin And Ally A.N.T. Farm Dog With A Blog Jessie Wolfblood Suite Life On Deck A.N.T. Farm Austin And Ally Shake It Up That’s So Raven Jessie Good Luck Charlie Dog With A Blog Wolfblood Gravity Falls Jessie Violetta A.N.T. Farm Austin And Ally Gravity Falls Shake It Up Good Luck Charlie Dog With A Blog Violetta Jessie My Babysitter’s A Vampire Wolfblood Gravity Falls Shake It Up Austin And Ally A.N.T. Farm Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place

00:40 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 01:05 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 01:30 Heat Seekers 01:55 Meat & Potatoes 02:20 Outrageous Food 02:45 Jodie Prenger’s Christmas Cracker 03:10 Spicy Christmas With Thomasina Miers 03:35 Unwrapped 04:25 Food Wars 04:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 05:15 United Tastes Of America 05:40 Chopped 06:30 Iron Chef America 07:10 Food Network Challenge 08:00 Unwrapped 08:25 Unwrapped 08:50 United Tastes Of America 09:15 Unique Sweets 09:40 Kid In A Candy Store 10:05 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 10:30 Food Network Challenge 11:20 Andy Bates Street Feasts 11:45 Cooking Christmas With Matt And Lisa 12:10 Jeni Barnett’s Christmas Hamper 12:35 Reza, Spice Prince Of India 13:00 Reza’s African Kitchen 13:25 Charly’s Cake Angels 13:50 Siba’s Table 14:15 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 14:40 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 15:05 Guy’s Big Bite 15:30 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 15:55 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 16:20 Roadtrip With G. Garvin 16:45 Chopped 17:30 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 18:00 Cooking Christmas With Matt And Lisa 18:25 Jeni Barnett’s Christmas Hamper 18:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 19:15 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 19:40 Siba’s Table 20:05 Charly’s Cake Angels 20:30 Chopped 21:20 Cooking Christmas With Matt And Lisa 21:45 Jeni Barnett’s Christmas Hamper 22:10 Iron Chef America 23:00 Iron Chef America Special 23:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Special

BEYOND BORDERS EPISODE 5 on MBC1: Tondo

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he young Emirati men and women continue their journey through the Philippines, this week encountering a different side of life by visiting some of the poorest areas of the Philippines.

On this week’s agenda is a trip to an innovative furniture store which produces items made entirely from used wood, preventing excessive cutting of trees. This unconventional store gives the Emiratis an insight into the usefulness and benefits of reusing and recycling.

The team embarks on a trip toTondo, one of the most deprived districts of the capital city, Manila. This area contains a vast open dump site in which many poverty-stricken Filipino families live and work. Here the Emiratis visit a school for the local children constructed entirely from iron shipping containers reclaimed from the landfill. They put their craft skills to use by making jewellery and accessories out of items collected from the landfill. The profits of this unique business are put back into the running of the school and help give those living in Tondo a better quality of life.

The Beyond Borders TV series sees six young Emirati nationals travel to the Philippines to live and work alongside local families, airs every Friday on MBC1. Throughout the series, Beyond Borders documents the adventures of the cast - Ahmed Al Ghurair; Salem Al Marar; Mohammed Al Ameri; Fatima Abdulrahman; Tasneem Al Naqbi and Mariam Al Kuwaiti - as they experience life with Filipino Families.

Their journey will see them work in industries across the Philippines and join in with inspirational charitable programs - taking on board the valuable lesson that ordinary people can make a difference to society.

In last week’s episode, the cast trekked through forests and experienced a waterfall for the first time in their lives. Following on their adventure, they sampled the local cuisine and made their own ice cream.

- The documentary series “Beyond Borders” airs every Friday on MBC1 at 10am GMT, 1pm KSA..

BLACKTHRON ON OSN MOVIES COMEDY HD

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 The New Normal 02:00 The Big C 02:30 Legit 03:00 How I Met Your Mother 03:30 Ben And Kate 04:00 The Simpsons 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 The War At Home 06:00 Last Man Standing 06:30 Friends 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 The Simpsons 08:30 The War At Home 09:00 How I Met Your Mother 10:00 Happy Endings 10:30 Friends 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Last Man Standing 12:30 The Simpsons 13:00 The War At Home 13:30 Friends 14:00 Ben And Kate 15:00 Happy Endings 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Last Man Standing 17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 How I Met Your Mother 18:30 Ben And Kate 19:30 Happy Endings 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 The New Normal 22:30 The Big C 23:00 Legit 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

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

00:00 03:00 04:00 07:30 09:00 10:30 12:00 14:00 15:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

ELFIE HOPKINS ON OSN MOVIES ACTION

Burn Notice Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Hannibal Rescue Me Perception Franklin & Bash Burn Notice Fairly Legal Criminal Minds Perception Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Franklin & Bash Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Criminal Minds Burn Notice Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Criminal Minds Franklin & Bash The X Factor U.S. Top Gear (US) Rescue Me

Switched At Birth Scandal House Of Cards Coronation Street C.S.I. New York Coronation Street C.S.I. New York Switched At Birth Live Good Morning America C.S.I. New York Switched At Birth Castle C.S.I. New York Switched At Birth House Of Cards Scandal

00:15 Scream Of The Banshee 02:00 Elfie Hopkins

04:00 Sutures 06:00 Blackthorn 08:00 Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol 10:15 True Justice: Angel Of Death 12:00 Romancing The Stone 14:00 The Rescue 16:00 True Justice: Angel Of Death 18:00 Wrath Of The Titans 20:00 The Rescue 22:00 Virtuosity

00:00 Elfie Hopkins-18 02:00 Sutures-18 04:00 Blackthorn-PG15 06:00 Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol-PG15 08:15 True Justice: Angel Of DeathPG15 10:00 Romancing The Stone-PG15 12:00 The Rescue-PG15 14:00 True Justice: Angel Of DeathPG15 16:00 Wrath Of The Titans-PG15 18:00 The Rescue-PG15 20:00 Virtuosity-PG15 22:00 The Task-18

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

Caddyshack-18 The Janky Promoters-18 Celtic Pride-PG Jack And Jill-PG15 A Kiss For Jed Wood-PG15 Summer School-PG15 Celtic Pride-PG Raising Arizona-PG15 Summer School-PG15 Brewster’s Millions-PG What’s Your Number?-PG15 Caddyshack-18

01:00 PG15 03:00 05:00 09:00 PG15 10:45 13:00 PG15 15:00 17:00 18:45 21:00 23:15

HappythankyoumorepleaseLove Takes Wing-PG15 Treasure Island-PG15 HappythankyoumorepleaseReign Over Me-PG15 Too Late To Say GoodbyeNow Is Good-PG15 StreetDance 2-PG15 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy-PG15 Flight-18 Peacock-18

19:00 In Time-PG15 21:00 Skyfall-PG15 23:30 Total Recall-18

01:00 Crab Island 02:30 Emilie Jolie 04:15 Three Investigators And The Secret Of Terror...

06:00 Crab Island 08:00 Rainbow Valley Heroes 10:00 Jumanji 11:45 Problem Child 13:15 Over The Hedge 14:45 The Fantastic Adventure Of The Ugly Duckling 16:15 American Girl: McKenna Shoots For The Stars 18:00 Jumanji 20:00 Rookie Of The Year 21:45 The Fantastic Adventure Of The Ugly Duckling 23:15 American Girl: McKenna Shoots For The Stars

00:00 The Runway-PG15 02:00 Midnight In Paris-PG15 04:00 Sinbad: Legend Of The Seven Seas-FAM 06:00 Flicka 3-FAM 08:00 The Odd Life Of Timothy Green-PG 10:00 Just Crazy Enough-PG15 12:00 Midnight In Paris-PG15 14:00 Deadly Hope-PG15 16:00 The Odd Life Of Timothy Green-PG 18:00 The Double-PG15 20:00 The Campaign-18 22:00 Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters-PG15

02:00 02:30 03:00 11:00 17:30 18:30 19:00 21:00 21:30 22:00

Inside The PGA Tour ICC Cricket 360 Live Cricket Test Match Live NEDBANK Golf Trans World Sport Futbol Mundial Amlin Challenge Cup Total Rugby ICC Cricket 360 Live Snooker

02:00 02:30 03:30 06:30 07:00 07:30 09:30 10:00 Series 20:30 21:00

Futbol Mundial WWE Bottom Line Live NHL NFL Gameday Futbol Mundial Amlin Challenge Cup Total Rugby Live HSBC Sevens World NFL Gameday Live NFL

01:00 Mahler On The Couch-18 03:00 The Paperboy-18 05:00 Like Crazy-PG15 07:00 Thorne: Scaredy Cat-PG15 09:00 Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close-PG 11:15 Look Again-PG15 13:00 My Kid Could Paint That-PG15 15:00 Regarding Henry-PG15 17:00 Look Again-PG15 19:00 The Woman In Black-PG15 21:00 He Got Game-18 23:15 Shark City-18

01:30 Asian Tour Golf 02:00 ICC Cricket 360 02:30 Snooker UK Championship 06:30 Futbol Mundial 07:00 Trans World Sport 08:00 Live PGA European Tour 12:00 PGA Tour 17:00 Live Snooker UK Championship 20:30 Futbol Mundial 21:00 Live PGA Tour

00:00 After Life-18 01:45 Katy Perry The Movie: Part Of Me-PG 03:30 Flower Girl-PG15 05:00 Bobby Fischer Against The World-PG15 07:00 Flicka 3-FAM 09:00 Cool It-PG15 11:00 Premium Rush-PG15 13:00 Playdate-PG15 15:00 Five-PG15 17:00 Cool It-PG15

02:00 UFC Prelims 04:00 UFC 07:00 Snooker UK Championship 11:00 WWE Experience 12:00 WWE This Week 12:30 WWE SmackDown 14:30 WWE Bottom Line 15:30 UIM F1 H2O Powerboat Champs 17:00 Motor Sports 2013 18:00 NHL 20:00 UFC Unleashed 22:00 UFC

Classifieds THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

Kuwait SHARQIA-1 CARRIE (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL HATOULY RAGEL THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG)

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (12/12/2013 TO 18/12/2013) THE FROZEN GROUND (DIG) 12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 7:45 PM 9:45 PM 11:45 PM

1:00 AM

FANAR-4 TARZAN (DIG-3D) TARZAN (DIG-3D) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D)

1:30 PM 3:30 PM

11:45 PM

FANAR-5 SAVING SANTA (DIG) SAVING SANTA (DIG) SAVING SANTA (DIG) THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG)

12:45 PM 2:45 PM 4:45 PM 6:30 PM 9:15 PM 12:15 AM

360ยบ- 2 CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) CARRIE (DIG) CARRIE (DIG)

1:15 PM 4:15 PM 6:15 PM 9:15 PM 11:15 PM 1:15 AM

12:30 PM 3:15 PM 5:15 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM 12:05 AM

360ยบ- 3 SAVING SANTA (DIG-3D) SAVING SANTA (DIG) SAVING SANTA (DIG) SAVING SANTA (DIG) R... RAJKUMAR (DIG) (Hindi) CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG)

1:00 PM 3:00 PM 5:00 PM 7:00 PM 9:00 PM 12:05 AM

SHARQIA-3 OLDBOY (DIG) SAVING SANTA (DIG) SAVING SANTA (DIG) OLDBOY (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG)

1:15 PM 3:15 PM 5:00 PM 6:45 PM 8:45 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

MARINA-1 THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG)

MUHALAB-1 THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG)

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

MARINA-2 SAVING SANTA (DIG) 1:30 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) 3:30 PM SAVING SANTA (DIG) 6:30 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 8:30 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 10:30 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 12:30 AM

MUHALAB-2 SAVING SANTA (DIG) SAVING SANTA (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG)

2:00 PM 3:45 PM 5:30 PM 7:30 PM 9:30 PM

MUHALAB-3 TARZAN (DIG-3D) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) FANAR-1 HAUNTER (DIG) DELIVERY MAN (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG)

9:15 PM

1:00 PM

8:45 PM

MARINA-3 TARZAN (DIG-3D) TARZAN (DIG-3D) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG)

12:15 AM

AVENUES-1 HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG)

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

AVENUES-2 SAVING SANTA (DIG) SAVING SANTA (DIG) SAVING SANTA (DIG) DELIVERY MAN (DIG) PARKLAND (DIG) DELIVERY MAN (DIG)

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

AVENUES-3 OLDBOY (DIG) OLDBOY (DIG) OLDBOY (DIG) OLDBOY (DIG) OLDBOY (DIG) OLDBOY (DIG)

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 11:45 PM

AVENUES-4 THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION

12:45 PM

2:00 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 9:15 PM

3:00 PM 6:00 PM 9:00 PM 1:45 PM 3:45 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM 12:05 AM

FANAR-2 OLDBOY (DIG) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) OLDBOY (DIG) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) OLDBOY (DIG) OLDBOY (DIG)

7:30 PM 10:30 PM 12:30 AM

FANAR-3 THE FROZEN GROUND (DIG) THE FROZEN GROUND (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG)

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

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 5:30 PM

10:30 PM 12:45 PM 3:00 PM 5:15 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:15 AM

5:45 PM

12:15 AM

6:15 PM

7:15 PM

360ยบ- 1 HAUNTER (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG)

SHARQIA-2 THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) TARZAN (DIG-3D) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG)

1:00 PM 4:15 PM

OF SMAUG (DIG) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG)

4:00 PM

AL-KOUT.1 TARZAN (DIG-3D) TARZAN (DIG-3D) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG)

12:15 AM

AL-KOUT.2 SAVING SANTA (DIG) SAVING SANTA (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) SAVING SANTA (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) HATOULY RAGEL (DIG)

12:30 PM 2:15 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 7:45 PM 9:45 PM 11:45 PM

AL-KOUT.3 THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) OLDBOY (DIG) THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) OLDBOY (DIG) OLDBOY (DIG)

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

1:45 PM 3:45 PM 5:45 PM 9:15 PM

AL-KOUT.4 THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG) HAUNTER (DIG)

2:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

BAIRAQ-1 TARZAN (DIG-3D) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) TARZAN (DIG-3D) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) CARRIE (DIG)

12:30 PM 2:30 PM 5:45 PM 7:45 PM 11:00 PM 11:00 PM

FOR SALE Ford Lincoln, 2009 model, excellent condition, full options, top price.

99081888. (C 4599) BMW white, model 2009, X5 leather inside, full options, 6 cylinder, 7850 mileage 66, good condition. 99081888. (C 4598) Offering Mazda 6 (model 2004- white shine) in very good condition. Total mileage: 124,000 kms only, body, chassis, engine, gear, AC, exteriors etc are all in good condition. I am selling car as I am leaving Kuwait.

Contact: 66596645.

(C 4597)

SITUATION WANTED Accountant, M.Com (Finance) Graduate. Pursuing MBA. 10 years of experience

(3-1/2 years in Kuwait) in finalization of company accounts and assisting in the Audit process. Kuwait driving license, transferable visa, seeking for better opportunities. Tel: 97253248. Email: ivin2010k@gmail.com (C 4595) 9-12-2013

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

05:07 06:32 11:41 14:31 16:50 18:13

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

Airlines BBC JAI JZR JZR KLM THY QTR QTR SAI ETH GFA THY UAE ETD KAC MSR QTR MSC FDB THY DHX QTR JZR FDB JZR QTR BAW KAC KAC KAC IRA FDB KAC KAC KAC UAE ABY QTR ETD IRA FDB IZG GFA DHX JZR MSC MSC MEA SYR TBZ JZR JZR UAE MSR MSR KNE FDB QTR KAC

Arrival Flights on Thursday 12/12/2013 Flt Route 43 DHAKA 574 MUMBAI 539 CAIRO 267 BEIRUT 411 AMSTERDAM 772 ISTANBUL 8274 AMSTERDAM 1084 DOHA 441 LAHORE 620 ADDIS ABABA 211 BAHRAIN 764 SABIHA 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI-INTL 382 DELHI 612 CAIRO 1076 DOHA 401 ALEXANDRIA 67 DUBAI 770 ISTANBUL 170 BAHRAIN 8524 DOHA 503 LUXOR 69 DUBAI 529 ASYUT 8650 DOHA 157 LONDON 412 MANILA 206 ISLAMABAD 302 MUMBAI 617 AHWAZ 53 DUBAI 332 TRIVANDRUM 352 COCHIN 362 COLOMBO 855 DUBAI 125 SHARJAH 1070 DOHA 301 ABU DHABI-INTL 605 ISFAHAN 55 DUBAI 4161 MASHAD 213 BAHRAIN 872 BAHRAIN 165 DUBAI 403 ASYUT 405 SOHAG 404 BEIRUT 341 DAMASCUS 5483 MASHAD 561 SOHAG 241 AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA 871 DUBAI 610 CAIRO 579 SOHAG 480 TAIF 57 DUBAI 1078 DOHA 672 DUBAI

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

KAC KAC JZR SVA KNE GFA NIA OMA KNE KAC JZR KAC UAE QTR ETD RJA SVA ABY GFA JZR JZR KAC UAL JZR KAC JZR QTR FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC KAC GFA OMA TAR FDB MSR JAI AXB JZR ABY DLH ALK FDB MEA JZR ETD UAE GFA QTR KLM JAI JZR AIC FDB UAL PIA JZR

546 562 257 500 472 221 251 645 470 788 535 118 857 1072 303 640 510 127 215 787 777 284 982 135 542 177 1080 63 786 176 104 774 614 674 618 217 647 328 61 618 572 393 189 129 634 229 71 402 181 307 859 219 1074 417 576 239 981 59 981 205 185

ALEXANDRIA AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA BEIRUT JEDDAH JEDDAH BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA MUSCAT JEDDAH JEDDAH CAIRO NEW YORK DUBAI DOHA ABU DHABI-INTL AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA RIYADH SHARJAH BAHRAIN RIYADH JEDDAH DHAKA WASHINGTON DC DULLES BAHRAIN CAIRO DUBAI DOHA DUBAI JEDDAH GENEVA LONDON RIYADH BAHRAIN DUBAI DOHA BAHRAIN MUSCAT DUBAI DUBAI ALEXANDRIA MUMBAI KOZHIKODE DUBAI SHARJAH FRANKFURT COLOMBO DUBAI BEIRUT AL MAKTOUM INTERNATI ABU DHABI-INTL DUBAI BAHRAIN DOHA AMSTERDAM COCHIN AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA CHENNAI DUBAI BAHRAIN LAHORE DUBAI

14:05 14:50 14:45 14:30 14:35 15:00 15:50 15:55 15:35 15:10 15:50 16:35 16:40 16:40 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:25 17:30 17:00 17:55 17:45 18:00 18:00 18:05 18:20 18:40 18:45 18:45 19:15 19:35 19:30 19:35 19:25 19:00 19:30 19:55 20:00 20:05 20:05 20:10 20:15 20:15 20:20 20:55 21:10 21:15 21:20 21:30 21:35 21:40 21:45 22:00 22:05 22:15 22:20 22:30 22:30 23:10 23:15 23:20

Airlines AIC AXB JAI KLM BBC DLH SAI ETH THY UAE ETD MSR QTR MSC QTR FDB QTR KAC JZR FDB JZR THY QTR KAC GFA JZR THY QTR RAB FDB BAW IRA JZR JZR KAC KAC KAC ABY KAC UAE ETD QTR IRA FDB GFA KAC IZG KAC MSC MSC JZR MEA DHX KAC KAC SYR JZR JZR TBZ

Departure Flights on Thursday 12/12/2013 Flt Route Time 976 GOA 00:05 490 MANGALORE 00:15 573 MUMBAI 01:10 411 AMSTERDAM 01:45 44 DHAKA 01:45 635 FRANKFURT 02:10 442 LAHORE 02:30 621 ADDIS ABABA 02:45 773 ISTANBUL-ATATURK 02:55 854 DUBAI 03:50 306 ABU DHABI 04:00 613 CAIRO 04:10 1085 DOHA 04:15 406 SOHAG 04:45 8274 DOHA 04:55 68 DUBAI 05:00 1077 DOHA 05:15 283 DHAKA 05:15 560 SOHAG 06:20 70 DUBAI 06:30 164 DUBAI 06:55 765 ISTANBUL-SABIHA 07:05 8525 DOHA 07:15 545 ALEXANDRIA 07:15 212 BAHRAIN 07:15 240 AMMAN 07:20 771 ISTANBUL-ATATURK 07:30 8650 DOHA 07:55 303 BAGRAM 08:00 54 DUBAI 08:30 156 LONDON 08:45 616 AHWAZ 08:50 256 BEIRUT 08:55 534 CAIRO 09:00 561 AMMAN 09:25 787 JEDDAH 09:25 671 DUBAI 09:30 126 SHARJAH 09:40 101 LONDON 09:50 856 DUBAI 09:55 302 ABU DHABI 10:05 1071 DOHA 10:10 606 MASHHAD 10:20 56 DUBAI 10:20 214 BAHRAIN 11:25 541 CAIRO 11:30 4162 MASHHAD 11:35 165 ROME 11:50 404 ASYUT 12:15 402 ALEXANDRIA 12:20 776 JEDDAH 12:25 405 BEIRUT 12:55 511 KANDAHAR 13:00 785 JEDDAH 13:00 381 DELHI 13:05 342 DAMASCUS 13:30 786 RIYADH 13:35 176 DUBAI 13:45 5484 MASHHAD 13:50

DIAL 161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

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

580 611 481 872 58 1079 134 673 617 473 188 222 505 77 501 471 613 252 646 238 180 304 1073 858 538 641 128 511 216 184 266 982 554 64 1081 218 62 328 648 120 619 571 351 394 343 543 171 72 230 403 308 220 301 860 205 417 1075 60 575 528 415 411

SOHAG CAIRO TAIF DUBAI DUBAI DOHA BAHRAIN DUBAI DOHA JEDDAH DUBAI BAHRAIN JEDDAH RIYADH BEIRUT JEDDAH BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA MUSCAT AMMAN AL MAKTOUM INTERNATIONAL ABU DHABI DOHA DUBAI CAIRO AMMAN SHARJAH RIYADH BAHRAIN DUBAI BEIRUT BAHRAIN ALEXANDRIA DUBAI DOHA BAHRAIN DUBAI TUNIS MUSCAT SHARJAH ALEXANDRIA MUMBAI KOCHI KOZHIKODE CHENNAI CAIRO BAHRAIN DUBAI COLOMBO BEIRUT ABU DHABI BAHRAIN MUMBAI DUBAI ISLAMABAD DAMMAM DOHA DUBAI ABU DHABI ASYUT KUALA LUMPUR BANGKOK

13:50 14:00 14:10 14:15 14:30 14:55 15:00 15:05 15:30 15:30 15:40 15:45 16:00 16:05 16:30 16:30 16:35 16:50 16:55 16:55 16:55 17:35 17:40 17:50 17:50 17:55 18:05 18:15 18:20 18:40 18:50 19:15 19:20 19:25 19:40 20:15 20:45 20:50 20:55 21:00 21:05 21:10 21:10 21:15 21:30 21:40 21:50 21:55 22:10 22:20 22:20 22:30 22:35 22:50 22:55 23:05 23:10 23:10 23:15 23:25 23:55 23:55

34

s ta rs CROSSWORD 396

STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19) ARIES You may find it difficult to buckle down to your more pragmatic duties and you find yourself instead in a rather dreamy kind of mood. Your friends or associates may not go along with your dreamy side just now—but everyone has off days occasionally.

You may find it hard to concentrate on your work. Perhaps more rest or a daily vitamin would really help to improve your day. As a new life-phase begins, most of your life satisfaction comes from your work, health and diet—if you take good care of them. This kind of thing could lead to love and a new self-image. It should be easy for you to enjoy and value your own life situation. There are positive interactions with a friend or loved one.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) All lines of communication should be open to you. You may feel particularly in touch and connected with others. Scientific research has your attention and you enjoy checking it out when you can. Most of your day is spent in getting ahead in the workplace, but the most fun you have is in doing this research. It’s a time when you can probably expect extra support from others who are just as fascinated with your discoveries as you are. You enjoy being called to perform or express your talent. Your charm and beauty are appreciated this evening. Perhaps you will be enjoying a special date with a loved one. An anniversary or some other celebration can be enjoyed at this time. You are a good listener, even though at times it may take great effort.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

ACROSS 1. (music) The pace of music measured by the number of beats occurring in 60 seconds.

4. Arranged without spaces between.

12. Being one hundred more than two hundred.

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

16. (of tempo) Moderate.

17. The fatty flesh of eel.

18. Soviet physicist who worked on low temperature physics (1908-1968).

20. Cause to lose courage.

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

22. The largest continent with 60% of the earth's population.

23. An Old World plant of the genus Scilla having narrow basal leaves and pink or blue or white racemose flowers.

26. Any of the equal portions into which the capital stock of a corporation is divided and ownership of which is evidenced by a stock certificate.

28. Harsh or corrosive in tone.

30. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

31. Port city of Denmark in eastern Jutland.

33. Goddess of the dead and queen of the underworld.

37. A Russian river.

38. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.

42. A crystalline amino acid that occurs in many proteins.

47. One of the five major classes of immunoglobulins.

48. System of measurement based on centimeters and grams and seconds.

50. Large tropical butterfly with degenerate forelegs and an unpleasant taste.

53. A mark left by the healing of injured tissue.

54. Used of a single unit or thing.

55. Any of various strong liquors distilled from the fermented sap of toddy palms or from fermented molasses.

56. God of the Underworld.

58. A city in Indonesia.

60. A blue dye obtained from plants or made synthetically.

62. Genus of sticky herbs with yellow flowers open in morning or evening but closed in bright light.

65. Long pinkish sour leafstalks usually eaten cooked and sweetened.

68. Norman leader in the First Crusade who played an important role in the capture of Jerusalem (1078-1112).

72. A one-piece cloak worn by men in ancient Rome.

73. A Chadic language spoken in northern Nigeria.

76. Lace again.

77. A lipoprotein that transports cholesterol in the blood.

80. A republic consisting of 26 of 32 counties comprising the island of Ireland.

81. Earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something.

82. A blank leaf in the front of back of a book.

83. (of housing or residential areas) Indicative of poverty.

DOWN 1. A pale rose-colored variety of the ruby spinel.

2. The sound like water splashing.

3. An irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action.

4. A benevolent aspect of Devi.

5. (British) Common sense.

6. A state in north central United States.

7. A tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling).

8. Any of various plants of the genus Aralia.

9. A very large pot that is used for boiling.

10. An inactive volcano in Sicily.

11. A very small circular shape.

12. Any of numerous trees of the family Cupressaceae that resemble cedars.

13. Small South American spiny tree with dark crimson and scarlet flowers solitary or clustered.

14. Free from dirt or impurities.

19. A native of ancient Troy.

24. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

25. Talks a great deal about uninteresting topics.

27. (Akkadian) God of wisdom.

29. A soft yellow malleable ductile (trivalent and univalent) metallic element.

32. A hemoprotein composed of globin and heme that gives red blood cells their characteristic color.

34. British composer (1857-1934).

35. A genus of Lamnidae.

36. Half the width of an em.

39. Wild sheep of northern Africa.

40. A city in southern Turkey on the Seyhan River.

41. Filled with a great quantity.

43. Being one more than two.

44. An international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members.

45. State in northeastern India.

46. Having any of numerous bright or strong colors reminiscent of the color of blood or cherries or tomatoes or rubies.

49. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

51. Jordan's port.

52. A language of Australian aborigines.

57. State capital of New York.

59. Imperial moths.

61. A silvery soft waxy metallic element of the alkali metal group.

63. A highly unstable radioactive element (the heaviest of the halogen series).

64. A unit of elastance equal to the reciprocal of a farad.

66. A blind god.

67. Displeasing to the senses and morally revolting.

69. A barrier consisting of a horizontal bar and supports.

70. A very light brown.

71. Keep in mind or convey as a conviction or view.

74. A metric unit of volume or capacity equal to 10 liters.

75. The compass point midway between northeast and east.

78. A radioactive transuranic element.

79. A rare silvery (usually trivalent) metallic element.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

If you are attending class, a lecture or just really needing to listen to a presentation, remember that it might be wise to carry a small tape recorder for your use. You can always take notes later and really be able to have all the facts readily available. There may be some circumstances, in general, in which you find yourself meditating. Not paying attention can get you out of a conversation. An environmental happening has your attention this afternoon and you want to contact your mate or friend that has a similar interest as you. This is a good time to enjoy your associations and ties to friends and family and even the people gathered around to enjoy the same hobby as you.

Knowing a little about many things can come in very handy in many situations.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) Choosing the best path for you may be at odds with your sense of value.

You may not rate highly the easy way or a clear-cut option and you may choose instead a more difficult path when it comes to a profession. This may mean you have decided to test jet planes, or go into space or dive into the depths of the ocean and make many discoveries. Whatever you do, it will be forward moving and very exciting. Friendships and involvement in group activities play a more important part in your life just now. Your timing should be almost perfect and those around you should find you most alive and at ease in party surroundings this evening. You may find yourself enjoying the support and harmony that is given to you by your many friends.

Leo (July 23-August 22) You could be flexing your independence today, as well as getting right in the middle of anything that is new, unusual or different. You may just relish getting away from the old tried and true routine and setting your sails in another direction for a change.

Something or someone could be instrumental in causing you to stop and smell the roses, or to realize just how much beauty you have in your life and in those around you. At the same time, everything could take on added value and importance. Be careful that you do not overspend or indulge too much just now. Try to enjoy yourself, but use common sense in the process. You may have decided that this is the day to take a sick day off from work to purchase the gifts early and get them in the mail.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) Concerning the professional side of your life, things seem to be working in your favor. You will probably find it easy to express yourself and communicate with the best of them. You may appear very easygoing with even the most difficult customer.

Gathering and exchanging information will become more paramount in your life, a very educational experience. Your acquaintances and family could have a big impact on your goals and make a huge impression. A very socially active period is coming up for you.

Getting your affairs rearranged and organized will help you along your career path. You foster peace and patience at home. You are touched and encouraged by the goodwill of friends and find ways to congratulate their efforts.

Word Search

Libra (September 23-October 22) You should be feeling good about making your own way and discovering solutions to whatever problems you have. The good life and all that is fine and luxurious may be what you value most. You may have your eye on a particular area of the city in which you would enjoy living. This is where you concentrate your goals. Expressing yourself comes quite naturally and works very well with your thoughts and ideas. Others will follow your lead at this time—due to your power of persuasion. Some nice compliment may reach you today in the form of flattery on your preferences or personal effects. It should be a breeze to enjoy and find value in your own life circumstances, or to feel especially good-hearted toward a friend or loved one.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You understand your emotions and energy and can talk about your feelings with great assurance. Those around you may find you particularly witty and eccentric at this time. There are some marvelous opportunities to teach or tutor public speaking and writing. This will continue through the end of this year. You may have an understanding or breakthrough in regard to your living situation or life circumstances. Others place importance on your independence and unique qualities. Peace and privacy are cherished; quiet hours help you find your balance. Old memories and news from past contacts are in your thoughts. In case someone is in a serious frame of mine—be subtle with jokes and humor.

Enjoy laughter often and teach it to others.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) You may find it easy to read people and that should give you a better understanding of their needs. This, in turn, will put you in a good position to communicate with groups and the community in general. You will find it necessary to be out of the office later in the day—perhaps making deliveries, etc. After work, you could be helping a friend. You have no problem in convincing others that what you say to help them is the most beneficial path to take. You just naturally have a talent for helping others.

A pleasant conversation will ensue with someone you love. Interacting with those in your neighborhood, as well as your family, helps appease a big emotional need. Being able to have people understand just what you mean is quite important.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) There is competitive and dynamic energy present today. A meeting may create opportunities for you to add fire to your cause. Try not to turn a talk into a sermon. Use a subtle approach to those in authority. Those who have resisted your ideas can soon be won over to respond more favorably. You realize that you need to eliminate a few activities from your list of things to do. You push your body to exertion and expect the same effort from others—careful. This may be a good time to tidy up your affairs or to rearrange your living conditions. Involvement with humanitarian organizations can bring satisfaction through activity. When you perform a humanitarian effort, cut back on your own extracurricular activity; balance.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Deep and penetrating discussions and investigative conversations could find you at your mental best this morning. You help your company reach a deal to buy equipment or some other item that will help give a faster time to market. Your perceptive abilities are at a high. You have no problem in getting your thoughts and ideas across to others—good communication. You are talented at cutting through the red tape and getting at what is beneath a problem. You demonstrate your ability to understand others’ needs. This is important when it comes to interaction with others concerning groups and society this evening. A new person will be welcomed into the family this evening. This could be a birth or a marriage.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) You have a very strong mental drive. You may be very convincing in what you say and think. With all of this emotional energy, you could speak or communicate very well. Being more closely involved with another person may well become your highest priority. Marriage, contracts and partnerships are seen as a means to success and happiness; they have many lessons to teach you. This may mean you go into business with a relative.

Lots of good news comes pouring in at this time. Your career direction gets a lift and life’s problems should be easy to solve. You find yourself benefiting from an older individual or someone in authority. Life could assume a dreamlike stance. When you suggest a movie, a line forms—enjoy!

Yesterday’s Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

Daily SuDoku

Yesterday’s Solution

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

i n f o r m at i o n For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 GOVERNORATE Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Hawally

Al-Madeena

22418714

Al-Shuhada

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Faiha

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

Kaizen center

25716707

Rawda

22517733

Adaliya

22517144

Al-Jahra

25610011

Khaldiya

24848075

Al-Salmiya

25616368

Kaifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salem

22549134

Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Qadsiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Gar

22531908

Shaab

22518752

Qibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Qibla

22451082

Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

24892674

Omariya

24719048

N Khaitan

24710044

Fintas

23900322

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

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

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist

25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

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

25655535

Dentists

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

22618787

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

General Surgeons Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

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

22666300 25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

Neurologists

22639939

Dr. Mousa Khadada

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

3729596/3729581

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Kaizen center 25716707

25339330

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

25722291

Dr. Musaed Faraj Khamees

22666288

Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

Dr Anil Thomas

Dr. Salem soso

Dr. Abd Al-Naser Al-Othman

25330060

Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

25722290

Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

24555050 Ext 210

Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

2611555-2622555

William Schuilenberg, RPC 2290-1677 Zaina Al Zabin, M.Sc. 2290-1677

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

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

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

lifestyle F e a t u r e s

Bryan, FGL

clean up at American Country Awards

T

Recording artist Luke Bryan accepts the award for Artist of the Year onstage during the 2013 American Country Awards. — AP/AFP photos

Recording artists Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley of Florida Georgia Line pose with the awards for Artist of the Year: New Artist, Single of the Year, New Artist and Most Played Radio Track: New Artist.

he fans of country music love Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line and they proved it again Tuesday during the American Country Awards. Bryan was named artist of the year and Florida Georgia Line was the top winner, with six trophies, including new artist and single of the year for the “Cruise” remix with Nelly. Blake Shelton was next with four awards, including album of the year for “Based on a True Story.”

The “Highway Don’t Care” team-up of Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift and Keith Urban continued to rake in trophies, winning three, including song of the year. Bryan also won touring artist of the year along with the night’s top honor, and his three wins give him 12 ACA awards in the show’s four-year history. The win comes about eight months after the Academy of Country Music also gave him its top award.

“It’s been the most amazing year of my life,” Bryan said. “It started amazingly and it’s ending amazingly.”

The fan-voted awards show highlighted a split between everyday listeners and the music industry when it comes to Bryan, Florida Georgia Line and the popularity of the socalled bro country movement. Bryan and FGL, the duo of Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley, are the year’s top male country music acts. Bryan has the top-selling country album released in

Recording artists Darius Rucker and Sheryl Crow perform onstage.

2013 and FGL set a record for weeks atop the country singles chart. Both were left off the Grammy Awards nomination last week, however, and have been at the center of the debate over modern mainstream country.

Lady Antebellum opened the show at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, with the trio’s Hillary Scott, Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley making their way through a glow stick-waving crowd as they sang “Compass.” Jake Owen invited ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons to join him on “Days of Gold” and former rockers Sheryl Crow and Darius Rucker teamed up on a medley of hits, including Rucker’s “Wagon Wheel.” LeAnn Rimes paid tribute to Patsy Cline with a medley of the star’s hits, including “Crazy.”

Taylor Swift, the night’s top nominee with eight, won the worldwide touring award and gave an acceptance speech taped in Australia where she’s on tour. Female artist of the year Miranda Lambert also was a multiple winner with two awards and Brad Paisley was presented with the ACAs Video Vanguard Award. — AP

Luke Bryan, winner of the awards for artist of the year, artist of the year: male, and touring artist of the year, poses backstage at the American Country Awards.

Recording artists Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood of Lady Antebellum accept the award for Group of the Year from presenters Lauren Alaina and Scotty McCreery onstage.

Recording artists Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood of Lady Antebellum accept the award for Group of the Year from presenters Lauren Alaina and Scotty McCreery onstage.

LeAnn Rimes performs a tribute to Patsy Cline.

Newly found Cash recordings to be released 30 years later dozen newly discovered recordings made by late American country singer Johnny Cash three decades ago will be released next year as an album, Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings said on Tuesday. “Out Among the Stars” will be released on March 25, the record label said, marking the first time the recordings will be available to the public.

The 12 songs, which include two written by Cash, were recorded for Columbia Records in Nashville, Tenn., in 1981 and in 1984, but the record company passed on releasing them before dropping Cash from the label in 1986. The recordings

A

were found in 2012 when Cash’s son, John Carter Cash, and Cash experts were cataloging the “Folsom Prison Blues” singer’s song archive. The album will feature three duets, two with his wife June Carter Cash and one with Waylon Jennings.

Cash, who died in 2003 at the age of 71, became an American folk figure over the course of his 49-year career by cultivating an outlaw persona and famously performing at US prisons.

— Reuters

This photo provided by Columbia/Legacy shows the Johnny Cash album cover for ‘Out Among the Stars,’ releasing March 25, 2014. — AP photos

In this May 23, 1993 file photo, Johnny Cash performs at a benefit concert in Central Park in New York.

Winslet

gives birth to a little rock’n’roll

File photo shows British actress Kate Winslet arrives for the gala screening of Labor Day, as part of the 57th BFI London Film Festival. — AP

O

scar-winning actress Kate Winslet gave birth to a baby boy at the weekend, her third child, but her first with new husband Ned RocknRoll, her spokeswoman said yesterday. “Baby Boy Winslet” was born on Saturday at a staterun National Health Service Hospital in Sussex, southeast England, the spokeswoman said, adding: “Mother and baby are doing great.”

Winslet, 38, already has a daughter, Mia Honey, with first

husband Jim Threapleton and a son, Joe Alfie, with Oscar-winning British film director Sam Mendes. Last year she married RocknRoll, known as Abel Smith before he changed his name, a nephew of entrepreneur Richard Branson who works parttime for the Virgin Galactic space venture. — AFP

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

lifestyle F e a t u r e s

Chanel takes inspiration from American West C

Models walk out onto the runway ending the Metiers d’Art fashion show, Tuesday.

Actress Lily Collins poses for photos after arriving for Chanel’s Metiers d’Art fashion show.

Actress Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame arrives for the Chanel’s Metiers d’Art fashion show.

hanel designer Karl Lagerfeld drew inspiration from the American West for his annual Metiers d’Art traveling fashion show, held Tuesday night in Dallas. Chanel turned one of the halls at Fair Park, Dallas’ Art Deco exhibition venue, into a barn for the night, complete with a hay-scattered runway.

Models in Western-style hats and boots wore outfits adorned with fringe, leather and feathers. The final model was dressed in an all-white ensemble that included fringed pants and a floor-grazing feather headdress.

Lagerfeld said after the show that he was inspired by “the idea of the old Texas, even before the Civil War.” He noted that his cowboys were “not typical cowboys, they are transposed, very sophisticated.”

Many of the outfits included Native American-inspired prints, with most of the models wearing a single feather in their hair. Denim also made frequent appearances on the runway. For more than a decade, Lagerfeld has picked a city linked to the fashion house for the theme of the show staged each December to highlight the work of its artisans.

Chanel founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel visited in Dallas in 1957 at the invitation of Stanley Marcus, head of Neiman Marcus, the Dallas-based luxury retailer founded by his family. She was given a warm welcome in the city picked up at the airport in a white RollsRoyce and feted at a Western-themed party complete with a catwalk featuring cows. Tuesday evening’s festivities began with the premiere of a 20-minute film written and directed by Lagerfeld titled, “The Return,” that retraced the steps of Coco Chanel as she reopened her Paris couture house in 1954 after shuttering it as Europe entered World War II. The film was screened in an exhibition hall that had been transformed into a drive-in movie theater. Dozens of classic cars faced four screens. Lagerfeld, Vogue editor Anna Wintour and former Vogue editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley climbed into a black Cadillac convertible to take in the film. After the runway show, guests partied in a recreation of a honky-tonk bar. Classic country music played while the well-heeled guests including model Lauren Hutton and actresses Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning - walked on a floor strewn with peanut shells. There was even a mechanical bull.

The couture house’s return in 1954 after 15 years wasn’t well-received by the French press, but was embraced by the Americans. During Coco Chanel’s September 1957 trip to Dallas, she was given the Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion. The next month, the department store, celebrating its 50th anniversary, launched the Fortnight celebrations, which became famous for bringing festivities and offerings inspired by a cer-

tain country to the city. The title that year was “France Comes to Texas.”

Photos from Coco Chanel’s visit include her posing for a picture with a Western-attired Stanley Marcus and his wife at the party at a ranch where she took in the cow fashion show in addition to watching square dancers. “She was very mesmerized by the idea of Texas, so they threw a barbecue for her,” Neiman Marcus fashion director Ken Downing said. “The story goes she actually didn’t like the taste of the barbecue, and she tossed her plate under the table, which, as the story goes, it went all over Elizabeth Arden’s red satin shoes.”

The film that premiered Tuesday in Dallas followed Lagerfeld’s 2012 film “Once Upon a Time ...” an exploration of Coco Chanel’s early days in fashion in Deauville. That film debuted last May in Singapore. Other cities that have served as inspiration for the Metiers d’Art show include Tokyo, New York, London, Shanghai and Edinburgh, Scotland. The Western-themed collection, which will be in boutiques in May, highlights the work of the artisans who are part of a Chanel subsidiary company, including a feather and flower maker, a milliner, shoemaker and glove maker. — AP

This Sept 7, 1957 photo provided by the DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University shows fashion designer Coco Chanel, left, and Neiman Marcus leader, Stanley Marcus during at the Marcus Western outside Dallas. — AP photos

DS-2 Chronograph perfect accuracy by design

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ew chronographs can boast of having the true precision of a chronometer. The new DS-2 Chronograph with its ETA PRECIDRIVE movement, can make the claim and prove it - with added good looks nothing short of breathtaking. Gorgeous detailing, faultless precision, available in either a standard or Limited Edition version (with COSC certification), to please all watch connoisseurs.

The real power of chrono timing comes alive in its true, measurable accuracy. The CERTINA DS-2 Chronograph has at its core the new Swiss Made ETA PRECIDRIVE quartz movement, with 1/100th-sec. accuracy and 12h, 30m, 60s functions and date. This new cutting-edge movement offers the precision of a chronometer in a sporty and handsome timepiece available in a variety of models, including a Limited Edition version (only 1888 units).

Behind the sporty elegance of the DS-2 and its brushed/polished 41mm stainless steel case, rounded anti-reflective sapphire crystal and tachymeter-scale aluminium bezel, the dial is an impressive design composition. In the standard version, it is a handsome black colour behind coloured hands. In the Limited Edition, it wears an elegant silver dial and black snailed chrono counters, with nickelled-black hands and indices and a three-row brushed/polished stainless-steel bracelet. Superluminova is applied to the hands and indices.

The standard and Limited Edition models feature the same extraordinary accuracy and world-renowned CERTINA reliability, thanks to the DS Concept, which ensures water resistance up to a pressure of 10 bar (100m). The Limited Edition version is delivered with written COSC certification and special display box. Both models carry the new CERTINA turtle symbol on their case-back and the Limited Edition also shows an engraved unit production number. Leather strap models feature a folding buckle with twin push-buttons, and those with a stainless-steel bracelet are equipped with a butterfly buckle with twin push-button closure.

‘THE One’ offering country living home fashion style

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ring an idyllic, countryside feeling to your pad with THE One’s delightfully down-to-earth, charmingly romantic Country Living home fashion style. A joyful celebration of winter, it features a rich, earthy colour palette with multicoloured accents and patterned weaves a nod to this season’s hugely fashionable florals.

To capture the feel of this decidedly feminine, warm and inviting living room look, imagine a sprawling country pile with vintage leather furniture, horses in the stables, wild flowers and fruit from the garden and the aroma of homebaked bread in the air. To get the look seating-wise, opt for a pair of Chesterfield-style leather sofas in an unusual, marbled fudge colour, a traditional toffee brown leather wing-

back chair with striking stitching detail and a caramel hued leather pouf.

Here, a large floral upholstered footstool with beautifully turned wood legs doubles nicely as an eye-catching coffee table, while bolster cushions in the same fabric continues the floral theme. Add a pop of rust red to the room with an Oriental cabinet and a fashionably worn-out rug, while picking up the colour in a cozy throw - perfect for chilly evenings. When it comes to lighting, go for a characteristic, moody mix in your choice of chandelier, wall and table lamps, before finally accessorising with sepia photos, glazed ceramics and rustic elements like an old ladder and copper containers. Once done, you’re all set for country life!

Get the Look: KEITH 3: Seater leather sofa GOBEL: Footstool 90x90cm JUKES: Roll cushion RIM: Cabinet 105x50cm ALICIA: Chandelier ALBA: Wall lamp JOY: Table lamp h93cm AUBUSSON II: Cushion cover 50x50cm

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

lifestyle

Jazz guitarist master Jim Hall dies at 83 J

im Hall, one of the leading jazz guitarists of the modern era, whose subtle technique, lyrical sound and introspective approach strongly influenced younger proteges such as Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell, died early Tuesday at age 83, his wife said. Hall died in his sleep after a short illness at his Greenwich Village apartment in Manhattan, said Jane Hall, his wife of 48 years who described her husband as “truly beloved by everybody who ever met him.”

Hall, who led his own trio since the mid-1960s, remained active until shortly before his death. Last month, his trio performed a concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Allen Room with guest guitarists John Abercrombie and Peter Bernstein. He had been planning a duo tour in Japan in January with bassist Ron Carter, a longtime partner. In 2004, Hall became the first of the modern jazz guitarists to be named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, the nation’s highest jazz honor.

“Jim was one of the most important improvising guitarists in jazz history. His musical generosity was an exact reflection of his deep humanity,” guitarist Metheny, who performed and recorded in a duo with Hall, said in an email to The Associated Press. In the mid-1950s, as a member of pianist Jimmy Giuffre’s innovative trio and drummer Chico Hamilton’s chamber jazz quartet, Hall transformed the role of the guitar in jazz

with his understated melodic and minimalist approach. “What seems kind of frivolous and doesn’t really impress me is guys, people, women ... who have amazing technique but everything sounds worked out,” Hall said in a 2003 interview for the National Endowment for the Arts. “They go through these chord changes with all these chops.

“Usually I wish I had the kind of technique to do that and then not do it, sort of. I like to make some kind of composition happen while I’m playing. That involves motive development. ... I also love melodies. So I try to play melodies over tunes - have it go someplace and then come back.” The noted German jazz writer Joachim-Ernst Berendt once described Hall as “the perfect musical partner.” The guitarist was known for his duo and small group recordings with some of the greatest names in jazz during the past 60 years, including saxophonists Sonny Rollins, Gerry Mulligan, Ornette Coleman and Paul Desmond, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Red Mitchell and singer Ella Fitzgerald.

As a member of Rollins’ quartet in the early 1960s, Hall appeared on the landmark 1962 album, “The Bridge,” which was the tenor saxophonist’s first recording after a three-year hiatus during which he practiced his chops on the Williamsburg Bridge. The saxophonist’s fiery playing contrasted with Hall’s subdued guitar lines. “Jim was an essentially beautiful human being,” Rollins said in

File photo shows guitarist Jim Hall, right, plays with Geoffrey Keezer, left, on piano during the 50th annual Monterey Jazz Festival in Monterey, Calif. —AP an email. “I don’t know anybody who didn’t love him, including myself. He was the consummate musician and it was a privilege to work with him.”

Hall was born on Dec. 4, 1930, in Buffalo, New York, and his family later moved to Cleveland. He picked up the guitar at age 10, and became interested in jazz as a 13-year-old when he went to the store to buy a Benny Goodman record and first heard Charlie Christian

playing guitar on the tune “Grand Slam.”“I was awestruck at his choice of notes and the space that he left,” Hall told the NEA. After graduating from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Hall moved to Los Angeles where he became a charter member of Hamilton’s quintet, which was among the originators of the laid-back West Coast cool style, and later joined Giuffre’s trio.

His first album as a leader was the

1957 session “Jazz Guitar” for Pacific Jazz. He later moved to New York where he performed as a sideman with Evans, Fitzgerald, Ben Webster, Lee Konitz and Art Farmer, among others. He co-led a quartet with trumpeter Art Farmer and also formed his own trio with pianist Tommy Flanagan and bassist Carter. Hall began recording extensively as a leader starting in the 1970s in an assortment of duos, trios and small combos for such labels as Milestone, Concord, Music Masters and Telarc. Earlier this year, he released several CDs of live recordings from his combo’s sessions at New York’s Birdland jazz club on ArtistShare, a platform that allows fans to finance recordings. His daughter and manager, Devra Hall Levy, said her father’s prowess as a jazz guitarist overshadowed his skills as an arranger and composer, reflected on such albums in the mid-1990s as “Textures” and “By Arrangement.” “Those albums opened my eyes to a whole other dimension of his musical gifts,” Levy said in a telephone interview. “Jim would like to be most known as a forward-seeker. He was always looking to push musical boundaries and never wanting to repeat something that he had done before. That made him quite a risk-taker.” Hall is survived by his wife, a psychoanalyst, and his daughter, who was married to the late NEA Jazz Master John Levy, a bassist who is credited as the first African-American personal manager in jazz. — AP

Jake Gyllenhaal on ‘Prisoners’ and why good cops have criminal minds

A This photo provided by NBC shows Stephen Moyer, left, as Captain Von Trapp and Carrie Underwood as Maria, in ‘The Sound of Music Live! — AP

What will NBC do for a ‘Sound of Music’ encore?

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BC’s halls are alive with the sound of sequels. After the triumph of last week’s “The Sound of Music Live!” NBC understandably is now planning more live musicals. This is welcome news for anyone who likes seeing a network get off the beaten path. Few observers have failed to cheer NBC for raw ambition in presenting a live musical more than a half-century after the previous one aired. Attaboys even came from the loudest critics of the broadcast and its leading lady, Carrie Underwood, who played Maria.

“I think we can do this again - and again and again,” NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt told The New York Times this week, while allowing, “There may be a little bit of a phenomenon to the first one of these. Who knows what happens Year 2, 3 or 4?” Who indeed? Can the interest, excitement and nearly 19 million viewers scored by “The Sound of Music Live!” be matched a year from now by another such TV event? Or was “Music” a one-note wonder?

The answer might lie in determining why so many viewers tuned in. Was it Carrie Underwood who served as the big draw? Was the main attraction “The Sound of Music” itself, a Rodgers and Hammerstein classic that, largely thanks to its 1965 film version, is one of the most recognized and popular family entertainments in the world? Or did the audience simply rally to the anything-couldhappen unpredictability of live TV, something no viewer had experienced with a musical since Eisenhower was president?

Odds are, all three reasons help explain why “The Sound of Music Live!” made such a splash. But a year from now, can NBC’s follow-up strike a similar chord? What manner of star could equal Underwood’s drawing power? And, maybe most important of all, is there any other musical that

could grab the attention “The Sound of Music” automatically claims? Although NBC isn’t saying which musicals may be under consideration, it’s easy enough to play a guessing game.

Maybe “Peter Pan” or “The Music Man” (though both have been revived as filmed TV productions).

Perhaps mega-star Hugh Jackman could reprise his triumphant performance in a TV revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” (Except his 1998 Royal National Theatre appearance was filmed and has previously aired.) What about “Mame” with Cher? Bette Midler in “Hello Dolly”? Reba McEntire in “The Unsinkable Molly Brown”?

But do any of these projects come close to “The Sound of Music Live!” and its provocative appeal, as it dared to reimagine - and, in the minds of some fans, tamper with - the film version held sacred by so many? In short, is there another filmed musical everyone has seen and has such deep feelings for? Of course. It’s time for NBC’s starstudded staging of “The Wizard of Oz Live!” Sign Lea Michele of “Glee” to play Dorothy. Meryl Streep as the Good Witch. Anne Hathaway as the Wicked Witch. Tina Fey as the Wizard. Neil Patrick Harris as the Scarecrow. Alan Cumming as the Tin Man. Will Ferrell as the Cowardly Lion. “ The Wizard of Oz,” with Judy Garland as Dorothy, reigns as a piece of pop culture that viewers would be thrilled or outraged - but most important, compelled - to see restaged for live TV. They would watch with bated breath for technical screw-ups (beware that flying house and melting witch!). They would scorch the Twitterverse with comments, flattering and snarky. Before, during and after it aired, this show and its songs would be on everyone’s lips. A year from now, the yellow brick road could prove to be a straight shot to Must-See TV. — AP

Mean girls, rejoice:

‘Heathers’ musical coming

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efore there was “Mean Girls,” there was “Heathers.” Now that dark comedy is ready to bully its way into New York as a musical. The 1988 film starring Winona Ryder, Shannen Doherty and Christian Slater has been turned into a show by Tony Award nominee Laurence O’Keefe and Emmy Award winner Kevin Murphy.

It starts performances off-Broadway in March at New World Stages after a stint in Los Angeles this year. Andy Fickman directs. It tells the story of a high school misfit in Ohio who teams up with her boyfriend to kill her mean but popular classmates most called Heather - and make it look like suicide.

O’Keefe wrote the music and lyrics to the Broadway show “Legally Blonde” and Kevin Murphy penned the lyrics to “Reefer Madness.” — AP

This Dec 1989 file photo shows actress Winona Ryder, 19, poses during an interview in New York. — AP

dinner meeting two years ago with Canadian director Denis Villeneuve (“Incendies”) turned into back-to-back movies for Jake Gyllenhaal: the yet-to-bereleased “Enemy,” in which he plays two roles, and the slow-burn thriller “Prisoners,” with Gyllenhaal as a detective and Hugh Jackman as the father of an abducted girl.

“Prisoners” won strong reviews and did $60 million at the box office after its September release, a solid number for a film that ratchets up the tension slowly for nearly two-and-a-half hours. It’s not a typical awards film, but Gyllenhaal’s performance as a cop who clearly is hiding a lot of his own secrets has at least put him in the conversation.

Your character in “Prisoners” has tattoos that we can’t see clearly, and he seems to have a troubled background, but nothing is spelled out. Did you add that ambiguity?

Yeah. One of my hesitations about the character was whether Denis and Alcon wanted a character who was going to be essentially a narrator. Because what fascinated me was this idea that a detective - or any good truth-seeker, journalist, whatever they may be - has to be almost infatuated with the mind of the criminal.

A number of the detectives I met while doing “End of Watch” had their own criminal backgrounds, and they were so good at their jobs because they understood that mindset, they understood the movements, they understood the behavior. And so that just

Jake Gyllenhaal led me into saying, “Well, look, I would love for this guy to be a question mark from the beginning.” I didn’t even want you to see that he was a detective at first. I wanted you to meet the character and go, “Maybe this guy looks like he’s the one who did it.

Did Denis embrace that idea?

I think, given our relationship from “Enemy,”

that he trusted that I was in service of the story. I think that’s always the hesitation, director to actor: Are you in service of the story, or of your character only? And the reason we work so well together is that he knows I’m in service of the story. I’m going to ask him questions that sometimes might be bad and not really work, but I’m trying to help him tell the story.

So when I would do improve and stuff, he never ever told me that what I was doing was no good, even when it was no good. It was so freeing, you know?

You gave the character some unexplained facial tics and mannerisms? The tics and those physical manifestations, that happened in my mind as I was reading it. Just before I made this movie, I was on stage in New York City playing a character who talked a lot, and had a lot of sort of nervous energy. There was a transition period where I moved that anxiety and overactive mind of the character I was playing onstage and narrowed it down into a type of behavior where there was more silence and stillness. And I started trying things onstage, things like the tic.

It was a really interesting training ground, and an area to explore. Some of the parts that Aaron wrote in the script were really open to interpretation, and then I saw it as this interesting opportunity - like, oh wow, he’s given me this room The film maintains tension for almost two and a half hours, but it moves very slowly, which must have provided its own challenge. —Reuters

Louis-Dreyfus on the ‘Enough Said’ scene with Gandolfini

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ulia Louis-Dreyfus is the only actress to win Emmys for three different television series (“Seinfeld,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine” and “Veep”), but her movie career has always been sporadic - and, except for voice-over work in animated films, nonexistent for the last decade and a half.

But Louis-Dreyfus changed that with her sharp, funny turn in Nicole Holofcener’s “Enough Said,” an affecting comedy in which she plays a divorced mom who finds that she has to hide a pretty big secret to keep her new romance alive.

Co-starring with another TV icon, the late James Gandolfini, LouisDreyfus is appealing and understandable as a character who makes bad and occasionally inexplicable decisions - as Alonso Duralde wrote on TheWrap, “She’s a master of squirm-inducing comedy, but rarely has she gotten to play a character with such a variety of tones Louis-Dreyfus never allows the character to become so awful that we don’t root for her happiness.”

Except for voice-over work, you haven’t made a film in 16 years. Why not? Well, you know, I was doing all these TV shows. And I had two children, both of whom were born during the “Seinfeld” run. So I was busy raising them, and my downtime was limited, and I didn’t want to be going off to location making films. And in addition to that, there aren’t gobs and gobs of interesting roles for women over the age of 35 in the film business.

And the reason I was able to do “Enough Said” is that I had just finished season one of “Veep,” which was only eight episodes, and so my time opened up. And this particular movie was shot in L.A., so I went home every night. A lot of things about it made it very doable, and irresistible because the script was such a cut above anything I had read in quite a long time.

Since you hadn’t been doing films, did you have to talk your way into a meeting with Nicole Holofcener? I had to talk my way in a tiny bit.

It was one of those get-to-know-each-other meetings, and it went really well. We just immediately connected in that moment, and I think it was pretty much a done deal after that.

We started talking about the script right away, and our kids, and our relationship with our children. And my husband and I had taken our oldest son off to college, and that was this massive moment in our family’s life. We talked about the dynamics of that, and I think I probably burst into tears as we were talking about it. Which I think pretty much secured me the gig at that point. Your character spends much of the movie hanging onto a pretty devastating secret that is bound to come out and destroy two relationships. Did you struggle to understand why she acted that way?

I got it totally. That doesn’t mean I would do this kind of thing, but I got the anguish of it, and I understood the fear of loneliness, and how that sort of hijacked her. What is that movie where they take over your body? “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” Yeah, like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” I totally got that, and sympathized with it. Listen, really good, nice human beings are capable of doing bad, nasty, insensitive

things. She means well, though.

You insisted on putting in a scene where she almost tells James Gandolfini’s character her secret. Yeah, I did. That was really important to me. You need to see her fighting that thing in herself, and failing. I think it makes her more understandable. So she tried, but then he slays her with a joke he makes, which is why she stops. Where do you go from there? Well, you could tell the truth.

But then you wouldn’t have a movie. Exactly. Your paths must have crossed with James Gandolfini before this, maybe at the Emmys or something. I just met him socially, maybe twice. And we met for earnest on this movie, and became fast friends. I think he really understood the part, although he was very much like, “Why am I playing a guy who gets the girl? I don’t get it.”

Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini He was very dismissive and self-deprecating, and kept saying to me and Nicole, “If you want to recast this, I get it.” That made him much more sort of strangely fall-in-lovable, that he would be so insecure. But that’s who he was. For somebody who was so extraordinary as an actor, he was so questioning, and hard on himself about his abilities. Did he see any of the finished film?

He only saw bits and pieces in ADR. But he never saw the final version, which is a tremendous shame. It’s absolutely bizarre to be talking about this movie without him sitting here. The final scene could very easily feel wrong, but somehow it walked a very fine line and ended on a perfect note.

I’m so glad you said that, because we really worked on that. We discussed it in great length - what is the tone of this moment going to be?

We tried different things, but when we nailed it, it was somewhat improvised. And Jim and I got up off that stoop, and walked into the house and just fell into each other’s arms. We were very emotional, a little bit weepy, because we both felt as if we’d nailed it. And in fact, that very take is what Nicole used. —Reuters

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

lifestyle

This image released by Disney shows, from left, Lily Bigham, Annie Buckley, Ruth Wilson, and Colin Farrell in a scene from “Saving Mr Banks.” — AP

Review:

This image released by Disney shows Tom Hanks as Walt Disney, left, and Emma Thompson as author P.L. Travers in a scene from “Saving Mr Banks”. —AP

‘Saving Mr Banks’ a spoonful of sugar

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or most scribes who have toiled in the movie industry, portraying Hollywood as a healing paradise is roughly equivalent to regaling a lobster of the soothing properties of a boiling pot of water. Hollywood has always, and probably will always, chew up authors. From “Sunset Boulevard” to “In a Lonely Place” to “Barton Fink,” we’ve often had the writer’s perspective on the painful life of movie scripting. Now, in Disney’s “Saving Mr Banks,” we have the studio’s. No one, needless to say, winds up face down in a swimming pool in the Disney version.

“Saving Mr Banks,” directed by John Lee Hancock (a sure studio hand of inspirational tales like “The Blind Side” and “The Rookie”), is based on the true story of the tug of wills between “Mary Poppins” author P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) and Walt Disney (Tom Hanks). Finally drawn by Disney’s money and years of entreaties to adapt her books, the extremely particular British writer arrives in mythic 1961 Los Angeles like a dark cloud indignant of sunshine.

She peers warily at “Los Ang-uh-lees,” as she calls it, from the back window of the limo that’s been sent to pick her up. Her chipper driver (Paul Giamatti) is infuriatingly American. She flinches when he calls her home “Inger-land” and, worse, says “no problemo.”

It’s just the start of the unpleasantness for Travers, who recoils at the thought of handing over her very precious characters - “my family,” she says - to Disney. When she arrives in a hotel room strewn with baskets and stuffed animals, she faces a giant Mickey doll in the corner, telling him he can stay there “until you learn the art of subtlety.” She doesn’t treat Disney much better, nor her would-be collaborators: writer Don DaGradi (Bradley Whitford) and the songwriting Sherman brothers, Robert (B.J. Novak) and Richard (Jason Schwartzman). She is resolute in keeping sentimentality, trite showmanship or dancing penguins from her tale.

The Disney team are puppy dogs, obedient but plead-

ing with big eyes to be let off the leash. As the mustached Disney, Hanks (well-suited for the part, belying only the slightest hint of Disney’s strong-arm side) absorbs her contempt for his “silly cartoon” with a quick wince. But he’s equally dauntless in the certainty of his mission, a zealot for the fantasy of storytelling. They’re all flummoxed by her demands, like not having red in the film: “I’ve simply gone off the color,” says Travers.

As these lines, from the script by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith, suggest, it’s extremely pleasurable watching Thompson in the role. With pursed lips and folded arms, she’s a force of condescension. But she’s also a haunted woman. In a flashback that runs intermittently throughout the film, “Saving Mr Banks” explores the roots of Travers’ fiction in the reality of her upbringing. Her childhood in rural Australia at the start of the 20th century was poor and tragic because of her sick and alcoholic father (Colin Farrell), the Mr Banks in need of saving.

The background explains the source of Travers’ Poppins and gives “Saving Mr Banks” something genuine about artists and the drive for storytelling. (Don’t expect straight history here. Travers, for one, didn’t end up a fan of Disney or the “Mary Poppins” movie.) But it also leads it into the very same kind of sap Travers wailed against. “Saving Mr Banks,” a Disney movie about a Disney movie (timed for the 50th anniversary of “Mary Poppins”), is a feature film advertisement not just for the Mouse House, but for the Hollywood dream factory. Just as Travers is eventually won over by her Hollywood adversaries, the strong sentimental pull of “Saving Mr Banks” overwhelms, too.

Resistance is futile. We’re helpless before Hollywood, done in by the simple, undefeatable power of a little song and dance. “Saving Mr Banks,” a Walt Disney Pictures release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for “thematic elements including some unsettling images.”

Running time: 126 minutes. Three stars out of four. — AP

Drew Barrymore is busy juggling work and family

D Singer Pink the Woman of the Year honoree arrives at the Billboard Women In Music Awards at Capitale on Tuesday in New York. —AP

Pink: Give husband some credit for song’s success W hile she’s excited her ballad “Just Give Me a Reason” is nominated for the song of the year Grammy, Pink says she believes her husband deserves some credit for its success. The track, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for three weeks, is about holding on to a troubled relationship. “It means everything because it’s a conversation between lovers fighting the good fight and that’s been our life,” Pink said in an interview Tuesday, standing next to her motorcycle racer husband, Carey Hart. “Our family is everything to us.”

The 34-year-old often details their rocky relationship in her music. “At the end of the day I crawl onto his lap and complain, so if someone wants to award me for that, they should give him the award,” she said. Pink was in great spirits Tuesday in New York City, where Billboard named the pop star its woman of the year. “It’s been a long road,” she said. “It’s been a roller coaster and I’m on board for the rises and the falls of it all.” Pink’s successful year includes a

top-grossing international tour and awards, an MTV Video Music Award among them. “The Truth About Love,” her sixth album released last year, has sold 1.8 million units.

“Just Give Me a Reason,” which has sold 4 million tracks and features Nate Ruess of fun., is also nominated for best pop duo/group performance at the Jan. 26 Grammy Awards. Pink, who has won four Grammys, said being up for the coveted song of the year is unreal. “That’s a new thing for me,” she said. “It’s a pinch-me moment.

I’m afraid to cross the street.” Her hit will battle anthems from Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Lorde and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. But at the Billboard event, camaraderie was key: Pink congratulated R&B singer Janelle Monae, who was honored as music’s rising star, while sister duo Tegan and Sara and Scottish band Chvrches performed.

Debbie Harry, Kimberly Perry of the Band Perry, Andy Cohen, Matt Lauer and Melanie Fiona attended the event. Pink’s “The Truth About Love Tour” wraps Jan. 31 in Las Vegas. — AP

rew Barrymore isn’t exactly feeling the pregnancy glow. “I feel so lucky to make healthy kids that I will never complain about anything because I just know how lucky I am,” the 38-year-old actress said at a recent event for her beauty brand, Flower. “But I definitely don’t feel superhot. I feel more like an Oompa Loompa.” Barrymore and her husband, Will Kopelman, are expecting their second child. Their daughter, Olive, is 14 months old. Her top pregnancy style tips include “a really tight bra and a really loose blouse,” great lipstick and a supportive partner.

“He’s always so complimentary,” she said of Kopelman, an art consultant. “He’s always very encouraging when I get myself ready.

He always makes me feel really good about it.” Barrymore has taken a break from the big screen to focus on motherhood and various business ventures, which include Barrymore Wines; her production company, Flower Films; a new photography book, “Find It in Everything”; and her beauty brand for WalMart Stores Inc. “I have a very male side of me that just loves business. I love producing. I love the rules.

I love how to achieve getting financing for things, you know, staying within budget, on time, going into boardrooms and like fighting the good fight for things I really like,” she said. “But I’m at a stage in my life where I really appreciate the womanly creativity more than ever. Being a mom and making babies and thinking about what women want and

what they need, what they deserve. So it fulfills that creative, sensitive side as well. So it’s a perfect business for me to be in, and I get to go home at night and be with my family, which is everything.” Juggling a busy career with a growing family isn’t easy, but the selfproclaimed overachiever said work has been

her “savior.” “(It) always put me on a really good, diligent and responsible path in my life,” she said. “But I swear, I’m making choices all the time not to do things or making sure my priorities are in the right place and that my family is coming first. “But yeah, I’m a little bit of a busy bee.” — AP

Lawrence, Gosling, DiCaprio top IMDb’s 2013 most popular stars list

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Musician A$AP Rocky performs during Arms Around the Child’s The Other Ball benefit concert at the Highline Ballroom on Tuesday in New York. — AP

File photo shows actress Drew Barrymore attends the New York City Ballet 2013 Fall gala at Lincoln Center, in New York. —AP

ennifer Lawrence is the most popular movie star of 2013 on IMDb, according to the site’s “Top 10 Stars” ranking determined purely by page views from the database’s more than 160 million monthly unique users. Chloé Grace Moretz, the 16year-old star of “Carrie” and “Kick-Ass 2,” came in second, beating out leading men like Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling, Tom Hardy, Johnny Depp and Chris Hemsworth.

According to IMDb managing editor Keith Simanton, Lawrence blew even the closest competition away. She had 89 percent more page views than Moretz, and led the rest of the field by an even higher margin. “The big story this year is Jennifer Lawrence, who is literally “The Girl on Fire,’” Keith Simanton, IMDb’s managing editor, said. “In 2011 she ranked #1 on the IMDb Top 10 Emerging Stars of the Year list. In 2012 she came in at #2 on our overall Top 10 Stars of 2012 on the strength of the first ‘Hunger Games.’

This year, she’s #1 as she dominated much of the early awards season, when she won the Oscar for Best Actress for “Silver Linings Playbook.” Then she re-ignited the latter half of the year as ‘The Hunger Games’ sequel, ‘Catching Fire,’ lit up November with box office records.” “Sons of Anarchy” star Charlie Hunnam - who dropped out of playing Christian Grey in Universal’s “Fifty Shades of Grey” adaptation - ranked 14 overall, but was the site’s number one emerging star of the year. The list consists of actors who made their debut on the IMDb Top 100 Stars of the

Year ranking for the first time.

See both Top 10 lists, below: The IMDb Top 10 Stars of 2013: 1.

Jennifer Lawrence 2.

Chloé Grace Moretz 3.

Leonardo DiCaprio 4.

Ryan Gosling 5.

Tom Hardy 6.

Anna Kendrick 7.

Johnny Depp 8.

Henry Cavill 9.

Chris Hemsworth

Jennifer Lawrence

10.

Benedict Cumberbatch

The IMDb Top 10 Emerging Stars of 2013 1.

Charlie Hunnam (#14 overall) 2.

Nicholas Hoult (#26 overall) 3.

Paul Walker (#61 overall) 4.

Shailene Woodley (#64 overall) 5.

Aaron Paul (#66 overall) 6.

Karl Urban (#69 overall) 7.

Logan Lerman (#73 overall) 8.

Rebel Wilson (#75 overall) 9.

Natalie Dormer (#85 overall) 10.

Dave Franco (#86 overall)—Reuters

Winslet gives birth to a little rock’n’roll

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

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Book from the Sky by Xu Bing, an installation of hand-printed books and ceiling and wall scrolls are displayed in the exhibition ‘Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A major exhibition of 70 pieces of art by 35 contemporary artists born in China goes on view to the public on December 11. — AFP

Pope inspires nativity scene art in Naples No horsing around for Vienna’s elegant Lipizzans

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legant and disciplined at all times, they trot, pirouette and capriole with what seems like the greatest of ease, steered by impeccable riders in tailcoat and hat. But it takes years of training to achieve the level of perfection exhibited at Vienna’s elite Spanish Riding School-for both horse and human alike. The white Lipizzan horses have delighted tourists visiting Austria’s capital for decades and have become a trademark of the city. But there’s no getting in the school without the right lineage-for a horse that is. As for budding riders, they had better be prepared to get up at 6:00 am six days a week, in their first years, to clean the stables.

No horseback tricks for them either: most of their first year will be spent just learning to sit properly in the saddle. “It’s hard and you know when you start that if you don’t later succeed in training a young horse, you’ll have to leave. And it’s the dream of everyone who starts here to make it and one day become a rider,” Marcus Nowotny, 30, told AFP. He is one of the few who made it through the tough selection and training process, which takes about 10 years, before joining the elite cast of 16 riders at the school. A job he now has for life.

For the horses, all descendants from long lines of Spanish steeds bred by the Habsburg court since the 16th century, training begins at age four and takes about six years until they are able to perform difficult jumps and perfect formations.

However, life is also good for these fine equines-worth an estimated 400,000 euros ($540,000) each. “We have three solariums, with infrared and ultraviolet rays... we also have magnetic therapy,” said stable master Johannes Hamminger, who oversees the more than 100 horses kept by the school.

“The stallions are like top athletes so it’s really very important that we look after them as we would look after a top athlete.”

That includes a healthy nutrition planmuesli, oats, flaxseed, carrots and hay twice a day-daily exercise, sometimes open to the public, and holidays at the school’s country

estate for these city animals. “It’s vital for their psyche. They need to get out... to enjoy nature, experience things in the forest, like a rabbit crossing their path,” Hamminger said.

Oldest school of its kind Privatized by the state in 2001, the school struggled with millions of euros in debt for years. The arrival at its helm of Elisabeth Guertler, director of Vienna’s famed Hotel Sacher, turned things around, but critics have also accused her of commercializing a traditional institution and overworking the horses with additional performances. Nonsense, she insisted: “Horses are animals that need movement.” “I don’t think a horse has any problem crossing the street twice a week and exercising for 10 minutes (in front of an audience) in a riding hall it sees every day.”

Moreover, the school has almost twice as many horses as before, she said. But even with this increased business, the institution will soon need state financial support, Guertler warned. With a history going back 448 years, the Spanish Riding School is the oldest institution of its kind in the world, teaching classical horsemanship in its purest form.

But lately, audiences have been treated to a new sight: since 2008 the school has been accepting female riders. Every once in a while, one might also spot a dark Lipizzan among the immaculate white steeds: legend has it the school will exist as long as it has a dark horse in its stable. Dark at birth, these horses-carefully bred over centuriesturn white at the age of six or seven.

Aside from their weekly performances in Vienna, the Lipizzan horses also go on tour every year around the world, including to the United States and Japan. “I think our horses will touch a lot of people. When you think that these are stallions and you see what kind of character they have, how well they perform... then anyone who loves horses will be moved to the core,” Guertler said. — AFP

The white Lipizzan horses have delighted tourists visiting Austria’s capital for decades and have become a trademark of the city. — AFP

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out of favor at San Gregorio Armeno, but the statuettes of Pope Francis are selling like hot cakes.

Artisan Genny Di Virgilio, whose family has been in the business since 1830, said the pope is his top seller but noted that “current affairs statuettes” should not be confused with the traditional nativity, which he said would be a “blasphemy”. Demand is so high for the pope that Di Virgilio cannot make the terracotta figures fast enough.

ativity scene artisans in Italy have taken Pope Francis’s social message to heart this Christmas, giving a bigger role to ordinary people in their work and reviving the tradition’s simple origins. Statuettes of disgraced former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi are less and less popular at the bustling San Gregorio Armeno market in Naples, where the new pope is now all the rage. “It’s about simplicity,” said Antonio Cantone, one of the city’s most prestigious artists, who sells fine statuettes in the ramshackle courtyard of a 16th-century palazzo near the market.

A picture shows a crib figurine representing a nativity scene at the Cantone & Costabile shop Via San Gregorio Armeno, a narrow street often called the street of nativity workshops or Christmas Alley. — AFP photos

People look at figurines in Via San Gregorio Armeno, a narrow street often called the street of nativity workshops or Christmas Alley.

Cantone has been commissioned to make the giant nativity scene that will be unveiled on St Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Christmas Eve this year-the first Neapolitan artist to have the honor. “I have based the scene on the message of Pope Francis,” he said, adding that it will feature prominently a pauper dressed in rags and a peasant and shepherd bearing humble gifts.

“There are no noblemen, except for the Three Kings,” Cantone said, adding: “The first to arrive when Jesus was born were ordinary people, that is the core of the message I wanted.”

Elaborate nativity scenes began in Naples churches in the 18th century to make religious teachings more accessible by including snapshots of daily life that people could relate to. The custom was then adopted by the aristocracy and spread to ordinary people, becoming a yearly and much-loved tradition for millions of Italians.

The most traditional statuettes are painstakingly handcrafted out of terracotta, given glass eyes and painted-each one a unique work of folk art.

Pope: ‘you made me look thinner’ “Nativity scenes are a serious thing. They can transmit a message,” said Cantone, adding that many popular additions-like a tavern settingwere intended as a warning against the perils of sin. More recently, some artists have begun crafting more unorthodox statuettes from football legend Diego Maradona to famous tenor Luciano Pavarotti-in a bid to raise their profile.

But Cantone, who started out as an art restorer

A craftsman works on a figurine at the Scuotto’s brothers workshop “La Scarabattola” which sells crib figurines.

Tourists look at figurines and cribs in Via San Gregorio Armeno, a narrow street often called the street of nativity workshops or Christmas Alley. and took up making nativity figures later in life, has a more academic approach to the craft.

He said his inspiration for the Vatican nativity came from the oldest, purest historical tradition “with no contamination, no excesses”. Shoppers thronging the tiny street of San Gregorio Armeno, which is visited by tens of thousands of people a day in the Christmas season, echoed the idea of going back to basics.

“I like the classic nativity scene... No Berlusconi, no!” said Bianca, a pensioner out shopping with her husband for a nativity scene for their son, who has had to leave Naples because of the city’s rampant economic crisis.

“The tradition had fallen away but now it’s back in fashion,” she said. Following multiple sex scandals and trials and his eviction from the Italian parliament last month, Berlusconi is very much

“Yesterday I had 80 of them and I sold them all by 11 in the morning! I had one guy from Florence who bought the raw terracotta model and took it just like that, unpainted!” Di Virgilio said. The artist met with the pope during a general audience and handed him a statue of himself. “You made this? Good, good, you made me look thinner!” Di Virgilio said the pope told him. The pope’s statue was “definitely” more popular than that of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, because “all the generations like him,” Di Virgilio said. Giorgio Sannino, 26, out Christmas shopping with his girlfriend, is one fan. “We have to get one! We like this pope a lot because he is close to people. “I think it is an important statue to have for any selfrespecting family.” — AFP