13th Dec 2013

MPs rubbish government’s housing plan

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NO: 16015- Friday, December 13, 2013

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Local FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Local Spotlight

Atyani is free, but who else is not?

By Muna Al-Fuzai

muna@kuwaittimes.net

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fter 18 months of being jailed as a hostage by Abu Sayyaf, the Jordanian journalist Baker Atyani is a free man. This journalist disappeared in Sulu for about a year and half. His kidnapping sent an alert to the world about the safety and security of journalists and the threat of Abu Sayyaf as a terror group that targets innocents because they think this will bring more sympathy to their cause.

Atyani disappeared in June 2012 and was believed to have been abducted by the Abu Sayyaf. Atyani disappeared along with his Filipino TV crewmembers Romelito Vela and Roland Letrico, who were freed in February after a reported payment of ransom. Al Arabiya General Manager Abdulrahman Al-Rashed described Atyani as “one of the most important correspondents who covered the war in Afghanistan and the fighting in Pakistan”.

That I think what made his abduction juicy for Abu Sayyaf group. Despite his harrowing ordeal at the hands of the Abu Sayyaf, Baker Atyani said he intends to return to the Philippines in the future should an opportunity appear and

that he will continue working on his book about the experience of being a hostage there. Atyani had interviewed Osama bin Laden prior to the 9/11 attacks.

Because of the increase in violence, terror groups, gangs and wars in the world, there will always be a journalist who would want to tell the world what is actually going on. So I don’t think Atyani is a sole example and I can’t trust he will be the last or only case. I wonder how much effort and interest has been given to this man. He was captured for 18 months and that is not a short period at all.

Syria is another horror image of the daily killing, torture and threat to all people including journalists. Two Spanish journalists have been kidnapped in Syria by a radical Islamist group. I feel so bad that the world doesn’t care about those who sacrifice their life to send the true message of what is really going on conflict zones. I believe those who kidnap journalists are aiming to silence them from seeing or talking about the horrific crimes they commit. I see no other reason.

The pair often traveled to Syria together. But their latest

journey went awry at a checkpoint in the Raqqa province near the border with Turkey. They were set to leave Syria when armed members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, an Al-Qaeda linked group, grabbed them. Even after all these weeks, it’s still not clear what the terrorist group wants in exchange for the journalists’ return.

I believe this issue is not given enough attention. And although viewers feel sorry for the families of the hostages, few efforts are being made to help release people who go there on a humanitarian mission that is not less than any UN group. I think the UN should take such acts against the journalists on top of its agenda. If the UN and governments don’t do a thing to help those journalists to carry out their mission, then who would? It is like conveying the message that this is not our job and they are on their own!

The journalists are the voice of the helpless and innocents who pay the price of conflicts. That is why we need to give a hand to all of those who get into trouble while carrying out their mission.

Kuwait’s my business

US citizens, including Kuwaitis, face tax challenge

By John P Hayes KUWAIT: A display of handicraft at the Winter Bazaar hosted in Sadu House recently. —Photo by Joseph Shagra local@kuwaittimes.net

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ou’re a US citizen working in Kuwait and not filing tax returns. Uh oh, you’ve got a problem. Even worse: You’re a Kuwaiti with a US passport or a green card and you’ve never filed a US tax return. You’ve got a bigger problem! In a country where the word “tax” isn’t commonly uttered, filing a tax return is a foreign idea. Even some Americans mistakenly believe that since they’re not living in the USA, and the banks in Kuwait do not report their income to the US, they don’t have to file tax returns. But not so, and a new law is about to change the status quo.

Banks to report to the IRS Next year, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), passed as a US law in March 2010, will force the world’s banks to report information to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) about their customers who hold US citizenship or a green card. The law is intended to catch money launderers, but the overreaching effects of the law will impact all US citizens and green card holders. No, it doesn’t matter that you are a Kuwaiti and that you don’t earn money from a US company. If you are a US citizen, or hold a green card, and you’ve earned money, you must file a tax return. This law will be enforced starting July 2014.

What’s that? You say you will renounce your US citizenship or give back your green card? Go ahead. But if you are older than 18-and-a-half, you can be held liable to pay taxes to the US Internal Revenue Service for the previous 10 years. It doesn’t matter if you own your own business in Kuwait and never made a nickel from a US company. US citizens are required to file tax returns annually and pay up if they owe. There is one break - the

first $97,600 of your 2013 income is tax free!

Uncle Sam can hold your money “What if I refuse to pay?” As long as you never enter the US, it may not be a problem. But if you own property, or hold investments in the US, or you have a financial relationship with a USbased company, sorry, Uncle Sam’s got you! He can “freeze” your money until you file and pay up. “How can they do this?” Well, maybe they can’t, and countless people across the globe are hoping the new law will be repealed before it’s enforced.

Nonetheless, at least one bank in Kuwait with major ties to the US has reportedly hired 600 people to comply with FATCA. Cost to the bank? In the range of $100 million!

Severe penalties for banks Uncle Sam also has “got” the banks. Almost every major bank of the world deals in some financial fashion with the US. Banks that do not comply with FATCA will incur a 30 percent withholding penalty on their US investments! No one ever said that Uncle Sam was a friendly guy, except when he sends his troops to save a nation, or settle a crisis. When it comes to collecting his money, he’s ferocious. If you haven’t filed your US income tax returns, you may want to comply starting with the coming tax season.

Don’t think your bank is going to protect you because the penalties are too severe for the banks to risk the loss.

NOTE: Dr John P Hayes teaches marketing at GUST. Contact him at questions@hayesworldwide.com and he’ll reply after he finishes calculating his taxes!

Local FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Ahmed Ahmed A All Emairi

B y Jamie Jamie E By Etheridge theridge

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rrtt ccomes omes in man manyy fforms often subjectt orms and in Kuwait Kuwait it is of ten the subjec of controversy controversy and ccensorship. manyy talented artensorship. Still Still man talented yyoung oung ar tists ar aree emer emerging manyy tur turn platform ging and man n to to Instagram Instagram as a pla tform tto o sho showcase wcase their w work. gifted Kuwaiti ork. One such young young artist artist is the g ifted K uwaiti bankerr, Al Al sket sketch ch artist artist Ahmed Ahmed Al Al Emairi.

Emairi. A 26-year-old 26-year-old corporate corporate banker, tarEmair Emairii is well well known known among Instagrammers Instagrammers in Kuwait Kuwait as the SStares bucks Sleeve Sleeve portraitist.

His galleryy of por portraits figures portraitist. H is galler traits of famous figur icons like Umm Kolthoum and Sindbad, Sindbad, global regional icons includes regional he B eatles, M ichael Jackson and B eyonce and local superstars like TThe Beatles, Michael Beyonce Abdulrahman A lfarsi (the ffounder ounder of A arsi K ite personalities like Abdulrahman Alfarsi All FFarsi Kite Teeam).

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In an exclusive exxcclusiv clus e interview intter e view with K Kuwait uwait TTimes, imes i s, Al Emairi explains his passion and d shar shares rees his plans for the future. futurre.

O ne of Al Al Emairi’s Emairi’s sketches sketches of K uwait T owers.

One Kuwait Towers.

ow did y ou first star awing?

K T: H KT: How you startt dr drawing? l-Emairi: II’ve ’ve been dr awing sinc as a little kkid id un til I A Al-Emairi: drawing sincee I w was until om high school uring m ollege yyears ears I star ted g raduated fr graduated from school.. D During myy ccollege started ning 3D animation, animation, modeling and in terior desig ning. lear learning interior designing. ealized tha o rrevive evive m sketching A fter g raduating, I rrealized After graduating, thatt I had tto myy sketching echniques tto o use them as a dr aft ffor or m ttechniques draft myy 3D modeling modeling.. sketch of A aT ower.

A sketch All Hamr Hamra Tower.

A sk etch of G rand A venues b yA sketch Grand Avenues by All Emairi.

KT: Starbucks K T: How How did you you get the idea to to draw draw on the Starbucks sleeves? ccoffee offee cup slee ves?

Al-Emairi: A l-Emairi: Like any any curious curious person with a pen in his hand newspaper. would while rreading eading a new spaper. The The first thing he w ould do is tto o draw politicians.. But in m myy case case,, I had a pen and a dr aw mustaches on politicians myy mind SStarbucks tarbucks paper cup, cup, and the first thing that that popped in m positivee feedback is tto o draw draw lady SStarbucks feedback tarbucks in an “abbaya”. “abbaya”.”. I had positiv from myy ffellow friends, fr om m ellow ffollowers ollowers and fr iends, this kept me going on.

KT: sketches local K T: You You o also do sk etches of lo cal buildings and landmarks? landmarks?

Al-Emairi: actually A l-Emairi: TThe he sketches sketches of the Kuwaiti Kuwaiti buildings is ac tually a copyrighted byy a B Belgian artist Ben concept invented invented b elgian ar tist called B en copyrighted concept Heine (Camera Pencil that’s whyy ev every encil cconcept), oncept), tha t’s wh ery time I post a (Camera vvss P sketch it’s inspired byy his cconcept. that it ’s inspir ed b oncept. sketch I mention mention that

Darth Vader Vader Darth

KT: inspires you? you?

KT: What What inspires Al-Emairi: inspired byy m myy fr friends, I’m inspir ed b iends, followers, followers, and Al-Emairi: I’m organizations’ appreciation creative art, eciation of this ttype ype of cr eative ar t, which organizations’ appr gave gave me enthusiasm enthusiasm to to continue. continue.

Local FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

KT: What are your favorite things to draw?

Al-Emairi: Nothing specific, buildings, architectures, random patterns. My next step would be calligraphy.

KT: What challenges do you face as an artist in Kuwait?

Al-Emairi: The newer generation is appreciating art and artists in general. Seeing different artistic movements being used locally is a good sign of creativity, like having Umm Kolthoum instead of Marilyn Monroe in a pop art portrait.

Woman in a niqab

KT: What advice would you offer to young artists just starting out?

Al-Emairi: Nothing can stop anyone from being an artist.

Learning nowadays isn’t challenging, you can find all drawing technique in tutorials all over the Internet. Art is used to transfer a thought or an idea in a visual way, when you put that as your goal for being an artist, you will definitely come up with creative ways in transferring your thoughts. I myself faced some obstacles at first, people would say you’re wasting your time (as if there’s a better way to waste my time), now the same people want their faces to be drawn on a Starbucks cuff.

KT: What are your plans for the future?

Al-Emairi: I’ve been working on 3D modeling programs, mainly Autodesk, for the past five years and am planning on starting a business in this field. Sketching is an important step before modeling any design, so I started sketching interior designs and objects. That’s how I revived one of my oldest hobbies, sketching.

Follow him on Instagram @emairi

Jack Sparrow

James Bond

Umm Kolthoum

Steve Jobs

Michael Jackson

Available at The Sultan Centre & Carrefour

sanabel@sanabelkw.com

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Local FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Schools, publishers rewrite ‘reading is dead’ myth Once upon a time there were libraries...

By Sunil Cherian

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ids, adults and in-between people once thronged reading rooms, amused by frog princes and cats in hats. They gobbled up books like the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, relishing the Santa Claus myth but also perished by the Sumerian deity Lilith, a vampire, who according to myth, stole babies. Lilith poses a question in our digital vampire era: Is our reading habit stolen too?

Today’s Generation Z, that passive receivers of audiovisual kinesthetic devices, are, some say, scared of books just like the students in Mike Thaler’s celebrated book ‘The Librarian from the Black Lagoon’. Schools across the world have been accused of decorative libraries that really cannot instill love of reading in kids. Librarians complain about primary school students, the most potential reading group, do not respect books. “They (students) swirl, bend, rip and even chew on books,” a librarian at a Kuwaiti school said.

Most schools in Kuwait have a library or media center. Some schools have computer labs attached to information literacy centers where students switch between printed and e-books. “Students are not allowed in the library”, said an Indian school teacher. “Only some chosen students get to borrow books as a bonus. Otherwise, books sit in the shelves throughout the year untouched,” she said.

“Kids here want to read Hunger Games and Harry Potter,” said a teacher at a foreign school. “But the library doesn’t have them because they don’t want to get into trouble with the ministry,” she said. (The Philosopher’s Stone and the Prisoner of Azkaban in the Harry Potter series are banned by the ministry).

However, advocates of the doomed reading culture overlook the fact that book publishers have, over the recent years, come up with strategies that make people want to read. Classics that are in the form of graphic stories, book editions of Hollywood animation hits, photo-biographies of celebrities and true tales of weird and varied events are a few examples of literature attired in Cinderella shoes just right for today’s Goldilocks.

Publishers like The Islamic Foundation, UK have published a series of books like Cinderella: An Islamic Tale, combining Western popular attractions and Middle Eastern traditional values. There are many Middle Eastern adaptations of Far Eastern and Western stories in the making. Audio books and books with ‘See it 3D’ pages that become animated with an app do make a positive presence in the market.

Many schools have reading programs integrated to their content teaching. There are classroom libraries in many schools around Kuwait where students can munch on their favorite topics. “Teachers in their collaborative planning suggest and include fiction and non-fiction books to go along with the unit they teach,” said Janice Dennis, Primary School Principal at Kuwait Bilingual School, Jahra.

In ‘The Librarian of Basra’, a Harcourt published book penned by Jeanette Winter, Alia Muhammad, the protagonist who is the Basra librarian, saves books by passing them over the library building wall in sacks and hides them first in her neighbor Anis Muhammad’s restaurant and then in her house.

The war burns her library but she dreams of a new library while safeguarding the 30,000 books in her house.

Books and characters like these reassure us that no vampires can steal our reading habit.

By Hassan T Bwambale

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Maintain your brain

ome of the most popular dishes in Kuwait are made with fish. Many people don’t realize how beneficial fish can be for the mind. According to Dr Gary Small, until about 25 years ago or so, most scientists believed that senility was an inevitable part of ageing. It is now clear that this is not necessarily the case. The Kuwaiti diet, which is traditional high in fish, may be one of the keys to maintaining mental health.

Nourishment of the mind: One of the first verses revealed in the Holy Quran urged Muslims to learn. In order to learn, the mind needs to stay healthy. It turns out that the mind can be nourished by certain foods just as much as the body can, particularly foods that are wholesome, nutritious, and high in antioxidants. When brain cells burn oxygen for energy, molecules called “free radicals” are created to eliminate harmful toxins. But, when free radical levels are too high, the free radicals begin damaging neurons. Antioxidants keep these levels down.

Adding fish to your diet is beneficial for the brain because it contains omega 3 fatty acids, which come from the oil of the fish. Omega 3 fatty acids have been shown to improve memory in Alzheimer’s patients, and like other antioxidants, are believed to protect the brain from the

damaging effects of oxidation. In addition to that, fish is high in protein, which is essential for brain function.

What else can you do to maintain and improve your brain?

1- Learn to stay calm with breathing exercises, prayer, physical exercises, etc. Remind yourself about the things that are the most important to you.

2- Seek out people with whom you can have lively and positive conversations. Isolation can lead to depression; a cause of memory problems.

3- Get plenty of rest. During sleep, the brain has a welcomed decrease in sensory input that allows it to sort through our experiences and activities.

4- Learn something new every day. Read, play games (like Scrabble), crossword puzzles, etc.

5- Avoid intoxicants and drugs. They are very harmful to you and your community. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “Strive hard to do whatever is beneficial for you and never surrender.” Fasting is an excellent training method that can help people avoid such intoxicants.

NOTE: Courtesy of the Ties Center. The Ties Center is a leading non-political NGO promoting relations between Westerners and Muslims through dialogue, friendship, and cultural-knowledge exchange.

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Local FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Snobs subdued by tough cop KUWAIT: Four ill-mannered citizens were given a good lesson in respecting public servants on duty when they were beaten up by a wellbuilt police officer, said security sources. Case papers indicate that the police officer was dispatched to examine a collision between a truck and a luxury car in Messila, and on arriving at the scene, one of the four men in the luxury car blamed and shouted at him for ‘arriving at the scene late’. The officer’s attempts to explain himself failed and the enraged young man whose car was damaged started insulting the officer. He grew even more furious when the policeman asked him and the truck driver to accompany him to the police station, which he refused. On arresting him, his three friends attacked the policeman trying to free him, but they failed and were all arrested when backup arrived.

Jeweler gypped An Arab jeweler was arrested when one of his customers, a female citizen, accused him of sexually harassing her, said security sources. Case papers indicate that the woman purchased KD 3,850 worth of gold jewelry on installment, as the man provides such facilities to promote sales.

However, she failed to pay the first installment, and on calling her, she threatened the jeweler and told him to forget about the money.

Furthermore, she showed up at his store, came too close to him and then started screaming that he molested her. The man was arrested and released on bail pending further investigations.

Drunk dancers Two citizens were arrested for consuming alcohol, said security sources, noting that a police patrol suspected the way they drove their vehicles and the loud song they were listening to. The sources added that on stopping the suspects, they seemed enchanted with an Um Kalthoum song and were dancing in their seats. Both were inebriated and reeked of alcohol.

Dhows carrying tourists cruise off the Oman’s Khasab shores along the Strait of Hormuz in this Jan 15, 2011 file photo. —AFP

Gulf plans to become cruise destination Visas, security are barriers to growth ABU DHABI: Two Gulf Arab countries aim to take on the Caribbean as it seeks to become a major destination for cruise tourism, especially during the winter months in the northern hemisphere.

After competing for business in the last few years, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, both part of the seven-member United Arab Emirates, and neighbouring Oman are now collaborating to promote the region as a cruise destination. All three are investing in building additional cruise terminals or facilities and plan to establish common operational and technical standards, although visas and security issues remain sticking points that need to be improved or could limit growth in the industry.

“A joint approach to development will be key to ensuring we have a sustainable agenda for growth,” Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, chairman, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA), told the Seatrade Middle East Cruise Forum on Wednesday. The three Gulf states are formalising a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop the cruise industry in the region, with others likely to join the alliance soon, two industry sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, declining to be named because the information is not yet public. “It is an emerging cruise destination with positives such as winter sun destination, rich cultural heritage, beautiful islands, deserts and with no funding problem,”

one of the sources said.

The biggest barrier to growth will be the issue of visas. The lack of a Europeanstyle Schengen single visa for entry into the six Gulf states and the absence of multi-entry visas are major stumbling blocks, executives of cruise liners told the forum. “A Gulf-wide cruise visa would be ideal to attract more tourists due to the entry and exit into multiple ports, leading to reduced costs and less processing time,” said Grant Holmes, CEO of Progress International, a cruise consultancy. “The Gulf is a promising market but a clear short to medium-term strategy is needed soon from all the Gulf states after forming an alliance to work together to promote the region.”

Security Concerns Dubai, the Gulf’s tourism hub and a duty-free shopping destination, is expanding its cruise terminal by mid2014 to handle five cruise ships simultaneously, said Hamad Mohammed bin Mejren, executive director of Dubai’s department of tourism & commerce marketing. “The economic impact of this industry has been steadily growing,” he said, adding that the emirate hosted 407,000 cruise passengers last year, compared with just 7,000 in 2001. Abu Dhabi had 180,000 passengers in the last cruise season and expects 220,000 passengers on 80 vessels this season.

The capital of the United Arab Emirates, which is investing billions of

dollars in tourism to build museums such as the Louvre and Guggenheim, is building a new permanent cruise terminal to handle three to four cruise ships at a time. It is also developing facilities on two nearby islands - Delma and Sir Baniyas - for cruise tourists, Mohammed Al-Dhaheri, Strategy & Policy Director, TCA Abu Dhabi, said.

Oman, which drew more than 300,000 cruise passengers in the last season, has approved plans for a new terminal at the port of Muttrah, one of three ports open to cruise vessels, Salim bin Aday Al-Mamari, director-general of tourism development, told the forum.

Qatar and Bahrain are also emerging cruise destinations with several liners calling at their ports. With the region gearing up for two major global events Expo 2020 in Dubai and the FIFA world cup in Qatar in 2022, tourism is set to increase.

Political turmoil and violence elsewhere in the Middle East, however, puts the Gulf firmly at a disadvantage compared to cruise destinations such as the Caribbean and Gulf states need to do more to convince tourists that their countries are safe for travel.

Temperatures that can top 40 C in the summer months in the Gulf are another handicap. “Safety and security is critical for all liners as well as guests and work needs to be done to dispel the perception of regional instability,” said Holmes at Progress international. —Reuters

Customary rape A grandmother filed a complaint accusing a citizen of raping her granddaughter under the pretext of ‘customary marriage’ (one done by expressing the consensus of a couple to get married without a ceremony nor witnesses), said security sources. The grandmother said that her granddaughter, who lives with her after her mother’s death, justified her absence from the house by going to an apartment with a guy she had customarily got married to. A case was filed and further investigations are in progress.

Wife disappears A citizen reported that his wife has been missing for two days, said security sources. The man explained that he had gone shopping in Fahaheel where his wife asked to be left shopping alone and asked him to wait in the car, where he waited for 3 hours but she never returned nor answered her phone, which was later switched off. A case was filed and further investigations are in progress.

Car thieves foiled An Egyptian was beaten up by two young men who tried to steal his car when he was about to park it outside his house in Salmiya, said security sources. In his testimony, the man said the two asked for jumper cables which he did not have. On telling them that he did not have any, one of the assailants charged at him and tried getting into his car. “I pushed him out of my car but he beat me, and they both drove off,” said the man, noting that he managed to jot down their vehicle’s license plate number. Checking the number, policemen found that the vehicle belonged to an old man who has two sons. They were later summoned for a line up during which the Egyptian recognized one of them. A case was filed and further investigations are in progress. Separately, an Egyptian reported that unidentified thieves had broken into his car and stolen KD 5,000 from the glove compartment. A case was filed.

MoE cancels morning assemblies over cold KUWAIT: Kuwaiti astronomer Dr Saleh Al-Ojairi said that in view of the cold weather in many neighboring countries, temperatures were expected to drop to zero in outlying areas at the dawn on Sunday and between 0-3 C in urban areas. He based his predictions on the approach of frigid North Siberian winds. Ojairi also predicted rain showers in various areas on Saturday right before the drop in temperature. Meanwhile, assistant undersecretary for public education at the Education Ministry Khaled AlRasheed informed all educational area directors to cancel the morning assemblies on cold days. He also stressed the need to authorize school directors to decide on holding morning assemblies on cold days. —Al-Watan

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Local FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Break your car, sue the ministry

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: If you drive your car over a deep pothole, break the chassis and end up with a large bill from the mechanic, what are your options in Kuwait? Many individuals wonder what could be done in such instances and who is to be blamed for road repairs and damage to cars. Attorney Mubarak Mijzea argues that it is possible to seek compensation from the government if a bad road causes damage to a vehicle or injures a person.

The Ministry of Public Works (MPW) is the institution in charge of road conditions and safety in Kuwait.

According to the Kuwaiti civil law, any person who was subject to harm has the right to be compensated, Mijzea said, adding that in order to file a case, three criteria need to exist - the damage, fault and the resulting relation between them. “For instance, the victim should prove that the vehicle was damaged, that the ministry didn’t do their duty to fix the damage to

the road, and finally that this road lies under the responsibility of the MPW,” he explained.

It’s not only vehicles that can be subject to harm as a result of damaged roads. According to the attorney, one of the cases he recently counseled involved parents who sued the MPW for not maintaining the roads properly and leaving a manhole uncovered. Their young son fell in this manhole and broke his leg in addition to sustaining other injuries. “The MPW claimed that the cover of the manhole was stolen, and that there was a construction project in that area, so we expanded the case to include the contractor and the owner of the company working on this project.

We won the case and the family was compensated,” stressed Mijzea. Filing cases against the MPW is not common because not all drivers file a case against the ministry and they don’t like to go through a long procedure, especially when the damage is not very serious or expensive. “Most people would rather fix their car instead of

HRW slams ruling on criticizing Amir KUWAIT: Human Rights Watch yesterday blasted a ruling by Kuwait’s top court to uphold a disputed law that sends people to jail for up to five years for criticising the Amir. The New York-based HRW said the ruling “dealt a blow to free speech”.

Lawyers defending activists had asked the constitutional court to abolish article 25 of the penal code, which stipulates a jail term of up to five years for anyone who publicly “objects to the rights and authorities of the emir or faults him.” The lawyers argued that the provision suppressed freedom of speech guaranteed under the basic law.

Dozens of opposition activists and former MPs have been taken to court over the past year and sentenced to several years in jail on the basis of the provision.

HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlSabah has pardoned a number of them.

“Kuwait’s highest court could have created a remedy for a slew of prosecutions that violate constitutional guarantees of free speech,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at HRW. “The court squandered that opportunity.” “The authorities should drop charges against those accused or convicted of crimes solely for exercising their right to express critical views on any subject, no matter how sensitive,” said HRW, which also called on parliament to revoke the disputed article.

Kuwait’s constitution describes the ruler as “immune and inviolable”. In its written verdict, the constitutional court said: “It is not acceptable that the highest position in the country should be treated like other individuals.” The court, whose rulings are final, added that failure to protect the ruler could threaten the unity of the state, its internal security and the regime itself. — AFP

running after the compensation which is not high anyway. In fact, filing a case against the MPW is the same as filing a case against the Ministry of Health. For instance, when a patient is harmed due to a medical mistake, he sues the ministry which is responsible for the hospital,” he said, adding that the same system applies to all the ministries. The responsibility for various road problems is shared between different institutions.

“Sometimes different authorities work on roads such as the Ministry of Communication, Municipality, telecommunication companies or contractors working on various projects and roads. So if the harmed person complains and files a case, he has to also include these other institutions who carry part of the responsibility,” he noted. “The harmed individual should first complain at the police station to prove the harm and damage. Then when filing a case at the court, an expert or an engineer from the court will go within a week or two to check the location and make a

KUWAIT: Cars drive on a flooded street amid repair works in this recent photo. —Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat report to be added to the file,” concluded Mijzea.

A source from the MPW who wished to stay anonymous noted that the MPW is dealing with all complaints and tries to fix such problems in a timely manner. “We have a hotline (150) where people

can call and complain about any road problems. Statistics have been published in the local press showing the amount of complaints we have dealt with. MPW also ranked first out of other institutions in dealing and responding to public complaints,” he explained.

Government unwilling to resolve housing crisis: MPs Lawmakers rubbish Othaina’s plan

By B Izzak KUWAIT: MPs lashed out at the government yesterday in a special parliamentary debate over the housing crisis, accusing it of “deliberately perpetuating” the crisis under pressure from real estate merchants and influential people. The criticism came after State Minister for Housing Affairs Salem Al-Othaina revealed in a lengthy presentation that the government plans to build around 170,000 housing units but asked for a number of legislative reforms to accelerate the pace of construction.

The minister said that a backlog of around 107,000 housing applications are awaiting their turn for a government house or a land plot, adding that the government plan also takes into account the addition of 8,000 applications on average every year. Under the plan, which MPs dubbed as a “science fiction film”, the government promises to build four new cities with a capacity of 160,000 units, in addition to thousands of other units in projects underway.

The cities are Khairan in southern Kuwait (35,000), Mutlaa near Jahra (21,000), North Mutlaa (52,000) and Subbiya (52,000). The plan also calls for building over 7,000 units near Kuwait Airport. The minister gave no estimates for the cost of all the projects, but he said each city would cost around KD 4 billion while the project near the airport will cost KD 650 million.

Othaina however said a number of legislations were needed to accelerate the pace of construction. He called for scrapping the housing law no. 50 and substitute it with a new law on housing cities and to abolish prior supervision by the Audit Bureau. MPs rejected the minister’s demands outright, insisting that the removal of the Audit Bureau supervision will only encourage graft, adding that the present

legislations, especially housing law no. 50, are sufficient to implement the housing plan.

Commenting on the government request, former speaker and opposition leader Ahmad Al-Saadoun said on Twitter changing the law is intended to open the housing sector to influential merchants. The minister said that the ministry will carry out a plan to update all housing applications in order to make sure that the applications are genuine. But the presentation appears to have angered MPs who strongly criticized it and said they have no trust that the government will implement it.

MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan said the minister will not be able to implement the plan and called on him to resign. “If the price of real estate and land in Kuwait was not too expensive, we wouldn’t have had a housing problem.

Accordingly, we should bring down the price of real estate and the government should distribute land at a very low price,” Duwaisan said. “There are people who want to keep the price of land in Kuwait more expensive than Tokyo. We have reached a point where no one can afford to buy a house because most people don’t have KD 300,000 or KD 400,000,” Duwaisan said.

MP Ali Al-Rashed said that five years ago during a special debate on housing in the Assembly, “I said it was strange that the price of 500 square meters in Qadsiya was KD 250,000. Today, that price has doubled to KD. 500,000,” he said. MP Adnan Abdulsamad said that the delay in resolving the housing crisis forces the government to pay KD 192 million every year as housing allowance for Kuwaitis waiting their turn. Abdulsamad warned that the housing problem is economic and social in nature but it may become political in nature and called for a swift solution.

MP Saleh Ashour said the government lacks a vision to resolve the crisis and people are fed

Salem Al-Othaina up. He said the whole of Kuwait’s urban development is built on just 8 percent of the country’s territory, which means that Kuwait has plenty of spare land for housing. He said that even if we build 200,000 houses, we will only cover another 10 percent of the land and that leaves plenty of territory. “So we don’t have a land problem or financing problem. The problem is the absence of a political decision,” he said.

During the debate, a small number of youths from the so-called “Nater Bait” (Waiting for House) group disrupted the proceeding briefly on several occasions by accusing the government of doing nothing to resolve the housing problem. They were taken away by Assembly guards. After the debate, MPs passed a recommendation calling on the ministries of defense and oil to free more land under their control for housing purposes.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Humanitarian crisis emerges in C Africa

Ethiopia’s colossal human airlift from Saudi Arabia

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With VIPs gone, mourning S Africans reclaim Madiba

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JERUSALEM: A couple takes a selfie in Jerusalem as snow falls yesterday. — AFP

Winter storm pummels Mideast Banks, schools, offices shut BEIRUT: A bruising winter storm brought severe weather to the Middle East yesterday, forcing the closure of roads and schools and blanketing already miserable Syrian refugee camps with snow. The nearly three-year-old conflict in Syria has killed an estimated 126,000 people and displaced millions of others, including more than two million who have fled across the borders and thousands who are living in makeshift camps. Footage posted online by activists showed war-battered areas of Syria shrouded in snow, and at least two small children have died from the cold, according to a spokesman for the opposition National Coalition.

The inclement weather also delayed the first-ever international UN airlift, set to fly from the Kurdish region of northern Iraq to the town of Qamishli in northeastern Syria.

“When it will start is difficult to say-I think the authorities in Qamishli are going to check conditions at the airfield tomorrow,” UN refugee agency (UNHCR) regional spokesman Peter Kessler told AFP. Heavy snow in Turkey forced the cancellation of scores of flights and caused major disruption to road and sea traffic. In tent camps

across Lebanon, thousands of Syrian refugees huddled on muddy floors under plastic sheeting that provided little relief from the icy winds. “I hate the cold,” said 13-year-old Sakr in a camp in Saadnayel, in the mountains outside Beirut, where children, many without hats or gloves, sneezed and rubbed their hands together.

“When it snows, the melted water becomes mud inside the tents, which collapse on our heads because of the weight of snow.”

More than 800,000 Syrians have fled to neighbouring Lebanon since the civil war erupted nearly three years ago, many sheltering in tents and unfinished buildings. The UNHCR said it was working with the Lebanese army to distribute blankets and provide money for heating fuel. In the Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon where most of the tent camps are concentrated, temperatures were expected to drop below freezing overnight. Residents of the sprawling Zaatari camp in northern Jordan, home to 120,000 Syrian refugees, fared slightly better as the storm brought heavy rains but no snow. Authorities said they have set up 20,000 caravans, but that thousands of people are still in tents.

Banks, schools, offices shut Elsewhere in the eastern Mediterranean, temperatures plunged and heavy snow fell at higher elevations, including in Jerusalem, where schools were closed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a planned reception for the foreign press due to “inclement weather”.

In the Gaza Strip, which has been in the grip of a fuel crisis that has affected hospitals, sanitation services and sewerage, torrential rains filled the streets with floodwater and overflowing sewage, and forced the closure of schools and banks. Hamas-run authorities said about 40 homes were flooded in Rafah and Khan Yunis, and that residents were sheltering in police stations.

Most residents had to rely on generators for heat as the fuel crisis has led to regular power outages. Storms have brought down four electricity lines from Israel and one from Egypt, energy authority spokesman Ahmad Abu Al-Amrin said on his Facebook page, cutting down power supplies to homes to four hours a day from the previous six.

Hamas announced the cancellation of

marches and other events to mark Friday’s anniversary of the founding of the movement.

The deteriorating conditions even prompted Gaza’s Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya to appeal for help from Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas of the rival Fatah party, Hamas’s official news agency said.

The two men discussed in a telephone call “the humanitarian situation the Gaza Strip is suffering” and “ending division” between the bitter rivals, Hamas’s Al-Rai news agency said.

In the occupied West Bank, snow fell on Bethlehem’s Manger Square, the traditional site of the birth of Jesus Christ. Most West Bank schools were closed but roads were generally passable and no serious accidents were reported. The government in Jordan closed ministries and other offices on account of heavy snow and rain and urged residents to stay indoors. Banks and schools were also shut. In Egypt’s Sinai, heavy rains caused power cuts and two police were injured when their car overturned on a muddy road. The arid coastal Levant enjoys mild weather for much of the year, but winter often brings heavy rains that snarl traffic in cities ill-adapted to it. — AFP

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

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International FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Iran, Saudi invited to Syria talks BEIRUT: Iran and Saudi Arabia, which back opposite sides in Syria’s war, are among more than 30 countries slated to attend a peace conference next month, diplomats said. The so-called Geneva 2 conference, a follow-up to a 2012 meeting, is aimed at mapping out a political transition to end nearly three years of fighting that has killed more than 120,000 people and displaced millions. But the January 22 meeting will actually be held at the lakeside Swiss city of Montreux because of a shortage of hotel rooms in Geneva, which will be hosting a luxury watch fair, a Western diplomat told AFP. “At the moment there are 32 countries invited, but that number may increase because everyone wants to come,” an Arab diplomat told AFP. “In addition to the five permanent members of the Security Council (the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China), there are the neighbouring countries, as well as Saudi Arabia and Iran, and also Germany and Italy and others.” Shiite Iran is a key ally of President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, while Saudi Arabia has strongly backed the Sunni-led rebels.

Most countries will be represented by their top diplomats and “each minister can speak for five minutes,” the Arab diplomat said. Afterwards, many of the foreign ministers will attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, which runs from January 22 to 25. The regime and the opposition will each send delegations to the meeting, and will hold bilateral talks hosted by UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on January 24 in Geneva.

“Each delegation will be composed of nine members and both the regime and the opposition should present their lists to the UN by December 27, but it is not certain they will respect this date,” the Arab diplomat said. Composing the list could prove a daunting task for Syria’s opposition, which is riddled with internal divisions and increasingly at odds with powerful rebel groups fighting on the ground, many of which have rejected the conference.

‘Still too many unknowns’ Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief Bandar bin Sultan told Russian President Vladimir Putin this month that Riyadh would send a delegation to the meeting, but only on the condition the opposition is represented by the National Coalition, an umbrella group backed by Western and Arab nations, according to a third diplomat who did not wish to be identified. Various other parties, including tolerated opposition groups inside Syria which are closer to regime ally Russia and do not support the rebellion, have reportedly expressed interest in attending the conference.

“Putin has not, for the moment, responded to the request,” he said. The Coalition has said it is going to the conference to discuss the removal of Assad from power, while the regime has said it will attend the negotiations “without preconditions”. Diplomats said they expected the atmosphere at the talks to be tense, and a European diplomat at the United Nations said UN officials would meet with the delegates ahead of the conference to explain the “rules of the game”. “At this point, I don’t even know for sure if the conference will take place because there are still so many unknowns,” he said.

Regime in position of strength The Syrian regime looks set to attend the conference in a position of strength after a string of battlefield victories in the mountainous Qalamoun region near the border with Lebanon. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group that relies on activists and other witnesses inside Syria, said Syrian troops backed by Lebanese and Iraqi militiamen have captured almost the entire region.

That will allow the regime to reopen the key DamascusHoms highway linking the capital to the centre of the country and to deny the rebels crucial smuggling routes along the Lebanese border. The rebels, meanwhile, are more divided than ever, with a powerful new Islamist alliance eclipsing the Western-backed Free Syrian Army. The Islamic Front-which does not include Al-Nusra Front or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, two Al-Qaeda affiliates-seized key bases and arms depots from the FSA this week. The move prompted the United States and Britain to suspend their non-lethal aid to the FSA and added to concerns over whether any agreement struck in Switzerland can be implemented on Syria’s ever-shifting battlefields. —AFP

Ethiopia’s colossal human airlift from Saudi Arabia ‘To live in Saudi is to cry every day’ ADDIS ABABA: When Ethiopia started repatriating its citizens living illegally in Saudi Arabia last month, 30,000 people were expected to return. Today, four times that amount have been repatriated-with numbers still swelling daily-straining agencies to support one of the largest human airlift operations in recent history.

“We really need support. It’s a very big challenge returning over 120,000 people in less than a month... It’s an emergency,” said Sharon Dimanche of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which is assisting the government-led repatriation programme.

“We have to save people’s lives,” she added. IOM said $13.1 million (9.5 million euros) is currently required to support returnees. Ethiopia expects 150,000 to return, but has been repeatedly forced to scale up its predictions as the returnees continue to flood back. Thousands-some pregnant, traumatised or sick-continue to land daily, many with tales of abuse and mistreatment.

“To live in Saudi is to cry every day,” said Kamer Hajji, 36, who worked as a carpenter in the oil-rich kingdom for the previous four years. “We are trying to keep ourselves together, but that’s not how it really is, we are broken inside,” he said, speaking near a bustling airport warehouse where thousands were searching for their luggage. “They took our money, they took our belongings and there are people who have died,” he said.

Ethiopia started repatriating its citizens in November after a seven-month amnesty period for undocumented immigrants expired. Ethiopia said three of its citizens were killed in clashes with police as migrants prepared to be sent home.

Large numbers of Ethiopians move to the Middle East each year seeking work as domestic servants or menial labourers to earn money to send home.

But many face harsh working conditions, physical and mental abuse, low pay and discrimination, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Ganzeb Tefera, 30, said she went to Saudi Arabia 10 months ago to make some fast money to send to her child in Ethiopia, but instead said she waited seven months to be paid.

“I was expecting a very good life, I thought I would get a decent job and

ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopian immigrants returning from Saudi Arabia arrive at Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport. — AFP would get paid well and would come back to Ethiopia with money and support my family,” she said, sitting in a health clinic at the arrivals centre, surrounded by pregnant women and nursing mothers.

Instead, Ganzeb said she was thrown on the street when she complained of her workload, and was soon after picked up by police.

“At the jail, I saw people who were there for five months or a year, some committed suicide, some went crazy. The treatment was really harsh,” she said.

Ganzeb is among many fleeing harsh economic conditions back home.

Unemployment in Ethiopian cities is 20 percent, according to the ILO, and most of the country’s 91 million people earn less than two dollars a day.

Lure of a better life Overseas employment agencies-many illegal-are rampant in the Horn of Africa country.”There are challenges with poverty, people are poor, but that is not the only reason why people are moving, we have traffickers, we have smugglers, who are taking advantage of these poor people,” the IOM’s Dimanche said. Ethiopia has said it is committed to addressing the root cause of mass migration-poverty-with ambitious plans to boost employment.

Illegal migration has long plagued the

Horn of Africa, with tens of thousands risking their lives each year to move abroad.

The lure of earning lavish salaries overseas draws most people abroad, but the reality on the ground is often different. Toyeba Yassin, 25, returned after working as a housemaid in Saudi Arabia for nearly two years. Her employer made her clean several houses and cook, but when she complained, her salary was docked.

“They took my money, they didn’t even give me food to eat. I didn’t get enough sleep because I used to work at many places,” she said, speaking after leaving the plane. “Thank God I am here now.”

Ethiopia now faces the task of absorbing returnees, many of whom are emptyhanded, having had their savings and belongings confiscated. “We anticipate that there will be quite a number that will remain in Addis Ababa or the major cities in Ethiopia because they can’t go home,” said David Murphy, Ethiopia chief of the International Rescue Committee. But despite the harsh treatment many faced, some say they would move abroad again since employment opportunities at home are still scant. “I have not finished paying the money I borrowed,” said Ganzeb, referring to a loan she took to pay her way to Saudi Arabia. “If I don’t get a job here I would like to go back... to pay back my loan and support my child.” — AFP

Egyptian police fire teargas on protesters CAIRO: Egyptian riot police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse hundreds of pro-Islamist protesters demonstrating near the headquarters of the ministry of defence in Cairo yesterday, security sources said. Egypt has been witnessing almost daily protests by supporters of elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi since the army removed him in July after mass protests against his rule.

Mursi’s removal opened the bloodiest chapter in Egypt’s modern history.

Security forces have since killed hundreds of his supporters, while some 200 soldiers and policemen have died, many in attacks by Islamist militants in the Sinai peninsula, bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza strip. Students supporting Mursi have been staging daily protests for months inside and outside their universities. Last month, Egypt’s

army-installed interim government issued a law that banned protests near or originating from places of worship, and made it compulsory to seek Interior Ministry permission to hold a demonstration.

Since the law was passed, hundreds of Brotherhood protesters and other liberal activists have been arrested for demonstrating without police permission. —Reuters

International FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Kerry back to Mideast to push peace talks WASHINGTON: Continuing a furious pace of shuttle diplomacy aimed at securing an elusive Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by spring, US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in the Middle East yesterday on his ninth trip of the year. In closed-door talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday and today, Kerry will be following up on elements of a West Bank security plan, ideas for which he unveiled on his most recent visit to the region just last week, and other points of potential progress. Kerry’s latest visit comes amid Palestinian unhappiness with the security

plan and few, if any, tangible signs of progress.

“This is an ongoing discussion,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Wednesday, two days after Kerry met with each side’s top negotiators in Washington. “Certainly we expect they will talk about security, as they will discuss other issues.” Kerry, along with special US Mideast peace envoy Martin Indyk, met separately and then together for about three hours Monday with chief Israeli negotiator Tippi Livni and her Palestinian counterpart, Saeb Erekat, Psaki said. Livni and Erekat were in Washington for a Mideast conference in which

President Barack Obama, Netanyahu and Kerry all participated.

Kerry also spoke Wednesday by phone with Netanyahu.

On Monday, though, a senior Palestinian official railed against US attempts to broker a broad outline of an IsraeliPalestinian peace deal, saying Kerry is breaking a promise to try to negotiate a final agreement in the current round of talks.

The Palestinians are concerned that a framework deal will accommodate very specific Israeli security demands while offering only vague promises to the Palestinians, said top Abbas aide Yasser Abed Rabbo. — AFP

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International FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Ukraine protesters firm as US considers sanctions KIEV: Ukrainian demonstrators celebrated holding three weeks of protests yesterday over the government’s decision to reject a historic EU deal, as the United States threatened sanctions after a failed police raid on the protest barricades. Tensions in the capital eased after a showdown in the early hours of Wednesday, when riot police tried to drive the protest camp out of the iconic Independence Square in the ex-Soviet country’s deepest political crisis in a decade.

President Viktor Yanukovych-whose refusal to sign an integration deal with the EU sparked the first protests on November 21 — promised at talks with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton he would sign the pact, she said. But Yanukovych remained under immense pressure after riot police Wednesday failed to shift thousands of demonstrators from Independence Square in a raid that drew international condemnation.

Protesters fortified their positions overnight

by filling plastic bags with snow which they used as sandbags as well as pouring water over the barricades in sub-zero temperatures.

“The night went well,” protester Oleg Polivko told AFP after standing guard by the structure. He said the failed raid “was a good lesson” for the authorities. “They made their conclusions: you cannot fight with your own people.” Over a thousand protesters spent the night on the square, bolstered by their ability to withstand the police in the raid, which injured about 30 people. “We have to last at least six more days,” called out singer Ruslana, who won the Eurovision contest in 2004 and has been an Independence Square fixture for days, performing the daily national anthem for protesters a capella. The central square, the scene where the Orange Revolution unfolded in 2004, forcing the scrapping of a fraud-tainted election and bringing a pro-Western government to power, swelled with hundreds of thousands of protesters at the weekend.

Putin woos Ukraine for Customs Union Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday Ukraine was still welcome to join work a Moscow-led Customs Union which he sees as a future alternative to the European Union. “We are not imposing anything on anyone but if our friends want joint work we are ready for a continuation for that work at expert level,” Putin said in his annual address to the nation. “Our integration project is based on equal rights, on real economic interests,” said Putin. The EU has said it cannot sign a free-trade agreement with Ukraine if the ex-Soviet country became a member of the Customs Union. Ashton, who met Yanukovych twice in Kiev in the last two days, said the Ukrainian leader told her he “intends” to sign an EU association accord which he shelved last month under Russian pressure. Yanukovych “made it clear to me that he intends to sign the association agreement,” she said after returning to Brussels. However no time commitment was given. The Ukraine government has never for-

Humanitarian crisis emerges in C Africa Thousands seek refuge in makeshift camps BANGUI: A humanitarian crisis loomed yesterday over the Central African Republic as tens of thousands sought refuge in makeshift camps around the capital Bangui following a wave of massacres. Sectarian violence that claimed at least 400 lives in Bangui last week had abated following the weekend arrival of a 1,600-strong French intervention force, but many were still afraid to return to their homes.

Aid workers said only a fraction of Bangui’s estimated 800,000 residents remained in the city, with many living rough near a French military base and in other areas considered more safe. The focus is shifting to conditions in the makeshift camps, with humanitarian workers raising fears of cholera and other diseases spreading. Aid groups said at least 45,000 people had sheltered around the city’s international airport, where French soldiers have maintained a base since 2002.

“We are seeking refuge but there is no

water and no food,” said a man who had fled from the neighbouring Boeing district where the former Seleka rebels had gone on the rampage, killing and looting with impunity. Aid officials fear that epidemics could spread easily. The medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has set up a mobile clinic capable of carrying out up to 300 consultations a day. There are only two points to access water at the camp near the airport and both have been set up by the Red Cross.

Acute food, water crisis To make matters worse, UN aid agencies have not delivered any food supplies to the camp for the last week, a humanitarian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Muslim-majority PK district in downtown Bangui was largely empty, with most residents having fled their homes to escape reprisal attacks by Christian vigilante groups. France sent in troops to CAR in what President Francois Hollande said was

BANGUI: People rest by the carcass of an abandoned plane in a camp for internally displaced person (IDP) near the airport of Bangui yesterday. —AFP

a bid to prevent “carnage”.

It was France’s second military intervention in Africa this year after a campaign to quell Islamists and Tuareg rebels in Mali.

Two soldiers from an elite French regiment died in a fierce gunbattle on Monday and there has been opposition criticism at home over the cost of the operation at a time when the country is facing economic hardship. Although other Western countries have praised France for taking the lead in buttressing a 2,600-strong African peacekeeping mission in CAR, none has pitched in with additional troops on the ground.

Former French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, who founded MSF, denounced other European countries for not following Paris’s lead. “I am proud of my country,” he told French television, adding that the French campaign had “prevented a massacre”. “One thing troubles me greatly and that is the absence of Europe,” he said, accusing leaders of other European countries of “scandalous cowardliness”.

Air France meanwhile resumed flights from Paris to Bangui yesterday, after having halted them on Tuesday following the death of the two French soldiers. “Security conditions permit us to resume service to Bangui,” a spokesman told AFP, adding that the usual weekly Tuesday flight would be restored.

The relatively calm situation in Bangui was in sharp contrast to Monday and Tuesday, when rampaging locals pillaged shops owned by Muslims. The scale of any violence outside the capital 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. Having initially presented operation Sangaris as 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. —AFP

mally abandoned its plan to sign the deal. After the most recent scuffles Washington upped the pressure by saying it was considering a range of options in response to the attempted crackdown.

“Sanctions are included but I am not going to outline specifics,” said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki. Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel called Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Lebedev, warning against using military force “in any fashion” against increasingly confident protesters.

‘Two choices’ for Yanukovych On Tuesday, Yanukovych is expected to travel to Russia for new talks with Putin after the two discussed a strategic partnership treaty last week, which risks infuriating the opposition further. A senior Ukrainian delegation was set to travel to Brussels later yesterday, with First Deputy Prime Minister Sergiy Arbuzov expected to meet European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fuele. —AFP

Italy’s Letta wins parliament vote ROME: Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta on Wednesday won a parliamentary confidence vote triggered by the fall of Silvio Berlusconi, promising to push through a pro-European reform agenda and fight populism. Letta vowed to bring political stability and economic growth to a country on the point of exiting its longest post-war recession, condemning “chaos” after anti-austerity protests this week across Italy.

“We will not allow Italy to sink again,” Letta told lawmakers, promising to “fight with everything I have to avoid our country being thrown back into chaos just as it is beginning to lift itself up again”. “Today we are drawing a clear line. On this side are those who love Europe... knowing that without the European Union we would plunge into the Middle Ages.

“On that side are those who want to block Europe,” he said in a thinly-veiled reference to Berlusconi and the anti-establishment firebrand politician Beppe Grillo.

Letta won the vote in the lower house handily with 379 in favour and 212 against. He then won the vote more narrowly in the upper house, obtaining 173 votes, or 22 more than required for an absolute majority. Letta admitted that instability had “weakened” his government but voiced hope that the confidence vote would give his coalition a stronger mandate to govern and press ahead with much-needed reforms.

He said he would impose further cuts on Italy’s overweight bureaucratic machine and aim for gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 1.0 percent in 2014 and 2.0 percent in 2015, while also slashing debt. “Italy will shake off the image of an unstable, Baroque country that can never decide anything,” said Letta, who came to power in April following a two-month stalemate after an inconclusive general election.

Letta also promised to reduce the number of parliamentarians and end public subsidies to political parties-both reforms that have long been mooted in Italy, including by Letta, but never carried out. The vote was called after the scandal-tainted Berlusconi’s party quit the ruling coalition and he was ejected from parliament over a tax fraud conviction. Berlusconi’s departure would have brought down the government but a group of the playboy politician’s former proteges broke away and stayed in the cabinet.

In a sign of the social tensions in Italy, there have been sometimes violent rallies led by an anti-austerity movement known as the “Forconi” (Pitchforks) who held a small protest in Rome on Wednesday. Members of the Fiom metalworkers’ union also took to the streets of the Italian capital to demand more help from the government to save jobs.

Letta’s cabinet won some breathing space this week with the long-awaited news that the economy has stopped contracting and an end to recession was imminent. But unemployment and poverty are still rampant. The vote comes after the election on Sunday of the 38-year-old mayor of Florence, Matteo Renzi, to the leadership of the Democratic Party, the main centre-left party, in a major shift in Italian politics. —AFP

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International FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

‘Fake’ deaf Mandela signer had ‘schizophrenic episode’ Signer slammed for ‘flapping arms around’

PRETORIA: A woman cries after paying her respect to South African former president Nelson Mandela as he lies in state at the Union Buildings yesterday. —AFP

With VIPs gone, mourning S Africans reclaim Madiba PRETORIA: Nelson Mandela was given back to ordinary South Africans, who queued in their thousands from early morning yesterday to file past his open casket on a day of viewing reserved for the public. Until now the cameras of the world have often been trained on leaders, VIPs and celebrities paying tribute to a man known for his common touch-a man who related to princes and paupers with equal ease.

Ordinary mourners from all walks of life had also queued for hours on end Wednesday to view the body, but many were turned away by evening without having made it to the front of the long, winding line of people united in grief and gratitude for the father of their democratic nation.

Many returned yesterday for another chance, with the entire day given over to general public access. “My heart is so broken,” said Anita Bodiba, 35, who arrived at the seat of government, the Union Buildings, hours before dawn to join the long queue that had already formed. “I can’t even sleep, I’m thinking of Madiba. He is the one who united us here in South Africa-white people, black people, Indian people,” she said-using the clan name by which the democracy icon is fondly known. On Wednesday, Mandela’s distraught widow Graca Machel and other family members were followed by presidents, royalty and other international figures in paying their last respects in the amphitheatre of the Union Buildings where the Nobel laureate is laying in state. It was here that he was inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president in 1994, after emerging from 27 years’ imprisonment.

Last respects A third day of lying in state will be held today, after which Mandela’s body will be transported to his boyhood home of Qunu, ahead of its eventual burial on Sunday. Yesterday’s programme began, as the day before, with Mandela’s casket brought in a solemn cortege from the 1 Military Hospital to the Union Buildings. Thousands lined the route as a black hearse, flanked by motorcycle outriders, carried the flagdraped coffin on its journey through the streets of Pretoria.

In the Union Buildings amphitheatre, soon to be renamed after him, Mandela’s body lies underneath a perspex screen, dressed in the type of printed shirt that became his trademark. Two navy officers stood by the coffin, their eyes downcast, and Mandela’s grandson Mandla sat in a chair on the platform supporting the coffin. Some visitors collapsed as they passed the coffin, felled by the weight of their grief, and were helped away by medical personnel and fellow mourners. “It was so sad,” Alinah Lekalakala, 52, said after seeing the body of her icon. “I needed to pay my last respects because I am so grateful for what he has done. This will help me to accept that he is gone.” For Tryphina Kau, 78, the event was a joyful one. “I am very, very happy because his spirit is still with us, only the body is going,” she said, recounting the day that Mandela shook her hand while she queued to vote in South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994. “I saw him at the beginning, and I came to see him at the end.” Lebogang Phillips, a 36-year-old police officer who had served on Mandela’s security detail when he was president, remembered the man as “the friendliest person I have ever met”. —AFP

JOHANNESBURG: The sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s memorial ceremony denied he was a fraud Thursday, claiming he gesticulated nonsense during the service because he was suffering a schizophrenic episode and hallucinating. Thamsanqa Jantjie has been branded a fraud by members of South Africa’s deaf community, who said his signing for US President Barack Obama and other world leaders amounted to little more than “flapping his arms around.”

Jantjie on Thursday insisted he was a qualified signer, but said his behaviour was down to a sudden attack of schizophrenia, for which he takes medication.

“There was nothing I could do. I was alone in a very dangerous situation,” he told Johannesburg daily The Star, adding that he was hearing voices and hallucinating. “I tried to control myself and not show the world what was going on. I am very sorry. It’s the situation I found myself in,” he added.

But Jantjie’s explanation appeared to raise as many questions as answers.

South Africa’s deaf organisations rubbished the suggestion that this was a one-off problem, claiming they had complained to the government before about Jantjie. Footage has emerged showing him signing for President Jacob Zuma at the ruling ANC party’s 100th anniversary celebrations in 2012.

Security concerns The South African government on Thursday admitted a “there might be a mistake, where other people might not have understood the interpreter,” acknowledging that Jantjie was “not a professional sign language interpreter.”

“But I don’t think he was picked up from the street,” said Hendrietta BogopaneZulu, deputy minister for women, children and persons with disabilities, stating that he may have had problems with English or been tired.

Bogopane-Zulu also admitted that the government could not track down the company Jantjie worked for. “We spoke to them wanting some answers and they vanished into thin air,” she said. “It looks like they have been cheating all along.”

The revelations also raise questions about how Jantjie, who was at one point little more than an arm’s length away from Obama and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, was vetted and received security clearance.

The White House referred all questions on the matter to the South African government but said it would be regrettable if the incident overshadowed Obama’s “very powerful remarks” at the memorial service. “It would be a shame if a distraction about an individual who was on stage in any way detracted from the importance of that event and the importance of president Mandela’s lega-

cy,” deputy spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in Washington.

Jantjie’s efforts at the memorial service triggered outrage in the deaf community and prompted a government investigation. Cara Loening, director of Sign Language Education and Development in Cape Town, labelled him a “complete fraud” whose signing looked like someone “trying to swat a few flies away from his face and his head”.

Asked why he didn’t just leave the stage, Jantjie said that, given the historic importance of the event, he felt compelled to stay even though he could not hear or concentrate properly.

“Life is unfair. This illness is unfair,” he said. “Anyone who doesn’t understand this illness will think that I’m just making this up.”

Jantjie’s signing appeared at odds with that of the public broadcaster’s signer, who was shown in a small insert box on SABC television screens. The South Africa’s Translators’ Institute on Wednesday said they already had reservations about Jantjie. The institute’s chairman Johan Blaauw said there had been complaints over his work on previous occasions but the ruling party took no action. The government denied that the scandal had damaged the country’s reputation. “Are we embarrassed as a country? I don’t think it is the right choice of word,” Bogopane-Zulu said. —AFP

Jonathan told not to stand in 2015 by mentor Obasanjo ABUJA: Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has been told it would be “morally flawed” for him to run for re-election in 2015, in a scathing letter from his mentor and former head of state Olusegun Obasanjo. Obasanjo lays down a damning appraisal of Jonathan’s leadership, chiding him on his performance on everything from corruption and insecurity to the economy, in the 18-page letter entitled ‘before it is too late’, seen by Reuters yesterday.

The former president even likens the current situation to the tenure of General Sani Abacha, whose five years of military rule in the 1990s were marred by human rights abuses and the looting of funds from Africa’s biggest oil producer. Open criticism from a highprofile figure in the ruling party may encourage politicians to defect to a newly-united opposition and give greater confidence to potential rivals considering standing against Jonathan for the party leadership.

The presidency responded by saying the comments by Obasanjo were “reckless, baseless, unjustifiable and indecorous”, adding that the letter had been deliberately leaked to the media. The potency of Obasanjo’s criticisms and the public nature of the spat add to a weight of embarrassment for Jonathan, coming days after another leaked letter, this time from the central bank, opened an investigation into missing oil funds.

Nigeria’s Senate on Wednesday launched a probe into the letter to Jonathan from the central bank, which said the state-oil company NNPC failed to account for $50 billion of revenue from 18-months of oil sales. Africa’s second-biggest economy and top oil exporter is growing as an investment destination but reports of violence, corruption and political instability often tarnish its image.

General Obasanjo, who was president for eight years until 2007, was a strong influence in bringing Jonathan to power but their relationship has since soured. The former president says Jonathan promised prior to his election victory in 2011 that he wouldn’t run again. Jonathan has previously denied making such promises and he has not said whether he will contest the 2015 elections.

Jonathan’s assumed ambition to seek re-election is a thorny

issue in religiously-mixed Nigeria, where alternating the presidency between the majority Christian south and the mostly Muslim north has been considered an unwritten rule. Jonathan, a southern Christian, was vice president and came to power when President Umaru Yar’Adua, a northern Muslim, died in May 2010, three years into his first term.

Jonathan’s campaign in 2011 angered many northerners who felt it was still their turn to rule for what would have been Yar’Adua’s second term. If Jonathan runs again in 2015 it could create further animosity. “It would be fatally morally flawed” to run in 2015, Obasanjo, a Yoruba Christian from the southwest, said in his letter.

He advised Jonathan not to listen to “sycophantic” advisers and to heed the warning signs in north Africa.

“When the consequences come, those who have wrongly advised you will not be there to help carry the can. Egypt must teach some lesson,” referring to a revolution and upheaval there.

Obasanjo’s own reputation was tarnished towards the end of his presidency by attempts to make changes to the constitution, which would have allowed him to run for a third term.

Jonathan has brushed off several corruption scandals and personal attacks in the past but opposition is mounting. Last month, several powerful governors defected from Jonathan and Obasanjo’s ruling People’s Democratic Party and joined the All Progressives Congress, a coalition opposition formed in February which now poses the biggest threat to the PDP since the end of military rule in 1999.

The PDP still controls a strong majority in the national assembly and has the biggest power base and financial muscle. Jonathan is also struggling to quell an insurgency from Islamist sect Boko Haram in the north and rampant oil theft in his home Niger Delta region, which is straining the economy. Every Nigerian president has had to cope with insecurity, governance and human rights problems, and each has been hit by eye-popping corruption scandals. Obasanjo thinks the situation is worse than ever; Jonathan says its on the way to recovery. —Reuters

International FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Ex-Thai PM Abhisit indicted for murder over crackdown Thai protesters cut off power to PM’s offices

SHENZHEN: This picture shows six-year-old Guo Bin - known as Bin Bin - (center), who had his eyes gouged out in August, smiling next to his mother and father while holding a piece of paper where he wrote the Chinese word for ‘thank you’, at the C-Mer Dennis Lam Eye Hospital yesterday. — AFP

Chinese boy in eye-gouging case leaves hospital HONG KONG: A six-year-old Chinese boy who had his eyes gouged out was discharged from a Shenzhen hospital yesterday, after being fitted with prosthetic eyeballs. Guo Bin - known as Bin Bin - has made a full recovery from surgery to attach the implants, which look and move like normal eyes but will not enable him to see. He was found covered in blood with his eyes removed near his home in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi in August after going missing while playing outside.

Chinese police suspect his aunt, who killed herself days later, was responsible amid reports of a family row. “The surgery for his implants and eyeshell has been successful,” Hong Kong-based eye expert Dennis Lam told a press conference. Lam had offered to treat the boy for free at his clinic in the southern mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen.

Bin Bin’s artificial eyes, consisting of the implant and the eyeshell, are attached to tissue and muscle giving them the ability to move normally. “Little Bin Bin’s eyes do not have visual abilities, though if you look at him, he does not look any different from any other child,” Lam said, adding that it would greatly help the child’s confidence. “I am very happy,” a lively Bin Bin said at the press conference where he also danced to music for reporters.

“He can now put clothes on, brush teeth and wash his face by himself,” the child’s mother told reporters. Bin Bin, who will fly home to Shanxi will begin to use sensory equipment to help his movement next year. The equipment, placed on the forehead and the tongue, will help Bin-Bin navigate as it captures images and sends electric signals to his brain.

These types of navigation devices are already in use in Japan and Europe. Lam had previously expressed hopes the boy may eventually partially regain his sight using “bionic eyes” linked directly to the brain, but said that this technology was at least five to 10 years away. State news agency Xinhua named the aunt as Zhang Huiying and said she killed herself by jumping into a village well, adding that police found the boy’s blood on her clothes following DNA tests.

After the attack the boy was unaware that he had been blinded, the Beijing Youth Daily said. “He asks why the sky is always dark... and why the dawn still hasn’t come,” it quoted an uncle of the boy as saying. — AFP

Man stole $185k to feed 120 cats TOKYO: A Japanese man went on a year-long burglary spree, making off with a haul worth $185,000 to feed 120 cats a gourmet diet, police said yesterday. Mamoru Demizu, 48, is suspected of breaking into houses to steal cash and jewels on 32 separate occasions. He told police that he stole things to come up with the money to feed scores of his feline friends, spending up to 25,000 yen ($250) a day, an officer said. “He said he felt happiest when he rubbed his cheek against cats,” the officer said. Unemployed Demizu kept one animal at his home in Izumi city, western Japan, and about 20 in a nearby warehouse, while feeding 100 more strays that lived in the neighbourhood, the police said. “He would give them fresh fish and chicken, not cheap canned food,” he said. — AFP

BANGKOK: Former Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was indicted for murder yesterday in connection with a deadly military crackdown on mass opposition protests in Bangkok three years ago, prosecutors said. The move comes as fresh political turmoil rocks the Thai capital, with protesters backed by Abhisit’s opposition party seeking to oust Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and rid the kingdom of the influence of her brother, deposed former leader Thaksin.

Some observers doubt British-born Abhisit will go to prison given his links to the Thai elite, and see the case as part of the country’s political brinksmanship.

Abhisit denied the charges and was freed after posting bail of 1.8 million baht ($56,000), his lawyer Bandit Siripan said after the closed-door hearing. “The pre-trial hearing is expected on March 24 next year,” he said. Under Abhisit’s government, more than 90 people died and nearly 1,900 were wounded in street clashes in the capital in 2010 between mostly unarmed pro-Thaksin “Red Shirt” demonstrators and security forces firing live rounds.

A small group of Red Shirts shouted “Murderer!” as the Democrat Party leader arrived at court, without speaking to waiting media. There were about 10 Abhisit supporters outside the building, some holding bunches of flowers.

Thailand has seen several bouts of political turmoil since Thaksin was ousted in a military coup in 2006, with rival protests sometimes resulting in bloody unrest.

Prosecutors have accused Abhisit and his former deputy Suthep Thaugsuban of issuing orders that resulted in murder and attempted murder by the security forces.

Oxford-educated Abhisit-who was formally charged in December-insists he is innocent and has described the accusations against him as politically motivated. Suthep, who did not attend yesterday’s hearing, also faces a murder charge but had asked the court to postpone his hearing. The former deputy premier is now spearheading the mass opposition protests against Yingluck, for which he faces an arrest warrant for insurrection.

Yingluck has called an early electionset for February 2 — to try to calm the political turmoil. But Suthep has rejected the move, demanding the government step aside in favour of an unelected “people’s council”. Yesterday, opposition protesters cut the electricity and water supplies to the government headquarters in Bangkok to try to force security officials to abandon the besieged premises.

“They have cut power and water at many points at Government House,” Lieutenant General Kamronwit Thoopkrajan, commander of the Bangkok Metropolitan Police Bureau, told AFP. No officials, including Yingluck, were inside the compound at the time, police said. Hundreds of protesters massed outside Yingluck’s offices yesterday, threatening to force their way into the compound if police do not abandon their positions.

BANGKOK: A Thai anti-government protester shouts at police from outside the besieged Government House compound yesterday. — AFP At least one police officer was lightly injured after protestors used slingshots to fire small metal balls at officers, police said. Yingluck’s ruling Puea Thai Party is widely expected to win the upcoming vote, bolstered by Thaksin’s enduring popularity. He is loathed by many in the royalist elite and Bangkok middle class, but loved among the working classes and those in his rural northeastern heartland.

Parties allied to the tycoon have won every election since 2001, most recently with a landslide victory for Puea Thai in 2011. The opposition Democrats-whose MPs resigned en masse Sunday saying they could not achieve anything in parliament-have not won an elected majority in about two decades. Abhisit’s party says it has not yet decided whether to take part in the upcoming election.

The political conflict broadly pits a Bangkok-based middle class and royalist elite backed by the military against rural and working-class voters loyal to Thaksin, who lives in self-exile in Dubai.

Tensions remain high after several days of street clashes last week when police used tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets against rock-throwing demon-

strators. Five people have been killed and more than 200 injured in the unrest.

Turnout has fallen sharply since an estimated 140,000 people flooded the streets of Bangkok on Monday.

Several thousand demonstrators massed outside the government headquarters yesterday. Protesters said they were confident the opposition chief would be cleared of the murder charges.

“I don’t believe that Abhisit ordered the shootings,” said 42-year-old Nayanane Wanaro from southern Thailand. “It’s a good opportunity for Abhisit to defend himself in court and speak to the world,” she added. In the 2010 protests, the Red Shirts were demanding immediate elections, saying Abhisit’s government took office undemocratically in 2008 through a parliamentary vote after a court stripped Thaksin’s allies of power.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators occupied parts of central Bangkok for weeks before the army ended the standoff. In December 2012 the trial began of 24 Red Shirt leaders on terrorism charges related to their roles in the violence. The proceedings are expected to drag on for years, with counsel on both sides calling several hundred witness. — AFP

Australia’s top court overrules gay marriage SYDNEY: Australia’s High Court yesterday struck down gay marriage in the nation’s capital territory, in a case seen as a test of the legality of same-sex unions. Had the nation’s top court upheld the Australian Capital Territory’s gay marriage legislation it would have opened the door to similar laws being passed across the country, pressuring the government to make it legal at a national level. In a unanimous decision, Australia’s highest court ruled that the national parliament-not state and territory authorities-had the ultimate say over marriage, and whether it was extended to same-

sex couples was a matter for lawmakers.

“The Marriage Act does not now provide for the formation or recognition of marriage between same-sex couples,” the court said. “That Act is a comprehensive and exhaustive statement of the law of marriage,” it added. “Under the constitution and federal law as it now stands, whether same-sex marriage should be provided for by law is a matter for the federal parliament.” The decision means that the 27 couples who have wed since the ACT laws came into effect a month ago will have their marriages annulled as unconstitutional. —AFP

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International FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Bangladesh executes Islamist oppn leader for war crimes DHAKA: Bangladesh executed Islamist opposition leader Abdul Quader Mollah yesterday for war crimes committed in 1971, a government official said, in a move likely to ignite violent protests less than a month before elections are due to be held. Mollah, who was hanged at Dhaka Central Jail, was assistant secretary general of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, which is barred from contesting elections but plays a key role in the opposition movement led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Mollah, 65, was convicted of war crimes committed during the nation’s war of independence against Pakistan in 1971. His lawyers tried to convince the Supreme Court, which began hearing the case Wednesday, to throw out the sentence. “My client has been deprived of fair justice. But since the highest court has made the decision, we have nothing more to say,” defense lawyer Khandaker Mahbub Hossain said.

AKM Shamsul Islam, an official of the Supreme Court, said the decision was forwarded yesterday to authorities. While a strong reaction to the decision from Jamaat-e-Islami was expected on the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, the city remained relatively calm. But party activists clashed with police, torched or smashed vehicles and exploded homemade bombs yesterday in three other major cities - Chittagong, Sylhet and Rajshahi, TV stations reported. Scores of people were injured in the latest violence to hit the South Asian country, which has seen weeks of escalating tension as it struggles to overcome extreme poverty and rancorous politics.

In eastern Bangladesh, security officials opened fire to disperse opposition activists, leaving at least three people dead and 15 others wounded, Dhaka’s leading Bengali-language newspaper, Prothom Alo, reported.

The violence broke out in Laxmipur district, 95 kilometers (60 miles) east of Dhaka, during a nationwide opposition blockade after elite security forces raided and searched the home of an opposition leader, the report said.

Mollah was the first person executed in special trials begun by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2010 of people suspected of crimes during the war of independence. The government says Pakistani soldiers, aided by local collaborators, killed 3 million people and raped 200,000 women during the nine-month war. Most of the defendants are opposition members. Mollah’s party and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party say the trials are an attempt to weaken the opposition and eliminate Islamic parties. Authorities have denied the allegations.

Asif Munier, son of a university teacher who was killed in 1971 for supporting independence, said he was pleased with the decision. “Yes, we are happy because justice has been served. ... It’s not about any revenge, but for justice,” Munier said after the Supreme Court decision. Carrying out the execution complicated an already critical political situation in Bangladesh, where the opposition has carried out violent protests for weeks demanding an independent caretaker government to oversee the general election set for Jan 5.

The government has rejected that demand and said a political government headed by Hasina will conduct the election, although the opposition alliance led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia plans to boycott the vote. Weeks of blockades and general strikes have left nearly 100 people dead since October. Mollah was found guilty by the special tribunal in February of killing a student and a family of 11 and of aiding Pakistani troops in killing 369 other people during the independence war. He was sentenced to life in prison, but the Supreme Court changed that to a death sentence in September. Until it gained independence in 1971, Bangladesh was the eastern wing of Pakistan. Mollah’s party campaigned against independence. — AP

India govt likely to review anti-gay law US voices ‘concern’ at India ruling NEW DELHI: India’s law minister said yesterday that the government has not abandoned efforts to make homosexuality legal, saying the country must take swift action to challenge a Supreme Court decision banning same-sex relations. The minister, Kapil Sibal, said he was for decriminalizing homosexuality, hinting that the government could seek a judicial review of Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision or that Parliament could enact a new law.

“We need to take quick and firm action,” he told reporters, noting that millions of people in India do not want homosexuality to be a criminal offense. The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that only lawmakers could change a colonial-era law that bans same-sex relations and makes them punishable by up to a decade in prison.

The ruling dealt a blow to gay activists who have fought for years for the chance to live openly in India’s deeply conservative society. Sonia Gandhi, chief of the governing Congress party, also lent support to the activists and expressed her disappointment with the court order. “I hope Parliament will address this issue and uphold the constitutional guarantee of life and liberty to all citizens of India, including those directly affected by this judgment,” she said in a statement.

Gandhi’s son and the party’s vice president, Rahul Gandhi, said such personal matters should be left to individuals. “This country is known for its freedom, freedom of expression,” he told reporters. India’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community reacted to the decision with defiance. “We cannot be forced back into the

closet,” said Gautam Bhan, an activist who had petitioned the court. “We are not backing off from our fight against discrimination.” Lawyers and supporters of gays, lesbians and transsexuals vowed to continue pressing for the removal of the law, which they say encourages discrimination, even if it is rarely invoked by prosecutors.

The law, dating back to the 1860s, when Britain ruled over South Asia, states that “whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal” can be punished by up to 10 years in prison. The 2009 New Delhi High Court ruling, which said the law violated fundamental human rights, infuriated conservatives and religious groups who say homosexuality represents a threat to traditional Indian culture.

In a rare alliance, the groups - including the All India Muslim Law Board, Christian groups and Hindu spiritual leaders - argued that gay sex is unnatural and that India should maintain the law. Activists have long argued that the law encourages discrimination and leaves gays, lesbians and bisexuals vulnerable to police harassment or demands for bribes. Acceptance is slowly growing in India, though, particularly in big cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai. In the last few years, activists have staged large gay pride parades featuring rainbow-colored flags and banners, joyful songs and dancing through the streets.

Meanwhile, the United States on Wednesday voiced concern about a ruling

by India’s Supreme Court which reinstated a colonial-era ban on gay sex which could see same-sex lovers imprisoned. “We oppose

any action that criminalizes consensual same-sex conduct between adults,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters. “The United States places great importance on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms of all people. And... that includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons around the world.” A two-judge bench in India earlier Wednesday struck down a landmark 2009 Delhi High Court ruling which had found that a section of the Indian penal code prohibiting “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” was an infringement of Indians’ fundamental rights.

The bench ruled Wednesday that the High Court had overstepped its authority and that an 1860 law passed by the British was still valid. “Any action that criminalizes consensual same-sex conduct between adults that doesn’t recognize that fundamental freedoms of people include their right to sexual orientation - those are issues that we certainly would be concerned about,” Psaki added. US concerns had been expressed to Indian authorities, she added.

The court ruling came a day after Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh met with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington. The ministers had discussed ways to deepen the US-India partnership, and Washington had also accepted an invitation to serve as a partner country for India’s technology summit and expo in New Delhi in late 2014, Psaki 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.— Agencies

Indian acid attack victims claim new law is ignored NEW DELHI: A gang of young neighborhood men would harass Sonali Mukherjee whenever she left home - taunting her, following her, hissing lewd comments. But Mukherjee, 18 at the time, was not afraid. A sociology student, she stood up to her tormenters. After she threatened to go to the police, they sneaked into her house and poured acid on her while she slept, melting away much of her face. “I did not know that they were hatching a plan to take revenge,” she said, more than 10 years later.

Now, Mukherjee and other victims of acid attacks are pressing the Indian government to do more to prevent such violence, saying a new law aimed at restricting the sale of acid is being ignored. In response to their campaign, the Indian Supreme Court on Dec 3 ordered all states to comply with the law, which went into effect in February after a deadly gang rape in New Delhi last year galvanized public anger over violence toward women. It prohibits the sale of acid unless the seller maintains a record of the buyers and orders states to pay acid attack victims $1,400 in compensation.

The law is among a wave of changes implemented after the New Delhi rape case, including a provision that called for stiffer prison terms - a minimum of 10 years and up to life imprisonment - and no bail for those who carry out acid attacks. Highly concen-

trated acids are readily available in India for use as household and industrial cleaners.

The liquids are often produced locally and are dirt cheap. Earlier, acid attacks came under a general category of crimes that caused hurt, or grievous hurt, or attempted murder. Indian laws did not take into account the disfiguration of a woman in an

acid attack as a separate crime. Mukherjee’s attackers were freed after serving three years in prison. Some 1,500 acid attacks are reported worldwide every year, according to the London-based charity Acid Survivors Trust International. The group says the actual figure is likely to be far higher because so many victims are too scared to speak out.—AP

NEW DELHI: In this photo, a 30-year acid attack victim, looks into the camera as she sits in the office of the Indian NGO Stop Acid Attacks. — AP

18

International FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

End looms for US Air Force’s ‘Warthog’ ground-attack jet WASHINGTON: Long disliked by the US Air Force, the A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack jet may finally be heading for the chopping block due to budget constraints. The “Warthog,” first designed as a tank buster to target Soviet armored vehicles in the middle of the Cold War in the early 1970s, is shunned by many aviators. Although the twin-engine aircraft is slow, it is incredibly efficient to provide close air support of ground forces, making it an appreciated asset for the US Army.

But the US Air Force “never had a whole lot of interest in a subsonic close-air support plane,” explained Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with consulting firm Teal Group. “This is a plane for large land combat engagements and for the foreseeable future, you probably won’t face too many of those and there’s also the budget pressure.” The US Air Force had tried several times since the end of the Cold War to scrap a large part of its A-10 fleet but then gave up in the face of a series of unexpected deployments, such as the Gulf War and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Just because they’ve had this long-standing dislike for the A-10 doesn’t mean that they aren’t right this time,” said Aboulafia. The Defense Department faces $1 trillion in budget cuts over the next decade, half of them due to automatic reductions in spending known as sequestration. The US Air Force alone needs to save $12 billion in 2014, according to the service’s Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh. So by 2015, the Air Force plans to part ways with its entire A-10 fleet-326 aircrafthoping to save $3.7 billion in the process.

“It is the best airplane in the world at what it does,” Welsh told lawmakers, noting he had flown the aircraft himself for a “thousand” hours. But “if we’re going to look at what we must divest, not what we want to divest, but what we must divest, we have to be very honest with ourselves inside the Air Force about how much we can afford,” he added. The problem with the A-10, which sports a heavy rotary cannon, is that it is limited to its only capacity to support ground missions, a big drawback compared to multi-mission aircraft such as the F-15 or F16. “If we have platforms that can do multiple missions well and maybe not do one as well as another airplane, the airplane that is limited to a specific type of mission area becomes the one most at risk,” Welsh said.—AFP

Trial on assisted suicide law begins in New Mexico ALBUQUERQUE: Two doctors and a Santa Fe woman with advanced uterine cancer want physicians in New Mexico to be able to prescribe - without the fear of prosecution- the needed medications for terminally ill patients who want to end their lives on their own terms. Standing in their way is a decades-old New Mexico law that makes it a fourth-degree felony to assist someone in suicide. Doctors Katherine Morris and Aroop Mangalik and patient Aja Riggs took their case to state district court Wednesday. Their lawyers are asking the court to clarify that physicians are not breaking the law if they write such prescriptions for competent, terminally ill patients who want to end their lives to “avoid unbearable suffering.”

“This is a case about choice,” Laura Schauer Ives, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, told Judge Nan Nash. “The evidence will show this is a safe choice. This is a compassionate choice.” The lawsuit against the state has the support of the New Mexico Psychological Association, the largest organization of professional psychologists in the state. The group filed a brief Tuesday, arguing that assisted suicide and “aid in dying” for terminally ill patients are fundamentally different.

“We believe it is important that the law reflects this distinction so that doctors are not prevented from providing patients with more comfort and control during their dying process,” said Rob Schwartz, a University of New Mexico law professor and coauthor of the brief. Schauer Ives reiterated that argument Wednesday in court, citing the differences between terminally ill patients who are fighting to see another day and want the peace of mind of having a choice and those who commit suicide while awash in despair and isolation.

Kathryn Tucker, director of legal affairs for Compassion & Choices, said there’s growing support for physicians to help terminally ill patients who want to end their lives.— AP

CHICAGO: Pedestrians brave the cold weather as they make their way down the street during the start of the evening rush hour on December 11, 2013. Temperatures were expected to drop the whole week. — AFP

Gridlock in the Senate, progress in the House Senate pulls all-nighter over Obama nominees WASHINGTON: A budget agreement between key Republicans and Democrats.

Even President Barack Obama was on board. All without anyone threatening to repeal this or shut down that. Gridlock, however briefly, took an early holiday in the bitterly polarized, Republican-run House. But across the Capitol, the highminded Senate remains in the grip of some of the worst partisan warfare in its history after majority Democrats curbed the Republicans’ power. A round-the-clock talkathon is the result, putting no one in the mood for cooperation. Majority Harry Reid threatened to shorten the Senate’s cherished Christmas vacation if need be.

A Republican called his bluff. “What’s new about that? What’s even threatening about that?” challenged Sen Mike Johanns, R-Neb. Traditionally effective prods to action are often less so in the divided, crisis-managed Congress.

Lawmakers have lurched from sequester to shutdown over spending, national health care and more in the two years since Republicans won control of the House with a sizable group of newcomers reluctant to compromise. Their approach proved costly - to the nation’s credit rating, to Congress’ standing among voters and to the GOP, which took the brunt of public blame for the partial government shutdown in October.

The scene has been no better in the Senate. What remained of that chamber’s deliberative nature blew apart last month when majority Democrats, citing GOP obstructionism, curtailed the Republicans’ power to block some presidential nominees. Republicans have tried this week to do what they can to protest, but Reid’s slate of 11 nominations didn’t appear in peril. Early yesterday morning, the Senate approved the first of those, voting 51-44 to confirm Cornelia “Nina” Pillard to the influential DC Circuit court.

Still, with the 2014 midterm election year fast approaching, there’s was some-

thing unexpected this week: Instead of the standoffs, demands and disrespect that have become routine, key Republicans and Democrats announced a budget deal.

Authored by Rep Paul Ryan, R-Wis, and Sen Patty Murray, D-Wash. and quickly endorsed by Obama, the agreement would avert another government shutdown in January and reverse $63 billion in across-the-board spending cuts. It would offset the higher spending with $85 billion over a decade from higher fees and modest curbs on government benefit programs.

What’s more, House conservatives didn’t kill it outright, although some grumbled about the spending levels. Liberals, meanwhile, complained that the deal would not include an extension of unemployment benefits set to expire Dec. 28 for 1.3 million Americans.

But the deal survived the day. The negotiators spoke Wednesday of finding common ground, however narrow, in the pursuit of a larger goal. “On balance, my view is this is a step forward,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. “A small one, but a step forward.” Ryan told the House Rules Committee, “We have shown that we can work together.” In the Senate, it wasn’t immediately clear whether Republican conservatives would follow their House counterparts and grudgingly accept the Ryan-Murray budget, or rebel against it.

Sen Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who like Ryan is counted among his party’s presidential contenders, criticized the deal. “‘I think to walk away from the already agreed-upon reductions in spending that were so difficult to achieve, I think opens the floodgates that really threaten to put us right back in these spending habits and really, we’re going to continue to have a government that spends more money than it takes in,” he said.

In any case, GOP senators were focused Wednesday and early yesterday on doing what they could to protest the Democrats’

change in Senate rules. On Nov 21, Democrats pared the threshold for stopping filibusters from 60 votes to 50 - allowing filibusters to be cut off by a simple majority for the first time since 1975. The lower threshold applies to nearly all presidential nominations but does not affect nominated Supreme Court justices or legislation. On Monday, Sen Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., objected to Reid’s request for unanimous approval of 76 nominees, including Janet Yellen, Obama’s choice to head the Federal Reserve. Also on the list are Jeh Johnson, Obama’s choice for Homeland Security secretary, and Deborah Lee James, for secretary of the Air Force. Most of the nominations, though, are for middle or lower-level posts like ambassadors and federal judges.

On Tuesday, Republicans invoked a little-known rule to postpone a committee vote on the nomination of John Koskinen, Obama’s choice to head the Internal Revenue Service. Reid had set in motion the votes for 11 of the nominees, most non-controversial. Late Wednesday, he and asked for unanimous consent to waive some of the required debate time and began voting at 9 am EST yesterday morning. Republicans objected, and an allnight talkathon began. If Republicans refuse to give up their allotted debate time, the Senate could be in session continuously into tomorrow - or longer.

“If we have to work through Christmas, we’re going to do that,” Reid blustered from the Senate floor. “The Republicans are wanting to waste more of this body’s time, this country’s time,” he added.

Senate aides carted in Listerine, fruit, chocolate and mints for what appeared to be a long night ahead. “We are here ... looking at each other, doing basically nothing as we have done for vast amounts of time because of the Republicans’ obstructionism.” “This isn’t about obstructionism,” fired back Sen Tom Coburn, ROkla. “You limited our rights.” — AP

Business FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Russia’s economic woes ‘home-grown’

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Slovenia risks joining euro-zone bailout club Page 22

GAUHATI: An Indian flower seller sprinkles water on flowers as he waits for customers in Gauhati, India yesterday. India’s high inflation is being blamed for the defeat of the ruling Congress party in the assembly elections in a race seen as a test before next year’s general elections, according to preliminary results. — AP

High-end restaurants sprout to feed India’s wealthy India ‘immune to culture of the global restaurant’ MUMBAI: Chef Matteo Boglione, at the newly opened Le Cirque Signature in Mumbai, says that when he was getting started at the offshoot of one of New York’s elite restaurants he was told repeatedly: “We want more vegetables”. So, alongside the pricey $130 Florentine-style T-bone steak (for two) the menu features dishes such as a cauliflower flan with porcini and avocado panzanella, buffalo mozzarella fondue, and black truffle shavings, at a more affordable 1,250 rupees ($20.40).

The branch of New York’s venerable Le Cirque, at the Leela Mumbai hotel, is the latest in a wave of overseas-based high-end eateries to enter a country that has been slow to embrace the global-restaurant trend that has taken hold in cities like Dubai and Hong Kong.

Top-end restaurants are targeting India’s growing affluent classes. Indian household wealth nearly doubled to $2 trillion in five years through 2012, according to Boston Consulting Group, which expects that to grow to $4.5 trillion in 2017.

Millionaire households totaled 164,000 last year. Other global chains in India include London-based Chinese-themed Hakkasan, which opened in 2011, and its less-expensive sister Yauatcha, a hit in Mumbai that will soon open its fourth Indian location. Last year, Spain’s Arola opened at the JW Marriott in suburban Mumbai.

Top flight international chains in India face the challenge of matching the standards of the original while adapting to preferences in a country where many people are vegetarians and most don’t eat beef for religious reasons.

Most ingredients are imported, which pushes up costs and prices. Indian consumers, meanwhile, have proven reluctant to splash out on branded luxuries, such as designer labels, said Vir Sanghvi, a journalist and food writer. “So far, India has been immune to the culture of the global restaurant, because India is a pricesensitive market,” he said.

NASCENT FOODIE CULTURE While foodie culture of the sort that is ram-

pant in many places is in its infancy in India, operators of fancy restaurants hope to build their niche as incomes grow and more Indians who travel develop a taste for high-end dining. About 6-8 percent of guests at Le Cirque in New York are from India. “It feels a little pioneering to us,” Mario Maccioni, whose father Sirio opened the original Le Cirque in 1974, said over a pre-opening dinner at the Mumbai restaurant. High-end chains in India and other emerging markets tend to be in hotels, which operate them as franchises and bear much of the cost but have an in-built customer base and use the brands as a draw for other hotel business. Given a poor track record for French restaurants in India, often perceived to be meat-heavy and for special occasions, the local Le Cirque menus play up the Italian side of the chain’s French-Italian offerings.

“French restaurants have struggled. We didn’t want to be put in that category,” said Rajiv Kaul, president of The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, part of Hotel Leelaventure

Ltd , which in February will open a Le Cirque Signature in Bangalore. At the Le Cirque in New Delhi’s Leela Palace Hotel, which opened in 2011, the average check is 5,000 to 6,000 rupees per person, putting it among India’s most expensive restaurants. It generates nearly 10 million rupees a month, Kaul said.

Another import at the New Delhi hotel, New York-based Japanese chain Megu, does nearly as much business but at lower margins because almost every ingredient is imported, he said. Kaul expects spending per person at Le Cirque Signature in Mumbai, which is smaller and less formal than the New Delhi restaurant, to be about 20 percent lower than in New Delhi, where customers tend to buy more expensive drinks. For Boglione, a 38year-old native of Florence, Italy, adapting to India means cooking more vegetarian items than he was accustomed to and planning further ahead to source hard-to-find ingredients.

He recently found purveyors of porcini mushrooms and yellow beetroot. “With vegetables, you can do nice stuff,” he says.— Reuters

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Business FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Russia’s economic woes ‘home-grown’ Russia must close productivity gap: Putin MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin conceded for the first time yesterday that Russia’s economic problems were homegrown and vowed not to abandon the spending promises he made on returning to the Kremlin last year. Facing an audience of lawmakers, officials and business leaders, Putin also said “nothing has been done” to implement an initiative he launched a year ago to stem capital flight that has sapped both investment and the Kremlin’s coffers.

The 61-year-old leader’s grim diagnosis marked a shift away from blaming the woes besetting Russia’s $2 trillion economy on trouble abroad, especially the sovereign debt crisis in Europe - its biggest export market. “We have to be clear: the main reasons for the economic slowdown are not external but internal,” Putin said in his annual address in the Kremlin.

During Putin’s first two terms as president, the economy clocked up annual growth rates of about 7 percent thanks to a boom in oil prices, while easy monetary conditions flooded emerging markets with cheap investment dollars. That ended abruptly with the global financial crash of 2008 and, with the government now relying on oil prices of over $100 per barrel to balance its books, consumer spending is all that is keeping the economy ticking over.

The downturn, along with vast illegal outflows of cash estimated by a former central bank chief at $50 billion a year, has caused the fragile recovery to stall.

The government now expects the economy to grow by just 1.4 percent this year.

Long-term growth is likely to average 2.5 percent, lagging the world economy and other emerging markets. The govern-

ment meanwhile risks exhausting its rainy-day savings in three years, officials warn.

Putin called for action to improve the business climate and said that low labor

key indicator as labor productivity. We must act resolutely to overcome this gap.” Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, still widely viewed as Russia’s most competent economic policy maker,

NYAGAN: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (right) and his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto launch a Fortum Corporation’s power plant in Nyagan, western Siberia , with Alexander Chuvaev (center), Executive Vice-President and President of Russian Division of Fortum Corporation, attending the ceremony. Finland, the European Union’s country sharing the longest border with Russia, aims at attracting more investment from their neighbor. —AFP productivity was a major drag on Russia’s economy, ranked by the World Bank as the fifth biggest in the world by purchasing power parity. “Russia is among the top-five global economies,” Putin said.

“However, we lag developed countries by two-thirds to three-quarters on such a

Hit like ton of BRICS: tough year for emerging markets PARIS: Only recently hailed as the saviors of the world economy, emerging markets had a tough year in 2013, hit by slow growth, market instability and social unrest that have worried investors-though some analysts say the fear is overblown. In November, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the rich world’s number-crunching club, lowered its global growth forecast for 2014 by nearly half a point, to 2.7 percent, because of the slowdown in emerging-market economies (EMEs).

The fate of the whole world economy is now tied to that of the emerging markets, it said. “Contrary to the situation in the early phases of the recovery when stimulus in EMEs had positive spillovers on growth in advanced economies, the global environment may now act as an amplifier and a transmission mechanism for negative shocks from EMEs,” it said.

The European Central Bank warned: “Any sharper or more disruptive adjustment in emerging market economies needs to be closely monitored, given the potential for stronger and more persistent euro area impacts.” The “BRICS” countries-Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa-and other emerging markets had for years been the stars of the world economy, helping pull it through the Great Recession. Their fast growth compensated for the developed world’s stagnation and their currency reserves funded Western debt. The thirst of emerging market consumers for goods helped tide over Western companies, while their low production costs drove global trade. But that ground to a halt in 2013. “We were expecting it for a while, but it’s when it emerged,” Jennifer Blanke, chief economist at the World Economic Forum said.

Economic growth dropped sharply in several major emerging markets in 2013. Russia’s growth fell from 3.4 percent in 2012 to 1.5 percent, according to International Monetary Fund data. South Africa’s fell from 2.5 percent to 2.0, Mexico’s from 3.6 percent to 1.2 and Thailand’s from 6.5 percent to 3.1. —AFP

faulted Putin for failing to act sooner.

“It’s a shame that so little has been done,” Kudrin said on Twitter after the speech. “The president’s proposals for reactivating the economy are a tactical response to the problem. We need a strategic plan to get out of stagnation.”

Speaking earlier, Europe’s development bank said that Russia needed to restructure and sell the large state companies and banks that play a dominant role in business and finance. “For Russia, without reforms, we are very pessimistic about growth,” said Erik Berglof, chief economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

BRING BACK THE MONEY Putin’s landmark initiative to “de-offshore” Russian finance, announced in the same Kremlin hall a year ago, has had little impact beyond forcing some lawmakers to resign after they were found to have owned property secretly abroad. He said that companies whose ultimate owners were Russian would be barred from state contracts and refused credit by state development bank VEB if they failed to pay taxes in Russia. “If you want to enjoy benefits, state support and earn a profit working in Russia, then register in a Russian jurisdiction,” said Putin. “Since nothing has been done in this area over the past year, I have a proposal,” he said.

“If you want to go offshore, you are welcome. But send your money here.”

Despite the weaker economy, Putin also said he would follow through on the so-called ‘May decrees’ he promulgated on returning to office that include doubling pay for teachers and doctors by the end of his six-year term. “The economic cycle can and is changing, but this is no reason to talk about revising our goals,” Putin said. He said, however, that pay rises must be tied to improved public services. “This means increasing the personal responsibility of every manager for achieving results,” he said. —Reuters

Euro-zone industrial output drops sharply Slump led by falling production of energy BRUSSELS: Euro zone industrial output fell at its steepest monthly rate in more than a year in October, highlighting the fragility of the bloc’s economic recovery and supporting the case for further central bank stimulus. The 9.5 trillion euro ($13.1 trillion) regional economy emerged from recession in the second quarter but growth almost ground to a halt again in the third, and the outlook is clouded by record high unemployment, and weak consumer and business confidence. Industrial production in the 17 countries using the single currency dropped 1.1 percent on the month, its biggest monthly decline since September 2012, yesterday’s data from EU statistics agency Eurostat showed.

Analysts polled last week by Reuters had expected a 0.3 percent rise after a revised 0.2 percent drop in September. Data showing a 1.2 percent drop in industrial output in the region’s dominant economy

Germany was released on Monday.

“All in all, today’s industrial production figures clearly highlight the bumpy and fragile nature of the euro zone’s economic recovery,” said Martin van Vliet, an economist at ING. “With euro-zone growth seemingly stuck in low gear disinflationary pressures will persist, thereby keeping the possibility of further ECB action very much alive.”

The European Central Bank cut interest rates to a record low of 0.25 percent in November in reaction a sharp fall in inflation and the weak recovery, with the bank saying it stood ready for further action to shield the rebound and keep inflation on projected path. A spokeswoman for the EU executive, the European Commission, said a variety of indicators needed to be taken into account when assessing the state of the economy, which it remained confident was at “(the) beginning of a solid recovery”. Year on year, output

rose 0.2 percent in October.

IRISH OUTPUT TUMBLES The monthly production fall was led by a 4.0 percent drop in highly volatile energy output, followed by a 2.4 percent decline in production of durable goods including cars and electronics. Capital goods production fell 1.3 percent. European refinery output in October dropped 6 percent on the year and was down by 7.9 percent on the month as refiners traditionally conduct routine maintenance in the third quarter, and weak profit margins pushed many to cut crude processing rates for economic reasons this year as well. Output in the euro zone’s second biggest economy France dropped by 0.3 percent on the month for a second consecutive month. Ireland, which is exiting an international financial bailout, saw production plummet 11.6 percent on the month, the worst performance since September last year. —Reuters

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Business FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Abu Dhabi broker ADS to enter Britain in 2014 DUBAI: Abu Dhabi-based forex and commodities trading firm ADS plans to gain a license to operate in the UK by early next year and has become one of the first Middle East brokers to start pricing the Chinese currency for customers in the region, its managing director said. ADS, which is privately owned by investors from the United Arab Emirates, plans to set up an asset management and wealth management business next year and hopes to receive an FSA license from the United Kingdom before the end of this month as part of its international expansion strategy, Philippe Ghanem, managing director and vice chairman, said.

“We at ADS are looking at launching an asset management and wealth management business next year. We now have a fixed-income trading and capital markets brokerage business,” he told Reuters in an interview in Abu Dhabi. “The plan is to open a subsidiary in the UK in the coming few weeks. You cannot have a global business without London.

We have to be next to the major financial institutions in Europe,” he said.

ADS, which has subsidiaries in Hong Kong and Singapore, expects to get an FSA license from the UK within a few days. The company currently trades around $5 billion a day in spot FX, precious metals and CFDs (contract for difference trading). It does not release data on the health of its business. The brokerage, capitalized at $400 million, has also started trading the Chinese yuan/US dollar currency pair, offering Middle Eastern investors access to the yuan, also known as the renminbi (RMB), amid growing interest in the Chinese currency in the region.

It is one of the first local brokerages to start pricing the Chinese currency as most of the fledgling yuan business in the Middle East is conducted by big foreign banks such as HSBC and Standard Chartered. “We at ADS have started pricing the Chinese currency out of Abu Dhabi. We see a lot of demand and saw more than 300 percent growth in trades over the past few months,” Ghanem said. “This currency will be in everybody’s basket. The RMB will be a currency of reference that will help us fix the overall imbalance of currencies,” he said, referring to the volatility of the US dollar and the euro in recent years.

Ghanem expects the yuan to be part of Middle Eastern investors’ portfolio and saving schemes within a few years.

As China moves to establish its currency as one of the world’s heavyweight currencies, the cash-rich United Arab Emirates is seen as the next pricing and clearing hub for the yuan following China’s agreement to open up its markets for British-based investors last October. Annual trade between China and the United Arab Emirates has risen 16fold since 2002 to $40.4 billion, according to Chinese official data.

“We see a determination in Abu Dhabi to win a large share of the potentially massive Chinese market,” Ghanem said, adding that regulations at the recently launched financial free zone in Abu Dhabi, the Abu Dhabi Global Market, are in place for such a development. A recent study by HSBC estimates 10 percent of China’s international trade is conducted in yuan, a ratio which it expects will rise to 30 percent by 2015. However, less than 4 percent of China’s trade with the United Arab Emirates, which imports many goods for shipment on to other countries in the Gulf, is conducted in yuan. —Reuters

Asian shares slip US stocks post biggest one-day drop in a month TOKYO: Asian shares slipped to a 2-1/2 month low yesterday on heightened expectations the Federal Reserve may act sooner than later to unwind its stimulus after a provisional budget deal in Washington eased some of the fiscal drag on the US economy. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1 percent, adding to Wednesday’s 1.1 percent decline-its sharpest one-day fall in three weeks.

In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei tumbled 1.6 percent, extending declines into a third day. Still, the index, powered

by Tokyo’s aggressive fiscal and monetary stimulus, has rallied nearly 47 percent so far this year, on track for its best yearly gain since 1972. Overnight, US stocks posted their biggest drop in a month, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 down 1.1 percent, as traders locked in recent gains after Congress announced the provisional budget deal. S&P 500 Emini futures edged down 0.2 percent in Asian trade yesterday.

The bipartisan budget agreement reached late on Tuesday, though modest in spending cuts, would end three years of political squabbling in Washington that climaxed in October with a two-week partial government shutdown. The US House of Representatives could vote on the deal on Friday. In September, the Fed cited the possibility of a hit to the economy if lawmakers did not agree on a budget as one reason to keep up its $85 billion-amonth bond-buying campaign.

“Following Friday’s employment report, we noted that the odds of tapering at the January FOMC meeting (vs.

March) had shifted from less than even to roughly even,” Societe Generale said in a note. “In light of the budget deal agreed by Congressional dealers in recent days, the odds have shifted further and we now see the January meeting as the most likely timeframe.”

Market participants will also be keeping an eye out for the possibility of a surprise move by the Fed next week at its final policy meeting for 2013 on Dec 17 and 18.

DOLLAR STEADY The dollar was up 0.1 percent at 102.57 yen, having fallen 0.4 percent overnight, easing for a second session after a recent strong run against the Japanese yen. The euro paused after rising for a seventh straight session against

LILLE: A picture shows twenty euro banknotes. In march 2012, there were approximately 2.7 billions of twenty euro banknotes circulating within the euro-zone. —AFP the dollar on Wednesday on the back of higher money market rates and diminishing expectations of any imminent easing by the European Central Bank.

The single currency was steady at $1.3794.

Some analysts see little value in the euro after its recent strong run. “We entered a short EUR/USD recommendation Wednesday, targeting a move down to 1.32 with our stop set at 1.3975,” analysts at BNP Paribas wrote in a note. The Australian dollar eased 0.3 percent to $0.9022, within sight of a three-month low of $0.8989 touched on Friday and giving up an earlier rebound after a surprisingly strong jobs report.

Among commodities, US crude prices held steady at about $97.4 a barrel,

pausing for breath having shed 1.1 percent the previous day after data showed large builds in refined oil products.

Gold added 0.2 percent to around $1,254 an ounce, recouping some of Wednesday’s 0.6 percent decline. Still, gold is down 25 percent so far this year, on track for its worst yearly fall since 1981. “The collapse in gold prices this year, the sharpest decline since 1981, is a clear indication that investors have started to discount a normalization of the economy, interest rates and asset allocation,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a note. “This will continue next year, and we believe the ‘last Great Rotation trade’ will be a vigorous bull market in the US dollar.” —Reuters

Indonesia holds rates, may pull policy trigger when US tapers JAKARTA: Indonesia’s central bank kept its key interest rates unchanged yesterday, as expected, and said it would act to strengthen its monetary policy response if an expected tapering in US stimulus threatened to spark capital outflows from the country. Southeast Asia’s largest economy remains among the most vulnerable of emerging market economies to the risk of capital flight from a winding down of US stimulus, and Bank Indonesia has said it will give priority to further trimming its large current-account deficit.

“Bank Indonesia will also carefully watch the Fed’s tapering plan and will strengthen the policy response that has been taken so far,” it said in a statement, but gave no further details. Bank Indonesia’s decision to keep the benchmark reference rate at 7.50 percent will give it ample ammunition to lift rates in the first quarter of next year to contain capital outflows.

Most market participants expect the Federal Reserve could begin tapering as early as next week and not later than

March. The central bank also held the deposit facility rate and lending facility rate at 5.75 percent and 7.50 percent, respectively. Analysts said Bank Indonesia may be keeping its powder dry to provide a window of adjustment for the economy after a series of rate increases since June.

“We doubt that Bank Indonesia has quite finished its monetary tightening yet and now expect a 25-basis-point hike to come in January,” said Robert PriorWandesforde, economist at Credit Suisse in Singapore.

HSBC’s economist Su Sian Lim said BI could be done with its tightening policy, but remains watchful of further increases.

The 175-basis-point rate increase from June will slow down the domestic economy, which in turn should help to narrow the current-account deficit, she said.

Central banks in New Zealand, South Korea and the Philippines also held rates steady on Thursday, while painting somewhat different outlooks for price pressures and potential policy responses in their economies next year. —Reuters

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Business FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Bailout over, suffering goes on for Ireland’s most needy DUBLIN: Ireland will receive plaudits this weekend when it exits its financial bailout but advocacy groups warn that the most vulnerable in society will still suffer from lingering austerity measures. “There is a need for sensitivity. The suffering isn’t over,” John Dolan, chief executive of the Disability Federation of Ireland said.

“Without doubt, the financial crisis years have had a devastating consequence on people and will continue to do so for a number of years to come because we’re going to have further cuts in the next budget,” he added. As part of Ireland’s 85 billion euro ($115 billion) European UnionInternational Monetary Fund bailout three years ago, Dublin accepted strict conditions requiring repeated spending cutbacks and tax rises in an attempt to get its financial crisis under control.

Ireland has returned to growth, unemployment is falling and the IMF has praised the Irish rescue program as one that future bailout countries can learn from. While the headline figures point to great progress, they mask the bitter reality of a country that has experienced seven consecutive austerity budgets. The biggest hits have been tak-

en disproportionately by the poorest, according to think-tank Social Justice Ireland.

“If you look at the situation now compared to what it was before the crash itself, the poorest ten percent have lost almost a fifth of all their income whereas the richest ten percent are down just 11.4 percent,” the SJI’s director Sean Healy said. “The situation is actually even worse when you include the impact of cuts in services and the increased charges that were introduced ranging from everything from prescriptions to school transport.”

The number of people claiming unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level since summer 2009 last month but at 12.5 percent it means there are still hundreds of thousands without work.

Anna Doyle, 42, and her husband Ambrose from Ashford in County Wicklow, south of Dublin, lost their jobs in June 2011 and have been searching for work ever since. “It’s been really stressful and totally demoralising,” Anna said. “Out of all the jobs I applied for I’ve only ever got two replies and my husband has not received one single reply in all that time.” She said

Philips restores profit by rediscovering relevance AMSTERDAM: Every year Singaporeans and Malaysians choke on smoke when farmers and plantation firms in neighboring Indonesia clear the land with fires during the dry season. Last summer, Philips diverted stocks of air purifiers from Hong Kong and China to the area in time for the worst pollution in 16 years. The switch of supplies was emblematic of a more nimble approach fostered by Chief Executive Frans van Houten that has helped Philips reinvent itself in healthcare, lighting and consumer goods and revived the company’s fortunes. By the middle of the last decade the Dutch firm’s television business had lost its battle with cheaper competition from Asian firms such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics . In 2007 its TV division turned to an operating loss which ballooned to 436 million euros ($601.26 million)the following year.

Philips response was turn to new products and business lines. Van Houten, architect of the new strategy, wants Philips to be much more entrepreneurial in culture. “It’s too early to declare victory - companies stop too quickly in changing.

Change needs to be permanent and only after five years perhaps can you say ‘yes the new culture has been anchored into the company’,” said Van Houten, who has been CEO of Philips since April 2011.

‘WE’RE NOT DONE YET’ Philips’ turnaround has been propelled in large part by improvements at its consumer and lighting businesses. Gains at those two businesses accounted for much of the 54 percent rise in group earnings in the third quarter. Philips’ shares have hit their highest since mid-2010. Philips’ problem child had long been its consumer electronics business - which included its TV, audio and video business. In April 2012, it sold the TV business. It is still looking for a buyer for its audio and video business.

At the same time Philips has invested in other consumer products to win market share from rivals such as Procter & Gamble’s Braun, which makes electric shavers and is the market leader in Germany in electric toothbrushes, and France’s SEB, owner of Moulinex kitchen appliances. The air purifiers also went through a redesign. Customers said they wanted to be able to monitor air pollution at home and outdoors, and to switch the machine on or off remotely to avoid big electricity bills, so Philips developed a smartphone app.A model with those features, priced at 600-700 euros plus about 50 euros a year for filters, will be launched next year in the fast-growing Chinese market where Philips is now the leader. “Parents are busy at work: they want to know that when their children are at home the air they breathe is okay,” said Pieter Nota, head of Philips’ consumer business, whose products are pitched at middle class buyers seeking a healthy lifestyle.—Reuters

the stress of being unable to find work has had a massive impact on her family, with four children under 16 when the couple were made jobless.

“The stress was unbelievable. Our washing machine broke and we couldn’t afford to fix it. We ended up having to handwash everything for the six of us. “It’s like that all the time, there’s always something new-a new electricity bill, or the bank will be on your back again.” Anna says any celebration of the bailout exit should be put on hold until the government gets to grip with the huge numbers of unemployed and the reality of life relying on social welfare. “Put the politicians in my house for a week and they’ll see a different Ireland completely.”

The disability allowance, the blind pension, the invalidity pension and allowances for those caring for sick relatives are just some of the payments cut by Dublin as it reins in spending. Ger McLoughlin, 45, who suffers from spina bifida and hydrocephalus, moved back to his elderly parents’ home in rural County Kildare after losing his job in 2009 and relies on the mobility and disability allowance. “I have less income each year to spend on ...because I

don’t live independently and as I live miles from a main road a lot of my spending is just on taxis to get places.”

With Dublin committed to hitting the EU’s deficit target rules of 3.0 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015, further adjustments are likely next year. “Even though we’re coming out of the bailout, we’re still going to have to pay the loans back,” Ger said. “None of this hardship will go away overnight - it’ll be years. It will improve eventually but will it be too late for me?” Emigration, long a feature of the Irish social landscape, has once again become a dominant response to the economic woes.

Enda Maloney, 26, from Longford, left Ireland in 2010 after graduating with a degree in electrical engineering. “I just didn’t feel there was anything here for me and I didn’t want to waste the rest of my twenties waiting for things to improve,” he told AFP from Calgary in Canada, where he now works as a project engineer. “It’s sad that I’m not at home near my friends and family.

Maybe one day I’ll go back for good but I’m getting on with life away from Ireland now and that has to be my focus.”—AFP

Slovenia risks joining the euro-zone bailout club Fallen star Slovenia to reveal cost of bank clean-up LJUBLJANA: Slovenia, once the economic star of Europe’s ex-communist east, is set to reveal on Thursday how much money its banks need to stay afloat and whether it can get by without help from its eurozone peers. One of the currency bloc’s smallest economies, Slovenia plans to publish an external assessment of just how much lending has gone sour since the onset of global crisis in 2008 revealed how shallow its economic makeover had been. The government insists it can plug the hole in the bank balance sheets alone, without following Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus in seeking a bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Analysts, however, fear a quick fix may only delay the inevitable - Slovenia is expected to remain in recession until 2015, while the banks, many of them state-owned, write down bad debts and sell their stakes in companies from newspapers to supermarkets. “A lot of Slovenian companies have staff who are not working and getting paid - most of those are going to get fired after privatization,” said Saso Stanovnik, an economist at Slovenian brokerage Alta, referring to the likely sell-off of bank holdings. “In the long term that will be beneficial as the workers are unproductive. In the short term it’s going to generate a lot of unemployment and a lot of unhappiness.”

Forecasts suggest the stress tests may reveal a hole of 4 billion to 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion to $6.9 billion), a sum the government believes it can raise through its own cash reserves of 3.6 billion euros, by burning junior bondholders for some 500 million euros and, if necessary, tapping financial markets. Slovenian daily Vecer, citing sources, said the figure would come in at 3.5-3.9 billion euros, of which 2.9 billion would go immediately to the top three lenders, Nova Ljubljanska

LJUBLJANA: Slovenian Finance Minister Uros Cufer (left) and Bank of Slovenia governor Bostjan Jazbec hold a press conference to present the results of bank stress tests in Ljubljana yesterday.—AFP Banka (NLB), Nova KBM and Abanka.

DRAMATIC TURNAROUND Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek convened her cabinet in the morning and a news conference was tentatively scheduled for 11 a.m. (1000 GMT). The government has already received parliamentary approval to recapitalise the banks, of which the biggest three are wholly or partially state-owned, by up to 4.7 billion euros.

A significantly higher price would set alarm bells ringing in Brussels, with eurozone paymaster Germany particularly reluctant to call on its taxpayers again.

Squeezed between Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia, Slovenia slipped away from Yugoslavia in 1991 while the rest of the federation imploded in war. The country of just two million people seemed the

model convert from Communism when it joined the euro-zone in 2007 and promptly became the bloc’s fastest growing economy, exporting cars, kitchen appliances and pharmaceuticals.

But the global crisis dried up demand, drove up bad loans and exposed how far Slovenia had ducked the shock therapy much of eastern Europe went through with the end of the Cold War. The state remains in control of around half the economy, through a complex web of ownership that often goes back to the biggest banks. Politically-motivated lending was rife. “We supported companies at too high a price,” a senior Slovenian banker, who declined to be named, said.

Disentangling the banks could send shockwaves through the economy, which has already shrunk 11 percent since 2008.—Reuters

Pe t s FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Caring for your feathered friends How to set up a bird’s new home

A

re you thinking of getting a new bird as a pet?

Each species is unique and wonderful in its own way but there are some general guidelines that apply to them all. Be sure the bird you choose is healthy. A sick bird is no bargain no matter what the price. By the time a bird shows any symptoms of disease, illness has usually become quite advanced. If a bird appears droopy, ruffled, tired or hides his head under his wing, this is not the bird for you. If he sneezes, sits on the bottom of the cage, has a discharge above his nostrils or droppings stuck to his tail feathers, there may be big problems. If he makes clicking sounds as he breathes or if his tail bobs, the bird may have serious respiratory disease and you should choose another individual.

Signs of good health in a bird include bright eyes, clean shiny feathers, good appetite and lots of energy. Healthy birds eat often and are active. To help insure a healthy pet, obtain your bird from a reputable bird store or breeder. Take your new bird to an avian veterinarian for a “well bird check up” immediately. Good pet stores will allow you to return a sick bird. This insures that you get a healthy pet, and lets you meet an avian veterinarian in your area. It also helps the pet store or breeder maintain healthy birds.

During your bird’s check up, the avian vet can advise you as to diet, maintenance, training, hygiene and medical needs. Be wary of any pet store that claims the bird needs no medical attention. It is important for all birds to have routine check-ups, one when newly purchased and then every year for healthy birds.

Now, how about setting up your bird’s new home? You want it to be safe and comfortable. Buy the largest cage you can reasonably manage in your home. Be sure he cannot slip his head between the bars. It should be convenient to clean and allow easy access to food and water containers.

The perches should be of varying sizes, preferably of natural branches. These can be purchased at pet stores or you can collect your own. Manzanita, madrona and eucalyptus are all safe woods for birds to chew. Rinse them off before placing them in the cage. If you have other birds, place your new bird in an isolated room since many birds harbor contagious, disease causing organisms. This is very important to

the well being of all of your feathered pets. The avian vet can advise you as to the safety of introducing him to your other birds when you have the exam.

Bird’s diets vary greatly from one species to another, but a good rule is that no more than 50 percent of a bird’s diet should be seed and nuts. The remaining 50 percent should be vegetables, leafy greens, fruits, small amount of cheese,

lean cooked meats, boiled egg and other “people foods” with a powdered vitamin supplement added. Many birds love yogurt. All need fresh water daily.

Avoid walnut shell bedding material for the cage bottom.

This frequently carries a fungal infection called aspergillus.

Paper towel or corn cob bedding is all fine. Clean or replace them daily. Finding an avian veterinarian can be difficult.

Many vets do not treat birds, so it is important to find a specialist in avian care. Sometimes the breeder or pet store where you purchased your bird will have a referral to a local avian practitioner. If you are having a difficulty finding one, call your local Veterinary Medical Association for a referral.

Nutrition What does your bird need? We now know that seed is not the only food needed by pet birds, and in fact, birds on a seed only diet, are very unhealthy. Only 50 percent of a bird’s diet should be seed. Of the other 50 percent, fruits and vegetables are the most important. This is where he obtains vital minerals and vitamins. If your bird is reluctant to try new foods, try cutting the fruits and veggies into small, seed size pieces. Sometimes mixing them into the seed helps. It is all right to cut back on his seed a bit.

“Hunger is the best sauce” as they say. It is also okay to remove his seed for most of the day, offering it only for an hour in the morning, and an hour in the evening. During the day he will have only fruits and veggies to eat. If he is a little hungry, he will try new foods.

Out in the wild, birds eat a wide variety of nuts, small pieces of meat, even another bird’s eggs occasionally. So how do we duplicate this variety? A good rule of thumb is, if a food is healthy for a human, it is healthy for your bird.

Birds enjoy spaghetti or a bit of chicken. Hard-boiled egg is often a big hit. Almonds, walnuts or other nuts are fine in small quantities. Many birds love cheeses and yogurt.

Monkey chow is a tasty treat and an excellent source of protein for birds. It is available at most pet stores. Cuttlebone and mineral blocks are a good source of calcium. If you have any questions about whether a food is good for your bird, call your avian vet for more information. To make sure he’s getting everything he needs, supply fresh water. Some

Pe t s FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

species, such as cockatiels and budgies, drink very little water and may benefit from a powdered vitamin sprinkled on moist food.

Pet bird safety Those of us who have raised puppies and kittens know how dangerous a house can be. Mischievous, exploring young pets seem to find every available risky item in the first 24 hours of arrival. Having learned too dog- and catproof a house, we may feel prepared to safely welcome a pet bird into our lives. There are surprises in store. Birds add a whole new dimension to pet safety worries. Unlike dogs and cats, birds fly. Birds fly into windows or mirrors, injuring themselves in the process. Decals or curtains allow a flying bird to see them and avoid a crash. Birds fly out of windows, never to be seen again. Screens are essential for windows and doors. When a bird is out of its cage, always remain nearby.

Even a bird with properly clipped wing feathers can flutter to disaster around the house. A ceiling fan should be an obvious “no-no,” but other mechanical appliances can be equally dangerous. Birds have been injured falling into electric beaters in the kitchen. They can fly and land on hot surfaces or into scalding water. Expect the unexpected with birds. If you open the hot oven, your parrot may pop right in!

If your bird is always confined to its cage, some of these precautions may seem excessive. Remember, escape is always possible, and accidents do happen. Besides, an owner of a well-trained bird will want to spend lots of quality time with the bird at this or her side (or shoulder). Most birds thrive on attention and human interaction, but wither with neglect. Plan for avian safety in all the rooms of your home.

Birds are exquisitely sensitive to toxins, especially those in the air they breathe. Remember about the canary in the mine shaft giving warning of gas accumulation? Cleaners, such as those used to degrease ovens, produce dangerous airborne contaminants and can be fatal to birds. Even strong cooking odors and smoke is a risk. Non-stick cookware is another worry. When overheated, the fumes can kill birds.

Birds can drown in small amounts of water. Upright narrow glasses are a danger as is very hot water (birds don’t expect the water to be hot). The toilet bowl, uncovered, has been the source of many avian injuries. Birds do like water play, and with supervision, many even enjoy showers with their owners. Bath perfumes and hair spray must be avoided around birds.

Chewing is the next big concern with birds. Most birds chew anything they can get their beaks on. We must provide safe woods and chew toys to allow this natural, healthy exercise. It is also essential to keep the house clear of dangerous items. Anything made of lead is forbidden (fishing weights, stained glass, metal toys, costume jewelry). Electric cords should be hidden and protected. Avoid poisonous house plants.

As you get in the habit of thinking about kinds of things that poison birds, you will automatically avoid the dangers.

Remember, things that smell strong to us can often kill

Are they dull? Has he stopped preening himself? How about weight loss? Any of these symptoms indicates potentially serious problems.

Another sure sign of illness is any hint of respiratory distress. Open mouth breathing or any audible sounds, like clicking or wheezing are certain problems. A tail bob is actually a sign of respiratory distress! Vomiting in birds is very abnormal unless it is regurgitating to feed a mate or baby.

Any discharge from the eyes or nostrils is a sign of illness, as is a swelling around the eyes. Of course, any injury or bleeding requires immediate veterinary care. A broken “blood feather” must be pulled immediately to stop the bleeding.

These new, immature feathers are recognized by their protective “cellophane-like” wrap and their visible blood supply. If your bird displays any of these signs, take the bird to your avian vet. Meanwhile, keep the bird warm: 85 degrees is ideal with access to a cooler area. An ordinary heating pad wrapped around on the side of the cage is fine. Offer food and water, placing it on the cage bottom if the bird is weak.

Never give your own medicines, antibiotics or pet store cures to your bird. These can do more harm then good.

Your avian vet will prescribe appropriate and SAFE medications.

birds. Felt tip pens are aromatic and poisonous to birds. Nail polish and remover, paint fumes, cigarette smoke, colored ink and aerosol sprays of all kinds should be avoided. Other pets, such as cats, must be kept safely away. There are many items to remember and dangers to avoid in keeping your pet birds safe around the house. Prevention, however, is always preferable to emergency medical intervention! Keep the name and number of your trusted avian vet handy just in case.

Knowing when your bird is sick Birds who die “suddenly” have usually been sick and no one knew it. But take heart, there are some good indicators of poor health. You only have to know what to look for.

Once you learn the signs of early illness, needed treatments can be performed by your avian veterinarian. Some of the best indicators of health is the bird’s droppings. The droppings are made up of feces, normally black or dark green.

With this will be urine, which is clear, and urates, a creamy white waste material. Droppings with a mustard yellow liquid portion is not normal, nor is blood or rusty brown color in feces. Healthy birds eat often and make lots of droppings.

A sick bird may have fewer droppings, or no fecal portion in them, just white and liquid.

Another indicator of illness is change in eating and drinking habits, for example, excessive water consumption. A bird who isn’t interested in food indefinitely is ill. A change in attitude or behavior can signal illness. Has he stopped talking, or does he appear sleepy and lethargic? Is he huddled on the bottom of the cage or sitting low and ruffled? Is he hiding his head under his wing? How about his feathers?

Trimming wings, beaks and toe nails Any bird in your home needs his wings trimmed unless he is an aviary bird. Concussions often occur when birds fly into windows or mirrors. Serious burns result from birds flopping into pots over stove flames. Many beloved birds fly out open windows or doors and are never seen again!

Wing trims can be performed at home, or you may choose to have your avian vet do it. It is best to watch an experienced person perform a wing trim before doing it yourself. Never cut a “blood feather.” This is a new feather still in its sheath. It has a prominent blood supply and will bleed if cut or broken. If you accidentally cut one, the only to stop the bleeding is to grasp the wing and pull the feather out at the base. The best wing trims allow the bird to flutter to the ground but not maintain flight. This is accomplished by cutting feathers of both wings. Once a wing trim has been done, hold your bird close to the ground, allowing him to gradually discover that he cannot fly.

Some birds’ beaks may never need trimming, but others have overgrown tips or cracks that need smoothing. The beak has a blood and nerve supply and it is a good idea to let your avian bet decide how much, if any, should be removed. Most vets have a special tiny sanding tool to use.

This is not recommended at home. Birds with “scissor beak,” a mal-alignment of the upper and lower beak structures, can be helped by routine trims and shaping. Nail trimming is the most common avian grooming procedure. This can be done at home, but again it is advisable to learn from an expert. The nails will bleed during a nail trim, and a styptic powder such as “Quik-stop” will stop the bleeding. Parrots may have nails that become very sharp and painful to the person on whose shoulder they are perched. Do not give your bird sandpaper perches in hopes of wearing the nails down. These perches cause serious foot problems, including chronic ulcerated sores, and do little for the nails.

— www.multiscope.com

26

Opinion FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Snowden fuels fear of ‘Big Brother USA’

By Mathieu Rabechault

A

n avalanche of intelligence leaks from former CIA contractor Edward Snowden sent shockwaves around the world in 2013, lifting the lid on a vast global spying network and raising fears of a surveillance state. As the year drew to a close, the 30-year-old Snowden remains exiled in Russia, his final port of call following a worldwide game of cat-and-mouse that appeared to come straight from the pages of a spy novel. A traitor to some, a heroic whistleblower to others: Snowden’s disclosures have shed light on intelligencegathering methods which shocked many through their sheer scale.

Tens of thousands of documents leaked

by Snowden to The Guardian newspaper and other media outlets have detailed the nature of the National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) hitherto shadowy activities. The fugitive Snowden, Time’s runner-up behind Pope Francis for its person of the year, told the magazine he hoped the leaks would lead to greater transparency by governments. “What we recoil most strongly 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 said via email in a rare interview.

Tons of metadata gathered Snowden’s revelations made it clear that metadata and information from millions of emails and phone calls - incidentally, some of it about American citizens - has been systematically raked in by the NSA. Civil rights groups decried the NSA’s activities as the actions of a Big Brother-like government, trampling on the rights of individuals with little oversight. The repercussions have been felt far and wide.

President Barack Obama in August promised reforms to improve “transparency” while at the same time stating that many of the NSA programs were a necessity.

Washington has also had to soothe anger amongst its allies, particularly after revelations that the NSA had targeted German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone. Yet according to some analysts, the long-term consequences of the Snowden revelations remain to be seen.

James Lewis, an expert in technology and public policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, questioned whether there would be a fundamental change in the practices of the intelligence community.

“You’re not going to see major changes,” said Lewis, estimating that opponents of the programs remained a “noisy minority” of around 20-25 percent of voters. “I think the majority of the American people would rather see programs that are more transparent and have greater oversight in exchange for smaller risk of attack,” he said.

Lewis believes the problem is that “peo-

ple have never appreciated the difference between collect and read”. “Nobody can sit down and read 70 million emails but you could get machines to identify those with links to terrorism or proliferation,” he said.

One of the programs set up under the 2001 Patriot Act allows for the collection from US phone companies of metadata, such as numbers called and the time and duration of calls. The gathering of such data from ordinary Americans sparked outrage in the United States and led Congress to try to rein in the NSA. Gordon Adams, an expert on defense and national security at American University, says the NSA was given unprecedented freedom following the Sept 11, 2001 attacks. “In a climate of fear we basically took the reins off of accountability for the intelligence community,” Adams said. “The reality is the law gave them (NSA) immense running room and they have seized every inch of that running room and then some.” Another NSA program known as PRISM involved gathering up data on the Internet activities of millions of people worldwide using information gleaned from US technology giants such as Apple, Microsoft, Google and Facebook. It prompted the companies to issue an appeal to the United States and other governments to reform their surveillance practices. A statement from the companies said Snowden’s revelations “highlighted the urgent need to reform government surveillance practices worldwide”. “The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual,” the companies said.

US allies angered But the revelations concerning the US intelligence community’s snooping on allies, while embarrassing, were unlikely to do lasting damage, according to Karen Kornbluh of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.

“International reactions abroad were surprisingly muted because foreign leaders are aware that their security intelligence services engage in similar activities,” Kornbluh said. The bigger threat, Kornbluh said, was “to the health of the Internet itself”, warning she feared a “Balkanization” of the web. “The revelations may provide a rationale for some foreign governments grappling with ongoing economic as well as privacy concerns to exert more domestic control over data flows,” Kornbluh said.

So far, only one percent of the 58,000 documents provided by Snowden have been disclosed, according to an official from The Guardian. But CSIS analyst Lewis believes the worst may be over for the US government. “My sense is that the broad outlines are so well known that it’s hard for them not to repeat themselves,” Lewis said. “It will be hard to come up with more dramatic revelations. They will be able to release specific details that would do incredible damage to the collection programs but in terms of political effect, it’s already largely been achieved.” —AFP

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013 www.kuwaittimes.net

A general view shows the snow-covered Dome of the Rock at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the old city of Jerusalem yesterday as a winter weather front hit the region, bringing early snow and a steep drop in temperatures. A bruising winter storm brought severe weather to the Middle East, forcing the closure of roads and schools and blanketing much of the high altitude areas with snow and ice. —AFP

Beauty FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Bigger, fuller, plumper!

Would you get lip fillers to look like your favorite celebrity?

Lip augmentation is a cosmetic procedure that can give you fuller, plumper lips. These days, an injectable dermal filler is the most commonly used method of lip augmentation. There are many types of dermal fillers that can be injected in your lips and around your mouth. But the most common fillers today are products that contain substances similar to hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic acid is a natural substance found in the body. It helps increase volume in your lips. These types of dermal fillers are sometimes called “hyaluronic acid fillers”

C

ance plans won’t cover cosmetic surgery or complications associated with cosmetic surgery. Before undergoing the procedure, make sure you understand all the charges and ask if your doctor offers a payment plan.

ollagen, once the most common dermal filler, is used less often today. The newer options are safer and the effects last longer. Fat injections and implants are other methods to plump lips. But they aren’t used as much today because the results vary and there is a greater risk of side effects.

Is lip augmentation right for you?

To answer this question, you must first ask yourself why you want to modify your lips.

You should not undergo this procedure unless you truly want to modify your appearance. If you are considering lip augmentation to make someone else happy or to try to fit an ideal image, you may want to think twice.

Also, it’s important to have realistic expectations about the outcome. Enhanced lips may make your lips plumper and fuller, but you will still be you when you walk out of the doctor’s office.

Your doctor can discuss with you the pros and cons of your lip augmentation options and help you decide which technique or product is best for you.

Before undergoing lip augmentation you should be in good health and a nonsmoker.

You may not be a candidate for lip augmentation if you have: An infection such as oral herpes Diabetes Lupus Blood-clotting problems If you have ever had a cold sore (oral herpes) any time in the past, you should tell your doctor before undergoing the procedure. If you have any known allergies or are allergic to lidocaine, tell your doctor before undergoing the procedure. Also, tell your doctor about any medications you are taking, including prescription and over-the-counter drugs and herbal supplements.

Uses of Hyaluronic Acid Fillers Hyaluronic acid fillers can improve the appearance of your lips by adding: Shape Structure Volume The effects typically last around six months.

After that more injections are needed to keep the volume of your lips.

There are several hyaluronic acid fillers on the market. Among them are these products: Restylane, Restylane-L Perlane, Perlane-L Juvederm Ultra, Juvederm Ultra XC Juvederm Ultra Plus, Juvederm Ultra Plus XC All of these products are injected the same way and give you similar results. And they all contain lidocaine, a local anesthetic.

Benefits of Hyaluronic Acid Fillers Once injected, the gel in the filler supports and shapes the tissues of the lips.

The benefits of using hyaluronic acid fillers include: Control over lip volume. The amount of substance injected can be controlled, so the doctor has better control over how much lip volume is created.

Gradual pace of treatment. The injections can be given gradually during different appointments until the desired results are achieved.

Bumps dissolve easily. Any lumps and bumps created by movement of the lips can be dissolved easily.

Less bruising. There may be less bruising and swelling compared to other dermal fillers.

Reasonably lasting results. The results are reasonably long-lasting, but not permanent.

Allergic reaction unlikely. Because hyaluronic acid fillers are made from substances similar to those found in the body, they are unlikely to cause an allergic reaction.

But if you are allergic to lidocaine, tell your doctor before being treated.

What to expect during the procedure Injectable lip augmentation techniques can be performed quickly in your doctor’s office with little to no downtime. Fat injection is the exception, since the procedure requires a small area of liposuction to remove the fat from another part of your body before the injection can take place.

Before the injections, a topical or local numbing agent may be applied to ease discomfort. Sometimes injections can be given

before the treatment to completely numb the lips. This is similar to the anesthetic injections that you get at the dentist to numb your mouth. After carefully marking the areas to be injected, very fine needles are used to inject the substance into your lips.

Following injection, ice may be given to ease discomfort and control swelling. But no firm pressure should be put on the treatment area. Lipstick or other lip products are best avoided immediately after the procedure.

You should be able to notice a difference immediately. After you have healed, your lips should feel natural.

Side effects and risks Side effects of hyaluronic acid fillers are temporary and should only last a few days.

They may include: Bleeding from the injection sites Swelling and bruising Redness and tenderness at the site of the injection More serious side effects or risks may include: Severe and prolonged swelling

or bruising lasting one week to 10 days Lip asymmetry (parts of lips are different sizes) Lumps and irregularities in the lips Infection Injection into a blood vessel causing tissue loss Ulceration, scarring, or stiffening of the lip Allergic reaction causing redness, swelling, or itching around the lips Call your doctor immediately if you experience extreme swelling or develop a fever.

Cost of lip augmentation The cost of lip augmentation varies depending on the: Type of procedure performed Doctor’s experience Where you live Fillers are usually priced per syringe injected. The cost will depend on how much material is required. Most people don’t need more than one to two syringes. Total costs range between $500 and $2,000. Most health insur-

Finding the right doctor There are several specialists who can perform lip augmentation, including: Plastic surgeons Dermatologists Cosmetic facial surgeons The most important thing is to find a doctor who is qualified and experienced in giving injections and one whom you trust.

Don’t go to just anyone. Lip augmentation poses real risks, especially if the person giving the injection is inexperienced.

Do your homework. When making a decision about which doctor to use, ask about the doctor’s training and education. How many injections has he or she given? Is he or she board certified or a member of their specialty’s medical association?

Also, ask to see before-and-after photographs of patients the doctor has treated. Are you happy with the results? If you aren’t, consider getting a second opinion.

— www.webmd.com

Food FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Raise a toast to

raisins MAPLE GLAZED BAKED APPLES

Ingredients 4 large Rome Beauty baking apples 1/2 cup Sun-Maid Natural Raisins 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 1/3 cup chopped walnuts 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 cup apple juice 1/4 cup pure maple syrup 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine Directions: Heat oven to 375 F. Core apples leaving bottoms intact. Peel top half of apples. Place in 8-inch square pan.

Combine raisins, brown sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon.

Spoon mixture into apples, mounding over top of apples and letting excess fall into pan.

Pour apple juice into bottom of pan. Combine maple syrup and butter and spoon over top of apples. Cover pan with foil.

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until apples are tender. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 4 servings.

Nutrients per serving (1 apple) without nuts: Calories 270; Protein 1g; Fat 3g (Sat Fat 2g); Carbohydrate 63g; Dietary Fiber 6g; Cholesterol 10mg; Sodium 40mg Daily Values: Dietary Fiber 25% Potassium 14% Vitamin C 10% Iron 10%

CLASSIC RAISIN OATMEAL COOKIES

Ingredients 3/4 cup softened butter or margarine 1 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup milk 1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats 1 cup Sun-Maid Natural Raisins 1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (optional) Directions: Heat oven to 350 F. Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, milk, egg and vanilla until light and fluffy.

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

Add to butter mixture and mix well.

Stir in oats, raisins and nuts, if using. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets.

Cool on wire racks.

Makes 3 dozen cookies.

CINNAMON RAISIN BREAD PUDDING

Ingredients 3 large eggs 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg 2-1/2 cups milk 1/2 cup Sun-Maid Natural Raisins 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine (optional) 6 slices Sun-Maid Raisin Bread cut into cubes 1/2 cup caramel ice cream topping Directions: Heat oven to 350 F. Combine eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, and nutmeg.

Add milk, raisins, and butter (if using). Mix well.

Stir in bread cubes. Let stand 5 minutes or refrigerate overnight.

Spoon mixture into 8 greased (4 ounce) or 5 (8 ounce) custard cups or ramekins.

Place cups in a shallow baking pan. Add hot tap water to baking pan until halfway up sides of custard cups.

Bake for about 35 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. (Add 5 to 10 minutes if refrigerated.)

Serve warm or at room temperature drizzled with caramel topping.

Makes 5 or 8 servings.

BROCCOLI PASTA TOSS Ingredients 1 cup small broccoli florets 1-1/4 cups cooked shell pasta 1/2 cup Sun-Maid Natural Raisins 1/3 cup chopped red onion 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper Dressing: 1/3 cup reduced-calorie mayonnaise 1 tablespoon cider vinegar 1/2 teaspoon sugar salt and pepper Directions: Combine all salad ingredients.

Combine all dressing ingredients and blend well.

Pour dressing over salad. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Toss and serve.

Makes 4 servings.

Nutrients per Serving (approx 1 cup): Calories 200; Protein 3g; Fat 7g (Sat Fat 1.5g); Carbohydrate 30g; Dietary Fiber 2g; Cholesterol 5mg; Sodium 170mg Daily Values: Vitamin C 60% Vitamin A 15% Dietary Fiber 10%

BANANA FRENCH TOAST Ingredients 8 slices Sun-Maid Raisin Bread 2 medium bananas cut in 1/4-inch slices 1 cup milk 4 ounces softened cream cheese 3 eggs 1/3 cup sugar 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons vanilla extract Powdered sugar (optional) Directions: Heat oven to 350 F. Place four slices of raisin bread in a single layer in a buttered 9-inch square baking dish. Top with bananas and four slices

of raisin bread.

Blend milk, cream cheese, eggs, sugar, flour and vanilla in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Pour over raisin bread. Let stand 5 minutes or refrigerate overnight.

Bake 40 to 45 minutes (50 to 55 minutes if refrigerated) until set and top is toasted. Let stand 10 minutes.

Cut French toast into diagonal halves and remove with spatula. Dust servings with powdered sugar if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

Health FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

From flab to fab

How to lose weight and keep it off I

n our eat-and-run, massive-portion-sized culture, maintaining a healthy weight can be tough-and losing weight, even tougher. If you’ve tried and failed to lose weight before, you may believe that diets don’t work for you. You’re probably right: traditional diets don’t work-at least not in the long term. However, there are plenty of small but powerful ways to avoid common dieting pitfalls, achieve lasting weight loss success, and develop a healthier relationship with food.

The key to successful, healthy weight loss Your weight is a balancing act, but the equation is simple: If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight. And if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you lose weight. Since 3,500 calories equals about one pound of fat, if you cut 500 calories from your typical diet each day, you’ll lose approximately one pound a week (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories). Simple, right? Then why is weight loss so hard?

All too often, we make weight loss much more difficult than it needs to be with extreme diets that leave us cranky and starving, unhealthy lifestyle choices that undermine our dieting efforts, and emotional eating habits that stop us before we get started.

But there’s a better way! You can lose weight without feeling miserable. By making smart choices every day, you can develop new eating habits and preferences that will leave you feeling satisfied-and winning the battle of the bulge.

Getting started with healthy weight loss While there is no “one size fits all” solution to permanent healthy weight loss, the following guidelines are a great place to start: Think lifestyle change, not shortterm diet. Permanent weight loss is not something that a “quick-fix” diet can achieve. Instead, think about weight loss as a permanent lifestyle change-a commitment to your health for life.

Various popular diets can help jumpstart your weight loss, but permanent changes in your lifestyle and food choices are what will work in the long run.

Find a cheering section. Social support means a lot. Programs like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers use group support to impact weight loss and lifelong healthy eating. Seek out supportwhether in the form of family, friends, or a support group-to get the encouragement you need.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Aim to lose one to two pounds a week to ensure healthy weight loss.

Losing weight too fast can take a toll on your mind and body, making

you feel sluggish, drained, and sick. When you drop a lot of weight quickly, you’re actually losing mostly water and muscle, rather than fat.

Set goals to keep you motivated. Shortterm goals, like wanting to fit into a bikini for the summer, usually don’t work as well as wanting to feel more confident or become healthier for your children’s sakes. When frustration and temptation strike, concentrate on the many benefits you will reap from being healthier and leaner.

Use tools that help you track your progress. Keep a food journal and weigh yourself regularly, keeping track of each pound and inch you lose. By keeping track of your weight loss efforts, you’ll see the results in black and white, which will help you stay motivated.

Keep in mind it may take some experimenting to find the right diet for your individual body. It’s important that you feel satisfied so that you can stick with it on a longterm basis. If one diet plan doesn’t work, then try another one. There are many ways to lose weight. The key is to find what works for you.

Where you carry your fat matters The health risks are greater if you tend to carry your weight around your abdomen, as opposed to your hips and thighs. A lot of belly fat is stored deep below the skin surrounding the abdominal organs and liver, and is closely linked to insulin resistance and diabetes.

Calories obtained from fructose (found in sugary beverages such as soda and processed foods like doughnuts, muffins, and candy) are more likely to add to this dangerous fat around your belly. Cutting back on sugary foods can mean a slimmer waistline and lower risk of disease.

Avoid common pitfalls Diets, especially fad diets or “quick-fix” pills and plans, often set you up for failure because: You feel deprived. Diets that cut out entire groups of food, such as carbs or fat, are simply impractical, not to mention unhealthy. The key is moderation.

You lose weight, but can’t keep it off.

Diets that severely cut calories, restrict certain foods, or rely on ready-made meals might work in the short term but don’t include a plan for maintaining your weight, so the pounds quickly come back.

After your diet, you seem to put on weight more quickly. When you drastically restrict your food intake, your metabolism will temporarily slow down. Once you start eating normally, you’ll gain weight until your metabolism bounces back.

You break your diet and feel too discouraged to try again. When diets make you feel deprived, it’s easy to fall off the wagon.

Healthy eating is about the big picture. An occasional splurge won’t kill your efforts.

You lose money faster than you lose weight. Special shakes, meals, and programs are not only expensive, but they aren’t practical for long-term weight loss.

You feel lost when dining out. If the food served isn’t on your specific diet plan, what can you do?

The person on the commercial lost 30 lbs. in two months-and you haven’t.Diet companies make a lot of grandiose promises, and most are simply unrealistic.

Low-carbohydrate: Quick weight loss but long-term safety questions Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution launched the low-carbohydrate diet craze, focusing largely on high-pro-

tein meats and full-fat dairy products, while banishing carbohydrates such as bread, rice, and pasta. One popular permutation of the low-carb diet is the South Beach diet, which also restricts carbohydrates but favors healthier, unsaturated fats found in nuts and fish, and allows more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

The low-carb eating strategy is based on the theory that people who eat carbohydrates take in more calories and gain weight, while people on a high-fat diet eat less and lose weight. However, low-carbohydrate diets tend to cause dehydration by shedding pounds as urine. The result is rapid weight loss, but after a few months, weight loss tends to slow and reverse, just as happens with other diets.

The American Heart Association cautions people against the Atkins diet, because it is too high in saturated fat and protein, which can be hard on the heart, kidneys, and bones.

The lack of fruits and vegetables is also worrisome, because these foods tend to lower the risk of stroke, dementia, and certain cancers. Most experts believe South Beach and other, less restrictive low-carbohydrate diets offer a more reasonable approach.

Put a stop to emotional eating We don’t always eat simply to satisfy hunger. If we did, no one would be overweight. All too often, we turn to food for comfort and stress relief. When this happens, we frequently pack on pounds.

Do you reach for a snack while watching TV? Do you eat when you’re stressed or bored? When you’re lonely? Or to reward yourself? Recognizing your emotional eating triggers can make all the difference in your weight loss efforts: If you eat when you’re stressed, find healthier ways to calm yourself. Try exercise, yoga, meditation, or soaking in a hot bath. If you eat when you’re feeling low on energy, find other mid-afternoon pick-me-ups. Try walking around the block, listening to energizing music, or taking a short nap.

If you eat when you’re lonely or bored, reach out to others instead of reaching for the refrigerator. Call a friend who makes you laugh, take your dog for a walk, or go out in public (to the library, mall, or park-anywhere there’s people).

We live in a fast-paced world where eating has become mindless. We eat on the run, at our desk while we’re working, and in front of the TV screen. The result is that we consume much more than we need, often without realizing it.

Counter this tendency by practicing “mindful” eating: pay attention to what you eat, savor each bite, and choose foods that are both nourishing and enjoyable.

Health FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Mindful eating weight loss tips Pay attention while you’re eating. Instead of chewing down mindlessly, savor the experience. Eat slowly, savoring the smells and textures of your food. If your mind wanders, gently return your attention to your food and how it tastes and feels in your mouth.

Avoid distractions while eating. Try not to eat while working, watching TV, or driving. It’s too easy to mindlessly overeat.

Chew your food thoroughly. Try chewing each bite 30 times before swallowing. You’ll prolong the experience and give yourself more time to enjoy each bite.

Try mixing things up to force yourself to focus on the experience of eating. Try using chopsticks rather than a fork, or use your utensils with your non-dominant hand.

Stop eating before you are full. It takes time for the signal to reach your brain that you’ve had enough. Avoid the temptation to clean your plate. Yes, there are children starving in Africa, but your weight gain won’t help them.

Fill up with fruit, veggies, and fiber To lose weight, you have to eat fewer calories. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to eat less food. You can fill up while on a diet, as long as you choose your foods wisely.

Fiber: the secret to feeling satisfied while losing weight High-fiber foods are higher in volume and take longer to digest, which makes them filling. There’s nothing magic about it, but the weight-loss results may seem like it.

High-fiber heavyweights include: Fruits and vegetables - Enjoy whole fruits across the rainbow (strawberries, apples, oranges, berries, nectarines, plums), leafy salads, and green veggies of all kinds.

Beans - Select beans of any kind (black beans, lentils, split peas, pinto beans, chickpeas).

Add them to soups, salads, and entrees, or enjoy them as a hearty dish on their own. Whole grains - Try high-fiber cereal, oatmeal, brown rice, whole-wheat pasta, whole-wheat or multigrain bread, and air-popped popcorn.

Focus on fresh fruits and veggies Counting calories and measuring portion sizes can quickly become tedious, but you don’t need an accounting degree to enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables. It’s generally safe to eat as much as you want, whenever you want. The high water and fiber content in most fresh fruits and vegetables makes them hard to overeat. You’ll feel full long before you’ve overdone it on the calories.

Eat vegetables raw or steamed, not fried or breaded, and dress them with herbs and spices or a little olive oil or cheese for flavor.

Add nuts and cheese to salads but don’t overdo it. Use low-fat salad dressings, such as a vinaigrette made with olive oil.

Pour a little less cereal into your morning bowl to make room for some blueberries, strawberries, or sliced bananas. You’ll still enjoy a full bowl, but with a lower calorie count.

Swap out some of the meat and cheese in your sandwich with healthier veggie choices like lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, cucumbers, and avocado.

Instead of a high-calorie snack, like chips and dip, try baby carrots or celery with hummus. Add more veggies to your favorite main courses to make your dish “go” further. Even dishes such as pasta and stir-fries can be dietfriendly if you use less noodles and more vegetables.

Try starting your meal with a salad or soup to help fill you up, so you eat less of your entre.

Indulge without overindulging Try not to think of certain foods as “off limits” When you ban certain foods, it is natural to want those foods more, and then feel like a failure if you give in to temptation. Instead of denying yourself the unhealthy foods you love, simply eat them less often.

If you’ve ever found yourself polishing off a pint of ice cream or stuffing yourself with cookies or chips after spending a whole day virtuously eating salads, you know how restrictive diet plans usually end. Deprivation diets set you up for failure: you starve yourself until you snap, and then you overdo it, cancelling out all your previous efforts.

In order to successfully lose weight and keep it off, you need to learn how to enjoy the foods you love without going overboard. A diet that places all your favorite foods off limits won’t work in the long run. Eventually, you’ll feel deprived and will cave. And when you do, you probably won’t stop at a sensiblesized portion.

Tips for enjoying treats without overeating Combine your treat with other healthy foods. You can still enjoy your favorite high-calorie treat, whether it’s

ice cream, chips, cake, or chocolate. The key is to eat a smaller serving along with a lowercalorie option. For example, add strawberries to your ice cream or munch on carrot and celery sticks along with your chips and dip. By piling on the low-cal option, you can eat a diet-friendly portion of your favorite treat without feeling deprived.

Schedule your treats. Establish regular times when you get to indulge in your favorite food. For example, maybe you enjoy a small square of chocolate every day after lunch, or a slice of cheesecake every Friday evening. Once you’re conditioned to eat your treat at those times-and those times onlyyou’ll stop obsessing about them at other times.

Make your indulgence less indulgent. Find ways to reduce fat, sugar, or calories in your favorite treats and snacks. If you do your own baking, cut back on sugar, making up for it with extra cinnamon or vanilla extract. You can also eliminate or reduce high-calorie sides, like whipped cream, cheese, dip, and frosting.

Engage all your senses-not just your taste sense. You can make snack time more special by lighting candles, playing soothing music, or eating outdoors in a beautiful setting. Get the most pleasure-and the most relaxationout of your treat by cutting it into small pieces and taking your time.

Take charge of your food environment Your weight loss efforts will succeed or fail based largely on your food environment. Set yourself up for success by taking charge of your food environment: when you eat, how much you eat, and what foods are available.

Eat early, weigh less. When you eat-as well as how much-may also affect your weight.

Early studies suggest that consuming more of your daily calories at breakfast and fewer at dinner can help you drop more pounds.

Eating a larger, healthy breakfast can jump start your metabolism, stop you feeling hungry during the day, and give you more time to burn off the calories.

Serve yourself smaller portions. One easy way to control portion size is by using small plates, bowls, and cups. This will make your portions appear larger. Don’t eat out of large bowls or directly from the food container or package, which makes it difficult to assess how much you’ve eaten. Using smaller utensils, like a teaspoon instead of tablespoon, can slow eating and help you feel full sooner.

Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time.

You will be more inclined to eat in moderation if you have thought out healthy meals and snacks in advance. You can buy or create your own small portion snacks in plastic bags or containers.

Eating on a schedule will also help you avoid eating when you aren’t truly hungry.

Cook your own meals. Cooking meals at home allows you to control both portion size and what goes in to the food. Restaurant and packaged foods generally contain a lot more sodium, fat, and calories than food cooked at home-plus the portion sizes tend to be larger.

Don’t shop for groceries when you’re hungry. Create a shopping list and stick to it. Be especially careful to avoid high-calorie snack and convenience foods.

Out of sight, out of mind. Limit the amount of tempting foods you have at home. If you share a kitchen with non-dieters, store snack foods and other high-calorie indulgences in cabinets or drawers out of your sight.

Fast for 14 hours a day. Try to eat your last meal earlier in the day and then fast until breakfast the next morning. Studies suggest that this simple dietary adjustment-eating only when you’re most active and giving your digestive system a long break each day-may help you to lose weight.

Soda: The Secret Diet Saboteur Soft drinks (including soda, energy drinks, and coffee drinks) are a huge source of calories in many people’s diets. One can of soda contains between 10-12 teaspoons of sugar and around 150 calories, so a few soft drinks can quickly add up to a good portion of your daily calorie intake.

Switching to diet soda isn’t the answer either, as studies suggest that it triggers sugar cravings and contributes to weight gain.

Instead, try switching to water with lemon, unsweetened iced tea, or carbonated water with a splash of juice.

Make healthy lifestyle changes You can support your dieting efforts by making healthy lifestyle choices.

Get plenty of exercise. Exercise is a dieter’s best friend. It not only burns calories, but also can improve your resting metabolism. No time for a long workout? Research shows that three 10-minute spurts of exercise per day are just as good as one 30-minute workout.

Turn off the TV. You actually burn less calories watching television than you do sleeping!

If you simply can’t miss your favorite shows, get a little workout in while watching. Do easy exercises like squats, sit-ups, jogging in place, or using resistance bands or hand weights.

Drink more water. Reduce your daily calorie intake by replacing soda, alcohol, or coffee with water. Thirst can also be confused with hunger, so by drinking water, you may avoid consuming extra calories.

How lack of sleep can wreck your diet Lack of sleep has been shown to have a direct link to hunger, overeating, and weight gain. Two hormones in your body regulate normal feelings of hunger and fullness. Ghrelin stimulates appetite, while leptin sends signals to the brain when you are full.

However, when you’re short on sleep, your ghrelin levels go up, stimulating your appetite so you want more food than normal, and your leptin levels go down, meaning you don’t feel satisfied and want to keep eating. This can lead to overeating and, ultimately, weight gain.

To keep your diet on track, try to get about eight hours of quality sleep a night.

— www.helpguide.org

Tr a v e l FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Vienna Christmas season packs a punch T he German expression “Es weihnachtet sehr” (It’s getting very Christmassy) fits the mood in Vienna as Austria’s capital decks itself out in style for the holiday season.

The centre of the old Habsburg empire treats locals and visitors to quaint Christmas markets featuring crafts and decorations, hot punch and baked goods in all the city’s main squares. Consistently voted the world’s most liveable city, Vienna goes all out for the season. Christmas markets are open daily from 10 am to 9:30 pm and to 10 pm on Friday and Saturday. They close on Dec 24 at 5 pm.

Breakfast, lunch & dinner The Ottoman Turkish sieges of Vienna in the 16th and 17th centuries never managed to overwhelm the city but did leave behind a cafe culture that still thrives. Every Viennese has their own favourite for coffee and a leisurely klatsch about the day’s events.

Try the Landtmann across from City Hall once Sigmund Freud’s regular haunt - or the Cafe Central, and watch the heads of societyconscious locals snap up to see who has just walked in with whom. A stroll through the Naschmarkt, the 1.5-km-long (1-mile) open-air market with food stalls that first opened in the 16th century, offers more international variety.

Cheese fans shouldn not miss Poehl’s.

Restaurants don’t offer just meat and potatoes, exemplified by the renowned breaded and fried veal dish known as Wienerschnitzel.

Steiereck in Stadtpark (City Park) is a foodie magnet that often books out weeks in advance. Figlmueller is known for Wienerschnitzels too big for the average plate to hold. For people ready for a jaunt on Vienna’s excellent public transport, head out to the 19th District to a heuriger, the often rustic taverns.

Arts and culture Austria is filled with grandiose castles and palaces, and three of the best are in Vienna.

The Hofburg, inside the elegant ring road that encircles the city centre, used to be the imperial residence and was built up with ever more majestic additions by a series of emperors from the 14th to the 20th centuries, each striving to outdo his or her predecessors.

Today, it’s the official residence of the Austrian president but most sections are open to visitors. The complex includes the Spanish Riding School, where the famous Lippizan horses are put through their paces in balletic

displays. For a double dose of schmaltz, the Spanish Riding School is teaming up on a few selected dates until June 2014 with the Vienna Boys’ Choir.

The baroque Belvedere palace, just outside the city centre with sweeping views over Vienna, houses an impressive art collection from Vienna in its fin-de-siecle heyday. It includes the famed Gustav Klimt painting The Kiss, which you can also see reproduced on countless scarves, packs of cards and lighters in souvenir shops around the city.

A 15-minute taxi ride from the centre, or a cheaper tram, brings you to the Schoenbrunn Palace estate. Originally planned as a palatial hunting lodge in the 17th century, the site includes extensive gardens and Europe’s oldest zoo. In December, it also hosts - you guessed it - a Christmas market.

Back in the city centre, the MuseumsQuartier is a complex of mostly modern art museums built around the former imperial stables. Cafes spill out into the large outdoor courtyard and the area has a lively yet laid-back feel - think Pompidou Centre minus the street artists.

Among the plethora of museums in the city, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, with its extensive Habsburg painting collections of Venetian, Flemish, Dutch and German masterpieces stands out. Until Jan. 12, it is also home to an exhibition of 141 paintings by the late British figurative painter Lucian Freud, many of them on rare loan from private collections.

It is the first time Sigmund Freud’s grandson has had a show in Vienna and it is likely to be the last time for several years that such a collection is brought together.

For a glimpse of the more recent history of “Red Vienna”, the nickname of the socialistgoverned city between the two world wars, check out some of the more extravagant social housing that was built during the period - for example the giant Karl Marx-Hof in Heiligenstadt, where revolutionaries of the 1934 February uprising barricaded themselves against artillery fire. A more recent example is the eccentric 1980s Hundertwasser House close to the Danube Canal, a expressionist riot of colour, bendy lines and tree limbs poking through the windows. The city’s architectural history is described in the MuseumsQuartier’s Architecture Centre.

For many, Vienna is above all the city of Strauss waltzes. Tickets for the Vienna Philharmonic’s schmaltzy New Year’s Concert

are sold months ahead of time by lottery but for those with more adventurous musical tastes there is plenty on offer. The world-class Vienna State Opera, housed in one of the city’s landmark buildings on the elegant inner ring road, hosts world-class stars and also offers tours of its marble and red-plush interior. Front-row tickets in the boxes come with discreet sub-title screens at every seat.

Nightlife For something more sophisticated, head to the rooftop bar Le Loft at the Sofitel at sunset for a magnificent view over the rooftops and Prater park. Live music is a staple at Rhiz a club in the 8th District where DJs start around midnight. It is one of several joints tucked under the arches of the U6 metro line that runs along the Guertel outer ring road, once the centre of prostitution in Vienna that has now shifted into the Prater.

If you like football hooligans, you will love the neighbourhood called the Bermuda Triangle. A quiet neighbourhood by day whose synagogue reflects its history, the area near Schwedenplatz transforms at night into a series of watering holes. The drinking age is 16, so brace for a young crowd.

NATURE TRAILS The 1,300-square-km Wienerwald (Vienna Woods) offers a huge block of intact nature just a skip and a jump from the metropolis.

Many hiking paths pass taverns for thirsty walkers.

The Prater public park in the 2nd District, donated by Emperor Josef II to the people of Vienna in 1766, is a magnet for fun-seekers, combining long boulevards with an amusement park and Vienna’s landmark Giant Wheel ride, immediately recognisable to fans of the 1948 film The Third Man. The Donauinsel (Danube Island) has loads of space to stroll or bike. The city has plenty of places to rent bikes - even electric ones - and Segways.

Other options If the Christmas markets are too saccharine, try visiting the snow globe museum in the 17th District for a look at the glass orbs that have enchanted people for more than a century. Cooking and baking aficionados will find all kinds of courses on making everything from goulash to torte and sweets. —Reuters

Lifestyle FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Rapper Nelly talks past and present Grammy snubs, infamous David viral photo

N Singer Mariah Carey performs during the National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony on the Ellipse adjacent to the White House in Washington, DC. — AFP

Mariah Carey Kicks Off ‘12 Days of Christmas’ on NBC

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ariah Carey is celebrating the holiday season with NBC this year through a dozen special appearances on the network in what is being called “Mariah Carey’s 12 Days of Christmas.” The singer will make appearances on all three hours of the “Today” on numerous days, while also stopping by other programs including “Access Hollywood,” “Extra,” Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live,” Al Sharpton’s “PoliticsNation” on MSNBC. She also plans on taking the stage with singer Michael Buble for his holiday concert airing Dec 18.

Carey kicked off her holiday special appearances live from her festive Tribeca

triplex in New York City on Wednesday morning’s “Today.” Carey’s 12-day collaboration with NBC follows her opening and closing performances during the Christmas in Rockefeller Center Treelighting special, which earned its highest ratings in seven years. Carey has been nicknamed the “Queen of Christmas,” as her holiday album, “Merry Christmas,” has sold over 14 million copies worldwide to date, while her 1994 singe “All I Want for Christmas Is You” continues to top Billboard’s holiday charts. In addition to her yuletide appearances and performances, Carey will also headline NBC’s 2013 New Year’s Eve broadcast. — Reuters

elly and Florida George Line had one of the most successful singles of 2013 with their remixed collaboration “Cruise” - what they didn’t get, was a Grammy nomination. The snub was immediately noticed by critics and included on many “snubs” lists, including TheWrap’s, which was a collaborative interview effort with Damon Williams, vice president of Programming & Content Development, Music Choice.

Nelly noticed it too.

The rapper, who left BET’s “Real Husbands of Hollywood” set for a Tostitos promotional appearance Tuesday at West Hollywood’s Cabo Cantina, doesn’t get it anymore than you do. “I don’t know with the Grammys - I never got nominated for Best New Artist when I came out (with 2000s ‘Country Grammar’),” he told TheWrap. “I was five million (albums) sold by then, and I still didn’t get it.”

He’s not losing sleep over it though, adding, “We had a great year with that record - other people have warranted us with praises for that record, so we take it as we get it.” The year of praise was capped off by a trophy (and performance) at November’s American Music Awards for Single of the Year. That could be a reflection that fans are actually more progressive than the Recording Academy, who selects Grammy nominations and winners. “With our song, what I think what people fail to realize was the creative part of it and the transformation and the impact that it had as far as doing something that hasn’t been done,” Nelly continued. “But creativity does not get celebrated as much as what’s already working.” Sustainability is about finding that perfect balance between what works and what would be considered not growing. Nelly’s new record, “M.O.” attempts to strike that level, but that’s far easier said than done. His poor sales - M.O. sold just

15,000 copies in its first week, the lowest of his career reflect something that struggle.

“You don’t think Michael Jackson tried to do ‘Thriller’ again?” the rapper rhetorically posed. “You don’t think Prince tried to do ‘Purple Rain’ (again)? It just is what it is, because music is art, so you’re actually living in that time.” He added, “And besides, you get your whole life to do your first album, you get a year to do your next one.”

Nelly also talked with TheWrap about one of the most viral photos of the year, where everyone in frame, including the rapper and “Hangover” actor Justin Bartha, is having a great time - except “Curb Your Enthusiasm” curmudgeon Larry David.

They weren’t at the New York Knicks game together (“Larry don’t call me to go out no more,” Nelly joked. “We used to go out, but bad accident at the Playboy party. He never recovered.”), but the serendipitous courtside seating will forever have the two cemented in the minds of internet trolls and meme-chasers. —Reuters

Von Trapps’ Vt lodge taps interest in new musical

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ven if it’s good for business, NBC’s revival of “The Sound of Music” wasn’t one of the von Trapps’ favorite things. Three-quarters of a century after they arrived from Austria, and in the week since the televised version of the musical classic became a national topic of conversation, the singing family and the vacation lodge it runs in the hills of Vermont are in high demand. And yes, the family was watching as Carrie Underwood, in a widely watched and panned performance, took over the role of Maria von Trapp, made famous on Broadway by Mary Martin and on film by Julie Andrews.

Kristina von Trapp, granddaughter of the real Maria von Trapp, who died in 1987, visited guests as it was shown at the inn in Stowe. And in a blog post, Francoise von Trapp, daughter of Maria von Trapp’s stepson Rupert, questioned the casting. “For everyone who thought the whole thing was wonderful and that NBC did a spectacular job, I say maybe your expectations weren’t high to begin with,” she wrote. “If they hoped to have created a new holiday classic, I think they missed their mark.”

But they aren’t denying the musical is helping business, even if the majority of callers are merely curious and not making reservations. “It definitely stirred up a lot of conversation wanting to know was the family watching, things like that,” said Jennifer Vincent, the lodge’s marketing director. It wasn’t entirely unexpected.

Whenever the movie starring Andrews and

This 2004 file photo provided by the Trapp Family Lodge shows the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vt, lit up for the Christmas holidays.

Christopher Plummer airs on television - typically around Christmas - the lodge gets a lot of traffic on its website and social media, Vincent said.

More than 18 million people tuned in to the revival, according to the Nielsen company. NBC plans an encore broadcast Saturday. The musical and movie are a fictionalized account of the life of Maria von Trapp and tell the story of a 1930s Austrian governess who teaches her charges to sing and falls in love with her

employer, naval captain Georg von Trapp, and the family’s flight during World War II. They moved to Vermont in 1942 after visiting during a singing tour and vacationing in Stowe.

“They enjoyed the kind of quality of people that were here in Vermont,” said Sam Messer, who gives tours of the lodge. “They loved kind of the work ethic and stick-to-it-iveness.” They built a rustic farmhouse and started taking in boarders. As a ski industry developed in the area, they expanded. Fire destroyed it in 1980,

but the family rebuilt. One of the captain’s daughters, also named Maria von Trapp, would play accordion and teach Austrian dance with sister Rosemarie at the lodge. Rosemarie also taught her sons how to play the recorder, said Phoebe Everson, of Plattsburgh, NY, who has been a visitor for decades.

Four of the 10 von Trapp siblings are still alive, although none live at the lodge anymore.

At least three are still in Vermont. The 96-room chalet style inn is the height of charm during the holidays. With its wide views of the mountains that reminded the family of their native Austria, the lodge is decorated with Christmas trees and poinsettias. In the restaurants, wiener schnitzel and apple strudel are on the menu, as well as the family’s beer and some dishes coming from the Scotch cattle and egg-laying hens they raise.

Photographs line the halls showing the von Trapp girls in Austrian-style dresses, or the family pouring concrete for the foundation and doing the haying and maple sugaring - which they still do. Aside from a large network of cross-country ski trails, the inn offers fitness and yoga classes, snowshoeing, mountain biking, summer concerts and wine tastings, as well as occasional harp lessons - and frequent music.

On Christmas Eve, guests get a special treat: The von Trapp family sings Christmas carols with the guests. But no songs from “The Sound of Music.” — AP

Lifestyle FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Lorde’s uniqueness makes her a pop standout Review

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orde may never be a royal, but these days, she’s living like one. The 17-year-old singer, anointed to the lofty position of pop’s newest princess thanks to her astute hit song, “Royals,” is surrounded by the materialistic things she rails against in her No. 1 smash. She has drivers, she’s catered to and says she could get “crazy bottle service” if she so desired. “The irony is not lost on me,” she said in a recent interview. Yet just because she’s surrounded by excess doesn’t mean she indulges - or is even interested in - it.

“Every time I go out, it’s with my mom and my band and my manager and all these adults who are looking over me pretty much, so it’s pretty tame to be honest,” she said. “I definitely don’t feel like I’m living in a particularly extravagant sort of way - which I think is good because I think for me, personally, if I was thrown into that kind of thing, I wouldn’t know how to deal with it,” she said. “I think it’s good to kind of keep on keeping on - just do what you have normally done and sort things into a stride.”

It will be hard for Lorde, born Ella Yellich O’Connnor, to keep on living a normal life if her stratospheric trajectory stays on point. In just a few months, she’s

New Zealand singer Lorde poses for a portrait in New York.

The 17-year-old singer has been anointed to the lofty position of pop’s newest princess thanks to her astute hit song, ‘Royals. —AP

gone from being a New Zealand teen with an EP and an impressive following on SoundCloud to a four-time Grammy nominee (including nominations for top categories record and song of the year) with commercial success and plenty of critical raves.

“Royals,” which has sold close to 4 million tracks, was at the top spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for nine weeks, and Rolling Stone named the song as the

second best single of the year. Lorde was named Spotify’s most viral new artist, and NPR recently compared her to Nirvana - a pretty heady comparison for someone who’s still in high school. But Lorde is miles apart from the typical teen artist - or pop star. Her debut, “Pure Heroine,” touches on what she describes as teen life: relationship drama, school, party life and suburban living. But it hardly comes off that way. With the help of

her collaborator, Joel Little, Lorde fashioned a moody, lyrically rich album told in a far more mature way than most teens would ever describe.

“When you consider how little life experience anyone who is 16 could possibly have, and then you listen to these lyrics, you go, ‘Wow, how do you know?’

She wrote these songs when she was 15,” said Jason Flom, head of Lava Records, which signed her to a major label contract. “She’s a once in a lifetime type of artist.” “Royals” is nominated for best pop solo performance and “Pure Heroine” is up for best pop vocal album at the Grammys. Lorde, who says she started writing music when she was 12, downplays the hype (she calls “Royals” an “obvious” song) and talk about being wise beyond her years.

“Is that an odd thing?” she asks. “I’ve always written and read and that’s been a part of me that’s superimportant. And it’s a really good outlet for me to be able to say whatever I’m thinking and whatever it is that I’m trying to process. So, I don’t think it’s too weird. And I also think people my age these days ... with the Internet, you know, you can be making beats out of your bedroom and be a superstar.” —AP

Madonna ranks No 1 as music’s top earning woman

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ith earnings of $125 million, pop singer Madonna is the highest-paid woman in music, easily surpassing Lady Gaga and country-pop singer Taylor Swift, Forbes said on Wednesday. Her income for the 12-month period used by the magazine also made her the highest-earning celebrity overall, it said. Much of Madonna’s earnings from June 2012 to June 2013 were from her worldwide MDNA Tour, which pulled in $305 million. But the 55-year-old singer, who jumped from ninth place in 2012, also made money with merchandising sales, her fragrance and from her Material Girl clothing line.

She is “music’s top earner of any genre or gender and the highest-paid celebrity of any stripe,” according to Forbes. Lady Gaga, with $80 million, jumped from No 4 to No 2 this year, despite her Born This Way Ball tour being cut short due to an injury. Gaga, 27, released her album “ARTPOP” after the cut off date for Forbes’ annual earnings calculations.

Swift, 23, dropped from second place in 2012 to third this year. Her $55 million in earnings came from sales of her latest album “Red” as well as endorsement deals, records sales and touring. Forbes compiled the list after estimating pre-tax income based on record sales, concert tickets, touring information merchandise sales and interviews with concert promoters, lawyers and managers. It also looked at data from the Pollstar trade magazine, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan. Singer Beyonce, 32, came in fourth, not far behind with $53 million. The R&B star, who rose two places from last year, was also on the road with her Mrs Carter World Tour, and earned cash from her House of Dereon clothing line and endorsement deals. Jennifer Lopez, 44, rounded out the top five women with $45 million. Although her earnings dropped after she left her spot as a judge on the TV singing competition show “American Idol,” she still earned plenty of money from her world tour and the Latin singing competition show “Q’Viva” for the Fox television network. —Reuters

This film publicity image released by Fox Searchlight shows Chiwetel Ejiofor in a scene from ‘12 Years A Slave’. —AP pho-

This image released by The Weinstein Company shows, from left, Meryl Streep, Julianne Nicholson and Juliette Lewis in a scene from ‘August: Osage County’. —AP

‘12 Years a Slave’ tops SAG Awards with 4 nominations

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teve McQueen’s historic saga “12 Years a Slave” topped the nominations list for the 20th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Wednesday, cementing it as a solid Academy Awards prospect with four nominations. John Wells’ dysfunctional family adaptation “August: Osage County,” which hits theaters Dec 25 and features an all-star cast including Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, also picked up awards-season momentum with three nominations, including outstanding performance for the cast.

The SAG nominations are one of Hollywood’s first major announcements on the long road to the March 2 Oscars. Also key are the Golden Globe nominations, which will be revealed Thursday morning.

Noticeably absent from Wednesday’s SAG lineup were Spike Jonze’s futuristic computer love story “Her,” starring Joaquin Phoenix; Ethan and Joel Coen’s folk scene-focused dark comedy “Inside Llewyn Davis”; Richard Linklater’s raw and romantic “Before Midnight”; and Martin Scorsese’s stockbroker

story “The Wolf of Wall Street,” which features performances by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill. Robert Redford, as a resourceful sailor in “All is Lost,” was also snubbed, as was Ryan Coogler’s numbing injustice tale “Fruitvale Station” and the film’s lead actor, Michael B Jordan. Joining the SAG list for outstanding cast performance were JeanMarc Vallee’s AIDS drama “Dallas Buyers Club” and the sweeping White House servant tale “Lee Daniels’ The Butler.” Both films topped the list with three nominations each.

Also nominated for cast performance was David O Russell’s 1970s con-artist romp “American Hustle.” And the film scored an individual supporting nomination for Jennifer Lawrence.

In addition to its cast honors, “12 Years a Slave” attained individual acting nominations, including male lead for Chiwetel Ejiofor as a free African-American man who is kidnapped and sold into slavery, Michael Fassbender for supporting actor as a ruthless slave owner and Lupita Nyong’o for female

support as a favored fieldworker. “Osage County” had individual nominations for Streep for female lead as the conflicted matriarch in the adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning play, and Roberts for supporting female actor as the domineering daughter.

Additional best-actress nominees included Cate Blanchett as a fallen socialite in Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine,” Sandra Bullock as a brave astronaut in Alfonso Curaon’s lostin-space odyssey “Gravity,” Judi Dench as a woman in search of her son in “Philomena” and Emma Thompson as author P.L. Travers in the Disney comedy “Saving Mr Banks.”

June Squibb, as a spitfire in Alexander Payne’s small-town comedy “Nebraska,” and Oprah Winfrey, as the bold Gloria Gaines in “The Butler,” also received supporting role nominations. “Dallas Buyers Club” scored nominations for best actor for Matthew McConaughey as a HIV positive rodeo-lover and Jared Leto for supporting actor as a transgender. —AP

Lifestyle FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Actress Olivia Wilde reads nominations at the 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards nominations announcement event, yesterday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. —AFP photos

This image released by The Weinstein Company shows Judi Dench, left, and Steve Coogan in a scene from ‘Philomena.’

This publicity image released by HBO shows Julia LouisDreyfus in the comedy series “Veep.”

Golden Globe nominees to be unveiled, in crowded race

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olden Globe organizers unveil nominations for their annual movie awards show yesterday, as Hollywood’s honors season gets into full swing with a bumper cast of hotly-tipped contenders. Historical drama “12 Years a Slave” got an early boost on the eve of the Globes nominations, topping the Screen Actors Guild (SAGs) nods Wednesday with four. But this year’s race risks being particularly crowded, with a string of films winning critical acclaim, ranging from 3D sci-fi spectacle “Gravity” to historical epics like “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” and crime drama “American Hustle.” On the acting front, early frontrunners include big names like Meryl Streep, Forest Whitaker, Tom Hanks, Robert Redford and Cate Blanchett, but also lesser known Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years a Slave”) and June Squibb (“Nebraska”).

“This is easily the best year I’ve seen,” said Variety’s awards editor Tim Gray, who has worked at the industry journal since 1981.

“Usually there are three or four films that are certain to be nominated for best picture, and then you guess what films will fill the other slots. This year, there are at least 15 films that deserve a best picture nomination.” Those films also include Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine,” Walt Disney Mary Poppins tale “Saving Mr Banks,” and at least three movies based on real events: “Captain Phillips,”

nominees are likely to include cult series “Breaking Bad” and Netflix’s political drama “House of Cards,” while “Girls” and “Modern Family” are expected to be shortlisted in the best comedy category. Best acting nominees may include Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”), Kevin Spacey (“House of Cards”), Claire Danes (“Homeland”), Kerry Washington (“Scandal”), Jim Parsons (“The Big Bang Theory”), Michael

This film image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Sandra Bullock in a scene from “Gravity.”

“Dallas Buyers Club” and Stephen Frears’ new convent as a child.

For drama, Ejiofor is widely tipped for “12 movie “Philomena.”

Blanchett is tipped as a frontrunner for Years a Slave,” about a man sold into slavery Allen’s film about a troubled New York in 19th century America, while Matthew socialite, while Sandra Bullock impressed McConaughey has won plaudits for “Dallas both critics and filmgoers as an astronaut Buyers Club,” for which he lost 30 pounds to stranded in space with George Clooney in play a rodeo hustler diagnosed with the HIV “Gravity.” Emma Thompson captivated as virus in the 1980s. Hollywood veteran Redford Mary Poppins writer P.L. Travers against could also get a shot at awards gold for his Hanks’ Walt Disney, and fellow British veteran solo performance in “All is Lost,” about a sailor Judi Dench could be nominated for the title facing his own mortality after his boat is shiprole in “Philomena,” about a woman seeking wrecked in a collision with a container vessel.

On the small screen, best drama series her adult son lost after she was forced into a

This publicity image released by ABC shows Kerry Washington in a scene from “Scandal.”

J Fox (“The Michael J Fox Show”), Julia LouisDreyfus (“Veep”) and Lena Dunham (“Girls”).

The 71st annual Golden Globes will be held on January 12 in Beverly Hills. —AFP

‘Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug’ aims for $80M box office debut, but it won’t be easy

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on’t be fooled if “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” falls a bit shy of its predecessor, “An Unexpected Journey,” in its opening box-office weekend both domestically and abroad - this dragon will hunt. “The Desolation of Smaug” rolls out Friday in 3,903 US theaters, and is expected to breathe between $75 million and $80 million in box-office fire, just short of Peter Jackson’s first trilogy installment, which opened the same weekend last year to $85 million. The sequel is also unlikely to match “Journey’s” $138 million openingweekend haul overseas.

But there’s no reason to think “Smaug” can’t match “Journey’s” more than $1 billion worldwide in the end - it’s just getting off to a slightly slower start. For one thing,

“Smaug” is opening in 50 foreign markets this weekend, a handful fewer than “Journey” did last year. The studio has delayed its Latin America release until closer to the Christmas holidays, it won’t hit Japan until February, and a China date is pending until 2014. Ultimately, the film’s overseas grosses are widely expected to top the massive $700 million total of the first.

Hitting the $300 million domestic mark that “Journey” managed could be tougher for “Smaug,” which like the first film is a production of Warner Bros., New Line and MGM. “There’s a lot more competition domestically than we were facing last year,” Warner Bros. head of domestic distribution Dan Fellman told TheWrap, and he’s right about that.

The comedy “Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas” is opening in roughly 2,100 theaters Friday and is expected to bring in about $20 million from mainly AfricanAmerican audiences for distributor Lionsgate.

“Frozen” and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” are in their third and fourth weeks, but showed plenty of life last week and are certain to do better than the $7 million that “Rise of the Guardians” and “Lincoln” managed against the first Hobbit film’s opening. “Unexpected Journey” was in more than 4,000 theaters, too.

“Desolation of Smaug” was the leading advance seller as of Wednesday at online ticket broker Fandango, with a strong but not overwhelming two-thirds of the business. But

This image released by Warner Bros Pictures shows Ian McKellen in a scene from ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’. — AP make no mistake, “The Desolation of Smaug” has plenty going for it. Counting the “Lord of the Rings” movies and the first Hobbit film, the franchise has brought in nearly $5 billion at the worldwide box office since the first film debuted in 2001. —Reuters

Lifestyle FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Wembley, 1988: Mandela catapults to fame

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news editors to take a different line. TV executives would call their newsdesks and say “don’t call this man a terrorist, we just signed 11 hours of broadcasting for a tribute about him,” he said.

“This is how we turned Mandela from a black terrorist into a black leader.” In fact, the artists performed in front of a banner reading “Artists Against Apartheid” and those attending were in no doubt what it was all about. One concert-goer, Ben Padley, was only 12 at the time and admits the main draw for him was his favourite band the Eurythmics.

But he recalls: “I had a feeling of being part of something that was really important. And it formed some of my early thoughts about politics, how wrong this all was.” For Suresh Kamath, vice-chairman of the anti-apartheid movement, the magical moment was when The Specials played their 1984 hit anthem “Free Nelson Mandela”. “The atmosphere in the stadium was electric — 70,000 people singing ‘Free Mandela’, and that was broadcast to hundreds of millions of people around the world,” he told AFP.

hey tuned in to watch performances by some of the biggest rock and pop stars of the day-Dire Straits, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, Simple Minds and Sting. But for many of the half a billion television viewers who watched the 1988 Wembley Stadium concert, it was an eye-opening event that helped turn Nelson Mandela into a global icon. “It was a game-changer. For the first time people began to realize who Mandela was,” said Bob Hughes, the former chairman of Britain’s AntiApartheid Movement (AAM).

“On the back of that, we carried out the campaigning and he began to be known as a person of conscience.” The Wembley crowd of 70,000 was dwarfed by the 250,000 who demonstrated in Hyde Park for Mandela’s 70th birthday a few weeks later, and the 200,000 who attended a free anti-apartheid gig in London two years earlier, in 1986. But as a televised event, the concert on June 11, 1988, provided a global platform to highlight the plight of Mandela-then languishing in jail-and other political prisoners in apartheid-era South Africa.

“We were breaking out from the street demos to a mass audience at home watching TV,” said Jerry Dammers, a founder of ska band The Specials who helped organize the concert. “They weren’t necessarily as committed, but the sheer numbers-that was the most important thing,” he told AFP. Within 20 months Mandela was free and just a few weeks later made a trip to London for a second concert at Wembley, where he thanked the crowd for the 1988 tribute.

“The concert was absolutely crucial in terms of raising Mandela’s profile,” said Saul Dubow, professor of African history at Queen Mary University of London. “After the Wembley concert, there was a huge groundswell of popular support for Mandela.

He became an icon of freedom-even though very little was known about him.”

South African anti-apartheid leader and African National Congress (ANC) member Nelson Mandela, flanked by his wife Winnie, waves to the crowd during a pop concert in his honor at ‘Wembley Stadium’, 16 April 1990 in London. —AFP

‘Don’t call this man a terrorist’ The concert was originally intended as a fundraiser but as the lineup grew 83 artists would eventually take part-the organizers began to realize the power they held in their hands. The BBC agreed to film the event, paving the way for other broadcasters to sign up, covering almost 70 countries. To win over the TV

advertisers the concert was pitched as an entertainment event and the political message was toned down.

It is easy to forget now that at the time, international news media often referred to Mandela as a “jailed terrorist leader”. But the producer of the concert, Tony Hollingsworth, recalled how it prompted

‘We were involved in a war’ The concert led to a huge surge in applications to join the anti-apartheid movement, and membership between 1985 and 1988 increased tenfold to about 30,000. But Kamath stressed that the event should be seen in the context of years of grassroots campaigning against apartheid, as well as the shifting international situation. By 1988, many countries had imposed trade sanctions on South Africaalthough not Britain-and negotiations were gaining pace behind the scenes to get Mandela out of jail.

“You cannot just have a concert in isolation-you have to have a campaign behind it. Persuading the artists to take part, you have to have credibility,” Kamath said. And it was no easy task to pull off. A number of British lawmakers tried to stop the BBC from broadcasting the concert, while the organizers received bomb threats. Elsewhere, anti-apartheid activists were constantly under threat. Just a few weeks before Wembley, the Paris representative of the ANC was shot and killed in her office. “They were great moments in my life, but behind the scenes it was quite unpleasant. We were involved in a war with a very evil thing,” Dammers recalled. —AFP

Brooks box set keeps Spears at bay in Billboard 200

C PSY and Ylvis

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PSY, Ylvis top YouTube 2013 video hit list

Norwegian comedy duo and South Korean rap music sensation PSY topped a list of hit videos shared at Google-owned YouTube this year. YouTube’s annual “Rewind” collection of online videos that won the most attention at the website was headed by Ylvis musically wondering what “The Fox” might say. Fox outfits also wound up the most searched-for Halloween costumes this year, according to Google.

The video had logged more than 277 million views as of Wednesday. Topping the

YouTube music video list was PSY’s “Gentleman,” watched nearly 600 million times. “While each annual list is unpredictable, trending videos just get bigger each year,” YouTube head of culture and trends Kevin Allocca said in a blog post.

“And with 80 percent of all views on YouTube coming from outside the US, the global community is driving pop culture unlike ever before.” A channel featuring the year’s top trending videos was available online at youtube.com/user/theyearinreview. —AFP

ountry singer Garth Brooks stormed to the top of the weekly US Billboard 200 album chart to claim top spot on Wednesday, ahead of a new debut from Britney Spears. Brooks’ boxed set, “Blame It All On My Roots,” climbed from No 3 to No 1 with second week sales of 146,000 copies according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

The box set contains six CDs and two DVDs and was released as an exclusive set at retailer Walmart over the US Thanksgiving holiday weekend at a discounted price.

In comparison, Spears’ latest album “Britney Jean” notched opening week sales of only 107,000 and came in at No 4, her lowest album debut in a career spanning more than a decade and below industry projections of 115,000 to 120,000, according to Billboard.

“Britney Jean” is the singer’s eighth studio album, and features the lead single “Work B**ch.”

Spears’ album came behind last week’s chart-topper, “Midnight Memories” by British boy band One Direction, which dropped to No 2 this week with 117,000 copies, and Kelly Clarkson’s holiday album “Wrapped in Red” at No 3. Spears was the only debut in the top

ten of the Billboard 200 this week.

Overall album sales for the week ending Dec 8 rounded out to 7.1 million, down 16 percent from the comparable week in 2012, according to Billboard. Justin Timberlake’s March release of the first part of “The 20/20 Experience” is the year’s topselling album, with more than 2.3 million copies sold. —Reuters

Garth Brooks

Lifestyle FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Japan agency offers travel for your

teddy bear Picture shows tour operator Sonoe Azuma holds a stuffed toy during a visit to a station in Tokyo.

—AFP photos

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nable to get to that must-see tourist site but can’t bear for your teddy to miss out? Then Japan has just the thing for you-a travel agency that takes stuffed toys on package tours and even provides the holiday snaps to prove it. Tokyobased Unagi (Eel) Travel has a range of offers to suit every cuddly companion’s purse.

For instance, a day trip around sightseeing spots in the Japanese capital is $45, plus travel-by parcel post-from and to the toy’s home address. The more

could do it if it was simply about taking pictures of stuffed animals... You must do this with the belief that ‘I’m taking care of other people’s children’,” she said. Azuma, who has been running Unagi Travel for three years, live-blogs her tours, uploading pictures on Facebook and Twitter (https://www.facebook.com/unagitravel, https://twitter.com/unagitravel).

Each photo is captioned with comments from tour participants, ranging from the simple “yummy!” when sampling food to a more considered “Always important to look at things from a different perspective” as they stand in front of a tall building. Azuma even prepares tiny costumes for her pint-sized charges that match tour locations-such as kimonos for a sleepover at a Japanese-style inn. She says this helps to add a little surprise to owners who are monitoring the trip online.

And she uses the photos she takes to map out a story that chimes with the background each owner has provided. On one tour, a Tokyoite bunny carried a frog from a provincial town on her back through the din of the capital city because the frog was not used to crowded places. And her human clients seem to appreciate the personal attention.

Sonoe Azuma takes a picture of stuffed toys during a visit to a restaurant.

Sonoe Azuma takes a picture of a stuffed toy during a visit to a tourist area.

File photo shows actor Ryan O’Neal, right, leaves court after he testified in a Los Angeles courtroom about his relationship with Farrah Fawcett and his claimed ownership of an Andy Warhol portrait of the actress. — AP

O’Neal describes fondness for disputed Warhol art

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yan O’Neal says an Andy Warhol portrait of Farrah Fawcett still represents one of his strongest connections to his longtime partner. The Oscar-nominated actor told a jury Wednesday that he talks to the portrait and he feels Fawcett’s presence by having it in his house. The University of Texas at Austin is suing O’Neal to try to gain possession of the portrait. Fawcett left all her artwork to the school and it claims O’Neal improperly took it from her condo days after her death.

O’Neal has testified Warhol gave him the portrait and he wants to pass it on to his son with Fawcett, Redmond. Testimony in the case is winding down, with O’Neal and his son expected to be among the case’s final witnesses. — AP

adventurous bear might like to see some of the grand temples and shrines of the ancient capital of Kyoto for $95, or unwind in the hot spring baths that dot volcanic Japan-a snip at $55. “Some clients join tours simply because it seems fun, but there are also people who want to send stuffed animals as their proxies since they can’t travel by themselves, because they are in hospital, handicapped or too busy,” tour operator Sonoe Azuma told AFP. “A client asked me to take her companion up some stairs and walk through narrow streets she can’t go into with her wheelchair. “Another client wanted her animal to get a lot of sunshine as she can’t go outside because of a skin disease.” A form sent to teddy owners ahead of the trip asks for the tourist’s name, if they are prone to car-sickness or sea-sickness, and if they are allergic to a particular food. Owners are invited to give a bit of background about the participant’s character, such as what their hobbies are and why they are joining the tour. On a recent tour of Tokyo, to which an AFP team was invited, a menagerie of creatures were entrusted to Azuma’s care.

The group included a tiger from Osaka, a shark from Kanagawa, a rather well-loved Hello Kitty from Hyogo and a small version of Sesame Street’s Big Bird from Hokkaido. They were escorted around Tokyo by the agency’s resident tour guide, eel girl Unasha. After an early morning briefing on what to expect, participants were gently packed up and taken to the expansive Meiji Jingu Shrine before heading for the Imperial Palace gardens, where Azuma carefully spread out a towel for the gang to sit on as they posed for one of many group photos of the day.

‘Taking care of other people’s children’ While it may sound a little far-fetched, 39-yearold Azuma, who used to work in finance, takes her task very seriously and objects to the idea that she is just firing off snaps at famous locations. “Anyone

Sonoe Azuma takes a picture of a stuffed toy during a visit to a tourist area in Tokyo.

One woman said she had never seen her rabbit looking so happy as in a photo of it eating at a restaurant with other stuffed toys, Azuma said. A satisfied customer in her 40s told AFP she did not think it was strange at all to send two cuddly companions on a mystery tour. “I enjoyed the scenery or the food through their eyes, even if I was not physically there,” said the woman, who did not want to be named.

With digital photography, mocking up a picture of your bear at a tourist spot would be easy, concedes the woman, but that rather misses the point. “I think it is very different when they go there physically by themselves and take pictures,” she said. “They must have their own fond memories of the travel.”

She acknowledges that to many non-Japanese people, the practice may seem a little strange. “I would be a little more (circumspect) if a non-Japanese friend asks me if I would be interested in the service.

But if I talk with my Japanese friends, it’s a very natural thing,” she said. —AFP

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Kuwait

SHARQIA-1 CARRIE (DIG) 12:45 PM HATOULY RAGEL 3:00 PM THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) 5:00 PM HATOULY RAGEL 7:45 PM HATOULY RAGEL 9:45 PM THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) 11:45 PM SHARQIA-2 THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) 1:00 PM TARZAN (DIG-3D) 4:15 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) 6:15 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) 9:15 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) 12:15 AM SHARQIA-3 OLDBOY (DIG) 1:15 PM SAVING SANTA (DIG) 3:15 PM SAVING SANTA (DIG) 5:00 PM OLDBOY (DIG) 6:45 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 8:45 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 10:45 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 12:45 AM MUHALAB-1 THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) 12:30 PM HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) 3:15 PM THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) 5:15 PM HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) 8:00 PM HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) 10:00 PM MUHALAB-2 SAVING SANTA (DIG) 2:00 PM SAVING SANTA (DIG) 3:45 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 5:30 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 7:30 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 9:30 PM

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (12/12/2013 TO 18/12/2013) OLDBOY (DIG) 5:30 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) 7:30 PM OLDBOY (DIG) 10:30 PM OLDBOY (DIG) 12:30 AM FANAR-3 THE FROZEN GROUND (DIG) 1:00 PM THE FROZEN GROUND (DIG) 3:00 PM HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) 5:00 PM HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) 7:00 PM HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) 9:00 PM HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) 11:00 PM THE FROZEN GROUND (DIG) 1:00 AM FANAR-4 TARZAN (DIG-3D) 1:30 PM TARZAN (DIG-3D) 3:30 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) 5:45 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) 8:45 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) 11:45 PM FANAR-5 SAVING SANTA (DIG) 12:45 PM SAVING SANTA (DIG) 2:45 PM SAVING SANTA (DIG) 4:45 PM THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) 6:30 PM THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) 9:15 PM CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) 12:15 AM MARINA-1 THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) 12:30 PM HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) 3:15 PM THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) 5:15 PM HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) 8:00 PM HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) 10:00 PM THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE (DIG) 12:05 AM

MUHALAB-3 TARZAN (DIG-3D) 1:00 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) 3:00 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) 6:00 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) 9:00 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

FANAR-1 HAUNTER (DIG) 1:45 PM DELIVERY MAN (DIG) 3:45 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 6:00 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 8:00 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 10:00 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 12:05 AM

MARINA-3 TARZAN (DIG-3D) 2:00 PM TARZAN (DIG-3D) 4:00 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) 6:00 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG-3D) 9:15 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) 12:15 AM

FANAR-2 OLDBOY (DIG) 12:30 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) 2:30 PM

AVENUES-1 HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) 1:15 PM HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) 3:30 PM

HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) 5:45 PM HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) 8:00 PM HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) 10:15 PM HATOULY RAGEL (DIG) 12:30 AM AVENUES-2 SAVING SANTA (DIG) 2:00 PM SAVING SANTA (DIG) 4:00 PM SAVING SANTA (DIG) 6:00 PM DELIVERY MAN (DIG) 8:15 PM PARKLAND (DIG) 10:30 PM DELIVERY MAN (DIG) 12:45 AM AVENUES-3 OLDBOY (DIG) 12:30 PM OLDBOY (DIG) 2:45 PM OLDBOY (DIG) 5:00 PM OLDBOY (DIG) 7:15 PM OLDBOY (DIG) 9:30 PM OLDBOY (DIG) 11:45 PM AVENUES-4 THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) 12:45 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) 4:00 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) 7:15 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) 10:30 PM 360ยบ- 1 HAUNTER (DIG) 12:45 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 3:00 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 5:15 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 7:30 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 9:45 PM HAUNTER (DIG) 12:15 AM 360ยบ- 2 CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) 1:15 PM CARRIE (DIG) 4:15 PM CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) 6:15 PM CARRIE (DIG) 9:15 PM CARRIE (DIG) 11:15 PM CARRIE (DIG) 1:15 AM

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360ยบ- 3 SAVING SANTA (DIG-3D) 1:00 PM SAVING SANTA (DIG) 3:00 PM SAVING SANTA (DIG) 5:00 PM SAVING SANTA (DIG) 7:00 PM R... RAJKUMAR (DIG) (Hindi) 9:00 PM CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (DIG) 12:05 AM AL-KOUT.1 TARZAN (DIG-3D) 1:45 PM TARZAN (DIG-3D) 3:45 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (DIG) 5:45 PM THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION

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Email: ivin2010k@gmail.com (C 4595) 9-12-2013 THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR CIVIL INFORMATION Automated enquiry about the Civil ID card is

1889988 Fajr: Shorook Duhr: Asr: Maghrib: Isha:

05:08 06:33 11:42 14:32 16:51 18:13

112

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Te c h n o l o g y FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Doesn’t get sweeter than this Android 4.4 KitKat: 10 new features you should know

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fter much teasing, Google has finally released the latest version of Android, version 4.4. Known as KitKat, Android 4.4 brings with it a number of improvements, some of which lie behind the scenes, that are sure to improve an Android user’s experience. Currently, KitKat is only available for the Google Nexus 5, but will soon be available for the Nexus 4, 7 and 10, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Play Edition as well. While you wait for your Nexus 5 to arrive, or for your phone to get Android 4.4, here’s a list of some of the more notable changes to look forward to. If you’re an Android user interested in seeing what you’ll be getting on your device soon, or an iOS fan keeping tabs on the competition, read on.

1. Better memory management KitKat is designed to run on devices with as little as 512MB of RAM. Google has implemented behind-the-scenes improvements to Android 4.4’s memory management, and will be providing developers and OEM manufacturers with tools and options to take advantage of these improvements. These memory improvements are expected to lead to smoother multi-tasking as well.

The fact that less than half of all Android phones are running Android 4.x has led to fragmentation issues within Android. It looks like these memory optimizations may lead to greater adoption of Android 4.4, and this should help unify Android to some extent.

2. Improved Google Now You can now activate Google Now by simply saying “OK Google”. It’s only available to Nexus 5 for now though. The contextual cards feature also gets an upgrade.

Google Now cards will try to predict information you need based on your location, favorite sites or TV programs.

In addition, Android 4.4 features a new app-linking feature, which allows Google Search to deep-link search results to applications installed on a user’s device. So, for instance, searching for a restaurant via Google Now can direct you to a restaurant reservation app such as OpenTable, ready to make a reservation for that particular restaurant.

3. Hangouts App upgraded The old Android messaging app is now a

thing of the past with KitKat. Instead, Google Hangouts now supports SMS and MMS, so all your messages will be in the same app. Hangouts will also be getting support for HD video calls across all devices.

Video and voice calling have also been improved, to make Hangouts an all-in-one solution to your communication needs. In addition, animated GIFs and location sharing through Google Maps will be supported.

4. Smarter Caller ID Android’s default phone app is also getting some welcome changes, including a fresh new design. The dialer now has a search field that you can use to search for a business’s contact info listed in Google Maps. This will pull up contact info for businesses near your area.

This Google Maps data is also used by the phone app’s caller ID to identify any unknown numbers by cross-checking the number with nearby businesses.

In addition to this new integration with Google Maps, the new phone app also prioritizes your contacts based on the

people you talk to most.

5. Immersive mode Let’s face it; Android’s status bar and navigation buttons can sometimes get in the way, especially when you’re playing a game, reading eBooks or watching videos.

Fortunately, Android 4.4 comes with a new immersive mode that hides everything except the app you’re using. Once you’re done, just swipe the edge of the screen to bring back your status bar and navigation buttons.

6. Integration with Cloud Storage Android 4.4 comes support for cloud storage solutions such as Google Drive built into the operating system. This means that you can save and open directly from the cloud, without having to save into your device’s storage first. Apps such as QuickOffice are already able to take advantage of this integration and open documents directly from Google Drive on your Android device.

7. Printing on the go Google is making it much easier to print documents or photos on your phone by building support for Google Cloud Print directly into Android 4.4. This will allow you to print documents over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

Of course, this feature is limited to compatible printers with wireless capabilities, support for Google Cloud Print, as well as any printers that have apps available in the Google Play Store.

8. Built-In sensors Android 4.4 adds operating system support for two new composite sensors: step counter and step detector. This support will allow fitness app developers to access pedometer data without writing complex code and algorithms. This, coupled with the hardware sensor batching that reduces power consumed by sensors, means that

Android 4.4 devices with compatible hardware, such as the Nexus 5, will be perfect for training and fitness purposes.

9. System-wide closed captioning Android 4.4 improves user accessibility by adding support for system-wide closed captioning settings. You can set whether captions should be shown, the language captions will be shown for, and text-related settings such as size and font. Apps that use video will be able to access these settings and show on screen captions based on your settings.

10. Lock screen art The Android 4.4 lock screen can now show more than just widgets. When you’re listening to music or streaming movies via Chromecast, your device’s lock screen will show the full screen album or movie art. The lock screen will also have dedicated controls to allow you to play, pause and seek, all from the lock screen.

Conclusion These are just 10 of the more notable updates in Android 4.4. There are a number of other new features included in KitKat, such as low-power location monitoring, easy home screen switching, built-in infrared blaster support and a redesigned downloads app, just to name a few. The entire list of changes is available on the Android website.

All in all, Android 4.4 isn’t what you’d call a spectacular update, but it does bring some much welcome improvements to the table.

The improved memory management is particularly interesting, and the rest of the features combine to make Android 4.4 a solid addition to the Android family tree. www.hongkiat.com

Stars

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Aries (March 21-April 19)

Devote your energies to human psychology today. It's a good day to try to sell your ideas. Concentrate your efforts on those whose help you need. If you have faith in your originality, your sales efforts are likely to pay off. In fact, there is some chance you'll meet an especially dynamic person who can lead you into some fascinating, unexplored territory.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

There is some likelihood that you'll have an electrifying emotional encounter today. Some of life's more mundane details may trigger arguments that, although violent, are cathartic and short. You've been thinking that it's time for more intensity in your life. Whether you know it or not, you're rethinking all manner of human relationships.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

The current astral configuration could be described as a crisis phase, although today's events won't be unhappy.

Communication proves difficult for you. For a long time you've been banking on others noticing and appreciating your talent, but you're beginning to feel like a sucker for being so patient.

This would be a good day to confront the powers that stand in your way.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

Your radiance and brilliance upstage everyone else today.

You're a star! Your wish is anyone's command. The people around you may be counting on you to be their leader.

Although you enjoy this role, you shouldn't forget to indulge in more private pleasures. A little gift for yourself, an adventure for fun, or perhaps some time alone may be what you need.

Leo (July 23-August 22)

The day ahead looks promising. Your energy is gradually returning, and you're beginning to feel more enterprising about your domestic life. No doubt today you'll be called on to settle some financial questions related to your domestic needs.

While a substantial gift of money or raise would be welcome, you begin to see other ways of making the cash flow rather than trickle.

Virgo (August 23-September 22)

Try to imagine that you're in your creative workshop and you've given up using all your usual tools in order to find new ways to give form to your inspiration. Another completely different creative style will emerge. Your admirers may be surprised, but no one will be more astonished than you.

Libra (September 23-October 22)

Your private life is probably in the throes of great change. This change is likely related to profound transformations that are taking place in your behavior, in particular your nervousness. If your daily or family life seems stifling to you, there's no need to take your frustrations out on loved ones. Look for answers inside.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)

It wouldn't be surprising if you enrolled in a class that's very different from your normal activities. For example, a surfer may get a sudden urge to learn about computers, or a technology guru might take up flower arranging. Those who think they have you all figured out will be taken off guard by your new spontaneity and sense of adventure.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21)

Some of the planetary movements are currently helping you understand that the best place to discover treasure isn't always where other people tell you to look. If people are urging you to get interested in activities that don't interest most people, including you, pay them no heed. You'll discover treasure all on your own provided you follow your own calling.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19)

No one's more forward thinking than you now. You're in tune with new inventions and trends, and you may have an irresistible desire to join an avant-garde group. The old way of doing things seems old, and you no longer want any part of it.

You can't stand working according to the old principles any more. You're in a heated frame of mind. Be careful about stirring conflict.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18)

You couldn't be in a better position in your personal life. The time is ripe to thumb your nose at your demons for the last time. Complexes, guilt, and fears of all kinds are gone. It could even be that the radical "housecleaning" you'll undertake will affect your professional career as you become aware of how much you've been underestimating yourself.

Pisces (February 19-March 20)

Are you determined to win the affections of a special person?

Have you devoted a great deal of energy to that goal lately?

Are you interested in reenergizing your marriage? Today is extremely auspicious for love. Now is the time to flirt madly, write love letters, and take that walk down lovers' lane!

COUNTRY CODES Afghanistan 0093 Albania 00355 Algeria 00213 Andorra 00376 Angola 00244 Anguilla 001264 Antiga 001268 Argentina 0054 Armenia 00374 Australia 0061 Austria 0043 Bahamas 001242 Bahrain 00973 Bangladesh 00880 Barbados 001246 Belarus 00375 Belgium 0032 Belize 00501 Benin 00229 Bermuda 001441 Bhutan 00975 Bolivia 00591 Bosnia 00387 Botswana 00267 Brazil 0055 Brunei 00673 Bulgaria 00359 Burkina 00226 Burundi 00257 Cambodia 00855 Cameroon 00237 Canada 001 Cape Verde 00238 Cayman Islands 001345 Central African Republic 00236 Chad 00235 Chile 0056 China 0086 Colombia 0057 Comoros 00269 Congo 00242 Cook Islands 00682 Costa Rica 00506 Croatia 00385 Cuba 0053 Cyprus 00357 Cyprus (Northern) 0090392 Czech Republic 00420 Denmark 0045 Diego Garcia 00246 Djibouti 00253 Dominica 001767 Dominican Republic 001809 Ecuador 00593 Egypt 0020 El Salvador 00503 England (UK) 0044 Equatorial Guinea 00240 Eritrea 00291 Estonia 00372 Ethiopia 00251 Falkland Islands 00500 Faroe Islands 00298 Fiji 00679 Finland 00358 France 0033 French Guiana 00594 French Polynesia 00689 Gabon 00241 Gambia 00220 Georgia 00995 Germany 0049 Ghana 00233 Gibraltar 00350 Greece 0030 Greenland 00299 Grenada 001473 Guadeloupe 00590 Guam 001671 Guatemala 00502 Guinea 00224 Guyana 00592 Haiti 00509 Holland (Netherlands)0031 Honduras 00504 Hong Kong 00852 Hungary 0036 Ibiza (Spain) 0034 Iceland 00354 India 0091 Indian Ocean 00873 Indonesia 0062 Iran 0098 Iraq 00964 Ireland 00353 Italy 0039 Ivory Coast 00225 Jamaica 001876 Japan 0081 Jordan 00962 Kazakhstan 007 Kenya 00254 Kiribati 00686

Kuwait 00965 Kyrgyzstan 00996 Laos 00856 Latvia 00371 Lebanon 00961 Liberia 00231 Libya 00218 Lithuania 00370 Luxembourg 00352 Macau 00853 Macedonia 00389 Madagascar 00261 Majorca 0034 Malawi 00265 Malaysia 0060 Maldives 00960 Mali 00223 Malta 00356 Marshall Islands 00692 Martinique 00596 Mauritania 00222 Mauritius 00230 Mayotte 00269 Mexico 0052 Micronesia 00691 Moldova 00373 Monaco 00377 Mongolia 00976 Montserrat 001664 Morocco 00212 Mozambique 00258 Myanmar (Burma) 0095 Namibia 00264 Nepal 00977 Netherlands (Holland)0031 Netherlands Antilles 00599 New Caledonia 00687 New Zealand 0064 Nicaragua 00505 Nigar 00227 Nigeria 00234 Niue 00683 Norfolk Island 00672 Northern Ireland (UK)0044 North Korea 00850 Norway 0047 Oman 00968 Pakistan 0092 Palau 00680 Panama 00507 Papua New Guinea 00675 Paraguay 00595 Peru 0051 Philippines 0063 Poland 0048 Portugal 00351 Puerto Rico 001787 Qatar 00974 Romania 0040 Russian Federation 007 Rwanda 00250 Saint Helena 00290 Saint Kitts 001869 Saint Lucia 001758 Saint Pierre 00508 Saint Vincent 001784 Samoa US 00684 Samoa West 00685 San Marino 00378 Sao Tone 00239 Saudi Arabia 00966 Scotland (UK) 0044 Senegal 00221 Seychelles 00284 Sierra Leone 00232 Singapore 0065 Slovakia 00421 Slovenia 00386 Solomon Islands 00677 Somalia 00252 South Africa 0027 South Korea 0082 Spain 0034 Sri Lanka 0094 Sudan 00249 Suriname 00597 Swaziland 00268 Sweden 0046 Switzerland 0041 Syria 00963 Taiwan 00886 Tanzania 00255 Thailand 0066 Toga 00228 Tonga 00676 Tokelau 00690 Trinidad 001868 Tunisia 00216 Turkey 0090 Tuvalu 00688 Uganda 00256 Ukraine 00380 United Arab Emirates00976

L e i s u re

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Word Search

Yesterdayʼs Solution

C R O S S W O R D 3 9 7

ACROSS 1. Inquire about.

4. Having cusps or points.

12. (informal) Roused to anger.

15. Aircraft landing in bad weather in which the pilot is talked down by ground control using precision approach radar.

16. (physics) The point of maximum displacement in a periodic system.

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

18. Thigh of a hog (usually smoked).

19. A place of worship that has its own altar.

20. A landlocked desert republic in north-central Africa.

21. Squash bugs.

23. Black wine grape originally from the region of Bordeaux.

25. A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Telescopium and Norma.

26. First in order of birth.

28. Large brownish-green New Zealand parrot.

30. A student enrolled in (or graduated from) Eton College.

37. Of or relating to or near the nares.

39. (computer science) A read-only memory chip that can be erased by ultraviolet light and programmed again with new data.

40. A fabric made by knitting.

42. The quality of being mediate.

43. Of or relating to the intima.

47. A sharp blow.

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

49. A highly unstable radioactive element (the heaviest of the halogen series).

50. An awkward stupid person.

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

54. Without salt or seasoning.

58. German biologist and philosopher.

60. A long noosed rope used to catch animals.

61. A large genus of dicotyledonous trees and shrubs of the family Aquifoliaceae that have small flowers and berries (including hollies).

62. Stem of the rattan palm used for making canes and umbrella handles.

65. A poem consisting of 3 stanzas and an envoy.

69. Small spiny outgrowth on the wings of certain insects.

72. A small bottle that contains a drug (especially a sealed sterile container for injection by needle).

73. Large hairy humanoid creature said to live in the Himalayas.

74. A tricycle (usually propelled by pedalling).

78. God of the underworld.

79. A particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography).

80. A condition in which little or no bile is secreted or the flow of bile into the digestive tract is obstructed.

81. The compass point midway between east and southeast.

4. Genus of tall smooth herbs of forested mountains of Europe and Asia minor.

5. A transuranic element.

6. The male reproductive organ of a flower.

7. A wind instrument.

8. Unable to move or resist motion.

9. A small replica of a person.

10. A public promotion of some product or service.

11. Able to read and write well.

12. A member of the Siouan people formerly living in the Missouri river valley in NE Nebraska.

13. Any culture medium that uses agar as the gelling agent.

14. An informal term for a father.

22. 100 seniti equal 1 pa'anga.

24. A Turkish unit of weight equal to about 2.75 pounds.

27. A metric unit of volume or capacity equal to 10 liters.

29. Horned vipers.

31. Any of various complex phenolic substances of plant origin.

32. Small genus of Australian shrubs or trees.

33. A woman sahib.

34. A member of a widespread group of Amerindians living in northeastern South America.

35. The scene of any event or action (especially the place of a meeting).

36. The sodium salt of amobarbital that is used as a barbiturate.

38. A soft gray ductile metallic element used in alloys.

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

44. Feeling a need to see others suffer.

45. A language spoken by the Atakapa people of the Gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas.

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

51. A member of a North American people formerly living in the Colorado river valley in Arizona.

52. The median ridge on the breastbone of birds that fly.

55. Any of various plants of the genus Aralia.

56. The 7th letter of the Greek alphabet.

57. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.

59. Being five more than one hundred forty.

63. Type genus of the Aceraceae.

64. A substance for packing a joint or coating a porous surface to make it impervious to gas or liquid.

66. An officer who acts as military assistant to a more senior officer.

67. A platform raised above the surrounding level to give prominence to the person on it.

68. Other than what is under consideration or implied.

70. Hormone secreted by the posterior pituitary gland (trade name Pitressin) and also by nerve endings in the hypothalamus.

71. A federation of North American industrial unions that merged with the American Federation of Labor in 1955.

75. An international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members.

76. Being ten more than one hundred forty.

77. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.

Yesterdayʼs Solution

DOWN 1. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).

2. The act of scanning.

3. God of love and erotic desire.

Daily SuDoku

Yesterday’s Solution

42

Sports FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Clarke confident on Harris; Faulkner out of test PERTH: Australia captain Michael Clarke said he was confident paceman Ryan Harris would be fit to face England in the third Ashes test today but all-rounder James Faulkner has been ruled out of the match with a broken thumb. The hosts could recapture the Ashes with victory at the WACA after dominant wins in the opening two tests in the five-match series in Brisbane and Adelaide but Faulkner, 12th man in those contests, will not be part of it. The all-rounder broke the thumb on his right hand in Thursday morning’s net session and Cricket Australia later confirmed he would miss the match.

“James was struck on the right thumb while batting in the nets and was subsequently taken for an X-ray which revealed a fracture of the thumb,” team doctor Peter Brukner said in a statement. “His progress will be monitored for a return to playing duty depending on how quickly the injury heals.” While a blow to Faulkner, coach Darren Lehmann had already suggested Australia would be sticking with the team that played in the first two tests. The one flaw in that plan was Harris’s knee problem, even if it did not stop him bowling in the nets on Thursday.

“I’m hopeful that everyone will come up, I think there’s the obvious one in Ryan-o, who bowled today, and we’ll see how he pulls up,” Clarke told reporters at the WACA. Faulkner was the most obvious replacement for Harris should the 34-year-old fail to prove his fitness but Australia also have seamers Doug Bollinger and the uncapped Nathan Coulter-Nile on standby. “I think one of those three will come in and replace Ryan if he’s not fit but, as I say, I’m very confident that Ryan will be okay,” Clarke said before the results of Faulkner’s scan were made known. Despite the success Australia’s pace bowlers - Mitchell Johnson in particular - have enjoyed so far in the series, Clarke said he would be unlikely to send England in to bat if he won the toss for the third straight test. “I find it extremely hard to send the opposition in for a test match,” he said.

“I’ll see what the conditions are like tomorrow. I’ve always looked at batting first in a test match because you give yourself the opportunity to win the game. “Unless the wicket is extremely green, I’d find it hard to send a team in.”

Clarke scored a century in both the 381-run first test victory in Brisbane and the 218-run victory in Adelaide and said he thought the Perth wicket, for all its bounce, would offer plenty of runs as well. “It’s always hard to start, particularly in Brisbane and Perth, and bowlers can get on a roll,” he said. “But once you get a start, Perth, like Brisbane, is as good a place to bat as anywhere in the world because you’ve got consistent pace, consistent bounce and a quick outfield. “The wicket looks as good a wicket as a I’ve seen in Perth for a long time. So I think we’re going to see another tough test match that will go five days.”— Reuters

Anderson takes two wickets to put New Zealand on top WELLINGTON: New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson captured two wickets and took the catch to dismiss Shivnarine Chanderpaul to leave West Indies lurched on 158 for four at the close of a rain-affected second day of the second test yesterday.

Marlon Samuels was 50 not out, while Narsingh Deonarine was on 11, chasing New Zealand’s first innings total of 441 all out at stumps after rain delayed the start of play by 75 minutes and then washed out the entire middle session.

Tim Southee had trapped Kieran Powell in front for 21 before Anderson captured the wickets of Kirk Edwards for 55 and Darren Bravo, who scored a double-century in the first test, for four.

Anderson then took a diving catch at point to dismiss the dangerous Chanderpaul off Trent Boult for six to put the visitors on the back foot heading into day three. “It was good to get past 400 and to take four poles tonight was good too,” New Zealand wicketkeeper BJ Watling told Radio Sport. “The boys will be pretty happy and come back fresh tomorrow. “There’s still some nice pace and bounce in the wicket. “We have got six wickets to take and that is the most important thing.”

WAGGING TAIL New Zealand had begun the day on 307 for six before Watling scored his sixth test half-century and combined in three partnerships that helped the tail push the hosts past 400. The highlight was a final wicket partnership of 58 runs between Watling and Boult, who scored 38 not out, a record for New Zealand against West Indies. “The runs seemed to flow quite nicely,” Watling added. “It was good to have a couple of partnerships ... and put them under pressure. “We always set a first innings target of 400 and have definitely got the tail to do it, Trent, Tim, Ish (Sodhi) and Neil (Wagner) can all bat and have good eyes.” Watling was last man out when he was bowled by Shannon Gabriel for 65 before the rain forced the players from the field right on the lunch break.

Tino Best had the flattering figures of four for 110 after he captured two wickets on successive balls late in New Zealand’s innings, though failed to achieve a hat-trick. The fast bowler continued to struggle with his length, bowling too short and also dropped two relatively easy catches in the outfield. West Indies dropped five catches in total. “Tino will always be his normal self,” assistant coach Stuart Williams told reporters of Best’s mood after a forgetful performance in the field. “He has a positive attitude and will forget about it very quickly. “He gives you energy on and off the field. Having a bad spell won’t deter him.” Williams, a renowned fielder with a safe pair of hands when he played for West Indies as an opening batsman in the 1990s, said there were still positives to take from their fielding, even if it wasn’t up to international standard. “It’s always frustrating when you drop

catches,” he added. “The difference between this game and last was at least we created more chances. “Our fielding wasn’t up to international standard but it’s a work in progress and you’ll have these days sometimes.”—Reuters

NHL results/standings WELLINGTON: Scoreboard at stumps on the second day of the second Test between New Zealand and West Indies at the Basin Reserve in Wellington yesterday: New Zealand 1st innings (overnight 307-6) P. Fulton c Ramdin b Sammy 6 H. Rutherford c Ramdin b Best 11 K. Williamson c Sammy b Best 45 R. Taylor c Shillingford b Gabriel 129 B.McCullum c Edwards b Deonarine 37 C.Anderson c Powell b Shillingford 38 B. Watling b Gabriel 65 T. Southee c Bravo b Sammy 21 I.Sodhi c Ramdin b Best 27 N. Wagner c Sammy b Best 0 T. Boult not out 38 Extras (b16, lb6, nb2) 24 Total: (all out; 115.1) 441 Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Fulton), 2-24 (Rutherford), 3-112 (Williamson), 4-189 (McCullum), 5-257 (Anderson), 6-296 (Taylor), 7-334 (Southee), 8-383 (Sodhi), 9-383 (Wagner), 10-441 (Watling) Bowling: Best 21-1-110-4, Gabriel 25.1-5-86-2 (1nb), Sammy 25-392-2, Shillingford 28-4-92-1 (1nb), Deonarine 16-2-39-1 West Indies 1st innings K. Edwards c Rutherford b Anderson 55 K. Powell lbw Southee 21 D.Bravo c Fulton b Anderson 4 M. Samuels not out 50 S. Chanderpaul c Anderson b Boult 6 N. Deonarine not out 11 Extras (lb6, w1, nb4) 11 Total (four wickets; 37overs) 158 Fall of wickets: 1-46 (Powell), 2-67 (Bravo), 3-103 (Edwards), 4-119 (Chanderpaul) To bat: D. Ramdin, D. Sammy, S. Shillingford, T. Best, S. Gabriel Bowling: Boult 9-3-25-0, Southee 9-1-40-1, Wagner 7-137-0 (nb4), Anderson 7-1-20-2, Sodi 3-1-18-0, Williamson 2-0-12-0 Toss: West Indies Umpires: Ian Gould (ENG), Paul Reiffel (AUS) TV umpire: Nigel Llong (ENG) Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI)—AFP

Sochi Olympics to see Soviet-style security MOSCOW: The spider-like helicopter can whirr up straight into the sky, hover over cars and people, zoom in on a license plate and then take a close-up of a man’s face in the crowd. If there is suspicious movement at Russia’s Sochi Winter Olympic Games next year, surveillance drones

positioned over stadiums, roads and railroads will be there transmitting the images live to Russian security services. The use of drones is part of a package of security measures that are severe even by standards of recent Olympics and remind many Russians of the draconian lock-

TYUMEN: A torchbearer rides with an Olympic torch in Russia’s Siberian city of Tyumen 2144 km (1332 miles) east of Moscow. — AFP

down imposed for the 1980 Moscow Games in the Soviet Union. Authorities will record the Internet and phone connections of all visitors and traffic will be strictly controlled in a huge zone around Sochi. Meanwhile, critics of the Kremlin are already being harassed. “There will be 24-hour-drone surveillance,” said Nikita Zakharov, the deputy director of Zala Aero, a company that has provided drones and necessary training to the police and other agencies that will use dozens of them to monitor the area.

“The main thing is that you cannot see or hear a drone,” Zakharov said, calling them an economical solution to various challenges. Along with the helicopter drones, all-weather machines with speeds of up to 100 kilometers an hour will zip through the gorges of the Sochi mountains bordering the turbulent North Caucasus region.

Police in Sochi’s Krasnodar region had been using Zala’s drones to catch traffic violators and pinpoint illicit marijuana crops in cornfields.

Drones have also been supplied to the border service, a subsidiary of the Federal Security Service (FSB) that patrols the mountains bordering Georgia’s rebel region of Abkhazia-an area that will be closed off as a restricted zone starting next January. Instead of covering the vast

snow-covered area with manpower in tough winter conditions, the service can now equip drones with an infrared scanner and observe the video feed comfortably from an operations centre.

‘SOVIET METHODS IN INTERNET AGE’ The Games in Sochi, to be held February 7-23, are meant to showcase the best of modern Russia-a country steered into the 21st century by President Vladimir Putin. But observers say that many security measures in fact hark back to 1980, when authorities closed off the capital Moscow to hold the Summer Olympics.

Declassified documents about the Moscow Olympics show that KGB officers impersonated cleaning personnel in hotels, that 6,000 foreigners were on a blacklist, and that police were instructed to prevent “unwelcome persons” from coming to Moscow. Hundreds of kilometers from Sochi, road signs went up last month warning about “limited access” to the city of 300,000 from January 7. Sochi will also host the Paralymic Winter Games, March 7-16, and until March 21 every arrival will have to go through a checkpoint, while cars registered in other cities will be banned. — AFP

43

Sports FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

NAYPYIDAW: A sepak takraw player from Myanmar (bottom) hits a shot against the Malaysian team at the South East Asian Games in Naypyidaw, Myanmar yesterday. —AFP

Bullish Myanmar eyes 100 gold medals at SEA Games NAYPYIDAW: Myanmar set its sights on the ambitious target of 100 gold medals at the Southeast Asian Games yesterday after stunning guests with a lavish opening ceremony.

The sports ministry’s deputy director-general Onh Myint Oo said the hosts, who have not topped the SEA Games medals table since the 1960s, were going for 100 golds and maybe more. “We are targeting 100 gold medals and hopefully more,” he said. Myanmar won just 16 gold medals at the Games’ last edition in 2011, meaning they are aiming for more than a six-fold increase.

The impoverished country now emerging from decades of military rule has not finished top of the medals table since last hosting the regional tournament in 1969. But Myanmar, backed heavily by Chinese money, put on an impressive spectacle in Wednesday’s opening ceremony, whose scale and quality took some observers by surprise. “People are happy across the country. They had tears in their eyes, it was the best opening ceremony at any SEA Games,” said Onh Myint Oo, one of the ceremony’s key organizers. “We are grateful to the Chinese for their help with the opening ceremony,” he added.

China has provided nearly $33 million in technical assistance for the Games, including the opening and closing ceremonies. The opening ceremony took place at the purposebuilt, 30,000-seat Wunna Theikdi stadium, one of several new venues in the country’s capital Naypyidaw. However Myanmar will face stiff competition, not least from 2011 hosts and table-toppers Indonesia, who are aiming to accrue nearly 150 gold medals.

Indonesia finished with 182 golds two years ago but the chairman of Prima, the body in charge of preparing the country’s athletes,

said funding cuts have since taken their toll.

“After a thorough discussion with the national sports federations, we think getting 115 to 147 gold medals is a reasonable target,” Surya Dharma said. “Prima is confident the athletes can manage that number. We could have achieved higher if the government provided more support for the preparation.” He added: “We’re dealing with a budget shortage, so we’re relying on 23 sports to yield medals. “Due to the reduced funding, we were unable to ensure that athletes got the training and match practice they needed ahead of the Games.” Initial competition started on December 1 but most events got under way yesterday following the opening ceremony.

MYANMAR ‘COMING OUT’ An electrifying opening ceremony at the Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar has boosted faith that the nation is on the rise, quelling fears its “coming out” party at the event’s opening ceremony would fall flat. As the smoke cleared from a final ten-minute barrage of fireworks at the ceremony late Wednesday in Myanmar’s remote capital Naypyidaw, spectators offered praise for the event and hope for their nation, which is emerging from decades of asphyxiating military rule.

“Myanmar has been a secret, but now we are open and are becoming a democracy.

Everybody is welcome... we are so, so happy,” said a beaming Khin Su Su Lwin, 23, who made the long drive from Yangon with her brother and cousin for the ceremony. But the hosting of the event in the country’s functional capital culled the number of fans who normally travel to the regional showpiece

competition-and baffled many of those who did.

With few mid-range hotels, and a startling lack of taxis or public transport despite the 30-minute drives between venues-not to mention a subdued nightlife-Naypyidaw surprised the smattering of fans who made the journey to support their athletes. “It’s a ghost town,” said football-mad Akbar Hashim, of Singapore’s “Die-Hard Fans” group, sitting next to a fellow supporter-the only other one on this tour. “We had to take a $200 taxi from Yangon, and we’ll have to pay the same back.

Visas are a pain, hotels are very expensive, there’s nothing to do at night... I have no idea why they held it here.”

Reforms have swept Myanmar since 2011 with the release of hundreds of political prisoners-including 44 on Wednesday, ahead of the SEA Games opening-the promise of elections, and the opening up of the nation’s straightjacketed economy. But optimism has been tempered by repeated outbreaks of deadly religious violence and the failure to secure a binding ceasefire between the state and ethnic minority rebel groups. The SEA Games, held for the first time in Myanmar since 1969, were billed as the country’s launchpad onto the international stage and a chance for the former junta-ruled nation to banish its repressive, dour reputation. “The Games are not just a sporting event for our country,” presidential spokesman Ye Htut said.

“It’s our chance to present Myanmar to the international community. We want to show we can hold an event like this in the new Myanmar.” But to critics, Naypyidaw remains a monument to the worst excesses of Myanmar’s vicious former junta, which in

2005 uprooted government buildings from Yangon to the new capital. Yet the city they created remains sparsely populated. A 20lane motorway-eerily devoid of traffic-arcs around the vast, gated parliament complex, while a handful of empty shopping malls and gem shops cater to a presumably wealthy, but strangely absent, elite.

The surrounding countryside remains poor, in a low income nation of more than 50 million people where, according to the World Bank, a quarter of all children are malnourished and three quarters of the population has no access to electricity. Even the flagwaving at the Games, according to Ye Htut, is being funded with the assistance of China, which offered $33 million in financing and support-including for the opening and closing ceremonies. China, an ally of Myanmar’s brutal junta when many governments had imposed sanctions, is desperate to secure its continued influence on the impoverished, but resource-rich and strategically pivotal country.

Indeed, the opening ceremony had echoes of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, with its epic staging, precise choreography, a wall of screens, booming soundtrack and seemingly unending firework displays. Myanmar’s authorities have kept the cost of the games close to their chest. Both the president’s spokesman and a senior official in the sports ministry said they did not know how much the event cost to stage. The future of the vast purpose-built sports complexes also remains unclear, although officials say they plan a new sports academy in the city to drive sporting excellence. Basking in the initial success of the competition, many appear content-at least for now-to put aside any doubts.—Agencies

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Sports FRIDAY,DECEMBER 13, 2013

Arsenal face another tough trip to Manchester LONDON: Arsenal’s lunchtime game at Manchester City tomorrow could be a defining one for their Premier League title hopes, even if Arsene Wenger has greeted that idea with a typically Gallic shrug. The Gunners have a comfortable cushion over secondplaced Liverpool, who travel in the opposite direction on Sunday for a clash in North London with sixth-placed Tottenham Hotspur (1600 GMT), and Chelsea.

“We are five points ahead and, overall, the Premier League is a marathon,” said Wenger, speaking before his side progressed to the knockout stages of the Champions League despite a 2-0 defeat to Napoli on Wednesday that left them facing a potentially tricky last-16 clash. “We will be in the race no matter what happens.” City, who surged back from 2-0 down to beat European champions Bayern Munich 3-2 in Germany in their

final Champions League group game, are fourth and six points behind Wenger’s men.

Despite their position, Arsenal will be the underdogs against a side who remain unbeaten at home in the league this season and see no reason why they cannot at least match Manchester United’s 1-0 win over the north Londoners last month. “With the disappointing results we have had away from home, it’s important that we try to go through the season winning every single home game,” City’s England midfielder James Milner, who scored the winner on Tuesday, said. “That won’t be easy, but the way we are playing we can do that.” Neither of City’s top two league goalscorers played in Munich with Sergio Aguero, the second most prolific scorer in the Premier League after Liverpool’s Luis Suarez, rested and Yaya Toure suspended. Arsenal were held 1-1 at

Barca look to Neymar to revive La Liga fortunes MADRID: With Lionel Messi not due back from injury until next month, Barcelona will be looking to Neymar to add to Wednesday’s hat-trick against Celtic and help the champions get back to winning ways in La Liga. Barca needed a convincing Champions League performance against the Scottish side after consecutive defeats to Ajax Amsterdam and Athletic Bilbao and the Brazil forward responded with his first goals in Europe’s elite club competition in a 6-1 romp at the Nou Camp.

Bought from Santos in the close season for a fee of close to 60 million euros ($82.7 million), Neymar had been threatening to explode into life without really delivering and the 21-year-old’s performance on Wednesday, when he also assisted a Pedro goal, suggested he may have turned a corner. Assuming the mantle of Argentine World Player of the Year Messi would be a heavy burden for anyone, let alone a man in his early 20s, but Neymar appears anything but phased by the responsibility.

“I didn’t feel any pressure,” he told Spanish television broadcaster Canal Plus. “We are hoping that after the two bad results this victory will help us in La Liga,” he added.

“Two defeats in a row for us meant a big win was very welcome.” Barca’s shock reverse at Bilbao, their first of the domestic league campaign, erased their three-point lead at the top over Atletico Madrid and they host fifth-placed Villarreal on Saturday (1900 GMT) in the 16th round of games.

Villarreal spent a season in the second division last term but have impressed on their return to the top flight. With the likes of Mexican forward Giovani Dos Santos and captain and midfielder Bruno Soriano excelling, they are likely to give Barca a stern test, while another player who has been a key factor in their success is Cani. The 32-year-old attacking midfielder has hit some of the best form of his career and was rewarded this week with a contract extension until June 2017.

AMBITION NEEDED Defensive midfielder Tomas Pina believes Villarreal need to be ambitious if they are to get anything from their trip to the Catalan capital. “If we did not have faith in our chances we would not bother to play the match,” he said at a news conference on Wednesday.

“We are a team who if we are focused and show aggression we can compete with any rival. “If Barca are not feeling comfortable and we can easily find ways of breaking out on the counter attack we can make life difficult for them.” Thirdplaced Real Madrid play at Osasuna earlier on Saturday (1500) and a win would put them level on 40 points with Barca and Atletico at the top by the time Barca kick off against Villarreal. Atletico, like Barca and Real through to the last 16 of the Champions League, host Valencia on Sunday (2000) after fourth-placed Bilbao, eight points behind Real and one ahead of Villarreal, play at Sevilla (1800).—Reuters

the Emirates by Everton last weekend but their defense has been tough to penetrate with three clean sheets before the Everton game and two goals conceded in their last nine league and European games prior to Wednesday.

GERRARD OUT Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea, at home to struggling Crystal Palace tomorrow (1500), play at Arsenal before Christmas and could be in a position by then to take the overall lead if Liverpool stumble at Spurs. They have let in six goals in their last two Premier League games, however, and the leaky defense will have to be made watertight.

“We are creating a lot, we are playing a lot of nice football, but we have to finish off opponents,” Mourinho said before Chelsea’s 1-0 home Champions League victory against

Steaua Bucharest. While Suarez is on fire, with 15 league goals in 10 matches after being belatedly awarded a second from last weekend’s 4-1 thrashing of West Ham United, Liverpool will be without England captain Steven Gerrard.

Media reports indicated he would be out for at least a month with a hamstring injury, joining striker Daniel Sturridge on the sidelines for the busy Christmas period and matches at Manchester City and Chelsea.

Champions Manchester United, 13 points behind Arsenal, are at Aston Villa on Sunday (1330) after the confidence boost of beating Ukrainians Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday to top their Champions League group. Fifthplaced Everton, a point behind Manchester City, are at home to Fulham (1500) tomorrow while seventh placed Newcastle United host Southampton (1500). — Reuters

Napoli and Juventus nursing CL hangovers ROME: Juventus and Napoli will both be nursing throbbing Champions League hangovers when they resume their Serie A campaigns at the weekend, although Rafael Benitez’s side might find it easier to pick themselves up. Third-placed Napoli clearly gained heart from beating Arsenal 2-0 on Wednesday and winning their fourth match out of six in Group F which also featured last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund and former champions Olympique Marseille.

Leaders Juventus, however, were bundled out in the mud of Galatasaray, losing 1-0 as they were eliminated by a side who were thrashed 6-1 at home by Real Madrid in their opening group game. Missing out on the Champions League group stages is a huge blow for a Juventus side who could do with a new challenge after achieving domestic dominance under coach Antonio Conte, who has led them to the last two Serie A titles. Napoli’s Benitez, on the other hand, is still rebuilding his side following the signings of Raul Albiol, Jose Callejon and Gonzalo Higuain and the departure of Edinson Cavani. After a good start, Napoli have taken only one point from their last two games and face their former coach Walter Mazzarri when they host Inter Milan on Sunday (1945 GMT). Mazzarri transformed Napoli in his four years in charge, leading them into the Champions League for the first time. “I think we should look at this as a stage during our growth process and regard it as proof we are on the right track,” said Benitez after the win over Arsenal.

“The supporters should be proud of what Napoli have achieved.” “We did very well in Europe because there are more spaces than in Serie A,” he added. “Our Champions League campaign has been very good and to be so high up the Serie A standings with a new team is an achievement. “I think the process means bringing in young players who can be here for many years and be part of the long-term project.

“Against Arsenal, we proved that with two or three additions we can compete in Serie

NAPLES: Napoli’s Swiss midfielder Gokhan Inler (left) vies with Arsenal’s French striker Olivier Giroud during the UEFA Champions League group F football match between SSC Napoli and Arsenal FC at the San Paolo Stadium in Naples on December 11, 2013. — AFP

A and at another level in the Champions League. In Serie A, with Juventus and Roma doing so well, our results don’t seem as impressive, but the truth is we’ve done very well.”

Juventus host promoted Sassuolo in a game that has been moved to Sunday (1730 GMT) from Saturday because their match in Galatasaray was abandoned on Tuesday and replayed Wednesday. Conte, whose side reached the Champions League quarter-finals last season before being outclassed by eventual winners Bayern Munich, said Juventus had to bounce back. “We have to plunge back into Serie A and the disappointment has to spur us on domestically,” he said. “We have

another two games before the Christmas break and will then start to think about the Europa League. “We mustn’t forget that this side has bounced back after twice finishing in seventh place,” he added, referring to the two seasons before his arrival. “It was our fault we didn’t qualify this year. We shouldn’t have left it all to the last match when anything could happen.” Lazio, who have failed to win any of their last six league games, host Livorno on Sunday (1400) while fifth-placed Fiorentina are at home to Bologna. Second-placed AS Roma, unbeaten after 15 games, visit AC Milan, the only Serie A team to survive the Champions League group stage, on Monday.— Reuters

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Sports FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

AC Milan muddle through again with ‘anti-football’ MILAN: AC Milan have made a habit of muddling through under coach Massimiliano Allegri and they did it again on Wednesday by scraping into the Champions League knockout stage with a performance which left opponents Ajax Amsterdam fuming. Ajax coach Frank de Boer accused Milan of playing “anti-football” after the Serie A team shut up shop against his side following midfielder Riccardo Montolivo’s first-half sending-off.

Playing for over an hour with 10 men, Milan held out grimly for a goalless draw, giving them the point they needed to carry the flag for Serie A after Napoli and Juventus were knocked out. “If you look at the two matches against Milan, I think we deserved more,” said De Boer. “Anti-football won. It’s incredibly difficult to beat Milan, even when they’re down to 10 men. With 11 men they’re willing to play, but not with 10.

“They did everything to keep it to 0-0. That’s their right, but it’s very frustrating. The referee should have accorded more extra time, because sometimes it took them a full minute to throw the ball in.” “We did everything we could,” he said. “But the ball simply wouldn’t go in. I don’t know how many passes from the sidelines came, but we just came up short each time. “But I’m proud of the team. I think we showed that as Ajax, we don’t need to bow down to anyone. We could just as well have been among the 16 clubs who will play Champions League after the winter break.”

Throughout the group stage, crisis-ridden, injuryplagued Milan have looked least likely to make an impression on the tournament this season, yet somehow have been left as Serie A’s sole survivors. Milan began the group by scrambling to a 2-0 win over Celtic with both goals in the last 10 minutes after a disjointed performance and were even more fortuitous to draw 1-1 with Ajax in Amsterdam.

Mario Balotelli won and converted a hotly-disputed penalty to give Milan a point which ultimate proved decisive.

CONTROVERSIAL QUALIFICATION Milan qualified in the first place in controversial circumstances after a 2-1 at relegated Siena on the last day of last season lifted them into third place in Serie A, which earns a place in the playoff round. Needing a win to pip Fiorentina, Milan trailed 1-0 with six minutes left before equalizing with another controversial penalty, won and converted by Balotelli and then snatching a last-gasp winner.

Their campaign was played amid a seemingly never-ending injury crisis and against the backdrop of some dismal Serie A form which has seen them win only four out of 15 games, with political intrigue also thrown into the mix. Chief executive Adriano Galliani at one point quit his role after nearly 28 years at the club after Barbara Berlusconi, daughter of club president Silvio Berlusconi, said Milan needed a new philosophy. Peace was quickly declared and Galliani agreed to share his role with Berlusconi’s daughter.

Allegri has somehow clung on to his position, despite constant rumors that he is to be replaced, remaining unflappable throughout. “Everyone’s relieved, we’ve achieved the first target of the season,” said Allegri. “It was important for me, the group, the club and the supporters.” “We deserved to qualify because we’ve had the right attitude in this group,” said goalkeeper Christian Abbiati. “We’ve played six good matches, now we have to take this to Serie A as well.”

With Stephan El Shaarawy finally back from injury and Kaka and Mario Balotelli finally finding their form, Milan, for all their failings, could suddenly provide a real threat in the knockout stages.— Reuters

Photo of the day

Thomas performs at the Brauhaus in Salzburg, Austria www.—redbull.com

Raja beat Auckland in Club World Cup AGADIR: Raja Casablanca scored late into stoppage time to beat Auckland City 2-1 in the opening match of the annual Club World Cup in Morocco on Wednesday. Abdelilah Hafidi tapped home the winner in the 2nd minute of added time to ensure the host club a winning start at the Agadir Stadium.

Raja took a 1-0 lead in the 39th through Mouhssine Iajour after he beat goalkeeper Tamati Williams with a shot into the far corner.

The New Zealand club rallied through Fijian Krishna, who found himself alone to beat keeper Khalid Askri after Mohamed Oulhaj and Ismail Benlamalem ran into each other. Raja set up a quarterfinal match Sunday with Mexican club Monterrey after Williams saved Oulhaj’s header, only for it to fall to the foot of Hafidi.

Formerly known as the Intercontinental Cup, the Club World Cup is being played in Africa for the first time. European champion Bayern Munich and South America’s Copa Libertadores victor Atletico Mineiro enter from the semifinals, starting on Tuesday. Corinthians beat Chelsea 1-0 to lift the title last year.— AP

AGADIR: Raja Casablanca’s Issam Erraki (right) vies for the ball against Auckland City’s Takuya Iwata as they open the FIFA Club World Cup with a preliminary round football match in the coastal Moroccan city of Agadir on December 11, 2013. — AFP

Schalke hope to replicate their European success BERLIN: Schalke 04 are hoping to replicate their European success in the Bundesliga against a lowly Freiburg on Sunday to turn their season around before the winter break and keep Coach Jens Keller in the job. With two games left this year, any other result except victory could prove costly for an embattled Keller and with captain Benedikt Hoewedes and Julian Draxler looking doubtful the challenge has only increased.

The pair picked up muscle injuries in their 2-0 victory over

Basel on Wednesday that sent them into the Champions League knockout stage for the second consecutive season.

“We are smiling but we will not be celebrating,” Schalke sports director Horst Heldt told reporters, aware that Schalke’s domestic run has not been stellar. Keller’s team has crashed out of the German Cup and dropped to sixth in the Bundesliga, putting his job at risk. Wednesday’s result no doubt gave him a new lease of life.

A win over Freiburg would most likely see him reach the winter break still in the job. “A huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders,” Keller said. “But there will be peace and quiet only until Sunday. The pressure here is huge. Not just on me but also on the team.” Keller will have to reshuffle his team ahead of Freiburg to compensate for the absence of Draxler, who scored Schalke’s first goal on Wednesday, and Hoewedes. —Reuters

Sports FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Welsh regions struggle in Europe amid breakaway talks PARIS: Wales have been the dominant rugby nation in the northern hemisphere, but it is another matter when it comes to the Welsh regions in the European Cup. Winning the 2013 Six Nations was Wales’ fourth in eight years, the team also finished fourth in the 2011 World Cup and went on to provide the bulk of the British and Irish Lions squad for the winning tour of Australia last summer. While Cardiff made the final of the very first European Cup, going down to Toulouse in 1996, Welsh regions have suffered since. The Blues made the semi-final in 2009 and quarters in 2012 and 2008, the latter the last season the Ospreys also progressed into the knock-out phases, while Scarlets made a semi-final in 2007. Newport-Gwent Dragons have never made it out of the pool phase and are currently competing in the second-tier Challenge Cup. On the other hand, England (Leicester (2), Wasps (2), Bath, Northampton), France (Toulouse (4), Brive, Toulon) and Ireland (Leinster (3), Munster (2), Ulster) have provided six European Cup winners apiece.

This season promises to be no different, with just the six pool winners and two best runners-up guaranteed to get through to the knock-out phase. Cardiff Blues, who travel to Glasgow on Friday, sit second in their pool, one point behind defending European champions Toulon.

Ospreys, who host French champions Castres, are already out of the hunt, with just one point from three straight defeats in a pool that also includes Leinster and English heavyweights Northampton.

Scarlets are also unlikely to make it out of their pool, with Clermont and Harlequins ahead of them, and bigspending Racing-Metro promising a revival. “It is an exciting game and if we can win it will open things up and be great for our campaign,” Blues scrum-half Lloyd Williams said of the game against Glasgow, whom they beat 29-20 at home last weekend.”We can take confidence from last week. They came at us all guns blazing and the fact we won gives us confidence we can do a job up north.”

Ospreys coaches admitted they were left “gutted” after being cut adrift 12 points behind Pool 1 leaders Leinster following their 15-9 loss to Castres last week.

“We want to give it a real crack on Friday night,” said forwards coach Chris Gibbes. “We want to be competitive.

We believe we are good enough to win that game.”

Scarlets coach Simon Easterby, the former Ireland flanker, said the goal for his team in Llanelli on Saturday was simple: a victory. “We’ve got to win. It’s as simple as that,” Easterby said, conceding of Clermont: “They’re a fantastic force when they get the momentum. “We were compet-

ing against a side who have far bigger budgets than we have for 45-50 minutes, then they upped the tempo a little bit and we couldn’t hang on to them.”

The backdrop to this season’s travails is the internecine war being waged between the four regions and the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) over their respective futures amid the proposed break-up of the current European Cup structure.

All parties met up on Wednesday but talks on funding, the exodus of Welsh players and an Anglo-Welsh league ended with no deal being agreed - but further talks planned.

The regions have told the WRU that they’d prefer to play in a new Anglo-Welsh league next season rather than be forced by the WRU to compete in a re-jigged European Cup, saying they could even take legal action to push their desire through. “At this key moment for rugby in Wales the WRU continues to work hard in the best interests of Welsh rugby as a whole,” the WRU said after the talks. “It would be unfair on the fans, the players and all of Welsh rugby to make any further speculative comment at this time.” But the WRU added it was hopeful that the regions would continue with the two-party “Participation Agreement” by the December 31 deadline. Missing that would mean losing funding of up to £16.5m a year, and the regions likely pursuing legal avenues. — AFP

Blackhawks use 2nd period to beat Flyers CHICAGO: Duncan Keith and Andrew Shaw scored in a 39-second span at the start of Chicago’s five-goal second period Wednesday night, sparking the Blackhawks to a 7-2 victory over Ray Emery and the Philadelphia Flyers.

Patrick Sharp had a goal and two assists for Chicago, which has won three in a row after a three-game losing streak. Michal Handzus scored a short-handed goal in the second and Marian Hossa had three assists, helping rookie goaltender Antti Raanta win his second consecutive start in place of injured Corey Crawford.

The seven goals set a season high for the Blackhawks (23-6-5), who have scored 19 times during their winning streak and lead the NHL with 129 goals. Shaw’s nifty wraparound at 1:22 of the second made it six players with at least 10 goals for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who are once again on top of the league standings with 51 points.

Emery was pulled in the third period of his first start in Chicago since he teamed with Crawford to give the Blackhawks one of the best goaltending tandems in the league last season.

He received a standing ovation from the sellout crowd when he was recognized on the overhead scoreboard during the first period.

But his ninth start of the season took a turn for the worse when Chicago turned up the pressure in the second. Jakub Voracek and Steve Downie scored power-play goals for the Flyers, who have lost three in a row and went 2-3-1 on a six-game road trip. Voracek’s wrister at 12:31 helped Philadelphia to a 1-0 lead after one period. The Blackhawks were coming off a 6-2 victory at Dallas on Tuesday night and looked a bit listless at the start of their first game against the Flyers since Jan. 5, 2012.

That all changed in the second. Keith got it started with a big drive past Emery just 43 seconds into the period. Then came Shaw’s goal, and Handzus made it 3-1 when he scored his third on a 2-on-1 break with Marcus Kruger. Downie’s third goal momentarily slowed the Blackhawks’ run. Kris Versteeg beat Emery off a nifty pass from Brandon Saad, and Sharp’s slap shot went off

TORONTO: Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mark Fraser (left) collides with Los Angeles King’ Jeff Carter against the glass during first period NHL hockey action in Toronto on Wednesday, Dec 11, 2013. — AP Jonathan Toews and in to make it 5-2 at 14:15.

Emery departed after Brent Seabrook scored on a slap shot 65 seconds into the third.

Emery finished with 12 saves. Raanta made 28 stops to improve to 5-0-1. He drew a large ovation from the crowd when he stopped the Flyers on a pair of breakaways in rapid succession in the third.

1:59 remaining and Drew Doughty also scored for Los Angeles. Following a 6-0 victory Tuesday night in Montreal, the Kings improved to 12-1-4 in their last 17 games.

Martin Jones, a 23-year-old rookie, made 38 saves to earn his fourth win in four NHL starts.

Cody Franson scored his first of the season for Toronto.

KINGS 3, MAPLE LEAFS 1 Jeff Carter scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and Los Angeles beat Toronto for its fifth straight victory. Carter beat former teammate Jonathan Bernier with a wrist shot between the legs on a 2-on-1 break for his eighth of the season.

Kyle Clifford added an insurance goal with

DUCKS 2, WILD 1 Corey Perry scored a goal in his seventh straight game, Ryan Getzlaf extended his point streak to 13 games and Anaheim beat Minnesota for its fourth straight victory. Jonas Hiller made 23 saves and Alex Grant scored his second career goal on his second NHL shot as the Pacific Division-leading Ducks

improved to 12-0-2 at home, extending the second-longest streak without a regulation loss to open a season in the shootout era.

Josh Harding stopped 29 shots and Jason Pominville scored his 15th goal early in the third period for the Wild, who have lost four straight on the road. Perry extended the longest goal streak in the league this season with his 21st. Getzlaf started the play and picked up an assist, extending the NHL’s longest active point streak and matching St Louis’ Alexander Steen for the longest in the league this season. The Anaheim captain has scored in each of his last 15 appearances since Nov 6, but the NHL officially recognizes only 13 games because of an injury absence early in the string. — Agencies

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Sports FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

Warriors outmuscle Mavericks Clippers win in Rivers’ emotional return to Boston OAKLAND: Stephen Curry made a pull-up jumper with 3 seconds remaining to cap a sensational fourth quarter, rallying Golden State from 18 points down to beat Dallas.

Curry scored 16 of his 33 points in the final period. He finished with nine assists, four rebounds and another big shot in a young career already full of them. With the clock winding down, Curry dribbled on the perimeter, came off a screen and faked a shot to send Shawn Marion jumping past him. Curry then made a 19-footer to give Golden State the lead for good. Jose Calderon heaved a desperation shot at the buzzer that was never close. Harrison Barnes scored 17 points, David Lee added 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Andrew Bogut grabbed a season-high 18 rebounds to help the Warriors overcome 18 turnovers and a sloppy start. Monta Ellis and Dirk Nowitzki each scored 21 points, and Calderon had 18 as Dallas finished 2-2 on its road trip.

CLIPPERS 96 CELTICS 88 Jamal Crawford hit a pair of 3-pointers 23 seconds apart to help the Clippers pull away in the last 3 minutes and former Celtics coach Doc Rivers won his first game back in Boston when Los Angeles beat the Celtics 96-88 Wednesday night. Crawford came off the bench to score 21 points and Chris Paul had 22 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Blake Griffin scored 18 points for the Clippers, who won for the seventh time in 10 games. Jeff Green scored 29 points against his former coach, who was traded to Los Angeles last summer for a first-round draft pick. Jordan Crawford had 20 points and nine assists, and Brandon Bass had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Celtics, who lost their second in a row. Boston lost to the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night, kicking off a reunion week of sorts by facing former Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. One night later, Rivers returned to the TD Garden, where the banner for the franchise’s unprecedented 17th NBA title hangs from the rafters. The Clippers continue his reunion week Thursday night when against Garnett and Pierce in Brooklyn.

KNICKS 83, BULLS 78 Carmelo Anthony had 30 points and 10 rebounds, and New York pulled out the victory over Chicago after blowing a 23-point lead. Amare Stoudemire made the tiebreaking jumper with 2:35 left and finished with 14 points and nine rebounds for the Knicks, who ended a two-game losing streak but made it harder on themselves than necessary with some sloppy second-half offense. Mike Dunleavy Jr scored 20 points for the Bulls, who have lost three straight and five of six. They are having a dreadful time scoring, topping out at 75 points in their previous two games and barely surpassing that in this one. Joakim Noah had 12 points and 11 rebounds in his return after missing a game with a bruised right thigh, but Luol Deng missed his third straight game with a sore left Achilles.

Smith scored 22 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds for the Pelicans, who snapped a two-game skid while handing Detroit its third straight loss.

Anderson finished with 22 points on 6-of-18 shooting, including 4 of 12 from 3-point range. Jrue Holiday added 19 points and Al-Farouq Aminu had 11 points and 14 rebounds. New Orleans native Greg Monroe had 28 points and 10 rebounds for Detroit, which led by 3 points early in overtime before Anderson’s first 3 of the extra session tied it. Brandon Jennings added 25 points and Rodney Stuckey 20.

New Orleans Pelicans point guard Tyreke Evans (1) drives to the basket against Detroit Pistons small forward Josh Smith (6) in the first half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans. —AP NBA’s worst record (5-20), shot 54 percent and scored more than 100 points for just the sixth time this season.

Alec Burks had 15 points and rookie point guard Trey Burke added 11 points and nine assists for Utah.

DeMarcus Cousins had 17 of his 21 points in the second half and added 11 rebounds for the Kings, who had their two-game winning streak snapped.

help the Thunder to their fourth straight win and 12th in 13 games. Neither Westbrook nor Durant played in the fourth quarter, when the Thunder maintained a doubledigit lead. Mike Conley had 20 points for the Grizzlies and Zach Randolph and reserve Jon Leuer scored 17 apiece.

Memphis ended a season-long six-game homestand with the loss.

THUNDER 116, GRIZZLIES 100 Russell Westbrook scored 27 points and Kevin Durant added 18 to lead Oklahoma City over Memphis. Reserve guard Jeremy Lamb added a career-high 18 points to

PELICANS 111, PISTONS 106, OT Ryan Anderson shook off an unusually poor shooting night from long range, hitting two clutch 3-pointers in overtime that carried New Orleans past Detroit. Jason

SPURS 109, BUCKS 77 Tim Duncan had 21 points and 16 rebounds while playing just 24 minutes and Tony Parker added 15 points in San Antonio’s rout of Milwaukee. San Antonio had lost three of its last six games after starting the season 13-1, but dominated from the opening tip, scoring the first nine points. An 8-0 run extended the Spurs lead to 27-10. The Bucks pulled within 41-30 in the second quarter, but the Spurs responded with a 10-0 run. The Spurs led 63-40 at the half and extended it to 92-54 entering the final period. Kawhi Leonard scored 13 points, Marco Belinelli added 11, and Danny Green and Cory Joseph had 10 apiece for the Spurs, who shot 52.3 percent, despite making only 4 of 17 3-point attempts. Rookie guard Nate Wolters led the Bucks with a season-high 18 points.

MAGIC 92, BOBCATS 83 Jameer Nelson had 12 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and Orlando snapped a six-game losing streak by beating Charlotte. Glen Davis added 17 points and 12 rebounds and Nikola Vucevic chipped in with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Arron Afflalo had 16 points. Nelson came up with a big 3-pointer late for the Magic, and also had seven rebounds and six assists while outplaying fellow point guard Kemba Walker. The Bobcats shot 37 percent from the field to see their two-game win streak come to an end. Al Jefferson led Charlotte with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Walker, who had 31 points against Stephen Curry on Monday night, was held to 10 points on 4 of 18 shooting. —AP

TIMBERWOLVES 106, 76ERS 99 Kevin Love had 26 points, 15 rebounds and five assists, and Minnesota rallied from a 19-point deficit to beat slumping Philadelphia. Ricky Rubio had 21 points, seven assists and five rebounds, Nikola Pekovic added 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Robbie Hummel hit a couple of big shots for the Wolves in the fourth quarter to key the comeback. Spencer Hawes had 20 points and six rebounds for the Sixers, who led 39-20 after a tremendous first quarter and still held a 13-point advantage at halftime. But they turned the ball over 26 times and shot 14 free throws to Minnesota’s 29. Hummel scored all 10 of his points in the fourth, including a 3-pointer that started the deciding 13-3 run.

JAZZ 122, KINGS 101 Richard Jefferson scored 20 points and Utah halted a four-game skid by cruising past Sacramento. The Jazz led by 24 points heading into the fourth quarter, five points more than their previous largest lead after a quarter this season. Derrick Favors and Gordon Hayward scored 17 points apiece for the Jazz, who established season highs for assists (35) and points scored. Utah, which has the

NEW YORK: The Rockettes perform during a timeout in the first half of the New York Knicks NBA basketball game Chicago Bulls at Madison Square Garden in New York. —AP

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

www.kuwaittimes.net

NEW YORK: New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony (7) shoots over Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson (22) in the second half of their NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden in New York on Wednesday, Dec 11, 2013. — AP

Warriors outmuscle Mavericks 95-93 PAGE 47