13 Jan

CR IP TI ON BS SU

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

US band ‘Filligar’ takes part in Qurain Fest

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RABI ALAWWAL 12, 1435 AH

Hasina sworn in as PM in crisis-hit Bangladesh

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Legs bared for annual No Pants commute

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www.kuwaittimes.net

Pepe winner moves Madrid closer to leaders

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‘Conspiracy tape’ tweeter arrested as plot thickens Govt dithers over Dow session • MPs spar over Israel trade

By A Saleh and B Izzak

from the editor’s desk

Food for thought

By Abd Al-Rahman Al-Alyan

myopinion@kuwaittimes.net

W

hile watching the scenic views of the Dead Sea in Jordan and preparing for a human rights seminar, I couldn’t help but realize how the human rights issue can swing one way or the other in Kuwait and as a matter of fact in the rest of the Gulf, specially when it comes to expats. On one side we have the constitution that respects and protects the rights of anyone living in Kuwait, and on the other side, we have a sponsorship system which we have on several occasions labeled as modern day slavery.

Despite all the unstudied and unplanned efforts of the former minister of social affairs and labour, we still see big visa merchants walking around collecting a minimum of KD 400 per person every year from the hundreds if not thousands of blue-collar workers they sponsor under fake companies. If the workers fail to pay, the merchants just call the police claiming that they ran away. Then the worker gets arrested and deported. It’s as easy as 1-2-3.

Every effort of the former minister resulted in further bureaucracy for the law-abiding people and their businesses with little or no impact on visa merchants. I worry for human rights in Kuwait when all I ever hear is discrimination from some MPs and political figures as they come up with the most outrageous agendas or discriminating laws.

For example, the “Fuhrer” of the traffic department Abdul Fattah Al-Ali’s crackdown on expats and suspending their driving licenses and even deporting expats for certain traffic violations in an attempt to reduce traffic and cover up the horrible planning of roads and the many building violations that clogged up areas like Hawally. He then comes out with the ridiculous remark: “Kuwaitis are the best in the world when it comes to respecting traffic laws.” He must be living in a different Kuwait than the one I live in.

Then come the several attempts by MPs to make separate hospitals only for Kuwaitis and different hospitals for expats; special Kuwaiti graveyards segregated for expats - some have even desired that expats are sent back to their country to be buried; different petrol prices for Kuwaitis and a higher price for expats - luckily there are still some figures of power who have a sense of logic in the government to reject such ideas but the fact they are put out there is quite alerting.

The major problem with such laws and sponsorship systems is that it encourages and creates a generation that feel they have the power to abuse workers they perceive to be lower than them. This is not promising for the future. If we claim to be a Muslim country, then why don’t we revert to the Holy Quran and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and all the previous prophets to realize that such ideas are discriminatory and un-Islamic.

On a closing note, I wonder why every international seminar discussing the suffering of unfortunate people - be it on human rights, hunger, poverty, war or natural disaster victims - are always set in such luxury and offer more than generously great food?

Wouldn’t it be better to spend this money on further efforts to improve the life for everyone around the world? But that’s a different subject that deserves several editorials all by itself.

Donor meet aims raising over $1.5bn DAMASCUS: United Nations aid chief Valerie Amos said yesterday the world body hoped a humanitarian donor conference for Syria hosted in Kuwait this week would raise more than last year’s $1.5 billion. Speaking during a visit to Syria ahead of the Wednesday meeting, Amos said the United Nations was looking for a total of $6.5 billion this year to help those suffering from the nearly threeyear conflict. Amos, who met with government officials and visited displaced Syrians, said the situation was getting worse. The $1.5 billion pledged via the UN at last year’s Kuwait-hosted conference was used in Syria and surrounding countries to provide food rations, medicine, drinking water and shelters. — Reuters

Max 16º Min 06º High Tide 11:27 & 21:33 Low Tide 04:55 & 16:01

ALEPPO: Opposition fighters load a homemade rocket launcher near a shuttered pharmacy during clashes with government forces in this northern Syrian city yesterday. — AFP

KUWAIT: Police have arrested a person under suspicions that he operated a Twitter account used to spread rumors about an alleged conspiracy against Kuwait’s ruling structure, a day after news emerged that the public prosecution is preparing to launch investigations in the case. A Twitter account with the handle @7R7777 had mentioned that former parliament speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi and former prime minister Sheikh Nasser AlMohammad Al-Sabah had a conversation about the alleged conspiracy, prompting Khorafi to file a case three weeks ago in response. Khorafi also demanded action from authorities to obtain an alleged audio recording of the conversation that the rumors claimed was in possession of former minister Sheikh Ahmad AlFahd Al-Sabah.

The user reportedly made a second account with the handle @7R77777 after the original one was suspended.

The first account carried the name ‘anything but the constitution’ - a slogan made popular by the political opposition in Kuwait - whereas the latter was named ‘the upcoming scandal’. The last tweet from the account was made on Friday.

The man was reportedly referred to the public prosecution for questioning. He was arrested following investigations which involved questioning Twitter users who retweeted some of his posts. The public prosecution took over the case after receiving an investigation report from the General Investigation Department.

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Syria major ‘Captagon’ producer, consumer

Govt mulls hi-tech ‘smart zone’

Kuwait, Gulf big markets for drug

KUWAIT: Municipal Council member Ali Hussein AlMoussa said a state-of-the-art ‘smart zone’ will be approved soon with the aim of playing a vital role in developing and modernizing the state’s structural master plan. He added that the new zone would attract major corporations and reputed Arab media establishments. In a press statement, Moussa said that he had filed a proposal to the council’s master plan committee to set up the zone which would help achieve comprehensive development in future master plans.

Moussa added that his memo included holding a workshop for Ali Al-Moussa relevant bodies in the municipality and other ministries to discuss ways of utilizing advanced information and communication technology in developing northern and southern areas targeted in the new master plan. Moussa stressed that he was optimistic about his proposal, which according to him would transform these areas in a way that would help the government’s plans to build a hi-tech center to serve all state establishments including communication and traffic departments, banks and multinational companies. — Al-Anbaa

BEIRUT: Syria has become a major amphetamines exporter and consumer as the trauma of the country’s brutal civil war fuels demand and the breakdown in order creates opportunity for producers. Drugs experts, traders and local activists say Syrian production of the most popular of the stimulants, known by its former brand name Captagon, accelerated in 2013, outpacing production in other countries in the region such as Lebanon. Reports of seizures and interviews with people connected to the trade suggest it generates hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenues in Syria, potentially providing funding for weapons, while the drug itself helps combatants dig in for long, gruelling battles.

Most other economic activity in Syria has ground to a halt in the past two years due to the violence, shortages and international sanctions. Consumption of Captagon outside the Middle East is negligible, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), but it is a significant drug in the Arab Gulf, and nascent markets were detected in North Africa last year. Sitting at a crossroads in the Middle East, Syria has long been a transit point for drugs coming from Europe, Turkey and Lebanon and destined for Jordan, Iraq and the Gulf. The

breakdown of state infrastructure, weakening of borders and proliferation of armed groups during the nearly three-year battle for control of Syria has transformed the country from a stopover into a major production site.

Even before the conflict, Saudi Arabia received about seven tonnes of Captagon in 2010, a third of world supply, according to UNODC figures. A member of a prominent drug trading family in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, where much of that country’s drug production and smuggling takes place, told Reuters that demand from the Gulf kingdom had increased since then, and Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates were also big consumers.

The trader said production in Lebanon fell 90 percent in 2013 from two years earlier, and wholly attributed the drop to a shift in production to Syria. He said some production might also have moved to Syria from Turkey during the past year.

Khabib Ammar, a Damascus-based media activist, said Syrian fighters involved with the drugs trade were buying weapons with the money they made, though Reuters could not independently verify claims that Captagon profits were being used to fund either side of the conflict.

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New era for Kuwait banking KUWAIT: Following a recent decision to allow foreign banks to have more than one branch in Kuwait, the local banking sector is about to witness a new era of competitiveness. The parliament agreed on Thursday to amend law number 32/1968 allowing foreign banks to open multiple branches in Kuwait provided the minimum capital of each is at least KD 15 million. The clause also left deciding which branch to be used as their headquarters in Kuwait to the foreign banks themselves.

Economists and bankers hailed the move, noting that it would help achieve more freedom and openness in the relations between investors and Kuwait’s economy. They stressed that the amendments will increase competence of both local and foreign banks. Observers also noted that more competitiveness would reduce operational costs and the foreign banks will strictly abide by Central Bank regulations concerning credit and interest rates.

Moreover, observers and banking sources stressed that opening more foreign banks’ branches will create more job opportunities, especially for Kuwaiti youths as foreign banks are mandated to hire a minimum of 60 percent of their staff from citizens. Notably, foreign banks first set up shop in Kuwait in 2004 on condition that they only open one branch in the local market that mainly focuses on corporate services, wealth management, consultancy and project funding. Foreign banks that have so far revealed intentions to expand in Kuwait are HSBC (UK), Citibank (USA) and BNP Paribas (France). — Al-Qabas

CAIRO: The lifeless body of an Al-Azhar University student and supporter of Egypt’s ousted President Mohamed Morsi is sprawled on the ground during clashes with security forces in front of the university yesterday. Writing on the wall reads ‘No Exams’. — AP

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

LOCAL

Al-Ibrahim faces grilling over failure to carry out duties Extra session on Saturday

By A. Saleh KUWAIT: MP Adel Al-Khorafi plans to file a grilling motion against Minister of Electricity and Water and Minister of Public Works AbdulAziz Al-Ibrahim over failure to carry out his duties in both ministries, according to parliament insiders. The sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity revealed that AlKhorafi had been preparing the grilling if AlIbrahim was retained in the Cabinet. MP Saadoun Al-Otaibi had predicted soon after the Cabinet reshuffle was announced that AlIbrahim will be the first minister to face a grilling. This comes while MP Kamel Al-Awadhi

told Al-Qabas daily that the parliament is considering a proposal to allocate an extra session on Saturday in order to discuss grillings filed during the week in order to leave ordinary sessions for general discussion.

Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem confirmed yesterday that proposals to ‘prevent delay of parliament sessions’ have been discussed. He also announced that the Cabinet is yet to inform the parliament about their plans to attend tomorrow’s session which is allocated to discuss the K-Dow deal’s aftermath.

In other news, president of the budgets committee MP Adnan Abdulsamad announced that the Ministry of Health has so far failed to

News

in brief

Thekra’s ‘injustice’ KUWAIT: Well-informed sources said that a number of employees working in various sectors in the ministry of social affairs and labour have filed a group complaint to the new minister’s office demanding the removal of “injustice” they suffered because of some of the decisions made by the former minister Thekra Al-Rasheedi. The sources added that most of the grievances involved unjustified transfers without prior notice, suspending promotions and exclusion from recent ones despite holding the proper and needed qualifications, skills and experience.

Kuwaiti students safe KUWAIT: All Kuwaiti students in West Virginia are well and none have been hurt in the chemical spill that occurred a few days ago, said Undersecretary at the Ministry of Higher Education Rashid AlNowaihedh yesterday. Al-Nowaihedh added in a press statement that in a phone call with the Director of the Kuwait Cultural Office in Washington Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Omar, he was told that none of the 145 students in fact live in the areas affected by the spill. The students have also been contacted electronically in order to ensure their wellbeing.

Water network project KUWAIT: An extraordinary meeting grouping GCC electricity and water undersecretaries, besides heads of specialized bodies and organizations, will be held in Kuwait next Tuesday. They will discuss the water network project, besides the GCC Highest Supreme Council’s decision in its 34th session on that matter. This meeting comes in accordance with GCC Supreme Council’s decision in its 34th session, held in Kuwait on December 10-11, 2013, tackling the water network project, GCC Secretariat General said in press release. This meeting aims at studying the other alternatives of this project, in order to reach an agreed formula, to be submitted to the GCC ministerial council.

Jaber Stadium opening KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti parliament has given the Ministry of Public Works and the Public Authority for Youth and Sports a two-week deadline to come up with two explanatory reports on State Audit Bureau remarks on the delay behind the opening of a grand sports stadium. MP Saif Al-Azmi, who heads the public funds committee, told reporters on Sunday that the committee had sat down in talks with the two government bodies to discuss the delay to the opening of Jaber Stadium. During the meeting, the State Audit Bureau’s reports were raised, and the committee decided to offer the bodies two weeks to come up with two separate explanatory reports on the delay.

Moves to free nine Kuwaiti fishermen

collect KD19.6 million owed in health insurance fees, following a meeting yesterday in which the panel discussed the Audit Bureau’s report for the MoH’s 2012/2013 budget.

Meanwhile, MP Safaa Al-Hashem send questions to Health Minister Dr Ali Al-Obaidi, inquiring about the number of expatriates infected with tuberculosis or hepatitis and who managed to evade medical tests to obtain working visas for Kuwait. Separately, MP Saleh Ashour asked I nterior M inister Sheik h Mohammad Al-Khalid Al-Sabah about a fundraiser held last month to collect arms for rebel fighters in Syria, asking whether it was licensed or not.

Trio held for running illegal business

By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Three Ethiopians (two men and a woman) were arrested for running an illegal business providing housemaids and forcing absconding housemaids in prostitution, said security sources. Case papers indicate that detectives had been tipped off concerning the suspects’ activity and that they had been holding a number of women. Raiding the house, 33 women and 16 men were arrested. The majority of the arrested suspects turned out to be reported absconding or wanted for criminal claims. The raiding force also found a receipts of fake household maid offices.

Initial investigations showed that half of the arrested maids had been held against their will and forced to practice prostitution. In this regard, MOI’s PR and security media department urged citizens not to deal with illegal maid suppliers.

• Shuwaikh port customs foiled an attempt to smuggle a liquor shipment worth KD 2,50,000 that had been concealed in steel grooves, said security sources. The shipment was arriving from UAE and included 3,200 bottles.

• A man suffocated after inhaling smoke when a fire broke out at his

house in Doha, said security sources, noting that firemen evacuated the house and controlled the fire.

• A citizen, a bedoon and four Arab expatriates were arrested for smuggling subsidized diesel abroad, said security sources. Case papers indicate that the detectives was tipped off concerning a citizen who had been renting an industrial land plot which he used to store subsidized diesel and mix it with used engine oil with the help of five others who had been buying used engine oils from garages and automobile agencies and store them in containers at the same place. The sources added that after mixing the diesel with oil, the suspects forged custom statements sent to KOC noting that the outbound shipment contained used engine oil only.

• A mentally disturbed 19-year-old citizen tried to commit suicide by immolating himself in a mosque in Qasr, said security sources, noting that the young man sustained several burns and was immediately taken by worshippers to Jahra hospital, from which he was referred to Al-Babtain center. The young man’s mother said that her son was mentally disturbed and that he had been treated at the psychiatric hospital for a while.

KUWAIT: Two hundred and twenty illegal residents and wanted people were arrested during a raid in Shuwaikh Industrial Area, said security sources, noting that the majority of the arrested people were absconding household laborers.

—By Hanan Al-Saadoun

UNICEF thanks Kuwait for extraordinary commitment to children worldwide KUWAIT: ‘A shared commitment to children’ was the focus of recent discussions betweenUNICEF representatives and senior level officials in Kuwait. Maria Calivis, Regional Director, UNICEF Middle East and North Africa and Dr Ibrahim El Ziq, Representative, UNICEF Gulf Area Office met with Ambassador Jassim Mubarak A- Mubarak i, Director of International Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs to review progress made

by UNICEF in supporting children and families affected by the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Syria,thanks to the generous contribution of the government of Kuwait during the First International Donors Conference held in January 2013.

At the meeting UNICEF was pleased to announce that the majority of funds had been utilized in successfully reaching more than 3.7million Syrian children and

their families with access to clean drinking water and sanitation, a ‘Back to Learning’ campaign and education interventions, psycho-social support, immunization programmes and provision of winter supplies.

Calivis and El. Ziq also took the opportunity to discuss the ‘No Lost Generation’ initiative launched last week by UNICEF, UNHCR, Save the Children and other partners,which calls for governments, aid agencies and members of the public to become champions for the children of Syria. “His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah has been, and continues to be, a steadfast global champion for children worldwide, including the children of Syria,” said El Ziq. “As an advocate for the protection of children’s rights, in particular through ensuring children have

access toquality education, His Highness continues to play a major humanitarian role in the region and worldwide.”

“The’No Lost Generation’ initiativefocuses on critical education and protection programmes to lift Syrian children out of misery, isolation and trauma in order to provide them with the chance to shape a more stable and secure future.”

Cooperation framework In addition, Calivis and El Ziq met with Dr Abduallah Al-Matouq, United Nations Secretary General Humanitarian Envoy for Kuwait, and chairman of the International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO). As well as discussing progress made by UNICEF and the ongoing need to ensure this generation of Syrian childrenis supported and protect-

ed, a memorandum of understanding was signed between UNICEF and the IICO, which will provide a framework for cooperation and strengthen support for disadvantaged children worldwide. El Ziq concluded, “The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Syria has created an uncertain future for an entire generation of children. However, with the continued support and generosity of our partners in Kuwait, UNICEF can in turn continue to protect children’s rights, meet their basic needs and help them reach their full potential.

“A high-level delegation from UNICEF will be attending the Second International Donors Conference, hosted

by His Highness the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlSabah, where we intend to share our insights with partners.”

KUWAIT: High ranking sources at the foreign ministry said the ministry is discussing with Iraq authorities the issue of the nine citizens who were detained while on a fishing trip and wandered into Iraq borders.

They said First Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah discussed the matter with the Iraqi side, and that the Iraqi foreign ministry is interested in ending the issue.

The sources warned citizens not to cross Iraqi borders unofficially to avoid danger, and hoped the nine citizens return home soon.

Water rationalization campaign successful KUWAIT: Assistant undersecretary for operating and maintaining water at the Ministry of Electricity and Water Mohammad Bushehri said the ministry was able, through rationalization policy, to make a quality move on the way of rationalizing the use of water by saving 4% from the expected annual increase.

He said the ministry’s procedures by activating the judicial jurisdiction and spreading awareness among consumers on water use led to reducing consumption. He said consumption rate for last year was 374 million imperial gallons per day, while in 2012 it was 370 imperial gallons per day, which is nearly the same rate, and that translates into KD 55 million per year. He said the annual increase rate that was saved is 8%, with the increase of population and construction.

Bushehri said Kuwait was able to maintain its previous rates of consumption which were recorded the year before last, which in itself was considered very high for Kuwait. He said Kuwait is considered third highest in water consumption around the world, and uses about 450 liters per day, and this is double that of in Europe while Kuwait is considered poor in water resources. He said that if the consumer saves one gallon per day, the ministry will be able to save 3.5 million imperial gallons per day at an actual cost of KD 12 million per year.

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti Oil Minister and Minister of State for National Assembly Affairs Dr Ali Al-Omair receiving high-ranking officials yesterday. Al-Omair said that any opportunity to raise the prices of oil would be taken provided it does not affect the country “negatively”.

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

LOCAL

KUWAIT: The Charge de Affaires of the Republic Of the Union of Myanmar Aung Soe Win hosted a reception at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on the occasion of the independence day of his country over the weekend. A number of high-ranking officials , diplomats and media persons attended the reception. —Photos by Joseph Shagra

Govt to approve grant in hospitals project Health insurance program

CAIRO: Kuwait’s Deputy Minister for Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah AlSabah pictured with the Pope of Egypt’s Coptic Christian Church Tawadros II yesterday.

Coptic Pope invited to visit Kuwait CAIRO: His Highness the Amir’s envoy, Deputy Minister for Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah delivered yesterday an invitation to the Pope of Egypt’s Coptic Christian Church Tawadros II to visit Kuwait. After meeting the Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy Apostolic See of St. Mark the Evangelist of the Coptic Orthodox

Church of Alexandria, Sheikh Ali Al-Jarrah said “we were honoured by this warm encounter with His Holiness the pope and we hope to God that this communication continues between Arab brothers.”

He added that it was also an honour to have delivered the message on behalf of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. — KUNA

Clean fuel project in the offing KUWAIT: An official source at Kuwait National Petroleum Company said the company began reviewing the tenders of five consortia who bid for the clean fuel project, which showed the extent of the tender’s competitiveness, adding that the company has formed an integrated team to review the tenders.

The clean fuel project is considered one of the largest oil projects that Kuwait seeks to carry out to modernize the Mina Abdullah and Ahmadi refineries to increase their refining capacity from 736,000 bpd to 800,000 bpd. He said KNPC’s other project, the new refinery, is considered among the largest strategic projects, whose refining capacity is expected to be 615,000 bpd, which

makes it among the largest refineries in the world.

The source said the company’s aim is to award the projects to multinational consortia that gave the least price, provided that no technical deviations that may hinder the project are present, otherwise the tender will be awarded to the second least bid. About the choice of insurance companies on the clean fuel project, the source said that KNPC selects the insurance companies that insure the project and workers, adding that during the construction of the project, the contractor will be responsible for insurance of both workers and material. After installations are complete, KNPC will insure the project’s units.

KNET enters into strategic partnership with UnionPay K U WAI T: Th e S h a red El ec t ro nic Bank i n g S e r vi ce Comp any (K net ) signed a strategic partnership memorandum with UnionPay International, that is based in Shanghai and considered one of the largest and newest companies in issuing and Acquiring cards in the world.

This partnership will provide more co mfo r t a n d convenience to “UnionPay” cardholders to take advantage of the company’s rapid growth around the world, as well as enabling them the use of such cards in ATMs and POS devices deployed in Kuwait and linked to Knet, said Chairman of the Board of Directors of Knet Jassim Safar yesterday.

Safar said in a statement after the signing ceremony that the signing of a strategic partnership at this level will enhance the ongoing cooperation in the field of elec tronic payment between China and the GCC in general and Kuwait in particular, where this will enable all Kuwaiti banks to accept more cardholders from global schemas on their ATMs and POS devices, as well as opening a window of opportunity to local banks to issue this type of card in the future with worldwide acceptance. Safar also stressed that Knet is keen in pursuing building strong relationships and strategic partnerships of this kind, in order to strengthen its position in the region as a whole, as wel l a s ava i l i n g m o re ser vices to Kuwaiti banks clients.

He indicated also that Knet focused in its policy on the expansion in the Acquiring field to accept cards at all levels and at the same time deploy-

ment of the latest technology in the field of electronic payment.

Positive impact He also stressed that this kind of par tnership and the acceptance of new card t y pes will h ave positive impact on the volume of electronic transactions that are being performed on more than 34,000 KNET deployed P O S te r m i n a l s a n d AT M m a c h i n e s installed in Kuwait where Knet is striving to maintain highest integrity and security levels on all electronically performed transactions, especially after being ranked among top 150 acquiring networks worldwide and the second at the regional level, according to 2013 Nelson report.

On his part, Board Director & CEO of UnionPay International “Cai Jianbo” expressed his happiness on signing of the strategic partnership with KNET and pointed out that UnionPay International was established in March 2002 after the approval of the State Council of China and the People’s Bank of China, where it has been classified today as one of the fastest growing payment companies in the world.

He pointed out that the company had signed such strategic partnership with more than 400 members worldwide, where the estimated 3.2 billion cards issued on 29 countries are being accepted on more than 1.5 million Automatic Teller Machines and more than 4.5 million Points Of Sale device deployed in more than 140 countries and regions, making it the network’s largest cards payment schemes in the world. —KUNA

KUWAIT: The Cabinet is expected to grant citizens the majority of stocks in a shareholding company that will be established to build hospitals for treatment of expatriates covered by the government health insurance program. Sources with knowledge of the information were quoted in a report yesterday saying that the proposal was made by the Kuwait Investment Authority, under which the government would purchase the 50 percent stake that will be put in an initial public offering, then distribute them to Kuwaitis as ‘grants’.

This step would be the second of its kind for the Kuwaiti government which made a similar decision last year with the shareholding company to establish the North Zour power plant. Meanwhile, the sources who spoke to Al-Anbaa on the condition of anonymity said that the Cabinet’s reshuffle forced the delay of the company’s first gener-

al assembly meeting which was scheduled to take place on Wednesday.

The sources did not provide a date for when the decision is expected to be officially announced. The health insurance hospitals’ project is the first mega project included in the country ’s development plan for the health sector. It includes establishing 3 hospitals of 50,000 sq m each in Ahmadi, Amghara and Dhajeej. They would provide full medical services to both Kuwaitis and expatriates covered by the government’s insurance program, while several reports indicated in the past that they will serve as exclusive medical outlets for the country’s expatriate community as the state looks to reduce pressure on currently overcrowded public medical facilities.

Mega project The project has an estimated capital of $1.1 billion, which makes it qualified to be

classified as a ‘mega project’ in Kuwait’s 5year development plan that was launched in 2010. Mega projects are those with a capital of more than KD 100 million (more than $350 million).

Arabi Group Holding Co was selected last August as a strategic investor in the project with a KD 66.7 million offer to invest in 26 percent of the shareholding company. The company plans to start building after the end of the IPO with the plan to finish the three hospitals with a total capacity of 200 beds each within four years. The hospitals will offer integrated medical services covered through a government-sponsored medical insurance program in which insurance companies will handle payments for medical services at the hospital. The government, represented by the Kuwait Investment Authority, will own the remaining 24 percent in the shareholding company.

Probe into asphalt road problem KUWAIT: The committee that was formed to investigate the reason behind the breakdown of the asphalt structure of roads after the recent rain that caused gravel to become loose started its work by sending two samples of bitumen - which is the main ingredient of the asphalt mixture and makes the mixture cohesive - to Kuwait University and Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) for tests to find the efficiency of the bitumen used or whether it lost its cohesive properties.

Sources at the public works ministry said two bitumen samples were taken from KNPC and another from a company that is paving the roads to find the reason behind the problems. Meanwhile, chairman of the Capital Committee at the Municipal Council Dr Hassan Kamal said the main reason behind the gravel getting loose is the bad quality of the asphalt mixture used as the surface layer on expressways, as the cohesion between gravel and bitumen is weak.

He said that the bitumen used may contain a high percentage of sulphite, which prevents cohesion between the gravel and bitumen.

He said the second reason may be that the Ministry of Public Works is not using gravel covered with cement in the asphalt mixture as it used to do before to improve cohesion.

Kamal said a third reason may be hastening the opening of roads in response to the wishes of the traffic department after maintenance is done.

American band ‘Filligar’ taking part in Al-Qurain Festival

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: The Al-Qurain Cultural Festival comprises of various cultural, art and musical activities. Every year, various international bands participate in this festival, and this year, a young American band ‘Filligar’ is taking part.

Local media met the band members yesterday to get more information about their visit to Kuwait and their participation.

Described as one of the best young bands in America, Filligar is an alternative/indie rock band. They have toured the US, the UK, and Azerbaijan to enthusiastic response, and have supported bands like The Black Keys and My Morning Jacket. Filligar’s latest record was named ‘Best New Music’ by American Songwriter magazine, while their previous release was nominated for ‘Best Rock Album’ at the 2012 Independent Music Award. Filligar has been selected by the US State Department as a cultural ambassador, representing the ‘American people and their cultural values’ and ‘the best of the US arts’.

“We are very excited to be here. We had the chance to meet a lot of young musicians at the American School of Kuwait who played on different musical instruments. It’s a great chance to exchange experience. We all grew up in Chicago, but now live in Los Angeles.

The weather is perfect, and this is the best time of the year to come. It’s colder than the North Pole right now back home, so we appreciate this relatively warm weather,” band member Pete Mathias said.

Great respect The band has two performances on schedule. “ We will be per forming on Monday (today) at Bayt Lothan in Salmiya at 7:00 pm.

Our second performance will be on Tuesday, also at 7:00 pm, at the theatre of the Kuwait National Museum. At the first concert we will perform alongside Kuwaiti music bands,” noted Johnny Mathias, another band member.

“Before we travel to a country we read a little bit about it, as it’s really important to come into the culture and meet people. We also like to taste food, and last night we had Kuwaiti food in a traditional restaurant. For us, the culture is meeting the people and what’s it like to live here. We are still creating memories of Kuwait,” he added. Casey Gibson said they have great respect for the historically significant music that came out from this region, not just Kuwait but the whole of the Middle East. “We talked to the students about the historical background of jazz, which grew out of Arabian influences. We are not experts in music history but as professional musicians, we respect the traditions of this region. We like hearing voices from this part of the world,” he said.

Western and oriental music is harmonically different. “There is a lot of overlap, like dances and how music affects body movement, which is one of the most fun things about music. We will only play Western music, but we hope that while we are here, we can learn a bit of Arabian music from local musicians.

It’s important to have a teacher to explain what the structure is,” stressed Teddy Mathias.

KUWAIT: Members of the young American musical band ‘Filligar’.

— Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

“I do lyrics and I know basically that many traditions we inherit now have Islamic influences such as the Sufis, Rumi and others.

There are so many different nationalities in Kuwait and many different things are happening here, and we love to be part of the Al Qurain festival,” explained Johnny Mathias.

Filligar visited Bayt Lothan which is an art center that is now doing live concerts too. “We were amazed by the organizers as they give opportunity to musicians to perform in front of people. We also had a gathering in the school today to talk about what it’s like to be a musician on the road and perform. In addition to our classes, we are going to meet students and talk to them. We will also go to the Maritime Museum and try to search for some instruments, get more cultural experiences and taste more food. This is our first time in Kuwait and in the Gulf, and I think we came to the right place. I hope to come back to Kuwait,” he added.

New cities “When we are in the States, we go to new cities all the time. We travel about 400 miles and it’s a totally different world - we see new culture and people as the way of life there is very different. That’s what makes the travelling of musical life really great. We consider ourselves very lucky to be able to do what we do. Living from making music is hard, and it’s amazing for us to be able to do it in Kuwait,” stated Johnny.

About their performance at the festival, Pete said they will play a mixture of their own music with some from the past 50 years in the US. “We play a little of Bob Dylan, classic rock, and others. But we are songwriters telling our own story and we have our own music too.

We love the Beatles, Rolling Stones and will be doing them too,” he pointed out.

“We write about love, and we are travellers, so we write about travelling. Songwriting is not something that we have any expectations about. What makes music exciting is not having any expectations of what you’re going to write about. Music offers the opportunity to express ourselves,” added Pete Mathias.

“Instead of giving people social messages, for us it’s about showing, explaining and living the message. It’s a message of friendship, a message of family. Our music might not have words saying it directly to people, but we are showing the people the message instead of singing it,” concluded Johnny.

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

LOCAL kuwait digest

In my view

New Arab world map

Tough time for Brotherhood

By Abdellatif Al-Duaij

W

Safety Road

By Labeed Abdal

local@kuwaittimes.net

kuwait digest

New driving Experience

By Hassan Abbas

T

he driving experience in Kuwait has become more risky these days. If you look from afar at a main highway, the scene would be similar to watching caravans with dust clouds behind them; or one that resembles caravans of displaced Kuwaiti families during the Iraqi invasion. And if you drive on one of these roads, there is a high chance your car is going to be hit by a flying stone, in a scene similar to the Palestinian intifada!

What a shame to see corruption reach this level in Kuwait. What is more shameful are the official statements made by Ministry of Public Works officials, including Saud Al-Naqi, who claimed that roads were reopened prematurely following maintenance projects. Meanwhile, a newspaper report quoted an unnamed source (not sure exactly why he refused to give his name, it is not like he is revealing secret information about an unknown nuclear project or anything) who blamed sulfur used in the asphalt.

Drivers care less about the technical problems and excuses. When we drive and see a paved road, we take it. If the ministry said that the street is closed for roadworks, we take another. If roads needed time before being reopened, there is no way that a student or employee would know this unless the ministry informs them about it.

Drivers care less about the technical problems and excuses. When we drive and see a paved road, we take it. If the ministry said that the street is closed for roadworks, we take another. If roads needed time before being reopened, there is no way that a student or employee would know this unless the ministry informs them about it. Meanwhile, it is the experts’ responsibility to address the chemical composition of the asphalt used.

Who is going to compensate drivers whose cars sustained damages, especially considering a brand new windshield for some cars costs between KD 700 and KD 800? But this is hardly the worst problem.

According to an American civil engineer I spoke with, Kuwait has the best chemicals used in paving roads and available at very cheap prices since Kuwait is an oil-producing country. The fact that Kuwait’s roads couldn’t tolerate two days of rain tells us something about how huge the level of corruption has reached in the country.

A piece of advice to Ministry of Public Works officials - spare us empty statements, and instead work hard to unmask the contractors responsible while at the same time keep watchful eyes on future road maintenance projects. —Al-Rai

Al-Anbaa

S

yria’s step to terminate internationally-banned chemical weapons (sarin gas) - which were carried through the Latakia Port by Danish ships and transported to be disposed in international waters - is an important one that reflects commitment to international resolutions, as well as the requirements needed to contain the Syrian crisis which has been ongoing for nearly three years and during which thousands of innocent people have been killed.

There is a new map intended for the Arab World which divides nations with total disregard to international law that guarantees nations’ rights to change their regimes through constitutional amendments, public referendums, revolutions or any actions that remain within the state’s borders and the frameworks of democracy. The efforts to make that map - which was designed abroad - a reality is taking the region to a point of no return and into an endless state of turmoil that threatens nations’ sovereignty, existence and the future of their people.

Meanwhile, these plans have their effect on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has been going on for decades in light of fruitless negotiations that are made with a spoiled child. The negotiations and military struggles are controlled by foreign powers who settle their differences on other lands through all kinds of heinous crimes.

This reckless show of power - which also helps promote international arms sale - must be fought through international movements to protect United Nations members from killings as a result of attacks spurred by foreign intervention. Not only is this necessary to save lives, but also to preserve the value of the UN seat.

kuwait digest

Delaying solutions

By Ahmad Al-Sarraf

O

n a beautiful spring morning in Beirut during the early 1970s, I was driving when I was forced to stop by a crowd that blocked the road. It turned out that everyone was looking up to a man who threatened to jump from the balcony of a fourth-floor room at a cheap hotel. I took another route and left the place, but news about that poor man’s suicide headlined front pages of newspapers the following morning. At the time when Lebanon was still not dominated by news of bombings and assassinations, news about a suicide was a big deal.

It turned out that the man was a Coptic Egyptian businessman, who decided to end his life due to financial problems. The ironic or sad part about the story was that the man was very hesitant to commit suicide. He stood on the balcony for more than four hours, during which police first sent a Coptic priest who tried to talk him out of his plans because killing oneself goes against religion, but the man did not listen. Police sent him a prostitute after that to show him what he would be missing if he decided to end his life, but the woman’s attempts were not more successful than the priest’s. The man kept writing letters to his wife and kids, which he threw down to people and asked them to send to his country’s embassy.

Eventually, people grew tired of waiting, and wanted to see an end to the situation. Several people started yelling at the man, calling him to either jump or go back to his room. More people joined, and some even started cursing at him and calling him a coward. Maybe this is what led the man to send himself crashing to the ground. Annahar daily’s headline story the following morning gave the best description of the incident: “They

killed him... it was not suicide!”. To stand for four hours on the balcony meant that the man was still sticking to life. Had he not been provoked by people, the man would have probably got tired and eventually gone back to his room.

This story came back to my mind while reading recent news about two construction workers who were killed at a historical building’s restoration site. It was the house of Sheikh Khaz’al, a man known for being the best friend of Sheikh Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (Kuwait’s ruler between 1921 and 1950), and who had built his palace adjacent to Sheikh Ahmad’s. The two workers died while working in the decaying building.

The problem is that the old building, or what is left from it, was prone to complete destruction, and that walking into it was attempted suicide. Restoration works at the building started at least half a century late!

Therefore, the poor workers’ death should probably not be considered an accident. They were killed.

Speaking about negligence and allowing problems to grow and become very complicated also reminds us of the bedoons case, which became very difficult to solve now after it was left to snowball for 40 years.

Delaying solutions is a known policy of the government for years! Had the government decided to solve the bedoons’ problem in the ‘60s, the issue would not have reached the current miserable situation. And if the palace was restored at the right time, the workers wouldn’t have died under the debris. If officials had good vision, they would have demolished the building and built an identical one in its place that could become a museum, similar to what happened with the American Hospital building. —Al-Qabas

in my view

No future for Al-Qaeda in Arab world

By Rami G Khouri

M

any people in the Middle East and abroad are rightly concerned about the rise and impact of hard-line Salafist-takfiri Islamist groups that have recently proliferated and controlled territory in Iraq and Syria. Groups like the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), the Nusra Front, and many other smaller ones represent perhaps the fastest growing ideological sector in the region - in some cases attracting tens of thousands of adherents. There are real reasons to be concerned by their behavior, from their beheading and torture of opponents to their imposition of draconian social norms.

Yet we should not exaggerate their long-term prospects. I suspect these are essentially short-term phenomena that have no place in a future Middle East, because they are essentially gangs of losers: deeply alienated young men who can only try to establish their fantasy lands of pure Islamic values in areas that have experienced a total breakdown of order, governance, services and security.

These transitional movements have no possibility to control significant territory and set up their own selfcontained statelets, principalities or emirates for extended periods, because they have no natural support in society and only operate where they can take advantage of lawlessness and fear. They can do plenty of damage in the short run, because of their ability to stoke sectarian conflict across the Middle East, shatter people’s lives and development, kill and main thousands, and provide scores of recruits with training and battle experience that can later be used to carry out terror operations around the world. But as political movements they are total failures, which is why they can only operate by the gun.

Al-Qaeda itself and its offshoots have tried for decades to mobilize popular support across the Arab world, playing on the same grievances (Palestine, corruption, foreign aggressions, domestic injustices and disparities) that have brought millions of adherents to other, nonviolent and locally anchored Islamist movements such the Muslim Brotherhood or the Nour movement in Egypt. ISIS and other Al-Qaeda-like groups have totally and repeatedly failed the test of popular legitimacy. They have never achieved any anchorage because their violent, oppressive operating methods are deeply repulsive and alien to the overwhelming majority of Arab men and women.

So we see their presence only in ravaged lands, zones of chaos and ungoverned areas, in places such as

Afghanistan, Pakistan’s border areas, rural Yemen, Somalia, Mali and parts of Libya, Gaza, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon where governance and order are weak or nonexistent. In the short term, groups such as ISIS can control small patches of land by stabilizing security situations and providing basic services such as food and medical care, allowing them to impose their brand of harsh justice. The populations under their control appreciate the provision of basic human needs, because they do not want to live under the law of the jungle. But neither do they want to live permanently under Salafisttakfiri rule. Yet they are helpless to speak out against or resist the militants who impose their rule by the gun.

When normal Arab men and women have the opportunity to push back against these abnormal movements, they do so with enthusiasm, as we are witnessing today in the backlash against them that is taking places in parts of northern Syria and western Iraq. A combination of organized but less fanatical Islamists and indigenous armed tribesmen has fought to evict ISIS from some of the areas it recently took over. In parts of Iraq this battle against the extremists has been coordinated with the state’s security agencies. This is a clear sign of things to come elsewhere, and is no surprise.

While movements like ISIS, the Nusra Front and others have no long-term future in our region, they can hang around and control populations for some time, because the chaotic conditions necessary for their existence are widely provided by two related phenomena: the incompetence, cruelty, violence and corruption of prevailing Arab regimes, and the occasional act of criminal military invasion or occupation by Israeli, American, British, Russian and other foreign powers.

These conditions annually allow for the recruitment of tens of thousands of disillusioned, alienated and directionless young men, in the same manner that their counterparts in the West in recent decades have joined violent gangs, bizarre religious cults, or fringe drug communities.

Salafist-takfiri groups are a passing symptom of our countries’ problems and deficiencies, not a harbinger of our future. They can be partly contained by military action in the short run, but in the long run they can only be countered by better governance and more equitable socio-economic development and citizen rights. These remain elusive in most Arab countries, and so the Salafist-takfiri extremists hang around, like vultures living off the carcasses of Arab dignity and human decency.

e sympathize, without a doubt, with members of the Muslim Brotherhood because of the allout campaign by the regimes and groups that hosted them in the past. We have a conviction that one of the most important reason for this animosity or the change of stands is basically the feeling of yesterday’s allies of the danger of the Brotherhood against them, and their threat to the totalitarian regimes that founded and hosted them, and not as claimed of the Brotherhood’s threat to the social security of the countries that are repressing them now. There are also signs that the conservative regimes’ animosity towards the Brotherhood is due to the religious flexibility and the partial civil transformation the Brotherhood showed lately.

Yet, despite all that, it seems to us that the violence the Brotherhood is currently facing in Egypt has its justifications and objective reasons, and even necessities.

Though we believe that the Brotherhood has a legitimate cause in the face of the coup against the elected president (not necessarily legitimate as we have a clear stand towards elections in backward countries that are built on banning intellectuals and leftists in favor of rightist groups), yet the way and method in facing it, in addition to the surrounding circumstances of the current struggle make the Brotherhood lose much sympathy, more than the patriotic and political justifications to face the current regime.

The Muslim Brotherhood is not facing a regime concerned with taking away the popular will, canceling civil rule and suspending laws and the constitution, rather they face - as claimed at least - a regime that seeks to set a civil constitution and implement a democratic regime, in which the Egyptian human being freely decides the way and method of ruling. That means that the Brotherhood clearly seems to be an obstacle in the way of advancement and real democratic openness, which the current regime claims to be heading towards. There is no doubt that the regime has claims that may be right and may not at all, but there remains the peaceful and practical testing of the regime’s claims and testing its practical intentions, instead of depending on claims of its deviation and its claimed dictatorship, and in turn lead Egypt to a destructive civil war.

The Brotherhood succeeded in elections they claim were free and clean, yet there is nothing to keep them from getting the same results once again during a free and clean elections, and if the elections were tempered with, the Brotherhood and others can fight such tampering, and then the stand against the regime and facing it will be legitimate without a question. —Al-Qabas

in my view

The failure of intellectuals

By Mohammed Fahad Al-Harthi

T

he political and social regression in the Arab world has exposed the shameful failure of Arab intellectuals to provide leadership and guidance for their fellow citizens. Intellectual elites are leaders of change. They guide public opinion and enlighten members of society about their rights and duties. These are the responsibilities they have to advance their societies. Intellectuals create a crisis when they turn to promoters of ideas out of pure selfinterest. It is under these circumstances that they become dependent on the dominant power or most popular idea.

As such, they are a danger to the state because they may mislead decision-makers. Some actually compete with others in a frantic race to gain acknowledgement and material benefits. The crisis of Arab culture is the crisis of intellectuals. If intellectuals, a nation’s conscience, produce analyses and judgments based on their personal agendas, how can real change take place? Culture then becomes just a cover for opportunists who carry no noble message for true transformation.

Different voices in our culture are at risk of severe and often debilitating criticism. In societies like ours, rote learning is the norm. We memorize our lessons by heart without attempting to contradict or question our educators’ views.

When all opinions are pointed in one direction, our collective minds tend to comply with the popular opinion or listen to the loudest voices. Some are so afraid of diversity that they may raise suspicions about correct standpoints.

This modus operandi was at the heart of the witch-hunts launched by US Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s who branded anyone opposed to the US government as disloyal and a communist.

McCarthyism is simply cultural terrorism against intellectuals. It’s the practice of publicizing accusations of political disloyalty or subversion with a total disregard for evidence. The deeper problem arises when freedom of speech and pluralism are threatened by intellectuals themselves, people in power, and those who consider themselves educated. A writer once pointed out that some writers under certain circumstances try to predict the direction of the state and then build their analysis in that direction.

The reaction to an objective analysis in these conditions would see a campaign against it, which would be intensified with forms of ideological hysteria, national pride or crass emotionalism.

Power doesn’t necessarily belong to the state but with large sections of the public, resulting in many people falling over themselves to win this support. In his book, The Crowd Psychology, Gustave Le Bon says audiences often seek to have their emotions triggered and not their minds provoked by cerebral writers. This means that methodological values will lose in a contest with the thrills of the moment. The reaction of the Arab audience to the Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef proves that Arabs are emotional.

Youssef became a star when he attacked the Muslim Brotherhood’s rule, but the moment he criticized and mocked the government, his audience turned on him labeling him a traitor. Despite what we may think of Youssef’s direction, the writer or intellectual will lose if he bets on his popularity in society. He will lose himself first and then his audience. Principles, not personal agendas, are what advanced nations have used to thrive on.

Enlightened thinkers fought for principles they believed in.

Today the Arab world pays the price for this failure.

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

LOCAL

KUWAIT: The Kuwait Dive Team received the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Environment Management Award during a ceremony held at the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization building in Rabat over the weekend.

Exhibitions to shed light on Kuwait’s humanitarian efforts KUWAIT: Exhibitions due on sidelines of the Second International Humanitarian Pledging conference for Syria to be held on Jan 15 will highlight the pioneer role of Kuwait and its charities in the humanitarian aid arena, especially in helping Syrian refugees.

Mohammad Bin Reda, in charge of activities due on the conference fringes, said on occasion of opening the conference-affiliated second photos exhibition, on Saturday night, that this fair aimed to shed light on the Syrian refugees’ plight.

It also promotes Kuwait’s voluntary and humanitarian efforts in alleviating the refugees’ suffering, he added.

The media committee affiliated to the supreme conferences committee, headed by Advisor at the Amiri Diwan Mohammad Abul-Hassan, is organizing such fairs to educate the public on remarkable role of charities in alleviating suffering of the Syrian refugees by offering them shelter, food, education and medical services. The charities taking part in the fair are Kuwait Relief Organization, Al-Najat Charitable Society, along with eight other philanthropic societies, including Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) which had already

launched its fair at “360” commercial mall.

The associations are pledging to offer USD 100 million to the Syrian refugees during the conference. That sum equals the same financial aid, pledged during the first conference of this level, but it might exceed that limit during the second convention, said Jaber Al-Wndah, the Deputy Director General of Al-Najat Charity Society and General Coordinator at Kuwait Relief Organization.

Kuwait Relief Organization, a umbrella for national charities, headed by Yousif Al-Hajji and his deputy Ahmad Al-Jasser, has vowed since the first conference to collect donations for the refugees. The organization is planning a mega project, to be launched during the upcoming conference, envisioning establishment of ten (makeshift) towns for Syrian refugees, under the name “Kuwait City,” in Jordan and Turkey. Each town is projected to cost KD four million. Meanwhile, coordination is underway with Lebanon on prospects of building such towns in the country. Each one will include 1,000 housing units, schools, medical clinics, women rehabilitation and training centers, besides entertaining places for children.—- KUNA

KUWAIT: Officials pictured at the opening of the conference-affiliated second photos exhibition.

UN official visits Syria prior to donor conference in Kuwait NEW YORK: UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos said her trip to Syria this week is to see for herself the magnitude of the humanitarian tragedy caused by the three-year conflict. Amos explained that her mission to Syria is aimed at relaying her fresh findings to the Second International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria, due in Kuwait on Jan 15, which comes at an “absolutely critical juncture.”

“I want to return to Syria before the Conference, because it is important for me to speak to the participants about what I have seen most recently,” Amos said prior to her trip to Syria before her participation in the international donors’ conference, due underSecretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s chairmanship.

“I will continue my discussions with Government officials (in Syria) about protecting civilians, demilitarizing schools and hospitals and providing access to besieged communities,” she said, expressing hope to be able to visit some of the communities close to Damascus. She expressed hope that the Kuwait conference will keep the attention focused on Syria and the neighbouring countries. “This is a huge, one of the biggest crises that we are facing right now. The burden has to be shared. That is part of our message,” she added.

Critical juncture Amos stressed that “this conference comes at an absolutely critical juncture. Kuwait has had extremely busy few months lately hosting other international conferences. We are very pleased that because of the commitment that Kuwait has to the UN, to Syria and to the Syrians in neighbouring countries, it has agreed to host

this conference.” She expressed gratitude to His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah who agreed to host both Kuwait I and Kuwait II donors’ conferences last January and this month, respectively.

“We are all extremely pleased that (His Highness) the Amir of Kuwait has agreed to the Secretary-General’s request last year to hold a pledging conference for Syria,” she said, noting that at that time, the number of people in need in Syria and in neighbouring countries was “much smaller than it is today.”Last month, the UN launched its biggest ever appeal for USD 6.5 billion for Syria and its neighbouring countries for the year 2014. “Of course, if you look at it against what the international community spends on a whole range of other issues, it does not seem so much. But if you just measure it against other humanitarian appeals, it is enormous,” Amos noted. Although the appeal is for USD 6.5 billion, she explained, the UN is not seeking that amount at the Kuwait II conference. “In terms of what we are hoping to raise at the conference itself, we have not so far announced the figure. I don’t think that we are going to have a pledging conference that will deliver the USD 6.5 billion. No, that is not what we are looking for at all. What we are looking for is to start the process, keep the dynamic going, keep the funding (coming),” she said.

This year’s conference happens at an “even more important time,” she indicated, arguing that 9.3 million people inside Syria are affected by the crisis, 6.5 million are internally displaced, many of them more than once, and over 2.3 million are registered refugees in neighbouring countries. The real number of refugees, she suggested, is even greater.

Increase in airport passenger traffic KUWAIT: Passenger and commercial flights increased during the month of December 2013 by nine and five percent respectively, compared to the same period last year, said a report issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) yesterday.

According to the report, the total number of passengers reached 751,126, 323,283 of whom arrived in the country and some 344,977 departed.

The total number of flights for December had reached 7,077, said the DGCA, adding that commercial flights had reached 6,521.

On cargo traffic, the DGCA said that an amount exceeding 16.115 million kilograms was transported during December, 12.140 million kilograms of which were imported and 3.975 million kilograms were exported. — KUNA

Arabs firm on basic principles of peace Kuwait takes a lead role PARIS: Kuwait’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah affirmed Arab states’ commitment to basic principles regarding USsponsored Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Arab states’ stance with respect of the dialogue regarding the Palestinian cause is based on “Arab references and unwavering principles” that had been agreed upon during the Arab ministerial extraordinary session, recently held in Cairo-with attendance of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Sheikh Sabah AlKhaled.

He indicated that he and his Arab counterparts, during a coordination meeting held late on Saturday, addressed “this issue from various aspects.”

Last night’s session was held as a prelude to the planned broad meeting, due to group the ministers, Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Araby with US Secretary of State John Kerry, in the French capital later on Sunday.

The official meeting between the Arab ministers and Kerry will be held within framework of the Arab Peace Initiative, aimed reaching a viable settlement to the protracted Middle East crisis.

The Kuwaiti minister affirmed significance of the scheduled meeting with Kerry, saying it would be aimed at examining results of the negotiating process and ensuring it would remain proceeding in the right direction.

Kerry has been engaged in a shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East, seeking to narrow the gap between the Israelis and Palestinians, at loggerheads over various and major issues, such as future status of Jerusalem, borders’ demarcation, water-sharing and destiny of Palestinians in diaspora.

The Arab Peace Initiative is a comprehensive peace plan, first proposed in 2002 at the Beirut Summit of the Arab League by then-Crown Prince, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, and re-endorsed at the Riyadh Summit in 2007. It essentially envisages Israel’s complete withdrawal from the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem, and a just settlement of the Palestinian refugee crisis, based on UN Resolution 194.

Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled praised Kerry’s efforts that has exerted since the two sides sat again at the negotiating table in July, noting that the Arab side would emphasize during the meeting with necessity that the process must “lead to tangible outcomes,” along with the adherence to the negotiations’ timetable, set by Washington in late April.

“The negotiations are difficult and there is an accumulation of complexities however we must insist on our stances and basic principles despite the obstacles that have placed by Israel,” the Kuwaiti Deputy Premier added in the remarks to KUNA and Kuwait TV, on sidelines of the meetings, hosted by Paris.

Regarding his meeting with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, held late on Saturday, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled described the talks with the French official as constructive, while hailing the distinctive French-Kuwaiti relations. The discussions dealt with bilateral affairs, cooperation between the two friendly countries in various spheres, regional issues and topics of common concern, he added.

France, as a member of the Security Council, plays an influential role in the region security and stability, in addition to following up on all matters that concern the two sides with respect of the regional and global security and stability.

The Saturday Kuwaiti-French talks tackled means of cementing the bilateral relations, tragic conditions in Syria, matters related to the Second International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria, due in Kuwait on January 15, and the Geneva-II conference, scheduled on Jan 22.

Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled is heading the Kuwaiti delegation at the broad meeting with Kerry, due to be held later yesterday.

The Kuwaiti delegation includes the director of Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled’s bureau, Sheikh Dr Ambassador Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah, Director of the Arab Department Abdulhameed Al-Failakawi, the permanent delegate at the Arab League Ambassador Aziz Al-Dihani and other senior ministry officials. —- KUNA

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

LOCAL

Drunk Asian man kills coworker in Sulaibiya Two dead in Ghazali Bridge accident KUWAIT: A man was arrested in Sulaibiya Saturday after he stabbed his roommate to death under the influence of alcohol, according to preliminary investigations. Police arrived to a company’s location in response to an emergency call, and found the dead body at the scene. The suspect was arrested at a nearby place, and police discovered that he was not in a stable condition to be questioned. Preliminary investigations indicate that the Sri Lankan man stabbed his compatriot during a fight over money. The victim was pronounced dead of a fatal stab to the heart. The suspect was remanded in custody pending investigations.

Road accidents Two people were killed and four others were injured in an accident reported at the Ghazali Bridge on Friday night. Paramedics and police arrived to the scene near Omariya shortly after the accident was repor ted. A 19-year- old Jordanian woman and an 18-year-old Syrian man were pronounced dead on the scene, while a 16-year-old Syrian boy, a 16-year-old Jordanian boy, a 21-year-old Omani man and a 40-year- old Egyptian man were taken to Farwaniya Hospital for treatment. An investigation was opened to determine the circumstances behind the accident.

In another accident, a child died at Adan Hospital after he was run over in Julaia.

Paramedics and police arrived to the scene shortly after an emergency call was made. The

4-year-old Kuwaiti boy arrived at the hospital in a critical condition, and was later pronounced dead in the intensive care unit. The boy’s body was taken to the forensic department, and police apprehended the driver who struck him for questioning.

Meanwhile, a motorcyclist died in an accident reported near Sabah Al-Salem on the way to Messila on Saturday. Paramedics pronounced the 31-year-old Kuwaiti man dead after arriving at the scene in response to an emergency call. Preliminary investigations indicate that the motorcycle lost balance and tipped without intervention. Investigations are ongoing to determine the circumstances which led the man to lose control over his bike.

Teen saved A man stepped in at the right time to save his son who had passed out from carbon monoxide poisoning at a Wafra camp. The Kuwaiti man arrived at his camp and noticed that his son’s car was parked outside. He went inside the tent after the camp keeper told him that the 19-year-old was sleeping inside, and discovered that he was unconscious after keeping coal burning for heating overnight. The man rushed his son to the Adan Hospital where his condition stabilized after doctors managed to take him out of coma.

Girlfriend freed Ahmadi police freed a woman from a

Mahboulah apar tment and arrested her boyfriend who had held her captive since Friday night. Police arrived at the scene Saturday with a warrant to break into the apartment in response to an emergency call which the woman made after her boyfriend left the apartment. Police called her boyfriend before breaking into the apartment, and the man agreed to come over and unlock the door.

Investigations revealed that the Kuwaiti woman was reported missing for two years, during which she stayed with her boyfriend.

Furthermore, a medical test showed that she was in early pregnancy stages. The girl had stated in the emergency call that her Kuwaiti boyfriend had raped her and locked her up inside the apar tment on Friday when she refused his demands to have sex. The couple were taken to the authorities for further investigations.

Drug addict held A drug addict was arrested after he damaged his father’s two cars outside the family house in Taima. Firefighters arrived at the scene after the middle-aged bedoon man reported that his vehicles were set on fire. Police arrested the man’s 22-year-old son after he accused him of setting the cars ablaze. The suspect was found in an inebriated state at the time of his arrest, and he admitted during questioning of abusing shabu (methamphetamine). The man was remanded in custody pending legal action.

KUWAIT: Dr Samira Al-Saad, the Director of the Kuwait Center for Autism as well as founder and chairperson of the Gulf Autism Union, visited Saudi Arabia recently to take part in a seminar on experiences’ exchange that the GAU hosted at the King Fahd Cultural Center in Riyadh.

Zain introduces exclusive offers to people with special needs

KUWAIT: Jahra municipality inspections teams recently removed 22 vehicles that had been abandoned by their owners for long at the Jahra industrial area, said the Jahra municipality road blockage department manager, Faisal Al-Otaibi noting that the team had put warning stickers on the vehicles prior to removing them. —Photos by Hanan Al-Saadoun

KUWAIT: Zain, the leading telecommunications company in Kuwait, announced yesterday the introduction of three exclusive offers to people with special needs, allowing them to enjoy unlimited communications with their loved ones.

Extensive research undertaken by the company found that its deaf and mute customers prefer the quality and reliability of video calls via Zain’s state-of-theart mobile network rather than video calls performed through the internet.

In a press statement, the company stated that the first package offers deaf and mute customers unlimited video calls in addition to 200 SMS messages.

The second package offers visually

impaired customers unlimited voice calls within Zain’s network as well as 1000 local minutes ‘off-network’ calls (calls to numbers on other local mobile operators). The third package offers special needs customers unlimited video and voice calls in addition to 1000 local minutes for off-network calls and 200 SMS messages.

These offers are in line with the Zain’s genuine commitment to providing its entire customer base with services that suit their needs, differentiating the company through quality and innovation to better service its customers. This direction has positioned the company as the most innovative and inspiring telecommunications company in Kuwait.

CSC discusses cooperation with Japan KUWAIT: Undersecretary at the Civil Service Commission (CSC) Mohammed Al-Roumi yesterday discussed with a Japanese diplomat means to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in various administrative fields.

Following the meeting with the Japanese Charge d’Affaires, Kazuhiro Nakai, and the Commercial Attache, Al-Roumi said the CSC is keen to

implement terms of a joint statement signed between His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in August 2013.

He stressed on development of relations between the two countries as well benefiting from Japan’s experience in human resources’ development and enhancing performance of

civil ser vants. For his par t, the Japanese diplomat expressed appreciation for the cooperation and said that during the meeting, they discussed arrangements for a visit of a delegation of Japanese experts to Kuwait during the last week of this month “within framework of implementing terms of the joint statement.” — KUNA

Amir’s envoy delivers letter to Al-Azhar Grand Imam CAIRO: The envoy of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Deputy Minister of the Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah, handed a letter from His highness the Amir to the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayyeb yesterday.

Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah said after the meeting, which was held at the headquarters of Al-Azhar that he

was honored today to meet with Grand Imam Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb to convey the message of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah to visit Kuwait.

He added that he conveyed the best greetings of His Highness the Amir to Al-Tayeb, and discussed the already-strong relations between AlAzhar and the State of Kuwait and its religious institutions. Sheikh Ali

praised the significant role played by the Islamic religious establishment towards the Islamic issues, saying the meeting with Al-Tayeb was a “great asset”. On the cooperation between Al-Azhar and religious institutions in the State of Kuwait, Sheikh Ali described both sides’ ties as “very good and progressing”, particularly as it goes back to the beginning of the fifties of last century. — KUNA

EQUATE, Blind Association launch ‘Painting Smiles’ KUWAIT: EQUATE Petrochemical Company and Kuwait Blind Association (KBA) have announced the launch of the Painting Smiles 2 campaign to support persons with special needs, in particular the blind.

Speaking on the occasion, EQUATE VP for Technical Services and head of EQUATE CSR Program Mohammad AlBenali said, “Realizing the need to embody its ‘Partners in Success’ tagline with all relevant stakeholders, EQUATE is pleased to launch this partnership with KBA through an integrated campaign that includes a number of artworks which will be displayed during an exhibition at the conclusion of the campaign. With all proceeds being dedicated to KBA, this campaign is an extension of a previous initiative launched in cooperation with the Kuwait Association for the Care of Children in Hospital (KACCH).”

On his part, KBA Chairman Fayez Al-Azmi said, “As KBA is a firm believer in social integration as a cornerstone for the success of any organization, the association has established ties with several economic and social bodies within Kuwait to make its goals a reality. Along those lines, EQUATE has been a major partner in achieving such goals through its unwavering multi-level support to KBA, which has

tangibly boosted the social development of visually impaired persons and also the association’s overall activities.

This successful partnership with EQUATE is further illustrated through launching the Painting Smiles 2 campaign, which is aimed at highlighting the talents and achievements of blind persons for the benefit of all KBA members.”

Critical role With the slogan “Because We Care,” this campaign emphasizes the significance of supporting blind individuals in Kuwait through a partnership between KBA’s members and all functions at EQUATE to truly make Painting Smiles 2 a reality. Upon the conclusion of the campaign, an exhibition will be held from Feb 5 to 8 at 360 Mall. Since its inception in 1972 as a public society, Kuwait Blind Association (KBA) plays a critical role in supporting blind individuals in the State of Kuwait through various community and cultural activities. In addition to overcoming arising challenges that face blind individuals, KBA also continues to strengthen bonds with relevant Arab and international organizations.

Established in 1995, EQUATE is an international joint venture between

Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), Boubyan Petrochemical Company (BPC) and Qurain.

Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC). Commencing production in 1997, EQUATE is the single operator of a fully integrated world-scale manufacturing facility producing over 5 million tons annually of high-quality petrochemical products which are marketed throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.

In recognition of its sustainability achievements, EQUATE has earned several prestigious honors, including His Highness the Amir Award for the Best Plant in Kuwait; The Gold Award in Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) for Gulf private sector companies; The Award for Best Gulf Company in Recruiting Nationals; Arabian Business Best CSR Company Award; Oil & Gas (O&G) Middle East CSR Award; O&G Best Implemented Environmental Program of the Year; Middle East Chemical Week (MECW) Plant of the Year Award; as well as Kuwait’s CSR Award in the Industrial and Oil Sector. In addition, EQUATE has received the Highly Commended Best Community Program Award during the First Middle East CSR Award Summit.

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

Top envoys insist Syria peace talks must proceed

‘Sister Wives’ humbled by polygamy ruling Page 9

PAGE 8

BAGHDAD: Iraqi police cut off a road leading to a taxi and bus station in the Allawi area of the capital Baghdad where a car bomb targeting army recruits exploded yesterday. The car bombs killed at least thirteen people in Baghdad, while eight died in other blasts in the Iraqi capital, security and medical officials said. — AFP

Car bombs, clashes kill 21 in Iraq Gunmen attack military convoy BAGHDAD: A series of car bomb attacks and clashes between security forces and militants around and north of Baghdad killed at least 21 civilians, officials said yesterday, amid an ongoing standoff between Iraqi forces and Al-Qaeda-linked militants west of the Iraqi capital.

The deadliest blast occurred at a bustling bus station in central Baghdad when an explosives-laden car exploded outside, killing at least nine people and wounding 16, a police officer said. Thousands of people use the bus station every day or pass through the area.

Last Thursday, a suicide bomber blew himself up among a group of security force recruits nearby, killing nearly two dozen.

Another parked car bomb targeted a gathering of buses and taxis in Baghdad’s northern Hurriyah neighborhood, killing four civilians and wounding 12, the same police officer said.

Shortly after sunset, fighting erupted in Baghdad’s western suburbs of Abu Ghraib as gunmen attacked a military convoy, authorities said. Army artillery shells later landed on the Sunni village of al -Mahsna in Abu Ghraib, killing five civilians and wounding 13, police said.

Later, a suicide car bomb exploded in the northern town of Tuz Khormato, followed minutes later by bomb hidden in a cart nearby, Mayor Shalal Abdoul said. He said the blasts killed three people and wounded 27.

Medical officials confirmed the causality figures for all attacks. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release the information.

The attacks come as Iraqi security forces and allied Sunni tribal militias in Anbar have been battling alQaida-linked militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. Iraqi forces have yet to militarily try to reassert control over Fallujah, which remains in the hands of the militants and tribal gunmen opposed to the central government. Militants and tribal fighters also control part of the provincial capital, Ramadi.

Sporadic clashes there and in surrounding areas continue to take place.

Tight security Thousands of families have left the area, fearing a government offensive. Clashes between militants and security forces have killed least 60 people since the violence erupted after the Dec. 28 arrest of a Sunni law-

maker sought on terrorism charges and the dismantling of an anti-government Sunni protest camp in Ramadi.

The extremist militants, emboldened by fellow fighters’ gains in the civil war in neighboring Syria, have tried to position themselves as the champions of Iraqi Sunnis angry at the Shiite-led government over what they see as efforts to marginalize them.

Yesterday, some government offices in Ramadi opened under tight security and civil servants returned to work, councilman Faleh al-Issawi said. Al-Issawi added that gunmen are still in control of some parts of Ramadi. In a sign of US concern over the situation, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Brett McGurk traveled to Iraq to meet with Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and other top Iraqi political leaders.

McGurk wrapped up his trip yesterday.

In a statement, the US Embassy in Baghdad said that McGurk emphasized that the US “will provide all necessary and appropriate assistance to the government of Iraq.” Washington has ruled out sending US troops back in but recently delivered dozens of Hellfire missiles to help bolster Iraqi forces. It has promised to send more missiles as well as surveillance drones.

Over 700 killed in Syria rebel-jihadist battle BEIRUT: Fierce fighting between jihadists and rival rebel groups in Syria has killed more than 700 in more than a week while hundreds more are missing, a monitoring group said yesterday. The Al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadist group, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), linked the violence to a peace conference on Syria slated to take place in Switzerland on January 22.

The allegations came as Western powers on Sunday stepped up pressure on Syria’s divided opposition to take part in the conference alongside representatives of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

“From January 3 to 11, the fighting killed 697 people, among them 351 rebels, 246 members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and 100 civilians,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said there could be even “more than 1,000” dead, but his group has been unable to document all the killings given the ferocity of the clashes.

The Britain-based monitoring group, which relies on a network of activists across Syria for its reports, also said there were “hundreds of captives from both sides whose fate is unknown”.

In a reflection of the brutality of the fighting, which has raged mainly in the northern provinces of Aleppo, Idlib

and Raqa but has also hit Hama and Homs in the centre, at least 200 people were killed in one 48-hour period.

The Observatory also reported that dozens of those killed in recent days died in 16 suicide bombings staged by ISIL in Aleppo, Idlib, Homs and Raqa provinces. “Sixteen suicide attackers have detonated themselves in the past week, most of them in car bomb attacks, some using explosive belts,” Abdel Rahman said. A rebel fighter with Ahrar al-Sham, which is leading battles against ISIL in several areas, told AFP “they use suicide attacks to terrorise society as a whole into submission, not just the fighters.” “It is one of their most deadly weapons... which they use partly for a lack of other means,” he said via the Internet on condition of anonymity. An ISIL commander had warned rival opposition fighters this week of car bomb attacks if they pressed their offensive against the jihadists.

ISIL to strike ‘with iron fist’ And on Sunday the ISIL branch in Raqa alleged the fighting that erupted nine days ago was linked to the January 22 peace conference known as “Geneva 2”.

ISIL charged that a group of rival rebels launched the offensive against the jihadists on several fronts “for the sole objective of destroying (us)... and replacing us... to satisfy

apostate states who will meet at Geneva 2”.

ISIL, which is seeking to set up an Islamic state in Syria, said its militants retaliated “in order to protect the jihad” and vowed to “strike with an iron fist those who think they can spill the blood of Muslims”.

The Swiss talks seek to revive a long-stalled framework for peace involving a cessation of hostilities and the creation of a national transitional government that could involve figures from the current regime and the opposition. But opposition leaders are wary of being drawn into a process they fear could result in Assad clinging on to power and have yet to give a commitment to attending.

Fighting between ISIL and other rebels raged yesterday in parts of Raqa after jihadists seized much of the city, which is the only provincial capital not in regime hands. Assad’s army meanwhile took advantage of the infighting to push for more control of Aleppo province.

Regime aircraft dropped explosives-packed barrels on the towns of Al-Bab on Sunday, killing at least eight people. On Saturday loyalist troops seized the rebel town of Naqarin north of Aleppo and pushed toward the industrial part of Syria’s second city, activists reported.

More than 130,000 people have been killed in Syria and millions more displaced since March 2011. — AFP

Violence has escalated in Iraq over the past year. Last year, the country saw the highest death toll since the worst of the country’s sectarian bloodletting began to subside in 2007, according to United Nations figures.

The UN said violence killed 8,868 last year.

The US Embassy also said McGurk visited Friday with members of Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, the militant wing of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, whose camp outside Baghdad came under rocket attack last month.

The statement said the US diplomat stressed the urgency of relocating the residents of Camp Hurriya to another country.

The dissident group, which opposes Iran’s clerical regime, joined forces with Saddam Hussein’s forces during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, and several thousand of its members were given sanctuary in Iraq. It renounced violence in 2001, and was removed from a U.S. terrorist list last year.

Iraq’s current Shiite-led government, which has strong ties with neighboring Shiite powerhouse Iran, considers the MEK’s presence in Iraq illegal and is eager to get rid of them. The refugee camp is home to about 3,100 people. — AP

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

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

Maliki threatens to cut funds if Kurds pipe oil to Turkey BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri alMaliki threatened yesterday to cut central government funding for Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region if the Kurds pursued a drive to pipe oil exports to Turkey without Baghdad’s approval.

The Kurdistan Regional Government said last week that crude had begun to flow to Turkey and exports were expected to start at the end of this month and then rise in February and March. “ This is a constitutional violation which we will never allow, not for the (Kurdistan) region nor for the Turkish government,” Maliki told Reuters in an interview. He reiterated Baghdad’s insis-

tence that only the central government has the authority to manage Iraq’s energy resources.

“Turkey must not interfere in an issue that harms Iraqi sovereignty,” Maliki said.

The central government and the Kurds differ over how to interpret the constitution’s references to oil and how revenues should be shared. The Kurdish share was set at 17 percent after the US-led invasion in 2003, although the Kurds frequently complain that they get less than that.

Maliki said the Kurds had not met their budgeted commitment to export 250,000 barrels per day of oil, with the

revenue going to the national treasury, but that so far the government had not retaliated by reducing their share of the budget.

“We did not do that as we did not want to affect the Kurdish people and we were looking to find acceptable solutions...that would preserve national unity and the national wealth, but this year the situation looks difficult,” Maliki declared.

Referring to a dispute over the costs of oil companies operating in Iraqi Kurdistan, he said: “We have been telling these companies...give us the oil and we will pay your costs, but they did not deliver, so there will be no payments.”

Volatile relations Maliki said it was unfair to expect Baghdad to pay the oil firms’ costs, plus the Kurds’ 17 percent budget share, when the oil revenue was not being channeled through the government. In October 2012, the Kurds agreed to export an average of 250,000 bpd in 2013 if Baghdad paid the operators in the region. As the wrangling went on, the Kurds stopped pumping oil via the Baghdad-controlled pipeline to Turkey, instead exporting smaller quantities by truck and taking the revenue directly.

Iraqi Kurdistan has prospered over the past decade, largely escaping the violence

unleashed in the rest of the country after the US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Kurdish leaders say they prefer the region to remain part of a federal Iraq, rather than seeking secession, but oil is a highly sensitive issue in volatile relations with Baghdad.

Companies that have risked exploring for oil in Iraqi Kurdistan had welcomed its plans to pipe oil to Turkey as a signal they might begin to generate export income from their investments, despite Baghdad’s objections. Those companies include Gulf Keystone, Genel Energy , Norway’s DNO, Hungary’s MOL and Britain’s Petroceltic and Afren. —Reuters

Top envoys insist Syria peace talks must proceed ‘Talks were the only hope for a political solution’ PARIS: Allies of the main Westernbacked Syrian opposition group ramped up pressure yesterday for peace talks that would finally bring it face-to-face with the Syrian government it wants to overthrow.

The two-day series of meetings in Paris came a week before the scheduled talks in Switzerland, as the Syrian National Coalition nears

“We have made clear the reality of the situation on the ground,” he said, flanked by the diplomats. “We have addressed issues, preoccupations and worries that we know exist.” Within Syria, the moderate rebels say the coalition-in-exile is little help as they find themselves battling on two fronts - against alQaeda linked militants on one side

the most men, arms and territory have already rejected any idea of an armistice. Yesterday’s declaration released by the 11 envoys included an explicit request for the Syrian National Coalition to accept the invitation to the peace talks.

Betrayal “As the weaker party, they could

PARIS: From left, Syrian National Coalition Chief Ahmed al-Jarba, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy, US Secretary of State John Kerry, Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino, Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled bin Mohammed al-Attiyah and British Foreign Minister William Hague gather at a press conference at the foreign ministry in Paris, yesterday. —AP collapse, its influence sapped by chronic infighting, international pressure and disagreement over whether to negotiate with Syria’s president, Bashar Assad.

US Secretary of State John Kerry joined 10 other foreign ministers to urge Ahmed al-Jarba to deliver his coalition to the Switzerland talks.

The Syrian put the best face on the group’s precarious position.

and Assad’s forces on another. One brigade after another has broken with the group, calling it out of touch with the harsh reality of a war that activists say has killed more than 130,000 people.

Assad himself has said there will be no discussion of giving up power, throwing the entire premise of the peace talks into doubt. On the other side, the rebel groups with

agree to things that are not in our interests. And most of them are exiles, or have been outside the country for such a long time now that they don’t even feel the suffering of their people,” said Abu alHassan Marea, an activist from Syria’s northern city of Aleppo, which has seen near-daily combat for month as rebels and the government fight for control. “If they

agree to things that we don’t approve of, it will be betrayal of the revolution.”

The indecision and weakness of the Syrian coalition also has tested the patience of its backers, including the US. Officials in France, which has been among the coalition’s strongest backers, say they understand its predicament and hope the outcome of the Paris meetings will lay the groundwork for the peace talks to proceed.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the talks were the only hope for a political solution in Syria, “the only prospect that can lead to a true solution.”

German Foreign Minister FrankWalter Steinmeier made clear that the series of meetings, which include talks with the Russian leadership, would include pressure for the peace conference.

“We want to do some persuading here and clear away the last obstacles that might exist - at least try to do that,” Steinmeier said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the coalition had, in fact, agreed last fall to attend the meeting, but since then has reconsidered as the result of renewed violence and brutality he blamed on the regime.

“We are working very hard, and he is working very hard to convince the Syrian National Coalition - all of the members and also on the ground -to participate,” Davutoglu said in a brief interview at the US ambassador’s residence in Paris, where Kerr y was meeting with some of the envoys.

Davutoglu said the envoys promised to “do everything possible to stop these massacres and crimes against humanity.” But Marea, the Aleppo activist, predicted that if the peace talks happen “it will be a disaster” for those suffering in Syria’s civil war. “The regime must be called to account for its crimes, and the government to replace it should be one that all the people want,” he said. He did not say how that could happen. —AP

Gunmen assassinate Libyan deputy minister TRIPOLI: Gunmen killed Libya’s deputy industry minister as he drove home from shopping in the coastal city of Sirte late on Saturday in an attack security officials blamed on hardline Islamist militants. Libya is still plagued by widespread violence and targetted killings more than two years after the civil war ousted Muammar Gaddafi, with militants, militia gunmen and former rebels often resorting to

force to impose demands on the fragile government.

The minister, Hassan al-Drowi, was shot several times, a senior security official said, asking not to be identified. “They opened fire from another car while he was driving, he was shot multiple times,” the official said. “Later, they found explosives attached to his car. The theory is, the bomb failed, so they shot

Egyptians set to vote on post-Mursi constitution CAIRO: Egyptians vote this week for the first time since Mohamed Mursi’s downfall in a constitutional referendum that will likely give a final push to a presidential bid by the man who deposed him, army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Approval of the rewritten constitution appears a foregone conclusion: Mursi’s now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood is urging a boycott rather than a ‘no’ vote, while many Egyptians who backed his overthrow are expected to vote ‘yes’ in a show of support for the army-backed order that has replaced Islamist rule.

The state is urging citizens to vote in numbers tomorrow and Wednesday. Analysts say it hopes that the turnout and the ‘yes’ vote will outstrip ballots won by the Muslim Brotherhood to give the new order an electoral seal of legitimacy.

“Egypt is on the threshold of a decisive stage in its history, the results of which are awaited by the world,” Sisi said on Saturday in public remarks that included the clearest indication to date that he will stand.

“If I run, then it must be at the request of the people, and with a mandate from my army,” said the 59-year-old, who is depicted by his supporters as a saviour who will restore stability to a country that seen three years of turmoil.

Sisi deposed Mursi, Egypt’s first freely elected head of state, on July 3 following mass protests against his rule. His Islamist oppo-

nents see him as the mastermind of a coup that set off the worst internal strife in Egypt’s modern history.

As the referendum approaches, Sisi’s supporters are conflating him and the constitution into one: “Yes to the constitution” declares one banner strung from a Cairo building, alongside a photo of Sisi in army uniform.

Police out in force Sisi appeared on state TV again on Sunday, addressing members of the security forces set to provide security for the vote. The Interior Ministry will deploy 220,000 policemen and 500 combat units, state TV reported. Troops will also be used.

The referendum is a key element of a transition plan the government unveiled in July with the stated aim of restoring democracy, while simultaneously launching a fierce crackdown on the Brotherhood, Egypt’s best organised party until last year.

Driven underground and declared a terrorist group on Dec. 25, the Brotherhood has said it will not take part in the road map. A presidential vote is expected as early as April, once the referendum is approved, with a parliamentary election later.

“What will count is the percentage of Egyptians who go,” said Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University. “It will be very clear to the whole world whether this was a revolution against Mursi or a coup d’etat.” —Reuters

him instead.”

The official blamed Islamist militants who have been trying to extend their influence in Sirte, which has been more stable recently than the coastal capital of Tripoli, about 460 km (290 miles) to the west, or the eastern city of Benghazi.

Sirte was the last bastion of Gaddafi loyalists in the war, and the strongman ruler was killed there on Oct. 20, 2011. Prime Minister Ali Zeidan’s central government, weakened by political infighting and with only nascent armed forces, is struggling to wrest control back from areas where militias are still dominant.

Port protests Libya’s General National Congress and its members have still to finish key parts of the country’s transition to democracy since Gaddafi’s fall, with secular parties and Islamists deadlocked over the way ahead.

The country’s new constitution is still unfinished, and militias who once helped fight Gaddafi have refused to disarm, claiming the central government is too weak to provide security and stability.

In Benghazi, the armed forces have been fighting to control the influence of Ansar al-Sharia, a hardline Islamist group Washington last week designated a terrorist organisation.

A major challenge are the armed protesters that have controlled key oil terminal ports in the east of the country to demand more political autonomy and a greater share of the OPEC country’s petroleum wealth.

Last week, authorities said the navy had opened fire to turn away a tanker that had approached to illegally load crude at one of the ports in the hands of the protesters, an attempt the government said to bypass its control over crude shipments.

Protests at those three eastern ports - which usually account for around 600,000 bpd of oil exports - have slashed Libya’s oil shipments from 1.4 million barrels per day in the summer of last year.

But since ending protests over the western ElSharara oilfield earlier this month, Libya’s oil minister said last week total crude production climbed around 650,000 bpd with 510,000 bpd exported and the rest feeding two Libyan refineries. —Reuters

JERUSALEM: Members of the Knesset guard stand next to the coffin of late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in front of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, in Jerusalem, yesterday. Sharon, the hard-charging Israeli general and prime minister who was admired and hated for his battlefield exploits and ambitions to reshape the Middle East, died Saturday, eight years after a stroke left him in a coma from which he never awoke. He was 85. —AP

Body of Israel’s Ariel Sharon lies in state JERUSALEM: Hundreds of Israelis lined up outside Israel’s parliament building yesterday to pay their last respects to Ariel Sharon, the hardcharging former prime minister and general who died over the weekend.

Sharon’s coffin was displayed in a plaza in front of the Knesset, where a stream of visitors passed by to snap photos and say farewell. A funeral service to be attended by dignitaries from around the world, including US Vice President Joe Biden, is scheduled for today.

The 85-year-old Sharon, one of Israel’s most iconic and controversial figures, died Saturday, eight years after suffering a stroke that left him in a coma. “My heart is broken. Israel lost the King of David. There is no other word to describe this man, they don’t make people like this anymore,” said Uri Rottman, a mourner who said he once served in the military with Sharon.

“I feel committed to share the very last moment before they’re going to bury him,” said Eliav Aviram, another former army comrade.

Sharon was a farmer-turned-soldier, a soldierturned-politician, a politician-turned-statesman a leader known for his exploits on the battlefield, masterminding Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, building Jewish settlements on warwon land and then, late in life, destroying some that he deemed no longer useful. To his supporters, he was a war hero. To his critics, he was a war criminal.

Israeli authorities closed off streets around the parliament in anticipation of huge crowds yesterday. Visitors were asked to park at lots in and around the city and were brought to the site by special buses.

President Shimon Peres and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who succeeded Sharon after the 2006 stroke, was among the visitors.

Olmert crossed past a roped-off area to stand silently next to the flag-draped coffin.

A state memorial is planned today at the parliament building. In addition to Biden, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Czech Prime Minister Jiri Rusnok, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and others were expected.

Afterward Sharon’s body will be taken by military convey for burial at his ranch in southern Israel. News of Sharon dominated Israeli newspapers and broadcast reports, and Israel’s three main TV stations all broadcast live from the memorial. Radio stations were filled with interviews with former officials and military men

who shared stories of Sharon’s exploits.

Darkest hour Sharon’s career stretched across much of Israel’s 65-year existence, and his life was closely intertwined with the country’s history.

Throughout his life, he was at the center of the most contentious episodes of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, starting as a young soldier fighting in the 1948 war over Israel’s creation.

In the 1950s, he led a commando unit that carried out reprisals for Arab attacks. In 1953, after the slaying of an Israeli woman and her two children, Sharon’s troops blew up more than 40 houses in Qibya, a West Bank village then ruled

by Jordan, killing 69 Arabs, most or all of them civilians.

Residents in Qibya yesterday remembered the village’s darkest hour. Qibya resident Hamed Ghethan was just 4 years old when the raid took place. He said he could remember older residents placing their hands over the children’s mouths so they wouldn’t make a sound.

“Sharon’s name reminds me of... martyrs from my village,” said Ghethan, 65, as he surveyed the ruins of buildings destroyed in the military action. As one of Israel’s most famous generals, he was known for bold tactics and an occasional refusal to obey orders.

Peace treaty Historians credit him with helping turn the tide of the 1973 Mideast war when Arab armies launched a surprise attack on Israel on the solemn fasting day of Yom Kippur, causing heavy Israeli casualties.

Sharon became a minister in Menachem Begin’s government in the late 1970s, and voted against the historic 1979 peace treaty with Egypt. But when it fell to Sharon to remove Jewish settlements from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, he obediently ordered protesting settlers to be dragged away and their homes bulldozed to rubble.

As defense minister in 1982, Sharon launched the invasion of Lebanon, where he became complicit in one of bloodiest incidents of the Lebanese war, when Israeli-allied forces systematically slaughtered hundreds of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps in September 1982. An Israeli judicial inquiry found Sharon indirectly responsible for the killings, and he was forced to step down as defense minister. —AP

RAMALLAH: Youth from the Palestinian refugee camp of al-Jalazoun, burn tires as they clash with Palestinian police as they block the main road leading to the West Bank city of Ramallah and Bir Zeit as they protest against the reduction of aid to refugees given by United Nation’s UNRWA yesterday. UNRWA helps provide employment for many locals as they help with education, health care and social services to Palestinian refugees. —AFP

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

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

Powerful cyclone hits Tonga, killing one NUKU’ALOFA: Authorities were searching Tonga’s remote islands for cyclone victims yesterday after a powerful storm cut a swath of destruction through this South Pacific archipelago, killing one person and destroying most of the homes in some areas.

Relief efforts following Saturday’s cyclone were concentrating on the Ha’apai islands - one of Tonga’s three island groups between the main island of Tongatapu in the south and the Vava’u islands to the north, Tonga’s Director of Emergencies Leveni Aho said.

Cyclone Ian hit Tonga with gusts of up to 287 kilometers (178 miles) per hour. The storm was later downgraded from Category 5 - the most destructive level - to Category 4, with gusts of up to 250 kph (155 mph). On Sunday, the cyclone was tracking southeast away from Tonga.

Two navy patrol boats carrying tarpaulins, tents and other emergency supplies left Tongatapu to bring help to victims who were cut off in the Ha’apai islands. Authorities have been unable to make telephone contact with 23 islands,

which account for most of the inhabited islands in the Ha’apai group, Aho said.

“The patrol boats are still out there, going from island to island to scout for information,” he said. The Ha’apai islands are home to 8,000 people, most of whom live on the devastated islands of Lifuka, where the person died, and Foa. Aho said the fatality was an elderly woman, but he did not have details on how she died. He estimated that hundreds of people on the two islands were taking shelter in church buildings that were being used as evacuation centers.

A New Zealand air force P3 Orion plane made a surveillance flight over the disaster area yesterday, taking pictures showing the extent of the damage.

“Some places have very extensive damage - up to 80 percent of the houses have been totally wiped out,” Aho said.

“There is much more damage on the ground than we anticipated before.”

He said there were several injuries, and that local medical facilities could manage them. He said there were no reports of survivors with life-threatening injuries.Tongan authorities will further

assess the damage before considering asking for international help, Aho said.

Aho said storm damage to the Tongatapu and Vava’u island groups was slight. The weather was fine yesterday, but rough seas were hampering the patrol boats’ relief mission, he said.

Tonga is an archipelago of 176 islands, 36 of which are inhabited by more than 100,000 people. Its economy relies on fish exports, tourism and remittances from Tongan communities overseas, with about 40 percent of the population living in poverty.—AP

‘Sister Wives’ humbled by polygamy ruling

WASHINGTON: In this Dec 19, 2013 file photo, a view of the Supreme Court can be seen from the view from near the top of the Capitol Dome on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Supreme Court hears arguments yesterday in a clash between President Obama and Senate Republicans over the power granted the president in the Constitution to make temporary appointments to fill high-level positions. — AP

Court weighs president’s recess appointments power ‘Obama overstepped his authority’ WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court is refereeing a politically charged dispute between President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans over the president’s power to temporarily fill high-level positions.

The case being argued at the high court today is the first in the nation’s history to consider the meaning of the provision of the Constitution that allows the president to make temporary appointments to positions that otherwise require Senate confirmation, but only when the Senate is in recess.

The court battle is an outgrowth of increasing partisanship and the political stalemate that’s been a hallmark of Washington for years, and especially since Obama took office in 2009.

Senate Republicans’ refusal to allow votes for nominees to the National Labor Relations Board and the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau led Obama to make the temporary, or recess, appointments in January 2012.

Three federal appeals courts have said Obama overstepped his authority because the Senate was not in recess when he acted. The Supreme Court case involves a dispute between a Washington state bottling company and a local Teamsters union in which the NLRB sided with the union. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned the board’s ruling. Hundreds more NLRB rulings could be voided if the Supreme Court upholds the appeals court decision. More broadly, if the justices ratify the lower court ruling, it would make it nearly impossible for a president to use the recess power.

Under such a ruling, presidential nominees could be blocked indefinitely when the president’s party does not control the Senate.

Presidential nominees Three federal appeals courts have upheld recess appointments in previous administrations.

Senate Republicans also are taking part in the case, in support of the company, Noel Canning.

The impasse over confirming nominees to the NLRB and the CFPB was resolved last summer, and majority Democrats have since changed Senate rules to limit the ability of the minority party to block most presidential nominees.

A few hours after the court hears the case today, the Senate is scheduled to vote on the nomination of Robert Wilkins, currently a federal trial judge, to serve on the federal appeals court in the District of Columbia.

Senate Democrats changed the rules over fierce Republican opposition after the GOP had blocked the nomination of Wilkins and two others to the appeals court.

While situations like the one that led to the current court case are unlikely to arise in the short term, a Republican takeover of the Senate after the November elections could prompt a new round of stalled nominations, said John Elwood, a Washington lawyer who served in the Justice Department during the Bush administration and has written extensively about recess appointments. “We may be back where we were before,” Elwood said.

The justices will be considering two broad questions and a narrower one as well. The big issues are whether recess appointments can be made only during the once-a-year break between sessions of Congress and whether the vacancy must occur while the Senate is away in order to be filled during the same break.

Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr.

told the court that 14 presidents have temporarily installed 600 civilians and thousands of military officers in positions that were vacant when the Senate went into recess at any point, a practice that has been well understood by both presidents and lawmakers. A high court ruling that a recess only happens once a year would “dramatically upset that longsettled equilibrium,” Verrilli said.

Recess appointments The narrower issue is whether brief, pro forma sessions of the Senate, held every few days to break up a longer Senate hiatus, can prevent the president from making recess appointments. That’s what the Senate did, at Republicans’ insistence, during the time when Obama acted.

Senate Republicans say the answer is easy. “Who determines - the Senate, or the president - whether the Senate is in session? The Constitution’s text and structure point to only one answer: the Senate,” the Republicans said in court papers.

But Verrilli said the Senate made clear in voting for the pro forma sessions that no business would be conducted and that, in essence, the Senate would be in recess. “The president took the Senate at its word. And rightly so,” he said.

The parties’ roles were reversed when a Republican president, George W. Bush, was in the White House and Democrats controlled the Senate in the final two years of his presidency.

Then, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., employed the same tactic of convening the Senate every few days to keep Bush from filling vacancies through recess appointments.

Unlike Obama, Bush did not press the issue. — AP

Sabbaticals help military keep women in ranks CAMP LEJEUNE: Navy Cmdr. Valerie Overstreet wanted to start a family. But her job as a Navy pilot and the fact that she and her husband, also a naval officer, were stationed in different parts of the country made it complicated.

So she decided to take advantage of a fledgling Navy program that allowed her to take a year off and return to duty without risking her career or future commands. Now, three years later, she’s got a 2-year-old daughter and a 9month old son, she’s back at work at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and her promotion to captain has been confirmed.

For Overstreet, the year off gave her precious time to have her daughter and get started on her master’s degree. The Navy retains an officer it considers promising without requiring her to sacrifice her family life.

Across the military services, leaders are experimenting with programs that will give valued officers and enlisted troops, men and women, the incentive to stay. Also, as the Pentagon moves to

bring women into more jobs closer to the combat zone, military officials believe it is crucial to keep midcareer female officers in the services so they can mentor those on the front lines.

“We have innovative things we’re trying to retain women in the service,” said Vice Adm. Mark Ferguson, vice chief of naval operations. “It’s about creating the personnel policies that enable someone to say it’s Navy and family, instead of Navy or family.”

Aggressive young lady At Camp Lejeune, the Bergstrom sisters are part of a Marine family tradition.

Identical twins Katherine and Sarah watched their older sister Rachel join the Marine Corps’ ROTC at their high school in Cumming, Ga. Rachel, now working as an administrative officer in the Pentagon, was intrigued when she saw ROTC members playing soccer at school, and she decided to join the program.

“She’s a very aggressive young lady,” said retired Marine Maj. Mac Kelly, who

runs the program at North Forsyth High School. “You could take her to a formal dance or to a knife fight and she’d know how to act in both situations.”

The twins eventually followed their sister into the ROTC. Both went on to the Naval Academy and then into combat, with Sarah heading to Afghanistan for a one-year tour and Katherine to the Mideast. At one point, Sarah and Rachel were deployed at the same time to Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province. Standing in the early morning sun outside the headquarters for II Marine Expeditionary Force, Sarah and Katherine recently acknowledged that as women in the Marine Corps, they stand out a bit, and the scrutiny can be more intense.

“You do have to be more aware that you have a little bit higher visibility, so be more within standards, and ensure that you are being strict with regulations as every Marine should,” said Katherine, who deployed to the Middle East on the USS Iwo Jima with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit.—AP

SALT LAKE CITY: There was no fistpumping or wild celebrations by the polygamous family that stars in the TLC reality TV show “Sister Wives” when a federal judge in Utah struck down key parts of the state’s polygamy laws.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Kody Brown and his four wives said they felt humbled and cried when they heard in mid-December the judge ruled in their favor in a lawsuit they brought against Utah in July 2011 after they fled the state for Las Vegas under the threat of prosecution.

“The first thing I thought about was all those families that for 100 years had lived and loved in obscurity, just in secrecy,” said Kody Brown in a phone interview from Las Vegas. “Not being able to claim their family or openly love one another.”

Kody and his wives - Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn - said they hope the landmark ruling stands and enables other polygamous families in Utah to live open and free without fearing prosecution. “It’s been incredible not having to live in fear anymore and being able to fully claim who we are,” said Christine Brown, Kody’s third wife. “We wish that for every plural family out there.”

The Utah attorney general’s office has not yet decided if they will appeal the ruling, said spokesman Ryan Bruckman. The state’s new attorney general, Sean Reyes, has been in office for less than two weeks.

Jonathan Turley, the Browns’ Washington, DC-based attorney, said he’s been told Utah will appeal. He said he’s eager to defend the ruling before the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals. US

UTAH: In this file publicity photo provided by TLC, Kody Brown, center, poses with his wives, from left, Robyn, Christine, Meri and Janelle, in a promotional photo for the reality series, “Sister Wives,” which aired in March, 2011. When the polygamous family learned last month that a federal judge in Utah struck down key parts of the state’s polygamy laws, Brown and his four wives said they cried and felt deeply emotional. — AP District Judge Clark Waddoups said in the decision handed down on Dec. 13 that a provision in Utah’s bigamy law forbidding cohabitation with another person violated the First Amendment, which guarantees the freedom of religion. The ruling decriminalizes polygamy, but bigamy - holding marriage licenses with multiple partners - is still illegal. Utah’s law was considered stricter than the laws in 49 other states because of the cohabitation clause. If the ruling stands, Utah’s law would be identical to most other states that prohibit people from having multiple marriage licenses. In most polygamous families in Utah, the man is legally married

to one woman but only “spiritually married” to the others.

Mormons There are an estimated 38,000 fundamentalist Mormons who practice or believe in polygamy, most living in Utah and other Western states. Polygamy is a legacy of the early teachings of the Mormon church but has no place in modern Mormonism, church officials said in a statement. The Salt Lake Citybased Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints abandoned polygamy in 1890 and it strictly prohibits the practice today for its 15 million members worldwide.—AP

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

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

US: Nigerian Islamic uprising could spread LAGOS: An alarming US travel advisory warns Nigeria’s Islamic uprising could expand out of the north and counsels against travel to 16 of the West African nation’s 36 states, saying Americans have suffered violent crimes from kidnappings and rape to home invasions.

The advisor y says nine foreign nationals including Americans died last year in kidnappings in southwest Nigeria, three of them killed by their captors during military-led rescue raids.

The advisory posted at the US State Department website and dated Jan. 8 tells citizens to expect little help from law enforcers known for harassing and shaking down foreigners and Nigerians at checkpoints.

It says US missionaries in northern

Nigeria have received “night letters” covertly distributed specific written threats to their safety. Pointing to possible targets of extremists, it says US citizens should be particularly vigilant around government security facilities; churches, mosques, and other places of worship; locations where large crowds gather such as hotels, clubs, beer parlors, restaurants, markets and shopping malls; and all other areas frequented by expatriates and foreign travelers.

Thousands of people have been killed in a 4-year-old uprising by the Boko Haram terrorist network based in northeast Nigeria, many more Muslims than Christians, which continues despite an 8-month-long state of emergency that deployed thousands of troops to

three states covering one-sixth of the country.

“Late 2013 saw an increase in Boko Haram attacks and clashes with Nigerian government security forces in northern Nigeria,” the travel advisory says. “Boko Haram is known to descend on whole towns, robbing banks and businesses, attacking police and military installations, and setting fire to private homes.”

It warns “US citizens should be aware that extremists could expand their operations beyond northern Nigeria to other areas of the countr y.” Boko Haram already operates in neighboring Chad, from which it kidnapped a French priest who was released earlier this month, and militants from Chad, Niger and Cameroon have been reported fighting

alongside Boko Haram in Nigeria, raising fears the rebellion could also spread beyond Nigeria’s borders.

The United States advises against all but essential travel to all 13 northern and central-northern Nigerian states as well as central Plateau state, for years the site of deadly ethnic-religious clashes, and the oil-rich southwestern states of Delta and Bayelsa, on the Gulf of Guinea where piracy is on the rise and militancy by activists demanding a bigger share of oil riches from a government embroiled in numerous corruption scandals.

Kidnappings of foreigners and attacks against Nigerian police forces in the Niger Delta region and in Lagos State, home to the commercial capital

Lagos city, continue to be a danger, it says. “Criminals or militants have abducted foreign nationals, including US citizens, from offshore and land based oil facilities, residential compounds, and public roadways.”

It adds that international companies and local authorities assert that the number of kidnapping incidents throughout Nigeria is underreported.

And home invasions “remain a serious threat,” with armed robbers getting into even heavily guarded compounds.

“Violent crimes occur throughout the country,” the advisory says. “US citizen visitors and residents have experienced armed muggings, assaults, burglaries, armed robberies, carjackings, rapes, kidnappings, and extortion.” — AP

Militia truce offers glimmer of hope for CAR Fighters from both sides re-opened checkpoint

VATICAN: In this photo provided by the Vatican paper L’ Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis blesses a baby during a baptism at the Vatican, yesterday. With wails resounding amid the splendor of the Sistine Chapel, the Pontiff baptized 32 infants, and at one point in the ceremony telling mothers to feel free to feed their crying babies. —AP

Mediators meet Machar in S Sudan as fighting rages JUBA: Mediators pushed for a ceasefire in South Sudan as fighting raged yesterday for the last rebel-held town and the full extent of the destruction wrought began to emerge. Envoys from the United States and South Sudan’s neighbours met Saturday with Riek Machar, who heads the rebel forces that have been fighting government troops for the past month, the rebels said.

There were unconfirmed news reports that mediators will meet with President Salva Kiir today. Meanwhile the full extent of the destruction wrought during recent battles began to emerge.

An AFP photographer touring villages around Bentiu, the Unity state capital, which government forces wrested back from rebels on Friday, saw corpses lying in the streets and the thatched roofs of torched mud huts still smouldering.

Meanwhile the Satellite Sentinel Project, co-founded by Hollywood star George Clooney, released images detailing destruction to homes and markets in two towns, Mayom in oil-rich Unity and Bor, the Jonglei state capital, which government forces are trying to take back from rebels for the second time in a month.

“Evidence of atrocities against civilians should be collected and used for future prosecution for war crimes. There will be no peace if massive human rights abuses can be committed with no accountability,” Clooney said in a statement. “This time in South Sudan there needs to be an end to impunity,” he said.

Fighting continued yesterday around the flashpoint town of Bor, rebel military spokesman General Lul Ruai Koang told AFP. “We are still holding our positions, but the government forces are shelling them,” he said, adding he did not know if close combat was also taking place.

Mediation efforts rise Mediations efforts rose a notch meanwhile. “The American Special envoy to South Sudan and Sudan, Donald Booth together with (regional) mediators travelled to an undisclosed location in South Sudan to meet Dr. Riek Machar,” said a statement signed by Machar’s former press officer Miyong G. Kuon.

The meeting with Machar, a former vice president and seasoned rebel fighter, comes as talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa appear to be stalling.

Mediators for the East African regional bloc

IGAD have been trying to incorporate the proposals of both sides into a draft ceasefire document.

Fighting erupted in South Sudan on December 15. Kiir accused Machar of attempting a coup. Machar in turn accused Kiir of using the coup accusation as an excuse to carry out a purge.

The biggest stumbling block in peace talks is still the 11 Machar sympathisers arrested by Kiir’s forces shortly after the fighting began.

Machar’s side has insisted the detainees should be released to they can take part in the talks, while Kiir is equally adamant they should face justice. UN chief Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council have both urged Kiir to free the 11 in order to kickstart the stalled talks.

The UN secretary general also warned that evidence of widespread atrocities committed during the month-long conflict would be investigated, and the perpetrators “held accountable.”

The fighting has forced nearly 400,000 people to flee their homes and caused “very substantially in excess” of 1,000 dead, according to the United Nations. Of those forced to flee, some 350,000 are internally displaced and the remainder have fled into neighbouring countries.

The International Crisis Group, an independent think-tank, estimated as many as 10,000 people have been killed in the month of fighting in the world’s youngest nation, which won independence from Khartoum only in 2011.

When the army recaptured Bentiu, the rebels insisted they had withdrawn to “save civilian lives” and that they would fight on and defend Bor, which lies some 200 kilometres (120 miles) north of national capital Juba.

A rebel military spokesman also claimed anti-government forces still controlled vital oil infrastructure near Bentiu. South Sudan’s crude production, a key source of income for the impoverished nation, has dropped by around a fifth since the fighting began.

Fighting began as clashes within army units, but spread rapidly with government troops fighting huge battles against breakaway soldiers and ethnic militiamen loosely allied to Machar.

The conflict has also sparked a sharp upsurge in ethnic violence between members of Kiir’s majority Dinka tribe and Machar’s Nuer community. —AFP

British spies getting ‘licence to speed’ LONDON: British spies are to be given a “licence to speed”, allowing the likes of James Bond to drive fast with impunity in the name of national security.

Transport minister Robert Goodwill was to announce the motoring law changes today, which will hand spooks the same exemption as the police, fire service and ambulance drivers.

Officers in the MI5 and MI6 domestic and foreign intelligence agencies will be able to break the speed limit on surveillance and covert operations once they have completed a training course in high-speed driving.

A government ministry source was quoted in newspapers Sunday as saying: “This is a good, common-sense move that will apply to people who perform vital services in difficult circumstances. It will help save lives and make Britain a more secure place.”

Currently, any spy tailing a suspected villain through an urban area-and driving at more than 30 miles (48 kilometres) per hour to do so-risks getting into trouble for speeding. Bomb disposal units, mountain rescue teams and vehicles used to carry organs for transplant are also set to be added to the list.— AFP

BANGUI: Rival militiamen struck a truce yesterday and hugged each other in a neighbourhood of the Central African Republic’s capital on the eve of consultations aimed at replacing the president who resigned under international pressure. The event reported by witnesses and CAR’s chief of staff offered a glimmer of hope that weeks of deadly sectarian violence would end following the resignation Friday of Michel Djotodia, the mainly Christian country’s first Muslim president who left to Benin on Saturday.

It followed deadly weekend violence including reports of cannibalism and widespread looting in the capital Bangui. The situation in Bangui was calmer overnight Saturday but looting was still occurring yesterday.

CAR chief of staff General Ferdinand Bomboyeke confirmed witness accounts of the laying down of arms which he said occurred after a “deal obtained” by the rivals fighting for days in a southern part of Bangui called Bimbo.

The fighting had involved men belonging to the mainly Muslim ex-Seleka rebels who brought Djotodia to power in March and Christian anti-balaka militiamen. It was the first scene of this kind in Bangui following weeks of bloody sectarian violence.

The truce occurred after members of the French force in Bangui came to carry out a mediation effort, Roger Kombo, a CAR official said.

The fighters “hugged each other. They asked for forgiveness as people cheered,” Kombo told AFP. The fighters from both sides then went together to the neighbourhood market and reopened the checkpoint, allowing people in the area to travel about freely again, he said. The neighbourhood Seleka commander, Captain Souleimane Daouda, told AFP that “we reached a ceasefire” with the anti-balaka militiamen in the area.

“There were negotiations all night. Early this morning we met. We told each other that we had no reason to fight since Djotodia is gone. We await instructions from the future authorities.”

‘Free, democratic elections’ The National Transition Council, or provisional parliament, said it will on Monday begin its consultations with politicians and civil society members in a bid to elect Djotodia’s successor.

The council’s speaker, Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet, is tasked with convening a special session of the parliament to elect a new temporary president.

The council’s deputy speaker Lea Koyassoum Doumta sketched out the criteria the new president must meet. “He must be someone who can

BANGUI: Men brandish machets and knives to threaten Muslim people in the eight’s district of Bangui yesterday as rival militiamen struck a truce yesterday and hugged each other in a neighbourhood of the Central African Republic’s capital on the eve of consultations aimed at replacing the president who resigned under international pressure. — AFP unite Central Africans, restore security, ease tensions, put everybody back to work, and pave the way for free, democratic and transparent elections,” she told AFP. Doumta said he must also “reassure” the exSeleka rebels as well as the anti-balaka groups formed to defend against and avenge the excesses committed by the former rebels.

The new president will inherit a country in turmoil with a climate of sectarian hatred, nearly a million people displaced in a country of 4.6 million, an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, a paralysed government administration and an economy in chaos.

He will have little time to work magic even if he benefits from the political, military and financial support of the international community; the timetable for the transition calls for general elections to be held no later than the first half of 2015. But France, the former colonial power which is spearheading international efforts to end the crisis here, wants elections to be held as early as the end of 2014. Under the constitution that came into force when Djotodia came to power, the transitional president is excluded

from running in the elections. Despite the positive developments, there was still looting yesterday. Near the 20,000-capacity stadium in the centre of the capital, a gang of young men armed with machetes and clubs attacked a store, prompting the robust intervention of Congolese troops serving in the African peacekeeping force MISCA, an AFP correspondent said.

The Congolese troops chased the looters and arrested four of them unceremoniously.

Similar incidents of looting, involving gangs wandering throughout the city in search of homes or stores to rob, were reported in other neighbourhoods of Bangui.

Ten months of violence have displaced a fifth of the country’s population, and the sectarian flare-up has killed more than 1,000 people in the past month alone, despite France’s military intervention and the presence of the African peacekeeping force.

France has deployed 1,600 troops in the country to support MISCA, which is meant to have up to 6,000 troops but has not yet reached 3,500.— AFP

Ukrainians rally amid fury at opposition leader’s beating KIEV: Pro-Western Ukrainians started gathering for a fresh rally in the heart of Kiev yesterday amid swelling anger over the bloody beating of prominent former minister turned opposition leader Yuriy Lutsenko.

The 49-year-old member of jailed ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko’s cabinet was transferred out of intensive care late Saturday after being attacked by truncheon-wielding police during a small protest the night before.

“He received about 10 blows to the head,” the former interior minister’s spokeswoman said.

Nearly 20 protesters were injured in all when they tried to prevent the police from moving to jail three activists who were sentenced to six years for allegedly plotting to blow up a statue of Soviet founder Lenin in 2011.

It marked the first use of force against a leader of Ukraine’s latest wave of pro-Western protests and threatened to reignite the worst political crisis of President Viktor Yanukovych’s four-year rule. The ex-Soviet nation of 46 million that once served as the breadbasket of Europe has been rocked by ceaseless demonstrations ever since Yanukovych in November ditched an historic EU trade deal in favour of tighter ties with old master Russia. The biggest rallies on Kiev’s iconic Independence Square drew hundreds of thousands-an echo of the 2004 Orange Revolution that first nudged Ukraine on a westward path. The heart of the city remains occupied by a tent city protected by makeshift barricades to this day.

Change of system Protest numbers began to recede when Yanukovych brushed aside the havoc in midDecember and struck a $15-billion (11-billioneuro) bailout package with Russia that also slashed the price Ukraine has to pay for natural gas imports on which its teetering economy depends. The deal removed the immediate

threat of a painful Ukrainian currency devaluation and debt default but also dimmed the prospects of a so-called Association Agreement being struck with the European Union in the coming months.

But top opposition leaders such as former boxing champ Vitali Klitschko-another strong Tymoshenko supporter-said the latest outburst of police violence showed the importance of a continued effort to topple Yanukovych’s team.

“This once again shows that the protests on squares across the country must continue,” said a Klitschko statement that was also signed by opposition leaders Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Oleg Tyagnybok. “We will do everything to remove the authorities and change a system that allows

the police to beat its people on crazy orders,” the statement said.

The protest movement had lost much of its steam in the past two weeks because of a winter holiday season that stretches in post-Soviet countries from New Year’s Eve to Orthodox Christmas-celebrated according to the Julian Calendar on January 7. The so-called “Old New Year” is also marked by many on January 14 and families often leave big cities or take vacations for the entire two-week stretch.

Yesterrday’s protests were due to kick off at 1000 GMT. A few hundred had gathered under the Independence Monument towering over the city ’s central square -known locally as the Maidan-by yesterday morning.— AFP

KIEV: Pro-European Union activists attend a rally in Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, yesterday. Tens of thousands of activists rallied in the center of the Ukrainian capital yesterday, while the organizers of the weeks-long anti-government protests looked for a future strategy amid dwindling numbers and a continuing government crackdown on the protesters. —AP

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

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

India’s ‘handgun for women’ sparks fury NEW DELHI: A Indian handgun designed for women and named after the victim of a fatal gang-rape in Delhi was condemned by rights activists yesterday as a disgrace to her memory. The lightweight .32 calibre revolver was developed by the state-run Indian Ordnance Factory (IOF) and can fit inside a small purse or handbag, according to a newspaper report.

The factory in the northern city of Kanpur has received 20 orders since the titanium-alloy, six-shot gun-costing

122,360 rupees ($1,976) — was launched earlier this month, the Times of India said on Friday.

“At least 80 percent of the bookings are from women,” IOF general manager Abdul Hameed told the newspaper, adding that more orders were expected soon. “Expectedly, the weapon has received a very good response,” he said.

The gun is called “Nirbheek” meaning “fearless” in Hindi and was intended as a tribute to the 23-year-old student whose

brutal attack in India’s capital in December 2012 sparked outrage about the levels of violence against women in India. The student was given the nickname Nirbhaya (also meaning fearless) by the media and authorities after the attack because she could not be named under Indian law.

But activists said the gun showed Indian authorities “completely misunderstood” how they were supposed to protect women from high levels of violence

across the country. “It really is an insult to the memory of Nirbhaya,” said Binalakshmi Nepram, founder of the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network said yesterday.

“Our research shows that a person is 12 times more likely to be shot dead if they are carrying a gun when attacked,” she told AFP. “It also shows that the government of India has failed to protect women by resorting to this. Arming women is not a

responsible way to secure their safety and security,” she said. The Indian government was introduced tougher laws for rapists and other offenders and a range of other judicial and policing reforms in the wake of outrage over the student’s attack on a moving bus.

The attack shone a global spotlight on India’s treatment of women, sparked protests and unleashed seething public anger about the daily harassment and violence facing women. —AFP

Indian diplomat tells of anguish at leaving US

DHAKA: Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid, left, administers the oath to Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, right, during her swearing in ceremony in Dhaka, Bangladesh, yesterday. Hasina was sworn yesterday for her second straight term as Bangladesh’s prime minister and third overall, following one of the most violent elections in the country’s history.— AP

Hasina sworn in as PM in crisis-hit Bangladesh Vows to restore stability DHAKA: Sheikh Hasina was sworn in for a third spell as Bangladesh’s prime minister yesterday after a deadly general election boycotted by the opposition amid an ongoing political crisis.

President Abdul Hamid administered the oath at the presidential palace in the capital in a ceremony broadcast live on television channels, one week after the polls condemned by the opposition as a farce.

“I am, Sheikh Hasina, taking oath... that I will discharge my duties faithfully as the prime minister of the government as per the law,” Hasina said, prompting applause during the ceremony which included recitations from the Quran.

Hasina’s 48 cabinet colleagues were also sworn into office during the ceremony attended by about 1,000 government and top military officials, along with foreign diplomats and newly elected members of parliament.

Hasina has insisted her walkover win in the January 5 polls was legitimate, despite a boycott by the opposition and its allies and the deadliest election violence in the country’s history. Hasina’s Awami League party won nearly 80 percent of the seats, which should allow her to rule for another five years. But analysts say the new government could be short-lived since Hasina faces a deepening political crisis and mounting calls for new polls from the international community and the opposition.

The opposition, led by two-times former prime minister and arch enemy Khaleda Zia, has since Wednesday called for a blockade of roads, rail and waterways to try to topple the government.

Zia, who has been under de facto house arrest, was allowed to leave her home in Dhaka late Saturday for the first time in more than two weeks.

She was permitted to attend a meeting at her office but it is unclear if her house arrest, which authorities have officially denied, has been completely lifted.

Stability Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party dismissed the new government as a farce just like the “farcical elections”.

“All the ministers are either from the Awami League or its allies,” senior party official Mahbubur Rahman said.

Yesterday’s ceremony comes after the country’s newly elected lawmakers were sworn in on Thursday. A total of 153 Awami League members or allies were elected unopposed ahead of polling day as a result of the opposition boycott, imposed over Hasina’s decision to change the electoral system.

Hasina, who first came to power in 1996 and then thrashed Zia in a 2008 comeback, has vowed to take a tough stand to bring stability. Crippling opposition protests, strikes and transport blockades have left around 180 people dead since October, when the

opposition first called for the polls to be halted, and cost an estimated $4 billion in lost production.

“We will take a hardline stand as it is required to ensure the safety of public and properties,” said Hasina, daughter of the country’s independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, on Friday.

Police have confirmed the arrest of more than 1,000 opposition activists in recent weeks, stressing that there have been specific charges against each of the detainees. At least 26 people were killed during the election, making it the bloodiest vote in Bangladesh’s history, while hundreds of opposition supporters torched or trashed polling stations.

Zia has demanded new elections be held under a neutral government headed by a caretaker leader, fearing poll rigging. The United States has led international pressure for a swift rerun of the elections to include all of the major parties, brushing aside Hasina’s insistence that her victory was legitimate.

The political standoff will likely stoke instability after the deadliest year of unrest since Bangladesh broke free from Pakistan in 1971, according to experts. The former East Pakistan is the world’s eighth most populous nation but also one of the poorest.

The turmoil will also likely undermine efforts to improve the lot of its population of 154 million-a third of whom live below the poverty line. —AFP

Attack on PM advisor kills six in Pakistan MINGORA: A bomb attack targeting an aide of the Pakistan’s prime minister killed five people in the country’s north yesterday, police said, though the official escaped unharmed.

Hours later, gunmen shot and killed a secular anti-Taleban politician and his two aides on the outskirts of northwestern city of Peshawar, police said. The two bombs exploded in the Shangla area near the convoy of Amir Muqam, a Cabinet aide and former parliamentarian, Deputy Inspector General Abdullah Khan said. While Muqam wasn’t hurt, the blast killed two police officers and

three of his private guards, Khan said.

He said it was not clear whether both or one of them were suicide attacks.

Muqam told private television station Geo News that it was the sixth such attack against him in recent years. He didn’t name the militants directly but said that “the terrorists” wouldn’t win.

“Such attacks can’t stop me from siding with the truth,” he said.

Shangla is part of the Swat Valley, which local Taleban militants captured before an army offensive drove them out in 2009. The militants have killed thousands of Pakistani civilians, security

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan supporters of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf shout slogans outside the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology where Musharraf is being treated in Rawalpindi yesterday. The treason trial of ex-military ruler Pervez Musharraf has divided opinions in a country where the army has rarely been shy about seizing power. — AFP

forces and government officials in a campaign of bombings and gun attacks they hope will bring down the state and allow them to impose their own extreme interpretation of Islamic law.

The ruling party of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has favored peace negotiations with the militants since he assumed office in mid-2013. The Taleban had agreed to talks under strict preconditions but rejected them after a US missile strike killed their leader.

For Sharif’s pro-negotiations stance, the militants spared his party in the election campaign rallies, but attacked leaders and workers of secular antiTaleban political parties, including Awami National Party. That’s a coalition partner of country’s outgoing ruling party of former President Asif Ali Zardari, who supported the military offensive against the militants.

Yesterday, two gunmen riding a motorcycle shot and killed a provincial leader of the secular party, Mian Mohammad Mushtaq, and his two aides on Peshawar’s outskirts, police official Rahim Shah said. The Taleban attacks have killed hundreds of the party’s workers in recent years.

There has been a relative lull in militant attacks recently in Pakistan. The most recent one was on Jan. 9, when a suicide car bomber in Karachi killed the head of the southern city’s anti-terrorism police unit, known for hunting down militants.—AP

NEW DELHI: An Indian diplomat at the centre of a bitter row with the United States told yesterday of her “immense stress” at leaving behind her young family in New York, and vowed to clear her name. Indian consulate official Devyani Khobragade was allowed to leave the United States on Friday after a month-long dispute over her arrest and strip search on suspicion of visa fraud involving her domestic servant.

Khobragade was granted full diplomatic immunity and allowed to fly back to India-just hours after charges were filed in court alleging she lodged false documents to obtain a visa for her servant and then underpaid her.

Khobragade, 39, told an Indian newspaper of her anguish at leaving behind her daughters, aged seven and four, in New York along with her husband, a US citizen, who works as an academic. “I wonder if I will be able to ever reunite with my family, my husband, my little kids. I miss them,” Khobragade told The Sunday Express.

“What if my children choose to study and work in the US? What if I can never return to the US, which I cannot now. Does it mean we will never be able to live together as a family again?” she said. Her arrest on December 12 outside her children’s school and treatment in custody, where she said she was subjected to a cavity search, outraged India which claimed she benefited from full diplomatic immunity.

US prosecutors disputed this, and filed charges in New York accusing Khobragade of sometimes forcing the Indian maid to work 100-hour weeks, even when sick and often without a day off, for pay as little as $1.22 an hour. Khobragade did obtain diplo-

NEW DELHI: This file photo taken on Saturday shows Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade (C) leaving her guest house to meet with Indian Minister for External Affairs Salman Khurshid in New Delhi. Khobragade, who was expelled from the United States in a bitter diplomatic row, has told of her anguish at leaving behind her two young children and husband in New York, and vows to clear her name. — AFP matic immunity when last week New Delhi asked Washington to grant her a G1 visa given to diplomats at India’s UN mission, which is also in New York.

Feisty exchanges The row between the two countries, which had embraced each other as strategic partners, saw weeks of feisty exchanges that strained bilateral ties and left resentment on both sides.

In a fresh retaliatory measure late Friday over Khobragade’s treatment, India asked the United States to withdraw an embassy official in New Delhi.

The expelled American diplomat was a “similar rank” to Khobragade and is

thought to have helped the family of her maid travel to America where they were granted protection by prosecutors. US prosecutors say the family of the maid were evacuated to the United States because of attempts to intimidate them.

In her newspaper interview, Khobragade said she would continue a legal fight to clear her name, including attempting to have her case in New York officially dismissed. “I have come to India but my stand still needs to be vindicated. And of course, I have been separated from my family, and I am under immense stress for my children,” Khobragade said. — AFP

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

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

Thai protest leader rejects compromise Fears of civil war or military intervention BANGKOK: The leader of a movement trying to topple Thailand’s government said he would call off his protest if civil war threatened to break out but rejected any compromise with the government ahead of a planned “shutdown” of the capital.

Supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra were rallying in her defence yesterday but steered clear of Bangkok, where people went about their business as normal.

The anti-government protesters accuse Yingluck and her brother, former premier Thaksin

by the English-language Sunday Nation. “If someone instigates a civil war, I will tell the people to go home.”

The eight-year conflict pits Bangkok’s middle class and royalist establishment against the mostly poorer, rural supporters of Yingluck and Thaksin, who was overthrown in a military coup in 2006.

New election Their Puea Thai Party seems likely to win any new election, which the government says must

BANGKOK: Anti-government protesters wave clapping tools and blow whistles during a rally at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok, Thailand, yesterday. Thailand’s capital is bracing for traffic chaos as anti-government demonstrators plan to occupy major road intersections in what they describe as an effort to shut down the city. —AP Shinawatra, of corruption and nepotism. She has called an election for Feb 2 but protesters want her caretaker government to step down immediately.

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban ruled out talks with the government in an interview published yesterday but said he would stand down his movement if, as some fear, violence escalates and civil war looms.

“If it becomes a civil war, I will give up. People’s life is precious for me,” he was reported as saying

be held on Feb 2 now parliament has been dissolved and the date endorsed by the king.

However, a member of the Election Commission said on Saturday the vote could be held on May 4, arguing that was permissible under the constitution because candidates had been prevented from registering in some districts, meaning there would be no quorum to open parliament after a February poll.

Eight people, including two police officers, have been killed and scores injured in violence

between protesters, police and government supporters in recent weeks.

Police said seven people were wounded early on Saturday when gunmen fired at anti-government protesters in central Bangkok near Khao San Road, a popular tourist area.

Fears of clashes between rival factions escalated after pro-government “red shirts” said they would begin their own rallies from today in provinces neighbouring Bangkok and in a northeastern stronghold, Udon Thani, where leaders said they expected 10,000 people by today.

Ministers told a briefing yesterday that 12,000 police would be deployed to maintain law and order in Bangkok, along with 8,000 soldiers at government offices.

“We don’t want confrontation with the protesters ... In some places we will let them into government buildings,” Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said.

“The government will let Suthep play the hero tomorrow ...

It will be his show,” added Labour Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung.

“There won’t be a repeat of 2010 because the government will not use that strategy. There are no plans to use force,” he said, referring to an army crackdown on Thaksin supporters that year when more than 90 died including police and soldiers.

Army intervention?

The unrest has hurt tourism and further delayed huge infrastructure projects that had been expected to support the economy this year at a time when exports remain weak. Consumer confidence is at a two-year low.

Many believe the army could step in to break the political deadlock, especially if the protests turn more violent. The army has staged or attempted 18 coups in 81 years of on-off democracy but has tried to remain neutral this time.

“I want to tell all sides they must not clash with each other ... We are all Thais and can live together despite our differences,” army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Saturday.

The protesters plan to block seven big intersections in Bangkok, causing gridlock in a city clogged with traffic at the best of times, and they could shut off other roads.

Surapong said on Friday the US embassy was alarmist to advise its citizens to get in two weeks’ supply of food and water. Some residents have been stocking up on food and other essentials, but retailers have not experienced the kind of panic buying seen, for example, during floods that threatened to overwhelm Bangkok in 2011.

City officials have told 140 schools to close today and universities near the seven protest sites will suspend classes. —Reuters

SHANGRI-LA: In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, firefighters put out embers at the ancient town of Dukezong in Shangri-La, a resort county in southwest China’s Yunnan province, Saturday. A fire that raged for nearly 10 hours razed the ancient Tibetan town in southwest China that’s popular with tourists, burning down hundreds of buildings after fire engines failed to get onto the narrow streets, state media and witnesses said. —AP

Fire destroys ancient Tibetan town in SW China BEIJING: A fire that raged for nearly 10 hours razed an ancient Tibetan town in southwest China that’s popular with tourists, burning down hundreds of buildings after fire engines failed to get onto the narrow streets, state media and witnesses said.

There was no immediate report of any casualties, and the cause of the fire was not yet known. State media, citing local authorities, said the blaze started in a guesthouse and was ruled accidental.

The fire broke out at about 1:30 a.m.

Saturday in the ancient Tibetan quarter of Dukezong, which dates back more than 1,000 years and is known for its preserved cobbled streets, ancient structures and Tibetan culture. Dukezong is part of scenic Shangri-La county in Deqen prefecture.

Once called Gyaitang Zong, the county renamed itself Shangri-La in 2001, hoping to draw tourists by the reference to the mythical Himalayan land described in James Hilton’s 1933 novel. Like hundreds of Chinese cities and counties, Shangri-La renovated its old neighborhood, Dukezong, turning it into a tourist attraction filled with shops and guesthouses.

Photos and video footage showed

Dukezong and its labyrinth of houses engulfed in flames that turned the night sky red. The fire destroyed about 242 houses and shops in Dukezong, dislocated more than 2,600 people, and torched many historic artifacts, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

He Yu, a resident, said she woke to loud, explosion-like sounds to find the old town on fire. “The fire was huge,” she said. “The wind was blowing hard, and the air was dry. I was scared because my home is a little distance away from the ancient town. It kept burning, and the firefighters were there, but there was little they could do because they could not get the fire engines onto the old town’s narrow streets.”With fire engines kept out, local residents lined up to pass buckets of water to combat the fire, the Deqen prefecture government said.

Most of Dukezong’s buildings are made of wood and the fire spread easily because of dry weather, state-run China Central Television said. More than 2,000 firefighters, soldiers, police, local officials and volunteers responded to the blaze and brought it under control at around 11 a.m., the Shangri-La county government said. —AP

Philippines on guard against child trafficking

KARO: Houses are covered by mud and ash in a village in Karo, North Sumatra province, yesterday after the eruption of Mount Sinabung. An Indonesian volcano that has erupted relentlessly for months shot volcanic ash into the air 30 times on January 4, forcing further evacuations with more than 20,000 people now displaced, an official said. —AFP

More than 25,000 flee Indonesia volcano JAKARTA: More than 25,000 people have fled their homes following a series of eruptions and lava flows from a volcano in Indonesia, an official said yesterday.

Mount Sinabung on the western island of Sumatra sent hot rocks and ash up to 5,000 metres (16,000 feet) in the air “several times” on Saturday, National Disaster Mitigation Agency emergency response director Tri Budiarto told AFP. “So far, 25,516 people have been evacuated. There’s nobody now within a five-kilometre (three-mile) radius of the crater. We are urging those living within seven kilometres southeast of the crater to move too,” he added.

Hot lava, which has been spewing from the volcano for the past two weeks, has flowed into a river and filled up valleys with

pyroclastic material, he said.

“There were small secondary explosions when lava flows came into contact with the water, but there are no casualties so far. We are urging people not to carry out any activity in the rivers,” he added.

Mount Sinabung is one of 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia that straddle major tectonic fault lines, known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. It had been quiet for around 400 years until it rumbled back to life in 2010, and again in September last year.

In August 2013, five people were killed and hundreds evacuated when a volcano on a small island in East Nusa Tenggara province erupted. The country’s most active volcano, Mount Merapi in central Java, killed more than 350 people in a series of eruptions in 2010. —AFP

MANILA: The Philippines is acting to curb the trafficking of children displaced by Super Typhoon Haiyan, a presidential spokesman said yesterday, a day after a UK-based children’s charity raised concerns.

Plan International asked the Philippines to investigate the suspected recruitment of child workers for sex trafficking on the central island of Samar, which sustained heavy damage and casualties in the November 8 typhoon.

Haiyan left nearly 8,000 people dead or missing in one of the worst natural disasters to hit the Philippines, flattening entire towns and displacing more than four million people.

A special anti-trafficking commission is already in place to prevent children displaced by the typhoon from being exploited by traffickers, said Herminio Coloma, a spokesman for President Benigno Aquino.

“That is why the concerned agencies are doing everything in their power to prevent these crimes,” he told reporters in the capital Manila. Aid groups have warned that many of those displaced face extreme hardship in their ruined communities and are vulnerable to human traffickers.

“We have been giving attention to this issue because we do not want children and women to be victimised by these criminals, especially those who came from the calamity area,” said Coloma.

United Nations agencies, foreign governments, as well as aid groups including Plan International are helping millions of survivors who lost relatives, homes, jobs, or all three. The Philippine government has listed 109 children orphaned by Haiyan on the storm-ravaged central island of Leyte alone.

A 2013 US State Department report on global human trafficking described the Philippines as “a source country, and to a much lesser extent, a destination and transit country for men, women and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour”.

Missing Meanwhile, at least two men were reported missing and more than 2,400 villagers were evacuated over the weekend after two days of rains flooded low-lying villages and set off minor landslides in the southeastern Philippines, officials said yesterday.

The men went missing while separately crossing rivers in the provinces of Agusan del Norte and Surigao del Norte, said Liza Mazo, a regional disaster-response official.

Heavy rains set off flooding in four provinces and on an island in the region, prompting army troops, police and local authorities to evacuate more than 2,400 villagers, she said.

Many of those evacuated were in Butuan city, where the Agusan River threatened to overflow and inundate 15 lowlying villages, Mazo said. Forecasters say a brewing storm has dumped rains in the remote region since Saturday, but they expect the weather to improve in about two days. The stormy weather has also brought sporadic rains in central Philippine provinces where Typhoon Haiyan left more than 6,100 people dead and nearly 1,800 others missing in November.

Haiyan displaced about 4 million people and thousands continue to live in tents as the government scrambles to build temporary shelters. —Agencies

TOKYO: Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera holds a pair of binoculars as he inspects the new year exercise of Japanese Ground Self Defense Forces’ airbourne troops in Narashino in Chiba prefecture, suburban Tokyo yesterday.

A total of 300 personnels, 21 aircrafts and helicopters took part in the open exercise at the defense forces’ Narashino training ground. —AFP

Japan condemns China fishing curbs NARASHINO: Japan yesterday joined the United States in criticising China’s new fishing restrictions in the South China Sea, saying the curbs, coupled with the launch last year of an air defence zone, has left the international community jittery.

Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera made the comment after observing the Japanese Self-Defence Forces’ elite airborne brigade conducting airdrop drills designed to hone their skills to defend and retake remote islands.

Earlier on Sunday, Chinese government ships briefly entered what Japan considers its territorial waters near a group of disputed East China Sea islets, in the first such action this year.

“Setting something like this unilaterally as if you are treating your own territorial waters, and imposing cer tain restrictions on fishing boats is not something that is internationally tolerated,” Onodera told reporters.

“I’m afraid not only Japan but the international society as a whole has a concern that China is unilaterally threatening the existing international order” with its new restrictions in the South China Sea and the creation of an air defence identification zone, he said.

The fishing rules, approved by China’s southern Hainan province, took effect on Jan. 1 and require foreign fishing vessels to obtain approval to enter disputed waters in the South China Sea, which the local government says are under its jurisdiction.

Washington called the fishing rules “provocative and potentially dangerous”, prompting a rebuttal from China’s foreign ministry on Friday. Ties between

China and Japan, the world’s secondand third-largest economies, have been strained due to a long-running row over ownership of the group of tiny, uninhabited islands called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

Tensions Tensions soared in recent months after Beijing announced the air defence identification zone covering a large swathe of the East China Sea, including the disputed isles, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited a controversial Tokyo shrine seen by critics as a symbol of Japan’s wartime aggression.

China and South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan’s past militarism run deep, have repeatedly expressed anger in the past over Japanese politicians’ visits to Yasukuni Shrine, where Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal are honoured along with those who died in battle.

Stok ing tensions fur ther, three Chinese government ships yesterday morning briefly entered what Japan sees as its territorial waters near the disputed islands, controlled by Japan but also claimed by China, the latest in such occasional entries by Chinese ships.

“We can never overlook such repeated entries. In addition to diplomatic efforts, we will cooperate with Coast Guard and securely defend our territor y and territorial waters around the Senkaku,” Onodera said. Patrol ships from China and Japan have been shadowing each other near the islets on and off for months, raising fears that a confrontation could develop into a clash. —AP

NEWS ‘Conspiracy tape’ tweeter arrested...

Continued from Page 1 The case is set to be referred to the criminal court as a state security lawsuit once investigations are concluded.

Separately, the government has not made a decision on whether it will attend a special session tomorrow to debate the controversial Dow Chemical issue, National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem said yesterday. Ghanem said that invitations for the session have been sent out and “the government has not informed me whether it will attend”, adding that a decision is expected at the Cabinet’s weekly meeting today.

A request was submitted on Thursday by 13 MPs to hold a special session to debate the Dow Chemical issue, specifically on why the government paid the hefty $2.2 billion fine to the US firm for unilaterally pulling out of a multibilliondollar joint venture several years ago. A number of MPs have argued that the government paid the fine although there was still some hope that the country may have won a legal battle to save the funds. But the government says it is premature to hold the debate since two government and parliamentary panels are currently investigating the case.

New Oil Minister Ali Al-Omair said that it was better to wait until the parliamentary committee has completed its investigation. MP Yacoub AlSane meanwhile said that constitutional experts have said there is no problem holding the debate while investigations are ongoing.

The public funds protection committee meanwhile gave the ministry of public works and the youth and sports committee one month

to write back to the panel about the delay in opening and operating the Jaber Sports Stadium. Rapporteur of the committee MP Saif Al-Azemi said the panel discussed a report by the Audit Bureau on the stadium, the construction of which was completed several years ago but cannot be opened because of some faults.

Azemi said the committee expressed its backing for holding to account anyone responsible for the faults in the stadium.

The financial and economic affairs committee meanwhile is scheduled to discuss on Wednesday with new Commerce and Industry Minister Abdulmohsen Al-Mudej the issue of increasing government subsidies for construction materials instead of raising the housing loan from KD 70,000 to KD 100,000 as proposed by MPs but opposed by the government, head of the panel said. MP Faisal Al-Shaye also said the panel will complete its reports to the Assembly on a number of populist demands including raising the housing loan, increasing children’s allowance, rent allowance and others.

MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan meanwhile walked out of a meeting of the legal and legislative committee yesterday in protest against what he called a member supporting trade deals with Israel.

Duwaisan said after walking out that he had to leave the meeting because one of the panel members started explaining the importance of trade links with Israel. Later, social networks mentioned the name of Islamist MP Abdulrahman Al-Jeeran as the lawmaker referred to by Duwaisan, but Jeeran issued a statement denying that he spoke in favour of links with Israel.

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

Syria major ‘Captagon’ producer, consumer Continued from Page 1 Syrian government forces and rebel groups each say the other uses Captagon to endure protracted engagements without sleep, while clinicians say ordinary Syrians are increasingly experimenting with the pills, which sell for between $5 and $20.

The drug was first produced in the West in the 1960s to treat hyperactivity, narcolepsy and depression, but by the 1980s was banned in most countries because of its addictive properties and no longer has a legitimate medical use. Its active ingredient, fenethylline, is metabolised by the body into the stimulants amphetamine and theophylline. Lebanese psychiatrist Ramzi Haddad said the drug had the typical effects of a stimulant. “It gives you a kind of euphoria. You’re talkative, you don’t sleep, you don’t eat, you’re energetic,” he said.

Production is cheap and simple, requiring “only basic knowledge of chemistry and a few scales”, he added. Syrian and Lebanese authorities regularly seize homemade laboratories used to make the pills.

National drug control offices in the region also report Syria’s increasing role in the trade. Colonel Ghassan Chamseddine, head of Lebanon’s drug enforcement unit, told Reuters the pills are hidden in trucks passing from Syria to Lebanese ports where they are then shipped to the Gulf. “It comes from Syria. Most of the Captagon production is there, according to our information,” he said. Official figures show Lebanon seized more than 12.3 million Captagon

pills in 2013. Chamseddine said most of that came from a few large busts in the Bekaa Valley, which borders Syria. One seizure of 5.3 million pills implicated a Syrian family that he said has been smuggling drugs for 10 years.

The Lebanese trader said the main players in Lebanon’s Captagon trade are established families in the Bekaa who started off smuggling hashish and cocaine decades ago. They either produce the pills themselves or provide the materials and equipment to partners inside Syria and then help smuggle the pills out of the country, he said. Turkish authorities have also identified a rise in Captagon production in Syria. In May, they seized 7 million pills en route to Saudi Arabia, according to Saudi media. The head of Turkey’s anti-drug-trafficking directorate said the pills were made in Syria with materials from Lebanon, but he couldn’t confirm a connection to rebels there. Dubai police also reported making a seizure of a record 4.6 million Captagon pills in December.

Syrian state media regularly mention Captagon pills as one of the items government forces seize alongside weapons when they capture rebel fighters or raid their bases. A drug control officer in the central city of Homs told Reuters he had observed the effects of Captagon on protesters and fighters held for questioning. “We would beat them, and they wouldn’t feel the pain.

Many of them would laugh while we were dealing them heavy blows,” he said. “We would leave the prisoners for about 48

hours without questioning them while the effects of Captagon wore off, and then interrogation would become easier.”

The opposition retorts that the government is aiming to sully its reputation and say it is the pro-government ‘shabiha’ gunmen that run the Captagon trade.

Opposition activist Ammar said consumption was limited to government supporters and fighters who use the cover of the revolution to pursue lucrative criminal activities.

“These days, the criminals and addicts do whatever they want,” he said. “They’ve increased because of hunger, poverty and lack of work.”

A psychiatrist named George said he treated Captagon users at his clinic in the government stronghold of Latakia. “The use of Captagon and other pills increased after the revolution even among civilians because of psychological and economic pressures,” he said. He said the government exaggerated the drug’s prevalence among opponents, but added that it was likely both the shabiha and rebel Free Syrian Army were users, “especially when they are assigned night duty or other long missions”. A resident of the central city of Homs said the use of Captagon and hashish had become widespread and open in the past year in his neighbourhood, an area populated mostly by Alawites, the same Muslim sect that President Bashar AlAssad belongs to. “It’s young people in general, and most of them are in the National Defence Force and shabiha organisations,” he said. — Reuters

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

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Issues

South Sudan, the country that fell apart in a month

By Peter Martell

T

he world’s youngest nation was born with such high hopes, but four weeks since political rivalry spiralled into violence, little stands between impoverished South Sudan and all-out civil war. “When it is over we will all be losers in this war,” said Mabior Garang, son of South Sudan’s late founding president, and now a member of the rebel delegation at peace talks in Addis Ababa. Even for the most careful watchers of the complex power struggles of South Sudan, the conflict - and its shockingly brutal nature with neighbour turning on neighbor -spread very fast.

Jok Madut Jok, a former senior government official and academic now running the Sudd Institute think tank, speaks of a “near total unravelling” that has left South Sudanese in deep shock. War-ravaged South Sudan is oil-rich, but for once, such resources played little direct role. Instead, the violence appears rooted in decades-old grievances between former rebels turned political leaders, combined with unhealed wounds left over from the two-decades long civil war that preceded South Sudan’s independence from Khartoum.

Warnings ignored?

“This conflict escalated so fast partly due to the history of the liberation wars, in which South Sudanese committed atrocities against one another,” wrote Jok in a recent report. “No accountability for these atrocities was established when those wars ended, leaving gaping wounds in the hearts and minds of so many citizens.” Political opposition to President Salva Kiir had been brewing openly, with his recently sacked deputy and long-time arch-rival Riek Machar accusing him of “dictatorial” behaviour in early December. Machar infamously fought on both sides during the civil war, a conflict that paved the way for South Sudan to choose independence less than three years ago, in July 2011.

Billions of dollars worth of international aid, advice and development help were poured into the fledgling nation - often having to build government institutions from scratch - alongside enormous and often more effective private investment. But many had still feared that a conflict on this scale was all too possible, amid repeated warnings of rampant corruption - including the brazen theft of billions of petrodollars - and security forces accused of gross abuses of power. Rapid but poorly done integration of varied rival ex-rebels forces into the army simply papered over deep-rooted divisions.

Political battles trigger conflict The army wrested back the town of Bentiu on Friday - capital of the key oil producing state of Unity - but it is not yet clear who controls the oil fields upon which over 95 percent of South Sudan’s economy depends. Regional powers - including even old enemies Sudan as well as Uganda - are being dragged in too. “We are facing an unfolding human catastrophe,” UN aid chief in South Sudan Toby Lanzer told AFP, after visiting the foul-smelling camp of civilians crowded into a former football pitch at the back of the UN base, too terrified to return to their homes for fear killings might begin again.

Lanzer notes with gloom how he found a newspaper printed the day before the violence erupted on Dec 15, where the front page carried two key stories. One noted how President Salva Kiir was to follow the example of the late South African President Nelson Mandela to reconcile political rivals, the other praised the success of an investment conference. “This is certainly the biggest test this young nation has had,” Lanzer added. “What we have is a huge political struggle, people who have taken positions which are entrenched and civilians that are caught in a situation that is unbearable.”

Political conflicts have triggered battles now apparently out of the hands of the leaders who lit the match, reawakening bitter wounds from 1991 battles when Nuer and Dinka peoples fought.

“These are political manipulations, but now the fight has set fire to the grassroots, the problem is tribal,” said Paul Manyok, a shopkeeper who fled the fighting in Bor, the largest town now in rebel hands.

Kiir comes from the Dinka people, the largest single group in South Sudan, while Machar comes from the Nuer, the second largest.

The situation is far more complex than an ethnic battle alone: Kiir’s army commander is Nuer for example, while Machar’s peace talks team includes senior Dinka leaders. While the stories of horrific ethnic killings grab the headlines, reports are common of people from apparently “rival” communities helping or sheltering each other as well. Yet many appear deeply pessimistic that when - or if - a political deal is struck by leaders at slow-moving talks in Ethiopia, whether the crisis has gone too far to be reined in on the ground. “I didn’t think of my friends before as ‘this one is Dinka, this one is Nuer,’” said William Gatwech, 22, a student sheltering in a cardboard shelter in the UN camp Juba. “But I fear going out the camp because I will be targeted because I am Nuer... that is what they were doing when the fighting started, killing the Nuer.” To the north, another student, Peter Mabior, recounted how Nuer fighters had called out in the Dinka language to people, shooting to kill those who replied. “What happened cannot be forgotten or undone,” Mabior said, after fleeing attacks to join some 85,000 displaced people from the Bor region. “You think we can trust them now?” —AFP

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

Obama’s grand plan for Mideast shrinks

By Matthew Lee

F

ive years after pledging to remake the US relationship with the broader Middle East and improve America’s image in the Muslim world, the Obama administration’s regional strategy appears to have come unhinged. President Barack Obama has been confronted by fast-moving and ominous developments from Afghanistan to Tunisia, amid a bitter public power struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and has adjusted his first term’s grand plan to restore Washington’s standing and influence. Now, it’s a smaller vision that seems to rely on ad hoc responses aimed at merely keeping the United States relevant in an increasingly volatile and hostile atmosphere.

His administration has been forced to deal with three years of civil war in Syria. A Western-backed opposition is struggling to topple an autocratic government and repel Islamic fighters who also are destabilizing neighboring Lebanon and Iraq, where al-Qaida has resurged less than three years after Obama withdrew US forces. The US is struggling to identify a coherent position in Egypt after the military ouster of the country’s first democratically elected president. The administration tried its best to avoid calling the power transfer a coup.

It is losing patience with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is refusing to sign a security agreement with the US The pact would allow the US to leave some troops in the country to help train and assist Karzai’s army in keeping the Taleban at bay after America’s longest conflict ends Dec 31. Secretary of State John Kerry is trying

to forge an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal against resistance from both sides, in a quest dismissed by some as quixotic.

Political Expedience Yet apart from Kerry’s efforts, Obama’s national security team seems to have settled on a largely hands-off, do-no-harm approach to developments in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya and Egypt. This has attracted criticism and concern, not least from traditional US allies such as the Saudis, who like the Israelis and many members of Congress are wary, if not outright opposed to the administration’s engagement with Iran over its nuclear program. Administration officials, of course, are quick to deny suggestions of indecision, weakness or, worse, political expedience.

They say the president is adopting carefully crafted, pragmatic and diplomatic initiatives for each hot spot initiatives designed to reduce what current officials believe was President George W Bush’s reliance on military might and pressure tactics. While the crises engulfing the Middle East cannot be blamed on Obama, there are growing fears that the US’ Mideast policy has become rudderless and reactive, and may be contributing to worsening conditions and a rise of Islamist extremism, notably in Syria and Iraq.

The administration has been accused of neglecting those countries while focusing on an elusive IsraeliPalestinian agreement. “The deterioration in this region is just astounding,” Republican Sen Lindsey Graham told reporters at a news conference in Jerusalem just three days into the New Year as Kerry was making his 10th

peacemaking trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories. “Israel is surrounded by regimes falling apart on all sides. The Iranians are marching toward a nuclear capability. Syria is becoming a cancer infecting the whole region. And I yearn for peace. But more than anything else, I yearn for leadership - leadership for my country to be accounted for at a time when the world needs American leadership.”

An Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is “an important goal and aspiration and would be great for the world,” he said, criticizing the administration in the same city where Kerry was engaged in peacemaking. “But I’ll be honest with you, as Syria falls into chaos with 130,000 dead, and the king of Jordan and Lebanon deal with the effects of a raging war in Syria, as Iraq begins to fall apart, as the Iranians enrich, we have to put this in the context of the world at large,” Graham said.

Criticism Criticism from Republicans such as Graham and Arizona Sen John McCain, who echoed his colleague’s sentiments at the Jerusalem news conference, is to be expected. But it is coming from other quarters as well.

Senior members of the Saudi royal family have disparaged the United States on Syria and voiced their skepticism of the rapprochement with Iran. Saudi frustration has become so intense that the kingdom took the unprecedented step of turning down a seat on the UN Security Council to protest inaction on Syria, and last week announced a $3 billion gift to the Lebanese army to help it battle extremists. —AP

Was Sharon last leader able to bring peace?

By Crispian Balmer

A

s Israel prepares to bury former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, it might also be saying goodbye to the last man capable of enacting the sort of tough decisions needed to secure peace with the Palestinians. Eight years after a stroke pitched him into a coma, Israelis and Palestinians continue to grope for a deal in terms bequeathed by Sharon, a war hero at home and a war criminal to Arabs, a hawkish prophet of settlement on occupied land who dramatically gave up Gaza in what he called a bid for peace.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who replaced Sharon as head of the right-wing Likud when the party rebelled in 2005 against the withdrawal of settlers from the Gaza Strip, has since endorsed relinquishing land for peace, in principle - a minimal condition for any accord with the Palestinians. Surveys show as many as two Israelis in three could accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, on lines first promoted after US-brokered talks by left-wing, Labour leaders - notably Yitzhak Rabin, another war hero, who was assassinated by a fellow Israeli in 1995 for offering to end the occupation.

But Netanyahu’s current struggles to run a coalition that includes hardliners who oppose giving up any territory suggest Israel lacks a leader with “Bulldozer” Sharon’s credentials to persuade, or bully, settlers to quit most of the West Bank. As housing minister in the 1990s, Sharon was behind many Jewish settlements that dot the West Bank, which was captured in the 1967 war. The security barrier he ordered to be built in 2005 is still under construction through occupied land. His uncompromising vision of Israeli security remains in place.

Yet at the same time, his shock move to drag Israeli settlers - in some cases literally - from the Gaza Strip showed to many that Israel could roll back its occupation, given sufficiently robust leadership. “His defeat of the settlers might be the most important aspect of his legacy,” said David Landau, the former editor of the liberal newspaper Haaretz, whose biography of Sharon, “Arik”, is due to be published later this month. “Before the Gaza disengagement there was serious apprehension that the settlers might be able to prevent a government from doing what it wanted. ... The memory of what happened leaves intelligent

people here to have confidence and conviction that the state is ultimately the main power.”

Stature However, Sharon, who died on Saturday aged 85, had unique standing within Israel that helped him drive through change by dint of his personality - a decorated soldier who played a decisive role in every war since Israel’s founding in 1948. He was reviled in the Arab world, particularly for his role in the 1982 refugee camp massacres in Beirut following Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. But his superhawk image gave him a stature at home that successors could not match.

“Sharon was the last leader of the 1948 generation with a long, illustrious military career. He had the moral authority needed to push through very painful decisions,” said Raanan Gissin, who was a senior aide to Sharon. “We don’t have those sort of people around today.”

When illness felled him, Sharon was on course to win an imminent general election and although he himself categorically

denied it at the time, aides say he had been planning further unilateral withdrawals from the West Bank. “We would have started taking certain measures in the West Bank under a project known as the realignment plan,” said Dov Weisglass, chief of staff when Sharon was prime minister. “If Sharon had stayed well, we would be closer to peace today. No question.”

Weisglass was famously quoted in 2004 saying the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza was a way to “freeze” bilateral talks with the Palestinians, though he later said peace remained the goal.

Palestinians ridicule the idea of Sharon as a peacemaker. They remember him as a ruthless tactician and blame him for sparking the second Palestinian Intifada (uprising) with a provocative visit to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque plaza in 2000. When the evacuated Gaza Strip became an arena for faction-fighting and Hamas Islamist rule, hobbling their negotiators, many Palestinians saw that paralysis as part of Sharon’s plan. “He was instrumental in the expansion of settlements and the Gaza disengagement was just meant to consolidate the Israeli occupation of the West Bank,” said Ghassan Khatib, an academic and former Palestinian minister. “In all his history, he played a negative role here.”

Israeli analysts say Sharon’s about-turn on Gaza showed he had realised the occupation represented a long-term threat to the Jewish state and had to be wound down. His deputy, Ehud Olmert, forged ahead enthusiastically with the peace process when he took over as prime minister, and ended up offering the Palestinians more concessions than any Israeli before him. But two years later a corruption scandal cost Olmert his job and any immediate prospects of a deal disappeared with him.

When Likud won an election in early 2009, Netanyahu apparently persuaded Washington that the starting point for renewed talks should not be the unofficial Olmert offer. Instead, the reference point was a document given to Sharon in 2004 by US President George W Bush. Crucially, it said “new realities on the ground” had to be taken into account - a clear nod

to Israel’s ever-expanding Jewish settlements.

“Sharon got these letters from Bush which clearly envisaged the settlement blocs would remain part of Israel,” said Sharon biographer Landau.

“He considered this as his major success as prime minister.”

Settlers Regroup However, even if the big blocs stay a part of Israel in a future accord, many settlers would find themselves marooned in Palestine - and that could prove an insurmountable problem. In 2004, the number of such settlers was put at 50,000. Today, unofficial tallies suggest the figure might be more than 150,000 of the half million or so Israelis living in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. This compares to just 9,000 who were hauled out of the Gaza Strip.

The settler movement was bruised by the Gaza pullout, but it has since regrouped and bolstered its numbers.

Some militant settlers have taken to damaging Arab property in attacks they call “price tagging” for any concessions by Netanyahu’s government, while the group’s political leaders have racheted up the their influence within the establishment. This is especially true in Likud, where settlers play a crucial role in the selection of parliamentary candidates and helped oust leading moderates from the party ticket ahead of the last general election early in 2013.

Political commentators question whether Netanyahu might eventually have to “do a Sharon” and quit Likud himself, knowing that most of his party is opposed to the contours of the long-mooted peace deal. However, only two or three of his party’s 20 parliamentarians have publicly backed the two-state solution, suggesting that if he did quit, few would follow him.

Netanyahu himself did not follow Sharon out of Likud in 2005, branding the Gaza withdrawal “evil”, and there is much scepticism in the media about how far he is prepared to go this time around to secure peace. But if he cannot, or will not, go all the way, there are no plausible alternatives at present.

“Looking around, I don’t see the sort of charismatic leaders with the kind of credentials that Sharon had,” said Uri Dromi, who was a spokesman for slain prime minister Rabin. “Not the sort of people who could make the bold moves needed for peace, while at the same time being able to convince Israelis that they weren’t being sold cheap to the Arabs.” —Reuters

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

S P ORTS

Everton sign winger McGeady

Defoe dismisses WCup fears

Takanashi lifts 15th World Cup

LONDON: Everton have signed Ireland winger Aiden McGeady on a 4-1/2 year contract from Spartak Moscow for an undisclosed fee, the Premier League club announced on Saturday. The 27-year-old, capped 63 times, was presented to Everton fans just before kickoff as Roberto Martinez’s side enjoyed a 2-0 league win over Norwich City at Goodison Park.

“It has sort of been a long time coming,” McGeady told the club’s website (www.evertonfc.com). “There was talk over the summer that something might happen, but I am just delighted that it’s done and dusted now.

“I have said for a long time now that I wanted to try myself in the Premier League. Now I have a big chance at a great club, under a good manager. I couldn’t be happier. It’s a dream move really.”

McGeady, whose contract with the Russian club was due to expire at the end of the season, joined Spartak from Celtic in 2010, helping them become league runners-up in 2011-12. He will join up with Ireland team mates Darron Gibson, James McCarthy and Seamus Coleman at Everton. McGeady, who has Champions League experience, will help Everton’s push for a top-four finish and a spot in next season’s edition of the elite European club competition. —Reuters

LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur striker Jermain Defoe believes that his imminent move to Major League Soccer side Toronto FC will not jeopardise his chances of representing England at this year’s World Cup. Defoe, 31, is due to join Toronto on a four-year contract at the end of February for a reported fee of £8 million ($13.2 million, 9.6 million euros).

England manager Roy Hodgson has previously expressed reservations about players plying their trade in North America, but Defoe sees no reason why he cannot be a member of the squad that goes to Brazil.

“Hopefully the manager knows what I can do,” Defoe told Sky Sports News yesterday. “I’m 31 and I’ve played in the Premiership my whole career. There’s not much more I need to prove. “It’s down to the manager.

He picks the squad, but like I’ve always said, if I get picked to play for my country, I’ll be ready.”

Defoe has scored 19 goals for England in 55 appearances and has been a regular member of Hodgson’s recent squads. He came off the bench to score Spurs’ second goal in their 2-0 win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday, taking his tally of goals for the north London club to 143. Defoe’s decision to swap Spurs’ push for Champions League qualification for the relative obscurity of the MLS surprised some observers, but he said that he felt ready for a change of scenery.

Asked for the thinking behind the move, Defoe cited family reasons, having notably lost his father, Jimmy, to throat cancer in 2012.—AFP

SAPPORO: Japanese teenage ski jumper Sara Takanashi soared to a record-stretching 15th World Cup victory yesterday, her second win in two days, stepping up her bid for gold at the Sochi Olympics. “I have nothing to worry about,” the 17-year-old high school student said about next month’s Sochi Games where women’s skijumping makes its Olympic debut.

“I want to continue making steady jumps.” It was her sixth victory in seven World Cup events contested so far in the 2013-2014 season as she aims to retain the overall title she first won last year. Takanashi, who is 152 centimetres tall, jumped 97 metres in the first round to register the day’s longest distance as snow continued to fall on the Miyanomori hill in Sapporo, northern Japan.

Her second jump went 91 metres and she collected a total of 237.1 points. Coline Mattel of France finished second on 219.8 points with jumps of 90 and 91 metres while Russia’s Irina Avvakumova was third at 215.3 after jumping 91 and 87.5 metres.

On Saturday, Takanashi won her 14th World Cup event to break her rival Sarah Hendrickson’s record of 13 wins. “I feel really happy,” Takanashi, from the nearby town of Kamikawa, declared about her back-to-back home wins. “The (track) condition was not good and I jumped with care.”—AFP

Bruins see off Sharks

SAN JOSE: Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (right) of Finland, makes a save next to San Jose Sharksí Tommy Wingels (57) during the first period of an NHL hockey game. — AP

Patriots, Seahawks win NFL playoffs FOXBOROUGH: LeGarrette Blount ran the New England Patriots into their third straight American Football Conference championship game, while Marshawn Lynch ran for 140 yards and two touchdowns as the Seattle Seahawks won their National Football Conference playoff.

Blount had four touchdown runs as New England kept Andrew Luck from a second straight comeback victory, beating the Indianapolis Colts 43-22 on Saturday.

Steven Hauschka kicked three field goals in blustery conditions as the top-seeded Seahawks beat the New Orleans Saints 23-15 and advanced to the NFC championship game for the second time in club history. Blount scored on three 2yard runs in the first half, then burst through the right side of the line and rambled 73 yards into the end zone, where he placed the ball gently on the ground made soggy by a game-long rain. He finished with 166 yards on 24 carries.

On the next series, Luck threw his third interception and the Patriots capitalized with Stevan Ridley’s second touchdown run, a 1-yarder that finished the scoring with 11:12 left.

The Patriots (13-4) will face the winner of the game Sunday between the Broncos and Chargers.

It will be in Denver if the Broncos win, and New England will host it if the Chargers win. The Colts (12-6) never led.

“It’s just a great achievement,” Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said. “People have counted us out

at times this year, but I think we’ve got a locker room full of believers.”

Blount joined Ricky Watters, who had five touchdowns for San Francisco on Jan. 15, 1994, as the only players with four or more in a playoff game. And the six rushing touchdowns by the Patriots tied the 49ers’ total in that game for second most in playoff history.

Seattle will host San Francisco or Carolina next Sunday. Seattle last reached the conference title game in the 2005 playoffs.

Seattle shut out the Saints in the first half, got Lynch’s first 100-yard game since Week 10 of the regular season and received a spark from the brief return of Percy Harvin before he left with a concussion.

Lynch scored on a 15-yard run in the first half and capped the victory with a 31-yard scoring run with 2:40 left that coach Pete Carroll celebrated by jumping into offensive line coach Tom Cable’s arms. Lynch stiffarmed Keenan Lewis on his way to the end zone for the clinching score that left CenturyLink Field swaying.

While the clinching score lacked the stunning explosiveness of Lynch’s “Beast Quake” touchdown run against the Saints in the 2010 playoffs, this one was more important. It ensured Seattle would not be the latest No. 1 seed to get upset by a No. 6 seed in the divisional round. Lynch finished with 28 carries and made up for another shaky day passing by Russell Wilson. Seattle’s offense was a concern heading into the postseason and, outside of Lynch, did little to quell those worries. — AP

FOXBOROUGH: New England Patriots running back LeGarrette Blount (29) drags Indianapolis Colts linebacker Jerrell Freeman (50) during the second half of an AFC divisional NFL playoff football game. — AP

SAN JOSE: Carl Soderberg scored the lone goal with 7:35 remaining, Tuukka Rask bounced back from rough stretch to post his NHL-leading fifth shutout of the season as the Boston Bruins beat the San Jose Sharks 1-0 on Saturday night.

Soderberg knocked a loose puck past Antti Niemi for his sixth goal to salvage the finale of Boston’s three-game California swing.

Rask, who made 26 saves, gave up eight goals on the first two games of the trip as the Bruins were outscored 9-4 in losses at Anaheim and Los Angeles.

But they swept the season series with San Jose and handed the Sharks just their second home loss in regulation all season.

Niemi made 21 saves for the Sharks, who had their six-game home winning streak snapped and were shut out at home for the first time since Feb. 9, 2013.

rolling Anaheim won for the 16th time in 17 games with a victory over Phoenix.

Ryan Getzlaf scored his 23rd goal of the season in the Ducks’ sixth straight win. Sami Vatanen and Dustin Penner also scored as the Ducks swept the five-game season series with the Coyotes.

Jonas Hiller made 28 saves in his 13th straight win for Anaheim, the NHL’s longest streak since Detroit’s Chris Osgood did it in 1996.

Thomas Greiss started in goal for Phoenix but was lifted for Mike Smith after the Ducks scored three times in a span of 5:11 in the second period. Greiss had 19 saves, and Smith made six.

PENGUINS 2, FLAMES 1 Chris Kunitz and Matt Niskanen scored, and MarcAndre Fleury made 27 saves as Pittsburgh handed Calgary a team-record sixth consecutive regulation loss at home.

Fleury nearly became the sixth goalie in eight games to shut out the Flames, but Mikael Backlund cut into a 2-0 deficit with a goal at 11:29 of the third period. That ended Calgary’s goal-less stretch at a team-record 196 minutes, 59 seconds. The Penguins earned five points on their three-game road trip through Western Canada.

Tampa Bay 6, Philadelphia 3; Montreal 2, Chicago 1 (OT ); New Jersey 2, Florida 1 (OT ); Ottawa 2, Nashville 1 (SO); Columbus 6, Winnipeg 3; Colorado 4, Minnesota 2; Anaheim 5, Phoenix 3; Pittsburgh 2, Calgary 1; Detroit 3, Los Angeles 1; Boston 1, San Jose 0.

Western Conference Pacific Division W L OTL GF GA PTS Anaheim 34 8 5 160 119 73 28 12 6 148 116 62 San Jose Los Angeles 27 14 5 119 96 59 Vancouver 24 13 9 123 114 57 Phoenix 21 14 9 133 136 51 Calgary 15 24 6 101 144 36 Edmonton 15 27 5 123 164 35 Central Division Chicago 29 8 10 170 129 68 31 8 5 161 99 67 St. Louis Colorado 28 12 5 132 115 61 Minnesota 24 18 5 114 119 53 Dallas 20 17 7 125 135 47 Nashville 19 20 7 109 137 45 Winnipeg 19 23 5 128 145 43

LIGHTNING 6, FLYERS 3 Valtteri Filppula scored the go-ahead goal during a wild second period as Tampa Bay snapped Philadelphia’s 10-game, home-winning streak. Ryan Malone had two goals, and Alex Killorn, Teddy Purcell, and Martin St. Louis also scored for the Lightning.

Jakub Voracek had two goals, and Wayne Simmonds added one for the Flyers, who were 7-1 in their previous eight games. The Flyers hadn’t lost at home since Nov. 5 against Carolina.

Steve Mason had his worst game for Philadelphia, allowing five goals for the first time in 41 games with the team since being acquired last April. He was pulled for Ray Emery following the second period after he stopped only 12 of 17 shots in the game.

DEVILS 2, PANTHERS 1 Marek Zidlicky scored with 2.1 seconds showing on the overtime clock to lift New Jersey to a stirring win over Florida.

With just over 3 seconds to go, the Devils called a timeout before the final faceoff. Travis Zajac beat Marcel Goc on the draw, and Jaromir Jagr nudged the puck back to the top of the right circle to Zidlicky, who ripped a shot that beat screened goalie Tim Thomas.

Jagr earned his 1,724th NHL point, moving him ahead of former teammate Mario Lemieux and into seventh place on the league’s career scoring list.

Michael Ryder extended his goal streak to four games, and Cory Schneider made 29 saves in giving New Jersey its second straight win.

Nick Bjugstad had the lone goal for the Panthers.

The frustrated Thomas stormed off the ice at the end of his 34-save performance.

DUCKS 5, COYOTES 3 Hampus Lindholm scored two goals as steam-

Oosthuizen retains Durban title DURBAN: Defending champion Louis Oosthuizen retained his title at the Volvo Golf Champions event in his native South Africa yesterday after shooting a final-round 68 for a 12-under-par total.

Oosthuizen started the day in fourth place, two shots adrift of overnight leader Tommy Fleetwood, but an eagle at the eighth at the Durban Country Club got him into contention. He then birdied four of the last six holes to finish a shot clear of compatriot Branden Grace and two ahead of Dutchman Joost Luiten and Fleetwood.

The Englishman was undone by three bogeys in five holes on the front nine. Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion, has now won on the European Tour in five successive seasons and has started the season with a win on home soil for the fourth year running. “It means a lot. There’s something about this golf course that I love. It’s great in front of the home crowd to get my first win of the season and hopefully I can build on this and get a few more,” he said.

“I felt really comfortable today, especially on the back nine. Once I stood over my second on 17, I saw Branden had made birdie on 18 and I knew it was crucial for me to get within 10 feet to give myself a proper birdie opportunity and I hit it really close. “At 18, I just wanted to get it past the pin to chip back into that green. I got that right and hit a really a good shot.” He added: “It puts pressure on you defending your title but you always know that you played well last year and you just try to do the same the next year.”—AFP

NHL results/standings

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division Boston 29 14 2 129 98 60 27 14 4 132 109 58 Tampa Bay Montreal 26 15 5 117 107 57 Detroit 20 15 10 118 126 50 Ottawa 20 18 8 131 146 48 Toronto 21 20 5 125 141 47 Florida 17 21 7 105 139 41 Buffalo 12 26 5 75 120 29 Metropolitan Division Pittsburgh 33 12 2 152 112 68 16 6 135 133 50 Washington 22 Philadelphia 23 18 4 120 125 50 NY Rangers 23 20 3 114 123 49 Carolina 19 17 9 111 128 47 New Jersey 19 18 9 106 114 47 Columbus 21 20 4 126 129 46 NY Islanders 17 22 7 126 150 41 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L).

Lauri Korpikoski, Martin Hanzal and Mike Ribeiro scored for the Coyotes. The Ducks improved their NHL-best record to 34-8-5. Phoenix has lost three of four. Mathieu Perreault had three assists, and Corey Perry added two for the Ducks. Radim Vrbata assisted on all three Phoenix goals.

CANADIENS 2, BLACKHAWKS 1 Andrei Markov scored two goals, including at 1:28 of overtime, to lead Montreal past Chicago. Markov took a deflected pass from Max Pacioretty and found the roof of the net. Carey Price finished with 19 saves for Montreal.

Marian Hossa scored for the Blackhawks. Corey Crawford made 36 saves. The Blackhawks have lost three games in a row, including two in overtime, for only the second time this season.

The Canadiens have won six in a row at home against the Blackhawks. Chicago’s last win in Montreal was on Dec. 3, 2001.

BLUE JACKETS 6, JETS 3 Boone Jenner and Mark Letestu each scored twice as Columbus topped Winnipeg, extending the Jets’ losing streak to a season-high five games. The Blue Jackets scored four straight goals in the second period and stretched their winning streak to three. Curtis McElhinney made 28 saves.

Ondrej Pavelec stopped 20 saves for the Jets, who were booed by the home crowd at the end of the game. James Wisniewski and Derek MacKenzie each had a pair of assists for Columbus.

SENATORS 2, PREDATORS 1 Mika Zibanejad and Jason Spezza scored in the shootout to help Ottawa beat Nashville. Kyle Turris scored in regulation for Ottawa, which has won five of six. Craig Anderson had 31 saves through overtime and then stopped Craig Smith and David Legwand in the shootout. Mike Fisher had the lone goal for Nashville, which has lost three of four. Marek Mazanec finished with 20 saves.

AVALANCHE 4, WILD 2 Ryan O’Reilly scored twice, including the gamewinner with 7:16 to play, as Colorado beat Minnesota.

Gabriel Landeskog and Maxime Talbot also scored for the Avalanche, winners in five of seven. O’Reilly had his first two-goal game of the season Charlie Coyle had his first career two-goal game for Minnesota, which lost for the first time in five games.

Semyon Varlamov, 8-0-5 in his last 14 games (13 starts), made 25 saves in the win.

RED WINGS 3, KINGS 1 Riley Sheahan scored his first NHL goal and assisted on Tomas Tatar’s tiebreaking tally with 7:54 to play in Detroit’s victory over Los Angeles.

Daniel Cleary also scored in the third period, and Jimmy Howard made 44 saves as the Red Wings slowed their recent slump by sending Los Angeles to its seventh loss in nine games.

Drew Doughty scored his first goal in a month during a two-man advantage, but the Kings couldn’t score in the final two periods of their third loss in 10 home games.

Jonathan Quick stopped 23 shots, but also gave up a juicy rebound on Sheahan’s shot to Tatar, who scored a goal in his third straight game. —AP

Kirk moves one ahead as Scott falls back in Hawaii

HONOLULU: Chris Kirk hits off the first tee during the third round of the Sony Open golf tournament at Waialae Country Club. — AP

HONOLULU: American Chris Kirk coolly sank a breaking, nine-foot birdie putt at the par-five last to edge one stroke clear of a tightly bunched leaderboard in Saturday’s third round of the $5.6 million Sony Open in Hawaii. Kirk, who won his second PGA Tour title at the McGladrey Classic in November, judged the break perfectly as he completed a five-under-par 65 to post a 12-under total of 198 at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu.

That left him one ahead of fellow Americans Harris English (67) and PGA Tour rookie Will Wilcox, who fired a joint best-of-the day 64 to surge into contention in the first full-field event of the year on the US circuit. While Masters champion Adam Scott surprisingly failed to mount his expected charge after being ideally placed just three strokes off the pace overnight, the fans at Waialae were treated to a slugfest at the top of the leaderboard.

Twelve players held at least a share of the lead during Saturday’s wildly fluctuating third round before Kirk broke clear with his timely birdie on the 18th green.

“It definitely breaks more than it looks but I remembered having that putt before ... and thankfully it went in,” Kirk told Golf Channel of his curling birdie putt.

Though conditions were favourable for low scoring on a calm morning at Waialae before the breeze picked up a bit in the afternoon, Kirk readily admitted he got the most out of his round. “A few good breaks for me and holes where I missed the fairways, but got decent lies in the rough and guessed the flyers just right,” the 28-year-old American said after mixing six birdies with one bogey.

“That’s tough to do out here.”

Wilcox, who secured his card for the 2013-14 PGA Tour via the lower-tier Web.com Tour last year, realized he was finally living out his dream career as he birdied the last two holes. “Walking down 18, me and my caddie looked at each other and I was kind of having to pinch myself,” said the 27-year-old from Birmingham, Alabama. “This is a dream come true to be able to play out here, it’s pretty cool. “I felt pretty good coming down 18. It’s nice to play well and make the first cut in a season I get to play,” added Wilcox, who is making only his third career start on the PGA Tour.—Reuters

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

S P ORT S

Surtees anniversary draws hope from F1 loss BIRMINGHAM: John Surtees has an infectious laugh and the broadest of grins but there is also sadness in his eyes as he prepares for a year of events marking the 50th anniversary of his Formula One championship win.

The former Ferrari driver’s past triumphs are entwined with personal tragedy as motorsport fetes Britain’s oldest surviving F1 champion and the only man to have won world titles on two wheels and four.

Surtees, who turns 80 next month after competing through some of the most dangerous years of grand prix racing, is using the attention to help promote a foundation set up after the death of his 18-year-old son Henry in a freak racing accident at Brands Hatch in 2009.

The foundation, whose motto is ‘finding hope in loss’, raises funds for accident care and community support and to help youngsters develop life skills through motorsport-related programmes.

“In a way I suppose I’m only involved in celebrating 50 years because of the fact that I’m using it also as a vehicle to assist in developing the foundation,” Surtees told Reuters in an interview at the Autosport International show, where several of the cars and bikes he raced with are displayed.

“Normally, I think I’d rather just drift around in the background.” The Briton, always known for forthright opinions on motorsport and an equally direct glare, is hardly the shrinking violet or one to put his feet up

but he has no need to shout about his achievements: They speak for themselves.

Between 1956 and 1960, he won seven motorcycling championships (three in 350cc and the others in the top 500cc category). In the 1960 season, he raced in grands prix on both two wheels and four and was also Isle of Man TT winner.

In recent years, Italian MotoGP great Valentino Rossi tested a Ferrari F1 car but never made the switch and the chances of anyone ever again emulating Surtees would appear remote. He disagrees, however. “I don’t think it’s impossible by any means,” he said. “I still look upon it as quite a natural thing because certainly when I sat in the car for the first time I was immediately able to go quick. As quick as anyone else had driven those cars.

“Today the way one can ride a modern bike, with the tyres and some of the controls which are available, the aids you have got... probably bike and car have come even closer in the relationship.

“So if someone achieves their goals in motorcycling at a certain time and says ‘Hmm, perhaps I will try new challenges’ it may happen. But obviously not if they are over the hill. When I changed I probably still had 10 years left in me which could have been at the top of motorcycling.”

In Surtees’ day, what mattered was what was shown on the stopwatch. He was given the opportunity to drive cars because of his speed on bikes and he deliv-

ered immediate and eye-opening results. If motorcycling was his first love, part of him will always belong to Maranello and Ferrari - then as now the most glamorous team on the grid.

“We had a variety of life which the present Formula One driver doesn’t have, but we didn’t have the number of races they have,” he said, comparing the eras. “It has been turned into a major commercial operation.

“I still would enjoy the challenge of sitting in a modern day car, but I’d obviously need to knock a few years off. Take about 50 years away again,” laughed the man who went on to design, build and race his own cars as a constructor.

The biggest problem Surtees had in Formula One, having grown up in the world of motorcycles with father Jack, who was a national champion, was dealing with paddock politics and rivals who resented his sudden arrival in car racing.

If he has any regrets looking back, it is that he was perhaps too sensitive and too impetuous. Had he been more ruthless or more patient, he might have won more titles.

“Perhaps on two occasions,” he mused. “There was the Lotus situation where Colin Chapman at the end of 1960 placed all his faith in me and said ‘John, I want you to be number one. Choose your team mate.’.”

Surtees indicated compatriot Jim Clark, for some the greatest driver of all time, but that meant Innes Ireland would be dropped.

“Some of the press got very much in mind that I was stealing Innes’s drive,” he recalled. “I was perhaps a little too sensitive and walked away. I should perhaps have had a more focused attitude and thought... ‘frankly, let them get lost. I’ll just look after number one’.”

Clark would go on to win the championship in 1963 and 1965 while Surtees beat Graham Hill by a single point in 1964 thanks to a scoring system that counted only the best six results.

Of his six career Formula One wins, four were with Ferrari and the others for Cooper and Honda. In all, Surtees won 290 of the 621 races he entered on bikes and in cars with another 103 podium finishes. In 1966, he came back from a big sportscar accident in Canada the previous year to lead the championship only to then walk away from Ferrari mid-season after a falling out.

“Mr Ferrari agreed with me at the end, just before he died actually, that we’d both made a bit of a mistake in that we’d lost probably championships together with the parting that we did in 1966. That again was a bit impetuous,” he smiled.

“I was so frustrated at not doing things that we could achieve at Ferrari because of political reasons and people pulling in a different direction.

“But I suppose it was all put right when Enzo said to me ‘John, we must remember the good times and not the mistakes’.” — Reuters

Gagnon wins World Cup super-combined event

ADELBODEN: Austria’s Marcel Hirscher speeds down the course to clock the third fastest time during the first run of an alpine ski men’s World Cup slalom. — AP

Hirscher wins slalom to take overall lead ADELBODEN: Marcel Hirscher mastered a classic Swiss slope yet again yesterday, winning a World Cup slalom to seize the lead in the overall and discipline standings. Hirscher, the Austrian two-time defending overall champion, sliced through the gates on a thrilling run down the steep final slope to beat Andre Myhrer of Sweden by 0.29 seconds. “It’s maybe a stupid decision,” Hirscher said about his risk-taking. “If you give a lot, you can win a lot.” Teenager Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway was third, trailing 0.66 behind Hirscher’s combined two-run time of 1 minute, 49.75 seconds. Hirscher won this race for the past two years en route to taking the giant crystal globe as the world’s best Alpine skier.

“It’s very wonderful here,” Hirscher said of the historic venue which has featured since the World Cup started in 1967. “It’s kind of a special race and it’s working pretty well for me.” Felix Neureuther of Germany lost his unbeaten record in 2014 by straddling a gate when poised to challenge Hirscher’s time. With 100 race points for victory, Hirscher now leads Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway by 23 points in the overall standings.

Svindal is a speed specialist who skips slalom races.

Ted Ligety of the United States retained a distant third place overall despite skiing out in the second run. Hirscher also took the discipline standings lead from teammate Mario Matt who failed to finish the second run. He leads by 60 points from Mattias Hargin

of Sweden, who placed fourth Sunday after being fastest in the morning.

With his fourth win this season, the 24-year-old Hirscher has 22 career World Cup victories including 12 in slalom. Kristoffersen, a 19-year-old junior world champion in two events, got his second career podium finish one day after almost colliding with a television production worker who strayed on the course during Saturday’s giant slalom won by Neureuther. “I skied over the back of his skis. I was definitely touching him a little bit there. (It) happens. We’re only humans,” Kristoffersen said. Bode Miller placed outside the top-30 yesterday morning so did not qualify for a second run.

The American veteran, who won this race in 2002, lost his race line and speed at the top of the final pitch.

David Chodounsky of the US was eighth, 1.70 behind Hirscher, to follow his 10th place here one year ago.

The host Switzerland team offered little for an enthusiastic crowd of 12,000 spectators on a sunny day with temperatures rising above 43 F (6 C). Only Markus Vogel advanced to the second run and placed 17th.

“The crowd is one of the most fair on the World Cup tour,” said Hirscher, whose next race is next Sunday in slalom at nearby Wengen. The three-race Wengen meeting includes the Lauberhorn downhill Saturday that is the traditional highlight of the Swiss sporting year. — AP

Leinster edge closer to European Cup quarters PARIS: Three-time former champions Leinster need just one point from their final Pool 1 game at home to Ospreys to ensure themselves a place in the European Cup quarter-finals after a thrilling 29-22 victory over Castres yesterday.

The Irish province sit atop Pool 1 with 17 points, four points ahead of Northampton, who ran out 2917 victors over Ospreys in Swansea.

It means Northampton’s only chance of qualifying for the knock-out phase is a bonus-point victory at home over Castres on Friday, with Leinster - who have a far superior points differential - losing at Ospreys. Kiwi fly-half Jimmy Gopperth was the catalyst in driving Leinster to the away win over the French Top 14 champions, with each side scoring three tries apiece.

“We didn’t get the greatest start,” Gopperth told Sky Sports. “They’re a great attacking side. “But we got some forward ball and looked after it and scored some tries. “We worked hard for each other, we want to be in the top eight.”

It was Castres’ first home defeat in 19 games, but they started well, scoring a fantastic opening try through Scotland lock Richie Gray, set up by a mazy run from centre Remi Lamerat.

Lamerat was proving a real handful and after bumping off a couple of tackles fed winger Remi Grosso who passed back inside to full-back Brice Dulin for a second great try for the French side.

But Castres were left kicking themselves after conceding a soft try from a scrum 10 metres from their own line, Gopperth skipping through some weak defence to dot down.

Gopperth claimed a second try shortly after, driving over from close range to leave it 17-12 at half-time. The Kiwi then drew Leinster to within two points with a penalty amd full-back Rob Kearney

then threw Castres a curveball when he nailed a long-range drop-goal to take the Irish province into the lead. Momentum had truly swung Leinster’s way, Gopperth kicking a quick brace of penalties for a 24-17 lead. Flanker Jordi Murphy was played in for Leinster’s third try to seal a vital win, Lamerat scoring a deserved late consolation try for the home side.

In Wales, Northampton ground out an at-times dour win over Ospreys, Stephen Myler kicking four first-half penalties to one from Dan Biggar.

It wasn’t until early in the second hald that the Saints came to life, a turnover and quick play-theball setting Wales winger George North haring down the left for a try.

Scrum-half Rhys Webb scored a sniping try for the Ospreys to breathe some life into a game desperately short on quality.

But Northampton hit back with a George Pisi touchdown. The home side were not out of it, however, Alun-Wyn Jones driving over from a line-out, Biggar’s conversion taking the score to 22-17.

The Saints responded through an opportunistic Glenn Dickson try to round off a desperately disappointing campaign by the Welsh region.

Toulouse host Saracens in the late game, with both sides still able to qualify whatever the result late yesterday, with final Pool 3 games next week against Connacht and Italian whipping boys Zebre.

Defending champions Toulon, heavyweight French rivals Clermont and former winners Munster all secured places in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

The day’s results also ensured Pool 5 leaders Ulster and second-placed Leicester advance into the last eight, both are assured of at least finishing as best runners-up. They meet next week to determine who will win their pool.— AFP

AUSTRIA: Marie-Michele Gagnon ended a 30-year drought for Canadian women in World Cup combined events by earning her maiden victory yesterday.

Gagnon was 1.37 seconds off the lead in 16th after the super-G portion but went ahead of the field after posting the second fastest time in the slalom run.

“It’s really exciting, a magical moment,” said Gagnon, who wasn’t even born when Gerry Sorensen won a combined event in Puy St. Vincent, France, on Jan. 8, 1984 for the last triumph by a Canadian woman.

“My teammate Erin Mielzynski won two years ago in Ofterschwang. She was the first Canadian woman to win in slalom in like 40 years,” Gagnon said. “That was unbelievable and I didn’t expect our team to make history again.”

Gagnon finished in an overall 2 minutes, 5.55 seconds to beat second-place Michaela Kirchgasser of Austria by 0.32. Maria HoeflRiesch of Germany trailed Gagnon by 0.39 in third.

Nicole Hosp of Austria, who led the competition after the super-G, finished fourth.

“It’s amazing. I was quite surprised,” said Gagnon, whose only previous podium came in a slalom in Are, Sweden, in 2012. “I didn’t expect that after the first run. I knew I had to do a really good slalom run to be on the podium. I just tried to do my best and it looks like the pieces of the puzzle have come together.” The super-combined format was introduced at the start of the 2005-06 season to replace the classic combined races, which consisted of one speed run followed by two slalom legs.

No Canadian skier - male or female - had ever made the podium in a super-combined before. The last Canadian to get in the top three of any combined event was Emily Broydon, who came third in San Sicaro, Italy, in 2005.

The combination of super-G and slalom at Sunday’s event suited Gagnon, who was in the top 10 of two super-G races this season and in the top six of all four slaloms.

“I am happy with my season so far and this tops it off for sure,” said Gagnon, coming off a disappointing season following her first top-three finish at the end of the 2011-12 campaign.

“I ended that season really strongly and I came in the season after and I was expecting a lot,” Gagnon said. “But I was trying too hard. This year, I just try my best. I know I have done all the work in training.” Secondplace Kirchgasser made an even bigger jump as she climbed from 20th after the super-G. “I knew something would still be possible (after the first run),” said the Austrian. “But after my slalom run, I first thought it wasn’t enough.”

Kirchgasser failed to finish five races this season, but said she had forgotten about 2013 already, adding “2014 has been really good so far.”

Hoefl-Riesch regained the lead in the overall standings one day after she lost it to Austria’s Anna Fenninger after Saturday’s downhill. The German has 731 points and Fenninger, who finished eighth, 709. Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein is third with 673.

“Of course I am really happy,” HoeflRiesch said. “But there’s also a little bit of disappointment. It wasn’t perfect skiing from me. And I missed second place by 0.07 yesterday and again today. But all in all it was a very satisfying weekend.”

Earlier yesterday, most of the 19 starters who failed to finish the super-G went out at the Panorama, a sharp right turn about 40 seconds into the run. Going into the curve with too much speed made it difficult to make the next gate.

Julia Mancuso, who won the super-combined in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee in 2007, also went out at that point. Her American teammate Lindsey Vonn, who has a record 12 podium finishes in super-combined including a win here in 2009, is out for the season because of a right knee injury.

It was the first super-combined event of the season and the only one before the Sochi Olympics next month. The women’s World Cup travels to nearby Flachau for a night slalom tomorrow. —AP

AUSTRIA: Canada’s Marie-Michele Gagnon speeds down the course on her way to win a women’s alpine ski World Cup super-combined event. — AP

Davis, White grab US ice dance title BOSTON: A record sixth straight US ice dance title. A personal best at the national championships, with the highest score possible for their free skate routine. And, most importantly, an all-but certain second consecutive trip to the Olympics for Charlie White and Meryl Davis. The reigning Winter Games silver medalists danced their way to victory at the US Figure Skating Championships on Saturday to win their sixth national title - one more than the record five they had shared with American ice dance pioneers Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto. “Coming into this competition, there was so secret we were going after that sixth title, the sixth recordbreaking title,” Davis said. “It’s such an honor for us.” With Davis’ shaggy, blonde mop of hair whirling around the ice and White’s tied back by a tiara, the world champions gave an energetic and emotional routine to “Sheherazade” by the Russian composer Nikolai RimskyKorsakov. They finished with 200.19 points their most ever at nationals - thanks to a 119.50 that was a perfect score for the elements in their free skate.

“With the Olympics in the season, it really ups the ante,” White said. “What a great time to be an American ice dancer.” Evan Bates and Madison Chock were second with 181.44 points and siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani, with 170.44 points, were third. “I feel like rock stars,” Alex Shibutani said. Earlier, hometown favorites Simon Shnapir and Marissa Castelli won the pairs championship. Gracie Gold won the women’s free skate later Saturday, followed by 15-year-old Polina Edmunds and 2010 OIympian Mirai Nagasu - leaving twotime US champion Ashley Wagner fourth and needing help from the selection committee to make the team that will go to the Sochi Olympics.

The men’s long program is Sunday. The US Olympic figure skating teams will be

announced Sunday, with the top three in dance and top two in pairs expected - but not guaranteed - to get spots. After showing up to a mid-week news conference in a Boston Bruins T-shirt and ski cap, Shnapir turned to a Saville Row-style shirt and tie accessorized by a gun holster - for a James Bond-themed routine with Castelli that earned them the pairs title.

“I grabbed her hand and I said, ‘Let’s just stay out here for a second and enjoy this moment,’” Shnapir, of nearby Sudbury, said after the victory put them in position for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. “Who knows if we’ll ever have an opportunity like this again?” Skating to the music from “Skyfall,” Castelli and Shnapir totaled 205.71 points to protect the lead they built with the top performance Thursday in the short program.

“Right now we’re just still in shock ourselves,” said Castelli, of Cranston, R.I. “We’re just trying to process everything.” Felicia Zhang and Nathan Bartholomay finished second with 201.72 points. Caydee Denney and John Coughlin moved up to third, with 201.43, after receiving the highest score in Saturday’s free skate.

“We didn’t leave anything on the table.

We skated just as hard and as passionate as we could,” Bartholomay said. “We’re both just completely on Cloud 9 right now. We are aware that second place is not locked in. But we gave it everything we had against some tremendous competition.”Skating in front of their home crowd on the rink the Bruins call home, Shnapir tossed Castelli high into the air for a triple twist and then threw her into a high-point value quad salchow that she finished with a fall - their only major mistake of the routine. He also did a triple toe loop when she went around twice, costing them some points. They were shaken, but nor stirred.—AP

BOSTON: Meryl Davis and Charlie White compete during the ice dance free skate at the US Figure Skating Championships. — AP

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2013

S P ORT S

Pistons eclipse Suns as Rockets fire past Wizards

DUBAI: Dimuth Karunaratne of Sri Lanka dodges a wild ball from Pakistan bowler Junaid Khan during the second cricket Test match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. — AP

Dominant Sri Lanka beat Pakistan in second Test DUBAI: Sri Lanka produced a professional performance to register their biggest victory over Pakistan by nine wickets in the second Test in Dubai, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Paceman Suranga Lakmal took all three wickets to fall on the fifth morning to finish with a career-best 4-78 to wrap up Pakistan’s second innings for 359 before Sri Lanka knocked off the meager 137-run target for one wicket. In achieveing the victory, Sri Lanka also defied the cloudy weather in Dubai and rain forecast for late yesterday. Opener Dimuth Karunaratne (62 not out) hit the winning runs after putting on 124 for the first wicket with Kaushal Silva who fell after scoring 58. Kumar Sangakkara remained unbeaten on nine. Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews praised his bowlers. “The bowlers did really well and the batsmen came to the party to set up this win,” said Mathews.

“That’s the beauty of Test cricket, we have to keep fighting despite the situation.” Pakistan’s lowest defended target was 127 achieved against New Zealand at Hamilton in 1993, when they dismissed their opponents for 93 but Sri Lanka ensured the good work was not lost.

Sri Lanka had previously beaten Pakistan by eight wickets on two occasions in 45 Tests between the two nations. In a surprise move Pakistan opened the bowling with off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez but both openers played with authority. Silva hit five boundaries before trapped leg-before by Saeed Ajmal. Karunaratne hit eight boundaries off 125 balls. Ajmal was once again ineffective, having now taken five wickets in two matches.

Pakistan will be desperate to level the series in the third Test starting in Sharjah from Thursday to avoid their firstever series defeat in United Arab Emirates, their adopted base for cricket since 2010 because of security fears back home. The first Test ended in a draw in Abu Dhabi.

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq criticised the Dubai stadium pitch. “We are not getting the pitch we want,” said Misbah. “It’s a worry as there was no spin, even on the fifth day, and spinners are our strength.”

Mahela Jayawardene, declared man-of-the-match for his 129, said he was happy to contribute in the win.”Obviously the hand dictated the way I batted and the match situation as well,” said Jayawardene, who batted with stitches in his left hand. “Our bowlers did really well to limit the Pakistan batting. It’s good to play with this bunch of boys and we have one more Test to go so hope we do well in Sharjah as well.”

Earlier, Pakistan failed to prolong their resistance of the fourth day as they lost three wickets in the space of just 29 runs. Lakmal removed Sarfraz Ahmed in the fourth over of the day, bringing one in sharply to beat the Pakistani’s forward defensive push and hit the off-stump.

Sarfraz scored 74, batting for 211 minutes and hitting seven boundaries in a fighting innings that took the game to the final day.

Lakmal then had Rahat Ali caught behind for eight, for Prasanna Jayawardene’s ninth catch in the match.

Prasanna equalled Sri Lanka’s record of nine catches by a wicketkeeper in a match set twice in successive Tests by Amal Silva against India at home in 1985. Lakmal bowled Ajmal (21) to end Pakistan’s second innings. Lakmal’s previous best was 3-55 against Australia at Galle in 2011.

Nuwan Pradeep, Shaminda Eranga and Rangana Herath took two wickets apiece. Sri Lankan paceman bowled well on the first day to get Pakistan out for a low score of 165 and then gained a big 223-run lead.

Pakistan did put up a fight, taking the game to the final day with Misbah hitting 97 and Younis Khan scoring 77 on the fourth day but the first-innings deficit led to their downfall. — AFP

SCOREBOARD Scoreboard at the end of the second test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Dubai yesterday.

Pakistan first innings 165 Sri Lanka first innings 388 Pakistan second innings (Overnight 330-7) Khurram Manzoor c P. Jayawardene b Pradeep 6 9 Ahmed Shehzad c P. Jayawardene b Herath Mohammad Hafeez c P. Jayawardene b Pradeep 1 Younus Khan c P. Jayawardene b. Lakmal 77 Misbah-ul-Haq b Herath 97 Asad Shafiq b Karunaratne b Eranga 23 Sarfraz Ahmed b Lakmal 74 Bilawal Bhatti b Eranga 32 Saeed Ajmal b Lakmal 21 Rahat Ali C P. Jayawardene b Lakmal 8 Junaid Khan not out 2 Extras (b-1, lb-8) 9 Total (all out; 137.3 overs) 359 Fall of wickets: 1-11 2-12 3-19 4-148 5-200 6-245 7-312 8-334 9-354.

Bowling: Lakmal 28.3-4-78-4, Pradeep 19-3-50-2, Herath 48-10-132-2, Eranga 36-9-74-2, Mathews 5-1-90, Sangakkara 1-0-7-0.

Sri Lanka second innings D. Karunaratne not out 62 58 K. Silva lbw b Ajmal K. Sangakkara not out 9 Extras (b-3, lb-4, nb-1) 8 Total (one wicket; 46.2 overs) 137 Did not bat: M Jayawardene, D Chandimal, A Mathews, P Jayawardene, R Herath, S Eranga, S Lakmal, N Pradeep.

Fall of wicket: 1-124 Bowling: Mohammad Hafeez 8-3-22-0, Junaid Khan 102-34-0, Rahat Ali 11-1-29-0, Saeed Ajmal 17.2-5-45-1.

Finch ton secures Australia win MELBOURNE: Aaron Finch struck his second 50-over hundred as Australia maintained their dominance over England with a six-wicket victory in the first one-day international yesterday. Finch (121) and fellow opener David Warner (65) dazzled while captain Michael Clarke contributed 43 brisk runs as the hosts eased to a victory target of 270 with 4.2 overs to spare.

Earlier, half-centuries from Gary Ballance (79) and Eoin Morgan (50) helped England put behind a wobbly start and post 269 for seven wickets after captain Alastair Cook had opted to bat first.

The 163-run stand between Finch and Warner in 28 overs laid the foundation for Australia’s comprehensive win which prolonged England’s misery Down Under after their test series whitewash.

Australia’s openers enjoyed their share of luck with Finch dropped by Ballance on eight and Warner, when

SCOREBOARD MELBOURNE: Scoreboard from the first England v Australia one day international at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.

England: A. Cook c Haddin b McKay 4 I. Bell b Doherty 41 J. Root lbw b McKay 3 G. Balance c Doherty b McKay 79 E. Morgan c Coulter-Nile b Maxwell 50 R. Bopara c Haddin b Coulter-Nile 17 B. Stokes b Faulkner 21 J. Buttler not out 34 T. Bresnan not out 16 Extras (lb-1, w-3) 4 Total (7 wickets; 50 overs) 269 Did not bat: C. Jordan, B. Rankin Fall of wickets: 1-4 2-22 3-62 4-145 5-173 6-206 7-228 Bowling: McKay 10-0-44-3 (w-1) Coulter-Nile 10-0-51-1 (w-1), Maxwell 8-0-40-1, Doherty 7-0-29-1, Faulkner 10-0-68-1 (w-1), Watson 5-0-36-0.

Australia: A. Finch c Ballance b Stokes 121 65 D. Warner c Stokes b Root S. Watson b Jordan 0 M. Clarke c Cook b Bresnan 43 G. Bailey not out 17 G. Maxwell not out 8 Extras (lb-6, w-10) 16 Total (4 wickets; 45.4 overs) 270 Did not bat: B. Haddin, J. Faulkner, N. Coulter-Nile, C. McKay, X. Doherty.

Fall of wickets: 1-163 2-165 3-237 4-247.

Bowling: Rankin 8-0-53-0(w-2), Jordan 10-0-50-1(w-5), Bresnan 9.4-0-56-1, Stokes 10-0-65-1(w-1), Bopara 6-030-0, Root 2-0-11-1(w-2).

on 22, called back from the boundary line after replays could not establish conclusively Jos Buttler had taken a clean catch behind the stumps.

Warner eventually holed out in the deep off Joe Root to depart after a 72-ball knock that included five boundaries and a six off Chris Jordan. Jordan dismissed Shane Watson for a two-ball duck in the next over but Clarke and Finch scored freely to kill the contest.

Balance eventually caught Finch in the 40th over off Ben Stokes, ending his 128-ball blitz. England suffered an early blow when Cook edged the fourth ball of the day to perish caught behind for four.

Clint McKay (3-44) claimed his second victim in Root (three) to reduce the tourists to 22 for two before Ian Bell and Ballance steadied the ship. Bell reverse-swept Xavier Doherty for a boundary and slog-swept Glen Maxwell for a six to reach 41 before attempting a repeat of the same shot only to be clean bowled by Doherty.

Morgan joined Ballance in the middle for England’s most productive partnership, adding 83 runs from 14.1 overs with some cheeky shots and sharp running between the wickets. Maxwell dismissed Morgan for 50 off 47 balls while Ballance fell in the 46th over, having justified his call-up with his maiden ODI fifty. — Reuters

MELBOURNE: Australia’s Aaron Finch (left) celebrates with his captain Michael Clarke after making 100 runs against England during their One Day International cricket match. —AP

AUBURN HILLS: Josh Smith’s driving, lefthanded bank shot with 1.2 seconds left gave the Detroit Pistons a 110-108 win over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday.

Smith was involved in a few big plays in the final half-minute - both good and bad. His 3pointer as the shot clock expired put Detroit ahead 108-105 with 26.8 seconds left. Then he fouled Gerald Green while the Phoenix guard was shooting a 3-pointer. Green made all three free throws to tie it with 4.3 seconds remaining.

Smith took the ensuing inbounds pass near the top of the key, drove to the right and then switched hands, making a tough shot while being tightly defended by Channing Frye.

Green’s shot at the buzzer from in front of the Detroit bench missed badly. Smith finished with 25 points, and Brandon Jennings had eight points, 18 assists - an NBA high this season - and eight rebounds for Detroit. Greg Monroe added 20 points and 12 rebounds. Frye led Phoenix with 21 points.

ROCKETS 114, WIZARDS 107 Houston built a 25-point lead, lost all of it, then rallied from five down late in the fourth quarter to defeat Washington in a game twice delayed by leaks in the roof.

Long after the stoppages of 35 and 22 minutes because the leaks, James Hardin tied the game with a driving layup with 2:33 to play, then gave the Rockets the lead again - this time for good - with a three-point play with 1:54 remaining. He finished with 25 points for the Rockets, who made only four field goals in the final period yet closed with a 17-5 run.

John Wall led Washington’s comeback and finished with 23 points and 10 assists, Trevor Ariza had 23 points and 14 rebounds, and Kevin Seraphin - another catalyst in Washington’s surge - had all of his season-high 18 points in the second half. The Wizards lost their fourth straight home game and fell to 2-14 against teams that are currently .500 or better.

TRAIL BLAZERS 112, CELTICS 104 LaMarcus Aldridge had 21 points and 13 rebounds to help Portland hand Boston its eighth straight loss. The Trail Blazers rallied from a 10-point second-quarter deficit. Wesley Matthews scored 18 points and Nicolas Batum had 16. Damian Lillard and Robin Lopez each had 15 points. Lopez also had 13 rebounds. The win kept Portland tied for first place with Oklahoma City in the Northwest Division.

Avery Bradley led Boston with 25 points. The Celtics, who have lost 11 of 12, shot 62 percent during the first half, but only 34 percent after halftime. Jared Sullinger had 14 points and 10 rebounds for Boston. Sullinger scored 26 points when the two teams played at Boston in November.

AUBURN HILLS: Phoenix Suns forward PJ Tucker (17) is fouled by Detroit Pistons center Greg Monroe (10) while driving to the basket during the first half of an NBA basketball game. — AP Stoudemire went 8 for 10 from the field.

Spencer Hawes and James Anderson each had 17 points to lead the Sixers (12-25).

Thaddeus Young chipped in 15 points for Philadelphia, losers of four in a row.

RAPTORS 96, NETS 80 DeMar DeRozan scored 26 points, Patrick Patterson had 14 points and 12 rebounds as Toronto ended Brooklyn’s five-game winning streak. Terrence Ross scored 14 points, John Salmons had 13 and Kyle Lowry finished with 12 as Toronto won for the seventh time in nine games. Paul Pierce scored 15 points and Alan Anderson had 13 for the Nets, whose seasonlong winning streak came to an end one night after a double-overtime victory over Miami. Joe Johnson scored 11 for the Nets, who fell to 1-6 this season in the second game of a back-toback.

BULLS 103, BOBCATS 97 DJ Augustin had 20 points and 12 assists and Joakim Noah added 19 points and 14 rebounds to help streaking Chicago beat Charlotte for its fifth straight victory and improve to 3-0 since trading All-Star Luol Deng to Cleveland on Monday.

Mike Dunleavy scored 17 points for the Bulls, who had seven players score in double figures and recovered after blowing a 15-point lead in the second half. Carlos Boozer had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Gerald Henderson scored 30 points and Kemba Walker had 29 for the Bobcats, who have dropped three straight.

MAVERICKS 110, PELICANS 97 Dirk Nowitzki scored a season-high 40 points as Dallas recovered from a cold start to beat New Orleans for the second time in as many days. Nowitzki scored 20 points in the third quarter and hit seven straight shots after starting 2 of 9 from the field. Monta Ellis broke a 99-all tie with two free throws, and Nowitzki hit three more after getting fouled on a 3-pointer

by Jason Smith. Anthony Davis had 28 points and 14 rebounds for the Pelicans, who lost their fifth straight and dropped six games below .500, both season highs.

THUNDER 101, BUCKS 85 Kevin Durant scored 33 points after missing his first eight shots and Serge Ibaka added 17 points and 17 rebounds to help Oklahoma City beat Milwaukee to end a two-game losing streak. Jeremy Lamb added 17 points for the Thunder, who had lost four of six. Oklahoma City scored just 14 points in the first quarter and 38 in the first half before heating up and hitting 63 after the break.

OJ Mayo and Luke Ridnour scored 16 points apiece and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Bucks (7-29), who have the league’s worst record.

KNICKS 102, 76ERS 92 Amare Stoudemire scored 21 points and Carmelo Anthony added 18 to lead New York over Philadelphia. JR Smith returned from a one-game benching for unsportsmanlike conduct and contributed 11 points for the Knicks (14-22), who have won four straight. Anthony added nine rebounds and seven assists.

NUGGETS 120, MAGIC 94 Kenneth Faried had 17 points and nine rebounds, and Randy Foye and Evan Fournier scored 18 points each as Denver beat Orlando for its fifth straight victory after losing eight in a row. Quincy Miller had 16 points and 11 rebounds - both career highs - for the Nuggets, who had seven players score at least

13 points, including J.J. Hickson, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Denver has scored at more than 120 points three times in its fivegame winning streak. Tobias Harris had 22 points and nine rebounds and Glen Davis scored 20 points for the Magic, who have dropped seven straight. — AP

NBA results/standings Toronto 96, Brooklyn 80; Houston 114, Washington 107; Detroit 110, Phoenix 108; NY Knicks 102, Philadelphia 92; Chicago 103, Charlotte 97; Oklahoma City 101, Milwaukee 85; Dallas 110, New Orleans 107; Denver 120, Orlando 94; Portland 112, Boston 104.

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L PCT Toronto 18 17 .514 15 22 .405 Brooklyn NY Knicks 14 22 .389 Boston 13 25 .342 Philadelphia 12 25 .324 Central Division Indiana 29 7 .806 17 18 .486 Chicago Detroit 16 22 .421 Cleveland 13 23 .361 Milwaukee 7 29 .194 Southeast Division Miami 27 10 .730 Atlanta 20 17 .541 Washington 16 19 .457 Charlotte 15 23 .395 Orlando 10 27 .270 Western Conference Northwest Division Portland 28 9 .757 Oklahoma City 28 9 .757 Denver 19 17 .528 Minnesota 18 18 .500 Utah 12 26 .316 Pacific Division LA Clippers 26 13 .667 25 14 .641 Golden State Phoenix 21 15 .583 LA Lakers 14 23 .378 Sacramento 12 22 .353 Southwest Division San Antonio 28 8 .778 Houston 24 14 .632 Dallas 22 16 .579 Memphis 16 19 .457 New Orleans 15 21 .417

GB 4 4.5 6.5 7 11.5 14 16 22 7 10 12.5 17

8.5 9.5 16.5 1 3.5 11 11.5 5 7 11.5 13

Preview

Djokovic favorite for Aussie Open MELBOURNE: It’s tennis’s most intense rivalry but recent momentum and a lop-sided draw have given Novak Djokovic the edge over Rafael Nadal as he seeks a record fourth straight Australian Open title.

While Serena Williams is the unbackable favorite for the women’s trophy, Djokovic and Nadal, the world number one, are nearly inseparable at the top of the men’s game.

When they last met in Melbourne in 2012, it took five hours and 53 minutes, the longest ever Grand Slam final, before Djokovic finally prevailed in five exhausting sets. Nadal missed last year’s Australian Open with injury but on his return, he denied Djokovic in the French Open semis and US Open final before supplanting him at the top of the rankings.

However, Djokovic beat Nadal convincingly in two deciders in the latter part of last season, including at the year-ending World Tour Finals, to seize back the psychological advantage. “It is difficult to see Rafa losing to anyone other than Novak and possibly Andy Murray,” Jim Courier told Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper.

“Novak Djokovic suffered some tough losses to Rafa last year but was able to beat the Spaniard twice in the fall so momentum in their rivalry is now on his side.” Djokovic has repeatedly shown his liking for the season’s opening Grand Slam after winning his first major title in Melbourne in 2008 and reclaiming it in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

The Serb, the only man to win three straight Australian Open championships since Roy Emerson claimed five in a row in the preprofessional era, also has the easier draw, with Stanislas Wawrinka and David Ferrer shaping as possible opponents.

Meanwhile, Nadal stands to meet Grand Slam champions in the form of Juan Martin del Potro and either Andy Murray or Roger Federer ahead of a potential final rematch

MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic of Serbia makes a backhand return during a training session ahead of the Australian Open tennis championship. — AP Wimbledon champion Murray is also tenwith Djokovic. All players are braced for extreme heat in the first week with tempera- tatively returning to action following back tures set to soar above 40 Celsius (104 surgery, putting a question mark over his bid to end a run of three final defeats in Fahrenheit) from Tuesday onwards.

“I am expecting to play in big heat. You Melbourne.

In the women’s draw, Williams’ bid to always have to expect because you can’t really predict Melbourne’s weather, it’s changing a match Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova’s 18 Grand Slam titles looks strong after she lost lot,” Djokovic said.

“But I remember the 2008, 2009 and 2010, just five times last year and won her warm-up there were several days I played in extreme event in Brisbane. “It would mean a lot to be heat. So I know how tough it is.” Djokovic has on the same level as such great players at hired Boris Becker as one of a number of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova,” said celebrity coaches who will appear on the Williams. “I still have a lot of work to do. I obvisidelines this year, including Stefan Edberg ously want to be able to reach that level, but I’m not there yet. Hopefully I’ll get there.” who is working with Federer.

The 17-time Grand Slam winner, now 32 Victoria Azarenka is the defending women’s and ranked sixth in the world, is considered champion while China’s Li Na, the beaten an outsider for the title as he enters a record finalist last year and in 2011, is hoping to land her second Grand Slam title. —AFP 57th consecutive major championship.

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

S P ORT S

Real reel in leaders

LONDON: Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge (centre) fires the ball against Stokeís Jack Butland before going on to score from the rebound during their English Premier League soccer match.—AP

Liverpool beat Stoke in eight-goal thriller Stoke 3

Liverpool 5

LONDON: Luis Suarez scored twice as Liverpool secured a first Premier League victory at Stoke City and climbed to fourth in the table with a dramatic 5-3 win yesterday. The visitors raced into an early 2-0 lead, with a Ryan Shawcross own goal and a Suarez effort giving them an apparently comfortable cushion.

But Peter Crouch’s header pulled one back before Charlie Adam-also a former Liverpool player-thumped in from the edge of the area to pull Stoke level just before half-time.

Steven Gerrard restored the lead with a penalty before Suarez curled in a fourth. Jonathan Walters looked to set up a tense finish by reducing the arrears in the 85th minute, but Daniel Sturridge celebrated his return from an ankle injury by scoring Liverpool’s fifth.

The visitors were far from convincing at times, but they picked up what could prove to be a pivotal win in their push for a Champions League place.

Brendan Rodgers’s side had to make a strong start defensively as they dealt with a couple of early Adam corners, but the visitors got a welcome break after just five minutes. Lucas Leiva played Raheem Sterling into space down the right and the winger clipped the ball back for Aly Cissokho, whose shot from 25 yards was flying well wide before hitting Shawcross and flying past Jack Butland.

The visitors were continually forced deep but rarely looked in trouble and should have doubled their advantage when Sterling crossed for Philippe Coutinho, only for the Brazilian to lift his shot just over the bar.

Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet failed to deal with another Walters ball in and Glenn Whelan’s drive was deflected wide before Kolo Toure did well to clear ahead of Crouch from the corner that followed. After the visitors scrambled another corner clear, Martin Skrtel and Shawcross ended up wrestling in the goalmouth as the Stoke man showed his anger at the way he was being marked.

Suarez hit a free-kick wide off Marko Arnautovic, but the Uruguayan added a second with half an hour gone.

Skrtel thumped the ball forward and both Marc Wilson and Shawcross failed to deal with it, enabling Suarez to roll in from a narrow angle.

But six minutes before the interval the hosts pulled one back when Arnautovic chucked a cross into the area and Crouch angled in a clever header at the near post. Liverpool almost responded immediately when Coutinho was picked out by Suarez, but he could only shoot straight at Butland. In the final minute before the interval, Adam hauled Stoke level when he thumped

home from the edge of the area after Liverpool failed to clear their lines.

Adam then hit a half-volley wide as Stoke began the second half on the offensive, but Liverpool re-took the lead six minutes after the break.

Wilson’s attempted clearance was blocked by Sterling and as the winger broke into the area, he went down under the Irish defender’s challenge. Referee Anthony Taylor awarded a penalty and Gerrard sent Butland the wrong way from the spot.

Jordan Henderson drove over, Coutinho had a low effort saved by Butland and Sterling failed to get a clean strike on Cissokho’s cross as Liverpool searched for a fourth goal. With 19 minutes left, they got it as Sturridge surged forward and played a smart ball through for Suarez to curl into the bottom-right corner.

Mignolet pulled off a fine stop to push away an awkward header from Walters, but the Belgian conceded a third goal when Arnautovic clipped a ball in behind the visiting defence and Walters prodded home. Liverpool finally ended the contest when Suarez played Sturridge through and after the England striker’s first shot was saved by Butland, he coolly controlled before volleying home at the near post. There was still time for Crouch to head against the post at the other end, but Liverpool held on. _ AFP

EPL results/standings Newcastle United 0 Manchester City 2 (Dzeko 8, Negredo 90+5); Stoke City 3 (Crouch 39, Adam 45, Walters 85) Liverpool 5 (Shawcross 5-og, Suarez 32, 71, Gerrard 51-pen, Sturridge 87).

Man City Chelsea Arsenal Liverpool Everton Tottenham Man Utd Newcastle Southampton Hull Aston Villa Stoke Swansea West Brom Norwich Fulham West Ham Cardiff Sunderland Crystal Palace

21 21 20 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 20 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21

15 14 14 13 11 12 11 10 8 6 6 5 5 4 5 6 4 4 4 5

2 4 3 3 8 4 4 3 6 5 5 7 6 9 5 1 6 6 5 2

4 3 3 5 2 5 6 8 7 10 9 9 10 8 11 14 11 11 12 4

59 40 39 51 34 26 35 29 27 22 19 22 26 23 17 22 21 15 19 13

23 19 18 26 19 25 24 27 23 27 25 35 30 28 35 46 30 34 34 31

47 46 45 42 41 40 37 33 30 23 23 22 21 21 20 19 18 18 17 17

Tempers fray as City go top at Newcastle Newcastle 0

Man City 2

NEWCASTLE: Manchester City went top in the Premier League yesterday with a 2-0 win at Newcastle United that could have repercussions for both teams on and off the pitch. Off it, Newcastle manager Alan Pardew heads those who may face disciplinary action after touchline rows that followed the controversial decision to disallow a goal by Cheick Tiote.

City, meanwhile, face the possibility of losing key player Samir Nasri for a lengthy period after he was taken off on a stretcher with a leg injury following a foul by Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa. Edin Dzeko scored an early goal and Alvaro Negredo added another in stoppage time to give City their 10th successive win against Newcastle.

But the main talking point was referee Mike Jones’s decision to disallow Tiote’s goal because he considered that Yoan Gouffran, who was in an offside position, was interfering with play. The fall-out from the contentious verdict was unsavoury as Pardew apparently swore at his City counterpart Manuel Pellegrini and coaches from both clubs went headto-head in arguments.

Fourth official Martin Atkinson appeared to hear what was said and, although nobody was sent to the stands, there may be consequences once the Football Association receives a report on the match.

Jones’s decision, and what followed, overshadowed the frantic action of a fiercely contested match.

City extended their unbeaten run to 15 games,

but they were indebted to goalkeeper Joe Hart for several fine saves as they came under pressure in the second half. It took City eight minutes to take the lead, with Aleksandar Kolarov’s cross turned in by Dzeko, who had scored twice in the mid-week 6-0 demolition of West Ham United in the League Cup. The goal provided the platform for an impressive spell from City. While they failed to carve out any clear-cut chances, the strength and authority displayed in midfield kept them firmly in control.

Newcastle finally created a chance when Yohan Cabaye’s half-volley from a sharp angle was turned over by Hart, leading to the corner that sparked the game’s furious controversy.

The ball was cleared to Tiote, whose fierce firsttime shot flew through the crowded goalmouth and inside the far post. Tiote was already celebrating with Pardew and the rest of the United coaching team when it dawned on them that referee Jones was consulting his assistant Stephen Child.

Child had spotted that Gouffran was offside and the fact that he had swerved to one side to avoid the ball was apparently enough to convince the officials that he had been interfering with play. ‘One-nil to the referee!’ was the chant aired in response by angry Newcastle supporters and the ill-feeling spread to the two dug-outs.

Pardew was still arguing with Atkinson at the beginning of the second half, which Newcastle began in encouraging fashion, with Vurnon Anita seeing a shot saved by Hart.

Pellegrini sensed the danger, sending on substitute Jesus Navas for Dzeko within six minutes and making sure City regained some of their earlier composure. But Newcastle remained the more enterprising side.

Tiote was a sturdy presence in front of his back four and the probing of Anita and Cabaye posed a threat that almost brought an equaliser when the latter’s shot was saved at full stretch by Hart. — AFP

MADRID: Real Madrid moved to within three points of La Liga leaders Barcelona and Atletico Madrid with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Espanyol yesterday.

Portuguese defender Pepe got the only goal of the game when he rose highest to head home Luka Modric’s free-kick 10 minutes after half-time. Cristiano Ronaldo should then have added to his side’s lead on a number of occasions.

But despite their star man having an off night in front of goal, Madrid comfortably held on for the three points as Espanyol created nothing of note after falling behind.

The hosts had started on the front foot and should have been in front after just three minutes when Cristian Stuani skewed his header wide when unmarked just six yards out.

Thereafter, though, Madrid had the better of the chances in the first-half without ever completely dominating the game.

Ronaldo uncharacteristically fluffed his lines after Karim Benzema’s fine solo run down the left had freed the Portuguese inside the area.

Espanyol keeper Kiko Casilla also had to beat away Angel di Maria’s long-range drive and a free-kick from Ronaldo.

However, the visitors best chances of the first 45 minutes came just before the break when Modric led a counter-attack, but after feeding Di Maria the Argentine failed to pick out one of four available teammates. The ball eventually fell to Gareth Bale and his cross was headed just wide by Benzema.

Madrid did make the breakthrough 10 minutes into the second-half as Modric’s free-kick towards the back post was powerfully headed low into the far corner by the unmarked Pepe.

For Ronaldo, who is expected to pick up his second Ballon d’Or in Zurich on Monday, frustration continued to build as he also dragged an effort wide after being released by Di Maria.

Bale was starting a league game for the first time in nearly a month and his looked short of match sharpness as he contributed little before being replaced by Jese Rodriguez 15 minutes from time.

Casilla produced a stunning one hand save to prevent Ronaldo once more as he bore down on goal and Ronaldo then somehow fired wide with Casilla prone on the floor having parried Benzema’s initial effort. _ AFP

SPAIN: Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, from Portugal (right) duels for the ball against Espanyol’s Sidnei Rechel during a Spanish La Liga soccer match. — AP

Spanish League results/standings Getafe 0 Rayo Vallecano 1 (Bueno 29); Real Betis 1 (Molina 80) Osasuna 2 (Torres 2, Figueras 57-og); Espanyol 0 Real Madrid 1 (Pepe 55).

Barcelona Atletico Madrid Real Madrid Athletic Bilbao Real Sociedad Villarreal Sevilla Valencia Granada Getafe Espanyol Osasuna Malaga Levante Celta Vigo Almeria Elche Valladolid Rayo Vallecano Real Betis

19 19 19 19 18 18 19 19 19 19 19 19 18 18 19 19 19 19 19 19

16 16 15 11 9 9 8 7 7 7 6 6 5 5 5 5 4 3 5 2

2 2 2 3 5 4 6 2 2 2 4 3 5 5 4 4 5 7 1 5

1 1 2 5 4 5 5 10 10 10 9 10 8 8 10 10 10 9 13 12

53 47 53 32 35 32 36 26 19 20 22 17 19 17 23 21 17 21 19 16

12 11 21 24 23 20 30 31 25 31 25 29 23 27 31 38 28 33 45 38

50 50 47 36 32 31 30 23 23 23 22 21 20 20 19 19 18 16 16 11

Juve, Roma and Napoli on target MILAN: Juventus, Roma and Napoli hit 11 goals between them to deliver a blow to pursuers Fiorentina and Verona in Italy’s Serie A yesterday.

Juventus had been looking for a club record of 11 successive wins and despite conceding a 21st minute opener to Mauricio Pinilla the champions fought back in clinical fashion with Fernando Llorente netting twice in a 4-1 win at Cagliari.

Conte said he was “proud” to become the first Juve coach to reach the milestone, but added to Sky Sport Italia: “I thanked all of the team for helping us reach this milestone but we have to try and extend this streak or another side will try to overtake us.”

Roma began the day eight points behind leaders Juve but had little trouble dispatching Genoa, who were reduced to 10 men before the hour, 4-0.

Alessandro Florenzi led the rout with a sublime overhead kick, with further goals coming courtesy of club captain Francesco Totti, Maicon and Mehdi Benatia. Totti, hitting his first goal in nine months, hailed Juve’s campaign but said the title race was not over.

“Juventus are the reigning champions and they’re almost a class apart, but we have a strong side that won’t quit. Until the very end, we will be giving them a hard time,” Totti told Sky Sport Italia.

Napoli were two points further adrift but despite a potentially tricky fixture returned from high-flying Verona with a precious 3-0 win.

Napoli coach Rafael Benitez suggested the scoreline flattered his side, which is still missing Marek Hamsik, Juan Zuniga and goalkeeper Pepe Reina among others, due to injury. “It was a difficult game but we showed that we are a strong team,” said the Spaniard, admitting their next major aim comes at home to Roma, on March 9.

“The home game against Roma is our next major objective but we have our own path set out and we’ll see where it takes us.”

Juventus have been in fine form since a 4-2 defeat at Fiorentina at the end of October and, now with 52 points at the halfway stage, expectations that Antonio Conte’s men can become the first side to break the 100-point barrier will only intensify. — AFP

Italian League results/standings Torino 0 Fiorentina 0+ADs- Atalanta 2 (Denis 67-pen, Moralez 86) Catania 1 (Leto 89)+ADs- Cagliari 1 (Pinilla 21) Juventus 4 (Llorente 31, 76, Marchisio 73, Lichsteiner 80)+ADs-Verona 0 Napoli 3 (Mertens 27, Insigne 72, Dzemaili 76)+ADs-Roma 4 (Florenzi 25, Totti 30, Maicon 43, Benatia 52) Genoa 0 Juventus Roma Napoli Fiorentina Verona Inter Milan Torino Parma Lazio Genoa AC Milan Atalanta Cagliari Udinese Sampdoria Chievo Bologna Sassuolo Livorno Catania

19 19 19 19 19 18 19 19 19 19 18 19 19 18 18 18 19 18 19 19

17 13 13 11 10 8 6 6 6 6 5 6 4 6 4 4 3 3 3 3

1 5 3 4 2 7 8 8 6 5 7 3 9 2 6 4 7 5 4 4

1 1 3 4 7 3 5 5 7 8 6 10 6 10 8 10 9 10 12 12

46 39 41 34 34 37 31 29 23 19 28 20 19 18 19 13 17 17 16 13

12 10 20 20 30 22 27 26 26 24 26 29 28 25 27 23 33 38 33 34

52 44 42 37 32 31 26 26 24 23 22 21 21 20 18 16 16 14 13 13

FRANCE: Evianís Ivorian defender Djedje (bottom) vies with Marseilleís French defender Benjamin Mendy (top) during the French L1 football match. — AFP

Marseille winning streak continues PARIS: Marseille are now unbeaten in five domestic games under Jose Anigo after coming from behind to beat Evian 2-1 in Annecy yesterday.

On-loan winger Pape Amodou Sougou put the home side in front against his parent club, but Benoit Cheyrou equalised for OM and Andre-Pierre Gignac netted what turned out to be the winner before the interval. It was Marseille’s firstever win away to Evian and the three points lifted them back up to fifth place in the Ligue 1 table.

However, they remain eight points adrift of the Champions League qualification places, and that gap could increase if Lille take something from their game at home to Reims later yesterday. In the summer, OM raided Evian to sign their Tunisian international forward Saber Khalifa, with Senegalese winger Sougou moving in the opposite direction on a seasonlong loan deal.

Both players featured prominently at the Parc des Sports, with Sougou meeting a left-wing corner to send a looping header over goalkeeper Steve Mandanda and into the net at the far post on 15 minutes. It was his fourth league goal of the season, although he refused to celebrate against the club to whom he still belongs.

The visitors were level within seven minutes, though, as Cheyrou collected a loose ball in a central position 25 yards from goal and curled a beautiful shot over ‘keeper Bertrand Laquait and into the net.

Gignac then made it 2-1 in the 38th minute, heading in his sixth goal in five games in all competitions from a clipped Florian Thauvin cross.

OM had chances to increase their lead in the second half, notably when Khalifa hit the bar as he attempted to lob Laquait from 30 yards.

However, they held on to claim what was their first win in the league since late November, while the defeat leaves Evian just three points above the drop zone.

Earlier, Nantes beat local rivals Lorient 1-0 at the Stade de la Beaujoire, Ismael Bangoura firing home his first goal for the club since May 2012 to seal the points with just a minute remaining.

Yann Jouffre hit the bar from a free-kick in stoppage time for Lorient, who suffered a first defeat in eight Ligue 1 games.

Nantes are sixth after the win, and the impact of the Guinean Bangoura was particularly welcome. The southern Brittany side face the prospect of a FIFA-imposed transfer ban, of at least a year, for allegedly going against the rules with their signing of Bangoura from Emirati club Al Nasr in 2012.

That could prove particularly damaging if this season’s eight-goal top scorer Filip Djordjevic, who set up Bangoura’s goal against Lorient, leaves as expected when his contract expires in the summer. Lille can leapfrog Monaco and go second by beating Reims, cutting Paris SaintGermain’s lead at the top of the table to four points in the process.

PSG were not at their best away to Ajaccio on Saturday, but still came from behind to win 2-1 against the division’s bottom club thanks to goals

by Ezequiel Lavezzi and Blaise Matuidi. Monaco were held to a 1-1 draw at Montpellier on Friday. — AFP

Hirscher wins slalom to take overall lead

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

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Dominant Sri Lanka beat Pakistan in second Test

18

Liverpool beat Stoke in eight-goal thriller

Kuwait Sporting Club team

Kuwait, Bayern showdown KUWAIT: Kuwait Sporting Club is all geared up for a showdown with German champions Bayern Munich at the Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium in Kaifan today.

Kuwait SC player Jarrah Al-Atiqi said the players are determined to take advantage of the match and provide a good show that presents the true picture of Kuwait and not only the club. He said millions of Bayern fans will be following the match “and we want to show the world that Kuwait has talented and professional players”. Player Waleed Ali said the game was a great opportunity Kuwait SC to play with the best team in the world and a rare opportunity for sports fans to watch Bayern Munich players on the ground and not on TV screens. Ali added that all players will seize the opportunity to participate in this game, whether regulars or reservists.

Tunisian player Issam Juma that the game is a gift to the players after their track record of achievements in the domestic and Asian leagues last season. Juma said that every player dreams of participating in a match against top international players and hopes to take advantage of this friendly meeting to add to the achievements of the club.

Director of Kuwait SC Adel Aqlah said all players aspire to take advantage of the technical, organizational and physical skills of the best players in the world.

Assistant coach Mohammed Abdullah said “the match against Bayern Munich will be an experience for the coaches and team in general”. Abdullah added “Kuwait SC made a strong showing against Brazil in the past”, expressing hope that the ‘Whites’ will perform similarly in this match against Bayern Munich and reach a result satisfactory to the fans of Kuwait. The players thanked National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem for sponsoring this historic match and the efforts of the chairman of Kuwait SC and board members.

Kuwait SC was the first football club established in Kuwait. Its stadium - with a capacity of 18,500 seats has hosted the final matches of the Kuwait Amir Cup and Kuwait Crown Prince Cup for the last 5 seasons. It also hosted matches for the national team during the 1974 Gulf Cup of Nations. Kuwait SC have won the Kuwaiti Premier League 11 times, the most recent one in 2013. The club has 32 trophies to their name in Kuwaiti club football history. Kuwait SC is also the first Kuwaiti club to ever win an Asian title - the AFC Cup - in 2009, 2012 and 2013. Besides football, the club has teams for handball, basketball, volleyball, water polo, squash, athletics, gymnastics, swimming, boxing, judo and weightlifting.

Bayern Munich is best known for its professional football team, which plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system, and is the most successful club in German football history, having won a record 23 national titles and 16 national cups.

Pep Guardiola is the manager of the team.

The club has other departments for chess, handball, basketball, gymnastics, bowling, table tennis, referees and senior football. The club also has quite a number of high-profile supporters, among them Pope Benedict XVI, retired German tennis player Boris Becker, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko and current and former Minister-Presidents of Bavaria, Horst Seehofer and Edmund Stoiber, to name a few. — Agencies

Bayern Munich team

Kuwait SC titles • Kuwaiti Premier League: 11 • Winners: 1965, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1977, 1979, 2001, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2013 • Kuwait Emir Cup: 9 • Winners: 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1985, 1987, 1988, 2002, 2009 • Kuwait Crown Prince Cup: 5 • Winners: 1994, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011 • Kuwait Federation Cup: 3 • Winners: 1992, 2010, 2012 • Kuwait Super Cup: 1 • Winners: 2010 • Al Kurafi Cup: 1 o Winners: 2005 Asian[edit] • AFC Cup: 3 • Winners: 2009, 2012, 2013 Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium in Kaifan

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Business

Libya oil crisis deepened by push for autonomy Page 23

The dollar index loses steam after jobs report

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

Page 25 Tangiers eyes major plans to exploit choice location

Al-Mazaya Holding outlines 2014 strategy from new HQ Page 26

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PARIS: People are seen aboard a 1963 Mercedes car on the Place Vendome during 14th edition of the “Traversee de Paris en anciennes” (“Vintage Paris Crossing”) the largest gathering of classic vehicles in the French capital street yesterday in Paris. (Inset) An Italian Autobianchi car on the Concorde. — AFP

Indonesia bans mineral ore exports All eyes on nickel impact • Thousands of layoffs, small mine closures JAKARTA: Indonesia, among the world’s biggest suppliers of natural resources, halted all mineral ore exports yesterday to try to promote domestic processing, but threatening the country’s nickel and bauxite industries worth more than $2 billion in annual shipments. Halting exports of nickel ore could spark the biggest shake-up in the global nickel industry in more than five years, with Chinese stainless steel factories that make everything from kitchenware to cars and buildings set to hurt the most.

In one of his most far-reaching economic policy decisions since taking office nearly 10 years ago, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono approved the mineral ore export ban. But in last minute changes at the weekend, he diluted it to allow exports of copper, iron ore, lead and zinc concentrates to continue, giving a reprieve to US mining giants Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold and Newmont Mining Corp, which together produce 97 percent of Indonesia’s copper.

No such relief was offered to the nickel and bauxite industries, clouding the future for state-owned nickel miner PT Perusahaan Perseroan Aneka Tambang (Antam) and hundreds of other smaller miners.

“Minerals that have to be refined before export are bauxite, nickel, tin, chromium, gold and silver because they don’t have intermediate products,” Sukhyar, director general of coal and minerals at the ministry, told Reuters. The long-planned ban hopes to eventually boost Indonesia’s profits from its mineral wealth by forcing miners to process their ores before export. But officials fear a short-term cut in foreign revenue could widen the current account deficit, which has undermined investor confidence and battered the currency.

Indonesia is also the world’s biggest exporter of refined tin and thermal coal and home to the fifth largest copper mine and top gold mine. Mineral shipments totalled $10.4 billion in 2012, around 5 percent of total exports, according to the World Bank. Yudhoyono’s last-minute regulation significantly lowers the minimum processing requirements for copper, manganese, lead, zinc and iron ore to be defined as concentrates. However, officials have said that such exports would only be allowed until 2017.

Under the proposed changes government officials said 66 companies, which include Freeport and Newmont, would be allowed to continue to export “processed miner-

al” as they have provided assurances to the government that they would soon build the necessary smelters.

“As long as they can fulfill the requirements, Freeport and tens of national miners are still allowed to export,” Industry Minister M S Hidayat said. More details are expected to be announced this week.

The companies likely to feel the most impact from the ban are miners of nickel and bauxite, numbering in the hundreds.

Halting shipments Shortly before the ban took effect, Freeport halted copper exports and said it would not resume them until there was clarity on which minerals can be shipped. Freeport Indonesia CEO Rozik Soetjipto told Reuters he believed the company would be allowed to continue shipping copper concentrate, but was awaiting government confirmation.

Freeport, Indonesia’s dominant copper producer with 73 percent market share, has not made a shipment from its remote Papua port since Dec. 15, said union official Virgo Solossa. A company spokeswoman said Freeport continued to provide copper to a local smelter. More than 100

Egypt hits 3-year high on Sisi signal MIDEAST STOCK MARKETS DUBAI: Egypt’s main share index hit a three-year high yesterday after army chief General Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi gave his clearest signal yet of his interest in becoming president. Gulf stock markets were steady as investors awaited fourth-quarter earnings announcements to determine whether recent gains were justified, with many regional benchmarks hovering around five-year highs. Egypt’s benchmark rose 2.0 percent to 7,117 points, its highest close since January 2011, when former president Hosni Mubarak was still in power. The index is up 43 percent since the army ousted Egypt’s first democratically elected leader Mohammad Morsi last July.

Sisi is widely expected to seek the top job but has not yet announced plans to run. “If I run then it must be at the request of the people and with a mandate from my army... We work in a democracy,” he said at an army seminar in Cairo. “Most of the gains today are because of Sisi - there’s huge support for him to run for president,” said Mohamed Radwan, head of equities at Pharos Securities. “Most local retail investors and institutions are reacting positively.” Many Egyptians see a strong figure with army links as the best chance, at least for now, for stable politics and good economic management.

Also, Sisi’s close ties with Gulf governments appear to guarantee the country access to billions of dollars

of aid from the Gulf.

Radwan said the market had scope for further gains, with local investors the main drivers of the rally in the continued absence of many foreign investors. The latter may return as Egypt’s political situation stabilizes, he added. Egypt is set to hold a referendum on a new constitution on Tuesday and Wednesday, a major milestone in a roadmap that would clear the way for presidential and parliamentary elections. Analysts and politicians say it is unlikely Sisi will announce plans to run before the referendum is complete.

The Egyptian stock index faces its next technical resistance at the January 2011 high of 7,248 points.

Stronger resistance lies on the April 2010 peak of 7,693 points. Property developer Talaat Moustafa and Ezz Steel each added 3.5 percent. EFG Hermes jumped 9.9 percent, surging for a second session since the investment bank announced a $144 million share buyback.

Gulf The Kuwait index fell 0.4 percent to 7,641 points.

Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia made small advances to reach new five-year peaks. Qatar is the top Gulf performer in 2014, gaining 5.2 percent, while Oman has added 3.8 percent in a week. These

compare with a 3.3 percent drop for MSCI’s emerging equities index, which slumped to a four-month low on Thursday. “Omani equities have underperformed during the last year as compared to the other regional markets, especially the UAE, so this is a catch-up rally,” said Kanaga Sundar, Gulf Baader Capital Markets’ head of research.

“Oman gives one of the highest dividend yields and valuations are pretty reasonable, while local institutions have pumped in liquidity since beginning of 2014, which is helping support market upside.”

Investors are now waiting for fourth-quarter results to “show if fundamentals support the rally or not”. “After the UAE led gains last year, we could see Oman, Qatar and Saudi be the frontrunners in 2014,” added Sundar. “Valuations are still reasonable compared to emerging markets. Q1 in the Gulf is historically a strong quarter as individual investors and institutions relocate funds to chase dividends.”

Shares in Oman’s Galfar Engineering were flat at 0.31 rials, after rocketing from 0.27 rials in the previous three trading days. The stock had been weak since October, when news emerged of a corruption probe involving some of its executives; yesterday, two Galfar officials were sentenced in the case. — Reuters

mining companies have been forced to reduce or shutdown operations because of the uncertainty.

Along with Freeport, Indonesian miner Perusahaan Perseroan Aneka Tambang (Antam) also stopped nickel ore exports a few days ago, the firm’s corporate secretary Tri Hartono said.

The Indonesian Mineral Entrepreneurs Association said it plans to challenge the ban in the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court, the two highest courts in the country.

A major economic impact could make the ban a hot political issue in this year’s legislative and presidential elections in the world’s fourth most populous country.

Thousands of mine workers have already been laid off ahead of the ban, sparking protests in Jakarta. “We call on all mining workers to prepare to go on the streets and swarm the presidential palace if the government goes ahead with the implementation of the ban,” said Juan Forti Silalahi of the National Mine Workers Union in a statement on Saturday. Police have been stationed at ports and around mines to secure those places in case of public disturbances, said national police spokesman, Boy Rafli Amar. — Reuters

China auto market seen cruising to strong year SHANGHAI/DETROIT: The world’s biggest auto market will likely sustain the momentum it regained in 2013, helped by an anticipated array of economic stimulus measures and robust demand for cars in smaller cities of China’s interior regions, according to industry executives and analysts.

The new year should mark a second year of double-digit growth for China after sales expansion rates slumped in 2011 and 2012 to 2.45 percent and 4.33 percent, respectively. In the previous 10 years, auto demand in China often surged 30 to 40 percent annually. Those hyper growth days are over, but last year the Chinese market rebounded convincingly. In 2013, sales in China rose 13.9 percent to 21.98 million vehicles, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). “We believe clearly for anybody working in the automobile industry, if there’s one place to be, it’s China,” Hubertus Troska, head of Daimler AG’s Greater China operations that include Mercedes-Benz, told reporters in Beijing on Thursday, describing growth in 2013 as being quite strong.

“If things continue well, there’s a good chance that the automobile market in China

will grow again double-digit this year,” said Troska, who is also a member of Daimler’s management board. The revived strength of China’s auto market, which will be a popular topic of conversation at this week’s Detroit auto show, is a relief to global automakers whose business is still impaired by sluggish demand in Europe and an anticipated slowdown in growth in the United States this year.

Volkswagen AG, for example, had forecast vehicle demand in China to grow at annual rates of between 5 and 7 percent over the next five years. Jochem Heizmann, head of Volkswagen’s China operations, said he believes the German automaker might have been too conservative.

As demand appears poised to expand much faster, “we could sell more (cars) if we have more capacity,” Heizmann told reporters in Guangzhou in late November.

LMC Automotive forecasts an increase of 11 percent this year in China’s overall automobile market for passenger cars and commercial vehicles - a forecast echoed by Shanghai-based consulting firm Automotive Foresight. IHS Automotive, another consulting firm, predicts demand to grow 9 percent. — Reuters

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

BUSINESS

Tangiers eyes major plans to exploit choice location Ultramodern port, high-speed train and biggest car plant TANGIERS: With an ultramodern port, highspeed train and the biggest car plant in North Africa, Tangiers is looking to profit from its strategic location overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar and its proximity to Europe. Morocco’s northernmost city, just a short boat ride from southern Spain, has always attracted foreign interest, notably in the period before independence in 1956, with its unique status as an international zone.

In line with efforts to tap its potential and reverse decades of neglect, King Mohammed VI launched the “ TangerMetropole” program last September to boost the city’s development.

The ambitious four-year, $1 billion (700 million euros) plan, which will target industrial development in particular, aims “to take full advantage of all the major infrastructure already in place,” the governor of Tangiers Mohammed Yaakoubi said.

First among the “Tanger-Metropole” projects is the Tanger-Med port, inaugurated in 2007, which lies around 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of the city and already welcomes two million passengers and 700,000 cars every year. Situated on one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, the port is expected to double the number of containers it handles with the construction of TangerMed 2, to six million annually, bringing its total cost to eight billion euros.

A zone has also been given over to car manufacturer Renault, whose decision to set up a plant in Morocco caused a stir in France last year amid fears over French jobs being outsourced. The plant opened in the autumn, and its second phase will bring annual production to 340,000 vehicles, making Tanger-Meloussa the biggest factory of its kind in Africa, the group said. At a cost of more than one billion euros, the site, which has directly and indirectly created tens of thousands of jobs locally, was chosen by the manufacturer because of its proximity to Europe, low labor costs and

Mohammed Yaakoubi its greatest asset, also has its drawbacks.

Located just 30 kilometres from southern Spain and with the Rif mountains, Morocco’s main cannabis producing region-nearby, Tangiers has become a key transit route for drug trafficking to Europe.

It is also increasingly in the spotlight over the persistent problem of illegal immigration, with police coming under fire in recent months for their harsh treatment of sub-Saharan Africans drawn to the city in the hope of crossing to Europe.

The death of a young Cameroonian during a police raid last month fuelled racial tensions, sparking clashes between migrants and security forces, and prompting an anti-immigrant protest by the neighborhood’s Moroccan residents.

The government has promised an “exceptional operation” in the new year to sort out the status of some of the tens of thousands of sub-Saharans residing illegally in Morocco.

But the challenge for the Tangiers authorities of accommodating the steady influx of immigrants will not go away any time soon. —AFP

TANGIERS: A construction site near the Tanger-Med port, as part of the “Tanger-Metropole” projects, in the Moroccan city of Tangiers. With an ultramodern port, high-speed train and the biggest car plant in North Africa, Tangiers is looking to profit from its strategic location overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar and its proximity to Europe. —AFP tax-free benefits.

“More than 500 businesses are now set up in Tangiers,” said Rifi Tazi, director of the “Tanger Free Zone.” Tangiers has become Morocco’s second industrial city and from 2015, it is due to be linked to the economic capital Casablanca by a high-speed railway, which could be the continent’s first when completed. It has required an investment of nearly two billion euros, a cost that also generated some controversy about the project’s usefulness.

Persistent social problems The economic revival in Tangiers has been accompanied by a sharp rise in the city’s population, which has doubled over the past 20 years and now numbers more

than a million inhabitants, bringing social problems of its own.

Many residents live in poor neighborhoods and have yet to experience any trickle-down benefits from the multi-billion dollar investments. Yaakoubi says the TangerMetropole projects will be carried out “with great care for the environment,” and address some of the challenges arising from the demographic boom, with a planned cleanup of the area’s coast and valleys.

As for tourism, the city is looking to capitalize on its “coastal assets” building a marina on the Mediterranean seafront and a fishing harbour on the Atlantic-as well as promoting its cultural scene, with a new arts centre and theatre planned. But the city’s geographical location, in many ways

Euro-zone brushes with normal as investors return PARIS: The euro-zone may be finally returning to some semblance of normality after years of debt crisis that brought fear to the world. It’s been two years since the now 18-member currency bloc was fighting for its life and investors are again knocking on the euro-zone’s door, buying up assets deemed dangerous only months ago.

The latest sign of this is on the bond markets, where the borrowing rates for countries that seemed on the verge of a precipice are back at levels last seen before the crisis. “The risk associated with the euro-zone has reduced significantly in the past few months,” said Christian Parisot, an economist at Paris-based investment bank Credit Agricole CIB. Spain, Italy, as well as bailed out Portugal and Ireland have seen their borrowing rates fall sharply. By the end of the week, Spanish benchmark debt was trading at about 3.8 percent, a long way off the danger level of more than six percent hit in 2012. Italy was at 3.9 percent.

Falling sovereign yields help to boost economies, and crucially lift the pressure on governments to impose yet more austerity measures on their people. “There is a broad strong market sentiment which is getting ever more robust and resilient which is positive for the euro-zone periphery,” said Christian Schulz, senior economist at German private bank Berenberg. Reassured, Ireland went to the markets on Tuesday and Portugal on Thursday, both meeting heavy demand for medium to long-term debt.

“PIIGS (sic) can fly,” said analyst Holger Schmieding of

Berenberg bank, using the acronym coined by cynics for Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain. Spain’s borrowing costs plunged, too, in an auction of five- and 15-year bonds.

For Schmieding, the easing comes thanks to Mario Draghi, the head of the European Central Bank.

It was Draghi’s outright vow to do whatever it took to save the euro that ended the “irrational panic that had swept the euro periphery and the region as a whole,” Schmieding said.

But the analyst also hailed reforms in countries where the “pain” of austerity was “not in vain” despite recession and record-high unemployment.

“Sentiment among the reform countries at the eurozone periphery is rebounding at least as fast as it is for the region as a whole,” the analyst said.

Premature But rates in richer countries and those in the poorer ones are still far from the convergence brushed with a decade ago, when the euro was first introduced.

Germany and France today still enjoy borrowing rates far lower than partners to the south. Debt issued by supersafe Germany was trading at about 1.9 percent on Friday and France at 2.5 percent. Low rates mean low returns for investors, though. “Investors have little hope of gains from Germany and France,” Parisot said, with a chase for a better

return pushing them to venture back to riskier countries.

But even though rates may be falling in the periphery, analysts caution that all is hardly solved in the euro-zone.

“The convergence will continue, but slowly,” said Cyril Regnant, a bond strategist at Natixis, adding that the “situation has improved, but not normalized.” Ireland, which left an EU-IMF bailout in December, and Portugal, which should do so in May, are well aware that dangers still lurk.

Their bond sales were limited to a group of pre-set investors, thereby limiting surprises.

“Their return to the markets, is a gradual one,” Parisot said. And the trading volumes involved are low, meaning that even a pinch of demand can sharply change the borrowing price. Ronan Blanc, bond manager at Quilvest Gestion in Paris warned that the calm was deceiving.

“There’s no talk of how countries will bring down debt in the long term,” he said. Italy carries a huge two trillion debt mountain and Spain’s debt hit a new record of 93.4 percent of gross domestic product in the third quarter of last year.

Debt of this proportion needs inflation, or years of vigorous growth to wind down, he said. Or, as with Greece, it can be restructured in a write-off, but this radical solution would only restart the crisis fires.

ECB chief Draghi himself urged caution about this being the start of a lasting turnaround in the crisis. “It is still premature to declare any victory,” Draghi said, adding the recovery remains fragile. —AFP

Gold is still under pressure

By Hayder Tawfik

KUWAIT: In the last few years, gold investors have been puzzled by the behavior of the price. At times of financial debt crises facing some Western economies, fear of inflationary pressure and geopolitical unrest in the Middle-East and North Africa, you would have thought that gold becomes a safe heaven, but on the contrary people have been busy selling it quite aggressively. It has been falling and this is where the puzzle lies.

We have talked about this last year. The gold bulls have been busy building the trap for the innocent investors.

We have noticed that there was times when you would have expected gold price to bounce back from a weak position but not at all and this is quite worrying and backs our believe that gold price is on a down trend for the next few years. There is certainly no shortage of gold lovers who will bounce on any news or events to start recommending gold investment to the public. We are not sure if these people genuinely still believe that gold is still a safe haven. One thing is for sure that there is no shortage of gold. Investors should always remember that all the gold produced throughout history is still around.

Gold price peaked back in October 2012 at around $1800. This peak was reached after it bottomed around the $280 back in the 2000. So, a simple calculation shows us that it has risen 6.5 times in 12 years. We can clearly see that gold has a pattern of bottoming out and reaching a new peak in prices, but the time it takes to reach its lows and its highs could be quite long. At present we think gold price is behaving normally on a historical standard and it has entered the correction phase that will take a few years and could easily test its previous lows.

Supply and demand Unfortunately, gold can be manipulated easily.

As we know, supply of gold is fixed and can be subjected to politicians’ intervention or central banks’ selling pressure. As for demand, it can come from ordinary people such as Chinese, poor Indian farmers or Middle East consumers. Also, there is occasional demand from some central banks that would like to diversify their reserves. Some financial traders use gold as a hedge against weak currencies. The latest example has been against the falling Turkish Lira.

Safe haven?

Looking back a few years when the global financial crises started, gold actually fell. At the time, it seemed that the global financial markets were facing complete melt down but gold was not in the mind of investors. Again, when the Euro came under tremendous selling pressure and the Euro zone faced a break up, gold fell again. Lastly, the geopolitical crises in the Middle East and some other parts of the world did not lead to gold rally.

What is certain is that no one can for sure assume it is a safe haven asset. Some gold experts describe gold as the only asset that has intrinsic value. We have been disagreeing with these arguments for a while. We think its value is purely in decorative purpose and some industrial or medical use only. Otherwise it has no real value. However, we cannot deny the fact that gold investment has been running for hundreds if not thousands of years. We strongly believe that gold is a pure hedge against inflation just like real estates. But gold is more liquid than the others. We think that the recent sell off in gold price is the first or may be the second leg of more serious selling pressure to come as it happened in the eighties. Actually gold could face a meltdown if the threat of global deflation intensifies. —Dimah Capital

EXCHANGE RATES Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. Japanese Yen Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Srilankan Rupees Nepali Rupees Singapore Dollar Hongkong Dollar Bangladesh Taka Philippine Peso Thai Baht Irani Riyal transfer Irani Riyal cash Saudi Riyal Qatari Riyal Omani Riyal Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham

ASIAN COUNTRIES 2.701 4.552 2.684 2.166 2.847 223.970 36.568 3.641 6.335 8.598 0.271 0.273 GCC COUNTRIES 75.644 77.941 736.880 753.420 77.251

ARAB COUNTRIES Egyptian Pound - Cash 41.000 Egyptian Pound - Transfer 40.357 Yemen Riyal/for 1000 1.323 Tunisian Dinar 172.110 Jordanian Dinar 400.580 Lebanese Lira/for 1000 1.903 Syrian Lira 2.022 Morocco Dirham 35.006 EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES US Dollar Transfer 283.550 Euro 388.040 Sterling Pound 466.580 Canadian dollar 263.770 Turkish lira 131.030 Swiss Franc 313.660 Australian Dollar 254.340 US Dollar Buying 282.350 20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

GOLD 230.000 118.000 60.000

UAE Exchange Centre WLL COUNTRY Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swiss Franc Euro US Dollar Sterling Pound Japanese Yen Bangladesh Taka Indian Rupee Sri Lankan Rupee Nepali Rupee Pakistani Rupee UAE Dirhams Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Jordanian Dinar Omani Riyal Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal

SELL DRAFT 257.15 266.02 316.14 389.18 282.95 468.71 2.76 3.640 4.554 2.168 2.860 2.692 77.10 753.10 40.67 402.70 735.85 78.14 75.58

SELL CASH 256.000 270.000 324.000 397.000 285.500 475.000 2.800 3.800 4.890 2.600 3.400 2.760 77.400 753.400 41.100 407.500 741.400 78.400 75.800

09.980 3.855 3.855 87.450 47.185 9.665 131.060

Philippine Peso Sierra Leone Singapore Dollar South African Rand Sri Lankan Rupee Taiwan Thai Baht

0.006406 0.000069 0.220877 0.020670 0.001875 0.009399 0.008389

0.006686 0.000075 0.226877 0.029170 0.002455 0.009579 0.008939

Bahrain Exchange Company

Bahraini Dinar Egyptian Pound Iranian Riyal Iraqi Dinar Jordanian Dinar Kuwaiti Dinar Lebanese Pound Moroccan Dirhams Nigerian Naira Omani Riyal Qatar Riyal Saudi Riyal Syrian Pound Tunisian Dinar Turkish Lira UAE Dirhams Yemeni Riyal

Arab 0.745003 0.037497 0.000078 0.000185 0.395359 1.0000000 0.000139 0.022675 0.001199 0.729812 0.077105 0.074910 0.002171 0.168908 0.132071 0.076150 0.001287

0.753003 0.040597 0.000080 0.000245 0.402859 1.0000000 0.000239 0.046675 0.001834 0.735492 0.078318 0.075610 0.002391 0.176908 0.139071 0.077299 0.001367

Thai Bhat Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit Chinese Yuan Renminbi Thai Bhat Turkish Lira

COUNTRY Belgian Franc British Pound Czech Korune Danish Krone Euro Norwegian Krone Romanian Leu Slovakia Swedish Krona Swiss Franc Turkish Lira

Dollarco Exchange Co. Ltd Rate for Transfer US Dollar Canadian Dollar Sterling Pound Euro Swiss Frank Bahrain Dinar UAE Dirhams Qatari Riyals Saudi Riyals Jordanian Dinar Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupees Indian Rupees Pakistani Rupees Bangladesh Taka Philippines Pesso Cyprus pound Japanese Yen

Selling Rate 283.050 262.865 466.785 388.170 313.990 747.390 77.040 78.595 76.350 398.900 40.598 2.164 4.571 2.681 3.635 6.322 695.230 3.715

Australian Dollar New Zealand Dollar

SELL CASH Europe 0.007364 0.460488 0.006138 0.047853 0.381851 0.042026 0.081745 0.008120 0.039611 0.307547 0.132071 Australasia 0.246623 0.228869

SELLDRAFT 0.008364 0.469488 0.018138 0.052853 0.389351 0.047226 0.81745 0.018120 0.044611 0.317747 0.139071 0.258123 0.238369

Al Mulla Exchange Canadian Dollar US Dollars US Dollars Mint

America 0.254647 0.279200 0.279700

0.263147 0.283550 0.283550

Bangladesh Taka Chinese Yuan Hong Kong Dollar Indian Rupee Indonesian Rupiah Japanese Yen Kenyan Shilling Korean Won Malaysian Ringgit Nepalese Rupee Pakistan Rupee

Asia 0.003562 0.045134 0.034448 0.004278 0.000018 0.002640 0.003348 0.000257 0.083088 0.002978 0.002490

0.004162 0.048634 0.037198 0.004679 0.000024 0.002820 0.003348 0.000272 0.089088 0.003148 0.002770

Currency US Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Canadian Dollar Indian Rupee Egyptian Pound Sri Lankan Rupee Bangladesh Taka Philippines Peso Pakistan Rupee Bahraini Dinar UAE Dirham Saudi Riyal *Rates are subject to change

Transfer Rate (Per 1000) 283.000 387.250 466.150 263.400 4.555 40.630 2.163 3.640 6.330 2.682 753.553 77.050 75.550

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

BUSINESS

Libya oil crisis deepened by push for autonomy Blockade of exports hit govt coffers

KABUL: An Afghan boy sells pieces of sugarcane at Mandewi market near the Pollee-Kheshte mosque in Kabul. As winter sets in across Central Asia, many Afghans struggle to provide adequate food and shelter for their families. —AFP

Sweden sells its mineral wealth too cheap: Critics STOCKHOLM: Sweden scores high in international rankings of mining nations, but concern is growing that the Scandinavian country is selling its vast underground resources far too cheap.

While concession fees are kept deliberately low in order to attract miners, critics say all nine million Swedes could and should benefit the same way that their Norwegian neighbors all profit from their national oil wealth. “This is something we own together,” said Jesper Roine, associate professor at the Stockholm School of Economics. Besides, he added, minerals have an intrinsic value even before they are dug out of the earth, and they should be priced accordingly, the way all other raw materials are priced.

As it is now, the Swedish state earned only a little over 30,000 euros ($41,000) in concession fees in 2012, the last year for which figures were available. Why this tiny number?

Because fees are a mere 0.2 percent of total output value, of which three quarters go to the landowner and only one quarter ends up in the state treasury. By comparison, Canadian provinces typically charge 10 to 15 percent, and Australia implemented a 30 percent mining tax in 2012.

Some economists and environmentalists suggest increased mining fees in order to safeguard the natural environment of Sweden’s mineral-rich north, while also saving up for a huge nest egg to help future generations. Behind the debate is a fact that may surprise: Sweden is known for its slick design and ingenuous high-tech, but it also produces more iron than any other European nation and boasts the world’s two largest underground ore mines.

Its mineral resources are attracting the attention of business heavyweights from

across the globe. Avalon Minerals and Dragon Mining, both Australian companies, have prospecting and concession licenses in Sweden. Canadian company Eurasian Minerals has exploration projects in Sweden, one of them in cooperation with Chile’s Antofagasta.

Low fees The low concession fees do not mean that Sweden is getting no revenue from mining.

The Swedish government earns 12 billion kronor (1.3 billion euros, $1.8 billion) from mining operations via dividends from stateowned mining company LKAB and via regular taxes.

But to observers, such as Roine, this is not enough. He is the co-author of a recent report on Swedish earnings from mineral extraction that proposes new tariffs to compensate for the gradual depletion of resources and a state-owned fund similar to Norway’s oil fund, which invests the billions the country earns to last for future generations once the resources are gone.

“It’s not the same as saying that the companies... shouldn’t be compensated for their costs and the risks they are shouldering. They should absolutely be paid for that,” he said.

“But nevertheless it’s the case that the business doesn’t materialize out of thin air.

Some of the value of the mineral wealth already exists from the outset, and this makes it a very special industry compared with others.” Sweden has been ranked in the top ten of attractive mining nations three years in a row by the independent research organization Fraser Institute, this year only topped by neighboring Finland. Low fees, low corruption, good infrastructure and a stable society are some of the attractive factors.—AFP

TRIPOLI: Libya is suffering a profound economic and political crisis, running out of cash because autonomy-seekers are blocking key oil exports, while a movement is afoot in congress to unseat the fragile government. The oil-rich North African country has been shaken by political instability ever since long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi was unseated and killed in late 2011.

The government has failed to bring stability and security, with Libya’s many tribes flexing their muscles and militias who fought to overthrow Gaddafi refusing to give up their arms, instead carving out fiefdoms of their own. The latest crisis erupted in July, when security guards at key oil terminals shut them down, accusing the authorities of corruption and demanding a more equitable distribution of oil revenues.

Production plunged to around 250,000 barrels per day from 1.5 million bpd, and the economy ministry estimates the treasury has lost more than $9 billion (6.6 billion euros) in revenue.

That is a heavy blow to a country that relies on hydrocarbon revenues for 96 percent of its gross domestic product. Production has since recovered to 546,000 bpd, but the crisis has taken its toll.

“The situation is becoming more and more critical,” observed an executive with a foreign bank operating in Tripoli, who asked not to be identified. “The government risks having to resort to borrowing to pay its bills.”

The government has denied any corruption over its oil sales through the National Oil Co and has, in turn, blamed the protesters for seeking to line their own pockets.

More than two years after Gaddafi’s ouster, Libya has still not managed to adopt a new constitution, which would include a decision on

which it is entrusted,” it said. Not being listed on the stock exchange, private banks are not required to publish their results, and are the preserve of a closed circle of clients.

Unlimited responsibility for those who run private banks has long been seen as a selling point for wealthy clients who want the comfort provided by such a guarantee.

But the tougher regulatory environment seen since the global financial crisis, and scandals such as the Madoff fraud case in the United States which rippled across the world’s banking sector, have been a wake-up call.

In addition, Switzerland’s cherished tradition of banking secrecy has been battered as governments crack down on tax cheats who stash cash abroad.

The United States has been at the forefront, and in August Switzerland struck a deal with Washington over the thorny issue of undeclared money banked by American citizens.

Swiss banks had until December 31 to decide whether to take part in a US come-clean program to settle past wrongdoing. Banks that do so will ward off costly lawsuits but still risk being fined in proportion to the sums involved.

US tax deal drives change According to research by consultants EY-formerly known as Ernst & Young the overwhelming majority of banks across Switzerland’s sector believe that the US-driven solution is

GURGAON: Indian staff speak at The Quatrro call-centre in Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi. Low business confidence and high interest rates have led economic growth to plunge to the lowest in a decade, making private sector job opportunities harder to come by. Desperate candidates are forging qualifications, faking experience, inventing companies and resorting to all sorts of fraud to land jobs in a tough Indian employment market. —AFP

Danger of a naval confrontation On Wednesday, Abd Rabou Al-Barassi, who heads its executive bureau, said oil exports would resume despite a government ban, raising the prospect of a confrontation with the navy. “We announce our intention to trade in crude after the government failed to meet our demands,” Barassi said.

He said guards would provide protection for all vessels entering the port of Al-Sedra to prevent any repetition of an incident yesterday when the navy blocked two tankers from docking in the port to take on crude. “We will protect tankers taking on crude from Al-Sedra from the moment they enter Libyan territorial waters until they leave,” Barassi said, raising the prospect of a standoff at sea.

Prime Minister Ali Zeidan accused Barassi of attempting to “undermine national sovereignty.”

He warned that “any state, company, group or gang that tries to send a ship to Libya’s oil ports without authorization or agreement with the NOC... will face the necessary measures.” He even spoke of the possibility of “sinking” any vessel in contravention of the order. The loss of Libyan oil from the market has been one of the reasons

why European crude oil prices have been stuck above $100 per barrel.

While the increased production and exports should help push down prices, the risk of further disruptions is unlikely to lead to a significant drop, especially as most analysts doubt Libya could quickly return to its previous full output level. While Zeidan struggles with the political challenge from Cyrenaica, he is also threatened with a parliamentary revolt seeking to unseat him back in the capital.

In little over a year in power, his government has come in for regular criticism for failing to restore stability. Several members of the General National Congress, Libya’s highest political authority, have been trying to bring down the government, but have so far not succeeded in securing the number of votes required. On Tuesday, the GNC failed to agree on what action to take about Zeidan’s government, after a censure motion put forward by 72 out of the 200 lawmakers.

Zeidan said his critics are a “minority,” but that he would willingly step down if the assembly chose to replace him. “I do not want to leave the country in a vacuum,” he said. In the end, Libyan political analyst Fraj Najm said the GNC “is not in a position to bring down the government for the simple reason that (its members) are incapable of agreeing on a replacement. The assembly itself, which was to have wrapped up its work in February with the adoption of a new constitution, is also under political fire. At the end of December, its members voted to extend its mandate for another 12 months.

Najm said “certain members of congress want to get rid of the government to justify the prolongation of their mandate and to present themselves as the sole masters of the ship.” —AFP

Trafigura passes baton to next generation of billionaire traders LONDON: Commodity trading giant Trafigura is going through a once-in-a-generation ownership reshuffle, spending billions of dollars to buy out its earliest shareholders and allocating stock to a new generation of would-be billionaire traders.

A Reuters analysis of accounts for Swiss-based Trafigura shows it has spent around $2 billion on share buybacks over the past three years, and the unlisted company says it could spend another $1.5 billion until 2017 if profits allow.

The scale of the exercise, in a company where shareholders’ equity only just tipped $5 billion at the end of September, indicates a major rebalanc-

Swiss private banking sector shaken up GENEVA: The exclusive Swiss private banking sector has been revolutionized by key players Pictet, Lombard Odier, and Mirabaud, amid a tough new regulatory environment and a crackdown on tax cheats. On January 1, the elite trio radically changed their business model by ditching the nearunique status of Swiss private banks and transforming themselves into operations almost like any other.

Switzerland’s two-century-old private banking sector has been based on rules which make the wealthy managing partners personally responsible for the money they manage for rich clients.

In other words, if the bank gets into trouble, the partners can lose all their assets, not just those they have invested in the operation. Drawn from the elite of Geneva Protestants, in a city which was a driving force in the Reformation five centuries ago, Swiss private bankers have over time refreshed their ranks with wealthy, likeminded members from their own community.

Pictet and Lombard Odier have eight managing partners, and Mirabaud, six. “The eight partners represent up to the seventh generation of bankers at the helm of the company,” said Lombard Odier.

“Since it was founded in 1796, the company has remained loyal to its primary calling, which is to conserve, make fruitful and contribute to the handing down of the assets with

how the country is to be administered geographically.

With independence, which followed World War II, Libya was divided into three regionsCyrenaica in the east, Fezzan in the southwest and Tripolitania in the north. Those regions were done away with prior to Gaddafi seizing power in 1969, but they were not forgotten. The situation was exacerbated in August, when campaigners for autonomy in Cyrenaica set up a regional “government”, which later received the backing of the striking guards.

damaging business.

Three-quarters of the banks told EY that they expect the automatic exchange of customer information to become the global standard, meaning the final death knell for banking secrecy. EY said private banking faced the greatest pressure. “The increasingly unfavorable conditions are currently leading many banks to reassess their business models,” said Bruno Patusi, head of wealth and asset management at EY Switzerland.

“The competitive pressure and the tax agreement concluded with the US will tend to accelerate the consolidation,” he added.

Each of the three banks has been recast into a “corporate partnership”, a hybrid status that will make it easier to compare them with fully-listed Swiss players such as Credit Suisse and UBS. It is similar to the “limited company” structure in the British Isles, with its well-known “Ltd.” label.

Complex global finance has made it hard for private bankers to feel safe with a traditional approach that puts all their assets on the line as they expand their operations.

The reform means they will only risk the funds they have invested in the bank, rather than putting all their personal assets on the line. In concrete terms, the change means that the banks will now have to publish their results, and have also brought outside individuals onto their boards.

Pictet, which manages assets of 372 billion Swiss francs (310 billion euros, $409 billion), held to the sector’s tradition of discretion, simply saying that the change announced last year had been implemented. It has added two individuals to its board. Lombard Odier, which manages 174 billion Swiss francs, said Thursday that three people had joined it.

Mirabaud, with 25 billion Swiss francs under management, meanwhile said that three individuals had been brought in. The three banks have withdrawn from the Association of Swiss Private Banks.

Another member, La Roche, based in the northern city of Basel, also has plans to change status this year. That will leave just seven private banks in the association: Baumann & Cie, Bordier & Cie, E. Gutzwiller & Cie, Gonet & Cie, Mourgue d’Algue & Cie, Rahn & Bodmer & Co and Reichmuth & Co. — AFP

ing of ownership and confirms executives have no wish to follow rival Glencore into a public listing of its stock, which would be an alternative route for founder shareholders to cash out. “We undertake share buybacks for two reasons. First, to pay departing employee shareholders and, second, to rebalance shareholdings of current employees to avoid undesirable concentrations of ownership and to align shareholder return with contribution,” a Trafigura spokesman said.

All but one of the original founders from 1993 have retired from executive positions. It is not clear how much each of the retired men used to

control, but no shareholder holds more than 5 percent in Trafigura’s 2013 accounts, except for Claude Dauphin, a founder who remains chairman and chief executive and owns “less than 20 percent”.

“Dauphin is very much in control and remains a very strong revenue generator and deal maker,” a senior executive at a rival trading house said.

The rest of the shares are held by 700 senior managers, past or present, which would include any of the other living founders - Eric de Turckheim, Graham Sharp, Daniel Posen and Mark Crandall - still owning shares.— Reuters

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

BUSINESS

‘Super’ boost for ailing city Detroit auto show

DETROIT: Dr Andy Palmer, Executive Vice President, Nissan Motor Co, talks about the The Nissan Resonance (left) and Versa Note, (right), at media previews for the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. This year, at least 50 new vehicles will make their debut. —AP

DETROIT: It’s a 21st century paradox: Detroit enters 2014 in bankruptcy, the largest public case in US history and facing $18 billion or more in debt. Yet the Motor City’s resurgent auto industry is strong enough to host a show that by one estimate will generate nearly $400 million for the area’s economy.

The industrial city is looking to climb out from under decades of financial decline as its longtime industry revs ahead four years after two of its major players, General Motors and Chrysler, emerged from bankruptcies of their own. The comeback can be measured in the North American International Auto Show’s economic impact, which is projected to increase 8 percent over last year’s event, says David Sowerby, a portfolio manager and chief market analyst for Loomis Sayles & Co, who authored a study of the show’s effect on the regional economy.

Sowerby says several factors favor increased spending tied to this show.

“Economic activity is strong, the industry itself is stronger, there’s a modest increase in new models and if you talk to hotel or lodging industry, the number of conferences is growing as is business activity and travel.”

To be sure, business at area hotels for the show is strong: Downtown hotels reported Friday that occupancy is at 85 percent during the press days Monday and Tuesday and about 70 percent from Jan 18 through Jan 26, when the show is open to the public. Local restaurants and bars should be packed with an estimated 5,000 journalists and 800,000 visitors expected at the show. Overall, the show provides a pick-me-up for the area, illustrated by amped-up coverage from local television stations and highway billboards welcoming visitors and industry types.

RECOVERY All three Detroit automakers have made billions in the recovery following the Great Recession. Ford expects to post an $8.5 billion profit before taxes for 2013, while GM made $4.8 billion pretax through the first nine months. Chrysler, the smallest and least-profitable of the three, made $1.4 billion pretax through September. All have rolled out strong new cars and trucks to catch the rise in auto sales from a low of 10.4 million in 2009 to 15.6 million last year.

The automakers’ show displays and parties were more Spartan affairs in the dark days of 2010. This year, exhibits in particular are as lavish as ever, with two-story buildings inside the Cobo Center.

Sowerby, who crunches the numbers for the show organizer, the Detroit Auto Dealers Association, estimates the event’s economic impact at as much as $390 million to the Detroit area, which also includes some thriving suburbs and its Canadian neighbor across the river, Windsor, Ontario.

By comparison, a study performed by an outside research firm for the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau in 2006 put the impact of that year’s Super Bowl XL at about $275 million, including pass-along, or spinoff spending by the merchants and others. Sowerby says it’s clear why the auto show, which this year will have more than 500 vehicles on display and more than 50 new model introductions, has a greater economic impact. The Super Bowl represents about a week of events and “overhyped parties” leading up to and including the game itself, whereas the auto show represents several weeks that includes construction of exhibits, press previews, the eight-day public show itself and the teardown. Sowerby says it’s difficult to tease out the specific benefits to the city of Detroit itself beyond the boost to its downtown elevated rail system and businesses, such as hotels, bars and restaurants, and the prestige of a marquee event at a city-owned convention facility. There’s no local sales tax, nor does Detroit levy one on hotels or motels.

Officials say the city doesn’t bear additional costs for public safety, since show

officials handle their own security. Likewise, Sowerby believes that the host city’s majorleague financial woes won’t hamper the show. “I don’t think that the bankruptcy factored into it,” he says. “Is it going to deter somebody’s desire to attend the auto this year? ... The extent that Detroit rises to the occasion (says) that bankruptcy doesn’t mean ‘closed to business.’”

Still, the throng of global journalists can’t help but venture beyond Detroit’s relatively booming downtown and chronicle the abandonment and blight that lurks on many city streets and former factory sites.

The backdrop of bankruptcy can play a role in how the city is portrayed to the world, even if most of those images predate the city’s bankruptcy filing in July. Detroit dodged one hit to its economy and reputation: A big snowstorm and subsequent blast of Arctic air that bought area travel to a near halt luckily blew in a week before the auto show. The weather should be relatively balmy next week. The auto show in 1999 was marred by a heavy snow that clogged roads and nearly paralyzed the Detroit area at ShowTime, prompting heavy criticism of the city for not being prepared.

“It was horrible,” Sowerby says, adding he recalls telling media outlets at the time, “I’m downtown at the event and I’m watching dollars get sucked out of the city.”

New Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan hopes to see currency flowing the other way this year. He expects the journalists and public to see a Detroit trying to get back on its feet. The white mayor elected in a city that’s 80 percent black is managing expectations for a mess he just inherited, but plans to tackle with skills honed as a hospital executive and former prosecutor. “The real Detroit has a long way to go. There’s no doubt there are a lot of great things happening, but we have not translated the success that people will see here into services for people living in the neighborhood. And that’s my job,” he says. “But that doesn’t stop everybody from enjoying the good things that are happening, like the auto show.” Michigan economist Patrick Anderson predicts the bankruptcy won’t upstage the auto show, and might prove to be a positive development from a visitor’s perspective. City restructuring plans also include planned investments in some basic services, including blight removal, updating information technology and other “quality of life” improvements.

Before the bankruptcy, a regional authority that manages Cobo for the city launched a major upgrade and expansion of the venue in large part to keep the auto show from bolting.

“I think they may actually see more streetlights working, a better Cobo Center than they’ve ever seen, and more optimism about Detroit than they’ve seen in decades,” he says.

“That, combined with the rejuvenating prospects of Ford and GM, is going to make this a very interesting auto show for the international press.”

Even more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) down the river from Cobo Center, Andrews on the Corner owner Tom Woolsey says he gets extra business during the auto show.

He’s noticed a “remarkable” turnaround at his restaurant-bar since about mid-2012, as automakers have recovered, events have grown along a more pedestrian-friendly riverfront and people even started moving downtown.

“The economy isn’t what they expected it to be but it’s up and moving in the right direction,” says Woolsey, whose grandfather opened Andrews in 1918. “The city, I think, is going to do much better now that it’s hit bottom.” Anderson says an annual event like the auto show will play an important role in reviving Detroit. “In order to build a world-class economic city, you need to have reasons for people to come every year. The auto show is a world-class reason to come to Detroit every year,” he says. Detroit auto show “Given my choice, I’d much rather have that auto show every year than a Super Bowl every decade.” — AP

World Bank’s IFC says it is fixing Honduras project WASHINGTON: The International Finance Corp, the World Bank’s private finance arm, said yesterday was taking action to remedy problems in a Honduras palm oil project assailed for human rights violations. After a report by the Bank’s internal ombudsman deeply critical of the IFC’s support for the Dinant Corp project, the finance body said it was working to rectify the problems and would cancel its loans if the company did not adequately address concerns.

On Friday, the Bank’s Compliance Advisor Ombudsman said the IFC was not diligent enough in reviewing questions about fights over land rights and murders of local farm workers in approving a $30 million loan to Dinant’s palm oil plantation and processing expansion plans in 2008.

The project, in Honduras’s northern Aguan Valley, has long been criticized by non-governmental organizations due to the land conflicts tied to Dinant plantations. “IFC takes the audit and its findings seriously. We have worked with the client on an action plan moving forward,” an IFC spokeswoman said.

“If the client does not meet its obligations under these plans, we reserve the right to exercise all remedies available, including cancellation of the investment.”

The CAO report said the IFC’s agreement to lend $30 million to the $75 million project was not supported by an adequate environmental and social assessment of the project,

given the history of conflict between Dinant and local peasants. “In a sector and country where risks of conflict and violence around land were or should have been known to the team, CAO finds that IFC’s review was not ‘commensurate to risk,’” the CAO said.

“IFC was or should have been aware of a series of public allegations and negative perceptions in relation to its client that went significantly beyond those that were considered in the course of its integrity due diligence process.”

The IFC disbursed $15 million of the amount committed in early 2009, but held back the rest as violence mounted in the Aguan Valley and after the government was overthrown in a military coup d’etat in June that year. The CAO report cites NGO data that 102 people tied to the Aguan Valley peasant movement were killed between January 2010 and May 2013, 40 of the deaths tied to Dinant or security personnel working for the company.

Nine Dinant guards are also reputed to have been killed by people tied to the peasant movement, which contested Dinant’s claim to own the land it used for the palm oil plantations. The IFC said in a response to the CAO report that it is pressing Dinant to reform its security procedures. “Dinant is in the process of adopting new security protocols that define and clarify the appropriate use of force. — AFP

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

BUSINESS

The dollar index loses steam after jobs report NBK WEEKLY MONEY MARKETS REPORT

SOFIA: A boy is climbing up a wall in a sports center in Sofia. From climbing walls and bicycles to cereals and preserved cherries: smart producers in EU’s poorest member Bulgaria have tapped the bloc’s niche markets to stay afloat amid the economic gloom. —AFP

Bulgaria taps export niches to escape doldrums SOFIA: Bulgaria’s economic outlook may be gloomy but Dragomir Kouzov, founder of bicycle manufacturer Drag and one of a new breed of niche entrepreneurs in the EU’s poorest country, is anything but. “My motto is ‘I believe,’” the smiling and energetic 52-year-old former professional cyclist, enthused to AFP, one of his statethe-art two-wheel creations suspended on the wall behind him. “We Bulgarians have a big chance to succeed in niche segments.

Here there is cheap manual labour, creativity, innovation and the designing of original products.”

Times are tough in Bulgaria, politically and economically. The last government resigned almost a year ago after a wave of public protests and few experts expect the deeply unpopular current administration to hang on much longer. Around a million Bulgarians, including many of the brightest and the best, have left the country since the fall of communism 25 years ago.

On January 1 Bulgarians gained full freedom of movement in the entire European Union after eight countries including Germany, Britain and France dropped all remaining restrictions. Foreign direct investment into 7.4-million-strong Bulgaria has slumped from 6.6 billion euros ($9.0 billion) in 2008 to a meagre 1.4 billion euros in 2012. This has made exports, two-thirds of which currently go to the rest of the EU, hugely important. In communist times, Bulgaria used to supply computers, canned food and armaments including AK-47 assault rifles to the whole of the Soviet Bloc, but those days are long gone.

Nowadays it relies heavily for exports on a Russian-owned oil refinery and a German-run copper smelter, and the Balkan country remains a major agricultural exporter. According to the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA), Bulgaria is the world’s top provider of grains used for breakfast cereals-muesli and flakes with a fifth of world exports in 2012.

It is the world number two in coriander

seeds, sunflower seeds, duck meat and preserved cherries.

It also makes auto parts-it is a major supplier of sensors for airbags and products like skis and snowboards. But these are not always very lucrative for Bulgaria since they are often produced for firms abroad which re-package and sell them-often for a healthy profit. “We need to move up the chain-from supplying just parts to other producers to being able to offer and market more finished products ourselves,” the BIA’s Veselin Iliev told AFP. Climbing higher This is already happening, he says, with canny Bulgarian entrepreneurs already sniffing out opportunities and making the country “a leader in the export of niche products,” a BIA report authored by Iliev said. Along with being a significant player in bikes-Ukraine’s Olympic cyclists whizz around on Drag products-Bulgaria is also home to Walltopia, HRT and Composite-X, the world’s biggest producers of climbing walls and the colourful plastic holds to cling on to. “ We are ver y energetic and we are clever. Innovations are everything,” says Ivaylo Penchev, 43, a co-owner in the three wall-climbing supply companies.

“If at some point we get the feeling that what we do is not novel and does not take us forward, we get panicky and immediately come up with something fresh.” But both Penchev and Kouzov cited as a major problem the poor image of Bulgarian products abroad, and the “brain drain” making it hard to find the qualified young people vital in driving innovation. “It was difficult to convince Swiss, Americans, French, Germans that something ‘Made in Bulgaria’ could be better than their local brands,” Penchev said. “All our bikes are labelled ‘Proudly made in Bulgaria’-we want to improve Bulgaria’s image. It’s a pity that the government does not do much to help us,” Kouzov added. —AFP

The Dollar index started the week on a positive note, rallying towards a seven-week high of 81.166, after the ADP report showed private employers added a better-than-expected 238,000 jobs in December, the strongest increase in 13 months. By the end of the week, the dollar Index weakened sharply after worse than expected Non -Farm payrolls affirming expectations that the US Federal Reserve will take a gradual long approach to tapering its bond-buying program.

Moreover, on Thursday, the European Central Bank took no new steps at its monthly policy meeting, leaving its key interest rate unchanged at a record low of 0.25%, despite worries about a weak recovery and low inflation. Indeed, the euro-zone economy grew only 0.1% in the third quarter and the annual inflation rate dropped to 0.8 % well below the ECB’s goal of just under 2%. The European Central bank president, Draghi reiterated the ECB’s forward guidance that the official interest rates could remain at current lower levels for an “extended period”.

Finally, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to maintain the Bank Rate at 0.5%. The Committee also voted to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at 375 Billion pounds.

Li Ka-shing’s utility cuts trust IPO to $3.6 billion HK Electric Investments to offer 4.43bn units HONG KONG: Li Ka-shing’s Power Assets Holdings Ltd slashed the size of a Hong Kong initial public offering of its electricity business by nearly one-third to $3.6 billion because of a lower expected valuation and its decision to keep a large stake in the business.

Power Assets will spin off the business into HK Electric Investments, a singleinvestment trust, offering 4.43 billion units in an indicative range of HK$5.45-HK$6.30 each, the company added in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday. That would put the deal at up to HK$27.91 billion ($3.6 billion). The company cut the expected maximum market capitalization of the trust to HK$55.7 billion from HK$63.4 billion announced in December.

Power Assets also said it will hold about 49.9 percent of the trust, compared with as little as 30 percent in the December filing.

Based on the top market valuation of the trust and Power Assets initial plan to float

up to 70 percent of the business, the IPO was expected to reach up to $5.7 billion.

The trust is expected to pay a distribution yield of 6.26 percent to 7.24 percent in 2014, the company said in the filing. The IPO will be only the third in the city by a single-investment trust, following HKT Trust, spun off from telecoms group PCCW Ltd, and hotel owner Langham Hospitality Investments Ltd. Power Assets said it received initial commitments worth nearly $1.34 billion from two investors for the IPO. Government-owned State Grid Corp of China agreed to make the largest commitment as a cornerstone investor, pledging up to HK$10 billion, while Oman Investment Fund agreed to buy HK$387.5 million, the filing said.

Cornerstone investors receive a guaranteed allocation in exchange for agreeing to retain their stakes for a set period. Goldman Sachs and HSBC were hired as sponsors of the IPO. —Reuters

European inflation The euro-zone inflation rate fell in December further away from the European Central Bank’s target of just below 2%, increasing their challenge of avoiding deflation as well as supporting a sustainable recovery. The annual inflation

until 2016. However, unemployment has already fallen to 7.4%, and many expect it to fall below 7% sometime this year, but Carney has repeatedly made it clear that a fall in the unemployment rate to 7% would not result in an automatic rate rise. It is likely that the Bank would employ other tools, such as controls on mortgage lending, before it considers putting up interest rates.

The United Kingdom service sector continued to expand strongly throughout 2013, with new business and employment rising at noticeable rates. The UK Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to a six-month low of 58.8 in December, rather than holding at November’s level of 60.

Nonetheless, the figure remains well above the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction, and business confidence rose to the highest level in nearly four years, suggesting a very bright outlook for 2014.

Australia’s trade deficit narrowed more than expected in November, as exports remained flat and imports fell. The trade deficit reached a 118 Million Australian Dollars in November, dropping from a revised 358 Million Australian Dollar

US Fed vote The US Senate confirmed Janet Yellen as the next head of the US Federal Reserve. Indeed, fifty six senators voted in favor of Yellen and twenty six opposed. Yellen will succeed Ben Bernanke, whose second term as chairman ends on Jan. 31. She is widely expected to continue many of the policies of her predecessor, especially the efforts to lower unemployment rates. President Obama welcomed the vote, saying, “The American people will have a fierce champion who understands that the ultimate goal of economic and financial policymaking is to improve the lives, jobs and standard of living of American workers and their families.”

Trade balance The United States trade deficit dropped to its lowest level in 48 months as exports hit a record high and imports of foreign oil hit a three-year low. The trade gap dropped to a seasonally 34.3 Billion US Dollars, marking the smallest deficit since October 2009 and was below economists’ predictions for a 40 Billion US Dollars. With better than expected trade deficit data, economists pushed up their 4th Quarter GDP growth estimates by as much as 1% point to as high as a 3.3 % annual rate.

QE tapering Last week the Federal Open Market Committee released the minutes of the Committee meeting held on December 17-18, 2013, where they announced that they would start the tapering process by $10 Billion US Dollar and announced that they would keep the short-term interest rates low until 2016. The information reviewed for the December 17-18 meeting indicated that economic activity was expanding at a moderate pace, the unemployment rate was declining but remained elevated and the consumer price inflation continued to run below the Committee’s objective.

According to the minutes, the majority of participants judged that the benefit of further asset purchases was likely declining with some participants expressing concerns about the marginal costs of additional purchases arising from risks to financial stability.

Nonfarm payrolls Payrolls in December increased at the slowest pace since January 2011, but the setback was likely to be temporary due to cold weather

SOFIA: A mechanic repairs a bike at Drag bike shop in Sofia. From climbing walls and bicycles to cereals and preserved cherries: smart producers in EU’s poorest member Bulgaria have tapped the bloc’s niche markets to stay afloat amid the economic gloom. —AFP

conditions that might have dampened job growth by as much as 100,000. The Labor Department announced that the Nonfarm payrolls rose only 74,000 last month and the unemployment rate fell 0.3% to 6.7%. The unemployment rate was the lowest since October 2008 and mostly reflected people leaving the labor force.

The rate of growth in the US nonmanufacturing sector, slowed in December with business activity expanding at a slower rate and new orders contracting. The Institute for Supply Management Index slowed to 53 in December from 53.9 in November, marking the lowest reading since June 2013. However, a reading above 50 indicates expansion and December marked the fourth year of continuous expansion.

rate dipped to 0.8 % from 0.9% in November, in line with market forecast. The Inflation rate has been below the ECB’s 2 % ceiling for 11 months, although the European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said there were no signs of deflation or an urgent need for another rate cut.

However, he added that it was important that inflation is not stuck permanently below 1%.

Interest rates Last week, the European Central Bank kept its interest rates at record low 0.25%.The ECB President Mario Dragi said the rates would “remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time”. The European Central Bank underlined its determination to take action should the Euro Zone inflation risk turn into deflation. Draghi said in a news conference that the euro-zone “may experience a prolonged period of low inflation, to be followed by a gradual upward movement towards inflation rates below but close to 2% later on”. He also said the economic risks for the euro-zone “remain on the downside” and that the ECB is ready to “take further decisive action” using “all available tools” to spur a weak recovery.

BoE keeps rates unchanged Last week, the Bank of England left its monetary policy unchanged. Indeed, the committee voted to maintain the Bank Rate at 0.5%, also voted to maintain the asset purchase program at 375 Billion Pounds. The Forward Guidance for the Bank of England was not to raise interest rates until the unemployment level reaches 7% anticipating that they would not meet the target

in October. The decline in imports was attributed to a drop in consumption goods by 2 % cent, Market analysts expect the trade deficit to turn into a surplus this year as the mining boom transitions away from its investment phrase towards its production and export stage.

Retail sales Australia’s retail sales rose 0.7 % in November to a seasonally adjusted 22.5 Billion Australian Dollars, easily beating market expectation of a 0.3 % gain. Importantly, it was also the fourth straight month of solid increases in spending that boosted the annual growth in sales to 4.6 % at its fastest pace in over a year.

This is exactly the outcome the Reserve Bank of Australia was aiming for when they gradually cut interest rates to record low of 2.5 % last year; some analysts are expecting the next move on interest rates would be on the rise in 2014.

Asian markets Japan’s economic indicators rose 0.1 %in November from the previous month, showing that the current economic is on a recovery is still on track. The index of leading economic indicators, compiled using data such as the number of job offers and consumer sentiment, reached its highest level since 2007 indicating that the indicating that japans ultra-loose monitory policy that weekend the yen has had a positive effect the Japanese economy.

Kuwait Kuwaiti Dinar at 0.28245. The USDKWD opened at 0.28245 yesterday morning.

GM counts on redesigned Canyon to push sales DETROIT: General Motors Co will not mind if its new GMC Canyon steps on the toes of its larger cousin the Chevrolet Silverado, as long as the redesigned mid-sized pickup truck stomps on vehicle sales by other automakers.

Executives at the No 1 US automaker are counting on the 2015 Canyon pickup when it debuts in the fall to be a “true conquest machine” that will attract full-size truck owners from rival brands. Target buyers include those who want something smaller and people who currently drive crossover vehicles but want the utility of a truck.

Any sales Canyon pulls from the low end of the full-size Silverado should be minimal, GM believes. The Canyon, scheduled to be unveiled on Sunday night ahead of the Detroit auto show this week, is meant to pull sales from Ford Motor Co’s F-150 and Chrysler Group’s Ram 1500 pickups, but it may also take sales from Silverado as well, said Tony DiSalle, US vice president of marketing for GMC.

“If there is somebody that’s in a full-size today that really needs a smaller, more convenient package to better fit their lifestyle, I’d rather they stay with us than go elsewhere,” DiSalle told reporters.

“That’s an important part of retention. I would much rather give our customers the breadth of choices than have them go elsewhere,” he added. “The role of this truck is to go gobble up business from competitors.”

GM showed Canyon’s Chevy sibling, the 2015 Colorado, at the Los Angeles Auto Show last November. The automaker stopped making the previous Colorado and Canyon models in 2012 because of declining popularity. Now, GM is counting on the new designs to appeal to lifestyle buyers much as Subaru has done with its vehicles, offering space, utility and a refined interior.

Crowded truck segment While large pickup sales are expected to rise only slightly from 2013 to 2016, midsize pickups will see sales increase by

more than a third, according to research firm LMC Automotive.

The leader in the mid-sized truck segment is Toyota Motor Corp’s Tacoma. Sales of the Canyon are expected to more than double from 2012 to more than 21,800 trucks in 2016, while Silverado sales are expected to increase 22 percent in the same period, according to LMC. GM has not disclosed the pricing for the new Canyon, but the most expensive 2012 model sold for more than $32,000, while the least expensive 2014 Silverado starts below $27,000. LMC senior vice president of forecasting Jeff Schuster sees the smaller pickups as a hedge by GM. “In their mind, they’re perfectly fine if there’s some play between the top end of midtruck, the Canyon, and the bottom end of the full-size truck,” he said. “Let the consumer decide whether they want a smaller truck with more amenities or a larger truck with fewer things on it.”

While there could be “an ele-

ment of confusion,” price overlap is inevitable with so many variables in cabin size and engines in the pickup truck segment, Schuster added. Joseph Phillippi, principal with AutoTrends Consulting, does not see the Canyon hurting the Silverado much because the trucks are so different. As long as GM is banking the profit, however, “what does it matter?” he said.

Guggenheim Securities analyst Matthew Stover does not love GM’s truck strategy, as he does not view the gasoline-powered Canyon as a compelling value for the average consumer, and he calls the mid-sized truck market a West Coast phenomenon. “You’re throwing rocks in a pond that’s getting smaller and smaller,” he said. Stover also said the gap in fuel efficiency between the midsized and large pickups is just not as large as it used to be, minimizing the attractiveness of the smaller model. However, the Canyon’s diesel variant, which will be sold in the second year, could be successful, he said. —Reuters

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

BUSINESS

A pleasant surprise for Air India passengers on new year day

W

hen the passengers of the Air India flight AI982 were boarding the aircraft for the midnight departure on the 31st December 2013, they did not anticipate that a pleasant surprise was in store for them. There was a general

exchange of best wishes between the passengers and the crew for the New Year which was moments away.

However, as soon as they settled down on their seats, they were surprised to hear an announcement by Air India Country Manager Ajay Sinha,

Wataniya launches best prepaid offers today KUWAIT: Wataniya Telecom, the first private telecom operator in Kuwait, provides its customers with the best prepaid offers today. Customers of Wataniya can choose from a variety of the latest smartphones available with affordable one time payments and brilliant 4G/LTE internet.

Customers can choose between Nokia Lumia 625 and Samsung Ace 3 LTE at a one-time payment of KD 72, or Huawei G526 at a one-time payment of KD 66.

Customers will be given a free SIM card with KD 2 with any of these handsets and will receive KD 5 bonus credit/month for local calls and SMS. They will also enjoy a free 4GB of 4G/LTE My Net pack for the first month.

The offers are now available at all Wataniya branches, Fono stores and authorized dealers. Wataniya Telecom continues to bring the latest handsets and best offers and services to its customers.

Safat Home launches its year-end sales Up to 70% off on all home furniture, accessories KUWAIT: Safat Home has launched an exclusive end-of-year sale with up to 70% off on all home furniture, accessories, Sanitary ware, Kids furniture and garden furniture available in Al-Rai and Shuwaikh showrooms. This limited time offer provides everyone the chance to choose any furniture at the best prices offered this year.

In our new kitchen and tableware department, Danish brands Bodum and Zone and American brand Gibson have been launched in a variety of styles to meet many tastes, from quirky and colorful designs to sleek and modern pieces.

Among the new products are crockery and cutlery sets, glassware and mugs, French coffee presses, and much more, everything you would need to make a dining table or kitchen look great.

A leading producer of quality dinnerware, cutlery and kitchenware, American brand Gibson provides customers with both modern and classic options to suit both budget and personal tastes. Zone is famed for combining functionality with

great value and the highest standards of quality, reflecting the distinct design that Zone offers. From kitchen linens and placemats to storage solutions and kitchen accessories, Zone provides customers with a comprehensive range of trendy options that make daily tasks easy and pleasurable.

Created for the sole preparation, serving and enjoyment of a warm cup of coffee or tea, the Danish company Bodum has taken the world by storm with its inspiring collection of tea and coffee essentials and presses, including insulated cups to keep beverages hot for longer. Available at major department stores and premium kitchen retailers around the world, Bodum’s line is now available at Safat Home. Bodum, Zone and Gibson are available exclusively at Safat Home for you to benefit from great value, quality kitchen essentials today. Treat yourself to a 12-piece dinner set starting from only KD 5, or quality mugs, glassware and kitchen utensils starting from only 500fils.

Take advantage of the quality cutlery sets that are available for as low as KD3

Al-Tijari announces winners of Najma account draw KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwait held the Al-Najma Account Daily draw on January 12, 2014. The draw was held under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry represented by Saquer Al- Manaie.

The winners of the Najma daily draw are : • Habib Romani Londa KD 7000, • Loksley Christopher Goveas KD 7000 • Jomaah Hanon Merhej KD 7000 • Mohammed Ameen Ghulam KD 7000 • Erafai Jaber Al-Shouli KD 7000.

The Commercial Bank of Kuwait announces the biggest daily draw in Kuwait with the launch of the new Najma account. Customers of the bank can now enjoy a KD7,000 daily prize which is the highest in the country and another 4 mega

prizes during the year worth KD100,000 each on different occasions: The National Day, Eid Al-Fitr, Eid Al-Adha and on the 19th of June which is the date of the bank’s establishment.

With a minimum balance of KD500, customers will be eligible for the daily draw provided that the money is in the account one week prior to the daily draw or 2 months prior to the mega draw. In addition, for each KD25 a customer can get one chance for winning instead of KD50.

Commercial Bank of Kuwait takes this opportunity to congratulate all lucky winners and also extends appreciation to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for their effective supervision of the draws which were conducted in an orderly and organized manner.

Burgan Bank announces winners of Yawmi account KUWAIT: Burgan Bank announced yesterday the names of the five lucky winners of its Yawmi account draw, each taking home a prize of KD 5,000.

The winners for the daily draws took home a cash-prize of KD 5000 each, and they are: 1. Turki Saad Ayed Alsaeedi 2. Salah Jaafar Mohammad Al Ali 3. Hani Yassin Hussain Alastal 4. Heirs of Humoud Sulaiman Almudhaiyan 5. Salah Mohammad Obaid Hamad With its new and enhanced features, the Yawmi Account has become more convenient, easier, and faster for customers to benefit from. Now, customers will be eligible to enter the draw after 48 hours only from opening the account.

Customers are also required to deposit KD 100 or equivalent only to enter the daily draw, and the coupon value to enter the draw stands at KD 10.

The newly designed Yawmi account

has been launched to provide a highly innovative offering along with a higher frequency and incentive of winning for everyone. Today, the Yawmi account is a well understood product, where its popularity can be seen from the number of increasing account holders.

Burgan Bank encourages everyone to open a Yawmi account and/or increase their deposit to maximize their chances to becoming a daily winner. The more customers deposit, the higher the chances they receive of winning the draw.

Opening a Yawmi account is simple, customers are urged to visit their nearest Burgan Bank branch and receive all the details, or simply call the bank’s Call Center at 1804080 where customer service representatives will be delighted to assist with any questions on the Yawmi account or any of the bank’s products and services. Customers can also log on to Burgan Bank’s www.burgan.com for further information.

wishing them a Happy New Year and that each one of them was going to get a New Year gift from Air India, Kuwait. There was applause all around.

Then came the gifts in colorful packages, separate gifts for gents and ladies, and toys for children. And the

one infant on board got a nice baby walker trolley. While the AI officers and crew members went around distributing the gifts, the passengers’ happy faces and look of surprise said it all.

Everyone including the children enjoyed the new year celebration on

board their flight. Finally Air India Country Manager, along with the Airport Manager R Kannan and rest of the team wished the passengers a great year ahead. And then the flight took off. A happy beginning of the New Year.

Al-Mazaya Holding outlines 2014 strategy from new HQ New HQ in one of the towers in heart of Kuwait City KUWAIT: Al-Mazaya Holding Company has announced its fulfillment of several achievements in 2013, laying foundation for strong growth and development in the year to come.

Engineer Ibrahim Al-Saqabi, CEO of Al Mazaya Holding Company, said that the company has taken some concrete steps already at the beginning of 2014,the first of which was to move to its new headquarters within AlMazaya Towers, located in the heart of Kuwait City, ensuring a new environment within one of the towers which the company prides itself on having developed, managed and equipped to the highest international levels of technology, communication and internet services required by top-tier companies in the present day. Al Mazaya is taking over four floors including meeting rooms, lounges to receive investors, multi-purpose halls that fit different operational activities and comfortable offices for the company’s administrative and executive staff.

He added that the company’s

move to the tower enhances its confidence in its own real estate products distinguished by their strategic geographical location and architectural design and the high quality interior and exterior finishes, which reflect the company’s strong capabilities and potential to implement such pilot projects.

In the same vein, Al Saqabi confirmed that the presence of Al Mazaya in its towers would improve the value and quality of the real estate services offered by the company to its tenant customers in all its towers, especially since the company has launched its real estate asset management service, after its success across the Arabian Gulf.

He also pointed out to a number of other achievements that would support Al Mazaya’s steps towards the implementation of the company’s strategic plan for the coming years, after it has recently finished restructuring its administrative staff in collaboration with an international company, thus establishing a new organizational structure for the company that

includes a comprehensive change in the titles, salaries and incentives of the employees in line with the

Engineer Ibrahim Al-Saqabi latest international standards. This step also included the appointment of new highly experienced and staff to meet the needs of the company in the next period.

Al Saqabi also spoke about other achievements, including the sale and swap processes concluded by the company through its sub-

sidiary in Dubai, which resulted in strong profits disclosed earlier, and which will be to be listed within the profits of the company duringQ4of 2013.

Al-Mazaya has also launched its new website, www.mazayaholding.com,with the latest and best tools of digital technology to reflect the size and operations of the company as well as to enable all users to take advantage of its contents - that go beyond the company’s news to include real estate, investment and financial market news in general, and monthly reports that include the latest real estate statistics and analyses in Kuwait and the region.

Al Saqabi concluded by saying that the company has not overlooked the importance and power of modern marketing tools. It has sought to be present in all global social networking sites in order to ensure that its real estate services and industry knowledge can be available to the largest segment of users of these sites, and to continue to present Al-Mazaya’s work to the industry and the region.

KIA Motors Kuwait introduces ‘Al-Masy Benefits Program’ for Quoris 2014 owners KUWAIT: National Agencies Group, a division of Abdulaziz Al-Ali Al-Mutawa Group and the authorized distributor of KIA Motors in Kuwait, has announced the launch of its “Al-Masy Benefits Program” for owners of the full-luxury 2014 KIA Quoris large sedan.

The Al-Masy Benefits Program completes the luxury experience of owning the Quorisby providing a series of exclusive benefits that include: a $5,000 cash gift, 5 Years Maintenance Service with VIP privileges (vehicle pick-up & return to customer, replacement car in case of a service longer than 1 day), 1 year Comprehensive Insurance, 10 years warranty, 24/7 roadside assistance for 5 years, 3-year registration and 3rd party insurance in addition to a generous tradein scheme for the customers’ used car.

“When we launched KIA Quoris, we introduced a luxury car that was designed by one of the world’s top 3 car designers and equipped with the world’s most impressive features. With the Al-Masy Benefits Program, we are introducing Kuwait’s most generous benefits package that reflects the lifestyle choice new Quoris owners have made,” explained Ms. Nadia Gobran, Marketing Manager of KIA Motors Kuwait.

The KIA Quoris is KIA’s full-luxury model. It was launched in 2012 as the automaker’s first modern rear-wheel drive sedan and a true competitor to the established rivals in terms of exterior/interior design, features and performance.

The exterior design of KIA Quoris is centered around elegant simplicity, balanced proportions and simple surfaces. The class-leading long wheelbase, prestigious wide spaces, large wheels and other elements work together in

harmony to give KIA Quoris all the necessary properties for a premium large rear-wheel drive vehicle.

Inside, Quoris delivers some of the most impressive technological features in its segment.

A crystal clear 12.3-inch wide LCD cluster greets drivers with information in immense clarity.

Drivers will have access to a HUD (head-up display) which presents a variety of information discretely in the driver’s sight line on the windshield.

In addition to all the standard features of high-end models, the Quoris also offers the following impressive features: a radar-based advanced smart cruise control (ASCC) system which automatically applies the brakes to maintain a pre-determined safe distance, Blind Spot Detection (BSD), Lane Change Assistance (LCA), Around View Monitor System providing a true 360-degree all-around view in eight different viewing modes, Adaptive Front Lighting System (AFLS) and more.

Loss of jobless aid leaves many with bleak options WASHINGTON: A cutoff of benefits for the longterm unemployed has left more than 1.3 million Americans with a stressful decision: What now?

Without their unemployment checks, many will abandon what had been a futile search and will no longer look for a job - an exodus that could dwarf the 347,000 Americans who stopped seeking work in December. Beneficiaries have been required to look for work to receive unemployment checks.

Some who lost their benefits say they’ll begin an early and unplanned retirement. Others will pile on debt to pay for school and an eventual second career. Many will likely lean on family, friends, and other government programs to get by.

They’re people like Stan Osnowitz, a 67-year-old electrician in Baltimore who lost his state unemployment benefits of $430 a week. The money put gasoline in his car to help him look for work.

Osnowitz says an extra three months of benefits - one option Congress is debating to restore the program -would enable his job search to continue into spring, when construction activity usually increases and more electrical jobs become

available. He says he’s sought low-paid work at stores like Lowe’s or Home Depot. But he acknowledges that at his age, the prospect of a minimumwage job is depressing. “I have two choices,” Osnowitz says. “I can take a job at McDonald’s or something and give up everything I’ve studied and everything I’ve worked for and all the experience that I have. Or I can go to retirement.”

The emergency federal aid ran out last month, a casualty of deficit-minded lawmakers who argue that the government can’t afford to fund it indefinitely and that unemployment benefits do little to put people back to work. Since their introduction during the 2008 financial crisis, extended benefits have gone to millions who had exhausted their regular state unemployment checks, typically after six months. The duration of the federal benefits has varied from state to state up to 47 weeks.

As a result, the long-term unemployed in Rhode Island, for example, could receive a total of 73 weeks - 26 weeks of regular benefits, plus 47 weeks from the now-expired federal program.

Outside Cincinnati, Tammy Blevins, 57, fears that welfare is her next step. She was let go as a machine operator at a printing plant in May. Her

unemployment check and a small inheritance from her father helped cover her $1,000-a-month mortgage and $650 health insurance premium.

With her benefits cut off and few openings in manufacturing, she dreads what could be next.

“I’m going to have to try the welfare thing, I guess,” Blevins says. “I don’t know. I’m lost.” Others plan to switch careers. After being laid off this summer as a high school history teacher, Jada Urquhart enrolled at Ohio State University to become a social worker. Urquhart, 58, has already borrowed against her house, canceled cable-TV and turned down the thermostat despite the winter chill.

Without an unemployment check, she plans to max out her credit cards and take on student loans to complete her degree by 2015. “I’ll be 60 when I graduate,” she says. “If I do one-on-one or family counseling, I can work forever.” Urquhart finds herself in sympathy with members of Congress who want to limit government spending. She does in theory, at least. “It’s just hard when you’re the one getting shrunk,” she says. The percentage of Americans in the workforce has reached its lowest monthly level in nearly 36 years, the Labor Department said Friday. —AP

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

technology

Technology stretches veneer of privacy thinner BOSTON: We’re no longer just strangers in a crowd. Imagine any street corner in any town where, let’s say, four people Alexandria, Larry, Cory and Cameron are lost in private thought.

Without a single conversation, without even knowing their names, we could learn that Alexandria’s angry exboyfriend posted her photo on a “revenge porn” website. That Larry is mourning the death of his daughter.

That Cory is trying to scrub her image from friends’ social networks. That Cameron picked the wrong place to hide from police.

In each case, a simple photograph of the four strangers, combined with the power of data, opens the door to deeply personal details. That’s one of the many ways digital technologies are turning our once-personal lives into a global show-and-tell and redefining our expectations of privacy.

Almost every day brings new revelations about how Big Brother snoops on us and Big Data mines our online activities for profit. Even so, we are only beginning to understand the power of these incursions. In a few years, our faces alone, snapped on a street, in a crowd, or posted by a friend on the Internet, will be the key for a search engine to reveal the stories of our lives.

There may be nothing that technology is changing more dramatically than privacy. What is happening with our images online is just one example of our digital reality: We’re living life out loud secrets and all.

Data stream To be sure, gossip is as old as our species. It spread through villages in whispers or over our grandparents’ “party line” phones. And the impulse to share photos of ourselves started the moment

Louis Daguerre first fixed images onto sheets of silver-plated copper. But information moved at a human pace - eventually forgiven, forgotten. Now this information travels across continents with just a click. And it can remain virtually forever in the data stream. There is no “erase” key.

People like Alexandria discover that in new and shocking ways every day.

“I am flabbergasted. It is crazy,” she said after a reporter discovered a topless photo of her on a pornographic website that her ex-fiance had posted more than two years after their breakup. He has remarried and has a child; she is engaged. Yet the photo persists - and the Netherlands-based website demands $500 to remove it. We’re not publishing her name to avoid a further invasion of her privacy. She had no idea her bare-chested image was out there with her name, hometown and age

attached - until the reporter called. “It was a personal thing between me and him,” she said. “It happened one time, and I didn’t think he’d hold onto them.”

Simple math Here is the simple math behind our brave new digital world, with its blurry boundaries between private and public: Photos + name = information.

Photos - a snapshot at a party or a “selfie” shot in the bedroom - can reveal names, using tools like Google Plus’ “Find My Face” and Facebook’s facial recognition software. And geo-tagged posts on social networks can reveal the precise location of your whereabouts.

Then our names become a pipeline to once-private information, such as home address, age, employment, taxes paid, political affiliations and campaign contributions. It used to be expensive to make things public and cheap to keep

them private, notes Internet scholar and New York University professor Clay Shirky. Now it’s expensive and time-consuming to make things private. But it’s cheap - and easy - to be public. About 2.5 billion people worldwide have a digital camera in their pockets, often attached to a smartphone, according to Hong Kong-based mobile technology consultant Tomi Ahonen. If each person snaps 150 photos a year, that adds up to a staggering 375 billion images annually.

San Francisco Bay Area resident Cory Colligan knows the challenge of protecting her privacy. When a friend tags her in a Facebook photo, she “untags” it, or politely emails a request to delete it. If feelings are hurt, she explains her concern to friends over lunch.

“I love social media, but I don’t post photos,” Colligan said. “I don’t want to be out there that way. Period. I’m a private person.” —AP

3-D printing set to break out of niche Prices down, output quality up

LAS VEGAS: Hunt, Netflix’s chief product officer, demonstrates ultra high definition streaming of a “House of Cards” trailer on a Sony TV on the sidelines of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Netflix says video streaming of its programming in ultra-high definition will work for buyers of new UHD sets from Sony, LG, Samsung, Vizio and others upon purchase. —AP

T&T to offer Beats Music family plan LAS VEGAS: AT&T says it will start offering customers a subscription to streaming service Beats Music in a package that gives as many as five family members unlimited streaming and song downloading for $15 a month.

The offer, a good deal if even two people use it, is an attempt to bring down the cost of music for families that pay AT&T for cellphone service. It’s part of Beats’ major launch strategy since its headphone maker parent, Beats Electronics, bought streaming service MOG in 2012.

Beats Electronics is backed by hip-hop mogul Dr. Dre and former music executive Jimmy Iovine. Beats Music works on the MOG platform, though the look and emphasis on human-curated playlists and recommendations are different.

With plans to add future promotional tieins with the popular headphone line, Beats Music would compete with services like Spotify, Rhapsody and Rdio. The family plan

has a 90-day free trial but no free ad-supported version, unlike Spotify.

Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers said the company decided to launch its service with AT&T rather than do an immediate tie-in with a headphone purchase to reach the widest possible audience.

“We don’t want people to think it’s an ecosystem that’s closed in some way,” he said.

Rogers gave a demo of the service this week on the sidelines of the International CES gadget show in Las Vegas.

David Christopher, chief marketing officer for Dallas-based AT&T Inc., said the company chose to partner with Beats Music because of a longstanding association with Iovine and the headphone line. It was also a way to get involved in transforming MOG. “We were in on the ground floor with a shared vision about how we could really change the game for subscription music,” Christopher said. —AP

Technology in the crib NEW YORK: As wearable technology becomes more mainstream-evident from the plethora of vendors showcasing at CES 2014 last week-one thing becomes clearer than ever: wearables may be starting in the crib, but are no longer are in their infancy!

With the “smart baby onesie” on display at Intel Intel’s booth-manufactured by the company, Rest Devices-parents may now have the added opportunity to keep track of health related data regarding their infants in the crib-including their respiratory rate, and thus be more aware of any potential discomfort or illness developing.

Called the Mimo Baby, this may represent the new baby monitor of the future, with the ability to monitor real data other than cooing or movement of blankets from first generation microphone-based monitors or even baby-cams. “Wearables are a technology for

the future”, said Rich Able, Co-Founder and CMO of X2Bio, a company which has developed sophisticated wearable sensors to evaluate traumatic brain injury and concussions, and whose concussion monitoring software is currently being used by all 32 NFL teams.

“Data from such wearable sensors has the potential to positively impact all of us in every aspect of our daily lives”, added Able.

Starter kit Two green stripes across the chest-sensors which record respiratory rate-provide parents or caregivers with changes in respiratory rate.

Potentially signaling breathing difficulty, this data could be valuable in management of patients with asthma or even croup. An additional removable turtle shaped device clipped on front allows monitoring of body temperature as well as activity level.—AP

LAS VEGAS: Some of the oddest items on display this week at the International CES gadget show were edible, origami-like sculptures made of sugar, their shapes so convoluted as to baffle the eye. The treats are one of many signs that we’ll all be getting a taste of 3-D printing soon -and the phenomenon won’t be relegated to the realm of engineers and tech enthusiasts.

The sugar sculptures are the output of the ChefJet Pro, the first commercial, kitchen-ready food printer. It looks like an oven, and deposits sugar layer by layer in a tray, then melts the parts intended for the sculpture with water so they solidify much like sugar in a bowl will harden with moisture.

Ink can be selectively added to the water so the sculptures come out in full color - a feature sure to set the minds of wedding and party planners spinning. Next to the geometric sculptures was a wedding cake supported by a delicate lattice -work tower of sugar that would be nearly impossible to make by conventional means. Oh, and the printer can print in chocolate too.

3D Systems Inc., a Rock Hill, South Carolina, company, expects to sell the full-color printer for about $100,000 in the latter half of this year, and a monochrome version for half that price.

Last year, there were only a handful of 3-D printing companies at the gadget show. This year, there were thirty, and the organizers had to turn others away because they couldn’t fit them in. The 3-D printing area of the show floor drew dense crowds that gawked at the printers and their creations, which ranged from toys to tea cups to iPhone cases.

Melissa Spencer, a jewelr y designer from Los Angeles, was at the show to look for a printer. 3-D printers have been used in jewelrymaking for a long time, but high prices and poor resolution have limited their use. With prices down and output quality up, it’s now possible for an independent designer to buy her own printer, Spencer said.

The printers focus bright ultraviolet light into liquid resin, setting it.

That takes time. One printer maker cited 7 hours for a batch of five rings. The plastic pieces are then used to create molds for molten silver, gold or platinum.

Unique design Spencer is now toying with the idea of abandoning the reuse of molds, and instead using the power of a 3-D printer to make every piece a one -off, unique design, customized to the buyer. It helps that she can show the plastic prototypes to the customer before casting.

With 3-D printing, “we’re moving to a world of mass customization,” said Shawn Dubravac, an analyst for the Consumer Electronics Association, which puts on the show. What started with customprinted T-shirts a la CafePress can now happen in all kinds of industries, he added. It’s still a small field, though. He expects that just under 100,000 3-D printers will be sold in 2014.

One jewelry company was at CES to demonstrate how it has taken the capabilities of the 3-D printer and made them the core of its business. American Pearl, a familyowned company founded in 1950, in November revamped its website to allow shoppers to order custom jewelry. From about 1,000 basic designs, the buyers can change metals and stones and order engravings and they can see the results rendered in 3-D on their computer screens. The company prints the orders in 3-D in its factory in New York.

The approach lets the company keep prices low while satisfying customers’ demands for unique pieces, said American Pearl president Eddie Bakhash. “If you saw the backend of our system, you’d see that every order coming in is different.” The mass customization capability is useful in unexpected fields.

Bre Pettis, the CEO of New Yorkbased printer manufacturer MakerBot, is proud that a customer, a South African carpenter who had lost four fingers in an accident, figured out how to use a printer to make a mechanical hand for himself. He distributed the blueprints to other MakerBot users, who can tweak them to fit. “Normally, prosthetics cost tens of thousands of dollars, but with the MakerBot, they cost five dollars in materials,” Pettis said.

MakerBot unveiled new models at the show, including its biggest one yet, which is the size of a minifridge, costs $6,499 and can print objects the size of a human head. It also launched a smaller version, the Replicator Mini, which can create cupcake-sized objects. It will cost

LAS VEGAS: A trade show attendee examines a centerpiece confection made with a ChefJet Pro 3D food printer on display at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The candies are made with sugar, food coloring and a single flavor. —AP $1,375 when it launches this spring.

MakerBot will be undersold, however, by XYZprinting Inc. of Taiwan, which plans to sell its Da Vinci printer starting in March in the U.S. for $499. That’s a price that’s bound to attract a lot of people who would never have imagined, a year ago, that they’d have a 3-D printer in the house.

Tiny dots The MakerBot and Da Vinci printers take rolls of plastic wire and melt them, piece by piece, depositing tiny dots to create objects. The resulting pieces can be light and strong, but their surfaces show a characteristic banded texture and the resolution is limited; the overall impression is crude. The light-curing models used by jewelers and engineers produce smooth objects with fine detail, but they’ve been out of reach of consumers and tinkerers until now.

The show provided hope on that front, however: XFab, an Italian company that’s made professional 3-D printers for a decade, demonstrated a $5,000 laser-powered model at the show, and said it is looking at launching a smaller, $2,500 model later this year. That’s roughly the price of the standard MakerBot, which has been the vanguard of the consumer 3-D printing movement so far.

Elsewhere at the show, there was a “technology fashion” show that featured 3-D-printed shoes and a bag with appliques created on a consumer-level, computercontrolled cloth cutter, the Brother ScanNCut. “ The question in my mind is not ‘Will we have a 3-D printer in each home?’ but ‘Which room will it be in?’” said Avi Reichental, the CEO of 3D Systems.

“Will it be in your garage? Will it be in your kids’ room, or the man cave ... Or the wardrobe?” — AP

Tips for consumers worried about the Target breach NEW YORK: Target’s massive pre-Christmas security breach may have affected more than 70 million people.

The incident could turn out to be one of the largest data breaches on record for a retailer, surpassing an incident uncovered in 2007 that saw more than 90 million records pilfered from TJX Cos. Inc. Target Corp. disclosed last month that about 40 million credit and debit cards may have been affected by the breach that occurred between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15. But according to new information released Friday, those criminals also stole personal information - including names, phone numbers as well as email and mailing addresses from as many as 70 million customers who could have shopped at stores outside of that timeframe.

Some overlap exists between the two data sets.

Here’s what you need to know if you think your data was compromised: Q: How did this happen?

A: Target has said that the breach was caused by malware that affected its US stores.

Ken Stasiak, founder and CEO of SecureState, a Cleveland-based information security firm that investigates data breaches like this one, says it’s likely that the perpetrators infiltrated Target’s main information hub with malware and from there were able to access the store point-of-sale systems. Once the malware was in the POS systems, it could collect credit and debit card numbers as the cards were swiped.

Stasiak notes that retailers routinely collect personal information such as addresses, emails and phone numbers through things such as rewards cards when sales are made, so that information is also contained on POS systems just like credit card numbers.

Q: If my card number was stolen, what exactly am I on the hook for?

A: In most cases consumers aren’t responsible for fraudulent credit card charges.

Credit card companies are often able to flag the charges before they go through and shut down your card. If that doesn’t happen, the card issuer will generally strip charges you claim are fraudulent off your card immediately. Usually the worst thing consumers have to deal with is the

hassle of getting a new credit card.

But since debit cards don’t come with all of the same protections, holders of those kinds of cards may have a harder time getting their money back.

And the banks and credit card companies ultimately won’t be stuck with the bills, either. Since the fraud has been tied to Target, the retailer will be responsible for compensating them.

Q: What are the odds that my identity will be stolen?

A: There’s no way to know. But Stasiak says the revelation that personal information was taken in addition to credit and debit card data makes it much more likely that the thieves weren’t just out to steal credit card numbers for financial gain.

For instance, criminals could use that personal information to send specific phishing emails to Target shoppers that prompt them to click on links that send malware to their own computers and steal even more information.

And identity theft damage could be much harder for victims to repair than credit card fraud.

In addition, if the theft is discovered months or even years down the road, it will be much harder

WATERTOWN: A passer-by walks near an entrance to a Target retail store in Watertown, Mass. Target says that personal information - including phone numbers and email and mailing addresses - was stolen from as many as 70 million customers in its pre-Christmas data breach. —AP to tie to the Target breach, Stasiak says.

Q: What should I do to protect myself?

A: Consumers who think they may be affected should check their credit card statements carefully for potentially fraudulent charges. Experts say in cases like this when a huge amount of information is stolen, the thieves often sell it on the black mar-

ket to the highest bidder. As a result, it could be a while before someone tries to use the information for nefarious purposes. If you see suspicious charges, report the activity to your credit card companies and call Target at 866-852-8680. You can report cases of identity theft to law enforcement or the Federal Trade Commission.—AP

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

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

Calif teen called ‘brain dead’ gets feeding tube OAKLAND: The family of a 13-year-old California girl who was declared brain dead after suffering complications from sleep apnea surgery has gotten her the feeding and breathing tubes that they had been fighting for. Christopher Dolan, the attorney for the girl’s family, said doctors inserted the gastric tube and tracheostomy tube Wednesday at the undisclosed facility where Jahi McMath was taken Jan 5.

The procedure was a success, Dolan said, and Jahi is getting the treatment that her family believes she should have gotten 28 days ago, when doctors at Children’s Hospital Oakland first declared her brain dead. Jahi underwent tonsil surgery Dec 9, then began bleeding heavily before going into cardiac arrest and being declared brain dead Dec 12.

Her mother has refused to believe Jahi is dead and went to court to prevent her daughter from being taken off a ventilator. Jahi’s uncle, Omari Sealey, said Monday that she is now being cared for at a facility that shares her family’s belief that she still is alive. The new facility has “been very welcoming with open arms,”

Sealey said. “They have beliefs just like ours.” Neither Dolan nor the family would disclose the name or location of that facility, which took the eighth-grader after a weekslong battle by her family to prevent Children’s Hospital Oakland from removing her from the breathing machine that has kept her heart beating.

But medical experts said the ventilator won’t work indefinitely and caring for a patient whom three doctors have said is legally dead is likely to be challenging because - unlike someone in a coma there is no blood flow or electrical activity in either her cerebrum or the brain stem that controls breathing. The bodies of brain dead patients kept on ventilators gradually deteriorate, eventually causing blood pressure to plummet and the heart to stop, said Dr Paul Vespa, director of neurocritical care at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has no role in McMath’s care. The process usually takes only days but can sometimes continue for months, medical experts say.

“The bodies are really in an artificial state. It requires a great deal of manipu-

lation in order to keep the circulation going,” Vespa said. Brain-dead people may look like they’re sleeping, he added, but it’s “an illusion based on advanced medical techniques.” Sealey, the girl’s uncle, said Monday that Jahi’s mother, Nailah Winkfield, is relieved her persistence paid off and “sounds happier.” He criticized Children’s Hospital for repeatedly telling Winkfield they did not need her permission to remove Jahi from the ventilator because the girl was dead.

Sealey told reporters Monday that Jahi traveled by ground from Children’s Hospital to the unnamed facility and there were no complications in the transfer, suggesting she may still be in California. The $55,000 in private donations the family has raised since taking the case public helped cover the carefully choreographed handoff to the critical care team and transportation to the new location, Sealey said. “If her heart stops beating while she is on the respirator, we can accept that because it means she is done fighting,” he said. “We couldn’t accept them pulling the plug on her early.” Meanwhile, an advocacy group is fac-

ing sharp criticism for using Jahi’s case to try to raise money. The nonprofit Consumer noted in an email solicitation that it fights for patient safety for families like Jahi’s and that it had drafted a proposed November ballot measure that would raise medical malpractice award limits in California.

Dolan, the family attorney, is a board member of Consumer Attorneys of California, the prime group funding the ballot initiative to lift the cap on pain and suffering awards. But he said he was dismayed that Consumer Watchdog used Jahi’s name as a fundraising tool. “Using Jahi’s case as an example is wrong and that is not what this case is about,” he said in a text message to the Associated Press.

Hospital spokesman Sam Singer also criticized the use of Jahi’s case for fundraising, calling it “tasteless and thoughtless.” Consumer Watchdog Executive Director Carmen Balber said the funds were being solicited for the organization’s patient safety program, not the political campaign, and none of the money would go to the ballot meas-

ure. “We thought we were being clear,” she said. “This email has been construed in ways we didn’t expect.”

Consumer Watchdog’s Christmas Eve email to supporters prominently mentioned the Jahi McMath case to support the need for its advocacy work and for lifting the state’s 38-year-old cap on medical malpractice awards. “Hospitals like Children’s actually have an incentive to let children like Jahi die,” the email said. “If kids injured by medical negligence die, the most their families can recover is $250,000. ... If children who are victims of medical negligence live, hospitals are on the hook for medical bills for life, which could be millions.”

If it gets on November’s ballot and passes, the Troy & Alana Pack Patient Safety Act would raise the cap on medical malpractice awards to about $1.2 million, a limit that would increase based on inflation, said Bob Pack, chair of the campaign committee. He said the group has collected about 500,000 signatures and wants 300,000 more by March 25 to assure there are enough valid ones to qualify for the ballot. — AP

HK suffers in smog as pollution problems rise Heavy industries, car-use are key culprits

DALLAS: Veronica Rodriguez (left) of Garland Texas, stands with nearly 40 others protesting outside the Dallas Safari Club’s weekend show and auction. — AP

Black rhino hunt permit auctioned for $350,000 DALLAS: A permit to hunt an endangered African black rhino sold Saturday night for $350,000 at a Dallas auction held to raise money for conservation efforts but criticized by wildlife advocates. Steve Wagner, a spokesman for the Dallas Safari Club, which sponsored the closed-door event, confirmed the sale of the permit for a hunt in the African nation of Namibia. He declined to name the buyer. Ben Carter, executive director of the Safari Club, has defended the auction. He said all money raised will go toward protecting the species. He also said the rhino that the winner will be allowed to hunt is old, male and nonbreeding - and that the animal was likely to be targeted for removal anyway because it was becoming aggressive and threatening other wildlife.

But the auction drew howls from critics, including wildlife and animal rights groups, and the FBI earlier this week said it was investigating death threats against members of the club. Officials from the Humane Society and the International Fund for Animal Welfare have said that while culling can be appropriate in abundant animal populations, all black rhinos should be protected, given their endangered status.

An estimated 4,000 black rhinos remain in the wild, down from 70,000 in the 1960s.

Nearly 1,800 are in Namibia, according to the safari club. Critics have also said any hunting of a rhino sends a bad message to the public. “This auction is telling the world that an American will pay anything to kill their species,” Jeffrey Flocken, North American regional director of the Massachusetts-based IFAW, said earlier this week. “This is, in fact, making a spectacle of killing an endangered species.”

The auction took place Saturday night in downtown Dallas under tight security and behind closed doors. Organizers hoped to at least break the previous high bid for one

of the permits in Namibia, which was $223,000, and had said the amount could be as high as $1 million. The nation offers five permits each year, and the one auctioned Saturday was the first to be made available for purchase outside of Namibia.

The winning bidder could have come from anywhere in the world, and at least some bidders were expected to enter by phone. About 40 protesters gathered early Saturday evening outside the convention center where the auction and a pre-auction dinner were to take place. They held signs and chanted. Most dispersed by just after 6 pm CST. Jim and Lauren Ries traveled with their children from Atlanta to protest the auction of the rare black rhino hunting permit in Dallas. Jim Ries said it was his son Carter, 12, and daughter Olivia, 11, who pushed for them to go and participate. “We heard what the Dallas Safari Club was doing and we thought it was just wrong that they were auctioning off to kill a black rhino and we really got upset that they were thinking this,” Carter Ries said.

Jim Ries said his children are passionate about animal conservation and were working to help adopt cheetahs in Africa. The family started a nonprofit called One More Generation, dedicated to saving endangered species. “There’s less than 5,000 black rhinos left on the planet,” the father said, “and if our kids ever want to see a rhino left in the wild, we can’t be pulling the trigger on every one we say is too old to breed.”

Poachers long have targeted all species of rhino, primarily for its horn, which is valuable on the international black market.

Made of the protein keratin, the chief component in fingernails and hooves, the horn has been used in carvings and for medicinal purposes, mostly in Asia. The nearextinction of the species also has been attributed to habitat loss. — AP

FDA approves diabetes drug with new approach WASHINGTON: The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved a new diabetes drug from Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca that uses a novel approach to reduce blood sugar. Farxiga is a once-a-day tablet designed to help diabetes patients eliminate excess sugar via their urine. That differs from older drugs that decrease the amount of sugar absorbed from food and stored in the liver.

The drug is the second product approved in the US from the new class of medicines known as SGLT2 drugs. In March the FDA approved Johnson & Johnson’s Invokana, which also works by eliminating excess sugar through patients’ urine.

The agency cleared Farxiga tablets for patients with type 2 diabetes, which affects about 24 million people in the US. The approval marks a comeback for the drug, which was previously rejected last year after studies raised concerns about links to bladder cancer and liver toxicity. Ten cases of bladder cancer were found in patients taking the drug in clinical trials, so Farxiga’s label warns against using it in patients with the disease. A panel of FDA advisers last

month said that the uptick in cancers was likely a statistical fluke, and not related to the drug. But the FDA is requiring Bristol and AstraZeneca to track rates of bladder cancer in patients enrolled in a long-term follow up study. The companies will also monitor rates of heart disease, a frequent safety issue with newer diabetes medications. The most common side effects associated with Farxiga included fungal and urinary tract infections. The drug can be used as a stand-alone drug or in combination with other common diabetes treatments, such as insulin and metformin. People with type 2 diabetes are unable to properly break down carbohydrates, either because their bodies do not produce enough insulin or have become resistant to the hormone, which controls blood sugar levels.

Diabetics often require multiple drugs with different mechanisms of action to control their blood sugar levels. New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and London-based AstraZeneca PLC already co-market the diabetes drug Onglyza, which increases insulin production while reducing glucose production. — AP

HONG KONG: The New Year has revived old problems for Hong Kong as a murky smog blankets the usually glittering skyline, fuelling complaints from locals and visitors alike, and raising pressure on the government to act. Tourists expecting to take holiday snaps from the famous Victoria Harbour waterfront have found it hard to distinguish Hong Kong’s trademark skyscrapers and mountainous backdrop, while residents are becoming increasingly worried for their own health. “It’s scary,” said Julie Crossley, a 39-year-old sales manager from South Africa, visiting the city for the first time with her young daughter. “I’m scared of what she’s breathing in.”

For German tourist Harald Gummlich, 60, the pea souper was not what he was expecting.

“We’re still waiting for blue skies,” he said. The government’s new, more stringent, pollution index has revealed the frightening extent of the problem, with high or very high levels of pollution recorded almost every day since it was implemented at the end of 2013. The Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) came into effect on December 30 and links pollutants to health risks.

Pollution levels have reached the index’s top “serious” category on four days so far, under which people are advised not to stay outdoors for a prolonged period. Hundreds of residents have taken to Twitter, Facebook and newspaper websites to voice their concern. “Yesterday’s pollution was truly shocking - made my eyes sting,” Hong Kong based @Alieeeson weeted Thursday.

Pressure on government Local campaign groups are hoping the results of the new AQHI system will finally galvanise the government into action. “It certainly should kick the government into doing something,” Clean Air Network chief executive officer, Kwong Sumyin, told AFP. Senior environmental affairs officer at Friends of the Earth, Melonie Chau, said the data “can help the public... exert more pressure on the government.”

The index monitors the concentration levels of multiple pollutants and measures their health effects through tracking hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Its introduction comes after city leader Leung Chun-ying pledged to make pollution one of his top priorities during his five-year term, with an official report saying it was the “greatest daily health risk” to the city’s residents.

Government proposals to reduce emissions include a plan to replace more than 80,000 older commercial diesel vehicles between 2014 and 2019, and a requirement for container ships berthing in the city to use cleaner fuels. But

HONG KONG: This picture shows a haze of toxic pollution over Hong Kong. —AFP campaigners are frustrated at what they see as a lack of urgency in implementing the moves.

“We are not very happy with the timeline,” Kwong Sum-yin said. A government scheme to replace catalytic converters on 20,000 vehicles, mostly taxis, kicked off in October last year to lower nitrogen dioxide. The Clean Air Network is pushing for comprehensive low emission zones on the roads and in Hong Kong waters. Friends of the Earth’s Chau suggested the government should also consider limiting the number of cars on the road when air pollution reaches a certain level.

Driving away business Hong Kong has already fallen to number three in the International Institute for Management Development 2013 World Competitiveness Yearbook, compared to its top spot in 2012 — and city lawmakers have admitted that air pollution is driving away businesses.

People looking to expand their careers in Hong Kong are thinking twice about settling down.

“Hong Kong would be a good place to live for a few years, but raising kids? I’d be very cautious about it,” Todd Scott, a 37-year-old visitor and head of investment relations from Canada, who just got engaged, told AFP as he walked along the smog-hidden waterfront.

The city’s position on the southern edge of the Pearl River Delta-one of China’s largest man-

ufacturing centres-makes clearing pollution more challenging, Leung’s administration has said. Winter months in particular see winds blowing in from the mainland, bringing a haze of pollutants. Levels of PM2.5 — tiny particles in the air considered particularly hazardous to health-in Hong Kong were similar to Beijing on Friday afternoon, according to the Beijing based air quality information website aqicn.org.

The Chinese capital is regularly hit by extended bouts of choking, acrid smog, with heavy industries and car-use both among the key culprits. Commercial hub Shanghai was also blanketed in dense smog in December, delaying flights and spurring sales of face masks. Air pollution expert Alexis Lau, a professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s Division of Environment, believes Hong Kong will not reach the average annual pollution levels seen on the mainland, as the city’s government introduces its anti-pollution scheme.

“Because of stringent control measures in Hong Kong, the concentration levels should be dropping,” he said. But for some, leaving Hong Kong is the only solution. Clear the Air campaign group chairman, James Middleton, says he already knows people who have chosen to relocate. “Quite a lot of people have left (due to air pollution),” he told AFP. “I would say anybody with children and even those who have asthma will leave.” —AFP

Christmas delivery finally for space station CAPE CANAVERAL: Christmas has finally arrived for the six space station astronauts. A privately launched supply ship reached the International Space Station yesterday morning, three days after blasting off from Virginia. The space station crew used a hefty robot arm to capture the Cygnus capsule as the two craft zoomed side by side at 17,500 mph. The Cygnus is carrying 3,000 pounds (1360 kilograms) of equipment and experi-

ments for NASA, including ants for an educational project. Also on board: eagerly awaited Christmas presents from the families of all six spacemen as well as some fresh fruit courtesy of NASA. NASA is relying on private industry to keep the orbiting lab well stocked in this post-shuttle era and, in four more years, possibly supply rides for US astronauts as well. Orbital Sciences Corp. was supposed to make the deliv-

NASA the Cygnus resupply spacecraft approaches the International Space Station early yesterday. —AP

ery last month, well before Christmas, but the Virginia company had to wait. A space station breakdown in mid-December took priority, and NASA bumped the flight to January in order to repair the disabled cooling system at the orbiting outpost. Then, frigid weather at the launch site forced a delay. Then a strong solar storm interfered.

Flight controllers for Orbital Sciences, wearing mostly red company shirts, broke into applause once robot arm operator Michael Hopkins grabbed onto the Cygnus, more than 260 miles (418 kilometers) above the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar. Within two hours, the capsule was bolted to the space station. Because of the long day, the astronauts were supposed to wait until Monday before opening the hatch to Cygnus. But with presents from their families awaiting them, there was no telling whether they would oblige.

As a holiday treat, NASA stashed away the fruit for the two Americans, three Russians and one Japanese, and Orbital Sciences included a few surprises of its own. This is the second visit by an Orbital Sciences cargo ship.

The first was a test run last

September; this one is the first official supply run under a $1.9 billion contract with NASA. “I’ve been up here on station for about 31/2 months,” Hopkins said, “and I’ve seen two Orbital vehicles in that time, and I think that’s very impressive. So congratulations to everyone.”

The Cygnus will be filled with trash and cut loose for a fiery, destructive re -entry in midFebruary. NASA is paying Orbital Sciences and the California-based SpaceX company to supply the space station. SpaceX will make its fourth delivery next month, launching from Cape Canaveral.

Russia, Japan and Europe also make periodic deliveries.

Russia is the lone means of astronaut transport, however, until SpaceX or another American company is able to fly humans.

NASA estimates that should occur by 2017. This Cygnus is named for the late shuttle astronaut C Gordon Fullerton, who helped conduct air-launched rockets for Orbital Sciences in the 1990s. He died in August at age 76 following a stroke. Yesterday’s successful linkup is a testament to Fullerton’s career, both Hopkins and Mission Control noted.

“Gordo was an American hero,” Mission Control said. — AP

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

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

Ex-leprosy patients return to Korean island colony SOROK ISLAND: Kang Sun Bong once considered this tiny island a “hell on earth,” a place where hospital workers beat the leprosy patients exiled here and forced them into harsh labor, sterilizations and abortions. But three years ago, old, sick and broke, Kang returned to the place he’d been banished with his mother decades ago. His savings wiped out by cancer treatment, the 74-year-old now hopes to live the rest of his life with hundreds of other former patients on Sorok Island, which sits off South Korea’s southwestern tip and has become a mini-welfare state.

Despite the misery many say they endured here, dozens are returning each year, partly for the free medical care, food and housing offered to former sufferers of the disease. But the onetime place of exile has also become a peaceful refuge for many after years of discrimination and hardship, the only place they feel at home. “I came here because I thought I should die while being nursed,” said Kang, who had a bitter, lonely childhood here, but came back to find the island had utterly changed.

Most returnees are cured of the disease and are free to live wherever they choose. But many say life is better here than outside the island, where prejudice against leprosy still runs deep. Yu Myung-sun, 61, who lived on Sorok for six years until 1974, returned in 2008 after living with other former leprosy sufferers in a village near Seoul. People outside the vil-

lage “wouldn’t even look at me ... restaurants wouldn’t sell meals to us,” Yu said.

“People on Sorok Island make me feel at ease,” she said, wearing a pair of big sunglasses, her face dotted with black spots from antileprosy medication. “I feel comfortable here and this is where I’ll die.” Starting about a decade ago, the number of returning former patients began gradually increasing. Over the past few years, about 70 people, mostly former residents, have resettled here each year.

Six years ago, a bridge was built linking the island, which is about the size of New York’s Central Park, to the mainland, symbolizing the end of its isolation. Growing numbers of tourists are visiting the island, which still preserves historic sites, including a detention building for disobedient patients and another ward where sterilizations took place.

These days, there are about 570 former leprosy patients, with an average age of about 74, as well as six who are currently being treated for leprosy but not contagious, according to officials at the government-run Sorokdo National Hospital. Twelve doctors are on staff.

Leprosy, also called Hansen’s disease, is neither highly contagious nor fatal. It is a disabling chronic bacterial infection that often lies dormant for years before attacking the body’s nerves and slowly causing numbness. Hands and feet eventually claw inward and serious injuries often go unnoticed because no pain is felt - fingers and toes can be lost and blind-

ness can occur.

It has been curable since the 1940s thanks to antibiotics. As in many Western countries, leprosy has almost disappeared from South Korea, which reported only six new cases in 2010. The disease remains a problem in Brazil, India, Indonesia and East Timor. Worldwide the number of new leprosy patients has dropped from 10 million in 1991 to around 230,000 last year. Active leprosy communities still exist in several countries, including in India, China and Vietnam, and discrimination continues to plague those maimed by the age-old disease.

In South Korea, the stigma remains strong.

Many former leprosy sufferers say they’ve never visited a public bath house, a popular pastime, and some are still turned away at restaurants. Many are shunned and ostracized by their families too. “The people who returned really had no other places to go,” said Lee Kil Yong, who lived on the island in the 1960s and now heads the Korean Federation of Hansen Associations, a government-affiliated organization that promotes leprosy victims’ rights.

Oh Dong-Chan, a dental surgeon and the longest-serving physician on the island at 18 years, said many former patients have come back as word has spread that conditions on the island have improved. He said he often treats his patients, who are used to be shunned, with his bare hands because he knows they like the feel of bare skin. The island was established as a leprosarium in 1916 by

SOROK ISLAND: In this photo, former South Korean leprosy patients sit on a bench at Sorokdo National Hospital on Sorok Island, South Korea. — AP the Japanese during their 35-year colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. They mobilized patients to produce war supplies and forced sterilization and abortions.

South Korea abolished its anti-leprosy segregation policy in 1963, but rights abuses on the island continued for decades. Recent government investigations confirmed a 1948 slaughter of 84 leprosy patients by hospital workers and security officers over a management dispute.

Kang was 7 years old and did not have leprosy when he was quarantined here in 1946 with his mother, who had the disease and was housed in a separate compound. He lived with about 10 boys in a single room that had no heating for much of winter. They were infested with lice and many of them suffered from malnutrition. A few years later, he developed leprosy himself. “We were nothing but skin and bones,” he said. “We only had rice, kimchi and watery soups.”—AP

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

W H AT ’ S O N High School graduates PUC scholarship application deadline at ACK is Today

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he Australian College of Kuwait (ACK) has announced today, the 13th of January, as the final day for high school graduates applying for Private Universities Council (PUC) scholarships. The college will be receiving applications from 8:30am till 2.30pm.

In addition, the application period for ACK & Box Hill College Diploma graduates looking to enroll in a Bachelor’s Degree program is from the 15th - 20th of January, 2014.

SEND US YOUR INSTAGRAM PICS

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

Advisory to Indian nationals in Kuwait

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he Embassy of India has been receiving often reports from the members of Indian community residing in Kuwait regarding thefts, robberies assaults and damages to their property etc. All such incidents should be immediately reported to the local police station. In order to extend help the members of our community, please contact us with the following information so that the matter could also be taken up by the Embassy with Kuwaiti authorities:(a) Brief details of the incident; (b) Civil ID of the affected member(s) and their passport details; (c) Contact telephone number and the proof of residence of the person(s) affected; (d) Copy of FIR along with address of the Police station.

2. Please contact either Ms Hend, Ambassador’s office at Telephone No. 22561276, Fax No. 22546958 (E-mail: amb.kuwait@mea.gov.in OR ambss@indembkwt.org) or Balram Kumar Upadhyay, Counsellor (Consular and Chief Welfare Officer) on Telephone No. 22533125, Fax No.22573910 (E-mail: counsellor@indembkwt.org).

The Avenues receives 42 million visitors in 2013

Indian passport, visa fees reduced

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s a goodwill gesture, BLS International Visa Services Company Co (KSCC), which is operating as a sole partner for the Embassy of India in Kuwait to handle Passport and Visa Services, has reduced the Indian Passport processing fee from KD 1.500 to KD 1.000 and Indian Visa processing fee from KD 5.000 to KD 3.000. These rates have been implemented with effect from 17/12/2013.

Embassy of India holiday notice

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he Embassy of India will be closed on the following dates during the month of January 2014.

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he Avenues received 42 million visitors in 2013, the mall’s management announced. This is an increase of 75 percent compared to the 24 million visitors recorded in 2012.

The Avenues is one of the world’s largest shopping centers and is the most visited in Kuwait. It boasts of a unique architectural design that brings together several architectural schools, giving a distinct identity to each district - inspired by some of the world’s oldest cities and offering visitors a unique shopping experience. The Avenues offers a range of renowned brands, restaurants and entertainment centers spread over a leasable area of 270,000 sq.m. It houses over 800 retail units and a multi-level parking lot with a capacity of 10,000 vehicles.

The Avenues is home to renowned international and local brands located in seven districts to include: “1st Avenue”, “2nd Avenue”, “Grand Avenue”, “Prestige”,

“SoKu”, “The Mall” and “The Souk”.

The Avenues has maintained a significant record of achievements this year in winning three prestigious awards of international acclaim in the building and construction areas, as well as for its architectural finesse and detailed design. These three received awards are MEED Quality Awards for Projects, the Arab Town Organization “ATO” Award as well as the 2013 Gold Award in Middle East and North Africa Shopping Centre.

The Avenues was merited with all three awards for its excellence and recognition in setting new standards for both classical and contemporary inspired architecture, repositioning it as one of the largest and trendiest shopping and leisure destination in the region.

The Avenues management thanked all visitors for their support in maintaining The Avenues as Kuwait’s number one shopping and leisure destination.

14 January 2014, Tuesday - Eid - E - Milad 26 January 2014, Sunday - Republic Day

Announcement TIES Center - Where cultures meet he TIES Center is glad to announce that its Winter 2 Arabic language courses will begin on Sunday January 19 until Wednesday March 5, 2014. We offer classes for all levels, from beginner to advanced. Our classes are specially tailored to meet the needs and requirements of expats living in Kuwait. You still have the chance to join if you are interested. The TIES Arabic classes are intended for all expats who wish to learn Arabic. Whether you want to Learn Arabic for business or basic communication or simply as a hobby, the TIES Center welcomes you. Throughout the course, the students will learn how to read, write and speak Arabic in a friendly, relaxed and welcoming environment.

TIES Arabic program highlights: Lessons are step by step - ranging from basic to advanced level; Lessons build confidence for speaking, reading, and writing Arabic; Lessons combine language learning with cultural insights; Lessons are specially tailored for expats living in Kuwait. It is an opportunity to interact with other Westerners, who are taking the courses. For more information, please e-mail: Hassan@tiescenter.net .”

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

Puthuvalsarathanima 2014

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o welcome the new year with fresh hopes, aspirations and expectations Thanima organized ‘Puthuvalsarathanima 2014’ at United Indian School, Abbassiya, being the first program of their 10th year celebrations.

The function, presided over by Sanish George (Gen Convener), began with national anthems followed by invocation

by Bibitha Thomas and Reshma Mariam.

Dr George Joseph (Association Secretary of Indian Orthodox Church), K N K Namboothiri (ex-director, Literacy Mission, Kerala) and Arshad (ex-President of Youth India) delivered New Year messages, in which all of them highlighted the dangers

of today’s fast-paced lifestyle of Keralites mainly due to the blind acceptance of western culture.

Media has a role in influencing the people, but regrettably often this is used negatively for commercial gains. Values are forsaken, responsibilities are ignored, resulting in increased crime rates as well as increased number of old age homes in Kerala.

They stressed the need for a retreat to our golden days, when we had communal harmony, prosperity, mutual respect and trust among other values.

Pancily Varkey, the Country of Head of UAE Exchange, Kuwait was honored with a

memento by Raghunathan Nair and Sageer Thrikaripur. Johney Kunnil and Babuji Bathery offered felicitations and Pancily Varkey thanked Thanima for all their support.

The major attraction of the event was the traditional carol singing competition depicting the real fervor and zeal of a united community. Vibrant teams representing various cultural groups participated in the competition upholding the memoirs of ancient Keralite community symbolizing fraternal love and affection and were successful in showcasing their talents, arousing nostalgic feelings in the minds of those who have gathered to watch them per-

form. The Basil Team (St Basil Indian Orthodox Church), KKCA (Kuwait Knanaya Cultural Association) and Agape won 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions respectively. Also, best Xmas father was won by Agape.

Trophies to the winners and prizes for the eldest and youngest participants, sponsored by Thanima were presented by association leaders and judges.

Litty Mary welcomed the gathering and Iqbal Kuttamangalam proposed a vote of thanks. Bibin Thomas excelled in anchoring the programs. As always with Thanima’s other programs, it was a pleasant and exciting experience for all those who could attend ‘Puthuvalsarathanima.’

W H AT ’ S O N

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

Embassy Information EMBASSY OF SLOVAK The Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Kuwait would like to inform the public that on the occasion of the New Year and the Independence Day of the Slovak Republic, the Embassy will be closed on Tuesday, December 31, 2013 and on Wednesday, January 01, 2014 and on the occasion of Catholic Epiphany Holiday, the Embassy will be closed on Monday, January 06. nnnnnnn

Dr Abdullah Al-Thufairi received his PhD from Cairo University recently. His thesis focused on utilizing electronic learning to improve students’ skills at Kuwait University’s Faculty of Education.

Arraya Ballroom launches new website to enhance guest experience!

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o complement the strong presence of the country’s most prestigious events venue, Arraya Ballroom managed by Marriott International yesterday announced the unveiling of its new website at www.ArrayaBallroomKuwait.com - a fully virtual setting for loyal and prospective guests.

The launch aligns with the vision of Marriott Hotels in Kuwait to reach out to more and more customers at the touch of a button. Visitors will first notice the website’s futuristic design, which focuses attention on spectacular, large photos throughout the homepage. Moreover, every beneficial detail about the ballroom has been conveyed at the website from its location and venue, to the types of celebrations and ceremonies held, and the technical specifications at the ballroom - all of which are available in each to download reading material for future planning as well. In addition to that, Arraya’s YouTube Video Tour has also been uploaded to help potential guests fully experience the ballroom’s unique architecture and decor before ever setting foot on its property. For guests wishing to book or reserve events and

EMBASSY OF INDIA India and Kuwait have enjoyed historically close, warm and friendly ties. The visit of His Highness Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Prime Minister of Kuwait to India in November 2013 has imparted a new thrust to the strengthening further of the bilateral ties. To facilitate travel of Kuwaiti nationals to India for business, tourism, medical and study purposes, the embassy has adopted the following visa structure for Kuwaiti nationals with immediate effect:

Please apply Indian visa online at www.bls-international.com and deposit visa application, with applicable visa fee and service charge, at either M/s.

BLS International Services, Emad Commercial Centre, Basement floor Ahmed Al-Jaber Street, Sharq, Kuwait city (Telephone: 22986607 - Fax: 22470006) or M/s. BLS International Services, Mujamma Unood, 4th floor, Office No.25-26 Makka Street, Entrance 5, Fahaheel, Kuwait (Telephone: 22986607 - Fax: 22470006). For additional information, please contact Second Secretary (Consular) in the Embassy at sscons@indembkwt.org.

In addition, a service charge of KD 5 will also apply for each visa service provided.

enquiries directly online, the ballroom’s website easily allows them to do so too!

George Aoun, General Manager of Kuwait Marriott Hotels said: “With nearly 10 years of authentic local expertise and long renowned for hosting some of Kuwait’s most important occasions since its inception, the Arraya Ballroom has been adapting to the latest international trends in product and service offerings. With its standalone location in the heart of downtown Kuwait City adjacent to the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel Kuwait City l, the elegant Ballroom is proudly showcasing a new level of creativity through the use of its new website.”

The Arraya Ballroom is conveniently positioned to enable fast and easy access with a professional valet parking team and two large parking spaces that can accommodate up to 1,600 cars. The ballroom comes with meeting facilities, two large screens, wireless connections, high speed access private meeting rooms for exclusive sessions or board meetings, and an experienced team for meticulous, personalized support.

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EMBASSY OF SOUTH AFRICA South African Citizens who are out of the country, are not already registered and wish to apply for registration to vote in the upcoming General Elections, are hereby offered the opportunity to apply for registration.

Registrations will take place at the South African Embassy on 26 and 27 January 2014 from 08h30 to 15h30 at Villa No 3, House No 91, Street 1, Block 10, Salwa.

To be eligible to register at the SA Embassy, a person must : l Be a South African Citizen and be 16 years of age and older; l Submit a valid green bar-coded Identity Document, a valid Temporary Identity Certificate (valid for 2 months) or a Smart Card; l Submit a valid South African Passport; and l Submit in person the application form, the identity document and a valid passport.

NOTE : If persons are already registered to vote in SA but are now living abroad, they are NOT required to re-register - best for such persons to check their registration status on www.elections.org.za. If they discover that they are not registered to vote, then they are advised to register.

For any further enquiries, phone : Tel : 25617988 during office hours or visit the IEC Website at www.elections.org.za nnnnnnn

Indian Education Exhibition 2014 - 7th successful year

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ndian Education Exhibition 2014, being held at the Holiday Inn in Kuwait on 24 and 25 January, is a one-stop information event for learning about the variety of professional and vocational courses that NRI and Kuwait students can pursue in reputed institutions of higher learning in India.

Students, along with their parents will get an opportunity to personally interact with college administrators and professors, to know about the variety of educational programs available in India The exhibition displays attractive options available to NRI and other students from Kuwait and beyond to obtain undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in various disciplines, including medicine, engineering, business management, marketing and communications, arts and science, hospitality & hotel management and Allied Health Sciences.

This exhibition will have nearly 20 leading Indian Exhibitors with more than 75 institutions under them, offering over 200 programs. Some of the leading institutions par-

ticipating in the exhibition are: Anna University, SRM University, Hindustan University, Datta Meghe Medical Science University and KJ Somaiya Group of Institutions among others. All the participating institutes are recognized by the AICTE, UGC and respective government bodies in India.

The profile of the participating institutes include: International Schools / Universities / Deemed Universities / Engineering Colleges / Medical Colleges / MBA & Management / B -Schools / Distance Education / Pharmacy & Nursing / Bio Informatics / Information Technology / Colleges offering Higher education in Arts & Science / Hotel Management & Catering Technology / Post Graduation & Research / Diploma Studies/ International Schools /Unique and specialized programs. The exhibition also offers free educational counseling, registration and admissions from school level to research programs.

Visitors to the show will get an opportunity to interact with the faculty members and

officials of the leading educational institutions, get updated information, fee structure, eligibility criteria and programs which are currently in high demand; few of the institutions are also offering spot admissions.

Information about personality development, communication skills and demanding IT courses and programs will be available at the venue, for which students would otherwise have to travel and spend time and money.

The exhibition is organized by Indus Fairs & Events (India) Pvt. Ltd, and Response Events and Exhibitions, Kuwait and co-sponsored by Manipal Institute of Higher Learning. Indus group established in the year 1995 is engaged in organizing trade shows and exhibitions in India and Abroad.

The exhibition has become an annual affair and quite popular among the NRIs in Gulf region.

India is fast becoming a major economic power in the world today. And if its growth trend continues for some more years, it would soon be playing a major role in the world economy along with China. This in

itself has been a major cause of attraction for many international students. Moreover, India’s successful stint with has also been a major magnetic force for scholars around the world.

However, apart from getting to know India, there are other advantages that are attracting students to study in India, including low cost, quality education and financial assistance.

It is well known that the cost of education in India is quite low as compared to many other countries of the world.

Moreover, various scholarships, education loans and other financial aids are now available for studying in India today.

But the greatest draw for students to India is the high quality of education provided. While the quality of education is not uniform throughout the length and breadth of the country, there are educational institutes in India that provide world class education.

The government of India is also speeding up the efforts to establish more institutes that can offer quality education in India.

Indian Embassy holds open house on all Wednesdays

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or the benefit of Indian Community, the Open House for the Indian citizen by the Ambassador is being held in the Embassy every Wednesday between 1500 hrs and 1600 hrs. In case Wednesday is an Embassy holiday, the meeting is held on the next working day.

2. It may be mentioned that Embassy of India’s Consular Wing is providing daily service of Open House to Indian citizens on all workings days from 1000 hrs to 1100 hrs and from 1430 hrs to 1530 hrs by the Consular Officer in the Meeting Room of the Consular Hall. For any unsolved issue,

S.K. Dudeja, Second Secretary (Consular) could be contacted on Telephone No. 22533315, Fax No.22573910 (E-mail: sscons@indembkwt.org). Furthermore, Balram Kumar Upadhyay, Counsellor (Consular and Chief Welfare Officer) for Indian Community is also available to redress grievances at Telephone No. 22533125, Fax No.22573910 (Email: counsellor@indembkwt.org).

3. Similarly, a Labour Wing Help Desk functions from 0830 hrs to 1300 hrs and 1400 hrs to 1630 hrs in the Labour welfare Hall to address the labour related issues. There is

also a 24X7 Help Line (Tel No. 25674163) to assist labourers in distress. For any unsolved issues Mr. Shubashis Goldar, Deputy Chief of Mission could be contacted on Telephone No. 22510891, Fax No.22573902 (E-mail: dcm@indembkwt.org).

4. Ambassador of India welcomes your suggestions, comments, opinions as well as criticism to improve the functioning of the Embassy at Telephone No. 22561276, Fax No. 22546958 (E-mail: amb.kuwait@mea.gov.in / ambss@indembkwt.org ).

EMBASSY OF US The US Embassy in Kuwait has new procedures for obtaining appointments and picking up passports after visa issuance.

We now provide an online visa appointment system, live call center, and in-person pick-up facilities in Kuwait. Please monitor our website and social media for additional information.

This new system offers more flexibility for travelers to the US and to meet the increase in demand for visa appointments.

The general application steps on the new visa appointment system are: 1. Go to www.ustraveldocs.com/kw (if this is the first time on ustraveldocs.com, you will need to create a profile to login).

2. Please complete your DS-160 Online Visa Application which is available at ceac.state.gov/genNIV. 3. Please print and take your deposit slip to any Burgan Bank location to pay your visa application fee.

4. Schedule an appointment for your visa interview online at www.ustraveldocs.com/kw or by phone through the Call Center (at +965-22271673).

5. If you need to change or cancel your appointment, please do so 24 hours beforehand, as a courtesy to other applicants. For more information, please visit the US Embassy website kuwait.usembassy.gov - as it is the best source of information regarding these changes. nnnnnnn

EMBASSY OF VATICAN The Apostolic Nunciature Embassy of the Holy See, Vatican in Kuwait has moved to a new location in Kuwait City. Please find below the new address: Yarmouk, Block 1, Street 2, Villa No: 1. P.O.Box 29724, Safat 13158, Kuwait. Tel: 965 25337767, Fax: 965 25342066.

Email: nuntiuskuwait@gmail.com.

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

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

Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors Animal Cops Houston Mermaids: The Body Found Lions Of Crocodile River Bondi Vet Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors Animal Cops Houston Gator Boys Swamp Brothers Monkey Life Bondi Vet Wild France Growing Up...

Lions Of Crocodile River Animal Cops Philadelphia Monkey Life Swamp Brothers Meet The Sloths Meet The Sloths Outback Rangers Outback Rangers Lions Of Crocodile River My Cat From Hell Wildest Arctic Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors Pandamonium Bondi Vet Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors Hippo: The Wild Feast North America Galapagos

00:00 Eastenders 00:30 Doctors 01:00 Abandoned At Birth 01:50 Life On Mars 02:40 Case Sensitive: The Point Of Rescue 04:15 The Weakest Link 05:00 Balamory 05:20 Charlie And Lola 05:35 The Green Balloon Club 06:00 3rd & Bird 06:10 Poetry Pie 06:15 Balamory 06:35 Charlie And Lola 06:50 The Green Balloon Club 07:15 3rd & Bird 07:25 Poetry Pie 07:30 The Weakest Link 08:15 Last Of The Summer Wine 08:45 Moone Boy 09:15 Eastenders 09:45 Doctors 10:15 Abandoned At Birth 11:05 Tess Of The D’urbervilles 12:00 The Weakest Link 12:45 Last Of The Summer Wine 13:15 Moone Boy 13:40 Eastenders 14:10 Doctors 14:40 Abandoned At Birth 15:30 Tess Of The D’urbervilles 16:25 The Weakest Link 17:10 Eastenders 17:40 Doctors 18:10 Prison, My Family & Me 19:00 One Foot In The Grave 19:30 Absolutely Fabulous 20:00 Stella 20:45 Alan Carr: Chatty Man 21:30 The Office 22:00 The Shadow Line 23:00 The Weakest Link 23:45 Eastenders

00:40 01:10 01:35 02:25 03:10 04:00 04:25 05:10 05:40 06:05 06:30

Cash In The Attic Cash In The Attic Come Dine With Me MasterChef Australia MasterChef Australia The Little Paris Kitchen Fantasy Homes By The Sea Cash In The Attic Cash In The Attic The Little Paris Kitchen Bargain Hunt

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

Fantasy Homes By The Sea Bargain Hunt Marbella Mansions Masterchef: The Professionals The Little Paris Kitchen Come Dine With Me Come Dine With Me Gok’s Fashion Fix Fantasy Homes By The Sea Antiques Roadshow Design Star Design Star Bargain Hunt Cash In The Attic Cash In The Attic Antiques Roadshow Marbella Mansions Food & Drink A Taste Of Greenland Come Dine With Me Antiques Roadshow Bargain Hunt

00:30 Bear Grylls: How To Stay Alive 01:20 Swimming With Monsters: Steve Backshall 02:10 River Monsters 03:00 Bush Pilots 03:50 Border Security 04:15 Auction Kings 04:40 American Digger 05:05 How Do They Do It? 05:30 How It’s Made 06:00 Sons Of Guns 07:00 Bush Pilots 07:50 Alaska: The Last Frontier 08:40 Fast N’ Loud 09:30 Border Security 09:55 Auction Kings 10:20 American Digger 10:45 How Do They Do It? 11:10 How It’s Made 11:35 Bear Grylls: How To Stay Alive 12:25 Swimming With Monsters: Steve Backshall 13:15 River Monsters 14:05 Border Security 14:30 Auction Kings 14:55 American Digger 15:20 Finding Bigfoot 16:10 Fast N’ Loud 17:00 Ultimate Survival 17:50 Dirty Jobs 18:40 Bush Pilots 19:30 Sons Of Guns 20:20 How Do They Do It? 20:45 How It’s Made 21:10 Auction Kings 21:35 American Digger 22:00 You Have Been Warned 22:50 Treehouse Masters 23:40 Mythbusters

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

The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody Sonny With A Chance Sonny With A Chance Suite Life On Deck Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody Sonny With A Chance Sonny With A Chance Suite Life On Deck Suite Life On Deck Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place Austin And Ally Austin And Ally A.N.T. Farm A.N.T. Farm Gravity Falls My Babysitter’s A Vampire Jessie Good Luck Charlie Dog With A Blog Disney Mickey Mouse Shorts Geek Charming Jessie

11:25 11:50 12:15 12:35 13:00 13:25 13:45 14:10 14:35 15:00 15:25 15:50 16:10 17:00 17:20 17:45 18:10 18:30 18:55 19:20 20:05 20:30 20:50 21:15 21:40 22:00 22:25 22:50 23:10 23:35

Wolfblood Suite Life On Deck A.N.T. Farm Austin And Ally Shake It Up That’s So Raven Jessie Good Luck Charlie Dog With A Blog Wolfblood Gravity Falls Jessie Violetta Mako Mermaids Austin And Ally Wolfblood Jessie Good Luck Charlie Dog With A Blog Violetta Jessie My Babysitter’s A Vampire Wolfblood Gravity Falls Shake It Up Austin And Ally A.N.T. Farm Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place

00:00 Chelsea Lately 00:30 The Dance Scene 00:55 The Dance Scene 01:25 Style Star 01:50 Style Star 02:20 E! Investigates 03:15 Extreme Close-Up 03:40 Extreme Close-Up 04:10 THS 05:05 E!ES 06:00 15 Remarkable Celebrity Body Bouncebacks 07:50 Style Star 08:20 Fashion Police 09:15 Scouted 10:15 Married To Jonas 10:40 Chasing The Saturdays 11:10 The Drama Queen 12:05 Fashion Police 13:05 Extreme Close-Up 13:35 E!ES 14:30 Style Star 15:00 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 16:00 Kourtney & Kim Take New York 17:00 The Wanted Life 18:00 E! News 19:00 Fashion Police 20:00 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 21:00 The Drama Queen 22:00 E!ES 22:30 E! News 23:30 Chelsea Lately

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

Unique Eats Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Tastiest Places To Chowdown Easy Chinese: San Francisco Charly’s Cake Angels Unwrapped Unwrapped Unwrapped Unique Eats Unique Eats Andy Bates American Street Iron Chef America Chopped Unwrapped Tastiest Places To Chowdown Food Network Challenge Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam Roadtrip With G. Garvin Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives Iron Chef America Barefoot Contessa Amazing Wedding Cakes Easy Chinese: San Francisco Andy Bates American Street

BLACKTHORN ON OSN MOVIES HD ACTION

Best & worst 2013: Hollywood’s boldest moves

F

SNOW DAY ON OSN MOVIES COMEDY HD 12:10 Tastiest Places To Chowdown 12:35 Grill It! With Bobby Flay 13:00 Reza, Spice Prince Of India 13:25 Charly’s Cake Angels 13:50 Siba’s Table 14:15 Barefoot Contessa 14:40 Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger 15:05 Food Network Challenge 15:55 Roadtrip With G. Garvin 16:20 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 16:45 Chopped 17:35 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 18:00 Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics 18:25 Symon’s Suppers 18:50 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 19:15 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 19:40 Siba’s Table 20:05 Reza’s African Kitchen 20:30 Tastiest Places To Chowdown 20:55 Roadtrip With G. Garvin 21:20 Chopped 22:10 Food Network Challenge 23:00 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 23:25 Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives 23:50 Roadtrip With G. Garvin

00:00 Rebuilding Titanic 01:00 Convoy: War For The Atlantic 02:00 Battleground Brothers 03:00 Diggers 03:30 Diggers 04:00 What Would Happen If 04:30 What Would Happen If 05:00 Naked Science 06:00 Untamed Americas 07:00 World’s Toughest Fixes 08:00 Rebuilding Titanic 09:00 Convoy: War For The Atlantic 10:00 Battleground Brothers 11:00 Untamed Americas 12:00 What Would Happen If 12:30 What Would Happen If 13:00 Evolutions 14:00 Untamed Americas 15:00 World’s Toughest Fixes 16:00 Rebuilding Titanic 17:00 Apocalypse: The Second World War 18:00 Battleground Brothers 19:00 Ultimate Survival Alaska 20:00 One Ocean 21:00 Animal Autopsy 22:00 Wild Russia 23:00 Mystery Files 23:30 Mystery Files

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia 02:00 Family Guy 02:30 The League 03:00 Raising Hope 03:30 Melissa & Joey 04:00 Arrested Development 04:30 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 05:30 Arrested Development 06:00 Two And A Half Men 06:30 Friends 07:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 08:00 Arrested Development 08:30 Arrested Development 09:00 Raising Hope 09:30 The Crazy Ones 10:00 Trophy Wife 10:30 Friends 11:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 12:00 Two And A Half Men 12:30 Arrested Development 13:00 Arrested Development 13:30 Friends 14:00 Melissa & Joey 14:30 The Crazy Ones 15:00 Trophy Wife 15:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 16:00 The Colbert Report 16:30 Two And A Half Men

17:00 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 18:00 Raising Hope 18:30 How To Live With Your Parents 19:00 Guys With Kids 19:30 Community 20:00 The Tonight Show With Jay Leno 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia 22:30 Family Guy 23:00 The League 23:30 Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

03:00 15:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 22:00 23:00

Rescue Me Defiance The Ellen DeGeneres Show Bones Twisted Hannibal Rescue Me

00:00 02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 14:00 16:00 PG15 18:00 20:00 22:00

London Boulevard-18 Sultanes Del Sur-PG15 Carjacked-PG15 Broken Path-PG15 Blackthorn-PG15 Wrath Of The Titans-PG15 The Speed Of Thought-PG15 Blackthorn-PG15 Big Trouble In Little China-

00:00 02:00 04:00 PG15 06:00 08:00 10:00 12:00 PG15 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00

Sightseers-18 Grabbers-PG15 Blame It On The Bellboy-

The Speed Of Thought-PG15 Starship Troopers: Invasion-18 Wrong Side Of Town-18

Just Crazy Enough-PG15 Bushwhacked-PG Scrooged-PG15 Blame It On The BellboySnow Day-PG Scrooged-PG15 3 Times A Charm-PG15 The New Guy-PG15 The Sitter-18

00:45 02:45 04:15 07:15 09:00 11:00 12:30 15:30 17:30 19:30 21:30

Beneath Hill 60-PG15 A Christmas Kiss-PG15 Treasure Island-PG15 A Woman-PG15 Beneath Hill 60-PG15 Beastly-PG15 Hindenburg-PG15 Love Takes Wing-PG15 The Wild Hunt-PG15 Summer Coda-PG15 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy-PG15

02:00 04:00 06:00 08:00 10:15 12:00 13:30 15:30 17:30 19:00 PG15 21:00 23:00

Vampire-18 Year Of The Dog-PG15 Dying Young-PG15 The Rainmaker-PG15 Jack The Bear-PG15 StreetDance 2-PG15 Year Of The Dog-PG15 The Crucible-PG15 StreetDance 2-PG15 The Greatest Movie Ever SoldInternal Affairs-18 J. Edgar-18

01:45 03:45 05:45 07:15

50/50-PG15 Saving Grace B. Jones-PG15 Crisis Point-PG15 My Own Love Song-PG15

09:00 11:00 13:00 PG15 15:00 PG15 17:00 19:00 21:00 23:00

People Like Us-PG15 Dirty Teacher-PG15 When Love Is Not EnoughMadea’s Big Happy FamilyPeople Like Us-PG15 Rock Of Ages-PG15 The Sessions-R Total Recall-18

01:00 Cash-PG15 03:00 Anna Karenina-PG15 05:15 Hotel Transylvania-PG 07:00 Bernie-PG15 09:00 The Three Stooges-PG15 11:00 A Monster In Paris-PG 13:00 Remember Sunday-PG15 15:00 Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away-PG 17:00 The Three Stooges-PG15 19:00 The Descendants-PG15 21:00 Midnight In Paris-PG15 23:00 Prometheus-PG15

01:00 Hotel Transylvania-PG 02:45 A Christmas Story 2-PG 04:15 George Harrison: Living In The Material World-PG15 08:00 True Justice: One Shot, One Life-PG15 10:00 Mission: Impossible III-PG15 12:15 Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Dog Days-PG 14:00 Ice Road Terror-PG15 16:00 True Justice: One Shot, One Life-PG15 18:00 Oz The Great And Powerful-PG 20:15 Killing Them Softly-18 22:00 Paranormal Activity 4-18

02:00 02:30 03:00 06:00 07:00 11:30 15:30 16:00 21:30 22:00

Futbol Mundial Inside The PGA Tour Live PGA Tour Cricket ODI Series Highlights PGA European Tour PGA Tour Futbol Mundial Live Snooker Masters ICC Cricket 360 Live Snooker Masters

00:00 NFL Gameday 00:30 Live NFL 03:30 Live NHL 06:30 Futbol Mundial 07:00 NFL 09:30 NFL 12:00 NHL 14:00 Top 14 Highlights 14:30 Darts 17:30 Cricket ODI Series Highlights 18:30 Futbol Mundial 19:00 PGA Tour Highlights 20:00 PGA European Tour Highlights 21:00 NFL 23:30 NHL

01:30 Trans World Sport 02:30 FEI Equestrian World 03:00 HSBC Sevens World Series 07:00 Golfing World 08:00 Snooker Masters 12:00 Futbol Mundial 12:30 ICC Cricket 360 13:00 Golfing World 14:00 Amlin Challenge Cup 16:00 FEI Equestrian World 16:30 FEI Equestrian World 17:00 Futbol Mundial 17:30 Golfing World 18:30 ICC Cricket 360 19:00 Amlin Challenge Cup 21:00 Golfing World 22:00 PGA Tour Highlights 23:00 PGA European Tour Highlights

ortune favors the bold, the old saying goes, and a handful of Hollywood chieftains and stars took those words to heart in 2013. From a former Disney Channel star who twerked away her goody two shoes image to a television honcho who went to the mattresses with cable companies, there were a number of big names who risked everything over the last 12 months. Some moves paid off, others, such as a decision by one hunky actor on the rise to abandon a starring role in a kinky drama may prove catastrophic. But whether they turn out to be winners or losers, each one took nerve. The entertainment business is one of the most difficult industries to break into. It takes determination to wiggle in, and requires guts to make it to the top, but it takes balls to risk it all once you get there. As TheWrap continues looking back at 2013, we couldn’t help but raise a virtual glass to some of the boldest moves in Hollywood. Cheers.

For better or worse, here are 10 - in no particular order that caught our attention this year. Les Moonves’ Showdown With Time Warner Cable Most retransmission disputes smack of hollow saber-rattling: The hand-wringing press releases. The panic-inducing, “Contact your cable operator TODAY!” ads. And, almost inevitably, the 11thhour deal that renders all of the above moot. For good or ill, CBS boss Les Moonves walked it like he talked it in his face-off with Time Warner Cable, letting CBS’s programming go dark for some 3.5 million TWC customers for a month while he argued that the network’s ratings warranted a bigger piece of the pie. An A+ for chutzpah, but try not to let this sort of thing happen in the future, okay?

Customers don’t bite the bullet on their ever-more-exorbitant cable bills because they enjoy looking at a dark screen.

Amazon swipes Viacom from Netflix: Netflix may be making a statement about its place in the traditional television conversation (see Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for original series “House of Cards” and “Orange is the New Black”), but Amazon made a statement when it essentially swiped Viacom’s properties from Netflix back in June. On the surface, it looked like Netflix simply let its deal with Viacom which owns MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, among other networks - expire, and Amazon took the opportunity to buy. But the timing suggests Amazon outbid Netflix in what was the online retailer’s largest licensing deal to date. The result was a beefed up slate of exclusive offerings on Amazon Prime, which has recently moved into the original programming space itself.

Charlie Hunnam Bails on “Fifty Shades of Grey”: If “Fifty Shades of Grey” fans were surprised when “Sons of Anarchy” star Charlie Hunnam was tapped to play kinkhappy business magnate Christian Grey, they were doubly surprised when the actor abruptly dropped out of the mommy-porn adaptation. Universal and Focus blamed Hunnam’s “immersive TV schedule.” Hunnam himself suggested that family issues played a part in his decision.

Although Hunnam’s decision can be considered both bold and wussy, it took nerve for Hunnam to walk away from the highly anticipated project. And arguably, it was a wise career move to bail on the movie. (Fans didn’t exactly embrace the casting choice en masse when it was announced.) But if Hunnam’s Jax Teller character ran his motorcycle club with the same kind of flip-floppery, they’d be in even bigger trouble than they are now.

Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences president HawkKoch re-hired the producers of 2013 widelypanned Oscar ceremony: Hiring Craig Zadan and Neil Meron to produce next year’s Academy Awards less than two months after they’d done the job on this year’s show was certainly a bold move by AMPAS president Hawk Koch. He not only brought back producers whose show was widely criticized for an occasionally tacky tone, but he did so three months before the end of his term as president, depriving successor Cheryl Boone Isaacs of what is normally the first job of an incoming president. Of course, the Zadan/Meron Oscars also got strong ratings (as did the producers’ recent live version of “The Sound of Music” and their “Bonnie and Clyde” miniseries, neither of which were well-liked by critics), so the bold movie was really just a wussy kow-towing to numbers.

Miley Cyrus effectively kills “Hannah Montana” image by stripping down and twerking up a storm of controversy: The 20-year-old singer (now 21) set out to destroy her connection to Disney character Hannah Montana by showcasing her wild side before the release of her latest album, “Bangerz.” She did just that when she ripped off her clothing and paraded around the MTV VMA stage in a skin-colored bikini, all while backing her butt all over Robin Thicke and harassing the audience with her tongue.

Was the move necessary for success, and recognition from the public that she’s not a cute, little girl anymore? No, probably not. But it certainly was a bold way to re-introduce herself to the world, and has paid off. Not only has the media been talking about her every move since priceless free publicity for a young pop star - but “Bangerz” debuted number one on the Billboard 200 chart after selling 270,000 copies in its first week. Her 2010 release, “Can’t Be Tamed,” peaked at No. 3 on the same chart after selling 102,000 copies the first week. Need more proof? Her singles “Wrecking Ball” and “We Can’t Stop” were the second and third top-trending music videos of the year, respectively, on YouTube.

Jeff Berg launches Resolution: Resolution has yet to make much of an impact, but launching a new agency takes guts. Most mid-sized agencies are struggling to keep up with the likes of CAA and WME, and this wily sexagenarian still decided to start from scratch. That means the company didn’t have steady revenue to fall back on. Berg was plotting Resolution while still at the agency he used to run, ICM Partners, so he got shown the door. The gall...

Fox’s clean sweep through “American Idol”: When your ratings have fallen more than 20 percent, it’s time to do some housekeeping. And that’s exactly what “American Idol” did. It fired founding producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick, then began restaffing from the top. - Jethro Nededog NBC risks millions on a live “Sound of Music” special, which luckily sounded more like “ka-ching!” NBC risked more than a year of production and close to $9 million on the production. Just one airing wouldn’t net their investment, even with Walmart money behind it. And if it was a failure, then there wouldn’t be enough life in the thing for re-airings. Thankfully, it was a hit with 18.5 million viewers tuning in - whether people watched in earnest or just to take part in the hate-wathing. Either way, NBC will take it.

Angelina Jolie undergoes double mastectomy to minimize the risk of breast cancer: Angelina Jolie certainly never relied on her beautiful figure to make it in Hollywood, but it didn’t hurt, either. The day her doctors told her that her breasts might hurt her health, however, the “Tomb Raider” star decided to reduce her 87 percent risk of breast cancer to just five by surgically removing the body part practically synonymous with sex appeal. She revealed the operation in a New York Times op-ed in May, writing in order “to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made.” — Reuters

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Classifieds MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

Kuwait SHARQIA-1 MR.GO (DIG) 1:15 PM MR.GO (DIG) 4:00 PM 12 YEARS A SLAVE (DIG) 6:45 PM MR.GO (DIG) 9:15 PM 12 YEARS A SLAVE (DIG) 12:05 AM SHARQIA-2 THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (DIG) 1:00 PM NIKO 2: LITTLE BROTHER, BIG TROUBLE (DIG-3D) 3:30 PM FROZEN (DIG-3D) 5:15 PM THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (DIG) 7:30 PM THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (DIG) 10:00 PM THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (DIG) 12:30 AM SHARQIA-3 JUSTIN AND THE KNIGHTS OF VALOUR (DIG) 2:00 PM POLICE STORY 2014 (DIG) 4:15 PM JUSTIN AND THE KNIGHTS OF VALOUR (DIG) 6:30 PM HOMEFRONT (DIG) 8:30 PM HOMEFRONT (DIG) 10:45 PM POLICE STORY 2014 (DIG) 12:45 AM MUHALAB-1 NIKO 2: LITTLE BROTHER, BIG TROUBLE (DIG) 12:30 PM NIKO 2: LITTLE BROTHER, BIG TROUBLE (DIG) 2:15 PM HOMEFRONT (DIG) 4:00 PM NENOKKADINE (DIG) (TELUGU) 6:00 PM THU+FRI YEVADU (DIG) (TELUGU) 6:00 PM NO THU+FRI HOMEFRONT (DIG) 9:30 PM MUHALAB-2 MR.GO (DIG) 1:15 PM 12 YEARS A SLAVE (DIG) 4:00 PM MR.GO (DIG) 6:30 PM 12 YEARS A SLAVE (DIG) 9:15 PM MUHALAB-3 JUSTIN AND THE KNIGHTS OF VALOUR (DIG-3D) 12:45 PM FROZEN (DIG-3D) 2:45 PM

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (09/01/2014 TO 15/01/2014) JUSTIN AND THE KNIGHTS OF VALOUR (DIG-3D) 5:00 PM THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (DIG) 7:15 PM THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (DIG) 9:45 PM FANAR-1 JUSTIN AND THE KNIGHTS OF VALOUR (DIG) 1:00 PM JUSTIN AND THE KNIGHTS OF VALOUR (DIG) 3:15 PM JUSTIN AND THE KNIGHTS OF VALOUR (DIG) 5:15 PM 12 YEARS A SLAVE (DIG) 7:15 PM 12 YEARS A SLAVE (DIG) 9:45 PM 12 YEARS A SLAVE (DIG) 12:15 AM

3:30 PM MR.GO (DIG) 6:15 PM MR.GO (DIG) 9:00 PM MR.GO (DIG) 11:45 PM MARINA-1 JUSTIN AND THE KNIGHTS OF VALOUR (DIG) 1:30 PM HOMEFRONT (DIG) 3:45 PM JUSTIN AND THE KNIGHTS OF VALOUR (DIG) 5:45 PM HOMEFRONT (DIG) 7:45 PM POLICE STORY 2014 (DIG) 9:45 PM HOMEFRONT (DIG) 12:05 AM

FANAR-2 NIKO 2: LITTLE BROTHER, BIG TROUBLE (DIG) 12:30 PM FROZEN (DIG) 2:15 PM NIKO 2: LITTLE BROTHER, BIG TROUBLE (DIG) 4:30 PM FROZEN (DIG) 6:15 PM HOMEFRONT (DIG) 8:30 PM HOMEFRONT (DIG) 10:30 PM HOMEFRONT (DIG) 12:30 AM

MARINA-2 MR.GO (DIG) 2:00 PM MR.GO (DIG) 4:45 PM MR.GO (DIG) 7:30 PM 12 YEARS A SLAVE (DIG) 10:15 PM 12 YEARS A SLAVE (DIG) 12:45 AM MARINA-3 NIKO 2: LITTLE BROTHER, BIG TROUBLE (DIG-3D) 1:45 PM NIKO 2: LITTLE BROTHER, BIG TROUBLE (DIG-3D) 3:30 PM FROZEN (DIG-3D) 5:15 PM THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (DIG) 7:30 PM THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (DIG) 10:00 PM THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (DIG) 12:30 AM

FANAR-3 GRUDGE MATCH (DIG) 12:45 PM POLICE STORY 2014 (DIG) 3:00 PM GRUDGE MATCH (DIG) 5:15 PM JILLA (DIG) (TAMIL) 7:30 PM THU+FRI YEVADU (DIG) (TELUGU) 7:30 PM NO THU+FRI POLICE STORY 2014 (DIG) 11:00 PM POLICE STORY 2014 (DIG) 1:15 AM

AVENUES-1 NIKO 2: LITTLE BROTHER, BIG TROUBLE (DIG) 1:00 PM FROZEN (DIG) 3:45 PM NIKO 2: LITTLE BROTHER, BIG TROUBLE (DIG) 6:00 PM FROZEN (DIG) 7:45 PM POLICE STORY 2014 (DIG) 10:00 PM POLICE STORY 2014 (DIG) 12:30 AM

FANAR-4 THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (DIG) 2:00 PM 47 RONIN (DIG) 4:30 PM THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (DIG) 7:00 PM THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (DIG) 9:30 PM THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (DIG) 12:05 AM

AVENUES-2 12 YEARS A SLAVE (DIG) 12:45 PM 12 YEARS A SLAVE (DIG) 3:30 PM 12 YEARS A SLAVE (DIG) 6:15 PM 12 YEARS A SLAVE (DIG) 9:00 PM

FANAR-5 MR.GO (DIG) 12:45 PM MR.GO (DIG)

SALE OF VEHICLES

FOR SALE Toyota Camry model 2013, GLX full options, sunroof, alloy rim, fog lamp, sensor + camera etc, installment possible. Cash price KD 4,950. Tel 99589094.

(C 4616) 13-1-2014 Nissan Pathfinder 2003 model, white color, serious buyer only. Tel: 97277135.

8-1-2014

CHANGE OF NAME My old name was Fakhruddin Khamusi now I want to change my name Shabbir Husain Lukmani. In future I know from new name Shabbir Husain Lukmani M Mohammad Husain Khamusi Nichlipol Banswara Ray, India.

(C 4615) 13-1-2014 I, Zainamol Noordeen Kunju, Indian Passport No. K2085439 hereby change my name to Zaina Nooruddin Kunju. Address: Room 7, Antodhill Mumbai 400037, India. (C 4612) 11-1-2014 ACCOMMODATION Sharing accommodation available near United Indian School, Abbassiya.

Contact: 97612248.

(C 4614) 12-1-2014

Offers are invited for sale of 5 (Five) nos. of used vehicles as per details given below on "As is where is basis."

1- Toyota Dyna Pickup 2- Nissan Urvan Mini-Bus 3- Nissan Urvan Mini-Bus 4- Nissan Urvan Mini-Bus 5- Mazda 323 Car The vehicles are available at Mahboula for inspection.

Contact: 65545140 & 66135733 Submit your highest price offers on or before 23.01.2014, 4 pm

Wanted for an Industrial Company 1- Production Supervisor (technical certificate + minimum 5 years of experience + car) 2- Production Operator (two workers + minimum 3 years experience) 3- Mechanic maintenance technician (diploma + 3 years experience) 4- Sales person University Degree - fluent in English - Computer skills + car 5- Secretary (Management diploma + fluent in English - Computer skills 6- Warehouse Secretary 2 workers - management diploma + computer skills - 2 years experience

7- Handling workers: 20 workers 8- Forklift driver: 3 workers

Transferable visa

Send CV to: jazirasys@yahoo.com

SITUATION VACANT Required a full time live-in housekeeper for a family with a 7yr old child in Shaab. KD. 150/- per month. Call 97243777 Required live-in housemaid (Filipino or Srilankan) who knows cleaning and can speak English. Call 66473343. (C 4613) 12-1-2014

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

Airlines BBC JAI KAC JZR THY JZR QTR GFA THY AFG UAE ETD MSR QTR FDB THY DHX JZR FDB BAW KAC FDB KAC KAC QTR UAE KAC KAC ABY ETD FDB QTR GFA KAC MSC MSC DHX JZR IRC MEA SYR UAE MSR KAC MSR FDB QTR KAC SVA KNE

Arrival Flights on Monday 13/1/2014 Flt Route 43 DHAKA 574 MUMBAI 502 BEIRUT 539 CAIRO 772 ISTANBUL 267 BEIRUT 1084 DOHA 211 BAHRAIN 764 SABIHA 416 JEDDAH 853 DUBAI 305 ABU DHABI-INTL 612 CAIRO 1076 DOHA 67 DUBAI 770 ISTANBUL 170 BAHRAIN 503 LUXOR 69 DUBAI 157 LONDON 412 MANILA 53 DUBAI 302 MUMBAI 206 ISLAMABAD 1086 DOHA 855 DUBAI 362 COLOMBO 352 COCHIN 125 SHARJAH 301 ABU DHABI-INTL 55 DUBAI 1070 DOHA 213 BAHRAIN 344 CHENNAI 401 ALEXANDRIA 403 ASYUT 872 BAHRAIN 165 DUBAI 6521 LAMERD 404 BEIRUT 341 DAMASCUS 871 DUBAI 610 CAIRO 382 DELHI 579 SOHAG 57 DUBAI 1078 DOHA 546 ALEXANDRIA 500 JEDDAH 472 JEDDAH

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

GFA RAB KAC KAC NIA OMA KNE KAC QTR UAE ETD RJA SVA ABY GFA KAC MPH JZR KAC KAC JZR RBG MSC QTR FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC GFA OMA FDB JAI ABY AXB DLH ALK MEA ETD UAE KNE GFA QTR FDB JZR JAI JZR AIC PIA JZR TAR

221 300 788 674 251 645 460 118 1072 857 303 640 510 127 215 284 93 777 542 742 177 553 405 1080 63 774 786 104 618 217 647 61 572 129 489 636 229 402 307 859 480 219 1074 59 135 576 239 975 205 185 327

BAHRAIN SHARJAH JEDDAH DUBAI ALEXANDRIA MUSCAT RIYADH NEW YORK DOHA DUBAI ABU DHABI-INTL AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA RIYADH SHARJAH BAHRAIN DHAKA AMSTERDAM JEDDAH CAIRO DAMMAM DUBAI ALEXANDRIA SOHAG DOHA DUBAI RIYADH JEDDAH LONDON DOHA BAHRAIN MUSCAT DUBAI MUMBAI SHARJAH COCHIN FRANKFURT COLOMBO BEIRUT ABU DHABI-INTL DUBAI TAIF BAHRAIN DOHA DUBAI BAHRAIN COCHIN AMMAN-QUEEN ALIA CHENNAI LAHORE DUBAI TUNIS

15:00 15:00 15:10 19:25 15:50 15:55 15:55 16:35 16:40 16:40 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:25 17:30 17:45 17:50 17:55 18:05 18:20 18:20 18:15 18:30 18:40 18:45 18:45 18:45 19:35 19:00 19:30 19:55 20:05 20:10 20:20 20:35 20:55 21:10 21:20 21:35 21:40 21:45 21:45 22:00 22:00 22:05 22:15 22:20 22:30 23:05 23:20 23:15

Airlines AIC UAL PIA JAI BBC DLH THY AFG UAE KAC ETD MSR QTR FDB QTR KAC FDB JZR THY GFA KAC THY FDB BAW QTR KAC ABY UAE ETD FDB QTR GFA KAC KAC MSC MSC KAC JZR IRC MEA DHX KAC SYR JZR MSR MSR UAE FDB QTR

Departure Flights on Monday 13/1/2014 Flt Route Time 982 AHMEDABAD 00:05 981 WASHINGTON 00:55 206 LAHORE 01:05 573 MUMBAI 01:10 44 CHITTAGONG 01:45 635 FRANKFURT 02:10 773 ISTANBUL-ATATURK 02:55 416 KABUL 03:30 854 DUBAI 03:50 381 DELHI 03:50 306 ABU DHABI 04:00 613 CAIRO 04:10 1085 DOHA 04:15 68 DUBAI 04:40 1077 DOHA 05:15 283 DHAKA 05:15 70 DUBAI 06:30 164 DUBAI 06:55 765 ISTANBUL-SABIHA 07:05 212 BAHRAIN 07:15 545 ALEXANDRIA 07:15 771 ISTANBUL-ATATURK 07:30 54 DUBAI 08:30 156 LONDON 08:45 1087 DOHA 08:50 787 JEDDAH 09:25 126 SHARJAH 09:40 856 DUBAI 09:55 302 ABU DHABI 10:05 56 DUBAI 10:20 1071 DOHA 10:55 214 BAHRAIN 11:25 541 CAIRO 11:30 165 ROME 11:50 406 SOHAG 11:50 404 ASYUT 12:15 103 LONDON 12:20 776 JEDDAH 12:25 6522 LAMERD 12:45 405 BEIRUT 12:55 511 KANDAHAR 13:00 785 JEDDAH 13:00 342 DAMASCUS 13:30 176 DUBAI 13:45 580 SOHAG 13:50 611 CAIRO 14:00 872 DUBAI 14:15 58 DUBAI 14:30 1079 DOHA 14:55

DIAL161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

KAC KAC KAC KAC KNE GFA SVA KNE NIA OMA JZR ETD QTR UAE JZR RJA ABY SVA GFA JZR JZR RBG JZR MPH FDB MSC QTR GFA FDB OMA KAC KAC ABY JAI KAC DLH DHX ALK MEA ETD KNE GFA KAC FDB UAE KAC KAC QTR JAI JZR KAC

673 773 741 617 473 222 501 481 252 646 238 304 1073 858 538 641 128 511 216 184 266 553 134 93 64 402 1081 218 62 648 331 361 120 571 351 636 171 230 403 308 461 220 301 60 860 205 351 1075 575 502 411

DUBAI RIYADH DAMMAM DOHA JEDDAH BAHRAIN JEDDAH TAIF ALEXANDRIA MUSCAT AMMAN ABU DHABI DOHA DUBAI CAIRO AMMAN SHARJAH RIYADH BAHRAIN DUBAI BEIRUT ALEXANDRIA BAHRAIN AL MAKTOUM INTERNATIONAL DUBAI ALEXANDRIA DOHA BAHRAIN DUBAI MUSCAT TRIVANDRUM COLOMBO SHARJAH MUMBAI KOCHI DAMMAM BAHRAIN COLOMBO BEIRUT ABU DHABI RIYADH BAHRAIN MUMBAI DUBAI DUBAI ISLAMABAD KOCHI DOHA ABU DHABI LUXOR BANGKOK

15:05 15:20 15:20 15:30 15:30 15:45 15:45 16:40 16:50 16:55 16:55 17:35 17:40 17:50 17:50 17:55 18:05 18:15 18:20 18:40 18:50 18:55 19:10 19:20 19:25 19:30 19:40 20:15 20:45 20:55 20:55 21:00 21:00 21:10 21:10 21:35 21:50 22:10 22:20 22:20 22:30 22:30 22:35 22:40 22:50 22:55 23:00 23:10 23:15 23:30 23:55

34

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

stars CROSSWORD 428

STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19) ARIES Many changes are about to take place in your life, and this month you have time to adjust before the real pull or push begins. You may feel like making a complete change by breaking away and starting fresh in every area of your life. It would be better to go with the flow and understand that the new changes scheduled in your life now are best affected by keeping a positive attitude. Make a concentrated effort to instill the practice of balance. Look for ways to make a positive difference in someone else’s life and you will be doing the same for yourself. Good luck follows you around today. This day may be stressful in some ways, but you get quite a lot accomplished. You receive a lot of positive interactions with your loved one today. This is a good time.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) You may find yourself distracted and wishing you were at home with your own personal projects this morning. You get down to business and get more accomplished than you expected with some personal project. In a gathering with family members this afternoon, you sway others with your view of a particular venture. If you are not in some profession involving speech, law, politics or the ministry, you might consider these options. The evening brings some interesting conversations around the dinner table concerning future goals and plans. All present contribute their desires and have fun in expressing their wishes for themselves. Some of the conversations tonight lead to memories of the past and analyzing the present and possibilities of the future.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

ACROSS 1. An accountant certified by the state.

4. United States poet (1884-1933).

12. An informal term for a father.

15. Goddess of fate.

16. Closed off.

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

18. Be hungry.

20. (used of persons or the military) Characterized by having or bearing arms.

21. A lipoprotein that transports cholesterol in the blood.

22. A sudden and violent collapse.

23. The Jewish rite of circumcision performed on a male child on the eighth day of his life.

25. The capital and largest city of Yemen.

27. A highly unstable radioactive element (the heaviest of the halogen series).

28. An amino acid that is found in the central nervous system.

29. A Chadic language spoken in northern Nigeria and closely related to Hausa.

31. A master's degree in business.

33. The capital and largest city of Bangladesh.

36. The Hebrew patriarch who saved himself and his family and the animals by building an ark in which they survived 40 days and 40 nights of rain.

39. A doctor's degree in musical arts.

43. An agency of the United Nations affiliated with the World Bank.

45. Small and light boat.

46. Type genus of the Ranidae.

48. (informal) Exceptionally good.

50. Of a dull grayish brown to brownish gray color.

51. South American armadillo with three bands of bony plates.

52. A native or inhabitant of Vietnam.

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

58. Biennial Eurasian plant usually having a swollen edible root.

59. An Arabic speaking person who lives in Arabia or North Africa.

60. (Norse mythology) One of the Aesir and avenger of Balder.

61. English architect who designed more than fifty London churches (1632-1723).

62. A region of Malaysia in northeastern Borneo.

67. Tropical starchy tuberous root.

71. A self-funded retirement plan that allows you to contribute a limited yearly sum toward your retirement.

72. A fatty deposit in the intima (inner lining) of an artery.

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

77. A unit of length of thread or yarn.

78. A cut of pork ribs with much of the meat trimmed off.

79. A fluorocarbon with chlorine.

80. A metric unit of volume or capacity equal to 10 liters.

81. Thin-shelled freshwater mussels.

82. The 7th letter of the Greek alphabet.

DOWN 1. Shackle that consists of a metal loop that can

be locked around the wrist.

2. The capital of Cape Verde on Sao Tiago Island.

3. Someone whose business is advertising.

4. A region in central Italy.

5. The persistence of a sound after its source has stopped.

6. A radioactive element of the actinide series.

7. Block consisting of a thick piece of something.

8. Sorghums of dry regions of Asia and North Africa.

9. Declare or acknowledge to be true.

10. The sediment from fermentation of an alcoholic beverage.

11. A doctor's degree in education.

12. The capital and largest city of Bangladesh.

13. A unit of dry measure used in Egypt.

14. Indigo bush.

19. (Old Testament) The second patriarch.

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

26. A deliberately misleading fabrication.

30. An upholstered seat for more than one person.

32. An indehiscent fruit derived from a single ovary having one or many seeds within a fleshy wall or pericarp.

34. (Babylonian) A demigod or first man.

35. (astronomy) An indistinct surface feature of Mars once thought to be a system of channels.

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

38. (astronomy) The angular distance of a celestial point measured westward along the celestial equator from the zenith crossing.

40. Located below or beneath something else.

41. A United States bandmaster and composer of military marches (1854-1932).

42. The brightest star in Cygnus.

44. A logarithmic unit of sound intensity.

47. An anti-TNF compound (trade name Arava) that is given orally.

49. Allow to enter.

53. Recently borne.

54. Long coarse hair growing from the crest of the animal's neck.

56. The dialect of Malay used as the national language of the Republic of Indonesia or of Malaysia.

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

63. A particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography).

64. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.

65. A group of cattle or sheep or other domestic mammals all of the same kind that are herded by humans.

66. Chocolate cookie with white cream filling.

68. Small European freshwater fish with a slender bluish-green body.

69. Informal or slang terms for mentally irregular.

70. Type genus of the family Arcidae.

73. Administration of a nutritionally adequate solution through a catheter into the vena cava.

74. 10 hao equal 1 dong.

75. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

Your personality shines and you have a chance to lead the way toward a brighter day when surrounded by friends and allies. Celebrate your successes and focus your energy on using your influence to inspire progress. This is your time to go after what you want. Try something different if you are bored or dissatisfied. You remember your obligations. Richard Bach says, “here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: if you’re alive, it isn’t.” spend extra time listening to your inner voice in meditation. If you are simply trying to respond to outside influences or direct your life according to an external focus you will feel frustrated. You are better prepared for challenges when you are centered within yourself.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) Others inspire you and you are good at listening to your dreams. It is time to adjust your life path in harmony with your highest needs. You can gain support for a personal project by finding people that have the same interest. If you are single, you should spend some time in thinking about what you want from a love partner. Your dream love will be introduced to you at the end of this month. Because you will know what you want romantically, you will naturally attract this person. If you are involved in a love relationship now, determine what the goals might be and start talking about those present and future goals. Consider running a garage sale this next weekend. You are due some shelf cleaning and may be surprised at the money you gain.

Leo (July 23-August 22) Your wish for socializing may come true as the phone rings before you can get out of bed this morning. Harmonious ties to others are what you yearn for; refinement and elegance are what you seek. Family and security are things that rattle your chain more than ever. These are areas where you make new beginnings and bold moves. A partner has a mesmerizing impact on you and you may find yourself learning how to fly a plane or climb a mountain, or simply learning how to work in clay. Try to understand that time is not wasted if you are doing something you really like to do rather than doing something you are paid to do. The therapeutic result from creative endeavors at this time cannot be measured. Pause for calm reflection this evening.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) You have plenty of enthusiasm today. There is the luck of the draw for your choice in such things as education, travel, publishing, art, theater or sports. Travel desires come from remembering times past and experiences enjoyed. You will be able to make plans for travel through your career acquaintances or the group with which you enjoy a long-time hobby choice. Your life outlook is positive and ready for new life experiences— fasten your seat belt. You need time away from routine matters. You may be inspired to pass on some of your unique experiences and knowledge in teaching survival techniques or in guiding a group. You will more than likely attract the outdoor type and you may find your friends discussing the next fishing trip.

Word Search

Libra (September 23-October 22) You have a light heart and a good laugh—others enjoy your company.

After the religious service is completed this morning, you may decide to go with the gang or family to the neighborhood specialty restaurant. Today, you will enrich others as you enrich yourself. Mostly, you will feel renewed and rejuvenated. You may find yourself feeling more private and in a stay-at-home mood later this afternoon. For now, you enjoy the company of friends and family. Literary aspirations may strike you and you consider starting a journal or making notes for a short story or some bit of poetry. You are in a tranquil frame of mind and enjoy having friends or family around to interact with; you appreciate your friends and family.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Feeling two ways at once takes up most of the day. For example, although many things are positive, quite a few problems present themselves as well.

Your childlike expectations may have to be examined, particularly if you are to turn shortterm relationships into long-term ones. You could find yourself traveling soon. Actually, there have been so many changes in the road system around your city, you might want to drive around and see what changes are taking place now. There is talk of a new freeway or toll road. The new and the unusual are the things that instinctively appeal to you. You are able to find just the right words to confide what is in your heart to a loved one this evening. A loved one picks the entertainment tonight.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) Good luck, good opportunities and interesting relationships make this a fun and rewarding day. If there is something you need help in accomplishing or new projects to begin, today is your day. Someone close to you is supportive of your ideas.

You may want to make a trade today and work with your friends part of the day and have your friends work with you the remainder of the day. A social gathering this evening can complete the day quite nicely. You are ready to break free from the things that have been holding you back. One of those things is the release of your passion. You quietly go about your business only to surface if there is a matter you feel needs attention. You are now learning to respect and enjoy your passion and express joy.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) An electronic glitch could lower your productivity this morning, but the problem is soon fixed. Through your free, independent thinking, attractive personality, kindliness and ability to be all things to all people, you make many people happy to be in your company. You are in a class by yourself and set an example that others remember and mimic. You need beauty, cheerfulness and humor in your surroundings and you enjoy being around lots of people. You have your own way of handling things but are smart enough to hold your voice when there is a need to do so. Sophistication and connections are the main keys to your emotional contentment just now. Your magnetic personality attracts all sorts of people to your side; you are smart so choose.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Work may seem to slow down, but you keep on track and gain in productivity. Monetary issues resolve in your favor and your position strengthens.

Your dreams and wishes for more education or travel keep coming into play today. Again, there will be an opportunity for exciting travel. For now, you could get your needs met by visiting the library or attending a lecture. Your sense of protection and emotional nourishment comes from your good friends, ideals and social interactions. You may find that a transition is actually easier than you imagined. Being more in touch with people will give you a sense of belonging. This could be a period of greater social involvement, especially with neighbors and brothers and sisters.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) Be wise in your communications with an authority figure today. You may find someone you meet is too secretive and underhanded for your taste.

Your thoughts and ideas go against his or her secretive, power-oriented manner and you are not afraid to speak up. Social invitations and romance are in the forecast tonight and you may want to take some time to get a new suit or dress for the occasion. One or two good friends may have come to your attention lately and you busy yourself with ways in which to bring everyone together in a future reunion type of gathering. Perhaps two or more of your friends were roommates at college or had a first job together right after high school. It would be good to see old friends and catch up on the latest news.

Yesterday’s Solution

Yesterday’s Solution

Daily SuDoku

Yesterday’s Solution

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

i n f o r m at i o n For labor-related inquiries and complaints: Call MSAL hotline 128 GOVERNORATE Sabah Hospital

24812000

Amiri Hospital

22450005

Maternity Hospital

24843100

Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital

25312700

Chest Hospital

24849400

Farwaniya Hospital

24892010

Adan Hospital

23940620

Ibn Sina Hospital

24840300

Al-Razi Hospital

24846000

Physiotherapy Hospital

24874330/9

PHARMACY

ADDRESS

PHONE

Ahmadi

Sama Safwan Abu Halaifa Danat Al-Sultan

Fahaeel Makka St Abu Halaifa-Coastal Rd Mahboula Block 1, Coastal Rd

23915883 23715414 23726558

Jahra

Modern Jahra Madina Munawara

Jahra-Block 3 Lot 1 Jahra-Block 92

24575518 24566622

Capital

Ahlam Khaldiya Coop

Fahad Al-Salem St Khaldiya Coop

22436184 24833967

Farwaniya

New Shifa Ferdous Coop Modern Safwan

Farwaniya Block 40 Ferdous Coop Old Kheitan Block 11

24734000 24881201 24726638

Tariq Hana Ikhlas Hawally & Rawdha Ghadeer Kindy Ibn Al-Nafis Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Salmiya-Amman St Hawally-Beirut St Hawally & Rawdha Coop Jabriya-Block 1A Jabriya-Block 3B Salmiya-Hamad Mubarak St Mishrif Coop Salwa Coop

25726265 25647075 22625999 22564549 25340559 25326554 25721264 25380581 25628241

Hawally

Al-Madeena

22418714

Al-Shuhada

22545171

Al-Shuwaikh

24810598

Al-Nuzha

22545171

Sabhan

24742838

Al-Helaly

22434853

Al-Faiha

22545051

Al-Farwaniya

24711433

Al-Sulaibikhat

24316983

Al-Fahaheel

23927002

Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh

24316983

Ahmadi

23980088

Al-Mangaf

23711183

Al-Shuaiba

23262845

Kaizen center

25716707

Rawda

22517733

Adaliya

22517144

Al-Jahra

25610011

Khaldiya

24848075

Al-Salmiya

25616368

Kaifan

24849807

Shamiya

24848913

Shuwaikh

24814507

Abdullah Salem

22549134

Nuzha

22526804

Industrial Shuwaikh

24814764

Qadsiya

22515088

Dasmah

22532265

Bneid Al-Gar

22531908

Shaab

22518752

Qibla

22459381

Ayoun Al-Qibla

22451082

Mirqab

22456536

Sharq

22465401

Salmiya

25746401

Jabriya

25316254

Maidan Hawally

25623444

Bayan

25388462

Mishref

25381200

W Hawally

22630786

Sabah

24810221

Jahra

24770319

New Jahra

24575755

West Jahra

24772608

South Jahra

24775066

North Jahra

24775992

North Jleeb

24311795

Ardhiya

24884079

Firdous

24892674

Omariya

24719048

N Khaitan

24710044

Fintas

23900322

INTERNATIONAL CALLS

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

Paediatricians

Plastic Surgeons Dr. Mohammad Al-Khalaf

22547272

Dr. Khaled Hamadi

Dr. Abdal-Redha Lari

22617700

Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rashed

Dr. Abdel Quttainah

25625030/60

Family Doctor Dr Divya Damodar

23729596/23729581

Psychiatrists Dr. Esam Al-Ansari

22635047

Dr Eisa M. Al-Balhan

22613623/0

Gynaecologists & Obstetricians DrAdrian arbe

23729596/23729581

Dr. Verginia s.Marin

2572-6666 ext 8321

Endocrinologist

25665898 25340300

Dr. Zahra Qabazard

25710444

Dr. Sohail Qamar

22621099

Dr. Snaa Maaroof

25713514

Dr. Pradip Gujare

23713100

Dr. Zacharias Mathew

24334282

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

25655535

Dentists

Dr. Fozeya Ali Al-Qatan

22655539

Dr. Majeda Khalefa Aliytami

25343406

Dr. Shamah Al-Matar

22641071/2

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khooly

25739272

Dr. Anesah Al-Rasheed

22562226

22618787

Dr. Abidallah Al-Amer

22561444

Dr. Faysal Al-Fozan

22619557

Dr. Abdallateef Al-Katrash

22525888

Dr. Abidallah Al-Duweisan

25653755

Dr. Bader Al-Ansari

25620111

General Surgeons Dr. Amer Zawaz Al-Amer

22610044

Dr. Mohammad Yousef Basher

25327148

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

22666300 25728004

Dr. Nadem Al-Ghabra

25355515

Dr. Mobarak Aldoub

24726446

Dr Nasser Behbehani

25654300/3

Soor Center Tel: 2290-1677 Fax: 2290 1688

Neurologists

22639939

Dr. Mousa Khadada

info@soorcenter.com www.soorcenter.com

3729596/3729581

Dr. Sohal Najem Al-Shemeri

25633324

Dr. Jasem Mola Hassan

25345875

Gastrologists Dr. Sami Aman

22636464

Dr. Mohammad Al-Shamaly

25322030

Dr. Foad Abidallah Al-Ali

22633135

Kaizen center 25716707

25339330

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Rheumatologists: Dr. Adel Al-Awadi

Dr Anil Thomas

Dr. Salem soso

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Dr. Khaled Al-Jarallah

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Internist, Chest & Heart DR.Mohammes Akkad

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Dr. Mohammad Zubaid MB, ChB, FRCPC, PACC Assistant Professor Of Medicine Head, Division of Cardiology Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Farida Al-Habib MD, PH.D, FACC Inaya German Medical Center Te: 2575077 Fax: 25723123

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

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

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

lifestyle G o s s i p

Pamela Anderson remarries ex-husband Rick Salomon

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he couple’s original marriage in October 2007 only lasted two months before they filed for divorce, but their romance was rekindled and the former ‘Baywatch’ actress has confirmed they have tied the knot once again. Asked by E! News about the nuptials, she said: “Yes ... We’re very happy. Our families are very happy and that’s all that matters.” The reunited pair made the announcement at Sean Penn’s Help Haiti Gala in Los Angeles yesterday where Pamela appeared with a new ring. Speaking in October, the star revealed they were back together - with no hints of marriage - and described them as friends “with benefits”. She said: “I say we’re best friends... with benefits.” She also cut off her trademark long locks as a symbol of a fresh start in her life, as well as being more comfortable when she ran the New York City Marathon in Central Park. She previously explained: “I just thought, you know, my hair had had a life. “And I wanted to kind of put that behind me and start fresh. And I thought it’d be good for the marathon. And it was.”

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Rihanna gets inked again

he ‘We Found Love’ hitmaker, who already has more than 20 pieces of body art, had a large ornate cross, surrounded by designs, etched on the inside of her right wrist at Bang Bang Tattoos. The 25-year-old star visited the studio at midnight and stayed until 5am, and was spotted admiring the new tattoo, which complements the existing tribal design on her right hand and wrist, afterwards, according to the MailOnline website. The Barbados native had the other Indian-inspired markings on her hand incorporated into a Maori design, which she got done in October using the excruciatingly painful yet traditional Ta Moko method to mark her trip to New Zealand. Rihanna has been having tattoos done at the studio in New York since 2007. The ink-mad beauty’s other tattoos include a Sanskrit prayer down her thigh and the word love on the middle finger of her left hand, and claims they all have spiritual meanings. She said in the past: “My tattoos are all spiritual and show how I feel about religion. I have a falcon which is an Egyptian falcon.”Before visiting the studio, Rihanna went to see ‘Lone Survivor’ in the cinema on Friday night.

Britney Spears shops for a new puppy

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he ‘Perfume’ hitmaker, who has been dating David Lucado since last March, “fell in love with” a $5,000 teacup Yorkie named Micro Diamond at Star Yorkie in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon. The pet shop’s owner told RadarOnline.com: “Britney and David were friendly.

She was in a great mood and seemed happy playing with the puppies.” The 32-year-old star and David, who works at a prestigious law firm in Southern California, spent 30 minutes playing with the pooch, who is described as “an absolutely gorgeous puppy with a personality that is a lot larger then her size” on the shop’s website, but they decided to think about it at home before making a decision about the dog. The owner said: “They left empty-handed, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they come back for Diamond.”

Britney, who has sons, Sean, eight, and Jayden, seven, with her ex-husband Kevin Federline, is a well-known animal lover and has adopted a Yorkie and a Maltese from the same pet shop in the past.

Kate Winslet says working mothers are ‘heroes’

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he actress and mother-of-three has praised other mums who do their best to balance their professional and personal lives by not neglecting their career or children.

Speaking to Glamour magazine, she said: “Mothers who work full time - they’re the real heroes.” The 38-year-old star - who has daughter Mia, 13, with ex-husband Jim Threapleton, son Joe, 10, with ex-husband Sam Mendes, and four-week-old son Bear with husband Ned Rocknroll - also insisted she doesn’t enlist help for meal times. While Kate admitted she sometimes invites friends round to cook, she doesn’t want her children to be brought up having lots of people assuming the ‘parent’ role. She explained: “Sure, I could have lots of people who do the cooking, the driving, all that jazz - but I would be unhappy.

I wouldn’t want my children raised that way.” The ‘Labour Day’ star recently said her performance in the big screen drama was helped by her own experiences of motherhood.

She previously noted: “It’s a part I could not have played had I not been a parent.

“Ultimately, I was drawn to it because it’s a film about the desire for a family - and family has played such a role in my life. It’s my core, really.”

Lindsay Lohan has a fling with a British student

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he actress is said to have been secretly dating Christian Arno Williams - a parttime model from Liverpool - after the pair met at the Shangai Fashion Awards, and they have just enjoyed a romantic trip abroad. A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “Christian is a total cheeky chappy and has no fear. He caught Lindsay’s eye and just went in for the kill. He’s very good-looking and Lindsay loves the British accent.

“They spent loads of time together and got pretty close, quite quickly. Neither knows whether this will lead to anything or if it was merely a holiday romance but, at the moment, Christian is really happy and quite excited. “He has only told a handful of people and is trying to keep is discreet, as is Lindsay.” Since ‘The Canyons’ star met the Abercrombie and Fitch hunk, they became largely inseparable and she is even said to have given him a £30,000 Rolex watch.

Despite the romantic trip, Lindsay has been left concerned after her laptop - said to have “private correspondence” from famous friends including Lady Gaga and nude pictures from photoshoots stored on it - was allegedly stolen from an airport in China.

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Ke$ha’s mother checks into rehab

inger-songwriter Pebe Sebert has announced she is seeking help for post-traumatic stress disorder at the Timberline Knolls treatment facility near Chicago, eight days after the ‘Timber’ hitmaker checked into the same centre for an eating disorder. Pebe, who helped write Ke$ha’s hit ‘Your Love Is My Drug,’ told People.com: “I’m checking myself into Timberline Knolls today for post-traumatic stress disorder, at Ke$ha’s urging.” The 57 year old recently revealed that her daughter was once ordered to lose 15 pounds in a month and she claimed the 26-year-old star was constantly under a huge amount of pressure to slim down by executives in the music industry, including her long-time producer Dr Luke. She hinted she has come under fire for making such comments in public. She said: “This whole Dr Luke thing has almost torn our family apart and taken over my life, and Ke$ha wants me to heal along with her.” Ke$ha announced on January 3 that she was seeking help for an eating disorder. Pebe previously explained the singer decided to seek treatment after having a breakdown right before Christmas during which the blonde beauty admitted she had been struggling with bulimia since 2009.

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

lifestyle G o s s i p

Kanye West wants to spend honeymoon in space

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he ‘Bound 2’ hitmaker is “obsessed” with all things other-worldly and has convinced his fiancee Kim Kardashian - with who he has six-month-old daughter North - to celebrate their marriage with an intergalactic holiday. A source said: “Kanye is obsessed with space and anything sci-fi - he’s shot many spaceship-themed videos and he even considered training as an astronautical engineer. Now he’s fixated on the idea of honeymooning in space. “Apparently, Kim wasn’t keen at first but Kanye has talked her round and there’s even talk it will be chronicled on her reality show.” Kanye wants to check himself and Kim into the CSS Skywalker, an inflatable station being created by Bigelow Aerospace which will float 250 miles above Earth and requires guests to undergo three months of astronaut training before travelling there. However, the venture - which has been in the pipeline since 2009 and has so far cost an estimated $500 million - is not due to be completed until 2015 so Kanye, who will shell out $1 million a night for the couple to stay there, will arrange multiple honeymoons with his new bride. The source added to Britain’s Grazia magazine: “Kanye is saying this will be their third honeymoon as it won’t be ready for a year. so they’ll have two others before then. They’re multi-millionaires so money is no object.”

Nadine Coyle puts a ring on it

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he former Girls Aloud star’s partner Jason Bell is said to have proposed over Christmas and the couple - who are expecting a baby girl next month - “can’t wait” to plan their wedding once they have become parents. A source told The Sun on Sunday newspaper: “Nadine is on cloud nine after Jason went down on one knee over Christmas and proposed. “She is a traditionalist at heart and has told friends they will become a ‘proper family’ after they tie the knot. She hasn’t started planning the wedding yet as obviously she is set to drop any second now. “But she can’t wait to organise a big white wedding once she’s settled into motherhood.” Speculation about who will be getting invites has already begun, and it is uncertain whether or not Nadine will be asking her former band mates to join her on the big day. The insider added: “Who knows whether she will invite her former band mates though - it’s doubtful Cheryl Cole would turn up given their history.” It is the second time Nadine and Jason have got engaged, after the first ended in June 2011 because she wanted to focus on herself before committing to marriage. She said at the time: “I still feel I want a bit more me-time before I can fully commit to getting married.” The singer’s PR has refused to comment.

Kylie Minogue says her posterior is its ‘own entity’

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he ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ singer has opened up about her famous rear end and said it is “holding up well”, joking she should send her own fan mail to it. She told The Sun newspaper’s TV Magazine: “The bottom is doing very nicely, thank you - it’s holding up well. “I think of it as something entirely separate from me.

The bottom is its own entity. “It even has its own Twitter profile. I should write letters to it!” The star - who previously appeared as Charlene Robinson in Australian soap ‘Neighbours’ - insisted she has still had to learn to be “tough” in the entertainment industry. She explained: “You have to be tough in this business. I mean, I don’t really think of myself as being like that but it’s definitely there. I wasn’t cast as Charlene the mechanic in ‘Neighbours’ for nothing.

“You have to have something inside you that will bounce you back from any knock, will keep you going, pushing you on. So I’m tougher than I look.”

David Beckham puts a £600,000 painting on daughter’s wall

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he piece - called ‘Daddy’s Girl’ - is by artist Damien Hirst, who is a close friend of the retired soccer star, and it will hang in Harper’s nursery at the family’s new £40 million Notting Hill mansion in west London. Speaking to The Sun on Sunday newspaper, a source revealed: “The removal firm was extra careful with the Damien Hirst painting. “It was packaged up, but no one wanted to drop it and but a hole in such a valuable work of art. “Harper is a lucky girl having such an expensive painting hanging in her room.” David and his wife Victoria commissioned the piece from their friend around their daughter’s first birthday and it is said they paid “tens of thousands” for the painting - although a similar piece was sold in an auction for £601,250 in 2011. Talking when he bought ‘Daddy’s Girl’, the star said: “[It is] a piece of art which I had specially made by a friend. The name of the artist? Damien Hirst.” —Bangshowbiz

Robin Wright is engaged Mariah Carey, Nick Cannon’s to Ben Foster

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he ‘House of Cards’ actress, who divorced Sean Penn in 2010 after 13 years of marriage, is planning to tie the knot with the 33-year-old ‘Lone Survivor’ actor, who she has been dating since early 2012. A spokesperson for the 47-year-old star, who has two children, Dylan, 22, and Hopper, 20, with her ex-husband, confirmed the news to People.com after the blonde beauty was spotted wearing an engagement ring at the opening of fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg’s ‘Journey of a Dress’ exhibition in Los Angeles last night. The couple met while co-starring in the 2011 film ‘Rampart’ and they were first spotted looking very cosy in an Italian restaurant in Australia in February 2012. Sean, who is rumored to be dating Charlize Theron, previously claimed he felt like he had never been loved by any of his ex-wives, including Robin, and said their divorce was a real eye opener after years of struggling to make sense of their on-again/off-again relationship. He said: “When you get divorced, all the truths that come out, you sit there and you go, ‘What was I doing? What was I doing believing that this person was invested in this way?’ Which is a fantastically strong humiliation in the best sense. “It can make somebody very bitter and very hard and closed off, but I find it does the opposite to me.”

son likes to fight

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he ‘America’s Got Talent’ presenter, who married the 43-year-old singer in 2009, said their twoyear-old twins, Moroccan and Monroe, have very different personalities and predicted their son is going to be very “tough”. Speaking to UsMagazine.com, Nick said: “They’re almost three.

They’re reading now. They’re musical. My son likes to fight . . . that makes me happy. I gotta guy who’s gonna be a tough dude.” The 33-year-old star recently returned from a Christmas and New Year’s holiday in Aspen, Colorado with his family, but claimed he never feels the need to take time off to relax. He explained: “It was wonderful. We do that every year. We go away and have a nice little winter wonderland.” But he added: “I tell everybody that my vocation is my vacation. It doesn’t seem like work. Not like where you come home your feet hurt, you’ve been out in the hot sun . . . that’s work. I get to get up and be creative.”

Nick, who recently said he “instantly” knew Mariah was the woman for him, revealed they still have a very steamy relationship after five years of marriage.

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

lifestyle

Winona Ryder

Charlize Theron

Diane Kruger

Sarah Silverman

(From left) The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr, Bono and Adam Clayton of U2 are seen after their performance on stage at the 3rd Annual Sean Penn & Friends HELP HAITI HOME Gala on Saturday, Jan 11, 2014 at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. — AP photos

Celebs show philanthropic side at

Haiti benefit

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(From left) Paris Hilton, Piers Morgan, and Celia Walden are seen.

Asaf Avidan performs onstage.

Gary Philoctete (left) is seen onstage with Anaelle Jean-Pierre.

hile many stars are awash in the gifts and parties of Golden Globes weekend, a few used their privilege to benefit the people of Haiti - and they were rewarded with an intimate performance by U2. Bette Midler, Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, Charlize Theron, Piers Morgan, Chelsea Handler, Sarah Silverman, Idris Elba and Kathryn Bigelow were among the guests Saturday at Sean Penn’s third annual Help Haiti Home benefit, which raised nearly $6 million for the J/P Haitian Relief Organization. The dinner party at the Montage Hotel included a surprise performance by U2- the band’s first in four years.

The J/P Haitian Relief Organization has been working since the 2010 earthquake to provide emergency care and sustainable shelter and education to the people of Haiti. But Penn says he hopes his organization is obsolete within 10 years. He said progress in the Caribbean nation has been miraculous despite corruption and “inaccurate, bad Journalism.”

“I’m not satisfied. I want more,” he said. “But this couldn’t have happened in the United States: This amount of clean up, this amount of resilience.” He expects all of the people displaced by the earthquake to find permanent housing within the next two years. Nearly two million have already moved out of the emergency camps and into homes.

Besides lending his time and his fame to the cause, Penn also gave his vintage El Camino to benefit his organization. It sold for $100,000 at auction Saturday. The earth is such a tiny speck in the universe that the only thing that makes sense is to take care of those on the planet with us, he said. He promised to reward those who participated in the auction.

Midler, Paltrow and Kevin Bacon cast bids. Paltrow’s husband, Coldplay front man Chris Martin, won an exclusive art piece from Banksy for $650,000. Anderson Cooper, the evening’s host, gave the biggest donation: His auction bid of $1.4 million won a sculpture to be made from Penn’s 65 discarded firearms.

U2’s three-song performance - stunning in a hotel ballroom - followed a tender, acoustic performance earlier in the evening with Bono, guitarist The Edge and Haitian singer Anaelle Jean-Pierre. Emma Thompson noted the contrast between the Help Haiti event and other pre-awards-show parties. “I’m here for awards season,” she said, “and this is the first night I’ve been having a good time.” — AP

Elsa Pataky (left) and Chris Hemsworth

Tom Hanks

Brit Marling

Hanks, Blanchett, Scorsese among BAFTA guests

om Hanks, Martin Scorsese, Cate Blanchett, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Aaron Paul celebrated their Golden Globe Award nominations over cucumber sandwiches and scones with cream. The nominees were among the guests of honor at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ annual awards-season tea party, held Saturday at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles. With no agenda other than to eat, drink and socialize, the stars enjoyed a relaxing respite amid a whirlwind weekend leading into Sunday’s Golden Globes. Benedict

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Cumberbatch, Christoph Waltz, Shohreh Aghdashloo and “Captain Phillips” supporting actor Barkhad Abdi were also among the celebrants. Some tea-party guests, including TV mogul Nigel Lythgoe, also popped by the HBO Luxury Lounge held at the hotel, where brands such as Pandora and Sophia Fiori Diamonds were hoping for last-minute placement on the Globes red carpet. — AP

Cate Blanchett

Actress Sandra Bullock attends the BAFTA LA 2014 awards season tea party at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, January 11, 2014. — AFP photos

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

lifestyle

Saranya Mohan: No image makeover to win glam roles time career. But once I undertake a project, I will be 100 percent committed to my character,” she explained. Saranya has so far acted in a variety of roles in around 30 movies in four south Indian languages.

By Sajeev K Peter

“I

’m not ready for an image makeover to win glamorous roles. I’m comfortable with the way I look and happy with the roles I play,” said Saranya Mohan, well-known South Indian actress and a celebrated Bharatanatyam danseuse.

Though Saranya gained her celebrity status through stardom, her passion is dance, her chosen profession, she told Kuwait Times in an interview.

Saranya, who arrived in Kuwait to attend NSS Kuwait’s anniversary celebrations at Marina Auditorium, Jleeb AlShoyouk on Friday, spoke at length about her priorities and preferences both as a dancer and an actor.

“I was born into a family of dancers and grew up in an atmosphere of dance and music. Both my father Y K B Mohanji and mother Kalamandalam Devimohan are renowned Bharatanatyam dancers. They have been running YKB Dance Academy in Alleppey, dance school, for the last 30 years,” Saranya said.

During her school years, Saranya won ‘Kalathilakam,’ title five times which is considered a prestigious government award conferred on outstanding artists every year during school youth festivals. A multifaceted talent, she is wellversed in art forms such as ‘Ottam Thullal’, ‘Mohiniyattom’, ‘Kuchipudi, classical music, ‘Bharatanatyam’ and ‘Kathaprasangam’.

As she learned more and evolved into a classical dancer, Saranya realized that she is more comfortable with ‘Bharatanatyam,’ a style that best suited her personality. “As I began to approach dance more seriously, I found out that ‘Bharatanatyam’ is more expressive and elegant. I found it easy to perform,” Saranya explained as to how she chose the dance form.

Style matters “I’m living in the world of dance. It is my passion and profession, not hobby,” Saranya said who is still learning dance under ‘Bharatanatyam’ exponent Kalakshethra Vilasini. Her sister Sukanya is also a dance exponent who is doing her post-graduation in classical dance in Annamali University.

Interesting, Saranya pursues Kalakshetra tradition while

Saranya Mohan —Photo by Sajeev K Peter

her parents adhere to Kalamandalam school of dance, two distinct styles in ‘Bharatanatyam’. “As I began to learn under Vilasini teacher, I realized one thing. Kalakshethra style suits my kind of dancing. I thought the style helps me reach nearperfection,” she said.

Saranya Mohan was introduced to the south Indian film industry as a child artist at the tender age of eight by filmmaker Fazil who was impressed by her dancing prowess. Her first movie was the Malayalam super-hit ‘Aniyathi Pravu.’ She also acted in the Tamil remake of the same movie ‘Kadhalukku Mariyadhai.” Subsequently, Saranya appeared

in ‘Harikrishnans’ and ‘Rakthasaakshikale Sindabad,’ both in child roles.

Saranya made her re-entry into filmdom after a gap of seven years, acting in another Fazil movie ‘Oru Naal Oru Kanavu’ along with popular South Indian actress Ramya Nambeesan. However, her path-breaking film came in 2008 with the Dhanush-Nayantara starrer ‘Yaaradi Nee Mohini.’

Her hilarious performance as the younger sister to the heroine won her popularity and recognition.

Saranya says that she is not overly passionate about continuing in film industry.”I have not chosen acting as my life-

Homely roles “Initially, I thought I would call it quits after a few movies.

But I knew that there is a demand for the kind of characters I do,” she said. In 2009, she had six releases to her credit, four of which were Tamil films. The tragedy sports film ‘Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu’ directed by Suseenthiran and the supernatural thriller ‘Eeram’ turned out to be commercially successful.

Later that year, Saranya made her Telugu debut with ‘Village Lo Vinayakudu.’

Saranya is best known for her homely characters and roles as modest village girls in many of her movies. She said she is quite choosy about the characters she would play in movies. “I don’t want to go in for an image makeover to attract glamorous roles. I do have my own little space in the industry as an actress and I’m happy with that,” she explained.

“Today, people in the film industry also know my taste.

They used to tell me, ‘Saranya, there are many who can do glamorous roles. But what we want is a Saranya who does those homely characters’,” she said. She was the heroine in Malayalam movie ‘Chemistry’ which was released in 2009.

In 2011, she acted in M Raja’s ‘Velayudham’, another blockbuster in which her role as Vijay’s sister won her many accolades. She also acted in Tamil film ‘Osthi’ in 2011. Her debut Bollywood film ‘Badlapur Boys’ is awaiting release.

Talking about the upcoming releases, she said, Tamil film ‘Suyam’ is being shot currently. Two Tamil films - ‘Iravatham’ and ‘Kadhalai Thavira Verondrum Illai - and Malayalam film ‘Thakkali’ are awaiting releases post production.

Asked why she is not seen much in Malayalam film industry lately, she quipped, “There must be a good role to play.

And people must identify me as Saranya. I don’t want to become one among the crowd.”

Gregg Allman feted by fellow musicians at concert

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An Indian commuter, stripped to his underpants, participates in a No Pants Subway Ride on the metro in Bangalore yesterday. — AFP photos

Legs bared for annual No Pants commute

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rains and trams in Australia’s major cities were awash with bare legs and briefs yesterday as pranksters travelled trouserless for the world’s 13th annual “No Pants Subway Ride”. Commuters in Beijing and Hong Kong also braved public transport without trousers in the stunt, which has gone global since its first staging by US group Improv Everywhere in New York in 2002.

Twelve years ago only seven people took part in the inaugural event but now thousands in major capital cities around the globe participate in what organisers call a “celebration of silliness”.The premise is simple: participants convene on a given transport route on a designated day every year without trousers on, and ride the rails (or road) for shock value and laughs.

Underpants must be worn and, although flashy designs are allowed, organisers prefer those involved to look-at least from the waistup-as though they are going about their daily lives, to increase the impact on bystanders.

Uniforms and business suits are encouraged to amplify the lower-half effect as are propsbicycles, prams, shopping bags or a briefcase.

Participants are also forbidden from speaking to one another and are instructed to bring “any activity you might normally perform on the train: newspaper, book, sewing kit.”

“If questioned, you do not know any of the other pant-less riders. Tell folks that you ‘forgot to wear pants’,” organisers told partici-

pants ahead of the Sydney ride. “Insist that it is a coincidence that others also forgot their trousers. Be nice, friendly and remain calm.” In Sydney, a small but dedicated group dropped their trousers on the city circle loop train, packed with bemused weekend sightseers on a busy summer’s day, then switched routes for a return trip to Bondi.

There was a no trousers tram ride in southern Melbourne and Adelaide and people also went pants-less for a train trip in northern Brisbane. On a busy Hong Kong subway train around 40 people, including Australian Bess Hepworth and her 18-month-old son, joined in the fun. “It’s the first time he will be publicly taking off his pants, although he does it regularly already,” the 37-year-old said.

In Beijing a handful of trouserless people took to the Chinese capital’s fast-growing subway, drawing confused glances from onlookers. “I want to show that (Chinese people) are internationalised now,” said 22-yearold Huang Li, wearing blue underwear decorated with dots. “People say I’m a psycho,” she added. Improv Everywhere expects some 4,000 participants in this year’s New York event, with more than 60 other cities taking part including Paris and London. — AFP

People ride a subway train during the worldwide ‘No Pants Subway Ride’ event in Beijing yesterday.

n all-star lineup of musicians feted Gregg Allman Friday night at a tribute concert heralding the southern rock luminary and the blues rock that influenced many artists to follow his band’s early 1970s success. Traditionally, Allman’s biggest fans have been in the audience, dancing and swaying to his southern rock ensemble’s well known songs like “Melissa” and “Midnight Rider.” But on this night those effusing about Allman the most were on stage in Atlanta, performing for him and beside him - including Jackson Browne, Taj Mahal and Vince Gill.

Allman said he was humbled by the outpouring of appreciation from his colleagues. “I try not to think about it just directly. It’s kind of like we all came to the gig together,” Allman said backstage before the show. “It’s pretty overwhelming but I’ve got the music to hang onto, to keep me on the ground. Otherwise they’d have to take me out of here on a string, like a balloon.”

Allman, who has come back strong from a liver transplant in recent years, said he feels years younger and fit enough to go on the road again. “I feel like a million. The Mayo Clinic people not only saved my life. I feel 30 years old, day and night,” Allman said. Taj Mahal said agreeing to play the one-night special show was a quick decision because the Allman Brothers Band is part of the fabric of American music.

“Anybody who listens to American music is going to have to hear them,” Mahal said. “They just went with good music and stayed with good music.” Vince Gill provided some of the best moments of the night, riveting the audience with some hot guitar licks and vocals on “Midnight Rider.” Other country stars, including Martina McBride and Eric Church, also performed soulful version of the band’s well-known songs.

The event signals a bit of a wind down for the Allman

Brothers Band as two members, Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, announced earlier this week they are leaving the band at the end of 2014. Haynes joined the group in 1989, and Trucks became a member in 1999. Trucks’ uncle Butch Trucks was the drummer and one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers band. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. — AP

Gregg Allman received an award from Del Bryant, President of BMI during the show at All My Friends: Celebrating The Songs and Voice of Gregg Allman in Atlanta, Ga. — AP

Diane Von Furstenberg celebrates wrap dress’ 40th

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iane Von Furstenberg thought that, after 40 years, her wrap dress deserved a party. The 67-year-old designer and dozens of her famous friends celebrated the opening Friday of “Journey of a Dress,” an exhibit honoring the timeless style she introduced in the early 1970s: A flattering, easy-to-wear dress that fastens with a simple tie at the waist.

“This is the first time that I ever honored the wrap dress, and she did so much for me,” said an ebullient Von Furstenberg, wearing a black wrap dress with floor-skimming yellow kimono sleeves. “She made me famous. She paid for all my bills. And tonight we celebrate the wrap dress.” Marisa Tomei, Demi Moore, Tobey Maguire, Molly Sims, Edward Norton, Robin Wright and Rachel Zoe were among the many stars celebrating Von Furstenberg’s enduring design in a vacant department store.

“It’s a total standard in a woman’s closet,” said stylist Estee Stanley, who counts Jessica Biel and Lea Michele among her clients. “It’s just so easy: You throw it on, it’s not uncomfortable, and it’s sexy.” The exhibit at the Wilshire May Company Building, on view until April 1, features the designer’s favorite dresses from throughout the decades. Scores of mannequins stand in neat rows, their narrow waists all belted, each in different versions of the wrap dress.

Von Furstenberg is also known for patterns and color palettes, which splash across the exhibit space and serve as themes for the collections. A group of mannequins dressed in blues, browns and oranges stand atop a blue snakeskin-patterned floor, beside yellow geometric walls. Part of “Journey of a Dress” is dedicated to the designer herself: Paintings and portraits of Von Furstenberg by artists including Andy Warhol and Annie Leibovitz fill one room of the exhibit. The hallway is lined with oversized reproductions of the DVF wrap dress in the pages of 1970s Vogue magazine and on models and movie stars then and now. Rene Russo, Jerry Hall and Iman wore them in the ‘70s, as did Cybill Shepherd in “Taxi Driver” in 1976. Michelle Obama and Madonna wore them recently. So did Amy Adams in “American Hustle.” — AP

A general view of atmosphere is seen at the DVF Journey of a Dress 40th Anniversary Party.

Abbie Cornish

Legs bared for annual No Pants commute

MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014

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Models present creations for fashion house Ermenegildo Zegna.

Milan Fashion Week seeks renewal I

t was out with the old, and in with the new as Milan Fashion Week got under way Saturday. Jil Sander is gone - again - and a team, rather than a single star, has filled her shoes. Adding to the sense of renewal, another young designer got his Milan debut. And the National Italian Fashion Chamber introduced its new CEO, a former advertising executive whose job is to both promote Milan’s image as a fashion capital and help boost sales of Italian luxury fashion. “I am here to facilitate growth for all the brands, not just the big ones,” Jane Reeve said during an opening day lunch. “I want to foster teamwork.”

The appointment of Reeve, a British citizen who has been living in Milan for more than 20 years, is part of the chamber’s efforts to relaunch Italy’s fashion system, which has suffered because of Italy’s economic woes and growing competition from other fashion capitals. It has been the smaller fashion houses with less access to the export market that have suffered the most. The chamber is forecasting a 5 percent increase in global sales because of increases in exports and signs that the domestic market is stabilizing.

DOLCE&GABBANA North invades south in the designing duo Dolce&Gabbana’s menswear collection for next winter. The cold weather looks took their cue from Medieval courts after the Norman conquest of Sicily, the designers’ eternal muse. Fabrics and yarns were warm and wooly, colors dark and royal. In Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana’s Norman court, the king wears a thick, sturdy top bearing the image of a king, perhaps a treasured predecessor, over slim-fitting trousers. Bejeweled gloves, slippers and, of course, a golden crown, finish the look. For a tour of his lands, there is a heavy sheepskin coat. Knights wear a knitted wool cap, which is embroidered with sparkling studs to mimic chain mail, over a furry gray jacket and strapped ankle boots.

VERSACE Italian fashion house Versace’s cowboy-themed menswear collection for fall 2014 was outrageously fun, even by Versace standards. “Our cowboy is macho, he’s a biker... he doesn’t have a horse,” designer Donatella Versace said backstage after the show.

Donatella’s cowboys wear their boots with sharp, tight suits decorated with rhinestone horseshoes and cactus plants on both front and back. These cowhands head out on the town wearing red leather chaps over their jeans, or sometimes just over their bandanna-print underwear. Cheeky indeed!

JOHN VARVATOS Just because Kiss glammed-it down the runway at the John Varvatos menswear preview for next winter does not mean they are slaves to fashion. Gene Simmons, who is still wagging his tongue at audiences 40 years after Kiss released its first album, says fashion for him “to be an individual and not to be a lemming.” Singer and guitarist Paul Stanley said he’s not a fan of fashion “because it’s really temporary. Fashion is something that changes every year to sell products. Style is timeless.” They both agree that Varvatos, whom they met during fashion week last year when they happened to be playing in Milan, had rock ‘n’ roll credentials. “I knew John’s clothes for years because they have all those elements that I love in clothes, which are timeless,” Stanley said. “There is a style that goes back to some of the great rock ‘n’ roll bands of the 60s.”

ZEGNA Designer Stefan Pilati, in his second full year at Zegna, looked to the cosmos for aesthetic input, but kept his latest collection firmly down to Earth. The drama and sweep of the collection came from the most unsuspecting of places, like the staple scarf.

Pilati’s scarves were not mere accents, but part of the architecture of the collection. They appeared to be extensions of sweaters and jackets, either knitted into and wrapped around a sweater neckline or sewn into the jacket. The neckline, more often the plaything of womenswear, was showered with attention. Turtlenecks seemed to sweep upwards, and scarves were crisscrossed for a wrap-around look. Pilati, who spent eight years as head designer at Yves Saint Laurent before returning to his native Milan in 2012, commissioned astrophysicists to chart a journey from space to the interior of Zegna’s new City Life Palace, creating the sensation of being catapulted from space and then back again. The designer combined formal and sporty looks - say a short quilted jacket or sweater over a suit jacket. Roomy quilted anoraks offer a cozy warmth while short bomber jackets were offered with fur trim or notched collars. The color palate was mostly dark and formal - blues, grays, blacks and burgundy with some white and camel.

JULIAN ZIGERLI Swiss Julian Zigerli’s fifth collection ever made its debut at Giorgio Armani’s theater - part of the Milan headliner’s efforts to support young talent and breathe new life into Italy’s fashion capital. Zigerli’s looks were part busy bee, part urban slouch. If that seems a contradiction, consider the honeycomb pattern that was a constant motif in the collection, appearing printed on easy track suits or knitted into turtle necks and leisure suits. The looks were finished with hotel-style slippers emblazoned with his logo.

Backstage, Zigerli swept away a tear of joy and relief after his well-received Milan premier. “There are no words. It was truly great.” Zigerli said he chose the hexagon motif because it is a perfect geometrical shape that comes from nature. “It is also what the bees make,” he said. The 29-year-old Zurich native has previously shown in Berlin, where he studied and where he says the pressure and scrutiny is less intense.

“I think my professor is here as well,” he said. “I can’t wait to hear what she says.”

JIL SANDER For the first time in a long while, no one came out to take a bow at the end of the Jil Sander show.

The founder of the eponymous fashion house announced her resignation for a third time this fall.

Instead of naming a successor, the fashion house said a team assembled by Sander before she left would carry on. The new team stayed true to the house’s trademark aesthetic, showing a clean, moodily colored fall menswear collection.

Sander’s trademark deftness with luxurious fabrics was evident in thick overcoats and jackets with surfaces crafted into an eye-catching “packing bubble” texture.

Coats and boxy jackets were worn over high-waisted trousers, paired with thicksoled, chunky Oxfords for a vibe that was both relaxed and classic. The show’s eyecatcher were pants in a shimmering metallic fabric that looked as fluid as liquid mercury. The fashion crowd applauded enthusiastically, but no one took a bow.

COSTUME NATIONAL Costume National’s menswear looks for next winter made deft use of deep, masculine colors like electric blue, burned orange, oxblood, eggplant and emerald green. Boxy jackets in heavy fabrics like felt in black or gray were worn over big, soft sweaters in maroon or blue and paired with skinny trousers.

Black and white optical print pants were a nod to the designer’s geometric shapes shown in the spring-summer collection. For cold weather, there were black shearling bomber jackets and overcoats in “eco fur.” “I was inspired by the Berlin of David Bowie in the mid-1970s,” designer Ennio Capasa said backstage after the show. The overall vibe was loose and relaxed, with what few suits were visible on the runway being shown with brightly-colored sweaters rather than with a shirt and tie. Models wore ankle-high Beatle boots with what looked like no socks, and a few carried leather portfolios dangling from the wrist by a strap. — AP

Models present creations for fashion house Versace as part of Autumn/Winter 2014 Milan Collections during the Men’s fashion week on January 11, 2014 in Milan. — AFP photos