12th Mar

CR IP TI ON BS SU

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

Companies law amendment to help boost local economy

US Senate intel chief accuses CIA of spying

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www.kuwaittimes.net

JAMADA ALAWWAL 11, 1435 AH

Costa propels Atletico into q-finals

Iranian coffee lovers flock to new wave of cafes

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Will court ruling open welfare for expatriates?

Implications of healthcare decision abound

By Ben Garcia KUWAIT: In a landmark decision, a court in Kuwait ordered the Ministry of Health to provide life saving medicines to a Syrian child born in Kuwait. The child, diagnosed with the rare Gaucher’s disease, reportedly needs to take Cerezyme 400. The health ministry refused to provide the child with this prescription, which it argues costs nearly KD 66,000 annually.

The government of Kuwait provides free healthcare to all citizens but foreigners are required to obtain health insurance as part of their visa applications. The health insurance, however, does not cover all the same health services, medicines and treat-

Max 29º Min 18º High Tide 10:20 & 20:18 Low Tide 03:53 & 14:52

ment available to Kuwaitis. In fact, a recent trend in Kuwait has seen government services increasingly denied or limited to expatriates or provided on a less-than-equal basis. In one glaring example, foreigners may only visit hospitals and health clinics in Jahra governorate in the afternoon.

Morning hours are reserved for citizens.

The court based its decision on Article 10 of the Kuwait constitution which stipulates “The State cares for the young and protects them from exploitation and from moral, physical and spiritual neglect” and Article 24 of the UNICEF Convention on the Rights of the Child which indicates that “Children have the Continued on Page 13

Sisi in UAE for joint military exercises

SEPANG, Malaysia: Pictures of the two men identified as Pouria Nourmohammadi (right) and Seyed Mohammed Reza Delavar, who boarded the now missing Malaysia Airlines jet MH370 with stolen passports, are held up by a Malaysian policewoman during a press conference yesterday. — AP

ABU DHABI: Egyptian military chief Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi arrived yesterday in the United Arab Emirates, a strong supporter of his July ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, the WAM news agency reported. Field Marshal Sisi, who is Egypt’s defence minister and deputy premier, travelled to the UAE to attend the closure of joint military exercises there. He was met by UAE deputy army chief Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahayan. The two men noted the “fraternal and solid relations linking the two countries and their peoples,” and their wish to “consolidate bilateral cooperation,” WAM added, without giving

details on Sisi’s plans or the length of his stay.

The Emirates have given Egypt $4.9 billion in financial aid since Morsi’s ouster, as well as deposited $2 billion in the Egyptian central bank, interest free. Last week, the UAE joined Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in recalling their ambassadors from fellow Gulf Cooperation Council member Qatar over its support for Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood. As a sign of support for the military-installed government in Cairo, the UAE’s Arabtec contractor signed a memorandum of understanding Sunday to develop a $40 billion project to build one million housing units in Egypt. — AFP

No sign of missing plane Iranians using stolen passports named KUALA LUMPUR: Two suspect men who flew on a missing Malaysian airliner appear to have been Iranian illegal immigrants, officials said yesterday, lessening fears of terrorism but shedding no light on the fate of the plane’s 239 passengers and crew. On the fourth day of a multinational search at sea and on land, relatives desperate for news of loved ones aboard Malaysia Airlines MH370 said their hopes for a miracle were ebbing away.

Authorities have doubled the search

radius to 100 nautical miles (equivalent to 185 km) around the point where the Boeing 777 disappeared from radar over the South China Sea early Saturday, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. “We are intensifying our search and rescue, and hoping against hope there is still an opportunity for us to rescue (those on board),” Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters.

The 34-year-old son of Malaysian security guard Subramaniam Gurusamy was on the

Debtors fund reopened for three months

By B Izzak KUWAIT: In an unusually quiet session, the National Assembly yesterday approved a law calling for the government’s debtors fund, established about a year ago, to reopen for three more months to accept more cases.

The fund was established through legislation accepted by both the government and Assembly to help Kuwaiti citizens who had taken bank loans and were unable to repay them.

The fund had admitted over 18,000 debtors before closing its doors. Finance Minister Anas Al-Saleh said that the fund has paid over KD 122 million to banks in settlement of citizens’ debts. Under the law, debtors considered defaulters get their debt paid by the government to banks and the repayment is rescheduled after waiving the remaining interest. The new amendment will enable debtors who refused to join the fund in the past to register to benefit from it.

The Assembly also refused by a narrow margin of just one vote to lift the immunity of Communications and Municipality Minister Essa Al-Kandari so he can appear in court over a lawsuit. Seventeen MPs voted against lifting the immunity while 16 voted for it. Kandari denied after the vote the accusations made against him in the lawsuit and insisted that it was not him but Kuwait Airways that scrapped a deal to purchase five used Airbus planes from India’s Jet Airways. Kandari had sacked formed KAC chairman Sami Al-Nisf over the deal, who later sued the minister in court.

But the Assembly agreed with a comfortable margin to a request by the public prosecution to lift the immunity of MP Nabeel Al-Fadhl to appear in court in connection with a defamation lawsuit filed by former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani.

Fadhl was accused of slander in an article he wrote in Al-Watan newspaper, where he writes a daily column.

Continued on Page 13

flight to do business in Beijing for an oil company. “My three-year-old grandson is asking: ‘Where is Dad?’ We tell him father has gone to buy sweets for you,” Gurusamy, 60, said as he broke down in tears. “Please bring back my son. I am praying for divine intervention. That is the only hope we have.”

Malaysia had opened a terror probe, joined by FBI agents from the United States.

But the revelation of the identities of two men who boarded the flight using stolen Continued on Page 13

ABU DHABI: Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi salutes as he is welcomed by Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahayan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, upon his arrival yesterday. — AFP

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

LOCAL

KUWAIT: The National Project for Sustainable Development hosted a graduation ceremony for participants in the ‘Thukhur Program for Leadership and Institutional Innovation’, which was held recently in cooperation with Cornell University, Monitor Deloitte Middle East and sponsored by South Korea’s SK Holding Company. Hind Al-Subaih, the Minister of Social Affairs and Minister of State for Planning and Development Affairs, as well as Sheikha Al-Zain AlSabah, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Youth Affairs, attended the event at the Sahara Resort. —Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

Five-year development plan underway KUWAIT: Minister of Social Affairs and Labour and Minister of State for Planning and Development Hind Al-Sabeeh unveiled here yesterday that the ministry is in the process of preparing the next five year plan to be forwarded to the National Assembly early next June for approval. This came in a statement to the press made by the Minister after her meeting with

the Brunei’s Crown Prince and Senior Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Al-Muhtadee Billah accompanied by State Minister for Housing Affairs yasser Abul at the Ministry of Planning and Development.

The minister added that the ministry is working on the preparation of the development plan which was presented to the Policies

Committee of the Supreme Council for Planning, which in turn agreed to choose one of the alternatives, indicating that “the plan is measured in hours, rather than days.”

She stated that the plan will be forwarded at the beginning of June to the National Assembly in order to grant a period of more than six months for approval, noting that the planning

sector is holding meetings with the private sector and non-profit organizations, academics, professionals and young people to domesticate their opinion on the plan.

Al-Sabeeh stressed the ministry’s keenness on taking into account all the aspirations of the community and highlight them in the policies plan, which will be presented to the General

Secretariat of Planning, indicating that the Council of Ministers called for involving the Supreme Council for Planning in the preparation of the plan.

The minister hoped that the five-year development plan would be “closer to reality” without giving the community promises that cannot be implemented on the ground. —KUNA

Compensation for man jailed wrongly Ministry ordered to pay KD 250,000

By A Saleh KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti man was awarded KD 250,000 by the appeals court as a compensation after he served one year in prison over crimes he never committed. The man was reportedly arrested on July 2001 on drug-related cases and other charges including evading arrest, and was told that he had already been convicted in absentia and sentenced to five years in prison.

The only issue was that the man had never heard of those cases before, according to his attorney Mohammad Al-Majedi. He could not appeal the sentence at the time because the deadline to file the appeal had already expired at the

time of his arrest.

He was released on parole after serving one year in prison, during which he memorized the Holy Quran, which helped him get early release.

But while finishing his release procedures, the man was handed over his passport which he had lost before going to jail. He then discovered that the passport was forged, and that his picture was replaced by that of a strange man.

It was later revealed that the forger had impersonated the man and committed the crimes he was convicted for. According to the sentence in 1999, the suspect was admitted at the Adan Hospital where blood and urine sample tests came positive for hashish and morphine.

The man reportedly managed to escape before police could put him under arrest. The impersonator was reportedly hospitalized after he was beaten up severely by four brothers, who had busted him inside their sister’s house.

After discovering what actually happened, the man hired a lawyer and filed a case against the Interior Ministry for a procedural error which made him spend one year in jail for a crime he never committed, and allowed the true criminal to avoid punishment.

The case was reopened and in 2007, the criminal court sentenced the real offender to five years in jail over the previous cases, in addition to five more years for forgery.

Zain sponsors LOYAC Youth Program for over 10 years KUWAIT: Zain, the leading telecommunications company in Kuwait, renewed its sponsorship of the LOYAC Program for over 10 consecutive years. LOYAC, a non-profit initiative, aims at developing youth’s creativity and skills to ultimately serve the purpose of enriching Kuwait’s economy.

During a press conference announcing the 2014 LOYAC Summer Program, Zain acknowledged that this program is one of the most valuable youth-related programs in the country due to its tremendous contributions in training and coaching hundreds of students from different age groups through the use of interactive

and encouraging methods of learning. Waleed Al-Khashti, Zain’s Corporate Communications and Relations Manager said: “A core element of Zain’s Corporate Social Responsibility agenda is towards encouraging youth initiatives. We are proud to have trained a large number of Kuwait University students over the years, as well as training over 90 students from different universities in the company’s different divisions and depar tments during 2013, while offering monetary rewards to stimulate the real business world environment to the students and encourage them to work in the private sector in

the future”. Al-Khashti went on to note that Zain’s sponsorship of this program for over 10 years sprung from its core belief and long-term strategy that the younger generation are in utmost need of support, to eventually grow and prosper their skills and capabilities within a community that holds unlimited potential. The company will continue to support similar programs that ensure the implementation of its various social commitments and at the same time ensures strengthens its relationship with several institutions and agencies which organize notable national initiatives.

KUWAIT: Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and his accompanying delegation leaving Kuwait yesterday for Morocco.

‘Arab nations passing through critical period’ KUWAIT: Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-Hamad AlSabah headed to Morocco yesterday to take part in the 31st Arab interior ministers conference to be held in Marrakesh.

The minister said that the Arab nations are witnessing “a critical period which requires boosting cooperation and coordination between Arab states in various security fields to best

face the latest developments and their impact on the region.”

The participants will discuss a number of issues including enhancement of security cooperation between the Arab countries’ ministries of interior by activating united security strategies which include fighting terrorism, traffic safety, civil protection, civil defense, fighting organized crime, besides intellectual security.

They will also listen to the special-

ized committee’s reports, as well as tackling the activities of Arab Police Sports Federation, Naif Arab University For Security Sciences, besides looking at the efforts exerted by the Arab Security Information Office. They will also discuss the annual reports on Arab strategies in facing electronic and economic crimes, violence against women, illegal usage of drugs, immigration, besides many other topics. — KUNA

Kuwait stresses significance of housing GENEVA: The State of Kuwait has underscored before the 25th session of the UN Council for Human Rights, the importance of the housing issue because of its role in maintaining human dignity and stability of society.

Diplomatic Researcher at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait Amina Jamal Al-Dawwas praised, in Kuwait’s speech during the debate on the report of the Council on the right to housing, the guiding principles contained in the report, which can be

used by the states to provide adequate housing as a component of the right to adequate standard of living and the right to non-discrimination in this context.

She pointed out that the Kuwaiti Constitution laid the foundations of individual property and the right of the individual to property through Article 16, which provides that property, capital and labor are fundamental constituents of the social structure of the state and the national wealth

which all are individual rights with a social function regulated by law.

Al-Dawwas pointed to Law No. 30 issued in 1965, pertinent to the establishment of the Credit and Savings Bank to facilitate the social credit for citizens, in addition to Law No. 41 of 1993 regarding residential care. She stressed conviction of Kuwait to individual’s right to live safely and decently and to maintain his or her ownership as rights guaranteed by the Constitution through Article 18. —KUNA

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

LOCAL

Govt mulls allowance increase for maximum four children

KUWAIT: Abdulrahman Al-Barrak, Dr Mansour Al-Saeid, and Luai Al-Kharafi

A group photo of some participants and attendees. — Photos by Joseph Shagra

Companies law amendment helps boost local economy Experts shed light on new rules

By Nawara Fattahova KUWAIT: The new companies law that was issued in 2012 and amended in 2013 brought many new changes to the legal status and regulation of businesses in Kuwait. To highlight the most important changes, the Luai Al-Kharafi law firm held a three-day conference from March 10-12 at the Arraya Ballroom.

The development of economic life during the past few years was behind the amendment of the companies law. “This amendment is an important step for economic development and to transform Kuwait into an international financial and economic center. The new law includes many new rules and new forms of companies such as the one-person company, professional partnerships and special-purpose companies like nonprofits,” said attorney Luai Al-Kharafi during the conference.

A one-man company is a business entity established by solely one person without partners. Such a company acquires a legal personality and a patrimony separate from that of its owner. A professional partnership is a

business entity formed by two or more professionals such as accountants, doctors or lawyers who provide professional services to the public.

The new law obliges existing companies to readjust their status by Oct 1, 2014. “It’s important to clarify the new amendments of the companies law with all the changes it brought through discussions with experts from the legal field,” Kharafi added.

Dr Mansour Al-Saeid, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce for Legal Affairs, noted that the company law was issued in 1960 and no longer worked for the modern development of trade and business. “The new amendment is encouraging foreign capital to enter Kuwait as it included the law of foreign companies. This amendment corrected the negativities of the old law, and the ministry played a great role in this amendment to overcome its problems. This is the first time the law includes an executive list and clear articles were added, which saves judges’ efforts in resolving disputes,” he pointed out.

Kuwait’s economy is a free economy that combines both the private and public sectors. “The government is

interested in the private sector as it activates the development process and supports localizing the national capital and to attract international investment through ensuring a suitable investment environment, both legislative and executive,” stressed Saeid.

The law has brought many important changes. “For the first time, it’s allowed to establish a civil nonprofit company. The new law also established a new system to finalize the paperwork of establishing a company or readjusting its contracts through a new department called ‘Unified Window’, which includes representatives from all public institutions in charge. In addition, the law set a sharia inspection body for the companies that work according to Islamic sharia,” he added.

Abdulrahman Al-Barrak, Deputy Chairman of the Kuwait Bar Association, stated that the old law no.

15/1960 was no longer suitable for the present era with all the political, economic and social changes that took place. “The development in this field was fast and huge during the past few years, which demanded urgent law amendment that was realized with the new law no.

25/2012,” he explained.

KUWAIT: The government could approve a limited increase to the children allowance as an alternative to MPs’ proposals which calls for raising financial supports that Kuwaitis receive to cope up with increasing living costs.

MPs had proposed increasing the child allowance from KD50 per child to KD75, but the government said that the state’s budget cannot handle extra burdens as a result of approving such proposals.

But in what could be described as an attempt to contain voices in the parliament which heavily back the proposal, the government leans towards approving the aforementioned raise for the first four children, while a Kuwaiti man would receive KD50 per month for every child starting from his fifth, according to a parliamentary source.

“A recommendation containing this proposal is expected to be viewed during the parliament’s session allocated to discuss the issue next month,” said the source who was quoted by Al-Rai yesterday.

Foreign aid In other news, MP Anas Al-Saleh clarified that Kuwait paid around KD2 billion in foreign aid during a 13-year period starting from the fiscal year 2000/2001 to 2012/2013.

The minister’s announcement which was published by Al-Qabas yesterday came in response to inquiries made by MP Hmoud Al-Hamdan about the value of funds that Kuwait paid as foreign aid. The minister explained that the funds were paid to ‘national bodies’ for humanitarian or cultural reasons, as well as to Arab, Islamic and Western countries as disaster relief.

According to the report, the percentage of foreign aid compared to budget expenses reached 2.93 percent in the 2012/2013 budget, up from 0.94 percent in 2000/2001.

State dues Separately, the finance ministry launched procedures to take legal actions against companies who still owe the state KD2.1 billion in unpaid services fees such as electricity, water and phone bills. This was reported by Annahar daily yesterday quoting ministry insiders.

Maid stabs elderly woman

KUWAIT: Livestock breeders staged a sit-in outside the parliament’s building yesterday demanding an increase to governmental subsidies for cattlefeed, which they argue is low compared to subsidies that farmers in other Gulf states receive. They also complained against reduced grazing areas after large spaces in the Kuwaiti deserts were closed in recent years for environmental reasons.

— Photos by Fouad Al-Shaikh

Kuwait-UK ties in focus at ‘Great British Week’ KUWAIT: British Ambassador to Kuwait Frank Baker emphasized the historical links between the two countries as he spoke about the forthcoming Great British Week late Monday at the British Embassy. “As British ambassador, it’s always a pleasure to host people in this fabulous old building. There’s a plaque on the front that says this residence stands as a testament to the UK-Kuwait relationship. This is absolutely true,” he said. “It’s a fitting place then to talk about Great British Week in Kuwait. This will be a week - which has actually ended up as two weeks, March 20 to April 3 - of events that will showcase the very best the UK has to offer, and cele-

brate the ties that bind our two countries together.”

Baker said the event is based on the UK’s ‘GREAT’ campaign, which aims to promote what the UK has to offer in terms of tourism, education, business, investment, culture and “many other strengths that we are proud of”.

Kuwait will see an exciting schedule of events, including a celebrity chef, a leading fashion designer, a former prime minister and the fastest car in the world.

“It’s the largest show the embassy has every organised, and we’re very, very excited,” gushed Baker. “ We’d like to get Kuwait buzzing, online and offline, with what we’re

doing. So please get online, using the hashtag #greatweekQ8 and let us know what you think,” he added.

Tom Shepherd, Head of the Political Section, then spoke about the program in detail, specifically mentioning a lecture by former prime minister Sir John Major. James Berry, Public Diplomacy Officer, spoke about cooperation with local NGOs and working with Loyac and Bayt Lothan. Lastly, Mais Moataz, Assistant Director of Partnerships & Marketing, British Council, spoke about the parallel programs held by the council, like the Cambridge Young Learners Workshop and street art at the Marina Crescent.

KUWAIT: An elderly citizen was rushed to Farwaniya hospital in a critical condition after her Ethiopian housemaid allegedly stabbed her several times, said security sources. Case papers indicate that the citizen’s son reported to Sabah AlNasser police station accusing his mother’s housemaid of stabbing her several times and fleeing the house. An attempted murder case was filed and a search is on for the suspected housemaid.

• Two Arab construction workers were killed and a third was critically injured when they fell into a manhole in Jaber AlAhmed.

• An 81-year-Egyptian sustained several injuries in a car collision below Salwa flyover.

• A 30-year-old Ethiopian injured his back and sustained a skull injury when he lost balance at the Friday market and fell, said security sources, noting that the man was rushed to Sabah hospital for treatment.

• A 29-year-old citizen recently sustained serious head injuries when he lost control over his bike along the Fifth Ring Road, said security sources, noting that

the man was rushed to Mubarak hospital’s ICU in a critical condition.

• Two 18-year-old Kuwaiti girls were injured when their vehicle collided into another along the Gulf Road, said security sources, noting that one of the girl broke her thigh while the other sustained a head injury.

• In a strange incident, a 24-year-old Ethiopian woman was rushed to Adan hospital’s ICU with abdominal pain and blood-stained vomiting after a horse kicked her.

• A 30-year-old citizen was rushed to Sabah hospital with mild injuries after his vehicle collided with another in Riggae.

• A 25-year-old Egyptian hurt his back in a car collision in Jahra and was rushed to hospital with suspected spinal injury.

• A 46-year-old Egyptian was rushed to Farwaniya hospital with several injuries he sustained when he was stabbed in a fight with others.

• A 26-year-old bedoon was rushed to Sabah hospital’s ICU with serious head injuries he sustained in a car collision in Shuwaikh.

Private school fees to be redefined soon KUWAIT: Director of the Education Ministry’s private education department Abdullah Al-Bassri announced conducting a study to reevaluate private school fees and that the fees would be subject to certain conditions and regulations related to the quality of the educational services they provide.

Speaking on the sidelines of the ‘Sports Challenge Day Walkathon’ held at the Green Island, Bassri said that the study would include Arabic, Indian, Pakistani and Filipino schools.

“School fees has been always contro-

versial and the ministry has been torn between school owners and parents - this must come to an end,” he said, pointing out that the company entrusted with the private school evaluation projec t had recently completed its report about foreign private schools and that it would be submitted to minister AlMulaifi soon pending his instructions. Bassri said that once a decision was made, concerned private schools would be notified and given one year to deal with the remarks given, if any.

Awqaf to highlight role of Islamic pioneers

KUWAIT: On the occasion of celebrating the International Women’s Day, the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters Assistant Secretary General for Theater Affairs, Mohammed Al-Assoussi recently opened the ‘Eve’s Colors’ art exhibition at the Modern Art Museum. The exhibition displays works of 29 Kuwaiti female artists. The opening ceremony was also attended by art lovers and members of the media.

KUWAIT: Minister of Justice and Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Dr Nayef Al-Ajmi said here yesterday that the ministry aims to highlight and disseminate the heritage of Prophet Mohammad’s (PBUH) family members and companions to promote the culture of tolerance and coexistence.

This came in an opening speech of the 3rd conference dubbed (Pioneers of Islam and their standing among Muslims), which is held over two days under the auspices of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The minister added that the most important goal of the conference is to devise a set of values “to guide the nation today amidst the tempestuous sea of crises, conflicts and grudges as successors had managed to contain

the spark of discord, disruption and rivalry.”

He said that the present generation of Muslims bear serious religious and cultural responsibility towards future generations of emerging and young people, a responsibility requires that wise men contribute to drawing a balanced approach in dealing with the legacy of pioneers of Islam in the old days because the challenges ahead are the “challenges of existence” where negative thoughts could weaken the existence of the nation and its regional and global presence in the fields of cultural values.

He said that His Highness the Amir’s patronage of this conference stems from his far-sighted vision towards the importance of the topics discussed in this gathering. —KUNA

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013

LOCAL In my view

In my view

Freedom in Ukraine

Middle East peace process

By Hassan Barari

T

he most recent statements by US President Barack Obama suggest that he is not optimistic about the possibility of peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians in the coming months. In an interview given to an American journalist Jeffery Goldberg, President Obama made it perfectly clear that time was running out for Israel to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians. He added that if Netanyahu thought that peace with the Palestinian Authority is a remote possibility then Netanyahu should think of an alternative plan.

All along US Secretary of State Kerry’s wheeling and dealing to have the Palestinians and the Israelis agree on a framework agreement, Obama has not shown presidential investment in the process. For Kerry to exercise pressure on both sides, Obama should have demonstrated more interest in the process. Long time observers to the Israeli politics observe that Obama’s perceived lack of interest in the process has weakened Kerry’s effort.

It seems that Obama does not want to associate himself with a possible failure. He seems to learn from his own experience. From the start of his first term, Obama approached the Arab-Israeli conflict in a bold manner. He exerted immense pressure on the Israeli government asking it to freeze settlements. He failed to compel the Israeli government to offer the necessary concessions to make peace possible. Later, Obama realized that he had exaggerated his ability to make a difference. That said, Obama has always said the right things.

The American administration has yet to play the role of an honest broker. A few months ago, Prof. Rashid Khalidi published a book about what he called “Brokers of Deceit.” Khalidi’s main argument is that successive American administrations have always taken the Israeli side. It remains to be seen whether Kerry will stray from that course. Thus far, all leakages about Kerry’s framework proposal indicate that he is only getting closer to the Israeli positions.

Daniel Kurtzer, a former US ambassador to Egypt and Israel and currently teaching at Princeton University, says, “One criticism of Kerry’s diplomacy is that he may be bending over so far to address Israeli concerns that he may not be able to meet the Palestinians concerns.”Undoubtedly, Kerry has spent time and effort in painstaking negotiations. Unfortunately, he has drawn close to the Israeli perspective. With the deadline nearing, it is not clear how Kerry could convince the Palestinian leader to accept his ideas when there is a near Arab consensus that the Jewishness of the Israeli state is a non-starter! Again, I agree with Khalidi that America cannot play a constructive role in solving the conflict. Furthermore, it is not clear whether the Israeli government takes Kerry seriously. In the absence of presidential involvement in the process, various Israeli politicians are not expected to budge.

Put differently, Obama should send an unequivocal message that peacemaking in the Middle East is an American priority. He needs to put the Palestinian-Israeli track on the front burner. In a week or so, Obama will meet the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Will Obama succeed in convincing Abbas to sign on to Kerry’s framework? Can Abbas say no? What will be the price for Abbas? Given the risks involved, these questions are difficult to answer. Only time can help us understand the depth of the quandary that faces all parties involved. In order not to lose the bigger picture, Obama has yet to back Kerry in the latter’s ambition to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. A likely failure will further undercut the US influence in the region. Not while ago, Obama told the New Yorker that he seeks to create what he called geopolitical equilibrium in the Middle East. Such balancing act, according to Obama, can bring stability in the otherwise tumultuous region. Perhaps, it is just about time that Obama needs to realize that short of solving the Arab-Israeli conflict, his balancing act will be in trouble.

Chances are high that American’s influence will further diminish in the region.

By Labeed Abdal

local@kuwaittimes.net

T kuwait digest

No makeup, no changes

By Dr Ebtihal Al-Khateeb

L

ike there is still no answer to the dilemma of what came first, the chicken or the egg, we will probably never know which is more true: The Arab media lies to the people, or the people that are only pleased by media lies.

Surely, lying is not an exclusive characteristic of the Arab media. Hiding, falsifying and changing facts is something that media outlets around the world have in common. It is perhaps a reflection of human nature that is manifested in all of its wickedness, naivety and greed through what we write and broadcast.

But the amount of lies in the Arab media remains almost equal to that found in the rest of the world combined. The Western media lies of course, and often makes up big fat lies, but it still takes the recipients’ intelligence into account, and does not depend on their naivety. It reports the news with makeup that covers its true shape, color and features.

On the other hand, the media in the Arab world is very clear. Even when it lies, it does so very clearly and boldly. No makeup, no changes. Direct lies made explicitly and with ease. Maybe that explains the drop in Kuwait TV viewers, despite the fact that there are people who still look for its naive assurances. We no longer can rely on Kuwait TV, which is the state’s official station, for breaking or credible news.

Not only because it ignores facts, but because it fails to take the slightest efforts to make ignoring facts or changing them more believable.

Can we forget how official state media was singing the praises of national unity during the elections amid the struggle between boycotters and participants? Can we forget statements like the ‘original nationalities of 67,000 have been revealed’, which is more like a morphine given to people but soon disappears leaving its effect behind?

The same story is repeated everywhere in the Arab world.

Perhaps the closest example to Kuwait’s is the ‘celebrations’ broadcasted by Gulf media over the Gulf security agreement which ended with disagreements and ultimately ambassadors’ withdrawals. And can we ignore how the media dealt

and is still dealing with Arab revolutions? From Syria to Bahrain, going around the Arabian peninsula and west towards the Maghreb, the rebels are depicted as ‘traitors’, and governments as having no other choice but to beat those ‘savages’ in order to put them in their places and restore order. The problem is that live video footages and pictures come to us today directly from the scene. As we witness the events as they happen on the ground, the media continues to make it seem like everything is going just fine.

The tragic part about this is that there are people who still believe and follow these media outlets.

But I believe that the Egyptian media takes the cake today when it comes to media foolishness. Yesterday’s rebels have become today’s rulers, but the media is still the same, with all of its naive lies, horrible exaggerations and weak distortion of facts. The Egyptian media exposed its inadequacy by pretending that the entire nation is behind Field Marshal Al-Sisi, and that people in Egypt are divided between Sisi supporters and ‘traitors’. All we’re asking for is a little bit of neutrality that we can at least show to the West after growing confident that people here have become too blind to see through their lies. It is a media that can be modeled in any way the liars want, as the lies are never questioned no matter how naive or insolent they are. Even if you express criticism or raise questions, you are strongly scolded to the point that you wouldn’t be able to remember your last name after it.

The recent announcement about the medical invention that cures all diseases, and which Egypt refuses to sell or even reveal over fear of theft, is the cherry on top of the Arab media insolence cake. I was hoping that this story would be the straw that breaks the camel back, and to see a revolution that forces the media to start reporting news professionally.

But it seems that people in the Arab world keep following illusions wherever they are. We no longer know who’s to blame, the media or people?

Is it the liar’s fault, or the naive ones who fell for it? Is it the egg or the chicken? — Al-Jarida

In my view

Has GCC gone with the wind?

By Dr Ghanim Al-Najjar

U

nless we consider the mere existence of an Arab organization an achievement, compared to ones that were devastated and have gone with the wind like the Gulf Cooperation Council, I have never, and still haven’t, taken the GCC seriously enough even when it comes to the security agreement. I never considered it a serious one reached after meticulous study of the GCC behavioral system.

Today’s dispute, which has accelerated to the extent of recalling the ambassadors of three member states from another member state, actually substantiates facts that have dominated the GCC since its inception. The only difference is in the form.

Compared to the wish to demonstrate its nominal integrity and solidarity to face international and regional challenges, the cost of the GCC continuity is not much.

Real disagreements lie in the sense of insecurity within the organization, chronic border disputes and regional and international alliances that have grown more important than GCC solidarity, which, of course, resulted in a severe state of lack of trust amongst member states.

What probably made some GCC states act out of GCC norms and recall their ambassadors is probably their individual decision to play a more effective regional and, possibly, international role. They have gone way beyond diplomacy and got involved in violence, supporting ‘violent’ organizations, financing and even arming them.

They even took part in toppling regimes by having their troops involved in violent acts of varied and multiple consequences, especially when member states are separately concerned with building up their individual militaries, which is doomed, as it has already happened, to develop into conflicts amongst brothers, cousins and fellow tribesmen.

Looking for specific reasons, that might actually exist, to blame for the ‘ambassadors battle’ might seem absurd because what happened is the result of a state of structural inconsistency that requires serious reconsideration. If those responsible for the GCC wish to maintain the form, they need to reconsider fear and lack of trust member states have towards each other. They should brotherly and fairly settle border issues, launch intensified trust-building programs and then collectively work on achieving joint security through enhancing and developing open and people-attached regimes.

Otherwise, the whole issue would be nothing more than digits that make no difference whether the council remains or goes with wind; whether Qatar quits or the council shrinks to three members.

The GCC has experienced this state of worry for over 30 years and it would do it no harm to similarly go on for a few more years! — Al-Jarida

he tensions in Ukraine, which escalated recently amid reports about foreign military interventions, raise the call for peacekeeping and avoiding involvement in military struggle. I believe that no country would like to see a split happen in Ukraine, as much as all nations agree on the importance of protecting Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and the right of its people.

Having minorities or ethnic groups with Muslim or Christian majorities, or those with Russian or local speaking majorities should never be used as a reason to say that Ukraine cannot remain united under one banner of pluralism, equality and democracy.

A former member of the Soviet Union that dissolved in 1991, Ukraine had the third largest strategic nuclear weapons arsenal in the world at that time. After that, Ukraine gradually sent all nuclear weapons to Russia for dismantling as part of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances singed between Ukraine, the United States of America, Russia, and the United Kingdom. In return for giving up its nuclear weapons, Russia, US and UK pledged to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Now 20 years after the memorandum was signed, the countries mentioned above are asked more than any other time to respect the international commitments that the memorandum mentions. Those commitments include respecting people’s right of self determination and avoiding any actions that open the door for unjustified international conflicts.

Countries around the world, especially superpowers, are required to bear their responsibilities when it comes to peacekeeping and honoring the rights of nations, including elected governments and people, to plan their future without foreign intervention.

In my view

Thinking beyond making money

By Saad Dosari

I

n the world of business there is a never-ending debate revolving around the ultimate question, the heart and soul of any strategy, i.e. why are we doing this?

Every organization or business concern pursues a purpose by launching its products in the market or by offering various services to its clients. What is that purpose? The first answer that comes to one’s mind is: Profit. As a matter of fact, profit is the crucial factor that justifies investment of efforts and resources. And naturally, the outcome of those efforts should be attractive enough to the owners or investors to continue with whatever they are doing.

Profit may be one of the goals of any business concern or organization but not the sole purpose. If we study the history of huge companies or organizations, we would find that money alone was never the driving force behind them that helped them transform into great and unique and more than profitable concerns.At the beginning of this month, Tim Cook, Apple CEO, demonstrated an example of what truly makes a company unique and special. During the company’s annual stockholder meeting, Cook, the otherwise cool and soft-spoken person lost his temper during the Q&A session of the event. A think tank known as the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) was pushing for a shareholder’s proposal that would have dictated Apple to disclose costs associated with its sustainability and green programs and to be transparent about its participation in what NCPPR called “certain trade associations and business organizations promoting the amorphous concept of environmental sustainability.”

During the session, the NCPPR representative challenged Apple’s sustainability projects, such as covering 100 percent of the company’s power needs using green sources, and questioned the effects of such programs on the company’s bottom line. What came next, according to many commentators, was a rare occasion of seeing Cook getting angry and losing his usual composed and quite manner in answering questions, “When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind,” he said, “I don’t consider the **** ROI (return on investment).”

Cook did not stop there; he directly looked at the representative and announced, “If you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock.” It is not only money and return on investment that make companies great, and Apple is definitely one of them. They have a purpose, a mission and responsibility toward the world they live in, a message that goes deep in their structures, instilled in everything they do, a soul that dictates their decisions and actions. That does not mean, in anyway, that pursuing profits and surpluses in the bottom lines is not on these big companies’ agendas but along their journeys to earn those profits, they have an eye on what goes beyond the financial statements.

One cannot help but wonder if there is any Arab company that is operating under such beliefs and values. Of course, websites and annual reports of most companies are filled with all kinds of shiny mission statements and warmly written objectives, but when it comes to reality, when you go a little deeper into the way they manage their work and execute their strategies, the language of money is the language ruling the scene, dictating the show. To take general examples, look at the strategies of most of the companies operating today. For a strong and expanding economy, you would assume that most of the companies are expanding, booming, acquiring, and catching up with the latest trends and business models, the reality is that most of them are on a cost-cutting mission and outsourcing their operations to cheap and lousy operators.

That is all happening in the name of contributing to the bottom line, forgetting along the way the impact they are leaving behind because of those decisions; underdeveloped and unmotivated human resources, lousy customer services, low standards of productions and total disregard to the environment. The only concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) most of our companies are aware of is to hold seasonal charitable events and public affairs sponsorships!

One is yet to see an Arab company that confronts the norms, coming up with an innovative or daring project in order to impact the world of its customers, or its environment, the way Apple or other great companies do. It is not strange for Tim Cook to say about Apple, “We want to leave the world better than we found it.” He was simply following same the path left by his predecessor, Steve Jobs, when he said, “We’re here to put a dent in the universe.”

That is how great companies operate ... it is not all about the money!

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

LOCAL

Kuwait ‘a role model’ in women empowerment A top priority for govt NEW YORK: The Kuwaiti government has been pioneering in promoting gender equality and women empowerment, said Deputy Chairperson of the Cabinet’s Women Affairs Committee Sheikha Hessah Al-Saad Al-Sabah. “Kuwaiti government has ensured equality between women and men in all rights,” Sheikha Hessah said on the sidelines of her participation in the opening meeting of the 58th Session of Women Commission at the UN headquarters in New York late Monday.

“All countries are aware of the success achieved

by Kuwaiti women in all domains with the help of the government.”

She added that empowering women and boosting their contribution to different domains are a top priority for Kuwaiti government.

“Kuwait is one of a few countries where women have got all their rights.”

“Kuwaiti women have become MPs and ministers. God willing, a Kuwaiti woman will be a speaker of the National Assembly,” she said. ”Kuwait will be always pioneering in efforts to boost women status in all domains.”

She pointed out that the speeches in the opening session have tackled various educational, health, cultural and other problems facing women

across the world.

Undersecretary and Coordinator of Fatwa and Legislation Subcommittee at Kuwaiti Cabinet’s Women Affairs Committee Huda Al-Shaiji said that a high-caliber Kuwaiti delegation headed by Sheikha Latifa Al-Fahad Al-Salem Al-Sabah has represented Kuwait in the opening meeting of the 58th Session of Women Commission.

She stated that the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has delivered the inaugural speech of the session. In his speech, the UN Chief underlined the importance of the issues to be tackled during the meeting, she said.

Al-Shaiji noted that Ban has also called for more efforts to ensure women empowerment in different domains particularly in policy and law-making as well as to address educational, health challenges facing women across the globe.

She added that the Kuwaiti delegation later joined a roundtable discussion on the main theme of the session; “Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls”.

Al-Shaiji said that during the roundtable, representatives of several countries have talked about the main achievements and big challenges related

to women status in their countries. The fifty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women is held at the United Nations headquarters in New York from March 10 to 21. Representatives of member states, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations from all regions of the world attend the session.

Priority theme of the session: Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls. Review theme: Access and participation of women and girls to education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work, from the 54th session of the CSW. The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. A functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), it was established by Council resolution 11(II) of June 21, 1946. The CSW is instrumental in promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women. —KUNA

VIVA thanks Interior efforts in spreading awareness

KUWAIT: Maj Gen Al-Ali with VIVA executives.

KUWAIT: VIVA, Kuwait’s fastest-growing telecom operator, thanked the Ministry of Interior and in particular Maj Gen Abdel Fattah Al-Ali, Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Traffic and all of the ministry’s employees for their role in raising awareness about the importance of traffic rules and safe driving practices.

During the Unified Gulf Traffic Week entitled “Your Safety is our Goal” that was held from March 5 to 7, Maj Gen Al-Ali expressed his gratitude to VIVA for its contribution and support, and stressed on the importance of the private sector’s role in supporting these initiatives that enhance their social role in the community.

Maj Gen Al-Ali highlighted VIVA’s role through its traffic awareness multimedia campaign launched last year which targeted the youth, and highlighted the dangers of using mobile phones while driving. The campaign featured three adverts aired on television stations, as well as supporting advertisements on VIVA’s social media channels.

VIVA will continue to spread awareness, and support the development of educational programs increasing its active social role for the benefit of society and its various segments.

The Unified Gulf Traffic is a yearly event organized by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Ministries of Interior and related traffic departments with an aim of spreading road safety awareness among drivers, to protect their lives and ensure public safety.

‘Let’s Go Forward’ marathon aims to promote fitness KUWAIT: “Let’s Go Forward” 240 k m-long marathon, which concluded late Monday, was meant to encourage people to join sports to encompass health, fitness and wellbeing, the marathon organizer, runner Yousef Al-Qanai said. “ I n a d d i t i o n to r a i s i n g t h e awareness about importance of sports for the health of people, the marathon has also raised donations for children with disabilities,” Al-Qanai said yesterday.

He pointed out the participants ran through the whole state of Kuwait, from its northern part to its southern borders over the past five days.

The distance star ts from the Abdali gate in the northern border of Kuwait, runs through the whole co u n t r y u n t i l t h e y re a c h t h e Nuwaiseeb gate in southern bor-

der. But the marathon officially co n c l u d e s i n S a l m i y a d i s t r i c t , Hawally Governorate.

When runners of the 240 kmmarathon reached Salmiya area, a 10 km-race was held for the same purpose, Al-Qanai said.

He stated that the 10 km-race s t a r te d a n d f i n i s h e d a t t h e Scientific Center in Salmiya as runners went for 5 k m and turned back to the starting point completing the running distance of 10 km.

“Let ’s Go For ward” is a spor t running event that empowers its participants who have society ’s wellbeing at heart. The event not only entertains the athletic crowd but also facilitates channels for people to contribute and give back to the world nurturing their sense of purpose. — KUNA

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

LOCAL

SHARJAH: Images from Al-Majaz Sharjah amphitheater in late stages.

Sharjah amphitheatre gets ready for ‘Clusters of Light’ SHARJAH: Sharjah Media Centre announced yesterday that the construction work at Al-Majaz Amphitheatre which will stage the epic oratorio ‘Clusters of Light’ on March 26 - has exceeded 90 percent completion.

The cost of the theatre and the bridge leading to it exceeded 140 million dirhams. Its use of state of the art technology is unprecedented in the Middle East, blending sound, lighting, and music in a spectacular fashion, with more than 400 animated lights, 120 sound speakers, and 21 projectors creating a unique effect.

The outdoor venue, built over an area of 7,238 square meters, emulates the style of the ancient Roman theatre.

It features a vast viewing platform through which artists can ascend, and is equipped with a high-quality and

accuracy-advanced audio system that has never before been used in the region.

Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al-Qassimi, Chairman of Sharjah Media Centre and Chairman of the Executive Committee for the Sharjah Capital of Islamic Culture 2014 Celebrations, said, “The Al-Majaz Island Project’s many luxurious facilities, which include VIP Conference Rooms, galleries, and a number of shops, restaurants and green spaces, combine to make a truly spectacular destination.

The venue - an open-air semi-circular theatre that can accommodate up to 4500 spectators - is the ideal stage from which to present such a landmark performance. “ “The project aims to ensure Al-Majaz Island remains a prominent tourism site, as well as providing an ideal ven-

PAAET hails Al-Babtain support KUWAIT: Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET), Sabah Al-Salem Automotive Division head and his team recently visited Al-Babtain headquarters to offer their token of appreciation to the group for the support extended towards the cause of nationalization of Kuwait’s skilled manpower.

Mazen Al-Furaih, Head of the Automotive Engineering department - Sabah Al-Salem Industrial Training Institute (ITI), PAAET gave mementos to Saleh Al-Babtain, CEO - Al-Babtain Group, Mohamed Shalaby, COO - Al-Babtain Group and Dr M. Mahendhran, Group Manager - Learning and Development on

behalf of PAAET. He expressed his gratitude for their gesture of donating valuable training kits like CVT of Altima, Transaxle assembly of Juke, Transmission of Urvan, Rear axle assembly etc. to the Automotive Engineering department. He remarked that “AlBabtain Group has always been committed to the development and advancement of Kuwait’s national work force through education and training.”

Speaking on the occasion, Saleh Al-Babtain offered his warm thanks for the visit and memento and reaffirmed the desire of AlBabtain Group to form valuable partnerships with Kuwait’s education establishments to support the development of Kuwaiti youth. Mohamed Shalaby said, “We are strong supporters of the vision and efforts by PAAET to prepare a highly qualified and motivated workforce and to welcoming future graduates to the Al-Babtain team.”

Victor Birman, Group GM - HR and Personnel commented, “ We are always looking for ways to support nationalization and to improve the skills of the emerging Kuwaiti workforce. Everybody stands to benefit in the long term.”

Dr Mahendhran conveyed his thanks to PAAET and reiterated the willingness of the Learning and Development division to cooperate in future training collaborations.Continuous support for Kuwaiti’s education by training staff and students of local institutes and support them by providing latest automotive training kits.

ue for future artistic, cultural and tourism movements in the UAE in general and Sharjah in particular. It will also contribute to securing infrastructure that promotes the global theater movement, which will entrench the position of the UAE and the Emirate of Sharjah as a hub for international tourism. It will be a tourist destination that is culturally integrated,” Sheikh Sultan Bin Ahmed Al-Qasimi added. ‘Clusters of Light’ has been inspired by the desire for a high-ranking artistic work providing a true picture about Islam - the human values and message that promote peace, justice, tolerance and love - to be recorded by history and engraved in the memory of future generations.

More than 300 actors will participle in the performance

of the ‘Clusters of Light’, from Arab and foreign countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, and many others. The display will last 1 hour and 42 minutes, with the entire team - including actors, musicians, composers, directors, producers, designers and innovators - comprising some 750 people. This global epic has been fully composed by the esteemed Bahraini artist Khalid Al-Shaikh, and more than 70 musicians from the renowned German Film Orchestra have recorded the sound track.

Among the participants in this landmark work are creative minds from all across the Middle East, including the Emirati artist Hussein Al-Jasmi, the Tunisian singer Lutfi Bushnaq, the young Palestinian artist Mohammed Assaf, and Egyptian artist Ali Hajjar.

Attempt to assault police at Taima bedoon demo Child run over in Fahaheel KUWAIT: Search is on for a man who attempted to run over a police officer during a bedoon demonstration Sunday, whereas police arrested a man who allowed him and two others to escape. The incident took place near Taima’s police station where officers advanced to arrest a driver who drove recklessly with a car that carried no license plates. The suspect reportedly threw rocks at police before the chase ensued. The man was slowed down when his vehicle broke down during the chase.

When police reached him, they found another car whose driver was trying to help the suspect escape. They surrounded the suspects, but another car soon arrived and attempted to run one officer over. The distraction allowed the three men to escape, whereas police managed to arrest a fourth driver who blocked a special task force patrol vehicle at the scene.

Investigations are ongoing in search for the suspects.

sent to the Fahaheel police station for further action.

Fugitive at large Investigations are ongoing in search for a man accused of offending police officers on duty before escaping from the Mubarak Al-Kabeer police station. The Jordanian man was reportedly summoned for questioning in a battery assault case filed by the owner of an apartment’s building where the accused lives. According to the police report, the man verbally assaulted officers during questioning, and snapped pictures with his cell phone before he was able to run away while leaving his civil ID behind. The circumstances behind the man’s escape and details of his dispute with the Kuwaiti owner were not specified in the news report. The man’s identity was circulated to patrol police and border checkpoints to put him under arrest.

Assault case Jahra police arrested a man accused of attacking three people with two others who remain at large. The three bedoon men gave officers at the Taima police station the identity of the 25-year-old Saudi suspect who they said had attacked them with two others after they told him to put down the volume in his car’s radio at a street in the area. The, two in their twenties and one 17-year-old, provided medical reports from the Jahra Hospital showing that they suffered stab wounds and bruises during the assault. Police were able to identify and arrest the man based on the information provided, and investigations are ongoing to identify and arrest his accomplices.

Road accident A child died after he was ran over in Fahaheel by a taxi. The driver of the taxi turned himself in to local police soon.

Paramedics had arrived at the scene shortly after the accident was reported, but discovered that the five-year-old boy had already succumbed to his injuries. The body was taken to the forensic department, while the Bangladeshi taxi driver was

Apartment raided Hawally police are looking to identify and arrest a person who broke into an editor’s apartment to search for documents about a newspaper report published three months ago, according to a case filed at one of the governorate’s areas. In her statements to police, the journalist said that she started receiving phone calls from an anonymous woman shortly after her investigative report was published, adding that the woman demanded documents related to a person addressed in the report. The woman, who only said that she was related to the man in the report, threatened the journalist with harm if she refuses to cooperate, according to the case. The editor called police after returning from work recently and discovering that someone had broken inside. Criminal investigators lifted fingerprints from the scene, and also found remains of a candy bar that the suspect likely left on the dining table. The journalist later told police that the same woman called her again following the incident using a smart phone app, and confirmed that the suspect was only looking for the documents that she asked. Investigations are ongoing.

Warba Bank launches Career Web portal to support recruitment KUWAIT: Warba Bank today announced the launch of its Career Web portal targeting those seeking job opportunities within the bank. The gate, which has been initiated by the bank’s HR department, aims to make the recruitment process easier and more efficient for the bank and its potential employees. Using this portal, to those who are looking for work within the bank will be able to view job opportunities and apply for positions with privacy and ease.

Ahmad Bouresli, Senior Manager Human Resources Group at Warba Bank said: “Warba Bank is always keen to attract the best caliber in the market and this page has been specially developed to make job hunting easier and more flexible for potential employees.”

He continued: “Those who wish to join Warba Bank family will be able to search and apply for jobs, as well as create a personal account, in order to be updated with the latest vacancies and have constant feedback regarding their job applications.

All they need to do is visit and register at

Ahmad Bouresli the following link: careers.warbabank.com And all candidates who have previously applied, they will receive an email to update their data in the new portal, and we will update the suitable CV’s with relation to the bank’s vacancies throw the candidate careers personal account”

Bouresli added: “The development of the Electronic gate comes as a step forward for the human resources department in keeping up with the latest technologies to bridge the gap between Warba Bank and those who are interested in working with us.”

Warba Bank, an Islamic Bank established by virtue of an Amiri Decree, was officially registered in the Central Bank of Kuwait’s register of Islamic Banks on April 5th, 2010. The State of Kuwait, represented

by Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), owns 24% of the bank’s total shares, while the remaining 76% of shares, fully subscribed by the government, has been equally allocated to all Kuwaiti nationals.

Warba Bank offers a range of customized Sharia compliant services and solutions which are available through the banks three divisions of Retail Banking Group, Corporate Banking Group, and Investment and Treasury Group. Branching out in 6 strategic locations, Warba Bank has over 250 employees.

Kuwaiti lawmakers inspect Tokyo subway system TOKYO: The visiting Kuwaiti parliamentary friendship group led by MP Dr Khalil Abdullah visited an integrated control center for Tokyo subway network on Tuesday where the members were briefed on its management and control systems.

According to Tokyo Metro Co., its integrated control center serves as a core for managing operations with five control functions, such as traffic control and real-time information, are all gathered on one floor.

Explaining about Kuwait’s traffic situation at the meeting with Tokyo Metro directors, Dr Abdullah said, “We are interested to learn Japan’s unique know-how and cutting-edge technology for subway operations that could help ease traffic congestion in our country.” Dr Abdullah and other members of the Kuwait-Japan Parliamentary Friendship League gave a series of questions to the Japanese side, including its safety performance, operating system, profitability, emergency and earthquake counter-measures. The history of

subways in the Japanese capital began back in 1927 and Tokyo Metro takes advantage of the expertise on subway construction, management, and maintenance it has built up since then. As one of the largest subway operators in Asia, the company currently runs nine subway lines covering 195.1 km of track in and around central Tokyo with over 2,700 cars, carrying 6.4 million passengers each day and making a daily ticket revenue of about $8 million.

As for disaster prevention measures, Tokyo Metro has installed a wide range of disaster prevention equipment in stations in preparation in case of emergency like a fire and earthquake. International Affairs Director Naoto Kimura told the Kuwaiti team that the firm has installed a seismic alert system utilizing an earthquake early warning system, adding that the operation of the trains was automatically suspended immediately after the March 2011 massive earthquake struck the country’s northeast. —KUNA

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

India’s Modi attracts regional allies, Congress defectors Page 8

US states wrestling to make, restrict drones Page 9

ISTANBUL: Protesters carry the coffin of Berkin Elvan in Istanbul. Berkin Elvan, who has been in a coma since June 2013 after being struck in the head by a gas canister during a police crackdown on protesters, died yesterday, his family announced via Twitter. — AFP

Death of Turkish boy triggers fresh unrest Thousands protest in Ankara and Istanbul ISTANBUL: Police and protesters clashed in Turkey’s two biggest cities yesterday following the death of a 15year-old boy who suffered a head injury during antigovernment demonstrations last summer. Berkin Elvan, then aged 14, got caught up in street battles in Istanbul between police and protesters on June 16 after going out to buy bread for his family. He was struck in the head by a tear-gas canister and went into a coma. Police fired tear gas and water cannon in the capital Ankara to disperse more than 2,000 people, mainly students from the Middle East Technical University (ODTU), who blocked a main highway to protest against the teenager’s death. Police also used tear gas in Istanbul after a crowd outside the hospital where Elvan died began pelting a police minibus with objects.

Up to 1,000 people gathered outside a ‘cemevi’, an Alevi place of worship, where Elvan’s body was to be taken after an autopsy. Alevis are a religious minority in mainly Sunni Muslim Turkey who espouse a liberal version of Islam and have often been at odds with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted government.

The crowd outside the cemevi chanted: “Murderer state”, “Berkin is everywhere, resistance is everywhere” and “Shoulder to shoulder against fascism”. “We have come here because of the murderer police. They will be held to account. Berkin Elvan’s blood will not be left on the ground,” said Ahmet Ekinci, one of those among the crowd. “If you kill a 15-year old youth, a sapling, you will be held to account,” he said.

Local media said there were also protests in the

Aegean city of Izmir, where school children and university students also staged sit-ins.

Rallying point Istanbul and Ankara have both seen protests in recent weeks against what demonstrators see as authoritarian measures by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government, including tightening government control of the Internet and courts, as it battles a corruption scandal.

There were calls on social media for further protests ahead of municipal elections on March 30, although the unrest has so far been nowhere near the scale of last summer. Elvan had become a rallying point for critics of Erdogan’s government and they held regular vigils at

Japan marks 3rd anniversary of quake-tsunami disaster NAMIE: Japan observed a moment of silence yesterday to mark the third anniversary of the quaketsunami disaster which swept away thousands of victims, destroyed coastal communities, and sparked the nuclear emergency that forced a rethink on atomic power. Survivors bowed deeply and joined hands at remembrance ceremonies in towns and cities around the disaster zone and in Tokyo, where Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko led tributes to those who died in Japan’s worst peacetime disaster.

A national moment of silence followed the cry of tsunami alarm sirens which were set off at 2:46 pm (0546 GMT), the moment a 9.0-magnitude undersea quake hit. Its raw force unleashed a towering wall of water that travelled at the speed of a jet plane to the coast. Within minutes, communities were turned to matchwood, and whole families drowned. Giant waves also crashed into the Fukushima nuclear plant, sparking reactor meltdowns and explosions, and setting off the worst atomic crisis in a generation.

The crippled plant remains volatile and the complicated decommissioning process is expected to last for decades, as fears persist over the health effects of leaked radiation. Tens of thousands were evacuated from the stricken area. As night fell, an event in a Fukushima park saw about 2,000 lit candles arranged to read “Fukushima 3/11”. “We must sincerely regret the accident and tackle the reconstruction by keeping the hardships faced

by Fukushima people in mind,” Naomi Hirose, head of embattled plant operator Tokyo Electric Power, told employees at the wrecked site.

Gone forever In Tokyo, Emperor Akihito paid tribute to victims killed in the tragedy, and those struggling in its aftermath. “Many still lead difficult lives in devastated areas and places that were evacuated,” he said. “I pray for a return of peaceful times.”

Although no one died as a direct result of Fukushima, about 1,650 area residents passed away from complications related to stress and other problems following the accident. A total of 15,884 people are confirmed to have died in the tsunami with another 2,633 still listed as missing.

Human remains are sometimes still found years later.

In the shattered town of Namie, just eight kilometers from the stricken plant, about 200 former residents, police and firefighters searched for remains. They raked a beach where broken timber and cars pulled by the waves once lay half buried.

“Our parents are still missing,” said 25-year-old former resident Miho Suzuki, joined by her sister. “I don’t think we’ll ever find them, but we came here to take part because we felt like doing something to help.” For another former Namie resident, Morihisa Kadoya, returning to a town that remains uninhabitable due to health concerns seems like a distant dream. “It’s impossible to come back-the decommissioning at the plant is going to take years,” he said.

Despite the government pledging billions of dollars in reconstruction aid, progress in disaster-hit regions has been slow, some communities remain ghost towns, and thousands of disaster refugees struggle to cope. Among almost 270,000 evacuees from the tsunami and Fukushima, about 100,000 are in temporary housing while others found shelter in new cities or with relatives. Japan has so far built only 3.5 percent of the new homes promised to disaster refugees in heavily affected Iwate and Miyagi prefectures. “I’m determined to accelerate the recovery and not let this disaster fade from memory,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told parliament Monday.

“Japan’s revival won’t come without the restoration of devastated areas.”

On Sunday, tens of thousands came to an antinuclear rally in Tokyo, voicing anger at Abe’s plan to switch on shuttered nuclear reactors, which had supplied more than a quarter of the resource-poor nation’s power. “Prime Minister Abe and the nuclear industry are hoping the Japanese people and the world will forget the victims and the terrible lessons of Fukushima, hoping that they will allow the restart of old, risky reactors,” said Junichi Sato, executive director of Greenpeace Japan. — AFP

the hospital where he lay in intensive care. No police officer has been prosecuted in connection with the Elvan case. “To our people: We lost Berkin Elvan today at 7 am. Condolences to us all,” his family said in a message on Twitter.

Elvan was the sixth person to die in violence surrounding nationwide protests in late May and June over Erdogan’s plans to tear down a park in central Istanbul.

Those protests quickly turned into Turkey’s biggest antigovernment demonstration in years amid unhappiness with Erdogan’s 11-year rule. President Abdullah Gul, the first senior politician to comment on Elvan’s death, sent his condolences to his family. “I was saddened to hear of Berkin Elvan’s death. When it comes down to it, he was just a boy,” Gul told reporters. — Reuters

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

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

Modi attracts regional allies, Congress defectors NEW DELHI: Opposition challenger Narendra Modi’s hunt for allies to emerge from India’s April-May election with a coalition large enough to rule is

gaining momentum, with regional politicians flocking to team up with his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

A trickle of electoral pacts that began

HYDERABAD: Indian workers give the final touches to election campaign vehicles of various parties in Hyderabad, ahead of the forthcoming national elections. —AFP

with a tie-up in the eastern battleground state of Bihar has grown to a rush since the weekend. “Foes flock to Pied Piper Modi,” read a headline in the Mail Today newspaper yesterday. “This is a sign of forming confidence,” said Sanjay Kumar of the CSDS polling group, who sees the BJP’s candidate for prime minister as the clear frontrunner heading into the fiveweek-long election that starts on April 7. Modi wants control over at least 272 of the 543 lower house seats at stake to form a majority government, a feat the BJP has never achieved on its own because its mainly Hindu constituency is not spread evenly across the world’s largest democracy. Pollsters estimate his party and core allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) may win about 230 seats. That means he needs to woo fur ther par tners, including defectors from the Congress party’s ruling coalition, to build a working majority. He is doing just that, with all-news TV channels breathlessly reporting deals struck from Assam and Darjeeling in the northeast to Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the south, where the BJP is

increasingly concentrating its efforts. “ The next few days are going to be extremely important in terms of the BJP and NDA consolidating on the present situation,” said Arun Jaitley, the BJP’s opposition leader in the upper house of parliament.

Big tent politics The last time a political party won outright control over India’s lower house was in 1984, when the Congress party won a huge majority following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Coalition politics has been the rule since then, including during a BJPled government in power from 1998 to 2004. Modi is however hobbled by allegations that, as leader of the Western state of Gujarat, he failed to prevent religious riots in 2002 in which more than 1,000, mostly Muslim, people were killed. He has denied wrongdoing. The BJP became isolated as a result. Its progress now in winning the support of regional and minority groups has “broken the myth” that it cannot build a broad government, said pollster Kumar.

Modi will, though, have to strike a balance between promising seats and cabinet posts to allies, and his personal ambition to become premier.

A strong showing by the BJP could dash the ambitions of regional leaders who hope a loose alliance of smaller parties - known as a “Third Front” - will end up holding the balance of parliamentary power. But some may be prepared to go with Modi’s alliance if they can exact a price. In a campaign stop on Monday, Modi mocked the Third Front.

“They all dream of being prime ministers,” he said. “ The Third Front only comes together at election time.”

Building a broad pre-poll alliance would increase the chances that the country’s president would call on the BJP to form a government after votes are counted on May 16. But it would increase risks of coalition strife. “ These are highly radioactive materials,” said Vinod Sharma, political editor of the Hindustan Times, of the Third Front leaders. “Any kind of radioactivity in a coalition is cancerous as it destroys the health of the government.”—Reuters

Kenyan cleric, the face of homegrown radical Islam MOMBASA: When Islamist gunmen stormed Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall on a busy Saturday in September, the ensuing carnage also intensified fears that Kenya’s homegrown Islamists were on the rise. Although the attackers were from Somalia’s AlQaeda-inspired Shebab rebels, the group’s ability to infiltrate and operate in Kenya, as well as find a stream of willing recruits, has focused attention on radical Islamists based down the coast in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa. At the heart of the steamy port hub sits the Musa mosque, seen

by Kenyan authorities as the epicenter of a new terrorist threat. Its key figure, Abubaker Shariff Ahmed, better known as Makaburi, does little to hide his firebrand leanings.

“It’s our innocents for your innocents. It was justified. As per the Koran, as per the religion of Islam, Westgate was 100 percent justified,” the Muslim cleric said of the attack that left at least 67 dead, among them women and children cut down by machine gun fire or grenades. “Are the ones being killed and raped in Somalia not innocent?” Makaburi said

in an interview with AFP in his austere Mombasa office, seizing on Shebab’s justification for the mall attack-Kenya’s military presence in southern Somalia.

“The KDF (Kenyan army) is doing the same thing and worse in Somalia than what happened at Westgate. So as per the Islamic religion, they had every right to avenge whatever the KDF is doing in Somalia.”

Makaburi asserted that no real Muslims died in the upmarket, partIsraeli-owned mall. “How come a Muslim is at a shopping mall instead of being at a mosque?” he said, adding that the “Americans and the Western governments are killing innocent people all over the world everyday, they ’re bombing weddings, funerals.” The real “terrorists”, Makaburi argued, were the military personnel operating drones. “How come the pilots of the drones are not labeled as terrorists? How come when we Muslims are being killed by the Americans using drones, by the British, by whoever, by the West, it’s nothing, but when you have a single non-Muslim killed by a Muslim, it’s terrorism?”

‘True Islam’ In August 2012, the Musa mosque’s radical preacher, Aboud Rogo Mohammed, was gunned down, and in October last year his successor, Sheikh Ibrahim Ismail, met the same fate on a road near Mombasa, again sparking riots. Most believe the Kenyan authorities were behind the killings. Last month the mosque was yet again the scene of violence when armed police launched a massive raid to put an end to what officials said was a “jihadist convention” and a Shebab recruitment exercise taking place inside. Makaburi, who is in his 50s, is currently subject to UN sanctions-a travel ban, assets freeze and targeted arms embargo-for being a “leading facilitator and recruiter of young Kenyan Muslims for violent militant activity in Somalia”, and for having “strong ties with senior Al-Shebab members.”

“I do not support Al-Shebab, I do not know Al-Shebab. I support the implementation of Sharia Law anywhere in the world,” Makaburi insisted in the interview. “These are just accusations.—AFP

MADRID: A woman cries during a commemoration ceremony held in the Remembrance Garden of Madrid’s Retiro Park yesterday for the victims of the Madrid train bombings marking the 10th year anniversary of the attacks that claimed 191 lives and injured more than 1800 others. — AFP

Madrid train bombing stirs painful memories Spain mourns bomb victims, 10 years on MADRID: Dressed in mourning black, Spaniards commemorated yesterday their country’s deadliest peace-time attack, a decade to the day since AlQaeda-inspired bombers blew up four packed commuter trains and killed 191 people. Relatives of people killed on the trains, which were carrying rush hour passengers from Madrid’s suburbs when they exploded on March 11, 2004, filled the pews in the city ’s Almudena Cathedral for a solemn memorial mass.

A single bouquet of red and yellow flowers lay before the altar as 1,000 mourners took their seats, including relatives in black and members of the emergency services in their green and yellow uniforms. King Juan Carlos and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy joined in the solemn ceremony, leading the mourning by a nation still wary of violent Islamist radicals and “lone wolves” lured to their cause. Juan Carlos, leaning on a walking stick after recent hip surgery, and his wife Queen Sofia embraced leaders of victims’ associations at the door of the cathedral before entering to doleful organ music and incense smoke.

The archbishop of Madrid, Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, leading the mass, remembered the victims in a homily.

“They died and suffered, and we suffer, because there were some who with blood-curdling premeditation

were willing to kill innocent people,” he said. After the attacks, however, “love triumphed over hate and life over death,”, as Spain rallied round to help the victims, he added.

Physical, mental scars A series of shrapnel-filled bombs detonated around 7:40 am on March 11, 2004, in packed trains headed to Madrid’s main Atocha station, massacring 191 people, wounding about 2,000 and leaving many mentally scarred to this day. Antonio Gomez, a 48-year-old bank computer specialist, was in a train at Atocha when bombs detonated, leaving him with a broken left leg. “There were mutilated people, people thrown on the ground, people in a very bad state. I was one of the better off.” These days Gomez switches the channel when he sees television reports of the attack. “On the 11th I will probably go to the cinema or watch the Disney Channel,” he said.

Spanish courts eventually sentenced 18 people for the bomb attacks. The seven chief suspects committed suicide weeks after the attack, by blowing themselves up in an apartment near Madrid, also killing a policeman.

‘We’re in their sights’ On the eve of the 10th anniversary, Spain’s Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said Al-Qaeda mem-

bers refer often in their statements to “Al Andalus”, in reference to Spain.

“Clearly Spain forms part of the strategic objectives of global jihad. We are not the only ones but we are in their sights.” The Madrid train bombing changed the immediate course of Spanish politics. The then prime minister Jose Maria Aznar’s conservative government immediately blamed the armed Basque separatist group ETA. But Al-Qaeda soon claimed responsibility, saying the attacks were punishment for Spain’s role, under Aznar, in the US-led invasion of Iraq.

In a general election three days after the bombings, voters punished Aznar, handing an unforeseen victory to Socialist Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Since the day of the bombings, 472 suspected Islamic extremists have been arrested in Spain, Fernandez Diaz said. The Spanish counter-terrorist service’s alert level is at its second-highest category, signifying “a likely risk of attack”, he said.

Bunches of white and red flowers hung on the railings in a street by the rail track near where one of the bombs exploded. A man living nearby, Evaristo Ruiz, 47, recalled seeing the street covered in medics’ tents. “It was traumatic for Madrid, and for Spain, and for this neighborhood in particular,” he told AFP. “It was 10 years ago, but it wasn’t far away.”—AFP

As Syrian war enters 4th year, regime eyes victory BEIRUT: As Syria’s conflict enters its fourth year, ravaging the country and creating a massive humanitarian crisis, President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime is on the offensive to regain territory from a divided opposition. Diplomatic efforts by Russia and the United States are all but on hold with the two powers now divided over the crisis in Ukraine, while the fighting continues on the ground in Syria. “ Without Western intervention, the war will continue for many years more and such an intervention is very unlikely while (US President Barack) Obama is in the White House,” said Thomas Pierret, a Syria specialist at the University of Edinburgh.

“Things could change after 2016,” after elections to choose Obama’s successor, he said. For now, neither side seems to have the means to win decisively a conflict that has cost more

than 140,000 lives and displaced nearly half Syria’s population, many of them now refugees. The conflict began in March 2011, with peaceful anti-government protests that were brutally repressed. The opposition took up arms and the insurrection developed into a full-blown war by February 2012 with the regime’s bombardment of central Homs.

After watching its territory shrink, the regime launched a counter-offensive in the spring of 2013, shored up

by Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiite fighters trained by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. It was bolstered by having avoided threatened Western military action in the wake of a deadly chemical weapons attack in August 2013 that activists blamed on the government. And its strategy now has become to protect “useful Syria”: the coast, the major towns of the

north and south and key roads. The opposition now controls more territory than the regime, but the regime controls the more densely populated regions of the country.

It is advancing on three fronts, south of the capital Damascus, in the strategic Qalamun region near the Lebanese border, and in the city of Aleppo in the country’s north. Near the capital, it has negotiated limited ceasefires with neighborhoods under army sieges, where populations have suffered from dwindling food and medical supplies. In Qalamun, after a string of victories last year it has encircled Yabrud, the last rebel stronghold in the region. And in Aleppo, it has retained its grip on the western side of the city, while advancing around the outskirts of the rebel-held east as well as securing and reopening the nearby airport.—AFP

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

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

Obama, Clinton circles overlap in Dem fundraising WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama is bolstering his party’s campaign coffers, joining an ally of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to help the Democratic National Committee climb out of a worrisome deficit. It’s the latest alignment of the Obama and Clinton orbits, as the former first lady considers a White House bid in 2016.

Obama traveled to New York yesterday to raise money for the party at two events, including a high-dollar fundraiser at the home of Alan Patricof, the founder of a New York venture capital fund.

Patricof is a longtime Clinton friend and financial bundler for her Senate and presidential campaigns. The event illustrates the overlapping fundraising draw that Obama and the former first lady, senator and secretary of state represent for the party at a crucial time for the cash-strapped DNC. It also helps bridge some internal party tensions between donors who are merely interested in presidential politics and the Democrats’ needs during this year’s midterm elections.

Patricof wrote in a February email to contributors that he and his wife, Susan, had been “relatively quiet on the political front” following Clinton’s loss to Obama in the 2008 Democratic primary.

“The most effective way that we all can be helpful to Hillary, and the Democratic Party in general, is to make sure that the Democratic National Committee is as

strong as possible if Hillar y should decide to run in 2016 and, for that matter, if any other good candidate appears on the scene if she decides not to be in the race,” Patricof wrote in the email, first reported by Politico.

He called the fundraiser with Obama a “fireside chat” that would include 13 couples - 26 people - paying $32,500 per person. The DNC has been trying to pare down millions of dollars in debt accumulated during Obama’s re-election campaign; through the end of January the DNC owed more than $15 million.

Obama, who will also raise money at a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraiser while in New York, has been making a sober fundraising pitch of late, warning that Democrats run the risk of losing control of the Senate if the party doesn’t have the resources to motivate voters this November.

The president’s cash-raising comes amid tensions with Russia over Ukraine and a fast-approaching health care signup deadline that have been preoccupying the White House, underscoring the competing demands on Obama. It also comes as Obama is struggling with tepid approval ratings. Recent Gallup and CNN/Opinion Research polls place his job approval at 45 and 43 percent respectively. Over the past year, Obama’s approval ratings as measured by Gallup have fluctuated between a high of 51 percent last April and 39 percent in

January.

If Clinton runs and wins the party’s nomination in 2016, the DNC would serve as a platform of continuity between the Obama White House and a future Clinton campaign. Party leaders recently outlined plans to build upon its technological advantage over Republicans and expand its voter registration and protection work in key states, steps that will help Obama’s successor. The DNC already has plenty of Clinton connections. Committee members include Harold Ickes and Minyon Moore, both longtime advisers to Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton. One of its top fundraisers is Michael Kempner, a New Jersey public relations executive who ser ved as co-chairman of Hillar y Clinton’s 2008 national finance committee and was a top bundler for Obama in 2012.

For many Clinton backers, the DNC is a natural place to offer help while the former New York senator mulls her future. “I t ’s a clear signal that the Clinton faction of the party is seeking to help the president any way possible,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a New York-based Democratic strategist who advised Bill Clinton’s campaigns. “Money is still the mother’s milk of American politics.” The fundraiser is the latest in a series of steps that have helped bring together the Obama and Clinton camps after the bitterness of the 2008 primary fight.

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama arrive at the White House in Washington upon their return from a weekend in Florida. — AFP Democratic super PAC Priorities USA Action recently brought on board Jim Messina, Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, to lead the group. It made clear that it will back Clinton if she seeks the nomination. The super PAC’s executive director is Buffy Wicks, a former top Obama campaign staffer. Ready for Hillary, a grassroots group aiming to lay the groundwork for a Clinton campaign, is advised by former Obama campaign aides Jeremy Bird and Mitch

Stewart. In Iowa, which traditionally holds the nation’s first presidential caucus, the super PAC dispatched 250 volunteers last weekend to sign up new members at county Democratic conventions. The group covered 84 of the state’s 99 counties. Patricof is managing director of Greycroft LLC, a venture capital firm he founded in 2006. In November, Obama appointed him to the President’s Global Development Council.—AP

US states wrestling to make, restrict drones Government agencies itching to use drones

LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles Police detectives work at a crime scene where a severed human head was discovered off a trail in Griffith Park in Los Angeles. — AP

LA man charged in severed head case LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles County prosecutors have charged a man with murdering his live-in boyfriend and dumping his severed head, hands and feet near the Hollywood sign two years ago. Police announced the arrest of Gabriel Campos-Martinez, 38, on suspicion of killing Hervey Coronado Medellin, 66, of Los Angeles. Campos-Martinez was arrested in San Antonio, Texas, on Sunday with the help of local authorities and was being held on $1 million bail pending an extradition hearing.

Campos-Martinez was charged on Monday with one felony count of murder with malice aforethought in the slaying of Medellin, who had been dating Campos-Martinez and was living with him at the time of his disappearance, Deputy District Attorney Bobby Grace said. It wasn’t clear if Campos Martinez was represented by an attorney. A felony complaint alleges Medellin was killed on or around Dec 27, 2011. A coroner’s report found that he had died of asphyxiation and ruled it a homicide.

Two women discovered Medellin’s head while walking dogs on a trail in Griffith Park on Jan 17, 2012. One of the dogs, which was off its leash, had started to play with a plastic bag.

When the dog shook the bag, the head fell out.

Campos-Martinez had filed a missing persons report at Hollywood station the day prior to the gruesome Griffith Park discovery.

Medellin was a retired Mexicana Airlines ticket counter worker who had been living on a pension when he disappeared. His close friends had grown concerned after being unable to reach him for days and requested Los Angeles police conduct a welfare check at his apartment. After officers stopped by on Jan. 16, 2012, Campos-Martinez made the missing persons report, Grace said. The two men met in March 2011 and moved into an apartment together roughly six months before Medellin went missing, Grace said.

Campos-Martinez moved to San Antonio later in 2012 to work for a catering company but remained in touch with detectives investigating the case, Grace said. Campos-Martinez’s inconsistent comments and suspicious statements turned the investigation’s focus onto him. “The suspect had the most information and the last contact with the victim,” Grace said. “So the investigation centered on him.”

More than 120 police officers, firefighters and Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies took part in a two-day search of 7 acres of the park after Medellin’s head was discovered. A cadaver dog helped investigators find more body parts, including hands and feet, near the same area where the severed head was discovered. If convicted, Campos-Martinez faces 25 years to life in prison.— AP

BRIGHAM CITY: Law enforcement, government agencies and others are itching to use drones for everything from finding lost hikers to tracking shifting wildfires. But privacy watchdogs are urging state legislatures to step in and head off any potential privacy violations. That tension is on display as more than 35 states consider drone legislation this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The bills include ways to attract an industry that could generate billions and restrictions on drone use and data collection. “It’s in its nascent form now, but it’s growing and will be growing in the future,” Steve Erickson, who leads a privacy watchdog group called Citizens Education Project, told Utah lawmakers recently.

The proposed legislation comes as states are awaiting clear federal guidance on drones. Many states have taken additional steps to lure the unmanned aircraft industry, such as trying to become a federal testing site, with hopes it will be a financial boon. The balancing act is playing out in stark relief in Utah, where there’s a long history of suspicion at government intrusion and where drones are ideally suited to help authorities patrol largely rural, unforgiving terrain. State Sen Howard Stephenson is warning that the state needs to set ground rules about law enforcement use of drones before they become more widespread. To convince his colleagues, he played a video clip of George Orwell’s “1984” in which a drone hovers and peers into windows. “I don’t think we want that type of thing happening in our society,” he said. “It’s a very frightening thing.” His legislation would restrict law enforcement from collecting or using data from a drone without a warrant. It also restricts the collecting and saving of any unrelated images captured by the drones, and prohibits nongovernment agencies or individuals from sharing drone images with law enforcement, except in emergencies.

The restrictions, which are similar to those adopted in other states, also come with an olive branch the legislation notes lawmakers do not want to hamper the industry and research and cites the expected benefits the devices will bring to society. About an hour north in Brigham City, nestled against the Wasatch Mountains, Box Elder County Sheriff J Lynn

UTAH: Jon McBride, who designs and builds drones with Digital Defense Surveillance, flies a training drone for members of the Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue team, during a demonstration in Brigham City, Utah. — AP Yeates said he’s cognizant of the privacy concerns, but said a $7,000 multirotor drone his department has is solely for search and rescue and fire spotting.

The black aircraft, about 20 inches long, buzzes like a swarm of bees and can travel up to 2 miles in any direction.

It’s equipped with GPS and a camera that sends a live high-definition feed to Yeates and his team.

Yeates said it can be used to find hikers and others who get lost in the nearby steep, winding canyons and crevices every year. He said the device will not only save hours when trying to rescue people, but it will be less dangerous for his all-volunteer rescue team. “You can’t put a price on it,” he said. Troy May, whose Ogden-based company Digital Defense Surveillance sells and offers training on drones that can cost up to $50,000, supports the restrictions on an industry that already is generating interest in a wide swath of the public, from police to surveyors.

“It’s going all kinds of different directions,” he said of the industry.

That’s precisely the point economic development officials are trying to make as lawmakers consider

Creativity on display in Venezuelan unrest Chilean is first foreign fatality CARACAS: Fashion is not foreign to the young demonstrators who skirmish nearly nightly with security forces at the barricades in the Venezuelan capital’s upperclass Chacao district. Nor is improvisation absent in the gear that protects their eyes and throats from government tear gas. An eye-catching transparent mask made from a large plastic water bottle is now so popular that several videos demonstrating its assembly are circulating online. Some protesters have militar y-grade gas masks, many predating their owners by decades.

Painter and dust masks are also common, as are ski, scuba and swim goggles.

As the protests against Venezuela’s socialist-led government move into their second month, front-line head gear includes skate, bicycle and motorcycle helmets but encompasses the more whimsical, too. Identities are hidden by the mustachioed Guy Fawkes mask, often painted in the red, blue and yellow of the Venezuelan flag, or by sparkly Carnival masks or simply a cloth wrapped around the face. For extra protection from the sting of tear gas, some protesters coat their faces in toothpaste or spray a waterbased Maalox solution in their eyes.

Meanwhile, a Chilean woman was shot

dead while clearing a barricade put up by anti-government protesters, the first foreign fatality during a month of civil unrest in Venezuela, authorities said on Monday.

The deaths of Gisela Rubilar, 47, who was studying in the western Venezuelan city of Merida, and of a protester shot in the border state of Tachira, brought to at least 22 the number of fatalities in five weeks of unrest.

“She was ambushed by extreme rightwing groups ... She was vilely murdered with a shot in the eye,” Alexis Ramirez, the governor of Merida state, told reporters, blaming the killing of Rubilar on unidentified demonstrators in the Andean city.

Students and militant opponents of President Nicolas Maduro have been maintaining street barricades in various cities since last month, demanding the president’s resignation and solutions to problems of rampant crime and economic shortages. The barriers have become frequent flashpoints for violence between protesters, police and government supporters. People from both sides of the political divide, as well as members of the security forces, have been among the victims of the country’s worst unrest in a decade.—Agencies

restrictions. Government use of the technology is a big driver for industry growth, said Vincent Mikolay at the Utah governor’s economic development office. Mikolay said unmanned systems are expected to be a billion-dollar industry in the US over the next three years, and if states like Utah can land a portion of that, they’ll see big economic gains. Legislators in Utah and elsewhere aren’t waiting for judges to determine whether the Fourth Amendment’s constitutional protections against unlawful searches are sufficient to protect citizens, and are instead diving in with specific rules. In Rhode Island this year, lawmakers are considering legislation that requires law enforcement to hold public hearings before acquiring a drone. They’d need approval from local leaders or the governor, and would need to consult the state attorney general and a judge before using it.

California legislators are considering measures that would require police to obtain a warrant when using drones and notify the public when they intend to use them. It also requires any data collected to be destroyed within six months and bars public agencies from arming the devices.— AP

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

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

Bosnia divided over assassination that triggers WWI Anniversary coincides with renewed tension between world powers SARAJEVO: The woman paused before a photograph of a young man with dark eyes and a tightly trimmed moustache. “That’s that Serb terrorist those Chetniks (Serb nationalists) are praising,” she said to a journalist inspecting the image. “He started that war. They started all the wars.” Gavrilo Princip stared down from the outer wall of a museum at the riverside spot in Sarajevo where on a summer’s morning in 1914 he opened fire on the heir to the AustroHungarian throne.

The killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, lit the fuse for World War One, turning out the lights on an age of European peace and progress. Empires crumbled and more than 10 million soldiers died. The world order was rewritten. Yet 100 years on, in Princip’s native Bosnia, time, in many ways, has stood still. A hero to some, a harbinger of destruction to others, the assassin is being fought over anew as Sarajevo prepares to mark the June 28 centenary of his act.

Two rival sets of events are being planned, and accusations of ‘revisionism’ are flying at a time of renewed Cold War-style tensions between East and West. The row goes to the heart of Bosnia today, a country still affected by big-power divisions and still arguing about the past, divided by the present and uncertain about the future. “We haven’t moved on,” said Bosnian historian Vera Katz. “It’s like we’re 100 years before 1914, not 100 years after.” Sarajevo bookended the 20th century, opening with Princip’s Browning revolver and closing with the sniper rifles and mortars of his ethnic kin besieging the city from the hills during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.

To some, like the woman at the museum, the two events were part of the same arc of Serb nationalism. According to that narrative, Princip was a ‘terrorist’ bent on uniting Orthodox Serb lands at the expense of Bosnia’s Muslim Bosniaks and Catholic Croats. Bosnian Serb forces under Ratko Mladic

attempted just that eight decades later. Sarajevo mayor Ivo Komsic, a Bosnian Croat, noted the city’s role in the two wars that framed the last century when unveiling plans for the centenary last month.

“The eyes of the world will be focused on Sarajevo once more and it is important that we send messages completely different from the messages of war sent in 1914 and 1992,” he said.

Rival events Such comparisons have riled Serbs in Bosnia and neighboring Serbia, for whom Princip is a pan-Slavic hero, the shot he fired marking the death knell for centuries of foreign occupation over Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks alike. This was the official narrative for decades in socialist Yugoslavia, when Princip was venerated as a freedom fighter for all the nations and faiths gathered together by Josip Broz Tito.

Schools and roads took the assassin’s name. His footprints were enshrined in the pavement at the spot from which he fired.

In his native mountain region of Bosansko Grahovo, a plaque erected in 1949 still stands above the doors to the local school, hailing Princip’s “fearless” fight for the “national freedom of our peoples”.

Today, the plaque is blackened, licked by the flames that razed the school in 1995 as Yugoslavia crumbled. Sarajevo, now inhabited largely by Bosniaks, plans to mark the centenary of the assassination with a series of cultural events sponsored in large part by France and also with the help of Austria and possibly the European Union.

It will take place at a sensitive time in international relations, with Western nations accusing Serb big power backer Russia of preparing to annex Crimea from Ukraine and Moscow arguing it is defending Russians from Western stooges in Kiev. Organizers of the Sarajevo commemoration, who are hoping to get funding from the EU, say it will steer clear of the

issue of whether Princip was terrorist or hero. The centerpiece will be a concert of the Vienna Philharmonic in the city’s much-loved Vijecnica, Sarajevo’s city hall-turned-National Library that burned down at the start of the 43-month Bosnian Serb siege of the city. The concert will mark its reopening.

On June 27, French philosopher Bernard HenriLevy, who supported the Bosniak call for Western intervention to halt the war in Bosnia, will premiere his latest play in Sarajevo, which deals specifically with the 1992-95 conflict. Bosnia’s autonomous Serb Republic has refused to participate, except in a leg of the Tour de France cycling race in the capital on June 20-23. Instead, the Serbs plan their own ceremony in Visegrad, a town made famous by Ivo Andric’s 1945 novel ‘Bridge on the Drina’, and infamous by Serb paramilitaries who tossed their victims from the Ottoman bridge in 1992 as the first waves of the war washed through eastern Bosnia.

We build and we destroy The Serb events will be choreographed by filmmaker Emir Kusturica, a Sarajevan born into a Bosniak family but who later took on the Serbian Orthodox faith, who plans to stage an opera about the assassination and show a documentary about Princip. Authorities in Serb-controlled East Sarajevo say plans are in the pipeline for a statue of the assassin. “We once all lived in one state (Yugoslavia), and we never looked on it as any kind of terrorist act, as some historians try to present it today,” said Nenad Samardzija, the Serb mayor of East Sarajevo. “We looked on it as a movement of young people who wanted to liberate themselves from colonial slavery.”

The contradictions are inevitable, said sociology professor Slavo Kukic. “Through no fault of his own, Gavrilo Princip is the result of all those political conflicts and differences on the territory of the former

Yugoslavia ... over the past quarter of a century,” he said. “We’ve had many Gavrilo Princips in our recent past.” The demands of each side in Bosnia have changed little since its war - while the Bosniaks want a more centralized, unified state, the Croats say they need their own entity like the Serbs. Serb leaders, meanwhile, look east to Serbia, saying they have little need for Bosnia at all, much as pro-Moscow forces now in Crimea are looking to Russia and rejecting Ukraine.

The political system put in place in Bosnia by a US-brokered peace deal in 1995 divvied up power along ethnic lines, fuelling corruption, stifling development and triggering unrest last month unprecedented since the war.

The historian Katz, her office unheated since the war because the state History Institute can’t afford the bills, said all the centenary plans were inappropriate given the far more pressing economic and political problems facing Bosnia. “It’s like putting on makeup when you haven’t even had a bath,” she said. Princip’s house is one of hundreds of gutted homes scarring the bleak plateau, untouched since they were sacked by Croat forces on the heels of fleeing Serbs at the end of the Bosnian war. The Sarajevo footprints have gone.

Spared the death sentence because he was not yet 20, Princip died of tuberculosis in his jail cell in 1918. The turbulent century that he set in chain scattered his relatives around the globe. But one who was given his name, Gavrilo, still resides in East Sarajevo, where he runs a hotel.

Serbs who fled Princip’s native region are collecting money to rebuild the family home in time for the centenary. The house was razed three times, during the two world wars and again in 1995. They’re wasting their time, said Gavrilo. “It will be burned down and destroyed again,” he said. “We build and then we destroy. That’s how things are in Bosnia.” — Reuters

Wartime ghosts haunt Ukraine; crisis deepens Criticism boomerangs on Moscow KIEV: Seven decades after the end of World War Two, the ghosts of that conflict are being evoked in an ideological as well as geopolitical battle over the future of Ukraine. In a country that was occupied by Nazi Germany and suffered decades of repressive Soviet rule, the words “communist” and “fascist” can still conjure up horror and terror. Fascism in particular is not usually a word that is used lightly. This has changed during three months of crisis in Ukraine and as it tries to hold on to the Crimea region, where power now lies in the hands of Russian separatists and Russian forces.

The label “fascist” is being bandied about so often, by politicians and protesters, that it risks becoming an everyday part of the political lexicon deprived of its original meaning. It has mainly been used by Russia, against the new pro-Western leadership in Kiev and the Ukrainians who protested for three months until they deposed Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovich as president on Feb 22. Russia’s aim is to discredit Kiev’s new rulers and provide a justification for possible military intervention. The logic goes that in the process Moscow might be able to take control of parts of a country it has long regarded as part of its sphere of influence.

But some critics of Vladimir Putin have made comparisons between the Russian president and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had to explain her choice of words when she likened Russia’s action in Crimea now and Germany’s in Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938. In Ukraine itself, opinions differ about how to interpret World War Two. For many Ukrainians it was a choice between two evils - Hitler’s Germany or Josef Stalin’s Soviet Union. “There is within Ukraine a real divide about the meaning of the war, which was sometimes used for political advantage within the country. What Russia is doing now is attempting to exploit this for its own purposes,” said Timothy Snyder, a historian and author on Stalin and Hitler.

Giant posters It is impossible now to avoid talk or images of what the Soviet Union called the Great Patriotic War in Ukraine. In the Crimean port city of Simferopol, home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and Ukraine’s navy, huge billboards have appeared urging people to vote in a referendum on Sunday on unification with Russia. One shows two maps of Crimea, the first covered in a Russian flag, the other with a giant black Swastika emblazoned across it, telling voters that the choice is between those two visions of the peninsula. Another urged people to vote to stop fascism, suggesting the vote was a way of stopping

SEVASTOPOL: People walk past a poster in Sevastopol yesterday reading “On March 16 we will choose either... or...”, depicting Crimea in red with a swastika and covered in barbed wire (left) and Crimea with the colors of the Russian flag. — AFP Ukraine’s ultra-nationalist Right Sector movement coming to footage of great victories to stir patriotism and loyalty, if not power. Yet another suggested the referendum was a way of to communism then against a common enemy. But it is less staving off the UPA, a reference to the Ukrainian Insurgent the glory of great battles that is being evoked now than the Army that fought in and after World War Two against the ignominy of betrayal and defeat. The worst insult of all is to Soviet Union and at times collaborated with the Nazis. The call a rival a “Banderovets”, a reference to Stepan Bandera, language echoes that of Yanukovich, who said in a television leader of the Ukrainian nationalist movement that was built in interview after being deposed: “We are witnessing the return western Ukraine and is accused by Russians of siding with the of the Nazis, the time when in the 1930s the Nazis came to Nazis. “According to the Russian version of events, a battle is power in Germany and Austria. It is the same now.” It is com- under way between good and fascism-Banderovism. So ments such as this that ensure the war is rarely far from peo- ‘Banderovets’ will enter the English language,” said Taras Berezovets of the Berta communications political consultancy ple’s minds.

In Soviet times, state television often showed war films and in Kiev. —Reuters

West dilemma: Giving Putin Crimea to save Ukraine KIEV: It is the ugly solution to the Ukrainian crisis world leaders will never acknowledge but grudgingly may have to accept. Give Russian President Vladimir Putin Crimea-and

hope this sates his ambition of being remembered as the omnipotent leader who restored Moscow’s post-Soviet might enough to leave the rest of Ukraine alone. Such an appease-

SEVASTOPOL: Seamen stand aboard the Turbinist Russian navy minesweeper at the harbor of Sevastopol. — AFP

ment strategy may not sit well with domestic critics of US President Barack Obama or former Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe that fear for their safety in the face of Putin’s belligerence. But no big nation seems willing to wage war against Putin’s nuclear power in defense of Crimea-a Russian-speaking peninsula Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave to Ukraine as a “gift” in 1954.

And all would like to pull the rest of Ukraine out of the Kremlin’s orbit and have a friendly power on Russia’s western edge. “The West might decide to hold its nose and look the other way with respect to the occupation, but only if Putin were to recognize the current Ukrainian government,” said Rutgers University-Newark professor Alexander Motyl.

“He would have to provide very explicit guarantees and the West would have to specify just what consequences his violations of such an agreement would have,” said the Ukrainian expert. “Unfortunately, there is nothing in Putin’s rhetoric or actions to suggest that he will stop at Crimea.” But James Nixey of London-based Chatham House countered that Putin “will not go any further-that is highly unlikely — (because) he has achieved what he wanted to achieve.” “Crimea is lost,” Nixey told CNBC. “Crimea is gone.”

‘Redrawing post-war map’ This is not the West’s public stance. “If

there is an annexation of Crimea, a referendum that moves Crimea from Ukraine to Russia, we won’t recognize it,” US deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken told CNN. And German Chancellor Angela Merkelone of Western Europe’s more cautious leaders when it comes to imposing punitive measures on Russia-bluntly told Putin that Crimea’s March 16 referendum on joining Russia was “illegal”. The tiny Baltic nations that the Soviet Union claimed during World War II are particularly anxious. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite urged EU leaders attending an emergency summit in Brussels to “realize that what Russia is doing now is an attempt to redraw the post-war map and borders”. But some analysts believe Putin’s main goal is to “punish” Ukraine’s new leaders while at the same time preserving some semblance of working relations with the West. “For Russia to lose influence over Ukraine may be one thing, but losing its grip on Crimea and hence sufficient access to one of its two major fleets is one entirely different ball game and, it seems, just too much to stomach,” said Erik Nielsen of Italy’s UniCredit global bank group.

Nielsen suggested Putin wanted to “punish Ukraine as a whole for its Western leaningbut, importantly, all to an extent and in a way that would not escalate the inevitable tensions with the West beyond politically and economically acceptable levels.” —AFP

News

in brief

Maoist rebels kill 16 BHUBANESWAR: Maoist rebels ambushed police and killed 16 involved in a mine clearing operation in a remote part of eastern India region yesterday, police said, as the insurgents demonstrated their strength ahead of a general election next month.

The victims were clearing mines laid by rebels on a road through a densely forested area in resourcerich Chhattisgarh state when the rebels attacked from all sides, according to a senior home ministry official. The head of anti-Maoist operations in the state police force told Reuters one civilian was among the dead. “Total death 16 ... including one civilian,” RK Vij said in a text message sent from a helicopter after the attack. However, there were conflicting accounts of the death toll, with other officers telling local media at least 20 died.

Television images from the site showed a heavy truck smouldering with its tires burning. The rebels have operated for decades across a wide swathe of central and eastern India, and grew in strength during recent times in areas where poor, tribal villagers came into conflict with mining companies seeking resources for industrialization. The Maoists seek the violent overthrow of the Indian state but have so far not managed to spread significantly into urban areas.

Egypt crash kills 24 CAIRO: At least 24 people were killed in Egypt yesterday when a bus ploughed into a truck parked on the side of a road, police and medics said. The accident occurred near the entrance to the Sinai peninsula, home to beach resorts that attract tourists and workers from the mainland. All those killed were Egyptians, the officials said. Police said the bus carrying 50 people appeared to have been speeding and that the accident occurred at a time when road visibility was poor. Traffic accidents are common in Egypt, where roads are often poorly maintained and traffic regulations are laxly enforced. On Monday, 16 people were killed when two passenger mini-buses collided south of Cairo.

Drone crashes in Gaza JERUSALEM: An unmanned aircraft of the sort Israel uses for surveillance and missile strikes in Gaza crashed in the south of the territory yesterday, sources on both sides said. “A Sky Rider drone crashed in the southern Gaza Strip due to a technical malfunction,” an Israeli army spokeswoman said.

“An investigation is under way.” The Al-Rai news agency, run by the territory’s Islamist rulers, Hamas, said the drone came down east of the southern city of Khan Yunis. Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said its fighters had retrieved the drone. The incident was followed by an Israeli air strike, also east of Khan Yunis, which killed three Islamic Jihad fighters, the militant group said. It was unclear if the two incidents were related.

US drone kills 4 SANAA: A US drone strike in northeast Yemen has killed four suspected Al-Qaeda members, a tribal source said yesterday. Two missiles struck two vehicles late Monday in the Wadi Abida area, east of Sanaa, killing the occupants “who were all AlQaeda members,” the source said. Obad Mubarak Al-Shabwani and Jaafar Al-Shabwani, “both local chiefs of Al-Qaeda,” were among the passengers, he said. The United States military operates all drones flying over Yemen in support of Sanaa’s campaign against Al-Qaeda and has killed dozens of militants in a sharply intensified campaign in the past year.

Drone strikes have triggered criticism from rights activists, who say they have claimed the lives of many innocent civilians. The United Nations said 16 civilians were killed and at least 10 wounded when two separate wedding processions were targeted by drones in early December. The victims had been mistakenly identified as members of Al-Qaeda, the UN quoted local security officials as saying at the time. Following the deaths, Yemen’s parliament voted for a ban on drone strikes, but analysts say lawmakers have limited powers and are unlikely to have an impact on Washington’s campaign.

Washington says that drones are an essential part of its “war on terror”.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

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

Front companies, embassies mask N Korea weapons trade Pyongyang develops sophisticated ways to circumvent sanctions

BEIJING: Zhou Qiang (center), President of the Supreme People’s Court of China, delivers his work report to the 12th National People’s Congress (NPC) in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. — AFP

‘Staged’ questions raise hackles at China summit BEIJING: Officials at China’s rubber-stamp parliament are calling on seemingly planted foreign journalists to ask soft questions in an apparent bid to appear open to independent scrutiny, provoking grumbles after a similar controversy two years ago. At a press conference on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress yesterday featuring China’s central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan and other top officials, the moderator called on Louise Kenney, who said she was a reporter from “Australia’s Global CAMG”. Rather than address uncomfortable issues such as China’s slowing growth, vast shadow banking sector, or corruption, she asked about government policy on allowing more foreign companies to enter the country’s agricultural insurance market.

In response another foreign reporter shouted out in Chinese: “Call on a real foreign journalist, not a fake one,” to applause and laughter from the room. Foreign reporters are rarely called on to ask questions at the annual rubber-stamp parliament, where most “press conferences” are little more than scripted exchanges between Chinese state media reporters and officials who appear well-prepared to answer their soft-hitting queries. Even when mainstream foreign media organizations ask questions, they are discussed with officials beforehand.

Kenney was also called to ask a question at a finance minister’s press conference last week, when she asked about couples who

divorce in order to avoid paying taxes on their second home. It is the second time in three years that Chinese authorities’ use of foreigners at major political gatherings has drawn controversy, with the reporters chosen to ask questions employed by the same ultimately Chinese-owned company. Global CAMG Media Group has an office in Melbourne but is majority-owned from Beijing and has close ties to Chinese staterun media. Its website lists a main address and telephone number in Beijing. An employee at its office in Beijing confirmed to AFP that Kenney works for the company but said that she is based in Australia, not China.

State-run broadcaster China Radio International (CRI) — which is listed on CAMG’s website as among its partner organizations-currently features a video interview with Kenney and another foreign “star reporter” on its website. CRI also this week ran a long photo essay documenting the pair’s activities at the NPC. Another CAMG employee, Andrea Yu, raised eyebrows at the five-yearly Communist Party Congress in 2012 - when she was called upon by moderators at least four separate times. Yu later acknowledged in an interview with Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the company’s majority shareholding is from China. “I am aware that I can’t ask the hard questions that I may personally be interested in asking because of who I’m representing,” she said. — AFP

SEOUL: North Korea has developed sophisticated ways to circumvent UN sanctions, including the suspected use of its embassies to facilitate an illegal trade in weapons, a United Nations report issued yesterday said. It said North Korea was also making use of more complicated financial countermeasures and techniques “pioneered by drug-trafficking organizations” that made tracking the isolated state’s purchase of prohibited goods more difficult.

The report, compiled by a panel of eight UN experts, is part of an annual accounting of North Korea’s compliance with layers of UN sanctions imposed in response to Pyongyang’s banned nuclear weapons and missile programs. The panel reports to the UN Security Council. “From the incidents analyzed in the period under review, the panel has found that (North Korea) makes increasing use of multiple and tiered circumvention techniques,” a summary of the 127-page report said.

China, North Korea’s main trading partner and diplomatically, appeared to have complied with most of the panel’s requests for information.

Some independent experts and Western countries question how far Beijing has gone in implementing sanctions, although the report did not specifically address that issue. China has said it wants sanctions enforced. Much of the report focused on North Korea’s overseas trade networks, rather than its relationship with China. Indeed, the panel said it found a relatively complex “corporate ecosystem” of foreign-based firms and individuals that helped North Korea evade scrutiny of its assets as well as its financial and trade dealings.

Embassies under scrutiny North Korea’s embassies abroad play a key role in aiding and abetting these shadowy companies, the report said, confirming long-held suspicions by the international community. In some of the most comprehensive evidence presented publicly against Pyongyang’s embassies, the report said the missions in Cuba and Singapore were suspected of organizing an illegal shipment of Cuban fighter jets and missile parts that were seized on a North Korean container ship in Panama last July. It included secret North Korean documents addressed to the ship’s captain which offered detailed instructions on how to load and conceal the illegal weapons shipment, and make a false declaration to customs officers in Panama.

Panama seized the Chong Chon Gang ship for smuggling Soviet-era arms, including two MiG-21 jet fighters, under thousands of tons of sugar. After the discovery, Cuba acknowledged it was sending “obsolete” Soviet-era weapons to be repaired in North Korea and returned to Cuba. “Load the containers first and load the 10,000 tons of sugar (at the next port) over them so that the containers cannot be seen,” the document, translated from Korean,

said. Chinpo Shipping, a firm that the report said was “co-located” with the North Korean embassy in Singapore, acted as the agent for a Pyongyangbased company that operated the vessel, and North Korean diplomatic personnel in Cuba arranged the shipping of the concealed cargo. A North Korean embassy official, reached by telephone, denied the Singapore mission had engaged in any wrongdoing. The embassy had recently moved from the address listed in the report, added the official, who declined to give his name. A Reuters reporter who went to the address could not find the embassy, just Chinpo Shipping. A receptionist said the firm’s head was not available to comment. Singapore’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the government’s stated policy is to enforce UN sanctions.

It was after work hours in Cuba when the report was released. North Korea has gone to great lengths to mask the origin of its merchant shipping fleet by reflagging and renaming ships, the report said, particularly after the introduction of tightened UN sanctions in early 2013 that followed the country’s third nuclear test. Most of the registered owners of the ships are small companies that rarely own more than five vessels, meaning Pyongyang is able to keep its fleet running if a ship or shipping company is seized or has its assets frozen. Under the myriad UN sanctions, North Korea is banned from shipping and receiving cargo related to its nuclear

and missile programs. The importation of some luxury goods is also banned, along with the illicit transfer of bulk cash.

Financial countermeasures North Korea has fostered a complicated corporate network outside the international financial system that it uses to buy both banned and permitted goods, the report added. The panel cited an example of an “unusually complex” transaction involving a contract

by Air Koryo, the national carrier, to purchase new aircraft in 2012. It said 109 payments were structured through eight Hong Kong-registered companies which asserted they were trading partners of Air Koryo and were wiring funds they owed it. The purchase of civilian aircraft is not prohibited under UN sanctions, but some of the companies appeared to have been recently formed shell entities, the report said, and suggested such activity could be used as a test-run for illegal transactions. North Korea is also still dependent on foreign suppliers for its missile programs, the report said, referring to a long-range rocket salvaged by South Korea that contained parts originating from China, the United States, the former Soviet Union, South Korea, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. The rocket was fired out to sea in December 2012. A shipment of missile components sent from China and seized by South Korea in 2012 was destined for Syria, an investigation by the panel also showed. —Reuters

Swedish-British journalist shot dead in Afghanistan KABUL: A gunman shot dead a Swedish-British journalist in central Kabul yesterday, officials said, a rare daylight murder of a foreigner in a city often hit by Taleban suicide attacks. The Taleban denied responsibility for the killing, which came in an upmarket district of the Afghan capital close to a Lebanese restaurant where the militants launched a suicide attack that killed 21 people, including 13 foreigners, in January. The Swedish ambassador to Afghanistan Peter Semneby identified the dead man as radio journalist Nils Horner, 51.

“Unfortunately we just have received confirmation that Nils Horner, who was correspondent for Swedish national radio, was shot and killed in Kabul this morning,” Semneby said. “We understand he had British nationality in addition to his Swedish nationality. His family has been informed.”A witness at the scene described hearing a single gunshot before seeing the victim fall to the ground, and a doctor at Kabul’s emergency hospital said he was dead on arrival.

“There were two guys who ran away. They were

perhaps in their 20s and security guards chased them as they ran away,” the witness told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Experienced reporter Security forces rushed to the scene and cordoned off the street, where blood was visible on the ground. Horner was hired by Sveriges Radio in 2001. An experienced reporter, he was in Afghanistan to witness the fall of the Taleban in 2001 and in Iraq during the war in 2003. He also covered the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. “This is one of the worst days in the history of Sveriges Radio,” said CEO Cilla Benko. “Nils was one of our absolutely best and most experienced correspondents and what happened to him today is terrible.”

According to journalists in Kabul, Hong Kongbased Horner arrived in the city on Sunday and had planned to stay about a week or ten days.

“He was known among foreign reporters to be the kind of reporter who goes from one hotel to another,” Johan Nylander, a Swedish freelance journalist based in Hong Kong said.

NEWS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

US Senate intel chief accuses CIA of spying

NABLUS: Palestinians carry the body of Raed Zeiter, 38, during his funeral in this northern West Bank city yesterday, a day after he was shot dead by the Israeli military. — AFP

Israel ‘regrets’ killing judge JERUSALEM: Israel expressed “regret” Tuesday over the shooting of a Jordanian judge at a border crossing, but its army insisted he had attacked soldiers and tried to grab a gun. The shooting on Monday set off a diplomatic row between Israel and Amman - which signed a peace treaty 20 years ago - with Jordan’s prime minister saying Israel is “completely responsible” and demanding an apology for the “hideous” shooting.

The Israeli army said 38-year-old Raed Zeiter, a Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship who worked as a judge in Amman, had charged at the soldiers with a metal pole while shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest), prompting them to fire at his legs. “The suspect then began to strangle a soldier and the force resorted to using live fire once again,” killing the man, the army said. It said its preliminary findings were based on extensive questioning of witnesses to the event - which took place at the Allenby Bridge crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan - and that a military police investigation was ongoing.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights disputed the army’s account, saying one of the soldiers pushed Zeiter after he had disembarked from a bus with other passengers so that Israeli soldiers could search it. Zeiter responded in kind and other soldiers joined the scuffle, with one of them firing three rounds at his chest, the PCHR said, citing “a witness.” He was left bleeding for 30 minutes without any medical help before an Israeli ambulance came to retrieve the body, the group said. “PCHR condemns the killing of Zeiter in cold blood... and urges the international community to act immediately to stop the crimes of the (Israeli) occupation forces,” it said.

Hundreds of Palestinians turned out yesterdaty for the funeral of Zeiter, accompanying the body - which was wrapped in a Palestinian flag - to its burial place in his family’s northern West Bank hometown of Nablus. “They killed my only son in cold blood,” said Zeiter’s father Alaa, who had travelled from Amman. “My son was unarmed; he wouldn’t even know how to use a weapon.” — AFP

No sign of missing plane Continued from Page 1 European passports suggested they were young Iranian migrants seeking a new life overseas. Interpol named the pair as Pouria Nourmohammadi, 18, who was booked to fly on to Germany, and Seyed Mohammed Reza Delavar, 29, who was ticketed through to Denmark.

Delavar’s ultimate destination was Sweden, where he intended to apply for political asylum, according to Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. The two travelled to Kuala Lumpur from Doha on their real Iranian passports, and their identification was helped by relatives in Europe who reported them missing, officials said.

“It is part of a human-smuggling issue and not a part of a terrorist issue,” Interpol chief Ronald Noble told reporters in France, adding that the international agency was more and more “certain that these individuals are probably not terrorists.” However, the head of the US Central Intelligence Agency yesterday said that terrorism could not be ruled out. “Clearly this is still a mystery,” said CIA Director John Brennan, stressing it was too early to draw any conclusions. Iran has offered its assistance to the Malaysian investigation, pledging to provide “any information on the Iranians and their status as soon as it is available”.

Police in Southeast Asia agreed that people-smuggling was emerging as the likeliest explanation for the identity fraud. The two passports - one Italian and one Austrian - were stolen over the past two years in Thailand, where police have long been battling a thriving trade in Western documents used by criminal gangs.

“We believe that these two passports were stolen by a human-smuggling gang who send people to work in third countries, especially European countries,” Lieutenant General Panya Maman, commander of Thailand’s southern police region, told AFP. Malaysia’s national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said his officers were not ruling anything out but were now focusing on theories including a hijacking, sabotage or psychological problems among passengers or crew.

Flight MH370, captained by a veteran pilot, had relayed no indications of distress, and weather at the time was said to be good. Khalid said the younger Iranian man

appeared to be an illegal immigrant. His mother was waiting for him in Frankfurt and had been in contact with authorities, he said. “We believe he is not likely to be a member of any terrorist group, and we believe he was trying to migrate to Germany,” Khalid said. Asked if that meant he ruled out a hijack, Khalid said:“(We are giving) same weightage to all (possibilities) until we complete our investigations.”

The vastness of the search zone reflects authorities’ bafflement over the plane’s disappearance. The operation has grown to involve 42 ships and 35 aircraft from Southeast Asian countries, Australia, China, New Zealand and the United States. The plane’s last confirmed radar sighting was off Vietnam’s southern coast.

“In terms of our assessments and predictions - we have little hope of a positive outcome,” Pham Quy Tieu, Vietnamese deputy minister of transport, said.

The search sphere now includes land on the Malaysian peninsula itself, the waters off its west coast, and an area to the north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. That covers an area far removed from the scheduled route of flight MH370, which officials say may have inexplicably turned back towards Kuala Lumpur. China, which had 153 of its nationals on board the plane, said it would harness 10 satellites equipped with high-resolution imaging to help in the search.

Boeing said it was joining a US government team to try to unravel the mystery of what happened to its 777200 plane.

Conflicting information has deepened the anguish of relatives, with tests on oil slicks in the South China Sea showing they were not from the missing jet and reports of possible debris from the flight also proving to be false alarms. At a hotel in Beijing where relatives are gathered, a man in his 20s surnamed Su said: “I hope it is a hijacking, then there will be some hope that my young cousin has survived. “My uncle and aunt had an emotional breakdown, they are not eating, drinking and sleeping.” A total of 17 Chinese relatives have so far taken up an offer from Malaysia Airlines to fly to Kuala Lumpur to be closer to the operation, and more are expected in the coming days, the airline said. — Agencies

WASHINGTON: A bitter dispute between the CIA and the US Senate committee that oversees it burst into the open yesterday when a top senator accused the agency of spying on Congress and possibly breaking the law.

Senator Dianne Feinstein delivered a scathing critique of the CIA’s handling of her intelligence committee’s investigation into a Bush-era interrogation and detention program that began after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks but was only made public in 2006.

“I have grave concerns that the CIA’s search may well have violated the separation of powers principles embodied in the Constitution,” Feinstein said in a highly critical speech on the Senate floor by a traditionally strong ally of US intelligence agencies. Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the CIA searched the panel’s computers to find out how staff obtained an internal agency review that was more critical of the interrogation program than the official CIA report.

She said the Central Intelligence Agency’s search may have also violated the Fourth Amendment, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and an executive order that prohibits the CIA from conducting domestic searches or surveillance. Feinstein described an emergency meeting on Jan 15 with Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, the top Republican on the committee, where John Brennan, the agency’s director, told the two committee leaders the agency

had conducted a “search” of committee computers.

Brennan yesterday denied the allegations on computer hacking. “Nothing could be further from the truth. We wouldn’t do that,” he said in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank. He also denied the agency was trying to thwart the release of the panel’s report. “We are not trying at all to prevent its release,” he said. Feinstein’s comments were the latest salvo in a longrunning dispute between the intelligence committee and CIA over the agency’s detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects, a program that was phased out when inmates were transferred to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. The Senate Intelligence Committee’s own 6,300-page report criticized some of the harsh interrogation measures used by the CIA, and Feinstein has been pushing to make its findings public.

Feinstein said the internal CIA review mirrored some of the same concerns outlined in her staff’s report, unlike the official CIA assessment of the program.

However, as the panel moved close to declassifying some of the information - a move she said was backed by the White House - the CIA acting general counsel went to the Justice Department to complain about committee staff. “I view the acting general counsel’s referral as a potential effort to intimidate this staff and I am not taking it lightly,” Feinstein said. — Agencies

Debtors fund reopened for three months Continued from Page 1 The Assembly agreed to extend for two more months the period of two investigations by the Audit Bureau on smuggled diesel and a contract awarded

by Kuwait Oil Co to international oil major Shell. MP Abdullah Al-Tameemi said there “was a foul smell” emanating from the Shell contract which has not benefited KOC for anything, and accordingly there must be strong action over squandering public funds.

Oil Minister Ali Al-Omair said the Audit Bureau made a comment on the Shell contract and the government referred it to the public prosecution and it is still there. But the minister insisted that the contract has produced quantities of crude and natural gas and its aim is to transfer technology. Omair also promised MPs that he will implement court rulings to scrap the government’s decision to sack three top oil executives, saying that the government will implement the judgments.

Will court ruling open welfare for...

Continued from Page 1 right to good quality healthcare”. “Childhood is the basis for the construction of families and societies, whose development require childhood care,” the court said in the written judgment. “As a result, nations give importance to childhood care out of realization that a child is of maximum importance for his family and the whole nation,” the ruling reads. “Therefore, constitutions around the world are keen on protecting children’s rights, and on top of that comes the right of treatment.”

The Health Ministry plans to appeal the ruling but the judgment raises questions about other rules that discriminate between locals and expatriates when it comes to state services and subsidies. Article 28 of the UNICEF convention also states “All children have the right to a primary education and it should be free of charge.” So does that mean Kuwait should provide primary education free of charge to foreign children? This used to be the case in the country until the 1990-1991 Iraqi invasion and occupation.

An expatriate asked he could file a case against the Ministry of Education for not allowing his child to study in Kuwaiti public schools. Kuwait does not provide free education to children of expatriates except in rare cases where the parent works as a teacher in a public school.

According to Labeed Abdal, a local attorney, the article in the UNICEF convention is correct, but it has to be applied fairly and must be based on the principle of give and take. “It’s the responsibility of every country to follow

the convention on the rights of children but it has to be based on reciprocity and fair treatment principles. If a country like Spain, for example, provides free education for our children who are in Spain, then its children must be given free education in Kuwait as well,” he said.

“But everyone knows this is not the case in many other countries. The truth is Kuwait will not be able to provide free education to tens of thousands of expatriate children because Kuwait’s population is very small and would not receive the reciprocity of educating our children abroad in the same numbers. So how would it be fair?” Abdal asked.

He said the way to regulate and implement the convention is to check whether each country provides the same quality of education Kuwait is providing to its children. “We must be realistic, and the reality is that no, we cannot compare education to other countries,” he added.

Abdal declined to comment on the recent court ruling, but suggested that the Ministry of Health should send the matter to the constitutional court for clarification. “Let the constitutional court give a meaningful justification on the court of first instance’s ruling. especially to explain to us the real meaning of Article 10 of the Kuwaiti constitution.

Care for a child should not be based on their nationalities or discrimination,” he said.

“As a lawyer, I also want this case to be interpreted in a manner that everyone of us can understand. Even Kuwaitis sometimes face difficulties in understanding the laws and laws on medical care. It’s a rare case and a rare situation, so we all deserve a clearer explanation,” he concluded.

14

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

ANALYSIS

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FOCUS

Discourse to support Venezuela

T

his document complements the report “Establishment of a great international movement in support of Chavism”. This argumentative document does not avoid tough issues such as the current economic situation or the lack of safety. We cannot pretend that Chavista Venezuela is paradise on Earth.

Likewise, spaces are offered for discussing the contentious issues of these days, namely the casualties recorded, the arrest of Leopoldo Lopez or the halt to the transmission of NTN24, that can be certainly addressed in an interview or an open debate.

This argument is also liable to be used in the internal debate of Venezuela by affinity people and groups. It is recommended to be discreet with the use and forwarding of this document. Its leaking by the opposition’s media or through social networks would be a blow to the credibility of the discourse of the supporters of Chavism.

Arguments • Venezuela, as any other country, has problems, within a context of legitimate expression of discrepancies and protests.

• The demonstrations we have seen in recent days are the proof that in Venezuela there is full democracy and respect for the right to protest and dissent. In fact, the opposition has been duly authorised for every march it has wanted to organise.

• In Venezuela, the right to protest is enshrined, according to our Constitution whose Article 68 is about peaceful protest. However, it should be noted that, during demonstrations on 12 February and the following days, twelve people were found with firearms and many other types of weapons such as knives, explosives, projectiles, Molotov cocktails among others, which calls into question the purely peaceful nature of the opposition demonstrations.

• For the vast majority of demonstrations, no authorisation has been requested. A group of people gather, block streets and highways, set up barricades with tires, and burn garbage. To such situations, police forces have carried out containment operations. Please, note the difference by observing the images taken in Europe or in the United States, where police forces beat brutally at the slightest protest. Demonstrators have not taken the picture they were looking for in order to show police officers breaking the heads of defenceless young people.

• As to the alleged lack of freedom of expression, we have to go to the websites of various media such as El Universal, El Nacional, Tal Cual or Globovision to find articles that not only dissent from the government, but also contain direct insults and threats. As Eduardo Galeano used to say, it is strange to use freedom of speech to complain that there is no freedom of speech.

• Some of the usual comments that have been made in the Venezuelan media would constitute a crime in most of democratic countries: callings for a coup d’etat, requests for the army to revolt... Can anybody imagine The New York Times, The Times, El Pais, II Corriere de la Sera, Le Monde or Frankfurter Zeitung Allgemeine asking, on their front page, the army to taking up arms in order to overthrow an elected government?

• In Venezuela, we have seen in the front page of a newspaper (named Tal Cual) the image of then-Head of State President Hugo Chavez caricatured as a pig. In any democratic country, any insult to its head of state is punished by law. For example, in Spain, certain publications containing satirical cartoons about the king have been eliminated, and the perpetrators have been tried and convicted. In Venezuela, the newspaper Tel Cual is still sold on the newsstands every day.

• In this argumentative document, we must contextualise the halt to the transmission of NTN24. No democratic country would have allowed a media outlet to be used to make calls for a coup d’etat. In this sense, it is necessary to recall the role played by the media in the coup of 2002.

(We must use this argument only if the issue of the halt of NTN24 arises in the discussion or the interview. In no case should this issue be brought up by a spokesman.

Moreover, NTN24 is not a open-signal channel; it is a subscription channel).

• Several media and social networks are full of opponents who express their disagreement. This fact alone confirms that in Venezuela there is freedom of expression.

• The nature of these protests is clearly political -in every sense of the word- and partisan. It is not true that they are due to the economic situation or the lack of safety. From the very first moment, these protesters have called for the resignation of President Maduro.

All articles appearing on these pages are the personal opinion of the writers.

Kuwait Times takes no responsibility for views expressed therein. Kuwait Times invites readers to voice their opinions. Please send submissions via email to: opinion@kuwaittimes.net or via snail mail to PO Box 1301 Safat, Kuwait. The editor reserves the right to edit any submission as necessary.

Qaeda hijacks spirit of Syria revolt Three years on, emboldened Assad is still in power

By Samia Nakhoul

S

yrian refugees in this border outpost were delighted to hear their home town of Azaz had been liberated - not from Bashar Al-Assad’s troops but from AlQaeda fighters who subjected them to a regime that included torture and public beheadings. For Syrians who three years ago rose up against 43 years of Assad family rule, living under the hard-line Sunni jihadists who said they had come to save them from the president’s atrocities was even worse than Assad himself.

While neither Assad nor the rebels have the upper hand, there is a growing sense among his foreign opponents that the battle for Syria has become a twin-track operation, with defeating the jihadists as important as ousting Assad. In interviews with Reuters, Syrians who have escaped areas that have fallen under the control of Al-Qaeda-linked groups have spoken of the way the jihadists have imposed their harsh and often violent version of Islam on their fellow Muslims.

When the uprising started in March 2011 part of the wave of Arab Spring revolts many Syrians had hoped either for reform or a quick end for Assad. Three years on, Assad is still in power, while his subjects have been gassed, starved, exiled and bombed with impunity. Many of those who initially succeeded in liberating large parts of northern Syria from government control soon found themselves under the yoke of foreign jihadists.

Syria’s conflict has drawn in foreign fighters who, while ostensibly rallying to the cause of their Muslim brothers against Assad, have turned their guns on rival rebel groups. They accuse them of apostasy for not following their austere version of Islam, which rebel veterans insisted was alien to Syria’s traditions. The priority of the Al-Qaeda inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as one of its fighters told Reuters, is to set up an Islamic Caliphate in the Middle East and on the doorstep of Europe, rather than fight the Assads.

Tangled Situation The situation in north and eastern Syria is chaotic, with scores of front lines where rebel fighters face either government forces or jihadist extremists. The internationally recognised Syrian opposition in exile has lost credibility with fighters on the ground, who dismiss them as five-star hotel revolutionaries, squabbling at inconsequential meetings from Istanbul to Geneva. At the same time, there has been a pushback against ISIL which has withdrawn to its strongholds bordering Iraq - not only from moderate and mainstream Islamist rebels but from rival AlQaeda forces such as the Nusra Front, which is more Syrian in its make-up and its focus on fighting the government.

To further complicate matters, Iran, the main Shiite power, and Saudi Arabia, its Sunni rival wedded to the Wahhabi puritanism that inspires jihadis, see Syria as the front line in their Shiite-Sunni war for supremacy in the Arab world. Syrians, according to the UN, are about to replace Afghans as the world’s largest refugee population. So far 2.4 million have fled a conflict that has killed 140,000 people.

“We’re following in the footsteps of Bosnia,” said Sarkis Naoum, a Lebanese columnist and expert on Syria. “This war will take its time, it might last 7, 8 or 10 years until world powers decide to resolve it.” A Gulf official said world powers now realised that inaction had been a mistake, increasing the numbers of potential terrorists who are a threat to the region and beyond. There were now two objectives in Syria - to defeat these “terrorists”

Rebels stand on the back of a pick-up truck driving through the eastern Syrian town of Deir Ezzor on Monday. — AFP

and “accelerate the exit of Assad”, he said.

Foreign Jihadis While hard information is scarce, one expert estimates Al-Qaeda has 25,000 fighters in Syria. Foreigners number 10,000, of which 2,000 are from Europe. Inside Syria, residents speak of lawlessness and terror, a state of chaos and implosion of state authority.

Assad controls most territory from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast, home to his Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiism, and other minorities. To the north, moderate Sunni rebels are in control near the border with Turkey while ISIL has tightened its grip along the Euphrates towards Iraq, linking up with Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

In Syria’s northeast, Kurds have established a form of self-government similar to the Iraqi Kurds in northern Iraq. In the south, Sunni rebels have seized areas from Deraa, near Jordan, to Quneitra in the foothills of the Golan Heights. While that oversimplifies the fragmentation of Syria, in which power changes from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, street to street, checkpoint to checkpoint, the overriding reality is that neither Assad nor the rebels have the upper hand.

Blighted Lives The influx of jihadis appeared to signal a shift against Assad, but in reality it has blighted the lives of Syrians in rebel areas and besmirched their cause, by associating it with terror. The testimony of those who lived it is harrowing. Abdallah Khalil, a 25-year-old activist and student of Sharia law, recalls the joy of liberating Azaz in 2011. “Life was OK but then these jihadis started arriving. They set up a military training camp, run by a jihadi from Egypt known as Abu Obeida AlMuhajer. First he told us it is banned to clap or sing in protests, then they killed the mentor of the revolution, Sheikh Youssef, a moderate Muslim. They told us: ‘you are infidels who want to sin, you don’t want to apply sharia’,” said Khalil. “Islam is strongly present in Syria but not this kind of Islam. They disfigured the religion and the revolution.”

Activists described a feud inside Al-Qaeda whereby ISIL, led by Iraqi veteran Abu Bakr

Al-Baghdadi, tried to take over Nusra, led by Abu Mohammed Al-Golani, but was rebuffed

by Ayman Zawahiri, successor to Osama bin Laden as the head of Al-Qaeda. The Syrian fighters stayed with Golani and the Nusra Front, they said, but Azaz ended up under ISIL, known colloquially as Daesh. That was when local people learned what the black flags of the Caliphate Jihadis meant.

“They went into a pre-school to segregate the boys from the girls,” said Mahmoud Osman, 27, an activist from Aleppo. “They started going to schools to check whether the girls were wearing the head-to-toe black chador and they started asking girls to marry them. Parents stopped sending their daughters to school,” he said.

Assad Not a Priority Al-Qaeda banned smoking, music and any mingling between men and women unless they were closely related. They forced Christians to pay protection taxes, activists said. They beheaded men in public squares because they fought for the mainstream rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA). “We used to hear about them or see them in movies but now we see them for real,” Osman added.

After local Islamic scholars pronounced it legitimate to fight Daesh, Azaz residents say, ISIL pulled back to its stronghold of Raqqa in the east.

While Daesh held territory, the government left the towns unmolested, activists said. Only when they left did government forces drop barrel bombs - proof, they say, that Assad wants the most hardline Islamists to prevail in rebel areas so he can portray his fight as a battle with Al-Qaeda. Assad has repeatedly referred to his enemies as terrorists.

Khaled Ibrahim, 30, who worked in advertising before the war and is from Raqqa, describes his home as an ISIL province, ruled by terror. He said every Friday they executed activists, Free Syrian Army fighters and also looters in the public square, either by the sword or by gunfire. He and others said that anybody who worked for a foreign NGO or a media outlet was considered an “infidel agent”.

Abu Thaer, a 25-year-old computer science student and media activist, who was held by ISIL with FSA fighters and NGO workers, said “every day that passed there I wished for death”. “They used to come into our cell with the sword, they would tell us ‘you are infidels, we will cut your throat’. They started torturing the FSA fighters: One day they would cut a finger, another day a slice of their ear and let them bleed.” Abu Alaa, 25, is a defector from ISIL now living in Killis.

Formerly in the FSA, he fought for six months with the veteran jihadi who uses the nom de guerre Abu Omar Al-Shishani (the Chechen), the Daesh commander who captured a government airbase near Aleppo last summer. Abu Alaa was jailed and then escaped after trying to help friends who were being rounded up, tortured and executed. “They were torturing the prisoners with electricity and beatings” says Abu Alaa.

“They liquidated many on the grounds they are allies with the west.”

Abu Khaled, a former Syrian soldier and now an ISIL officer, made little effort to contradict these chilling accounts. Reached by Skype in northern Syria, he spoke of a network of contacts abroad including in France and Britain, operating through mosques, but also using social media and the Internet. “We don’t have a problem getting fighters, and we have been able to get them into Syria. We are receiving jihadis from all over the world, from Chechnya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, Turkey, Britain and France. ISIL has some 6,000 fighters,” he said.

ISIL ranks were swelled by 500 jihadis broken out of Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and a further 700 freed from Sednaya military jail near Damascus in what was seen in rebel and western circles as an attempt by Assad to boost jihadi forces in Syria at the expense of mainstream rebels. “The aim of the ISIL is to set up an Islamic caliphate that will attract Muslims from all over the world.

Our aim is to fight the infidels whether it is Bashar Al-Assad or the Free Syrian Army,” he told Reuters. “Any apostate should be beheaded and women must follow the sharia,” he said. — Reuters

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

S P ORTS

Harris: I’m not done yet SYDNEY: Australian fast bowler Ryan Harris, who bowled his country to a series victory in South Africa last week, is hoping knee surgery will prolong his test career through the 2015 Ashes at least.

The 34-year-old has been plagued by injuries since his debut in 2010 but was able to put together a run of 12 consecutive tests over the last seven months to help Australia wrest back the Ashes and beat South Africa 2-1 in an away series.

Harris played through the pain to give Australia the victory on a dramatic final day of the third test against South Africa at Newlands last week before returning home for surgery.

“The 2015 Ashes and the series after that back in Australia are the goals for me if I’m bowling well enough and still in form,” Harris told Melbourne’s SEN radio.

“There’s World Cup in between and I’d love to force my way back into that team as well. “I’ve read a few little comments here and there in papers that it could be the end of me, but I’m not done yet. I’ll be back.” While none has doubted Harris’s ability as a bowler, his injuries had restricted him to just 12 tests in three years until he got on the plane for the opening Ashes series of 2013.

He played four of five tests in that series in England, all five tests in the 5-0 triumph in the return Ashes series and all three tests against the Proteas.—Reuters

NHL results/standings Pittsburgh 3, Washington 2; Nashville 4, Ottawa 3 (OT);

Obama honors college athletes WASHINGTON: There were plenty of college athletes at the White House on Monday, but none of the usual NFL or NBA-bound football and basketball players.

Instead, President Barack Obama recognized the achievements of college athletes not in the big-money pursuits of football and basketball, but in a range of other sports like riflery, field hockey, water polo, tennis, track and field, soccer, lacrosse and hockey.

“It is nice to be outside for a change, and spring break is underway for a lot of schools, so we thought this was the perfect time to invite a bunch of college kids over to wreak havoc on the White House,” said Obama, just a week after a snowstorm paralyzed the US capital. “What could go wrong?”

There was no reason for him to worry, as the athletes were uniformly well-behaved, many taking “selfies” - photos of themselves - at the breezy, seasonable South Lawn event.

Three schools had two national championship teams present: Princeton University (fencing and field hockey); the University of North Carolina (women’s lacrosse and women’s soccer); and the University of Southern California (men’s and women’s water polo).—Reuters

Charlton sack manager Powell LONDON: Struggling Charlton Athletic have sacked manager Chris Powell following their FA Cup quarter-final defeat by Sheffield United at the weekend, the London club said yesterday. “Chris Powell has been relieved of his position as first-team manager at Charlton Athletic with immediate effect,” the Championship (second tier) club’s website said.

Powell, 44, made more than 200 appearances for Charlton as a player and was appointed manager in 2011. His sacking means Norwich City’s Chris Hughton is now the only black manager working in England’s top four divisions.

Charlton are four points adrift of safety at the foot of the Championship table. The club’s Belgian owner Roland Duchatelet blamed a breakdown in contract talks for Powell’s departure.

“We have been working with Chris Powell and his representatives for a couple of weeks to try and agree a contract extension which would have seen us continue to work together,” he said.

“There was good progress, but we could not reach an agreement over the club’s football strategy going forward. “The situation put a strain on the working relationship between Chris and the board. —Reuters

Penguins down Capitals

Phoenix 4, Tampa Bay 3 (So); Colorado 3, Winnipeg 2 (OT); Los Angeles 3, Calgary 2; NY Islanders 7, Vancouver 4; Toronto 3, Anaheim 1.

Western Conference Pacific Division W

L

OTL

GF

GA

PTS

Anaheim

43

15

7

208

160

93

San Jose

41

17

7

199

157

89

Los Angeles

38

22

6

162

139

82

Phoenix

30

24

11

181

188

71

Vancouver

29

28

10

157

181

68

Calgary

25

33

7

152

194

57

Edmonton

22

35

8

162

212

52

Central Division St. Louis

44

14

6

211

145

94

Chicago

38

13

14

223

172

90

Colorado

42

18

5

199

172

89

Minnesota

34

22

8

158

157

76

Dallas

31

23

10

185

179

72

Winnipeg

30

28

8

182

192

68

Nashville

27

28

10

156

194

64

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division Boston

42

17

5

204

143

89

Toronto

35

23

8

196

199

78

Montreal

35

24

7

166

166

77

Tampa Bay

34

24

7

186

171

75

Detroit

29

22

13

171

179

71

Ottawa

28

25

12

185

213

68

Florida

24

33

7

156

206

55

Buffalo

19

37

8

128

188

46

Metropolitan Division Pittsburgh

43

17

4

204

159

90

NY Rangers

35

26

4

171

162

74

Philadelphia

33

24

7

183

188

73

Columbus

33

26

5

186

178

71

Washington

30

26

10

193

200

70

New Jersey

28

24

13

161

167

69

Carolina

27

28

9

160

184

63

NY Islanders

25

33

9

188

228

59

Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss column (L).

NBK brings Visa World Cup excitement to its customers KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) introduced the new FIFA World Cup VISA Prepaid Card in Kuwait bringing the 2014 FIFA World Cup excitement to its enthusiastic football customers. NBK is the official non-host retail banking partner of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Kuwait, in association with Visa, the official FIFA partner.

NBK’S FIFA World Cup VISA Prepaid Cardholders will enjoy the thrill of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, getting one chance to enter draws for every cumulative KD 20 spent locally using the card on all purchases. The cardholders can win one of 32 trips for two to attend one of the World Cup matches in Brazil this year including the final match in association with Visa. NBK FIFA World Cup VISA Prepaid Cardholders can also triple their chances to win for every cumulative KD 20 spent outside Kuwait or on international websites.

The new NBK FIFA World Cup VISA Prepaid Card is the better alternative to cash for making purchases, and is safe to use for online shopping. The card is accepted locally and worldwide, easy to use, re-loadable and provides NBK customers with a variety of features and exclusive benefits that include free travel insurance coverage up to USD 100,000.

NBK Cards provide an array of benefits that cater to your lifestyle needs, offering special services locally and globally, so that customers can enjoy convenience and peace of mind whether they’re in Kuwait or abroad.

NBK Cards are the safest, most convenient and rewarding way to pay.

WASHINGTON: Sidney Crosby had a hand in both early goals and Chris Kunitz scored twice as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat Alex Ovechkin’s struggling Washington Capitals 3-2 Monday.

Crosby finished with his 30th goal and two assists to raise his NHL-leading point total to 87, matching his uniform number. The Penguins beat Washington for the seventh consecutive time and overtook idle Boston for the Eastern Conference’s best record.

The Capitals, who began the day outside of the playoff picture in 10th place in the East, have lost four of their past five games. The teams play each other again Tuesday at Pittsburgh.

Monday’s game featured the largely uneventful NHL debut of a player Capitals general manager George McPhee likened to the Loch Ness Monster - “We’ve heard of you, but we haven’t seen you” - Russian forward Evgeny Kuznetsov. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound winger was a firstround draft pick in 2010, but has been playing in Russia until now.

KINGS 3, FLAMES 2 Anze Kopitar had a goal and an assist to lead Los Angeles to its eighth straight win. Justin Williams and Trevor Lewis also scored for the Kings.

Mike Cammalleri and Brian McGrattan scored for the Flames, who lost for just the second time in their past nine games at the Saddledome.

Playing in his fourth straight game, rookie Calgary goalie Joni Ortio made 20 saves. Martin Jones stopped 24 of 26 shots he faced to improve his record in his rookie season with the Kings to 10-4.

ISLANDERS 7, CANUCKS 4 Matt Martin scored the winner in the Islanders’ sevengoal third period, and New York erased a three-goal deficit in the final frame to beat Vancouver.

Martin made it 5-4 at 10:04 for the third for the Islanders, who reversed a recent trend and rallied late instead of squandering a lead.

Josh Bailey, Ryan Strome, Calvin de Haan, Frans Nielsen, Anders Lee and Cal Clutterbuck also scored for the Islanders, who scored four times in the first 6:22 of the third.

The Islanders tied their team record for goals in a period, matching the mark set in the second period of a 9-4 win over the New York Rangers on Dec. 23, 1978. Chris Higgins, Henrik Sedin, Ryan Kesler and Chris Tanev scored for the Canucks, who lost for the 12th time in 14 games.

Evgeni Nabokov made 20 saves in the win. Eddie Lack stopped 21 shots for the Canucks.

AVALANCHE 3, JETS 2 Matt Duchene scored 2:33 into overtime, and Semyon Varlamov stopped 33 shots to lift Colorado over Winnipeg.

John Mitchell and Andre Benoit also scored for the Avalanche, who have won five of six.

Dustin Byfuglien scored both goals for the Jets.

Duchene knocked in the winner on a scramble in front of the net. Defenseman Tobias Enstrom tried to punch the puck into the corner, but it hit Duchene in the shin and dropped down to his stick. From there, Duchene lifted it over backup goalie Al Montoya. Duchene has a career-best eight-game point streak.

MAPLE LEAFS 3, DUCKS 1 Phil Kessel and Tyler Bozak each had a goal and two assists, and Toronto celebrated coach Randy Carlyle’s return to Anaheim with a victory.

Paul Ranger scored and Jonathan Bernier made 43 saves as the Maple Leafs opened a five-game trip with their third consecutive victory, leapfrogging Montreal into second place in the Atlantic Division.

Carlyle was back at Honda Center for the first time since the Ducks fired the only coach to lead the franchise to a Stanley Cup title. He got a standing ovation in the first period during a video tribute on the scoreboard.

Corey Perry scored his 35th goal and Frederik Andersen stopped 20 shots in the Ducks’ third straight loss to playoffbound Eastern Conference teams.

PREDATORS 4, SENATORS 3 Seth Jones scored at 3:49 of overtime as Nashville defeated Ottawa. Ryan Ellis broke in alone on goaltender Robin Lehner and Jones was there to bang home the loose puck.

The win allowed the Predators to snap a four-game losing streak. Nick Spaling, Craig Smith and Eric Nystrom also scored for Nashville. Jared Cowen, Marc Methot and Jason Spezza scored for the Senators. Craig Anderson allowed three goals on 29 shots before leaving the game early in the third. Lehner faced 13 shots in relief.

COYOTES 4, LIGHTNING 3 Radim Vrbata scored the lone shootout goal to lead Phoenix past Tampa Bay. Vrbata beat Ben Bishop with a backhand. Mike Smith stopped all three Lightning shootout shots.

Ondrej Palat got the Lightning even at 3-all on his second goal of the game, coming from the low slot with the Tampa Bay net empty and 37.2 seconds left in regulation.

Palat also had an assist.

Brandon McMillan, Martin Erat and Mikkel Boedker scored for the Coyotes, who trailed eighth-place Dallas by one point in the Western Conference. Tampa Bay, 1-4-2 since the Olympic break ended, also got a goal from Tyler Johnson. — AP

WASHINGTON: Matt Niskanen No. 2 of the Pittsburgh Penguins moves the puck in front of Troy Brouwer No. 20 of the Washington Capitals during the third period of the Penguins 3-2 win at Verizon Center. — AFP

OSN brings viewers live and exclusive coverage of T-20 in high definition DUBAI: OSN, the region’s leading pay-T V network and the undisputed ‘home of cricket’ will bring sports fans live and exclusive coverage of the highly anticipated ICC World Twenty20, which takes place in Bangladesh from March to April 2014, in stunning High Definition.

Adding to the excitement and marking a regional first, OSN also unveiled its first cricket panel comprising a world class team of cricketing greats who will

broadcast live from the OSN’s studios in Dubai Media City.

OSN’s live studio panel includes cricketing legends VVS Laxman, Waqar Younis, Adam Gilchrist and Michael Vaughan, who have represented the national teams of India, Pakistan, Australia and England, respectively. Jim Rosenthal will play the role of anchor as the panel bring their views to the region.

Andy Wark man, OSN’s VP Sport & Production, said: The ICC

World Twenty20 is one of the biggest tournaments in world spor t and cricket fans in the region can look forward to three weeks of excitement and entertainment. The OSN Cricket studio team of Laxman, Younis, Gilchrist and Vaughan is pure box office and will be giving their views on the tournament from the OSN Studios in Dubai” VVS Laxman, former Indian batsman and captain of the Deccan Chargers in the IPL, is one of India’s most celebrated cricketers, was also one of the few cricketers to receive the Padma Shri award, the Government of India’s civilian honor. Waqar Younis is regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time and holds the record of being the youngest Pakistani Test captain, and the third youngest Test captain in the history of the industry and last year was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.

Adam Gilchrist holds the world record for the most dismissals by a wicket keeper in One Day International cricket, and the most by an Australian in test cricket, and was also inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame last year. M ichael Vaughan was ranked as one of the world’s best batsmen following the 2002/2003 Ashes, in which he scored 633 runs, including three centuries and famously lifted in Ashes in 2005.

This year, 16 teams will go head to head in 35 matches to take home the ICC World Twenty20 trophy. In addition to the UAE, which makes its debut at this year ’s ICC World T20 World and are sponsored by OSN, par ticipating teams include Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, Hong Kong, I ndia, I reland, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

S P ORTS NBA results/standings Charlotte 105, Denver 98; Brooklyn 101, Toronto 97; Miami 99, Washington 90; NY Knicks 123, Philadelphia 110; Milwaukee 105, Orlando 98; Atlanta 112, Utah 110; LA Clippers 112, Phoenix 105.

Toronto Brooklyn NY Knicks Boston Philadelphia

Eastern Conference Atlantic Division W L 35 27 32 30 25 40 22 41 15 48

PCT .565 .516 .385 .349 .238

GB 3 11.5 13.5 20.5

Indiana Chicago Detroit Cleveland Milwaukee

Central Division 46 17 35 28 24 39 24 40 13 50

.730 .556 .381 .375 .206

11 22 22.5 33

Miami Washington Charlotte Atlanta Orlando

Southeast Division 44 17 33 30 30 34 27 35 19 46

.721 .524 .469 .435 .292

12 15.5 17.5 27

Oklahoma City Portland Minnesota Denver Utah

Western Conference Northwest Division 46 17 42 21 31 31 27 36 22 42

.730 .667 .500 .429 .344

4 14.5 19 24.5

LA Clippers Golden State Phoenix Sacramento LA Lakers

Pacific division 45 20 40 24 36 27 22 41 22 42

.692 .625 .571 .349 .344

4.5 8 22 22.5

San Antonio Houston Dallas Memphis New Orleans

Southwest Division 46 16 44 19 38 26 36 26 26 37

.742 .698 .594 .581 .413

2.5 9 10 20.5

Knicks pound 76ers NEW YORK: Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 28 points as the New York Knicks defeated Philadelphia 123-110 on Monday, sending the 76ers to their 17th straight loss.

Amare Stoudemire added 23 points, and J.R. Smith and Carmelo Anthony each had 22 as the Knicks won their fourth game in a row.

Michael Carter-Williams recorded a triple-double with 23 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, while Tony Wroten also had 23 points for the struggling 76ers. The Knicks, who trailed by 12 points in the first quarter, took their biggest lead of the game, 110-89, on the fourth of Hardaway Jr’s five 3-pointers with 7:37 left and never led by less than 12 the rest of the way.

BUCKS 105, MAGIC 98 Brandon Knight scored 24 points and sparked Milwaukee’s rousing rally from an 18-point deficit with a dunk. Knight confounded Orlando with a quick first step and threw down a dunk for a 74-71 lead with 10:57 left after Ramon Sessions went high for an outlet pass in the lane and patted the ball back to his driving backcourt mate.

The lead swelled to 95-81 with 2:49 left before Orlando mounted its own late charge to get within three off a 3 from Jameer Nelson with 35 seconds left.

But the Bucks hit their foul shots late and Orlando was

Toronto in the Atlantic. Kyle Lowry scored 21 points to lead Toronto, which had won nine of its previous 11. The Nets trailed 94-92 after Lowry split the defense in the lane for a lay-up with 2:15 left.

Brooklyn then answered with five straight points as Andray Blatche’s reverse lay-up tied the score at 94 and Pierce followed with a 3-pointer.

HAWKS 112, JAZZ 110 Kyle Korver scored 26 points and Paul Millsap added 23 to help Atlanta outlast Utah to snap a six-game losing streak. Jeff Teague had 14 points and the Hawks used a

HEAT 99, WIZARDS 90 Dwyane Wade scored 13 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter and LeBron James led all scorers with 23 points and Miami clinched a playoff spot.

Chris Bosh scored 22 for the Heat, who snapped a three-game slide and moved within one game of Indiana in the race for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Ray Allen added 13 for Miami, which was down one midway through the fourth before Wade sparked a 12-0 run with five points, three assists and a block at the rim.

The Heat never trailed again, and avoided their first fourgame slide since 2011. Bradley Beal scored 18 points, Martell Webster added 17 and Drew Gooden scored 15 for the Wizards.

CLIPPERS 112, SUNS 105 Blake Griffin scored 22 of his 37 points in the first quarter and made 14 of 16 shots before fouling out as the Clippers won their eighth straight.

Darren Collison scored 20 points and Chris Paul added 17 points and 11 assists for the Pacific Division leaders, who were 55.1 percent from the field and improved to 23-1 when shooting at least 50 percent. Goran Dragic had 23 points and five assists during a foul-plagued 33 minutes for the Suns, who slipped a half-game behind idle Memphis for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot and are 1 1-2 behind Dallas. Phoenix hasn’t made the postseason since 2010 under coach Alvin Gentry, now a Clippers associate head coach.

BOBCATS 105, NUGGETS 98 Al Jefferson scored 26 points and Kemba Walker added 24 as Charlotte won its seventh straight at home.

Jefferson made 10 of his first 14 field-goal attempts and also had a game-high 12 rebounds. Walker added seven assists for the Bobcats, who also received a big boost from Gary Neal off the bench. Neal made his first six fieldgoal tries, including three 3-pointers, and ended up with 19 points. Josh McRoberts added 15 points for Charlotte, including a key 3-pointer with 6:15 left at the shot-clock buzzer to extend Charlotte’s lead to 90-82 after Denver had cut it to five at 87-82. Ty Lawson scored 24 points to lead the Nuggets.

NEW YORK: Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony (7) defends Philadelphia 76ers’ Thaddeus Young (21) during the second half of an NBA basketball game. — AP

hurt after Nikola Vucevic was whistled for an offensive foul with 22 seconds left.

NETS 101, RAPTORS 97 Deron Williams and Shaun Livingston each scored 18 points and an ailing Paul Pierce hit a 3-pointer with 1:14 remaining to lead Brooklyn past Atlantic Division-leading Toronto.

Pierce finished with 15 points and Joe Johnson added 14 for the Nets, who won their season-high eighth straight at home. Brooklyn moved three games behind

late 16-4 run to end a 10-game road skid and salvage a win at the end of a gloomy six-game road trip.

The Jazz led 96-93 after Trey Burke’s 3-pointer, but Korver started an 8-0 run with a 3-pointer and then a contested jumper to beat the shot clock. Trey Burke made a layup before Millsap countered with two free throws and Korver added two of his own. Trailing 109-100 with 26 seconds left, the Jazz made it interesting with 10 points in the last 16 seconds. Burke scored 23 points and Marvin Williams had 18 for the Jazz, who have lost six of their last seven. — AP

ABK announces winner of the first draw for the ‘Watch it Live in Brazil with Visa’ KUWAIT: Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait’s Cardholder, Haitham Hussein, is the lucky winner who will be flying to Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup courtesy of Visa International; this offer comes as part of ABK’s commitment to offer exciting rewards to its valued customers.

Haitham Hussein won the first draw event that was held on the 10th of March, his prize consist of a 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Quarter-final Package for two. The draw was conducted by ABK under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The ABK 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil promotion is still running, where customers get the chance to win a trip to Brazil. With the special FIFA World Cup edition Visa Gold Prepaid Travel card, ABK customers will get the exclusive chance to travel to Brazil and attend the quarter-final or semi-final match courtesy of Visa.

All the cardholder has to do to win is spend on the card

and get the chance to enter 2 draws to win quarter-final and semi-final package (each for two persons) that include air-tickets to Brazil, hotel accommodation and match-tickets. In addition, cardholders also earn Emirates Skywards Miles for every 1 KD spent locally or overseas on the card, exclusively with ABK. Stewart Lockie, GM Retail Banking stated, “Congratulations to our lucky winner, the promotion continues till the April 30, with lucky winners to be drawn every month. To those who were not lucky I say, keep spending as you still have a lot of time, and many chances in the coming draws. Several opportunities remain to win those amazing packages courtesy of Visa International, and get a chance to watch it live in Brazil” So go ahead, use your ABK special FIFA World Cup edition Visa Gold Prepaid Travel card and win packages to watch the matches live in Brazil.

Odyssey Sims

W Virginia falls short in Big 12 title game

Mercedes Trophy to kick off at Sahara Golf and Country Club Three finalists to compete at the World Finals in Germany

OKLAHOMA CITY: Everything seemed to be going West Virginia’s way. Baylor superstar Odyssey Sims was hobbled by a left ankle injury and the Lady Bears’ emerging star, Nina Davis, played with foul trouble through much of the Big 12 championship game.

West Virginia didn’t take advantage. Sims scored 15 of her 19 points in the second half to help No. 9 Baylor defeat No. 7 West Virginia 74-71 Monday night and earn an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. “I told the players, remember how this feels because the next time going down the stretch, we’ve got to execute,” West Virginia coach Mike Carey said. “We normally have executed well going down the stretch. Today we just had a couple shots, missed them, and then defensively is where I was really disappointed. We didn’t execute and get some stops.”

Niya Johnson had a career-high 19 points and made four free throws in the final minute, and Davis added 16 points for the Lady Bears (29-4), who have won 15 of their past 16 games. Davis, a freshman, was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.

Bria Holmes scored 24 points and Linda Stepney and Averee Fields each scored 10 for West Virginia (29-4), which had won 12 straight.

“I think tonight we’ll feel the loss a little bit, but we just have to learn from it,” Fields said. “Our season is not over, and we want to make a good run in the NCAA tournament, so we have to put it behind us. We have to move on from wins and we have to move on from losses. So I think that we’ll get back together, get focused in practice, and we’ll be ready for the tournament.”

The teams shared the regular-season Big 12 title and split their games during the regular season, with each winning on the other’s home court. West Virginia slowed Sims, who had scored 48 and 39 points in the regular season games, but the Bears supported her Monday by shooting 48 percent overall.

The lead went back and forth in the final minutes. Sims made a jumper with 50.4 seconds left to put Baylor up 7069. West Virginia misconnected on a post entry pass and turned the ball over. Baylor ran the clock down, forcing West Virginia to foul. Holmes committed her fifth foul by reaching in on Johnson, and Johnson made two free throws.

West Virginia’s Stepney made a layup with 5.4 seconds

remaining, then West Virginia quickly fouled. Johnson made two more free throws with 4.7 seconds to play to put Baylor up by three. Stepney missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer, and Baylor celebrated.

Sims left the game after hurting her left ankle with 18:20 left in the first half and West Virginia leading 5-0.

When she returned to action with 12:59 left in the half, the Lady Bears had taken a 16-12 lead.

Sims subbed out again with 9:36 left in the first half.

When she returned, West Virginia tested her. Brooke Hampton drew a foul on her and made two free throws, then made a jumper over her after a drive, leading to Sims’ return to the bench.

Sims re-entered the game, but committed her second foul with 2:16 left in the half. Through it all, Baylor maintained control. Davis scored in close to push Baylor’s lead to 36-25, but she committed her second foul with 41 seconds left.

West Virginia’s Asya Bussie stole the ball and Holmes made a layup with 4.6 seconds left to cut Baylor’s lead to 38-32 at halftime. Holmes scored 19 points in the first half to keep the Mountaineers in the game. She made 7 of 9 shots in the first half while her teammates made 4 of 18.

“I think we played a little bit tentative the first half, so second half, coach Carey just told us to play our game to do what we normally do,” Fields said. “I think we came out with a lot of energy and wanted to play the way we normally do. We like running up and down the floor, so we tried to do that more the second half.” Davis committed her third foul with just over 15 minutes to play. Right after she subbed out, West Virginia cut Baylor’s lead to 46-44 on a baseline jumper by Stepney, then tied the game on its next possession when Bussie scored down low. The Mountaineers finally took the lead on a 3-pointer by Holmes with just under 12 minutes remaining. West Virginia extended its lead to five on a steal and layup by Fields.

Baylor regained the lead, 63-62, on a putback by Khadijah Cave, setting up the final 4 minutes. West Virginia now will wait to see where the selection committee places the Mountaineers. Carey believes his team has earned a good seed. “I think we at least should be a three, at least a three seed,” he said. “I said this yesterday: Two, three, I’m happy.”—AP

KUWAIT: Once again pitting the nation’s best amateur golfers against one another to compete for a place at the MercedesTrophy World Finals 2014, Abdul Rahman Albisher & Zaid Alkazemi Co. is holding the 17th Kuwait National Final of the prestigious MercedesTrophy Golf tournament, taking place at the Sahara Golf and Country Club on Friday, 14 March 2014.

Lucky winners will qualify for the 25th Mercedes Trophy World Final to be held in September 2014 in Stuttgart, the birthplace of the automobile and headquarters of Mercedes-Benz. In celebration of the tournament’s 25th anniversary, a rule disallowing previous winners will be suspended exclusively for 2014 so that the former participants can qualify again and participate.

A Hole-in-One challenge will see participants eagerly compete to drive home a Mercedes-Benz CCoupe, won on the spot should any skilled golfer have the luck to ace a shot.

The exciting programme also offers the opportunity to take part in the special ‘Drive to the M ajor ’ competition played during

MercedesTrophy tournaments all over the world.

All participants get the unique chance to win a spot in the ‘Monday After Event’ of The Open Championship (aka The British Open), travelling to the United Kingdom to play on the same course that world’s leading golfers were competing for the Claret Jug on just a day before.

“Over decades, golf has grown to become an integral part of Mercedes-Benz engagements in sport. Besides our partnership with the Masters, the PGA Championship and The Open Championship, Mercedes-Benz is very proud to provide the most fascinating premium amateur golf series to dedicated golfers worldwide,” said Michael Ruehle, CEO, Abdul Rahman Albisher & Zaid Alkazemi Co. “Every year we look forward to hosting this tournament, and 2014 is the best yet for amateur golfers in Kuwait.” Players will compete to be one of the top three finalists who will form Kuwait’s national team.

The team of three will then go on to play at the 2014 Mercedes Trophy World Final held annually in Germany in September against national teams from around the world.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

S P ORT S Photo of the day

Nadal and Sharapova stumble at Indian Wells

Aaron Hadlow performs during a road trip at Shark Bay in Cape Town, South Africa on February 13, 2014. — www.redbullcontentpool.com

Vettel lags behind off track as well as on it LONDON: Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso is Formula One’s most marketable driver with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel only fourth despite winning the last four world championships, according to a report published yesterday. The report by global sports marketing research firm Repucom found the Spaniard, a double world champion, enjoyed the greatest worldwide recognition and celebrity impact while Germany’s Vettel ranked only fourth.

Britain’s 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton, who drives for Mercedes, was second on the list and Brazilian Felipe Massa, who moved from Ferrari to Williams at the end of last season, took third place.

Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion who has returned to

Ferrari this season after leaving the sport and then making a comeback with Lotus, rated higher than Vettel in awareness but below him in overall marketability.

“It may be a surprise to some that globally, Sebastian Vettel does not score as highly in terms of public opinion as the likes of Alonso, Hamilton and Massa,” said Repucom’s Nigel Geach, senior vice president of motorsport, in a statement.

He said that was due in large part to Ferrari’s popularity and brand recognition - the Italian team are the most glamorous and successful in the sport - as well as Alonso’s own international sponsorship deals. “Despite Red Bull’s recent successes, globally, 59 percent of F1 fans have an interest in the Ferrari team, representing the

Sebastian Vettel takes a curve in this file photo.

highest levels of interest in any F1 team,” added Geach.

“With races screened across 160 global markets to a cumulative global TV audience of 1.8 billion, one can see the importance this can have on perception.”

The report said Alonso was known by 71.14 percent globally, although only 12.76 percent of those in the United States were aware of him.

Vettel’s global awareness rating was 54.30 percent.

“Alonso is a very likeable driver and as the global appeal of the sport increases, people seem to be rooting more and more for a new F1 champion and as the results show, Alonso is starting to edge ahead as the fans favorite,” Geach said.

The season star ts with the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday and Vettel’s Red Bull team are already on the back foot after problems with their new Renault V6 power unit in testing. Hamilton and Mercedes are the early bookmakers’ favourites.

Despite Hamilton’s global recognition being second only to Alonso, the repor t found compatriot Jenson Button was more marketable to a British audience.

“Button’s appeal, influence and aspirational scores see him as a better product endorser and a more marketable personality,” it said of the McLaren driver and 2009 world champion.

Massa enjoyed the highest domestic recognition of any driver, with a 99.2 percent rating in Brazil compared to Vettel’s 97.58 percent in Germany. — Reuters

F1 POWER TO THE PEOPLE Kuwait to host Infiniti Red Bull show run on March 28 KUWAIT: F1 Grand Prix are rare and elusive. Just 19 exist and gaining membership of the exclusive club to which they belong, the F1 calendar, is nigh on impossible.

For some a trip to a grand prix is an attainable dream, particularly for those living in Europe where grand prix racing still has its heartland.

However, what the exclusive nature of grand prix racing means for most is that they never get the chance to see F1 up close and personal. That’s millions of people in dozens of countries who’ve never heard the roar of a Formula One engine or experienced the visceral thrill of an F1 car blasting past within feet of where they’re standing.

Fans in Kuwait will get the chance to see the Infiniti Red Bull Racing World Champion Car on an 800-meter long urban track stretching from Bneid El Gar signal light to the Kuwait Towers. The car which accelerates from 0-100km/h in 2.4 seconds will reach speeds of 250km/h and above.

That’s what Infinity Red Bull Racing aim to remedy with its Live Demos and over the past number of years we’ve traversed the globe, bringing F1 and Infiniti Red Bull Racing to countries, cities and people who’d otherwise only ever get their F1 fix from television. From Colombo to Cape Town, Turin to Tokyo and Hong Kong to Heppenheim, Infiniti Red Bull Racing has taken its cars and drivers everywhere in a bid to bring F1 power to the people.

In addition to the Infiniti Red Bull Racing Formula One Show Run, Kuwait will get a glimpse of Chris Pfeiffer, a four-time World Stunt Riding Champion and one of the best Stunt Riders in the world who will be pushing the limits with his new tricks. Abdo Feghali, Middle East Hill Climb Champion and Holder of the Guinness World Record for the longest drift will also entertain the spectators with his unique drifting show.

The event sponsored by Infiniti, Pirelli and is held under the organization of KMRC will take place on March 28 at 2pm.

INDIAN WELLS: Rafa Nadal and Maria Sharapova were both knocked out of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Monday after stunning upsets at one of the world’s biggest tournaments outside the four grand slams.

Nadal was sent packing by Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7-5) after Sharapova fell to Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi 6-3 4-6 7-5 as last year’s men’s and women’s singles champions both crashed out. Nadal blew a 4-2 lead in the deciding tiebreak after the Spaniard had fought his way back from 5-2 down in the deciding third set.

“I wanted to play very well here. I had good success in this tournament in the past, a tournament I always feel good about,” said Nadal, who will now turn his attention to the Sony Open in south Florida.

“I’m going to keep working hard to try to be ready to play better in Miami.”

Nadal beat Dolgopolov in the final of the inaugural Rio Open last month but the Ukrainian got his revenge on the world number one in the Californian desert.

“I feel great, as after every win, of course. I beat the defending champion and the number one in the world,” said Dolgopolov, whose next opponent is Fabio Fognini after the Italian saved two match points in a 6-2 3-6 7-5 win over Frenchman Gael Monfils.

Giorgi, a 22-year-old ranked 79th in the world, made the fourth round of the US Open last year as a qualifier, but her win over the world number five Russian was the biggest of her career.

“I did not play a good match at all,” said Sharapova, who dropped serve eight times and committed 58 unforced errors. “(I’ve) never played against her, but she’s someone that doesn’t give you much rhythm. She’s quite aggressive, but some shots she hits incredible for a long period of time.

“Sometimes they go off a bit. But, if I’m speaking about my level, it was nowhere near where it should have been.” Giorgi will play her countrywoman Flavia Pennetta in the next round after she beat Australian Sam Stosur 6-4 3-6 6-1. There were no other major surprises although Britain’s Andy Murray was forced to dig deep to see off promising Czech Jiri Vesely and avoid a similar fate.

The Wimbledon champion won 6-7 (7-2) 6-4 6-4 but only after clawing back from the brink of defeat against the 20-year-old Vesely.

Murray lost the opening set despite going up an early break but then struggled on serve against the left-handed Vesely, ranked 77th in the world.

The Scotsman was broken six times in the match and trailed in both the second and third sets but fought back each time, reeling off four consecutive games to seal victory.

“It was just one of those matches where there wasn’t one period where I thought that the level of tennis from both of us was high at the same time,” said Murray.

“That can create a lot of breaks and a lot of sort of back and forth swings in the match. It wasn’t just the start of the match that was frustrating. The whole match was.”

Murray will play Canada’s big-serving Milos Raonic in the next round as

el is. Even if I won 6 and 6 today, I just feel like I was calm and served for the set.

“Okay, got broken. Still managed to stay calm. Down ... in the second; stayed calm and came back. So those are the moments where you feel there is confidence around somewhere.”

Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka extended his unbeaten run this year to 13 matches with a ruthless 6-0 6-2 win over Italy’s Andreas Seppi in just 49 minutes before joining forces with Federer in the doubles.

China’s Li Na, the top seed in the women’s draw, had no problems booking her place in the fourth round, beating Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-3 6-4.

Despite dishing up nine doublefaults and having her own service bro-

INDIAN WELLS: Rafael Nadal, of Spain, returns a shot to Alexandr Dolgopolov, of Ukraine, during their match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament. —AP he bids to win one of the few North American hardcourt titles to have eluded him.

Switzerland’s former world number one Roger Federer also advanced after he was pushed all the way by Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov before winning 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-2).

Federer, who won his 78th career singles title in Dubai earlier this month, will play either German Tommy Haas or Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the fourth round.

“I feel like I’m in a good place,” said Federer, a four-time champion at Indian Wells. “I know what my solid lev-

ken twice, Li was far too strong and streetwise for Pliskova, wrapping up the win with an ace.

“At least I could win the last point and stay in the tournament,” Li said. “If you’re a tennis player, you’ll make double faults. At least I can improve my serve even more from here.”

Li is looking to win her first Indian Wells title and continue her great start to the year after capturing the Australian Open women’s title.

Her next opponent is Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak, who defeated Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1 6-7 (3-7) 6-0. — Reuters

Dallas Seavey clinches his second Iditarod dog race

SWITZERLAND: Austria’s Anna Fenninger prepares to compete on his way to clock the fastest time during an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill training. — AP

Hirscher, Fenninger aim for World Cup double LENZERHEIDE: After Austria easily topped the Alpine skiing medals table at the Sochi Olympics, Marcel Hirscher and Anna Fenninger aim to put the “Wunderteam” back on top of the World Cup standings.

Not since 2002 have the Austrians held both the men’s and women’s overall titles, but Hirscher and Fenninger can achieve just that at the World Cup Finals this week. Both face head-to-head contests - with Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway and Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany - in tight races for the giant crystal globe trophies. If Hirscher and Fenninger can win the titles, they will match the achievement of Austrian duo Stephan Eberharter and Michaela Dorfmeister 12 years ago. The last time one nation swept the overall titles was Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn for the United States in 2008. “Anna will win the overall title,” said Hirscher, the two-time defending overall champion.

The men’s side may be tougher. Svindal is looking for a third overall title to add to his 2007 and ‘09 victories, though even he thinks Hirscher is the favorite. “But I’ll do my best,” the easy-going Norwegian said.

Svindal earned his overall titles by edging Benjamin Raich by a combined 15 points - a tiny margin when race wins are worth 100 and the champion typically totals about 1,300 points. Hirscher starts the final four-race stretch with a four-point lead over Svindal, 1,050 to 1,046.

The 25-year-old Austrian should make a rare super-G start on Thursday, but he skips the downhill races. That will give a boost to Svindal, who already has the season-long discipline title. “I feel pretty good. I have been in this situation before,” Svindal said Tuesday. “Instead of looking at it in a negative way, I’m excited that I’m in this position. It means I had a good winter.” Yet Svindal, a four-race winner this season, has seen his results dip a little since being affected by allergies at the Olympics.

“When that keeps happening it’s not a coincidence,” he said. “It means that I’m not as fast as I was at the beginning of the winter.” Hirscher, who took Olympic silver in slalom, has also had several fourth- and fifth-places podium finishes recently. He lost the slalom points lead to Felix Neureuther of Germany, and can be overtaken by Ted Ligety of the United States in giant slalom on Saturday.

With 10 World Cup trophies awarded this week, Hirscher and Fenninger can take a majority home to their native region - adding to their combined three Olympic medals of Austria’s nine.—AP

NOME: Dallas Seavey ran a blistering pace to rally from third place and win his second Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race early Tuesday in a record-breaking finish, after a sudden storm blew the front-runner out of the competition and kept another musher minutes away from her first win.

The victory was so strange that Seavey said he didn’t even realize he won the race until about 90 seconds after he crossed the finish line. “Man, this is a lot of people coming out to see third place come in,” he thought about the hubbub when he arrived in Nome early yesterday. “I just found out that I won. I think you guys knew before I did,” he told a packed convention hall in Nome early yesterday. In fact, he thought he was “racing my dad for third,” he said. But in fact the trailing musher he thought was his father, defending champion Mitch Seavey, was actually Aliy Zirkle, and they were battling for first place. Only Zirkle knew it, though.

The strange finish started Monday afternoon when fourtime champ Jeff King enjoyed an hour’s lead over Zirkle and left the checkpoint at White Mountain. King wasn’t challenged as he maintained, and at times, extended his lead along the Bering Sea coast. He was trying to become the race’s second five-time winner. Then Safety happened.

Safety is the last checkpoint in the race, 22 miles from the finish line in Nome. The area was buffeted by extremely high winds and a ground blizzard. A gust of wind blew King off course and into driftwood about 4 miles before Safety. He was able to get the team back together, but they wouldn’t run.

So he sat for 2 1/2 hours until he flagged down a passing snowmobiler. He hitched a ride to the checkpoint at Safety and scratched. Zirkle had made up the hour on King, and conditions were so bad, she decided to stay in Safety - a checkpoint no one ever uses for a break. “I had to stop in Safety for a couple of dogs and myself,” said Zirkle, who had frostbite on her hands. When she went to sign in, the paper was blank. She asked workers where King was, and they were surprised she didn’t see him on the trail.

“I never saw Jeff out there, but I wasn’t on the trail most of the time. I don’t know where I was,” she said. Because of the blizzard-like conditions, she wasn’t going to continue. “I said, to heck with it, I’m staying,” Zirkle said.She had a cup of coffee, talked to people in Safety about how bad the conditions were, took a nap. And after she woke up, she saw Seavey breeze through the checkpoint, staying only three minutes. —AP

ALASKA: Dallas Seavey gets a kiss from one of his dogs after winning the 2014 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Nome. — AP

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

S P ORT S

Sheikh Salman Al-Humoud honored during the dinner. — Photos by Sherif Ismail

Egyptian Azmi Mohamed honored for winning first place in Skeet shooting. ( Front left) Eng. Duaij Al-Otaibi

Obaid Al-Ossaimi honoring the winners in men’s individual rifle shooting (10 meters).

Kuwait shooters top medals table

By Abdellatif Sharaa KUWAIT: Kuwaiti shooter Saud Habeeb won a bronze medal during the 3rd Amir International Shooting Grand Prix in the skeet event. Egypt’s Mohammad Azmi won the gold medal followed by Ramella Fabio of Switzerland. Kuwait remains on top with one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

Meanwhile, the 7th Asian Airgun Championship got hotter as India and China won two gold medals each. China tops the list with 5 golds compared to 3 for India. India’s Chain Singh

won the gold medal in the 10-m air rifle for men scoring 206 points followed by China’s Cong Qin with the score of 204.5, while his compatriot Zhiguo Liu won the bronze with 183.7 points. In the men’s team event, China was first with the score of 1869.1, followed by Iran with the score of 1860.9 and India with 1856.1.

In the women’s 10-m air pistol event, India’s Heena Sidhu , who holds the world record, won the gold medal with a score of 200.3 points followed by Taiwan’s Chia Ying Wu who scored 198.3 and Oman’s Wadha Al-Balushi with 177.3 points. In the

Adnan Al-Ibrahim honoring the Chinese team, winners of 10 meter (Men).

team event, China won the gold with a score of 1138 points followed by India with the score of 1137.5 and Taiwan with 1134.

Egyptian shooter Rami Muhailba said competition in the individual skeet event was very strong and results were not known until the very last moment, adding that the participating shooters showed a very high level. He expressed his pleasure for winning the gold medal, adding that the facilities the organizing committee provided make shooters bring out their best. He said that the gold medal is the least gift that can be

Heena Sidhu, India honored for winning first place in air-pressure pistol shooting.

First place winner ladies air-pressure pistol shooting, Heena Sidhu, India

Iraq’s ladies team

Turkmen shooter Ayeda

Moroccan shooter

Ashraf

KSF’s secretarial team

The protocol team member Mai

given to Egypt and its people.

Omani shooter Baloushi said her achievement was possible due to the good preparation for the championship. She said this is her first participation in the Amir Grand Prix and hoped to participate more in order to gain more experience and improve her skills.

Information Minister, State Minister for Youth Affairs, President of the Asian Shooting Confederation and Vice President of ISSF Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah later held a dinner for participating delegations.

Eng. Duaij Al-Otaibi and head of KSA’s delegation on a tour.

Kuwaiti shooter, Heba Erzouqi

Kuwait shooter, Shyma Bu Hamad

The Referees cmt. Supervisor Amina Ismail

Refs. Faisal Abdul Aziz and Ahmed Abdul Aziz

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

S P ORT S

Kun the potential key to Man City’s salvation

PARIS: Leverkusen Philipp Wollscheid controls the ball during a training session in Paris. Bayer Leverkusen will play Paris Saint Germain during a Champions League round of the last 16, second leg soccer match today. — AP

Mission impossible for Leverkusen PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain cannot afford to let their concentration slip as they prepare for their Champions League last 16 second leg tie at home to Bayer Leverkusen today, their coach Laurent Blanc believes. The French champions stormed to a 40 success in Germany, leaving the tie as good as over ahead of the Parc des Princes clash.

Added to that, PSG are on a run of five straight victories, having plundered 16 goals in that period, while Leverkusen only ended a five-match losing streak in drawing 1-1 at Hanover 96 on Saturday. If form and precedence were taken into account, there would be no doubt this tie was already done and dusted-no team has ever overturned a 4-0 first leg deficit in a Champions League knock-out tie-but Blanc is not one to rest on his laurels.

“You always have to be demanding with your team,” said Blanc. “In the Champions League, qualification is decided in the second match. For now, we don’t have it yet so we have to see through qualification. “Whoever plays, we have the desire to win. That’s important because the biggest teams, even when going through difficult periods, they need to concentrate.” The question of who plays will be an interesting one for PSG, for whom record-signing Edinson Cavani is available again having missed Saturday’s 3-0 win at Bastia after going back to Uruguay for personal reasons.

But in his absence, young Brazilian Lucas Moura has put in a couple of impressive performances after a largely disappointing season. If Cavani comes back into the side, it will be either Lucas or Argentine Ezequiel Lavezzi, who bagged a brace in Corsica, who sits it out. And it is perhaps Lucas’s lack of goals that will count against him-he has managed just three in 33 appearances this season.

“His all-round play is a lot better but for a forward statistics are important and you can’t say a forward is having a great season if he’s not scoring,” said Blanc.

COUNTER-ATTACK “Lavezzi is playing better than he was, he’s creating chances for himself and he’s finishing them off. He’s got eight goals now so that’s allowing him to rediscover his confidence.”

Although both players play out wide, their goalscoring records pale in comparison with Cavani’s 21 goals, and even more against the 38 plundered by Zlatan Ibrahimovic this season in just 37 league, cup and European matches.

Whichever three line-up against Leverkusen, the Germans will have a hard task containing the free-scoring Ligue 1 leaders. And Blanc is happy that whoever he picks will be ready.

“Winning matches is always the best preparation,” he said. “But we can see that whoever plays, mentally they are ready.”

Although Bayer have never been beaten over two legs on the three previous occasions they have faced French opposition in Europe, they are facing a team unbeaten at home in 27 European games, dating back to November 2006 and a 4-2 defeat to Hapoel Tel-Aviv in the UEFA Cup. And if Bayer do have any joy, it will likely have to be on the counter-attack as PSG have played more than twice as many completed passes in the competition to date than their German opponents-with 4,592 compared to 2,269.

Leverkusen have also scored less than half as many goalsnine to PSG’s 20. Their near-impossible task hasn’t been helped, either, by an injury to midfielder Jens Hegeler, who suffered a torn ankle ligament against Hanover and will likely miss the rest of the season. Defender Emir Spahic is also suspended after being sent off in the first leg. — AFP

MADRID: Sergio Aguero has a proven scoring record against Barcelona and the Manchester City forward may have a crucial role to play if his side are to upset the odds and reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time.

City trail 2-0 ahead of today’s last 16, second leg at the Nou Camp, a Lionel Messi penalty and a late Daniel Alves goal in Manchester last month putting the Spanish champions on the brink of their seventh consecutive appearance in the last eight of Europe’s elite club competition.

Aguero, who missed the first leg through injury but returned for City’s English Capital One (League) Cup final victory on March 2, scored five goals in 10 La Liga games against Barca for Atletico Madrid between 2006 and 2011.

They included a dramatic winner, his second of the match, in a 4-3 success at the Calderon in the 2008-09 season that prompted the kind of wild celebrations he unleashed with the goal that sealed the Premier League title for City in 2012.

The player, known as “Kun” after a Japanese cartoon character, also netted a double in the same La Liga fixture a year earlier, a 4-2 win for Atletico. He has never tasted victory at the Nou Camp though in six visits but did score in a 1-1 draw in 2006-07.

“As always in important games the individual performance of players is key,” City coach Manuel Pellegrini, who has labelled Aguero the third best player in the world behind his Argentina team mate Messi and Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo, said on the club’s website (www.mcfc.co.uk) on Monday. “Of course it’s difficult,” added the Chilean, in his first season in charge following stints in Spain with Villarreal, Real Madrid and Malaga.

“But I don’t have any doubt that we are going to Barcelona thinking that we can do it, that we can beat them in Camp Nou and we will try to have our revenge there.”

Pellegrini also has experience of Barca’s daunting arena, Europe’s biggest stadium. He faced them 22 times during his La Liga coaching career but only managed four victories, most recently a 2-1 win for Villarreal at the Nou Camp in March 2008.

He lost both “Clasicos” against Barca as Real coach in the 2009-10 season, 1-0 away and 2-0 at home. “It’s difficult because they are a very good team with great players and that’s the most important thing,” Pellegrini said.

“We will try to get the tempo we need to score goals. If we can score a goal early Barcelona may be more nervous.

“There are so many things affecting the outcome of big games that it is very difficult to know what will be the key factor. If we have a good day I am absolutely sure we can do it.”

STRANGE GAME Pellegrini’s players will take heart from a fine performance in Germany in their last European away game when they came from two goals down to beat Group D rivals and defending champions Bayern Munich 3-2 with both teams already through to the last 16. History is against them, however. Only twice in Champions League history has a team recovered from a first-leg defeat at home to go through, Ajax Amsterdam achieving the feat in 1995-96 and Inter Milan following suit in 2010-11.

Both City and Barca are coming into the match after surprise defeats, Barca going down at lowly Real Valladolid and slipping to third in La Liga and City losing to second tier Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup quarter-finals. “It was a strange game (at Valladolid), but we have to put it behind us now and not feel sorry for ourselves,” Barca’s Chile forward Alexis Sanchez said on Monday. “We have to be positive because we have an important game ahead,” he told a news conference. “I am hungry to win and so are all my team mates. We want to win everything, La Liga, the Champions League and the King’s Cup. I don’t know anyone in the squad who doesn’t want that.” — Reuters

Pardew gets record seven match ban for headbutt LONDON: Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has been given a record seven match suspension and a £60,000 ($100,000, 72,000 euros) fine for headbutting Hull City midfielder David Meyler, the Football Association announced yesterday.

The 52-year-old will be banned from attending Newcastle’s games for the first three matches of the suspension, with the remaining four matches to be served as a touchline ban.

today (Tuesday 11 March 2014) ruled the first three matches imposed are a stadium ban with the remaining four a touchline ban.

“Pardew was also fined £60,000 and warned as to his future conduct.” Pardew learnt of his suspension after appearing before an independent disciplinary commission at Wembley Stadium in London yesterday and subsequently released a statement expressing regret for his

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LONDON: This is a March 1, 2014 file photo of Newcastle United’s manager Alan Pardew (right) as he confronts Hull City’s David Meyler (left) during the English Premier League soccer match. — AP

It is the longest ban to be handed to a Premier League manager since the English top flight was rebranded in 1992.

“Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew will serve a seven match suspension with immediate effect, subject to any appeal, after he admitted an FA misconduct charge,” read a statement on the FA website. “An Independent Regulatory Commission

behavior. “As I have made clear, I deeply regret the incident and again wholeheartedly apologise to all parties for my conduct, which I understand was not acceptable,” he said.

“I will accept the punishment handed down by the FA today (Tuesday). My focus now turns to preparing the team for this weekend’s game against Fulham and finishing the season as strongly as pos-

sible.” The incident occurred during Newcastle’s 4-1 victory at Hull in the Premier League on March 1, with Pardew sent to the stands after moving his head towards Meyler during a touchline confrontation in the second half.

He apologised in a live television interview broadcast moments after the final whistle, describing his behaviour as “a heat-of-the moment thing”, but was given a £100,000 fine and a formal warning by his club. The stadium ban covers Newcastle’s games against Fulham, Crystal Palace and Everton, while Pardew will be banned from the touchline for fixtures against Southampton, Manchester United, Stoke City and Swansea City.

It is not the first time that the former Crystal Palace midfielder has got himself in trouble over his conduct on the touchline.

In 2006, while manager of West Ham United, an exuberant goal celebration led to a shoving match with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and in March 2012 he clashed with Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill. Later that year he shoved an assistant referee in a dispute over a throw-in during Newcastle’s opening game of the season at Tottenham Hotspur, earning him a two-game touchline suspension and a £20,000 fine. In January, this year, meanwhile, he was obliged to issue an apology after being caught on camera shouting obscenities at Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini during a match at St James’ Park.

Meyler, a 24-year-old Republic of Ireland international, made light of his altercation with Pardew when he celebrated his goal in Hull’s 3-0 FA Cup win over Sunderland on Sunday by headbutting a corner flag. — AFP

US investment firm builds up stake in Man United

Bin Edan ready for Kuwait Intl Rally KUWAIT: Kuwaiti rally driver, Salah Bin Edan and his navigator, the Qatari, Nasser Al-Kawari were in top gear for the Kuwait International Rally 2014 competitions due to kick off on March 20.

Bin Edan, the winner of Kuwait Rallies in 2014, said that, despite being away from races for three years due to injuries,

SPAIN: Manchester City’s Kun Aguero, from Argentina (top right) attends a training session with his teammates at the Camp Nou Stadium. Barcelona will play against Manchester City in a Group H Champions League match today. — AP

he would do his best to achieve top results in the championship. “Though the race would be done on relatively easy plain sandy terrain, it is not easy because a driver will have to go through 13 phases of tough terrain covering over 500 kilometers during which any emergency could sideline the driver from completing the race”, he explained.

LONDON: A US. investment firm has bought nearly a quarter of all the shares available to buy in New York-listed English soccer club Manchester United PLC. Shares in the club were up 0.1 percent at $15.85 in early Tuesday trading, near three month highs.

In 2012, the Glazer family sold 10 percent of its holding in Manchester United via a stock listing. A filing on the Securities and Exchange Commission showed Baron Capital now owns 24 percent of those shares, leaving it with an overall stake of 2.5 percent.

Because the Glazers, who also own the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, control 90 percent of the shares and even more of the voting shares, Baron’s move is not being viewed as a bid to secure a controlling interest in the club. On its website, Baron says it “remains positive” on Manchester United’s prospects.

London-based financial analyst Andy Green, who writes a blog on football finance and advises the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust, said the move

by Baron Capital appeared to be purely an investment strategy.

“This is absolutely not the start of any takeover,” said Green. “You could buy all the shares available on the stock market and you would still only have 10 percent of the club and about 1.3 percent of the votes. They have a reputation as a long-term invest-

ment company.”

Even so, Baron Capital’s stock buildup helps explain why Manchester United’s share price has been slowly rising despite the club’s struggles on the pitch this season. It has also been fuelled by expectation of an announcement of a new Nike kit deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

“The Nike deal is still expected to be signed, but has been pushed out from this fiscal year,” Baron said. Manchester United is one of the most lucrative brands in the world of sport even though it’s struggling this season following the departure of longtime manager Alex Ferguson. As well as winning last year’s Premier League, Manchester United topped English soccer last season with 363.2 million pounds ($602 million) worth of revenues.

Currently lying in sixth place in England’s Premier League, it’s facing the prospect of not qualifying for next season’s Champions League, Europe’s top club competition. Its best remaining chance of qualifying is to win the competition but it faces an uphill task of going further following a 2-0 first leg defeat to Greece’s Olympiakos in the last 16.

A failure to qualify could dent revenues next season at a time when new manager David Moyes is widely expected to embark on an expensive rebuild of the squad. — AP

Nadal and Sharapova stumble at Indian Wells

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

Kun the potential key to Man City’s salvation

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Vettel lags behind off track as well as on it

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MADRID: Atletico’s Diego Costa scores the opening goal during a Champions League, round of 16, second leg, soccer match between Atletico Madrid and AC Milan. — AP

Costa propels Atletico into q-finals MADRID: Atletico Madrid booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time in 17 years as they beat AC Milan 4-1 at the Vicente Calderon to progress 5-1 on aggregate yesterday. Diego Costa struck the winner in the first leg three weeks ago and it took him just three minutes to double Atletico’s advantage as he acrobatically turned home Koke’s cross.

Milan were given hope when Kaka headed home Andrea Poli’s cross on 27 minutes, but Arda Turan restored Atletico’s lead on the night before halftime when his volley from the edge of the box deflected past Christian Abbiati.

Raul Garcia’s header made it 3-1 before Costa rounded off a fine individual display with his seventh Champions League goal of the campaign six minutes from time.

Milan boss Clarence Seedor f had insisted pre-match that the tie was still open despite losing the first leg at home, but it looked as if the Italian’s hopes had been killed off within minutes as Gabi robbed the ball from on the right, fed Koke and his cross was hooked home on the volley by Costa for his 28th goal of the season.

The hosts were dealt a blow moments later, though, as Garcia was shown a yellow card that will keep him out of the first leg of their quarter-final tie.

After an early burst from Atletico, Milan were enjoying plenty of possession midway through the half, but didn’t look threatening until a lovely move opened up the Spanish side just before the half hour. Mario Balotelli sprayed the ball wide to Poli and his cross was headed

home at the back post by Kaka, though, it took a deflection off Miranda.

The Milan captain then had a great chance to put his side ahead in the tie on away goal when he nodded Adel Taarabt’s inviting cross just over.

Just four minutes later, the seven-time European champions were left to rue that miss as Garcia chested down for Arda on the edge of the box and his shot cannoned off Adil Rami and past the helpless Abbiati.

Garcia then came within inches of sealing the tie with a spectacular overhead kick from Juanfran’s cross that flew just past the far post Atletico had another great chance to put the tie to bed within three minutes of the restart for the second-half as a rapid counter-attack from a Milan corner saw Costa tee up Gabi and

his fierce strike came back off the outside of the post.

Just as in the first-half Milan grew into the game as the half progressed and Thibaut Courtois had to dive low to his left to parry substitute Robinho’s low drive across the box.

Diego Simeone’s men did finally get the two-goal cushion on the night they craved when Garcia rose highest to power home Gabi’s free-kick 20 minutes from time.

Robinho nearly responded immediately as he blasted Kaka’s neat through ball onto the bar with Courtois beaten.

However, it was Atletico who were able to round off their first vic tor y in a knockout tie of Europe’s premier club competition since 1978 when Costa arrowed in his second of the night off the far post. — AFP

Leading CL scorers 11 goals: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/ESP) 10 goals: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris SaintGermain/FRA) 7 goals: Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid/ESP), Lionel Messi (Barcelona/ESP) 6 goals: Sergio Aguero (Manchester City/ENG), Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund) 5 goals: Alvaro Negredo (Manchester City/ENG), Arturo Vidal (Juventus/ITA) 4 goals: Gareth Bale (Real Madrid/ESP), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/ESP),Edinson Cavani (Paris Saint-Germain/FRA), Gonzalo Higuain (Napoli/ITA), Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich/GER), Raul Garcia (Atletico Madrid). — AFP

Bayern advance, but Arsenal earn draw MUNICH: Holders Bayern Munich booked their place in the Champions League’s quarter-finals, despite Arsenal earning a 1-1 draw in Bavaria in yesterday’s last 16, second-leg clash.

A second-half Bastian Schweinsteiger goal gave Bayern a brief lead before Arsenal’s Lukas Podolski equalised with a thunderbolt of a shot as the tie finished 3-1 on aggregate.

Arsenal, who also went out at the same stage of the competition to the same opponents last season, failed to overturn their 2-0 deficit from the first leg three weeks ago.

But midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain told ITV they could be proud of their performance in Munich. “We lacked a bit of quality with the final ball. We got into a lot of dangerous positions but lacked that final cutting-edge ball,” he said.

“The boys put in a great shift tonight, we can take away positives and be proud of our efforts. “They (Bayern) are definitely up there with the best teams but there’s still lot of good teams in it.”

Amidst hopes of repeating last season’s shock 2-0 win in Munich, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger made six changes from the team which lost to Bayern in London.

Lukasz Fabianski was named in goal for the suspended Wojciech Szczesny, who was sent off in the first-leg. There were only six of the seven permitted replacements named amidst reports Japan’s Ryo Miyaichi flew to Germany despite being ineligible for the Champions League’s knock-out stages.

Bayern coach Pep Guardiola made three changes from

the first leg, switching from a 4-1-4-1 in London to the 42-3-1 formation used in last season’s European final.

Bayern got off a bad start when centre-back Dante was booked for a clumsy challenge on Oxlade-Chamberlain after only eight minutes.

It was his third of Bayern’s European campaign and means he is suspended for the quarter-final first-leg.

Bayern earned the first real chance when winger Franck Ribery found space on the left and sent in a cross which Arjen Robben fired over with 19 minutes gone.

Spain’s Javi Martinez had a goal disallowed for offside after 27 minutes, while at the other end Bayern’s Manuel Neuer saved Olivier Giroud’s header.

Mario Mandzukic, who headed over, Robben, whose shot was blocked, and Mario Goetze, who forced Fabianski into a fine save, had chances as Bayern enjoyed their customary 70 percent possession, although it stayed goalless at the break.

Wenger made a key change for the second-half as Mesut Ozil, who had hamstring trouble, made way for Tomas Rosicky in the attacking midfield role.

It marked a miserable two legs for the off-form Ozil, who apologised to Gunners fans via Facebook after failing to convert a key penalty in the first-leg.

Soon after the break referee Svein Oddvar Moen ignored Bayern’s penalty appeals when Robben went down in the area just before the opening goal.

Ribery found space on the left and crossed inside to Schweinsteiger, playing his first Champions League game since November, to drill home on 55 minutes.

The lead lasted just two minutes as Arsenal’s Germany

MUNICH: Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (center) is tackled by Bayern’s Franck Ribery (left) and Dante during the Champions League round of 16 second leg soccer match yesterday. — AP winger Lukas Podolski robbed Bayern captain Philipp against the backdrop of the court case against Bayern Lahm and fired home from a tight angle giving Manuel president Uli Hoeness, which started Monday. The 1974 Neuer no chance.

World Cup winner is fighting to avoid a jail term and There was drama in added time as Bayern replacement stands accused of having dodged 27.2 million euros Thomas Mueller had a penalty attempt saved by Fabianski ($37.6 million) in taxes by hiding his wealth in Swiss bank after Robben was fouled by centre-back Laurent Koscielny. accounts. A verdict is expected tomorrow and major tax The result was welcome news in a dark week for the fraud carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in Bavarian giants. The Allianz Arena clash was played Germany. — AFP

Business

Big housing deal may signal Gulf fund flow into Egypt Page 22

India to cut Iran imports to meet N-deal terms

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

Page 23 All successful Bugatti Legends sold: Al-Zayani

BoJ holds off fresh easing measures as tax hike looms Page 25

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TAIPEI: Taiwan Aborigines pose for a photo in front of a China Airline A330 Airbus during a promotional ceremony to launch the “Visiting Indigenous Tribes of Taiwan Liveried Aircraft “ in Taoyuan, near Taipei yesterday. There are 14 indigenous tribes, consisting of about 530,000 people or two percent of the population in Taiwan. — AFP

Emerging economies holding back recovery: OECD Global economic growth remains sluggish PARIS: The recovery in developed economies is on track although slowing activity in big emerging markets means global growth will be only moderate at best in the near term, the OECD said yesterday. Exceptionally bad winter weather in North America and a sales tax hike in Japan are also disrupting the pace of recovery, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said.

Against that backdrop, the OECD urged the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan to keep up their monetary stimulus, if not increase it, while it said the US Federal Reserve was right to begin winding down its bond-buying program.

“The gradual recovery in the advanced economies is encouraging, even if temporary factors have pushed down growth rates in the early months of this year, while the slowdown in emerging economies is likely to be a drag on global growth,” OECD acting chief economist Rintaro Tamaki said in a statement.

Global growth is likely to remain sluggish as a slowdown in the developing world undercuts gains in Europe and the United States, the OECD warned.

The OECD said one-off factors like the harsh winter weather in North America and the US government shutdown mean “growth for the

major advanced economies in the first half of 2014 will be somewhat slower than in the second half of 2013.”

The underlying trend for those economies, however, continues to be of strengthening growth, said the OECD, a think tank for the world’s most developed countries, in an update to forecasts made in November.

Growth for major advanced economies in the first half of 2014 will be slower than in the second half of 2013, but much improved from the sluggish rates of late 2012 and early 2013, the OECD said in an update of its views on the global economy.

“Given that emerging economies now account for over half the world economy, continued sub-par economic performance for several of the major EMEs (emerging market economies) is likely to mean that global growth remains only moderate in the near term,” the OECD said. It estimated growth in the United States would slow to 1.7 percent in the first quarter from the previous three months on an annualized basis, down from 2.4 percent in the fourth quarter when exceptionally bad weather weighed on activity. Japanese growth would surge 4.8 percent in the first quarter from the previous quarter as consumers brought forward purchases ahead of a

sales tax increase on April 1.

The OECD gave its updated forecasts as part of an interim health-check for the global economy before its much more detailed Economic Outlook due in May. It did not update its estimates for US and Japanese growth in the second quarter because one-off factors made it too problematic, it said.

Turning to Europe, the OECD saw Germany’s quarter-on-quarter annualized growth rate reaching 3.7 percent in the first quarter before slowing to 2.5 percent. France, the euro-zone’s second biggest economy after Germany, was seen growing only 0.7 percent in the first three months of the year, rising to 1 percent in the second quarter.

Outside the euro-zone, the British economy was seen growing 3.3 percent in both the first and second quarters. Turning to emerging market economies, the OECD said some were seeing a marked loss of momentum as capital outflows exposed vulnerabilities in some countries.

It noted that Brazil, India, South Africa and Turkey among others have been forced to raise interest rates to keep capital outflows in check.

Meanwhile, weak balance sheets in China raised the risk of a sharp slowdown there, the OECD said. — Agencies

EU eyes compromise on bank regulation BRUSSELS: EU finance ministers met yesterday to find a compromise with the European Parliament on how to wind up failing banks before they can damage the wider economy.

Ministers going into the talks voiced cautious optimism that some progress on ‘banking union’ was being made but stressed the need to get an agreement they can put before MEPs who oppose the current plans.

“Today we will not leave the room unless we get a revised mandate to negotiate with the European Parliament,” Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said. Greece, current holder of the EU’s rotating presidency and so chair of the meeting, has submitted a compromise text, Stournaras said, without giving details. “We must get a new mandate, time is running out,” he said, adding that a deal had to be reached as soon as possible to allow time for Parliament to approve it before elections in May. “It is now time to conclude the talks,”

French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said.

“There are only a few things left to do but they are very technical,” Moscovici said, adding: “It is essential in my view to stick to the timetable.” After months of difficult negotiations, EU leaders agreed in December what is known as the Single Resolution Mechanism, designed to close failing banks in a safe and orderly fashion to avoid a repeat of the debt crisis crash.

This SRM will work alongside a new regulator, run by the European Central Bank, that is set to supervise the euro-zone’s 130 biggest banks starting in November. Closing down a bank is a costly and politically charged step and so EU leaders agreed a decision-making structure which gives them the final say and minimizes the role of the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm.

Parliament objected strongly to this proposal and warned again last week it could not accept a formula which allows “political power

games” when closing a bank requires speed and effectiveness.

Parliament is also unhappy with the plans for an accompanying fund, paid for by the banking industry, saying it is too unwieldy and its phasing-in period of 10 years too long. The fund is also to be set up under a treaty between member states, not under EU rules, effectively excluding Parliament from the process. A recent vote in Parliament damned the proposals as an “overly complex and politicized decision-making process for winding up banks.”

Finance ministers arriving for yesterday’s meeting said they hoped for an accord and offered some leeway, especially on a shorter introductory time for the bank closure fund and its legal basis. “I think we have a good chance of (getting) this new mandate and a very good chance of agreement with the European Parliament on a first reading,” Lithuanian Finance Minister Rimantas Sadzius said. — AFP

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

BUSINESS

Emirates REIT to raise $135m in Dubai IPO DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates’ first real estate investment trust, Emirates REIT, said yesterday that it planned to raise at least 500 million dirhams ($135 million) through an initial public offer of its shares on the Nasdaq Dubai bourse. The company will use the proceeds for possible future acquisitions and investment in existing assets, Abdulla Al-Hamli, chairman of its Management Board, told reporters.

The equity listing would be only the second on either of Dubai’s two stock exchanges since 2009; Bank of London and The Middle East, Britain’s largest stand-alone Islamic bank, listed on Nasdaq Dubai last October. New listings dried up during Dubai’s financial crisis, which erupted in 2009, but stock prices are now soaring - the main Dubai index is up 153 percent since the end of 2012 - and several IPOs are in the pipeline, investment banking sources say.

REITs invest directly in properties and distribute profits as dividends. The Emirates REIT IPO could draw massive interest because it would be a way for small investors to gain exposure to Dubai’s red-hot property market, where residential prices jumped over 20 percent last year and may hit their pre-crisis peaks next year. Emirates REIT, which was formed in 2010 and complies with Islamic investment principles, appointed Shuaa Capital and Emirates NBD joint bookrunners for the IPO. Karim Schoeib, chief executive for investment banking at Shuaa, said an investor roadshow for the offer would start in two weeks in Gulf Arab countries, Europe including Britain, and possibly the United States. Current shareholders will not sell their shares in the IPO; new shares will be issued for the offer. The value of the company is not known yet and the IPO will be conducted through a book-building process, officials said. Nasdaq Dubai IPOs usually sell at least 25 percent of a company. As of last December, Emirates REIT had 10 properties comprising 1.2 million square feet of net leasable area; its total assets were valued at about $333 million, it said. Net profit climbed to $34.8 million last year from $10.9 million in 2012 and $1.2 million in 2011. Emirates REIT focuses on properties within Dubai but its investments may extend to other emirates in the UAE, officials said. Dubai Islamic Bank currently owns 30.9 percent of the firm, two units of the Dubai Holding conglomerate own a combined 27.1 percent, Emirates NBD owns 4.5 percent, Egyptian investment bank EFG-Hermes has 4.2 percent and Dubai property developer Deyaar has 3.4 percent. — Reuters

Aramco to produce gas for phosphate project, power plant KHOBAR: Saudi Aramco plans to produce 200 million cubic feet per day (cfd) of unconventional natural gas by 2018 to supply a new phosphate project and a power plant, an industry source said.

OPEC member Saudi Arabia aims to develop shale gas for power generation in order to save more of its crude oil for export.

Aramco is keen to increase gas output as it can fetch $100 per barrel by exporting crude oil versus around $4 if it sells it to a Saudi power plant. CEO Khalid Al-Falih said last year the company was ready to commit gas for the development of a 1,000 megawatt power plant which will feed a phosphate mining project that Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Maaden) is developing for the Waad Al-Shamal Mining City. “40 million cfd will go to the phosphate project of Waad Al-Shamal while 160 million cfd will go to Saudi Electricity Co for a power plant,” the industry source said.

Oil minister Ali Al-Naimi has said Saudi Arabia has estimated unconventional gas reserves of more than 600 trillion cubic feet, more than double its proven conventional reserves. That would put Saudi Arabia fifth in a 32-country shale gas reserves ranking compiled for the US Energy Information Administration. Saudi Aramco is exploring and has made appraisals in the northwest area, the Eastern Province and in the Empty Quarter. It is drilling in the south of Ghawar, the northwest and Jafurah which lies between Al Ahsa and Qatar.

One obstacle is finding water needed to release natural gas from rock, shale or compacted sand formations. Saudi Arabia aims to use either sea water or liquefied petroleum gas, the latter a technique being developed by North American companies.

“Water is always an issue, it is an issue in North America when they have much more water than we have here in this region,” Amin Al-Nasser senior vice president of upstream at Aramco said at an industry conference in Manama on Sunday. “We are looking at using sea water, we are working with lots of companies.

Schlumberger is one of them in terms of using water fracking. We are confident that technology will be developed and if we have to use water as I said we are looking at using sea water,” said Nasser.

“The focus area for us is unconventional gas....the cost of unconventional is as you know on the high side and so the question is how do we do it economically,” he told the conference. — Reuters

Big housing deal may signal Gulf fund flow into Egypt $40bn contract is one of largest in Middle East DUBAI/CAIRO: A $40 billion deal for Dubai firm Arabtec to build one million homes in Egypt may mark the start of politically-inspired Gulf investment in the country’s creaking infrastructure, from housing to transport, power generation and agriculture. Egypt’s economy is recovering only slowly from the turmoil that followed its 2011 revolution.

Its government lacks the cash to build infrastructure, while political and business risks are still far too high for most companies to invest in projects. But with the Arabtec deal one of the largest construction contracts ever announced in the region - Egyptian and Gulf governments appear to have found a formula to channel billions of dollars into the economy in a way that serves their political and economic interests.

The construction company said on Sunday that it had agreed with the Egyptian army to build the homes at 13 locations around the country on land provided free by the armed forces, which own a large amount of financial assets and real estate. The deal lets the army-backed government tackle a housing shortage that has been a grievance bringing Egyptians onto the streets in the past three years. Army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi can tout the project in a presidential election campaign which he is expected to mount this year. By using such deals to shore up the popularity of the Egyptian army, governments in the sixnation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) can keep at bay the Muslim Brotherhood, an arch-enemy of the Gulf monarchies. The Islamist movement ruled Egypt until its overthrow by the military last year.

Gulf companies awarded such projects can gain market share in Egypt with only moderate risk, since they have the backing and protection of their governments. In Arabtec’s case, the deal could help to transform it from a mid-sized firm into a regional construction giant.

“We’ll see similar deals in the coming period, whether it is in energy, oil and gas, roads,” Karim Awad, co-chief executive of EFG-Hermes, Egypt’s biggest investment bank, told Reuters. “Investors from the GCC are also showing interest in developing those sectors, including renewable energy.”

Egypt’s assistant minister of investment Neveen El Shafei said talks with potential Gulf investors “on various levels and different sectors are ongoing, and we hope more deals will be concluded in the near future”. The importance of the Arabtec deal goes well beyond its economic impact, said John Sfakianakis, chief investment strategist at MASIC, a Saudi Arabian investment firm.

“It’s a state capitalist project of trans-national magnitude that basically tells the world that the GCC will be there to support Egypt no matter what,” he said.

Aid Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have promised over $12 billion in aid to Egypt since last July, when the army ousted President Mohammad Morsi, who was backed by the Brotherhood. Large sums of additional aid are expected. In the initial months, the donors focused on averting a financial crisis, stabilizing Egypt’s foreign exchange reserves and helping the government to pay its operating costs. The Arabtec deal signals they have now begun trying to engineer stronger growth for the Egyptian economy, hoping to ease political tensions by cutting unemployment and raising living standards.

Construction of Arabtec’s “middle-income” homes is expected to start in the third quarter of this year, with the first to be delivered in early 2017 and the whole project to be completed before 2020, the company said. Some details of the plan have not been released and some have not been decided. But Arabtec’s chief executive Hasan Ismaik told Reuters that initial financing would be provided by the UAE government, while the rest would come in the form of advance payments and instalments paid by the home buyers.

The homes will be bought over periods of 10 to 20 years, and Arabtec has reached agreements with 40 banks to provide financing to the buyers, Ismaik said. Last month, Egypt’s central bank said it would deposit low-cost funds at banks so the money could be lent on as cheap mortgages. By giving a central role in the project to a UAE company, the Arabtec deal appears to ease at least partly a concern of the Gulf donors: that their money could be wasted through corruption or Egypt’s inefficient bureaucracy. It is not clear that the project will be very profitable for Arabtec, which is listed on the Dubai stock market. This

may explain the relatively sluggish reaction of Arabtec shares to the news; they rose only 1.7 percent on Monday.

Local financial firm Arqaam Capital kept its “buy” rating on the stock but said it feared Arabtec would enjoy only modest profit margins. It also said the company would face execution risks, since it had never managed a project nearly as large.

Ismaik himself indicated he was not counting on big profits: “We look at the project more as UAE aid to Egypt than we look at its expected revenue.” But Arabtec’s overriding motivation may not be commercial; its largest shareholder is Abu Dhabi state fund Aabar , which owns a 22 percent stake. That makes it a logical vehicle for the UAE’s economic diplomacy. Even if profits are slim, the firm may benefit in other ways from the project. The contract is worth about $8 billion annually, more than five times Arabtec’s 2012 revenues of $1.5 billion; by taking on the work, it may at a stroke become one of the largest construction contractors in the region.

The deal effectively uses some of the UAE’s oil wealth to finance overseas growth of one of its leading firms, in much the same way that some Chinese construction firms have moved abroad by working on projects funded by China’s government. Aabar may already be compensating Arabtec in markets other than Egypt; last month the Abu Dhabi fund said it would assign all future construction work in its $20 billion real estate portfolio around the world to the Dubai company.

Projects Other areas where Gulf companies are likely to consider government-backed investments in Egypt include power generation, which has been a constraint on industrial growth, oil and gas extraction, which would earn the country badly needed foreign exchange, and agriculture, since food price inflation threatens political stability. Saeed Mohammed Al-Tayer, chief executive of state-owned Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, said on Monday he believed other UAE and Egyptian firms were discussing energy and petrochemical deals. He did not name the firms.

The UAE’s Dana Gas, a privately-owned firm, said last month that it was upgrading an Egyptian natural gas production plant to increase its capacity by 25 percent.

The Egyptian government owes it $274 million in unpaid bills, according to Dana; investing in Egypt in line with governments’ wishes could help it recover that money. Gulf firms are already active in Egypt’s farm sector.

Since 2007 Abu Dhabi investment firm Jenaan has accumulated about 67,200 hectares of arable land there, growing wheat for Egyptian consumption.

The Arabtec deal “could mark the beginning of similar infrastructure projects that involve GCC companies which have experience and depth, but also the required financing and at the same time the willingness to undertake such mammoth projects,” said Sfakianakis. — Reuters

CAIRO: The $40 billion deal by Arabtec to build one million homes in Egypt may mark the start of Gulf investment in the country’s creaking infrastructure, from housing to transport, power generation and agriculture.

Britain’s Close Brothers profit lifted by lending MANAMA: British lender Close Brothers Group Plc posted a 21 percent rise in first-half operating profit driven by growth in its loan book at its core banking division. The company’s key banking business posted a 14 percent rise in adjusted operating profit to 89.6 million pounds as its loan book grew 5 percent to 4.9 billion pounds.

The banking business, which accounts for 82 percent of the company’s overall profit, lends to people and small and medium-sized businesses, and provides deposit-taking services. Close Brothers’ shares were up 2.7 percent at 1479 pence at 0853 GMT on the London Stock Exchange yesterday.

The company, whose services include merchant banking, securities dealing and wealth management, said its Winterflood securities business would benefit from a stronger cyclical recovery this year, particularly if current market condi-

tions continue on AIM, London’s junior exchange. Increased primary market activity, stronger retail trading volumes and rising equity markets all encouraged retail investors to increase their risk appetite in the first half of the financial year, Close Brothers said in a statement. It added that Winterflood had benefited from this tentative revival in market sentiment as its adjusted operating profit rose 81 percent to 13.4 million pounds. Winterflood, the backbone of Close Brothers’ securities unit, offers trading services to institutional investors.

Overall adjusted operating profit rose to 97.2 million pounds ($161.66 million) in the six months ended Jan. 31, from 80.5 million pounds a year earlier. Assets under management rose 2 percent to 9.3 billion pounds. Close Brothers said it would pay an interim dividend of 16.5 pence per share, a 10 percent increase on last year. — Reuters

EXCHANGE RATES Al-Muzaini Exchange Co. ASIAN COUNTRIES 2.732 4.632 2.729 2.158 2.896 223.180 36.351 3.623 6.355 8.754 0.271 0.273

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

GCC COUNTRIES 75.257 77.543 733.110 749.570 76.856

Egyptian Pound - Cash Egyptian Pound - Transfer Yemen Riyal/for 1000 Tunisian Dinar Jordanian Dinar Lebanese Lira/for 1000 Syrian Lira Morocco Dirham

ARAB COUNTRIES 39.250 40.089 1.318 180.370 398.530 1.893 2.011 35.709

US Dollar Transfer Euro Sterling Pound Canadian dollar Turkish lira Swiss Franc Australian Dollar US Dollar Buying

EUROPEAN & AMERICAN COUNTRIES 282.100 394.940 475.200 256.450 127.970 714.180 258.250 280.900 GOLD

20 Gram 10 Gram 5 Gram

240.000 121.000 62.500

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 259.05 257.62 326.02 394.72 281.40 473.05 2.78 3.622 4.607 2.157 2.894 2.788 76.68 748.97 40.42 400.50 731.82 77.71 75.17

SELL CASH 256.05 258.62 324.02 395.72 284.40 476.05 2.80 3.892 4.907 2.592 3.429 2.790 77.15 751.04 41.02 406.15 739.12 78.26 75.57

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 281.900 256.355 470.375 392.508 321.250 744.350 76.730 78.280 76.040 397.280 40.444 2.157 4.648 2.819 3.621 6.330 692.400 3.725

Syrian Pound Nepalese Rupees Malaysian Ringgit Chinese Yuan Renminbi Thai Bhat Turkish Lira

Philippine Peso Sierra Leone Singapore Dollar South African Rand Sri Lankan Rupee Taiwan Thai Baht

2.955 3.900 86.850 46.335 9.690 127.050

Bahrain Exchange Company CURRENCY Belgian Franc British Pound Czech Korune Danish Krone Euro Norwegian Krone Romanian Leu Slovakia Swedish Krona Swiss Franc Turkish Lira Australian Dollar New Zealand Dollar Canadian Dollar US Dollars US Dollars Mint Bangladesh Taka Chinese Yuan Hong Kong Dollar Indian Rupee Indonesian Rupiah Japanese Yen Kenyan Shilling Korean Won Malaysian Ringgit Nepalese Rupee Pakistan Rupee

BUY Europe 0.007332 0.462277 0.006264 0.048291 0.385259 0.043228 0.086667 0.008066 0.040128 0.314266 0.125432

SELL 0.008332 0.471277 0.018264 0.053291 0.393259 0.048428 0.86667 0.018066 0.045128 0.324466 0.132432

Australasia 0.246149 0.232670

0.257649 0.241170

America 0.248103 0.278050 0.278550

0.256603 0.282400 0.282400

Asia 0.003293 0.044791 0.034266 0.004372 0.000019 0.002646 0.003256 0.000254 0.082334 0.002842 0.002570

0.003893 0.048291 0.037016 0.004773 0.000025 0.002828 0.003256 0.000269 0.088334 0.003012 0.002850

0.006358 0.000062 0.219262 0.020184 0.001865 0.009189 0.008381

0.006638 0.000068 0.22562 0.028884 0.002445 0.009369 0.008931

0.741953 0.036772 0.000078 0.000181 0.393730 1.0000000 0.000137 0.024316 0.001114 0.726824 0.076790 0.074603 0.002162 0.175706 0.125432 0.075837 0.001281

0.749953 0.039872 0.000079 0.000241 0.401230 1.0000000 0.000237 0.048316 0.001749 0.732504 0.078003 0.075303 0.002382 0.183706 0.132432 0.076986 0.001361

Arab 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

Al Mulla Exchange 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) 281.600 391.900 469.750 254.850 4.633 40.090 2.157 3.625 6.330 2.810 749.850 76.700 75.200

p23_Layout 1 3/11/14 11:12 PM Page 1

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

BUSINESS

Cyprus names new central banker NICOSIA: Cyprus yesterday appointed a tough campaigner against government waste and corruption as new central bank governor after current chief Panicos Demetriades unexpectedly quit.

Auditor general Chrystalla Georghadji has been appointed as new head of the Bank with effect from April 11, a government statement said. President Nicos Anastasiades earlier yesterday “contacted European Central Bank president Mario Draghi who was informed of the decision”, it said. Georghadji, 58, has been auditor general since 1998 with a brief to monitor public spending. In her annual reports she has highlighted and campaigned against unnecessary waste and corruption in public life.

The former finance ministry official is the first

woman to be appointed as the island’s top banker.

Demetriades, whose performance came under fire over the island’s banking crisis last year, resigned on Monday. In a statement, Demetriades said: “It is with mixed feelings that I have submitted my resignation from the post of Governor ... mainly for personal and family reasons.” “During my tenure my actions were always aimed at ensuring confidence and stability in our financial system and I always acted in the best interests of our country,” he added.

Local media said the real reasons for his resignation were his unworkable relationship with a hostile central bank board and his continued confrontation with Anastasiades who tried to have him sacked last September. Yesterday, Anastasiades tried to play

down his rift with the island’s top banker saying Demetriades wanted to pursue his academic career rather than remain in the eye of the storm. “We may have had different approaches at some point but we should be judged on our accountability rather than empathy,” Anastasiades told reporters.

The resignation of Demetriades, 55, less than two years into the five-year job, takes effect on April 10, in keeping with the month’s notice in his contract. Last September, Anastasiades criticised the governor’s performance and said that he no longer had confidence in him. The rightist leader said he was seeking legal action to remove Demetriades, since under the Cyprus constitution a central bank governor can only be dismissed by the courts.

Demetriades came under criticism for his handling of a 10-billion-euro ($13.8-billion) international bailout last year to rescue the island’s banking system from collapse. The bank chief was at the helm during negotiations to navigate Cyprus through the crisis that led to Nicosia agreeing a painful bailout involving an unprecedented haircut on deposits. Cyprus shut its banks for two weeks during the bailout crisis and introduced strict capital controls which have been relaxed but are still in place. Anastasiades accused Demetriades of being slow to respond to the economic fallout.

But the European central bank warned against political pressure on the governor, who refused to stand down. — AFP

India to cut Iran oil imports to meet N-deal parameters Imports should average 195,000 bpd from Jan 20 to July 20

BRUSSELS: An unidentified adviser speaks with German Finance Minister Wolfgan Schaeuble (right) prior to an Economic and Financial Affairs meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels yesterday. — AFP

German recovery on track as imports, exports rise FRANKFURT: Economic recover y in Germany appears to be on track as demand for German-made goods increased both at home and abroad, official trade data showed yesterday.

After adjustment for seasonal blips, Germany exported goods worth 94.5 billion euros ($131 billion) in January, an increase of 2.2 percent from the level in December, the federal statistics office Destatis said. And imports-a yardstick of domestic demand-rose even more strongly, climbing 4.2 percent to 77.3 billion euros.

Because imports rose more strongly than exports, the trade surplus-the balance between imports and exports-narrowed.

Germany’s booming trade surplus has been the target of a great deal of international criticism in recent months, with critics arguing that its economic prowess comes at the expense of the eurozone’s weaker members.

The critics argue that Germany needs to boost domestic demand and so help its EU partners by spurring export-driven growth in their economies rather than continue to rely mostly on its own exports for growth.

But the latest trade data, with the strong increase in imports, appear to suggest such criticisms are misplaced.

While German exports to its euro-zone partners rose by 3.2 percent year-on-year in January, exports to countries outside Europe jumped by 9.1 percent. And imports from the euro area climbed by 4.0 percent, while imports from outside Europe contracted by 1.9 percent.

“The euro area economy continued to

stabilize at the start of the year,” said BayernLB economist Stefan Kipar. “Today’s data were better than expected, not just because exports rose more strongly than expected, but also because exports to the euro-zone were positive,” Kipar said.

“The sharp rise in imports is similarly positive because it points to a pick-up in domestic demand and takes ammunition away from the heated debate about the German current account surplus,” the expert said. Natixis economist Johannes Gareis said the trade data were “in line with our expectations of a strengthening global recovery, while German imports growth remains robust due to Germany’s healthy domestic economy.” Gareis noted that the dynamic of imports in January was driven mainly by German demand for goods from its euro-zone neighbors.

“In this respect, the data offer some relief for the German growth locomotive to do more to rebalance the euro area,” Gareis said. Last week, the EU Commission in Brussels said that Germany’s huge current account surplus is a source of economic imbalance in Europe. “Nobody wants to criticise Germany for having a strong external demand and competitiveness,” the EU’s Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn said on the presentation of a new report. “I want see every EU member states be as competitive as Germany,” he said. But “at the same time, Germany-and to some extent the rest of Europe-would benefit from stronger domestic investment and reinforced domestic demand in Germany,” Rehn said. — AFP

Boosting Ethiopia’s economic growth with building boom ADDIS ABABA: Above Addis Ababa’s concrete skyline, cranes tower high amid blasts from nearby drills and diggers. At the feet of buildings shrouded in bamboo scaffolding, excavators dig up dirt tracks, to be replaced by paved roads and a modern railway.

It is a scene common to most neighborhoods in the Ethiopian capital, which has turned into a giant building zone and a city in transformation. “It looks like a construction site when we compare from the previous time,” said Berhanu Kassa, manager of B B Construction in the Ethiopian capital.

“Especially in the past five years, it’s a really big change,” he added, speaking at the site of his latest project, a mixed-use commercial building on one of the city’s main thoroughfares where workers offload concrete slabs from a delivery truck. Addis Ababa’s construction boom-funded both from private and public coffers-is being driven by the country’s recent rapid economic growth. But the government hopes it will attract further investment and help industrialize the economy in order to reach middle income status by 2025. The public works projects, worth billions of dollars, include new roads, railways and massive power generation schemes across the country. Meanwhile the majority of new buildings are owned by private investors, who by law must be Ethiopian citizens.

The development promises to boost Ethiopia’s economic growth, officially 9.7 percent last year, though the International Monetary Fund (IMF) pegs it at closer to seven percent. “The basic engine blocks of economic transformation are the infrastructure,” said Zemedeneh Negatu, managing partner and Ernst & Young in Ethiopia. “The Achilles heel of Africa is power, lack of power, lack of road networks, lack of the basic needs that you need to transform your economy.”

Few other opportunities But analysts point out that the boom in

construction is also a symptom of the weakness of the financial system, which leaves the business community with few investment opportunities outside of the sector.

“This is the most attractive investment opportunity in the country for the time being since we do not have a financial market that is working properly,” said the head of the IMF mission in Ethiopia, Jan Mikkelsen.

“There’s no financial markets, no stock exchange, so real estate investments seem to be the most attractive from that point of view,” he added.

The majority of the new buildings are hotels, apartments and offices. Most are being built by Ethiopian-owned construction firms, though foreign-owned contractors from China or Turkey are cashing in too.

The government said the big push in the sector-which is bolstered by state-led incentives such as tax breaks and ready access to land-is driven by the need to create jobs for Ethiopia’s 91 million people, about one in four of whom are unemployed.

“We are struggling to eradicate poverty and create jobs,” said Desalegne Ambaw, state minister for urban development and construction.

Officials say four million jobs have been created in the last three years, including an increase in construction sector employment.But Mikkelsen warns that resources should not be pooled too heavily into infrastructure projects, no matter how crucial for development.

“There is a need for construction, but of course there’s a limit to how much you can get out of that and these are potential resources that could have been used for other means and maybe more export-oriented businesses as well given that there is an urgent need for more foreign exchange,” he said.

Imports outweigh exports by a factor of four, according to IMF data, which starves the country of foreign exchange. —AFP

NEW DELHI: India has to cut its Iranian oil imports by nearly two-thirds from the first quarter after the United States asked it to hold the shipments at end-2013 levels, in keeping with the nuclear deal easing sanctions on Tehran, Indian government sources said.

India, with the increases already made in the January-March loading plans from Iran, has to cut its purchases of the crude to about 110,000 barrels per day (bpd) to drop its intake average to 195,000 bpd for the six months to July 20.

Under the Nov 24 agreement between Iran and six world powers, the OPEC member was to hold oil exports at “current volumes” of about 1 million bpd, and a message delivered by a top US energy policy official to Indian ministries in February was the first clear sign of low tolerance for any increases.

Since the interim deal was signed, purchases of Iranian oil by its top four buyers - China, India, Japan and South Korea - have been creeping up and together they have taken 1.25 million barrels per day (bpd) in January against a daily average of about 935,900 bpd for all of 2013.

“It is a fact that they (the United States) have asked us that Iran’s exports to India should not exceed 195,000 bpd between January to July and we have said that we’ll take care of that,” said one of the government sources, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The US official could not be reached for comment. Tehran and Western world powers are working through a landmark deal that runs from Jan. 20 to July 20 that requires Iran to curb its nuclear program in return for a calibrated release of $4.2 billion it is owed in back payments for its oil.

Tough international sanctions over the past two years have cut Iran’s oil exports in half, measures that starved it of hard currency and helped lead it to the nuclear deal last November.

While relaxation of sanctions has made oil exports easier to arrange and buyers no longer have to keep reducing purchases, they were meant to keep import volumes unchanged from the end of last year.

India, though, is already on track to average crude loadings of 322,200 bpd from Iran in the

first quarter, according to loading figures provided by one of the sources. The figures included lifting plans for 345,000 bpd during January.

Tanker arrival data, meanwhile, compiled by Reuters put India’s January intake of crude from Iran at 412,000 bpd, double the daily arrival average for December.

The sources said the loading increases mean Indian refiners have to cut their buys of Iranian oil to about 110,000 bpd over the April 1-July 20 period to meet the ceiling of 195,000 bpd. For the fiscal year to March 31, India’s oil purchases from Iran are likely to be down about a fifth to 214,300 bpd, according to the loading data, sharper than a 15 percent reduction requested

by Washington to win a waiver on sanctions.

Private refiner Essar Oil will be the biggest Indian buyer of Iran’s oil this financial year, replacing state-owned Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical. Essar will have lifted about 30 percent higher than its contract volume of 80,000 bpd, said another government source. A jump in Essar’s Iran oil imports comes as Iran is giving India a discount on crude and offering free delivery. Essar has offered to take about 5.36 million barrels in March from Iran, taking its annual purchases to 105,000 bpd. MRPL’s oil imports from Iran will average about 84,000 bpd this fiscal year versus contract levels of 80,000 bpd, the third government source said. No immediate comment was available from the companies. — Reuters

PIRAEUS: A dock worker with a “Not for sale” sign on his vest takes part in a protest against government plans to further privatize the harbor of Piraeus, Greece’s busiest, in Piraeus, yesterday. — AP

French business under no illusions about challenges PARIS: French companies see little hope for domestic growth this year and are stepping up efforts to cut costs and fine-tune product lines to contend with stubbornly tough market conditions. While the economies of Germany, Britain and even Ireland have made significant progress, France has produced a mixed bag of macroeconomic data and was warned by the EU last week that it is lagging behind euro zone peers and not doing enough to cut labor costs, trim public spending and boost competitiveness.

Unveiling 2013 results over the past month, the bosses of some of France’s top companies had a common message on the euro zone’s second-biggest economy: they don’t expect the country to be worse off in 2014, but neither are they counting on any clear improvement. Key industrial sectors are at 20-year lows and unemployment is stuck above 10 percent, crimping the household consumption that has been a traditional driver of growth.

Construction companies fear that state spending - the one factor supporting domestic business - will be a casualty of government efforts to reduce the public deficit.

There was more downbeat news on Monday when the French central bank forecast that the economy will grow by 0.2 percent in the first quarter, down from 0.3 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2013. Separate data showed industrial output fell 0.2 percent in January, against analysts’ expectations of a rise.

January consumer spending also shrank unexpectedly, with falling car sales weighing particularly heavily. The 2 percent decline in spending represented the biggest drop in two years. “We just have to get used to this environment and not hope for a way out of this crisis that may not happen,” Xavier de Mezerac, finance chief of supermarket chain Auchan, said on Monday as he forecast anemic domestic demand this year. Like many rivals, France’s fifth-largest food retailer has been cutting prices and has even put smaller, cheaper goods on its shelves at the end of each month to appeal to workers anxiously awaiting their pay cheques. Carmakers Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroen have already cut staff and wages to adjust capacity to a demand slump that sent output to a 20-year low in 2013, though Renault has enjoyed notable export success with its low-cost Dacia brand.

Fewer ‘grand projects’ The shrinking construction sector, mean-

while, is facing a predicted 10-12 percent slide in sales of new homes this year, with Standard & Poor ’s forecasting a 3 percent drop in house prices after a 2 percent dip in 2013. Builders Bouygues, Vinci and Eiffage have all been pinning their hopes on orders abroad while focusing on higher-margin projec ts at home. Bouygues, for example, is revamping the Ritz Hotel in Paris.

Vinci and Eiffage acknowledged that a large chunk of their domestic revenue came from public projects, notably a high-speed railway linking the central city of Tour to Bordeaux on the west coast.

Eiffage said that small-to-mid-scale projects such as construction or repairs to hospitals and universities remain its bread and butter, but Vinci warned that public orders could dry up as President Francois Hollande’s government seeks 50 billion euros ($69.31 billion) in budget savings from 2015 to 2017 to bring public finances into line with EU targets.

“Will there be large projects in France in the next few months or years? The answer is probably not very many, at least with the French government as the final client,” Vinci Chief Executive Xavier Huillard told analysts.

One important exception is a pending 3.6 billion euro public-private deal to improve the country’s motorway network, involving Vinci, Eiffage and Abertis unit Sanef. But for the time being, local elections this month could prompt mayors to put projects on hold, especially road-building plans.

It should come as no surprise, therefore, that French stocks dumped by investors during the economic crisis have failed to match the recovery of Germany’s DAX index.

Yet the recent sell-off in emerging markets has provided a silver lining for those stocks with most exposure to the French market.

Shares in companies from carmakers and builders to telecoms group Orange have achieved gains of 16-24 percent since the start of the year. — Reuters

STUTTGART: Employees of German car producer Porsche work on a Porsche 918 Spyder in the Porsche factory in Stuttgart, southwestern Germany, yesterday. — AFP

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

BUSINESS

Asian shares tick up after sell-off HONG KONG: Asia’s markets rose yesterday following big losses in the previous session but investors were largely unmoved by the Bank of Japan’s decision to stand pat on its stimulus program.

The gains came despite a negative lead from Wall Street, while the dollar and euro edged up slightly against the yen. Tokyo added 0.69 percent, or 103.97 points, to 15,224.11, Seoul climbed 0.48 percent, or 9.56 points, to close at 1,963.87 and Sydney was flat, edging up 2.3 points to 5,413.8.

Shanghai advanced 0.10 percent, or 2.09 points, to 2,001.16 and Hong Kong was almost unchanged, edging up 4.68 points to 22,269.61.

Global markets suffered a sell-off on Monday in response to a shock trade deficit in China that raised fears about the world’s number two economy while Japan revised down its growth for 2013.

On Wall Street, the Dow fell 0.21 percent, the S&P 500 dipped 0.05 percent and the Nasdaq gave up 0.04 percent. Investors had been waiting for the BoJ’s two-day meeting to end

expecting it to hold steady on monetary policy but hoping it would give some idea of its plans for the scheme.

The bank said it would keep its powder dry for now, adding the economy was picking up, despite slowing growth in the last quarter of 2013 and fears that a sales tax hike due next month will dent the recovery.

“The Bank of Japan’s decision to stay the course at today’s meeting came as no surprise, but we remain convinced that further easing will be required in coming months,” said Marcel

Thieliant from London-based Capital Economics.

US, Russia trade barbs The yen dipped slightly after the announcement. The dollar was quoted at 103.30 yen in the afternoon, against 103.26 yen in New York Monday, while the euro fetched 143.30 yen compared with 143.28 yen. The single currency was also quoted at $1.3865 against $1.3875.

Tensions in Ukraine also remain on the radar as world leaders struggle to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis. On Monday US Secretary of State John Kerry refused to attend talks in Moscow after his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov snubbed Kiev’s interim leaders.

Lavrov denounced Kerry for turning down an invitation to meet but Washington hit back that the time was not right as there was no sign that Russian President Vladimir Putin was prepared to negotiate.

Washington has led global efforts to defuse tensions since Russian troops deployed last week in Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula following the ouster of the pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych. Oil prices edged up.

New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for April delivery, was up 18 cents at $101.09 101.30 and Brent North Sea crude for April rose one cent to $108.09.

Gold fetched $1,348.55 an ounce at 1050 GMT compared with $1,339.80 late Monday.

In other markets Singapore closed up 0.09 percent, or 2.77 points, at 3,129.40. DBS bank eased 0.31 percent to Sg$16.05, while oil rig maker Keppel Corp rose 1.13 percent to Sg$10.76.

Kuala Lumpur’s main stock index gained 0.36 percent, or 6.49 points, to 1,828.55.

Telekom Malaysia added 0.2 percent to 5.92 ringgit, while utility Tenaga Nasional was up 0.2 percent to 11.96. Budget carrier AirAsia lost 0.4 percent to 2.51 ringgit.

Bangkok rose 1.13 percent or 15.23 points to 1,364.28.

Coal producer Banpu fell 1.92 percent to 25.50 baht while Bangkok Bank rose 1.15 percent to 176.50 baht. Jakarta ended up 0.58 percent, or 26.97 points, at 4,704.21.

State miner Aneka Tambang rose 1.36 percent to 1,115 rupiah, while conglomerate Astra International lost 0.34 percent to 7,250 rupiah. Mumbai fell 0.49 percent or 108.41 points to end at 21,826.42 points.

Tata Steel shed 5.52 percent to 344.15 rupees per share and Financial Technologies fell 4.99 percent to 382.60 rupees per share.

Taipei rose 0.43 percent, or 37.09 points, to 8,702.33. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. rose 0.88 percent to Tw$114.0 while Hon Hai fell 0.47 percent to Tw$84.2.

Wellington fell 0.31 percent, or 15.90 points, to 5,101.94. Fletcher Building slipped 1.7 percent to NZ$9.69 and telecoms firm Chorus added 0.6 percent to NZ$1.57.

Manila added 0.65 percent, or 42.35 points, to 6,529.58. -— AFP

NEW YORK: Glenn Kessler (left) works with fellow traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. World stock markets steadied yesterday after a sell-off the day before. —AP

Oil rises, spurred by new Ukraine tensions LONDON: Brent oil futures rose above $108.50 a barrel yesterday, supported by building tensions in the Ukraine crisis as the West threatened sanctions against Russia as early as this week. But concerns over demand growth in the world’s two biggest oil consumers, the United States and China, kept prices under pressure.

Brent futures traded 53 cents higher at $108.61 a barrel by 1013 GMT. U.S. crude was up 35 cents at $101.47 a barrel.

In the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War, France said sanctions against Russia could be imposed as early as this week if Moscow failed to respond positively to an initiative to calm the crisis.

Ukraine said it would raise a new national guard force in response to Russian attempts to annex Crimea, a day after a pro-Russian force opened fire while seizing a Ukrainian military base there.

“Although events in the Ukraine were not the headline maker yesterday there were no signs of any sort of diplomatic breakthrough. If anything the confrontation worsened with Russia tightening its grip on the Crimea. If the referendum goes ahead next Sunday a selloff later in the week has to be budgeted for,” PVM analyst David Hufton said in a note. The Crimean regional assembly last week called for a ref-

erendum on March 16 on joining Russia.

Kiev has branded the move illegal.

Oil is also drawing support from the worsening crisis in Libya. The North African nation stopped a North Korean-flagged tanker that had loaded oil from a rebel-held port, after naval forces briefly exchanged fire with the rebels, officials said.

But in a sign of the chaos and conflicting information typical for Libya, rebel leader Ibrahim Jathran denied in a televised statement broadcast from a ship that he had lost control of the oil tanker.

Demand risks Indicating a weak demand outlook, US crude inventories are expected to have risen last week as a bitter cold spell ends and as refiners take down plants for scheduled maintenance. That forecast followed data from China showing a sharp drop in exports, pointing to weak economic activity. Other risk assets such as Asian markets and base metals found their feet after a rocky ride the previous session, though uncertainty about the true state of China’s economy kept the mood brittle. Traders were also eyeing OPEC’s monthly supplyand-demand report today, which will be followed by that of the International Energy Agency on Friday. — Reuters

Gold firm on fund inflows; China SINGAPORE: Gold was steady near $1,340 an ounce yesterday as fears of an economic slowdown in China and Ukraine’s geopolitical crisis keep investors seeking safe-haven bullion. In a sign of investor confidence in the precious metal amid global uncertainties, the world’s biggest bullion-backed exchange-traded fund saw its largest inflow in a month on Monday.

Traders expect the metal to be wellsupported between $1,330 and $1,350, with the next big movement expected from the US Federal Reserve’s policy meeting next week.

“Gold continues to be largely supported above $1,329, and while prices are unlikely to break above $1,361.60 in the absence of war, underlying support from the Ukrainian crisis ... is likely to keep prices elevated above $1,320 for an extended time,” said Joyce Liu, an analyst at Phillip Futures.

Spot gold had inched up 0.3 percent to $1,342.60 an ounce by 0725 GMT. It ended flat on Monday after earlier dropping as much as 0.8 percent. Gold traders are watching developments in the Ukraine crisis, over which the West and Russia are fac-

ing their worst stand off since the Cold War. Weak Chinese exports data for February is also making investors opt for safe-haven gold rather than equities. SPDR Gold Trust said its holdings rose 7.50 tons to 812.70 tons on Monday - the biggest inflow since Feb 13. “We will be trading sideways for a while as Ukraine tensions remain high and these renewed China fears are making people nervous,” said a Singapore-based trader.

“Markets are now looking at the Fed. It remains to be seen if the weather will have an impact on the Fed’s stimulus outlook.”

The Fed holds its next policy meeting on March 18-19 at which it is most likely to announce another $10 billion cut to its bond-buying stimulus.

Recent US economic data has shown that growth has been hurt by severe cold weather. In the physical market, Chinese prices continued to trade at a discount to spot prices due to weak demand. Prices in Shanghai were at a discount of $3 an ounce to London prices, compared with a premium of over $20 at the beginning of the year. — Reuters

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

BUSINESS

Carney: UK economy not close to overheating LONDON: Bank of England Governor Mark Carney signalled he was not concerned that Britain’s economy was close to overheating, despite a strong recovery since last year, putting himself in the dovish camp among policymakers.

Speaking to lawmakers yesterday, Carney said the amount of spare capacity in the economy was probably slightly more than 1.5 percent of gross domestic product, suggesting the BoE can hold off on raising interest rates for longer.

Carney also said Britain’s natural rate of unemployment could be less than the Bank has estimated, meaning the labor market can strengthen further without pushing up inflation. Last month, the BoE put its assessments of spare capacity in the economy at the centre of its deliberations on when it will raise interest rates from a record low 0.5 percent, where they have stood since 2009 as Britain tries to recover from the financial crisis.

“We ranged in the February inflation report (that spare capacity) was 1-1.5 percent,” Carney said in comments to the Treasury Select Committee in Britain’s parliament. “I personally would be at the upper end of that range and I would add that the margin, given the most recent

employment report, that it would probably be slightly higher than that 1.5 percent.”

Britain’s unemployment rose to 7.2 percent in the three months to December, ending a string of falls that took the BoE by surprise. Sterling weakened as Carney spoke. The pound has outpaced many other currencies in recent months on expectations that interest rates could rise in Britain before other economies.

In a sign of the different views among BoE policymakers on how long the economy can continue its recovery without fuelling inflation, Martin Weale - known as a hawk on the Monetary Policy Committee - said he thought the amount of spare capacity was probably “something under 1 percent.”

Financial markets have pointed to spring 2015 as a potential time for the first rate hike. Output is still just below its peak in the first quarter of 2008 - a much weaker recovery from the financial crisis than in most other big advanced economies. The BoE is concerned that low productivity may limit Britain’s ability to catch up without generating higher inflation in the medium term.

But Carney said productivity may be moving towards its long-term trend. “The most recent figures on productivity suggest around a 2 percent annualised growth rate, which is coming for the first time in a very long time towards trend.”

When rate rises did come, they would be gradual, Carney said. Carney said he agreed with comments from Deputy Governor Charlie Bean on Monday that rates were unlikely to exceed 2.5 percent over the next three years.

Natural rate In February, the BoE said the mediumterm equilibrium rate of unemployment meaning the lowest jobless rate the economy can maintain - was probably around 6 to 6.5 percent.

Carney suggested it could be lower.

“What we’ve learnt over the course of the last seven months since we put in place the first phase of forward guidance, or so what I’ve learnt, is that that equilibrium rate of unemployment has gone down,” he said.

“It’s lower than we would have thought in August and in August we estimated as a committee that it was about 6.5 percent. I personally would mark it

LONDON: Bank of England governor Mark Carney answers questions in front of the parliamentary Treasury Select Committee in the House of Commons, central London yesterday.—AP around 6 now, potentially slightly lower.”

Carney also said he was concerned that an improvement in the housing market could lead to a worsening of mortgage underwriting standards.

“Underwriting standards at present of

mortgage providers are quite high...,” he said. “Our concern is that those underwriting standards will deteriorate and that that deterioration itself would be fed by general improvement in the housing market.” —Reuters

BoJ holds off fresh easing measures as tax hike looms Kuroda sees pickup in business investment

TOKYO: This picture shows president of Japan’s Skymark Airlines, Shinichi Nishikubo (center), and flight attendants posing for photographers during a press preview at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. —AFP

Mini-skirt turbulence at Japan budget carrier TOKYO: A Japanese budget airline has flown into rough air over its decision to outfit flight attendants in revealing miniskirts, drawing criticism that it could invite sexual harassment. Skymark Airlines came under fire from the cabin crew’s labor union, which said the super-short skirt-with a distinctively swinging sixties look-barely covers wearers’ thighs. “We’re concerned that the design of this uniform may cause problems,” including sexual harassment, the Japan Federation of Cabin Attendants said in a statement late last month. “The airline is saying the uniform is meant to attract more customers, but this shows the company is treating women like a commodity,” it added. Comments posted on the

union’s website said attendants would not carry out their duties effectively owing to fears about leering stares or customers shooting pictures up their skirts with a mobile phone. The airline, which disputes the union claims, plans to introduce the uniform as a temporary promotion for the launch of domestic routes its Airbus A330 planes in the spring.

The carrier could not be immediately reached yesterday. But last week, Skymark president Shinichi Nishikubo told reporters: “We won’t impose the uniform on any of the cabin attendants who refuse to wear it.”

“It is disappointing that the outfit designed in part for the ad campaign is being seen in a distorted way,” he added. — AFP

Firebrand UK trade union leader Bob Crow dies LONDON: One of Britain’s most powerful and militant trade union leaders, Bob Crow, who led strikes that shut down the London Tube on numerous occasions, died yesterday at the age of 52, his union announced.

A colorful, left-wing Londoner with a dog called Castro and a passion for Millwall Football Club, Crow had been general secretary of the RMT transport union since 2002. He was constantly involved in disputes and campaigns on behalf of his 80,000 members, winning the admiration of transport workersand the hatred of many commuters. “It is with the deepest regret that RMT has to confirm that our general secretary Bob Crow sadly passed away in the hours of this morning,” the union said in a brief statement.

Crow, who had one daughter, died in a hospital near his home in east London after suffering a massive heart attack, according to the Evening Standard newspaper. Crow was something of a working-class hero. He left school at 16 and worked on the railways before joining the management of the RMT, promising always to do the “very best” for his members.

He secured good salaries and conditions for them through hard-nosed negotiating tactics including strikes, most recently last month when parts of the Underground network in the capital were shut down for 48 hours. “Bob Crow was admired by his members and feared by employers, which is exactly how he liked it,” said Manuel Cortes, leader of the TSSA rail union, which joined last month’s strike.

“It was a privilege to campaign and fight alongside him because he never gave an inch.” Crow still lived in social housing despite his £145,000 (175,000 euros, $240,000) annual pay and pensions package-two facts which his critics regularly used against him. In his final interview, broadcast on BBC radio on Monday evening, Crow defended

TOKYO: The Bank of Japan held off fresh monetary easing measures yesterday, saying the economy was picking up, despite slowing growth in the last quarter of 2013 and fears that a looming tax hike will dent the recovery. The head of the central bank also indicated he was confident it would achieve its inflation targets by the end of next year but policy makers sounded a warning over exports.

“Japan’s economy has continued to recover moderately,” the bank said in a statement after a two-day policy meeting, adding that spending had jumped ahead of the tax rise. “The pick-up in business fixed investment has become increasingly evident as corporate profits have improved... Housing investment has continued to increase and private consumption has remained resilient.”

The dollar weakened slightly to 103.22 yen in afternoon trade from 103.28 yen before the announcement. Bank governor Haruhiko Kuroda said a 2.0 percent inflation target, aimed at reversing years of deflation, was drawing closer.

“The consumer price index is steadily following a path toward (the target), so we don’t see the need to make a policy adjustment at this time,” he told a press briefing.

Recent data showed consumer prices logged their first annual rise for five years in 2013. The bank aims to achieve its target by the end of next year but there is growing skepticism among analysts and even some BoJ board members about that ambitious timeline.

Further easing ?

Analysts had widely expected the bank to stand pat yesterday as its easing program ripples through the economy, but were watching for signs from Kuroda of future policy moves.

The decision “to stay the course at today’s meeting came as no surprise, but we remain convinced that further easing will be required in coming months”, said Marcel Thieliant from London-based Capital Economics.

Markets are looking for signs that the bank will add to its vast stimulus program to counter any slowdown caused by April’s sales tax hike, which critics fear will derail Japan’s nascent recovery.

Those concerns gathered pace Monday as revised growth data showed the world’s thirdlargest economy expanded at a slower pace

TOKYO: Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda gestures as he answers questions during a press conference at the bank’s headquarters in Tokyo yesterday. —AFP than initially thought last year, despite a boost in spending ahead of the tax hike. The worry is that the sales tax rise-to 8.0 percent from 5.0 percent-will weigh on consumer spending and put the brakes on growth in the wider economy.

Monday’s data showed Japan’s economy expanded 0.2 percent in the quarter to December and 1.5 percent through 2013. That was weaker than preliminary results showing gross domestic product grew 0.3 percent for the October-December period and 1.6 percent in 2013. A key reason for the downward revision was weak exports, despite a dive in the value of the yen in the past year, while the BoJ said growth in overseas shipments had “recently levelled off more or less”.

Japan’s trade imbalance has widened to record levels as the weak exports were outpaced by ballooning energy bills owing to the shutdown of the country’s nuclear reactors following the Fukushima crisis.

Atomic power once supplied more than a quarter of the resource-poor nation’s energy, and a cheap yen has made energy imports even

pricier. In January, Japan’s trade deficit swelled to another monthly record. The 2.79 trillion yen ($27 billion) shortfall also underscored a boost in purchases of foreign goods ahead of the tax rise, The economic growth figures underscore concerns about the pace of growth under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policy blitz, a mesh of big government spending and BoJ easing measures.

Kuroda unveiled the asset-buying schemewhich aims to boost the money supply-in April as part of Abe’s broader plan to eradicate years of falling prices that have held back consumer spending and business investment. The program aims to add between 60 trillion yen and 70 trillion yen annually to Japan’s money supply.

While it has not extended the monetary easing since April, the bank after its February meeting said it would tweak a loans scheme to commercial banks in a bid to stimulate borrowing.

Among other measures was an extension of the timeline for a program aimed at promoting development in parts of the country hammered by the quake-tsunami disaster three years ago.—AFP

China to experiment with private banks

Bob Crow, general secretary of Rail, Maritime and Transport union speaks on his mobile phone in London. — AP

his salary, saying: “I think I’m worth it.

“Our members, in the main, have had pay rises every single year right the way through austerity. They’ve got good pensions, good holidays-they could be better.” Fellow union leaders expressed shock at Crow’s death, while Conservative Mayor of London Boris Johnson paid tribute to a “fighter and a man of character”. There was no love lost between Johnson and Crow, who held their first conversation for years last month and accused each other of holding a gun to their heads over the strike.

“Whatever our political differences, and there were many, this is tragic news. Bob fought tirelessly for his beliefs and for his members,” the mayor said. “ There can be absolutely no doubt that he played a big part in the success of the Tube, and he shared my goal to make transport in London an even greater success.” —AFP

BEIJING: China will launch a trial program for private firms to set up banks, the country’s banking regulator said yesterday, with Internet giants Tencent and Alibaba reportedly among the first applicants. Most Chinese lenders are state-controlled and banks founded by private companies are extremely rare, while access to lending is a key element of the Communist authorities’ control of the economy. At a key meeting in November the ruling party listed opening the banking industry to private investors as one of its major reform policies for the financial sector to introduce competition and help small enterprises obtain loans.

“We have selected a few private capital (investors) to jointly participate in the trial program of (the setup of ) five banks in the first batch,” Shang Fulin, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, told reporters. He was speaking at a briefing on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People’s Congress, China’s Communist-controlled legislature.

Alibaba and Tencent, which have been expanding their online finance business in recent years, Shanghai-based conglomerate Fosun, auto parts maker Wanxiang Group and six other private owned companies have been chosen to be the investors, the People’s Daily quoted Shang as saying in an interview.

Each bank will have at least two “founders”, Shang said at the briefing. The banks will operate “independently”, he said, and will assume responsibility for risks and losses as well as profits.

Billion-dollar bailouts China’s big state-owned lenders tend to

channel the bulk of their lending to state enterprises, often at the urging of local officials, which can lead to the build-up of bad loans. There is a widespread assumption that the government would not let a state bank fail.

The government previously recapitalized the four major banks-Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Agricultural Bank of China-to the tune of tens of billions of dollars and carved out their bad loan portfolios before they listed minority stakes on the stock market. Shang said the privately invested banks will focus on “serving small and micro-sized companies and the community”.

Analysts welcomed the news as a step forward. “A big problem of China’s banking sector is that state-owned banks extend most of their lending to state-owned companies,” Shen Jianguang, a Hong Kong-based analyst with Mizuho Securities, said. “It is very difficult for small and micro-sized companies and

private firms to get a loan.”There was no good solution to the problem and so now they are trying to open up (the sector),” he said. “This also will increase competition in the sector that has long been criticized as monopolized.”

Shang did not give a timetable for the new banks to start operations. “We will push forward the trial of the five banks in a prudent manner, approving one only after it is ready to go,” he said. “That means the timing of their launch of operation mainly depends on themselves.”

Another key item on Chinese authorities’ reform agenda is allowing banks to decide on the interest rates they pay depositors, after they loosened controls on lending rates last year. China’s central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan said at the same briefing that was expected within two years. “The liberalization of deposit rates is definitely within our plan. I personally think it is very likely to be realized in the next one to two years,” he told reporters. — AFP

Greek tax inspectors get anger management classes ATHENS: Greek tax inspectors are being offered anger management classes after the government said they would have to continue enforcing a deeply unpopular emergency tax.

The government last year extended the tax on property owners, initially collected on electricity bills with the threat of disconnection for those who didn’t pay. The tough conditions fueled protests, even from the tax inspectors themselves. Trifonas Alexiadis, deputy leader of

the National Association of Employees at State Financial Services, said Tuesday that inspectors were being offered places at four-hour seminars funded by the European Union.

He described the classes as “unnecessary” and “juvenile,” arguing that the time would be better used training employees to offer digital services. Greece has been raising taxes and cutting spending to stave off bankruptcy and keep receiving international rescue loans. —AP

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

BUSINESS

All successful Bugatti Legends sold: Al-Zayani KUWAIT: All nine vehicles of the three models presented so far in the “Les Legendes de Bugatti” edition have been sold. Bugatti will present a total of six models in this edition. All models are strictly limited to three vehicles each. Bugatti honors important personalities from its company history with each special edition. The net price of the first three Legends was around € 2.2m.

“The Legends edition is a great success for Bugatti. The response from our customers is amazing. These are automotive works of art, which each tell a part of Bugatti’s history,” says Dr Wolfgang Schreiber, President of Bugatti Automobiles SAS. “The Legends edition is part of Bugatti’s success story,” continued Schreiber. “After a very successful year in 2013, more than 90 percent of the 450 planned Veyrons have been sold. We are confident that we will be just as successful this year.

Our existing and potential customers know that the opportunity to purchase one of these exceptional super sports cars is running out.”

To launch the “Les Legendes de Bugatti” edition last year, Bugatti presented the Jean-Pierre Wimille, named after two-time Le Mans winner for Bugatti, in Pebble Beach, California. The second Legend model followed at the IAA in Frankfurt, where the Jean Bugatti, dedicated to the design genius and son of company founder Ettore, was presented. The third and latest vehicle shown was named after Meo Costantini, head of the Bugatti factory racing team, and was unveiled in November at the Dubai Motor Show.

The Legends vehicles are based on the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse, the world’s fastest production roadster. Bugatti presented the fourth model of the Legends edition at the Geneva Motor Show.

Shurooq signs MoU with US Chamber of Commerce Agreement aims to promote investment in Sharjah

DekaBank team

DekaBank presents case for investing in Europe KUWAIT: DekaBank, one of Europe’s most respected providers of asset management services, hosted a seminar for an invited audience of over 50 senior Kuwaiti business people and financiers about the current and emerging investment landscape in Europe. The seminar focused on providing an overall update on the economic health of European economies and a review of long term investment opportunities. From DekaBank, the event was attended by Oliver Behrens, deputy chairman, DekaBank, Rudiger Daberkow, Head of International Institutional Clients, DekaBank, Dr Ulrich Kater, DekaBank Chief Economist, and Frank Hagenstein, Chief Investment Officer at Deka Investment GmbH. The seminar took place at the JW Marriott hotel in Kuwait and was followed by a buffet lunch to provide guests with the opportunity to informally meet the DekaBank team and further discuss the topics raised in the presentations.

Behrens, who opened the session, said: “We are delighted to be back in Kuwait to present our views on the economic health of the eurozone. As one of Europe’s top rated banks and one of Germany’s largest financial services providers, with established relationships with the ECB and many other financial organizations and institutions, we are enthusiastic to share our knowledge and expertise to inform your invest-

ment decision making.

“Today’s seminar is as much about bringing investors up to date with the latest developments in Europe and our views on the investment opportunities in this context, as it is about introducing the idea of investing in Europe to new audiences who may not have considered Europe as an opportunity before.”

Dr Kater, provided an update on the eurozone. During his presentation he noted that the euro-zone outlook as a whole continued to improve, with business also optimism increasing, even within those countries most affected by the economic downturn. He said: “As European economies continue to recover from the past global financial turmoil, we see some very positive signs in the region for long term investors to consider. Positive performance in manufacturing across the region, a hardening of the euro value against the US dollar, and the continued downward trend inflation are all strong indicators that the Eurozone economies as a whole are well into recovery.”In a separate presentation, Hagenstein spoke about the bank’s investment philosophy, stressing how its analytical and organizational adaptability, broad investment spread and the dynamic utilization of varying sources of performance have consistently yielded investors with positive results.

All-new 2014 Chevrolet Silverado named best 4x4 of the year New from hood to hitch, the 2014 Silverado fullsize pickup is engineered to be stronger, smarter and more capable than ever before. It features a trio of all-new EcoTec3 engines- a V6 and two V8s, which provide the proven power, capabilities, refinement and efficiency. The vehicle also offers segment-exclusive safety features such as Forward Collision Alert, Lane Departure Warning with an Active Safety Seat, and Front and Rear Park Assist.

“We are deeply honored to have received such recognition by Car and Driver Middle East, a highly-acclaimed auto publication here in the region,” Ahmed Soudodi, Regional Chevrolet Brand Managerof General Motors Middle East.

“The Chevrolet Silverado has been one of the most popular full size pickups in the Middle East.

I am confident that the new 2014 Silverado will further cement its reputation as a market leader thanks to its muscular design, segment-leading capabilities, and advanced features.”

The Silverado’s all three EcoTec3 engines feature direct fuel injection, Active Fuel Management and continuously variable valve timing, a combination not found in competitive trucks. The vehicle also offers the class-leading

V6 and V8 towing ratings, which is more than any light-duty pickup currently on the market.

The chassis of the 2014 Silverado includes a number of customer-focused updates. A revised front and rear suspension and wider wheels provide a more comfortable ride and more confident handling. Electric power steering improves steering feel and reduces fuel consumption.

New four-wheel-disc brakes with Duralife rotors improve brake feel and potentially double rotor life. The 2014 Silverado Light Duty pickups are available in seven distinct trim levels, from a Work Truck (WT) to the new premium level, High Country.

Chevrolet care All customers who purchase the All New 2014 Chevrolet Silverado will receive the benefits of the Chevrolet Care program. Chevrolet Care is a high level customer service experience based on four pillars: To provide customers with the best in service pricing and cost transparency; booking service with same day delivery; quality service by certified technicians as well as a regional 3 year/100,000 km warranty and 24x7 regional roadside assistance.

SHARJAH: The Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq) and the US Chamber of Commerce have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at promoting investment, trade, technical and economic cooperation, enhancing exports, and the exchange of visits by investment delegations between the United States of America and Sharjah.

The MoU was signed by Marwan bin Jassim Al-Sarkal, CEO of Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq) and David C Chavern, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the US Chamber of Commerce, in the presence of a number of officials from both Shurooq and the US Chamber of Commerce.

Under the terms of the MoU Shurooq and the US Chamber of Commerce will endeavor to encourage, promote, and facilitate investment and development cooperation among their respective business communities, in addition to establishing, coordinating, and expanding a business network that facilitates the circulation of the business opportunities available in both countries.

The agreement furthermore aims to encourage the exchange of statistics in the form of economic and business data to facilitate investment and activate joint venture projects, as well as joint research activities. The agreement also makes provision for the participation of each party in conferences and trade shows organized by the other, working to overcome any obstacles facing the growth of investments and businesses, exchanging expertise and training, and encouraging reciprocal investments.

Speaking about the MoU, Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq) CEO, HE Marwan Al-Sarkal said, “The relationship between the UAE and the USA is both longstanding and highly mutually beneficial, and as economic, cultural, and artistic exchange between our countries continue to grow, so do our mutual ties. In this respect Sharjah plays a key role, both due to its strategic positioning and because of the well-established track record of the numerous US entities, organizations, and corporations who have been present and successfully operational in Sharjah for many years now. As an emirate, Sharjah has a great deal to offer American businesses looking to find a home base in the Middle East and our aim with this agreement is to create awareness about Sharjah’s extensive offering and unique advantages amongst the American business community.”

The Shurooq CEO went on to emphasize Sharjah’s ideal positioning as an investment hub in the Middle East, pointing to its strategic location - it is the only emirate with direct access to the Arabian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, its incentive and flexible legislative structure, its state-of-the art facilities and sophisticated logistics infrastructure, as well as its friendly investment environment and its cultural, educational, and artistic offerings. He further underlined that this agreement forms part of Shurooq’s establishing open and reciprocal communication channels with influential investment parties, with the aim of driving bilateral cooperation forward in various fields and ensuring broader collaboration in the future.

Commenting on the MoU signing, Mr David Chavern, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of the US Chamber of Commerce, said: “Today is a milestone in the relationship between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Shurooq. It speaks to our commitment to promote Sharjah as a leading investment destination, as well as our shared desire to take the USUAE trade relationship to new heights. At the US Chamber, we are very focused on expanding the economic relationship between our two countries. We believe our new relationship with

the Shurooq will help us strengthen and grow our commercial ties to the mutual benefit of businesses in both nations.”

According to recent figures issued by the American government, the UAE is one of the fastest growing trade partners of the USA. Total bilateral trade between both countries has grown from about $ 4.5 billion in 2002 to $ 24.8 billion in 2012. In the first nine months of last year, the total value of trade between the UAE and the USA rose by 12.5 per cent to $20,56 billion (AED75.46 billion), compared with $18.27 billion (AED67.05 billion) in the first nine months in 2012 - a strong growth that reflects the desire of both countries to further expand their bilateral relations.

The signing of this MoU follows the Sharjah Roadshow in the USA that was organized by Shurooq, and took place from 30 September to 4 October under the slogan ‘Sharjah - Promising Opportunities, Global Horizons’. Led by Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Sharjah Media Corporation and Sharjah Media

Centre, the Roadshow saw the participation of over 20 entities and organizations from the emirate’s public and private sector participating with the aim to promote Sharjah’s investment, business, and cultural offerings while exploring means of cooperation and enhancing bilateral commercial relations.

Established in 2009, Shurooq strives to encourage investment in the emirate of Sharjah by adopting the best international standards in providing quality services that help attract investors from the region and the world.

Shurooq’s key mission is to provide facilities and incentives to help overcome obstacles facing investment activities in the Emirate, evaluate tourism and investment related infrastructure projects, and lay down the necessary plans to complete such projects.

In recognition of its overall accomplishments, Shurooq has been named The Banking Awards 2013 - FDI Agency of the Year in the MENA region in The European’s Global Banking and Finance Awards.

MasterCard celebrates ‘Global Money Week’ Global Money Week is a worldwide celebration to empower the next generation to be confident, responsible and skilled economic citizens.

Underscoring this week is the recognition that every child and youth has a right to safe, accessible financial services, and we need to empower them to grow into productive economic citizens.

There are 2.2 billion children and youth in the world,1but on average in the Middle East, only 12.9 percent of young people aged 15 - 25 have bank accounts at a formal financial institution. Most lack safe, secure and responsible financial products and services that can help them start to save for tomorrow or take loans to pursue goals such as higher learning and entrepreneurial ventures. The right tools can improve livelihoods and overall development of youth.

This is why Child & Youth Finance International (CYFI) and MasterCard have created “Banking a New Generation: Developing Responsibly Financial Retail Banking Products for Children and Youth”. The guide is intended to help financial institutions, NGOs and governments co-create and develop appropriate and innovative banking and payment products for children and youth, while respecting and supporting their rights.

The social ramifications of not addressing the needs of children and youth for safe, secure and responsible financial products and services include financial exclusion, social exclusion, school drop-out, increased unemployment, fail-

ing micro-enterprises, over-indebtedness and poverty.

According to the World Savings Banks Institute “to achieve true financial capability, people need not only the ability to act, through financial education, knowledge, skills, confidence and motivation, but also the opportunity to act through access to adequate banking services and institutions. Without access to these banking products they will not build the skills necessary to learn how to use financial services in a productive and responsible manner.”

While building these tools is good for young people, it also makes good business sense for financial institutions. Customers who have banked with a provider throughout their teenage years are far more likely to extend this relationship into their student days and beyond when profit contribution increases significantly.

According to a recent University of Kansas study, “young adults are two times more likely to own savings accounts, two times more likely to own credit cards and four times more likely to own stocks when they have savings accounts as children.” By starting with children and young adults, banks have the opportunity to build customers for life. Global Money Week creates a moment in time to engage young people in a conversation about their financial future. It also serves as a rallying call for financial institutions to become more youth friendly and ensure that young people have access to the proper education and products they need to succeed financially and economically.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

TECHNOLOGY

LuLu Exchange, LOGOS IT ink deal for AML - Compliance Software KUWAIT: Upping the ante against financial crime, LuLu Exchange, the leading remittance and foreign exchange company operating in Kuwait, in association with Pearl Data Direct, signed a contract with the Luxembourg-based LOGOS IT to procure the iDETECT compliance software in Abu Dhabi on February 9.

The glittering ceremony was presided by Mrs Nicole Bintner-Bakshian, the Ambassador of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to the UAE. The signing ceremony took place in the presence of senior management of both companies. Also present in the ceremony were Marc Scheer, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and Executive Director, Luxembourg Trade and Investment Office.

LuLu Exchange since its inception has emphasized on strict Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policies and procedures, stringent compliance and yet safe and transparent business. The signing of the contract is a bid to further strengthen its ongoing effort towards this cause. The software has the reputation as the only software platform in the market that provides end-to-end functional coverage and protection against the full financial crime spectrum through secure browser-based solutions, which is also highly configurable by end-users.

Addressing the gathering, Adeeb Ahamed,

Director of LuLu Exchange, Kuwait and Pearl Data Direct said, “We have made a clear commitment to having truly differentiated risk, compliance and security functions with the procurement of iDETECT software. I look forward to seeing our company set new benchmarks. We draw constant inspiration from compliance wing of the Central Bank of Kuwait, which has been guiding us. The Regulatory Authority of the country, by updating and adapting itself to the changing times, drives us

to keep in line with newer anti financial crime laws.

We are in fact studying the prospects of implementing the new US-based FATCA to our compliance list which already has UN Sanctions List, HM Treasury, OFAC Sanctions List, EU Sanctions List and others.”

“Partnering with the reputed Luxembourg based LOGOS IT Services Company to further strengthen the AML-compliance, financial crime and risk management is a step forward for us in the

right direction. The synergy between Pearl Data and LOGOS ITS will help us continue to bring the same spirit of innovation to this area that we use to build our products and services,” Ahamed added.

Francois Gourdon, the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive, LOGOS IT Ser vices said, “iDETECT is built to ensure that our demanding customers are provided with the best-of-breed features, and we always remember that, whatever happens, their satisfaction shall come first. I am convinced that great technology always meets great ambition. In our headquar ters in Luxembourg, we gathered elite professionals deeply passionate about building beautifully designed, innovative, and avant-garde software technology. Working with LuLu Exchange provides an opportunity to expand our business and reputation in the GCC and further. “iDETECT is known to be a unique enterprise risk management platform on the market, which allows organizations to make sense of ever-growing amounts of data and face the most complex business challenges. With such technology, organizations can effectively combat sophisticated forms of money laundering and financing terrorism, prosecute crimes, effectively fight fraud, and minimize risks, all in an integrated end-to-end platform”, Gourdon further added.

US-Russian 3-man space station crew lands safely Back on Earth after half-year in space

AUSTIN: A fan celebrates the launch of “Titanfall” on Xbox One at SXSW on Monday, in Austin, Texas. — AP

Microsoft pinning hopes on ‘Titanfall’ WASHINGTON: Tech titan Microsoft-which has struggled to keep pace with Sony and its PlayStation 4 — is pinning its hopes on a new action video game, ironically named “Titanfall.” The highly anticipated game for the new generation Xbox One console lands this week in a major global release, with Microsoft is betting it will keep the company in the forefront of the battle for the living room and home entertainment.

“The challenge is finding the ‘killer game,’” says Avi Greengart of research firm Current Analysis. “Titanfall appears to be the first must-have, first-person mutliplayer game that takes real advantage of the Xbox One’s additional horsepower.”

Technology analyst Rob Enderle at Enderle Group said the new game-featuring elite assault pilots and heavily-armored, 24-foot (six-meter) titans will be a critical test for Microsoft. “Titanfall is really the big title for Xbox One,” he said. “Game consoles live and die on blockbusters, so it is really important that the audience likes this game.”

The game is produced by Respawn Entertainment, using designers of the “Call of Duty” blockbuster series, and distributed by Electronic Arts exclusively for Microsoft’s Xbox and PC platforms. It carries a US price tag of $60.

Set in the near future on a distant war-torn part of space called “the frontier,” Titanfall drops players in the middle of a conflict between the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation and the Frontier Militia.

The main characters are the titans, described as “descendants of present-day fledgling military exoskeletons,” and the pilots, who have varying degrees of certification. Players can shift back and forth between pilot and titan, change tactics on the fly and attack or escape depending on the situation, according to the producers. The release comes with Microsoft’s Xbox One in intense battle with Sony and Nintendo’s Wii U to be at

the heart of digital home entertainment and consoles under pressure to prove their worth as people increasingly turn to smartphones or tablets for games and videos.

Microsoft and Sony both had strong holiday sales after the release of their new-generation consoles last year. But so far in 2014 PS4 has been leading, according to the research firm NPD. Empire strikes back Greengart said Microsoft is trying to show Xbox One has momentum, and Titanfall may help. “It’s not available on Sony, so this gives Microsoft a much-needed shot in the arm just as Sony has announced a nice spike in sales after PS4 went on sale in Japan,” Greengart told AFP. Microsoft doesn’t want to be seen as left behind, he explained. “If consumers think one platform that has legs, sometimes it becomes so. Right now it looks like Sony has pulled ahead.”

Titanfall was released yesterday in the Americas, Russia and parts of Asia, and on Thursday in India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and most of Europe. The release will be Friday in Britain, Ireland and Portugal.

Even with challenges facing the console games sector, there have been notable recent successes including “Grand Theft Auto V,” “Battlefield 4” “Just Dance 2014” and the latest installment of the “Call of Duty” franchise.

“Despite the growth of mobile games, a tremendous number of consumers are willing to spend serious money on the hardware and the gaming experience,” Greengart said. “But is this the last generation of consoles? That’s the big question.” Greengart said Microsoft and others have failed so far to bring gaming into the “ecosystem” that will encourage consumers to use the full range of products including phones and tablets. “Neither Microsoft nor Sony nor Nintendo have done a good job of bridging the living room with their mobile assets,” he said. — AFP

Europe IT security firms seize opportunity from spy scandal HANOVER: European IT security firms have flocked to the world’s biggest high-tech fair with hopes of benefiting from the fallout from shock revelations of mass US and British spying.

Exactly a year ago, Chancellor Angela Merkel vaunted her new, ultra-secure Smartphone at the opening of the same fair, the CeBIT, in the northern city of Hanover.

Revelations that US intelligence allegedly eavesdropped on her mobile phone conversations and hoovered up vast amounts of online data and telephone records from average citizens have since sent shockwaves around the world. German firm Secusmart, which provides the security features for the German government’s telephones, says it has now been approached by several other governments. Secusmart chief Hans-Christoph Quelle declined to name the governments in question but stressed his business had seen

a knock-on effect from the leaks by rogue US analyst Edward Snowden.

“Our core product is mobile voice encryption. And mobile voice encryption was a nerdy feature,” the head of the 2007-established company said in an interview at the five-day CeBIT with AFP. But he added: “Snowden has already changed things because at that time (in 2013 when Merkel showed off her new phone) everybody thought that only mobile networks are unsecure. “But we learned with Snowden that all voice calls are unsecure.” Secusmart has this year teamed up with Britain’s Vodafone to create an app to allow businesses to keep all telephone communications, including conference calls, secure. Thanks to this new app, as well demand for the ability to ensure conversations are kept safe having increased “dramatically”, Secusmart is banking on 20percent growth, Quelle said. —AFP

KARAGANDA: Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut yesterday landed back on Earth in Kazakhstan after a stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) of over half a year, which saw the Olympic torch paraded in space.

Russians Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky and NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins touched down in their Soyuz capsule at 0324 GMT outside Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan, mission control said.

The textbook landing in difficult weather conditions underlined the strength of space cooperation between the United States and Russia, despite the soaring diplomatic tensions over Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine.

The undocking and landing had initially been postponed due to bad weather with heavy snow and high winds at the landing site. But just hours before the undocking, they were allowed to go ahead and mission control said that the landing had proceeded on schedule.

The three spacemen were extracted from the capsule in good shape and wrapped with blankets to protect them from the fierce early-morning cold on the snowy Kazakh steppe. During their mission Kotov and Ryazansky had, in a spacewalk watched around the world, carried into space the torch that was used to light the Olympic Flame for the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.

Kotov, one of Russia’s most experienced cosmonauts, has notched up a total of 526 days in space, including previous expeditions in 2007 and 2009-2010. Ryazansky and Hopkins were making their maiden flights.

‘The sparks fly’ The trio underwent medical checks on the spot before being loaded into an all-terrain vehicle that took them to a helicopter for the flight to the Kazakh city of Karaganda.

From there, the three are parting company, with Hopkins to be flown back to Houston and the two Russians to Moscow. “You see the sparks flying, it’s pretty neat. It’s pretty exciting, incredible,” Hopkins, sat in a chair to deal with the effects of the return to Earth after months of weightlessness, said in comments heard on NASA T V. “ The one thing that hurts are my knees,” he added. NASA TV said that the number of personnel around the landing zone had been kept to a minimum due to the poor weather

ZHEZKAZGAN: In this photo provided by NASA, Expedition 38 commander Oleg Kotov, of the Russian Federal Space Agency, center, joins hands with flight engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy, of the Russian Federal Space Agency, left, and flight engineer Mike Hopkins, of NASA, as they sit in chairs outside the Soyuz TMA-10M capsule shortly after they landed in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, yesterday. — AP conditions. Rescue crews stumbled around in the heavy snow. Television pictures showed the burns and damage sustained by the capsule’s heat shield during re-entry.

The Soyuz capsule started undocking from the ISS at 2345 GMT Monday, with the departing astronauts leaving on board the station Koichi Wakata of Japan, the new ISS commander; American Rick Mastracchio; and Russian Mikhail Tyurin. Wakata is the first ever Japanese astronaut to have command of the ISS. The Soyuz capsule lands according to principles little changed since the first space flight of Yuri Gagarin in 1961, with a parachute helping the capsule to touch down safely on Earth after re-

entering the atmosphere.

After the withdrawal of the US space shuttle, Russia is the sole nation capable of transporting humans to the International Space Station (ISS), and spaceflight is often hailed as the finest example of Russian-American cooperation.

NASA chief Charles Bolden said last week that the US space agency’s relationship with Russia remained normal despite the rising tensions over the crisis in Ukraine.

The next crew of NASA astronaut Steve Swanson and Russians Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev are due to launch to the ISS from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 25. — AFP

Zap! Australian scientists look at lasers to cull space junk SYDNEY: It may sound like science fiction but an Australian team is working on a project to zap orbital debris with lasers from Earth to reduce the growing amount of space junk that threatens to knock out satellites with a “cascade of collisions”.

The project is very realistic and likely to be work ing in the next 10 years, Matthew Colless, director of Australian National University’s Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, told Reuters.

“It’s important that it’s possible on that scale because there’s so much space junk up there,” he said. “We’re perhaps only a couple of decades away from a catastrophic cascade of collisions ... that takes out all the satellites in low orbit.”

Scientists believe there are more than 300,000 pieces of debris in space, made up of everything from tiny screws and bolts to large parts of rockets, mostly moving in low orbits around Earth at tremendous speed.

Australia now has a contract with NASA, the US space agency, to track and map space junk with a telescope equipped with an infra-red laser at Mount Stromlo Obser vator y. But $20 million from the Australian government and $40 million in private investment will help the team set up as the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) to develop better lasers to track tiny pieces of debris, importing techniques from astronomy used to remove the blurring of the atmosphere.

The ultimate aim is to increase the power of the lasers to illuminate and zap pieces of junk so they burn up harmlessly as they fall

through the upper atmosphere. “There’s no risk of missing and hitting a working satellite,” Colless said. “We can target them precisely. We really don’t miss.”

Colless said he imagines an eventual need for a global network of stations set up under

international auspices but, right now, the CRC is doing the research to make it possible. The CRC is made up of universities, space agencies and companies including Lockheed Mar tin, Optus and EOS Space System Australia. — Reuters

HANOVER: The lifesize humanoid robot “RoboThespian” interacts with fair visitors at the Engineered Arts Ltd stand of the 2014 CeBIT computer technology trade fair yesterday in Hanover, central Germany. The robot, featured at the fair’s opening ceremony, is “a fully programmable interactive humanoid robot designed to inspire, communicate, interact and entertain”. —AFP

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

Ranbaxy scrambles for ingredients to make generic Nexium MUMBAI/LONDON: Indian drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd is in talks with at least two companies on sourcing ingredients for a generic version of AstraZeneca Plc’s heartburn drug Nexium, a source said, to ensure the pills can be sold in the United States.

Washington in January prohibited Ranbaxy, India’s top drugmaker by revenue, from selling drugs in the United States using ingredients from one of its plants in northern India due to poor manufacturing practices.

This effectively barred it from selling drugs made in its India plants in the United States and has forced Ranbaxy to look elsewhere for supplies. Ranbaxy’s Ohm Laboratories plant in New Jersey is now its only facility making generics for the United States.

Any delay in the launch of generic Nexium, AstraZeneca’s second-biggest seller, will have a big impact on the British company’s profit. Nexium had global sales last year of $3.87 billion and US sales of $2.12 billion.

Retaining exclusivity on Nexium in the all-important United States beyond the end of May would not only limit a forecast decline in AstraZeneca’s 2014 earnings but could also protect bonuses for top management at the British company.

Ranbaxy’s talks with ingredient makers are part of a scramble to ensure it can still be the first to sell a cheaper copy of Nexium in the United States after the drug’s patent term ends on May 27, despite the regulatory sanctions.

The source, who has direct knowledge of the matter, declined to give details and refused to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. A Ranbaxy spokesman said the company has no comment for now. Ranbaxy was the first to seek approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a generic version of Nexium, gaining exclusive rights to sell it for six months after patent expiry - potentially a huge opportunity.

“It’s one of the biggest generic opportunities ever. If I was Ranbaxy, I would be

looking very hard to find a commercial solution,” said London-based analyst Savvas Neophytou at Panmure Gordon.

Doubts about Ranbaxy’s ability to launch the drug grew after the FDA in January prohibited it from shipping to the United States any pharmaceutical ingredient made at its Toansa plant in northern India.

Ranbaxy’s failure to launch generic Nexium soon after the patent expiry at the end of May could benefit AstraZeneca’s earnings per share (EPS) by 10 cents a month, Barclays wrote in a report. In the fourth quarter, EPS fell 28 percent to $1.23.

AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot and his team are required to ensure that the company’s dividend cover ratio does not fall below 1.5 times “core” earnings, which excludes certain items, implying an EPS target for 2014 of $4.20.

Hitting that figure is uncertain.

AstraZeneca’s current outlook for the year predicts that earnings will fall in the “teens”, translating into a worst-case fig-

ure of $4.09 a share, assuming a 19 percent decline from 2013’s level of $5.05.

The current outlook is based on the assumption that generic Nexium is launched from May 27 - but whether that actually happens is a huge swing factor for the company, with even a few months of sales without generics yielding a big profit windfall.

High cost For Ranbaxy, any deal to buy in ingredients will push up costs and reduce profits. It could also delay the launch of a Nexium generic as Ranbaxy would need to get regulatory approval for the new raw material supply, some analysts said.

“They would have to file a separate new ANDA based on the material which they are procuring from the third party, along with a stability study data and all that,” said Ranjit Kapadia, an analyst at Mumbai-based Centrum Broking.

ANDA refers to Abbreviated New Drug Application, which generic drugmakers file with the FDA to seek

approval for the launch of a copycat version of a branded drug.

Ranbaxy, majority owned by Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd , is not expected to give up without a fight. Another tactic might be to sell its exclusivity for launching generic Nexium to another company, several analysts said.

The launch of new drugs by Ranbaxy has been in focus since its run-ins with the FDA began in 2008. US import bans on two plants that year clouded launch of a generic version of Pfizer Inc’s cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor in 2011.

In the event, it did manage to launch generic Lipitor, after partnering with Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd , and the drug was estimated to have generated sales of nearly $600 million for Ranbaxy in the first six months.

“They have had to pay a high cost for some of these FDA opportunities, but they have not missed any,” a top executive at a rival Indian generic drugmaker said, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. —Reuters

Two percent of Americans have new hips and knees 600,000 knees, 400,000 hips replaced in US each year

KARACHI: Pakistani villagers tend to their children, affected by famine, at a government hospital in Mithi, the capital of Tharparkar district, some 300 kilometres from Karachi yesterday. At least 62 children have died in a district of southern Pakistan where thousands are suffering from malnutrition, officials said. — AFP

Japan stem cell scientist calls for retraction of study TOKYO: A co-author of a Japanese study that promised a revolutionary way to create stem cells has called for the headlinegrabbing research to be retracted over claims its data was faulty.

The findings, published by Japanese researcher Haruko Obokata and US-based scientists, outlined a simple and low-tech approach in the quest to grow transplant tissue in the lab.

The study was touted as the third great advance in stem cells-a futuristic field that aims to reverse Alzheimer’s, cancer and other crippling or lethal diseases. But it faced hard questions as the Japan-based Riken institute, which sponsored the study, launched a probe last month over the credibility of data used in the explosive findings.

At issue are allegations that researchers used erroneous image data for an article published in the January edition of British journal Nature.

Teruhiko Wakayama, a Yamanashi University professor who co-authored the article, called for a retraction. “It’s hard to believe the findings anymore after so many mistakes in the data,” he told broadcaster Nippon Television late Monday.

Yesterday, the institute said it was mulling whether to pull back the study.

“We are considering whether to retract the report based on its credibility and research ethics, even though our investigation is still underway,” it said.

In an e-mailed statement, the journal said: “Issues relating to this paper have been brought to Nature’s attention and we are conducting an ongoing investigation.

We have no further comment at this stage.”

But Hitoshi Niwa, who also contributed to the article, dismissed what he described as minor mistakes, Japanese media reported. Another co-author, Charles Vacanti, a tissue engineer at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, told the Wall Street Journal: “It would be very sad to have such an important paper retracted as a result of peer pressure, when indeed the data and conclusions are honest and valid.” Harvard is also investigating, reports said.

Simple, low-cost technique?

Hakubun Shimomura, the Japanese minister in charge of science and education, said Tuesday that the study should be

retracted now and re-published it if “they accumulate new facts” that prove its authenticity.

Called stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency (STAP) cells, the innovation was touted as breaking new ground, supplying a lower-cost and relatively straightforward technique.

Stem cells are primitive cells that, as they grow, become differentiated into the various specialised cells that make up the different organs-the brain, the heart, kidney and so on.

The goal is to create stem cells in the lab and nudge them to grow into these differentiated cells, thus replenishing organs damaged by disease or accident.

The researchers’ groundbreaking findings said that white blood cells in newborn mice were returned to a versatile state through a relatively simple process that involved incubating them in a highly acidic solution for 25 minutes, followed by a fiveminute spin in a centrifuge and week-long immersion in a growth culture.

Until now, only plant cells, and not mammal cells, have been found to reprogramme back to a youthful state through simple environmental factors.

A key obstacle in the field is ensuring that transplanted cells are not attacked as alien by the body’s immune system-meaning they would have to carry a patient’s own genetic code to identify them as friendly.

In 1998 came the first gain: the use of cloning technology-pioneered with Dolly the sheep-to harvest stem cells from earlystage embryos grown from the donor’s own DNA. But these “pluripotent” stem cells are controversial as the method entails destroying the embr yo, something opposed by religious conservatives and others. In 2006, a team led by Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University, who was a co-recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize for Medicine, created so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS).

The team took mature cells and coded them with four genes, “rewinding” the cells’ genetic programmes to return them to a juvenile state. The technique had to overcome an early hurdle of causing tumours in cells and still faces efficiency problems-less than one percent of adult cells are typically reprogrammed successfully. —AFP

Blood test can predict Alzheimer’s: Study PARIS: Researchers in the United States say they have developed a prototype blood test that can tell with 90-percent accuracy whether a healthy person will develop Alzheimer’s disease within three years.

The test looks for 10 signatures of fatty proteins called lipids, according to a study published on Sunday in the journal Nature Medicine. It could help families of people developing the cognitive disorder make early decisions on how best to care for them and may also aid the search for treatment, the authors said.

Several years of clinical trials are likely to be needed to assess the prototype technique, the first blood “biomarker” to predict the tragic degenerative disease.

Alzheimer’s, caused by toxic proteins that destroy brain cells, is a currently incurable and fatal degenerative disease. Around 35 million people have the disease, a tally that is expected to reach 115 million people by 2050, according to the World Health

Organization. “Our novel blood test offers the potential to identify people at risk for progressive cognitive decline and can change how patients, their families and treating physicians plan for and manage the disorder,” said Howard Federoff, a professor of neurology at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington. It could also help efforts to treat the disease, he said in a press release.

Attempts to develop drugs for Alzheimer’s have failed possibly because they are tested when the disease has progressed too far, Federoff said. These treatments may have a better chance of braking or reversing the disease if they are trialled at a much earlier stage, he said.

The researchers started by taking blood samples from 525 healthy volunteers aged 70 and older. Three years later, they looked at a group of 53 volunteers who had developed symptoms of early Alzheimer’s or a memoryaffecting condition known as amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI).—AFP

NEW YORK: It’s not just grandma with a new hip and your uncle with a new knee. More than 2 of every 100 Americans now have an artificial joint, doctors are reporting. Among those over 50, it’s even more common: Five percent have replaced a knee and more than 2 percent, a hip. “ They are remarkable numbers,” said Dr Daniel J. Berry, chairman of orthopedic surgery at the Mayo Clinic. Roughly 7 million people in the United States are living with a total hip or knee replacement.

He led the first major study to estimate how prevalent these procedures have become, using federal databases on surgeries and life expectancy trends. Results were reported yesterday at an American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons conference in New Orleans.

More than 600,000 knees and about 400,000 hips are replaced in the US each year. But until now, there haven’t been good numbers on how many people currently are living with new joints.

The number is expected to grow as the population ages, raising questions about cost, how long the new parts will last, and how best to replace the replacements as they wear out over time.

Why the boom?

“People are aware that they’re a success” and are less willing to put up with painful joints, Berry said. The term “replacement” is a little misleading, said Dr Joshua Jacobs, chairman of orthopedic surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and president of the orthopedic surgery association. What’s replaced is the surface of a joint after cartilage has worn away, leaving bone rubbing against bone and causing pain and less mobility.

In a replacement operation, the ends of bones are removed or resurfaced and replaced with plastic, ceramic or metal materials.

Arthritis is the main reason for these operations, followed by obesity, which adds stress on knees and hips. Baby boomers are wearing out joints by playing sports and doing other activities to avoid obesity. Knee replacement surgeries have more than tripled in the 45-to-64 age group over the last decade and nearly half of hip replacements now are in people under 65, federal numbers show.

“It’s not for anybody who has pain in the joint,” Berry warned. Surgery won’t help people with pain and stiffness from arthritis but whose joints are not damaged, said Berry, who gets royalties from certain hip and knee implants.

Surgery also is not for people who haven’t first tried exercise, medicines and weight loss, Jacobs said.But for a growing number of people, it can mean a big improvement in quality of life.

Mary Ann Tuft, 79, who owns an executive search firm, said her right knee was painful for a decade before she had it replaced in 2005.

“I live in downtown Chicago, take a lot of

CHICAGO: In this Wednesday, March 5, 2014 photo, Dr. Joshua Jacobs, orthopedics surgery chief at Rush University Medical Center and president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in Chicago, holds a model of a tri-compartmental total knee replacement. About two of every 100 Americans now has an artificial joint, doctors are reporting.

That’s 2.5 million with a new hip and 4.7 million with a new knee, according to the first major study to look at how common these operations have become. Results were reported yesterday at an American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons conference in New Orleans. — AP walks along the beach. I could barely walk a block” by the time the operation was done, she said. “I’m very social, but I found going to cocktail receptions where you had to stand a long time, I would just avoid them.”

Amazing After the operation, “I felt better pretty much right from the beginning,” she said. “You don’t even know you have it in there, which is amazing.” Cynthia Brabbit, a dental hygienist from Winona, Minn., had hip replacement in 2007 when she was 52. She developed hip problems in her 20s that distorted her gait and even caused one leg to grow longer than the other.

“I was running marathons, doing half marathons, playing tennis,” but the problem grew so bad she couldn’t even walk more than half a mile, she said.

“Now I can walk an hour a day,” and is training for a 100-mile bike ride this summer, she said.

“What a world of difference.” Not all patients have fared as well, though. Implant recalls and big patient lawsuits show the danger when a device is flawed.

Last June, Stryker Corp. recalled certain hip

implant products because of corrosion and other problems. Last month, another device maker, Biomet, agreed to pay at least $200,000 each to hundreds of people who received artificial hips that were later replaced.

And in November, Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle roughly 8,000 patients’ lawsuits over an all-metal hip implant it pulled from the market in 2010.

Even good implants can fail over time - about 1 percent or fewer fail each year. After 10 years, more than 90 percent of them are still functioning, Jacobs and Berry said.

It costs about $20,000 for a knee or hip replacement, but a recent study suggests they save more, because they reduce lost work days and improve mobility.

“There’s a cost for not doing the procedure,” Jacobs said. To help a joint replacement succeed and last, doctors recommend doing physical therapy to strengthen bones, muscles and the new joint. Other tips include maintaining a healthy weight, cross training so you don’t overdo one type of activity or sport, spending more time warming up and letting muscles and joints recover between workouts. — AP

H7N9 bird flu comes home to roost in China HANGZHOU: The handful of poultry dealers lingering at Chengbei Market have had little to do since Chinese authorities shut down their livelihoods after H7N9 bird flu began stalking the country again, killing scores of people this year.

They spend their days counting the losses to their business, gambling at cards and cleaning the cages which once held thousands of live birds, hoping the government will allow the trade to resume.

“The chickens lay every day and I can’t sell the eggs. We are losing mon-

ey,” said Li Guiying, local boss of the Xuancheng Shandi Poultry Co. H7N9 avian influenza has returned to China with a vengeance, sickening 226 people and killing 72 so far this year, as the government girds for what is likely to be a long battle to contain what one World Health Organization (WHO) official has labelled an “epidemic”.

China has responded by aggressively closing down poultry markets in locations believed to be at threat from the virus, raising an outcry from the agricultural industry and consumers with a

HANGZHOU: This photo taken on February 17, 2014 shows a woman with organic eggs that she is banned from selling at a market closed due to an outbreak of H7N9 bird flu in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. — AFP

taste for freshly slaughtered food.

But in the longer term the government needs to encourage a shift in behaviour of consumers and clean up the nation’s food supply chain, experts say, which has been hit by a series of health safety scandals. Ultimately, fears exist that the H7N9 virus could mutate and become easily passed between people, rampaging through the world’s most populous country and crossing its borders to spread around the planet.

After subsiding following the first outbreak early last year, H7N9 resurfaced in the autumn, then boomed. The figures for the first two months of the year exceed the tallies of 144 infections and 46 deaths for the whole of 2013.

The WHO and Chinese authorities maintain there is no evidence of “sustained” human transmission with H7N9, though there have been cases of family members in close contact infecting each other. But they acknowledge a seasonal spike in cases, possibly caused by the affinity of the virus for colder temperatures and humans’ greater susceptibility to illness in winter. “The big question always is, ‘does it go down as the season goes away or does it continue?’” said the WHO Representative in China, Bernhard Schwartl‰nder. “We seem to start seeing a decrease again, which confirms the seasonal patterns, but there is of course no reason and no space to relax,” he said.

‘Chickens can’t talk’ Poultry dealers accuse the government of shutting the markets without scientific evidence and demand compensation for the birds they were forced to slaughter or sell at rock-bottom prices. “Chickens can’t talk. Ducks can’t talk. We don’t know where bird flu came from: chickens, ducks or other birds,” said Li, at the Chengbei market in Hangzhou.

Authorities in the city, capital of the eastern province of Zhejiang, the centre of the current outbreak, shut down the market in January. The province has announced radical plans to ban-forever-all live poultry trading in urban areas, according to state media, and replace it with factory-slaughtered and frozen meat. China’s National Poultry Industry Association estimates the sector has lost more than $3.0 billion so far this year, on top of the impact of the outbreak last year as consumers shunned fowl and markets stopped business.

“Within the industry we call it a devastating hit, a crowning calamity. With our backs to the wall, it seems one cannot adequately depict the severity of the situation,” said the association’s secretary general Gong Guifen. “The selling of frozen chicken is more like an emergency response, whereas the industry as well as the public’s consumption habits cannot be changed overnight,” she said. —AFP

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

H E A LT H & S C I E N C E

Volcanoes saw species survive ice ages: Study SYDNEY: The steam and heat from volcanoes allowed species of plants and animals to survive past ice ages, a study showed yesterday, offering help for scientists dealing with climate change.

An international team of researchers said their analysis helped explain a longrunning mystery about how some species thrived, often in isolation, in areas covered by glaciers, with volcanoes acting as an oasis of life during long cold periods.

“Volcanic steam can melt large ice caves under the glaciers, and it can be tens of degrees warmer in there than outside,” said Ceridwen Fraser, the joint team leader from the Australian National University.

“Caves and warm steam fields would have been great places for species to hang out during ice ages.

“We can learn a lot from looking at the impacts of past climate change as we try to deal with the accelerated change that humans are now causing.”

The team studied tens of thousands of records of Antarctic mosses, lichens and bugs, collected over decades by hundreds of researchers, and found there were more species close to volcanoes, and fewer further away.

While the study was based on Antarctica, the findings will also help scientists understand how species survived past

ice ages in other frigid regions, including in periods when it is thought there was little or no ice-free land on the planet.

Antarctica has at least 16 volcanoes which have been active since the last ice age 20,000 years ago with around 60 percent of Antarctic invertebrate species found nowhere else in the world, largely due to the unique conditions that have allowed them to evolve.

“They have clearly not arrived on the continent recently, but must have been there for millions of years,” said Peter Convey from the British Antarctic Survey.

“How they survived past ice ages ... has long puzzled scientists.”

Aleks Terauds from the Australian Antarctic Division, which ran the analysis that was published by the US-based journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said the closer researchers got to volcanoes, the more species were found.

“This pattern supports our hypothesis that species have been expanding their ranges and gradually moving out from volcanic areas since the last ice age,” he said.

Another team member, Steven Chown, from Monash University in Melbourne, said the findings could help guide conservation efforts in Antarctica.

“Knowing where the ‘hotspots’ of diversity are will help us to protect them as

Colorado made $3.5m in pot tax in first month

ANTARCTICA SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS: An undated handout photo obtained yesterday, taken by Peter Convey of the British Antarctic Survey and provided by the Australian National University media office, shows volcanic steam over fields of mosses in Antarctica South Sandwich Islands. — AFP human-induced environmental changes melt in areas of Antarctica which will free continue to affect Antarctica,” he said, with up ice-free space,” she said. “The most likely Fraser warning that warming temperatures species to colonise this new space are will leave Antarctic environments vulnera- going to be species that come in on people, on the vessels that go down to ble to invasive species.

“As the climate warms, ice is going to Antarctica.” —AFP

LOS ANGELES: Marijuana sales in Colorado brought in $3.5 million in tax revenues and fees in the first month retail pot outlets were allowed, the western US state said Monday.

The figure included $2.9 million in taxes for recreational and medical marijuana in the month of January, and nearly $600,000 in fees, said Colorado’s Department of Revenue.

The Rocky Mountain state had legalized pot in 2012, but made drug history on January 1 by inaugurating retail sales of marijuana for recreational use. It levies a 15 percent excise tax and a 2.9 percent sales tax. “The first month of sales for recreational marijuana fell in line with expectations,” said tax department chief Barbara Brohl, while cautioning that the size of the industry might take a few months to become clear.

Initial projections had suggested 40 businesses would be up and running on January 1, but in fact only 24 were by then. By the end of January, 59 businesses had filed tax returns.

After Colorado, Pacific Northwest state Washington is set to follow suit later this year-even though, under federal law, marijuana remains as illegal as heroin, ecstasy and LSD.—AFP

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12 , 2014

W H AT ’ S O N

The Indonesian ambassador Ferry Adamhar delivers a speech.

(From left) Mrs. Eva Adamhar, the Indonesian Ambassador’s wife, Ferry Adamhar, Indonesia’s ambassador to Kuwait, the Swiss ambassador’s wife and Ms Abeer Al-Mutair.

(From left) Narjes Al-Shatti, former MP Salwa Al-Jassar, Nita Rosalina, Al-Hanouf Al-Sabah, Egyptian Ambassador’s wife Badriya Abu Bakr and Palestinian Ambassador’s wife Rima Al-Khaldi.

Indonesian Embassy organizes fashion show The Indonesian Embassy organized a fashion show recently at the Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel and Spa, which was hosted by Indonesia’s ambassador to Kuwait Ferry Adamhar and his wife. Several spouses of ambassadors in Kuwait as well as society figures attended the event. —Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

(From left) Iffat Atherkhash and Estefana Shukrallah.

(From left) Sable Tantora, Aisha Adka and Michelle Blacket.

(From left) The Sudanese ambassador’s wife, former MP Salwa Al-Jassar and Narjes Al-Shatti.

(From left) Narjes Al-Shatti, Farah Attori, Rima Al-Khaldi, Anna and Sable Tantora.

(From left) ) The Sudanese ambassador’s wife, Narjes Al-Shatti, the Iraqi ambassdor’s wife and the Swiss ambassador’s wife.

Valentino Parory.

(From left) Sadeeqah Abbas and Zamzam.

Greetings

Ranina Wedjojy.

Happy birthday to you Taiwo. May the good Lord guide you as you grow to be a blessing to your family. Greetings from aunty Chika and family, friends and well-wishers.

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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

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Teriyas Potry

Nina Rosalinda

W H AT ’ S O N

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12 , 2014

Palestinian embassy celebrates Kuwait’s national holidays The Palestinian Ambassador to Kuwait Rami Tahboub hosted an event at the Arfaj Camp recently to celebrate Kuwait’s national holidays. Palestinian embassy staff, members of the Palestinian community in Kuwait as well as several ambassadors in Kuwait attended the event. —Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

TV PROGRAMS

00:10 00:40 01:10 01:40 02:30 03:00 03:45 04:15 05:00 05:20 05:40 05:50 06:10 06:30 06:50 07:05 07:25 08:10 08:40 09:10 09:40 10:10 10:55 11:45 12:15 12:45 13:15 13:45 14:30 15:25 15:55 16:25 17:10 17:40 18:10 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:50 21:40 22:10 23:00 23:45

Doctors Last Of The Summer Wine The Vicar Of Dibley Mistresses The Omid Djalili Show Stella Last Of The Summer Wine The Weakest Link Mr Bloom’s Nursery Balamory Nina And The Neurons Me Too! Mr Bloom’s Nursery Balamory Nina And The Neurons Me Too! The Weakest Link Last Of The Summer Wine The Vicar Of Dibley Eastenders Doctors Being Erica Call The Midwife Last Of The Summer Wine The Vicar Of Dibley Eastenders Doctors Being Erica Call The Midwife Last Of The Summer Wine The Vicar Of Dibley The Weakest Link Eastenders Doctors Being Erica One Foot In The Grave The Omid Djalili Show Stella Alan Carr: Chatty Man Extras Silk The Weakest Link Eastenders

00:00 Homes Under The Hammer 00:50 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 02:15 Come Dine With Me 03:05 MasterChef 04:05 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 04:50 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 06:15 Bargain Hunt 07:05 Bill’s Kitchen: Notting Hill 07:35 Food & Drink 08:00 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 09:25 Homes Under The Hammer 10:20 Bill’s Kitchen: Notting Hill 10:45 Food & Drink 11:15 Rachel Khoo’s Kitchen Notebook: London 11:40 Come Dine With Me 12:30 Gok’s Fashion Fix 13:20 Fantasy Homes By The Sea 14:05 Antiques Roadshow 15:00 Homes Under The Hammer 15:55 Homes Under The Hammer 16:50 Bargain Hunt 17:35 Cash In The Attic 18:25 Antiques Roadshow 19:15 Homes Under The Hammer 20:10 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 20:35 Baking Mad With Eric Lanlard 21:00 The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook 21:30 Come Dine With Me 22:20 Antiques Roadshow 23:15 Bargain Hunt

00:30 01:20 02:10 03:00 03:50 04:15 04:40 05:05 05:30 06:00 07:00

Manhunt Survive That!

Yukon Men You Have Been Warned Border Security Auction Kings Container Wars How Do They Do It? How It’s Made Sons Of Guns You Have Been Warned

07:50 North America 08:40 Fast N’ Loud 09:30 Border Security 09:55 Auction Kings 10:20 Container Wars 10:45 How Do They Do It? 11:10 How It’s Made 11:35 Manhunt 12:25 Survive That!

13:15 Yukon Men 14:05 Border Security 14:30 Auction Kings 14:55 Container Wars 15:20 Finding Bigfoot 16:10 Fast N’ Loud 17:00 Ultimate Survival 17:50 Wheeler Dealers 18:40 You Have Been Warned 19:30 Sons Of Guns 20:20 How Do They Do It? 20:45 How It’s Made 21:10 Auction Kings 21:35 Container Wars 22:00 Dynamo: Magician Impossible 22:50 The Big Brain Theory 23:40 Mythbusters

00:40 Ten Ways 01:30 Bang Goes The Theory 02:00 Food Factory 02:25 How Tech Works 02:50 Stuck With Hackett 03:15 Stuck With Hackett 03:45 Killer Robots: Robogames 2011 04:35 Thunder Races 05:25 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 06:15 Food Factory 06:40 How Tech Works 07:05 Engineered 08:00 Nyc: Inside Out 08:50 Man-Made Marvels China 09:40 Food Factory 10:05 How Tech Works 10:30 Test Case 10:55 Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger 11:25 Engineered 12:20 Thunder Races 13:10 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 14:00 Killer Robots: Robogames 2011 14:50 Bang Goes The Theory 15:20 Food Factory 15:45 How Tech Works 16:10 Junkyard Wars 17:00 Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman 17:55 Thunder Races 18:45 Engineered 19:35 Test Case 20:00 Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger 20:30 Space Voyages 21:20 Deadliest Space Weather 21:45 Deadliest Space Weather 22:10 Food Factory 22:35 How Tech Works 23:00 Space Voyages 23:50 Deadliest Space Weather

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

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 & Ally Dog With A Blog Suite Life On Deck A.N.T. Farm

07:35 07:55 08:20 08:45 09:05 09:30 09:55 10:15 10:40 11:05 11:25 11:50 12:15 12:35 13:00 13:25 13:45 14:10 14:35 15:00 15:25 15:50 16:10 17:00 17:20 17:40 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 Gravity Falls That’s So Raven Jessie Good Luck Charlie Shake It Up Austin & Ally A.N.T. Farm Dog With A Blog Suite Life On Deck Jessie That’s So Raven Hannah Montana Hannah Montana Good Luck Charlie Austin & Ally A.N.T. Farm Jessie Dog With A Blog Good Luck Charlie Gravity Falls Austin & Ally Violetta Liv And Maddie Liv And Maddie Mako Mermaids Good Luck Charlie Jessie Dog With A Blog Violetta Jessie Good Luck Charlie Dog With A Blog Gravity Falls Shake It Up Austin & Ally A.N.T. Farm Good Luck Charlie Wizards Of Waverly Place Wizards Of Waverly Place

00:00 Chelsea Lately 00:30 The Spin Crowd 00:55 The Spin Crowd 01:25 Style Star 01:50 Style Star 02:20 E!ES 03:15 Extreme Close-Up 03:40 Extreme Close-Up 04:10 E!ES 05:05 E!ES 06:00 THS 07:50 Fashion Police 09:15 Opening Act 10:15 Married To Jonas 10:40 Chasing The Saturdays 11:10 The Drama Queen 12:05 Fashion Police 13:35 E!ES 14:30 Style Star 15:00 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 16:00 Keeping Up With The Kardashians 17:00 The Wanted Life 17:30 Hello Ross 18:00 E! News 19:00 Fashion Police 20:30 E!ES 21:00 The Drama Queen 22:00 Eric And Jessie: Game On 22:30 E! News 23:30 Chelsea Lately

00:35 01:30 02:25 02:55 03:25 05:15 06:10 07:05 07:30 09:20 10:15 11:10 12:00 12:30 13:25 14:20 15:10 15:35

House Gift Emmerdale Coronation Street Holiday: Heaven On Earth Agatha Christie’s Marple Ade In Britain House Gift Holiday: Heaven On Earth Agatha Christie’s Marple Ade In Britain May The Best House Win Emmerdale Coronation Street House Gift Ade In Britain May The Best House Win Holiday: Heaven On Earth Trevor Mcdonalds Queen &

VIRTUOSITY ON OSN MOVIES HD ACTION

00:30 Big Bash League Highlights 01:30 Big Bash League Highlights 02:30 Big Bash League Highlights 03:30 ICC Cricket 360 04:00 India v West Indies ODI Highlights 05:00 India v West Indies ODI Highlights 06:00 New Zealand v West Indies ODI Highlights 07:00 Big Bash League Highlights 08:00 Big Bash League Highlights 09:00 Big Bash League Highlights 10:00 ICC Cricket 360 10:30 New Zealand v India ODI Highlights 11:30 New Zealand v India ODI Highlights 12:30 New Zealand v India ODI Highlights 13:30 New Zealand v India ODI Highlights 14:30 New Zealand v India ODI Highlights 15:30 ICC Cricket 360 16:00 Australia v England ODI Highlights 17:00 Australia v England ODI Highlights 18:00 Big Bash League Highlights 19:00 Big Bash League Highlights 20:00 Big Bash League Highlights 21:00 ICC Cricket 360 21:30 ICC Under 19 World Cup 2014 Highlights 22:30 ICC Under 19 World Cup 2014 Highlights 23:30 ICC Under 19 World Cup 2014 Highlights

00:00 00:30 01:00 01:30 02:30 03:00 04:00 04:30 05:00 06:00 06:30 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30 17:00 17:30 18:00 18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:30 22:00 22:30 23:00

Duck Dynasty Duck Dynasty Storage Wars Storage Wars Storage Wars Storage Wars Texas Duck Dynasty Duck Dynasty Storage Wars Pawn Stars Storage Wars Storage Wars Texas Counting Cars Storage Wars Texas Ancient Aliens Storage Wars Texas Counting Cars Pawn Stars Storage Wars Storage Wars Storage Wars Texas Storage Wars Texas Ancient Aliens Storage Wars Storage Wars Storage Wars Texas Storage Wars Texas Storage Wars Texas Storage Wars Texas Pawn Stars Pawn Stars Storage Wars Storage Wars Storage Wars Texas Storage Wars Texas Duck Dynasty Duck Dynasty Pawn Stars Storage Wars Swamp People

Cartoon Network slate: Legos, Elijah Wood and Bears

T REVENGE OF THE NERDS ON OSN MOVIES COMEDY HD Country 16:30 Endeavour 18:20 May The Best House Win 19:10 Coronation Street 19:35 Trevor Mcdonalds Queen & Country 20:30 Endeavour 22:20 Coronation Street 22:50 Emmerdale 23:45 May The Best House Win

00:30 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 01:00 The Colbert Report 01:30 The Big C 02:00 South Park 02:30 Out There 03:30 Raising Hope 04:00 Seinfeld 04:30 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 05:30 Seinfeld 06:00 Two And A Half Men 06:30 Arrested Development 07:00 Late Night With Seth Meyers 08:00 Seinfeld 08:30 Seinfeld 09:30 The Crazy Ones 10:00 Trophy Wife 10:30 Arrested Development 11:00 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 12:00 Two And A Half Men 12:30 Seinfeld 13:00 Seinfeld 13:30 Arrested Development 14:00 Raising Hope 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 Seth Meyers 18:00 The Simpsons 19:00 The Mindy Project 19:30 Modern Family 20:00 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 21:00 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart 21:30 The Colbert Report 22:00 Veep 22:30 South Park 23:00 Out There 23:30 Late Night With Seth Meyers

00:00 01:00 02:00 03:00 04:00 05:00 06:00 07:00 08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 12:30 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 16:30 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 Coven 23:00

Warehouse 13 Mistresses The Killing World Without End Grey’s Anatomy The Fosters Warehouse 13 Drop Dead Diva Switched At Birth The Killing The Fosters Grey’s Anatomy Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Switched At Birth Warehouse 13 Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Switched At Birth Twisted Scandal House Of Cards American Horror Story:

00:00 01:00 03:00 04:00

Made In Jersey Good Morning America Nip/Tuck Rescue Me

World Without End

05:00 07:00 07:30 08:00 09:00 10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00

Good Morning America Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show 24 Emmerdale Coronation Street The Ellen DeGeneres Show Castle Made In Jersey Live Good Morning America 24 Castle Made In Jersey 24 Castle Made In Jersey Rescue Me Nip/Tuck

00:00 Stone’s War: War Of The Dead-18 02:00 5 Days Of War-PG15 04:00 Shadow Conspiracy-PG15 06:00 Virtuosity-PG15 08:00 Darkman-PG15 10:00 The Marine-PG15 12:00 Dragonheart-PG 14:00 Darkman-PG15 16:00 Justice League: Doom-PG15 18:00 Dragonheart-PG 20:00 Graystone-PG15 22:00 The Thing-18

00:00 Jackass: The Movie-18 02:00 Revenge Of The Nerds-18 04:00 The Beautician And The Beast-PG15 06:00 Summer School-PG15 08:00 A Christmas Story 2-PG 10:00 A Heartbeat Away-PG15 12:00 The Beautician And The Beast-PG15 14:00 Raising Arizona-PG15 16:00 A Heartbeat Away-PG15 18:00 I Think I Do-PG15 20:00 Revenge Of The Nerds II: Nerds In Paradise-PG15 22:00 Jackass: The Movie-18

01:00 Shadow Dancer-PG15 03:00 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2-PG15 05:00 Beneath Hill 60-PG15 07:00 Seeking Justice-PG15 09:00 Shadow Dancer-PG15 10:45 Quiet Flows The Don-PG15 13:45 A Woman-PG15 15:30 Courage-PG15 17:00 Red Lights-PG15 19:00 50/50-PG15 21:00 Albert Nobbs-18 23:00 Buried-PG15

01:15 Surveillance-18 03:00 The Last King Of Scotland-18 05:30 Intolerable Cruelty-PG15 07:15 Hold Fast-PG15 09:00 Alfie Boe: Bring Him Home Tour-PG15 10:30 Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You-PG15 12:45 Earth-PG15 15:00 Offline-PG15 17:00 Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You-PG15 19:00 L’amour C’est Mieux A DeuxPG15 21:00 Arbitrage-PG15 23:00 Savages-18

01:15 Drift-PG15 03:30 Olympus Has Fallen-PG15

05:30 Now Is Good-PG15 07:15 Girl In Progress-PG15 09:00 Midnight In Paris-PG15 11:00 Olympus Has Fallen-PG15 13:00 Magic Journey To AfricaPG15 15:00 The Odd Life Of Timothy Green-PG 17:00 Midnight In Paris-PG15 19:00 Red Dawn-PG15 21:00 The Bling Ring-18 23:00 The Campaign-18

01:00 The Missing Lynx 02:45 The Legend Of Sarila 04:30 Free Birds 06:00 Olentzero Christmas Tale 08:00 Emperor’s Secret 09:45 Sky Force 11:15 Mrs. Doubtfire 13:30 The Legend Of Sarila 15:00 The Fantastic Adventure Of The Ugly Duckling 16:30 The Elf Who Stole Christmas 18:00 Sky Force 20:00 The Water Horse: Legend Of The Deep 22:00 The Fantastic Adventure Of The Ugly Duckling 23:30 The Elf Who Stole Christmas

00:00 Knuckle-PG15 02:00 Gambit-PG15 04:00 Snowflake , The White Gorilla-PG 06:00 Dating Coach-PG15 08:00 The Greatest Movie Ever Sold-PG15 10:00 Charlotte’s Web-PG 12:00 Gambit-PG15 14:00 Barnyard-PG 16:00 The Greatest Movie Ever Sold-PG15 17:45 Iron Man 3-PG15 20:00 Killing Them Softly-18 22:00 The Possession-PG15

01:00 NRL Premiership 03:00 NRL Premiership 05:00 NRL Full Time 05:30 Futbol Mundial 06:00 Trans World Sport 07:00 Trans World Sport 08:00 LV Cup 10:00 Golfing World 11:00 World Golf Championship Highlights 12:00 Super Rugby 14:00 Super Rugby 16:00 NRL Premiership 18:00 World Golf Championship Highlights 19:00 Golfing World 20:00 PGA European Tour Weekly 20:30 Inside The PGA Tour 21:00 Trans World Sport 22:00 LV Cup

00:00 Golfing World 01:00 Premier League Darts 04:00 LV Cup 06:30 NRL Full Time 07:00 NRL Premiership 09:00 NRL Full Time 09:30 Dubai World Cup Carnival 13:00 Trans World Sport 14:00 Golfing World 15:00 World Golf Championships Highlights 16:00 Snooker 19:00 NHL 21:00 HSBC Sevens World Series 23:00 HSBC Sevens World Series Highlights 23:30 PGA European Tour Weekly

urner’s Cartoon Network announced a new 2014-15 slate that includes Elijah Wood, Lego Ninjas, bear siblings trying to fit in with humans, and a cadre of animated favorites including Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, and Scooby Doo. The network also announced that it will cut its programming day by one hour, starting March 31. It previously aired from 6 am until 9 pm, and will now wrap up at 8 pm. “Over the Garden Wall” is a miniseries featuring Wood, among others, in a story about brothers trapped in a strange land. The series is filled with rootsy music. “Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu” (the ninjas are pictured) is a six-part series of animated specials, starting this year. And “We Bare Bears,” features three siblings - Grizzly, Panda and Ice Bear - as they deal with human problems like how to get Internet famous.

Here are the new and newly acquired Cartoon Network shows, as described by the network: 1- Over The Garden Wall: Headlined by an all-star voicecast that includes Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings Trilogy), Collin Dean (The War at Home) and Melanie Lynskey (Two and a Half Men), Over the Garden Wall is Cartoon Network’s first event mini-series, an animated comedy/fantasy story about two brothers, Wirt and Greg, who are trapped in a mysterious world. In this ten-part mini-series, Wirt and Greg must travel across this strange land until they find their way home, aided by a wise old Woodsman who gives them directions and a bluebird named Beatrice. Music plays an important role in the series with a soundtrack full of Americana-influenced original songs. Over The Garden Wall is created by Pat McHale and produced by Cartoon Network Studios.

2- Clarence: From creator Skyler Page and premiering Monday, April 14 at 7 pm, Clarence is a new, original animated series about an optimistic boy who wants to do everything. Because everything is amazing! Clarence was conceived as part of the prolific shorts development program at Cartoon Network Studios, which has resulted in six original series for the network: Regular Show, Uncle Grandpa, Steven Universe, Clarence, Over the Garden Wall and We Bare Bears.

3- We Bare Bears: We Bare Bears is a comedy about three bear siblings, named Grizzly, Panda and Ice Bear. Each episode follows their awkward attempts at assimilating into human society, whether they’re looking for food, trying to make human friends, or scheming to become internet famous. Whatever the situation, it’s obvious that being a bear in the civilized, modern world is tough-but at least they have each other. Created by Annie Award-winner Daniel Chong (Toy Story of Terror!), We Bare Bears is produced by Cartoon Network Studios.

4- The Tom and Jerry Show: The iconic cat and mouse rivals are back in The Tom and Jerry Show, a new, fresh take on the classic series. Preserving the look, characters and sensibility of the original, the all-new series shines a brightly colored, high-definition lens on the madcap slapstick and never-ending battle that has made Tom and Jerry two of the most beloved characters of all time. The Tom and Jerry Show is produced by Warner Bros. Animation and will premiere Wednesday, April 9 at 5:30 pm.

5- Be Cool Scooby-Doo!: Be Cool Scooby-Doo! is an allnew 22-minute animated comedy series from Warner Bros.

Animation. The Scooby gang is back with a modern comedic twist on the beloved classic. With high school over and one last summer to live it up, the gang hits the road in the Mystery Machine, chasing fun and adventure. But monsters and mayhem keep getting in the way.

6- Wabbit-A Looney Tunes Production: The hilarious, heroic and mischievous Bugs Bunny you love is back! From Warner Bros. Animation, Bugs stars in an all-new series consisting of comedic shorts that find the iconic carrot-loving rabbit matching wits against (and getting the best of) classic characters like Yosemite Sam and Wile E. Coyote. Along the way, Bugs will encounter brand-new foes and he’ll have some help from new friends like Bigfoot and Squeaks the squirrel.

7- LEGO NINJAGO: Masters of Spinjitzu: Continuing its robust partnership with The LEGO Group, Cartoon Network will re-introduce viewers to the awesome world of NINJAGO: Masters of Spinjitzu with six new half-hour animated specials in 2014, followed by all-new episodes of the highly popular series slated for 2015.

8- Sonic Boom : Sonic the Hedgehog has been one of the world’s biggest gaming icons for over 20 years and this year a new branch of the Sonic universe debuts, entitled Sonic Boom . With a new look for Sonic and friends, the franchise’s first-ever CG animated television series, an action-packed comedy adventure, will premiere on Cartoon Network with support from an extensive video game release of the same name. The Sonic Boom television series, coproduced by SEGA� of America, Inc. and OuiDO! Productions, will debut on Cartoon Network in the 2014/2015 season.—Reuters

Classifieds WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

Kuwait

SHARQIA-1 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) POMPEII (DIG) 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) POMPEII (DIG)

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

SHARQIA-3 NON-STOP (DIG) WER (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG) WER (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG)

1:15 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 10:00 PM 12:05 AM

MUHALAB-1 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG)

1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:45 PM 9:45 PM

MUHALAB-2 MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG) MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG) WER (DIG) REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) MUHALAB-3 Seats-419 POMPEII (DIG-3D) NON-STOP (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG)

2:00 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM 12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 1:45 PM 4:00 PM 6:15 PM 8:15 PM 10:30 PM 12:45 AM

FANAR-2 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) KHOUTAT GIMI (DIG) 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) KHOUTAT GIMI (DIG) 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 5:45 PM 8:15 PM 10:15 PM 12:30 AM

FANAR-3 MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG) MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG) MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG) MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG) WER (DIG) WER (DIG) WER (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

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

FANAR-4 NON-STOP (DIG) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D)

Special Show “300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D)” 7:15 PM THU 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 9:30 PM 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 11:45 PM NO SUN+TUE+WED

NO SUN+TUE+WED 2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

SHARQIA-2 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG-3D) MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG-3D) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D)

FANAR-1 NON-STOP (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG) PATRICK (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG)

KNCC PROGRAMME FROM THURSDAY TO WEDNESDAY (06/03/2014 TO 12/03/2014)

1:30 PM 4:00 PM 6:00 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM 12:05 AM

MARINA-1 REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

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

MARINA-2 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) PATRICK (DIG) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) POMPEII (DIG) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

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

MARINA-3 MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG-3D) FRI NON-STOP (DIG) MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG-3D) MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG-3D) NON-STOP (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

360º- 2 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

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

360º- 3 WER (DIG) WER (DIG) WER (DIG) WER (DIG) WER (DIG)

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

1:30 PM 1:00 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:30 PM 9:45 PM 12:05 AM

AL-KOUT.1 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) NO SUN+TUE+WED

AVENUES-1 POMPEII (DIG) POMPEII (DIG) PATRICK (DIG) POMPEII (DIG) POMPEII (DIG) POMPEII (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

2:00 PM 4:15 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 11:00 PM 1:15 AM

AL-KOUT.2 POMPEII (DIG) REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) POMPEII (DIG) REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:30 PM 3:45 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM 12:05 AM

AVENUES-2 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) 3 DAYS TO KILL (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

1:15 PM 3:45 PM 6:15 PM 8:45 PM 11:15 PM

AL-KOUT.3 NON-STOP (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG) NO SUN+TUE+WED

12:30 PM 2:45 PM 5:00 PM 7:15 PM 9:30 PM 11:45 PM

BAIRAQ-1 MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG-3D) MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG-3D) MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG-3D) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) NO SUN+TUE+WED

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

AVENUES-3 REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG) REASONABLE DOUBT (DIG)

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

AVENUES-4 NON-STOP (DIG) 1:45 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 4:00 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 6:15 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 8:30 PM NO THU Special Show “300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG)” 8:30 PM THU NON-STOP (DIG) 10:45 PM NON-STOP (DIG) 1:00 AM NO SUN+TUE+WED 360º- 1 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE DIG-3D) NO THU

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

2:00 PM 4:30 PM 6:30 PM 8:45 PM 10:45 PM 12:45 AM

BAIRAQ-2 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN (DIG) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (DIG)

1:30 PM 3:30 PM 5:30 PM 7:30 PM 9:30 PM 11:30 PM

BAIRAQ-3 NON-STOP (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG) KHOUTAT GIMI (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG) NON-STOP (DIG)

1:15 PM 3:30 PM 5:45 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM 12:15 AM

FOR SALE Galant 2013, fully automatic, like new, done km 13,600, doctor-owned, KD 3,450 (price for new 5,450).

Contact: 66572082.

(C 4662) 12-3-2014 Black long leather coat, size M-L with removable lining, made in Turkey, price KD 55. Also new white artificial fur coat knee length, price KD 50 (both KD 90).

Tel: 66293005.

10-3-2014 Cooker Indesit gas 4 ring with oven, Linen box, ironing board, cloths hang rail with shelf, dining table and 4 chairs, sofa 3 seats, office desk, office chair, bookcase.

Personal trainer CPS with heart monitor, dock station for iPod, printer HP photosmart, safe. Tel: 94400865.

(C 4656) 6-3-2014

CHANGE OF NAME I, Safia Begum, D/O Murugesan holder of Indian Passport No. L0038265, date of birth 5-10-1969.

Residing at no. 57 Tha Krishnappa Vdiyar Street,

Vandavasi Post. T.S Dist.

Tamil Nadu, 604408, shall henceforth be known as Murugesan Uma Mageswari. (C 4660) 11-3-2014 I, Aju Kurackuva Koshy Mathew Indian Passport No H2014478 have changed my name to Aju Mathew.

(C 4659) 10-3-2014

MATRIMONIAL Pakistani Punjabi speaking coming from landlord family and working as Director Services in a company looking for Pakistani girl residing in Kuwait for immediate marriage. Fintas P.O. Box 1476, Code 51015 / zaidiformerdiplomat@hotmail.com (C 4661) 12-3-2014

No: 16102

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Home Page (www.kuwait-airport.com.kw)

Airlines JAI JZR THY QTR DLH PGT ETH GFA THY JZR UAE ETD JAI OMA MSR QTR FDB THY DHX FDB JZR BAW KAC KAC FDB QTR KAC KAC KAC KAC UAE KAC KAC ABY IRM ETD FDB QTR GFA IRA IAW JZR MEA MSC MRJ IRM UAE JZR MSR CLX IYE KAC FDB

Arrival Flights on Wednesday 12/3/2014 Flt Route 574 Mumbai 539 Cairo 772 Istanbul 1084 Doha 637 Dammam 858 Istanbul 620 Addis Ababa 211 Bahrain 764 Istanbul 267 Beirut 853 Dubai 305 Abu Dhabi 576 Kochi/Abu Dhabi 643 Muscat 612 Cairo 1076 Doha 067 Dubai 770 Istanbul 170 Bahrain 069 Dubai 529 Asyut 157 London 412 Manila/Bangkok 206 Islamabad 053 Dubai 1086 Doha 382 Delhi 302 Mumbai 352 Kochi 344 Chennai 855 Dubai 362 Colombo 284 Dhaka 125 Sharjah 1186 Tehran 301 Abu Dhabi 055 Dubai 1070 Doha 213 Bahrain 603 Shiraz 157 Al Najaf/Baghdad 165 Dubai 404 Beirut 403 Asyut 4815 Mashhad 1188 Mashhad 871 Dubai 561 Sohag 610 Cairo 792 Luxembourg 826 Sanaa/Mukalla 522 Al Najaf 057 Dubai

Time 00:10 00:40 00:45 00:55 01:10 01:30 01:45 02:10 02:15 02:30 02:35 02:45 02:50 03:05 03:10 03:45 04:00 05:35 05:40 05:50 06:20 06:40 06:45 07:40 07:50 07:50 07:55 07:55 08:10 08:35 08:40 08:45 08:50 09:00 09:15 09:20 09:40 09:55 10:40 10:45 11:00 11:30 11:55 12:20 12:25 12:40 12:50 12:55 13:00 13:15 13:30 13:45 13:50

QTR KAC MSR KAC SVA KNE IRC GFA KAC KNE KNE KAC UAE QTR JZR ETD RJA SVA ABY GFA JZR JZR KAC RBG JZR QTR KAC FDB KAC KAC KAC KAC GFA KAC OMA MSC FDB JAI ABY ETD AXB MSR DLH ALK MEA ETD UAE GFA KNE FDB QTR JZR JZR JZR AIC JZR

1078 672 575 790 500 472 6692 221 788 462 460 538 857 1072 787 303 640 510 127 215 357 777 542 553 177 1080 786 063 618 166 674 774 217 102 647 405 061 572 129 919 489 606 634 229 402 307 859 219 480 059 1074 135 481 239 975 185

Doha Dubai Sharm el-Sheikh Madinah Jeddah Jeddah Mashhad Bahrain Jeddah Madinah Riyadh Sharm el-Sheikh/Sohag Dubai Doha Riyadh Abu Dhabi Amman Riyadh Sharjah Bahrain Mashhad Jeddah Cairo Alexandria Dubai Doha Jeddah Dubai Doha Paris/Rome Dubai Riyadh Bahrain New York/London Muscat Sohag Dubai Mumbai Sharjah Abu Dhabi Kochi/Mangalore Luxor Frankfurt Colombo Beirut Abu Dhabi Dubai Bahrain Taif Dubai Doha Bahrain Istanbul Amman Chennai/Goa Dubai

13:55 14:00 14:15 14:25 14:30 14:35 14:35 15:00 15:10 15:45 15:55 16:05 16:40 16:40 16:50 16:50 16:55 17:15 17:25 17:30 17:55 17:55 18:05 18:15 18:20 18:40 18:45 18:45 19:00 19:10 19:25 19:30 19:30 19:35 19:55 20:05 20:05 20:10 20:20 20:25 20:35 20:45 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 23:20

Airlines UAL AIC JAI DLH ETH THY PGT UAE ETD OMA MSR QTR FDB QTR JZR FDB JAI JZR THY GFA THY KAC FDB BAW QTR KAC KAC ABY KAC UAE KAC ETD KAC FDB IRM KAC QTR GFA KAC IRA JZR IAW KAC JZR MEA KAC MSC

Departure Flights on Wednesday 12/3/2014 Flt Route 981 IAD 982 Ahmedabad/Hyderabad/Chennai 573 Mumbai 637 Frankfurt 621 Addis Ababa 773 Istanbul 859 Istanbul 854 Dubai 306 Abu Dhabi 644 Muscat 613 Cairo 1085 Doha 068 Dubai 1077 Doha 560 Sohag 070 Dubai 575 Abu Dhabi/Kochi 164 Dubai 765 Istanbul 212 Bahrain 771 Istanbul 537 Sharm el-Sheikh/Sohag 054 Dubai 156 London 1087 Doha 787 Jeddah 671 Dubai 126 Sharjah 789 Madinah 856 Dubai 117 New York 302 Abu Dhabi 521 Al Najaf 056 Dubai 1187 Tehran 175 Frankfurt/Geneva 1071 Doha 214 Bahrain 541 Cairo 602 Shiraz 356 Mashhad 158 Baghdad/Al Najaf 103 London 776 Jeddah 405 Beirut 785 Jeddah 406 Sohag

DIAL161 FOR AIRPORT INFORMATION

Time 00:05 00:05 01:10 02:10 02:45 02:55 03:20 03:50 04:00 04:05 04:10 04:15 04:40 05:15 06:20 06:30 06:45 06:55 07:05 07:15 07:30 08:10 08:30 08:45 08:50 09:25 09:30 09:40 09:45 09:55 10:00 10:05 10:05 10:20 10:30 10:45 10:55 11:25 11:30 11:45 11:55 12:00 12:20 12:25 12:55 13:00 13:20

JZR JZR MRJ MSR IRM UAE JZR IYE FDB CLX QTR MSR KAC KNE KAC IRC SVA GFA KAC KNE KNE JZR ETD QTR JZR UAE RJA ABY SVA GFA JZR JZR RBG JZR JZR FDB QTR GFA KAC FDB OMA KAC ABY KAC KAC QTR JZR JZR KAC

768 176 4814 611 1189 872 480 827 058 792 1079 576 673 473 617 6693 503 222 773 463 481 238 304 1073 538 858 641 128 511 216 184 266 554 134 554 064 1081 218 283 062 648 331 120 381 205 1075 528 502 415

Riyadh Dubai Mashhad Cairo Mashhad Dubai Istanbul Mukalla/Sanaa Dubai Hanoi Doha Sharm el-Sheikh Dubai Jeddah Doha Mashhad Madinah/Jeddah Bahrain Riyadh Madinah Taif Amman Abu Dhabi Doha Cairo Dubai Amman Sharjah Riyadh Bahrain Dubai Beirut Alexandria Bahrain Alexandria Dubai Doha Bahrain Dhaka Dubai Muscat Trivandrum Sharjah Delhi Islamabad Doha Asyut Luxor Kuala Lumpur/Jakarta

13:35 13:45 13:55 14:00 14:05 14:15 14:20 14:30 14:30 14:45 14:55 15:00 15:05 15:30 15:30 15:35 15:45 15:45 16:05 16:35 16:40 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 19:40 20:15 20:30 20:45 20:55 20:55 21:00 22:50 22:55 23:10 23:25 23:30 23:55

34

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

stars CROSSWORD 484

STAR TRACK Aries (March 21-April 19) You begin your day with a good breakfast. This could be a very busy day.

You will find the flow of business positive. Someone older or in authority needs your help and you are able to pitch in and lend a helping hand. You are appreciated, even though it may be hard to see. Higher education, publishing, broadcasting or advertising could play an unexpected role in setting new directions for you. A problem at work that has gone on for a long time is finally at an end. Now it is time for new conquests.

You practice common sense when others would like to overindulge and celebrate the night away. You are just as happy when you are with loved ones. You and your loved ones enjoy celebrating by having dinner out this evening. You are most elegant.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Authority figures could be testy today. If possible, it might be a good idea to stay out of their way. Look for ways in which you can get your ideas across to higher-ups without being too pushy. You could find that you are appreciated or valued for your business expertise and your ability to act and get things done. Others may disagree with what you say or think or in some way oppose your ideas and thoughts. You cannot please everyone but your current situation may demand some reevaluation or otherwise challenge your ideas. It may be very hard for you to communicate what you mean to others at this time. A loved one may be feeling under the weather this evening. A helping hand will be appreciated this evening.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

ACROSS 1. A broad flat muscle on either side of the back.

4. Tropical American feather palm having a swollen spiny trunk and edible nuts.

11. A major god.

15. Canadian hockey player (born 1948).

16. Of or relating to or characteristic of Uganda or its people.

17. A narrow way or road.

18. United States playwright (1906-1963).

20. A river in southeastern Australia that flows generally northwest to join the Darling River.

21. South American armadillo with three bands of bony plates.

22. (Norse mythology) An enormous wolf that was fathered by Loki and that killed Odin.

24. The value of a coordinate on the horizontal axis.

26. A small motor nerve supplying the lateral rectus muscle of the eye.

29. (in Gnosticism) A divine power or nature emanating from the Supreme Being and playing various roles in the operation of the universe.

30. (computer science) The part of a computer (a microprocessor chip) that does most of the data processing.

31. A member of the beat generation.

35. Inability to walk.

38. Being ten more than one hundred ninety.

40. A metric unit of volume equal to one tenth of a liter.

41. A strong emotion.

42. An international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members.

43. Large burrowing rodent of South and Central America.

45. An analytic or interpretive literary composition.

47. The phenomenon of resistance to motion through a fluid.

49. Of or relating to the stomach and intestines.

52. A native or inhabitant of ancient Etruria.

55. Covered or protected with or as if with a case.

56. The second great battle of the American Civil War (1862).

57. A person who is pursuing and trying to overtake or capture.

59. Herb of the Pacific islands grown throughout the tropics for its edible root and in temperate areas as an ornamental for its large glossy leaves.

60. Forbidden to profane use especially in South Pacific islands.

61. The basic unit of money in Bangladesh.

65. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.

67. Prepare for a military confrontation.

69. A nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (trade name Voltaren) that is administered only orally.

71. An ugly evil-looking old woman.

73. An esoteric or occult matter that is traditionally secret.

75. A religious belief of African origin involving witchcraft and sorcery.

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

77. A weakly magnetic black mineral found in metamorphic and plutonic rocks.

78. A member of a Mayan people of southwestern Guatemala.

79. The cry made by sheep.

80. Testacean rhizopods.

81. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.

DOWN 1. The dried fibrous part of the fruit of a plant of the genus Luffa.

2. A unit of dry measure used in Egypt.

3. A general direction in which something tends to move.

4. An artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner.

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

6. Airtight sealed metal container for food or drink or paint etc..

7. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods.

8. Designer drug designed to have the effects of amphetamines (it floods the brain with serotonin) but to avoid the drug laws.

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

10. Liquorice-flavored seeds or oil used in cookies or cakes or pickles.

11. A written statement of the grounds of complaint made to court law asking for the grievance to be redressed.

12. (military) Signal to turn the lights out.

13. Type genus of the Anatidae.

14. Queen of the Olympian gods in ancient Greek mythology.

19. (medical) A bandage consisting of a pad and belt.

23. A summary that repeats the substance of a longer discussion.

25. Mix together different elements.

27. A radioactive transuranic metallic element.

28. Briefly giving the gist of something.

32. An effortful attempt to attain a goal.

33. Feeling or showing extreme anger.

34. So adjusted as to be appropriate or brought into harmony.

36. A job in an organization.

37. Very small free-living arachnid that is parasitic on animals or plants.

39. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.

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

46. An ancient Greek city famous for military prowess.

48. A Russian prison camp for political prisoners.

50. Showing the cunning or ingenuity or wickedness typical of a devil.

51. Protect from heat, cold, noise, etc. by surrounding with insulating material.

53. Make a solicitation or entreaty for something.

54. A stately Protestant (especially Lutheran) hymn tune.

58. Capital and largest city of Cuba.

62. Any property detected by the olfactory system.

63. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.

64. (Jungian psychology) The inner self (not the external persona) that is in touch with the unconscious.

66. A small cake leavened with yeast.

68. A software system that facilitates the creation and maintenance and use of an electronic database.

70. (Greek mythology) The Titaness who was mother of Helios and Selene and Eos in ancient mythology.

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

74. The money risked on a gamble.

Big changes affecting your career, status and reputation are likely now.

Daring to be different gets you noticed and could get you ahead in ways you never expected. It is difficult to find a middle ground when it concerns budgeting.

Perhaps it is time to seek the advice of an accountant-it could be worth the expense. You are either extremely extravagant or extremely tight. New technology plays a role in your financial success. This is the perfect time for a new romance. If you are already involved, this is a good time to show your affection. Spend more time with the family or your special sweetheart. Passion is prevalent this month and children seem cooperative as well.

General good feeling with a loved one is positive.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) The effort of your hard work pays off today. You find yourself talkative and quick-witted much of this day. Ideas are clear and easily developed. This could be a good time to join in the activity of others or for thinking over your own affairs.

You may have a conversation with an older person or someone in authority. Your communication abilities are at a high just now. This is an excellent time to sway others to your way of thinking-being careful not to go to extremes. Put a hold on an issue if people do not understand your ideas right away. You can approach the subject again, later. This evening you work to help an older person feel better by helping that person change his or her thoughts from negative to positive.

Leo (July 23-August 22) If you have any vacation time coming to you, it is a good time to begin thinking about a vacation. Today is a positive day for a loan if you decide a vacation is in order and a little extra money would be helpful. Keep up the good work in maintaining a balance in your life. Giving into imbalance can throw a kink in your physical strength as well as your self-esteem. You may find your interest in communication will spur you to join a group with like interests. This could involve a computer group, poetry group or writer’s group, etc. Idealism, rationality and critical thinking become more and more a part of your mental patterns and the way you communicate. You have inventive, original and high-tech thinking. You are feeling good about yourself today!

Virgo (August 23-September 22) There is work to be done this afternoon and concentration on the work at hand is your top priority. Use your own personal scrutiny with your work-it is important for you to feel that you have covered all the bases and performed your duties in the best possible ways. Properly channeled, your ambition is a powerful motivation and will result in fascinating achievements. You will receive recognition in the workplace this week. A shopping spree this afternoon may find you wanting to spend more than necessary-avoid extravagance. Relationships begun during this time will have long-lasting results. If you already have a love partner, you will have new insights into your partner’s needs at this time. There is a new adventure just waiting to unfold.

Challenging Mazes

Libra (September 23-October 22) Take the opportunity to enjoy a little quiet time this morning because the demand on your energy is about to increase. Someone appears aggressive but you are aware and alert to the best answers with a difficult person this day. You may be very clever in allowing this person to talk out his or her thoughts. Listening and possibly requesting some time to think about an answer would be a wise choice today. With determination to succeed in helping a person, the required answer may not be beneficial or helpful until he or she has a real need to know. Gather yourself to stay the course; you are a successful friend, co-worker, teacher, etc. You will find yourself in demand as a counselor because you ignite the desire to learn in others. A beloved can be enjoyed tonight.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21) You demonstrate an urge to be recognized by co-workers today. Some of your push for success may come into competition with others-it might be wise not to push for compliments-you could set up future problems for yourself. It is understandable that you want to feel secure in your job but seek your compliments from higher-ups. Make sure your progress is noted when it comes time for your six-month or yearly review. You enjoy good relationships with your family this evening. You could also be receiving money, perhaps from a relative. You could find that you are appreciated or valued for your feelings or your ability to act and get things done. Someone understands how you feel and is willing to lend a helping hand or listening ear if you need it.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) mind and may find yourself dealing with matters of much concern and responsibility. Your tendency to lean toward that ambitious tendency of yours is appreciated by higher-ups. Continue to keep tabs on breaks and make sure you take them! You are extremely communicative to associates around you whenever help, guidance or sharing experiences is indicated. This is a most beneficial time to exchange ideas and seek out new ways to work. Because of something said or some action of another person in the workplace, you pick up on the possibility that a change is in the works.

This is probably something quite basic so it is best to go with the flow.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) New ways in which you or your company advertises products are important topics for discussion this morning. Others value you for your ability to make practical decisions concerning group issues. Clear decisions affecting others could be made now. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money. In one well-known business, a few new adjustments have begun to lower the cost of electricity and water, and to create a nature-friendly environment. You may decide to spend some time with an advisor to help you with some changes around your living area. After a very busy day, it may not be easy to relax. Encourage a friend or loved one to walk with you this evening and then enjoy a light dinner. A meeting with friends this evening is relaxing.

Aquarius (January 20- February 18) Do not let finances completely dominate your concerns. During this month, you will find that possibilities for financial gains fall apart and yet, some ideas for financial gains will materialize. This is a good time to take a wait and see attitude.

Be as realistic as possible. Plans for travel and higher education get good support from relatives and friends. Use wise discrimination between your necessary expenses as opposed to the unnecessary expenses. Your loved ones will appreciate a little of your extra time today. You have a special way of communicating just how important each person is to you, and now is a good time to express yourself. There is great confidence today. You have the opportunity to be of help to others this evening.

Pisces (February 19-March 20) This wonderful day of your birth, a wonderful feeling that spring is near certainly has put a bounce in your step. You are in a good place today and your outlook is most positive. The energies that are around you are positive. You will be teaching others through your own example, whether you realize it or not. Music, colors and lights are the things that stimulate you into creative thinking. If you consider your work creative, you should be quite productive, particularly at this time of the year. If you do not consider your work creative, begin now to change a few things in your surroundings that will help encourage you to create. A clever friend wants to help you celebrate; put on a new outfit and paint the town. Happy birthday!

Yesterday’s Solution

Yesterday’s Solution Daily SuDoku

Yesterday’s Solution

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 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

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

lifestyle G O S S I P

Justin Bieber

Beyonce shuns partying for family

can’t be ‘broken’

B

eyonce “doesn’t really go out” since becoming a mother. The 32-year-old singer shunned a glitzy afterparty at The Wright Venue in Swords following her show in Dublin, Ireland, on Saturday to return to her penthouse suite at the Fitzwilliam Hotel with husband Jay Z and their daughter Blue Ivy, two, and insiders say it is usual for her to leave the post-concert celebrating to her crew, management, dancers and backing singers The Mamas. A source told Ireland’s Evening Herald newspaper: “Beyonce’s manager said that she doesn’t really go out anymore because she is a mum now. “They released 200 balloons into the crowd and were pouring vodka shots for people. A singer from The Mamas was also up performing her own songs so it was a great night.” During a day off from her Irish shows yesterday, Beyonce and Jay Z took their daughter to Dublin’s Phoenix Park, where they went virtually undetected by other families as they spent half an hour in the playground of the park’s visitors centre. The couple, along with their security team, then enjoyed dinner at fashionable eatery Coppinger Row. And it seems the pair have been enjoying the culinary delights of the city, as following the ‘Drunk in Love’ hitmaker’s show on Sunday, the “extremely humble” couple dined at upmarket eatery Fade Street Social, which opened late just for them. Beyonce dined on pumpkin flatbreads garnished with fresh rosemary, parmesan, onion purÈe, sliced chestnut and fried mushroom, while her spouse had a classic strip steak and chips. A spokesperson for the restaurant said the couple arrived at 11pm. The representative said: “Usually the kitchen is closing around then but we held on for a few minutes to accommodate them. They were extremely nice and friendly and left very happy.”

J

ustin Bieber has vowed he can’t be “broken”.

The ‘Believe’ hitmaker insists he is “strong” and has a right to “defend himself” in apparent response to criticism of his behavior in a taped deposition - including being rude to a court clerk, admitting to taking anti-anxiety drug Xanax without a prescription and feigning sleep which leaked online. He tweeted: “Love how some people love to twist and justify the horrible action of others. We all have a right to defend ourselves and feel harassed. “They can’t break us.

They can’t get us down. We are too strong. We love too much. #mybeliebers (sic)” Justin, 20, gave the deposition in Miami on Thursday over a lawsuit from photographer Jeffrey Binion, who claims one of the star’s bodyguard’s choked him and stole his camera equipment in June 2013 on the orders of the pop star. In the video, the ‘Beauty and a Beat’ star was seen visibly angry when asked about on/off girlfriend Selena Gomez

by the photographer’s lawyer. The lawyer asked: “Have you ever talked with Selena Gomez and discussed your feelings about paparazzi with her?” Justin replied: “Don’t ask me about her again. Don’t ask me about her again. Don’t ask me about her again.” At another point, the singer laughs at a question, so the lawyer asks if he needs it reading back. He replied: “Well, I don’t know, Katie Couric. You tell me.” And later in the footage, Justin is asked to “look at the film up there”, but replies: “This is a film? This is a film? You said it’s a film. You said watch the film. Is this a film?” He is asked to list the members of his team, and after naming a few people, including manager Scooter Braun, he dismissively says: “The list goes on. It continues, for a long time.” Asked for more names, he adds: “I don’t recall.” The lawyer then asked how often his team meet to discuss his bodyguards, with Justin replying “I don’t recall” before closing his eyes and pretending to sleep.

L

indsay Lohan partied for two days at Los Angeles’ Chateau Marmont this weekend. The 27-year-old star - who has been to rehab six times - has insisted she has given up drinking, but headed for the nightspot on Friday and stayed there until the following morning, before heading to a party and then returning to the famed venue until late on Sunday. A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “Lindsay started on Friday night at the cocktail bar at the Beverley Hills Hotel, before moving on to the Chateau. “She was out in the garden until early in the morning and then the group moved on to a house party in the Hollywood Hills. Literally hours later she back in party mode at the Chateau again.” The hotel lifted its ban on Lindsay in 2012 after she was blacklisted for failing to pay a $46,000 bill - which she racked up buying cigarettes, mini-bar goodies and candles. The actress was recovering as fans watched the first episode of her eightpart reality series ‘Lindsay’ on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network on Sunday, in which she claimed she has now found “inner peace” and wants to change her lifestyle. She has also said: “There’s no party that I haven’t gone to, there’s no person that I haven’t hung out with, there’s no situation that I haven’t been exposed to. “There’s nothing left in having a drink for me.”

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with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Perry, One Direction and Sheeran backs Global Citizen campaign

K

aty Perry, One Direction and Ed Sheeran are among 100 artists offering free concert tickets to UK fans in a bid to help global poverty. The pop stars have signed up to the Global Poverty Project and Global Citizen Tickets initiative, which encourages fans to build up points for actions they take to combat extreme hardship and then exchange their points to buy tickets for gigs and festivals. Katy said: “This is a simple, smart, modern initiative with potential for huge impact. “Global Citizen provides people with doable opportunities to make the world a better place, and rewards them for doing so.” The scheme already runs in Australia, New Zealand and America and will launch in the UK soon. Emma Banks, chair of the UK Global Citizen Tickets initiative committee, said: “The Global Citizen Tickets initiative in the UK marks the culmination of a tremendous

amount of hard work and foresight. “I have no doubt that we will match the successes that this initiative has already enjoyed in the USA, something that could only have been achieved by our industry uniting for this very worthwhile cause.”

Other acts to sign up include Kings of Leon, Jessie J, Neil Young, McBusted, Arcade Fire, and Katy’s ex-husband Russell Brand, as well as a number of UK festivals, including Reading and Leeds, Lovebox and Bestival. Each ticket will have a different points value, and those with enough points are entered into a lottery to try and secure a pass. Points can be earned from activities including volunteering with charities or contacting local MPs. Global Citizen aims to help 1.2 billion people worldwide suffering from extreme poverty, as well as looking to improve gender equality, access to primary education, and the life expectancy of children.

P Diddy buying TV channel

K

hard at Chateau Marmont

Paloma Faith is ‘fine’ after being mugged

Winslet to be honored

ate Winslet is to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The 38year-old actress will be the 2,520th star to receive an honor, and the unveiling is set to take place early next week with ‘Titanic’ director James Cameron and Kate’s co-star in the film Kathy Bates presenting her with the accolade outside of the W Hollywood Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, on Monday according to Hollywood.com. Producer of the Walk of Fame ceremonies, Ana Martinez, said of the new addition: “We are so happy that Kate Winslet will be here on our famous Boulevard of dreams receiving her well-deserved star.

“We’ve seen Kate shine in her roles and fans around the world have been anxiously waiting for this special day to come.” Other actresses who have been added to the star-studded pavement recently include ‘Non Stop’ star Julianne Moore and Glee’s Jane Lynch. The news comes just weeks after Kate admitted that she doesn’t really know any celebrities, despite being good friends with ‘Titanic’ co-star Leonardo DiCaprio, because she doesn’t watch reality television. She said previously: “I literally stand at this bank of magazines going, ‘Who are all these people?’ Half the time, I don’t even know who they are! “Now there’s a lot of focus on television stars and soap stars and these real-life Kardashian-type families.”

Lindsay Lohan partied

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Diddy has reportedly bid $200 million for a TV station. The 43-year-old music mogul is one of several investors who have entered talks to acquire cable channel Fuse, which is currently owned by New Yorkbased Madison Square Garden Company (MSG), and incorporate it into his Revolt TV channel, which is backed by Comcast Corp (CMCSA), three sources told Bloomberg.

According to one of the sources, if Diddy whose real name is Sean Combs - purchases Fuse, Revolt TV will gain wider distribution and higher subscriber fees. The channel currently reaches around 22.8 million US homes and is carried by Comcast and Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC), compared with the 74 million audience Fuse currently reaches through pay-TV systems including Cablevision Systems Corporation (CVC) and DirecTV (DTV ). MSG refused to comment on the speculation as talks are still “ongoing”. Their spokesperson, Kimberly Kerns, said: “As we have stated, we are exploring strategic alternatives for Fuse, and will have no further comment during what is still an ongoing process.” As well as Revolt TV, Diddy’s business interests have also included clothing lines and fragrances, restaurants and he recently jointly purchased an upmarket tequila company. For the latter venture, he again teamed up with Diageo PLC with who he has a joint marketing and profitsharing deal for Ciroc vodka - to acquire luxu-

ry alcohol brand DeLeon for an undisclosed sum. Diddy said: “With Ciroc, we dated. Now with DeLeon, we’re married. This deal is way better. This makes me a true owner.”

he ‘Can’t Rely On You’ hitmaker was robbed in the street recently, and though the thief made off with her bag, the singer who insists she wasn’t targeted because of her fame - was thankful the situation wasn’t worse. She said: “I was mugged a few weeks ago in London, they came from behind me, they didn’t mug ‘me’, I don’t think they saw it was me, they just saw a person. “They got my bag but luckily my phone and keys were in my pocket. A word of warning - always separate. “I’m fine, I was scarily fine but the person I was with was really shaken up. I was just like, ‘That’s pretty standard in London’. Maybe I’m desensitized.” Paloma insists her cool-headed stance wasn’t unusual as she is often a useful person to have around during a crisis. She added in an interview with BBC

Radio 2 presenter Dermot O’Leary: “I’m really good in a crisis if anyone ever needs me, if you want any advice or anything. I’ll turn up and sort everything out.” The 32-year-old singer first revealed she had been mugged on twitter, writing last month: “I got mugged last night.

Not fun. Thank you London. That’ll teach me to walk home.”

Drake and Rihanna are like a ‘loved-up couple’

D

rake and Rihanna have been acting like a “loved-up couple” behind closed doors. The ‘Take Care’ rapper is rumored to have rekindled his romance with the Bajan beauty - who he was first linked to in 2009 - and though they have mostly kept their union private, they were spotted out together in London restaurant Nobu together on Saturday, where they walked in “hand in hand”, before joining a group of friends for dinner. A source told The Sun newspaper: “Rihanna and Drake walked through Nobu hand in hand and sat down with a couple of friends for a meal. “She looked completely at ease in Drake’s company and he had his arm around

her as they sat. They were behaving very much like a loved-up couple.”

The pair were first spotted out together when Rihanna joined Drake at Soixante Dix Neuf nightclub in Paris last month, where Drake was making a personal appearance for the venue’s first anniversary, and they were also seen together in Amsterdam last week. However, the 27-year-old rapper has insisted he and the ‘Diamonds’ hitmaker are not dating, though he admits he does “think about” it. He said recently: “I mean, I think about it. Like, ‘Man that would be good.’ We have fun together. She’s cool and everything. But we’re just friends. That’s my dog for life.”

37

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

LIFESTYLE G O S S I P

Swift named Billboard’s ‘Top Money Maker’

aylor Swift has been named ‘Top Money Maker’ of 2013 by Billboard.

The ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ singer earned $39.7m from a combination of music sales, royalties, and touring last year, with the large sum placing her ahead of Beyonce, Justin Timberlake and The Rolling Stones on the annual list.

Taylor previously held the title in 2012, before being beaten to the top spot by Madonna last year. However, the 24-yearold singer’s ‘Red Tour’ helped her to get ahead on the list this year, with six months in the US bringing in a reported $30m. The staggering sum is notwithstanding the three sponsorship deals which accompanied the tour - due to lack of data - but the trade publication estimates the deals totted up seven figures.

Kenny Chesney has risen to second place, while Justin Timberlake sits behind in third, following his chart comeback last year with ‘The 20/20 Experience’, his first album in seven years. Rock acts Bon Jovi and The Rolling Stones round up the top five coming in fourth and fifth place respectively. Meanwhile, Beyonce’s surprise self-titled album released in December has earned her sixth place, gruelling 132 date ‘ The Mrs.Carter Show World Tour’ bringing in an estimated $19.9m in the US leg alone.

T

Pixie Lott wants her own record label ixie Lott wants to start her own record label.

The ‘Nasty’ singer, who has launched her own talent night in London, is looking to follow in the footsteps of ‘X Factor’ boss Simon Cowell as she coaches undiscovered artists and helps to link them up with professionals in the music industry.

She told the Daily Star newspaper: “Mainly it’s about new artists getting out there, ‘cause it’s hard when you don’t really know anyone. I get really excited hearing new people, especially if it’s amazing. Pixie went on: “I kind of know a bit about the way this industry works after being in it for a few years. I think in the future it would be amazing to have my own label.

“I look for amazing singers. I wouldn’t be bothered to have to market, like, a band that can’t sing or something, I get motivated by good singers.”

The blonde beauty, who has returned to music after a break, is also back to being a regular on the

P

celebrity party scene but admits it’s not always glamorous. She explained: “I was at a party and Roll Deep were on the table next to me. “Next thing I knew one of the boys from the band stood up and was sick all over me, it was terrible. “I had to go to the toilet, take my long socks off and throw them in the bin.” But the 23-year-old star laughed it off and insists she can’t wait to attend more parties after the release of her self-titled third album in May, the follow-up to 2011’s ‘Young Foolish Happy’. Pixie likes singing about heartbreak and showing passion and emotion through her songs, despite being in a long-term relationship with model Oliver Cheshire, 25. She said: “Even though I’m really happy, I think that as I’ve experience being in a relationship I can relate to being passionate and being sad, or how it would feel if it broke off,” adding, “So I can relate to that more than I would have done before.”

Colin Farrell: ‘A New York Winter’s Tale’ isn’t for everyone olin Farrell admits ‘A New York Winter’s Tale’ isn’t for “everyone”. The 37-year-old actor appears in the film alongside former ‘Downton Abbey’ star Jessica Brown Findlay, who plays his love interest, and admits the romantic drama won’t be a favorite for everybody since it’s “too sweet”. He told HELLO! magazine: “It’s not for everyone. I know that for some people it will be too sweet. But it’s also a very beautiful and very optimistic and very kindly intentioned film that has not a shard of malice in it, and I’m hoping that the people who will enjoy it, will really enjoy it.”

Farrell’s equestrian skills made it easier to film scenes where he rode Athansor, a mysterious white horse who becomes his alter-ego’s guardian angel, but had concerns about having Findlay on the horse behind him. He added: “That was a hairy ride, man. People can get thrown off horses, you know? And I don’t mind for myself because I’ve been thrown off horses before, and it’s fine, it’s cool, you just get back on again. I don’t even mind how wild the horse is - although the horse we used in the film was pretty cool and mellow. But I did fear riding with Jessica in the back because I’m not that good a horseman.”

C

Lucas

‘wouldn’t wish divorce’ on ‘worst enemy’

J

osh Lucas “wouldn’t wish divorce” on his “worst enemy”. The 42-year-old actor split up with his wife Jessica Ciencin Henriquez in January - with whom he has 20month-old son Noah Rev and, although they are trying their best to stay friends, he admits it’s a heartbreaking situation to go through. He explained: “We have been through a divorce and divorce isn’t something I would wish on my worst enemy. Even when in our case we have managed to do it not only amicably but as-hopefully in the end-great friends, particularly because we have a young child that we both truly love.” Meanwhile, the hunky star admits he’s more inclined to accept playful and funny roles that will benefit his son because becoming a father has not only changed his life, but his career as well. He explained to People magazine: “Me becoming a father has changed absolutely everything in my life, period. I am more and more wanting to be a part of things that [are] playful and more the things I see my son really responding to and enjoying.” — Bang Showbiz

Billboard’s Top 10 music money makers 2013 Taylor Swift - $39.7m Kenny Chesney - $32.9m Justin Timberlake - $31.5m Bon Jovi - $29.4m Rolling Stones - $26.2m

Gawker urges court to drop Quentin Tarantino lawsuit awker is urging a federal court to drop Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Hateful Eight’ lawsuit. The website - which stands accused of copyright infringement by linking to a leaked script of the director’s upcoming cowboy film, which he has since been forced to scrap - now claims the lawsuit should be dismissed because Tarantino hasn’t cited actual copyright infringement, only “contributory ” factors.

According to Variety.com, they said in a motion to dismiss filed in US District Court in Los Angeles on Monday that the lawsuit “does no more than raise the possibility that some member of the public who accessed plaintiff’s script using Gawker’s link subsequently violated Tarantino’s rights by committing an infringement.

“Because plaintiff did not allege any facts showing that an infringing act actually was undertaken by a third party - merely accessing the script by clicking on the link is legally insufficient - plaintiff did not state a claim for contributory infringement.” Gawker also claims that linking to an online version of the script was fair us because it hadn’t “reproduced” the material.

They said: “Gawker made minimal use of the script - it reproduced no part of it but merely linked to another publication. Gawker’s use was, at most, incidentally commercial and did not usurp the primary market for and purpose of the script: to make a movie.” The Oscar-winning ‘Django Unchained’ director decided to pull the plug on the movie and is demanding at least $1 million in damages for Gawker’s actions.

He said he had only given the script for ‘The Hateful Eight’ to six people and believes one of them must have let their agent see it, who subsequently sent it on. District Judge John Walter has scheduled a hearing in the case for April 14.

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Wahlberg to receive MTV Generation Award ark Wahlberg will receive the Generation Award at the MTV Movie Awards. The ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’ actor will be presented with the prestigious honor at the MTV Movie Awards next month by the cast of ‘Entourage’, the show which he served on as executive producer. Stephen Friedman, President of MTV, said: “Mark Wahlberg is the definition of a modern day Renaissance Man: from Dirk Diggler to ‘The Departed,’ ‘The Basketball Diaries’ to ‘Ted,’ ‘Entourage’ to ‘The Fighter,’ in front of the camera and behind he’s done it all and he’s always memorable. “Mark has captivated the MTV audience for over 20 years, and for this rare feat, we’re proud to recognize him with this year’s Generation Award.” The awards ceremony - which will be hosted by Conan O’Brien - will mark the first reunion of ‘Entourage’ stars Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly, Kevin Dillon and Jerry Ferrara before the spin-off movie, which is released next year.

The Generation Award is handed out to “an artist who has shown us a variety of impressive roles, a personal and professional flair and of course, an awesome level of talent” and previous recipients have included Johnny Depp, Jamie Foxx, Reese Witherspoon, Sandra Bullock, Tom Cruise and Mike Myers. The 2014 MTV Movie Awards will take place on April 13 at the Nokia Theatre in Hollywood.

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Evans wants a family

hris Evans wants to get married and have children. The 32-year-old actor admits he’s ready to leave his partying days behind him and start building a family because he doesn’t want to look back on his life later on and regret missing out on those things. He said: “I want to get married, though I want children-to me that’s the ultimate thing. When you’re old and on your death bed, looking back at your life it’s not going to be the films you’ve made or what you’ve accomplished, it’s the relationships you have. You’re survived by things that matter-the people you love and those who love you back.” The ‘Captain America’ star admits he’d much rather spend his nights wrapped up on the sofa at home, rather than out partying with his mates and knocking back countless amounts of alcohol. He explained to the UK edition of Glamour magazine: “In your twenties you think, ‘How will I ever not like going out?’. You have drinks, buddies, music-great! But in the last two or three years, I go to a club and I kind of wish I was home. My idea of a good time has evolved a bit, so a night out with me might not be as exciting as it might have been a couple of years ago.”

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Beyonce - $24.4m Maroon 5 - $22.3m Luke Bryan- $22.1m Pink - $20m Fleetwood Mac - $19m

Robbie Williams fears upsetting

Gary Barlow Robbie Williams “doesn’t want to upset” Gary Barlow by saying no to a Take That reunion. The 40-year-old singer - who reunited with his former band in 2010 for their sixth album ‘Progress’ - is said to be worried about upsetting Gary, who he’s had differences with in the past, and isn’t sure he’s ready to focus completely on Take That rather than his solo material. A source revealed: “Robbie isn’t against the idea, although he doesn’t really have time this year to commit to Take That, although they have collaborated on compositions.”He also doesn’t want to upset Gary, given that they patched up their differences and are as close as ever.” The ‘Let Me Entertain You’ hitmaker has reportedly suggested to Gary, 43, that they take things slow by working on material together - along with fellow bandmates Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald - for now, and then discussing a world tour at a later date. The source told The Sun newspaper: “He’s suggested recording together, seeing how that goes then embarking on a world tour in 2015.” Gary himself is preparing to kick-off his own solo tour with dates in cities including Glasgow, London, Cardiff and Manchester starting later this month, and Take That are already back in the studio working on a new album which is expected to be released later this year.

Ciara’s luxurious nursery iara has spent $20,000 on a safari-themed nursery for her unborn child. The ‘Goodies’ singer - who is due to give birth to her first child with her fiance, rapper Future, next month - embarked on an extensive shopping spree at pricey baby store Petit Tresor in Los Angeles, coming away with a host of stuffed animals, lion bookends and art work, including a $1,800 8-foot stuffed giraffe, TMZ reports. The extravagant spree isn’t the first time in recent months Ciara has been spotted flashing her cash for her unborn baby. The 29-year-old star was spotted at another baby boutique, Bel Bambini, with friend Kim Kardashian in Hollywood last month. The reality TV star is a “regular” at the store as she regularly shops there for her and Kanye West’s nine-monthold daughter North. A source said: “Kim is a regular here and she was showing Ciara around, helping her pick out a few items in anticipation of her baby’s arrival. They looked at a few different cribs and bedding designs and also some feeding apparatuses that we carry. They were both upbeat, smiling and sharing the joys of being pregnant. It was a nice moment for the girls and we adore them.” As well as planning for her baby, Ciara is also getting ready for her wedding later in the year but is yet to decide on all the details of her big day.

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Amid economic crisis, a silver lining for Greek filmmakers

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he economic crisis that has devastated Greece has also spurred the country’s filmmakers onto a prize-winning renaissance in a rare success story from the eurozone nation. The same recession that brought misery to tens of thousands of families since 2009 has fueled demand for tales out of Greece-prompting the nation’s filmmakers not only to adapt to the new economic realities but also rack up awards in the process.

Last year, 36-year-old Alexandros Avranas picked up a best director prize at the Venice Film Festival with ‘Miss Violence’, a movie about a girl’s hushed-up suicide that also won a best actor award. Two years earlier, ‘Dogtooth’ by 41-year-old Yorgos Lanthimos-a film about a dysfunctional Greek familywas nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars, the first such accolade for a Greek film in over 30 years. “The crisis has put the spotlight on Greece, and this has spurred Greek filmmakers,” said Gregory Karantinakis, general manager of the Greek Film Centre, the state-supervised body supporting Greek cinema.

A flood of international media coverage of anti-austerity protests, many of them violent, has paradoxically helped pique interest. “People outside Greece have sought to discover what is happening in the country,” he said. “Dogtooth” director Lanthimos also won best screenplay at Venice in 2011 with ‘Alps’-a movie about an underground organization that helps mourners by impersonating the deceased. He is now directing his first English-language feature, ‘Lobster’, starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz. The film is a dystopian love drama set in the future.

Overall, Greek cinema is riding a wave of success unseen since the European glory days of director Theo Angelopoulos

in the 1990’s. “The crisis has helped in an unexpected way. It has brought together very creative people and it has compelled them to work together,” says George Corraface, one of Greece’s best-known international actors with a 30-year career in Europe and the United States. “People do amazing work with very little money, and this has a huge effect. It creates a buzz all over festivals,” he told AFP. Turmoil an inspiration Social turmoil has traditionally inspired artistic expression, said Karantinakis. In Greece, the economy has shrunk by a quarter and unemployment shot up to over 27 percent. The youth have been particularly hard-hit, with more than one in two without a job. “The younger generation of filmmakers feels the need to say things ...and urgently so,” says Yorgos Zois, an award-winning short film director now preparing his first feature movie. “There are a lot of things simmering under the surface in Greek society-existential, economic-so it is urgent for people to take a stand,” adds the 33-year-old, who originally studied applied math and physics.

But while a source of inspiration, the crisis, unsurprisingly, has also has ravaged finances. Before all fell apart, the industry relied on state funding from the Greek Film Centre (GFC), and ERT, the state broadcaster. But over the past five years, the GFC’s funding has fallen by 35 percent while domestic ticket sales-another key money source-are down 45 percent. And last year, the government axed ERT. The shutdown was designed to trim the state payroll-one of Greece’s obligations under its multi-billion EU-IMF bailout-by more than 2,000 jobs.

A downsized state broadcaster was set up to replace ERT, but in the interim, scores of productions including documen-

taries and short films were crippled for lack of funding. This acted as a wake-up call to the industry, unlike the past when many were content to wait for the next state payout. “Before the crisis, Greek filmmakers wanted 300-500,000 euros ($200,000-$360,000) to make a movie,” said an industry source who declined to be named.

“Now they do it with 100,000 euros,” he said, adding that movie production is now better targeted too. “When the money was flowing, 15 Greek movies would be made in one year but only two would be shown in cinemas. The rest would never see the light of day, and some of their creators didn’t even care,” the source said. With less domestic funding, Greek filmmakers have been searching for new contacts and sponsors abroad. Zois said most films in Greece are now done on a shoestring budget, or are European co-productions. And Greek directors have learned they need to move audiences if they want to surmount problem of language, a barrier which traditionally limited distribution of Greek-language films.

“There’s very little room for Greek films,” said Corraface. “So it’s necessary to make films that are a bit shocking, that wake people up. And I think (Greeks have caught onto that),” he added. — AFP

Greek award-winning short film director Yorgos Zois poses at the Greek Film Archive premises in Athens yesterday. — AFP

‘Believe’ review: A good girl in need of Darth Vader

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Beyonce, Garner want to ban the word ‘Bossy’

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on’t let Beyonce hear you using the word “bossy,” because she’s joining Lifetime in its mission to ban the label from our vocabulary. “Being labeled something matters. By middle school, girls are less interested in leadership than boys, and that’s because they worry about being called bossy,” Beyonce helps a number of other successful women - and men - say in the Lean In PSA. “We need to tell them it’s okay to be ambitious. We need to help them lean in. Words matter. Let’s just ban the ‘bossy,’ and encourage girls to lead.”

Jennifer Garner, Jane Lynch, Condoleezza Rice and Diane von Furstenberg appear with NASCAR champ Jimmie Johnson, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Girl Scouts USA CEO Anna Maria Chavez in the #BanBossy campaign spearheaded by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who also takes a stand in the 60second spot that airs on Lifetime.

The commercial for Lean In and Girl Scouts’ Ban Bossy movement, which is supported by Lifetime and a number of other partners, aims to raise awareness for raising girls’ self esteem during early adolescence - a pivotal moment in their development. “I’m not bossy,” Beyonce concludes. “I’m the boss.”— Reuters

elieve” is a great villain away from being a show I’d keep watching. Expectations couldn’t be much higher for the NBC drama, premiering tonight. It comes from Oscarwinner Alfonso Cuaron, the brilliant mind behind “Gravity,” and J.J. Abrams, who co-created “Lost” and now rules both the “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” universes. You know why people like “Star Wars” more than “Star Trek”? Because of Darth Vader. He was so ruthless, so composed, that you couldn’t help but root for anyone going up against him.

When the prequels made Vader good, the saga lost all momentum.

In lieu of a Vader, “Believe” has Kyle MacLachlan, whom, I’m sorry, I can’t stop loving. He earned a lifetime of goodwill playing Dale Cooper on “Twin Peaks,” and he’s delightful as the sturdily competent mayor of “Portlandia.” I even liked him in “Showgirls.” It’s hard to root against him, and that’s a problem for “Believe.” The show went through two showrunners before settling on Jonas Pate, which suggests it struggled to find its direction.

Hopefully it does in the next few episodes, because it has plenty going for it.

It’s about a little girl, Bo (Johnny Sequoyah) who has Christ-like powers that may save the world.

After her parents are killed in a horrifying opener Cuaron directs it as spectacularly as you would expect - she falls into the care of a former death row inmate, Tate (Jake McLaughlin). The mysterious Milton Winter (Delroy Lindo) breaks him of prison.

Winter leads a mysterious group dedicated to protecting Bo, but not willing to use guns, because that would make things too easy.

Winter is wise, Bo is adorable and sweet, and Tate has kind of an Owen Wilson thing going. We like them all. And the no-guns thing, foolish as it is, should make them feel even more like a ragtag group of lovable underdogs. But I’m not totally invested, because again: The Empire is run by the charming dude I can’t stop liking. MacLachlan is named Skouras here, and are we sure his plans for

This photo released by NBC shows Sienna Guillory, left, as Moore, and Johnny Sequoyah as Bo, in the pilot of the new NBC television series, ‘Believe. — AP Bo are nefarious? We also kind of admire his main apprentice, Moore (Sienna Guillory), for bringing some gender parity to the male-dominated assassin’s game. It’s also kind of endearing that she’s so bad at assassinating.

Sure, she’s involved in killing the parents. But we’ve known the parents would die since the first preview for “Believe” months ago. Moore is one of those TV killers we’re told is relentless and unstoppable, even though she’s always just a step or two behind, even though her main opponents are a dude fresh out of jail and a small child. And they

aren’t even allowed to shoot her.

Okay, granted: Bo is not a normal child, as we see in the show’s second big set piece. But her strength makes us even less invested in her fate. It feels like she’s going to be just fine, whether we watch or not. So I’m hoping the show can make Skouras a little more scary. Or Moore a little bit faster. Or the Christlike orphan a little more of a martyr. Is that asking a lot? Yes. But Cuaron and Abrams can handle high expectations. — Reuters

‘Grand Budapest Hotel’ books record limited box-office opening

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‘Raising Hope’ canceled

by Fox after 4 seasons

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ox has canceled “Raising Hope” after four seasons. The sitcom’s last episode will run as a two-part, one-hour finale on April 4.

The night will kick off at 9 pm, with the episode “How I Met Your Mullet,” in which guest star Lesley Nicol (“Downton Abbey”) plays Jimmy (Lucas Neff) and Sabrina’s (Shannon Woodward) new maid.

Then, in separate a half-hour titled “The Father Daughter Dance,” Virginia’s (Martha Plimpton) dad (guest star Jeffrey Tambor, “Arrested Development”) returns to Natesville with a surprise for her and Burt (Garret Dillahunt), including a musical performance by Kenny Loggins (guest-starring as himself).

“On behalf of myself, Greg Garcia and ‘Raising Hope’s’ amazing cast and crew, I would like to thank our audience for tuning in and supporting us over the last four seasons,” executive producer Mike Mariano said in a statement.

“We planned our Season 4 finale with this possibility in mind, and hope our loyal fans enjoy the way we’ve chosen to say goodbye to the Chances and to Natesville. Thanks again, and we’ll see you in syndication.”

“Getting to know and love the Chance family on ‘Raising Hope’ has been a sweet, hilarious ride,” Kevin Reilly, chairman of entertainment and Joe Earley, chief operating officer, Fox Broadcasting Company added. “Thanks to the incredibly talented cast - along with Greg, Mike and the entire crew - for making us laugh for four fantastic seasons.”

“Raising Hope,” created by Garcia (“The Millers”), premiered in the fall of 2010. Starring Emmy Award-winners Plimpton and Cloris Leachman - along with Garret Dillahunt, Neff, Woodward and Gregg Binkley - the series follows a lovingly dysfunctional family as they raise an adorable yet unexpected addition to the family: a little girl named Hope. In 2011, Plimpton and Leachman were both nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for their leading (Plimpton) and guest (Leachman) roles on the show. — Reuters

es Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” posted one of the best limited openings ever this weekend. The quirky ensemble comedy brought in a stunning $800,000 for Fox Searchlight, from only two theaters in New York and two in Los Angeles. That’s an eye-popping per-screen average of more than $200,000 per screen. That’s easily the best opening weekend ever for writer-director Anderson, whose last film “Moonrise Kingdom” became a sleeper hit in 2012 after opening in four theaters with $522,000. That one went on to take in $68 million worldwide.

“Grand Budapest” blew past the standard set by “The Master,” the Phillip Seymour Hoffman drama which averaged $147,000 on five theaters in 2012, and is among the top ten limited openings of all time, according to Box Office Mojo.

“Grand Budapest” focuses on an urbane concierge in Europe between the two World Wars, and features Bill Murray, F. Murray Abraham, Ralph Fiennes, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Saoirse Ronan and Tilda Swinton. It’s a hit with critics and has a sterling 89 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Word-of-mouth clearly helped “Grand Budapest,” which was up 14 percent from its strong first-night showing Friday. “Grand

Budapest played at the Arclight Cinerama Dome in Hollywood and at the Landmark in LA; in Manhattan, it played at the Regal Union Square and the AMC Lincoln Square.

The plan for next week is to expand into 17 more markets and up the theater count to 65 or 70 theaters, Fox Searchlight’s distribution chief Frank Rodriguez told TheWrap. “We knew the opening would be very good, but this performance is really above anyone’s expectations. This really seems to have come together because of a collaboration. Wes and his team have worked really hard to promote it, the theater owners embraced it and our publicity and marketing people hit it out of the park,” Rodriguez said. “All that and the great reviews added up to terrific weekend for us.” Fox Searchlight was also celebrating “12 Years a Slave,” its Best Picture Oscar winner that returned to theaters and cracked the top ten with $2.1 million despite its release on DVD last week. — Reuters

This CD cover image released by RCA Nashville shows “Slow Me Down,” the latest release by Sara Evans. —AP

Review: Sara Evans’ new album is worth the wait

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he cover of Sara Evans’ new album depicts her in front of a giant clock above the title “Slow Me Down” - an ironic statement for a country star releasing only her second album in nine years. But taking her time benefits Evans in one way: “Slow Me Down” ranks with such past gems as 2005’s “Real Fine Place” and 2000’s “Born To Fly,” two of Evans’s best, and most successful, albums. She also profits from working with one producer, Mark Bright, who also co-produced “Real Fine Place” with Evans, a move away from the multiple producers found on Evans’ disappointing 2011 release, “Restless.”

Bright adds particularly inventive and engaging arrangements to such standout cuts as “Sweet Spot” and especially “You Never Know,” with its clever use of strings as a rhythmic element set against drums, bass and guitars.

Evans’ maturity also informs her new songs, especially the title cut, the equally compelling “Better Off” (a duet with Vince Gill) and “A Little Revival.” Judging from the strength of her new work, Evans should ignore her own advice and speed up recording efforts on the next round. — AP

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‘12 Years a Slave’ spat: Ridley regrets not thanking McQueen

ess than a week ago, TheWrap first reported the details behind the rift between “12 Years a Slave” screenwriter John Ridley and the director of the Best Picture Oscar winner Steve McQueen. Now, in a new interview, Ridley sought to clarify the situation. He said that he regrets not thanking McQueen when accepting the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars, but that it was an omission rather than a diss.

“I do regret it,” Ridley told Entertainment Weekly. “But just 24 hours earlier at the Spirit Awards I sincerely went on and on about Steve and my work with him. You know, the guy changed my life. At the Oscars you have 30 seconds to talk and it’s like the oxygen drops out of the room.” Ridley was in Austin, Texas, for the premiere of the Jimi Hendrix biopic “All is By My Side,” which he wrote and directed. He said the Oscar moment was very much a blur to him.

“I know when I heard my name called, I hugged my wife twice,” he said. “I know David O Russell,

for the perceived slight to McQueen blowing up to the extent it did, and said that “12 Years” had been drawing extra scrutiny from the time it became the Best Picture front-runner until it finally won the Oscar. “From the jump, man, from the moment somebody said ‘Stop the year, this is the Best Picture’ the story became ‘It’s torture porn. Why are Brits doing this? This movie is only geared at liberal whites.’ “In the end, I said to somebody else ‘At the very least, we weren’t ‘Zero Dark Thirty.’ Nobody set up a congressional investigation. This year it’s who hugged and kissed who and who didn’t.”— Reuters

again this person people think I have beef with, was the first guy to hug me, I know Meryl Streep reached out and touched my arm.” Ridley didn’t mention it in this interview, but he and McQueen had been at odds during the development of the slavery saga.

The director had tapped Ridley to work on a separate slavery-themed project that eventually led to “12 Years a Slave” after McQueen’s wife discovered the book, which Ridley subsequently agreed to adapt on spec. McQueen had a hand in shaping the script that Ridley turned in, but when he asked the writer for shared credit, Ridley politely declined. The disagreement forced distributor Fox Searchlight and Brad Pitt, who had small role in the film and produced, to mediate. The team behind the film kept the dispute from going public so as not to hurt the film’s awards chance, but the relationship between Ridley and McQueen was strained throughout the awards season.

Ridley blamed the media’s penchant for conflict

(From right) ”12Years a Slave” screenwriter John Ridley and director Steve McQueen.

‘True Detective’: What we know about season 2

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File photo made available by the Miami Beach Police Dept, shows Justin Bieber at the police station in Miami Beach, Fla. — AP

Norwegian jailed in US over Bieber scam

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Norwegian man who admitted tricking an investor out of $1 million in a fake deal to promote Justin Bieber in Scandinavia was sentenced to 11 years in jail, US prosecutors said Monday. Wahleed Ahmed was also ordered to repay the $1 million, said the US Attorney’s office in Los Angeles and the FBI. Ahmed presented himself as a successful entrepreneur from Norway who had invented solar-powered phone covers, and he promised the victim would make $9 million in profit in three months. The 22-yearold used photos of famous dignitaries including the Crown Prince of Norway, Queen Rania of Jordan and others, and claimed to have multimillion dollar contracts with large telecoms firms, to lend credibility to his scheme. In August 2012, Ahmed convinced the victim to invest $1

million to secure concert venues for the Justin Bieber Tour, using fake documents and websites he had bought with domain names suggesting they were part of the scheme.

He was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and pleaded guilty in March 2013, admitting he had “taken the victim investor’s money knowing that there was no contract for Justin Bieber tours and that the victim would lose his money.” As well as serving 132 months in jail, he was ordered to make an immediate restitution payment of $1,001,505.50. Judge Philip S Gutierrez ordered the prison term to be followed by three years of supervised release. — AFP

he next season of “True Detective” will be about “hard women, bad men and the secret occult history of the United States transportation system,” says series creator Nic Pizzolatto. That intriguing preview came in an interview with HitFix’s Alan Sepinwall, one of the very few Pizzolatto has done around the Season 1 finale of the HBO series. What else do we know about the show? Not much.

It hasn’t officially been renewed, no actors have been cast, and Pizzolatto hasn’t even presented his idea to HBO. Why wouldn’t Season 2 be a mystery? We didn’t even find out until Sunday’s finale exactly what kind of show we were watching. A twist on the buddy-cop genre? A philosophical discourse on the meaning (or meaninglessness) of life? A serial killer yarn? It turned out to be a twisting, garish combination of the three, completely different from anything else. That said, here’s what we know so far. Or think we know. Matthew McConaughey won’t be back.

The show was always intended as an anthology with a new story each season. The surprise survival of both Rust Cohle and Marty Hart at the end of Season 1 suggested at least one could return, someday. But McConaughey has said he never planned to stay beyond one season. “It was a 450-page film, is what it was,” McConaughey said of the show’s first season during a January Television Critics Association panel. “It was also finite. It didn’t mean we had to come back this year, next year if we were under contract. It was finite. So in that way it was exactly a 450-page film script.” It could take place in Southern California.

Pizzolatto said in an interview with BuzzFeed’s Kate Authur that he’s “been reading about the last 40 years of Southern California government.” He also signaled that the show is leaving his home state of Louisiana: He said he hopes the new season “presents new characters in a new place with authenticity and resonance and an authorial voice consistent with this season. Dominant colors will change. South Louisiana was green and burnished gold.”

Wherever the show goes, it will be places you don’t usually see on TV: “We’re generally concerned with the places that don’t get much press and where you wouldn’t normally set a television show,” Pizzolatto said at TCA. There will be more than one director this time. Season 1 owes much of its gorgeous, moody aesthetics to Cary Fukunaga, but logistics will prevent him from shooting every episode in

Lindsay Lohan is a ‘Prisoner’ on OWN series: ‘It’s my last shot’

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he much-anticipated OWN series starring Lindsay Lohan, titled simply “Lindsay,” already sets the season’s storyline on Sunday’s premiere episode: Who’s the biggest threat to Lohan? The outside world or the actress herself? Director Amy Rice followed the “Mean Girls” actress as she decided to relocate from Los Angeles to New York City. The actress felt that a change of scenery and being closer to her family would give her stability as she tries to stay sober. At one point, Lohan acknowledged that the next few months are important ones.

“It’s my last shot,” the actress said of her career. In setting up the series, it shared Oprah Winfrey’s pre-interview with the star ahead of the taping of her August interview on “Oprah’s Next Chapter.” Winfrey asked the question she poses to all her guests: What do you want from this interview? “Just to be me,

Lindsay Lohan and Oprah Winfrey

be honest and open,” Lohan answered and Winfrey promised she’d call the actress out if she felt she wasn’t sticking to that path.

The truth is probably the hardest thing to discern on the premiere episode. We hear what Lohan wants, but we’re unsure what happens off-camera and just how much she participates in situations where she feels others have wronged her. There are plenty of examples of this on the episode. She promised to be in London to do press for her movie, “ The Canyons,” but pulled out because she’s worried about how the pressure will affect her sobriety and that the

press will really only want to ask her about her recent stint in rehab.

In turn, director Paul Schrader told reporters that he felt like he “was held hostage” by the actress during the shooting of the film, clearly disappointed she was skipping out on its promotion. Yet, there are some real challenges to being Lindsay Lohan. The paparazzi are clearly out of control. They stood outside her hotel and followed her to events. One boldly held up his watch to OWN’s cameras and said, “Lindsay paid for it.”

At one point, she’s unable to attend her AA meeting because the paparazzi would follow her there and she’s worried about the other people at the meeting and their privacy. When Rice asked if she ever felt like a she’s a prisoner, Lohan answered, “Yes, all the time.”

She also goes for more than a month in New York City unable to find an apartment.

Lohan said that finding the place is the easy part, but then the building’s board finds out who she is and doesn’t want her as a neighbor or they raise the rent. At one point, she’s very close to signing a lease when a lastminute clause requiring her to purchase a $10 million insurance policy gets added something her realtor said is a standard amount though Lohan argues that she isn’t your standard renter. Truth.

At other times, it’s clear Lohan may not know what she needs. She wants stability, yet she orders her personal assistant to switch her hotel room and move her belongings (which are strewn all over her hotel room like an episode of “Hoarders”). The show shoots only her second visit with her mother since leaving rehab. Why has she only seen her mother once since rehab if her family is such a force for stability? And, her father? Well, he hasn’t quite been her best protector either and has yet to appear during Lohan’s first month in NYC.

Season 2, as he did in Season 1.

“We don’t have any plans to work with one director again,” Pizzolatto told Buzzfeed. “It would be impossible to do this yearly as we need to be able to do post while we’re still filming, like any other show. There’s some great guys I’ve consulted, and we’re all confident we can achieve the same consistency.” The format of the show is wide open. “I tried to make the format as broad for my tastes as possible in the sense that, yes, this is almost the ‘True Detective’ version of a buddy cop movie hunting for a serial killer,” Pizzolatto said at TCA. “And in that way, it even touches on a lot of those tropes while, I hope, subverting and making them entirely new through the character work. And, you know, there could be a season that’s much more of a widespread conspiracy thriller, a season that’s a small town murder mystery, a season where nobody is murdered and it’s a master criminal versus a rogue detective or something. —Reuters

Dench and Law among Olivier Award nominees

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udi Dench and Jude Law are among the 2014 Olivier Award nominees. The British stars have earned Best Actress and Best Actor nominations, respectively, at the annual awards ceremony which recognizes outstanding theatre productions and performances, ranging from plays, musicals and dance. Judi - who was recently nominated for an Oscar for ‘Philomena’ - leads the Best Actress race for ‘Peter and Alice’, competing against Hayley Atwell (‘The Pride’), Anna Chancellor (‘Private Lives’) and Lesley Manville (‘Ghost’).

Meanwhile, Jude is up for Best Actor for his regal performance in ‘Henry V’, however, he faces stiff competition from fellow screen star Tom Hiddleston for ‘Coriolanus’, as well as Rory Kinnear (‘Othello’) and Henry Goodman (‘The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui’).

Film director Sam Mendes’ new stage adaptation of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ leads the way for most nominations this year, tying Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ with seven nods apiece.

The boundary-pushing ‘The Book of Mormon’ from ‘South Park’ creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker has notched up six nods, as has ‘The Scottsboro Boys’.

Mark Rubinstein, president of governing body the Society of London Theatre, said: “Congratulations to all of this year’s Olivier Award nominees whose incredible talents lit up the West End and contributed to another record-breaking year.”

The Olivier Awards take place on 13 April at London’s Royal Opera House.

2014 Olivier Awards, selected nominations BBC Radio 2 Audience Award ‘Les Miserables’ at the Queen’s Theatre ‘Matilda the Musical’ at the Cambridge Theatre ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ at Her Majesty’s Theatre ‘Wicked’ at the Apollo Victoria Theatre MasterCard Best New Musical ‘The Book of Mormon’ at the Prince of Wales Theatre ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane ‘Once’ at the Phoenix Theatre ‘The Scottsboro Boys’ at the Young Vic Best Revival ‘The Amen Corner’ at the National Theatre, Olivier ‘Ghosts’ at the Almeida Theatre & Trafalgar Studios ‘Othello’ at the National Theatre, Olivier ‘Private Lives’ at the Gielgud Theatre Best Musical Revival ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ at the Harold Pinter Theatre ‘The Sound of Music’ at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre ‘Tell Me on a Sunday’ at the St James Theatre & the Duchess Theatre Best New Play ‘1984’ at the Almeida Theatre ‘Chimerica’ at the Almeida Theatre & Harold Pinter Theatre ‘The Night Alive’ at the Donmar Warehouse ‘Peter and Alice’ at the NoÎl Coward Theatre

Best New Comedy ‘The Duck House’ at the Vaudeville Theatre ‘The Full Monty’ at the NoÎl Coward Theatre ‘Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense’ at the Duke of York’s Theatre ‘The Same Deep Water As Me’ at the Donmar Warehouse Best Actor: Henry Goodman for ‘The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui’ at the Duchess Theatre Tom Hiddleston for ‘Coriolanus’ at the Donmar Warehouse Rory Kinnear for ‘Othello’ at the National Theatre, Olivier Jude Law for ‘Henry V’ at the NoÎl Coward Theatre Best Actress Hayley Atwell for ‘The Pride’ at the Trafalgar Studios Anna Chancellor for ‘Private Lives’ at the Gielgud Theatre Judi Dench for ‘Peter and Alice’ at the NoÎl Coward Theatre Lesley Manville for ‘Ghosts’ at the Almeida Theatre & Trafalgar Studios Best Actor in a Supporting Role Ron Cook for ‘Henry V’ at the Noel Coward Theatre Mark Gatiss for ‘Coriolanus’ at the Donmar Warehouse Jack Lowden for ‘Ghosts’ at the Almeida Theatre & Trafalgar Studios Ardal O’Hanlon for ‘The Weir’ at the Donmar Warehouse & the Wyndham’s Theatre Best Actress in a Supporting Role Sharon D Clarke for ‘The Amen Corner’ at the National Theatre, Olivier Sarah Greene for ‘The Cripple Of Inishmaan’ at the Noel Coward Theatre, Katherine Kingsley for ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at the Noel Coward Theatre, Cecilia Noble for ‘The Amen Corner’ at the National Theatre, Olivier Best Actor in a Musical Gavin Creel for ‘The Book of Mormon’ at the Prince of Wales Theatre Jared Gertner for ‘The Book of Mormon’ at the Prince of Wales Theatre Douglas Hodge for ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane Kyle Scatliffe for ‘The Scottsboro Boys’ at the Young Vic Best Actress in a Musical Rosalie Craig for ‘The Light Princess’ at the National Theatre, Lyttelton Zrinka for ‘Once’ at the Phoenix Theatre, Jenna Russell for ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ at the Harold Pinter Theatre, Charlotte Wakefield for ‘The Sound of Music’ at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical Stephen Ashfield for ‘The Book of Mormon’ at the Prince of Wales Theatre Colman Domingo for ‘The Scottsboro Boys’ at the Young Vic Josefina Gabrielle for ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ at the Harold Pinter Theatre Nigel Planer for ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Beyonce, Garner want to ban the word ‘Bossy’

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014

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Young Iranian adults sit at a cafe, backdropped, with pictures of Western celebrities hung on a wall at a cafe in Tehran, Iran.

Iranian coffee lovers flock to new wave of cafes

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houlder to shoulder, cheek to cheek, young women and men sit next to each other while a thick film of cigarette smoke fills the dimly lit cafe in central Tehran.

Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” blares from the speakers. Young Iranians with slick smart phones and packs of American-made cigarettes who frequent the cafe come for the chance to hang out, away from the eyes of moralizing elders. They also form a bloc of strong support for moderate President Hassan Rouhani as he works to allow greater social freedom in the Islamic Republic. It is a reflection of a boom in cafe culture that has led to a mushrooming of similar coffee shops over the past two years, providing an outlet for young middle-class Iranians who suffer from a lack of public places to meet.

With a box of black Marlboros on his table, Mahnaz Ghassemi, 20, who voted for Rouhani in June, said she comes to the cafe for the freedom it offers. “Here, I can smoke freely. At home, both my mom and dad regularly com-

plain about it,” she said. Majid Rouhian, 24, sips his double espresso while chatting with his girlfriend Maryam. Both voted for Rouhani. “In the past we had fewer chances to meet,” he said. “In recent years we have more chances simply because of increasing number of public places, like this.”

Limited cafes For years, Iranian authorities kept the number of cafes limited since they were seen as a symbol of Western influence and places to spread non-Islamic beliefs. But reports of cafes being shut because they violate “Islamic dignities” have dropped markedly in recent months, suggesting a growing tolerance by the authorities. During his campaign, Rouhani vowed that young people would have more social freedom. “We should not intervene in private life. ...

We should know that young people are energetic so we should not be tough on them. It will not lead to positive results,” he said.

Tehran-based economic and political ana-

lyst Saeed Leilaz believes cafes symbolize the network of young people who played an essential role in bringing Rouhani to power.

“The role of the young people, those who sit in cafes, was a significant ... part of Rouhani’s success,” he said. Leilaz said authorities learned they had to give youth more freedom and a bigger role in society as the economic failures of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration grew more acute in recent years. The allowance of more and more cafes symbolizes that opening.

“If getting government permits for cafes gets easier, then their number would match the number of mosques in Tehran,” said Leilaz.

There are some 2,000 mosques in Tehran, according to official statistics. Cafe association head Eskandar Azmoudeh said the number of cafÈs has roughly quadruped over the past two years, from around 20 or 30 up to around 80.

Fashid Aslani, sitting in one of the branches of his Raees chain of coffee shops in northern Tehran, said the number of cafes is growing

rapidly, reflecting a change in a society where tea was for centuries the main hot drink.

refuge for her and friends to enjoy each other’s company.

Western atmosphere More than half of Iran’s 76 million citizens are under age 30. Many juice shop owners who have watched those young customers flock to cafes have converted their businesses to coffee shops to keep up with the changing times.

Authorities tolerate loud Western music in the cafes - a pleasure once outlawed as un-Islamic after the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought Islamists to power. Many of the new shops are decorated with replica paintings and pictures of local and foreign celebrities. They typically offer free high-speed Wi-Fi - a major draw for many customers. The loosening of the reins started even before Rouhani’s election. The number of Western-type cafes - which first appeared in Iran in 1920s - began to increase in 2011, two years after Ahmadinejad’s controversial re-election that led to a massive crackdown on opposition activists. In another cafe on Tehran’s Gandhi Street, Anahita Kazemi, a 21year-old painting student, said the place is a

Socializing freely “We freely sit together here for talks about galleries, movies and celebrities, like we did in parks or private places in the past,” she said.

Azemoudeh’s deputy, Mohammad Khoshniat, added that the cafes provide a place for young couples who have few options. “Those who want to meet ... or get engaged choose cafes for the first steps,” he said. Mehrdad Khadir, a social columnist for the moderate Asr-e Iran news website, said cafes provide “fewer restrictions on relations between the genders,” compared to other places in the Iranian society. “Girls and boys feel secure there,” he said, adding that cafe goers “supported Rouhani in the 2013 elections simply because Rouhani promised more social freedom.” Pejman Mousavi, another Tehran-based social columnist working for pro-reform Etemad daily, said young middle class people seek nontraditional lifestyles.

“A new generation of middle class young people is after a new version of life, different from their parents,” Mousavi said. — AP

South American ‘mate’ tea a long-time Lebanese hit S

team rises from a gourd filled with yerba mate as Wissam Al-Halabi takes a sip, seated on a Lebanese mountain slope where the South American drink has become a local tradition. For more than a century, the mountain folk have been enjoying the slightly bitter hot drink, pronounced “yer-bah mah-tay,” far from its origins half-way around the world.

It is particularly popular among adherents of the secretive Druze faith, who are scattered throughout the eastern Mediterranean’s Levant region, mostly in Lebanon and Syria.

“It’s from Argentina originally and we’re told it came here hundreds of years ago, brought

by Lebanese migrants who came back from there,” says Samah Halawi, a Druze sheikh. Latin America became a prime destination for economic migrants from the Levant, particularly in the late 19th century, and a large community of their descendants still exists in Argentina and elsewhere in the region.

Halawi sports the white knit hat, thick moustache and loose pleated sherwal trousers that are traditional attire for the religious class of the Druze community. And he considers the signature mate gourd and silver bombilla (bahm-bee-zha) straw to be just as traditional as his clothing. “Mate is something that’s very traditional here, something that we grew up with and saw our family drinking,” he says. “It’s a social drink; we drink it together. Me and the guys get together often and drink as a group.”

Crosses Syria battle lines Yerba mate, made from the leaves of a rainforest holly tree, has been cultivated in South America for centuries. It is particularly popular in southern Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina, which dominates exports of the tea to Lebanon and neighboring Syria. In 2012, Argentina exported nearly 1,500 tons of mate to Lebanon, making it the country’s thirdbiggest market, according to the International Trade Centre, a UN and World Trade Centre agency.

Syria, with a population more than five times that of Lebanon, is Argentina’s biggest mate market, importing more than 24,000 tons in 2012. The drink’s popularity there has not

A Lebanese Druze man prepares ‘mate’ at his house in Lebanon’s mountain village of Barouk, on March 4, 2014. — AFP photos

been affected by the conflict and even crosses battle lines, with both regime troops and rebel fighters spotted imbibing. For Halabi, who works at a hotel in the bucolic mountain setting of the central Lebanese town of Barouk, a midday break for mate is as necessary as a coffee or tea break anywhere else.

“Usually, if I know my friends are in the area, I’ll call them up and say I’ve put the kettle on and I’m getting ready to make some mate.

Come over and let’s drink together.” On a brisk afternoon, he sat with three friends around a small fire encircled by several bricks supporting a kettle. They passed around biscuits and sweetened bread as they discussed their favorite brands and the health benefits of the drink. Halabi and several other locals prefer the Argentinean brand Amanda, because it has a mild taste and can be drunk with or without sugar.

He recommends a bitter preparation for a post-meal digestive aid, and insists that the drink also helps “clean the kidneys”. Ghada AlHalawi, another Barouk local, likes to drink mate first thing in the morning, instead of cof-

fee or tea. “We don’t feel like we’ve woken up until we drink it!” she laughs, preparing both bitter and sweetened versions in traditional gourds that some locals make at home from dried out squash shells. She also keeps a ceramic Amanda-branded gourd on hand to prepare mate with hot milk instead of water, saying the milk flavor spoils squash gourds.

‘Mate-karaoke nights’ Wissam Hamdan, who grew up drinking mate in his village, decided to introduce the drink to a wider audience. In 2005, he opened The Mate Factory, a restaurant in the picturesque mountain town of Aley, near Beirut. “A very big percentage of our customers are people who want to try it, because it’s something that’s specific to certain areas in Lebanon,” he told AFP. He imports around five tons a year from Argentina, blending his preferred leaves, and offers peach and lemon flavoured mate along with traditional types.

For a little less then $7 (five euros), customers get a tray with the tea, hot water and snacks. Hamdan says the formula has been

successful, and on weekends he also offers “mate-karaoke” nights, serving mate-infused alcoholic drinks. Such innovations are far from the ritual observed in Ghada al-Halawi’s home.

She likes to serve the drink with the dried figs, raisins and nuts that are traditional snacks in the area, though she adds that chips and biscuits that have become more common. In between each drinker, she cleans the bombilla

with two pieces of lemon rind, which lightly flavor the straw. The drink is best enjoyed with guests, she says, and she begins heating water as soon as visitors arrive at her house near a forest of Lebanon’s famed cedar trees. “When someone comes to your house, you have to make mate for them,” she insists. “If you haven’t served them mate, it’s like you haven’t served them anything.” — AFP